#Linzi Writes
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A Hundred Years - A One-Shot [Aliens AU]
Author’s Note: So, this one is for my fellow Bishop Girlies!
@mandy23b - Happy 4th Friend-Versay! (You’re for sure stuck with me now!)
@sufferthesea because 1) Happy (belated) Birthday! and 2) because it was your lyric choice and so I had to make it Bishop, obviously! I thought you’d enjoy 😉
Love you both TONS! 💙
Amanda, I know OC fic isn’t your preference, but, I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Please note there are some weird AF paragraph gaps in this that I just can’t get to work nicely... so I apologise in advance 🙏
Warnings: Some swearing / Depressive spiraling / sex reference and innuendo / He might be *slightly* OOC... please judge this for yourself, I tried my best!
Premise: From this fun little request post.
There’s engineering work to do, and Rex is spiraling. Despite Bishop’s valiant attempts to stop this from happening, it seems more like a delay. Sure, it started off as a joke - but now she’s really thinking on the fact that for the next 100 years he can upgrade himself and she... can’t. Not without drastic medical advancement. Sometimes it’s not about living for the future, but in the moment...
Words: 6965
--- Lyric Chosen ---
“A hundred years wouldn't be long enough” ~ Mean It This Time, Carly Pearce
---
It started, as it always did, with a game of chess. Although, by this point in their down time, the game had been practically forgotten in favour of general chat and gossip. The pieces used more as something to occupy hands – with the rules of the game being broken left, right and centre, as they were moved across the board with no particular destination.
Travelling between planets on shorter journeys meant no need for Cryo, but right now Hicks would be glad of it, because he was bored out of his mind. So bored that really he lacked the concentration for a serious game of chess – and his feigned attempts at trying had quickly made Rex lose interest in playing any better. She had been the one to initially distract him with small talk and now the board was an absolute mess.
Though, being stuck together on a ship – and being close friends – meant really there was little to talk about beyond rumour and speculation. Or whatever bets the other crew members had going on this week.
Hicks sank all the way down to the table, head resting on his crossed arms.
She raised her eyebrows at him, “You know at this point you might as well go back to bed, huh?”
“Ah, would that I could Rex… you know the second I do, something will actually happen.”
“Well at least it will be worth it for the rest of us!” She tipped the rook she was messing with a little too far and it clattered off the board and rolled across the table, Hicks stretched his palm out to stop it, but even this was half hearted.
“This is the most down down time ever.”
“Then go find someone to mess around with.”
“You’re the most fun to mess around with – suggesting chess was a screw up on my part.”
Rexanna leant on her knuckles, eyebrow quirked. She tipped her head, and as she did so loose curls of dark hair fell into her face; regretting her change of position, she blew them out of the way. Maybe she should have tied it back today. “I noticed. And to think I could have kept going for an easy victory!” She looked back to the board – no point now with the state it was in. If they wanted to keep playing, they’d have to reset the whole thing. “But I’ll take the compliment that I think that was.”
Hicks raised his head, but not by much, “It’s official, I’ve never been this bored in my life.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realise you turned into Hudson on this trip-!” Rex folded her arms, looking away from him nonchalantly. That soon got her best friend sitting up.
“You did not.”
“Didn’t what?”
“I KNOW I didn’t hear you say that-!”
She grinned, “Well, if you’re gonna complain I don’t know what you expect me to say!”
He leaned across the table, “You are SO lucky I like you!”
“Or what?” Rex couldn’t help grin wider, teasing, before he smacked both her shoulders, “OW! Geez, Hicks, you’re a lot bigger than me!” She tried to lunge back across the table, but he had leaned out of reach. Now they were both laughing, and though she was rubbing her right shoulder, Rex wasn’t actually hurting.
“Hey, you could always do work!” She suggested; that was always the easiest way to increase any kind of productivity, and on a ship this big, there was always something to do.
“Uh, no thank you.” He waved that one away – seeming to suggest that in honesty, the only reason he was sitting across from her now was to avoid working. Fair enough.
Hicks swung his right leg up onto the bench beside him, now apparently interested in his combat boots, “Never known you to throw a game of chess.”
Her eyes flicked back to the pieces in annoyance, “I didn’t, but you weren’t really taking it seriously so there was no point. There’s nothing in an easy victory.”
Hicks was right though; it was her favourite game. From the “CHQ MVIII” on her armour, which had now also been transferred to a tattoo just below her right collarbone, always obscured by her blue flight suit. (Which she’d now become partial to wearing when not in combat, for both comfort and the practicality of ad hoc engineering around the ship. Not to get too ‘matchy-matchy’ with her significant other!) To the chess piece around her neck… it was pretty much how her whole relationship had started…
“I dunno, I figure distracting you once or twice has given me easy victories.”
Rex’s eyes narrowed, “And you think I’ve forgiven you for that!?!”
“Well if I can beat you then I figure you’re not really the best on the ship.”
This time instead of leaning across to hit him, Rexanna grabbed the piece nearest to her and threw it at him, “Shut up!”
Hicks merely laughed, “Have any of the newbies beaten you yet?”
“No!” She was clearly falling for his teasing at the way her voice was pitching - damn him!
“I better teach ‘em that all you gotta do is mention-”
“And how is that gonna work now, jackass!” She picked up another piece, “Don’t make me throw another at you!”
His laugh turned into a full-blown cackle before he calmed a little – smile still mischievous as he looked to her. “Frost, Spunkmeyer and Wierzbowski still got that stupid bet on how long it’s going to take anyone to figure out your relationship?”
“I still think they should have had bets on the newbies thinking it’s us, but that’s just me.” Rex gave a shrug, “I think so. It’s not out there… it’s not hidden. It just is. Some of them know, I’m surprised they haven’t told the others… unless they’re getting hush money!”
Hicks picked up one of his bishops and studied it with interest, “They do seem to keep thinking we’re a thing.”
“You’re not exactly pointing out that you have a girlfriend, are you.”
“Well I think I’d much rather be out in space with her than you, but that’s just me.”
Rex folded her arms, squinting and mouth open, but didn’t even rise to it, “You wouldn’t be out here without me Hicks and you know it.”
“Utterly lost!” He grinned and put the piece back down. Before his smile faded a little as he looked curiously behind her, “Ooop! Your man is here to pick you up.”
Rex twisted around in her seat, and sure enough now standing in the doorway of the mess hall was Bishop. She tried not to immediately beam about it – but knew this only meant one thing.
Mother had picked up a few knocks here and there with some of the ship’s internals and although not serious, they needed fixing. Rex had been putting it off until they had enough down time and no other work to do… apparently that time had come.
She offered a wave, before indicating that she’d be two minutes. He nodded politely, before she turned back to Hicks.
“Yeah, guess I now have work to do!”
“Aw man, you jinxed it!” Her best friend appeared momentarily sympathetic before his eyes narrowed, “Work? With Bishop? C’mon Rex, where are you really going? I know it ain’t work!”
“Do you want a functioning ship or not? We’ve been putting this fix off for weeks!”
“Yeah, uh huh, sure!” Hicks raised his eyebrows at her to indicate he believed otherwise, “Have fun getting your fix.”
Rex hated that she could feel her cheeks heating, “Screw you!”
“Sounds like that’s what’s gonna happen to you, honey.”
“If I wasn’t so scared for my life of what Ripley would do to me once we got back, I’d kill you.”
Hicks grinned a little wider, “That’s my girl! Also, if we’re being honest, as you can’t survive without me, you’d be throwing yourself out an airlock far before that.”
Point noted – but Rexanna wouldn’t say it out loud.
She pulled her feet out from under the bench and made a motion to stand, but Hicks was intent on keeping her there as long as possible – now studying more chess pieces.
“Hey, didn’t you play against his creator, once?” She was glad for a moment she hadn’t mentally checked out of the conversation already, or she might have taken a while to pick up the train of thought going on here. Hicks was referring to Bishop’s designer and the lead engineer on the 341-B project.
“Michael? Yeaaah, what about it?”
“Didn’t you win?” Rex wondered if he was being facetious.
“No.”
“No?!” Hicks genuinely looked surprised when he looked up, “I thought you got what you wanted?”
“I did get what I played him for…” essentially the agreement that once Bishop became an ‘obsolete’ model in Wey-Yu’s eyes, and especially in the eyes of their USCM missions, instead of being deactivated he would become completely Rex’s responsibility. She expected Android law to have progressed by then, but, until such a time, if this protected him it was the least she could do. “…I didn’t win.”
“Fair enough. I won’t bring up any more of your losses, I was trying to big you up.”
Rex scoffed, “Against a multiple time world chess champion? Try again – remind me of all the times I beat Hudson,” she leaned in, giving her hands purchase to push herself back and away from the table, “or you!”
Hicks laughed again, “No chance!”
Rex stepped back a few paces, grinning at her best friend, “Alright, I gotta go – enjoy your single life on the ship, Hicks!”
“Yeah well, at least I don’t have to hide away any time I want some action and pretend I’m working-!”
This time Rexanna laughed, winking at him before turning, “You’re just jealous!” She held a hand up in a wave goodbye, “See ya!”
Bishop was leaning against the wall outside as she rounded the corner; amused by her friends jabs as much as anything else. She’d get him back later.
“Rexanna…”
“Sorry-! To be honest I’m not sure if that conversation was worth finishing. But I’m good now… this is about the fix we’ve been putting off right?”
“Yes.” He regarded her steadily, “This is… about work.”
Catching on, she flicked her eyes back in the direction she’d come from, “Y- Yes, I know.”
“Didn’t seem that’s what you and Hicks were talking about.”
She very nearly snorted, “I think he was joking with me, but that isn’t what I was expecting anyway. I knew this had to be done… down time comes after, that’s okay with me!” She beamed, walking in step with him, offering a wink that was only met with a look of mild disapproval.
***
They were so close as they walked towards the source of the issue that they found hands and arms almost constantly brushing – pretty soon causing their fingers to entwine. They didn’t let go at any point after that, including as they had to descend several flights of stairs – instead Bishop would walk first in order to keep her steady. Like a gentleman (as he so often was).
Sometimes he made Rex wonder why anyone would rather be with a human male – honestly just one mission with any of the guys she’d been posted with would likely put you off for life. Except maybe Hicks – but of course she’d make that exception for her best friend.
Even when they came across others in corridors the connection between them was never severed, even if it meant side stepping or doing some more awkward single file walking.
They’d been together a while by now, but any situation like this always made something spark within Rexanna – she never knew if it was excitement or dread, but it was definitely anticipation of what would happen. What would their reaction be; what would his reaction be. So often before she’d unconsciously worried that he would drop her hand at the slightest sign of conflict or disapproval. Which took to Rex holding him just that little bit tighter every time they came to that impasse. Bishop picked this up so quickly that at this point the only way Rex was going to make him let go was if she dropped his hand first.
On the ship where most people knew, she was much more relaxed about it; and with any of the first-time fliers, Rex was ranked high enough that staring them down would get them to drop any look of uncertainty.
Eventually she realised they had got this far without much conversation. Normally that would have been fine; they both knew exactly the issue to fix here and silence was always comfortable between them. In all honesty when she had to spend the majority of her day giving orders to the other engineers or fighting her way through marine banter, returning to a comfortable silence with Bishop was heaven. Everything else was simply exhausting. They didn’t really need words to know how each other was feeling.
He could simply hold his arms out for her and that would be enough.
Yet, Rexanna hadn’t seen him all morning – and right now it was like she was neglecting to ask about his day.
She turned, “Hey, I thought you’d come and collect me earlier. You weren’t around when I woke up, but considering I had no other work to do, I thought you might leave me a note or something to meet you down here…!”
“Oh.” Bishop smiled, “No, I had to run some diagnostics. Still got a few to finish later, you can help, if you like?”
“On yourself? Sure… You okay?”
“I’m fine – it’s just routine.” He gave a shrug, “Then I thought we ought to be getting on with this before it got too late.”
Rex could agree with that, “Routine? You sure?” Ever since she’d found those weird lines of three-laws-defying code in him that he kept rewriting, she had to admit there was a certain level of paranoia that Wey-Yu would find some way of wiping them out of him.
“Well…”
She didn’t like the pause, this time stopping their walk to actively stare at him. She loosened her fingers from Bishop’s – as if to emphasise the importance of his next answer.
“…It’s just upgrades, Ree, you don’t need to worry. I promise. But there are some data chip changes I need to do.” His voice was so gentle with that particular use of her name that she believed him instantly.
But she had other issues, chewing her lip momentarily and looking away from the weight of his own stare. Even now sometimes she couldn’t hold those eyes of his. Truth was, she might have got his promise – might even have been given a written contract with a signature… but she didn’t trust Michael and the company one bit. What annoyed Rex most was she didn’t have a choice.
Instead, she made something more like a joke of the situation, continuing their walk.
“In 100 years I'll be nothing but dust, and you'll still be walking around upgrading yourself!”
Bishop’s response was to chuckle, and she smiled just to hear him laugh, “You don't know that! There could be many medical advancements between now and then.”
Funnily enough he said it with every ounce of seriousness, so it was Rexanna’s turn to laugh, “Well they better hurry the hell up or I'll be too old! By that point they better put my brain in an android!”
She didn’t know if she were joking or not, but Bishop looked across to her, then looked away with a little smile. “That... would be agreeable.”
Rex shook her head, before nudging him playfully with her shoulder; “Yeah, I bet!” She was smiling, and her joke was meant to be throw away… then suddenly she found herself really thinking on it. Her smile faded.
Not due to unhappiness but curiosity – every now and then this was something Rex would think on. There were a lot of things she couldn’t give Bishop that an android partner could. They would be able to understand a lot of mechanical grievances; and that never ending fight for better rights. He was an Equal Opportunity Advisor for the USCM after all. Rex could live her life blissfully and never come into contact with any of that. She tried to be an active ally, for obvious reasons – but did she really give him the support he wanted… or needed?
She couldn’t help but voice it: “Would you… like that?”
“Like what?” She got the feeling Bishop knew, but wanted her to voice the question anyway.
“If I was in an androids’ body instead of mine?” If it was still her just less flesh and bone and more circuit boards and circulation fluid. “I mean would that even be the same to you?”
Bishop suddenly frowned so hard that Rexanna thought he might have malfunctioned – this time she held his stare just because of how disbelieving it was; and she was starting to feel like she’d asked something wrong. Her lips parted to say something, anything at this point that would get that look off his face. Bishop spoke first.
“No.”
There was a hanging silence again, Rex blinked. “S-Sorry, to which part?”
“All of it. Why would I want that?”
“Well, like I say… my life is so finite. As long as you have a way to keep upgrading… I’ll be long gone by the time anything happens to you. If I was an android I could… be around for so much longer.”
He stepped a little closer to her, “Rex.”
It was too late; she was spiralling, “I don’t know, maybe that’d be better for you. My life won’t be long enough for either of us – even with the wonders of tech, and you’ll outlive me for so long!” Would he be able to go on without her? Did Rex really want the answer to that question?
“Rexanna. Ree. Don’t do that. Stop.”
He took her hands back in his, but, as she kept talking Bishop moved his hands to her arms, pulling her closer before placing his forehead gently to hers.
“Hey.”
Silence again, except she could hear the pounding of her heart inside her head. Brown eyes wide as they looked between his.
“You wouldn’t be you. I wouldn’t trade you for anything.” Snaking his left hand down her right arm he traced Rex’s tattoo – a swirl of stars and nebulae - before interlinking their fingers, “You don’t think the reason you are so complex and so… human is part of the reason I fell for you?”
She wasn’t really one for blushing, but Rex knew she was getting hot – and he was giving her very little room. Even now Bishop still had troubles with personal space. If Rex backed up, she knew she was about to hit the steel wall of the ship. She tried to look anywhere but his eyes, searching for something to say and stammering.
What exactly was she supposed to say to that. In reality, Bishop wasn’t expecting her to return the favour. And she noticed that his right hand was now clasped around her other wrist, fingers pressing against her pulse point – as if to really hammer what he was saying home.
Duly noted.
Though he’d have to remind her, again and again and again…
To break what for her was fast becoming too awkward of a pause, Rex deflected with humour, as her group of marines so often did.
“Aw man, and here I thought it was for my stellar good looks!” She made sure her grin was extra cheesy.
Bishop’s laugh was almost painful, but his look softened. “Well… perhaps a little of that too.”
At least she was giggling and not spiralling; he could cope with that – as apparently this was so funny to her, she ended up collapsing into his shoulder, hiding her face in his flight suit. Or, perhaps Rex was hiding for different reasons…
He watched her for a moment, shaking his head, before taking a deep – and unnecessary – breath. “Okay, Ms. Mori. We have a computer to fix. Let’s go.”
Ah, her last name? Now she was in trouble…
***
Rex had fixed plenty of systems like this before - but never in a room that looked quite so compact. Usually equipment like this was afforded areas that were wider, looking a little like rows of servers. For some reason on this ship, they had decided to place it in a cramped space; meaning instead of having rows of modules with gaps in between, they were all stacked on top of each other and screwed into the walls. Not only that, but it must have been stuffed into a tight angled part of the ship - given that the ceiling was an unusual hexagonal shape that seemed to cave in on itself.
And there were modules screwed into that too. The saving grace was it was brightly lit.
Unsurprisingly, everything they had to fix was up there. Both because a) of course it wasn’t on the floor, and b) it was most likely the weird angles that were causing issues.
Rex swivelled in place to Bishop, eyebrow raised, pointing a finger to the ceiling; “Guess we’re climbing?”
“Mhm.” He affirmed, before giving her an equally disbelieving look, “You think they’d design this a bit better though.”
“Hopefully we fix it well enough for this to be the one time it comes up, but I foresee further issues..!”
“Fixing it once in almost 2 years?” Bishop admired that hope and optimism, “I doubt it.”
“Yeah,” Rexanna sighed gently, “me too.”
On the far wall, it seemed that the company were quite prepared for engineers to fix any faults in this room; a storage locker conveniently labelled “tools” (as if they wouldn’t have bought their own? Well… at least Bishop had remembered to!) and several cables and harnesses tied neatly together that ran all the way to sturdy looking hooks in the ceiling. At least they’d assist in climbing: but what an effort! Rex puffed out her cheeks with an eye roll; this was going to be a long day.
Before she hooked herself up to ascend though…
Rex patted down the pockets of her flight suit, wait… She cursed herself for a moment; surely she didn’t forget them!? Usually she had at least one in a pocket somewhere!!
Bishop cleared his throat, and as Rex looked to him she realised he’d known exactly what she was looking for - extending his hand out with a hair tie.
“And that’s why I love you.” She took it from him gratefully pulling her dark hair up into it, before smiling, with a gentle, “thank you.”
That didn’t perturb him from his joke, though. “Thought it’d be for much more than that.”
Bishop bumped his arm against hers as he passed, ready to set himself up for the climb.
Rex couldn’t help snorting; “You mean your good looks, right?!”
Although he wasn’t facing her, she could hear that smile in his voice. “Something like that.”
It didn’t take them long to attach the harnesses and ropes. Luckily they wouldn’t need to also pull a tool box up with them, as the harnesses came with handy tool belts; and anything they couldn’t fit in there was transferred into flight suit pockets.
In reality, it wasn’t necessarily so much of a climb, but having to pull yourself up to the level you wanted. Not so bad for him, she supposed, but an arduous task when this whole fix would require you using your arms.
There must have been an easier way to do it…?
Rex thought hard, staring at the rope in her hands for a long time. Either she’d missed something Bishop had said or he was just being extra patient with her, because he hadn’t moved to start either. Staring intently in silence and waiting for her to say whatever she was thinking.
And then it clicked.
“Oh my god…” she said softly, before laughing, “of course!”
Seemingly Bishop knew she was about to say something typically Rex by the subsequent look on his face.
“Mother, could you please disengage the artificial gravity in this room?”
There was a beat with no noise. Rex wasn’t even sure if she expected Mother to answer them. Sometimes Mother liked to remain silent when working on things and sometimes she could be overly… motherly.
Her eyes flicked across to Bishop’s as if to tell him it was at least worth a shot; but as Rexanna did so she noticed her clothes begin to rise, followed by her dog tags; escaping her flight suit and threatening to send the chess piece attached (a Bishop, what else?) sailing to the ceiling if she didn’t keep hold of it.
Before long, her feet were hovering off the floor as it really kicked in. That unsteady moment when Rex was never sure if she’d remain floating or suddenly crash back down in a heap. The latter had happened many a time - especially when people weren’t expecting it!
Luckily the Zero-G held and they found themselves free floating to the top of the room where the work was needed.
This time the ropes served as anchors to make sure that they weren’t drifting off away from where they were meant to be.
Hopefully no one would decide to check on them, or they were in for a nasty shock. Else the gravity would reengage and Rex would find herself with angry red marks where her harness caught her sudden weight in quite a large fall.
It would be no good doing this if you were afraid of heights.
The lack of gravity worked wonders; they could effectively “swim” to exactly where they were needed. That would save them some energy; or, maybe a couple of percent on having to recharge later.
Though Rex couldn’t help but look over to Bishop for approval.
He could tell, of course, so he made her wait for it. Luckily this time his stare included a blink or two.
“Well I wasn’t going to say it until it worked - but that is a pretty efficient idea, yes.”
Rex couldn’t help but give a little wiggle of a happy dance at this - Bishop just shook his head at her. Sometimes she could get so happy at the tiniest of things. She was still a mystery to him by all accounts. But he liked that.
She held her tongue for the first few minutes of work - because she actually thought she’d miscalculated - if they needed to remove panels and screws, they risked them soaring off out of reach; and if they were very unlucky, either screws lost, or further damage created they didn’t need to fix.
This fear was soon abated when Rexanna realised that everything stayed firmly locked in even once unscrewed. Even those screws had a limit and didn’t come fully out of the plates.
The only thing she really need to keep an eye on was her data pad; making sure she was fixing and rewiring all the right parts, before moving onto the next one.
They kept a back-and-forth dialogue to ensure everything was covered. And other than that, no small talk passed between them. They stuck to task. Professional.
It was probably the main reason they were allowed to go on so many of these colonisation - or ATMOS - missions together. Because work was work; and the relationship came after or between those moments. They knew how to keep things separate.
So separate that there were still several newer marines that, even about a year or so into this one, hadn’t figured it out yet.
They probably worked better together than most science and engineering teams in the entire Wey-Yu USCM roster.
And, in this strictly professional way, they scaled themselves across their entire engineering fix.
***
After screwing her last panel into place Rexanna glanced over her shoulder. Bishop was studying the data pad - having long since finished his section (of course, he had precision and efficiency she didn’t). This would at least tell him if all systems were back to functioning.
She waited… and waited…
He looked up slowly, almost as if he didn’t know she was looking for the green light.
“We’ll probably have to test it. But I would say everything looks nominal here.” He jabbed the pad with his index finger, “we at least fixed everything on the list.”
This was good enough for Rex! Who punched the air. They’d been up here a few hours at least; it had been more work than she initially expected. And they were working in Zero-G; not as easy as she’d hoped.
Speaking of… now she was up here, she had less clue of how exactly to get back to the floor…
If she asked Mother to reengage the gravity that presented the “all my weight at once” problem of before - likely not a slow process…
Though then they could just abseil down… easy!
Bishop watched Rexanna look down to the bottom - the expression of concentration on her face that showed how her thought patterns were figuring their way out of this.
“You know,” he spoke up, “I have a system that can engage artificial gravity. I could just float us down to the ground again.”
“What?!” Rex’s eyes widened, “You do! Well that saves me a lot of hard thought!” She grinned.
He pressed his lips together, thinking, “I mean you have to get to me, but, I’m sure you can manage that.”
“Pretty sure I’ve been through hell and back and almost died that one time to finally get to you, so… yeah. A lack of gravity is not going to stop me!”
Without warning Rex pushed herself off the wall - it didn’t have quite the desired speed; but she let her rope out enough to sail across the expanse to him. He’d at least pushed himself out to just about the middle of the room by that point anyway.
Realising there was very little to slow herself down now except Bishop, Rexanna latched herself to him; legs tangling with his and clinging to his shoulders.
“Uhhhh-! Not sure this is quite what I had in mind-!”
He was busy trying to balance both to not send them careering into a wall - but he chuckled; voice teasing. “Funny, because I was.”
Rex’s eyes narrowed “Huh?”
“I got you over here. And that was the plan.”
The silence of her disbelief really said everything, “… The extent of your plan was… Did you just lie to me!?”
It took a while for Bishop’s smile to crack, but once it did Rex knew she had absolutely been played. “Well…” One hand fell to her hip; and it brought back memories of the first time he’d teased her, “it wasn’t the extent of my plan. No.”
“Oh? What was then?”
Because no matter what; they did have to get down. So, he better have a way!
His smile was gentle, and he pressed his forehead back to hers, as he had in the hallway to calm her.
“This…” His deep voice lowered to something gentle, not quite a whisper.
Bishop closed the gap between them, lips to hers. Rex’s eyes closed on contact, hands tangling in his flight suit as she pulled him a little closer, savouring that contact. He kept her steady in their free float – the hand not on her hip supporting her back; running in soothing circles.
He pulled away ever so slightly; but that was another tease, because he knew Rexanna wasn’t going to let him get away with it, before she pulled him in for a deeper one.
Oh yeah, this was way better than getting to the ground. Rex was getting to experience a Zero-G kiss! (And how many people could say that, in honesty!?)
***
The next time they really got a quiet moment together was late into the evening, after having to fend off a million comments when Hicks decided to loudly proclaim that the last thing they’d been doing for the past three hours was fixing the ships systems, and the entire table decided to join in. If Rex had hoped anything would go that way this evening, by the time she’d made it back to their room she was exhausted.
They had finally made it down from the precarious situation of turning the gravity back on by Bishop having Rexanna continue to wrap her body around his and taking the full force of gravity and her weight by himself. After she suggested that might hurt, he came back with the cheeky quip of, “I’m used to it.”
…She rather thought it might be the other way around, but wouldn’t argue.
In fact by the time she’d had enough of her crew mates and declared she was turning in for the night - which earned numerous pretty crude jeers (and several people swift smacks to the back of the head; not least Hicks for causing all this) - Bishop was already back to the room and settled.
On a ship that was somehow even bigger than the Sulaco had been, and on their third such mission, Rexanna and Bishop had been afforded their own room. Small, pretty cramped, and not really enough for two people in one space without some tricky navigation – but still, theirs. Which at this point sure beat bunking with every other marine she knew.
Bishop looked up as the door slid open, she stepped inside with a blown-out breath and a shake of her head.
“That good, huh?”
“Dinner was dinner – you know what it’s like… it’s everyone else.”
A small smile, “Oh. I can imagine your best friend was at his most helpful.”
Rexanna’s laugh was almost pained, “You got it.”
“As for dinner, I could have made you some myself, but…” Bishop indicated to the state of himself – ports open and skin pulled back in several places. She was surprised that there was no sign of white circulation fluid everywhere.
“Oh shit,” she sounded surprised, “when you said upgrades…”
“Oh yes.” He nodded, “The company sent along some new data chips, as I said, so I thought they were worth installing.”
“Mhm.” But this many? Wow. Rex wondered momentarily if that shipment had anything to do with her – and then thought she was better off not knowing. She approached the side of the bed, sitting gently so as not to jostle him.
Sensing she had no more to say than that, and would be content with watching him, Bishop went back to installing the little chips – clicking them into place. Absentmindedly Rex’s fingers went to her necklace, twisting around the chess piece, and then her dog tags. With both these things was a very old data chip of his from when he had previously been fixed up on a mission. Tech that had become obsolete almost as soon as it was made. It would just have been destroyed otherwise – but there was something about this piece that felt too real to Rex. And too surreal as well; being a previous part of his memory core.
She pushed herself across the bed to him as inconspicuously as possible, folding her legs under herself. He’d continue on as normal, of course. Bishop didn’t have that horrible feeling any human did of being watched – and certainly wasn’t one to make any mistakes because of it.
Rexanna had a sudden realisation, while watching him. Well – maybe not a realisation, maybe just a resurfacing of something she’d known for a long time, but had kept pushing down. Something she’d almost reached with her spiral earlier before he’d stopped her. But it was so out in the open now that it was unavoidable.
She placed her hand gently on Bishop’s free arm, sliding it slowly to entwine their fingers. Even now there was something Rex quite liked about the difference in their skin tones; it never failed to surprise her just how pale he was in contrast to the darker tanned complexion she had.
Rexanna realised that beneath that fairly superficial surface (literally), she was just contemplating her own mortality. And, in a strange way, his too. Eventually there would be no more upgrades – he’d be an old, obsolete, discontinued model. To her that almost seemed a worse fate than death. Did he care about things like that? Did he even think about them?
Even with whatever agreement she had with Michael Bishop now – which would save him from being scrapped completely – at some point technology would advance so much it just wouldn’t be compatible. She’d would fight long and hard to make sure this wouldn’t happen.
But what about after her? How would he cope after that? She’d age and die but Bishop never would. He was a collection of data chips: metal and plastic...
No. That was wrong to say. Even if the truth. He was as human as she was – she’d spent the better part of their first mission together relaying that information. There was no debate in her mind at all that he was alive.
But…
Bishop paused his working, glancing up to Rex watching him. Although realising that she wasn’t really watching him anymore – he’d lost her again, inside the void of thoughts within her head. He wasn’t sure why today of all days she was going through it. He knew it happened from time to time, but Rexanna didn’t often get this bad.
“Ree…” He prompted gently, sounding a little more curious to know her wavelength. He wanted to affirm at least where she was heading. Whether he could bring her back or not.
Her expression was almost one of puzzlement too, as she traced her eyes along the inner workings that were still visible, and the small pile of chips he still had to install.
“That’s your heart and soul... what makes you, you... without that you-”
He cut her off, now very aware that he was correct. All Bishop had managed to do earlier was pause the journey, but it was clear that the ship had left the space station and wouldn’t be back until it’s travels were complete.
“Yes, but, it can all be replaced, I mean you’re wearing one, and I’m still the same as I was.”
As much as he had a point, that didn’t feel the same to her. Around her neck was a fix out of necessity – he wouldn’t be here without it. This seemed like compliance. For the hell of it. Because technology just would not slow down… She almost laughed.
Really, Rexanna was wrong – it was just a different kind of necessity. And at the end of it all, something she couldn’t do. She’d joked about her mind in an android body earlier – but to a point, she was envious that he could just upgrade or fix himself like this. It all seemed too easy. “And I’m just human... I... I’m not gonna last like...”
Rex gasped. Seemingly out of nowhere she pulled back from him, placing a hand over mouth, before tears spiked.
Bishop was quick to spring into action; snapping everything closed – this could wait. “Hey, hey... No... stop... why are you crying? Don’t- don’t think like that!”
“Shit-!” Rex said again from behind her hand, “It’s just so hard!”
He pulled her closer, fingertips gently brushing the remnants of the first tears from her cheeks, “This isn’t even something you have to acknowledge for years. Why is it all coming up now?”
“Because I do have to think about it…” Her voice strained as she tried to stop herself from really crying hard. “I can’t be in the marines and doing this forever. I’m limited. And even if I can still work somewhere… you’ll remain out here. And that’s just the start of it-!”
“You’re not limited… And…” He took a deep breath, encouraging Rex to imitate it, in an attempt to help calm her. “You’re nowhere near that. If anything, at least Earth will be safe for you.” His smile was a little crooked, “I know people say you shouldn’t live in the past but… somehow, Rex, you’ve managed to do the complete opposite.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, you’re living in the far future. And, while I admit it’s always good to look to the future… something tells me I’ve been neglecting to tell you to live in the moment.” He made a face for a second as if trying to recall, searching the room as if it had answers, “Or… someone has.”
Rexanna groaned gently, burying her face in his chest, making Bishop wind his arms around her, rubbing her shoulders soothingly as she sniffed, “I’m an idiot.”
“No, you just let your mind go wandering a little too far sometimes…” He held her closer, pulling the warmth of her body flush to his, “We can think about our mortality and live like that, sure. But, the truth is, neither of us know how long we have, so we have to make the most of this time. That's what matters!” His head tipped, recalling something else he’d read, “Medical advancements are happening all the time. We probably have at least another 100 years. So, you don’t have to worry about anything for minimum the next 99.”
She laughed, which is what he wanted, rubbing her eyes – before shaking her head disbelievingly. Bishop didn’t really care if Rex believed him or not, he just wanted that smile back on her face.
“Even if I had a hundred years to love you it wouldn’t be long enough.”
He chuckled, “Well, that’s something we can both agree on.”
---
Thank you for reading! 😚💙
#Bishop x OC#Aliens AU#I'm sorry but my favourite part of this entire fic is my space play on the phrase /the train has left the station/#I just.... that little bit made me so proud to come up with I can't even explain! haha!#For my Bishop girlies - you're real ones! <3#Bishop Aliens#Linzi Writes#Happy Birthday Bee!!!#Happy Friend-Versary Amanda!#Hicks is best BFF#Of course I had to include chess!#Michael Bishop reference cuz it's his fault i'm in this mess / srs#Please tell me everyone read /No/ in his voice like in that scene in Aliens?#The lab one? You did?! Good!#He might be a little OOC? I don't know I really trieeeed!#Fun and Games references but nothing you'll need to read it for!
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Oooh how about 18 (if you want to, it looked like a funny question), 32, and 37 for Balthazar?
I fear I'm going to disappoint you on 18- I don't have my ex's encyclopedic memory of B99 even if thanks to them I think I've seen the whole show about five times over. ^^;; But I can do my best for the others!
[prompt]
32. Your character is having a prom night/debs. What kind of outfit do they wear?
Hm, a modern question. Balthazar is so weird to define in modern style because we live in an era where masculine clothing is rather enclosed. I think being trans in a modern setting vs. a fantasy setting also comes with a different kind of weight. But there's a fantasy element to prom, and certainly a certain kind of spite that queer teens bring to it (at least in my own experience). His outfit is cobbled together from a combination of thrifted oddities and ordinary formalwear. The pride of this ensemble is a bright red blouse with ruffly poet sleeves that must have been nearly fifty years out of style. He goes as friends with Linzi and both of them are called vampire lesbians at school for a week afterwards. It's a nightmare.
At this point in his teen years he would have been a true terror if he'd been left in the Catholic school he went to when he was younger.
37. Your character has been kidnapped. Who has kidnapped them and how do they escape?
Hm, a lot of possible answers here. To seize on one that nearly did happen: one of Balthazar's great fears when he was younger and homeless for a time was getting picked up by any of the various cults that valued having a discount celestial on hand for various gruesome reasons- there's a reason the average lifespan of aasimar is so low. He was never very capable of defending himself despite his sorcerous abilities, so he slept with one eye open and was constantly paranoid about anyone he spent the night with. He can vividly remember an evening that he was approached by a pleasant, well-dressed woman who seemed especially set on talking to him; when she bent forward he caught the briefest glimpse of a death's head moth tattoo under her shirt. Even after he made his excuses and left the bar she had cornered him in, he kept thinking he caught saw someone from the corner of his eye following him throughout the evening. He ultimately spent the night on the floor of a temple of Abadar with a concerned young cleric near him. It's frighteningly easy to imagine what could have happened if he hadn't picked up anything strange about that woman. He could have easily gone along with her to her home- or wherever she decided to lead him- and woken up imprisoned who knows where (if he'd woken up at all).
If he was stuck in a situation like that, it would be difficult to escape, and it would have to be done fast. He would seize on the first opportunity he had with one of his captors alone to attempt to charm them into either giving him the opportunity to get away or getting close enough that if he put them under with a spell he could get either the keys (ideally) or a weapon away from them. There wouldn't be much more for it then except making a break for it and hoping he got lucky. Who knows- somehow his abysmally terrible luck somehow always balances out in the critical moment. Despite everything, maybe the gods look out for him after all.
#b99 and community had for years a similar grip on my ex as kingmaker has on me#I don't think I can ever watch b99 again even though I like it because for three straight years it was in the background almost constantly#regarding the modern au question I'm continuing to channel the lore established in 2020#in a university au defined 90% through texts from last night jokes. premier worldbuilding. everything just for bits.#that's right: childhood friends balthazar and linzi is the product of just one text post that was funny to me at the time#they have a very up and down relationship in high school. this is one of their closer moments though. mlm/wlw solidarity#and since I've done so much commentary while writing already I'll say that a high awareness of exactly how aasimar are useful to occultists#is the reason that balthazar has never been deeper in anything to do with dark gods#why put yourself in a room with your natural predator without being sure you can survive? he's not that confident... not yet.#ask game#ask me emithing#balthazar lucienne#cassynite
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Friday, 7:15pm
I'm sitting at a table at the Rustic Cork in Milk Creek thinking about where my daughter's landed whilst listening to her first set of the night.
It's not this set I'm thinking about specifically. It's, yes, the night's cafe gig and the next night's. It's also the St. Patrick's gig for The Little Lies, the Fleetwood Mac tribute band in which she's keyboards, acoustic guitar, covering Christine McVie's vocals.
Lemme tell ya: people are crazy for Fleetwood Mac songs. Across a wider demographic than I woulda guessed.
And then I'm thinking about this other band in which she's keys and background vocals. The band is Midnight High, formed around the music and voice of a young woman she met through The Little Lies.
That's the thing about The Little Lies. Everyone's in another band. Everyone's a member of the community.
I've listened to some of the music from Midnight High's debut album. I've listened to snippets from rehearsal. And I've gotta say... they're setting a high bar. Vocally, especially. The layering of voices. And then the music, of course. It captures a vibe from the 80s expressed with modern ability. After all, there's so much that can be performed live these days, so many colors of sound, complexities of rhythm, and vocal precision and expression performed by passionate human beings at the top of their craft.
Which is all just a roundabout way of telling you how much I'm looking forward to their live debut next month.
Seriously. It'll be a feast for the ears.
One hundred percent.
And then I'm thinking about the songwriting in which my daughter’s engaged. Her mastery over the written word and the raw experience she evokes through music. Her creativity and craft of arranging and mixing that she continues to take to higher levels. The opportunities such ability conjured. The doors it opens.
And so on.
What I'm thinking about most, though, is how my daughter's found her tribe. This community of musicians who share her passion and talent. Who are gifted human beings who both challenge and complement each other. Who continue to blaze their own professional trails, creating wonderful opportunities for each other. Who are enjoying their place in the universe and this pursuit in which they are fully engaged.
She found the right people. Her people. And you can definitely craft and sustain an amazing, surprising, inspiring, and uniquely satisfying life with that kind of tribe.
Damn.
🙂
#rustic cork#linzy collins#music#musician#passion#songwriter#the little lies pnw#midnight high#craft#mixing#arranging#mastering#writing#creativity#tribe
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Well I forgot how whumpy a character Tristian from Pathfinder: Kingmaker is. There might be some whump coming when I finish my second playthrough.
It also did not help that my other character was sweet on Willas in Varnhold and that is the same dungon he also is sad in.
#Linzi stoll like 30bp from me and I can't forgive her#meanwhile this man does the worst thing in that moment he could and I wet half way across my kingdom to forgive him#Also to be honest all of the side character deaths hit hard in this game#I also hope the writing is as good for Wrath of the Rightious cause I will being playing that after this one#actually the entire reason I did a second playthrough#fuck Varn#I am a clown when it comes to my soft sad bois
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And why is my girl Adelaide problematic? :3
My unproblematic bear queen!?
cries and does not participate whenever the party is attacked by thylacine.
Said she would only keep Shardik until he was old enough to be released into the wild (did not do that)
eco-fascist???
thinks she understands nature better than nymphs and shit
this :
worships Barbatos, Hell's possibly most fucked up little guy
gets embarrassed and doesn't talk to people she's slept with for days
public executions by bear maulings
keeps a certain someone around just to torment him and make his life hell
named her barony after Avernus (not a red flag for the people who have already been living there at all)
Also made Bartholomew her diplomat!!!
condones torture of trolls for science!!!
lets Nok-Nok set up Lamashtu shrines because she finds him charming.
ear piercing enraged mom screams when angry.
her court is afraid of her
Tells Linzi her writing is shit
propaganda!
lets the sweet teeth die
Lets Regongar commit as many war crimes as he wants
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OC meme
Saw @arendaes doing this so I'm shamelessly stealing it! You are now subjected to my Pathfinder blorbos! Mostly focusing on how they are before the events of the game.
B A S I C S
Full name: Hilde Svalksdottir
Gender: Cis Woman
Sexuality: Demisexual Lesbian
Pronouns: She/Her
O T H E R
Family: Svalk Axechill (Father, deceased), Astrid Daughter of Muses (Mother, deceased), Tallak Svalksen (Half-Brother)
Birthplace: Land of Linnorm Kings
Job: Poet, Singer, Mercenary
Phobia: Loosing control, loosing herself to rage
Guilty Pleasures: Long naps
Hobbies: Writing, sparring, bird-watching
M O R A L S
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Sins: Wrath, Envy
Virtues: Chastity, Temperance
T H I S O R T H A T
Introvert / Extrovert
Organized / Disorganized
Close-minded / Open-minded
Calm / Anxious / Restless
Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between
Cautious / Reckless / In between
Patient / Impatient / In between
Outspoken / Reserved / In between
Leader / Follower / Flexible
Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between
Optimist / Pessimist / Realist
Traditional / Modern / In between
Hard-working / Lazy
R E L A T I O N S H I P S
OTP: Hilde/Arueshalae
Acceptable Ships: Hilde/Aranka, Hilde/Seelah, Hilde/Nenio
OT3: Hilde/Arueshalae/Aranka (Aranka is also dating Wallflower and Thall separate from Hilde and Arue)
Brotp: Hilde/Woljif, Hilde/Ulbrig
(art not mine, this is just my general ref for her)
B A S I C S
Full name: Sakura Redpetal
Gender: Femme-leaning Non-binary
Sexuality: Pansexual (also a monsterfucker)
Pronouns: She/They
O T H E R
Family: Willow of Calm Reeds (adoptive mother)
Birthplace: Valashmai Jungle, Tian Xia
Job: Sacred prostitute
Phobia: Loneliness, persecution
Guilty Pleasures: Telling people off, violence
Hobbies: Gardening, reading
M O R A L S
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Sins: Lust, Gluttony
Virtues: Patience
T H I S O R T H A T
Introvert / Extrovert
Organized / Disorganized
Close-minded / Open-minded
Calm / Anxious / Restless
Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between
Cautious / Reckless / In between
Patient / Impatient / In between
Outspoken / Reserved / In between
Leader / Follower / Flexible
Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between
Optimist / Pessimist / Realist
Traditional / Modern / In between
Hard-working / Lazy
R E L A T I O N S H I P S
OTP: Sakura/Camellia
Acceptable Ships: Sakura/Daeran, Sakura/Arueshalae, Sakura/Woljif Sakura/Vellexia (theres the crack ship)
OT3: Sakura/Camellia/Daeran
Brotp: Sakura/Wenduag, Sakura/Woljif
B A S I C S
Full name: Ethyn Roseveil
Gender: Cis Woman
Sexuality: Pansexual
Pronouns: She/Her
O T H E R
Family: Ayra Roseveil (Mother), Cathran Roseveil (Father), Adula Roseveil (Older Sister), Satinder Roseveil (Older Brother)
Birthplace: Vigil, Lastwall
Job: Artist, Paladin
Phobia: Loosing people she loves, having to kill
Guilty Pleasures: Sweets
Hobbies: Painting, Singing
M O R A L S
Alignment: Lawful Good
Sins: Pride
Virtues: Charity, Patience, Kindness
T H I S O R T H A T
Introvert / Extrovert
Organized / Disorganized
Close-minded / Open-minded
Calm / Anxious / Restless
Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between
Cautious / Reckless / In between
Patient / Impatient / In between
Outspoken / Reserved / In between
Leader / Follower / Flexible
Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between
Optimist / Pessimist / Realist
Traditional / Modern / In between
Hard-working / Lazy
R E L A T I O N S H I P S
OTP: Ethyn/Nyrissa
Acceptable Ships: Ethyn/Valerie, Ethyn/Tristian, Ethyn/Linzi
OT3: Ethyn/Octavia/Regongar
Brotp: Ethyn/Nok-Nok
#ask meme#oc: hilde svalksdottir#oc: ethyn roseveil#oc: sakura redpetal#love doing these things and rotating my blorbos#now im thinking about the Hilde/Arue/Aranka polycule#maybe she and Aranka had a fling in Kenabres
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Linzi’s 2023 Thank You Post!
I feel like every year I get here and wonder how the heck it got to December 31st! And yet, here we are again!
Funnily enough, as I read back my 2022 thank you's I told you this blog would be changing a little... and guess what? I never really got that done! Maybe I will in 2024! (I suppose you can watch this space!)
I did however, actually write so much more this year, and posted a lot of it too, so I can say that goal was accomplished! And I hope 2024 brings more of that inspiration! To my fellow writers also! 🤗
I would like to say thank you to everyone for being here! For still enjoying the fics I wrote years ago, and my new work too! For those of you that have commented or DM'd me! Or for those of you that I have messaged (one of you for the first time, despite being moots for 11 years!🤯)
I would like to thank @sagitariusrising and @sufferthesea for their continued support in everything! You two always push me to write better than I ever have before, and I value your friendship and encoragement
@alotofrandomfangirling - I mean, I don't have the words to express how much the past few months has meant to me - it's been so fun idea swapping and curating with you and just getting out all the ✨FEELINGS✨ towards some of these idiot swordsmen we are catching feelings for (and their actors, too!) Thank you for being there any time I've thought "Wait, but does this even work!?" 🤣 Doubtless, there will be more times like that!
@mandy23b - Hard to believe it's going to be 5 years next year [again, you're never getting rid of me!😜] Thank you for always being someone understanding, who I can talk to about the good and bad things in this roller-coaster of a year! (And for sharing yours with me too!)
You truly are my best friend, and I can't wait to see what adventures we get up to in 2024!
And - what you're really wanting to see, of course! 😉 - here are my Men of 2023! Either because I spent a lot of time with them in my head... or writing for them... or letting them live rent free in my mind (Looking at you, Serge! Your movie isn't even OUT yet!) or because I supported them this year in there respective sports (or maybe a little of all of those! 😁)
What I can say for sure is every single one of them brought me joy in some capacity, and isn't that the main thing?
I'm looking forward to whatever 2024 brings! Here's to a good one! 🍾🥂
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(please ignore the bandit aiming right towards Lady)
AHHHHHHH Lady and Tristian are sleeping next to each other,,,giving me more fanart ideas of them just talking under the stars,,,, (not Linzi eavesdropping and writing vehemently on her book about Tristian possibly becoming her hero’s love interest)
#quinttyz rambles#new brainrot#i mean my fixation on tristian is nothing compared to aloth BUT damn i once again nave interest with a white man…tch#ngl regongar is#hmm….wowhwohahaga#i rotate the tristian pathfinder in my mind all day#pathfinder kingmaker#pathfinder kingmaker tristian#oc: who is that lady!#pfkm tristian#pfkm#pathfinder kingmaker meme
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[Hanfu · 漢服]China Tang Dynasty Women's Fashion-Shangguan Wan'er（Wu Zetian period）
【Tang Dynasty Makeup Step】
STEP 1: Apply Powder
STEP 2: Put On Rouge Cheek
STEP 3: Draw Eyebrows
STEP 4: Apply Red lip Grease
STEP 5: Put On Huadian(花钿)， MianYe (面靥) etc.
--------------------
During the time of Shangguan Waner （上官婉儿） , it was the heyday of feminism in the Tang Dynasty. At this time, women were also started make their body shape from slender to plump. Long skirts and flat collars became the fashion at that time, and high buns hairstyle and golden hairpins were all the rage at that time.
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【History About Shangguan Wan'er （上官婉儿） 】
Shangguan Wan'er （上官婉儿）was a famous female poet and female official during the Wu Zetian period. When she was young, her grandfather Shangguanyi was convicted and murdered, and then she accompanied his mother Zheng to the inner court as a maid.
She is smart and good at writing, and has won the trust of Wu Zetian. She has been in charge of the palace system for many years.
Most of the ministers' memorials are decided by her, and she is known as the "women prime minister". During Tang Zhongzong's time, she was named Zhaorong (昭容：title of concubine) and had a prominent position in the political and literary.
After Zhongzong's restoration, Shangguan Wan'er once presided over Fengya“风雅”（Refers to cultural activities related to poetry）, and commented on the world's poetry and prose on behalf of the imperial court. At one time, many Ci ministers（Refers to a learned and knowledgeable minister who acts as an advisor to the emperor and participates in politics） gathered in front of her house, and "Full Tang Poems《全唐诗》" included thirty-two of her posthumous poems.
In 710 AD, King Linzi : Li Longji launched a coup d'état, and Shangguan Wan'er, Empress Wei and Princess Anle were killed at the same time.
In 710－712 AD, she was re-canonization as Zhaorong, posthumously named Huiwen（惠文）, and was buried in Hongduyuan, Maodao Township, Xianyang County, Yongzhou.
--------------------
Recreation Work :@Niki-镜子
Model: @-是非娘娘-
Hanfu: @春谷山房 （Provided by @云云的黑眼圈儿 ）
Hair Accessories: 郑雅 @静尘轩主-剪灯笑语
Photo： 刘芳
Shooting venue: @这是一枚小方方
Weibo：https://weibo.com/1730238267/LwMFC6mXa
--------------------
#chinese hanfu#tang dynasty#early tang dynasty#hanfu#hanfu_challenge#hanfu fashion#hanfu history#hanfu accessories#chinese#chinese history#china history#chinese traditional clothing#chinese art#chinese culture#chinese clothing#chinese fashion#chineseart#chinesestyle#china#historical costuming#historical clothing#historical fashion#historical hairstyles#historical makeup#Hanfu From China#漢服#汉服#中華風#shangguan wan'er#上官婉儿
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I Told You So: A Concept
Author’s Note: <to the tune of 7/22 by Taylor Edwards> It’s my birthday and I’ll post my Ronnie Peterson concept if I want to!
Hi, ADCU fans! Welcome to the first of a few concepts I’ve written for you! Ronnie is my favourite, so of course, he gets to go first!
My concepts are essentially single scenes from a much larger fic in my head, that introduce you to the relationship, and the love interest...
I hope you enjoy this one! 💙💜
Word Count: 3,567
Warning: None
Concept: Lovers to strangers to lovers.
Having moved back to the small town where she grew up, Araya does not expect to come face to face with ex Ronnie Peterson, now all grown up himself. Given the circumstances they broke up in, it’s understandable that he doesn’t want her around - but that’s the thing about a small town, it’s damn near unavoidable...
In truth he still has feelings for her. But he’ll be damned if he walks down that road again, what if it ends worse than the first time?
Takes place pre-film by at least a few years.
Playlist: Available on Spotify!
---
When I was gonna be your forever
You were gonna be my wife
But you went off to find better
And I was learning all about life
But I was what you wanted and you were what I needed
And we could meet in between
We were gonna be the greatest love story this town had ever seen
---
Suppose I called you up tonight
And told you that I loved you
And suppose I said I wanna come back home
And suppose I cried and said I think I finally learned my lesson
And I'm tired of spending all my time alone
If I told you that I realize you're all I ever wanted
And it's killing me to be so far away
Would you tell me that you love me too
And would we cry together
Or would you simply laugh at me and say...
---
Let me guess, you miss me, you're sorry
Too bad it's too little too late
Don't make me say, don't make me say...
I don't wanna be right this time
But you made a fool of me
And you're not gonna fool me twice
It's almost like I...
I told you so, I told you
I let you know, if you let go
Find someone else to hold you
Just walk away, don't make me say
The only words I owe you
---
It had been more than a few months, and he still wasn’t used to her being back in town yet. Life had passed fairly aimlessly; everything had been so day to day before then. He hadn’t needed to worry about anything – save the occasional bit of really serious police work. But now Ronnie Peterson felt like he had to be on alert everywhere he went, on the very likely chance that he’d have to find a creative way to avoid her.
Seemed he still had a thing or two to learn about breaking up in a small town. Uh— being broken up with in a small town. He hadn’t had to worry about her since she went to college. Was almost definitely over her by now.
Except that wasn’t the case, was it?
And now he was just trying to get coffee before work and there she was, once again sitting in the diner. It made him hesitate, made him think twice. Maybe he could just wait and get to work. Maybe he could actually make it through this morning without a caffeine fix.
Except he was already out of his car and half way to the door – standing in the middle of the parking lot with his hands on his hips, staring at her through the window… and he could kick himself. Clearing his throat and closing his eyes, Ronnie focused back on the concreate, shaking his head. ‘Okay. Just… get in, order coffee, get out.’
Heading for the entrance he reasoned with himself; Where else could she go?
The previous owners of the house had left it in need of repair and TLC – and the old flower shop attached, once belonging to her mother, hadn’t been open for years. There was a lot of work to do, and that meant a lot of workmen in and out. All the needed planning and preparation on her part had to be done somewhere - and even with the frequency of visitors the diner got, it would still be a damn sight quieter than home would have been for her.
Fern greeted him warmly, as ever. She didn’t even need to ask his order – Ronnie never changed it. Sometimes he thought about it, but setting that in motion hadn’t quite occurred yet. It certainly wasn’t going to be today, given how occupied his mind currently was on… other things. It was almost impossible not to glance over to her – pouring over notebooks and documents, head propped up on one hand, pencil absentmindedly tapping the page as she tried to make sense of it all. She hadn’t noticed him yet, if she knew he was here Ronnie knew she’d be doing the same thing he was. Glancing quickly became staring, until Fern’s next question interrupted him.
“You taking some for the station?”
“Uh…” He had to fight to drag his own eyeline back to Fern as he answered, slower than he’d like to admit. “I mean, I didn’t think about it, but I guess I could call them…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s pretty early, I mean they might not even be there, right?”
“Y-Yeah… right…”
Fern watched as, sensing he was no longer needed to answer her questions, Ronnie’s gaze wandered back to the woman sitting in the corner. Araya Monaghan had hardly aged a day since the times her and Ronnie had been high-school-smitten with each other – still looking like a sweet small town girl, despite her move to the big city more than just a few years back. She had returned to Centerville now, though.
Fern almost rolled her eyes at him. She has observed Ronnie do this more than just once or twice over the past few weeks – how he would always immediately survey the diner to see if she was here, and then stare. Even if he was also fighting with himself; and Fern could tell Ronnie was most definitely fighting himself.
It was about time she took things into her own hands.
“Didn’t you guys break up?”
“Huh?” Concentration once again broken, Ronnie turned back, not entirely sure he’d heard that right. Or, maybe hoping he wouldn’t have to go through this yet again with someone in this town.
“You broke up, right?” Oh yeah, he’d heard right. Unfortunately.
“Oh. Yeah, that was…” Fern couldn’t help but smile knowingly as he went right back to staring at Araya, answer quiet, “a long while ago.” He was silently begging her to drop the conversation, but that wasn’t part of her plan, so Fern continued.
“But you still like her.”
Ronnie wasn’t sure that he liked the tone sounding more statement than question. He pretended to muse hard on it. Part of him still really hurt – part of him still twisted up seeing Araya back here after so long; like just after he’d got it together she had to move back just to wreck everything? She couldn’t get away with that. Not after breaking his heart. Not how she’d done it.
And yet… yes, he did look at her now and at least partially long for her back – if he was honest with himself (which, he didn’t want to be), Ronnie nearly always had. Therefore, when he responded with “Hmmm… well…” despite his trail off, he nodded; but it almost seemed absentminded, like he hadn’t quite admitted it yet.
As his attention was still on her, this time Fern’s eyes flicked over too, “Well, she clearly still likes you a whole lot too.” They were almost as bad at each other for staring. The only reason it wasn’t happening right now was because she hadn’t looked up yet.
This, Ronnie knew. Despite Araya’s initial shock that he was still in town, she now looked at him in the way she used to. Which in all honestly twisted him up even more. He wasn’t about to admit this, and scoffed at the idea instead. “Well, she broke up with me.”
Fern simply nodded, “Uh huh.” and then placed a cup in front of him. Not paper to take away, oh no, a proper cup and saucer. Then tipped her head in the direction they’d both been looking, “Now go on, stop staring and go talk to her.”
Ronnie’s mouth opened, nearly in shock, pushing the cup back to the edge of the counter, “Fern, I’m taking out! I’m not staying!”
She didn’t budge, instead lowering her voice to a semi-threatening whisper. “Don’t make me walk it over to her table!” She pointed daringly at him and Ronnie realised he wouldn’t be getting out of this in a hurry. This was not the morning he had planned. He swallowed hard, nodding in acceptance of his situation, before picking up the cup – shooting Fern a look just so she knew he wasn’t best pleased about this – and walked over to the back of the diner slowly.
At the corner table Araya was sitting at, this exchange had gone completely unnoticed. In fact, Ronnie could probably have snuck in and out no problem and been well into his shift, before she even looked up from the papers in front of her. Largely because she had done the same calculation about five times already and the answer was never the same, and never matched the breakdown sheet. She theorised that it would have to eventually - but now it was a case of when eventually was.
What she didn’t fail to notice however, was someone heading cautiously in her direction, and once she’d caught the movement it caused enough of a distraction to make her look up. Though, his nearly 6’3” frame probably helped. Although, Araya couldn’t help but startle – because Ronnie Peterson was not who she would expect to be walking towards her if he was given any sort of choice in the matter. (Well… maybe once.) As he was about to confirm.
“Oh, hey!”
“Hey.” It was blunter than she would have liked. He gestured to the cup in his hands, “Fern did this and I’m pretty sure would have refused me a takeout cup otherwise, so…”
Araya pressed her lips together, nodding, trying to ignore her own disappointment and indicated to the seat in front of her, hoping it didn’t drip into her voice. “Care to join me?”
She half expected him to say no, but Ronnie was always polite so she got a “Well, yeah…” As he slid into the booth, the cup chinked gently as he placed it down – finding space amongst the paperwork – and Araya was given a window of opportunity to study his face as he became interested in her notes. Dare she say he was even more handsome now than he was to her back then. “Watcha doing?”
When Ronnie glanced back at her, he equally ignored the way pink dusted her cheeks ever so slightly, the way she took a breath before she answered to steady herself. “Oh, uh… kinda budgeting… expenses… figuring it out as I go, but, not going so great.”
Then he smiled in remembrance. That made things worse. And he knew it. “Math was never really your strongest suit.”
She smiled back, chuckle soft, and nodded along, looking away from his eyes, “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Want me to help?” He’d asked before he could stop himself.
Araya looked back at him, eager to accept, ready to beam and push her books and calculator across the table to him and start rattling off issues - exactly as she would have done in high school. But she stopped herself from looking too joyful, and instead cleared her throat before sliding everything to the side.
“No, you know what, I can figure it out later. You’re sitting in front of me with a coffee, so the least I can do is… actually have a conversation with you. You’ll have plenty to do at work, you don’t need to also be doing mine.”
Ronnie’s eyebrows raised with the shoulders of his shrug, “Oh well, if you… ever need any help.”
“Oh, I know where to find you, Ronnie, trust me.” The pink became dark red, “I mean, not like- I- I know where the station is.”
Although the smile he flashed was almost a smirk, “I’d hope you wouldn’t have forgotten where I live but, the station is a good start, yeah.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, not willing to jump to conclusions, “…I, uh, know where your parents live.” Lived? Araya wasn’t sure if they still lived here, although that wouldn’t surprise her even if Ronnie’s presence did.
“Yeah, I’m still on that side of town.” And Centerville was small enough for that to roughly mean the same place.
Araya’s head tilted, it wasn’t a hard link to pick up, “Not my side of town.”
“Well… no.” He said matter of fact.
“Your parents still here?” She’d half expected him to have been long gone. Ronnie had never seemed much like a homebody, even when he hadn’t known what he wanted for his future. She’d figured he’d want to stay here even less after her. How wrong she could be.
“Mhm.”
“Oh.” Her grimace was easy to read – ‘what must they possibly think of me’ – he held his hand up to quickly rectify.
“No, no, don’t worry – I never tried to get them to hate you.”
This clearly didn’t help things, by the fact her face became pained – but it wasn’t like she wasn’t aware of what she deserved. Ronnie tried again, “Oh no, I-” but then he stopped, because, yeah actually he did hate Araya for what she did. At least back then. Maybe even still. And lying wasn’t the way to go, so it was probably best to just stop talking.
He bit his lips together, “I’m sorry, that… was uncalled for.”
“No, No I…” She crossed her arms on the table, rubbing her thumbs over the sleeves of her dress, “probably deserve that.”
He gave another shrug, this one more apathetic, before taking a sip of coffee. Concluding it was cool enough to drink, Ronnie didn’t put the cup down. The faster he drank it, the faster he could leave…
Araya watched him, not because she was waiting for him to say anything else – simply because she liked watching him. She could sit for hours in silence and do that. If he would let her – which, Ronnie certainly wouldn’t be doing any time soon.
When he placed the cup down, however, it wasn’t empty. “You know, the coffee here really is the best. I don’t know how Fern does it. Truly something else.”
Araya laughed at his musing, “Must be a secret ingredient.”
He laughed too, “Must be something like that, huh?”
And that was the problem. It was so easy to be amicable. It was so easy to talk to her again. Like a needle slipping into a groove. Natural. Something they both wanted back, as if it was never gone. And it was like it was never gone.
But it had gone – goodbye had been said more than once, and the last time they had seen each other (before, a few months ago, she turned up walking down the street in the middle of his patrol looking like a deer caught in headlights), they had both screamed things they wanted to take back.
Ronnie didn’t know what he wanted anymore. Friends wasn’t going to cut it. He couldn’t just ignore her, even with his best efforts. But he couldn’t let his feelings run away with this. What would happen if they did get back together? What if it all fell apart again? What if it was worse?
He couldn’t take that. He couldn’t even consider the possibility.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t thinking the exact same thing he was. That didn’t mean Araya wasn’t brave enough to tentatively ask it. In moments like this when they were actually getting on – where maybe she’d get the answer she wished for. Nervously tucking her hair behind her left ear before she did, and yet still able to hold the steady gaze of his brown eyes.
“Do you ever think about it?”
All the time. “About what?” He played a convincing perplexed.
“Don’t you wonder if… - What - this could be?”
Despite his previous dedication to the truth – Ronnie had no choice but to outright lie, straightening himself. “God, no… I couldn’t bring myself to read the plot points for this. I don’t think I wanna know…”
Araya’s eyebrows furrowed again, if any disappointment had even entered her thought stream it had quickly been washed away with confusion. “Plot points?”
Ronnie nodded, “Yeah… for the fic?”
Araya’s look of puzzlement turned to one of surprise, “Oh. I didn’t know you could just read those and find out what happens.”
“Yeah. If I wanted further heartbreak I guess I might!” To stop himself from talking too much Ronnie turned back to his coffee, this time making sure to finish it. But at the look still on Araya’s face, found himself compelled to continue, “I mean there must be some, you wouldn’t write a fic without them, right? I mean--” on second thought, knowing this author…
She sat silent for a moment with her own thoughts, digesting what he was saying. Although, even when she hadn’t fully, Araya gained confidence in her understanding enough to be able to look back into his eyes. What she was hearing was – he didn’t want to not try. It was what happened after that worrying him. And no wonder.
“You wouldn’t want to know how it ends?” What if it was like a fairytale? What if they got a happy ever after? That didn’t have to be just fantasy and her wishful thinking.
Ronnie blinked, teeth sinking into his bottom lip, before he shrugged again, this time being the one to look away, fingers dancing around the rim of his coffee cup, “Well I didn’t exactly like how it ended last time – if I read it and it doesn’t end well, why would I even want to start anything?”
“What if it doesn’t end this time?” There was a warmth to her words as she went back to leaning her head on her hand. Araya was teasing him, of course. It wasn’t really a serious question – she knew neither of them could handle it being a serious question right now. They needed time, they had had time sure – but they needed more.
His head tilted, eyes still not meeting hers – but the look on his face let her know she had a point. Ronnie couldn’t argue with that, but STILL! “I don’t think I wanna take the chance to find out. Could be worse. Don’t want that. No, thank you.”
By the time he’d finished his eyes were focused back on hers, with intensity. As if his would be the final word. Araya would have let him have it too, would have nodded along; ‘fair enough’. She even went back to looking at her work, pencil returning to her hand - but then she realised what he’d said. She paused her writing and looked up at him, curious, a little hopeful… but trying not to look too interested – perhaps not wanting Ronnie to realise exact what he’d said just yet. “Wait… so you… are thinking of… starting something?”
It wasn’t a stupid question. Even if it would seem to be – either way he answered would have felt correct to both of them. It wasn’t as if there weren’t inklings of chemistry, that had somehow never faded, but she knew how hesitant he was considering how much she had hurt him before. Walking away from someone saying you couldn’t handle a relationship and then ending up in one again less than two months later would do that to a person.
Ronnie had gone from wanting her back; would do everything and anything to have her back to… ‘well screw it and screw her and I never want to see her again and I’m actually quite MAD at her truthfully.’, and back again enough times in the years since.
His distance when she first arrived didn’t surprise her, even when it was so easy to warm up like this after a five minute conversation. Araya was just as surprised at herself… she didn’t expect to fall back in love with him so easily, and so soon. The wish for her old relationship back had almost been immediate. As much as she understood the situation, at this point it felt so much like dancing around it; they both still had feelings neither would admit for their own personal reasons and the rest of the town was just… waiting. Of that they were almost certain.
Despite this, despite thinking he would want the final word back, Ronnie didn’t answer her. Instead, he just sat up a little straighter. His eyebrows furrowed together and he frowned a little, breathing out deeply – in a way that said everything, but there was no verbal answer…
Araya knew better than to push him, and right now he had no coffee and she had no thread of conversation to keep him here either. Ronnie should be getting up and leaving and going to work now, because what else was there to do? He knew this, and so did she and yet he was still just… sitting there.
Either way, she had work to do, and dragging her notebook back towards her, Araya knew she had to think of something quickly before Ronnie figured out nothing was keeping him in his seat. She wanted to keep this conversation flowing – while he wasn’t scowling at her like he’d wish she’d leave, or straight up ignoring her presence. It had been so long since she’d got him like this, and she liked his company – whether Ronnie was talking or not, she always had.
“A-Actually…” She held on to the only thing she had left, “If you wouldn’t mind just taking me though this one calculation that won’t add up? It’s different every time, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
He studied her face for just a fraction too long, and without the immediate response she feared that she might lose him this time. Ronnie checked his watch - what was five more minutes? - before he shook his head, “Sure. What’s up? Let’s see what I can do!”
Then she smiled, the way she always used to smile at him and a smile he hadn’t seen since she’d left. Ronnie was 90% sure he wouldn’t hear a damn word she was about to say, and Araya would have to repeat herself, but it’d be worth it.
What would be five more, five more minutes?
Fern watched from the counter as Ronnie leaned over the table to listen to Araya better, taking the pencil gently from her hand to explain exactly where she was going wrong. It didn’t seem like two minutes since they’d been high school age doing this…
She smiled to herself knowingly, looking at the empty coffee cup and then back at the in-depth discussion – the joy on Araya’s face when it finally made sense and the way Ronnie laughed to. And this time he didn’t check his watch.
It might take a little time, but they would get there. And if that meant she had to keep pouring his coffee into a proper cup instead, she’d make as many as it took.
---
Thank you for reading! ✨
#Happy Birthday To Me#Ronnie Peterson#Officer Ronnie Peterson#The Dead Don't Die#Araya#This has about 10 theme songs already#GUYSSSS I had to put a 4th wall break in - I just couldn't /NOT/ do it.#I thought of 2 for this concept and this was one of them!#Officer Peterson#Linzi Writes
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How about fainting??? 👀
This is a bad things happen bingo fill for Kingmaker that I completely forgot about until I was going through my docs, but I like the idea and think I should write it XD
Festival for Adia’s birthday
Linzi orders in a new dress from Cheliax with a corset and laces it too tightly
Continually denied chance to eat
Keep being handed wine
Valerie eventually pulls her aside and fixes the corset lacing
Still tipsy and lightheaded
Winds up kissing Tristian on the cheek and pretends to pass out from embarrassment
Doesn’t actually get her out of the situation because he’s her healer, and now she has to actually talk about the situation.
WIP Roundup
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I was really sleepy when I was answering asks yesterday and I almost forgot to check if you were doing the problematic oc ask too!
Balth is your oc I’m most familiar with! But if they’ve already been asked tell me about whatever critter is infecting your brain most rn 👀💖
Ahh, I appreciate the ask!! Somehow, no one did ask about him!! At any rate, I feel like this blog is full of Balthazar's sympathetic moments and not his Chaotic Fucking Evil Moments, happy to finally correct that <3
Lies constantly
Vengeful
Selfish
Past history of gold digging
Former con artist
Endorsement of experiments on animals
Enjoys watching other people suffer
Loves making people worse
Willing to sell out friends when they cease to be useful
Told a suicidal man to do a flip on the way down
Made fun of a suicidal man's family's deaths
Invades woman's memories to see her at her most vulnerable, mocks her for it
In general just willing to kick anyone when they're down
Doesn't like Regongar's puns
Profited from infant sacrifice
Murdered his own cult
Lied about having a cult
Problematic trans rep?
Accepted demonic gifts multiple times
Supported two different Lamashtu cults
Really does unconditionally forgive Tristian
Sincerely thinks Tristian did nothing wrong
(except cause problems for him but see two points above)
Funded demonic library
Misappropriation of public funds for personal projects
Harboring smugglers
Has been called the worst and most evil person in the Stolen Lands multiple times
Had a cult dedicated to him being The Worst (until he murdered them, see above)
Recruits enemies terrorizing area to work for him
Leading on poor Sharel
Frequently manipulates others into killing on his behalf
Takes credit for the work of others
Refuses to help with camp chores
Troll alliance
Hates animals
Obnoxious PDA
Abuses aasimar heritage to take advantage of others' trust
The public executions
The secret executions
Comes from working class family, often uses his success to close opportunities for others instead of opening them
Jaethal minister
Belittles Regongar's mental health problems
Ghosts Regongar instead of breaking up with him
Mocks Linzi's writing constantly
Enchantment specialist. Mind control is the way <3
Endorsement of experiments on nonconsenting wererats
Identity theft
Identity theft coverup
Asshole southern elitist, frequently belittles local culture as backwards
Propaganda
Lying to the public about a plague
Gaslighting rioters into fighting each other
24 year old bullying a 17 year old... Lander Lebeda is literally a minor
Plus that's just high key pathetic
The murders
The assassinations
Doesn't like dessert :(
Funding foreign dissidents
Endorsement of troll torture
Bad at communicating emotional needs
Using other people as shields in combat
Will throw anyone under the bus for anything
Really only heals Tristian in combat
Supports filicide for dark ritual purposes
His friendship with Jaethal in general
Problematic bi rep?
Attempted to recreate Bloom
Everything that happened during the Divorce Era
There's probably still a warrant out for him in Absalom
Due to [redacted]
Defacing a priceless historic tome (only known copy)
Anyone can die if it's for Tristian's sake
Sells out allies when they stop being convenient
Surtova supporter
Covering up Lander's death
Lander Undeath Incident
Torture is fine
I'm not even sure he seriously thinks torture works he's just horrible
Bread and circuses babyyyyyy
Mean to Nok-Nok
Literally kicked a dog
And there's an incomplete list of Balthazar Crimes! I'm sure I'm missing so, so much but honestly he's problematic more than he's not so. You know.
[prompt]
#because of timing I actually thought for some reason you sent the Kas anon asdfjoiasd#ask game#ask me emithing#balthazar lucienne#bearvanhelsing#cw suicide mention#god. the balthazar crimes requiring me to add that.#the kas crime list is so long but the balthazar crime list is Longer.
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Just You
Pairing: Angelo Parker x Fem Reader
(First time writing Angelo so I hope I did well!)
Summary: Coming from NXT all alone, the reader is quickly reunited with her good friends Angelo and Matt, who have her tag along with them, and JAS, quickly fitting into the group, but the guys seem to like her a little too much, this catching Angelo's attention, the reader lets him know, he's the only one she likes...
Warnings: SMUT! (18+ ONLY!) (Swearing, drinking, daddy kink, thigh riding, fingering, unprotected sex)
Word Count: 1.8k
AUTHORS NOTE: THIS IS ALL @legit9thlunaticwarrior FAULT! (hehehe)
Tag List: @demonqueen29 @peachy-satan00 @new-zealand-chic @crowleysqueenofhell @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin @thatpanpal @melissahausen @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @linzi-land @xxx-jazz-xxx @writtingrose @legit9thlunaticwarrior @seeingstarks @rubyred1980 @alexisquinnlee-bc
I DO NOT OWN THIS GIF:
“Well, well, well. The new girl got signed!”
“And she’s on dynamite already?!”
My eyes rolled at Anna and Tay’s voices. First night on Dynamite and someone is trying shit on me. Coming from NXT, I was hoping for a new and fun experience, but it didn’t seem like that was gonna happen immediately.
“Hold on,” That voice was familiar, excited, “Is that Y/N?”
I was going to walk away till I finally remembered that voice, turning to see:
“Angelo?! I didn’t know you were gonna be here tonight!”
Angelo was a great friend of mine since we met in NXT. Matt was right by his side and the rest of JAS, Anna, and Tay was the most surprised when we ran to each other for a hug.
“I didn’t know you were gonna be here either,” He smiled, Matt saying next:
“Give ya man some love, girl!”
I made sure to give Matt a hug too, both of them on the same page when Angelo said:
“Stick with us, tonight! We can show you around and make sure no one picks a fight with you.”
“Hey, you know I can fight,” I giggled, but hugged happily, “But why not?”
Next, I made sure to introduce myself to the rest of JAS, even a salty Anna and Tay, but it amazed me how easily and quickly we all got along.
Angelo and I never left each other's sides, catching up and goofing off. I was booked for the night and he even offered to escort me out, but I thought it was a little too soon to align myself with a group. Besides, I really needed to establish my own dominance and make a good first impression, which he agreed with.
That’s exactly what happened, a smile on my face when I walked back into the guerrilla to see Angelo and Matt all dressed up, cheering:
“Now that’s how you make a debut!”
All I could do was show off, walking over with a smile, smiling more when Angelo wrapped his arm over my shoulder:
“I know you always pack something cute. Wanna get ready for a good night and come party with us?”
“Ya know we got the hookup!” Matt encouraged, making me shake my head with giggles:
“Why can I never tell you two no?”
“Because you love us,” Angelo teased, the smirk on his face as he blew a kiss making my cheeks heat up.
“Alright, alright,” I smirked back, heading to the locker room, “I won’t be too long.”
“Just meet us in the parking lot,” Matt called out before I left and I made sure to make good timing since the show was almost over.
Sure enough, Angelo and Matt were in the parking lot with the rest of JAS, the click of my heels grabbing all of their attention, pupils expanded, and in awe at my red mini dress.
“Who’s ready to party?!” I smiled and shimmied over, Jericho being the first to hop on my bandwagon:
“You know it’s us, girl! You fit right in.”
“Fit just right,” Daniel was the next to say, sending me a smirk that made me feel flustered, but all of our attention fixing on the limo that pulled up.
“Ooo, the special treatment, huh?” I giggled to distract myself, climbing in as Matt held the door for everyone.
Jericho sure was a party animal, already popped a bottle in the limo, but it was fun. Let alone when we made it to the club.
It had to have been the coolest one I’ve ever seen! All the drinks were free and they had good taste in music?
Better believe I made the best of it. I spent a lot of the time with Angelo and Matt, then when I got tipsy, I went out to dance and that’s when things started getting a little wild.
First, I was dancing with Angelo, then Matt took me, and Hager even tried. I just kept playing along and was a laughing mess when Matt and Garcia had me sandwiched, grinding and my eyes couldn’t help but fix on Angelo.
He was downing a huge drink and it seemed to be out of frustration.
“Sorry boys, I need water,” I made up while sliding out, meanwhile I had booze in my hand.
“Aww, come on! We’re having fun!” Matt had to complain, but I shooed him away:
“You’ll live!”
Angelo had his back turned, grabbing his gaze when I played with his suspender strap:
“Hey, you.”
“Hey,” He didn’t even sound like he was having fun anymore, so I tried helping:
“Wanna share a drink with me?”
Much like I could never tell him no, he could never tell me no, ordering my favorite drink and that started to make me feel better.
“I see you’re really getting along with the crew,” He pointed out, having me nod:
“I’m glad. Lord knows I don’t wanna make any enemies already.”
“They like you a little too much,” He mumbled under his breath while taking a drink, and it clicked in my head why he was alone and seemed upset.
“Hey,” I whispered softly, hugging his arm, stroking it softly, “It's not like that. If there’s any guy that I like? It’s you, daddy.”
“Wha-“ My words caught him off guard, his eyes quickly finding mine.
Angelo always had a spot in my heart, hand finding his thigh and squeezing softly while I whispered in his ear, “You’re the reason I’m here. You have no idea how happy I was when I saw you backstage.”
The alcohol had deeper thoughts leaking out of me, also making me a little nervous because of the big step I just took, but relaxing with a rush when his hand found my hip, pulling me closer and delivering back the same energy:
“Aww, my baby girl missed her daddy?”
“Soo much,” I was feeling confident now, placing a kiss on his cheek, smiling when his nose poked mine, wanting a real kiss that I surely gave.
Just a touch had his hand up my dress, squeezing my ass, my hand taking his suspender and pulling him closer, slipping my tongue into our kiss.
“The crew won’t mind if you and I slipped out of here, would they?” I gazed through my lashes, loving his response:
“Not at all.”
His hand was glued to my hip, getting us a ride out of there and the time was agonizing because of all the temptations.
Constantly palming him in the dark of the backseat, starting to kiss along the collar of his shirt, but squeezing my thighs together and listening to his whisper:
“Be a good girl for daddy, alright? We’re almost there.”
Laying my head against his chest, I was shaking from holding back, but I listened, holding his hand as he guided me out, to his room and the sight of him sitting back in the chair, shirt unbuttoned, seeing how hard his bulge was against his pants as he spread his legs and patted his thigh, finger motioning for me:
“Come here, baby girl.”
This time, I didn’t mind taking things slow, hand gliding across his warm chest, lips packing heat in a tongue-full kiss, grinding down slowly while taking a seat across his thigh.
I could’ve gotten off by the friction his thigh put against my clit, back and forth, nice and slow, but picking up my hips as I felt him tapping my ass upward.
“Good girl,” He hummed against my lips, fingers slipping into my panties to tease my clit and feel how soaked I was, not wasting any time to slip in a finger and pump softly, soon adding another.
“Damn it,” Whining and burying my face into his neck, I couldn’t help but rock back into the two fingers beginning to fuck me faster, needing more and ready when he whispered to me:
“Cum for daddy and you’ll get something better.”
“I am, daddy-“ I moaned into his neck, a hand full of his shirt, rocking even harder, feeling his fingertips nudging a sensitive bump, deep inside and instantly creaming his fingers.
“Bet that felt good, hm?” Chuckling and giving me a kiss, he helped fix my footing on the ground, tapping me to stand up, “Take your dress off.”
The dress was easy to slip off my shoulders, one little zipper down and letting it fall to the floor, panties following to leave me nude, a smile on his face, and getting a show of my own when his clothes started coming off.
Left in his unzipped pants, the magnetism couldn’t be helped, kissing me over to the bed, just a step closer to what I wanted when he instructed:
“On the bed. All fours.”
Crawling up slowly and on all fours, like I was told, I laid my head in a position to watch his pants and boxers fall, a smile on my face when learning he was just as impressive as he felt.
“I’m in for it, huh?” Picking myself up and perking my hips upward, I was still playful, but gosh was he a dream, positioning himself, hands finding my hips and pulling me back carefully, the best moan I ever felt spilling out while he gave his cock slow, inch by inch, leaning to kiss my cheek:
“You just tell me how you want it, baby.”
“Fuck,” I whined into the mattress, just that slow bit putting me into another world, rocking back to meet his hips, thrusts starting out slow, but growing quicker each time.
“Don’t hide that beautiful face from me,” With his chest against my back, fixing my face so it wasn’t buried in the mattress, he completely bottomed me out, purring with a nibble on my ear, “I wanna hear those beautiful moans too.”
“H-Harder,” The coil in my stomach started tightening, mouth speaking before I could think, but my body knew what it wanted, digging into the sheets when his hips smacked into my ass so hard that it blew my back out, still hammering my sweet spot even while burying my lower half into the mattress.
“Hard like that?” Interlocking hands and pushing his weight onto me to keep my squirms somewhat under control, I was becoming a mess, feeling how my walls only sucked him in deeper.
“Oh my god, yes!” Even with my mouth wide open, I couldn’t breathe right, eyes rolling at the sudden, jolting jerk of my hips, squelching around his cock hard, the thrusts he had left in him making my thighs burn so bad but deliciously.
“My fucking-“ I heard him groan under his chest, whining at the tight grip on my ass, how my walls were still squeezing his cock so hard as he began to pull back, “Really trying to make me a daddy hugging me like that.”
We both got a laugh out of that, squealing then gasping when he flipped me to my back, wanting to see the sight of my body covered with his seed, panting with a smile on his face:
“But that’s good enough for now.”
#wrestling#wrestling imagine#wrestling fic#wrestling fanfic#wrestling smut#wrestling oneshot#aew#aew imagine#aew fic#aew fanfic#aew smut#aew oneshot#aew x reader#angelo parker#angelo parker x reader#angelo park imagine#angelo parker fic#angelo parker fanfic#angelo parker smut#angelo parker oneshot#read and enjoy
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Now that I've finally cleaned the dust of out of my PC, I can start doing my "canon" Kingmaker run.
Meet Ainsel, the Definitely Human (mechanically musetouched aasimar, but lorewise babyswapped fey) future ruler of the Stolen Lands. They became a traveling mercenary after leaving their hometown in the River Kingdoms (under less-than-ideal circumstances) due to their magical prowess and desire to avoid putting down any sort of roots, which somehow resulted in them getting the opportunity to establish a Barony.
For my personal fun and as a resource for potential future fic-writing, I'm making a "journal" of sorts here of the most notable things that happen in each in-game day.
Day 0 and 1: 13 and 14 Gozran 4710
Since they are from the River Kingdoms, Ainsel doesn't really see much difference between a bandit lord and any other type of lord. In fact, they're slightly insulted by Aldori's claim that she can't negotiate "with bandit gangs and monster hordes," because they feel it's a very reminiscent of the way outsiders view the non-Stolen Lands River Kingdoms. Also, they're defined as a monster by a lot of definitions! Fortunately, they are an expert at Not Giving A Shit. They also do not trust that people's stated intentions are their actual intentions, but they're used to it to the point that, if the stakes weren't quite so high, they probably would not comment on it at all to Aldori.
Not much to comment on here other than that Linzi is a lesbian :). And that Ainsel, despite not being an Amazing person, genuinely wants to prevent death when possible, since they have a fairly freedom-based worldview and, in their mind, death can be the antithesis of freedom, because the dead person will never be able to make choices again (at least, not in Golarion).
Ainsel is making an :3 face internally for this bit. Get dunked on Tartuccio!
Ainsel, internally: Cool cool cool I don't have any issues with being distrusted and viewed as a potential pretender. Everything is fine.
Edit: I changed Ainsel’s name to Liesel
#Pfkm#kingmaker#after I created them I realized that they had too many ability points (had increased it to 29 previously so I could give previous character#Enough INT to counterbalance how the CotW mod changes skill points) but honestly. It works with the lore it's fine.#also I will be continuing my Helmi WOTR journal I just. Haven't put much time into the game lately.#On account of college horrors and dusty PC inside.#Liesel#oc. Liesel
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The Bravest of All
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
CW: post-game events
Characters: Linzi & the Baroness Queen
A.N: I was thinking about write this one after THAT unfortunated event in the House of the Edge of Time. I think that I will never get over it (as so Andrine *sobbing*)
A bored reader walked into the public library. They already read (and re-read) all their favorite epic adventures. Rummaging through the corridors, they found a metal plate fixed on a bookcase: History of the River Kingdoms. They gave it a chance and proceeded to check the titles.
Then, between many decorated spines, one caught their eyes; a red book with golden letters.
“The Rise of the Kingdom of Solovey, Linzi the Bravest,” they read out loud, tilting their head. The reader took the copy, feeling the velvet cover. The pages were yellowish, but the ink was still neat.
On one of the first pages, there was a preface with the title To the Bravest of All. And the next words were from the Solovey’s first queen herself:
Everyone who was born in the old Stolen Lands knows better: sooner or later, you will lose. And I was one of them; since I was a child, I learnt that these lands are full of mysteries and sometimes you get a heartache at a very young age. But also I learnt that here doesn’t exhale only doom, but hope, bravery, faith, love, and many other virtues.
That night at Jamandi Aldori’s mansion changed my life forever. Not only because we suffered treason, and many people lost their lives around us, but because you were there with me, Linzi. I was minding my business, and then you appeared, offering to be my minstrel, and asking me to be your muse. At first I thought that was very amusing and I agreed with you because you were so energetic and full of good ideas and intentions. I would never forget your little eyes sparkling with eagerness. We were young and about to go on an adventure in the Stolen Lands!
You were by my side every moment. When we defeated the Stag Lord, when we laid the first stone of the barony, when you made me publicly swear to protect the kingdom at the Coronation, even when we went after your printer!
Not everything was fun and games, though. We lived in dark chapters, but like you used to say, all heroes have their moments of doubt. And we had. But also we held on to each other and waited until the storm was gone, humming merry songs or just crying on each other’s shoulder. Both were good.
Bandits, trolls, beasts, cultists, fey folks, ghosts. We went through so many things, always overcoming them. We began to feel above any evil. And then they took you away from me. It was like being stabbed and felt someone twisting the knife.
There is not a single day that I don’t mourn your death. I wished that the things were different, that we could do anything to counter the fate, but it was useless.
Everyone who was born in the old Stolen Lands knows better: sooner or later, you will lose.
You were the bravest of all the kingdom, my friend. The one who stood for their beliefs until the end. When the readers flip our pages, they will know that you were worth it. You are worth it, since your work will live until the day the sun devours Golarion.
Who is remembered will be never forgotten. That’s why I nominated you Linzi, the Bravest Bard, the Enchanter of Crowds, the Fleet-Feet, and Queen Andrine’s Sparrow. They would never forget any of us – and that’s my decree.
Tagging: @smuglyankabrazilyanka
#pathfinder kingmaker#pathfinder kingmaker spoilers!!!#pfkm spoilers!!!#you were warned#linzi pathfinder#andrine about linzi#andrine vanfell#pwotr pals
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Do u have an about me page? Ps. Thx for all the work u do❤
Hi :)
Thank you for reaching out! I’m happy you enjoy @linzi-yay ‘s and my translations!
I don’t know what an about me page is.
But I can tell you that about me: my name is Anna, I’m 30 from Germany, working in the art and media industry. I own a business, and work as a teacher/mentor regarding English lessons as well sometimes. I’m a queer polyamorous person and I have two pet bunnies that like to chew on me and my furniture. In my free time I write, make music, draw, build furniture (to be destroyed by angry little teeth), work on 3D projects, cook or have sleep overs, anime/BL evenings with my loved ones, or we drive around in my car to sing/get bubble tea/go to art exhibitions/cultural events in town.
I think that’s about it :D
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