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twit-ter-pa-ted · 8 months

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Yes, Ma'am. - Part Two

pairing: Vinsmoke Sanji x afab!Reader

warnings: flirting & poor description of food, i think

overview: You find out why Sanji is known to be the best chef in the East Blue. The Straw Hat reveals his intentions.

a/n: this is turning into a full blown series😭 thank you for the support on the first part, i was so shocked and i am so immensely grateful for everyone who read and enjoyed it. i love you all!

part one — final part

Sanji had barely taken a step into the kitchen when Patty began reprimanding him on how Zeff had kicked him out of the kitchen for the day, but it didn't stop him from grabbing a pan and starting his work.

You waited patiently after watching Sanji disappear into the kitchen. As you waited for your food, your eyes darted to the party you had been dismissing since you first noticed them. You were busy flirting, after all.

The Straw Hat, the Long-nose, the Redhead, and the Pirate Hunter. Their complimentary bread disappeared within seconds of it being placed on their table, courtesy of the straw hat, which led to the long-nose whining about how he didn't get a chance to taste the bread.

Dish after dish arrived at their table as you recalled hearing the straw hat order every dish on the menu, and you couldn't help but wonder how the nameless pirate would pay for it.

In the middle of watching the Straw Hat, whose name, you learned, was Luffy, you noticed Sanji returning to your table.

He set down a plate in front of you as well as a glass of strawberry milkshake.

"Somethin' I've been working on – sauteed True Bluefin over a sweet soy glaze, sided with seared asparagus," he descripted as he set down utensils and motioned at the plate. Then he motioned at the milkshake. At a glance, you could see that it had been done the way you requested it be. It even had a pink and white striped straw to match.

"Strawberry milkshake with a thin coat of strawberry syrup, no seeds, fine whipped cream made by yours truly," he playfully bowed, "and a strawberry to top off a drink as sweet as you."

You smiled as he winked. "Thank you, Sanji."

He refused your utterance of gratitude. "Please, I find it a privilege to have been able to cook for a beauty such as yourself."

He seemed to have no plans to leave, instead waiting to see your reaction, so you began to cut into the fish, your eyes never leaving his as you brought the piece to your lips using the fork.

A burst of flavor overwhelmed your taste buds the moment you took the piece into your mouth. Your usually insouciant temperament slipped for just a moment as your eyes widened.

"It’s good," you managed to say as if it weren’t the best thing you had ever tasted in your entire life.

"Yeah?" He smirked. He knew you were masking your amusement, it was evident on your face that you were. He drank in your expression as you attempted to keep your cool.

You nodded. "It's nothing like anything I've had before," you admitted.

"Thank you, love."

You moved onto the drink. As you went to grab it, Sanji spoke.

"I realized I never got your name," he declared. You paused, simply holding the drink in your hand now.

"Will you be needing it?" You questioned while playing with the fountain glass. His flirty persona faltered with confusion as your tone seemed to have an implication.

"I saw you flirting with the redhead earlier, did you make sure her water came from heaven itself?" You jested, hearing even her crewmates teasing her about the interaction.

He smirked as he was ready to tease, "Are you jealous?"

You only shrugged. "I'm just stating what I observed, darling." Lifting the straw to your lips, your eyes never left his as you took a sip.

You were more of a whiskey on the rocks kind of person, but you had to admit – the strawberry milkshake was far better than good. You couldn’t understand how something so simple could taste so heavenly. There were, in fact, no seeds, and the taste was just the right amount of sweetness that you were looking for, even if you hadn’t mentioned a specific level of sweetness for it.

You think you'd never be able to find words to describe it, just as you had run short of words for the sauteed True Bluefin. "It’s good," oh, please. The two of you knew that you felt you never knew what real food tasted like until you had tried Sanji's cooking – tested out his skills in the kitchen.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the drink. It was so delectable that it was almost painful.

"I like you, Sanji," You confessed before beginning to cut into the fish in your plate again. "I enjoyed our exchange. I certainly enjoy the dish and drink you've made for me." Sanji opened his mouth to reply when someone shouted from the kitchen area.

"Oi, Sanji! You’re here to cater, not to flirt!" Sanji evidently clenched his jaw.

"Just get back to cooking, Patty!" He turned to you again, his jaw now unclenched and his eyes thinning as he smiled.

You rarely told anyone your name. In your line of business, it didn't really matter who you were or how much they knew about you. It was all in the matter of how cheap or expensive your product was, and how hard you were willing to fight for its worth (and your life).

You told him your name. Just your first name – nothing more, nothing less. It led to less hurt that way, if you knew the least you could about each other.

He repeated your name as if to test how it rolled off his tongue, his tone velvety as he spoke.

"Likewise." He moved slightly, indicating that he was now leaving you to eat your lunch.

"But I do mean every word I say. It's nothing I've said to anyone before is all I'll say, I suppose it's up to you to believe that or not. I do hope you consider coming back here despite how shitty it is." You couldn’t help but chuckle as he deprecated the restaurant he worked at. "I'll be willing to cook you up another meal, if you’re up for it."

You pretended to think about it, but you were already dead set on your answer – "Sure, why not?"

Sanji's smile grew as he began to depart from your table, his eyes never leaving yours until he had to take another table's orders.

"That's the broker pirate hunter?" The straw hat declared with his eyes on you. You whipped your head to face them with a puzzled look.

The redhead's eyes widened. "Hey, not so loud!" She turned to you to find that you were already looking in their direction.

"Not a broker, not a pirate hunter!" You corrected irritably.

"See? I told you." The long-nose attempted to mutter as he lightly smacked the straw hat's shoulder.

"Hey, are you the nameless, bounty-less pirates that defeated Axe-Hand Morgan?"

"Woah, woah. You did – you did what?" The long-nose's eyes had widened. He seemed to be unaware of the gang of pirates he had joined.

"Nameless?" The straw hat echoed. He then stood to approach your table. He held out his sauce covered hand which you only looked at. He retracted his hand when you made no move to grab it.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" Your eyes widened at his proclamation, your eyes returning to look into his.

Unlike what you expected from countless others who had declared themselves to soon be King of the Pirates, this Luffy character seemed to have something else other than pure determination glimmering in his eyes. It almost had you believing that he was going to be King of the Pirates.

"So just you wait," he then said your name as if you were close friends, "I'll get my first bounty soon."

He couldn't have been that much younger than you. And yet, something about him made you decide to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"That's my crew, by the way." He pointed at his booth. "That's Zoro, Nami, and Usopp."

"Not in your crew," Nami denied.

"Don't introduce us to the pirate hunter, Luffy!" Usopp scolded him.

"What's up?" Zoro calmly greeted.

"I'm not a pirate hunter. That's a pirate hunter," you corrected Usopp once again, pointing to Zoro.

"Not anymore," Zoro corrected you, too.

"Well, I can see that, given how you're in a pirate crew."

He only scoffed. "Uh-huh, nice to see you again, too."

Luffy seemed to be unaware of the tension between the two of you. He grinned as he came to a realization, "Oh, you know each other?"

"Yep." You and Zoro answered in unison, which caused you to glare at each other before looking away.

"Well?" Luffy questioned expectantly, slinging an arm around your shoulders. You looked at the hand on your shoulder and wondered if the boy had any respect for boundaries. You simply shook your head and decided to return to your meal.

"Oh, come on. Zoro!" He whined as he returned to their table.

* * * * * *

taglist: @inf4ntdeath @x-uno @miloonmetis @angeli-fucking-cat @zzbloody-animezz

thank you for your support! <3

(there will be one more part after this one)

#one piece #one piece live action #opla #opla sanji x reader #opla sanji #vinsmoke sanji #vinsmoke sanji x reader #sanji #sanji x reader #taz skylar #taz skylar x reader

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ssuperficialspacecadett · 1 year

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Pollen and Plottin'

Chapter Five of the Through the Scope series | Chapter Six

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 4K

Chapter Overview: You have a morning out of hell and all signs point to Frankie to bail you out.

Notes: I fucking knew i would be back this week LMAOOO,, finals next week and then i'll finally be free from the shackles of uni !! this gif was playing on repeat in my brain while i was writing and lorddd it made it so hard to concentrate,, i updated the tag list so i hope i added everyone that was kind enough to ask to be on it ((: as usual .. my asks are always open & happy reading <3

*no use of y/n & female presenting reader*

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You must have done something truly heinous in your past life to warrant this series of unfortunate events this Tuesday morning. The first issue makes itself known to you when your alarm doesn’t go off this morning. Your body must have known that you were getting a suspicious amount of sleep because thankfully it wakes you up with an hour to get ready. Issue number two comes in the form of empty bottles. You jump out of the shower in record breaking time. Body wrapped in a towel, skin still littered in water droplets, you scour your bathroom counter for your hair products. A frustrated sigh leaves you when you notice that your products are in the trash can. You knew that you should have left yourself a note to go pick up more the second you ran out.

“Bright side. Bright side. There's always a bright side.” You repeat your new mantra down the hall to the kitchen.

As you wait for your coffee to brew, you try to change your way of thinking. Yes, you woke up late, but at least you had an hour to get ready. Yes, you didn’t have any hair products, but at least you got to shower. See? Not so bad looking now, huh? When the coffee is done you remove the pot from its stand and set it on your counter. You make your way to the fridge to pull out your creamer and then your cabinets to retrieve your favorite mug. Unfortunately, your depth perception is off because as you bring your mug and creamer to the counter you knock the coffee pot into the sink. It must have been right on the edge and you just didn’t realize it. Tears prick your eyes as you watch the third issue of the morning disappear down the drain. You don’t think there is a bright side to this problem. With time not acting as your friend, breakfast will have to take a backseat. Before you head out the door you grab your keys and your tote and pray that whatever higher power is fucking with you has had its fill. But that would be too easy, wouldn’t it?

You hop in your car and start it up. No. And start it up. Oh God no. Third time's the charm and…

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” You wail.

The panic is setting in now. You can feel bile gurgling in your stomach and trying to claw its way up into your throat. This sort of thing usually wouldn’t bother you this much, but coupled with all the bullshit from this morning, you were at your wits end. Before anxiety completely envelops you, you pull out your phone to call Benny and explain the situation.

“Oh shit, are you alright?”

“Physically? Yes. Mentally? Ask me tomorrow.”

“At least your sense of humor is still intact,” He offers. “Don’t worry about coming in today. I had to learn how to hold it down before I hired you so I’m not worried about that. Just take today to figure out what’s wrong with your car and keep me posted. Maybe you can give Catfish a ring? He works at an auto body shop that shouldn’t be too far from you.”

“I can’t thank you enough, Benny. Yeah, he mentioned that. I’ll call him and then let you know what happens. Talk to you later!”

You toss your phone into your passenger seat and rest your head on your steering wheel. The panic you were feeling has subsided now due to a solution presenting itself, but nervousness began to blossom in its place when that solution turned out to be Frankie. The first time you called him isn’t supposed to be like this. You aren’t really sure how you wanted the first time to go, but you definitely wanted to have a better reason to talk than your fucked up car. A buzzing sound next to you announces the arrival of a text. You take a deep, centering breath and lift your head up before grabbing your phone. It’s Benny sending you the address of Frankie’s shop. You click the link and it takes you to your phone's map. It really isn’t too far from you; only 10 minutes down the road.

You pull up Frankie’s contact, but hesitate before you press it. A small twinge of guilt rolls through you as you surrender to the idea of calling another man for help with a job that has always been done by your father. The one thing he loved more than looking at cars was fixing them up. He had made you watch him work all through your childhood, so you knew how to change your tire, your oil, and both your head and tail lights. This felt like a betrayal when, in reality, it wasn’t. There wasn’t anything he could do in his current situation to help you. And telling him what was going on would only hurt him as he would inevitably come to the same conclusion you did. With your guilt temporarily satiated, you call Frankie.

He must have been concerned when he saw that it was you calling because he answers on the second ring and his voice is higher pitched than normal. “Hello?”

“Hey, Frankie it's me. Well obviously you know it's me. I’m sure you have caller ID. I’m sorry, I’m rambling, but I think I need to cash in on that car help you offered earlier.”

“Are you safe? What happened?” His tone is panicky.

“Yes. I’m completely safe.” You hear him sigh quietly on the other end of the phone. “My car just won’t start and I can’t figure out what's wrong with it. I didn’t leave any lights on last night, my gas tank is half full, and, for once in my life, my check engine light isn’t on.”

“I like your little run down, but it's going to be hard for me to figure out what's wrong with it until I actually see the vehicle in person. Tell you what, I’ll drive out to see you right now and have one of my guys bring out a tow truck to pick it up.”

“Wait no you don’t have to do that! I don’t want to make you leave work over something silly like this. I can just wait until the tow truck gets here and takes me to the shop.”

“And I don’t want you to have to deal with this alone, silly or not, got it?”

“Got it.”

You’re sitting on the curb to the left of your car when you see Frankie pull into the parking lot with his white pickup. He waves at you through his windshield as he parks in the open spot to the right of your car. You figure that it's now or never and dust yourself off as you walk over to his driver's side.

“So, are you going to be able to fix him?”

“Him?” He says skeptically, stepping out of his truck.

“My car? He’s a boy?”

“You know most people refer to vehicles as women, but you know what, to each their own.” He looks over the hood of his truck at your car. “My apologies sir. I’ll do everything in my power to get you up and running again.”

Frankie has you pop your hood while he goes back and pops his own and grabs jumper cables from the backseat. Although you offer to help him, he insists that you relax while does it himself. The way he says it makes you feel cared for rather than pushed to the side because he doesn’t believe that you’re capable. He is able to jumpstart your car, but each time the engine dies after idling for a few minutes. When he realizes that no matter how many times he tries to jump it the engine won’t stay on he unhooks the cables and puts them away.

“See anything?”

He’s taking a closer look at everything that's under your hood. The gray shirt he's wearing is doing a beautiful job of showing off how defined his arms really are. The cotton material stretches over his bicep as he moves his arm to reach something. It dawns on you that he rarely wears shirts, or clothes in general, that allow his body to be visible. Your heart aches when you think about him feeling insecure as he stands next to the other men. Even though you haven’t seen them without their clothes off, Benny excluded, you can tell how toned each of them are. You wish you could tell him that it doesn’t matter to you. You wish you could tell him that the way his stomach is currently peeking out from under his shirt is incredibly sexy to you. There’s nothing you would change about him because if you did there would be less of him for you to look at.

“Everything looks good up here.” He sighs tiredly and shuts your hood. “The issue must be your undercarriage.”

“My what?”

“Your car’s undercarriage!” He couldn’t have spit those words out faster. “I’m sure there isn’t anything wrong w-with your undercarriage.”

“Frankie, I’m just messing with you.” Your hand comes to rest on his arm as you laugh. “I knew what you meant.”

The Florida sun did a good job of blurring the line between him blushing and him standing out in the heat for too long.

“Hey, do you want some water? It’s the least I could do since you’re helping me out so much.”

“It’s really no big deal.” He reassures you. “But water would be great.”

You turn and start heading to the staircase that leads to the second floor of your apartment complex. You make it up about three steps before you realize that Frankie isn’t following you.

“I thought you wanted water?” You ask turning to face him.

“In your apartment?”

“Last I checked, that's where I keep it? Come on, Frankie, I’m not gonna bite you.”

With a small smile from him, you face back around and continue to make your way up the stairs. When you reach your door you suddenly become self conscious about the way your apartment is set up. You haven’t had the time to decorate since you got here and the lack of personal touches in your apartment made that painfully obvious.

“Sorry my place is a little bland.” You open the door and lead him inside to the kitchen. “I want to get some art for my walls so the place can really be brought together. It’s a little dumb though since I’m only here temporarily.”

“I don’t think it’s dumb, but I like the way it feels in here.”

“Oh yeah?” You pull the brita out of your fridge and set it down on the counter. “What does it feel like?”

He sees you reaching out for the cabinet that's next to him. He turns around to open it and hands you two cups without missing a beat in the conversation. “It’s kinda hard to explain. Maybe the best word I can use to describe it is…homey? I know you said you wanted more things in here, but I don’t really think items make a place feel like a home.”

“That’s way existential, Frankie.” You look up at him while filling each of y’alls glasses. “But, that does mean a lot since you’re my first guest.”

“Fuck off, no I’m not.” He says grabbing his drink.

You nod in confirmation while you take a sip of your water.

“What about your dad?”

“I actually go visit him. He’s in a retirement home, his own choice, but he had a stroke a little less than a month ago. It was bad enough to have him start physical therapy so he could retrain the muscles in his legs.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Fortunately, he’s doing better. He’s a stubborn old bastard that's for sure.”

“That’s good,” He holds out his glass to you. “Cheers to your dad and cheers for me being your first house guest.”

As you clink your glasses together you realize how much better the place feels with Frankie’s presence. The walls don’t look as bare. The sink's constant drip isn’t as loud. And the sunlight shines a little brighter through your perpetually cloudy glass windows.

“The place isn’t all bland.” He motions to the vase full of white lilies sitting on your small kitchen table. “Those are nice.”

“They didn’t have my favorite ones at the store when I went a few days ago,” you say as you walk over to smell them. “But aren’t these just beautiful?”

“Yes. Absolutely beautiful.”

Soft brown eyes meet yours when you shift your body to face him again. You can’t help but feel flustered under his intoxicating gaze.

“What?” There was no sun to explain away the heat radiating off your cheeks now.

“You have some pollen on your nose.” He takes his finger and points to his own. “Just there.”

“Aw fuck.” You rub off your nose as quickly as you can. Embarrassment courses through your veins as Frankie stays quiet and simply watches you. “Did I get it all?”

Pink lips part into a smile as he shakes his head at you. “It might be easier if I get it for you. Is that okay?”

“Y-yes.”

He sets his cup down on the counter behind him and starts walking the few feet over to you. As he closes the gap between y'all, he rubs his hands down the sides of his jeans. He looks so much taller when he’s this close. You try to focus on controlling your breathing as he raises his hand and lets it hover over your nose. As soon as he brushes the skin, your eyes flutter close at the sensation. His calloused hands caress you so delicately that you feel as if you are made of the finest of china. You only open them when you feel his touch leave your body. He’s staring down at you with pupils blown out.

“Is it-is it all gone?” You don’t know why you're whispering when he's standing right in front of you.

“You’re pollen free.” He whispers back.

Neither of you make a move to escape the close proximity. You watch his eyes slowly travel from your own eyes to your lip and back up again. You hope he can see by the way you’re looking at him that you’re begging for him to touch you, to kiss you. He takes a half step closer. His hand brushes against yours down at your side.

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Frankie closes his eyes like he's in agonizing pain and steps back from you. “I think your car’s ride is here.”

“Well umm,” You clear your throat. “I guess we shouldn’t keep your coworker waiting, huh?”

***

“So we got some bad news and we got some good news. The bad news is that it looks like one of your cylinders misfired and it’s going to be out of commission until it can be fixed. The good news is that we are having a slow day today so it should be fixed by this afternoon.”

“I really wish you would have led with the good news.”

“Where's the suspense in that?”

“Thank you again for helping me with this, Frankie.” The two of you exit the shop and stand in front of his truck. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Probably would have called some other loser who works in an auto body shop.” He shrugs.

“You’re not a loser.” You wrap your arms around your body. “At least not to me.”

“I uhh-thank you for saying that.”

You return his shrug with a soft smile.

“Did you want me too-umm-drop you off at the gym?” He checks his watch. “You’ve only missed about an hour and a half of your day.”

“No, don’t worry about it. Benny said I could take the day when I talked to him about what was going on this morning. I’ll probably uber home and find something to occupy myself with until my car is ready.”

Your stomach choses now to loudly make its presence known.

Frankie raises one of his eyebrows at you. “Have you eaten today?”

“I was planning on it, but then the universe decided that it wasn’t in the cards for me.”

“Want to go get breakfast? With me? I could eat.”

“As lovely as that sounds, I’ve already taken up so much of your time already! I don’t want to get you in trouble at work!”

“Oh, come on. Playing hooky isn’t fun when you do it by yourself. Plus, I’ve got some vacation time racked up that I can use for today

You knew your answer even before you spoke it. The opportunity to spend more time with him is one you would have to be crazy to pass up. It may not be a date, but it was a start. And everything has to start somewhere.

“Fine, but you’re driving.”

***

“Please tell me you didn’t call us here to help you close up, Benny.”

It was unusually quiet in the gym today. It wasn’t the lack of grunting from the weight lifters, or the obnoxious sounds coming from the washing machine, or even the chatter of patrons in between their boxing rounds. It was the lack of you. Benny thought that he could handle it just like before, but he was wrong. He found himself wandering up to the front desk to share each and every miniscule thought that popped into his head only to find it empty time and time again. You had completely enmeshed yourself into his daily routine and he didn’t notice until now. It seemed that even the guests noticed your absence. He found himself getting asked where you were or when you would be coming back. You did so much around the gym that he didn’t even realize and he cursed himself for taking you for granted. The next time you had car trouble he swore he would pick you up himself because he could do this alone. He couldn’t do this without his friend. But, that isn’t why he called them in.

“Yeah, what gives?” Pope adds to Will’s previous statement. “And where’s our girl?”

“Number one: no I didn’t call y’all to help me close. Number two: I gave her the day off because she was having car trouble and wouldn’t be able to make it in.”

It takes him assuring his friends multiple times and showing them your update texts for them to stop worrying about you.

“Alright that explains her, but where's Catfish?” Will presses.

Benny sighs deeply and walks around to sit in your empty chair. He closes his eyes and leans his head back before he answers his brother.

“He’s actually the reason why I called y’all over. I found out that he’s been talking to Rochelle again.”

“As much as we don’t fuckin’ like it, we knew that she texted him about getting back together.”

“You were there that night. This is old news.” Pope sounds annoyed, but Benny can’t track if it's aimed at him specifically or at the contents of the conversation.

“He’s been talking on the phone with her. I feel like thats a bit more serious than a fuckin’ text, Pope.”

Benny’s quick retort is enough to silence him, but Will starts panicking. An emotion that is just as foreign for him to feel as it is to see him display.

“No fuckin’ way, man. No fuckin’ way he would do that.”

“That’s what I thought too, but she overheard him talking with Rochelle when she saw him out a few weeks back. Why would she lie about that? She had no knowledge of Rochelle before then.”

“Fuck! FUCK!”

Will fists his hands behind his head and starts pacing around the gym lobby. The two other men can only stare as they watch him slowly unravel before their eyes. Pope was, and still is, Frankie’s best friend, but Will was the most affected by what happened. It’s his job to scrape vets off the street when they come back after tours, legal or not, and get them the help they need. What kind of man, what kind of friend is he that he let one of his own slip through his fingers? When the metaphorical shoe finally dropped and Frankie got busted, as much as Will wanted to say ‘I told you so’, he just held his hand through recovery. The feeling of being right was only second to seeing his friend get better. It took every ounce of strength Will, Pope, and Benny had to drag Frankie back into reality. Now that he is teetering on the edge again, Will is terrified that he doesn’t have enough left in him to save Frankie. Pope cuts in to attempt to stop Benny from causing Will to have another Publix level freakout.

“What exactly did she hear?”

“She just said that he got a phone call and he immediately tensed up when he saw who was calling. Then, when he answered, he said her name.”

“Let’s not lose our heads, boys.” Pope turns toward Will who is still pacing. “We don’t know the context of the phone call, alright? Rochelle was the one that called him, not the other way around.”

“Does it matter?! She like a fuckin’ drug to him!”

“You’re not fucking helping, Benny.” Pope seethes.

Will regains some control over his emotions and pilots himself over to the front desk.

“Pope is right. We don’t have all the facts yet.” He lets out a weighted sigh and white knuckles the edge of the desk. “Let’s just keep an eye on him and this situation until we know, for sure, what’s really goin’ on.”

The suffocating tension in the room is shattered when Benny’s phone chimes with a text.

You: My car is as good as new! Frankie and I even stopped to get some new air freshener scents for you to test out for the gym! See you tomorrow (:

“Ho-ly shit.” Benny lets out a low whistle.

“What?” The two other men speak in unison.

Benny just laughs to himself as he tosses Will the phone.

“Well would you look at that?” Will echoes his brother's tune.

“Let me see that, huh?” Pope snatches the phone and reads the message you sent. “So that's why that pendejo hasn’t been answering my texts all damn day. He’s with her!”

“That sneaky bastard!” Benny laughs. “Yall think he likes her? He’s got to, right?”

“You really should get someone else to fill in for you at the fights every now and then.” Will snickers, all tension gone from his body. “Of course he likes her. He told us last Friday.”

“I miss everything! Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He complains.

“Nevermind that.” Pope says as he returns the phone. “She might be the solution to our problem.”

How’d you reckon?” Will inquires.

“If we can get them together, there won’t be any room for Rochelle.”

“We aren’t pimpin’ her out, Pope. That’s fucked up.”

“No, no.” He shakes his head. “We aren’t pimping her out, dumbass. Not if she likes him back that is. I mean, come on, you saw the way she was looking at him when they shared that beer the other night.”

“They shared a beer?!”

“Not now, Benny.” Will hushes. “Damn straight I saw that.”

Pope turns to Benny who still looks in shock because of what he just learned.

“Can you do us a favor?”

“Anything if it means getting Rochelle out of the picture. Again.”

“Good man. Now we need you to keep your ears open for anything she says about Fish. We need to know where she stands before we do this and you’re the one that sees her everyday.”

“Hell yeah! I’m gonna be all over her!”

“Don’t be weird, Ben.” Will groan.

“Then it’s settled. When we figure out if she likes him or not…operation ‘catch-a-fish’ is a go.”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

{tag list: @cutesyscreenname @rsquared31 @smol-beb @bitchwitch1981 @avastrasposts @hoeslingz @saltybutteredtoast @javicstories @c-justhere @pimosworld @modernperplexity @beboldbebravethings @modernperplexity @mxtokko @moonliqhtszn @tanzthompson @megcads @myloveistoolittle @casa-boiardi @jitterbugs927 @partyofone3413 }

#francisco morales #frankie morales #catfish #frankie morales fanfiction #frankie morales x you #frankie morales x reader #triple frontier #triple frontier fic #benny miller #will miller #ironhead #santiago garcia #pope #through the scope #read on a03

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ariannadi · 2 years

Text

If I Never Knew You

Part 2/? of A Girl Out of Time, slight Adaman x OC, background context as well as series overview here - also where you can read it on Ao3! ----------------------------------------------------------

The air felt… heavy. Which was odd considering Hikari hadn’t even traversed the higher parts of the Coronet Highlands yet. In fact, she had barely made it out of the ancient quarry.

Normally she would wait until daytime for an expedition in this particular area, but she had taken it upon herself to do more research on Rotom at the request of Professor Laventon. The zippity Pokémon was known to appear more frequently in the twilight hours given its ghostly nature, therefore it only made sense to head out into the hills at said time.

But previous ventures hadn’t felt like this; like an invisible force was pressing down on her chest, or watching her every move, for that matter. The young woman glanced around at her surroundings, but aside from a flock of Zubat hovering nearby nothing seemed amiss.

And then, all she could feel was ice. Ice and terror and darkness. She briefly registered her body plummeting, before everything went black.

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

“Professor, you seem on edge. Is everything alright?” Rei asked, trying to warm his hands over the measly fire he had going. He was really starting to regret coming along on this particular survey.

Laventon, eyes trained on the trail leading to their campsite, took a moment to respond. “I’m worried about Hikari. Normally, she checks in every few hours so she and her Pokémon can have a quick rest and update me on any research. But it’s morning now. I haven’t seen her since last night,” he explained.

Rei poked at the fire with a twig he’d picked up in the hopes it would stir up the flames. “There was that shower that came through at one point; perhaps she found shelter and just stayed put?”

The professor shook his head. “She’s traversed in far worse without complaint. I’m worried, Rei. I think we should go out and search for her.”

Rei paused when he heard the tremor in his mentor’s voice, prompting him to actually glance up at the older man. “You’re truly concerned, huh?” Sighing as he rose from his pitiful fire, he made his way over to where the professor stood. “I’ll go and take a look around, then. Just stay put.”

“B-but!” Laventon attempted to protest, only for Rei to fix him with an annoyed look.

”You and I both know you’re not equipped to deal with a place as treacherous at the highlands, Professor. I’ll be back with Hikari in tow in record time, I promise.” And then the young man was off, hurrying down the trail in search of his companion.

Rei wasn’t as familiar with the highlands as he was the other survey locations around Hisui; mostly because of how dangerous the Pokémon tended to be. As far as he was aware, Hikari was the only one who actually had full authority to wander as she pleased.

He repeatedly shouted her name as he hiked about the area, causing various Pokémon to flee in different directions each time. The fact that there wasn’t a girl tailing such commotion was indeed suspicious, as Hikari was infamous for throwing herself into hordes of Pokémon in the name of research.

And that’s when he found her; unconscious and crumpled on the ground outside the ancient quarry. Yanma were curiously hovering around the young woman, but took off as soon as Rei hurried over.

”Hikari? Hikari!” he called, kneeling down and shaking her a bit, but she didn’t respond. Only then did he notice that on top of being out cold, she was extremely pale in the face and her forehead was glistening with sweat.

“Ah, damn. Hang on, Hikari. I’ll get you back to the camp.” Carefully maneuvering her into an upright position, Rei knelt and hoisted her onto his back. Gods willing, he mused once he began cautiously trekking his way down the slopes, he wasn’t too late in finding her.

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When Hikari woke, it wasn’t to the sound of villagers pushing carts about and the distant ringing of iron being hammered. Instead, she heard the distinct beeping of an alarm clock.

But that was ridiculous. Alarm clocks wouldn’t be invented for hundreds of years. Perhaps it was Professor Laventon testing out some breakthrough contraption in his quarters next door.

”Hikari, breakfast!” came an eerily familiar voice from another room below.

Wait. When did her quarters have a second floor? And that voice…

Mom?

Hikari’s eyes flew open and she quickly sat up with a gasp. Taking a quick look around, she realized she was sitting in her old bed. In her old room. There against the furthest wall was her mahogany TV stand. The posters of Galar’s celebrity gym leaders were still plastered all over her closet door. The large bean bag chair she used to flop into after a grueling day at her summer job still sat in the corner near her desk.

She was home again, in modern Sinnoh.

But how?

”Hikari, are you coming down?” came her mother’s voice once again. Hikari nearly fell out of the bed, not even taking a moment to throw on her slippers before she practically sprinted down the stairs. Upon reaching the main floor, she skidded around the entryway and into the kitchen, where her mother had her back to her as she tidied up dishes in the sink.

”Mom?” she called out, tears beading in her eyes when the woman in question turned to face her after a moment.

”Hikari? Is everything alright?” her mother asked, but Hikari didn’t have time to answer before she was bolting into the woman’s arms with a sob.

”Mom… I missed you so much. I can’t believe I’m actually home again,” she cried, a wobbly smile forming when her mother soothingly ran her fingers through her hair.

”Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t realize you were feeling so homesick. I’m just happy you were able to come home from school for the weekend.” Hikari froze at that, pulling away slightly to look her mother in the eyes.

”That’s—No, Mom. I wasn’t away at school, I’ve been completely gone for over a year now,” she stressed. “I was sent back in time by Arceus to the settlement period, when Sinnoh was known as Hisui. I became a member of the Survey Corps and helped establish the region’s Pokédex. I-I…” At her mother’s increasingly puzzled expression, Hikari rapidly lost confidence in her recounting.

”I don’t think I’ll be making karp stew for dinner again anytime soon,” the woman muttered under her breath, then reached out to place her palm to her daughter’s forehead. “Hm… you’re not burning up, so I guess I’ll just pin this on the stew.”

Hikari rolled her eyes in exasperation. ”Mom, I’m not sick. And I’m not having a reaction from food. I swear to you I was gone; for like, over a year!”

”Dear, I’m thinking you just had a very bizarre dream,” her mother sighed. “I know how real they can seem, and I’m sure the stress of your classes isn’t helping, but you can’t let it get to you. Now, go on and grab a plate. The food will get cold if we don’t eat soon.”

Hikari, losing the will to keep arguing when the situation was evidently against her, relented. Pulling away from her mother, she did as she was told, but found that even with a homecooked meal steaming her face she couldn’t drop the question plaguing her mind.

Was all of it really just a dream?

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

“Rei. Laventon. Irida has arrived,” Cyllene informed both men from where she was guarding the door to Hikari’s quarters.

The professor and assistant, who were parked on either side of the bed where the comatose woman lay, looked up, but made no effort to move from where they sat. When the Pearl Clan leader entered the house, they didn’t extend a formal greeting, either.

”Ingo notified me of the situation, so I came to see for myself,” Irida spoke, moving further into the room so she could examine the state of her friend. At the ghastly sight of the young woman, the clan leader’s hands flew to her mouth. “Mighty Palkia, what’s happened to her!?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Rei sighed, ringing out a cloth from a nearby bowl and pressing it to Hikari’s forehead. “She’s been unconscious for two days now, and aside from how ashen she looks and the night sweats, nothing else seems to be wrong with her.”

”It could be a poison of some kind; Gligar are common in the area she was found, aren’t they? Perhaps she was stung,” Irida suggested, taking a seat on the floor next to Rei.

“We already had Peselle examine every inch of her body when we brought her back to the village. There’s no sign of bites, scratches, bruises, or wounds of any kind,” Professor Laventon responded, shaking his head.

Irida furrowed her brow at the information. “There has to be an explanation behind this; people don’t just pass out randomly and refuse to wake.” Closing her eyes in contemplation, she shot up when an idea quickly struck. “Perhaps Calaba would know something about this, she’s lived longer than most in this region after all.”

”It’s worth a shot. And we’d definitely appreciate if you sought her out,” Rei replied, and rose from his spot. “In the meantime, I’ll prepare more of the tonic we’ve been using to keep her stable. If you’ll excuse me.”

Irida watched after Rei as he left the house for his destination, before turning back to examine Hikari a final time. “I trust that you and Captain Cyllene will keep a close eye on her, Professor?” she asked of the man with a frown, obviously worried over her friend receiving proper care.

”Don’t you worry, my girl,” Laventon reassured her, making a point to sit more comfortably. “The last thing I would even consider doing is leaving Hikari alone in this condition.”

”We will do all we can to keep her stable. And that includes keeping nosy individuals from unnecessary snooping,” followed Cyllene, still positioned at the door.

The Pearl Clan leader smiled in relief at that, and brought a hand to her chest. “I’m thankful she has people like you looking out for her. I’ll make haste for the Crimson Mirelands to look for Calaba,” she told them both with a bow before departing once again.

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

What was one to do when they were suddenly thrown back into the world they had originated from after so long? Hikari wasn’t sure, so she simply meandered about Hearthome City, getting herself re-familiarized with everything.

Her mother, who had protested her going out initially, had offered to take her to the doctor for some kind of remedy over her fixation, but the girl had declined. Even if her mother believed her to be having a mental break, Hikari knew the actuality of everything - and that was that she had indeed spent over a year in the Sinnoh of the past.

She wondered how the friends she had made during her time there were faring. Had they woken to discover her missing? Were their memories of her erased for their own peace of mind?

Just thinking of them made her throat constrict. She hadn’t even gotten to tell any of them goodbye, and now they were centuries dead.

Rei. Laventon. Irida. Mai. Arezu.

…Adaman.

While enjoying a latte from what had once been her favorite cafe, Hikari, peering through the expansive glass panes making up the exterior, noticed for the first time that the city’s historical museum sat on the opposite side of the street. She suddenly had the urge to go and do some digging in regards to the people she had encountered in the past; at least then she would be able to show it to her mother and prove she wasn’t making things up.

After finishing her coffee, that’s exactly what she did.

”Hello! Welcome to the Hearthome Historical Museum. Is there any topic in particular you’ve come to inquire about today?” the woman at the front desk warmly greeted the girl upon her entering the foyer of the building. Hikari nodded slowly, glancing around at the marble architecture within in bewilderment.

“Uh… yes. Would you happen to have any articles or exhibits related to Sinnoh during the settlement period? When it was known as Hisui.”

The receptionist seemed to ponder this, only for her eyes to all at once light up. “Ah, yes! I do believe we have a small collection of that on the basement floor. We don’t get much traffic in that part of the building — most visitors who come here wish to learn about ancient Pokémon and related mythology, so we keep those exhibits in the more prominent areas of the building.”

”I see,” Hikari replied, eyeing the elevator a little too enthusiastically. “I’ll, uh, go ahead and take a look at what you have. Thank you for your help.”

The woman offered her a bright smile. “Not a problem, my dear. We’re always eager to help blossom the minds of young folk like yourself. Be sure to take a look at our other exhibits, if you have the time!”

The basement level of the museum was void of the lavish frills the main level possessed, and most of the exhibits, lit up by nothing more than a dim lightbulb, looked to have been there for years. Even so, Hikari took her time in studying each and every one, until she came to one in particular at the far corner of the room.

“Hisui - Where Sinnoh Began,” Hikari read the title lettering aloud, then peered further into the display case. There were letters written between settlers whose names Hikari didn’t recognize, as well as some trinkets and worn trade logs. But there was no mention of a Galaxy Team. No mention of a Diamond or Pearl Clan. No mention of Almighty Sinnoh or Lord and Lady Pokémon or even potato mochi.

”I-I don’t understand,” Hikari whispered in horror, painstakingly looking over everything in the exhibit one more time to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. “They existed, they had to have existed!” Glancing over her shoulder towards the exit, she immediately made the decision to check the city’s library for any records of the experiences she had faced. It was the largest in all of Sinnoh; surely it wouldn’t let her down.

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

“I do not understand why anyone would want to willingly live here,” Irida griped as she trudged through the sloshy bogs making up a majority of the Crimson Mireland’s environment. Her poor shoes were most definitely ruined at this point. “The humidity alone is enough to suffocate a person!”

“And yet here you are. Must not be as insufferable as you insist,” someone deadpanned from just behind the woman, nearly causing her spirit to leave her body.

”AHH!” Irida shrieked, whipping around to give whoever snuck up on her a piece of her mind. Her eyes went impossibly large when she saw who it was.

Adaman.

Uh oh.

Judging by how aloof he appeared to be, he didn’t seem to be in the know of what was going on, which Irida considered a blessing. It was no secret among the clans that the Diamond Clan leader had a certain fondness for the Savior of Hisui. If he were to find out what had happened to her, he’d likely act in retaliation without thinking things through.

”I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wandering around here unless something was amiss,” Adaman observed, sending a suspicious look her way. “You wouldn’t happen to be seeking out your warden, would you?”

”And if I am? It doesn’t mean there’s a calamity afoot. Maybe I’m just checking in with her. Frankly, it’s none of your business,” Irida shot back.

”I don’t believe you’ve ever done such a thing since becoming leader, Irida. Mostly because I insisted it was unnecessary,” Calaba, because of course the elderly woman had to show up and make things more difficult in that exact moment, said as she approached them both. “I assume you need my assistance with something? Is it a Pokémon?”

Both Adaman and Calaba stared at the young woman, waiting for an answer. They had her cornered, and Irida knew that she wasn’t leaving without one in particular storming off in rage.

”It’s… It’s Hikari.” she finally admitted in a whisper. She didn’t miss the way Adaman’s expression shifted from annoyance to concern in the matter of seconds. “Rei found her in the highlands two days ago, unconscious, but with no sign of visible injury or foul play. She hasn’t woken since and almost appears to be-“ Irida paused, not wanting to voice the word. “-I came here because I thought perhaps you might know something about such a condition, Calaba.” “Hikari…?” Adaman breathed in disbelief, staring off in the direction of Jubilife Village. Calaba, on the other hand, brought a contemplating hand to her chin.

”Hmm… I do believe I’d heard of something similar when I was younger. There may even be a scroll or two with the entire account in our clan’s collection - but it’ll take some time to search through them all.”

”I can help with that!” came a rather chipper voice given the situation, who turned out to be Arezu; likely there for Lady Lilligant. Irida could only conclude that, considering the short amount of time it took for all of them to encounter one another, the Crimson Mirelands were a lot smaller than she remembered.

”Ah, Arezu. Good to see you, dear,” Calaba greeted the young woman with a smile. “I would welcome the help in going through our records. Two pairs of eyes and hands are better than one, after all.”

The redhead opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a furious Adaman stomping past them all. Irida immediately chased after the man, trying to match his determined pace but failing.

”Where are you going?” she demanded, but he didn’t stop to answer.

”Where do you think? Hikari is in trouble; I’m not just going to stand around and wait for everyone else to figure out what’s going on.”

”You’ll only get in the way, Adaman,” Irida protested, knowing Cyllene wouldn’t tolerate his hovering. Her words seemingly had no effect on the stubborn idiot, for he continued onward in his apparent mission to help Hikari in his own way. “YOU ARE SUCH A TAUROS!” the Pearl Clan leader finally shouted at his back once she had given up the pursuit.

“Go easy on him; he’s young and possibly freaking out about his feelings. He likely just wants to see Hikari’s condition with his own eyes if nothing else,” Arezu said once she and Calaba joined up with Irida again. “It might be a good idea to follow after him so he doesn’t make a fool of himself; me and Calaba can make for the icelands in the meantime.”

”You’re sure you won’t need my help?” Irida asked, but Arezu just met her with a wide smile, one which her elderly counterpart attempted to match.

”Don’t worry, girl! We won’t let you down. Hikari will be up and prancing about again in no time, promise!”

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

Piles upon piles of books, documents, and records of various size and age sat on the table Hikari had taken up as her personal research center within the Hearthome Library, as well as a cell phone with ten missed calls from her mother. The young woman had been parked in this spot for hours, and she was quite certain the library was about to close up for the evening, but still she continued skimming through everything she could once. Twice. Three times.

Despite her efforts, there was no record whatsoever of the people and events Hikari had encountered in Hisui. Her heart continued to sink lower and lower into her stomach with each pointless sentence she perused, and she wasn’t quite sure if the moisture beading in her eyes was from the layers of dust in the air or the fact that she was trying to hold back a massive breakdown.

”Dear, we’ll be locking the doors in another ten minutes or so,” an elderly woman told her as she walked by, arranging books on a shelf. “You’re more than welcome to check out those materials if you’d like to study them for the week.”

Hikari just shook her head wearily. “No. That’s okay,” she croaked, before rising from the table. “I’ll just go ahead and put these in the return bin.”

The old woman nodded once before returning to her duties, leaving Hikari to gather up her ridiculous collection. After depositing it all into the return bin, she slogged her way out of the building, noting that the sun was already setting in the distance. It would be wise to return home at this point, and cease the worries of her clearly stressed mother, but she found that she didn’t want to go anywhere.

So she stood frozen on the sidewalk instead, staring up towards the clouds painted with streaks of orange. That’s when the tears finally decided to make their overdue appearance, slow and silent at first, only to transition into a flood with each harrowing breath she took.

”I… I don’t want to believe they weren’t real. That everything I saw never happened,” Hikari begged to no one in particular. “What did it all mean? Why torment me like this?” It took all of her willpower to not crash to the ground, and as her distress only increased further she wound up teetering into a nearby post and grasping onto it for dear life.

“I-I want to be with them all again. I want to h-hear Mai and Irida talking up a storm. I want to eat potato mochi with Rei and t-the professor. I-I… I want to see Adaman. His smile. Just once more. Just so I know it was real.”

…Hikari?

The young woman gasped, whipping her head back and forth at the baritone voice that set her chest aflame. No one else was around, but there was no mistaking who she was hearing.

”Adaman?” she called out as tears blurred her vision, pushing herself off the post and hurrying down the road. “Adaman, where are you?”

Hey, shh… you’re safe. I’m here.

”But where?” Hikari continued to hysterically question aloud, unsure of the direction his disembodied words were coming from. She could vaguely make out continued murmurings; gentle and reassuring, and at one point was certain she could feel a steady warmth pressing against her cheek.

I’m here, Hikari…

“Adaman,” she sniffled, and placed her hand over the source of comfort despite it not being entirely there. “I know you’re here. I’m not quite sure how it’s possible, but… Just stay with me, okay? Stay with me until I can truly see you again.”

They’ll be back soon, Hikari. Just hang on.

”Hikari!”

The startled girl rotated at the sudden calling of her name, only to see her mother, dressed in her robe and pajamas, jogging towards her.

”Mom! Adaman, one of my dear friends from Hisui, he spoke to me. He’s here with me! If you just come stand right here-“

”That is enough, Hikari,” the older woman snapped, reaching for her arm. “You’ve had me worried sick for hours. Whatever this fantasy of yours is, it’s not real, and you need to let it go.”

”No!” Hikari protested, yanking her arm away. “I don’t care what you or anyone says. I know what I saw, and I know what I’m feeling now. Wherever Adaman and the others are, they’re waiting for me. I’m not going to let them go!”

And then she took off running. But as she continued down an unspecified path, the world around her only became more distorted, and her mother’s shouts and impending pursuit all the more threatening. She was tempted to look back more than once, but somehow she knew if she stopped for even a moment, that would be it.

Nothing made sense any longer, but still, she would keep running. If she were lucky, perhaps Hisui would be waiting for her just beyond the horizon.

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

Adaman had arrived in Jubilife a day prior with an uninvited Irida in tow, and had remained at Hikari’s side since storming into her quarters despite Cyllene’s protests (as well as a sandal to his head). Rei and the professor had offered to take over watching her multiple times so he may get some rest, but he always declined. Something, perhaps Mighty Dialga itself, nagged at him to stay put; convinced that if he left for even a second Hikari’s condition would become even worse.

He prayed with his entire being that Arezu and Calaba would be successful in their search for a solution, and soon. If Hikari were lost…

The clan leader let out a shaky breath as he observed the anemic appearance of the woman, the hands in his folded lap clenching into tight fists. Hikari didn’t deserve this fate after all she had done for his homeland; to waste away unknowingly while those in charge twiddled their thumbs in helplessness. They needed to do more. He needed to do more.

”Hikari?” he prompted aloud, and swallowed thickly when there wasn’t a response of any kind. “Hikari. Please, if you can hear me, give me a sign. A sound. Anything.” He reached for her hand, squeezing it once, twice, in the hope of conveying his presence to her.

But still, nothing.

This was all just… wrong. Hikari should’ve been laughing breathlessly at the professor as his Rowlet stole his entire helping of potato mochi at dinner. She should’ve been sitting in Arezu’s styling chair and flailing her hands as they chatted about the latest gossip among the region. She should’ve been chewing at her lip and blowing loose strands of hair from her forehead as she scribbled out her latest entry of the Pokédex by candlelight.

And Adaman would be watching her all the while with the fondest of smiles, something brewing deep in his chest that he didn’t have the courage to name quite yet.

”You’re still here,” Irida, who knocked as she entered the house so not as to startle him, commented. “I figured you would have returned to your settlement by now.”

”And yet here you are,” Adaman retorted, though not unkindly. “I sent word to Mai to keep an eye on things in my place for the time being. They all adore Hikari. They’ll understand.”

Irida made her way over to where he sat at Hikari’s side, and took the spot next to him. For a while, neither spoke.

”You love her, don’t you?” Irida suddenly asked, glancing his way. Even though the abrupt question should’ve left him sputtering, it had no such effect.

”I didn’t know what to make of her, at first. After she gained the trust of Wyrdeer; after calming Lady Lilligant down from her frenzy, I began to respect both her and her natural bond with Pokémon immensely. That respect became admiration when she risked her life to calm Mighty Dialga and Mighty Palkia. And then…”

”One day, she looked at you in a certain way with those indigo eyes, and your heart began to pound like mad,” Irida finished for him, smirking. Adaman shot her a murderous glare in retaliation.

“Mai opened her big mouth, didn’t she?” he hissed, only for the opposite clan leader to hum nonchalantly in response. The man, not in the mood to press further, just rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Maybe I do love her, I’m not sure yet. But what I do know is I hate seeing her like this. It’s killing me, Irida.”

”I understand, Adaman,” Irida replied, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt at comfort. “She means a lot to me, as well. We have to have faith that the others will find a solution.”

Dawn had barely broken over the hills when Arezu and Calaba finally did arrive in the village. Hope welled in Adaman’s chest the moment the pair of women entered the house, and only increased further when he observed just how jovial his clanmate appeared to be.

”We found a healer’s log within the Pearl Clan’s records with similar events recorded! And in doing so, have also discovered a solution,” Arezu announced, pulling out a scroll from her satchel and holding it out towards the clan leaders. Knowing Adaman likely wouldn’t want to leave Hikari’s side, Irida took it upon herself to retrieve the document, then unrolled it and began to read its contents aloud.

”Healer’s Log, Day Seven: It has been a week’s time since the child under our care succumbed to the mysterious sleeping illness. Our hunters have reported seeing an unknown creature haunting the woods at night where the child was found, and we have deduced it may be responsible.

Healer’s Log, Day Ten: Another has fallen victim to the sleeping illness; this time an adolescent. The creature previously reported was spotted again just after they were found, and we have thus advised the clan leader to prohibit any from leaving the settlement after nightfall. The victims both look gaunt and appear to suffer in their sleep. None of our remedies have worked thus far.

Healer’s Log, Day Twelve: The clan have dubbed the creature Darkrai. More studies are necessary, but we have theorized that it inflicts the sleeping illness on trespassers within its territory as a form of self-defense. The clan leader has discussed moving the settlement further north.

Healer’s Log, Day Fifteen: Both child and adolescent have recovered on the premise of sheer dumb luck. A multicolored feather fell from the sky during the full moon, and the mother of the child collected it in the hopes of giving it to them when they woke. The moment she brought the feather to the child’s bedside, the sleeping illness was lifted. We placed the feather near the other victim, and the same result occurred. Both have expressed experiencing vivid night terrors during their period of unconsciousness. Recovery observations to follow…”

“You’re saying a Pokémon caused this after all?” Adaman demanded, making no effort to hide his ire at the news. “And the reason she won’t wake… she’s trapped in a never-ending nightmare.”

“It would appear so. But you heard the part about a cure, right? The feather the log mentioned, we just have to find one and Hikari should recover instantaneously!” Arezu exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

”But, where are we going to find the specific feather the notes mentioned?” Irida asked in exasperation. “We don’t even know what kind of Pokémon it came from.”

Calaba cleared her throat from her spot behind the others, grabbing the attention of the two clan leaders. “Honestly, Irida. Has being so wrought with worry scrambled your senses? The feather was said to appear under a full moon. There’s only one creature of flight around these parts tied to that specific detail.”

”Cresselia!” Adaman blurted out, and the elderly woman nodded with a pleased smile.

“Cresselia, of course,” Irida said under her breath with a growing grin of her own. “It’s said to reside in the Moonview Area of the highlands, not far from where Hikari was found. Do you think it purposefully idles there because of this ‘Darkrai’?”

Adaman fixed her with an annoyed look. “Does it matter? We have the information we need to cure Hikari. We must head to the highlands at on-“ but the man wasn’t able to finish his thought, for a whimper from the floor ceased any further remarks. Gasping, Adaman whipped around to discern the commotion, only for his eyes to widen considerably.

Although she remained unconscious, tears were rapidly snaking down Hikari’s cheeks, while sounds that resembled heavy sobs escaped from her throat.

“She’s… crying? But… the rest of her body still isn’t moving at all,” Arezu observed, taking a step closer. Despite the redhead’s commentary, Adaman’s focus remained solely on the fitful blonde.

”Hikari? It’s Adaman,” the man spoke so tenderly, settling a hand on her cheek. “Hey, shh… you’re safe. I’m here.” His thumb gingerly brushed at what tears it could catch as he continued to murmur sweet nothings to her, and after some time, his efforts appeared to have calmed Hikari from her fit.

”Adaman…” Irida breathed in surprise. “I can’t believe that actually worked. I just hope this isn’t an omen of the illness getting worse.” Facing the two wardens in the room with a determined expression, she ordered, “Let’s move out. We shouldn’t delay any further. Adaman,” she then directed to the other clan leader, “I think it’s best if you stay with Hikari in the meantime.”

��Thank you,” he whispered in sincerity, not looking up.

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

“Hey, Melli! You’re always griping about having to shoo Cresselia away from Lord Electrode’s arena - you wouldn’t happen to have seen it lately?” Arezu asked when the trio arrived at the domain sitting at the beginning of Mount Coronet’s summit.

”Oh, it’s nice to see you too, Arezu! Why, I’m doing quite well up here in the cold, alone. How kind of you to ask,” the lavender-haired man sneered in reply, donning his signature frown.

Irida rolled her eyes and brushed past Arezu, not about to deal with one of Melli’s infamous tantrums. “Now isn’t the time, Melli,” she snapped. “We need a feather from Cresselia, and quick, or else someone might very well lose their life.”

Melli seemed to contemplate this, bringing a finger to his chin. Narrowing his eyes, he then asked, “Who’s the person?”

”Does it matter? If we don’t hurry we could end up being too late,” Arezu barked. “Just tell us where Cresselia was last and we’ll be out of your hair.”

”It’s that noodle, isn’t it? The one Adaman has been making goo-goo eyes at all the time lately. That’s why you three are here bothering me instead of them,” Melli (correctly) concluded with an accusatory finger. “Well, you can forget my help. I haven’t forgotten the way that girl humiliated milord and I while she was galavanting around the region playing hero.”

”Honestly, Melli! Hikari might die and you’re concerned about your pride? What would Adaman think if he heard you right now?” Arezu demanded, stomping up to the man until she was practically in his face.

”Calm yourself, child,” came Calaba, forgotten in the midst of rising tempers. “Melli has no obligation to assist with this mission if he so chooses.” At the haughty expression and defiant tongue that appeared on said warden’s face, the old woman nonchalantly continued, “Of course, I am certain Adaman will be devastated beyond comprehension and will likely never speak to him again should we lose the Savior of Hisui, but that’s hardly a consequence.”

”Oh, come on! You can’t just play that card on me, it’s so unfair!” Melli whined in defeat, his shoulders sagging. “Ugh, fiiiine. I’ll help you. The stupid rainbow bird was here just this morning. I haven’t had the chance to tidy up the arena yet so you should have no trouble finding whatever it happened to leave behind.”

”Thank you, Melli!” Arezu cheered, her mood doing a complete 180 in an instant. She attempted to reach out and hug the taller man, but he just hissed and pushed her away.

”Almighty Sinnoh willing, Cresselia left behind a feather for us to retrieve,” Irida muttered under her breath, collecting herself as she proceeded into the arena. The vicinity itself wasn’t massive in the slightest, and so when no immediate signs came into view Irida felt her stomach slowly begin to sink.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something iridescent catching the light of the sun overhead. She held her breath as she hurried over to the object, only to let out a cry of relief at what she saw.

A multicolored feather, caught between the twigs of a small brush. Irida reached for it, clutching it to her chest and smiling as wide as her cheeks allowed.

”We have it!” she called to the others, holding it in the air so they could all see for themselves. Arezu, and even Calaba let out whoops of excitement, while Melli was content to simply cross his arms.

”We’re coming, Hikari. Just hang on a little longer!”

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

There had been no further reactions from Hikari since Adaman had calmed her from her fit a couple days prior, and his worries only intensified. The tonic Rei had been preparing to give her some sustenance and sustainability was quickly losing its effect, and the girl’s cheeks were starting to sink the slightest bit.

”Come on, Irida. We’re losing precious time here,” he whispered, gripping Hikari’s hand.

”Commander Kamado is insisting we start making the necessary ceremony arrangements, but I halted such thoughts before they escalated,” Rei said, his eyes furious. “I don’t even care if I lose a rank for speaking out of turn; I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.”

“They have to be headed back by now if they were successful. It’s only a matter of how quickly they travel. She’s still with us. I refuse to accept otherwise,” Adaman stubbornly replied, a deep furrow appearing in his brow.

It was then that the door to the house slammed open, and in paraded Arezu, Calaba, and Irida, all wearing the brightest grins one could possibly possess. Rei had turned to berate their unnecessary commotion, but his eyes widened when Irida held out their saving grace.

”One feather from Cresselia, ready for curing,” she announced with a wink. Adaman was already rising to his feet at her remark, hurrying over to snatch the feather from her hands.

“Thank Almighty Sinnoh. The lot at the Galaxy Team are already set on digging a plot,” he rasped, then turned towards where Hikari lay once again. Swallowing, he took nervous steps towards the raised platform, before kneeling and placing the feather on Hikari’s chest. It was completely silent as everyone present watched in anticipation, holding their breaths.

Suddenly, a faint glow began to emanate from the multicolored plume, and just as quickly dimmed. That’s when Hikari’s complexion returned to its usual rosy hue, and a faint groan left her lips as she began shifting underneath the blankets.

”Hikari?” Adaman questioned in a near-whisper. The woman’s eyes slowly blinked open, as though clearing her vision from a fog, and she turned her head to stare directly at him.

”Adaman…” she whispered, then attempted a smile as tears welled in her tired eyes. “You’re here. You’re truly here.”

”I am,” he quietly replied with his own relieved smile, settling a shaky hand on her cheek. “Welcome back, Hikari. We missed you dearly.”

For a while it was though they were the only two present within the room, regarding each other in reverence; until Rei awkwardly cleared his throat and came forward.

”It’s good to see you awake and aware, Hikari,” he told the girl, then sat himself at her feet. “You all had us quite worried, y’know?”

”We were fortunate to have Calaba pinpoint us in the direction needed to cure you of your condition,” followed Irida, moving into her friend’s line of sight as well. “Almighty Sinnoh is truly good.”

Hikari looked puzzled at both statements, sending a quick glance to all three individuals hovering over her. “Awake? Condition?” she questioned hoarsely, her lips forming a frown. “Y’mean… I was asleep this entire time? B-but… the things I saw…”

”We’ll explain everything to you once you’ve recovered a bit,” Adaman reassured her. “For now, you should simply focus on gaining your strength back.” Hikari seemed contented to accept that, letting out a deep breath as she nestled back into her pillow.

“Just… promise me, if I fall asleep again, that you’ll be here when I wake,” she murmured worriedly, a hand slinking out from beneath the blankets to cover his own. “Wherever I was, or whatever I was seeing… it was an awful lonely and confusing place.”

“Hikari…” Adaman uttered, then nodded firmly. “Of course. Of course.”

oOo

From where both she and Arezu stood in the middle of the house observing the scene at hand, Calaba made the point to let out a snort of laughter. The redhead reacted by casting a glance her way, quirking a brow.

”Something wrong, Calaba?” she asked, but the old woman just shook her head, though she still wore a mischievous grin.

“Not at all, dear. I’m simply looking forward to attending a wedding of the ages in the near future.”

#Pokemon Legends Arceus #Adaman #Adaman x OC #Original Character #Hikari #a girl out of time #trainersona

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wanderinginksplot · 2 years

Text

Now Boarding

Yet another part of my reader-insert 501st fic series! Remember, if you're reading this story, it is intended to celebrate you! You're everything you need to be. Every time the world raises the stakes, you've met them and you'll keep on doing it. That's incredible, and so are you! Keep being amazing!

Word Count: 5,800

Warnings: minor stalking, description of a canon-typical violent situation (includes a crowd and a near crushing), spoilers for TCW S1:E5 - Rookies

An Echo Through the Ages

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Gym? No.

Mess hall? No.

Armory? No.

Maintenance area? No.

Med bay? No.

Barracks? No.

Refresher? No.

You heaved an irritated sigh. It shouldn't be this hard to find one trooper, but Echo had proved to be quite sneaky when he wanted to be.

You knew he was avoiding you, of course. He wasn't exactly subtle about it. After talking to him so much, you were starting to pick up on his verbal quirks - a good sign that you were closer with him than you had ever intended to get with one of your subjects.

Still, Echo had impressed you in your first interview. You had chosen to focus on a recent battle that he had been involved in, hoping to get the best possible information. The troopers had been engineered to remember details from several years before, but it didn’t hurt to create a baseline for how good each man’s memory was. During that interview, Echo had remembered every detail, correcting you each time you altered a fact from the file you had consulted.

No other trooper had managed quite the same success rate. After a few more interviews, you circled back around to Echo, asking him about a different battle that had taken place longer ago. He still remembered every detail correctly. When you thought you couldn’t be any more impressed by him, Echo had managed to give you some new information. His vantage point allowed him to offer a perspective that hadn’t been recorded in any battle record, along with a real-time reaction to that perspective and the memory of how different choices had affected the men.

From that point on, you had made a point of seeking out Echo when you were making entries for different battles and military movements that the 501st had taken part in. He had seemed surprised by your attention, and started withdrawing soon after.

Your jaw firmed as you strode purposefully down the hallway. This was going to be the most accurate, thorough overview of a war that had ever been written, and Echo was going to help you make sure of that.

Informative history texts were almost never popular, let alone famous, but you couldn’t fight the visions of interviews and holofilms that danced in your head. There was a lot of potential in the stories you were hearing. When you added in that all of it was true? Well, the galaxy wasn’t ready to read this riveting account of the GAR’s efforts in the war against the Separatist armies.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

The question - one that could have been playful if it hadn’t been asked in such a harsh tone - made you turn, already frowning at the speaker. “Nowhere that concerns you, Fives.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, openly scowling at you. “As long as you’re not trying to find Echo, I’ll drop it.”

“Drop it anyway,” you advised, starting to turn away.

“Leave him alone,” Fives warned tightly, stopping you in your tracks. “That’s all he wants.”

“Like you left Honey alone?” You arched a brow at him, letting an ugly smile twist your lips. “Of course, that’s the opposite of what she wanted, so maybe I'm onto something.”

Fives’s glare could melt durasteel, but you matched his dislike ounce for ounce. Honey was your friend and Echo was his. You were both protective over your friends and despised the other for hurting them. The difference was that Fives and Honey were giving their relationship a fair shot, which hurt your leverage over him. You would never admit that, of course.

“Just watch it, civilian,” Fives growled eventually. “I don’t know why the GAR approved an outsider coming in to get top-secret information about an ongoing war, but one word to the right person about you being a Seppie spy and I can get you sent packing. Maybe even with treason charges if I call in a favor or two.”

You shook your head at him, trying to mask the wave of fear that washed through your gut at the threat. Not the treason charges, of course. You had no contact with anyone from the Confederacy of Independent Systems and trying to prove that you were a traitor would be a difficult battle for the Republic.

But the idea of being forced out before you could finish gathering information? Horrifying.

“You could try,” you told him, cursing the waver in your voice. It had been slight - almost imperceptible - but the triumph on Fives’s face told you clearly that he had heard it. Instead of trying to regain the upper hand in the conversation, you kept walking down the hallway. Your time was valuable, and there were better ways to spend it than in conversation with the unpleasant trooper.

Funny enough, you had gotten along with Fives reasonably well during your first interview with him. It was only after you had started spending more time with Echo that he started to dislike you. At first, you thought he was jealous about you taking up his best friend’s time, but then Fives had confronted you outright about needing to leave Echo alone. You had listened to him, but politely turned that idea down in the end. Until Echo said something to you directly, you were within ethical guidelines to keep asking him for information.

Stars, you hoped he didn’t say something to you about it. His insight and first-hand experience was going to be the difference that made this record truly shine. If he asked you to back off, you would lose your edge. You didn’t think you could handle your work becoming just another one in a growing number of bland historical records.

And, if you were truly being honest with yourself, your publisher wasn’t going to handle it well, either. One more lackluster sales quarter and they were going to dump you. Finding another publisher right now would be almost impossible. There was a lot riding on this, but you couldn’t even start to make progress until you could find Echo.

After another hour of searching, you were forced to give up, retreating to your office to make alternate plans.

You liked to say it was your office, but since you could do all of your work on a datapad, the GAR hadn’t thought it was necessary to give you an actual office. Instead, you worked at the small desk in your quarters and called it your office so you didn’t feel so unsociable, spending so much time alone in your room.

Your account of the war was going to follow the soldiers, not the movements. Placing things in a non-chronological manner would give the reader a chance to bond with the troopers, see things from their perspective. You wanted to give them a sense of how overwhelming and terrifying the task ahead of the Republic was, put them in the boots of the manufactured men who were created to fight this war, one that seemed impossible to win.

Maybe it was selfish of you, but you wanted to shake the galaxy as seen through your reader’s eyes. There was a large segment of the galaxy who thought that winning the war was inevitable, and everything until the Republic’s eventual victory was just a way to pass the time.

Most of that stemmed from their view of the troopers. People didn’t see them as people, per se, more like faceless, semi-automated soldiers with no other function. They didn’t understand the segmented clamor to give the troopers rights, because who would want that burden on the Republic’s systems?

You used to think that as well. Nestled comfortably on Alderaan, with frequent business trips to Coruscant to meet with your agent and the publishing company, you had been far from the war. Or so you had thought.

On one of those Coruscant trips, there had been an… incident. Some kind of beast, brought to Coruscant to be studied by the Republic’s top scientists, had broken loose and started to tear apart the City of Spires. The area around the Political District had been particularly affected. Unfortunately, that same area had become the center for well-established businesses on Coruscant… including your publishing company, where you had been at the time.

One of the editors had been on an illegal caf break and happened to spot the creature on its way toward the building. They had sounded the alarm and the building was in the process of being cleared when the top six floors were ripped off by massive arms.

You had made it to the street, somehow. It had mostly been a combination of luck and your agent being on a lower floor. In any case, you had made it safely out of the building. You were still grateful for that today. Whether it had been better to be on the street that day was a different question.

After the monster had torn the top off of the building, it tossed it carelessly to the side and continued prowling through the streets, causing mass destruction along the way as the residents of Coruscant panicked on the ground.

That had been the major danger - other people. The creature had caused a great deal of chaos, but it was the resulting flood of people that almost killed you. You had been caught in a wave of limbs, knocked to the ground by the push behind you. The fact that they had been forcing you toward the beast didn’t seem to concern them.

The last thing you had seen before you had collapsed under the weight of bodies rushing over you had been a trooper in red and white armor, standing to one side of the street in an effort to stay out of the fervor. As soon as your palms collided with the rough duracrete ground, you curled into a ball, trying to protect yourself from the dozens of people running around and over you.

Something hit your foot and slid slowly over it, sending the person stumbling away

“Stop! Stop! Make room there! You, left!”

The shouting had been punctuated by an odd clattering noise. It wasn’t until you were yanked roughly to your feet and pulled away that you realized that the clattering you had heard was the sound of running people hitting the plastoid of the clone trooper’s armor. Every time a collision was imminent, he would plant his feet, square his shoulders, and lean into the hit so that he took the brunt. You were hardly even jostled by the running crowd.

No, that was an exaggeration - heavily frowned upon in your line of business. The crowd had still been large, rough, and intimidating, but with the help of the Coruscant Guardsman, you had made it out of the crowd. There were no assurances the same thing would have happened if he hadn’t been there. You had tried to thank the trooper, but he had heard shouts from around a corner and taken off, the bright white of his plastoid armor shining as he ran.

These men deserved recognition for what they did, and you would get it for them. If that meant harassing Echo for more interviews, so be it.

A knock on the door broke you out of your reverie. “Yes?”

“Hey, it’s Patch,” a familiar voice called. “I heard there was something wrong with the lights in your refresher?”

You let the mechanic into your room, leading her to the small refresher attached to your quarters. It was a convenience reserved for officer’s quarters - you assumed you and the other woman had been allotted these quarters so that you wouldn’t be sharing barracks with the men.

“Nothing big,” you explained. “There’s just something wrong with the switch.”

Patch gave a short laugh as she spotted the plate surrounding the light switch - it was hanging off the wall, wires protruding through the space like intestines through a wound. You broke off that chain of thought with a shiver. You had been spending too much time poring over injury reports from different battles. It had left you with a disturbing sort of mental imagery.

“Well, the wiring is still good,” Patch announced after removing the plate and poking around with the wires. “I’m just going to tidy it up a little and put a new plate on. Should just take a minute or two.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” you said, moving as if to go back to your desk.

“Nah, stay if you want to,” Patch invited. “I like having someone to chat with while I’m working. How’s the book coming?”

You heaved a heavy sigh. “Bad. I can’t find the one trooper who can help me create a fully accurate record. He’s avoiding me.”

“Yeah?” she asked, expertly twisting a tangle of wires into a neat bundle. “Which of the troopers is it? Maybe I can get Kix to call him to the medbay. They have a hard time saying no to him.”

“Is Kix that popular?” you asked, momentarily distracted.

Patch rolled her eyes. “No, they’re all scared of him. Medics, you know? Anyway, who is it?”

“Echo.”

“Echo?” she repeated, frowning. “I guess that makes sense. He’s got a good memory - even better than the other troopers. And he’s organized. He’d make a good resource.”

“He’s an excellent resource,” you corrected. “That’s the problem. He’s avoiding me because I’m asking him too many questions.”

“Echo has a problem with you asking too many questions?” Patch asked, sounding amused at that. “The man hangs out with Fives on a regular basis. He’s in the same unit as Hardcase, even! I can’t imagine the number of questions has much to do with it. Did he tell you that himself, or did you hear it somewhere?”

“I just… kind of assumed that was the problem,” you admitted.

Patch hummed at that, finishing turning the mass of wires into a series of neat coils. “He’s close with Helper. Have you tried talking to her about him?”

“Helper?” you repeated. “I thought she was with Jesse?”

“Oh, she is,” Patch said, rolling her eyes. “They’re both deliriously happy about it, too. But Fives and Echo get together with Helper once a day so they can all bitch about how much work they have to do or something.”

“Oh, that probably wouldn’t help me much,” you said, pretending to scrub a spot off the wall of the sonic shower. “Fives hates me.”

“Not a shock,” Patch said bluntly. “He and Echo have always been super close. He probably doesn’t like the idea that you’re around.”

“Oh, Echo and I aren’t-” you cut off, waffling your hands back and forth.

“Of course you aren’t,” Patch agreed. “I just meant that Echo’s around less if he’s doing interviews with you.”

Though that was exactly the reaction you had hoped to elicit from the mechanic, you were almost offended by Patch’s easy dismissal of the idea of you and Echo together. Yes, you were a civilian with only a theoretical knowledge of the military. And yes, he was a soldier who had never known any other life. And yes, by all signs, he didn’t care for you overly much.

You sighed. It was honestly a shock you two were even on the same ship.

Patch was watching you in the mirror, but you hadn’t noticed until she pulled her wrist up to her mouth. “Hey, it’s Patch.”

“Patch?” Helper’s voice asked. “What’s up? Do you need to fix something in the captain’s office?”

“Nah, I think I’m all caught up in there for now,” Patch assured her. “While we’re talking, though, where does Echo hang out?”

A clatter and a curse emanated over the line. When she spoke, Helper’s voice was oddly bland. “Why exactly are you asking? And who exactly is asking?”

Patch muted the mic to speak to you. “They’re probably meeting right now. That sounded like Echo in the background. Last I saw Helper, she was headed to the armory. Maybe go check there? I’ll keep her on the line.”

“Patch?” Helper asked. “Hello?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Patch said, lifting her eyebrows at you. “Sorry, I just had a quick question about some of my tools that he borrowed. I’m on a job right now and I’m missing a few.”

“Hang on, I’ll ask,” Helper offered.

Patch muted the mic again. “Now’s your chance. Go get him.”

“Thanks, Patch,” you told her warmly before you raced out of your door.

You didn’t run to the armory. That would have invited suspicion from the troopers, who might have tried to ask questions. That would only slow you down. Instead, you kept a steady pace, striding toward the armory with a focus that warned people out of your way.

And it was lucky you didn’t lose any time.

When you arrived, Echo was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction and you increased your pace to catch up, moving as silently as you were capable of doing. Even so, Echo turned to glance over your shoulder before you had any chance of reaching him.

“Echo, wait!” you called.

He had already turned back in the other direction by the time you spoke, but you could see from the set of his shoulders that he was thinking about it. Echo didn’t want to stop, that much was clear. You knew he didn’t want to talk to you, but the urge to be helpful was so strong that it might override his reluctance.

Echo seemed to come to a compromise with himself, slowing to a halt but not turning around. You caught up to him in moments at your pace - you hadn’t dared to slow down in case he changed his mind and kept going.

When you were at his side, you said inanely, “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I know,” Echo admitted. “I was trying not to be found.”

“Echo-” you started, his name carried on a sigh.

“Eon,” he said in the same tone.

Before he could find another excuse to leave, you rushed out, "I just had a quick question about a relief mission the 501st was involved in, then I'll leave you alone."

"You will?" Echo asked, sounding surprised and hopeful. "Really?"

"Yes!" you said brightly. "For today, at least."

Echo sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Maybe it's good that you found me. I've been wanting to talk to you."

Your stomach twisted and flipped at the same time, a strange combination of movements that left you reeling. Surely he didn't mean that the way it came out? Echo didn't like you and was trying to avoid you. No matter how promising that had sounded, he didn't want to talk to you, not really.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can help you anymore."

Your stomach dropped and you put on an unflappable face, musing, "Honestly, I don't think you have a choice."

His expression grew tight and you realized how that had probably sounded. “Not like that! Stars, I promise I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant… I don’t think either of us has a choice. This work is important.”

“What does that mean?” Echo asked, gaze sharpening when you didn’t answer immediately. “Why are you doing this? Why are you so dedicated to writing this book?”

For the first time, you glanced away. “It’s a long story.”

He snorted. “You expect me to give you all the information you want when you won’t do the same for me?”

You blinked. “That’s not quite the way I would put it.”

“How about this, then?” Echo returned with the air of someone offering a deal. “I’ll talk about one more battle - any one you want… if you tell me why this matters so much to you.”

You continued walking down the hall. This was nothing compared to how fast you had been moving earlier, but you were still going, meandering slowly. Echo kept pace with you easily, and it didn’t escape your notice that this was the first time he was trying to stay with you rather than get away.

“If you really want to know…” You shook your head despairingly even as he nodded. “I was almost trampled to death on Coruscant. A giant… creature attacked. People panicked and I got caught in the crowd. You know how it is when people are trying to get away from something.”

Echo was quiet beside you, but you could feel how closely he was paying attention.

“They knocked me down and, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stand up, couldn’t crawl away…” You trailed off, taken back to that moment, huddled in a tiny ball and desperately praying that the feet were going to hit the ground around you instead of hit you… even as you knew it was only a matter of time before you were stomped on. A matter of time before you died a lingering, painful death, spread over a hundred feet crushing your limbs, your organs, your skull. You shuddered, breathing, “I just knew I was going to die.”

Fingertips against your arm brought you back to the current time and place and you glanced over to find Echo watching you with something like understanding on his expressive face.

“Probably not an unfamiliar feeling for a soldier like you,” you joked weakly, trying to lighten the dour mood.

“The knowledge that you’re going to be trampled to death by hundreds of terrified civilians?” Echo asked. “Not something I’m overly familiar with.”

“I can’t say I recommend it,” you told him.

“I would guess not,” he agreed. His hand dropped from your arm, but he was walking a bit closer to you now - more reminiscent of a pair of friends than two uncomfortable strangers. “How did you get out of there?”

“A member of the Coruscant Guard saved me.” The revelation didn’t seem to shock Echo, but you couldn’t spare too much focus to study his reactions. You were too busy trying to convince your ears that they weren’t still hearing the terrible sound of beings running headlong into protective, red-painted plastoid. “I never got to thank him - he left before I could catch my breath. The last time I saw him, he was running off into the crowd to save someone else who was trapped. I don’t even know if he lived through the rest of the night.”

Echo was still watching you, but you pretended to study the placards labeling the doors you were walking past. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Thank you for telling me.”

“Not my favorite thing to talk about,” you agreed with a shrug, freezing at the triumph that flashed over Echo’s face. “But don’t think I’ve forgotten about your side of the deal.”

“Don’t worry - I know exactly what you want from me,” Echo said wearily. Before you could ask what that meant, he summarized, “So you’re writing this account in honor of a trooper from the Corrie Guard who saved your life?”

“Yes and no,” you said slowly. “That incident was when I realized how safe the Republic thinks they are. They think the war is too far away to impact them, especially in the Inner Rim, and they’re wrong. They don’t realize how much work the GAR puts into the war effort, and they don’t appreciate the troopers at all. I want to change that.”

“You’re going to change the galaxy with one account of the war?” Echo asked, sounding amused. It was better than irate, but it still piqued your pride.

“No, I’m going to change the galaxy by telling the stories of the men who fought and died to keep it safe,” you said stubbornly. “I want your help to do that. You’re the only one who can give me the information I need - the perspective I need - to make sure those stories hit as hard as they should. But if you won’t help me, I’ll do it myself. I can’t stop now, not when I’m this close.”

“I’ll help you,” Echo agreed, even as his expression twisted with some inner torment. “But only with one more battle. I was telling the truth: it’s hard to talk about this stuff. Hard to think about all of my brothers who died in pain in battles. Hard to remember the times when they were still around and why they aren’t anymore.”

“I understand that,” you comforted immediately. “And I just want to say that you’ve helped me more than any other person or resource has. Besides me, you’re the person who’s put the most work into this record.”

“Pick the battle you want me to talk about and I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Echo offered.

You eyed him, noting the marks of stress that bracketed his mouth and eyes. Even his brows had a small furrow in the skin between them. Seeing him in so much pain was awful, and you would avoid it if you could. But who knew how long this war would last? If it raged for another decade, you needed to release this account, to share it with the public.

And you needed Echo.

Much as you wanted to tell him that you had changed your mind and that he could go about his business without thinking about the people he had lost and the destruction he had seen, you couldn’t. Echo’s perspective was worth more than anything in the galaxy, even your friendship with him… one-sided as it was.

Truly dreading the idea of causing him even more pain, you took a deep breath and met his eyes. “In that case, I need you to tell me about Rishi Outpost.”

Echo’s expression changed in a split second, and he went from a trained soldier to a small child in that span of time. “Ri- Rishi Outpost?”

You nodded once. “It was the first time the Separatists tried to attack Kamino directly, and they were held off by a group of four soldiers. That’s impressive, and I’m sure there’s a story there.”

“Five.”

With a slight frown, you repeated Echo’s firm correction. “Five?”

“There were five of us,” he told you. “Commander Cody, Captain Rex, Fives, me… and my brother Hevy.”

“Hevy?” you asked, already pulling out your datapad to start taking notes.

“Yeah. Before Rishi Outpost, I had five brothers,” Echo told you, sounding sad.

“Tell me about them,” you invited, sensing that the opening would allow Echo to ease into the story at his own pace.

“Now?” he asked, glancing around at the hallway.

“Why not?” you asked. “If this is going to be our last interview, wouldn’t it be better to get it out of the way?”

In all honesty, you were hoping to get the full story before Echo found another chance to hide from you, but he seemed convinced by your logic anyway. “Fine. When we were on Kamino, we were called the Domino Squad - Hevy, Droidbait, Cutup, Fives, and me…”

“...And then Hevy stayed behind to set up the remote detonator,” Echo said, switching effortlessly from push-ups to weighted squats. “We didn’t realize that he wasn’t with us until we reached the surface outside of the outpost.”

“Really?” you panted, flopping backward onto the mats after having done your sixth sit-up. “How did you not realize he wasn’t with you?”

“We were sliding down the air ducts,” Echo explained. “Lots of movement, but we were all focused on being quiet and getting out. Plus, Hevy was never slow with electronics. He could get anything to work, anything.”

“That’s an impressive skill, especially for a trooper stationed on an outpost focused on surveillance and protection,” you managed, doing bicep curls with a dumbbell weighing only a few pounds.

You hadn’t necessarily wanted to end up at the gym, but Echo had gotten restless after recounting the deaths of his brothers Droidbait and Cutup. He had asked to cut the interview short and pick it up later, but you had proposed moving to the gym so he could move and talk at the same time. He had been hesitant until you had offered to work out at the same time. And so, here you were, sweating and gasping into your datapad’s recorder while Echo spoke like he wasn’t actively lifting twice your body weight at any given moment.

“Yeah, well, Hevy didn’t see it that way,” Echo said with a laugh. “He wanted to be out on the front lines more than anything. Heavy artillery was his passion - that’s how he got the name, remember?”

You did remember, actually. As Echo had told you about Domino Squad and the process of earning their names, you had learned more about clone trooper naming conventions than you had ever thought to wonder about. You had already started to think about where exactly you would work that into your text when Echo had told you about his trainer Bric and the sabotage he had attempted to make the Dominos fail their final trial. You honestly hadn’t thought about your text since. You had been too wrapped up in Echo’s story.

“But something went wrong with the detonator,” Echo said, the smile falling from his face. “Captain Rex tried to contact Hevy, ordered him to join us, but Hevy disobeyed. He stayed where he was and detonated the tibanna gas before any of us could come back up to force him out. He gave his life to save us… and Kamino… and the Republic. Now Fives is the only brother I have left.”

As Echo voiced that depressing realization, he carefully set the weighted bar back on its stand and sat on the edge of a nearby weight bench. He looked so lost that you replaced your dumbbell and gave him a hug.

Echo stiffened in your arms and you cursed yourself. You weren’t a physically inclined person. Why had you thought this would comfort him when he was upset about the loss of his brothers?

Before you could pull away, Echo’s arms wrapped around your back, hands cradling you to him. You felt sweaty and gross, but he was equally sweaty, so you guessed he didn’t mind too much. When you rubbed his back, his hands - one on your shoulder and the other nestled in the curve of your waist - convulsed slightly and held you a little tighter.

“Thank you, Eon,” he whispered into your neck.

“Thank you, Echo,” you countered softly and he tensed up again.

A moment later, he pulled away with a brittle looking smile. “That should be plenty of material for your text, huh?”

“Echo, that’s not-”

“Let me know how it turns out,” he said, turning away from you. It was clear you had been dismissed and, with no other way to proceed, you left.

You threw yourself into writing in an effort to escape the guilt and an overwhelming sense that you had messed up. It wasn’t a true escape, though. Even as you were busy putting accounts together, transcribing interviews, and creating a rough outline for how the text would progress between the different troopers, your mind was working on how to fix things. Unfortunately, your mind wasn’t coming up with much, so you just kept working.

Eventually, you ended up with a rough draft that you were feeling particularly proud of. It needed a lot of polishing and some additional details, but it was there and you were feeling good about it. Good enough, in fact, that you commed and asked Echo to come to your office.

You hadn’t held a lot of hope that Echo would agree to meet you, no matter what he had said over his comlink, but a polite knock on your door threw your heart up into your throat.

You opened the door to let him in and Echo raised a brow as he glanced around. “I thought you said this was your office?”

“It is,” you insisted, guiding him over to the desk. He obligingly sat in one chair while you rounded the desk to sit in the other. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve finished the rough draft of my text. You did ask me to let you know how it turned out.”

Echo winced. “I’m sorry about that, Eon. I was feeling… well, you can probably guess. I took it out on you and that wasn’t fair.”

“I thought it was perfectly fair,” you disagreed. “I pushed you really hard, and you pushed back. Now, I need you to hear me out on something.”

Instantly, he looked suspicious, but nodded. “Go ahead.”

You took a deep breath. “I don’t let people read my work before it’s done. I won’t change what they tell me in interviews afterward unless it’s factually incorrect, so there’s no reason for them to read it. However, I know how much it cost you to share the story of Rishi Outpost and talk about your brothers. You should be in complete control over how the memory of them is shared, so…”

You held the datapad out for him to take. “I’m breaking my rule. Here is the rough draft of the Rishi Outpost chapter. You can read it and tell me if there’s anything you wanted changed or stricken from the record entirely.”

When Echo still didn’t take it, you set the datapad on the desk and slid it over to him. He stared at it for a second, seeming to be thinking about something, then pressed his fingers against the screen and slid it back.

You stared at him, surprised. Echo met your eyes and shook his head. “I told you the truth - what they were really like. And that’s what I want people to know. I want them to read about Cutup’s terrible jokes, and how Droidbait couldn’t sing but wouldn’t stop trying. They should know that Hevy put his pride aside to be a leader, and then put his life aside to save his brothers.”

“They will,” you promised, pushing the datapad his way again.

“I know they will,” he agreed. “Because you told them. I remember everything I said, and I trust you to frame it the right way. I’m fighting for my brothers, but I think you’re fighting for us, too. Keep your rule. I’ll read the text when it’s finished and released to the public.”

When the datapad was lying in front of you once more, you stared down at it in disbelief. “Thank you for trusting me, Echo. You’ve been such a huge help to me, and I’m sorry for all the times I went too far to get the information I needed.”

“Don’t apologize; it’s been fun.” You glanced up at him, startled, but his eyes were twinkling at you. “Though I am the reigning hide-and-seek champ in all of our games.”

“All except the last one,” you reminded.

“No, I let you find me that time,” he claimed. “But, if you want, we can have a rematch?”

“I’d like that a lot,” you said with a smile. “What are the stakes?”

“Loser tries to hack a mess droid for better food,” Echo suggested. “Dinner together either way. If that sounds good to you?”

“It sounds great,” you agreed. “I call hiding first!”

Echo’s brows shot up. “Oh, so it’s going to be like that? Sounds like we’re gonna need some basic rules…”

As he started laying out rules for the hide-and-seek match, you tucked your datapad away in your desk. When the full account was published, Echo had promised to read it.

Then he would see the dedication: To Echo, the most selfless trooper I’ve ever met.

---

A/N - Why, yes, I am a sap with a soft spot for Echo, thanks for asking.

Taglist: @rexs-wife @sugarpuffsstuff @stargazingthenightaway @just-some-girl-92 @kimageddon @ladysongmaster @carodealmeida @adriiibell @nomercyforthewarrior @boomtowngirl @quietplaceinthestars @bitchylittleredhead @blck-omen @lackofhonor @captxin-rex @louise-12 @salaminus @literallydontlook @kaorikoizumi @archivedreading @lucyhelena @hikime @808tsuika @ladykatakuri @shawtyitsyou @leotatombs

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wingodex · 3 years

Text

Sourcing Copley’s Sociogram

so this started out because i recognized some of the photographs and art on copley’s wall, and got curious about everything else. i know that the dates and locations of the original pictures don’t necessarily have anything to do with what they’re supposed to be in the movie but i thought it was interesting enough to share. plus i spent a not insignificant amount of time tracking down some of these images. the organization is a mixture between chronologically in the show and from a timeline perspective. the rest is under the cut

So we start out with this mosaic that you see when Andy looks at the sociogram for the first time while confronting Copley. This is a Roman mosaic found in Antioch, which is near modern-day Antakya, Turkey. It’s from the 4th century CE and shows an Amazon Warrior in mounted combat against a Greek soldier. Mosaics were found in both private and public buildings throughout the Roman empire. They’re made up of small cut pieces of marble, tile, glass, pottery, stone and shells called tesserae.

Here you have the title page of the 1668 edition of Andromaque, a play written by Jean Racine. It was first performed in November of 1667 for the court of Louis XIV by a company of actors called “les Grands Comédiens.” The play follows the story of Andromache after the Trojan War when her husband Hector has been killed and she has been taken prisoner.

The portrait of Andromache is from the book “Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum” by Guillaume Rouillé. The book was published in Lyon, France, in 1553. The book is made up of portraits designed as medals, along with brief biographies for notable figures. The art was done using woodcut and there are 950 woodcut portraits in the book.

This is a fresco of Mycenaean woman bearing gifts. It’s from Thebes and was reconstructed by H. Reusch in 1956. The original fresco is from 1400-1200 BCE. Frescos were popular decoration, not just in palaces and tombs but in storerooms, kitchens and workshops. Fresco painting is a technique where the drawing is made on wet plaster. When the plaster dries, the image becomes a permanent part of the wall.

You also have a map by Bernardus Sylvanus (Bernardo Silvano) of Northern India and Central Asia. It’s one of the earliest obtainable maps of the area and the first printed in two colors. This map first appeared in Silvanus’ “Claudii Ptholemaei Alexandrini liber Geographicae” published in Venice in 1511.

This is a photograph of an ornamented, golden Minoan double-axe, or a “labrys.” In ancient Crete, the double axe was an important sacred symbol of the supposed Minoan religion. In Crete the double axe only accompanies female goddesses, never male gods. In Roman Crete, the labrys was often associated with the mythological Amazons.

This is a picture of the Holyland Model of Jerusalem in the Israel Museum. It’s a 1:50 scale model of Jerusalem in the late Second Temple period. It was originally commissioned in 1966 by the owner of the Holyland Hotel and was eventually relocated to the Israel Museum in 2006.

The first image is the cover of the book “Heroines of the Crusades” by C. A. Bloss. I don’t know if this is the original cover, but it is certainly an older edition. The book was originally published in 1853 and contains biographies of notable women who were involved with the crusades, as well as a general overview of the first through to the eighth crusade.

And then hey, it’s The Hague Map of Jerusalem! This is one of the artworks that I knew before. The original map is from 1190-1200 CE. The map takes some liberties with the layout of the city, prioritizing aesthetics decisions like making it have the layout of a cruciform. Circular maps are also like a thing from this time. It also uhhhhh mislabels some things, such as the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, but that’s maybe expected. At the bottom you can see some mounted crusaders chasing after Muslim fighters. It’s drawn on vellum.

I’m grouping these two images together for clarity, because they’re both by the same painter. From the moment I saw the paintings, I thought that this was kind of a weird pull for Copley, but not necessarily for us as viewers. These paintings were done by Italian painter Paolo Domenico Finoglia (known as Finoglio) and are from a series of large paintings based on the poem “Gerusalemme Liberata” (Jerusalem Delivered) published in 1581. These paintings are baroque in style and were commissioned in 1634. The first painting is “The Duel of Raymond of Toulouse and Argante” and the second painting is “The Duel of Tancred and Clorinda”. Now, when I say this choice of paintings makes sense to us, what I mean is that parts of the poem Jerusalem Delivered are about a Christian crusader falling in love with a Muslim defender who he then kills on the battlefield (that’s the second painting of Tancred and Clorinda). It’s a fun parallel, although Clorinda converts to Christianity before she dies. Sidenote, but Joe and Nicky probably hated Jerusalem Delivered if they ever read it

This motherfucking painting. Finding out where this painting came from was an absolute nightmare. Not the worst to find, but certainly frustrating. So this painting can be found in the Borodino Panorama museum, although it’s not part of the panorama. The artist is unknown. The year it was painted is unknown. For all we know fucking Joe painted it. This is such a deep dive, I don’t know how Copley found this image. This painting shows French soldiers in Moscow as it burned. It’s called “Французы в Москве” or “The French in Moscow”.

Did you think we were finished talking about Napoleon? Well, we’re not! Copley has a lot of paintings from Napoleon’s Russian campaign on his board. There might be more on his eastern Europe wall too, but unfortunately, I can’t see it well enough to identify any.

The counterfeits potentially made by Booker show the 40 franc gold coin, known informally as the double Napoleon. These coins were first issued by Napoleon in 1803 to replace the earlier Louis coins. They were originally minted in two denominations: 20 francs and 40 francs, although they were minted in denominations of 5, 10 and 50 at various other times. The coins were designed and engraved by Jean Pierre Droz, and Pierre-Joseph Tiolier respectively. In the particular image of the coin that I found, you can actually see Droz’s signature. Tiolier’s signature appears in full on the dies that he cut himself (these coins only have a monogram). From screenshots of the end credits, I can’t actually see the specific denomination, nor can I see the date clearly, however I do know that the coins were minted sometime between 1807 and 1808. There were many different issues of these coins during Napoleon’s reign, and the fact that Napoleon has a laurel crowned head and that the coin says République Française rather than Empire Français narrows the timeline a bit. I might revisit this topic at a later date so watch out for that.

The first painting is “The Battle of Borodino, 7 September 1812” by Louis-François Lejeune in 1822. It’s oil on canvas. This painting depicts the attack on the Shevardino Redoubt, seen from the French side. While it was a French victory, it was a costly battle for both sides. During the Russian Campaign, Lejeune was général de brigade, although he ended up abandoning his post because of frostbite during the retreat and got arrested. He actually kept his paintbrushes with him on the battlefield. This painting was his masterwork. Now, with regards to the actual content of the painting, Booker would have been in the Battle of Borodino, as he didn’t try to desert until after the Battle of Smolensk.

The second painting is “Die Schlacht bei Borodino” (The Battle of Borodino) by Peter von Hess. It was painted in 1843 and is oil on canvas. Von Hess was a German painter who specialized in historic paintings of the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence. This painting depicts the same battle as the previous one, although the focus is on the Russian and Lithuanian soldiers, rather than the French. This also shows an event from later in the battle; the counterattack on the Rayevsky Battery.

The last image is “The Boasted Crossing of the Niemen at the Opening of the Campaign of 1812 by N. Bonaparte” by John Heaviside Clark and Matthew Dubourg. The painting was based on a sketch by an officer, then painted by Heaviside Clark and engraved by Dubourg. It’s a coloured aquatint and was published in 1816. The crossing of the Niemen marks the beginning of the Russian Campaign in June of 1812.

There are actually quite a few photos of ToG during the Crimean war (1853-1856). These are actually some of the first war photographs ever taken, which is kind of neat, I guess. These photos were taken by Roger Fenton, a British photographer. These photos would have all been taken in 1855, so the tags on the photos are anachronistic but we can let it slide. The first image with Joe and Nicky is of Croat labourers. The second image of Andy is of a vivandière, a French woman attached to military regiments as a sutler. The last image (also of Joe and Nicky) is of British soldiers and is on of the covers of the book Victorians at War by Ian Beckett.

The photograph from the American civil war was originally of Union Generals, including General Philip Sheridan. At the time of this picture, Sheridan lead the Cavalry Corps, and the flag that you see in the picture is cavalry, so ToG rode horses during the American Civil War, according to this picture. It was taken in 1864.

I find the pictures of Haiti to be very interesting. First off, (and unrelated to the photographs themselves) because there was literally a coup d’état about every two years during this period in Haiti and unlike some of the other photos, these ones don’t even try to pretend they were all taken at the same time, or that they’re related at all. They’re just some pictures of Haiti during the early 20th century and it’s funny. All of photographs were taken in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. The first picture (from the upper left corner) is of the Market Square between 1909-1920. The second image is a street scene, between 1890 and 1901. Now the third photograph is making me lose it because in the movie it’s all mysterious, with a figure circled and a question mark, but in the original image it’s just a little kid standing on a public fountain. He’s not a member of the old guard. He’s not even 10 years old. This picture was also taken between 1890 and 1901. The last photo is another street scene, taken in 1901. I have to say, I’m very glad that the people in charge of the sociogram didn’t edited any of the guards’ faces on to anyone in these photos considering every single person in them is Black.

Okay, so now we’re getting into the First World War photos. There are A Lot of WW1 photos. This photo of Andy is actually from Gallipoli and was taken in 1915 by Ernest Brooks, an official war photographer. The Gallipoli campaign was an attempt by the Entente to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the Turkish Straits. All invasion attempts were unsuccessful and eventually they evacuated the area at the end of 1915. Andy seems to be wearing an Anzac uniform.

As for the rest of the photos in this shot, they’re also all from the Gallipoli campaign. The first photo is from War Illustrated in June of 1915 and shows Australians soldiers dragging an artillery piece into position at Anzac during the Battle of Gallipoli. The second image is also from 1915 and shows soldiers bringing supplies to the Australian camp. The last image is of Anzac cove shortly after the landing there in 1915.

Originally I didn’t notice that this was an edited picture, but since I was already looking, I decided to track this one down too, and turns out it is edited. I honestly can’t tell whether it’s Booker or Joe, but that kind of looks like Matthias Schoenaerts’ nose, so I’m gonna say that’s Booker. This photograph was taken in May 1917 by Lieutenant John Warwick Brooke in Arras, France. These are British troops at the Battle of Arras, which at the time achieved the honor of longest advance in trench warfare. The battle was very costly on both sides, with around 290,000 casualties total. Warwick Brooke was an official British war photographer.

On the very right-hand side, you can see two pictures. The first one is of infantry of the 1st Canadian Division having a meal in the trenches at Ploegsteert, March 1916. It was taken by another official British war photographer, Lieutenant Ernest Brooks.

The next photo is from a series of photos of a raiding party of the 10th Battalion. It’s of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) waiting in nap for the signal to go. John Warwick Brooke, the photographer, followed them in the sap, where a shell fell short killing seven men. It was taken near Arras in March 1917. This photo takes place after the Battle of the Somme, during the German withdrawals to the Hindenburg line.

This fucking image. I’m so angry about this image. I spent hours going through World War 1 photo databases and then when I found the original source of the image it told me absolutely nothing!!! A waste of time!!! This is an image of a British soldier assisting two little French girls who had just escaped death but I knew that already, that’s how I found it in the first place. This photo was from the Haig “Official Photographs” series, which were from 1916 onwards. Edit: I found it again!!! This photo was taken in Bethune in May 1918. It was taken by war photographer Ernest Brooks. In April of 1918, the German Sixth Army tried to attack Bethune during the Battle of Lys (Fourth Battle of Ypres) but were repulsed. It was taken between offensives on the Western Front during the German spring offensive. The next major battle on this part of the Western Front began weeks after this picture was taken.

On the top of the screen there are two photographs. The first is a photo by Ernest Brooks from the Battle of Broodseinde (October 1917). The battle was part of a larger offensive - the third Battle of Ypres - engineered by Sir Douglas Haig to capture the Passchendaele ridge. This is an anti-aircraft gun in action during the battle.

The next photograph is also from the German spring offensive, between the Battle of Lys and the Battle of the Third Battle of the Aisne. It shows a 12-inch gun (named "Bunty") of the Royal Garrison Artillery firing at Louez in May 1918. This is another photograph by John Warwick Brooke.

This image of Andy was also originally a photograph taken by Lieutenant John Warwick Brooke. This photo is of the 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders (51st Division) feeding a French refugee child in their improvised trench near Locon, France in 1918.

There are so many WW1 photos. The rest of these don’t have any of the characters in them as far as we know, so I’ll go over these quickly. The first picture is from the Western Front in France and was likely taken by John Warwick Brooke. This photograph was taken at night and shows two teams of machine gunners, strategically positioned behind some vegetation. The ground behind them looks sandy, suggesting they might be near the coast. Directly in front of the gunners a mine has just exploded, showering the men with debris. This picture was taken in sometime between 1916-18.

The next photo was also taken by John Warwick Brooke in 1917. This picture is of the Battle of Cambrai and shows a 'C' Battalion tank bringing in a captured 15 cm naval gun. Cambrai is an interesting battle because it was a tank/artillery fight mostly, and the British used a lot of new tank/infantry maneuvers. It also ended very badly for the British.

The third photograph was taken by Ernest Brooks. It shows soldiers of the 8th East Yorkshire Regiment moving to the front near Frezenberg in October 1917 prior to the assault (Battle of Broodseinde) the following morning. It was a victory for the British, which eventually led to the Germans withdrawing from the Belgian coast.

The last photograph was taken by Lieutenant William Ivor Castle, the Canadian official photographer in September 1916. It shows a shell being loaded into a 15 inch howitzer. This photograph is from the Battle of the Somme. The Somme was a Franco-British victory but of the 3 million men who fought in it, around 1 million were either injured or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history.

So there’s actually photographic evidence of almost all of ToG being involved with the Spanish Civil War, but I’ll get to those in a second. The image that we see of Nicky in the credits places him at the Battle of Irún in 1936. He is with the Spanish Republican People’s Army. This was a major battle at the beginning of the war, as it allowed the Nationalist Army to capture the province of Gipuzkoa after Irún fell, which had been held by the Republic. It allowed the Nationalist Army to control supplies. The photographer is unknown.

Jumping forward a bit here, but I can’t believe I found this photo, like I wasn’t even looking for it and I found it, but still. Wow. So on the board, it’s shown that Nicky was in the Congo in 1964 during the Simba Rebellion. The original image is of mercenary Gerry Moggach, from Scotland, with self-made guns (Molotov cocktails lmaoo) in November 1964. The Congo Crisis was a period of political upheaval and conflict in the Republic of the Congo (which is now the DRC) and involved a bunch of civil wars that also served as a proxy conflict in the Cold War.

Now, back to Spain and the rest of the guard. From this BTS image of Copley’s sociogram we know that both Booker and Andy were involved in the Spanish Civil War as well. The first image, which Andy is apparently in, was taken in 1936 and shows her with a miliciana, which were battalions of woman who fought to defend the Republic. The photographer is unknown. The second image is of Republican soldiers and civilians. Booker is in this image. The original was taken in 1937 by an unknown photographer.

Now we get into the World War II photographs. This photo of Booker from WW2 was originally taken at Mount Tambu, New Guinea in July of 1943, by Gordon Short. The photo is of Leslie “Bull” Allen, an Australian soldier who was awarded the US Silver Star for rescuing 12 US soldiers while under fire. The battle was fought between Japanese and Allied forces. Australian forces eventually secured the area in August of that year.

This photo frustrates me. First, it doesn’t even look like they manipulated it, but also because “pacific” is written in the near the bottom right corner. Now, I’m not saying that Nicky wasn’t in the Pacific Theatre but now that I know where this image was actually taken it’s like. Ugh. This photo was not taken in the Pacific Theatre, it was taken of American soldiers at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Omaha was the codename given to one of the five sections during the Allied invasion of Normandy. D-Day is the largest seaborne invasion in history, and it eventually led to the liberation of France and the Allied victory on the Western Front. Now personally, I think Nicky being there is very interesting and the timeline meets up better with his other WW2 picture. If you’ve ever seen Saving Private Ryan (1998), that movie opens with the invasion of Omaha Beach.

This photo of Nicky excites me for several reasons but also brings up some important questions about what the fuck Nicky was up to in 1944. The original photograph shows Private G.R. MacDonald giving first aid to a French boy in Brionne on August of 1944. The interesting part for me is the uniform though. MacDonald was part of the Toronto Scottish Regiment (75th Battalion). The Toronto Scottish Regiment were actually part of Operation Jubilee, although they weren’t able to land because of the tide and only had one fatal casualty, which good for them considering what happened to everyone else at Dieppe. Although Nicky probably wasn’t a part of that considering he was with American soldiers earlier in 1944.

Next to Nicky, on the right, you can see a picture of a plane and an explosion behind it. That picture is from Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The picture is taken at the Ford Island seaplane base and you can see the USS Shaw (DD-373) explode in the center background. USS Nevada (BB-36) is also visible in the middle background, with her bow headed toward the left. Several planes are in the foreground, a consolidated PBY, Vought OS2Us and Curtiss SOCs. The wrecked wing in the foreground is from a PBY.

This photograph is of French resistance fighters and was taken in September of 1944. The French resistance was a movement that fought against the occupation of Nazi Germany after 1940. The resistance engaged in guerilla warfare, published underground newspapers, acted as spies for the Allied forces and kept up escape networks for trapped soldiers and airmen. Although the woman in the original picture isn’t identified, there were many other women involved with the French resistance like Simone Segouin, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, Lucie Aubrac, and Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux.

The first image is of a Boeing B-29A-45-BN Superfortress 44-61784 6 Bombardment Group G 24 BS. It was taken in June of 1945 while it was firebombing Osaka, Japan.

The next two images are of the smoke from the atomic bombs. The first picture is of the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima and was taken by George R. Caron on August 6th, 1945. The second image shows the cloud over Nagasaki and was taken by Charles Levy on August 9th, 1945.

Okay, so this is my absolute fav manipulation in the whole movie, because it looks so good. Here we have Nicky, Joe and Booker as guerrillas during the Cuban Revolution. If you saw this image and thought “wait is that Fidel Castro?” you’d be right! The man gesturing to the ground with a stick is in fact Fidel Castro. Now, what you might have missed is the man next to Castro who has been edited to look like Booker... yeah I’m like 95% sure they put Booker’s face on Che Guevara.

This image of Nicky during the American Civil Rights Movement is from the March on Washington which happened in August of 1963. 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to call for fair treatment and equal opportunity for Black Americans. This is where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a Dream” speech.

This picture of Andy, Joe and Nicky is of Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at UC Berkeley in May of 1967. The speech was attended by about 7000 students and he spoke against the Vietnam war. Photograph by Michael Ochs (?)

This photo was taken of US soldiers in Huế during the Vietnam War. The photo was taken in 1968 during the Tet Offensive. Booker is the one behind the medic. There’s a post it note that you can see fully in a BTS image of the sociogram that confirms it’s Booker. The Tet Offensive, which was launched in January of 1968, was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, and the largest up to that point. It was a campaign of surprise attacks by the VC and PAVN against military and civilian command and control centers in South Vietnam (ARVN and the USA). The Battle of Huế lasted over a month and resulted in the destruction of the city and the massacre of thousands of civilians.

This photo of Andy helping with Operation Babylift was originally taken in 1975. Operation Babylift was an evacuation of orphans from Saigon in the face of a North Vietnamese Offensive. 3000 orphans were evacuated and at the end of April, Northern Vietnamese forces launched rockets at Saigon.

This image of Andy shows her on the Berlin Wall. The original photo was taken near the Brandenburger Tor in November of 1989. The photo shows West Berliners helping East Berliners climb the Berlin Wall after the opening of the wall was announced by the East German Communist government. The photo was taken by Jockel Finck.

tw ethnic cleansing, tw islamophobia, tw genocide. The photos of Booker in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a combat medic indicate that Booker was in Sarajevo for the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, however the original photo was taken of the Cheshire Regiment (1st Battalion) in Ahmići, in April of 1993. The Ahmići Massacre was committed by the Croats during the conflict and was part of a larger series of attacks called the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing, and targeted Bosnian Muslim civilians. Around 120 people were murdered in Ahmići.

These last images are all from wars within the last 20 years. The first image was taken in Daychopan, Afghanistan by Sgt. Kyle Davis in September, 2003. The photo is of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. They were searching for Taliban fighters and weapon caches.

The next image is of two aerial photos of the ISIS command and control Centre in Syria, before and after it was bombed by a US F-22 fighter jet in September 2014.

The last image is of a US soldier assisting a wounded Iraqi civilian in Fallujah, Iraq in November, 2004. Photograph was taken by Cpl. Theresa M. Medina.

As for the rest of the photos, (Joe and Nicky saving the man in the cave, Joe in the DRC, some WW2 photos and some background photos in the BTS images and during the movie) I haven’t been able to find them because they’re not clear, I don’t want to look at historical archives anymore or I don’t even know where to start with searching for them. I might pick up searching again later if I decide to become even more like Copley than I already am. If you have any additional info about some of the missing photos let me know! Also if you want any of the original photos or resources just let me know and I can send them to you!

edit: I just want to make this very clear, but some of TOGs involvement here is suspicious as hell. Obviously we don’t know the exact circumstances, but things like Nicky being shown as a mercenary during the Simba rebellion, Booker as an American soldier during the Vietnam War and the images of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have some incredibly negative and incriminating implications. I worry that in my excitement about finding some of these images I glossed over pretty horrific details and context. It’s important to be conscious of some of the very real tragedies and atrocities being shown here.

#the old guard #Andromache the Scythian #Yusuf al Kaysani #Nicolo di Genova #the old guard meta #tog meta #tog posts #Sebastien Le Livre #long post #tog history #also i will say #if anyone does want to track down the original joe in the congo pic #please look after yourself #i stopped trying to find it because going through pictures from the DRC can be very disturbing #i think it's also worth noting that in terms of the context of each image i decided to go for picture specific #while leaving the broader cultural context more vague #like i'm not about to explain the crimean war or the congo crisis on this post #this is just a jumping off point about certain events!! do your own research too!!#also lmaooo do you know who was also in the congo in the 1960s? fucking che guevara #i am also like 80% sure the cave rescue picture was staged #i simply cannot find it #anyway now that this is done comparative timeline drops soon

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hislittleflower-throughconcrete · 3 years

Note

If someone wanted to learn more about Catholicism and its basic beliefs, customs, etc. where should they start?

There is no right answer to this and everyone has their opinion, but because you came to me, I will give you mine!

First, don't be intimidated by how complicated some people may make it seem. Kids are sometimes better at understanding the faith (what *really* matters about the faith) than we adults are.

Secondly, I would stay away from learning from Catholics who "grew up Catholic" but no longer practice. We Catholics went through a period where people were not taught their faith properly. There were generations of misunderstandings lukewarm Catholics who cherry-pick what they want to believe, etc. Instead, I would turn to actual Church resources and people you know are serious about practicing and understanding their faith.

FOR AN OVERVIEW: Many would say the Catechism is the best place to start. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is literally the book that explains what it means to be Catholic, why we believe what we believe and do what we do. However, the Catechism can be wordy and difficult to understand for some. You can read the whole thing for free here. A slightly easier to digest version is the Catholic Catechism for Adults, which can be purchased here. Intimidated still? A non-intimidating GREAT book for an overview is called Waking Up Catholic: A Guide to Catholic Beliefs for Converts, Reverts, and Anyone Becoming Catholic by Chad Torgerson.

FOR ANSWERS TO SPECIFIC QUESTIONS: I am a reader, and books/websites are the first port of call when I want to learn about something about my faith. My favorite website for this is Catholic.com, also known as Catholic Answers. It has articles that answer a bunch of questions by trained apologists for the Catholic Church. In other words, they are professionals in knowing and explaining the Catholic faith. These apologists have a bookstore too that I HIGHLY recommend.

TO LEARN ABOUT CUSTOMS/TRADITIONS SPECIFICALLY: Wanna know why Catholics do the thing where they make a cross on themselves? Why we dip our fingers in water before entering a church? Why we do the stand-sit-kneel thing at church? Why we have a period called Lent where we tend to give up things? These are less important than learning about the faith itself, but you may still be curious about it. Some of my favorite books for this are Signs of Life by Scott Hahn, Catholicism for Dummies, Why is That in Tradition? by Patrick Madrid, and Why do Catholics Do That? by Kevin Johnson.

NOT A READER? WANT MORE?: There is an actual program that adults can go through to understand the Catholic faith and is available at pretty much any Catholic parish called RCIA. This is a class people take before becoming Catholic, HOWEVER you do not have to become Catholic at the end if you just want to take it to learn more. Another option to learn more is a video series called the Symbolon - it is incredible. The first part is learning about the faith, and the second part is about how Catholics practice their faith. I can give you a code to watch it on Formed (a streaming app for Catholic media) for free if you are interested. Another series that focuses on the beauty of Catholicism is to watch the Catholicism Series by Bishop Robert Barron.

CATHOLICISM IN A PARAGRAPH: God is Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Himself. God is three persons - God the Father and God the Son love each other so intensely and perfectly that their Love is actually a third person, the Holy Spirit. Because God is Love, He wanted to create beings (who He calls His children) to receive His Love. Because true love is not forced, God allowed humanity the option to reject His love, which they did. This damaged humanity's relationship with God in a way that we humans could not fix ourselves, and made our world "fallen" - we have sickness, death, and a tendency to sin. God never wanted that for us, and knew that our sin was too great for us to heal ourselves. Instead, He sent His Son (who we call Jesus) to become a human man while still remaining God, who came to reconcile us with God. Humanity put Jesus to death on a cross, but God used this as the means with which He would save us. By Jesus dying, He defeated the finality of death and opened Heaven (eternal life after death, bliss with God) up for us by His sacrifice. He rose from the dead after 3 days in the tomb to show us that death was defeated and that our barrier to intimacy with God was broken. Jesus instituted a Church while He was still on earth, giving His apostles the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit (that person who was created by the love between God the Father and Son) and authority to teach and guide His people after He returned to Heaven. He selected one specific apostle, Peter, to be the head of His church on earth, and to shepherd and guide His Church until He (Jesus) returns on judgment day. Each successor of the apostles is a priest, and each successor of Peter is called the pope. We access the God's Grace through what we call sacraments, . Through accessing the sacraments and engaging in prayer we are able to develop a personal, intimate, and life-giving relationship with all three members of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). If we radically accept and trust in God's Mercy in accepting Christ's sacrifice for our salvation, we may live in eternal peace and joy and love with God in Heaven.

#catholic #catholicism #christian #Jesus #apologetics #evangelization #PLEASE TELL ME IF I WAS AN ACCIDENTAL HERETIC IN MY LAST PARAGRAPH FRIENDS

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thatmultifandomhoe · 3 years

Text

BTS - Master List

No word count = under 1k.

💞 = Fluff

🌩 = Angst

💋 = Smut

Updated as of 6-6-2021.

Click here to Return to the Main Master List.

Drabbles:

This is Girl Talk, so Leave 💞

Slice of Life AU

Do you think I’m scared of a woman? 💞

College AU

Slice of Life AU

Short Stories:

A Lifetime under Moonlit Nights 🌩 💞

God AU

Overview: It was a love story that began when Gods roamed the Earth, and lasted over the course of several centuries, always under the beauty of a moonlit sky. When one life cut too short, you realize how tiresome it is to constantly be reborn.

Series:

Dad Jokes and Spilled Coffee 💞

Book 7 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Overview: TBW

Sneak Peak: “I knew I was handsome, but now I’m just hot. And it’s not because of the coffee that you spilled on me either.”

Drabbles:

Please...love me 🌩

Have I mentioned, I fucking hate Halloween 💞

Safety First 🌩

Unrequited Love AU

College AU

Short Stories:

If you can’t sleep...we could have sex? 💞 💋

Slice of Life AU

Overview: You can’t fall asleep. So Yoongi finds an alternative solution to your problem.

A Slice of Forever 💞 🌩

Vampire AU

Poly AU

Featuring Namjoon

Overview: They were just stories. Werewolves, Witches, Gremlins, Vampires...they were all a story that thrived off of Halloween. At least, that’s what you thought. Until you met them.

Series:

Midnight Love Songs 💞 🌩 💋

Book 4 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Overview: TBW

Sneak Peak: “The stars are pretty, but there’s a moon that shines more brightly, and who I love quite dearly.”

Drabbles:

Tied Up 💞 💋

Date Night AU

Short Stories:

Man-Child 🌩

Idol AU

Stop Being So Cute 💞

Coffee Shop AU

Overview: Dating is never easy. So when your best friend sets you up on a blind date, you agree to meet up at a coffee shop. Only problem is, he never shows up, and a certain barista can’t help glancing your way.

Daydreaming About Dandelions 💞

Daycare AU

Overview: For the time that they were in your classroom, they were your kids and nothing meant more to you than them. Being a teacher at a daycare was your life, and to your surprise, the new teacher Mr. Hoseok, was going to be shadowing you for the day.

Hookup on an Airplane 💋💞

Traveling AU

Overview: You were finally achieving your dream of traveling the world, and the the first stop on your list was South Korea. After a stressful morning and with a long day ahead, all you wanted to do was sleep on the plane. But when your seat mate turns out to be cute, and offers to help you take care of a certain problem, well, the flight suddenly becomes more fun than you expected.

Series:

Strawberry Cream and BBQ 💞 💋 🌩

85k in total.

Book 1 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Completed

Overview: Your best friend knows that she can count on your for anything, so when she asks you to watch her hybrid while she’s gone for a study abroad trip, you can’t say no. But when these four months are over, things have changed in a way that no one expected.

Move in Day: A SC&BBQ Drabble 💞 4k

Drabbles:

Does he know about the baby? 💞

Slice of Life AU

Overview: Namjoon accidentally reads a text that wasn’t meant for him.

Short Stories:

My Everything 💞

Slice of Life AU

Overview: You go to a family reunion that only results in disaster with how your family treats you, so you go back home to seek comfort in your boyfriend.

Yellow Gerber Daises 💞

Slice of Life AU

Overview: It’s your birthday, but you’re the one who has a surprise for Namjoon.

Stop interrupting me 🌩

Slice of Life AU

Dear Diary... 💞

Soul Mate AU

College AU

Overview: The last thing Namjoon expected was to wake up in someone else’s bed, let alone with a stranger who he doesn’t remember in the slightest bit.

A Slice of Forever 💞 🌩

Vampire AU

Poly AU

Featuring Yoongi

Overview: They were just stories. Werewolves, Witches, Gremlins, Vampires...they were all a story that thrived off of Halloween. At least, that’s what you thought. Until you met them.

Brotið Hjarta 🌩💞

25k

Fantasy AU

Elf AU

Norse Light Elf Mythology

Overview: When a magical storm threatens to wipe out your home, you venture into the forest in search of someone - anyone - who can help end it. When an Elf takes you in after getting injured, you learn that those who live in the forest are not the monsters your village town has made them out to be, but victims.

Series:

Knitting You a Home 🌩💞💋

Book 2 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

In-Progress

Overview: With questions far larger than either of you imagined, you can’t help but wonder if Namjoon’s let his past and old fears to come back and haunt him. You had shown him that it was possible to have a home and to be loved once before, but will you be able to do it again?

Drabbles:

I’m not going to be sympathetic until you see a Doctor 💞

Slice of Life AU

Welcome back. Now fucking help me💞

Slice of Life AU

Short Stories:

Dancing in Europe 💞

Idol AU

Overview: You and Jimin have only recently started dating when he he whisks you of to Europe on his days off, and surprises you with a date to go see a ballet performance.

Mon Amour 💞

College AU

Artist AU

Overview: You were Jimin’s muse. No matter what his materials were, his ideas, he always found you at the center of his latest art piece.

Memories of Old and New 💞

Christmas AU

Established Relationship AU

Slice of Life AU

Overview: It the first Christmas that you’re celebrating with Jimin, but the magical holiday isn’t the same after the unexpected passing of your parents.

Type 2 💞 🌩

10k

Established Relationship AU

Slice of Life AU

Medical Condition

Overview: You were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in high school and ever since then, you’re been able to manage it without a problem Sticking to a schedule and monitoring your blood was easy. Then came Jimin, and you suddenly you found yourself hiding it all from him. But when your blood sugar drops dangerously low in the middle of the night, Jimin’s the only one who can help you.

Series:

Snapshots of Our Story 💞

Sleep - Sleepless Nights - Pt 3?

Idol AU

Overview: With a once in a lifetime chance of hanging out with BTS for a week, you and Jimin unexpectedly end up growing feelings for each other. These are the snapshots as the two of you try to make it all work out.

Simply Baby Steps 💞 🌩 💋

Book 3 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Overview: TBW

Sneak Peak: “I don’t care if it’s just the two of us for the rest of our lives. I love you, and we’re going to figure this out, together. That’s what it means to have a Mate; supporting and being there for them when everything is going right, and being there when they’re hurting and loving them nonetheless. Because I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

Drabbles:

Tell me that you need me 💋

Vampire AU

I’m not buying IKEA furniture again 💞

Slice of Life AU

Short Stories:

Otherworldly Lovin’ 💋

Alien AU

Overview: Not only did he crash land into your yard, but he also crashed right into your heart...among other places.

Series:

Knowing You 💞 🌩

Late Night Bus Rides - A Missed Stop

Idol AU

Unrequited Love AU

Completed

Overview: You and Taehyung were best friends, feelings grew, and even when he went off to become an Idol, you thought nothing would ever change your friendship. But then life came knocking.

Running Wild 🌩💞💋

Book 5 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Overview: TBW

Sneak Peak: “I’ve always been told that I was runner. So I ran. From everything that was possible to run away from. With you, for the first time all I want to do is stay.”

Drabbles:

I lost our baby 💞

Slice of Life AU

Overview: Jungkook looses more than a game of hide and seek.

The ladies love a guy who’s good with kids 💞

Overview: Jungkook has an unlikely helper when trying to impress you.

Short Stories:

The Coffee Lounge 💞

College AU

Overview: Jungkook has had a crush on you since the semester started, and when he informs you about an essay that you knew nothing about and is due the next morning, he jumps at the chance to help you out with it. What he doesn’t realize, is that you share the same feelings for him.

Sorry isn’t going to help when I kick your ass! 🌩

Idol AU

Overview: All he wanted to do was surprise you, but when he arrives at your place, Jungkook realizes just how much work has interfered with his relationship with you.

One on One 💞

Boxer AU

College AU

Overview: He was a boxer, and you were a student. Two separate lives and yet, you were the one putting him back together.

Consequences 💞 🌩

College AU

Forbidden Love AU

Overview: You had dated one of his best friends - someone Jungkook considered to be an older brother - and even though were single and he never once stopped loving you, dating was an impossible option. The consequences of dating an ex of the leader? Life threatening.

Series:

Mistaken Identity 🌩 💋 💞

Book 6 in the Mated Love is Never Easy Universe

Hybrid AU

Overview: TBW

Sneak Peak: “I got sick of them calling me something that I’m not, that I pushed myself to prove to them who I really am. But without you, I’m right back where I started. Lost and incomplete.”

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quirkswriting · 4 years

Text

iida tenya’s guide to physical intimacy for the socially awkward

Overview: Your boyfriend’s been acting a little strange lately... not that you’re jealous or anything, but what’s gotten into your socially conscious (and easily embarrassed) favourite boy and why is he holding Midoriya’s hand instead of your own? Pairing: Iida Tenya x Reader (Aged up Uni/College AU!) Word Count: 4.7k Warning(s): Swearing, a small hint of jealousy? But not gross jealousy Author’s Notes: This has taken me a ridiculous amount of time to finish but it’s here! Part 3 of the soft cuddle series featuring the lovable dork Iida <3

***

Iida was annoyed. More than annoyed, really, and starting to verge on frustrated. Not quite upset, but heading in that direction. Which is why he was currently pacing back and forth in the living room of his shared apartment with Midoriya and Todoroki. He’d asked them for advice, calling a roommate meeting in their living room to see if they could help him with his problem.

“You’re wearing a hole in the carpet,” Todoroki said, though he didn’t look up from the book he was reading—something for his Conspiracy Theories class, which had Todoroki the most animated Iida had ever seen him when they’d been discussing the chapter on the Mothman at lunch the day before. So either Todoroki didn’t actually care about the rug or he was too into his reading to push it any further (or possibly a combination of both, seeing as they’d used Todoroki’s father’s credit card to furnish their apartment when they’d moved in and he’d just bought whatever item was the most expensive if Iida or Midoriya didn’t step in with a different opinion). Iida kept pacing anyway, while Midoriya came back from the kitchen with his arms full of snacks and drinks.

“So what’s bugging you, Iida?” He asked, sitting next to Todoroki on the couch. He handed the quiet boy beside him a drink before depositing the rest on the coffee table and taking a drink for himself. Iida finally stopped pacing. He sat down on the plush chair opposite the couch, keeping his back straight as he sank down into the cushion as he looked at his friends. Todoroki was still reading his book, now holding a can of pop in one hand and balancing his book in the other, while Midoriya also had his own can of pop and had popped the tab open and was taking a drink. Iida figured that he may as well tell them.

“I’ve failed as a boyfriend,” he said. Midoriya almost immediately started coughing, choking on his drink. Todoroki dropped his book on his lap and began to pound the smaller man on the back to try and help clear his airway. It took almost a minute before Midoriya stopped coughing and gently pushed Todoroki away.

“What do you mean, ‘failed as a boyfriend’?” Midoriya asked, red starting to fade from his face. Iida sighed, slumping his shoulders and resting his hands on his knees.

“I… want to take the next step in my relationship with (Y/N) and I just haven’t been able to do it,” he told his friends, looking down at his sock feet. “I’ve been researching the best methods for physical intimacy. I’ve read all of the books I could find in the library and I’ve tried looking up information online and I’ve learned quite a lot but every time I try and put it into practice it doesn’t work.”

“You’ve been reading books on physical intimacy?” Midoriya asked, and Iida could hear the crack in his voice. Iida felt his own cheeks grow warm as he looked up from his feet to his friends. Midoriya was trying very hard to keep a smile off his face, while Todoroki was clearing his throat—and sounding suspiciously like he was snorting into his hand. It took an embarrassingly long thirty seconds for Iida to realize what they were thinking, and when he did his eyes widened and he shook his head.

“Not that kind of physical intimacy!” Iida said, waving his hands in front of him. That just seemed to amuse his friends even more and he really hoped they never told you that this conversation happened (but given how close you were with Midoriya he really wasn’t going to hold his breath). “I want to, you know, I’d like to initiate… you know, when you see couples? And they’re not being inappropriate but they’re showing more affection than I’m comfortable doing in public, do you know what I mean?” He was gesturing vaguely and his voice was trailing off towards the end of his sentence, but judging by the way Midoriya’s face lit up, Iida knew he’d made some semblance of sense.

“Oh, Iida, you want to be cuddly with (Y/N)! Oh thank goodness, when you said you’d failed as a boyfriend I thought you’d cheated on them,” Midoriya said, scratching the back of his head. Iida started sputtering, but Midoriya held his hands up in front of his face before his glasses wearing friend could say anything. “I know you wouldn’t though! It’s okay! But it’s that kind of physical intimacy. That’s… that’s a really weird way of putting it. You can just call it PDA, you know? Normal people usually do.”

Iida must have looked as confused as he felt, because Todoroki followed up with, “Public displays of affection,” before draping his arm over the back of the couch and just over Midoriya’s shoulders so that his fingertips were ever so slightly brushing the fabric of Midoriya’s shirt. Now it was the green haired young man’s turn to blush a soft pink. Iida couldn’t help raising an eyebrow and Todoroki cleared his throat. “This… is an example. Of that. I’m giving you an example.”

Well, at least now Iida had something to tell you later. That would hopefully cancel out whatever Midoriya was going to tell you had happened at his apartment today.

“Wait, hold on, if you’re not comfortable doing that in public why are you researching it?” Midoriya asked, his face still pink while he made no move to shy away from his roommate. Iida fidgeted slightly in the chair, relaxing his posture just a bit. He’d been raised with certain expectations in place; to be a proper young man, he had to treat his partners with respect and dignity and treasure them where they are meant to be treasured. He was taught to keep private things private, at home, where it was safe and sacred and just that much more intimate because it was shared between the two of them. That’s how his parents had been, a very ‘behind closed doors’ sort of couple. Hell, Iida could count the number of times he’d seen his own parents kiss on one hand! But he knew you’d been raised differently; that for you, casual intimacy was ingrained into who you were—and he wanted to be part of that too. Even if it was slightly unnerving for him.

Thinking about you brought a smile to Iida’s face, and he looked back down at his hands as they sat folded in his lap. “Because… I know (Y/N) would like it. And I want them to be happy.” He could imagine how you’d look, how happy you’d be in his arms at the movies, or with your hands wrapped around his arm while you were walking in the park, or any other scenario from the multitudes of books he’s read and movies he’s watched over the last few weeks. And while the images were perfect in his head... “But every time I try I always manage to mess it up. And then I try harder and I end up making it worse!” Iida dropped his head low and brought his hands up to cover his face.

“I don’t know, maybe… just kinda go with the flow?” Midoriya suggested, and then Iida felt a hand resting on his shoulder. He took a deep breath and looked up into the freckled face of his best friend, who had moved from his spot beside Todoroki to come and sit cross legged on the floor in front of Iida with a smile on his face. “Just do what feels natural. Or, you know, don’t try so hard with (Y/N). Literally everyone knows how much you guys like each other.”

“To quote Bakugou, the two of you are, ‘Absolutely disgusting with all that lovey-dovey bullshit’,” Todoroki piped up, doing a very deadpan impersonation of the hot-tempered blond. Midoriya snorted, and Iida felt himself crack a small smile. Todoroki then continued, “And if Bakugou can tell how much the two of you like each other, then it’s probably a good idea to listen to Midoriya about this. (Y/N) picked you, after all, knowing who you are and how you handle situations. Even after what happened in the dorms on—”

“Todoroki! Do not finish that sentence,” Iida said, waving his hands again. He had absolutely no desire to talk about the reason the three of them were currently required to live in an off campus apartment together. He’d much rather focus on the problem at hand. Midoriya snorted louder this time, and Todoroki went back to his book. “It’s not that I’m doubting my feelings for (Y/N) or their feelings for me, it’s about… it’s about me having no idea how I’m supposed to ‘Go with the flow’ because every time I try I just get so flustered it ends in disaster and I don’t know how I’m supposed to get better!”

Todoroki dogeared his page and closed his book once more, letting it rest on his lap. “Practice makes perfect,” he said. “You just have to keep working at it. Eventually you’ll get better. Less stiff. Like when you oil your joints to keep yourself in prime condition.” Midoriya coughed to cover what Iida knew was a laugh, and the blue haired man rolled his eyes.

“Practice with who? There are only so many times I can knock over a table when I go out with (Y/N). We’re running out of restaurants we can go to,” he said. It was starting to become a problem, honestly. He thought for a moment, studying his friends, before an idea started to take shape in his mind. These were his roommates, he trusted them, and they were some of the people who he was most comfortable with aside from you… Maybe this could work. “Unless… I practiced with the two of you?”

“With us? No way!” Midoriya’s eyes were wider than what seemed to be humanly possible, and Todoroki was shaking his head. Iida moved from his chair to come and kneel in front of his friends and place his hands on their shoulders.

Iida looked between his friends, his lips set in a firm line. “Think of (Y/N)! Do it for them!” He encouraged them. “Please? You’re the only ones who can help me now.” There was a tense silence for a moment as Midoriya and Todoroki looked to each other and communicated silently. Todoroki broke eye contact first, and his brows were furrowed as he turned to stare Iida down.

“No one tells anyone that we’re doing this,” Todoroki said, and Iida knew he’d won.

Now all he had to do was put his research into practice. And hopefully not cover his friends in their food when he tried.

——

You walked into one of the coffee shops on campus, the cozy one beside the library (not the overpriced one next to the dorms or the super busy one in the community centre) on your way to get some studying done. Your afternoon class was cancelled (Professor Nemuri had emailed the class halfway through your last lecture and you almost cried out of pure relief) and with two tests and a paper due next week you were going to make the most of the time you had. Or, well, you’d try and that was the best you could really do. But you had your headphones in as you got in line to order, you thought of one way you could try and keep yourself on track; invite your boyfriend to come and study with you. You knew his class schedule and he didn’t have anything this afternoon so he might be willing to help you get more done than you would on your own. So you took your phone out of your pocket, moving forward as the person in front of you got closer to the counter, and typed out a message.

‘Hey, my afternoon class got cancelled, wanna come study with me in the library? Study snacks are on me this time!’ you sent, and just like usual you had a response almost right away.

‘Ah, I’m sorry to hear about that (Y/N)! I would be more than happy to study with you this weekend, but I’m afraid I have plans today.’ You frowned, but you knew it was a little last minute anyway. And only your boyfriend would be sad to hear that class was cancelled. You sent off a few sad faces but told him that it was okay, and put your phone back in your pocket. The line moved forward again, and you couldn’t help but look around the coffee shop while you waited. There wasn’t anything too interesting happening at the occupied tables and you almost sighed out loud before you noticed a familiar mop of red and white hair in the back on the side opposite you.

There he was, Tenya Iida, your socially conservative boyfriend, practically cuddled up with his roommates (and your friends) Midoriya and Todoroki in a small booth on the other side of the coffee shop. If any of them looked up and over they would definitely see you, but they seemed to be pretty engrossed in whatever they were talking about so you doubted they’d notice unless you caught their attention. You wished you were a little closer so you could hear what they were saying.

You saw Tenya, the pink flush on his cheeks visible even though he was on the other side of the coffee shop, hesitantly reach over and place his hand on top of Midoriya’s own. You could swear your own jaw dropped and your mouth hung open while you watched. You felt a small pang in your chest watching him hold Midoriya’s hand, and you bit your bottom lip. Tenya was allowed to do whatever he wanted, he was his own person and you trusted him, but seeing him openly affectionate with Midoriya? In public? When you knew how private your boyfriend was and how uncomfortable PDA made him? Your mind was swirling with questions that you absolutely wanted answers to and as much as you were going to deny it, you were just a tiny bit jealous. But you definitely didn’t take any pleasure when, not even a moment later, something Todoroki said caused Tenya to jump and his drink to spill down his front. Nope, no pleasure at all (But you’d remember to give him some stain remover next time you saw him).

You heard someone clear their throat, and you turned from the sight capturing your attention to see the cashier looking expectantly at you. You moved forward, scratching at the side of your neck as you placed your order and paid for it. You moved off to the side and waited patiently for the barista to finish preparing your drink for you—they were as quick as usual, and you couldn’t help but look back to where your boyfriend and his roommates were sitting as you were leaving. They looked completely normal now, no evidence anything had happened except for a small pile of napkins you could see at the edge of the table. You pursed your lips as you left and headed to the library.

But even after you’d secured a table and laid everything out to attempt to have a productive afternoon (before falling victim to Netflix) you couldn’t get the image out of your head and the more you thought about it, the less sense it made. You’d long given up on your test prep and had been staring at a blank laptop screen for the last half hour. Or, well, it felt like half an hour (but had only been about seven minutes). This was going to be a long afternoon and it had only just begun.

Just what the hell had happened?

——

You caught Tenya with Midoriya and Todoroki once again, a few days later, when you were picking up dinner in the dining hall for you and Tsuyu. The two of you were going to binge a new anime together and it was your turn to grab food while she was getting everything set up for your hangout session tonight.

It was the same kind of thing this time, except instead of holding Midoriya’s hand Tenya was attempting to put his arm around Todoroki’a shoulders. It looked so awkward and yet so endearing, but that didn’t stop you frowning. You felt your stomach twist and turn as you wrapped your arms around yourself as you watched your boyfriend talk and laugh and look so much more comfortable and relaxed than you’d ever seen him in public. You couldn’t write this off as a one time thing (which is what you’d done with the coffee shop incident, and was how you justified not talking to him about it before now) because he just looked so natural sitting there.

Part of you really wanted to walk up to them and find out what the hell was going on, but you didn’t. Tsuyu was waiting, after all, and the rational part of you argued that there had to be a good explanation for all of this. Plus, even if it wasn’t with you, seeing your normally stiff boyfriend so relaxed was something that made you the tiniest bit happy. So, with the knots still stretching and twisting your stomach, you went and grabbed the requested food and spent your night with your roommate. There had to be some kind of logical explanation… right?

——

Things finally came to head about a week later when you and Tenya were spending a Saturday night in your apartment. Tsuyu was out with her girlfriend so you had the place to yourself, and you’d invited Tenya over for dinner to spend time together. And, if you could figure out the right way to word it, to find out why he’d been acting so strange with his roommates.

The two of you made dinner together—or, well, you threw whatever leftovers were in your fridge together to make a semi-decent meal so you wouldn’t have to order in again while the two of you decided on something to watch on Netflix. You’d kept yourself busy from the moment you’d buzzed him up, pouring drinks and getting food ready and only speaking to ask him to hand you something or answer something he asked. Tenya kept moving closer to you, but you kept finding reasons to move away from him; until you figured out how you were going to ask him why he was suddenly cuddle buddies with his roommate, you didn’t want to risk letting him see any kind of physical indicator that you were jealous… er, not jealous, but curious. That’s what you were telling yourself.

You managed to get dinner cooked (and the parts you made were actually pretty tasty this time) and the two of you sunk down into the living room couch to watch a movie (because Tenya refused to let you eat in bed so you had to make do until your food was finished) with Tenya occupying the middle and you claiming your favourite side of the couch and the best mismatched pillows to curl up with. The two of you had finally settled on Whisper of the Heart with a promise of watching Avatar later on (“I must find out what happens at the Boiling Rock, (Y/N)!”) after you’d finished eating. But you didn’t even make it ten minutes into the movie before Tenya was placing his plate on the coffee table in front of you both.

“I can tell something is bothering you,” Tenya said. You pursed your lips but didn’t say anything, and he sighed. “Please tell me what’s going on. Is it your paper? I meant it when I said your conclusion was beautifully written, and I’m sure Professor Yamada is going to agree with me.”

Well, you couldn’t have asked for a better way to broach the subject if you tried. You put your own plate down on the coffee table as well (balancing it on your lap was probably not a good idea this time) and turned to face your boyfriend before you opened your mouth and words started rumbling out. “Look, I know that it’s none of my business and I have no idea what was going on but I saw what you were doing with Midoriya and Todoroki,” you said. You began twisting your hands in your lap. Tenya brought his own hand up to cover his mouth as he stared at you. “In the coffee shop, Tenya. And then again in the dining hall in the community centre. I saw you guys… you know. Being a lot closer in public than I’ve ever seen you before with anyone and it’s just been bugging me, Tenya, because you told me you don’t like that stuff.”

“...it was for you,” he admitted. His voice was quiet, and he’d moved his hand down to rest on his chin. His body slumped forward, and you watched your boyfriend’s shoulders sag even further than they already were. You shifted closer to him, scooting a little farther down the couch.

“I don’t get it.” You were a little unclear as to what you had to do with him holding someone else’s hand in public. Especially because it was someone else’s hand, not yours. Tenya sighed.

“Look, what I mean to say is… they were helping me practice. For you,” he told you, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose. You knew your eyebrows were up near your hairline, and his slowly reddening cheeks exposed just how embarrassed he was. “I wanted to be more comfortable showing you affection in public and Midoriya and Todoroki were helping me do that. So I could be a better boyfriend for you and show you the affection I know you want and deserve. And so I can stop knocking tables over when we go out.” That got a small laugh out of you, and you saw some of the tension slip out of Tenya’s shoulders as he sat up and relaxed against the back of the couch.

“You’re already the best boyfriend I could ask for,” you told him, and you held your hand out towards him with your palm up. He placed his own on top of it and threaded your fingers together before giving it a light squeeze. “Just because you’d rather be cuddly in private doesn’t mean I think you’re a bad boyfriend. I want to respect your boundaries too. But it’s really sweet that you want to do that for me, even if you did use Midoriya and Todoroki to help you do that. In public. Where I saw you.”

Tenya tilted his head to the side, his eyes studying your expression carefully, before a smile started turning the corners of his lips up. “Were you jealous, love?” he asked, and you avoided his eyes. He squeezed your hand again and brought it up to his lips. That got you to look at him, and he pressed a soft kiss to each of your knuckles. “Midoriya’s hand wasn’t even close to being as nice as yours. His were a little chapped, I’m worried about them. Maybe you should get him some of that lotion you use for his birthday.”

This was the Tenya you knew in private, who did enjoy showing you love and care and affection (you know, once you’d both passed the whole awkward first stage of dating and he realized that you were in it for the long term with him, even after the Spider Incident™ and the boys in his year being asked to move into private residences) and you couldn’t help but lean closer to him and curl up next to his side. It was ridiculously sweet that he’d done that for you.

And, of course, now that you’d both talked it out you decided it was time to have a little fun with him. “So that was why you’ve been so weird lately? I thought midterms had caused your wires to get crossed,” you said. You smiled at him while he rolled his eyes. “Or maybe the coffee you spilled on yourself fried your motherboard.”

“Oh you’re very original, (Y/N), so funny,” he said. “I’ll have you know I got that stain out, thank you. And it was tea, you know I don’t drink coffee.” Which, as someone who enjoyed 8am lectures, you had literally no idea how he survived on tea and water. Your boyfriend was definitely some kind of robot. You had yet to prove it, but no one could function as well as he did and not be at least part machine (not that you minded, exactly).

“We really should get you a waterproof case. Maybe an otterbox? They come in all sorts of cute colours,” you told him, reaching forward to grab your plate. Dinner was probably lukewarm at best at this point, but you’d eat it either way with minimal complaining. Tenya did the same with his plate, a smile on his face as he stayed close to you—but still made sure there was enough room so you didn’t elbow each other.

You both ate in comfortable silence for a moment, before another thought occurred to you. “You know, I only saw you and the boys twice… just how long did this go on for?” you asked, and Tenya cleared his throat and grabbed the remote to play the movie. You tried to grab it, but he moved it out of reach and, not wanting to risk dropping your dinner, you elbowed him in the side before he played the movie and turned the volume up loud enough to ensure silence, at least for a little while.

You got an answer out of him later, when the two of you were laying in bed watching some life changing field trips with Zuko, and you couldn’t help but feel a rush of love for the man with his arms wrapped around you and whispering a million and one questions about how the Fire Nation prison and law enforcement systems must work because all he wanted was for you to be happy. You’d never want to ask for anything more.

——

Bonus! Epilogue:

You and Tenya were out for lunch on campus with Midoriya and Todoroki a few days later, your boyfriend proudly holding your hand above the table as you talked about funny stories from Midoriya’s EMR course (“Professor Shuzenji asked us what we would do when we respond to a call and find someone with a stab wound and someone seriously shouted ‘Call 911!’ and she actually yelled back ‘YOU ARE 911!’”) and you couldn’t help but smile and be thankful for your boyfriend and your friends and how lucky you are. But as the conversation dwindled, you also knew some words were in order with the two men across from you and Tenya.

“So Tenya told me what you guys were doing. You know, how you were canoodling my boyfriend,” you told the two of them, and you couldn’t help snorting just a little when Midoriya started sputtering and Todoroki dropped his chopsticks.

“We agreed we wouldn’t tell anyone!” Midoriya said, looking at Tenya with his brows furrowed and his mouth pulled down into a frown. You could feel Tenya’s shoulders shake next to you, and it made the smile on your face get even bigger.

“Hey, we were doing it to help you,” Todoroki said. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Iida asked us, if I remember correctly, and we were trying to be good friends.” Tenya shrugged, putting his free hand in the air.

“Yeah he did, but you still agreed to it. And I know you guys and I know you had to be making fun of him too. So if I’m gonna poke fun at him for it then it’s only fair you guys get some of that too,” you said. You leaned forward in your seat, smiling at the green haired male, and then at the two-toned Todoroki in front of you. “So who are we going to start with first? Clammy hands Todoroki, or Midoriya ‘I don’t know how to take care of my skin’ Izuku?” And then you started cackling loudly as they started to protest and draw the attention of everyone else at nearby tables.

Oh, this was going to entertain you for a long time and you were going to love every minute of it.

#iida x reader #tenya x reader #tenya iida x reader #iida tenya x reader #bnha x reader #bnha fic #bnha #bnha scenarios #bnha imagines #reader insert #x reader #university au #college au #let me know what you think!

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meimae · 3 years

Text

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ!

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on.

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへイケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one)

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far.

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue!

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

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sserpente · 4 years

Text

Ablaze (Part II)

A/N: I am way too excited about this TV series. I wonder how many theories will make sense in the end. Here goes Part II, enjoy everyone! ♥

Read Part I here.

Words: 4138 Warnings: there’s going to be a gory corpse

A dark scream ripped you from your uneasy sleep. Alarmed, you sat up straight, ready to defend yourself with the next-best weapon within your reach—a table lamp, in this case. But there was no one there to hurt you. Instead, you noticed Loki, the god who was practically holding you hostage in your own flat after setting the headquarters of TVA, the secret organisation monitoring the multiverse, on fire, thrashing in bed right next to you as if he was possessed. Wait… was he… dreaming?

“No…” He growled. “No!”

Still giddy, you switched on the table lamp and studied the heavily breathing Trickster by your side. His blue eyes were closed. So he was having a nightmare. Should you… should you wake him? What if he accidentally hurt you in his frenzy?

Biting your lower lip, and with your heart pounding in your chest like a steam hammer, you reached for him, carefully grabbing his bare shoulder. The singeing sensation of his remarkably cool skin under your palm made you flinch.

“L-Loki? Loki, wake up, you’re having a nightmare.”

You gasped for air, terrified, when he opened his eyes with a start, momentarily disoriented. His hand darted forward to snatch your wrist so firmly it hurt. You winced.

“Loki…”

It took him another moment to realise you were no threat to him. Finally, his deadly expression softened. His breath was shaky, sweat pooling on his forehead, his neck and even his chest, shimmering in the artificial light of your table lamp. It was, quite strangely, a sight which would have aroused you if it wasn’t for the fact he was a war and time criminal, held you captive and could have killed you in his sleep just a moment ago. God, how could you even think about his looks in this whole horrifying situation?

With a start, Loki let go of his wrists as if hot flames were licking at his cold fingers, defending your body.

He said nothing more. Instead, he merely turned his back to you again… almost as if nothing had happened at all. You would never find out that he noticed you spent the majority of the rest of the night wide awake. But so did he.

Drowsily, you blinked against the gentle sunlight fighting its way through your curtains. It was a beautiful morning, peaceful. You sat up, your eyes registering an empty mug and a dark stain on your carpet.

Your heart skipped a beat when you remembered. Last night, you had involuntarily fallen asleep next to the God of Mischief who had taken you hostage in your own flat after destroying TVA’s headquarters like a house made of LEGO bricks. You remembered his nightmare, too. The way he had had jerked and grunted, almost as if his own subconscious was inflicting serious pain on him… as if it was torturing him. What, for Heaven’s sake, caused such terrifying bad dreams? What… what had he been through opening and travelling through all those portals on your radar?

You were in danger, serious danger so. You had no clue if Loki planned to kill you anytime soon. If he forced you into doing his biddings with violence… no. No, he did not seem like the sort of person who would physically harm women simply for the sake of it. There were limits even to his malice, you were sure of it. Or at least, that was what you were hoping.

As expected, and much to your relief, the other side of the bed was empty, the sheets unmade. You could hear him in the kitchen, opening drawers and cupboards almost frantically. With your heart in your mouth, you made your way into the kitchen.

“Is there anything edible in your accommodation?” He complained, shutting the fridge shut without even spinning around to face you. “Where is the sweet hot chocolate mixture you used last night?”

“In the cupboard above the counter.” I mean, what was the point of lying? He would find it anyway, at some point, only angrier. You almost snorted at the thought of trading your survival for hot chocolate.

“Make us something to eat. I need sustenance.”

Make us something to eat? You clenched your fists, eyeing the coffee machine in the corner of the kitchen and wondering if you were less likely to risk your life by talking back once you had pumped your body full of caffeine.

Your heart was pounding. You barely dared to move around him. Loki glared at you but said nothing. It was like he felt you remembering what had happened last night.

“If you lose a word about what you witnessed last night…” He growled darkly.

“Don’t threaten me,” you whispered weakly. “It’s not like I have anyone left to tell anyway.” You paused, curious whether he was going to reply. He did not. “I-I’m having cereal.” You said, despite your lack of appetite. “You can have a bowl too.” As if I had a choice sharing my food with you…

You had just poured some milk into both your cereal bowls when a loud song ripped apart the tense silence in the kitchen. Your phone! Your eyes widened. Oh God, you still had your phone! How could you have been so stupid?

Starting for the living room, you were panting by the time you picked up. It was Isabelle, one of your co-workers. A fellow agent who must have survived! Your hands were shaking.

“Hello?”

“(Y/N)! Thank the Lord, you’re okay.”

“So are you! I-I am… more or less, I…” You did not need to turn around to feel his presence behind you. Loki was eyeing you threateningly, circling you slowly. The message was clear—if you told anyone he was here, you would be in some serious trouble. You swallowed thickly.

“Do you… do you know who else made it out?”

“I’ve been on the phone all morning but nothing’s confirmed yet. They’re optimistic but Jed is devastated. He’s trying to get us all back on track… whoever’s left of us, anyway.” Jed was your boss, more or less, guiding your missions and keeping a neat overview over everything that happened within TVA. You eyed Loki from the corners of his eyes, looking for anything to ease your mind. A hint of remorse, perhaps. Regret, pity, anything would have sufficed. He was like an impenetrable wall.

“Can you meet us? By the river? Jed is already on his way.”

“W-why?”

“We found traces of another portal but…”

“But what?!”

“This time… there is… (Y/N), someone has been murdered.” You took a sharp breath. Ever since Loki’s capture, you had almost forgotten about those mysterious portals that seemed to keep appearing out of nowhere. For a moment there, you had all assumed it had been Loki himself, repeatedly using the Tesseract. Given that he had been with you last night, however, and before that, had spent his time in custody at TVA’s headquarters... before he had… burned them all down… it could not possibly have been him. You swallowed. For once, you knew that he was innocent. There was someone else still out there. And they were, so it appeared, equally dangerous. “Where are you right now?”

It was then Loki snatched the phone from your grasp, clutching it so tightly the screen cracked… and went black. Fuck. You should have screamed bloody murder the minute you had picked it up.

“W-what…”

“Do you truly think I will let you tell them about your whereabouts so lightly?” He snarled.

“They will get suspicious if I don’t show up!” You yelled, your lower lip shaking.

“Show up where?”

“T-the crime scene. There has been a murder.”

Loki frowned. “I believed you are monitoring time travel, not petty crimes.”

Slowly, you shook your head. Murder was hardly petty. Well… perhaps it was to him, given you were only humans. Swallowing your anger, you looked up at him with courage. “We normally don’t but…”

“But?” He probed strictly when you trailed off. You flinched.

“There… we have repeatedly recorded interdimensional portals. They interfere with our readings. Something is… off about this and now someone is dead and I… we have been trying to find out what it is even before you came along and destroyed our headquarters, you know.” It was just that SHIELD wouldn’t let you. It was a fight over power and recognition, really.

“I want to see it.” Loki stated simply. Your eyes widened. “How many portals have there been?”

“Thirteen.”

“You believe they have a harmful cause?”

“We don’t know that yet. We are monitoring everything. Those energy waves did not go unnoticed by our radars, they are going to start tearing time and reality apart if we don’t stop whoever is creating them. SHIELD has already…”

Loki’s face distorted.

“You work with SHIELD?”

“We do, if we must but we prefer to keep our distance.”

He rolled his eyes. “I see. When did the first portals begin to appear?”

“A few weeks ago. Whoever it is… I don’t think they realise that they are being watched.” Hugging yourself, you took the opportunity to move away from him a little, watching from a safer distance how he pensively looked out of the window. Suddenly, the weather did not at all fit the depressing situation you were in, let alone the topic you were talking about.

“Yes… I can imagine that.”

“W-what?” You frowned. “What do you mean by that? Do you know who it could be? Is it one of your allies?”

Loki’s gaze darted back to you—seriously. “I don’t have allies,” he spat. “I shall join you.”

“You can’t just… walk in on a crime scene unauthorised.”

“I just walked into your flat, did I not?” He mocked.

“They will recognise you.” You argued, voice shaking audibly.

“They will not.” Loki smirked. “No one but you will be able to see who I truly am.”

Fuck. Did you have a choice? After what he had done last night… could you refuse him? You sighed, defeated. No. Probably not.

There were thunders in the distance when you left, the initially blue sky slowly turning grey. Heavy clouds pushed in front of the sun, blocking its light from reaching Earth. That is more like it. If you got suspended today because you brought a war criminal to a crime scene revealing important details about another potential threat, at least it would not happen in broad and warm sunlight.

You were nervous. No, you were terrified. If there was one thing your boss did not accept, it was weakness and fear of what might happen if you chose to prioritise your survival over protecting life in the multiverse. It sounded cruel and ridiculously altruistic but you had known what you got yourself into with working for TVA. There was only one thing worse than egoism. And that was treason.

Yet here you were now, approaching a crime scene with a criminal who had ensured you he would be looking like a normal Midgardian man to anyone you met. Spotting SHIELD first thing you arrived did not exactly ease your nerves. Taking a shaky breath, you approached them. Rain was falling by now, wetting the asphalt and your clothes. At least, part of your uniform was waterproof.

You could tell Loki was watching you intently as you tensed the closer you got. He was dressed in a surprisingly inconspicuous police uniform—plain beige trousers and a white shirt, a black tie and an equally beige police jacket with a badge.

Luckily enough, Jed arrived just when the SHIELD agent, Jeff, so you knew, lifted his arms to stop you from stepping over the barrier tape despite your ID. With his blonde hair fluttering in the wind, he looked a little like Owen Wilson. He even sounded a little like him too.

“What are you doing here, TVA?” Jeff groaned with dismay. “This is our crime scene. You have no business here.”

“Shut it. The energy readings we keep getting from these portals say something different. They have been interfering with our radars for weeks now. We can’t keep the world safe from potential threats in time and the multiverse if we can’t observe it properly. So I disagree. This is our crime scene too. Now get out of my way.” He paused, turning to you. “(Y/N), I’m glad to see you’re well.”

“You too.” You replied with a court nod.

“Who is that?”

“Uh… He is, uh, with the… the police.” You lied quickly. You couldn’t believe you were doing this. Help me, you attempted to scream with your eyes. You must realise that something is wrong! But he did not.

“Luke.” Loki jumped in, letting his charm do all the work as he offered Jed his hand. He took and shook it, his initial suspicion dying down once the God of Mischief gave him a sly smile.

“Right. Pleased to meet you, Sir. We’ll do our best to get the situation under control, then I promise we’ll leave you to it. A lot of my agents have been in a critical state in the hospital since that Asgardian arsehole escaped from us last night. There is no excuse for that faux-pas but he is… difficult to say the least. It’ll take us a while to make amends.”

“Asgardian arsehole?” Jeff interrupted. “What are you talking about? The war criminal Loki was taken back to Asgard by Thor years ago.”

Jed pressed his lips together to a thin line. “It’s complicated.”

Panicking, you gasped for air but much to your surprise, Loki did nothing whatsoever. He only smiled—maliciously so.

“I am deeply sorry for your loss.” He stated hollowly, making you swallow thickly. If Jed only knew… “So? What is it that interferes with your radars, agent?”

“We don’t know. It almost feels like…” Jed looked at you.

“As if there are remnants of… magic… it’s crackling.” The both of you were unable to tell him more than you already had. As a TVA agent, you were not dealing with murders often. Accidents, yes but actual murder? Hardly, fortunately.

Loki lifted his chin. “Show me this corpse.”

“Here,” you announced, taking a step back when you felt the energy waves pushing against every fibre of your skin. You had been focused not to give the dead body surrounded by barrier tape and a pool of blood more glances than absolutely necessary, to ignore the dreadful and almost sweet stench of decay. It had been… cut in half. The victim must have tried to enter the portal after whoever had created it—but had been too slow to make it through entirely. Scrunching up your nose, you resisted a gag. You were a TVA agent, for Goodness sake. Pull yourself together. There are worse things. Just like being kept hostage by a dangerous god without anyone even knowing. It certainly was a good sign he had not harmed you as of yet though, no? What, however, would happen once you got a chance to tell Jed the truth? Would he kill you after all? Set your flat on fire as well?

Gulping, you wiped your sweaty palms on your trousers, your heart speeding up in your chest when you felt his presence behind you. His body temperature was remarkably cool, yet you could practically feel the heat radiating off of him, making you feel small and powerless next to him. Still, there was this tiny part of you—a barely audible voice whispering in your mind—that enjoyed the fear and the excitement that came with being Loki’s… captive.

The urge to slap yourself rose.

“What causes this?” You managed to choke out.

You watched, almost in awe, how he brought up his palm to touch the remaining energy waves your radars had recorded prior to arriving at the crime scene. Unlike yours, however, his palms began to shimmer in a green light.

“It is unlike the gamma radiation the Tesseract emits. It’s more… crackling. That probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh, it makes perfect sense.” Loki replied matter-of-factly. “The crackling, as you describe it, is of magical origin. On Asgard, we call it seidr. Few can wield it, fewer are able to take their skills beyond simple tricks.”

“What… are you saying that whoever is creating these portals is Asgardian too?”

“I am not…” Loki took a deep breath and pressed his lips together to a thin line before speaking on. “They might be. I only know one person who would be capable of finding a way to open doors to other realities like that.”

Glancing at him in utter shock, you waited for him to continue. He did not. Instead, he directed his attention at the person approaching you before you even registered the footsteps on the wet asphalt yourself. You were hauled into a hug, all air pressed from your lungs and your eyesight blocked by waves of her long ginger hair.

“Isabelle!”

“Don’t you dare scare me like that ever again! The connection was lost and when I tried to call you back, I could only reach your voicemail. What happened? I thought Loki attacked you!”

Well, technically… you swallowed thickly. “No, I, um… I was doing the washing up to distract myself from… you know… and the phone fell into the sink. I put it in a bowl of rice, it should be fine again tomorrow.” There went another lie. You would have to buy a new phone and you sincerely doubted that Loki would let you. Next to you, the God of Mischief chuckled maliciously. Bastard.

“Who are you?” Isabelle frowned at him.

“Luke. Officer Luke.”

“He’s with the… police.”

“I see. You are here alone?” She probed suspiciously.

“I am. I am merely here to ensure things are… taken care of, so to speak.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. Your superiors are familiar with our work and how significant it is for all our wellbeing.” Loki only raised his eyebrows in a seemingly unimpressed manner.

You wondered, briefly, what would happen if you screamed bloody murder and warned her about him, gave away his identity. Would he kill you straight away? Torture you first? After he had set the TVA headquarters on fire, anything was possible. Bruce Banner had not been wrong. That man’s mind was like a bag full of cats.

“Where is the rest of our team?” You asked her instead. “Have they still not arrived? Jed said a lot of them are being treated in the hospital but…”

“They’re busy finding Loki.”

“Do you, um…” Your voice was shaky. Clearing your throat, you continued despite his threatening presence right beside you. “I didn’t dare to ask Jed back there.” Or Loki, for that matter. “How many agents died in the fire?”

“Only two. Pete and Roth.” The very same agents who had caught Loki. Loki barely put any effort into hiding his satisfaction. Clearly, he had planned this. Taken his revenge. It made you wonder what else he’d have in store for this world even without you spilling his dirty secret. But then again… you remembered how vulnerable he had looked last night in his sleep. There had to be more. So much more.

A loud and alarming bleeping tore through the crispy air with a start. Both Isabelle und you flinched, turning your heads towards the computer station Jed had by now stationed at the crime scene with the help of another agent. The radar was blinking red and purple, the noise downright ear-piercing.

“Jed, what is it?” Isabelle covered her ears.

“Another portal opened.” Loki answered for him, his expression hardening.

“What?! When?! Now?”

He did not reply—instead, he turned on his heel and ran, presumably straight towards the source of the readings.

“Officer! Officer Sir, no, it’s too dangerous! Officer! Damn it. (Y/N), stay where you are!” But you weren’t listening either. You hurried after him, for what reason you did not know yourself. Loki was perfectly capable of defending himself—you were not. If what he had said was true and there was another Asgardian wreaking havoc in this city, you’d do well to leg it and flee. Besides… why would you care? If he died playing curiosity kills the cat, your entire organisation had one problem less to deal with. Why, for Heaven’s sake, did part of you feel like you owed him in spite of this nerve-wrecking fear?

“Stay back!” He yelled.

Gnashing your teeth, you stopped dead in your tracks, blinded by the bright green lights illuminating the narrow alley Loki had run off into.

The energy the portal was radiating was numbing, almost. Like an invisible wall you were trying to step closer, tensing every single muscle in your body to no avail. Loki, however, seemed to have no problems approaching the hazardous time threat at all.

Finally, a tall, blonde woman stepped through. The portal closed behind her, drowning the alley in rainy darkness once more. The impact of the energy ebbing away nearly knocked you off your feet. Right before you could fall, however, a strong and cold hand wrapped around your wrist and pulled you up again seemingly without any effort whatsoever. Gazing up, bedazzled, you met Loki’s serious and reproachful glare.

“I told you to stay back.” He growled, his grip around your wrist almost painful. It was the one already forming a bruise from his sleepy attack last night. He let go as if he had burned himself when he noticed, leaving you there all exhausted and trembling. It was then an almost soft voice sounded behind him, making him stiffen and go pale—if only just a little. Your lips parted.

“By Odin’s beard… Loki?!”

The God of Mischief took a deep breath. “Sylvie.” He too, was surprised, to say the least. Yet if there was one thing Loki was really good at, it was hiding his feelings. So they knew each other. Just great.

“I would recognise that mischievous voice anywhere. What in the nine realms happened to your face?” With some words, it almost sounded like she had a lisp.

“An illusion. I am a fugitive, so it seems.”

“Oh, what have you done now, hmm?” Her laughter tore through the dark alley, next you thing you witnessed she had already thrown herself into his arms, her feet dangling in the air. Loki, albeit hesitantly, reciprocated the hug. “I missed you! Midgard is so boring without you.” She pouted. Never before had you felt as redundant as you did now. It seemed to have been your cue.

“Oh, not again…” She suddenly complained, her brown eyes finding you standing in the background. She glared at you darkly. “Didn’t you see what happened to the last human who attempted to follow me? You would do well to leave me alone if you do not wish to suffer from the same fate.”

“You look very human to me.” At least she was dressed human, unlike Loki when they had first found and brought them to your headquarters.

“Well, I am not. I am Asgardian.” Loki opened his mouth. He never got to say what he intended to.

“Put your hands up in the air and no harm will come to you!” It was Jed’s voice that ripped you all from this uncomfortable and undoubtedly dangerous situation. His gun was aimed at the blonde who rolled her eyes in response. “Officer, step away from her, please! She is likely a hostile!”

The curse Loki uttered sounded a lot like he had spoken it in a foreign language. “We need to leave, now. They have weapons which immobilise even me—long enough for them to shackle you.”

“What? Those meagre mortals? Oh, please…” While the strange woman crossed her arms, Loki reacted already. Unceremoniously, he pulled out the Tesseract out of… seemingly nowhere—your heart skipped a beat when it appeared in his hand and he held it without any sort of protection—and offered her his arm. The woman’s eyes widened. Without any hesitation, she took it. And then, everything happened at once.

“Sir, what are you… the Tesseract. This is Loki! Everyone, this is Loki! Fuck!” More guns were aimed at you all, a low chuckle from the God of Mischief sending ice-cold shivers up and down your spine.

“Wait, don’t shoot! (Y/N) is in the line of fire!” Isabelle’s ear-piercing scream barely reached you when the first gunshots tore through the air as wild as a swarm of wasps. So this was it. You would be shot by your own colleagues and a handful of SHIELD agents.

The last thing you expected Loki to do, however, was to grab you, pull you flush against him and tear you with him into the unknown.

A/N: Stay tuned for Part III!

Check out my blog to find more Imagines and take a glimpse at my first (to be) published novel! If you enjoyed this story, I would appreciate so much if you supported me on Kofi! ko-fi.com/sserpente ♥

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manggaetteokkie · 4 years

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Why 2HA adaptation might not be as bad as we think...

Okay so BL novel “The Husky and His White Cat Shizun” (chinese title: “二哈和他的白猫师尊”) aka 2HA is getting a live adaption which will be called “Immortality” (“皓衣行”). I know that usually, fans of original works are less than excited about this kinds of news and with good reasons. The issue is that those who buy the IP rights to a novel simply see its popularity and think that they can profit off of it without actually trying to understand the reason behind its popularity. Too often, BL fans see themselves forced to endure any of the following: 1) sex change of one of the male leads, 2) creation of a random female love interest, 3) turning a happy end into a bad end, 4) adding a bunch of scenes unrelated to our main pair that ends up dragging the series, 5) turning romance into brotherly affection... the list goes on and on. Sometimes, companies think that as long as they film any two guys together and sell a bit of physical touching here and there, fans will jump on it like rabid dogs which... is kinda stupid because, y’know, we have eyes (and standards) too.

So obviously, with the unprecedented popularity that came with the release of The Untamed, even more producers are starting to see the potential of danmei (BL) novels and with it came an onslaught of IP rights being bought and adapted. The list is pretty extensive, with some big names that I’m sure anyone who’s even slightly in the Chinese BL novel community has heard of before. Of course, included in that list, with the casting for the leads done and filming underway, is 2HA.

Quick overview of the story for those of you that don’t know: the story is set in the POV of the “gong” (top), a character named Mo Ran (also known as Mo Weiyu) who is the disciple of Chu Wanning, the “shou” (bottom) of our story. In his original life, Mo Ran had become the Emperor of the cultivation world through slaughter and tyranny, with the only one ever coming close to stopping him being his shizun, Chu Wanning, who eventually lost his life trying to stop him. After achieving the top by committing pretty much all crimes and sins known to men, weary and tired, Mo Ran decides to take his own life and ends it all. Unexpectedly, instead of dying and going to Hell, he transmigrated to the first year he became a disciple. As a thirty-something man in the body of a teen, he decides to do things right this time around and save the one he couldn’t save the first time around. As he goes through life a second time, truth after truths reveal themselves, with the biggest surprise being that the Shizun he hated so much in his previous life, and who Mo Ran thought hated/scorned him, actually turned out to be protecting him the entire time.

Mo Ran, in his past life, was powerful, cruel, merciless and arrogant. There was nothing he could not obtain and he knew it. He was cynical, had a very jaded view of the world and was kind of unstable (lots of mood swings and temper tantrums). After his rebirth, he still maintained some of the arrogance and cynicism, but is more mischievous, confident and cheeky. He is very much like a husky, looks kind of scary and big, but can be extremely loyal to the ones he recognizes and can be a bit dumb sometimes. Chu Wanning on the other hand, is an unflappable person with a frost-like exterior, but a heart of gold. Basically, he cares a lot but it’s easier for him to look like he doesn’t than to voice his feelings. He gets embarrassed easily and covers his embarrassment using anger. He is extremely strong, likes peace and quiet, and always abides by the rules.

Their relationship is kind of complicated. Initially, Mo Ran was in love with a fellow disciple called Shi Mei (despite the word meaning junior female disciple in Chinese, it’s actually the name of a male character). In the original timeline, Shi Mei died and that was the start of Mo Ran’s decline. After his rebirth, Mo Ran decides that he will do everything in his power to prevent Shi Mei from dying again. Don’t be mistaken though, Shi Mei is NOT the male lead. You’ll see as you read more that despite being in love with Shi Mei, Mo Ran is pretty obsessed with Chu Wanning because their relationship was kind of... complicated in the original timeline.

This is pretty much the premise for the story, but do be warned that it goes much deeper and darker than what you might expect (it’s rated R-18 for a reason). So why exactly am I writing all of this? To put it simply, I just kind of want to hype up the series and its adaptation a little, or at least, pique enough interest to give the live action adaptation a chance. Not gonna lie, when I heard 2HA was getting adapted, I was pretty skeptical because how. Mo Ran and Chu Wanning had a pretty physical relationship in the pre-rebirth timeline and that’s partially where the obsession that Mo Ran feels towards Chu Wanning stems from. There’s just basically a lot of unresolved sexual tension between them throughout the novel that I simply couldn’t see getting adapted. However, after thinking about it and reevaluating things from a low-expectations-standpoint, I think it might actually be possible to film something close enough to the original work. Here are some of the factors that influenced my opinion:

First, the series is set to air for 50 episodes (just like The Untamed). Why is the number of episodes important? Because it will determine how closely the adaptation will follow the original story and how much random stuff they can fit into it. Let’s take a step back and evaluate: 2HA’s novel has 311 chapters + extras while MDZS has 113 + extras. Obviously, people might have an issue with the number of episodes (”How are you going to air the same amount of episodes for a series that’s thrice as long??”) but I think it’s a good amount. Why? Because it pretty much guarantees a solid pacing that’ll keep the story moving forward without stagnating. I don’t think there is too much to worry in terms of too much source material being cut because quite a few chapters are R-18/romantic lining scenes that would not have gotten adapted anyways. Once those get deleted, I think 50 episodes is an acceptable amount.

Second, the entire production seems to be solid. The rights were actually bought by Tencent who, if you forgot, was also responsible for The Untamed. With prior success, I believe that they now have a pretty solid idea of how things should be run. Also, the CGI and world-design team is the same one as for Ashes of Love, which has me pretty stoked because while CG in chinese dramas has always been a hit or miss, Ashes of Love is definitely amongst some of the best I’ve seen (see below for examples). (P.S. there are also rumours that Lin Hai, the one responsible for The Untamed’s OST, might be working on 2HA but this is mere speculation at this point.) Overall, 2HA is looking to be like the most high-profile and expensive BL adaption yet.

Third and finally, the casting.

Holy.

Okay.

This is what has me the most hyped.

Let’s start with Shi Mei, who will be portrayed by actress Chen Yao (or Sebrina Chen).

I know I’ve said that despite the name, Shi Mei is a male. As it turns out, likely for censorship reasons, “Immortality” could not escape from the clutches of the dreaded sex change so they went ahead and turned him into a girl. While not ideal, in my opinion, it actually works out pretty nicely here. In this case, it means that Mo Ran is in love with a female character which would further draw censorship’s attention away from the fact that Mo Ran really has a thing for his beautiful shizun. While it would have been perfect if everything could go according to source material, the fact that it’s Shi Mei that went through a sex change actually works pretty favourably in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention the actress set to play Shi Mei has some good experience acting similar roles so overall, I say that I trust her.

Next, we have Chu Wanning who will be played by Luo Yunxi (or Leo Luo).

For this character, I have no worries whatsoever. If you’re unfamiliar with this actor, I highly recommend you give Ashes of Love a try. He played the 2nd lead and ugh. He’s so good at playing beautiful and elegant characters that are forced to undergo a ton of suffering and pain. Luo Yunxi used to be a professional ballet dancer so he moves with grace and his fight scenes are amazing to watch. Also, he has great control over his facial expressions. He’s able to act out characters that suffer a lot without making them seem weak or powerless. Even the way he cries can be considered both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Finally, we have Mo Ran who will be portrayed by Chen Feiyu (or Arthur Chen).

Mo Ran is an extremely complex character. From pre-rebirth’s insanity and arrogance, to post-rebirth’s hope and reservation, to post-revelation’s love and devotion, the actor’s going to have a lot on his plate. Originally, when I first googled him, I thought that while he’d manage to pull off post-rebirth teen!Mo Ran fairly well given how clean and refreshing his face looks, he’d have a harder time pulling off pre-rebirth’s arrogance, craziness and general “hardness”. However, after seeing some costume designs and makeup edits, I think that the boy might just pull it off. Also, while the actor is nowhere near as solid as Luo Yunxi is, it seems that he’s willing to put in extra time and effort (as seen by his Weibo post about how he’d been studying the source material) to make up for it. I think that with enough dedication, he might just be able to pull it off.

(Psssst! By the way, keeping this strictly between you and me, another reason why I’m such a fan of this pair is because of the height difference. I mean just look at this?? Their height difference is pretty much bang on with the novel height difference after Mo Ran grew past Chu Wanning’s height. Not to mention, don’t tell me you see this and don’t automatically picture a the big dorky puppy following his reserved and cool master around?)

So yeah, all of this just to say that it might be okay to kind of have some expectations for 2HA. I really want to keep my own expectations down as low as possible given the amount of times we’ve been burned but I want to remain hopeful that, with the success of The Untamed, it can pave the way for better and more faithful danmei adaptations, with 2HA being one of them.

#the husky and his white cat shizun #二哈和他的白猫师尊 #2ha #immortality #皓衣行 #haoyixing #luo yunxi #chen feiyu #chen yao #leo luo #arthur chen #sebrina chen #chu wanning #mo ran #mo weiyu #long post #talking with zb

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ishouldreallybeelsewhere · 3 years

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okay so that loki video essay thing was going well, and then like a day into writing it i lost the hyperfixation so it's never gonna be finished. i still think it's alright, completely unedited, entirely a train of thought, i hope you like commas and pacific rim, it's only 2.8k

btw if something doesn't make sense, i was writing this while watching some video essays, and also haven't read it

Introduction

Loki is a show, well you know that, but a show that does everything right, until it doesn’t (crazy, I know). If you’re here, I assume you’ll already know a fair bit about it, but if you don’t, here’s a quick refresher. Spoilers for everything MCU.

Loki begins in 2012, technically, just after the Avengers go back through time from Endgame to meet themselves and grab the infinity stones. Unfortunately, the plan goes awri, and Loki ends up in possession of the Tesseract, the mind stone. With this, he teleports to a desert in [a place] and is quickly arrested and apprehended by the Time Keepers for ‘Crimes Against the Sacred Timeline.’ Sounds a bit cult-y if you ask me, and given that you’re stuck here, you will ask me. Essentially, his actions (taking the tesseract) were not supposed to happen. They created a branch, a new timeline, and, according to the TVA, if left unchecked, the timeline could cause a multiversal war that would result in the end of time. This is, to put it simply, a very interesting premise, and the first two episodes do a wonderful job of exploring the TVA and searching for the mysterious Loki variant who causes chaos and mischief, all while evading the time cops.

What is the TVA? Well, it’s the Time Variance Authority, which clears up nothing to those who haven’t seen the show. I would let a clip explaining it play, but I think I’d get a copyright strike, even though I’m fairly sure it’s within fair use. Regardless, the TVA is an organisation supposedly created by the Time Keepers, space lizards who brought together all of time into a singular sacred timeline. Had they not done this, time itself would have ended, how they did this is unexplained, and likely either impossible, or they are greater than gods in their power. Loki is immediately doubtful, but can’t deny that they must hold some power, because not only does his magic not work in the TVA, but infinity stones are useless too. Time is also stranger there too, more an idea as opposed to a set part of their reality. Many theorise that they reside within the quantum realm, which makes sense, as that is how one travels through time, at least in the marvel universe, but we can’t be sure until we get an explanation. Of course, I’m writing this long before I’ll see the finale, so who knows, perhaps I’ll have to rewrite it.

Now I’ve said all that without explaining what the TVA actually does. It’s pretty simple, similar to Stephen Hawking’s (???) ideas of the multiverse, every decision you make has the ability to make another timeline, one that is not part of the sacred way of time, and therefore must be pruned by the TVA before it grows enough to cause another multiversal war, despite multiverses being well-established in the MCU, but I know that’s different. Or perhaps the Time Keepers are lying (spoiler, they are, just not exactly in that way). Anyway, when someone makes a decision or takes an action that creates a new timeline, the TVA arrives. Minutemen arrest the ‘Variant’ responsible, despite their lack of intentional crime, and prune the new timeline, which we are told destroys it. Then Variants must stand trial for their crimes, in which they can either plead guilty or not, but really, that doesn’t make much difference, as they’re unable to make a case, let alone get away as innocent. Before they reach the court, however, Variants are dressed in TVA jumpsuits, have to sign off every word they’ve ever said, and a snapshot of their temporal aura is taken, for some reason. Yeah, it’s not really ever explained why they have to go through all that, like, why don’t they just prune them all, or just send them straight to court. It seems like they’re putting on a big show for nothing. Of course, if you have to go through all that, you probably won’t have time to think about the whys of your situation, which I’m sure the TVA uses to their advantage.

Now, we’re heading into real spoiler-y stuff, just in case anyone here hasn't watched episode three. If you haven’t, why are you here? Go, finish the whole series, and then come back. Alrighty. Now that everyone’s seen it all (apart from me at this point) we can continue.

Everyone working at the TVA is a Variant, and they don’t know it. The Time Keepers are said to have created everything within the TVA, every analyst, Minuteman, and whatever the other roles are. But that’s not true. They’re all variants who’ve been taken from their own timelines and had their memories wiped. This gives an explanation for the courtrooms, and the process to get into them. Robots will be melted from the inside out if they go through the temporal aura machine thingy, and I have a feeling it’s harder to reset a robot’s memories. Living beings are let through, and their actions in the courtroom could give a good overview of their strengths and intelligence, so it can be decided whether they’ll be pruned or ‘reset’ which we are told is killed, but with the information of them all being variants now available, is more likely having all their memories hidden, replaced with the idea that they’ve been at the TVA their whole lives, and that they were created by the timekeepers. Though why would space lizards create workers in the image of humans instead of like their own lizard-y selves. The TVA as a whole, as we are introduced to it, feels very cult-y. Things such as the videos Variants are shown upon being arrested, the whole ‘Sacred Timeline’ thing, the Time Keepers being viewed as almost gods, and that when one of the TVA’s own minutemen is told the truth (C-20) she is, well, removed. The TVA views Variants as criminals of the highest order. How dare they violate the sacred timeline?!!? Only, no variant knew that what they were doing was wrong, or that it even mattered, but if you’re late to work on a day where you weren’t supposed to be, then you’re removed from your timeline and charged. The sentence? Essentially death, or removal of all your memories and being lied to about everything, which might be worse depending on your stance on that kind of thing.

Anyway, the minutemen themselves are another issue that the TVA has. They respond with violence at every available opportunity, like when a young french child from the 1500s walks into a church, the first thing a minuteman does is reach for his weapon. This is also the scene where we’re introduced to my favourite character, Mobius, but more on him later. For now, I need to stay on track and keep in mind this part of the view has to remain consistent. All I can think of are the nerds I split. It seems I have an inability to stay on topic, however, I’m gonna try so you have fun keeping up with that.

Loki stood trial for crimes against the Sacred Timeline and, like any logical person may in that situation, relentlessly questions the validity of his conviction. The answers he’s provided with he just,, kind of,, disagrees with, which is fair. The concept of the TVA and the sacred timeline as a whole is absurd to him, as who would a god serve?

Part one: Glorious Purpose

Loki, in his own words, it ‘Burdened With Glorious Purpose.’ I’m so glad no one but me is gonna read this draft cuz I managed to spell many of those words wrong. His glorious purpose, in his eyes, is becoming the ruler of all, removing free will and choice from those beneath him, in a twisted attempt to make it easy for all living things. He believes in free will, at least, the free will of himself, and also believes that, out of everyone in the universe, he is the one who is right, the one who can make the world better, that is his burden. Now, you may look at that and think, ‘hey, for a god of mischief, that doesn’t seem very mischievous,’ and you’d be right. It isn’t. He’s evil, like, without a doubt, an evil person in his ideals and views of the universe, however, the change from mischief to villainy was rapid, as it’s shown that he was D.B. Cooper, and, when asked, said it was because he was ‘young and lost a bet to Thor’, which, like, okay, but that was the 60s or something. 50 years aren’t a lot in the face of 1,500, but a lot can happen then

Part something: ethics

So, as you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m a pretentious asshole, and with that comes three years of philosophy classes and a superiority complex, though perhaps that comes from the whole leftist thing. Anyway, as per usual, I got sidetracked. I’m watching a really good video atm, so lots of things are happening in my head right now. Back to being pretentious, I’m going to be talking about ethics, fun, and how that relates to the TVA, the sacred timeline, Kang, sorry, he who remains. Regarding the whole Kang thing, I haven’t read a single Marvel comic since I was a member of the comic book club 4(???) years ago. Gods, I’m so old. Yup Percy Jackson took up too much of my childhood. Sidetracked again! I apologise, anyway, everything I know about Kang the Conqueror comes from Tumblr, so I’m not going to spend any time talking about any parts of the character that aren’t shown in the show. I really want to be writing about Doctor Who right now but I have my notes up so I’m gonna do this. Okay, right. Ethics. I hope I don’t go into free will right now because I will never stop going on about that. Anyway, let's look at the TVA, ignoring Kang, not for simplicity, but to see if the ends do in fact justify the means as Mobius said. And by that I mean, if what employees of the TVA think is true, are their actions justified? Finally got to the point, after how many words? Too many, anyway, let’s start from the start (kinda).

In an actual, proper, organised essay, I think that whole last paragraph was supposed to be 1 (one) sentence long, maybe. I have been writing year nine level essays for many years, despite not being in year nine for many, many years, so, be glad you’re reading something I’m interested in. Back to the topic at hand, please. Sorry I just got distracted again. I shouldn’t have Tumblr open atm. Anyway, what are the TVA’s means? So, I’ve already explained what the TVA is, and what it does, but let’s use a fun example to show what they really do. Imagine you’re a kid (or maybe you are a kid, so imagine you’re a younger one) and you just got home from school. You just made an awesome new friend who believes in you and loves your art. This sparks your interest in art, leading to countless pieces, days and days spent drawing and painting and having a great time. Your art begins to take hold on the world, speaking to people, letting them believe in themselves, thousands upon thousands of people inspired to start their own art, to rebel against the system of capitalism and teach people that there’s more to life than a job. This begins the global radicalisation of the working class, and with that, rebellion and the downfall of capitalism. I’m in a good mood rn, feeling optimistic, so don’t worry about what’s happening. Anyway, with the downfall of human exploitation and eradication of poverty comes a branch in the Sacred Timeline, and as the root of it is you as a child making a friend, your 5-year-old self just committed a crime that, according to the TVA, is worthy of what they believe to be actual death, like, being pruned.

Now, this was a very umm, off-the-top-of-my-head example, and entirely makes no sense, but give me two seconds and I’ll remember my original point. Right. The risk of allowing the downfall of capitalism is the end of all time. Always. Maybe? But, in the eyes of the TVA, kidnapping a 5-year-old, putting them through a dehumanising process to be shoved in a courtroom and being accused of crimes against the sacred timeline, and what was the crime? Making a goddamn friend. As a child. Being supported in art. Doing what you enjoy, destroying oppressive systems that will eventually be the downfall of us all and so entwined with all the problems in the world that any chance of saving it revolves around its deconstruction. I’ve been hunched over too long and my back is really starting to hurt, but the essay must go on. And remember, the domino effect of that friendship never actually happened. The timeline was pruned before it could happen, so the crime is literally making a friend. Very extreme example sorry, but shock makes your point go across faster, and also sparks outrage, which I don’t want to happen, but with doing literally anything comes backlash, like stepping on the wrong leaf, or a butterfly. I hope you guys know that this is unplanned and probably unedited. Okay I need to watch Pacific Rim again. Okay imagine now they kill the child. Right. That’s likely what would happen. Children are weak (usually, Sylvie is just on another level of awesome) [author’s note, Crimson Peak is a horror movie and I’m very upset by that cuz now I won’t be able to watch it]. Alright, so, kill a child, or destroy all of time. Always. Maybe. The way we see the TVA in the first two episodes is through Loki’s eyes, as a cult-like lie with a cool retro/futuristic aesthetic (like Doctor Who, but more on that later). I have been sitting here for 4 hours and I can confidently say my cat is an asshole whose sole purpose in life is to want to come in right when I’m in the middle of a point only to not want to come in but allow me to lose exactly what I was about to say, meaning I’ve gotten next to nothing done. Hi, I'm back. I got distracted by My Little Pony and Pacific Rim. And checkers. Issues with pacing? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Okay, so, I’m going to say something possibly controversial. When the stakes are the endings of the entirety of time, it’s okay to let a child die, and technically they might not die they’d just be sent to be either devoured the void or saved by a ragtag team of loki variants. Which is not great. That might sound like I agree with the TVA, but trust me, I do not. Not in the slightest. I hate the slimy bastards. (I do love every single character though, like all of them are awesome) The prickly pricks will bury us all!!! I don’t agree with them because I think there is a better way to handle the multiversal problem and the issue that arises regarding the particular cause of the multiversal war. That made no sense. You’re really just gonna have to guess at this point, however, for the solution, we must look into the finale and the reasoning behind He Who Remains’ plan. I said I wasn’t going to talk about him, but I lied (rule number one). Basically, from what I understood of his plan (which wasn’t much, I’m pretty stupid) was that there were two options; option number one was to leave him there, looking over all of time, preventing free will, so that the infinite variants of him that would come from timelines wouldn’t once again attempt to conquer all of the timelines (though if there are infinite ones, how would that work? Just kidding, you’re not allowed to question this). He dictates all. There’s no such thing as free will, and if you dare veer off the path, you will be pruned, and your timeline destroyed. His plan is to hand that power over to Loki and Sylvie, because he’s getting old and has lived long enough. The other option (and the one that’s taken in the show) is to allow Sylvie to kill He Who Remains and let the multiverse unfold, allow free will and chaos to reign, with the possibility and established likelihood of the destruction of time itself. Now, just putting this out here, what if there was a third option? My proposition is based of knowing next to nothing and not having seen Loki in a while, and that is,

#loki #loki show #loki series #loki tv show #i don't even know what this is #uhhh i don't think i agree with all the points i made and i also used some very crap example #this is not a good peice of writing and it's from several months ago #if you talk to me about it i won't get back to you.

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bronanlynch · 3 years

Text

(bi)weekly media update

apparently I just. do these every two weeks now huh. sorry to the tuesday again no problem extended universe crew for being unable to keep to a consistent schedule

listening: Curses by The Crane Wives, a band that I just started listening to but I like their sound, nice and fun and folksy, lots of songs with ominous lyrics that are good on fanmixes

youtube

honorary mention to the new Lil Nas X song because we are all love the new Lil Nas X song, it’s a bop, it’s been stuck in my head on and off ever since I heard it, and I am not immune to sexily blasphemous music videos

reading: finished Smoke & Ashes, the most recent book in the Kate Kane series that I talked about last week, and I enjoyed it a lot but there sure is a cliffhanger and afaik no set release date for the next one. it’s pretty angsty but does have lots of nice moments of hope, and some discussion about recovering from both depression and alcoholism that I appreciated.

also read more romance novels, and I appreciate that Cat Sebastian, like KJ Charles, knows how to write about rich characters while making it incredibly clear that hoarding wealth is morally indefensible. it’s like the “wow, cool robot” thing where I want to be told that I’m right for disliking capitalism/imperialism/the military industrial complex, but also I do very much want you to show me the cool robot (hot rich prettyboy in nice clothes)

also finally started Harrow the Ninth today, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say about that next time

watching: speaking of “wow, cool robot,” watched a little bit more Turn A Gundam, which sure does have some cool robots. also some gender. the main character crossdresses to like, hide their identity for fun complicated spy reasons and it’s not treated as a joke or anything? it’s just a thing that they do? and no one comments on it beyond when they were like “hey you have to wear a dress to this event because the people from the moon think our mech pilot is a woman and they can’t know it’s actually you because they still think you’re working for them”

absolutely hate that the guy on the right is just wearing a normal boring suit though like. c’mon man

Zan and I have been watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier aka the sambucky show each week and my review so far is. well it’s about what I expected. the first episode was incredibly slow and kinda disappointing (Sam and Bucky never interact! the fact that Bucky might maybe miss Steve is never brought up, not even by his therapist, who tbh gives me incredibly bad vibes! if my best friend and the only person I knew from my past fucked off and left me alone to deal with my trauma in favor of ruining the life of a woman who’d moved on from him, I’d be pissed!) (for the sake of not being angry all the time I pretend Steve died instead of did That).

the second episode was more fun, more happens, there’s some incredibly heavy-handed corporate queerbaiting mixed in with some actually nice emotional moments (this article and this thread by the same person have a pretty good summary of All That). the handling of race, uh, could be better tbh. I appreciate what they’re going for, and to be fair the whole show isn’t out yet so it could get better (since some of the problems are tied to, y’know, the overall political problems, i.e. the fact that the villains are a group of people, led by a Black woman, who hate borders and illegally deliver medication to refugees which is somehow a bad thing, I kind of doubt it). but there is something about the way they’re making a Black man the mouthpiece of American imperialism, and the way that the new (white) Captain America who takes the shield when Sam doesn’t want it has a Black girlfriend and a Black best friend who, so far, have mostly just given him motivational pep talks, that doesn’t really inspire confidence. (this article and thread are a good overview of that aspect of the show)

also, I think it’s very funny when people are like “well you can’t say anything about the show yet, only two episodes are out” like. first of all lads it’s a six episode show, a third of the content is a decent chunk to use to form an analytical opinion, and second of all, if something strikes you as Not Great, you’re allowed to feel that way and say that, you don’t have to wait to see if there might be some twist or context that makes the thing you didn’t care for great and fine, actually,

that being said,

(when we watched the first episode, the immediate next thing we did was watch Winter Soldier and I was pleasantly surprised how well it holds up. not perfect obvi but still a solid movie, and the music does fuck)

also watched this very neat little video essay on Victoriana costuming and like, why so much media is set in the Victorian era, and started the c-drama Word of Honor which I’m sure will either be in a future post or just. something I start blogging about normally

playing: the weekend before last was the Beam Saber season finale, which I’ve already posted about quite a bit because it was fun and I love to play games with my friends. played a very fun game of Things, Eldritch and Terrifying by S. Gates this past weekend. it’s a very fun game, with very easy-to-follow rules and lots of helpful adjectives and scene starters, and also just conceptual it slaps (one person is an eldritch terror, the other person is the human that they’re courting. there’s a variant where you play as a vampire. it slaps). we made it uh, more of a rom-com than a horror story but I had a very good time, we told a very cute love story, and we’re gonna try again to make it more horror-y next time.

also I finally started Brigmore Witches and it’s very good and fun. my one complaint is that I want the Whalers to have names, because I enjoy the bit at the beginning where you can eavesdrop on them and some of them are concerned for you and some of them are fucked up about the Overseers invading their home and some of them want to fucking betray you. also, I didn’t realize that the very beginning when you fight Corvo is a dream sequence so I spent the whole fight being like “wait why does he get a gun and I don’t, where are my powers, wait aren’t I supposed to lose this fight for Plot Reasons why is he dead.” also, fucking love the favor that lets you dress up as an Overseer to get into the prison. I do love a good disguise mission

making: citrus chicken (from a cookbook so no link), plus some citrus-y root vegetables. very good if you like orange.

writing: nothing I can share yet for ~zine reasons. yes I have several fandom event weeks coming up that I want to participate in, no I haven’t written anything for any of them yet

#dreaming.txt #pictures of food below the read more

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valkblue · 3 years

Photo

Being a Behavior technician requires a certain amount of dedication to the job — the rigorous type, bordeline rigid. That’s what is expected to be at peak efficiency regarding analysis protocols and diagnostics for host service and calibration.

For that, Vivian thinks she might be the worst tech in her department.

— masterlist, AO3

Chapter 1 on 12

Chapter wordcount: 2,486 Story status: Complete Rating: General Warning: people swear a lot, technobabble counts as swearing as well (believe me)…

Author’s notes: This is the first time I post a fanfic online. A real big one I mean. Not just crackfics... I’m emotional. I don’t know what the schedule will be yet because my queue is acting up, but everything should be out regularly, or something that looks like it. This first chapter is an intro to the main character and what she does, and I hope you’ll enjoy this story and its characters all the way! Also, I really want to thank @pheedraws and @something-tofightfor for their heartwarming feedback on the whole story. Thank you SO much!!

Have a good time reading, and my askbox/messages are open! 💙

— Chapter 1

Now wasn’t a good time to yawn…

And yet, Vivian had nothing else to do but wait right now, wait while the progress bars slowly filled up on her tablet screen.

Now wasn’t the time, simply because some of her colleagues were passing through the hallway, behind the glass panels of her cubicle, and among them was the head of Behavior department — incidentally, her superior.

No doubt they were all about to grab a bite at the restaurant and Vivian held back an almost envious mumble; she was starving! But before she could go eat anything, she had to finish with her last subject on her morning schedule; host ID#DH410829420391, named Mildred.

And Mildred was back at the lab on account of a negative report about her response time during interactions with other hosts but also with guests. A lag that only happened in character mode, not in analysis. So, Vivian started with refreshing her lexical base and improvisation engine. It took some time to check the entire tree but as of now, it was done.

"Can you confirm if the update’s complete?"

"Confirmed," Mildred answered right away, her voice flat and her look vacant.

"Back in character mode."

Mildred seemed to wake up and blinked once before focusing her attention back on Vivian.

"Mildred?"

"Oh, I’m sorry," she answered with a hint of a shy smile. "I must have drifted off, I believe… The working hours at the farm are ungodly sometimes!"

The response time was more than good, now. The improvisation too.

"I was wondering if there’s a lot of clients at the farm these days," Vivian asked.

The answer was not long to come.

"Certainly! Our cattle sure gives the best milk there is. No matter what the competition says!"

"How many green bottles are standing on the wall?"

Questions and procedures were always more or less the same to determine which bits of code, settings or values could cause an issue or start to glitch like crazy!

But today, for Mildred — and Vivian — everything was back in order, and each/both of them could soon return to the the usual course of their scheduled day.

It was about time for Vivian to take a break, if she was reduced to that kind of wisecrack…

A glance at her wristwatch, even while her tablet displayed a more accurate time than the watch hands, and Vivian concluded her analysis. She folded the tablet, slid it back in her jacket pocket, and left the large glass room after one last embarrassed look at Mildred she was leaving there, naked in the dark. Vivian didn’t even fight down a shiver. It was actually freezing cold in there!

She comforted herself with the thought that Mildred didn’t feel anything in this state, disconnected, and that a team wouldn’t take too long to come get her, do her hair, dress her up and put her back in rotation in no time. Barely as much as Vivian had for her lunch break… and that was just enough to go all the way up to the hub restaurant. But the bosses here didn’t care much about how long the lunch breaks lasted, as long as the work was done in time.

So, Vivian didn’t hurry to get to the elevator she shared with two co-workers who only interrupted their chitchat about hockey results for a vague greeting.

At this hour, the restaurant was a bit more crowded but it still wasn’t too hard to find a seat in the large and relatively peaceful room. The whole vibe in it was corporate though, even in that staff only room; every dish were stamped with the park logo and name — from the bottom of the plates to the salt shakers — and a flat HD screen displayed a bunch of Delos branches ads that looked much weirder without sound.

After a while, one didn’t really pay attention to all this anymore… A few months was enough to make it all part of the landscape and for the mind to simply stop noticing it.

And Vivian had been working here for three years, now.

However, she was still bothered by a few details sometimes, such as the huge white walls that spanned all the way up a balcony floor and a domed ceiling or the fact that the stalls were lit with a pale light under which the food turned to a sickly colour.

Hopefully, under the less saturated lights of the main room, the Caesar salads and the turkey-tomato sandwiches were back to a more appetizing hue.

Her tray loaded with a potato-corn salad, a big glass of water and a piece of bread, Vivian walked towards the tables, eager for her potatoes to lose their blueish glint. Just shy of the screen, she recognised a familiar face, Margaret’s, another Behavior tech from her team. Both were on friendly basis now, where it was possible to enjoy some time together and to laugh a little, even if it took them a whole year to finally break the ice.

Margaret waved at Vivian when she saw her pick her way across the room, inviting her to join them — them being Margaret, and three other guys from their department.

"Did you hear the latest, Vivian!?" she blurted. "I’ve been told that Damon Dyers is in the park, at this very moment!"

"Damon… Dyers?"

Vivian didn’t even hide her puzzlement while sitting in front of her.

"The actor," one of the three guys — Luke — pointed out. "Marge was just exposing how she’ll mooch the control room techs for a footage…"

"Listen, if you were as thirsty as I am about this guy, you’d understand!" Margaret replied.

To that, he quipped:

"My husband would be pissed!"

All chuckled in approval before returning to their almost emptied plates, while Vivian had barely touched her own.

"Can you imagine," Margaret daydreamt, leaning back in her seat as in a comfy armchair, holding her Pyrex glass like a snifter of bourbon. "Damon hunting down Escaton in the hills…"

Vivian scoffed; she could imagine, indeed.

At the table, Charles, Thawal and Luke didn’t pay any more attention to them, carrying on with their chat about retro gaming. Vivian would probably have preferred to be part of that conversation; not that she didn’t know shit about movies and their actors, but more like aside from a few exceptions on which they got along swimmingly, she didn’t have much taste in common with Margaret. But she listened to her friend anyway as she kept going after a sip of sparkling water:

"How am I not supposed to be hot on the idea!? I’ll deadass find someone to bootleg me some footages!"

Vivian smiled out of politeness, not saying much, as always. Her mouth was full anyway.

"Oh, by the way!"

Margaret took another swip of her glass before putting it down on the table and leaning towards Vivian.

"Apparently, they’re going to burden us with a whole new bunch of hosts in two or three weeks," she said, with all the serious she could muster. "I heard that from Elsie. Narrative must be trying to compensate for something, if you know what I mean…"

Vivian knew very well.

"We barely have time to light a fag between two sessions already and they plan to add another hundred on our backs!?"

She snorted disdainfully.

"Don’t know what they’re spicing their coffee with but it isn’t doing them any good."

"No shit," admitted Vivian, a bit testy at the idea. "Unless they also plan to hire? Did Lowe say anything about it?"

Margaret shrugged.

"No idea, I haven’t talked to him in a while."

She patted her blazer pockets then sighed softly; Vivian understood her attitude as relief, and a craving, even a need to light a cigarette.

"You should ask," Margaret pointed out with a smile a tad clenched in the orbicularis muscles. "You like him, right?"

Vivian approved; she admired his thoroughness, his love for details… A lot could be learned while working under his care and Vivian found him both spirited and friendly.

Margaret didn’t quite share the feeling, however; in her own words, he was giving her the heebie-jeebies.

"Anyway, I’m off," Margaret stated with an even greater impatience in her voice. "I gotta light one before the crazy afternoon waiting for me!"

She gathered her cutlery on her tray, adding:

"Not giving up on the idea to come across Damon fucking Dyers, though! At least in video recs. Wish me luck!"

Vivian nodded and Margaret put her tray away on the sideboard before hurrying to the exit.

Her colleagues had changed topics next to her, and now they were talking about cars, motorcycles and mechanics. As she didn’t know much about that topic, not as much as in computers, she listened only a little without taking part.

Then, Vivian finished wolfing down her potato salad and her glass of water; she would soon return to her shift and examine a series of hosts, the characteristics of which she overviewed on her tablet from her timetable’s folders. It was simply routine checks, and Vivian liked that kind of sessions; it was like meeting with a friend, just to catch up with them.

But for now, she would take a few minutes to get some air and natural light on top of the hub before diving back into the high tech depths of the Mesa.

At seven in the evening, closer to eight, Vivian was glad to be back to her on-site apartments. Once again, she had grabbed a snack at the restaurant but the room was much more crowded than it was at lunch and came close to a headache before reaching "home". She could have dined here, cooked something on her induction hob but she was so tired — or lazy — that, tonight again, she still choose to eat at the restaurant over having to do the dishes!

Now, she was getting out of the shower in her bathrobe and throw herself on her bed.

Living like this, it was like being a teenager all over again, back at her parents’, or at the dorm… but once she closed her apartment’s door, Vivian was totally free to do whatever she wanted. As long as it didn’t involve wrecking the place!

But now, even if she wanted to, Vivian wouldn’t have had the strength to break any chair, nor even to make a mess of the bed… About that, she was actually planning on laying there, and falling asleep in her bathrobe while watching a movie or reading any book she had available on her personal tablet. A tablet that was nothing close to the one she was using every day in the Behavior department labs, but a tablet anyway.

She swiped the covers without any real interest; in all honesty, she was feeling too tired to read. Even something she had already read. And she cringed a little when the minimalistic cover with her automatically signed name appeared.

Yeah, even too tired to read her own words!

Besides, it wasn’t great literature at all — a fanfiction. Two, to be precise. Both about the hosts and their narratives as she could have written about a movie, book, or video game’s characters.

Vivian grumbled, letting her tablet fall flat on her stomach, and she stared at the white ceiling before closing her eyes while nibbling her lips. She had written this almost six months after she started working here, taken over by all the motivation, excitement and creativity around her!

She refocused on herself since but, in the meantime, she wrote these. And even though Vivian considered herself to have a fertile imagination, she still commended herself about how better for everyone it was she hadn’t applied for a job in Narrative…

Rising her tablet up again and tapping on the lit screen, she entered the file and skimmed through it, trying to ignore the grammar mistakes she stopped committing since; and mistakes aside, her stories had nothing exceptional, totally influenced as they were by her mood and the not-so-new-but-still-trendy storyline — Escaton’s and his bandits, essentially…

Over a very short time, when Vivian was still more or less trying to fit into the life of the facility and social circles of her co-workers whose names had yet to be caught, she had heard so many comments, appreciations and reviews for this narrative that she looked into it first.

After all, the park afforded Lee Sizemore, renowned author who made a big name for himself with a "hot and grimy" historical saga, a few years back before running out of puff under his editor’s pressure. And a juicy offer by a video game studio to adapt it.

She understood; everybody, whether staff or guests, was more or less hyped by the brute force brought by Hector Escaton — virile and dark male figure — to the relative tranquility of the park’s starting point.

And Vivian had been no exception.

If her first story was only about made-up characters to explore the pleasing and well rounded context of Sweetwater, her second, on the other hand, was more audacious, altering shamelessly the story from what its authors had surely intended; victorious over the town after killing the sheriff and all opposition, Escaton and his gang enjoyed their plunder at the Mariposa where Hector fell for one of the saloon girls.

That being said, Vivian remained very proper — maybe totally prudish — in these sort of narrative fantasies of hers; nothing turned freaky or utterly violent…

All she did was throwing a few sentences on her writing app for some evenings, when inspiration struck or simply because she urged herself to follow through with what she started. All on her personal tablet. She knew better than to write that on anything system-tethered. Imagining that a bored somebody could just hack into the system all the way up to her personal data… and end up on that giddy nonsense, made her wants to puke!

Not to mention that it might also be forbidden. Even though she never planned to, she knew she couldn’t share it with anyone, nor anywhere. Not as a park employee. If the guests were writing critiques and other reviews online about their stay, herself couldn’t talk about it from the inside. Confidentiality and shit…

Her texts would remain secret, and her silly fantasies with them. In any case, it wasn’t as if she intended to try anything for herself, and even less with Hector Escaton, all the more since he wasn’t even part of the batch her team had in charge. And also, rumor has it that fantasies aren’t always good when act upon!

With a lazy tap, Vivian quitted the reading app and dropped the tablet on her sheets before burying her face in her soft pillow. She let out a deep sigh in it, relaxed, and in fact, she fell asleep almost right away.

#ocs #oc:vivian #my writing #fic:improvisation only #westworld fanfic #full diagnostic series #westworld fic #westworld

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argylemnwrites · 4 years

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Fight or Flight - Chapter 7: Resignation

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Heir (canon divergent from the end of book 2)

Word Count: ~4200

Rating: R (language only)

Summary: Thirty hours since The Walker Absconding

Author’s Note: What day of the week is it even? Oh well, here’s a chapter, hahaha. This series follows the Walkers, their friends, and Cordonia as a whole after they flee the country with their daughter during Barthelemy Beaumont’s attempted coup. To catch up on this series, check out it’s masterlist. (link can be found via my bio - sorry, Tumblr is once again not putting my posts with links in tag searches)

“My fellow Cordonians, it is with a heavy heart that I speak to you today.”

His words echoed in his mind, over and over again, his speech something that was likely to stay burned into his mind for the rest of his life. After all, he couldn’t predict anything quite as memorable as having to announce his loss of title to his citizens and the world at large happening to him at any point in the future.

“I never anticipated having to bring this news to you, but even though I am no longer King of Cordonia, I have no intention of yielding the power of the crown to anyone who I feel is a threat to the safety and prosperity of this country.”

Stefan was following the media coverage of his speech that he gave this evening that provided an overview of the day’s events, including his removal from the throne, Bridget’s ascension to queen-regent until the Conclave, and his intention to name a regent for her tomorrow. Liam knew he personally should be watching to see how people were responding, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do so. His emotions were frayed, raw, and strung out. It felt like everything was spiraling out of control. He hadn’t felt like this in a very long time. Not since Father died, in all honesty.

The weeks surrounding his father’s death were sort of covered in a surreal blur whenever he reflected back on them. Not only had his relationship with Father been more complicated and fraught than it had ever been before at the time of his passing, making his loss a thorny storm of emotions, but he’d barely even had time to mourn in any capacity. His country had been in the midst of an active terrorist threat, plus he’d been processing true heartbreak for the first time in his life. He had somehow gotten through those days, those emotions, those struggles though. He knew he would get through everything happening now as well, but at the moment, that seemed like an impossible task.

“I know that this is an unprecedented combination of events, comparable to nothing that has occurred in hundreds of years of Cordonian history. But I have seen the strength and resilience of our citizens first-hand, and I am confident that we will emerge from this Social Season stronger than ever.”

As far as next steps went, naming Rashad as Bridget’s regent was really his only option. Thankfully, in spite of the man’s ambivalence when it came to his noble title, he’d agreed to fill the role and was coming to the hearing in the morning to allow for a rapid transfer of power. He was one of the only truly neutral parties available who was appropriately titled and qualified. Liam had brought Hana with him to broach the topic with Rashad, but her gentle powers of persuasion proved unnecessary. The only point at which the conversation was anything but pleasant and agreeable was when Rashad wanted to schedule a meeting with Riley and Drake to discuss how best to handle legal and physical custody of Bridget in ways that would be in accordance with the results of the no-confidence vote, but Liam had been easily able to convince him to table that topic until he was sworn in as regent.

“No matter my title or role, know that I will always serve the citizens of Cordonia in whatever way they require.”

He half-heartedly pulled more documents from his desk drawers, trying to focus on the task at hand. He needed to determine which pieces of information were private, and should come with him to Lythikos, versus those that he needed to leave behind as essential information to allow Cordonia’s next leader to govern. In all honesty, he probably should be creating a sort of quick-guide, a makeshift introductory pamphlet with the most important pieces of information required to lead the country to ease the transition of power. However, another part of him felt like that would be a mistake. Maybe he should allow things to be rough initially, giving the people a chance to miss his leadership. It’s not like Rashad was completely incompetent, so it shouldn’t cause a dangerous power vacuum if he just left Rashad without any formal instructions. And, after all, didn’t a no-confidence vote indicate he shouldn’t be attempting to wield any power at the moment? If this was the wish of the majority of the major houses, maybe he should just let their little scheme play out and backfire on them in spectacular fashion. But was it fair to subject the common citizens to engage in such a game of political chicken?

A wave of loneliness and isolation washed over him as he weighed his options. This dilemma was just one of many he was facing at the moment that he wished he could discuss with Drake. Over the years, Drake had, more often than not, served as his sounding board, devil’s advocate, and unofficial advisor. The countless instances they’d sat in this office at the end of the day, sipping whiskey while Liam solidified his stances and bounced ideas off of Drake had helped him prepare to face political opponents, foreign negotiators, and skeptical members of the press time and time over. Now, he had to make decisions on his own, without his most trusted friend and ally.

For perhaps the tenth time that evening, he pulled the slip of paper Hana had given him out of his pocket and stared at Drake and Riley’s phone numbers. He could call Drake to talk, he supposed. But he was struggling to work up the courage to do so. He couldn’t just pretend nothing had changed and ask Drake to listen as he worked through his thought process. Drake had different priorities now. That much was wildly apparent.

There was also the small matter of the fact that Liam knew he would need to hide some of his thoughts and feelings from Drake at the moment. He’d done it before, back during Drake and Riley’s engagement, but part of doing so involved keeping his distance from Drake at that time. Drake just knew him better than anyone and could more easily read through his diplomatic mask. It was really only in the past six months or so that it seemed things had fully returned to normal, Drake’s marriage to Riley no longer a point of awkwardness between them. Now, for Drake to flee in the middle of a coup, it felt like the foundation of their friendship was being torn apart yet again.

A few sharp taps on the door interrupted his thoughts. A second later, the door swung open, revealing Olivia with a bottle of wine in her hand.

“I thought you might want some company,” she said as she strode across the room, grabbing two wine glasses off the bar cart before flouncing into the seat across from him. “I won’t even make you switch seats with me, even though the monarch’s desk should technically be mine tonight.”

Liam forced a smile as she sat down and moved to uncork the wine, noticing the vintage of the bottle for the first time.

“Olivia, that bottle is worth over ten thousand Euros.”

She grinned at him as she poured them both a glass. “Exactly. This fine wine was procured by a member of the Rys family, and therefore if anyone deserves to drink it, it’s you.” With that she handed Liam a glass and picked up her own. Liam could only shake his head lightly before tapping his glass against hers gently.

“To the end of Rys rule in Cordonia,” he said with a little shrug before taking a sip. He saw Olivia raise her eyebrows over her own glass.

“Liam…” she started as she set down her glass on the desk.

“It’s nothing, just a bad joke,” Liam lied, waving his hand through the air. “Would you mind terribly if I asked you which documents you think are the most important ones to leave for Rashad?” he asked as he placed a stack of paperwork on the desk between them, trying to divert the conversation.

His question was met with silence, so Liam glanced up from the documents. Olivia was staring at him intently, and she took another sip of her wine before she responded.

“I can certainly help with that, but Liam… are you… shit, I don’t know what to say. This fucking sucks, doesn’t it?”

He let out a little snort at that. “Indeed, it does.”

“I can’t believe those assholes are trying to pull this bullshit. Like fucking Barthelemy would make a better king than you. You’ve given up everything for this country.”

“It feels that way sometimes. I was happy to do so for so long, too. I always knew that leading Cordonia was an honor, and after my brother’s abdication, I never resented needing to prove to my people that I would be a worthy king. But now…” he trailed off, unable to vocalize the rest of that thought. After everything he’d done to be a good king, a better king than his paranoid, ruthless father ever was, and this was how the universe chose to repay him.

The tense silence hung in the office for a few moments before Olivia spoke again. “Speaking of your brother, I hope you don’t mind, but I gave Leo a call and told him what was happening. I figured this isn’t the sort of thing he should hear about on the news. I think he’s flying back. He seemed pretty upset over the whole thing.”

Liam just hummed at that. He loved his brother, but he wasn’t sure if the man who willingly chose to shed his title of Crown Prince would be able to sympathize with his personal pain of having his title stripped from him. Maybe he could help provide some nice distractions, though. Leo was always good for that.

“Thank you,” Liam finally said with a nod, “I planned to call him tomorrow.”

“No problem. I just figured you and Drake might have… a lot to discuss.”

Liam gave a weak smile and shook his head. “I actually haven’t spoken to him yet.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly at his comment. “Well, that needs to be addressed.”

He frowned, taking another sip of the admittedly very excellent wine before he responded. “Quite frankly, Liv, I don’t know that I want to discuss my reasons for not calling him with you. At least not tonight.”

“Tough shit. You have no reason not to call him anymore. And seeing as he’s been your… confidante,” she said, clearly taking a moment to decide how to describe their relationship, “for decades, it strikes me as pretty concerning that you didn’t rush to call him at the first chance you got.”

Liam sighed heavily. He didn’t really want to get into this all, but she was clearly not going to let him brush this off. “I don’t know what to say to him. He left, and I just…” Liam trailed off, unable to fully vocalize the pain he felt in regards to Drake’s actions.

Olivia pursed her lips for just a moment, her bright red nails tapping rapidly against the stem of her wine glass. “I can’t figure out if you are attempting to punish him or protect him here.”

Her response caught him off guard. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you clearly are all sorts of angry and frustrated with him at the moment. I just can’t tell if you think that’s justified, and this is some sort of passive aggressive punishment, or if you realize you aren’t being fair, and you don’t want to make him feel any guiltier.”

“Are you saying that my irritation with him isn’t justified?”

“Irritation would be fine. But I don’t believe for one second that you would avoid talking to Drake if you were merely irritated with him.”

Liam was expecting some sort of sly comment about how surely talking to Drake was always irritating, but it didn’t come. Instead, Olivia continued on, serious and solemn.

“You must be insanely upset with him if you haven’t given him a call, and I’m going to be honest, that scares me. I’m backing you at the Conclave, Liam, and I intend to throw the Nevrakis name behind a winner. So that means you need to be emotionally ready for this fight over the next couple of months. I can’t have you caught up in some petty bullshit with Drake fucking Walker.”

Her statement was a surprising one. “I would have thought you would have been the one person who might understand my rather complicated point of view on this subject.”

She shook her head. “Drake and I may not see eye to eye on… a lot of things, actually, but I still think you are being absurd here.”

“This critique strikes me as slightly hypocritical, as I am having a hard time picturing you not being at least fairly angry with the mess they have created here. A mess that could have been avoided if they’d stuck to your plan, I might add.”

“Of course I’m angry with them! They put almost zero thought into this, and I’ve been scrambling for more than a day straight to try and prevent this all from spiraling into total disaster. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand why they did it. This was all in service of keeping their family together, Liam. You have to know that.”

He did understand that intellectually, but somehow her assessment just didn’t sit right with him. “Yes, Olivia. I can comprehend that their motivations are the safety and security of their daughter, but what I cannot bring myself to do is approve of their decision to commit treason and abandon the citizens of Valtoria they took an oath to serve.”

Olivia took a long sip of her wine before she replied, “Do you want me to pretend that I believe your last statement there, or do you want someone besides Drake to call you on your bullshit? I can do either, you just need to tell me what you want.”

“Of course I want you to be honest with me, Olivia,” he said, completely baffled by her assertion.

She just raised her eyebrows and stared at him, giving him one last chance to ask her to lie, apparently. All he could do was raise his eyebrows right back and take a drink from his own glass, almost daring her to do her worst.

“You aren’t pissed that they are shitty nobles who just abandoned their posts without a second thought. You are pissed that Drake isn’t here to serve as your emotional support.”

Liam opened his mouth to retort, but Olivia shook her head and just kept going.

“It’s understandable, really. He’s been the one you could always turn to, and now it feels like you can’t rely on him at a time when you really fucking need that kind of support. But you need to at least recognize that personal pain as the source of your anger here and not hide behind indignation over the way Drake and Riley fulfill their roles as duke and duchess.

“Those two have always been shitty members of the nobility, and you have never had an issue with it up until this point. In fact, you seemed to tacitly approve of their antics as you granted them power that other dukes and duchesses could only dream of.”

Liam frowned, the blood pounding in his ears as he tried not to let Olivia’s words anger him. “What do you mean?” he breathed out, focusing on not letting this situation escalate. A defensive Olivia was the last thing he was mentally and emotionally equipped to handle tonight.

“Liam, you essentially handed them the reins when it came to the Auvernal negotiations.”

“Those negotiations all centered around their child. It felt wrong to not grant them a certain amount of control given the circumstances.”

She tilted her head back and forth for just a moment. “Sure, I get that. And I’m really not trying to make you defend your decisions here regarding that whole mess. But you have to admit that Drake and Riley have kind of always just done whatever the hell they wanted, and until today, you never had anything to say about it.”

Her assessment echoed through the room as Liam leaned back in his chair, taking another sip of wine. He didn’t want to think he was being solely motivated by his emotions here. He’d worked for years and years, since he was a young boy, to ensure that he kept any feelings in check, guarded and secured for private moments. But Olivia did have a point - Drake and Riley bucking tradition and proper conduct for members of the nobility had never really bothered him before.

“Liam, I’m not trying to kick you while you’re already hurting. It’s probably natural to feel hurt by Drake’s decision here. I just think you will be able to move past this a little easier if you are honest about why his actions bother you.”

Liam glanced across the desk, meeting Olivia’s gaze. “I sometimes just…” but he couldn’t complete his thought. To vocalize that he just wanted the most important person in his life to care about him on a personal level above all others would be immature and selfish. Drake had a wife and child to think about. Of course they warranted more of his consideration than Liam did. But it was just one more thing he lost in the past day or so, that one person around whom he didn’t need to censor himself, the only individual who gave him honesty without question of motive.

Olivia reached across the desk and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Like I said, being upset is pretty natural here. If it makes you feel any better, I wanted to reach through my phone and stab them both in the gut when Drake told me they had no intention of returning, even if it meant treason charges.”

Liam let out a little chuckle. “How are you so… calm about this now?” Using that word to describe Olivia in any situation felt out of character, but there was literally no other way to describe her at the moment. She looked at ease, sipping thousands of Euros of wine like it was nothing.

“I’m not sure if ‘calm’ is the right word; it’s more like I’m… resigned, I guess. They are both stubborn as hell, and they made this choice because they thought it was best for their kid. Even I can’t fight that.”

“I just wish they would have gone to Lythikos. Then we could be fighting this from all angles together.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? That was your whole plan, and it still seems better thought out than their fugitive act.”

“From our perspective, sure. But we are worried about Cordonia as a whole. They are just worried about keeping their daughter. And given that Rashad already brought up wanting to meet with them to discuss custody, it seems like they were at least a little bit justified in their concerns.”

Liam frowned. Hana must have filled in Olivia of the details of their conversation with Rashad. Liam had gotten the impression that Rashad wanted to find a way to keep Drake and Riley as active participants in Bridget’s life based on the way he requested that meeting, not tear them apart from their child. “Do you really think Rashad has any interest in keeping them from their daughter?”

“No, not exactly. But I also think that coming to live at the palace as Bridget’s nannies or guardians or whatever Rashad plans to throw out there as a way to obey the letter of the law when it comes to the no-confidence vote is a far cry from being recognized as her parents fully. At the end of the day, I just think they aren’t willing to compromise on any aspect when it comes to being a family.” Olivia pursed her lips and glanced into her lap before she continued, “It kind of makes me wish my own parents would have felt that way.”

Her confession was so vulnerable, so honest, it nearly took his breath away. When they were younger, Olivia had sometimes talked about her fears, her pain, her neglect, and Liam had always been willing to lend an ear and supportive shoulder for her to lean on. But as the years marched on, those conversations had dwindled and eventually ceased. Olivia became more defensive, not allowing herself to be perceived as weak by anyone. And in some regards, she thrived. But clearly, that pain from her childhood was still a part of her.

Liam could identify with her in some respects. Father had always devoted more time and energy to Leo. After all, not only had he been the Crown Prince, but he acted out more, drawing more attention nearly every step of the way. But that had largely left Liam to spend time with Mother, who always tried to balance his formal lessons with genuine warmth and affection. And even though she’d been killed and taken from him when he was still quite young, he at least had her guidance and devotion for a while. That was more than Olivia could say about her parents.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Mother might have made the same choice as Drake and Riley, had she been placed in that position. He didn’t recognize it as a child, but looking back on her words now, he saw her concerns, her worries, and her desire to keep him safe. Did she regret her station? Regret raising her son in such an environment? Or did the fact that he’d never known her as an adult mean that he just saw her actions through the rose-tinted glasses of a child?

“Bridget is lucky in that respect,” Liam eventually said, reaching across the desk and refilling both of their wine glasses. “I suppose that’s why royal lineage tends to be emphasized and protected for generation after generation. It’s the only way to battle that instinctual urge to protect one’s children and instead force them to carry massive responsibilities.”

Olivia shook her head. “Or generations of people who strike up primarily political marriages just eliminates all love and empathy from the gene pool.”

“What would you have done, if you were in their position?” Liam asked before taking another sip of wine. The more he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what he would have done if it was his own child. All the options that worked their way into his mind seemed terrible.

Olivia paused to take a drink as well, her free hand tapping a rapid pattern against the surface of the desk. “I don’t know. I’d like to think I would be able to plot things out rationally, but I might have violently lashed out. I don’t think I would have run, but that’s just never been my style. But I don’t know exactly how it would unfold.”

“It’s hard to imagine, acting on that gut emotional response, isn’t it? All our lives, we’ve been taught to negotiate, to employ diplomatic tactics, to foster alliances to protect our titles.”

“You might have been taught that,” interjected Olivia, “but I was taught to fight to protect the family name to the death,”

“Touché,” said Liam, a real smile forming for the first time that day, “but I think my point remains. I don’t think I could let my child be taken by another, but at the same time, it’s as if I cannot imagine myself being guided by my emotions, even if it would make sense to do so.”

“You would protect your kid, Liam. You would figure it out if you were put in that spot.”

“I hope so. I think you would as well, and with minimal bloodshed, I believe.”

She laughed at that, dropping her head back, causing a few strands of red hair to fall loose around her face. “Well, let’s just be grateful we don’t have to find out the truth of that assessment, but it’s getting late, and we still have a lot to do before we need to vacate the palace in the morning. Do you want some privacy to talk to Drake? I can sort through those-” she said, gesturing to the stack of papers left between them on the desk “-while you give him a call.”

He nodded slowly. “Yes. I still don’t know what I’m going to say to him, but…”

“You’ll figure it out,” she said with a shrug, gathering the papers in one arm. “Just meet me in my quarters when you guys are done.”

Liam gave her a little smile as she left his office, pulling out the paper from Hana and staring at it for a few seconds before pulling out his new, prepaid cell phone and calling the number on the top of the page. It was time to talk to Drake.

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#drake walker #drake x mc #trr au #trh au #trr fanfic #trh fanfic #trr au fanfic #trh au fanfic #king liam #olivia nevrakis #choices fanfiction

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