#(and also a little bit of adding/changing things i got wrong or forgot)

[prismit]

girl help, i am doing silksong to my 3d models

[achilles-rage]

NSFW Alphabet

word count: 2.0k

A/N: hi besties<333 this is my first time writing so pls don’t absolutely tear me to shreds (just a little bit is acceptable though). i’m planning on making a SFW alphabet for buck soon as well but some of the letters had me drawing a blank lol. also, although there’s not really much mention of it, this is with a plus size reader in mind. as a plus size girly myself, it sucks to read x reader stories and knowing in the back of your mind that it wasn’t written with your body type in mind (although there’s nothing wrong with writers that do that of course). i just thought i would add to the plus size reader community because there are barely any buck fics and i believe in my heart that he loves plus size women. anyway, enjoy <3

warnings: smut (obviously lol), no use of y/n, fem!reader, plus size!reader, race inclusive!reader

MDNI- 18+ Only

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

When y’all finish he’ll wait a few minutes before pulling out, head buried in your neck as his breathing gets back to normal. He’ll kiss your neck and tell you how good you were for him, before finally getting up to clean you up. After that he wants to lay with you and talk, just enjoying each other’s company, maybe y’all will make some food if you feel like it.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

His: Probably his arms. He’s worked hard to be as fit as he is and he enjoys using his arms to move you/lift you while you’re having sex. He takes pride in his appearance, he knows he’s hot, but it’s an added bonus that he can lift you up and do whatever he (or you) wants.

Yours: I am of the firm belief that Evan Buckley is a thigh man. He loves how they feel in his hands, he loves how they look when you straddle him, he can’t get enough. He loves to see them jiggle when you move, or when he playfully smacks them. He loves thick thighs and I will die on this hill

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

This man has a BREEDING KINK OKAY!!! He loves to cum inside you, fucking deep into you and feeling his cum fill you up. He loves watching it slowly dripping out, so he can finger it back in. If that’s not your thing I think the next best place would be on your stomach, watching your face as he lets go, seeing the way he marks you up. He loves your little tummy, how it moves as he ruts into you, so he loves it when you let him cum all over it.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

I only call this a dirty secret because he would never tell anyone about this after the last time it happened and he got fired. He wants to fuck you in the fire engine SO BAD. He can’t help but think of the way you would look as he fucked into you quickly, trying not to get caught with your dress up around your waist. He knows it’s not gonna happen, he’d never hear the end of it from anyone in his life if it did, but god he wants to so bad.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Girl have we watched the same show?? This man FUCKS!!! We all know (and love) Buck 1.0, and we know he knows what to do. Buck 3.0 might mean him changing into, well, not a sex addict, but that doesn’t mean he forgot his training (🫡). I think he understands that every woman is different, and while he might not get it exactly right the first time, he’s a fast and eager learner, watching what exactly makes you squirm and moan the most for him.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Canonically, Buck LOVES when you ride him, and I agree. He loves to watch you move yourself on him, able to grab at your thighs, and your hips, and your chest. He also loves to move you on him, squeezing your hips tightly as he sets the pace if you start getting tired or if he just feels like it.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

I mean, he’s Buck, he’s truly a golden retriever of a man and cannot stay serious for long. I think he’s a bit of a mix, he can be serious in the moment, but at the end of the day, he’s still Buck, and Buck is silly goofy.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He keeps it nicely trimmed, carpets match the drapes. In terms of his partner, he really doesn’t give a fuck. He’s seen it all and could not care less as long as he feels the way you wrap around him so perfectly.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Buck 3.0 is a man of TASTE, but that being said, I think he only really pulls out the romance during special occasions. Most of the time this man wants to freak nasty, but sometimes when he’s tired, or just feels especially in cuddly/clingy, he’ll be more romantic.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He does it pretty often, of course not when he has the option to fuck you instead (and you’re willing, of course), but if you’re not with him and he needs a quick release, he getting right to it.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Breeding: I will scream this till the day that I die, this man wants a family more than anything. Whenever he’s inside of you, he can’t help but think about how pretty you’d look with your belly all round with his babies.

Praise: Look at this pathetic little guy, he needs to be praised, he thrives on it. He loves to hear how good he feels, how good he’s making you feel. This goes both ways. He’s in your ear immediately telling you how good you feel, how well you’re taking him, how pretty you look.

Spanking: HEAR ME OUT!! While I’m not sure he would actually bend you over his knee (but honestly the more I think about it he might) he would LOVE to give your ass a nice little swat as you’re riding him. He loves the sound it makes, and the sound you make because you’re not expecting it. I don’t think he’d ever do it hard enough to hurt too much, but I think enough to make your ass a little red would definitely be something he could get behind (lol).

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

He doesn’t have a ring cutter in the kitchen for nothing<3

I think he likes to have sex at home the most, on the bed, on the couch, on the kitchen counter. You name it, he wants to fuck you there. His favourite is the counter because he loves seeing you being so domestic in the kitchen. Making dinner, cleaning up, whatever, he wants you right then and there and cannot wait. He’ll come up behind you, wrapping his arms around you as he kisses your neck before slowly turning you around to face him and lift you onto the counter to have his way with you.

While he’s moved on from having sex in public places that could (will) get him fired, he’s still into it, but in less obvious places. If y’all are in his car and you’re looking a little too good in his passenger seat, he loves an empty parking lot quickie. Front seat, back seat, whatever you want, he’d be pulling you onto him as soon as he puts the jeep in park.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Girl ANYTHING gets him going, it would take one look, one touch, one word and this man would be ready to go. I think what really gets him going though is seeing you with kids or getting along so well with the 118. This man truly just wants a silly little family and someone that can get along with the 118fam, so seeing you like that has him making up a stupid excuse to leave a little early so he can take you home and have his hands all over you.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Like I said before, I don’t think he would do anything to hurt you too much, other than the occasional light spanking or biting. He would also not be into any kind of age play or pet play, he’s pro kink but it’s just not for him.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

This man is a giver and I stand by this. Dear god he loves nothing more than having you spread open for him, hands tangled in his hair as he makes himself at home between your thighs. He loves having his hands gripping your thick thighs, feeling them on either side of his head. When you start to get squirmy from the overstimulation he’ll place a large hand over your lower stomach, holding you still as he pushes you over the edge again.

With all that said, he will definitely not say no to getting head. He loves seeing you look up at him while you’re on your knees, trying to take all of him. He’ll keep a hand in your hair, pulling it softly every now and then, and he can’t help but moan and whine as he gets closer and closer, eventually cumming down your throat as he squeezes his eyes shut.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

It depends on the day, but most of the time he likes it rough and fast. He loves a good quickie, meaning it kinda has to be more fast paced and rough, and he’s pretty easy to get riled up, so when you drop any sort of hint, he’s on you immediately and ready. On other days where he’s feeling extra clingy and lovey, he’ll be more of a slow and sensual guy, but I think for the most part he loves to fuck you deep and rough.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Like I said, he loves a good quickie. A lot of the time he craves a quickie before work, needing to feel you before his long shift. I think they happen pretty often, but he’d much rather take his time with you, using his fingers and mouth before he fucks you.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

As long as there’s clear communication he’s down to try pretty much anything, he’ll do anything to make you happy (within reason). I think he’s also a risk taker (also within reason, he has to think about not getting fired again, of course). Buck 1.0 is still inside him somewhere when it comes to sex so he definitely loves a little risk, but he’s grown enough to know where the line is.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

While he would love to go as many rounds as possible, I think it would realistically be 2-3, lasting about 10-15 minutes each round. I think he would be the type to like having some time between rounds, tension still high as you talk and lay around before he's back on you again.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Once again, he doesn’t have a ring cutter in his kitchen for nothing<3

He likes them, he definitely owns a few toys of his own. Vibrators, cock rings, some handcuffs or restraints, he’s very open to anything that increases y’alls pleasure.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He does it sometimes not really meaning to, like he does something and you’re like….dear god…and maybe he doesn’t notice the first time but the second time he does and WILL keep going until you snap. He loves the way you get all squirmy and whiny and desperate for him, knowing you want him as much as he wants you.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

So vocal!!!! Literally that meme thats like “y’all afraid to make noise in the bedroom?? i be in my girls ear like…” He loves dirty talk (on both ends) and he can’t help but let out low moans when you’re clenching around him. He also loves hearing your breathless whimpers, making him feel like he’s doing a good job, and encouraging him to pull more sounds from your lips.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

If he was in a relationship during the whole sperm donor thing, it would be the longest few weeks for both of y’all. I imagine the first time he has an appointment, you make sure you’re waiting for him in a cute little matching set, knowing how excited he was to finally be buried inside you again, hearing you whine as he fills you up. He’s so frustrated when his appointment doesn’t work out that he doesn’t let you know how it went, instead being unpleasantly surprised when he sees you sprawled out on his bed when you get home and unable to do anything about it. He wants nothing more than to rip your pretty little set off your body and run his hands up and down your soft curves, but he can’t, and it’s torture. You apologize (but he will hear none of it because it was a lovely surprise, just shitty circumstances), and instead you change into an oversized shirt and sweatpants to enjoy a completely normal (and not sexual at all) night on the couch.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

8 inches, thick, no complaints <3

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

HIGH!!! This man is thinking about sex 24/7, and if he could, his hands would be on you at all times.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Most of the time I think he stays up for a while, just hanging out and talking to you. But if he comes home after a long shift he’s fucking GONE in 5 minutes tops.

notes: likes/comments/reblogs would be much appreciated if you liked this<33

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[startagainaprologue]

ah wait i almost forgot ! here is. some writing thats kind of related to this piece? i generally dont consider myself. writing guy but if anything this was fun to write. here u go :]

also if u saw this on discord!! added a few more little things here and there. lalalaala

----

[Here you are again]

[How many times have you been up here? Probably not much in comparison to… all of your loops. But enough that it still makes you feel uncomfortable.]

[But. You need to be up here. At least for this time.]

[Carefully, avoiding looking at him, you take a seat right next to where his body now sits, eternally.]

[Oof- Owie… They were right huh. You should not be out of bed right now. You have to be, though. You couldn't wait more.]

[You don't know what to say to him, actually.]

[Does it matter, really? You know yourself you can't hear a thing while frozen.]

[But… it feels wrong, doesn't it? To not say a word to him after everything.]

[But what can you say? You can hardly organize your thoughts on him (probably not helped by your craft sickness, or the various new injuries across your body).]

[He… King.. he hurt you a lot, not only physically. (That too, though. You push away the reminder of your own bones shattering to pieces-)]

[He hurt you. He hurt your friends. He did lots of awful, terrible things, you process that now, of course.]

[You processed it a long time ago. You had more than enough time to think about it in the loops.]

[He was your friend too, once. Your first one you ever truly had. That's why you followed along with his plans so easily.]

[If you refused, he'd... leave you. Maybe worse, with all the information you held because of him. You don't know.]

[And, at the time, you'd have nothing left.]

[That's changed now though, you have a family! Or.. friends. And- and... even if everything's a bit shaky right now... you think they still love you.]

[You think King still cared for you though. In some form, despite it all. He shared things he never told anyone else. He trusted you so greatly.]

[You... aren't friends now though. Obviously. But even if he wasn't frozen, you wouldn't be.]

[You are far past the point of learning it'd never work.]

[You... feel relieved. As awful as that makes you feel. You're relieved hes gone. It makes your stomach twist even as you think of it now.]

[You take in a shaking breath, when did you start holding back tears? Hah... it's not like you to cry, is it. That was his thing.]

[You. Need to think about something else.]

[You finally turn to look at him.]

[He's.. no different than when you last saw him, of course. His hands are held up high, cradling some invisible object gently in the palms of his hands.]

[You didn't get the chance to think much on it earlier..but..]

[He remembered, didn't he?]

[His country. The reason why this all happened.]

[He finally got to remember it, and now he'll never forget it again.]

[You wondered how many times he must've wished for this. And now he finally had it granted.]

[Was this how it was always going to end for him?]

[…]

"I'm…"

[You take a moment to take in a breath, trying to keep your voice steady.]

"I'm glad that you're happy, King."

[And you're glad you can be happy now too.]

[chaifootsteps]

College Anon back after so long. Got swamped with, well, college and every time I came in, your ask box was closed haha! Forgot most of my criticisms because these shows are forgettable so sorry if this is disjointed.

Anyways, WHAT THE FUCK. The new episode is SOOOO bad. The jokes are bad apart from a few at the end, the plot is nonsensical and shouldn't have happened right now, the song is TERRIBLE. I made a whole rant in the YouTube comment section because I was genuinely so disappointed.

I had found Full Moon quite good from what I remember because, to me, it was so obviously pro-Blitzø and a turning point for Stolas... Yeah. I should have known I was wrong.

As for the HH leaks, I only watched episode 2. I'm disappointed that Lute is yet another female character centered around a man. I don't like that she's also in love with Adam. It feels like there's too much emphasis on romance instead of friendships and further entangles her with Adam, therefore taking away her agency.

Pentious... I love him! I LOVE that his story is about inaction. It's a great message but his inaction was so heinous that it justifies him being sent to Hell unlike Chidi from The Good Place who showed that they needed a Purgatory for neutral people. Pentious here NEEDED to go to Hell for what he allowed to happen.

I also think this explains perfectly why it's him and not Angel. Because let's be honest, Angel doesn't deserve to go up there. His crimes on Earth and in Hell are a lot harder, if not impossible, to redeem. Him becoming a victim does not take away from the hurt he and his family caused. He could help raise the fact that being sexual isn't a crime and that Hell pushes people to get worse, with punishment unfitting for their wrongdoings. But unlike Sir Pentious, he wasn't a good person and actively harmed people. It wasn't that he was pushed to it when he was a decent person before, he simply got worse and had his remorse disappeared. In the end, it makes the fact that Charlie chose HIM to represent her goal of redemption laughable because Pentious is, he was always so obviously The One. It makes Angel's jealousy and insecurity tragic, which I wish they would explore, because he was right. He SHOULD BE. He likely won't reach redemption or not as easily. Pentious was the one to help Charlie's dreams come true and bring change, help making the afterlife better. And, my God, that would be SUCH a good concept and arc for Angel, especially when he's in a toxic, messy, and deeply abusive relationship, in a job he loves and hates, struggling to make new friendships work as a new him.

I know none of what they set up will be used or used well but the premise is good and so when they introduce these things, it makes the episode good. It's just that what comes next isn't. Pentious crying at the end of the episode is heartbreaking. The jokes land (love Abel! Great foil to Adam, I wish they introduced Cain for funsies. Saint Peter (iirc) is also pretty funny. I like that Sera is the only competent person in the room, it explains a lot (esp when you could infer that Adam nudged her in the worst direction possible) and just works), the songs are nice, the visuals are promising. The story is meh but it IS character-driven and that's working.

That said, of course it's gross to use a real life situation as backstory even though it's become akin to a legend/myth. I think they should have had something similar, maybe inspired or a clear reference to it, but not the actual deal. People died! Thousands lived in fear! A little bit of respect please!

Also, I still hope that Adam is brought back for REAL. NOT shoved in as fanservice as I bet happened but as a genuine foil to Pentious and the idea of redemption. Something to keep angels accountable, something that proves God gives a fuck. Let there be an actual cycle. We KNOW angels can fall. Between Lucifer and the Cherubs, we have ample proof. C'mon this would give Vaggie an arc, development and a backstory. Adam is a genuinely funny character with lots of potential, his VA is AMAZING and his music genre slaps. Bring him back you cowards!

Last note: it feels like the songs are FINALLY finished. Unlike Season 1, it doesn't feel like a draft or like they're missing instruments or an entire part (often a bridge). I might be biased because I don't care about ballads and Lute's song shares a rock-ish sound with Adam, whose songs were the best of the soundtrack, but it feels like there's some improvement here.

If your ask box is still open, I might send what I commented on the lastest HB episode because I feel like it's a decent critic but whatever. Been a while, hope you're doing well and that you aren't as harassed as before by the shitty fandom Viv is cultivating!

Ahh, I apologize for the frequently closed ask box! I hate the thought of people coming in with something to say and being met with that, but as of this moment, it's pushing 1,000. But I'm happy to report that the Viv standom's been mostly leaving me alone!

These are excellent thoughts, definitely agree on the music -- it seems to be a pretty prevailing opinion -- and I hope you're doing well too!

[machtaholic]

written for @steddiemicrofic, challenge: "hole", Rating: G, 404 words (which was a CHALLENGE, also @stevesjockstrap is an enabler *wink*)

"Steve!"

"Dustin, what're you doing here?" Steve leaned over the accounting ledger as he sat at the counter in the general store.

"Mom sent me to get a couple of - Steve! Don't move!"

"What? What's wrong?" Steve looked up and started lookng around, worried there was something on him.

"There's an alien coming out of your nose!" Dustin screeched.

"Alien … no Dustin, there's not an alien coming out of my nose," Steve replied. "It's called a piercing."

"Ouch, why would you do that?" Dustin asked.

Steve just shrugged as he went back to looking at the books. He'd undergone a bit of a transformation since the closing of the Upside Down and being reunited with Eddie - some of it more visible than others. He'd already gotten plenty of stares from the town and teasing from his friends when he'd shown up with the bright purple streak in his hair, but they'd all eventually gotten used to it. Next had come slight adjustments to his wardrobe - a little tighter than normal, because a certain someone wanted Steve to show off.

"Did it hurt?"

"Yeah, shithead, of course it hurt," Steve replied. "But it doesn't anymore. I tuck it up when I'm at work, not that Joyce cares."

"How long have you had it?"

"Dustin of the never ending questions!"

Steve glanced up at the sound of Eddie's voice to see his boyfriend enter the store and move behind the counter, tucking himself against Steve's side. Eddie'd gone through a bit of a change too, mostly because Steve had taken over Eddie's hair care.

"He finally saw my nose ring," Steve explained.

"Last one to notice," Eddie teased.

"Last one?!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Gotta be more observant," Steve replied. "Watch instead of shouting questions at people."

"But I always know things!" Dustin said.

"When it comes to the supernatural," Eddie added. "Not when it comes to the interpersonal."

"But, maybe we can throw you a bone," Eddie offered. "Give you first news."

"But only if you don't use it for personal gain," Steve said.

"Killjoy, but sure," Dustin replied.

"You forgot your cream," Eddie told Steve quietly. "Gotta make sure they don't become infected."

"My hero," Steve chuckled and turned, leaning in for a kiss before turning to Dustin. "I got my nipples pierced."

"Two days ago, in fact," Eddie said. "No one's noticed."

Steve watched Dustin's face for a few minutes.

"EW!"

[trensu]

So this was originally a little ficlet i added to @gyroshrike's EXCELLENT angel dust fanart. You should check it out IMMEDIATELY. Anyway, I ended up writing it out into a proper fic so I could post it to ao3 here. and i thought i might as well make it its own tumblr post as well since the fic is done already. Enjoy!

“What do you mean no?” Cherri asks, annoyed. “This is the fifth fucking outfit you’ve shot down.”

Angel doesn’t know why he thought Cherri would be helpful on this shopping trip. He forgot that Cherri’s idea of fashion involves singed tops and torn up bottoms. He snatches the clothes from Cherri’s hands and throws them back on the rack.

“Ya keep pickin’ slutty clothes!” Angel replies, also annoyed. 

“That’s because you are a slut, bitch.”

Angel gives her a two fingered salute because he’s fucking cultured. Cherri cackles and flips him off in return. Angel marches to the other end of the store to the rack full of boring colors like navy, gray, and black. They don’t go with his coloring at all. It’s the only rack left he hasn’t looked through in the entire store, though. Cherri follows behind him, purposely shoving racks and mannequins to make a mess as they go.

“Well, I ain’t tryin’ ta look slutty this time,” Angel says as he aggressively inspects the rack of clothing.

“Good luck getting that cat in bed after your date,” Cherri snorts.

“It’s a first date! Husk ain’t like that,” Angel says, feeling a bit offended on Husk’s behalf. “He’s a gentleman.”

“Yeah, the drunk arsehole is a total gentleman,” Cherri rolls her eye. 

“He is about this kinda thing. He’s a classy guy, okay? So I’m givin’ classy a try,” Angel insists. He reaches the end of the rack with nothing to show for it. He growls. “Fuck this place, it ain’t got shit. Let’s go.”

“Fuck yes! About fucking time,” Cherri cheers.

After blowing off steam with Cherri, Angel sneaks back into the hotel. Not that he’d done anything wrong; he just doesn’t want to bump into Husker at the bar after the spectacular failure of a shopping trip. He’s stressed because he was running out of time to get an outfit together. He knows he gets catty under pressure. (Ha. Catty.) He doesn’t want to risk getting catty with Husker.

Once inside, Angel wanders the upper levels for a bit until he is absolutely sure that Charlie was nowhere around. He knows Charlie would be overjoyed to help but she's about as subtle as machine gunfire when she's happy. Angel wants his future upscale look to be a surprise for Husk.

Since Charlie can’t be considered, Angel is left with one last option. With extreme reluctance, he makes his way to Charlie’s room. He makes sure not to show anything but confidence and charm when he knocks on the door.

Vaggie opens it with a scowl.

“Angel. What do you want?” Vaggie asks in that flat yet annoyed tone she was so good at doing.

“Heyyy, Vaggie. Ya know that redemption thing Charlie always yaps about?” Angel starts. Vaggie’s scowl deepens, so Angel continues before she could say anything. “I was thinkin’ I should change up my look, so I ain’t so sexy and tempting. Looking like a prude is a virtue, ain’t it? You’re the biggest prude I know! Wanna help a fella out? For redemption and sh–uh, stuff?”

Angel bats his eyes at Vaggie, channeling his ‘I’m a sweet, naive virgin, please take advantage of me’ character. It’s a very popular character in his line of work. He is much better at that than at looking innocent but he figures it’s basically the same thing. Vaggie glares at him. Okay, slight miscalculation on Angel’s part, then.

“No,” she says, and tries to close the door. Angel catches it with two hands before it shuts completely.

“Wait!”

“I’m not helping you with whatever porno you’re doing,” Vaggie says. 

“It ain’t for porn!” Angel says. He’s not exactly insulted that Vaggie assumed it was a porn thing, but he’s not not insulted either. He’s got a life outside of porn, sometimes!

Vaggie stares at him. It’s an expectant stare. It’s a stare that clearly says Angel has to give her a reason to not harpoon him with that spear she carries everywhere. (It’s also super judgemental but that doesn’t offend Angel since Vaggie looks at everyone except Charlie judgmentally).

A small jolt of embarrassment hits him. He wishes it was a porn thing now. 

He doesn’t want to say it out loud, this tiny frail chance Husk gave him by asking him out. If he says it out loud, Vaggie will scoff. She’d roll her eyes and ask him why he’s even bothering to try. Does he really think anyone would seriously want to date a cokehead pornstar? This is a pipe dream and Husker will get fed up with him so fast.

(Vaggie wouldn’t say any of that, a part of Angel knows. Those were Valentino’s words, but he’s so sure that Vaggie must have thought it at least once. Everybody must think that about him at least once).

The longer he stays quiet the more Vaggie’s glare softens until she starts to look genuinely concerned. And, fuck, Angel can’t have that. He’d die (again) if Vaggie felt sorry enough to be nice to him. He pastes on his smile and keeps his tone girlfriend-ly.

“I got a hot date, Vaggie, that’s all,” Angel says. “Wanna try somethin’ a little different for it.”

Vaggie is not convinced by his nonchalance which makes Angel wonder if he’s losing his touch. His acting skills are second to none! She should be eating out of the palm of his hand with this performance! Instead, she marches out of the room and waves him along.

“Follow me,” Vaggie says in her drill sergeant voice that makes everyone who hears it straighten their spine and find themselves already halfway to a salute.

Angel learns that Vaggie approaches clothes shopping with the same tactical focus and determination she approaches any mission, which is weird but whatever. She stealthily leads him to the nicer side of town into a more upscale shop than Angel is used to. She marches through the shop without bothering to ask Angel for his input on anything. Still she manages to pick out a few outfits that went well with his coloring and in his size. Angel has never appreciated her observational skills more.

“Try these on and show me,” she demands, piling her pickings into both sets of Angel’s arms and shoving him into a dressing room.

Angel complies without protest. He sashays out of the dressing room like a supermodel four times before Vaggie nods in satisfaction on the last option. She actually smiles at him.

“This one. You’ll impress your date with this one,” Vaggie says without a hint of irony.

Angel smiles back and thanks her enthusiastically. He ignores how he hadn’t recognized himself in the mirror in any of the outfits. He ignores how uncomfortable the clothes feel on his body. The clothes are classy, just like Husker prefers. That’s what matters.

–

When Husker shows up at his door for their date, he does a double take.

“What the hell are you wearing?” Husk asks, confused.

Angel starts to lean flirtatiously into his space, a salacious come on right on the tip of his tongue. He catches himself halfway and quickly straightens himself with an awkward laugh.

“Just somethin’ I found in the back of the closet,” he lies through his teeth.

He’d devoted time to doing his makeup just right and making sure the clothes were crisp and clean. He still feels uncomfortable in them but all things considered, Angel thinks the final product came out pretty good. The way Husker looks at him now makes him wonder if he overestimated his looks for once.

Husk’s eyes narrow as he studies Angel. His gaze trails Angel top to bottom. It doesn’t feel very sexy but Angel supposes the point is to not look like a whore so this means he succeeded, right? 

“Sure,” Husk says, notes of confusion still in his tone. “You ready to go?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, of course!” Angel stutters like a moron.

“Alright,” Husker says after a beat.

Husk gives Angel another suspicious look, shoulders tense and wings pulled close. Something shifts in his expression that Angel can’t read. He’s afraid it might be disappointment. Husker shakes out his wings and offers Angel his arm, which Angel accepts with relief.

“So, where ya takin’ me, Huskie?”

Husker tells him about a little place with good food, better drinks, and a live jazz band. As they walk out of the hotel, Angel almost cozies up against Husk, so tempted to rub his cheek against Husker’s furry ear. He catches himself again and over-corrects by pulling away from Husk until their linked arms are the only point of contact. Husk stumbles a bit with the weight shift. He shoots him another indecipherable look. Husker opens his mouth to say something but appears to change his mind and snaps it shut.

That’s okay, though, right? Husker wasn’t much of a talker anyway! Angel fills the silence between them with nervous babble. Angel is normally very good at conversation but tonight he keeps having to stop and restart mid-sentence when his stories get crass. Being crass is not good first date behavior. Husker grunts every now and then but it’s clear he’s only listening with half an ear. It doesn’t help Angel’s nerves at all.

The date goes downhill from there.

Husker finds them a booth when they arrive at their destination and helps Angel order their food and drinks. He points out several he thinks Angel will like.

Usually, he and Husker can pound back alcohol like nobody’s business. They sometimes make a game of it and those nights are some of the best Angel has because he gets to see Husker soften and relax in his company. However, Angel is an affectionate drunk and Husk has had to nudge Angel away more than once those nights. Husker is always sweet about it now, with gentle hands and amusement in his eyes. Husker always helps him back to his room afterwards like a perfect gentlemanly escort. Despite that, Angel can’t help feeling a bit stung at the rejection each time.

Tonight, he only orders one drink. He knows he can’t be getting too handsy with Husk on their date. He’s sure it would annoy him. He doesn’t want Husker to regret asking him out. With his focus strictly on keeping up his good behavior and watching his alcohol intake, Angel barely touches the food Husker recommended to him. 

Husker keeps shooting him these looks that make Angel anxious. With each glance, Husker slinks deeper into his taciturn demeanor. Of course, Angel overcompensates with his babbling. At one point, Husk has to shush him during the jazz show. Angel clacks his jaws shut in shame, because he knows how much Husker likes jazz and here he is ruining the experience for him. At least Husk is nice enough to hold Angel’s hands throughout the rest of the show, though he probably only does it to keep Angel from fidgeting too much.

When they leave the joint, Husker doesn’t offer his arm again. He doesn’t even walk very close to him. Angel's stomach churns so much, he’s afraid if he opens his mouth to speak, he’ll puke the two bites of food he ate earlier.

They’re halfway back to the hotel when Husk clears his throat. His hands are in his pockets as he trudges on, keeping his eyes on the crumbling sidewalk.

“You didn’t have to say yes,” Husk says, not even glancing at Angel or faltering in his steps as he speaks. Angel, on the other hand, halts in confusion.

“What?” Angel asks, not sure what Husker was talking about but the tone of voice made his stomach drop. Husk sighs, stopping in his tracks to finally look up at Angel. His face was closed off in his standard apathetic frown.

“When I asked you out,” Husker says, his tone going to his usual bored gruffness. He hasn’t used that tone towards Angel in a long time. Hints of panic start crawling up Angel’s veins. “You didn’t have to say yes.”

“What?” Angel asks again like a fucking idiot. He hopes he doesn’t sound as shaky and pathetic as he feels.

Husker’s voice goes flatter though his tail has started to twitch uneasily.

“You should’ve said no if you didn’t want to…be with me. We woulda been fine.”

“Huskie–”

And at last some of that soft, hidden sincerity crept back into Husker’s voice. Only a little bit, but it’s there.

“I’d still be your friend, Legs,” Husker says, gazing into Angel’s eyes and sounding painfully honest. “I wouldn’t abandon you over that.”

“No! I-I–”

Husker looks away with a bitter grin. Angel’s heart cracked at the sight.

“I’d need a day or two to lick my wounds, but I knew it was a long shot anyway. I woulda come back,” Husker shrugs when he finishes going for nonchalance, but his wings are once again curled protective and close, making his usual slouch look less like carelessness and more like defeat. Husker doesn’t wait for Angel’s response, instead choosing to continue walking back to the hotel.

Angel stands in place, floored by how badly he fucked up. He notices his breathing becoming erratic. He does his best to do the calming breathing thing Charlie taught them all. It works well enough to get him running to Husker again though Angel still feels unsteady and insecure. Most of him is screaming to fucking book it in the other direction because fuck, fuck, Angel hates feelings. But Husker also hates feelings and he basically threw up his guts at Angel despite it. The least Angel can do is return the gesture, right? He owes Husker that much.

“Husker, wait!” he shouts. 

Husker’s posture becomes more guarded but he doesn’t acknowledge Angel’s call. Angel catches up quickly (Husk can’t go too far too fast with those short legs, Angel thinks, helplessly fond despite the anxiety). Dodging around Husker’s wings that quiver with tension, Angel grabs the crook of his arm to bring him to a stop and place himself in Husk’s way. He lets go quickly at Husk’s glare but somehow manages to stand his ground.

“I did want! Husk, I wanted ta say yes, I wanted ta go on this date so much,” Angel says desperately, feeling a telltale burning around his eyes and hating himself for it.

The tension in Husker’s body breaks free as his patience caves to his temper. His wings flare open and his tail whips side to side aggressively.

“Then why are you acting so fucking fake? With the clothes and you treating me like I got the fucking plague! I thought we were done with that bullshit,” Husker snaps furiously.

“Cuz I wanted ta…I wanted ta be good for ya, Husk,” Angel chokes out, shoulders slumped in defeat. “You like classy. I wanted ta be a good, classy sorta guy for ya. I-I fucked up. I always fuck this shit up. I don’t mean ta do it.”

Angel stares at the poor excuse of a sidewalk they’re on, blinking back tears. Husker doesn’t say anything for a long time. Angel nearly loses his nerve and turns tail when Husker speaks again.

“You fucking dumbass,” Husk says. 

His voice is deep and warm and fond, the way it is on their drinking nights together. Angel’s head snaps to Husk at his words. That cocky little smirk– the one Angel first saw after Husk had pulled him out of his self-destructive spiral at the club and realized that if he wasn't careful he'd lose his heart to the guy–has replaced the angry slant of Husk’s mouth.

“Hey!” Angel protests with a cautious smile. Husk rolls his eyes.

“Don’t expect compliments if you’re gonna act stupid,” Husk says and offers his arm to Angel. “You’re already classy enough for me, Legs.”

Angel takes his arm and looks down at him slyly.

“But not good, huh?” Angel tries to tease but Husker doesn’t take it.

Instead, Husk looks at him intensely and says firmly, “If this redemption shit the princess keeps talking about ain’t total bullshit, you’d be the one to make it.”

“Oh,” Angel says, stunned, then adds to cover how hard it made his heart beat, “Husker, ya big ol’ flirt. I betcha say that ta all the pretty boys.”

“Fuck you,” Husk grins at him. Angel bats his eyes and lets his voice go all breathy.

“Oh, yes! Please, daddy,” Angel simpers. He adds a loud moan for good measure. Husker throws his head back with a rough, loud laugh. Angel knows immediately he wants to hear it again forever.

By the time Husk drops Angel off at the door of his room, the pair of them have relaxed significantly. Angel opens the door slightly to peek in on Fat Nuggets. After he makes sure his Nugs is sleeping soundly, Angel catches Husk’s sleeve before he could make a sneaky escape.

“Hey, Husk, can we get a do-over? A new first date? I want ta do it right next time.” Angel asks shyly. The corner of Husk’s mouth quirks up, making his golden eyes crinkle in a way that makes Angel’s heart melt.

“Depends,” Husker says with that charming smirk. “You gonna wear that stupid outfit next time?”

“Oh baby,” Angel says, plastering himself against the door frame in one of his sexiest poses. “I’m gonna wear my sluttiest dress for my handsome kitty. Everyone’s gonna wish they were you when they see us togetha.”

Husk snorts.

“When you put it like that…”

“You can put it wherever ya want, daddy,” Angel flirts. He’s only half-joking but he keeps his hands to himself to keep things light. Husker rolls his eyes in good humor.

“A do-over sounds good.”

Angel drops the pose instantly, beaming at Husk.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Angel’s heart flutters at the small smile that accompanies Husk’s assurance.

“Next week?”

Husker nods in agreement.

“Great!” Angel said, probably a little too enthusiastically.

Before Angel canlose his nerve, he dips down and presses a light, meek kiss on Husker’s cheek. When he pulls back, Husker’s eyes are as wide as saucers and his wings have puffed up in a way Angel hadn’t seen before. If Angel didn’t know any better, he’d say Husker was downright flustered. And oh god, Angel wanted to make him blush all over. Husker would be so cute in bed.

“G‘night, Huskie!” Angel says quickly and slams the door closed behind him.

After nearly tearing himself out of the uncomfortable clothes, Angel crawls into bed wearing only his boxer briefs. Next time, he thinks to himself in joy and disbelief. I get a next time.

He knows it will be perfect because next time he’ll be himself. Angel. Because that’s all Husker wanted. Just Angel.

He curls up around Fat Nuggets and allows himself one quiet, happy squeal.

[emeritus-fuckers]

As someone who is a Drag Queen, I’d love to know every reaction from the Papas when they find out when their s/o is a drag performer! I’d know they’d make it rain on me~

With special dedication to the assholes in the American government ♡♡ - Jez

Papas with a drag performer s/o

Primo

He kinda knows what it is, but didn't know the name.

He's neither for it or against it, seeing as he doesn't know much about it.

Primo is very open to learning about different things, so if you explain it to him, he'd like to go to one of your performances to learn more.

It's probably too loud for him, though, so it's most likely the first and only time.

He still supports you, just... Let him avoid the loud part of it. He's too old for that.

Secondo

He's your sugar daddy already, so his first question might be how much you need for it.

Don't take this the wrong way, he wants to help!

He's actually very intrigued by it, might observe you getting into drag, but he wouldn't want to so it himself.

Already doing and then washing off the Papal facepaint is annoying.

Sits front row at every performance. Throws money at you as bonus allowance.

Doesn't call it that btw. I call it that because we all know he's a sugar daddy. Just look at him.

Terzo

You cannot convince me he doesn't refer to the full Papal robes + facepaint set as drag.

Big supporter!

You know this like stereotype that lesbians tip a lot? Terzo tips more. Way more.

Will totally encourage you!

Loves to see you in drag, but he will pout about how much time it takes to take off sometimes.

Your drag does not discourage him from physical contact.

This man will walk around, covered in glitter from all the affection he gives you.

Secondo makes fun of him for all the glitter.

Secondo making fun of Terzo has also turned into a running gag around here, huh?

Copia

He doesn't really mind. I don't mean that he's ignorant or anything, he's just... Okay with it.

No strong reactions, really. You have your hobbies, he has his, who is he to judge?

Might ask some questions if he actually saw you in drag.

Will go to your performances if you invite him. In his facepaint and shit, mostly for confidence.

He actually loves the atmosphere of drag performances! They just seem so nice and friendly!

He might come to your performances more often if he has time. It's not too often, but he does support your hobby, so he tries.

Old Nihil

Heard you wrong and thought you said "drug performer".

When he first sees you in drag, he'd blink a few times, confused as fuck.

"Well, it certainly does feel like I'm on drugs..."

It takes a bit of explaining to him that you said drag, not drug.

"But you're not dragging anything."

It's worse than a child. It takes ages for him to comprehend it.

And once he FINALLY does, he's all for it!

"Yes, go and do your thing, whatever you're dragging!"

He's a little confused, but he's got the spirit.

Young Nihil

This bitch probably even did some light drag once upon a time, but he completely forgot about it and had no idea that's what it's called.

Like his old self, probably misheard you or just misunderstood completely, but instead of being a big boy about it, he just waved it off.

"Yeah, okay, you do you, babe."

And then he sees you in drag and he's just bamboozled. He doesn't recognize you and you actually have to change back right in front of him or he won't believe you.

EVEN IF HE SEES YOU CHANGE, HE'S ALWAYS LIKE "How tf did you do that???", HE'S SO STUPID I LOVE HIM.

Once the initial shock passes, it's back to the "you do you, babe" attitude.

Throws money a bit too hard at you at performances, but hey, he tries.

Taglist: @firefirevampire @sirlsplayland @thatoddboy (send an ask if you'd like to be added! read the pinned post before asking!)

[thepringlesofblood]

in honor of fantasy high minis going up for auction, I'm remaking them in HF

I'm only doing them as they go up for auction though I have a paper to write.

this week (3/4) we got Adaine, Kristen, and Fabian on the Hangman.

3/11 oops i did it again but forgot i already made a post lol

pics & explanations under the cut.

things i can't match perfectly

color. I did my best, but i mean they did the painting bit IRL so some stuff I can't recreate with decals. also eyes are detailed in HF, I just picked what I remember their canon eye colors as being.

faces. HF completely changed how they do faces recently. I did my best but the mini faces are real tiny and hard to see and I'm unlikely to be able to recreate them.

poses. while there's very little advanced posing for these guys, there is some. I picked the base pose I think they started from.

this was actually much harder than I thought, because I had to remember what HF stuff was available way back then and what wasn't.

Adaine Abernant! (auction mini)

notes:

they made her before HF separated pants/skirts into an upper layer and lower layer, so I have no idea if there were leggings or anything originally. I am almost 100% certain those low poly flats are accurate though.

HF doesn't have socks, so I did my best with decals, but the skirt covers up where the sock color fades into skin color.

surprisingly, Adaine's mini has like. dark red lipstick. its a good look I just didn't notice it earlier.

couldn't get the Hudol decal on her jacket or the stripes on her tie. you can get patterns on the shirt but not on the tie :/

she's not smiling as much bc the 3d printed face isn't smiling that much its just the way the lipstick's painted that does the smiling for her.

Kristen Applebees! (auction mini)

notes

they don't have corn on HF. I think this rotated fern looks OK though. same w her book, I scootched some decals around to try and match the design at least a little.

while they do have patterns for clothes now, they don't have a tie-dye one. this is a heavily modified leopard print. not as many different colors, but the ones that are on there do match the ones on the mini's shirt.

this is one of the few where I think I did in fact get her face right. I copied my old Kristen design from before the face customizer came out, so this is the old "round face" preset.

the freckles are subtler obviously but i s2g they're there and they are reddish-orange

Fabian Aramais Seacaster & The Hangman (auction mini)

notes

his hair. ooh boy. they did the tiny mohawk and then painted on shaved sides but HF can't do shaved sides like that so I used a truly ghoulish amount of decals to approximate. [update: they have since added shaved head decals and I have updated the boy accordingly]

also he does technically have eyebrows 3d printed on i think, but they aren't painted separately. its just skin color. and that just looked bad and wrong on HF so i took his brows off altogether.

they made the skull themselves, but otherwise it's mostly the same bike. I used the "bloody skull" color for the headlight as a lil tribute.

this type of rapier used to be much chunkier, whatcha gonna do. I like this one better anyway.

they can do decals on the back now but none on just the sleeves, or on the front where the A is. rip.

fun fact: this is not a letterman jacket. This is what's called the "outlaw's shirt and vest" props to the team for resourcefulness, good jackets in HF are relatively recent.

[rleonard9]

here’s part two….

part three isn’t written yet

and won’t be for a few hours- i think i have carpal tunnel from typing all of this on my phone😭

here’s most of the angst✨✨

the only highlight of the first period was kniesy’s goal, in which the entire family, bar bug, shot out of their seats, screaming at the top of their lungs. but matty’s goal was quickly overshadowed by the lightning scoring 4 after his. at the end of the first, bear contemplated grabbing a drink, but she decided to hold off, knowing if the game got too much worse, she’d be the DD for a few boys on the team. also in the intermission, aryne walked off to take the boys to the restroom.

the second period was a show though, orchestrated by auston bagging two goals, ramping up kids excitement. however, the conclusion of the second period is where things go wrong.

with the game looking up, bear decided that she would make herself a mixed drink in the second intermission to celebrate. however, she purposefully made the drink and downed it while aryne stepped away to take the boys to the restroom again, taking a bit longer with the added step of changing bug’s diaper, who had woken up from the cheers when auston scored his second. bear did this with the thought that her mlm would be a bit cautious of her alcohol intake, knowing she was only a week post op, unknowing that she was still prohibited by her medication to drink. after swallowing the first drink, bear took a slight risk, and made another one, possibly going a little heavy on the vodka, unknowing of just how much of a bad decision that’d turn out to be…

when the third period began and aryne and the kids still weren’t back, bear did something even she realized was a little dumb, and made a third. in doing so, she noticed when she stood up to make the drink she got a little dizzy, bracing herself on the seat next to her while her vision cleared.

after practically inhaling her third drink in fear her mom would come back, bear made hurried steps back to her chair she’d been curled up in the entire game. however this time, when she sat down, her vision went black, and her head limply fell forward.

approximately 5 minutes later, aryne opened the door to the suite, alarmed by the silence, knowing she usually would’ve been met with bear’s excited chatter, as she had seen mitch had scored on her prolonged journey back to the suite. instead, nothing.

and then she took another step forward, and saw something of nightmares. bear, sitting in the chair, not moving, chest rising and falling scarily slow. as she took in the sight, she immediately turned around and crouched down in front of axton and jace, stopping them from getting any closer. “how about you go back to aunt steph, hmm? you forgot to show her hit new shoes,” came aryne’s shaky voice, rapidly blinking away the tears of fear building in her eyes. “okay mommy!” chirped both axton and jace, the duo excitedly running off chattering to each other.

the minute they were far enough away, aryne whipped out her phone and dialed 911. “hello, my names aryne tavares, and I just found my daughter unresponsive, and I’m not sure what caused it. we’re at scotiabank in a suite, and I- i don’t know what to do,” aryne started out strong, before fading off into a worry filled voice only a mother was capable of possessing. the operator said a few uninteligible words, before aryne finally spoke up, “yeah, i- i can meet you at the back of the arena. i’ll get the guards to help me move her. maybe we can get her a little responsive.

the second the call concluded, aryne ran to the hallway, jogging as fast as she could towards a few of the guards with bug in her arms. “please, help, i- bear is passed out and i don’t-“ and that’s all she got out before the two guards came back with a response of, “show us where she is mrs.tavares, and where we need to bring her.” and aryne quickly pivoted on her feet, hurriedly rushing back towards the suite, gesturing for the guards to follow. “she’s in here. and- and we have to get her to the back of the arena to meet the ambulance. also, if we- if we can get her a little responsive that’s a good sign it’s not serious,” aryne stuttered out, then fear of a mom leaking through her voice.

as the guards hoisted bears arms over their shoulders, she let out a few whimpers, making aryne’s shoulders sag in relief that maybe things weren’t that bad. but even though she let out a few noises, her head still hung limp.

as the guards made their way to the back of the arena, from the side of her eye she saw the boys running up, both reaching up to tug on aryne’s shirt/pants. “mama- where are they taking sissy? is she okay?”

aryne tilted her head to the side, slyly swiping at the tears that had leaked out in the commotion, before promptly squatting down to look axton and jace in the eyes. “sissy is going to be okay- she just took a little nap, but remember her shoulder?” the boys nodded their heads in response. “it’s not good for her to take naps without telling us because of it,” both boys mouths dropped in what seemed to be understanding, before jace peeped out, “so she’s going to be okay?” he questioned, concern for his big sister coming off of him in waves. “yeah she is baby. me and bug are going to go with her, and daddy and matty will bring you guys after the game, okay?” and both boys brightened up at the prospect of getting some one-on-one (or rather two-on-two) time with their favorite men.

the second she watched the two little bodies round the corner, she darted after the direction the guards took her unconscious daughter, already sick to her stomach at what could possibly be wrong with bear now.

when aryne reached the back of the stadium, she was met with the guards standing alert in front of a still unconscious bear- a sight that lit up aryne’s nerves once again. but she didn’t have to witness it for too long, as she seemed to have perfect timing, watching as the ambulance drove up to the back of the stadium.

the second the ambulance came to a stop, two ems workers threw the doors open, immediately making eye contact with aryne. “mrs.tavares?” the one on the left, a blonde haired female who’s badge read “amelia” questioned. “that’s me!” aryne responded quickly, simultaneously making her way towards a passed out bear who was leaned against the wall.

“i’m going to assume this is your daughter,” she starts, before aryne cuts in, “yes, this is barrett, barret tavares.”

the woman named amelia made her way towards bear, while the male, who’s badge she hadn’t been able to see, dug around in the back of the ambulance, seemingly preparing the bed for bear.

“is she on any medication?” amelia questions, checking bears heartbeat with her stethoscope. “she’s a week post op for a shoulder injury, and has been on a lot of medications. they just switched her to a new medication this week, actually.” amelia paused for a moment, gaining a thoughtful look on her face.

“has she ingested any alchol?” amelia questions, slowly starting to sit bear up, shining the light in her eyes to check their dialation. “no, her new medica-“ she pauses thoughtful. she vaguely remembered a glass in the suite sitting on the bar, with a lipstick stain that matched the color currently on barrett’s lips.

“oh” aryne states, eyes widening, breath quickening. at her moms distress, but started making a few upset babbles, making aryne rub her hand soothingly on bug’s back.

“yes?” amelia questions, as she gestures for the blonde male, who’s badge she can now read says “micheal”, to bring the bed towards her.

“i think she might’ve…” and aryne thinks again, remembering that she was the one that picked up the new medication. she’s the one that didn’t tell bear that she couldn’t drink.

this was her fault.

at that realization, her breath quickened again, her grip on bug tightening. “mrs.tavares, please calm down. it’s a simply instance of not reading the label. it can happen to anyone.” amelia speaks calmly as she and micheal work together to lift bear on the bed.

“we’re going to take her to the nearby hospital, and we’ll probably going to have to pump fluids in her. will you be riding with us?” micheal speaks up firmly as he rolls the bed now containing a limp bear into the vehicle.

“yes, i’ll ride along if that’s alright,” aryne says, taking a deep breath, re-situating bug on her hip, and climbing into the back of the vehicle.

the minute aryne sits down, micheal shuts the doors and flings himself into the drivers seat, taking off towards the hospital.

as the vehicle takes off, a thought crosses her mind…. she’s still got to text john and matthew.

OH FUCK

THIS BROKE ME

[bekaroth-reads]

Silco x Reader 4

[Just a reminder because it comes up a bit more in this one than usual, but I do write most of my stuff in gender neutral so the reader uses they/them pronouns but as a fill in the blank sort of thing.]

Oddly, things went back to normal; or, at least somewhat so. Jinx was still coming by most days. It would seem that you had gotten yourself an interesting new regular as well. Sevika had found herself in your bakery, often with the excuse that she was trying to keep an eye out for Jinx, even if the little, blue-haired, bolt of energy wasn’t there. If that was the case then she would still stay there to talk to you contrary to her claims of being there to take Jinx back home.

Things were reintroduced to the events of a few weeks ago when right as Jinx was getting ready to leave for the day, she suddenly remembered something. “Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!” Then she turned back around and walked over to you, digging through the little bag at her hip all the while. “Silco wanted me to give you this.” She handed you a note before adding, “And, he says there was something you were going to give him something too. I’m supposed to take it back with me.” You read over the note and saw exactly what it was you were supposed to hand over. It seemed as though he was very serious about charging interest on your, “rent,” which itself was staggeringly steep.

Silco sat contentedly in his office. For the most part, it had been an uneventful day, the highlight of it being looking forward to hearing that it would be the end to a budding problem- you. It wouldn’t be long before the news of you tucking tail and leaving, or at least fading into the background of the greater population. The sounds of doors slamming let him know that Jinx was back. He could also tell that she was unhappy about something as the tone of the slams sounded a bit more purposeful than her just being in her usual hurry.

Soon enough, Jinx stormed into his office. “Here’s your money!” She snapped as she took the item in question from her bag and threw it onto his desk. Trying to assess the situation and trying to lighten his daughter’s mood, Silco decided to try to change the subject. “What do you have there?” He asked, eyeing the little basket that she certainly didn’t have when she left this morning. It seemed like this was a poor choice as her mood soured even more than it already was. “It’s extra snacks.” Jinx snarled at him the same way that other people who had earned his ire. He would be proud if it weren’t pointed at him. Seeing as it was, Silco found it somewhat concerning. Even so, he pressed on like nothing was wrong. “A reward for a job well done?”

“No,” she bitterly corrected, “They gave me more things than usual because they’ll have to shut the bakery down soon! And, it’s all your fault, you jack-ass!” The longer Jinx explained, the more she went from talking to yelling. Silco noticed the use of the swear that she learned from Sevika, and made a note of that for later. “Perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me why you think I have anything to do with that shack closing? Were you told this directly?” He asked before quickly adding, “Without the colorful langue this time.”

Jinx stormed to the door and for a moment Silco thought that he was going to be ignored. Yet, right as she was about to stomp out of the room, hand shoved into the basket, Jinx turned and huffed, “I’m not stupid, Silco! They got worried about closing down after they paid you! It’s your fault!” With that, she did start to give him the cold shoulder and stormed out of the office and out of Silco’s sight.

Sevika walked into the office, moving her eyes from the kid she just passed to the man putting on his coat toward the back of the room. “What happened?” She asked and was greeted by the same scowl that she just passed in the hall albeit worn on an older face. “Nothing happened.” He grumbled as he pulled his gloves on. “Somethin’ did because I’ve never seen the kid be that angry while eating a cookie, and you’re going somewhere.” This was met with an annoyed grunt. “Just keep the girl here. I’ve got a pest to deal with. Personally.” Silco snarled and made his exit.

You could admit that you might have overreacted a bit this afternoon, but not by much. There were only two months of expenses covered- only one if Silco charged the same next month as he did today. While you were sitting at your table pouring over everything to try to figure out any way to improve your financial situation, someone kicked in the front door with a loud bang and the sound of the little window on it shattering to bits; the bell on the doorframe chiming to gladly welcome your assailant. The kitchen door was broken the same way moments later. To your surprise, Silco was the one on the other side of the busted door; you wouldn’t have thought he would have handled this sort of thing himself. And, you would usually be correct, however, little did you know that you had managed to make him something volatile- you made him jealous.

Silco stormed over to you, grabbed the collar of your shirt, and used his hold to slam you into a nearby counter. “You have done many things I could consider offensive to me and my authority, and I have graciously overlooked them.” You were pushed further back into the now painfully sharp edge of the counter as your hand scrambled behind you to try to find something to fend him off. Your struggle didn’t phase him as he continued. “But, you’ve done something I will not forgive. You have turned Jinx against me!” Silco snarled. You responded with a confused, “What are you-“

“Don’t play stupid!” He snapped, fury clearly burning in his eyes. “You made your pitiful display this afternoon, simply because you wanted to upset her. To make her angry with me! But, you still paid the full amount I demanded despite your brave words, you coward!” Seeing as there wasn’t much else to lose at the moment, you decided to snap right back at him. “I only did to make sure Jinx wouldn’t be in any trouble! Speaking of cowards, who used his kid to do his dirty-“

At this point, his rage went from pointed to blind. Your comment was biting, both in that it hurt and that you felt you had the right to say it in the first place. Now that it had been presented to him as such, he had used Jinx for his dirty work, simply to hurt you. But, he also ended up hurting her as well in the process. This gave you a proverbial stranglehold on the little bit of conscience that he had left. So, he repaid it with an actual one, both silencing and squeezing the life out of you.

This made your search for something to defend yourself more frantic as the hand that couldn’t reach the counter clawed its nails against his gloved hands in an effort to pry them from your throat. Finally, you were able to reach far enough back that you could grab a bottle of some sort. In your oxygen-deprived haze you couldn’t remember what it was, but what you did know was that you could grab it by the neck and swing it at Silco. Thankfully, it was a strong enough his that even though your failing depth perception made you hit him in the should rather than his head like you planned, it shattered the bottle and more importantly made him stagger off of you. He also stumbled and went to catch his balance on your stovetop. Survival instincts kicking in, you almost absentmindedly turned on one of the burners.

Silco’s reflexes were fast, but the fire was faster. The corner of his coat sleeve was ignited and you found out that the bottle had something flammable in it as the rest of his sleeve lit up not more than a millisecond later. Luckily for Silco, he was able to rip the coat off before any of his actual person could be burned. Unluckily for both of you, the smoldering material landed on the bits of the broken glass as well as its remaining content setting the whole floor ablaze. Seeing as this place was older than sin that meant there was little in the way of fire-resistant materials in the building structure which meant the rest of the store quickly took the same fire-riddled status. You went to bolt for the back door leading to the riverfront, but before you could make it, you were slammed into the wall. It seemed that Silco was too fixated on killing you to realize the severity of the fire around you. “Let go, you bastard! We’re both going to die!” You yelled as you managed to roll out of his hold and stumble out the door.

Silco followed after and soon the two of you had resumed your scuffle which mostly consisted of him trying to hit you and you doing your best to evade him. He might not have looked like a very physically imposing man from a glance with how thin he was, but he certainly was strong as your aching windpipe reminded you, and more dangerously he was fast. Through all of the dodging and weaving, you managed to end up on a little, rotting dock by a somewhat shallow part of the river. A swift hit to the face knocked you into the river, replacing the burning in your nose from the smoke with the burning of intruding water. Silco was quick to pin you down into the inky mire to resume his efforts of snuffing the life out of you, this time aided by the smothering water.

He wasn’t going to let you take Jinx away from him. You were a loose end that was quickly unraveling his life; a loose end that he would not leave undone. This was why he had the power that he did now. This is why he will be the one to lead Zaun to victory- to freedom! This drive to do what needed to be done no matter how trivial, no matter how violent, was what separated him from others. What made him different from…

Silco looked down at the watery scene beneath him; the disruption from your screams in the water was becoming less frequent, the purple-red swelling of where he had hit your eye when knocked you into the water shining clearly at him even through the muck of kicked up much and polluted water, you desperately trying to cling to life and fight back- it all seemed uncomfortably reminiscent. He felt bile rise in his throat, tried to will it back down. He suddenly was in your place, hands bruising his neck, water stinging his lungs-

No! He was in control! He was above the water. He was… he was straining to see through the filthy water. He was clawing at arms, clawing his away from death. That was years ago, he was in control. He was nothing more than a boy, trying to live. He needed to live! He was the one above water now and he. was in. control! He was… he… he couldn’t breathe! He can’t breathe! He- he was going to vomit!

Though you weren’t sure what exactly had led him to let go of you it wasn’t something that you were going to think too deeply about in the moment. Now that you were no longer pinned down you scrambled and waded your way out of the shallow water and unstuck yourself from the mire as quickly as you could. Soon after, another person heaved himself in a panic onto the old, small dock. Seeing as there was really only one other person that was in the river the same time that you were, it had to be Silco, though if that weren’t the case you would have never believed it. The man before you was disheveled, completely devoid of thought, devious or otherwise, seemed to be terrified of something, and quite frankly looked overall ill; nothing at all like the chem baron that you had seen before.

The sound of the rotting stairs to the dock creaking under the weight of someone caught both of your attention. Sevika who had seen the smoke from the burning building rushed over as soon as she could as she could, feeling in her gut that Silco had something to do with it. She looked down at the two of you, both beaten to some extent, drenched in river water, and dazed and shaken in your own ways, before looking at the fire, then back to the two of you. Her brows furrowed, more in confusion than worry as she muttered, “What the hell happened!?”

Neither of you answered. Neither if you could answer. You simply stared at each other and then at nothing again. The question wasn’t only what happened, but what was going to happen now? You had both tried to kill each other after all. Tried and for whatever reason failed. Where did two people go after that?

[wanderingmirror]

Difference

(Any Mistakes here are AU errors/changes. Also long read and might have a few grammar errors. Go read it on AO3 for better)

Ritz hears so much about his batcher that it lost its hilarity.

The 501st captain has been on the lips of every vod in the GAR ever since Rex started showing up with the two Jetti. Not that Ritz is jealous, don't get him wrong he loves his batcher dearly. It's just that people forget that Rex isn't actually part of the command batch Kote pulled him into. It hurts seeing his baby bro so far away and yet so close. And it hurts worse that he forgot about the rest of his real batch. Ritz sits with his own drink among the rest of the guard in 79's.

The blonde tries not to stare at his little brother too often, but seeing the other here on Coruscant is giving Ritz flash backs of Kamino. Back when Rex still cared about the batch he was Decanted with. Ritz looks away the moment one of the Command batchers notice him looking at them. He focuses on Sevens and Error as they talk about their next planned prank for Guard morale. This too makes Ritz flinch as he thinks about the Domino twins, and by extension, Rex. It hurts more thinking about what was taken from him.

But, as Sevens looks over at him with a gleeful expression, Ritz can feel bits of that hurt begin to melt away. He knows it will always hurt when he thinks about his batch. The ones who were decommissioned anyway. They were the first ones Ritz would mourn each day. Craze, Flack, and Coin never got off Kamino. They never will.

Ritz is pulled out of his spiral by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He smiles faintly at Fox as the gray-haired clone looks at him with concern. Out of the Command Batch, Fox was the only one who understood the feelings Ritz felt. He knows what it feels like to be replaced and forgotten. But then again, so does every other guardsman. No one has been spared from the feelings as new shinies appear to take the place of those 'lost'.

Ritz nods at Fox and sighs shakily as he takes a drink from his glass. Ritz has gotten many nicknames over the course of the war. Copycat, Pretender, Fake, etc. None of those names bother him, because the ones who call him those things don't know Ritz at all. Everyone outside the two batches is under the impression that Rex never had a batch outside of the Command Batch. And yet if his actual batchers had lived to get off Kamino, they would have told and shown people otherwise.

Ritz stares at the liquid swirling in his glass and decides that he's had enough for one night. It's better to get out of here while people are less likely to cause trouble. He knocks back the rest of his drink and taps the table to let his Ori'vod and ade know he is leaving. Sevens and Error, as usual, stand up when he does while Fox stays behind to stay with Stone. Ritz is hoping he can leave this night behind him and get some sleep in before his shift at the prison and then the Senate Dome.

But that seems to be wishful thinking as his rank is called by an unfamiliar clone. He stops just outside of 79's and his twins move out of the way to stand on either side of him. A clone in grey armor walks up to them and smiles this smile full of teeth. And Ritz knows that he's going to have to break up a fight between them and Sevens if this gets out of hand. Because Ritz recognizes one of Wolffe's boys just by posture alone. Ritz tries to clear his throat to get his voice to work.

"Something I can help you with, Trooper?" He asks and he can sense the tension in his twin's bodies without turning to even look at them. "Yeah, was wondering when you were ever going to let your hair go back its natural shade. Ya know, like the rest of us." The trooper says snidely, and Ritz is quick to grab Sevens' arm before the younger one can do anything. Ritz snatches a look at Wolffe and sees that he's paying very close attention to this conversation. The blonde just sighs, tired.

"I really don't give a shit whether you think my hair is bleached or natural. Right now, I just want to go home and sleep for an hour. I have prison duty and senate duty today and tomorrow, so I'd like to have some energy left for both." Ritz doesn't give the other clone time to reply before he's dragging Sevens and Error away to the hidden route to HQ. He wants to curl up in his Riduur's office just for an hour. Let Stitches deal with the Terror Twins for a while.

Ritz falls asleep without even taking off his armor and helmet. Drifting off to the familiar sounds of the medbay outside the door.

The two must realize that Ritz is drained today, as they start fussing over him the moment they get to HQ. But the blonde Captain doesn't relax until he enters the medic's domain. He nods to Word and Chalk as he passes them. The twins suddenly more interested in finding their other buir. He enters the storage closet/CMO Office to find it empty and sighs with relief. He flops down to rest on the ratty old couch Stitches keeps in his office for this very reason. That and for days his other half gets triggered into a frenzy.

--

Ritz is woken up by a gentle, gloved hand that he knows belongs to Stitches' newest medic Dogma. The tattooed vod is still so quiet and skittish after everything on Umbara. Not that anyone blames the kid, no one comes out of something like that completely unharmed. Thankfully, news about Tup and Fives has seen to lesser stress. For both Dogma and Stitches. Sevens and Error are just waiting for the moment Stitches decides to adopt the kid. Because then they'll have a vod'ika to corrupt into their schemes.

Stitches grumbles but kisses him on the temple before the blonde leaves for the prison and then to the Senate Dome.

Ritz continues to lay on the couch as his youngest ad carefully checks him over. A habit that both buire try to encourage in the new medic. He slowly lifts his arm to check the time, as his helmet has somehow fallen off his head without his notice. He has ten minutes before he has to be at his shift in the prison. He knows that Stone won't be too upset if he's late. After all, the Commander was at 79's and longer than Ritz was. Dogma and Ritz don't speak as both quietly stand to leave the room. Ritz sees his Riduur and walks over to gently kiss the side of his head.

--

Ritz wakes up with blood on his hands and a blackspot in his memory. He just barely keeps from throwing up before the sight of a dead senator's aide makes him vomit anyway. He pants as he cleans the body and the mess with hands that subconsciously already know what to do. He cleans and cleans until nothing is left. He can feel the dam in his mind starting to crack as he rushes back to HQ. The armor he's wearing isn't standard. The weapon he carries is stolen from the evidence room in HQ. The blood sticking his blacks to his skin is not his own.

He says nothing as he passes vod'e in the staff tunnels. They say nothing to him in return. Both sides know the procedure for a blackout mission, though no one in the guard talks about it. You see a vod in black that you know is guard, you leave them alone. If they have a wound make sure their first stop is medbay. Before or After they wake. But Ritz is awake. And all he wants is to curl up with his Riduur and ade and sleep. Wants to scrub at his skin until it hurts to do so and then some. He wants to burn the armor. But he knows that new armor will just take its place.

He hands his weapon off to someone in weapons storage and is gently guided to medical. Stitches is the first to greet him as he sits down on the bed furthest from the door. Ritz is in no condition for questions right now. Please let him not think of anything at all for at least a few minutes. He knows that Stitches can and will force the commanders to leave him alone until he's had sleep. And the blonde is counting on that fact. He gets out of the armor and Chalk is kind enough to close the curtain and give him some privacy.

Ritz knows that this is their first time seeing him get back to HQ after a Blackout mission. His shakes lessen as the warm bodies of his ade remind him that he isn't alone. He can hear Stitches talking with Fox outside the curtain, no doubt telling the commander what type of mission it was. The blonde swallows thickly as the shakes slowly start to leave his system. He felt the exhaustion hot on their tail as his eyelids start to feel heavy. He falls into unconsciousness soon after.

Ritz feels his body start to fall into what Stitches likes to call, "After Black Shock". His blacks still stick to his torso, causing him to pull it off with little to no care if it the top gets ripped. He shakes to the point that he doesn't notice Sevens and Error moving him to lay down on the cot, moving to lay on either side of him.

--

Ritz began to take on more missions like this every three days. And slowly, the other guards did too. It started to make Ritz suspicious. He asked every other guard to start writing down the dates they have a black out, just to see who goes missing on those days. He did the same thing, though he told Stitches to never tell him where the journals are. He told Stitches and the other medics to never tell anyone but themselves or the Jedi. Though there was only a slim few Jedi that they would tell anyway. No one knew how far the Senate's reach rested in the Order when it came to the Clones.

Ritz began to collect little bits of dried blood from each set of blacks for evidence. Taking and giving it to Stitches to also hide as things began to heat up the longer the war raged on. Commander Thire was sent to Kamino to get new shinies for the Guard, and through that, he sent word on a secure comm that something was happening. It was the same day one of Rex's boys was taken to the Chancellor's office over a concern on the chips in their heads. Ritz was surprised at the ARC trooper's near attempt at killing the Chancellor. And then it became even more suspicious when Ritz got the details from Fox and Thorn.

"Commander. Can I suggest something?" Ritz asked and Fox turned to him with a nod. "Let me and my boys handle Fives. I have a bad feeling about this report. You and I both know Fives would never harm the Chancellor. So let me capture him. You can say he was dealt with through the Blackouts, I have a gut feeling we'll need Fives." Ritz says as his twins and Dogma approach. Fox looks at the four of them and frowns deeply. He looks at Ritz and nods his head in silent agreement. "You are not to tell me how or where you take him. If you hide him among our ranks he must stay out of sight. He can't leave HQ for any reason." Fox agreed and Ritz nodded. The four left HQ for the hidden tunnels just as Fives was making his way to 79's.

Ritz looked at the picture of Fives without paint or a helmet and grabbed a shiny helmet on his way out of HQ. They arrived to see Fives just entering the bar and Ritz gave the hand signal to cover the entrance and exit. He entered the bar without a word to anyone and watched as Fives entered the fresher. Dogma and Ritz stood near the door and silently waved any other guards away, the others listened. When Fives came out of the fresher, Dogma went in and Ritz grabbed hold of Fives' upper arm. He moved to whisper into the clone's ear. "Act drunk. Follow me. Stay quiet and keep your head down. When we get outside, put this on." Ritz said as Fives looked at him in startled confusion. He mistook Ritz for Rex and relaxed, doing as told.

Ritz handed Fives the helmet and as soon as the two got outside, Fives put it on and leaned on Ritz in silence. Sevens moved to take his other arm over his shoulder and gently began to lead him to the tunnels. Ritz whispered in Error's ear. "Take him and go. Dogma and I will catch up. Cuyir Ulyc. I have a feeling that our vod'e are not going to be themselves from here forward. Stay away from them and keep that helmet on until you get him to Stitches and turn off your comms until you are in medbay." Ritz finished and Error nodded silently as he ran after Fives and Sevens. The blonde could see the moment Error and Sevens turned their comms off.

He went back into the bar and into the fresher where Kix and Dogma were talking adamantly. "Kix it isn't safe. They'll take you away before you can do anything." Dogma said with a tremor in his voice. Ritz grabbed Kix' shoulder and stopped his argument. "I know you want to help Fives. But the best thing you can do right now is stay silent. If you get caught looking into this, whoever is trying to hide the news about the chips is going to come after you too. Say nothing. Do nothing. Me and mine will handle it. Please, Kix. For Rex's sake." Ritz pleaded with both his words and eyes that the 501st medic would listen.

Kix looks at him and his eyes show an internal war. But then he nods. "Good. Now, if anyone asks you if you saw him, you say that the last time you did, he was on Kamino. Say nothing of this night." Ritz says and Kix nods. Dogma and Ritz sigh with relief and both leave to the warehouse Fives had mentioned. They both waited in silence with Dogma in his helmet to cover who he was. When Skywalker and Rex entered the warehouse, Ritz made his presence known to both of them. They seemed surprised to see both of them. But Ritz just held up his hand before they could open their mouths.

Ritz said and Rex tensed up to argue. "Rex, I know you love your boy but he is safer disappearing than letting who ever wants this osik hidden getting him. He won't be safe in the 501st." Ritz pleaded with his batcher and Rex deflated. "Is there anything we can do?" Skywalker asked and Ritz shook his head. "Keep quiet about this meeting. Tell absolutely no one. Not even the senators or the Chancellor. They might become targets as well." Ritz replied and Skywalker paled.

"I know you have questions General. Captain. But for Fives' safety as well as ours you need to listen." That caught both off guard and Ritz muted his comm. Dogma did too and Ritz gave the medic his helmet to hold. "Someone has the ability to use the chips like control chips. We don't know who and we don't know why except to get rid of the ones wanting this war to end. Me and mine have proof of our claims, but it isn't safe for anyone right know if this knowledge gets out." Ritz says and Skywalker nods in silence. "We have a feeling Fives is being hunted for his knowledge of the chips. We got word from one of our Commanders that both he and a trooper named Tup are both involved. Fives is being hidden by my men now. I don't know where and I'm not going to ask for his sake."

--

When the four left the warehouse, Ritz got a promise from Skywalker and Rex not to say a word until more evidence and the culprit could be found. When Ritz and Dogma returned to HQ, everything was in chaos.

Dogma and Ritz walked through the many moving bodies to the medical bay. The blonde knocked twice on the locked door and the door opened. Inside was the twins, Fives, Chalk, Stitches, and Hound. Thire was still in route to Coruscant with Tup quietly hidden among the shinies. Fives was asleep under sedation in Stitches' hidden back room. Where he would stay until he got through whatever the long necks gave him. "How is he?" Ritz asked and Stitches sighed in frustration. "He's been drugged with a neural drug that weakens his body for a short while. Someone wanted him to appear insane, get attacked, and then killed." The stitched up medic said and Ritz nodded.

Ritz decided he would take Chalk over to the temple to talk with General Ti in person. For safety and for any information she may have on the chips. "Chalk, on me. Hound, you and the others stay here. Do not leave this room for any reason until Stitches gives the all clear. Comms stay off, secret password still in effect. Only Hare should still be on mission." Ritz says and Hound nods, he stays by the door to shut it back and use Stitches' CMO override to keep the door shut. Not even the Chancellor can get in if the man wanted to. Ritz and Chalk left HQ and began the journey for the Jedi Temple.

Ritz left the back room and stood outside with Hound and Chalk. He sighed shakily. "And how is our runner?" He asked quietly. Hound gave a silent thumbs up. Grizzer was panting at his side. Better to get the massif used to Five's scent now so he can be hidden later, Ritz thought. Their runner, Hare, was getting whatever evidence that came with Fives. She would only hand it to one of the medics in this room. If she gets spotted, she is to give the spotter the run around until she loses them. Her comms are also off for the remainder of her mission. So if she gets in danger, she'll have to find one of their safe houses and stay there until Stitches or Dogma can get there.

--

Ritz found his target as she spoke with General Koon near the door. He walked up to them and they looked at him with mild concern. "Trooper, are you alright?" General Koon asked. Ritz could feel Chalk's heavy presence at his back and quietly thanked whatever entity that is helping him. "General Ti, may I have a word with you in private please? I have some questions I need to ask you about clone troopers Fives and Tup." Ritz asked and that seemed to put Generals Ti and Koon on edge. General Ti nodded and led them inside to her private apartment. Ritz looked around for listening devices. Finding none he let the tension leave his shoulders.

He turned his comms off and Chalk did the same. The blonde Captain took his helmet off and looked at General Ti with tired eyes. "Need to know everything that happened the moment Tup arrived at Kamino, to the moment Fives escaped the Senate Dome. It is important that you answer as honestly as you can because this can mean life or death to millions." Ritz said softly and held up a signal jammer. He had a flimsi journal with him to write down everything General Ti said to him. Her eyes widened and then she sat down on her couch. Chalk sat on the floor with the Captain sitting on an arm chair. The General began her story from the moment Tup arrived to the moment Fives escaped. And with each detail, Ritz felt his blood drain from his face.

"Can you tell me what happened from the moment Tup fired on General Tiplar, to the moment you left both he and Fives on Kamino? And were there any bad signs present before that?" Ritz asked and General Skywalker began his story.

When her story was finished and he stopped writing, the blonde inhaled a slow, calming breath. "I thank you for your time. But I'll need to talk to Kix, Rex, and General Skywalker. I have a theory that Trooper Fives is being framed." Ritz said as he and Chalk stood up. General Ti stood as well and looked at them in concern. "Whatever you are doing, Troopers, I pray the Force is with you." She said as both of them leave the room. Ritz felt like he was going to need the help. He found General Skywalker as he was leaving General Kenobi's room, waving him down to talk to him. "Sir, I have a few questions about Troopers Tup and Fives if you are willing to answer them?" He asked and the General nodded. They reentered General Kenobi's room and the signal jammer was turned on once again.

--

Ritz asked the same questions to both Kix and Rex. Both of the other clones getting antsy with him as time wore on. But Ritz knew it was important he got every detail for the sakes of everyone involved. When he and Chalk were leaving, General Koon approached him. Chalk tensed up, but relaxed when the Captain raised a silent signal to hold. General Koon had Wolffe with him, but that was not what concerned Ritz. It was the way the other clone's eyes were glazed over. Ritz knew that look. Had seen it on Sevens and Error too many times after Blackout missions when they weren't quite awake. Ritz gave Chalk a slow Guard signal for Blackout. The giant nodded and moved to stand beside the blonde.

General Koon was concerned but Ritz grabbed his arm. "General, its safer to have him knocked out than under the control of his chip. It seems what ever took hold of Tup and the Guard has a hold on the rest of the GAR as well." Ritz said as he turned General Koon's and Wolffe's comms off. "These need to stay off. If who ever is controlling Wolffe uses them, we are all dead. I'll explain when we get to the Guard Medical Bay." Ritz continued as he turned to General Koon. The Kel Dor nodded and the four continued on there way to Guard HQ with Wolffe safely unconscious.

"General Koon would you be so kind as to come with me to Guard HQ? I have some questions I'd like to ask you connecting to one of your troopers." Ritz asked without taking his eyes off Wolffe. The Commander was watching him with those glazed eyes, waiting for Ritz to says whatever the chip user wanted to hear. "Of course, Captain. Lead the way." General Koon said in an overly cheerful voice. Seems the General has caught on to the unusual silence coming from his Commander. The four walked towards one of the hidden tunnels and Ritz gave Chalk the signal to knock Wolffe out. The giant did so and picked the smaller clone up.

--

Knocking on the door to the medbay twice, Hound let the four of them in. Stitches motioned for Chalk to set Wolffe on the cot furthest from the door. General Koon seemed surprised at the appearance of Fives sitting silently in the same area as Wolffe now rests. His Five tattoo covered up. General Koon looked at Ritz as he sat his helmet on the table near the office door. Hare was sitting on the floor panting, letting the blonde know she had just arrived from her mission. "Did you get what we are after?" He asked and she gave a thumbs up in response. General Koon looked at the two of them in confusion. Ritz sighed and sat down. "Sir, whatever is said in this room is to be kept in this room. For the safety of everyone involved. My CMO is going to keep your Commander sedated until all the important details are spoken." Ritz said as Stitches did as described.

General Koon was quite shocked with the news. Though Ritz couldn't really tell with the mask and all. The blonde could understand that hearing about your ade being under mind control was stressful. The guard Captain moved to give the General some privacy to think. Ritz looked at Fives and crouched to be at eye level with him. "Do you know of any ways to get the chips out of our heads?" Ritz asked and it took Fives a minute to nod. Ritz waved Stitches over after the medic was done checking Wolffe over. "Okay, tell Stitches what to do. He'll start working on getting the chips out of the guard and then he'll send word out for the rest of the GAR." Ritz continued and stood up to move over to his youngest ad. The kid was silently shaking from both stress and anxiety. The blonde Captain wrapped his arms around his ad and began to gently sway side to side with him.

Neither said anything as Dogma wrapped his own arms around Ritz' waist and buried his face into the blonde's neck. Wetness told the blonde that his youngest was crying. Ritz raised one of his hands to gently run through his ad's oily hair. The kid hadn't had time for a shower with keeping watch over his two Ori'vode. Sevens and Error each placed a hand on their youngest vod, thumbing between armor and blacks to sooth the male. Out of the corner of Ritz' eye, he could see General Koon moving to his own ad's side. Wolffe was slowly waking back up. His eyes were his own and no longer glazed over. Ritz closed his own eyes to gently rest his head on his ad's. Stitches huffed as he stood up with a hand on Fives' upper arm, pulling him up to help him to the couch in his office.

General Koon and Commander Wolffe left without saying anything to anyone. Fox looked at Ritz with clear eyes. The blonde captain gave a subtle nod and the commander returned it.

"I know how to get the chips out. But it isn't going to be easy." The medic said and Ritz nodded. He then pulled his Riduur into the family hug, making the medic grumble. He wrapped his arm around Stitches and felt him do the same, wrapping his other arm around Error and encasing Dogma in the middle. Once the youngest had calmed down, Ritz returned his attention to the General and Commander. "I need you to keep this information to yourself, General Koon. At least until your medic has begun the dechipping process. For everyone's safety, even your own." Ritz said and the Kel Dor nodded. Soon enough, they had to reopen the medbay and other guards entered looking around for Fives, but not finding him. Even though the wanted clone was sitting in the bay with them.

--

Things got worse as the weeks continued. The Blackouts got worse for the command staff as things began to fall into the Republic's favor. Especially for Ritz. His mind began to degrade as his chip was used more and more. Leaving him feeling sick and haunted. His body started to shake without even going on Blackouts. He started to lose his already unhealthy appetite. He slept less, too scared of his nightmares and the thoughts of waking up on another mission. Their newest member, Tup, was having a harder time getting used to the Guard life style. Fives was too. Both of them having to get used to also hearing their new names. Though, it all changed when a brightly colored Togruta got framed for a bombing she didn't commit. She threw him into a wall and he hit it head first. The Jedi Commander gasped, looking at him with worry and fear.

Ritz felt something in his mind come back to him. He felt relief pour out of his soul as whatever had control over him was forced to leave. He shook his aching head and stood up slowly. He felt small hands grab onto his shoulders and then the lid of his helmet, pulling it off. The ad looked at him in surprised but it quickly changed back to concern when the blonde of his hair turned a bright pink, and then red. His focus was shot as he tried to get himself back together again. "Captain? Are you okay?" Ahsoka asked and Ritz shook his head again before his eyes locked with hers.

"Come with me. I know a place to hide you until it's safe. You don't have to trust me now, but please." Ritz said as he felt the blood sliding down his head and behind his ear. He gently took back his helmet and put it on. Ahsoka nodded, she took hold of his arm and he led her through the hidden tunnels towards Chemi's labs. The 104th veteran was still working in his lab when Ritz knocked on the glass of his window. The masked clone looked at them both and sat his chemicals down, rushing to the door. "By the maker, Ritz, what have you done now? You just got out of medical bay not more than three hours ago." The older clone said as he and Ahsoka helped Ritz to sit down next to the door.

"Chemi was once part of the 104th. H-He and one other w-were part of the original Wolfpack. Those sent to us from the 1-104th get sent to C-Chemi to keep in the Coruscanti Wolfpack." Ritz said as Ahsoka moved to lean on him. It was strange, having one of Rex's vod'ike leaning on him like this. He moved to take his helmet off and clumsily set it on his open side. The inside of his helmet was deep red with the drying blood. "I-I think you damaged m-my chip, Kid." He said as he touched the area of damage. Ahsoka looked at him with confused concern before he smiled at her. "Th-That's a good thing." He said shakily as Stitches entered the labs through the medical entrance. Chemi alerted the medic that he was heading out hunting before Ritz's world went black and quiet.

"Had to get her to safety. Something stinks with this whole mess and I don't want her getting burned for someone else's wrong." Ritz said and Ahsoka froze. Chemi looked at her and then to Ritz. He took out a scanner and scanned Ahsoka for any nanites of the explosive kind and found none. "You might be right Captain. I'll have my boys gather up and start looking for the real attacker. You two stay here, I'll have Stitches come down to heal you in a bit." Chemi said as he stood up. He pulled out his comm and started calling his wolfpack. Ritz felt the tension in him drain out. Ahsoka sat beside him and looked between the Captain and the Scientist in slight confusion.

--

Ritz came to with a aching head and his right eye covered. He lifted his arm, feeling bandages instead of hair and skin. He winced when the pain in that area stabbed across his skull. He felt movement to his left and looked down to see blue and white lekku. He was confused at first before it all came rushing back to him. Ahsoka and his head hitting the wall. He gently rested his right arm over her head, soothing her rest. He looked around, trying to find out if anyone else was in the medbay with them. Chalk was sitting in his usual corner with one of his newest orphaned tooka kits curled on his shoulder. How the giant was able to keep the tiny things from rolling off his shoulders would always elude the blonde. Ritz smiled faintly at the sight anyway and let his eye shut again. Falling into sleep a little easier than before.

--

When his eye opened to the world again, the blonde was greeted by a mop of light brown and ginger hair. He sat up quickly as soon as the faces beneath the hair crossed his mind. "Generals!" He said and both of the Jedi looked at him, also startled. Stitches appeared and smacked Ritz on the shoulder. "Di'kut! Lay back down you idjit." The medic said and the blonde did so slowly trying to catch up with what was happening around him. "Me'bana?" Ritz asked softly and the two Jedi approached his cot to sit on one side. "We have a few questions about one of our Padawans. Ahsoka Tano. She was last seen knocking you into a wall head first?" General Kenobi asked and Ritz felt his mind try to figure out what he was asking. "Give this Di'kut a click. He's still trying to heal from said head injury." Stitches said as he slowly took the bandages off the blonde's matted hair.

The blonde Captain's memory slowly returned to him and he winced. "I don't really remember anything past that sirs. It's all kind of jumbled up and scattered." He answered, clumsily grabbing hold of his Riduur's lower arm and holding onto it. Stitches didn't shake him off and took hold of his shoulder. "That's quite alright trooper. But I do have to ask, are you feeling alright? Your aura feels very ill." General Kenobi asked as he rested a hand on Ritz's other arm. Stitches frowned at them. "He's fine, sirs. He had just gotten out of medbay when he was thrown into the wall. So you're probably sensing that too." The medic said and both Jedi winced in sympathy. They stood and thanked Ritz before bowing and leaving. But not before General Skywalker tapped something out onto Ritz's leg. {Thank you.}

Ritz inhaled and exhaled shakily. Skywalker knew about his helping the Commander, then. Not that the Captain could really blame the man, if one of his ade were in danger he would be hypervigilant about anything involving them too. Stitches sat down on the cot with Ritz and gently rested his forehead on the blonde's in a Keldabe Kiss. Ritz's eyes fluttered shut as he wrapped his arm around his Cyare's waist. "Stop adopting every sad being that turns their sad eyes at you." Stitches whispered with playful annoyance and Ritz laughed. He lifted his head a bit to kiss his cyare gently. "I will if you finally adopt Dogma like I know you've been wanting to. And Tup. And-,"

"Fine, fine. I will."

Ritz grinned up as the reddening medic interrupted him. The other sighed as he continued to lean into the blonde. They parted when multiple running feet started to get closer to them. The curtain opened to his now five ade all falling into the closed off area. Ahsoka and Dogma falling last and onto Sevens and Error, with Tup safely rolling out of the way and into Stitches' legs. The tear marked ad looked up at the medic with slight embarrassment, but the older clone just snorted and helped the younger sit up. "Is he really gonna say the adoption vows!?" Sevens asked excitedly. "Are you both going to?" Error asked a little more calmly. Ritz hadn't really realized that he hadn't said the vows yet. Both Stitches and Ritz looked at each other before turning to their five ade. "Ahsoka, would you like to be adopted by me and Stitches?" The blonde asked. The togruta nodded quickly and both Captain and Medic smiled.

Ahsoka was cleared of all charges after the really culprit was caught by Chemi's Wolfpack later in the week.

They looked at the five and spoke as one. "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Tup, Dogma, Sevens, Error, Ahsoka." They said and five smiles of pure glee formed on the faces of their ade. And then both buire were buried under happy ade.

--

He panted as he limped along the dark corners of the Black Sun district. He'd been stabbed twice. He wonders if he's been shot too. Both blades were still in his stomach and back, their owners both dead. Ritz tried not to whine as his leg began to feel numb. The biting teeth of the blade sticking into his leg dug deeper with each step he took. He doesn't know where in the district he is, he honestly could care less. But he had to find the HQ tunnel that he knew was in this district. It was how he got down here in the first place. He had been on patrol on this level, having sent the shiny with him back up the moment Black Sun members started to appear on the streets. That kid had not been ready to face those Shabuir'e yet. He didn't know where he was going until he tripped over something. The blade in his stomach dug deeper as he landed and the blonde howled in agony.

He moved to fall onto his side as the blood began anew from the stab wound. He slowly sat up and looked at what had tripped him. A small box that came up to the middle of his calf. He looked at it in confusion, before slowly moving to open it up. He recoiled when eight small explosives greeted him. But then, his mind began to turn. He could use these to lure out his chip user. Because he knew it had to be someone in the Senate. No one else knew about the chips except for the Jedi, the Kaminiise, and those in the Senate-

Ritz froze.

Ritz stood up, the pain in his body forgotten as he picked the explosives up. Everything in this war made sense now. But the blonde wanted to know why the Chancellor wanted a war in the first place. What need was there to start a war when you had control over the enter Republic? He had control over the representatives of over 24,372 systems and counting. Ritz began his slow pace to the tunnel in thought. Something didn't add up. The pieces may have come together but that didn't mean he had all of them. Something was still missing. Ritz decided he would think on that after he got back to HQ and tended to his wounds. He couldn't do anything if he was dead after all.

The only one who really had complete control of all three was the Chancellor. He could make any law he wanted, could order the GAR and the Guard to do anything he wanted. The puzzle pieces started to fall into place. Palpatine didn't want this war to end. He and his inner circles had been profiting off this war since the start. Would it make any difference if the old man had control over both sides? Dooku was a Jedi Master before he was a Count. Something made the man want to leave the Republic and the Order.

--

Ritz had a bad idea. It was good for everyone else, but not for him and his target. And his target, was the Chancellor. What the blonde planned on doing would no doubt cost him his life. But it would mean the end of the war and the end to Palpatine's tyranny. Ritz was getting tired of seeing his ade with glazed eyes and robotic voices. He hated seeing them break apart seeing the blood of some unknown soul painting their hands. He hated seeing his Riduur with a pained expression every time someone came in with wounds they didn't know how they got.

So, Ritz decided to put an end to it once and for all. He knew for a fact that the walls of Palpatine's office were blast proof. So he didn't have to worry about anyone but him and the Chancellor getting caught in the blast. He was supposed to be on Senate patrol today. So no one thought it strange for Ritz to be in the building with his weapon. He had the explosives in his belt, the detonator hidden in his wrist armor. If all went well, he and the Chancellor would be dead in the next few hours.

He came upon the door to the Chancellor's office, no guards. Strange. He entered and froze. Fox was fighting the red guard. Alone. Ritz open fired on the red guard and hit one in the neck, and the other in the head. Killing them both. Fox and the Chancellor looked at him in surprise. Though the surprise on Palpatine's face changed to disgust. "How dare you! You insignificant meat droid!" The old man shouted and Ritz felt his body be lifted and thrown into a wall near the window. Without missing a beat, not wanting to think about the implications of this Shabuir being force sensitive, Ritz hid one of the bombs behind the damaged plant without thinking.

A pressure picked him up by the neck and threw him again. One of the bombs fell underneath the desk and Ritz decided that would do. He hit his head on the wall and felt the scarring skin break open again, blood pouring. He coughed as he hit the ground. His eyes locked with Fox's. His commander was trying to get closer to him, but his own wounds were preventing it. Ritz signed for him to get out of the office as fast as the man could while the demagolka's attention was solely on him. Fox shook his head but the blonde didn't have a chance to argue before he was thrown again. Hitting his spine on the table against the wall. He hid another bomb in the broken drawer as he fell to the floor once again.

His helmet was broken near him as his eyes once again locked with Fox's. He mouthed, 'Please.' to his Ori'vod, tears filling his eyes. Fox had tears of his own in his eyes, not liking what's happening any more than Ritz. But the older clone finally began to crawl out of the door while it remained open. Ritz thanked what ever entity that his big bro would not have to see what happens next. Because once his commander was out the door, Ritz used his blaster to shut and then lock the door. Palpatine only laughed as he lifted the blonde into the air once again. "Really? You foolish little thing! You've only sealed your own fate!" He shouted as he threw Ritz around some more before slamming him into the floor in front of the old man.

"Now, I think you've entertained me enough. Too bad that now I'll have to kill you and your worthless commander." The man grinned darkly as electricity sparked around his fingers and wrists. He raised his hands and lightning shot out of his finger tips and at Ritz. Ritz screamed in agony, squirming and twisting in ways no body should be able to. But he was determined to see things through to the end. He fought through the pain as much as he could, pausing when the pain got too intense. The fact alone that he was moving had his hopes rising up. He stood up and held his arm in front of his body, despite it doing little to no good.

The old man's face was once Ritz wished he could have taken a picture of. But that thought left his mind as the lightning began to eat away at his armor and blacks. He walked closer to the demagolka and pulled out the last bomb. Slamming it on the mans chest and causing him to take a few steps back. But the bomb was resting snuggly in the man's robes, leaving him unaware to its presence.

And that, was the last thing Ritz sees before the blast takes him too.

Ritz couldn't help but laugh weakly. Catching the man's attention. "There's one difference between you and me, Lord Chancellor." He said as he held up the detonator. "I'm willing to die for my cause. Can you say the same?" He continued and pressed the button before the old man could take the device from his hands. Every bomb beeped once before going off. The one on the Chancellor beeped and made the man look at Ritz in surprised shock.

--

The blonde Captain opens his eyes slowly to a bright light and the distant sound of marching. He looks ahead of himself and catches sight of three troopers running towards him. His eyes filled with tears as the three troopers tore their helmets off and the faces of Craze, Flack, and Coin greeted him. He stepped towards them and they all wrapped their arms around him, all four falling onto the ground in a giant pile of batchers. Ritz sobbed into Craze's neck as he gripped onto his lost batchmates. They were here. They were waiting for him.

"Gar di'kutla or'dinii! What are you doing here?!" Flack asked as the three troopers pulled back. Ritz smiled watery at the familiar worried anger. "I was trying to save my aliit." Ritz answered and yelped when their oldest batcher smacked him on the head. "You did. But you aren't supposed to be here yet. You can't leave Rex on his own." Craze said softly when he knew he had Ritz's attention again. The Captain looked at his Ori'vod, but then tears filled his eyes. "H-He doesn't need me. He left me behind." Ritz said while trying to hold his tears. His three other batchers looked at him with sadness. "Well then, if not for Rex. Than you still have a Riduur and five ade to take care of. Or did you plan on leaving them?" Coin asked. And Ritz knew he was right.

Stitches would bring him back to the living just to kill him again if he left the medic with five ade and no help. Ritz was the only one who could keep the twins from pranking his medbay. A sad smile filled Ritz's eyes and tears of a different kind flowed down his face as he looked at his batchers. Craze and Flack smiled back. And Coin grinned as he laughed. "You know I'm right!" He said and Craze smacked him on the back of the head. Making the second oldest yelp. "You don't need anymore ego stroking for today." Craze said and Ritz laughed, but that laughter turned to sobbing. The captain was crying for a different reason now.

Ritz watched as his Ori'vode began to back away as the light grew behind them. The youngest raised his hand towards them, not wanting them to leave so soon. The tears in his eyes overflowed and he sobbed. The light blinded him before he could call them back.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked at Flack. "Hey, we'll be right here, Kid. We won't march on without you and Rex. Even though our youngest needs a few knocks to the head." Flack said softly, smiling when Ritz giggled. "We love you, Ritz. You are our baby bro. So don't think for a second that we aren't with you when you need us." The middle batcher said as the younger wiped his eyes with his hand and sniffled. The three older batchers wrapped their youngest in a hug and all three stood up. Craze patted Ritz's shoulder and smiled softly and proudly. "Now, you still have a medic to get back to and ade to comfort. We'll be right here when its time to go for all of you." He said as each older batcher gave the younger a Keldabe Kiss to the forehead.

--

When his eyes opened again, he was greeted by Stitches' familiar, if panicked, face. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the spots from his vision. He groaned and coughed wetly. "Oh no you don't, you motherkarker! You are not leaving me yet, you di'kutla shebs!" The familiar curses of his Riduur had him laughing as tears fell down his soot coated cheeks. Everything hurt, his body felt like it was a giant blaster wound. One of his eyes was sealed shut while the other was slightly blurry. He couldn't feel one of his arms and he couldn't move either. "Easy, take it easy, Cyare. You've just gotten unburied from a ton of debris. Hold still for me, yeah?" Stitches pressed his hand onto Ritz's chest gently as he rested his other one on the blondes head, on the less injured side.

More footsteps sounded as more people began to converge on the explosion sight. Guard red, 501st blue, and 212th gold. He could see the white of their armor and their colors, but not faces. He coughed again and closed his working eye. The gentle hand of Stitches rubbing soothing circles into his aching head. Ritz felt another gloved hand on his leg and he opened his eye. It was Skywalker. He was looking at the blonde with concern and a hint of sympathy. Word and who Ritz assumed was Time came to his other side. Stitches began talking medical nonsense over his head, but his hands never left his frame. Ritz just closed his eye and let the world's noise wash over him.

Stitches turned his attention to the ones holding his stretcher, giving orders on where to go and what to do. Ritz closed his eye again and sighed softly. His Ori'vod was okay. His ade and Riduur were okay. He fell into unconsciousness with the familiar warmth of his brothers and Riduur surrounding him.

He felt more hands on his body, lifting him to a stretcher before his body was lifted off the ground. The voices of the medics and other troopers filling his ears as he let his head fall to the left. The pain in his body was a lot to handle, but for Stitches he would. "Stches? Fx?" His tongue couldn't roll the words. He heard a sharp inhale. "Fox is safe, Riduur. He got back to HQ a few minutes after the blast. Told us everything." Stitches sounded far away, so Ritz opened his eye. Seeing blue, gold, and red on all his sides. He found his cyare on his left side and clumsily grabbed the medic's wrist. Just to hold onto it. Stitches smiled softly at him as the world got dark in the tunnels.

--

Warmth and soft bandages greeted the captain when he woke up. He opened his eye to find himself in a room that looked nothing like the guard medical bay. He had multiple weights on his arm and chest. He looked down to see his ade all surrounding him, asleep. They had tear tracks staining their faces and Dogma was sniffling in his sleep. Ritz slowly pulled his arm free and gently ran his hand through his youngest ad's hair. Which was longer since the last time he'd seen it. His youngest's face scrunched up into a little frown before calming down again. He head a sharp inhale at his right and looked. There with a data pad and a bag of what looked to be food in both hands, stood his youngest batcher. Rex's eyes were wide.

"Ritz?" The other blonde asked a bit breathless. And Ritz smiled softly at his brother. "Hey there, Rex." He said softly. Rex sat his things on the table next to the bed and leaned over to hug him tightly. Neither said anything. Neither needed to. Ritz lifted his hand to dig it into Rex's hair, gently carding his fingers through the fuzz. "Hey, Kiddo, what's wrong?"" Ritz said softly as he soothed his brother's shaking frame. Rex shook his head, not lifting it from his brother's neck. "Not right now, Ori'vod. Just, Just let me hold you for a minute?" His brother asked softly and Ritz nodded. "Sure, little bro."

Rex moved to sit at the head of the bed, his body contorting into a likely uncomfortable position so he could hold his brother. Ritz moved his hand back to gently scratch at his youngest ad's scalp when he felt him starting to wake. Someone else entered the room and Rex sat up. Ritz looked over at the door, a Twi'lek woman was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes were glaring daggers at Rex. "Can you please not suffocate my patient, Captain?" She asked and Rex cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yes, ma'am, General Che." He said while moving to sit in the chair near the bed.

"No more blowing myself up. Got it, ma'am." He said and she sighed with a knowing look. He smiled innocently and she rolled her eyes. "Follow your children's example, Captain, and rest. You're going to need it." She said as she left. Ritz looked at his brother and Rex just shrugged. "I'd listen to her if I were you, vod." He said and Ritz snorted, doing as told.

The Twi'lek, General Che, scoffed at the rank and walked further into the room. "None of that General nonsense. Now, your CMO tells me that you are the one to thank for all the surgeries being carried out, hm?" She asked and Ritz turned red. "Well, I had some help, ma'am. Fives and Tup were the ones who really confirmed the chips were the cause." He said, giving credit where due. General Che hummed in silence as she worked around the sleeping troopers and Ahsoka. Checking his right stump, his bandaged chest, and his head. "It seems you've been healing quite nicely. But a word from your medic and me both," She started and Ritz looked her in the eye, "No more blowing yourself up. I doubt you'll be so lucky a second time." She said and Ritz chuckled.

It's been a year since Ritz blew the Chancellor sky high. His aliit has grown a small bit. Ahsoka with her own little one and Riduur. Fenrir was joyous as can be when she told him. Tup and Dogma had their own partners, though his twins are still looking for theirs.

Ritz held his Cyare's hand gently in his left, resting his head on Stitches' shoulder. Things were quieting down with the war ending the moment the Chancellor died. Dooku and his group were wandering around Coruscant under strict probation once their reasoning came to light.

And Ritz was considered the Hero of the Republic for ending the war. Earning he and his Vode rights through the new Senate. He and his aliit could grow without the threat of war over their heads and the freedom's they fought so hard for.

He could safely say, that that was the biggest difference of them all.

[mortallycoiled]

fun fact there were actually a few prototype stories before i came up with mortally coiled that included a few current mortally coiled characters- specifically null and rasputin

rasputin was a main character in a science fiction story i was developing for a lil bit about animals native to alien planets being abducted + uplifted/given sentience by a corrupt corporation to increase the workforce and get around loopholes in teraforming laws. There were a few other main characters, but only one of them i still remember/might reuse for something (a weird bat/bear/porcupine thing called juggernaut whos whole thing was theyre a species that hunts by pretending to be a corpse floating in still water). Null wasn't TECHNICALLY part of this story, but it DID include a species whose design i tweaked and eventually turned into null (and nil, by extension- in fact, a lot of the features I removed/changed to make null ended up being added back for null, like having a stinger and eyes)

and THEN rasputin and null were both NPCs in a video game i started developing in my free time called You Need To Go West. it was going to be a weird 2d puzzle platformer where the player character was a little blob of black goo and you had to progress by teaming up with one of the main npcs, each of which gave you different platforming mechanics AND puzzle mechanics. it was a really weird story but the gist of it was you were compelled by a strange force to go west but since you were a little blob with no arms or legs that is something you cant reasonably do. and there were 3 main npcs you could team up with. all of them bird people- rasputin was one of them, and the other two were lazarus and the major. each of them would have WIDELY different playstyles and paths.

if you teamed up with rasputin, you got the ability to double jump, and the puzzles were bullet hell minigames (called "dodge" in the game). You'd be taking the "high path" in platforming, mostly traversing in treetops. Most platform-y of the three.

if you teamed up with lazarus, you would be able to climb up vertical walls and would have a REALLY small jump, and the puzzles would be logic puzzles/riddles/etc- stuff you typically think of when you think of a puzzle yknow (called "debate" in game). Lazarus took the "low path" in platforming, so its almost ENTIRELY on the ground level, with more moving stuff around and doing tasks to progress instead of typical platforming.

if you teamed up with the major, you would get the ability to glide and have a much faster move speed/have a momentum mechanic. the puzzles would be pretty much just rhythm games (called "duel" in the game). Playing with the major would be taking the "fast path," which consist of mostly time trials.

There would be a bunch of different points where you can swap between which one you joined up with, along with a MUCH harder "friendless" mode where you went WITHOUT any of the npcs and played thru the game as a really slow blob with an extremely limited moveset.

null was actually a secret FOURTH npc you could team up with by going the wrong way at the very beginning. youd get stopped a few times but eventually youd be let through to a secret area where youd meet null (who was much more like sar'kai at the time and also fucking GINORMOUS.) if you chose to team up with null you would have extremely easy platforming where you pretty much just go forward and no puzzle sequences (ie whenever a boss shows up null would Literally Just Eat Them). aka this was the secret "deal with the devil" bad ending

it had a big story and plot and everything but i forgot 99 percent of it and never got farther than making a sprite for the main blob guy and a few random assets before dropping the project entirely lol

[that-sokovian-bastard]

Crazy Rich Gothamite - Bruce Wayne x Reader (1/2)

Words: 3471 Pairing: Bruce Wayne x Reader Warnings: Mentions hospital, mentions being sick, identity shenanigans, swearing Summary: In this AU, Bruce has more secrets than you would expect. When things in his world start to change, he has something important to tell you. Author's Note: I've been calling this the "Crazy Rich Asians AU" but it really only has to do with no one knowing Bruce is Bruce Wayne with billionaire parents. He changed his last name to Pennyworth after his parents died and has lived an almost normal life. Also he's still Batman, this takes place after like 6 months of being Batman. Both you and Bruce are 20, going to college and working part-time jobs.

(Also this is not about any specific Bruce, I just used Battinson for the gif lol)

Part Two

Bruce / Full Masterlist

—

Mondays are always rough, but they are a little easier when you stop into Starbucks on your way to school and see your boyfriend smiling behind the counter. It was busy, so he didn't see you come in, and you waited in line to order. A few minutes later, you ordered your usual drink, told the cashier your name, and walked over to wait for your drink.

"Have a great day," You watched Bruce tell an old man as he handed out the coffee. He was handed the next drink, which had your name on the cup, and he looked up excitedly to make eye contact with you. "You snuck in!" He said.

"Well, you're a bit busy," You shrugged and gestured to the rush.

He nodded and made your drink like he had hundreds of times before. When he reached over to hand it to you, he checked behind him and leaned further over the counter to sneak a kiss on your cheek. "Have a great day," Bruce said softly.

"Thanks; I'll see you after school. Six o'clock, don't forget!" You pointed a finger at him.

"Wouldn't dream of it," He said as he leaned back and grabbed the next cup.

You turned to leave but paused before you got even a step away. "Love you!" You called out.

"Love you, too," He added and got back to work.

As you rushed out the door and back to your car, Bruce's coworker, Seth, slid next to him. "If the boss catches you kissing again, she's gonna write you up."

"She's not going to write me up," Bruce said, not even looking at Seth. "I'm the best worker here; she's not going to risk it." Sure, it was a bit cocky, but he wasn't wrong. He's been working there since before he graduated high school, and there's no way the manager would risk making him mad and losing him.

Seth shrugged. "I don't know, kissing the customers? I don't think that's something she'd like to see."

"It's not like she doesn't know we're together. Besides, no one else saw. Doesn't matter," Bruce said. "Now, are you going to keep gossiping, or are you going to hand me the whipped cream?" Seth didn't respond, only rolled his eyes and grabbed the whipped cream for Bruce.

Relatively, it was an uneventful day for both of you. As usual, Bruce got off work earlier than your day finished since he normally works the early shift. Things were normal until he checked his phone before heading home and saw he had an abnormal amount of calls from Alfred. He figured he would wait until he made it back home until he called Alfred, just in case it was anything weird.

Bruce made it home and fiddled with his lock, giving up after a few minutes of trying to get it to lock correctly. He realized he would have to call the building manager again to try to get the lock fixed. He's thankful that if someone did decide to check out his apartment, he would be able to defend himself, but it was very annoying to have to fight with the lock every few weeks.

He forgot all about the lock when he called Alfred and found out what was going on.

Things were going to change.

But he pushed it to the back of his brain and headed to his apartment to finish some schoolwork before your date tonight. Bruce tried to ignore everything and get his paper done for his English class. He could hardly focus and ended up not getting any more than a hundred words written before he had to get ready to go see you.

Though a bit distraught, Bruce was determined to go on this date and not let anything worry him. He knocked before letting himself into your apartment and announced loudly that he was there so he didn't scare you. "I'm almost ready!" You yelled back, and Bruce followed your voice to your bedroom to see you just finishing up.

"You look nice," Bruce smiled.

You turned to him, also smiling. "As do you, Mr. Pennyworth." You admired him. "How was your day?"

Bruce shrugged. "Work was uneventful, which is always nice. Didn't get much done for class, though."

"Aw, I know you wanted to get that paper done. At least you still have another week," You said, then noticed he wasn't looking at you. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" He hummed, now looking into your eyes.

You grabbed his hand. "You seem distracted. Are you okay?" You repeated.

"Oh, yeah. There's just a lot going on right now." He didn't elaborate at first, but he continued when you gave him a confused look. "Family stuff."

"Is your grandpa okay?" You asked.

"He's fine; it's someone else. More like a family friend, I guess," Bruce said.

You nodded, understanding that he didn't want to talk about it. "Well, you know I'll always listen if you want to talk. Would you rather we not go to dinner?"

He looked at you like you were crazy. "No, we've had this reservation for weeks. Besides, it will help stop me from thinking about all of this."

You knew he was right; it would be a good distraction. You guys have been looking forward to this dinner for a while, and it wasn't worth it to cancel. So you went. You knew Bruce's rent was due at the end of the week, so you made sure you were the one to pay the bill and would not hear any objections from him about it.

He needed this: just talking with you about nonsense and not thinking about how his life could change in an instant over the next few days. But he didn't know how to tell you about it, so he didn't. He kept pretending.

—

Things had been normal the past few days. Bruce was still not himself, but his friend was still in the hospital, so you understood. He had work this morning, so you hoped that would keep his mind off everything. You didn't see him when you walked into his Starbucks but didn't think anything of it. He was probably getting something from storage and he'd be out to make your drink in a minute.

"Good morning," Seth smiled when you made it to the register. "Your usual?"

"Yes, please," You nodded and handed him your card.

Seth swiped it, then gave you your card back. "Hey, is Bruce okay?"

You shrugged, not thinking much of the question. "He's a bit stressed, but fine. Why?"

"Well, since he called out this morning, I was worried he was sick," Seth said, immediately catching your attention, causing your head to snap back at him.

You stared for a minute to see if he was going to elaborate. When he didn't, you added, "He called out?"

Now Seth had a confused look on his face. "Yeah, this morning. Did you not know?"

"No," You shook your head. "He seemed fine last night, but I'll call him. Thanks for letting me know."

"Of course, I hope he's okay!" Seth said, and you both said goodbye as you moved out of the way to wait for your drink. As you waited, you thought about if anything was off last night when you saw Bruce, but besides him being worried about his friend, nothing. It was weird that he didn't tell you he wasn't going to be at work, but it's possible it just slipped his mind. Instead of jumping to conclusions, you decided it would be easiest to just text him.

You: Hey Bruce, are you okay? Seth just told me you called out of work

Bruce: Hey, sorry for not telling you earlier. I'm fine. At the hospital with our friend.

You: Oh shit, I'm sorry Bruce. Do you want me to come by with some extra support? And snacks?

Bruce: No, that's okay. He should be fine, he just wanted to talk before his surgery. I'll be over tonight like we planned.

You: If you need to raincheck tonight, it's okay

Bruce: I don't want to raincheck. It'll help me not worry about him.

You: Then I will see you tonight. Let me know if anything changes

You: Love you!

Bruce: Love you too

With that, your name was called, and you grabbed your drink. There was nothing out of the ordinary to worry about; he just had a lot going on. Just like you thought. Why were you overthinking it?

—

You were worried your overthinking was coming back to bite you. You got so worried over nothing this morning, and now the karma has come back to hit you for jumping to weird conclusions that didn't make any sense. Bruce said he wanted to come over tonight, and he's usually over around dinnertime, so you could eat together. But it was already nine o'clock, and he hadn't texted or called, so the overthinking was back.

It's not like you see each other every night; you both lead busy lives and have other things going on. But normally, you two stick to a schedule of when you get together, which has always worked well for you. You had an inkling over the last few weeks that something was...different, but you hadn't approached him about it yet. Bruce would tell you when he was ready. You didn't need to expose it; that would make the trust between you guys worse. When he was ready, he'd tell you his secret.

God, you hoped that he would tell you soon. It was starting to eat you alive.

You ate dinner while scrolling through your phone, waiting for a call or a text that he was on his way. But it didn't come, so you resigned to cleaning up and saving the leftovers for when he did show. Maybe something came up with his friend, and he was back at the hospital. He'd never intentionally stand you up, so you knew not to worry. As you sat on the couch with your computer, there was that little voice in your head...

Which was whipped away immediately as your door was slammed open. "Sorry I'm late!" Bruce busted in, jamming the key you gave him back into his pocket. "I was working on homework and lost track of time. I'm so sorry," He rushed over to you and grabbed your hands to apologize.

"It's okay; it happens. Besides, you have a lot going on right now," You said.

You don't even know the half of it, Bruce thought, then was brought back to reality when he saw you staring at him.

"I have leftovers from dinner. Do you want me to heat them up?" You asked, already releasing his hands and standing up from the couch to go to the kitchen.

"No, it's okay. I have to tell you something," Bruce called from the couch, but you didn't pay attention to that.

"You sure? It was a really good meal," You enticed him.

Bruce sighed. "Yes, I'm sure. This is important; I have to tell you something."

"Hmm?" You hummed out as you didn't hear what he said since he was still on the couch, and you were in the kitchen, pulling out the container of leftovers.

Bruce was getting antsy now and gave up trying to get you to come back, so he followed you to the kitchen. "I have to tell you something."

"Yeah? What's up?" You asked; still working on getting the food together.

Bruce grabbed the container from your hands, which forced you to look into his eyes. "I've been lying to you."

This made you cock your head in confusion. "Lying to me? About what?"

He took a deep breath to get the confidence to tell you the truth. "About who I am."

"Oh!" You said, sounding strangely relieved. You grabbed the container back from Bruce and opened it to put it on a plate. "Are you finally going to tell me that you're the Batman?"

You didn't look at him while he processed what you said, just continued to make his plate and put it in the microwave. "W-what?" Bruce finally got out.

Now that his food was heating up, you turned to him. "Don't act like I'm stupid. I know it's you, and now you don't have to worry about telling me!"

"How...how did you know?" He asked, in shock.

"I've known you for far too long and know how you act. Besides, Batman helped me a few weeks ago when a creepy guy was following me on my way home from work. It all seemed a little too familiar, then I put it all together not too long after," You shrugged, happy with your explanation. Thank god this finally came up; it was driving you crazy. Though, you wouldn't let Bruce know that.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Oh. Uh, okay."

You were trying to lighten the mood now, and you had a slight smile on your face. "I made that easy, huh? Now, where's your home base? I just know it's not at your apartment because you always complain about how small it is and that your landlord won't let you use the storage space in the basement. So spill, where's your base?"

Bruce tried to get a word in through your questions, but you didn't let him. This wasn't his plan, but maybe it would lead into the actual thing he had to tell you. So, he played along. "It's at my house."

"I just said I know it's not at your apartment," You rolled your eyes. Just in time, the microwave beeped, and you pulled his plate of food out. Now, with his snack ready, you two took a seat at the small table in the kitchen.

Bruce nodded, not acknowledging the food as he sat across from you. "I know. It's not at my apartment. It's at my house."

"Oh god, you roped your grandpa into this?" You asked.

"No," Bruce said, then thought about it. "Well, he knows. But that's not it, hun."

You were back to confusion again. "What do you mean?"

Bruce was finally getting to the point he's been trying to make since he got to your apartment. "I wasn't going to tell you that I'm Batman." That was true. He didn't want you in danger because he wanted to protect Gotham.

"Huh?" You asked again.

"That wasn't what I had to tell you. It's...something else. I've been lying to you." He said, going back to how he started this conversation so he could do it the way he wanted. This was turning out to be worse than he expected; now he has two secrets to tell you? Which one was going to be worse?

You groaned, feeling like you two were running in circles. "I know, about the Batman thing. I'm not mad if that's what you're worried about. I get having a secret identity-"

"No!" You jumped when Bruce interrupted. He never does, but he continued on."I'm lying to you about who I am!"

You weren't getting this. Why was he being so cryptic about it? "I don't think I'm understanding."

"My last name isn't Pennyworth," Bruce confessed.

You shook your head, knowing that wasn't true. "Now I really need you to elaborate because I've seen your ID with your last name."

"Well, legally, it is. I changed it after my parents died." Bruce said, hoping you would know what he was hinting at by telling you his name. "My real name is Bruce Wayne."

"Wayne? Wait, you changed your name? I am so confused."

He nodded, continuing to explain. "I changed my name after my parents were murdered when I was ten. My parents were Thomas and Martha Wayne."

"Hang on, Wayne, as in the big building downtown? As in the millionaires?" You leaned forward in your chair like everyone in the city could hear you, and you two needed to keep this quiet.

"No," He said.

"Oh, okay." You leaned back, feeling a bit better.

"Wayne, as in the billionaires," Bruce clarified.

There was a moment of silence where you two just stared at each other. Your brain was spinning in circles, and you couldn't comprehend what he was saying. How was this more surprising than him being the frickin' Batman? "Bruce, I really need some elaboration. You're a...billionaire? Why the hell are you working at Starbucks? I paid for your dinner last night!"

Bruce shrugged. "Well, I'm technically not a billionaire right now. I don't get access to that money until I'm twenty-one."

"So, you would've been a billionaire in, like, four months?" You asked, and he hesitantly nodded. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"My friend that's been in the hospital is the current CEO of Wayne Enterprises. He was really sick, you remember?" He posed, but you didn't reply, still in shock. "We didn't know how bad it was and were preparing for the worst, so we were getting ready for me to take over. He's fine, thankfully, but I was set to start working there after I turned twenty-one. So, we figured, why not start a little early since all this happened?" Bruce sputtered off, but you were still confused why any of this was happening at all.

You stood up from the table and ran your hands over your face and through your hair. "What?" Bruce asked, not leaving the table as he watched you pace slowly.

"I'm just... so confused how all this even happened. Why do you go by a different name? Why did you give up that life?" You asked. You had a million questions, but they all wrapped in those two.

He shrugged. "I wanted a normal life. I didn't want to be known as the orphan billionaire whose parents were murdered. So, Alfred and I made an agreement. I didn't want to be Bruce Wayne; then I wasn't going to have any of the benefits of it. It was perfect for me," He said, not seeing anything confusing about the situation. You, however, were still staring with wide eyes.

"The only people with access to the bank account are Alfred and our friend. Alfred used it to take care of us and anything relating to it, like school. The agreement was that I'd have my humble teen years living in an apartment with Alfred as my grandfather, and once I turned twenty-one, I would learn from the CEO and executives how to run the business. Sure, it was going to be after I graduated, but still," Bruce said. "Anything else?"

You sighed, thinking about what other questions you had. Sure, you had a ton, but you couldn't come up with anything important this second. "I don't know. This is a lot, Bruce."

"It's a lot for me, too. I was expecting that I would have a few more months of normal life before starting the training at Wayne Enterprises and changing my name back, but now it's come a lot faster. I thought by the time I started the job, I would have already graduated with my degree and know more. But here we are," He said, finally standing up from the table and walking over to you. He grabbed your hands and looked into your eyes with a sad face. "And the worst part is that I have to quit my job."

With that, you burst out laughing. That was his biggest worry? Not anything about the lifestyle change or explaining to the world what's going on? No, he was upset about quitting his job.

"I'm serious!" He groaned. "Seth was giving me shit a few days ago that the boss would fire me. And now I have to quit because I have to work at the family business. After four years!" He was genuinely upset about this.

With another chuckle, you cupped Bruce's cheek with your hand. "You're going to be a billionaire, and you're worried about your barista job?"

"Yes!" He said. "I like my job; it's going to suck having to quit."

"You're literally going to be a CEO," You rolled your eyes when your hand dropped from his face, quickly losing sympathy for him.

Bruce shook his head. "Technically, I think I'll be a CEO in training until I graduate, at least. Hopefully, I can graduate early like I've been planning, but who knows anymore," He said.

You took a deep breath and didn't respond to his statement. It was a lot to take in, but you were sure it was a lot for Bruce, too. So, instead of pestering him with more questions, you pulled him into a hug, letting him know you were here for him. And he knew it.

[therealvinelle]

Ok I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm just now copying your Norwegian Bella AU into a text translator, and if you don't already have 50 people in your inbox demanding a translation then shame on ALL OF US because this is glorious! And while Google Translate does have a certain charm (it translated "piper hun ut" as "she beeps") I'm curious to see how you'd put it in English.

Troquantary is referring to this post. In which Bella doesn't speak English.

Fun fact, you're the only one who's gone into my inbox to request this. I was so sad, had the translation half-written and everything, but I was too proud to beg. So thank you, Troquantary, for popping this ask.

As for the dictionary fuckups, sounds about right. I made a few typos, too, that made Google Translate suffer even more. (Such as managing to mix up "henne" (her) and "hendene" (hands), resulting in Aro patting Bella instead of clapping his hands. Poor Google.)

Also, there are a few cultural references and language things that would be lost in the translation, in an attempt to keep them I included notes clarifying things.

Some things, like Aro and Carlisle's very old man way of speaking, are easier said than done to translate, you'll have to bear with me there.

Additional notes are that I added a few things to this version, many of them because translating is hard, but a few because while translating I thought "oh you know what would be much funnier-" and then wrote that.

Alright, without further ado:

When Renée left Charlie she did not go to Florida, she went to Oslo. And she went all in to make her daughter a true Norwegian, hiring Norwegian nannies and making sure never to speak English around the child. Since transatlantic flights are expensive, little Bella Swan rarely got to visit her father, and as such she never did learn what should have been her native language.

She quickly forgot what English she did have in favor of Norwegian, with the exception of words like “Yes”, “No”, and “I’m Bella”.

The few trips she took to visit her father were all the more awkward than in canon since she couldn’t play with the Black kids. Let not the blame fall upon Charlie: he took Norwegian classes and speaks conversational Norwegian. He can’t speak to Renée, because her Norwenglish is incomprehensible even to Norwegians, but he can communicate with Bella.

Not that he’s had a lot of chances to do so.

Bella makes it to seventeen years old, she’s in second grade at Handels* and is a major outsider among the preps there, and then Renée marries a handsome skier**. Together they shall travel the continent all winter to participate in as many skiing races as they can, and in the summer they’ll take gigs at Hurtigruta to see the coast.

*“Handels” is the nickname for an Oslo high school infamous for its pupils being rich and beautiful blonds who are going to be CEOs when they grow up.

**Skiing as a sport is huge in Norway

***Hurtigruta is a famous ferry that travels across the Norwegian West coast

Bella, who sucks at skiing and is too young to work at Hurtigruten, takes the hint.

With dread in her stomach and dictionary in hand she goes to her father in America.

Where she doesn’t speak the language.

Faen.

Charlie gives her a car, and I wish this meta was set in the present because I could have joked about electric cars and the automat only driver’s license*, but Twilight is set in 2005 so I can’t. The car part proceeds without drama.

*An increasing number of Norwegian youth take the driver’s license for automatic cars only, and we’re the country in the world with the highest percentage of electric car purchases.

School is worse than in canon, because she is now a thousand times more sensational than if she was merely the new student. She is from another country! All of Forks keels over with excitement.

To make matters even worse, our girl doesn’t understand a word of what people are saying.

She is too awkward to let them know she doesn’t know English. It’d become a thing, and they might think she’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not good that she’s been through primary, secondary, and now a year and a half of high school and still sucks at English.

So she nods, smiles, mumbles “Hi, I’m Bella” to the new faces, and blushes heavily when anybody says anything.

People assume she’s shy. That’s a bit boring, but oh well.

She has her biology class with the redhead hottie she noticed during lunch. She watched him and his family, they were fascinatingly pretty, but she doesn’t know anything more about them. Sure would have been great if she could have asked the tiny girl (was it Jess?) about them.

Biology proceeds as in canon - Edward badly wants to eat the delicious girl, but fortunately doesn’t.

She runs into him in the office when he tries to switch to another biology lesson, but she has no idea what he’s saying so she only has the suspicion that this somehow concerns her. Which is still uncomfortable, but Bella is probably the problem here. The hottie surely can’t be.

He’s missing from school for a week, Bella finds that weird.

He returns, and to her great horror he starts talking to her.

“Hello”, he says.

Bella dies inside. He’s too handsome!

"I'm Edward Cullen," he continues, and ok, she got that. The hottie is called Edward, that’s good to know. She’s not sure she caught that last name, though, Köln?

He says something else, it’s gibberish to Bella even though she’s concentrating, and at the end there he says “Bella Swan”.

She gulps.

"I'm Bella Swan," she confirms and nods. That should be correct. God, she hopes it’s correct.

He smiles a crooked, boyish smile. She’s awed. She didn’t think it was possible to be so beautiful.

He says something else.

Bella didn’t catch it.

She blushes even harder, she hasn’t been more embarrassed in her life. Here he is, the most handsome guy in all the world, and she has nothing to say to him. Literally, they don’t speak the same language.

She should tell him.

It’s one thing to chicken out of telling the town she doesn’t speak English, but there’s something different about Edward Cullen. He deserves the truth.

But...

He’s the most beautiful person she has seen in her life. He is American, too, so the odds of him knowing Norwegian are microscopical. If he finds out she doesn’t understand a word he says he’ll stop talking to her, and selfish as she is she doesn’t want that.

So with a slightly guilty conscience (but not enough to fess up) she contributes to the conversation with enough words and smiles to pull through. "Yes", "No", "Thank you", and "That's nice".

He is surprised by several of these answers, but instead of giving her odd looks and losing interest he grows more invested in the conversation.

Class ends.

The next day the near accident happens, and he saves her. She is stunned - dear god, did he just pick up a whole car? After teleporting across the parking lot..?

Soon she’s in the ER, and more than a little bit stressed about that fact since she knows the Americans have a terrible healthcare system.

She hopes Charlie has an insurance.

An insanely beautiful man walks into the ER, and Bella is shocked. He is just as handsome as Edward and Edward’s lunch friends!

He introduces himself as Carlisle Cullen, and Bella can only assume this is someone’s older brother. Possibly related to the blonde girl.

He smiles at her, says something, and she answers, "I'm Bella Swan."

He frowns.

That must have been the wrong answer, then.

His hands return to investigating her scalp, and to her great surprise he switches to perfect Norwegian, "kjenner De* noe ubehag når jeg holder her?" Do you feel any discomfort when I touch here?

*De is the Norwegian polite pronoun for “you”. Du = thou = the French tu, and De = you = the French vous. These polite pronouns went out of use in the 1980’s, save for when addressing royal persons, and would be considered antiquated in 2005.

He hurries to add, "Norsk lærte jeg i... fjor sommer. Det var et nettkurs." I learned Norwegian… last year. Online class.

"Hvilket da?" Which one? Bella asks, because Charlie needs to hear about this. The doctor has beautiful, if slightly outdated, pronunciation.

The doctor’s smile turns uncertain. She gets the feeling there’s something he doesn’t want to say. "Husker ikke," I don’t remember, sier han etter en litt vel lang pause.

That’s a shame. And weird.

"De hadde hellet med Dem i dag, som ikke ble truffet av den bilen." You were lucky today, not getting hit by that car. he then says, noticeably changing the subject.

"Det var ikke hell, det var Edward," It wasn’t luck, it was Edward, she replies sharply.

The doctor definitely looks uncomfortable.

She continues, "Han krysset skolegården på et blunk, og plukket opp hele bilen. Jeg så det," He crossed the schoolyard in a moment, and picked up the whole car. I saw it,

The doctor laughs. "Om han kunne det hadde nok gymkarakteren hans vært meget bedre. Nei, frøken Swan*, jeg beklager å si at det høres ut som at De er litt omtåket. Det er helt normalt ved hjernerystelse." If he could do that, his PE grade would be a lot better. No, Miss Swan, I’m sorry to say you seem confused. That’s normal with concussions.

*Addressing a young woman as “frøken” is even more outdated than using polite pronouns.

Why does Bella get the feeling he’s lying?

She’s discharged.

We’ll jump ahead to her trip to La Push - that trip uneventful, since Jacob knows she doesn’t speak English. They stick their hands in their pockets and stare at the sea.

The next day she’s shanghaied to Port Angeles, because apparently she said “Yes” at the wrong time when talking to Jessica (Turns out Jess’s name was Jessica!) and accidentally said yes to a day trip to Port Angeles.

Like in canon she wanders away from the others, and as in canon she is nearly gang raped. And again as in canon she is saved at the last moment by Edward.

He buys her dinner, and she can’t believe her own luck- and misfortune. A date with the most handsome guy on the planet (hence the luck) and she can’t say a word to him (hence the misfortune)!

He says things to her, lends her his jacket, and really this is it for Bella, she’s peaked, life can’t get better than this.

(That’s a lie, it would be better if she spoke English.)

He’s so amazing.

She’s gotten pretty good at navigating conversations with him, so she nods and aha’s her way through.

In his car on the way home the tone takes a more serious turn.

He asks her about something, and it’s a serious question, that much she’s gathered. She answers in the confirmative.

He is silent.

Did she say anything wrong?

(Edward, on his end, just asked if she knows what he is. She said yes, so calmly, not even a trace of fear in her.)

A few days later he takes her out on a walk in the woods.

He shows her a meadow in the woods, and when he steps into it he lights up in the sunlight.

Bella is in shock.

She knew there was something different about him, but- holy cow. This guy isn’t human.

Is she dating a god?

She stumbles into the clearing after him, and they spend a day together where he says things, and she can barely hear any of it (nevermind understand it) because she’s so distracted by how pretty he is.

The next day he takes her to a house in the middle of nowhere. She doesn’t want to guess that this can be where he lives. Surely gods don’t live in houses?

He shows her inside the house, and introduces her for Dr. Cullen and a lady with a name she doesn’t catch.

Bit weird that these two are acting like a couple of parents, they’re far too young and divine for that.

Edward shows her around in an old-fashioned office, and she doesn’t know what to make of i when she sees a painting of Carlisle. Edward launches into a long story when he sees her watching it, unfortunately she doesn’t catch any dates or artist names. At one point she heard the word “suicide”, though, and that’s not good.

She doesn’t get much out of the story.

The baseball game doesn’t happen because Bella didn’t pick up on what Edward wanted and didn’t realize she was being invited to a thing. They spend the afternoon watching a movie instead.

The relationship continues, impeded slightly by communication problems, but she’s mostly able to cover those up.

Until her birthday comes around.

She gets a papercut.

Jasper lunges at her. Edward throws her into a glass table, and then everyone is leaving.

Carlisle is kind enough to switch to Norwegian when he’s stitching up her arm, perhaps remembering the last time she was his patient. "Jasper har ikke vært på dietten vår så veldig lenge." Jasper hasn’t been on our diet for very long.

"Diett?"she asks. She’s never seen Edward eat anything. She wasn’t clear on what the Cullens ate, honestly she thought they were above such things. She was thinking maybe photosynthesis. The knowledge that they apparently eat food astounds her, but diets?

"Dyreblod istedenfor menneskeblod," Animal blood in stead of human blood, Carlisle clarifies.

Whachasay?

Carlisle gives a slight smile. “Jaspers liv som vampyr fikk en brutal start." Jasper’s life as a vampire got off to a brutal start.

...

Vampire?!

Bella’s missed something here.

Oh dear lord, oh fy faen, she has missed something.

“Åja”, uh huh, is all she can say, and suddenly she’s very aware of the fact that she’s sitting there with a bleeding arm.

And Carlisle.

Who is a vampire.

Over the course of the following conversation Bella makes a host of discoveries.

Edward has been a vampire this whole time, and he’s a telepathic vampire. Whether Bella should be a vampire too or not has been a matter of hot debate, but due to religious reasons Edward doesn’t want that.

Carlisle also brings up how Edward died of the Spanish flu.

"Jeg var under den oppfatning at Edward fortalte deg bakhistorien min?" I was under the impression Edward told you my back story? Carlisle asks at one point, and Bella just has to ask very nicely if he’d be so kind as to repeat it.

Turns out the guy is nearly four hundred years old.

Jaha.

Jahahaha jaa ha.

That’s… a lot.

She wanders out of the house in shock, and hardly notices Edward’s strange behavior over the next couple of days.

One day he picks her up at school, and takes her behind the house.

That works out.

He’s a vampire, but he never hurt her. He is endlessly beautiful, perhaps easier to love now that she knows he’s not a god. He’s her Edward, and that’s suddenly easier now that she knows.

They can still be together.

But now that she knows this about him, it’s about time he knows something about her as well.

It’s time to finally be honest with him.

So when he opens his mouth, she opens her mouth as well, but she doesn’t get any further than to “Edward-” before he launches into a monologue.

She’ll have to wait until he’s done before saying her piece. It’s a bit embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem like he intends to stop talking anyway.

And what he’s saying seems to be serious, so it’s probably best to let him finish.

Edward concludes his monologue by kissing her forehead. Then he disappears.

Where did he go?

A big unsure, Bella goes back to the house. She’ll just have to wait until he gets back.

She doesn’t know what to think when Charlie returns from work and tells her the Cullens have all left.

Oh, god.

Edward must have found out she doesn’t speak English.

She made a mockery of him.

He has every right to leave.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Bella sinks into a depression.

The hallucinations begin, as in canon, though Hallusinward speaks Norwegian. Thank god for small mercies.

The friendship with Jacob (dictionary in hand) blooms, as someone has to help her see those hallucinations.

The cliff diving happens, and Alice shows up. Bella’s not sure what this is about, but she has gotten good enough at English to know that something bad happened, and Alice wants them to do something.

She’s a bit surprised to find herself on a plane to Italy, though.

Alice tells her to “Run to Edward” and ok, she got that, actually.

So she saves Edward.

After that she’s taken into the sewer, which turns out to house dozens of vampires.

Bella, Edward, and Alice are received in some kind of hall, where an unusual vampire has quite a bit to say. She understands some of what he’s saying, at least the part about “la tua cantante”. She knows a bit about Italian, see, so she knows that he’s talking about a song now.

She wishes she knew the context.

At one point he takes her hand, and appears fascinated by it. She wonders if he’s a palmreader. Not very vampirey, but what does she know.

He asks her a question.

"Yes," she says.

Saying yes has gotten her this far, after all.

But when he lights up and claps his hands together, and Edward and Alice stare at her in shock and betrayal, she knows she must have said the wrong thing.

The two are dismissed from the room before Bella can do or say anything, she’s just listening to Edward make a racket outside in the hallway.

Not good.

The unusual vampire brings her further down in his sewer palace to a basement, and she is given comfortable clothes to wear.

This is getting terrifying.

The vampire leans towards her - and she chickens out.

"Jeg snakker ikke engelsk!" she squeaks. "Non habla ingles!" I don’t speak English.

Han stanser, og ser forvirret ut. "Que- Hva behager*?" I beg your pardon? spør han etter et øyeblikk.

*A very formal, and slightly outdated (you can use it, but people will think you’re putting on airs. And they will be right) way of saying “excuse me?”

Sobbing, Bella tells him the whole story, from how she didn’t want to be the weird kid in school to how she’s now somehow in Italy without knowing why nor what she just agreed to.

When she’s done the vampire starts laughing.

"Dette forklarer jo en hel del," This explains quite a bit, ler han. "Men, kjære Bella, jeg er redd det ikke endrer noe." But, my dear Bella, I’m afraid it changes nothing.

He tells her that she has agreed to serve him and his army of undead warriors into eternity.

Well fuck.

"Du skal få slippe det, når du ikke visste hva du samtykket til - men skjebnen din forblir den samme. Loven er loven." You’re released from that promise, as you didn’t know what you agreed to - but your fate remains the same. The law is the law.

After a moment of silence, during which she looks terrified, he hurries to add, "Vi har en lov. Du må bli en av oss." We have a law. You must become one of us.

A law that Bella Swan has to become a vampire?

People are finally speaking Norwegian, and Bella is still lost. And it’s too embarrassing to keep pestering this poor, polite man with questions.

So she nods.

He gives her a glittering smile, and bites her.

When she wakes, Aro offers her an English course. A language course that, naturally, leads to her staying in Volterra. Why not learn a few more languages while we’re at it, dearest Bella?

Some time later Edward breaks into Volterra to save his Rapunzel, only to barely recognize her now that she’s a vampire who says things. Lots of things, she talks all the time now. WHAT DID ARO DO TO HER.

Too mortified to admit that she never spoke English, Bella claims she’s been brainwashed.

Aro is having too much fun to correct her, and the whole sad affair sets off a regrettable flood of rumors.

[heshemejoshi]

more people like this than i thought which means i am giving an insight on my making-of process because i want to procrastinate from school stuff LOL

starting off with the confession that most of this drawing is traced. the mountain peak thing is actually this image i found on pinterest by searching ‘liminal mountain’:

i did some very minimal crosshatching on the edges of the mountain and put a big black hole on top as well as completely darken the background. after all that i ended up with this thing

at this point this started looking less and less like pokemon fanart and more like a strange fleshy nun monster design so i decided to finally add the 3 characters. started with grovyle and i remember really struggling to position him as i tried to do it from memory, then i looked at the official art and was left even more confused. so i said fuck it, and traced his back sprite from main games i got off wikidex (spanish bulbapedia). you can see it more clearly here probably

this isn’t actually the first time i trace pokemon art. the grovyle and dusknoir in this drawing that also got more attention that i expected to are tracings off the mainline 3d models lol i just changed the posing while drawing a bit. anyways i repeated the same tracing with celebi and dusknoir, but i personally used the pmd2 sprites for celebi rather than the mainline games because the angle didn’t match. and in order to get dusknoir looking at the other side (because back sprites are always in the same direction in the games) i just flipped the image lol

after adding color to the future trio i was hesitant of which overall colors to use for the environment too, until i played with layer effects and got a nice cool blue shade. for actually coloring the mountain i used this brush which was very very hard to properly control??? i assume it’s called ‘smoke’ in english

then i realized that the coloring clashed a lot with the lines. it looked like this before and it annoyed me immensely

i deleted the lines in the middle and just let the edges be, but it was still ringing the wrong way to my eyes. so i used an option called ‘rotura’ (no idea how it translates) which changed the lines to glitch-esque squares and it looked better that way to me but it was still incomplete. i added more lines and used the ‘halftone/screentone?’ button because if i added rotura it looked too mushy and i disliked the effect

anyways after that i exported the image as png because i had a mess of layers at that point, my eyes were tired and i didn’t know what was happening anymore so i moved color settings a bit and inserted a drop shadow on the creatures. and that’s all really lol i forgot to put my watermark but i don’t mind i still don’t like it much but am glad people enjoy this piece even if it was a little undercooked in my mind <3

the end

[subwaysurf45]

Code Star

Summary: a code word you and Bucky share is used; but it’s not in a good way.

Warning: panic attack, ripping out hair, addiction(little bit)

Words: 2030

Masterlist!

"Agent. Agent. Copy agent?" Friday spoke through the speakers in your room, it was louder than normal and also in the middle of the night which was the reason you woke up with a gasp.

"C-copy," you spat out, you typically sleep with your mouth open, so it gets dry when you first wake.

"Mr. Barns is calling you, he says it's 'code star'." Your stomach dropped, from all the adrenaline from waking up with a scare and the code, you sprinted down the hall way.

-

It was late and you were in the kitchen, you were trying to separate from your sleeping pills because during your last mission you couldn't sleep because you forgot them, you were addicted to them. So you needed to take a step back, learn to fall asleep on your own.

After asking around there was a tea Wanda recommended, it was lavender tea and she said it's the best with honey. You were currently steeping your bag and had honey beside you.

You took the soggy bag out and turned to the compost bin, after dropping it in and turned around you almost slipped because Bucky was right there.

Standing frozen. Dead face. Staring at you.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" You yelled, not caring if it woke someone up, "what's wrong with you?" You realized you clutched at your heart through your sweater.

He was on the other side of the island, but he seemed to be leaning over a bit, he looked down at your steaming mug and then back at you.

"I- I was going to say hi and then I liked the smell of your tea and then when you turned I looked up at you, I-I didn't mean to freak you out, that must have been really scary, sorry." He looked down into the cup again. "What is it?" He finally asked.

You let your guard down a bit, "lavender," you never looked away from him, "and honey." That was the most he'd ever said to you since he showed up two months ago, he stayed in his room the first month.

"Nice," he nodded, his metal arm coming up and rubbing the back of his neck.

"There's extra water, I can make you one." You knew he was going to ask for your cup, but you really need to hit the sack.

His face lit up in the dark, "perfect!" He half smiled.

You poured the other cup and steeped the another bag, then added honey as well. You both stayed where you were on either side of the island.

"Why are you up?" He asked while blowing on the tea, his voice was below normal level.

"Just can't sleep," you sigh and look over to the common room, no one was there but you really didn't want to meet his eyes.

"I get that," he spoke awkwardly and looked over as well, thinking you were studying something.

"I'm-...I'm trying to get if sleeping pills my shit therapist prescribed for me," you looked back at him, his eye brows raised and his head tilted forty-five degrees.

"Sleeping pills?"

"Insomnia."

"Oh..." he spoke to himself and looked down again, his thumb rubbing the smooth ceramic handle of the blue mug that wasn't his. "I get nightmares." He stated blankly, but he didn't look up at his statement.

"Is it..." you tried to find the right words to not trigger him, "before the war, like America...or later on…in life...?" You danced around the question, Steve had told you mentioning certain things can get Bucky really freaked out.

"My mind," he laughed sarcastically, "it likes to mix the two," he pulled one side of his mouth tight.

"Double-whammy," you whispered, then froze at the sound of a giggle, Bucky chuckled. "What?"

"No-I-I just...I get that reference," he seemed proud, his face seemed to fall quickly though, circling back, "my arm is weird, it's like my human arm but the star," he points to the red, "is like sewn in, I don't know what it means but..." he trialed off.

"Well, if you need help, just call a code star, I'll come to your room and bring you some tea, how about that?" You smile.

"What? Like a friend?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Okay," he smiled and nodded, "alright," his fingers drummed on the counter, "I'm gonna take this back to my room, but I'll remember that." He nodded and left, but caught himself at the corner to the rooms, "hey, agent," he spoke normal, you looked, "if you're gonna be my friend, don't ask 'what's wrong with me?', because trust me...I’ll talk you to your grave." He smirked.

“Noted, Sargent.” You’ve never seen him joke with you before, it felt comforting.

-

'Code star' had never been used for its newer purpose before, as the friendship and relationship grew 'code star' became 'code lavender', it happened after Bucky called 'code star' once while he was having a panic attack, you took so long to make the tea he was passed out by the time you showed up.

'Code lavender': make a tea, meet in the kitchen.

'Code star': panic attack, drop everything a come.

You sprinted down the hallway to the very last room, you could hear laboured breathing as you got closer. Typically you'd knock softly and come in quietly, not this time.

You whipped open the door to see Bucky staring slightly down on the edge of his bed, he was rocking back and forth as his fingers ripped and pulled on his long hair. His pupils blew wide and his lips curled causing his teeth to flash, he didn't even look up at you.

A loud bang from your knees hitting the hardwood didn't phase him either, you tired to duck down to meet his line of eye sight but you couldn't get down enough.

"Bucky, look at me!" You pulled his hands out of his hair, as you made him drop them to his side you found a pile of hair outside his thighs, "oh god," you whispered, your hand unlacing with his to pick up the locks, the free hand of his went straight back to tugging. "Don't do that, don't do that." You hushed and took it out again, a tuff came with it. "Bucky, look at me," you said calmer now, you needed to be the example. "Bucky, nod if you can hear me."

He didn't nod, his eyes stayed locked on your chest. They didn't move there, he was already looking there, it was like he was looking through you.

You kept his hands clumped in your right hand and your left hand began to trace around his face, starting at his cheeks that were dry, little circles led to cross the bridge the nose a couple times. You also started humming, a song you heard Bucky and Steve sing once while drunk and having fun.

His eye brows seemed to raise for a second at the tune, but he quickly fell back into his short shallow breathes. You kept going, your finger gently tracing his cleft chin, it was always something you pinched when joking around with him.

"Wake up, Bucky," you whispered after finishing the song, you started the tune again. His breathing seemed to slow a little and his almost black eyes moved around a bit, "there you go," you cupped his cheek, now just shifting your thumb back and forth. You didn't know if he'd start to pull his hair out again so you kept both the metal and flesh hand covered with your left.

His breathing went to normal, his rib cage expanding wide as he took voluntary breathes. His eyes were shut tight but you felt him lean into your hand that was still holding his cheek.

"Are you with me?" You asked softly, he leaned into your hand again, his hand slowly made it up to his face and he placed his hand over yours, gently guiding it down to his lips; his kisses to your palm were long and filled with their own language.

"I'm here," his voice cut out and became a breath, but you heard him. His eyes looked up before his head moved, he locked eyes with you and something changed.

It was like he was seeing you for the first time, eyes a little wide and confused; but knowing at the same time. They became misty the more he looked, he was never one to cry so he dropped his head to cover the tears.

"It's okay," you hushed, he dropped your hand and leaned forward, basically throwing his entire body weight onto you. You fell back to the floor and he cried in your chest, you saw some of his hair fall with him. "Let it out," your arms wrapped around him and began to rub all along his back, huge, gentle, soothing rubs.

"I-I killed you all," his voice sounded like a dog panting from his short breathes that came when he talked, "I- couldn't s-stop," his 's' slithered like snakes as he tries get sufficient air and talk.

"We're all here, just a dream." It was the same mantra, "we're all here, you're safe, it was a nightmare, you're out of it now. There you go, big breathes, you're doing great, you're a pro at this, keep breathing." You let the broken record play, he seemed to get smaller at every praise.

He sat up and leaned against the bed, Bucky pulled his sleeve around his fist to hold it tight. When he wiped his face it was aggressive, like he was mad at himself. He just stared at you like he always did, you were alway involved in his dreams so he needed to look at you to stay grounded.

"Sorry," his 's' still slurred, "I-...I'm sorry," he wanted to say something else, you could hear it in his tone. His head dropped, Bucky almost fell over at the sight of his hair, "did I do that?" He asked, his nose turned up.

All you did was nod, any verbal answer would've sounded almost grossed out or accusatory. He sighed and looked between the hair and you, he wanted to say something, he'd already stopped himself once.

"Tell me," you whispered.

"I want to cut my hair," Bucky responded softly, "I-I also want to sleep on the floor from now own." He seemed ashamed of the second ask.

"You like the cold?" You tried to figure him out.

"That and it's...comforting...I think," Bucky scratched his head, his metal hand slowing at the thin spot from tugging, "it just grounds me, I'm not used to fluffy things- nicer things."

"How about a mattress pad, you're back will scream at you in the morning." You tried to lighten the mood, he smiled a bit and then nodded. "How about you come sleep in my room tonight, just so I can keep an eye on you and if you want to sleep on my firm mattress you can hop on, how's that?" You stood and held your hand out, Bucky nodded and clapped his metal hand to yours.

You led him down the hallway and to your room, it was really quiet and almost off putting. You slept barefoot so the sound of soft footsteps from your feet was the only thing you heard, Bucky wore socks.

He went straight to your bed and felt the mattress, both hands pressing down on it to see the give it has. You felt a little happy when he was nodding in a positive way; his bottom lip also pouted out.

Bucky slipped in and you joined as well, he stayed still for a while, on his back and staring at the ceiling.

"Y'know, you can cuddle," you whispered, without another second to blink Bucky's face rested on your chest, his arm circled your body completely in a tight hug. Your hands found their way to his back and to his hair, softly lulling him to sleep, "I'll cut your hair in the morning."

"Love you," he murmured.