#and yea i consider these chapters entirely different games | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pavvo20 · 1 year

Text

The Spark - Chapter 14: Revolution's Live - Poe Dameron/OC

Summary: When her childhood best friend recruits her during an undercover mission for the Resistance, Captain Kara Embers embraces her family legacy and joins the fight against the First Order. As the secrets of her past come to light, Kara never expects to be training with her mom’s best friend, flying her father’s ship, and falling in love with the Yavin-4 boy who always said he’d be the galaxy’s best pilot.

A/N: Writer's block has been a pain... but I wanted this to be genuine.. especially after all the feels in the last chapter.

Warnings: violence, language, sarcasm, moodiness, whump, fluff, kissing, ya know.. all that stuff. and well, ghosts.

Masterlist on my blog!

Word Count - 5K (going shorter this run.. but the long one's will be back!)

She felt Poe’s grief while she was in the middle of helping Dani make the necessary repairs to her s-foils. In fact, she was soldering two connection wires back together when she was almost overcome with just how sad her headache ridden comrade really was.

The mechanic heard her pilot exhale deeply, “Tough day?”

Kara glanced her way and smiled a bit, “You could say that… just a lot on my mind.”

“I can only imagine.” Flick replied, carefully greasing a nut she had in her hand. “Maybe it’s time to quit for those drinks…”

“As usual Dani, you are probably right.”

It took them both a few minutes to finish up exactly what they had opened and tidy up the workbench, carefully ensuring everything went back to “flight ready” status. With Luke’s presence now known throughout the base, it had been ordered that everything was prepared for even the slightest threat. Leia knew Ren would be looking for them, turning over every stone in the galaxy until he found them.

The cantina was relatively quiet when they arrived, with only a few others partaking in an evening beverage. In reality, it was still a bit early… the sun was just starting to set and most daily orders didn’t expire until twilight.

Kara slid a cold beer in front of her mechanic, “Seriously, I appreciate all the extra time you’ve spent on my ship lately.”

“Anytime, Kara.” Dani smiled sweetly, “I always enjoy the nights I get to learn a little from you while we work on that gorgeous fighter.”

“It is a really spectacular ship.”

“I know it's the same as Poe’s but there has to be something different about yours, it’s just that much nicer.”

Kara giggled a little as she saw her co-commander enter the bar with his captain. “I have a few guesses but that’s for another night.”

Poe, who was clearly in much better spirits, ordered a drink and looked almost completely rejuvenated in his dark long sleeve shirt and khaki trousers. Kara didn’t remember him changing clothes but considering he’d been in meetings most of the afternoon while she was in the hanger, it was a detail she would have missed. Both Poe and Snap were in charge of shifting supply runs and managing the parts shortage that afternoon, something that had fallen to them when Pierce was exiled.

“Well, someone is feeling better.” Jess quipped, joining the girls at their booth in the corner as the boys managed to get roped into a game of pool. “Who would have thought supply meetings would have gotten him back into the swing of things?”

“You know what day it is Jess, it’s a miracle he left his room at all.” Kara let her gaze drift to him, feeling just how content he was amongst his friends. “This is what his mom would have wanted for him.”

“I honestly was worried he had gotten that flu that’s ripped through Blue Squad.” Jess sipped on her beer as Dani nodded, “That shit is intense. They’ll be grounded for at least another week.”

“Yea, their head mechanic, Scotty, has it too.”

It wasn’t uncommon for an entire squadron to be sick, especially with the way things had been going recently. The Resistance as a whole was struggling with burnout, exhaustion, and dehydration. Their food rations had gotten overwhelmingly bland again, which Leia was in the process of fixing through a few friends in the Senate.

They had taken out a First Order Dreadnought… and unfortunately that had lost them several allies in the process. People were afraid that they were asking for too much of a fight for a force that was simply supposed to be keeping the peace.

Kara hated politicians well before she ever got involved deeply in the affairs side of the war, but grew to detest them even more as things progressed. They made decisions based on what ultimately benefited them, and it was rare that the Resistance did anything that would completely satisfy that need. It was why Poe and Snap had to reroute their supply missions and barter for parts like they were swapping for spice.

“At least our medical supplies are in decent shape.” She sighed, “And I thought I saw Scotty this afternoon?”

“He’s working through his case unfortunately, there’s not enough help for him to take the time off.” Dani lamented, finishing her drink. “We are all strained with parts and people, especially after the evacuation.”

Kara closed her eyes, remembering the stories Leia had told about the cruisers full of people they’d lost in their journey to Ajan Kloss. She just hadn’t fully felt its impact. Black Squadron didn’t often have to make sacrifices…they were their best and were always serviced that way. Blue was right behind them but was clearly taking the brunt of the losses...so they didn’t have to.

“That has to change.” She said, “Scotty deserves a chance to recover. I’ll work on ships if I have to.”

“Kara –”

“I’ll talk to Poe and Leia in the morning. All the pilots can take on the extra work right now, especially if it helps you all get a chance to recover.”

Leia’s name crossed the alert beacon on her data pad. So much for her night off.

“I gotta go.” It buzzed again. “I’m late for training.”

It didn’t take her long to get out of the cantina and down toward the base training gym, the one drink leaving her system faster than it entered it.

Kara entered the facility to find Luke sparring with an invisible enemy, his saber humming as it sliced through the air effortlessly. She quietly observed his every move, analyzing his seamless transitions and parries. He was a master for a reason… and she could see bits and pieces of Kylo Ren’s own technique in his movements. The Supreme Leader had learned a thing or two from his uncle after all.

“You’re late.” He said as he completed another string of movements. “And you look more prepared to fly than work on your swordsmanship.”

Skywalker stopped as he disengaged his blade, eying up Kara’s flight suit tied around her waist.

“I’ll spare you the excuses, Master.” She said, brushing her braid off her shoulder as he clipped his weapon back on his hip. “The hanger is behind on repairs and the fleet needs to be prepared. I felt that took priority.”

Luke could hear the girl’s military past in her voice as she did her best to appear confident in front of him. She was used to being doubted, reprimanded, and questioned. He could feel her insecurity in her aura. “And you felt that was a decision you could make without consulting me first?”

He saw her eyes close as she resisted the urge to bite her lower lip. “Yes.”

Kara was prepared for him to lose it. He had been a bit testy since the day she’d met him and anticipated this to be no exception. Luke’s priority was to ward off his rogue nephew and bring him home once and for all. He could have cared less about the war. Meanwhile, Kara had figured out how to prioritize both her missions, while ensuring that the cause that impacted the most people at any given time, received her attention first.

Skywalker crossed his arms, appearing more displeased than he actually was. “Ren is hunting us both like animals–.”

“And the Resistance is our first line of defense.” She interrupted, “If that fleet isn’t ready, we’re easy targets.”

“Kinda like you were the other night?” Skywalker cocked an eyebrow, seeing Kara’s face flush red.

“You knew that was part of the plan.” Kara fought the urge to let her mind wander to the innocent look she remembered in Ben’s eyes.

“But were you really acting, Commander?”

Kara grew increasingly frustrated with her master, glaring at him through the dimly lit room as if her gaze could set him on fire. She had shown Ben the respect he’d asked for, hoping that maybe, just maybe, she would get through to him – and she almost did.

“I’m not doing this with you tonight, General.” She snapped, doing her best to remain as professional as possible. “I’ll complete whatever consequence you see fit for my unpreparedness tonight, but I will not stand here and let you question my intentions.”

Luke could hear his sister in her tone. He turned away from her, gazing out the large window toward the flight line. He decided not to press her. “Poe saw his mother tonight, thanks to you.”

Kara’s emotions cooled off immediately, “What?”

“We must have created a temporary surge in the Force earlier…or well, you did.” He said, winking at her from his reflection in the glass. “It was just enough for Shara to finally go to him, just as your mother occasionally comes to you.”

“But how?”

“We don’t always know how but I could argue that once you finally got the chance to be with Dameron last night and this morning, on your own terms, you both found the balance that you’ve both been craving for the last little bit. He’s been sensitive since he was a child… just like his mother.”

Kara smiled to herself as she stepped next to Skywalker, letting her gaze follow his to the stars. That’s why she had felt him so strongly earlier, he was wishing he had more time…

“Your homework…” Luke winked, “is to spend a little time seeing just how deep your connection goes. Obviously, the basic stuff we know..but see if you can’t figure out a few little tricks of your own.”

The girl next to him smiled, “Thank you.”

“I’ll expect a report on what you discover later tonight, tomorrow morning…be on time.” Her master playfully nudged her arm, encouraging her to take off. “I don’t ask for a lot here, Embers.”

“Understood.”

She found Poe in the hanger only a few minutes later, his boots poking out from underneath a Blue Squadron A-Wing as he tinkered away at a faulty weapons system as music played from the little speaker in his toolbox.

He must have spent a minute talking to Dani, as Scotty - who was supposedly working overtime - was nowhere in sight. It didn’t take long for her to notice that most of the usual mechanics were missing, as Snap poked his head out of a cockpit, clearly having replaced a control panel on a T-65 only a few bays down.

“Hey Stargirl, the other X-wing is all yours.” He said, tossing her an oil rag. “Navigation system is a little outta whack.”

“Copy that.” She said, “I take it you guys caught up with Captain Flick?”

“She brought us up to speed.” Poe replied, “Figured we’d get a headstart on a few things before you got a chance to talk to the general.”

He slid out from under the ship, dusting himself off a bit as BB-8 rolled into his place to repair a few circuits. He had a few new oil stains in his khaki pants but otherwise, Poe glistened with a light sweat, his curls getting a mind of their own in the jungle humidity. He had a new found confidence in him, something Kara hadn’t seen in years.

“Leia’s in calls for at least another hour or so, but I’m sure she won’t mind.” Kara smiled, grabbing her own tool box off the bench near her ship. “Plus, anything we can get ahead on only helps us in the long run.”

“Jess is working on dinner and Kare is getting a few of the Green and Red Squadron pilots to come pitch in… Dani has everyone who’s been avoiding medical down there now to get checked out.” Poe said, peeking quickly at his data pad before wiping his stained hand on a rag he had tucked in his belt. “You and I will talk to Leia when she’s ready.”

“Sounds like a plan, Black Leader.” Kara winked at him as she popped the canopy on the fighter Snap had pointed her to. “Anything else you need before I get completely distracted by this needy navigation computer?”

Poe chuckled, “Sorry if I kinda took over your plan.”

“Don’t apologize.” Kara set her tools down and tucked a few strands of loose hair behind her ear. “I was kinda hoping you would.”

“Oh really?”

“Yea, people just rally around you…they don’t do that for me.” Poe saw a glint of guilt flash in her eyes. “I mean I understand why they don’t do that for me, I wouldn’t trust me either.”

“Hey, wait…who doesn’t trust you?”

Kara shook her head, “Come on Poe, I’ve been randomly selected as the only person in the whole galaxy who can stop Kylo Ren. People are terrified of me.”

“I think you’ve been off planet for a little too long.” His tone was soft and comforting as he felt her self-confidence take a dip. “Kara, the entire maintenance team is off tonight because that’s how many people stepped up. Dani told them you were asking for their help and they didn’t even hesitate.”

They both looked up as 3 members of green squadron wandered through the door and Snap informed them of their assignments. Poe watched as a smile pulled at Kara’s lips as several members of the blue and orange squadron were right behind them.

“The entire maintenance team got the night off?”

“You heard me.” Poe quipped, playfully punching her in the arm as he turned to head back to the A-wing he was almost done with. “All because of you.”

She took a second to look around again. Even the pilots who she thought didn’t like her because she beat them out for a spot on Poe’s squad had come to lend a hand. There wasn’t a ship on the flight line that wasn’t receiving some kind of attention, even if it was just a simple spot of touch up paint.

Her inner voice, the one that had been doubting her since she left the cantina, fell silent for the first time in a few weeks. Maybe she could do this after all.

********************************************************

It wasn’t completely uncommon to hear music coming from the hangar on a Friday night. Leia found peace in the normalcy of the occurrence, knowing that it helped soothe the nerves of her meticulous mechanics and even some of the pilots.

She just wasn’t used to it being that loud, especially that late at night.

It was well past normal working hours and she expected this noise from the cantina, only to be surprised to find the bar completely empty.

So, she followed the sounds to the large set of double doors, finding a bit of her heart warming at the bustling scene she caught briefly from the window…only to find herself moved by the scene when she stepped inside.

Every pilot that wore their crest was there, coated in fighter oil, paint, or sweat from working on the record number of fighters that needed repair or routine maintenance. It just didn’t appear that way at first, especially with the singing, occasionally dancing, and general uplifting atmosphere the group had seemed to create for themselves.

You would have never known that any of them had just spent the last several weeks entrenched in a war.

Leia’s gaze fell to Captain Wexley first, who had a bright orange cap turned backwards on his head as he bounced from bay to bay with several pilot apprentices in tow. Each one with a clipboard. It took her a moment to realize that they were taking parts orders and distributing the ones they had in supply so the pilots wouldn’t have to spend too much time looking for exactly what they needed.

Then there was Kare Kun and Jess Pava, who spent time ensuring that all those that were working got a few snacks, some fresh caf, and plenty of water. The last thing they needed was anyone else in the medbay for helping out an already overworked team.

She heard Poe before she saw him, calling to a green squadron pilot in the bay across from him for a roll of heat shield tape. He was drenched in sweat, a smile spread across his face as he caught the flying ring of bright white tape against his thin black shirt. He was tending to A-wing, one that looked very similar to the one his mother used to fly, that belonged to an orange squadron pilot who was tending to the paint on his x-wing on the other side of the hanger.

It wasn’t until she stepped a bit closer to the ship that she saw his little droid, looking attentively up at the pilot tapping away at the computer inside as he waited for instructions. “Alright buddy, give her some juice.”

The droid sent a current through the chip he was next to and the lights lit up the young woman’s face as Leia rounded the front of the ship to see Kara Embers troubleshooting yet another navigation system.

“I heard that someone had given the maintenance team the night off.” She cocked an eyebrow as she saw Kara blush while punching a code into the flight computer.

“I said I was going to talk to you first.” She said, looking up as she waited for a few other lights to flicker on. “Poe just prefers to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

Leia laughed, “That is Commander Dameron’s MO isn’t it?”

BB-8 chirped again and Kara punched in another code. “Almost got it Bee, one more time.”

The panel in front of her flicked off and powered back on, all the lights that were giving her trouble before shining brighter than before. Kara smiled, “Close her up Bee, onto the next one!”

“You guys have quite the operation going on in here.” Leia added, handing Kara a rag as she hopped out of the ship. “Not sure we have had this many updated maintenance logs since the war started.”

“It’s my fault that Ren may find us,” Kara said, wiping her filthy hands down before grabbing her water bottle. “So, it’s only fair that we are truly prepared to face him and the army of troopers that he’ll bring with him.”

The general could see the girl’s military strategy gears turning as she looked around the hangar at the various teams. She seemed more confident than she knew that she was. A skill Poe had taught her.

“You’ll make quite the general one day…” Leia said, wrapping an arm around Kara’s shoulders as she felt her confidence surge once more. “I know you don’t believe me but I hope you see this as proof of how many people are inspired by you, trust you, and will stand beside you in this fight.”

The girl was quiet as she scanned the room, many of the ships moving to their finished positions.

“I know that you don’t think you’re the type – Poe doesn’t think he is either.” She continued, “But that is what makes both of you so easy to follow. You are never too good for any job or mission. Just like how you convinced almost every other pilot of the same thing tonight.”

Kara couldn’t help but smile as Poe noticed the two of them from across the way. He had just finished guiding a ship into its nightly resting place with a few of the other pilots and his energy was infectious. He may have been exhausted, sweaty, and sore but it was hard to tell as he laughed and carried on with his comrades.

As Leia’s words played over again in her head, she could see the leader she described in her partner. Poe took the time to teach his fellow pilots just how to care for the ships he had spent his life tending to. He was never above getting his hands dirty and was always eager to assist in any way that he could, even if his own to-do list was hanging over his head – and he did it all with a smile on his face.

If someone were to have seen Poe in this moment and knew nothing about him, they would have just assumed he was a passionate maintenance technician…surrounded by a group of friends he’d known his whole life. They would have never guessed that he was the best pilot in their ranks rubbing elbows with many of his professional rivals.

The general wished that the girl at her side could see exactly how Poe saw her in that same moment – sure, she was still in her morning flight suit and drenched in her own mix of sweat and oil – but her physical appearance aside, the man was intoxicated by her quiet confidence and unwavering care. Her meticulous attention to detail pushed each and every person in that room to put forward their best effort. It had even inspired him to be that much more aware of each repair he made. Kara was strategic in her fixes as well, ensuring the wires were placed in better locations and buttons were made more accessible so they wouldn’t have to make a similar repair again in half a day’s time.

She was also kind, patient, and understanding… something that her mother often lacked when under immense amounts of stress. Not once did Kara snap at a droid or a flight apprentice and she took extra care to make sure she talked to every person who had come to help out, even the ones that she thought didn’t trust her. She was blind to it but it was something he noticed almost immediately. Kara could be stubborn, often remembering more grudges than she ever held herself, but she put it all aside when it mattered most.

“You are forgiven for inspiring a small maintenance revolution.” Leia murmured, smiling at Kara as the last ship was closed up and most of the hangar bays were placed up for tomorrow morning’s shift. “I’ll make sure everyone is aware of tomorrow night’s open bar at the morning leadership briefing.”

Kara bit her tongue, wanting so badly to apologize again.

“I’ll see you and Commander Dameron bright and early.” She gave her one more squeeze. “Nice work.”

As Leia returned to her quarters, Kara shook her hair out of her braid and collected her tools from the bay she’d been stationed in most of the evening. The hangar got more and more quiet as each pilot headed off to bed, all of which stopped by her workbench to say good night.

“There you are.” Poe’s voice was thick with exhaustion and rough from the laughing, singing, and general happiness he’d spent the night spreading around. “Feel like I haven’t seen you since we started.”

“I was a little busy with navigation computers and ensuring that BB-8 was staying on task.” Kara said smoothly as she pushed a few sweaty curls off his forehead. “Plus, you get tons of time with me, Flyboy.”

“So?” He slipped his hands around her waist, drawing her closer to his chest as the lights in the hangar dimmed a bit. “Hard work looks really good on you.”

Kara snorted, “That’s good cuz it smells awful on you.”

Poe’s laugh echoed in the almost empty room as he felt her rest her head against his shoulder, “What did Leia have to say?”

“Just that she forgives me for not asking her to do this first…” Kara watched as Poe gazed out at the stars for a minute, a soft breeze starting to rustle the thick trees that lined the tarmac. “You know, cuz we were supposed to meet with her.”

“Pretty sure she’s used to us apologizing at this point.”

“She definitely is.”

Kara looked up to see Poe gazing down at her with soft, tired eyes as he allowed himself a chance to fully relax. It was only a few minutes after midnight, which was early considering how much work they had originally agreed to take on. She felt him shiver slightly as the breeze picked up again, his sweat drenched shirt starting to cool down his overheated skin.

He broke his silence as her gaze drifted out to the sky again. “I talked to my mom.”

Kara smiled as she could feel his restless spirit finding a little bit of peace. “Poe, that’s incredible.”

“Yea, apparently I’ve been Force sensitive since I was a kid…and she’s sensitive.” He recalled, “That and she could touch me…like she really hugged me.”

“Luke told me that happens sometimes with really strong connections…” She paused, seeing the tears brimming in Poe’s eyes as she caught his gaze. “That's the first time you’ve felt her since…”

He simply nodded.

Poe had held onto the memory of the very last time he’d ever hugged his mother since the day she’d left him with Han on the cargo door of the Falcon when he was 7. It was why he’d slept with her jacket till he was a teen and let himself dream about seeing her again from time to time. It was a feeling he had only ever wished he could get back…and the Force had brought it to him.

Kara felt him curl her tight to his chest as he kissed the top of her head. “I promised her a few things…”

“Oh really? Finally gonna be a good little soldier and let Luke help you out?”

Poe rolled his eyes as he felt her giggle, “Well, maybe I’ll break that one.”

Kara playfully thumped him in the chest as he chuckled and gave her a big tight squeeze, keeping her close. “I also told her I'd give you a big ole wookie hug so..”

“I think she needs to come around more often.” Kara smirked against his chest, “She only needed a few minutes to get you to quit being so damn stubborn and yet it still takes me a few days? That’s bantha shit, Dameron.”

She tickled him a bit as he broke into his full dopey smile, breaking away a bit in surprise. “You are asking for trouble, Stargirl!”

“Oh am I?” Kara teased as he tugged her in for a kiss this time, reducing the rest of her comeback to a muffled giggle as her hands softly found a home around his waist.“That was cheating…”

Poe nuzzled her nose with his own, a smirk playing on his lips. “No one said I had to play fair.”

They stood together for a little while longer, eyes trained on the stars as Kara listened to Poe’s slow and steady heartbeat and found comfort in his warm embrace. She couldn’t remember the last time he was this at peace with their situation, especially knowing that he had to train with Luke again in the morning. Shara’s visit had clearly healed some wounds he still had open - one’s that only she could tend to in her own special way. It was something she missed most about having her around.

“She misses you too, Stargirl…” He murmured, watching Kara’s fingers fiddle with the ring at the end of the necklace. He could feel a little of her jealousy, as Kara only ever interacted with the ghost of her mother, who lately had made it very clear that she was not supportive of her force bond with him.

Kara smiled, setting her head against his shoulder again, “I think I miss her more.”

#poe dameron #poe dameron fanfiction #fanfiction #star wars oc #fanfic #poe dameron x oc #wattpad #poe dameron fan #star wars

0 notes

bladekindeyewear · 4 years

Text

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-08-23

More homestuuuuuck

I’m a little tired today so I don’t expect much intelligent analysis out of myself, but if anything classpecty happens I doubt I’ll be able to help myself regardless.

oh, always

(EDITS: added note on horn colors, link to ask on potential Blood powers reference)

> CHAPTER 12. Really Convoluted Metaphorical Horseshit

cuuute

In the bowels of a different ship, at a moment in time that is not pinpointable in either direction from the previous interaction, another Dave raps quietly to himself.

another dave raps quietly to himself. i am glad that phrase exists it brings me joy

(LATER EDIT: A friend on Discord pointed out that throughout this entire update, Karkat's horns are #FF0000 red. They were normal candy-corn colors in previous glimpses at the ship crew, though they used a dark single-color shortcut typical of old Homestuck at one point... but THIS time it stays STARK red even when we zoom in close later. Is this just artistic liberty? Did Karkat color his horns for fashion? Does this happen to red-bloods like the Sufferer after a certain age? Just how much time has actually passed, here? We might have to wait for the commentary for this one.)

KARKAT: I WAS SAYING I THOUGHT WE MIGHT GO, I DUNNO, ANYWHERE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE SHIP WHILE THE CLOTHES WERE WASHING. KARKAT: SEEING AS THIS DECREPIT MACHINE WE WERE SO BLESSEDLY PROVIDED WITH MAKES A WHIRRING SOUND SO PANCHAFINGLY ARHYTHMIC THAT IT THREATENS TO ERADICATE THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF TEMPO FROM THE UNIVERSE.

Karkat really has chilled out hasnt he? like this is surprisingly level for him, and that fact is hilarious.

KARKAT: AND YET SOMEHOW BASICALLY ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE STARTED THE LOAD IS THAT YOU’VE BEEN USING IT AS A FUCKED UP BEAT TO WHISPER TO YOURSELF ABOUT FLOWERS TO.

oh gosh that’s why he’s rapping

> ==>

DAVE: kanaya was telling me this kids story the other day about this dude who didnt cherish a flower enough until it peaced out to do flower stuff idk its not pertinent to the story DAVE: except the flower was a person DAVE: because it was a metaphor

Oh right, coming back to the Little Prince stuff I was too lazy to metaphor-deep-dive into, and literally asking the same questions we were asking about who the Little Prince’s story applies to mapped here if anyone at all, like Dirk and such, or what biases were in the retelling of it and the way Kanaya phrased it. So now we’re practically mocking it by deep diving it here, hence the last page’s “DAVE: i was just thinking through some really convoluted metaphorical horseshit”, which means we’re both about to further explore AND shit all over the existence of this story metaphor until it doesn’t mean anything and most of the meaning we drew from it earlier is made a joke~

well, not “we”, cause I was too lazy, so... y’all

DAVE: anyway what goes down in the story is that once the flower lady is out of the picture DAVE: the main character goes around making all these connections between her and everything else in the universe until every damn thing feels like a symbol for how much he fucked up and how much he will never see her again KARKAT: THIS SEEMS PRETTY FUCKING INTENSE FOR A KID'S STORY DAVE: yea thats pretty much what i said

Oh holy shit. That’s yet another way to put it. Are we doing a whole moral takedown of the Light aspect today? cause it sounds like we’re taking a dump on the Light aspect and RoboRose getting too obsessed and immersed in it, which would be excellent

DAVE: but i guess its not so much what the story was technically textually about but more like the version of it kanaya internalized and then told me when we were talkin about how she misses rose

exactly

DAVE: so like now im taking the story she told me she was projecting her feelings onto and projecting my feelings on top of that

yes absolutely, you just rephrased it a different way with that exact same bias

DAVE: this is just one big game of emotional projection telephone so feel free to go paraphrase it to roxy later and make it about whatever fuckin thing youre currently missing

perfect. i need an emoji for that Italian thing for when you pinch your thumb and forefinger together and kiss it

ah this’ll do:

its like the expression “choice” but in nonverbal form

[...] whatever fuckin thing youre currently missing KARKAT: YOUR ABILITY TO GET TO THE POINT DAVE: gotem DAVE: anyway you’re not gonna have to miss that skill of mine for long DAVE: get ready for this shit because i am about to slap you with the point so hard youll fall ass first into the washer DAVE: just scrambling around in there getting all sudsy DAVE: but your brain is gonna be so blasted from the mindfreak of a point im about to make that there wont be anything left to clean

Anytime dave is told to get to the point he is contractually obligated to spend at least 20 seconds talking about how he’ll get to the point in a way that is not getting to the point

DAVE: so its genuinely cool that kanaya can go around creating meaning that may or may not be actually present in every little thing DAVE: connecting every feeling she has to the idea of her wife existing out there DAVE: so i told her she should keep that shit up DAVE: but im having the opposite issue where im struggling to find anything to be that kind of tether because every single thing i could possibly consider about what it is were doing just reminds me of yet another thing to be afraid about

Great examples of Light being good and bad! Attaching strands of connective meaning to everything. --though, in Dave’s case AND Kanaya’s case you could argue it’s both bad in terms of effects. That it’s great for Kanaya to care, but that she should be able to divest herself and live on her own terms without idealizing Rose literally everywhere she looks, personal growth which would be useful in helping bring Rose back to her in the first place. The struggle they’re looking forward to is largely philosophical, not just physical, and until Rosebot acknowledges that she was wrong it’s not over.

DAVE: everything fuckin sucks huge cosmic donkey sack and im terrified KARKAT: OK, SO I FEEL LIKE YOU SKIPPED A COUPLE NECESSARY STEPS IN YOUR POINT CLARIFICATION PROCESS.

Pretty sure Dave was on the same page as most Epilogue and start-of-HS2 readers. This situation is pretty bleak to dump our heroes into, no matter how much we believe will be resolved in the long run.

DAVE: ok but were you going with sweet or savory please give me that much at least KARKAT: YEAH IT WAS GOING TO BE SUNDAE-BASED. DAVE: nice KARKAT: YEAH. KARKAT: DO YOU WANNA WATCH MORE GBBO AFTER THIS? DAVE: absolutely

--ah, Great British Bake-Off, can’t say I’ve indulged

do they still have that?? did they save it from old Earth? or did they go where unflooded Britain used to be and say hey, new show reboot

KARKAT: GREAT. ANYWAY, LIKE I WAS SAYING, FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET HUMAN CHRIST, PLEASE BACK UP TO WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU’RE ACTUALLY SCARED OF. KARKAT: ALSO COME HERE, IDIOT.

That last line is like, exactly as fucking sweet and awesome as we imagined their relationship to be. :)

> ==>

OH MY GOD THAT’S ADORABLE

DAVE: ok yeah this is a better position to unleash all my inner fears n anxieties from

indisputably.

DAVE: those times its like my mouth was saying words about the situation wherein our friends are AWOL and maybe dead but my brain wasnt fully letting me experience the emotion that goes along with them DAVE: man its like i cant even start genuinely thinking about how afraid i actually am for rose and john without my brain flippin its wad and whiting out DAVE: like haha fuck i hope theyre ok DAVE: now i better make a fuckin joke before i succumb to the gaping mouth of despair waiting for me to fall in it as soon as i look down and acknowledge that its there ogling how juicy my ass looks as it trembles with terror

I really hope that the writers of HS2 know full well that this feeling? the one Dave is describing here? is what many of us who got way overinvested in the well-being of Homestuck’s surviving characters felt reading the Epilogues and Homestuck^2. So I really hope they’re working through it in a way that will result in a preponderance of GOOD THINGS happening and hope-filled situations. Cause that “can’t even think about X” feeling is too familiar, and if they understand it as well as it LOOKS like they’re getting to, I’d really like them to give us a helping hand healing.

I think that’s what they’re going for? Seems hopeful for me to think so, but they HAVE been doing better as HS2 has been going forward, from an emotional standpoint anyway; definitely better than the Epilogues. And I’ve worked through some of that stuff with the help of that, because it’s MUCH easier nowadays to think about Homestuck without my gut clenching.

DAVE: i guess im just fucked up about how to worry about dirk and be angry at him at the same time DAVE: because if i get as unholy pissed at him as i sometimes wanna be i also gotta admit to myself that maybe i coulda done something different there

Mhmm, Karkat’s potentially a pretty good person to speak with here since he’s done so much work trying not to feel responsible for everything that’s ever gone wrong.

DAVE: also like DAVE: and this by the way adds a whole other layer of guilt on there that i dont really know how to fuckin reckon with but DAVE: even with all the shit hes pulled and the fact that we are more or less heading toward having to take him down DAVE: whatever that is gonna mean and whether or not he planned it like that DAVE: i just DAVE: me and him had come so far with each other and it was really cool for a while to have him and i DAVE: ugh DAVE: i dont WANT to hate him

Yeah, Dirk and Jane’s heel-turns were really shitty for anyone who was a fan of them in the fanbase, as well.

KARKAT: WELL THEN QUIT FUCKING PICKING AT THE SEAM ON MY SHORTS AND SPIT IT OUT. THEY'RE BARELY HANGING ON TO THE DEFINITION OF "SHORTS" AS IT IS.

That is an adorably real boyfriend-laying-in-boyfriend’s-lap thing to do

DAVE: the part i mentioned before about how we really have no goddamn clue how long this trip is even gonna take DAVE: i cant help but feel like its barely getting revved up DAVE: and for me and roxy and jade and callie and kan thats normal shit at best and boring at worst but we all have our immortality to thank for that DAVE: we can just dick around in space for near-eternity waiting to catch up to our friends who may or may not be our enemies now and itll be fine DAVE: i mean no itll be categorically miserable DAVE: but well survive it KARKAT: HOLD THE FUCK ON. DAVE: but you KARKAT: DAVE. DAVE: no lemme say this

Oh god damnit. Karkat’s limited lifespan. As if we hadn’t ALREADY covered a nauseatingly extensive gamut of disheartening topics of conversation. We really have to confront every shred of misery in their past, present and future one after the other after the other in the Epilogues and HS2, don’t we? >:(

I guess it had to be discussed, though.

DAVE: we dont talk about it much and i got shit to say about it DAVE: its not like i never thought about how youre mortal before but i just thought wed be able to figure it out before it mattered DAVE: come up with some kind of plan DAVE: i was just distracted being happy with you i fucking guess and so i didnt think up a way to fix it DAVE: and now thanks to dirk we have to work it out right the fuck now DAVE: because i cant spend this trip just sitting around watching you get old and die

Jesus. I mean, WE know(?) that it’s not gonna be THAT many years, but THEY don’t know that.

Unless it really IS going to be that many years and HS2 is going to shamelessly take a fucking sledgehammer to our feelings for no goddamn good reason. Which it won’t! Right??? >:T

> ==>

Dishwasher ding

> Dave: Grapple with the clean, soggy consequences of the passage of time.

Hey, don’t make it a metaphor here. --though, fuck. I suppose we are dealing with everyones dirty laundry. God damnit. SURE, deal with it all story but then GET IT OUT OF THE WAY AND PUT SOME SERIOUS FUN AND LAUGHS IN HERE so we don’t feel like we’re wading through an entire garbage dump!!! *click*

Karkat’s eyebrows-only mouthless frown is really cute.

> ==>

okay Karkat explain the nope you’re lodging

> ==>

*put*

> ==>

*foot*

> ==>

DAVE: ok go on

I mean I at least appreciate the time investment in adorable boyfriends. That’s definitely something of SOME good value they’re giving us in exchange for this misery

> ==>

That Karkat image makes me wanna do that red-shaky-gif-thing with it

KARKAT: IT'S NOT LIKE I'M NEW TO THE PARTICULAR MOOBEAST WRANGLING EVENT OF SOMEONE I PREVIOUSLY LOVED BRUTALLY TURNING ON ME AND LEAVING ME TO TRY AND CRAM MY FEELINGS ABOUT THE SITUATION BACK TOGETHER ALL ON MY OWN.

True

KARKAT: HE DID THAT ON HIS OWN. AND WE MADE THE CHOICE TO GO AFTER HIM ON OUR OWN.

Yes, and you’ll possibly convince him more of that over time, though not in this short conversation

KARKAT: I WAS FOLLOWING YOUR LITTLE TRAIL OF COOKIE CRUMB FEARS UNTIL IT LEAD TO THE BIG SNACK FINALE OF WORRY ABOUT MY FRAGILE MORTAL MEATSACK. KARKAT: IF I HAVE SOMEHOW NOT BEEN CLEAR ABOUT THIS WITH YOU YET, LET ME GO AHEAD AND RECTIFY THE SITUATION RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. KARKAT: HANGING OUT WITH YOU ON THIS LONG TRIP TO WHO THE SHITTING FUCK KNOWS WHERE IS QUITE LITERALLY THE HAPPIEST I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY ENTIRE MEAGER EXISTENCE. KARKAT: I'M SO ABSOLUTELY BLISSED THE FUCK OUT OF MY MIND TO BE ABLE TO LOOK AT YOUR STUPID IMMORTALLY SMOOTH HUMAN FACE SKIN EVERY DAY AND NOT HAVE A COMPLEX ABOUT IT.

D’AWWW

And with that darkly angry expression too, that’s PERFECT

I mean it’s true. What exactly would they be doing DIFFERENTLY on Earth C other than enjoying each other like this? It’s pretty fucking great.

...hm. Isn’t this journey-not-the-destination stuff pretty Breathy? Karkat’s proving more balanced by the moment.

KARKAT: AND I'LL BE STRAIGHT WITH YOU. IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVEN'T BEEN EXPERIENCING SOME COMPLICATED GUILT, MYSELF. KARKAT: THE FACT THAT I'M HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE JUST FUCKING CHILLAXING AND BEING IN LOVE IN SPACE IS A CLEARLY INCONGRUOUS WITH THE REASON I'M ACTUALLY HERE CHILLAXING TO BEGIN WITH, AND I'M NOT LETTING MYSELF FORGET THAT, EITHER.

Pff. He feels guilty for ENJOYING IT so much. <3

KARKAT: BUT I RESENT THE IMPLICATION THAT MY HAPPINESS IS REGISTERING FOR YOU AS YOU HAVING TO JUST "SIT AROUND AND WATCH ME GET OLD," BECAUSE I KNOW YOU KNOW IT'S MORE THAN THAT.

I’m glad Karkat knows that DAVE knows somewhere in him that it’s more than that, because yeah, if Karkat thought he DIDN’T know that at some level that’d be a reason to take MUCH MORE SERIOUS offense.

KARKAT: LIKE, JESUS, DAVE. YOU KNOW I'M AFRAID FOR YOU, TOO, RIGHT? KARKAT: OR DID YOU FORGET THE WHOLE HEROIC DEATH THING? KARKAT: I WORRY ABOUT LOSING YOU FAIRLY FUCKING REGULARLY.

Hah!!! Point taken. Karkat must view Dave as practically more fragile than HIM.

KARKAT: ONE: WE'VE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH HELLACIOUS PANWARPING TRAUMA THAT I REFUSE TO NOT ENJOY THIS SHIT WHEN I FINALLY FUCKING GET IT, NO MATTER HOW LONG IT MAY OR MAY NOT LAST. KARKAT: TWO: IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE DOING NOTHING. WE’RE MOVING. WE’RE WORKING. WE’RE HEADED SPECIFICALLY TO A PLACE WHERE WE WILL UNDOUBTLEDLY ENDURE YET MORE FUCKING HELLACIOUS PANWARPING TRAUMA. KARKAT: AND THREE: WE'RE DOING THAT BECAUSE WE HAVE FRIENDS WHO WE CARE ABOUT THAT NEED US. THAT IS OUR FOCUS, HERE. NOT OUR FEAR. IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE WE HAVE TO SAVE. KARKAT: SO DON'T FUCKING WORRY ABOUT ME, DAVE. I'M FINE.

Okay, this is great and wholesome. I am now retroactively GLAD that this topic got brought up. :)

> ==>

Dave is still afraid. There is a part of him that will always be, he thinks. He has accepted this about himself. There is another feeling coursing through him too, though. It’s something he's felt before, though never quite so intensely. He looks up at Karkat and understands, viscerally, the simple power his words have. They pump through Dave’s own body, alive and warm and true.

He wonders if Karkat realizes it, or if he’s just, as always, saying what he feels as he feels it. Dave doesn’t attempt to dissect it further. There will be time for that later.

Every really loving moment like this is sort of undercut by the fact that it’s also, in some senses, part of alt!Calliope’s narration and, by extension, her fanfiction.

EDIT 2: There's also either a hint to potential Blood powers or even an explicit Blood power use here that I didn't recognize. I'm leaning towards it's-laying-the-groundwork-for-future-use-of-Blood-powers-but-isnt-magical-in-this-case.

> ==>

Smooooch!

That was nice. Still gonna wait on doing any commentary til next time or a Bonus update or two, cause I’m beat. See y’all next time!

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #Homestuck^2 #spoiler #spoilers #Breath and Blood #Light and Void

26 notes · View notes

arrantsnowdrop · 4 years

Text

A Dangerous Game - Chapter 3 (Theseus Scamander x OC series)

Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Summary: When Victoire McKinnon, one of the wizarding world's most proficient curse-breakers, is asked to assist and protect the Ministry of Magic's Auror Department in their crusade against Grindelwald, she finds herself stuck working with the extremely annoying, exceptionally good looking Theseus Scamander.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of violence and death, 2,674 words

..........

“He’s just so rude, Thea, I don’t understand how anyone could be so rude,” Victoire seethed, reaching out to grab a lengthy looking novel from the bookshelf in front of her. She plopped it down on top of the other two books she was already holding.

“He’s probably unnerved,” Anthea Barrows replied reassuringly. The two had been best friends at Hogwarts, both sorted into Gryffindor, both hired by Gringotts right after graduation. Anthea left her position as a Curse-Breaker a year ago to work as a full time professor at the Uagadou School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she taught the interpretation of ancient runes.

Victoire worked there part time (still being heavily involved in the excavations Gringotts was conducting in Japan), teaching a few classes about ancient magical civilizations.

“I literally cannot deal with him, he somehow gets on every nerve in my entire body,” Victoire admitted, eyes scanning the shelves for any other books that could be of assistance.

Earlier that day, she’d discovered a vase enchanted with a vanishing spell while investigating a case with Theseus; the vase was likely the cause of three seasoned Aurors disappearing spontaneously during an assignment, but unfortunately, Victoire had absolutely no idea how to un-vanish them. She’d apparated to Uagadou immediately after work to search their large library for any helpful material, and Anthea had volunteered to help.

“I’m sure he’s just insecure Travers called in someone for assistance,” Anthea replied calmly, grabbing a book and adding it to her own pile. “He probably would’ve been annoyed with anyone in your position, so don’t take it too personally.”

“It’s like he enjoys making me mad,” Victoire grumbled, turning to face Anthea. “He’s always got this stupid grin on his face, like he knows he’s being a prick.”

“Ooh, he’s teasing you,” Anthea joked, wiggling her eyebrows. Victoire made a gagging noise and grimaced. “Is he hot?”

“Like the fucking sun,” Victoire muttered, picking up a dark blue book and inspecting it closely.

“You always get to work with beautiful men, it simply isn’t fair to me,” Anthea stated, turning around and beginning to walk towards the checkout desk.

“This is literally the first man my age I’ve ever worked with!” Victoire laughed, following her closely.

“Still more than me,” Anthea grinned.

“I’m gonna try to ignore him, though,” Victoire said. “I won’t let him break my resolve.”

“If he’s hot that’ll be pretty much impossible,” Anthea replied honestly. “Is he tall?”

“Yes.”

“Nice hair?”

“Definitely, he’s got that like unruly yet refined look going on, very swoopy,” Victoire remarked.

“Wow, what a catch!” Anthea remarked as they dropped their books on the head librarian’s desk.

“It’s such a pity he’s an asshole,” Victoire said mournfully.

“Oh, Miss McKinnon, it’s so lovely to see you again!” the elderly head librarian said happily, opening the book on the top of the pile to sign it out.

“I’ve only been away for a few days, Mrs. Hinde,” Victoire laughed.

“A few days too many, my dear,” Mrs. Hinde replied, smiling warmly.

“Victoire’s working at the Ministry now, Mrs. Hinde,” Anthea said.

“Is that so?”

“Yea, I’m helping solve a crime, very thrilling stuff,” Victoire added. Mrs. Hinde laughed.

“I would tell you to be careful, but considering what you do for a living, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” the older woman replied.

“I don’t know, fourteen Aurors have gone missing, seems a little risky,” Victoire said honestly.

“And I’m certain you’re far more capable of handling yourself than all fourteen of them,” Mrs. Hinde said genuinely, handing her a list of the books she’d checked out.

“Thank you, Mrs. Hinde,” Victoire replied.

“You just return these whenever you get the chance, dearie, have a lovely time in London!” she called, turning to greet the next library patron.

“I love that woman,” Victoire said to Anthea, sliding the stack of books into her worn bag.

“She’s one of the nicest people here, and that’s saying something, since everyone is nice here,” Anthea reflected. Victoire chuckled and hoisted her bag on her shoulder.

“I shall hopefully return in less than two weeks,” she said in a jokingly posh tone. “Do tend to any affairs that may arise in the meantime.”

“Of course, madame,” Anthea replied in an equally prissy voice, bowing deeply. The pair burst into a fit of quiet laughter and hugged tightly.

“Please be safe, Tor,” Anthea whispered.

“I will,” Victoire reassured, stepping back and offering her friend a bright smile before apparating back to London.

~~~~~

Two days later, Victoire was back in Theseus’s office, still sitting in the maroon armchair in the corner of the room. She had put in a request for her own desk space, which thankfully was granted fairly quickly, and her many books and papers were now scattered over its surface. She’d tried to ignore the remarks Theseus made about her poor organization skills.

“The Revelio Charm can be used to reveal the true appearance of a person who has changed their appearance using magic,” Victoire said, reading out loud from one of the books she had checked out.

Theseus hummed, not looking up from the report he was reading about a recent attack in London. One of Grindelwald’s followers (who unfortunately had not been identified) had murdered five people in broad daylight, two of whom were muggles. The Ministry had been in a tizzy trying to erase the non-magical community’s memory of the event.

“Does entering a state of nonbeing count as changing one’s appearance?” Theseus inquired. Victoire looked up at him, surprised he’d been paying attention.

“I don’t know, but I’m putting it on the list of spells that could possibly work,” she replied, scribbling a few notes down on a messy-looking piece of parchment.

“The three wizards who were killed seem to have nothing in common,” he noted, setting the report aside.

“Is that a good thing?” she asked. He nodded.

“It means they aren’t targeting specific groups of people yet,” he clarified.

“Yet?” Victoire questioned warily. Theseus nodded.

“These attacks are going to get more frequent and more brutal as Grindelwald gains power. It’s only a matter of time before he starts going after different lots of us to incite more fear,” he said dryly.

“Who do you think is most at risk?” she asked softly.

“Aurors,” Theseus said, looking up at her with tired eyes. “But we’ve already been seeing that. Anyone who works with muggles or deals with muggle affairs, or who has something he could use.”

Victoire nodded, sinking further into her seat. Theseus sighed, picking up another report from a stack of unread documents.

“Gringotts has been discussing what we’ll do if Grindelwald attacks,” she said reluctantly, interrupting the silence. Theseus looked up at her, a little surprised, but gestured for her to go on.

“The vaults have a lot of objects we’ve found over the years but haven’t been able to remove curses from,” she continued. “Most of them are under ancient spells we have no written record of, and of course we’re working on undoing the enchantments, but it’s time consuming and difficult.”

Theseus nodded.

“Anyways, we had a meeting a few weeks ago, and the main point was that Grindelwald would probably be able to use many of them to his advantage if he got his hands on them.”

“What are you going to do to prevent that?” Theseus asked genuinely.

“Upping security a lot, starting in a few weeks we’re halting most expeditions and excavations and reassigning people to guard vulnerable sites or the vaults themselves,” Victoire explained.

“And if Grindelwald targets them?”

“We’re supposed to defend them or die trying.”

A pause.

“I’m sorry, it’s not really relevant,” Victoire started, but Theseus shook his head.

“No, don’t apologize, Grindelwald is affecting all of us right now and it’s better to talk about it than try to pretend it isn’t happening,” he said. Victoire nodded, a little shocked he hadn’t criticized Gringotts or curse-breaking yet.

“Are you scared?” he asked.

“About what?”

“The worst possibilities, I guess,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“I’m not afraid of dying, if that’s what you’re getting at,” she said, biting her lip thoughtfully. “I’ve almost died many times, and I think that’s why I’m not scared of that happening anymore.”

“I’m bloody terrified of dying,” Theseus exclaimed with a laugh. Victoire grinned.

“It’s what might happen if I die that scares me,” she admitted. “I know they’re going to reassign me to guard one of the main vaults, so if I die that means Grindelwald is going to have access to a bunch of dangerous shit. I think that’s terrifying.”

“Could you destroy the items in the vault? Or would that be more dangerous than just letting them be?” Theseus questioned. Victoire shrugged.

“I have moral issues with destroying any of the artifacts, but I don’t think that’s a possibility. Those curses are strong as fuck, regular spells won’t break them,” she said, stretching her arms over her head.

“You swear a lot,” Theseus chuckled.

“Sorry,” Victoire replied, grinning bashfully and redirecting her attention to the book in front of her. Up until this point she hadn’t shared any information about her job or personal life, and she was pleasantly surprised Theseus hadn’t made fun of her.

A comfortable silence fell over the room, interrupted only occasionally by the sound of Theseus’s quill or Victoire flipping a page in her book.

Suddenly, Victoire gasped and stood up abruptly. Theseus’s head shot up, expression laced with concern.

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, eyes fixed on the book in front of her.

“Are you alright?” Theseus asked seriously. Victoire laughed and nodded, looking up at him with a wide smile on her face.

“Homenum Revelio, or the Human-presence-revealing Spell, can be used to indicate hidden bodies in the surrounding environment to the spell’s caster,” she said excitedly.

“That spell is usually used on people who have made themselves invisible somehow,” Theseus said, quite familiar with Homenum Revelio in his line of work.

“Yes, but it says here that in 1763, someone used it to reveal a person who accidentally cast the vanishing charm on themselves!” she continued, pacing around the room.

“Does it say whether or not that un-vanished the person?” Theseus asked.

“I’m assuming it didn’t, since this spell only shows where hidden things are, rather than unmasking them,” she said, “but this could help us find where the three Aurors’ presences are-”

“And that could help us figure out where to cast the actual revealing spell,” Theseus finished. “That’s genius!”

“I know!” Victoire squealed, jumping around in place. “Now we just have to figure out what spell to use after this one, and we’re basically all set!”

“How do we do that?”

“Since it seems like the event from 1763 is a recorded case, I’m going to try to figure out what they did back then,” she said, spinning around to face Theseus. Her brows knit together in confusion.

“What?” she asked. Theseus tilted his head to the side.

“What do you mean, what?” he asked.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she clarified.

“I’m not staring at you!” Theseus said defensively.

“You just were!” Victoire accused.

“I most certainly was not!”

“You most certainly were!”

“Oh, fuck off,” Theseus hissed as he looked back down at the papers on his desk, cheeks tinged with a light pink.

Victoire laughed and returned to her seat, setting the book back down on top of her desk.

~~~~~

It was two in the morning. Victoire had read through two books and over twenty ministry reports but had found no information on the case from 1763. She was thoroughly frustrated.

The original footnote referenced a newspaper article that she’d found with ease, but it offered little information and didn’t say whether or not the person was ever un-vanished.

Victoire had discovered that the wizard’s presence was detected near the place the vanishing spell had been cast, meaning the three Aurors would probably be found back at the house on Chester Street. Other than that, she had nothing.

She yawned and stood up from her chair, throwing the report she’d been reading onto the floor haphazardly. Short-Snout hooted cheerfully from where he was resting on Victoire’s bed.

“I’m glad one of us is happy,” she muttered sarcastically, walking to the kitchen for another cup of tea.

She just wanted to finish coming up with a plan as soon as possible. Then, she could get the Ministry’s approval, execute a rescue mission, and move on to the next case. There were eleven more missing Aurors that needed to be found, and though Theseus had become more tolerable to work with, she was beginning to miss her normal job.

Of course, had she not had to work with the Ministry, she’d be on vacation right now. She was still annoyed about that.

The kettle was just starting to boil when Victoire heard something bounce off her window. She jumped, and peered outside cautiously, seeing a large Grey Owl perched on her windowsill with an envelope in its beak.

She shakily opened the window, and the owl hopped inside energetically, dropping the envelope in front of her.

“You just scared the shit out of me,” she said, glaring at the bird sitting on her countertop. She turned the envelope over in her hands and rolled her eyes at the Ministry seal on the back.

She ripped open the letter and shook its contents out onto the island. There were two pieces of paper, one handwritten and the other typed. She picked up the handwritten letter and squinted at it in the dim lighting.

Miss McKinnon-

I had to go through the Ministry Records today after work to find something for a colleague, and I stumbled upon a file I thought you might find interesting. Enclosed is the official report of the 1763 Vanishing Spell mishap, I’m sure you’ll find it useful in your research.

I asked your brother for your address, since you said you wanted to try and finish your analysis of the situation tonight. I figured you’d rather have the report now than wait until tomorrow morning.

Also, sorry in advance for anything my owl knocks over. Bentley has always been a bad houseguest, and you have my permission to throw him out your window if he starts misbehaving. He’ll know to come home and won’t take personal offense.

Cordially,

Theseus Scamander

Victoire found herself grinning by the time she had finished reading Theseus’s letter. She glanced into her bedroom where Bentley and Short-Snout were hopping around on the floor. The larger owl didn’t seem to be causing any ruckus yet, so she figured she’d let him stay for a little while.

She picked up the Ministry report, eyes lighting up when she saw it revealed the end of the case.

“Fuck yes,” she whispered excitedly, grabbing a spare quill from off the counter to underline the many spells the report mentioned.

It seemed the friends of the vanished wizard had tried many different spells to bring him back, but most of them didn’t work. She groaned as she read the list of nonfunctional spells, realizing most of the research she’d done would be ineffective.

As she neared the end of the report, she was beginning to lose hope - perhaps her efforts were futile, perhaps the effects of the Vanishing Spell were truly irreversible.

She bit her lip as she began to read the last paragraph, hoping desperately for some sort of revelation:

In a final attempt to rescue their friend from the state of nonbeing, the wizards asked Professor Ptolemy Algernon, Order of Merlin (First Class) for assistance. Professor Algernon resolved the issue within a matter of seconds; after locating the victim’s presence in the room, he cast a strong Summoning Charm (using the traditional incantation followed by the victim’s name). Following a bright flash of light, the vanished wizard appeared in a fit of coughing and shouting. Medical examiners declared him to be in perfect physical condition, and though he seems undoubtedly traumatized, he is fine otherwise.

Victoire really wanted to be annoyed with her older brother for giving out her address, but all she could think about was how grateful she was for Theseus sending her the report. Finally, she had cracked the case.

~~~~~

“So you’re saying all we need to do is Accio them back into existence?” Theseus asked incredulously as he walked across the Atrium. Victoire, who was at least a foot shorter than him, was nearly jogging to keep up. They had both needed to return the reports they’d checked out, and were now heading back to Theseus’s office.

“Apparently,” she replied, a little breathy due to how fast she was walking. “Ptolemy Algernon was listed in one of the books I had at home, and it seems he used the Summoning Charm to summon people quite often.”

“I thought you couldn’t Accio living things,” Theseus said. “I’m pretty sure that was a question on my O.W.L.s.”

“Then you definitely got that question wrong, there are several records of wizards summoning farm animals during the Middle Ages,” she stated, following him into a lift.

“That would explain why I only got an Acceptable on my Charms O.W.L.,” Theseus chuckled, pressing the button for level two. Victoire grinned, stepping closer to him as several other wizards entered the lift.

“Doesn’t the Ministry want all its Aurors to be more than proficient in their spell-casting abilities?” Victoire teased, swaying slightly as the lift began its ascent.

“Luckily, I got fantastic results on my N.E.W.T.s,” he sassed, reaching out to steady her, “so as far as my employers are concerned, my qualifications are impeccable.” Victoire laughed, looking down to where his hand now rested on her upper arm. He followed her gaze, quickly returning his arm to his side. She felt her face flush, and made sure to keep her face fixed downwards.

The lift slowly came to a halt at level five, and as the doors opened, the rest of the people in the cab filed out.

“What’s going on out there?” Victoire asked as she peered into the open area outside the lift. The Department of International Cooperation seemed more crowded than usual.

“There’s a big meeting in half an hour,” Theseus said simply as the doors closed and the lift took off once again.

“I used to spend all my time there,” Victoire remarked. “Got into a lot of trouble once because one of my brothers and I broke a couch.” Theseus grinned.

“Was this back when your father was the head of the department?” he asked. She nodded.

“I have no idea why he always let us come with him to work, we were the biggest distraction,” she remarked.

“Your brother used to go on and on about all the trips he took here back when we were in Hogwarts,” Theseus added, laughing a little at the memory.

“Emrys?”

“Yea, we were in the same year,” he replied.

“Ah, so you graduated before I started my first year,” she said as the doors opened.

“And you would’ve been a few years ahead of my younger brother, Newt,” he added, stepping out of the lift and glancing back to make sure Victoire was following him.

“I remember Newt!” she said enthusiastically as she followed him down the hallway. “He tested into my Care of Magical Creatures class during my fifth year, and we all loved him.”

“He wrote me a letter about that, he was really proud he got to be in your class as a third year,” Theseus added.

“He had better grades than all of us,” she added. “I remember having to ask him for help on a number of occasions.”

“I did the same with your brother,” Theseus said, slowing his pace so he was walking next to her rather than in front of her. “Emrys is the only reason I passed Potions class my fifth year.”

“My brothers are both insanely good at brewing and understanding potions,” she nodded.

“It must run in your family, considering your aunt,” Theseus remarked as they approached the door to his office. He was referring to her Aunt Maeve, a potioneer specializing in healing potions at St. Mungo’s.

Like half of the wizards in her family, Maeve McKinnon was internationally acclaimed for her work. For centuries, the McKinnon family had a reputation as one of the most powerful and influential wizarding families in Europe, which had definitely been intimidating to think about when Victoire was younger. Luckily, her parents had done a great job of emphasizing their children that they would be proud of them no matter what, so over time, that pressure had faded. Now, McKinnon was just her last name, not some expectation to accomplish great things.

And yet, unintentionally, Victoire and her siblings had gone on to continue the so-called “McKinnon legacy.” Her oldest brother, Emrys, was an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, her other older brother, Thomas, was one of the chasers for the Kenmare Kestrels, and she had become one of the most talked-about Curse-Breakers of the century. Their names would be added to the lists of the greatest McKinnon wizards.

“I was excluded from the ‘skilled-at-potions’ genes, then,” Victoire laughed. “I wrote home too many times asking for money to buy a new cauldron. My mother nearly celebrated when I dropped the class in sixth year.”

“Were you the type to burn a hole in the bottom of your cauldron or to just blow it up somehow?” Theseus asked as he opened the door to his office, gesturing for her to go in before him.

“Explosions were my forte,” she joked as she walked past him. She plopped down into the chair behind her desk, looking up at him as he closed the door.

“Speaking of your brothers,” he said as he walked over to his desk, “I wanted to apologize for asking Emrys for your address, I just wanted you to get the report as soon as possible and didn’t know another way to contact you.”

“No, it’s fine,” she reassured him. “I was already awake and stressing about the fact I couldn’t find any information on the case, so it was a very welcome interruption.”

“I hope Bentley didn’t cause any trouble,” he said, a small smile on his face.

“No, Bentley was very well behaved. I think my own owl kept him occupied for the majority of his visit,” she said. Theseus laughed.

“So, Mr. Scamander, what do we do next?” Victoire asked.

“We write up a summary of what we’re planning to do, including all the research we’ve done to show the plan will actually work,” he said as he walked over to his desk. “Then we send it off to Travers and hope he approves it.”

“What happens if he doesn’t approve it?” Victoire asked curiously.

“He tells us we’re both idiots and we come up with another plan,” Theseus said with a small grin on his face.

“And if he does approve it?”

“We go back to the house on Chester Street and un-vanish those Aurors.”

[Tags: @littleyellowladybugg @missjockey101 @hearteyesmotherclucker @mrshazosterfield @greeneyedthief ]

A/N: It's our SECOND EVER Theseus Thursday. Look at me actually following a proper updating schedule, who would've thought we'd ever see this day? Hopefully I'll have another oneshot fic up this weekend, and then another chapter of this next week - lots of content! If you wanna request something specific please do so (LOTR, Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, Star Wars, I'll write for most fandoms, really). Otherwise, I hope you enjoy/enjoyed reading this, and have a great day! :)

#fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #theseus scamander x oc #theseus scamander imagine #theseus scamander fanfic #theseus scamander x reader #theseus x reader #theseus x oc #theseus imagine #fantastic beasts

25 notes · View notes

ultravioletsoul · 5 years

Text

Maybe an unpopular opinion regarding Makarov/Character Analysis (part 1)

Sometimes I read comments of CoD fans saying that Vladimir always was an asshole for apparently no reason, that he was the typical Russian cliché villain doing cliché bad things (such an original concept, I know). And while I do agree that for the most part the games didn’t do a very good job at giving him any significant depth (and he acts like a jerk, it’s true), I also have to say that he’s probably one of the most misunderstood characters in the series. Not because I think he was some poor innocent man who did nothing wrong, but because his villainous portrayal tends to take the spotlight every time he’s onscreen and we literally cannot see anything else beyond that. Which, of course, makes him look very one-dimensional since the game always has to remind you in oh-not-so-subtle ways how evil he is.

The story of MW never goes into full detail as to what drove him to do the horrible things he did. And it’s not clear unless one bothers to analyze some obscure information hidden in the loading cutscene of No Russian and does a little research on the side. In all honesty, I wish his story would have been better explained and developed by other means than just a slideshow of newspaper articles and an overview of his dossier. I would have been content with a special trailer that actually explained his background, rather than have him say some pseudo Sun Tzu lines in a few teasers and let that be the entirety of his character development but okay… I guess this was as far as Infinity Ward’s story-telling capabilities went back then.

Sure, you may think: who the hell cares about his motivations? He was an evil mofo and needed to be put down. Well, unfortunately for these people, I exist and I do care because Vladimir is one of my faves— perhaps my most favorite character in the entire MW universe. And though I like him because he’s an unapologetic baddie, that’s not the only reason.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Vladimir is this super complex character that nobody else gets, but there are definitely some elements that give him a few extra layers and they’re worthy of being analyzed.

Beware, this is going to be a long post and will contain a few historical references. This isn’t a comprehensive breakdown, and I’ll probably make a lot mistakes along the way because I’m not a history buff by any means (please, don’t yell at me ;A;), but it should be a rough explanation of what I think led Vladimir to such extremist views and why I think he’s a good antagonist in Call of Duty. Also it could be a helpful reference for anyone who wishes to write a story about him.

I’m not claiming this is the most accurate interpretation of Vladimir, or that it’s the only valid one, but if any of this information comes in handy or offers a different insight into his character then I’ll consider my mission accomplished.

Without further ado, here we go!

Tagging @sunset-and-periwinkle and @renegad3spectre because they may be interested in this post :v

1. No Russian

So one of the first recollections that come to mind when thinking about MW2 is the infamous mission of No Russian. This kind of content was so violent and crude for its time that it caused quite the controversy and it still divides the opinion between people who think videogames should push boundaries and people who believe there are things that shouldn’t be portrayed in such an offhanded way. Whether including that level in MW2 was a good or terrible choice is not the point of this post. However, I’ll share my personal experience.

Me, back when I played this mission I didn’t give it much thought. I mean… it didn’t have this serious impact on me as I’m guessing the developers intended, from what I’ve read, but that’s mainly because I wasn’t mature enough to make a proper assessment of the story-line and to me CoD games weren’t about deep narratives either. Keep in mind that I was an immature kid and I just wanted to play a game that my brother enjoyed. So yes, without much thought I breezed through No Russian, accomplished the objectives and it wasn’t until the end of the mission that I realized I’d been played like a damn fiddle.

And my first reaction to seeing Makarov killing me was “bro, I thought we were allies”. Never mind the carnage that had ensued moments ago, never mind that I had participated in it. I was more offended by this unexpected 'betrayal' and well... imagine how stupid I was for thinking Vladimir could be my friend. The fact that Allen was a CIA agent completely eluded me and I didn’t understand a freaking thing of what was going on but that was on me. I shouldn’t have been playing those games at my young age because evidently I wasn't ready to handle adult themes like that.

Replaying this mission now that I’m older made me realize how messed up it was, and maybe not for the most obvious reasons. Yeah, innocent people die all around us and that's something we cannot stop from happening, no matter what we do. However, it’s not really necessary for us to hurt civilians to complete the level (we’re not punished for not doing it) so we can be simple witnesses to the brutality ensuing in front of us, which is as equally messed up perhaps. You can even skip the whole mission altogether if you want to, so no biggie: you’re spared the nightmare fuel and you can happily head to Brazil to capture Alejandro Rojas. Heck, you’re even rewarded a glimpse of Ghost ready to torture Alejandro’s assistant and all is back to normal, yay!

However, when you think about it, from the perspective of the story, Allen wasn’t given the option to skip anything. He was pushed to commit a vile deed and ordered to follow Makarov’s lead no matter how morally questionable those actions turned out to be in the end. Shepherd told him that this mission would cost him a piece of himself and he was right about it. Had Allen survived, I’m pretty sure he would have been scarred for life after what he did. I don’t know how he could have lived with himself knowing that he slaughtered all those innocent people. Vladimir killing him off was kind of… an act of mercy in a way, though of course we know he had completely different intentions for doing so.

So people may wonder, why the heck Vladimir carried out that massacre? Some common opinions I read is because he’s an asshole, because he’s crazy, because he wants to make a statement, because he enjoys being a psychopath and hurting others. All these may be true to some extent, we’ll never know for sure, but it’d be very simplistic to just leave it at that without taking into consideration other elements of the story that were left implicit.

I’m going to say that, from my perspective, I didn’t get the impression Makarov enjoyed killing those civilians (but hear me out, neither did he regret it!). It would have been pretty easy to make him this psycho that slaughters people with a smile on his face, but that’s not what we see in No Russian… and perhaps it’s even more terrifying when you realize how casual he is about the whole affair. You really get the impression that he’s a man on a mission and he carries it out in a very no-nonsense manner, does it all with a straight face, without batting an eyelash, without any trace of doubt about what he’s doing, not even a hitch in his voice, absolutely no emotion whatsoever. His actions, his words, his whole demeanor, all scream about being a professional at what he does for better or for worse.

He didn’t know these people, he had no quarrel with them, and yet he killed them all in cold blood. Why? Because they were stepping stones to his goals and there was a very established purpose for that op. To the rest of the world, yea, it may seem like there’s no logical reason for what he did other than he’s nuts but, honestly, Vladimir could care less about that. The only thing that matters to him are the results.

Even if the whole world thinks that he’s insane, in his mind this was the most reasonable course of action. To him it had to be done, there was no other way, and he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger when the time came because he was truly convinced it was the right thing to do. The fact that he (a criminal who’s wanted by the entire world and probably cannot afford to leave himself out in the open) participated in that brutal event shows the utmost importance it had to his plans. Vladimir personally oversaw and carried out the operation, he didn’t leave anyone else in charge because of the very special meaning it had for him. He says “for Zakhaev” before engaging FSB units because this incident would mark the beginning of a new chapter in Russian history, a chapter Vladimir would write in honor of the man who was his friend and mentor— the man who started it all, who gave him a cause to believe in and fight for.

He definitely had his reasons for what he did. They were the wrong reasons of course, but Vladimir didn’t act on a whim nor did he waste his time on matters that didn’t advance his agenda. He didn’t start a war nor massacred hundreds of people at that airport for simple fun and without a solid motive (though this isn’t by any means a justification, it still was a pretty shitty thing to do). We all know that it was a false flag operation, as he wanted to put the blame on the US for the attack. His intention was sparking a war between Russia and America and he was willing to achieve that by any means necessary, even if thousands of his countrymen had to die, even if he had to make common cause with Shepherd (we don’t know under which circumstances and terms), a man who by all accounts should have been his worst enemy— a man who had set up an entire task force for the sole purpose of hunting Vladimir down. And don’t get me wrong, they weren’t buddies, they still hated each other’s guts and would kill the other in a heartbeat, but they were willing to work together towards the same goal because none of them would succeed on their own.

So, ultimately, Vladimir’s objective was riling up the public opinion to push for an invasion of America and provide the Russian government a ‘legitimate’ reason to do it. Does this have 9/11 commentary undertones? Well, I’m not gonna be the judge of that but it could be a possibility.

However, to understand this moment, we’ll have to go much further back in time.

2. His Childhood

This is going to be a huge oversimplification of Soviet history, I’m afraid, so my apologies in advance. Don’t take my word as the absolute truth, this is barely scratching the surface.

According to the information seen in No Russian, and Return to Sender, little Volodya was born on April 10th (not sure how reliable is the wiki since I was convinced he was born on October 4th *shrugs*) of 1970 in Ivanovo, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Or for those who, like me, don’t like those long names, better known as Soviet Russia.

As a curious fact, Ivanovo is known as the City of Brides because it was a very important center of textile industries in the Soviet Union that attracted many young women seeking work. It also has an important historical significance as hotbed for revolutionary activity in czarist Russia and was the city where supposedly the first Bolshevik assembly took place (earning the nickname of City of the First Soviet). During the Second War it proved invaluable as a front city, located close to enemy lines, receiving refuges and injured soldiers of the Red Army that treated their wounds in the many hospitals that were set up for that purpose. Also, in addition to producing armament and fighting in the war, the citizens made good use of their industries and donated huge quantities of fabric to make millions of uniforms.

Back to the topic, next thing we have to wonder is what Vladimir’s life was like as a child born in the 70s. We don’t know much about it and it’s never even mentioned anywhere in the game but, if we had to hazard a guess, he most likely had a relatively happy childhood— raised like any average Soviet kid at the time. His parents were maybe workers, maybe doctors, maybe engineers, maybe teachers, maybe in the military, but they surely weren’t bad people and they wanted their son to be a decent member of society. They didn’t raise him to be a criminal, they didn’t shape him into a monster. If Vladimir had at least one grandfather alive, then he would have served during the Great Patriotic War (a term used in Russia and other former Soviet republics to refer to the conflict in the Eastern Front during WWII). And as a kid, Volodya probably grew up in a typical khrushchyovka apartment with his family. It wasn’t very luxurious but, you know, it wasn’t so bad either and it was home sweet home for them.

Now you gotta imagine what growing up in the Soviet Union was like. Education was heavily influenced by the Communist party and children swam in a sea of propaganda. No, no matter what western propaganda says, they didn’t teach him to hate the west as a kid. Vladimir didn’t want to wipe out Americans from the face of the Earth or skin them alive as you probably imagined at some point, but from a young age he was taught to be proud of being born in the greatest country in the whole world and he pitied the ‘oppressed’ American workers for their lack of Soviet blessings, for being unable to stand up to their imperialist overlords. Heck, this was a popular song in the 80s, when he was about ten years old and probably every Soviet kid sang it at school, including him.

Speaking about that, at school he must have been in contact with several ethnic groups— remember that the industries attracted a lot of people to Ivanovo, particularly women, from many places all over the Soviet Union and, even to this day, Ivanovo is a multi-cultural city with over a hundred nationalities. It’s safe to say that Vladimir would have never given it much thought if someone wasn’t an ethnic Russian nor would he have cared. There weren’t nationalities or differences back then. Everyone was a Soviet citizen and everyone was equal or so it would seem at least, if you ignore the multiple genocides, mass killings, deportations and other horrors of the Stalin era before the Soviet Union adopted a more moderate domestic policy and started a process of de-stalinization after his death— eliminating his cult of personality and other institutions that allowed him to hold autocratic power.

This was also known as the Khrushchev Thaw period, and it was during this time that repression and censorship began to become more lax thanks to Nikita Khrushchev’s policies, and millions of prisoners were released from the gulags. It also opened up the Soviet Union to some economic reforms, trade with other countries, as well as educational and cultural exchanges in the form of foreign uncensored books and movies, music, dances, fashion, and new forms of entertainment in national television. So all this would seem a shift towards a more positive outlook for the Soviet citizens.

Our little Volodya shared and played with other kids in his neighborhood in the playgrounds of the apartment buildings, maybe fell off those Soviet swings and whacked his head a few times but that was okay, he still had fun and laughed and cried like any other child. He grew up listening to old pop music, synth (because people just didn’t listen to patriotic music all the time) and watching Bollywood movies which were all the rage at the time in the USSR as an alternative to western cinema. He had friends, a family that loved him. He spent weekends at the dacha (cottages outside the city) working the land with his family, growing fresh produce. He probably had an affectionate babushka that looked after him, told him many stories, and cooked hearty meals for him because she was a genius at handling finances and feeding the family. She surely was a god-believing woman despite the widespread atheism in a society where the word of Marx and Lenin had an almost religious significance, who took no shit from anyone, and who would chew Vladimir’s head off if he so much went out under-dressed in a breezy day. Even as a grown ass man, she would still intimidate him because you don’t mess with babushkas!

Like a good Soviet kid he was taught to never lie, to help his parents and respect the work of others, to have good manners and not be a spoiled brat, to be considerate and kind to his elders, encouraged to be resourceful, to do things by himself and not expect others to come to his aid, to improve his culture and intellect, to study hard and become someone who would help build the future of socialist paradise. He probably collected silly trinkets like many kids do, he spent his time learning to carve wood and other crafts, reading about the great war heroes and the communist leaders. Year after year he played zarnitsa, a war game for kids and a very popular activity in the Young Pioneers (the Soviet ‘Boy Scouts’, so to speak) that trained young generations for military life, compulsory for every man, cultivating their love for the USSR and preparing them to defend the homeland from the enemy.

Life back then could be tough at times, true, but he must have been quite happy and there was joy to be had. He was raised to be patriotic, a good communist, living in what he believed was a place of peace where all were equals and all were comrades. Having little contact with western influences, he grew up listening to a carefully woven narrative and was told of the decadence of warmonger capitalists that feared the spread of communism so much that they would wage countless wars to stop it and destroy other peace-loving nations. So much could be argued regarding this statement, sure, but this is what he was told and it was during a time when Operation Condor (the US-backed campaign of state terrorism and wave of right-wing dictatorships in Latin America during the 70s-80s) was in full swing to eradicate communism and any Soviet influence from South America. Not to mention the many proxy wars waged throughout these decades, as well.

“For years the western hypocrisy has made the world a battlefield.”

Little Octobrists and Young Pioneers were a thing and the Communist ideology was still going strong even if some started to quietly question it. Not that many did, at any rate, since the dreaded KGB kept a close eye on everyone so dissidents wouldn’t spread the wrong ideas in the Soviet society. Well, at that time maybe you wouldn’t be sent to a gulag just for saying bad things but someone would ‘talk’ some reason into you and there would be subtle threats to tone your attitude down or else your life and that of your relatives could be screwed. Don’t say this, don’t do that, the walls have ears and you’re being watched.

You have to keep in mind that he also grew up under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. And much like American kids, Vladimir would have been greatly concerned about nuclear armageddon and be familiarized with procedures to follow in case such a terrible event came to pass.

The US and Russia pointed nukes at each other for many years and the NATO military exercises of Able Archer— at the peak of Cold War hysteria— didn’t help matters. These were annual exercises but that year of 1983, new elements never seen before had been introduced, and then there was the menace of the new Pershing II nuclear missiles that had been recently deployed in Western Europe. If launched, these would be able to reach their target in less than ten minutes (faster than any other missile known until then), landing with high accuracy and virtually no warning.

Until then the only thing stopping a nuclear war was the threat of mutually assured destruction, but these missiles tipped off the scales in favor of the west, since the Soviets would have no way to retaliate if their command centers or even their own missile launch facilities were targeted. So the Soviet Politburo was very concerned about this situation, in a time when president Reagan poured great efforts to fight the Brezhnev Doctrine (which established the legitimization of military interventions in Eastern bloc states, or any country that became a threat to international socialism) and show the world that the USSR wasn’t indestructible.

The increase in realism of these exercises, the strained relationship with the US under the Reagan administration, previous psychological operations, participation of heads of government in the exercise, and recent deployment of these new ballistic missiles, made the Soviet military believe that the US and NATO were preparing for a preemptive strike and that the exercise was nothing but a ruse. In response, the Soviets readied their nukes, air forces in East Germany and Poland were put on high alert to any funny business, and Soviet intelligence monitored the situation closely for signs of an impeding attack.

After nine days, the exercises came to an end and that was probably the time both countries were the closest to nuclear annihilation since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

So in those years, Vladimir was living under the administration of Leonid Brezhnev famously known for his era of stagnation and also for his passionate kisses (the famous socialist fraternal kiss, you guys :v). Though it’s worthy of being mentioned that in the early 70s the Soviet Union had reached the peak of international power and prestige.

Nikita Khrushchev, Brezhnev’s predecessor, had promised that by the 80s communism would be a reality and maybe that wasn’t so hard to believe at the time. The economy was growing at a rate of about 3% annually and things had started off relatively well in the mid 60s when Brezhnev assumed office. There was full employment, even minimal wage was sufficient to afford basic necessities, healthcare was a given, education in all levels was free and once you finished university or a vocational course, there was a job waiting for you. Things were pretty much settled for everyone. There wasn’t a lot to worry about, not many uncertainties. It was a pleasant predictive life for the most part. Not perfect, by any means, and it had its difficulties but Vladimir’s family felt protected and safe and they had great hopes for the future.

What went wrong then?

To be continued in part 2

#vladimir makarov #call of duty #cod #call of duty modern warfare 2 #modern warfare 2 #i'm sorry for the typos and grammar mistakes #it's midnight here #and i should be going to bed ;A;

59 notes · View notes

tidustargaryen · 4 years

Text

Blood of the Dragon

What if different decisions completely changed the course of history... The Song of Ice and Fire...

The last two Targaryens are in exile in Essos, their security is constantly threatened, Robert Baratheon wants them dead and the Dothraki want Daenerys.

They can count on the help of a great friend to prepare the forces necessary to reconquer Westeros.

But the journey will be long and they will have to travel all over Essos to find the help they need. The courage and passion of the young Daenerys will allow her to rediscover what her House lost a long time ago. A great destiny awaits her and Westeros doesn't know how much it needs her.

The notes have changed, but the song is still playing.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22291069/chapters/53236438 On Ao3 too.

Hello to all the brave who want to embark on this long story! This is the first fanfiction that I write so I don't guarantee the quality of writing but I hope you will like it.

The end of GoT, and particularly Daenerys' ending, pushed me strongly to write this, but also because I have not yet found on this site, or elsewhere, a story centered on Daenerys. Of course there are stories that focus on her, but especially on her relationship with Jon and often the story focuses more on him. But Dany has her own independent story, she is her own character, and I regret that there are no stories that focus on her only (I have never read stories where she is tagged with Jorah or Drogo maybe it is). And since, after season 8, I absolutely no longer want to consider a romance with her murderer, I no longer read fanfics.... So if you know non-Jonerys/non-Drogo stories, and especially which focuses on Dany, I am interested :D

I essentially want to focus on Daenerys, her history is very rich, Essos is a great continent is a gold mine for a writer, the universe of George R.R. Martin is huge but often only exploited on Westeros. I remain persuaded that Dany deserves her own books and I hope that my story will inspire other people to write a little more about Daenerys, of her story in Essos, not just in Westeros. I don't intend to rewrite George's story, I don't see the point of it, it's his story, he does it better than anyone, if some people had done different actions, the story could change completely, but I will try to stay consistent, because realism is very important so that we can believe it (Do you know that D&D ??)

English is not my mother tongue, there may be mistakes and I am sorry. Fortunately I have @iwillstandbydaenerysforever who helps me, advises me and above all, corrects all my mistakes! A big thank you to you my friend, this story probably wouldn't be posted without you :)

There is Dany/Jon tag but by prevention for anti-Jonerys people, the tag is there for a reason and completely justified and add for the sake of consistency when the two characters will meet, but I want to clarify that there will be no Dany/Jon. Same thing for Viserys/Daenerys. So if you're only interested in these couples, it won't happen, and if you don't like these couples, don't worry, you can keep reading, but the tags are there for a reason. You have been warned.

If you have questions about the story (No spoilers), if you didn't understand something, or if you have ideas to submit to me (I don't guarantee that I will add them) or if you find errors , don't hesitate, if you want to talk to me directly or ask me questions. Be aware, however, that I never respond to insults and anything I find disrespectful.

These notes have been quite long, I hope you like the story :) (I had planned another header but I didn't have time to finish it, for the moment I make a moodboard but I will change it as soon as possible.

Disclaimers: I don't own anything, A Song of Ice and Fire is the property of George R.R. Martin, as well as all the characters, places, etc... Game of Thrones is the property of HBO.

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

Stormborn

The masterly wind that blew on the naval fleet, as well as on the fishing and trading boats capsized the latter and made every sailor, merchant or simple peasant busy on the ships or on the quays deaf. An icy rain fell on the island and its surroundings, waves sometimes higher than the ships crashed on the rocks and swallowed everything that had the misfortune of being at sea. A few boats had not managed to return in time and were now drifting not far from the island, for the luckiest ones, for the others they had already reached the depths of the sea. The men on these boats watched with sadness, desolation, but also fear as one ship after another disappeared, waiting for their turn, they watched helplessly as a whole naval fleet disappeared. However, they heard more than they could see, except when lightning struck a ship and set it ablaze like a torch, they had no visibility. Instead, they heard the thunder, the deafening sound of the wind, but also the rain and sometimes the terrifying cries of men and women burning alive or simply screaming in fear as they waited for their gods to come and claim them.

Between the sailors who were trying to save their ships, putting out fires or trying to empty the water flooding the deck, and those who had given up hope of survival, the soldiers did their best to save as many people as possible by allowing them to take shelter behind the fortress walls. But the raging elements had left little chance for the living, and of the hundreds of people in the harbor and on the ships, only twelve had survived, the sailors and soldiers on the boats had either perished with them or tried to swim to shore, but none had managed to survive in the face of the overwhelming force of the sea.

The few refugees behind the walls of the fortress were mostly in shock, some were in tears, or praying for all the people they had just lost while wondering why the gods had been so cruel. Soldiers and servants would come and lay blankets to dry and warm themselves, but also hot food to cheer them up. The room was filled with screaming and crying, but even so, you could still hear the storm raging outside, the ground was shaking, same for the walls, and some soldiers even claimed that wind, rain and lightning had caused a breach in one of the exterior walls.

A man hurried through the corridors of the dungeon, jumping with fear every time lightning struck somewhere. And although it was daylight outside, the darkness of the place, added to the one the storm had brought made the maze of corridors and stairs more difficult to navigate, only the torches and lightning brought some light into such gloomy places and the roar of the storm did not improve the young man’s mind, but what was most disturbing was the dragon sculptures that adorned the place and lazed around so real and alive. Although he was used to the dungeon and its sinister decoration, what he had just seen added to the weather conditions had made him very nervous and what he was about to announce was not going to be very easy for the masters of the place to hear.

He finally reached the bridge leading directly to the central dungeon called “The Stone Drum” then climbed the few steps that separated him from his destination. The place was even more frightening than the rest of the dungeon because of the strong resonance and the height of the place allowing the power of the wind to increase tenfold. But what worried the servant even more were the cries coming from the Queen’s chambers. The sweet and sad Queen Rhaella was about to give birth to her child, but it seemed that the birth was rather difficult and Her Majesty seemed to want to compete with the storm in its greatest intensity. Dragonstone wasn’t Storm’s End, but the rock from which the fortress was carved was exceptionally strong, there was no doubt in Trevas’s mind that the place would still be standing once the storm calmed down. But would it be the same for its inhabitants?

Ser Willem Darry guarded the door to the Queen’s chambers, he did not seem at all affected by the events outside, which was not the case for the few guards also present in the room, anxiety could be read on their faces and the Queen’s cries and screams did not help. “Do you have any news for us? What’s the situation outside?” Ser Willem stepped forward and showed the first signs of concern.

The servant nodded to greet the knight and replied, “I have bad news. The storm has sunk almost the entire naval fleet, as well as the merchant and fishing boats that were at the docks. At the time of my departure, three ships were still afloat, but badly damaged. I still have no report for the city, but the majority of the people on the docks and on the ships did not survive.” Ser Willem approached a window and looked out pensively. He couldn’t see the harbor from this vantage point, but he could see the power and anger of the gods coming down on Dragonstone.

At that moment, the Queen uttered a sharper, more heart-rending cry than before and a childish voice resounded. “Ser Willem… Mother …?” Young Prince Viserys had just entered the room with a servant and the knight knelt and tried to comfort him about his mother’s plight, which didn’t seem very encouraging. “My prince, the Queen is strong, she’s giving birth to a new dragon’s blood as we speak. Another Prince, or a Princess, a brother to play with and a training companion, or a little sister to protect. A newcomer to the Targaryen dynasty, it’s a great day, and the gods want this to be known, they’re making enough noise to alert the entire kingdom and let it be heard that the dragon blood is stronger than ever so that the Usurper understands he has unleashed his wrath.” The Queen’s cries had now ceased and a maid came out of the room to say a few words to Ser Willem, whose gaze fell at once. He invited young Viserys to follow him, and they both entered the room. No storm could have rivaled the horror they now had before their eyes, blood was abundant on the bed, the Queen’s face covered with tears looked as if it had taken many years in a few hours, she seemed to be having great difficulty breathing while a maid dabbed her forehead with a towel. The room smelled of death, and the Queen was apparently going to join the gods soon. But in the midst of all this chaos, the cries of a child came to brighten the hearts, the Maester brought the child close to the Prince who looked at his mother with sadness, a few tears running down his chubby child cheeks.

“It’s a girl, a Targaryen Princess.” The Maester offered the Prince to carry the child , but he quickly made his way to the Queen, without concern for the decorum. He hesitantly put his hand on his mother’s one, believing that any sudden gesture might hurt her further. The tenderness in Queen Rhaella’s eyes broke the boy’s weak resistance, and he burst into tears. Her voice resounded one last time, with difficulty, but with hope and pride.

“… Daenerys… Stormborn … of House Targaryen…”

Her gaze then turned to Ser Willem, placing all her hopes on the knight to protect and take care of the last two Targaryens, he nodded while holding back his tears, silently promising what he had already sworn to do a few hours earlier when the Queen was telling him her vows if something went wrong. The woman had endured unspeakable suffering during her life, she had lost so many children, had suffered so much abuse from her husband and yet, the most unbearable and heartbreaking thing for her was not being able to be there to care for and see her children grow up. The Targaryen dynasty was collapsing and she was not going to be able to be there to protect them. Aerys had taken everything from her, if his children were threatened when they were just innocent people, he was responsible. He was the one who had unleashed the wrath of the lords, he was the one who had not taken care to secure his family, he was the one who was responsible for the fall of their House. She could only hope for two things now, that the gods would be merciful and allow her last two children to live, they had already taken of all the others, and that Aerys II Targaryen would reach the seven hells so that she would never have to see him again even in death.

The Queen drew her last breath with a smile on her face after looking at each of her children. And the little Prince’s heart was shattered.

Thus, in the early morning, after the storm had calmed down and the necessary repairs had been made so that a boat could sail safely, the last two members of the House of Targaryen set sail for Essos, in order to ensure their safety until their maturity. The Prince, still affected by the death of his mother, had refused to approach his little sister, but had made a promise in his heart that one day they would return home, and take back what belonged to them with Fire and Blood.

Exile

The few maids of Mistress Ilissa Naeraar had hurried to the door of the Princess’s apartments to hear her sweet voice, which they said was similar to the songs of the colorful birds of the Summer Islands. They were always careful to be as discreet as possible, the Princess did not like to demonstrate her talents, but they always ended up being reprimanded by their Mistress or the Prince for their laziness and the noise of the admonitions always alerted the young girl. They had, until now, managed to remain discreet, but were dying to enter the room to be blessed by the sight of the young Valyrian beauty. The Princess was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen, despite her young age, and given their past as pleasure slaves, they had seen many women more beautiful than any other, but none surpassed the Princess. With her long hair of gold and silver, her eyes typical of her Valyrian roots, the color of the most beautiful jewels called amethysts, her natural and royal grace, they were never tired of admiring her and regretted not descending from the lineage of the Old Valyria.

The apartments of the Princess were worthy of the greatest nobles of Essos, a striking contrast when she thought back to her life before, here she had her own baths, a magnificent four-poster bed centered in the middle of the room, occupying half of the space, a table for her meals and another for her writing and reading practice. Another room where she stored the various dresses offered by her hostess, and random men seeking her favors, or her hand in marriage. The third and last room was the latrine. The main room was sumptuously decorated with statues representing the dragons of the lords who had conquered the Possessions of Valyria, as well as various animals inhabiting the continent, horses, monkeys, elephants, made of gold, bronze, and even obsidian. She had even been offered several fabrics embroidered with the three-headed dragon, emble of the Targaryen House that the Princess had hung on the walls, sometimes dreaming of being in the family dungeon, imagining her family always present, and the Targaryen dynasty stronger and larger than ever.

The young woman was standing by a window, her eyes lost in the waters of the Rhoyne, then on the many merchant ships, the sailors pouring into the port to unload their goods and dreamed of being among them, traveling through the seas and oceans, discovering the world and its various beauties and cultures. Sailing was exciting, but what she wanted above all was to cross the Narrow Sea and land in Westeros, to return home, to discover the legacy left by her family, which was stolen from her by the Usurper and his dogs and traitors who massacred her family. Life was pleasant here, it had been six moons since Mistress Ilissa had welcomed them in her big house, it was a very big place composed of several independent residences, including the large manse of Ilissa, their own private place, of her and her brother’s, as well as a big inn also containing a brothel. Life was pleasant, but the threat of a Dothraki attack was constant, and Mistress Ilissa had repeatedly paid the different Khals so that they would not attack her domain, with gold, slaves, precious objects or fabrics, anything the horse lords desired as long as they did not ransack the place.

Of all that she remembered, it was only in Braavos that she really experienced peace, happiness and carefree. Of course, she was still only a child, very young and did not have the same worries as her brother in mind. She could play with the son of one of the servants, study with her brother and listen to Ser Willem singing songs to her, including the one she was singing right now, which she particularly liked, as it described their lives in part and a possible return home. “I’ve been a wild rover for many’s the year… And I’ve spent all my money on wine and beer… And now I’m returning with gold in great store, I never will play the wild rover no more…” She could still hear the voice of her gentle knight, the affection he had for her, the tenderness he showed her, much more than her own brother. Her few sweet years forever etched in her memory, the red door and the smell of lemon that she loved and that dark-skinned little boy who always helped her up when she fell and kissed the place where she had hurt herself.

“And it’s no, nay, never No, nay, never no more Will I play the wild rover No, never no more

I went into an alehouse I used to…” “Daenerys!”

Her brother entered her apartments suddenly, revealing the three maids who were still glued to her door, hurrying back to their occupations before being reprimanded. Viserys approached his sister and put his hand on her forearm, his gaze falling to the ground as if he was looking for the perfect way to tell her something. Her brother was a very handsome man, he had been blessed by the beauty of the Valyrian people just as she had, according to Ser Willem, he looked a lot like their late brother, Rhaegar, the only consolation she had in knowing the appearance of the silbing she had never known. He took her hands in his and placed a tender kiss on one of them.

“Sweet sister… Dany, I’m afraid I have to tell you that we may have to flee this town. There’s a Khalasar headed straight for us.” Run away, again… When was the last time they had the peace of mind to stay in one place and keep what few friends they had? Although his brother was much more resistant to the idea, preferring to believe that his status, even in exile, forced him to demand friends of a higher rank. She did not have the same pride and could befriend and show great kindness to the lowest of men or women.

“Pack your things, I’ll arrange everything with our hostess.” Daenerys nodded and then stopped his brother before he left the room after kissing her forehead. “Brother, where will we go this time?”

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll find a place, haven’t I done it all these years? Why do I feel like this is a reproach, dear sister? Is it my fault that we are in exile? What they have done to us is unjust, and I will see that injustice punished. We are of royal blood, we are the blood of the Old Valyria, the blood of the dragon and they exterminated ours, they forced us to beg, to wander in rags, no forgiveness will be granted, we will take revenge dear sister.”

Daenerys took a few steps back, away from her brother who had come towards her in anger. She knew she was safe, she and her dear friend had made sure of that long ago, but her brother tended to be a little too self-centered, and he had to learn wisdom if he wanted to become a great king.

“Injustice… It’s true, it’s unfair, and the murderers of our niece and nephew, but also of Elia, they will pay for it, and for everything that happened afterwards, but look around us, brother… Just yesterday I saw a child … younger than I was when we were kicked out of our house in Braavos, feeding on insects on the ground, drinking from a puddle of mud half dried out by the sun and the heat, I’m not even sure it was water. We are always privileged, but these people outside, they are starving, they are working themselves to death so that they can buy a little food and the little clothes they have on them. We have beautiful fabrics, we eat our fill, we know what it is like to live on the streets, but we don’t live like that anymore. “The Princess stopped for a moment to get closer to her brother and put a hand on his cheek before she added tenderly:

“I could be one of those women, in a brothel to survive and you too … you could have been sold into slavery in a fighting arena, you could be dead by now … and so could I. We’re always luckier than other people don’t forget that, brother.”

After dropping a tender kiss on his cheek, Daenerys walked away to the room where she prepared to gather her clothes for their possible future departure. Servants, sent by her brother, were already there and had preceded her. Daenerys smiled at the girls and told them that she could take care of her possessions, freeing them from an extra burden. She sat down on a trunk and lost herself in her thoughts for a few moments, playing with the ring that her knight had given her long ago and which had belonged to her mother, the only possession she had of her, this ring and the crown that her brother had. Ser Willem often spoke to her about her mother, he also told her that she looked a lot like her, that she was as sweet and kind, smiling and welcoming, that she often sang during the time she carried Daenerys in her womb and that she liked to be alone with her future Princess and to caress her hump while telling her stories about dragons and their family. Of course, she was too young for her knight to tell her about the darker parts of her mother’s life, and the suffering and violence she had endured during her marriage, but she had finally found out from someone else, and that day was the first day she had promised herself that she would never let a man do that to her. Knowing her future husband, she knew that promise would be kept.

The town square was teeming with people as usual, the market stalls were very crowded, you could find objects, food and fabrics from all over Essos, the Summer Islands, Westeros and a whole host of other less well-known places. In the middle of the square stood, proudly, the white marble statue of the Triarch Horonno, which could have been magnificent if only it had not been decapitated a long time ago by a rival faction. Most people spoke a derivative of the High Valyrian, but not only that, a whole host of foreign peoples and customs were accepted and respected in Selhorys, formerly one of the Possessions of Valyria, and which had managed to remain standing while other nearby towns were now in ruins during the conflict between the Rhoynars and the Dragon Lords. Essos was like a canvas painted in every possible color, depicting all peoples, all religions and all pleasures of the flesh, and this pleased the young Princess who was thirsty for knowledge and had spent a lot of time immersed in books, especially those from Westeros, where she could learn more about her home, things she had not learned from her brother or other people. Of course there were the dark sides of such diversification, slavery to begin with, in front of “The Painted Turtle” inn where most of the women, but also men, were pleasure slaves and tried by all means to lure passers-by inside in order to extract a few coins from them in exchange of sexual favors. Daenerys was no stranger to the practice, from a very young age she had seen everything there was to see about carnal relations between two or more people, most of the time in the middle of the street where people had no discomfort or desire for intimacy. But slaves occupied many other professions, fishermen, litter bearers, servants in inns or manses with the nobles, workers in the fields, hunters, all the difficult jobs were, of course, given to slaves.

The darkest thing, however, were the sacrifices she had been unlucky enough to witness, always in the name of some god or other, whether they were animals, simple precious objects or one or more people, she had never been spared from the atrocities of which her species was capable and her powerlessness to stop such things weighed only more heavily on her conscience. So many things had remained a mystery to her, but not an impossibility, after all, her ancestors had tamed and mounted dragons, they had made a steel so powerful that it could split normal armor in half, but this knowledge was now lost, even though some claim that in Qohor the blacksmiths are among the best and secretly keep the recipe for this unique steel.

She was now in front of the forges, accompanied by her brother, both hooded in a discreet outfit to avoid attracting attention. Even though their hair was not unique here, many people were lucky enough to possess the gold and silver hair of the Valyrians thanks to the crossbreeding practiced during their empire, the color of their eyes was much rarer, and they also had to wear very modest clothes to avoid curious looks, the poor or slaves attracted little attention and were more often considered as “part of the decor.” As they had no tattoos on their faces, indicating what kind of slave they were, they could only pretend to be poor, foreign merchants or artists, as Daenerys could easily pretend to be a singer, Viserys could only boast of being a good story counter.

Her brother had wanted to go to the markets to buy resources in case they were forced to flee the city quickly, but it was to the inn that he now went, claiming to want to quench his thirst, but Daenerys knew better, his brother was a man, a man with needs and a young woman in that inn had caught his attention, he certainly wanted to say goodbye to her.

The sought-after hostel was a little set back from the center of the city, you had to take several narrow streets to get there, it was the cheapest and most discreet place and the markets had attracted the majority of the population, the place was almost deserted except for a few children playing chase after chase, at times trying to steal the purses of poor people too naive to still believe in the innocence of the youngest. His brother had stepped up the pace, but Daenerys felt they were being watched, on every street corner they could come across thieves or worse, murderers or slavers. Her hand grabbed his brother’s to warn him, but he collapsed to the ground as Daenerys tried to free herself from her attacker’s grasp. It was then the look in Viserys’s eyes that told her that they were in no danger, at the same time a soft, familiar and comforting voice echoed in her ear:

“I could have been anyone and you’d both be dead by now … you’re reckless.”

Once released, the Princess turned around and was warmly greeted by the sight of her closest friend.

“Oberyn!” She threw herself into his arms and held him tightly to make up for the years that had separated them.

Somewhere, at a certain time

The city of Myr was one of the richest trading cities founded by the Valyrians and one of the nine Free Cities of Essos. This town had built its wealth on trade and its excellent merchants, thousands of them came every day to do business in this city, textiles and glass were unique and very expensive resources in this town, but also very desired. The population was also large and it became difficult to move through the streets without being jostled or blocked by a group of people attracted by a stall. This served the young Targaryens well as they could move more easily among the people thanks to their small frame and relieve some of the passers of their burdens. It was always Viserys who took care of the thefts, but the young girl was so adorable that sometimes people would give her a few coins when they saw her frail nature.

It had been three years since they had been forced to flee from Braavos and were surviving as best as they could, hunger and cold being their greatest difficulties with the fear that one day they would be recognized and put to death on the orders of the Usurper. The Prince had lost any royal attitude he might have had one day and was easily confused with the other inhabitants of the streets who were also begging for survival, his sister had never known royalty, she only had the memories that her brother had told her. It was hard for her to understand him, what he had known and lost, when all she had known was fear, poverty, cold, and hunger… That was the worst of it all, being hungry, smelling the food all over the streets, the smoke from the meat, the smell of bread … seeing people constantly eating and having only leftovers lying on the ground, or any kind of crawling animals they could catch. Once her brother had tried to fish, but without equipment all he managed to do was that the fish ran away and several fishermen threatened to cook him with their stews if they came back without food because of him. Dany burst out laughing when she saw her brother’s face, of course, at her young age, she didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. In anger, Viserys had pulled her by the arm and carried her back to the place where they slept on the ground but out of sight. He had then spent the day looking out at the sea, repeating that he would return home one day and take revenge for the affronts he had suffered.

The last Targaryens were both sitting on a rock not far from the water, they had been lucky that day, the purse that Viserys had stolen contained enough coins for them to make a decent meal and they had been able to buy for each of them a piece of bread, lamprey pie and some spiced wine which Daenerys had spit out as soon as she found the taste foul. Her grimace, however, had worked a miracle, her brother had smiled at her. He hadn’t laughed, just smiled, something he hadn’t done since Braavos, and even there he smiled very rarely. “Dany look over there, in that direction, it’s Dorne and its burning sands. And there, it’s the Stormlands, they belong to the Usurper and his House, their dungeon is called “Storm’s End“ and it is known to withstand any storm. But believe me dear sister, one day it won’t be the storm that comes down on them, but the dragons, and their dungeon won’t stand up to it, I told you what happened to Harrenhal, didn’t I?” The young Princess nodded and said “But the dragons are gone…”

“They have existed, they will exist again, we are dragons, the last, we are not simple mortals, our heritage is great, and our duty even greater, our House will rise from its ashes and our dynasty will be even greater than in the time of Aegon the Conqueror or Valyria. Of this I am sure, and on that day our enemies will regret their betrayal.”

Daenerys understood what “enemies” were, she knew what death was, she had discovered it in spite of herself when Ser Willem had left this world, when her brother told her that their father, the King, had been betrayed and killed like a dog, and that because of their enemies they had to leave quickly to Dragonstone and that their mother had not been given the care necessary for her birth. Even the soldiers protecting the dungeon had wanted to sell them to the Usurper to save their lives and it was only thanks to Ser Willem and a few faithful servants that they were able to escape. But many things were still very complicated for her, so she listened to her brother without saying anything, dreaming of being able to eat her fill, of having a bit of warmth at night and above all, secretly wishing that her mother was there to take her in her arms. She would never have told Viserys, he had already told her several times that it was her fault that their mother had died, but how could she be responsible? She was just a baby… She didn’t understand, but kept quiet so that her brother would stop being angry with her.

“Look over there, that’s our ancestral dungeon, Dragonstone, and over there,” he waved to her, moving his finger a few inches. “That’s King’s Landing, home, our stolen home, one day we will go home sister.”

Dany wanted her home, she wanted her mother, her family, food and a warm bed, Dany wanted many things that a child should always have, but at this moment she would have liked more than anything that her brother took her in his arms, she then hugged very tightly the piece of stuffed cloth with the effigy of a dog she had found in the street, it was all dirty and smelled of death, but it was also her only source of comfort in these difficult times.

Viserys had wanted to eat at an inn because of the meager coins he had stolen today, the place didn’t please his little sister too much, the men were rude and smelled like horse shit, the women always came to their table and sat on her brother’s lap while whispering things in his ear and looking at Dany with a vicious look. Daenerys was a bit jealous, she had been enjoying going on her brother’s lap while he told her stories about their house, but lately he was getting more and more angry with her and didn’t want to carry her anymore, he said that she wasn’t a child anymore and that the dragon wasn’t weak, but these women were much older and he seemed very happy that they were on him. Viserys got up and asked her to wait for him for a few moments without moving, he spoke for a few moments with another woman who looked at the girl. She kept looking while Viserys disappeared into another room.

Dany was a little scared to be alone, even though she suspected that her brother had asked this lady to keep an eye on her, anyone could force her outside and take her away from Viserys forever. Just when she wanted to get up to join her brother, or even to go to the woman who was always watching her, a man sat down in front of her. He had tanned skin, a mustache and smiled kindly at the girl. Dany looked down and wanted to run away when he spoke.

“You’re a pretty little girl, you almost look like a princess. There are princesses in my house too, wouldn’t you like to meet them? They could lend you their dresses and toys?” Daenerys smiled shyly and saw her frightened brother trying to hide something in a bag before approaching.

“Leave her alone.” Viserys approached and took his sister’s hand in his to leave, but the man stood up, his gaze threatening towards the Prince.

“Your brother is very rude, you know.” He stood behind Daenerys and put his hands on her shoulders. “How do you know he’s my brother?” The man then bent down and whispered in his ear, “I know many things, little dragon…” One look from him assured Viserys that he’d better follow him. The man took the Princess’s hand and gently led her upstairs into what seemed to be the room he had rented for his stay. The place was quite small, a simple space to sleep, or do other things, it was a brothel after all, the noises coming through the walls bear witness to this. There was a jug of wine on a small table in the corner of the room, and the man served a glass to the Prince, who hesitated before drinking, then seemed delighted, and the man spoke again.

“Dornish wine, the best…” Viserys took a sip and then replied with a smile, “Pale imitation of the Arbor Gold but it is good indeed… You are certainly Westerosi, Dornish? Anyway, I don't know who you're confusing us with, but you’re mistaken, we’re from Lys, she’s my little sister and I ran away with her so she wouldn’t become a pleasure slave.” When Viserys turned around, he saw his sister rummaging through his bag and pulling out their mother’s crown, which he had refused to sell until now, the only memory he had of her apart from the ring his sister had, but the difficulty of feeding herself was increasing day by day, people were becoming more and more suspicious of children for stealing their purses and yesterday he had seen a man catch one of them trying to steal him, he had not seen what happened to the child afterwards, but he was sure that the punishment had to be consequent. He had climbed up a large rock surrounded by water to hide the most precious object they had, which he was desperate to sell.

“Viserys, what is it doing in your bag?” His brother panicked for a moment in front of the stranger, but he didn’t seem surprised at all. He walked up to Daenerys and stroked the object with one finger.

“She was beautiful your mother, I still remember her royal posture, a real queen, not like your father.” The Prince pulled the crown away from the stranger and drew Daenerys behind him as the child began to ask about their mother. “Who are you?! If you want to do the Usurper’s dirty work, you’ll regret it, you talk to the true King!” Viserys always carried a dagger with him, he was never very good with a sword, and the weapon would have been too flashy, expensive and heavy to carry, a dagger was much more inconspicuous and the only weapon they had to defend themselves. He tried to stab the man with it, but he dodged and knocked the young Prince to the ground. Daenerys began to cry when she saw her brother on the floor, but the man calmed her down immediately.

“I won’t hurt you, little princess, or your brother, but I can’t let him kill me, can I? If you two will calm down, I can tell you why I’m here.” The man took some more wine and served it to the Prince and then sat down on his bed wanting the Princess to come next to him, but Viserys kept his sister close, the stranger’s face lost all smile.

“We do no harm to the children in Dorne … we are neither Lannister nor Baratheon… But we, too, are sure to pay our debts, and our fury is worth far more than that of the Stag… We are patient, we love justice and vengeance, but we can wait to strike better and harder. The time for two children to grow up. ” The man stood up and talk again, emphasizing each of the names he spoke in his beautiful Dornish voice. “Justice for Rhaenys Targaryen, justice for Aegon Targaryen and justice for Elia Martell…” Seriousness had replaced his light and friendly attitude, his words more furious than the snakes that inhabited his lands.

“My name is Oberyn Martell, and I want only two things from you. Fire and Blood.”

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

Thank you for reading. I prefer not to give a date for the publication of the second chapter, but I will do it as quickly as possible.

I wanted to write Dany's song myself but I like this one :) The song is called "The Wild Rover" interpreted by The Dubliners (Viva Ireland and its songs!) But I like the version of a french group : Wild Rover - Naheulband if you want to listen to it, the intro is long though. All the images used in this chapter were open access.

28 notes · View notes

timehealsfanfictionbka · 4 years

Text

Time Heals.....Chapter Forty-Five

“Waking me up early again?” Robyn said with a groan as she stretched her arms above her head. Chris leaned down and kissed her forehead, “we have some stuff to do in preparation for tonight.”

“Like?”

“Like shopping.”

“Oooh, give me five minutes,” she said as she threw her legs over the side of the bed, “can you grab my black romper out of the closet?”

“I gotchu. Don’t rush, I’m waiting breakfast to be sent up.”

“What did you order?”

“The basics, pancakes, eggs, coffee etc.”

“Ok. I’ll be just a few minutes.”

“No problem, Babe. You need help with anything?”

“Did you help me enough yesterday?’

Chris chuckled, “I didn’t hear any complaints.”

“And you still won’t. My hair survived, luckily.”

“Not after all the time I spend detangling and washing it yesterday morning.”

“But if I did all that work, you would’ve messed it up?”

“Absolutely.”

“You are so wrong for that.”

“I love you.”

“Whatever.”

Robyn left into the bathroom and started the shower. Chris grabbed her black romper out of the closet and sat her black converses next to the bed before leaving back into the living room to wait for room service.

“What you think about this one?”

Robyn walked out of the dressing room in a thigh-high black dress with deep v cleavage and long black lace sleeves. Chris frowned, “turn around for me.”

Robyn turned around and Chris audibly gasped, “oh no.”

“What?”

“Where is the back of the dress?”

Robyn laughed, “it’s there. What are you talking about?”

“It barely covers your ass.”

Robyn twisted in front of the three mirrors, “you’re exaggerating. None of my ass is out. It’s more my back than anything else.”

“It’s your entire back. Like there’s no fabric back there.”

“You are so dramatic. I think I wanna get this one.”

“Are you serious?”

“Very serious. I’ll take this one and the royal blue one.”

“Where are you going in that?”

“Wherever I want. Why you worried about it, Christopher?”

“I’m paying for it.”

“And your point?”

Chris shook his head as he wiped his hand down his face. Robyn laughed as she left back into the dressing room, “relax Christopher.”

Chris grumbled as he handed the cashier his credit card, “I don’t know why I even come in the store with you. I should’ve just handed you my card.”

“Why?”

“You never listen to me anyway. My opinion doesn’t matter.”

“Your opinion does matter. Just because I don’t always agree with it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter. If I didn’t want your opinion, I wouldn’t ask for it.”

“But you don’t listen to it.”

“No, I didn’t agree with it. Not the same thing as not listening.”

“Whatever.”

“Are you really that bothered by that dress?”

“I’m not bothered by it.”

“So why you acting so whiny?”

“I am not acting whiny.”

“So why you pouting?”

Chris smiled as he took his receipt and credit card from the cashier then started to walk out the store. Robyn fell in step next to him, “Babe, you didn’t answer my question.”

“Because I’m not pouting. I don’t wanna talk about it no more.”

“See. Whiny.”

“You know I’m supposed to be doing all this romantic stuff for you tonight and you being mean to me.”

“What? You can’t take it back, it’s not like it’s not already paid for.”

“You lucky it is.”

“No, you lucky it is and you better hope I show up.”

“Oh, you ain’t got no choice. If I gotta kidnap you and bring you to it, you will show up. Trust.”

“Ooh kidnapping sounds like fun.”

“You can’t even be not freaky, can you?”

“Last I checked, it’s part of the reason you’re dating me.”

Chris stopped to look at her as Robyn settled her hand on her hip, “am I right or am I right?”

“No comment.”

Robyn giggled as she grabbed Chris’s arm and entwined their hands together, “so what’s next, Babe?”

“Shoes.”

“Are we stopping anywhere for you?”

“I already got my suit. It’s being delivered from the tailor’s later on.”

“That’s not fair, you got to see all my stuff.”

“It’s just a black suit, Robyn.”

“It’s never just a black suit because all black suits don’t look alike. Who’s the designer?”

“Berluti.”

“Oh, their fabric prints are beautiful. Now I really wanna see it.”

“Later. We need to get your shoes and whatever you want.”

“Jewelry?”

“Do you want jewelry?”

“Probably a bracelet or something. Nothing fancy.”

“Ok.”

“You don’t have to buy it, I do want to look though.”

“Why wouldn’t I buy it? This whole day is about you.”

“Because that’s not something you should be concerned about. A dress and shoes is one thing. Jewelry is a different ball game.”

“According to whom? Babe, if you want jewelry, I will pay for it.”

“Chris.”

“Don’t Chris me. And this is one thing I am not going to argue with you about and not in the joking way I used to say it before. I set this up beforehand for you to enjoy yourself and be pampered, you are not paying for your own stuff.”

“Chris, it’s too much.”

“You might not even find something you like and even if you do, so what about the price? Robyn, I had been in the military for years. I had no children up until two years ago and I have a very good career. When I asked you to go on vacation with me, the timing was a bit quick but the idea had already been in progress. I saved for this and I’m going to use whatever I can to make sure it’s the trip I’ve always wanted with you, ok?”

“Ok.”

“Ok. So no more being stubborn and if I gotta suck it up and buy you another dress that I’m not too fond of, I will do that because it’s for you.”

“The dress is not that bad.”

“It’s not bad, it’s dangerous. I ain’t trying to have to fight nobody. I can’t go to jail on foreign soil.”

Robyn laughed, “you are so dramatic but I love it though.”

“You love me?”

“Yes, even when I don’t want to.”

“You always want to.”

Robyn scoffed, “let’s not ruin the mood. Sergio Rossi and Zanotti are my favorites.”

“Do you wear them a lot?”

“No, it’s not practical since I mainly go to work and home. I’ve always wanted a pair of their shoes though.”

“Well then let’s go see where we can find them.”

“You’re trying to get me attached to you, aren’t you?”

“Is it working?”

“Maybe.”

Chris smiled and kissed her temple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Robyn Fenty, what are you doing?”

“I’m almost ready. Just five more minutes. Are we late?”

“No but you said you were ready twenty minutes ago.”

“I know Babe. Sorry.”

“Its ok. Just- Wow.”

Chris froze as Robyn walked out of the bedroom in a pair of black stilettos with a blood red heel and the black dress.

“You still mad about the dress?”

“No. You look- Wow.”

Robyn giggled, “is that all you’re gonna say?”

“I can’t get my mind to function right enough to say anything else. Just Wow.”

Robyn spun in a slow circle, “meets your approval?”

“Absolutely. And I take back everything I said about the dress in the store.”

“You only saying that because my hair covers the back.”

“No, I’m not. Seriously, you were definitely right not to listen to me.”

Robyn smiled, “Thank you. And you look handsome.”

“Thank you. You ready?”

“Yup,” Robyn went to take his arm and stopped when she saw a duffle bag sitting by the door, “are we staying the night somewhere?”

“Yes, this is an overnight thing.”

“But I didn’t pack anything.”

“I did. And most of what’s in there is new anyway. Trust me, everything you need is in there.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Ok, now can we leave?”

Robyn giggled, “just one more thing.”

“What?”

“I really want you to know how much I appreciated this whole vacation. I was really nervous about this at first but I think it was really necessary.”

“You know we still got another day or so left right?”

“I know but I just want you to know that this is really special to me and I hope we can keep this vibe once we get home. I know it might be a bit difficult because real life is gonna set in and it’s not gonna be days of sleeping for 12 hours straight or just cuddling all night but I want us to keep this feeling and harmony going forward.”

“That will always take two of us, Robyn.”

“I know. I’ll try if you do”

“You know I will.”

“Good. Now we can go.”

“Wait, I wanna give you something first.”

“What?”

“I was gonna do it later but knowing you, you’d probably get all fussy with me for being dramatic so wait right here and I’ll be right back.”

Robyn leaned against the back of the couch as Chris grabbed their duffle bag and started to dig through it. He handed her a black box, “this is not what you think it is. I know the one word that we aren’t bringing up because we aren’t at that place to but I do want a symbol of us moving towards being more permanent. If you don’t like it or don’t want it, that’s fine but I want to at least offer it to you, ok?”

“Chris, you’re scaring me.”

“Just open it.”

Robyn glanced over at him before popping open the box, “Babe, it’s beautiful.”

“You like it?”

“I love it. Oh man, I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I was worried about overstepping again but when I saw it in the store, I just knew it was you so yea.”

“It’s incredible but I’ll have to wear it on my right hand or else people are gonna get suspicious.”

“That’s ok with me.”

“Cool. You wanna put it on or should I?”

“I’ll do it.”

Chris took the trio of diamond bands out of the box and slid each one onto her right ring finger in the proper order. The rings attached around each other, the center band having a 3 carat emerald cut diamond on it.

“Now I’m afraid to ever take it off.”

Chris chuckled, “no, don’t feel like that. I promise not to get pissy if I ever see you not wearing it. I don’t want you to feel boxed in or nothing.”

“I don’t. I really don’t but thanks for doing it now and not in some bring ceremonial way, then I might feel like you were trying to propose to me.”

“Considering where we’re going, pissing you off wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’ll see.”

“Chris, is that what I think it is?”

“Yes, it is.”

“You rented a boat.”

“It’s not a boat, it’s a yacht, Ms. Fenty.”

“Well excuse me, Mr. Billionaire.”

“Surprisingly it didn’t cost as much to rent as I assumed it would’ve. It’s getting the staff that kicked my pockets.”

“You the one wanted to be a baller out here.”

“That is true but I figured a night cruise would be a good set up for our last days here.”

“It’s so pretty out. I didn’t expect this. I thought we were just going out to dinner.”

“Would I ever do something so basic?”

“Depending on the day, fortunately, or unfortunately, no.”

“You’re hurting my heart, Baby Girl. You just gotta keep me humble, huh?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

Chris held her hand and helped her to step onto the boat from the pier before closing the door behind her, “once we start moving, I’ll take you around and give you a tour before dinner.”

“Before dinner?”

“There will be no time for it after dinner.”

“And why is that?”

“You’ll find out.”

“You like playing with my emotions, huh?”

“I like playing with your freak meter, to be honest.”

“Don’t play too much. You know you scare easily.”

Chris scoffed, “I do not.”

“Says the guy who freaks out every time I bite him.”

“Because I am not food besides my skin is sensitive.”

Robyn laughed, “Boy please.”

“You wanna take your shoes off?”

“We gotta take some pictures first.”

“Then we need to move to the upper deck.”

“You planned for everything then.”

“Of course. You gonna need nice memories of that dress because there might not be any of it left after later.”

“I told you to stop playing because you get my freak meter too high, I don’t want you screaming and complaining.”

“As long as you don’t bite me, we’ll be alright.”

“Oh, I got something just as good in my arsenal.”

“Now, I’m scared for real. And where you hiding it at? I packed our bags.”

“You packed the bags that were in the hotel. There were bags that I left with our driver in the trunk remember. Did you not notice there were more bags when we got here than when we left the hotel?”

“I wasn’t paying attention.”

“That’s always a bad idea when it comes to me.”

“Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be running this show.”

“You are. For now.”

Chris’s brow furrowed and Robyn laughed, “Can I get something to drink please?”

“Coming right up.”

#chrianna #timehealsfanfiction

11 notes · View notes

sunsetcurve · 5 years

Text

Waves of Thunder * Family Danger Chapter 3

Sorry, at work right now but I know a big chunk of this chapter was Thunderbolt related, so I just inserted the whole thing. 😬

The Man Cave was in shambles ever since Charlotte left. At least that was exactly how Henry made it out every time he called her for an emergency. She went with it a while. Henry was pretty dependent in some aspects and she had only given him a couple of weeks to wrap his head around the changes. Eventually, though, she simply had to tell him very firmly that she couldn't continue to do this.

She had a job search. She had weekly labs. She was going out for an internship. She just… couldn't coddle him. “Henry, Schwoz is standing right next to you. I can hear him breathing. The man taught me practically everything I know about the place. Turn to him for this help…”

“LAAAAAME!!!” Henry practically shouted. She just held the phone and blinked her eyes, with a sigh, staring ahead. He was about to say something when she started speaking to someone in her background.

“Hey. What're you doing here? I thought our thing was tomorrow?”

“I got here early for some meetings. Want me to go?” A guy said.

Henry suddenly and oddly felt bothered by this call intrusion. “Who dat?”

“No. I was just saying goodbye.”

“No you weren't,” Henry claimed.

But, she didn't hear him. Instead, she said into the phone, “Bye, Hen. Good luck on your mission.”

“Oh, that's Henry? Heyyy, Henry!” He said into the mouthpiece.

She giggled the way that she had when she met Captain Man at Jasper's birthday party. Henry noted this because he didn't hear that type of behavior much from her. She wasn't very giggly. “Get outta my personal space, Max!” She said. Henry doubted she meant it from her giggling, and WHO was Max? “Max says 'Hi,’ but also 'Bye’ because you've got an emergency and we've got science things.”

“What kinda science things?” Henry asked, but Ray shouted,

“Like, right now, Kid!” He punched the enemy, but held onto his phone.

Before Charlotte hung up he heard her say to this Max, “From the sound of it, he's the fight. Probably wouldn't remember you anyway.” Her voice was fading as the phone headed for her bag. “He'll remember your sister.”

“He still crushing on her?”

“Who knows?” And she hung up.

Henry was fighting as he put his phone away. He'd definitely look into this later! Who the jack was Max? And who was this sister of his that he had allegedly crushed on? And was she still hot? But more importantly, whether or not she was, who was that Max guy to Charlotte?

Science things were usually not discussed between them. To be frank, they bored him and she didn't need to waste her breath, for both their sakes. But this sounded suspiciously like science things, but being enjoyed with a guy. A guy that made her giggle. A giggle with zero effort. It's not like he was jealous, but he probably should at least size this dude up. Charlotte never dated in school. Her parents didn't allow it. She could hang out with friends all day every day if she wanted, but no boyfriends and no dates. Only high school graduates could date in her house, an unfair stipulation, considering that she was an only child.

But, Henry was distracting himself. He and Ray bagged their bad guy and he headed home shortly after that.

…

He and Charlotte spoke a few more times, while playing on their live video games, and he called her a few times, but she apparently had gotten the internship she was shooting for. All she'd texted was, “Got my internship. Yay!”

But, her social media post had, “So grateful for this opportunity. The youngest intern for this program in a decade. The only freshman this year. Big ups to my parents, teachers, mentors, and special thanks to Max for so many nights of helping me with my entry project. #TheScienceBroIBeenWaitnFo” Then she included hearts, hugs and kisses emojis. Why hadn't his text been so impassioned?

Henry stared at it for a while before going to the comments and reading an entire 46 comments thread of exchange between her and this guy.

To sum it up, Dude was super excited for her, and said so, and included a bunch of emojis of his own, and they spoke science here and there, some simple, some went over Henry's head, but the thing that didn't was Max's use of parentheses when he repeated Science “Bros.”

Now… it was very much so possible that in the short span of time that Henry guessed she knew this dude, he'd quickly caught on to her penchant for not being a “bro,” but since in this rare instance SHE used it, he figured that Max was hinting at something else and honestly, it was on his nerves.

He checked out the guy's page. “Maxy-T. Corny,” he muttered. But, he looked familiar… Then, Henry saw photos of he and the sister. “Phoebe? This is Phoebe's brother, Max???” That dude was a villain, last time he knew of. Oh, but in his profile, it clearly stated that he'd left villainy behind to be the best hero he could be. Henry groaned, but couldn't force himself to leave the page. Mainly because there were a lot of photos of Char there. She wasn't tagged, so he hadn't seen them before, but they were like… uncomfortably cozy.

One was of her in a lab of some sort, in her pajamas and protective gear, side-by-side with one of her at a science gala, all dressed up and… surprisingly hot, Henry had to admit. The caption said: Get you a girl that can do both. And Charlotte had liked the post and commented with a smile and a wink. “Oh! Okay.” Henry said, nodding as he continued stalking the page.

One was a video of Charlotte in this field of sunflowers, wearing sunflowers and doing one of those dance challenges. He… didn't know Char could dance like that! And then she levitated? Must have been with Max's help. The caption said: Hope floats. #DoYouLoveMe #SheGotMeInMyFeelings “EXCUSE ME???”

While he was yet stalking, dude went live. “Hey, we're here at Char's lab, working when we should be celebrating…”

She giggled from the background and said, “Oh, so you're gonna shade me like this? I steal your lab?”

“Charlotte's lab, that Charlotte built with her own two hands and is at working, everyday…”

Her face appeared to interject, “He totally let me borrow his lab everyday. I was only pushy the first time!” They both laughed and exchanged looks and whatever the look was, Henry hated it.

…

Whenever they talked, she didn't mention Max, and whenever Henry brought him up, she laughed it off and changed the subject. One of the times that they were talking, Henry was in the Man Cave and Ray came upon their conversation. “Is that Charlotte?” He asked and rushed over, jumping into Henry and Charlotte's video call.

“Dude!”

“Hey, Ray!!!” Charlotte cheered and waved both hands.

“Charlotte,” he folded his arms, “I've been told you're fraternizing with the kid that turned us over to a room full of villains.”

“It's not that serious, Ray. We hang out. Besides, that's in his past. He's legit Z-Force, now. Actually, he loves pranks. I think that you'd get along with him, now.”

“Oh because he loves pranks?” Ray asked.

Henry chimed in, laughing, “Yeah, just because he loves pranks.”

Ray: I mean… I also love a good prank.

Henry: Yeah, a good prank is worth a lot to me.

Charlotte: He'll be here soon, if you wanna chat

Henry suddenly remembered his frustrations, “No! I was checking on you, because you two seem like you're dating. This guy's older, has had way more dates, probably. Probably has a lot of groupies.”

“Superpower groupies,” Ray added.

“The absolute most desperate of groupies.”

“That isn't a lie,” Ray bragged.

Charlotte told them, “The most insulting thing about this conversation is that both of you think that there's something that you would think of that I wouldn't.”

Ray informed her, “We know how guys think.”

“Oh yea? What do you guys think he's thinking about?”

They both stuttered and Ray finally answered, “Well, grown up sleepovers, for one.”

“Yeah!” Henry seconded, then shuddered, “Gross.”

“Oh, it's gross that someone would be interested in me?” Charlotte snapped. Henry tried to explain that wasn't what year meant, but she had ran with it, “For your information, I love grown up sleepovers and I'm told that I'm excellent at it!”

“I'm out,” Ray said, leaving the conversation. Busting Charlotte's chops, maybe even giving that Max kid a hard time, he had been ready for, but one of his “kids” having grown up sleepovers? That was where he tapped out.

“Charlotte, that isn't what I was getting at, but wait, what? You've… slept over with that dude? Do your parents know?”

“Do yours know about your… things?”

“That's different. My parents are super not attached. Yours used to have you keep tabs of where you were and who you were with in Goofle Drive.” He laughed, remembering that.

“My parents know that I'm seeing Max and they support me, unlike my so-called best friend who hasn't had anything nice to say to me in months.”

“Char.. I have had plenty of nice things. I just kept them to myself.”

“That's helpful.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Match the wingperson energy that I gave you for every single girl you were interested in during the course of this friendship.”

“I don't recall.”

“I encouraged you to ask Bianca out, and after you made me regret it by basically making a fool of yourself, I still motivated you to tell her how you felt before the world ended. And because of it, when the world kept existing, you'd gotten a kiss and a girlfriend!”

“Okay, that did happen, but…”

“Then you rejected my very helpful advice to NOT try to do a dual identity date with her and Chloe. And after you didn't listen, you spent most of the night isolating me from my other friends to try to advise you through a problem that I never would have been stupid enough to find myself in.”

“Char…”

“And you never even said thank you, or more importantly SORRY!”

“I see your point.”

“Henry, you once told me that you would never date me because I was like a sister to you.”

“You said that you wouldn't date me because I was a dishonest idiot and it already complicated your life enough just being my friend!”

“And… that was true then and is true now. But, you're acting… not like my brother. You don't pull this with Piper.”

“I don't feel the same way about Piper as I do about you,” he blurted out.

“Precisely. And like the idiot that I said you were, you waited until I found someone else to acknowledge this. I'm not Chloe, Henry. I'm not giving you a shot because you decided that you don't want to see me with someone else. Especially when I was there to witness herbe neglected until she left for Kids in the Woods.”

“I don't want to date you.’

“Good. Then there's no reason that you can't be supportive.”

“Yeah. Well, I gotta go. Swellview emergency.”

“Cool. Be careful out there.”

“Will do.”

…

Flashback:

Charlotte told Henry, “We should come up with a backup story. We'll need cover if Jasper is ever going to buy that we're dating. My cover is that we're keeping it a secret because my parents won't allow me to date. Easiest fiction is something steeped in the truth.”

“Oh, yeah, your parents don't let you date. Now, you ewwwing at me makes sense.”

“We made the sound at the same time, and that's not the reason that I did.”

“Friends should never date. First off, you might ruin the friendship and on top of that, I mean, I see you like a sister. You understand.”

“I don't understand any of that. If I were going to date, I'd definitely want the person to be my friend first. I want us to have common ground. I want us to have things that we can share together as friends even though we're dating. And, I have literally never thought of anyone as a sibling. Maybe it's because I am an only child, or maybe it's just because we have such different ways, you couldn't have possibly ever grew up as my sibling. My parents would have disowned you by now.”

“Harsh, but realistic… WAIT! Then why'd you say EWWW?”

“I said ewww, because you're a dishonest idiot and it already complicates my life enough just being your friend.”

“Charlotte, that's the rudest thing you've ever said to me… but it's maybe true, possibly.”

“I don't need you to tell me that I'm making sense. What about your cover? Jasper will have so many questions and most of them, I'm sure he'll ask you.”

Henry waved her off, “Between the two of us, no matter what we say, he'll believe us.”

…

Having a hectic schedule, but still no paycheck was a bummer. Charlotte really needed one of these searches to come through. As she played videogames with Henry and Jasper, she complained about it on the headset.

“Why don't you see if Ray has something you could do from there?” Henry wondered.

“He's been a lit.tle. fussy with me since my notice. Henry, do you really think Ray might consider that?”

“Don't see why not. He often asks me 'Are you and Charlotte talking again? I have wanna ask her something!”

“When were we not talking?”

“He only means that he knows I'm no longer a priority.”

She paused for just a moment and her character was almost killed! She took a moment, put her head back in the game, and practically whispered, “You’ll always be a priority, Hen.” He smiled to himself, and even though she couldn’t see him, she countered, “Don’t be smiling.”

A/N: I usually do these at the front, but I wanted to just tag this bit of info in here… I do not know WHO I got the idea of Charlotte + Max Thunderman, and I’ve seen very little of the Thundermans, so Idek none about them. If I’m OOC with him or whatever, charge it to my head and not my heart.

#NESHA THIS IS SO GOOD #okay like. i’m such a sucker for a little jealous!henry #and it definitely doesnt seem like you don’t know max #i really LOVE the sciencebros thing its so cute!!!!!#ugh. i’m really just being dragged into thunderbolt huh.#it’s CUTE #ahh #thunderbolt #chenry #henry danger #the thundermans #charlotte page bolton #max thunderman #henry hart #submission

14 notes · View notes

artino1987 · 4 years

Text

Chapter Six- Call The Rebels

First Previous Next

Alec bit into a baby carrot, clenching his teeth as hard as he could with every chew. His eyes were focused straight ahead on nothing in particular. Hugh sat next to him, dragging a plastic spork through an almost equally plastic bowl of mac and cheese. They sat at the same table they had been sitting at since Alec's freshman year. The table closest to the green halls and the small store where you could buy both school sweaters and stale cookies. The lunchroom was different today.

No students were running around different tables. There was no loud yelling. Once people had sat down, no one dared to move. Students chewed softly and whispered. There was this weight pushing down on both prodigies and non-prodigies alike. There was an elephant in the room that had spanned over the entire school, and no one wanted to talk about it.

Rios sat down in front of Alec, looking down at his lame excuse for a sandwich. "Davids not coming. Had to retake a quiz," he said, eating a stray bit of lettuce. Hugh gave an acknowledging hum. The three sat quietly, poking their food, keeping to themselves.

A loud buzz sounded, breaking the silence. Alec sighed. It wasn't even his phone, but he was desperate for any kind of distraction.

Rios fished his phone out of his pocket, turning it on to read the notification quickly. He looked at Alec, then at Hugh, then behind him before he quickly put his phone away.

"Well," Hugh paused, biting the end off of a breadstick, " That wasn't suspicious at all."

"It's a little hard to he subtle when everyone can see every little thing you do," he said, shyly

"It's a little hard to be subtle when you're extremely suspicious," Alec teased. Hugh swatted him away like a fly, keeping his focus on Rios.

"What was it?"

"What was what?"

"Whatever that was on your phone, what was it?"

"It wasn't anything."

"If it wasn't anything, then why are you being weird about it?"

"To be fair, he's always weird," Alec added.

"Thank you! I think?"

"You're welcome, I think."

Hugh smacked Alec's arm, "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Hey! Alec Artino joins no sides but his own," he said. Pointing his carrot towards Hugh.

"Can we just drop it? It's not a big deal," Rios asked.

"But-"

"Please?"

Hugh stopped, looking down at his food. "Okay," he groaned.

A loud voice sounded over the lunchroom. Every student quickly directed their eyes to a man stood near the doors that led to the school's field. He was short and skinny with blond hair that had begun to turn gray at the roots. Alec recognized him as one of the foreign language teachers, but he can't remember which one. French?

Students watched him carefully as he held the microphone. During lunch is when the school gave small announcements or small reminders. Alec could see everyone waiting for him to discuss what's been on everyone's minds. Or was it Spanish?

"There are about 7 minutes left of lunch. We ask that you throw away your garbage as soon as you are finished. Let's leave the lunchroom cleaner than it was when we came. Thank you." He turned off the microphone and walked away. Maybe German? Or Mandarin?

"Algebra II," a voice said behind him. Alec turned and saw a girl with tan skin and purple-dyed hair. "He teaches Algebra II. You were way off."

Alec laughed, "Mindreader?"

The girl's eyes widened, "Gosh, no. You were just talking out loud," she said, beginning to laugh with him.

"Oh, oops."

"Yeah," she brushed something off her cheek, but Alec didn't see what. She laughed harder, "Me? A Prodigy? Honestly, I'd rather die."

***

Alec kicked a rock down the street, mumbling to himself about the staff at Gatlon City, flaunting around how 'inclusive' they are for teaching prodigies. All the posters plastered around the school about kindness and equality were just one big fat joke now.

It's been an entire school week with the new security system. Alec thought the whole thing was stupid. Prodigies were checked every morning, but for what? Prodigies are smarter than to even think about possibly giving the school a reason to get them in trouble. They weren't going to waltz in with a gun hidden in their bag or a knife in their pocket. Hell, no one even dared to bring toothpicks! Only because the last time a prodigy did, they ended up getting suspended because they were 'too sharp.'

Teachers had said the system was to stop trouble, but if anything, the system only created it. The entire week, parents had marched into the office, demanding that the school take away the system. They demanded that the school apologize for the humiliation they've caused students. Part of the parents was politely asked to leave, with a promise that their request would be considered. The rest were threatened by security to leave immediately. The rest of the parents, to no surprise, were prodigies.

David practically had to beg their father to not go down to the school as well. There was no point in going. The school wasn't going to change. Things were going to stay the way they were. The next time Alec went to school he was going to grab those metal detectors from the guards and shove it up their-

"Alec."

He stopped in his tracks, staring down at the rock he had been kicking, except it wasn't there anymore. Had he just been kicking the gound? When he looked up though, he saw the rock hovering in the air, an inch in front of his nose.

"Where are you going?"

Alec pointed his finger downwards, using his power to lower the rock back onto the concrete. Behind him, David stood on the porch, watching him. Alec, having been too lost in his thoughts, ended up walking past their house.

"Um, to bother Hugh for a bit. I'll be back in time for dinner, okay?" he said, looking over his shoulder. It was the first excuse he could come up with.

"Can you bring back my blanket? I left it at his house on Wednesday."

"The green one?" Alec was just going to keep walking on to wherever his feet carried him, but now he had to go see Hugh. Not that he was complaining, though.

"Yea."

"I'll bring it." David turned to walk inside their home, leaving Alec alone outside. He continued walking through his neighborhood.

It's not too bad of a walk, but it definitely wasn't convenient. He'd have to walk the rest of the neighborhood, then a couple blocks past a small park with food carts along the outskirts. He was going out of his way, but it was for Hugh, so it made things a little bit better.

As Alec went, he gave quick nods and smiles to the other kids coming from the opposite sides of the neighborhood. They were either coming from Lexington Academy or Romero Hills High School. Romero Hills only taught non-prodigies, but he was lucky to never have come across a student against people like him.

Then, there was Lexington Academy. It was a fancy school that accepted prodigies and treated them normally, which Alec was sure was impossible. The school was way too expensive though. The students there were rich posh children that never had to fear whether or not society would be kind to them. Of course, society was kind to them, they have money.

Alec stops himself when he remembers that the girl David had talked about went to Lexington. He liked to believe that David had good judgment when it comes to people and if he said Tala was good, then Tala was probably good. But Lexington students only reminded Alec that even other prodigies were cruel to prodigies. Or at least the Lexington students he'd come across. They made him realize the only person you can ever really count on to be there for you was yourself.

On the opposite sidewalk, Alec instantly recognizes Noah Smith, a boy who he used to be friends with from Romero Hill. He'd go over with David to their house and play video games all throughout Elementary school. Their interactions now are limited to quick hellos and small waves, but that alone brightens Alec's day a bit. He makes a small mental note to catch up with him the next time they meet. He didn't see Tala, though. Maybe she doesn't take the bus home.

Alec turned around the block and left the neighborhood

#call the rebels #renegades fanfic #renegades fandom #renegades trilogy #renegades #marissa meyer #archenemies #ace anarchy #supernova #anarchists #superheroes #nova artino #adrian everhart #hugh everhart

4 notes · View notes

harvestgatenetwork-blog · 4 years

Text

The Harvest Gate Podcast - Episode 1

Below is a written transcript of Episode 1 of The Harvest Gate Podcast.

Now available on harvestgate.org/podcast , Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcasting app or service.

New episodes every Sunday at 6AM.

Episode 1: What is Harvest Gate?

*Intro Music*

Greg: Hey this is Greg

Zack: And Zack

Greg: Welcome to the very first Harvest Gate Podcast. We are delighted to be talking to you about this project. And we’re excited to welcome you to our very first podcast, we’re going to be talking about Harvest Gate, tracking our growth and development, keeping you up to date on events and news that’s going on. But for this very first episode, we want to take some time to introduce ourselves, Harvest Gate and everything about this project. So Zack why don’t you start, tell us a little about yourself.

Zack: Yea, my name is Zack Morgan. I am a pastor here in Newark, Ohio. I’ve lived in this area for pretty much my entire life. I spent 6 years away in the air force and I came back to the church that I grew up in as a pastor which was an interesting dynamic. I’ve had some great leaders that have guided me along the way and have helped shape a lot of my thinking, a lot of my behaviors. It has led to this really cool…what I believe is the vision of Harvest Gate that I’m excited to talk about with you Greg.

Greg: I’m excited too! We’ll dig deeper into exactly what Harvest Gate is and where that idea came from. But first, do you want to tell everyone a bit about how we met and our relationship, how we got here?

Zack: Yea. That is a fun story. About a year and a half ago I was playing on a church softball team and Greg and his wife Emily came to the game and that was an interesting dynamic about how you came in the first place.

Greg: Yea, I mean, it is a funny story as well. We didn't really know you guys, we didn't have any connection to your church, even though its less than a mile from our house. We had a mutual friend that Emily knows from a group of ladies that she meets with, that her husband played some game that I played and said, "Hey, we should get together and hang out!". They invited us to play softball and I think at some point we discovered a mutual affection for tennis, which sort of led into, how can we get some exercise outside of softball, let's meet up on Fridays for tennis.

Zack: And what Greg didn't tell me is that he's a really good tennis player and I kind of just played for just for fun. So Greg and I started playing tennis, and that was really fun, but then the weather got cold so we started getting coffee and so we started getting coffee. We've been getting coffee for about a year.

Greg: Yea, over a year.

Zack: One of the fun dynamics between our relationship, I'm a pastor obviously, but Greg is not a follower of the Christian way. He believes what I would call the Christian ethic but does not identify as a Christian himself. Greg, would you talk about that a little bit?

Greg: You know, I think everyone has their, sort of journey or path that they've been on. I grew up going to church and while I think I didn't totally buy-in to everything about it, I really picked up on Christian values and how you treat other people. Treating people with kindness and loving people even if you have differences with them. It's been certainly a topic of conversation and discussion in my marriage where my wife is a very strong believer and I'm less so, but we agree on wanting to pass on those values to our son, in a way that is impactful and meaningful for him in his life. The thing that meant a lot to me about our relationship, and getting coffee, and talking and all the conversations that we had is that I never felt this pressure, that I was any less than anyone else because I didn't believe in it. We could have honest conversations about what we thought about or how we felt about things and there wasn't any judgement or pressure like, "We'd be better friends if you were a believer" or something like that.

Zack: And I just love you authenticity, you don't pretend to be something you aren't. In honesty, apart from Tennis and Coffee, there's not a whole lot that we share in common, but we've developed a really good friendship, I would consider you one of my best friends.

Greg: Yea, absolutely.

Zack: Can you tell me a little bit about why, as a non-believer, why you would want to join a church plant? I love it. I'm also really intrigued by it.

Greg: When you outline it that way it doesn't make a ton of sense. I think it's a combination of several things. My wife's passion for the project is really exciting and that gets me really excited about it. But also, I look at not just the church side of it but all the positive impact you're trying to have in and around central Ohio and the long term vision of how that can grow. It appeals to me because there are too many things in our world these days that are negative, that divide people when we would really come together to do good things, regardless of what we believe or how we feel about certain things. Why not try and make a positive impact.

Zack: You and I have had this conversation before. I believe that this is what the Kingdom is all about. Whether you are a believer or not a believer, coming together to bring about God's redemptive work to the world. You can do that whether you are a believer in Jesus and his ways or not. Greg, does this seem like a good time to talk about what's going on with Harvest Gate, how we got to this point?

Greg: Yea, let's dig in a little deeper on what Harvest Gate is, what exactly it is that we're talking about our involvement in then we can maybe we can get into our related experience and what we're bringing to the project.

Zack: I'll try to be brief about this but my story with church planting goes back to 2009. In 2009, my wife and I, Liz, were in a church in Florida while I was in the military and our church was wanting to start small groups and at the time I had just fallen in love with everything church. I wanted everything to do with the church. I heard they were doing small groups and I said, "OH! Can I lead one?" They said sure, and I said, what is a small group? So they kind of laid it out. I said, "Is there a curriculum or anything like that, that I need to go by?" No. Being the naive, young man I was, I thought, well I only have the bible to go off of so that's a good start.

So I remember in Acts, chapter 2, there is a part where it says, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to fellowship and to receiving of the lord's supper." And in verse 47 it says, "and the lord added daily, to their numbers, those who are being saved."

So I was like, alright, well I guess we'll just go with this. Our small group started out with 8 people and like every church in America in the 2000's our slogan was, "Love God, Love People and Server your world."

I went through that passage and I said, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, that would be 'Love God'."

And to fellowship, that's 'Love People' and broke it down that way. Our group started out with 8 people and within about 3 months we were averaging 35 people or so.

Greg: Wow!

Zack: That group became church for people. We did communion, we did worship, we did teaching, we ate a lot, we laughed a lot, we cried a lot and it just became beautiful. It was at that point where I felt, looking back in hindsight, I had no idea what church planting was, I was like, "Oh we should just start a church!"

Greg: Yea

Zack: And by god's grace we didn't because I was an idiot back then...I'm still an idiot, but less so.

Greg: And humble.

Zack: Yes. I lacked humility back then and it was a piece of pride for me. So that's where my heart for church planting began and then we'll fast forward. In 2014, I got out of the military, I became a pastor at the church where I'm currently serving here in Newark.

In 2016, at the behest of my lead pastor, who is a multiplication guru, he encouraged me to do a church planters assessment and so, Liz and I went through a 2 or 3 day thing.

Greg: Liz, your wife, of course.

Zack: Yes, Liz is my wife. So its a 3 day journey where, basically, you're being...interrogated is not the right word...interviewed about your life and your life experience for probably 8 hours a day. Ultimately what they said, they give you 3 options, they say, "Yes, you possess the qualities to be a lead church planter right now."

"Yes, you do possess these things but you need some significant training or coaching."

or "No".

Liz and I received a no, sorry, we received a yes! We were ecstatic! That was in 2016. We left there thinking, "Yea, this is awesome, still feeling called to church planting but we don't feel released from where it is we're currently serving."

So in 2017, I went to a church planters conference in Florida, called Exponential, which I feel now is a great time to plug Exponential. If you are interested in church planting or multiplication or discipleship, Exponential is a fantastic conference that I highly recommend, it is the largest gathering of church planters and multipliers around the world. Something like 5000 people come out to that.

It was there at Exponential that I met a fellow church planter, who was actually doing it, I felt like an imposter because I hadn't actually planted a church. But I met him, his name is Cory Dorian, he is out in Washington or Oregon area. He got permission from his district to buy a house in a neighborhood. Basically, they just did a house church and their ministry, their vision, was to do everything in their neighborhood for the neighborhood.

They met in their house but they did all their shopping, all their haircutting, everything happened in their neighborhood.

So i asked Cory, "This is fantastic! But what are you doing, how are you finding that you can support yourself apart from being paid by the district."

Greg: Financially.

Zack: Financially, right. And he said, "Uhh, I haven't figured that out yet."

I loved that vision but it felt like all the wind was let out of the sails because it's like, well, I'm not going to be able to find a district or a place...I'm not going to be able to find a sugar daddy essentially...

Greg: And that's important for you because you have a wife, you have 3 kids...

Zack: Yea!

Greg: You've got to support that whole household as well.

Zack: And if I had a really rich Uncle or something like that who, what was that movie, Baxter's Millions? Brewster's Millions? Richard Prior? It was a great movie, anyways!.

But that was not the case for me. I started dreaming, "How could we do this?" And I was reminded, I feel like God reminded me of this, that I had a dream to open a coffeehouse before I was called into ministry, but once I was called into ministry I thought, "Well, that dream is just going to have to die."

And so I let that go and hopped into ministry.

But here in 2017 at Exponential I feel like God gave me a dream to marry both the marketplace and the church together. God gave me this vision, I called home, I called Liz, and I said, "Liz. God gave me this vision, here's the vision."

And she said, "Well its great that he gave you that vision, but he did not give that to me."

Greg: Uh oh.

Zack: Liz continued, "If he wants us to do this, he's going to have to talk to me about that."

Again, all the wind out of my sails.

Greg: Yea.

Zack: At that point, I put church planting in my back pocket and I thought, "Well, maybe one day down the road, 10 or 20, 30 years from now, God will let us plant a church."

Greg: Yea.

Zack: So in 2018, Liz and I began the process of becoming missionaries, to go to Vienna, Austria. It was a great process, it was about a 9 month process where we went through that application process. Through that we were getting lots of affirmations from the people who would have essentially benefited from it, the people who would be sending us. But what we were missing were affirmations from people who were close to us, like our family and our spiritual mentors, who were surrounding us.

For the last 4 years, I've been working on my Master's of Divinity with a specialization in church planting and multiplication through Wesley Seminary. One of the classes I had to take for my specialization was a class called "Launch"

By this point in the story, we're in 2019, January of 2019.

Greg: About a year ago.

Zack: About a year ago. Almost to the day. One of the first assignments was, give an autobiography of your experience or your involvement with church planting and multiplication. I essentially was typing out everything that I just shared, "Oh I felt called to plant a church 10 years ago...here it is...10 years later...haven't planted...woe is me."

As I am writing that paper, I get a text message from my pastor, Chris Dyer, and he says, "Zack, do you still feel called to plant a church?"

And I was like, "........Yes."

And he said, "Because I have been talking with Ed Love, who is the director of multiplication for the Wesleyan church, and he thinks that I just need to push you out of the nest and let you fly."

Greg: Mmhmm...works for birds.

Zack: Works for birds! I remember I screen-shotted it and sent it to Liz and remember, we're still going through the process of trying to become missionaries at this point. I sent it to Liz and I said, "So things might be changing."

And little did we know, that moment set us on a course to birth what we are now talking about, Harvest Gate. So that's what kind of led us to this moment. That class was an amazing class, it helped us put essentially to paper, everything that had been in my head and had been ethereal, had now become a reality.

Greg: It's been a long journey, there's been a lot of things that have sort of led you to that point. Now that we're here, define Harvest Gate. What is Harvest Gate? You talked about the coffeehouse, the house churches, package those together for us, for the listener and explain what that is.

Zack: Yea, so it's interesting. I grew up in what I would call a traditional kind of church. And I'm not talking about the music necessarily. It's a place where you go on a given day of the week and that's what we called church. But as I've studied the scriptures and as I've studied church history and things like that, what I have found is that the movement of God's people often happens in homes.

What we say at Harvest Gate, what would be our mission statement essentially is, "Connecting faith to families, communities and marketplaces."

I heard some statistics a few years ago, and these numbers aren't exactly correct but they are close enough. Again, I believe I was at Exponential. And I heard a pastor say this, he said, "83% of pastors, in the last 12 months, do not have any friends who are non-church goers." And that broke my heart.

Another thing he said is, "Something like 63% of pastors, in the last 12 months, have not personally led someone to Jesus."

I remember thinking, "We have to do something that is different!" If we're trying to tell our people that they need to be loving their neighbor and caring for their neighbor and loving those who are different than them and loving those who have different ideologies, how are we going to teach them these things if we ourselves aren't doing these things.

Greg: Yea!

Zack: Which again is another reason why I love our relationship because we don't agree on everything.

Greg: It really is a relationship that, in my head, wouldn't make sense. Because I have often felt uncomfortable at church. I've had a handful of interactions where somebody comes up to you and says, "Oh, are you saved?!" and it sort of feels aggressive and an invasion of...Well, I can choose to believe what I want to believe. I don't necessarily want to share that with everyone, though I obviously am now...

It is an interesting dynamic about how we got here and how it just works. And there is no...I don't ever feel that uncomfortable pressure or bias towards believes versus non-believes or something like that. I can just be whoever I am. Thanks for that!

Zack: And that doesn't mean that we don't talk about spiritual matters.

Greg: Yea!

Zack: I've told you before, if I didn't want you to believe what I believe, then what I believe is not actually worth it. Or I'm just a jerk for not wanting you to believe that.

Actually, Greg, the reason that we are doing our church is exactly for people like you, who have been hurt by the church, burned by the church, who don't want to associate. I'm not saying you don't necessarily want to associate with church.

Greg: Sure.

Zack: People who just feel disenfranchised. There have been some studies, some more anecdotal, some more legitimate, that have said, "If the church as it stands now, as it is traditionally configured, were to operate at a 100%, we would only reach about 40% of the population."

When I say traditional church, I'm talking about brick and mortar church, where you go to a certain place on a certain day of the week and if you're really spiritual, one other time throughout the week. Maybe you're part of a small group or something like that.

So we have roughly 95% of churches in America, who are going after 40% (of the population), while maybe 5% are going after the other 60% of people. Harvest Gate, I believe, is a church that wants to go after the 60%. Those people who will never step foot into a traditional type of church.

We want to engage people in what we would call the third place of life. I remember reading a book called, "The Story of Christianity" by Husto Gonzalez, who is a really famous church historian. There is a passage in there that really just struck me. He said this, he said, "In truth, most missionary work was not carried out by the apostles but rather by the countless and nameless Christians, who for different reasons, persecution, business or missionary calling, traveled from place to place taking the news of the gospel with them."

As I was thinking about that and pondering that, I couldn't help but to think, Paul became a tent maker, he used his tent making to build relationships with people and used that to share the gospel.

His partners in ministry, Pricilla and Aquila, were tent makers. You have Lydia, who was the first one, the first person baptized in Europe and there is a church that met in her home. She was a seller of fine, purple linen. The writer of the book Luke and Acts, Luke, was a physician. Each of these people used their vocation in order to pastor people, essentially. And that is where the idea of Harvest Gate came from.

What we want to do is open a coffeehouse where we can engage people in the third place of life. There was a book written called "The Great Good Place" and it identifies 3 different places of life. You have the first place which is home, the second place which is work and the third place which is, kind of defined by neutral ground, it is a place where everyone feels welcome, it is a level place. Conversation is the main activity. It is easily accessible and there is accommodation for everybody. It has regulars. You think of Cheers.

Greg: Right, right.

Zack: Low profile, the mood is playful. You refer to it as a home away from home. I have a local coffeehouse that I attend, that I frequent pretty regularly.

Greg: Well and we go there together, and whenever we're there, there are maybe a dozen people or so, over the hour or hour and a half that we're talking, that know you, have seen you at church, have you seen you around town.

They certainly remember you by name, some are just "Hello!" and some are "Oh how's the family, how's the kids" and they certainly really do know you.

Zack: And it's not just me, it's the case for you to.

Greg: That's true. I have, maybe by accident, come to meet and know lots of people through my relationships with people at both your church and another church here in town. All of a sudden...I should clarify, I'm not originally from Newark, I moved here from Columbus. My wife Emily is from Newark. And there were a lot of times, maybe even a lot of years, soon after I moved out here where I felt very isolated, didn't know anybody.

I've spent almost the last 8 years working from home and working from home is great but you don't meet anyone working from home, just your dogs and your family. How I feel now emotionally and mentally is so much better. Having these relationships with people, where I live and having met you and us being able to get together regularly to talk and share what's going on in our lives has made a huge difference.

Zack: I think that community aspect is really important.

Greg: Yea.

Zack: This is not the case entirely, across the Christian realm but a lot of times in the church, community or relationships are kind of sterile. We might have a few close-knit relationships but there's not a general sense of community.

Greg: Right.

Zack: We might say that we have a community of people, but we really only see each other once a week.

Greg: Yea..

Zack: Maybe twice a week. And so what I love about our relationship, maybe not daily, but pretty close to that.

Greg: You are a master of the gif by the way.

Zack: Thank you! It is a skill that I...

*laughter*

Zack: We communicate pretty frequently. I would say that our...I could be mistaken...This is honest moments here with Zack and Greg. I feel like our relationship when it first started was kind of awkward.

Greg: Maybe. I think we were both figuring it out. It's a believe and a non-believer at probably extreme ends of that spectrum. I'm not an active non-believer, I'm not dissuading people, I'm comfortable where I am.

Zack: Yea.

Greg: And I think we were both trying to figure out, are we going to offend each other? Are we going to be uncomfortable with these types of conversations? We figured out pretty quickly, no, we're fine having honest discussions about it. We can come and go from that topic without it feeling forced or uncomfortable, like oh, we have to talk about that big cross-shaped elephant in the room.

Zack: Exactly, yea and it kind of sounds like an intro to a bad joke. A pastor and an agnostic walk into a coffeehouse.

We're hoping that through the coffeehouse we're able to engage with people in a relationship. I have a family member who was asked about this, and they said, "So is this like a Christian coffeehouse that's like, here's your coffee now if you want prayer step over to this line and we'll have someone sent over to pray for you."

No, that would just be weird and uncomfortable.

Greg: I can verify that. That I would also feel weird and uncomfortable about that.

Zack: I would feel weird and uncomfortable about that and I'm a pastor.

Greg: Well there ya go.

Zack: This is a for-profit coffeehouse that I'll be the owner of.

Greg: Yea.

Zack: The idea is that we want to engage the world in a really good, quality service, quality product. Here's the thing, I believe that our worship and our work are intimately tied together.

Greg: Yea. Everybody on the Harvest Gate team is reading a book about this.

Zack: Yea.

Greg: About how your work and how what you do should be fulfilling and tied to what you love to do.

Zack: The Hebrew word for the word "work" in the old testament, Genesis 2, says that, "God put Adam in the garden to work the field and take care of it." That word, work, is the Hebrew word "aved" and it literally is used throughout the old testament to mean, service or service to god. That word is often used synonymously with the word worship.

I believe that one of the best ways that I can share the gospel with people, is through doing really really good work.

Greg: Yea.

Zack: And treating people really well and there is a saying, I don't know if you're aware of this saying Greg but St Francis of Asisi said, "Preach often and when necessary use words."

I think it is a great sentiment but I think what has happened in the church is we just go, "Well I don't need to say anything because I'm doing it with my life."

I think that words are important and that we need to have those conversations which is why, I think, you and I have these conversations.

Greg: Yea.

Zack: But...so we want to use the coffeehouse to engage people into relationships so we can invite them into discipleship and then into our house church. Which is what we're going to be, it's not going to be a building, it's going to be wherever people live and work.

It doesn't matter if you live in an 8,000 foot mansion, which if you do, please invite me over, I want to see that.

Greg: Right, yea! Absolutely!

Zack: Or if you live in a studio apartment, it doesn't matter. You can have church right there. Engaging in those things that the early church engaged in. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to communion and to fellowship. You can do those things all from your home.

So we want to engage people in the first, the second and the third place of life.

Greg: So I think the coffeehouse ties back into the example you gave earlier, and I apologize I forget who you were specifically referring to but, when they were talking about starting this house church and they felt called to do that, it was great and they felt very passionately about that but how do you support your family. The coffeehouse is really going to do that, its going to support your family to enable you to do the stuff in that community.

We should clarify, we're in Newark, Ohio right now, Harvest Gate is going to be in Columbus, you're not opening a coffeehouse and going to sometimes be there, you're going to move there, to live within short distance of the coffeehouse, or at least that's the plan.

Zack: Yes and thank you for bringing that up. Our big dream is that we want to have a transforming presence in every zip code in Columbus. In Columbus, there are 49 zip codes.

Greg: That's a lot of zip codes.

Zack: That's a lot of zip codes. So that means we want to have either a business, and it doesn't have to be a coffeehouse. A business and/or a house church in every zip code in Columbus. You're absolutely correct, Greg, that will be my vocation, that will be the way that I sustain our life and our family.

Here's one of the things I love about what we're doing, through the coffeehouse, 10% of all of our profits are going to go towards starting other businesses or other churches, or other faith communities. Greg, let’s say that, in this hypothetical situation you become a believer and you've always wanted to start Greg's yoga studio.

Greg: *laughs* I can think of a couple other businesses I might start first, but lets go with Yoga, I can aspire to something...

Zack: We would then launch you out, through the pool of money essentially that is coming in through Harvest Gate Coffeehouse to help start Greg's Yoga Studio. We want to be a place that is a blessing to other individuals, yes, but also to the community as well.

Which informs our name. The name Harvest Gate comes from 3 things, Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, so ask the lord of the harvest for more workers."

We want to be a part of the harvest. In Columbus, as of 2010, there are 693,127 people who have no religious affiliation at all. We want to see that number changed.

We want to be a part of the harvest, that is where we get Harvest from. Gate kind of seems a little strange and I'm going to address the elephant in the room. It seems like when you put Gate at the end of something, like Watergate, it seems to not go well.

Greg: Harvest Gate is not a harvest related scandal.

Zack: No. It is not. It is rooted in biblical ideologies. Jesus says that, "I am the gate. None come to the father except through me." We want to be very very very very Jesus centered. I had this revelation a couple of years ago, where I felt God spoke to me and he said, "Zack, you've become so institutionalized that you've been trying to win people to church and not to Jesus."

That began me on a journey that I really just want to be so Jesus-centered that its...

Greg: Thinking about taking up carpentry as well?

Zack: My dad's a carpenter so that works!

Greg: There ya go!

Zack: That's where we kind of get the idea of Harvest Gate, but it goes a little further than that. In the new testament, Paul used the word "ecclesia" to talk about the church, it is the greek word, "ecclesia". In America, what we generally tend to do is we define that word pretty narrowly and we say, it is a gathering of people or the gathering of the saints. To be sure, it is that, it is a gathering of people but Paul actually took that word from the secular community, so every village, town or city would have a group of elders who would meet at the city gate.

That group of elders, their responsibility was to bring wisdom and council and clarity and value to the cities, towns or villages in which they lived. If there is an engagement, they would affirm the engagement. If there was a dispute between land owners, they would make a judgement based off of the information that came in. Different things like that.

So that gathering of people at the city gate was called an ecclesia. And so Paul, I believe knew this, when he used the word ecclesia to describe the church.

I believe that Paul wanted the church to know that we exist for our communities, we exist for the cities, towns or villages that we live in. As a business, we want to bring value to our community, we want to hire people, we want to create jobs, we want to give back to our community. We want to be a gathering space for people! Whether you are a Christian or not or whatever the case is. So that's kind of what we're wanting to do with our business.

Greg: I think its a really...one of the things that drew me to the project is that it is such a...seems like an unconventional idea, that it can be a business that can do good. So often these days, capitalism in America is fueled by this uncontrollable greed for more, for more, for more. And companies seem to only want to do good things if it makes them appealing to customers, if it makes them lead to more sales. It sort of takes business away from any type of morality and starts to only think about what good can we do to positively influence our bottom line.

I don't like that sort of greed, really turns me off of businesses.

It is hard to describe exactly how I feel about it in a professional way. Nevertheless, I think I really like that Harvest Gate is taking a business and saying, "Okay, this is not just about making as much money as possible and that the only people that are going to be positively impacted by that are the tiny handful of people at the top or those that have invested the most money, or something like that."

We're not going around looking for investors to share in what we're doing in some way, we're looking for, and this is probably a good time to talk about it, that we're going to be looking for people to donate to help support this project and we're going to be talking about, fairly transparently, on this podcast about our progress with that. How we're doing and how we're reaching our goals, setting our goals and how all of that is going to enable this project to happen.

Zack: And I think it is important that we say that, we view this as a missionary endeavor.

That a lot of times missionaries will go to a foreign country and they will start a business in order to engage people in the community. We're wanting to do the exact same thing here in Columbus.

The business and the house church are in a symbiotic relationship with one another.

Greg: Yea

Zack: I tell people this, If we have just a business and no house church, we are just a business. We don't want to be just a business.

If we have just a house church and no business, I'm going to be living in a box and I won't be taking care of my family and I don't want them to resent me.

And we also won't have a way to engage people into the house church because we won't have a way of knowing people.

Greg: You can't have a house church without a house.

Zack: Exactly! We've kind of wrestled with this, which comes first, the chicken or the egg. In this situation, it is the business. For us to move to Columbus, the housing market there is about $100,000 more than where we currently live.

Greg: No doubt about that.

Zack: I truly believe that this is of God because I don't know if...I might be able to plant a church and do okay with it just because I'm familiar with it but I've never started a business though and I don't really know much about business. Fortunately, we have a team of people who have been surrounding us, like your wife, Emily.

Greg: Your wife, Liz.

Zack: Yea. And some others on the team, who have great skill and great knowledge and we also have outside counselors, I don't know if counselor is the right word, outside sources who are speaking into our lives and speaking into the business itself.

Greg: Yea, and I think it is worth mentioning now that we are going to be taking some time over the coming weeks. We're hoping to do this podcast weekly, and meet some of the people on this team and how they are going to be contributing and I think that goes to also we'll be talking more about your history and background, experience.

We'll be talking a little bit about myself, my wife, your wife and other team members and how everybody is connected to this, how serendipitous it is about how we all got connected with this. It is a really, sort of, weirdly shaped grapevine that has connected everybody to bring them here.

Zack: Yea and to speak to that point, a lot of times when we plant churches or we start businesses or things like that, what we tend to do is say, "I have these positions that need filled so I'm going to find people that fit these roles."

I feel like we have done this a little differently. God has laid people on my heart and I have sought them out and we found their unique gifts and skills and have plugged them into the places where they will thrive the most. And I believe that is what we are called to do in the church, is to release people so that they can live an abundant life in who God has made them to be.

Greg: I think that is a really fine point to end on for our first podcast for Harvest Gate.

Zack: Yea.

Greg: It has been great sharing this project and this idea with everybody and we hope that everyone is excited to keep tabs on what we're doing and the development of it. We'll be getting into more detail on our goals and our timeline and lots and lots more in upcoming episodes. For now, people can check us out and track what's going on at harvestgate.org

Zack: That's correct.

Greg: And we're currently on what social media?

Zack: We are on Facebook and Instagram for the time being.

Greg: And definitely more to come in the future.

Zack: Yea.

Greg: Alright, thanks very much for listening.

Zack: Had fun!

Greg: Follow us on social media @HarvestGateNetwork

Zack: There are several ways you can engage with us and support Harvest Gate at harvestgate.org

Greg: You can subscribe to the Harvest Gate podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. If you are as excited as we are about this project, please consider sharing it with the people in your life.

Zack: Thanks for listening to the Harvest Gate podcast. Connecting faith to families, communities and marketplaces.

#Columbus #HarvestGate #ConnectingFaith #Episode1

2 notes · View notes

rose-gold-romantic · 5 years

Text

Whatever It Takes: Chapter Eight

A Loki x Reader based in the Tesseract fic universe! Avengers: Infinity War follow-up fic. Next in the Tesseract fic series. Links to Tesseract, Lokasenna, What Heroes Do, and Fidelity. Also to my AU Feel You.

I WOULD LOVE FEEDBACK! Want to be tagged in updates? Let me know!

@malignentmac @fandomsfanman @i-am-supermerwholoked221b @markusstrayya @sincereleygmg @pandaqua @person-born-winchester

Just a forewarning, this one has a major POV shift from the past entries, since Reader was Dusted at the end of Fidelity! Keeping with my recent trend in fic titles, it’s named after a track on the official soundtrack. I also constantly watch this Video, and recommend it to hype you up!

“If you guys wanted to grab lunch, Bruce and Scott were making tacos in the kitchen.” Natasha said, when we met her inside. “I just put out the call to everyone to come in. Okoye has to stay in Wakanda to keep things running, and I don’t know if Danvers is going to even get our message, but everyone else is on their way right now.”

“Do we have any other way of getting Danvers here faster?” Tony asked.

“We don’t know specifically where she is, so no.” Natasha sighed.

The ground rumbled, and a glance out the panel windows confirmed that Rocket and Nebula had arrived. The Benatar landed next to the building, Scott sitting on a bench and staring in awe at the spaceship.

Rocket and Scott shared a brief exchange, and Rocket came inside to find Bruce and myself. As we exited to get into the Benatar, Rhodes arrived, startling Scott into dropping his taco all over the sidewalk.

“What’s up, regular-sized man?” Rhodey joked, turning to walk into the building.

Bruce passed Scott a few tacos from his own lunch as we boarded the ship, leaving Scott looking both puzzled and thankful.

“Where are we headed?” Bruce asked.

“We’re going to get Thor.” Rocket answered. “I called Val to tell him to come, but she was saying it’s going to be more difficult than that. That’s why you two are coming with.”

This news unsettled me. I had instructed both Thor and Val to contact me if anything went awry, and I had heard nothing from either of them. I had presumed that Thor would leap at the chance to undo what had been done, especially considering what had happened in Wakanda. Had I been wrong about his willingness? Or was something else wrong?

Thoughts continued to spin in my head as we travelled to New Asgard. The Benatar landed outside its outskirts, and we rode in the back of a truck into the city limits.

As we all exited the vehicle, Rocket looked around.

“Kind of a step down from a golden palace and whatnot.” Rocket mumbled.

“Have a little compassion, pal.” Bruce interjected before I could respond. “First, they’ve lost Asgard, then half their people. They’re probably just happy to have a home to live in.”

“You shouldn’t have come!” Val called out to us, looking directly at me.

“Aahhh Valkyrie!” Bruce answered, smiling. “Great to see you, Angry Girl!”

Val raised an eyebrow, looking Bruce up and down. “I think I liked you better either of the other ways.”

“This is Rocket.” Bruce said, trying to shift the subject.

“You you doin’?” Rocket nodded.

“He won’t see you.” Val continued. “I told you that.”

“What happened?” I asked, “Why won’t he see us?”

“He’s holed up in his place, never comes out.” She answered. “Nothing threatening was happening, and I know you had important stuff to do. I was managing on my own alright, didn’t want to needlessly bother you.”

“That bad, huh?” Bruce asked.

“We only see him once a month, when he comes for…” She glanced over to a large pile of beer kegs on the side of the pier, “...supplies.”

“It’s that bad.” Rocket sighed.

“Yea.” Rocket agreed.

“Let’s get my brother out of here.” I said, “We have people to save.”

We walked over to my brother’s home, Rocket pushing open the front door. We all grimaced at the smell that wafted from the house’s interior.

“What the…” Bruce said, confused.

“Whoo!” Rocket said, waving his hand in front of his face. “Something died in here. Hello?”

“Thor?” I called out, my concern rising.

“Are you here about the cable?” Thor called out from a separate room.

Thor slowly walked into view, and my worst hopes for him fell through the floorboards as I saw him. He was walking around shirtless, and had gained an incredible amount of weight since I had been in last. He had obviously leaned heavily into drinking to cope, and the scent of alcohol clung to him.

“The cinemax ran out two weeks ago, and the sports were all kind of fuzzy.” Thor mumbled, turning to face us, finally noticing who we were. “Boys, brother! Oh my God! How have you been?” Thor leaned to try to hug Rocket, “Come here you little rascal!”

“No, I’m good. I’m good.” Rocket said, pushing away. “That’s not necessary.”

“Hulk, you know my friends, Miek, Korg, right?” Thor gestured to the duo sitting on the sofa, playing video games whilst they ate chips.

“Hey, long time no see!” Bruce waved to them.

“Hey guys.” Korg waved back. “Beer’s on the bucket. Feel free to log onto the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously.” After a pause, he looked to Thor. “Thor, he’s back, the kid on the TV. He called me a dickhead again.”

“Noobmaster?” Thor slurred.

“Yea, Noobmaster69.” Korg confirmed, handing Thor the headphones.

As Thor went off on the other player, I sighed. While Thor had always been a happy drunk, I knew that this was nothing more than him trying to escape from everything that had happened. Not that I had been much different. I chose to stay busy to distract myself, and he had chosen to drown his sorrows with drink. I wished that I had realized sooner, perhaps I could have prevented his decline. I had initially left because he had said that he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t want to even interact with me much. Perhaps more insistence from me would have helped him through it...

Thor handed the headphones back to Korg before turning back to us. “So, do you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things.”

Thor picked up a beer, removing the cap with Stormbreaker’s edge. I came up to him, placing my hands on his shoulders firmly.

“Buddy, you alright?” Bruce asked, placing his hand on Thor’s shoulder.

“I’m fine!” Thor insisted between gulps, “Why, don’t I look alright?”

“You look like melted ice cream.” Rocket said, rolling his eyes.

Thor laughed, taking another drink. “So, what’s up?”

“We need your help.” Bruce said, trying to calmly get through my brother’s drunken stupor. “There might be a chance that we could fix everything.”

“What, like the cable?” Thor asked with a belch. “Cause that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.”

“Like Thanos.” Bruce said softly.

Thor’s face darkened instantly, the smile gone from his face. Thor placed a shaky hand on Bruce’s shoulder and pointed at him, beer bottle still in his hand.

“Don’t you say that name.” Thor slurred.

Korg stood, removing his headphones. “Um, yea. We don’t actually say that name in here.”

“Please, take your hand off me.” Bruce said, removing Thor’s hand gently. “Now, I know that… guy… might scare you.”

“Why would I be? Why would, why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy?” Thor said, his emotions fighting to be acknowledged. “Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you, tell everybody who chopped Thanos' big head off.”

“Umm, Stormbreaker?” Korg answered, unsure.

“Now, who was swinging Stormbreaker?” Thor continued.

“I get it. You're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself.” Bruce said, gently trying to break through the wall Thor had built up. “You wanna know who helped me out of it?”

“I don't know.” Thor mused, smiling. “Is it… Natasha?”

“It was you.” Bruce answered. “You helped me”

Thor walked over to a window, pointing out through the dirty glass. “Why don't you ask the, Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth.” He sighed, sitting onto a chair. “The ones that are left, anyway.”

“I think we can bring them back.” Bruce said.

“Stop. Just, stop…” Thor said, reaching for a snack. “I know you think I’m down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I’m fine okay? We’re fine, aren’t we?”

“All good here, mate!” Korg replied, waving.

“So, whatever it is that you’re offering, we’re not into it, don’t care couldn’t care less.” Thor said, finishing off his bottle. “Goodbye.”

Unable to bear it any longer, I broke my silence.

“But you’re not fine! Look at yourself, brother.” I said, my voice raised. “I know as well as anyone what it’s like to lose everyone, to feel like you’ve failed everyone you’ve ever cared about.” I bit my tongue, lowering my voice as my own emotions began to influence my words.

“To know that you’ve failed them, that you’re the reason they’re gone.” I almost whispered, my throat tight.

“There is nothing I would want more than to be able to run away from my duties. I tried to. To run away from the fact that nearly my entire family was stolen from me, and that I’m the one to blame for all of it!” I shouted, hot tears streaming down my face as Thor continued to look down at the ground and his empty hands. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t there. I’m sorry that I couldn’t fix everything, no matter how hard I may have tried. I’m sorry that I was too wrapped up in my own selfish interests to help you when you needed it most. But I’m trying to fix that now, and I need you to let me! I can’t lose the only family I have left! I can’t lose you the way that I lost mother, the way that I lost (Y/N). The guilt of their deaths eats away at me every single day, and while I have no one to blame but myself for that, I refuse to let you throw yourself away like this. I need you, Thor, and I know that you need me too.”

I stepped back, trying to compose myself. “I want to be better, I want to do what’s right. All I’m asking is that you come along with me. I need you.”

“We all need you, pal.” Bruce added softly.

Thor sighed heavily, grabbing a few beers and standing up.

“What’s our plan?”

#loki #loki x reader #endgame #fanfiction #marvel #tesseract #rose gold romantic #whatever it takes

5 notes · View notes

annaaugustphoto · 3 years

Text

Chapter 2: Tuesday, May 14th, 7pm... 9pm.

[MAY14 – 7PM]

(Alex Basketball Court In Apartment)

“I still can’t believe you setup a freakin’ basketball court in your apartment.”

Micah took another terrible shot and hit nothing but… rim.

“Yea dude, I know. Sick right?”

Micah’s friend took a shot… nothing but… net.

Quick backstory, Micah’s friend’s name is Alex. He sometimes went by A.J. Although, he also had been known to respond to Mr. Jones, depending on who was calling him. Mr. Jones was a nickname he gave to himself from his favorite song of all time “Mr. Jones” by a band named The Counting Crows, you’ve probably heard of them—Alex mostly just liked the song “Mr. Jones” because his middle name was Jones, but additionally, the music was catchy, and it made for a good karaoke song choice, Alex isn’t exactly the kind of guy who’s big on deep meanings in things, if you know what I mean—His full proper name is Alex Jones Footman. Micah and Alex go way back. The two of them met at a summer sports camp in Maine when they were kids. Alex was absolutely amazing at sports—and Micah was absolutely terrible. For some unknown reason Alex always made it a point to pick Micah for his teammate, turning what could have been a truly terrible summer camp experience into a not so bad one. Micah felt forever in debt to him for that.

Micah walked up to the net and looked behind the backboard. He pushed his face flush against the wall and spoke in a muffled voice back to his friend standing behind him, he talked as if he were trying to reach a distant stranded small animal stuck between the walls, or, like when you’re halfway behind a couch trying to plug a charger into an electrical outlet that you can just barely reach. “Dude, how on earth did you mount this? Did you just screw the backboard right into the wall?”

“Yea dude. Just went to the hardware store and picked up a few supplies. I printed out some make your own instructions from online. It was cake bro.” He took a few more shots in a row from various angles making every single one before tossing the ball to Micah.

“You are such an idiot. You know you’re not getting your security deposit back, right?” Micah took another terrible shot and missed entirely.

“Totally worth it.”

The two shot hoops for a while and in-between watched a basketball game. Every now and then they would share a few snippets of conversation.

Alex threw the ball into the air above his head and caught it again from his sitting position on the couch. He got up bounced the ball once then took a shot. Nothing but net, yet again. He picked up the ball and turned to face Micah.

“Catch!”

He tossed the ball in Micah’s direction. Mr. not paying attention caught the basketball with the side of his face. Micah let out a loud yelp. Alex nearly fell over laughing, “Oh shit! Bro are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine. “ Micah mumbled while rubbing the side of his head and keeping his eyes staring down towards his lap. “What the heck was that for?”

“I’m so sorry dude! I thought you would see me throw the ball! What are you doing anyways? Checking your phone. You’re always on your phone.”

“Yeah.” Micah said in a distracted distant voice. “Us IT nerds like our phones.”

“Let me guess, you’re either reading work emails, or you’re on that stupid dating site again.”

“It’s one of those things.” Micah stayed in his same distracted tone.

“Dude, you need to go out with me one time. I’ll be your wingman. I’ll help you score big time!”

“Sure, okay. Sounds good.” He continued to scroll and type on the phone, distracted.

Alex sighed and plopped back down onto the couch, ”So what happened with that girl you were talking to on that dating site?”

“Which one?”

“The last one? I don’t know, the red head?”

“She disabled her account today.” Micah put his phone back into his pocket. “I’m kind of annoyed. She sent me a message just last night about how she was supposed to volunteer in the city this weekend. Then I logged in today at work to message her back and her profile was in disabled state. It’s so annoying.”

“Maybe she found someone else dude. You gotta pounce on that as soon as you can bro. You gotta just get in there and get on that. Don’t wait too long.”

“Okay, I mean fine maybe she did find someone else. But I’m saying it’s rude.. We’d been talking for a few weeks—“

“WEEKS!?!?! Whoa, whoa, whoa bro! What did I just tell you? Pounce.”

Alex made a cat like motion with his hands.

“Well, I didn’t want to scare her away by seeming too forward. It’s… You don’t want to come off as creepy or weird or desperate—So I’ve read. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I can’t ask for her number, she’s long gone. It just seems rude though. I spent all that time and effort putting thought into typing those messages. And then she just disables her account without an explanation! It’s just… rude.”

“I guess. That’s your view of things. Maybe she doesn’t see it that way.”

Micah fell silent. He didn’t care to continue this conversation. It was pointless. What was the point? Once someone was gone from your life, they were gone. That was it. That was that.

They returned their attention to the game.

Alex and Micah slouched side by side on the small green couch in front of the large screen flat panel TV perched precariously on a very small Ikea coffee table with one busted and then patched up leg. The coffee table was placed so that the wall supported half the weight of it—you know, so that it wouldn’t fall over.

Alex and Micah were both fairly tall guys. Alex, an even six feet and Micah was just shy at five foot eleven inches. Though they were almost the same height, their bodies were vastly different. Micah was a lanky tall. He had the artsy look. That’s what most people told him at least. He wasn’t sure how a T-shirt and jeans look qualified as “artsy” but he always seemed to take the compliment. Better than “IT nerd”. His friend Alex was a slick and suave muscular build that made him appear as though he worked out constantly, which he did, which is why he had that look. Suddenly the game cut to a commercial.

“Commercial break, name and, go!”

“Now?”

“Now isn’t a name.”

“I’m not in the mood.”

“This is exactly why we need to play!” Alex chided.

“Fineeee”

“Fine isn’t a name either.”

Micah punched Alex in the shoulder.

“Ouch dude. What the heck? You know I’m just messing with you. I figured you needed some cheering up since you got digitally dumped today and all.”

The Fake Name Game, or Fake Name Go, or sometimes name and go, or just Go as they more commonly referred to it, was a game that Micah learned at summer camp with Alex. Him and Alex used to play it while shooting basketball during free time almost every day and almost every summer they were at camp together. The game basically entails the following: One person starts by asking the other to fabricate some sort of name that is not their own. Using a friend or family member name is also not generally allowed.

It’s up to the person who initiated the fake name request to grill the other person until they finally crack and the lie is exposed.

Sometimes the fake name game is short lived. Other times, it can go on for quite some time. This particular game lasted exactly the same amount of time that the commercial break did, what are the odds?

“So what happened with you and Jen?”

“Which one?” Alex asked getting up off the couch and picking up the basketball to shoot some more. He took a shot just as one of the players on the TV took a shot.

“Seriously? I don’t know dude, the one you were with last time we talked.”

“We broke up, kinda. We’re still talking every so often”

“And by talking you mean…”

“Yep. She can talk ALL night. If you know what I mean. She’s got a way with words. But the sound of her voice is the most annoying thing I’ve ever heard. How about you bro? Besides bad luck on the dating sites. You getting your…”

“—I’ve… I’ve got nothing.” Micah stared out the open window at the glowing Pour House sign down the street.

Micah got up from couch and picked up a spare basketball. Alex had half a dozen sitting in various spots around his apartment; think hidden Easter eggs when you were a little kid. Oversized Easter eggs that look like basket balls, because they are basket balls. Micah took a shot and missed entirely.

“Micah, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you should just give up.”

“Give up? Really?”

“Yeah you haven’t made a basket yet bro.”

“Oh. You mean basketball. I’ll consider your suggestion.“ He tossed the ball to Alex. “See I have one theory that most of the girls that sign up for dating sites are just window-shopping. They don’t actually want to take anything home. They just want to try it on… see how it fits.”

“And that’s a problem why?” Alex took a shot and hit nothing but net. “My guess is this… they recently broke up with a guy… they bad mouth him to all their friends. But she secretly still wants him. The friends—buying all the bad mouthing—suggest signing up for a dating site to ‘get over’ him. I’m sure tons of girls have that scenario.”

“And how would you know that?”

“That’s what my last ex-girlfriend did after I broke up with her. Who knows, you probably even chatted with her on that site. It’s funny how small the world can be.” Alex took another shot and finally missed.

[MAY 14 – 9PM]

(Anna Edits and Daydreams)

Anna took another bite of the pizza that she had stopped and picked up after her phone call with her mom. It was cold by now. She’d been working for 3 hours straight. She placed the pizza slice back on the plate next to her computer monitor and peered into the glowing rectangle in front of her. The computer screen, a virtual photograph, displayed the latest lucky couple to claim each other forever and ever. Another happily ever after.

“So pretty,” She whispered half to herself and half to her cat sitting on her lap.

Another beautiful and happy bride, that wasn’t her, taunted her from the computer screen. A mix of emotions flowed through her. She felt jealous, very jealous. Then she felt angry. The anger melted into sadness and finally a longing. There’s got to be someone out there for her she thought. She bit her bottom lip and drifted off into daydream.

She began to imagine herself in place of the bride in front of her on the screen. The photo was—for all intents and purposes—perfect: newly wed bride and husband out on the dance floor. The DJ announcing “Can we get the newly weds out on the dance floor? Just the newly weds… everyone else please take a seat. This dance is for the lucky Mr. and Mrs. only”.

The lucky Mr. and Misses danced away. The idea of true love consumed her. In her mind she swayed in his arms. The song was slow. The dance was everything, perfect. Everything was perfect.

Anna let her heart overtake her mind. She felt a wave of intense emotion sweep over her, a yearning for a love story, her love story. The daydream became so vivid and so real. It was as if she could actually picture herself dancing before of all the wide-eyed onlooker-wedding guests glued to their seats. Not a single guest’s attention strayed. No uneaten remaining piece of cake was stabbed at with a fork and consumed instead of watching the newlywed’s dance. No candid photograph was taken with the disposable tabletop cameras. All eyes were on the couple silhouetted by the lights on the dance floor.

The music filled her mind and her heart. The music played on and she danced away.

The screensaver kicked in and brought her back to reality. Her playlist on the computer music player application continued on. Well, daydream over I guess. She looked down at her cat and noticed he was staring back at her as if to say “What about me? I love you!”

She sighed and closed the open picture.

“Someday” she whispered to herself.

Simon changed his look to ‘Fine, I see how it is’.

Simon is Anna’s cat. Entirely grey without a single hair of fur anything but gray. It was fitting. He was wise beyond his cat years. Like a wise old man in cat form. With gray hair covering his entire body. That meant he was extra wise? He always knew the right thing to say back to his owner, even in his own little cat body language.

He was probably just saying: feed me, or perhaps pet me; but his owner, Anna, interpreted it as I understand exactly how you feel and I’m completely empathetic to your cause. At that point he would put a paw on her hand and look her in the eyes to convey the meaning “stay strong.” At least, that’s the way she saw it. He was really just putting his paw on her hand to say “please pet me?” Either way it was a win-win! Anna always felt better and Simon got his way. I mean, what do actual intentions really matter if the outcome is good? Right? Right.

Anna looked down at Simon and then leaned over to hug him in close. He acted like he wasn’t into it, but he totally was. He let out a small meow to signify she should follow up with a little scratching behind the left ear. Anna complied. As she sat with a purring cat on her lap she thought about love or the lack thereof and if she would ever find someone.

Okay, so, quick backstory, Anna was pretty in her teens. I mean, she drove all the boys wild in school. They would stare at her in math class and drool. But she just wasn’t interested in any of them. They were all a bunch of buffoons—Especially at that age. She was interested in… a refined man—A man with grace and chivalry—A man that would take her hand and hold the door for her; and mostly wouldn’t drool. Really, they would drool, this is not an exaggeration of the truth, this really happened on more than one occasion in both middle and high school. Of course, when she arrived at college she put herself entirely into her studies. She just didn’t have time for boys. Sure she had a few come and go but they were just slightly older versions of the same boys from high school. Well, that’s not entirely true.

She had a very big crush on this one. He turned out to be gay. And then she had a relationship with another one that was only a relationship when his friends weren’t around. And, finally, there was… Sigh… Oh what does it matter, it’s over and done with.

After college with the stress of trying to find a job and dealing with life in general she lost her hourglass figure that all the guys seemed to care about. I mean, she wasn’t exactly skinny before but she was fairly fit. It’s not that she didn’t workout. She works out, she gets up every morning and goes on a run—Okay, fine, nearly every morning, look, what are you the running police? Anyway, her body just decided that it wanted to do something other than what she had imagined in her mind. It’s not that she’s out of shape at all. She’s perfectly in shape. She’s just not the shape that any of the guys she seems to meet seem to want. Again, Anna gets up “every” morning, in fact, to go on a run. She doesn’t always go on the run, but she gets up every morning, so that counts. Sometimes she goes on another one at night even! Or, a first run if the first run didn’t happen. Although, if she has a lot of work sometimes, she skips the second run. Like tonight, she skipped the second one as well, and got pizza instead. But most nights and mornings… okay, most nights, she goes on a run. Look, she goes on runs, she’s doing a couch to 5K… It’s called a couch to 5K for a reason, because you’re supposed to include the couch part, that’s where you start. So, she’s starting with the couch part, okay, running police… back off, the 5K part will happen eventually. And, so, sure she orders a pizza or eats a bowl of ice cream every now and then but who doesn’t? Okay running police? And you know what, she even goes to the local YMCA to use the pool once a week, or, every other week. What are you the swimming police too? No, you’re not because there are no swimming police, there’s lifeguards and they tell you not to run. See, running police, this is why she wasn’t running, she was just trying to listen to the lifeguard. Sometimes there’s too many people telling you conflicting things, run, don’t run. I mean which is it!? Anyway…

She was pretty. No, she still IS pretty. And she’ll find someone. She’ll find her gentleman. She’ll find a guy that will treat her with respect and not demand she eat a stick of celery for all three meals.

0 notes

bolbianddolanhouse · 4 years

Text

BNHA self insert AU [Book 3]

New? Read here! Then here!

Chapter 10: Hey Can I Have a Sip of Your Water?...

It’s Wednesday my dudes and I made my decision to go with Sir Nighteye’s agency. Like what kind of idiot won’t take up that offer?

-Wednesday night, dorms-

I video call my mom after a few days of not hearing from home. Hanaka and Tensei are bad at communicating with anybody, so all my texts get unanswered for days.

“Hola? Ma?” I say as the image of my parents sitting on the couch pulls up.

“Te oigo Iwata” she responds “Como estas mijo?”

“I’m fine, I just finished eating dinner”

“Are you sleeping well son?” asked dad with a chop “It’s internship season isn’t it? Hate to have you get sick before you could go.”

“I have been sleeping well, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about” I took a deep breath “I made my decision and submitted it today.”

“Oh?! Who did you choose?” Mom asked with excitement.

“I choose the Sir Nighteye agency” I said with confidence but was short lived when my parents made this confused and concerned face “Whats with that face?!”

“It’s just that...I thought that man retired already” Mom broke the silence “Did you see the reason why they choose you?”

“It said ‘The order of Sir Nighteye’ and it called out to me that I shouldn’t ignore it”

“HE PERSONALLY REQUESTED FOR YOU?!” Mom screamed “Mijo that concerns me a little.”

“Why?” Dad and I asked in unison.

“Well, that’s a code blue in the field, a personal request to a particular agent” Mom got in her pondering pose “What got me a little fucked up is that, he doesn’t know you or of you! He knows me but I haven’t worked with him since the incident. That was like, what, nearly 18 years ago?”

“Wait, he doesn’t know you have children?!” I was trying to make sense of things.

“Nope, I have all my kids under the same type of protected citizen status as me” she explained “If anyone tries to pry information about me or your dad, it will show that I don’t exist nor if we have kids. That’s why I have to do all the legal paperwork in person at your schools, I have to confirm that you exist and not a random kid without papers.”

“I guess that makes sense” I sort of understood what that meant “But did I make a bad move?”

“Oh no! He’s to be trusted, among with everyone at that agency. I’m just confused on that personal invite” She changed her body language “Well, maybe I’m thinking into it too much! He might’ve predicted something where you do something to benefit them if you chose them. Either way, I’m proud of you mijo.”

“Sir Nigheye is a very well accomplished hero! I am very proud of you to get their attention” Dad added.

“Thanks...don’t tell uncle Tensei that I didn’t choose his over Sir Nighteye” I begged them.

“What did Manual put on your offer part?” sighed Dad stressfully.

I sighed with the same energy “For being my favorite nephew- Cool Uncle Tensei”

“That’s cringe what the fuck” Mom cringed “When he gave me an offer, he just put ‘quirk’ on the line.”

“He put ‘For my favorite little brother- Cool Big Bro’. Like he isn’t my only brother!”

“Manual doesn’t get paid enough for this shit” Mom sighed with us “When is that man retiring?”

“Whenever Tensei decides to retire” Dad replied with a chuckle “I asked him that too when I took on the role of head hero of the agency.”

“Wait, dad you don’t own the agency?”

“Hm? I don’t, it’s Tensei’s agency and he calls the shots” Dad chopped “I’m just the public face of the agency, your uncle is the boss.”

That was all news to me, hot tea if you will.

“Yea, it’s not much of a secret though. Tensei gets more coverage than you do still” She said to Dad “But that’s because he’s hot and single.”

“Am I not hot?!”

“You are to me~” Mom laid on the charm “But nobody is swooning over you because you look like stern business man in all of your photoshoots” She gave him a peck and wrapped her arms around him “They don’t need to know how hot you really are, because you’re all mine~”

“Okay, hi, I’m still here” I interrupted the moment, triggered by all those things I saw with the device “I just wanted to see what’s happening at home and tell you that.”

“Not much is happening at home, it’s gotten very quiet now that it’s just Hanaka and Tensei here” Mom pouted “I miss you so much, wish I could hug you right now.”

“I miss being home too, cooking for myself for the day sucks.”

“Oh why don’t you meal prep?” suggested Dad “That what I did when I lived with Tensei, we meal prepped our lunches so we didn’t spend money on fast food. And I know you’re picky and don’t like long food lines.”

“That’s- something I didn’t consider” That expanded my brain “Damn that’s genius, that’s a whole 45 minutes of sleep added everyday, just for prepping ahead of time.”

“Sometimes I have good ideas” Dad adjusted his glasses with a smirk.

“Bold statement coming from someone that put cooked oatmeal in cookies their first time cooking” Mom roasted.

“EW THAT’LL MAKE THE COOKIES ALL MUSHY” I yelled and gagged “Why?!”

“I didn’t know if it was supposed to be cooked or not!” Dad defended himself “It was my first time baking anything and I did it for your mom’s birthday when I lived with her.”

“I’m just glad you figured it out by the time you had kids!”

“Same” Mom agreed.

“Everyone is a critic in this house” Dad grumbled.

We talk for a while longer before saying our goodbyes. As I started to get comfy in bed, I snapped my eyes wide open realizing something....mom mentioned the incident that happened almost 18 years ago. But I recently turned 17.....OH SHIT THAT’S A DIFFERENT INCIDENT! My incident (at least the one that I know of) happened when I was 5, when the old house got broken into with us inside. And that was 12 years ago, so this might be important! I scrambled to write this down in the timeline, who knows what else I might of missed in that conversation or in others! Now I’m a little nervous for this internship, what happened right before I was born?

-The next day, Homeroom-

“Okay I know I’ve been pushing this back every other day BUT I swear this is the last time” sensei said after roll “So if you please take out the syllabus and take out a pencil.”

The class groaned because we all know what he’s gonna ask us to do. Like he said, he’s been pushing back the semester project. I guess now it’s gonna the year end project because that’s the next available space to add anything before the school year ends! Things are just popping up all the time, villain threats and attacks, there was a false alarm kidnapping and everyone was on lockdown, and an order to have us be ready for a school attack. At this point, my nerves have been fried past my limit that I basically run on adrenaline at the drop of the hat. To be honest, I still don’t know if I’m ready to do the real deal when it comes. But it’s end of September and I feel the nippy of that cold weather I’ve been craving. Nippy out, sweaters out!

“...so you have a week to finalize your projects when you come back from your internships. After that is finals week, so be prepared for that.”

I raise my hand “Sensei, one of the test days conflicts with my hero final.”

“Oh? Hm... then I’ll talk it out with your sensei” He writes that down on his notes “Thank you for bringing that up now.”

We go through our usual training and it was kicking my ass today. Well, more like I was kicking my own ass today as I’m trying to train as much as possible to show that agency that I was the best choice. Though I did and passed my agent licensing, I still feel like I’m not at my fullest potential. Problem is that I don’t know what else to do to further my abilities aside from getting support items but even they don’t know what to give me. I wish somebody could give me a helpful hint like in video games.

Aside from my own short comings...the school dance is coming up and I’m not going. Dances aren’t my thing and it’s not like I have a girlfriend that’s begging me to go with them. Otherwise, I’d go. Beizu and I have a whole boys night planned since two others don’t want to go either. Just guys being dudes.

-Night of the Dance, dorms-

“I made queso dip!” I announced as I floated in the shared space with the giant, ugly mug full of hot cheese.

“That mug is seriously the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen!” chortled Kopi “Can’t believe your mom left this thing for prosperity.”

“Can’t believe that thing is older than any of us!” added the other classmate “But who has the chips?! I wanna dig in!”

“Our delivery is going come any minute now” Beizu checked the time “Don’t start sipping out of that thing.”

“Ew why would we-”

“I was talking to Iwa” Beizu clarified “Can’t leave him alone without him turning full goblin mode.” He squinted at Iwa “This bitch would sleep in a nest of pillows and plushies if his parents didn’t love him enough!”

The boys looked at me with a range of emotions of disgust “What? I know better now! Besides, I’d sip out of this when everyone had enough.”

“You two known each other since kinder or something?” asked Kopi “I don’t think I ever see you two apart outside of class time.”

“We go way farther than that!” I chuckled “I’ve known Bei my entire life! Our mom’s raised us together and I don’t know a life without him. We went to the same schools and everything! We know we’re separate people with different tastes, but we just feel better going through things together.”

“So you two dating or?” asked the other classmate.

I choked on air “Oh god no! What makes you say that?”

“The shared room, the lunches together, the random snuggling in the shared space” Kopi listed “The pet names, the matching outfits...are you sure you’re not?”

“Nope, we’re just two boys that like to snuggle” Beizu clarified “Try it sometime! It’s a good bonding experience.”

“Yup! Snuggling or having as much as a hug everyday combats depression” I slid in with the scientific facts “So don’t be so uptight and judgmental, it’s not gay if you do it for your mental health.”

“You know what, you right” Kopi came to terms with it “And I have been down lately, haven’t hugged my mom since we moved in.”

“I’m gonna hug the depression outta you bro!” exclaimed the other classmate as he came in for a firm hug “I got you!”

“Wow, thanks bro” Kopi said with his eyes watering and hugging back “Fuck masculine culture, we cuddling and shit.”

There was a knock at the door “Oh that’s our delivery!” Beizu gets up “I’ll get it.”

“I got the goods for boys night!” Uncle Jin exclaimed as Beizu opened the door “Hello everyone, nephews. I got your requested drinks, chips and fried chicken meal from that one place I can’t pronounce” He handed over the bags “I also added a few extras goods for a really good boys night.” He gave us a look after he said that “Well, I’m off! I’ll be seeing my nephews later, stay out of legal trouble boys!”

“Wait he’s both of your uncles? How-”

“My mom and his biological aunt were best friends with him since their UA days” I explained “He’s an orphan, so he considers my mom and his aunt family. So when my mom had kids, he took on the role of uncle and we were just raised to call him that.”

“Yup, his siblings also call my aunt their aunt too” Beizu brought over the food “Just to make things easier, they’re our aunty and uncle.”

“That’s so cool that your families are just so close like that!” Kopi said, wide eyed “Do you feel like cousins? Since you were raised together?”

“Hm, it’s more like brothers” I thought about it “It’s hard to explain, all I know is that I’m very close and comfortable around Bei and his mom like we were always family.”

“Okay I’ll say it!” blurted out our other classmate “Your uncle looks like a K-pop star, is he a retired K-pop boy?”

“No....he’s just Korean” I didn’t know how else to explain that “I will say that he gets stopped on the street a lot for that same reason. So many girls claim he looks like Hobi from BTS. But alas, it’s just our uncle Jin.”

“What did he pack as an extra?” Kopi asked as Beizu brought over the bag.

“Lets see....OH SHIT!” I said as I took out a box from the bag “TWINKIES!”

“NO WAY! WHAT ELSE?!” Beizu was getting feral as he took the bag to see what else is in there “LUCKY CHARMS!!!!!!”

We were hollering and circling each other like howler monkeys, full feral mode with the boxes of junk food in each hand.

“What’s that?” asked Kopi cautiously.

We hard stopped our hollering and turned toward the two confused boys.

“Fellas, I’m about to introduce to you the reason America is number one in obesity” I said, ripping open the box “This is a Twinkie, these are so good and hard to get imported into the country, that my mom has a supply of these under lock and key somewhere in the house so we don’t eat through them in one sitting.”

“And these are Lucky Charms cereal, the actual cereal part is basically cat kibble” Beizu tossed them a mini box to each of them “But the marshmallow bits are what make the cereal so iconic. Also a rare import and I basically only have these when I’m over at his house on special occasions.”

Kopi had the first bite of Twinkie “Oh..my..god...What the fuck” he gasped and covered his mouth “I said a bad word! I get it now, if Japan freely imported this, we’re doomed as a country” He took another bite “This is dangerous.”

“Oh wow my teeth hurt already from all the sugar in this” said the other classmate, munching on Luck Charms “But it’s so good, this is a children’s cereal?! I get the hype.”

And thus boys night was just a sugar fueled, anti-prom... We watched Shrek movies and had a handstand contest, followed by never-have-I-ever and destroying masculinity by introducing Kopi to some skincare. That boy admitted to washing his face with shampoo OF COURSE I GOT OFFENDED! And we all had a sugar crash on the couch by the time everyone came back from the after party. One of the most memorable boys night if I say so!

More fast forwarding to the interesting part! The internships! Beizu is going to Hokkaido and I’m going to the capital. But first, we had to do some shopping for Beizu for some cold weather gear.

“Did that parka fit Bei?” I asked as I held an armful of thermals outside the fitting room “Also what size are you in pants? There’s a sale on thermals and I grabbed a few before these old women swarmed the rack.”

“It fit fine! You’re making such a fuss over this” chuckled Beizu “Why? I just need a parka and socks.”

“You’re gonna need thermals too! Hokkaido is predicted to have record cold while you’re there” I held the thermals up to his body to see which ones would fit “Remember what Uncle Jin and Mr Hitoshi told us about their times in Hokkaido?! So excuse me for wanting my best friend to stay warm.”

He just looked at me shuffling my armful of thermals “You’re so cute when you fuss over me, like a mom.”

“Shut up and try these on” I tossed him the items playfully “I’ll be looking at gloves if you need me.”

“Okay, mom” He chortled before going back into the fitting room.

We don’t really go clothes shopping together, we have two different aesthetics. He dresses very average, not that much colorful or statement. I on the other hand dress like a ‘Gucci Goblin’ as Tensei put it. I love a statement piece, bold colors and patterns that clash just right! Bonus points if its designer! You can catch me on my goblin shit in some knee-high socks, shorts and oversized sweater. So with my shopping mentality and Beizu’s lax approach to shopping, I’m often the one doing all thorough fittings and getting things ‘just in case’. One of us had to be that friend, or we’d be the ugliest dudes around!

“Okay I’m back” said Beizu as he walked over to where I was “These ones fit, was that all that needed to be fitted?”

“Yes, I got the gloves” I held them up for him to grab “Now we can go to checkout.”

“Great because I’m hungry! We should hit up the food court” Beizu suggested “What’s the craving for today?”

I thought about it “Lowkey want to inhale like 6 cinnamon rolls with an iced coffee, But if I’m keeping it real, we’re just gonna end up at Panda Express.”

“Don’t orange chicken shame me!”

“We’ve had authentic Chinese food Bei!” I retorted “And yet you still want the borderline neon orange shit!”

“Sometimes the neon orange shit appeals to me more than thousand year old egg in congee” huffed Beizu as we approached the line to pay “But that’s why I asked what’s the craving for today.”

“Fine, how about we get some udon?” I compromised with my arms crossed “Because I wanna get in that cold weather coziness.”

Some of our favorite winter time rituals we have is eat udon and binge watch Steven Universe. But of course, I’m picky, so my favorite udon is kitsune with extra fish cake and the fried tofu extra fried. Otherwise I won’t eat it, I hate soggy food!

“Excited for your internship?!” Beizu asked me as I was carefully eating my first bite of the hot udon “It’s going to be the first time we’ve been apart for so long.”

“It’s only two weeks” I chuckle “But I am excited, what sort of things will I learn from their agency?! Yea I’m going to see that broccoli man in that time span, but they have some of the best agents there! Plus they have the most secure agency in the country! And the company had a part in that.”

“I didn’t know that! That’s so cool!” gawked Beizu “It’s like visiting a piece of history...say, why don’t you take the device?”

I stopped my next bite of food “Wait, why? I thought you wanted to work on it some more.”

“Just giving it the final outer shell to house all the extras I’ve added to look more uniform” He picked up a noodle “To be honest, I can do that when we come back. But it’s functional and with full charge that’ll last the 2 weeks, so why not?”

I watched as he slurped down his noodle “I suppose I can see some of the past with it, don’t know how much will help us in our little investigation.”

“If you ask what year they got their security system, it can tell us whether or not your mom installed it or not.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Beizu slurps his noodles loudly “My mom told me that for security systems, depending on which on it is, in the early years of the company was installed by your mom or my dad.”

“Wait, that’s tea.”

“No it’s strawberry Calpico” he held up his drink.

“NO! I mean, what you said was a juicy piece of information!”

“Oh! Yea I guess it is” He set the pink drink down “Mom was getting a little chatty with me over video call a few nights ago, it started off with her uncovering a few old things from the attic and ended up with her telling me a little more about my dad.”

“What did you learn?”

“That he loved working at the company because it let him be himself while being needed. He was the first one your mom hired to work for her!” He picked up some broth “In the early years, he’d do the marketing and the assembling along with finding more displaced heroes and agents that needed work. The company wouldn’t be where it is now without him putting in that initial effort.”

“That’s amazing! I think I’ll find something to contribute to that” I was moved by that “Hopefully I won’t get too swamped with agent stuff.”

We hurried to our dorms after our meal to finish packing. Almost too excited to sleep that night for the information we might uncover! So many things that could happen, wonder if I’ll be prepared enough to follow along.

-Morning of departure day, train station-

“Got your scarf?” I fussed over Beizu one last time before departing “Don’t want you to catch a cold or sore throat before getting there!”

“I have it right here! Relax Iwa!” Beizu put his hands on my shoulders “We’ll be fine, you have the device, I have all my gear... I’m just going to miss you.”

“We’ll video-call, it won’t be too bad” I got startled by the station announcements “I can never understand what the fuck these people say over the speakers! But you better go to the waiting dock, it’s almost 11am.”

“I know, let me just” He brought me in for a tight hug “One last hug until we reunite!”

I hugged him back “Okay, one more hug.”

After maybe a minute, he broke the hug and grabbed his luggage “I love you Iwa.”

I smile “I love you too Bei.” I watch him walk out of sight and I heading toward the pick up area. The capital isn’t too far from the station, it’s maybe an hour car ride, so it was arranged for me to get picked up.

A very official looking town car rolls up to the curb.

“Iwata Iida?” asked a voice from the cracked window of the town car.

“Yes, that’s me!” I stand at alert.

“No need for formalities!” said the voice as the window rolled all the way down “hop on in Iwata! It’s nice to see-”

“EWWWW WHAT’S BROCCOLI MAN DOIN’ HERE?!” I said with disgust “Naw I rather walk to the capital!”

“Please don’t! Your dad requested that I escort you to the agency” the green haired man got out of the car to stop me “He’s going to arm chop me to death if I don’t insure your safe arrival.”

“That’s not my problem!” I huffed as I walk away.

“We got you McDonalds” said another voice from the backseat window “and a large coffee.”

I stopped and did a 180 “YES SIR!” I jumped in the back of the town car as broccoli man put my luggage in the trunk. I looked at the man in the backseat, he had a centipede head.

“Hello son of Ingenium and Agent 19, let me introduce myself” politely bowed the man “I am Centipeter, Sir Nighteye’s right hand man, I handle the internships for both hero and agent departments.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Iwata El Roca” I return the bow “You can call me however you’d like, er, I guess it’s professional to address me by my agent number? In that case I’m agent 88.”

He hands me the food and large coffee “It’s an honor to have the son of two very good associates of ours! I didn’t know Agent 19 was a mother!” commented Centipeter “I thought she just put in all her energy in the company! I went to her wedding after all, so I know your father as well. Good on them for having their only son to carry-”

“Huh? I have 3 other siblings” I raised an eyebrow, mouthful of egg McMuffin “I do this agent shit for me! Fuck whatever my old man said and my mom is an excellent mother, CEO and activist.”

“Don’t argue or lecture him” tiredly sighed Deku as he drove out into the street “He’s as vulgar as his mother, and we all know how that ends.”

“Broccoli man is right” I sipped my coffee “Don’t try it, I will roast ya ass.”

“Well, I guess I misspoke” Centipeter cleared his throat “anyways, it’s a pleasure that you took on Sir’s request! Rarely does he have a look at agent interns.”

“Wait what do you mean?”

“Sir is a very busy man and is more focused on his top heroes” The right hand man explained “But he asked for you before somebody went to the display! He didn’t explain why BUT I have a feeling he peeked into the future and his ability to do so is to be trusted.”

That didn’t settle that well with me “Huh, then I guess.”

“He even predicted that you wouldn’t get in the car unless we had 2 egg McMuffins, 2 hashbrowns and a sausage burrito with a large coffee” he looked at a sticky note “with two sugars, no creamer. And to make sure Deku doesn’t show his face...oh dear I messed that one up” he chuckled nervously “But you’re here, and I can’t wait to see what Sir has in store for you!”

I peeked into the bag, and I’ll be damned that it was exactly my breakfast McDonalds order! Thats creepy that this stranger knows what I like and dislike but mom claims that he doesn’t know I exist?! Something is up and I’ll get to the bottom of it...after I chug this coffee to strike dominance in this town car.

I get led into this bougie ass building that had like 5 layers of security for anyone to enter. Next was the part I was dreading, the sleeping quarters. Mom said she had own room and so did Lili, but they’re the only exception because I’m a boy. So I have to mix with the other men that I HOPE they don’t harass me! It seemed like I was alone to settle in the neatly arranged room of bunk beds and wall lockers...until I was grabbed by the shoulder and yanked back.

“BOSS WHAT ARE- you’re not the boss lady?!” said this man with dark skin and green eyes “But you look so much like her, whats your name boy?”

I was still a little shaken up “I’m Iwata Iida, I MEAN Agent 88!” I stumbled on my words “I’m just settling in! I don’t know who you’re referring too and I’m sorry if I was disturbing you.”

“Don’t be scared boy, I should be apologizing to you” he let go of me and bowed “It’s just that you look so much like somebody I worked for. The curly hair and short stature from behind got me excited that she came back to do some agent work for us.”

“Oh? Do you often get borrowed agents?”

“Nope, it’s usually just her- OH WHERE ARE MY MANNERS! I’m Agent 711, Captain of the agent fleet here” He introduced himself “I originally came in here to see if the intern was here yet but it seems like I got on the wrong foot with you.”

“It’s no problem! I just finished settling in and ready for the next part.”

“Good! Lets take you to the captains office.”

I go into this office with a frosted glass door, where another man was sitting on the desk, he looks up with his sharp gaze “No way, theres no way!”

I tensed up “Umm sorry?”

The captain shut the door “Dude I KNOW! HE LOOKS JUST LIKE HER!”

“No, take a look at this!” the man on the desk “Sir just dropped these off to me, look at the tag and the info page.”

The captain got the file from his associate, his eyes widened the more they read through the page “Dude...he’s her son?!”

“Right?! I didn’t know she had other kids!” the associate turned to me “Let me introduce myself, I’m agent 404, Co-captain of this agent fleet.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m sure you already know who I am” I bowed politely “I promise to keep up and be worth the trouble.”

“Wow, sorry I just can’t get over that you’re 19′s son! I suspected she did have more but she never brings you or family up” responded the man “I feel so old, seems like it was just last month I was still working for her.”

“Oh yea, you worked for her too! I always forget” chuckled the captain “404 and I worked for your mom before working here, we owe your mom for helping us in the beginning of our careers.”

“Really? It seems like mom helped everyone I’ve encountered back in the day!” I was started to get a little annoyed by all these occurrences.

“Yup, your mom got me out of a legal funk!” pipped up the captain “I got framed for sexual assault at the agency I started working at right out of high school. Your mom suspected racial bias and she turned up that my accusation was a scapegoat to a slew of other legal problems with that agency. Of course nobody would hire me with that mess attached to my name, so she offered me a job at the company until that mess clears up or some other agency wanted to take me in” the man smiled and leaned on the desk “I was so happy that she took me in, otherwise I’d be homeless or dead within a month! She helped me get the job here too, Sir trusts her word and he hired me after about 4 years working for your mom.”

“Your mom helped me when my day job let me go and I was between agent work. And I was there up until the company moved locations, then I started here” the co-captain smiled “She’s such a lovely woman, if she didn’t have that fussy assistant, I’d be her afternoon appointment if you know what I mean!”

“Eww you wanted to fuck my mom” I blurted.

The men turned red.

“Oh you’re exactly like her” laughed the captain “Honest and vulgar! I like that!”

“Yup, but lets get on with why you’re here” the co-captain got back on topic “Initially you were supposed to meet with Sir, but no surprise, he had to attend to his top heroes for some reason. So he asked for us to do the tour and other routine things.”

I get to meet the other agents and got to see the other parts of the agency. The routine was a not as exciting as I thought but the whole thing that I was supposed to meet with Sir Nighteye was at the back of my mind the whole time. What does he want from me? What makes me so special?

-Chapter 10, End-

#bnha #mha #self insert au #book 3 chapter 10 #not canon #will update regularly #ask me anything #//Palma-sama Speaks #Iwata is a picky eater and it's all his mom's fault lmao #but finally! internship arc! If you didn't guess with the title- it's a three parter #I know theres alot of fast forwarding but deadass there's nothing interesting that happens in between.#I see yall flooding my asks to give Iwa a GF and all I have to say its STOP!...I'm getting there #The boys night part was my favorite scene and I just couldn't cut it from the plot! So you're welcome for some feral boy activities #But more has been uncovered and this internship is gonna fuck Iwa up! Stay tuned! Sir Nighteye exposes the underlying plot

1 note · View note