meangirls-imagines · 8 months ago
Note
Heyo! I saw your requests were open and knew I had to slide in on this.
So I was hoping to request something with fem!Reader with Renee Rapps Regina George. That idea is that reader just has absolutely no dirt on her(reader out here being the golden child). Anyway it passes on Regina to no end, especially because she can't intimidate the taller girl.
One day, they are arguing in the halls, and the reader just kinda grabs her by the lapels of her jacket or front of her shirt and pulls her in really close. Says something along the lines of her not being able to do anything and not piss her off. Then a switch just kinda flips in Regina, like, ah shit, did I find that hot?
Anyway, proceed with Regina trying her best to get reader to date her, and it just kinda being brushed off for a while. You do whatever you gotta do, and if you don't wanna do this, totally get it.
..... holy cow, sorry for all of the writing. I just saw you like detailed asks and went overboard. Whoops, anyway, love your writing, and I hope you have an absolutely fabulous day/night!! 💐💐😁
Regina George is a Bottom
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Description: Regina is frustrated that Reader doesn't care for her. One day, after an argument, Regina realizes she might not be the apex predator after all.
WARNINGS: reader being a little shit, regina gay panicking, mentions of masturbation, slight smut at the end, slight choking (regina receiving)
Regina considered herself an amicable person.
She liked to think that after dying for 15 seconds, not much could bother her.
Boy, was she wrong.
Y/N Y/L/N seemed to be the only person in the whole school that didn't care what was going on with Regina. For example, when Regina got blasted with the sprinklers, and one girl asked why she hadn't changed her look, Y/N simply responded, "Who cares what makeup look Regina is wearing?"
When Regina got hit by the bus, she received multiple cards from people at school, one being from her entire english class. Even high on pain meds, she noticed the one signature missing. Y/N.
When the teacher asked Y/N to sign it, the girl responded, "Why would I sign a card for something that could've been avoided?"
When Regina healed and came back to school, she made it her mission to at least befriend Y/N. She started trying to make small talk with the girl, only receiving short answers. She tried to invite the girl to sit with her at lunch, only for her to say no.
Regina was about to explode. Why didn't she have an effect on this girl? Why did she seem to not care about her? Why is she so hot?
What?
Regina tried to shake that thought from her head. She wasn't gay. She just thought Y/N was nice to look at. She thought a lot of girls were nice to look at, that didn't mean she wanted to have sex with them.
She wanted to have sex with Y/N. Wait..
Was Regina gay?
She needed to talk to someone gay.
Janis was not surprised to see Regina at her door, asking if they could talk. She knew this day would come eventually and after presenting the Lesbian Masterdoc like a Ted Talk, Regina came to a conclusion.
She was gay. And she wanted Y/N.
Over the next few weeks, she would not take no for an answer from the girl and the blonde is beginning to irritate Y/N. She won't leave her alone. They only share two classes together but Regina has made to her mission to sit next her for both.
Y/N didn't want to admit that Regina was kinda growing on her. She knew how the blonde worked. She knew of her reputation to string people along and dump them. Plus, she wasn't even sure Regina was gay.
The blonde was persistent, Y/N will give her that. She wanted to see how far Regina would go. Or if she would ever tell Y/N if she was gay or not.
Regina was at her breaking point. She had no idea what else to do. She had done all her usual tricks, but none of them were working on Y/N. The girl was like a brick wall. Nothing was getting through to her.
So, Regina did what Regina does best, she made a show out of it.
Boy, did it backfire on her.
She decided to confront Y/N during a passing period, towards the end of it. They both had a free period so it wasn't like they were running late to go anywhere.
"Why do you not like me?"Y/N looked at the blonde confused, closing her locker. "Excuse me?" Regina huffed. "Why don't you like me?" Y/N rolled her eyes. and started to walk down the now empty hall, Regina right on her tail.
"I never said I didn't like you Regina." Regina scoffed. "You don't have to say it. I already know, I just wanna know why." Y/N kept walking, ignoring the question. Regina had enough and grabbed Y/N's arm roughly, turning the girl around.
"Answer me!"
What happened next awoke something in Regina.
Y/N gently wrapped her hand around Regina's throat, squeezing gently. "I'm gonna have to ask you to remove your hand from my arm George. I never said I didn't like you. I know your tricks. But since you're so desperate, tomorrow, 8 o'clock, be ready because I'm taking you out."
Y/N released her grip and walked away from the shocked blonde. Regina stayed rooted to her spot in the hallway. She didn't know if she was horny or nervous. She simply collected herself, walked to her jeep, and drove home, skipping the rest of the day.
After a session with her vibrator, she realized that she was in fact horny and came to the thought of Y/N's hand wrapped around her throat again.
Laying in bed, extremely satisfied, she came to one conclusion.
She was in fact a bottom.
Her conclusion would be confirmed less than 24 hours later, when Y/N had her bent over in the back of her car, strap pounding her pussy until she saw stars.
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momonyu · 1 year ago
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deal or no deal
portgas d. ace x reader
making deals with a pirate is a dangerous thing
"we have a contract!" + ace
2.5k words
a/n. i did not intend for this to be so long, but i always forget how easy it is to write for my favourite loveable boy ♡ anyways, this takes place during ace's great blackbeard search cover story hehe
cw. angsty ending and goodbyes (but there's a small epilogue!)
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day 1.
this isn't what you signed up for.
chasing down mountain bandits and patrolling streets? sure. chasing down pirates at sea? absolutely.
what you didn't sign up for when you joined the marines was discovering pirates within your own naval base — a peculiar situation that you find yourself in at the moment.
"start talking now." you stare daggers at the tied up pirate in front of you. "what are you doing here?"
he squirms, doing his best to avoid your gaze. "i'm just looking for someone."
"to do what? rob them? assassinate them?"
"no," ace sighs. "i'm just trying to deliver a letter."
your surprise is quickly replaced with skepticism, ingrained into you by your hours of marine training. you lean in to study him, peering into his eyes to gauge whether he's telling the truth or not.
he has really cute freckles.
you blush at the intrusive thoughts, a wonderfully adorable sight that ace will surely tell you about later.
your eyes land on his arm tattoo, far too familiar for your liking. you recall a conversation you once had with vice admiral garp.
"you're one of whitebeard's men!" you gasp. you narrow your eyes at him. "are you trying to smuggle communications to blackbeard?"
his face hardens. "talking is the last thing i'd be doing if i found him."
disappointment floods you. gathering intel is your specialty, but it's been much harder to find information about blackbeard's coup than you'd like to admit. it would've been too easy if this pirate was in kahoots with him...
"look," he says, straightening up. "maybe we can help each other out."
you raise an eyebrow.
"if you help me with my letter, i'll tell you anything you want to know about marshall d. teach."
"including where he is and what's he's planning?"
"okay, maybe not that" — your face falls — "but only because i don't know! if you're looking into him, we can look together?"
you cross your arms.
"that hardly seems like a fair deal to me - you get your letter delivered and you get information about blackbeard? i'm going to need more than just some outdated background info."
"i'll have you know that i'm a commander under the most powerful pirate in the world," he huffs. "but i'll tell you what - after all this is said and done, you can arrest me."
at this, you stop to think about it. it would do very well for your career to bring in one of whitebeard's big shots. on top of that, imagine if you also had intel about blackbeard's whereabouts! surely, you'd get that promotion you've been vying for.
and while you're fantasizing about the rewards for ace's capture, he smiles to himself. having someone on the inside will help him stay undercover and, if he's lucky, he'll get some answers about teach before he goes on his merry way.
for ace has no intention of being caught by any marine — no matter how cute they are.
"alright," you finally say. "you've got yourself a deal."
he grins, and you falter for what will not be the last time at how handsome he is when he smiles.
"nice t' meet ya, partner."
day 5.
"holy cow, look at the amount of food on that guy's plate!"
"i told you the rumours about the new guy were true."
"where does all that food even go?"
"what a freak..."
the gossip of your peers gets drowned out by the screech of a chair being pulled and the loud thud! of a plastic tray barely supporting the mountain of food on top of it.
"man, don't you love dinner time? you guys have it made!"
"what are you doing?" you hiss.
ace can only offer you a look of confusion, too busy stuffing his face with a drumstick in each hand.
"'you guys?' you're supposed to be one of us, remember?" you point at him with your fork. "and for a guy who's trying to stay undercover, you sure are calling a lot of attention to yourself."
"i can't help it," he says — or tries to say. his voice comes out muffled from the food he's shovelling into his face. "i have needs."
for what it's worth, there is something adorable in the way that this uncouth man looks so happy with his cheeks stuffed like a squirrel. you can't help but giggle, and it makes ace smile.
he thinks to himself,
what a cute laugh.
day 8.
ace yawns, stretching his arms before his hands land on the back of his neck.
"is this where taxpayer money goes? to pay two marines to go for a stroll when they could be doing that for free?"
"it's called patrol, and everyone has to do it," you nudge him with your elbow. "especially non-tax paying criminals disguised as law enforcement."
"y'know, being a marine isn't so hard. boring, but easy enough."
"easy, he says! it's only easy because i'm the one busting my ass to try and keep your cover under control."
ace gives you a sideways glance, flashing a lazy grin. "tomato, to-mah-to."
you roll your eyes, but ace knows you well enough by now to distinguish your seriously-pissed eye roll from your endearingly-annoyed eye roll.
he can say with 99% certainty that this one is the latter.
and to make up up for that missing 1%, ace waggles his eyebrows in the way that made you laugh yesterday. to his delight, you giggle again and he swells.
walking down a line of shoppes, your arm brushes past his as you point to his left, "see that parlour over there? they have the best ice cream in the world."
"that's a ballsy proclamation, officer."
"yeah? what makes you say that, officer?"
"you're talking to the ice cream connoiseur on this side of the ocean. i don't know if i can just take your word for it."
"so you're saying i'm lying?"
"no," he grins at you, devious, dazzling and dashing. he nods towards the store. "i'm saying that we should go get some ice cream."
15 minutes later, ace has to agree that this was, in fact, the best ice cream he's ever had. he laughs at your boasting and your "i told you!" and your sermon about the fruit-to-cream ratio, and he wonders if you know that the reason why he's enjoying this ice cream has nothing to do with the flavour and everything to do with you.
day 16.
"ace? what are you-"
"quick! run!" he grabs your hand and practically drags you down the hallway at lightning speed. you nearly trip over your feet as you run behind him.
"hey! stop right there!" booms a voice behind you.
"we gotta hide!"
like any well-trained soldier, it's answers first and questions later. "there's a closet on your right around the corner!"
ace darts around the corner with you in hot pursuit. he thrusts open the closet and quickly pulls you inside.
"who-"
"shh!"
you hear running getting louder, and you decide to question ace later. in this tiny broom closet, you do your best to discern what's happening on the other side. both of you press an ear to the door and listen carefully.
footsteps approaching. footsteps slowing down. footsteps stopping just outside the closet.
you hold your breath.
it feels like an eternity that ace's pursuer stands on the other side and you don't dare to make a single peep. you lock eyes with ace, who stares back at you with an exhilarated smile.
a voice mutters, "i could've sworn-"
"commodore, sir!"
you gape at ace with wild incredulity.
commodore? you mouth with wide eyes.
he winks at you, holding a finger to his lips.
"they're looking for you in the grand boardroom, sir."
a pause.
"alright, at ease. let's go."
the two men walk away, but neither of you dare say anything until a solid minute after the footsteps fade away. and then-
you smack ace across the chest, "what-"
"ow!"
"-did you do?"
"that hurts!"
you shoot daggers at him.
he smiles sheepishly at you, "okay, i deserve that. but look what i found in his office!"
he holds up a sheet of paper with excitement. in the darkness of the closet, you can't make out the words and only look at him with confusion.
"there's a scout ship coming from the green shores. as far as i know, that's where teach was last seen!" he rushes through his words. "and comil's going to be on that ship! we can kill two birds with one stone!"
he looks at you expectantly as you process what he says.
"if vice admiral comil's on that ship then they'll definitely have detailed notes of their observations... there's no way they wouldn't have gathered intel!"
"that's what i'm saying!"
"ace, that's great!" you throw your arms around him. "this is it!"
it's not until ace instinctively wraps his arms around you that you realize two very important things.
one. if vice admiral comil truly is on that ship, that means that your adventure with ace is coming to an end soon.
your heart sinks.
two. you and ace are alone, hugging, in a very, very dark and cramped broom closet — and you don't want to stop.
your heart races.
you look up at ace and he's never looked more earnest. mischievous, startled, impressed, hungry, and even flirty — you've had the privilege to learn what each of these expressions look like on ace's handsome face.
but this — his eyes boring into yours with an intensity that burns as hot as your cheeks — is a first.
you swear that you can feel his heart beat against your chest. he feels warm, even in an open vest, and you realize that he felt just as warm when he was holding your hand.
he brushes hair out of your face and, for a second time in this room, you hold your breath.
do it.
"you're right," he says quietly. "this is it."
and then, as if he heard your prayer, he kisses you.
day 23.
"are you okay? are you hurt?" you look for any sign of harm under all the soot on ace
"relax, it's just fire." he grins, "they do call me 'firefist ace', y'know."
finished with your examination, you reach up to brush away a bit of ash on his cheek. given any other circumstance, that smug smile on his face would make your heart flush.
right now, though, all you can think about are his words, sinking into your skin like lead.
"i know who you are, ace. the problem is," you do your best to erase any emotion from your voice. "so does everyone else now."
ever impulsive, the implication of ace's actions doesn't hit him until now. silence settles between you for a moment, and in the background, the commotion becomes audible. between the ship fire and ace's identity reveal, you've never heard so much chaos happen at once.
"they're looking for you," you say quietly. "they'll find you soon."
you wish you had more time. in the past 3 weeks, you've realized — on more than once occasion — that this is not what you signed up for. this had started out as a purely transactional relationship between a criminal and law enforcement, i.e. the bad guy and the good guy.
but it's been so much more than that.
in all his smiles and stupidity, his companionship, and his kind, kind heart, ace has proven to you over and over again that he's more than just the bad guy that your training manual has made him out to be.
you thumb the seastone cuffs hanging from your waist, completely lost in your thoughts. your stupid agreement looms over you; you know this is your only chance to arrest him.
it's not until he says your name that you remember where you are.
"did you say something?"
ace takes a deep breath, looking far more serious than you've seen.
"the deal's off."
huh?
"but we have a contract," you cling onto the very thing that you were just cursing. "you can't just do that! you got everything you wanted, you- it's not fair-"
he takes your hand, and the small act of affection is enough to quiet your protests.
"will you listen to me for a second?"
his voice is gentle, careful, loving. you manage to nod.
"i think," he intertwines his fingers in yours. "we both knew that my arrest was never going to happen."
you say nothing, waiting.
"i have no intention of getting captured here," he takes your other hand. "and i don't think you want to do it either."
a pang in your chest. he's right, and you know it. deep down, you knew that you were never going to be able to hold up your end of the bargain. the idea of putting an end to his adventures is something that you could never do.
he presses his forehead against yours, and it's so, so warm. it makes your heart ache. you close your eyes, focusing solely on the warmth that blooms from where you and ace are connected — from your foreheads, from your fingertips — as if it might make this any easier.
"hey," ace's voice is barely a whisper. "look at me."
like a good marine, you do as you're told.
you look into his dark eyes, and they look into yours.
"here's what i want you to do," his breath fans your cheeks.
"you're going to tell the captain that i'm going after blackbeard. tell them that you have information on his defection from the whitebeard pirates for the murder of a crewmate, okay?"
you nod again, willing the tears that are building in your chest to stay where they are.
"and thank you," he says. ace's voice breaks, and that's when the dam cracks. tears fall onto your cheeks as he does his best to continue.
"thank you for your help," ace says, knowing that he's running out of time and conviction to leave. "and for giving me everything i wanted."
he tilts your chin up to wipe away your tears, "you are everything."
and he kisses you for what feels like a millisecond and a lifetime all at once. he tastes like unfinished stories and goodbyes come too soon — like the sweetness of ice cream on a summer afternoon, like the warmth of breakfast on an autumn morning, and the richness of hot cocoa on a winter night.
he tastes like what you imagine love to be.
"wait for me," is the last thing he says to you before he leaves.
and like a good marine, you'll do as you're told.
epilogue.
"mail for ya, sarge!"
you take the letter from the young postal worker, thanking her for delivering your letter. you inspect the letter, curiosity growing as you do. there's no return address or sender, just your name and what looks to be a burn mark.
you smile.
ripping open the envelope, you find a photograph of a freckled pirate in his orange hat in front of an ice cream shoppe, eyes smiling in that way that makes him look like a little kid.
there's a sign in the background that reads "best ice cream in the world!" and you laugh. flipping over the photo of ace, you find a short message.
gonna need you to come verify their claims - let's go together next time.
it's a deal.
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thehuntfortrencherlostmedia · 2 months ago
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Hello folks.
So, I waited a while to let everything marinate in my brain before writing this. Haven is an interesting album to discuss in the grand scheme of the Trench discography. Everything feels familiar & status quo, but different, new & exciting all at once. Its production is fantastic throughout and truly allows for everything to shine. It’s also their most cinematic album to date, which is saying something given what Astoria was inspired by.
So let’s break down each track, shall we?
A Normal Life: Already gushed about this one when it came out and my thoughts haven’t changed one bit. This just might be my new favourite opener. There’s just a little sprinkling of everything from all across their discography that allows this beauty to marinate and stand on its own.
Lightning & Thunder: I’m torn. I like it still, but I do think that when you listen to it within the context of the album it loses something. It was definitely made to be a radio single. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I’m Not Getting Better: Straight to the point, catchy & fun. I really have nothing else to say on the song.
Down To You: Arguably the biggest earworm on the album. This one gets in your head and it just stays with you.
Now or Never: The By Now of the record for me. Soft & yet full of momentum all at once. This is a dream worth fighting for, indeed. Also, while both INGB & DTY show off a more R&B/Funk flow, it really sticks on this song, and now that you’ve noticed it, you’ll be hearing it a lot throughout the record.
Into The Storm: Hello, Porcelain. But also… it’s own thing. It might not be giving up, but I don’t see it as surrender either. I see it as going with the flow, facing your problems head on. This is also the first true dive into Josh’s relationship with Amanda on the album, and how he’s so happy they finally figured out how to co-exist.
Ancient History: Oh hi, Astoria. You mind if I take elements of Burning Up & Yesterday and blend them into something new? And how about the past arguments in his and Amanda’s relationship don’t matter, and how it was nice to meet back up with her. It shows how time can heal relationships. Also, SAXOPHONE. That is all.
Stand and Fight: The actual Porcelain of the record. People thought they were gonna go in a This Meets War for this song, when instead it’s a slow burn that truly stays with you.
Turn & Run: Here’s how you do a sequel song and then make it stand out from its older brother. Much like the combos of Celebrity Status/Perfect & B-Team/Toy Soldiers, both sides of the coin make me giddy inside. And holy cow… welcome to the edge indeed. That hint of Fix Me screaming… I need more of it Josh. Please? I’ll be a good girl. There’s also a lot of Masterpiece Theatre II on this one. Easily my favourite of the short songs.
Worlds Collide: I go back and forth on this one in my head. There’s parts of me that love it, there’s parts of me that feels it’s too similar to the two tracks before it…. And then we have the end. And that just… made me smile. Also, I love Josh SCREAMING “Nobody’s Safe” and the fact they left in the vocal crack. That’s how you can tell his emotions are in full display here. So yeah.
Nights Like These: The comforting palette cleanser after three songs hit you with whiplash back to back to back. It’s very reminiscent of tavern songs, sea shanty’s & is just a warm hug of a track. Also, breaking down the fact that sometimes it’s nice to have just a cozy, relaxing night with friends. Feels like the Who Do You Love of the record too.
Remember Me By: Um, Micheal? Did you just possess Josh again? This feels so 80’s R&B I can’t help but love it. Also, Ian! Nice to hear you sing, bud. We’ve heard the other three all throughout this record and now we get your voice on top of the amazing percussion. Kudos.
Haven: So, here we are. The closing track. And, it’s good. It feels like they took The Killing Kind , Masterpiece Theatre III & End of An Era Abd threw them in a blender… and the result came out great, but… it does lack something to me? And if anything, it brings out the fact this album fits into the Relationship Theory too: It is about starting anew like I said ages ago but also about how their relationship (Josh & Amanda) isn’t perfect but he loves the imperfection now that they’ve figured out how to make it work. She might’ve broke his heart once but he reconciled & became stronger because of it. And now he can show that all across these 13 tracks.
So yeah. Haven’s likely my album of the year, and I do like it. But I do think that while it has some of the highest highs the band had ever reached, I do think they didn’t fully nail the Hero’s Journey theming & that it’s not as cohesive as some of their other work. It’s a sturdy S-, easily #2 or #3 in my overall rankings, even #1 depending on the day.
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catwyk · 3 months ago
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tsv finale spoilers below. i wrote this during my first listen through. its long as fuck. im dead im ruined.
cull calling out to rane instead of faulkner.... rane is truly the real leader now
FAULKNER......
"katabasian rane? sister thurrocks?" im gonna be sick
"hes basically a cow" spit your shit carp
"people in my life keep leavin to serve a cause i just cant understand" BASHES MY HEAD ON THE WALL
"we must love them for fleein from our touch e must not run after them" oh baby :(
this is actually fucking destroying me right now oh poor faulkner. failed by the world.
"of course i recognize you. youre carpenter's ghost" // "yes. i am" // "that must mean that im being punished. arent i?" he sounds so small and young oh my god
"if this is my punishment, then why am i smiling?" OKAY PARALLELS TO HIS VISIONS IN S2. OKAY. IM NOT GOING TO CRY. I WONT.
his monologue is ruining me actually oh god.
"they invented their own faulkner. and they forced me to be him" THATS WHAT IM SAYIN
he called her his sister...
im sure hes gonna die
"you crashed a car??" // "yeeah. i crashed a car." i love her
"they need to fix you, they need to make you better, and ill, ill watch over your bed, ill be there, carpenter. ill pray, ill pray and pray for as long as i need to" christ alive. i need to lay down RIGHT NOW.
méabh de brún too good at acting like shes in pain im abt to dial an ambulance
EM??? EM MENTION. EM MENTION
ok this is fuelling my hc that faulkner reminded carpenter of em in some painful and undefinable way
"i should tell paige that story, if i get to see heg again"
"OUR paige?" CRYING FOR A MILLION YEARS. AND HIS "HUH" AS WELL WHEN CARPENTER CONFIRMS
twin mouths truther forever
"i hate you too, faulkner, i truly do. and i love you, too. in spite of everything" // "always on the very precipice of understanding one another"
faulkner's "DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!" is fucking me up b narr the voice actor everrr
SHES GONNA LEAVE HIM A CAIRN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
"there'll be a place for you, and itll be beside me" DRIVING STRAIGHT INTO A LAMPPOST AS WE SPEAK
NO HES GONNA TRY AND KILL HER ISNT HE
"yeah. perhaps thats it. do you?" again. coolest fucking character on the planet
"this is when the waters parted, and at last..! at last he understood!" jesus christ. jon ware the writer that you are
"say you were raised in the service of a god of fire. so you feel like the world would be a much better place if more things were on fire" i busted out laughing WHAT a tone shift
"dennis duplace helped. hayward.. dad.. carpenter.. im leaving all of you behind" i am a husk of a person. lucille valentine knocking it out of the park
"best feeling in the world, seeing you walk away" holy fucking shit this is DAMAGING ME.
i wanna write every quote thats making my heart sting but the transcript is already up so theres no real point
every single va is popping the FUCK OFF by the way. i have to keep reminding myself theyre acting so i dont like. kill myself
val saving hayward was NOT on my bingo card what the fuck
"and before she died... she remembered who she was" OHHHHHHH MYYYYY GODDDDDD
hayward doing his own rites of the cairn maiden for himself :(
no gods coming for hayward but "fuck it. this one's not... for any of you. this ones for me"
WHY IS FAULKNER BACK. NONONO ITS ONLY GONNA BE BAD. PLEASE NO
i never realized the parallel between faulkner's gardener father and his gardener god
carpenter meant so much to him :(
"Sister! I love you! Where are you going? Dont turn your back on me! Dont you dare- Sister! I need you! SISTER! SISTER! MARCO! MARCO!" FAULKNER NO NOT LIKE THIS NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
FUCK YOU JON WARE (<- COMPLIMENT)
THE FAULKNER BODY FAKEOUT. SEE ABOVE POINT
carpenter's scream...... oh god.. oh méabh de brún the woman that you are
"he could be a face from my childhood. or his" charlie.......
HES BEEN BLOND THIS ENTIRE TIME????????????? i should have fucking known
"but no matter how it starts, no matter how it turns out for us, it can end with love, cant it? it can end with love. it can end with kindness." i said oh my god out loud
the delivery of "and then i let him go" why not just drive a railroad spike through my lungs
"the river is vast, and no dam can block every channel, and ours is a world of miracles." i said jesus christ out loud
i wheezed when she just. got back up this old bitch cannot die can she
not nana glass' song............
FUCKING TAINSLEY. CHEKHOVS TAINSLEY.
oh my god. a final heartbreaking credits scene
i had to just sit and lean back for a second. what a fucking ending. what a fucking podcast. this is one of those pieces of media that takes up residence in your brain forever. im never gonna stop thinking about this
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erii-ya · 9 months ago
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The Huntress’s Prey pt1
Killer x FemReader
One Piece FanFic
A/N: I can't seem to finish my first story 'If it's you...' because I have so many ideas in my head and I need to write 'em down while they're fresh. But I'll be finishing it soon... when I get the vibe. For now, I'll share the beginning of Y/N and Killer's story.
*Triggering words/scenarios ahead* *spoilers*
**Remember that One Piece is the beautiful original story of Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Scenarios, places, and events are all fictional.**
WC: 3.3k
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Two weeks have passed since you got separated from your crew and ended up at the hands of the Kid pirates. As to how you ended up here, you had yet to learn. The only thing you know is waking up in a dark room with a throbbing pain on the top of your head, blood gushing out of it, probably hitting your head somewhere. You rummage through the room, looking for something to cover the wound to stop the bleeding, but don’t find any, so you have no choice but to rip a part of your clothes and use it as a temporary cover.
Still dizzy, perhaps from blood loss, since you’re unsure how long you’d been out, you struggled to walk past the door. After you open it, the sun’s rays illuminate the room, and you conclude that you are in a stock room. ‘And no one sees me here?’ a thought.
You’re surprised to see that you’re on a ship and it is currently sailing in the middle of the ocean. That Goddamn panda! You were so sure Kuma’d eradicate you right then, and the only thing you regret was not being able to help Luffy achieve his dream of becoming the Pirate King. But as you can see, you’re pretty much alive and just losing a lot of blood. However, if you don’t get your head treated, you’ll probably end up decomposing in no time.
You heard obnoxious waves of laughter under the deck, so you tried to find your way to where it was coming from, but being a cautious person, you looked for signs first to give you a clue of your current situation. That’s the time you saw the Jolly Roger dancing freely into the air at the top of the crow’s nest.
“Holy mother of cows…” you uttered. Redhair with goggles and a Punk-ish decorated ship. There is no mistaking it. “Is this where Kuma sent me? The Victoria Punk?!”
You can’t believe it. Is Kuma trying to get you tortured to death by this idiotic group of psychos? Since when have they been working for the World Government? You have so many questions but don’t have time to waste.
Even in a weakened state, you muster all your strength to prop yourself up on the ship’s railings, determined to jump overboard. You feel you have a better chance of surviving this way than getting caught by the Kid pirates.
Counting to three, you’re prepared to jump ship when strong, big arms grab your waist and yank you back onboard. You slammed on the floor deck, butt first.
“What do you think you’re doing?” a sexy baritone voice said. You glared at whoever it was, ready to bite, only to stop when your head started spinning and nausea kicked in—covering your mouth in an attempt to avoid puking. “I’m asking you, what were you doing? Are you thieving us?” the man asked again.
You can’t hold back the annoyance at the accusation. Here you are, separated from your crew, bleeding to death, trapped on another pirate’s ship, and don’t even know how or why you ended up here, and are getting charged with thieving on board a vessel that is sailing in the middle of the ocean. “And what kind of a dumb motherfucker would board a ship just to steal and escape in the middle of the fucking ocean, huh?!”
The man shrugged and simply pointed at you, “You, obviously. Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to do a while ago?” he’s calm, but you know better than to trust that calmness. For all you know, he’s already analyzing you behind his mask. He’s a buff 6” foot guy, tanned, wearing a plain, white, and light-blue striped full-head helmet with many rows of holes and what looks like modern headphones on both sides.
“Killer,” another man came up. He probably heard the commotion you were having. Some of their men were behind him, and all were staring at you. “Who’s the mouse?” ‘Killer, huh,’ you mentally note to yourself. Killer told him what happened. The man who called you a ‘mouse’ was the ship's captain, Eustass ‘Captain’ Kid. Of course, you know him, with that signature goggles and invisible eyebrows.
Kid looked back at you and grinned. The type of grin that means trouble. He walked closer to you, reaching down using his left arm to grab your hair and lifting you to his eye level. “Such a bold move for a little runt like you, aye?” he mocks at you.
You hiss in pain since Kid was grabbing the side of your head that has a wound on it, and it wasn’t that long until you felt warm liquid flowing down your face.
But you’re not one to back down so quickly, “Do you idiots even use that brain of yours?!” you returned. “What do I even want from your ship, assholes?!” you continued.
Kid answers with a slap on your face so hard that you taste blood. Because of the impact, you seem to have gotten a split on the lip. He didn’t stop at one slap but followed it with a more forceful second. Not only are you sporting a cut lip but a cut inside your other cheek as well. “Oi, you’re on my fuckin’ ship, bitch, and I can do whatever I want with you,” he said with a threatening voice.
“Oh, wow. Fuck, I’m scared.” you retorted sarcastically, feigning worry with a bored look. Veins popped at Kid’s head; feeling insulted and mad, he tightened his grip on your hair, making you swallow back a moan. “Can’t you try harder? The pain is subsiding, and it's starting to bore me,” said you, provoking Kid.
Kid is now fuming red, and you swear you can visibly see him spewing out steam like a volcano. You didn’t wait, though, for the next strike. Of course, you’re not an idiot like them. Doing the flying armbar at Kid, you lock his arm and head between your legs, resulting in him kneeling. Tightening your lock on his head, he starts thrashing, unable to breathe. You would’ve stayed in that position for much longer if only there wasn’t a blade pointed at your neck. “Oh? Now, you want to join in, too? Sorry, but I have no penchant for threesomes.” you nonchalantly said to Killer.
“Continue, or your head rolls on the floor,” he warned you. You burst out laughing, amused by what he said. His hand clenched tighter on the hilt of his scythe-like blades, veins showing in his arms. ‘Uh-huh, delicious,’ eyeing his arms.
You let out an exasperated sigh before letting go of Kid, and to make it quits, you grab onto Killer’s blades, point it back to your neck, slashing yourself with a swift motion, causing you to have a big scar lining it, now flowing with blood. Everyone looked at you dumbfounded, not expecting you to do something...insane?
“What? That’s what you call a trophy,” you said matter-of-factly. “See?” lifting your shirt to show them all the scars you collected over time, they sweatdrop.
“Anyway,” walking over to the side to sit down, resting your back on a wall, “since you fought with Luffy in Sabaody, I’ll call it quits. Not to mention this…” pointing at the slit you created on your neck making your point. “Or would you rather I stab myself instead?” you asked. The crew shakes their heads vigorously, aside from Kid and Killer.
“Fuckin’ retard!!” Kid, who seems fine now but still holding his neck.
“Talkin’ to yourself?” Kid’s crew was stunned as to how you could still talk back to their captain.
Kid ignores what you said. He’s more curious when you mention Luffy, “Maybe because he’s my captain?” You sound like it’s common sense.
He lifts one of his invisible eyebrows at you. “How come we never saw you at the auction house? From what I know, all of that monkey’s crew were there.” Kid doubted.
You glared at him when he called Luffy a monkey but suddenly got embarrassed remembering what you ended up doing in Sabaody.
Of course, you’re not there because you were elsewhere. “‘Cause I wasn’t there in the first place.” closing your eyes as you started having blurry vision, “I was out looking for…someone…and ended up…in a gambling house.”
You heard Killer saying something, but everything was turning fuzzy. Before you lose consciousness, you finish, “Just one thing. I don’t give a fuck whether you throw me offboard, feed me to the sharks, or sacrifice me for voodoo, but I’m so tired I’m going to fucking sleep! Wake me up, or you’ll see hell.” and with that, you fainted.
************************************************************************
Fast forward to today. You just finished cleaning one of the upper decks, and is now in the kitchen for Lunch. It was decided that you'll be cleaning the whole Victoria Punk as punishment for ‘sneaking’ in their ship. Surprisingly, they didn’t do anything to you that day you fainted, and you woke up in their infirmary, fully bandaged. As per Kid, he’s willing to do you some ‘charity’ since you’re connected with Luffy, who he sees as interesting and a competitive rival. So you’ll stay with the Kid pirates until you leave for the next island. 
Well, that is the original plan. However, Kid being an ass, doesn’t want to let you go because you haven’t 'finished cleaning the whole ship.' To which, ladies and gentlemen, is so goddamn huge! It was 5 or 10 times or more bigger than the Sunny! How the hell can you finish cleaning all of it by yourself?!
Footsteps approach you, and you don’t need to take a second guess on who it is, “You sure take your time, huh? How the hell will you finish cleaning my ship if you’re moving like a turtle?!” Like, what does he want you to do? Use some kind of trick to clean his colossal ship magically?
You rolled your eyes, and without looking at the person speaking, you sassed, “...and why the hell are you bugging me every chance you get, huh, Kid?!”. Kid forcibly turned you around to face him cupping your cheeks tightly, “Call me Captain, you bitching runt. Don’t forget that you’re on my ship and…”. 
“...you can do whatever you want with me.” You finish his lines for him. “Yeah, yeah. How many times have you reminded me about it? It starts to age in my head. Don’t you have anything else to say?”
The crew was watching both of you, too entertained with your bickering. It has become a regular occurrence since you came on board. “It's starting again.” said one of the crew. 
“I’m unsure if Captain is fond of her or just plainly irritated since she’s from a rival crew.” said another.
“Maybe because they are both the same age?” and another.
Both of you heard it, and you’re sure you saw Kid blush a bit, so to hide his embarrassment, he removed his hands tightly cupping your cheeks, and turned to yell at his crew about being slow pokes as well.
Focusing back on eating, you tried ignoring your surroundings when a familiar aura closed in. You feel your heart beating faster and faster by the minute. This person has been making your heart go insane whenever he's around, and you thought it was only because of anxiousness, considering that you don’t exactly get what he’s thinking most of the time due to him wearing a mask.
In your peripheral vision, you saw Killer handing Kid what seemed to be a newspaper. Kid snorts after reading an article in the paper, then turns to you and slams the paper in front of you. “I may have something new to say. Look what I found,” he said. You gave the paper a side-eyed glance, not actually interested in what was written on it, but you saw a familiar face. 
It was Ace, and even though you hadn’t personally met him since you weren’t part of the crew yet, when they saw him in Alabasta, Nami and Usopp shared their experience with him and showed you some newspaper clippings. You know that he’s one of Luffy’s big brothers and an extremely polite person far from your Captain, at least that was what they told you.
The caption caught your attention. It was about Ace’s death at war in Marineford. You snatched away the paper from Kid and read the whole article with wide eyes. It says Luffy stormed at Marineford to save Ace from being executed and that he died protecting Luffy from Akainu; there was even a photo of what happened, and you saw Luffy.
You turned pale and felt shivers down your spine. The news was stomach-churning, and you suddenly feel nauseous. You drop the paper and run to the nearest sink to throw up. Kid is pretty amused at your reaction.
Too many questions are running in your head. ‘What happened to Luffy?... Where is he?... How is he holding up?’ You’re too shocked to think straight. The only thing you want to do right now is to look for your captain and be by his side.
You inhale and exhale a couple of times to relax, and once you’re sure you have calmed down, you start walking towards the door. You go past Kid without a second look, but he grabs you by the arm. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked with a menacing tone.
“Where do you think? Of course, to my captain,” you answered, still not looking. You felt his grip tightened. This man has been abusing your arm since, and you got a lot of bruises from his grabbing every time. “I didn't give you any permission to leave, did I?” he said smugly.
You turned to face him, irritation and anger visible in your face. “I didn’t ask for permission, did I?” you scowled at him, but Kid didn’t seem fazed. He was rather more amused by your expression and even grinned wider. You try to release yourself from his steel grip but can’t. Face flushed with anger, you swiftly grab a fork from a nearby table and are about to stab Kid in the eyes, but Killer stops you by the wrist. 
“Calm down, Y/N. That’s our captain,” Killer said. Kid didn’t even flinch on what you did and just stared intently at you. “If you do that, we won’t hesitate, you know,” Killer said, motioning to everyone around you, who’s now standing up, ready to strike. 
He has a point. You’re a complete stranger to them, and they won’t hesitate to kill you if you so much as hurt their captain. You pull your wrist from his grasp while Kid releases your arm.
“Calm down?!” you shouted. “Luffy’s brother died, and now he’s missing too! Our crewmates are nowhere to be found, and I don’t even know if they’re dead or alive! Then you’re asking me to fucking calm down?! How should I do that, huh?! Tell me what I should do?!” you’re practically screaming.
Tears were now beginning to form in your eyes, and you couldn't help but look vulnerable in front of them. You have kept it for a good two weeks, but honestly, you’re at a loss. What happened at Sabaody during Kuma’s attack was so sudden you couldn’t even process it properly in your head.
You pointed your fingers at Kid, “And this motherfucker has been a pain in my ass ever since I ended up here. For all I know, you’re probably working with the World Government and were assigned to dispose of me!” you said, gritting your teeth.
Kid wasn’t happy and got mad when you associated them with the WG. “Don’t you dare relate us with those trash! WE! Don’t work for anyone!” he points at you too. “You are the one who sneaked in on MY ship!”
“How many times should I tell you that I DID NOT SNEAK IN TO YOUR SHIP!!! I got sent here!!!” you wailed. Your chest is heaving in anger, and your face is all red. “This conversation is over. You’re NOT my captain, and this is NOT my crew. I will leave this goddamn ship, and you can’t stop, won’t stop me.” you firmly said. Retreating to the exit, you heard Kid say, “You think I can’t, huh?” but you didn’t answer. 
The next thing you know, you were thrown on the other side of the kitchen. Tables falling and plates breaking. You didn’t expect what Kid did, so you couldn’t brace yourself from impact, your head hitting the wall. Head throbbing with sharp pain from the same area where you had your wound, and it looks like the wound got reopened. Before you can even stand, Kid is already in front of you and kicks you hard twice in the stomach, causing you to cough blood. He then grabs you by the hair to lift you before punching you in the face and throwing you again.
“Kid, that’s enough.” Killer tried to stop him, but Kid was so invested in lashing out at you that he ignored him. He’s determined to show you he’s the authority on this ship, and no one can tell him otherwise. 
Kid only stop when you’re half-dead. You’re lying on the floor in a fetal position, sporting bruises and cuts while still coughing up blood. But even in that state, you taunt him, “Is that it? *coughing* I was expecting something more, really.”
Kid just cockily smiled at you. Crouching down, he grabbed you by the neck. “You’re really amusing. I like your spunk.” 
You countered back, “And I fucking hate you, you Oni (demon).” Kid burst into laughter, surprising everyone.
“Shouldn’t you be thankful? This ‘Oni’ spared your life.” he jeered at you. 
“I'd rather you didn’t.” Kid just chuckled.
“Only weak people succumb to death, and you’re not weak like how you pretend to be, and we both know that.” Kid said, meeting your gaze. “You have the skills and the guts. I’m not stupid enough to waste you and let you rot. Though, I extremely enjoyed what I did to you.” he grinned.
“Now, listen and listen well.” he inches his face closer to you, and you can practically feel his breath. “You can’t change the fact that you’re at MY mercy, and you OWE ME your life. You said it yourself: you don’t even know where your crew is, so I’m not letting you go. I’ll make use of you and that guts of yours.”
You felt a lump in your throat, fighting back the tears. As much as you’d like to fight back, you’re already too exhausted just even to sit. Dropping your guard because of the mixed emotions you felt earlier was a mistake. It gave Kid the time to pound on you continuously, not allowing you time to breathe.
“Join my crew.” You got speechless, mouth agape, and Kid was so dead serious.
It took you a full minute to process what he just said. ‘Me? Join his crew?’ “That was the most fucked up thing I ever heard.” you can’t help but blurt out your thoughts.
“I’m not asking you.” he lets go. “I’m telling you. You’re joining my crew.” then he smirked. Disharmony echoed throughout the room. Some crewmates were in opposition, and some were rather overjoyed. Kid looked back at Killer, “No complaints, right?”
Killer shrugged, “You're the captain.”
But since you’re a brat, you still tried to get out of the situation Kid put you in. “Why ask Killer and not me when I’m the one being forced into this?!” trying your best to prop yourself up but to no avail. “‘cause your opinion doesn't matter here,” says Kid, continuing out the door with Killer, Heat, and Wire following.
Some of the crew approached you to help you up, but before Kid disappeared outside, he told everyone to leave you alone and let you tend to yourself because ‘you’re not that weak.’
Part Two...
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semi-sketchy · 21 days ago
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That...was it?
I mean, yeah, I probably should've expected it to end in a "adventure continues in SXSG" but that was very abrupt.
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GUN, Rouge and Omega know there's something big coming, but just fuck off after this? There's no glimpse of what awaits Shadow? No real cliffhanger, it just stops? This wasn't satisfying.
It started with "Black Doom might be back I have to get to the ARK" and ended with "Black Doom might be back I'm on my way to the ARK." I stopped to look at the timer near the end because I was like "wait it's just gonna end here? We watched a travel animation?"
Maybe this is because I haven't been following SXSG super closely, but I don't understand how Shadow's campaign is going to start so I have no context for how this leads into the game. That's probably partly why it feels so abrupt right now.
I liked the music and action scenes, though I thought some lines should've been cut.
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Like this is pretty obvious, but it keeps going.
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The scene would've been better had this line been cut. Same thing happens in part 2.
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Sometimes, silence speaks volumes. But of course, everything needs to be "spelled out" though that's an issue with the Maria scenes in general.
Man this shot of Shadow though with that music swelling, holy cow.
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Hits you in the feels.
Overall though, it was okay!
My biggest compliment really goes to the sound design. I just love how the music and sound effects come together. Also really enjoy how snappy the animation is. By part 3 I definitely was able to tell I was looking at 3D models, but honestly I don't really care which medium it is as long as it's done well. This looked good!
Writing wise, I think part 1 was the worst and that's due to the stiff, on-the-nose interactions between Shadow and Maria (plus the slip-in of "low-gravity remission"). I definitely preferred the action scenes and interactions with Rouge, sadly Omega was just kinda there in the corner like "I CALL DIBS" and didn't contribute anything noteworthy.
I said this about Xenoblade 3 and it rings true here: this felt like watching a draft rather than a finished script. Some parts are cooked and others are raw. If Omega had nothing to do but blow a few things up in the background, why was he here? Even Shadow was the one to take down the GUN ship Omega originally engaged. Give him a bigger purpose or cut him.
The Maria scenes play out the most like a draft, something you'd write to get the basics of what you want the characters to convey before going back over and replacing those lines with actual dialogue. (This is something I do if I'm struggling.)
Now do I really care that the GUN Commander got his Archie name? No. Of all the things in this animation, Sonic Twitter picked the stupidest one to blow up about. I think the "low gravity remission" and Shadow knowing he's part alien is an actual issue. (Although I guess this could be argued since in ShTH he still had amnesia, he wouldn't remember so this wouldn't matter. Still, wasn't it supposed to be a secret? The Commander only found out by accident?)
Some things just aren't as well thought-out as others, which cements my thought that this script needed polishing.
All that said, this is the biggest promo animation project we've seen in Sonic yet and it's quite different from others before it. I don't think I'd call it "the best", I think the Frontiers one was super cool, but it also didn't have the run-time of Dark Beginnings. Like with XC3: Future Redeemed, it simply didn't have the time to screw stuff up as much.
There's good, there's ehh, so overall Dark Beginnings was just okay for me.
My biggest disappointment is still the fact that this animation simply wasn't what I wanted, which isn't its fault. I saw the teaser of Shadow and Maria on the ARK, I thought it was going to be about them on the ARK and it ended up just being about Shadow traveling to space. I wanted and was expecting something this animation was never going to be.
I guess we'll find out soon how the final game handles Shadow's story, though if this animation is anything to go off of, I'm keeping my expectations in check.
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asmallpinkfan3 · 2 years ago
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woah woah WOAH, you write for toh too?? Didnt know thay holy cow
ANYWAYS, could i request a hunter x gn witch reader who is literally death straight up like in pib: tlw (appears to be a teenager and cannot change that, but age is immortal)
itd be funny because hunter is in his wolf phase and then he meets reader who is the embodiment of death as a wolf
maybe a little angst because reader has met every other version of hunter/caleb but is unable to take their souls to rest because of phillip :((
love ur stories stay hydrated <33
Awww poor hunter but ofc.
Also i didn’t know if you wanted romantic or platonic so I’m gonna go with platonic.
Hunter x reader who is the embodiment of death.
Song I listened to on repeat while writing this:paint it -black Rolling Stones.
Warnings: small angst of reader not being able to take hunters soul, swearing
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You were always called to take souls but one stood out from the rest.
Hunter, or as known as the golden guard was not able to have his soul taken.
You saw how his brother murdered him and when you went to take his soul his body was no where to be found.
Cursing under your breath you needed to find him and his soul before something bad happens.
Soon when you found his soul it was no longer there it was made into something for evil.
“Shit this is bad”. You mumbled to yourself as the golden guard stood beside Phillip.
Even after all of the ‘deaths’ of the past golden gaurds you still desperately wanted to set his soul free instead of being trapped.
So when hunter came along and found out the truth you felt a sort of relief thinking maybe now he could be free, wether it be living this life out as someone else, not the golden guard.
You saw how him and the others connected, he seemed happier with them instead of being threatened constantly for a slight mistake.
You wanted to end belos for all the pain he cause his own brother.
So when him and the hexsquad were sent to the human realm you followed just to make sure that he was gonna be ok.
After a couple of weeks you saw how he got better and seemed much more happier.
One day you were near by watching him see and he mentioned that he liked wolves to Gus his eyes wide with sparkle.
You took the chance and walked up to him while he was in the bathroom putting a bandage on a. Cut he had got on his wrist from getting scratched from amitys cat.
“Hunter.” You got his attention and he turned at the unfamiliar voice.
His eyes widened at you, you were a wolf after all how did you know his name?
He stumbled back, “h-how do you know my name”? He asked his hands grabbing onto the sink behind him. You put your paws up.
“I’m not here to hurt you hunter”. You said, your eyes soft and a small smile.
He furrowed his brows in confusion, “then what are doing here”? He asked desperately wanting to know.
“I just wanted to talk, I’ve seen all of your previous deaths and I can never seem to collect your soul”. You explained and his eyes went wide with confusion and fear.
We’re you gonna collect his soul now? You took the silence as a shock and continued.
“I’m the embodiment of death meaning I end peoples timer of life”. You said and he slowly let go of the sink.
“And I’m not here for your soul, i promise”. You added slowly putting your paws down.
“So your a wolf that’s the embodiment of death and your not here to collect my soul and you just want to talk”? He questioned.
You nodded and he slowly walked closer to you, you gave him a small smile and ruffled his hair.
“Wait you won’t tell the others I’m a grimwalker right”? He asked panicking you shook your head.
“No they don’t even know I’m here”. He breathed a sigh of relief and heard Willow calling his name.
“Hey I think Willow needs you I’ll talk to you later”. You said and he passed by you to the bathroom doorway.
“See you around hunter”. He turned back to you and smiled.
“See you around..” he didn’t even know your name.
“Y/n or death”. You answered.
“Right see you y/n”! He yelled walking to Willow.
Ok so I genuinely didn’t know where to go for this.
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miraclesnail · 3 months ago
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Helloooo 😊
Literally EVERY title PJO intrigued me but I'll just ask about some of them (for now...).
The mains ones being :
-Kronos AU
-Camp Jupiter AU
-1000 ways AU
-Torture AU
-Our Beginning, Our Ending
Which is basically almost all of them, I'm sorry to ask this much 😅😭
thanks for the ask! I think most of them have something written, so I'll just post little snippets of it.
Kronos AU
(It's titled Kronos AU, but it's more like Canon!Travis meets an AU!version of himself that worked with Kronos. 😅This isn't posted on ao3 yet. I thought it would be easier to just write most of it out and then begin posting on ao3 once it's near completion. But I have been writing this thing since 2017 lol and it's like about ~70k. Is it close to being done? No. Not really, but it'll get there one day 🤞)
Nico cried.
Travis thinks about that for a second.
Nico cried. 
He looked and acted like the 15 year old he actually is. 
“TRAVIS!”
On the 2nd second, he hears Connor screaming his name. Faces are zooming past him, the holograms unable to keep steady with him falling. Somehow, he’s still clutching the phone in his hands. Wow. Thought he would have dropped that by now. 
On the 3rd second, he hears everybody else yelling at him. 
“You have to slow yourself down!” 
“You land with that speed and you’re going splat!”
“Travis! You fucking idiot, get it together!”
The 4th second, the fog clears and he sees the ground coming fast at him. The math computes itself in his head. He was thrown from a 400 meter tall building. He’ll have just a bit over 9 seconds before he hits the ground. 
The 5th second, Travis scans his surroundings and finds nothing. The nearest building is too far to veer towards. Directly below him is a clear path to the asphalt. There’s nothing to grab, nothing to hit, nothing to slow him down. Nico really did pick a good spot to drop him from. Good for him. Sucks for himself though. 
The 6th second, his friends argue with each other. 
“Make an ice slide, Percy!” someone says. 
Percy yells back, “With what ice?!”
The 7th second is the same. 
“Then a water trampoline!”
Annabeth snaps, “At that speed, it’s like falling onto concrete. He’ll die.”
And so is the 8th second.
“Katie! Grow a tree or something like how your other-self did.”
“You think I haven’t been trying?” Katie screeches, “But I can’t — It’s not growing — It’s not appearing— it’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not. Why isn’t it?” 
He’s going to die. 
He’s going to die. 
There’s no surviving this. 
But his body still braces itself. He still rights himself to land feet first. He still moves like he will survive. He pictures Connor’s face, his little brother that stuck with him since they were toddlers on the streets to young children finally finding safety at camp to fledging co-counselors after Luke left them the torch. Nico’s arrival and departure. The Battle of the Labyrinth. The Battle of Manhattan. The war with the Romans then against Gaia. They survived together, from infancy and toddlerhood and those awkward, awkward pre-teen years and two wars. There have been two wars. So many of their friends died, but they’re still alive. There’s still a whole future ahead of them. He can’t die yet.  
Even if his legs shatter. Even if every bone in his body breaks. If by some miracle, if by some good fortune, if there’s even a measly chance he’ll survive then he needs to take it. 
8.5 seconds into his fall, he’s hit with a strong gust of air from below. 
Jason, he thinks, holy cow. What a save. 
Then he slams into the ground and his world goes dark.
xxxxxxx
Somewhere in between, Travis dreams. 
He dreams of the days before the War with the Gaea, before the war with the Titans, before Percy, before Luke and Annabeth and Camp. 
He dreams of the days when it was just him and Connor. He dreams of cold nights. Of starry skies. Of hitchhiking. Of aimless wandering. Of a hand in his, a face identical to his own, smiling back at him under the canopy of a tree while they wait for the rain to pass. Laughing in tattered, stolen jackets as they wait for the blizzard to pass in the stale, musty inside of a dumpster. Running in old and worn sneakers down Lower Manhattan from a lady with a tail instead of legs. Swinging their legs up on an oak tree as they point at the nigtt he sky with many twinkling lights
“It’s not so bad,” Connor always said to him with a beaming smile, “At least you’re here with me.”
“Suffering together,” he nods in agreement. 
Connor laughs. 
But at the very least always together. 
xxxxxxx
There’s people screaming his name when he comes to.
They’re panicking. They’re begging him to do something. Wake up. Get up. 
But his mind is a mess right now. He can’t breathe. Every inch of his body hurts, burning and throbbing with excruciating and stabbing pain.
That’s good though, isn’t it? It means his spine isn’t broken? He can still walk. 
But what if his mind is playing tricks on him? 
“T-Travis? Travis?! Is he dead? Someone please tell me he’s not dead!”
“Please get up. Please, please, please. Please get up.” 
Connor’s voice cuts through the others — wobbly and shaky. He doesn’t need to see to know Connor is scared.
I’m fine. It’s all good. Don’t worry.
But it’s taking all he has to open his eyes. 
And when he finally manages it, his vision is blurry.
He’s laying in a puddle of water several inches high. Little waves lap against his face with every plop plop of raindrops. There’s something red and wet, shimmering almost, right next to his head. Is that blood? His blood? 
He blinks to clear his vision and — a stabbing pain behind his eyes. 
His eyes clench shut and he curls in on himself. Bad move. A rippling pain shoots through his body. He’s sure he whimpers.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. You can’t cry in front of Connor. 
He takes a deep breath — and immediately stops when his sides just under his ribs scream bloody murder. 
Okay. No deep breaths.
Travis takes a small breath, shuddering, and forces his eyes open again. He’s lying on his right side, head tilted just enough that he’s not drowning in the puddles of water. He sees the pool of red and yes, that’s blood, raindrops making little holes like gunshots in that pool of red. 
He sees people kneeling in front of him — Annabeth and Percy — yelling words at him he’s not processing. They’re pointing behind them, something in the distance. Those squiggly blobs. 
He squints, not understanding what’s so urgent.
Then Connor’s voice cuts through the haze again. No. Not Connor’s. Other-him.
“Get up! Get up. Get up. Get up! GET UP!”
The squiggly blobs become people —3 of them, skinny and malnourished — and they’re running towards him. They’re sprinting towards him. And fuck. Fuck. fuck. Fuck. 
His heart pounds faster as realization dawns on him. His fingers scrabble on the asphalt but he can’t find strength to even roll over. He’s hyperventilating. Every breath he takes is short and sends a stab into his side. 
He struggles to stand, arms failing to lift higher than an inch. His legs refuse to budge too and maybe he did break his spine. 
Another strong gust of air blows past him, pushing against the three running zombies. One falls over but they just simply stand back up. They’re still making their way over to him. 
“He needs to fight. You need to fight them off, Travis,” Annabeth says to his left, her voice tight. 
“Not in that condition,” Will says on his right, hologram hands fluttering over him. There’s a hint of panic cracking through Will’s calm persona he always has on in a crisis mode.
5 broken ribs. A fractured femur. Breaks on both tibia. A crack on the right humerus. Another on his shoulder blade. An undetermined level of traumatic brain injury. Severe internal bleeding. Class 3 level of hypovolaemic shock borderlining on 4. 
Will is saying more, but it’s all medical jargon that Travis can’t spare any brain power on deciphering.
Camp Jupiter AU
(This is the Camp Jupiter! Connor fic. The next chapter is like... nearly done. Sort of.)
“Wanna see something cool, Annabeth?” Luke had told her once upon a time, a time from before the war, from before Kronos, from before the quest with the apple, from before even camp half blood and before Thalia’s death and before Grover had found them,  as they stand outside of a hotdog stand.
And her, 7 years old and enamorated with Luke and all his surface perfections, nods her head rapidly.
Luke smiled at her, warm and loved and kindly, before turning back to the hotdog stand they’re loitering around. 
His eyes glowed dimly, just a bit brighter than their usual blue. And they shimmered. The blue irises swirling in a circle clockwise, slowly, just barely noticeable.
Luke rested an arm on the stand and the vendor scowled at him, sizing them up and probably chalking up they have no money. He’s right. They don’t have any money. But Luke still asked anyway. 
“Can I have a hotdog?”
And the man handed them three without a question. He didn’t even ask about payment. Luke snatched the three hotdogs, thanking him quickly before quickly walking away. Annabeth followed after just as fast.
“How did you do that?” she asked, even more enamorated. Luke is so cool. She remembered that was her exact thought. 
And Luke, with sweat beading his forehead, eyes back to normal again, chuckled, his laugh weak and wobbly. “Uh… my powers. I don’t really use it all that much though. It’s kind of exhausting to be honest.” 
But he did it anyway. For me and Thalia, Annabeth thought, Luke really is the best. 
Luke never really used that power afterwards. But Annabeth can never forget it. 
The glow in those eyes. The shimmering irises. The slow swirl. 
When Annabeth met Travis Stoll at Grand Central Station the summer she turned 14, a couple weeks after Thalia’s ejection from the pine tree, that was the first thing she noticed.
He has the same power as Luke, was Annabeth’s first thought of Travis. 
He’s working with the titan, is Annabeth’s second thought. 
We can’t let him into camp. He’ll spy on all of us.
But Percy with his soft heart didn’t see what she saw. 
He’s just a lost demigod without a home, Seaweed Brain told her with these puppy-eyes as he held onto Travis’s wrist so he didn’t run away. Travis looked like the type, chuckling nervously as he hid behind Percy from her piercing gaze as he looked side to side for an escape route. Percy stood taller and broadened his shoulder as if to the shield Travis, 
But Annabeth wasn’t as kind or soft as Percy. 
“He’s lying to you,” she snarled, brandishing her dagger at this Travis person taking advantage of Percy’s good heart. “He’s with Luke.” 
“What? No. No way,” Percy said, nose flaring with the beginning flames of anger as he stood his ground. “What is your problem? You judged Tyson just like this. How can you know all that when you just met him?” 
Because he has the same power as Luke, the same power that’s blossoming in Drew Tanaka, their newest camper. The power that can make whoever they speak to do their bidding. But whereas Luke can only perform a simple action before the power wanes all his energy, Travis has been active with no signs of stopping. No exhaustion like Luke suffered from. No sweating. No weakness. 
Travis’s control over his godly power was better than even Luke’s. Then that must mean Travis is powerful and no powerful demigod this old hadn’t already been pulled to one side. 
Travis Stoll had to be working for Kronos. 
She just didn’t have the proof at the moment. But what other explanation can there be? To have survived for this long from monsters and elements alike, he had to have help from the titan. 
But Percy won their argument in the end, dragging the now reluctant Travis (suspicious) to Camp Half Blood. There Travis was claimed at the spot (highly suspicious). Hermes himself even arrived at the Camp to see Travis in person much to the guffaws of the other unclaimeds in the cabin (incredibly suspicious). 
No way Travis wasn’t a spy. 
So Annabeth waited.
Waited for the ball to drop.
Waited for the mask to come off.
Waited for Travis to show his true colors and betray them all just as Luke had. 
But the hours became days that became weeks that turned into months and then to years.
Travis ate with them jovially, excitedly, eyes going starried eyed at the variety of meals he can bring forth with his mind.  Annabeth was staring at him so she spotted it, the moment of genuinity. The moment of relief that can only come from the experience of scarcity. And she looked away quickly. It’s just an act. He’s pretending. He’s acting. Just a ploy so she’ll lower her guard, she told herself then. 
Travis played volleyball and decimated her reigning champion title effortlessly and unknowingly. He doesn’t spike all too hard and his serves are nothing. But the way he dives for the ball, he never once allowed it to touch the ground despite who she set the ball to. They can only make the rally go on for so long before someone makes a mistake. Then he had the nerve, the hudslaw, to try to throw the next match when he found out his crime. Annabeth didn’t let him, of course, because a win is not a win if one of them was only trying half-heartedly. Athena would disown her if she claimed victory like this. 
Travis sparred playfully and half-heartedly with Percy, losing on purpose and tapping out too early. I’m tired. You got me. I lost. Hahahaha. Travis said it all with this weird edge in his voice. 
Travis helped Will and Michael out in the infirmary and then initiated a rubber band war when there’s down time. Travis learned how to knit and crochet from her so he could make thousands of little bunnies to plant all over Demeter’s Cabin and in Katie Gardner’s bed. Travis strummed his lyre happily in the weekly sing-a-longs much to Lee’s delight before taking the campy songs more towards a rock theme. Travis listened attentively to Beckendorf’s rantings about his creations before using newly found knowledge to create his own contraptions for his pranks (that never works thank the fates). 
Travis was there with them at the Battle of the Labyrinth, guarding his cabinmate’s back. Travis comforting the younger campers. Travis cried when they burned Lee’s and Castor’s shrouds. Travis cried at Percy’s faux-funeral then at Beckendorf’s shroud burning. Travis followed them into Manhattan and did as told without a single complaint. 
Travis fought for them, fought with them. 
Travis risked his life for their cause the same as all of them. 
Travis held her hand when he got back from his trip to the drug store with Will’s requested supplies.
Travis talked with her as Will treated her wounds, told her about what he saw on his way to the drug store, about this pair of puppies sleeping side by side beside their human in the middle of the street and how he moved them away, how his cabin is doing, how her cabin is doing, what the weather is like. 
Travis stayed beside her for a moment longer after Will left when Kayla and Austin came to tell him something, their face haggard. 
Travis told her in this quiet voice that Michael had died, voice cracking while on the other side of the door she can hear Will’s sobbing. 
And when they won the war, when Kronos had been vanquished, and they’re all back safe and sound at camp, Travis smiled at her so warmly, with such genuine affection, with such a gentle look, it can’t be mistaken for anything but sincerity. 
She was wrong. 
Travis wasn’t a spy. 
He’s just a liar. 
1000 ways
(Drew is the only one with an intro I liked out of the 3 I have ongoing in this doc. She's probably next.)
Drew (14) - Travis (14) - Connor (13) 
Summer 2007
If Drew tries really hard, if she closes her eyes and shuts out the world, Drew can remember the counselor before Silena. 
She had been kind. A warm smile. She loved hugging them. She loved saying how proud she is of them. She loved making these little knickknacks to give them at the end of summer. A little clay figurine. A crocheted beanie. A knitted hand warmer. 
There’s more too. She talked too much about her dog, a little doodle puppy in California. She complained about the long flight whenever she came to camp for the summer and how jetlaggd she is. She always spoke about their mother in a stilted way whenever she spoke of Aphrodite, always shifting the topic away as fast as she could. 
But she did seem knowledgable about their shared mother. 
Drew doesn’t remember much more of Karen. 
But she remembered how she always looked stressed at curfew when she checked each of them to make they’re accounted for, when she listened to their complaints about other cabins bullying them and how they want to make it stop, how they wish their mother would give them some kind of message or sign that they care.
She remembered thinking that a counselor seems like a sucky job.
And now here Silena is, standing before them with a shaky smile, legs quivering as she addresses all of them, “Welcome back, Cabin 10. Let’s have another great summer! I’m your head counselor this summer, Silena Beuragard.”
“What happened to Karen?” someone in the back asks, “Is she working or taking summer classes?”
“Karen? Oh, um,” Silena says pitifully, eyes darting around the room in an obvious attempt to buy time. 
Weird, Drew thinks and thinks no more of it.
That should have been clue 1.
“Karen…” Silena gulps and her lower lip wobbles. “Karen died in May to hellhounds.”
A heavy, unbearable silence consumes their cabin. Of course it would. Why wouldn’t it? As much as Annabeth likes to tell everybody new that arrives to camp that they, the children of Aprodite, do not attract monsters, the fact of the matter is that they do. They fucking do. It’s a reality for them as much as it is for every other demigod. Karen always stopped her from telling Annabeth off, saying some bullshit about how ‘we need to maintain peace, Drew.’ 
Well, she’s not here to maintain the peace and Drew is going to say whatever she wants. And the first on the list is telling Annabeth she’s wrong. 
The somber silence in their cabin is annoying though and it looks like Silena isn’t going to do anything about it. In fact, their new counselor is doing nothing but staring at her shoes. Come on, Silena. Read the room. 
Drew huffs and crosses her arms, raising her voice, “Well, we expected this, didn’t we? It’s part of the deal that comes with being demigods. Time to take training more seriously so we all don’t become like poor old Karen.”
A girl beside her punches her in the arm and hisses, “Drew! That’s too insensitive!”
But that seems to snap Silena out of her stupor. “No… No. Drew is right. Let’s take training more seriously. No more deaths from now on. I want to see you all again next summer… yeah?” 
Silena ends it with a weak smile, a guilty smile once Drew looks closer. But why? What would Silena have any guilt about?
“Thanks, Drew,” Silena tells her after everybody clears the cabin, still with that wobbling lip. “You really saved the mood there.” 
Drew scoffs and flips her hair over her shoulder and  rests a hand on her hip, looking her half-sister up and down. “Yeah. It’s no big deal. Are you sure you can do it though? That’s not a very strong start there, you know. Not a very respectable start either. If anything, you seem kind of like a pushover.” 
Silena shakes her head and bites her cheek as she rubs her arms. “No, no, I can do this. I have to do this. After everything I had to do just to get this position, I can’t just… I can’t just make you do it. What kind of sister would I be?”
Silena is such a piss-poor liar. She definitely just changed what she was about to say. 
Torture AU
(Basically Travis gets kidnapped by Luke and locked away because he wouldn't help Luke. Then Luke someone had someone infiltrate and take over cabin 11 to help Silena with spy/sabotage duties while Connor was busy looking for his brother. It was suppose to be a 5 part story but I've been stuck on the first part. So I just add like a word every week or so lol)
He’s just a child. Baby fat rounding his cheeks. Limbs, thin and gangly. Voice, high and squeaking. A face that is undoubtedly trying to appear tough, but it’s just a baby pout. Just a child. 
I wince as he’s dragged by the arms, legs digging into the steel floor to no avail and screams echoing, through the hallway. He catches my eyes, catches my polearm beside me next, and his eyes widen just a bit in fear. But Marcus and Adwin pull him further along. I bring my halberd polearm, just a bit taller than me at 5 and a half feet, closer and follow after them. 
He’s yelling about his brother who will ‘definitely come for me’ and ‘you’ll all regret it’ and ‘I am so hungry why couldn’t you kidnap me after breakfast, huh?’
They toss him into a cellar, pull the steel bars close, and lock it with a padlock, tossing me the key. 
Keep watch over him, Marcus tells me as Adwin leaves without a glance back. 
Don’t let him out.
Don’t let him escape. 
Don’t talk to him. 
Just ignore him. 
Easy enough to do.  
xx
“Hey,” he says as soon as we’re alone with a bright, easy smile, fingers wrapping loosely around the metal bars. “How are you? What’s your name?”
By reflex, I smile back.
And by courtesy, I answer.
“It’s Carwen. And yours?”
xx
Travis is his name. He really is a child, just barely turned thirteen, five years younger than me. Oldest in his cabin. A son of Hermes. Luke’s younger half brother. It's hard to believe they’re related. Luke is ice cold and harsh edges and bitter scowls but Travis is lively laughs and wide smiles and bad jokes. 
Nothing at all like Luke. 
xx
Travis talks.
Like, a lot.
About everything, about nothing. The weather. The food. His cabin. His brothers and sisters. Luke. His feelings. His dreams. His aspirations. His hobbies. His pet peeves. 
It’s refreshing honestly. No one ever talks here, least of all mundane stuff like this. 
It’s all war, war, war. Plans, plans, plans. Strategy this and strategy that. Revenge, revenge, revenge. 
Sometimes all Carwen wants is a nice conversation. 
Just a nice, casual “I'm good. Went scuba diving. Made some kimchi fried rice. How are you?” to her “how are you? Anything fun happened today?” rather than “I performed a splenectomy on myself.” or “Threw up because I ate rotting meat.” or even “I did nothing but train today and so should you.” 
xx
Food comes twice a day. Early morning and late evening. It’s not really special. Just white rice with unseasoned chicken and an apple. It’s boring and unappetizing and Travis tells me for every meal for the last three days. 
He tells me how the food at Camp Half Blood is so much better, so much more diverse, so much more tasty. 
And I couldn’t disagree. 
xx
There’s no vegetables at all in his bidaily meals! That’s not a healthy diet for a growing boy.  
Well, today I cut and steamed some broccoli with a soy sauce and mustard mix. I hope he likes it. Travis stares at it for a long time, his face lowered and hidden from me. I fiddle with my polearm as I wait for his reaction. 
When he breaks into a smile and thanks me, I don’t know why but I go warm. 
xx
Travis tells me how he was caught. Went running along the border with the newest camper. Got chloroformed. Last thing he saw was the camp’s rising sun as he’s dragged down half blood hill. I listened, nodded in understanding a couple times, but all I could think about was Abbie, the nine year old we sent over there for spying purposes and undercover missions. 
xx
Why are you fighting? Travis asks with wide eyes. Why are you doing this? 
xx
Flower. 
That’s the name I gave my halberd. Travis watches it with a lackluster expression. It looks too heavy. It looks dull. It looks slow. All of which I deny exuberantly.
I ask him what’s his preferred weapon, Travis hums and ponders and drums his fingers on the bed. Something inconspicuous, he tells me later. Something he could always have with him without suspicion.
Our Beginning, Our End 
(It's supposed to be a companion piece to the Kronos!AU where I put all the side stories that explained events in the main story but were too clunky to somehow add in there.)
The whole school saw it at the same time. That wave of water. Thousands of meters high and racing towards them. Like something right out of a disaster movie. Laurel stares, transfixed at the coming wave. We’re going to die. We’re all going to die.
Even when her twin sister socks her in the arm and yells at her, Laurel can’t move. 
“Laurel!” Holly screams right into her ear. “Get a grip! We have a run now!”
A hand grabs her wrist and tugs hard. She doesn’t budge from the window. 
“Laurel! You big, fucking idiot! Move, Laurel!”
She still doesn’t move. 
And her twin sister, her other-half, her equal, the one person she can’t stand, can’t live without, the one person who knows her inside and out, says the only words that gets through.
“This settles it. I’m the one best suited for apocalypses, you pansy.” 
It’s like fire fills her veins and Laurel snaps out of whatever stupor she was in. 
“Huh?!? What? You? We both know I’m the better one.” she snaps, but she’s jesting. The truth is, she’s scared and so is Holly.
“Yeah? Show me then,” Holly challenges with a crazy smile, “Survive longer than me and we’ll see.” 
A game. To be the best. To be number 1. They played that game for as long as Laurel can remember. 
No matter what. Winning is everything. Winning is the only option.
Holly shoving her out of the way of the trampede, even that means she gets caught in the crowd, that was an admission of defeat. 
Laurel guessed when she just sat there and watched her sister’s head roll underneath her schoolmate’s feet. That was also an admission of defeat.  
Holly’s dead. Her skull is split in two. There’s so much blood. There’s no pulse. But admitting that means Laurel has no reason to live.
So she lifts her precious sister onto her back and runs as far as she can before the waters catch up. 
“I’m going to win,” she pretends, a quiet whisper that sounds more like a question. The fear in her voice makes her sick
“I’m going to win! Just watch and see!” she yells to no one’s ears. 
“I'm going to win, you loser,” she says to the still body. 
The tsunami hits her and she’s swept up in the waters. Her vision becomes darky and murky. She doesn’t know which way is up. Something large and heavy crashes into her. She loses her grip on Holly and Laurel screams no, water filling her lungs. 
Not my sister. Don’t take my sister away from me. Holly. Holly. Holly, don’t go. 
When she wakes, she’s floating on top of a lake with a pile of bodies. Alone and her sister nowhere in sight. 
She’s dead. 
She can’t breathe. Everytime she tries, everytime she focuses on it, its like she’s drowning again. 
But if she ignores it, if she doesn’t think about it, she can talk. And she’s moving despite being dead. 
She should question the logistics but all she can think about right now is finding her sister. Find her sister. Find Holly. Find holly first Then she can figure out why she isn’t dead. 
But the minutes of looking turn into hours of looking.  The hours turns into days and then weeks and then months. 
She can’t recognize anything. Nothing is the same. There’s no landmarks. She can’t tell where she is. All the houses are washed away. All the buildings torn down to just their foundation. 
She gives up her dignity and asks for help. But nobody, not the shambling drowned corpses, not the thin skeletal corpses, not the chewed and bitten corpses, not the corpses with bullets in their heads, none if them know where her sister is. 
She asks. And asks. And asks. And there’s still no Holly. 
And day by day, the panic settles and grips her heart. What if she never finds Holly? What jf this is Hell? What if this is her personal hell? To forever look and never find her twin? 
The desperation gets worse. Her fear gets wilder. She tries harder. She struggles more. She stops being nice. If a corpse or a still alive being gives her no answer, she shoves them away. If they’re too slow to move aside, she jabs her hand-made spear into their stomach and tosses them aside. 
There’s a small part of her, the moral part of her, that knows what she’s doing is wrong, but Holly is still missing. Everybody — mostly everybody — is already dead so what does it matter?
Times pass for whoever knows just like that. Searching for her sister, cutting people in half, searching for her sister, cutting people inbalf, over and over. Monotnous and repeating. 
Until it isn’t. 
She bumps into someone alive as she rounds a corner of the office building she’s searching in and the pain is searing and immediate. The pain lingers even after the person jumps back. 
“Shit! Watch out guys.”
There’s others behind her. Two girls. Three boys. They’re all different somehow. There’s this certain strength coursing through them that she never sees in others — both corpses and alive. They’re like her. They’re special like her. 
But this person she bumped into is more special. This still alive person she comes across, this… person is different. Being around her hurts. Being around her makes her unable to breathe. It makes her feel like she’s drowning. It makes her rememeber her death, the dark murky waters and twirling in complete darkness, of her last contact with her sister. It makes her afraid. it makes her feel the pain all the worse. Run. Attack. Those are her two options.
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didhewinkback · 1 year ago
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OMFG I just read something old and MANNNN. You got me feeling all types of ways holy shit. The most I’ve ever felt reading a series holy cow. You are so fucking talented. Wowza. Please continue with the blurbs I feel like they are part of my life now.
Also does the fans know about Y/N and Harry’s current relationship? How did they feel when things were first announced after the wedding was called off and their relationship was exposed for the first time?
omg helllloooo you angel on earth !!! this message is soo lovely and kind and idk what i did to deserve it. i am so grateful that you took the time to write me and that you love the story so much!! i appreciate this message more than you knoow.
sorry this took me ages to answer as an apology i essentially wrote you a blurb pls see below
so per harry and erin's teams' agreement, the public never knew a wedding was supposed to take place. anyone who worked it had signed a pretty ironclad nda & all guests in attendance knew to stay silent about it, though some of erin's friends did try to go to deuxmoi at one point months later but that got shut down pretty quick. when the press release about the engagement ending came out, there was obviously endless speculation about it, discourse, tiktoks etc. people had a lot of feelings about harry and erin's relationship, they either absolutely loved the fashion power couple or they absolutely hated it and it was best to avoid any and all discussions on the matter, made easier by the break up being announced when you were on pause and doing your best to ignore any and all celeb news (though you did do some google searches at 3 am when you couldn't sleep but it immediately made you feel terrible so you avoided it like the plague, knowing if you needed to know something, harry would tell you)
as for your relationship, you both kept it realllly low key and private for the first year, wanting the broken off engagement to become old old news before anything got speculated about the two of you, harry was pretty adamant about ensuring no one connected you to the breakup. it was much easier than it sounds, he can really disappear when he needs to and it was important to both of you to protect what you had, shield it from prying eyes. his relationship with erin had been highly publicized and he had no interest in doing that again and you couldn't agree more, you've got no interest in that world or leaning into the public eye, so that first year was quite lovely, going on dates around london, moving in together around his birthday, 8 months into dating officially but conventional timelines never applied to you both. if you ever were spotted out together by fans, any speculation got shut down pretty quickly, people recognized you as his lifelong childhood friend and had no reason to assume otherwise, which worked in your favor when his tour started up again and there was tiktok upon tiktok about how "yes you've been to more shows than usual but jeff's at every show and no one thinks he's dating harry so why would they think it about you??" you avoided it all but roxy loved to take the piss, sending you screenshots every so often when you would show up on her for you page with a text "cannot seem to escape this bitch" to which you would reply "just how many videos of h's concert were you watching to get this on your algorithm?"
its in december 2021, the start of his few months off before the work craziness resumes, a lazy sunday morning. you're lounging on the couch, half heartedly clicking through netflix when you hear him come back into the house from his coffee run, hearing snippets of the phone call he's having getting louder after he kicks his shoes off and makes his way towards you.
"Yeah, I'll talk to her 'nd get back to you." he says, as he turns the corner, still bundled up with his beanie and hoodie pulled over his head, brow furrowed as he listens to the other end while still balancing the coffees and bag of pastries in his hand. "Yeah, for sure. Okay I'll call you back. Love you bro, bye."
He hangs up the phone, placing the treats on the coffee table before taking out his airpods and shuffling over to you. He hovers over where you lay, resting his hands on the back and arm of the couch before leaning in.
"Hi," he murmurs with a soft smile on his face, leaning in to kiss you.
You shudder when you pull away, the frost from outside having seeped into his face. "You're cold," you say with a small frown to which he immediately rolls his eyes and nudges his cold nose down the side of your face, pressing kisses all along your cheeks, forehead, jawline, until you push him away with a giggle. He smacks one final kiss to your head before pulling away, tugging his hoodie off his head and taking his beanie off to shake out his hair.
He leans back to grab the coffee off the table, handing you your cup while throwing the bag of pastries onto your lap before he grabs his own cup, lifting your legs temporarily before settling on the other side of the couch, placing your ankles over his lap. He leans back, resting his head against the back of the couch and closing his eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath. You assume you're the "her" he mentioned on the phone earlier but you opt to give him time, peeling open the pastry bag to see what he picked up.
"Got something weird to talk to y' about." he says, making you pause in your rifling efforts as you look over at him, finding him in the same position, his eyes still closed.
"Oookay."
He squeezes your ankle once, opening his eyes and rolling his head along the back of the couch to look at you.
"There was a pap yesterday. Last night. On our walk. Don't know how but - here." He pulls his phone out of his sweatshirt pocket, quickly unlocking it before handing it over to you.
You feel an uneasy pit in your stomach as you swipe through the photos, though there's nothing bad or damning or embarrassing about them. Objectively, they're quite lovely. The two of you bundled up through the blustery London night, his arm wrapped around your shoulders with yours around his waist, him pulling you into his chest as you laugh, his chin resting against your head, then pressing a kiss to your hair. You both look happy, really, really happy, completely unaware of any eyes on you. You keep scrolling through and - ah. There's the most revealing one, the two of you smiling up at each other before he pulls you into a kiss with his hands cradling your face.
You can feel his eyes on you, intently watching every emotion that passes over your face, thumb rubbing circles along your ankle. It's so weird, is the thing. To see this intimate moment between you two captured by a complete stranger who you had no idea was watching you. You've somehow managed to avoid this happening up until this point, the combination of lawsuits he has against paps in London and being able to blend in with the crowd having worked in your favor for the last year. It's a bizarre feeling, to feel like you got too complacent in your own life, should've been more aware of your surroundings. But also? Fuck that. You're not going to live your life differently because of what other people are doing or thinking. They're the ones with the issue, not you.
"'m so sorry," he says, 'Had no idea -"
"No no no," you say quickly cutting him off, as you hand him his phone back, sitting up and taking his hand when he offers it. "No need to apologize."
"Daily Mail and a few others got a hold of 'em, that was Jeff earlier. He and Sadie wanted to see if we wanted them to run any kind of interference." he says, small frown on his face as he plays with your palm, fingers drawing mindless patterns. "The photos are getting published regardless but like they could try to keep you as a mystery woman or summat -"
You snort, shaking your head as you rest your forehead on his shoulder, his arms wrapping around you and pulling you close. It takes a second of rearranging your legs before you're sat on his lap, his hand rubbing up and down your back. You pull back to look at him, hands coming up to cradle his face. He leans into the touch, turning to plant a kiss to your palm.
"You okay?" you ask quietly.
He nods. "Just don't like getting caught off guard like that. Don't like that people who don't know us will get to -"
"Yeah."
"And I don't want to fuck things up for you. Like your job or -"
"Everyone at work already knew. And those who didn't met you last week. Most people are barely on the internet there, I'm not stressed. " you say, sliding your hands to rest on his shoulders as he nods, brow furrowed in thought.
"'s gonna be intense for a bit. Might be good to hop on a call with Jeff and Sadie, see what boundaries we can set, control what we can control."
"Yeah, that'd be good," you say, your mind whirling as the reality of the situation sets in, photos of you kissing your boyfriend splashed all over the internet. Christ.
"Hey," he says gently. "Talk to me?"
"Sorry," you say, shaking your head. "I'm good. Just - it's a lot. It's definitely gonna be weird, nothing I can't adjust to but still just. Bizarre."
"Yeah." he says, his hand coming up rest at the back of your neck. "You look really fit in the photos if that helps."
You laugh, watching as the smile grows across his face, his thumb catching on your jawline.
"It does, thanks." you say, smiling back at him.
"'m really sorry this can't be easier. Being with me -"
"Shut up." you say, surprising a laugh out of him. "Please. This is nothing. Easy to ignore at the end of the day. All that matters to me is you."
"Same here," he says, taking a deep breath, lips twitching up. "All that matters to me is me."
"You're so stupid, I knew you were gonna say that -" you say, laughing as you slap him on the chest, trying to twist out of his hold but he pulls you back in.
"'s you, 's you. You know 's you darling, come here." he murmurs, smiling when you press your lips to his, gripping your neck a bit tighter as he kisses you back. You know you have to call back his team, figure out some logistics but that can wait. All you want is right here.
---
so yes, the photos get published, the fans freak out. lots claiming they always always knew, many spending their time trying to piece together the relationship timeline, no one connecting it back to erin thankfully. it helps that she is busy with her new billionaire boyfriend, (you almost clicked on their architectural digest tour the other day before deciding against it). but you both really ignore it all, keep going about your lives, nothing really changes because you don't let it. you both still want to keep your relationship out of the public eye as much as you can, it doesn't stop fans or paps from taking your picture when you're out together but its easy to ignore it, just focus on each other, ignore the noise and the crazy corners of the internet.
he rarely talks about you in interviews, confirming you're together, maybe a brief mention or two of his girlfriend but refusing to go beyond that. it's only in his zane lowe interview in late 2024 that he goes into a little more detail when describing his inspiration for his new album, but at that point he's calling you something entirely different :) :) :)
---
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AHHHHHHH I JUST FINISHED SNAKESKIN AND HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT IT WAS SO GOOD AHDHEIBWHRBRB the way the nations and their relationships are written? Perfect
Slowburn romance between Arthur and feli? Incredible
Owen's personality? Gorgeous
The parents and Daniel and loving and chiara and everybody's relationship with eachother? Incredibly well written
Hotel? Trivago
the PAIN I felt for Charlie abshehqjevqhwhhe
And Mrs. Higgs and her dress shop and Arthur and feli's relationship with the kids, the teachers and their detailed personalities, all the fights and anguish and abahajwhAnhajahshhqhshshHQHEVEHWJEHR SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD
This was hands down one of THE BEST books I've ever read like holy cow it was so much better than the Harry potter books themselves
Also I love the way you wrote Harry like he's just some guy trying to do his job and for that I salute him
Also 150 points to Flitwick for putting the minister in a box lmao that was golden
Also Scorpious been a nerd for muggle engineering? We love that
Also love Mrs. Baker and Mr. Gamp's nerdyness about transport and engineering go queens
Hope Eliza gets the therapy she needs and becomes the next care of magical creatures professor fr fr
This was the longest and most incredible piece of writing I have ever consumed and if you ever make anything like that again PLEASE tell me cause I will eat that shit up like a man who can feel his stomach start to eat himself from the inside form hunger fr fr
So, I'm always always happy to nerd out about snakeskins, and I love it so much, but.
I did not actually write it.
I shared my personal doc of it with the proposed ending after Sunny's blog was deleted but all that's in it is the fanfition.net version with some changed names for my own reading experience. Like I used Lukas Bondevik for Norway because sunny used that in the original version and I think I took the names for the siblings from the ao3 rewrite iirc because they're the correct Italian version.
Yeah that's in that, some blog posts of the now deleted @lsunnyc blog and an ao3 snippet I commissioned from sunny. But yeah I did not actually write it sorry for the misunderstanding 🙈. I tried to make it a bit clearer in the post!
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bismuthupmy · 1 year ago
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Nothing Hurts | Leon X Luis RE4
Chapter Two | 2.8k
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The story of tragic righteousness where nobody is hurt and everything is perfect. Except nothing is perfect in hell.
A re-imagining of the events of the Resident Evil 4 remake where Luis and Leon get the ending they deserved.
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Chapter two already and I can’t wait to write the next part. I hope some of you guys enjoy this as much as I do.
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The village centre was silent besides the livestock making themselves known. The immediate absence of anyone trying to kill him confused Leon to no end. It wasn’t the best idea to stick around so up the hill he went, following the dirt path. 
“Roost to Condor One. I've identified a root to the lake. Look for a large windmill. There’s a path on the far side of it.”
“Windmill. Copy that.”
“And be careful. Roost out.”
The road ended with a wooden gate. Leon threw his entire body weight into opening the gate, the hinges screaming horribly. The dirt trail continued on to another section of the village.
Leon continued up to the farm, spotting the windmill over the rooftops.
“There it is,” Leon muttered to himself, coming up the side of a concrete shed. Leaning out from behind the old store room, Leon hoped that he wouldn’t bump straight into another villager, though it was fine this time thankfully.. There was an old man digging up cow shit by the side of a barn looking shelter. His back was turned so Leon could easily sneak past him. Taking a look further up was a woman also with her back turned. He really didn't want to get involved with these people, especially with Baby Eagle at stake.
The old man walked back through the barn shelter and into the main paddock of the farm. That made things easier. Quietly stalking out behind the woman, Leon did the same stealth kill, laying her gently in the hay. Moving around the building he came across a door and pushed against it. The hinges groaned but the door didn’t move. Leon sighed to himself. He figured the only way forward was straight through the farm.
Leon jogged down the side of the house and the barn shelter, pulling out his handgun and shooting down the remaining farmers. 
“That it?” he whispered to himself, expecting a lot more villagers like in the town centre. Either way he wasn't going to complain. He now had free reign to explore the farm. There was a large metal gate that blocked off the other exit which looked like it used some mechanism to open. Going through the iron door to the right of the gate led to a large silo looking building, a ladder leading up to said mechanism.
Leon looked around the top floor. The gate needed a cog wheel to complete it. On the far wall there was a large opening that looked like it had been bombed where the silo led out to a bridge between it and the old house that Leon tried to enter previously. Seemed legit. 
Walking over to the next building Leon found that the was no door but what there was, thankfully, was a nice looking window. Diving through the window arrived on a loft platform in a storage barn. After inspecting the top floor he jumped down to the ground. Behind the ladder to the loft there were tables with all sorts of resources and ammo. He didn't hesitate to stock up. Not like these people were using it.
Amongst other things on the table Leon spied a cog wheel. Perfect. He snatched it up and made his way to the front door of the barn. A hammer emerged from the wooden doors and flew straight for his head.
“Holy shit!” Leon ducked under the hammer, scrambling backwards. A large man with a fucking bull head, approached, more villagers following behind.
“You've go to be kidding me,” Leon pulled out his shotgun and aimed for the group. His gun sprayed bullets, taking down the villagers. The bull man, however, remained unphased. Scoffing, Leon clambered up the ladder to the loft and aimed down the length of it, shooting down whoever dared climb up. The bull man was relentless. No matter how many times he'd been pushed off the rungs, he continued to pursue.  Leon’s gun clicked unsatisfyingly. “Shit!” He replaced his ammo, slowly stepping backwards. That time allowed the bull man to climb up the ladder uninhibited. He pulled back his hammer and swung it in circles. Startled, Leon dove for the nearest exit which just so happened to be the window back onto the bridge he entered on. He moved down further, readying his handgun as the bull man lunged over the windowsill. Headshots nor the fragments of glass now inevitably buried in his hands slowed him down. 
As the bull man came closer Leon noticed the bull head had just been shoved on. The head was falling apart, parts of the hide peeling away from the bullet holes. One part of the bull’s cheek had completely peeled off, revealing the part of the man’s face behind it. It must’ve been offering some protection from bullets.  Waiting for the man to get close enough, Leon raised his gun and aimed steadily. The man got closer, swinging the hammer over his shoulder, over his head, letting gravity do the job coming down. Bang.
The hammer went off course, dropping down to the left of Leon grazing his arm, having been dropped. The man fell back at the force of the bullet soaring through his exposed eye, dead. 
Leon dropped to the floor, sitting there reclined backwards  catching his breath. His arm throbbed under his jacket but luckily the leather hadn’t ripped, he'd just have a big bruise. He couldn’t help but thank whatever god that the villagers hadn’t actually developed real fucking bull heads.
Dragging himself back up on his feet Leon headed back to the gate mechanism. The cog wheel slotted in easily, thankfully not rendering Leon’s efforts as useless. Leon uses the handle to manually raise the gate. Jumping down he continued along the path.
“Ahí está!”
“Wha-”
A large explosion burst open a small avalanche of rocks above Leon’s head. He dove out of the way of the boulders and dust, coughing. 
“Ugh, give me a break.”
On a bridge up ahead, a few villagers yelled at him. Leon pulled out his handgun again and shot them down causing them to fall to their deaths below. Shaking off the effects of the recoil in his wrists Leon took an alternate path around the side, taking no shit from the woman waiting for him at the end of it. He continued through a concrete tunnel.
─•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•─
The moment that Leon stepped foot out into the open he had dynamite thrown at him. He launched himself to the side away from the explosion. Several villagers alerted to his location, hatchets sailing towards his head. With a lot of ducking and retaliating, the pursuing villagers were taken out. Leon leaned out of his hiding behind a desecrated building to aim up at a woman with a seemingly endless supply of dynamite. Right at that moment a stick landed in front of him. He jumped back, foot landing in a bear trap.
“Fuck!”
Screaming through his teeth, Leon forced the trap open and pulled his leg out just as another stick of dynamite landed within hit range. He stumbled back, aiming up at the woman on the platform, nailing her right between the eyes. 
Leon’s leg throbbed where it was stuck in the bear trap. The teeth hadn’t pierced his skin that deep due to them having corroded and gotten blunt over time but it definitely needed attention regardless. 
Getting up and promptly ignoring it, Leon moved into the largest house on the lake which was, for the most part, intact. He shot the lock off and entered. There was nothing of note inside the house. Just old trinkets, photos, furniture shoved against walls or in inconvenient places. Loud banging noises, however, could be heard from deeper in the house. There was a rickety cupboard leaning against a very inconspicuous hole in the wall. Nearly laughing to himself at the poorly covered up doorway, Leon pushed the cupboard out of the way.
The banging instantly  became louder. Inching towards the source of the noise,  Leon held up his gun in front of him. Upon inspection, a villager was hammering away at some floor boards, so focused entirely on his job that he didn’t notice Leon until he came up close enough to land a headshot and kicked him to the side. The villager had been nailing a trap door shut which poses the question: why?
Leon forced the sloppily nailed boards off the trapdoor and pulled it open, dropping down into the basement. With his gun and flashlight pointing the way he advanced though the room. Leon heard rustling coming from the end of the basement, turning the corner and seeing a writhing body shaped sack. Those are some weird potatoes. The squirming stopped as he got closer.
Cautiously, keeping as much distance as he could, Leon pulled at the strings keeping the top of the sack sealed, revealing a man with his mouth taped shut. The man’s wiggling picked back up. Leon ripped the tape of his mouth to which he gasped.
“That hurts, you know?” The man spat with a lilting Spanish accent. Leon was slightly taken aback that this Spanish man seemed to be a single normal person in this village.
“Seemed like you really wanted to talk.”
“How observant, señor,” the man looked around the area a second as if looking for something before flashing Leon a startlingly charming smile. “Now, say- you got a smoke?”
“You know, those things will kill you.”
“Oh. Well. Maybe just untie me then?”
The man in the sack shuffled around again to help Leon find the knots tying him up. Heavy footsteps sounded behind them and the man froze, looking up slowly.
“¡Joder! Not this guy.”
He wiggled back against the wall. Leon turned around coming face to face with a giant of a man dressed in black and a sort of pale you couldn’t even achieve in winter.
“Ok, stop right there!”
Leon trains his gun on the intruder who stalks up to him with frightening speed and knocks Leon's gun out of his hands with one hit. Leon is then grabbed by his collar and thrown across the room, promptly knocked out against the crates.
─•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•─
Sacrificial lamb. You will receive our most sacred body.
It begins now.
─•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•──•~❉᯽❉~•─
Leon comes back to himself with a grunt. His arms ached and his fingers were freezing cold. He looked around. His arms were chained above his head where he was sat on the ground of the dingy room, handcuffs digging into his wrists. This is not the type of situation he’d wanted to be handcuffed in. 
“Oh what the fuck,” Leon sighed, yanking his arms back down to check the strength of the chains. The object Leon was sat up against jerked.
“Hey, stop it!” A voice came from behind him. Leon was sat leaning back against the man from the sack earlier. Leon stood up, the other man following his lead. “Oye, Yanqui, got a name?”
Leon gripped the chain connecting to his wrists turning to face the Spaniard. The man in question was dressed ornately with a slutty chest window.
“Leon.”
“Quiet type, eh? I’m Luis Serra,” ironically, Leon didn’t respond to Luis. “And guess- you, me- picked the wrong spot to vacation, eh?”
Leon paced around a few steps either direction, the chain not offering much room. He moved further away than he should've, pulling Luis forward with him.
“Hey, stop it!” Luis complained. “You move, I move… and I’m beat up enough as it is!”
Leon looked up at where the chain was connected to the roof. The chain was on a pull system, the nails corroding in their place. Looked easy enough to break loose so they could have a little more freedom at least. Leon yanked down hard on the chain again.
Luis followed his gaze, “I can see your thinking. Bet you’ve been in spots like this before.”
Leon tuned him out, focused on pulling the pulley free from the nails.
“My guess… you’re here looking for someone?”
Luis looked at him with a playful smirk, attempting to get a rise out of the American. 
“One more guess. Maybe… some missing señorita?”
That did it. Leon whipped his head around, loosening his grip around the chain.
“A young girl?” Leon pulled the chain down hard, forcing Luis to stumble forwards, nose to nose with the blonde, arms raised painfully into the hair by the chain. “Talk. Now.”
Luis grimaced, “All right. See, heard chatter about moving a señorita.”
“Moving her. Where?”
Leon released the chain, letting Luis stumble backwards as he returned to yanking at the pulley. 
“Who knows,” Luis leaned back to add his weight to the chain, letting Leon do all the work while he leisurely hung back. “But later, saw some men dragging someone…”
Leon tugs at the chain, a nail falling loose from the roof. 
“…to the old church.”
One last tug and the pulley fell down sending Luis sprawling backwards to the ground with a grunt. He rocked himself back up into a standing position.
“Hanging with you? Not healthy-”
Luis was, once again, sent flying to the ground as Leon pulled on the chain, a villager swinging his axe in a broad sweep for the Spaniard’s head. Luis scrambled back to his feet as Leon winds the chains around his wrists and flicks it into the enemy’s face. He uses this time when the villager was distracted to wrap the chain around his neck. Leon ran backwards as far as he could, Luis taking the hint to do the same, the villager choking in between them swinging his axe wildly. The chain wasn’t strong enough to kill him so in a split second decision Leon threw his leg over the chain and slammed it to the floor with his leg, cinching the chain around the villager's neck, snapping it. The villager fell comically, dead in a heap.
Luis is once again brought to the ground by the villagers weight. A key was right infront of him where he fell. He jumped back up to his feet, key in hand, unlocking his own handcuffs. He sauntered backwards with a chuckle,  arms spread out as if to brag that he’s free.
Leon noticed Luis edging towards the exit with the key, “Hey, we’re not done here!” 
Leon ran for Luis but the Spaniard just dodged him jumping backwards out of Leon’s reach. He arrogantly regarded Leon.
“Later, amigo!”
Luis tossed the key across the room before making a dash out the door. Leon scowled, going back to retrieve the key to free himself. Luis had a head start on him now. Leon patted himself down, missing absolutely everything that was on his person other than his clothes. They even took his fucking jacket.
“Shit. They took my gear.
Leon followed Luis’ path calling in Hunnigan.
“Condor One to Roost. I’ve located Baby Eagle,” Leon walked through the corridor adjacent to the room he’d been captive in. “It sounds like she’s being kept in some church.”
“Great! That’s good news.”
“I heard it from this guy I met. Said his name was Luis Serra. There something fishy about him. I need you to run a bckground check.”
“Wilco, Condor One. I’ll see what i can find. In the meantime, make your way to that church.”
Leon pulled a knife free from a deceased villager in the hallway, “Right. I'm probably due for confession anyway. Condor One out.”
Leon emerged from the old hallways and out into what looked like some kind of factory. A villager was wandering the area, so Leon crouched and approached as quietly as possible, jumping up for the stealth kill. He continued through the factory until he made it to an area which looked like it was missing walls to the outside. Puddles of old, stagnant water smelled like sewerage and rats skittered all over the place.
He encountered two more villagers but they stood no chance against Leon and his 6 years of training. Leon had spotted his gear in a side room, coming up on a metal door that was locked. Groaning in frustration Leon took the long way, winding a crank wheel, running around, and then sliding under the door to get in alternatively. He picked up all his gear and attached it to its respective spots in his case. Looking through his stuff, Leon noticed a few bandages and herbs which he definitely hadn’t had before which was old. Again, Leon wouldn’t question any of the convenient happenings as of right now since it helped him more than anything.. The iron door could be opened from this side so Leon continued forward. 
The next door up ahead was also locked from the other side and Leon didn’t see any way around this, rendering his stuck. Leon turned and leaned against the door. The slide lock on the other side screeched, startling Leon, him whipping around to see a masked, hooded man staring at him through the bars.
“Over ‘ere, stranger.”
Leon pushed open the doors and followed the mysterious backpacked man to his mysterious little set up. 
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Glad to post this in honour of Mother’s Day-
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chazz-anova · 1 year ago
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Consecration
Fandom: Far Cry 5 Word Count: 2.1k Pairing: Faith Seed x Female Herald OC Summary: Faith is newly appointed as a Herald of the of Henbane, and has her first meeting with her new partner in Eden's Gate. Warnings: Brief mention of drug use A/N: kinda getting into's Faith's early days as a leader in the cult with this one and where her head was at! i enjoyed writing this from her pov too to really get in her head 🧠 i hope yall enjoy!
Read it on AO3!
The newly appointed Faith Seed paced in her cabin anxiously; bare feet on the smooth wood padding from corner to corner of her new home. After she’d been chosen by Joseph she’d been upgraded from the residence hall for the girls of Eden’s Gate. 
Walls of walnut wood surrounded her adorned with the country chic decor she’d become accustomed to. A mounted deer here, a cow skull there. ‘Charming.’ She thought sarcastically. Faith wasn’t one to pin down her tastes, but she knew this wasn’t it. At least now she had her own room. 
Things had been different before- equally as hard but in another way. Stuck living with cold parents, hooked on drugs and trouble. Now she had a gelid Father and was the most sober she’d been in ages. But being Faith was just another drug. People looked up to her more, listened to her. One facet of her life remained the same though- the loneliness. 
Faith completed another lap of paces as the object of her anxiety came to mind: Joseph Seed. In particular, her first meeting with him since becoming a Herald. It was only yesterday that she had been chosen from the congregation at the end of a sermon. As was custom, each Seed spoke at the dais; giving their own speech to prepare the flock for the Collapse. At the end- all was silent as the Father stepped forward. 
“Brothers and sisters, you have heard much from us today but I would beg your attention for another moment to make an announcement.” Joseph settled in at the pulpit at the center of everyone’s attention. The white paint of the church was illuminated by dozens of white candles, the creak of metal bird cages whispered from the ceiling; the congregation held their breath as they always did when their Father spoke. In classic fashion- this announcement was to be presented as an oration. Holy and eminent. “What is Faith?” Joseph’s heavy gaze looked out over them all reaching each person with his booming cadence. “Faith is what holds us together. What makes us different from the damned souls that will not walk with us in the Garden.” Answering his own question he eyed his flock- eyes filling with regret. “Our Faith, she was not ready. Not ready to do what must be done to help us survive the Collapse. When the Reaping begins, she would have led us to ruin.” Joseph spoke of the previous matron of Eden’s Gate. 
There had always been a ‘Faith’; it was a title more than anything, an identity to take on. Previously there were only two others to carry the mantle- the most recent having disappeared after a rather public disagreement with the Father. There were whispers in the female dorms, tinged with apprehension and fear as the women considered the immensity of being chosen, and the risk if one were to falter. 
“My children I am pleased to announce, after much deliberation we have found our new Faith. You all know her as a different name, but no longer. She has lent a hand to any she saw in need- she has held us aloft in hard times and flourished with us in good.” A pregnant pause as Joseph held a poignant countenance. “Rachel, if you’ll join me?” The woman startled as the last name she’d expected tumbled from his lips. 
Since then things had been a blur. There were official introductions to the Seed brothers, being introduced as their sister made her feel warm but unsettled. Like she just stepped into her dream and the world had started falling away. After an hour of mingling, the new Faith had been shown to the new cabin where she would reside.
These memories raced through her mind and she wondered what responsibilities she’d have now. Her mentation was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door, making her jump. ‘Already?’ The woman looked down at herself; she wore drab white garb as was custom of the community, her hair hung lankly past her shoulders. Shame filled her as she opened the door, hoping she wouldn’t see one of the Seeds. She may be one of them now but she didn’t yet look the part. The heavy door was pulled ajar to reveal no one. 
The birds chirped as evening faded in and the trees hung high over the cabin outside, but no one awaited her. Confusion crossed Faith’s expression and she peered from the doorway. Though no visitors awaited she spied a simple white envelope on the doormat, addressed to her (with her new name of course) and emblazoned with the Eden’s Gate cross on a wax seal. 
Stepping back into the cabin now equipped with the correspondence containing her next step, Faith took a deep breath and broke the seal. As she pulled the letter forth the aroma of jasmines and rain filled the room. Faith smiled slightly, ‘Who perfumes their letters?’ She mused as the paper unfolded revealing flowing cursive script. “Meet me at Sacred Skies Lake. We have much to discuss.” 
It took less than an hour for Faith to fluff her hair, apply some mascara, and throw on a more put-together outfit before she found a ride to the lake. People were practically falling over themselves offering to drive the new Herald; she even spotted someone get tripped trying to get to her. In the end, Jacob had ordered one of his Chosen to escort her. 
The world was painted in pinks, oranges, and splashes of purple as sunset cloaked Hope County. The water of Sacred Skies Lake shined in the final vestiges of sunlight, inviting Faith to the shore. Halfway down the woman spotted sheets of lace and silk adorning the tree branches near the water. Her flats crunched into the sand and rocks on the coast as her gaze scanned for the Father. With a start, the brunette set eyes on a different figure. 
Tall with shapely legs and a flowing mane of red hair- a beautiful stranger met her eyes. The other woman was striking in an intimidating way: ruby red lips, towering in hills, and a piercing blue gaze. “Faith.” She spoke her new name and Faith rather liked how it sounded. 
“Hi… still getting used to the name I think.” 
The ginger appraised her silently before responding, “You’ll wear it well. Come, sit.” She gestured to a large blue picnic blanket spread under the swaying trees above. On the blanket was the most diverse spread of food Faith had ever seen; macaroons of every color, boards of meat from pancetta to smoked salmon, and bowls of veggies, sauces, and garnishes awaited. Gingerly the Herald took her spot at the edge of the spread. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a ramekin filled with sunflower seeds. “Yes, I was told you enjoyed those. Barbeque flavor?” The taller of them said the word as if it were foreign to her. Faith nodded with a smile and popped one in her mouth. “Of course, I’ve only seen these without the shell used as texture for salads and such but… I’m pleased if you are. My name is Antoinette.” As she spoke, she tucked the skirt of her dress politely beneath her and her lips bowed in a kind smile.
“I’m Ra…” She stopped herself, “Faith. I guess you already knew that though.” The brunette smiled sheepishly and looked down at her hands in her lap. 
“I’ll confess, I don’t know much more than yourself at present.” Annie settled back on the blanket lounging languidly like a cat in a sunbeam. “Joseph has only blessed me with crumbs of his plan, but I know both you and I are integral.” She leaned in conspiratorially, “And will be working quite closely together.” 
“Oh?” Faith urged her on, eyes lingering on Antoinette’s toned form for a moment. Muscles rippled under the criss-crossing white dress she wore. ‘Someone works out..’ With the thought she felt her tongue dart out to moisten her lips and tried to get her brain back on track. 
Antoinette nodded and reached for a slice of gouda, “Indeed- just as you were promoted tonight, I was appointed only a couple days ago.” She popped the cheese in her mouth and stared out at the water, “It was all quite sudden.” 
‘Two Faiths?’ Faith wondered and was about to ask when her companion continued.
“After the… unfortunate failings of the last Faith, I have been appointed as a guide. Someone to help and advise where needed. We have much to prepare for if Joseph’s predictions are correct, and he is not one to accept failure.” 
Silence ruled both of them a moment as they considered the consequences of ineptitude, a secret anxiety they each were too guarded to show. The new Faith looked to Annie and they shared a look of understanding; they were in this together. “Well,” Faith started as she wrapped some salami around a piece of provolone, “At least my partner in crime knows how to cook.” 
The ginger snorted brusquely but chuckled nonetheless, “That would be wishful thinking unfortunately. I have a live-in chef.” 
“In your cabin?” Faith asked, mouth open in surprise. Part of her thought this was frivolous- but part of her felt a bit in awe at the luxury. When Antoinette’s nose crinkled in distaste the brunette wondered what she’d said wrong. 
“My chalet, dear. I don’t know that I’d survive in a mere cabin.” Though Annie corrected her- she smiled light-heartedly. 
Returning the grin Faith chided, “Ah so I’ve been placed with the most opulent of the Heralds, I see.” 
“That you have, and don’t forget it.” The older woman scooted closer and Faith could smell her light perfume. It was airy and floral, making Faith want to bury her head in the other’s collarbone and lose herself in the scent. “It is you that is our Herald though, truly. Not I.” Annie watched her waiting for a response. When Faith said nothing for her confusion, Antoinette expanded on the thought- “Even if I carry the title of Herald for appearances, not just anyone can take the role of our Faith. You will keep us all on the path to the Garden, and in turn I will keep you safe.” 
The truth in her words rung out over the water, making the newest Seed feel more secure in her new role. Though she had been lonely among her fellow parishioners- she realized now that it was up to her to keep them pliant, to make them feel seen as Joseph had made her feel seen. Antoinette’s proclamation steeled her will and she felt more at ease with the title that had been thrust upon her. “I’m glad I won’t be alone in this.” She looked out over the lake- thinking this time she didn’t have to be afraid of her life changing. Not when she had the power now. 
“In light of our new partnership, I brought you something.” Annie revealed a present in the bottom of the picnic basket, pulling out a masterfully wrapped gift dressed in green paper and a white bow. 
Taking it quietly Faith’s expression was one of shock. She couldn’t recall the last present she’d received. “I don’t have anything for you though…” She intoned absentmindedly as she pulled at the bow, unraveling it between her fingers. 
“Don’t worry about that.. I’m quite hard to buy for.” Antoinette joked as she watched Faith intently. Though it was said in jest, the brunette figured this was most likely fact. 
Once all the wrappings were gone there was a white box with a silver swirling decal on top. There was a moment of apprehension where Faith glanced at the other and Annie nodded encouragingly, No more urging needed- she revealed the gift and discarded the lid. “Oh wow.” Faith breathed the words as she lifted out a white laced dress adorned with pink flowers. “Antoinette, this is beautiful!” Her hand traced down the front of the garment. 
Almost grinning at her reaction, Annie nodded- “It was a pretty penny- but well worth it. Our Faith needs to stand out.” With flourish Faith pulled out the dress completely and stood, pressing it to her body as a way to measure. “If you need any alterations simply let me know.” The ginger’s gaze took in every inch of Faith, a repressed hunger in her eyes. “We’re about the same size, I’d wager.” She reached forward to flatten the dress against Faith for a better look. A hand caressed her bare thigh as she did, making Faith shiver in a way she hoped wasn’t obvious. 
“You don’t cook but you sew?” She asked, changing her train of thought. 
“Occasionally. I know enough to get the job done.” Antoinette looked up at Faith and offered her an easy smile. 
In that smile and in Annie’s ocean blue eyes Faith’s heart fluttered and that dark shadow of loneliness loosened its grip on her for the first time in a long time. Her future was right here.
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thehuntfortrencherlostmedia · 2 months ago
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The Magnum Opus, Masterpiece Theatre - A Marianas Trench Retrospective
Man... this is a HARD review to write. Masterpiece was my formal introduction to Trench, the album that made me a fan and made me hooked on them for more than half my life. It's always stuck with me and has become of my most listened albums of all time. This guy was on repeat SO MUCH that my original copy sadly has a error occur on Good To You xD But yeah, to get back to the title of this piece, what is a magnum opus? It means a large and important work of art... usually seen as the most important work of an artist or writer. And that certainly fits this album. This is where Josh opted to lean more into the pop side of rock, and wasn't afraid to get experimental. This album consist of a protagonist getting ready to perform after breaking it big, and reflecting on both his past and his present while he does so.
Masterpiece Threate I eases you into this universe, talking about how the actor puts on a performance for the audience, and he worries it might slowly drain him and make him lose who he is. (This will be touched on a lot more during the second portion of the album) We then oddly head into a trio that can only be described as the Honeymoon phase of a relationship, our protag pleading with a girl that he wants to commit to her fully, that he'll do anything for her, and that he misses her when he's on the road performing like crazy. All To Myself is punchy and aggressive, Cross My Heart is catchy as fuck (the CLAPS as percussion is what sells the song for me) & Beside You is a more somber and orchestral ballad that shows the bands love for those elements. We then have our first look into the past of the actor, reminiscing about his childhood home and the memories he made there, but also how it's all gone now... even if he sometimes reminisces about the nostalgia. Acadia is one of those songs where I feel like Josh gets shocked fans love it to much, but it's such a deep, emotional track... everyone gushes about childhood memories like that, even if they were REALLY DUMB in hindsight. Our Intermission Track is all about the fears and worries that come with fame. Not wanting to deal with the media, wishing he could hide himself and also not wanting to hurt his love... scared that they'll hurt her as much as they attempt to hurt him if she's in the limelight. Then we get to my personal favourite song off the record, Sing Sing. I've gushed about this track in a personal piece, but man... every time I play it, I see how it's both a reflection of the media telling him to shut up and sing... but also how singing was his coping mechanism during his stint in rehab. You can see how Still Angr evolved into this... while that was more a track about a bitter breakup and wanting revenge on the girl, this track is just UNFF to my ears. Then... we have a return to the Relationship stuff with Good To You, which feels so OUT OF PLACE here. Don't get me wrong, I love this song (if anything, seek out the demo dueted by Tania Hancheroff, it's a more stripped down version of the tune and it's brilliant), but I wonder if swapping it and Acadia for one another would've been a smart decision. Celebrity Status and Perfect are a great duo of tracks talking all about fame and how it eats at you. Being a perfectionist, Josh wants to make sure his stuff is as good as possible, but also know that if he isn't careful, this industry will chew you up and spit you out. Also, gotta love the callback to Sicker Things... such a good line, repurposed here brilliantly. Now, it's confession time: For the longest time, I didn't get Lover Dearest, but that was because I didn't know about Josh's heroin addiction. When I learned about it... holy cow did this song grow on me so much. Talking about his addiction like a toxic relationship... but knowing it needs to end for the best of the two of them... it's literally made me cry a few times. And lastly, our final crescendo, Masterpiece Theatre III. And what can I say about this song that hasn't been said by so many others before me? Seriously. This... is just magical. People call it a Bohemian Rhaposdy of the modern age, and while it is in many aspects, it's also it's own thing that showcases where the band was headed... leaning more into theatrics, harmonies and showcasing Josh's vocal range. Of course, Josh leaned into that hard.. going into a phase full of magic and whimsy. And what better way to tell that than a fairytale?
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fandom-blackhole · 1 year ago
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Holy Holy cow that was amazing. Your like a wordsmith. Thank you
If your up to it could you do....reader x Han x leia, reader x bo katan, and reader x boba x fennec (Sorry I just love those two) for 2 and 52 please?
I giggling kicking my feet over this complement. I am honored you hold my meager writing skills in such high regard <3
Small note, I'm not confident enough in how I could write Bo Katan as I never have before, so I just did the other two! Sorry to disappoint!!
2. Royal AU 52. Marriage of Convenience gender/race neutral!reader (no physical descriptions)
Han x Leia x Reader (not so much Royalty AU, as Leia appointed chancellor bc she deserves it, also more Han slander bc HE deserves it/affectionate):
After the galaxy wide war was finally finished, the Emperor gone for good made the future look brighter. Things were still going to be rocky for awhile, as the Emperor's tyranny reached far and effected all that lived in your vast galaxy. You and Leia had grown up together, both part of royal families on your respective planets and both of your parents having been good friends. Once the war fully took over your lives the two of you played parts in the fights, ferrying messages and secret plans and providing much needed support through food- and weapons- through diplomatic missions that slipped right beneath the snubbed imperial noses. Then when Alderaan was blown away leaving your closest friend with nothing and no one, you stepped up, became her second hand sharing her burden of being a general comforting her through the stress of the war, your relationship growing blooming into more. With the entrance of Han Solo in your lives you both found solace in complaining about his well everything. Over meals the two of you laughed together over him stumbling about something or some flirty remark he had said to either you or Leia, or ranting about how obnoxious he was being, arguing with one or each of you just to argue, but deep down you both knew that your attachment to the man was slowly consuming your hearts. By the end of the war the three of you had come to the full realization of your feelings and accepted that you each needed the other two to feel whole now. And so as the republic started slowly rebuilding itself, you and Leia found yourselves filling the roles your fathers once held, becoming senators and still fighting for the rights of the people. As things started and you both took your places, many fought Leia being in the senate both because her planet was no longer needed to be represented as it was gone and because her true parentage had come to light, no one overly excited to have the daughter of Darth Vader within the newly reforming government. But many who fought by her side within the war fought back for her. Those who knew her knew that she was a smart and fair and more than deserving of having a spot amongst the rest of you. Sure biologically she was connected to one of the most feared men in the history of the galaxy, but she had also been raised by one of the best- there was no contest that Bail Organa had set the precedent of what it meant to be a good man and leader- and if you wanted to bring blood relations, her own mother had been Padme Amidala, someone who was still dearly missed and who helped many people, more than just her own from Naboo. Of course you were there fighting the hardest, the loudest, shutting down each insult with a well worded barb behind an unassuming smile and sharp eyes. Han wasn't told names when it came to who said what insult after the first incident of the person coming to senate meetings the next day with a black eye and a chipped tooth, even if the sight had been overly satisfying.
By the time most of the run away imperial generals and officers had been tracked down and persecuted the senate had almost unanimously voted for Leia to take over as the newly appointed Chancellor of the galaxy, her ideas and plans for recovery having improved many planets as well as her quick ability to make each issue fair for all sides made her a quick favorite even with her young age. The only issue still remaining was that those who still opposed her in the senate citing that her status of being unmarried as well as young made her seem unfit for the appointed role, that those still deciding to join the newly reformed republic would see it as the senate being weak. And Leia agreed. The Leia, Han, and you had agreed a long time ago that marriage wasn't something you thought would be possible between the three of you, and it wasn't even allowed on many planets for more than one spouse, but with the rising concerns, the three of you sat down to talk it out and eventually came to a decision. You and Leia would be the ones to legally marry, both royalty and from influential planets that were friendly with each other, it honestly seemed that it would be the best for a show of power of sorts, one that would please more people than if she were to marry Han who was a rather well known smuggler at this point. And the marriage did please many, gaining favor with planets still not quite on board with the republic and raising you to have just as much respect as Leia, finding the two of you working side by side for the galaxy.
Boba x Fennec x Reader (I too really love these two <3, also not fully a Royal AU woops, sorry):
It was exhausting being raised to take over a family name, being expected to be able to rule over an empire your father built among the seediest in the galaxy. You can remember that from the time you could read your father had you sitting in his office learning finances and numbers. You remember learning to make deals in the family's favor and how to spot a scheme from a mile away. By the time you were old enough few people knew that your father had you slowly taking over the crime empire, few knew that it wasn't your father that they needed to fear, but you who would hide in the corners during meetings sharing secret looks that spoke words, anonymous to everyone but your father who sat there proud that the child he raised has come so far that they have passed even his abilities. It was exhausting dealing with people who only wanted selfishly and would try and use your family for gain each day, but it was your life and you truly knew nothing else. Your father passed only a few years after you had taken control of the family from the shadows, something you both had prepared for as his illness had been getting worse for years. It hurt, burning swirling sadness you knew you could not let show festered and turned to anger as the men and women who had been scared of your father, and you in the later years without them realizing, came to you seeing you as nothing but a weak child and tried over and over again to make bad deals, to use you, to rid of you and take your empire as their own, and you did not have the patience for a show of force, to make each bow to you as they had for your father. You made it clear early on that you weren't a dumb child that you, with dead eyes and an emotionless face could very easily switch the roles with each bad deal, making it so you ended up with the better deal and they walked out with the shit end of the stick. People still talked, eyed you like starved lions shown a fresh kill. You needed respect, something you never thought would actually come to you, but it did arrive late one night in the forms of hunter green and black.
Your family had had dealing with the Hutts in the past, the two of your families circling each other both on the same level, knowing the other was a threat and waiting for the other to fall so that the other could sweep in. And sweep in you did when news of Jabba's death reached you, managing to take away much of what once belonged to your rival before his disgusting worm of a right hand could even realize what had happened. It was that area of your empire that fought against you the hardest when your father past, leaving you with many headaches that still seemed to flare when one of them made an appearance in a room you occupied. Bib Fortuna had made an appearance after your father's death, trying your patience to the point that you had ended up causing him to run fleeing from your planet back to the safety of Tatooine and never bothering you again. Which now, with the two figures standing intimidating in relaxed confidence, you realized curiously that you had not heard a peep about the worm in some time. Your own air of lack fear gave way to your own show of confidence, as you motioned to the seats across from you, which with slow precision they both took, neither helmet leaving your form, the three of you sitting staring at one another in silence. You studied their appearances as you sipped from your glass, setting it down quietly before speaking finally, "It is a shock to see you Fett, forgive me but no one has seen you for years, the galaxy thought that you were dead. And you Shand, I say the bounty out on your head, you'd always been quiet though, so when the bounty disappeared with rumors of you being dead, well I did not quite believe them."
You heard a huff come from Fennec's helmet, knowing enough to read it as amusement, but that was the only response you got. Silence once again filled your office as you finger traced the lip of your glass as the three of you continued to stare each other down. Sighing you leaned back in your chair, tiring of this dick measuring contest. "Is there a reason the two of you graced me with your presence or are we just taking up my time with some staring?"
You watch Boba's helmet tilt in Fennec's direction as she shrugs in response, saying, "I told you they were a feisty one."
You wait for one of them to start this time as the silence leaks back once more, your patience now thinning, but as Boba's helmet turns to you once more he finally speaks, the gravel of his voice just the same as you remember from a fleeting meeting years ago. "I come upon the knowledge that it is you who I have to thank for the loss of over half of my empire."
With a grin, you shrug, replying, "Well Bib wasn't looking and they were just there for grabs, who wouldn't have taken the such a sweet prize."
Silence followed as you sipped from your glass once more, before you leaned forward, now knowing why the two were here. "if you want it back, you're going to have to offer me something just as good if not better, if I just give it to you free how will I keep the little respect my people have for me? Surely you understand that."
Boba's helmet moves, looking around the room, looking for weakness or discrepancies your sure as he says nonchalantly, "Or I could just rid of you and take everything." You hum and nod. "Yes that is definitely an option, and well you both are well know for doing just that aren't you? But you aren't going to do that, you know I am worth more to you alive than dead." Fennec with amusement in her voice, asks, "And how are you so sure of that?"
Smiling you look between the two of them. "Because I am still here. If you wanted that, I would have been dead ages ago. No instead you came to me, meaning you have a deal you'd like to broker. So?"
Again, Boba turns back to you looking you in the eye saying, "I want what is mine, and I know that you are tired of showing your worth to the worms under your control. I know respect is something you're short on, despite the fact you being current head of the biggest crime empire this side of the galaxy."
"Go on."
"I offer an alliance, one that will give us both what we want."
"I am sorry Fett, but I don't see how a simple alliance is going to do that," you replied skeptically. Following, Boba took off his helmet, slowly revealing his face to you, scars and dark eyes coming into view leaving your interest peaking with each second.
"A marriage, combine our empires and become the biggest in the galaxy. I get what you took back, and you get the respect of being connected....intimately to me."
You lean back with smile. "Alright, that's a deal offer I've never heard before, and an actually tempting one at that. If I say yes, what else would be expected?"
Fennec chooses to speak this time, changing your attention from the dark eyes to the dark helmet which she had yet to remove. "Nothing. We take over our portion of the empire, whatever was once Jabba's and you keep what is all yours. The marriage, simply, is for show. If anything all you'd need to do is make an appearance with each other every once in a while."
You nod, pressing a comm button on your desk, meeting Boba's eyes once more as you say to the comm, "Marsh, we have a contract to draw up."
The ended up working, better than you think the three of you could have ever realized. With the empires joined and divided fairly you found things running smoother than ever before, and with you name connected to Boba's not just your people showed respect, now everyone but fools with no brain cells treated you like the threat you've been all along. Fennec went back and forth between your home and Tatooine, and you couldn't enjoy her company more. The burning anger you'd held for so long disappearing as you found solace in the companionship, in having someone closer than you've ever allowed possible. Something you even could equate to Boba as well in your shared trips to visit each other, which had started as only to make appearances have lead from a friendship into more.
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suleikashideaway · 10 months ago
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20 Questions for Fic Writers
Thank you @failed221b-chill for tagging me!! I'm still such a little baby newbie fic writer but I'm eager for the chance to reflect and grow more.
How many works do you have on AO3? 2. Hoping to increase that soon!
What's your total AO3 word count? 2,285. Amazingly low compared to my huge chunkin longfic sitting tucked away, unpublished.
What fandoms do you write for? Mainly Final Fantasy VIII, but I've dabbled in Stardew Valley.
What are your top five fics by kudos? Top five, lol. Wellll one of my Laguna one-shots has 5 kudos! I'm pretty happy with that considering there are like 5 FFVIII fans out there!
Much more under the cut!
Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Absolutely! I want to talk about my fics all day!! That is, I have only received thoughtful, positive comments from lovely people so it's been easy so far.
What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? As of right now, They Are My Family is the angstiest ending I've ever written, though you might consider it a somewhat optimistic ending. In its very short word count, this fic deals with Laguna's immense loss and how he channels his grief into helping other people. I dearly enjoy writing angst, though, just usually with a happy ending.
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Grip on My Heart, my other posted Laguna one-shot, is a happy ending (though if you know FFVIII then you can probably see the angst between the lines). However, if I ever post my Stardew Valley longfic it's got a very sweet ending. I wrote that as a total escapist happy ending fantasy tale lol. And hey, I would even argue that my FFVIII longfic may actually have the happiest ending of all, simply because the angst that it took to get there makes it all the sweeter.
Do you get hate on your fic? Not yet, though I anticipate that I am not everyone's cup of tea, and I think I am okay with that. I would hope that people who comment would have the ability to be respectful about our disagreements. Alas, I know it doesn't always work that way.
Do you write smut? Indeed, I do! Nothing posted yet, and nothing too explicit. But yep! I've got little spicy bits peppered through all of my wips. It took me a while to be okay with writing sexy stuff but I wanted to explore that aspect of relationships. I don't think I could ever write straight porn, though.
Do you write crossovers? I have not considered a crossover, but there's still time! I'm not opposed to it, just haven't had any inspiration.
Have you ever had a fic stolen? I don't think so! That would be sad.
Have you ever had a fic translated? No but holy cow what an honor to one day be that important!
Have you ever co-written a fic? No, I've thought about the logistics of this and I'm not sure how much I'd like it, though I may be convinced otherwise one day. And like my bestie and beta @failed221b-chill pointed out, before finding each other the two of us practically wrote the same fic but with different characters and a different plot. Pretty incredible to see the themes I have been obsessing over told in a new way!!
What's your all-time favourite ship? Oh, how can I ever get enough of Squall and Rinoa? dreamy sigh
What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Ooh good question. I'm starting to doubt the validity of my unpublished Stardew Valley longfic. I think it has great potential, and I may go back and rewrite the entire thing, but it's just got a lot that needs work. I am pretty determined to finish my FFVIII longfic so that gets priority!
What's your writing strengths? Ahh, talking about my writing strengths is not one of my writing strengths. After reflecting on this for a hot minute, I think I can appreciate my growing ability to write in a way that is easy to understand. With practice and the help from @failed221b-chill I've gotten so much better at flow. I also have little moments of intrigue, imagery, and maybe a little bit of symbolism that I'm proud of. In general, I think my biggest strength is that I am learning quickly how to make all aspects of my writing better!
What's your writing weaknesses? I feel like I can't end a scene to save my life, but maybe I'm the only one who sees that in my writing! I also struggle with knowing when to dramatize a scene and when to leave it to exposition. For a while I thought that was just the problem with writing a longfic that spans over several years, but I found the same issue in writing one-shots. On a related note, I think I fall in the under-writer category. My rough drafts are usually about 1/4 of the size of the final product. I guess on reflection that's more of a strength: I can flesh things out appropriately during editing! Oh that's a nice discovery :)
Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'm not opposed to it, but I don't see it happening in anything I plan on writing! I'm simply not familiar enough with any other langues (RIP, my almost-fluency in French).
First fandom you wrote for? Probably either FFVIII or Harry Potter. I can't remember which came first! I know for a brief time I was all about that James and Lily ship lol
Favourite fic you've ever written? Definitely my FFVIII longfic wip. As far as published works go, They Are My Family is really something I'm proud to have put out in the world.
I'm officially tagging anyone who would like to participate! Enjoy!
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ijustkindalikebooks · 1 year ago
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Review: He Who Drowned The World by Shelley Parker-Chan.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory – one that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor. To stay in the game, Zhu must gamble everything on one bold move. A risky alliance with an old enemy: Ouyang, the brilliant but unstable eunuch general. All contenders will do whatever it takes to win. But when desire has no end, and ambition no limits, could the price be too high for even the most ruthless heart to bear?
This book so much time, because the wave after wave of absolute carnage was quite something as we finish this duology that was begun with She Who Became The Sun.
If you want characters that can possibly have a redemption arc, you will not really find it here as this book delves into violence and the base of human behaviour as these characters do everything they can to rise to power, with a conclusion and final line that just smacks you in the face and makes you think, 'holy cow we got here and I feel like I need a drink'.
Parker-Chan's writing is grim and punchy throughout, you feel like you are feeling everything that happens in this book and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, if this book was a game, I would need a constitution check at the end of every chapter practically. I mean considering the end of the last book, I feel like you know things are gonna be pretty dark in this second part however the storytelling is fantastic and the world is built gloriously.
Would be happy to read more of this world, just give me some time to prepare myself for it.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.
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