#(i think they kill you at that speed so probably slower)

[booksandberries]

I opened up my docs to work on the Christmas Gentle Noble fics I never finished, and instead. I am writing Hirano to Kagiura.

[mostly-imagines]

Careless Accidents

jason todd x fem!reader

aka you get hurt and jason’s pissed

warnings: reader’s wrist is accidentally sprained from being grabbed to hard

You could hear scuttling from somewhere else in the garden, an estate more than sizable enough than the game afoot.

You were under the distinct impression though that the bats and birds are playing with you similar to how they would a child. Slower, weaker, and less experienced than the big kids. You weren't complaining though. Because, frankly, it was stressful. They tend to operate more like they’re in a warzone than a game, you felt like you were about to be sniped out at any second.

Rightfully so, apparently, seeing how silently Stephanie had crept up on you.

“Hey,” Stephanie hissed, ignoring the way you jumped. “We’re doing alright for ourselves,” she said smugly. 

“Yeah,” you’d nodded, like you agreed with her more than you probably did. 

“Okay listen, I think the flag—” what flag? “—is by the fountain so, I think because there’s three of us and two of them, we should bait-and-switch.”

“We’re on teams?” you asked, no longer completely sure you know what you’re playing. 

“We are now!” she smiled, starting to run. “I’ll bait!”

She stopped briefly in her tracks and turned back to you hissing, “Don’t trust Cass,” before scurrying away.

Rather than sit around and wait there for…something?...to happen, you jumped up darting in the opposite direction with little to no indication whether this is a good move.

What you didn’t see is Cass rapidly approaching from your rear. 

What you also didn’t see was Dick crouched down in a row of shrubbery, which gave him the perfect opportunity to snatch your arm up and yank you down with him. You’d mewled a bit as your wrist made contact harshly with the grass, immediately buckling under you.

Cass was keen to your pain immediately, slowing her sprint to a stroll as she observed you.

“Are you okay?” she signs.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” 

The response was instinctual and you didn’t actually have time to register whether or not you were okay by the time you gave it. 

You pushed up on your elbows, trying to figure out whether Dick is even on your team, but the way the others approached had you halting consideration. They’re savvy to the situation at a speed in which you can only attribute to their vigilantism, looking at you with concern. 

“You good?” Tim asked, approaching languidly.

“That looked like it hurt,” Cass commented, crouching down next to you to see your wrist better.

Dick shook his head, “No, she’s okay.” He turned to you, prodding, “You’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m, um…” you winced, looking at your wrist. “It hurts a little.”

Cass examined it closely, tilting it gently to the side. “It might be sprained.”

Dick paled. 

“No.”

Tim pointed a thumb back towards the manor, “We can get it wrapped upstairs.”

“No.”

You were only then able to clock the barely contained grin on Stephanie’s face, begging to break.  

“Ooooh. He’s gonna kill you.”

Cass had then kindly offered to take you inside and wrap it up for you, which you accepted, unexpecting of the plus-one of Dick trailing behind you like a guilty puppy all the while.

“You know I didn’t mean to grab you that hard right? I—” 

Cass laughs quietly as she wraps the bandage around your wrist, amused by Dick’s now-third explanation/apology for the incident. 

“I know, Dick,” you say, trying to appease him. 

“I’m sorry,” he tells you genuinely, but you can tell there’s more there that he isn’t verbalizing.

You nod, “I know, Dick. It’s okay. It was just an accident.”

Cass pins the wrapping in place securely and with a smile, signs to you that she’s all done. 

You rotate your arm a bit, testing your movement under the wrap. As Cass leaves with the first aid kit, Dick remains sat at your side, leg thumping up and down.

He takes a deep breath, “What if…what if you avoid him until it heals?”

“Dick.”

He takes your uninjured hand in his with urgency in his eyes, 

He looks down at your jointed hands before loosening his already mild grip significantly.

“Are you going to tell him?” he asks, looking like he’s bracing for bad news.

You shake your head sympathetically, “No. I can’t guarantee you that he won’t find out, but I won’t tell him.”

Dick takes a deep breath, looking at the ground with intense focus. “Okay. Okay.” He stands, “I need to go.”

You watch in amused bewilderment as he staggers out the door, looking around frantically. 

Within the next few minutes, he creates and enacts his plan A. He walks into the living room, sitting down next to a very disinterested Tim, eyes forward and serious.

“I’ll give you two grand right now if you tell him it was you.”

Tim barks out, “Absolutely not.” He looks at his brother, still laughing. “No fucking way.”

Dick breaks the serious facade immediately, looking at him. “Five.”

A deadpan from Tim. 

“You don’t have five thousand dollars.”

Dick throws his head back, back thudding against the couch. “Dude, please! He’ll kill me!”

Tim scoffs, “He’d kill me!”

Dick huffs, “No, it’s different for me! Do you have any idea how many times he told me not to do that?” 

“Well then it sounds like you fucked up,” Tim sneers.

“Oh my God.”

He takes off again, combing through different rooms in the house with hope of finding a quick but effective hiding place for, say, the next twenty years?

He bursts through the study, unwittingly interrupting Bruce and Alfred having a discussion over tea.

The latter sits up with a tense brow, “Master Dick?”

The former turns around in his seat, “What’s the matter?”

Dick struggles for a second before confessing, “I accidentally sprained someone's wrist.” 

Bruce scans his face slowly, nodding. “Alright…you’ll have to take responsibility for their patrol duties—”

Dick cuts him off with a sharp breath, “Said person doesn’t have any patrol duties to be affected...”

Bruce processes for a moment before shaking his head.

“I can’t help you.”

Dick’s panic takes over again, prompting him to continue his scurry through the room, towards the other door.

Alfred interrupts his process with a very logical argument, “You don’t think running away will make this worse, Master Dick?”

“I—I don’t know!” Dick whines, stopping in his tracks. “I don’t know what to do!”

Bruce purses his lips, gesturing, “Dick, when you make a mistake…you have to submit to the consequences, you know that.”

Dick gapes, “This is not a normal consequence!”

Meanwhile, you’ve busied yourself with fiddling with the knick knacks and mementos lining the shelves of Jason’s childhood bedroom. 

You’re admiring a picture of him and Alfred from when he was young as the door creaks open behind you. 

“Sweetheart?” Your boyfriend calls out, head barely poked in through the crack.

“Hey, Jay,” you smile, setting the picture frame back on the shelf.

He enters fully, covered in motor oil and grease, and smiles his sweet, easy smile when he sees you. 

Moving onto the next trinket on the shelf, you pick up a stuffed animal placed intentionally at the front. Your gaze finds the mirror, watching his reflection as he pulls the stained shirt off his back. 

You smile to yourself, noticing the way his back muscles flex as he adjusts. “How’s the bike?”

“Better than it was this morning,” he sighs. “Where’ve you been?”

He turns around to look at you, taking easy steps towards you. 

You return the toy elephant to its place, moving to face him. “Uh, we were outside, playing…at least three separate games at once.”

The second you’re in proximity, your hands join like it’s second nature. 

He nods, all too familiar with the family’s unique methods of gamefair.

“Did th—” He looks down at your intertwined hands, brow furrowing as soon as he spots the bandage wrapped around your wrist. “What happened?”

You glance down, shrugging. “Overexerted myself playing tag.”

He looks at you skeptically, but says nothing about it.

He turns your hand over gently, asking, “Is it sprained?”

You nod, relaxed. “Yeah. Cass said it’s mild.”

“Does it still hurt?”

“No,” you say, sweeping his hair back with your other hand. “Barely hurt then.”

He nods, but he doesn’t look satisfied with the conversation.

Regardless, he turns away again, shuffling through a drawer for a clean shirt. 

“You, uh, you wanna stay for dinner tonight?” he asks, pulling his arms through, his head following. 

“Yeah,” you say gaily. “Alfred said he’s making his ‘special spaghetti’, apparently it’s a household favorite?”

He wavers, halfway to between decisions. “Yeah…”

He huffs quietly, turning back to face you fully. “Can I see it?”

You nod, happy to ease his mind. 

You start to unwrap the bandaging, him doing half the work for you. The work is done silently until your wrist is exposed, revealing your bruised skin.

You both see it at the same time—the hand-shaped bruise wrapped around your wrist.

You’re both quiet for a second—him putting pieces together and you waiting for the shoe to drop.

He takes off suddenly, clearly having come to a likely very accurate conclusion about what had happened.

“Fucking idiot—”

You try for his hand but he’s out of reach before you can grab it.

“I’ll be right back,” he grumbles behind him.

“Jason—” you sigh, “At least help me wrap it back up first.”

He hesitates, halfway to the door, ultimately returning to you in defeat. He takes your forearm gently, scanning it over again before beginning to wrap it.

You watch his face closely, noting the clear vexation. “It was just an accident,” you tell him. 

He scoffs, “It better have been.”

You drop your shoulders and lull your head to the side. “Jason. I’m not made of glass, you can’t expect other people to act like it.”

“I don’t. I expect him to mind his own strength, and if he can’t do that, he needs to keep his fucking hands to himself.”

You sigh, “Just don’t do anything harsh. Please. I think he’s worried you’re gonna punch him.”

“He should be,” he says shortly. He finishes off the wrapping, pinning it in place firmly. 

You grab onto his forearm before he can pull away, “You’re not going to. Right?”

He doesn’t answer so you try to make his gaze meet yours, “Right?”

His eyes roll, “Yeah, fine.”

You smile, holding his face. “I love you.”

He huffs as though he’s inconvenienced, but confesses the obvious truth nonetheless. “I love you.”

He looks you in the eye, face serious. “You promise me it doesn’t hurt?”

“I promise,” you nod, brushing your fingers against his palm.

“Dick!”

The angry voice bellows through the tall halls of the manor, heavy footsteps thudding.

He stomps into the living room, Tim, Cass, and Stephanie watching the entryway with wide eyes. 

“Where is he?”

Unwitting shoulders shrug and heads shake. Truthfully, at that. Dick, smartly, did not tell anyone where he was hiding. 

Jason scans the trios faces, looking for any sign of apprehension.

He clocks the grin shamelessly plastered across his sister's face quickly. “Stephanie?”

“I don’t know,” she says honestly. “But let me know when you find him, I wanna see—”

But Jason’s moving onto the next room before she can get the last words out.

He enters the dining room, looking right to left before finding his target, halfway to stuffing himself behind the fine china cabinet in the corner.

There’s a brief, tense moment in between where the pair realize what they’re seeing and when Dick sets off in a sprint towards the kitchen, Jason quick on his tail. 

“Really? Really?” Jason shouts. 

“It was an accident! It was a fucking—” 

He narrowly dodges a swipe from Jason, then ducking before a ladle could make contact with his head.

“Are you stupid? Are you the dumbest motherf—”

Dick rounds the kitchen island as fast as possible, Jason testing him on the other side.

Dick takes a breath, “Dude, it’s fine now, it’s not that big of a—”

Jason recoils, “‘It’s not a big deal’? Come here. Let me sprain your wrist, asshole!”

He circles the counter quicker than the elder boy can think to move away and lunges at him. 

Dick throws his hands up in front of him, “Wait, wait, wait! Truce! Truce! Truce?”

Jason drops his shoulders, leveling his older brother with a look. “You can’t call a truce if you’re the only one who did anything wrong.”

“I…” It doesn’t take him long to piece together that his defense makes no sense, so he resorts to his last option. 

“Please?” Dick asks, nothing short of imploring. 

Jason relents—slightly—upon hearing his brother's tone, but still finds it in him to shove him, though not nearly as hard as he’d been planning to. 

“I told you a hundred fucking times not to grab her so hard—” 

Dick nods heavily, waving a hand. “I know, I know—”

“Clearly you fucking don’t!” Jason shouts. He huffs, running a hand over his face. “You sprained her wrist. You’ve been doing this vigilante shit for fifteen years, how do you still not fucking know how to control your own strength?”

Dick grimaces, “I do! I do, I just screwed up, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t—” Jason narrowly holds back a scowl, “Did you apologize to her?”

 “Yeah, of course I did!”

For a split second, Jason looks ready to keep arguing before purposefully dropping the anger from his body. 

The resulting relief almost drowns Dick.

It only lasts a moment though, before Jason looks at him again, sneering, “Idiot,” before pushing him once more. 

“Jason.”

Your voice has Jason dropping all turbulence in an instant. He and Dick both whip their heads towards the door, equally unexpecting of the interruption. 

You tilt your head at your boyfriend with a knowing but disappointed stare.

He looks back at you like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, lips parted.

“I didn’t hit him.”

⭐️ your options are: (1) reblog fics or (2) be a little bitch ⭐️

[nitpick7]

i feel like the life series fandom has not properly utilized the angst potential of the wildcards yet. and maybe i just haven't read enough posts or fics yet, which is definitely possible, but i'm gonna ramble anyway. (disclaimer: i've watched every pov but probably will get details wrong anyway.)

session one. pearl goes off, alone, away from her group for just a bit. just to mine a little bit more, get some iron. she's crouching at the edge of a cliff to get a better look at the cave, when suddenly the ground isn't underneath her anymore. she doesn't even slip, doesn't have time to react, she just falls.

session two i've thought about so much that i started writing a oneshot (unfortunately still a wip). everyone having to eat rocks and ores and wood and just so many things that they are not meant to eat... but they're all literally starving and real food doesn't fill them anymore. so they're biting into anything they can get their hands on, just hoping and praying that it fills them and doesn't poison them or make them float away... the terror every time the food changes? scrambling to find the next items to eat. ough.

the SNAILS. god. the snails. those things are cute but deadly. bigb, start of the session, seconds after the wildcard activates, hearing something and seeing something and then he's dead. gone. he's gone from peacefully mining to dead in seconds flat and everyone instantly knows just how deadly this one will be.

the speed one... has less angst potential. it's more just the constant fear, being constantly on edge, not used to the speed everything is moving at. they're frustrated at being too slow or their brains aren't moving as fast as their legs, or it's the very start of the session and they're frozen in time with no idea what's happening.

triviabot is less about the trivia itself and more about how it makes everyone act. sabotaging their friends and enemies alike, hiding bots, feeding people false information. they can't trust anyone in that session. but the moment they can trust someone, they latch onto them. someone gets a question about an ally and books it across the server to ask them about it, hoping their bot is still there when they get back.

more on triviabot: there's also the effects if they get something wrong. the robot voice is crazy because to themselves, they sound perfectly normal, but no one can fucking understand them. they're just unable to communicate and don't know for how long. or they're knocked down a few hearts, unable to be fully healed. constantly hurting at least a bit. being equipped with leather armor that they can't take off, unable to protect themselves. tripling in size, not being able to fit anywhere or do anything because they're so big. or their snails coming back, slower but still terrifying.

the mobs one... the very first thing that happens is everyone's beloved pets being killed. unless they happened to have the resources for a nametag beforehand. bdubs almost lost his horse! lizzie spent forever trying to collect mobs just for them to be murdered again! and the trial chamber. grian, joel (who didn't even want to be there), etho, scar; already in the midst of battle, and then all the fucking mobs change? they were terrified in real life, do you know how good that could be in fics?

you may think that there is little angst potential from superpowers. you would be wrong. again, it's less from the wildcard itself and more from how it makes people act. impulse teleporting ren into an obsidian box full of water in order to prove ren was lying about his power? that shit's CRAZY. WHAT THE HELL. impulse literally tried to drown ren to prove scott's point! and like good for him but!!! holy shit!!!!! or grian, who should know what he's doing, losing pearl's ability mid-air and falling to his death - grian falling to his death? (and obviously the listener symbolism with martyn and jimmy. we know we can do stuff with that.)

the final session is just. all of that. but combined. and more wild. it's everything all at once, randomly activating and deactivating, no one knows what's going on and it's a mess. just confusion and chaos.

so. yeah. there is my ramble, i might do smth with this but i might not. please add to this if you have more wildcard related angst, i will love you so much. Ɛ:

[maezysworld]

test subject x the ghoul pt 1

Pairing: cooper howard x fem! cat mutant & sniper reader (thats a mouth full lol)

I've never really written stories like this but i think this is a fun idea so ill try my best anyways please please please msg me if you have ideas and or suggestions (i am sensitive please be nice LMAO)

Warnings: slow burn, writer is dyslexic, might be slightly out of character, a whole lot of guns, not proof read

context: you are part cat due to being experimented on you have the cat ears and eyes along with all there senses (i do plan on making a full backstory)

your on the search for a doctor who has a large sum of caps over his head, you could care less about the caps you don't have a lot to do in this world so you take any opportunity you can to have some fun no matter how risky it could be. considering the amount of caps, you already know it will be quite the task but you don't mind playing with your food.

you've asked around the wasteland a little (not that a lot of people really said anything useful) but any information you got led you to a town called filly. you entered filly walking in trying your best not to draw more attention to yourself, the gasmask your wearing doesn't really help with that but you don't really need people knowing you have animal ears and eyes. you take in your surroundings as you walk with a crowd looking for the highest most excluded building you could see when a ghoul catches your eyes, you walk a bit slower admiring him for a moment watching him roll a vile in between his fingers before snapping out of your trans and picking up you pace again.

you get to the top of the building staying low to the ground making sure no one sees you up here before laying on your stomach and pulling out your sniper riffle. you sit and watch everything for about 7 minutes until a familiar doctor falls into you glance. you don't even bother lining up your scope to his head, you don't feel the need to someone else is bound to get him after you shoot him regardless but that's more then okay with you, you don't mind playing a waiting game.

you see him talking to a vault dweller just before an older woman who seems to run a shop approach them, you try you best to listen in but all you can seem to make out is the shop owner saying something about getting out of here. "this gasmask is fucking me over" you whisper with a sigh readjusting your arm a bit to be more comfortable.

suddenly the ghoul stands up, along with a few people just now noticing there's a ghoul in the town as they cautiously speed walk away from the area. the ghoul shouts something about this doctor having a hefty price over his head as almost everyone moves away from the man. a sly smile grows on your face now knowing hes involved with this bounty as well. the shop owner says something and before she can even finish her sentence the ghoul shoots the mans foot off, the poor vault dweller just stands there in fear and confusion, a wave of sympathy overcomes you knowing you were just like her you almost wish you still were.

the old woman shouts "i gotta 1000 bottle caps for who ever kills that fucker!!... but you dont get SHIT if i kill em first!". your not to sure why but after hearing that you start to focus your scope on anyone who starts to even look at him. the ghoul holds his gun out gun on the trigger ready to shoot just waiting for someone to make the first move as he looks around in a circle. a man in a black hat and googles pulls out his gun but before he can even pull the trigger the ghoul shoots him in the chest, his bullet exploding on impact. immediately after more people start shooting at him, he turns in a circle again shooting anyone who try's to get near him as you shoot the people from a distance. in all honesty you know he probably doesn't need your help but still you continue with out a reason to be doing so. you see someone trying to come at him with a knife from behind and just as the ghoul turns around to attack you shoot the man with the knife and the glare of your scope hits the ghouls eye and he looks up as you give a slight wave right before pointing to signal behind him as a brother a steel knight shows up.

you see the old woman and the vault dweller go run and hide into the shop bringing the doctor with him. you know you wont to much to the walking tin man so you decide to go down and listen in. you try your best to sneak in with out anyone seeing you but as the ghoul is on some broken steps you look over at him and with out a doubt he was looking dead at you before getting right back into combat. you ignore it and continue to snoop in on the others.

you keep your back pressed tightly agents the wall. hear the woman convince the vault dweller to take the doctor to moldaver, you've heard of the woman but have never had any encounters with her based off the things you've heard you know this will be a good time (you would have never found anything about this situation fun before the war). you start making your way out of the building after hearing that its plenty for you to go off along with now having both the doctor and the vault dwellers sent. you decide to hide in a ally and wait for things to die down before leaving.

after about 9 minutest you don't hear metal clacking or guns shooting you start to leave filly. you didnt get to far outside of the town before you hear a gun cock behind you "aint you a little over prepared?" you hear a mans voice with a southern accent referring to your gas mask. you turn to face the voice seeing the ghoul you've been eyeing this whole trip "doesn't effect you now does it? is the gun really nectary after i helped you?" you scoff offended but knowing youd do the same "now i aint ask you to do that for me, did i?" he says finger on the trigger. you think for a moment 'rude ass' you think to yourself "i guess not, but a thank you would be nice" you say with sarcasm in your voice. The Ghoul keeps his eyes upon you as you speak, the gun never moving. He lets out a short laugh at your attempt to engage. "You want a thank you for a job half done? bailed in the middle of a fight.. not that id thank you anyways i didnt need your help smooth skin. what's you goal here you tryn to steal my bounty" he says sounding more relaxed than he should be. "not necessarily, i don't want the caps if that's what your worried about." the gun never wavers even as you speak. "so just what do you want then?". "entertainment, not much to do in this world." you say with a smile on your face, not that he can see it. The Ghoul is surprised by your answer. He lowers his gun slightly, looking you up and down, but still doesn't trust you. "You ain't got better things to do with your time? Like finding food, or water, or caps?". those things are all fairly easy to come across for you, your sneaky and when you want something you take it. "lets say that all comes easy" Something you said intrigues him, and his gaze lingers on you a little longer. He shifts his weight to his left foot, and holsters his gun. "You saying food, water, caps just comes to you?". you relax abit more now that his guns down "i never said that, its just easy to get. now i have some information that may be of use to you, and im more then happy to give it under one condition" The Ghoul's interest is piqued. His curiosity getting the better of him, he nods his head. He wants to see if what you're peddling is actually worth something. "And what would that condition be?". you feel excited, youve never traveld with someone much less had company in years and the though of him agreeing (even if its not very friendly) makes you happy "i come with you on your bounty." He considers it, still not fully trusting you, but also intrigued by your offer. "And why the Hell would I want you along for a bounty hunt? Why should I trust you? What's to stop you from just turning on me? "he responds "you interest me, my weapons aren't out now are they? if i wanted to kill you i would have done it while i was on the roof" you say slightly muffled from your gas mask. He looks at you for a moment, thinking it over. He didn't like the idea of traveling with someone he didn't know, but he wouldnt mind the help from someone who knows how use to use a gun(not that he'd ever admit that). "Fine, we'll go after the bounty. But the second I even get a hint you're planning something, I'll kill you where you stand. We clear?". "understood." you say trying your hardest not to sound excited. He nods, then turns and begins walking away the dog standing behind him following. He calls over his shoulder to you.

please let me know what you guys think of this and im open to any suggestions and ideas ( i would also love name ideas for this) :)

notes: @s-lock-doctordonna I LOVED YOUR IDEAS AND I WILL BE USEING THANK YOU <3

[zorlok-if]

I have a question about vessels. I understand this probably enters inside the terrain of spoilers that are going to be revealed on the story. But my curiosity demands I ask you anyway. Although you are, of course, free to ignore this.

I was wondering if vessels are subject to human needs and flaws. As, do they need to eat, sleep, evacuate? Do they age? Do they have periods (in the case of uterus havers)? If they sleep, do the Mc's with prothestic limbs sleep without them?

Or does the demonic magic stop the body from having to take these into account?

I apologize if you answered this before, because I was not able to find it. Which I don't know if it's my fault or Tumblrs.

Anyway, I'm really interested by the worldbuilding of this story. Good luck with your writing!

Oh, I could go on about vessels for days, but I'll try to keep this short-ish and more or less coherent.

The ideal vessels for demons (and angels) are essentially husks that they can easily possess/pilot. Corpses make the best vessels for a number of reasons:

You don't have to subdue or deal with a soul.

The transformation from human body to ideal demonic vessel is exponentially faster.

You don't have to deal with any mortal functions, limitations, and nuisances.

As you'll see early on in the story (potentially in the prologue when the updated version drops) as soon as an infernal/celestial being enters a body, it fundamentally and involuntarily begins to alter it. Blood normally starts to congeal and change color and (if it's a corpse) the bones will twist and shatter, but this won't hinder the vessel in any major ways. The skin will just appeal to heal over any damage and the body will feel solid and normal as if nothing strange has happened. It can hurt or slow down a demon/angel, but it can't kill or permanently maim the vessel. The ultimate transformation will really reflect the idea of the vessel being a husk but—for lore reasons—there is no standard way that a demon/angel's presence affects the body. For example, once the transformation is complete, the vessel might appear empty but leak pure, liquid shadow when sliced open, be stuffed with semi-sentient slime, filled with weird little creatures, erupt with lava when punctured, just be stacked with bones and more bones, etc. Regardless, it will always look just like it did in life from the outside. It can even appear/feel to have subtle things like the sensation of a pulse, bodily warmth, breathing, etc. They also feel things like pain, discomfort, pleasure, etc. like humans do (though some know how to turn off this added functionality, distancing themselves from their vessel emotionally).

Corpses are dead, so they won't age, and the infernal/celestial power keeps them fresh, so to speak. And, since infernals/celestials create energy, they have no need to sustain themselves. They don't need to eat in the way humans do, but if they expend a lot of energy quickly, they can speed up the process of recovering that power by consuming "food" (could be a more loose definition, since they don't have to deal with edibility like humans do). In that case, it's just like throwing logs on a fire. They also don't need to sleep but can enter a sleep-like state to pass time more quickly. (I think if the MC has prosthetic limbs they'd likely take them off to sleep with some possible exceptions).

As implied above the transformation process is much slower if the demon's vessel is a living person. In these cases, since the flesh is still alive, the demon/angel would have to take care of the mortal form and its involuntary functions if they want to keep it alive. They would age, sleep, eat, get sick, all of it.

But the body does still change. If someone were to be possessed for an extended period of time and survive, they'd be... different. The specific mutations would vary, but there would be evidence of otherworldly influence on their body and (most likely) serious health consequences. So, they may gain some cool powers or even a demonic feature, but maybe some of their internal organs have liquefied (oops).

[ioser-boy]

hahahsgahahahahahah i love paintbrush. ragh

do you have their moveset? it doesn’t have to be super specific like damage and all that just like what the move does.

whatre some dialogue options for them?? (like kills, assists, interacting with others, etc.)

also do elaborate on that au you mentioned!! i love phighting AUs :3

trying to get more art out i’ve just been super busy- trust tho i’m working on a ton of stuff for y’all :]

but heres their moveset + some dialouge under cut!! accompanied by messy lil doodles and occasionally my funky handwriting :]

okay so fair warning i have no idea how to make balanced movesets so they may be really overpowered or underpowered i have no idea

also some lore i havent explained yet is scattered in their dialogue just for funsies so if you have theory’s pls share i’d love to see them :]

Paintbrush is a tank!!

They’re a mid range melee fighter thats heavy n slow but does high damage

ok heres the actual moveset

Passive- PAINT SPILL

The more you attack, the more paint you lose. Losing paint increases your attack speed but decreases damage dealt. Regain paint slowly overtime or by 50% upon elimination.

Using your primary attack covers enemies in paint each time they are hit. At five stacks apply slow and vulnerability to an enemy.

Primary- (name pending)

Swing your paintbrush forward in a wide radius.

Secondary- DRYBRUSHING/(name pending)

If at less than 30% paint, quickly slash forward four times, favoring speed rather than damage. Doing this doesn’t add marks to an enemy.

With paint, slash twice, dealing knock back and applying slow to enemies hit.

Q- DIP!

At the cost of paint hold ‘Q’ to drag your paintbrush across the floor, giving you a small speed boost. Releasing ‘Q’ or running out of paint: jump and do a flip into the air before slamming your brush down, causing AoE damage.

If you run out of paint before attack finishes, deal significantly less damage.

E- (name pending)

Use your palette as a temporary shield for up to 15 seconds or until it is destroyed. Press E again while your shield is still up to toss your palette in front of you and knock back any enemies.

( Once you toss your shield it doesn’t come back to you until the ability cool down finishes. It’s not a boomerang )

PHINISHER- WATERCOLORS

yeah i’m still thinking of ideas for this one :cri:

My reasoning behind the moves I chose

you can skip to dialogue if you don’t feel like reading a ton of text cause there’s a lot lol.

My thought process behind the passive effect with the stacking and everything is like- they’re ‘covering’ their enemies in paint, so when covered in enough paint (the 5 stacks) it makes the enemy slower and leaves them more vulnerable if that makes sense. I also wanted paintbrush to have some sort of big limitation which is where the limited paint mechanic comes from cause I had a feeling i would probably accidentally make them too op lol.

Primary is pretty self explanatory. Though, the secondary im really proud of simply because I like the name ‘drybrushing’ lol.

The Q ability was actually suggested by a friend. Originally Q was just a dash ability to give paintbrush a chance to get away from faster characters since they’re naturally slower but i liked the lil flip idea just cause that seems fun :]

Also I called it ‘dip’ because the slam into the ground made me think of dipping a paint brush in paint? if that makes sense? (though.. that is a very aggressive way to get paint if ur doing it how Brush does in the attack lmao)

Ok my favorite, the E ability!! So if you haven’t seen my other post abt them (go look at it!! their ref sheet, lore and character relationships r there /nf)

But yeah if you haven’t seen it, Paintbrush is based off of the ‘powerful paintbrush’ item, which also comes with a palette that acts like a shield. I didn’t want to give them both a shield and their brush, so I decided to turn it into a ability.

I will say this ability is definitely the most thought out one. The idea is that since Paintbrush is slower they’re more susceptible to being rushed by faster characters like say- Skateboard or Biograft for example. So this shield is there to block those attacks, but also can be used to knock enemies back to give Brush a chance to escape. You can’t attack with the shield up so it’s use is purely to just deflect damage until you toss it or until it breaks/runs out.

DIALOUGE

ok, these were actually very fun to write so here you go.

BASIC DIALOGUE-

Biograft: IS THAT YOUR WEAPON?

Paintbrush: Uh.. yeah!

Biograft: IT IS LARGE AND INCONVENIENT.

Paintbrush: …Thanks?

Coil: Brush!? When did you get here?

Paintbrush: Pff- I’ve been here, Coil.

Paintbrush: An exploding sword? That’s pretty creative.

Sword: Thanks!

Sword: Wait, who are you?

Katana: Your paintbrush, is it not heavy?

Paintbrush: It is, but I’ve gotten used to it!

Hyperlaser: You’re quite skilled. Both as an artist and a phighter.

Paintbrush: Thanks! You’re not so bad yourself.

Paintbrush: As a uh, as a phighter- I mean.

Rocket: Brush! It’s good to see you again.

Paintbrush: Likewise, Rocket!

Rocket: Brush? When did you dye your horns?

Paintbrush: Not too long ago, did em’ myself!

Rocket: Huh, they look good!

Paintbrush: Thanks!

Paintbrush: You saw..?

Rocket: Yeah- I saw it.

Paintbrush: Yeesh, never going to get that image out of my head.

Rocket: Yeah… Does this make us siblings?

Paintbrush: Wha- Slow down!

Slingshot: Haha! You must be new here!

Paintbrush: Hey! Wait!

Slingshot: Sorry, try and keep up!

Shuriken: Speed it up, new kid!

Paintbrush: Huh? Hey! I’m no kid!

Paintbrush: Hey.. aren’t you-

Scythe: You keep yer mouth shut.

Paintbrush: !!

Scythe: Those horns of yers are pretty.

Paintbrush: Oh, thank you!

Scythe: How’d you feel if I cut em off? You could match yer dad!

Paintbrush: What-?!

Boombox: You listen to any music, Brush?

Paintbrush: Definitely! It helps with the creative process.

Boombox: Do you have a favorite genre, Brush?

Paintbrush: Not really, I’ll listen to anything as long as it’s upbeat!

Paintbrush: Hey! I like your music!

Boombox: Really? Thanks!

Paintbrush: I could do with a shield!

Boombox: On it!

Paintbrush: Thank you!

Boombox: Hey! I like your style!

Paintbrush: …

Paintbrush: Wait, was he talking to me?

Paintbrush: Hey! Wait up!

Vinestaff: Please use caution, phights can be difficult to adjust to.

Paintbrush: I think I know what I’m doing, but okay!

Vinestaff: Please use caution, phights can be difficult to adjust to.

Paintbrush: I appreciate your concern, but i’ve got this!

Vinestaff: You’re friends with Sling, right?

Paintbrush: Huh? Does he consider us friends?

Paintbrush: Then I guess so!

Paintbrush: Seriously? Why do they keep pairing me up with you..?

Skateboard: Hey! You got a problem?

Paintbrush: Ack- you weren’t supposed to hear that..!

Skateboard: I swear, If I have to hear one more song from Boombox about you-

Paintbrush: He.. makes music about me?

Skateboard: Hey! You didn’t hear it from me!

Paintbrush: …Okay?

Paintbrush: Oh, it’s you.

Subspace: What?? What’s that supposed to mean!?

Paintbrush: I don’t want your help.

Medkit: You don’t have much of a choice.

Medkit: Have we met before?

Paintbrush: No.

Medkit: …Alright.

KILL ASSISTS-

Skateboard: Too slow!

Paintbrush: Wha- That was totally my kill!

ok!! that’s it for my ramblings!!

Thank you for listening to me yap abt paintbrush again- they’re actually one of my favorite oc’s and i’ve put so much work into them.

(also i was going to talk abt the AU as well but tumblr is actively lagging because this post is so long so maybe another time lol)

have a good day!

[alabasterpickles]

In what circumstances did Hades and Persephone met and fell in love? Who fell first and fell harder? (and when is this AU taking place, movie canon wise?)

And how did Pain and Panic react to all of this? And how did they react when their masters announced they were having a baby?

And, on the topic of others reacting to the Underworld love story, how did the other gods take the news of the unconventional relationship, marriage and the expansion of the lord and lady of the dead's little family?

(Sorry for the obscene amount of questions, I'm just a sucker for this AU)

Okay so, first things first, when Hades and Persephone first met, he absolutely did not expect to get anywhere with his advances, truly.

He meets her, by chance, in Spring, and tries all his usual come-ons and empty flirtations at first just to get a rise out of her. Just to see what’ll happen. Because Hades is like that, here — he loves to push buttons. Somehow — it works! Persephone finds him amusing, and indulges him.

At first, they entertain each other. Hades shows up at “random” times of day while Persephone is hard at work tending to the waking world, because he literally has nothing better to do and her company offers a welcome reprieve from the dank, lonely interior of the Underworld. But, over time (which is a few months in my mind), they start to realize they have more in common than either of them expect.

Idle conversation turns to friendship, and Hades finds himself actively looking forward to seeing her from day to day. They start taking walks, going on little pseudo-dates—that neither of them want to admit are actual dates—and they both start to realize they are falling in love.

Who fell first? Hades. Who fell harder? Hades.

He fell with dizzying speed and bone-breaking force.

Persephone fell pretty hard too, but it was quieter, and slower — more gradual. She had a lot going on behind the scenes that prevented her from diving head first into a relationship with the Lord of the Dead, but I digress.

Since this story takes place post-Hercules (you know Zeus went and fished him out of Tartarus — you can’t kill a god and who else is going to look after the Underworld?? Pain and Panic? Come on) and Hades is feeling a bit bruised and defeated following his usurpation flop, he starts to get a little desperate. This is when all the story shenanigans ensue.

To answer your second question, Pain and Panic are extremely pleased to hear that Hades found himself a potential partner. There’s a noticeable change in his behavior as he spends more and more time with Persephone — particularly toward them. He’s nicer to them and is less inclined to beat them up over every minor inconvenience. So, they’re totally cool with this, even encourage it. Whatever it takes to get Hades to chill, they’re down for it.

When it comes to the pregnancies, I like to think Panic is the most excited (note Panic’s experience with babies in the show). Pain though might be a little weirded out by all the changes, and probably generally indifferent about the babies at first, but they’ll grow on him eventually.

NUMBA THREE —

So the other gods? Totally cool about it.

I know historically speaking Hades’s abduction of Persephone and subsequent marriage to her was a huge bone of contention between the Cthonic and Olympian gods, but in this story, many of them are pulling strings to make it happen. In fact, the only two gods that are against their union, are Ares and Demeter. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say there are several big-wig Olympians that are quietly rooting for Hades and Persephone from the background.

Hera and Aphrodite are Persy’s biggest fans and most ardent supporters, aside from Demeter, and when Hades announces she’s pregnant with Zagreus, you better believe they’re the first in line to congratulate them!

Thank you for all the questions!!

[sashi-ya]

𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 & 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬

⭒ pairing: prets! Eustass Kidd x f! reader. R 18+ ⭒ requested by @thegrandlinesimp 💖 ⭒ inspired on the song: 𝄞 Bruises & Bitemarks by Good with Grenades 𝄞 ⭒ tw: MDNI. fast and furious kinda au. car racing. little scene of "car accident". rough sex (duh) bruises, marks, hickies. masturbation. vag. "enemies to lovers". ⭒ masterlist a song + a character event

“Are you sure you wanna do this, (Name)? You hate Kidd…and he hates you…” “That’s why. And I’m sure I’m gonna win”

The heat mixes with the hard atmosphere of the party. Killer’s home on the top of the hill is packed with people you don’t really know; some are from your uni, others who knows.

It’s not easy to be the friend of whose best friend’s hate you. But there you are, a girlfriend by your side, and a ton of adrenaline ready to run through your veins.

The red haired “little shit” has always picked on you from the moment he met you. And you had no doubt that it was because he was jealous of you; maybe he thought you were taking his best friend away from him…

“Are you ready to lose, little shit?” he asks, grunting as you both walk outside with your keys in your hands.

“Is that you asking the question to yourself? How are you gonna face the humiliation, Kid?”

Kid looks to the side, smirking yet a little annoyed of your shit eating grin. You keep smiling, because the more you do, the more he gets in the mood of… destroying you.

Both unlock your cars; machinery that’s worth more than the whole place. The modifications to make them faster, powerful, fearless.

The sound of roaring motors… Kid says he is the best mechanic in town, but is he really? You are sure that one, is you.

“Be careful, Kid… you know, if you aren’t sure those curves downhill can be difficult to take…” you joke, even if you think you are best, he is an excellent driver, and his drifting skills are as good as yours.

He hits the gas, making his Punk Vice red car grunt with it. His huge back pressed against the racing seat, punk music blasting. Kid pokes the little dinosaur fossil head hanging from the rear-view mirror laughing.

“You should ask your friend to call 911 so they are ready once you can take the first curve, honey. I’m really worried you might end with some bruises tonight”

You give him a sharp sight, a look that could kill, eyes that make him gasp for a few seconds. Your beauty is undeniable, and not even him can resist it.

You look to the front and fasten your safety belts. Placing your hands on your wheel, you bite your lips, and taking a big gasp of air you get ready to risk your life and your car… “Shut up, Eustass and let’s go. It’s time. I won’t bet this time; I know I’m winning. Prepare yourself to admit publicly I’m better than you” you scream from your seat, and over the loud music he likes to play when he drives.

Cars ready, a new crime about to be committed. Drifting and racing is illegal, but you all care? Absolutely not.

Killer softly hits both hoods and laughs. “I still think you should get a room but if this is what you two think is foreplay I won’t get in the middle. Get ready, on the count to three…”

One. his feet on the gas. Your hand on your shift.

Two. a last side look, lustful and competitive from the side windows of your cars.

Three… wind on your hair, full throttle.

The first meters before the first curve downhill are wide enough to fit both cars, but once you get to the turn, someone must pass first or else you could fall to the side of the road.

You lift your foot from the throttle, giving Kidd the impression you are slowing down just to be careful. You can hear his motor roaring, as he probably has stepped over the gas to go faster. Speed might be needed, but he will have to slow down right before the curve, or he won’t be able to use the hand brake to drift. There, when his motions become slower and he needs more curve to let his car drift, you will accelerate, leaving him behind whenever the road becomes even more thinner.

And your plan, becomes successful. Like the dancing of two metallic birds, you are able to squeeze in between the mountain inner wall and his car. Sliding with a feminine delicacy, but with a driving supremacy that not even your tires can notice from how fast you do it.

Your look at him as you pass, seeing the way he becomes angrier… oh, so violent.

“Bye ~” you mouth, leaving him behind and getting ready for the next curve. “Men like you are so simple… haha!”

“BITCH!!!” he screams, hitting the wheel with his fist and red painted nails. He knows the first curve is decisive, the one that is able to take the first position most likely wins… unless you commit a mistake… Or someone makes you commit a mistake.

Your rear lights tempting Kid to hit them, a simple touch with his car while drifting and you will be off road instantly. Should he do it? Or should he lose and admit publicly a girl won against him?

You, absolutely in heaven from winning him and ignorant about Kid’s desires play with the odds by lifting your finger into your rear view and laughing.

Kid growls and his orange eyes cross yours for brief moments in the reflection. He looks scary, and for the first time you are afraid of what he will do.

Meters from the finish line, your heart pumping, and your foot willing to drown the accelerator into the car so you can separate as much as possible from his car.

However, the need of winning and the fear has blurred your mind and concentration has gone away because you aren’t noticing rocks that have crumbled from the mountain at the end of the road. Yet, Kid does.

“(Name), STOP!” he shouts from his car, stupidly believing you could hear him. And what he was planning to do to hurt you and he didn’t… now is what could save your life.

He hits the gas enough to get to the side and with a swift, yet delicate motion, hits the back side of your car forcing you to stop as much as you could.

The sound of metal parts breaking is like a dagger to your heart, but now there is nothing more important than to avoiding your car bump. And Kid knows you are well trained to do so.

Your back and arms hit the sides of your car, but you manage to stop properly without bigger lesions. Kid’s car stops right next to you.

He gets out, running to you, desperately trying to see if you are ok.

“(Name), (Name)!! are you ok? Don’t move!” he screams, trying to open your door.

You, still dizzy and agitated, shake the confusion of your sore body. “WHAT THE FUCK, KIDD? YOU ARE SUCH A BAD LOSER THAT YOU HAD TO HIT MY CAR?? YOU IDI-“

“No, you idiot! Look!!! The road!! If I hadn’t done it you would be dead right now!” he screams, when he is finally able to open the door and getting inside to take you out the car.  “Come here, are you ok? Does something hurt? You have blood on your arm but it’s just a scratch but still…”

You notice the way he nervously untucks your belts and try to check for your health so desperately. He takes you out in arms, promising he will fix your car but as long as you are ok he is ok with admitting you won.

You can smell the hint of sweat on his body, mixed with the ferrous one of your own blood coming from your nose. You are safe, it’s just a scratch… but being on his arms, with a chest so big, and your hearts pumping fast… two overflowing adrenaline spilling bodies, and the hate but the attraction…

“Kid… thank you I-“ you mumble, looking straight into his eyes. “Shut up. SHUT UP…” he grunts, fighting against his impulses and once again… losing. His lips crash into yours, what a brute.

You widen your eyes, but instead of resisting, you let your tongues dance in one concupiscent moment.

When the kiss breaks, he doesn’t doubt and places you inside his car. “Get inside, Killer will come and take care of your car” he commands, and even if you already knew, you nod giving him the right to be the one taking decisions.

He manages to slowly and carefully surpass the rocks that have fallen from the mountain, and soon you two are in the road again. Who knows where he drives, you don’t care.

You look at him as you wipe your bloody nose with the back of your hand, and then towards your legs. Kid’s hand lands on your thigh, squeezing right before parking on an old country house.

“Kid I…” you wanna say something. “Shut up” he says, making you laugh. Could he be embarrassed of this? of course he is… after all, he didn’t hate you.

His lips devours yours before coming out of the car, tasting the ferrous flavour of some left blood drops on your mouth. He runs his thumb once again over the commissure of his lips and indicates you to go down.

He walks around, getting to you. Kid’s imponent body tops you against the car side, with his hand resting on the window next to your face.

“You know, I wish I could claim those bruises as mine” he whispers into your mouth. “I can actually blame you, in the strict sense… however, what about leaving some more?” you playfully tell him, purring so sexily.

Both smirk in complicity and with a swift swish, his hands lift you up from your thighs sitting you on top of his hood. “I could fuck you on that house, but I prefer to do it over my creation… be proud, your ass is over my Victoria Punk”

“I feel honoured...” you joke, pulling him over you to kiss you with force. You grimace, something hurts on your body, but you don’t know, nor you care.

His mouth goes from yours towards your neck, mercilessly biting your flesh, leaving the marks you asked him to add. Kidd’s grunts make you tremble, his dominant aura seems enough to leave you breathless.

His hands rip your blouse off, exposing bouncing breasts that become a juicy temptation for him. Kidd gloats at your image, pouncing on you desperately.

As he nibbles on your nipples, he lifts your leg up from the side so that his crotch can hit yours. You can feel his hardness, becoming bigger and throbbing, grazing against the wetness forming inside your panties.

And suddenly every moment of rivalry turns into what it really was… desire, need for the other…

“Fuck me, Kidd” you whine, crossing your legs around his waist to pull him even closer.

“Beg for it…” he murmurs, pulling down your shorts, biting your inner thighs as he waits for the pleads.

“Fuck me now, fuck me please… I can’t- I can’t take it no more…” you moan, brushing his red spiky hair back. He looks hot, needy, sweaty. Kid is to you the embodiment of sexual desire and you are dying to try him.

Kid’s grin makes you tremble, he grunts victoriously and with his fingers he moves your panties to the side. Your dripping core appears before him as a holy grail, and he is not sure whether he wants to fuck you once for all or drink it all up.

Red painted nail slides inside your slit, hitting as it goes the upper wall of your entrance. Just one finger, and it makes your back arch… he knows exactly where to push, where you touch.  

Then, a second one, while he bites and pulls from your already swollen lips. You moan into his mouth, and he drinks all your pleasure at once. And while he does, his ragged black pants fall to the ground with his studded belt… because Kidd is a true punk, you know.

You can feel his hardness closer to your entrance. And even if he is not touching you with it, the warmth coming from his drippy cock makes you squirm in anticipation.

“Spread big for me, little shit… this time I will definitely let you end first~ ” he grunts, taking his fingers out of you and taking them to his mouth while pumping his dick with his other hand.

You feel like exploding already; the way he enjoys your taste could only give you a hint of how much he will love to eat you alive very soon.

“You… you little shit… you always end last…” you whine, receiving his dominant intrusion into you. Walls clenching, milking, sucking him to go deep.

He gives you such strong thrusts, you are sure you are gonna end up losing your ability to walk. And he goes so hard, that your nails carve marks into his wide back. You can feel his muscles moving as he moves in and out of you, grunting like a beast into your ear.

The hot surface of the hood isn’t even as hot as your bodies melting into one another, loving each other so lustfully under a moonlight night, with bruises and some new hickies all over your skin.

And you begged. And he delivered. Deeper. Rougher. Violently. Competitively.

Biting each other’s necks, leaving so many marks. Sweating, racing so strongly into ecstasy. Getting both to the end at the same time. Perhaps, you were better together… and not one against the other ~

[authorautumnbanks]

Stuck In Another World With A Demon Fox (Ch 4)

I’m going to die of hunger at this rate. My feet are heavy. My stomach will not stop grumbling. And Roharu keeps tossing looks over his shoulder as if to say I told you so. If I don’t eat something quick, I’m gonna either faint from the exhaustion or give in, and eat one of those shit-smelling fruits.

Ugh.

“Can you walk any faster?” Roharu asks with a sigh.

“I don’t have long legs like you and I’m hungry,” I grumble, moving even slower. Roharu acts as though the forest is targeting both of us when it is only targeting me. Why won’t the roots go after him for once? He has longer legs, and he’s probably rich in protein or something. Me? I would make an awful meal. “Can’t you find something that doesn’t smell so awful to eat? Like point it out to me and I’ll collect it.”

He slowly blinks his eyes.

I roll mine.

He’s just an ass.

“You’re some kind of fox. Doesn’t the smell bother you?”

“I see why your kind struggles so much. You fall for even the whims of fruit.” He snorts. “As foul smelling as it may have been, it would have filled you up at least until midday.”

“It was one fruit. Humans don’t survive off of one thing to eat. It’s not like meat.” Why is he acting as though he knows nothing of humans when he clearly knows that I am one? It should be obvious that humans need more than just one fruit to fill them up.

“I offered you a heart.”

I grimace. Yeah, I’ve been doing my best not to think about last night and how he just casually ate a heart like it was no big deal. He didn’t even cook it or put some kind of seasoning on it. What a savage. “It needs to be cooked, and hearts are not something that humans normally eat. At least I don’t.” Someone out there probably does, but I’ll stick to legs and breasts for my meats.

“Weak. Picky. And stupid.” He ticks off his fingers. “Am I missing anything else?”

“You’re about to miss your head when I’m done with you.” I flex my fingers. He snorts and I swear when he turns, his tail flicks me off. Ugh. “So, how do we get out of this forest? This whole region can’t be the undead, right?”

“No, only this area is of the forest of the undead. Though mages do travel wherever they please.” He shrugs.

“Wouldn’t a mage be a human? You said humans don’t frequent this area.” I glare at a misbehaving root. It slinks back into the ground. Yeah, nice try, buddy, but you aren’t getting a hold of me. Do these trees trap people so the undead can kill them? I haven’t seen any beasts since I’ve been with Roharu, so the trees must not go after them.

Or maybe the beasts are afraid of running into Roharu and his less-than-pleasant personality?

“Mages can be anything. They aren’t restricted to being human. Though most are above humans. It’s more so the control they have over their magic. Everyone has some form of magic within them. Can they access it, is the question.”

I huff. That last part sounds like a dig at me. I’m not from a place where magic is real. There are no flesh-eating rocks, or killer cupcakes, or annoying fox demons that think they know everything. “So, what I’m really hearing is that there are no inns in this forest and there is nothing to eat.”

“Why would there be an inn in a forest?” he deadpans. “You will find one in a town, not in an area in which the dead frequent. That is an awful business model.” He snorts. “Come stay here. The undead may snatch you from your bed as you sleep, but do not worry, we do not offer refunds.”

“I hate you.”

“And yet you travel with me.”

“Because where else am I supposed to go? You wouldn’t let me go.” I throw my hands up. We are getting nowhere. My stomach is still throwing a hissy fit over the lack of sustenance. My pride is wounded over the failed portal. And Roharu is pressing my buttons. “The portal wouldn’t work. I couldn’t find the one that sent me here. And this forest keeps messing with me.” I kick at the root and speed walk closer to Roharu’s side. Seriously, why can’t they target him instead of me? I have done nothing but exist.

“If I take you to an inn, there will be ground rules.”

I perk up. He’ll take me to an actual inn, where there is edible food and maybe a hot bath? “I’m listening.” I flash him a smile, but he grimaces instead. One of these days, I’m gonna smother him in his sleep.

“One, I do all the talking. Your mouth is foul, and you say things that make little sense. Two, do not run off on your own. There are things out there worse than the undead. Three, no talking—”

“You already said no talking.”

“And you’re already failing.”

“We’re not at an inn!”

“Four, you will tell me everything I want to know. And five, if you wish to make it to a town before nightfall, then I will have to carry you. We’re on the edge, but there’s still a great deal of distance to cover.” Roharu looks up at the sky and frowns. He crosses his arms. “Perhaps it will rain.” He sighs. “Come here, lest you wish for me to throw you over my shoulder again.”

“That was very uncomfortable.” I hesitate for a moment and then shrug. If he wanted me dead, he would have done so a long time ago. He could have even split the coin with Cupcake. “You won’t get tired from carrying me like this, right?” I throw my arms around his neck as he lifts me bridal style.

“I’ll drop you if I do.”

I splutter. “No! That’s not what you do.” He glances at me. Huh. His eyelashes are long. That’s so not fair. It’s just my luck that I get stuck in some other world with a hot dude, but he’s a dick. “What?”

“Nothing,” he says simply, before dashing off. The scream gets caught in my throat. I press my face closer to his chest. We’re moving way too fast and I’m a little nauseous. Roharu doesn’t slow down. If anything, his speed increases. A smarter person would look to see where we are going, but the rate at which we are moving is too much for me. If I look, I might actually throw up.

I don’t know how long we travel or how far, but it’s only when Roharu slows down that I turn around and peek at our surrounding.

Oh.

We must be on a cliff because I can see what looks to be a small town... oh, those aren’t the kind of buildings I’m used to. I pinch my arm. Ouch. Yep, still here. This still isn’t a dream.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking to see if I’m dreaming, but it’s not a dream, sadly.”

“Do you remember the rules?” He walks to the edge of the cliff and jumps down.

My heart jumps to my throat. My mouth is open, but no sound comes out. I’m shaking. I can’t stop shaking. We just jumped. I don’t even know how many feet, but if it had been me, my neck would have broken. Roharu is unfazed. He carries on as though he just jumped from one step to the next.

“Warn me next time,” I choke out.

“Heights scare you?”

I smile, but it’s tight. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever been first in line for a rollercoaster.”

“Roll-ar-cos-ter?”

“Roller coaster,” I repeat, slowly. “It’s a huge machine. Kind of.” My brows pull tight together. “There are like cargo ships that people sit in, and there are belts or straps to keep you from falling out. It goes up really high in the sky and comes back down at fast speeds.” He blinks. Okay. He has no idea what I’m talking about. “I remember the rules,” I sigh. “No talking and no running off. You have questions that I may or may not be able to answer.”

Roharu squints at me. “You’re being awfully docile. What are you up to?”

“I’m just hungry,” I grumble. “There’s an inn right over there and I want to eat and have a bath.”

He hums. “And how will you compensate me for this?” His eyes rove over my form. “You have no coin on you, from what I can tell.”

“How do you know I don’t have money?”

“Because you say things like money or cash, instead of coin.” He looks forward and strolls to the town that looks like it’s straight out of an old movie or one of those horror games. Roharu seems unconcerned, so I should keep my cool, too.

Act like I belong here.

I frown. Who am I kidding? I stick out like a sore thumb.

“I can walk now.” My feet are asleep.

“No.”

“No?” I push back against his chest. “I can walk. This is embarrassing.”

“Then swallow your pride and allow me to carry you in.”

“But why?” I whine. Being so close to him is not good for me. He smells like cedarwood and cinnamon. I sniff, discreetly. At least I hope I am being discreet. “I’m not hurt, and we’ll get looks.”

“Let them look. It’s to establish something.” He doesn’t elaborate and no matter how many times I poke his cheek, he doesn’t give in. Establish what? That I refuse to walk on my own or that he refuses to let me walk on my own? The sun sets and the sky is a beautiful purple.

As nice as the setting sun is, these stares are not. I bite my tongue. There aren’t any humans in this town. At least none that I can see. There are men and women with long fluffy ears similar to Roharu’s. Some have ears like elves. Green and red people with long snouts and even larger feet.

I blink.

At this point, Roharu can say that we traveled to an alien planet, and I would believe him. I see every creature but another human.

“Don’t stare,” he whispers. “I’m in no mood to fight.”

I snap my attention to him. His face is stonewalled. The easygoing nature is gone. I shrink into myself and suck in a breath. No one seems hostile, but Roharu puts off an air as though he’ll slit anyone’s throat that comes next to him. He wasn’t even this hostile to Cupcake, though then again, Cupcake is a cupcake, so he must have never seen him as a threat. There’s a lot I want to say, but I keep my mouth shut.

Roharu kicks open a door, which I guess is for an inn. The writing is weird. I can’t recognize any of the symbols, which is great. I’m stuck in a world with magic and beasts, and I can’t even read the language. It’s a miracle I can even communicate with the beings here. God, I don’t even want to think about how much of a headache it would have been to communicate with Roharu with just hand motions.

“What can er’ do for ya?” a male with three horns coming out of his face asks. His eyes are pitch black. He is as a pale as Roharu. The male glances at me and then back at Roharu. “Come to drop somethin’ off?”

“Came for a room. One for the night.” Roharu sets me down and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out some gold coin and sets it down on the counter. “I want food and I don’t want to be disturbed.” He leans forward, and the innkeeper tilts his head before smiling.

I resist the urge to turn around and flip off everyone staring at me. The atmosphere is unnerving. It’s as though everyone came to a halt at the sight of us. Or rather, it must have been Roharu kicking the door open.

The innkeeper takes the coin and then pulls out a key. He slides it across the counter. There is a symbol on it. Perhaps a room number? Roharu takes it and cracks his neck.

“These for the human?” The innkeeper sets a box on the counter. Oh? A gift. My fingers twitch. Roharu’s glare stops me.

Uh? I can’t accept gifts now?

“I like my females willing.” Roharu throws an arm around me and ignores the box on the counter. “Food and privacy,” he repeats. “I will have your head if you do anything to piss me off.”

My blood goes cold. Why is he threatening the innkeeper? We’re going to get kicked out! But the innkeeper shrugs and waves us off. I bite my tongue, though I want to give Roharu a lashing. What the hell was that? He only pulls away when we arrive at our room. He motions for me to walk in first as he looks down the halls.

“Uhhh...” I snap my mouth shut. There’s only one bed. The door closes behind me and Roharu strolls in with that same easy-going swagger as before. “Uhhh? Hey, there is only one bed here.”

Roharu slides off his long black gloves and sets them on the small round table. “Naturally, we’re lovers.”

WE’RE WHAT?

[niko-jpeg]

hi. merhog silver artist here and sorry for suddenly appearing in your asks but PLEASE feel free infodump about benthic areas in my tags. if you want. no pressure (⁠◕⁠ᴥ⁠◕⁠) (I think learning about the environment/planet is cool) (and i will use this knowledge to think about merhog silver in Situations™️)

MY TIME HAS COME :D!!!! Thank you so much, I would love to talk about the bottom of our oceans. I love mer aus because I have a special interest in the ocean and it’s biosphere, and I’m glad you’re open to my insanity fhskbslauslsj!!!!

So the ‘benthic zone’ is really an umbrella term for the sea floor, or the floor on any body of water. In this case in the Mariana’s Trench, the bottom layer would be below the “Abyss”/abyssopeleagic zone, in a zone called the Hadal Zone. That’s where Challenger deep is!

Deep sea zones are always very full of life, even if it doesn’t look it. Because of the extreme pressure, in a fictional setting Silver would have to spend a lot of time repressurizing and whatnot on the way back to the surface to not accidentally kill himself with the expansion of oxygen in his blood and also his tissue could turn to mush (I mean, take a look at the blowfish). Realistically, an animal that can go that deep probably can’t go to the surface, but since this is a fictional hedgehog mermaid, creative liberties can be taken out the wazoo. So feel free to pick and chose which details you keep and do away with for plot or situations ™ reasons!!

The ecosystem on the benthic areas of a body of water can vary, depending on how deep the water goes. In a No Light zone, as I like to call them, you begin to see animals with bioluminescence, and this luminescence can vary in color, as it serves a different purpose for each animal. Some may have red, which they have developed a special eye to see (as red is the first color to fade when you start to dive. I did a fun little activity showing this off in my marine science class, it turns almost a brownish), or the bioluminescence may be blue, which is the color that sticks around the longest. It depends on the animal and purpose, and for a character like Silver, maybe if he possesses bioluminescent traits (like in his hands, quills, where ever) it’s for warning off anything that may try to eat him. Though, in a real setting, a creature as big as him down there may be the apex.

Speaking of apex predators and whatnot, I’ll talk about the ecosystem! Most food is provided to the animals so deep through marine snow (excess nutrients that have fallen to the floor from the surface) and whale falls, which are when whales die and drift to the bottom. They will then be a source of food for months, and every creature, from the initial fish who get the muscle tissue to the bacteria that eat the bones, everyone benefits from the death! In a fictional setting, there is a chance you could have creatures in the deep terrorizing Silver, or he could be from an are with a lot of hydrothermal vents, which have their own ecosystems as well, though mostly of the krill and plankton variety. But they are EXTREMELY hot.

Silver, by the looks of it, may eat the flesh from the whale falls, other fish, crabs, and scavenge whatever corpses he may find. He also may be a slightly slower mer to begin with (which kind of matches his in game lack of speed in his levels in 06), as energy is a rare and valuable resource. If he continues to have psychokinesis, he may use it to speed boost and defend himself, or not understand the extent of his own abilities until in a photic (light) zone, like in a reef, which I’d imagine is what Green Hill would be. He might make himself sick hunting and eating whatever he can find in a safer environment, because wow! So much food, so much energy.

The deep isn’t quiet either! It has the echos of everything above it, and though the sand may cause a little dampening, it’s certainly not silent. I think he could probably be able to flare his quills too, as well as flatten them to streamline. But it is lonely down there. Animals don’t cross paths too often outside of hunting or going to a whale fall, and Silver may be on his own a lot of the time, which is sad :( hopefully he makes some friends closer to the photic zone. Maybe light may hurt his eyes a little? He’s spent his whole life in the dark with a limited color palette, so it’s a possibility! If you have any questions about anything ocean related, feel free to ask!! I’d love to share. The ocean is a wild and fun place, and mer aus make me so happy because it shows that people are willing to give it a chance, and by extension, spread knowledge and an adoration with the ocean.

Thank you for letting me ramble <3

[five-rivers]

Pearls

AO3

@jackdaw-sprite

TW: Noncon body modification

.

Events could be considered to be separated on spacelike, timelike, or lightlike intervals, relativistically speaking.  In an event pair separated by a lightlike interval, light could travel directly from one event to the other.  When an event pair is separated by a timelike interval, one could travel slower than the speed of light and still reach the second event.  If events were separated by a spacelike interval, one could not get to one event from the other without traveling faster than the speed of light.  

In Long Now, Clockwork’s lair, the clocks were set to tick as close to simultaneously as possible in a relativistic multiverse.  The ticks were separated by a spacelike interval.  

As sound traveled much, much slower than light, this meant that Long Now seemed to be permanently full of echoes.  Ticks and tocks, bells and chimes, all reaching a listener’s ears one after another.  It created a constant, soothing sound that verged on a tactile sensation, making time seem less a segmented construct and more a natural flow.  

Danny loved it.  

He hadn’t at first.  But then, at first he had still associated Long Now with nearly getting killed (again), the deaths of everyone he loved, and Dan.  Nothing pleasant.  

But he’d come back later, because of Vlad’s stupid ecto-acne spray, and then because he felt guilty about only visiting Clockwork when he needed something… and about being rude about it…  Then he’d just kept coming back.  He liked Clockwork, and Clockwork seemed to at least tolerate him.  Possibly more than that.  Apparently, Long Now could only be found if it wanted to be found and, well…

Danny found it pretty often.  

That meant Clockwork wanted Danny to be there.

Probably.  

He didn’t know much about ghost lairs, had never had his own lair, but he had the vague impression that they were supposed to follow the will of their ghost.  He should probably try to learn more, being half ghost and all, but where would he find the time?

He giggled.  

“I hadn’t realized you found math so amusing,” observed Clockwork, wryly.  

“It wasn’t the math,” said Danny, looking up from his textbook.  “I started thinking about something else.”

Clockwork hummed, the sound resonating with the constant noise of Long Now.  “I see.  And what were you thinking of?”

“Time being relative.  Do you have any relatives, by the way?  I never see anyone visit you.”

“Ghosts rarely visit one another’s lairs.”

Danny made a face.  “That’s not an answer.”

Clockwork drifted closer to Danny and ruffled his hair.  “Simply because you do not have the tools to interpret it does not mean it isn’t true.  Speaking of relatives, it may be time for you to return to yours.”

Danny blinked.  “Is it?”  He turned to look at the nearest clock and blanched.  He’d zoned out hard.  “Sorry, got to go!”  He didn’t bother to stand up from his spot on the couch, instead transitioning directly into flight.  He was late.  

.

Clockwork’s comment about ghosts not visiting each other stuck with him, but he didn't revisit it right away.  There weren't a lot of ghosts Danny could just go visit on a whim, after all, and he had other things to visit.  Like Clockwork.  

And if he said 'visit' too many more times, even inside his own head, it would stop sounding like a word to him.  

It was just… nice to relax in Long Now.  Take a nap.  Read a book.  Get homework done without being afraid he would get attacked.  Sure, he could only stay for an hour or so at a time, he had responsibilities back home, but it was nice.  

“Daniel, I have something for you.”

Danny looked away from the tiny glass clock he’d been squinting at.  “For me?” he echoed, surprised.  

Clockwork hummed in agreement and produced a pair of small boxes.  “Two things, actually.”

Danny straightened himself.  Giving him something - two somethings - went beyond just tolerating him.  

“Will you take off your left glove and roll back your sleeve?”

“Okay,” said Danny.  He tugged his glove off, pausing for a minute at the sight of the lightning scaring that danced over his fingers.  It was nothing compared to his chest, but still…  He shook the thoughts away and rolled back his sleeve.  

Clockwork reached over as soon as he’d done so, wrapping something snuggly around his wrist.  Something soothingly cold, almost icy, and circular settled over his pulse point.  Clockwork made a sound of satisfaction and pulled away.  

A silvery wristwatch with a black band sat on Danny’s wrist.  He touched the face of it, pressing its coolness deeper into his skin.

“Thanks,” he said, sincerely.  “But shouldn’t it be on the outside of my glove?  You know, to see it?”

Clockwork smiled and pulled up Danny’s sleeve.  “I think it can be our secret.”  He took Danny’s glove from his other hand and gently spread out Danny’s fingers so he could put the glove on.  “It will be there if you need it.  But there’s one more thing.  Will you turn human for me?”

Danny responded with the action, and Clockwork opened the second small box.  It was a second watch, this one in more muted, neutral colors.  Wordlessly, Danny offered up his wrist, and Clockwork fastened this one in exactly the same spot as the other one.  It felt the same, too, the comfortable tightness of the band and the frigidity of the back of the watch body.  

Clockwork stepped away, and Danny switched back and forth a few times, entranced by the new point of similarity between his two forms.  

“Do you like it?” asked Clockwork, his voice rich with veiled amusement.  

“Yes,” said Danny, switching one more time.  “I love it.”

“I’m glad.”  Clockwork tilted his head to one side.  “I was wondering if you would help me with a small thing.”

“Sure,” said Danny.  “What is it?”

“Just another set of hands to hold the molds steady while I pour the wax.”

“Wax?”

“Time has more trappings than just gears.  I garden, too.”

That seemed like a nonsequitur, but the image of Clockwork kneeling (coiling?  What would it be called for him, anyway?  Danny had never seen him form legs, just a ghostly tail) in a bunch of dirt, digging holes with a teeny garden shovel thoroughly distracted him.  

They entered a warm room with lots of pots steaming over various burners.  Some looked ancient, cast iron things with pitted surfaces.  Others were plasticky enamel, almost futuristic.  The burners, too, had a great deal of variety, from open flames to electric heating pads.  

On the other side of the room was a table filled with hollow objects.  Most of them had a small stick or rod over their open tops, holding strings that dangled into their depths.  

“You’re making candles!” observed Danny, feeling rather foolish for not realizing before.  

Clockwork nodded as he picked up and swirled a pan.  “Yes.  I had just finished setting up the wicks when you arrived.  Now, if you will bring me the tallest one…”

.

Danny woke up, blinking blearily at the glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling of his room.  

Why was he awake?  Not his ghost sense.  He’d know if he’d been woken up by his ghost sense.  He was a far cry from the days when Spectra could fool it by lowering the thermostat.  

He stayed still, watching, listening.  

Tick, tick, tick, tick--

What was--?  Oh, it was the watch Clockwork had given him earlier that day.  Yesterday?  He looked down at the slightly glowing watch face.  Yesterday, then.  It sounded louder in the quiet of the night.  

He rolled over, adjusting his position so that the watch rested on the pillow in front of him.  He gazed at it for a few seconds, breathing slowly, then, on a whim, used the fingers of his right hand to find his pulse in his neck.  

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale--

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum--

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick--

It was like one of those anti-stress breathing exercises Jazz was always trying to get him to try.  He watched, keeping time, the second hand making its way around the clock face, his eyes half lidded, unfocused.  Gradually, the three rhythms aligned, became one.  It stayed that way, the synchronization seeming to gel the moment like being caught in amber, everything persisting in a state of perfect, progressive, resonant sameness forever.  

Inside Danny’s chest, there was a shift.  

He fell asleep.  

.

Ghost hunting was a lot of things.  Frustrating, worrying, painful, etcetera, etcetera.  It was also grimy, more often than not.  Danny couldn’t count the number of times he’d been thrown into dumpsters, toilets, or worse.  For people who could phase through the ground, the sewers were always right there.  

Sure, he could phase most gunk off of himself with a thought, but it was the principle of the thing.  

Today had been mostly clean, but he swore he could still feel the concrete dust from the condemned building he’d been thrown through.  He needed a shower, and this was coming from him, a teenage boy, so it was serious.  

He walked straight from the entryway to the bathroom, shedding backpack and shoes on the way.  He started to strip and then remembered the watch. 

He should take that off, shouldn’t he?  Clockwork hadn’t said if it was waterproof or anything.  

He turned his hand over, looking for the clasp or buckle.  There wasn’t one.  He paused, still feeling the cool-cold circle of the case back pressing against his inner wrist.  It had never warmed up.  

How had Clockwork gotten it on, then?  He hadn’t slipped it over Danny’s hand, he’d remember that.  Was the connection just well hidden?  He rubbed his fingers over the outer band, searching.  No…  Maybe Clockwork had phased it on?  He would have thought he would’ve felt that, but maybe he’d just forgotten…

He turned his wrist intangible and pulled.  It stayed in place.  He turned the watch intangible and pulled.  It still stayed in place.  

“Nice trick,” muttered Danny, thinking.  

Maybe he was supposed to just slide it over his hand.  He pushed at it.  It stayed put.  

Danny stuck his pointer and middle fingers under the watch band and ran them all the way around his wrist.  He could do that, even if the band wasn’t very elastic, but when he tried to slide it off again, it stayed stubbornly in place.  

He glared at it.  “How am I supposed to take you off, then?”

Tick, tick, tick, said the watch.  It wasn’t the all-encompassing sound of Long Now, but it was calming.   

Danny shrugged.  “Well, Clockwork would have said something if I was meant to take you off.”  Danny would certainly have to say something to Clockwork, next time.  He couldn’t just have things stuck on him, after all.  

He climbed into the shower.  

The next time he visited Long Now, he’d forgotten all about not being able to take the watch off.  

.

The eternal ticking of Long Now felt more unified where he stood in the center of the courtyard garden.  It was more obvious, like this, that the watch around his wrist had the same beat.  He swayed with it, half asleep.

The air was thick and drowsy with ectoplasm, pollen, the scent of flowers and ripe fruit.  Every tick echoed through his ribcage.  Every chime reverberated through his whole body.  

“Daniel?”

He trilled a question, a sound he’d mostly only heard from curious blob ghosts, too sleepy to be embarrassed by it.  

Clockwork chuckled and brushed a gloved hand against Danny’s cheek.  “If you’re that tired, you can rest.  You don’t have to help.”

But Danny wanted to help.  He leaned into Clockwork’s touch, feet lifting off the ground.  The touch continued to withdraw and he continued to float after it, until he had floated into… He opened his eyes.  Clockwork was tucking him into a fork between two thick and gnarled tree roots.  

Danny chirped in confusion and tried to rise, but one of the tree’s lesser roots kinked and twisted around his ankle and Clockwork put a hand against his chest, pushing him back down.  A vine inch up from the ground near Danny’s hip, reaching across his torso.  

“Rest, Daniel.”  

The sound of the clock in Clockwork’s chest was loud and deep.  It stayed even when Clockwork moved away.  

.

Being a hero was hard sometimes.  

Okay, a lot of the time.  That was why he liked going to Clockwork’s to de-stress when hanging out with Sam and Tucker didn’t quite cut it.  

‘Hard’ sometimes included ‘painful.’  ‘Painful’ rarely came without something called ‘injuries.’  

Danny stared at the green-dripping cut in his side.  It was already healing, but there had been something metallic in there.  Which was weird, because he hadn’t been fighting a ghost that used weapons, and he hadn’t been thrown through a building or anything.  

How long had it been there?  It was bad, right, for something metal to have been inside him for who knew how long?

He phased his hand through, trying to find it. 

Nothing.  

He couldn’t find it.

.

The next time he went on an extended trip into the Ghost Zone, he didn’t go to Long Now, but to the Far Frozen.  Part of him would have preferred going to Long Now, but Clockwork, as great as he was, wasn’t a doctor.  As far as Danny knew, anyway.  

Maybe he was a doctor.  He was, as Danny had learned over time, a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker.  And a gardener.  On top of everything else. 

But he probably wasn’t.  And Frostbite was.  So, to the Far Frozen he went. 

“I think I have something stuck in me,” he explained.  “I saw something metal inside me last time I got cut in a fight, but it healed up and I couldn’t find it later.”

"That is troubling, Great One," said Frostbite.  "We will do scans of both your forms and see if we can find any discrepancies with what we have on file.  If we find anything, we can discuss what to do about it then."

"Okay, that sounds good," said Danny.  "Where do we need to go?"

.

“Ah, you should take off the watch as well, Great One.”

“Oh,” said Danny.  “They don’t really come off.”

The furrow of Frostbite’s brow ridge was visible even past the bulk of the machine he standing behind.  “They don’t?”

“Yeah, I have one in each form.”

“Where did you get them?”

“A friend.  Do I really need to take them off?”

“No,” said Frostbite after a moment of thought.  “It should be fine.”

.

“Alright, Great One,” said Frostbite, after he had called Danny back in from playing in the snow with some of the younger yetis.  “We found what you saw, but…”

“Is it bad?” asked Danny, shaking the snow off himself.

Frostbite nodded to a bench set against one wall of the room.  “You may want to sit down.”

It was bad, then.  He sat down obediently, if nervously, folding his hands together in his lap.  

Frostbite clicked a few buttons on his computer, bringing up a pair of pictures.  “These are the last scans we did of your forms.”

Danny nodded.  He recognized them.  They were similar, overall, but his organs and bones in his human form were darker and more sharply defined, and his ghost form contained the crystal of his core.  

“These next two are the ones we took today.”

The one of his human form looked mostly the same, but the other…

“What-- What are those?  Are those gears?” he asked, aghast.  “Are those chains and springs and--”  He broke off, recognizing some of those arrangements even as they contorted themselves around the remains of his organs.  “Oh my gosh.  Oh my gosh, did he do this?  Did he-- When?  How?  I don’t…”  He didn’t understand.  “How did this happen?”

“You have been spending a lot of time in another ghost’s lair.”

Danny nodded, not quite trusting himself to answer.  “So what?” 

"Great One…  Danny.  Me and my people, we are all ghosts, yes?"

"Yeah?"  His voice cracked in the middle of the word.

"We are all dead."

Danny nodded.  

"All at different times, in different places.”

“So?”

“So, don’t you wonder why we, all of us here in the Far Frozen, look the same?”

Danny frowned up at Frostbite.  “I thought that you were together because you looked the same.”

Frostbite shook his head.  “No.  We look the same because we are here.  The Far Frozen has shaped us this way.”  He sighed.  “More accurately, I made the Far Frozen.  It was my lair, originally.  And when others came, they were changed.  That is what lairs do, for their ghosts.”

“Change people?” asked Danny, uncomfortable.  He hadn’t been to the Far Frozen nearly as often as Long Now, but what if he was being altered by being here, too?

“Try to make things more comfortable.  Try to make them… happy.”

“What do you mean?”

Frostbite sighed and sat next to Danny.  “Do you know how pearls are made?”

“Oysters make them, right?”

“Sometimes.  Other mollusks do as well.  But do you know why?”

Danny shrugged.  “Something about sand getting into them?”

“Sometimes.  More generally, a pearl is made when an irritant gets into the mantle folds of a mollusk.  The irritant can be anything.  Sand, as you mentioned.  A parasite or tiny organism.  Even shed pieces of the mollusk itself.  Over time, the mollusk will secrete nacre to cover the irritant.”

“You know a lot about this.”

“I knew people who dove for pearls.  I developed an interest.  The nacre forms in layers, a little bit at a time, coating the irritant, the intruder, until it is no longer an irritant.  Until the layers have hardened, and what is left is something little more than an accretion of nacre.  Beautiful, smooth, and fitting right in.  That is what lairs do, whether their ghosts ask for it or not.  That is what is happening to you.”

Frostbite tapped a claw against Danny’s chest.

“The power of this lair you are visiting so often, it is building up around your core, changing how it interacts with things.  It has been doing that all along, every second of every minute you stay there.  You simply had not noticed until now.”

Danny swallowed.  “Oh,” he said.  “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It is neither good nor bad.  It simply is.”

“Can you do anything about it?”

“I’m afraid not, Great One.  Interfering with something so close to a core would be difficult and risky.  No one I know would chance it.”

“Can I do anything about it?”

Frostbite hummed.  “If you don’t go back, it should wear away, eventually.  Or if you grow in power fast enough, the layers may crack… but that is all.  And what you decide to do… it is up to you, Great One, as it was up to my friends who joined me here.”

“Was?  Don’t you mean ‘is?’”

“No, I’m afraid not.  Think, Great One.  Do you not think that a friend leaving might not also be considered an irritant?”

“So, it’s not just, um, my body,” said Danny.  

“Of course not.  A ghost’s core is like their brain.”

“Have you noticed- Have you noticed anything different about me, other than…”  He gestured at the scans, helplessly.  “You know, about how I’m behaving or anything like that?”

“You are, perhaps, a bit quieter,” said Frostbite, after thinking for a long moment.  “But whether that is because that is part of you that has been changed or because you are, naturally… surprised about these developments, I could not say.  If there’s anything else, I could not say.  It is very reasonable to think that there may be no changes at all, if the lair’s ghost finds you enjoyable as you are.”

Maybe… Maybe Clockwork did.  Maybe Clockwork didn’t know his lair had been changing Danny.  Maybe he’d thought Danny had been safe.  

Maybe.  

But Clockwork could see the future.  He had to know.  

.

Danny landed on the threshold of Long Now, too nervous to go any further.  The interior was darker than it usually was, but he could see Clockwork inside, silhouetted against a time screen that showed only static.  

“Hello, Daniel.”

“Why?” asked Danny.  

“Why what?  I am not a mind reader, Daniel.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Clockwork was quiet for a long moment, and Danny leaned backwards, ready to take off, ready to run.  

“I tried to, at first,” said Clockwork, quietly.  “Tried to turn you away.  Tried to give you some warning.”  Clockwork turned slightly.  “As I said, ghosts do not often visit one another.”

“You call that a warning?”

“I do enjoy your presence.”  He turned around the rest of the way.  “Your company.  You enjoyed mine as well.  You kept visiting.”

“And that makes it okay?  You even gave me these things to hide that I was ticking!”  He ripped off his glove and waved the watch at Clockwork.  

“Perhaps not.”

It wasn’t really an apology.  Danny didn’t expect one.  

“What else did you do to me?”

“Long Now.”

“What?”

“Long Now did it to you, not I.”

Danny balled his fists.  “What.  Else.  Changed?  I mean, for all I know, the only reason I’m enjoying anything or still visiting is because I was already changed!”

“In my experience, the thoughts behind actions do not matter so much as the effects they have on the timeline.”

“So it doesn’t matter?  Is that what you’re saying?”

“Merely it would look the same from the outside, regardless of the reasoning.  I couldn’t tell the reasons from the results.”

“I guess that’s just great for you then, isn’t it?”  He breathed in, deeply, trying to stay calm and both hating and loving that it, too, was in time with the ticking of Long Now.  “Can you fix this?  Undo it?”

“No.  As Frostbite said, the best way to do this is to leave.  Leave, and don’t come back.  Ever.  But that is not the only option in front of you.”

“Isn’t it?”

“You could stay,” said Clockwork.  “I do like having you here.  I like you, Daniel.  I would show you what I do, how to do it.  I would teach you how to care for your gears, how to make them run smoothly, how to repair them.  You could be my student, my apprentice.”

The offer… should not have been as tempting as it was.  But Danny’s core sang that this… this was everything he ever wanted, wasn’t it?  A place to belong.  A way to be helpful.  Safety.  Something like family.  A home.

His human half, on the other hand, rejected that. Rejected giving everything up, giving up himself, giving up his home, his real home, his responsibilities and passions.  Rejected being changed.  Altered.  Unmade.  And for what?

And what if wanting it was just because of Long Now’s power pushing in on him, pushing down, influencing him even though he knew he could be being influenced?  He couldn’t tell.  

Clockwork was right.  It felt the same from the outside.

“Don’t think about what you should want.  Think about what you do want.”

Danny gritted his teeth.

“I want these off,” he said, pointing at the watches.  “I want them gone.  You don’t own me.  This place doesn’t own me.”

“I understand,” said Clockwork.  He flicked his hand and the watch was…  It was just gone.

“Thanks,” said Danny, rubbing his wrist.  He turned to go.  

“Goodbye, Daniel.  I will miss you.”

Danny stopped in the doorway.  He should say it, too.  Not ‘I will miss you.’  Goodbye.  It needed to be done, like cutting a thread.  No, a chain, all things considered.  A clean break.  Closure.  An end.  

Goodbye.  

One word.  That’s all.  

Simple.  

He looked over his shoulder.  Clockwork stood where Danny had left him, face set in shadows.  

Goodbye.

“I’ll see you later,” clawed its way out of his throat instead.

He fled.  

.

Inside Long Now, Clockwork sighed.  “Everything is as it should be,” he said.  He drifted deeper into his lair.  “Everything is as it should be.”

[gabriellerudessa]

Hourglass (Thaddeus x OC) - Part V

“Good. Keep watch, I need to get more from the storage.”

Goose speed up and out, and Thaddeus swallowed, forcing his feet to move and take her place by the stove.

Sure, he didn’t have to obey Goose, he was pretty sure he was about to be kicked out, but it was hard not to, with how she spoke, the mere thought of him not obeying not seeming to even cross her mind.

And well, if it gave him an excuse to expend some time being able to watch her without seeming like a creep before he had to go… Well. He was only human.

AO3 | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII |

PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE

Word Count: 5.656 (I have given up, Hourglass will have massive chapters and will probably be bigger than Compass from the look of things)

Warnings: none

V

The sounds around him of people getting dressed and the light shining on his closed eyelids roused him from a deep, dreamless sleep.

Oh God he was going to be late to his morning lessons.

Thaddeus jumped in his cot, and sharp pain spread across his forehead.

“Aw fuck!” He fell back into the soft mattress, massaging the sore spot, belatedly remembering he wasn’t in a cot in the Brotherhood base, but in a bunk bed in a ranch very far from the Salt Lakes of Utah.

How many fucking times he would startle awake, thinking he was still in the Base?

“Let me see.” A hand pushed his away, fingers thin and calloused as they felt around the spot, clinical and methodical. The soft voice, full of weird finality, was easy to recognize: Goose. “It didn’t cut the skin, that’s good. How you have been reacting to these types of things? Scaring like the wounds in the neck?”

He risked opening his eyes despite the pain. Goose was leaning close while still not under the upper bunk bed, hair a mess of low ponytail and long bangs around her face, the harsh light of the lamp dangling from the ceiling turning the white-blond into a halo. She was almost close enough for the tips of her hair to touch him, and warmth spread across his cheeks and ears.

Thaddeus forced himself to remember her questions.

“Uh… No, banging into things is just painful. No scaring.”

“Noticed any difference into how long it takes for it to stop aching?”

“A little faster, I think. But not much. But cuts and such almost don’t ache anymore.”

Goose nodded and carefully retreated, enough for him to notice she was again using the white apron.

“Warn me if it’s any different from what you noticed previously. And try to pay attention to what’s around you.”

“Will do. Thanks.”

Goose gave him a final nod and left, steps light against the wooden floor, the door closing softly behind her back.

Slower, he sat on the bed, taking care to shrink his head, and pulled his boots on, after briefly checking inside them – ever since what had happened with Dane he couldn’t stop himself from making sure. Thaddeus checked the door was still closed, and then checked his backpack, shoulders slouching in relief as he verified everything, from clothes to repair pieces to food to water to spare ammo was exactly as he had organized. Not even the broken radio was out of place.

He felt a little guilty at that, with them being part of Willow’s extended family, but he had gone through too much shit in the Base, and that habit had had four years to develop.

His hand reached under the pillow, loosely wrapping around the revolver’s grip, but he didn’t pulled it, not immediately. Half of him wanted to leave it there for multiple reasons: he was a lousy shot, it wouldn’t do much good in his hands; he also figured that if they would kill him, they could’ve done so as he slept, but hadn’t; Goose clearly would’ve had no trouble doing it if he didn’t heed her warning.

He heard the other half of him, the one remembering that he was still in the Wasteland. Even if the Bears posed no danger – and even if they did, six shots wouldn’t do good with bad aim –, there was always the chance of something appearing and giving trouble and a gun being needed.

Thaddeus got up, carefully pushing the backpack back under the bed – he would get it the moment he was kicked out, until then he would give his shoulders a rest – and left the bedroom, making sure to turn off the lamp.

The corridor was more illuminated than last night, in a softer way, enough for him to see a half dozen doors spread out. And then he noticed the light was because of skylights dotting the ceiling, metal sheets open, the lamps off.

He looked up, and the sky up there was just starting to get illuminated, dark blue becoming light blue, the moon disappearing. Early morning. There were sounds from the kitchen and a low rumble from the turrets outside, but otherwise the house was still silent.

Thaddeus followed the sounds, crossing the arch into the living-dining room, empty of people and illuminated by the same skylights with metal sheets open. He hadn’t noticed them last night, with how full the room had been and, probably, they all already closed.

The smell of burning wood reached him, and he finally looked towards the sounds: Goose, flitting fast around the kitchen area, reviving the fire in the wood stove and spreading pots and pans above it.

“Knows how to operate a wood stove?” She asked without turning, hands expertly opening a container and turning what he noticed to be leftovers from the previous night into a pot.

“Yeah. There was one in the farm I grew up.” Thaddeus’ hands folded his sleeves to his elbows by instinct at hearing the question.

It had been some years since he had manned a wood stove, but he still remembered his mom’s lessons as he helped her and Daniel preparing dinner – stop stop stop…

“Good. Keep watch, I need to get more from the storage.”

Goose speed up and out, and Thaddeus swallowed, forcing his feet to move and take her place by the stove.

Sure, he didn’t have to obey Goose, he was pretty sure he was about to be kicked out, but it was hard not to, with how she spoke, the mere thought of him not obeying not seeming to even cross her mind.

And well, if it gave him an excuse to expend some time being able to watch her without seeming like a creep before he had to go… Well. He was only human.

Some of the pans and pots had some food heating up already: the molerat stew and the cooked maize from the previous night, a thick onion soup by the smell, with small pieces of meat floating in it, a bunch of vegetables in a makeshift steam cooker…

Goose appeared back, balancing the containers with the leftovers of the roasted molerat leg and the salads, and some others that he didn’t recognize. She put them above the thin table, nodding with approval at seeing how he had organized the pots and pans, and he was pretty sure there was a small barely there smile in her lips.

Thaddeus felt his ears burn and snapped his eyes back towards the wood stove.

---------

Goose started mincing the rest of the meat from the roasted molerat leg with fast, practiced movements, an eye on how Thaddeus kept the wood stove under control – no hesitation, hands sure, even if his face showed a slight… Not exact fear. Apprehension, she decided. And not at the big kitchen knife she held, which, congratulations to him, considering her warning the previous night.

In retrospect, that one and the butcher knife in her drawer would be effective in cutting a head off… Better make sure they were all properly sharpened.

“There’s molerat fat and minced onions and garlic on these containers. Put it on that pan, it should be hot enough by now.”

“On it.”

Without her needing to give more directions, Thaddeus got a wooden spoon from the closest drawer in the counter and put a generous spoonful of the fat into the pan. It sizzled and melted, spreading around the iron. Just when the fat had totally melted he added a spoonful of the onion and garlic, the rich smell spreading through the kitchen as they sizzled.

So some experience with cooking beyond the use of a wood stove. Good to know.

“Aw shit, I missed this smell.”

“How so?” She prompted, if only to have something to hear while the rest of the family didn’t wake up.

Besides, her birth mom had taught her manners and Ma had reinforced them. Better exercise those.

“There was a sunflower farm not too far from the base, just some days away, so sunflower oil was cheaper than animal fat out there. It was fine for cooking, but never smelled or tasted as good.”

“But it needs more processing than animal fat.” Goose threw the molerat bone into the compost pot and approached the stove with the cutting board, adding the minced roasted molerat to the pan.

Thaddeus started mixing it all with the wooden spoon without prompting from her, movements practiced as he sautéed the meat and kept it all from burning.

“I don’t know the details, but they had built a machine for it. It was faster in extracting and everything else. They also had a deal with the Chapter, I think. Cheaper prices in exchange of repair pieces and protection.”

Goose heard with half an ear as Thaddeus kept going, the rambling Andrea had warned about. Her hands cut food and prepared more salads, peeled pinyon nuts and threw them to be roasted with fat and salt in another pan, cut off the grains of the cooked and cold maize and threw it into a bowl of salad, did new things with the leftovers from the previous night. His words had wandered off around how he had hoped to be sent to trade and help in the repairs in the sunflower farm, but only Scribes could and first he had needed to be at least a Squire, with luck an Initiate…

“I think the stew is hot enough. And the roasted molerat is looking good.”

Goose took a look at the pot and pan, confirming his words, pulling the lid of the makeshift steam cooker and using a fork on one of the vegetables. It sunk in softly.

“These are good too, let’s put them on the table.”

Thaddeus nodded, moving first to take the heavy pot of stew from the stove. Goose raised an eyebrow, watching him from her peripherals as she poured the steamed vegetables with the grains of maize in the same large ceramic bowl, the water aside. Thaddeus moved the pan towards the table too, and didn’t sneak a taste from any of them, despite clearly breathing deeply the smells.

She deviated her eyes to the pinyon nuts, the smell just right, and mixed them into the bowl.

“Here.” He took the large bowl wordlessly from her and moved it to the table.

“What we can do?” Stacy’s voice interrupted them, striding into the kitchen area with sure, elegant steps, the twins following behind their mother.

Stacy looked sleep deprived – undoubtedly worry about Moose; she never slept well while he was out, hunting, even if he had Moth with him. Her kids looked wide-awake – those two had more energy than half the Bear adults combined, no doubt about it.

“Coffee and was thinking of maize tortillas. They’ll go well with the molerat leftovers.”

“Wonderful.” Stacy looked at the twins. “Get going with the dough.”

The twins saluted their mom with a grin and scampered off, Evie getting the large metal bowl they used for kneading dough and the small flasks with dried herbs, spices and salt while Josh went towards the thin table, agile hands pulling the containers with the maize flour and the molerat fat, and lastly the pot with the water from the steamed vegetables.

“Help them, Thaddeus, three pair of hands will go faster.”

---------

Thaddeus smiled and nodded at Goose, dry-swallowing the moment he turned towards the thin table and the kids, the words from Isaac echoing in his mind.

Aw shit.

“Auntie, did he clean his hands?” The boy, Josh, asked, twisting his head to look at Goose, dark-red auburn hair snapping against his cheeks and forehead. Thaddeus winced.

He hadn’t. And his mom and the Initiate that oversaw the kitchen would’ve skinned him if he dared to cook without doing so.

“Oops.” Thaddeus forced a chuckle, sinking his hands in the wet soapy sand, scrubbing hard at his skin and rinsing fast his hands, ignoring the pinpricks of radiation as he watched the blocked drain.

His ears burned as Stacy handed him a clean rag to dry himself, her smirk easy to see and somehow all the more mocking with how her red hair was in a proper up-do. Probably because it remembered him of the old Senior Scribe that took care of the Base’s Archives and Library, one of the few high-ranking women in it; he couldn’t remember her name, but her white hair was always in that same up-do, always a smirk and twinkle in her eyes as if she knew he had porn magazines hidden under his mattress.

Aw fuck. Sure, he was probably going to be kicked out, but be remembered as the guy that didn’t clean his hands before cooking was downright the worst ever. Fuck.

“Alright kids, what do you need?”

The girl, Evie, her dark-red auburn hair braided and over a shoulder – it looked exactly like Marigold’s braid, he noticed curiously –, pulled him to stand in front of the bowl, the flaky maize flour already inside. She and her brother had serious, focused eyes on it.

“You will knead the dough.”

“While we add the fat, water and salt.”

“And spices, don’t forget the spices.”

“Yeah, Grandma loves them.”

The two spoke, perfect in how one finished and the other started, chuckling at the end. Thaddeus wasn’t sure who said what, their voices still around the same high and hard for him to differentiate – he doubted the family had the same trouble.

“All right then. Kneading it is.” Thaddeus put his clean hands inside the bowl. “Bring it on, kids.”

Josh and Evie nodded, dropping the salt, herbs and spices in the flour; Thaddeus mixed it fast, Josh already waiting with a big spoon of molerat fat. He opened a hole in the middle of the flour and nodded at the boy. The animal fat fell in it, and Thaddeus started squeezing it into the flour, until it was in sticky clumps all amidst his fingers.

“Water?” Evie asked.

“Yep.”

She nodded and carefully used a cup to pour the water inside the bowl. It still steamed a little, the color greenish from the vegetables, and Thaddeus immediately started kneading it into the sticky mix of fat and flour, movements practiced.

“Oh, you’re good at this.” Josh, throwing more spices inside.

“He is. More water?” Evie, a cup on hold, and Thaddeus grinned.

“Yeah. And thanks, I helped a lot where I grew up.”

More water added, and Thaddeus expertly twirled the bowl as he kneaded the dough one-handed.

“Tell us more.” The twins said in unison.

All right, that was a bit creepy.

“We baked bread. Mainly corn and potato, but others too.” He started, and the two nodded, attentive, and Thaddeus barely noticed as he kept going, talking about his mom teaching him how to bake bread and the big heavy iron pot she used to properly bake it in the lack of a proper bread stove. Talking and thinking about home didn’t hurt as much as it usually had ever since he had left.

Probably because the two didn’t interrupt, didn’t ask why he had left, didn’t ask details about his family, just watched, their eyes curious instead of judging, adding the ingredients as needed, nodding along his half detailed rambles. He even forgot the threat their grandpa had made.

The smell of the coffee made of coyote tobacco chew spread around them, and then Goose was there, looking over Josh’s head, and Thaddeus’ words fizzled out, swallowed as her grey eyes analyzed the dough.

A soft smile appeared on her lips, not a neutral one, lightening up her beauty, and his ears burned and he felt fucking embarrassed even if she wasn’t smiling at him or for him. Fuck, Thaddeus, get a grip.

“The dough is looking perfect. Kids, why don’t you get the plates while Thaddeus helps me with the tortillas?”

“On it!” The twins said in unison and disappeared from his sides.

Thaddeus swallowed and pulled the bowl closer to the stove, Goose ahead; there was only one pan left on it, the one they had used for the leftover roasted molerat. She added a dollop of animal fat in it, and Thaddeus pulled a small ball of dough, rolling and flattening it into a thin disk.

Goose twisted to look at him, and it was clear she was about to explain how she wanted it; instead she just blinked at the thin disk of dough, mouth closing.

“Here.” He offered it, ears burning.

“… Exactly like that. Thanks.” She nodded, barely smile there, and fuck, alright, it didn’t matter he was about to be kicked out, he was going to do his damn best in helping to get more of those.

Goose put the dough on the pan, the soft smell of maize and herbs floating in the air. He started on another disk of dough as she fried the tortilla.

---------

The rest of the food was already served, only the so called maize tortillas still being done, Stacy putting the ones ready at a plate at the table as he helped molding the thin disks.

The twins were already eating, sitting at the rug side by side, plates pilled the same and still taking things from each other plates – Thaddeus had never actually met twins before. Were them all like that, so… United at the hip?

The rest of the family appeared in small clumps.

First Catarina carrying a still bleary eyed Lily against her hip, asking in whispers what the little girl wanted and fixing one plate for each, a tortilla filled with a generous serving of the sauteed molerat and folded expertly one handed for each one and more.

Thaddeus eyes burned and he turned fast back to his work, biting the inside of his cheek – his mom doing the same with him when he was that size, he doing it for Rebecca, his little sister born when he was already eleven years old, the one Willow had never met and never would…

Stop, Thaddeus, stop.

“What about it?”

Thaddeus snapped his head back towards Goose; she wasn’t looking at him, instead turning the tortilla in the pan with a naked hand, as if the heat didn’t bother her – that he never would have the courage to attempt. Was she really talking with him?

“About what?”

“The bighorner cheese and milk your family would get at a discount.”

Aw fuck he had rambled on so much he didn’t even noticed where he had ended.

And wow. She was actually listening to him. With how she barely looked at him, eyes and face mostly turned and focused on cooking… Thaddeus had figured he was talking to the walls.

“Oh yeah.” He faked, Stacy getting the tortilla and he passed Goose another thin disk. His ears burned at the notion that she had paid enough attention to notice when he stopped.

The dough was almost finished, and he started talking about the bighorner shepherd and breeder that travelled around and always stopped to resupply at his parents farm. Thaddeus guessed it was where he had been at his rambling, and since Goose didn’t interrupt, he should be right.

Ed, Willow and Andrea were the next ones to appear, and Thaddeus could clearly see Willow had cried herself to sleep, the whites of her eyes reddened and the eyelids swollen. She hugged him, wordlessly and brief, twisted her nose at Goose – what the fuck? – and went to fix her own plate, slapping away Andrea’s hand when she tried to help. Thaddeus winced at it, his words not stopping, but Andrea and Ed just looked at each other and shook their heads.

Willow didn’t object as she took the middle seat in one sofa and they they sat on each side of her, the three huddling close as they ate and talked with Catarina.

Guadalupe, Isaac and Francesco were the last ones to appear, just as he, Goose and Stacy were wrapping up things.

Thaddeus’ words died as the older woman stared at him and raised an eyebrow. He gave her a brief nod of recognition, words stuck in his throat, and ducked his head to instead serve his own plate and a cup of coffee. His movements were fast as he did it and moved to sit, on the same sofa as Catarina but leaving the middle spot free, carefully maneuvering around Lilly, sitting in the rug with her back against her aunt’s legs – the girl ate slowly and without that much will. Picky eater or not an early bird?

He ate, hearing as Ed and Andrea took turns in talking about the Long 15, and ignoring how he could see Goose, Stacy, Guadalupe, Isaac and Francesco talking between themselves by the kitchen counter in his peripherals, Guadalupe’s eyes focused on him, eyebrows frowned.

Hadn’t she already decided on kicking him out? Why the delay? Not wanting to do it in front of Willow? Fuck.

It took almost ten minutes for them to approach and spread in the living-dining room side, plates of food in hand. Guadalupe and Goose took the mismatched chairs, Stacy and Isaac leaned on the other sofa and Francesco took the empty middle spot beside Thaddeus.

“Willow is almost five months pregnant.” Guadalupe started after swallowing a mouthful, looking straight ahead, and the talk stopped. “If you want, boy, you can stay until she gives birth. You’ll have until then to prove you’re not some empty-brained ex-Brotherhood of Steel.” She licked a drop of stew from a finger and finally looked at him, eyes un-amused, and Thaddeus dry-swallowed. “As you noticed, everyone here works to keep the ranch going. You better not slack off or I’ll kick you out before the time’s up. I ain’t happy until the baby is born, you’re out, and I won’t hear anything at that point, Willow.” She didn’t look at her daughter-in-law, but Thaddeus noticed Willow’s pout. “You manage to prove you ain’t useless and have a brain inside your skull, you can stay if you want. Got it, boy?”

Guadalupe went back to eating, still staring at him, and Thaddeus swallowed, forcing himself to speak up, high and clear. He was relieved at the chance, sure, but it was clear he wasn’t out of the fire yet.

“Got it, ma’am.”

“Just Guadalupe.”

“Got it, Guadalupe.”

She nodded once and looked at Willow with a raised eyebrow.

“Thanks, Guadalupe.” She said, eyes shimmering despite her pout.

Thaddeus remembered the raised voices they had heard last night, how Willow had stomped through the corridor. Aw fuck. Willow had done something for him to be given that chance, it was clear. What? Fuck.

All right. So he was doing that. He couldn’t disappoint Willow. He couldn’t. His recent past would disappoint her enough, his present had to be better.

Ed cleared his throat and lowered his plate for a moment, and Thaddeus forced himself to pay attention.

“With that out of the way, there’s some news Marigold and Norm shared with us that pertain to the whole family.”

“Spit it out, Eddie.”

“First, Nip-Nip and his second in command, James, are dead.” There was a subtle pause in the family’s rhythm of eating, and Thaddeus remembered how Marigold and Norm had told Ed about the attempted sabotage on their energy distribution.

“Did they saw it or was it word of mouth?” Francesco straightened beside him, eyes on his son.

“They did it. Nip-Nip and James captured the two in some ruins. Apparently there’s a bounty on Marigold, higher if alive, and they wanted it.”

“What the fuck?” More than one person said that, and the shock was clear in the faces Thaddeus could see.

“Yeah, apparently that last bunch of raiders she got surrounded with. One survived.”

“Motherfucker.” That was Goose, stabbing angrily at a piece of food, face all anger as she chewed on it. It was more anger than when she had warned him the previous night.

“So, captured. What them? Did Marigold-” Guadalupe started, a fervor in her voice that made Thaddeus frown; there was a mix of worry and despair in her face that he was shocked to be able to see.

“No. She didn’t need, didn’t have the chance. The bounty warns about it and Nip-Nip gagged her. Norm, however, managed to throw Nip-Nip and James against each other and they started shooting at each other.”

“That’ll be a fun story.” Isaac drawled behind Ed, emptying his plate. Ed grinned.

“Norm was all embarrassed while Marigold was all proud of telling it.”

“As it should be.” Catarina laughed beside him, Stacy alongside.

“Anyway, Nip-Nip died that day. James managed to run.”

“And followed them.” Thaddeus started, carefully. He was doing that. He needed to work, and he figured information could be included in it all. “He had gotten into your house, Catarina. Marigold killed him, and I threw the body in the dry riverbed.” He winced. “Considering he had stealth-boys on him, I’m lucky he ignored me when I was in the garden.”

“Didn’t you hear anything?” Isaac, eyes staring dead at him.

“Nothing. The man was good at walking silently.” He stopped for a moment, sipped his coffee. “Oh, did you left poisoned food behind?” He looked at Catarina and she stared at him as if he had two heads, fork on the way to her mouth.

“No? That ain’t my thing. Why?”

“Uh. There was a box of Fancy Lads by the table. James had eaten from it, from the looks of it. Norm warned me it was poisoned.”

The trio on the other sofa started laughing and they all looked at them.

“Fuck, they forgot to tell that. Norm is taking inspiration from you, Goose. Oh, and Norm sent you these, apparently some more recipes for your arsenal. I also managed to bring your holotapes, Catarina, let’s get them later.” Ed fished a bunch of papers from inside his leather jacket and extended his hand towards Goose.

Goose got them, plate balanced on her knees, eyes shining as she went over the papers.

Poisoned food? What the fuck? Cutting hands off, poisons, and who knew what else, with being a midwife and so on… Fuck. What she had of pretty she had of deceptively deadly.

Don’t fuck this up so you won’t end up with poisoned food on your belly, Thad.

“Oh, I’m lucky with this son-in-law.” Guadalupe chuckled, getting comfortable in her chair.

“What other news, Ed?” Francesco leaned forward with elbows on his knees.

“Vault 4.”

“What a Vault matter to us?”

“They took in Shady Sands survivals. And trade with trusted surface people.” Andrea finished her plate and looked at Ed with a slight smile.

“And some of those are Bernie and Tish.”

Guadalupe, Isaac and Francesco stopped immediately.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Marigold was pretty clear. Bernie and Tish, shoemakers. Sang praises about our leather. Got that Norm’s coat is your work, Ma.”

Guadalupe’s mouth opened and closed and a slight shimmer appeared in her eyes. Isaac stopped behind her, hand squeezing her shoulder, and Francesco touched his foot to hers, the only thing he could do sitting so far, and she leaned into them. The trust and love there burned but he only had his fucking plate to look.

“Fuck. Those are some amazing news.” Guadalupe said quietly.

“I gather Marigold got an invitation for us to trade with Vault 4. And gave you the location.” Isaac started, voice soft.

“Yep to both. There was also some fun information…” Ed grinned, big. “Something about Ma throwing things at Pa when pregnant with Marigold, something about Ma and Pa meeting Dad in a bar brawl back in Shady Sands…”

It was alcohol to the fire, the soft moment broken into curious screams and hollering, even the kids, mostly just hearing until that moment, taking part, Willow laughing at her in-laws, all asking for details, details, details. Thaddeus felt a small smile appear as he watched the scene, glad to be out of focus, glad to see the embarrassed look in Guadalupe’s eyes at the questions battered against her and the grins in Francesco and Isaac’s faces.

The Base never had that exactly family feel.

He didn’t want to fuck that up.

---------

Goose watched her family try to annoy Ma, Pa and Dad into detailing how exactly that meeting of Dad had gone as she finished her food, the notes weighting in her apron’s pockets – she couldn’t wait to go over them in details, see what she could glean from the additions and modifications.

Ma was having none of that and shut them all up, clearly embarrassed, ordering Ed to relieve Mika of watch duty – a clear punishment for bringing that all up, it was supposed to be Catarina’s shift. With how Pa and Dad were grinning, the story was a good one. Maybe if she asked carefully after telling the news about Willow’s twins, she could get the details. Or Dad, Dad had no trouble detailing things. Usually.

Ed left, fake pouting at Ma, and Mika appeared some minutes later, bleary-eyed and fixing a plate for himself as Ma distributed tasks.

Catarina was to help Francesco with the maintenance of the ranch, Andrea and Stacy were to take over the Tanning room, Willow sensibly was to take care of Berta and take a look at the inventory.

“And ya’ three have shooting practice.” Pa raised Lily over his shoulders, the small girl giggling as he walked towards the door, the twins following with a spring in their step.

“I ain’t cleaning if she throws up, Pa.” Catarina warned at their backs.

“Goose-”

“I’ll take over breakfast clean up before resuming my usual duties.” Goose nodded, carefully pilling the plates and cups.

“Thaddeus, you’re shadowing Goose today. Follow her orders.” Ma nodded at Thaddeus and got up. “I’m out for the Drying Room.”

Goose hadn’t been expecting that; the talk during breakfast had made clear that Ma would put him shadowing each member of the family each day the first few weeks, intending to get a better felling of his abilities and the individual impressions of everyone, but not that she would be first, even if it made sense.

Ma knew she was able to compartmentalize, treat him well as a guest should be treated while being able to act if he showed as a danger. The others… Dad clearly had already acquired a soft spot for him the previous night. Pa and Ma would just frighten him, even while following the guest rules. Andrea, Ed and Willow were clearly partial. Mika was out to sleep. Catarina was still annoyed and would mess up the guest rules the moment she was alone with him. Stacy was too sleep-deprived still to have the patience of teaching someone the tanning process from the scratch and would drown him in the chemicals.

And no way in hell he would shadow the kids.

It would be weird to have some near-stranger about to follow her around, attending all her orders.

Fuck. That was an uncomfortable thought.

The rest of the family disappeared, Mika sitting down to eat, the sound of shooting starting from outside. Thaddeus, without her needing to say anything, started moving the dirty dishes and cutleries to the counter.

“He’s staying?” Mika signed at her, chewing on his food.

“A chance. Until Willow gives birth.” Mika frowned, thick eyebrows shadowing his eyes.

“What did I miss?”

“I’ll update you after you get some sleep.”

Mika showed his tongue at her but nodded, and Goose twisted in place.

Thaddeus was finishing throwing the few scraps into the compost pot, and Goose nodded, taking a look at the leftovers: enough for lunch, maybe just some more tortillas and turn all the salads into a single one. The onion soup had ended. Better put the sautéed molerat and the stew back to the stove, a low heat would keep both fresh and hot for later, without burning. It would hardly be enough for dinner however; she would need to see what to cook for it.

Goose approached the stove, fixing the wood the right way, opening the heat escape a little more; Thaddeus had just finished pilling the dishes and cutleries close to the bowl of wet soapy sand.

“Low heat for the stew and meat?” Goose nodded, and Thaddeus approached with the pot of stew, the pan with the sautéed meat between it and the lid. “You know, the Brotherhood never got this way of keeping things, Goose-“

And then Thaddeus was rambling away how the Brotherhood was too much into tech and rarely got the tricks that people that didn’t have too much of it or water or energy did to live and survive and more.

Goose smiled, her back to him as she finished storing the leftovers; she wiped the smile out when she stopped beside him, rinsing the scrubbed items, not saying much. It was like having her own personal radio, just one that didn’t play music.

Mika handed his dirty things and signed to both of them.

“He’s saying that the food was good and wishing good night.”

“Oh. Thanks and good night…“ Thaddeus looked desperately at her, and Goose felt amused at it. She wasn’t going to hold the forgetting against him; the family was big, after all.

“Mika.”

“Thanks and good night, Mika.” Thaddeus beamed at Mika, and her brother nodded with a small tired smile, slapping softly his shoulder. He still signed one handed at her before leaving.

“He’s still afraid.”

Goose frowned at Mika’s retreating back, Thaddeus’ rambling background noise for some seconds, then looked back at the man.

Afraid.

Not just “afraid”, but “still afraid”. So that had been something Mika had noticed the previous night.

She hadn’t seen that. Still couldn’t see.

[synthetickitsune]

HELLOOOO i have a request :) please write something with gwi and reader! can be him being teasing or enemies with the reader or whatever and you can make it explicit if it fits i just rlly want to read one bc when i read ur fox one i was actually reminded a lot of gwi except he’d probably be x10 worse 😭😭

Honestly, I think I might write a longer piece as a follow up but for now, please accept this prologue!

Gwi (Scholar Who Walks the Night) | Caged angst | 1k

“Ah ah ah, what do we have here?”

You have no time to think about how you’d know the voice anywhere, or the sudden smell of blood. No time to wonder how he’s found you. You already knew it’s just a matter of time. For a man, a beast, more powerful than the king, nothing is impossible. Least of all killing one insignificant vampire hunter. 

So you don’t think, don’t give him an answer, which you know will only anger him more - oh, how he loves to play with his food - and instead do the only thing that can save your life right now.

The doors to the cage you’ve made close behind you and you secure it with the special string you’ve spent hours making from the same wood that makes up the cage. The hours of work, all the effort, the failures and successes are worth it when you back further into the cage, out of his reach, just as he stops right before the sharpened bars and hisses, taking a step back himself. He takes in your creation with an incredulous look on his face. It’s pretty impressive - you’d know.

“It’s all hawthorn,” you confirm what he must already know while discreetly wrapping your hand around the hawthorn dagger at your hip, “Try to break in, I dare you.”

It’s just your theory, of course, that the wood can harm him. He’s much stronger than the other vampires you’ve encountered and it’d be foolish to believe he has the same weaknesses. Maybe you’ve spent days sharpening the long sides of each piece that now stands around you for nothing. Maybe you’ll need to face him with nothing but your dagger, which might be equally useless.

To your surprise, however, the vampire hesitates. He walks around the structure, searching for a weak spot, but you’ve made sure the thing is perfect. Even if you’ve never expected it would actually be your last hope against him. It was only meant to hold the vampires you’ve experimented on, never to protect you. Although it does seem like it’s gonna do a great job.

Soon he arrives at the same conclusion and he’s not pleased. He could break the wood easily, but he’d cut himself and those wounds don’t heal well and leave behind scars. It’s not worth it, and you can’t stay there forever.

“What’s stopping me from ordering the guards to drag you out of there?” he smirks, but it’s easy to see his nonchalant demeanor is just a facade. He doesn’t like when things don’t go according to his plans.

“Oh, Gwi,” you sigh, taunting him, “Always relying on your human servants. You’ve gotten weaker lately, haven’t you?”

The reaction is immediate, fury painting his ethereal features. He hisses at you, so close to the sharpened edge of the bars he can feel the burning pain any little cut would cause. But you don’t need to know that. He’s ready to devour you, slowly, anything but gently, make you feel every second of the torment. Yet you’re just out of reach. Trapped. Should you get out, your life would end - a feeling he himself knows very well…

You see the moment something clicks inside his brain and his expression morphs into something sinister. You know he’s an apex predator but whenever you see him looking like one, there’s no stopping the goosebumps and terror that overtake your body.

He leans back, his body language genuinely relaxed and the smirk on his face amused. Almost proud. You’re sure he can hear your heartbeat speeding up. His steps are slower, laid-back as he circles you. It hits you then - the cage is for keeping you in, not for keeping him out. He leans against the wall and scans your body with his dark eyes. It must be some kind of magic, why else would your knees be giving up.

“Sure, stay inside your cage then,” he speaks, and somehow his voice seems even more menacing. A deep cave luring you in towards a certain death. Whatever you want to say gets stuck inside your throat. All you can do is watch as he chuckles and whistles, a shrill noise cutting through the silence of the night.

Soldiers, the royal guards, storm inside your house and he nods towards the cage. The soldiers look unsure.

“Take the whole thing with us,” the vampire orders with a hint of irritation at having to explain himself.

“What do you think you’re doing, Gwi?” you panic, finally getting your voice back. He turns back to you, pleased by the change in your attitude. You want to stab him, burn him. You want to run away and hide.

“You planned the assassination of your king. That’s treason,” he explains as if you were a child. He steps closer, and some part of you longs to do so as well. You force yourself to stay still. “So I’m giving you a punishment, as your king.”

He beckons you closer, and this time you give into the temptation. If he meant to kill you, he wouldn’t cause a scene like this. He’s only satisfied when you stand as close to the bars separating you as him. You can feel his breath on your neck.

“Be grateful I haven’t ordered your death,” he mocks, “I’m being very generous, considering your intentions and words.”

And just like that he moves away and motions for the soldiers to get to work. The cage shakes and you fall to the ground as the men lift the structure into the air and move it further from the wall. It’s sturdy and you’re not worried about it breaking - no, that’s the fate that meets your wall when the guards realize they absolutely won’t fit the cage through the door.

Looking at Gwi, he seems very amused. Satisfied. 

You ignore the tears pooling in your eyes.

[halcyon-nitro]

I think a lot of people underestimate just how strong Lady Nagant is.

Let’s start from the obvious.

Nagants range is 3 km (I’ll add her feats from 378-379 at the end this is first part is what we know as of 311-315) she can make numerous types of bullets even curving ones. (I have a feeling she has more than just that maybe exploding ones or shot gun shells?)

She is also prepared for things to come up close. Not only that but she’s smart. She went into fight Izuku without all of the vital information (pretty much blind as she wouldn’t know anything about him due to no information being allowed to slip into Tartarus) and still managed to hold her own. And had to hold back because she needed to bring him in alive.

Additionally we know she was holding back even more, Izuku said so himself.

Moving onto probably the ones people missed..Izuku even after all of that needed to go to 100% to beat her. No it was not 45% Izuku that beat her but 100%.

Next is that we know she never missed..she had been likely sent after some very high class villains with her assassination work. (Another note she was sent after all for one)

Another overlooked panel was that she was shocked..when her rifle was broken she said that whenever she fought someone what happened next was fate.

Allow me to reword this..whenever she usually fights someone she always comes out on top. And it took 100% Izuku to stop her. Need more?

The HPSC sent her after All For One with confidence..she talked to him like she didn’t care I’m betting the trauma was some of this but not all..she doesn’t fear him whatsoever.

In 379 all for one flipped when she showed up and none of the other people that could betray him (aoyama) had bombs planted in them.

Now this is borderline headcanon but can be implied if we put the pieces together..All For One fears Nagant and he knows if she were to join the hero side the battle would swing in their favor.

Why wouldn’t he? She can kill anyone if she gets the jump on them. Literally anybody. I’m not even kidding if she gets the first shot off and she’s aiming to kill it’s over.

Even if people knew none short of 100% Izuku is gunna be able to dodge that. Hawks feared her and for good reason.

The only counter is danger sense, and that’s premonition quirk. Most people if they knew the shot was coming wouldn’t be able to dodge because they are not faster than a bullet the only person faster than a bullet is prime All Might and 100% Izuku.

With airwalk she’s on another level entirely..and is fast enough to keep up with 45% Izuku id say she’s just a bit slower than that.

Now imagine this she’s moving at speeds comparable to 45% Izuku and is shooting at you. If she aims to kill it’s over..

Now onto the stuff from 379.

It was like 200 km away from where she shot. Which is just insane.

Her willpower is also insane she was exploded from the inside out and was still cognizant enough to relay information.

She marched onto that roof when she was on deaths door and shot her rifle which practically reopened every single one of her wounds and still managed to get three shots off.

I also mentioned her intelligence but she has to calculate her trajectory (plus curve wind conditions etc) and manages to be insanely accurate even at night when it’s raining.

Additionally she was also this powerful even after being in jail for 15 years in complete solitary confinement.

Her bullets are also insane as she managed to damage Shigarakis hand and tear it right off.

I’m willing to bet she surrendered back then because pretty much none would be able to take her down if she went full villain.

If she were to ever fully dedicate herself to becoming a villain well the series wouldn’t have happened lmao.

I might be over exaggerating some things but this is just my observations everyone is entitled to their own opinion I just want people to consider what I have to say.

[grison-in-space]

is there an established relationship between fast twitch muscles and anxiety? I’m thinking about cheetahs and sighthounds, both animals that are built for sprinting and seem to have anxiety as a byproduct?

Not as far as I know. Fast twitch muscles actually aren't only found in sprinters, not by a long shot--they're also extremely common in ambush predators! Anything where you're expecting to expend a lot of energy very very fast, and ideally on very short notice, but not necessarily for a long time. So all cats are comparatively heavy on fast-twitch musculature relative to wolves and dogs, for example, including species we really don't think of as especially anxiety prone like tigers and lions.

Cheetah anxiety is more likely to be a byproduct of being highly specialized sprinters which really don't have a lot of defenses against other large carnivores in their area, so they have to be aware of whether their kills are about to be stolen or whether they themselves might be opportunistically attacked by a bigger, stronger, slower predator. The speeds that cheetah can pull off are very energetically expensive, and so cheetah live on a knife edge of hunting success: miss too many kills and you lose your ability to make many more pretty hard. Put those things together, and a certain amount of anxiety makes sense.

Sighthounds are not, in my experience, particularly anxiety prone as dogs go. It's been hard to track down recent research articles that really sample sighthound breeds in terms of anxiety, but here's Tiira 2016 who found that saluki were probably the single breed out of the four where they sampled more than 200 dogs with the lowest anxiety levels (as compared to Lagottos, Great Danes, and GSDs). Sighthounds do in my experience tend to look more nervous as a function of the commonly slightly roached back and the low tail carriage, and greyhounds specifically have some particular anxiety issues, but the greyhound piece can be explained more parsimoniously by thinking about how ex-track greys have traditionally been raised and kept--that is, without separation from packmates at an early age and in a very specific, predictable environment, which means that as adults they're interacting with a much more unpredictable world. Italian greyhounds do also have a reputation for timidity, but that's probably as much as anything a function of their size and fragility. But I don't think any of the non-greyhound big-enough-to-be-functional sighthounds have a particular reputation for anxiety--and certainly nothing like the reputation for anxiety carried by many herding breeds, like collies and GSDs.

[comvi]

Hi, I heard you liked Spearmaster, I'm begging you please tell me how

Im suffering

Red lizor mean =(

im a bit confused by what this means, but i think you’re asking me how i like spearmaster & how i deal with red lizards, so im just gonna go with that!

when i first started my spearmaster campaign, i admit the red lizards scared the SHIT out of me from just how absolutely SPEEDY they were and their spit- but like a lot of other lizards, they can only directly get to you if they have a pole to climb or some pipe that’ll bring them up to your level.

I use this to my advantage when i want to get through an area but a red lizard is blocking the way (and i probably wont be able to kill them)- i’ll wait until it goes into a pipe away from me (whilst it does that freakout-thing lizards do when they cant get you) and once it starts heading to me again from another direction or that same pipe, ill speed on by to wherever i need to go while they cant do anything for that time in the pipes.

Ive only encountered them in outskirts, and once in another region, iirc? So I don’t really have a set way with how i deal with them, or a way i could tell you how to deal with them- but when i was stuck with one and couldnt just run away (red lizards as much faster than spearmaster), i just kept juking them by re-entering a tunnel over-and-over, and when that red lizard wasnt facing me anymore i kept throwing spears until it died.

sorry if this isn’t much- i haven’t encountered them enough to familiarize myself with them, and when i play rainworld i tend to either “think way too much” or “act now, think later” with no in-between (because rainworld is absolutely brutal and will not wait up for me, i tend to just go foot-first in situations and deal with stuff in the moment as it happens)

Otherwise though- i haven’t had much trouble with other lizards, dropwigs, etc. My own issues lie in having trouble getting access to their backs so that spears will actually do damage, but when i cant do that, that juking technique i mentioned before where i’ll keep re-entering pipes has always worked for me nomatter my location.

Spearmaster is pretty cool when it comes to how they eat too- it’s really made me have to go into encounters with enemies even if i would’ve rather not (as thus i’d like to think im a lot better at using spears & dealing with lizards AND vultures). and if you didnt already know, if you hit a popcorn plant with one of their spears, it’ll replenish all of your food pips! really helpful for when theres no creatures around but the rain in coming & you need to get in a shelter quick.

overall though i like that guy a lot!! I think compared to the other slugcats ive played (excluding gourmand), they’re a bit slower & their slides dont go as far, but their advantage of forming spears at any time is super neat for getting to new areas by climbing walls with them.

also the whole spear-forming thing in general is absolutely insane to me ive never willingly killed as many scavengers and vultures as i have when i started playing as them LOL