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write-r-die · 3 years

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Man’s World - Part 2

ENEMIES TO LOVERS - After a solar flare ended the world as we know it, former spy August Walker becomes the most terrifying of the many warlords who pop up across the US. He leads his militia from town to town, taking what he wants and all killing those who resist him. And now he wants Lilah. And one way or another, he’ll have her.

Masterlist

August didn’t know what possessed him to save that girl. Maybe it’s just that he didn’t like killing women. Maybe he was impressed with the unique mix of bravery and stupidity that led the vaguely ethnic twentysomething to shoot at him, only to fail spectacularly. More likely, he was just bored. Life after the flash was hard and violent but painfully predictable.

He thought she was pretty when he carried her from the city despite the bangs, but in the sunlight, he was far less impressed with her appearance.

To be fair, she wasn’t well. Standing in the command tent before him, she wavered on her feet. Her clothes were burnt around the edges and her feet were bare. The enormous sunglasses she wore didn’t help her appearance, either.

“The Boss just spoke to you,” one of August’s lieutenants said from somewhere behind him. “Speak,” he commanded the girl.

People who try to shoot me always end up dead. That’s what August Walker said to her. What the fuck was she supposed to say back?

“Speak?” Lilah parroted, doing her best to sound confused.

Jack looked like he wanted to smash his head into a wall.

August kept his eyes fixed on the girl as he spoke to his soldier. “What did you say was wrong with her?”

“Concussion,” Jack answered. “Doc says she’ll be right in a few days.”

August hummed. He didn’t raise his voice or take his eyes off Lilah when he commanded the others in the tent to leave with one simple word: “Out.”

Lilah’s expression grew more and more desperate as each person filed out until finally, they were alone.

“Are you a whore?” he asked simply.

Lilah was physically taken aback by his question. “Am I . . . ?”

August’s eyes roamed up and down her body. She looked a mess now but he could tell she cleaned up well. One of his many talents was the ability to sense a woman’s figure through her clothes, however unattractive those clothes may be. And he sensed Lilah’s figure was exquisite. Her face was, too, when it wasn’t smudged with ash and blood or half-hidden by ridiculous sunglasses.

“Are you a whore?” August repeated.

Lilah couldn’t speak for a moment, too shocked by his bluntness. “No.”

August’s blue eyes raked over her one more time, his gaze unbearably intense. He might as well be licking her. “That’s too bad.” He turned back to the maps on the table.

Lilah cleared her throat when she grew uncomfortable with the silence. “Is that all you wanted to know?”

“No.” The warlord continued to study his maps as if he wasn’t interested in her enough to even look up. Maybe that was a good thing, thought Lilah, considering how it made her feel when he looked at her.. “What did you do? Back before the flare hit.”

“Umm . . .” Funemployed? Was that an answer? “I was a camp counselor during the summers when I was in college.”

“What activity did you teach?”

She cleared her throat. “Archery.”

“Archery,” Walker repeated. “You should have used a bow and arrow instead of a gun to shoot me. Maybe then you would actually have hit something.”

She was silent for a long time. Her throat was painfully dry. “Are you going to kill me?”

“I would’ve left you behind on that sidewalk if I wanted you dead,” he said flatly.

“What do you want, then?”

He wanted to fuck her.

After she’d bathed and changed and gotten her shit together, of course. August lifted his eyes from the table to give her that intense look again; that was answer enough.

He looked over Lilah’s head at Jack and subtly nodded towards the entryway. And just like that, Lilah was dismissed.

***

The people August Walker ordered to leave the tent start coming back inside the moment I’m dismissed. Pretty sure they were listening.

On my way out, I pass someone vaguely familiar but for the life of me I can’t remember who he is. “Hey,” I say anyway. I stop walking and so does he.

He nods once. “Lilah.”

“Mr. Kewlani!” His name comes out in a shout not because I’m surprised to see him but because I’m happy I remember his name.

He lived next door to me growing up. The only things I can really remember about him from childhood is that our dog pissed on all his plants and killed them and he hated us for it, and that he was condescending because of how smart he was. I’m not at all surprised that August Walker recruited him.

“Good to see you.” The fifty-eight-year-old physics professor doesn’t look pleased or surprised to see me. I can’t blame him for it, since we never talked or got along, but I feel slighted.

“You too.” I think to ask him about his wife and daughters, but they’ve been dead for years. One of the daughters was killed by a drunk driver before the flare, and his other daughter and wife succumbed to the strange plague that came immediately after. Lots of people did.

“Come on,” Jack says. He starts walking before I register his words and I have to scramble to catch up with him before he disappears into the tents.

“Where are we going?” I’m pretty sure this isn’t the way back to the tent I was in before.

He doesn’t reply. He stops in front of a big white tent - the sort people rent for outdoor events like weddings or parties - and pulls open the flap. It’s packed with army cots and outdoor recliners that have been flattened for use as a bed.

“Any open beds?” Jack calls to a woman nearby.

She pulls her toothbrush out of her mouth and uses it to gesture to the other side of the tent. “The one over there by me is free.”

“Great.” Jack turns to leave but I grab him by the arm.

“Wait, what?”

“This is your tent now,” he says, peeling my hand from his bicep.

“That’s it? No tour? What about - ?”

“Stiva,” Jack calls to the tooth-brushing woman again. “This one’s eggs are scrambled. Deal with her.”

And then he’s gone.

Stiva finishes brushing her teeth and looks me up and down. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a high ponytail. That, coupled with her cargo pants and tank top, make her look like the single generic woman in any action film.

She must be smart or talented or important. August Walker only recruits useful people: doctors, engineers, plumbers and handymen, craftsmen, teachers, horse trainers and stable hands, architects, tailors, former military, and other things like that. And of course, prostitutes. I’m fairly certain Stiva isn’t a prostitute, though.

“What’s your name?” Stiva asks.

“Lilah.”

She looks me over again and seems to approve. “Stiva,” she replies. She walks me over to the other side of the tent and stows her toothbrush in a plastic box beneath her cot. “That one’s yours,” she says, nodding toward the one beside hers.

I sit awkwardly on the edge. There’s barely enough space between the cots for me to squeeze my legs in.

“You look star-struck,” she observes.

“Concussion,” I reply. “I’m pretty out of it.”

The thirty-something woman shakes her head. “No. I meant starstruck from meeting the boss.”

Now I really am confused. “What? How did - why do you know that?”

She rifles through the few personal items she has stashed under her cot. “I heard that some idiot with bangs tried to shoot the boss. I haven’t seen another grown woman with bangs in years so I assume that’s you.”

“Oh. Yeah.” I clear my throat. “Are people talking about that a lot?”

“Not really,” she says, shrugging. “I only know cause I fuck Sy sometimes and he gets chatty after.”

“Sy?”

“He’s the boss’s right-hand-man,” she explains, frowning. “Nobody explained the chain of command?”

“If they did, I don’t remember it.”

“Did anybody even teach you the camp layout?”

“No. But I’ve been unconscious mostly so they never had the chance.”

She grunts and turns back to her cot. Finally she pulls out a french press and two cracked mugs. “Coffee?”

“God, yes.”

We go to one of the cooking fires at the center of camp for hot water. One of the cooks gives us some coffee grounds to use on the condition that Stiva make her a cup, too.

She looks me over, smirking, as we wait for the brew to steep. “You’re the boss’s new girl,” she says, half a question.

“Not yet,” Stiva says before I have the chance to reply. “If she was with him, she wouldn’t be out here slumming it with the rest of us.”

The water blackens and Stiva pours us each a mug. She thanks the cook before we turn back the way we came.

“I thought you said people weren’t talking about it,” I whisper to Stiva.

“I said they weren’t really talking about it.”

“So I’m supposed to fuck August Walker,” I say after a long silence. It’s not a surprise but I don’t like the fact that everyone in camp seems to know. Even as we walk back to our tent, I feel eyes on me. The camp seems big enough that one new person shouldn’t be so obvious.

I finally ask the question I’m most afraid to have answered, “What if I don't want to sleep with him?” I swallow hard. “Will he . . . Is he the sort of man that can take no for an answer?”

“I’ve never thought about that - what would happen if someone said no to him. No one has ever said no to him for anything except maybe Miss Ally,” she says contemplatively. It takes a beat for her to respond to my question. “I don’t think he’d force you into anything. He’s a dick but he’s also a gentleman, you know?”

I do know. “I don’t know. I’m almost positive my body is the only thing he wants from me. Not my professional expertise or know-how.” And who’s to say he won’t dispose of me if I don’t serve the one purpose I’m here for?

“I mean, can you do anything?” asks Stiva. “Anything useful?”

“I taught archery at a summer camp in Maine,” I offer.

She looks ambivalent.

“Why?” I ask, slightly embarrassed. Being an archer sounds cool, but until the flare happened, it didn't have much of a real-world application. “What can you do?”

“I’m a surveyor and a cartographer,” she says. “Used to work in real estate. Help builders figure out boundaries for new projects.”

“Oh.”

“But people here do all sorts of shit. There’s a dog breeder who used to raise pit bulls to be guard dogs for famous people; now they’re attack dogs for the boss. And there’s a twelve-year-old girl in our tent who’s a violin prodigy.” Stiva shrugs. “They keep anybody the boss might have a use for.”

“August Walker likes the violin?” I ask.

“Not as far as I know,” she says. “But he wants to preserve society and culture and all that for after.”

I follow her back into the tent. “After what?”

“After we settle somewhere for good.” She sits heavily on her cot. “The boss wants to make a new world in his image. Supposedly he’s got it all planned out.”

“That seems a little psycho.”

She stretches out on her back. “Sy told me that he used to be a doomsday prepper or something like that. He’s been waiting for the world to end for a while.”

I’m familiar with some of those rumors. August Walker was supposedly a would-be terrorist planning to cull the world’s population. Supposedly a bunch of powerful people were part of his cell - world leaders, even. As far as I know, they never put any of their plans into motion; the solar flare did their work for them.

***

Later in the evening, when the boss called for one of his usual girls from among the thirty-nine prostitutes in the camp, he imagined he was fucking Lilah instead of her. It made him furious, which made him rough. The prostitute would have more bruises than usual tomorrow.

He repaid her for the discomfort with an unopened bottle of tequila and a pair of diamond earrings stolen from a dead woman’s jewelry box during the last raid. That, coupled with the two orgasms he gave her, seemed more than enough compensation.

She left the tent late at night - he never let his women sleep there - and August was alone with his thoughts, which soon turned back to that stupid girl.

He wouldn’t give Lilah anything when he fucked her - and sooner or later he would fuck her. His favor would be more than enough compensation. She wouldn’t sleep in his tent, obviously, but he imagined her having a little tent of her own somewhere nearby so he could call for her whenever he wanted. And no one else would be allowed to fuck her.

He had a girl like that for a few months but he grew bored with her. When she asked his permission to leave camp and strike out on her own, he gave it willingly. She had the back of her hand tattooed with August’s mark before she left. It was essentially a guarantee of safe passage. No one would fuck with somebody associated with Walker, and if his men ever came in contact with her again, they’d know not to kill or hurt her.

Now he wanted someone like that again. That and more.

Someone who belonged exclusively to him not because the other men in camp were afraid to touch what was his, but because she didn’t want anyone other than him.

The last girl was an escort with a moderately successful OnlyFans account. She was essentially a prostitute. August liked that Lilah wasn’t.

Seducing her would give him something less mundane to do in his free time.

***

They try to integrate me into camp life over the next week. All in all it goes pretty well, but when they give me a bow and arrows to practice shooting, it becomes abundantly clear that the concussion has fucked up my long-distance vision. I can’t shoot shit. I don’t know if I’m going to be nearsighted forever or if it will clear up as I heal. Miss Ally is displeased.

It’s obvious that she is equal in rank to Walker, but on the civilian side of camp life. I get the impression they’ve known each other for a long time. She’s the only person in camp who doesn’t refer to or address him as the boss or just Boss. Always Mr. Walker. It’s still a respectful address, complete with a polite honorific, but just the fact that she uses his name seems oddly intimate, like maybe she knew who he was before he became one of the strongest warlords on the continent.

I don’t see Walker much. Meals are served in a huge clearing and most people eat together, so Walker is obliged to make an appearance most days, always at dinner. Most of us sit on the ground or in folding chairs but not him. He sits on a pale blue armchair that I think is made of velvet. The legs are gold and the back and arms are scalloped. I think it belonged to a woman before it became his throne.

The first time I see him at dinner, he keeps an eye on me throughout the meal, even though I’m nowhere near him. We make eye contact at one point. He smirks at me and takes a deep drink of his wine.

The second time I see him, he ignores me. Well maybe not ignores, but he doesn’t pay me any attention. I don’t know why but it annoys me.

Near the end of the meal, he crooks his finger at one of the prostitutes. They leave the clearing together, presumably to go off somewhere and fuck, and I’m almost offended by it. Then I come to my senses.

He’s a warlord, and true warlords have concubines. A lot of them. Just because he wants me doesn’t mean he wants me, exclusively.

For all I know, he’s got a girl from every settlement he raided. Maybe he keeps them as a token of victory.

That pisses me off. Men objectifying women, just like always. It may be the apocalypse, but I’m still a fucking feminist.

Walker doesn’t make an appearance at dinner again for two days. I’m filling my plate when he joins us on the third night. I know without looking that he’s here; the sudden quiet tells me all I need to know.

Things slowly start up again as I heap chicken and instant mashed potatoes onto my plate. It’s only when one of the cooks gives me a forceful tap on the shoulder that I look up.

“What?”

“He’s looking at you,” the woman says through her teeth. She swings her head toward August Walker. He lazes in his blue chair like a king at a feast. When we lock eyes, he smirks at me, then motions with his forefinger for me to come to him, just like he did with that prostitute the other night.

I don’t move.

“What are you doing?” the cook says. “Go!”

“If he wants to talk, he can come to me.” I’m not a hooker or a dog. I won’t just come running at his beck and call.

The cook looks at me like I’m an idiot.

It’s a dumb issue to take a stance on, especially when it seems my survival is contingent on letting him fuck me.

I seek Stiva out in the crowd. I haven’t made it halfway over to her before that kid - Jack, I think his name is - intercepts me.

“Boss wants a word.”

They’ve set up what appears to be an old Ikea office chair next to Walker’s surrogate throne. He gestures for me to sit when I get close enough. I flop down, making the chair groan.

Walker studies me for a long moment. He looks amused but pleased, too. All I can think about as his eyes rake over me are how blue they are and how the color of his chair accentuates them. “How have you been, Delilah?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“No.”

I shrug. “I can’t complain.”

“That’s it?” he asks, bemused.

“What else should there be?”

Walker takes a deep breath through his nose and settles back in his chair. “I know for a fact how unstable your town was. I did my research. Most of it was already in disrepair, and the crime rates before the flare were . . . high. Here, you have a roof over your head and three meals a day.”

Not really a roof, but . . .

“I had a roof over my head before.”

“What did you have to do to get it?” he asks, voice gravelly and low.

“I’m not a prostitute,” I say defensively. “I told you that.”

“I’m not necessarily saying you are.”

“Necessarily?”

He leans back in his chair. “You’re a survivor. You did whatever it was you had to do to stay alive in that shithole.”

Now I get it. “And you think I’ll do whatever I have to do to stay alive here.”

He sips his wine in reply, his gaze never leaving mine. He doesn’t speak when he’s done, just swirls the purple wine around in his glass.

“You’re not eating,” I observe.

“I hardly ever eat the plain food,” he says.

I remember Stiva saying that there’s a hipster chef who forages for his ingredients somewhere in the camp, and that he cooked for the highest-ranking people. He was one of those chefs that foraged for his ingredients before that was necessary. I think I followed him on Instagram back before the flare.

“You ought to join me,” Walker continues. “Something tells me you appreciate a good meal.” His voice is like liquid sex. He’s a terrifying, ruthless warlord who’s done things so horrible I can’t even imagine them, but damn if he isn’t the handsomest man I’ve ever laid eyes on.

The pretty ones are always assholes.

I level my gaze at him. “Are you asking me on a date?”

He actually throws his head back and laughs. It’s booming; conversations pause and heads turn at the unfamiliar sound. He has the sort of laughter that would be infectious if he weren’t so scary.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he finally says.

“I won’t just spread my legs for a good meal,” I say, but it honestly depends on how good the meal is.

Walker is exasperated. “Is sex the only thing you think about?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“No,” he agrees. “You’re rude, but you’re not an idiot.”

“You’re an asshole.” The words fall out before I can stop them. I slap my hand over my mouth like some idiot in a movie, as if that will undo what I just said. Why did I say that?

He’s going to hit me. Or shoot me. He’s going to do something to me and it won’t be good. Lilah, you stupid fucking idiot.

“No one speaks to me the way you do,” Walker says to me. “It’s refreshing, frankly.” His tone changes. “But don’t push it, especially when there are other people who can hear you. You won’t like the consequences.”

Walker downs the rest of his wine and stands. A handful of men scattered around us rise, too, and move toward him. His entourage, I guess. For a moment I think they’re each going to grab a limb and haul me away to some torture chamber or old-fashioned stockades, but they barely even glance my way.

Walker smiles wolfishly. “I’ll send someone to fetch you before dinner tomorrow. Find something nice to wear.” And off he goes.

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starlightrows · 3 years

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3 — The Pariah

The Queen of Tatooine Masterlist

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Pairing: Boba Fett x reader

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: Non graphic violence, fire, hypothermia

Summary: Tempers rage in your small town, you are blamed for the less than savory change in patronage

Eventually the storm blew itself out, and your steady flow of patrons returned to eat, drink, stay the night, and move on. As autumn turned to winter, the storms and rain became more frequent, and began getting colder. Frost settled over the ground each night and melted by mid day.

A few weeks after Boba Fett had left your inn, on a chilly morning, you noticed a shift in the townspeople’s attitude towards you. Instead of quiet resentment or unspoken distaste, now they glared at you in the market. You were just trying to pick up some things you needed. More flour, a replacement pitcher for the one you knocked off the bar and broke, soap, and sewing needles. Many of the vendors would not speak to you, one of them wouldn’t even let you look at her wares. Confused and offended you tried to ask what you had done to have service refused, she met your gaze

“Your business is turning our town into a trading post for criminals and mercenaries” she spits “you can buy your soap somewhere else”

“I don’t choose who comes through this town” you point out

“Doesn’t matter, you let them stay” she snaps the box of cut soaps shut and gives you a look, trying to intimidate you into leaving

When you turn around, many of the other vendors at the market, and citizens of your town have gathered around the soap stall. Their voices rise up from their whispers to angry shouts and accusations.

People begin blaming you for their loss of profit, their stolen property… then the accusations get more and more fanatical. The storm that knocked over a large tree and damaged someone’s speeder, another man’s daughter running away to the next town for a boy, the town children’s new interest in playing “bounty hunters and thieves”.

You back away, try to leave the market and get back to the inn. But the crowd follows you, calling out horrible names and slurs. You pick up the pace and try to block them out, but the faster you go— the faster they get.

You’re running now, running to get away from the mob that seems to be growing with each house or business you pass. You’re almost there, if you can just get to the door. The head of the mob catches you by the fabric of your shirt and yanks you back. To your horror, the rest of the mob surges forward and breaks down your door.

Several men shove you and kick you to the ground every time you try to get up. You beg them to stop, to let you go, to make the rest of the townspeople stop what they’re doing.

You can hear them inside. Smashing your glasses, using rocks to shatter the windows, flipping the tables, ransacking the kitchen, probably stealing your money and your food.

Then there’s smoke rising from the back window. Someone must have knocked coals out of the hearth. People come pouring out of the inn, disappearing back into the town and surrounding woods carrying armfuls of your stuff and coughing as black smoke billows out of your home.

The men who had been keeping you down scattered off with the rest of the crowd. You got up on your knees as the flames overtook the inn… your business… your home… burning before your eyes, and you were powerless to stop it.

The sky darkens as ugly grey clouds mask the sun. You drag yourself away to the edge of the forest just in time for the rain to begin falling. Luckily the rainfall helps to beat back the red hot tongues of fire that have engulfed your home.

You sit for hours, half waiting for the mob to return and continue beating you with sticks. But there is only you, the rain, the ruins of your inn and the smoke that begins to rise into the sky. Rain comes and goes, and the sun begins to set behind mountains. The fire seems to have gone out. You know it’s dangerous to try to poke around in the wreckage, but you have no choice.

You haul yourself up, shivering on unsteady legs and step over what used to be the front wall. Blackened wood, melted and misshapen silverware, the hearth and chimney still stand. The entire upstairs has collapsed. It’s jarring to see burnt bed frames with charred mattresses covered in ash. There’s nothing left. What little you had that actually belonged to you was gone or burned beyond saving.

Night is falling and you’ll freeze if you don’t figure out some way to get warm or have shelter. You’ll figure out what to do tomorrow if you live to see the dawn. You continue to pick through the rubble until you find something you might be able to use. The wash basin you kept in the back and used to bathe and do your laundry. It’s made of metal and miraculously intact.

Dragging it away is more effort than you expected, it’s always been an awkward item to move around. But nevertheless you drag it away from the wreckage, just inside the treeline. Using two sturdy y-frame tree branches you prop it up against the wind, and set about making a small fire to stay warm.

Thank the Maker, it didn't rain again that night. And the fire reflected back against the bottom of the tub and kept you warm all night. At first light you’re up, putting out your campfire and picking through the rubble again to find anything that could be useful. You don’t find much… just an old hunting knife your father had left to you and an iron cup.

You decide your best course of action is to walk the 45 miles to the next settlement and either seek justice for what’s happened to you… or disappear and not make any trouble. The trek to get there will take three or four days, and that’s if you make good time. Might as well get a head start.

————

Word traveled quickly about what had happened. Many mercenaries, bounty hunters and their quarries alike arrive in town to stay at the inn and find that it’s been burned to the ground and the innkeeper has been driven out of town.

The desired effect of reducing criminal activity and foot traffic through the area does occur. But not before they’ve pillaged, vandalized and reaped havoc upon the entire settlement.

The one person in the criminal underworld who seems to miss out on this information is Boba Fett. He returns to your settlement to find the entire town struggling to pick up the pieces of their lives. Your inn is nothing more than a scorch mark on the ground it once sat on with a blackened brick hearth in the center.

His heart aches and his mind turns to dark thoughts of what could have happened to you, and who was responsible for it. He storms back into the settlement, and finds the nearest groveling peasant. It just so happens it was one of the men that kicked you down while your home burned.

“What happened here?” Boba demands. The man cowers from him and doesn’t answer. “I asked you a question. What happened?”

“It was the innkeeper” the man says hastily “She let all the criminals and mercenaries in the galaxy stay under her roof… and they ransacked the town”

He doesn’t buy it… something here doesn’t add up “I don’t believe you” growled pointing a blaster at the man “Either convince me, or tell me the truth”

“No no it’s true I swear! We drove her out of town hoping the crime in our settlement would stop”

Boba nods and lowers his blaster “Thank you”

The man looks relieved for a brief moment before he sees Boba raising his blaster again. Boba dispatches him quickly without so much as a word.

We drove her out of town, the man had said. He had no remorse for what happened. No concern for you, your livelihood they had uprooted. Boba was disgusted by it.

Boba returned to the ruins of your home and began to search for any signs of you, and where you might have gone. It doesn’t take him long to find the remnants of your smaller camp fire and the metal tub you used for shelter. A good sign that you were thinking on your feet and likely survived the fire.

He thought about you, put himself in your shoes and went through what must have been going through your mind. Where to go? What to do? Obviously remaining here would not be an option. So what’s the next step? Finding somewhere safer to go.

He knows of two other settlements in this region of your planet. One is 45 miles northeast and the other 62 miles southwest. Both are long trips to take on foot with no supplies. But if you were thinking strategically you would have chosen the 45 mile hike. There’s water sources in that direction and it’s a shorter distance. So that’s the direction he takes off.

————

It’s been three days and you’re not making good time as you hoped you would. No food and cold weather makes your movements slow. You’ve been drinking water but you can only trick your stomach for so long. Plus you’re traveling in the forest just within eye sight of the road because you don’t want to be seen by other travelers. The last thing you need is another angry mob.

Your head hurts and your stomach is bloated from drinking so much water, but you’re so hungry and exhausted from walking. You sit beside a tree near the stream you’ve been following up higher into the mountains.

You wonder what the new settlement will be like. You wonder what you will do there given that you have no money and nothing to trade. You wonder if they would help you take your money and land back if you explained what happened to you. Or would they too cast you out and leave you to fend for yourself. Winter is well on its way. If they don’t help you, you’ll be dead in a matter of weeks. If not from hunger, then exposure to the cold.

These are dark and scary thoughts. Normally you would push such thoughts away and busy yourself with work, but that’s not an option now. You have nothing but time, and your mind races with all the things you’ve lost.

You’ll never get married or have children. You’ll never get to expand your garden. You’ll never start the projects you’ve always dreamed of doing. Making your own clothes. Learning to paint. Writing stories. None of it. All your hopes and dreams will fade with you into the icy cold winds that will take you.

You have to try your inner voice urges you, you have to try to make it

That thought propels you forward. You force yourself to get up and keep walking towards the next settlement. You have to pause every 50 yards or so to rest against a tree, but you don’t let yourself sit back down. You have to keep going.

Meanwhile Boba takes a speeder and begins tracking you. He can tell you’re slowing down. Good because he’ll catch you soon, but bad because that definitely means you’re getting weaker. Suddenly he can see you on the tracking system in his helmet. He can see how slowly you’re moving. He gets off the speeder and goes on foot to catch up with you.

Switching off the tracking system he follows you from a distance for a moment or two. He calls out your name as gently as he can. You whip around and stumble sideways clinging to a tree to hold you up right. There is fear in your eyes. Usually when he’s hunting a bounty that is a mark of satisfaction for him, to strike fear and command respect. But you are not a bounty. He calls out your name again and removes his helmet and hopes you’ll recognize him.

He’s too far away and your vision is too blurry. In your sleep and food deprived mind he’s one of the people that burned down your inn and beat you on the ground. But you’ve poured all of your remaining energy into pushing forward, and have nothing left to put up a fight. You lean against your tree and stare blankly at the figure that you’ve decided is definitely here to kill you.

Boba approaches you slowly with his hands raised to show you he’s not going to hurt you. His face becomes more and more clear to you as he gets closer. You search your mind for the name that goes with his face you recognize. It’s not until he’s right in front of you, catching you by the arms as your knees buckle under you, that you find the name you’re searching for.

“Boba?” Your voice is small and weak, you barely recognize it “You came back?”

He takes you into his arms and pats your back “Of course I came back”

Tag List: @cannedsoupsucks @otterly-fey @paige6768 @littledragonlady

#Boba Fett #boba fett x female reader #boba fett x f!reader #Boba Fett x reader #The Queen of Tatooine #QT

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thekingofwinterblog · 3 years

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Getter Robo Retospective - Getter Robo Part 1 -Ryoma Nagare

So, Iv’e been wanting to do an overall retrospective of the Getter Robo manga franchise for a while now, and since the Getter Robo Arc is nearing it’s finale as of the time of this writing, and will either give it a definite ending, or be the final nail in the coffin that the series will never be finished before Getter Robo falls into public domain, I thought now might as well be the time to do it.

As such, I’ll be doing an overall analysis over the entire collection of Ken Ishikawa’s Getter Robo manga series, it’s plots, themes, characters, and covers the various ideas this crazy and amazing sci-fi series covers.

Also, this retrospective will NOT cover the various anime adaptations, or the behind the scenes stuff that has gone on with Getter Robo over the years, such as Go Nagai being credited as the writer of the original manga despite only having come up with the overall concept and designs for it(the rest was by Ken Ishikawa), or the way that Ken went back and added in some extra chapters in the original two manga to explain some things and to tie the early manga more closely into what came after.

For the purposes of this retorspective, I will be focusing exclusively on the manga itself, and what it has to offer, without going into anything else.

And of course there is no place better to start, than the beginning.

So, what is the story of the original Getter Robo Manga?

Well, the overall plot of the original manga is about the conflict between two sides of a conflict, as laid out rather well in it’s prologue chapter.

The first is our protagonists, the Saotome Institute of Japan, who’s leader and namesake has invented the titular giant mecha, the Getter Robo.

Powered by a revolutionary newly discovered form of energy called “Getter Energy”, this enormous metal behemoth is a fighting machine unlike any other.

This war machine was originally supposed to be used for space exploration, but due to necessity, it has instead been reworked into a fighting machine.

It’s only weakness is that it requires 3 different living pilots to operate it to draw upon its full strength.

Opposing the Saotome Institute, is the forces of the Dinosaur Empire

An empire of humanoid Sentient Dinosaurs that long ago was forced to flee the Earth’s surface after it was bombarded with a strange kind of energy from space that was deadly to their kind, their only way to survive being to use their incredible technology to hide on the only place on Earth where the rays couldn’t reach them. The Earth’s very core.

Now, after millions of years underground, and the rays that forced them beneath the earth to begin with having seemingly ceased, they have finally returned to reclaim the earth’s surface for their own. At it’s disposal, it has incredible technology, and giant cyborg dinosaur monster in it’s quest to wipe out the newcomers, the human race, to achieve total dominance over the Earth.

If you think this premise sounds very generic, and you’ve seen it in some form or another in countless other Mecha series, you are not wrong. Ancient evil group attacking the protagonists, and only the new giant robot can stop it, probably the biggest stock plot in mecha overall, having been done in everything from Neon Genesis Evangelion to Megas XLR in some form or another. The set pieces and details are different, but the overall plot is the same.

However, where Getter Robo fits into this, is that it was one of the first giant robot manga there was, and many, many of the tropes and ideas it pioneered would be used and imitated by its successors.

In fact, I would argue that Getter is the second most influential mecha series in history, only second after it’s big cousin, Mazinger Z.

However, we are not here to detail how it influenced the manga industry, but how Getter holds up on it’s own, and in this regard, despite having a plot that has been overused time, and time again by it’s successors, this isn’t really that much of a problem for Getter Robo. Because like any good Mecha series, Getter’s biggest strength is it’s cast of characters.

Starting off in chapter 1, we are introduced to the first of the Robot’s giant pilots.

Ryoma Nagare.

Each of the pilots of Getter Robo is given an introductory mini-arc to set them up, and Ryoma’s is easily the best of the 3.

We are introduced to the main character of most of the franchise at a very unusual spot to open a main character, especially for a Shonen protagonist.

At the end of a revenge story.

To put it bluntly, Ryoma does not start off this series as a particularly likeable, nor good person, as his introductory scene is him crashing a perfectly legal martial arts tournament and beating the everloving shit out of it’s referee, it’s participants, and the judges who arranged it.

His reasons for doing all of this?

Revenge for his old man.

As it turns out, Ryoma had a massive beef with the arrangers for this contest, as his father, Ichigan Nagare was a pro karate champion back in the day, whose reputation was purposely destroyed by those arrangers.

Now he’s come to take revenge by utterly crushing their disciples on national television, to hammer in the point that his father’s martial arts was superior to theirs for all the world to see.

During this whole thing, we also get a very good look into how Ryoma thinks at this point in time.

When the arranger tries to appeal to the “Sacredness” of the Sport to get him to stand down, Ryoma laughs in his face, proclaiming that there is nothing sacred about combat at all. The only thing that matters is who emerges as the victor.

This is backed up by how he doesn’t show the least bit of compassion or honor to the first of the contestants he defeats, easily smashing him to the ground then gloating over him after having demonstrated the sheer difference in the combat prowess between the two of them.

He is very blunt about the fact that he believes that one should pursue strength for strenght’s sake alone, and never stop until you have crushed anyone who stands before you. Always train to get stronger, and always seek out those who can challenge you and beat them too.

Might makes right.

This is a REALLY good introduction for showcasing Ryoma as a character. How he thinks, his immense near superhuman strength, his ruthlessness, his pride in his own strength.

It also ties in directly into the themes of this series, as this kind of thinking is essentially Evolution itself boiled down to it’s bare core. The survival of the strongest. What is the point of Evolution after all, if not this? Those with the traits to survive and thrive will do so, while those who cannot, will be crushed by those who can, who in turn will pass down what made them successful to begin with.

Of course that is not what the actual message of this series is, but it is a concept that this series is rather blunt about, and it’s not a coincidence that the most prominent of all the main characters of this series began his journey while believing wholeheartedly into that ideal.

All in all this scene is just great, and it sets up Ryoma really well, as well as making it clear that this is a boy who has a lot of growing to do as a person.

And so, having achieved his life’s work that he’s trained for for years and years, Ryoma nagare quietly leaves the arena, leaving behind a dozen bruised, battered and broken men on the ground.

Of course this display of power has not gone unnoticed, as in the audience were two men from the Saotome Institute who came here hoping to find someone strong enough to pilot their giant robot.

As it happened, they just found one that fit the bill rather spectacularly.

Then in the next scene we are showcased Ryoma’s home.

Ryoma Nagare, a fighting genius that at the tender age of 16-17 smashed the greatest karate practitioners in Japan with ease while being outnumbered a dozen to one, lives in a ramshackle part of town, in a rundown old building that has broken windows, a leaking roof, and can at best be called a ramshackle cottage.

It’s a rather brutal contrast to the sight of the prestigious, well made and maintained karate tournament building we were just in.

Inside we find the sight of something else rather unusual for a Shonen protagonist. Having now achieved his goals, and avenged his father’s memory, Ryoma is slowly starting to come to the realization that this has all been one giant waste of time. He hasn’t actually earned anything on this journey. His father is dead, he’s still poor, and his only belongings is this shitty building and the clothes on his back.

As we learn here, Ryoma has spent his entire life being trained in martial arts, to insane degrees even for an adult man, much less for a child. All for the purpose of one day doing what he did today, and avenging his father’s memory.

This scene really hammers in the fact that for all his ridiculous strength, Ryoma is a child, and he has a child’s way of looking at things.

He thinks back fondly on being pitted against stray dogs in death matches, and he reveals here that in his mind, this was all about “Redeeming” martial arts somehow, as if this display would really change anything in the grand scheme of things within the sport.

It wasn’t of course. This was all about revenge. Everything Ryoma ever trained for was for this moment, this moment of what should have been absolute and total triumph as he achieved a truly spectacular victory and proved his father’s fighting style the best in all the land and he has proven that he himself is the strongest fighter in all Japan.

Instead he is coming to the realization that so many people that wasted their lives on vengeance have come to over the years. That it was all a giant waste of time.

Revenge is a suckers game.

Having achieved his goals, Ryoma has found them to be completely empty, and has nowhere to go. This is a really fascinating way to open up a character arc, as usually a character that learns the lesson that David Xanatos knew so well, happens either at the end, or somewhere later down their line. Ryoma however, learns it in the very first chapter, and now has to find something else to live for.

However, his soul searching is then interrupted by a few gentlemen from the Saotome institute.

Who immediately tries to kill him.

Now before I discuss the next part, I wanna praise this overall scene, because it really works great within the context of this chapter.

Ryoma has been introduced as a massive asshole, who firmly believes in the mantra of Might makes right, and he doesn’t feel any regret at having brutalized a dozen of innocent people, just the fact that he realizes that there was no real satisfaction to be had from it. Now the other shoe drops, and HE is attacked in his own home, completely unprovoked for reasons that frankly he has no personal involvement in on his own side. While this attack does have an in universe reason behind it, it main purpose is that it serves as a nice cathartic moment for the reader, as while he’s never going to legally punished for what just happened at the tournament, he is punished by the narrative for his actions, which is something i’ve seen far, far too many stories do over the years fail to do with asshole protagonists.

It also serves to put Ryoma’s current belief in Might Makes Right to the test. After all, aren’t these men doing exactly what he said that those who practice martial arts should do? Seek out those stronger than them, then crush them.

All of this makes it a shame that it is horribly undercut by the one, genuine stain on the original manga. Namely that one of the attackers is this guy.

And it’s at this moment you realise, oh yeah, this was made in 1970’s Japan. The unfortunate fact is that Mangaka of this period generally based their depiction of black people on early American comics(Which had plenty of this kind of artwork), and Ken Ishikawa was unfortunately not an exception to this rule.

He would THANKFULLY not repeat anything like this later down the line(his depiction of black people is far more natural and realistic in later manga), but hot damn is it both uncomfortable and distracting to read the pages with this guy. And it’s a real shame too, because frankly, not only is the following fight scene very good as a narrative punishment for Ryoma, but it’s just a good fight scene in general.

Unlike the Tournament fight, which was mainly a beatdown to establish Ryoma’s ridiculous strength, this is an actual fight, which showcases Ishikawa’s ability to draw energetic, exciting fight scenes where action flows very naturally.

It also shows that for the kind of ridiculous strength Ryoma possess, he isn’t some superhuman, as early in the brawls he’s heavily wounded by the rather mundanity of taking a throwing knife to the shoulder. This is in general something that makes action if Getter Robo stand out from other shonen series too. When characters, or Robots for that matter, takes hits, they rarely shrug them off with no problem, instead taking real, genuine damage that doesn't just instantly go away. They might power through them, but that isn’t the same as them disappearing into the ether.

In any case, the battle ends up outside the house when Ryoma is thrown through the wall.

He’s then forced to do the classic, catch the blade between the palms of his hands trope, which is depicted much more believable than most cases I’ve seen, as despite succeeding, it still left him bleeding from those palms.

Ryoma then redirects the blade into the big guy who is attacking him from behind, killing him. I really love how the artwork sells that this is a desperate move on Ryoma’s part. He is genuinely fighting for his life here, and he’s pulling out every trick he has to to win despite his wounds.

He then follows that up by ripping the blade out, and throwing it at the knife thrower guy. I also like that after doing so, he immediately falls flat on his ass, in a rather realistic manner(he is fighting in the rain after all, so the ground is undoubtedly pretty slippery.), while also showcasing the force of the throw. My only main complaint is that for this one panel Ken forgot to include the wound and the knife on his shoulder, as I think it would really sell just how desperate Ryoma is here if we’re visually reminded in the moment that, oh yeah, he’s powering through and using the arm whose shoulder has a knife in it to to throw this thing.

Thankfully, that missed opportunity for visual grittiness is more than made up for by the next part.

Having now effectively won the battle(I think the swordsman broke his foot in the fall, at least that’s how it looks), Ryoma suddenly realises that, holy shit, he just killed someone. The contrast between here and how he looked as he challenged the tournament fighters couldn’t be more different. The cooky, arrogant youth is completely gone, and you're reminded that Ryoma is just a kid. A kid who just had to kill someone. The bravado is completely gone, leaving only a kid who is tired, confused, in pain, and probably pretty scared.

He is then approached by the man who just had 3 grown ass men jump and attack him, Dr. Saotome.

Wounded, and mentally exchausted as he is, he is in no position to argue as Saotome declares that Ryoma is what he’s been looking for, and as one of his men rips the knife out of his shoulder, Ryoma screams before losing consciousness from the pain. Afterwards he is dragged into a car, and bandaged up.

Then as they're driving, the’re attacked by a giant flying dinosaur that grabs unto the car and flies away with it, Ryoma and Saotome barely managing to get out in time, alongside one of Saotome’s unlucky goons who breaks his neck in the fall.

And so ends Chapter one of Getter Robo.

All in all, other than the horribly racist black guy, this is a really good first chapter, that sets up Ryoma Nagare really, really well, showcasing his way of thinking, his origin, and where he needs to grow, while also showcasing his ludicrous strength, and that he is fully capable of going balls to the wall to win a fight, which will be showcased many, many times in this series. It also ends on a reminder of the fact that oh yeah, this is a series about one side vs dinosaurs, as Ryoma gets his first introduction into the enemy he will be fighting time, and again in this manga. It also gives a distinct first impression of just how ruthless Saotome is, as he is perfectly willing to send 3 dangerous goons on a teenager just to test his prowess in battle, which is absolutely going to come into play in future chapters.

All in all, it’s a good start. Not an amazing beginning, but certainly a good introduction to our first main character.

#Getter robo #getter robo retrospective #ryoma nagare #character study #getter robo manga #dr. saotome

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vanillann · 4 years

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five star conversation (r.p)

a/n: i’m going to cry, i can’t believe this is the last part of my favorite mini series:(

word count:

5 star conversation masterlist

place four: a 1 star gig

Flynn was always on top of things, she always was, but when she wasn’t you didn’t want to be lodged on a tour bus with her. She had already tried to throw her phone out the window, thank God Alex was looking for his hat and he caught it.

“They canceled our reservation! That must be illegal!”

I curled closer to Julie on her bed, letting my head rest on her shoulder every time Flynn let out a line of words. Reggie had a small panic attack with the yelling and Flynn tried to apologize but he didn’t blame, he was just as mad. So now the boy walked around the gas station we had stopped at and Julie and I let Flynn rant to us, she deserved it.

“Maybe another venue will host us,” Julie spoke up when Flynn didn’t yell again, her feet had finally stopped leaving marks in the carpet from pacing.

“I’ve already called two and they said their full, which had to be a lie, and plus how do we get the word out to the fans!” Flynn reached down and grabbed my knee, looking at me with sad eyes.

I pulled my phone from my pocket, waving it in the air while I sat up.

“I can always do a live and explain everything, why don’t you get some air,” I rubbed her shoulder, hoping she would take my advice, She had always given Reggie and Alex a heart attack and maybe going to the little nature walk across the street would be good, she could throw some rocks at some trees.

“I’ll get some air, yeah okay.”

She hurried off the bus, most likely to throw or kick rocks around the parking lot as Flynn never liked nature trails, it was nice to dream. If she dented this bus, we’ll be in debt.

“I can’t believe the venue canceled, it was our last gig on tour too!” Julie stood, looking down as I laid on her bunk and played with my phone in between my fingers.

I didn’t have to heart to tell the fans that we didn’t have a venue, that we wouldn’t have a final gig that was supposed to help release the new album coming out in five months.

It might have seemed small, we were blessed we even had this opportunity but it doesn’t change the fact that the one we're most excited for now was not happening.

“I’m going to find the boys, you coming?”

I closed my eyes, the boys. Everything they worked for was now becoming a nightmare, their idea of the perfect tour was ruined with falling through plans and missed opportunities.

“No, I need to go live and get the word out anyways,” I brushed off Julie, I didn’t have the heart to look any of them in the eye and tell them. To break their heart like everyone else in their life has, I just couldn’t do it. Julie waved behind her, I waited until the bus door shut before I let my head rollback.

I looked up at the bunk above me, Flynn’s, and let my mind wander over the past few months. They were perfect. Watching the fan scream their name for hours and they showed them in their element. The pictures that have been taken, many saved in my phone of the people I would always turn to. The edits that have been made have made me laugh harder than I imagined. Before this tour, nobody knew me, not that I ever cared, but I was behind the scenes. Now, the fans want me on the stage even if I don’t contribute to the music.

The music, the music had been show-stopping. Luke has been through four journals the past few months, writing back fast food drive in’s and doing stupid things with friends, that how the new album was coming out so fast. They were all so excited, Reggie was so excited to have one of his own songs featured as a single.

Reggie.

I let my hand run over my face, feeling the embarrassment from the incident at the fair. Watching his face move closer to mine, like a slow-motion picture and then ripped away when it was ripped in half. I took a minute and tried turning it into a moment, but it was never our moment. All the giggles and inside jokes hurt my chest and I thought back to the more recent time of the tour.

The motel, the way the light shines across his face and we wondered would the world cave in around. The feeling of his hand gripping my shirt because he always felt he had to be touching someone, he said it reminds him not to act so dead.

The diner when he gave me sweet little comments and took my fork from my lips. When we laughed about food poisoning and wondered would we ever be the same people after he played with my finger from across the table.

The fair where I gave him his first horse, then named it after an artist I introduced to him too. The way the wind passed his hair like he was made to run away from the world that had disappointed him more than once.

Every one-star establishment that made me believe could kiss my butt because now we had nothing. I didn’t need any more one-star buildings and places in my life. They’re just cheap and used for people who have no other options.

I sat up quickly, so quickly my head hit Flynn bunk.

No other options and cheap, exactly what someone in our situation could use right now. I let my phone spin between my fingers, unlocking it quickly before finding my search bar. We sat in the center of California, there had to be a one-star building somewhere near, one that we could turn into a dive bar or something. I smiled when a cheap bar popped up first, the area large enough to hold people and a small stage the band could work with.

Larry’s Bar was suddenly open for business. I dialed the number quickly, praying for the first time in a week something would go my way.

“L-larry’s Bar,” the woman sounded out of breath but I couldn’t care.

“Can we rent out your bar for a band?”

“Huh?”

“We need a venue for a band performance,” I realized why Flynn handled this and not me, this was out of my comfort zone.

“Are you sure you have-”

“Incredibly sure, yes or no?”

The line went silent, for a minute I thought she hung up on me and I considered crying with Reggie’s stuffed horse for a minute.

“The bar’s yours,” the lady's voice sounds light suddenly like we finally both got some good news. She definitely made my week without knowing.

“We’ll be there in forty-five minutes,” I didn’t wait for a response, rushing out of the tour bus to find someone. When I spotted everyone leaning against an ice machine outside the gas station with sad faces, my legs couldn’t stop me from rushing. I was happy Fylnn already kicked all the rock because otherwise, I would have felt.

“Guys!”

“Hey,” Alex's voice was sad and sincere, about to place a hand on my shoulder but I was bouncing on my toes.

“Whip off your sad faces, I got us a gig!”

“Just got off live, the fans are going to spread the information,” I yelled throughout the bar, and Luke and Jessie, the lady from the phone, moved the last few tables around the bar to make more room. Reggie and Alex did a quick soundcheck, we were currently renting amps and such from across the street since the owner's daughter was apparently a “Luke Girl”.

“Thank God, I would hope we don’t do all this work for nobody to show up” Alex called back as he did the classic comedy drum sound, giving a smile as he grabbed the extra drumstick from his back pocket.

I rolled my eyes, hopping off the stage to the small table at the door for Flynn and me to sit at for tickets and shirts, CD including, and a special code for the single Reggie was presenting tonight.

Luke and he had been fighting over it for ten minutes because Reggie changed the one he wanted to release last minute, it must have been good if Luke was letting him get away with it.

“I can’t believe you pulled this off,” Flynn sat in her seat with her arms crossed, people would be arriving as soon as possible and we were prepared for anything.

“What can I say,” I smiled brightly, taking the seat beside her.

“What made you think of this?”

I wanted to say, Reggie, that he almost always somehow inspired my best ideas but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Almost everyone knew of the almost kiss and how awkward things have been between us, so awkward I couldn’t say his name.

“Just about what happened at the motel, how we had to make it work.”

It wasn't a lie, that was for sure.

“Well, you saved the tour,” Flynn leaned over and squeezed my shoulders, her bucket hat titled as it smashed against my face. I hugged her back, smiling into her shoulder, I saved the tour.

The crowd screamed as the band finished off “Bright”, sweat dripping down them as they gave wide gestures.

“Thank you! Now it’s surprise time!” Julie passed the microphone to Luke, who looked so excited for his next set of words.

“The rumors about the new album are true,” he let the mic drop until the screams died down, “and we are here to show one of the singles for the said album that will drop on March 3rd at midnight!”

The crowd went crazy again and I laughed against Flynn, we both decided to stay in our chairs for the performance as we had an amazing view and we didn’t want to push through everyone. I was scared that everyone would see the one-star and turn the other way but every ticket that was bought came.

Reggie smiled as he took the stage, his bass switched for an acoustic, which confused me but I didn’t think much about it, I knew he liked to mess with it sometimes.

“Hi everybody!”

Reggie gave a peace sign to the crowd, the few girls who wore Reggie’s face on their shirt screamed at the top of their lungs.

“This is a song I wrote a few weeks ago on tour called “Five Star conversation.”

I looked over my shoulder at Flynn, her eyes wide as she watched Reggie get situated on his stool in front of the mic.

“What song is this?”

“Uhm, this one?”

All she did was point and I decided to go back and watch him play. I could always ask later, I’d have to make merch with it anyways.

“Dingy bathrooms and motel floors, I’d never wanted you more than right now,” Reggie's voice came out rough as his voice played with the melody just right. His finger-picked at the string and I was shocked by the slow melody. This definitely wasn’t a song I’d heard.

“The city lights across your face, I swear you fell from grace. The world around me seemed to disappear the second you spoke,” that when it happened, the moment he turned his head. He looked in my eye, the words rooting themselves in my chest, tattooed across my heart.

“Our five-star conversations were softer than the pillows beneath me, I wish you could have really seen me.”

I felt myself chew on my bottom lip, feeling my eyes turn to me as his attention never left my face. He was watching me, the same way he had in every other one-star establishment, but this felt different.

“Oh, you wouldn’t know the five-star conversation I had with your soul.” The medley rang out, Julie’s soft humming joined in behind and I wondered how anyone could focus.

How could anyone think straight when someone was looking so adoring under the flashing light of a cheap bar that smelt like feet?

How could I pay attention while he looked at me like I hung the stars in the sky when he hung the moon?

“Crappy food and screaming doors, I wonder if you knew of your own grace!” His word rang back in my eye, like a bug that wouldn’t quite go away, not that I would ever want this to stop.

But it had to stop because I was suddenly the center of attention and I couldn’t handle it. I couldn't know the world more than I did. But I was rooted in place watching the boy I had fallen so hard for a look at me with his puppy eyes and wonder where we would stand after this.

“Don’t let me lose our five-star conversation in a one-star world after all,” he strummed the last bit of the song, I barely processed half the word before I let my legs go. I was walking somewhere, wherever my feet would allow me to go. I was outside, the brick wall of the bar brought me back to reality.

The same reality where I didn’t think boys wrote songs that sweet and they didn’t look at you like that. They didn’t look at you like you spun gold strings and gave them pretty smiles, but he did.

He always did, he always looked at me like I belonged next to him saving tours and making horrible plans. He looked at me like I could be his muse for the rest of his life, of death is more appropriate. He looked at me as if I was more than his because I wasn’t his, I was myself and that’s all he wanted.

He was in love with me, the same person from the motel, the same person for the diner, the same person from the fair.

I was the five-star person in the world star world, I was the extra star he was always looking for.

“(Y/N)!”

As soon as I watched his body slide out the door of the bar, I walked to him. I didn’t realize how far I walked until he started rambling.

“I’m sorry to put you on the spot but I couldn’t stop-”

My hand gripped the thin jacket material, not thinking twice and my lips smashed against his with force. He fell back slightly, his hand grabbing my wrist for a second before he was running them over my shoulder and down to my elbows. He pulled me closer if that was possible, and I let my hand touch over his heart.

The heart that wanted me, Reggie wanted me. There were girls who would wear his face on a shirt and he wanted the person that made those shirts.

I was his five stars, even if I loved him in every one-star and three-star establishment.

I felt myself pull away, our forehead resting on one another and I took a shaky breath.

“I’d give that kiss two stars.”

He smiled down at me, raising his eyebrows and letting his tongue run over the side of his cheek with a smirk.

“Give me ten minutes and I’ll make it five stars.”

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villainsandvictimsalliance · 3 years

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Ok but like... In some weird alternate universe... Would Hero!Shiggy become childhood friends to enemies to friends to lovers with Villain!Dabi?

Absolutely yes because hero!Shiggy would never leave a friend behind, specially if that friends is suffering and needs someone by his side.

I can imagine it like this:

Dabi was a lonely kid, not because he didn't had friends, but because somehow he felt like he was not really seen. Like everyone saw what they wanted to see, but no one could break the walls he put there. He had a shitty childhood. He was pretending everything was fine all the time, but it was not. No one knew, no one saw.

And then Tomura found him.

Even when he was a weird kid with a dangerous quirk, it was impossible to ignore him. He was kind and stubborn, the only one who never backed away from an adventure or a dare. Dabi liked that. Eventually, he learned that Tomura has a shitty childhood just like him. Around that time they became a team. They'd run away from home some days, they'd train and study together, they'd talk about their plans and dreams. Dabi was not scared of Tomura, neither he was afraid of his hands. Tomura wanted to become a great pro-hero and Dabi wanted to beat the future pro-hero #1 in a fight.

But one day, Dabi died. At least that's what they told him when he asked. That's what he learn in school, that his friend had died and he hadn't been able to save him.

Tomura grew with that weight on his heart. His mindset changed after that. No, he didn't want to be a normal pro-hero. He wanted to be a rescue specialist, someone to save those who were low and hidden, who were lonely and left behind. Others could fight with villains, but him? He was there to save lives, not take them.

His years studying to be a hero were not exactly remarkable. Yes, he went at UA, but thanks to his nature he was always getting ignore. He was insanely smart and fast, had good strength and flexibility, but his quirk was, once more, too dangerous to be a hero quirk. He graduated the best he could and started working on tiny agencies, helping wherever he can. It was in his 19th birthday when he saw Dabi again.

The building Tomura was in was coming down.

Outside, heroes and villians were crashing against each other, like waves hitting the rocks of a beach. Tomura was running running running through the building, carefully decaying with his quirk a path for him to break through. Behind him, following close, at least three families cried out. He needed to take them to the ground before another big attack. There were kids with him. He couldn't fail them. He couldn't—

A blast occurred, followed by an object collided the side of the building and coming through right in from of them, hitting the wall hard.

Tomura waved the families to keep going. He swallowed. “Just one more floor, stay close to the walls. There's more heroes waiting for you, okay? Now go! ”

The person in front of him was a villain. He knew it in his heart, that's why he shielded the families with his body and pushed them to quickly pass by the body, straight to the next exit. The villain grunted, breathing heavily as he pushed himself up. Black ripped clothes, dirty dark hair, blue—

Blue eyes. The same blue eyes he had adored as a child. The same nose and bratty smile, the same spiky hair.

“ Dabi. ”

There was a moment between them, when none of them moved or blinked or breathed. They only started at their childhood friend.

And then Dabi attacked him with a blast of blue fire straight to his face.

All over Tomura, faked hands were grabbing his body. Their mechanisms were specially designed to give him the extra mobility he needed, with fine ropes inside them that he could shot and retract at will. Tomura dodge the attack, shooting one of those hand to Dabi's feet and tugging the rope, making the idiot fall to the ground.

The fight was short and fast. Dabi tried burning the rope of the hand, Tomura took the chance to run to the hole Dabi had left on the side of the building. The last thing Tomura saw before jumping, using a hand to slide him safely to the ground, was Dabi incredulous face as he watched him go.

From that point on, as a cruel joke, they kept finding each other in the oddest of situations.

Tomura was always submerging himself in big fights scenarios, because he was always risking his life to save others. Dabi, on the other hand, was always there to bring support to the villain side. So they kept clashing and interrupting the other.

And of course, arguing tension.

That was probably the most frustrating fact about it all. Every time, Tomura tried to make Dabi explain how he was alive, where had he been all those years, why he never went back to find him. Every time Dabi tried to make Tomura turned his back to the heroes.

“ Come with me. ”

They went back to their respective places alone, feeling defeated and tired.

But not always. Little by little, in between fights and attacks, they found themselves smiling again to each other. Well, yes, there was also a bit of sexual tension, mostly because Tomura needed to get close to Dabi in order to capture him, so sometimes Dabi would found himself pinned to the ground and other times Tomura would find himself trapped against Dabi's body and a wall. It made them dizzy, addicted even. The shot of adrenaline after learning there was a new mission, so they could see the other again. The feeling of the fight, of being totally immersed in another person's breathing, saying, moving. It was the heat and the danger, the familiarity, the joy of finding a friend and a rival, an enemie and a possible lover.

Little did the know that another twist was about to shake them to the core.

A year later, Tomura was kidnapped by a big bad man Dabi was working for. They called him AFO. Imagine Dabi surprise and concern when he found out that Tomura was on their base, alone with who was probably the worst person alive. Dabi was only a distraction, apparently. Something to drag Tomura closer and closer, enough to have him exactly where AFO wanted, like a moth in a spider web. He wanted to break Tomura, turn him against the heroes, against All Might.

Dabi saw him only once before making his decision. It was late, he sneaked pass the guards to the lab where Tomura was being kept. And what he saw, the way he saw the boy he had missed and loved and hated and longed for, floating in a giant capsule filled with water... He had heard the rumors about Tomura screaming his throat raw, the level of suffering he was putting up with.

For the first time in years now, Dabi felt the bitterness of his behavior climbing to his mouth. He had let that happened. Tomura let him scape again and again, he had covered him, lie for him, he was there because of him.

Dabi couldn't let him die for him too.

He smashed the glass. Tomura was heavier with muscle, he couldn't— he—

Just in time, he felt a friend of his lift Tomura up. Twice.

“ Is this the boy? ”

Dabi didn't reply, dead eyes sparkling among the darkness of the room. Behind him, Compress read his face and let out a tiny approval, telling the others to hurry up. They needed to get far really fast if they wanted to survive the night.

Tomura hadn't met them yet. The League of Villains. His somehow friends, even when he refused to called them that. Would he like them? As he ran, he came to think that yes, Tomura would probably adore them. It was impossible, but the League was fighting like Tomura was a part of them too, barely knowing the guy.

Everything was fine until Toga shouted at someone to make room for the boyfriends.

Oh, they were dead, they knew it. It was either the heroes or the villains, two sides where they didn't belong. So why? Why risking it all for a dude?

Maybe—, Dabi thought to himself as he watched Tomura wake up with rage as pure as his white hair on his eyes, a look he had never seen on him. Tomura only touched the ground and in seconds, a road of dust was opened to them. No more bodies or walls or trees, just a gray path with nothing in it.

In the distance, he heard someone calling out Tomura's name, a hero, a girl.

Spinner mumbled something and pointed at the rising sun. The rest started running towards the horizon. Dabi stayed back, holding Tomura up with an arm on his waist. The hero let his head rest on his shoulder and fell asleep again.

Maybe because he's our hero.

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silence-burns · 4 years

Text

Please Hate Me //part 48

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Based on: “Imagine having a love/hate relationship with Loki.” by @thefandomimagine Who would have thought that babysitting a god could be so much fun?

Genre: slow-burn, enemies to lovers, banter, smut

Being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman always gave Peter a sense of pride and purpose, even if he could only share it openly with a few people. It was the kind of accomplishment that made all the hardships seem worth it in the end. It also made him happy in a way he couldn't really explain, but which involved a certain connection between him and the people he protected and got familiar with over the course of his superhero patrols.

But being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman was difficult in a neighborhood where no one was actually friendly in return.

Peter’s frown grew the further into the building he went. He was pretty sure it was the same one Loki and you had been renting an apartment in, and since he was a rather frequent guest, the neighbours should recognize him by now enough to at least return his greetings.

That was what logic dictated, but Peter was pretty certain the people he met in the hallway only gave him a stern, disapproving look before walking past him quickly.

Peter was still frowning when he moved up the stairs, juggling the keys in his hand. Then he stopped. The unearthly screams of the damned were muffled, but most definitely coming from apartment number 13.

Opening the door quietly, he slid into the familiar interior, now echoing with pain and suffering so loud, Peter had to cover his ears just enough to move to the root of all evil - the bathroom.

There were many inexplicable things Peter had witnessed happening in the apartment 13, and to some extent he got used to the thrill of not knowing what he'd face next time he paid a visit. Still, he hadn't expected to see various parts of a half-drowned owl sticking out of the sink filled thick with foam and bubbles. The owl must've struggled a lot, judging by the amount of water splashed on every possible surface, and the iron grip you and Loki still kept on the bird. Even if Loki was not wearing his usual features, it was still obvious who your partner in crime was.

The two of you froze. Soap and foam dripped to the floor. Loki's new form shimmered with a glamour only magic could achieve.

"Um, what are you guys doing?" Peter asked.

"Trying a new disguise?" The curtain of Loki's new long hair was luscious and utterly drenched.

"No, I meant-"

"Listen, boy, as surprising as it might be for you, I'm still me, just with a less… criminally wanted image."

"Yeah, only if 'ME' stands for mischief embodied," you laughed.

"It literally doesn't. It's smooth, but it doesn't."

"Thank you, love. Now, could you please stop drowning poor Barbara?"

Loki sighed, but relaxed his grip on the bird just enough to allow it to peak its head out from under the surface and take a deep, long breath.

Peter put his backpack down and meandered closer, dodging the growing puddles. "Why is there an owl in the sink?"

"Because I'm not allowing any fleas into my house," you firmly stated, pushing the wings back under the water. "And I don't care how many hours we'll spend here, I'm getting all the mud and dirt out."

Barbara clung to her dirt with all her might, but was overpowered and utterly misunderstood. Loki's new form was slimmer, but held the bird with his usual strength and a big dose of satisfaction. The smirk on his face was unchanged, even if the features were new.

"What do you need a disguise for anyway?" Peter asked, looking for a towel. "Can I go with you?"

"I'm afraid that as wildly chaotic and lawless as our destination is, you'd still be age-checked," Loki cooled his enthusiasm.

Barbara rushed to the towel and clung to it, loudly exclaiming what, precisely, she thought about her caretakers. Peter tried to dry her up as best as he could through her wriggling and screams.

"Are you sure all this soap is good for her? Did you use any animal-friendly shampoo?"

Loki shrugged. "I doubt she can get any more dead."

The boy looked at the owl. The owl looked at the boy. The ruffled and drenched feathers were sticking out in all directions, uncovering a deep and no doubt fatal hole in her side.

"You got a dead owl…?"

"It was not my idea," Loki groaned, casting the bird a disgusted stare in the mirror where he tried to change the shape of his eyebrows.

"You're just angry because she likes me more," you laughed while mopping the floor.

Peter did his best to become invisible and not stare too openly at the ribs poking out of the feathers. Barbara puffed them every time he moved the towel around. The boy couldn't speak owlish, but the small, crittering noises she made were definitely far from happy.

"Where will you be going?" Peter asked. The owl sat on his knees and refused to move even after he finished drying her on the couch.

"To the largest casino on the Moon."

"Wait- There are casinos up there?"

"Not for kids your age," Loki said.

Peter slumped on the couch. "That's not fair."

"We'll be back before you notice." You threw the wet rag to the sink. "Of course, as long as a certain someone FINALLY decides what to wear."

Loki ignored your pointed look, too busy with changing his hair color. No matter how many little details he changed, he still struggled with finding a form he was sure would allow him to pass through the guards unnoticed and unrecognized. It was a shame he couldn't use his own - it felt like a waste to hide a face like his.

The owl settled on Peter's shoulder, immobilizing him with the claws buried in his skin. But even from the couch, the boy could see the remnants of a hurricane that had thrown a rather alarming amount of clothes around the apartment.

"I thought these were yours," he admitted. The owl kept on looking through his hair with the utmost scrutiny and very little gentleness.

"I've settled long ago on what I'm going to wear. As for the diva himself, though…" you gestured around.

"I need it to be perfect," Loki said. "I have an important role to play, I can't just waltz in there and be recognized."

"You could go blond," Peter suggested.

"Ew, I don't want to look anything like my brother- Wait, that's actually a great idea."

Before any of you managed to protest, a full-grown Thor stood in Loki's place, watching himself from all angles in the mirror. The clothes no longer fit, so he dropped them and dove into the closet again.

"...what have I done?"

You patted Peter's free shoulder. Barbara nested in the crook of his neck. "Nothing they can prove. Hopefully."

"I am not my father's servant," not-Thor downed another beer. "And if I want to relax for just one evening, I shall!"

The tankard broke into tiny pieces as he smashed it on the ground. The loud applause and waves of laughter followed the very Thor-like outburst, making Loki relieved he was playing his role well. Even in a place like this, crowded with drunkards and gamblers from all over the universe, it was common knowledge what the god of thunder enjoyed.

Loki forced his glamoured face to remain cheerful as another tankard of beer had been brought to him, disgustingly sour and rough. He knew his brother well, and was sure he'd love it, but Loki himself would rather bite off his tongue than willingly digest any more if only he had an actual choice. He didn't, and therefore swallowed another gulp to the cheering from the crowds gathered at his table. The cards had been laid out, waiting for the victors to celebrate their success, and the rest to decide how much more money they were willing to lose to the god of thunder.

Seated in a great hall of marble and gold, Loki wished he could play the way he actually wanted to, which was the very same way that got him banned from the Moon last time he had visited. But for the sake of the mission, he stayed just above the line between bankrupting and winning money, which added to the body he was wearing, was just big enough temptation to keep his table busy.

Everyone entering the biggest casino on the Moon was inclined to try their luck, or at least take a quick look. It was a perfect, if rather boring, way of scanning everyone who entered the rich complex of buildings. The few fountains set further in the back murmured as they shot curtains of water. The air was thick and warm, making crowds of people inevitably gravitate towards them in search of any cold. With the tall, lush plants artistically winding over and between the pillars, it created little areas dotting the impossibly high hall, where the pleasant breeze gathered the people looking for just a moment of relief. You occupied a spot beneath the fountains, where most people would wind up going to at some point, and used it as a second checkpoint, just in case anyone missed Loki's, or rather his brother's table.

"Come on, does anyone else want to lose their fingers?" Loki heard you call out to the crowds.

Between their never ending sessions of losing and winning the money back just to lose them again, there were many individuals in need of a drink and a quick break from the gambling. How easy it was to grab their attention with a loud voice and a dead owl.

Loki stretched his neck and looked over to where you had sat down the bird with all kinds of currency piled between its claws and a single coin shining through the open ribcage.

"All you need is to get the coin out, what's the matter, people? Is there no one brave enough to win all this money?"

Greed has always been a major deciding factor for the living beings regardless of race and the world of origin. The queue only rose in length as everyone wanted to try their luck.

The table under Barbara grew more and more slick with blood from cut and bitten fingers. Pure malice shone in her dead eyes.

"What an awful creature," Loki muttered to himself.

He could sense the stolen pin somewhere in the vicinity, but the casino was a loud and chaotic place, with multiple areas each centered around a different type of entertainment. More than an hour had already passed, but whoever was currently holding onto the pin, had not yet ventured anywhere near.

The two of you were slowly but inevitably running out of time. Odin might've been old and naive, but his spies' eyes reached far and wide. Loki had little doubt he would be interested in his favourite son's apparent evening fun, especially if he had that particular son with him, in the palace. Thor was a good cover, but not for much longer.

And then, by chance or a generous turn of fate, the shadows stirred and whispered.

Loki cast the dice, not paying attention whether he'd won or lost. His money wasn't real anyway.

There - by the high palms stood the Hoarders, clad in the worn out rags and way too much jewelry. With their grey skin and long limbs, it was no wonder how easily they blended in with the shadows, using their skills to warp their surroundings and get in places others would consider highly secure. But their success was not measured in how many places they were capable of breaking in themselves, but rather how many individuals of all races they could easily befriend and bend to their will. Although, to be quite honest, Loki doubted the necromancer had needed much convincing.

There were only three of them, each almost an identical copy of the others, but the Hoarders were encircled by both their partners for the evening and whatever scum tried to befriend them. That made it so much harder to approach them, but Loki was already thinking of a good excuse when he rose from his seat. People parted, giving him space - much more that would be granted to Loki's original form.

The shadows whispered again. One of the ladies separated from the group, with an annoyed expression on her face.

Loki stretched, making sure to put his hands high. Once he caught your attention, he followed the lady at a leisurely pace.

"What do we do?" You asked once both of you entered the corridor and disappeared behind the corner.

"She's got the pin."

One more turn took you in front of the ladies restroom.

"Time for Plan C.” Loki began undressing quickly.

Holding a spare dress in your bottomless pocket was not the wisest choice, but it apparently paid off, even if fishing it out took you a moment. Your hands shook. Someone might have walked in on you at any time. While Loki would be doing whatever it took to get the pin back, you would be the one making sure no one interrupted him…

Like distracting the waiter that was now staring at both of you. Focused on the contents of your pocket, you hadn’t even noticed him approaching. Loki clad in only Thor's skin, blinked.

The waiter turned on his heel and disappeared.

"I can already feel the gossip stirring," Loki shifted into a more feminine body, quickly putting on the dress. "They are going to eat my brother alive."

"Do you feel bad about it?"

"Oh, my heart is breaking into a million pieces," Loki assured you with a smile far too wide for that to be true.

He kissed you quickly before disappearing into the restroom.

Life felt amazing. Loki couldn't help but imagine the amount of trouble his brother would get once the word spread about his whereabouts.

His imagination was running wild, but the one thing Loki couldn't imagine was how, merely thirty minutes later, he'd find himself in the dungeons deep beneath the surface of the Moon, half-drowned, and viciously bitten.

#please hate me #loki x reader #loki x you #Loki Laufeyson #Loki Laufeyson x Reader #loki laufeyson x you #loki mcu #loki imagine #loki #mar #mcu #loki series #loki laufeyson imagine #loki fanfic

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confusedhost-archive · 3 years

Text

Maybe an au idk

“The Debeste Legacy is dead, over entirely.”

That’s what the rumours around the prosecutor’s office say. Miles Edgeworth cuts off talk about it easily, reminding that he was acquainted with ex-chief prosecutor Debeste’s son. He reminds, further, that it’s in poor taste to speak so nosily of the dead.

Klavier Gavin is less upset when it comes to the topic of such rumours. He fuels them, even, adamantly on the side of a fiery death in the office of the Debeste Manor. “It’s poetic, wouldn’t you say? That office was the heart of it all… For a line to really end, there, and only there, in that room? Not to mention how it went all up in flames - surely we all remember sir Blaise’s interest in fire. I mean, really, I can hear a song in that.”

Beside Prosecutor Gavin, the new prosecutor grins. Their hair is pulled up into a ponytail, a braid tucked in with the rest of xer hair. The new prosecutor enjoys music as much as Klavier does, and requests they write the new song together.

The new prosecutor is Prosecutor Courtney, he/they/xe/it, adopted child of Judge Justine Courtney, sibling of John Marsh, roommate to Great Thief Kay Faraday, friend of Rock Star Klavier Gavin, and apprentice to Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.

He also, apparently, knows nothing of the fire in the Debeste mansion. “I was adopted quite recently,” it explains, twiddling a pencil between their fingers. “And mothe- mom has been abiding any talk of fires lately.” On the other side of the room, Klavier Gavin will easily correct the mistake (“It’s ‘avoiding,’ Sebby) asking what coffee the great Sebby Courtney wants in the same breath.

Unbeknownst to many that now take place in Sebastian’s (it couldn’t give up the name. Sebastian was a name their father gave them, but still, it was xer own.) life, he was the supposedly dead Debeste. His hair had grown longer, and he had a streak of dull pink from a dare with Kay. His old jacket was replaced with a cloak of Justine’s, the white and pink forcing him to similarly change his other clothes for a better colour scheme. Klavier and Kay enjoyed giving them make overs, and one little drawn mole under their eye was enough to promise they weren’t Sebastian Debeste.

Not that anyone tried. Xe looked different, thanks to the magic of Klavier’s make up skills. And his family history was so nicely different, no one even assumed.

The lie all those who cared for them came up with was simple: a family who couldn’t take care of it, giving it up to adoption, until recently, Judge Courtney felt the need to grace another with motherly love. Miles Edgeworth was met in passing, during a late night round to the prosecutor’s office on Justine’s behalf. No surprise, Kay was there, and they became quick friends. Klavier was an old acquaintance, from long before superstar times. They took the same band class, so the story goes.

As for Sebastian’s - Sebastian Debeste’s, to be specific. Sebastian Courtney had no relation to such an estate - old home? It’s being renovated. The old hallways and corridors needed repairing, obviously, as despite the fire being contained in the office, smoke damage did horrors.

(“Wonders,” Justine had corrected absently, and then covered her mouth as she realized her mistake. Some time ago, Sebastian might have been hurt, that she would assume his intentions like so, but now xe laughed, and agreed. “Wonders,” he repeated.)

Miraculously, expensive items that could be sold were left in a very nice room that was entirely untouched. Sebastian would grin when their family and friends turned to stare at them at such news. “Papa taught me very little,” Sebastian had said. “But fire safety was very, very informant when his lighter came into play. And he let me go on the computer and search up anything I wanted to know about fires and fire safety. And I wanted to know everything. So I used all that knowledge.”

Miles’ eyebrows were raised high, and Kay looked far more excited then she had any right to be. John was similar, though he looked between his mother and Sebastian in calculating glances - Sebastian was going to be explaining everything xe’d learned to both of xer friends. Justine herself looked near horrified, though also proud, and Sebastian counted that as a win.

Several weeks prior, Sebastian stood in his father’s office, everything set and ready. Wet towels on the floor by the door and wood for the fire to catch on wherever they wanted it caught. Its father’s lighter in its hand, and a hammer beside xem. And a pile of horribly important papers all ready to be burned - directly in front of Sebastian Debeste.

Not that that would be his name, soon. In fact, they would be nameless, technically, legally, the moment this one thing was set on fire. Then all the other papers it didn’t want would be gone too, and the worst room in the house would be on fire, and the weapon would be shattered by a hammer and it would all burn, burn, burn, and Sebastian Debeste would be no more.

But Sebastian - Sebastian would still exist. And Sebastian would just be Sebastian until Justine finished with the paperwork, and then xe would be Sebby Courtney, legally, and the expensive but useless things that were hidden in the room that would get the least smoke would be sold, and the house would get renovated, and Sebastian would bring Justine and John here and they could live here in walls that no longer reminded him of his father, with as much space as they could ever need, and maybe it would be a good enough thank you.

Sebastian Debeste’s logic was terrible.

So it’s time to change to someone who’s logic was worthy of being Prosecutor Edgeworth’s apprentice.

The birth certificate lit on fire.

The papers underneath did too.

Blaise Debeste’s lighter was smashed into pieces.

Sebastian - just Sebastian - left the flaming room. Then the smoking house.

Justine Courtney had been filling out paperwork when her soon to be child walked into the house, in a daze. “Hello Ms. Courtney,” they said, a lazy grin on their face as they headed to the washroom.

“… Hello, Sebastian,” Justine responded hesitantly.

“Ms. Justine,” Sebastian called, as the sound of rushing water began. “Could you call the fire department?”

The panic in Justine’s voice was barely concealed, but to her credit, her voice did not pitch up. “Whatever for, Sebastian?”

The grin in his voice was obvious. “The Debeste mansion, please. I would myself, but ash is a little hard to deal with.”

Justine nearly knocked over her chair in her rush to get to the house phone.

#new auuuu hello #aai2 #i. have not finished the game. this js a bad idea. anyway #Sebastian Courtney au #lycan lore #sebastian debeste #ace attorney

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world-of-aus · 4 years

Text

Hearts At Stake

Pairing:Vampire!Bucky x Reader

Word Count:7,322

Warnings:bit of angst, fluff.

Author’s Note: I’m sorry for the delay y’all this should have been out yesterday but it got away from me and i apologize profusely. I swear i changed the plot three times till i finally stuck with this one, and i hope you’ll enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading it means so much.

Find My Other Works Here: Main Masterlist

Sunset.

Your breath hitched in your throat as you watched with an unwavering gaze, as the yellow-orange orb of light slowly sank beneath the horizon. You needed to get home and quick, it was unsafe for you to be out once the sun had settled, everyone knew that. Your feet pick up pace; barely there threads of light lingering in the darkening blue sky mingling with the rolling clouds above your head.

You were still ways away from your apartment, and from the way the sunset melted into a stygian darkness that took over the sky, you knew you would be in for it tonight. You just hoped your feet could carry you home quick enough. As soon as the first sequined star lit up the night sky, howls of laughter tore throughout the streets. You tried to even you breathing, the racing of your pumping heart, why hadn’t you left the office earlier!

Your running now, legs pumping as the howls of laughter echo around you, “she smells sweet boys!”

A scream wants to tear from your lips, but you know that will only make your already dire situation much worse. Your legs are threatening to give out on you, your feet burning as you push your heeled feet further turning a sharp right onto your block. You hit a wall of muscle a scream threatening to escape your lips, but your frozen. His face is stoic, he’s bringing a finger to his lips, “If you don’t want to end up bleeding out in a grimy alleyway, I need you to do exactly as I say.”

His voice sends a shiver through you, freezing you into submission.

Footsteps sound from behind you and you can’t help but cower closer to the equally as intimidating man before you.

“Ah shit.” you hear from behind you, and it's enough to send skin on your arms rising in fear.

“James, how’s it going see you caught our little escapee,” another voice different from the first calls out, “thanks for cutting her off for us man,”

Your heart beats heavily in your ears, eyes widening, oh god you were going to pass out, you were going to pass out. You can feel yourself sway, but the strangers hand shoots out, steadying your swaying form with his hand on your hip, a cold pressed through your cardigan, past your silk cami, till its spreading through your skin. Your eyes widen again, your feet pace, ane he must catch onto it because he stares down at you, jaw ticking, eyes flashing red, and it takes your breath away.

His eyes slide back to the men behind you, “Look James, we don’t want any trouble with you or yours we just want the girl and we’ll go.” You watch his jaw clench, a shake of his head, “You asked for trouble the second you came to these parts.”

A growl sounds from behind you, “We didn’t know the bitch was a runner, just hand her over and we can all go about our way.”

“now why would I do that, she doesn’t look like she wants to go with you, she looks like she would rather be anywhere else than in the company of the two of you.”

“Barnes we don’t want to play any games tonight, just hand the damn girl over.”

James chuckles lowly, the sound resonating within you, “and you think I want to play games, that’s about the last thing I want to do with you two buffoons,” he sighs “the girl isn’t leaving with you two it’s best to just cut your losses.”

“And we said we weren’t leaving without the girl.”

James lets out a sigh, a coolness washing over your face making you shiver further, “I guess we’re doing this the hard way,” he muttered.

It all happened so quickly, you were pressed behind him just as quickly as you had smashed into him minutes before.

“All this for a girl Barnes, thought you were better than this.”

“And we thought you were better than this, he grunted, “guess we can’t all get what we want.”

You peer over the burly man’s shoulders the two men that wanted you staring right back at you, their eyes glowing an almost black red.

You wondered if you could make a run for it, “wouldn’t suggest that,” a cool voice whispered into your hair.

Your legs buckled from under you; strong hands caught you from behind, James looked over his shoulder eyes looking over you, “get her home, and be quick about it.”

You wanted to scream but you couldn’t find your voice, “I'll be back don’t have too much fun without me,” the voice called from behind you, “come on let's get you out of here.”

You want to dig your heels into the rain slicked street, but you're not match for the hands wrangling you, “which apartment complex is yours?”

Your head shoots back to him eyes wide, “w-what?”

The shaggy haired blonde laughs, “surprised aren’t you,” he questions, “we’re not all like those you hear about in the news.”

“i- I just-”

He’s shaking his head, a smile pulling at his surprisingly pink lips, “don’t have to explain yourself to me, just make sure you leave work earlier, as soon as the stars are out, so are the “undead”.

“which is yours?” he questioned to the complexes, “that one over there,” you replied shakily.

He nodded “I'll see you in, and if you see those two, as long as you don’t welcome them into your home, they can’t step foot in there.”

You furrowed your brows, “that's actually a thing, we have to invite you in?”

He nodded his head, “yeah, we need your permission always.”

“even those other two back there would have to follow?”

He’s chuckling, “they might not choose to live like we do, but they still have to follow certain rules.” A pause “why don’t you get inside, I think you’ve had enough for one night.”

Your nodding your head before turning away intent on grabbing your keys and thanking him, but when your eyes are sliding back to where he was, he’s not there, he had disappeared into the shadows of the night, you hadn’t even gotten his name.

With the wind picking up around you, so did the noises of the night. Another shiver rolled through you as you raced up the steps of your home, your mother would never believe this, you thought as you leaned against the closed door of your home.

And she really hadn’t.

It was a week later and you were on your lunch break your mother badgering you over the phone.

“Y/n I cannot allow you to walk home alone, not after what you went through, and why has it taken you a week to tell me about this incident, would you have rather me find out in the news that they found your body in a dark and grimy alley?!”

You rolled your eyes, “mother this is exactly why I didn’t tell you anything sooner, look at how you're getting,” you sighed, “I’m fine mom really, there’s no need to send anybody to walk me home, I’ve started leaving the office earlier it was one night, it was just a slip up I promise I don’t need somebody to walk me home!”

Your mother huffed over the line, “Oh y/n you know your mother only worries for your safety, look if you ever have to stay late and you ever need help getting home please call me before you leave that office, I will make sure there is someone there to get you home safely.”

“Of course, mother I promise should there ever be any reason for help, I will let you know I promise, now look my lunch is almost up and I must finish my work if I want to head home early.”

“Alright sweetheart, well I'm glad you advised me, but really I wish you would have said something sooner, please call me the second you get home I need to make sure you get home with all the craziness now in our world, I can’t fathom losing you too.”

“I know mom,” you whispered into the line,

“I’ll call you as soon as I get home.”

“Y/n honestly sweetheart I’m just thinking about you at this point,” she sighed, “I’ll let you go sweetheart, I hope you’ll make time to come visit me and your father soon.”

“I’ll try my hardest mother.”

“ I love you sweetheart be safe.

“I love you too.”

The line cut off shortly after, your eyes drifted to the frame that sat on your desk, it was of you and your brother, before these times. The two of you had been two peas in a pod, you wouldn’t catch one without the other. You never imagined you would have to be laying your brother to rest before you parents but when News of the undead had begun to rise throughout your quiet town, not many had headed the caution that came with said news, your brother one of them. It wasn’t shortly after that news of many of the residents of your quiet town had begun to be found dead in the grimy alleyways your mother cautioned you of, when you had gotten news of your brothers fate, your mother had done all she could to keep you from that very same fate. You were lost without your brother, and ultimately it had drove you away from your parents, leaving home had been inevitable.

While on your own you had been lucky enough to never have an occurrence happen, but the news had been there to show you all the horrors. So you had been cautious, repeating a daily mantra that you would not be another body in the alleyway where so many had been found. That was until last week of course; that had been your first ever occurrence, and you couldn’t get that night out of your head, you couldn’t get James or his friend out of your head, you couldn’t understand why your life had been spared.

The news had depicted the undead as blood thirsty humans that would stop at nothing to feed on the next living human soul. They had advised every morning to be in the safety of your own homes before the sun went down, and lock and board every door or window so that none could enter, and that if you were to be caught in the streets after sundown, well god be with you. You had never once heard of the ones that were like James and his friend, the ones that protected the likes of you, that made sure you got home, that disappeared into the shadows once they had made sure you were safe. Why wasn’t the news talking about them?

A sigh left your lips as you returned to your computer, you sat there for hours just looking at the damn project that you know needed to be completed by the end of the week but you couldn’t bring yourself to actually getting anything done. Maybe calling your mother had been a bad idea. You allowed another two hours to pass you by before you were done, shutting down your desktop, you began to gather your things, you could only hope tomorrow would be a better day.

You were exiting the through the building's doors making your way down the street when a shiver rolled through you. You pulled your suit jacket closer, as you continued your trek home. The walk home had been a lot quicker this evening, ever since that night, you had increased the speed in which you walked home, you never wanted to be put in a situation like that night ever.

You were throwing up the door to your apartment, when you froze mid-step, eyes wide, he was standing in the middle of your apartment, eyes on your unmoving form. He’s moving towards you, your breath catching in your throat, your hand falls away from the door as he shuts it silently behind you. He’s feet away from you eyes glowering, you want to look away but your entranced. Thick, lustrous, dark brown hair framed his face; mesmerizing ocean blue orbs with flecks of hazel throughout held you in place. His face was strong, defined porcelain features molded from granite. Dark brows rested above his eyes, sloped down into a solemn expression.

You finally find your voice, “w-what are you doing in here,” you questioned shakily, “h-how did you even get in?”

His head tilts to the side slightly, brow raised, “I’ve been on your mind haven’t I,” he questioned.

“w-well y-yes but -”

“that’s why I'm here,” he replies, he almost looks bored, but then again you can’t really get a read on him.

“but I thought, you had to be welcomed in, I-I didn’t welcome you in.”

Hie eyes study you, “would you like me to go?”

You weren’t sure what you were thinking when your shook your head ‘no’ you both are unmoving as the seconds tick you by before you can find your voice again, “why are you here?”

“like I said I've been on your mind haven’t I, my names running through your mind, you’ve been curious about me, I can only let this pull I have to you go on for so long before I must do something about it.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion, “pull,” you questioned, “what ever do you mean by that.”

“I’m sure my friend Steve,” so that was shaggy blondes name, “who helped you home that night explained that the only way for us to enter your home is for you to welcome us in, well doll, since my name and the event of that night have been running frigid through your curious mind I have a pull to you it’s like your calling for me,” your brows furrowed further in confusion, “but I wasn’t speaking your name,” you replied.

He chuckles lowly, the sound resonating deep within you, “you don’t need to speak my name for me to hear it,” his words take you by surprise, your feet backing up as he draws closer. Your back hits the door, breath catching in your throat when he runs a finger over you cheek, it should have left you cold like that night that same hand rested on your hip, but instead there’s a warmth left in its wake, a warmth that spreads within you.

“W-what is happening, y-you,”

“You feel it don’t you,” he questions.

What were you supposed to be feeling because you were sure the warmth flowing within you wasn’t it. He’s cupping your cheek now, “what do you feel?” He questions and his eyes are shining something different.

“Warmth.”

He’s pulling his hand away as if he’s been burnt by your touch.

“I have to go,” he murmurs and he’s turning on his heel making his way through your apartment.

Your confused as you chase after him, “James, James wait, what is going on, why are you-”

His body tenses by the open window, “I’m sorry if I have confused you any further, but I really must go.”

Needs to go? But you need answers and he’s the only one who has them.

Your moving forward again, hand falling to his bicep, “James please I-”

His head snaps towards you, eyes glowing red, the same red you saw that night a week ago from the two who were likely to have left you lifeless in an alleyway. Your hand falls from his arm, you take a step back.

His jaw is clenched hands tightening to fist by his sides, “i need to go, I’m sorry,” he grunts.

Just like Steve he’s gone in the blink of an eye, except this time he isn’t disappearing into the shadows of the night, he’s disappearing with the last warm rays of sun, he’s disappearing with what feels like a part of you.

Another week passes and just like the week before your mind is on James, you don’t mean to think about him, but your world has shifted since that night two weeks ago, and with his visit last week there was so many things left unanswered for you. You had tried to throw yourself into work, tried your hardest to stay on task to put the finishing touches to the project, but whenever you came to a halt in the project your mind would wander back to him.

“Y/n head home, this project is wearing you out, you can barely keep focus on it, go home get some rest and you can finish this project up tomorrow, you know I’m willing to wait one more day.”

Tired eyes look up from your computers screen, your partner assigned to the same project is looking at you with worried eyes, “I’m almost done, give me two hours max, I’ll have it ready.”

She’s shaking her head, “it’s fine y/n, just head home this project is draining both of us, we can take one more day, please go home and relax you need it.”

That’s not the only thing you needed.

A sigh leaves your lips, “are you absolutely sure we can take another day?”

A smile tugs at your coworkers lips, “I already spoke to our higher ups they knew this project was going to need more time so they offered us another week for completion, so please for the love of god go home early and relax you look like you’ve been through hell and back.”

You chuckled softly as you shutdown your desktop gathering your things, “thank you, for doing this,” you murmured as you met her outside of your door.

“We both needed it,” she smiled, “now go and I better see you ready to kick some ass tomorrow.”

You thank her once more as you made your way out of the office. You really needed to get it together, you couldn’t be letting this or rather him affect your work. You didn’t even know the man, there was no way you could let yourself get so taken with him.

Your walk home is a little slower this time, there’s something about this afternoon that has you slowing down to enjoy the scenery around you, you feel calm, at peace, safe. Walking up the steps to complex you push open the front door trekking up another flight of stairs to get to your floor. Your stopping at the top of the stairs, two pairs of eyes turn to greet you, your brows furrow, “Steve?”

The shaggy haired blonde offers you a small smile and wave, you don’t move from the tops of the stairs, “was wondering If you could spare us a few minutes of your time, there’s some things we need to speak with you about, and its rather urgent.”

“us?” you questioned looking between the two of them.

“where are my manners,” the man next to Steve chuckled, he was moving forward then, hand stretched out towards you, “Sam Wilson, pleasure to meet you.” your brows furrow in confusion when your met with nothing but warmth, you glance down at your joined hands before they’re flitting back up to meet Sam’s eyes, “we’ll explain everything, we just need a few minutes of your time, if after we’ve told you everything we feel you need to know and you decide you want us to leave, you won’t ever hear from us again.

You were staring at the two men incredulously, your head shakes slightly, you hope the movement will make processing the information they chucked at you clearer, but it seemed to have only left you more confused.

“so what I'm like his soulmate?” you questioned.

Steve’s mouth parted, “well not exact-”

“If that makes this easier to process you can very well see it like that,” Sam cuts him off.

Your head shakes again, fingers pushing your hair behind your ears, “okay, okay,” you breath, “so say I am connected to Bucky on some level, is that the pull he was talking about,” you questioned, “you sure it wasn’t me just thinking about him as frequently as I did, as frequently as I still am that is causing this thing between us?”

Steve runs a hand over his beard, “y/n we know what we feel when a person is just merely thinking of us, or inviting us in, and we also know what it's like to be on a spiritual level with someone albeit Bucky’s was never as strong as it is now with you, that’s why he left as quickly as he did that evening, he had had every intention of giving you all the answers you needed, but when you said you felt warmth when he touched you he freaked, he didn’t think it would ever happen to him.”

You frowned taking in Steve’s words, another question sat on your tongue, though you're sure their answer would just confuse you further than you already felt. “might you know or rather did Bucky mention to you why his eyes flashed red, when I tried to get him to stay.”

You watched both men tense slightly, a sigh leaving their lips at the same time, “Y/n you promise you won’t freak out on us?” Steve questioned. You raised a brow, your heart racing in your chest, “why would I freak out?” you questioned calmly.

“I can hear your heart racing,” Steve chuckled, “look what you’re about to hear will likely have you wanting to run for the hills but I need you to just hear us out.”

You chuckled nervously, “isn’t that what I've been doing?”

“and you’ve been doing a great job at being understanding,” Sam added, “but what your about to hear, is something a lot of those bonded with the undead have a hard time hearing much less processing, we really wouldn’t blame you if you ran for the hills.”

Your eyes widened, “Sam,” Steve hissed smacking him in the gut, “What,” Sam grunted, but then he saw your frozen form.

“look y/n the reason for Bucky’s eyes flashing red is because,” Steve paused mulling over his words, tongue running over his bottom lip as he tried to find the right way to phrase this next part, “y/n when a person like yourself and a person like Bucky bond on a spiritual level somethings shifts within us.” he paused gauging your reaction.

“Something like what,” you questioned.

“well y/n, I'm sure you know that vampires must feed on blood to survive, and while we can feed on animal blood it isn’t quite the same or as fulfilling when its human blood,” there goes your heart again, “this feeling tends to become heightened when you’re around that person you’re spiritually bonded too.” oh god.

“So bucky wanted to feed on me?” your voice come out in a panicked squeak, oh god you would suffer the same fate as your brother, except it wouldn’t be in a grimy, wet, alley, it would be in your home.

You were suddenly feeling lightheaded, you needed some air, “y/n, you okay?” Sam questioned watching your swaying form.

“oh yeah, yeah,” you replied feet struggling to keep you up as you pushed off the chair, “Just peachy,” you murmured, taking one step before the world around you went black.

“What the hell did the two of you do to her,” his voice broke through your hazy mind, “when I told the two of you to come speak with her, I didn’t mean send her into a damn panic!”

Your eyes fluttered slightly as you struggled to get them open, “Buck, you asked us to come talk to her and we did, everything she needed answers to we provided them as best as we could,”

Buck sighed, “well what made her get so worked up she passed out?”

“she asked about your eyes flashing red,” a breath, “please tell me you didn’t Steve, please tell me you didn’t tell her.” the tone of Bucky’s voice is tense.

“Bucky I had no other choice she needed to kn-”

“Bullshit Steve, she didn’t need to know, you could have said anything else, why the hell did you have to tell her that, she has a right to chose not to go through with any of this, she has a a right to send us straight to hell!”

“Bucky I was just -”

“Steve that decision isn’t ours to make, I'm not going to force her into anything for fucks sake Steve we barely even know the girl and to throw her into something like this, she has a normal life Steve, it doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

“But bucky,” Steve tried.

“but nothing, the decision is hers and hers alone, if she wants us out of her apartment the second, she wakes up that’s what she's going to get understood?”

Both men gave their silent agreement the moment your eyes finally snapped open, Steve cleared his throat the second your eyes met his, Bucky looked over his shoulder his eyes falling to your form.

He looked tensed and wound up, his eyes were no longer that captivating blue you had come to know from two weeks ago, instead they were an almost lifeless grey. Your heart clenched something odd in your chest, you felt a tug from somewhere deep within you, a tug that wanted you to go over to him.

“How are you feeling y/n,” Bucky questioned voice slightly strained.

“Probably no better than you, I would imagine, you look like hell.”

Steve stifled a laugh, “I like her, Bucky can we keep her?” Sam laughed; Bucky grunted turning his head likely to glare at his friend.

“we are not keeping anyone, enough.” he hissed before turning back to you, “m’sorry if these two gave you any trouble y/n they may have the best intentions in mind, but sometimes it doesn’t always come out the way they intend.”

“It's fine the news was all a little much to take in is all,” came your reply.

“We can leave if you’d like I think we’ve overstayed our welcome anyhow,” there’s that tug again, you rub at your chest.

“You okay y/n,” Sam asks from behind Bucky, “you having chest pain?”

You shake your head, hand still rubbing over your chest, “just have this weird feeling, in my chest is all.”

“yearning.” comes Bucky’s quiet reply.

Your eyes slide back to his, he feels it too, that’s why he’s so tense and wound up, he wants to be by your side, but he isn’t allowing himself any closer.

“Sam, Steve, do you think you could give me a few minutes with Bucky?”

“Of course, either of you need anything we’ll be out in the kitchen,” he smiles.

“thank you,” you reply, “and thank you for bringing me to my bed instead of that god-awful couch.”

“No problem, we’ll be right out here.”

Bucky's turning to you the second the door is shutting behind Steve, he remains in his spot, “do you want to sit,” you questioned moving up the bed, “promise I don’t bite.”

Bucky chuckled shaking his head, “I don’t think that would be wise, it’s not you it’s me,” he takes in a breath his body relaxing slightly, “what is it that you wanted to ask me about?”

“Do you feel it too, do you have that tugging feeling in your chest?”

“I do, and as much as I'd like to act on instinct, I will not.”

You tilt your head to the side, “why deny yourself something that you want, need to survive it seems.”

“because that instinct should I choose to act on it doesn’t only affect me, as you know it affects you as well, and that decision should solely be yours to make, I won’t force it upon you.”

“Steve said you were different from the other’s, now I'm seeing just how much.” you replied, “I heard you tell Steve it didn’t matter what happens to you,” you paused, “what happens to you?”

“It's nothing for you to concern yourself over y/n, really, I'll be fine.” he tries.

“Except that you won’t be,” you argue, “Bucky you’ve never had a bond like this one, Steve at least told me that much, you say you’ll be fine but look at how it’s already affected you.”

“Like I said those two mean well but they blow things out of proportion as well its -”

“It's not fine,” you cut him off, “Bucky you look drained, your eyes aren't the color they used to be, they’re gray and lifeless, your face is sunken in,”

“and this is nothing new, look y/n, you don’t know me, you met me two weeks ago when I saved you from Zemo and Brock, and even then I wouldn’t call that an introduction, and the second time we met, same thing, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, you might think you do from the little that Steve and Sam told you, but I assure you, you don’t know the real me.”

“So then let me get to know the real you.” you challenged; his jaw clenched.

“Y/n no, there’s nothing to know, you don’t want to do this, to give yourself to this life, to give yourself to me.”

“Because you’re not letting me,” you hissed, “you’re not letting me try to get to know you, you ran away the first time without so much as giving me answers and I'll be damned if I let you escape again, Bucky you’re not the only one suffering from this, like you said the decision not only affects you, it affects me as well, and it has been affecting me!”

“you don’t know what you’re asking for, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!” he growled.

“and that’s on me,” you fought back, “this is my decision, because like I said it hasn’t only been affecting you, it's also affecting me.”

His patience runs thin with you, and he’s snapping in an instant as he stalks towards you, jaw clenched as he grabs a hold of your feet pulling you down your sheets. He’s on you in an instant, eyes reflecting red, stealing your breath, he’s surprised you haven’t screamed, "you don’t want this to be your life,” he hisses, hand trailing up your side till it rests on the side of your neck.

“You don’t know what you’re asking for y/n,” he murmurs fingers pressing your head up exposing more of your neck to him, “you think it's as easy as just saying yes, but it's not,”

“tell me y/n, what are you feeling hmm,” his voice has a shiver rolling through you, the tip of his nose running along your jugular vein. “do you know how easy it would be to just sink my teeth into your skin, right here,” his lips press to the spot, the feeling has your breath catching in your throat, fingers curling into the sheets.

“I could end your life in a second y/n,” he coos. A hiss leaves your lips as he presses a nail into your skin, a stinging pain left in its wake. He’s pressing into your neck again, tongue running over what you can only imagine to be a cut he left behind, your body acts on its own volition, back arching up into him, hand finding its way into his tousled locks that have been pulled into a low bun.

A growl leaves his lips, “tell me to stop y/n, I need you to tell me to stop,”

Your mind is hazy, your fingers curl further into his hair, “I can’t because I don’t want to.” you whisper. And it’s the truth, there’s a peacefulness encompassing you, a feeling you can’t bring yourself to part from.

Bucky grunts as he removes himself from your neck, and you know it's taken all of him to do so, he’s looking down at you and stealing your breath once more, “Bucky, your eyes,” you breathe.

“I can’t let you do this y/n,” he tries, “you're not thinking, whatever you’re feeling it's not you.”

Your hands come up to cup his cheeks, and you can’t help but smile at the warmth that lays beneath your hands, “it’s my decision James, let me have this, life has always been decided for me, let me have this.”

Bucky looked away from you, there was an eternal battle going on within him, he knew what would happen if he refused you, but he also knew what would happen if he didn’t.

He was slipping off of you then without so much as a word from his lips, the ache in your chest growing the further he drew himself from you, you watched with baited breath as he showed himself out of you bedroom door, you swallowed down the knot in your throat rubbing at the ache in your chest.

You wanted to be optimistic but the ache in your chest only grew the longer you stared at your closed bedroom door, he had made his decision. You weren’t sure how long you sat there on your bed staring at the damn door, but it was getting harder to get air, you had even debated going out to sit on the stairs outside the apartment complex with how heavy your chest had begun to feel, you felt like a heavy rock had been placed on top of you, it was driving you insane.

You had barely gotten any sleep that night, you were miserable, and it showed the following day at work, but you would be damned if you let this be the thing that takes over your life. You had stayed locked away in the office skipping lunch to get the project proposal done, if you could get this done, and the right way, maybe you’d have enough time before the next project was hurled at you to figure out how to rid yourself of this ache in your chest. God damnit Bucky Barnes.

You were typing furiously at the proposal, one more sentence, and DONE. A smile took over your features as you uploaded the proposal onto an email sending it to your partner and the higherups looking over this project. You leaned back in your office chair looking over the sent email, you had done it, though you had dreaded it the entire time, you had actually done it, looking at the time on your desktop your eyes widened at the time, 8:30 p.m. “shit” you hissed gathering your things, you didn’t bother shutting down your desktop as you raced down the hallway, you knew you had told no one to disturb you, but you hadn’t meant not to disturb you at all! By the time you got down to the front doors of the office your heart sank in your chest, dark blue with speckles of silver filled the night. “shit, shit, shit,” you groaned.

You pulled at your purse looking for your phone, you weren’t sure what help your mom would be, but maybe she had some sort of solution to offer you. Looking for her contact, you pressed her name before bringing the phone to your ear. You tapped your foot impatiently on the floor, your eyes focused on the tiles as you waited for the answer that would never come. A groan fell from your lips as it went to voicemail, “damnit ma, c’mon,” you groaned, you were ready to press the call button one more time when a tapping against the glass doors had your eyes shooting up.

Your lips parted, before they were falling into a thin line, eyes glaring.

You moved forward cautiously as you pushed open the office door slightly, “what are you doing here?”

Bucky sighed rubbing at the back of his head, “came to offer you a ride home,”

You scoffed, “well you can leave, I'll find my own way home.”

Bucky groaned, “please don’t do this y/n, you know what lurks out on the streets right now, let me take you home.”

“your right I do know what’s out there, I'm looking at one,” you grunted braving it out as you stepped out onto the streets, slipping off your heels, you’d be able to run without the wretched things on.

“Y/n, I won’t ask again.” his eyes flashed red.

You got into his space, eyes glaring, “your right, you won’t, now if you’d please, I need to be getting home.”

A hand wrapped itself around your arm, “and you’ll be getting home safely by taking a ride from me, I’m sure your mother would be devastated to know that the last time she could have heard from her daughter she missed the call.”

You glared at him over your shoulder, snatching your hand out of his hold, “fine,” you hissed, “but as soon as you get me home, I want you gone.”

Bucky doesn’t answer as he leads you to a black car, he helps you in before he rounds to his side.

The drive to your apartment is short, the uncomfortable silence suffocating. You almost couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. On top of the already heavy weight on your chest, and the thick tension, you were sure you would collapse from not being able to get enough air.

Your racing up the steps of your apartment shoving open the first door as you race up the stairs, “I told you to leave Bucky,” you grunted trying to get the keys into the slot. He’s plucking the keys from your hand getting your door open swiftly his hands guiding you through it. You want to push him away, tell him to fuck off, but his hands on you relieve the weight.

He’s leading you over to the couch, helping you down, a silence falls over you, “you can go now I’m home safely, you don’t need to stay any longer.”

“Not until you let me apologize, and explain.”

You look over at him, “apologize and explain what James, you said enough last night, what more could you possibly want to say?”

“I’m sorry for leaving last night, I thought I was doing the right thing,”

“Right thing,” you questioned “you thought you were doing the right thing even after I told you that I wanted this?”

“Y/n we don’t know each other, you don’t know my life, and I don’t know yours we’re not the same sweetheart, that’s why I couldn’t let you do this to yourself, that’s why I couldn’t let you agree to something like this, it’s bigger than me and you.”

“It was still my choice Bucky, and you took that from me, you’ve had me hung up since that first night and your right I don’t know you, but it doesn’t change the fact that for some reason I’m drawn to you, and when you’re not around it’s absolute hell!”

“Y/n you don’t know the dangers even if we’re drawn to one another I could still hurt you, kill you.” He argued.

Your glaring at him, “you say I don’t know the dangers, but I lost my brother to those like you, so trust me I know the dangers, I know them very well, but that doesn’t stop how I’m feeling and it sure as hell isn’t going to change my mind.”

Bucky’s shaking his head, averting his eyes from you, and you wonder if he’ll leave again.

“Bucky if could fight this feeling I would, I would tell you to get the hell out of my home and never show up again,” his eyes shoot up to you widening slightly, “but I can’t, I know you say I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but we could get to know each other you just need to stop running, I know your scared and so am I, but I also can’t take you coming and going, it’s affecting me in more ways than one.”

“I can’t hurt you y/n,” you know he’s talking about feeding from you something Steve had said would eventually be inevitable, “it’s going to be hard, but your right I can’t keep coming and going something has brought us together and as much as I’d like to fight it I don’t think I can any longer, that’s why I came tonight, this is what I should of told you last night, but I was scared, so scared that I tried to push you away but it only drew me closer.”

“So then we take it slow but you have to let me help you when you need it, Steve said you wouldn’t feel satiated with blood you drink because of our bond.”

“Bucky,” you warned.

He raised his hands,”fine, fine, I’ll try.”

And try he did.

Most days or rather evenings after that night had been spent in Bucky’s company and as much as you tried to get him to satiate himself he wouldn’t have any of it. He would simply brush you off, pulling you in close telling you he would be fine. You wanted to argue till you were red in the face but you knew it would get you nowhere.

It wasn’t until one particular evening when Bucky called and he always did, and you always answered that something had shifted. Steve has said the moment would come but you just hadn’t expected it to take a month for him to finally snap.

A rushed knock had sounded at your door, your brows furrowed as you stood from the couch making your way to the doo, Bucky usually knocked but never like that.

You barely had the door open a crack before he was pushing his way in, “Bucky what’s wr-“ your words were cut off by his lips pressing roughly to yours, his foot kicking your door closed. Your hands gripped at his sides as he lead you through your home, his lips molded to yours as he pushed you into your bedroom.

He was pushing you down onto your bed, his breathing heavy as he looked over you like that first time, his eyes were blood red, “I need fuck y/n I need to,”

A shaky hand came to rest on his stubbled cheek, “it’s okay Bucky, I trust you.”

He’s shaking his head, even know he was fighting what was meant to happen, “ I-I tell me to stop.”

“Bucky I trust you,” you murmured leaning up to press your lips to his, an intimate gesture.

He chases your lips when you pull away, a grunt leaving his lips when you expose you neck to him.

“I trust you.”

Bucky lets out a shaky breath, “fuck sweetheart,” and something in him has shifted as he leans down warm breath ghosting over your neck, nose roaming over the expanse of sweet skin. He licks over your neck, licking, nipping, it’s enough to have you writhing underneath him. Silently pleading for him to do something, anything.

“Tell me you want this doll, tell me you need this just as much as I do he murmurs into you skin.

Goosebumps rise throughout your skin, a shiver rolling through your body as he breathes you in “Bucky please.”

His hand that wasn’t by your neck searched for yours lacing your hands together as he pressed his face deeper into your neck his lips parting, you sucked in a breath when you felt the sweet pain of his fangs breaking through your skin. A moan bubbles from your throat as you arched up into him, your hips rolling into his. You couldn’t describe the sensation that came with feeling your blood flow through you and into his mouth, but it was absolutely euphoric. It’s almost as if you were on cloud nine.

You never wanted the feeling to end.

WorldofAUs Forever Tag-list: @cap-n-stuff-main @bucky-cinnamonroll-barnes @kseniiafirebrace @sideeffectsofyou @pinknerdpanda @thefridgeismybestie @b0nkybarnes @oliviastan17

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes x you #vampire!bucky x reader #vampire!bucky #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction

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crystal-moon-101 · 3 years

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Ben Gen 10 - Live Reaction Review

Right, so since I’ve finally got my hands on the new crossover episodes, and since my favourite show of all time is Generator Rex, I thought I’d watch it and write down things along the way. Mostly just reactions to things happening as they go, and then probably a simple review at the in another post of what I liked, didn’t like, and maybe what other ways this episode could have gone.

Spoilers! Kind of, for those who haven’t seen it yet! But onto the watching!

Should probably mention I haven’t seen a whole lot of the Reboot Ben 10. Not awful from what I’ve seen, some interesting and well-done aspect even, but certainly not my cup of tea. But I’m here for my boi Rex anyway so…

This is actually quite a cute theme song intro, not gonna lie

Ah, yes, a very American opening in a very American location.

Lol, of course they use Heatblast as the first alien in the episode, got the same voice actor as Rex, nice touch.

Evil...trees? Are these actually villains in the show?

Also, that little girl is precious.

Ben, are you trying to start a forest fire in the middle of the park?!

Ha, Gwen gets it!

Ah, yes, more American stuff.

“Don’t wreck the precious monuments” should have seen what you did to Mount Rushmore in your past, Ben.

Sup, Hex.

Music is evil, got it.

So Ben’s aliens are pretty famous already, at least being treated more like celebrities than monster sightings.

“Burn the flute!” A.K.A nearly burn Hex in the process.

And that’s why Ben never passed music class.

And why exactly do you want the world, Hex?

“Hopefully the last one of the summer” Don’t jinx it Max!

Time goes by so fast, doesn’t it Ben? Especially with aliens, villains and timetravel.

Max is secretly an EVO with that kind of growl.

Yes, because as we all know, villains will stop trying to take over the world once summer is over. They must hibernate for the winter.

Also, Max, did you steal those marshmallows?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….Ben, you good there?....Did Hex do something to your brain?

Who thought this would be great to animate!?

We all have those existential crises and talk to smores.

Jesus, Rex, got ninja skills I see.

Some homeless kid and his monkey stole my food? Time to kick some ass!

My favourite alien, Canonballoon.

I’ve missed my boy and his chimp.

Awwwww they’re sharing! Also just….feel so bad for them already. Homeless and struggling for food, my poor boys.

So EVOs do exist here? Wonder how that will be explained.

Ben out here really trying to beat up some other kid, lol. What a great hero.

Bobo, you are great.

I feel like...Ben’s going through some issues.

Ah yaaaaaaaaaaa, bring on the EVO powers! BFS!

Look ma, no hands!

Rex 1, Ben 0

Ben really wants to commit murder or assault here, wow.

Overboard is the word I’d use, yes.

The life of a background character.

Nanites confirmed! And now they’re in the watch, that ain’t good.

Huh...not what I thought was gonna happen.

The little girl is still precious.

This would be fun to explain to Azmuth.

This ain’t good.

On the run from Providence I see.

Awww, poor Rex. Really doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

I can’t tell if these people are angry because of the DNA affect them, or they’re really just being angry in general.

See ya, Gwen and Max.

Interesting to see that the Providence aircraft looks straight out of the show.

Evening, Six.

Still a badass like normal.

He said Omega, he said the word!

Also, nice blame game there Ben. It’s not like you provoked Rex by, ya know, trying to crush him like a grape.

Um...Six...did you just….try to kill a kid? He didn’t know Ben had powers, that pillar could have easily crushed a normal human.

“This is how you try to convince me you’re not a threat?” Say the dude who just tried to murder a kid!!”

Oh no, he Naruto runs!

Oh, hello Hex.

Also, what is Providence in this world? What are EVOs and Nanites in this world? None of this has been explained yet.

Ok, so that’s what Providence is...You’d think we would have seen them before based on all the aliens showing up who want to destroy the world.

EVO Generator....I wonder if that means that there aren’t very many EVOs, like maybe there is only a set group from the same lab, and Rex is considered the most dangerous because he can make EVOs.

Ben, do you even know what an EVO is?

Jeez, I know Six is like, the sixth deadliest man on the planet, but he just tackles alien Ben like it’s nothing. This guy should take on Vilgax.

Did he say nib libs?

My boi’s back!

I’m not liking this Six...very much not the character I’ve come to love. Who are you and what have you done with the real Six!

Lol, gotta make sure the kids at home know these aren’t real guns!

Using a net on one kid, and about to beat the crap out of the other, nice.

I do have to ask why Hex was picked to me the main villain, beyond whatever the hell Providence is doing. Why the magic dude and not a tech based villain? Someone who could be both interested in the watch and nanites.

What a covenant spell you have there, Hex.

Again, why do you want to take over the world?

“No, those are my aliens!” I think that’s the least of your concern there, Ben.

Bobo 1, Hex 0

Why is Bobo one of the best-written character’s here? Not that I hate Bobo, but just…

Lol, Rex did you just lay there, the entire time? What was that net made out of?

Ah, right. Let’s attack the children rather the magical manic who clearly stated he wanted to rule the world.

Those nets are fireproof apparently.

Ooof, ah….quite the sore spot there, Ben.

Just let me hug Rex, please…

Are there EVOs are are there not!?

I know this is supposed to connect with older fans, but most of this info would fly over the head of anyone who hasn’t watched Generator Rex. They act like everyone knows what EVOs and nanites are.

Still with the blame game are we, Ben?

Judging by that look, Rex’s parents are also dead in this world. Guess he’s not allowed nice things in this universe either.

That flashback was….so latching in the dramatic department.

Now ya wanna help, Ben.

He’s so scared of himself, noooo!

Ya, but the different between you and him, Ben, is that he lost his parents, his home, got mutated, his memories became hazy, got locked up and called a monster, and now lives on the streets stealing smores. I think Rex has more of a reason to feel scared at being new with the hero business.

Bobo gets it.

Gotta love they added details on Gwen and Max’s alien forms to make them stick out from the rest. Don’t want to confuse anyone lol.

Thinking of a clever comeback on the spot is hard, not gonna lie.

Yes, Ben, drown him.

Again, with the American music, lol. It ruins the fight scene here.

What is this fight scene?

Original Providence agents would have died on screen rather than ditching the fight.

God, everyone’s made Rex feel like everything is his fault, poor guy.

Rock 1, Ben 0

This message and heartfelt moment falls flat, the build-up wasn’t there and it just...kind of happens. It lacks a lot of flavour and impact, and it doesn’t help with how most of these characters are written.

Old people jokes.

Now we shift the blame to Kevin.

Is Fourarms Gwen bigger? Because if so, nice touch, since we know female Tetramands are stronger/bigger than the men.

Ok, so attempted murder is fine when Six and Ben try to do it, but not Rex, got it.

Get in line Hex, you’re not the first who wants to ‘recruit’ Rex. You’ve got Providence, Van Kleiss, Quarry, Black Knight, that one band, and so on so fourth.

Why is this heartfelt moment suddenly happening now? This feels like it could have been placed back when Rex refused to fix the watch.

Ben…”I’ve already tried that!” Bruh, you tried beating him up, telling Six and Providence you saw him, basically acted like he wasn’t a good hero because he refuses to get over his trauma, and reached out your hand once because it benefited you....I get what they’re trying to do, but it just makes Ben look like a jerk. I get he’s ten, but still…

Just...slap him Bobo, please…

Why are we so nervous about Rex’s sword? Ben you have aliens that can burn, cut, smash and so on, and you barely care what you do. Remember how you nearly started that forest fire at the start?...

Yo, what!? What kind of logic is that, Providence? “Whelp, guess earth is screwed, might as well burn it”

Ya, remember that time when EVOs infected the whole world, and Providence decided to just burn everything down with lasers?

Extendo blade.

Huh, so Six’s blades can break down Rex’s builds.

Salamander...don’t you mean...Skalamander?

One ship? What is Providence packing!?

Yasss, Punk Busters!

Rex is crying, how dare you!

Now we got Smack Hands, you’re in for it, Hex!

Ooooooooooooooonnnnn iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttt!

Ah yes, the sixth most beautiful man on the planet.

Again...what is with the nuking?

Magical cloth fixing, just what I need.

Pure chaos with my boy.

Cracking his neck made me cringe.

Also why the sudden change in heart, Six? This feels out of character for the character who is out of character.

Look, Rex, you’re either gonna fix the watch, or you’re gonna start the self destruct countdown. Everything is going to hell, so might as well take that 50/50.

And it worked!

Ah ya, about that missile.

See’s missile inbound “I can handle it!”

Iron Giant vibes around here.

Screw ruling the world, I’m gonna murder this one child!

My cat’s the same.

REX, DID YOU JUST KICK A MISSILE!?

So that’s his full name?

I think you need to work on those vacation days with your boss, Six.

You are not Six, I will never accept you.

So the episode starts with Rex being alone, homeless and being chased by Providence, and ends with him being alone, homeless and being chased by Providence. What was the improvement here? Self Confident?

Ben even just lets him go, doesn’t even offer him to stay with his family.

Rex deserves better.

Another heartfelt moment that just...falls flat…

“Always be family and be there for you, Ben” Until you go to college without telling him before hand

So!...That was the crossover. Not...amazing sadly. I didn’t have high hopes to begin with, and mostly was just happy enough to have Gen Rex be acknowledged. But this Crossover missed a lot of points, and fumbles quite a bit. It reminds me a lot of the Secret Saturdays Crossover and what was wrong there. But I’m tired and will do a break down/proper review another day, if people are keen for that. Thanks for reading this if you did, it was a rollercoster!

#Interesting to analyze #But I am still disappointed #Welp time for fanfictions and fanart to save the day!#Generator Rex #Gen Rex #GR #Ben Gen 10 #Ben 10 #Ben 10 reboot #Ben 10 Generator Rex #Ben Tennyson #Rex Salazar

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Star Vs: Stump Day Review or The Why Are You Booing Tom He’s Right Holiday Special

Before we start a special credit to @jess-the-vampire who I discussed the episode with during the writing process and brought up a LOT of good points that ended up going into this review. She clearly hates it as much as I do and had even more good reasons for it. Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everybody! And today we got a big, fat, grotesque lump of coal to smash to pieces. And after a long, draining, if worth the effort scrooge review, and with this being something I needed to cross off my to do list this holiday season, I put this one here as I could use the cathariss of giving this steaming bowl of elephant piss a good thrashing. As you can tell unlike my usual reviews, I do not like this episode. This isn’t the FIRST i’ve not liked i’ve covered, but it is the first rather infamous one to me i’ve covered and not just a dead possum of an episode I ran into while reguarly covering an otherwise good show like “Quaraller’s Pass” or “Strife of the Party”. This one’s had it coming, making my top 8 worst christmas specials list last year, and while not the series worst outing, that’s a toss up between the finale and marco jr, it’s easily one of them. So while usually I like diving deeply into something good and picking apart while it’s good, if not ignoring any bad aspects, here i’m just going to take a hammer to this thing to explain why it dosen’t work and why it sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms. I might be overstating it a bit but probably not. Nothing really new has happened since the last episode so the only new thing to cover is why i’m doing the episode here instead of after Monster Bash. And the simple reason is that like the Ducktales Halloween and Christmas specials, this episode clearly does not take place in the same time frame of the episode before or after it, with the next episode, The Bog Beast of Bogabah, taking place the day after Monster Bash. It’s most likely they simply held this episode over till Christmas and it dosen’t really fit in AFTER the huge game changer that is monster bash, especailly since the next three episodes after this all take place in rapid sucession, two on the same day one the day after them. So yeah i’m doing this one first and putting it ahead of monster bash on my episode guide for clarity’s sake.

Good, so with all that settled, let’s unwrap this complete works of pauly shore shall we? We open on the titular Stump Day, essentially mewni’s christmas complete with Cocoa, carols and a gay couple and their equally adorable child. And Star, unsuprisingly is giddy for it as the actual chlidren, and wearing an adorable santaesque dress complete with horns on her santa hat. Seriously you cannot tell me tom didn’t get that for her. Fucking precious. Marco is more just confused and has his hood up and one of Star’s cousins asks uncle river to tell him the origin of stump day. River’s response.. is easily the best joke of the episode.

“(in a jolly tone) ha ha, you don’t tell me what to do”

He does so anyway though: Basically when settlers arrived on Mewni they found themselves cold and griping with each other, and soon found a blizzard had struck.. but by huddling together under a magic stump, they all learned to get along or something like that and now once a year everyone gathers in warmth and camraderie.. or else. Before Marco can understandably question what “or else” means in this context, Star butts in when one of her cousins chastises the younger one who asked river the question for beliviing and says he’s real. It’s a nice touch as it fits star perfectly to still belivie in mewni’s horrifying version of santa. I forgot just how adorable and likeable the character was before the final season shot that to hell. How her energy could be infectious and how Eden Sher really brought her all to the performance, which is still the performance of her career and hopefully like Rider Strong she’ll do more voice acting eventually. So that night as Star tucks in after wonderful night of sleep, and to avoid her dad’s usual drunken chorus of Tom Jones “Sex Bomb”, and gets woken up by Marco who leads her to the dining hall because a windows broken to fix it with magic. Star entirely buys this flimsy story.. but as Jess pointed out, and as I missed hence the credit up top... she dosen’t bring her wand. She.. dosen’t bring her wand.. to go fix something with magic. Now i’ll grant next season shows she CAN fully do magic without it, and while not as powerful like her mom still has plenty of punch behind it.. especially when she does the rainbow fist thing. But it’s still.. weird she dosen’t think to grab it and feels out of character. While Star’s learned by this point not to rely on it, and as we’ll see gives it up entirely, one of the few bits of her character development that actually sticks, it still seems resonable she’d take it with her wherever she goes.. and usually SHE DOES. And her jammies, which are also adorable, seem to have pockets so the animators had no reason to not just stuff it in one. It would’ve made their job harder yes.. but then don’t have marco use an excuse that directly requires it then and draws attention to the fact the wand is missing, and the fact you blatantly just hoped we’d forget about it as it’d ruin the climax.

It’s far from the worst thing in this episode..trust me we’re almost there. But this does bring me to a point.. so far the episode is GOOD. The comedy’s good, the setup for what’s about to happen is good, the holdiay setting is warm and inviting but weird enough to perfectly fit mewni, and River, much like his VA and homosexual talking boat portrayer Alan Tudyuk, is a national treasure as always. Whelp it’s all down hill from here bitches! Giddyup.

So Marco announces a SUPRISE PARTY! And everyone’s there: Tom, Kelly, Ponyhead, Starfan14... oh yeah this is the first ep i’ve coverd with Starfan14 isn’t it? Starfan14 is star’s insane fangirl, voiced by series creator Derfron Nercy herself, who star happily tolerates despite clearly wanting to wear her skin. We’ve all been there. Also Jackie is transparently missing, though at least it’s SOMEWHAT reasonable as she and marco broke up a few .. months ago? I mean it is winter on mewni for this episode but the end of season 4 and the series is set at the start of summer, yet months still pass.....

Confusing timeline aside, Jackie has every reason not to attend a party thrown by her ex for the girl who confesed she had feelings for said ex and it’s probably the only good decision Marco makes this entire episode that he wisely decided to give Jackie some space. And it says something a decision made entirely off screen that was probably because the creators genuinely forgot Jackie once she was out of the way so they could shift the love triangle stuff to Tom, Star and Marco instead of you know.. not doing that because most love triangles are annoying at best and utterly insufferable at worst. Case in point this episode but I can give out more about this aspect of things in a bit with more context.

And to his credit, and as Jess backed me up on, Marco’s gesture is genuinely throughtful.. at least to start with. He got her a choclate fountain, brought all of her friends, and geninely just thought Star never celebrated her birthday on her birthday because it was you know the same day as christmas. As someone whose birthday is a week before christmas, December 16th if you were curious, I understand the pain of having your birthday in the same month as christmas. Of having all your presents clustered at once and of having to manuver around a very stressful season, though it does sometimes have perks like getting to celebrate your birthday and christmas, it also means your birthday is secondary and always will be to most people due to proximity. And Star has hers ON mewman christmas, so it’s even worse. So from Marco’s perspective, TO START, his best friend constantly had to share her birthday with her faviorite holiday and just wanted to do something nice. SO FAR, he’s done nothing wrong and just means well. That’s... about to end. Star.. instead of being greatful.. starts muttering no before going on an manic rampage and destroying everything including hte band’s insturments. And apparnetly star’s gotten some flack for her behavior.. but I understand it. To her the stump is VERY real, and will be very angry if someone else celebrates so to her all she’s doing is saving her best friend from the holiday equilvent of the trees from evil dead, and when Marco asks about it she GENUINELY is sorry, getting he meant well, that he was being sweet, and that he did a lot of nice stuff for her.. she just can’t celebrate not because she loves the holiday but because again, from her persepctive, the stump will kill them all if they don’t support it. She is genuinly affraid for her friends lives and given she could go grab her wand and fight it, clearly thinks she, with all her CONSIDERABLE powers, cannot win this, and neither can tom whose powers are almost entirely fire based. Star is just trying to protect her friends from being horribly murdered. And she turns out to be entirely right about it so no, star was not a jerk here. A bit over the top, but she was not insensitive, she was not mean, she just didn’t want a party for understandable reasons.

So let’s get to actually insensitive shall we?! Marco’s reaction to this is at first confusion as he didn’t realize the stump was real, though Tom, Kelly and Pony are convinced it’s not. Also this episode implies Kelly is from mewni, but she turns out not to be so why she knows about the stump I genuinely don’t know. They think it’s just a baby thing.. though in Tom’s defense he dosen’t phrase it that way, thinks star still beliving is cute, which for a teenage boy finding out his girlfriend belivies in santa is very sweet and mature of him, and is trying to be nice about it even if he doesn’t believe. But Marco.. his response to his friend having a good reason for not wanting to have the party.. is to complain about how much effort he put into it and try to guilt and bribe her into having it by mentoining he got her faviorite cake flavor, rainbow. Just.. WOW. I’ve seen some bad turns from characters, but WOWWWWWW. Holy shit.. I mean at least other jerkass marco episodes before this had SOME reasoning to them. Sophmore Slump had him clearly sublimating his feelings for star combined with the usual obnoxiousness of someone having gone abroard for the first time, which as Letterkenny recently went into, the only thing worse is Stillborn Puppies. Nothing else.

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And with Lint Catcher while he was presumptive and not blameless.. river still outright lied to him. Here? It’s clear star dosen’t want this, cake can be refigirated, he only takes a loss on the choclate fountain and he could still just let everyone have some and say it’s for stump day to appease her. He dosen’t have to take a loss on this finacially or morally and there would be no harm done. But that’s.. not what HE wanted, not waht HE set up and he wants what HE wanted, which was to impress star with a thoughtful gesture. But that’s the thing bud: Gestures aren’t about you or what you get. Their about doint something nice for another fucking person. It’s the whole point of christmas and birthdays: To just give someone something to be ncie and to celebrate the day and them respectively. If she dosen’t WANT your gift for understandable reasons and isn’t being rude about it you don’t have any leg to stand on you seflish twatwaffle.

So already Marco is not coming off well.. and if you know this episode you know it gets worse. Oh god it gets worse. So first PONYHEAD of all people calls out Marco.. and for once, PONYHEAD, the most selfish, most unresonable and a character whose tolerablity varies on the episode, tells him he’s being selfish and is only pressing on because of his need to control things. So not only is Ponyhead right but the episode LIKELY wants you to feel she’s wrong because she’s pony which is not how this work as she knows star well and thus, while unaware she still belivied in the stump, which tracks as while it’s obvious she does Pony is so up her own whatever she has that functions as an ass, it’s understandable she’d miss some details. So no Pony’s right, and the fact PONY is one of the more resonable people in this episode is both a sign of the apocalypse, which is thankfully starting to recede, and a clear marker of just how bad Marco’s being if someone who torments him and disagrees with him out of principal is entirely right.

Oh but it gets worse as next up, Tom steps in and tries to get Marco to back out, admitting he told him this was a bad idea. Now granted Tom did mess up by not stepping in to stop this a bit.. but he A) didn’t know how much his girlfriend genuinely belivied in the stump and B) Probably assumed Marco meant well, as would I before he whined about not getting his way, and decided it was worth a try. So he’s not that bad, and while it is a bit ehhh to try and take back credit for this when he participated, it’s still minor and Marco is still being a huge dick who refuses to help shut things down when it’s clear the party is only causing star to have a panic attack and assault some humble marachi players. He sees nothing good is coming from this and just wants what star wants. Also it paints Marco in a worse light as he was warned about this, and was so obssed with making it a suprise party because that’s how his plan went, he refused to just.. talk to her about it. Hell he could’ve just casually asked “Why do you never celebrate your birthday on your birthday”. It’s an easy question, dosen’t give the game away and allows him to gage if this is a good idea or not BEFORE baking a cake , hiring a band and getting a chocolate fountain. Instead he just went ahead with it. And he did so.. because this ISN’T about making Star happy. This is abotu HIM making star happy. Him showing her how thoughtful, and considerate and sweet he is and how he’s always been there for her and how maybe she should be with him instead of Tom. I mean it just comes off that way.. he made it a suprise party because in his head that’s how it worked and she was super impresed and left tom that day to be with him in some elaborate fantasy. Granted the episode dosen’t say this.. but it sure as hell acccidently implies hte hell out of it by having marco act like a selfish ass who refuses to take what STAR wants into consideration, and just wants to get his fantasy back on track. What supports this to me is how he treats tom, you know one of his best friends: He, again, accuses him of forgetting.. then calls him a bad boyfriend.. a bad boyfriend for NOT wanting to force a celebration on his girlfriend she does not want, and for not forcing it on her. For you know GROWING AS A PERSON. Beacuse here’s the pickle pumpernickle: This thing Marco’s doing? Is exactly the kind of thing a pre-character development TOM did, that was rightfully framed as bad. Being controlling, wanting things to go JUST a certain way instead of letting them flow naturally, not getting the hint star isn’t intrested, and not caring about what she wants and only what you want. Marco is doing the same thing Tom used to do. And for starters i’ts already bad because you know MARCO WAS THE ONE WHO FINALLY GOT IT THROUGH TO TOM THAT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WAS TOXIC AND SELFISH. But apparently when it’s Marco himself doing it it’s fine. If there was ever any clear evidence Marco regressed as a character, there it is. Him actively unelarning a lesson he taught someone else and then getting combative when that person rightly tries to call him out. Marco is just insufferable in this episode: He’s being selfish, creepy and posseive and he’s apparenlty supposed to, at least on some level BE RIGHT. But.. we will get to that. Consider a pin put in this rant.

So Tom overreacts, and throws some fire at marco, which is genuinely wrong and Kelly’s right to call him out, and then headlocks him asking marco to say he’s a good boyfriend. Marco screams out ‘NEVVVEEEERRRR”

I just made this, by hapinstance, while watching the video I put up there. I.. I did not think i’d get to use this so soon but my god. Just my god that’s a terrible thing to say. So the party soon breaks down elsewhere as Kelly is mad at tom for.. understandable reasons again the guy she has a crush on was just nearly set on fire, even if i’m still on Tom’s side overall here, it’s still not right. Janna points out it’s probably because she has a crush on marco, which while acurate dosen’t mean she was wrong and Tad pops out to be upset about that. Even though you know you two are broken up and as Kelly points out he needs to move out. Pony is mad she’s not getting any attention and Starfan is mad because star’s mad. Star results to desperate measures, opening the windows to try and repeate the act of the settlers. She didn’t however count on the Janna factor as she throws the stump in the fire, which is in chracter. What’s not, and again I give Jess full credit for this one, is that everyone just starts.. warming around the stump and not caring like a bunch of jackasses not caring about their close friend, and in tom’s case, girlfriend’s feelings. Also tom and marco apparently stopped fighting just to be this stupid.

But naturally burning the symbolic stump is a bad idea and the real one attacks. Protip: If you live in a world of magical nonsense, maybe don’t discount the magic stump. Everyone’s captured, including moon and river, with River also being suprised and replying to Star’s annoyance at him not beliving with “Sweetie it’s a stump!”. Alan Tudyk is a god and I feel you all should acknowleddge that. But yeah everything seemsm to be bad but everyone apologizes, if not for the right things in Marco’s case, and Tom says “I’m sorry i’m a bad boyfriend!”. You .. you aren’t. You did nothing wrong. I feel like this is tom for the last agrivating 6 minutes of the episode

He did SOME THINGS wrong but he is NOT a bad boyfriend. He is throughtful, kind and while he has flaws, SO DOES STAR. He is not a bad boyfriend for not wanting to repeat past abusive actions! GAH. Let’s just get on with it. They all hold hands, they thiunk this is what made the stump go away but Star is sure it was just going to kill them, Moon and River have a thousand yard stare as they realize they both have to get repairs for this room now and do an extra big stump day next year to make sure it dosen’t come back. And Marco apologizes to star.. for not beliving her. Not for forcing this on her, not for causing all of this, not at all to tom, but for not beliving her while star FUCKING APOLOGIZES TO HIM. Pin removed, bullshit falling to the floor... Trunks if you would.

Thank you. Star DID NOTHING WRONG. Tom DID LESS WRONG THAN MARCO. WHY ARE THEY APOLOGIZING. Why is this little shithead getting everything he wants as the party happens after all, if a day later, and he gets to dance with star, while everyone else is painted as being in the wrong? That’s what makes this special so putrid: that MARCO is apparently in the right for doing the same , if on a smaller scale, manipulative shit tom used to do before he grew as a person, yet the episode sides with him, props him up and teases Starco. If it’s Starco it’s okay apparently and that’s.. not okay. You can’t .. build a ship on a character acting like a jackass. That’s not how this works. Marco was wrong, he was bad and he should FEEL bad. Instead he’s just a creepy jerk this entire episode, being entitled, manipulating star, screaming at tom.. and gets REWARDED FOR IT. Fuck this episode.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I believe I said Fuck this episode. This is easily one of star vs’ worst episode and much like the season after this episode it gets worse the more you think about it. I put it on my worst holiday episodes list for a reason.. and frankly even with the decent first 4 mintues it should be higher. It’s an unplesant mess that throughly ruins Marco’s character and takes him from a kind, upstanding, polite and bright young man to a creepy manpiulative jackasss. Fuck this episode and have a happy holidays.

#Star Vs the Forces of Evil #star butterfly #marco diaz #Tom lucitor #tomstar #starco #kelly #lilica ponyhead #starfan14 #christmas #holidays #holiday #stump day #bad episodes #reviews #animation

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sloppy-butcher · 4 years

Note

Can you do C E J K L X for Trapper? :)

yes. i am still answering these. i apologize for the wait, these past few days have been rough but i am finally working through the block. thank you for the ask and i hope these are good enough for you and imm sorry for the wait <3

;;edit, pls no more fluffy alphabet requests, thank you :)

Fluffy Alphabet for The Trapper (Evan Macmillan)

Comfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

It may take a while for him to notice you suffering over there in the corner, his head so far lost in his own thoughts that all the world around him was a passing blur. But once he does, when your soft whimpering breaches his overcrowded ears, Evan would immediately call you over. He’d grunt softly, his gruff voice shattering the nights silent air and causing you to raise your head and cast your troubled eyes over him. Evan curses himself for not noticing earlier.

A large, scarred hand stretches out and welcomes you to join. Once you manage to curl up beside him, Evan pulls you even closer, his big arm acting as a makeshift scoop and firmly secures you to his side. He would use his massive body as a shield of sorts to protect you from yourself and the cruel outside world. Though words are not exchanged, your true feelings never really given verbal expression, your anxieties begin to die and burn away from the heat of Evan’s body.

He uses his size to comfort you and his intimacy to project his support for your plea. He is there to guard you, maybe not to talk, but to stay with you until it eventually passes.

Equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

He would be the dominant one. 100%. Though he is not one to verbally command you, it is through side ward looks and scowls that he gets his point across. He folds his arms and looks down at you, the brow behind his mask furrowed in annoyance.

He determines when it is a good time to cuddle, when to smooch him, how hard or how gentle. It’s not the he doesn't enjoy your affections, it’s just that he is very busy man and must plan his time accordingly. As much as he loves to indulge in your love, he must keep up the hard work lest his boss catch wind and take you away.

You can try be a brat to him, stomp your feet and complain about the lack of cuddles. But that little act won’t get you too far with a man who can just pick you up as if you weigh nothing and sling you over his unharmed shoulder. It would be like trying to fight a brick wall - impossible.

Jealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Oh yes - very much so. He gets jealous at even a mere look from another survivor or killer. Though he does not show it, Evan is a very possessive man, guarding his things with the politeness of a viper in a gentleman’s suit. he holds his tongue and steads his hand but his eyes say it all.

You are his and his alone. If you are so interested in other then leave and don’t involve him. But as long as you claim to love him, giving him your body and soul, then he will protect you and possess you like he did with everything else valuable in his life.

He glowers at passerbys, he spits at idle talkers and he flexes his biceps threateningly at lingerers. He towers behind you like great storm, rolling in power and violence. You could ask him why he acted like such a child but you would get no response from him. This was not a talking matter - things like these have to be demonstrated. And so they shall.

How Evan internally deals with this growing lump of jealousy is he sits alone and thinks - more like contemplates. he ponders away and has bountiful ‘shower-conversations’ in his head. Sure acting this way would make him perceive to be an asshole but to hell with what others think. He would die before he’d ask someone to step down.

Kiss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

In the beginning, no way. The man has had little to no practice at all and is completely lost when you first approach him with a smooch. He’s dead stiff and his eyes remain open as if afraid you are pulling some kind of cruel trick on him or that you might disappear in disappointment. His lips are chapped and many times when you have pulled away you find blood on your lips and can taste copper in your mouth. He apologizes for his appearance and asks why you would even wish to be so intimate with such a monster. You reassure him by placing your hand on his cheek and pressing your forehead to his, “Because I love you, Evan.”

However, with enough practice, he softens and succumbs to your encouragement. Once he eases into kissing Evan becomes very demanding and can go quite a long time without breathing. His tongue is also very powerful and is often very hungry. When he gets like this, Evan will cup the back of your head in his big hands and will provide you with extra support as he deepens the kiss, leaning into you with great, needy force. His tongue is unstoppable as his hunger for your love grows.

The first kiss is most definitely awkward and quick, a dream of a kiss that goes by too fast for it to be properly appreciated. You catch him working at his bench, his hands preoccupied with his copious amounts of bear-traps and spare parts. You wander in beside him, casting an eye over his shoulder and noting all the new cuts and bruises on his fingers. You sigh and lean into him. Evan immediately bends to your presence, sighing in his own way and relinquishing some of his attention to you.

Oh, how wonderful you are to him. So kind and forgiving, beautiful as the sun he never sees anymore. Evan moves closer to your warmth, allowing himself to momentarily bask in your love. As his face moves towards yours, an idea sparks and before he could full asses the pros and cons of such a venture, he smashes into your lips. Keep in mind, he was still wearing his mask and when he pulled away, Evan saw blood leaking from small cuts along your lip line. Evan feels unspeakably shameful for hurting you with his neediness. You smile and gently guide his face back to yours. You promise to kiss him more if he takes his mask off next time.

Love Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

If Evan could go his whole life without admitting he had feelings for you, then he would gladly do so. He has buried many a things deep in his heart, tucking them away under rugs and behind paintings where they would never see the light of day again. Yeah, sometimes the burden of these suppressed emotions would eat away at his soul always leaving him feeling just that bit emptier and hollow.

He supposed he could just bury his love for you the same way he buried everything else, but that bitch had claws and an iron grasp - he simply could not run away from his feelings towards you.

So one night, when the build-up in his chest grew too painful to hush over, Evan stops you as you try to leave. It was late and you were saying your goodbyes when you notice his hesitation. He remained stoic, his face an impossible book of unimaginable rumination. He shuffles awkwardly for moment before managing to choke out a single phrase.

“Stay.”

In that simple word you feel his true intentions, his complete and restrained desperation to not be alone. You see his hand twitch towards you and you understand his silent plea. You nod your agreement and nothing more is said.

XOXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Most days, not really. Like previously explained, Evan is a man of routine and most of is work days have no spare time for excessive cuddling and the such.

However, he is ALWAYS craving your touch.

When the odd off-day arrives, Evan wastes no time in scooping you up in his large, beefy arms and taking out his frustrations on you. He holds you against his hot body relentlessly, often pressing his chin into the side of your neck and breathing down your side. he kisses you without hesitation and goes wild even your return his affections. He is selfish during these moments and can hold you for hours on end, content just to be with someone who loves him.

#dbd imagines #dbd fluff #dbd the trapper #dbd the trapper x reader #dbd evan macmillan x reader

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danny-chase · 3 years

Photo

Thanks to anon for requesting On the Run with Cassandra Cain and Dick Grayson!

Read on AO3

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Nightwing (Comics), Batgirl (Comics) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain & Barbara Gordon Characters: Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, blockbuster arc alternative ending, POV Cassandra Cain, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Cassandra Cain Is a Good Sister, Cassandra Cain is bad at feelings, TW: Suicide, tw: ambiguous suicide attempt, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, there are no hugs sorry, Batfamily (DCU) Feels, Batfamily (DCU), Dick Grayson Whump, Cassandra Cain Whump, Hurt No Comfort Series: Part 1 of Bad Things Happen Bingo Summary:

The one where Cass runs away with Dick instead of Catalina (Catalina doesn't exist for the sake of this AU - and this is not romantic between Dick and Cass).

Full story under cut

“Cass? You here?” Light poured into her room as Barbara cracked open the door. Cass tucked her head under the blanket, yawning - it was too early to get up. “Cass, please.” The anxiety in Barbara’s voice made her reconsider – and she sprung upright, she could feel a mission coming on, and Cass didn’t pass up missions.

“What’s up?” She asked, striding over to her closet, pulling out her Batgirl suit.

“It’s Dick, I’m worried… He left in a rush yesterday morning.” Barbara’s hands were shaking – that meant it was serious. “Cass I was watching the news… I… God…he…”

She pulled on her costume in record time. Dick was nice, he made Barbara happy. Made her happy too. Brought over cookies and told funny stories, he made the apartment feel… warm. He was a friend… no… family, they were family.

She glanced back at Barbara, pulling the door wider, she looked pale, about to cry. She shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to help. “What’s up?” She demanded, stepping around the wheelchair. She grabbed the handles, and quickly steered them both towards the mission room.

Barbara wiped her eyes as she reached the computer, pulling up a video clip. Cass recognized the apartment building; she’d been there a few times after joint missions. That was Dick’s-

Oh.

Fire rained down on the screen, the building reduced to rubble.

Barbara sobbed next to her. “I don’t know if he was there… I don’t even know if… Cass… He… What if…?” Cass tentatively patted her shoulder, uneasiness filling her stomach. “He hasn’t called… his trackers are either off or…”

“I’ll find him.” She promised. That was her mission. Find Nightwing, bring him home, then Barbara wouldn’t cry. She didn’t like when Barbara cried, it made her want to cry too.

She dove out the window, swinging through the sky, down to where she kept her bike. Gunning the engine, she flew through the streets, Blüdhaven was an hour away – but she could make it in half the time. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, she tried to settle in for a long ride.

It wasn’t hard to pick up the trail – she followed the flashing red and blue lights to scenes of carnage, masked men beaten and discarded in Nightwing’s wake. The whole day, she snuck around, carefully out of sight, watching as ambulances carted away people, describing them to Barbara and learning their names.

“This… isn’t working.” She complained, her legs swinging off the side of a roof. “I don’t understand.”

“He’s not taking a predictable path.” Barbara noted. “We’ll find him, we’ll just have to be patient.” She sounded much more confident than this morning. Cass sighed, leaning back to stare at the clouds. Why was Dick running around in circles? She reached up as raindrops began pattering down, feeling them seep through the suit. She let her hand fall across her face. Something felt off – wrong.

The injuries Nightwing left behind were violent – he was violent, but not this much. Too much force. “This isn’t right.” She muttered, reaching her head behind her head. Dick wasn’t someone that lost control – that much she had learned.

Cass sucked in a breath. It bothered her. Something bad was happening. “He’s hurting people.” She tried to explain. “Bad.” Breaking bones that would never heal right, being careless in his aim. “He doesn’t do that…” Normally, but it’s happened before. It’s happened when… “They’re threatening his family.”

That felt right. Despite what the others thought, Cass wasn’t dumb – she was a detective too. And this was her case.

“We’ll have to assume it’s connected.” Barbara mumbled. “Haley’s circus was attacked by Firefly a few days ago.”

“Huh?” What did some circus have to do with-

“It’s where he grew up.” Barbara explained. “You’re right, I suspected… we need to find him, someone might have figured out his identity.” She paused a moment. “Keep trying to track him down, I need to call Batman.” The line cut off.

Cass frowned, she figured something out… but it hadn’t been good. She briefly wondered if she’d caused more trouble by bringing it up. Hopefully, it would make sense when-

Light flooded the sky, lightning cracking, and moments later a symbol arose, shining against the clouds and illuminating the area. Another clue. She swung off the roof, careening towards the source of their troubles.

Nightwing was leaving as she arrived, tearing through the city skyline. As it poured, she did her best, following in his tracks, though not quite able to catch up. He was angry, she could see it even from far away. She was at a disadvantage; he knew the territory – knew the destination, and she frustratedly sighed as he slipped into a building a few blocks ahead.

She leapt off a balcony – about to enter where Nightwing had, when a flicker of movement caught her eye a few windows away.

“NO!” She screamed – too late, glass shattered as a bullet ripped through the night, thudding as it found a mark. An enormous man barged through the broken windows. Cass scrambled to follow, scurrying across the ledges. She could hear voices arguing in the room – Nightwing and the man, the sounds of smashing, they got farther away as she got closer.

She burst into an empty hotel room, leaping over the woman’s dead body, and running past a destroyed wall to the end of a hallway.

“Do you like being alone, Dick?” The large man caught sight of her, throwing Nightwing against the wall as he charged. Cass readied herself, rolling under his legs as he passed.

“Batgirl?” Dick mumbled, running after the man. “Get out of here!” He shouted, leaping into a flying kick, and connecting with the man’s head.

“I’ll make sure you can’t save any of them.” He punched the man again. “I’ll make sure you relive over and over, your failure to save my mother.” The man elbowed Nightwing out of the way, diving for her again. She jumped this time, using his head as a springboard. He grabbed for her ankle, but she slipped out of his reach, pulling out batarangs and throwing them as she twisted in the air. Each hit their mark, sinking into both his shoulders.

The man didn’t seem bothered, simply turning to chase her again. “It’ll never stop.” Nightwing slide tackled his ankles, and the man fell, his hands grabbing at her feet. Cass danced closer to his head. “Every loved one, every stranger, I’ll kill-urk” She struck a nerve in his jaw, kicking it a second time for good measure as the man fell unconscious.

“Call the police?” She asked, reaching up to her comm, glancing towards Nightwing. She froze in place. He was running towards her – reaching, about to hit, no he was –

She dodged reflexively as he tried to swipe her comm. “We can’t.” He was shaking – tired, exhausted, pained, scared(?) – Cass recoiled, that wasn’t how Nightwing normally was. “Give it! We can’t call anyone! You need to run, he saw you!”

“I’m not scared.” She stated, standing her ground – she was strong, she wouldn’t be killed so easily.

“You should be!” He was – what did Barbara say? Upset… no - hysterical. Panic laced his voice. “He’s not kidding, he has people – he’ll kill people just for talking to me, I’m talking to you – if he hears us talking to-” Cass handed over the comm as he frantically grasped for it again. He threw it to the floor crushing it under his boot.

“We have to go… I-I… I don’t know what to do.” He paced back and forth, muttering to himself. “I-I can’t talk to people, I need to be alone… but he saw Batgirl, she’s not safe…” He stopped, looking directly at her. He swayed on the spot, she felt uneasy – he didn’t look well. “You’re coming with me.” He demanded, grabbing her hand, and she let him lead them out through the fire escape.

She didn’t understand, she had never seen him so… frightened. They didn’t need to run, Barbara would send the police – the man couldn’t hurt anyone, they’d won. “I don’t-”

“He has power.” His breathing was ragged and pained. She cringed, he needed help – not to run. “He won’t stay in jail… He has people everywhere – there’s cameras they see everything. He-he…” They dropped into an alley. “It won’t stop.” The hand in hers was trembling.

“I can-” He stopped in his tracks.

“NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” He bellowed, angrily snapping at her. “YOU’RE NOT SAFE – NO ONE’S SAFE UNTIL I’M GONE.”

Dick’s body was a wave of emotions, and she was being swept along with the current. “I’m strong! You’re being a coward!” She yelled back – but she already knew she wouldn’t change his mind.

“Maybe I am.” He deflated and began running again. “But everyone’s safer this way.”

She was at a loss for what to do, so she kept running. She couldn’t leave him alone; she couldn’t go back and explain to Barbara. She regretted letting him smash her comm. And so, she followed, and they weaved in and out of street after street, rain soaking through her costume, chilling her to the bone.

While they ran, Cass had formulated a new strategy – wait until Nightwing lowered his guard, then nerve strike him, and bring him back to Gotham. A struggle would be too risky – he was acting erratic, someone (him) might get hurt if she tried too soon. So, sitting atop a train, watching as hills rolled over the horizon trying her best to be patient.

The wind whipped in her face, the rumbling of the train drowning out all other noises. Nightwing paced beside her, obsessively turning from side to side, trying to keep all directions in his line of sight. He was getting too close to the edge.

His movement wasn’t correct – Dick’s gait was normally smooth, intentional. Now, he dragged his steps, the normal grace gone. He kept tripping over his own feet.

She couldn’t understand how one man could have such an effect; he was still shaking in anger and fear. They’d defeated the enemy, she’d won, right? Cass never really thought much about what comes after that – but Nightwing seemed convinced the battle wasn’t over.

Dick was staring over the edge of the car. Cass was moving before she realized what was happening. She grabbed a fistful of his costume as he leaned forward, pulling him back.

“Don’t.” She couldn’t tell if it was accidental or intentional – but she didn’t wait to see if he’d pull back on his own. Nobody would die tonight. Maybe she’d have to speed up her plan.

He remained silent and stepped away from the edge. They slowly fell back into their routine – Nightwing pacing as she kept a watchful eye. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she watched him make his careful pattern – now staying three feet from the edges.

Cass sighed. She was tired of running – she could protect herself; this was pointless. She wasn’t sure how long they’d wasted like this – the sun had been rising when they got on the train and now it was starting to set again. She was hungry, thirsty, and hadn’t slept in two days.

She kept waiting for Dick to crash, but he never even sat down. He couldn’t stay like this forever - she was pretty sure he was injured based off his movement, he had to rest soon.

“Sleep.” She demanded (as she had maybe an hour ago). He shook his head, going back to his pacing. Cass groaned, lying back to look at the sky, though keeping him in her field of vision. Stars were starting to peak out, though clouds were blocking some of them. She bit her lip; she was never good at helping people like this.

Her stomach growled loudly, and she looked at him pointedly. “We’ll get food when we get off.” He replied in a monotone voice.

She blinked sleep out of her eyes, digging her nails into the palms of her hands, and sitting back up. Nightwing could not be left unsupervised – that much was clear. And so, she resigned herself to watching pacing once more.

The sun was high in the sky when the train finally began rolling to a stop. She followed Nightwing as he leapt off the car and began running after him towards the tree line. He made it about ten paces before collapsing. Cass rushed forward, as he began pushing himself up.

She struck his jaw without warning, and he crumpled to the ground. Finally, she sighed in relief, things were easier this way. Crouching down, she hiked him into a fireman’s carry, and then looked around.

She was in the middle of nowhere. Cows grazed off to the right, and there was an open field to her left. Straight ahead, the land eventually reached a forest. A small train station sat maybe a mile away.

It would take a day to get back to Blüdhaven, but she was hungry and tired, and had no idea where she was. The train still rolled along behind her. So, she decided to walk alongside it – towards the lonely little station, away from home.

Nightwing was heavy. She was strong, but he was… heavy. And she was tired.

Every step was painful, it wasn’t long before she was drenched in sweat. She could see the station in the distance, slowly getting closer. She could make it… She could push through this – she’d pushed through worse.

She focused on her breath, staring at the ground as she took step after step.

“Lose some weight.” She muttered to the side of Dick’s head. She cursed herself for not packing more water and snacks – she’d run out while tracking him yesterday.

She refused to stop, pushing past the pain of burning muscles, her suit unbearably hot in the afternoon sun. Gritting her teeth, she powered on.

She wanted to scream with furry, at the man who’d hurt her brother – who’d left him so worn out and totally beaten despite losing the fight. She wanted to scream because she didn’t understand – why was this happening to them? They were strong – their family was strong – they shouldn’t have to live like this. Cassandra Cain did not run from fights, neither did Dick Grayson, and yet here they were.

She grunted, shifting Dick’s weight on her shoulders. Cass didn’t like thinking about these things. She liked when things were easy – when she beat the bad guy, and things were over. Though, with every mission, she was starting to realize things weren’t always that simple…

She thought of the man she’d rescued, who’d died on a train like the one beside her, because he’d wanted to say goodbye to his mom. Of the girl who’d she’d rescued from her father, yet she’d condemned to a different kind of hell living with her mother. Of the boy who wanted his father to come home safely, despite the man being a ruthless killer.

And finally of the man who’d defeated Nightwing, his words dealing more damage than his massive fists.

This world was so confusing – sometimes she missed the days before the words clouded her mind, muddling her in the mists of gray that transformed what she’d seen before in black and white. Was she better for living in that gray? For knowing it was there? Sometimes, it was hard to tell.

She stumbled on uneven ground and soon she was falling, Dick sliding off her shoulders. She hit the ground face first and tasted blood. She let out the pent-up yell, frustratedly pounding the ground. This sucked. Everything sucked. Why couldn’t things just be easy for them?!

Dragging herself to her feet, she ignored the pain wracking her exhausted body as she lifted the broken vigilante once more. She took slower steps, but certain ones, and inched closer and closer towards somewhere she hoped would be better.

#bad things happen bingo #batfam #cassandra cain #cassandra wayne #dick grayson #barbara gordon #tw: suicde #tw: ambiguous suicidal intent #tw: Blockbuster arc #batfamily #batgirl #nightwing #my writing

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wanderingsoul6261 · 4 years

Text

Ghost Behind the Face

Warnings:None

Pairing:Russell Adler x Bell!Reader (if you look hard enough?)

description:Russell Adler and the rest of his team are taken captive by the one and only Stitch, who has a raging hatred towards the man who has been dubbed as “America’s Monster”. After several days and losing hope that him and his team might be saved, a familiar face shows up. Will it be a sweet reunion, or will his savior hold a grudge?

Based on this post here that I had shared

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Russell Adler had stared at the piece of paper on the board in the safe house for too long. His blue eyes had trailed from the hilt of the blade holding it in place to the message that was scribbled upon it.

Time we end this.

It was written over an ad that celebrated the reopening of a mall. It was there that Adler assumed the altercation was to take place. However, a nagging feeling in the back of his head told him that it was trap. That the very moment they stepped into the building, the enemy would their eyes on them and attack only when they deemed it appropriate. It also didn’t help that everyone on his team agreed with the possibility. But yet, Adler had decided to go through with the plan.

“He’s trying to bait you Adler.” A feminine voice interrupted his thoughts as one of his team members came to stand beside him. The man in question was silent for a split second before he answered her.

“No shit.” Adler had raised his arm to tug the knife from the board, slipping it into a holster strapped to his belt. He had turned away from it, already speaking again as she had started following along side him. “But if we don’t stop him then innocent civilians will die.”

All of that plus their entry into the building had led them to where they are now; captured by Stitch and thrown into a musty room after their discovery of Nova-6 in the mall, which also happened to be a trap. Russell Adler put them blame on himself. He had allowed him and his team to fall into the trap and therefore be captured with no hope that that they might survive and make it out at least somewhat alive.

Him and his team tried to keep faith in hopes that even without weapons or even a designated escape plan, that they would still survive, but realistically, that fire would soon dwindle.

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Multiple guards under Stitch’s command made infiltrating the mall extremely difficult. However, the person had definitely seen and survived worse, and with plenty of patience, had proved successful. She had found out that a team organized and led by Russell Adler had been captured by the enemy, and despite past altercations with said man, had been tasked in saving him.

The only problem?

She was alone.

It had been explained that a team of soldiers going in to retrieve the lost group would have been too much, and the likelihood of all of them being caught was relatively high. Therefore, more troops would be lost. And so came the idea of her going alone. As much as Bell hated the idea, as well as helping the man that had attempted to kill her years ago, here she was, carrying out the mission.

Two enemy soldiers lay dead at her feet, one with a broken neck and the other with a knife protruding from his throat. Bell was successful in gaining intel from one of them after the other was already killed and she threatened to do the same if the surviving guard didn’t give her the intel that she wanted. The CIA operative bent down to retrieve her knife, wiping it clean on the clothes of the dead body before her, before she put back into its designated place on her hip.

And while she thanked the enemy for the lights off and using glowsticks for illumination, Bell had dragged the bodies to rest on either side of the hall. This would prevent anyone else coming down this hall from tripping over them and sounding an alarm.

And then she continued. The night vision goggles wore helped her out more in navigating the halls, as the previously mentioned glowsticks only did so much. The laser dot scanned the walls as she moved quickly but quietly. After all, the quicker she got to them the quicker they could get out and make their way to exfil.

Bell had rounded a corner, before throwing herself back when she saw two enemies advancing down the hall. The hall in which was told to hold the room that Adler and the rest of his team were held captive in. A small breath was let out as she ran scenarios through her. She could do this in a few different ways. Of course, she could just let them pass, but there was a possibility that they would turn down the hall that she was in. In that case, a fight would break out, and therefore, other enemy troops could be alerted. Just because the enemy was scattered few and far between, doesn’t mean that any in the general vicinity wouldn’t come running at the first sign of a problem. The only other option Bell was left with was taking them by surprise. There was still a chance that other enemies could be alerted, but at this point, this was her safest option.

The sound of footsteps could be heard advancing in her direction as she exhaled, dropping her AR so that it hung from its strap around her shoulder. When the first guard could be seen within her line of sight, Bell had made her move. She had grabbed his arm, twisting it and flipping him over her body. The quick movements caused his weapon to fly from his grip as he landed with a loud grunt. He was abandoned real quick as she kicked his partners stomach, shoving him into a wall as she pulled his weapon from his grasp. Bell had used the butt of the weapon to slam it upside his skull, sending him toppling over in a heap, just as his still conscious partner stood up. He had moved to pick up the weapon he had lost his grip on, only to have her throw the stolen weapon she held at him. The movement caught him by surprise, but before he could make any other movement, she had pulled her silenced pistol from its holster, shooting him point blank in the face and then sending a bullet into the body of his partner as an extra measure.

And then she advanced towards the room where Adler and his team were said to be.

Upon arrival at the door, she found that it had no window to look into. Across it was a plaque that read maintenance. She believe that if the guards gave her the correct intel, and the team was in fact in there, that their hands would have been tied to limit mobility and that enemy guards were probably stationed in the room to watch over them. With that in mind, Bell twisted the door handle and let the door slide open just slightly. When she heard a confused noise come from a guard on the other side of the door, she kicked it open, effectively throwing the enemy to the floor as she stomped inside. She grabbed the rifle on the guard still standing, smashing it against his face, pulling her pistol from its holster once against and firing multiple rounds into his stomach through the silenced barrel. Letting him fall, she aimed the pistol next on the guy trying to stand up, but she paused when she saw who had the guard apprehended, his tied hands around the man’s throat, before twisting his neck, a snapping noise resounded the room. Adler knelt over the body of the now dead guard letting out a heavy exhale before turning to their savior, as she still had her pistol drawn and on him.

She tried to not let it get to her. The man who shot her years ago was very much alive and before her. He opened his mouth, but before he had the chance to say what he wanted to, she shook her head abruptly, holstering her pistol. She had turned around, looking out the door and down each side of the hallway before closing the door and turning the light on. Her shoulders tensed as she tore the night vision goggles from her head, and turning towards the team. Her eyes locked onto Adler’s who still knelt over the dead guard. His jaw slackened slightly as he stared at her in disbelief.

Bell.

The woman he shot years ago. The one he saw fall over the cliff side and into the cold waters below. The same one he tried to stop thinking about for years and years after he did was he was supposed to.

Tying off loose ends.

That’s all he was doing. It’s what he was told to do. He was following orders. Adler had watched as she cut the ropes on his teams wrist before she walked over to him. Bell kept her eyes on his as she gingerly held onto his forearm, picking it up from where they rested in his lap to prevent her from cutting his leg as she cut the ropes.

“Bell.”

“It’s a long story.” She mumbled, forcing the blade she held to cut through the rope. “One I would rather have into we are safe and out of harm’s way.” Bell looked away from and focused on the task, as the blade was just about all the way through the rope. “Just know I don’t hold grudges. I knew you were only doing your job.” When the rope was cut, she stood, holding her hand out to him, as he was still kneeling down. Adler looked at her face, expecting to see through her. He expected her to be pissed and lash out at him. It only seemed logical as the last time they saw each other, he shot her. His eyes drifted down to her extended hand, raising his hand to grab it. She helped pull him up, their clasped hand trapped between their bodies.

“Thank you,Bell.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Bell eventually broke away from him as she cleared her throat, kneeling down to pick up of the rifle from one of the downed guards. She passed it to him, watching as he grabbed it from her and had checked the clip.

Bell had looked away from him as he knelt down to grab any extra clips from the dead guard next to him. “Someone else can grab the gun still on the ground. There are more in the hallway.” A dull ache surfaced on her stomach as memories about the man who now came to stand next to her resurfaced. They watched as one of his team members grabbed the gun on the floor, doing the same thing as Adler just did.

Bell nodded in approval, looking amongst the four.

“Now. Let’s go.”

Author’s note: I know it may not be the greatest, but I wanted to try a take at this idea. Thinking of doing a second part that consists of a talk between Bell and Adler after they have reached safety, but I’ll leave that all up to you guys.

#russell adler #adler #have yall seen this man like shit #russell adler x Bell!reader #Bell #Cold War

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hiswhiteknight · 4 years

Text

Unbelievably Outlandish– Part 3

Summary: Before starting down a new crossroads, the Reader goes onto an adventure of literary traveling. Suddenly tossed into an unbelievable story that has swept the world, The Outlander Series itself. How will a twenty first century woman survive?

Note: I own no characters, except reader, clearly this is based off the lovely book series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and tv show. This follows more the tv show, but it’s far from accurate. I’m going to try to get better with using less proper English, but who knows maybe I’ll get into Scottish slang.

Pairing: Jamie Fraser x Female Reader

Words: 1500

Warning: Angst, playfulness, cursing, slow start

You were shocked, you couldn’t believe he just knocked you off the horse like that. It took you a second, just glancing around in the quiet. This was your chance to escape, find your way back to Inverness, “Good riddance.”

Looking around, you laughed. Fuck that, you’re not some damsel waiting for a hero. Your getting out of here. You start to run in the opposite direction, hoping the hours you had fallen asleep will not ruin your sense of direction of where you must go. You had been running for about a half hour before you heard galloping. You didn’t take the time to look back, you ran faster and made adhesive maneuvers to get away. And when you felt you had the perfect position; you hid behind a tree. He had to think you went in a different direction by your maneuvers, “I’ve hunted pigs with better hiding skills than you,” he said from his horse. There was no point of hiding. You pulled yourself from behind the tree and he grinned down at you, “You lost your way?”

“You’re bleeding,” you looked at his disheveled appearance.

He was covered in blood and for a second, you had a flashback of when you were in the Marines, “Don’t concern yourself, it is not my own, at least not most of it anyway.”

Shaking your head, “Believe me, I’m not concerned,” you answered back. “It’s just – never mind,” you half yell, “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

“Come on now, get on the horse – Dougal has some questions for you.” you turn your back to him, “You have to know you can’t outrun a horse,” he answered.

“I’m not going with you,” you answered, “You can’t make me.” He jumped down presenting his sword, “What are you going to kill me if I refuse,” you answered, it’d make sense. This is how you’d die, a sword for being an opinionated, strong, and independent woman.

“No, lass,” he answered, still pointing his sword at me, “But you don’t look that heavy, suppose I shall pick you up and throw you over my shoulder.”

You laughed inside, who is this guy? Fat chance you’d let him do that. He was about the size of your brother, you could handle yourself with him. Jaime placed his sword away. This was going to be your chance, fight or flight. He was rather close to you, so you leaned in and whispered, “You’ll have to catch me first,” and you darted around him, striding through the woods.

Jamie cursed and started to pursue me. You were quick and agile, you were going to get away and find your way back to those rocks. You turned to look back and couldn’t see or hear him. You thought you were in the clear, that was until you smashed into his chest. You fell backwards, landing pretty hard onto the ground, looking up at him, “Guess you’ll be coming with me,” he pulled your arm up, squatted, and tossed you over his shoulder, “The hard way it is,” he sounded amused.

You started to kick and scream, but he didn’t seemed phased. After a minute, you realized it was moot. You just let him grab the horse and walk down the stream, “I hope this is hurting your shoulder. I might die with all the blood rushing to my head.”

“It might have a quiet trip than,” he answered sounding far to amused.

You could hear the voices of the rest of the man, “Look at Jamie,” someone laughed, “Seemed to have finally caught a wild beauty.”

Everyone laughed and you just hissed at them. Your body met that ground when he dropped you. You shot up, looking at Jamie. How many times did you have to flop on the ground. You surely had whiplash. Jamie was amused with himself, you hit him in his bad shoulder. He groaned in pain, coughing, “Serves your right, jerk,” you pointed at him, “You should keep this beast on a leash,” you said to Dougal.

“Get on the horse, we got to go,” Dougal said to Jamie, sending you a glare.

“I’m not riding with that man,” you said to him, looking harshly at Jamie. He had just chased you and dropped you twice, fat chance of that.

“You’ll do as you’ll told,” Dougal said.

You chuckled under your breath, shaking your head, “See, wrong again, but I will ride with him,” you pointed to the boyish looking one in the group.

Another man spoke up, “No, she’ll just knock him off his horse and ride away again.”

“I give you my word, I won’t run away,” you answered, you understood time was important at this point. And honestly, you’ve been better off with these men then the British.

“I believe her,” Jamie answered, “Let her ride with Jacob, less complaining for me,” he shot at you.

You jabbed his shoulder again and he winced. It took a second to read his body language, before it hit you. He didn’t just have a sore shoulder. His clothing was still wet from blood. If this was another man’s blood, it would have started to dry and harden by now, “Stop hurting the man girl,” someone answered, “You put him through enough with your chatter.”

“Are you completely daft,” you yell towards Jamie, charging towards him. He back away from you slightly, “You seriously were not going to tell someone you were shot?” Everyone looked at Jamie confused, “You are a pea brain, we could be riding along and you could just bleed out and die,” you started to raise your voice again. “These men risk everything to rescue you, for you to just to die before you can get home?”

“Jamie,” one of the men said.

“It’s nothing,” he answered.

“Bullet wounds are not nothing,” you answered.

“Shut up girl,” someone answered, “Dougal, we’ve got to make some distance between us and the redcoats.”

“Can you help him,” Dougal asked.

Shaking your head, “I’m not a healer, but,” you look down, “I can put some stuff together to stop him from bleeding out.”

“We don’t have time,” he answered back, “We’ve got another days ride out. Do it quickly or we’ll all be dead.”

Nodding, looking around, “Sit,” you commanded Jamie. You didn’t know much about medicine of today, but you knew the basics to survive in the wilderness. Heaven, you brother made you read his scout books of what ifs, “I’ll need alcohol and clean bandages.” Someone passed you a bottle, “Oh good, no bandages,” you started to look at his shoulder, “It went right through, you are lucky.”

He nodded, watching you work, you put alcohol on it. Jamie winced, “Come on girl, we don’t have much time.”

You rolled your eyes, looking down, you found the best thing to a bandage – your shirt. Pulling your jacket back, examining the cleanest part of the shirt. It was simply a basic cotton long sleeve. You ripped the midsection, “What are you doing,” Jamie questioned.

“Saving you from bleeding and dying,” you answered, “You’re welcome.”

“You’re just showing off your,” he questioned, looking at your showing mid drift.

Shaking your head, starting your work on his shoulder, you didn’t let him finish, “I don’t care what people say about my attire. It’ a navel, it is my belly button. It’s not a nipple,” you shoot back. “We needed something to put pressure to the wound and stop the blood, so it can clot and heal safely.” He nodded slowly, “This is as good as it’ll get until we can get some real equipment.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Dougal shouted, “Mistress, you’ll be riding with Jamie here. You’ll keep an eye on him and he’ll keep an eye on you.”

“Peachy,” you mumble. You turn back to him, “Shall we,” you reach down and grab his hand, “I worked too hard to let you die now.”

He laughed, “Thank you again, even if you called me daft.”

“No seriously,” you said as he got on the horse, “A pea brain, dumb brute.”

“Noted,” he said, helping pull you onto the horse. Jamie did his best to keep you warm again, especially with your lack of a midsection. You again were in your brain, plotting, making up lies, trying to remember anything from history about this place. It was also hard to focus with the rock-hard chest and pelvic bumps of the man behind you. You tried your best to not grind against him, trying to pull yourself against the handle of the saddle, but that didn’t last long.

PART 4

#jamie fraser imagine #jamie fraser #jamie frazier x reader #jamie fraser x reader #fanfiction #outlander imagine #outlander fanfiction #outlander

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