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aldreantreuperi · 10 days
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Love this for them
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a rare sentimental moment between my two favorite losers
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aldreantreuperi · 15 days
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Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: X-Men '97 (Cartoon 2024) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue Characters: Rogue (X-Men), Remy LeBeau Summary:
Character POVs for a portion of episode 5 (spoilers abound)
sometimes I write for fandoms other than Cowboy Bebop... love me some Remy LeBeau for example. something about that type of character (Robin Hood - the fox version especially - and Matrim Cauthon and Tom Paris and the entire Lupin gang, for example)... thieves, mavericks, "bad" guys/gals with hearts of gold who will go to any length for people in their heart or to save the world...  rascals, scamps, tramps, scoundrels, rogues... speaking of Rogues actually...  Remy and Rogue are such a fun couple to me. definitely my X-Men OTP. anyway, here's a link to a short little thing I wrote up after watching Episode 5 of X-Men '97 so please let me reiterate: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EPISODE 5!
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aldreantreuperi · 21 days
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Spike: the glass is half full!
Jet: the glass is half empty!
(Faye, giving a wink and licking her lips, distracting the audience from the glass empty in her hands)
(Ein, snuffling at his water dish to indicate the glass is not a glass at all)
(Ed, pouring in kool-aid mix and entirely too much sugar, indicating that the contents of the glass are merely the base to build off everything else that matters)
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Still getting used to my new tablet. Hating every minute of it, tbh
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aldreantreuperi · 24 days
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"What... what..." Jet's mouth continued to move although his brain had given up on providing words to properly articulate his confusion at the scene spread before his eyes.
"It is Bebop's birthday, Jet-person! Ed has decorated! Celebrations shall commence at 0800!" Edward cried jubilantly, grabbing Jet's hands and swinging them violently up and down.
The train yard in his mind was home to a few different trains now moving smoothly out along their tracks, or trying to at least. Rumbling along like a hearty chuckle, an engine built of dark amusement at how cranky their other shipmates would be if Ed truly did plan to wake Spike and Faye at 8 in the morning Ganymede time. The notion of the ship having a birthday was a small, quiet train engine chugging along without many train cars of additional questions, though he felt strongly that it was the safest inquisition to proceed with. And then there was the currently derailed train that represented his bafflement at what had happened to his ship.
Oblong balloons in a variety of colors were clumsily tied off or taped up to anything that would host the... er... repurposed condoms that Ed had scavenged from who knew where. The fact that each was slightly buoyant against the subtle breeze indicated the fact that she must have found a helium tank to fill the latex rubbers with. It was a small comfort to him that she hadn't blown them up using her own oxygen and mouth. Never mind that she wouldn't have known their true purpose, though at least they were obviously unused.
She had shredded the wrappers and turned them into confetti which she had blown out of a funnel when Jet had first stepped onto the deck with the simple relaxing idea of watching the sun rise on his home world. The funnel had not been unused - it had left a ring of black on Ed's lips from the oil that had been poured through it most recently.
His first task, before even getting any answers, would have to be to wipe that crud off her face.
There were chalk drawings EVERYWHERE. He could identify a collection of box shapes for hop scotch and a few different tic-tac-toe boards awaiting the X's and O's, and drawings of Ein and the rest of the crew. It looked like she had tried to sketch out some of their bounties. All the zipcraft were parked on the deck along the edges of the flight deck and each one was liberally covered in tassels made of whatever clothing Ed had been able to procure from within the ship or elsewhere for all he knew.
She had set up a table as well, he recognized it as the one they'd used on Io when camping outside of the ship while repairs were underway. It was loaded with Piyoko and eggs (raw? boiled? no way to know) and with every ashtray from inside, still loaded with remnants of cigarettes and stogies and even a few cannabis joints. Dozens of open beer cans were set out also, fallen soldiers from whenever they'd been able to afford a case of beer and, rather embarrassingly, passed out before finishing the goods. There were also a handful of grimy glass bottles, which she dragged him over to, and gestured proudly at her findings.
"The bottles are dusty but the liquor is clean!" She gleefully proclaimed. "Bebop was absatively posilutely full of treasures for the crew! Ed saved treats from our last Earth visit and dug through all the storage rooms for the rest! No hiding place was left undisturbed!"
A click-clack sound reached their ears as Ein emerged from the interior of the ship and made his way on puppy paws in need of a nail trim over to the pair by the "refreshments." Jet looked down at the new arrival and noticed that the dog had been outfitted with one of Spike's thin ties, dragging along the dirty deck under Ein's belly, and had Faye's headband perched in front of his ears. Judging by the way he kept flicking his ears, it wasn't something he was a fan of.
Of course, Faye and Spike wouldn't appreciate the costume either.
"Edward will wake the others now! Party time, woo woo!" She announced. Releasing Jet's hands, she bounded over to the RedTail and leapt into the cockpit, activating the stereo system with a screech of delight.
The sudden blast of music made Jet wince at the unexpected volume - he hadn't realized Faye's ship could even produce sounds that loud. Once he acclimated though he realized it wasn't terribly overpowering as long as you were standing in the open air.
Ed was cackling madly as she dove from the ship, landing in a somersault and then vaulting to her feet so she could rub her hands together like a maniacal villain.
"What even is all this, Ed? How'd you get all this stuff up here?" Jet asked, stepping over to her and taking Spike's jacket down from the gun of Faye's ship so he could use the sleeve to finally address the issue of the oil on Ed's face.
"Easy peasy! Spike-person leaves his key in the ignition for quick escapes. Faye-Faye was snoring so she didn't notice Ed taking the bracelet to activate her ship. All the stuff was, well, all over! The laundry room, the bridge, the work shop... clutter clutter everywhere but Ed has made it into artful decorations! Oh! The balloons came from Spike-person's room but he never sleeps in there so Ed was able to loot the place while he was on the couch." She nodded in self satisfaction. "While researching everyone's birthdays, Ed realized even the ship has a day of celebration! Today is the day that the Bebop was first commissioned for fishing! What a long strange trip it's been, eh?"
"Huh. Well... that, uh, that makes sense." Logical indeed.
"Ed thinks that the Bebop deserves a present. A new baby!"
And just like that she'd lost him again.
"Sorry, what?"
Grinning wildly, Ed pointed at the Hammerhead and then the Swordfish II and then the RedTail. "These are the babies, of course! Ed would like one too, please!"
"I... uh... huh..." Jet couldn't deny the usefulness of Ed having her own craft but the idea of finding one in decent shape that was also affordable was daunting.
"Ed discovered many interesting things while finding when everyone's welcome to the world day." Ed said then, adopting an air of casualness that immediately made Jet nervous. She hummed briefly and then gave him a wicked look. "Ed is not entirely sure how to blackmail but... well..." She paused and cleared her throat before beginning to sing.
When you're falling awake And you take stock of the new day And you hear your voice croak As you choke on what you need to say Well, don't you fret, don't you fear I will give you good cheer
Life's a long song -
Jet's jaw dropped. His chin literally hit his chest. No!
Ed stooped down to scoop Ein into her arms and smirked at Jet.
"As Edward suspected... Jet-person's parents must have had a nostalgic draw to more than just blues and jazz, eh, Jethro?" She snickered.
"Ed, if you breathe a WORD of this to the others..." He trailed off, no threat springing to mind in the wake of the shock of having someone notice and realize who he'd been named for. Despite having written Jethro on the birth certificate, no one in his family had ever actually called him by his full name. As a baby, it must have seemed too big to attach to someone so small and so he'd been just Jet since he could remember.
"A baby for the Bebop?" Ed said again, changing her expression to one of pure innocence as she snuggled Ein up under her chin to further impress upon him the cuteness of the duo.
"What the fuck is going on out here?" Faye's voice, raised in a holler, came to them from the open hangar. "Why is my ship parked out here? What the fuck music are you desecrating my speakers with?!"
Jet ground his teeth together. Time was running out.
"Okay, Ed. Just hold your horses and sit tight, all right? I can't say when we can make it happen but I promise we will." He hurriedly assured her.
Ed dropped Ein to the deck, a move that merely startled the corgi who dashed off once he'd gotten his legs under him, so she could spit on her palm and hold it out towards him. Jet grimaced.
"A dry handshake would have done fine." He muttered.
"The spit is tied to the words of the promise!" Ed informed him.
Sighing, Jet spat on his own hand and shook.
"Was he wearing one of my ties?" Spike's voice reached them now as well. "ED! What did you do to my ship?!"
Cartwheeling off towards the newcomers, Ed shrieked with happiness.
"Happy birthday, Bebop! Come, friends! It is a time of celebration! Let the rejoicing begin!"
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aldreantreuperi · 1 month
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Yeah boy! There's plenty more fish in the sea as they say!
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Sorry not sorry ^___^
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aldreantreuperi · 1 month
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the confidence. the charm. the charisma
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Bebop Man
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aldreantreuperi · 1 month
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dancing feet can really fuck shit up when he's fighting but it's so good to see him enjoying life and the tunes
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“Okay, three, two, one, let’s jam.”
Inspired by the great Al Hirschfeld.
For Accompaniment
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aldreantreuperi · 1 month
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My X-Men OTP 💖
PRE-ORDERS ARE OPEN!!!
That's right, y'all! The time has finally come! Home & Harbor, a fanzine dedicated to Rogue & Gambit, is now available for Pre-Order! There are 4 Tiers available as detailed below to fit anyone's budget, with all proceeds being donated to the Hero Initiative.
Follow this link to place your pre-order.
*Disclaimer: Final products may differ slightly from the mock-ups shown in each image* 
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High Card - Digital - $10.00
* Digital copy of Home & Harbor in PDF format (88 pages)
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One Pair - Digital - $15.00
* A digital copy of the zine in PDF format
* A digital sketchbook in PDF format
* 2 phone backgrounds
* A digital shirt design to print out yourself or order custom apparel with
*An emoji pack of 20 designs
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Full House - Digital/Physical - $25.00
* All digital items (zine + merch)
* A printed copy of the zine (88 pages, 8.5" x 5.5", perfect bound paperback, matte lamination cover)
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Royal Flush - Physical Zine + All Merch - $47.00
* All digital items (zine + merch)
* A printed copy of the zine
* 2 postcard prints
* An A5 sticker sheet
* 2 round stickers (2 designs; 8 x 8cm)
* A roll of washi tape (1.5cm width; 5m length)
* A deck of playing cards (American poker size)
Production time is estimated to take between 6-8 weeks at the latest but you will be emailed when your order has been dispatched.
Speaking of shipping, if your region isn't listed at checkout, please email us at [email protected] for a quote.
And please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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Yes, I know I haven't updated my longfic in weeks. Yes, I know I fell off posting prompts. Life is... a lot sometimes, you see. Stress and depression are hard to push away in order to be productive. There are times when it just can't happen. In light of that, and in the spirit of "spring forward" (for the record I am not a fan of participating in daylight savings time) ...I've decided to cheer myself up by posting a snippet of something that's been written for ages but which I am far from ready to post simply because we're nowhere near this point in the timeline of my longfic. Most of the scenes are patiently awaiting their turn but this one wanted to be shared ahead of time 😘
So, let's spring forward many months! Hope y'all enjoy this sneak peek at the not-too-distant-future of Spike and Faye's "Music Keeps Us Together" family!
***
"Baby, baby, sweet baby," Spike murmured softly, cradling his infant daughter to his chest. She was so tiny that his palm could press against just about her entire back. Somehow she seemed tinier than Lupin had been at her age and that had already seemed ludicrously small. It blew his mind that human beings grew up from such itty bitty beings.
He tried stroking. He tried patting. The baby was having none of it. Her piercing cries literally made Spike's ears ring. He winced at her effortless volume and glanced worriedly at the forms on the bed but neither stirred.
Faye was sprawled out on her back with a sheet partially wrapped around her head to cover her eyes from the dim light in the room. She was out cold. Little Lupin, with a pale and sweaty face, lay pressed against her right side with his head pillowed on her flung out right arm. The toddler looked miserable in his sleep.
Well that made it unanimous.
At least Spike knew the baby's cries weren't going to wake anyone else on the ship. Jet had gone ahead and added some soundproofing when he'd fixed up the hull sections of the ship. If Spike were to open the door then the sound could travel to the rest of the ship but as long as he kept his squalling daughter in the bedroom it should be fine.
Spike had been around loud noises countless times. Firing guns, exploding buildings, being around ship engine's roaring to life, Faye's piercing shrieks… he'd never worried that he might lose his hearing until now. If he didn't have tinnitus after this baby, he'd be surprised.
At this point though it was fairly obvious what her needs were. The fruitless rooting at his chest was indication enough that his little girl was hungry. Well how about that, she took after him after all. Her eyes were that baby blue that would probably change with age. The mess of dark hair could go either way but that vocal range was 100% inherited from Faye. This appetite though… that had Spiegel all over it.
He moved to the left side of the bed and sat on the edge next to Faye. He tried to gauge her ability to cooperate with his next move but she seemed deeply unconscious which would probably be helpful at this point. With painstaking care he nestled their daughter against her left side, right against her left breast. For the billionth time he found himself feeling grateful for Faye's preference of sleeping topless - if not entirely nude whenever possible.
Her position was somewhat awkward but only for Spike trying to assist the baby in nursing. Alora latched on immediately but Spike couldn't just let her go because she was too tiny to truly support herself to any degree and while Faye could provide sustenance while unconscious she obviously couldn't hold the baby properly in place.
All was peace and quiet for what must have been a stretch of actual minutes. Spike nearly dozed off in the quiet that enveloped the room as Alora ate. But Faye twitched in her sleep suddenly and Spike found himself blinking in that confused state that happens when jerking awake just before falling asleep.
He had approximately two seconds to realize Faye was shifting before her voice reached him. Man, maybe Baby Alora had damaged his ears a bit.
"Spike! Take the baby!" Faye commanded urgently.
He instinctively yanked Alora off Faye's nipple and back towards himself, nearly falling off the bed as he cradled Alora and scrambled away. Faye had pulled her arm free of Lupin's sleeping form and twisted her body enough to hang her head off the bed so she could be noisily sick onto the floor.
Baby Alora, completely unprepared for the sudden loss of tit, and probably confused by Spike's stumble as well, began to wail again with all her tiny might. Whether it was her cries or Faye's vomiting, little Lupin was soon conscious also and in no time joined his mom in throwing up. Unfortunately the little boy wasn't as adept at throwing up over the side of the bed - or rather, no effort had been made at all. He couldn't exactly blame the boy, he was young and hadn't been sick often.
Clutching his bawling baby girl to his chest, Spike backed away from the other half of his family. Fuck, he wished he could plug his nose.
"No more contact with other kids," Spike called over to Faye as she regained control of her stomach and sprawled weakly back onto the mattress. "Those snotty little germ factories got Lupin sick and he passed it on to you."
Faye moaned piteously. "He has to get to know others his age." Eyes clenched shut, she gagged a few times as her stomach tried to purge the nothing that was left.
Spike scoffed. "Baby, he's a toddler. He doesn't need any milk dates."
It was rewarding to hear her chuckle even if it came at the end of a round of dry heaving. Lupin, done puking for the moment, groaned and tried to bury his face under the blankets. Alora remained unmoved by anything going on, the plight of her mother and brother not registering on her radar in the least, and kept on howling.
"Fuck she better not get sick," Faye muttered. "Her poor little throat is already raw from screaming."
Spike, who had been about to approach, paused in thought. Alora was basically still a newborn - could she handle being as sick as her mom and brother? Spike didn't think so. But on the other hand they'd all been in this room for hours now, since Lupin had first started feeling clammy and ill. Was it already too late to quarantine? Most likely. And anyway Spike needed Faye to feed Alora - there wasn't much milk stored yet and no formula whatsoever because neither of the kids seemed able to stomach it.
He sighed. Nope, this was just going to be life for the foreseeable future and that's all there was to it. At least he could contact Ed and have her leave a dead drop outside the door. And, well, Alora couldn't cry forever after all.
Right?
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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the behind the scenes we never get to see between fight & mummified Spike on the couch
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this is the straightest thing i've ever drawn and its not even meant to be a ship
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exw to straight stamp of approval omws
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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corgi tango (▰˘◡˘▰)
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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canon. the man likes cats.
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Two cats ^^
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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@febuwhump prompt: "Help them!"
***
Blood splattered against Faye's bare thighs as the bounty, struggling to rise despite the piece of rebar protruding from their stomach, cried out to her desperately.
"Help... them..." The man spluttered, reaching into a pocket with an arm shaking so badly that Faye was frankly astonished he'd been able to access the contents at all.
The photograph he pressed, crumpled, into her hands as she crouched beside him was of a smiling child and a weary looking woman.
"Hey now, don't die on me yet!" Faye exclaimed. "Who are these people? What do they need help with? Hey! Hey mister!"
Shouting at the unfortunate fellow was no use of course. He had slumped back against the framework of the apartment wall that he had accidentally skewered himself on when he slipped during their fight several floors up. His eyes stared vacantly at the unforgiving slate gray sky above, a sky that threatened rain but refused to actually begin soaking the city below.
Faye closed her eyes and clenched her fists, inadvertently further crumpling the photograph before she remembered it with a swear. This was just the worst. Dead bounty, no payout. Some end-of-life plea that now she had to either figure out or forget. Forgetting would, of course, be impossible now that she had the image burned into her retinas of the people in the frame. She had no desire to be haunted by coulda woulda shoulda type regrets.
At least it might not be an impossible task to determine who these strangers were. They knew the identity of the now-dead man and what he was wanted for. They had a visual representation of folks from, likely, his immediate family or most recent decade or so of life at any rate. Ed had worked miracles with less information, frankly.
Pushing herself up, Faye sighed. She cast one last look down at the man and shook her head sadly. It was a shame how often a bounty hunt ended in tragedy. Not just because it meant she was shit outta luck for making a paycheck but... well, it was a loss that was likely avoidable. This poor schmuck could have lived for another couple of decades at least if he hadn't fouled up somewhere in life... and the truly frustrating part was how simple the mistakes could be. How easily a person could become just another bunch of dollar signs to the rest of the world.
It's not like bounties were specifically bad criminals. Well, they were typically bad at being criminals, hence the fact that they were wanted rather than escaping notoriety. But... it was just so irritating that she couldn't go bust down the doors of bribable politicians or skeevy doctors or what-have-you.
More and more lately Faye had begun to wonder if perhaps there was a career change in her future. Fuck the police, fuck the justice system, fuck the bounty system, fuck most of the systems really. Too many lives slipped through the cracks - or, more often, were forced through because the systems weren't designed to protect or assist them. It was all bullshit and Faye was goddamn tired of it.
Perhaps it was time for a clever vigilante to enter the playing field...
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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@febuwhump alternate prompt: immortality
***
He, like the fabled phoenix, had risen from the ashes more times than memory could even recall.
Would such a creature be fated to be trapped under the scrutiny of callous souls and scientific study as he himself has been?
Immortality was his, not theirs, and it drove them mad with envy and anger and urgent speculation.
All their curiosity and all of their endless testing and all of their brutal investigation would not yield them any useful answers.
He, in a fit of rage, made sure the destruction of the complex was complete. All lives accounted for and extinguished. If any had been favored as he had been, well, they would have emerged into the eternal dust storm that plagued the surface of Titan.
No, he was alone. The only true immortal.
And what price had he paid? Bought in blood, his own and that of countless others, that was nothing new in terms of advancement. Secured at the cost of everything that had come before - that, well, that was a tragedy truly. What had he forgotten? Who had he been?
Surprisingly, his mind conjured a few quotes on the matter, perhaps to further rub salt in the wound that would never heal no matter his longevity.
"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering." Fuck you for that adage, Bruce Lee.
"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." Fuck you as well, Emily Dickinson.
That was the pain that pulsed strongest in his heart and left the most bitter taste in his mouth.
Had he loved? Had he been loved? Had that been taken from him?
There was no way to find the answer. He was a shadow of a man, a specter of humanity. He would endure after all else had perished. It was, after all, his plan.
More must suffer for his own agonies. For the beauty of life denied him.
The answer was in the whisper of the butterfly's wings, kissing his cheeks. Each flap echoed in his tormented soul. Were they real? Was he real? Was anything real?
He was a man destined to outlast stars.
But first he must avenge himself and the others who had been experimented on and abandoned. First he must purge the red planet of the undeserving lives thriving there where no life ought to be.
In the end, it would be him and the butterflies.
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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@febuwhump prompt: "I'm doing this because I care about you."
***
"Your father thinks I've lost my mind. He thinks I'm out of line with what I'm doing here... With what I'm letting them try... He's argued himself hoarse about how this is disrespectful to your life, how we aren't being fair to your memory or to our own grief... How we need to just let you go... To bury you and move on... He's trapped in the idea that what happened means you're dead. I love him, but he's just... Wrong. He's so afraid to hope... So afraid to let science give you a chance to breathe again. He thinks it's cruel, what I've consigned you to. Am I mad? I don't feel like it. I don't feel... consumed... or, or, driven... or like I'm spitting in the face of some heartless god. What god would give us you only to rip you away in the dawn of your adult life? You are so young, my darling. You still have your entire life ahead of you, a future impossibly bright to greet with your inexhaustible optimism. You've always been tough and stubborn and brilliant, my child. You deserve to have a shot at making a beautiful life for yourself. I fear this may destroy us, what I am committing to today. But the accident already wrecked us, truthfully. At least this way... Maybe someday... They say you can't hear me, that you won't know I've been here this entire time, desperate to see your eyes open... I don't care how long it takes or how much it costs us. I'll gladly drain our savings. I just wanted you to know... I'm not doing this because I'm crazy. It's not because I have lost sight of reality or have abandoned myself to fantasy - it's not any of the nonsense your father has shouted at me in this very room. I'm doing this because I care about you. Beyond all rhyme or reason. Beyond anything I've ever felt for anyone. I knew when you were born that I'd move heaven and earth for you, my sweet child. So I am pouring everything possible into this desperate chance that you can be revived someday. I love you, Faye, so much. I swear you will get your chance to live."
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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<3 <3 <3
the purrfect art for the short thing I wrote for this fanzine...
there's more than this though! be sure to preorder one for yourself!
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I can't wait to tell you more about the good stuff I got up to with @aldreantreuperi and @ludi-ling for the @rogue-gambit-fan-zine
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aldreantreuperi · 2 months
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@febuwhump prompt: presumed dead
***
He hadn't genuinely expected to wake up. But if he had bothered to consider such an outcome... waking up alone wouldn't have crossed his mind.
Countless times before he'd come to under Vicious's tired scrutiny, the other man's expression briefly conveying a sense of relief at Spike's survival in the aftermath of whatever deadly shenanigans they'd been assigned by the Van.
When Vicious was sent to Titan, Spike took his life even less seriously than before if such a thing was possible. Mao and Annie worried that he was trying to die.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, he woke up from the worst misadventure under Julia's watchful eye. The gentle cadence of her voice had filtered into his subconscious and coaxed him back to the world of the living and he had been a changed man from that point on.
When he fled the syndicate, he took out a lot of other lives but managed to emerge relatively unscathed himself. There had been no blackness overtaking his senses and therefore no return to recall.
Before Faye's vigils, there had been Jet sitting opposite the couch. There hadn't been too many instances where he'd gone from insensate to convalescing on the couch, at least not until Faye's abduction... and Tongpu's assault... and Vincent's wrath... but the fact remained that there had always been someone nearby. Jet, or Faye, or Ed, or even just Ein.
He had never been alone. Always, he had been guarded. Cared for.
It was something he had not truly realized until emerging from a coma into a stark hospital room with no one else around. Not even a doctor or nurse. No syndicate lackeys keeping an eye on the most dangerous man to brazenly waltz through the Red Dragon Tower doors. Not a soul at all.
No one to grin down at him and recount the hassle of hauling his ass to safety. No one to smile softly at him and tend to him gently. No one to gruffly remind him of how much trouble he was and how lucky he was that he was considered worth it. No one to tease him and taunt him as a form of hiding concern.
He was alive. Alive and alone and neither by conscious choice.
Eventually, a nurse happened along to check on the patient in room 348. He discovered that, according to his chart, he was just another random John Doe. One of the few bodies recovered from the destruction and one that could not be identified as a syndicate member. For all intents and purposes, he was just a man who had stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time.
Which meant a few things...
For Faye and Jet, who likely weren't even on Mars anymore... there was no doubt that he was presumed dead.
For the assorted suits who had witnessed his collapse and deemed him no longer a threat - he had obviously been considered no longer alive. If they'd thought for a moment that he might rise from the steps, his body would have been riddled by bullets to keep him down.
There was an uncomfortable freedom thrust upon him now. No one aware he existed any longer... no ties to honor or sever... he was just a nobody in an uncaring world with a staggering amount of medical debt adding up more and more as the days dragged on.
He felt more akin to Faye now than ever before. And that made him miss the loud-mouthed harpy. And Jet too, for that matter. Hell, he even missed the dog and the kid.
So he did what no one presumed dead would do in his place... healed up enough that he could steal away from the hospital and the money he owed... and began trying to track down the last known location of his former comrades.
For anyone else this would be an opportunity to start life afresh. To become someone new.
Spike knew better.
He didn't need to become someone new. He didn't need to start fresh. He just wanted to go home, free at last from the ghosts of his past, and begin to truly live with the folks he'd grown to care for so much.
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