#xii. ( closed starters. )

[cantfixyou]

" you FUCKING heard me. " spitting venom, the both of them. swinging wide and low, aiming for whatever they can. they are supposed to be friends. co-workers at minimum. humans at base. they shouldn't talk to one another like this. but trauma has its claws dug deep. YOUR FATHER IS ALIVE, MICHAEL, AND I KNOW WHAT HE DID, AND I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO YOURSELF IN HIS NAME. there is a beat. a half-formed apology crawls up her throat. the choice is either to let it out or to swallow it. surrender or choke. she doesn't like yelling. she knows michael doesn't fare well with loud noises. they're both in the wrong here. a breath instead. not quite a sigh, but hefty - in, then out, slow. steadying. one more time, from the top.

" i... know what's going on. " it is much gentler. almost apologetic. her open hands and her soft eyes. the invisible string wrapped around her very name. they are all she has. but there is a certain heat that remains. the power of knowledge. " with you. " a small wave to his general direction. " what's got you... like this. " she's actually kind of struggling to find the right words. she never thought she'd get this far on this hairbrained quest of hers. meeting the son of the unholy spirit. who is permanently cast is a violet shadow, who reeks, who rots. maybe she just can't believe it took her this long to notice it all. " what happened. " is it a question ? a statement ? she is particularly aware, of the weight that knowledge she carries, knows it much be as much of a burden on his sloped shoulders as well. this is a hand reaching into the dark. this is a cry for help. this is hoping to reach in time.

@revvnant : " I beg your fucking pardon? " x.

[crimecleand]

tag dump hehe

[killdfame]

tag dumpp

[killfamed-arc]

tag drop. look away.

[geraldofallon]

Neathy Tarot

In light of the most recent exceptional story, I got thinking about the 77 Major Arcana in tarot decks of the Neath. For my own reference as well as if anyone else wants to look at this, this is a list of confirmed cards (without meanings - I’ll eventually make a separate list for that), as well as speculation on what other cards could be with my reasoning.

For starters, let’s clarify something - Neath decks actually contain 78 Major Arcana cards, with the numbers going up to 77. We know this because we have a confirmed card for number 77 but we also have a confirmed numberless card. This was probably done so they could number the deck 0-77 (because arc numbers) but also be able to avoid confusion with real world tarot decks, which contain 78 cards total including Minor Arcana.

Then let’s establish influence. There are arguably four “main” tarot decks with varying orders and names for the Major Arcana. The Rider-Waite deck was developed in 1909 and is generally the most well known. Despite being anachronistic, based on the names and placement of cards that are the same to surface decks, this would appear to be the deck used for reference by the devs and writers so that is the deck I’ll be using as well.

In terms of placement, tarot cards are where they are for a reason - I’ll probably write up a separate post about that eventually, making some speculations about the placement of the Neathy Major Arcana.

Buckle in, because this is about to get long…

Confirmed Cards

These are confirmed cards that have a confirmed placement in the deck.

(0) 0. The Mushroom

I. (1) through V. (5) unknown

(6) VI. The Lovers

(7) VII. The Chariot

VIII. (8) through X. (10) unknown

(11) XI. Justice

(12) XII. The Hanged Man

(13) XIII. Death

(14) XIV. Temperance

(15) XV. The Devil

(16) XVI. The Tower

XVII. (17) unknown

(18) XVIII. The Moon

(18) XIX. The Sun

XX. (20) unknown

(21) XXI. The World

(22) XXII. The Interloper

XXIII. (23) through XXIX. (29) unknown

(30) XXX. The Udder

XXXI. (31) through XLVIII. (48) unknown

(49) XLIX. The Mask

L. (50) through LXVI. (66) unknown

(67) LXVII. The Star

LXVIII. (68) through LXXVI. (76) unknown

(77) LXXVII. Judgement

Then there are confirmed cards with no confirmed placement. These are the confirmed ones taken from our surface tarot deck, and likely have their same placement, however given that both The Fool and The Star have been moved, it cannot be said with certainty that these fall in the same place as their surface counterparts.

The Magician/Juggler - located I. (1) in surface tarot

The Hierophant/Pope - located V. (5) in surface tarot

Wheel of Fortune - located X. (10) in surface tarot

Confirmed invented cards which have been given no placement as of yet include:

The Gibbet

The Vegetable Lamb

The Bluecap Mine-Sprite

The Boat

The Mirror

The Lyre

The Garden

The Stalactite

The Gibbous Moon

The Bat

The Blacksmith

This brings us to 31 out of 78 cards confirmed without a doubt.

Semi-Confirmed

These are ones I am less certain of, as they are based on my interpretation when reading and could be different to others.

The Sword - confirmed as a card, written as a Major Arcana, but could be confusing given that swords are one of the suits used in neathy Minor Arcana (which seems to be no different than surface Minor Arcana)

Pincushions - a confirmed card, but the name is up for debate. I interpreted this as the name of the card, but it could also be nameless as of now: “A closing of the mind. Imprisonment. Pincushions.”

The Bandaged Man - yes, the Bandaged Man is the Eight of Swords, a Minor Arcana. However, based on the fact that Neathy decks change and shift strangely, I got the sense that the card shows up either as the Eight of Swords OR the Bandaged Man, with the Bandaged Man included as a Major Arcana, especially as he is listed in Sidebar Snippets being lumped together with other Major Arcana

The Sacristan - same situation as the Bandaged Man

Some other semi-canon Major Arcana include the old destines. Confirmed through Word of God, Bruno has said that the Irem destinies correspond to Tarot cards because he felt like the previous destiny names sounded like Major Arcana, suggesting that the old destinies have their own cards as well:

“In practice, the new Destinies are named with a mix of ‘real’ Arcana names and ‘neathy’ Arcana names – suggesting that the old Destinies are also found somewhere in the Neathy Tarot. It does after all have 77 whole major arcana (and is presumably very hard to shuffle).”

Gloom

Appetite

Authority

Gleam

The Curator

The Memory

The Oath

The Revelation

Backstage

The Instrument

The Road

Passion

Torment

There are 17 semi-confirmed cards in total. If all of these semi-confirmed cards are counted with the canon cards, that brings us to 48 out of 78 cards.

Speculation 1

The remaining surface tarot cards have not be confirmed to be included in Neath tarot, however they most likely are part of the Major Arcana, even if they are not in the same spot or have different meanings.

The High Priestess/Popess - located II. (2) in surface tarot

The Empress - located III. (3) in surface tarot

The Emperor - located IV. (4) in surface tarot

Strength - located VIII. (8) in Rider-Waite surface tarot

The Hermit - located IX. (9) in surface tarot

The Fool - located 0. in surface tarot, meaning that if it is included in Neath tarot it would have a new placement

There are 6 cards here. If these are included with the confirmed and semi-confirmed cards, that comes to 54 out of 78 cards.

Speculation 2

In surface tarot, many of the cards correspond to zodiac signs, and the same is confirmed in the Neath. Now, obviously none of the surface cards have identical names to their corresponding zodiacs, however when it comes to the Sign of the Chiropteromantic Zodiac, two of the zodiacs have corresponding tarot cards: the Bat and the Lovers. This means that there is an argument to be made that the rest are Major Arcana cards as well.

The Crow

The Rat

The Bear

The Shepherd

The Lady

The Lantern

The Cat

The Spider

The Hunter

The Rose

This next group comes from the opportunity card “Something Colourful” in which you find cards lying in the gutter. They are not described with numbers, but rather pictures and descriptions of what the card says about your character.

The Rose

The Eye

The Diamond

The Raven

Note that the Rose is found on both those lists, further cementing for me that they are Major Arcana. Now a lot of this overlap can be written off as reoccurring motifs in the game, but still.

There are 10 zodiac cards and 4 colourful cards. If you were to include both in the deck, remove 1 to account for the overlap of The Rose.

Speculation 3 SPOILERS

The next group of cards is the Deck of Hungers featured in the Seeking Mr Eaten’s Name storyline. The cards are numbered, such Ace of…, Six of…, Queen of… etc. I would argue that if you remove the number part of the card title, you get Major Arcana. My reasoning for this being, three cards that overlap with other speculated groups (and one confirmed Major Arcana): Two of Bats, Three of Roses, and Four of Eyes. Removing Bats due to the Bat already being canon, the Deck of Hungers speculated Major Arcana would be:

Hungers

Roses

Eyes

Lights

Pearls

Words

Regrets

Feasts

Inks

Ways

This is an additional 10 cards. If combining with the lists above, keep in mind the overlap of Roses and Eyes.

Speculation 4

Amongst the quote unquote hardcore Fallen London fans, it is well known that much inspiration was taken from the T.S. Eliot poem, “The Waste Land”, including a fortune teller with tarot cards that do not appear in regular decks. These are the ones that I think would be the least likely to be included in Neathy decks, but are included here for posterity’s sake.

The cards that appear in this poem are:

Phoenician Sailor

One Eyed Merchant

Belladonna, The Lady of the Rocks

There are only 3 additional cards here.

Speculation 5

Last but not least, is a sole card that seemingly has no other possible explanation than to be one of the Arcana. The Ace of Hats! Its name also would lend credence to the suggestion of the Deck of Hungers’ inclusion in the Major Arcana.

Hats

Total

If you were to include every single one of these cards, you’d end up with a deck of 82 Major Arcana. Removing the additional Rose overlaps, as well as the Eyes overlap, brings us down to 79 cards.

I think if one wanted to include all of these somehow, my argument would be those semi-confirmed cards - that perhaps the Sword, the Bandaged Man, etc are considered Major Arcana when they crop up in readings, but the rest of the time do not appear in the deck at all and are therefore not numbered parts of the Major Arcana. This brings you down below 78 cards, with some additional wiggle room.

There is also the possibility of combining cards - Lights/The Lantern, The Crow/The Raven, Appetite/Hungers, Ways/The Road, etc.

Or you could just remove Hats and call it a day.

[love-toxin]

a/n: so sorry i deleted your ask, anon, but i had your request written so here it is! ♡

ellie's sentence starter prompts

xxv - "Don't just say you love me, prove it."

xii - "I've been waiting for this all day."

xxxi - "You're mine."

(cws: fem reader, fingering, foreplay, semi-public, mild arguing + the slightest hints of angst but it's fluffy)

"Rob, I didn't mean to say it. It just slipped out."

It's pretty difficult to have a heart-to-heart when you're following your girlfriend around the store, and she's picking up and putting away VHS tapes like it's some kind of extreme sport. But this is how Robin likes to cope with stress--by keeping busy.

And unluckily for you, you've put a lot of stress on her shoulders with what happened this afternoon.

"Oh, it just slipped out? You just accidentally told someone you're dating Hawkins' favourite pretty boy?"

"I panicked! I'm sorry, okay?" In truth, it was really a slip of the tongue. You've practiced what you would say if anyone ever questioned you on your relationship, whether it be parents or teachers or strangers on the street--but you didn't actually think it would happen like it did today. One of the girls in your chem class, who you had been getting notes from, asked who it was you were dating completely out of the blue. Knowing people like her, she probably was curious about whether you were lying or not, since you and Robin tend to keep things on the down low for obvious reasons. Small towns aren't exactly the most welcoming places for a pair of weirdos also doubling as lesbians.

But instead of coming up with something on the spot, an elaborate half-truth to get out of outing yourself and your girlfriend to her and by extension all of Hawkins, you'd blurted out the first thing that came to mind. And oh, did Robin have quite the earful for you after a very silent ride in Steve's car to get all three of you to Family Video for their shift.

"No, it's fine. Totally fine." She mutters, and trails off as she finishes stacking a set of New Release tapes on the return rack. "I'll just tell Steve about his new girlfriend. Bet he'll be psyched."

The last one hits the top with a thwack that resonates through the entire store, you're sure even Steve could hear it around the front as he swept the leaves off the curb outside. And Robin turns to face you finally, her eyes big and glimmery with hurt but her brow set like she's trying to make it seem like she doesn't give a fuck. She's been testy lately for a variety of reasons, but it's always cute...until she's mad at you, of course. Then, it stings.

"You could've picked anyone, and you picked him. And if that ever happened, like, really happened, I would just....die."

You want to say something so badly, to comfort her, to take the hand of the woman you love and tell her all the reasons why you want to be with her forever. But for the second time, you can't get out what you really want to say--and instead of saying the wrong thing, the worst thing, this time you say nothing at all. Your mouth parts, hung half-open only to close back again when your voice refuses to come out, and her eyes dart down to your lips before she huffs and stalks away from you, hands outstretched to push through the door to the back and maybe, hopefully, get away from you for awhile.

Not so. If you can't say anything, you're gonna do something. Company policy be damned, your foot catches the door before it falls closed all the way, and you catch her by the wrist before she can get more than an arm's reach away. She's already not the most athletic, nor has the best constitution--so it's relatively easy to shove her around and pin her back to the door, her breath fleeing in a sudden gasp when you do so.

"I love you."

There's no way for it not to echo here, in the small space in the back of Family Video. But you can't bring yourself to care--you want it to seep into the walls, for someone's ears to catch your voice as you say it. For someone, anyone, to know that you love Robin Buckley with all your heart.

"Don't just say you love me. Prove it." It comes out in a whisper, her lips cinching tight after it does only for her eyes to drop to yours. Your brow quirks up, to her it must say "prove it?" and she nods, already void of the air she needs to stay standing. As evident by the way her knees buckle immediately when you press your lips to her shoulder, on that small window of space where her vest's left a precious slice of skin exposed.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"Proving it." You mouth at the soft spot of her neck, hands descending down her sides with your fingers outstretched to catch the loose threads of her uniform, remind her that you've trimmed your nails recently. Very recently. Like this morning, when you anticipated a fun night and some sacred alone time with your girl.

The bite that comes after isn't meant to hurt, but you're sure it does a little bit since you know she's so sensitive there. It draws a whine from her throat and it takes everything within you not to chuckle, because she's so fucking cute it's unfair. Unfair that she can go around looking so dorky and clumsy and awkward and fuckable. Your hand slips under the belt of her pants, an "oops" making its way off your smirking mouth because there's no one on earth that would believe it's accidental. And Robin can do nothing but clasp at your wrist, blunt nails painlessly digging into your skin as she cups her other hand over her mouth and smothers her shaky, soft moans as you noiselessly slide her panties to the side and dip a finger inside her. Slowly, quietly because she's already a little damp from getting a hickey, you watch that doubt leak away as you push deeper inside her, listening for any of those trembling gasps of your name. They're always the sweetest when they're involuntary, when she just can't hold them back because it feels too damn good.

"Robin, why's the door locked?"

But she jumps at the clacking sound of the door handle being grabbed and turned, Steve's voice laced with concern on the other side as he calls out, completely unknowing.

"Beat it, Harrington!"

She pulses, clenches around you when you speak so aggressively, the hand that's been covering her face closing into a tight fist as she silently begs for him to go away.

"What are you-"

"Busy!" She cries back, frustration coming out in the edge of her voice as the back of her head hits the door. "G-Getting boxes! Just a minute!"

"I...okay, I guess."

Sweet, completely oblivious Steve, it won't dawn on him what's happening until much later, you're sure. Shame you're gonna have to leave Robin to deal with the fallout when it happens, but yet again you've had to cover in a haste and you didn't have much choice. You stir your lonely digit inside her, get a feel for how she's tensing and squeezing around you like she's trying to milk the feeling as much as she can--but before long those eyes that were screwed shut in pleasure have opened again, and she taps hurriedly on your arm as a sign for you to extract your hand from her at once. It's a gentle process and a slow one, you hook your pinky into her panties to slide them back and pull on the waist of her pants to pull your hand out without catching it on anything--and when you raise your hand to your mouth, the words flutter out as easily as if you had practiced them.

"I've been waiting for this all day."

With that, you let your tongue loll out of your mouth and press your wet finger into it, a shudder immediately running through your body when you taste it, and hers when she watches you suck her slick off your hand as if it's some kind of honey-sweet nectar. It really could be, she tastes so divine--and when it's gone, it's like the stockroom doesn't exist and you just want more.

"O-Okay.." Only when she manages to catch that fleeting breath is she able to speak coherently, although in barely a whisper out of fear of Steve overhearing. "Okay, you proved it. Jesus. You're crazy."

You love that she says it with a smile. A breathless, rosy-cheeked one, that you want so badly to kiss but she does it first--she practically dives in for it, her hands on her belt first to readjust it before they come up to cup your cheeks.

"I...I've got a whole shift to get through, and I'm just gonna be thinking about you." The flutter of her lashes as she looks at you, the myriad of other thoughts she swallows down to save herself from riling you up further, the love in her sigh as she basks in the glow of your touch...it's all just perfect.

"Good. It'll keep your eyes off any pretty girls. You're mine." You can afford to be cheeky, another kiss stolen off her lips that she melts into without any hesitation. And another, and another, and another still, until she's pulling away to put herself back into place and dust herself off of your influence.

"Phew....you gotta leave out the back, or Steve'll know-"

"-Know that I tried to finger his coworker in your stockroom?" She pushes on your arm, nose adorably crinkled as you giggle at your own dirty joke. But you sober up as the laughter dies down, and twirl a strand of her hair around your finger.

"I love you, baby. And I'm sorry, really. I didn't mean it."

"It's okay. I know you didn't, and I forgive you. And I love you. Too." She pecks you on the nose, her hands itching to get more of you but her good sense getting the better of her. Steve's probably already pacing around the counter, wondering what's taking you and her so long--maybe he thinks you're having a fight. How wrong he would be. "I can't wait to finish. I'll miss you."

"Oh, and I'll finish you when you get to my place. Smell ya later, Buckley." You flash her a wink and a grin, and with that you're stepping back and getting on your way towards the back door while she tries to shake that blush and the big, giddy smile off her face.

[bigskydreaming]

I hope that after Fall of X is over and we get into the Rise of the Powers of X era, we get a new Destiny map, like the one we got in Immortal X-Men #3. Watching how many of the possible futures Irene mapped play out or get ticked off as no longer being possibilities was a fun element and I really hope we get something like it moving forward. Especially since Irene said all the previous futures she foresaw vanished the moment the Moira Engine was destroyed, and its a whole new ballgame now.

Except, also, its not.

Because her visions of the future were always a completely different thing from the futures that ALREADY happened, thanks to Moira's past lives. The futures we saw through Irene's eyes, like the Empire of the Red Diamond in Sins of Sinister, or the Expanse.....those are null and void now, with the last viable one left from her original map being A New Krakoa.

But while most people concluded that Rise of X was going to follow Fall of X, the specific callbacks to House of X and Powers of X are key. This era is technically called Fall of the House of X, and the next one is Rise of the Powers of X.....meaning that the futures MOIRA already saw are going to become more relevant. House of X was always more focused on the present day, and mutantkind facing their Earth-based enemies like Orchis. Powers of X still always showed a united mutantkind....but those issues were focused on the future, longterm threats facing mutants. Specifically, the Phalanx and the Dominions.

And especially with Mother Righteous seeming close to attaining Dominion status with what she's doing in Immortal X-Men, and Sins of Sinister Year 1000 confirming that at least one of the four Sinisters does attain Dominion status and Mother Righteous being the most likely contender (the writers all like her too much for it to be anyone else. Nobody cares about Orbis Stellaris, and only Duggan gives a shit about Dr. Stasis)...

That to me suggests that after Fall of X we're FINALLY gonna have a breather from Orchis and the constant focus on human bigotry and the new Krakoa will (along with a newly united Arakko, their new direction reaffirmed after Lodus Logos and Storm's faction wins the Genesis War) shift as they turn their focus towards more cosmic storylines. And part of why I think Mother Righteous is the one who'll win Dominion-hood is because the Phalanx are already out there as a Dominion-tier threat and they've put too much work into building up the mystical side of the X-books to pump the brakes there now....so mutantkind will be facing the threat of a mystical Dominion via Mother Righteous, and the cosmic Dominion threat of the Phalanx.

And this was the original Destiny map, and we saw where the bottom branch of it led, all the way to The Expanse, which is what resulted in this future:

The Legion XII branch was a non-starter (my hunch is its what would have happened if Legion took Mother Righteous' deal back in Legion of X #2, but the second he turned her down and she offered the Spirit of Variance to Sean instead, that timeline got snipped).

The Reign of Apocalypse likely got snipped via Apocalypse's own choices to shift his priorities down the road that's led to him changing his name and approach to Revelation now.

Cassandra Supernova was likely a timeline teasing the plotline Orlando was setting up in Marauders, for Nova to escape from Threshold and plot her revenge through the ages...

Nimrod Extinction Event, and how often it recurred as a possibility, is self-explanatory, and so is Krakoan Dissolution. And the Spark Inquisition is IMO where things might have led if they hadn't detected Onslaught's influence and he'd gotten his hooks into the Altar and corrupted what they were building there.

And of course, all of those possibilities were snipped for good the second Judgment Day happened, and committed the timeline to only following one of the branches that branched off AFTER that point....

With the second Nimrod Extinction Event likely being if Orchis succeeds here and now, The Broken Sword being what might have happened if they hadn't figured out Brand was a traitor and her influence over SWORD had been left unchecked (with the Brand-as-a-traitor discovery notably only happening AFTER Judgment Day).

And of course Sins of Sinister is the branching event that led directly into The Empire of the Red Diamond and from there, the Storm System, with both those branches being snipped off the second Moira broke the Moira Engine in the future and Mother Righteous' spell broke it in the present. And we don't have any info yet on what the new future looks like, because we haven't seen Destiny map out its possibilities yet.

But all of that leaves us with the one remaining possible timeline branch, given that we know thanks to well, genre basics, that mutantkind are not going to be wiped out in Fall of X and the second Nimrod Extinction Event is not the outcome here.....leaving....A New Krakoa as the last of Destiny's mapped outcomes. With Fall of the House of X leaving Moira and Xavier out of prominence and favor, and the whole Quiet Council having resigned as of the Hellfire Gala, post FoX, Krakoans are likely going to elect an entire new Council, this time chosen by the people rather than handpicked by the three Founders.....

And then it'll be a brand new ballgame with no futures we've seen so much as a hint of yet, because as of the end of Fall of X, its a completely blank slate.

Despite ALL the foreknowledge, prophecies, time-travelers and precogs in play this era....

Sinister with his Moira Engine (gone)...

Moira with her past lives (the knowledge in them rendered null and void by the simple basic fact that Moira only betrayed mutantkind because her past lives had her convinced that mutantkind ALWAYS loses and Omega Sentinel, who came back from the future of Moira's current life, Life X, only did so because in HER past, mutantkind WON)....

Destiny with her map (followed to completion)...

Etc, etc....

All of that advance intel has all been used up as of now or altered past the point of usefulness. Same being true of all the future knowledge of everyone who was worried about Orchis winning and wiping out mutantkind here, if in fact mutantkind does not end up wiped out, which we know they won't....which means Kid Cable's concerns, etc, are no longer viable.

Tabula Rasa time.

Except for one last time-traveler. The only one left who might have future knowledge that's still relevant, because her future is the only one that still has a possibility of coming true....

Omega Sentinel.

With a possible map of what's to come, in...Rise of the Powers of X.

Because, after all, her future....is the one where mutants win.

[randomoranges]

second chance au part 13

Élyse blinked. Surely, she’d heard wrong. In all her lifetime, never had she ever heard her brother say that he was in love. Then again, some part of her brain reminded her Étienne had been absent from her life for a good decade. For all she knew, he could have been in love half a dozen times during that period. But even then – he’d been living with her for years now and in all of those years, never had Étienne ever told her that he was in love with someone.

 He also hadn’t really dated anyone during those years, but that was not the point.

 She let herself flop back and stared at the ceiling. Maybe there would be some cosmic answer hidden there for her to find.

 What the hell was she supposed to say and why the hell was it that Étienne was telling her any of this? For starters, she wasn’t the most well versed when it came to love matters and she wasn’t sure she had any advice to give to her brother, even if she wanted to. Étienne did his things in his own way, regardless, but she supposed that she could, once more, be the supportive twin and at least listen. She could be rationale, if anything.

 “That’s... nice...” She finally said, acknowledging the news her brother had dropped.

 Étienne spared her a look and shook his head, as if well aware that she felt like a fish out of water on this one. “You don’t have to look that frightened.” He chided. For good measure, she whacked his arm with one of the decorative pillows. He tried to block it, but was too slow.

 “Well, what do you want me to say? Congrats? When’s the wedding? Can I be maid of honour?” She sighed and passed a hand through her hair, “I’m sorry – I’m just surprised.” And maybe a little bit worried. What if Étienne had gone and given his heart to some terrible person? What if she lost her brother again? “Do I... know this person?” She asked instead, starting over.

 Étienne gave a slight nod, a small smile covering his features. “I think so – he comes often at the café to help me out; his name is Edward.”

 Her brother looked so very pleased and content that Élyse didn’t have it in her to break his bubble with caution and questions. She pushed Étienne’s legs away and scooted closer to him, huddling close to him as they had down countless of times when they’d been little. Étienne mimicked her, using her shoulder as a pillow of sorts, and Élyse ran a hand threw her brother’s hair. “Yeah, I think I know him; what’s he like?” She asked softly.

 Étienne’s smile grew, “Well, for starters, he’s a really sweet guy...”

--

PREVIOUS: XII

CURRENT: XIII

NEXT: XIV

[diamondols]

it  had  been  awhile  since  she'd  worked  with  him  (  though  she  saw  him  every  day.  perks  of  dating  ),  but  she  knew  right  off  the  bat  that  it  would  definitely  NOT  be  boring.  it  never  was  when  bucky  was  involved  and  she  sat  on  the  plane  going  through  the  dossier  again  as  to  what  they  were  supposed  to  do  and  why  they  couldn't  just  DRIVE  there.  

even  though  she  much  preferred  this  to  the  last  mission  they  were  on,  she  really  just  didn't  like  to  fly  in  this  kind  of  plane.  she  much  preferred  the  quinjet  but  they  had  to  be  inconspicuous.

legs  crossed,  one  knee  over  the  other  as  she  leaned  forward  with  the  data  pad  in  her  hands  and  her  elbows  on  her  knees.  "i  am  rather  curious  though,  buckaroo.  why  they  chose  me  for  this  instead  of  your  ex  --  uh.  natasha..  i  mean,  not  to  toot  my  own  horn.  i'm  good  but  i'm  not  the  black  widow."  okay  maybe  she  shouldn't  open  that  particular  wound  (  for  the  both  of  them  )  and  the  minute  it  fell  from  her  lips,  she  bit  down  on  the  inside  of  her  cheek  hard  and  looked  up,  blue  eyes  worried  behind  her  glasses.  an  apology  written  all  over  her  features.  bobbi  knew  that  she  didn't  like  being  asked  about  clint  so  she  could  only  imagine,  and  really  she  felt  bad.  

"sorry.  that  was  my  bad.  that's  all  on  me."  she  was  just  going  to  fling  herself  out  of  the  plane  now.  "you  can  toss  me  out  the  bay  door  if  you  want,  i  deserve  it.  i  shouldn't  take  that  out  on  you.  you  were  hurt,  too."

@otvechet​​

[uncharmant]

tag  dump  part 1  !

[sangrars]

taggggg drop.

[cantfixyou]

@grcccvy, continued from HERE

let me help. it stops her in her tracks, makes her turn back and look at him. confusion and surprise are plain on her features. " wh - ? " what ? why ? the dual questions are a little too heavy to get out. no one really offers to stay and help. so this means A LOT. very suddenly, everything goes soft in her chest. sinks in bone-deep with his worry of her own safety. charlie wants to tell him she's going to be alright, she's fended for herself plenty of times in the past five years, she's actually quite used to being alone. these are weird times for martyrs and final girls. nothing really scares her anymore. yet there's a moment of silence before she does the only thing she can think to do - she gives the improvised weapon a little toss, a minute flourish up to catch it blunt-side to her, handle-side to him.

" how's your swing ? " and when she asks it, she's expectant. hopeful. asking for his friendship. asking for ash to stay.

[wheelersnipe]

tag dump <3 avert yr gaze.

[laseduisante]

𝐓𝐀𝐆 𝐃𝐑𝐎𝐏 !

[texcsfcrevera]

@seesgood // for our third famous verse because we’re christmas trash

He’d heard she was back. The entire town knew about it, really. That she was coming back, taking a break from touring for the holidays, to spend time with the people who’d known her before she was famous. Elena had told him it was probably best if he stayed away- and though he couldn’t quite decide if it was because he was finally starting to move on from the blonde bombshell, or if it was because she just wanted Caroline to herself. It wasn’t like anyone had forgotten the way the two of them had been before everything fell to shit- attached at the hip, one rarely seen without the other.

Agreeing was just second nature to him these days- he had things to do around the house, after all. The holiday season was setting in, and there was always that underlying hope that if he turned the house he’d built into Caroline’s dream home- well, maybe she’d come back to him. So he’d set out to start decorating for the holidays, the back of his truck practically filled to the brim with various Christmas lights that he’d picked up from the store.

The army had treated him well- he’d been good, risen through ranks, and got more than enough money to make his dreams come true. Or rather- make her dreams come true. After a while, though, they’d decided to put him in the recruitment office because of a pinched nerve, making it so it hurt to close his left hand all the way. It was getting better with physical therapy as the months and years dragged on, but he’d already been informed that he’d be staying in the office, higher ups cautious of the idea of re-injuring him.

He’d begun unloading the lights from his truck when he heard a car pull up, his gaze flicking up to land on a blonde head of hair sliding from her car- and his entire body went slack, the only thing holding him up being the bones in his body- or at least, that’s what it felt like. “—Caroline.”

[rossbancrofts]

[   TAG DROP .   ]