Sophia. ♉. books and stories are my lifeblood; I adore the strange, mythic, and fantastic. if you are not interested in fictional ladies and their narratives then you are in the wrong place. live fast, die young; when I grow up I'll be a monster.
{ about me | (actual about me) | elsewhere }Title: the beast upon your back, part 3
Word Count: 1,000
Characters/Pairing: Artemis/Dick
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here for the paranormal AUs apparently
Summary: “You’re just a kid,” she blurted, so shocked she forgot to train her crossbow properly. The oversight hardly mattered though, because it was true: rather than a fully grown werewolf, savage and deadly, all she found was a pale and scrawny boy, naked as the day he was born.
Note: A bit shorter than the others, but I promise Dick will be back next chapter.
—-
The starmap unfolds before her: the sun and stars, the moons and planets, the shadows and dust, and the projected light catches upon the curve of her face and the curl of her hair. Daenerys Stormborn, last of the noble House Targaryan and Mother of Dragons, spreads her arms to embrace the whole of the spiraling Westeros Galaxy.
“I will take what is mine,” she whispers, a promise slipping between the stars to rattle planets in its wake, as her eyes reflect the cosmos; Ser Jorah’s eyes reflect only her.
Title: the beast upon your back, part 2
Word Count: 1,300
Characters/Pairing: Artemis/Dick
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here for the paranormal AUs apparently
Summary: “You’re just a kid,” she blurted, so shocked she forgot to train her crossbow properly. The oversight hardly mattered though, because it was true: rather than a fully grown werewolf, savage and deadly, all she found was a pale and scrawny boy, naked as the day he was born.
Note: Officially continued! Holy shit guys, I haven’t had a WIP in literally YEARS. So many years. Kind of nervous to do it now, but my brain just would not. shut. up. about this AU. So yeah. More to come. Enjoy.
——
Title: the beast upon your back
Word Count: 1,250
Characters/Pairing: Artemis/Dick
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here for the paranormal AUs apparently
Summary: “You’re just a kid,” she blurted, so shocked she forgot to train her crossbow properly. The oversight hardly mattered though, because it was true: rather than a fully grown werewolf, savage and deadly, all she found was a pale and scrawny boy, naked as the day he was born.
Note: Requested by anon—Traught Robin is a werewolf and Artemis is hunting him. I’ll have you know, sweet anon, that this fic absolutely CONSUMED my brain. I hope to expand this at some point, but in the mean time here is my answer. Super special thanks to superblys for patiently answering my many questions about flesh wounds. Any accuracy with regards to the treatment of them is due to her, and all mistakes are my own. Please do point them out.
—-
Artemis is drawing on herself and it’s altogether distracting.
The pen is blue and the shapes range from geometric to whimsical, and Babs had invited her over so they could study for their looming Trig test, and she was trying to, really, but how could anyone concentrate when Artemis was sprawled casually on her bed, inking pretty patterns over her palm, down her arm, on her wrist, hand hanging limp and fingers curled gracefully.
“What?” The pen has paused in its fluid journey, and Babs drags her eyes up to find Artemis looking back at her. She chokes on her own tongue and feels her traitorous cheeks flush violently.
“Nothing, I just—” She casts around desperately for something, anything, and wonder of wonders, the Trig book in her lap comes to her rescue. “We’re supposed to be studying, not doodling.” She holds up the textbook for emphasis, or maybe as a shield.
Artemis rolls her eyes in a decidedly Artemis-like fashion, but a smile tucks itself good-naturedly into the corner of her mouth. Babs stares in fascination.
(Well, not stares, she’s only looking at what’s right in front of her. Really. She’s not staring. Well, only a bit.)
“I already finished the next problem set and thought I’d take a break. Work too hard for too long and you lose your edge, you know? At least when it comes to school work, anyway.”
Artemis is looking at her intently, unwaveringly. On anyone else it might seem creepy, or awkward; anyone else might not look so directly for so long, choosing instead to focus on some vague middle distance. With Artemis though, it simply means she’s set her sights on you and is giving you her full attention, no games or false coyness. Babs has wondered if perhaps this is why Dick consistently goes out of his way to show off around Artemis, just so that she’ll look at him.
She thinks she understands.
Babs finds herself suddenly unable to meet that steady gaze any longer, and her eyes dance away self-consciously. Internally, she’s panicking, because she can’t think of a single thing to say, and god, Artemis must think her so stupid, and she’s not, she’s really not, but there’s just something about this girl that makes her unexpectedly tongue-tied, and it drives her absolutely batty, and why had she thought it would be a good idea to hang out with Artemis by herself, without Dick to provide a safe and impishly agreeable buffer—
“You look like you could use a break too. Here, I’ll get you started.” Before Babs can react, Artemis grabs the redhead’s extended leg and pulls it into her lap. Babs jerks her eyes back up to find the other girl giving her a very different look, deliberate and mischievous. Still holding her gaze, Artemis casually hooks a finger into Babs’ sock, pulls it under her heel and leaves it there; her fingernail scratches a light, blazing trail that leaves Babs’ mouth abruptly dry.
She feels her jaw drop, feels her chest expand sharply, but can’t think what to do about it.
Artemis finally looks away, down, at the foot held unresistingly in her loose grip. She begins to draw, much as she did on herself: swirling lines, stars and diamonds and triangles, and even little bows and arrows. The pen leaves its scrawling trails of ink, scraping lightly over pale skin. The fingers of her empty hand rub absently up and down, up and down, up and down, teasing and soft and sending pleasant tingles all over her body.
Artemis cups her hand over Babs’ ankle; when she takes it away again, she can see a carefully drawn heart with an arrow etched through it.
Oh, she thinks softly.
Gyda’s mother is a shield-maiden, born with the blood of warriors as surely as the sword sings silver in her hand.
Her mother teaches her this skill, as she does weaving cloth and catching fish and the million other tasks it takes to run a farm or win a battle.
“Your fate shall be your own,” Lagertha tells her, and Gyda takes every lesson to heart; it is knowledge she craves, and the unparalleled satisfaction that unlocked understanding brings her young and eager mind. Sometimes she imagines herself as a great wolf, filling her belly with songs and stories and all there is to know in the world. Sometimes she thinks of Odin, and his missing eye.
So she watches, and she listens, and she learns.
“Do as I do,” Mother says; Gyda copies the motions of her wrist with her own blade, steady and even, but forgets to plant her feet. Before she can blink, her mother tups her right into the grass. Quick as a sparrow she turns the fall into a roll, springing back up. Lagertha smiles, pleased. “We’ll make a warrior out of you yet.”
Gyda is not so sure. Her parents are fierce fighters both, but the call of battle does not set fire to her blood the way it does them, or Bjorn. Already, this she can see.
But maybe she just hasn’t learned how yet. Regardless, she does like to make her mother smile.
Gyda plants her feet and tries again.
She boards the ship alongside Kaldur and very carefully does not think about the tons of water closing in over her head.
————
She’d learned a thing or two about Kaldur in their time on the Team. He was exotic, sure, and he’d always been about as stoic as they came—so if you really wanted to know what he was thinking, you had to watch his hands.
“Father,” Kaldur says; Artemis stands two steps behind his right shoulder (this is a very deliberate choice).
“My son,” Black Manta acknowledges. It’s difficult to tell through the helmet, but it feels as though she’s being sized up. Casually, she traces the hilt of (one of) the daggers strapped to her thigh. “And who is your companion?”
“This is Tigress. I have chosen her to be my right hand commander as I move forward.”
There is a beat of silence; Manta Senior is definitely staring at her now. Kaldur’s fingers twitch at his side. “Indeed. And what makes you think she is worthy of such a position? I’ve never heard of any Tigress.”
“Then I’m doing my job right,” she says, looking directly at Black Manta, even as he finally removes his helmet. Artemis maintains eye contact until she feels she’s made her point, then drops her gaze to his chin. “Sir.”
(She might be imagining it, but she could swear the ghost of a smile flickers across his lips.)
“Is that so. Tell me, mysterious Tigress, what other names do you go by?”
“I have no other names, sir.”
“Are you mocking me?” The crease of his frown promises suffering.
“No, sir.” She keeps her eyes trained carefully still. “I mean that the person I was before no longer exists. I am only Tigress.”
“Interesting.” He turns back to Kaldur. (Artemis carefully regulates her breathing.) “That still does not explain where you found her, or why you brought her onto my ship.”
“If you would like a demonstration of her skills, I am sure she would be happy to provide one.”
Matna stares at his son searchingly, but Kaldur’s face gives away nothing. (Meanwhile, his fingers tap an faint, unsteady beat.) Eventually, he says, “Yes, I believe a demonstration is in order.” Kaldur reaches for his water-bearers, but Manta waves him off. “No, son, I will be the one putting her to the test.” She has just enough time to see Kaldur’s eyes widen before she has to duck and roll.
Artemis gets enough room to allow for a momentary breath, and then, for the first time in years, holds absolutely nothing back.
———
(It’s easier than she cares to think about, shedding those restrictions that she had placed upon herself when she decided what kind of person she wanted to be. What her father taught her: aim to kill.)
mermaids, man
Title: blood price
Word Count: 730
Characters/Pairing: Reverse!Dipper&Reverse!Mabel
Rating: T (for some brief strong language and references to animal torture)
Disclaimer: Gravity Falls does not belong to me, I’m just here to play.
Summary: Where Waddles comes into the picture. [Reverse!Pines AUverse]
Note: Dedicated to my lovely Charlotte, who’s been having a rough time of it lately.
I was just going through the Reverse Pines tag on tumblr one day, and suddenly had the image of Waddles the magic talking disembodied head. If that sounds familiar…you might have read Fables.
——
oh hey so machiavelliss prompted me this ages ago for a three-sentence fic meme so yeah here you go girl
mabel/dipper, ghost hunters
Mabel always knows, she’s always known, since they were kids and ghosts started following her like stray, slightly-to-very menacing puppies: this place is haunted.
It kills me to watch you do this again and again and again, he doesn’t say, every time she prepares to get up close and personal with a possibly homicidal spirit; she smiles at him anyway, armed with nothing more than brightly colored sweaters and a cheerful disposition and a brother who won’t let her go in alone (at night she sleeps with a tattered old stuffed pig, but they stopped bothering with separate beds a long time ago when, like as not, she just wakes up screaming and the only thing that soothes his endless anxiety and everpresent fear of being left alone is the sound of her breathing).
Goodbye, she never says, because they both know she’ll never have to.
Title: there’s catastrophe in everything I’m touching
Word Count: 4,500
Characters/Pairing: Artemis Crock, Dick Grayson, the Joker; Artemis/Dick
Rating: M (for torture, graphic violence, murder, threats of rape, profanity, and dark themes in general)
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here to play destroy lives.
Summary: If you scream and no one listens, do you make a sound?
Note: I am so, so sorry for this. I don’t really know what happened.
(Inspired by Rush’s art; text used with her permission. Special thanks to mswyrr for her helpful and speedy beta skills.)
*Title from The Horror of Our Love by Ludo
Alternative sites: AO3 | FFN | LJ
——
She fights. Every time they take him, she snarls and threatens and blusters and swears. They laugh at her and pay her no mind.
“Don’t worry ‘Mis, I got this,” Robin says as they drag him out, a determined smile on his lips. If it was meant to sooth her, it does a damn shite job. That smile becomes a little more crooked every time. (Sometimes, after they leave, she just screams at the top of her lungs. No one ever comes.)
Title: the bittersweet between my teeth
Word Count: 3,400
Characters/Pairing: Artemis/Dick
Rating: T (for some profanity & graphic descriptions of pain. Plus, vampires)
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here to play.
Summary: “I’m so hungry, Robin,” she moans, and yeah, that’s kind of what he was afraid of.
Note: Because every fandom needs a vampire AU, amirite? Warnings for some profanity and graphic descriptions of pain. Um, and the whole vampirism thing.
I blame this utterly and completely on Rush. I totally promised this to her moooonths ago. And I mean just look at this. If you want a reference. Er.
Extra big thanks to my lovely beta mswyrr, who gives me the confidence to post these strange things my mind concocts.
*Title from Young Blood by The Naked and Famous
Title: dig up her bones
Word Count: 8,400
Characters/Pairing: Artemis Crock & cast; Artemis/Wally, sort-of Artemis/Dick, Roy/Jade, Zatanna/Raquel
Rating: T (for some brief language)
Disclaimer: Young Justice does not belong to me, I’m just here to play.
Summary: Most people only die once, but Artemis always was one of a kind. [Before, during, and after Depths.]
Note: I AM FINALLY DONE! I have literally been writing this off-and-on since right after Depths aired (and subsequently destroyed my soul and my sanity) and now I can finally post the damn thing. Even if there were a few other perspectives I’d have liked to include. Welp.
Jsyk, the pairings are kinda…well let’s just say they’re mostly canon-compliant, but I ship Traught a whole hell of a lot and it shows lol.
Anyways, get ready for the angst pile.
Alternative sites: AO3 | FFN | LJ
—-
For themedparty: challenge 1 [First Meetings]
That awkward moment when you ship something that NOBODY ELSE SHIPS.
aka my life.
(Please feel free to use my graphics for whatever, but please try and credit if you do so. Thank you!)
UGH PLEASE.
I feel like everyone overlooks Robin and Artemis’s first meeting because we’ve got the whole Wally and Artemis dynamic going on and that’s great.
I just want to draw your attention to how (after Schooled) Robin went around trying to figure out who fired the mystery arrow. And when he ruled out Speedy, he found one “Artemis Crock” in Batman’s encrypted files who was a likely candidate… Once he started working with her, it would’ve been way too easy to develop a crush on her. But it might’ve even happened earlier than that; just by looking at what kind of messed up family she defied to become a hero, Artemis probably had Dick’s admiration from the start.
#it started as innocent research #it became a love that would blind milliooooons #the press goes crazy as Gotham’s loved Boy Wonder is seen yet again hanging around Star City with Green Arrow’s new prodigy Artemis #help otp feels!
shut up shut up shUT UP!
————
“Do you feel like we’re being watched?” Artemis glanced over her shoulder, paranoia finally getting the best of her. The back of her neck had been itching off and on for hours.
“Now that you mention it…”
“‘Sup!”
Artemis managed only through sheer force of will and years of training not to a) punch Boy Wonder in the throat or b) shriek like a small child. Of course he would choose the choose the moment her head was turned to appear in front of them. Of course. And judging from his all too self-satisfied smirk, he was quite aware of how close she’d come to embarrassing herself. She spent a moment seriously reconsidering reflex a.
“Hey, Robin,” said Green Arrow. “Hey, Bats. What brings the defenders of Gotham to our humble city?”
“We have some things to discuss.” Maybe she was just imagining things, but Batman seemed to frown at her as he said it. Her mentor raised an eyebrow, but followed him to the far corner of the roof.
That stung more than she cared to admit.
“Don’t worry,” Robin said, startling her out of her thoughts. “It’s not you. Secrecy is kind of a thing for him.” He gestured to his domino mask pointedly.
She deliberately turned her back on the two heroes, walking over to the ledge and sitting down. “Whatever. If they want to be all dark and mysterious, that’s their business.” She dearly hoped she wasn’t that transparent, or else the whole ‘being on a team’ thing and ‘having a secret past’ thing would both go rather terribly.
Robin joined her on the ledge, swinging his feet in defiance of the twelve story drop. “Again, that’s kind of a thing for him.” She was ready to bristle at him, for talking down at her like she didn’t know anything about Batman, like she hadn’t grown up hearing stories about him from anything between awed civilians and pissed off crooks, but his smile was less condescending and more like he was sharing a secret or a private joke with her. She looked away, out over the city she was learning to protect, and shrugged with forced disinterest at him.
“So, ah, welcome to the team, by the way.” She glanced at him sideways, surprised, and even more so when he wouldn’t meet her eyes. Was that a blush? “I mean, things were a little weird when you showed up, what with Wally being an idiot and Roy being…Roy, and I never welcomed you to the team properly and all, so: welcome.”
Okay, his face was definitely red. Wow, she made Robin blush. Robin. A grin broke out on her face, entirely without her permission, and if it was closer to a smile than a smirk, well, that was nobody’s business but hers.
“Thanks, Boy Wonder,” she said, and hoped she didn’t sound too grateful. The last thing she needed was her new team thinking she needed some sort of validation from them.
Rather than respond, he flipped himself into a handstand, balancing precariously close to the edge. She reached towards him without thought, but he just cackled and executed a perfect backwards hand spring onto the roof.
She rolled her eyes, but that grin still clung to the corners of her mouth. “Show-off.”
Robin bowed with a flourish, cape whipping out dramatically. “At your service.”
“Robin,” Batman called, and the boy looked over his shoulder, then back at her.
“Looks like it’s time to go. It was nice talking with you, Artemis. You’re pretty asterous, you know.” She wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but he smiled at her, and it even seemed sincere. (She was so not blushing.) “We should totally team up some time.”
“You mean, besides the whole ‘sidekick team’ thing?”
“Uh, yeah. Besides that.” He cartwheeled over to Batman (literally cartwheeled; this boy was such a show-off), and she walked over to join Green Arrow at a much more respectable pace. “Oh, and I like your arrows.” With a wave and another one of his weird secretive grins at her, he pulled out his grappling hook, shot it, and the two of them disappeared over the edge.
She turned to her mentor. “Are they always like that?”
Green Arrow shrugged nonchalantly. “You get used to it after a while.”
