Side blog stuff

H, she/they, +18

Chapter 7/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

“You came back from Iraq and decided to join a group that is likely going to send you to much worse places. That is quite a choice to make.” “I had to do something with my life, didn’t I?” “This is more than just doing something with your life, isn’t it?” Miller pressed on. “You think the battlefield is the only place for someone like you.” “Someone like me, sir?” “A soldier,” he clarified. “A man who has had a taste of war and now doesn’t know how to step away from it anymore.” He was facing David head on and even through the sunglasses David felt like his mentor was staring straight into his soul. 

Chapter 6/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

“I’ll never understand why you try to pretend you aren’t made for this kind of work and that you don’t relish it. There’s no shame in it. You’re a good warrior, you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for sometimes. You only need to stop pretending this is against your nature.” “I’m a businessman, boss, you know that.” “A businessman with a love for getting his hands dirty.”

Chapter 5/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

Miller leaned back against the edge of his desk, arms crossed. For a moment it seemed like he thought twice about what he was going to say. The brief silence that followed his consideration hung heavy over the room. “What do the words ‘Outer Heaven’ mean to you?” If Gray Fox knew anything, he did not let it show. He did not even flinch. He only raised a brow, visibly confused, or so he pretended to be at least. “Outer Heaven? Is that a name I’m supposed to be familiar with?”

Chapter 4/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

“I already accepted. I accepted on your behalf as well.” “On my behalf-” Kaz’ eyes widened in surprise, surprise that quickly turned to anger, “you don’t get to just do that.” He should have seen this coming a mile away. It was not the first time Snake had crossed the line like this without any regard for those around him and yet every time it managed to catch him off guard. A part of him, it seemed, remained convinced of the foolish illusion that he was somehow exempt from Snake’s terrible behaviour. He was proven wrong time and time again.  Never learnt his damn lesson either. And maybe that was the ugly truth of it all.

Chapter 5/5 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

She should not have let Mia talk her into this. A competition with Roy Harper, the man who famously never missed, first sidekick to Green Arrow, long time Titans and Justice League member, was just going to get embarrassing for her. Hardly the kind of loving sibling bonding time she had, maybe, hoped for.

Chapter 3/5 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

“What about you though, Cissie? You work under the name Arrowette, right? Roy mentioned that.” It was Connor who tried to pull her back into the conversation. Cissie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “I was Arrowette for a few years, yeah.” Was. She had quit a while ago after almost taking a man’s life. Evidently she couldn’t be what all her siblings and her father were.  Heroes.  And now she had to explain herself to a whole new group of people all over again. It had been hard enough to justify her decision to her friends at the time, how was she going to justify it to her new family when vigilantism was basically the family business and brand?

Chapter 1/5 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

She pulled the bow out of the box. It still felt so natural in her hand. She knew if she picked up an arrow right now she could nail a target further away than the average olympic shot demanded.  She was a damn good archer.  She would always be a damn good archer. Not because her mother had raised her as one or because she was the daughter of one archer (Two? Archers? No, one. Only one).

Chapter 3/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

Miller did not seem to care much about the rumours. He liked to keep things to himself, regardless of what people said about him. None of that had to mean he was some secret super soldier with a dark past. The rumours, one way or another, persisted of course. Miller’s fondness of messing with his recruits did not help in that department. He had told a dozen different stories about how he had ended up at FOXHOUND, how he had lost his arm and leg, how he knew the boss. None of them were true, at least David had to assume they were all lies, but some of them sounded just true enough that people liked to run with them and take them at face value.

Chapter 2/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

“Every soldier has a vice, David,” Miller started, matter-of-factly. “Campbell has one, your father has one. Anyone who says they don’t have one is a liar. I’m not saying I approve of what you are doing,” he paused, letting out a sigh as he shook his head “but I understand it.”  “And what is your vice, master?” David knew it was the alcohol speaking. He would have never dared to ask such a question had he been fully sober. He would have never been so direct about it. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to hear the answer.  “I don’t have one, obviously,” Miller replied with a smile that reeked of insincerity. 

When master Miller spots a familiar name among his recruits, he has to make a choice and while a young Solid Snake is thrown into the middle of a shadow war much older than him, his mentor is forced to reflect on his past as he threatens to destroy the young man's future. Are they both destined to be haunted by the threads of their past that bind them together? Can David escape the fate his mentor has chosen for him? Can either of them escape the shadow of Big Boss in Zanzibar Land?

Chapter 1/14 out now on Ao3 - Chapter preview:

Miller folded his hands together and sat up properly. He had expected pushback. He had come prepared for it. “I told you, I’ll set him straight. Give me a month and I’ll prove it.” A low stake offer, a generous compromise. He still knew how to play his business partners even if they were not the traditional guy in a suit or some warlord with an ego.  “Big Boss mentioned you liked impossible challenges,” Campbell said somewhat exasperated. Miller was careful not to perk up at that. So the boss did still talk about him. Interesting. He wondered how much he had told Campbell and just what kind of things he had told the man. He imagined none of the discussions about him had included mentions of a certain operation in the Caribbean. If they had, maybe Campbell would not underestimate him like this. “But a single month is ridiculous, even for your standards.”  “If the boss told you I like impossible challenges I’m sure he’s also told you I’m usually pretty good at winning them. Give me a seemingly impossible task and I’ll figure out a way to get what you want out of it,” he responded. Time to let the trap fall shut. He would get what he wanted, he had to and he was damn well going to pretend it was already a done deal.

With the way things are, any moment could be V's last. A particularly bad night forces her to confront the possibility that she may just die unceremoniously on the floor of her own apartment while Johnny has to accept that there's fuck all he can do about it. The only comfort for V is the fact she may not be alone at the end.