#stop being obnoxious towards other ships

[dreamytfw]

btw, I love how Destiel fans are constantly like "wow, Good Omens fans are so defensive about Ineffable Husbands all the time idk why we're just out here enjoying our ship uwu" every time there's a poll, and then when Destiel loses that poll the narrative is always "YOUR CHASTE CLOSED MOUTH KISS WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT THE EPIC LOVE STORY THAT IS DESTIEL! DESTIEL PAVED THE WAY FOR YOU SHIP! BE GRATEFUL FOR DESTIEL!"

Yeah, can't imagine why people who like AziraCrow would be defensive towards Destiel fans 🙄

[demonpiratehuntress]

I see you have requests opened! If you don’t mind, I’d love an Ace one.

You’re a mermaid who rescues ace when he falls overboard drunk one night. His brilliant idea is to keep falling overboard to keep being rescued by you to get your attention cuz he can’t think of any other way. The crew thinks he’s insane and stands by in case he actually doesn’t get saved. To the point reader is like you do know there are other ways to see me besides trying to kill yourself?

this is actually such a funny and cute idea, i love it XD sorry it took so long, and i hope you like it!

taglist - @kabloswrld

(i'm so sorry i forgot i had someone to tag! if anyone else wants to be added just let me know!)

just call me, idiot

Portgas D. Ace x Mermaid!Reader

summary - idiot Ace <3

warnings - mentions of drowning, one joke about Ace trying to kill himself

You've heard them every night for the past week.

Whenever you swam up to the surface to look at the stars, the boisterous laughter and obnoxious chatter of men partying the night away aboard their ship met your ears. It was annoying, to say the least, but you wouldn't dare risk being ensnared by them for their amusement by calling them out for it.

That is, of course, until one of their crewmembers changed your mind about them.

"Man overboard!"

"The dumbass!"

"He can't swim!"

Your attention was caught one night when those panicked comments filled the air, and you looked towards the ship to see someone struggling in the water nearby. Against your better judgement, you swam over quickly and hooked your arms under the man's armpits, lifting him above the water so he could breathe. Once he was done spluttering and coughing up water, and you got a good look at him, you blushed.

He was handsome, extremely handsome. Dark hair stuck to his pale face, cute freckles dotting his cheeks. His eyes were bright with mischief, but when he smiled at you you couldn't help but think he looked angelic.

"A mermaid!" He gasped, eyes brightening even more. "This must be my lucky night." And he gave you a drunken smile, making you sigh.

You waited patiently for someone to come down to get him, keeping him afloat in the meantime since you couldn't very well climb aboard. Eventually they dropped a rowboat, and you carefully settled the now passed out man into it. You stayed to watch them pull him up, hearing shouts of 'thank you' but all you could focus on was how pretty that man was.

And how you hoped to see him again soon.

You got your wish the very next night, because Ace couldn't get you out of his head. He had been drunk, sure, but he definitely remembered seeing a mermaid. And he wanted to see you again, but he just didn't know how to get a mermaid's attention.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard to think you saw a mermaid!" Marco teased him, making the others laugh. None of them believed Ace, and every single one of them considered the idea absurd and insane - even more so since Ace is known for pulling pranks.

"But I did!" He insisted, pouting.

"Ace, there is no way you could have seen a mermaid," Marco sounded worried now. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," the 2nd division commander grumbled. "But I'll prove it."

So his brilliant idea to prove it? To pretend he was drunk again and fall overboard, so you could come and save him again.

You came to his rescue again, sure enough, but this time Ace could see you clearly and he was awestruck by your beauty. For once the talkative commander was stunned into silence, and he just stared at you for the longest time until you blushed and looked away.

"We need to stop meeting like this," you told him, laughing softly. "You need to be more careful."

"You're so beautiful," he ignored your warning, smiling like a lovestruck sailor - which he was. "Really, really beautiful."

You blushed some more, "Because I'm a mermaid."

"I'd like to think that even if you weren't, I'd still have fallen for you."

Your eyes widened at his words, butterflies blooming in your gut. Your face flushed a bright red, and for a moment you were speechless. Then you remembered he belonged on land, and quickly helped him back to his ship.

"You should stop falling into the sea," you told him, "You're a devil fruit user aren't you? You could die."

"It would be worth it to see you again," he smiled, and you were concerned that he was actually serious.

"Just go," you laughed.

"Not without getting your name," he replied. "Please?"

You sighed, "It's (Name)."

"Pretty," he grinned. "I'm Ace."

And once he was gone up again, you couldn't help but feel a longing for the man you couldn't have. Little did you know, he was thinking the exact same about you. You never left each other's minds, and while you could only wish to see him again, Ace made it his personal mission to see you whenever he could.

He ignored your words and kept falling into the ocean, so much so that it became a habit of his, just to see you. You could tell soon enough that he was doing it on purpose and wasn't really drunk, but he would never listen when you told him to stop. What made it even funnier, though, was that you could see his crewmates gather around every time he committed to this dramatic method, all of them ready to jump in and stop the dumbass from drowning if needs be. They clearly still assumed he was insane.

"Ace," you giggled one night after saving him again, "There are better ways to see me, you know."

"Like how?" He pouted.

"You could just call me, idiot," you laughed, handing him a shell. "Just blow into that and I'll come. You don't have to try and kill yourself to see me."

He chuckled, holding the shell close, "Fine, I'll stop. I think my crew is starting to worry that I've completely lost it. They stand by waiting to see if one of them needs to jump in." He laughed, then gave you a warm smile, "But my hero never fails to rescue me."

You blushed, looking down shyly, "Well it would be a shame to let such a handsome sailor drown."

"You think I'm handsome?" He smirked, moving closer. The two of you were sitting in the rowboat his crew lowered for you, so it was easy for you to be this close without him drowning.

"I do," you blushed more.

His smile only widened before he leaned in and slowly captured your lips with his, one his warm hands gently gripping your chin as he kissed you. The butterflies returned, and you kissed him back just as slowly and sweetly as your hand rested on his arm.

"So we don't need to keep standing here every time the idiot throws himself overboard?" Someone called from above, breaking your kiss and making you both laugh.

"Not anymore, no. Because the idiot will NOT keep throwing himself overboard," you responded, smiling.

"But-"

"It's not worth dying Ace!"

[perseephoneee]

PLEASE do something super fluffy with kol mikealson

i love ur work sm!!

babe you're making my day. hope this is something akin to what you wanted.

"you're red." "shut up." "like actually vermillion." (kol mikaelson x f!reader)

warnings: kissing?? also hatred towards bed and breakfasts

a/n: i forgot how much i love writing for kol. sorry for the large writing break...hope this makes up for it?

↳ masterlist  ↳ ship exchange ↳ taglist

You hate Kol Mikaelson. 

He’s cocky, impulsive, and constantly getting you into danger that you would never find for yourself. He also relentlessly flirts with you until you’re warm and deeply frustrated.  He’s complicated enough that you wish he wasn’t a part of your life so it could resume a sense of normalcy. 

Getting caught up in Mikaelson drama was never your plan. You just happened to make the mistake of working as a bartender at Russo’s—where they frequented. Klaus took a liking to you, and the rest is history. Being a human that’s friends with vampires is like poking a bear; not recommended nor convenient. 

This recent conflict was forgettable but proved to be a disruption to your life. One of them annoyed someone, and that someone wanted revenge, and now apparently you were in danger, and so on and so forth. You have repeatedly debated sending an invoice to the Mikaelson compound for restitution. You don’t think Klaus would find it very funny. 

You almost forgot about your life being in danger until you were forced to go on the run with the youngest brother, Kol. Kol, who insisted on driving you nuts. You kept trying to tune him out in the car, listening to the radio or focusing on the trees speeding past your window. Still, he was relentless and wouldn’t leave you alone for a minute. Plus, he was a horribly reckless driver, and you were gripping the door so tightly that you might hurt a muscle any minute. 

“I’ve lived for a very long time, but I’ve never visited Fes,” Kol said, one hand on the wheel as the other tapped on the door. You barely spared him a glance. “Would you visit Fes?”

“Not even sure what Fes is,” you answered through gritted teeth, suppressing a yelp as Kol took a turn obnoxiously fast. 

“City in Morocco considered its cultural capital.”

“You sound like a Google search,” you scoffed, sparing him half a glance. Long enough of a glance for Kol to give you a toothy grin, his canines glinting in the sunlight. 

“I like knowing things,” he states, squinting at you. “I don’t know much about you. Tell me something.”

“No.”

“Please?” he begged, every bit a kid enjoying picking on the new kid on the playground. You fixed him with a dead stare. 

“I hate your driving.” That caused him to laugh, which made him throw his head back and speed up even more. You clutched the handle and clenched your teeth till you felt your whole body would seize up. Kol eventually took pity on you and slowed down. It was enough for you to relax…slightly. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere. Anywhere. Haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Brilliant. I’m going to die out here,” you sighed, sinking deeper into the leather seat. 

“Nonsense. Nik would dagger me if I let that happen, and I’m very tired of being daggered.”

“Not because you care about me or want me to live?” you jested, quirking a brow at him. 

“Now, why would I care about you at all?”

You pretended it didn’t sting, even though it felt impossible for you to care about Kol. Still, hearing him say it felt a bit like a slap in the face. You just turned more out the window, ignoring him. You didn’t notice the sharp look he sent you, as if he regretted what he said. 

Instead, you notice a sign advertising a Black Bear Diner. You perk up immediately, tapping the window and looking back at Kol. 

“There. Stop there.”

“That piece of garbage?”

“Yes! Stop the car!” you shouted, regretting your words when Kol slammed on the brakes. “Stop the car slowly, you asswipe.”

“You should’ve clarified that,” he smirked. You jumped out of the car, ran towards the restaurant, and experienced euphoria when the smell of waffles and fresh coffee hit your senses. Kol walked up slowly, hands in his pockets. The sun was obnoxious out here, but there were enough trees in the area to not make it feel like a desert. You could even see the mountain in the background in all its snowcapped glory. 

The inside of the diner was a welcome breeze on your damp skin. It wasn’t very crowded, and you got seated immediately as you happily flipped through your plastic menu. Kol looked slightly uncomfortable sitting in the diner, but you ignored him. You were getting pretty good at ignoring him. 

“I used to go here all the time with my family,” you said, flipping to the drinks page of your menu. “Not this exact location…but this chain. I went to it when I first moved to my hometown.”

“It’s barely gourmet.”

“Fuck gourmet, I want comfort. I want to feel like home,” you laughed, closing your menu. “Don’t you want that?”

“Home?” Kol inquired. “Not sure what that is anymore.”

Your lips turned down in a frown, but you offered nothing else. He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk, and you wouldn’t force him. The waiter came over to take your orders, and you happily ordered a black coffee, orange juice, and a waffle platter. After they left, you started packing your bag with the tiny jams and creamers they had out on the table. Kol just looked at you in disdain. 

“You are pathetic.”

“Rent is expensive, groceries are expensive, give me a break,” you snorted, taking a few sugar packets for good measure before you stopped looting. Kol laughed, running a hand through his hair and leaning back in his seat. His leg bounced from anxiety, and his fingers tapped the table in a paradiddle pattern, just left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right over and over again. He looked shockingly young, like the boy before he turned, and not the man he paraded as. For a split second, you could see yourself having a crush on him in high school if he was one of your peers. You erased that thought as soon as it came. “Can I ask a question?” you leaned forward on the table, arms folded in front of you. “Why are you guys always protecting me? I’m definitely a liability.”

“I think my brother just wants to sleep with you,” Kol sighed. You snorted, biting your bottom lip to subvert your laughter. Honestly…you have managed to weasel your way into our family—like a parasite.”

“Aw, your words are so kind,” you rolled your eyes, kicking Kol under the table. He just kicked you right back, wearing a smirk. “And I would never sleep with your brother.”

“Why’s that?” Kol questioned, crossing his arms. 

“His face is weird,” you answered. Kol put his head in his hands in laughter, and you joined him a second later. You weren’t sure if that was the reason, but it was the first thing that came to mind, and you didn’t think to change it. Plus, it made Kol laugh, which kind of made you happy. The arrival of your waffles made you even happier. 

“Bloody hell, you’re going to eat all of that?” Kol looked shocked, eyes flicking between you and your waffles. He had ordered a much smaller plate than yours. Yours likely could’ve been a party platter. 

“Yes, and I will do it with pride.”

You did eat all of it, and enjoyed Kol’s expression the whole time. He looked so disturbed it made up for it. You also drank all your coffee, orange juice, and free water refills. Your plan was to eat enough to enter hibernation. You even think Kol was a little impressed at some point. Kol asked the waiter for the nearest hotel, and they pointed you to a place three miles down the road that would likely have openings. By the time you left the diner, it was starting to get cold as the sun was setting. You could hear crickets; you probably would’ve gotten fireflies if you were more south. Kol drove surprisingly slow towards the hotel, which you attributed to his worry that going fast would cause you to throw up your entire waffle extravaganza. He slowed down even more when you came up to the “hotel”—which was actually just a bed and breakfast. An extremely cutesy bed and breakfast. 

The inside of the building was somehow worse than the outside. 

The outside had small-town charm. The inside was where doilies went to die. 

Both you and Kol exchanged glances as he went up to ring the bell. You counted seven cat portraits before a portly woman came out with a cheeky smile. She wore a linen frock and a floral dress right out of the 1960s. 

“Well, good evening,” she smiled. “What can I do for you?” She had a thick Minnesotan accent, and her smile made her eyes. Overall, she radiated friendliness. 

“We’d like a room?” you inquired, leaning against the counter. 

“Oh, you betcha! Lucky for you, I got the best suite in the house available. It’s perfect for you two lovebirds,” she chirped. Your eyes widened. 

“Oh, uh, we’re not together…,” you coughed. You turned to look at Kol, who just shrugged his shoulders. Completely useless. “Do you have a double?”

“Unfortunately, all our doubles are booked for our birding convention. I might have a futon available to bring to your room?”

“Perfect,” Kol smiled, finally interjecting. “We’ll take that.”

“Splendid! Here are your keys, and I’ll have you sign in there.”

You brought your one bag with you up the stairs and to the right to a room at the end of the hall. The wallpaper was mocking you at every turn, a plethora of orchids and pinks staring at you, along with the eyes of fifty million felines. You were certain Dolores Umbridge was hiding somewhere amongst the foliage. The room was less pink but still reminiscent of something in a senior home. The bed was the nicest part: a large four-poster with mahogany bedposts. The wallpaper was sage color with pictures of ferns. The ensuite bathroom had a clawfoot tub and gold décor. A painting of a young boy eating ice cream was on the wall. You immediately took it off the wall and turned it around so you didn’t have to look at it all night. 

“It’s a little…”

“Cozy?” Kol interjected, closing the door behind you two. 

“I was going to say tight.”

“It is the lovebird suite, darling,” Kol whispered in your ear, a smirk in his voice. A shiver ran down your spine. 

“I’ll take the futon.”

“I doubt you could fit a futon in here,” Kol scoffed. He was right. There was really only room for the bed and bedside tables. Whoever designed this room intended to spend a lot of time in bed. Your cheeks heated at the thought. You tapped your foot in thought before eventually sighing in defeat.

“Just…don’t get too handsy,” you shrugged, glaring at the vampire’s ever-present smirk. 

“Handsy? You must think me a rascal,” Kol cooed, stepping closer into your space. The room was tight, which meant you were backed against the wall. You felt like a rabbit being targeted by a fox, his mischievous grin and wandering eyes taking all of you in. Your eyes were drawn to how he licked his lips, and suddenly, your blood pressure spiked. Heat crawled up your neck, and you knew that Kol noticed. He always managed to notice. 

“Knock it off, Mikaelson,” you hissed, tilting your head up defiantly. 

“You’re actually red,” Kol chuckled, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. 

“…Shut up,” you slapped his hand away, maneuvering your way from his grasp. 

“Like actually vermillion,” he laughed, and you gave him an unsavory gesture as you escaped into the bathroom, closing the door behind you. Back against the door, you breathed out, groaning into your hands. You pushed off the door, getting ready for bed in an effort to put this night behind you. You cleaned up, brushed your teeth, and put on pajamas. In hot weather, you usually just wear a T-shirt and shorts to bed. Your t-shirt said, ‘I got lobotomized at Freddy Fazbear’s,’ something idiotic that you couldn’t even fully be ashamed of. When you exited, Kol was lying on top of the covers on his phone, having changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked up when you exited, snorting as he read the shirt. “You have an odd sense of humor.”

“It’s too evolved for you to understand,” you rolled your eyes, getting in on the other side of the bed and leaving space between the two of you. Kol smelled sweet, like vanilla, and it was slowly suffocating you. You both sat in silence for a second before Kol disrupted it. 

“Y/N,”

“No.”

“Darling,” he purred, inching closer to you. 

“What, Kol,” you turned to look at him, eyes narrowed. 

“You like me,” he said. It was not a question, just something he exclaimed. You scoffed. 

“I do not.”

“You do. It’s why you blush vermillion when I call you things like darling,” he smiled, propping himself up on his elbow as he lay on his side to stare at you. 

“You’re incorrigible.”

“So, if I kissed you…you wouldn’t care,” Kol inquired, voice soft as he sat up slightly. You felt your heart skip a beat, and Kol’s mouth turned up slightly when he heard it. You knew you just proved his point, but you refused to concede. 

“I wouldn’t care,” you whispered, holding his gaze. 

“So, when I do this,” Kol leaned up, kissing your cheek, his lips burning your skin. He kissed right under your jaw, finally on your pulse point. “…it doesn’t matter?” 

You bit your tongue to stop yourself. “It doesn’t matter,” you choke out, but all you’re doing is spurring Kol on. You’re a hare caught in his trap, and you can’t even find it in yourself to hate it. Kol sucks on your pulse point, nipping lightly and moving down your neck, one hand coming up to tilt your head more to the side for easier access. His touch was shockingly gentle as if he was giving you an out. Your will was thinning by the minute, though, and eventually, you grabbed his hand, causing him to stop. 

“Darling—” he starts, but you cut him off by kissing his lips, soft but passionate. For once, you’ve taken him off guard, and a sense of pride spurs through you as you part, kissing the corner of his mouth and looking at him through thick lashes. 

“Does it matter?” you ask, voice breathy. “For you…” You’re not sure exactly what you’re asking, but you know there’s a line you’ve crossed that you can’t return from. Kol’s thumb brushes your cheek, so gentle from the reckless, hotheaded vampire you are acquainted with. A grin crosses his face. 

“It means everything,” he smiles, kissing you again, fingers tangling in your hair. Your hands find his arms, sighing as he deepens the kiss. You’re on fire, every single part of you, and you’re sure that Kol can feel your racing heart and hot skin. You like kissing him, though, and you realize you like him a lot. 

“Kol?” you breathe. “Don’t sleep on the futon.”

“For you? I would never,” he grins, kissing you again. You make sure to put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door for later. 

…

Afterwards.

It’s the middle of the night when he wakes you up.

“I guess Nik won’t be able to sleep with you now.”

“Kol.”

“Because I’ll be the only one sleeping with you.”

“Go to sleep.”

There’s a shuffling of blankets as his arm wraps tighter around you, his breath hot on your neck. 

“You’re going to be stuck with me forever,” he whispers. 

You smile. “I’m okay with that.”

taglist:: @rafecameronswhore

[bimobuddy]

Learning to Trust

SFW Hazbin TK fic

Alright people hear me out with this one

Major Spoilers

CW: Brief mention of anxiety disorders, swearing

Lee!Vox, Ler!Alastor

It's kind of a ship? The Aromantic 'Squish' equivalent of a ship. Well not yet anyway, they're still rivals in this, but I might make a part 2 that explores that a little more

It was gonna be Valentino and Vox, but I'm mad at Val so he got his boyfriend privileges taken away >:(

This might get kinda angsty, sorry in advance

Summary: Vox is glitching out and having connection issues, so he bites the bullet and asks help from the only other demon who can help him. Unfortunately with that demon being Alastor, they run into some issues.

It had started happening after the battle between the exterminators and the sinners. The War between Heaven and Hell. Vox had been watching it all happen on his TV, mostly keeping an eye on Alastor. Originally the plan was to watch by himself, but Velvet insisted they all watch together, and he couldn't really think of a good enough lie to tell her no, so he gave in.

He had spent the whole night playing up how much he hated Alastor, which is easy when your entire life and afterlife, you've been a TV Show Host. Many years of acting. At one point he even hoped if he got too obnoxious, the other two might leave, but used to his antics, they stayed.

But inside he was immensely stressed out. Yes he and Alastor were rivals, but there was something about the rivalry he needed. Something about it he liked. He couldn't really explain it himself, and he preferred not to think about it, preferring to tell himself that he just enjoyed hating the Radio Host.

So when he watched Alastor almost get killed by Adam, seeing him actually vulnerable for once... It scared him.

Then started the glitching. He knew it was from stress, the feeling was very familiar to when he was a human with an anxiety disorder. Only instead of a racing heart and suddenly feeling faint and warm, his anxiety came in the form of glitching, as his mind couldn't process everything, and showed it visibly on his screen.

He had tried for hours to make it stop, to try and fix it himself, but he couldn't see the mirror properly through all the glitching. That and the glitching made it hard to think.

He considered going to Velvet, but despite her phone and social media use, she didn't actually know anything about the tech itself. There was one more option, but he really didn't want to even consider it.

Though as he started to glitch out again, he decided to just bite the bullet.

-

Vox found himself scaling up the side of the Hotel, climbing toward Alastor's radio tower.

He'd rather fall to his death than use the doors and ask to see him. As he reached the top, he frantically tapped on the window, feeling another glitch about to happen.

Nothing.

He started tapping again, even faster this time.

Still nothing.

He made a fist and drew his arm back to just break the window in-

*click*

"Well this is quite the predicament." Alastor said, leaning over the windowsill. "Shut up asshole, just let me in." Vox grumbled. Alastor's grin seemed to widen. "And why shouldn't I just give you a little nudge?" The radio host questioned, placing his cane lightly against Vox's screen.

Vox couldn't help but notice that his cane had been seemingly glued back together and.. bandaged up? He didn't have time to think about that. "I uh.." He trailed off, only for Alastor to push his cane a little harder into Vox's screen. He tried to speak again, but he glitched, losing his grip and slipping.

But he didn't fall. Through all the TV static, he felt his wrists being grabbed, as he was pulled upward. He still couldn't focus much, but he recognized that he had dropped to a hardwood floor now.

"My, this certainly is quite a problem.. For you, anyway, I find it entertaining." Alastor chuckled. Vox pressed a palm to the cool floor to try and ground himself. Gradually, the static cleared itself. "You know what I found interesting? That someone as strong and as feared as you got cut down by an angel." He said, glaring.

The room got deadly silent, Alastor's smile much more strained now.

"... I need your help, okay?"

"And why should I help you? Especially after that nice little comment you made."

"Listen, I'm- Ugh. Forget it, I don't know why I even both-øťhəred-" Vox had stood to leave, only for another glitch to have him leaning against the wall for support.

"It appears neither of us are in great shape." Alastor said, begrudgingly lifting Vox by his upper arm and setting him in one of the swivel chairs. He crossed his arms and waited for Vox's glitching to pass.

After a solid minute, Vox groaned, his head starting to hurt. "So what made you think you'd come to someone who famously hates television boxes for help? Especially when that person is a rival, an enemy, someone you've fought in the past?" Alastor asked.

Vox looked up at him, feeling that pit of anxiety in his stomach again. "I didn't know who else to go to. Valentino is useless, Velvet doesn't know shit about tech, and you're the only other demon who has seen me weak before."

Alastor took a moment to process that last part. He considered it. If he helped Vox, he risked being seen as soft. But if he didn't help him, what if it got worse, and he lost his nemesis, the pettiness that kept him going at times, that pushed him to be the best Host?

He sat down in his seat, across from Vox. "Do you trust me?" He asked. Vox thought for a moment. Did he? He must have if he came here. "I have to."

"Good enough." Alastor went to get started... "Wait how the hell do I do this? I'm more familiar with my own equipment."

Oh, right. Vox sighed. "The back of my monitor comes off. Just open it, and I'll instruct you from there." He said, turning around and removing his hat.

Alastor curled his fingers around the back panel of his monitor, causing Vox to jump a little. "If you want me to help you, sit still-" "I am, shut up." Alastor pulled the back panel off and was met with what to him looked like Alien technology.

After Vox had instructed him on what to do, he got to work. Though he didnt like working in silence, it felt a little too intimate, especially with his hands inside someone else's head.

"So what exactly caused this, if I may ask?" He questioned. "Stress. I start to glitch out when things are hard to process and I overload. Sometimes if the glitching gets too bad, I shut down, which I'd rather avoid."

"Shut down," Alastor repeated, "I thought if you 'shut down,' you'd die or something?" "No, no.. I can more closely compare it to burnout but ten times worse. Last time I shut down, it took me a week to recharge."

"Hm. And what caused you to become so stressed this time? Sure I've seen you briefly buffer and glitch during our fights, but never this bad." Alastor asked. Vox noticed the radio filter in his voice seemed to fade out. He was genuinely curious.

He didn't know what to say. More like he didn't know how to say it. How do you tell your rival of all people you were stressed because you saw them get hurt?

"Well? With how close I am to all these wires, I'd answer if I were you." Ah, his filter was back. "I just.. Got overworked." "Need I remind you how easy it would be for me to unplug some of these wires? Hm, this yellow one seems awfully loose-" "I was worried oka- Aha!"

...

"What do we have here?" Alastor asked, a smile evident in his voice. Vox froze. He actually didn't know 'what they had there.' That had never happened before.

"I-I don't know, but Alastor I swear to Satan himself- wahait- grr- Don't!" He gripped the armrests of his seat in a desperate attempt to hold still. He worried if he pulled away too fast, he'd accidentally rip a wire out.

It felt so weird. He could actually feel Alastor messing with the wires in his head, specifically the ones down at the bottom that ran down his neck and into his back. Each time the Radio host rolled one between his fingers, it sent what felt like electricity into his system. Thousands of little shocks that made him want to pull away and- No. He wouldn't, it was dumb, it was weak, and it wasn't like him.

Alastor grinned wider, finding it fun to mess with him. "Why Vox, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were ticklish." He said, rubbing the wires again, watching as Vox gripped the armrests tighter and scrunched his shoulders up. Alastor only grew more amused as he heard the other's fans whir to life as his ventilation system tried to cool him down.

Vox, however, felt like he was fighting for his life. His shoulders were shaking, his chest was spasming, and he felt his screen overheating. He was actively fighting back any noise that tried to escape. He refused to be seen as any weaker than he already was. "T-Tickl-what? The f-fuhuck is that? Thihis isn't a vihirus??"

Alastor paused. "You seriously have never heard of tickling? It's childsplay. Children often have tickle-fights with their siblings and friends. You've never even seen it?" "I never really had any friends."

There was a beat of silence.

"What about the other V's?"

"Gross, you think I'd let Valentino get anywhere near me? You know where his hands have been?"

"Where haven't they been is the real question."

Fuck, that got a laugh out of Vox. A real one too, not the fake rehearsed one he used in public or on TV. It was lighter than Alastor expected, genuine, and almost had a warm sound to it if you can imagine that.

And Alastor found himself wanting to hear it again. "I suppose I should get back to maintenance now shouldn't I?" He said, returning to his work, get making sure his hands brushed over the wires and cables occasionally. More than occasionally.

"A-Alastor- fuhuck- wahahait- *wheeeze* ahahahaha!" Vox found himself stomping the floor a little, since he was unable to pull away. He felt light scritching at the base of his neck, obviously intentional. "Yohohou ohold tihihimey prihick! I'll d-dehehe- dehehehahahaha!"

"Oh I'm sorry, you're going to what now? I can't exactly hear you." Alastor grinned. Both hands, or claws one should say, suddenly scritched at the back of his ribs.

Unable to control himself, Vox tossed his head back and laughed, and slammed backward, pressing his back into the seat. Alastor was quick to pull his hands back with a chuckle.

Vox's fans were whirring loudly. "You ahasshole, just finish fuckin' repairing me." "Oh I finished that ten minutes ago!" Alastor answered cheerfully, popping the back panel back into place in Vox's monitor.

Vox groaned, irritated.

"I still find it hard to believe you've never heard of tickling! Everyone knows about it. I'm even more surprised no one's ever found out by accident. Not even while reparing your monitor?"

"I fix myself, I don't trust anyone to touch me."

"You trusted me."

Vox turned his swivel chair around to face Alastor. "I did, yeah.."

Alastor tilted his head a little in curiosity. "And maybe you could trust me again. You never did tell me what got you so stressed." Vox rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you started assaulting me before I could."

"Voxius."

"That's not- Did you just assign me a full name?"

"Yes, now quit stalling." Alastor said, latching a hand onto Vox's side. "WAIT-" He shouted before batting at his hand, huffing out chuckles. Alastor only crawled his hands up Vox's ribs before targeting his underarms.

"WAITFUCKTHATSWORSE!" He cackled out, slamming his arms down, trapping Alastor's hands. The Radio demon only chuckled. "You'll learn that when it comes to tickling, much like real fights, you're not supposed to let your opponent know exactly where your weak points are. Now I can do this." He stated before drilling his thumbs into Vox's underarms.

"FAHAHAHACK!" He shouted, kicking a leg out, much like a dog, whilst also trying to curl up in his chair to protect himself. "Thihihis ihihis rihihihidiculohohous!!"

"What's ridiculous is that you still haven't answered the question."

"YOHOU WOHONT LEHEHET MEHEHE!"

"Hm, fine." Alastor stopped and pulled his hands away. Vox tried to kick him but of course a tendril came out and grabbed his leg, as he expected.

Vox muttered something. "I'm sorry?" Alastor asked, leaning closer. Vox sighed. "I was worried." "About?"

"About you."

Alastor's eyes widened ever so slightly. Vox had been violently glitching out over him? "Why is that?" His voice was normal.

"You're my rival, so obviously I tuned in to watch the battle. I wanted to see if you'd get killed. Part of me obviously wanted it to happen, but when I saw that Angel snap your cane and actually hit you-" Alastor flinched at the memory, "Seeing you actually vulnerable like that.. I realized I didn't actually want to lose my one and only rival. As much as I hate ya, you do push me to come up with newer and better shows in order to compete with you."

"I... can't say I haven't thought the same thing. Because of you I have to write better scripts and find the best topics for my broadcast. Even though it's no question that I'm the best," he grinned as Vox frowned, "But I am the best because of you."

Vox wasn't sure what to say to that, having mixed feelings. Before he could overthink it, Alastor held a hand out. He took it, as the other demon helped him up. "Now, it's quite late, and you have a tight schedule, I'm sure." He opened the window, as a large tendril waited outside for Vox.

"I do appreciate you coming to check on me." He said before hurrying Vox out the window, as he sat on the tendril. "If you tell anyone I said that, I just might broadcast this newly discovered sensitivity of yours." He threatened.

There was the Alastor he knew and loved to hate.

"I won't, don't worry. I don't feel like explaining to anyone why I was over at your Radio Tower anyway. You hurry up and heal, Alastor, I want you in top shape for our next fight," He smirked, "Even I'm not low enough to kick someone while he's do-OOOWN-" The tendril suddenly dropped, pulling Vox down with it, where it would drop him off safely on the ground.

Alastor shut his window, and watched the TV show host leave down the hill. Never in a million years did he think Vox would ever trust him, nor did he ever think he'd help his rival.

But he couldn't deny that he had had a little fun that night, not only tickling him, but just talking and getting to know him a little.

This night might have made their rivalry slightly more complicated.

[karmavongrim]

Love Spell fanfic idea

DP x DC fanfiction idea named "Love Spell" that I have been mulling over the past couple of weeks.

Klarion x Danny shipping (Chaotic Spirits) story, because why not and it would be fun to write about the chaos these two could cause.

Took some inspiration from this, this, bit of this and this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny really didn’t know whatever he should laugh, cry or flip the nearest table he could get his hands on. He never really thought highly of the Justice League to begin with, hell, you would be hard-pressed to find anybody in Amity Park who did nowadays.

But this… this could just as well take the metaphorical cake of bullshit that has been piling up over the past three years.

He took a deep, measured breath before focusing back on his boyfriend. His sweet, lovable, very-much-chaotic-immortal-man-child of a boyfriend.

“...They think I’m what now?”

On the other side of this conversation sat Klarion, the witch boy extraordinaire, who was combing his slender fingers delicately through his precious familiar’s fur as he watches his beloved having a hard time grasping at the situation. And since he thought of himself to be a rather fantastic boyfriend, he repeated what he said.

“The League of Simpletons have somehow gotten in their heads that I must have enthralled you in one way or another in order to get my hands on some ultimate power, as part of my apparently evil master plan.”

Danny took another breath, this was just getting ridiculous. But then again what else was new, these people really knew how to make a mountains out of a molehills. Even Wes didn’t have this severe of an apophenia, he at least ended up being right more often than not.

“So they think you’ve put me under a love spell or something?”

Klarion merely shrugged in mock-helplessness. “Apparently you wouldn’t be dating me otherwise.” In all honesty he probably shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he currently is, but he couldn’t help himself.

His ever present smirk widened when his beloved Starlight’s face twitched in irritation. “For Ancient’s sake… seriously?” A simple nod was enough for Danny to want to throw the next Justice Idiot who was stupid enough to come close to Amity Park’s boarders through the nearest window!

Calm down Danny, calm down. Just remember Jazz’s breathing exercise. One… two… three…

…

Wait a minute… would that mean- no way in hell way they’ve been…

“Wait a minute- Is that the fucking reason why they’ve constantly been ruining our dates these past few months!?”

Another nod.

Yeah, fuck being calm and shit, ya boy is absolutely livid! All this time they were doing it on fucking purpose!! He so is going to burn all of their ugly ass capes and dye all their ugly ass costumes pink! Better yet, he’ll paint their entire HQ with the most obnoxious and clashing colours possible.

Klarion let the halfa rage about for a good moment before interjecting. It wouldn’t do to have the lounge destroyed, especially when that energy could be used on something else he has in mind.

“We could have fun with this you know, at their expense.”

Danny stopped in his track and turned his inquiry gaze towards Klarion. He knows that smile and it could only mean trouble, trouble which he was more than willing to partake in. A smirk of his own began to grace his lips. “What do you have in mind exactly?”

Once again Klarion was reminded why he’s dating this gorgeous creature in the first place. Trust him to be able to match his chaotic nature despite his hero persona.

“Oh you are going to love it, my dear.”

[megamindsecretlair]

Wedding Night

Cross posted from @megamindslair

Pairing: Loki x Black!Fem!reader

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. You are in charge of your own reading experience. There is smut! Fingering and oral (reader receiving), p in v sex. Apologies in advance if I offend anyone.

Summary: While you are no strangers to each other, you had just gotten married and are enjoying your first night of wedded bliss.

Word Count: 2,791k

A/N: Decided to stop being a little punk and posted this. This was purely fun for me and I don't see myself stopping. Be gentle with me LOL. While likes are awesome, please consider reblogging and commenting to support writers!

You stared out of the nearly floor to ceiling window, looking down at the expanse of Asgard. The sun dipped low in the sky as it was approaching nightfall. Asgard at twilight was about as close to perfection one could get. 

The towering spires reached towards the heavens. Lights began to wink into existence one at a time as people settled in for the night or ramped up their activities for the evening. In the distance, the rainbow bridge shined in a multitude of colors. Ships were hauling into the bays for the end of shift.

Heat pressed into your back. A hand snaked around your curvy waist and pulled you against a wall of solid muscle. “Nervous, wife?” 

Loki’s rumbling timbre sent shivers down your spine. How was it that you’d known this man all your life and were still amazed by the simple sound of his voice? 

His lips kissed the back of your head and then he placed his chin on top of your head. He leaned his right arm against the windowsill. The smell of him, all spice and woodsmoke, was intoxicating. Without magic, he was perfectly capable of weaving a spell designed to make your pussy throb with vicious need.

“Not at all. Just wondering if we should close the window. We don’t want everyone to hear how loud you are,” you said. 

Loki’s answering laugh shook him and in turn shook you, since he stood so close. “Careful, you know what happens when you’re naughty,” he whispered in your ear. He lifted the hand that had been around your waist and pulled your hair back from your face. His soft lips kissed a line from your ear to your neck.

“Naughty, you say?” Your voice was breathy. He couldn’t really expect you to have coherent thoughts when his lips were on your skin. He nipped the bit of your neck where it met your shoulder. He hummed and the sound vibrated on your overheated skin.

The breeze from the window did little to dull your excitement. You had been in this chamber, naked, plenty of times. Playing all manners of games and never growing bored by Loki or what wonders your combined magic could create. But tonight was different no matter how many ways you spun it.

His free hand found your left hand and he brought it up to his face. He placed a kiss on top of your wedding band. It was a simple braided, gold band. He had offered to get you something bigger, flashier, or more obnoxious. But this little band was perfect. 

“I thought you liked when I was naughty?” You asked. 

He grabbed your waist and spun you around. His crystal blue eyes bore into yours with a unique passion you hadn’t experienced in anyone else. His chest was bare showing off his muscles and the way they flexed whenever he moved. He wore loose green pants that rode low on his lean hips. His hair was black as midnight, slicked back, and showed off the angles of his face. “Your reward will be far greater if you’re good,” he said.

“Tell me more about these rewards, husband,” you said, trying the title out. And you liked it.

“Oh the rewards are too many to name,” he said. He shook his head playfully. He sank to his knees slowly, maintaining eye contact with you. He licked his lips as he gathered the hem of your blue dress and lifted it enough to sneak his hands underneath.

His fingers kneaded and rubbed your calves and then the back of your knees. You giggled but were honestly too distracted to laugh properly. He made his way to your thighs and you moaned with the contact.

“For example, good girls are worshiped. They are adored,” he said. He placed a kiss over your belly as his hands slid higher, hooking his long, delicate fingers around your panties. He slid them down your thighs. The thin material coasted with ease and you bit your lip to keep from moaning too loud. You were too high to really be in danger of anyone hearing you, but the thought of it still thrilled you.

You held on to him as you lifted one leg out of your panties and then the other. The wind from the window blew his hair around his shoulders. He was so painfully beautiful. The way he was on his knees at your feet nearly brought tears to your eyes. 

But then his hands went higher, grabbing your round ass and squeezing hard. Squeaks and squeals escaped you as his fingers found all your pressure points. Your hands twisted in his hair as you lightly scratched at his scalp. He hummed in pleasure and tilted his head to rub against your arm.

He rose, your dress riding up higher and higher until it gathered at your waist. Were someone to look up, they’d get a generous view of your ass. Loki leaned down and placed a kiss at your check.

“On the bed. Now.” The gravel in his voice slid along your nerves in the most delightful way possible.

You swung your hips as you drifted over to his massive bed. Truly, it was huge. And it still managed to look tiny in his bedroom. The floor was dark stone and heated by the fireplace burning brightly. There were couches and a table arranged in front of it. On either side of the fireplace, entirely too close for comfort, there were floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with hundreds of books.

Besides the entrance, there were two other doors leading to his walk-in closet (he was a diva after all) and the bathroom. Well, you ought to stop saying “his” things. This room was technically yours as well after the grandiose wedding that was only a few hours ago.

You gather up the dress and place a knee onto the bed. It sank beneath your weight. Being in this bed was like laying on a cloud. You placed the other knee on the bed and then fell forward on all fours, crawling to the middle of the bed. The weight of his gaze excited you, making you clench painfully. 

Once in the middle, you flipped over. Loki stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at you. His pants tented with the evidence of his erection. He idly rubbed it as he took in your prone figure. 

Slowly, you dragged your dress higher until the hem reached past your hips. You exposed yourself to him. He groaned as you opened your legs and let him see all of you. 

The breeze from outside battled the heat from inside and flowed over your pussy, alerting you to just how wet you were for him. He waved a hand and the ceiling disappeared, replaced with thousands of stars. 

You gasped. “Loki,” you said. He said your name reverently. Above you, the stars were both close and so far away. There was a spectrum of colors in an arch above you, moving across the galaxy. 

The bed dipped as Loki climbed into it. “Count the stars and you’ll never come close to how much I feel for you,” he said.

“Loki,” you said. He rendered you speechless. What did someone say to such a perfect confession? 

He grinned but it took on a sinister glint. Before you asked, he leaned down on his elbows and rubbed his nose along your slit, breathing you in. He blew a breath across your pussy and you jumped. You were not expecting that.

“Relax, wife,” he commanded. 

“I am,” you shot back.

He nipped at your thigh. “You’re tense. Shall I stop?”

“Don’t you dare,” you hissed. 

He chuckled and finally, finally, used his tongue to nudge your lips apart and drag his tongue from your entrance to your clit. You squealed from the delicious pressure and fisted your hands in his incredibly smooth bedding. 

He paid extra attention to your clit, playing with the little nub and making you squirm. He grabbed your legs and hooked them around his arms. He forced your legs apart.

“These stay open,” he said. 

“Oh gods,” you moan. He chuckled as he returned to lolling his tongue around your clit. The only thing you saw was his dark hair covering the most intimate part of you. His hair flopped down onto your stomach and thighs tickling you with its softness.  Pressure built up inside you with each succulent swipe of his gifted tongue. When he wasn’t so busy being a mischievous little punk, he apparently had other wonderful uses.

Gods, you were close. So close…he stopped and you growled. He chuckled and kissed your thigh, leaving a wet spot behind. Your cheeks burned knowing that evidence of your own arousal was on his mouth. 

He flipped his head back, his hair flipping out of his face. He grinned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“You seem to be confused about who's in charge here,” he said. He shook his head as if he were chastising you. He crawled up your body, molding his body next to yours.

His fingers took the place of his mouth, dipping one finger inside you and pumping with abandon. You leaned up, not necessarily because you wanted to get away, but because it felt too fucking good. You were on edge already and his finger kept up a steady rhythm inside you.

He added a finger and you moaned. You slipped your hands into his hair and tugged. He hummed. “That’s my girl,” he groaned. Your legs opened wider of their own accord. You needed more.

The only sounds in the room were your panting and moaning and the wet suction of your arousal around his fingers. You bit your lip as you focused on the pleasure spreading through your body. He used his thumb to rub lazy circles around your clit on every up-slide of his fingers. Then he curled his fingers inside you.

“Loki,” you gasped. You nearly cried as the pressure became too much. The pleasure was too much. Your legs shook as the first wave of your orgasm took over. You pushed at his arm. It was too much.

“Do you want me to stop, wife?” 

You shook your head. You muttered something, but didn’t know what. Unholy sounds left you as your orgasm shook you to your core. He talked you through it, continuing to stroke you as you floated down back to your body.

You cracked open your eyes and were momentarily struck dumb by him. He was half leaning, half sitting up so his head was framed by the illusion of stars he erected. Before, he used his magic for small things. Cheap tricks and cruel pranks. But now, he wove entire illusions that were nearly indistinguishable from real life.

His eyes glowed in the soft light. He was made for the stars. He was an entire galaxy contained in a beautiful man. 

“Do you think I’m done with you?” He asked. 

The excited squeal you uttered should be embarrassing, but he only smiled and withdrew his fingers. You missed them already and poked out your bottom lip. He licked his fingers as he stared at you, dipping one and then both inside his mouth to clean every last drop of your arousal. 

He closed his eyes as he savored it and then glanced back at you. “Delicious,” he whispered.

He leaned down and kissed you. His lips moved expertly over yours, licking your lips so that you’d open for him. You’d deny him nothing as you opened your mouth and tasted yourself on his tongue. He bit your bottom lip and the sharp pain was smoothed over by his tongue.

“Now who’s being naughty,” you said.

“I can’t help it,” he said with a shrug. You sat up in the bed and got on your knees to match his stance. 

You grabbed the band of his pants and tugged hard until his cock sprang free. He helped you disrobe him until he kneeled before you in all his naked glory. 

You placed your hands on his shoulders and pushed until he dropped onto the bed. He arranged himself into a comfortable position, placing one arm around the back of his head. He quirked an eyebrow at you, but you only smiled.

You straddled him, moving your dress out of the way until you were able to slide skin to skin. As you held it, it disappeared in your hands exposing your breasts and belly. A ferocious gleam lit up his eyes as he brought his warm hands up to palm your breasts. He rubbed and squeezed your sensitive nipples between his fingers. 

“I will never grow tired of seeing all of you, feeling all of you,” he said. He pinched one nipple which sent a shot of desire to flood your pussy. 

You leaned up and grabbed his cock, stroking it once and then twice before sinking down onto his generous length. You both moaned at the same time, both reveling in the way he filled you completely. 

Loki bucked his hips, which made you lean forward. Your breasts rubbed against his chest. His hands roamed up and down your back. You kissed him, deeply and passionately. And then you started to move. 

You moved slowly at first, loving the gentle glide of his dick inside you. You couldn’t help the gasps or the whimpers. Loki’s hands grabbed your waist and helped stabilize you as you moved quicker, bobbing up and down on his cock. 

“Oh…oh gods,” he muttered.

You could die a thousand times if it meant you’d hear those sounds coming from his lips just once. His desire only drove yours upward. You leaned back, riding him. You tried to focus on his face, on the dark desire in his eyes, but you felt too good in the moment. 

A tempest was set loose in your veins. Your blood sang with pleasure. Your magic finally unfolded and light shot from every pore on you. 

“That’s it, my darling,” he said. He groaned and bucked his hips, driving deeper into you. Light refracted off of every shiny surface in the room. You tried to direct it, but you were too dizzy with pleasure. You felt wanton and over-joyed. Dating sex was far inferior to married sex.

The light from your magic mingled with Loki’s illusion of the cosmos. Your beams shot into the sky as if they were wayward comets. Your light streaked across the ceiling, flowing in and around the cosmic illusion he created. Your magicks intertwined and you felt him on a physical and cosmic level. It was as if your magicks touched each other’s souls.

Your orgasm rolled over you, heaping waves upon waves of bliss. “Come with me, husband,” you managed to mutter before shaking uncontrollably.

A moment later, Loki joined you. Hot jets of come spilled inside of you as he moaned so loudly, he shook with the effort. His face was contorted somewhere between ecstasy and torture. His eyes were pinched close and his mouth was slightly open on a halted sigh.

You shivered so badly that your teeth chattered. That orgasm was more intense than anything else you had experienced. The light in your veins slowly retreated and thinned until winking out completely. He rubbed your arms, your back, and anywhere else he could get his hands on. He grounded you as you recovered from your orgasm. 

He whispered sweet, loving messages in your ear as he held you close. He called you beautiful and stunning, smart and sweet, he called you the most precious creature in all of existence. You giggled tiredly as he talked silly nonsense in your ear. You focused on the cadence of his words. His words rumbled in his chest and as you laid on top of him, you felt every word.

Reluctantly, he pulled out of you. His come slipped out of you as well and you moaned from the sensation. He conjured a warm wet towel to clean you off. He conjured a new one for himself. 

When done, you snuggled up in his arms. Your head was on his chest and you idly rubbed it, marveling at the way your smooth copper skin contrasted with his pale skin. He rubbed your arms and used his free hand to play with your hair.

Sleep pulled at you but you fought it, not wanting the night to end. 

“Sleep, wife. I’m not yet done with you tonight,” he said. He kissed your forehead. 

You fell asleep with a contented sigh, wonderfully eager to get up and do it all again.

There's more Loki to love! The Secret Loki Files

[cookidoughlilac]

Space

It's been 5(ish) years since I've written for the Thunderbirds community, but I am back with something new! It's an alternate ending to Impact, because if you don't hurt or kill your favs every once in a while, are they really your favs? :)

Enjoy~

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆.

“All hands abandon ship. This is not a drill.”

She’d never had to give an evacuation order before. Though, if Ridley had time to sit back and consider the situation, she’d never had a rocket-controlled comet hurling through space towards her before. In a way that could only be regarded as humorous in the face of imminent death, the fact that she’d arrested pirates before she’d ordered a full abandonment of Global One was… funny. 

Could she call it funny? There was a giant comet headed her way with no way of stopping, the final shuttle to leave the impact zone was short one seat, and, upon looking out of the window of the central hub, she could see the march of death inch ever closer. Even if said deathly omen was disguised as an obnoxiously large ball of frozen water and rock.

Yes, the situation she found herself in was funny, she decided. Hilarious, even.

Why do I feel so numb?

The holographic image of John appeared back in her line of sight, an expectant look on his face. This was the face he used when on the job. It was rare she saw it - usually he was offering her a smile, or a look of amused delight. He never showed her this face, the one reserved for total concentration on life-or-death situations. Right, of course, she had to clue him in about what was happening. She was the captain of Global One after all. She had a job to do as much as he did.

“The shuttles are clear.”  Ridley couldn’t tell if her voice sounded different. She quietly hoped that she’d been able to hold her composure for four words.

When John let out a breath of relief, her heart sank. She’d wanted to fool him, to make him believe that she was safe, but oh how it felt wrong to lie. She knew that he was only doing his job. He didn’t mean to be the bearer of bad news. It was his job to offer the facts. The main fact being that Global One was about to undergo rapid disassembly not by builder bots, but by a bit of space rock. 

It’s not lying, her mind supplied, the shuttles are clear. You’re just not clear with them. You’ve not lied, you’ve just omitted parts of the truth.

If only omitting parts of the truth could ease one’s nerves.

“Good. If the comet hits at least no one’s on board.” John’s voice was calm, relieved. He believed her to be safe. She’d be touched if she wasn’t so preoccupied with what to do next. 

What were the dwindling options available to her? 

She could try turning on the station’s jets, moving Global One to a safer position outside of the impact zone. An option borne from wishful thinking - Global One wasn’t built to move great distances in such short windows of time. Attempting to move with so little time could cause the comet to hit one side of the station, resulting in a spinning wreckage or worse. Cleaning up a large space wreck was difficult enough - the cleanup after Eden had taken weeks - but catching a wayward wreckage before it became a hazard to other satellites? Even for the famous Thunderbirds, it would be a hassle. Not to mention that John and EOS were probably monitoring Global One and would be alerted to any movement.

No, Ridley quietly considered, We can’t risk moving.

Another option was to play the damsel in distress and plead for John to rescue her. Morally, it was the wrong thing to do. She’d be asking John to put his life at risk to save hers. Worse, she knew it wouldn’t take much to convince him at all. Between his duty as a member of International Rescue and their ‘friendship’… it would be all too easy to bring him into the impact zone. 

It would be killing two birds with one stone whichever way it went. If the combined manoeuvring power of Global One and Thunderbird 5 were enough to clear the impact zone before the comet hit, everyone would be safe.

But if they weren’t quick enough…

Thunderbird 5 and Global One would be destroyed. John, EOS and yourself would die.

Another option out of the window.

With no alternative means of escape, her metaphorical wings were clipped. Ridley was no better than a sitting duck, left to await her fate. The most realistic of all options was to find a cosy corner aboard Global One, sit back, and accept that there was little else she could do to remedy her predicament. If she was lucky, the comet’s collision would put an end to her misery instantly. She didn’t want to experience oxygen deprivation again. The Eden Incident was enough to last a lifetime. 

Perhaps music will help. 

Listening to her favourite songs would certainly make for a cinematic end to her life as a GDF Captain. Granted, Ridley assumed it would be a little less glamorous than the movies made it out to be, but if her flame was to be extinguished, she wanted it to be memorable. Perhaps she’d rig the music to play across the speakers of Global One, to make the affair truly spectacular. 

Would she sit by the window to watch the comet get closer, or would that make her too nervous? A window seat would give her the best view in the house. House? Space station? No, house definitely worked better in that phrase. 

Ridley involuntarily shivered. Dread was starting to seep into every fibre of her being.

“O’Bannon?”

Pull yourself together woman!  Take a breath. Perform. Everything’s alright.

“Hm? Oh, sorry, John. I was just preparing a message to command. Gotta warn them of our unexpected arrival.” She paused, chuckled, cleared her throat and then continued, “What did you say?”

I should warn command that the crew are on their way, not just claim that I am.

“Is there anyone else on board?” John’s voice was patient. Understanding. As though he knew she’d be distracted with captaining her crew. 

What if the crew alert him to my remaining on Global One?

“Everyone is accounted for, John. Global One is as empty as the day she was completed.”

“That’s a relief to hear. Virgil and Alan are attempting to drill to the comet’s core and plant an explosive, but with their current progress it’s unlikely detonation will occur before Global One is hit.”

Ridley winced at the wording. She couldn’t blame John. If he knew she was still on board, he wouldn’t have mentioned how close the comet truly was. Granted, if he was aware that she was forced to stay behind, he would have figured out a way to come to her rescue. 

Tell him.

“How long do you think it will be before the comet hits?” Ridley asked, glancing at the flickering image of John to offer him a half-hearted grin, “Command will want as many time stamps as I can give them.”

“EOS estimates about five minutes at most.”

Ridley blinked, taken aback momentarily at how quickly time had passed. She braved a look at the window, blood running cold at the sight of the comet taking up the entire expanse beyond the glass. With the closing distance, she could see Thunderbird 3 attending the scene, attached to the comet’s nucleus as they drilled further into the rock.

Five minutes until her life would come to a grinding halt. 

At most, a song and a half. 

I suppose there’s no place like the central hub to await the embrace of death. Would it be wrong of me to put on Space? I know it’s a love song that has nothing to do with this beautiful, endless void… but…

“John? Are you still there?”

Tell him. Ridley, you have to tell him.

“I’m here, Captain. Is everything alright? You sound… tired.”

Tell him what? I'm still on Global One? There wasn’t a seat spare for me? I’m about to die? Your brothers will discover my body amongst the wreckage? I’m scared? I love you?  Don’t be ridiculous. I can’t do that. I can’t do that to John.

Ridley tore her eyes away from the comet outside the window, settling on John’s flickering image. His previously serious expression had morphed into one of concern. It tugged painfully at her chest, knowing that she was the cause of his worry. 

“I’m fine, John. I’d forgotten to mention during the match earlier that I wasn’t going to be around next week for our usual handball. I was going to be virtually sitting in on a meeting, but now I’ll probably just attend it in person.”

Another glance at the window confirmed that the comet was still edging closer. She could see the damned orange rocket emblazoned with the logo of Fischler Industries clearly at this distance. Compared to the dull rock, it stuck out like a sore thumb. No doubt it would look just as out of place amongst the clean blues and whites of her space station. 

Around two minutes until impact.  Tell him.

“Oh, is that so?” John’s voice took on a hint of disappointment, shattering her heart further in guilt, “I’ll just have to use next week to practice my technique. When you come back, I’ll smash you.”

Tell him.

Ridley couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at him. “Is that so, Tracy? Don’t go making promises you can’t keep.”

At John’s stammer and rapidly pinkening blush, she laughed. The cold numbness she’d felt before had given way to lightness. Acceptance of the inevitable. Not even the looming presence of the comet outside could rattle her anymore. It felt nice.

It’s now or never. Ridley, tell him. Or you’ll never get the chance to.

“I’m only messing with you, John, don’t worry. But you know I won’t believe it until I see it! Either I have a natural talent for handball, or you’re purposefully letting me win!”

“Ha, I suppose you’ll just have to find out at our next match. I’ll even the scores, just you wait, Captain.”

30 seconds, if we’re lucky. This is your last chance to tell him. Please don’t let him go.

“Anyway, as much as it’s a joy to talk with you, I’m sure command will require me soon to give an account of what’s happened. I’ll talk to you later. See you round, spaceman. You too, EOS, since I know you’re listening. Bye!”

I’m so sorry John. Please don’t forget me. I love you.

[the-derpy-duck]

2012 Donnie’s characterization bothers me so much because he could have been so much more interesting if more time was spent on aspects other than his crush on April.

Like yeah it’s not his only character trait but the way they both interact and how obnoxious and creepy it is brings both of their characters down. Donnie and Mikey both want to interact with humans more than Leo and Raph. Donnie understands more than Mikey that they can’t just go up and talk to humans. I’ll come back to this in a bit. There’s an entire episode about Donnie needing to learn to not over think everything. There are also some aspects of his relationship with April (the interaction map and him being extremely afraid of her not only rejecting him but hating him) that make me think he has some sort of anxiety disorder. Leo tells him to just ask her to hang out and Donnie insists that it isn’t that simple. He wants to plan out every possible situation. Leo also calls him special in one episode. He also refuses to eat in favor of doing more research into the monkey Rockwell thing. A lot of his interactions with April can be explained by him having a crush and being an awkward teenager but generally he gives off vibes. Donnie generally across media reads to me as being Neurodivergent.

In the episode where he has to learn to stop overthinking, April and Dr. Falco refer to mutants as monstrosities. Granted they weren’t talking specifically about the turtles and I think April was just trying using the same language Falco was using to describe specific experiments. Earlier in the episode she also expresses discomfort/disgust at the idea that they were experimenting on animals. Basically I don’t think April was intending to be hurtful or insulting towards her friends and Falco wasn’t but regardless this establishes how humans feel about mutants. Most if not every human also reacts to the turtles with fear or disgust the first time they see them as well. So it has been established that humans do not like mutants and have both an implicit and explicit bias against them.

So the turtles need to be extremely careful with who they reveal themselves to. Leo says that people tend to treat them better when they don’t know that they exist. Splinter definitely pushed this mindset on them but like… he’s not wrong. Donnie does want to interact with humans, it’s not a major aspect of him but it’s still there. All the turtles want to interact with humans to some extent, and they all want to go outside, but also Donnie is the first to really push talking to a human. I will come back to this in a moment.

One thing I think that 2012 did fairly well was establish the brothers dynamics. Raph and Mikey interact in a way that Donnie and Mikey wouldn’t and this can be said for every brother duo. Raph and Leo’s relationship has the most focus in the show but the other relationships are shown. However, I feel like the relationship between Donnie and Leo could have been further explored. Leo shows concern for Donnie and takes minor interest in what he does, but after season two they sort of begin to fall apart. They fought over strategy and eventually that led to Leo getting thrown through a window and the gang had to flee New York City. Leo is seriously injured and has to go through a whole recovery arc. To my knowledge, fight they had isn’t brought up. They mainly interact in group settings together or on missions and the most notable interactions they have are them fighting with each other. Leo puts pressure on Donnie to make an antimutigen and Donnie snaps at him. He always has to find a solution. Donnie wants to kill Vizioso and this causes a fight between him and Leo (Vizioso will be relevant later). They are in space, Fugatiod’s head has been chopped off and Leo is putting pressure on Donnie to fix the ship and Donnie snaps at him before backing down immediately. That wasn’t technically a fight and it was just generally a stressful situation. Leo definitely cares about Donnie and I don’t think he realized what he’s doing when he tells him to work harder. If Donnie wasn’t in most tmnt shows, they’d be fucked. His gadgets have saved their asses so many times across tmnt media. The idea of Donnie feeling overwhelmed or unappreciated is interesting to me. But Leo is unintentionally putting pressure on Donnie and their relationship is fairly tense. Leo also joins Kari and this snowballs into Donnie getting caught in an explosion Leo was partly responsible for. Which wasn’t purposeful but I think it’s important to mention. This is also what causes Leo to stop running with the foot clan if I’m not mistaken so that counts for something. Leo also asks Donnie why he wasn’t eating and then a lot later in the show Donnie asks Leo if he’s going to play dnd with them. Which is cute, I like that they both look out for each other at different points outside of battle. But they still have a very tense relationship that really could have been explored more.

Don Vizioso. So remember the anti-mutant thing from earlier? In season four(?) Donnie and Raph have a little fight and Raph quits the team again. Donnie and another mutant get captured by Vizioso’s mob and they almost vivisect Donnie. Vizioso has been developing anti mutant weapons and he thinks mutants are subhuman. Surprise surprise they don’t cut open one of the main characters on screen and he’s fine. But like. That’s an extremely traumatic event. I know they’ve watched their dad die like five times by now and have had a lot of near death experiences but they wanted to cut him open while he was completely lucid with no painkillers. That’s really fucked. Like a lot of messed up things happen in this show but that in particular just disturbs me. Donnie has been constantly exposed to humans hating mutants. His biggest fear in that one episode was April rejecting him, not just as a romantic partner but as a friend and person. If I remember correctly hallucination April calls him a freak. Donnie wants to kill Vizioso because of what he tried to do to him. And he would have used the information he gathered from Donnie to hurt him family. Vizioso directly puts the people Donnie cares about in danger. When Donnie is about to kill him, he sees his reflection in the knife on his bō staff and he can’t do it. Earlier in the episode he freezes when a guy with a hammer is about to attack him and Leo drops a chandelier on the guy. So he’s dead I guess. There’s also this whole thing about a heart and reviving shredder but it’s not really relevant to my point.

Leo’s arguments against killing Vizioso is ‘we need to get the heart not revenge’ and ‘this isn’t you’. I wish they had a conversation. Leo did something sort of similar and it only lead to more problems. I wish Leo attempted to relate his own experience back to Donnie’s current one. I wish they had a conversation just about everything. I wish it was shown that Donnie was impacted by what happened with Vizioso in other episodes outside of ‘heat of evil’. I wish Donnie and April’s relationship wasn’t written the way it was. Like he has a crush on her, fine. But why is it half his personality and why is he so fucking creepy? Most romantic relationships in tmnt 2012 suck ass and I wish they didn’t.

I think it would have been really cool if Donnie started out a lot more hopeful and positive towards humanity but over the course of the show he becomes more guarded because he doesn’t want his family to get hurt and they are constantly targeted by humans. Donnie feeling guilt over Mikey getting seriously injured at the end of ‘heart of evil’ would have been fun. I think it would have been interested if him and April were able to just be friends. If at the end of the big foot episode instead of kissing him when he said that he was ‘just a mutant’ and her saying he wasn’t ’just a mutant he was her mutant’ she said ‘you aren’t just a mutant your my friend’. Because that scene at least implies that Donnie views himself as lesser than because he is a mutant and he is worried about people rejecting him based on this perceived inferiority. Having that be a consistent part of his character that is actually addressed could make for an interesting character arc about accepting yourself and finding peace in a world that hates you for existing. Some people will hate you for things outside of your control and that is not your fault. They are in the wrong and they have no right to treat you poorly. April’s character would have also been a lot stronger if she didn’t kiss him. It could have been a really nice moment for both of them where they are able to acknowledge how much they mean to each other, even if it isn’t a romantic type of caring. But really the only way to fix ‘a foot too big’ is to never had written it in the first place. (The writers needed a gay best friend/ref)

Also let Donnie and Casey be friends. You wrote the relationship already why did you just abandon it? What was the point? April, Donnie, and Casey can all be friends and do stupid shit together. I think ‘chaos junky’ ‘fuck you I have a knife and super powers’ and ‘fuck you I built a nuclear missile because I was bored’ would be really funny. They’d burn down the goddamn world but nooooo.

And there’s other things about 2012 that I don’t like and that could have been great. The writers hyperfixate on Leo, which is most egregious in the second half of season 4. And I like 2012 Leo. He’s a good character. But there’s four to five other characters that are sidelined in favor of him and I wish it wasn’t like that. Raph and Leo both are well developed characters but they keep cycling through the same fucking argument. It’s been five fucking seasons of this why is Leo being the leader still a conflict? I wish Mikey was explored a bit more too. He doesn’t want to be leader and because everyone else does that makes him the most interesting turtle in the room. Hell he doesn’t have to really develop. He can be completely happy and fine with his position in life. Obviously he’d like human friends and he’s lonely, but he doesn’t mind where he currently is. He doesn’t want to be leader he doesn’t want to be someone different. He is content. Maybe the way his brothers act makes him feel sort of isolated. They watch shows together and play dnd and do a lot of activities together but the others also have other major interests. Raph and Leo both take training really seriously and Donnie spends a lot of time in his lab and just studying shit. Raph and Leo also fight a lot and Mikey spends a fair amount of time in Donnie’s lab because he likes spending time with his brother. Mikey spaces out a lot but he’s still observant. Maybe he gained a lot of secondary knowledge just by watching Donnie. He’s shown to have a lot of potential and is talented. He is good at fighting and improvising. Maybe he’s still really lonely despite being surrounded by family that loves him. Also he doesn’t need to be given love interests. It just feels like they are trying to fill a quota but Mikey seems completely ok with not being romantically involved with other people and out right stated that he wouldn’t ever have a crush on a girl. Which I guess is the writers trying to show his youth because the next scene is him falling in love with Renett. They can be friends, let them besties. Aromantic Mikey supremacy. His other romance with Shinigami goes nowhere and also she’s a lesbian and dating Kari. Leo also makes me happier when he is friends with Kari and Shinigami and not romantically involved with his sister >:(

And these things that i mentioned above for both Mikey and Donnie don’t need to be all encompassing. I think they could be potentially fun character arcs or just something to explore for the character. 2012 had five seasons they could have fleshed them out more. Mikey is constantly the butt of jokes and they constantly flip flop between him being incompetent (outside of dimension x) and him being just as capable as his brothers. Donnie has a fair amount of screen time but most of it is so hard to watch because of the whole crush thing. I hate it here.

I don’t know how to conclude my thoughts. It’s been a while since I actually watched all of tmnt 2012 so I don’t remember everything but I’ve been rewatching rise and I watched tottmnt so I’ve had turtles on my mind. 2012 writers are my worst enemies.

[bestworstcase]

Hi! Eh, do you think that Adam is more hated by the fandom than Cinder? And if so, why you think this happens?

i think it’s an apples to oranges comparison because while adam is meant to be, ultimately, pitiable (in that he suffered, every mentor he had failed him or exploited him instead of actually helping him, and he chose to go down fighting for petty vengeance to the bitter end), from a narrative standpoint it was always quite clear that his character arc would end that way; he systematically burned every bridge and every lifeline he had and then literally ran into blake’s knife.

so the narrative asks for pity, the understanding that what happened to him is a tragedy—that it didn’t have to end the way it did, if he hadn’t slapped away every hand held out to him and ignored every warning sign that his path was self-destructive and would lead him to ruin—but not really anything more than that. there’s a tendency among certain kinds of villain fans to misinterpret other fans acknowledging the villainous role or acts or ending as character hate in and of itself—which it isn’t.

e.g. by no means do i hate adam as a character, but i understand what the narrative did with him (once-heroic fallen extremist whose ideals are corrupted to the point he turns abusively and violently against his own people, personal foe to blake and yang) and i think the narrative arc was executed well (broader white fang arc fumbling aside).

are there people in the fandom who do hate adam? yeah of course but i don’t think the average person in this category is out of scope as far as the intended reaction—to me the litmus test is just, can so-and-so recognize the textually-stated tragedy underlying his character, that he had opportunities to stop and refused each one? most of the time the answer is ‘yes.’

on the other hand, cinder is one of the two main villains and the narrative has not been subtle since v6 about setting her up for a villain -> hero arc—especially in v8 this nascent trajectory becomes very, very obvious to anyone paying a modicum of attention. which i don’t think is a comparable situation to adam with regard to this question because character hate toward villains gets way more intense when the possibility of a turnaround is evident enough for there to be widespread speculation about it—bc fans who don’t like the villainous character tend to really hate the idea of them, to be blunt, not getting punished enough.

(you see the same basic phenomenon playing out with ship hate, in that the closer to being unambiguously textual a given ship is, the louder and more vicious other shippers who don’t like it tend become.)

anyway. people who just dislike adam because he does awful things to characters they do like generally feel similarly about cinder for the same reasons; there’s an (obnoxious) slice of adam stans who virulently hate cinder and likewise a slice of (also obnoxious) cinder stand who virulently hate adam; cinder being a female villain gets the usual fandom misogynistic double standard and is judged much more harshly and punitively than male characters who do the same; the small fraction of people in this fandom who rabidly hate all the male characters of course rabidly hate adam (<- these people irritate me because they’re the same ones who burble about remnant being a matriarchy – #feminism is when you hate men and also can’t recognize systemic sexism against women unless it’s presented to you in an afterschool special caricature 🤔). on balance the misogynistic double standard represents a much larger swath of the fandom than the handful of people who expressly hate adam because he’s a man.

so like. just applying my test of ‘do you, regardless of whether you personally dislike this character, understand what the narrative is doing with them and why’ i see way more of what i would consider to be character hate directed at cinder than adam (and both pale in comparison to salem) but honestly if adam had survived and was discernibly on a path toward turning around i think it would be a lot more even than it is. jax vs cinder will be the more interesting comparison, if v10 goes in the direction i expect with him.

[spicycinnabun]

pt. 1 3 4 🧜🏻‍♂️

Ian had always had a thing for land fish. They fascinated him to no end. He wanted to look at them, learn all about them, and play with them. He spent hours thinking about it.

In the past, he’d had some close calls with sailors. He’d even used his siren song a couple times when he was feeling bored and frisky.

He’d damn near sunk half a dozen ships and even had to rescue one guy that had hit his head on the edge of his boat in his rush to get into the water after Ian had summoned him. Ian had gotten him back onto his ship before retreating undetected, but he hadn’t treaded that far again.

The fear of humans had been instilled in Ian at a young age. Stories from elders and his older siblings used to scare him, but there was just something about the male land fish Ian couldn’t help liking, despite all the warnings he had received.

Land fish could leave the water whenever they wanted. Ian yearned to know what was beyond the coast, but if merfolk like him were above water for too long, they would shrivel up and die.

On the other fin, humans couldn’t stay underwater for long or swim well unless they were in a full-body seal suit with a tank strapped to their backs. The weirdest thing about that was some of them had mini-tails they’d attach to their feet.

To Ian, they resembled duck feet. His best friend was a duck named Seadric, after all. They would laugh at the humans together, and Seadric would eat all the bread they tossed to him. He was a fan of them, too. Ian didn’t feel so alone with him around.

Being a merman was a very secluded life when you were single. Ian wasn’t interested in mermaids. Maybe some of the mermen, but... male land fish. He couldn’t stop thinking about them.

It had been a while since Ian had come across a sailboat. He perked up when he spotted a red-masted one in the distance. They usually didn’t come this far out. Ian's curiosity heightened, though honestly, it didn’t take much.

Sailboats were his favorite kind of boat. They had no motor, so they weren’t loud and obnoxious, and they had no dangerous propellers his fins could get caught in. If Ian had to, he could make a quick getaway.

He could see a blinding body on this boat. The skin of this land fish was as alabaster as his own—though Ian was iridescent instead of bright white. Usually, sailors were tan and wore shirts to protect themselves from the sun. This one must have been new. Ian could have some fun with him then.

Ian swam towards the boat. His scales were multiple shades of reds, coppery oranges and golden ambers that matched his hair, with speckles of green that matched his eyes. They glistened as his fin tips flapped happily above the water as he made his way to see the land fish up close.

🌊🧜🏻‍♂️🪸⛵️

co-writing with my ian, @batty4steddie 🩵

[simplyfandomish]

Imagine being a Captain of a rebel resistance force against the Galra Empire...

Simplyfandomish’s Masterlist 

Word Count: 4,444

Warnings: None! Other than cheesy fluff, Lance being a flirt, and badass female fighter pilots

(Totally stole the plane design from Star Wars lol and character descriptions were inspired by @ctchrysler​‘s Original Characters💕) 

Set in Voltron Season 2, Episode 3: “Greening the Cube”

“Hello, daddy. Hello, mom.

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!

Hello world! I'm your wild girl.

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!”

Nova’s blue eyes twitched in frustration as tools and small gadgets jumped off of the table and shelves as a result from the high bass setting that echoed through the ship.

Even with her earplugs pushed tight into her ears and her sole attention drawn to the weird space spore connected to her computers and scopes, the obnoxious music managed to penetrate her small bubble.

It seemed to be a religious practice for the ship's captain to blare annoying Earthen 80's music whenever they could. And it annoyed the other ship’s occupants to death.

“Stone age love and strange sounds too.

Come on, baby, let me get to you.

Bad nights causing teenage blues.

Get down ladies, you've got nothin' to lose.”

On the floor above, Nexia was being restricted to a much-needed nap.

The upbeat music caused her to groan in frustration and slam her pillow onto her face, desperate to at least muffle the infuriating sound. She continued to steam in anger as she reached over for her belt and buckled the pillow around her head. She began to smash her head against the wall.

“Hey, street boy, want some style?

Your dead end dreams don't make you smile.

I'll give you something to live for.

Have you and grab you until you're sore.”

Ishoël was busy in the ship’s hull with her maps and coordinates. Her large purple ears twitched and rang slightly due to their sensitivity to the blaring music, but she couldn’t help but tap her foot and swish her tail along with the beat.  

Being of Galran descent, she had never heard such upbeat music before, only monotone hymns and war chants. As much as her squad would whine and complain, she quite liked Earthen music. It was so different!

“Hello, daddy. Hello, mom.

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!

Hello world! I'm your wild girl.

I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!”

In the center of it all, the bringer of suffering was you. You danced around the ship’s deck like no one was watching - and even when Nexus and Nova would sit by, glare, and judge you, you wouldn’t stop anyways.

You would always argue these moments of dance and song were all in honor of your team’s success of the many successful liberation missions against the Galra Empire. The twins and Ishoël would always agree with your statements and let you return to your goofy, silly party state.

Oh, the perks of being Captain!

Your long pink hair swished and swayed with every movement, you enjoyed having your hair down once in a while. You loved these rare moments, when you could blare your foreign music and dance wildly.

“Cherry bomb!

Cherry bomb!

Cherry bomb!

Cherry bomb!”

Back under the decks, Nexus trudged out of her barracks with her pillow still tied tightly around her ears and entered her sister’s lab. Nova glanced up from her test subject towards her miserable twin.

Any other day the scientist would smirk and revel in her twin’s irritation, but both of the twins were suffering terribly at the moment.

“I swear, I’m going to kill that nerdy Earth kid for introducing her to this crap.” The eldest twin grumbled as she slammed her head onto the messy work desk in front of her. Her pillow knocked over a pencil cup and an empty test tube.

The younger twin nodded her head silently, her eyes never breaking from one of her many computer screens, her pale nimble fingers flying over the keys.

“What’re you doing anyways? Trying to make electricity with your space potato?” The ship was blessed with a moment of silence as the sound system was preparing for the next terrible Earthen song.

Nova ignored her guest and carried on with her business. “Isn’t that the squishy asteroid thing we picked up outside?” Another round of silence. The eldest grew a tick mark from her sister’s kuudere personality, but the expression was turned into one of confusion when Nova read the computer screen, “Under attack...Galra...Help.”

“What?!”

Nova ignored Nexus again as she typed in the coordinates the space spore produced. With a chime from her computer, she turned the screen to her Nexus. The image on the screen provided all the answers.

“The Olkari?” Nexus asked. Nova nodded in affirmation. Nexus nodded firmly, “Let’s get this to miss leader, before she makes us all deaf.”

“We're no strangers to love

You know the rules and so do I~”

Nova and Nexus shared a horrified look before sprinting out of the lab and to the main deck. “Not this song! It’s awful!”

______________________________

The sight before the mighty Paladins of the Legendary Voltron was not at all what they were expecting.

When the Paladins heard whimpers and wails behind the cell door, their immediate thoughts went to torture, but last time they checked, a romantic movie with the Romeo and Juliet troupe wasn’t torture.

The Black, Red, Blue, and Yellow paladins shared a dumbfounded look with each other.

“She loves you!” Their mission’s target was sobbing like a baby, his eyes never tearing away from the holographic movie screen.

The paladins approached the kidnapped king. “King Lubos?” The black paladin asked. Confusion swam in all of the paladins’ minds. Both the king and his chained assistant turned to the newcomers.

“Who are you? The jesters I requested?”

“Ummm…” The blue paladin started awkwardly, “We’re here to like...rescue you?”

The king made a noise in the back of his throat and discreetly pressed a button on the side of his recliner. The lights flashed on momentarily blinding the occupants, and the main doors slid open. Red lights and sirens flashed all around.

The Galran base leader stalked into the room with a vicious smirk. They were caught!

“You could’ve just said ‘no thanks’.” The yellow paladin remarked towards the traitorous king.

“Looks like someone came to rescue you, your highness.” The base leader smirked in amusement.

“You turned your back on your own people to save your own skin.” The black paladin accused, offending the Olkarian King.

“I’m doing this for my people! They wanted to fight the Galra, but they’re too powerful. The gala could destroy us!” The king tried to defend his actions, but it was a blatant excuse and the Paladins knew it.

“So you helped enslave your people to build some super weapon?” The blue paladin hissed.

“Don’t make me the bad guy!” King Lubos snapped and pointed a finger toward the base leader, “He forced me to do it!”

“Did he force-feed you too?”

The silence spoke a thousand words.

“You’re no king.” The red paladin piped up before charging at the Olkarian king. The royal tried to scramble away, but was head-butted by the chained assistant and thrown into the paladin’s grasp.

The red paladin raised his bayard toward the king’s throat. “Ok! We’re walking out of here! Anyone who tries to stop us and Lubos gets it!” The paladin’s teammates spluttered from shock of Keith’s sudden declaration.

“La-sai, what’re you doing?” The king whimpered towards the angered assistant. “You betrayed our people, I can’t live this lie anymore!” La-sai stated with a deep glare.

“You don’t want me to hurt your genius engineer, right?” The red paladin returned his attention to the Galra commander.

“Oh, be my guest~ His work is done. The cube is complete.”

“What?” King Lubos exclaimed, sweat dripping from his forehead. “B-But, I thought we had a deal!”

“Guards, put them all out of their misery.” The commander smirked. The Galra soldier bots’ guns lit up as they began to charge its ammo, but before anything could happen, an explosion shook the entire building. Red laser blasts cut through the wall and separated the paladins and the Galra.

Through the newly formed hole was a mysterious ship. One that only the Galra could identify.

“Valkries!” The Galra leader was choked on the large clouds of smoke.

“Need a lift?” A female voice called out through the plane’s speakers. The paladins didn’t know who or what side they were on, but they needed a quick escape and the world presented itself with one. Hastily, those who sided with Team Voltron climbed onto the ship’s nose and held on tight. The pilot backed out from the building and sped off towards the forest.

“I got pick up, Artemis. Light ‘em up!”

“Roger, Luna!”

A plane nearly identical to their rescue vessel, other than its color scheme, soared past them and began laser assaults on the main building as well as taking out all the Galra posts surrounding the base.

“Who are you?” The black paladin shouted over the wind. He tried his best to distinguish their rescuer, but with both the tinted window and helmet visor, the Shiro could only see the pilot’s silhouette.  

“An ally!” She answered with a thumb’s up.

“Shiro, Lance, you guys okay?! Who is this?” The green paladin asked through their comm link, tailing the foreign plane into the woods.

“We don’t know, they said they’re an ally.” Shiro answered back.  

“Here’s your stop!” The pilot said as she hovered above the ground, nearest to where the Olkari village was settled.

“It’s the Geidi Prime Valkyries!” An Olkarian exclaimed, triggering the rest of the populace to flock towards the plane, all cheering and waving.

King Lubos practically threw himself off of the plane’s nose and went onto his knees, his forehead buried deep into the ground. With the Valkyries here, he was toast now! He began to vomit out praises and apologizes, beginning for his safety.

“The what?” Lance asked the nearest Olkarian to him. The alien brought their hand down from the air and clasped them to their chest in a lovesick manner. “The Geidi Prime Valkyries! They’re the best of the Geidi Prime brigades whose mission is to stop all Galra! Much like yours, mighty paladins.”

The paladins observed the medium-sized ship. It had more length than height with its nose being the most prominent and decorative. Along the hood was painted outstretched wings with a sword running through the middle. Down its body was a mint green stripe, and numerous painted tally marks dotted the line. It had four thrust engines with a laser cannon on each of its four wings. The wings themselves formed an ‘x’ shape.

The pilot saluted to the crowd through the window, before swinging back around towards the Galra base and hitting its thrusters. As seemingly fast as their own lions, the vessel swerved through the trees and out of sight.

The Olkari crowd continued their cheering even after she left. Pidge was unashamedly a part of this crowd.

The paladins stared at their youngest with raised eyebrows.

Pidge chuckled sheepishly when she finally realized the looks her team was throwing at her. “What??” She asked innocently. “Did you see those Incom 5H5 fusial thrust engines?! And the LP8 laser cannons?!” Pidge continued on with her fangirl rave.

Hunk, Lance, and Keith recoiled when Pidge began to drool.

______________________________

“All bystanders are free from the battle zone.”

“About time! What’d you do? Have a pint of mead and flirt?” You snorted.

Artemis was always the first to respond, and always with a sassy comment. “I wouldn’t have minded, the one in black was cute.”

“Whatever, Luna.” You grinned at Nova’s annoyance.

“Are you two done with your lovers’ quarrel up there, because the Galra’s newest weapon is on the move.” Gemini was the next to come through the link.

“Alright, alright, what you got for us, Apollo?” You asked. Your eyes trailed on the weird black floating cube in front of you.

“So far it hasn’t done anything, but cruising along the planet’s surface.” Nova’s smooth, monotone voice answered. “Gemini and I are still trying to hack into the main base to get intel.”

Both Valkyrie ships cruised parallel to each other, staying a good distance from the cruising cube: the Galra’s newest war machine.

“It’s just a dumb cube, what’s it gonna do? Shoot lasers at us?” Nexus wisecracked with a smirk.

The purple lining of the cube flashed and formed a- “GAH! I didn’t mean it!” It seemed the weaponry had heard Artemis’ taunts and fired a laser at her.

“You just had to go and taunt the thing didn’t you?”

“Shut up and help me!”

You rolled your eyes and went to assist your partner, who became the target for the cube’s lasers. You fired lasers at the cube, the bullets only being absorbed and no damage coming to the cube. You became the next target, as the cube started firing its lasers back at your ship. You just managed to flip your plan just in time to avoid being hit with the rapidly fired lasers.

“Great! It absorbs power!” Artemis shouted angrily. Both female pilots swerved out of the way from lasers as the cube continued to relentlessly fire at them.

“Apollo, get me a weakness!” You exclaimed over the comm.

“Trying.”

“Artemis, fall back so Apollo can figure it out.” Nexus sighed in frustration and pouted. She came out for a fight and now-! “AH!” She screamed out again when a large vessel flew past her, nearly clipping the end of her right wing.

Gemini gasped, “Oh my stars...I-Its…”

“Is that-?”

“It’s Voltron!”

The four Valkyrie’s stared at the robot in awe.

“So it’s true…” You breathed.

They all watched as Voltron tried to fight off the cube, but the Paladins had yet to realize the cube’s power as they used one of the robot’s special powers to try and defeat the weaponry. Not even a moment later did the cube retaliate with its own power and the mighty robot was thrown to the ground like a rag doll.

______________________________

“Ouch!” The Paladins yelped from the hard landing.  

“You all alright?!” Shrio asked through the comms. He sighed in relief when he got responses back. “Good! Now let’s: Form Sword!”

______________________________

The Valkyries watched Voltron summon its sword and slice the cube straight down the middle.

“T-that couldn't have worked...right??” There were now two cubes floating. The pair flashed a blinding light, before returning to their black and purple coloring.

“It can split up?!” Nexus shrieked in the comms.

“Weakness! Now!” You commanded.

“We’re trying!” Ishoël answered back.

Voltron retaliated and sliced the cubes through the middle, but their victory didn't last long as now four cubes flashed and came back online. They began to surround Voltron and fire their lasers at the large robot.

Voltron used its shield to deflect the lasers, but in no time the robot had difficulty protecting all its sides from the four fierce cubes, and eventually, the robot separated into five individual lions.

“I’m going in!” You punched your right throttle forward, your ship lurched back into the fray.

“Finally!” Artemis cackled and followed you in.

You flew past one of the cubes that chased after the red lion, instantly gaining the cube’s attention. The cube fired its lasers at your plane, but you were quicker.

With both throttles, you maneuvered your plane into summersault to avoid the lasers. Upside down, but leveled you fire your lasers against a second cube that was relentless upon the black lion. You swerved your plane to avoid colliding with the weakened lion robot, but now you had two cubes chasing you.

"T-there's no weakness!" Gemini stuttered through the comm link.

"What do you mean there’s no weakness?!" Artemis screeched as she did the same flip maneuver to save the blue lion.

"The cubes were made by the Olkari, they make their tech flawless with no abnormality. No matter who or what the weapon is for.” Apollo piped up.

To make matters worse, the green lion was shot down by a cube. Its mechanical cat body rocketed back into the tall forest.

“Ah!” Artemis grunted when a rogue laser struck the tip of her X-wing. “Oh no you didn’t!!” She roared in anger and fired upon the third cube. The Valkyries’ lasers did nothing to the four cubes, but with all chasing the pair, the beaten-up Voltron lions sat out and tried to recuperate.

______________________________

"What are they doing?!" Keith grunted out as he and the rest of the Paladins watched as the Valkyries played tag with the cubes. Pidge had been shot down and was unresponsive and now these strange planes were doing another reckless thing!

"I don't know, but that is probably the best piloting skills I have ever seen," Shiro stated in awe as the two planes dodged and spun away from the array of lasers.

Keith and Lance pursed their lips, mainly the latter. Both thought their flying skills were exceptional, yet only to get shown up by a group of mystery pilots.

"They can't hold on much longer," Keith said as the purple-painted Valkyrie had smoke trailing out its wings.

"We gotta get back in there!" Hunk exclaimed as he and the paladins moved to enter back into the field.

"Guys, hang on!"

"Pidge!"

______________________________

"I can't keep this up all day, miss leader!" Artemis clenched her teeth as she dove into another nosedive. She winced again when another laser shaved off a piece of metal from her laser cannon.

As much as you never wanted to admit defeat and raise a white flag of surrender, you couldn’t help but agree. Sweat had built around your temples and your knuckles began to throb from how tight you squeezed the throttles.  

Would this be it?? Would you and Artemis be shot down because these stupid cubes couldn’t be defeated?? Would this be the end of the Geidi Prime Valkyries??

“Got ya!” Pidge cheered in victory as she shot a large bright green laser at one of the cube’s on Artemis’ tail. The laser hit the second cube, causing the glowing purple lights to turn green for a moment before an army of vines erupted from the center of the cube. The long, heavy vines coiled around the edges of the cube and the Galra weapon fell out of the sky.  

The second cube left Artemis and chased after the green lion, but Pidge was ready. The lion simply spun around and aimed its newly formed cannon at the cubes.

“Aw come on!” Artemis whined. “He just stole my thunder!” She pouted, hands loose on the throttles now that the enemy was off her six.

“Want some of mine then?!” You grunted out as you spun your ship into a tight freefall. You could feel your seat growing hot and on your screen, the left bottom engine began to illuminate orange.

“Luna!” Artemis punched her ship back into gear and intercepted the second cube trailing you.

It felt like you were back to square one with cubes following both planes. "Thanks, Artemis! Now, let's line it up for him!"

Both Valkyries did one last aerial flip; You pulled up from low in the air and flipped upside down again. Artemis did the same, coming from high above.

You both grinned up at one another through your cockpits as you passed each other. Green lasers came from the side and shot at the final cubes.

You sighed out in exhaustion and relief, while Artemis did flips and spirals as she whooped and cheered.

“Did you see that flip?! I’ve never flown upside before!” She cheered.

“Very impressive, sister.”

“Nice job, Artemis!”

“Watch out, Luna! I’m on my way to steal your wings!”

You rolled your eyes in amusement. “Whatever you say, Artemis.”

Gemini came through the comm links again. "Information has been extracted, and the Olkari are invading. All Galra ships are fleeing."

“Roger that, Gemini. Let's go, Artemis." Both Valkyries turned their planes toward the Galra base and cruised off. The Voltron lions followed close behind.

The blue lion appeared at Artemis' side and started to pull ahead. The pilot narrowed her eyes, he wasn’t....was he?

Artemis smirked before hitting her thrusters, leaving the blue lion in her dust.

Lance blinked in confusion before gaining a smirk of his own. “A race, huh? Not on our watch! Let's hit it, Blue!”

"I want to thank you and the rest of your team." Ryner shook Nova and Ishoël’s hands in gratitude.

"We're just doing our duty to the galaxy!" Ishoël grinned before the three of them turned their attention toward the sky. They blinked to avoid dust flying in their eyes as two Valkyrie ships and five Voltron lions landed.

Nova and Ishoël rushed up to the x-wing fighter planes; Ishoël looked like a goofball as she ran with her arms high in greeting. Nova simply followed behind her with a small smile.

The Voltron Paladins rushed out of their own lions to properly meet the Giedi Prime Valkyries. Their attention went from the planes towards the two people on the ground, all of them gasped when they spotted a human girl with dark blue hair tied in a low ponytail that hung loosely on her shoulder, a pair of goggles sat on her head, and tool belt hanging loosely from her hips.

But what surprised the Paladins was the- “Galra!” Keith snarled as he pulled out his bayard. He charged at the tall Galra female with his teammates right on his heels with their own bayards.

The pilot of the purple Valkyrie plane hopped out of her cockpit and landed in between the red paladin and her own teammates.

The Paladins, minus the raging red, were surprised she made such a landing from that height without injury. “Hold your horses, tomato head!” The pilot shouted as she held her hands up and peeled off her helmet.

And it was like slow motion.

The pilot was female and looked nearly identical to other on the ground. Identical twins, they all presumed. But half of the pilot’s head was shaved down with the other half being a sweaty, windswept mess.

Hunk snorted, “Tomato head.” Keith snarled at him.

Lance was all goo-goo eyes and hearts.

“What's going on here?” Their attention turned to the new voice.

And it was like slow motion.

You approached the group and peeled off your helmet. Your long bubblegum pink hair spilled out of the helmet and down her back in a high ponytail. You looked between both groups for answers.  

“Just another Galra mistake, Luna,” Ishoël answered with a wave of dismissal. Her fluffy purple ears flicked as she smiled shyly, showing off her sharp, pearly white fangs. Her golden eyes turned into little crescent moons with her adorable smile.

The black paladin cleared his throat and stepped forward. He took off his helmet to show peace.

And it was like slow motion.

He was tall, handsome, and boy were his gray eyes pretty. His hair was jet black except for the tuft of white that hung into his eyes. A long, jagged pink scar covered his nose, but to you, it made him even more interesting.

Nova elbowed you out of your daydream.

“We’re sorry for our mistake. I-I’m sure you can understand why-”

“Please don’t worry about it. I’m well aware of what my people are doing. You don’t need to apologize.” Ishoël waved off his apology.

“Ishoël, you’re such a saint.” You cooed as you stepped beside her and wrapped your arms around her forearms. She was too tall to properly wrap your arms around her neck.

“You work with a Galra?” Keith couldn’t believe his eyes.

Hunk, Lance, and Pidge had taken off their helmets and sheathed their bayards; Keith hesitated for a moment before following his team.

“There are many Galras that don’t follow the regime. We have lots of Galran refugees in our ranks.” You answered simply. Nexus nodded firmly with her arms crossed, she shot a stink eye on the red paladin.

Your small smile dropped into immense surprise when the green paladin launched herself at your face. Stars had replaced Pidge’s eyes and she stared up at your squad as if you were royalty. “On Geidi Prime right?? We’ve only heard about your planet here and there, but actually seeing you guys in action! Your planes are gorgeous by the way! They’re technological masterpieces and the engines and laser canons- WOW!” Her team also had looks of surprise, never had they seen Pidge fangirl so hard.

Nova stepped forward and- “Thank you! Finally, someone appreciates all my hard work!” The Valkyries matched the Paladins’ shock as they watched their tech wizard come out of her shell and speak so happily.

“You made them?!” Nova nodded with a loud hum.

“That’s AMAZING! I have to see the technological advancements and mechanisms you guys have!”

Stars floated around the pair.

“Of course!” Nova took Pidge by her wrist and dragged her towards Nexus’ beaten plane.

The two battle squads continued to watch the pair with wide eyes and gobsmacked.

“Guess Nova’s found a new friend,” Ishoël commented.

Nexus flushed pink with jealousy and marched over to her plane, angrily grumbling about how no one will steal her twin away from her.

Lance slinked up next to you and Ishoël with his usual cheesy smirk. “So what’re your guys’ names?”

Ishoël smiled with her fangs again. “My name is Ishoël. Nova took off with your friend and Nexus is her twin.” She pointed over to the plane with the purple-painted pinstripe.

“ ‘Nexus’, huh?” He slicked back his short brown hair and readjusted his blue and white chest piece. “I can work with that.” He strutted off confidently towards the older twin.

The remaining Valkyries watched him go with surprise.

“Ignore him.” Shiro huffed in amusement and annoyance.

“That’s Lance, our resident flirt,” Hunk answered with a snort.

“He’s terrible at it though.” Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“So, there’s Lance, Pidge was stolen by your friend, this is Hunk and Keith.” He introduced the yellow and red paladins at his side. “And I’m Shiro. You are?”

Ishoël pinched your side so you wouldn’t sigh out the black paladin’s name like some love-sick fool. You cleared your throat and swallowed down the butterflies. Good thing Ishoël was good at reading you. “Captain (Y/n) of the Geidi Prime Valkyrie Squadron, a multi-awarded Ace and one of the leading generals for the resistance~”

You grew pink as your hair at Ishoël’s words. She didn’t have to give your full title!

Shiro stepped forward and held out his hand. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m eager to work with you in the future to liberate the universe from the Galra Empire.”

You smiled and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go end a war.”

[lilisouless]

Do u like darklina? If yes, why? If no, why?

i definitely don't

the reasons are many but i only need one: she doesn't want to be with him and she didn't even liked him that much as she liked the attention. She only went with him when she thought Mal has ignoring him, on the book version she never iniciates a kiss (like, their lack of chemistry as lovers on the books its quite amazing, they only have enemies chemistry at the very best) Alina just lies there like a puppet and makes it happen. He is like her self steem fueller and he was not only perfectly aware of that but makes sure she sees him as such by sabotaging her comunication with Mal, her only friend and having Genya spying on her as well (okay, that the other grisha soldiers her age besides David is ulterly obnoxious certainly helped but still)

Its a little better on the show because at least she shows some interest and book!Alina clearly saw herself as inferior to him while on the show she tries to stand up as an equal which is a nice change and a fix of something that i never liked on the books.

Anyway , neither version work because in both the darkling at the end of the day his attachment to her its awfullly self centered. he is a serious first class narcisist. For him, Alina´s value is always thetered to him, never her, its always what she does for him and thinks Alina having her own mind and morals as a betrayal.

Book darkling supposedly cares about her, but his level of writing is a thanos level of mess. Show darkling is a little better at showing afection towards Alina, but its definitely not enought, he still does horrible things and only sees her as an extention of herself. In short: he doesn't love her at all

And Alina doesn't even need Mal to not love him. In both versions she turns against him when she learns what he did, she needed almost nothing to stop trusting him. Even if you erase Mal´s existence this still would happen, in fact

-book version, Alina had a big fight with Mal and against her heart , choose to be done with him (only reconcilied when Mal´s virtues proven to be bigger than his flaws) so could as well be out of the picture. Mal didn't play a part, she turned against the darkling because she deemed him as untrustworthy despite his better attemps to make himself Alina´s most important person

-Show version, Alina by this point doesn't even know she will find Mal so he doesn't play a part either

To make an emphasis, i honestly think Alina suffers from tons of inconsistent writting on the first two books BUT i will pretend she doesn't: compare how she instantly choose to believe Genya had a good reason for lying to her, this is someone she actually loves (and yes, i have complained about this issue, i still do, but its canon so the point has to stick)

All of this to say: she is so not in love with him, the attraction is undeniably there but there is no love that isn't born of the false affection the darkling tried to build and failed (also, Alina´s natural compasion probably played a part) this girl choose death before being with him.

thats the conclusion to me: they are not in love

And sure i am probably biassed but i will still defend my case: other grishaverse ships that are on my notp territory along with darklina would be nikolai/alina and kaz/jesper.

I really wish i could say nikolai was not in love with alina (alina IS not in love with him, thats canon) or that Jesper was not in love with Kaz so the narrative works on my favor, but i can't, they were , thats canon regardless if i like it or not.So you can say i am at least trying to get bias away and at leas on my mind the statement that they (alina and the darkling) weren't in love makes sense

[heroictoonz]

Febuwhump 2022 Day 7: Used as an Experiment

Ships: Hyrule & Legend

Warnings: Stabbing

AO3 L!nk in the Comments!

The sound of talking was the first thing that Legend recognized as he slowly came to. He was quick to notice that these voices were not familiar to him. It took him a moment before he could really understand anything being said.

“Are you sure this is the right hero?” hissed out a gravelly and snake-like voice. “What if the hero really has disappeared like the whispers say?”

Legend kept his eyes closed. He doubted he was around allies. He shifted slightly to feel his wrists tied behind him and his ankles in a similar bind.

“It must be him!” another voice responded angrily. This one sounded old yet commanding. “If it is not him then we will kill him ourselves and find another!”

A huff of annoyance came from the first voice. “This is the fourth child in a row you believed to be the hero. I am starting to think you are less of a wise elder and more of an old fool.” Legend heard snickering and soft whispering in the distance. Great. There were more of them. He slowly and quietly began working at the binds on his wrists. If he could just untangle them and get to some sort of weapon, he might be able to get himself out of this mess.

“Quiet! All of you! Only I know the magic left behind by The Great Magician!” The sounds quieted.

The first let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Throwing blood against scribbles on the ground requires very little effort.”

“You insolent fool! They are much more than that they-”

Legend’s ears twitched in surprise as the voice stopped abruptly. He had no real warning before he was gripped by the hair and shoved up to an unnatural standing position. His eyes shot open to finally see his situation first hand.

He was in some sort of dimly lit cave. The monster grabbing his hair and holding him up looked to be some sort of lizard thing. It almost looked like the Lizalfos they had fought a while back. However, it seemed off somehow. Could it be the other creatures Hyrule had spoken of once? He described them as being eerily similar. Though, he doubted all Lizalfos looked the same, especially regarding the different Hyrules they constantly found themselves stumbling through.

Beside them was what seemed to be a humanoid figure draped in white robes, covering him head to toe. It seemed similar to some of the Wizzrobes that constantly plagued his adventures. He could never seem to catch a break from the undead nuances.

Down closer to the cave opening in their own corner, sat a few other monsters watching the scene before them.

He was outnumbered and overpowered. Not that he hadn’t been in some tight spots.

“Your little hero is awake, Wizard,” snarled the monster.

The Wizard gave a thoughtful hum. “It matters not,” he said as he gave a dismissive wave. “There is no way for him to escape. Let him view the ends of his world with his own eyes.” The wizard chuckled lowly, his robe-covered hand coming up to about where a mouth would be.

Legend could feel the self-satisfied smirk coming from the other. It was more obnoxious than Warriors'.

The monster dropped Legend to the ground.

He groaned in pain as his body smacked against the hard, stone ground. “Your hospitality sucks,” he hissed out. He continued back to his previous task of releasing his arms.

The Wizard looked to him with a scoff. “You deserve nothing of the sort!” He took a step towards Legend, the outline of his head under the robes tilted up with an obnoxious pride that gritted against Legend’s nerves. He was clearly looking down at the pink-haired hero in what was most likely a condescending manner. “Had it not been for your meddlesome heroism, my magical peers and I would not be scraping by as such. Abandoned by our King!”

“Sounds to me you’re more the ones who did the ‘abandoning’,” Legend bit back.

“Quiet!” the Wizard yelled. “You know nothing, foolish child!” He pulled out a dagger and grabbed Legend by the tunic. With a swift movement he buried the blade into Legend’s chest. He couldn’t see the other’s eyes but he could feel his harsh and dangerous gaze. “With your blood, I shall resurrect Lord Ganon and present you as a gift. Ushering in his new rule of darkness across the lands.”

Legend could only let out a gasp of pain as the knife twisted into him. The Wizard spoke the truth of saving him as a gift. If he had only stabbed an inch to the right, he would have pierced Legend’s heart.

The Wizard then pulled out the blade and threw it to the ground. He grabbed a bowl and placed it under Legend, catching as much of the blood seeping from the wound as he could. Once he was satisfied, he threw Legend back to the ground.

The hero let out a pained sound as he, yet again, slammed into the stone. This time, a bleeding wound caused even more agony through his system.

The Wizard walked towards another part of the cave. Legend watched as he poured the blood to the ground and raised his arms to the sky. He began to chant as sparks of magic began to light up the area.

Adrenaline coursed through Legend’s body. He had to stop it. He had no way of knowing if the spell actually held any weight or not. He had no idea if his blood would even work with it. But none of that mattered. If there was even a hint of Ganon returning to any Hyrule, he had to stop it. He calmed his breathing and finally grabbed the last knot of his bounds to pull it loose. With his hands free he scrambled to his knees and pulled out his Water Rod, aiming it towards the Wizard and his spell. With a focused grunt a pillar of water shot from the ground, washing away the blood and writing on the floor while also shoving the Wizard back with a sound of surprise.

The Wizard stumbled back, turning to Legend before looking back to the ground. He let out a shout of anger. “Geru!” he screeched. “Get him!”

The monster, a Geru, apparently, turned to Legend with a snarl. He pulled out his mace and raised it up, ready to strike.

Legend’s eyes widened and his heart stopped. He tried to spin his aim towards the Geru but his body was so weak and heavy. The mace was coming down much too fast. He slammed his eyes shut, prepared for the painful impact. However, it never came. Instead the sound of the mace hitting the ground and the Geru’s scream of pain filled his ears.

Legend’s eyes snapped back open and he spotted the cause of such sounds. An arrow struck into the Geru’s hand, causing him to drop the mace just before it could make it to Legend’s head. Legend looked towards the cave opening to see Wild, bow in hand and brow set into a focused frown.

The others pushed into the cave and began to attack the monsters within. Legend felt a breath of relief push out of him. With that relief, left his adrenaline that was keeping him up. Just as he saw Sky running towards him, worry knitted into the man’s brow, Legend felt himself drop to his side and slip into unconsciousness.

The second time Legend awoke, it was to the feeling of magic seeping through his body. He allowed himself to open his eyes and look to the source.

Hyrule stood at his bedside, hands above his form and eyes closed in concentration. The blue lights flooding the room and casting glows upon the other and himself.

“I’m guessing I have you to thank that I’m not dead right now,” Legend grunted out.

Hyrule opened his eyes to look at him and gave a humored smile. The light dissipated as he raised his hands to sign, “The other’s helped.”

Legend nodded at that as he pushed himself into a sitting position with a low grunt. “Can’t lie, Wild looked pretty intimidating with that bow of his.”

Hyrule’s shoulders shook with light humor. “I’m glad you’re okay. Those followers are pretty frustrating.”

“This is your Hyrule, isn’t it?”

Hyrule gave a nod. “I didn’t think the rest of you would get involved in something like that.” He gave a sheepish grin.

“It was definitely an adventure,” Legend muttered with a smirk.

[librariansrose]

I get kinda annoyed seeing people spread rumors about each other. Whether it’s myself, friends, or people I don’t even know.

Newsflash: You don’t need a reason to not like someone. Your block button exists for a reason, so use it.

No one actually knows who anyone is on the internet.

Block if you don’t like someone, block if you’re uncomfortable, block if they committed a crime/hurt another person, etc.

But for the love of god, quit spreading negativity and putting off people from joining in new spaces and giving the thing you like a chance.

This kind of behavior is radfem rhetoric and can be traced back to radfems and other shit. Maybe do your research and mind your own business if you hate something.

Spend your time and energy learning and creating instead of being insufferable.

I’m bringing this up because part of why I transitioned to Ship community events instead of personalized events for holiday exchanges? Was because this behavior ruined the fun and lightheartedness of those I wanted to help bring joy to.

This type of malicious behavior does not have a place in my events. Play nice or don’t participate. It’s in my event rules.

My events are so the community can focus on positives and love towards something They mutually enjoy. No negativity. No ship fighting. No ostricization. No bigotry. No fucking radfem bullshit. Anything like that is fucking prohibited and it’s obnoxious that I even have to say as such.

If you can’t play nice and respect others and wanna play around like you’re part of a highschool clique then get off my page and away from my events and friends. I’m not gonna babysit yall.

And yea my post reads as irritated because I am. Stop targeting my friends. Don’t target my partner. And don’t kiss up to me or any of them just because YOU want something or to participate.

Anyway I said my piece. With my next event starting tomorrow? As well as LGI MV anniversary landing on that day. Everyone better behave and play fucking NICE.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

[interdimensionalburnout]

>>You're standing around, sitting really, on the edge of a burning tower. The fire will catch back up eventually, but the rich people buildings always burn slowly, gives the people at the top time to retreat to private helipads, and maybe the servants can smother the flames with their bodies. You'd just snapped that picture after shooting your way out the fire escape to the roof. The entire top floor had been depressurized, and while the mixed faction fight of mystery-occupiers, looters, revolutionaries, cops, and security forces were all feeling their eyes try to pop out of their sockets, you put discriminate holes in your preferred targets, vanishing before the chemical bomb dissipated and the air rushed back in after you.

>>The chaos is enjoyable to you, because Argie's problems have calcified under centuries of decay. It's all brittle bones and rotting garbage, you think to yourself. Not that that's ever stopped you from having fun by making life easier for the down and harder for the up. You weren't even here to get involved in any kind of fire-fight. Climbing one of these tower-trees wouldn't have even BEEN a firefight if the planet wasn't still under occupation; the only reason you're here is because the Boskrusk Diamond's coordinates have sent you here, to what you pieced out to be private collection. Only you seem to have overshot the museum, so you sat down to look at the tower map you stole. Only then you got distracted, and started posting some photos.

>>All those thoughts are blown from your mind in an instant, though, as the obnoxious pillar of blue light, surrounding the far-distant palace some miles in the distance, flashes whiter than the sun itself. Your skin briefly feels the burn of searing light and heat, even though the thing turns out to have been contained by the barrier. As your eyes clear, they widen apace, your pupil dropping the human act and thinning to an ultra-alert slit.

>>The palace of the magistrates, a two-thousand year-old megastructure, an outright termite mound of palaces, fortifications, massively-armed embattlements, out-structures, and walls, walls upon walls upon blue-gold walls. The Palace of Palaces, the seat of the 101 magistrates, the pinnacle of power of Argossia, of the planet Parnasusa. You think for a second, flashes of sentences, of images, of clippings, of rumors on the winds, of everything you ever knew about the magistrates, good and bad (it's exclusively bad), but it doesn't matter now, does it, because it's gone.

>>The super-sized pylons that had erected the barrier around the pinnacle of super-urban corruption, of the same type that punched holes into the long-lost SURFACE of the planet, have done some sort of sinister work. There's nothing there, behind that too-bright barrier. It was hard to see the palace, between the light of the pen, and the constant flak-curtains being put out by the palace, flashing uselessly against the inside of the barrier. But it's gone. The looming darkness of the ancient shadows it held so tightly, gone. The horizon can be dimly grasped through two layers of barrier, on the other side.

>>The execution of the entire structure, the eradication, seemingly, of all offending matter within the chamber, has gotten LOTS of attention. Every possible projectile that HAD been flying wildly into the air now run in three directions. Most shots swing widely low, and what few rockets or laser batteries make contact with the ships seem to hit an invisible wall, and detonate mere meters from the carriers above. The ships of the occupiers, the three visible here, at least (you're suddenly, uneasily aware of how many more of these looming maw-ships are descending upon the city), seem ignorant of the city's anger, angling their attention, the very windows of their high bridges, towards the penned-in crater.

>>You shake your head in disbelief, and wonder suddenly if they're here for that archival AI you met below the city. You can't be sure, this is too much to suddenly take in, without even knowing the context. It's all too much, you think, as you lurch back to your feet, and take off back towards a (different) fire-exit on the roof. Gilly, the navigational AI of your ship, has opted to help you navigate the tower.

>>"I saw that from here, Bev. I've looked over the maps you downloaded, take the next door back into the building, not that one, take the first left, and go straight until the hallway floor changes to marble." You sigh in relief, glad for the company in your ear, and slam the door you'd just opened back shut, inadvertently toppling a rushing hoard of escaping security guards down the stairs.

>>"I dunno what I woulda done with ya, Gilly! I owe you one!"

>>As you vanish down the smoky hallways of the burning tower, dashing through fights as best you can, you here mumble over the comms, "Yeah? How about another Gild Charge. While you're out."

[leopardcoffee]

Ashayam, I despise you

Captain Solok/Reader

🫧Warnings: None

🫧Notes: Reader is Female, but is mostly referred to in the 2nd person, possible typos 

~

Captain Solok could say with confidence that he hated deep space nine. The fact that he had to dock the T’Kumbra here for repairs was loathsome. The station was full of humans, including Captain Sisko, with whom he had a personal conviction.

As...displeasing as Sisko’s presence on the station was, there was a human here he despised even more. Years ago, he had challenged her to a wrestling match in an attempt to replicate his findings from his match with Sisko, and she had declined his offer. To this day, her audacity stuck with him, and he was nothing if not determined to prove to his fellow Vulcans that humans had no right to such audacity.

The incessant beeping from his PADD dragged him from his thoughts, and Solok started towards the maintenance bay, he would oversee his ship’s repairs himself. He dodged humans as he walked, determined to keep his distance. Internally, he grimaced. The Vulcan-run station was more than 50 light years away, which meant he was forced to let humans repair his precious ship. It didn’t help that deep space nine was absolutely teeming with them and other species alike. He hadn’t been giving it any attention, but he had seen a klingon and several ferengi as well.

He weaved through DS9’s hall’s, keeping his eyes trained on his PADD. He had pulled up her updated starfleet profile. Y/N L/N, rank: Captain, command: USS Resurgent- prototype model. The fact that she had command of a more advanced starship than him irked him to no end. He had 2 Christopher Pike medals of valor, it should be him in the captain’s chair, not some foolish human. It was only logical that a superior being should command a superior ship, but starfleet command’s decisions were seldom logical.

He reached the maintenance bay, intent on speaking with the chief engineer, or whoever was overseeing his ship’s repairs. Solok handed his PADD to a human in yellow, who took it silently to another officer.

At least some of them are tolerable.

He stuck around for a few more minutes, satisfied his ship was being treated well, and was preparing to leave when he stopped dead in his tracks. She was unmistakable, everyone knew who she was, so naturally he did as well. Solok felt himself tense as she turned to face him. She had been speaking with another engineer about something or other, their laughter would have annoyed him, had he not been Vulcan.

He hadn’t seen her in many years, not since she’d gotten her new command. Her face flashed with surprise, before settling into a smirk. After all these years it still amazed him just how quickly humans changed emotions. She placed her PADD in the hands of some ensign and started towards him. He turned and started walking in the other direction, hoping to get away from her before any confrontation could take place.

“Solok! Long time no see, eh? How have you been?” She called after him, and Solok knew his escape was for nought. Breathing deeply, he turned to face her, she had always tested his composure.

“Captain L/N, it is agreeable to see you. I understand you are in command of the Resurgent, are you not?”

She strolled up to him and leaned obnoxiously on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I am, ‘heard we were up for the same promotion too, pity. She really is impressive, holds steady at warp 9.95.” She grinned innocently up at him, the smugness in her voice made his hands shake.

“Yes, it really is a fine ship, however I am fine with my command on the T’Kumbra at present.” He started walking, to where he wasn’t sure, but she followed.

“Are you though? From what I heard you were ecstatic to be up for a promotion to the Resurgent, or were you just saying that to make me mad?” She trailed after him.

Solok felt a muscle under his eye twitch, because of course she knew that he had wanted that command. He was certain it was his, her arrogance tested his patience.

“I was not ‘ecstatic’, unlike you simple humans, I am not handicapped by such unsightly emotions. Your hubris is not becoming of a starfleet individual, much less a captain. With your frivolity and natural inclination towards the unimportant and meaningless, not to mention how erratic you can be, i’m astonished you were even given command of a starship. Honestly, starfleet command’s decision to promote you was foolish at best, and a fatal mistake at worst. A prototype model with a human in command? A project destined to fail. Not to mention it’s you, starfleet will be lucky if they even get the Resurgent back in one piece. Such a tragic waste of an incredible ship, it had such potential. I could have made Resurgent Starfleet's greatest accomplishment since the NX-01, but alas as you humans say, some things just aren’t meant to be. You’re right, it is a pity such a magnificent ship has to go to waste before you finally get demoted, humans have no place in the captain’s chair.”

He turned to her when she didn’t respond, and found her clenching her fists, eyes trained on the ground.

“Solok,” she said, her voice quiet. When she looked up at him he barely caught himself from doing a double take. If looks could kill, he’d have been disintegrated- he’d struck a cord.

“I know you wanted that promotion, I know you think I don’t deserve it, I know you believe humans are a foolish waste of air, but I never wanted it to be hostile between us.” She paused, he could tell she was shaking. “I was going to ask if you might like to come tour the Resurgent, even accompany us briefly while your ship was under repair, but clearly I bore you to death with my very presence in this system.” She sighed, and unclenched her fists, her whole body going slack.

“Well I won’t take up any more of your morning, clearly you have more important things to do than waste your precious time with me. Good day.” She walked past him without so much as a glance, brushing past him and disappearing around a corner, and left Solok standing by himself.

He straightened himself, trying to ignore the feelings in the pit of his stomach.

It’s nothing, you’re being illogical, control yourself. Her feelings are obsolete.

He started back down the hall, towards his quarters. L/N’s reaction had not been what he expected. Had he not been a Vulcan, he would have felt almost… guilty about what he’d said. They’d verbally sparred many times before, and traded their fair share of insults, but clearly he had gone too far this time, she might even go so far as to report him to starfleet command. He needed to meditate, and maybe have a drink.

-

Y/N dodged people as she made her way back to her quarters. She has authorized shore leave for her crew and docked the Resurgent for a warp core overhaul and weapons diagnostic. She’d hoped to find Captain Solok here, she’d heard he had docked the T’Kumbra here for repairs and had gotten here as fast as she could.

You had genuinely wanted to take Solok with you out on the Resurgent, you knew how disappointed he’d been when you had gotten the promotion instead of him.Your feet carried you to your door, and you stepped inside. You’d been given captain’s quarters, naturally. You glanced around the spacious room, before choosing the bed to collapse on.

Of course Solok was just as standoffish as he’d always been, what reason did you have to believe he’s changed? You felt your throat close up and your eyes water, you hadn’t wanted it to be like this. You closed your eyes to keep the tears from falling.

You’d known Solok for years, and naturally you’d heard all about his Vulcan supremacy papers. Poor Captain Sisko, you couldn’t imagine how humiliating it must have been to be the primary subject of so many of them.

You sighed, staring up at the ceiling. Solok and you had met when you were both recalled to Earth for some briefing or another- you couldn’t remember. He’d seemed friendly enough for a Vulcan, so you’d thought nothing of his indifferent demeanor. The two of you had spoken a few times over the few days you’d been there, and he’d seemed agreeable enough, not to mention you’d been physically attracted to him. He was everything you desired in a man, intelligent, reasonable, quiet, in him you saw no flaws.

The wonderful illusion had been shattered when a fellow officer had seen you talking with him and pulled you aside, and told you all about his stance on Vulcan supremacy.

You’d gone back to your quarters that night in disbelief. You’d read his papers, disgusted with Solok and with yourself for being so interested in him. He’d challenged you to a wrestling match later that week, and you remembered the paper he’d written on a match he’d had with Sisko. You had declined him, and left shaking. ‘Emotionally handicapped’ he’d called him in his paper. He truly believed Vulcans were superior to every other race, you cringed just thinking about it.

The two of you had had several run-ins since then, and each time you were left shuddering in his wake, your feelings growing harder and harder to ignore. He’d insulted you, disrespected you, belittled your entire species, and yet, you still found yourself returning to your quarters and collapsing into bed, your feelings for him overwhelming.

You flung yourself upwards, done with thinking about him for now, he’d tormented your mind for years, no sense in letting him have any more of your time- you were too good for him. That rotten Vulcan, if he thought his species was so above engaging with simple-minded humans, he had the nerve to bar any from serving on his ship.

Two can play at that game

-

Solok’s eyes snapped open, he was sick of meditating. It clearly wasn’t helping and he had other things to be doing. L/N had been in his thoughts since their encounter earlier. His… quarrels with her had always left him disoriented, and he supposed it didn’t help that she was aesthetically pleasing to him. In all their past encounters, never had he truly regretted anything he had said. Perhaps he had been too brash with her, after all, humans were known to be fragile.

Solok had known Y/N for years, they’d met shortly after his match with Sisko, and in her he’d seen an opportunity to advance his studies in humans and their frivolous nature. Despite her emotional tendencies, she’d never irked him like the other humans did, not until she had denied his challenge as though she thought herself better than him. He’d spent the better part of a week or so regularly conversing with her during a briefing at starfleet command, and had found her surprisingly agreeable. They’d bumped into each other several times after that on various occasions, and each time she piqued his interest. As disgusted with himself as he was, over the years he’d found himself almost looking forward to their encounters. She tested his patience, his wit, sometimes even his intelligence. After spending months in space, their occasional verbal spar always left him feeling invigorated.

Y/N L/N was intriguing to him to say the least. As much as he’d wanted the Resurgent for himself, he’d rather she have it than any of the other flailing humans up for the promotion. If it had to be given to anyone other than him, she was unfortunately the most logical choice for the post. An experienced captain despite her humanity; Agreeable, for the most part, intelligent, logical even. Good at managing her crew, a brilliant strategist, an excellent negotiator, in his eyes she was the most adequate human the Vulcans had ever come across.

Astute, well-informed, articulate, cooperative… sharp, eloquent,…beautiful...

His thoughts were illogical, his lack of meditation was affecting his thought process, that was it. His opinion on L/N’s physical appearance was of no consequence. He stood up and found his PADD, again pulling up her starfleet profile. He scrolled past all her basic information and found her accomplishments. What he found threatened to break his control. He clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood.

She had two Christopher Pike medals of valor as well. A human was as decorated as he was? And for what? What worth did his medals hold if humans held them too? He felt devalued, like he had been lowered to fit a standard unbecoming of him.

Solok could have smashed is PADD. Among her many accomplishments, including a frankly obnoxious number of awards, titles, and medals, he found that she had graduated from the academy in the 96th percentile and published several papers on everything from human psychology to abstract warp theory. After skimming several, he was unsettled with the conclusion that her intelligence and accomplishments matched his own.

But how? I am in control, with logic I can succeed, emotions are a disadvantage. How can she be an equal to me? Humans are stunted by their emotional nature, it prevents growth, prevents success. And yet, she has me matched in every category, beaten me in promotion and made a name for herself as captain of starfleet’s most powerful prototype. She accomplished all that, despite existing with her emotions. So is it possible that...no, logic is the only path to success.

Solok’s PADD beeped and he was drawn from his thoughts. For the best he assumed, the path they were following was dangerous. He furrowed his brows at what he saw, a transfer notice.

Dear Captain Solok, Since you clearly can’t stand humans, I figured one of my bridge officers couldn’t either, I'm sure he’ll be pleased to be posted aboard your ship. File attached: Ensign T’Lok

Oh she wasn’t serious. Having a problem with him warranted transferring a Vulcan ensign from her ship? She had no right to do so, and he would take it up with her personally.

-

You strolled onto the bridge of the Resurgent, you had never seen it this empty. Most of the crew was on shore leave, but you had left a small skeleton crew in rotation to oversee repairs. You located ensign T’Lok, still riding on your bitterness from earlier.

“Ensign.”

T’Lok stood up from his station. “Captain, can I assist you with anything?” You could have almost mistaken his tone of voice for surprise. You hadn’t interacted with him individually at all since he’d been posted as your comm officer, it wasn’t any wonder he was curious as to why his captain had gone out of her way to come and see him.

“At ease Ensign, I have some news for you.”

“Captain?”

“You’re being transferred. The T’Kumbra is stationed here for repairs, Captain Solok will be your commanding officer. Since he’s so sure you Vulcans just can’t bear to be around us feeble minded humans, i’m certain he’ll be happy to have you there.” You handed him a PADD with his transfer information. He took it hesitantly.

“But Captain, I didn’t put in for a transfer request, has my work been unsatisfactory?”

“No, your work has been exceptional and frankly I’d like to keep you, but it seems your Vulcan counterparts have other ideas about where you’ll be most useful. Your transfer should be completed by the end of the week, effective immediately.”

“But Captain-” He protested.

“No buts T’Lok, immediately.”

“Yes, Captain, but if I may ask, why?”

“Because I need to prove a point to someone, I’ll get you back from him, don’t worry.”

With that you left, you had no reason to oversee a warp core overhaul, and you couldn’t wait to rub it in Solok’s smarmy face that you’d transferred a Vulcan off your ship.

It doesn’t feel good, but it’s payback for all the humans he had transferred, he deserves it.

With your revenge solidified, you couldn’t help but feel bad for T’Lok. You hadn’t been lying when you said you’d like to keep him, he was a good comm officer with an ear for new languages, but you needed to prove a point.

-

Solok had been combing DS9 all day looking for you, and was getting a little more than fed up with the results. He couldn’t believe her nerve, transferring the only Vulcan officer on her ship off because he had merely pointed out that it should be a Vulcan in command? She’d never get away with this. But nonetheless, it was late and after his failure of a meditation earlier, he would need extra time to prepare himself for whatever atrocities awaited him tomorrow.

As soon as he got back to his quarters, he swapped his captain’s uniform for a meditation robe and placed his PADD as far away from him as possible, lest she contact him. He lit his meditation candles and sat down, ready to purge his mind of the day’s events.

As much as he attempted to focus, for the second night in a row he failed to quiet his mind, even with the extra hour or so he had for himself. His thoughts were erratic, emotions too close to the surface, he kept replaying the arguments he’d had with Y/N over the past few days, and again he felt that awful feeling curling in his stomach.

Guilt.

He’d never felt guilty about telling off humans before, after all, he’d written several papers on why Sisko was the prime example of humanity’s inferiority, but he had never felt bad about it before. Upon reflection, his displeasure with her transferring the Vulcan off her ship, how unfair it felt for her to single out a crewman who had nothing to do with their feud and punish him, must be how the humans felt when they read his papers, heard his remarks, got his transfer notices. It dawned on him that of course they were upset, he’d automatically assumed from one isolated incident that an entire species was beneath his own.

That’s not very logical, more data would be required to draw that conclusion, and Ms. Y/N certainly does not support that conclusion. I have interacted with her several times, and I have never found her to be irrational. She may be emotional, impulsive, quarrelsome, but evidently she is sound enough to command a starfleet prototype. So naturally, the only logical conclusion is that my initial assessment of humans was...incorrect.

Solok opened his eyes. He was no fool, even Vulcans could be wrong about some things. Humans still puzzled him, but perhaps he should have given them another chance to prove themselves. He supposed they had no reason to do so, a human proposed the idea of the thriving federation his people now belonged to. Even if he didn’t understand them, he had several apologies he believed he owed.

He glanced at the clock, it was far too late to hunt down both Y/N and Sisko, he’d have to deal with it tomorrow, perhaps he could convince Y/N to commute T’Lok’s transfer. Or maybe neither of them would believe him, he was well aware that once trust with a human is broken, action is required to regain that trust. He would find her first thing tomorrow and rectify the situation, but for now he needed sleep.

Solok got up and blew out his meditation candles, feeling his exhaustion with every step he took. He collapsed rather unceremoniously into bed and immediately fell asleep. - He opened his eyes, smiling at who he saw lying next to him. Y/n smiled and brushed his hair from his face. She looked even more radiant than when he had seen her earlier, he hadn't thought that was possible. He reached for her and pulled her into his arms, and she put her arms around him. He pressed his face into her neck and grinned.

“Awww, are you smiling honey?”

“No, certainly not, what gave you that idea?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “I thought Vulcans never lied!”

“We do not.”

“Yes, you do.”

He sighed and pulled her closer. “Ashayam a’ duna, I always tell the truth.” -

Solok shot up in bed, breathing hard. Ashayam a’ duna, one did not say those words lightly. Beloved wife. He had no right to have such thoughts about one of his colleagues, much less a human. And yet, he found himself replaying his dream in his head, over and over. He closed his eyes, he would like for her to be his wife, but that was both impossible and illogical, he was too established as a Vulcan supremacist to take a human for a wife, it would be best for him to go back to sleep.

He acknowledged that thought, and got up anyway.

“Computer, lights 50%”

He looked in his closet for something other than his captain’s uniform or sleepwear. He hadn’t exactly anticipated needing civilian clothing, but he had brought some anyway, a traditional vulcan robe would do for now.

Solok reached for his PADD and found several reports waiting for him, he would find somewhere quiet to sit and work on them, he just needed to be out of his quarters. His mind was unsettled, some quiet work time would rectify that, he figured.

-

You leaned back in your desk chair, finally finished with your reports for the evening. You rubbed your eyes, it was late, and you were restless. You still felt guilty for what you’d done to T’Lok, and all to prove a point to someone who couldn’t care less about what you thought.

And yet I still try to prove myself to him. He’ll never care what I think, much less care for me the way I care for him.

The clock on your desk chimed, signaling it was two in the morning. With a sigh, you got up from your desk and stretched. The options for things to do at this time of night were slim, anyone on the station with a shred of sense was likely asleep.

You opted to swap your captain's uniform for a pair of pants and a knit sweater, hopefully none of your crewmembers would run into you dressed like this, how unbecoming. But oh well, you guessed it didn’t really matter if you did, and you really needed to stretch your legs, so it was worth the risk. You looked at the book on your desk, Pride and Prejudice, you’d been meaning to finish it, so you took it with you.

You opened the door to your quarters and looked both ways before slipping down the hall, satisfied no one had seen you. Book in hand, you made your way promenade, in search of somewhere quiet to work.

Upon finding a table to sit at, you removed your bookmark and resumed your reading. The words on the pages started to blur together as your mind wandered.

Mr. Darcy was in many ways reminiscent of Solok. A prejudiced man with a frigid exterior and you hoped, a heart of gold buried inside. If Solok was as akin to Mr. Darcy as you imagined he was, then perhaps there was a chance he could find it in himself to move beyond his prejudice and allow you to help him. But alas, Mr. Darcy was the pinnacle of finery, elegance, and class. Solok was someone who deserved only the best, an equal to him in every way, and you were no Elizabeth Bennet.

-

Solok walked down the promenade, making a short mental note of in what order he would do his reports. He had rounded a corner and was surprised to see Y/N, out of uniform and reading by herself, looking rather forlorn. He stalled momentarily, unsure if his presence would be welcome after what he had said, but decided now was as good a time as any to set things right between them.

He stared at her for a moment longer, almost content to just stand and look at her forever, Her hair brushed past her shoulders and her reading glasses rested on the edge of her face, her skin glowed in the dim light and she looked like how he imagined an Earth angel. She was yet to notice him, as assumed.

With a deep breath, he walked over to her as silently as possible.

“Ms. Y/N.” He said quietly.

She jumped, clearly not expecting anyone else to be around. He observed her cheeks darken when she noticed it was him.

“Solok, sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see anyone. What keeps you up so late.” She gestured to the chair opposite her, any of the sadness or resentment she had expressed earlier seemingly forgotten.

He sat down and placed his PADD on the table.

“I apologize for disturbing you, I had hoped to work on some of my reports, but I'm afraid I won’t be very useful this evening.”

She sighed and bookmarked her page. “Well, I’m not really paying any attention to this anyway. Have you heard of it? Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, a classic really, it’s a crying shame no one reads anymore.”

Solok raised an eyebrow, he’d heard of this human novel before, but had forgone reading it because it was a human work.

“I have, but I have never found the time to read it before. Would you... mind telling me the premise?”

At this she looked surprised, but happily obliged him.

“Well, it’s about a woman named Elizabeth Bennet, and a man named Mr. Darcy moves into his estate in their town. Mr. Darcy’s friend, Mr. Bingley, takes a liking to Elizabeth’s sister, Jane. He comes around to see her and brings Darcy with him. Elizabeth thinks Darcy is a rich, entitled, prideful snob, and Darcy thinks Elizabeth is a headstrong, emotional, prejudiced peasant.”

She looks up at him, and he signals her to continue. He was surprised, in truth it didn’t sound all that bad, had he read it he might have even enjoyed it.

“Darcy eventually realizes he doesn’t hate Elizabeth, he loves her. She matches his dry wit and his sharp tongue. He tells her so, and she is appalled. She still hates him, and is thoroughly shocked with what he said. Elizabeth’s other sister elopes with another man, and Darcy pays for the wedding despite the fact that he hates the groom, as a discreet act of kindness towards Elizabeth, because even after her rejection he still loves her. Elizabeth begins to question her feelings, and eventually realizes she is in love with him as well. However, her sister married the man he hates, and Elizabeth is now certain that he could never love her. Mr. Bingley proposes to Jane, and Darcy pulls Elizabeth aside and asks her to marry him.”

She pauses and smiles, “I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this, but it’s where the line, ‘Yes! Yes! A Thousand times yes!’ comes from. Anyway, they end up living happily ever after once they learn to put aside their differences.”

She stops and stares at him. Solok can feel his heartbeat and an unfamiliar coiling in the pit of his stomach. The story she had described, perhaps meant little other than an interesting narrative to her, but to him was a wonderful figment of a scenario between them that could never be.

“Y/N, I am aware you have no reason to believe me, but...I apologize for what I said to you yesterday. Upon reflection and seeing your transfer notice for Ensign T’Lok, I've had some time to reflect on my opinions. Perhaps, Humans and Vulcans aren’t as different as I once thought them to be. Clearly, there are ways to exist in tandem with emotions, and maybe I am just unable to fully comprehend it yet.” He looked to her, unsure if what he had intended had come out correctly.

She looked astonished with what he had said, almost as if she was unable to process that what was happening was real. He noticed tears well up in the corners of her eyes, and felt an uncharacteristic spark of panic, humans cried when they were in pain.

“Ms. Y/N, are you alright, should I contact Dr. Bashir?” He stood and made his over to her and reached for her arm. She grasped at his arm and pulled herself up to face him.

“That’s all i’ve ever wanted to hear from you.” She said quietly. She took his hand.

Solok felt his heartbeat increase, surely she knew what a touch of hands meant to him? If she continued like this his feelings might be exposed, and he’d never live it down. Everyone would know; the famed anti-Human Vulcan, in love with a human? Blasphemous. He’d keep his job in starfleet, but he’d never be able to show his face of Vulcan again. Not to mention what Y/N might think, he had just begun to mend things with her, if she found out…

No, he could never tell her. After all, what reason did he have to believe she’d ever return his feelings. She’d just forgiven, he couldn’t risk it. But oh, he did want to tell her, so badly. He wanted to tell her he thought about her every waking moment, dreamt of her when he slept, longed for her with all his heart.

Y/N was brilliant, compassionet, a great captain, better than he could ever be. She was perfection personified, what had he done to deserve her forgiveness?

She placed her hand on his face.

“I knew you had a golden heart buried in there somewhere.”

“I confess, my emotions have always been close to the surface.”

She smiled. “Well, you’ve fooled me, so you must be pretty good at getting people to think otherwise.”

“...Thank you, mastery of one’s emotions, no matter how close to the surface they might be, is seen as a sign of strength in Vulcan culture.”

“Wait, you’re telling me Vulcans have feelings? Correct me if i’m wrong, but you’re all so secretive that the general consensus is that you just don’t have any feelings.”

“No, that isn’t true. The teachings of Surak help us repress our emotions, not eliminate them. You may have heard of kolinahr however, which is the elimination of feeling, but most choose not to undergo that ritual.”

“Oh, I guess I never asked and just assumed you had no feelings, I'm sorry if i’ve ever hurt yours.” She moved to drop her hand from his cheek, but he caught her wrist.

“I believe it is I who should be apologizing.”

She blushed. ‘But, you already apologized earlier, what else do you have to apologize for?”

He paused, and remembered a human expression. ‘It’s now or never.’

“I-i, when we met, I found you to be rather tolerable for a human. I thought your incessant need to converse with me could perhaps be the subject of my next paper on human psychology. I instead decided to use you in an experiment to replicate my findings from my match with commander Sisko. Needless to say, when you declined me, I was struck by your audacity. I left that day with the conclusion that you were surely to be a worthy adversary for me. As the years passed, I began to find our occasional verbal sparring matches to be gratifying,our quarrels something I awaited, an excellent and unpredictable test for myself. In that time I developed a...fondness for your company, but I was already too committed to my stance on Humans to admit that to you. When you got command of the Resurgent, I was comforted by the fact that the ship would be in your capable hands, a ship near perfection deserves a captain just the same. Upon my arrival to the station, I was both pleased and abhorred to find you here. My feelings of admiration have become...less than acceptable in a professional setting.”

Solok removed her wrist from his face and stepped back from her. He didn’t need to tell her outright, she must be disgusted with him. He turned away from her, he was ashamed of himself for letting his feelings become so, unprofessional.

“I understand that you are reasonably upset with me, after all, I have done nothing but discriminate against your species since the moment we met. You have no reason to be accommodating of my feelings, a blunt rejection will be a suitable ground on which I can begin eliminating them. Let us have a strictly professional relationship, if that is what you want of course.”

“Wait, Solok. Stop, just stop for a second. Are you saying what I think you’re saying, what I...hope you’re saying?”

He paused for a minute, if he didn’t say it now, he knew he never would.

“I am saying that I love you.”

-

What on earth were you supposed to say to that? Solok, Solok, loved you. There must be something in the water here, there was no way. And yet, here he was, dressed down and confessing his feelings to you at 2 in the morning on some nowhere space station you both just happened to be on at the same time.

“I can’t believe it.”

“You are disappointed?”

“No, no! Of course I'm not, I'm just surprised, that’s all.”

The two of you lapsed into silence as you frantically tried to process what had just happened.

“May I...assume my feelings are unrequited?”

-

Why had he said that, why had he done that? He’d ruined himself, and likely her too. It had been foolish of him, a decision made on a whim that would derail his entire life. How could he ever face her again? What would his colleagues think? His fellow Vulcans? Starfleet command? A few simple words, spoken without thinking, was all it had taken to ruin everything.

He took her silence as the answer to his question, and turned to walk back to his quarters. There was no sense in bothering her any further, better to leave her be and meditate on what might have been. The ground blurred beneath his feet as he rounded a corner. He stopped when he felt something hit his hand, a single tear.

Solok allowed himself a single moment of weakness, and leaned heavily against the wall. He had heard many stories Humans had told about heartbreak, but he had never imagined it would be as unbearable as they said it was. This was agonizing.

He placed a hand over his mouth to muffle his sobs. He watched everything blur around him as more tears joined the first one. He couldn’t believe himself, this was so pathetic, what kind of Vulcan was he? Crying in empty hallways over lost love is not something esteemed starfleet captains did.

What had ever made him think that he had the right to judge humans for their emotions when he couldn’t even control his own? Humans lived in harmony with their emotions, and here he was completely losing his grasp on his own over nothing.

But it’s not nothing, she means so much to me. Why is it so wrong to admit we have feelings too?

Solok was so deep in his own head he almost didn’t hear her come up behind him. Y/N placed her hand on his back and he jumped. He was so embarrassed to be caught crying, and by the woman he loved, no less.

She was out of breath, like she’d run a great distance to get to him. She noticed his tears and her face became serious.

“Solok, are you alright, are you hurt? Did something happen?”

He sniffed and a tear rolled down his cheek, he almost could have laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.

“No, I am unharmed. Forgive me, this is humiliating.” He felt his eyes begin to sting with new tears. How un-vulcan.

“Need a minute? I get it, take your time.” She turned away from him and Solok took a breath and began to collect himself. Once he was sure the tears were contained for the time being, he turned to her.

She was pressed up against the window, eyes wide with wonder as she gazed up at the stars. She noticed him staring and beckoned him over.

“Look.”

“I am looking, however I am unsure of what for.”

“The stars.” She answered matter-of-factly, as if he had been slow to catch on to something obvious.

Solok raised an eyebrow. “What about them?”

She sighed dreamily. “Look at them, aren’t they beautiful? Sometimes I almost regret not becoming a full time scientist.” Y/N turned her head and stepped closer to him.

Solok shifted on his feet, all the memories of what had happened moments ago rushing back to him. He felt her hand on his face, she was looking at him with that piercing gaze of hers. She could have spoken, and he could have too, but there was nothing left to be said on either of their parts. She leaned in closer to him, their faces barely parted. He felt his eyelids flutter closed as he leaned in to kiss her. Her lips were just as soft as he imagined they would, he’d dreamt of this moment. Her fingers trailed down his arm before reaching his hand and connecting their fingers in the Ohz'esta.

After a long moment she slowly pulled away and looked up at him.

“I love you.”

He allowed himself a slow smile. “Ashau nash-veh tu.”

She pressed her forehead against his and hummed. “I hope you said you love me too.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Naturally, Ashayam.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means beloved, unless you would rather have me call you ashayam a’ duna?”

“Which is?”

He rested his chin on the top of her head. “Beloved wife." He felt her arms wrap around him and her chin rest on his shoulder.

“I’d like that.”

- fin