maybeitsalivescribbles

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Feveruary 23 - "You need a tissue?"

Now that was just getting annoying.

The first time it’d happened, it’d in the middle of a dramatic speech. Hero had decided to politely ignore it. The second time had been during a fight in front of a crowd, which had been more embarrassing. Now, there was no excuse to do it again. In the jewelry, all the doors were in fire to prevent any escape. Hero’s fire was well-behaved. It stayed where it was put, not consuming the wood, but taking its heat from their own vital energy, and not making any smoke. A neat trick, really, but not one that would last forever. For Hero, it was pleasantly warm inside. However, people had told them that their fire made them uncomfortably hot, which was both concerning and an amazing opportunity to answer back with a storm of bad puns.

So could someone explain to them why Villain kept sneezing?

They were doing it all week. Of course, it was bad form to seize the occasion and punch them in the face. Then again, sneezing in front of someone who could control fire was, if not threatening, deliberate passive-aggression. So, while Villain leaned back their head, holding out a hand in warning, the sneeze was interrupted by Hero’s arm against their throat. Villain gasped, letting out some kind of strangled moan instead, and threw an offended glance at them:

“That’s low, even for you!”

“Aw,” simpered Hero, “you need a tissue?”

“Actually-”

“Well, fat chance! What are you doing? You show up in all the places in the city every day but you can barely fight, and you keep sneezing in front of my face!”

“I wear a mask.”

Hero nodded reluctantly, as if to give it that one, and stepped back, waving with exasperation:

“This is very tiring and embarrassing! What’s up with you?”

“I’m allergic to bullshit,” groaned Villain.

“Must be hard, being allergic to your own words.”

Villain sniffed:

“I got sick, what did you think? This job always asks you to run in the middle of the night – well flash new, Inferno: it is cold for most people at this hour.”

“One, don’t call me like that. Two, you could, you know, stop. I’d like to sleep at night too.”

Villain laughed:

“Easy for you to say. How fun must it be for you to stop me from getting any kind of money. Or rest. Or break.”

“You left out the part where you steal from innocent people.”

“Details. Everyone is stealing from innocent people these days. I’m just an easy target for you because I wear this suit.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

Hero sighed, rubbing the bridge of their nose. The fire around the doors flickered and disappeared, leaving a smoke trail.

“Just go,” they said. “You’re too annoying for me to handle.”

Villain stepped toward the door. No matter how ill they were, they still had good reflexes; when Hero threw something at them, they flipped on their heels and caught it in one move before looking at it. It was a tissue box.

“Jerk”, they mumbled before getting out.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Feveruary 2025 3) Caught in the rain

“Well, this is official,” said Leader, looking around. “We screwed up.”

Mediator glanced at him, then at the forest. It was raining – no, more than that, it was pouring. The woods were so thick the drops had a hard time reaching their scalps, but the ground was still becoming moist and slippery. He slowed down. Leader stopped with him, looking like he was out for a pleasant walk instead of escaping with his life. Mediator shivered, sighed, and put on his hood, throwing a resigned look at the lake in front of them. The surrounding mud was much thicker there, preventing them from running very fast. Judging by the steel-gray sky, the rain wasn't going to stop soon.

“Really, Leader?” he asked. “What tipped you off? When they refused to let us in?”

“Could be.”

“Or when they opened fire at us?”

“That was a clue, too.”

“Maybe when they sent hunters after us?”

“When they sent rookies after us,” said Leader smugly, wiping his bloody knife on the trunk of a larch. “How many were they? I counted three, but one of them won't walk for a while.”

“Sorry, I was too busy running for my life to think about that. Where’s Fighter?”

They looked around, then at each other. They only heard the rain.

“You know her,” said Leader. “She’s okay.”

“I do know her,” groaned Mediator. “You two think that because you can fight you’re invincible, and who has to patch you up after?”

“Hey, you’re the doctor.”

“In social studies, yes.”

Leader struck his chin thoughtfully. Mediator examined their surroundings. A bird landed on a branch near by. A small animal ran into the bushes.

No footstep was heard.

“We have to go back,” said Mediator.

“I have to go back. You stay here.”

Leader ran, but Mediator stuck with him.

“What did I say?”

“I’m the one who still has supplies,” Mediator reminded him, pulling at the straps of the backpack he’d succeeded to save. “I’m not a doctor, but I have bandages.”

“Remind me who’s in charge here?”

“Common sense, for once.”

“Now look-”

"You look, I'm safer with you anyways -"

“Hey.”

They stopped at that voice. Mediator rushed toward a huge frame, leaning against a huge tree. Fighter raised her head.

“Your bickering could alert a whole troop,” she said.

“Fighter, you’re okay?”

She nodded. Leader stepped forward and groaned.

“Is that a “I’m barely alive” nod or a “I am actually fine” nod?”

Fighter followed his gaze on her bloody shoulder. Unable to shrug, she made a wan smile:

“Just a scratch.”

Mediator let the bag fall on the ground, shaking his head and mumbling something. Leader handed his flask to her, then crossed his arms:

“Come on, I want the whole crazy story. Now.”

“It’s not crazy.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well boss, you’ve taken care of one, that left two of them. What’s a girl to do?”

Leader lowered his gaze. She opened her jacket, revealed two shining new guns at her belt. He rubbed his forehead.

“You were unarmed.”

“I have arms,” she answered, looking mildly offended. “And experience. And I wasn’t going to let them get you.”

“You stayed back and hunted two guys who were armed to the teeth, stealthily getting them one by one?”

“More or less.”

“Fighter?

“Boss?”

“It is batshit crazy.”

“Okay.”

Mediator drew a long-suffering sigh, bandaging the wounded shoulder.

“Are they dead?”

“I don’t think so, just unconscious. They were so young.”

“Great,” sighed Leader. “Just great. So that means they can get help, you’re wounded, and there’s still a long walk. We’re not out of the woods yet. Literally.”

“He means “Thank you for protecting us”, said Mediator. “It’s the rain that’s getting to him.”

*

You can find Fighter here, and the whole trio here. They get into Situations.

Back to Whump/Horror Masterlist.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Feveruary 2025 1) “How did you end up like this?”

“How did you end up like this?”

Reporter wasn’t ready to answer. She lied on the floor, still in her pajamas, having made a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful effort to open the door. Villain sighed, turning her on the side. There was no wound and she was still conscious. Struggling to breathe, she blinked and finally succeeded to open her eyes:

“Hi,” she mumbled. “Fix it?”

Villain hadn’t waited for her approval. Their hands raised over her body, they were staring at something that for the others would have been an emptiness. What they saw just above her was a delicate blue web glistening in the air, full of tiny knots, representing her vital energy. Something wasn’t right. With a gentle but firm touch, they grabbed a gray knot. Reporter yelped in pain, but she winked at them:

“Long story.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. Fortunately, we have time.”

They saw her eyes flickering nervously. They unmade the knot. She shivered.

“Haven’t we?” they insisted.

She turned her head away:

“I think I’ve been poisoned. It’s been hours since that dinner and it’s getting worse. Is that bad?”

Villain looked at the series of gray knots in front of them.

“Nothing that I can’t fix,” they said darkly, grabbing another.

“When can I move again?”

“I don’t know. What dinner? What happened?”

She smiled:

“You know. Trouble. Hero invited me and offered – ouch – they offered me the opportunity to interview them instead of investigating on you, because no one was interested in that.”

“And?”

“I told them where they could stick it. Not my exact words, but – ouch – that was the spirit.”

“It seems weird that they would kill you for that.”

Reporter shook her head impatiently:

“I think they want to see if you’ll save me or not. To see if I’m compromised.”

“Ah.”

They instinctively looked around, but there was no Hero or Sidekick around. Reporter, who had caught their gaze, made a face:

“I’m not a snitch.”

They met her eyes. Although she still looked weak, her gaze seemed a little more focused.

“I guess you really want this investigation made, uh?”

They nodded, their jaw set:

“I do.”

“Ah. It’s nice to hear appreciation. Bit rare this day. So, I guess you won’t mind if you’d let me crash at your place.”

Their hands froze in the air.

“What?”

“If you still want me alive, that is.”

“But-”

“No but! Besides, that’s the only way to keep my investigation going. Villains kidnap Citizens, am I right?”

They exchanged a look. Villain groaned. Even on the ground, Reporter found a way to look smug.

“Fine,” they mumbled. “But you’ll stay in the guest bedroom.”

“Deal,” lied Reporter.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Let's go. As usual, I'll try to make at least 5 prompts and then we'll see.

Here it is guys! The 2025 Feveruary prompts! We wanted them to be more generally comfort focused so then they be able to be interpreted in different ways to allow you guys to be as creative as you’d like!

We’re so excited to share these with you and we can’t wait to see what you write! As always feel free to ask any questions or share your excitement about this event! :D

We'll post more about how to submit your work and the AO3 collection closer to the time! For now though, we wish you goodluck and happy writing!

Text Version Below:

“How did you end up like this?” 

Burning Up then Freezing Cold 

Caught in the Rain 

Herbal Remedy 

“Could you just hold me?” 

Spoon-Feeding 

“I’m still not used to being taken care of.” 

“Couldn’t you keep your cold to yourself.” 

Face Masks 

“You’re safe, it was just a dream.” 

“You’re burning up!” 

Role Reversal – Medic to Sickie 

“I wouldn’t even trust you to boil tea in your condition!” 

Falling asleep in the wrong place 

Guiding sickie back to bed 

“Is it me or is it really warm in here?” 

“I know you want to help but you’re only making things worse.” 

Delirious 

“I know ice cream is good for sore throats but that’s way too much!” 

Lost Voice/Strep Throat 

From better to worse 

“Our date can wait! You’re far more important.” 

“You need a tissue?” 

“Don’t you think you should stay home today?” 

Standing Vigil 

“You sure I’m sick? Because I feel fine.” 

Vacation Disaster 

“Well, it sounds to me like you need a little bit of TLC.” 

Alternates:

Forced to work

Cool wash cloth

"I don't get sick!"

Sneezing Fit

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

The Un-Gingerbread || Secret Santa 2024

I participated in the Secret Santa writing event again this year! This snippet is for @gingerly-writing! I hope you enjoy! I know you said I could choose just one topic buuuut I ended up kinda combining them all together!

magical girl powers (especially for villains)

something cute and Christmassy turned deadly/bad (Christmas card full of blackmail, evil snow powers, etc)

super niche/useless superpower saves the day

“They’re Christmas cookies,” Hero said blandly.

“They’re suspicious.” Villain tapped the edge of the platter with the tip of their snowflake wand. Little swirls of frost spread over the surface of the plastic wrap, clouding over the little gingerbread faces.

“Some caroler or neighbor or someone trying to be spread Christmas cheer casually left a plate on your doorstep. End of story.”

Hero had never been the imaginative type. It was a little annoying actually: the power of disbelief. One of the only things that had ever rendered Villain powerless. It didn’t always work, especially now that Hero had seen Villain’s work up close so often, but when Hero got thinking too much about the laws of gravity, the improbability of a transformation sequence, the energy mechanics of magic, Villain found themselves dropping like a stone. 

In those moment they just had to hope Hero was close enough to catch them–practically a guarantee–and empathetic enough not say a word to anyone else. …Less likely.

Villain tucked the wand into a reality pocket–Hero was nice enough not mess with that one today-and swished their capelet around them as they turned toward the fridge. The next thing they knew, they were pouring a glass of milk just so they could look away. The hero’s dry gaze already felt like a drain on their powers without this extra dose of exasperation. 

“Look at the clothes,” they said.

Hero raised an eyebrow, but began to peel up the first layer of plastic wrap.

“Don’t unwrap them!” Villain cried, then as Hero’s eyebrow did a higher, more quizzical leap into their hair, “We don’t know what’s in them.”

“I don’t think this shoddy wrap job is keeping in any dangerous toxins,” Hero said.

Villain stomped a heeled shoe. “Don’t say such dangerous things out loud!”

“For that to work the cookies would have to actually be toxic. Which they aren’t.” Hero’s eyes flicked up and down before returning to the cookie plate and the unwrapping process. “Did you seriously do a complete transformation over this?”

Villain warmed a little. They didn’t make a habit of inviting heroes to their apartment, but something about this had shaken them. Something about those sugar pearl eyes peering up at them had felt…wrong. Though they’d claimed, even internally, that Hero was simply the first name to pop into their head, maybe…maybe they’d chosen them on purpose. Maybe they’d wanted a bit of logic to asway their anxiety. To tell them everything was truly alright.

“I’m just being prepared,” Villain said, then nodded at the plate.

The gingerbreadpeople were dressed like them. Not the comfortable, baggy outfits they wore as a civilian but their magical version–silver pompadour shoes with a snowflake sprinkles for the buckles, long icy blue tailcoat and capelet with a carefully iced imitation of the frost pattern emroidery, and whipped ruffles—so many ruffles, in the cravat, in the white undershirt, in the peeking cuffs of the sleeves; the Ginger-Villains even held their wand, complete with silver edible glitter so the snowflake head sparkled in the light.

“Coincidence.”

“Coinci– Hero! That’s me!”

“Yes, and half the city is convinced you’re some sort of ice fairy.” Villain could hear the eyeroll in their tone. “This isn’t the first cookie I’ve seen with your face on it.”

“But they are the first to show up at my door.”

Hero let out an enormous sigh. “Ok, honestly? Yes, it’s weird. Yes, it’s creepy. But I just don’t believe anyone could have figured out who you are let alone where you live. You’re ok. Throw them away if you’re so worried.”

Villain folded their arms poutily. “I’m sure that’s exactly what the sender wants me to do. One moment I’m dumping cookies, the next I have giant radioactive rats breaking down my door.”

They swished their cape again, more dramatically this time, making the full breadth of their displeasure known. 

Hero sighed again. They did that so much it was a wonder they had any breath left.

“Do you want me to take them?”

Villain blinked. “Really?”

“You’re just going keep calling me otherwise, right? And I have no worries about throwing them away in my trash.”

Villain picked up the platter hesitantly. “I wouldn’t want you to get hurt on my behalf…”

“I know it’s Christmas but quit with the fluff. Hand them over.”

Hero thrust out their hand, waving their fingers impatiently. 

Well, if Hero really wanted the creepy cookies, who was Villain to stop them. They were a grown, capable adult who knew how to take care of themselves, and they were enemies anyways, so Villain didn’t need to feel guilty at all if–

Villain’s thoughts stopped short, plate half extended. The platter trembled a little in their fist.

“Are you really so freaked out that you’re shaking?” Hero said.

“I-I’m not.”

Something on the platter was moving. 

As the first Ginger-Villain rose to its feet, all Villain and Hero could do was stare. 

When the second one popped up, Villain threw the platter across the room.

The decorative plastic cracked against the wall, and about two dozen cookies scattered every direction.

The wall clock ticked a second of peace, and then the cookies were back up, faces smudges, bodies cracked, or a gory scene of cookie arms and legs and sugar pearl eyes littering the tile.

One cookie who was lucky enough to escape the throw with no more damage than a lost eye and a smeared tailcoat waddled determinedly forward while several others limped or dragged themselves behind.

Villain cursed. "What is happening?"

"It's not real. it's not real. it's not real," Hero muttered like a ritual beside them. But the cookies were real. And whatever disbelief Hero had been suspending was broken.

Fine. If Hero was going to be useless... Villain reached into the air and yanked their wand out of its pocket and back into reality.

They flicked the wand once, sending a pale coating of slick ice over the living cookies, stiffening their limbs and freezing them to the spot.

"There," Villain said, letting out a slow exhale. "Now I think we should burn--"

Crack.

Crick, crack.

Crick, crack, crackle, crack.

Steam wafted up from each cookie, and as they pressed forward, little fissures spread up the weakened ice-coating.

"Are they...getting hotter?" Villain said.

The embroidery detailing and facial features dripped down the cookie's bodies as they moved pooling in little sweet puddles at their feet. A few cookies picked up the nearby limbs and melded them into the now soft stumps.

"That shouldn't be as disturbing as it is," Hero muttered.

"Ok, I was going easy on you all because you're made of flour," Villain said, "but why don't you try escaping this?"

Villain swished their wand in a circle, this time encapuslating the cookies in a large, solid ball of ice.

Crack.

Villain conjured another layer.

Crick, crack.

Another.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Another.

The ice ball grew and grew, but for every layer of ice Villain threw up, the cracking only seemed to quicken.

Great billowing clouds of steam filled the room, obscuring the ice prison from view and Villain backed warily toward the living room, grabbing Hero's arm as they went.

There was one final crack; ice shot around the room like shattered glass and a wave of chilly water washed across the floor, seeping through the seams of their shoes.

As the cookies had heated in their prison, they'd mushed together, replacing two dozen zombieish Ginger-Villains with one enormous, thoroughly burnt Ginger-Creature. One beady sugar pearl stared down at them from the gooey burnt icing face.

"Hero, do something!" Villain shouted, digging their nails into the hero's arm.

Hero paused their muttered chant long enough to roar, "I'm trying!"

"What, a walking cookie is too realistic for you?"

"It reminds me of a horror movie! It's hard to disbelieve in things that have that sort of hold in my mind!"

The Ginger-Creature stepped toward them.

Villain waved their wand toward the pool of water on the floor, freezing it into a slick sheet. Unfortunately, they hadn't thought about their own half-submerged feet. As they attempted another step back, they found their blocky heels frozen to the floor.

The creature slipped a little with its next step, but ultimately its heating power left indents in the ice wherever its giant feet moved.

Villain lurched back, but the attempt was fruitless.

"Take off your shoes!" Hero cried, already in their socks and crouching down at Villain's feet and fumbling with the intricate snowflake buckles.

"They're magic shoes," Villain choked. "They don't come off."

"Then detransform! Do something! It's coming!"

Villain grabbed Hero by either side of their face, forcing them to look up at them.

"Hero, I need you're annoying, unimaginative, logical brain to start asking the big questions right now."

Hero stared at them wide-eyed. "I...I..."

"Come on! You always think of something aggravating! Like...how can this cookie see us when its eye is just sugar? How does the light pass through? And even if it does, how is that light processed? Does it have a cookie brain? That doesn't make any sense."

"How can it heat itself?" Hero said, voice a little trembly. "Nothing in gingerbread can conduce its own heat."

"Yeah, and why did the cookies have heat powers anyway when they were supposed to be copies of me?"

"How did it know how to shape itself? It's messed up, but it's still sort of a person. Do all the cookies have a sense of humanity? Do they have separate thoughts? Or are they one cookie hivemind?"

The smell of burnt sugar and ginger was suffocating now. Villain could feel the heat wafting off it as it's burnt foot came into view a mere couple of feet away.

Hero spread their arms out in front of Villain and looked up into the towering cookie's face. “You're not real.”

The gingerbread froze in place. It's entire body shuddered, and then abruptly it crumbled into a pile of blackened cookie dust. The sugar pearl rolled across the floor and into Villain's knee.

They both stared in silence.

Then Villain laughed.

They couldn’t help it. Emotional response maybe. They just laughed and laughed and went weak against Hero's side, grasping for balance around their waist. Hero hugged them with one arm around the head. Villain wasn't sure if they even knew they were doing it, or if the simply needed as much support after that conclusion as Villain did.

"I did it," Hero gasped.

"You did it!" Villain said giddily. "You're so boring, you fantastic stick in the mud you!"

Villain picked up the sugar pearl, rolling it between their thumb and forefinger a couple times, before popping it triumphantly in their mouth. As soon, as the sweetness hit their tongue, words sprang across their mind unprompted.

Merry Christmas, Villain. I'm sorry you didn't like my treat. My next one will be better.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Superpowers: a recap

You know, I often tend to skip superpowers under the rug when I write my snippets- which is kind of a problem in a Hero/Villain setting.

So this is a recap to help me remember the possibilities, in case it can help anyone else:

LIST OF POWERS

Classical set

Super strength

Super endurance

Super speed

Telekinesis

Teleportation

Forcefields

Laser eyes (classical because of Superman, but I still think this is bonkers)

Immune to superpowers/elements/illness/etc

Flight

Healing (themself or others)

Can speak to animals/plants

Hypnotism

Immortality

Wish-granting

Astral projection

Miscellaneous

Can steal power from others (forever or it’s temporary)

Has non-human animal anatomy (reptilian scales, horns, produces poison, etc)

Can break into parts and reassemble

Can make clone(s) of themself

Immune to gravity (the fall doesn’t kill you, can jump as high as you like, can crawl on walls, etc)

Super instinct (can sense when something’s wrong, when someone is lying)

Can control fibers/clothes

Can create portals to anywhere else

Control of one single type of object (doors, trains, cars, paper, etc)

Control anything made by humans

Music powers

Can force everyone to dance

Can control voices/can take voices away

Can control volume of any sound

Charm people when they play an instrument/sing

Can summon music whenever they like

They get an upgrade (super strength, etc) every time there’s music

Elemental/Nature powers

Can control fire/ashes

Can control electricity

Can control water/ice

Can control plasma

Can control air/wind/gazes

Can control earth/magma

Can control metal

Can control light/shadows/colors

Can walk on water/wind/lava/rainbows

Can breathe underwater/in space

Can burrow into earth

Can control temperature

Can control the weather

Control of life forms

Can control humans

Can control beasts

Can control plants

Can control...mushrooms, I guess ?

Can control viruses and bacteria

Can control blood

Everything they touch die

Everything they touch come back to life

Can accelerate/slow down aging

=> is the life form conscious while under control ? Can they fight back? Do they have to be okay with it?

Sense powers

(Reminder: human senses are hearing, vision, touch, taste, smell, vestibular)

Better senses (better sight, better hearing, etc)

X-ray vision

Can see every place they like or eavesdrop everywhere

Can manipulate the senses of others (can heighten them or cancel them)

Can inflict pain

Emotions

Their sheer presence induces an emotion (fear, love, etc)

Can force to feel an emotion/heighten or dull emotions

Can project their own emotions into others

Empathy (they feel the emotions of others)

Shapeshifter

Can reduce/aggrandize their size

Can seem much older or younger

Intangibility

Invisibility

Strechability

Can take the form of another thing/person

Can take the form of any human

Can take the form of anything (animal/plant/object/liquid/gas/etc)

Reverse Shapeshifter: can transform others into an animal/stone/plant/anything

Mindpower

telepathy

illusions

possession/mind control

can mess with memory

can mess with dreams

Time powers

Can time travel (future/past)

Can froze time

Can predict the future/see the past

Oh now that's just cheating

Reality wrapper

Luck

Everything they create becomes real

Can choose any superpower they want according to the situation

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Is the character okay with their power ?

they hate it it’s a curse to them

they wish it were different (stronger, another power altogether, etc)

they don’t mind

they really enjoy it

it’s their whole identity

Etc.

If they hate it, is it because:

it hurts

it could hurt someone/something else

it’s useless/ it’s not offensive

it goes against their personality

people hate it too

it makes people treating them as a tool

Can they control it?

they’re a walking disaster

using it makes them sick

perfect control, natural or learned

they don’t even need to think about it

etc

How powerful it is?

(Ex control of fire: can barely light a match versus can set in fire the whole country)

Characters with weak powers my beloveds. It's about them fighting when they know they will lose, putting everything they have in the fight, keeping their head high when people sneer at them. It's about them enjoying their power without having it to be useful, or forcing them to be creative and smart about/around it.

Overpowered characters my beloveds. It's not about them winning the fight because the answer is obvious, it's about them dealing with too much power in a fragile world, the gap between them and the others, how it impacts their relationships, their morality - never hesitate to make a character like this. It can be terrifying, it can be hilarious, it can be great. No trope is bad, it all depends on how it's used.

What is the source of their power ?

failed experiment?

successful experiment?

got them from a supernatural being?

got them from their family?

got them from a magical object?

When did they get it ?

when born?

during childhood ? Teen years ?

grown-up ?

Was it expected or not?

Is getting this power a one time thing or to they need to renew it ?

(via sacrifice, offering, a special food/medicine, a good/bad deed, etc)

Can they give it to someone else?

Can it go away/fade?

Does it grow stronger/weaker with age?

Is it affected by the health of the character ?

(Is the power weaker when the character is sick, or is it stronger as a defense measure ? Does it become unpredictable?)

Does it hurt using it/not using it?

(Because it takes too much on the body/because it forces to repress an important part of the self)

Does the power change their personality in a good/bad way?

(Does it corrupt them, does it force them to see the world in a new light, etc)

Can their power combine with someone else’s ?

Do they have a weakness/something that cancels their abilities?

Do they have special needs because of it ?

(Do they need glasses, headphones, medicine, a special diet, etc)

Are they immune to their own power or do they take damage ?

(Ex : is your character able to control fire is fireproof or not?)

How much do they rely on it?

they use them for everything

they use them often

they could do without

it’s barely an afterthought to them

they never use it

etc

How do they use it ?

Raising their hand

With their eyes

With some object

They don’t have to do anything

Etc

How does this power is perceived by the others?

This makes them a god

This makes them a star

This makes them totally mundane

This makes them look really stupid

This makes them a nuisance

This makes them someone to be killed at all costs

Etc.

About the suit

Is that for protection ?

Is it an uniform ?

Is it here for the vibe ?

Does it strengthen their abilities?

Does it have gadgets ?

How (im)practical is it ?

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

A sequel to this. Recap: Sidekick ran away from Hero and went to a grumpy Detective.

*

Detective had given rides to a lot of weird people during the years.

Nervous clients, glancing by the windows to make sure they weren’t followed. Sinister minions dressed in black, pointing a gun at him from the backseat. Smug rich people condescendingly explaining the world to him and getting out wrinkling their noses. A sulking Supervillain who was great with gadgets but terrible against a good punch. A Hero reacting like a six-year-old because they never rode in a car before, courtesy of having super speed and good public transport in their previous town, both wonders unheard of here.

Somehow, none of them had made him as nervous as the huddled teen in the backseat. It was a whole kid! How was he supposed to take care of that? Patting their head and saying “there there, I’m sure Hero only barely wanted to use you until your death” ? Talking about video games? Kids still liked video games, right? Pity he’d never played them. No, this wasn’t good. He had to focus.

“Do you have some kind of power?”

The teen shrugged:

“I fly.”

“Do you like it?”

“I liked it before.”

“Where are your parents?”

“They live in another town. I told them I was going for a summer job. It was true. I thought it was true.”

“Hero told you that?”

“Yeah. They told me it would be only for a couple of months. And then, last week-”

“Last week?”

“They congratulated me and told me I got the job for good. Told them I didn’t want it, and-”

They waved:

“Well, here I am.”

“Here you are. Do your parents know?”

“No. They don’t even know the kind of job I had. I didn’t want to worry them. And I don’t want Hero going after them. They don’t have powers.”

Detective sighed, tapping on the wheel.

“Okay.”

“Where are we going?”

“To a friend. Healer.”

The teen relaxed:

“I think I know them.”

Detective nodded. A lot of people knew about Healer. When things looked bad, people went to Detective. When things looked bad for him, he went to Healer.

They were a weird one. Although they had the power that went with their job, and they had the gaudy clothes – in their case, a long white gown that matched their long silver hair – they weren’t a registered hero, but a regular doctor. The Hero association had approved at the condition that they only healed people with powers. Healer had agreed with a smile and kept healing whoever they wanted when the others were not looking. They were the very reason why Detective was alive in this crazy town. In fact, they were close to being friends. Healer wasn’t only competent -they needed to be – but they were nice. He needed the reminder that people sometimes were.

The door was wide open. Too many doors were today.

“Stay here.”

Detective got out of the car and stayed frozen on the doorway, looking at the body on the floor. Healer was wearing the same gaudy robe as usual, but it had been torn, enough to reveal a huge wound to their side. He didn’t have to force himself to fall on the floor, applying pressure until the blood stopped. With a shaking hand, he checked their pulse. They sighed. Something moved behind them and let out a strangled noise. He didn’t turn around. He should have known that Sidekick would have come inside anyway.

“What happened?”

Detective took off his jacket and folded it under Healer’s head, the only thing left to do for them.

“A very good question.”

Sidekick watched him rummage through the room with a kind of desperation, his hands clasping on anatomy books, notebooks, and the knob of a drawer that he opened feverishly to get one lollipop out of it. Sidekick tilted their head while he tore off the wrapping with teeth before putting the candy in his mouth like his life depended on it, but made no comment. During the last months, they’d learned not to ask questions and stay close to the nearest exit when an adult was getting worked up. They looked at the window, just in case.

“Detective…”

No answer. Just an adult flipping through the page of an agenda, mumbling to himself, then stopping suddenly.

“Supervillain? They made an appointment with Supervillain? What the hell?”

“Well, you have to give it to them,” said Sidekick with a voice that only slightly shivered, “they’re punctual.”

The adult and the teen looked at each other, looked for any kind of miracle exit, and found the same depressing number.

“Tell me everything you know,” whispered Detective between his teeth.

“Um...wears purple...has a torture room somewhere…”

“Not helping.”

“Super-strengh? Doesn’t understand the word “no”?”

There was no time to answer. The door opened. A cold wind that had nothing to do with the current weather settled in the room. A pair of eyes who rarely blinked glanced at the room, stopped for a whole minute on Healer, then went back on the only adult inside with a lollipop in his mouth. A hand grabbed his throat, propping him off the ground.

“Your death will be as slow and excruciating as possible.”

It’s not easy to talk when you have the double handicap of a candy between your teeth and being strangled to death. Detective, however, made a good attempt:

“Fdoza uill ever o oof.”

“If you do that, you will never know the truth,” translated Sidekick, who was good with languages.

“The truth?” repeated Supervillain. “It seems clear to me, child.”

“But we just got here,” mumbled the teen. “We don’t know what happened either.”

“Then what are you talking about?” snarled Supervillain to their prey.

Detective turned blue in answer. With a groan of disgust, Supervillain released him, letting him gracelessly collapse on the floor. After five minutes of coughing, spitting, and retching next to a sad lollipop, Detective could enunciate:

“Five minutes, only five... and we could have caught them.”

“Who, “them”?”

“Yeah, that doesn’t exclude a lot of people. Sometimes I think I’m the only not non-binary person in town. Well anyway,” he added quickly as Supervillain was turning another color themself, “it’s easy to understand. You’ve just proved that you liked Healer.”

“Everyone liked them.”

“So the killer obviously did it to spite you. Who could that be, if not Hero?”

“Hero wouldn’t-” began Supervillain.

“You sure?”

There was a moment of silence. Of deep, thoughtful silence. Supervillain’s eyes fell on Sidekick. In a quick move, Detective stood up and went through the room to throw an arm around the teen’s shoulders:

“Look at them, the poor kid. They ran away, crying in my office, telling that Hero was planning something terrible but they didn’t know what, we both risked our lives to come here, and this is what we found. The murderer is getting away right now, while we’re talking.”

Sidekick burst into tears. They didn’t have to force themself very much. That was the last step to convince Supervillain.

“This night, their head will be mine,” they said before leaving the room.

Sidekick kept crying, huddled against Detective.

“S-sorry,” they mumbled, sniffing.

Detective awkwardly patted their back, shaking his head in disgust:

“That’s one gullible shithead. I swear, the more they’re powerful, the more they’re complete idiots.”

Gently, he pulled away from the embrace, sitting once again in front of Healer.

“Do you think Hero will win?” whispered Sidekick.

“Don’t know, don’t care. These bozos deserve each other.”

“Should I call an ambulance for Healer?”

Detective held two cold hands in his own, gently massaging them with his thumbs.

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t know who did that to them?”

“A bloody idiot,” snarled Detective. “Literally. You can open your eyes now, it’s safe.”

Sidekick repressed a move when Healer blinked and frowned.

“Sorry”, they whispered, their voice nearly inaudible. “I really didn’t want to deal with them.”

“Oh, and the only way was playing dead?”

As they were arguing, Sidekick noticed that blood wasn't coming out from the wound anymore. In fact, it had turned into a scratch. That was surprising how a stressful situation could prevent you from realizing that a Healer was, indeed, a healer. Detective shook his head and helped them to sit up.

“That was on the spur,” whispered Healer. “They wouldn’t leave me alone, so…”

“Since when?”

Healer shrugged. Detective groaned:

“You have my number. Why didn’t you tell me? That’s my job to...”

“You’re busy enough.”

Detective squeezed their shoulders, twisting his mouth and grunting:

“You think I’d rather see you dead? Do you see me bleeding to death before calling you ?”

“Many times.”

“Well, I’m not exactly a role model, am I ?”

Healer shrugged lightly, as if to give him this one, then gave the room a side-look:

“Who’s your friend?”

“That’s a long story. I suggest that everybody gets in a car first. And fast.”

*

Back to Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

1-word Hero x Villain prompts: history

(The game: this site gives me a random word and I turn it into H/V prompts. You’re welcome to play, to add your own or to use them to write a snippet, just tag me or something if you do.)

Citizen is an historian about to discover a very dark secret. Both heroes and villains are set to stop them before they go to Reporter.

“Ah, Hero? We have...a history.” “Haven’t you met them like two days ago?” “Yes but they’ve stepped on my cape. No one steps on my cape.”

“Today, Sidekick, we unmake history!” “...you mean “make” history, boss?” “I mean, I’ve finally discovered how to make time travel possible and we’re gonna erase this shitty timeline to make another, or my placeholder name isn’t Mad Scientist Antihero™ !”

This Supervillain is immortal and pops up every couple of centuries for no known reason to destroy a town. The next time is near, and Hero is set on finding why.

Villain wants to discover this priceless artifact. Everyone thinks it’s for bringing the apocalypse or something dramatic like that, but they want it back for another surprising reason.

For centuries Villain’s family were all villains, and each generation was supposed to get stronger. Slight trouble: this Villain has zero powers.

For centuries Hero’s family were all heroes, and each generation was supposed to get stronger. Slight trouble: this Hero is sick and tired with the hero business. They want to be a baker instead. Maybe Villain will help them.

The country is on the verge of signing Some Important Treaty and they proudly invite Hero to the ceremony! Yay! Only Hero refuses, and some days after, they’re nowhere to be found.

Villain doesn’t mind destroying cities into ruins. When someone threatens to destroy ancient ruins, however, the gloves are off.

There’s a museum of Heroes that keeps being vandalized. However, this time is not Thief or even Villains. Exasperated, they ask Detective to work this out.

*

More prompts like this under this tag.

Back to Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

“Beaaargh.”

“Yeah, you don’t say.”

“Beerghghr.”

“My point exactly.”

“Arrghg”

“Where were you all my life?”

Henchman tugged at Villain’s gigantic sleeve:

“Boss, can we move on?”

Villain freed themself impatiently:

“You can wait a minute, can’t you?”

In Henchman’s opinion, it all depended on the context. Seeing that the context here was “I’m currently rescuing you from the Hero agency’s prisons”, the answer was something between “No. Nope. Absolutely not” and “What is wrong with you.” But you couldn’t say that to your boss, because bosses, Villains or not, had a lot of similarities in many things. So Henchman suffered in silence, glancing nervously at the exit that was so close, and yet out of reach.

It wasn’t like there was anything worth stopping, either. Villain had just skipped all the cells to stop dead in front of that one. The one where this huge, huge thing groaned. Oh, it looked vaguely humanoid all right, but no one was that tall or big. No one had that axe planted in the head, either, or that lovely blue color on their skin. Henchman rubbed the bridge of their nose. Villain kept talked pleasantly, as if on a beach.

“What’s that, you say? Tighdole the Necromancer brought you back to life and then was killed and now you’re orphan? Isn’t that a shame.”

“Boss,” tried the Henchman, trying to sound reasonable, “you’re not-”

“Pass me the keys.”

“Boss-”

“I said pass me the keys.”

Henchman knew that look and that cold smile. The keys were passed. The cell unlocked. The blue thing happily stretched. The ceiling shook. At this point, Henchman left all pretense of politeness behind them.

“This monster is going to get us caught and we’re all going to get killed,” they said flatly.

“Now, why are you saying that?”

“I don’t know, I thought I’d like to hear someone having common sense before I die.”

“Bearaagh”, said the ex-prisoner.

“For the record, they say your prejudice makes them sad.”

“It’s okay, they’ll make me dead in a minute.”

The blue giant turned the other way from the exit, and then yawned. A huge fireball got out of their mouth and melt everything in its passage. The wall in the massive prison was just bits of stone around a huge hole, now. They stepped away, waiting for the reaction of the others. Villain happily clasped them on their shoulder. On the verge of climbing the hole, they threw a cold look at Henchman:

“I thought I told you the main rules: politeness is crucial in this business and I’m always, always right.”

*

Back to the Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

“Pockets,” spitted Designer, shaking their head, sipping their tea. “They want pockets now.”

Villain nodded encouragingly. Around them, the guards were trying really hard not to be confused. Not that they would have been remarked in any way by the Villain’s distinguished host. The price tag on their clothes didn’t quite cut it.

“In my time,” complained the guest, “Heroes knew about style. About boldness. About audacity. They wore colors, not this dark edgy subpar armor material. They wore tights, exposing proudly to the world their-”

“Yes yes, thank you-”

“- their self-confidence and desire to save the world!”

“Oh.”

“Now, what have they become? A pathetic hunch yelling after “Kevlar” and “camouflage” and "oh Designer, I just want to be protected by my suit”. Now, you Villains have still elegance. You may wear black, but at least you still have the cape and the spikes and the gadgets.”

“That’s true. Sometimes I like a bit of purple thrown in, mind you.”

“Exactly! The color of the royalty.”

“And your offer is ?”

“I can work for you. I know all about the heroes suit, their size, their powers, their-”

“Their real names?”

“Oh, I don’t remember that,” huffed the Designer, in a tone of voice suggesting that they never registered that kind of data before.

Villain shrugged:

“Well, you have the right state of mid in any case. Welcome at board. Someone shows them their quarters.”

Designer bowed their head politely and followed the guard who waited for them. Villain finished their tea when a henchman whispered:

“Boss…”

“Yes?”

“Do we really have to have them?”

“Yes.”

“I mean...are we really going to dress like they do?”

Villain sighed and drank their tea in a gulp, shuddering.

“Great causes require sacrifices.”

*

Back to the Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

“But I don’t understand,” said Sidekick to Hero, dramatically looming over the roofs on the city. “That business is supposed to be simple, right? Heroes good, Villains bad, Heroes go smash on Villains, boom, job done. What’s so hard to get?”

Hero took a break from taking a pose to stretch a bit. Not that it mattered, as it was night now. The cold had settled. They sneezed before answering:

“That’s how our publicity goes, yes. In reality, it’s a bit more complicated. You have to wait it out before acting.”

“But won’t that let innocents hurt while you’re thinking it over?”

“Trust me, I’ve been there a long time. Ah, there. That’s what I wanted you to see.”

They tended their chin towards the street, where a person in a suit at a bus stop. Two hours earlier, Hero and Sidekick had said to them that the bus wasn’t passing through that day. Citizen had smiled and thanked them, but they’d stayed just where they were. They’d looked tired, but not in distress in any way.

And now, a menacing shadow was lurking in the same street. Sidekick nervously glanced at Hero, who held them gently but firmly back. A villain with a silver cape was gliding solemnly in the frail light of the streetlamps, advancing slowly but surely at the citizen who didn’t move, probably paralyzed by fear.

“Now now, what have we here?”

Citizen stood up, just in time to find themselves between the wall and Villain, who purred:

“What’s a pretty thing like you doing all alone? And my, aren’t you pretty.”

“I- I’m just back from work-”

“Darling, you work too much. I think it’s time you get a little rest, don’t you?”

With a gloved hand, Villain invited Citizen to follow them, and they did, eyes fixed on the ground. Sidekick looked at Hero with insistence, but their boss was busy fumbling in their pockets.

“You know what I hate most about this job? This suit doesn’t have enough pockets. I can’t tell you how much I had to fight Designer to get a jacket where I could put actual things – but then you have too many pockets, and you can’t find anything. Nothing is ever perfect. Ah, there you go.”

Sidekick looked at them hopefully, but instead of some shiny gadget that would have solved everything, Hero pulled out a handkerchief.

“Nights get colder and colder, have you noticed ?” they asked before blowing their nose.

“Did I-We’re in winter, of course nights get cold! Have you noticed that someone got kidnapped right under our noses?”

“I have.”

Hero pulled out a watch this time:

“Let’s check on them in two hours.”

“How?”

“By going to Villain’s lair, of course. It takes a while to go there.”

“Wh- You know where he’s hiding?”

“Of course.”

*

Villain’s lair was not exactly hard to miss. It was a mansion that looked quite new, despite its Victorian architecture. Sidekick renounced to count every window after a while.

“And people have trouble paying rent”, they grumbled through their teeth.

“Yeah...”sighed Hero. “Let’s go in.”

“By which window?”

“It’s the middle of the night, and it’s full of people. Let’s not disturb them.”

“The Henchmen?”

“The people who were kidnapped, kiddo, pay attention.”

“If they’re sleeping. If they’re alive.”

“My point is, let’s try the door.”

“You know, I thought you were going to say that by this point,” grumbled Sidekick.

Hero smiled and pushed slightly the heavy door that wasn’t locked. As silently as possible, they slipped through the main corridor.

“You have guts, I’ll give you that,” they heard Villain say in another room.

“But I know nothing about Hero, I swear!” answered a little voice that sounded more shy than terrified.

“Your loyalty is as striking as your beauty, I see. Very well...let’s see if a stay here will make you talk.”

With a laugh that would have been admitted in the most high of societies, Villain closed the door. Hero sniffed and waved a little. Villain raised an eyebrow, glanced at Sidekick, and asked:

“Are the streets so empty that you’re coming to arrest me?”

The other one struck a heroic pose in answer, plunging forward with their fist held out, making their cape fly, and stood still so Villain could pump their fist with theirs.

“Nah, idiot, I wanted to present to you my new Sidekick.”

Said Sidekick was looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

“Hi”, they said flatly. “I don’t understand or like any of this. Can someone explain?”

“I didn’t get it either at first,” said Hero, opening slightly another door. “But look for yourself.”

Sidekick peeked. Another Citizen was sleeping soundly in a huge canopy bed. The room was huge and spotless, with a library and a television. Nestled in the center of all that luxury, Citizen had the little smile of someone getting the sleep they had needed for years.

“But a kidnapping is still a kidnapping,” whispered Sidekick. “Even in a nice room.”

“None of the doors are closed,” pointed Villain. “You see, I became what I became because I couldn’t cope with my daily life. So now I do what I’d have wanted before. Someone taking me away and let me rest without having to feel guilty. They’re kidnapped, so they’re forced to do what they want.”

“That’s what happened", confirmed Hero. “I checked. Multiple times. Say Villain, do you have some tea left?”

“I'll see what I can do.”

Villain led the way in the corridor, while the two others followed through.

“Do you understand, Sidekick?” asked Hero softly. “You have to get the story first. They are a lot of Villains in this town, but some of them are just like this weirdo.”

“I think you’re all insane.”

“Ah, now you’re learning.”

*

Back to the Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

One year anniversary for this jerk very normal reasonable Hero.

Vampire Hero Masterlist

Former evil bastard, Vampire Hero has switched sides, but has retained enough knowledge to unceasingly troll current villains, constantly ruining your favorite whump tropes. He’s as hard to hurt as he’s annoying, but he’s basically a mosquito in a human body, so what did you expect ?

He’d also like you to know he’s very much married.

The Kneeling Stuff: Meet some guy who gets defeated by a more annoying guy. Also, chairs are bad.

The Notice: Hmm, so your knife doesn’t seem to cut your victim? Better check the notice! Vampire Hero appears in this one to be appalled.

Meet the Wife: A Supervillain is really tired of Vampire Hero’s incessant trolling, so he decides to kill his beloved wife. This will turn out great !

Locked & out: A villain finally gets savvy enough to put Vampire Hero in a cell. At least for a whole minute anyway.

The Thorn in Villains’ side: Oh no! The sun is out and Vampire Hero is trapped in a trapping trap of death! How shall our invincible unkillable hero triu-oh, right.

Divide and conquer: A naive guy gets in the claws of a more experimented villain.

Lost soul: A villain gets on Vampire Hero’s nerves so much he spills out his own backstory.

Turn Over: Before his inevitable demise, Villain has a question.

Job Interview (part 1, part 2): How Vampire Hero was hired by the Hero Agency, or: local vampire wifeguy gets girlbossed.

The Lowest Bar: Antihero is super happy to have made a machine that will ki- slau- eliminate all the villains and the impure of heart! Vampire Hero is eager to help.

*

Back to Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Take your mind off things (websites list)

In case someone needs it, here’s a bunch of sites with fun stuff to avoid doomscrolling. This post has several good links but many are broken, so here’s a list of my own.

TO EXPLORE

Here you can find museums virtual tours

Here you can find natural wonders virtual tours and 360° photos (with music)

Here you can explore the Solar system

Here is the scale of the universe (just click, it makes sense)

Here you can explore the deep sea. Neal.fun have some other pretty cool stuff in general.

TO MAKE

Here’s an easy cookbook for people with no spoon (the authors made it free)

Here are ten hot drinks to make

Here you can learn how to do origami

Here’s a tuto to make a plush with modeling clay and paper towels. (Nicky Case makes also very cool mini-games, but be warned if you can to see more, some can be dark. )

TO LISTEN

Here’s a ASMR positive affirmations video (18 min). If you don’t like this one there are plenty of others, and several types (just relaxing sounds, roleplay, etc)

Here’s music generated by Wikipedia edits

Here’s a customizable white noise website

TO WATCH (photos/videos)

Here’s gifs for breathing exercises, for example this one:

Here’s a playlist of short and incredibly satisfying stop-motion shorts (less than 5 min each)

Here’s a playlist of a cooking show making giant mundane stuff

Here’s some winning photos from Nature’s Best Photography competition

Here you can watch live cams and spy on animals from the Montery Bay aquarium

TO PLAY

Here’s a Bubble Shooter game

Here’s a Memory game

Here’s a quiz (every click gives money to charity)

TO READ

Here’s an adorable webcomic about 2 foxes in love (yes, it’s queer)

Here you can find free audio books (also movies etc)

Here you can read online/download public domain books

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Dear USA readers, I’m so sorry. Take your time to mourn, try to self-care as much as you can, stay alive.

To those who voted blue, thank you for fighting.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

TTD - Bonus scene

(It's a small thing, but I thought you'd like some fluff in these trying times.)

*

“Witness, if you will, a creature destroyed the agonies of illness. Alas, once a powerful monster threatening all humanity, now they stand here helpless, struck by the hand of fate, slowly dying of congestion, with no flowers at their feet but a bunch of used handkerchiefs.”

Hero, who walked through the living room, carrying a warm bowl, gave their expert roommate opinion:

“Bullshit. You have a cold. Your nose is barely red.”

Villain didn’t even give them a look. Clenching their dark robe, their hand pressed on their heart, they kept on:

“Truly a miserable fate for someone who was destined to rule the world. Darkness is closing in-”

“That’s literally your power. You control your shadow...oh, why am I debating with you.”

It had been two days that Villain had that fateful cold, but if you’d asked Hero, it seemed like an eternity and a half. Not only Villain had to nest into the living room’s couch because their own room was full of scraps of metal and wood for their current invention – whatever that was – but they were bored.

That meant incessant monologues. Long, convoluted monologues. Never ending monologues on their couch that was losing its shape slowly but surely.

When Hero was going back home, after a long day of helping citizens and affronting their boss, they had to hear about the agonies of having a common cold and oh, how the mighty had fallen. Hero had never felt specially mighty themself, but sometimes they wondered if murder in these circumstances was not regarded as legitimate defense.

Was a voice extinction too much to ask?

They bit their lip and held out the bowl to their roommate. Two skinny hands held it and a yelp was heard:

“It’s hot!”

Hero collapsed on a chair, unfolding a blanket nearby:

“As hot as the fiery flames of hell. Or something.”

An audible growl emerged from the black mist that clouded their roommate, but in Hero’s book, that was a win.

They fell asleep, the blanket on their lap. No monologue woke them.

*

Check the These Two Dorks Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with this Hero and Villain. This is how they met and now they’re roommates.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Guess who's back. (semi-back, I'm going to take it slow for a while)

*

Now, Detective was quite sure he had locked his office.

He stopped dead in his tracks, watching the door that was slightly opened. The last time this had happened, he’d found himself in front of two guns. The time before that, he’d found himself against a Villain, who didn’t need a gun. His own weapon was of course safe and locked in a drawer somewhere. He rolled his eyes at himself and listened intently. There wasn’t a sound. He threw a glance by the opening, ready to jump back and run.

His place looked blissfully intact, but now that he was closer, he heard it. Someone was breathing unevenly. He stepped forward. A head popped from behind his desk.

Well, well, well. Wasn’t this new. Detective let out a sigh half of relief, half of annoyance, and snapped:

“This isn’t a nursery, kid.”

He went round the desk to find a skinny teen huddled on the ground, their arms around their knees. They were wearing one of these stupid red capes that told everyone in the city they were special with powers, ooooh, aaaah. From the traces of tears on their face, they didn’t seem to feel especially happy about it.

Detective leaned over them, frowning. He’d already met that child. He snapped his fingers in an attempt to remember:

“You are, you are- oh, you’re that Sidekick kid, right? The sidekick of this hero, the one with the stupid boots.”

They nodded.

“So what’s the problem?”

“I don’t want-” Sidekick sniffed. They took a handkerchief from the desk, blew their nose, and kept on: “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Detective was opening his mouth to ask why this would be his problem, but Sidekick added quickly:

“ I thought I could...hide here for a little while? Hero won’t find me here. I didn’t steal anything, honest.”

“Except the handkerchief.”

“You can have it back.”

“Thank you, I’ll live with that loss.”

He sighed:

“Tell you what, what about I phone your Hero and tell them what you’ve decided, so you can sort it out with them?”

The teen froze, looking at him like a deer in the headlights. Detective raised an eyebrow:

“That bad, uh?”

Sidekick nodded once, avoiding his gaze.

“Did you already tell them?”

“Yeah…”

“And they said?”

“That if I tried to leave, I’d be found dead on the road.”

Detective paused.

��Ew.”

Yes, that was what he’d said. An eloquent man, Detective. In his defense, that was short to the point at least, not to say accurate. Child abuse was icky.

He didn’t ask anything else, mostly because he wasn’t particularly surprised. Once or twice he had to deal with clients Hero had “saved”, and it hadn’t been a pleasant experience. Hero was the kind of person that didn’t mind saving the day if they were the one saving it, so they could reap the benefits after, no matter what happened to the others. If the kid shattered the illusion that they were perfect, well. This kind of people was willing to go very far to protect their image, especially when they could blame any villain passing on the streets.

Sidekick, knotting their hands together, whispered:

“I thought you could...maybe hide me for a little while?”

Detective blinked. He asked with a mild voice:

“Tell me if I’m wrong, but isn’t your Hero the one who makes the ground shakes just by walking?”

“Yes?”

“The one who can crush people with a pinch?”

“Yes.”

“The one who can punch buildings?”

“Yes…”

Detective looked thoughtfully at his fists and his gun, all that he had – when the gun wasn’t forgotten in his office. He shrugged:

“No worries then. Just checking.”

Sidekick bit their lip, looking at him like a kicked puppy. Detective scratched his head, embarrassed. The silence was lingering for too long. He patted his pockets to look for something, anything, but there were just a pair of handcuffs and some old receipts. As a last resort, he generously held out his flask to them:

“Take a drink, kid. You’ll feel better.”

Sidekick looked at it with a wary look:

“I’m fourteen.”

“Eh, there’s no age.”

The teen took a little sip and yelped in surprise:

“It’s...cocoa?”

“Yep.”

Sidekick drunk a little more, then held it back to him:

“ I thought it was whiskey or something.”

“Psch, as if! With people shooting lasers with their eyes or whatever, I don’t need to get plastered. I need something stronger than booze to get through the day.”

Detective crossed his arms and sighed:

“Okay kid, you’ve won. Let’s find a place for you to sleep.”

*

Sequel here

Back to the Hero x Villain Masterlist

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

Febuwhump 17) Hostage Situation

(tw: team whump, captivity and some fights going on – I made a cut because it’s long but honestly it’s more adventure than horror)

*

Fighter had too much hair over her face. The band that’d held her ponytail had snapped when she’d been caught. That was the least of her problems at the moment, but she didn’t like it. Mediator noticed. Mediator had an unnerving instinct for this kind of things. He pulled out a brush and gently arranged her hair behind her ears.

“Still can’t believe you have that,” she said with a wan smile.

Mediator raised an eyebrow:

“I have an afro Blondie, you wouldn’t understand. Yours doesn’t get dry once an hour.”

“Maybe I should do like Leader and buzz them off.”

The mention of their Leader made them stop for a second. According to the number of meals they’d had, he’d been taken out of their cell since at least two days and they had no news since. Their guard had refused to tell them anything.

A couple of days ago, the team had been sent into enemy territory to negotiate. Mediator would have swore then that it’d went very well, and he wouldn’t have been wrong. But while Enemy Leader, their Leader and he were fiercely debating, he hadn’t seen that a guard had pointed a gun on his head, whereas none of the participants had been allowed to bring a weapon. Fighter though, who never paid attention very long when negotiations were going, had noticed. Her first kick had disarmed the man, her second had gone right into his rib cage. Five guards had rushed toward her, and she’d been on her way to knock down the fourth until she’d seen the gun against her Leader’s forehead. They’d immediately been accused of betrayal and sent into jail, then the latter had been dragged...somewhere else. By mutual agreement, they’d tried not to talk too much about this with the Mediator, especially since the guard was obviously listening to them. Sometimes frustration was stronger though, and her teammate whispered:

“I do not understand why that man shot. Weeks of work undone. Why?”

Unable to shrug, Fighter twisted her mouth:

“Sometimes men break.”

The guard had caught on and groaned:

“Or maybe he was sick and tired of hearing you talking shit -”

“Don’t even”, snapped Fighter.

“And you keep your mouth shut, you monster. Do you know how many are still hospitalized ?”

“Good.”

Mediator laid a hand on her knee and shook his head. Fighter gritted her teeth. He was right, it was no use to argue. That was wasting her strength. By what she could only call pure pettiness, the guard had ordered her to be covered in chains, like a gladiator in an old peplum. If he’d wanted to get on her nerves, she was sorry to say that it’d worked. Not being able to move her arms at all all this time had grown to annoying into painful and sometimes just short of unbearable. His teammate, who hadn't been deemed dangerous enough to be tied up, had helped her the best he could. He'd been very delicate and caring as always, but it was maddening having to rely on someone else for eating and other things.

Their bags had been confiscated, but trust Mediator to keep a whole array of objects on him. He never carried any weapons, but aside from the apparently very important brush, he had a pack of gum which had been useful to forget their hunger, and a tiny crosswords magazine which they’d used to kill time. They'd carefully avoided the sensitive subjects. They'd mostly bickered about what was the Wordle of the day they were missing out, a little bit because they were unhealthily interested in the game (that’s what Leader pretended anyway), but mostly because the guard was not-so-politely bored to death by their spats. Fighter had never been a great talker, but Mediator was, and all in all she was really grateful for his presence.

Still, Leader was missing. Mediator had the same train of thought as her, because he whispered a moment after:

“ I'd even gladly listen to his dumb hand puns.”

She couldn’t help but smile. Since Leader had lost his right hand in a mission, his delight and first priority had been to make this everyone else’s problem. A thousand “this got out of hand” had been answered every time he’d been asked how he’d lost it. Mediator and Fighter had applauded him at first, until they’d slowly realized he had no intent of stopping there. That had only been the beginning of an unceasing storm of hand jokes that would have made middle-schoolers groan in agony. Of course, if you’d roll your eyes even a little about that, this grown man would look at you with puppy eyes and whisper with a false tremolo: “Are you oppressing me ?” Basically, only the fact that they both loved him to pieces had prevented his teammates from pulling out a mutiny.

Mediator’s eyes were shining with tears.

“If I’d been convincing enough -”

Fighter did her best to bump his shoulder with hers.

“Don’t think like that,” she gently admonished. “It will get us nowhere.”

“Right.” Mediator sniffed. “I’m sorry. It’s just – that it’s been a while.”

“You’re tired. You should rest a little.”

He nodded and curled up next to her:

“Wake me up if you need anything.”

“I will.”

She didn’t. It was another one who jolted him awake. A tall, bulky and bald man barged into the room, his hands tied behind his back, accompanied with another guard with a sour face. He made an entry as solemn and dignified as usual:

“Heeey kiddos ! Did you have fun without me ? Eesh, can’t say that you did. You look terrible.”

Fighter made a deep sigh of alleviation. Mediator woke up with a gasp and ran towards the bars:

“Leader !”

It was him all right, and it was a huge relief to see him alive and on his feet. He looked fortunately intact. There was not a scratch to be seen on his face. His walk was strange though, like he’d been drunk, and his gaze was unfocused, gleaming with fever. He suddenly stopped, making the guard behind him start, and squinted his eyes:

“Fighter, what the hell are you wearing ?”

She laid down her eyes on her chains and made a face. Leader glanced at the cell guard:

“Seriously, who gave you the right to wrap up my girl like that ? I only have zip-ties and I am their chief ! It’s so goddamn unfair !”

Everyone was unsettled by that yell. He tripped on his feet and nearly fell, but caught himself in time. He burst into laughs before beginning to shake from every limb, leaning his back against the bars for support. Mediator tossed a terrified glance at Fighter; sure, Leader was always a little bombastic, but he’d never sounded that manic. What had they done to him ? Fighter had a look of grim understanding on her face.

“Sleep deprivation,” she mouthed to Mediator.

Leader whistled at her:

“That’s right, give this woman a prize ! Two fucking days, folks, and not a single drop of coffee !”

As he turned around, he had his back to Mediator, his fingers fidgeting wildly behind his back. With a dry gesture he’d already made before, his teammate pulled off the prosthetic hand, leaving the zip-ties to cling uselessly to the left arm. Leader giggled and punched the guard as hard as he could. The latter, who was unprepared, was instantly knocked out. The other rushed to the rescue and met the same fate.

“You do not fucking touch my team.”

Leader’s voice sounded sane now, only very tired. When he faced his teammates, his eyes were as cold and sharp as a steel blade.

“Mediator, gimme a hand, would ya ?”

Mediator literally did that, holding out his prosthetic back to him. In return, Leader threw him the keys found on the guards.

“Brief us,” asked Fighter.

“Sure.”

Mediator knelt next to Fighter and opened the lock of her chains. Leader sighed and put his back against the wall, his eyes half-closed.

“You okay, boss ?”

“Take a wild fucking guess,” answered the aforementioned, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Anyway, long story short, they wanted a pretext to keep us hostage until our beloved Chief relented to their demands. Said beloved Chief being what she is, she threatened them so bad they decided they needed to negotiate again, so their Leader is out with his own counselors and stuff. Meaning, he’s not here right now. Meaning, we’re out of this junk. I’m not gonna stay and play the role of the fancy trinket. We’re far too expensive for our own good.”

“On that point, I agree,” said Mediator. “But um, does that mean the negotiations I worked so hard for were for nothing ? And then they still went back to negotiating ?”

“Sorry, my guy. At least enough people heard them, maybe it will make them think. Then again, their team is made of guys thinking that handcuffing amputees is a great idea, sooooo…”

He threw out his hands in a frustrated gesture. Mediator frowned with a cold determination:

“It’s only the first try. I will make them listen.”

“Sure, yeah, but for now we bail. Fighter, how do you feel ?”

Kicking the chains far from her, she rolled her massive shoulders, stretched with a groan of pain, and made her knuckles crack, a small smile on her face:

“In the mood to go to work.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Come on kiddos, let’s take a walk.”

*

The Fighter is the Badass Lady from here, with her teammates making a cameo. I still don’t know that the Team does for a living except getting into Situations™ and rescuing themselves, but they love each other very much so that should count for something.

Back to Whump/Horror Masterlist.