#so I moved to something broader that I could get what she thought was a practical job

[lovemomhatepolice]

winner - lando norris

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pairing: lando norris x fem!reader

warnings: cursing, official relationship, p in v, blowjob, handjob, fingering, unprotected sex! (protect yourself), alcohol mention, first time sex!, English is my second language!

type: fluff/smut at the end

word count: 5k+

summary: 2024 Miami Grand Prix, which ends with Lando Norris' first victory in his career and an unexpected end to the week for a new couple

more content: formula 1 masterlist, lando norris masterlist

To say that your heart was beating fast really you would have to use the most complex terms the world has ever seen. On that day, everything seemed somehow faster.

Ever since you said goodbye to Lando and let him go to prepare quietly for the race - you were not quiet at all. And this wasn't the first time you had to check your heart rate on your watch when your boyfriend was about to have a race. Oh, it was like that every time. However, you very often experienced it from home or from somewhere other than Mclaren's official garage, as your relationship was still fresh. But now you were especially afraid for him because of yesterday's incident that took place during the sprint.

You looked anxiously around the Mclaren garage in search of more familiar faces. At first you couldn't find anyone, but soon found yourself in the arms of your good friend Lily, Oscar's girlfriend. “God, how good you are here,” you said and looked at the girl with a smile of relief. “Well, it's good to see you too” She laughed and moved slightly away from you. “How do you feel?”

You adjusted the orange dress you were wearing today and smiled at her this time with a broader smile, although you continued to feel a slight uneasiness inside. “Well, this is only my second race where Lando and I can officially show up as a couple, so it's definitely still pretty damn new to me.” You replied sincerely, combing your hand through your hair. “But I'm positive, the guys did great in qualifying, so hopefully this will help something.”

“You're right. Well, who if not them?” She laughed and comfortingly touched your hand. “Come on, let's get something to drink so you don't fall here.”

Time passed inexorably slowly without Lando, but even so, you opened up even more to the rest of the people in the team. Everyone was very nice and tried to create a family atmosphere, which you could feel. You drank cocktails that had been prepared together earlier and ate delicacies that were decorated specially in the color of papaya.

Meanwhile, Bianca has also joined you. You were so damn grateful that she was there too - ever since you met her she was like a little sister to you.

From that moment on, you were in your own world. There were people next to you with whom you felt good and you knew that you would have a nice time racing, so you practically didn't stress about what was around you anymore.

You were in the middle of a conversation with your boyfriend's team, Lily and Bianca, when you felt strong arms around your waist. You didn't wonder for a long time who they belonged to.

“Hello,” you laughed and turned around, still remaining in his arms.

Lando was now standing in front of you, smiling from ear to ear, which was nothing new at all. This boy always had a smile on his face, maybe sometimes smaller, sometimes bigger, but it definitely never left him.

“Hi”, Lando smiled at you and hugged you. “Did I surprise you?”

You laughed under your breath. "A little bit, I'll admit it," You replied and reached out your hand towards his slightly wet hair. The weather was really harsh today, let alone during the race when they had to sit in hot cars. "I thought you were getting ready for the race. After all, they were…' You stopped and glanced at the clock on the wall behind Lando. "You have less than an hour until the race," You muttered, looking back at your boyfriend.

The people who were standing with you earlier went their separate ways, giving you a place for a moment of privacy. You were very happy about this because at least for a while you could be relatively alone. Locked in our own bubble that no one seemed to get over.

“I know, but I had to see you before it started. My nerves are giving out,” the British driver replied, pulling you closer to him.

At that moment, there was nothing better for him than the touch of his girlfriend. He enjoyed the contact with you, the smell of your perfume, the softness of your skin.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered in your ear. “In the color of our team I haven't seen you yet.”

You heard his giggle and you didn't stop it either. You moved slightly away from the boy, however, still remaining in his embrace, and looked at him with an infatuated look on your face.

"Lando, I know how this may sound, but I feel in my bones that today is your day," you said and before Lando had time to speak, you continued. "Don't jump out at me here with your pessimistic talk like you're in the habit of saying, but just focus on your task, yeah?”

He laughed, and a slight redness filled his cheeks. He knew you well and knew how much you believed in him, but this time he wasn't sure. Because of the situation at the sprint, his head was cluttered with many thoughts. His self-doubt was not going away and was consuming him all over. Just as it had many times before.

"You know me so well, it's scary," Lando muttered. "I'll try, I really will, but what if I crash? Or worse, what if my engine gives up? I'm nervous, what can I say."

He muttered more quietly, as if someone would hear you, and tucked his head in the hollow of your neck. There were a lot of people around you, but hardly anyone knew what you were really talking about and hardly anyone dared to interrupt it at all.

"That's okay. Things don't always work out the way we want them to, and it's not always our fault," you replied, stroking his back and neck.

Of course you were damn scared for him. Always, regardless of the degree of your acquaintance, you were afraid of what might happen on the track. Apparently, fatal or more severe accidents didn't happen as often as you might think, but the fear continued in your mind.

Lando nodded slowly as you stroked his back and neck, feeling his heart beat faster. The touch of your hands on his body was always pleasant, but now it was different.

He drew you to him again, wrapping his arms tightly around your waist and bringing your foreheads together.

"I'm grateful to you," he said, and his voice was slightly strained. This was nothing new before the races, and it continued to break your heart terribly. Despite more than 100 races, Lando continued to have misgivings inside. "It was somehow harder without you, you know? You're like my angel here."

You smiled tightly at him and moved even closer to the boy, kissing him on the lips. Quite lightly, but enough for him to feel it. All the emotions you wanted to convey to him at that moment.

"I am and will be by your side for as long as possible," you replied, smiling from ear to ear, which your boyfriend reciprocated.

Lando pulled you even closer to him, his body practically melting into yours. He was breathing heavily and for a moment he couldn't focus on anything, he was so lost in the moment. For a moment he forgot about the race, and his thoughts revolved only around you.

His eyes wandered over your face, and one of his hands stroked your waist through the thin layer of your orange dress.

“I love you,” he muttered lightly, but it was enough to completely melt you. His words were sincere and you knew it well. You could see it by how tightly he embraced you and how soft his lips were, gently brushing against your mouth.

“I love you too, you can't even imagine how much,” you replied, looking into his bright eyes.

Your time together passed inexorably fast, and before you knew it, your conversation was interrupted by one of Lando's team members, already calling him to the race.

“I'll be here waiting for you and keeping my fingers crossed,” you said, hugging him tightly one last time. “You are the best.”

Your whisper reached the boy's ears, at which he smiled widely. Oh, how much he loved you!

Lando reciprocated the smile, then stepped back to look at you. A huge smile was still on his lips. The boy reached out and gently brushed your hair out of your eyes. He took a deep breath before saying:

“I'll make you proud of me, I promise.”

That was the last thing you heard from his lips before he gave you one last kiss and with a quick step walked out towards his car with the rest of the team. You weren't able to answer him anymore, but you knew perfectly well that no matter the outcome, you would still be proud of him.

The race could already be felt around the corner...

After several minutes, there was no sign of Lando's team in the Mclaren garage. Each of them was in their own place and getting ready for the race. The atmosphere around them thickened even more, but all this time was spent in good company. Next to you, Lily and Bianca reappeared, as well as Lando's friends who were visiting Miami today.

Through the screen, you saw each of the drivers line up and looked out carefully for the orange car. It didn't take you long to spot it, mainly because of the yellow element at the top, making it easy to recognize them with Oscar. You smiled under your breath as you watched Lando gracefully park in the seat with the number 5.

“3…2…1! And off they go!” The voice from the loudspeaker rang out and the race began. And in your heart was the thought that everything would be fine.

•••

For a long time, dominance continued on the side of Max Verstappen, who overtook his rivals with quite a large time difference. You weren't particularly surprised. Red Bull had been the front-runner with Max for a long time - this year the only person to win a race besides him was Carlos in Australia, when the world champion's car had a glitch.

Drivers passed each other lap after lap, and time dragged mercilessly. The list was quite repetitive, and there were few replacements in front of you. Max, Charles, Oskar in the top three. Behind them Carlos, Sergio Perez and finally in sixth place Lando.

Finally, things started to get busy on the track. More and more drivers had PIT stops, making the names on the list change dramatically. The initial top five were also swapping among themselves, when suddenly you saw on the screen that at lap 24 the race leader was Oscar.

“Oh god!” muttered Lily, grabbing your hand.

You smiled in her direction, supportively squeezing her hand. In her eyes you could see how proud she was of her boyfriend. You weren't surprised, you totally understood that, especially now that Lando was in third place and seemed to hold it for a long time.

There was a bloody buzz in the Mclaren sphere, as well as in his garage, and people rose from their seats in fact from the moment Oscar and now Lando took dominance of the race. It was definitely their day and no matter which of them was going to finish on the podium, you were all very excited and supportive.

“Lando, you can do it,” you whispered to yourself, continuing to squeeze your hand with Lily.

“God, I can't stand it,” muttered Bianca, and approached you from the other side, grabbing the other of your hands.

And that was the turning point. The yellow flag, Sargeant's accident and the safety car. And Lando, who was out of it all, making his leadership of the race reach even greater heights.

You were well aware that there were more than twenty laps left of the race, but the sight of Lando, who calmly led the entire race driving behind the safety car this time, while Verstappen and Leclerc were treading on his heels, triggered such strong feelings in you that you would not be able to describe them in any words.

You knew this was his day. And just as you had promised earlier, you kept your fingers crossed with your whole self. Your hands with the girls were clenched so tightly that you had to finally relax so as not to hurt each other.

“I think our boy is going to walk away with the gold!” You heard somewhere off to the side from one of Mclaren's employees, making you laugh under your breath.

Everyone believed in him. Everyone knew that this was his day. Finally, after so many races, it was finally his time to show that he was somebody. To let everyone know it, not just his team and those close to him. Lando didn't talk about it out loud, but you knew very well that it was something he wanted to achieve. To show every person who insulted him and didn't believe he could, that he was not at all a silly young man who doesn't win races.

You followed each lap almost breathlessly, clenching your fists tightly. Tears appeared in your eyes, but you didn't give them a chance to leave your eyes. Everyone sat quietly, awaiting the expected end of the race. Charles in third, Max in second. And Lando in first. His dream was coming true at the moment, and it was confirmed by the words that came across the room less than a second later.

“15 times Lando Norris has stood on the podium. But never on the top step - until now. It's a landmark day for Lando.”

You heard and closed your eyes for literally a second to give vent to your tears. A huge smile appeared on your lips and you quickly felt the strong embrace of your colleagues around you, who were also touched by the situation. The whole garage was there, everyone was hugging, shouting with joy, clapping.

“Lando Norris wins for the first time in Formula One! It's victory in Miami for Norris and Mclaren!” The commentator shouted over the loudspeakers, which gave the final vent to all the emotions you were suppressing inside.

“He did it!”, Bianca exclaimed, hugging you from the side.

"He did it" You whispered to yourself and hugged the girls tightly to your body.

There was no end to the smiles and congratulations, and you all looked impatiently at the screen, which continued to show the winners of today's race. You watched with a smile as Lando celebrated with his team, who were waiting for him outside, and as each of the drivers hugged him in turn offering their sincerest congratulations. You were most touched by Lando and Carlos' hug, which made you gently scrunch your nose, giggling softly.

And that's what you loved about the racing - despite the rivalry, everyone supported each other and in moments like this one - the first win - they were like brothers to each other.

You really wanted to join him at this point, but you were further unsure about your appearance in more public places like Mclaren's garage, so you waited bravely.

Together with some of the team, you reached the place where the official trophy presentation was to take place. With a huge smile on your lips, you watched and recorded your boyfriend, who also, as was his custom, had a smile from ear to ear. You could well see a tear in his eye, however, no one could surprise him. It was definitely the best day of his life and everyone wanted to help him make it so he would never forget it.

And finally it came. Something you both had been waiting for a long time and finally could get. Yourselves in each other's embrace.

As soon as you saw each other after the boy entered the room where you stayed the whole race, you laughed. He, all sweaty and doused in champagne with tears of luck in his eyes, continuing in his racing outfit and with the prize in his hand, standing just like that in front of you, as if he had come home from his usual job. And you, laughing, also with tears in your eyes, in a dress in the shade of papaya, in which you supported him with your whole self. And not just today, you could do it to the end. You loved him in every possible form of the word.

You quickly shortened the distance that separated you, however, you didn't allow yourselves to touch yet. For now, you looked into each other's eyes, giggling under your breath like a pair of teenagers in love.

"Lando Norris, winner of the Miami GP race on May 5, 2024, huh?" you muttered, giggling under your breath, and looked straight into his eyes.

"[Y.N] [Y.L.N], the angel who stood over me the whole race and brought me luck and the most beautiful girl under the sun who is only mine, huh? he laughed and further reduced the distance between you, putting down the prize to one of the team members who suddenly appeared somewhere.

You were well aware that there were people around you, however, it didn't matter to you as before. However, now it was different - you were both drowning in even more happiness.

"Okay screw it, because I can't take it anymore." Purrs Lando and pulled you to him by the waist.

Your lips momentarily connected, but this time more firmly than usual. You felt all the emotions you had to offer the other person flowing between you and you were drowning in them.

You moved slightly away from Lando, placing your hands on his cheeks and combed lightly through his sticky curls. You smiled broadly in his direction, but it didn't take long and Lando quickly closed your lips in a kiss.

He pulled you even closer to him - if that was even possible and now you could perfectly feel the warmth of each other's bodies.

"I knew you would win," you whispered to him in a way that only he could hear.

Lando smiled broadly and stroked your hip with his large hand, leaning over you even more. This time his lips brushed the lobe of your ear, making you get goosebumps.

"You are my amulet of luck." he muttered, kissing your ear.

However, your moment could not last forever, and once again someone interrupted you. You moved slightly away from your boyfriend, but only a little - he didn't allow you to do more, but enough to make you feel comfortable.

"Lando, we have one more interview and then you can go wherever you want," Charles said, smiling in your direction. "Oh, hey [Y.N], I haven't seen you here in a long time."

You walked closer to the man and embraced him, smiling sincerely in his direction. It's true, it's been a long time since you've had a chance to see him, which you damn well regretted, because who like anyone, but Charles you adored. He was one of the drivers you liked better.

"Hello Charles, I hope we'll soon have the opportunity to spend time together somehow longer. I'm awfully excited to meet little Leo," you giggled, moving away from Leclerc to a comfortable distance.

"Oh god yes, she keeps talking about it," said Lando, jabbing you in the ribs with his finger. You smacked his hand lightly and stuck out your tongue in his direction.

"Okay good, go conduct the last interview star, and I will collect your stuff and what? I assume a moment at the hotel and celebrate?" You asked your boyfriend, but you didn't have to wait long for his answer.

Lando quickly nodded his head and kissed you one last time on the lips, then left together with Charles towards the right place. You, for your part, said goodbye to everyone in Mclaren's garage, in places stopping for a shorter or longer conversation. You said your last goodbyes to your friends, parting, in fact, only for a moment, as you were soon to end up at the same club. You grabbed all of Lando's things and waited for him on one of the couches, looking through your phone.

A slightly tired Lando sat down at the couch next to you after 20 minutes, quickly handing you his belongings so that you could help him. "The interview is hopefully finished," he muttered, leaning his head on your shoulder. His eyes were half-closed and it was clear that he was not far from falling into a deep sleep. But Lando also knew well that this moment would not last long. The whole team wanted to celebrate the victory, and the most important celebration was waiting for him. But for now, he was enjoying his peace and you.

"Come on, Lando. We are going to celebrate your victory." You said and jumped up from the couch, grabbing your boyfriend's hand and gently pulling him towards you.

•••

One of Miami's more popular clubs sparkled with all sorts of lights. It was packed with people - the more popular ones and those who just wanted to party that evening. There was a smell of alcohol and other substances, which you quickly picked up, paving your way behind Max, who had come with you to the place.

You were wearing a short black dress that glowed slightly, completing the atmosphere of the club. Lando walked behind you, holding your hand tightly so that you didn't escape his sight for a moment.

It didn't take long for him to be recognized. Immediately the moment you took your place at one of the higher walls, however, still in a good place between other people at your friends - Pierre with Kika and Max with Kelly, the drivers were recognized. To your eyes appeared a large led sign that loudly sang about Lando's win with the dancers, to which you burst out laughing seeing his embarrassment. You hugged him tightly to you, swaying to the rhythm of the song as people around you congratulated him on his first place, singing loudly.

You and your boyfriend celebrated with the others, but before long you found yourselves with only each other. You had already had one drink, so you were both giggling more than usual and were even more available to each other. Lando moved behind you, and you twirled your hips around his crotch, which made him moan right in your ear.

You shuddered and turned your head toward him. Lando didn't wait long, grabbing your face in his hands and kissing you hard. Your hands went to his neck, making the case that the distance between you was practically non-existent anymore. As you kissed, you felt Lando's hand slide down to your ass and clamp down hard on it, so the moan that came out of you went directly into his mouth.

"Lando," you whispered, bringing your lips together again.

Lando's hands roamed all over your body, but his attention was mainly focused on your hips and buttocks. He squeezed them tightly in his hand and smoothly rubbed his thumb over them. He leaned down slightly and whispered in your ear: "Damn, how much I love you."

"All mine" he moaned and squeezed you a little tighter, pushing you even closer together as much as possible.

Your kisses became more and more passionate, and his breathing became deeper. Your hands wandered over his unbuttoned shirt and light curls.

"Lando, I want to go back to the hotel," I said, looking straight into his beautiful bright eyes, signaling with my gaze that there is something I want more now than being in the middle of a crowded club with another people.

He noticed your gaze and nodded slowly. The heat rose in your faces and your bodies were pressed firmly against each other.

"We're leaving right away," Lando whispered in your ear, taking your hand and leading you away from the main crowd.

You did not have to wait long to get there. At Lando's request, a specially designated person from his team came to pick you up and brought you safely and quite quickly in front of the hotel.

You said goodbye to the driver and, without hesitation, headed for the elevator, holding hands and giggling under your breath. Oh, the giggles that evening were endless...

When you reached your floor, a door opened and Lando led you into your room. He closed the door behind you and quickly turned to you, pulling you close to him.

His lips landed on yours once again and he breathed loudly in your ear: "I want only you tonight."

"I want you too Lando." You responded by reciprocating his kiss. "I'm really ready today."

The boy's eyes flashed. On the one hand because of the excitement, on the other hand he himself didn't know how he could describe the excitement that was tugging at him. You wasted no time, and your lips never moved away from each other. Your hands nimbly unbuttoned the buttons of Lando's black shirt, which you helped him to throw off.

"Are you sure?" He asked, pulling slightly away from you to look into your eyes.

"I'm so sure. Lando, this is something I've wanted for a long time," you replied truthfully, waiting for his reaction.

For him, these words were the most important thing because he also wanted this moment with all his heart and now he could have it.

He pulled you even closer to him again, so that your bodies touched even tighter. One hand slipped underneath your dress, up your thigh, and he whispered. "Then we're not wasting anymore time here, my love."

He leaned down and kissed you again, pressing his lips even more warmly into yours. The kiss became more passionate, more intense. You couldn't control yourself, all your senses were in his hands. You moaned softly as his warm, large hands glided over your body, slowly exploring it.

Lando breathed deeply and groaned, tightening his grip on you and pulling your hips even closer to him. A minute later, Lando pulled you into him and laid you on the hotel bed on your back.

Lando leaned over you, his hands roaming all over your body, and pressed his lips to your neck, nibbling lightly on your skin. He stepped back slightly and began to remove your dress, one strap, then the other.

He breathed deeper, and his hands moved smoothly over your curves and hips. Finally, he took off your underwear and threw it behind you. He then tilted his head back, looking at you lustfully.

"[Y.N], you are so fucking beautiful." he replied, smiling to himself under his breath.

You reciprocated his smile, pulling him to you by the back of his neck. Without waiting long, you joined your lips in a passionate kiss, feeling your boyfriend's hand go lower and lower until it reached the place where you wanted him most. You moaned directly into his mouth as his fingers began to create a circles on your pussy.

"Fuck" you hissed.

Lando breathed heavily as he felt you react to his touch in such a delicate way. Your moans were the best sound in the world for him and he couldn't resist. His hand rubbed up and down slowly and gently, and he whispered in your ear.

"Oh, you're so sensitive, baby," he whispered, and then he rubbed your clit a little more quickly.

"Lando!" you moaned as you felt his finger inside you, moving nimbly inside you.

The boy brought your lips together again, adding another finger. He didn't move away from you for a moment, with his thumb still making sensual circles on your clit, and the other two moving inside you. His mouth quickly invaded your neck, making trails down until he reached your breasts. You moaned as he began to massage one of them with his free hand and took the other into his mouth, playing with your hard nipple.

"All right," he murmured, placing wet kisses all over your chest, giving equal attention to both breasts, which were even burning from his touch.

All that touch of his, which he now devoted to your satisfaction, soon induced a state of euphoria in you, which made itself perfectly known for quite a while. The boy continued to move his fingers inside you and over your clit with his thumb, allowing you to relax after the initial sensation.

"Lando, I need you inside me," you muttered as your body stopped shaking from the first orgasm of the evening.

"Your words are an order to me," he replied, helping you to rise slightly so that you were sitting up, but you had other plans for the moment. "However, first it is time to take care of my winner as he should be taken care of," you muttered in his ear, getting down on your knees in front of the bed on which he was sitting. You slid up slightly, letting him free of his pants and boxers, which looked downright painful on his erection.

Lando looked down at you with dreamy and infatuated eyes. He could have sworn he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. Even his win today didn't compete with what was happening and what was about to happen.

"How beautiful," you said, touching his entire length. You had to admit that the boy had something to boast about and you knew it well. More than once you had already seen each other naked and given each other oral pleasure.

Quickly his entire length was in your mouth. You moved nimbly, trying to give him as much pleasure as possible. And that's probably exactly what happened, looking at the fact that Lando quickly tilted his head back and made quiet but giving noises. Quickly with the faster movement of your lips around his dick, Lando began to make louder noises from himself.

"Fuck, how good," he muttered, looking at you with squinted eyes.

He didn't let you finish your work, however, but pulled you into his lap and joined your lips in a passionate kiss, while you grabbed his penis and directed it directly into your hole. Slowly you lowered yourself to his length, and your lips left each other with hot moans of pleasure. "God, how tight you are," howled Lando, placing his hands on your hips and helping you bounce on his lap.

Lando was in heaven. He felt your strong, warm hands and the touch of your sensitive lips as your lips pressed firmly into his. He groaned and clenched his hand around your hip, pulling you in even close as you pushed yourself forward and got him deep in you.

"I love you," he gasped, squeezing even harder and pulling you in even deeper.

“I love you so much,” you moaned, grabbing his jaw and connecting your lips in a heated kiss.

Due to his tighter grip, the boy was now moving inside you with greater speed and force, giving you sensations you had never experienced before, you felt as if you were going to faint. Additional pleasure came when Lando moved his hand between your bodies and touched your swollen pussy, giving her another dose of attention she was definitely crying out for.

"Mine, you're mine and only mine", Lando breathed under his breath and squeezed you even tighter, driving you wild.

"Yeah, only yours" you whispered against his lips, continuing to bounce in rhythm on his cock. "I am close"

"Look at me," he moaned softly and pulled you face up so that you were looking him in the eyes.

"I'm happy with my win today, you know?" he asked, waiting for your answer and you nodded. "But you know what makes me even happier? You. Just you, how close you were to me today, how close you really are all the time and that you showed how important I am to you and that now you have given yourself completely to me. Our bodies connected "I have never felt so good in my life. You are my best feeling."

He said and smiled at you. No matter how it may have sounded, these words brought you closer to the long-awaited moment of orgasm, which shook your bodies at practically the same time. You continued to move nimbly on his length, helping him come down from his orgasm. You felt all of your mixed juices slowly pouring out of you, but you didn't pay much attention to it. Your lips were as one again, as were your bodies, and you simply appreciated this moment of your first time together…

A/N: well, there's a chapter dedicated to Lando's win in Miami! God, I'm so proud of our little Lando Norris, I don't even have words to describe it

I hope you liked the chapter and will leave something behind! I would like to gain 500 followers by the end of the month, so I will be happy if you stay longer :)

please do not copy and translate my works! in case of any issues related to this - I invite you to discuss privately :)

[kawakalalala]

Outlaw: 1

INTRODUCTION POST!

wc: ~1.8k

tags: pretty much just kissing, nothing too crazy yet!

a/n: thank you all so much for being patient with me while i crank this bitch out! i’m really excited to see what u guys think :3

You’d heard the voice before. Hundreds of times. His voice rattled your bones like a late August thunderstorm over the lake.

“Hands up.”

You turn with your hands in the air expecting just to see Jerry Anderson, the sheriff who’d been after you since you were old enough to run.

There was never even a thought to not run. You could weasel your way out of anything; you’d been running your whole life. But something in you kept you from grabbing at the gun on your hip.

“Ain’t nowhere to run no more, huh?”

You weren’t sure what came over you. ‘Easy’ wouldn’t have even begun to describe how quickly you could kill this man. In a hundred ways. But you knew what you needed, and you knew what the way to get that was. It was surprising for you to see a second person, behind him, taller and broader, with a face hidden by the shadow of a hat.

“Looks like it.” You drop down to your knees and lay down your revolver, kicking it out of reach. The Sheriff was surely on top of the world right now. He’d been trying to get you for years after the killing. It was personal, but not on purpose.

The broader figure starts to move, slowly becoming illuminated by the soft glow of your campfire.

You couldn’t remember the last time you saw Abigail Anderson. You almost didn’t recognize her, but there was no way you could've forgotten the way her freckles bit her cheeks, the soft bump in her nose, and the softness of her jaw. She’d worn her hair in a braid then too, but now it was long enough to dangle past her shoulder blades. Had that much time really passed?

She passed you and walked up to Belle, the liver chestnut overo mare. She wasn’t as fast as she was when you met her; she needed a little more grace around turns, and her white fur started to bleed into warm brown on her face. You loved her more than you could love anything, because there wasn’t much to love about the life you led.

“Don’t tie her to your horse,” you turn to face Abigail, “she’ll bite him in the ass.”

She exhales with the faintest likeness of a laugh.

“How d’ya suppose we’ll get her back to town then?”

You shrug, knowing she’d follow you wherever you went. You don’t notice you’ve been handcuffed until you go to stand up.

Jerry Anderson was kinder to you than he should’ve been, considering what you’d done to him. His hand is heavy on your shoulder as you pull yourself onto his wagon.

✦✦✦

You wake up to the light from your cell’s window prodding at your eyelids. Large enough to see everything, (including Belle, hitched up outside, still sleeping).

“They decide where I’m goin’ yet?” You shout at Abigail, scribbling away on some papers near the front door.

There were a handful of things that were convenient about your position: the sheer size of your town made it so it was only necessary to have a few cells in the sheriff’s department. (if you could even call it that.) And that you always had company.

“No. We ain’t even sent out the mail this mornin’. Give it some time.” She laughs.

“Whatcha doin' over there?”

“Nothing,”

“Well ‘nothing’ seems quite time-consuming.”

She finally turns around and looks at you, and you see her clearly now. The light scar across her cheek, her soft blue eyes, her supple, soft pink lips, and the toothy smile she gives you when she asks, “What are you getting at?” Seeming only slightly annoyed.

“Nothing.”

“I’ll be sure to get the mail with your papers sent out today,” A smile pulls at her lips, but you don’t notice it.

You’re picking at your nails when you ask, “This all you do all day? Seems like I’m a mighty fine companion to keep around.”

“What do you do all day then? Steal and kill?” She turns back around in her chair.

“Pretty much,” you stand up and stretch, a groan escaping your lips. “I love murder.” You try to stay as deadpan as possible, but you can't hold back a giggle, sitting down with your back against the cell door and peering out the window at Belle.

“I’m serious,” her tone changes, “Why on earth would you want to live runnin’?”

“It was freeing once, “ you tell her, the back of your head against the heavy metal bars of the door, “but freedom gets lonely sometimes.”

“Seems real convenient that this revelation is gettin’ had after you been caught,” there's an edge to her voice, but it’s still smooth and cool, like a stone in the palm of your hand.

“It ain’t no revelation, darlin’, I just finally made a choice,” you say matching her edge as best you could, “and your Daddy ain’t do no catching, I let him have me. ”

“Bless his heart,” she says, “but I’ll believe you there. He couldn’t pour water out of a boot if the directions were on the bottom.” You both laugh, and for a brief moment, you forget what brought you here in the first place.

She turns around to look at you. For a brief moment, you and Abigail are 12 years old again. The wind whispers her name, and you’re watching the sunrise on your walk to school. You like her because she doesn’t talk about boys. She doesn’t talk about much of anything. You like her company, and she likes yours. At the end of your twelfth summer, she doesn’t want to walk with you anymore, and you don’t ask, or even wonder why. You walk to school alone until you drop out at 15. You turn to look at her.

The door opens, and you watch as Jerry walks in. The way he looks at you makes your stomach churn.

“Mornin’ sir,” you smile at him, and he ignores you.

“You can put her outside y’know,” he says to Abigail, like you aren’t even there. “them stalls under the barn lock.” He laughs, and your blood boils.

“We’ll see.” Abigail tries to forget about the hard part of this job. She’s always trying to forget about the hard part of this job. She knew you once.

You hold your tongue until Jerry leaves. He talks to Abigail a bit longer, and makes another offer to “get rid” of you for her.

Part of him stays when he walks out the door. Suddenly you realize what you’ve done. The fantasy of a free life might’ve been attainable if you were a less successful bandit, but there’s no way you’ll ever be a free woman.

You’re never going to be free. You’re going to die here, with a failed childhood friendship and a man who wants you dead. You’re never going to feel the sun on your skin again.

You’re going to die here or somewhere worse. You’re going to watch your life walk by you and you’re stuck behind bars because of a stupid one-off thought you had. Your breathing gets heavy and your head spins, and suddenly you’re grabbing onto anything you can get ahold of.

You should’ve fucking shot him.

✦✦✦

“What in the hell was that?” her voice is cool and smooth, even when she tries to have any semblance of urgency.

“Dunno.” You’re both on the ground. Her right hand cradles the back of your head, holding your hair off your neck, and her left holds a glass of water to your lips.

“That ever happen before?” Her eyebrows are furrowed with concern, and you stay silent, taking a sip.

She doesn’t seem to mind. She watches you intently, readjusting her hand on your neck. You set down the water and look at her.

“Why’ve you been so damn kind to me?” Your eyes well with tears, and her furrowed brow softens, just a little. “I’m a criminal, Abigail, I’m not- I’m not a good person.”

“I ain’t a good person neither.” Her voice is almost a whisper. “Have some more water.”

“Okay.”

You’d never been one to listen to anyone. You were entirely uninterested in being told what to do. But the way she spoke to you was different. You didn’t seem to have a problem taking orders from her, because she genuinely seemed like she cared. She wasn’t patronizing or arrogant.

“I’m sorry I stopped being your friend.” Her hand is warm against your skin.

“That was so many years ago.”’

“Don’t make me less sorry.” Her hand moves slowly from your neck to your jaw.

“I’ll give you a second chance,” Your eyes dart from her blue eyes to her lips, and for a moment, everything goes silent.

“I’d like that I think.” She inhales sharply, and drops her hand. “I got some paperwork to fill out. D’you need anything?”

“Yeah, I think so,” You say before kissing her softly, just once. You pull away and look at her, and you lift one hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She looks at you like you electrocuted her. “Think that’s all.”

Something clicks in her head and she lunges to kiss you. It's sudden, but it’s soft. She’s soft. You reach down to replace her hand on the meeting of your neck and jaw, and she places another hand on the small of your back. Tension releases in your shoulders that you hadn’t noticed was there in the first place. You place a hand on each of her shoulders and push her backwards, still following her lips with yours. You can feel the muscle in her shoulders, but she’s pliable and obedient in your hands.

Your tongues dance against one another with the same cadence as the wind in the grass at the end of your twelfth summer. And as the light of the sun on your twenty-sixth summer falls over the same grass, you pull away from Abigail to look at the small smile pulling at her mouth, the flush across her cheeks, her pupils blown and her lips only slightly swollen.

“Whatcha lookin’ at me for?” Her voice is almost a whisper.

“You’re beautiful, Abigail. Damn near the most handsome woman I ever seen.”

She can’t bring herself to say anything in response. She can’t even bring herself to look up at you. She can’t bring herself to lock you back in here, and sit out at her desk and watch, let the state take you away and hang you for your crimes.

“I’m gonna get you out of this goddamn place.”

“You’re what?”

[moodywyrm]

omgomg i’m thinking abt an “innocent” virgin reader having a little diary & writing abt their crush on abby,,

abby doesn’t normally snoop bc she’s quite respectful but she just couldn’t help herself cus ur diary was just RIGHT THERE,, so she READS IT and it’s all about the inappropriate things you’d want her to do to you. and it’s like hella descriptive and AHH

so then later that night she does exactly what u wrote in ur diary. teasing u endlesslyyyy, making u beg and feel embarrassed, mocking ur sounds to make u feel embarrassed even MORE,, making u move on ur own just to show how bad u want it, then ending with overstimulation,, omg

and during it, she’s all like “and here i thought you were so innocent,, but you wanted me to fuck you all this time, didn’t you?” and “don’t get embarrassed now, princess. you wanted this” EEEE

ok so I don't always like it when reader is depicted as like hyper-innocent in smut fics, just because it makes me kinda uncomfortable. so I almost didn't write this. but then I got to thinking. reader who is thought of as innocent purely because you don't ever really talk about sex or suggestive shit?

so the salt lake crew, including abby, just assume you're naive? and you're really fucking not, because every night you're stuffing your hand down your panties and playing with your clit to the thought of Abby and her muscles and the way she grunts when she works out or the way she's always so fucking careful and caring with you. because she likes you. but you don't know that. and you write about it! how you want abby to hold you hands together above your head with one big hand, because she could, and play with your clit. maybe fucking her fingers into you, maybe making you cream on her strap. how you want her to press your legs to your chest and go to town, either with her mouth on your cunt or her strap fucking into you so hard it makes your head spin. how you think she could hold you up against the wall and fuck you like that, chest to chest and face to face. and your personal favorite. how you want her to spend hours between your thighs, sucking and spitting on your clit while her fingers press into that gushy spot you can't quite reach with the angle your hand gives you, trying to see if you can squirt. you write it all. and then you fuck up (or don't).

you and abby are having a sleep over in your room, and you run down to the kitchen to grab some snacks your friend had set aside for you in exchange for you taking some of her tasks. but you left your diary, held open by a pen, on the same table that Abby was sitting at, waiting for you. and she got curious! she knows it's wrong, knows she shouldn't, but honestly you've been acting kind of weird around her lately and she's dying to know if you have a crush or something. and she finds something. so much better.

fuck. abby and I are having a sleep over tonight and I feel like I'm gonna combust. we were working out together earlier. well, she was working out and I was spotting her which meant I could see her arms working so hard and her thighs all spread out on the bench and whenever she would rest they would do the thing where they get broader on a flat surface. i want to sit on her lap so bad. want her fingers inside me, grinding up into me. I wonder if she'd ever bring a strap on to my place, if she knew how much I wanted her. does she even have a strap on? want to grind against her thigh and have her tell me I'm her pretty girl. I wish I was her girl, in the first place. I don't know how I'm gonna get through tonight, but we'll see.

by the time she's done reading, her head is fucking dizzy man. she does, actually, have a strap on. it's just in her room. across the hall. she could just go and grab it. but right as she's about to close your diary and get up, the door opens and she pauses. you two stand there, staring at each other, not knowing what to do. you're the first to speak, heart beating so hard you can almost hear it.

"did you... read that?" Abby just nods, closing it and walking over to you. she grabs the snacks from your hands and sets them down on the counter, turning back to see you looking terrified.

so she grabs your face in both hands, forcing you to look at her. "How long have you wanted me, baby?" and you're shaking.

"So fucking long." and the second those words leave your lips, abby is on you, kissing you like a woman starved and grabbing at your hips, pulling you flush against her. you're nervous, because while she may not be your first kiss, you have a feeling this is gonna go farther than just kissing. abby pulls away for a split second, foreheads pressed together, eyes never leaving yours. "Are you okay with this?"

You give her a little nod, verbalizing it with a whiney little "mhm" before she's back on your lips, guiding you to your bed and pulling you onto her lap. Your thighs are bracketing her hips and she's running her hands up and down them, enjoying the squish and give of you under her palms. she's really fucking moving now, pulling your shirt off, moaning at the lack of a bra, and stuffing her hand down your panties, breath hitching at the sheer amount of wet coating your pussy, making you slick and warm, all for her. she's toying at your clit now, bruising your lips with her kisses and pinching at your nipples, pushing you towards an almost embarrassingly fast high. she slides a little lower, pushing one thick digit into your tight heat, thumb rubbing at your clit, causing you to whine for her. and she gets Mean.

"uh huh, that feel good baby? you're not so innocent huh? everyone thinks you're so innocent and sweet but that's because you never fucking say anything huh? no, you just write it all down for anyone to read. or did you leave it out for me so this would happen? pretty girl, could have just fucking asked"

and her fingers, now two thick digits stretching you open, are so fucking deep and rough and pressing against that sensitive lil patch inside you that you snap, clenching wildly around her digits as she fucks you through your orgasm, cooing at you n mocking your moans.

"Oh, ohh, that's it, there's my pretty little slut. just needed to be fucked, didn't you? I'll fuck you nice and hard baby, just give me a second"

She helps you down from your high, giving you a few seconds to calm down while she practically sprints to her room and grabs her black strap, not caring if anyone sees her dashing between the rooms like a fucking mad man. Once she's back in your room, she's stripping with maximum efficiency and it takes everything in you not to moan when you see her naked. clearly, your all is not nearly enough because the second that harness is around her waist and and she's back between your thighs, a little sweaty and disheveled, pretty tits and pectorals on display, you're whining and reaching for her, begging her to lean down. she doesn't, the meanie, instead lining the tip of the strap up with your pretty lil hole and slotting it inside before she leans forward, lips barely touching as she begins to push in.

she sees the tears well up in your eyes, sees how you relax under her hands and get used to the stretch, before she starts fucking you in earnest. she's not going fast, but she is deep and a lil mean with how she's grinding into you, stimulating her clit in the process. she feels you shaking under her, clawing at her back and leaving marks for her to show off, and the way you're moaning makes her head fuzzy.

"Mhm, that's it, my pretty girl just needed to be fucked. that feel good baby? you like it when my cocks nice n deep in your cunt?"

She's moaning, getting closer and closer as she fucks you open, but what tips her over is the way you start talking back, after only sharing lil phrases and whines with her. no, now you're being fucking filthy, really bringing that diary to life.

"fuck, please abby, your cock feels so fucking good, you're so deep, can feel you in my tummy. please baby, are you gonna cum for me? gonna make me cum if you cum for me, please baby, wanna watch you fall apart for me, so fucking pretty when you're fucking me," and your voice so breathy and whiny and slutty, abby never stood a fucking chance. she starts shaking, pushing as deep as she can and grinding the base of the harness into both of you, pushing you over as she falls apart, moaning into the crook of you neck. you're whining, shaking under her and clenching your soft thighs around her waist in a way that makes her feel fucking primal. it takes you both forever to come down, panting and clinging to each other for dear life. when abby pulls out and flops next to you, she immediately pulls you into her.

"I should have read that diary so much sooner. ya gonna let me read the rest of it?"

who wrote that.

[tophatwearingidiot]

TRAP AND DEVOUR.

A small Smg4 BREAK THE CYCLE!AU writing for the sillies. A bit rusty on my writing but I think I did well.

AU by: Me (tophatwearingidiot) and @bear-boi-5 Cover art by: @bear-boi-5 Writing by: Me (tophatwearingidiot)

TW/CW: CANNIBLISM, DEATH, VOILENCE, BLOOD AND GORE.

Enjoy reading.

It was dark. The moon shone onto the soft western sand, making it glitter faintly in its light, a noticeable chill in the air. It was quite cold during the nights in this hell hole of a simulation, it felt all too realistic to Saiko. She was walking along the dunes, she came here to do something, something very important. Confronting Meggy. She'd been acting so fucking weird lately, like some crazed person, her ramblings and speech weird, and she had been quite distant, only getting worse each day that passed by. At the same time, Shroomy had gone missing, and it was… unnerving. No one has heard a peep from him in days, he hasn't stopped by with more potatoes, none of his associates: Belle, Whimpu, Jeeves, or anyone else in his group had seen him either. He seemingly just… vanished. She was hoping Meggy may have some insight since she's a bit further out than everyone else… if Meggy didn't know anything she'd try asking Tari to since she's been with Meggy the whole time. She hoped it would give even just a tiny bit of insight, everyone was worried, especially Karen, quite close they are, and she's been worried sick, Saiko just wanted some proof that the mushroom man was ok.

Saiko looked at the rickety, old, lone building… standing in front of it nervously- it smelt kinda fucking bad… she walked up to the door and knocked lightly, the door slowly creaked open, Meggy staring at her with an intense burn of a stare at Saiko. "Meggy." Saiko said softly… "We need to talk." "Oh Saiko! I-It's just you… uhmmm… sure what is it you need to talk about!" Meggy said in a fast-paced manner, opening up the door more, her eyes looking a bit sleepless, hair tangled up and ratty. Saiko started to talk again "Not sure if you're aware but Shroomy's been missing for a bit you uh… seen him?" "Oh nooo… sorry I haven't." Meggy smiled, a bit weirdly. "You haven't seen him at all?" "Nope… not for a couple days, Karen's worried sick…" Saiko said, a bit sadly… Meggy looked to the side a bit- her smile weaking to a nervous one before turning back into a broader one… and crazed-ish. "Why don't you uhm- come in Sai. I haven't chatted with you in a bit, heh." Saiko thought about it… she felt uneasy but, Meggy wouldn't hurt her? Their gf's… with Tari too… it's worth it right? She needed the comfort of them anyway. "Uh yeah sure. Is Tari still with you?" Meggy looked at her and nodded. Saiko felt a bit better…

She stepped inside the house and looked around, it was pretty banged up, but Meggy and Tari seemed to be making it work. Still have no clue why they moved out here though. She walked through the house with Meggy and into what seemed to be a living room. Tari sat on the ripped-up couch just staring blankly, she looked sort of drained- made Saiko slightly worried. Tari looked over and looked a bit nervous for a second before smiling… "Oh Sai… nice to see you…" She said softly. Saiko smiled back and hugged her, she planted a small kiss on her gf's cheek and smiled again, Tari blushing softly. "What are you doing here anyway Sai…" Saiko was about to speak when Meggy answered for her- "Shroomy has apparently gone missing… she wanted to know if you had any insight…" Her voice seemed a bit strained… Tari looked at Saiko and answered quickly, "U-Uhm no, not at all…" her voice seemed nervous, Meggy soon widely smiled and looked at Tari with a stare that could pierce rock. "Tari, you look a bit drained. Why don't you go ahead and go get something to eat. Hm?" Tari got more nervous "Uh- no I think I'm fi-" "Tari. I insist." She interrupted, tone a bit stern. "But I… alright…" Tari got up and walked to the kitchen, opening the door a waft of a rotten smell burst through for only a second, causing Saiko to gag. "Oh sorry… we haven't been able to clean out the kitchen yet, ignore the smell." She said with a softer smile… but it felt fake. Meggy spoke up once more… "Why don't we go for a walk on the dunes? Just me and you, hm?" "Why just us…?" Saiko asked… "Why not? We need to catch up, don't we?" She said… Saiko paused for a second and then replied, "Alright then, should we tell Tar?" "No need. She's an adult, we don't need to say anything. Now let's get out there before it gets too cold hm?" With that the two walked outside.

They talked a little about what had been happening recently in each other's lives, a little bit of laughing, a little bit of sorrow… but it felt nice to Saiko. While they were walking among the dunes, she noticed something. A green and golden hat sitting alone in the sand.

Shroomy's hat.

She paused, Meggy looked over at the hat and then directed her gaze at Saiko, who was already running towards it. She picked up the hat and inspected it, it looked damaged. She looked around a bit and saw something… horrifying. Not too far from the hat was Shroomy. A bullet shot through his head and his body picked apart by animals, what you could only assume to be vultures. She felt a presence right behind her, Meggy who was staring at her blankly. "He needed to go ya know." She said… her voice null of emotion. Saiko's eyes widened "You… YOU FUCKING DID THIS!? MEGGY WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU." She screamed angrily. Meggy just… stared… "He's a traitor." "THE HELL YOU MEAN" Saiko shouted back quickly before getting met back with a quickly spoken, angry response, "HE IS A TRAITOR. WREN'S LITTLE FUCKIN SPY. SO, I GOT RID OF HIM." "Spy…? Sp.. SPY!? ARE YOU DENSE. HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. YOU RAT BASTAR-" She was cut off being tackled to the ground, Meggy pinning her down tightly. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND SAI. WITH THAT… ABOMINATION THAT IS HIS OTHER SIDE HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE OFFER. AND HE DID. SO, HE MUST BE TAKEN CARE OF. I DON'T LIKE THE FACT OF YOUR DENIAL SAIKO BICHITARU." She growled… her voiced crazed and rabid. Saiko struggled, but Meggy dug her hands into her arms more causing a yelp from Saiko… Meggy paused… hearing a small rumble come from her stomach… she smiled sadistically… "You know. I've been a bit… low on food. Been given most of it to Tar but… now that I know you're no better than that Shroom… maybe I'll just have a bite." Saiko looked in pain and in confusion for a second before it turned into a small scream, Meggy bit her leg, and started to dig her pointed teeth in… she quickly began to rip her bottom half up, Saiko screamed loudly in pain, crying out for any help, her screams piercing the air like a knife to butter, but it did not pierce anyone's ears. Her legs were torn up brutally, Meggy swallowing each chunk of flesh like a wild animal, eventually getting down to bone… which she tore from Saiko's body, a loud crack being heard as Saiko screamed more, Meggy continuing to eat… Saiko's voice became shrill as her throat hurt from her screaming… crying buckets of tears… the world started to get darker yet darker as she bled out. She felt so betrayed, so angry as the last bits of her life finally gave out, the last thing she saw was Meggy face… still tearing into the last bits of flesh on her detached leg bones.

END. THANK YOU FOR READING.

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Heard they killed Jason Todd again

I saw a post a while back that said Jason is capable of breaking the fourth wall but doesn't because he's pissed the audience voted to kill him. which obviously means he and Deadpool know each other

***

Kate walks out of her bedroom, glances at her kitchen table, and does an immediate about-face.

She exits her room again about a minute later, looking more or less the same.

The scene at her kitchen table is also more or less the same. She scrubs her eyes to see if that makes a difference. It does not.

"You okay?" Wade asks.

Kate thinks about this for a moment. "Yeah. I'm fine." She takes in the two very extremely large men wearing red masks who are armed with swords and several guns apiece, sitting at her table like this is a normal occurrence. "This just seemed like a conversation I was going to want a bra on for."

"That makes sense."

Wade says nothing else. Does not explain why he is in her apartment, or, for that matter, how he is in her apartment, or who his companion is.

"Wade," she says, finally. "How did you get in my apartment? Why are there two of you in my kitchen? Is this an alternate you?" She doesn't wait for an answer because she's noticed something else. "Is someone cooking?"

"I'm making muffins," says the new one. Now that she's waking up, the differences between them are easy to see. His mask is hard, less expressive, and a single color. His voice is also different. He's broader than Wade. He looks like he could stop a semi with the massive breadth of his shoulders. Kate thinks about what a sturdy perch he would make before shoving the thought to the side before she gets distracted

"Sure," she says, once she is no longer thinking about standing on those broad shoulders. "Okay. Why?"

He shrugs. "Seemed like the polite thing to do."

"The polite thing to do was commandeer my kitchen?"

A realization starts sucking at Kate's feet like so much mud, dragging her to a stop as she starts to understand Deadpool's intentions. "Wade, who is this man and why is he here? You better not be ditching some random dude in my apartment."

"Woah, hold on now." Wade holds his hands up in surrender. "He's not some random dude! This is my good buddy, Robin."

Robin (?) sighs in what is clearly exasperation even though none of his face is visible. "Robin? Seriously, Wade?"

"ShhhHH, I told you she'd take it better if you were a bird, shut up!"

Robin heaves another dramatic sigh and moves to the oven, his eyeless mask potentially peering intently into the appliance before he opens it up and pulls out two trays of muffins. She watches as he plates two up and sets them on the table with a butter dish she knows isn't hers.

Wade reaches for them and Robin slaps his hand away.

Wade pouts. Robin comes back with a cup of coffee. Kate sits.

"So you know how we're fictional characters, right?"

Kate doesn't stop eating. "Sure."

"Wait, she knows too?" Robin asks, sounding far too excited for this early in the morning.

"She knows, she just doesn't believe."

"Then how will she--"

"Do I need to believe?" Kate points out.

"Not really," Wade says. "Like I was saying: fictional characters. In Robin's universe, the readers voted to kill him. Again."

"That's fucked up," Kate says before his words really register. "Wait, what do you mean again?"

"They did it years ago when he was an itty bitty teenage sidekick. It was a whole thing."

Kate lets that digest. It doesn't sit particularly well.

"And I know you're wondering Wade, what does this have to do with me, your favorite Hawkeye? Well I'll tell you. I yoinked baby bird here out of his universe to come hang in ours! At least until the writers stop being bitch ass punks."

"And when you say our universe, you mean--"

"With you, yeah."

Kate ponders this for a moment. The muffins are really good.

"You can stay, but you have to cook," she decides. Wade cheers, tugging his mask up to land a kiss on her cheek. She can't help but feel a bit smug about that.

"I'm out of here!" Wade bounces to his feet and is halfway to the window before Kate can process. "Have fun, but not too much fun! And Bird Boy, if you get bored, Hawkeye's dad is some two-bit crime-boss hack, you could use him as an in to take over the criminal underworld again!"

He slams the window shut behind him.

"Take over the criminal underworld again?" Kate repeats. "Does that mean--"

Robin sighs. "I'm a crime lord back home."

He says this like it is a normal thing. Like he's just said he's an accountant back home.

"You're a crime lord named Robin?"

Another sigh. "I was Robin. Now I'm Red Hood."

"Ah. Obviously. Of course." Kate is swiftly losing her ability to deal with this morning and is contemplating relocating back to bed. "Should I call you Red Hood?"

He sighs, reaches up to unlatch something with his helmet, putting it to the side. "My name is Jason."

Kate gawks at him. "No. Absolutely not. You're not allowed to be prettier than me in my own home."

Jason, murdered crime lord, blushes.

Yeah, she can work with this.

[mochegato]

Whiplash

Roy surveyed the bar before making his way in.  It had a good size crowd, active but not boisterous, amiable but not overly friendly.  Definitely the kind of place he could drink in without having to worry about getting pulled into an unwelcome conversation, or a fight.  More importantly, there was an open spot at the bar… next to a beautiful woman.

He moved to take the spot quickly before anyone else realized their mistake at not taking it and ordered a drink.  Again, the universe seemed to have blessed him because the bartender hadn’t been paying attention and had set his drink down so close to the woman’s drink it was almost touching hers.  He waited a beat then reached for his drink at the same time as the woman, which he may or may not have been, but totally was, intentional.  She yanked her hand back like she was afraid he’d snap at her.  “Sorry.”

He shot her his most charming, winning smile.  “No, it’s completely my fault.  I should have been watching where I was reaching.”  He took a sip of his drink to give her a chance to do the same or turn away if she had absolutely no interest, he couldn’t be the only one who had hoped to avoid conversation that night.  He had changed his mind as soon as he saw her, but that didn’t mean she had.

When she continued to smile in his direction, he took it as an invitation to continue.  “My name is Roy,” he started, leaving a lull for her to fill in.

Instead, she hummed and held her drink up to toast him.  “Roy, what a beautiful name.”

He snorted.  Not the response he was expecting, but he had always appreciated a bit of snark.  “Right.  Something I hear all the time.  How beautiful and completely not red neck my name is.”

She smirked at him but quickly schooled her expression into faux seriousness.  “That’s good to hear.  You should hear it often.  Everyone should be told they’re special.”

“I would love to say that about your name,” he coaxed gently.

She shrugged; her eyes darted away as she took another sip.  “I’ve heard it before.  I don’t need to hear it again.  I’d rather hear about something I control, that I did.”

He nodded, pulling back slightly.  That was a feeling he could understand.  He wasn’t a fan of false flattery either… okay, maybe he was a fan of it from women he wanted to hook up with, but not from people he wanted a real relationship with and clearly, this woman wasn’t interested in sycophancy.  “That’s fair.” So, tell me what it is that you do.”

She snorted and raised a disbelieving eyebrow.  “Really?”

“Absolutely,” he nodded confidently.  He turned toward her to prove she had his full attention and waited patiently until she responded.

She looked him over appraisingly, like she wasn’t quite sure if he was worth the distraction from her drink.  “You first.”

Her voice held a hint of challenge that Roy simply could not back down from.  Well, he could, but where would the fun be in that.  “I’m a CIA agent,” he announced dramatically.

She rolled her eyes but then leaned closer.  “Ooohhh, an overt agent.”

He grinned and waved his hand dismissively while he took another sip.  “Secret agents are so Cold War.”

“Tore down the walls and the secrets,” she hummed.

His smile widened impossibly broader and clinked his glass to hers.  “Exactly!  How about you.  What do you do?”

She narrowed her eyes as she thought how to respond, but her lips quirked up in amusement and he knew she wouldn’t refuse.  “Create art,” she finally answered.  Roy nodded as he took in her response.  Again, not the response he’d been expecting.  He’d been expecting something snarky, but he couldn’t be upset about the honesty.  He started to respond but she continued before he could get a sound out.  “… and chaos.  More chaos than art if I’m being honest.”

He barked out a laugh and watched as she tipped her glass up to finish the last of her drink, her lips still quirked up, evidence that she was entirely too entertained with herself, which just made him want to draw her out more.  But when she turned back to face him, he could see it on her face, that she was going to end their time together.  He wasn’t willing to let her do that though.  Not yet.  Talking with her was the most fun he’d had in quite a while, and he really wanted to continue it.  “Let me buy you a drink.”

She eyed him amusedly then hummed and leaned back in her chair, eyes darting away an almost guilty look flashing across her face.  “I don't think that's a good idea.”

“Why not?” he asked.  His voice was kept intentionally light, non-accusatory, non-demanding.  He was having fun and he wanted to keep having fun not pressure her.

She kept her eyes on her glass as she responded, but her body continued to face him.  “Might give you the wrong idea.”

“Oh?  What idea is that?”  Again, his tone teasing and light.

She continued to watch the glass in her hand as if it might answer the question for her.  When no answer came forth after a full minute, she finally spoke up.  “That I'm looking for a relationship.”  He took a beat to register what she said.  He had loved their interaction so far and would love to try for a relationship, but he was also willing to take whatever she was willing to give him.

He opened his mouth to offer something less serious, but she cut in before he could.  “Or a situationship,” she continued, as if she could read his mind.  He bobbed his head to the side and opened his mouth again, but she cut in yet again.  “Or a one-night stand.”

He chuckled and nodded.  Message received crystal clear.  She was not interested in him.  But he still wanted to give one last push.  “And you're not?”

“I'm not. Not right now. Not yet,” she answered quietly.

He nodded and looked away to mask his disappointment.  When he looked back, any remaining disappointment dissolved.  Her eyes had unfocused, a flash of something close to the haunted look he was all too familiar with appeared and was gone almost instantaneously.  It was that look that convinced him she really did mean what she’d said.  It wasn’t him.  She was working through something on her own, but damn if he didn’t want to help her get through it and lose that haunted look.  “How about a non-committal drink?  No expectations, not even to talk.  Just to make your night better.  I'll even walk away while you drink it.”

“No.  I'm not ready for that either,” she finally returned her sad eyes to his.  “But thank you, sincerely.  You should stay.  I’ll walk away.  I wasn’t planning on being out long tonight anyway.”

Seeing the troubled look full on was harder than he expected, doubling his desire to make her smile.  “I didn’t mean to scare you off.  I’m sorry if I came on too strong.  I tend to talk without thinking… if I’m being honest, I do a lot of things without thinking.  It’s not uncommon,” he joked.

If nothing else, he could walk away feeling like he’d taken a step toward his goal, because her mirthless look dissolved into giggles.  “You absolutely did not… scare me off that is,” she assured him genuinely.  She took a moment to think about it, cocking her head to the side as she studied him.  “Or come on too strong.  In fact, you have been the highlight of my night, month… past few actually.  I’ve really enjoyed talking with you.”

“I’d give you my number for when you are ready… but I get the feeling you’re not ready for that either,” he offered.  There was a bit of hope in his gaze, her giggles earlier had been a good sign, but likely not enough.  Healing was never easy even for the healthiest people.

Her smile dampened, but she kept her eye contact, not shrinking from him this time.  “No.  But I do hope you have a good night.”

He reached out like he was going to pat her arm but pulled back at the last moment and patted the bar instead with a mirroring smile.  “You too, beautiful.”

He shifted his eyes to his glass to remove any pressure or make her leaving awkward.  And yes, he knew he should have shifted his body from facing her as well, but he didn’t want her to think he was dismissing her, leaving him in this awkward position, body open and face diverted.  If Oliver could see him, he’d be appalled at his lack of vigilance while leaving himself so open.  To be clear, he could still track movement around him, in fact, better than if he had fully turned to the bar, but Oliver never lost a chance to lecture him.

He didn’t regret the decision though, because from his periphery he could see her stand then hesitate, almost sitting back down, which got his heart racing at the possibility, but ultimately she pushed away from the bar only to pause so a crowd of people could pass.  He consciously forced himself to stop registering her movements and ordered another drink, giving himself a second to recover his pride.

Typically, he wouldn’t have let the rejection affect him, especially from a random woman in a random bar when he hadn’t been looking for anything anyway, and especially when she’d let him down so graciously, making it incredibly clear it wasn’t about him.  But he’d thought there was a connection and a spark and for a moment he’d had hope.

Suddenly, his world was rocked by a force colliding with him, pressing flush against his body and wrapping their arms around his middle in a tight hug before he could even react.  “Mon amor!  I missed you.”

Roy blinked down at the figure, his arms wrapping loosely around her before his conscious mind registered that it was the French Fire Flower who had launched herself into his arms.  Once his brain fully caught up with the situation, he smirked down at her.  “Not that I’m objecting, but I’m getting a bit of whiplash here.”

It was only then that he noted the alarm in her eyes.  “Please,” she pleaded quietly.

His arms tightened around her automatically, like a Pavlovian response to that combination of her wide eyes and anxious tone.  His eyes flicked over her shoulder and instantly spotted someone shoving people out of the way on their way toward them.  He kept his body and face pointed toward her but carefully tracked the man’s movements.  “That asshole the reason you’re not ready to date yet?”

She nodded so minutely he wouldn’t have picked up on it if he hadn’t also heard a whispered, “Yes.”

He leaned down like he was whispering sweet nothings to his long-missed lover, only partially pretending to be lost in her touch, as he tenderly ran his hands through her hair.  “How long ago was the breakup?”

She swallowed heavily and took a moment before she answered.  “A few months.  Um… like four.”

He grunted and leaned close enough for his lips to ghost over her ear.  “And he’s crawling back?”

“More like creeping back like Jason Voorhes,” she grumbled.  “Just keeps coming back no matter how many times I shut him out and more aggressively each time.”

“Hey, fucker!  Get your hands off my girlfriend!” the man roared the instant he broke through the last of the groups around them.

The moment the words started coming out of his mouth Roy could feel the woman freeze and almost cower away from his anger.  Roy eyed him up and down, an icy hardness in his gaze as he stood and pushed her slightly behind him, but still keeping her hugged up against his side.  The man was smaller than Roy, not in height, but in breadth.  Where the man was lithe and fit, Roy was muscular and solid.  The comparison became more apparent when Roy turned to face off against the man.  “Excuse me?” he growled.

To his credit, the man only slightly faltered, almost imperceptibly and seemed to recover quickly.  “I said,” he reiterated, standing up even taller to glare back at Roy, “Get.  Your.  Hands.  Off.  My.  Girlfriend.”

Roy could feel her groan more than hear it.  She opened her mouth to bite back but Roy interrupted before she could.  “I’ll touch my wife however and whenever I want to.  That’s why I married her in the first place.”

Her eyes widened and her body stiffened for just a moment, but thankfully she appeared to recover quickly, pasting on a smile and pretended to melt into his side.  It was convincing enough the tension could easily be written off as due to the confrontation, not an unexpected lie.

“You got fucking married?” He demanded glaring at her.  He tried to shove into her space, but Roy moved again moving in his path and stepping forward, forcing him to retreat a step, which only seemed to infuriate the man further.  He tried to peer around Roy to get close to her, but no matter how far he leaned, Roy met his movement.

“I did,” Roy answered with a cutting smile.

His eyes snapped to Roy’s.  It was almost comical how red his face got from those two words.  Roy’s smile got sharper at the reaction.  If there was one thing he’d always been good at, it was knowing how to piss someone else off.  “I wasn’t talking to you, asshole!”

At that comment, she refused to let Roy respond and piped up before he could.  “Do not call my husband an asshole,” she hissed.  Roy’s smile turned genuine and pulled her back into his side before dropped a kiss on the crown of her head.

“What the fuck!?!  Marinette, baby.  What is going on?  You… we were going to get married, have a family!  What about our five kids?  Baby, I still want them with you.”  His voice was velvety smooth, his eyes pleading and contrite.

Roy braced himself for Marinette to fall for it.  He wouldn’t blame her, really.  If Roy hadn’t seen ploys like it from spies trying to secure information and women trying to lure Dick into a relationship, he might have believed it was authentic as well.  But he was praying to whatever deity existed out there that she didn’t fall for it.  He didn’t know her well, but even if he hadn’t been able to tell she was creative, funny, kind, and sweet, nobody should end up with a dirtbag like that guy.

But even from their short interaction so far, he knew that she was all those things and more and deserved someone better.  She’d clearly known that at some point because she’d dropped his loser ass, but he knew from personal experience how easy it was to fall back into toxic relationships.  He squeezed her, hoping to transfer some strength, because if she fell for it, he had no idea how he was going to talk her out of it.

By some miracle, his effort seemed to have an effect.  Marinette stiffened in his arms and leaned into him for a second before lashing out at her ex, pushing into his space with all five foot four inches of her ready to fight.  “You wanted five kids, and if you still want them, I’d suggest trying for them with Sarah or Sandra, or whatever her name was.  I’m afraid I didn’t catch her name before she rushed out of the room to get dressed.”

Roy barely controlled his reaction, somehow managing to keep it to a rough exhale when he wanted to guffaw loud enough for the bouncer outside to hear him.  He squeezed her hip again, this time in a show of support and approval of her cheek and hoped she understood the message despite not knowing him well enough to have learned the difference in touches.

“Baby, I love you,” the ex cooed.  He reached out for Marinette to graze his fingers along her jaw but Marinette jerked her head back, inadvertently burrowing further into Roy’s chest.  The ex’s eyes narrowed at the action, but he quickly covered it with a penitent expression.  “It was just a mistake.  She was a mistake.  She meant nothing to me.”

“She clearly meant more to you than our relationship,” Marinette scoffed.  She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, which again brought her further into Roy’s embrace.

His lips thinned and his jaw tightened, but this time he was a few beats slower to mask it before responding.  “Baby, I…”

“Cheating on someone as amazing as her?” Roy cut in, drawing the ex’s attention to him instead of Marinette.  She wasn’t in this alone and he wasn’t going to let her face his ire alone.  “How stupid do you have to be?  I’ve been self-destructive before, and I mean self-destructive, but even at rock bottom, I wouldn’t have been that dumb.  But I guess there are just some guys that would cheat and some that wouldn’t.”

“You can stay the fuck out of this.  You don’t know me!” the ex roared at Roy, completely losing is composure and not even bothering to try to mask his anger and frustration like he had before.

“And I never will,” Roy granted with a slight taunt in his voice.

“And I wish I never did,” Marinette agreed.  She sighed heavily and lost the rigidity in her stance, slumping slightly and shifting some of her weight onto Roy, who shouldered it effortlessly.  “Leave, Noah.  This,” she motioned between them without meeting his eyes which were now wide in mock supplication, “is never happening.  We aren’t some star-crossed love story, riddled with misunderstandings and miscommunications.  You aren’t the romantic lead.  You’re the asshole I leave before my life gets better.”

His eyes instantly went from pleading to hard and hateful.  “Gets better,” he spit.  “You won’t be able to find better than what I gave you.  You were always a bitch I had to put up with.  I was only with you out of pity because nobody else would want you, not for more than a cheap fuck.  In two months, you’ll be alone again and crawling back because nobody else would ever really want you.”

“Okay, that’s it,” Roy growled.  He pushed Marinette behind him and punched Noah in one smooth motion, not giving Noah the chance to anticipate the action.  He hit him hard enough to lay him out on the floor with one punch.  “Nobody speaks like that to my wife,” he roared over Noah’s prone body.

“Mon dieu!  Are you okay?” Marinette exclaimed.  She rushed around Roy to survey the damage and Roy felt his heart sink as he saw her panicked expression.  He’d not only given her a front row seat to him being violent, an aspect of himself he tried to save for when he was suited up, he’d hit someone who had been important to her.  They hadn’t had enough time for him to show her he was more than just some crazy, aggressive neanderthal.

He almost definitely just completely destroyed any chance he had.  But regardless, he refused to regret it.  That man was the worst kind of filth.  The kind that thought they were allowed to treat the people around them like they were disposable.  The kind that thought they were inherently better than everyone else while the only evidence of that they could provide was their own bad behavior.  The kind that were destined to be miserable and spread that misery to everyone around them.

He almost jumped when he felt delicate hands gently grasp his hand and lift it closer to her face so she could examine it, close enough, he could feel her breath on his skin.  She tenderly brushed her fingers along the back of his hand and over his fingers only to turn it over and continue the pattern on the other side as well.  Her fingers barely pressed hard enough for him to feel them, but they still electrified his skin, shooting jolts through him and stealing his breath.  He managed to tear his gaze from tracing her fingers to meet her eyes.

“You're asking him?” Noah screeched as he attempted to get back up, swaying slightly, still reeling from the punch.

Roy flexed his hand a few times to stretch out the muscles, never removing his hand or gaze from hers.  “I’ll be fine,” he assured her.  “I know how to throw a punch.”

Marinette dropped her eyes to his hand again, a concerned wrinkle developing the longer she examined it.  “Wait just a second!” she exclaimed then turned to the bar.

Roy followed her movements, not noticing the small, sappy smile tugging up the corners of his lips, but he did notice Noah finally managing to raise up to his feet.  He managed to tear his eyes from Marinette to fix him with a withering glare threatening enough to make Noah falter almost tripping over a chair behind him, only managing to catch himself at the last minute.

“Ever disrespect my wife like that again and it’ll be a year before you can walk out of the hospital, if you even ever can use your legs again.  In fact, I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself if I ever even see you around her at all.  So, I would highly recommend you just disappear from her life.  Assholes like you are a dime a dozen and that’s after inflation and still overpriced.”

Noah glared back but Roy straightened up even further and flexed his fist.  The movement didn’t go unnoticed.  He held his ground for just a few seconds before scoffing.  “She’s not even worth the time I spent on her anyway.”  Roy jerked toward him and Noah scattered like a cat seeing a cucumber.

Marinette returned just as Noah had disappeared into the crowd.  She didn’t even seem to notice he was gone, let alone look for him, just focused on Roy’s hand.  She ushered him back to his seat and gently lifted his hand onto the bar and delicately set the ice on it not meeting his gaze.  “I’m so sorry for that!  I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.  If I’d known you might be in danger, I never would have…”

“Hey,” he dipped down until he could meet her eyes and smiled, “I’m fine.  Thank you for the ice.  It was sweet of you to take care of me.”  He motioned to the chair she’d been sitting in earlier for her and helped ease her into it.  “Are you okay?”

“You're the one that's bloody!” she exclaimed, almost getting back up to drive home her point.

“But you're the one that he was trying to hurt,” he pointed out.  He intentionally kept his voice smooth and calm hoping to sooth her nerves, as though his tranquility could be absorbed like osmosis.

She still wouldn’t meet his eyes, instead unnecessarily adjusting the bag of ice to better cover his knuckles.  He used the distraction to motion to the bartender for another round of drinks. “Yeah, it happens,” she finally shrugged.  “Not the worst I’ve heard.”

“That's a goddamned tragedy,” he hooked a finger under her chin to urge her face up to meet his gaze, “because you're amazing and he’s nothing more than an asshole.  And, not to scare you but after hearing that, I kind of wish I’d hit him harder…” he winced thinking about how hard the man had gone down.  He wasn’t looking to go to prison.  How was he supposed to convince this amazing woman to date him from prison.  “…maybe not harder.  But a few more times with the same force if it would make you feel safe and erase your frown.”

She scoffed and turned to focus on the glass that just appeared before her, but after a beat glanced up through her lashes and offered a weak smile.  “Thanks.  But to be honest, his words don’t really hurt anymore.”

He nodded and pushed her drink toward her.  “Good.  I’d say you’re a hundred times him, but at best he’s worthless, and any number times zero is zero, so that wouldn’t be accurate.”

She snorted and took a drink.  She stared at the drink for a second before glancing at him from the side and smirking.  “They teach you math like that at spy camp?”

For the first time since Noah had appeared, Roy smiled, a full, toothy, joyous smile.  He nodded.  “It’s day two.  Right after how to punch assholes and use those little cigarette lighter camera things they used to have.”

Her laugh permeated through him straight to his core and warmed his entire body like stoking the hearth.  She tipped up her glass to finish off the drink and took a fortifying breath before turning to him.  “I think I’m ready to take your number… and give you mine.”  Her voice wavered slightly, but there was still a determined chord running through it.

He blinked at her comment, a bit caught off guard, but a slow smile spread across his lips.  “Yeah?”

“Yeah.  I think I should have my husband’s number after all,” she added shyly.

His smile turned into a full-on grin.  “Not to push my luck, but can I have my wife’s name as well?”  He’d heard her name from her ex yelling it, but he wanted it to come from her.  He wanted her to entrust him with that part of herself.  “Or should I just give you mine to take.”

“It’ll get a bit confusing if we both are called Roy,” she observed overly innocently.  He rolled his eyes, but his lips stuck in their amused slant.  “I better stick with Marinette,” she shrugged.  He inhaled like he was going to start speaking but let it out silently instead.  She raised an eyebrow at him.  “No witty comment?  Have I dumbfounded you with my name?”

He shook his head slowly.  “I know better than to tell you how beautiful your name is, but I do think it could be better.”

“You don’t like my name?” she asked.  The uncertainty in her voice cut directly into Roy’s heart.

“I do,” he granted quickly, before she could ruminate too long in her misperception.  He shifted closer, crowding into her space, his knees brushing on either side of hers, his eyes intently focused.  “It’s beautiful, just like you, I just think Marinette Harper sounds even more beautiful,” he smirked.

Her heart stuttered at the low, confidence in his voice.  She took a breath before returning his smirk and leaning toward him.  “And what makes you think I’ll take your name?”

“You won’t tell me your last name, so…” he inhaled dramatically through gritted teeth and shrugged helplessly, “we’re going to have to use mine.  No choice.”

“Oh, so tragic,” she commiserated.

“It truly is,” he agreed sadly.

The smile that had spread at his comment eventually eased into a quieter one.  She straightened up and held her phone out for him.  “I really do have to get going, but I really would like to get your number.”  Roy looked from the phone to her a few times before entering the number and standing as he returned it.  Marinette glanced down at the phone and smiled.  “Sexy Husband?” she asked.

He grinned brilliantly and held his hand out for her.  “So you don’t get confused.  And for the record, I have no intention of letting my wife go home alone.”  When she hesitated, he quickly clarified, “not while your ex might be waiting outside the bar or your place to ambush you.  But I will if you want.”

Her smile returned, content and genuine and she took his outstretched hand.  “Thank you.  I’d like that very much.”

@maribat-calendar-events

[beevean]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.beyondgames.biz/43436/from-vampire-video-game-to-hit-netflix-animation-an-interview-with-the-castlevania-nocturne-creator/%3famp=1

This...should also be interesting

man you're having fun sending me peak :P

This got a bit long, so under the cut it is - I'm also afraid I'm annoying others with this lol

Castlevania, the long-running and influential platform game series launched by Konami in 1986, follows the generations-long battle between the Belmont family and vampire lord Dracula. The Castlevania TV show told that story across four seasons.

This is a lie. Not only the og show only adapted one adventure and not the entire legacy, but that adventure barely took half of the runtime.

Yes I'm being petty, but can you blame me? They can't even gush about Best Videogame Adaptation Of All Time right.

I didn’t know the games, but I’d seen the earlier [Castlevania] show and liked it very much.

I had no doubts 🙂

Even as a fan of the show, though, Bradley's knowledge is lacking. Dude forgot basic worldbuilding like Devil Forging and the effect of crosses on vampires.

"Konami also gets sent notes and the scripts." I find funny how there is zero mention of their input lol. "yeah they get kinda warned that we're doing stuff with their brand. just in case someone cares"

I did quite a bit of reading up about it, especially the two games in particular. One of the difficulties in terms of working out a story is that in many of the games, including these two, Dracula was prominent. But in the original TV series, the Dracula story is kind of put to bed! Dracula gets a happy ending after season four. So I had to work out how – or whether – to handle Dracula. I started looking into other villains. There were two. I researched the games and cherry-picked what I could use. Olrox is in the game, but he’s different. And there’s Erzsebet Báthory, who appears in a different Castlevania game with an Anglicised name. I knew who she was already: she’s a famous historical figure. I decided to treat her as the historical character (who’s supposedly the worst female serial killer in history – [folklore] turned her into a vampire).

Nice to see Bradley has learned from Ellis' school of thought of just randomly selecting elements you might recycle with no further consideration. I'm surprised he chose Erzsebet and not, say, Barlowe, who was definitely alive back then.

To be fair, though, I can understand his frustration at the absolute idiotic ending of the og show.

[The Deats brothers] know how to use things from the games creatively and in ways that will work even if you don’t know the games.

... no. Moving on.

There is a character called Annette in Rondo Of Blood who is Richter’s girlfriend. She’s trapped in Dracula’s castle, and he has to rescue her in the game. Now, I was never going to do an eight-episode season, never mind two seasons or more, of Richter running around a castle rescuing a girl.

I can just hear the scoffing.

Alright, fair, I understand his point. You want a more dynamic plot, I get it. But you basically went "this is shit, I'll just turn her into my OC", just like you did with Olrox and Erzsebet, and just like Ellis did with pretty much everyone in the cast. You all just take names and create your own stories by leeching off the popularity of the source material and then expect to be clapped for writing the Best Adaptation of all time.

One of the tasks in developing the show and its story is that, of course, the reason it exists at all is because of the game. So you want to please fans of the game. But it can’t only be for fans of the game. It has to have a broader appeal. There’s a significant fan base, but you need more to justify a Netflix show. You have to have something that will work for a wider audience. It has to be something on its own, and you have to find the logic of the story that you started to tell. Sometimes, the problem with adaptations (especially if they aren’t very complex stories to begin with) is that if you keep trying just to come back to that, you’re going to lock yourself into a dead end. What you do is you develop characters and then the characters have a logic. And the story has its own logic. And you have to allow that to happen, or it will fail on every level.

... so, what was I saying?

This speaks for itself. I have nothing to add.

The name seems to work for a Mexica background – although it’s not really Aztec

the fuck are you saying? Olrox is a mistranslation of Orlok. It's German! What, just because there's an X there suddenly it can pass off for Aztec? So much for hiring writers that can help you with writing other cultures

So we have a bunch of kids who are out of their depth. Richter’s too cocky. He thinks he can handle everything, and he can’t. Maria is even younger than Richter and Annette. They’re all very obviously out of their depth. And there’s something very Buffy about that, in a way.

And Annette is just perfect, isn't she :) it's not like her brash outburst lead to Edouard becoming a Night Creature and she, instead of blaming herself, kept snapping at Richter for wanting to make her reason :)

also lol that Maria is only described as "young". She really has no personality and contributes nothing to the story.

There’s a lot of that in Olrox, and Drolta also has a touch of Anne Rice about her. Those particular vampires are quite ambiguous – and sexy!

Drolta is literally what the fandom believes game Isaac to be, a shallow evil horndog simp, but with tits. Ambiguous my ass.

We knew that the vampires in this universe are aristocratic.

bro accidentally wrote a story about vampires infiltrating human nobility to the point of becoming an accepted part of their world because he forgot that not all vampires are inherently aristocratic. i'm shitting myself.

The Night Creatures are in the old Castlevania show, and the game. But they tended to be a bit gross-looking. In contrast, we wanted something a bit more beautiful. It fits with the story about [transformed singer] Eduard. It felt important that in his Night Creature form, you could still see the beauty of the character. He needed to be a beautiful Night Creature, preserving his voice, and you needed to see the sadness in his eyes and everything. And he couldn’t be stupidly different from all the other Night Creatures, so they changed a little, too.

... what?

So you fucked over the entire lore of Night Creatures just to have a pretty Edouard??

I. No. Moving on again.

(also this is an insult to abel, even the one in the show)

There’s been less complaint about the portrayal of the Church than I thought there might be!

Yeah, because the audience of NFCV is so anti church that they cheer at the sight of the Devil sending human-eating demons to slaughter peasants who did not stop one execution.

Talk us through some of the other characters, please. You’ve got some great voice actors! Alucard was always going to be in it right from the beginning of working on this. The question was just when. We decided to end it on a cliffhanger. If you’re going to have a cliffhanger, you might as well make it as good a cliffhanger!

question: hey would you like to talk about the voice actors

bradley, not containing his boner: OMG HAVE YOU SEEN ALUCARD ALUCARD IS SO COOL WE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO BACK TO ALUCARD THE ONLY CHARACTER PEOPLE CARE ABOUT

One of the things that was great with this – and it’s a credit to Kevin Kolde and to Netflix – is that it is a very ‘free’ adaptation. They were very open to that and okay with it. Nobody at any level was saying, ‘Hold on a minute! You can’t do that.’ With any adaptation, there are things which you probably want to be more faithful to, because the story is already so great.

... is it me, or does it seem like he's saying "we were free to do as we pleased, while usually we can't because the OG story is already great - which was not our case, RoB's story was so shallow that nothing was worth keeping"?

Like. I don't think it's what he meant because it would be rude as fuck. But it sure sounds like it.

But yeah, I can tell no one gave a shit about Nocturne being an actual adaptation.

[astra-galaxie]

🏳️‍🌈👽🫂💔🔪🎭😬😶 for yann toussaint please :) (i just love his character so much so don't judge me!)

I would never judge you for suggesting Yann! Now, some other characters… There might be some judgment!😉

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

Yann strikes me as bisexual or even pansexual. He's seen many forms of love while travelling the world, and while some surprised him at first, he always took the time to learn before making assumptions. This led to a better, broader understanding of how love is viewed and displayed across cultures and helped him define his sexuality.

👽 A headcanon about a weird quirk of there

Yann has a habit of not cleaning out his coffee mug—at least not after each use. While he's never gone more than a few days without cleaning his mug, Yann often forgets to clean it. He always has a pot of coffee brewing and fills his mug as needed, which also means it's rarely empty. Frank likes to tease Yann that he's trying to keep his mug “seasoned” like a cast iron skillet.

🫂 A friendship headcanon

Yann is one of the best friends anyone could ask for. He's loyal, kind, funny, and caring. He's also very much the “Dad” friend, even before he became a father. Yann is always ready to help his friends and be there for them, whether helping someone move or being a shoulder to cry on.

💔 An angsty headcanon

Yann blames himself for Dinah Cooper’s death. He believes he is responsible because he put that letter in the newspaper to The Puppeteer and made them start killing parents again. Yann wonders if Dinah would still be alive if he had never written that letter and hates himself for robbing another young boy of his mother. He can't even bring himself to face Blake or Louie and apologize for being the reason Dinah is dead, but he hopes that maybe one day, he will have the courage to confess.

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence

Yann tries to avoid violence, choosing to deal with confrontation through words instead of fighting. But if you push him to fight, he will defend himself. He's learned the basics of various fighting styles and knows how to protect himself and others. He won't start a fight, but he WILL finish it!

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

Yann rarely lies unless it's for a good reason. But he will regularly lie about how much coffee he's drank in one day. While everyone knows Yann is a coffee addict, most don't know his record for one day…

(It's 10 cups. Jessica was not very pleased when she found out, as Yann's heart was beating so fast that she thought it would stop!)

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

While not specifically one thing, the worst Yann has ever done was after his parents were murdered, he became hostile, cold, and angry. He would lash out at others and pick fights with kids at school. It got so bad that the Principal recommended that he be transferred to a reform school to try to correct his sudden behaviour change. Thankfully, Yann got put back on the right path before that needed to happen, and he turned his life around. Travelling the world also helped him, but to this day, Yann hates who he was as a teenager and regrets letting his grief consume his life and almost ruin it in the process.

😶 A random headcanon!

He's a slight hoarder. Not in the sense of keeping trash and never throwing anything away, but Yann struggles to get rid of sentimental things. Whether it be a drawing one of his kids made, a broken toy or an old book, Yann finds precious memories in nearly everything. As such, he tends to keep things for a long time and can't let go of them for fear he will lose the memories along with them. Jessica helps him do some spring cleaning each year, during which they go through some of his stuff and find things to throw out or donate. It's never easy for Yann to let go of something from the past, but knowing they can help others make memories like they did for him helps.

And there you have it! Some sweet and angsty headcanons for Yann! I hope you liked them and thanks for the request, Liz!

[thelazyhermits]

I always love the chaos that involves Jade's entertainment, especially with Yuu included. Also, will there ever be a day where Jade is flustered/embarrass by Yuu?

Same. It's always fun writing scenes where Jade has fun messing with others, especially if it entails him being extra friendly with Yuu since I love riling up the easily flustered guys lol 😂

That is a very good question. Sadly, up until this point, I haven't written flustered/embarrassed Jade cause the man is just not easy to fluster, so I can't have that kinda fun with him as easily as I do with guys like Deuce, Idia, and Sebek lol

For guys like the Tweels, I have to really work for it in order to get those kinda scenes cause they're not gonna let someone get the upperhand over them easily haha

While I haven't actually written it, I have thought of a scenario that results in Jade getting embarrassed, which takes place either before Book 3 or between Books 3 and 4. I'll put it underneath the cut.

The scenario involves the Tweels taking a page from the Hitachiin twins book and pretending to be each other one day at work in order to prank Yuu and mess with her.

Apparently, Floyd has a voice line where he perfectly impersonates Jade, so I really think those two could pretend to be each other and fool pretty much everyone sans Azul and Yuu.

Unfortunately for them, Yuu is the type who pays very close attention to people, and that's especially the case when the Tweels are concerned cause she considers them to be dangerous enough that they require even more of her attention than regular people.

As a result, Yuu has picked up on all the little ways that differentiate the two, so she can tell them apart without any trouble.

Of course, it also helps that the twins didn't bother doing anything about their eyes cause normally only Azul can tell them apart just based on the colors of their eyes since the only thing most people pay attention to in order to tell them apart are their dark hair strands, so they didn't stand a chance against Yuu lol

Naturally, Floyd and Jade don't immediately surrender once Yuu points this out since they still think they have a chance of fooling her and making her think she's just misremembering their eye colors.

This leads to Yuu cupping a surprised Jade's face after one moment when he brings his face close to hers since that's something people would expect Floyd to do rather than the always polite Jade.

After gently grabbing Jade's face, Yuu proceeds to reel off all his physical characteristics that differentiate him from Floyd, such as the slight differences between their ears, noses, etc.

She also points out that Jade's teeth are more needle-like than Floyd's teetch which are broader like shark teeth.

During this time, Yuu ends up casually complimenting Jade's attractive features as she's pointing them out since that kinda thing just comes naturally to her.

By the time she finally finishes explaining how Jade can't possibly be Floyd, Yuu moves his hair strand back to its rightful spot and gives him a warm smile. "Much better."

Within seconds after she does that, Floyd, who has given up on the charade by this point, promptly glomps her and starts whining about how it's so unfair that she's only flirting with Jade. "Flirt with me too, Shrimpy!"

Yuu has no idea what he's talking about and denies that she was flirting with Jade. She then turns to look at Jade to get him to back her up on this.

However, much to her surprise, when she returns her attention to Jade, she discovers that he has turned his back to her and is now hiding his face behind his hands.

Since Jade is noticeably trembling and doesn't respond when she worriedly calls out his name, Yuu asks Floyd what's going on with his brother.

Floyd only spares Jade a brief glance before revealing that Jade is fine. He's just embarrassed. Just give him a few minutes, and he'll be back to normal.

To say Yuu was dumbfounded by that turn of events would be a severe understatement lol 😂

[compacflt]

I was wondering if you had thoughts about how Ice and Mav's politics don't fully align with their actions? There was a post where you said Ice's politics are more socially liberal than Mav's but Mav is also the one who goes out to La Jolla to hit on guys before Ice, and later again when he's broken up with Ice, but Ice only goes out with women out of fear for his honor or whatever. Same with their respective thoughts on feminism, with Mav's mild respect for Charlie (telling Ice not all women fit the stereotype) but later Ice is the one who sends Juno to Mav's Top Gun class without telling him she's a woman and Ice has a respectful friendship with Juno. I think you said Ice is vaguely on the ace-aro spectrum (demi-homoromantic) which is a sort of fascinating irony that he doesn't have the words for it whereas Mav is the one with the theories about Ice's sexuality. Though with their hypocrisies and inconsistencies this all just feeds into their characterizations of the fact that they keep divorcing their actions from their spoken words from their identities.

okay going to take this point by point

1. yes i have addressed their politics in relation to their actions before, so maybe read this post and this post before you read this one, just to see where my other thoughts line up

2. gay republicans and conservatives do exist (at the very least certainly republicans and conservatives who have gay sex in secret)

3. before maverick is a political actor he is a human being, and the characterization that we are primarily given for him is that he is impulsive and reckless and doesn’t think through his actions. As ive written about many times before—from a story construction standpoint, his thoughtlessness is his number one most important character trait. He is both thoughtlessly dangerous (his hero’s “fatal flaw;” he can’t stop himself from making bad decisions) and thoughtlessly brilliant (the navy’s best and most daring and heroic pilot). He does what he wants without thinking about it; and he makes excuses and hollow promises whenever that plan doesn’t work out (“I know better than that. It will never ever happen again;” [it happens again] “I’m not gonna let you down. I promise.” [goose dies shortly thereafter]). His thoughtless impulsiveness overrides everything else. Maybe the act of having gay sex (to address your “he gets fucked in La Jolla before ice” point) is politically subversive, but for Maverick’s thoughtless character that we are shown in Top Gun, the most subversive possible thing would be to LABEL the gay sex and think through the consequences of it. To call a spade a spade and call himself gay or bi or queer or whatever. That would be the most subversive (and with mav, entirely unbelievable imo) possible thing. That takes conscious effort of thought, something maverick is near-incapable of doing. As long as he can get away with it without thinking about it, he’s politically in the clear, with regards to his character & character arc. If that makes sense. “Don’t think. Just do.” That’s literally his motto lmfao. He represents thoughtless action as an archetype; his politics come secondary to his desires

4. Their “respective thoughts on feminism” are divided into two camps: 1. “Professional as required by the law” and 2. “Sex pest mode.” They’re naval officers in the 1980s. Whether republican or democrat, that’s kind of par for the course. How men treat women can be a performance to other men. Any respect i made them show towards women had broader, more metatextual “need to move the conversation/story from A to B” reasoning behind it. See the first post I linked for much more on that.

5. i never said ice was on the ace/aro spectrum, or if i did i DEFINITELY meant it sarcastically. That could not be further from what i believe. This isn’t something I’ve ever discussed on this blog before, but a MASSIVE part of the philosophical discussion I’ve been trying to moderate within this project over the last year is the question— “do labels even work with characters under these very specific and extraordinarily extreme conditions and societal pressures?” It’s a question I took from my time studying early American history—the contexts of certain environments, and I would definitely count the elite officer ranks of the navy in the 90s and 2000s as one of these certain environments, simply Are Not Conducive to the easier (path of least resistance maybe) ways we civilians handle sexuality and friendship and trauma. There are so many variables and external and internal pressures within an environment like the upper ranks of career navy officers that sexual orientation labels lose all nuance and accuracy. I don’t think Ice (as i have written him) is gay. I don’t think he’s straight. I don’t think he’s bi. I think he’s an unlabelable product of too many variables for labels to have any effect on how he is perceived. Which, in our society built around labels and categories, is admittedly difficult to wrestle with. But doesn’t make it any less worth wrestling with.

6. Yes, ice and mav’s hypocrisy is the linchpin of the entire story.

They’re both trying to have their cake (“honor” and moral superiority based on the harmful traditional subjective morals arbitrated by elite navy officership) and eat it too (a fulfilling relationship with the love of their lives). & the point is that they cant. they have to settle for one.

[tracybirds]

*waves* inspiration hit twenty minutes before bedtime and it is now.... uh past that >< I just felt like writing and so is this a thinly vieled excuse to use John as a vehicle to gush about the universe? Yes. Yes this is :) ENjoy <3

---

The aurora shimmered high in the atmosphere, an ephemeral dance of electric charge.

In a blink, the ghostly green had vanished and the space station began to hum in John’s ears once more.

“Was the view satisfactory?” asked EOS, zipping around the corner on her track.

“Wonderful,” said John, still reeling in awe. “It always is. One day, I’ll need to see it on Earth.

“It is more logical to view it from the station,” said EOS. “Your view is optimal to gather data, the station provides the necessary computing power to make analysis. Not to mention the environmental controls are specifically aligned to your personal preferences.”

John laughed. “You never know, being frozen solid might enhance the experience.”

“Well, I don’t have any information that supports that statement,” said EOS, her tone rather stiff. “And I don’t see what’s so important about some silly lights. You see them every day.”

“Not these lights,” said John, still smiling. “These lights are special, did you see how they move?”

“The same light is emitted from the sun continuously.”

“Not the same.”

“Yes, the same!” If EOS could stomp a foot, John thought she would. “My sensors do not detect any distinction between the lights emitted below and the wavelengths of visible light emitted from the sun. In fact the sun ought to take more of your attention as the light emitted there covers a far broader range of data.”

John shrugged. “Maybe it’s the phenomenon itself that’s special, not the lights. You don’t find it incredible that such a thing is possible?”

“No, and neither should you. The phenomenon happens because the physical laws of the universe are consistent. How is this surprising?”

“It’s not that it’s surprising…” said John. EOS didn’t know it, but they’d once again stumbled onto an experience that John didn’t have words for, one that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to explain even if the other person knew exactly how he felt.

How could he begin describe how desperately he wanted to know the universe? How deeply he loved it? How knowing and loving were intrinsically entwined and how in mastering the secrets that drove it only made him feel as though he was just beginning to see clearly for the first time?

“You remember how we talked about emotions?” he asked quietly. “How they seemed intangible but their effects were concrete? Remember how fantastic that sounded to you?”

“I understand their mechanics now, John, I’m not a child.”

“I know,” he said with a smile. “But don’t you remember how exciting it was to start to label your own experiences with that framework? To look back and get to say you’ve felt happy or sad.”

“Yes.”

John turned back to the stars, watching their apparent motion above and below.

“The aurora are like that for me,” said John. “Oh, I know the theory. I know how it works and why. I know that there’s no real difference between the visible light emitted by excited atoms and the visible light emitted by the sun, other than the wavelengths and intensities. Light is light is light.”

“But I study phenomena I may never truly witness. So much of my life is built on snapshots that stretch back to the dawn of our universe, events that take several thousand lifetimes to occur. I’ll never see it all.”

John pointed down at the Earth.

“That, though, that I can see. That’s physics happening right in front of me, just a whisper of the universe telling us that we’re on the right track, we’re getting it, and one day we’ll understand. The laws of physics are intangible, EOS, but they’re something real too. How can I not love the evidence for them when I can see it in front of my very eyes?”

“We started down there, EOS, I started down there. I didn’t know anything except that the world was worth knowing. And it’s wonders like that, they brought us up here. And they’ll bring us into the unknown in time to come.”

EOS was quiet for a moment, analysing his words and categorising his arguments.

She nodded slowly.

“Shall I create an alert so that you may continue to enjoy the presence of ordinary phenomena?” she asked.

“Please do.”

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.179 thoughts

[Don't Trust a Ho, Never Trust a Ho]

(Contents: Latla analysis)

Wow, I did NOT see Untrust coming! I (and I bet most other folks) thought her ability was going to be Unpredictable, and I guess in a sense, it was! I don't think anyone ever guessed Untrust!

But it makes sense, doesn't it? As a professional fortune teller, Latla was known for having 100% accuracy, meaning that anything she said, you could unequivocally trust. Of course God would want to take that away, it's almost like she already had an unsanctioned Negator ability, and God wasn't going to let her break the rules like that

For anyone unclear on how Untrust works based on what we've seen so far, let's do a quick review

Latla doesn't need to make a prediction out loud, she simply needs to predict an outcome at all, even if only in her thoughts. She's not negating the prediction, she's negating her own credibility, even for herself

There seem to be two stages to this: mystic predictions and logical conclusions. Using her crystal ball, Latla can predict or divine any outcome or truth, but because she cannot be trusted, whatever she divines has to be wrong. With this, she can look decently far into the future and understand broader concepts like the flow and ultimate victor of a fight; she doesn't need to know anything about the topic, she just needs to look into her crystal ball and understand what she's seeing

All other predictions she makes are simply logical; Rip getting shot and killed, an attack on a clear path, and losing to a seemingly invincible monster, all are predictions that anyone could have seen coming and anyone would take at face value in those moments. Therefore, Latla doesn't need to use her crystal ball, she just needs to use her sense

This is also why Latla can't deflect attacks with odd trajectories or that come from her blindspots; she simply doesn't have the experience to make those predictions in the moment. If she had time to use her crystal ball, sure, she could predict something so difficult to see coming, but otherwise, no, she's not a fighter and doesn't have the capacity to see multiple steps in advance

Let's say a chessmaster got Untrust; if they know how an opponent will (or rather, should) react to a certain move, they would negate the predictable conclusions and leave only the least logical and effective move for the opponent to make. "There's no way they'd make a move so stupid, they're better than that" -> "what a blunder! They've fallen for the obvious trap I laid, I thought only an amateur could make a mistake like that!"

We don't know a ton about Latla's interests, but for argument's sake, let's say that Latla doesn't know how to play chess. If she were to play against anyone, she would have no idea what to expect from an opponent and would likely move her pieces blindly; without a clear understanding of what counters would make the most sense, she would be left without a way to predict and negate her opponent's moves aside from the most blatantly obvious (like having a piece next to an enemy Queen). If she predicted she'd lose before the match, then naturally she'd win, but if she can't make real-time predictions, she might as well be playing blindfolded

But enough about the power itself, let's focus on the real juicy bits: the thematic implications!

First things first: Rip was initially staunchly opposed to Latla using fortunetelling because he didn't believe in it. He didn't trust in Latla's methods at first, but he did trust in Latla herself. Even believing that her trade was hokum, Rip trusted Latla implicitly and went along with any prediction she would make

On the reverse side, though, Rip never relied on Latla. Sure, he made use of her ability in combat, but he only even allowed her to be present because she insisted. Regardless of what he said or did, Rip always made Latla feel like he didn't trust her. He didn't trust her enough to tell her his plans, to let her be present for the worst of it like cutting off his own limbs, and didn't trust her to put her life on the line; he tried to shoulder the burden alone because he didn't trust that she could stand the weight

In much the same way that Rip 100's quest was a futile attempt to repair his own shattered life, Latla 100 was constantly left behind because Rip never entrusted her with anything of value. She was perfectly capable and reliable, even with her 100% inaccurate predictions (ironically making them 100% accurate upon inversion), but Rip couldn't leave things to her

However, it's because of his faith in Latla that Rip was able to accept Fuuko's help in this loop. Rip says that he could tell at a glance that Fuuko was a good person, but I doubt that it's because of anything about her specifically; instead, I think it was because she was standing with Latla, who clearly had already put her faith in Fuuko. Despite everything, despite butting heads, despite ideological differences, despite not wanting anyone other than himself to suffer, Rip absolutely, 100%, believes in Latla, and that means believing in anyone she believes in

That's also why they're able to fight so well together too, "in lockstep" as Rip says. They are perfectly in sync, their hearts beating as one as they finally walk together towards the same goal, which will soon prove my earlier assertion that they will be absolutely pivotal to defeating God in the final battle. I guarantee it

[sincerely-sofie]

Original prompt by @i-never-forgot:

Just a suggestion, so don’t feel obligated to any of this lol. I love Grovyle so I’d love to see his hypothetical reaction to Twig’s final evolution—besides being outraged at his misfortune with becoming the short older sibling, I feel like he’d get a bit emotional seeing her “all-grown up” and able to protect herself better. (Also would he ever consider evolving as well? That doesn’t have to be added or anything but I’m always interested to see people’s opinions on whether he would or not👀)

Twig evolved again, but this time, she didn't look ready to cry when she revealed that to Grovyle. Perhaps that wasn't exactly true— she was so excited he'd seen her tear up with happiness as she recounted what led up to her evolution— but that was nothing close to the shameful posture she wore and the guilt in her voice as she told him about how Celebi told her she wasn't ever going to evolve properly. 

(He remembered all too well her distaste for her appearance as a charmeleon— how she clearly thought it was a personal shortcoming of hers that she lacked a scaly red hide or a taller, broader body. She'd been so embarrassed by her partial evolution that Grovyle couldn't help but wonder if she had somehow remembered her days as a young human, offended by his nicknaming her until he explained the reasoning behind it. She'd been insecure about her height and what was apparently a very slight build for a human, and she thought he was insulting her for her lack of bulk. He'd just noticed her habit of collecting sticks off the ground and decided to name her after it. She was satisfied with his answer, but for a moment he was certain she would either burst into tears at his comment or unleash her collection of impromptu weapons in retaliation. Maybe both.)

She was fully grown, and now even fully evolved, but she still smiled the same way she did as a child while she stretched out newfound wings and laughed, telling him how she accidentally knocked over a potted tree in her home because she forgot that she had them. She snorted and wheezed while she described the look on Ark’s face when he turned the corner on an expedition and found her struggling to stand after her evolution startled her to the ground. Apparently his voice cracked when she asked him if she looked okay. She found that far funnier than Grovyle did, but he wouldn't hold against her something that had her doubling over with laughter as she described it. 

Legends and Life, how old was she now? She must be near the tail end of thirty. She used to be so small he could almost carry her full weight with just one arm, and now he had to crane his head back to look her in the eye. She was once so terrified and vulnerable she would jolt awake if he sighed too loudly while she slept, and now she was standing with her shoulders back and a bright grin on her face, looking like could hold her own better than he could in a fight. 

“Grovyle, you good?” Twig quirked a brow, fidgeting with her hands in that nervous way she always used to when she was worried about him. He could practically see a little human standing in this proud charizard’s place. Stars, if he wasn't near to tears before… 

“I'm fine,” he said, flattening the waver in his voice. “You're too tall. I'm staring into the sun right now to look you in the face.”

“You're staring into the—?” Her eyes widened, and she immediately moved to stand at the opposite side of where she once was, ducking her head in an effort to get closer to his level. “Dude! Why didn't you tell me? I didn't even notice! Ugh, that's embarrassing… I'll probably have to look out for that for the rest of my life, huh?”

“It's your fault for evolving again,” he said with a dry smile. “You should have stayed the same height if you wanted to avoid the same issue that the sableye always complain to Dusknoir about.”

“Speaking of— is he alright?”

When Dusknoir answered the door and let out a noise of surprise upon seeing Twig earlier, Grovyle peered through the front window to see what caught him off guard and had thrown the ghost-type out of the way a touch aggressively in his haste to greet her. “If him laughing at me when I came out here is anything to go off of, I'm sure he's fine.”

“It doesn't make any sense that I'm the one who evolved when you were able to put him in an arm-lock and shove him into a passage of time without breaking a sweat years ago. How does that work?”

He shrugged. “Temporal distortions. I can't evolve. It's why I was so shocked when you became a charmeleon in the first place when you traveled through time just as much as I did.” 

“Wait, you can't…? Oh.” Her proud stance fell, turning apologetic and small. “Gosh, man, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have bragged so much about my— I'm sorry. I messed up.” 

“What are you talking about?” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I'm more excited than you are about this, Twig. Stop apologizing.” He indicated her wings. “Have you tried flying yet?”

She took a moment to register his words— still nervously wringing her hands as she agonized over her supposed wrongdoing— but finally straightened up a bit. “Uh. No, not yet. I have no clue how to even get started, actually. I figured I should learn how to land before I try anything major, right? But I don't really know anyone with wings back in Verdant Village to ask to teach me.” 

“Well, you didn't hear it from me—” He crossed his arms and couldn't help his smile. “— But Celebi has been constantly asking if you've been looking for a flight teacher yet for this past week. I didn't know what she was talking about at the time, but looking back, she must've been waiting for this to come up.”

She quirked a brow. “Wait, really?”

“Really. Come on, she's going to throw a fit if you don't let her see your new look.” 

He held the front door open and tried his best not to laugh when she hit her head on the upper end of the frame. She let out a harsh Gosh dang it! and ducked through it properly on her second try, muttering to herself about how she'd trade heights with him if she could, and he couldn't hold back his snicker. 

She was different than when they'd first met, and different than when they'd reunited. She'd grown up into someone who was happy and loud, capable and bold— nothing like the terrified human she once was, nor the flighty charmander or anxious charmeleon. She was someone new, a character he hadn't foreseen her growing into when he offered her to hide with him for the first time in the Dark Future. But she was still herself. She was still Twig. 

“The ceiling is so low in here!” He heard her cry. “How does Dusknoir stand it?!” 

He smiled. 

Yep. Still Twig.

[remnant-cain]

Cheyrolls Chapter 2

CWs: Minor hostage situation, Sex Joke, Attempted murder, Cannibalism, lots a blood

AN: This was meant to be part of Chapter 1 but I was struggling to make this sound cohesive and well paced, and I was trying not to be too obvious by the end. Enjoy

-----

(Previously)

The monster tugged them into his room, and slammed the door behind him. Adrik flinched at the force of it all, but willingly took in the room ahead of them. The first thing they took in was the smell of sweat. It wasn’t horrible, but it was noticeable enough. Then, they noticed the mess around them. The living room slash kitchen was… clean enough. There were some clothes scattered around, and a few dirty dishes in places they weren’t supposed to be. Posters were pinned across the walls, some for bands and others for an anime they didn’t know about, but the sheer amount of buff men intrigued them. The coffee table was cluttered, and the sofa was covered in unfurled blankets. The weirdest part was the room situation, though. There was seemingly only one room: his room. The other was essentially turned into extra storage. No way in hell could this possibly be Daniel’s roommate.

Their host, if they could even call him that, had begun scooping up his dirty laundry to clean a bit for them. Clearly, he’d not planned guests. He paid no mind to the broader issue of where they would be staying.

“...What’s with you?” His voice was rough and snappy, ripping them from their thoughts.

“Oh, um… where should I put my things? There's not really a room for me.”

The man snorted, trying to muffle his laughter. “Just throw it in the storage room. You can have the couch tonight, I’ll clear that room tomorrow.” 

“Ok, thank you. Um, your name is?” 

“Mango.”

He didn’t even bother to ask their name, so they didn’t push it. He was probably still upset at having been woken up, they couldn’t blame him. The storage room was certainly a mess. A bunch of trash and boxes that hadn’t been taken out to the trash can yet. There were a few travel bags shoved underneath the bed, but they paid little mind to it as they all seemed empty. They glanced around and plopped their backpack by the door.

“Why did you get a two bedroom if you live alone?” Adrik asked. “It just seems a bit unnecessary.”

“I do have roommates sometimes. They don't last long’s all.” Mango stated, raising his voice to be heard as he wrestled on a tank top.

“Do they just get kicked out, or can they just not stand someone like you?” Adrik asked, walking out of the storage room.

“...A third option.”

What kind of third option could there be in a place like this? They hoped and prayed the third option wasn’t death. Mango artfully dodged them after they accidentally walked in his way, and moved to the TV.

“Wanna play something?” He muttered, almost sounding bored.

“Um, sure.”

Mango began messing with the old TV and the console underneath. Adrik decided now was the time to get answers for their questions, while he fidgeted with the TV, the console, and its settings. 

“You know Daniel?”

“Yep.” Mango grumbled “He lives with my little sister. Both hate visitors, that’s why they’re sent to me. That’s why I have the guest room.”

“Do you know what happened to him?”

He shook his head, tentacles flopping back and forth. From what they could see of his face, it only looked like he had a single eye. The screen finally flicked on, to an HDMI select screen. “She won’t let me see him. Apparently he has really bad anxiety.”

Daniel had anxiety? That was news to Adrik. It seemed like a contradiction to who they knew him as. If he had anxiety there wouldn’t have been as many hospital visits they’d been informed of.  

Mango flipped the channel and the menu for a GameCube select screen popped up.

“What do you wanna play?” Mango shut up their questions.

He began to shuffle through his game collection to give them options. Baldur’s Gate, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario Sunshine, Mario Parties Five through Seven, Bomberman Land 2, Digimon World 4, Smash Bros-

“Let’s smash.” Adrik stated, knowingly.

Mango’s eye slammed wide open in shock. There was a brief moment of silence before his brain finally rebooted.

“...Dear Lord, why did I think you weren’t talking about the game for a minute?”

They snickered. “I don’t know, you gave me no other options than gaming.”

Mango shook his head while he selected the title. “Then why the hell did you phrase it that way?”

“Sorry I just… I like making jokes like that.”

“No no, you're fine.” He went silent for a moment before continuing with something next to inaudible that they couldn’t hear 

Adrik nodded like they understood what he said, readjusting their glasses as the intro music blared. They barely noticed Mango's look change into one of mild panic.

“You heard that?” It was quiet and full of horror, even with the theme blaring.

”Nyet.” Adrik admitted. 

“Ok, good. You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

”Then why did you say it out loud?”

”It’s just how my brain works, sometimes I just gotta say a thing out loud to keep it in mind.” He tapped a few buttons, entering the character select screen. “Anyways, let’s smash.”

…

“Wow, you suck at this.”

“Shut up I don’t have anyone else to play with, none of my siblings come over.”

”I’m an only child, you have no excuse.”

Mango smoothed his tentacles out with a smooth, firm hand and slammed down the controller. He stood up, stretched, and walked over to the kitchen in annoyance.

“I’m getting a drink, I’m not mad I swear.”

His tone refused to convey his lie. He sounded, at the very least, ticked off at his bad luck. Every word he said contained a low growl underneath, and he refused to even look at them. His tail flicked like a cat that was prepared to bite a person. He took his claws to a pack of bottled water, and Adrik finally spoke up again.

”We can play something else if you want, I don’t know how to use this system.”

Mango choked on his water and whipped his head around to face them like he’d just heard them admit that they were a murderer. “What do you MEAN you don’t know how to use that?”

”I never used this, I grew up on the Wii, this is all new to me.” 

“Christ, you humans really are uncivilized rats.” He paused for a brief moment before specifying, “No offense.”

”None taken, I’m just confused why you think that.”

Mango shrugged, walking back to the couch. It dipped underneath his sheer weight, imperceptibly shifting Adrik just that much closer to him. His massive tail coiled around their spot, not touching them but making moving without being noticed next to impossible 

“Most of my race see humans as nothin but vermin. Not good, not bad, just pests. They’re not too well liked, especially not after what they did to our kind. I’m pretty neutral about their existence, just don’t piss me off.”

Adrik didn’t prod. It seemed like a VERY touchy subject and they didn’t really want to bring it up this early. But as Mango flipped back to the game select screen, Adrik heard a growl. Where it’d come from, they didn’t know. It wasn’t deep enough to be from Mango, but there was nothing else there that could’ve let out a noise like that. It was quiet, guttural, and drawn out. Definitely not anything else there.

Mango finally settled on Mario Party, but Adrik felt that he was less focused on his selection and more focused on them.

…

They heard the growling yet again. All Adrik could feel was Mango’s gaze burying into their very soul, like the eyes of a hawk having found its prey. He leaned back, all too casually. Adrik forced themself to lean back as well; they couldn’t feel safe with him behind them. Their hands tightened on their controller, awkwardly kneading its hand grips. They didn’t want to look at him. They were afraid to look at him.1

”You already know what’s coming, don’t you?” His voice was as monotone as ever.

Almost unconsciously, Adrik answered, “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” 

They hadn’t meant to say that, they hadn’t even been thinking that until he got weird about it. Mango instantly turned away, falling deathly silent. He wasn’t even breathing it sounded. Adrik glanced over and immediately regretted it. He looked completely enraged, shivering. They turned away, shoving their hands into their pockets. They traced the shape they found, a small switchblade. It was still faulty, and would often go off with the slightest provocation, but it was the closest thing to a comfort they had here.

 ”Is it really murder if it’s necessary?” Mango’s voice wasn’t just monotone, but dead flat. 

Before Adrik could ask what he’d meant by that, Mango lunged. He grabbed their wrists, and ripped them out of their pockets, shoving both down his throat. They refused to let go of the knife, but they couldn’t bring themself to use it. They were frozen in terror and disgust. His throat was wet with saliva, and tight. It was impossible to pull out their hands, but he didn’t bite down. He swallowed, dragging their arms deeper into his throat, forcing them even closer. It was sweltering, but they looked him in his eye, his smug, golden, angry eye, and flicked the knife out. 

His throat spasmed, causing him to bite down on their arms, hard. Finally, they were able to pull their spit coated arms out of his throat. They ripped their arms out before his throat clamped back down, dragging the knife across the muscle. A gurgling screech left Mango as his hands flew up to clasp his throat, a mix of blood and spit drooling out from his mouth.

They fell to the ground, still too in shock to run. Something was wrong, but they were too hyped up from terror and adrenaline to be able to tell what. Their blouse was fucked, the arms covered in a disgusting mess of both of their blood, a good deal of Mango’s slobber, and torn from when he bit them. Mango was hacking as if he were about to throw up, as the gills on his neck gasped for air for him. Bright orange - almost golden - blood spilled from his mouth as he reacted in pain.

“Why do you have a fucking knife!?” Mango gurgled hoarsely through breaths.

”What the FUCK is wrong with you, you tried to eat me!” Adrik shrieked from the floor. “And how are you still alive?”

”To answer both questions, I’m a Leviathan. We all eat humans one way or another. And you’re not out of it either, mister. That bite means we’re stuck with each other for a loooooong time.”

[justmoreocs-writing]

‘I thought you said it was a Wayne brat.’

‘Adjacent. Do you know how hard those boys are to get close to?’

A.J. groaned mentally as the words of those around her slowly registered in her brain. Her head was foggy, far foggier than she’d expected, but years of training with Bruce assured her that moving wasn’t the right option just yet. Better to listen and figure out what she was dealing with before she tried to make a move. Before she alerted the people in the room that she was even awake because she very obviously wasn’t at home.

‘They’re not gonna come for one of the help.’

‘Grayson will. Bleeding heart and all. Also, pretty sure they’re sleeping together.’

There was a ruckus round of laughter, and A.J. forced herself not to react. The rumours were nothing new, but to hear it said so candidly made her blood boil. Instead, she forced herself to go over what had happened.

She’d stepped outside of the party for air, itching for a cigarette and yet even almost a year after…

She forced her thoughts away from difficult topics, and instead focused on what had happened next. A cat call from down the street, which she’d easily ignored. A person raising their voice, her attention snagged by a yawning alleyway that seemed to be filled with yelling. Her need to be doing something, anything, other than smiling and schmoozing with people she hated. A single step. She’d taken barely a step towards the alleyway when something collided with the back of her head.

Glass shattered, pulling A.J. back to the present with a start. All pretences of still being unconscious gone in an instant. She went to jump up, but her arms were caught on something behind her.

A figure had collided with one of the gang members. A blur of movement, almost too fast to follow. Gunshots echoed harshly in the far too concrete room.

The fight, not that it could really be called that, was over in a matter of seconds. The smell of gunshots and blood filled the space, and A.J. realised every person in the room was down other than one figure. A figure that loomed in the darkness as they stalked towards her, firearms holstered once more. A helmet obscuring their face that she’d recognise anywhere; it had shown up in enough places over recent weeks.

For once, fear clawed at A.J.’s heart. She’d faced many a villain before, but never had she been restrained, out of costume, foggy brained, and while they had guns on them. Red Hood had already left a trail of blood and bodies in his wake that threatened to rival some of the more established criminals of Gotham.

Still, she wasn’t about to let him know that he scared her.

‘Bruce won’t pay,’ she told Red Hood simply, jutting her chin up ever so slightly. He was a threatening figure, taller and broader than most, but A.J. had faced off against Bane, against Blockbuster. Heck, even Dick had a height and muscle advantage on her that he only used occasionally in training to remind her that Gotham villains would happily use that threat to their advantage.

Red Hood stalked passed her, ignoring the comment completely and instead stopping behind her.

A.J. forced herself not to look over her shoulder at him. Not to cave into that niggling fear because too many criminals in Gotham thrived on it.

‘If I untie you,’ Red Hood said, voice gravely and slightly distorted through the mask, ‘you’re not going to attack, are you?’

A.J. laughed prettily, a tone she’d learnt from Diana during at least one party Bruce had forced her to attend. ‘You’re not seriously worried I’d try fighting you after you did that?’ She nodded towards the bleeding bodies littering the floor before her. They might have been criminals, but Bruce’s code made her desperate to call for help. To make sure they didn’t actually die.

Though, she was certain some of them were far beyond help already.

‘No. I know you would, A.J..’

For a moment, it was as if the world had stalled. A.J.’s brow furrowed and she instinctively looked back towards Red Hood, crouched and yet still an imposing figure over her. Red Hood, who was slowly lifting his mask. In any other situation, she’d have closed her eyes, screwed them shut because she knew the rules: It was mostly safe unless you saw the faces. But something niggled at the back of her mind. Something familiar about the figure looming behind her. About the fact somehow Red Hood knew her name.

‘No,’ she breathed once the mask was off, tucked neatly beneath his arm. ‘Jason?’

A wry smirk lifted his lips. A.J. wanted nothing more than to scramble away from him, to put as much distance between herself and the ghost, the lie, as humanly possible. But her hands were still restrained around the pole, and there was no way she could move in time.

‘It’s good to see you too, Amy,’ he said.

‘You’re dead,’ she whispered, eyes darting across him. He looked the same and different all at once. His dark hair, plastered across his forehead from the mask, had a streak of white through it now. She’d always known he was taller than her, and sitting on the floor would only exacerbate that, but he seemed bigger to her now. More muscled.

‘Nobody stays dead in Gotham, A.J.,’ he reminded her softly.

Her heart thundered against her chest. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Part of her screamed to hit him, but then she supposed that was why he hadn’t cut the zip ties – as she realised belatedly were what held her in place – from her wrists.

‘You killed them, Jay,’ she whispered.

Something hardened behind his eyes, shuttering in a way she wasn’t familiar with. Jason Todd might have been the kind of person to keep his cards close to his chest, but this was different. Unfamiliar in a way that had her thoughts spiralling: Was she imaging all of this? Was she still unconscious and her brain was trying desperately to shock her into wakefulness?

Jason straightened, and for a moment A.J. wasn’t sure if he had always been that tall, or if something had changed since he died.

‘The GCPD will be here soon,’ he told her simply, slipping the mask back on. When he spoke again, his voice was Red Hood’s once more, not the voice that cracked something in her chest because of how much she’d missed it. ‘It was good to see you, A.J..’

‘Jason,’ she whispered, but he was already leaving. Disappearing once more and leaving A.J. with a knowledge that she knew she couldn’t share with the others. At least not until she knew it wasn’t all some trauma response.

But when she sucked in a deep breath, she caught the lingering scent of his favourite aftershave.

A sob rose in her chest, one she caught in her hand, only then realising that he had cut her free. That, despite all the things Red Hood had already brought down on Gotham City since his arrival, Jason Todd was still in there somewhere. She just hoped she could find a way to help him before it was too late.

[fang-and-feather]

Ikemen Vampire - Jean/Mozart/OC, mostly Jean/Mozart

SFW, fluff, love confessions, polyamory

Jean wakes up in the middle of the night, his girlfriend nowhere to be seen and Mozart cuddling to him instead, but when Mozart also wakes up, they have a new chance to talk

Previous Chapter / IkeVamp Masterlist / General Masterlist / AO3 Link

It was still dark when Jean woke up. He had no idea what time it was, or how long he’d been asleep, but something was different from what he remembered of last night. Something was missing. There was only one person with him in bed, and the body laying partly over him didn’t feel like his girlfriend’s.

Jean reached up, touching shorter hair and broader shoulders, and heard a deeper groan in response. He looked down to find it was Mozart snuggling to him, and one look through the room, even in the dark, told him Amy wasn’t there.

Was it morning already? Or did she go get water or something else? But whatever happened, Mozart had closed the gap left by their girlfriend in his sleep.

It would be awkward if he woke up in that position, but Jean couldn’t really move without waking his friend. Not that he really wanted to.

His feelings for Mozart had really been changing for a while. There wasn’t any more concrete proof than how content he felt at that closeness, and at the thought that he was the only other person, besides their girlfriend, who Mozart would allow to touch him like this, the only other person he trusted to be so open and vulnerable with. And Jean felt the same way about him.

And that wasn’t the only thing that changed. When Jean first noticed these changes, he fought these feelings, tried to ignore them or put any other name to them other than love. Not that kind of love, at least. He’d been convinced there was something wrong with this.

But when he opened up to Amy about his conflict, she had another perspective. He’d been reluctant yet, since her views mostly applied to her time period, but she made good arguments to reassure him, while being supportive of whatever decision he made. It was a while still, before Jean came to accept this newfound love. Now it made him happy.

Was it truly so new, though? Sometimes Jean wondered if he hadn’t been in love all along and not realized it. With his beliefs and the hate for this new life he was given, love was the furthest thing from his mind before Amy came into his life and changed it for the better.

He had planned to tell Mozart that night, fully expecting to be the only one whose feelings had changed, despite Amy being convinced otherwise. Maybe a part of him was hoping he would be rejected and could forget this and everything would go back to normal, but at the same time, the thought of being rejected made his heart ache.

But this belief that only his feelings weren’t platonic anymore changed that night. While they danced, for the first time Jean felt like their hearts were one and, as he looked into his friend’s eyes afterward, like their feelings were the same.

And it had been overwhelming to him. Sometimes, even Amy’s love was still overwhelming. Sometimes Jean still felt like he didn’t deserve that much love, let alone from two people. The love he felt and received permeated the air and it threatened to drown him. That was why he backed away. He couldn’t take any more of that at the moment.

Jean smiled at his friend, gently running his fingers through silvery locks. He shouldn’t. It would be strange if Mozart woke up now. But having him this close, even if it was unintentional, filled his heart with so much joy he barely could contain it.

“I love you.” Jean whispered, promising himself to tell Mozart that as soon as possible.

“I’m not Amy, you know?” In the dark, Jean hadn’t realized Mozart woke up until his friend pulled away to look him in the eyes. It was hard to make up his expression in the dark, but it looked like something between confused and surprised as he pulled back, sitting up. “Not that I have the right to say it in this position. I’m sorry.”

Jean also sat up. He didn’t need to see it to know Mozart was blushing.

“I was not talking to Amy.” Jean wished he could see Mozart’s expression better when he placed a hand on his arm and his friend froze under his touch. He wanted to know if it was a good or a bad sign. But he wouldn’t lose this opportunity. “I meant to tell you last night. I love you, too, the same way I love her. You have always been so good to me, and at first I was happy with being your friend. If you want us to remain friends, I’ll understand, and I hope this won’t make things awkward between us, but I couldn’t go on without telling you.”

Jean removed his hand, waiting for an answer. Mozart didn’t move, but neither looked at him for a moment, and Jean tensed, afraid of the worst, until Mozart sighed and looked back at him.

“That’s why you were so strange yesterday? I was hoping so.” The way Mozart smiled at him made Jean relax. Love surged within him even stronger, almost uncontrollably, but he waited for Mozart to continue. “I never thought I could love more than one person in this way, but I do. I love you too, and not only as my dear friend anymore.”

Mozart moved closer, caressing Jean’s face, who gently tangled a hand through his hair in return, both growing closer, like two magnets being attracted to each other.

Jean closed his eyes as their lips met. A soft caress at first, but his hold on Mozart tightened, pulling him even closer and deepening the kiss. A slow, sensual kiss, to explore and get to know each other.

Amy was right. This didn’t feel too different from loving her. It was equally hot and addicting.

But Mozart responded differently. Kissing him back. Matching his rhythm and intensity. Their free hands wrapped around each other’s body, pulling the other closer. Mozart moved to straddle him. Their warm bodies, barely clothed from last night’s time with their girlfriend, pressing to one another. Fitting together as perfectly as they did while dancing.

They pulled apart, panting, and Jean rested his forehead against Mozart’s, who was quite flustered. From this close, that was quite noticeable even in the dark. They shared a soft smile.

But the moment didn’t last long, broken by a soft, but pretty noticeable in the silence of the room, click. They quickly released each other, startled, although not moving from their spot. Mozart turned his head, both staring at the door for a moment, realizing the sound was of it closing. Their attention returned to each other.

“Seems like Amy is not returning tonight.” Mozart whispered..

Jean was thinking the same thing. He would have liked it if she stayed. If he could have both his loved ones with him. But there would be other opportunities. She certainly wanted to give them some privacy, or just some more time alone.

Smiling, Jean lied back again, gently pulling Mozart along to their early position, this time openly caressing his hair.

“I hope you don’t mind my sole company for the rest of the night, then.”

“I never really minded.” Mozart whispered back, closing his eyes and relaxing. Jean wrapped an arm around him, also closing his eyes. His heart felt fully content at the moment, overflowing with love. “See you tomorrow, Jean.” Mozart whispered, much to Jean’s surprise.

Even when the three slept together, after Jean had explained that little exchange he had with Amy, it remained something between the two of them. But that exchange only made him happier.

“See you tomorrow, Wolf.”

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