V. An abandoned or empty place for Willex please???
(Ignore the fact that this was like a week late please and thank you.)
"You sure about this, Hotdog?" Willie teases as he lets Alex tie on the blindfold. "Usually I'm the one poofing you to mysterious locations."
"I'm like 81% sure this will work," Alex says. His tone sounds like more than 19% nerves, but Willie doesn't comment. "It worked fine when I tried it with Reggie the other day. So. It'll be fine."
"I trust you," Willie promises, finding Alex's hand and squeezing.
"Okay," Alex mumbles. He falls quiet for a second, then adds, "You ready?"
"Ready."
There's a moment of silence, then Willie feels himself poofing out, his soul following Alex's as it teleports through space. It feels a beat longer than they're used to, but then they're landing on some kind of hard surface. Willie stumbles and Alex's free hand immediately finds their shoulder to steady him.
"Darn, I was going for inside," Alex comments. "You okay walking blindfolded for a minute?"
"I'm good," Willie tells him.
They start walking slowly, Alex gently guiding Willie by the hand. The air feels cooler wherever they are. Fresher too, less pollution. Not LA then.
"Through the glass here," Alex instructs.
Willie appreciates the warning even if he doesn't *need* it. They step through a glass wall (window?) and the ground hardens under his feet. Concrete inside probably?
"Where are we?" Willie asks, curiosity getting the better of them.
"Just a minute, almost there," Alex promises, leading him along a little faster now.
Willie can hear their footsteps echoing through the space as they walk. It sounds so hollow. The place must be massive. It feels like they go through some sort of tunnel and Alex finally stops as it opens up around them again.
"So, you're always taking me to closed museums and stuff with lots of space to skate and stuff... and I read about this online so..." Alex trails off and pulls Willie's blindfold free.
Willie can barely make sense of what he's seeing at first. The space is too massive to take in all at once. They're at the bottom of a section of stadium seats that must be 50 rows up. Below them is another similar section, and beyond that is the biggest track and sports field Willie has seen in their life (afterlife?). Above them, the roof is criss-crossed with some kind of framing.
"It's one of the venues from the Beijing Olympics," Alex explains. His tone is soft but it seems to hang in the dead air around them. "It's apparently been mostly abandoned since then. Seemed like the kind of place you'd like."
Willie turns in a slow circle, taking it in. "Woah." Then, with a grin, he lets out a massive scream. It echoes through the area around them, fading as it travels through the space.
:0 Gimmie more Leggy. Like Aragorn’s daughter is suuuper into Legolas and Legolas is like confused and shocked
Thank you for sending me Leggy things! This sweet sweet elf will always be my boy! <3 Oooohhh I’m giggling at this! With your permission (and credit), this maaaaay or may not turn into a longer thing. I like it.
Legolas is absolutely there for her entire life. Besides her parents, he’s one of the first to hold her as a baby, he holds her hands and teaches her to walk and is there the first time she does, he takes care of cuts and bruises and sings to her for comfort. He’s like a guardian angel to her.
As she grows older, it’s pretty clear she has a big fat crush on him. She’s always running to him when he comes to visit, holding his hand ALWAYS, telling him all the stories she can. He teaches her his favorite elvish songs and is so proud of her beautiful voice. He also teaches her archery- duh! When she’s sent to bed at night, Aragorn and Arwen tease Legolas about how much their daughter adores him. He’s clearly her favorite visitor.
Later on, his visits become more rare. He has a kingdom to take care of by his father’s side, of course. Time passes quickly when you’re an elf, but he does write letters to his little half-elf, keeping up with her and her activities as he does with Aragorn as well. After years, he goes to visit them, celebrating a holiday/feast day in their kingdom.
He was invited to the high table but he didn’t see her sitting there with her parents. He didn’t quite admit it to himself, but a piece of his heart sank when she was missing. He sat next to Aragorn and asked where she was. The King smiled. “She’s not one to be pulled from her archery practice for a festival. However, she will come quickly now that she knows you are here.”
Legolas sipped from his goblet and waited. He saw her the moment she stepped into his view. Her hair had grown longer. Though it was tied back at her temples, the long tresses fell gracefully down her back. The long gown she wore also made him notice her height- she’d grown so much since he’d last seen her. He stood as she neared him, bowing his head, but keeping his eyes on hers.
Her delicate fingers wrapped around his arms. “Legolas! How lovely to see you.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek and he tried not to stand so stiffly. He pondered the move, she knew elves were not accustomed to such an embrace, but should he be this thrown off by it? This was the same baby he held, the same toddler he carried on his shoulders, the same girl he taught to sing. She’d only grown. That’s all.
“Will you dance with me?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Surely there are many others here who will take you to the floor,” he said before returning to his seat next to Aragorn.
“She’s grown,” her father said.
Legolas hummed. “Yes.”
“She’s missed you. She speaks of you often. When your letters come, she reads them over and over and keeps them in ribbons.”
Legolas didn’t answer. He only watched her stutter down the steps, glancing back at him before taking the invitation of another man on the floor. The man didn’t know the correct steps, didn’t know how to support her or hold her, didn’t know her favorite foods or seasons or flowers, hadn’t known her since she was a baby, hadn’t sung her nightmares away.
“Go to her, Legolas,” Aragorn said.
Legolas turned, eyes wide.
“We know what you feel for her. There’s no one else I’d rather she have than you.” Aragorn took his hand a squeezed it. “Go.”
Legolas took flight from his seat to steal her away from the man who had asked her to dance. She was glad.
Okay I don't know if you meant 'magic toy store' as in a store for magic trick supplies and stuff or as in a store full of magical toys but we're going with the second one because that sounds like more fun.
Caleb is the owner of the store (obviously), and I think in this AU he's Not Evil Just Weird. Magic is like. A thing that exists in general, but it's not super usable to the everyday person outside of magical items created by a magic user.
Most of the people that work in the store have some degree of magical ability, not because it's a job requirement, Caleb just seems to attract those sorts of people somehow. Alex mostly does like heightened perception type stuff, very mild, basically just makes him REALLY good at seeing when people are trying to sneak stuff out of the store or lying to him at checkout or whatever. Willie's stuff is more weight manipulation, mild levitation and that sort of thing. Frequently gets called on to deal with the really heavy shipping stuff because it's no big deal with him to pick up.
Alex mostly works cash register, he's really good with kids and also good at knowing when people are lying or whatever. He always has tons of wild stories that people tell him while he's scanning cause he just has one of those faces I guess.
Willie mostly works in stocking, frequently the overnight load in shifts when new stuff comes in. So he and Alex only cross paths briefly at first, when Alex is closing as Willie is coming in. And then Willie starts coming in a little earlier, and Alex starts staying a little later. And welllll.... ya know where this is going.
The rest of the staff have been shipping them for MONTHS by the time they actually start going out.
Thank youuu!
(Send me an AU and I'll give you some headcanons about it!)
Okay so. Scott was just gonna go to the Kingfisher and be moody, but then Ilya showed up? This takes place in show canon timeline, just after the end of the 2015/16 season. Hope you enjoy!
----
“Surprised you’re still in town,” Kyle comments as he places an old fashioned on the counter in front of Scott. “Thought you’d be off doing whatever you people do with your time off by now. Awards or a cruise or some shit.”
Scott huffs a laugh. “Awards were last night,” he admits. “A lot of the guys are sticking around Vegas for another day or two.”
“Ah, so you came back to the city that never sleeps for some peace and quiet,” Kyle jokes with a wry smile.
“Something like that,” Scott says as he sets his card on the bar. “Here, just open up a tab for me?”
Kyle takes the card with a raised brow and an easy smile. “Getting a bit wild and crazy tonight then?” he teases.
Scott grimaces and rubs a hand over his eyes. “More like trying to drink away the remains of a hangover.”
Kyle laughs. “Got it, got it.”
Someone else chuckles right behind Scott, making him jump as they slide onto the bar stool beside him. Scott braces himself for whatever pickup line is coming his way, it happens every once in a while.
“What, can’t keep up with the rookies anymore now that you are dinosaur?”
Scott sits bolt upright at the familiar Russian accent and he turns sharply to see dirty blond curls and a crooked grin and clenches his fist around his glass to avoid throwing a punch at what couldn’t be anything other than his sleep paralysis demon. Because this being reality is both incredibly illogical and Scott’s worst nightmare.
“Fuck off,” Scott mutters, trying to remember if you’re supposed to fight back against these sorts of hallucinations or just ignore them till they left you alone. He’s read books where the protagonists do both, and neither tends to end well.
The demon that Scott refuses to recognize as Ilya Rozanov clicks his tongue condescending. “Now now, is that any way for most sportsman-like player to behave?” he mocks.
“Lily?”
Scott turns away from the figment of his exhausted imagination to see Kyle staring at the stool next to him with a surprised smile. Scott frowns and glances back, half expecting Rozanov to have been replaced by some perfectly nice young woman that just happened to have a similar haircut to the asshole Russian. But no, that would be too lucky.
“Kyle, nice to see you again,” Rozanov says with a grin. “Any chance the vodka is any better than in March?”
Kyle shakes his head ruefully with a bit of a smirk. “That would require both the owner paying attention and for anyone other than you to complain about it,” he says.
Rozanov shakes his head in apparent disappointment. “No taste here in America,” he sighs. “Beer then. On Hunter’s tab.”
Apparently that’s what it takes for Scott to snap out of it. “Fuck off, Rozanov, I’m not buying you drinks,” he snaps.
---
Thanks for the ask!
(Send me a number and I'll write that many words and show you!)
“It’s not sauce,” Alex complains. “It’s just the butter and runoff it was cooking in.”
Luke smirks and throws an arm around Reggie’s shoulders. “I don’t know man, sounds like sauce to me.”
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Alex threatens as he pulls the potatoes out of the lower oven.
Picture - JatP On Ice AU.
“Can I get anyone coffee?” Bobby offers, the picture of a polite host despite the tension in his jaw.
“Sure, I’d take a cup,” the Fangs’ head coach, Connor Francis, says after a beat too long.
“I think I’m going to need one too,” their goaltending coach, Riley Davidson, adds.
(Gotta be honest, this bit is from a section I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep. Or if I do, it'll take a LOT of adjustment. But it was in there so...)
Game - Skip Breakfast In Bed.
“That’s not my smoothie,” Scott protests weakly, pulling away after the first sip.
Kip smirks. “Nope, but you don’t have a game today and this one is much better for hangovers.”
Well, hard to argue with that.
Scott takes the cup carefully and starts drinking in slow, tentative sips. It doesn’t taste as good as his usual choice, but it’s alright.
(Well they couldn't ALL be from the same universe, right?)
Send me words and I'll try to find them in my WIPs and give you snippets!!!
Going to be a terrible person and say: Heated Rivalry Zombie Apocalypse AU. Shane, the cottage has waaay too much glass to be a good base.
Hah totally didn't forget about this in a mess of work things, Ooooooooo.......
Okay. First of all. Both Shane and Ilya (at least where their characters are in Heated Rivalry) would be terrible in a zombie apocalypse. Shane has the doomsday expect the worst thing in his favor, and his cottage totally has backup generators and extra gas and stuff (although he uses it more during massive snowstorms). But he's also paranoid and particular to the point that it would end up putting them in more danger from things like starvation than the actual zombies themselves. Also yeah, his cottage has WAY too many windows.
Ilya on the flip side is... not reckless, at least not by the end, but often acts on instinct alone. It's helpful in hockey, less helpful when they're on a supply run and he hears someone scream in the next building and immediately rushes inside.
Also. Neither of them actually know how to fight. Hockey fighting and fighting to kill against something that wants to eat you are VERY different. And I doubt either of them really know how to use long range weapons well. They're a couple of city boys, they didn't grow up hunting.
THAT BEING SAID, ASSUMING PEOPLE SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO ADAPT, here's some headcanons!
Ilya and David totally figure out a way to hook up Shane's second backup generator to an electric car to keep it running without cars.
I think Hayden's house actually ends up being a solid base of operations because it's big but also much safer than the cottages with all their glass. Also relatively centrally located.
Shane probably becomes a really good ops coordinator, like making sure that people have backup when going on supply runs and stuff.
With that many Canadians around, there's got to be SOME people on their teams that grew up hunting and stuff. I think one of the guys in Ottawa that comes up in The Long Game talks about going on hunting trips with his kids.
Yuna probably ends up doing ops stuff with Shane, but I feel like she also is a really good shot. Sniper style. Idk just the Vibes.
The whole squads really come together and frankly no one has brain space to care about the fact that Shane and Ilya are together anymore because Zombies Are A Bigger Problem.
Scott and Kip probably establish their own base of operations down outside of New York (cause you know a big city like that is gonna get overrun fast), maybe more in the Jersey area? But like they keep in contact pretty closely. I feel like they're more likely to be harboring scientists working on cures and stuff like that, just cause Kip has more non-hockey connections than any of the rest of them XD
The manual labor aspect doesn't end up being a massive problem at least, given that there's a bunch of pro athletes.
The smaller arenas outside the major cities probably end up being fortified as safe houses/emergency shelter type places. They have both resources, tech, and usually some pretty solid backup power and water stuff, which makes them good for hospitals and shelters. However. Not very comfortable. Half the early supply runs are just filling the backs of trucks with blankets and mattresses and stuff to make the arenas livable.
That's what I got off the top of my head, thanks for the ask! This was a fun one! Ended up being more world-building than characters though, oh well.
(Send me an AU and I'll give you some headcanons about it!)
"Wait these aren't stairs..."
for the media/pairing/etc of your choice <3
also context. i so badly want context.
Julie scans her and Flynn's tickets and leads the way into the arena, her girlfriend's hand in hers.
"Think anyone's recognized you yet?" Flynn teases as they weave their way through the crowd.
Julie chuckles and pulls the baseball cap down further over her loose curls. "I don't think so."
She'd done her best to avoid how she usually dresses for work today, in an attempt to avoid attention. She's not here as 'Julie Molina', first female bench coach in the NHL. She's just here as Julie, a normal woman in her early 30s, going to an LA Sparks game with her partner.
It certainly doesn't hurt that her jersey, baggy jeans, and sneakers are a lot more comfortable than the suits she usually dons for Phantoms games.
"We probably blend in a lot more here too," Flynn comments with a smirk.
"What, nah," Julie laughs, glancing around at the massive throngs of multi-racial and gender-diverse guests here for the game. It really is a far cry from the white and male dominated crowds for hockey games.
Flynn giggles and leans closer to look at her phone. "So where'd you put us, oh regular person who definitely doesn't work here?"
"Up in the lounge where the DJ usually is," Julie answers, double checking the tickets. "Seemed like a nice change of view from the bench, and in the crowd without being..."
"Absolutely mobbed if someone clocks you," Flynn finishes. They squeeze her hand.
Julie nods, yet another wave of appreciation for her partner's ability to basically read her mind washing over her. It's not that Julie minds being recognized out in public, honestly some of the fan interactions she's had at random times and places are some of her best fan memories since she started coaching for the Phantoms. But at the same time, there's a lot of pressure that comes with it to be 'on' all the time. And sometimes, she'd rather just... have fun and be a person.
"So we gotta go up then, right?" Flynn asks, glancing around the massive atrium area.
"I think so?" Julie responds. "I think there should be stairs that go up to it from here somewhere..."
They both glance around. Julie has been up to the area in question dozens of times since she moved back to LA nearly 5 years ago, but usually by elevator from ice level, where she usually comes in for games and press events. She can see the open side of the lounge that overlooks the atrium, but getting to it feels more complicated. This view is... confusing.
"There!" Flynn cries, pointing across the atrium at a massive, white wedge that starts near one set of doors and leads up towards the lounge.
"Flynn you're a genius!" Julie exclaims, relieved. "Come on." She leads the way, weaving through the crowds of people still entering as the announcer inside the bowl starts welcoming everyone to the game.
"I accept payment in the form of kisses and alcohol," Flynn declares as they approach.
"Done and done," Julie laughs as they sidestep a group of fans stopping to take a picture. "I think the bar up there is pretty nice."
"Oh I kno-Wait these aren't stairs," Flynn says, stopping short as they reach the base to find a smooth, drywall-textured surface with a big sign that says "NO CLIMBING".
Julie frowns, confused. The smooth surface leads right up to the middle of the lounge where they're trying to go. But there's no steps to speak of, and it continues all the way up to the roof without stopping.
"Looking for the AMEX Lounge?"
Julie turns quickly to see a tall, older white guy with grey hair, an arena uniform, and a kind, if slightly amused, smile on his face. "Yeah we are," she admits.
"Happens all the time," the man assures them. "You want to go down to the corner there, and just past there are some stairs that come back up this way. Those'll take you up there."
"Thank you," Julie responds, mirroring his smile gratefully.
"Of course, you two enjoy the game," the man replies. "And don't worry about this thing." He waves at the ramp. "You're like the tenth person to make that mistake in the last hour."
Flynn laughs and shakes their head at the thing. "It's so misleading," she complains lightly.
"Don't I know it," the man chuckles.
Julie shoots a playful glare at the wedge, then nods to the employee and lets Flynn guide her towards the actual stairs this time. "Well that was embarassing," she mutters to them as they head up. "I work here, why didn't I know that?!"
Flynn squeezes her hand. "Sure you work here, but you're never up here for games," they point out. "I mean I work for the team too and I didn't know either."
Julie sighs, but shakes it off as they reach the lounge entrance. "Learn something new every day I guess," she says as they enter and head for their seats.
"That's my girl," Flynn agrees. "You still owe me that drink though."
Julie bursts out laughing as they sit down to enjoy the game. "You got it, Taylor."
