Earving!Black Noir x Payback!Reader | Stargazing | Oneshot
Note- Heavily implied that the reader isn't black (interracial dating)
Note 2- This is the finished version,, tumblr kept posting my drafts
Last month you thought that you'd lose your job due to your thoughts.
This month? You're almost certain that you're going to lose it.
You can't blame yourself.
How can you? Earving is everything you've ever wanted in a man. He's sweet, charming and even funny at times.
He's the one person who makes working in Payback worth it. If it wasn't for him, you would've been out of there before Solider Boy could threaten you again. Or, more realistically, the second your agreement with Vought ends.
"Nicaragua is unique. It's one of the only places where you can see the milky way with your eyes," Earving whispers, pointing to the belt of stars and colours in the sky.
"Yeah?"
"Mhm- that's the southern cross right there," he continues, pointing to some stars connecting them with a finger.
Its nights like these where everything feels worth it. No-one is watching. No one can snitch on you for dating a black man. Everything is just- perfect.
Earving points to the moon, "To the-" he thinks for a bit "-left-" he's talking to himself now, mumbling something as he points before he clears his voice.
"Virgo." He finally announces as his finger traces some unknown pattern and part of you thinks that he's making stuff up now, but you still nod along.
"Can we see Jupiter from here?" That question made him sit up and look around before he's completely turned around.
"Right there," Earving points to a bright yellow dot in the sky. He has a smile on his face. A rare, soft, smile that shows off how happy he really is.
Its the sort of smile that makes you want to grab him and kiss him. The sort that reminds you of the man you fell in love with.
Turning around, you look up at the sky to look at what should be Jupiter.
The planet shines back at you, distinguishing itself from the surrounding stars. Making itself known.
Wanting you to look at it.
"-the two people dancing. That's Gemini."
Is it bad that you really want to dance?
Part of you thinks that it is, but the other part --a bigger part-- acknowledges how natural it is.
Earving's gaze meets yours before it softens. That smile is still there, your favourite smile.
"Hey Earving-" you carefully stand up and dust yourself off incase any insects made you their temporary terrain "-want to dance?" You ask, offering him a hand to pull him up.
Tim Drake who has a half-Chinese mother named Dai Lu Feng who travelled to study history in various countries and eventually met Jack Drake, an American archeologist who instantly fell in love with the assertive and intelligent woman.
When she eventually agrees to move to America, she had an argument with her parents that makes her cut them off, one she says is due to money when ever asked but is actually because of Drake.
Obviously they don’t have a problem with him being a white man, it’s more that he’s a white white man. He’s entitled, rude, and disrespectful to anyone he deems below him. He’s not obvious about it, but it’s clear he doesn’t really approve of Dai Lu’s family due to their middle class status but she can’t seem to see that, too enchanted by the fact that he listens to her talk about ancient history.
He seems to think class is all that matters, but most odd is how he treats his partners heritage.
When Jack tells her she will need an English name, she isn’t upset or surprised as that’s very normal and her father had already given her one, that being his own mother, Janet.
When Jack tells her to be cautious with who she speaks to incase they pick up her rather well hidden accent, she assumes it’s because Americans can often be cruel to Chinese due to all the propaganda and stereotypes.
When he tells her that she doesn’t need to keep her traditional clothes with her all the time, that they can stay safe in China, she isn’t as sure but at that point thought she would be returning frequently.
When she gets pregnant and excitedly tells him, she hears him over the phone with his ‘Gentleman’ friends saying, ‘Yeah, but she’s only half Chinese, so it’s not really interracial, is it?’ And then ‘Nah, the kid will look more like me, male genes are stronger and anyway, he won’t be learning Chinese so who cares!’
Dai Lu has the until thought to correct him ironically, the thought of defending her language which is Mandarin, thank you, stronger than it’s been in a long while. She’s so used to him not wanting her to talk her home tongue she’s stopped questioning it, stopped feeling that slight guilt of absorbing her culture and home.
Maybe it’s because she used to be bullied for it, that she always thought she would one day have to choose between being a Chinese woman like her mother or a professor in England like her father had been.
And Dai Lu is a smart woman, but she’s also just a human being. She gets scared, especially when it comes to the few people whose opinion she cares about.
What if she tries to go home to her family, to her parents and her sister, only to be shamed for running away from her husband just as she gets pregnant! What if they are mad at her for leaving? What if they judged her? What if she went back to China and everyone knew she abandoned her husband?
She didn’t need his money but damn it if she didn’t want his love.
Timothy Jackson Drake is born with his father choosing his names, his mother looking at him with a smile and heavy sadness is her eyes.
She knows he will be questioned on his heritage, that he will be called vile things, and she will teach him how to handle and respond to such things.
Janet will need to, because Tim looks so much like her and his father will blame him for it.
When Tim receives his mother’s inheritance and everything else she left him in her will, he finds a book he used to read with her as a kid.
Within The Velveteen Rabbit is a letter that reads as follows,
“My dear sweet boy,
I know I wasn’t the best mother to you, I know I should have done more. Been braver.
Alas, all I have to offer you to show my remorse and my love is the name I wished for you to be called, that you would have been given if I had been brave enough to return to my mother.
I love you, Shoi-Ming Feng, now and forever.”
Tim smiles for the first time after loosing her.
They weren’t as close as they could have been, but they lived each other.
He would always remember her teaching him of his culture in whispered voices while Jack was out of the house, of the small jade ring she kept hidden in her make up bag, and of the way she taught him the language she was to never speak in front of her husband as best she could.
Tim calls Bruce and asks him if he could be brought into the man’s care permanently, on the condition is last name be Feng-Wayne.
@suncast-moth(I hope it's ok to tag you) YES I forgor Seth, Pac-man (to this canon) canonically will be called Seth now!
Red is Chatter* and Caine
Blue is Bubble and Abel
Pac-man is Yellow and Seth
*? I remember hearing about a post by Goozeworx about what Ciane would be called if he were just a head and I think it was Chatterbox but I don't really know...
So Winnie’s been married to the late Mr Appleyard for a long time… I want to talk again about how that marriage still affects her
(cw: emotional abuse, implied racism)
For over a decade, the late Mr Appleyard made a lot of criticising remarks about nearly everything about Winnie. Her culture, her facial expressions, how she acts…
She may not always remember the exact words, but she remembers how much each of them stings.
I’ve mentioned before that the late Mr Appleyard’s emotional abuse was what prompted Winnie to start wearing a mask in the Neath. But she also learned that if she stays quiet, that’s one less thing to be criticised for. She’ll talk to do business and other things she deems necessary.
But socialising? Best for her not to talk for long. Best to be quiet about her thoughts and opinions. Maybe it’s safer to speak only if spoken to, in most cases
If she starts getting chatty around someone, that’s a sign that she’s slowly starting to trust them, especially if she starts sharing personal details that seem so inconsequential. Like the way she likes her tea, or how she cares about operas
And even when sharing, she doubts that anyone would remember them. (Of course, she’s been wrong a few times)
The snow crunches beneath our feet, the wind howls like the devil, and while we all show fear, I've reason to think my brothers know not that we walk over a frozen sea, more than 30 metres deep with fish heavier than our entire platoon. I doubt my commander knows, either, but that suits our real mission just fine.
The mission. Ha. Everyone knows the only safe spots for a town are off shore, we've already done the math, there's nothing out here worth finding.
Good thing Commander Reijean is such a greedy fuck, then.
"HALT!"
Thats him right there. Most would say he just wants to prove himself, but I know better. All humans hide their worst traits, tone 'em down for the public. We're all worse than we seem on the outside.
"..."
"whats out their c-"
"shut your trap private, I won't have my skill split be-"
*Crack*
"Mission complete, I suppose"
In an instant, Clark pulled out the rifle on his back. it was cheap shit, like all the gear for this trip was, but He's among the best "weapons guys" I've ever met.
Fortunately, the gun jams, and he vanishes into the blizzard.
"Clark? Buddy? Clark? Clark!"
"Circular formation, weapons up, we are-"
"...Commander?"
Just a few more to go. Our platoon used to be larger, but wandering for days on end through an empty void of ice and snow will take its toll. Just a few weeks ago, we might've won this fight.
Good thing banshees are smart, then.
"SpLit up!"
"Commander?"
"Split Up!"
"h- He's right. we're no more than a larger target like this."
"Just gotta find the right time for it."
Sabotage wasn't the plan, and it leaves a bad taste, but there's nothing for it.
"Now."
"..."
"..."
*Cr'Ack*
"..."
*Crunch*
"..."
And finally, a blood curdling scream cut short, by a few extra holes in the lungs.
I stand up, spread my arms wide, and make myself the most clear and easy target I can."
-...-
Two hours later
The blizzard dies, I see my siblings dead in the snow. Three have a mulch of bone and Metal shards, alongside frozen blood, in place of their heads. Commander has a crushed neck. Charlie's kevlar is punched through, frozen blood all along his chest.
There's a sixth carcass, some ornitherian, I think, though it's hard to tell considering how much was eaten. The ribs are gone, and only Two and a half legs remain.
I begin to walk off. A meal, even the frozen remains of a hippogriff corpse, is the last thing I d-
*crunch*
"..."
"you not fight me. why?"
"..."
"all humans try to kill us. take sea from us. take tyk'yk from us."
"...take egg from us."
"..."
"you not fight. why?"
-
alright thats a wrap! The official intro to Fisher and the Flame and the world of... well, I suppose she doesn't have a real name yet but hey, we can make this work.
for a bit of context regarding appearances, if you need that, "Ornithere" and "Hippogriff" refer to pterosaurian animals, most similar to (and heavily based on) Trollman's "Cuvier's Isle" a small spec one-shot. It does not refer to the serinean animals of the same name.
Banshee are a bit easier to describe, being a rough combination of Utahraptor osstramaysi and a Leopard Seal, very similar to @tales-of-kaimere's *Updated* xuul design, along with the Adzakoordu and the White Cockatrice, as well as the Tamakai.
The narrator, Jake Fisher, is getting a drawing, by someone who appreciates men far more than I.
now go read about kaimere on Keenan Taylors twitter, bluesky, deviantart, and youtube channel, along with trollman's various sickass works on the same websites.
-
edits: minor word changes, removal of unneeded dashes, and Commander is now cishet, because killing the first queer confirmed in story feels a bit too rude.
Reijean is still his name tho, since there has to some reason this unit was sent out.
also added a new tag. sorry y'all.
(im just gonna use the most extreme and broad tags that, since im exceedingly apathetic but do want to tag things correctly)
Alastor: *pushes a cart with Calliope seated inside, munching on a sample of jerky — she stops and looks at some labels* Hmmm… We have “Banana-BlackBerry-and-Blueberry flavor… Sweet Potato… or Apple-Banana-Oatmeal-Cereal flavor? What do you think, my dear?
Calliope: *pointing wildly at the jar with glittery bits* Shiny one! Baba shiny!!
Alastor: *laughs* An excellent choice! Shiny and suspiciously sticky. *puts the food in the cart*
Then—
A woman approaches Alastor, or rather, Alastor’s cart.
Karen: *gasps* Oh. My. Goodness. What a precious little angel! *she immediately leans too close toward Calliope, touching her curls uninvited*
Calliope: *pulls back into the seat, frowning and making grunting noises of disapproval*
Alastor: *still smiling, voice calm but razor-edged* I’d thank you not to paw at my daughter, madame.
Karen: *sputters, looks between the tall, sharp-toothed demon and the cherub-faced child* Wait... wait just a minute. That’s your baby?!
Alastor: Yes, and quite proudly so.
Karen: “That’s not your baby. She looks nothing like you. She’s clearly been stolen! *she reaches toward Calliope*
Alastor: *grabs the cart handle with both hands* I strongly recommend you retract that hand if you intend to leave this store with all five fingers.
Karen: SECURITY! There’s a kidnapper in the canned goods aisle!
Two security imps arrive, already looking exhausted. They recognize Alastor instantly—and blanch.
Security Imp #1: *gulping* Holy shit… it’s the Radio Demon! *clears his throat* Is everything alright here?
Karen: *pointing* He has that child in his cart! You need to arrest him! Probably stole her! Look at her, she’s too clean to be from his gene pool!
Alastor: *tilts his head slowly, his neck cracking* What did you just say?
Karen: You heard me *slur word here*! That cannot be your child! She’s white and you’re —
His shadow begins to crawl up the aisle walls, faint radio static filling the air.
Security Imp #2: *muttering to the other* Ohhhh crap. She’s done pissed off the Radio Demon!
Karen: You all are perverts and sinners! Disgusting! Now give me that child and I can return her to her proper—
Calliope: *suddenly stands in the cart, eyes glowing faint red* BAD!!!
Karen: *freezes* ...She just spoke in tongues!
Calliope’s tiny hands tremble as she raises them—her body flickering for a second, as if reality itself hiccups. Her skin shifts in patches—white fading into a warm reddish hue, her hair rippling in unnatural wind as tiny deer-like ears pop up, twitching. A place tail forms, sleek and spaded, and her baby teeth briefly flash sharp and pointed.
Alastor: *goes completely still—then slowly turns his head toward her, stunned*
Calliope: *growling with a sudden distorted echo, eyes glowing with Alastor’s signature green static*
Karen stumbles back, eyes wide with shock and horror. The cart rocks slightly as Calliope levitates several inches off her seat—just briefly—while canned goods and jars begin rattling violently on the shelves.
The air goes cold. Very cold.
The shadows—Alastor’s shadows—respond to her instinctively. Twitching, coiling, syncing to her budding magic like a newborn conductor waving her hands.
Security Imp #1: *cowering behind an endcap* Bro she’s like—mini Radio Demon!
Karen: *screeching, stumbling back* She’s the Anti-Christ! Demonic spawn of a predator!! She’s cursed!!
Alastor slowly kneels to Calliope’s level and holds out his arms.
She blinks once, and the transformation flickers back down—her horns and tail vanishing, her eyes returning to normal—but her power still thrums in the air like static before lightning. She jumps into his arms from the cart and curls against his chest comfortably.
Alastor: *quietly, reverently* …My precious deerling… *He kisses her forehead. Then turns back to Karen, not with anger—but with something worse. Cold, detached amusement.*
Karen: *shaking* This... this isn't over! I'm calling the real authorities! You'll regret threatening me!
A lone can of beans is tossed at get and she’s gets nailed her in the temple.
Security Imp #1: Ma’am. On behalf of the store… please leave. Now.
Security Imp #2: *nodding at Alastor* You and your daughter are always welcome, sir. Real honored. Deeply honored.
Karen stumbles away shrieking about sin and the apocalypse.
Excitable, bubbly and with a touch so delicate she’ll melt your heart, is that Alice Angel? Nope! It’s the voice behind the beloved cartoon Susie Campbell! Though you’d be forgiven for such a slip up, yes Susie does quite love being Alice and using it to perform some lovely method acting with her coworkers. She can always be found around the music department singing a tune, talking with her coworkers or even dancing her way to the recording booth.
Yes Susie is quite the gal, but she’s not one to admit it, while she’s sure the connection between her and Alice is special... Susie sometimes admits she’s not used to playing the star in a show and she’s shocked she got the role. Even being shy or dismissive towards some of the wonderful compliments she gets about her performance as Alice. Some chalk it up to being humble while others of the staff think Susie deserves more credit than she is willing to give herself... Not to mention her taste in men, but that’s not super important her best friend Allison will gladly tell you, maybe a bit too eager to move onto a different topic while Susie gives a playful glance to the janitor.
Despite her seemingly simple to grasp character Susie can be very surprising with how mischievous, devious or even spiteful she can be sometimes. She of course never means any harm, the gal will happily tell you she is a bit of a troublemaker when she’s drinking, out with friends or even just a little too caught up in whatever thrill she’s having in the moment, but nothing too bad has ever come of it. At least that’s what she claims, after all every angel has a little bit of a devilish side right?~ Well give her a few shots and Susie will reveal hers with a few giggles and a lot of stories you’ll never forget.
Despite it all Susie is quickly getting used to the attention being one of the stars of Bendy’s cast brings! She loves the feeling of no longer being cast aside or ignored for her peers who the acting world and society deem as far more attractive and ‘healthy’. The spotlight is on her and she’s adapting to it with a giggle and a playful wink. It’s all she could ever ask for, a character she connects to and an audience who loves her, perhaps dreams truly do come true, even for girls like her.
