how about 34 "to pretend". fReyder. (honestly, this is my one and only ship since 2017) LOL
To pretend and in your Dancer AU my friend. Maybe someday I’ll be able to write my “Reyes used to be a professional ballroom dancer and now they’re entering themselves into a dance competition” AU fic for you, but for now I hope you like this! Pretend quickly turned into not pretending xD
Her foot tappednervously against the floor; she was never really this nervous during showsbefore, but this was uncharted territory. She’d be getting judged byprofessional ballroom dancers when she had no professional ballroom experiencesave for the month preparing this one dance. They hadn’t even worked on anythingother than this piece, and of course he gave her one of the hardest ones tostart with.
TheArgentine Tango. Full of all kinds of technical footwork and daring lifts, buthe wanted to wow the judges and said that this was going to be how. She wasdecked out in red and black lace, hair done up in a tight low bun at the napeof her neck, a few curls to frame her face. She hated him right now. He was soconfident, had so much swagger as he spoke to other dancers he used to know.The cat had finally gotten out of the bag that he had entered himself into thecompetition and she felt her ears burn when they gave him shit for picking atall ballerina for his partner.
Yet shecouldn’t get over the praise she heard from him. She was pretending that shecouldn’t hear his conversation as she sat on the floor and began to stretch,but she was listening to everything, and he probably knew she was too.
For a monththey’d worked on this dance, she knew she had it memorized, but did she comeacross looking like she knew what she was doing like Reyes thought she did? Sheknew he also picked this dance for more than just to wow the judges. It wassexy, it sizzled, and his flirtingand teasing when she walked into suggestive phrases only made it all worse. Shecould feel the warmth in her cheeks as she thought about how close the dancemade them, how she had to pretend to be so in lust with him for this dance.
The look hegave her when they got into “character” sent chills up her spine. She couldn’thelp but feel he wasn’t doing much acting when it came to this dance.
“Are youready?” She heard his voice behind her and she shook her head.
“No.”
His lightchuckle filled her ears as he swooped in front of her and took her hands topull her to her feet. She was slightly taller than him in the short heels shewas wearing, and despite her protests that it would look funny, he insistedthat it would look sillier if she wasn’t wearing them.
“You knowthis dance, Emun, there’s nothing to be worried about.” He said, hands stillintertwined with hers. “I’ve got you, I promise.”
She slightlyfrowned, his little promises here and there only seemed to be open and empty,but he said them with so much sincerity it was hard to not believe him. Beforeshe could say anything he shook his head and she waited.
“Take adeep breath.” He said, and she narrowed her eyes at him. He laughed, grippingher hands and gently shaking them. “Emun, just take a deep breath and relax fora moment.”
Rolling hereyes she finally did what he suggested, taking one deep breath and relaxing. “Istill don’t understand how you believe that I can pull this—”
“Stop. Youare a dancer. A fantastic dancer. You will be amazing. We will move on.” Hesaid to her.
Anattendant came over to fetch them, ushering them to one of the rooms. She couldhear Reyes mutter a quick ‘shit’ under his breath when they caught sight of thejudges.
“Well, ifit isn’t Reyes Vidal,” she said, green eyes fixed upon them. “I almost didn’tbelieve it when I saw your name on the card.”
“Foster,”he said professionally, “always a pleasure to see you.”
“Cut the shit,Vidal. We don’t have to pretend to like each other.”
Emunbristled at that, looking at Reyes with a brow raised. “Should we leave now?”Emun said dryly and the woman chuckled.
“Not at allMs. Ryder. I know when to be impartial. I am Foster Addison, this is TiranKandros, and Jarun Tann.” She motioned to the judges at her side. “We are yourjudges this evening and should you be chosen, we will be the judges for thecompetition. So whenever you’re ready, please proceed.”
Emun raiseda brow at Reyes and he shrugged. “It was nothing,” he whispered. “I may or maynot have… wooed her partner back in the day.”
“Really?”She asked incredulously, trying to keep quiet as they got situated intoposition.
“It was acut throat world. She started it by trying to sleep with my partner and turnher against me. The only difference was that she failed and I succeeded.” Theyceased their hushed conversation and Reyes nodded toward the person who wouldstart the music. She took another deep breath, and in an instant they weredancing.
She had to focussolely on the dance, on making it look like she was as into him as he was her.It wasn’t only the steps they had to get right, it was the tone, the vision ofthe dance that had to work. She feared though, that she wasn’t exactly acting abouthow much he turned her on.
He liftedher, she felt a thrill when each move smoothly transitioned into the next. Shefelt winded, but excited, and she was as into the dance just as much as he was.Her hand sliding over his chest, his palm easing up her thigh. He pulled her inquick and tight for the final embrace and heard him whisper, just play along, right before he pressedhis lips to hers in a fiery kiss to end the dance.
She wasshocked, but couldn’t help kissing him back quickly before they both parted,panting in each other’s arms. She swallowed hard, and couldn’t bring herself tolook at the judge’s faces just yet.
He leanedin close to her ear, his breath warm at her neck, “I think they liked it,” hewhispered.
“How canyou tell?”
“Trust me,”he winked at her, and she nodded. He wrapped his arm around her waist, givingher a comforting squeeze.
“I mustadmit, that was quite excellent, Vidal,” Addison said. “We’ll let you know theresults in a few hours.”
“Thank you,”he said, his hand at the small of her back as he led her out. He gave heranother kiss before they left the room, and she only now just realized he wasplaying it up for the cameras. She let it happen though, admittedly she enjoyedthe feeling of his lips against hers.
Onceoutside though, she hurriedly made her way off. She needed to be alone with herthoughts, but of course he followed after her. “Wait, Emun, I’m sorry.”
“What wasthat all about?” She turned on him after they rounded a corner, the hallway emptyand private.
“What? Thekiss? Something tells me that kiss wasn’t just for pretend,” he said cheekily,getting a little closer.
“Don’t getany ideas.”
“I’m tryingto give them something to work with, Emun. What better than to give them an ‘arethey or are they not in love’ plot to their show?”
She shookher head, “You’re unbelievable.”
“But youknow I’m right.” He leaned against the wall. “Come on, Emun, trust me. We hadto give an extra edge. I promise this will all work out.”
“You’vebeen making a lot of promises, Reyes,” she shot back at him. “This money isimportant to me, it could help my brother.”
“I know,”he nodded, taking her hand and lacing his fingers with hers. She let him, likedthe bits of affection she secretly craved from him. “I’m doing what I believewill help us. If we have to pretend that we’re a couple to give us an extraedge, why not?”
“I’m goodat pretending,” she saw the smirk that appeared on his face, “don’t… I didn’t meanthat I wasn’t pretending back there, I was…” She stumbled and groaned, knowingshe walked into that mess.
He movedcloser to her, hands planting on either side of her against the wall. “You knowI’m taking this competition seriously, and I know you are too. However… the offerstill stands… we can have a little fun along the way.” He was close, so close,just a little nudge and she could have her lips against his again, savoring thefeeling of it all once more. “Just say you want me, Emun.”
“Fuck,” shebreathed, feeling the tension swirling around them until she couldn’t stand itany longer. She kissed him, felt him kiss her back hard as he pressed heragainst the wall. Her hands slipped over his shoulders, fingers gripping hisshirt. She let his tongue slip into her mouth, deepening the kiss, and she feltso caught up until she realized how unprofessional this was, and the thought ofa camera possibly lurking suddenly jolted her back to her senses. “Wait, wait,”She panted, slipping away from his hold. “This is unprofessional,” she tried tocatch her breath, and her senses.
“Emun,” hecalled after her, but she was already gone. She couldn’t get over how she felt,how intoxicating he could make her feel. It was a whirlwind of emotions thatshe hadn’t exactly felt before.
Hourslater, he called to tell her they made it to the next round. She didn’t knowwhether she was thrilled, or if she was scared of how much more intense thesefeelings could get.
Hey I did a meme thing for a change! It’s been 84 years :D I was tagged by these lovely awesome people, who still continue to tag me in things even though I’m in the hermit cave most days, so shower these three people with love: @starsandskies @badwolf626 and @joz-stankovich thank you, loves (:
I shall tag.... I’m not sure.... but these people have been nice enough and have been tagging me in memes and things so I’ll tag: @larapedan @ntbogoni @chenria @evilsapphyre @kellytheirin @erubadhriell aaaand anyone else that I’m forgetting I’m so so so sorry(this is why I don’t usually tag people because I get anxiety over forgetting anyone Dx)
Since three people tagged me I decided to do three OCs. So it’s all under the cut because I can’t just not over-explain shit lol
Emmanuelle ‘Emun’ Ryder
1. Family: She’s a very dutiful daughter. She never got into much trouble unless she was trying to keep her brother, Shannon, out of trouble. Though it’s not as if she didn’t do her fair share of sneaking out or underage drinking, she was just a lot more sneaky about it than Shan was. I refer to them as the disaster twins, and sometimes the wonder twins lol
2. Appearance: She’s tall and graceful looking. She’s also a ballet Ryder, as her mum thought it’d be nice to put her into something peaceful when she was younger, however, though she was fairly decent at it, she was interested in the military life. It was structured and she got to serve a purpose. Plus it was a chance at a bigger family since all she really had was her brother growing up because their parents were always too busy.
3. Hobbies: Work. She pretty much works all the time, researching, finding new tech gear, she can be kind of a bore, but secretly she doesn’t mind when people pull her away to do fun things. Night on the town, movie nights, stargazing.
4. Personality: Though she can come across dull and deadpan, she actually has a crass and wry sense of humor. She also is actually a very caring person, and she deeply cares about the well-being of her crew members. She sneaks little gifts or treats into their rooms whenever they’re gone. She and Shannon also share their mum’s British accent.
5. Romance: She never in a million years expected the freight train worth of feelings and attraction to hit her as hard as it did when “You look like you’re waiting for someone” entered her ears. She felt like an actual teenager with her emotions, which was also something that she never felt when she was in her teens for anyone before.
Nivalis Kiba
1. Family: She always craved affection when she was a child, but had to deal with an unaffectionate mother, and sister. She knew there was always love there, but she wanted the relationship she always saw others have with their mothers. She lost her father when she was really young, and that’s the parent who was the affectionate one. Despite that, she would never trade her family, or the memories she had with them for anything. She just wishes she could have both her mother and father back, and regrets not telling her mother more often that she loved her.
2. Appearance: She’s tall, athletic, but also curvy. Girl likes to eat and eat well. She’s also got a smattering of freckles and warm honey brown eyes. She doesn’t have many scars, but gains a few after the incident in Altissia.
3. Hobbies: When she got over the same illness that killed her father, she got into training with her sister, and then with Gladio as they became closer friends along with Ignis. She’d always known the boys in passing, and had always been around Noctis, Ignis, and Gladio in the Citadel, but she didn’t form a more solid friendship with all of them until she was in her teens. So she enjoys training with them, and running at dusk. She’s a fan of the opera and ballet and loved to go see them when she could. She always dreamed of traveling someday, unfortunately that didn’t work out as well as it should have lol
4. Personality: She tried to be like her mother and sister when she was younger, stoic, cold, but she was too much like her father. She’s a warm personality, likes balance and enjoys hanging around and laughing with her friends. She just wants to love and be loved and be warm and happy.
5. Romance: Had a crush on Ignis since they were little. After her father’s funeral she ran off and hid, and Ignis found her and just sat with her. Ever since then she’d been totally smitten with him. Though when they got older she was always too shy to say anything when they were in their teens. Then when she turned 18 and also joined the Crownsguard, she gave up hope of ever having anything happen between them because it just wouldn’t be proper to have a relationship, plus she never thought he felt that way for her anyway. But he did, and after the events of Altissia they didn’t want something else to happen without getting the chance to confess to each other how they felt and so they did and got together! Finally xD
Extra fact: Her last name is for one of my favorite characters from Wolf’s Rain. (:
Lonyn Shepard
1. Family: She was orphaned at about four years old. She has no idea who her mother was, but only knew her father was in the Alliance and died on some classified mission. She slipped through the cracks and into the foster system after that, because no other family claimed her. She did a stint with the Reds but hated every second of it, always feeling like she was less than, and wanting more for her life. She was injured and left for dead and managed to get to a hospital where she met her eventual best friend who was being visited by his family friend, Anderson, and they both encouraged her to join the Alliance. Which eventually led her to her new family on the Normandy.
2. Appearance: She’s tall and athletic, towers over a lot of people at 6’ and she’s not afraid to pull punches. She uses her intimidating stature to her advantage at any chance she gets. She’s got a scar that runs underneath her eye over her nose and underneath the other. I do away with ME2 taking away the facial scars, and she still retains all her scars. She has some acid scars and claw mark scars from the thresher maws on Akuze. She also has tattoos of her Akuze squad’s initials on her back.
3. Hobbies: She likes to spar with people, but she also enjoys playing card games because she has the best poker face(because she’s an expert bullshitter). She loves snow activities, like skiing, skating, even sledding. She has a love for old old classical music, and blues and jazz, so she listens to those things to calm her down and find her center.
4. Personality: She loves to bullshit people. She tells outrageous stories, and makes almost everything up. Her favorite was telling different stories about how she got her scars, knowing that it would make the rounds since everyone always thought it was their business to ask how she got her scar. She only told Kaidan the real story, and it was only because he never did ask her.
5. Romance: She’d had many flings and throwaways but only ever loved two men, her best friend who died during Akuze, and Kaidan. She doesn’t really know when the exact moment it was that she fell in love with Kaidan, but it was a gradual realization that she was very much in love with him. She missed him so badly during ME2, and though she wished he could have joined her she knew he couldn’t betray the Alliance, and she would have done the same thing in his shoes. She wasn’t about to let him slip away though when they reunited during the Cerberus attack in ME3. Since she almost lost him on Mars she wasn’t about to let him go again without telling him she still wanted to be with him.
How did you KNOW!? Lol This is from a little ‘What if’ scenario that I’ve written a tinny bit of and may continue if inspiration hits again. And you are the one that inspired this xD What if Alec never died.
Emun chasedthem, sprinting when she heard the gunshots echo from Alec’s gun all around thecave as they climbed a slope that led to an upper area. She was just in time tosee Reyes nearly fall, stumbling a little when a bullet pierced his shoulder.Alec stopped to line up a shot as Reyes continued towards an opening in thecave where a shuttle was waiting for him. Emun grabbed his arm to keep him fromshooting him. She couldn’t help it, despite everything she couldn’t watch herfather kill him.
What if Papa Ryder hadn't died on Habitat 7? What would Emun have gone on to do?
Ooh that’s a good one!!! Emun probably would have continued being the dutiful, straight laced, professional daughter. She would’ve followed her dad’s command and it wouldn’t have been any different than her following orders in the past! Just thinking about Alec being alive, I don’t know if he could’ve done what the Ryder child did! In some way I think things would’ve eventually fallen apart even though Alec is definitely super capable and the best, I just feel like kid Ryder feeling things out and bumbling along worked better for the things that happened? Though Alec may have come in and just barked at people and gotten them straightened out and it would’ve worked out fine lol
Kadara would’ve been interesting though. In some way I think Reyes and Emun would’ve still met, and that would’ve been an even more secretive romance. Alec would probably have sided with Sloane and if he’d found out about her sneaking around with Reyes every time they were on Kadara he probably would’ve flipped his shit xD ooh now I feel inspired to write a few what if scenarios about this xD I think Emun may have finally been able to break orders here and started questioning her dad’s judgment if Sloane was still doing shady shit! But in some way I feel like Alec may have convinced Sloane to stop the shady stuff, so it’d be really interesting.
10: You areconducting a ritual. What 5 items would you need to summon your OC?Hah! This is a good one, kind of hard for Emun though xD
ForLonyn it’d be super simple. N7 armor/helmet(honestly just pile up everything N7she’d be summoned with that alone), Alliance dog tags, classical music, her father’s watch, Kaidan Alenko black widow sniper rifle lol
Emun… God she’s hard. Probably her Alliance tags, boots, Istill haven’t decided what of her mother’s she has but something from hermother, tech gadgets, scotch.
98, 93, 86 for Emun, 81, 71, 64 for Ohahn, & 60, 44, 13 for Lonyn :D
Ahh yay my other babies too!! ^^ Thank you for asking :D
Emun Ryder
98. Something that they regret?She regrets not trying hard enough to be closer to her parents when she got older. She was so closed off and not very emotional that she also shut them out. She’s a lot like Alec in that respect, plus his focus was so much on their mother later on that he forgot about her and Shannon. Her mother was also working a lot before her sickness. She had Shannon, but she wished she’d tried harder with both of them. And a couple things that happen in Blue Haze(shutting Reyes out and breaking up with him).
93. What kinds of things anger them?Not much riles her up too much, since she’s calm most of the time, but definitely don’t talk shit about or try to hurt her brother. She’s very protective over Shannon and the Archon just pissed her off most of the time.
86. Do they like sweet foods?She’s pretty indifferent about sweets! Maybe the occasional dessert, but it’d probably be more savory. She doesn’t seek them out, but if someone offers she’ll have some sweets! (:
Ohahn Cousland
81. Do they try to hide their emotions? Are they good at it?Ohahn definitely hides her emotions. She’s good at it with everyone but Alistair. He figured out he could see how she was feeling by the look in her eyes! ^^
71. Do they enjoy helping people?Yes, she does! She always felt pretty useless just being a Noble’s kid, so being out and about on her own journey she goes out of her way to help those who can’t help themselves when they ask. Probably too often!
64. Upon seeing a slice of chocolate cake, what is their first reaction?Hmm… She’d probably wonder if someone was going to eat it xD
Lonyn Shepard
60. What is something that they’re sure to laugh at?Oh hmm… I’m having a hard time thinking of any specific thing that’ll always make her laugh xD It’s not hard to crack her up, she’s usually pretty lighthearted(aside from ME2 and part of 3), but she’s fun loving and easy going most of the time. She enjoys bullshitting other people, and when they believe her she gets a laugh out of that! I think drunk Dr. Chakwas is pretty surefire way to make her laugh xD
44. Why might someone love them?She’s determined, cares, easygoing, not very high maintenance. She can be professional when she needs to be, but she’s pretty humorous most of the time. She was never a relationship person, but being with Kaidan was always so right. Even through ME2 she was still committed to him even though they weren’t together. For her, waking up was basically like waking up the next day. She didn’t want to believe it’d already been two years and everyone thought she was dead.
13. How do they react to feelings of guilt?She can get frustrated because of it. She tries not to do anything that would make her feel regret, but if it’s something she had no choice over and she felt guilty about it she’ll usually try to work through it by working out, punching a punching bag, things like that.
3. What is their biggest motivator?I would say her biggest motivator is not wanting to letpeople down! She wants to succeed and be useful, so she’ll do whatever she canto make that happen. Probably why she’s died or almost died so much xD She doesn’tknow when to quit!
10. What is their favorite food/kind of food?Emun is indifferent about a lot of things, so she doesn’treally have a favorite food! She’s one of those people who would say ‘Oh that’sgood’ about fancy five star food and about fast food. She’d have the samereaction, and she pretty much tries anything!
16. What are they like when they’ve gotten too little sleep?She’s a grump for sure lol She’s usually quiet and reservedanyway, though with the events in MEA and getting to know her crew she got alot better, but she’ll definitely offer quite a bit more glares and frowny facesif she’s tired and cranky xD
17. What are they like when they’re drunk?She still tries to be in control, but she’s more likely toactually show some emotions, like getting angry or frustrated even easier. Butshe’s mostly just more relaxed and at ease! But nothing crazy, she usuallydoesn’t let herself get so drunk that she can’t still remember or control heractions!
23. Do they collect anything?Probably weapons! Vetra thinks she has a knife collectionbut it’s only a few daggers xD She likes weapons though, she has a coupleswords, a few daggers, a couple sniper rifles. She also tends to pick up themodel ships and collects those when she finds them!
91. What is their sense of humor like?She has a very dry sense of humor. Sarcastic and kind of blunt.She does find things funny but doesn’t always laugh, usually a smirk, and she’snot really one to tell jokes, as she’s still pretty quiet and reserved, and professionalxD But she’ll pretty much be okay with most people’s jokes and get a kick outof them even if she doesn’t show it lol
84. What are some physical features that they findattractive on people?It’s kind of hard to explain with her, since she doesn’tfind many people attractive to her, but she does find eyes, their shape, color,laugh lines, to be attractive.
58. Do they ever have nightmares? If so, what about?She used to not, but with everything happening in Andromeda,it makes it a little harder to sleep. Mostly it’s a repeat of her dad savingher life and not being able to breathe and utterly helpless to save herself.She’ll wake up gasping for air sometimes ):
44. Why might someone love them?Hmm… She’s loyal, very protective. Even if she doesn’t showit she cares by doing little things for her crew. I may have forgotten to writeit in to my fic, because I was focusing on her relationship with Reyes, but shelikes to make sure to have supplies and comfort things for her crew members. Ohgosh she sounds so difficult and hard to love since she’s not very emotionaland pretty difficult at expressing how she feels xD
