I’m no artist and I’ve been too tired to write anything I’d share with the public, but I wanted to participate somehow in this kiss week thingie. So here are some shots of General Johan and Valentina, who is lovely and belongs to the also lovely @charomiami 🙂
Awe I was just thinking about all those old times. Memories! 😙❤😙❤😙 to you and the General & Val
@charomiami asked me to write a little something using the one word prompt #47 Stars.
Here it is. Hopefully, it is easier to read than if I posted this as a reply to the ask. 🙂 But it isn’t. I’ll reformat later. Here are the words:
Panel 1: The moon and stars lit our way through the commonwealth wilderness. We came across a lone Minuteman on the trail of a girl taken by a group of raiders. He feared for her fate and asked for our help.
It was a bold move to trust strangers such as us. I could tell he thought the same but desperation made his decisions rash. Duncan and I shared a look. We were going to make camp, but I was not tired. Duncan looked grim, as he always did.
Panel 2. The Minuteman had a piece of clothing that belonged to the girl. Echo knew what to do.
It was bold of us, maybe, to help this man. We did not speak while on the hunt, but I felt I knew how he would react if he found out about me and Duncan.
Panel 3: Fear. Distrust. Anger. Violence. I did not want to expose Duncan to that, if we are to succeed in our goal, we need to show that when given a choice, not everything from the Institute is evil. Until then, we hunt beneath the silent stars.
Of course I LOVE it, this. Awesome work and use and you gave me lovely pics too…. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
The morning sun broke through the tepid haze and painted the gnarled fingers of the bare trees in gold. He forced himself to watch the sunrise, though the light hurt his eyes and forced him in time to shade them with the back of his hand. More gold glinted off the ring he wore on his left hand. The ring Nora put on his finger the day they married.
Around him, the Minutemen camp began to stir. Fires were coaxed to life and the scents and sounds of men and women long in the field grew loud, almost boisterous. They were an honor guard, escorting the General from settlement to settlement, as he talked unity to the leaders of each. The General, Johan’s mind was not on the approach to Starlight. It was on the ring he wrestled with, twisting it and turning it until it scraped over his knuckle and into the palm of his hand.
The ring glinted and caught the daybreak as it had for so many days in the past. There was no room for the past now. He was done with it. Had to be finished otherwise, he would go mad and betray his friends, his son. Valentina.
“Goodbye, Nora,” he whispered to the dawn.
He would look forward for all of them, but mostly for Valentina.
Not what I expected but even better! 😍😍😍😍😍😍
Castle Walls- Hurry Back.
I wish I could have come up with a title, but I honestly had too many choices but wanted this posted and running behind today! General Johan belongs to my writing partner in crime @helloaschefire who helped me with some moments I just couldn’t make up my mind lol! I’m really just exhausted. So this may be my only finished work tonight.
The Deal: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2017. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. ❤
I was tagged by the always wonderful @charomiami to share my five faves. I have been under a severe writer’s block for years and only mid-2017 did the ice seemed to melt. I’m not sure I’d call any of it writing but it’s in the writing arena. I’m proud of it because I was writing. That is huge for me. And, one of these is not writing at all. 😉 So here goes:
1. Non-writing first. Every year I vow to get better at crochet. And every yere, I’m vexed with a piece. 2016, it was a mermaid’s tail I made for my niece. Crocodile stitch with the yarn I chose was not a combo. But I did it and I learned a lot. This year, it’s the Lost Souls Shawl. I love this shawl pattern so much, I’m making multiples and it still has me pulling my hair out as 2018 begins. The original post can be found here.
2. Farewell Piper: I don’t often see posts where the sole survivor breaks up with one of the companions, but Johan broke up with Piper. This was difficult to write and would have been even more so without the help of @charomiami .
3: Okay, this is more difficult than I expected. I’ve been trying different formats on Tumblr and this was one of the first and one of my favorites.
4: I actually played more than Fallout this year. I adore Mass Effect: Andromeda. I got better at screenarchery playing that game as well. These two are my favorite images.
5: I’m pretty happy with all the things I’ve posted for Ashoken, and the Ashoken and Duncan pairing. Again, my co-conspirator @charomiami has been a giant help and inspiration. I really think this picture captures the pair very well.
WARM AND FUZZY SO PROUD of my FRIENDS! So happy that I got to see a lot of this in the making! YAY! These are some of my favorite YOU moments too.
To see what happened before, go here. All screenshots (except Duncan and the super mutant behemoth – that’s mine), writing and Duncan belong to the wonderful @charomiami. I just did some editing and formatting for this one. 🙂 Soon, I will make a timeline or something with links to all chapters of this story.
The Darling Ashoken Returns to Bless My Screen! Early Birthday to Me!!!!!!! (okay its always a gift to my heart to see my friends ocs with mine)
Now I can draw again as per my blackmail of @helloaschefire lol! Thank you, love! I missed seeing them and I’m glad you found the snaps useful. And such a great order too! LOVE YOUR FACE Thank you! That intro pic scene was best! ❤
SUPER LONG STORY POST! And I’m not sorry. I am just happy we were able to get this done before Christmas. Y’all… I had a meltdown over my own deadline. and @helloaschefire put up with me… she’s spectacular. BUT DONE DONE DONE YAY!
A dream of home, the family cabin in the alps, slowly faded while the rhythmic chopping of wood grew louder. Valentina wasn’t sure if her head was what was actually being split open or actual fallen trees. The pillow she tried so desperately to shove against both ears was worthless.
(continued below the cut)
But then it came to her. 1) Angel was supposed to be gone today. 2) Even if Angel had stayed, Angel wouldn’t be chopping wood knowing Val was sleeping. As painful as it was she patted around looking for her gun, a gun, any gun and found none to be within reach. As she flung her limbs to wrap the blankets around her, she realized she was dressed. Valentina knew that if Angel were around, she would not be clothed.
Slowly she crept to the camper’s back window and peeked out to where the sounds, sunlight, and the vision of Johan’s bareback came pouring in. A short bit later, and two cups of coffee in hand, she braved the hangover and opened the camper’s back door.
Johan looked up with an expression hard to read thanks to the goggles he wore to protect his eyes, but there is a smile beneath them, brief but true. He leaned the axe against the pile and wiped his brow with the back of his bare arm. “She lives.”
“Barely, but…” she was going to ask what that means, did he see her knocked out? Was she snoring? Was she drooling? Oh gods, please no sleep talking! She pleaded with herself.
“What are you doing?” She took the trailer steps carefully until bare feet hit the cool autumn ground. Her arm stretched out to present a cup of coffee just for him.
He reached for the cup, fingers brushed against Val’s. “I am chopping wood.”
“I can…see that” She waited a moment keep the silly girl inside in check at his touch. Her cheeks felt hot but she was hungover so she hoped she just woke up that way.
“But, why? And why here?” Hair fell into her eyes as she sipped her coffee. She didn’t bother to fix her bed head as she watched him. Dog and Cupid sped by, chasing a rabbit. “I am sure Angel appreciates you cutting firewood for her, but…”
“She needed woodcut.” He shrugged before taking a sip of the coffee. “Dad always said, you stay a place, you take care of it.”
The smirk growing on her face faded as she started to blink. She was about to say something clever but his words robbed her of wit and blew the fog from her mind.
“Stay at a place, but you don’t…” You don’t stay here, did you stay here, what you don’t stay here. None of these made it past her lips. "I don’t understand.“
He unbuckled the goggles. As they pulled free, their presence lingered in the indentations around his eyes. He grabbed his shirt off the wood box by the trailer. "It’s all right. You’re still full of fog. Let’s go back inside.”
She still had no clue or maybe she did and she didn’t want to admit it. The truth was scarier than any dream.
He held the door for her, squinting at Dog who yawned in response before cavorting with Cupid once again. The pair would keep an eye on the place while Jo and Val were distracted with each other.
She took as big a drink of her coffee as the temperature would allow and slowly turned to go back inside. As she crossed the threshold she caught her reflection and knew she needed to get right, inside and outside. Shamelessly she stopped in front of the mirror but made enough room to let him get by.
She at least had the decency to apologize, “I’m sorry, I look awful.” She whipped her hair up into an old ballet bun that had been second nature for most of her life. "But a shower will have to wait I suppose.“ she half mumbled to herself.
"I don’t think you’ve ever looked awful.” Ducking, bobbing and weaving his way through the tiny space to the kitchenette. He would get her to a shower once she was awake enough to pay attention to their surroundings. “You want something to eat? Tato? Mutfruit? I think there are some beans.”
She did a double take in his direction, as discreetly as she could anyway, with fingers pushing up loose strands and trying to wipe bits of makeup she left on. She was again about to say something but he beat her to the punch with an offer for breakfast?
She peeked around the little corner cut off, “You really don’t have to but, I am hungry to be honest. Angel keeps some breakfast things in the cubby.” Right where he was at. “There. But you have to let me help. You already did too much this morning.”
She tried to secretly sniff her shirt collar and could smell she’d been sitting next to someone smoking those cheap cigarettes last night. The gag face was there and thankfully Johan could NOT see that!
While he was in the other area she quickly pulled off her shirt from the night before and was happily grabbing something clean she kept around Angel’s for spares.
His shirt was draped over one shoulder. The goggles and coffee cup set aside on the counter. He found the cubby and the breakfast things. Cakes and bread, and butter? Score. “I don’t mind. I used to do this for No…” He turned around just in time to see a bareback.
She pulled the shirt over and tightened her bun one more time before turning around and seeing Jo, in a domestic kinda setting with his shirt. She bit her lip and smirked, a mental slap given and received before she tried to slink by him. He couldn’t feel her eyes on his chest could he?! She gave herself another slap. Why god why? why do you do this I’m a good girl.
She grinned her best grin at Johan trying to play cool. She didn’t hear him about to say Nora, nope nope. Lordy, Nora was a lucky girl. Yes, she heard it and it didn’t bother her at all.
“You sure? You don’t want help? I mean you’ve never been here,” she offered. Her headache was growing smaller and smaller.
“It’s a big place. I will need your help not to get lost,” he joked and gave her another smile that brightened his face and was suddenly gone. He laid out things for her to eat. “Sit. You’re not feeling well.”
She hadn’t seen him smile, well a true smile, this many times in such a short span. Why did she love it so much? She sat down the chair on the other side of the table that would allow her to face him. She watched him as he kept putting things in front of her.
“I… feel better but” yes it was still there, but she was distracted enough to forget until she moved or looked a certain way. "Please, you will join me, raring, won’t you? Don’t forget to eat since you were working so hard. I can restock her stores later.“
"Please?” She felt bad as it was, she put extra pout into that please to make sure he ate something for her.
“All right,” he agreed. He poured more coffee before settling down opposite. Just the two of them. Again. The place was just as crowded as Home Plate but cozier. He felt more relaxed than he had in months.
Valentina tried to focus on her breakfast and coffee instead of him. It was torture. She started talking about breakfast they would have back home when she was little. She missed those days. She never told anyone a lick about home. Her mother, her sister, her father. Those moments. But they were just as out there as the fruit on the plate for Jo. She actually laughed telling him a story about her sister laughing milk out her nose, as she picked at the best parts of a mutfruit.
She liked the way he looked in the halo of sunlight coming in from the camper’s cheesy bubble dome skylight. Why did he have to be so…
“Oh your coffee …” She went to pick up the kettle thinking she’d been going on and on and it was time to stop.
He enjoyed hearing her stories of home more than she might ever know. He’d been homesick ever since he woke up and chatting with the Good Neighbor ghouls only went so far. They’d been changed by the war. Horribly so and their memories were fading. His and Valentina’s were right there, on the surface. Every day they spent in this future became a comparison of what they left behind. It was unhealthy. They both needed to look forward, but here in this place. “It’s all right. I’ve had enough.” He reached for her hand, to keep her there. To hold her hand.
“Oh, okay.” She was stopped in her tracks by such a simple motion. She forgot all about the kettle, all about home, all about everything but his hand on hers. She couldn’t take her eyes away. She was scared to look up at him, to look him in the eyes, but she did.
“Johan,” she was also scared to ask him what she should have asked him from the beginning. Even though he kind of dodged her question in the most charming way. What is going on? Are you okay? Why are you really here? is everything okay?
“How did you know to come up here this morning?” She laced her fingers in his, just this once before he would pull them away. How do you explain a touch that starts at the tip of a finger but touches your heart? She was going to suffer for this later and she knew it. She didn’t care.
The thought of pulling away was as distant as their pasts. Their fingers in knots than laces. He took a deep breath and squeezed. He would not let her go. “I’ve been here since yesterday before you got here.”
“Yesterday?” She didn’t blink her amber eyes this time, instead, they grew slowly wider and wider. She was now a deer in the headlights. Before you got here. She started to put pieces together. She tried to withdraw her hand but it wouldn’t budge.
Why the door was open to the camper
Why she smelled his scent in her dream.
Why she was still dressed instead of her usual.
Why he knew she wasn’t well.
He heard it all? No no, she wouldn’t cry. She said that was over. But the embarrassment was long-lasting. She put her head in her free hand and confessed, “I’m so sorry Jo. You weren’t supposed to…”
“I know. Angel wouldn’t let me leave. I’m sorry.” He relaxed his grip enough that she could pull free if she wanted. He hoped and wished and prayed so hard she wouldn’t untangle their fingers. “and then, it wasn’t right to leave you like that, alone.” He paused, brows furrowed because this was hard. He was taught not to be so expressive. Be the rock. Be her rock. But how could he if she did not want him to know how she felt?
She wished Angel would have stayed out of it, but it was still her own damn fault. Valentina didn’t move her fingers. Instead, without looking, she ran her thumb slowly over his knuckle.
“I just didn’t think it was fair with everything going on and, then you and Piper and I got the wrong idea. But then at ..” she looked up… “Was that a safe house or a warehouse?”
The question came out of left field and made him blink and look up from what she was doing with her thumb. “What? Oh, a little of both. I used it for a while when I was still tracking Kellogg, but now, seemed better used by the Minutemen.”
Her humor was trying to kick in as a secondary. She nodded thinking about his answer. His expression made the tiniest of grins appear in the corner of her lips and in her eyes.
“Well, General.” she shrugged softly. “What else can I do. You know my secret now. You have me at a very big disadvantage.” She knew it wasn’t too big. He was still holding her hand, and he had smiled. She could still feel his arm about her even if it was so brief a moment. He hid her for safety not out of fear. But now what? Did he know how close she was to daring him to kiss her or worse?
“I’ve known for a while, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I…wanted to do something. I did. I should never have been with Piper,” he said.
"Awww… wait,” Just how many aces does this man have up his sleeve? “What do you mean, you’ve known a while?”
This would be the last ace. All the cards laid on the table. “Did I ever tell you that my grandmother came from Stockholm, raring?” He would likely take a hit for this ace. He braced for it, turning his head so he could watch her from the corner of his eye.
She did pull her hand away. She pulled her whole body away from the table though briefly. She moved around to his side of the table and rabbit punched him right in the shoulder in a torrent of words and phrases she was SURE he understood now. Each comparing him to a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“How, why you didn’t tell me?” She jumped on his lap and punched his shoulder once more! “You let me make a fool out of myself, and you….” now there was a full-blown pout of all time and she would stay there with a hot glare until he had an answer.
“If I told you, you would have stopped. Right?”
“Well, yes. But…”
“But,” he cut her off gently. “Hearing that made this whole terrible world somehow, better.”
Each word from Johan’s mouth knocked down the last bricks in the wall Valentina had built, and all the words she never wanted to say came right out. It must have shown in her eyes as Johan’s hands rose up and cupped Valentina’s face drawing it closer to his.
“I’ve loved you for so long, Jo.”
“I’ve loved you even longer.”
Time seemed to freeze for Valentina, hearing Johan’s words. She fell to him and his lips with a kiss she’d held back for an eternity. He didn’t hesitate and never would again. Warm mouths, soft caress of their lips, it was finally the moment they once only imagined.
Thank you YAY They are OFFICIAL now! YAY I am so happy! I’ll do a headcanon bullet-pointy thing for them later. I am slammed today with a commission and real life.
Long Post UnderCut, Story Post, Over Due Post. Sorry for the Wait! queued post while part 4 is being worked on. XOXOX Cliche trope alert I fangirl over, fight me LOL!
Valentina quickly found herself inside the safehouse of Home Plate. The corner of a pallet tried to take her feet from her while she tried not to trip over Dog and Cupid. She’d never been inside and found the dim light and close-packed clutter confusing. She got just a quick look around before Johan sat her down on an uncomfortable couch jammed in a corner. She saw a cloud of dust billow up around them as Johan rummaged around, full of nervous energy. Waving off what dust threatened to enter her nose, she found them surrounded by boxes of ammo, weapon systems, cans of food and potable water. Among the pallets of junk, she knew more than one box was full of liquor and chems. A small sigh escaped her.
Johan returned and handed her a small box of soaps shaped like roses. He carried in his other hand a bottle of whiskey. She spied the familiar bulge of a jet inhaler in his pocket. He fell onto the couch beside her, and with pain-filled eyes asked her, “How was the pie?”
"Pie? What?” It came back to her. She’d been at the Castle when he shoved a piece of pie at her and stormed off. “I loved the Pie. I wanted to save you a bite, but I couldn’t find you.” She had looked for him a little later but was told he left. She would not tell him she felt oddly guilty when she tasted the pie, that didn’t taste as sweet as she thought pie should because she wanted to cry. She thought he was mad at her, but she didn’t want the pie to go bad?
He whispered, distracted, looking at her up and down. “Good, good, I’m glad.“
"Johan, are you okay?” Valentina could not hide her concern or confusion.
“No, I’m not alright. I miss her,” he said with a set jaw. He smoothed his left hand over his beard. “All the time.”
“Ohhhhh Nora.” She nodded while distracting herself with the faint rosy scent of the soaps. She smiled a tiny bit, not to be dismissive of his feelings, but happy that the cause of his distress wasn’t something dangerous or something she caused. Valentina still felt horrible because her number one goal was to see Jo happy, and tt was obvious to anyone he was not. She closed the soaps up and watched him with concerned eyes. This sad, grumpy bear broke her heart because there was nothing she or anyone could say that could take the pain away.
“Yeah, Nora.” He said her name with a sigh as he worked the cap off the whiskey. "Piper looks like her. Too much.”
She blinked rapidly and turned her head to hid the shift from sadness to jealousy. Did she really have to hear about Piper too? What was she supposed to say? She decided to stay silent and patted her knee for Cupid’s attention. The scent of whiskey filled the dusty storage room. She pulled a sour face as she looked around at the clutter. She felt suddenly stupid for acting the schoolgirl at his hand grabbing. “I had no idea,” she said eventually.
“I can’t look at her anymore,” he said while offering Val the bottle and the first swig. “I have to keep my eyes on the future. Not, not the past.” He didn’t see the safe house or Valentina’s discomfort. He saw his old life as just a shadow smear on the far wall. Gone. All gone.
She’d take the bottle with silent thanks more than happy to take a much much MUCH needed drink. One of those long pulls, burning throat or no. It’s not the whiskey that made her choke after she pulled the bottle away from her lips. It was what he said and tried to cover up with a half ass cough? He never does that. Why was he…. she’s looking at him, with a little furrow in her brows, the back of hand drying the corner of her mouth and chin. She hands the bottle back to him with the other hand. She wouldn’t even realize she was doing it. That look. But it wouldn’t last long.
And then, with a whiskey gravel voice, "I broke up with her. It was… wrong.”
“You broke up with her because of Nora?” Lovely perfect Nora, Val couldn’t be mad at a ghost, but Piper must have been. That woman could spit fire and cut with words. “I’m sorry, Jo.” She didn’t know what to say yet again. She shook the bottle for him to take because obviously, he needed a drink too.
He did need a drink and drank deep. The liquor turned his voice whiskey rough. “I’m an asshole, Val. I should’ve never hooked up with her. I should’ve….” He didn’t know what he should have done. Kept it in his pants? Yes. That. He drank again.
When he paused to take a drink, she jumped in a little angry that he called himself out like that. “You’re not an asshole, and besides, we all make mistakes.” She didn’t think much else about it and gave him a little shrug. Was she angry, at him? At Piper? At Nora? Maybe herself, but not him. He was no asshole.
“She thinks you and me …“ Johan trailed off while giving her the sideways eye. She slapped her hand over her mouth to keep a laugh from coming out.
"What? Piper said you and me…. What?” What a crazy notion, she thought, while also trying to figure how to explain what it was that made her laugh. Perhaps it was the egg on Piper’s face, because she and Johan did not cheat on her. Was Piper going to be angry with her too? “I mean, what?”
“Would it be so crazy? The thought of you and me. Together?” He offered her the bottle since he’d been stingy with it so far. “I told her we weren’t. I would never do that. I don’t think she believed me.”
Val bit her lower lip to keep words from spilling out when he asked about it being crazy. How dare he out her like this, here. Now. She was unaware what color her face was turning, white or red. She had more than a few familiar daydreams run through her mind as she reached for the bottle, refusing to meet his eyes as she did. Then she heard what he said.
‘I would never do that.’ His words.
They stung and made her angry. She tried to wash whatever was boiling up away with a strong drink, but putting alcohol on a fire never diminishes it, only encourages it.
“Never do that. What? Exactly? Is that? That you’d never do?” Her accent was more apparent, her words bitten off. Why was she so angry when she was just so happy? Why did this man have her so twisted in knots? She thrust the bottle back at him before she shot to her feet.
Mumbling part to herself and part whoever could hear, “so… bin ich jetzt so, wie ich bin unwürdig, ein Witz. etwas, das niemand lieben oder lieben möchte”
She eyed the door and went to motion Cupid with her hand.
Johan watched, dumbfounded and confused as to why Valentina was so angry? Valentina had always been easy to talk to. Easier than any in the Commonwealth since he emerged from cryostasis. Now, she was unable to understand? He stood up, the bottle dangled from his fingers. “Dammit, where are you going?” He asked. “I would never cheat on her.” Dog, from the shadows, darted in, quick as any cattle dog and deft as any wingman, to try to trip up Val’s feet.
Dog’s sudden movement alerted the already whining Cupid, sensing her partner’s change in mood. Valentina’s faithful dog moved to jump between Valentina and Dog. Valentina spun on her heel, turning back the moment she heard him speak. Her original intention was to get some fresh air to clear her head and maybe cry. Why did he break her down so quickly?
Any quip she had ready was dead in the air; air that was also filled with two dogs vying for position around her lightly drunken feet in an already cluttered room.
“I’m Sorry. Of course, that’s what you meant, Johan. I’m a trottel,” she said. Trying to step over and around Dog and Cupid, forced from her course and sent her right back to the couch, or what should have been the couch. Instead, Valentina found herself catching herself on Johan and looking up straight up at him.
He caught her. With one arm strong around her waist, He lifted his free hand, still holding the bottle, just brush her cheek. Her eyes. Her eyes. He lost himself in them until the Dog’s low warning growl cut tension and his awareness blossomed to where they were. He let her go, that strong arm guided her behind him. Dog crouched by the door. Cupid did the same on the opposite side. The lock turned while he replaced the bottle with a pistol.Preston Garvey sticks his head into Home Plate.
Dog barked an immediate retreat when Preston Garvey stuck his head into Home Plate. "Hello, General. We’ve been trying to get you on the com.“
Thanks for waiting so long @thefrostyshepard !! Hope you Enjoy me taking a little liberty and turning the prompt into a small story set. It was a great ask that had me thinking! Thank you! @helloaschefire will be seeing this for the 1st time too. She can kill me later.
CharoMiami 