Since you're in a Defiance mood, could you write something with Alak and Christie and baby Luke? Either some moments together while they were kidnapped, or maybe an AU where Pilar wasn't awful and they didn't get kidnapped at all? Just something cute with the baby, please. :)
So this escalated quickly... ;) I hope you enjoy it!
Two Truths and a Lie (1206 words) by mistyautumn
Fandom: Defiance (TV)
Rating: T
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Christie McCawley/Alak Tarr
Characters: Alak Tarr, Christie McCawley, Luke Tarr
Summary: Three moments of happiness between Alak, Christie, and their son; felt in their hearts and dreamed in their heads.
Well, not entirely anywhere- there were many rooms not dedicated to sleeping, where it would’ve been uncomfortable for him to stay for the night.
(But then again, for the past few days his sleeping conditions hadn’t been great either. So who could say, really, whether or not he could judge any of those rooms?)
If he would’ve chosen one of the bedrooms, though, and actually gotten a comfortable night’s sleep, he also knew he wouldn’t have spent the whole night there. It would have felt wrong, no matter how soft the pillows were or how warm the blankets were, because there was one person on this ship who was all alone at that same time, who had no choice on where to sleep.
Who, at any time, could wake up alone too.
And after he’d watched Querl slowly break down, his systems failing one by one until he wasn’t able to wake up, he wasn’t willing to leave him- even now that they were safe.
Querl had been terrified, Winn remembered. He hadn’t shown it often, but…seeing him so in control most of the time, so put together and above it all, compared with when they were in the cave together? His despondency, giving up on everything before Winn took his hand and helped him up, in addition to the information Winn now knew about him?
(he never thought he’d make this comparison- but it reminded him of Kara at her lowest. It just hurt to watch, and though he knew it was misplaced optimism, he wanted nothing more than for him to be okay again, just like he’d always wanted with Kara)
They hadn’t been in the best place together, that much was obvious, before or even after they’d been sent here. But Winn liked to think they were in a better place now, and although they might not be at the “admitting deep feelings” stage, looking at Brainy- awake or unconscious, before their escape or now afterwards- broke his heart, knowing all of it.
(He still looks down at him now, and even though Querl is so vulnerable, still putting himself back together, it’s with a look he could describe as fondness. Because somewhere between when they’d woken up, confused and unsure of everything, and when Winn was trying to get him to wake up again, they had become friends, and Winn wasn’t willing to lose him to a world that was set up against him.)
And so he makes a place for himself to sleep now, near Querl’s bed in the medbay- where he can stay, making sure that Querl remains not alone, and that they can heal together.
Hi, Autumn! (You knew this was coming, so...) Could you write something with Alak and Christie? Preferably something fluffy, but anything's fine, really, I just want more content and you write them so well. :)
Oh gosh, I’m a little nervous! The story of the socks. I hope it doesn’t disappoint!
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Alak loves days like these; it’s warm and breezy in the dappled shade of the McCawley yard, he’s got a good record playing, and Quentin and Mr. McCawley are at the mines. In stolen moments like these, he and Christie have a life of their own, away from the machinations and expectations of their families. Thank Rayetso.
He watches Christie from his spot on the porch steps and smiles thinly, even though he doesn’t entirely understand why she’s using the time to do laundry.
“Do you not trust Jalina with your stuff?”
“What?” Christie looks to him and shakes her head. “No, it’s not that- I just- I like doing laundry. I can see your face, don’t look at me like that.” She laughs. “I like folding. It’s therapeutic. I always used to help Bertie.”
“Therapeutic.” Alak says skeptically.
“Yeah, kind of. I can just do it, and my mind wanders. It’s nice.” She grins, and gets a bunch of socks from the line, approaching Alak and dropping them in his lap. “Here, ball those up.”
“What?” Alak looks at Christie, then at the heap of socks, then at Christie again.
“Try it, you’ll see.” She sits beside him and nudges him lightly. “You get into a rhythm.”
“Uh-huh...” Alak answers non-committally. “And how does that work...?” He squeezes the socks together in a lumpy sort of ball. There is no rhythm. He looks at Christie and as the seconds draw out he watches her expression change to something that seems torn; somewhere between exasperation and amusement.
“You’re kidding.” She rolls her eyes and heaves a long-suffering sigh that sounds mostly playful, then picks two matching socks from the pile, lining them up and folding the tops down so they form a soft ball. “Just like that.” Then she bounces the ball lightly off his forehead.
For a moment he’s embarrassed, but in the next his instinct is defensive. Christie seems to sense it; reaches out and smooths his hair, her warmth soothing the spark. “It’s ok.” She says the words in Casti, then switches back to English, conceding: “I guess Datak Tarr wouldn’t approve of his son doing house work. Beneath your liro, right?”
She’s definitely not wrong.
“So it’s like this?” He finds two matching socks and does just like Christie. One pair, two, then a third.
“You’ve got it.” She smiles. He loves the sound of his language in her voice, even when her pronunciation is clumsy or her grammar is nearly nonsense. She’s learning.
He’s learning.
They can sort it out together.
“You’re right, you can get a rhythm.”
She bounces another ball off his head and grins, laughing as she runs to shelter behind a hanging pair of pants. Giving chase, he catches her in his arms, lifting her off the ground and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
“My wife’s a little feisty.”
“That’s why you like her!” She squirms; he knows where she’s ticklish. “Go fold more socks, it’ll drive your father crazy.”
“You know what I like,” He laughs, then leans in. “but your speaking my language is driving me crazy.” He murmurs in her ear.
“In a good way?”
“Oh, in the best way.”
She wriggles around so she can face him, her arms sliding around his neck as their lips meet.
“My husband honors me greatly with his new folding skills.”
Alak grins, slowly setting her down.
“I’ve got a patient teacher. Also very sexy.”
“Trying to make me jealous?” Switching back to English, her tone is playful, her dark eyes dancing.
“Maybe just a little.” He smirks.
Her lips find his again and for a moment all the world is perfect. They hold each other and they are happy in this stolen life of their own.
for @wintersky101/ @winterskywrites, as this is set during her fic Illusion for the Moment and inspired by the new information we got from 5x10
When Querl wakes up, on the second day of his and Winn’s imprisonment (is it truly imprisonment? He and Winn are trying to find a way off of the planet. They can move freely, there’s no sign of the person who sent them there. They might as well not be imprisoned at all… except that they were sent there by force, and given the effect this world has on technology, getting off of it is not as easy as it should be), he realizes his inhibitors aren’t working.
It should be a good thing- he should be celebrating, as, if he and Winn are imprisoned right now, the deactivation of the inhibitors ought to feel like a release from another prison, that his own mind has been held captive in for so many years. But they remain on his forehead, reminding him that though he may not feel their effects now, they will return once he is free from this planet.
(If he can find a way to escape, along with Winn, before both halves of himself fail to function completely and he expires.)
(He’s not sure how much time he has left to calculate the odds of such a situation, but he is certain that Winn should hear those odds, as much as he likely doesn’t want to.)
~
“Your forehead lights aren’t glowing.”
…
“Brainy?” Winn asks, with a concern focused on him that Querl didn’t think he had.
“Trust me, I am well aware of that.” Querl answers. “But… Winn?”
“Yeah?”
“I… yesterday, when I told you that I gave myself these implants… it was not the whole story.”
“Oh.” Winn says. “Do we have time for the real one?”
“Once we leave, yes. But for now, all I can say is this- it was my father who constructed the implants, I was merely the one who was given instructions to implant them onto myself. And… they do more than just keep my thoughts in line.”
“What else do they do?”
“That is not important right now.” He says, as he does continue to wrestle his thoughts into line- it is not as though he had few thoughts before. But they were so crowded into his mind before, and his perception itself was limited. Now they are more free, at least for a little while, and his vision is clearer.
It’s a temporary boon, for him, even among the curses that this world has given to him just for being in it, and even as those thoughts do overwhelm him at the moment, his mind works so quickly that he finds it difficult to settle on any particular thought and be productive with it.
“Brainy?” Winn says, sounding like he’s further away than he had been, even though Querl is aware that he’s touching his shoulder, and that should bother him. “Are you sure you’re okay? Will you be able to make a workaround with your Legion ring, like you talked about?”
He doesn’t respond again, mind too busy, so this time Winn grabs his arms.
Querl removes himself from Winn’s grip, shaking himself.
“I can figure out a work-around.” He says. “We should get moving.”
Author’s Synopsis: “Most days, Rogue prefers not to think too much about Mystique. Of course, most days she hasn't just found out that she has a brother. Or, in the wake of Mystique's realization and presumed death, Kurt and Rogue talk.”
Notes: Short fic that takes place after Nightcrawler finds about the truth about his birth family.
Fanwork creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics/art/podfics/etc. that you've made, then pass on to others. Let’s spread the self-love 🌼
awwww thank you, Winter!
favorite fics that I've made/ones that I'm the most proud of:
Pay the Asking Price
so this one, for those who don't know, is my Supergirl season 2 rewrite/Elseworlds story, based on the question "what if Brainy was in the pod from the end of season 1 instead of Mon-El?" It came about in 2019 due to a couple different things, and once I realized how much it worked, I had to write it, and I did. And I really enjoyed doing so! It's the longest fanfic I've ever done, and I think one of the only longer stories I've ever completed.
2. No Connection/Hope Burns Bright
these stories aren't exactly connected, but they do both feature Brainysupes, so I'm just putting them together. The first one came about as a story inspired by my friend Pesky's Heart of Steel collection, which is a bunch of her fanfics that are all based on specific episodes of TV that we watched. The second was inspired by me suddenly realizing how similar Brainy in LOSH is to Aya from Green Lantern the Animated Series, and how much I wanted them to be friends because of those similarities, combined with the AU I already had where Brainy is a Green Lantern as well as some Green Lantern lore from the Rebirth series featuring Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. I loved writing them both, I love LOSH animated Brainy and his crush on Superman.
3. I loved you yesterday
my first Marvel fanfic, this one is based on Wandavision and features Vision's POV during the Halloween episode and the big climactic scene with him in that episode in particular. Because of course I'd be drawn to writing about the robot who had an evil "relative" but who also rejected that heritage and fell in love with another superhero. I took a lot of notes for this one, and looking back on it, I'm still really happy with this fanfic and how I wrote Vision. I still miss him, I wish he'd come back.
4. look at what well-meant did
aka The One Where Brainy Goes Off
This one I just wrote right after Supergirl 5x06 in a burst of inspiration, and I'm glad it got such a positive response because I really enjoy it too.
5. something we must learn
my second Supergirl/Flash crossover fic, featuring Nora and Brainy because I still think they should have met and I have no idea why they didn't. Especially since, as we learned, they were both inhibited by their parents and it would have been neat for them to talk about it.
