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inafieldofdaisies · 15 days

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15 Lines of Dialogue Tag | Tagged by @la-grosse-patate @g0dspeeed @direwombat @aceghosts @sofrosine @nightbloodbix @kyber-infinitygems @corvosattano @voidika @thesingularityseries

Deputy Sabrina Donovan | WIPs: In Hope of Tomorrow / A Trial of Errors (AU; Lines 9-15)

1. "Who the fuck ties a person to a chair on wheels. Did they rob an office?"

2. Sabrina narrowed her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching, "Did someone try to drown you, Seed?"

3. "Yep. I'm still here, didn't teleport through the steel walls, ain't going anywhere, so you can fuck right off." She waited for his footsteps to recede, but they never did, "Like seriously, you're now gonna watch me while I sleep? Fucking creepy."

4. "It was either the radio or I start singing off-key, and I doubt you'd like that."

5. "I will have you know I've been throwing knives since I was 15,", she nodded towards the knife block at the counter, "keep talking and you would find out my actual aim."

6. "Your face is kind of hard to forget." "Was that a compliment, Deputy?" Sabrina rolled her eyes, "You wish."

7. "Are you taking us there?", she repeated, her voice taking an edge, "You have to know, I won't let you take HER."

8. "Didn't strike me as a lace type of girl, Deputy. Are you taking that one, too?", he cocked his head, eyes darkening as he examined the piece. "Oh, you know, I have to win the Miss Universe competition somehow."

9. Her hazel eyes shone as she let out a laugh, "If I had to bet, I'd say you'd be the one getting cold, Mr. Duncan, stolen clothes and all that. I feel like I can skip on asking to see what you're wearing." "Ouch.", he rubbed at his chest at the jab, "That one hurt." "Too soon?"

10. "And you're alone?" "No. A whole harem of guys is keeping me company, actually. They're currently fighting who will be sleeping on my tiny bed, and who's taking the ground, pillowless. A true form of punishment, I tell you."

11. "I'm dealing with a… situation." Her expression was unreadable, "I can see that." "Roughly estimated, how much did my chances sunk with?", [John] asked, flipping back to the view of his face. "Who says they did?"

12. "There's a bat.", he whispered like the creature would hear him and put an end to his game of hiding. "A rat?", she echoed incorrectly. "Sure, Detective,", he hated how his voice shook even as he spoke quietly, "but the type with fucking wings."

13. "Soo..", she began slowly, "why are you without pants? Don't tell me they got stolen while you slept… was it the bat? Should I call Stockton? Though, I think crimes committed by animals are out of his jurisdiction, you can probably vouch for that."

14. "What were you doing up so late?" "A girl has to have some secrets, John."

15. "You could always march over there and threaten to sue them for harassment… Your poor ears would thank you." "Don't tempt me. Because we might end up with a different situation on our hands." She raised an eyebrow, "Them asking you to join?", all he could do was blink as she laughed quietly, "Kidding. Oliver isn't rubbing off on me, I promise."

Deputy Calahan Hartley | WIP: In Hope of Tomorrow

1."I WILL GIVE YOU PURGE, YOU FUCKERS! What timing to be out of dynamite."

2. ["You ready to work?"] "As ready as I can be after crash-landing, almost drowning and getting shot at. Just another Monday, really."

3. "I'm not a leader, chief, hell, it's a miracle I'm still a Deputy. Fuck. Am I even one anymore?"

4. "Zorro will be on his best behavior, I promise. You won't even notice he's around. Plus… he gives mean foot rubs." "Rookie.", disbelief seeped into [Mary May's] tone. "Fine. The foot rubs were a lie. Though, I can take up on that task." "You ain't coming anywhere near my feet, Rookie."

5. "I couldn't leave him behind, gorgeous. He's my son." A huff escaped her, probably at the pout he followed his words with, "He's a raccoon."

6. "One day, you're gonna realize what you're missing, gorgeous. And I won't be looking for payback for these insults. Too much."

7. "Your plan.", Leslie corrected him, "That you devised after getting drunk yesterday." "Most of my plans are conconted that way, chief."

8. "Oh, Leslie, bold and brave, agree to march over to Johnny's GATEEEE…", Hartley sang over the usual lyrics, meeting Zorro's dark gaze, "He looks like John, right, my boy? Even the universe agrees, Parish."

9. "Good old Joseph, oh, how he'd lose his mind if he learns 'God' has been showing visions of his brother fornicating to someone else, he'd probably die from the shock before I have the chance to kill him."

10. "I'm having the worst time of my life here. Humor is what keeps me going, besides Mary May's hidden stash… and well, my anger."

11. "You have the hots for [John], and me… I want to turn him into a human creme bruleee. Two types of people, Gray."

12. "[John]'s been calling me daily, I'm leaving him some friendly notes in return. The start of a beautiful friendship."

13. "Hope you don't mind sitting in the back. Zorro loves riding shotgun."

14. "Go meet your God, tell Him I will send Joseph soon, too."

15. "You're in a bar in Montana.", Mary May rolled her eyes and set a new empty glass in front of [Sébastien], "Closest you'd get to me making you tea, even at lunch is serving you lukewarm water with some of my spit in it. Organic. So count yourself lucky." Calahan leaned in, whispering loudly, "Also known as blatant disrespect. Which I would advise against. Though, I'd take her spitting in my drink anyday."

Tagging, @socially-awkward-skeleton @strangefable @strafethesesinners @purplehairsecretlair @finding-comfort-in-rain @dumbassdep @josephslittledeputy @marivenah @josephseedismyfather @trench-rot @simonxriley @wrathfulrook @shellibisshe @gearvmac @amalkavian @cassietrn @carlosoliveiraa @simplegenius042 @onehornedbeast @theelderhazelnut @katsigian and anyone that would like to do the tag <3

#so many gems in one <3 #and ofc more gifs to set the atmosphere <3 #tagged <3 #oc: sabrina donovan #oc: calahan hartley #john x sabrina #wip: in hope of tomorrow #wip: a trial of errors #tag games #15 lines of dialogue tag #ocs #fc5 deputy #fc5 ocs #far cry 5 deputy #far cry 5 oc #mygifs #wip snippet #character reference #character dialogue

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keira-kaz2y5 · 27 days

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My thoughts during 9-1-1 7x03 “Capsized”

🎶rock the boat 🎶 (sick music but wait that was the title of the last episode, so why they playing in this one not that one?? 😭)

Rip that piano fr

The Buck thing that Bobby and Athena joked about 🤭

The background buddie 😔✋☺️👀🧐

Evan “let them fire us, who cares?!” Buckley

“I think this is an open channel”

“😄 need a lift?”

Tommy “we’re probably all gonna die anyway” Kinard

“We have about 13 mins.”

“Well unless you feel like swimming back.. it’s all we got.”

“Shsjssjsjnxjdje can’t hear- dhsjsjsjsjj”

“InTerMiTaNT shOWeRS.🚿🌊”

Eddie “let’s go” Diaz

“Come on! Guys! Stop agreeing with each other like you’re fighting. It’s weird.🤨🤪”

“It’s not a very good motto.😔”

“hey cap 😁”

Henrietta “who even called you?” Wilson

“Who asked you to?🧐”

“We were always gOOd, bUcK 😁👍”

“I think we need to land on it.🤨🚁🌊🛶”

Maddie “hey, I’ve always got your back. ☺️” Buckley-Han

“Except the mayor. I think Chief Simpson is coming for her job🤪🤭”

Chimney “what? you wouldn’t return our calls :)” Buckley-Han

“What’s our motto?”

“A cruise ship that size should stand out like a floating Christmas tree, no?”

“…it’s capsized.😦🤕”

Athena “we made it this far” Grant-Nash

“One in the chamber. 🔫 I’d hate to miss.”

Bobby “just keep going” Grant-Nash

“How Proud I am of you ☺️🤭🤗🫡”

(That one couple 😭💀)

“But he wasn’t shopping at Gentlemen’s Big and Tall”

“He was a rat”

“Harlot”

“I never knew you were so brave. … To have sex with a guy that young, seriously! Your heart could’ve given out.”

“There’s nothing out there😔🚁” Julian

“Thank you for choosing oceana blue 😀😵💀☠️”

Chief “ I did not hesitate to authorise this mission🤨🤪😀”Simpson

“We go where needed. When I was informed of the dire situation, I did not hesitate to authorise this mission🤨🤨”

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tomtenadia · 6 months

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Detours to You - ch 11

Helo all!!!

Your truly is back from Canada and I have a surprise for those who care.

In tinsi chapter we have fussy Rowan and some good old hurt/Comfort... oh yeah... Aerobitch is mentioned too... I promise he will not make an appearance. he just gets mentioned but that's all.

Enjoy!!!

MASTERLIST

Two days later Rowan was on his red truck en route to Hamel HQ to talk to the bastard who was putting hundreds of people lives at risk. On top of his regular duties and paperwork, this one had suddenly become his top priority. He had even liaised with the police and an inspector admitted that they had a case against Hamel and were very keen on taking the man down if they had enough proof. Rowan was dead set on giving them all the bullets they needed to shoot the bastard down.

Aelin and Maya had moved most of all their stuff at his place. He was meant to go back that night for the last load. He had been even more furious when he found out that Hamel had been increasing rent prices on a constant basis. He and Aelin had moved in that block of flats when they had decided to live together. It was a nice place, central and with a decent rent. But now it had basically tripled and he was not having it. He had an house almost paid off thanks to the money his dad left him, and Aelin was not going to pay any more money to that monster.

Hamel group HQ’s building was in the middle of the financial district and looked luxurious and disgusting. He parked his pickup and strolled in the lavish lobby, while anger rose in him. At the reception he introduced himself as the chief of the TFD and requested a visit with Mr Hamel. The receptionist told him that he was a busy man and an appointment should be made before showing up unannounced.

“I am the fire Chief and I don’t care. Your boss is putting lives in danger and I am not leaving this building until I have a meeting with him.”

“You could be the president, you still need an appointment.” She added almost bored.

In that instant security started to close on him “You win for today, but next time, I am showing up with a mandate from the police and the entire incursion team and we will rat him out by force if needed.”

He stormed out and called Nesryn at Police HQ. She was a good friend of his and as soon as he told her who he was gunning for she told him she had his back and all the legal documents ready to storm that shithole.

A smirk appeared on his face and he drove back to work.

It was late, far later than he had planned. Rowan was meant to go to Aelin’s place and pick them up and go home but he had been buried under a mountain of work and lost track of the time. He was about to leave the office when his radio became alive with a call. A three alarm fire. His heart stopped when he heard the address. Fuck fuck and fuck.

Like a desperate man he ran to his pickup, checked that he had all of his gear and with sirens howling he drove to the location.

In that instant his phone went off and accepted it via the button on his steering wheel “Aelin?”

Coughing in the background “Rowan?”

“I am on my way, Are you two safe?”

“Smoke, Rowan, there is so much smoke.”

Why was traffic not moving? Angrily he honked a few times “Listen to me, grab a cloth and wet it and place it on both yours and Maya’s face. Cover mouth and nose and stay low. And Aelin, do not leave the flat until one of us gets in, understood?”

A weak yes came through the call “Is Maya okay?”

“She is so scared.”

“I am almost there, I can see the smoke.” He heard Maya’s voice “Maya, baby I am coming, listen to your mum, be brave a little longer. I am coning.”

The girl cried and Rowan remained on the phone with Aelin until he spotted her building “Ae, I am here. I will see you soon.”

He finally parked and bolted out of the vehicle to grab his gear and join Lorcan who was directing the operation while he arrived.

His eyes lifted to the topmost floor where Aelin lived and relief washed over him when he spotted no fire. It did not mean they were safe though, the smoke was rising quickly and until the building was fully evacuated he would probably not know what normal breathing was again.

“What’s the situation?”

“Fire is on the second floor, we have evacuated the first floor and I have my team, station 7 and 8 on evacuating the level above the fire line,” he explained “The fire alarm did not go off and no sprinklers. The call was raised by a tenant who spotted the fire in his level when he was leaving the house.” Lorcan then looked at his friend terrified face “Brullo, Ress and Ansel are on Aelin’s floor.” And quickly he ran to grab his gear and join his team.

He quickly called for a situation status for each level and anger surged when the second floor’s team reported two victims.

“Sartaq, take your team inside and go on level two with water support, we need to tackle this quickly.”

A call came through the radio “Chief, I smell electrical fire in sector A.”

Rowan held back Sartaq with his hand. He then looked at him and a nod was all the lieutenant needed to switch to CO2 “Nox, Sartaq is coming in with a lot of CO2 extinguishers.”

“Copy that, chief.”

Rowan was busy giving orders to his team when he spotted a head of golden hair and Brullo carrying a little girl with silver hair. His instincts told him to bolt and ran to them, but he had a job to do, so he just followed Brullo taking them to Asterin in the ambulance, the paramedics placing an oxygen mask on both. He lifted his hand and found it shaking. They are fine, he kept telling himself. They are fine.

Ilias, the captain of station 7, emerged with the two bodies of the victims and the paramedics joined him to ascertain that it was really the case. He walked to the man and stared at the two paramedic confirm that both victims had sadly passed because of extensive burns and smoke inhalation.

“This was in flat 4 on the first floor. It stinks of electrical fire, chief.” The anger in the captain’s voice reflected his own “Thank you Ilias, go and assist Lorcan and the other on level two. We need to contain the fire.”

“Yes, chief.”

It took Rowan and the three station a good hour to finally kill the fire. They had luckily evacuated all tenants when the fire jumped to the third floor.

Rowan looked at his men exhausted and walked to them to thank them for the excellent job and to have a little more of information of what happened inside. Then spotted Nesryn in the distance and joined her “Damn this looks like it was hellish.”

Rowan nodded “We haven’t started overhaul yet.”

The police captain nodded “We have intelligence that this could be arson.”

Rowan groaned. Arson was a nightmare to prove because the fire most of times destroyed all evidence “Are you sure?”

The woman nodded “Seems like Hamel decided the building was not profitable anymore. A residential building most of time is a money pit. He prefers his fancy buildings in the financial district where companies pay hefty rents. Apparently he was trying to make a deal to convert this building to another offices complex, but first had to get rid of the tenants.”

“Two people are dead!” He roared.

“I know. If OFI can prove arson, we have charges for murder and insurance fraud and a lot more.”

“This building is not up to code,” he added with fury “Even if it was not arson, that is enough to accuse him of dereliction of duty. His negligence killed two people.”

“Rowan, I know and that is already gross misconduct but arson would give us another serious accusation, enough to jail him forever because we can prove that the deaths are his fault.”

He paced “I have a drawer full of falsified inspections that should jail him for a long time already.”

“Hamel has ways to get his way out of things, but not this time.”

“My daughter and Aelin lived in that building.” Pain bled into his words.

“They will all have justice, I promise.”

Rowan looked around him where hundreds of people crowded the streets, sat on the pavements with desperation and grief in their faces. In the span of a night they had lost everything.

“We need to help these people.”

“I have contacted mayor Darrow and he is already on the case. Those who don’t have alternative accommodation with friends and family will be offered a place in hotels for now and then a more permanent place.”

Lorcan called him “We are starting overhaul. It will give us an initial ideal of the fire dynamics.”

Before joining the teams he ran to Aelin. Maya tried to wiggle free but Asterin kept her still. He hugged his daughter who cried in his arms “You are safe, my love. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

His arms extended to Aelin. He looked up at her, at her face covered in soot under the oxygen mask. He pulled her closer “You are both safe.”

Then he stood and walked to his car and came back a minute later “This is my bank card, and my house keys, get yourselves a taxi and go home as soon as Asterin clears you both. I need to stay behind.”

He kneeled to Maya “I will be home soon, go with mum, okay?”

She muttered a quiet okay and he kissed her then kissed Aelin on her forehead “I was so damn scared for you both.” The kiss lingered far longer than expected, then he ran away and into the building.

When he finally got home it was deep into the night. Overhaul had lasted much longer than expected but they had managed to find the source in one of the electrical panels in the basement. A water leak in the pipes had caused the fire to spread and reach the first floor where they exploded and let the fire engulf the flat that had been the worst affected. OFI was called on the scene and took photos and samples immediately. Now they had just had to discover if it had been accidental due to the lack of acre of intentionally caused. Either way, Hamel was in a sea of trouble and Rowan was looking forward to the moment when the monster would be behind bars.

By the time he got home he was exhausted and famished.

Quietly he walked into the house and once in the living room he spotted a figure on the sofa. Aelin was sitting there reading a book under a pile of blankets and a small book light “You can put the heating on,” he walked to the panel and switched it on for her and then turned on the lights.

Her face carried the marks of tears. His body moved towards on instinct and sat at her side.

She sobbed loudly and flung herself in his arms. Rowan wrapped Aelin in an embrace and let her cry “It was terrifying… the explosion…”

“Shh… it’s okay. You are safe now.”

Aelin kept crying in his arms “Is Maya asleep?”

“Yes, she is finally down, she was far braver than me.”

“You both were.”

His mouth landed on the crown of her head and left a soft kiss “When I heard the address over the radio is almost died. If—” he pushed his rage down “If I had lost you both I would have been lost man.”

Aelin looked up at him in his beautiful green eyes that still carried fury in them “I am sorry, Rowan. Sorry that I lied, that I kept Maya from you. I—” He did not let her finish speak and his mouth was on hers. It was a soft kiss, full of love. Aelin melted in it, the fire of an ancient love slowly rekindling inside her. How had she lived all this time without him? How did she even thought about dating other men when she knew that no one would measure up to him?

Rowan pulled back and caressed her face “You need to rest.”

Aelin tried to protest but he stopped “We will talk tomorrow. Will make plans when less tired.”

He stood and offered her his hand and together walked upstairs. Aelin gave him a kiss on the cheek before disappearing through her door.

Rowan smiled, his hand touching the point where she had kissed him then walked in Maya’s bedroom.

She was sound asleep, Elf and the shark in her arms.

He had been a firefighter all of his adult life. Had seen many scary situations but nothing will ever compare to the deep unyielding fear he had felt that evening. The idea of loosing them both had the power to destroy him. He had been trying to ignore his resurfacing feelings for Aelin. The woman had been the love of his life and now he was trying to understand how to navigate the strange relationship they were building for Maya. He tried not to dwell too much on the kiss. It was likely the effect of the earlier events and the residual adrenaline.

But staring at Maya sleep, a part of him wished they would become more than roommates.

For Maya.

For the family that they could be.

taglist

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @whimsicallyreading @elentiyawhitethorn @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98 @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin @whispers-in-the-darkest-heart @lovely-dove-zee @athena127

#rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowaelin fanfic #aelin x rowan #rowanwhitethorn #throne of glass fanfiction #domestic fluff #aelin galathynius #rowaelin kids #hurt/comfort

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tennessoui · 5 months

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if you feel like it ever, i would LOVE to know wtf qui was thinking sending obi undercover in the playmaker au

did he think he could handle it? did he think it would be a dose of reality? did he just want him out of sight out of mind for a bit? or like??

i love this au so much!!!

hello hello here is ~2k of playmaker vader having a conversation with qui-gon jinn about the one thing they have in common (obi-wan)

this snippet takes place after this ficlet but before this ficlet, so obi-wan is currently in jail, being held before his trial begins because he killed a man in self-defense and will be sent to prison

i think to have the real, detailed answer to your question, the scene would have to be qui-gon talking to obi-wan (after his release from prison), but i really wanted to write anakin antagonizing qui-gon and goading him and taunting him because i missed writing playmaker!vader

(2k)

Truly, Anakin is showing a level of restraint here that they should write heroic ballads about.

He is unarmed and alone, though he knows that the man in front of him knows that both these things can change within a second. He is being cordial. He is being kind. He is being open and showing good faith here, all to the one man who deserves his kindness as much as he deserves his son’s forgiveness.

“Thank you,” Qui-Gon Jinn tells Ahsoka as she places a heavy, covered dish down on the table in front of him. Ahsoka’s mouth twitchces, but she keeps her face expressionless. She knows her role in this exchange. She knows what Vader needs her to be, which is a silent member of the waitstaff, posted at the edge of the room, hands behind her back holding a knife.

It’s Rex that lifts the dome cover from the plate in synchrony with three other members of the staff doing the same up and down the table. It’s all so much. Too much food for two men who did not sit down to eat.

Anakin leans back in his chair at the head of the table. His usual spot. His usual table. The noise of the restaurant below them leaks through the mahogany doors as the wait staff slip through them. All but his men remain, dressed as they are to blend in amongst the other servers.

“Ah,” Qui-Gon Jinn says, looking at the dishes on the table. Bone-in fish, eye staring up. Coq au vin, sauce still bubbling. Boeuf bourguignon, sitting closest to the police chief. Lamb chops, further down, meat a perfect pink, red juice staining the white dijon sauce around it.

“You should try the coq au vin, sir,” Anakin says, snapping his fingers. Throwing him a deadly look of disdain, Ahsoka strides forward to scoop a serving of the dish onto Qui-Gon Jinn’s plate. Likewise, Rex takes his plate silently and ladles out a scoop of mashed potatoes, covering them with the bourguignon before setting it back in front of Anakin.

Rex knows the importance of appearance. Ahsoka, unfortunately, is still not quite sure why they bother. All this, for a rat.

Because he is fond of her, Anakin will do his best to educate her once more. Later.

“It is your son’s favorite,” Anakin adds, holding up a hand to dismiss Rex and Ahsoka back to their positions against the wall.

“My son is a vegetarian,” Qui-Gon Jinn says, skin around his eyes tight as his hands clench together in his lap.

“No, sir,” Anakin replies, resting his chin on his knuckles as he looks across the table at his guest. “You are a vegetarian.”

“Ah,” Qui-Gon says, one eyebrow arching. “I wasn’t sure if you knew. I suppose then that the notable lack of any dishes I am able to eat should be taken as a snub? A power struggle? I am at your table, Mr. Skywalker, as a guest.”

“Your son,” Anakin murmurs, leaning back in his chair, “simply adores that recipe. I ask my chefs to make it almost daily for him. He enjoys sitting in my lap and licking the wine sauce off my fingers.”

Jinn’s jaw clenches momentarily before he seems to calm himself. He takes his napkin from the table and unfolds it carefully in his lap.

“Why do you think that is?” Anakin asks before Jinn can speak. “If he is a vegetarian.”

“I could not say.”

“Answer me this, then,” he says. “Was Ben supposed to be a vegetarian?”

Jinn’s eyes cut to his own. They’re dark and narrowed. His jaw bunches.

“You can’t blame me for being curious, you know,” Anakin murmurs. “I have yet to untangle what parts of your son belong to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and what parts are Ben Lars. I thought, as his father, you may be in the best position to help me.”

Jinn’s nostrils flare. “Why would you think I would be inclined to do that?”

“Well, you seem so disinclined to help him,” Anakin says. His hand finds the knife to the side of his plate and he flicks it between his fingers idly. “You can’t blame me for trying to better understand your motivations.”

“I am helping him,” Jinn says. His tone is short, his lips barely moving. “Getting him as far away from you as possible, that’s helping him.”

“You are single-handedly ensuring that he will spend months in a prison cell,” Anakin bites back, fury rising at the very thought. His little mouse. Alone in a cell. Worse, sharing a cell with someone else.

“Better than spending any more time with you, Skywalker!” Jinn snaps, and he finally turns his head to face him completely. There is something so furiously smug about his expression that it makes Anakin’s teeth clench, his control slip. “You may have half the city in your pocket, Vader, but I only need one judge, one warden in mine, and you won’t be able to see him at all.”

Rex shifts at his post against the wall. He knows Vader well enough to know that nothing good can come from a threat like that. A threat to take his little mouse away from him before he’s finished playing.

Vader’s knife thrusts cleanly through the wood of the table as his face twists into a snarl. Jinn must die. He is the one man in all of Coruscant that could ever challenge Anakin Skywalker’s claim on Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is the one man stupid enough to.

But Jinn cannot die. Not here. Not now. So Anakin carefully unfurls his fingers from the hilt of the knife and rests them on the table next to his plate. Carefully. So carefully.

Obi-Wan has been held by the city police for the last week and a half. A trial will begin in just a little over a month. There is very little doubt that the trial will end with a prison sentence for his little mouse, though his lawyers assure him that no sentence can be issued for a period of time longer than a few months, given that Obi-Wan’s murder of Savage Oppress had been in self-defense and the worst thing he’d done was try to cover it up, thereby obstructing justice.

The city feels empty without him beside Anakin. He still flicks on the lights of his penthouse, expecting Obi-Wan to be waiting for him, but all that greets him every time he returns are morose children, crying and pleading for him to bring their Ben back.

And here is the orchestrator of it all, sitting at his table and not touching a single dish, sneering at him as if he really truly thinks he is saving his son. As if he truly thinks there is such a thing as saving his son anymore.

As if he truly still thinks he has a son. As if that son did not die so that Anakin can have his little mouse. It’s pathetic.

It’s dangerous, too.

It’s the reason why Qui-Gon Jinn is here, in Anakin’s restaurant, in Obi-Wan’s seat. Because someone has to tell him. Someone has to disavow him of the notion that any part of Obi-Wan still belongs to Qui-Gon Jinn. He had his chance and he lost it all. He lost him all.

The thought and the truth of it calms Anakin’s breathing, and he leans back in his chair to study Qui-Gon Jinn.

“May I ask you a question?” he asks, head tilted to the side so he can prop his chin on his closed fist once more. “Father to father.”

Jinn’s eyes narrow, but he inclines his head. He must know that one must sometimes walk into a few traps to get anywhere at all.

“Hypothetically,” Anakin murmurs. “Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say that there is a man in the city, powerful and cruel and monstrous. Clever and wicked and terrible. Let’s say he controls half the city. No, let’s be generous. Let’s say this one man, who isn’t a politician, who isn’t in government or business, let’s say he owns the loyalty of three-fourths of the city. Judges in his pocket. Policemen too. Politicians. Other powerful men from other cities.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Rex twitch, and Anakin’s lips curl up into a smile.

“Hypothetically, we’re talking about a very dangerous man. One who could theoretically kill and get away with it. One that sells drugs, sells sex, sells weapons, sells whatever he wants, right under the city council’s nose. As the police chief, your job is to bring him down, isn’t it? Bring him in. Bring him to justice. Hm?” He sets his elbow on the table, tilting his head as he studies the man before him.

“My question is, if you really think a man like that exists, one that has all that power, one that can make people just…disappear without a word, without an investigation…why the hell do you send your son to find the evidence? Bring him in? Shouldn’t that be your job? Shouldn’t you want to keep someone so soft and so precious as far away from that monster as possible?”

Qui-Gon Jinn’s eyes darken. His nostrils flare. “My son is an accomplished detective. He—”

“He was,” Anakin corrects lazily. “He was an accomplished detective, but he resigned a year ago, I believe.”

“He had the top scores in his graduating class,” Jinn bites out. “A face no one would recognize. He knew to be careful. He—” Jinn’s jaw clenches, bulges out, and then he is quiet.

“He was your son,” Anakin says, because he has spent a rather lengthy amount of time thinking about this. “And you knew how much he loved you. How much he wanted to prove himself to you. You thought he’d be cautious. You planned to whore him out and you didn’t think his loyalty to the cause would waver?” Qui-Gon stands abruptly, tossing his napkin over the food. The red of the sauce stains the white of the fabric.

“Did you hope I would kill him?” Anakin asks, remaining in his seat. Rex coughs. “Hypothetically,” Anakin adds. “If I killed him, he would be a martyr to the cause. If I killed him, you could drag his corpse in front of the city council, tell them that it was time to do something about the monster in the woods. Did you hope he would die? Do you really love your son so little?”

Jinn’s chair skitters back from the force of his movements. It teeters on its back two legs before falling to the ground with a clatter. “I love my son,” Jinn says quietly in a voice choking with rage, “more than you ever could understand. More than you could ever love anyone.”

Now Anakin stands, carefully placing his napkin on the table beside his plate. “Not according to your son, I’m afraid,” he tells him. A parting blow. “I will see you in court, I’m sure. After all, you are the lead expert for the prosecution, yes?”

He smiles and dips his head in farewell as he waves Rex and Ahsoka forward to escort Jinn out.

It had not been the most informative luncheon, but it had left him feeling rather accomplished for no other reason than that he had not seen Jinn so shaken since the first policeman’s ball Obi-Wan had attended on Vader’s arm.

With no one to warm his bed but the cruel absence of his little mouse, Anakin takes great joy in whatever victories he is allowed.

#asks #obikin #vaderwan #playmaker au #i think a part of it is that qui-gon really thought obi-wan could do this undercover work #because he just didn't know his son #and he also didn't realize how interested anakin would be #which i think took a lot of anakin's people by surprise #but quigon basically sent anakin a mouthy little wounded bird #and anakin decided to keep it

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autumnrose11 · 5 months

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I brushed through A Little Princess today.

It was one of my favourite books when I was younger, and I still quite adore it! I took it down from my bookshelf today and skimmed over it. It was lovely to meet them all again because I’d forgotten the little things, like Melchisedec the rat, Ermengarde, and Lottie. It has been a while since I last read it, and I noticed so many things I didn’t before!

One of the more heartbreaking moments is Sara finding out her papa is dead on her BIRTHDAY. Imagine the pain of an eleven-year-old having to deal with her world turned upside down and losing the only family she has left on her birthday :(

Much as I hate to say it, some parts of the book are a tad racist, although I suppose it’s reflective of the time period in which the book was written (1905).

“It’s a’ Nindian gentleman that’s comin’ to live next door, miss,” she said. [...] He worships idols, miss. He’s an ’eathen an’ bows down to wood an’ stone. I seen a’ idol bein’ carried in for him to worship. Somebody had oughter send him a trac’. You can get a trac’ for a penny.”

Sara is really good with languages (she is shown to be multilingual), which is a trait I adore because I love learning languages too! She speaks both French and Hindi, and it shows up in two very different situations in the book. One to Monsieur Dufarge, the French teacher, and the other to Ram Dass, the Indian servant. The descriptions of both men’s reactions to hear a child speaking their respective languages are strikingly similar.

“Monsieur Dufarge began to smile, and his smile was one of great pleasure. To hear this pretty childish voice speaking his own language so simply and charmingly made him feel almost as if he were in his native land - which in dark, foggy days in London sometimes seemed worlds away.”

“She thought she had never seen more surprise and delight than the dark face expressed when she spoke in the familiar tongue. The truth was that the poor fellow felt as if his gods had intervened, and the kind little voice came from heaven itself.”

As someone who speaks passable Hindi and is currently studying French, this is so sweet and touching! To be in a foreign land and feeling like an outsider, hearing someone speak the same language as you must be so inexpressibly comforting, like you have a comrade and a friend.

Miss Minchin is literally abusive and has a heart of stone. She puts Sara through hell. She also shows severe insecurity and covers it up with projecting her feelings of inadequacy (on a 7 year old!) The scene in Chapter 2 where she concludes that Sara does not know French is especially telling.

“One of Miss Minchin’s chief secret annoyances was that she did not speak French herself, and was desirous of concealing the irritating fact. She, therefore, had no intention of discussing the matter and laying herself open to questioning by a new little pupil.”

I have met quite a few adults like this, who are in the wrong and know it, and unwilling to admit it. They are nice and willing to praise kids and make them their golden child as long as things are going well. The second they are contradicted or called out in the slightest, they turn NASTY. So Miss Minchin, horrid as she is, is written very realistically. Excellent characterisation, and I always like reading the bit where she gets her comeuppance at the end.

My absolutely favourite passage in the book is:

“If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it. There was Marie Antoinette when she was in prison and her throne was gone and she had only a black gown on, and her hair was white, and they insulted her and called her Widow Capet. She was a great deal more like a queen then than when she was so gay and everything was so grand. I like her best then. The howling mobs of people did not frighten her. She was stronger than they were, even when they cut her head off.”

This is off topic, but I read this book right around the time we were learning about the French Revolution in school. So I’d come across Marie Antoinette, but she was portrayed in a very negative light in my history textbook, with the infamous quote: “If they don’t have bread, let them eat cake.” So my initial notion of her jarred completely with what I read here. And that was how I ended up reading and researching more about Marie Antoinette, and got to know that she was an Austrian princess married off very young to a French prince, and mocked for her foreignness. She had several miscarriages and fertility struggles, and she loved kids and adopted a few! True, she did spend rather extravagantly, but she was not quite the villain I took her for. That’s when I realised that history textbooks, more often than not, show only one side of the story.

#A Little Princess #Sara Crewe #Miss Minchin #Frances Hogsdon Burnett #Books

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mostremote · 2 months

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Fic extract

Rough and silly fic extract (that I will not write in full) of a what-if-Snow-wasn't-executed-and-had-to-ally-with-Katniss-and-co-to-bring-down-Coin situation. And Snow is still obsessed with Katniss but isn't trying to kill her so he just follows her around being insane. And everyone hates that he's there but they need his insider knowledge so they just have to put up with it.

They gather around the table, low-lit, in the cramped underground bunker that serves as the meagre headquarters of the resistance. What was once the resistance against Snow is now the resistance against Coin — and there are so few of them left. Haymitch (reluctant chief strategist), Effie (preparing refreshments), Gale (sulking), Peeta (sulking with more gentility), Johanna (sulking aggressively), Katniss (grey-eyed, exhausted).

And, of course, their newest member: Coriolanus Snow.

Haymitch is stood in front of a board humming with electric blueprints, trying to explain the network of pipes that runs underneath the presidential mansion and the possibilities these might allow for breaking into Coin’s fortress. He is midway through explaining a particularly tricky juncture of pipes when Johanna interrupts him with a slap of palm on table.

‘I’m sorry, are we just going to ignore this?’ She gestures wildly at Snow. ‘Why is he here? Why is he on our side?’

Former-President Snow sits next to Katniss (weary face held aloft by one palm) as though there is nowhere in the world he would rather be. He has somehow acquired a ceramic cup of steaming tea.

‘My dear, I am the reason you have access to those blueprints,’ says Snow, very reasonably. ‘I may be your only chance of reaching Coin.’

This time, Johanna slams both her palms onto the table and Peeta jumps a little. ‘Why. Is. He. Here.’

‘I’m with Johanna on this one,’ says Gale, arms crossed and dour in his chair. ‘He’ll sell us out the first chance he gets.’

‘No, I won’t,’ says Snow mildly.

‘He won’t,’ echoes Katniss. She wishes she could get some sleep. The emotional turmoil of wrangling Snow has become a twenty-four-hour job. ‘We need him to get inside the mansion.’

‘He tried to kill you a dozen times!’ shouts Johanna.

‘That was because she was a threat to my regime,’ says Snow in that same pleasant, conversational voice. ‘I no longer have a regime, as I am sure you have noticed. Therefore, I have no reason to try to kill her.’

Johanna’s eyes meet Katniss’ with daggers. ‘He’ll kill you in your sleep.’

Katniss, who has spent weeks trekking the country alongside Snow, sleeping as far from him as she can and always clutching a knife, has woken many times to see Snow simply… staring at her. She would really rather prefer it if he went back to trying to kill her.

‘He’s here to help. You can trust him.’ Though who knows why?

Haymitch, grimacing, is keen to get this strategy meeting back on track. ‘Okay, so: one plan Gale and I developed is to come up from the sewers right next to the mansion. There’s only one camera, high up, which is where Katniss comes in.’ He taps the electric screen and a blurry image appears of the high mansion wall. A single black-eyed camera stares down. ‘If Katniss can land a shot on that, we’ll make a blind spot in their security of about twenty square yards.’

‘No way she can make that,’ says Johanna. ‘It’s fifty feet high. That’s impossible.’

‘Katniss Everdeen,’ comes Snow’s sudden, deep, commanding voice, ‘is the finest marksman in the Capitol, and perhaps the country. She has nigh-perfect aim. There is no one else who could make that shot as well as her.’

Everyone stares, perplexed, at Snow. He is glowing with pride. Katniss, mortified, tries to shield her face with her hands.

Haymitch forces a grin. ‘Great! Good to know.’

After an hour of poring over the rats’ nest of sewer blueprints, they are no closer to planning a route under the walls than when they began, and everyone is exhausted. When Effie appears, a tray of tea and stale biscuits in hand, everyone is grateful for an excuse to adjourn.

Snow helps himself to an iced biscuit. Effie doesn’t seem to know how to react to this.

Haymitch saunters up to Katniss and drops his mouth to her ear. ‘Can I have a word?’

Katniss will take any reason to get away from Snow for a few minutes, and so she follows Haymitch into a corner. He speaks in a low voice.

‘I gotta say, I agree with Johanna. I don’t like him being here. That man could kill us a thousand ways even without the help of his guards.’

She shrugs. It’s been almost a month since she had a real night of sleep, punctuated by neither nightmares of Snow nor waking to find him watching over her. ‘He’s not going to. I know it sounds weird, but I trust him. He’ll do what I tell him.’ Her brow creases. ‘He seems to, I don’t know… treat me like a daughter, almost.’

Haymitch emits a brash noise that’s somewhere between a laugh and a howl. ‘Girl, your track record with understanding men is bad enough as it is. That man is not expressing fatherly feelings towards you.’

‘Huh?’ Katniss glances at Snow. Even from across the room, he is watching her, stirring his tea with leisurely joy. ‘What do you mean?’

Haymitch fixes her with staring, hooded eyes. ‘Katniss, I think the President likes you.’

‘What?’ She blinks. ‘He’s old enough to be my grandfather.’

Haymitch grimaces. ‘Ye-e-eah, somehow I don’t think that bothers him.’

They both look at Snow. He has still not taken his eyes off Katniss.

Gale, it seems, has also not taken his eyes off Snow. ‘What the fuck are you looking at?’

The room falls silent. Snow takes his time to answer: lifts the teacup, sips, replaces it. ‘I am looking at Miss Everdeen,’ he answers frankly.

‘We’re not just going to put up with this, are we?’ Gale shouts. ‘It’s Snow. Snow! He’s a murderer. He murdered your family, Haymitch, and you’re just putting up with it!’

Haymitch shrugs without passion. ‘I lost the will to care about a thousand bottles ago, Gale. And we need him.’

Gale stares, disbelieving, then quite dramatically draws his gun. Everyone clears out of the way, save Snow (unconcerned) and Katniss (exhausted).

‘We should put a bullet in his head right now.’

Snow smiles: calm, radiant, in total control. ‘If it’s any consolation, my boy, I have no more wish to be here than you do to have me here. Indeed, I have no interest in any of you, and little investment in the bringing down of Coin. I would be quite happy to live out my retirement in peace.’

‘Then what the fuck are you doing here?’ spits Gale.

Snow looks at Katniss, all smiles. ‘I’m here to accompany Miss Everdeen.’

‘Why?’

Snow does not take his eyes off Katniss and says, with total assurance, ‘Because I want to see what she does next.’ He takes a sip of his tea. ‘She is absolutely fascinating.’

No one says anything to this. Haymitch coughs awkwardly. Katniss is trying to melt into the floor.

#i think this is a rly fun scenario but i would not have the patience to write the whole thing

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hotchaways · 2 years

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pov: your instagram but you’re dating aaron hotchner (part 4)

Liked by spencer.reid, itspennyg and 90 others

its(Y/L/N): someone remind me to get my fiancé drug tested before the wedding 👍🏻 #startreknerd

view all 14 comments

spencer.reid: who knew hotch was a star trek nerd?

↳ jenniferjareau: i mean it’s not surprising that he’s a nerd for some things

↳ e.prentiss: an outstanding nerd when it comes to the subject of (Y/N) (Y/L/N)

↳ itspennyg: the ultimate simp/nerd is sir hotch 🫡💗

↳ daverossi: i mean, he gives in to her so easily. who knew someone could warm up that grumpy heart?

↳ derekmorgan: don’t forget the days when he was still pining after her and brought her coffee every morning ☕️

↳ its(Y/L/N): i can definitely say that you have made our unit chief into a real tomato

↳ aaron_hotchner: i’d say a tomato from embarrassment, but i’d rather not get smacked with a baguette.

↳ jenniferjareau: jesus, does she have never ending baguettes or something? 💀

Liked by jenniferjareau, derekmorgan and 98 others

its(Y/L/N): my happiness in the form of people :) i love my hotchner boys 💛

view all 20 comments

jessbrooks: oh so cute!!! will drop by next week, miss you three and the pups 😘

↳ its(Y/L/N): jack says he’s giving you a big hug through the phone now, we miss you!!! see you next week ❤️

derekmorgan: you should know by now that captions like this makes garcia tear up

↳ itspennyg: STOP LYING MORGAN 😤

↳ jenniferjareau: morgan’s not lying. penelope was sniffling and talking in the batcave how lucky the stars aligned for sir hotch and (Y/N)

↳ spencer.reid: the two are definitely soulmates. whether all of you believe it or not.

↳ e.prentiss: still the sappiest couple on earth.

aaron_hotchner: you and jack are the reason of my existence, i love you, sweetheart. ❤️

↳ its(Y/L/N): i love you more :) will go to the ends of the earth for our little family

↳ itspennyg: I AM CURRENTLY SOBBING I CANT WAIT FOR (Y/N) TO BE A HOTCHNER 😭

Liked by e.prentiss, jenniferjareau and 91 others

its(Y/L/N): left my laptop for a bit and came back to this 🥺 i love my coco and my aaron :)

view all 12 comments

spencer.reid: world’s largest rodent 🐀🌎

↳ e.prentiss: rattus rattus translates to aaron hotchner

↳ jenniferjareau: coco doesn’t even look happy to be with hotch

↳ itspennyg: coco is a mama’s girl!!! 🐶 sir hotch, you might be….smothering our little furry friend

↳ its(Y/L/N): it’s not a might. he really is smothering my eldest child 😤

↳ aaron_hotchner: coco likes it, sweetheart.

↳ e.prentiss: just give your fiancé the attention you give to your rat cousin

Liked by derekmorgan, daverossi and 87 others

its(Y/L/N): grumpy aaron hotchner on his phone while holding my coffee at disneyland 🫡💗

view all 17 comments

e.prentiss: i thought it was supposed to be the happiest place on earth?

↳ jenniferjareau: the grumpiest for him, i guess

↳ spencer.reid: i bet he’s scared off some kids with his grumpy face

↳ itspennyg: SIR HOTCH PLEASE SMILE!!! do not scare the children off 😠

↳ aaron_hotchner: ….do you all seriously believe (Y/N) more than me?

↳ derekmorgan: of course we believe bau’s angel more than our unit chief. 👍🏻

↳ its(Y/L/N): what can i say? i have them all wrapped around my finger, my lovely profiler best friends 😘

↳ daverossi: are we best friends? or am i just your local pasta guy?

↳ spencer.reid: you’re everyone’s local pasta guy, rossi

Liked by daverossi, e.prentiss and 79 others

its(Y/L/N): las vegas baby 🎲🎰 ps. he’s not very happy that his fiancé can’t play poker to save her life

view all 21 comments

jenniferjareau: he should’ve brought spence with him so he could cheat his way to the top of the game

↳ itspennyg: so true, boy genius thinks we don’t know!! 😤

↳ spencer.reid: i don’t cheat. who says i cheat?

↳ e.prentiss: you aren’t very slick when you peek at our cards when we go to the bathroom.

↳ aaron_hotchner: been there. reid’s a cheater.

↳ its(Y/L/N): so, everyone’s agreeing over something for once? 🙏🏻

↳ daverossi: yep. we’ll all play poker at pasta night to kick reid’s ass

↳ derekmorgan: oh this is gonna be so much fun 😈

↳ spencer.reid: very funny, guys. 😐

Liked by itspennyg, spencer.reid and 98 others

its(Y/L/N): go fish! my man caught the biggest fish today at the docks 🎣

view all 13 comments

e.prentiss: holy shit that’s a big fish

↳ jenniferjareau: great detective skills, captain obvious

spencer.reid: its longer than (Y/N)’s patience 👍🏻

↳ itspennyg: wishing you the best of luck when she hits you with a baguette on monday 🫡

↳ its(Y/L/N): might slap him with this fish instead

aaron_hotchner: …..you didn’t tell me you were going to post this picture, honey.

↳ derekmorgan: you look real proud, boss man. like a kid on christmas day 😘

↳ daverossi: when aaron retires, he could be a fisherman.

↳ spencer.reid: you’re older than hotch though, so why are we talking about his retirement?

↳ jenniferjareau: i just got a call from screaming spencer that rossi’s out to hunt him now 😐

Liked by e.prentiss, derekmorgan and 91 others

its(Y/L/N): late night talks on the couch 😴

view all 19 comments

spencer.reid: what do you usually talk about?

↳ e.prentiss: the future they have or want to have together, dumbass.

↳ jenniferjareau: emily, calm down, this is a children’s show on our friends’ instagram page.

↳ itspennyg: THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT THE LITTLE HOTCHNER’S THEY WILL HAVE 🥰 JACK WILL BE A BIG BROTHER

↳ derekmorgan: oh jeez, baby girl probably got caffeine in her veins from the excitement.

↳ its(Y/L/N): we are not having little hotchner’s……yet

↳ aaron_hotchner: just so all of you know, you’re gonna be the aunts and uncles.

↳ spencer.reid: grandpa rossi sounds better 👨🏼‍🦳

↳ daverossi: im gonna burn all of your books in your apartment.

Liked by jenniferjareau, spencer.reid and 82 others

its(Y/L/N): i have a hotel room intruder during a case and he’s guilty for hogging the blankets 😤

view all 19 comments

jenniferjareau: really? just hogging the blankets?

↳ e.prentiss: we are definitely plucking out our eardrums, thank you very much.

↳ daverossi: they’re like teenagers when they’re together. it’s…..sappy.

↳ spencer.reid: you must miss being a teenager or just young in general, huh, rossi?

↳ derekmorgan: so glad my room was far from the two of you. im saved as of now.

↳ its(Y/L/N): WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT 😭

↳ jenniferjareau: you, my best friend, are a liar

↳ aaron_hotchner: keep telling that to yourself, sweetheart. you walked on the jet with hickeys on your neck.

↳ e.prentiss: i do not want to hear any more of your sex life, thank you 👍🏻

A/N: aaaaand, here we go, part 4, as promised!!! :) ive been so inactive sorry, life was very much busy but im gonna continue doing requests now because i wont be busy anymore 🙏🏻 and ive got a hotch fic coming up this week so yay for the hotch girl nation <3 hope all of you are doing well, i love you all!! :D

ALSO!!! thank you so much for 400, its absolutely crazy that we were just at 300 not even a month ago 🥺 thank you for the support and love and for making me do something im passionate about :) sending hugs to all of you!!!

hotch girl nation! let me know if you want to be removed from the taglist :) @ssamorganhotchner @sbeno22 @skyler666 @izbelross @gillysoldlady @malindacath @katieslotherford @blondekel77 @alexxavicry @jareauswife @singinginacargettinglostupstate @aaronhotchy @criminalmindsandmarvel @captainamericasmotercycle @ssahotchnerswife @twilightlover2007 @peachyhotch @itsemohours @bihotchrights @ladyreyreigns @hotchnerxo

join my taglist here! :)

#aaron hotchner #criminal minds #aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds fanfic #aaron hotchner imagine #criminal minds fanfiction #one shot #hotch #aaron hotchner fluff #aaron hotchner oneshot #aaron hotchner headcanon #aaron hotchner x fem!reader #derek morgan #penelope garcia #spencer reid #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #fake social media #social media au

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cuprohastes · 10 months

Text

The Trouble with Pebbles Pt 2

So to set the scene:

Dave the human, actual human of indeterminate ethnic and cultural origin, who has never done anything wrong, or more accurately he's never done anything wrong that anyone cared to find out about has been given a really good rock by a small alien lizard who has an unfortunate speech impediment.

This means exactly what you think it means.

Garfield, Gondy and Rax, Two large and a Medium Atrix are swinging between delight, bewilderment and anxiety. Un-Named male, Garf's little Guy, hasn't woken up form a nap and is at this point, not really a stakeholder.

The Station chiefs, an Atrix called Don't Make Me come Down There AKA Big Ma, and her human counterpart, Chief O'Patel are locked in their office with a half dozen pet rats, some good moss and the emergency biscuit supply trying to figure out how not to get yelled at by Homeworld & Homeworld.

EVA 43 is currently conniving with Humanity's smartest person, which has around 18 different government groups from seven species taking terror shits.

Trashdancer is just having a shitty day because to paraphrase St. Marvin: Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and you want me to Wiki that for you.

Dave The Human is just keeping the plumbing working and singing along to a Human musical, re-written and re-scored for Tsin. It's Squeap!: The Musical.

The Von Neumann Space Squid aren't in this story.

Now: On with the show:

Dave the human is being fired.

"This is not how I thought my day was going to go." he says. He's holding the rock that was given to him my the small Atrix a few hours earlier. He's turning it over in his palm, feeling the smoothness and the roughness.

O'Patel is doing something bizarre with his face an Big Ma is maintining what can only be described as a Poker face. For a species that talks wit chromatophores splayed across their cheeks, muzzle and forehead, Dave can only deduce that he should never play cards with her, or possiby she's under near fatal amounts of sedation.

Slowly Dave starts to realise that O'Patel is trying to tell him something that he doesn't want officially recorded and starts to pay serious attention. Atrix Stare levels of analysis are going on here.

"Unfortuntely [Wink] due to the diplomatic [Eyebrows go up] realities of the situation [Grimace], we are unable to maintain your contract [Slight hunch of hte shoulders, headbob, are you following yet?] as one of the human specialists on this station. "[Pointed eye swivelling at Big Ma].

Dave has now developed telepathy. Let's re-run that with context.

"Oh shit homeworld is being dicks. We have to think fast, and we have to show we dealt with the situation. We have a plan, play along, over to you Big Ma"

"Coincidentally, your job has been allocated to the Atrix." says Big Ma, poking her tablet.

Dave's tablet vibrates and he looks up to see both Station Chiefts making emphatic Answer The Phone motions.

Dave pulls the tablet out, reads the message. He thumb-prints it and sits down hard.

"Oh look at that. Fortunately we were able to..." she says as she smacks a few on-screen buttons and makes Dave the Human vanish. "... find someone who is not only Atrix..." she says pausing.

O'Patel lurches across his desk and thumbprints about 9000 documents that scream across his display, in a performance of button mashing that will never be properly appreciated outside this office.

"... but has exactly the right qualifications. Graak. And... is getting a signing bonus for speedy... application." she says and countersigns about as many documents with the biometrics of her chromatophore pattern.

"Well." says O'Patel. "I'll miss Dave. Good chep, not his fault, good technician, crap taste in music."

"Even so," says Big Ma, "I'm sure you'll be happy to welcome Dave the Atrix, our new technician."

"My life is taking turns for the weird." says Dave and O'Patel slides the biscuits over sympathetically.

A little later on...

Dave the Atrix has a fresh set of work clothes in the Atrix pattern and is sitting on a work table while Dave The Human is working on a helmet with a UV visor.

Dave has a cloth bag lined with a fuzzy blanket, out of which is peeking Dave's little Guy.

The little Guy is a bit traumatised. He kind of assumed that Bad things were happening when Gony, Garf and Rax had ploughed into the common area, dredged the ferns sending kids and Little Guys scattering and then grabbed him specifically and lumbered at tooth rattling speed out of the nice bright Atrix wing of the Station and hauled him through terrifying corridoors.

Dave had been there, the lynchpin of the Little Guy's plan to Get out, and he had said an apologetic Graak, assuming they were both being thrown into space (though rumour has it that humans find this annoying then come back in and bitch about it).

It'd been a bewildering though pleasant surprise when the worst that'd happened was he was stuffed into a weird furry bag, and then Dave had said something about clothes and... now he was here watching the four armed Tsin, who probably ate small Atrix, adding ossicones to a lightweight helmet with a flip up faceplate of some nearly opaque material.

Dave the Atrix on the other hand was watching his friend add an arrangement of knobs to his UV helmet which had a nice buttery yellow visor, that blocked UV.

"Check this out." said Dave The Human. She toggled her tablet and a grid of hexagons on the faceplate rippled up and down in a colourful wave."

"Oh wow." said Dave A. "Does that actually work?"

"Not really." Dave H said regretfully. "There's a lot of research but right now it can approximate a name pattern, and repeat one back if the cameras catch it. Otherwise it uses the standard Atrix Icons, the ones they use as emoji."

"Well better than nothing. Uh, chunky pixels because... "

"Yeah. The Uncanny Valley. CG looks weird."

Dave A nods and looks over into the laundry bag at his Little Guy. "You ok?" he asks again.

The little guy just stares, but there's no ripples of colour and he says "grak."

Dave reaches in and pulls him out, sits him on his lap. "Come on little dude. Lets figure some stuff out. This is my friend, Dave the Human. She's not human but that's what she's called." he says, "And now they call me Dave the Atrix. I'm not an Atrix but I'm going to play one for a while." Dave says.

Every time Dave says Atric, the little guy looks up at Dave's forehead.

"You get used to it. Anyway. Rock accepted. Congrats, you escaped and that's big." he says.

"Grak?"

"Nah I'm not mad. I'd have helped anyway. I think you just startled a lot of people who are now having to answer some questions they needed to hear. So to speak."

"Graak?"

"No. And if anyone tries anything I will get very human about it." Dave says.

"So will I to the best of my abilities." says Dave H. "Hey, the cloth printer is finished..." she says and pulls out a slightly dusty set of clothes. She scrunches them and concertinas them to get the fibres supple and knock out all the cloth dust from the Maker.

Between the two Daves they get the Little guy into a quilted jacket with a hood, and a sarong.

The little guy is initially skeptical because clothes are not very normal for a Tsin of his size but after a minute, he stops feeling so cold and itchily dry and that sitting down on the cloth is a lot more comfortable - and the weird little socks with the silicone dots mean his feet are no longer aching or sliding around, and he starts to come around to maybe there's a use for this.

Then he discovers pockets and his horizons are expanded.

"Graak!!"

"Yeah. Like.. so good." Dave H says. "They're yours. Dave will show you how to wash them."

"You need a name." says Dave A.

"Grak?"

"No not everyone is actually called Dave." he says. "Hang on..."

Dave A motions for the helmet and he and Dave H fuss with it. Dave A puts it on and drops the visor. Now it's being worn, the little guy can more appreciate the dumb friendly expression it seems to have. "Atrix." says Dave A and the hex grid lights up in a pleasing blue and gold pattern that the little guy immediately associates with his new friend.

Dave flips up the visor and pulls the chin peice down. "Oh yeah that really is more comfortable." he tells Dave H and they do some sort of complex hand/claw tap.

"OK. Name time."

They both look at the little guy who up until now has not had an actual name, and has mostly inf act had people try hard not to look at him or refer to him. Hmm. A name like the face patterns he always wanted, but could never have. the tip of his tail starts vibrating.

"Cat." says Dave A. "Cat... Fantastic."

"Really?" says Dave H. "No, let me re-phrase that. Really. hey, Cat, if you don't take the name, can I have it?"

"Grak!" says Cat.

"That's it bud." says Dave H, "That's your name, nobody gets to take it away. If they try, Kick their ass." and proffers a claw. Cat eyes it and tentatively bumps it with a tiny hand.

"So... finally got married. Like... pebble married." says Dave H and Dave A laughs. "I guess. But hey, I'm a modern progressive, non-biological Atrix..."

Cat looks up at everyone's foreheads.

"... But i have been told that I will be in trouble - All the trouble - if I decide to lay an egg."

"Better not do that then." says Dave The Human.

"No promises." says Dave the Atrix and flips down his visor. It's showing cartoon face that from this angle, somehow seems to have a wink for Cat.

#Station Stories #Dave the Human #Dave the Atric #Cat Fantastic #Big Ma #O'Patel #Atrix #Tsin #humans are space orcs #Humans being weird little guys #The Trouble with Pebbles

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 2 months

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Breaking down the comics: Soldiers (Punisher Annual #2: Knight Fall)

You guys. YOU GUYS.

I am so excited to bring you this next one for SO MANY REASONS.

The first reason is that this is the FIRST Moon Knight comic I ever read.

And this comic os pure WTFer set off an obsession that has directed the course of my life for over ten years now.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight

Punisher Annual #2: Knight Fall. 1989

Written by: Mike Baron

Art by: Bill Reinhold

Gerbil: Tom DeFalco

(Tom is the editor in chief for Marvel at the time)

We got ourselves a Punisher Annual with a Moon Knight guest appearance!

Now I’ve talked about guest appearances again and again and again. It usually means that the guest star is going to show up HUGE on the cover with some dramatic depiction in an attempt to lure in more new readers to the title comic.

But look at this comic cover. This isn’t Moon Knight showing up to save the day or in a little blurb bubble or box. He’s battling Frank! This looks more like a cross-over style comic! Those always depict the main character FIGHTING the other guest star! And damn if this cover isn’t amazing. Look at those two locked in close quarter combat! And that dagger! This might be a Punisher comic, but Moon Knight isn’t about to roll over!

Now, as we all have come to expect, when you have a crossover for the first time, the two characters always spend the first couple pages fighting in some misunderstanding before they make up and team together to fight the real bad guys. But Punisher takes no quarter and Moon Knight is grumpy at best.

Alright, so we open up on a Long Island Petshop where a Mr. Morton is purchasing Gerbils for their kids.

For those that do not know, a Gerbil is about the size of a large mouse with a long tufted tail and kangaroo like hind feet. They're fast, bite hard, and are fun. (I used to own them as a kid for many years and loved them).

They actually aren’t that well known, even though you can always find them in pet shops next to the hamsters. I wonder why they chose gerbil over say, mice or rats or hamsters. I get the feeling there was some inside joke among the writers here.

…..Oh.

Snake guy. Got it.

MARC.

Marc… “That man just ate a gerbil! Why does it set off all my emergency alarm bells?”

Marc…

So... After that... Marc calls up Frenchie on his radio and tells him that he's tailing a car and gives him details on the vehicle.

"Oui, Marc, what's up?"

"I'm not sure... Maybe nothing."

MARC SPECTOR. You just watched a man eat a gerbil in a pet shop....WHOLE. What do you mean 'Nothing'?!

He tails the car to an old run down mansion .

"That's the old Borgwardt estate--It's been taken over by something called Save Our Society... Time to head home."

Frenchie confirms the car info with Marc. It is registered to the SOS non-profit agency that is privately funded by physicians.

"Sort of an east coast version of the Betty Ford Clinic. Why would a man eat a gerbil?"

Marc… You have fought werewolves. You fought a literal rat king. We’ve seen you fight ghosts and get your ass handed to you by a snake.

AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!? Does Steven know you’re wearing his clothes?

He asks Frenchie to dig into the petstore's files and get him a credit card for the guy that ate the gerbil and an address.

Meanwhile, we meander on over to the star of our show:

"Punisher's War Journal-- I've been on the trail of Ralph Newton, a junkie who makes a living ripping off old ladies' social security checks. Two weeks ago he pushed a seventy year old woman down a flight of stairs and she died. Newton seemed to have disappeared, butt now I have a lead--This shooting gallery in the Bronx."

For those of you unaware of the Punisher, here's a brief howdy-do for you!

The Punisher, AKA, Frank Castle. Originally a VietNam vet who came back with a little PTSD. His family (wife and child) were murdered by the mafia and Frank decided he'd had enough of evil in the world. He makes it his life's work to hunt down and kill anyone that makes it a living to hurt people.

Historically, the other heroes (ESPECIALLY DareDevil and Captain America) despise Frank and often rally the other heroes to try to hunt him down and stop him from continuing his war on crime.

He got his start in a Spider-Man comic of all places and branched out from there.

Frank is a pretty gruff and serious man and depending on who is writing him and what series you are reading, he can be pretty violent.

War Journal was a very popular series where he drives around in his Battle Van and writes about his missions. It works nicely because Frank isn’t much of a social man. So if you rely on the story conversations, like in all the other comics, you aren’t going to get much. But having him writing things down in his journal you get a beautiful narration that reads like a Noir film and you also get a fantastic way to get to know Frank and how he thinks. I appreciate it.

Often when Frank meets up with other heroes, there is a fight with them telling him he's wrong for killing and them eventually trying to stop him.

Now, we know he's going to meet up with Marc in this. And I am so excited for you guys to see this epic encounter.

So we see Frank in his usual attire walk up to a safe house and knock on the door.

He gets the guy to open the door posing as a seller.

Yeah. By now, everyone knows what it means when they see that skull design.

"Junkies. I swear they don't feel pain. You've got to break something before they stop coming at you."

Frank shoots all but one. He tells the remaining guy he's looking for Newton.

Lucky for the junkie he says he last saw Newton going into a rehab clinic saying he was going to get straight.

So Frank heads up to the clinic. It's a Save Our Society clinic.

"The place reeks of sweat and stale cigarettes, ashtrays filled to overflowing."

Man that's good Noir.

Frank walks up to the main desk (in his street clothes, which just means he put on a turtle neck and a coat).

"Department of social services. I'm here to verify our use of federal funds."

"I'm sorry, sir. There must be some mistake. This clinic is privately funded --we receive no federal funds."

"*SIGH* Sounds like another department screw-up. Could I speak to your director?"

(What works about this is that no one actually knows what Frank Castle looks like! He doesn’t need a disguise. Everyone knows him by what he wears. They see the giant skull and the guns. It WORKS. And Frank is surprisingly good at acting. He knows the system.)

He's told that the director isn't in. She's Leona Hiss. (Hiss? Really? We're going there?)

Frank heads to get info from Microchip. Hey! Microchip! I missed him!

Microchip was Frank's old tech guy. He was the man in the van that would give Frank info and hack into things for him.

I'd say they were good friends...But Frank doesn't have friends. I'd give you spoilers on what eventually happens to Microchip but... It's kinda a BIG spoiler and maybe someone here wants to head on over into Punisher land. So I'll leave it at that. (I came to Moon Knight from Punisher land. It was all thanks to this crossover comic… so I guess their ploy really does work sometimes.)

Anyways... Microchip looks up this Leona Hiss person.

A widow of an anesthesiologist who started the clinics to help drug addicts. He goes on and on and tells Frank it "Smells like a smoke screen. All her life, the lady shuns publicity. Now all of a sudden she's a big philanthropist?"

Man, look at that light and shadow in the first panel. This art team is amazing.

Frank sets up position on a roof across from the clinic.

"Clock Street's eerily alive at two A.M. I see a knife fight, several drug deals...Lights are burning in the clinic but no one's entered or left. There are guards on the roof. Better move.

I take position a block away, behind the clinic. I can easily make my way back over the rooftops--Nobody's watching back here. Overhead, a faint Whoosh. Some kind of high-tech chopper."

Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy.

(This art. This art is SLAYING.)

Oh man. Look at this meet up. Frank and his shotgun, Moon Knight facing him down.

They know who each other are! Every time Moon Knight meets up with someone he has to introduce himself! No one knows who he is! But Frank knows him. And Moon Knight doesn’t call him Frank. He knows who he is dealing with.

Oh man, that cover called for such an epic showdown. Both ex-marines. Both know how to handle themselves.

Uh.

“I presume we’re both interested in Save Our Society.”

“Right this afternoon I saw a man eat a gerbil. He came from here.”

“What’s his name?”

"Helmut Snead. He used a solen credit card. Six feet, brown eyes, scar above his left eye."

"Ralph Newton--A Junkie Murderer. What's he doing on Long Island?"

"I don't know--But he didn't look like a junkie. I want to know how he got out of the South Bronx and into a fancy clinic."

"How would you take this guy out?"

WHAT IS HAPPENING.

This is incredible. You have no idea.

Frank doesn't have friends. Frank doesn't do team-ups. Frank is brutal and tells it like it is.

And this isn't Frank being the victim to a new writer making nice in someone else's ball park. This is a PUNISHER comic. Moon Knight is the visitor.

And on that note... MARC doesn't have friends. MARC doesn't play well with others. We literally just came off of him being a part of the West Coast Avengers and leaving because he doesn't team well!

And here these two are, meeting for the first time and being BFF.

In fact, the fact that they already know who one another is despite never meeting means that they have heard others talk about them. And when people talk about the Punisher or Moon Knight, they generally don't have good things to say!

So these two heard "Yeah he's a brutal lunatic" they went "I gotta meet this chap."

I can't stress enough how amazing this is.

Frank is even asking Moon Knight to show how he'd take down a guy. He wants to see how Moon Knight works. And Moon Knight is letting Frank go first.

THIS in itself is amazing. Why? Because we have two highly skilled specialists from a high combat militarized zone that were both known for ambush settings and traps.

They know everything about this building isn't reading right, they have seen some guards and they don't know what's going on inside. So they are essentially walking into an unknown through a closed space doorway into a stairwell with numerous blind spots and possibilities for traps/ambushes.

If it were anyone else, Marc would go first to clear the way and possibly take that first hit because he knows he can take it.

BUT. If you REALLY look at it, Frank is older than Marc. Frank went to 'Nam. Frank has been at this longer and has turned New York into his own personal jungle.

He offers Frank the lead out of respect AND because he knows and Frank knows that if anything is out of the ordinary, Frank will spot it FIRST and deal with it.

This is grade A military tactics and my lord it’s beautiful.

And you know what?

Frank’s history is that he was team leader. And when Marc gives him lead, Frank takes it and Marc RESPECTS him. They are both used to working in this sort of setting.

And when you think about it, Marc was NEVER the leader. He followed other people. Bushman was his leader. Marc joined other groups and let other people tell him what to do. If he didn’t like it, he went off and joined a new group.

So when Frank says “Hold it….!” he is treading Marc like an officer under him and he has now automatically accepted Marc as following him and thus putting him under his protection. This is beautiful. I could wax on about this all day you guys.

Uh… Back to the comic. So… Frank spots a Black Mamba that’s sluggish from being in a cold setting.

Marc makes light chatter (he’s kinda of a goof and light chatter is what he does.) Frank quiets him. He knows there’s trouble ahead.

In the next room, we find a junky going through withdrawal and begging the doc to hurry up.

The 'doctor' injects him with something just as Frank and Marc bust in.

"Hello, Ralph. I didn't know you had a license to practice medicine... And only last week you were a lousy junkie..."

"Punisher!"

"Drop the needle."

"I don't think so.... SSSST!"

And the 'Doctor' suddenly has a snake tongue and snake eyes.

This bodes well.

Frank opens fire on his target and it hardly phases him.

"What have we stumbled into? They move slowly but they don't feel any pain." Moon Knight calls out while pummeling one of the snake guys.

"It's the cold. [....] Reptiles. The colder it gets, the slower they move. You saw Ralph eat a gerbil--Snakes eat gerbils. This place looks like a herpetology lab."

Very astute Frank.

They manage to take down all the snake guys and Moon Knight asks if he recognizes any of them.

Frank recognizes a couple of them as crackheads and various junkies.

They find Ralph to be a card carrier for S.O.S.

"Last week he's a junkie with an armful of holes and this week he's front man for a fancy long island cure club."

"I think we know where to go next. Why don't you come with me in the chopper?"

"Thanks, I will."

(WHY ARE THEY SO POLITE TO ONE ANOTHER. IT'S SO OVER THE TOP.)

So... Frank takes a ride in Marc's chopper.

"Nice set-up. How do you keep the engines so quiet?"

"It's a new kind of fiberglass packing."

And they arrive back at the mansion.

"Come on in--I've got a war room. We'll do a little digging."

"This place is a little ostentatious, don't you think?"

"There are so many private choppers flying in and out of the neighborhood nobody notices mine--Especially at night. The surrounding mansions and trees also cover our entrances and exits from the concealed hangar."

I don't think that's what he meant by ostentatious, Marc.

Inside, Frank, Marc, and Frenchie stand around a table with some maps.

Marc tells Frank about the Borwardt estate he initially tracked snake man to earlier.

"I ran a check on cult leaders and you'll never guess who was released from a federal prison last month--Viper."

Frenchie tells Frank who Viper is.

"She used to head up zat facist group Hydra, zen she went solo. She was busted in connection with the so-called snake riot in washington last year...[....] A mass hallucination where people believed they turned into snakes. I also learned that Viper was recently sprung from prison by a Dr. Tyrone."

We head on over to SOS where we see a green lady, "Madam Viper".

She is in a room of snake men who are 'newly converted'.

They say they are hungry and Viper tells them that they have "a rabbit, five hamsters and a gerbil. We'll have to make another run to the pet store soon."

She has a bit of a thing for hitting people with a whip and demanding that they all call her 'Madame Viper'.

She is then informed that the other clinic was hit and that Newton is dead.

She sends the new snake men out to the yard for guard duty. She's pretty sure SHIELD is out to get her. Which makes sense since she worked for Hydra.

Unfortunately for her, it's far from shield.

Overhead, we find the Moon Copter flying by and Moon Knight drops in with his cape and Frank drops in on a glider.

The guards immediately open fire on them and Frank returns fire.

FRANK. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM.

….I don’t know if I should count this as a window dive or not. It’s tempting. I’m not going to count it. He decides to abstain from window entrance for once.

Unfortunately for Frank, he runs in without checking around and Marc isn't there to watch his six.

Madam Viper jumps him and injects him with a serum.

Now... Unfortunately for her... Frank has never responded well to drugs of any sort. He's got a history of this not going well for people that try to drug Frank Castle.

He doesn't go down.

In fact, it actually makes him go a little berserk. A berserk Frank Castle is NEVER something anyone wants to face.

He’s doing fine.

She makes a run for it.

Elsewhere, Moon Knight is fighting his own snake man army.

"Lets of gunfire and then it stopped! The time to start worrying about Punisher is when the gunfire stops.

Viper injects one of her larger helpers turning him into a very large and strong snake man.

Moon Knight faces off with the big snake guy. His usual methods of just 'hit it as hard as I can' doesn't work. They don't feel pain thanks to the drugs.

He's wearing a heat pack to keep him moving so Moon Knight decides to take this outside and....WINDOW! WE GOT A WINDOW!

I mean… This one was legit. And he was exiting with a good reason… But I’m still counting it.

Heat pack removed and out in the cold air, the lizard guy goes down easy.

Moon Knight goes to find the Punisher now.

He finds a room full of bodies and Frank in the middle having a lovely hallucination time.

In the window outside, Marc watches a rocket thing take off with Viper escaping in it to fight another day.

Marc manages to distract frank with his crescent darts, moving them around and letting the light reflect off of them in a hypnotic way. This lets him get close enough to take away Frank's gun.

At this point, Frank calms down and the adrenalin that was coursing through his system and probably helping to stave off the toxic affects of the drugs wears off.

Frank goes into convulsions and Moon Knight moves to get him out of there. Not to mention the cops are starting to show up and they need to leave.

The cops have never been fans of Punisher (Despite what the right wing wants you to think when they put punisher logos on their giant trucks) and Frank has never liked the cops. Time to leave!

Marc takes Frank back to his mansion and puts him to bed.

I kid you not.

This... This is a thing that happens a lot. He did the same thing to Jack Russel. Just... Take the drugged up guy home and let him sleep it off in his big bed in the mansion.

Frank has a rough night, hallucinating and putting up a big of a fight but he sleeps it off.

The next day, he wakes up feeling a bit better.

And it ends here. Frank heading off to his next mission and Marc casual as hell as he watches his new buddy leave.

Again I’m going to say it. WHAT.

You don’t understand just HOW bizarre this issue was. ON BOTH SIDES. Frank was so…NICE… Marc was so amendable! They acted like long lost friends! WHAT WAS WITH THE CONSTANT REFERENCES TO GERBILS?! Why does Marc keep putting drugged up men in his bed? Why was he wearing Steven’s clothes? I have so many questions.

And from this casual weird encounter… An obsession was born.

ALRIGHT. Let’s talk about why this works. (This is gonna get long. You can stop here if you don't want to hear me ramble and are just here for the comics).

In the Marvel universe (616), we have a lot of veterans of different wars.

WWII has Captain America, Bucky, and Nick Fury

Vietnam has Frank Castle.

Wolverine....a lot of wars. All the wars. Every war.

Apparently Charles Xavier was in the Korean war (I didn't know that)

Ben Grimm was in the Marines before his space accident (Awww. Another thing for him to bond with Marc over.)

Then of course you have Carol Danvers who worked for the CIA in the cold war.

Rhodes (War Machine) who was in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

There are a LOT of veterans of different wars and different time periods (Marvel time is a soup).

The initial problem was which war. And this is where we are going to once more step onto the Drifting Pieces History soap box.

We all know the saying “There’s no good war”. But that’s not right. Not according to politics and public opinion.

To be a veteran of WWII was a noble and good thing. You fought a clear cut enemy, (nothing worse than a Nazi) liberated suppressed people, and most important, you came home a winner.

What’s that? There was another war? In Korea? Never heard of that one. We totally didn’t go to Korea and fail miserably and we certainly aren’t going to talk about what happened over there.

Oh look, Vietnam! The first publicly broadcasted war. Not like “The Whole World is Watching”. Oh no, the average citizen is suddenly getting their first look at what happens in war. Oh no, it’s not as nice and pretty as it’s supposed to be. No one talked about the atrocities that were committed by the good guys in WWII! And the Korean War certainly didn’t happen.

This was the first war where American soldiers came home and were shunned. They were booed. They lost their jobs, lost their homes, and lost their families. Disgraced and forgotten by their country and their people.

So we have nice shiny Captain America. A literal representation of the good of America and ideal soldier, punching Nazi and saving people in WWII.

Then we have Frank Castle, a dirty soldier from Vietnam. I’m sure people screamed “Baby killer” at him fresh off the plane. What’s that? Frank served THREE tours in Vietnam?! He was the sole survivor of a huge ambush? He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Navy Cross, Silver and Bronze stars, and four Purple Hearts? That don’t mean shit to the average citizen that only cares about two things: 1. We lost. 2. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

So he comes home, one of the best Marines in the business, and he’s got nothing.

He gets married to a sweetheart, has two kids (a little girl and boy), and settles in living an ideal life. A quiet life. Too quiet. Frank’s got a little PTSD going on and he was very good at what he did. He didn’t want to leave. He was good over there. He was respected. He was needed.

But he’s doing the best he can. Until that’s taken away from him in an event he’d seen over and over again in war. Blazing gun fire and his family is gone.

He gets revenge. But there’s a problem. He isn’t seen as a loving family man that takes down the people that murdered his kids and wife. He’s seen as a violent ex-soldier from Vietnam that’s gone crazy and is shooting up the place.

They say that for Frank, “the war never ended. It just changed missions.”

And all these other Heroes that are also veterans? They came from good wars. Captain America spouts speeches of being a Good Soldier at Frank. He doesn’t know what it’s like to question if the bad guy really is the bad guy.

If Frank hadn’t of been such a family man, he would have made an amazing mercenary. The best there was.

But then you have Marc Spector. He went to war to escape trauma. He was good. He was VERY good at what he did. And dollars to donuts, he heard about another Marine that was also very good named Francis Castiglione.

But Marc could only be good so long as it wasn’t obvious that his mental illness was a thing. Even if he lied signing up for the military, when he took the jobs working for SHIELD and the CIA, they HAD to know about his history in the mental hospital. But the second he starts to dissociate in public, he’s kicked out. Can’t have a mentally ill person hanging out around all those weapons, right? I’m sure that’s what they told themselves as they kicked him to the curb.

Marc could have gone home here. He’d have been a disgraced hero, sitting on the side of the road on a Veteran hat asking for change. But Marc was still running. He didn’t have a childhood sweetheart waiting for him. He had trauma.

So Marc carries on the mission and he’s GOOD. And he’s a follower. He likes being told what to do. It prevents him from thinking and taking responsibility. If people get hurt, it isn’t his fault.

Now Frank is very thorough. There’s a chance that the first time he hears about a new Superhero showing up in Manhattan he immediately looks into it. He’s got access to SHIELD info. He finds out who Marc Spector is and he sees another soldier that was let down by his country. Another soldier that was looking to make a wrong right despite how the war went.

And Marc? Frank’s a hero. He’s tough. He does what needs to be done to keep people safe. Frank’s a leader and he takes care of his soldiers.

They look at one another and see soldiers struggling to find their place here in the normal life again because they never HAD normal lives to begin with.

Moon Knight is the only one who can probably understand where Frank is coming from and not judge him.

Much later on in the comics, when Moon Knight is desperately trying to fit in with the Avengers and be a better hero, we see him come up against Frank again. Frank understands what Moon Knight is trying to do and he asks him if he really thinks it’s going to work.

And despite how everything else was going in that particular run (a lot. A lot was going), it was a very real moment. Frank saw through him. I’ll get more into it later when we eventually get there. But man… These two together both make me so happy and also break my heart.

ANYWAY. Uh… Long extended explanation over! I love this issue with my whole everything.

This writer? This artist? Why couldn’t THEY have been the ones to take over the Marc Spector run? They get it! Look how pretty they make him! Look at all that cape action!

They even get the dichotomy of Marc in this time. We may not have STEVEN, but did you see the way Marc was dressed in the mansion? How very Steven -esque. Even the way he treats Frank at the end there.

UGH I could go on about this all day. I’m going to stop here before I write a dissertation. I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS OKAY.

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Analyzing the comics #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Frank Castle #The Punisher #They deserve to be friends #These two disasters #Why was there so much Gerbil in this #I love this issue #I could wax poetry about it all day #Two reviews in one day? Spoiling you

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ekdarnellbooks · 2 months

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Jury Duty: Part 2 of 7

A spicy sci fi romance novelette in seven parts.

TW/CW: non-graphic descriptions of a court case where someone described as a "young boy" was tortured and murdered, graphic description of another murder, double penetration, double vaginal penetration, alien MMC, human FMC, tentacle smut.

MASTERPOST

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NEXT PART

Eleanor sat at a long table, remarkably similar to the one back in the jury deliberation room. The space was empty save for the table and chairs, and there was one large window. One large window with a view of Earth. Yes, Earth. Looking like a blue and white swirled marble. A view from space. They were in fucking space!

That had been quite a shock. Lorenzo and Janet had held Amber up while Nathan fanned her with his hands. A shock, alright. The gruff alien, not a monster, that much was clear, instructed them to sit, and it was probably for the best as Eleanor’s legs trembled.

Slowly, people trickled in, mostly in groups of three or four, all with various reactions to the realization that they were in outer space; some screams, lots of crying, and plenty of blank stares.

Finally, all were present. Yes, all twelve jury members sat at the table, while six of the purple alien men stood stoically around the room. Still no explanation.

Another whoosh of the door, all eyes shooting to the newcomer. Enzi. Eleanor was certain of it, even though she’d only seen him once. He was larger than the rest, and his pink markings were ever so slightly different, swirling across his ovoid face in a distinct pattern.

Enzi walked to the center of the room, standing right in front of the window as he turned to face the jury. Dead silence.

“You are wondering why you are here,” Enzi said, more of a statement than a question.

No one dared respond.

“I am Enzi. I am the extermination chief in this sector of the galaxy. We are Khureno, hailing from the planet Yeyama.”

More hushed silence as everyone seemed to process this information. There he was with the extermination again. What the hell did that mean?

“Humans have ravaged Earth for long enough and have been recommended for extermination. It is our responsibility to protect all the planets in our sector. By governmental decree, we must give humanity a chance to defend itself, and you are that chance.”

Eleanor caught Enzi’s gaze, directed at her, her head reeling with all the information he was giving them. Exterminate humans? Like they were rats? What the fuck was he talking about?

“You can’t just kill all humans. I mean, that would be impossible,” Nathan said.

Nathan, Nathan, Nathan. These aliens had them on a spaceship orbiting Earth. Clearly they were quite advanced. Probably had some sort of death ray or something.

Enzi turned to him. “We have coded a virus that only affects human DNA. Death will be swift, painless, but comprehensive.”

Oh shit. That didn’t sound good. The room was silent. Even Nathan had nothing to say to that, so Eleanor stood, approaching Enzi.

“How are we supposed to defend humanity? Why is this our decision?” she asked, stepping up to the Khureno as he observed her.

“You are all part of the jury. Is it not your duty to make decisions for Earth?” Enzi’s voice was gruff, his eyes sparkling as he stared down at her.

“What? No. No, we only make a verdict based on one specific trial. A case against one human. Not the entire planet! I think you’re looking for the President, or the UN, or something.”

A dark laughter filled the room, grumbling in the chest of every Khureno. Eleanor didn’t know what was so funny. Reckless fury burned through her, something she’d been trying to work on, but had difficulty quelling at the moment.

“So, what do you want us to do? Are we supposed to vote on whether you destroy us? Yay or nay?” The rest of the jury was silent as Eleanor spoke, though she sensed their stares directed at the back of her head.

“Yes, you will vote, little human. But one vote against humanity is all we need to destroy your species. A single vote. You will have an Earth week to decide.”

Hushed whispers and gasps filled the room as the realization set in. This wasn’t some joke, some trick. This was real. Eleanor refused to take her eyes off Enzi, even as the voices picked up behind her.

“We will take you back to your quarters and provide you with food. Any open rooms on the ship are free for your use. You are welcome to discuss your decision with each other until the time comes for the final vote,” Enzi said.

More hushed murmurs as the other Khureno approached the table, taking jury members by the arms and escorting them from their seats. Cries as the people she had come to know over the past three weeks argued with them, but with little use. Two by two, people were led out of the room, until eventually an alien came for Eleanor.

“I will take care of this one,” Enzi said as the other Khureno reached for her. He nodded, bowing low to the chief exterminator before taking Nathan by the arm and dragging him towards the door.

Nathan stared at Eleanor, wide eyed, disappearing a moment later. She turned back to Enzi, realizing she was alone with him, yet again.

“You will come with me,” Enzi said simply, not even bothering to take her arm as he trudged towards the door.

What could she do but follow him? Eleanor hurried to catch up, though the Khureno’s long strides and her fitted skirt made it difficult.

“Would you slow down?” Eleanor griped as she finally caught him, grabbing at his muscled arm. The scaly texture was unexpected, like a snake she’d held at the zoo once.

A grumbling laugh from Enzi as he turned to look at her, slowing his pace. “You are quite bold, aren’t you?”

Bold? Eleanor had never considered herself particularly bold, though she supposed grabbing the arm of a seven foot tall alien who abducted you could be perceived that way. Grumpy, intelligent, hardworking? Sure. But not bold.

“Where are we going?” she asked, ignoring the annoying laughter.

“To my quarters.”

A shiver of fear, and perhaps something else. But no, straight to the box with you, unsavory thoughts!

“And why are we going there?” Eleanor dropped her hand from his arm as Enzi’s strange tentacles swarmed towards her, the rubbery caress of one of them more than enough to tie her stomach in knots.

“I wish to speak with you, bold little human. Alone.”

Enzi said no more as he led her through the labyrinthine corridors, before stopping at a door that looked like all the rest. A press of his palm to the interface and the door whooshed open, Enzi gesturing for her to enter.

While Eleanor didn’t love the idea of being alone in a room with the alien, she didn’t quite hate it. Fear definitely mixed with another feeling as he followed her in, stalking her as if she were his prey. Her heart raced as she twirled around to face him.

“So, what do you want to talk about? How you want to destroy my entire species?”

Eleanor crossed her arms over her chest, sweat breaking out on her brow as Enzi towered over her. For some reason, she had the prickly feeling that he was going to touch her, though he kept his arms and tentacles to himself.

“It is not my decision. I have just been sent to carry it out.”

She rolled her eyes. Another guy ‘just doing his job’. But his job was to eradicate all of humanity as if they were nothing.

“And who sent you?”

“The galactic government.”

Oh, what a surprise! A vague, yet menacing, government agency.

“I know humans suck, truly, I do, but do you really believe we need to be exterminated?” Eleanor asked.

Enzi just watched her for a long while, without saying a word. It was impossible to read his expression, though there was a distinct lack of a toothy smile. Finally, he spoke again.

“Species do not need to live like this; worlds do not need to be like this. Cognizants can live at peace with the planets they inhabit. Your species has proven they cannot. Utterly wrecking a beautiful world. But without humans, Earth can prosper once more.”

I mean, he certainly had a point. Whether it was the right one or not? Eleanor was unsure. She bit her lip, lacking a rebuttal to Enzi’s words.

A flash behind those scarlet eyes and he continued. “On my world, Yeyama, we are at peace with the planet that was gifted to us. We treat it kindly, treat all the species that inhabit it kindly. I have seen what your species does to those it deems weak, non-cognizants who cannot speak for themselves, but whose suffering is obvious. And that does not even mention what you humans do to each other.”

Eleanor gulped in a breath. He definitely wasn’t wrong there. The images from the trial that she was forced to view were seared into her memory for all eternity. In fact, she’d slept like shit the past few weeks, unable the shake the thoughts of the boy as she lay in her dark bedroom each night.

“So, Khureno don’t murder? What do you call eradicating an entire species?”

“A necessary evil, for the greater good.”

She laughed this time, unable to stop herself as Enzi just blinked slowly down at her. The greater fucking good. No, she didn’t disagree. Humans were terrible. They abused and killed and took advantage of their own kind and other species. They destroyed the planet. But did that really mean that they all had to die?

“What do you think, little human? What will your vote be?”

Of course, she’d vote to save humanity. Of course she would. To do otherwise…

It would be wicked, vile. She’d be no better than the man on trial for murder. Worse. But no, no, Enzi said the deaths would be painless, quick. No one would suffer. No more suffering. That was an intriguing thought.

“Eleanor,” she said, unwilling to answer the question. Enzi narrowed his eyes at her. “You keep calling me ‘little human’. My name is Eleanor.”

Another grumbling laugh, as Enzi’s eyes glimmered with mirth.

“Eleanor. A lovely name.”

Heat flushed her cheeks, and she internally cringed. She was blushing. Because an alien who wanted to destroy all humans thought her name was nice. Truly, a new low.

“How many species have voted to eradicate themselves?” she asked, trying to focus on the elephant in the room. You know, the potential annihilation of the entirety of humanity.

“In this sector? Sixteen since I have taken my position as chief exterminator.”

Eleanor balked. Sixteen species, just erased from existence. How could there be so many?

“And how many have voted to save themselves?” Eleanor leaned forward, unblinking, desperate for the answer.

Enzi’s wide mouth curled into a wicked grin, fangs visible as laughter filled the room.

“None, little human… Eleanor. Not one species.”

A knot caught in her throat, and she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe, she was going to suffocate. Her entire body trembled. Not a single species voted to save themselves, not one? An ache in her chest, like she was really having a heart attack or something. Was she having a heart attack?

Enzi surprised her, placing his clawed hands lightly on her waist, a small gasp leaving Eleanor’s lips. Tentacles wrapped themselves around her lower back, pulling her in closer.

“Do not fret. You will make the correct choice,” Enzi said. Of course she would. Eleanor would vote to save humanity, just like the other jurors. It was the right thing to do.

#romance #sci fi romance #writers on tumblr #monster fucker #monster lover #romance novels #alien fucker #alien lover

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artemfication · 2 years

Text

Experiment gone wrong

They/them, GN-reader, not proofread, sfw, reader has electro vision and is from Inazuma. Tiny bit of angst (kaeya), established relationship, kaeya gets turned into a kid by albedo on accident, no weird stuff happens I promise! I have recycled this from my wattpad genshin book bc i use that app to write down my ideas quickly lmao, I’m ranting again, pls enjoy this kaeya fluff!

'Oh...I don't think this was suppose to happen...' the Chief Alchemist of the Knights of Favonius rubs his chin as he looks down on the result of his latest experiment.

'M-Mister Albedo....what happened to Sir Kaeya?' Sucrose, his assistant, asks surprised and anxious at the same time.

'Please take him to Klee's room for a bit and put him on the bed. I will have to contact...his now caregiver...'

‘And he volunteerd?’

'Yes.'

'And you didn't think this would have had any consequences?'

'Well...I mean...every experiment has it's consequence-'

'It was a rhetorical question.' Y/n signs as they pinche the bridge of their nose. Instead of having a nice day off, their idiot of a boyfriend gave himself as a lab rat and now he has turned into a literal child! This feels illegal...

'I hope you're positive about being able to develop a cure for this within a day...'

'Of course, please make sure he stays safe until we have created a cure for him.' Albedo nods and he leaves the room with Sucrose, leaving them alone with the sleeping child. Perhaps they should ask Diluc if he still has the children clothes he and Kaeya used to wear. Fingers crossed he didn't throw them away.

'Kaeya...?' They kneel down beside the bed and carefully shakes the boy's arm to wake him up.

'Kaeya....?' They repeat and they sees his eyelid move, before it opens to reveal the beautiful deep blue iris with the starry pupil.

'Hey darling....' They greet him softly as he hums sleepily, blinking slowly and rubbing his eyes, before pushing himself up to sit.

'Where am I? Who are you?'

'You're in a room from the Knights of Favonius of Mondstadt. I'm Y/n, I always take care of you.'

'A-Are you my nanny...' they can tell he is a little nervous, yet oh so polite. He wasn't wrong when he told them people loved him as a kid, because he was so well-mannered.

'Please, just call me Y/n. No need to be formal with me, I'm not that old yet. And yes, I'm your nanny.' They chuckle and sit down beside him.

'Do you remember anything?'

'Not really...all I know is that I have...a brother and my dad.'

'Do you remember what he looks like?' They ask, trying to find out if he remembers his biological or adoptive father.

'He has long red hair and is very tall, he owns the Dawn Winery...so that would mean, that's my home!'

Oh Archons...

At least there is nothing wrong with his memory.

'I see...I'm happy your memory is still okay. Your dad asked me to take care of you since your brother is uhm...' this will be risky. But they can't tell him the truth or it will mess him up badly.

'Your brother went to Fontaine, as he needs to learn how to become a good knight in the future. Therefore he needs to know what's good and what's bad. And your father is busy with the tavern, but we could pay him a visit? We need to tell him you're okay after you hit your head when you were playing around Windrise, you scared me when you passed out. Luckily the healer told me you won't have any aftereffects.'

That's so evil...but they would love to see how Diluc is with kids as he is usually a very...stoic man.

'O-okay, but...can I hold your hand?'

'I'll carry you, it's not that far...but..' they grab a small cloak Albedo left them and hand it to little Kaeya.

'You have to wear this. Your dad doesn't want to risk people recognizing you. Otherwise they will touch you without permission and that is forbidden.'

'Oh....'

'They're not bad people...' they kneel before him, putting the cloak over his shoulders, before pulling the hood over his head.

'You are just too beautiful for people to believe that you're real.'

It's not a lie, but they can't risk people seeing him in this form, it will send him into confusion, but they don’t want him to have a panic attack as well.

'I-is it okay if I sleep on the way?' Kaeya asks as they have hoisted him on their back.

'Of course, if you're tired, you should always sleep. After all, a kid like you needs to sleep lots to be able to grow well.' They make sure he has the hood pulled over far enough, before leaving the headquarters as quietly as possible.

As soon as they’ve opened the tavern door, they are met by the winery owner, putting back some bottle and glasses.

'We're closed.'

'I have a problem.'

'What is it?' He asks and they nod towards the sleeping child on their back.

'He doesn't know about your dad...' they whisper and Diluc pulls the hood off to reveal a sleeping child Kaeya.

'The hell did you do to him?' He asks as he carefully takes the boy off their back to put him on an old couch.

'It was Albedo, he volunteered to be a lab rat and well...'

'The knights again.....'

'Just come here and I'll tell you what you need to do.'

They gesture for him to come to the bar and lean forward to whisper in his ear, telling him everything and anything they made up to avoid panic and confusion.

'Listen, he thinks you're your dad. He doesn't know anything. He has the memories of his twelve year old self, way before all of it happened. So please, don't make him panic...'

Diluc signs, shaking his head as he curses at the Knights for being so reckless and idiotic. But seeing little Kaeya reminds him of how close they were when they were younger. Glued to the hip, playing, sleeping, learning and exploring together. They were inseparable...until that one night...

'Listen, I-'

'Dad?' Kaeya's small voice interrupts Diluc and the red head looks down to see the kid has woken up again.

'You're awake, how are you feeling?'

'A little better...are you done with work?'

From a small distance, Y/n sees how Diluc's eyes have softened at the sight of little Kaeya and they have a small smile as they watches them interact.

'Dad? Since when did you shave?' Y/n almost chokes at the sudden question and covers their mouth to stop themselves from laughing.

'I shaved it when you were still asleep. Remember, I always leave at dawn.'

'Oh right...dad, when will Diluc come back?'

'Within a few weeks, Fontaine is quite far after all.'

'If you're done with work, we can go home, right?' Diluc looks from Y/n to Kaeya and back, making them just nod, telling him to just say yes and take him home.

'Why don't you go ahead with Y/n? I will finish cleaning and you can ask the maids to make your favorite food.' At that moment, Kaeya's stomach growls, making the boy smile sheepishly.

'I will dad, don't worry. I'll see you later.'

As Kaeya is getting ready to go to the Dawn Winery, Diluc leans over to Y/n who offers him her ear to listen.

'I'll send out a falcon to deliver a message to the staff so they're aware and won't spill anything. In the mean time, make sure you take your time getting there, stall him a little if you can.'

'I can't promise you anything, but I'll try to...' they mutter. Shortly after, they leave Mondstadt to walk to the winery and on their way, Y/n tries to get little Kaeya to trust them a little more as he is incredibly quiet. He has told them how he used to be such a shy person until he received his vision. Quite the turn of events...but perhaps becoming more confident meant protecting himself from noisy people. Because even though they've been together for a couple of years, he is still a mystery to them.

'M(x) Y/n, you have a vision right?'

'Yeah, I do. Why do you ask?' Kaeya suddenly stops walking and they stop as well to turn around with a questioning look.

'Because...Diluc also got his vision...but do you think I will get one too?' Oh no...

'Do you know what they say in Inazuma about visions?' They ask and kneel before him as he shakes his head.

'One's vision represents one's ambition. What they mean by that is, people with an ambition that appeals the gods will be granted a vision. The vision is suppose to be an aid for pursuing the said ambition.'

'But...how do you know your ambition? How do you find it?' They chuckle lightly and they take his hand to start walking again while Kaeya gives them a confused look.

'There are many ways you can discover your ambition. Your vision depends on your ambition. Let's say, an anemo vision. The god of anemo, Barbatos, is the god of freedom. To have a chance to obtain an anemo vision, your ambition must be to Barbatos' liking.'

'So how did you get your vision?'

'Me? I'm not sure. The Raiden Shogun is the god of eternity. But I'm not sure in what way my ambitions have anything to do with her desires. One day I was preparing to board the Crux Fleet to travel to Liyue. I was one of the Captain's Fleet protectors. I was simply enjoying the view at sea. When I was about to grab my food from my backpack, I found the electro vision.'

'Then what are your ambitions?'

They chuckle at his curiosity and they secretly wish his adult self would have maintained that curiosity. But sadly, nothing really impresses Kaeya that easily anymore. Even if he says it impressed him, his tone doesn't match his words.

'My ambitions...I just don't want to be lonely...but I like to be alone at the same time. The people I care about fall under my protection and I would do anything to prevent them from getting harmed.' As they spoke those words they have reached the Dawn Winery where they get greeted by the maids.

'M(x) Y/n, Young Master Kaeya, pleased to see you have returned in good health, we have already prepared Young Master Kaeya's favorite dish for dinner.'

'Fruity Skewers?! Woah, I haven't eaten those in a long time!'

'Well, how about you go and eat-'

'I'm back.' A heavy voice interrupts and both turn their heads to see Diluc entering the mansion as well.

'You're fast.'

'I was almost finished when you came in, so it was only a matter of time.'

'Dad, look! They made my favorite food!'

'I see, how about we go eat, hmm?' Something about Diluc acting like a dad makes him look more soft-spoken and happier. He is usually so stiff and...emotionless...

'I also received a letter addressed to you.' He hands Y/n a letter and they nod quietly as the takes it from him.

'You guys can start dinner, I'll be outside for a little while...taking care of some other stuff...'

Leaving the two to have some proper family time, they close the big door behind then and sit down on the stone fence to open up the letter, which is sealed with the Favonius symbol.

'They're quick...' they mumble as they read. Albedo has managed to make an antidote and it should be ready by tomorrow. So he is asking them to come to the headquarters so they can give it to Kaeya and get him back to his present self. As much as they love to see happy-go-lucky kid Kaeya and the way Diluc is treating him so warmly, it's not fair for kid Kaeya. At some point he'll have to find out everything, so it's best to go back to how things were and just hope that maybe, some day, the brothers will make up and become as close as they were once before.

They feed the falcon as a reward and rip a paper from their journal to write back a reply to the alchemist, stating that they will be there tomorrow around nine.

After sending the falcon back, they go inside again to join Diluc and Kaeya for dinner. Kid Kaeya is so different from his adult self. He did tell them what he was like as a kid, but seeing it with their own eyes makes them feel sad. If only he was still so bright and full of life as an adult as he was as a kid. To this day, all they know is that he turned to drinking to sooth his pain.

—

'So tomorrow he'll be back to normal again?' Y/n turns their head to see Diluc walk up to them as they are watching in de doorway over a sleeping Kaeya.

'Yes...'

'You're not happy?'

'I am...it's just sad to see him go back into hiding behind this mask...in the two years we've been together, not once did he show me real enthusiasm or any other emotion that wasn't related to him being confident and prideful....'

'Maybe talk to him about it?' They scoff at his suggestion. Since when did The Diluc Ragnvindr think talking was a good idea? He himself doesn't even like to talk!

'I will talk to him about it...if you start trusting people a little more.'

'I don't nee-'

'Yes, you do. Open up little by little. I saw the look on your face when you saw Kaeya being a kid....I know you want to find answers about your dad, but that doesn't mean you should close yourself off and assume every single person you meet will leave you.'

'But I don't...I don't find anyone interesting...'

'Jean.'

'Jean?'

'Yeah, Jean.' Diluc looks stupidly confused, almost making them laugh at his dumbfounded face. They have never seen anyone looking that lost. Let alone Mondstadt's most desired bachelor.

'You two would look pretty cute...'

'Shut up.'

'I'm just say-'

'You will not speak of whatever happened today, or I will personally throw you into one of Natlan's volcanos.'

'I would like to see you try.' He simply huffs in response, before leaving to do his usual Dark Knight Hero stuff and right before they are about to close the door, they hear sniffing from the bed and Kaeya's small voice.

'M(x) Y/n...?'

'Did I wake you?'

'No...I was just having a bad dream...'

'Do you want some water?' A moment of silence, before Kaeya responds shyly with a request.

'W-will you stay with me...?'

'If you want me to...are you scared?'

'Yes...Diluc used to always sleep next to me so the bad dreams wouldn't come. But now that he is away, they keep coming back...'

They sit down on the floor next to his bed to softly run their fingers through his hair, hoping for him to calm down and go back to sleep again.

'You're safe here, Kaeya. I promise.' So it appears he's been having these nightmares since childhood...

The way he asked for them to stay hasn't changed either...they remember, before they were dating, Kaeya would sneak into their room through the window to find comfort. They always ended up cuddling him to sleep. And whenever they were over at his place, he always asked them to sleep over so he could cling himself onto them, face buried in their neck. Apparently the perfume they always wear is calming to him.

—

'Y/n~' a voice sing songs playfully as someone is poking their finger against their cheek. They moan tiredly and peek carefully to see who is waking them.

'Why were you sleeping on the floor, love?' instead of a little kid, they see a grown Kaeya looking at them in amusement, knelt down beside then on the floor.

Upon realizing, they immediately pull him into a tight embrace, making him let out a laugh as he hugs them back just as tight.

'You idiot, what were you thinking, offering yourself to be Albedo's test subject?!'

'I thought it would be fun...but what happened? Why are we at the winery?'

'I'll tell you...once we get home..'

'What about Diluc, he's not back yet?'

'I am.' Both turn their heads to the door to see the red head having his arms crossed, looking like his usual cold self.

'Don't you guys have to be at the Favonius headquarters?' The second to last word spewed out like it was poison.

'Oh, right, we have to tell Albedo.'

'And here I thought I could have a nice breakfast-'

'We can get that at Good Hunter, now let's go you dumbass.' Y/n drags their boyfriend out of the winery, yelling a thank you to Diluc and when the door closes, the ex-cavalry captain has a small smile om his lips. At least Kaeya found someone who makes him happy and comforts him. Something he failed to do...

—

'Albedo!'

'M(x) Y/n and sir Kaeya...'

'He turned back to his old self over night! He seems fine so I don't think the cure is needed.'

'That's a relief. At least we have an antidote in case something similar happens again.' They then turn to Kaeya with their hands on their hips, giving him a heavily displeased glare. He isn't scared of many things and his partner is normally their usual confident, smart , cute — and in the back of his mind, pretty damn sexy — self. But the glare he is receiving now is giving him goosebumps in fear.

'And you...' they begin, their eyes now turning purple. 'You get three seconds to run, before I hunt you down and throw you into the Cider Lake off Mondstadt's highest point.'

'3...'

'I gotta go!'

'2...'

'I swear it won't-'

'1...'

'Bye-'

The two zoom out of the lab, leaving both Albedo and Sucrose a little perplexed.

'Is that how relationships work?' The Chalk Prince asks curiously at which his assistant quickly shakes her head, cheeks tinted pink.

'No, no, this is only how sir Kaeya and m(x) Y/n's relationship works. Not every couple is like that!'

'Hmm...interesting.'

#kaeya x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact headcanons #kaeya genshin impact #genshin fluff #kaeya fluff

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h-doodles · 9 months

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hi, can I ask for your top ten favorite fics ? :)

Hi anon hiiiiiiii welcome!!! u caught me at a good time, ur soooo lucky bc i just glanced at my notifs and saw this ask get sent <3 KDBDKDKK its been literal years since i checked my ask box 👉🏻👈🏻

BUT ANYWAY! top 10 of all time???? be warned that while i am currently enchanted with ONE (1) 6 ft 3 in actress, I still do consider myself a girlie with varied tastes so. my old & other fandoms are mixed in my current list!

without further ado:

#10: knowledge for knowledge's sake by tigriswolf (ao3) || quite an old piece detailing how a change in the personality of one Hermione Granger could have had a massive impact to the story— and while I don't fuck with JKTerfling, the fics I've read from the old fans in the HP fandom are still honestly, some of the BEST I have EVER read. This one in particular irrevocably changed me as a teen, and is one story that I continue to draw inspiration upon when I create dark!AUs for my SI/OCs.

#9: Zutopia by itslivybear (ao3) || the fluff, the worldbuilding, an AU where Izuku is mentored by our beloved Rat God & together, they fix the world problems? GIRLIES catch me forever LOVING this concept like you could NEVER believe <3

#8: (not so) Bad Idea by @sarahpaulsonsoftie (tumblr post) || HEE HEE ITS LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE LIKE HELP THESE BITCHES GAY!!!!!! GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!! ft a meddling plantita who really mothered; Marilyn Thornhill <3

#7: Hold my Soul by connyhascontrol (ao3) || I got into Trixie/Katya completely by one @montaguehphm introducing me to UNHhhh (HIIIIIII bestie I hope everything is going good and that ur gay keeps slay <3) and I haven't recovered ever since— reading the fics by writers on AO3 was a happy little accident, but one i will FOREVER love, nonetheless. Anyway, this particular fic was SO brilliantly original and YET so entrenched in the personalities between T&K that it ABSOLUTELY just wrecks me everytime I reread it. anyways hi @connyhascontrol pls know ur brilliant <3

#6: I think I'm gonna call him out by hellelf (ao3, users only) || again, another AU for Hermione fic, that's chockfull of world building and interesting relationships! It's been unupdated from its 5 chapters since 2021, but I still LOVE to look back at it from time to time 💖

#5: The Confectionary Chronicles series by cheshire_caroll (ao3); Into the Black series by angelholme (ao3); Hermione Granger & the Serpent's Renaissance series by epsi1on (ao3) AND New Blood by artemisgirl (ff.net) || if it's not evident, i am an absolute slut for fics ft. Hermione being badass & put into a v cool plot w/ insane amounts of world building, so yeah, def a top 5 most contender <3

#4: The Infinitely Curious Woman by chararii (ao3) || literally ALL of their fics are absolute bangers, and while I forever mourn their decision to stop all Naruto fics thanks to the great harddrive incident of 2022, I have nonetheless the GREATEST respect to their skill & talent to bring SUCH LIFE to their stories. In particular, I chose this particular fic of theirs because the premise of Sakura making her own way by shedding off her morality the more she learned & got influenced by her 2 greatest teachers was absolutely nothing short of DIVINE. It was and IS such an inspiration to read, reread & explore, and I will forever love @chararii for this brilliant piece of a fic

#3: The Endgame that never was series by @heleneplays aka me (tumblr masterlist) || ok I know this seems self-absorbed but DEAR MOTHER OF CHRISTIE i literally WENT OFF for a whole ass day and a half going feral for the Relics of the Lost Age series book 3 finale (hi @jamesshawgames pls know im still here and STILL simping even tho i am currently having a brainrot for a different thing on main sjdhdkdk i hope ur doing well dearest mr. chief author sir!!!!) and created this series from my dreams + nonstop ben&ben playlist— and honestly, I think it's VERY sexy of me <3 bc I rarely like things that I do after a while, but THIS— alongside Universal Constant (ao3) are truly my BEST work <3

#2: Across the Stars by nomisunrider (ao3) || I CAN NEVER STRESS THIS ENOUGH, HOW MUCH THIS FIC ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY LIKE. its been 4 YEARS since it was completed but HOLY. MOTHERFUCKING. GOD. The story between Michael & Philippa persisting beyond the odds, in a twist of the canon happenings in Star Trek: Discovery is FOREVER ingrained in my heart and soul and honestly once again THANK YOU @nomi--sunrider for SUCH a beautiful story 🥺🥺🥺

and drum roll please!!!

#1 (current): I literally cannot pick between Better than Gold + Little Cat by @lady-dimimi / @azu-zu (tumblr post for BtG | LC ao3); How to woo a Hot Principal by @softshrimpy (ao3); and Lipstick Stains by @weemssapphic (ao3) || LIKE HOLY SHIT THE FUCKING AMOUNT OF TALENT, PLOT, FLUFF, DRAMA AND UTTER GAYNESS THESE FICS BRING ME— its SOOOOO insanity inducing in the best of ways <3 also, i really count myself lucky to get into a very active (x reader) sphere LIKE ITS SOOOOO INSANE i get to consume CONTENT daily for such wonderful characters and these special morsels be like. authors, I am sending you all a MWAH from me

#meows at you meows at you #thank u for the ask lol im sorry it took literally HOURS i had to look thru my ao3 rec list to pick lmao #anyways MWAH #anon asks #answered asks #lee answers #fic recs #personal.txt #clown.txt #simp.txt

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