#lettucekitty

[cometthespacechinchilla]

I'd love a protector/protectee with MC protecting Nova! (in a silly way or a serious one) Or, in general, any and all of the cute fluffy prompts with MC and Nova because they deserve the best.

Nova deserves to have times when she doesn’t have to be the hero. Also S5 and S6 are just... they don’t exist ok. Except marriage. That exists.

MC = Enyo

It was supposed to be a nice day, but the Empire had made it clear early on that it found such things morally abhhorent. It was fantastic, really.

We had been out on a date in between a supplies run when Empire soldiers spotted us and gave chase. Now it's a firefight between us and almost a dozen goons.

To make matters worse, I’m the only one returning occasional fire, as a lucky shot managed to hit Nova square in the shoulder a few minutes previously. Even my wife, for all her superhuman abilities, can’t shoot with an injury like that. She's leaning against the dumpster and I can see she was breaking hard. Her pain tolerance is incredible, but speaking from experience, without adrenaline a bullet wound that direct is beyond anyone’s capabilities to shrug off.

Which means it’s up to me to get us out of this alive.

EnyoGreat.

I manage to send a few shots in the Empire’s direction, mainly to keep them from approaching, then duck back down to hurriedly scrape together a plan.

I search my pockets for anything and brush over something small and hard.

EnyoPearl!

I had forgotten I had taken the tiny bot out of the Promise. Good thing for me I did.

While one of my hands deals with Pearl, I put the other one around Nova, taking care not to jostle her injury too much.

Enyo“I’ve got you, love. I just need you to get ready to run.”

She nods, panting. Her skin is taking on a concerning ashy tone. Definitely no time to waste, especially given what running might do to how fast she loses blood.

Nova“I trust you.”

Her faith warms me. I help her get into a crouching position, supporting her as best my smaller frame can manage. 

I whisper to Pearl.

Enyo“Pearl, holograms.”

It had been really good that I had thought to include this feature, even if at the time it had just been intended to be a way to flex my mental muscles, a new challenge. 

Dropping the bot on the ground, she scuttles away at the speed of a human runner. Hopefully the soldiers won’t notice it and realize my rouse.

At the appropriate time (I gave her about forty-five seconds delay), I hear the soldiers yelling and the stamping off feet as they give chase to a hologram copy of me and Nova. I peek out from behind our cover to see that it’s clear.

Enyo“Time to go, Nova.”

Bracing her as best I can, we run through the streets toward the ship hangar as fast as we can manage. We’re both ready to collapse by the time we get there, but we make it.

Atlas takes one look at us and scowls, hands already getting us prepared to take off.

Atlas“Vacation my ass.”

Orion“Atlas, why are you...?”

He trails off as he walks into the bridge, seeing Nova and me. His eyes hone in on her shoulder.

Orion“Go patch her up, Enyo. Atlas and I will figure out where to pick up supplies.”

Enyo“Got it.”

I lead Nova to our room, helping her sit down before fetching the first aid kit.

It takes a bit of time and some warm water to get her out of her shirt, but I manage to clean it up. It’s still leaking a bit of blood, but I have her hold the washcloth against it while I spread medi-gel on some gauze. Switching the cloth for the gauze, I work a bandage around her arm and chest to bind it in place.

It hardly looks professional when I’m done, but it’s good enough. I look up to meet Nova’s eyes and she smiles at me.

Nova“My hero.”

I blush.

Enyo“Well, you can’t always be expected to save the day. Hardly seems fair.”

Nova chuckles as I pull her close.

Nova“I’ll keep that in mind.”

I pull us up so that I’m leaning against the headboard, Nova’s head resting on my chest. She snuggles in, which gives me warm fuzzy feelings all over.

We stay like that, warm and content, for who knows how long. I don’t feel like checking the clock, it’s not like it would motivate me to leave anyway.

My stomach, however, is much more skilled at persuasion. I remember that our date, which was intended to be lunch, never actually happened as my stomach somehow let out a noise I wasn’t sure humans could even make.

Nova laughs.

Nova“Is it time for a late lunch, then?”

I bury my face in her hair.

Enyo“Nooooo... I wanna stay.”

Then my traitorous stomach gives another indignant wail. I sigh.

Enyo“Ok, fine, but once we’re done we’re coming back and not moving for the rest of the day.”

Nova chuckles as she leans up to peck a kiss on my lips.

Nova“I’m sure that can be arranged.”

[ernmark]

I have recently fallen down the Penumbra Podcast rabbithole and your fic is super excellent! If you're still taking prompts for Jupeter - I'd be interested in a 'genderflip' of sorts, where Nureyev and Juno both are/present female? Or, for something completely different, something fluffy and cat-related. Thanks for your writing!

(Letting you folks know ahead of time that there will be mild discussions of anatomy and sex, especially in relation to gender).

You sent me this prompt ages ago, and I’ve been sitting on it for months-- and not just because I’m lazy.

It just strikes me as such a complicated question, really, and responding to it requires a lot of heavy thinking on my part.

Okay, so that’s a half-truth. I tend to write both Juno and Peter with both traditionally male genitalia for purely arbitrary reasons; I could swap one or both of them out for traditionally female genitalia and... honestly, you probably wouldn’t even notice unless there was a sex scene. In fact, there are only like two lines in the show that imply that one or both of them have male genitalia, and even that implication is fairly weak when you stop and think about it for half a second without heteronormative goggles on (“privileged positions” can be filled just as easily with a dildo, for example, as with anything else. And it only takes half an ounce of sympathy to feel bad for a guard who got shot in the crotch.) The only places it would ever come up would be in a sex scene, or maybe a scene where Juno gets all awkward and flustered asking Peter for a tampon.

But female-presenting?

We have it from the creators themselves that Juno is canonically nonbinary, but “he does not use the term “nonbinary” because gender is pretty darn fluid in Hyperion City and thus the term is pretty irrelevant. (Think of hard femme Nureyev and butch-as-hell Valles Vicky, who Juno refers to as a “drama king” and even “dad.”)” 

So what would female-presenting even look like in Hyperion City?

Would it just involve them both using ‘she/her’ pronouns?

Would it involve them in dresses? (there’s a snazzy pic of both of them in dresses in the link; I particularly like it because Peter looks fine as hell and Juno looks super uncomfortable)

I can see Peter getting into a slinky dress with killer heels, but I can also actually seeing him put in the effort to learn how to walk in heels without breaking his ankle, and fight in a dress without ripping it to shreds (or staining it, because have you ever tried to get blood out of silk?!?). 

But I can’t see Juno doing that. Not because he’s too masculine, but because I can’t see him putting in that same level of effort when an easier option exists.

Honestly, a lot of traditionally feminine arts require a shit-load of work and practice to pull off properly-- proper hair care, makeup, nice nails, etc, are all incredibly complicated when you get right down to it-- and I can see Juno getting into moods where he decides he wants to start doing them, but then gets frustrated or impatient and gives up on it after like three days (not that I’m speaking from experience or anything. Ahem.) 

I’ve spoken about this before-- in fact, this prompt is what inspired that post.

[uselesslilium]

waaait are you still doing the fandom thing (you know I'm gonna ask for Sakura Wars/Taisen, if you want to!)

The 5 changes one? Sure, it’s fun so I’m definitely open for more prompts!. :> Though I’ve only played So Long My Love, so that’s gonna be my focus.

Okay, first I would... completely change Diana’s character arc. As I understand it, she’s only sick and paralyzed because her Pneuma is so powerful that she’s super sensitive to death, and her resulting negativity basically makes her powers destroy herself? But then she’s still dying even after having her change of heart, even though she can magically walk again? There’s a bunch of inconsistencies in her chapter and romantic arc that really don’t work for me at all.

SO INSTEAD. She’s still sick and paralyzed, but rather than her exceptional Pneuma killing her, she’s actively using it to keep herself alive. She can’t join the team because she’s scared that if she loses focus and starts using any of her powers for other things, she won’t live much longer. Her one exception is using her powers to heal her bird friends - that’s how much she cares about them. Her chapter would still be about her struggle to live, and her reluctance to trust others after spending so long surviving with only her own strength. The happy ending is: when she does decide to fight, the birds she healed with her Pneuma come to her aid, returning the bits of power she gave them and helping to refuel her. Inspired, Shinjiro leads the team in doing the same, and share their own Pneuma with her so she doesn’t destroy herself. It’s an imperfect solution - she’s still sick and needs a wheelchair afterwards, and has to rely more on medical science to compensate, but she’s hopeful. Her friends all work to share her burden, and Diana starts studying medicine herself to some day find another cure for her illness.

OTHER THAN THAT, I’d give some more information on Subaru’s back story in her route. Not a lot - Subaru wouldn’t offer that information easily - but enough to establish that they’re estranged and the ‘why’ is related to Subaru’s identity issues, or maybe how they felt about working with Ratchet. That kind of small thing would go a long way.

Geminine remains present and active even after her and Gemini’s chapter. It isn’t fair that after a chapter establishing that she’s longed for a life of her own and her motivation is avenging the one person who saw her as an individual, she totally disappears outside of Gemini’s occasional musing.

Stop... everyone’s misgendering of Subaru... I don’t know how much is the translation’s fault (since at least the gendered pronouns were totally absent in Japanese), but it doesn’t matter. Stop it all. :T

This is super self-indulgent, but WHATEVER. I’d make it implied that two of the other pilots start dating if you’re not on either of their routes + you see the right events. Like, Gemini/Subaru dance together at the end party if you do Cheiron or Ratchet, or Cheiron/Subaru if you do Gemini, or, idk, Cheiron/Diana if you do Subaru. It’d be cute and could lead to interesting interactions! :>

[cometthespacechinchilla]

Dare I ask for details on what they did to poor Nova? I skipped S3 because of the stupid 'breakup' plot and bailed hard once they got to 'superbaby'. Did her season end with something even worse, or something? (why did you do this Lovestruck Nova is the cutest)

They just agreed to have the superbaby, which... ugh. I didn’t like the plotline, hoped they’d figure out a different avenue, anything. It’s just a hot mess that makes no sense and ignores potential avenues that would make so much more sense cause like that breakup was completely OOC for MC, the whole making up was cringey at times, and that superbaby didn’t need to happen.

They took an amazing, endearing, lovely character with so much potential and so much to explore and have missed the mark entirely. They gave her literally the worst route in SP. I don’t like Antares at all, but at least his route made sense and matched the characterizations they decided to give MC and him (whether or not I liked those is another story, but consistency I can appreciate). 

I’m sticking with the route because I love her character so much (and the writer is good, like the writing team has got to get their shit together, but at least when I’m reading it I tend not to notice the plot flaws until after), plus I want to see her call MC “my wife”. But yeah, Nova deserved so much better than this.

[ernmark]

"except that Nureyev is like Chance in The Coyote of the Painted Plains!" oh noooo now i want to see Rita and Chance interact because fangirling Rita would be a lot of fun xD

In the past few centuries, the human race has met and mingled with a few distant life forms. Not in the sense of intermarriage– not usually, though there have been a few oddball cases– so much as odd little retroviruses and microscopic symbionts that have integrated themselves into the interstellar travelers and carved out a little niche for themselves within human DNA. The changes they’ve made are small and hardly noticeable. Most of the time.

But anyone standing in that room (or honestly, within several hundred feet in any direction) could affirm that the sound coming out of Rita is not entirely human.

“Chance Sequoyah?” she says when she’s capable of forming words again. “The Chance Sequoyah? The Coyote of the Painted Plains?” 

“Uh… yes?” One of the outlaw’s arms is thrown protectively in front of Mary-Anne; the other is busy hanging on to her hat. 

It’s a testament of Moonshine’s character that the horse didn’t bolt. 

“Oh my gawsh!” Rita practically leaps at her. “I’ve always wanted to meet you. You were on my top ten list of people I’d most like to have dinner with, right next to Nero and Malala. Ooh, I’m so excited. Can I get your autograph?” 

Chance never actually learned how to sign her name, but she isn’t about to say as much to this bizarre stranger. Besides, before she has the chance to even consider, Rita waves her off.

“Oh, but I didn’t bring my autograph book! I shoulda known. Next time, for sure. Ooh, and I bet you’re Mary-Anne!” 

Mary-Anne, at least, has an advantage here. She hasn’t been staying with Chance and the children for very long, but by now she’s grown accustomed to being shocked by outrageously familiar behavior from total strangers. This one seems fairly friendly, at least. 

“I am,” she says. “And what’s your name?” It feels a little strange to speak to this woman like she’s a child– she easily has a few years on Mary-Anne herself– but it seems appropriate. 

“I’m Rita. And I’m your biggest fan. I’ve seen like all the adaptations of your stories. I especially love the one where you were played by Charlene Riddle, and Chance, you were played by Cory Brighton. Oh my gosh, that one was soooo romantic!” 

That makes no sense to Mary-Anne whatsoever, but she’s also become quite adept at parsing sentiment from context. “Why, thank you.” 

[ernmark]

I love the casual implication in your Groundhog Day fic that Chance has been in multiple time loops. How angsty are the details of how Chance got to learn the rules, exactly?

I’m thrilled that more people are asking about Chance and Mary-Anne recently. These ladies deserve so much love.

We are looking into Chance’s childhood here, so be advised that there’s references to child abuse. 

She’s going crazy.

She’s got to be. There’s no other explanation.

She’s lost her dadgum mind. 

Because she’s been here before-- not just once, but more often than she can count. 

She knows to reach for the glass just as Missus Blake drops it, so as it won’t shatter. She knows exactly what Mister Blake is going to say before he says it-- and she knows that if she whispers the words to herself before they come out of his mouth, he’ll whoop her so fast it’ll make her head spin. She knows that right around noon, old Stardrop is bound to step on a rattler and get herself bit. She knows that if she tries to stop it, the rattler will bite her instead.

She knows what dying of a snakebite feels like. And that dying isn’t a way out of this... whatever it is. 

It might be hell. Why, that’s what Mister and Missus Blake said when she tried to tell them: that she was a witch, and she was goin’ to hell for casting some kind of evil spell. Only she’s not, and she didn’t. She knows it. She’s sure of it.

But she can’t just go on like this.

After a while, she stops giving a hoot about anything anymore. She sleeps in. Sleeps the whole day away, only to get whooped and shouted at and wake up on the same Tuesday morning as yesterday. 

She tries refusing to help out with the farm. Tries to make Missus Blake ask her nicely instead of shoutin’ orders. Tries to sit down and explain to them that she’s tired and scared and hurt and confused.

It always ends the same way. One whooping after another, over and over and over again. 

She tries to do everything exactly right, but they still find fault.

So one Tuesday (how long has it been? Months? A year?) she heaves a sigh.

“If this is hell, then to hell with it.”

It’s before dawn, and she’s meant to be heading to the barn to milk the cows and fetch the eggs inside. Instead she keeps walking, and walking, and walking. She doesn’t stop when she gets tired, or when the moon is huge and bright overhead. She figures she’ll see how far she gets before she wakes up back in bed.

Only she doesn’t.

When she comes to, her skin is sunburnt and her mouth is parched and she’s sore and aching from sleeping on the hard ground.

She’s scared as hell-- after all, she’s been living Tuesday so long that she doesn’t know what to do with Wednesday now that it’s here. She’s never been on her own before, neither.

But she knows she’d rather be alone here, right now, than ever go back.

[frith-in-tombs]

For the record - I found your W359 fics on AO3 and really liked them! I recently binge-listened the series and liked it a lot and your fic really nails the characters' voices. ^_^

Thank you so much! That makes me incredibly happy to hear <3 <3

[cauldronofmorning]

Quick note re My Immortal - cat's out of the bag on the privacy front, I'm afraid. She seems to be taking it pretty well, though - has a few posts up about it on her Tumblr which seem to be confirming her as The Author. Just wanted to clarify a bit.

Okay! Just I saw another post trying to keep her privacy and wasn’t sure. Glad she’s okay though.