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rustedhearts · 10 months

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trouble (boxer!steve harrington x fem!librarian reader)

summary: the morning after a fight brings comfort and longing to you and steve.

uses she/her pronouns and female anatomy.

✶ the king of the ring (1989) ✶ main masterlist

tags: angry!steve again :); violence; verbal argument; angst; hurt/comfort; I did not edit this so ignore any mistakes.

hawkins, indiana. september 1990.

The dawn was quiet. Soft: a blended stroke of amber through pale blue across the sky. The interruption of tree limbs came with bright yellow leaves, changed by the cool breeze and autumnal warning. Somewhere beyond the glass you peered through, a crow cawed. In the parking lot below, a car engine shuddered alive.

The dawn was quiet, but the dusk was deafening.

The hiss and click of Steve’s lighter caused you to turn your head. And there he was: rolling into a seated position on the edge of the bed, dipping the mattress with shifted weight. In the swirl of blended lights, his bare back still held the tint of a late summer bronze. Speckled with beauty spots and the indigo, spiderwebbed haloes of burst blood vessels. Bruises from fights he never lost, but fights you wished he wouldn’t pick. The familiar haze of cigarette smoke settled into the room, paired with the potent tobacco sent you’d come to know all too well.

“What do you expect of me, huh? I’m not some fuckin’ punk, Libby, I won’t put up with that shit.”

“I’m not asking you to! But you didn’t need to do that—you don’t need to fight everyone!”

Steve’s shoulders hunched with exhaustion, hands slow to pull the cigarette away. A steady plume of smoke exhumed from his lips toward the bedroom door. His sheets were soft around your body, recently washed this past weekend. You’d spent those two days tangled together in the confines of this tiny apartment, enraptured with each other. The past few months felt like a lifetime. You latched onto each other like magnets, and now you couldn’t let go.

Not even when he broke your heart.

“Jesus, you need to stop pretending you’re such a fuckin' saint.

“You need to stop acting like I’m the bad guy for calling you out.”

Steve’s legs swished over the sheets, cotton rustling with the strained shift of his body in an attempt to straighten his posture. The flex of muscles came with a visible wince, a quiet hiss he hoped you were too unconscious to hear. Even with your alertness unbeknownst to him, he did his best to hide his sounds. Always the tough guy, always the man. He could never be soft, never gentle or real. Pain was weakness.

His hand came to cradle the welt festering on his ribs, but it twitched away to rub his eyes. You knew a migraine must’ve been collecting behind them and pounding in his head. He took another drag of his Marlboro and sighed it out.

“Because it’s me, right? I’m the bad guy? If you’re so embarrassed to be with me, why are you?”

“I’m not embarrassed to be with you, Steve. God, don’t you know how much I care about you?”

“Don’t you see that’s what this is all about? I mean—fuck’s sake, never-mind.”

Gently stirring, you turned onto your side away from the window, toward Steve. His profile appeared when he moved his head an inch; the bridge of his nose swollen and pink. His lashes fluttered in acknowledgement for your consciousness. His cheeks hollowed around the cigarette again, and the smoke streamed out of his nose. You tucked your hand beneath your cheek and watched him quietly.

Neither speaking a word, but both waiting.

“No, talk to me. Say what you actually fucking mean for once, please! But don’t you dare say you did this for me.”

“Then who the fuck do you think I did it for? All I want is to protect you. It’s—“

“All you do is fight! You can protect me without being so violent.”

“That’s who I am, honey. If you don’t like it, then fucking leave.”

You knew somewhere in the parking lot lied the contents of your purse, burst open by the impact of it hitting Steve’s back in a moment of blind rage when he just wouldn’t listen. Steve only ever saw things his way. He couldn’t understand that maybe you just wanted him to be okay. Maybe you just didn’t want to see him lose himself to the rush of another beating, or more blood and bruises and broken bones.

The coolness blowing outside settled into the room, seeping through the windows and cracks. You slid a little closer to the warmth of his body. Reaching out, letting your finger skate down his spine. His skin was soft, sprinkled with dark hair. His breathing stopped for just a minute at the delicacy of your touch.

“So that’s it? You’d rather throw this away than actually hear what I’m saying; than actually talk to me? Sometimes I wonder if you really wanna be with me, Steve, or if I’m just a pastime until your career takes off.”

“Are you—Jesus, it’s like you’re fuckin' blind. Don’t you see? Don’t you see that—“

“What? What? All I see is you getting into fights!”

“For you! I’m fighting for you, for fuck’s sake! To know you’re okay, to know you’re safe, to know you’re mine.”

Before Steve, you’d never known violence like this. You’ve been audience to few fights in your life, most childish and broken apart by school faculty. Boys rumbled behind the football field, shoved each other into lockers on the way back from gym. Once, a girl slapped another girl for stealing her boyfriend, but by the next week they were over it. It wasn’t until Steve came into your life that you knew how badly someone could bleed; how heavy hits could feel from the sidelines. How loud an uppercut was. How bad a rib could bruise, how much a nose could gush. How easily skin ripped apart.

Bottles shattered on the sidewalk, bar stools splintered by the weight of a grown man’s body. The gurgle of liquor spilling over the floor. The sputter of a mouth against a windpipe being squeezed. What it sounded like for someone to lose their two front teeth in the time it took to blink.

“This is the only way I know how to tell you how much I—that I—that I want—“

“Why can’t you say it, Steve? Hmm? Just look at me and say it.”

You could still see his face, eye swollen by a tattooed fist from the corner of the bar twenty minutes prior. Eyes welling, cheeks flushed pink, hands still balled together at his sides, black cotton tee soaked in beer and sweat. The night was cool and dark and everything blurred around Steve.

Even with your heart still racing from the fight he started, it wept only for Steve. It ached for him entirely.

“Don’t you know, angel?”

Pressing up on your palm, you closed the gap between your bodies on the bed. The sheets went with you, twisting around your thighs and waist as you pressed against his back. The smooth firmness of it was a welcome feeling. The warmth eased the stiffness in your limbs, arms circling around his middle to rid of any distance. Cheek against his shoulder, lip buried in his flesh, inhaling the musk of his bareness.

Steve sighed another stuttered breath.

“Know what, Steve?”

“That you’re mine. It’s me and you, and that’s how I want it to always be. Do you…don’t you want that?”

With the cigarette dangling from the corner of his lip, Steve slid his hand over your yours against his chest. Grateful for your touch, delighted by your smell. He let his head press back against your shoulder, and his eyes sink shut. He breathed in the sweetness of your recent slumber. He felt the warmth of your thighs, squeezing around his hips. Your lips left the softest wet ring on his skin, cooled by the breeze.

“I’m scared.”

You nuzzled your nose against his shoulder, exhaling a deep breath into his skin. You never wanted to be further from him than this, and you could’ve stayed there forever. Listening to each other’s heartbeats, containing each other’s bodies.

“Scared o’ what, baby? Don’t be scared.”

The crow cawed again. Another engine grumbled and faded into its morning route. A door slammed down the hall. The acidic stench of someone’s coffee seeped through the wall. Marlboro smoke tickled your nose, settled into your hair. His hand was rough around yours, skin callused and tough.

“M’ scared I’ll lose you. Trouble follows you wherever you go, and I…I’m worried it’ll get the best of you.”

His thumb rubbed gentle, mindless shapes into the back of your hand. You brought your chin to rest on his back, nose brushing the dark hair at the nape of his neck. It smelled like sweat, pillow-case-laundry-soap, and Steve.

And Steve always smelled like blood.

"You won't. You won't, baby—c'mon, don't cry."

Cigarette perched between his lips, held steady by that strong jaw, Steve raised a hand and searched behind him. His fingers grazed your hair, sweeping in a downward motion to stroke the back of your head and hold you close. He cupped your skull, pressed until your forehead met his own. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and inhaled.

He never wanted to forget this feeling.

You drove home in silence last night. The rumble of his Harley deafening, your grip around his torso tight and unrelenting. The argument found second life in the complex parking lot, where more than one neighbor threatened to call the cops if you didn't keep it down. Steve directed the screaming toward them. You just wanted him to talk to you, to listen to you; to stop letting his fists do all the explaining.

Steve was quick to knock someone out for wolf-whistling, swift to blacken eyes for glancing your way too long—but when it came to telling you how he truly felt, he shut down. When it came to reassuring your worries, he became a stoic statue.

You crawled into bed heavy with exhaustion, peeled free of clothes and begrudgingly covered in your favorite of Steve's t-shirts: big, crisp white cotton, patterned with his favorite football team. It smelled like his cologne and a cigarette smoked on the balcony.

Turned separate ways, staring at opposite spaces of darkness, feeling anger and regret fizzle in your chests.

"I hate fighting with you."

"Me, too."

But something curdled around that raging, guilty fizzle. Something tender and achey, weepy like an open wound pulsing life. Something sweet and sweeping. Something unlike either of you had ever felt before.

Something like...love.

"We don't have t' fight."

Love bruised. Love sliced. Love terrified the pair of you equally; chilled you right down to the bone.

One of you terrified to love something so gentle and beautiful, so bright and wonderful.

The other terrified to love something so cruel, so boorish and cold.

"Yes we do."

Lifting your chin, you tipped your head aside to get a peek at Steve's face. Blank, but peaceful, he fell still with steady breath. You ran the side of your finger down his cheek gently, stroking the skin where stubble collected. His eyes peeped open, lashes brushing his brows where they furrowed contemplatively.

He gave you a moment to continue your stroking ministrations before turning his head aside. You passed him a lazy smile, noses brushing. His hand traveled to your thigh, rubbing the pudgy flesh appreciatively. You squeezed around him a little tighter. He inched his head a little closer. His breath tickled your lips. His cigarette was the size of a half-bitten stick of gum in his other hand. The ashes collected on the shag carpet, a few decades old. At this proximity, you could see all the different flecks of colors in his eyes.

There was nothing scary about him, or that weepy feeling in your chest.

"Eggs or pancakes?" you asked.

Steve inhaled, bringing the butt of the cigarette to his mouth for one last drag. It burned against your mouth. "Pancakes."

He smoked his second cigarette at the table, tapping his ashes into a porcelain mug and watching you flip pancakes in his shirt with a silent brood. He took his stack of pancakes with a kiss, deep and tender and full of tongue. He tugged you into his lap and fed you bites off his fork.

He spent the afternoon alternating his hand and head between your legs.

And when the sun went down, he took you to the Harley with his arm around your waist. He collected your strewn items from the asphalt and shoved them back into your purse, leaving the broken zipper open with a promise to replace. You swung your leg over the Harley seat and wound your arms around his waist.

You waited for the next moment he'd turn his words into fists.

#rolly!#boxer!steve harrington #steve harrington #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x you #joe keery #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fluff #steve harrington angst #steve harrington x y/n fluff #steve harrington hurt/comfort #boxer!steve #steve harrington fic #joe keery fanfiction #joe keery fic

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linkedspirit-fanartfunart · 4 months

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Look out its a Linkblr Dashboard Simulator!

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🪶 redwingskies Follow

So who was gonna tell me the Surface is Real, huh? Who.

🎶 ocarina-macarina Follow

Where are you from?? What....what are you??? ....God?

🪶 redwingskies Follow

Nah turns out she's my best friend though.

🪶 redwingskies Follow

Hey btw, If I kill a god does that make me one? Is there like. Rules for this? Asking for a friend. (Like seriously. I don't care. He does.)

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🚋 train-life Follow

Today's Fact: Did you know Trains are the reason New Hyrule has Standardized Time Zones? As citizens needed to know when to get to a train station, the council lobbied for standardized time that could be applied precisely for travel by train! The entire modern perception of time is because of the Train!

⌛️ forestchild Follow

Thanks, I hate it. Lets go back to living by the sun rise and set.

🌸 dont-look-at-me Follow

??? We've always had standard time zones??? What are you talking about. Trains didn't invent that.

🚋 train-life Follow

...they literally did. I re-researched this to double check. What are YOU talking about?

🌸 dont-look-at-me Follow

Time zones? Like. The era of Legend, the Golden era, bullfish like that?

🚋 train-life Follow

... you can swear you know? I'm 12 not a baby.

🌊 kingoftheseagull Follow

you're HOW OLD? I thought you were a Royal Engineer???

🚋 train-life Follow

12? It's in my bio?

🌊 kingoftheseagull Follow

I love you but get the hell off of this website why are you here

🌟 excuuuse-me Follow

Can we go back to the weirdo who thinks Time Zones are HISTORICAL PERIODS?

🌸 dont-look-at-me Follow

Haha yea total weirdo, what, are they like 400 years old or something? Lol

🐴 goatman4life Follow

Actually I wanna get back to why a 12 year old has a job

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🐟 indigo-gos-official Follow

Hey anybody willing to lend me bail money? I'm short like 10 rupees and it's really annoying.

⌛️ forestchild Follow

Wait shit wrong account! Wrong account!!

🐴 goatman4life Follow

Why do you have access to a hyper-famous Zora Band's account??

⌛️ forestchild Follow

Their lead guitarist died in front of me and I am very nice. Now get me out of jail goatman.

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🌳 wildflowerwastaken Follow

#hi #i saw a cool bird today #the camera was left on selfie mode so it only got a picture of me squinting at it #the bird noticed the flash and it pecked me until I fell out of the tree #straight into a malice puddle #the bird was pretty tho #so I say my day went great!

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🌟 excuuuse-me Follow

Hey apparently I need to update people on my boundaries. So. Here is a list of what's okay:

Hugging

Kissing me

Kissing me directly on the lips

👀

Parasocial relationships where you praise me constantly <3

And this is NOT okay

Hunting me for my blood to revive the prince of darkness

Ignoring me

Thank you, that's really all, I'm kinda sad that this has to be said but clarity is wisdom and all.

👑 princess-of-hyrule Follow

Link. This is not what I told you to post.

🌟 excuuuse-me Follow

Well EXUSe ME if my boundaries look different than yours!!

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⚒️ smol-smithy Follow

Hey pulled the Four Sword again so we need help figuring out who gets to run the blog lol.

Thanks everybody

⏳️ forestchild Follow

Lol this loser doesn't know how to make sideblogs

🎶 ocarina-macarina Follow

The poll says "Who gets to be Link on MAIN" though, so maybe they do? They just wanna have one person in charge of the first blog?

⏳️ forestchild Follow

The path to truth is unity. Many voices can be heard within one "main".

-The Diety

⏳️ forestchild Follow

...ignore him, I've made him a sideblog and he refuses to use it.

⚒️ smol-smithy Follow

Hey wait no let him come back, he's the only smart person I've ever heard

-Green (?)

⚒️ smol-smithy Follow

I am going to kill you.

#we have all agreed to not utilize this blog until the poll is complete #so shut up green

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levi-venn · 1 month

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The First Toothpick

Chapter Seven: Blasterslingers

Characters: Cad Bane, Crosshair, Tech (Flashbacks), Jango Fett (Flashbacks)

Gen Fic - Mentor/Protege

Summary: Cad Bane teaches Crosshair how to be a sniper. The kid picks up some other habits as a result.

Chapter Summary: For the first time in his life, Crosshair disobeys orders

Read the previous chapters here:

Chapters: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 |

Also Available on AO3

Night stalked the ranch, smothering the last orange sunlight with a glittery indigo blanket.

Cad and the kid sat in the belltower, their sniper rifles side-by-side as their scopes scanned the only road in or out of the ranch, waiting for Skatter’s gang.

The wheat field flickered blue as stalker lizards tested their luck, hoping to get at the fabools for an easy meal.

“How long will that shield last?” Cad quizzed.

“All night,” the kid said. “Or until someone shoots out three of the sensors.”

“Which Skatter will,” Cad added.

“Because he was the one who set them up,” the kid answered.

“Where will I be?”

“You’ll be on the ground, drawing fire away from the house and steer them into the mines we set up today.”

“And you?”

The kid sighed. “I will stay here in the tower and wait for your signal”

“Exactly.”

Of course, Cad had no intention on giving any signal. This was Cad’s fight, not the kid's.

"Are you sure the fabools will be okay?" the kid asked.

“Skatter knows their value, he ain’t goin’ anywhere near those fabools and Todo’ll take care of the stalker lizards. They'll stay right here n' aim for a short fight.”

The kid fidgeted with the settings of his scope. “When are they gonna be here?"

“No idea, but he’s comin’. And we’ll be ready.”

“Roger,” the kid said.

Cad fished a toothpick out of his pouch and…paused when he saw the kid pull a piece of brittle wheat from his jumpsuit pocket.

“Trade ya,” Cad said, offering his toothpick.

The kid’s eyes doubled in size like Cad just handed him a hundred credits. He took the toothpick and gave it an experimental pressure test between his thumbs. It held firm.

“Kashyyyk wood,” Cad said, flicking the piece of wheat out the window. “Takes a lotta punishment before it breaks. When you line up a difficult shot, clench down on it, then relax your jaw as you pull the trigger.”

The kid put the toothpick in his mouth and immediately wiggled it with his tongue.

“Don’t fuck around with it too much,” Cad huffed, showing him a second toothpick and putting it between his left main incisor and his front fang. “Rest it on your lip, slide in, let it hang. If ya gotta tongue it, just don’t be obvious. Too much jostlin’ makes ya look fidgety. Ain’t good for negotiations.”

“When will I need to negotiate anything?” The kid asked.

“When you take on your first bounty hunt,” Cad sneered.

It was a joke, but the kid’s eyes went round again with hope, then his whole expression deflated. “I'm a soldier. Soldiers don't hunt bounties.”

“Wouldn't count on anything bein’ a sure thing. Ya never know what life's got planned for ya, no matter what the Kaminoans say.”

The kid shrugged, the toothpick moving around a little, but no longer wiggling.

“Here,” Cad huffed and pulled out a cluster of toothpicks. “In case ya swallow that first one.”

The kid shot him an annoyed look, but Cad could see the underlying smirk. He took the toothpicks and opened up a pouch on his utility belt.

Cad spied a familiar wrapper in the pouch. A wrapper he would see littering the Firespray , when Jango was particularly stressed.

“That a starsbar? Thought you didn’t like candy.”

“It's not for me, it's for Tech. He has a sweet tooth when he gets stressed.”

The kid’s expression went dour and he tucked the toothpicks away next to the crumpled up candy bar.”

“You’re gonna see him soon,” Cad said, though he wasn't being paid to make the kid feel better.

“I’ve never been away from my brothers this long. Someone was always within touching distance. Even when Pynk pulls one of us into his office for reprimands, Hunter or I sneak into the vents to let our brother know they aren’t alone.”

“Who’s Hunter?”

“My oldest brother. I have three. Hunter, Wrecker, and Tech.”

Cad waited to hear this kid’s name.

The kid seemed to sense it and shrank away.

“Where do y’all get these names?”

“We just get them. Wrecker breaks things, Tech likes to say things like ‘technically’ plus he’s good at slicing. Hunter is a natural tracker. These names stick, and sometimes you can’t get rid of them. There is a cadet who got scared in training and ran screaming from a training droid. They call him Droid Bait. He’ll never be called anything else.”

Cad was starting to get it.

“So someone gave you a name ya don’t like, huh?”

The kid focused real hard on everything except Cad’s studious gaze.

Shit, I hit a nerve…not that I’m paid to- aw who am I kiddin’.

“Hey, kid,” he said with a gentle tone that was odd to his own ears. “ just tryin’ to-”

“Misfire.”

Cad blinked. “You’re shittin’ me.”

The kid shot him a look. “It’s not my name…or I mean…it isn't what my brother’s call me, but…it’s what everyone else calls me.”

“Well, that’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. When you get back to those cadets, you can shoot that name right between their eyes.”

The kid raised a salt and pepper eyebrow.

“Metaphorically speaking,” Cad sneered. “I ain't callin' ya Misfire. You're 'Kid'.”

“I like…Kiddo too,” the kid murmured.

Bane pointed his toothpick at the kid. “You're Kiddo only if you ain’t bein’ a lil shit. Cursin’ me in Mando’a when ya think I ain’t listenin.”

The kid’s sneer looked a whole lot like Bane’s.

“Roger that,” and the kid gave a sarcastic salute.

That little gesture he definitely got from Cad.

Call ‘em soldiers all you want, Jango, Cad thought. They’re still just kids n’ they deserve better than threats of retirement and bullies who're probably scared too.

“Am I your son?”

Cad almost swallowed his toothpick and he coughed it out into his palm. “What?”

“Skatter called me your son. You didn’t correct him.”

Cad knew that Skatter was trying to rattle Cad. Arguing would've made him look defensive.

But to this kid, Cad thought, born out of some fuckin’ test tube…shit, guess it looked like somethin' different.

“Do you want kids, Cad?”

Cad lifted his hat off his face. Jango always managed to ask him the damndest questions just as started to doze off.

“What?”

“Just a simple question from a simple man,” Jango hummed, gazing up at the stars.

“Ain’t nothin’ ever simple with you,” Cad snorted. “And no. Hell no. The hell am I gonna do with a kid in tow?”

“Start a legacy? Pass on what you’ve learned to someone who can grow beyond you?”

“There ain’t no legacy to be made,” Cad said. “I’m an orphaned Duros with whippin’ scars and a handful of bounties under my belt. No one’s gonna look up to this fuckin’ disaster.”

Jango turned his head towards Cad. He looked…disappointed. “You have more to give than you realize.”

“Yeah,” Cad frowned. “So ya keep tellin' me.”

"It's the truth, Caddy."

“Tell ya what. You make all the kids ya want and I’ll just be the fun uncle that hypes ‘em up with candy and a loaded blaster. Deal?”

It was supposed to be a joke.

But Jango still looked disappointed.

“Kiddo...” Cad started. It is was hard at those big watery human eyes. “If…you were my son, I’d tell ya that in this galaxy ya don’t have to be anything you don’t wanna be.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a soldier now, but that don’t mean you gotta take any orders blindly. Question orders. Don’t walk in blind. If it don’t sit right, don’t fuckin’ do it. Trust no one. Keep your guard up. And…”

Caddy, seriously, don’t say it…Jango ain’t payin’ you to turn this kid into an anarchist like you.

“And...fuck the establishment.”

“What’s an Establishment?”

The woop woop woop of the alarms flashed on Cad’s gauntlet.

“Focus up, kiddo, we got company.”

***

“Technically,” Tech said, “Our father is Jango Fett since he supplied the DNA.”

“And our mom?” Crosshair asked.

“Hmm…I suppose she’s the pre-natal tank that preserved us during gestation.”

“What about Nala Se?” Crosshair asked. “She feeds us, tutors us, and she hums to Wrecker when he has trouble sleeping.”

“She is our caretaker.”

“In your book, the mom sang to the children.”

“What book?”

Crosshair pulled up Little House in the Big Field on his datapad.

Tech looked at the book, then looked at Crosshair. “We are clones, Crosshair,” he said, adjusting his brand new goggles that didn't quite fit his face yet. “We do not need parents like the children in that book. Our path is one of military efficiency. Those natborns are far more helpless than we ever were. They need nurturing to survive, we only need what is provided by this facility.”

“Oh,” Crosshair said, scrolling through the pages. He stopped at his favorite illustration, the little girl riding her father’s shoulders. They are both laughing.

“Does that make sense?” Tech asked.

“We’re clones,” Crosshair murmured. “We don’t need parents.”

“Crosshair...” Tech said.

Crosshair didn’t look up. The father in the book would do anything for his kids. He hunt puma, he built them toy forts, he gave them piggyback rides.

Tech leaned forward until he was in Crosshair’s vision. “We don't have parents. But we do have each other.”

Crosshair looked at his brother. Older than him, technically, but inseparable since birth. Crosshair liked to call them twins. Tech never corrected him.

“I know, Tech.”

Tech leaned his head against Crosshair's shoulder. “These goggles make my eyes hurt. Will you read tonight?”

“What book?”

“Whatever you want.”

Crosshair held up Little House in the Big Field .

"Acceptable."

Tech wrapped the blanket around both of them and Crosshair began to read.

Crosshair chewed on his toothpick, mindful not to move it around too much like Bane said. His aim was steady, the scope spewing out readings of the distance, speed, and predicted trajectory of the speeders charging down the winding road towards the ranch.

A month ago he’d be nervous. A month ago he’d hear “Misfire” echo in his mind.

Tonight, his mind was quiet. He was ready.

And more importantly, Bane believes I’m ready too. Just have to wait for his signal.

“Why can’t we shoot them now?” Crosshair asked.

“You got Skatter in your sights?” Bane asked.

“I do.”

“Shift your scope a little to the left, nearest speeder.”

Crosshair moved to the next speeder. It was full of dowutins.

“His people are loyal, and two of his cousins are in this gang. Killing Skatter ain’t gonna cut the head off the snake. It’ll only give away our position. Far as Skatter knows, this is still an ornamental tower with a weather vane.”

“I won't strike until you give the signal,” Crosshair promised.

“Atta boy.” Bane said.

Crosshair cracked a smile.

"Show time." Bane stood up, his spurs jingling as he walked backwards towards the fake chimney's chute. “See ya soon, kiddo.”

And with that Bane gave a sarcastic salute and dropped backwards and disappeared out of sight.

So wizard, Crosshair thought. He turned his attention to the rows of surveillance cameras.

For a few long moments, everything was quiet except for the distant hum of speeders approaching like an angry swarm of bees.

Crosshair could practically see the fight in his head. Any moment, Bane would appear, wide-brim hat lowered, hands resting on his blasters, maybe a tumbleweed rolling by. Bane would say something intimidating and badass that shook up the bad guys, then he'd give Crosshair the signal! Crosshair didn't know what the signal looked like, but it was probably equally badass. Then Crosshair would shoot the hats off all the outlaws and they’d run for the hills.

That’s how it happens in the holofilms he and Wrecker liked to watch.

And Bane was practically a living, breathing Wild Space holofilm star.

And I'm his trusty sideki-

An explosion rattled the fantasy out of Crosshair’s head. His chest shook, the whole house vibrated, and suddenly only four speeder were hurdling towards the ranch house. Three more explosions followed and Crosshair saw the shield flicker then die just as the speeders entered the wheat field.

Black smoke billowed out of the speeders, mixing with the gray plumes from the sizzling wheat stalks, filling the moonlit night with black and silver humorless clouds. Like blood red lightning, blaster fire pierced the night in a relentless barrage.

Todo zoomed by the tower, thrusters searing Crosshair’s vision as he dove towards the Fabool enclosure brandishing a pair of pistols. Stalker lizards hissed and skittered away as soon as he approached. Todo would keep the fabools safe for now, but this also meant Bane was alone.

The signal!

Crosshair looked at every monitor. There was no sign of the bounty hunter.

He peered through his scope, searching the field, the porch, everywhere and found no one.

Did I miss the signal? Is he waiting for me? Does he think I abandoned him?

There was too much smoke, too much blaster fire in too many directions. It was loud and bright and confusing. He tried to peer through his scope again, but another explosion turned his night vision a glaring white. He hissed in pain, blinking away the dancing lights in his retinas.

This wasn’t the plan. He and his brothers had ninety-nine plans, but none of them applied to Bane and this situation.

The only plan Bane ever gave him was…keep firing and keep running.

Keep running. I can do that.

Crosshair went to the control panel and flipped every switch attached to a mirrored panel on the field, then slung his rifle over his shoulder and slipped out of the tower.

“There’s someone on the roof!” An instant later, the blaster fire surrounded Crosshair. He was used to live blaster fire during training, but he wasn’t used to this much coming from so many directions. He kept running, his eyes trained on the trellis on the edge of the roof. That was his first mission. Climb down. Reassess. Don’t stays stationary for long.

“Kid! Down!”

Crosshair didn’t think.

He didn’t look.

He acted.

Throwing himself belly down onto the roof, a rocket whistled overhead and exploded the back porch in a fiery blaze. The hiss of Todo's fire extinguisher coming a moment later.

Don’t stop. Keep moving.

Crosshair slithered towards the ladder, then descended awkwardly, nearly twisting his ankle in the thick vines. As soon as he landed, he spied Bane pinned by blaster fire behind his speeder, shooting his twin blasters blindly overhead. The top of his hat was smoking from a blaster bolt that had narrowly missing his head.

Crosshair stared wide-eyed at him.

They shot Bane.

Then he narrowed his eyes.

They fucking shot Bane.

Crosshair peeked around the corner. One speeder had hit a sensor mine and was smoking. The four remaining skidded to a halt and they were carefully making their way forward. Two more explosions went off. Crosshair counted ten outlaws remaining.

The speeder that shielded Bane was also blocking them both from using the mirrored panels.

Crosshair needed to draw the blaster fire away from Bane. If he could get to the field, he could regain his line of sight. All he had to do was run and not stop running.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Bane shouted over the blaster fire as if knowing what Crosshair was thinking. “Get back in that tower. Now. ”

Crosshair almost obeyed the order.

He should have. Bane was his mentor. His word was law.

But leaving Bane behind was not an option.

He took the rifle off his shoulder.

He gave Bane a sarcastic salute.

And he ran.

If he saw an outlaw in the reflection of a mirror, he fired. If he missed, he fired again. If he hit the target, he kept running to seek the next target.

He fired one blaster bolt and hit three outlaws. Two of them went down.

That was so wizard…wait, shit, I’ll celebrate that later…

...But I hope Bane saw it, too.

“Down!” He heard Bane shout and he slid just in time to watch a rocket sail over his head. He rolled forward and kept running and dodging.

He glanced behind him only once to find Bane standing atop the speeder, firing his blasters. One...two...three...four weequay went down in quick succession.

Crosshair took down the last weequay and that just left the dowutins and Skatter who was holding that damn rocket launcher that tried to blow up Crosshair twice.

The dowutins turned their attention back on Bane who ran towards the porch, ducking behind one of the pillars, his skinny form practically vanishing except for the flash of silver from his blasters.

One of Skatter’s cousins fell over onto Skatter who shoved him away.

“Bane!” Skatter roared, struggling to reload the launcher which seemed to be jammed. “You’re just wastin’ time. You can either leave now and the ranch survives or I just blow y’all up with this here launcher. Neither one of us wants that. Last warnin’!”

“The ranch’s mine, sleemo,” Bane shouted. “And your runnin’ outta boys a lot quicker than I am.”

“Then let’s even the playin’ field,” Skatter grinned, throwing down the launcher and pulling something small from his pouch.

Crosshair heard the familiar beep of a thermal detonator before he saw the red and blue flicker streak through the night sky.

It landed with a dull thud next to him.

Crosshair didn’t think.

He didn’t look.

He acted.

It was like he was outside of himself, instinct taking over as his hand snatch the det and flung it right back towards the dowutins.

Oh shit.

Crosshair rolled behind one of the mirror panels which provided...no cover at all.

Shit.

He hugged his rifle against his chest protectively.

The concussive blast hit him before the deafening sound slammed against his eardrums. He was airborn. His body went into cold shock, then screamed in pain.

He landed hard on his back, his vision was doubling, quadrupling, there were too many stars in the sky and they were all swimming at nauseating speed.

Through the ringing in his ears, he thought he heard more blaster fire and then nothing at all.

Everything had gone quiet.

Which meant either he went deaf or the fight was over.

A figure loomed over him, blacking out the blurry stars.

“Looks like your bell got rung, kiddo,” he heard Bane say, a flash of white fangs told Crosshair he was smiling.

“Is it over?” Crosshair coughed.

“Well ya blew Skatter and his cousins to pieces. So yeah, I’d say it’s as over as it gets.”

Crosshair started to sit up to get a better look at the carnage. Bane blocked his path. “Ain’t no reason to see that shitshow right now. Can ya stand?”

“I am standing,” Crosshair said only to realize that not only was he still sitting, but the ground felt like it was made of mashed potatoes.

“Climb up.”

Crosshair blinked up at Bane. “What?”

“Climb up.” Bane repeated, kneeling down and patting his own back. “Up.”

Crosshair’s eyes went wide. “I can have…a piggyback ride?”

Bane’s head tilted, one brow ridge raised “A what?”

“Nothing!” Crosshair lunged forward and clung to Bane’s neck. Bane hooked his arms under Crosshair’s leg, lifting him easily.

Pressing his cheek against the rough leather collar of Bane’s coat, Crosshair looked over at the smoking speeders. There was a piece of…something charred on the ground. He quickly decided to look the other way, towards the Fabool enclosure where Todo had managed to chase off the rest of the stalker lizards and was repairing the shield.

Bane crossed the threshold into the house and the smoky night air was replaced by the warm scent of wood and remnants of the stew Bane made them that afternoon.

Crosshair wondered if this is what the house from Little House in the Big Field smelled like?

Bane knelt beside the floral couch that neither Bane nor Crosshair used since he arrived. The couch was stiff and smelled musty, clearly for decoration. Bane pulled the quilt off the back of the couch and draped it over Crosshair's shoulders. It was surprisingly soft and warm, and unlike the couch it smelled clean, faintly of fabric softener and lavender. The weight of it felt like a gentle hug.

For the first time since the bell tower, Crosshair felt like he could breathe.

Bane pulled out the med kit hidden under the couch and examined Crosshair’s wounds. There were scrapes all over his body, his head was sticky with blood, and apparently a piece of shrapnel stuck out of his calf that Crosshair didn’t feel until Bane tugged experimentally at it.

Bane left the shrapnel alone and started with the cut on Crosshair’s head. “Well, my contract didn’t say nothin’ about bringin’ ya back unharmed, but think this’ll be gone by the time I do bring ya back.”

Crosshair lowered his eyes and said nothing.

Waiting...

Bane stopped dabbing at the cut on Crosshair’s forehead. “Kid? You get your ears blown off?”

Crosshair kept waiting.

“Don’t tell me you’re worried about your fuckin’ percentages tonight of all nights.”

Crosshair raised his eyes briefly. “I disobeyed your orders.”

“Ya sure did,” Bane hummed, dabbing bacta over the wound and then pulling out tweezers to pull the shrapnel from Crosshair’s leg. “And it was a fuckin’ dumbass move. I had a pair of traps I was gonna spring on the dowutins, just needed them to come a lil closer. You runnin' out into the field like a wild heaadless chicken stopped 'em in their tracks.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“That’s because,” Bane pulled the shrapnel out slowly, then soothed it with bacta gel. Crosshair hissed, but didn’t complain. “I didn’t count on Skatter forgettin’ those traps were there. He’s the one who planted them in the first place, the idiot. But that’s the thing, ain’t it? Can’t account for everythin’. Ya gotta be ready to improvise even in the best laid plans.”

“Oh…” Crosshair deflated. “I’m sor-”

“Shut up, kiddo,” Bane said, but his tone was gentle. He carefully wrapped the leg up in a soft bandage. “Don’t you go bein’ sorry for listenin’ to your gut. Fool decision or not, ya went for it. I had to improvise when you went runnin' and you improvised by blowin’ up Skatter and his cousins to smithereens. Woulda liked to pull the trigger on Skatter myself, but hell I ain’t interested in a vengeance plot unless I’m gettin’ paid for it.”

Crosshair was quiet for a moment. “So I did good?”

Bane threw Crosshair a sideways smile, baring his pearly fangs. “Ain’t no good fishin’ for compliments in shark-infested waters, kiddo.”

Crosshair smirked. “Fine.”

“How do you think you did?”

Crosshair immediately went to the numbers. “My percent-Ow! Haar’chak !”

Bane shot him with antibiotics without warning.

“Fuck the numbers,” Bane said. “How’d it feel?”

Crosshair rubbed his sore arm. “Good. Scary, but good. Didn’t stop when I missed a target. I lined the shot up again and again until I hit my mark. I drew fire away from you. That was my main mission. I don’t leave my own behind.”

Bane threw Crosshair a look, confused maybe, but Crosshair thought he saw a twinkle in those glowing red eyes.

"Huh..." Bane said thoughtfully, then sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. It looked like he was catching his breath, and Crosshair realized he had a few cauterized blaster bolt burns and some shrapnel in his own leg. “The lesson you should get outta this experience, kiddo,” Bane said as he tended to his own wounds. “is that you listened to your gut. It worked out this time and maybe that ain’t the case next time. Don’t matter. I’d rather die listening to my own instincts than risk my life on someone else’s orders that don’t sit right.”

“A good soldier follows orders,” Crosshair said. It felt like someone else’s words, but he didn’t remember where he’d heard it.

“Yeah, well, the best mercs often make the shittiest soldiers,” Bane said, and stood up with a pained groan. “Sit here and stay awake. Ya got a concussion and I ain’t lugging a comatose kid back to Jango.”

Crosshair’s heart sank. “You’re sending me back?”

“In a couple of days when you’re healed proper.” Bane raised an eyebrow. “I’d say taking out Skatter’s Ferocious Fourteen is about as good a test score as any. After tonight you’re ready for anythin’ Pynk throws at ya.”

Crosshair felt his heart twist in confusion. He missed Tech every day he was gone. He missed Wrecker and Hunter too, but…

...he missed his twin the most.

“Okay.”

Bane looked at Crosshair for a long time, brow furrowed, but not angrily. It was the kind of thoughtful look he had on Kamino when he talked to Jango about Crosshair’s future.

“Sit tight. Watch a holo. Don’t fall asleep. I’ll check on you in a bit.”

“Bane?” Crosshair asked as Bane started to walk away.

Can I be a merc?

Can Tech be a merc?

Can I bring my brothers with me and we can all be mercs? And not soldiers? And live by our guts and not by what Lt. Pynk says?

“Yeah, kiddo?” Bane asked, toothpick moving lazily in his teeth.

Would my brothers come with me if I asked them?

Crosshair already knew the answer.

He sank back into the couch.

“Thanks for training me.”

“I just did it for the credits, kiddo,” Bane said, tilting his head up and giving Crosshair a wink.

Crosshair rolled his eyes with a grin, then snuggled under the blanket and turned on the holoprojector.

He watched the entire Duros with No Name series before he was finally allowed to sleep.

#bad batch crosshair #tbb crosshair #the bad batch #tbb tech #bad batch tech #star wars the clone wars #cad bane #tbb #jango fett

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comicaurora · 2 years

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With Dainix as a Red Lantern, what Corps do you think the rest of the cast would be a part of if any?

I could answer this with my thoughts, but I think it's more interesting to put this out as a discussion question. And it gives me an excuse to talk about wacky DC lore!

For those who don't know, the general gist of the lantern corps is that they are intergalactic organizations that harness the power of "the emotional electromagnetic spectrum", meaning every emotion has a color and if you have enough of that emotion and a corresponding lantern ring you can get powers from it. It started, obviously, with the Green Lanterns, and was Care-Bear'd out from there. The colors and their corresponding Vibes are:

Red - Rage. Red lanterns are pissed off all the time and are almost always evil. In the comics they're a lot more hardcore, like "straight-up blood magic" hardcore, but in cartoon adaptations they're basically just glowy and mad. Green Lantern: The Animated Series introduced a heroic red lantern, Razer, who serves as the good guy's edgy, grumpy lancer with a heart of gold. Basically all the others are jerks.

Orange - Greed. There is only one Orange Lantern at a time because they're too greedy to let anyone else share the power. That's basically their whole deal. More of a gimmick villain than anything. Apparently comes in lego form.

Yellow - Fear. The oldest of the bad-guy lantern corps. Unlike most of the Lanterns, it's less important that a Yellow Lantern feel fear than that they cause fear, which is totally cheating. The problem is these guys fight the Green Lanterns, whose whole deal is they don't respond to fear, which means they're kinda doomed from the outset. The absolute funniest thing to ever happen with a Yellow Lantern ring was this:

Green - Will. Not an emotion, but they came first so they're allowed to break the theme. Green Lanterns are powered from sheer heroic willpower, which is why they are basically always good guys. They have the ability to use their lantern rings to construct anything they can imagine, but they're all boring motherfuckers who make boxing gloves or guns, which is why the best Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner, an artist.

Blue - Hope. These guys have the power to bolster nearby Green Lanterns, which makes sense - easier to hold onto willpower when you have hope backing you up. Depending on the story they can also nerf nearby bad-guy lanterns. The Flash has been one of these, but surprisingly Superman has not, which feels like a huge oversight.

Indigo - Compassion. Pretty small and niche, mostly just introduced as a plot device in the Blackest Night storyline. Their actual tangible ability lets them mirror the abilities other Lanterns, which is a cool way to make compassion a unique power. Unfortunately their lore is basically "they are all sociopaths incapable of feeling emotion without their lantern rings, which are used to 'cure' them, and this is fine. also they are 'tribal' and wear body paint and fight with sticks. this came out in 2010." that aside, cool concept I guess??

Violet - Love. The "star sapphires" can channel the power of love and decided to make that everyone's problem. Oscillate between being good guys and villains of the week depending on how much that writer hates Hal Jordan's girlfriend. They were the Token All-Lady Lanterns for a while until they were recently confirmed to be co-ed, they had just been operating on the assumption that only women are capable of Real Love while men must be Mistrusted or Controlled With It, because despite being an intergalactic civilization composed of thousands of different alien species and cultures, apparently '60s earth gender essentialism was receiving the Emotion-Reading Power Ring Seal Of Approval for millennia. Whenever Wonder Woman gets a lantern ring it's one of these.

Black - Death. Also not an emotion, but whatever. These guys are smart, mean zombies. As they got more powerful in the Blackest Night super-zombie apocalypse story, any superhero who had ever died and been brought back became a Black Lantern, which is totally cheating considering what franchise this is.

White - Life. ALSO not an emotion, but the vibe of these guys is that they're like all the other lanterns combined into their truest, purest form, in the same way that white light is a mix of every color. Almost like the concept of trying to draw hard delineations between human emotions is a losing battle! I think you're only allowed to use this one if you're in the last 95% of your limited run and the bad guy really needs to die already.

Ultraviolet - Being A Huge Bummer. I guess someone decided the lantern corps needed ninjas. Representing "invisible light," aka most light, their emotion is "all negative emotion", which is somehow distinct from rage, fear and greed. What I like most about DC comics is how none of the writers agree with each other about literally anything.

#asks #fanart prompt #DC

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pokemon-ash-aus · 1 year

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So I have this for my own sanity...

In the distant future of the False Twins AU, the family tree is something like:

Damian and Delia have one bio kid in Silver, who eventually leads to all the future human family members (Lilith, Myst, Adrien, Dianthus, Ceaser, Nicole, and Richie).

Blue, Spot, and Alpha are the clone Mews that become part of the family later on.

Mewtwos lay eggs asexually in the case of this AU, and one egg can have multiple mon. As the hatched babies age, they will grow into their final forms of their hybrid evolutionary lines, so, for example, if someone was a Bulbasaur fusion, they'd eventually grow into a Venasaur fusion.

Peach is an Ampharos fusion (Psychic/Electric). She adopts an alt shiny Mewtwo Pepper (Psychic), who shares DNA thanks to time-space shenanigans, but also has Raisin the Zorua (Psychic/Dark) fusion a few years later. Peach is in a relationship with Pheonix the Infernape.

Down the line, Pepper has her own twins - a full Mew named Sunshine (Psychic) and a full Mewtwo named Sunset (Psychic).

Indigo is an Absol fusion (Psychic/Dark). Indigo is mates with Hades the Obstegoon and Latios (I tried to find his name but I had no luck please help). Their kids are Punch the Buneary hybrid (Psychic/Normal), Coral the Togepi Hybrid (Psychic/Fairy?), and Rose the Happiny hybrid (Psychic/Normal). At this time, Indigo has no cannon grandkids.

Ash is a Lucario hybrid (Psychic/Fighting). He's Ace and has no romantic partners. His first kid is Red the Tepig hybrid (Psychic/Fire) followed a few years later by the triplets, Ember the Pichu hybrid (Psychic/Electric), Cinder the Cottonee hybrid (Psychic/Grass?), and Coal the Pancham hybrid (Psychic/Fighting?).

From Red, we eventually get Ashy, who is a Hisuian Cyndaquil hybrid (Psychic/Fire?).

Ash also has at least one adoptive baby in Lucario, but he may have others as he's likely to bring home and keep eggs.

*DEEEP BREATHE* And THEN we also have Damian who is brothers with Giovanni, though that isn't revealed yet in the timeline.

In the time of Adult!Triplets but before Delia and Damian have adult grandkids, Peach becomes a Pokémon professor, Ash is a champion/gym leader (if he's a type specialist please let me know), and Indigo is a Coordinator. At least until they reach the first 100 year age mark, they try to maintain balance between human and pokemon sides, but later they sometimes go one way or another.

There's also an Archie in there somewhere, but I'm unsure who that is.

Please let me know if there are any corrections needed. I just really like your AU and want to make sure I have my brain right.

Archie is apart of the Human family tree!

And yeah, you got it almost 100% spot on except for some minor things (its like 2 or smth dont worry).

The first generation Mewtwos are the only ones that lay eggs as they're dna is more closely tied to their pokemon side in this instance. All the other Twos have natural births

Ashy is a Psychic/Ghost type

Giovanni does not ever get included in the family tree because none of them see him as family anymore :)

Other than that you got it!

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galaxythedragonshifter · 1 year

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Ok, I don't think anyone's done this yet, but imagine: Spiderverse!Herobrine feat.Rookie!Y/N

He's basically like my usual Herobrine is, but a Spider-man

Also again, spoilers for those who have not watched Across the Spiderverse

His Spidey suit would of course have the Iconic Spidey eyes, but glowy, and the main colors would be blue (same as his shirt), Indigo, and white (ofc with black accents). (Also angy Spidey eyes mood)

He's in the usual same style of animation that Miles, Peter B parker, and Gwen are. (Same with Y/N's) His framerate also changes. (24 fps for the default, 12 for fight scenes)

He'd be the mentor that ends up a tired exasperated father figure for teenage Y/N. (Think of a Tony Stark and Peter Parker dynamic)

He will deny the claim that he thinks of Y/N as his child, but he does, 100%. (Denial is a river in Egypt Hero).

Especially because Y/Ns bio father figure isn't really there. (He's kinda there, but he's not really that good. Idk)

Crossed arms and annoyed, Spidey, squinty eyes are pretty common.

His powers would consist of the same things Miles Morales can do (including invisibility), with added teleportation with a "cool down". (He leaves a blue trail behind when he teleports in 12fps, but it fades almost instantly)

He's been a spiderman for a long while. So naturally, he's the mentor and Y/N needs to do what he says. (Does Y/N do this? No. No, they don't.)

Him and Miguel Spiderman were at odds. Brine was always a lone wolf, "I wanna do my thing", kinda guy, and we all know that Miguel hates when people don't conform to the "canon".

Herobrine doesn't believe all the "canon" nonsense. He knows it's illogical, and multiple universes should have collapsed in that case. He tried explaining this to Miguel, with no luck.

Hero barely holds in a snort when he finds out a literal kid (Miles) has tricked Miguel. It's hilarious to him akjdhd.

"A STUPID ASS KID BEAT ME. HES GONNA RUIN EVERYTHING!" "A kid?" *Barely keeping in a laugh* "Are you LAUGHING AT ME?!"

I can imagine Y/N would be (enthusiastically) introducing new slang and phrases to Hero that Herobrine never bothered learning.

Y/N casually rambling while trying to catch a villain with Herobrine.

"Can you not do this right now?"

Should I make Hero the "Uncle Ben" or no? (Probably nahhh. It's better to make him lose someone, and that impacts his overprotectivness with Y/N)

Man is again, bilingual (English and Swedish). He comes from Sweden, but has a northern United States accent, considering it's where he spent most of his formative years.

His age is 34 in this AU.

*rolls eyes with a sigh* "Miguel, your logic is not making any sense."

He also consistently has these expressions all the time: (I.e: "Bish, imma strangle you.")

Man is the only one more intimidating than Miguel.

He has a "tired dad mode". This only ever happens when he's been awake for more than two days and has no more energy and is running off of coffee and regret.

*tired dad mode* "Y/N, what trouble did you get into now?" "I can explain-"

Overprotective fr

Messy hair all the time, gets worse in tired dad mode.

Aroace (reason No. 1 he doesn't follow the canon, and is probably the first anomaly in actuality)

Identity is kinda a secret. Like, he's Herobrine ofc, but he doesn't like citizens seeing him in everyday attire. Cause his glowy eyes. (Kinda would reveal his identity instantly anyways if we're gonna be honest.)

No Spider name. People just call him "Herobrine".

I might do a second part if I can think of more, or if it's requested enough skhdydh

#galaxy rambles #galaxy's headcanons #spidersona????#herobrine #minecraft herobrine #spiderverse #across the spiderverse #into the spider verse #man would probably be a whole lot less traumatized #someone please draw this I beg #spiderverse spoilers

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scattered-winter · 10 months

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ok @tarantula-hawk-wasp this is my TENTATIVE lineup (i keep changing my mind so who knows how long ill have these opinions lmaoooo) but i wanna preface this by saying that EVERYONE could be green because they all fit the bill pretty well for that one. but i tried to dig deeper to see What Else they could be <3 (but there's some who were like. Green. theyre green.)

shiro: BLUE <3 the thing i love about shiro is that he's been through soooo fucking much but he's come out the other end still upright and ready to fight and be supportive and loving and goofy and protect the universe even though he's sooo so tired and sooo so scared. he's the EMBODIMENT of hope it drives me fucking insane <3 so yeah blue was the first color i thought of for him and i have yet to change my mind on that one

keith: he started out red (especially as a younger teen like.....kid was abandoned by his mother, dad died, lived in the system for years, of COURSE he was angry as fuck) but the thing abt red lanterns is that they can only remove their rings (and let go of the rage...) with the help of a blue lantern........shiro helps him move past the rage and trauma.........and yeah. I'm also a green lantern keith truther because by GOD is he tenacious as fuck.

lance: i also had a pretty hard time pinning him down, and im still thinking about him so idk if this is set in stone yet, BUT he's giving white lantern vibes. ngl. (white lanterns are The Entire Emotional Spectrum. they have to master all 7 colors) but tbh because lance is such a "jack of all trades" kinda guy i feel like it fits ??? especially since i could conceivably make an argument for him to fit. pretty much most of the colors. but again he's hard to pin down so i might need to think about this one a little more

pidge: my initial thought was also green tbh. she DOESN'T give up ever i dont think the words are even in her vocabulary. however i could also make a strong argument for blue because throughout the entire first few seasons she had SO much hope that her family was alive somewhere in space. but i feel like she fits green better so idk

hunk: he was also pretty hard to pin down because YES he is very compassionate, but the indigo corps are . lowkey kinda fucked up . however im choosing to go the route of ignoring that and just thinking abt the color + its emotion, not the corps and all their baggage, so YEAH in that case hunk is sooo indigo To Me. i could also make some arguments for blue or pink (star sapphire), BUT i could also make an argument for yellow (fear) HEAR ME OUT hear me out. i have a lot of thoughts about hunk's bayard form because the bayards are supposed to be a reflection of the paladins, right? well it's always confused me that hunk has such an explosive and aggressive bayard when he's Not Either Of Those Things. but To Me in the rich inner world hunk's bayard is a big cannon for the intimidation factor so he can avoid conflict as much as possible by making the enemy want to surrender without a fight. AND hunk is always the most visibly afraid of the group so idk idk. something something fear is an old friend to him and he's even mastered it...

allura: STAR SAPPHIRE. again, the star sapphire corps are kinda. fucked up. BUT since we're going the route of just looking at the ring itself with indigo, we'll do the same for violet/pink <3 allura's entire CHARACTER is about love....her father, her people, her planet, her culture.....grief is love and love is grief.......she fights because she lost all the things she loved and because she found a new family to love and protect.....et cetera......... (star sapphires But Platonic....auuuguhhh)

lastly, coran: probably green tbh.......but that's mostly because i really don't know where else to put him. nothing else is really jumping out at me at least </3 i suppose i Could make an argument for blue since it takes a lot of hope for the future to have lost LITERALLY everything and still be so goofysilly and loving and supportive. but i truly have not had any thoughts about him alas. i will need to think more about it

#THINKING SOOOO HARD ABOUT THIS FR........................#see this is a fun exercise because my go-tos for Character Sorting is either #lantern colors or voltron paladin colors.#and ive never done the actual associated characters from one to the other lmaoooo #i should try and sort some lanterns into voltron...............................................#regardless. here are my Current Thoughts on the matter :]#winter speaks #voltron #lantern corps sorting #<- for other such posts in the future

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sweetlilbird · 1 year

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Dunno if you've done this before, but what would everyone's favourite insecurity be in a person? As in, someone is insecure about something (their identity, body, disorder, etc) and the character still loves that part of them? Just some fluff about insecurities,,

Hm, this one is kind of a tough one! Of course, all of the skeletons would love their partner no matter what insecurities they have! So, I'll do some general hcs on how the skeletons would help their partner through those insecurities! ヾ(・ω・*)

Undertale:

Sans: Sans definitely knows a thing or two about being insecure, so he'd know exactly how to comfort his partner with their own insecurities. He's not the best with words, but he'll try to help you understand that he loves you for who you are, not the labels or differences that you have from others. You are perfect just the way you are to him.

Papyrus: If you're feeling insecure about yourself, Papyrus will try his hardest to make you feel confident! You're nervous about how some people will react to your gender identity or sexuality? They were never good for you to begin with if they make you feel that way! Have a facial feature or body feature that you think is 'ugly'? Papyrus is already showering you with kisses to remind you that you are indeed beautiful! He's your biggest cheerleader!

Underfell:

Red: Red also has his own fair share of insecurities, so he really isn't one to talk about accepting yourself as you are, but he will still try to make you feel better about it. If you tell him something you're insecure about, he'll pull you in for a tight embrace and tell you that he loves you just the way you are, and if anyone gives you a hard time for it he'll kick their ass.

Edge: Who, who told you these lies?! Edge is going to fight them for making you feel this way! Obviously, insecurities don't just spring up over night, so once you explain to him how you began to feel this way, he'll calm down a bit and remind you that you that he loves you - insecurities and all.

Underswap:

Blue: Similar to Papyrus, Blue is going to prove to you that your insecurities don't define who you are. He'll constantly hype you up, remind you that you are lovely and worth all of the love he gives you!

Stretch: He is an amazing listener, letting you vent your insecurities to him; of course, he's also reminding you that you are amazing and absolutely stunning to him, but he understands that insecurities are normal to have.

Swapfell:

Indigo: Uh...he doesn't really get it. Indigo tries, don't get me wrong! He is a very secure person, slightly more on the arrogant side, but he still attempts to comfort you. Indigo will try to tell you that there is no need to be insecure about those things because you are everything to him, but sometimes it comes off as him being dismissive. You really have to understand Indigo as a person to understand what he means.

Cash: At first, you think he's only half paying attention to what you're saying. Then, you notice the small things he does to try and push those insecurities away. Don't like the way your body looks in that outfit? Cash is coming up right behind you, telling you how amazing you look today. Not wanting to eat today? Cash is going to slowly coax you into eating at least something, even if it's small. He's very subtle about it.

Fellswap:

Black: Black definitely knows what it's like to be insecure; he is constantly judging his every move, mentally scolding himself for even the simplest of mistakes - but if he hears his partner talk about their insecurities? It makes him pause, realizing how it feels to be on the opposite end of this exchange. Of course, Black is quick to reassure his partner that they are indeed worthy and that their insecurities are just ideas that were pushed into their heads by others who are also insecure about themselves.

Rus: Be prepared, because he'll be showering you with plenty of affection after you tell him about your insecurities. He can understand where you're coming from; he has his own insecurities that he's told you about and you were always there for him, so he wants to be there for you!

Fellswap Gold:

Wine: Similar to Indigo, he's confident in himself. Unlike Indigo, however, he's actually very understanding of his partner's insecurities and he tries very hard to prove to them that they are far more than the insecurities that plague them.

Coffee: Well, he can definitely sympathize with his partner's insecurities, having quite a few of them himself. Coffee isn't the best at encouragement, but he will still make sure his partner knows that regardless of their insecurities, he still loves them very much! Similar to Cash, he'll make small comments to cheer his partner up and make them feel less insecure about themselves.

Horrortale:

Bear: As soon as you've finished telling Bear about your insecurities, he's going to give you a bear hug - pun intended. Bear will thank you for trusting him enough to express your insecurities to him, and of course tell you that he loves every single thing about you, even the parts you hate. He'll just love those parts harder.

Sugar: Sugar is a bit surprised that you're insecure of yourself, but he quickly recovers and expresses his love for you and all the things you're insecure about, reminding you that whoever put those ideas in your head are the problem, not you. Expect extra affection from Sugar, especially when it comes to the things you are insecure about.

I'm sorry if these seemed a bit redundant, I tried to keep them in character as best as I could! Thank you for your ask!

#ask sweetlilbird #undertale headcanons #undertale #underfell #underswap #swapfell #fellswap #fellswap gold #horrortale #how many times can amber misspell insecurities challenge GONE WRONG

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covertblizzard · 2 months

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No cause you're correct. It was Green and Yellow fighting. Yellow was mainly just Sinestro being evil though. And Star Sapphires were in no way Lanterns. So what came of post 2006 rebirth was Blue, Indigo, Orange, and Red Lanterns. Kyle again only one who can control the famously overpowering emotions of Indigo Orange and Red so... yeah I too believe he made them allll up. Cause Kyle was famous for being a knew type of lantern someone filled to the brim with Emotion and not Will <- DC has now had to reconcile that they've declared the strongest emotion of all is willpower famously not an emotion

I wasn't sure about Sinestro cos like I know he was like with the Qwardians or whatever anti-matter universe for a while and he was yellow-coded to fight Hal but I am never sure when the transition into yellow lantern happened! The theory makes it make perfect sense that he could end up (almost casually) becoming White Lantern too in a sense, and I will be thinking about this theory so much now. It will be rotating in my head. It's hilarious to me though because Kyle is clearly unaware he did this which means he truly is his own number 1 gaslighter, gaslighting himself into forgetting that he created the emotional spectrum...

#callie answers #kyle rayner #green lantern #white lantern #?#dc thoughts #he got tired of seeing his constructs in monochrome (green and more green) so he invented more #i have thought about kyle doing the parallax retcon but not the entire emotional spectrum but it will be rotating #“willpower famously not an emotion” is a funny statement #but extremely true BECAUSE the whole thing with the Zamaron vs Guardians during millenium #STEMS from the guardians saying “emotions stupid logic and will only girls just dont get it”#to having kyle be their torchbearer and mr emotion boy tm

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thrushforreal · 1 year

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Its May the 4th!

What lightsaber colors would the batfam have? Would they be Jedi? Sith? Something in between, or something that is neither? Lets see! This is purely just for fun for me, if you don’t agreed with colors or anything that's fine, feel free to put in the comments what you think their lightsaber color would actually be!

Alfred: I feel like Alfred wound have a Light Blue Saber, based on his background in military. When he was younger he would have had a Brilliant Blue Saber, but as he grew older it faded. He isn’t any less capable, just older. Just a single sided Saber

Bruce: While it would be great to give Bruce a Black Saber, I personally don’t think it actually fits him. Instead I think that Bruce would have a Magenta Saber. He used to have a Purple Saber, tapping into some dark side techniques whilst training with the League. It turned Magenta after he struggled with his connection to the Force, losing it for a short while after Jasons death. When he finally reconnected with it, he found that his saber had dimmed from Purple to Magenta. He uses a single sided Saber.

Barbara: Babs has a Yellow Green Saber, more Yellow than Green as of late but still Yellow Green. Her color has never changed, not even when the Joker injured her. It didn’t change her, just made her think and use her abilities in a different way. When she does use her Saber it is a single sided one.

Dick: Cyan, a mix between Blue and Green. He used to have an Indigo Saber, a mix between Blue and Purple, and before that a Green Saber. But he no longer uses any Dark side abilities. And after many long hours of meditation he was able to reestablish his connection with just the Light side, although his new connection was no longer just on the spiritual level like it was before. He carries two like his escrima sticks.

Jason: At the moment Jason has an Indigo Saber, although it could change as Jasons Saber has changed the most. When he was first starting out as a young Padawan he had an Orange Saber, never fighting unless he had to, although pranking was very much on the table. After his death and subsequent revival his Saber took on a Purple color, due to Talia and the Leagues teachings. Talia was, unhappy, with this, hoping that he would come out with a Red Saber. When Jason was accepted back into the fold, his saber slowly changed into his now Indigo Saber. You know Ezras gun Saber, yeah Jason has that. He also just has a couple blasters in him, because, it’s Jason.

Cass: Cass has a White Saber. A White saber (for those who might not know) is a Saber that has been ‘healed’ so to say from the red of being on the Dark side. She had a Red Saber growing up, from exclusive use of the Dark side and her fathers influence. When she came to Gotham and started to work with Bruce and the rest of them she went through a Jedi healing ritual for the soul and came out of it with a blinding White Saber. She switches between a double-sided Saber and a single sided Saber.

Steph: Now Steph, you could give her a couple of different colors but I've decided to go with Blue. A deep brilliant Blue, a guardian of her order, always on the front lines, although she does seem to be dipping close to Indigo. She uses a single sided Saber

Tim: Tim has a Yellow Saber, his focus always been on more practical ways of fighting and learning. He and Babs have upgraded countless numbers of Jedi and Sith technologies, improving and perfecting them. He uses a double-sided Saber, like his Bo staff.

Trace: They have an Orange Saber, cementing their insistence on not fighting unless they had to because they are a healer. She has taken it upon herself to learn as many different ways to heal others with and without the force. Their saber is single sided, although rarely used.

Duke: Due to his Metahuman abilities I feel like Duke would have a Green Saber. Those with a Green Saber will tend to use Force abilities more than their saber. It just feels right. Fun fact Duke actually didn’t have a Saber for a good amount of time, and he just used the Force and his Metahuman powers. When he did get his Saber he didn’t want any modifications so he kept it single sided.

Damian: To the disappointment of Talia and Ras Damian has a Purple Saber rather than a Red Saber. He takes after his Father in that way, which is the reason Talia sent him to Bruce. While fighting with his Saber Damian will switch from single sided to double-sided to two sabers swiftly.

Happy May the 4th! May the Force be With You

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invinciblerodent · 2 months

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4, 8, 18 & 19 for your Bg3 babes? :D please do ramble away!

weeeeeeelll, if you ask soooo nicely~ :D (For time constraints, I'm gonna go for those specifically for this game, and omit Ray!)

4) What color or colors do you most associate with your OC?

SO this new graphics software I'm using is a little unwieldy to me still, but I tried to make little palettes!

Iona's color symbolism is probably the strongest- in my mind, she's... golden yellows. Bright, bold, warm sunshine yellows, deep forest greens, and the dark reds and burgundies of old, slow blood. Amber eyes, crimson waves, everything about her is just warm. Of course, that isn't an unequivocally positive thing: the fire that warms can just as easily burn.

She's cajoling warmth and biting flames, as charming as she is dangerous. I really like that association for her, that she's kind of... well, "fire made flesh and a demon asleep", as it were.

Petyr is more associated in my mind with "natural" colors- olive- and hunter greens, and warm, rich browns. As a ranger raised among druids, he's very... well, druid-adjacent I guess, is how I can sum him up. I associate him -and this might sound silly- with... the breeze on a forest path. The rustling of leaves in late spring. The deep grooves on the bark of an old, gnarled tree.

He to me is... simultaneously a young man, and one far older than his years. New growth and ancient forests. Fresh, green shoots poking their heads through the carpet of dead leaves. Is this making any sense at all lol.

And Arvid, well, I sometimes have Gale affectionately call him "Blue" in my head for a reason, lol. He's steel greys, and cornflower blues, indigos, and similar cool tones. He's there in the clash of blades, and the soothing touch of a cold palm on a feverish forehead. In the harsh glint of plate armor and the purple of bruises, in the silver of binding chains, but also... the melancholy blues of the sky when it looks like it might rain.

And that... sounds sad, when I put it like that, but the rain is also nurturing. Water is welcoming, comforting, ever-present. I like this sort of duality for all of them, actually- but for Arvid, it's probably the most obvious. He's very much a healer with bloodied hands.

...... they're all sort of making a Dreamworks-face in the shots I found, that wasn't intentional lol.

[since it got so long, i'M putting the rest under a cut!]

8) Greatest strength and greatest flaw about your OC?

I think for all three of them, their strength is also their weakness, in a way? Like...

Iona is very charismatic and adaptable- to the point where she has a difficult time being her real self. It takes her quite a lot of time to stop saying what she thinks others want to hear, actually say what she thinks, and discover who exactly it is that she wants to be. She was stuck playing a role for so long that, taking off the mask, she... doesn't know who she is underneath.

Petyr is very... I guess steady as a person, very staunch- but that's gotten to the point where he has all but convinced himself that he has no emotional needs. That he's not lonely, and he doesn't yearn to be known. He has turned self-reliance into an art, and opening up emotionally, or communicating in general, comes very hard to him. (Which is why I like that Shadowheart's first romance scene is just... an honest conversation. I like that she forces him to open up and let her in.)

And Arvid, I think his strength and flaw are both his courage. As in, it's his faith that drives him to be brave, and to fight, but that courage means that he doesn't back down, even when he... probably should. When it would be the smart thing to do. And by the gods, he's often so afraid. Oh, he's so terrified (I'm honestly beginning to think that he just. straight up has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder), but he powers through it even when it's to his own detriment, because that's the right thing to do. [I may be feeding this off my own anxiety going into overdrive that first playthrough, lol.]

18) What is your OC’s greatest fear?

Oof, yikes. Um. This one is a doozy.

I've thought about this before, but beyond very general concepts, it's kind of... hard to describe.

Iona is... mostly afraid of being tossed aside again. Of experiencing the same pain of losing everything once more, of... opening up and showing herself, only to end up being rejected for it. She's scared of being taken back to that old life of repression that she hated so much, but she's... more scared of not being worth enough to anyone for them to come to her rescue.

In a more literal way though, I think she's most scared of... forgetting, I think. Dementia, amnesia, the likes. As an elf, memory and previous lives are very important to her, so she's... having a bit of trouble as her Drawing of the Veil draws closer, and the wholeness and clarity of her mind, they're definitely some of her biggest concerns for most of the game.

Petyr, I think a lot of his gruffness is also kind of a self-shielding mechanism. He pretends that he doesn't have needs, and pretends that he can't be assed to do anything, so he can't fail, because he doesn't try. He's afraid of -essentially- falling short.

And also the cold. Fuck the cold. The cold is relentless, insidious, it's numb yet it scratches the very flesh off your bones, and by the time you realize that it's going to fucking kill you, the dominoes have already fallen, and it's far too late. You can't win against the cold; the cold spells death. You can merely stave it off for one more day, and your reward for surviving is just one more day, month, season of struggle. (His first few winters alone in the forest were... rough.)

Arvid, he's... most scared of emptiness. The idea that the heavens are empty, that prayers go unheard, and he's just... screaming into the void. That's definitely a nightmare he's had a few times.

On a more superficial level, I think he's scared of just... being alone. He's never really been alone, truly alone, in his life, and I think the fact that for the entire adventure everyone was within tadpole-distance did not help it- I think I've mentioned it before, but after the game, i think that'll evolve into full-blown separation anxiety for him. (Can't feel Gale's tadpole, can't 'ping' him to see if he's okay, what if he's not, what if he's hurt, what if he can't call for help, etc, etc, it'll be a whole mess, and the first time he leaves his new fiancé alone for a few hours, Gale will definitely return home to an anxious wreck of a man having a full-blown meltdown on the living room floor.)

19) Does your OC have any close friends?

Outside of the party, I assume lol

Iona... used to. She got along very well with... pretty much all she ever met, honestly, but she had a very good friend by the name of Karissa Dawnbreath who was her closest confidant, her best friend of many, many long years, but... also her downfall, in a way. Karissa was the one who outed Iona as a sorcerer to the rest of their village/compound when she found out (she can't really be blamed, she was terrified), and she kickstarted the events that lead Iona to Baldur's Gate, and ultimately to the nautiloid.

Along with abandoning all of her old life, Iona abandoned her friendship with Karissa as well. She's kind of going back and forth on whether she resents Karissa, too.

Petyr kid of... doesn't, have friends. Not only does his prickly personality and "lone wolf" kind of nature prevent him from making many friends (my man spent half his life alone in the forest), he's also... rather awkward around people in general, and all of his relationships (friendly or romantic) were very surface-level for the past 20 years. It was either about... cordially conducting some sort of business together, or a quick fuck, and that's... about it.

He felt very uncomfortable opening up to the party as well. (That's kind of why I like it so much that Mr. "I have no needs, do not perceive me" ends up with the two healers, I think that's really sweet lol.)

And Arvid, he has two very good childhood friends who are still in his life by the names of Parker (human) and Redd (halfling). They were boys in his village who were taught self-defense and swordfighting in the monastery around the same time as Arvid (only they didn't live in the monastery), and the three of them sort of fell into fast friendship the way little kids do, and it ended up persisting well into adulthood.

Over the years, both boys eventually got married (both to dwarven women, interestingly) and became fathers, but they only really lost touch with Arvid for a short spell when he moved to Baldur's Gate a year before the game. They were on the top of the (very short) list of people Arvid invited to his own wedding. <3

#squirrel plays bg3 #oc: iona raedir #oc: arvid trygg #oc: petyr wildbrook #cookie for you if you read this far lol

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eruditetyro · 5 months

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tagged by @thriftdyke

let your spotify predict your 2024! shuffle your on repeat playlist, and the first twelve songs represent your 2024

I am using my repeat rewind playlist instead because this past week I've been on the more emo side of my taste and it was kind of depressing as far as predictions go. like velodrome by dessa and hollow by cloudeater and tired as fuck by the staves. SO. this is less depressing. choosing a better story.

January - When I'm Gone - Phil Ochs

so I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. turning towards life and action in January.

February - Girls Against God - Florence + the Machine

well. not only are we turning towards life and action, we're fighting god. and asking people if they want to talk about our intimacy issues.

March - Priestess - Pumarosa

March IS a dancing month! also check out the intimacy between the singer and her subject here. month of secrets held between two people??

April - Glass - Blood Cultures

this one doesn't really have lyrics but it's a BOP. I associate this song with travel and dancing and nighttime. more dancing!

May - Beyond The Clouds - The Poppy Family

for the sun shines for those who look beyond the clouds... very sort of romantic quiet alonetime in the sun. daytime driving song. a peaceful and lovely month!

June - Altitude - Eliot Moss

this is a blues dancing song to me. it's sort of a bleak one. month of don't look down, don't look down, i know you want me to. it goes away if you want it to, but you smile and you stay because you want it !

July - Drunk Walk Home - Mitski

very July sort of song. perhaps I quit my job? or I have a little breakup. whatever it is, there's some catharsis from whatever sort of strain was happening in June.

August - True Love Will Find You In The End - Daniel Johnston

this is a promise with a catch. only if you're looking can it find you. some sort of new vulnerability, with or without love found-- might not be the end. we'll see!

September - Rock Star - Hole

hmm. some angst in september, but in a hot fun grunge rebel way.

October - Kill Me - indigo De Souza

yeah it's like that sometimes. distance between me and someone. irish goodbye from some party or other.

November - Geyser - Mitski

oh i see. it's about my relationship with myself again. whatever was going on with de souza in october gets metabolized and turned into strength. regular sort of cycle tbh.

December - Herr Mannelig - Garmarna

well, either i do some sort of ritual or i finally visit scandanavia? good winter solstice song. i just looked it up and apparently it's about a mountain troll who proposes to a young christian man who refuses her. fun!

tagging @walcutt @premiumgelato @unloneliest @adhdnarut0, anyone else who wants to try!

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gaoau · 5 months

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Heart is full and brain is numb

Raison d'Être warnings — none. word count — 2.8k

prev. — next.

[Name] had never known what true bliss felt like until the moment she realized Chifuyu was all hers to keep. All of Chifuyu, every last bit of him, from his mistakes to his idiocy to his smiles to his kindness. He was selflessly allowing her to selfishly hold him for herself, to selfishly stare into his eyes, to selfishly listen to his tales of the past. She could hardly handle the chaotic feelings blooming in her chest every time she merely glanced at him, filling her body and heart and soul up to the point it felt like she was going to burst. The smile constantly digging into her cheeks was starting to hurt, but she couldn't care less as she focused all her attention on Chifuyu and his incessant chatter.

He spoke of stories from his middle-school years, back then when he was vice-captain of the first division of the Tokyo Manji Gang—something she'd never heard of in her life, seeing as she was preoccupied in a different scene, but it didn't seem to deter him from freely recounting his adventures. She knew more about Baji Keisuke than she ever expected, chortling away at the boy's habits of committing arson because of an empty stomach. And she hated to think about this important figure in Chifuyu's life as just a young boy, but the truth stood that he was long gone. Not from Chifuyu's memory; never from Chifuyu's person.

As he carried on narrating a particular Christmas night in a Church, leaning back on his seat and sipping his cappuccino, [Name] fit the pieces together slowly. Baji was one of the many hands that had impacted and shaped him to be who he was today. The yakisoba, the black cat he'd asked her to paint, the admiration in his charming blue eyes, the found respect for another, the origins of his nature as a follower. Little by little, [Name] watched how new doors to Chifuyu's philosophy opened up. The more she traced the lines of his face on her sketchbook, the more his image became clearer in her mind.

"—tied-up, Inupi-kun decimated me, and Takemicchi was getting fucked up. I don't know how he always took those blows. Just wait until I tell you about our fight against Tenjiku; I thought he was gonna die there for sure! So then—Hey, Ai! Wait!" Almost as if Ai knew Takemichi's big speech was coming up, he hopped onto Chifuyu's lap without warning. As he'd grown considerably through the months, he was in no way a lap dog, but that did not stop him from making himself comfortable against Chifuyu's chest. [Name] laughed as Chifuyu scrambled to wrap his arms around the dog and stabilize him. "Can you draw the both of us?" He leaned back into his seat, shifting his attention to [Name] giggling as she sipped her drink.

[Name] glanced up at him while she uncapped her blue highlighter to fill in Chifuyu's eyes. It was so unfair how she could never replicate them the way she actually saw them, gazing into their deep, entrancing color with so much love. She analyzed the image her two favorite boys were offering, which, although slightly lacking in the composition department, she could definitely work with. "Yeah, sure. Gimme a moment, I'm pretty sure I have a brown highlighter somewhere here…" her voice trailed off as she buried her face into her old high-school pencil case.

"They make brown highlighters?"

"I know, right?" She looked up briefly, letting him admire that sparkle in her eyes when she got excited. "I bought it not too long ago. I saw it when I went to buy more india ink and it called to me. Look!" Her hand shot out from among her art supplies, the brown marker fit between her fingers. "It's the perfect Ai color!"

Chifuyu couldn't control the burst of adoring chortles slipping past his lips. His shoulders bounced and danced with mirth; it was probably only funny in his mind, how she showed off a brown highlighter and called it indigo color so proudly. "Just make sure you don't draw him better than me." He placed his head next to Ai's, trying to avoid the dog's tongue lapping at his cheek. Together with the blue marker, the hues did not cooperate with one another, but it was [Name] and she could make it work.

"Hey, now!" she sounded almost offended, "Not my fault my boy is naturally pretty."

"Which boy?" went Chifuyu's absentminded mumble as he planted a kiss on Ai's head.

[Name] only rolled her eyes at him, puffing a chuckle while he grinned cheekily. With laughter of his own, he resumed his story of Toman's fight against Black Dragon. The puppy in his arms—a title that he was starting to outgrow—settled comfortably as if he knew [Name] was drawing him. And maybe he did know. Sometimes it felt like he understood more than he let on. Chifuyu played with his ears and traced his fingers over the invisible scar. Crazy to think what one single dog had done for the two of them without even intending to.

Chifuyu had noticed [Name]'s eyes were different upon first meeting her, but the more time passed on and the more she looked at him, the more it cemented itself in his mind. As she sliced the pages of her sketchbook with ink and replicated the sight in front of her, he basked in the feeling of her gaze on him. She stole glimpses every now and then to capture as many details as she could; his glistening earring, Ai's tinkling nametag, his dark bangs over his forehead, Ai's floppy ears. When her eyes lingered on the curves of his face for a little longer, he reveled in the weight of her present observation on him.

[Name] looked at him. And then she looked at him some more. Chifuyu could drown in that feeling, he could get drunk on it; the filling sensation of her gaze seeing all of him and reading him like an open book. Even with everything he had revealed to her about his past and friends and troubles and adventures, she still admired the mere sight of him as Matsuno Chifuyu and nothing else. Matsuno Chifuyu, because he was the best she had and no one could top that. He was overjoyed to know no one could top that.

Was this what parenthood felt like? Chifuyu stood by, [Name]'s satchel hanging off his arm, while she cupped Ai's face in her hands, crouched on the floor. "Listen, boy, you gotta promise me you won't steal toys from other dogs, okay?" The puppy seemed utterly destroyed as she brought up this incident. Chifuyu tried to contain his laughter to let her chastise the dog, but he was failing miserably. She threw a glance over her shoulder, glaring up at him. "Chifuyu, don't laugh. I'm being serious. You should say something, too."

This was her dog when it came down to it. Apparently, though, somewhere along the road, Ai had become a shared responsibility. Chifuyu didn't mind, of course. If it meant picking him up from the vet when he was sick or scolding him for terrorizing other dogs at the dog park, then he was all on board. "I say you go, Ai, have fun." He reached over [Name] and unhooked the leash from his collar. Almost immediately, Ai slipped from her hands and darted away to prance around with others of his kind.

[Name] rose to her feet with disappointment scrawled all across her face. She crossed her arms over her chest, giving him a pointed glare. He loved having her eyes on him, whether it was a glimmering gaze or a scowl that promised homicide. "Seriously?"

"Cut him some slack."

She couldn't avoid the playful jab of his shoulder in time. Her body swayed as she rolled her eyes, retrieving her satchel from him. "When someone comes complaining that he's bullying other dogs, you'll do the apologizing." Chifuyu's shoulders danced when humorous giggles slipped from between his lips. His grin was everything but innocent as [Name] inevitably laughed alongside him.

"And I'll defend his case like my life depends on it." With a nod, he motioned towards an empty bench by a tree.

[Name] walked ahead of him to plop down on the seat, stretching her legs and sighing out in relaxation. When Chifuyu settled beside her, she returned his earlier jab with her elbow. "Stop encouraging him. He's this close to understanding human speech."

"But I should defend him! Teach him how to stand up for himself!"

"And what? Start his own gang?"

Was this what parenthood felt like? Was this what it could be like? Was there a future in which they could be arguing whether their kid should join a gang or not? As they both leaned back on the bench, mindlessly sharing words of nothingness and gazing at Ai frolicking with other dogs, it all felt like a mirage. Maybe Chifuyu was getting ahead of himself; maybe he was being far too overbearing; maybe he was blinded by the excitement of his own emotions. Was this how Takemichi felt like every time he stood anywhere close to Hina? How could he even bear it?

"Maybe you can design the logo for his gang."

"Oh, you had logos?" Her voice rose in pitch as she turned her body towards him. "What was Toman's?"

"The manji symbol." Chifuyu could almost feel the fabric of the flag as he traced the character in the air with his finger. He rambled on without her asking him to. At this point, whenever the conversation traveled back in time, he knew to fill her in on every single detail. She listened so intently and absorbed as much information as she could. Moebius, Valhalla, Black Dragon, Tenjiku. He remembered them all so vividly—fondly, almost.

[Name] chuckled, her grin a mirror image of his own, "You guys went all in. The headless angel sounds like a great concept to play with."

"You should've seen our uniforms. I'm sure I have pictures somewhere, but you had to see the embroidery on that. Mitsuya-kun never failed to impress."

"Oh! Mitsuya-san!" It seemed like he'd flipped a switch inside her brain. Suddenly, her eyes wore that same shade of admiration she'd boasted during Pah's wedding. "I talked with him over the phone about setting him up with my company. He's such a cool guy, I really, really wanna work with him." Her fingers reached out to brush his chocolate bangs off his lovely blue spotlights; just so she could bask in them as she offered a simper. His face warmed, but she didn't pay attention. "He said we could have an informal meeting sometime soon. And it's all thanks to you, Chifuyu."

With the way she was gazing at all of him, making him feel like he was the last person on Earth and the first person in her thoughts, he really believed he could strip the universe of its most celestial creations and leave them at her doorstep. "Anytime, as long as it makes you happy. I really love it when you're happy, [Name]." As if to retaliate, his warm hand landed atop her palm and his fingers snaked between hers.

There he went with that grin of his, stunning all words out of her brain, rendering her completely speechless. He never measured his feelings; he simply had all that present love to give her for free. She wanted to stay in his life with everything he had to offer. With mirthful giggles and saccharine words, Chifuyu held tightly onto her hand while shifting the topic once more with whatever popped up in his brain. From Baji and his influence, to Takemichi and his insane drive during fights, to Peke J waiting at home. And he listened when she chimed in with her supportive neighbor back in high-school, to the kind elderly man living in the apartment across from hers, to Ai and his name.

("I loved Yazawa Ai's works—I still do actually."

"Oh, yeah, uh… The one who wrote Nana, right? I remember reading that in middle-school."

"You did?"

"Yeah, the artstyle is amazing, and I always loved how she handled the contrast with just black and white when the outfits are so complex. It blew my mind when I was fourteen.")

Speaking of Ai, their conversation was interrupted when [Name] spotted him in the distance decimating another dog. She groaned, exasperated, "See what I tell you?!" Her arm shot out to point at the puppy stealing a synthetic bone from one of his four-legged friends. "He's not sleeping on the bed tonight." The scowl she wore as she sprang from the bench was far too dramatic, but Chifuyu didn't make mention of it. It was funny she considered leaving him to sleep on the floor was a punishment—one Chifuyu knew she wouldn't follow through with.

He watched her jog over to the two dogs wrestling on the ground—more like Ai was absolutely obliterating the other guy—while a rubber ball tapped against his foot. [Name] sighed to herself as she reached them. Just for a moment; it was just for a moment that she looked away. It was just for a moment, where she had to raise her voice at Ai and then apologize to the owner of the dog he was terrorizing. Then she turned back to Chifuyu.

Then she turned back to Chifuyu and caught a sight that flipped her world upside down. She had looked away from him for just a second, but when she went back to him, he was surrounded by dogs. He knelt on one knee, keeping himself supported on the two large dogs under his arms while petting five of them simultaneously. Maybe he did talk with animals, after all. Ai abandoned her side the moment he noticed Chifuyu handing out attention to others. [Name] laughed and shook her head, because she realized she was also just another puppy dying for his attention.

By the time night had fallen, Ai was tired out of his mind to even want to walk back to the apartment. [Name] rolled her eyes at how dramatic he was, sprawled on the grass and ignoring any calls of come on, Ai. A thought flashed by inside Chifuyu's head, because he knew dogs took after their owners, but he chose not to say anything. Instead, he snickered to himself while picking the puppy up in his arms. He really was like a five-year-old at times. And it also was very reminiscent of carrying an intoxicated [Name] to her home.

The only difference was that tonight, he stayed. They stepped into her apartment and Chifuyu's eyes were instantly drawn to the gigantic canvas standing in the middle of the dining-room. Ai hopped off his arms to head onto [Name]'s bed. He managed to slip by without her noticing, as she was busy pulling out ingredients from her fridge. Chifuyu gave the dog a thumbs-up and swore to defend him if [Name] tried to get him off the bed.

With his attention on the nine-hundred—one thousand—squares of snowy landscapes, Chifuyu called out to [Name] in the kitchen, "Do you want me to take care of dinner, [Name]?" She hummed in response as he stepped away from the canvas. His brows jumped in surprise at the image coming together. He definitely wanted to take care of dinner now, just so she could continue painting.

Making his way into the kitchen, he planted his palm on her shoulder, successfully startling her out of her daze. "Oh, sorry, what did you say?"

"Let me prepare dinner and you can go paint. How's that sound?"

[Name] glanced between his charming, intense blue eyes and the canvas waiting for her by the dinner table. "Are you sure? I can whip up something quick."

Without another word, he spun her on her heels and guided her to her work station. "How many are these?"

"I think I'm in the five-hundreds?"

"Weren't you in the four-hundreds last week?"

"It's been really fun doing these, surprisingly," she chortled.

He wore a proud smile, patting her on the shoulder for encouragement. One in the kitchen, one in the dining-room, they concentrated on their separate tasks, chatting across the rooms to share laughter. Chifuyu glanced back at her every once in a while, adoring the sight of her determined frown as she slapped acrylics—it was gouache, but what did he know?—onto the canvas. [Name] did the same, stealing glimpses of him dancing and swaying when he thought she wasn't looking.

And an identical thought ran through their heads, because this could be it.

#Raison d'Être #Tokyo Revengers #Matsuno Chifuyu #Matsuno Chifuyu x Reader #Chifuyu x Reader #Tokrev #Tokrev x Reader #Tokyo Revengers x Reader

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