Drafted ~2K of Uchibi! Not what was planned, but I managed to cover a few things where I made notes to ‘be sure to cover this!’ and I came up with some interesting secretly-evil fridge while I was writing it, so I think it’s good Uchibi~
It’s good to write again. Here’s hoping I keep feeling better/getting back on track.
So it's Nemi, I finally managed to escape from Tumblr, mostly. AT LEAST I DON'T HAVE A DASH TO COMPULSIVELY CATCH UP ON EVERYDAY ANYMORE, ALRIGHT?! Anyways, I'm writting a fuckoff huge Lokific crossover with Gargoyles (No prior knowledge required), and am kinda hunting for potential betas. You want in?
OMG! Haven’t heard from you in ages. How’ve you been?
Also, Loki and Gargoyles fic? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. sorry, i just really really love Gargoyles :D
Also also, suggestions for better platforms to talk on? I still have my LJ, dreamwidth (wnnb_darklord for both)? Mail?
Author’s Commentary: I Never (Janos Audron/Sephiroth, R)
@nemithine may have requested this a number of years ago *cough*seven*cough* and I never got around to it because I am a dweeb, and after she was kind enough to leave a comment on the fic recently, I figured now was as good a time to rectify that particular injustice as any.
Also, Tumblr ate most of the italics and I am far too tired to go put them back in.
* * *
Having been sent to clear up the mess around mako reactors more times than he had bones in his body, Sephiroth was as used to the unusual as a man could be. Even so, having a raging man-sized demon blink into existence in empty air that he'd just been scanning for helicopters rated high enough in what Zack would have called the weirdness factor to startle him. Were it not for his training since birth taking over he might have ended up impaled on its pike pretty damn quickly, but shortly before it had the chance to retaliate it stopped, moving into defensive stance and babbling... something. Not Wutaian or anything else Sephiroth could place, though the harsh syllables felt somehow familiar and the patterns suggested grammatical structure, genuine intelligence.
This was around the time I thought of Nosgoth as having only one language, and that it would sound Germanic to foreign ears. This was also around the time I was young enough to still think of German as a rough-sounding language and not something capable of immense beauty (which it is, same as any other language).
Since then I still think of the bulk of Nosgoth as having a Germanic sound, but I think that the Northern areas like Uschtenheim would have a more Nordic sound and a different native language (but that the majority still speak the general Nosgoth language - think Wales and England, where you have Welsh, and some people do speak solely Welsh and it is taught in schools and available in print everywhere, but most people still learn and understand English as well).
Realising swiftly that shouting at each other wasn't likely to get them anywhere fast and the creature seemed more puzzled than angry, Sephiroth took the Masamune and traced a quick X in the ground, waited for the creature to follow his lead.
At this point I figured Janos had pretty much been dragged straight out of an aerial fight with hylden during the ancient war, and was pretty much having a small heart attack but coping with it as best as possible. He’s a very, very smart guy, and has a diplomatic heart, so.
Crouching so that its impractically white robes trailed in the dust, it took a knife from its belt and traced images in the dust - cloaked stick figures on both sides, but one set wearing what looked like some sort of crest. The faces didn't carry much detail, but they looked unhappy with one another. Explained the weaponry. More peculiar was the moon in the background, too huge for Midgar, Wutai, even Gongaga. Hojo might make a better guess than Sephiroth was capable of making, but given the situation it looked like this creature had just been transported involuntarily by something from the opposite end of the planet - if, indeed, it was from this planet at all.
*ten points to Sephiroth’s house of choice*
Not a born diplomat, Sephiroth could think of little more to do than tap his chest, say "Sephiroth", and wait for the creature to respond.
"Janos."
Sephiroth nodded, took out his PHS, and called for Zack.
Sephiroth had expected some sort of incident through miscommunication to take place when the truck arrived, but having Janos take flight with what he'd very wrongly thought to be an eccentric cloak and land on the truck, tearing open the canvas roof with its pike still caught him by surprise. Thankfully before the creature could do any real damage or any frightened rookies blasted it, Zack was leaning out of the window with a fired tranquilliser pistol, a sleep materia equipped with it for added efficiency.
Excuse me wincing at the grammar there, but I am still fond of the mental image. I’ve always headcanoned Zack as that One Guy In Every Action Movie who ends up leaning out of cars, or hanging off the corners of rooftops, or standing on precarious ledges etc etc to get a good shot (and nailing it every time). Also, when I first wrote this I figured Janos thought of the truck as a monster and freaked out, but rereading it years on, I don’t want to change the scene because I figure that it wouldn’t insult Janos’ intelligence to interpret it instead as Janos freaking out because he thinks he’s been betrayed; there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t have seen wagons of some description before and figured this was something similar.
Zack's occasional issues with orders had left several asking why Sephiroth backed the decision to have him promoted to first class, but the answer was simple - Zack had a knack for resourcefulness. Sephiroth still smirked from time to time thinking about the mission where Zack had slipped some local Gongagan herbs into the enemy's food store, ensuring that half the camp was effectively intoxicated on the morning of the attack.
FICTIONAL WORLDS DESERVE FICTIONAL DRUGS. Always. I had initially considered giving everyone laxatives, but figured that might strike too light a tone.
Janos blinked sleepily, dropping the pike and then glaring at its hand as if that was responsible for the muscle relaxation before collapsing through what remained of the truck's roof. Zack grinned once, containing himself quickly as he hooked his arms under the creature's, eyes widening slightly as he dragged it out of the truck to check for injuries. "Seriously light. Think its bones are hollow, Sir?"
It’s a funny thing that I figured when writing this, Sephiroth and Zack wouldn’t gender Janos because he was a monster and therefore they couldn’t assume anything without knowing further details. This was years before I knew anything about non-binary people and started defaulting to describing people with they/them/their until knowing their preference. It’s kind of nice seeing that even if I still thought of gender as binary back then, there was already flexibility and room for improvement in my learning.
"We'll find out when we get back. Any cuts, broken bones from the fall?"
"Nothing I can see, but it kinda crunched when it fell." Zack shrugged, flipping the creature onto its front so the wings wouldn't be crushed beneath its weight - however little of that there was - and wincing a little.
"What?"
"The wing's gone funny." Zack looked back up into the truck. "Jay, have we got a chocobo splint kit?" The familiar cheap yellow box came flying out, nearly doing Zack an injury as he caught it and snapped open the plastic case, pulling out the familiar rods and ties.
I would sigh about accidentally repeating ‘familiar’ in that sentence but I’m actually really pleased as punch that I came up with a logical reason to have equipment for fixing wings around. Because really, there was no reason not to believe battle chocobos would be a thing (and later games proved us right! Earlier games might have too, but Final Fantasy VII was my first).
"We'll need an x-ray at base to do it properly but I'll stick with a best guess for now."
Sephiroth nodded before looking up at the men in the truck, clearing his throat quietly.
Thiiiiiis would be before I started making an effort to include women in my stories. Let me just google something quick!
Man, Silent Hill 3 was released in 2003 and that was the start of me starting to properly appreciate female videogame characters (I’d always loved Governor Elaine Marley from Monkey Island but until Silent Hill 3 she was an exception to the rule), but five years on from that game it’s clear I was still clueless about battling internalised misogyny.
"Huh? Oh. Sorry, Sir."
"Are they talkers?" Sephiroth asked under his breath, looking for any signs of jitters in those present.
"Not as far as I know. Random guess, but is this about a certain scientist, Sir?"
*ten points to Zack’s house of choice this time*
Sephiroth frowned slightly before walking over to the truck, leaving Zack room to finish up the splint and pull the creature inside, arranging it awkwardly around one of the seats. "I'd prefer no one talk about this discovery until we know exactly what we're dealing with. Understood?"
Nods and "Yes Sir"s all around, so Sephiroth found himself a seat in the truck and gestured for the driver to take off.
Zack's theory about the hollow bones had proven half correct, given it was only certain areas of the creature's body that had the curious development. The teeth seemed normal enough, slightly extended canines but otherwise typical of humans, and really, colouring aside, the only real differences between it and a normal human were in the way the creature was designed for flight. Clawed hands and feet were ideal for perching, and the musculature of its shoulders and back were perfect for supporting the wings.
To be perfectly honest, regarding the ancient vampires and their anatomy, I’m just gonna handwave and say if bumblebees can fly, then screw it, so can they. Going with some bones as hollow and some as not in a handwavey attempt to make sense of the fact they’re badasses AND can fly was a valiant effort and I am proud of my young self for making it.
Impressively enough, Zack had done an effective enough job of splinting that the vet decided it should be left as was, give or take one or two pins. Sephiroth opted against telling him when he sent the Soldier off to collect pen and paper for Janos, figuring that if it could draw then perhaps it could write, give a sample they could begin to translate from.
Quite understandably the creature's initial reaction on waking was panic, blatant anger and finally a sort of cautious rage.
I figured this was a much younger Janos than the one we’re used to, and therefore was a bit more open about being angry.
Knowing the claws could do some serious damage if it attacked, Sephiroth opted to wait outside the sterile room, watching it draw on the paper, occasionally pausing to watch him back. Strange how those gold eyes stared - strange seeing eyes as alien as his own.
I think a lot of the appeal about Janos, for Sephiroth, is having someone else around who is alien. Janos is literally alien, but Sephiroth has always felt like one, and it’s good to have a kindred spirit in that.
He couldn't help but wonder how a fight between them would have gone had it not stopped after the initial, clearly instinctive attack. Its strength was obvious, the colouring unique - such an odd monster, he wouldn't be able to tell if he beat it black and blue.
“such an odd monster, he wouldn't be able to tell if he beat it black and blue“ - and there’s the line from the prompt I had to fit in. Aww yiss.
Zack could put up a decent fight but not a challenge; a decent sparring partner but no use for training.
The drawings continued to show an unfamiliar environment but writing on and around the images seemed complex enough to suggest translation could eventually prove possible if the creature learnt their own alphabet well enough to give comparison points.
Ha, Sephiroth wishes. Janos’ writing here isn’t consistent; it’s a combination of different sigils and notes on the sigils, thinking out loud about what he’ll need to use to get back home. Attempting to translate it without a guideline would be about as much fun as trying to translate ancient Greek after only studying Latin.
Given it seemed content to carry on drawing as long as the images were returned to it after analysis there seemed no reason to call in higher authorities; Hojo was more widely acknowledged for the species he'd helped destroy than for his conservation techniques.
Zack opted against calling Sephiroth crazy for bringing the creature to the indoor sparring centre, but it was written in his eyes. Sephiroth didn't care, excusing himself to anyone who did openly question him by saying it was a more effective way of discovering Janos' abilities than lab tests would ever be.
Ten minutes later, bruised for the first time since he was young, Sephiroth grinned through the blood running down from his forehead and pushed the creature up against the beam at the room's centre, handcuffing its arms under the wings behind its back. He'd nearly lost, and that was exhilarating. He wondered how he would fare against it once the broken wing was fully healed.
Sephiroth absolutely has a masochistic streak, imho. He’s practically unbeatable, so the thought of a worthy opponent excites him like nothing else.
Three weeks later and the drawings came further and further apart, once or twice showing only images of the new environment, including a particularly unflattering rendering of Zack that Sephiroth made sure to pass on.
Again, younger Janos. Nothing will convince me that bb Janos wasn’t the sort to write unflattering comments about his tutors in the margins of his notes.
At this particular point Janos is only doodling out of boredom and to try and commit images of where he has ended up to memory; his sketches aren’t serving much of a purpose other than that anymore.
Truth be told, Sephiroth had lost interest in the images seconds into his first sparring match with Janos; no guns necessary, nothing that didn't require physical contact and skill. All Janos seemed to want was the chance to carve more writing into the wooden beams around the room after each fight, and Sephiroth was content to allow the 'vandalism'. He was learning for the first time in years and the creature - Janos - was beautiful in motion, seeming to flow and snap between positions with inhuman speed and grace.
It took Janos' pike pointed at his neck on defeating him - making him finally lose - for Sephiroth to realise his appreciation of Janos' aesthetics wasn't only intellectual, and he finally acknowledged the physical reaction to watching Janos' blissful expression when grooming his wings in captivity.
I have a ~thing~ about Janos being on either end of a pike, apparently, given I’ve written a similar scene where Vorador was the victor over Janos in the past. So does Sephiroth.
Janos set his pike down after his fourth victory in as many days, getting out a short dagger and starting to carve into the central pillar before seeming to think better of it and turning back, taking Sephiroth's hands and adjusting his grip on the Masamune.
Janos knows he’s about to go home, and figures why the heck not give this a shot; he’s fairly sure he’s picked up certain vibes from Sephiroth, and if he’s wrong about that, he can beat the snot out of Sephiroth again and go home. Regarding the victories, Sephiroth might be strong, but Janos is one heck of a swift learner, and aerial battling means he’s already awesome at dodging. I don’t think it’s a stretch to let him be the better fighter of the two of them once he’s had practice.
The change in position hurt at first but Sephiroth grasped its advantages swiftly - with his strength it was manageable, and it gave him far greater control of thrusts with the sword, made them practical.
He'd barely consciously acknowledged the warm breath at the back of his neck before he turned awkwardly to meet Janos' lips with his own, uncertain who had started the kiss and almost alarmed at the hardness pressed into his thigh.
He'd never dropped the Masamune before, too respectful of the sword that had kept him alive so many times, but he could excuse himself when thighs geared for helping a grown man take flight nudged his own open, letting Janos grind against him while clawed hands worked their way past coat and belt and trousers, shredding underwear with disdain to claim their prize.
Breaking news: Ancient vampires mostly went commando.
No one had dared be so bold in years, even if Sephiroth invited them to - scared off by protocol or rumour. Perhaps the loss of communication was a good thing in this.
Sephiroth had never shivered, never moaned, never writhed on account of someone else before.
I also have a ~thing~ for virgin!Sephiroth. And apparently that particular thing has stuck with me, which is an interesting surprise. I’ve grown out of that kink for the most part, but there are still exceptions, and it seems he would be one of them.
Orgasm was an alien experience and when snapped-out wings hit him hard enough to bruise as Janos came against his back Sephiroth was glad for the pain, the reminder of what Janos had given him over the past few weeks.
Strangely, he wasn't surprised or that disappointed when Janos finished the last carving and blinked out of existence as swiftly as he'd arrived. The lack of a smile or final babble was strangely pleasing too, the lack of something to cling to like a desperate man.
Zack had been only too happy to help Sephiroth scratch out the carvings beyond recognition, having found the whole escapade 'just too weird' for his liking, an opinion only strengthened by the wood around the carvings being warm to the touch.
Sephiroth doesn’t want anyone following after Janos; Zack doesn’t want anything to do with the whole Janos business full stop (nothing against Janos, everything against literal space/dimension-hopping aliens).
Sephiroth wouldn't help noticing a touch of jealousy too a week later on hearing the answer to where Sephiroth had learnt his new battle stance. It wouldn't have mattered whether Zack was trustworthy or not with that sort of information.
"I had sex with an alien"? The newspapers would have eaten that up.
The End
And the end of this obscenely overdue commentary too <3.
Assuming you don't have to write them yourself, what are five fics you wish existed?
In addition to tagging people, the rule is that anyone who reads someone's list and thinks 'I wish they would write that one!' must reblog the post to up the odds that someone else will see it and write the bunny, and also make their own list of five.
1. AU where it's anime!Shinji and manga!Kaworu, going through initial meeting (anime!Shinji might agree about the mercy kill...) and Kaworu getting Rei's feelings as per manga storyline.
2. AU where it's anime!Kaworu and manga!Shinji, although this will be much shorter. I just want manga!Shinji repeating 'I don't want to lose another friend, so I must not fall in love, I must not fall in love' to himself desperately and hilariously.
3. A version of Hetalia as written by someone in the Star Trek universe, starring avatars of the different races, with comics/stories referring to historical events, people and in-jokes as well as stereotypes. Given Austria-Hungary, we all know what the Federation is in a Hetalia universe. 'In heaven, the science officers are Vulcan...'
4. Post-all light novels Slayers fic addressing Luke and all the hints that Lina Inverse, Enemy of All Who Live, is also one of the vessels of Shabranigdo.
5. A series of 'Day In The Life' fics for Megamix 'verse robot masters, involving Ring Man doing police officer things, Blues picking up his dry cleaning, Rock and his father family bonding by working on the baby, Shadow Man being a weeaboo, Roll and Kalinka building her car for the race, Quick Man dealing with a sick/water-damaged support unit when the pet in question is a giant dragonbot, Toad Man trying to get work done despite Snake Man, Freeze Man being shy and socially awkward in person and yet sending tons of e-mails to Ice Man, etc.
nemithine replied to your post “strangersatthemall replied to your post “(Taking a small break from...”
I completely crapped out on my nano, I was supposed to do so much writing yesterday and today but I just want to go to sleep. Also, work typing has gone up, urgh. On the other hand, Worm/Agent of Asgard crossover!
Don't beat yourself up over it! I crapped out on NaNo sooo many times. Life just has a habit of getting in the way and it's not at all helpful that NaNo takes place in one of the busiest months of the year for people. If it stops being enjoyable, don't do it :)
Worm/Agent of Asgard crossover sounds bizarre and bizarrely delightful, like so many of the best crossovers. What's the premise?
nemithine replied to your post “writing fic while ignoring college - a story not written by me because...”
Pepper: the princess captured by the dragon who in turns captures the dragon and rules a kingdom thought he dragon is still called king everyone knows she's the HBIC. The dragon does still have the kidnapping urge, and hello Loki
omg, grabby hands like woah! i love this prompt so much :D :D :D after I'm done with this fic, this prompt is next on the agenda!
