#But instead he’s having some sort of seizure

[qveenpoppy]

things i noticed in my pilot rewatch:

wolf almost immediately grabs a glass of champagne when he walks into the wedding with his first patient. i know the show's hinted at him having drug issues, but maybe he has some alcohol ones too? (unless that idea was abandoned since the pilot was written/filmed.)

"except now we're prescribing drugs instead of taking them." "speak for yourself." yeah he's definitely still dealing with those drug issues. i feel like the show's mostly implied for that to be a past thing (we've only seen him take anything twice, to my memory? not counting 1x09's upcoming flashback sequence) but i wonder if/when that'll become an issue again (maybe another patient loss that hurts wolf harder than roman's did? like a father figure, that'll bring back his feelings of guilt over his dad's death?)

it's tiny but i feel like van's crush is hinted at here, with him offering ericka an extra pair of scrubs (while jacob cockily jokes about his being too big for her) and the way he sneaks a glance at her while she changes (not in a creepy way, it's like a nervous/shy kinda way).

he also smiles at her when she yells at jacob while they're searching for hannah's childhood home, after jacob un-empathetically says the kids would be better off with their dad (guess van likes strong women; girlboss/malewife vibes? lol)

"do i ever have to talk to him again?" (wolf talking about nichols.) lmao, you're gonna be in love with him in about 6 episodes from now. also someone write me some pilot era wolfnichols hate sex.

"name one person you like who's not a patient." "you, i like you!" he's so autism-coded ❤️

wolf still uses cassette tapes in his car (which is also quite old, since it still plays tapes), what a grandpa

carol has a picture with michelle obama in her office (not really an important thing to notice, but i thought it was cool)

there's a line in one of the flashbacks (apologies for not quoting it verbatim) from muriel about "keeping our differences to ourselves", which probably explains why wolf isn't super open about his facial blindness. (and probably applies to all of his other traits that make him "different", like his sexuality, or popularly headcanon'd autism. i mean, i know he's open about his sexuality now as an adult, perhaps as a way of rebelling against his mom, but, as we may see in more flashbacks, he probably kept it to himself for quite a while.)

van is completely frozen when hannah has her seizure, he even backs up a little when she falls out of her chair. probably didn't wanna touch her and experience a phantom seizure.

whoever directed the ep made zach & teddy look like they're the same height when nichols confronts wolf and kicks him off the case. i guess it keeps them, literally and figuratively, on the same level in the dispute. but now we all know that wolf's actually shorter, and it's funny how that's been primarily highlighted when they're fooling around with each other. (i know it's an intentional directing tactic, though, bc a similar thing was done in the batman v superman movie when bruce and clark stand eye to eye - henry cavill is also 3 inches shorter than ben affleck. emphasizing the height difference would imply a power imbalance, which you don't want in these sort of gray zone conflicts!)

"the only way this will work is if we open up to each other." [nichols walks by and catches wolf's eye] foreshadowing

(i don't mean just like foreshadowing their romance, but maybe also the impact that nichols will have on wolf, getting him to open up about his past and whatnot. same, perhaps, for nichols, since we still hardly know anything about his background, besides his military experience and implied own closeting.)

(could also quite easily and literally refer to their work relationship, as we learned from that interview with teddy that, despite their romantic connection, they're still going to have some disputes about patient treatments in future episodes/cases.)

[lochthefishy]

Michael Davies in class

unfortunately I don’t have the tools to make his limbs go right to left so it’s all just going random

[inlovewithquestionablecharacters]

Hi,

I just stumbled upon your blog and I am already obsessed with your stories.🥰 Your writing style and the way you describe the characters is simply amazing.

Anyways, I‘ve got an idea for a one-shot, could you please write one, where the reader is Dr.Lecters patient and they bump into a very distraught Will after his session and start talking to him. Hannibal get‘s jealous, because he thinks Will is interested in the reader,after the conversation ended, tension is really high during her sessions and it get‘s steamy in the end.(nsfw?)

Hannibal x Reader: What's mine is mine

Warning: smut, oral ( f receiving), no use of y/n, penetration ( p in v), possessive behavior, jealous Hannibal, anger, not proofread, gn reader, female anatomy.

Word count: 1,2 K

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“I've told you a thousand times that that door is for exiting clients only and you continue to use it.”

“Oh come on Hannibal you know how i hate using the other door. That empty waiting room always puts me on edge.”

“And talking with another patient is prohibited, you know that.”

You spin on your heels, angrily looking at your therapist.

“For the love of god hannibal! Did you see what he looked like? He was shaking so much I thought he was having some sort of seizure!”

You’d stumbled onto a very distressed will on your way into your appointment and simply couldn’t feel like you needed to help him.

“I'm surprised you let him leave at all. That man was a complete wreck.”

“It is my job to know what my clients need.”

“Clearly you're not doing it very well.”

You could tell you’d hit a nerve because instead of debating you Hannibal simply closed the door and stomped over to his chair. You shook your head. You didn’t understand why Hannibal was so worked up about you talking to Will. It’s not like you’d done anything wrong.

And the truth was you hadn't done anything wrong. If anything you’d shown you were an empathetic person. You weren’t the issue. Will was. Or more accurately, Hannibal's jealousy of Will was. Seeing you talk to Will had sent Hannibal into a sort of spiral. In his mind you belong to him but in reality you don't.

“Okay what the hell is up with you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh so is your face just stuck like that now? You gonna give me the stink eye for the rest of the session? I mean come on! You’re acting like you caught me kissing him.”

Hannibal's body tensed at your words. He forced himself to open his mouth.

“Did you want to?”

“What?”

“Did you want to kiss him?”

“Oh for fucks sake what does that have to-”

“Answer the question.”

Hannibal had risen from his seat. He walked over to you boxing you against him and the wall behind you. You looked up at him staring into his eyes. Hannibal was so close to you that you could smell his perfume. You took a shaky breath in.

“No.”

“What?”

“No, I didn't want to kiss him. I’m not interested in him.”

No in him but in someone. That's what your words sounded like to Hannibal. He desperately needed to find out who you were interested in. Even if it meant having to get them out of his way. 

“Who then?”

“You’re kidding right?”

Hannibal continued to stare at you as he awaited you to answer his question. You shook your head at him.

“You’re such an idiot.”

You pushed forward, hitting Hannibal's shoulder with yours as you moved away from him. Hannibal grabbed your wrist, stopping you from getting too far.

“Who?”

You tugged your arm out of his grip, turning to face him. You looked pissed, it caught Hannibal off guard.

“You! It’s you, you ass!” 

Hannibal stared at you. You’d never yelled at him before. He felt rooted to his spot. He barely noticed you moving forward before you were tugging his tie. You gave him a bruising kiss. He moved to wind his hand around your waist but before he could you pushed off him.

“There. Satisfied?”

No. He would never be satisfied. He could still taste you on his tongue. And the taste was addicting. He surged forward grabbing your head with his hand. He shoved his mouth against yours, kissing you roughly. You let him, your hands moving to grip his suit jacket. The two of you stumbled across the room, hands wildly pulling at each other's clothes. Somewhere in the middle of the process you’d managed to unbutton Hannibal's shirt and he’d managed to remove your pants. Your body fell onto the loveseat, hand moving to tug Hannibal on top of you. He kissed at your skin, his hand moving to shove your shirt up. You gasped as his hands cupped your breast, kneading them in his hand. 

“Oh Hannibal!”

God he loved the way you sounded, gasping his name. He placed a kiss to the valley of your breasts before insching himself lower. He placed small kisses all over your stomach. You watched him with glazed eyes, observing him until he was on his knees before you. He tugs your underwear off your body, moving to place it in his back pocket. You raise your eyebrows to him and all he does is shrug. You squeal as Hannibal tugs you closer to him. He leaned his head down until he’s inches from your pussy. You bite your lip in anticipation. As soon as Hannibal's tongue makes its way to your fold you can’t help but throw your head back. Hannibal grips onto your thighs as you squirm against the loveseat. 

“Oh fuck. There! Hannibal there- shit!”

Hannibal grinned against your pussy, reveling in the way your hand grabs onto his hair in desperation. His fingers moved inside you, helping his tongue in his task to make you cum. You could feel yourself clenching around Hannibal's fingers, silently telling him you were close. If that wasn’t enough the high pitched moans you kept letting out should have been a sign. Hannibal sucked at your clit and you were a goner. Your hand gripped onto the love seat as you came. Hannibal watched you breath for a moment before beginning to climb over you. You tugged him down for a kiss, tugging at his hair. He bit your lip in return. 

Hannibal's dick nudged against your thigh, his pre cum mixing with your own juices. You smiled up at him, wrapping your legs around him. Hannibal took the hint, moving to align his dick with your entrance. He glanced at you for a moment, awaiting your approval. You gave him a small nod. He moved slowly into you. Once he’d bottomed out Hannibal stopped moving, giving you time to adjust. You opened your mouth in a silent moan, brows furrowing as you felt Hannibal twitch inside you. He desperately wanted to move but he would wait for you okay.

“Jesus Hannibal, what are you waiting for? Move!”

Well that was one way to put it. 

Hannibal began to thrust into you, his movements growing more rapid as your pleasure increased. He placed one of his feet on the ground, attempting to give himself more strength. You drew a breath in as he rocked into you rapidly. Hannibal leaned down tugging one of your breasts into his mouth. He sucked at your nipple, making sure to leave a mark. From the way you clenched around him he could tell you enjoyed it so he continued his ministrations. 

“Are you almost there?”

“Uhum please don’t stop-fuck-please i’m…”

Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, fingers digging into Hannibal's shoulder as you came. Hannibal felt you sag beneath him, taking it as his chance to guide your movements. His hands found your hips gripping them tightly as his thrusts began to flatter. Pretty soon Hannibal seed spilled into your walls. He laid down beside you, pulling your body closer into his.

“Remind me to make you angry more often.”

“Careful dear. That's a dangerous game.”

“Maybe that's how I like it.”

[milksnake-tea]

━━ 4:00:00 A.M.

in which silver wolf and sunday realize they have more in common than they'd originally thought. 2.1k words.

It’s just about 4:00:00 system time when Silver Wolf finds herself pulling yet another all-nighter.

Sleep doesn’t come easily to her; as much as she needs it (much to her chagrin, as unfortunate as it is, she is painfully human and thus needs sleep as everyone else does), she often finds herself staying well into the wee hours of the night with her room shrouded in darkness and her face illuminated by her various consoles and monitors.

She stifles a yawn as her thumbs move on autopilot across the rhythm game she has up on her phone. To any normie, the bright colors and flashing lights would’ve given them a seizure with how rapidly they blinked. But Silver Wolf is already starting to get bored of it - even at this speed, the game was too boring, too slow.

There’s little to no joy as the victory screen flashes. With a sigh and a stretch of her arms, Silver Wolf leans back in her chair.

She’s bored, so incredibly bored.

Nothing interesting is happening anymore. It’s like the cosmos has gone dead-silent, waiting for the next update or patch to come. Except unlike with games, Silver Wolf can’t just leave this reality and pick up another one.

She stares up at the ceiling despite the lack of light. It isn’t like anyone’s awake at this time, either. Firefly might be, but she’s off in a whole ‘nother star system and probably doesn’t feel like having some fun - not after Penacony. Blade’s knocked out, and Silver Wolf would eat her shoe before she asked Kafka of all people to game.

That leaves two people: Elio, and the new recruit.

And Elio hasn’t left his man-cave for the last three weeks - not like Silver Wolf would play with him, anyways. He’s got to be one of the most boring players of all time; he already knows everything that’s going to happen, and so he’s never lost.

As for Sunday, well…

She raises her hand and violet-blue screens materialize at her fingertips. She sorts through the base’s security camera feeds (made by yours truly), scrolling mindlessly until she spots something, no, someone in the hall outlooking the cosmos.

She grins. Perfect.

With a cartoonish popping noise, she teleports right besides Sunday so she can speak in his ear.

“Whatcha looking at?”

Sunday jumps, wings flaring like a deer in highlights. He unfortunately doesn’t scream in absolute terror, nor does he jump back with a face so scandalized it would rival that of the oldest and most traditional of great-great-grandparents.

Silver Wolf bites her lip to hide her disappointment. Indifferently, she tilts her head and lands neatly on the floor besides Sunday.

As soon as he gets his bearings back, Sunday sighs with a pointed look. “Was that really necessary?”

“Of course,” Silver Wolf snickers, planting her hands on her hips. 

She kind of hates how she has to crane her neck up to look at him - over three years of working with the Hunters, and she’s yet to find someone who wasn’t taller than her. And she’s been drinking a lot of milk, too (never let Kafka find out. If she did, Silver Wolf was going to throw herself off the top of Pier Point)!

“You didn’t answer my question, though. What’re you doing up so late, Mr. Wings?”

If Sunday cares for her nickname, he doesn't show it. He rarely shows anything. “I could say the same to you, Miss Silver Wolf.”

“Well, since you’re new, I’ll let this slide. But it’s pretty well-known around here that I don’t exactly need sleep.”

Sunday raises a brow. “Is that right?”

Thinly veiled amusement laces his tone. He obviously doesn’t believe her.

“You don’t have to believe me,” she shrugs, feigning indifference. “Isn’t the fact that I’m here proof in of itself?”

Her eye twitches when Sunday insteads lets out a breathy chuckle, the corner of his eyes crinkling. Time and time again, Silver Wolf has been looked down on because of her stature and young age, and many more times she’s used that to her advantage. She’s been called a child, immature, a brat - all by people she would eventually bring down with ease.

But for some reason, she doesn’t see that condescending gaze in Sunday’s eyes. No, it’s something different - something… warm, and fond.

It creeps her the hell out.

“It’s rude to stare,” she clips, crossing her arms. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you that?”

Sunday’s gaze becomes downcast. Shit. Did she say something she shouldn’t have?

“My parents were…”

Fuck.

“You don’t have to finish that,” she interrupts hastily. Sunday shakes his head.

“No, it’s alright.” 

Looking up to the great vastness of the universe, Sunday’s eyes become unfocused, as if gazing upon something far, far into the distance, something that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.

“My parents left me at a very early age due to the Stellaron Crisis,” he begins. Internally sighing, Silver Wolf falls silent. “For as long as I’ve ever known, Robin was the only person I had. We did everything together, from our lessons to sneaking out at night to watch the stars.”

“You? Sneak out?” Silver Wolf raises a brow. Maybe he isn’t as uptight as she thought he was.

“It was mainly Robin’s idea, although I was more of a troublemaker than I am now.”

“You’re a wanted criminal.”

“That’s besides the point.”

Well, at least there’s potential. Silver Wolf wouldn’t know what to do if she had a religious prick with a stick up his ass as a coworker… he’d be fun to tease, but that’s it. Regardless, she nods for him to continue.

“Anyways, it goes without saying that Robin was… is very important to me. All I ever wanted was for her to be happy, even if it meant that Gopher Wood would target me instead of her. And… as much as I owe to Gopher Wood, he wasn’t the kindest of father figures.”

He turns his head slightly to meet Silver Wolf’s eyes. She hopes that her expression is normal.

“So, forgive me, if I haven't learnt anything my parents should’ve taught me.”

Whatever sympathy Silver Wolf had shrinks quite quickly. Her face drops into a pout.

“Alright, geez,” she groans, stretching her arms. “I’m sorry, okay? I said something insensitive.”

Sunday hums. “Are you really?”

Her pout drops into a glower. “If you’re thinking of making me grovel, think again. I’m not going to stoop that low.”

“Alright, alright,” Sunday concedes with a smile. “I forgive you.”

There’s something in the way he speaks that makes it so that she doesn’t even want to grace him with a response. Turning her cheek with a huff, she joins him in watching as the nebulae pass by.

For a moment, the world is still. Silence envelops the base, and the only sound is a distant soundtrack of classical music.

Then, for reasons she doesn’t know herself, she speaks.

“You know, I also had a sibling.”

In the reflection of the window, she sees Sunday’s brows raise with intrigue. Warmth rushing to her cheeks, she coughs and hastily continues. By the End, why did she ever think this was a good idea?

“Well, they weren’t as much a sibling as they were a coworker. But they were the only one who could ever keep up with me. I’ve yet to meet another person like them, and I doubt that I ever will. They were like a 5-star artifact that rolled into all of the right substats.”

“You say ‘were’,” Sunday observes carefully. “Have they…?”

“They’re not dead,” Silver Wolf says bluntly. “They just left. I see them sometimes, but they don’t remember me.”

Sunday’s gaze becomes lidded. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Silver Wolf waves him off. If he’s about to get all sappy or therapist-y with her, she doesn’t want part in any of it. “It was going to happen one way or another. It was in the script.”

“Still, isn’t it lonely?”

Lonely?

Silver Wolf doesn’t know what to make of that word. Loneliness implied the lack of companions, of which she has many - excluding the Hunters, she has Friend, Demon Lord, White Collar, and Servant. They are the ones who have been with her ever since her days in that dingy old fast-food restaurant. With them around, she was never alone.

But that doesn’t seem to be what Sunday is asking.

“I don’t know,” she says nonchalantly. “It is boring without them, though.”

Sunday doesn’t reply. The silence returns, but this time with a heavier weight. Her chest constricts - she wants to sigh, but holds herself back.

It’s stupid, anyways, to grieve for someone who never left. She still sees them, after all. They just… don’t like her as much as they used to.

A memory she’s tried to bury comes to mind - the Astral Express’s cabin, a hologram, and a distrustful gaze, and a word that haunts her more than she’d like to admit: Intruder.

Ugh, whatever. She knew it would happen; Elio had warned her. She’d read the script. She’d taken their memories herself. She even made fun of Kafka when they didn’t fully remember her.

She’s being stupid - maybe this is why Blade always told her to not stay up too late. Emotions are dumb, and she does not have the time to deal with them-

There’s a gentle weight on her head, and then a soft rustling of her hair. Silver Wolf bluescreens.

“It isn’t a sin to miss someone,” Sunday offers softly. “Nor is it a weakness. All it means is that you treasured that person deeply.”

“I know,” Silver Wolf mutters. She hates how her throat has become a little choked up. Slapping his hand away, she shoots him a disgruntled look. “I’m not a child, by the way. You don’t have to treat me like one.”

“My apologies,” Sunday chuckles, returning his hand behind his back. “I’m afraid I got a tad bit carried away. I do hope you can forgive me, Miss Silver Wolf.”

“Whatever,” Silver Wolf sighs, dusting off her hair in a meager attempt to get it back in line. “And you don’t have to call me that.”

“Call you what?”

“Miss. It sounds stuffy. Just call me Silver Wolf, like everyone else does.”

“Not everyone, though,” Sunday points out, mirth glimmering in his eyes. “If I recall correctly, doesn’t Miss Kafka refer to you as-”

“Call me ‘Wolfie’, and I’ll drop you off at the IPC. ”

“Point taken.”

Silver Wolf squints. She doesn’t like Sunday’s tone, still patronizing as ever - but maybe that’s just how he talks. Eh, who cares. He isn’t the only one who talks weird - Kafka would give him a run for his money.

In search of some sort of stimulation, her phone materializes in her hands and she starts up yet another game - that Origami Bird game that she’d dueled against them with.

As always, she opts for PVP - Aeons know how dull the A.I.’s playing style is. But barely one minute in, and she already finds herself itching for something new.

“Is that from Penacony?”

Silver Wolf nearly jumps out of her skin, but thankfully, she manages to play it off well. Sunday is looking just over her shoulder, intrigue barely noticeable but still present.

“Yeah,” she says, shifting away slightly so that he doesn’t breathe on her. “Got launched a few days after you got arrested. Wanna play?”

Surprise flickers briefly over his dove-like features. “I… I suppose I could; although, I do have to warn you - it has been quite some time since I’ve picked up a video game.”

“Really?” Silver Wolf wrinkles her nose as she hands him one of her consoles. “What do you do in your free time, then?”

Sunday blinks. Silver Wolf blinks back.

“My what?”

Silver Wolf visibly cringes.

“Good grief, how are you worse than Blade?” She blows a raspberry, starting up the game. Atop her head, her holographic origami bird flutters to life, nestling into her hair comfortably. A few moments, and soon Sunday's own avatar materializes with a gentle coo. “Alright, whatever. Get the tutorial done, and then I’ll PVP you.”

“Ah, alright. How do I do that again-?”

Does he even know what PVP means? She doubts it. But as the familiar theme song begins to play, the chirps of the holographic birds fill up the empty silence, and she once again finds herself in the motions of teaching someone to play, she can hardly bring herself to care.

reblogs w comments are appreciated !!

tags: @sh0jun , @themoderatelyawesomeninja , @xphantasmagoriax , @rainswept , @lucensei , @akutasoda , @naraven , @scribs-dibs , @apathicace , @flurrina , @tragedy-of-commons , @cakechase , @kiiyoooo

[seat-safety-switch]

Are you the kind of person who loves trees? Many folks are. Even though trees have killed lots of our most-beloved celebrities, a lot of you have a yen for our arboreal pals. They can do no wrong in our minds, and so we tolerate their slow invasion of our properties.

Where I live, we have a sort of feral invasion of poplars. Genius folks who started the city brought them from far away and put them all over the place to provide resale value and pretty green colours, without realizing that they'd get big and mess up the sidewalks. In response, fifty-plus years later, the city has decided to just kill 'em. Fuck those trees, they say, they're near the end of their lives anyway. Keep those taxes low, they say, while driving from site to site in brand new Ram Rebels equipped with the ultra-off-road luxury package.

As a result, a lot of local folks have been galvanized into political action for the first time in their lives. Sure, a lot of horrifying shit has happened in the recent past that should have outraged them more, but these are trees we're talking about. Do not fuck with our trees! Things got so bad that the Mayor decided to stop going to "public engagement" sessions and sent his subordinate instead. His subordinate got his ass whooped so hard by tree people at the last one that he now smells permanently like spruce.

So: more trees? This, too, angers the local populace, who don't want the city to pull up their existing, beautiful trees, and replace them with an inferior local breed. Those trees are where my children used to play! You're destroying history! The city had to pick some kind of compromise, find a useful scapegoat, and coincidentally dispose of the entire contents of the police vehicle seizure lot.

That's where I come in. Sure, it hurts to crash a bunch of decrepit, unregistered 80s-drug-dealer Cadillacs into these old trees, just because the city wants an excuse to get rid of them. It's even sort of demented that I do so with a pine air freshener hanging off the mirror (you really don't want to breathe what these things smell like after a few decades.) And it's not great for what chiropractors call "the back and neckal area." They let me keep the Caddys as payment, though, and I've got a great bodyman who will get them shipshape as soon as he comes back from his jail term for chaining himself to a poplar and screaming obscenities at the Mayor outside of City Hall. Don't worry: I've got lots of new trees growing through the old cars in my backyard for him to hug.

[ofaatuu]

Similar

Go read part 1 here !

not my gif!

summary: you meet the Tsahik and Olo'ekytan of the metkayina clan and have similar features. They found you interesting and watch you from afar.

warnings: a bit of blood but nothing to big? , nothing else but bad writing

After the talk with the Tsahik and Olo'ekytan of the clan you walk straight towards the air ship, very very fast. They scare you. Why wouldn’t they?? They are huge reef Na’vi that have sort of same culture as you, and take interest in you. Your mind is fuzzy as you sit down in the pilot seat, Norm and Max enter as they ask you multiple questions about the “talk” you had with the reef Na’vi. “What the heck was that all about!! Norm said as he took a bite of his sandwich. “I don’t know.. They asked personal questions I’d rather not tell you.” You replied awkwardly as you start the air vehicle. “Stop asking me questions, I just want to get back to base and sleep. I’m still freaked out by them.” You say wanting these questions to end. “Alright fine! Just tell us tomorrow.” Max yells over the loud wind.

once you guys get home you flop onto your bed but feel a sharp sting in your shoulder. “Oh shit..” you had an 6 inch gash on your arm. “These damn beds!” You yell out as it still stings you hiss out your gritted teeth while looking for the first aid kit. You look in the mirror about to apply something but take a moment to notice your tattoos. You got them when you first turned 18. Wanting to represent your culture. You smile at the thought of your family back home in the islands. You then get back to work with your gash and wrap it nice and tightly. Heading back to bed you hear norm say “do you think she would let one knock her up?” He’s talking about you and those big buff ass reef Na’vi! “I heard that!” You yell back “you were supposed to.” You sigh sitting back onto your bed letting slumber consume you.

You wake up to Norm shaking you awake. “what.. what. What!” You say as he didn’t hear you the first or second damn time. “Get up! We have to go back. Kiri had another seizure!” Goddamn it. It’s not their fault obviously. But stay away from the damn tree for a few weeks. “Alright, alright. I’m comin.” You put on a tank top and shorts as to it’s very hot on the reef. You start up the air ship and sit down. “Are you guys ready?” You yell out loud enough for them to hear you. “Yes!” You hear in the distance. You start driving towards the reef but think. Shouldn’t the Tsahik handle this? She did it last time and it was successful. Why are we going back at 7 in the morning? You guys land and you get out to help them with all their bull crap. “I think the Tsahik should do it instead.” You say with sass. “Yeah but Jake insisted..” max says sighing. “I swear Neytiri is going to kick us out! There’s no point!” Norm says started to get annoyed. You nod and drop off their stuff near the Marui, helping set up. Once everything was set, you go and hug Neytiri and Jake greeting them with nice hello’s. “Alright bye guys I’ll be back I just need to grab something from the ship.” You say earning some nods and oks from everybody as they focus on Kiri. As you’re walking you feel something or someone grab your arm and you get pulled into a Marui. “Woah! Hey!” You yelp in surprise and pain as someone pulls on the bandages on your arm. That person is the Tsahik.

“What happened demon.” She says coldly “I uh cut it.” She looks at you with a “really bitch” face “on what?” She said while grabbing some paste. “My bed… I don’t think that paste will work on humans..” she hisses “Kehe. nonsense. This works on anyone.” She says as she unwraps your gash and sees how big it is. “This big cut from a bed?” She looks up at you and you nod nervously as someone walks in. “Tsahik I-“ they get cut off by her “i am busy. Wait outside.” They look at you hastily. “But Tsahik that is a sky demon-“ she hisses “out!” They rush out as you look at her with wide eyes. “What? Give me your arm.” She gets back to work as her mate walks in. Ah shit, both of them? While I’m in between?? Not cool. When she’s done she taps you to let you know “thank you.” You stutter out as she nods her head. “Hello Olo’ekytan..” you say as you back out creeped out by the way they both are looking at you. “Hello human.” He says in a chilling voice that still gives you chills. “I see you have cut yourself on the tattooed arm? You should be more careful as to you are more fragile then us.” You nod as you hear norm yell out it’s time to go back. You thank them one more time and turn around but they grab your arm. You look at them both, “come back tomorrow after eclipse. We want to discuss a serious matter with you.” You hesitate but nod your head “okay then. I have to go now.” You sigh as they let go.

“tonowari shes perfect.” “Yes she is. She is just like us when we were younger.”

you start the ship and head back to lab. “goddamnit these people are going to be the death of me.”

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@manumanulau

[waywardwritesstuff]

I have a little bit of a hurt/comfort request for Logan if you're up for it! I was thinking something along the lines of gn!reader is already having a bad day and then during their training they hurt themselves with their mutation and it just makes everything come to a head and Logan comforts them through it? If you're not up for it that's totally! Either way I hope you have a good day/night

Summary: Having a mutation isn't easy, despite what all the other superheroes around you make it seem. A mutation that conducts electricity and uses your body as a channel for that energy takes a toll on the wielder. And that wielder is you.

Word Count:

Tags: based on the 90s x-men but with movie logan in mind, hurt/comfort, soft, fluff, boyfriend!logan, electricity mutation, electrocution, accidental self-harm, the danger room, no use of y/n, scott mentioned, nightcrawler mentioned, rouge mentioned, seizures, can be read as platonic or romantic

"You're up!" Scott called to you from outside the danger room. You took a deep breath and walked in.

The room was dark, you could faintly see a few obstacles in front of you, but the rest of the room was hidden in shadow.

"Your task-" Scott's voice rang out over the loud speakers planted in the walls around the danger room "-is to light each set of lighting equipment you can find, whilst also defending from on coming enemies. This is a support style mission, you need to keep the environment as lit as possible so you're teammates can get in and get out completing the mission"

You nod your head hoping he can see you, even if you can't see him.

You also couldn't see any teammates but you could hear small amounts of shuffling, assuming that someone was in here with you.

A singular, fairly dim light turned on in the roof. You assumed this was some sort of night-simulated training course since the little light kind of looked like a full moon.

You took a step forward trying to find the lights Scott was talking about. Taking a deep breath you drew on the naturally occurring electricity in your body, concentrating so the flow would reside directly under your skin where you could use it.

You found a machine with a large lightbulb in it and shot a pulse of electricity through it. It lit up instantly and the surrounding area looked clearer. The danger room had brought up a holographic image of a warehouse at the dockyard.

You went around finding the mechanism around the edge of the dock when you heard shuffling from behind you. You whipped around keeping the pulse in your hand at the ready instead of putting it into the light.

The small amount of light you were radiating gave you enough light to see in front of you but not enough to see further out. The sound had come from the area you were yet to light.

You heard a sudden bamf and Kurt appeared on one of the shipping containers to your right. He jumped again, headed straight for you but you let of a bolt of electricity and pushed him away from you. He almost slammed back into the container, but he pushed his feet against it and disappeared in a puff of smoke again.

You span around trying to find him but couldn't see him. You lit up the mechanism but by the time you turned around, Kurt was already too close for you to bring up a blast. He kicked your feet out from under you and you collapsed onto the ground.

The electricity under your skin flickered and then went out. You got up and focused on pulling your power back. Trying to concentrate whilst also keeping an eye out for Kurt, it was hard to hear since the buzzing in your ears made it harder to hear the subtler noises.

Kurt didn't reappear, but now that you knew for sure you weren't alone and that there was potentially more than one person in the danger room with you, you had to move quickly.

You used the height of the shipping containers to your advantage and made your way up from there. You saw a storm light sitting on the side of the warehouse and you blasted it, making a large part of the dock become lit in a dim yellow glow. From here, you realised who else was in the danger room with you. You looked above the light and saw Rouge floating there.

"Hiya sugar" she smiled at you before making a dive for you

You jumped off the shipping container only to hear Rouge burst through it, she would have taken you with her had you not moved. She ripped open a hole in the side of the shipping container and followed after you. You watched as she flew at you again, charging up a blast enough that would knock her off her aim so you could finish your mission.

You concentrated your fire directly at Rouge and she was blinded by the light that you hit her with. You blast sent her flying back and you made a break for the next set of lights. You only had 4 more to go. You raced over to the still dark area of the docks only to see someone crouched at the edge of the dim light. A big blue mass that could have only been Beast.

You made a break for the first of the four mechanisms. Blasting it from a far and only just hitting your target before you heared the sound of someone landing on one of the wooden boxes beside you. You don't turn in time as Beast's legs are colliding with your side.

You slam into the next box and cry out.

"Apologise my friend" he says in the near distance

Your light flickers and dies out again. You scramble to your feet quickly as you hear a bamf and the whooshing of Rouge flying through the air.

Suddenly feeling very overwhelmed and crowded your body begins to light up. Brighter and brighter as the neurons in your brain work overtime putting your body into fight or flight. But the combined stress and mutational light makes something in your mind snap.

Suddenly your whole body is glowing brighter than ever before, your veins light up brighter than the rest like lightning bolts and all the energy can no longer be contained. The heat inside of your veins boils your blood and the stress on your brain causes something to faulter in your mind.

In a burst of light you let out a large, whole body pulse of electricity and fall to the ground. Everything goes dark even though you can still feel your mutation working over drive. Your body is twitching from head to toe as you spasm out of control. Letting a pulse of energy out each time your body twitches.

The group around you are blinded and are pushed away from the force.

You can't see anything, can't hear anything except the ringing in your ears.

Everything is dark, you are afraid. And then it all stops.

Once the pulsing stops Beast approaches you. Realising what has happened

"We need to get them to the med bay immediately!" He shouts as he scopes your limp body up.

He rushes to the med bay accompanied by Scott, who watched the whole ordeal.

Logan was in his room at the time, he didn't have any classes to teach and it wasn't his turn in the danger room yet, so he was waiting idly by.

But when the lights had flickered and the mansion lost total power momentarily he knew something was wrong.

The way has hair stood on end in a familiar way told him something had happened. And that something was you.

He rushed down to the danger room just as Beast was leaving, with you in his arms.

Logan rushed to Beast and Scott's side. His face stricken with worry

"What happened" he hissed

"They had a seizure. I need to take them to the med bay to check what caused it and if any more damage has been caused" Beast explained calmly though he could smell the anxiety radiating from him.

He let Beast walk further down the hall before he turned to Scott holding him by the collar against the wall.

"What did you do?" Scott was the one in charge of creating and overseeing the training drills. It had to be his fault

"Let go of me Logan. I didn't do anything"

"Bullshit" he had to be involved. He had to

"It was a fucking training exercise I didn't try to kill them. Are you insane?!"

Logan wasn't thinking straight but he didn't care. He was worried about you. Instead of continuing to bother with Scott, Logan dropped him and hastily walked in the direction of the lab. Leaving Scott to pick himself up.

He sat by the benches as Beast hooked you up to a heart monitor and vital scanner. He measured the level of electric currents flowing through your brain and thankfully found that they were back to normal.

Everything about you was completely intact, except for the scars all over your body. In the same places where your veins had lit up, lightning strikes like old white scars had been burned into your skin. The map of you veins now etched into the outside of your body.

Beast informed Logan of this pulling away your shirt to show him.

Logan sighed not knowing how you would take this when you woke up.

"They will wake up right?"

"Yes all brain activity is normal and all their vitals are steady. Right now they are more or less sleeping. They should awake within the hour"

Logan grunted in acknowledgment but Beast could see the worry in the ever growing frown lines in his face

"Logan, if you wish you can stay here. I however have other matters to attend to. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah Hank, I'll be fine" his voice sounded flat. But Beast knew hidden underneath was a valley of worry.

He waited. Patiently. Not moving an inch. His eyes flicking between the heart monitor that was beeping steadily and your breathing figure laying on the lab table.

He heard the movement before he saw it. The barest sound of cloth on metal as you shifted. He smelt your breath as you opened your mouth slightly. Consciously breathing. You then sat up suddenly, startled and confused.

Logan ran to your side and took your hand

"Shh, hey it's ok. You're ok"

You looked around frantically for a moment before locking eyes with Logan

Your breathing sped up as your body reacted to its last memory. You clutched his hand, not fully realising you were holding it as your eye began to light up

"Hey, listen to me. Look at me ok? We are in the lab. It's just me and you. No one else"

You stared at Logan but didn't see him. Not really your eyes were glazed over and partially hidden by the light shining through them. You blinked hard a few times before you fully realised where you were.

On the last blink you saw Logan. His curled hair and whisky eyes taking up most of your vision. And you felt the glow slowly dissipate.

"God, Logan I-" but you couldn't get much more out before your voice broke and tears began to fall from your eyes. Logan wrapped his arms around you, cradling your head against his chest as your harsh breathing picked up slightly

"You wanna try and tell me what happened?" He tried tenderly after a moment.

You took a deep breath in, you heart rate had decreased significantly but it was still too loud in your ears.

"I just...I got overwhelmed. I wasn't expecting Scott to have brought the others in. I thought at least- they would have been holograms"

Logan's chest rumbled in your ear as you heard him growl at the mention of Scott.

"I'm gonna kill him"

"Logan don't. It's not his fault" you clutched his shirt as you said it. Worried he might leave.

Logan noticed this and didn't move

"What happened" you sniffed quietly

"You had a seizure. Too much of your electricity went to your brain and it couldn't take it"

You clutched his shirt tighter. It had been scary living it in the moment. But hearing about it was somehow equally as frightening.

Logan pulled away but didn't start far. Slowly he took your hand and turned it over. At first you didn't see. But then the faint white lines registered in your eyes and you gasped clutching your own hand

"Logan?! What is this?"

Logan took your hand again and tried to steady you as he watched the panic rise.

"Bub, breathe ok. You're fine. Hank said it was from the seizure. The level of electricity you let out left a print-"

You open your mouth to cut him off but he jumps in

"-and before you ask. No, no one got hurt"

You shut your mouth

You pull back the sleeve of your shirt to see that the lightning bolt trail traveled all the way up your arms like a map of the lakes from all across the world. You did the same with your other arm and even pulled your top up half way. Still more imprints

You didn't know what to think. They weren't ugly. But a scar is a scar.

Logan could see it in your eyes as you looked that there was much confusion and pain held there that you were silently holding back.

"Bub? You're gonna be ok. We're just gonna have to help you find your limit yeah? And I ain't gonna let you do another training session alone until we do"

You nod and he pulls you close again. His embrace warm and comforting.

Logan felt like home to you, even after you had snapped, he still didn't run away from the danger you potentially held inside of you. He still let you cling to him, and you could feel it in the beat of his hear how much he cared.

You would get through this, with Logan by your side. Always

I hoped this turned out the way you were hoping. I really enjoyed writing it. It's been a while since I've gotten a request so if you have another please send it in. And maybe even recommend me to some other Logan fans out there.

[mcdonaldsplayground]

| actually the worst | part 6

ao’nung x f!reader

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | bonus part

summary: when you wake up somewhere you aren't supposed to be, you get angry with ao'nung for being so calm while you feel nothing but guilty for leaving your injured sister alone. as things with your family slowly begin to mend, you realize that ao'nung probably hates you again for snapping at him. only when yours and kiri's birthday rolls around do you get a chance to work out your highly complex relationship with the metkayina boy, but it's not exactly the solution you were expecting.

includes: enemies to lovers, teasing, swearing, suggestiveness, mentions of seizure/death, ao'nung being so bf🥵

word count: 5.7k

a/n: so this is the final part! if people are into the idea i was thinking of doing a lil' bonus part based on the not-memory from part 5 (where ao'nung visits the forest)🤔 but anyway, i just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has read and interacted with this series, i seriously cannot believe how kind everyone is🫶 i am definitely going to keep writing other fics (and might even branch out to do some other characters, who knows🤭)

this is a bit lengthy because i was trying to wrap up a bunch of loose ends. i realized when proofreading that ao'nung kind of doesn't even show up for a good portion of the middle part??? so sorry about that🫣 also i'm sorry but i couldn’t not put a 10 things i hate about you reference in here because it’s just the exact vibe at the end, so creds to that movie for the inspo:)

You woke before the sun did, the very beginnings of warm orange and pink light only barely peeking above the horizon. It was still mostly dark, and you felt extremely disoriented. Not only were you rarely an early riser, but you also rarely woke in the middle of the beach, which is where you currently seemed to be. Not only that, but a muscular arm was slung across your waist as well, pulling you close to the body who was attached to it.

Slowly, you turned your head and nearly screamed when your eyes met the sleeping form of your worst enemy-turned crush-turned sort of friend. Ao'nung looked at peace while asleep, something that did not come easy to him when awake. It would have been kind of nice to see if you weren't so horrified by the predicament.

"Jesus christ..." You muttered to yourself, the events of the previous night coming into focus in your mind. Trying not to breathe or move too much, you attempted to slowly shimmy out of Ao'nung's grasp. You had almost successfully freed yourself when the boy beside you suddenly snapped his eyes open, looking briefly confused before his own look of horror settled in. You practically jumped away from each other.

"We fell asleep." Ao'nung said dumbly.

"Great observation, genius." You snapped, pushing yourself up from the sand while you hurriedly brushed it off your skin. "If you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, I will personally cut off your-"

"Woah! Relax, princess. Wasn't planning on it." Ao'nung held his hands up in surrender, standing as well. You stiffened at the ridiculous nickname, but decided not to get into it as you turned quickly on your heel and began jogging away from the beach. You had way more pressing things to think about now. In fact, you were growing increasingly more angry with yourself as the seconds ticked by. Were you really so delirious from fear that you let such a thing happen? Kiri needed you.. but you were selfishly allowing yourself to be consoled in the arms of a boy instead.

Ao'nung caught up to you easily, though he maintained a decent distance as he spoke. "About last night-"

"Don't." You ordered, annoyed that he wanted to talk about it and embarrassed that it even happened. "That was a mistake." You trained your eyes ahead, hoping he would take the hint and leave you alone.

"Look, forest girl, I know you're probably embarrassed because-"

You cut him off once again, finally just stopping in your tracks as you whipped around to face him. "Just stop with this stupid little flirting thing right now, okay? You don't know what I'm feeling. My twin sister almost died last night and I just left her alone when nobody knows what the hell is wrong with her! She needs me there at her side and what was I doing instead? Joking around and laughing with the guy I'm supposed to hate and then waking up beside him in the middle of the goddamn beach instead of next to her!" You spat, all of your fury and guilt spewing out along with your words. Ao'nung was frozen in place, eyes wide. "Just go away." You finished forcefully, making him flinch slightly. You didn't wait to hear a response before taking off once again toward your marui.

When you finally arrived, Neteyam, Lo'ak, and Tuk were all standing around outside the marui, looking as if they hadn't slept. A fresh wave of guilt washed over you at the thought.

"[Y/N]!" Tuk called when she noticed your approaching form, racing up to cling onto your side in a sort of hug. "Where were you?" She questioned, and Neteyam and Lo'ak nodded, waiting to hear your response. Blood rushed to your cheeks, your face growing warm in shame.

"I fell asleep on the beach." You mumbled. Not technically a lie.

"We were worried..." Neteyam said, placing a hand on your shoulder as he looked into your eyes. You could tell that he suspected you were holding back the truth. Your throat burned as you swallowed thickly.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," You breathed, ducking your head down.

"It's okay. I know it was difficult for you last night." Neteyam’s lips twisted into a sad smile, pulling you into a gentle hug. Tuk was quick to join, squeezing herself in between the two of you as she put her arms around your waists. Even Lo'ak came over, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder and offering you a look of silent understanding. You breathed in deeply, grateful for their support and easy forgiveness.

"How is she?" You finally asked, pulling away so you could peek around Lo'ak into the marui. Neteyam sighed, guiding you over to the entrance.

"She is still asleep. Ronal had to go rest before she will be able to do anything for her." You noticed your parents sitting together inside, but you focused your attention on assessing your sleeping sister, in search of any visible injuries that may have appeared since you saw her last. Thankfully, she truly did seem physically unharmed. However, it pained you to see her eyes closed and her body so still, the only sign of life coming from the occasional rise and fall of her chest. You kneeled next to her, taking her hand.

"Wake up," You whispered. "Please."

"Where did you go?" You heard your father question from his spot on the floor. You looked up slowly, your guilt creeping back. You just stared at him and your mother for a moment, trying to work out what to say.

"It does not matter, my Jake." Your mother had caught the look in your eyes, nodding in a sort of silent understanding. "She is here now."

Jake glanced between the two of you briefly before deciding to drop it. You breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"I called Norm and Max." Jake said. "They should be here in an hour or so. They may be able to tell us what happened" You nodded in approval, returning your gaze to your twin. It wasn’t ideal to have your family’s old friends risk the journey down here, but if it meant even a chance of helping Kiri then you knew it was more than worth it. You only wished they would get there faster.

The helicopter landing had gathered quite a crowd, all looking nervous at the prospect of "demons" arriving on the island. That was fair, but to you it was a welcome relief to see Norm and Max approaching alongside your father, their equipment in tow. You had promised not to leave Kiri's side, though, so you watched from through the door as they quickly scrambled over.

"[Y/N]!" Norm called when he noticed you, your lips twisting into a small smile. It may have been terrible circumstances, but it was still good to see your old friends.

"Hey, Norm. Max" You nodded in greeting and they both pulled you in for a short hug before starting to set things up. They wasted no time in placing sensors along Kiri's face and head, asking your family anything and everything you knew about what had happened.

Once everything was in place, they started running diagnostics and doing everything they could to get an idea of what was going on inside Kiri's head. It was a slow process, however, and ten minutes seemed to turn into an hour, then an hour into two. Still, you sat as close as you could without interfering, dividing your mind between trying to understand what Norm and Max were saying about your sister and just simply willing something to work so that Kiri would open her eyes.

"There's no bleed. There's no fracture. No effects of hypoxia. The brain looks good." Max said, shaking his head in confusion as he glanced through the scans they had taken.

"But we still have this interictal activity here in the prefrontal." Norm pointed out.

"Yes, she's definitely had a seizure." Max nodded, and you wondered how he could be so calm. You felt nauseous at the thought. As they continued their discussion, someone entered the marui behind you, and you turned to find Ronal looking outraged at the setup.

"I see that I am not needed here." Your heart dropped as she spoke, but you stood quickly, panicked as she turned to leave. You were about to say something when your mother grabbed Ronal's arm.

"You are Tshaik!" She hissed, sounding both angry and pleading. Clearly Norm and Max were running out of things to try, and Ronal was turning into your only hope. You caught her eyes, silently begging her to stay.

"Remove these things." She finally said, glaring down at Max and Norm.

"Out!" Neytiri growled. "You have done nothing!" She began picking things up and attempting to shoo the men outside.

"Come on, let's just take a break." Jake said quickly, ducking out the door.

"Okay, hold on! I have to take her IV out!" Norm said, rushing to get everything off of Kiri. You patted his arm in thanks as he made his way outside as well. Ronal was quick in getting her materials ready, beginning the process of a ritual you had never witnessed before. The air was tense as she worked, chanting and calling upon Eywa for aid. It was mesmerizing to watch her, though your focus remained primarily on your sister's face, waiting with baited breath for any sign of consciousness.

Finally, after what felt like years, Kiri's eyes fluttered. Your heart nearly burst out of your chest, leaning forward to grasp her hand.

"You're awake!" You breathed happily, using your free hand to gently caress her forehead, brushing some hair out of the way. Her gaze briefly flickered around the room before she began to cry, causing your heart to clench. Tears welled in your own eyes, and you fought against them, not wanting anything to blur your vision even for a moment.

"Are you ever going to let me out of sight?" Kiri questioned playfully, quirking an eyebrow in your direction. You smiled, shaking your head.

"Nope." The answer was a no-brainer. You quite literally hadn't spent a second away from your twin since she had woken up the previous day. While the rest of your family had fallen back into a semi-normal routine, you were intent upon staying with Kiri all day in the marui, even when she insisted she was feeling just fine.

"I'm not a baby, [Y/N]."

"I didn't say you were."

"Okay, but I'm not fragile either. We can't just stay holed up in here for the rest of our lives." She shot you a pointed look, growing serious.

"I know that," You sighed. "But what if I'm not there if something happens again?" The thought made your blood run cold. "I've already got enough guilt to last the rest of my life." You finished quietly, fidgeting with your fingers. Kiri's eyebrows furrowed.

"Guilt? [Y/N], what happened to me wasn't your fault. I know you think you're responsible for me, but there was nothing you could have done." She placed a hand on your arm and you looked up, meeting her eyes. "Besides, you've been hovering over me this whole time, I can guarantee that you're the world's most devoted sister." She chuckled, though you only felt worse at this, cringing a little. You had been holding in your shame for nearly two days now, and it finally came bursting to the surface in the form of a messy confession.

"I wasn't with you that night, Ki." You bit your lip before continuing. "I mean, I was, but then I started freaking out at everyone because nobody could figure out what was wrong. I only wanted to step out for a little while, just to calm down, you know?" Kiri was listening calmly, hand still resting reassuringly on your arm. "And Ao'nung was out there too, and I was crying and being hysterical and he was actually being nice for once and-"

"Oh my Eywa, he was being nice?!" Kiri's hand shot up to cover her mouth, gasping dramatically. You had to pause to process the fact that she wasn't being serious.

"Very funny, skxawng." You deadpanned. "This is serious!"

"Okay, okay, sorry!" She chuckled. "Please, continue."

"Well.. Actually that's pretty much it. Being around him was like this escape from reality, and I didn't want to go back home because I knew that meant having to think about what would happen if you- If you didn't make it or something." You swallowed thickly.

"Okay... so that's all? The moral of the story is that Ao'nung isn't as much of a douchebag as you thought?"

"No." You huffed. "The moral of the story is that I was being a selfish jerk who didn't bother to check on my sister all night because I was sleeping on the beach next to the aforementioned not-douchebag." Kiri's expression twisted into surprise briefly before she burst out laughing. The colour in your cheeks deepened.

"So I just bare my heart to you and all you can do is laugh at my stupidity?" You groaned, laying your back against the floor as you threw an arm over your eyes. However, Kiri's lighthearted reaction was making you feel a lot better. If she wasn't mad at you then maybe you didn’t have to feel so bad.

"Sorry," Kiri managed between laughs, eventually moving to lay down beside you when she gained some composure. "I just think you’re way too hard on yourself. I mean, sure, falling asleep alone with Ao'nung was a little scandalous, but you didn't really do anything wrong." She turned to her side to face you, propping up on her elbow. You did the same.

"I left you alone." You whispered, and her expression shifted into sympathy.

"You left me with our family, [Y/N]. You left because you needed help. It isn't a crime to react poorly when you're scared." The look she gave you was effective in melting the last of your guilt away, relieving some of the long-held tension in your muscles. You smiled gratefully.

"Thank you, Ki." And she smiled too, both of you taking in the quiet moment together. With Kiri, that moment didn't last too long.

"So, are you and Ao'nung exclusive now, or what?" She grinned as you rolled your eyes.

"Definitely not. Actually... I kind of snapped at him yesterday. Told him that night was a mistake and to leave me alone."

"What! Did you mean alone or alone, alone?" She questioned while you furrowed your brow in confusion.

"I guess at the time I meant alone, alone. I was really mad." You grimaced, remembering the look on Ao'nung's face after you had yelled at him.

"But you didn't mean it?"

"Well, no, I guess not." You shrugged. "But maybe it's a good thing, Ki. Everything that's ever happened between us has been so crazy and messy. It's probably for the best that we just stop trying to be... anything. Friends or otherwise." The words felt like a knife in the gut. You stared down at the ground, trying to convince yourself that you were right.

"You don't mean that." Kiri chided, her brow furrowing as she searched your eyes. "I know we always tease you, but I actually thought you really liked being around him."

I do. You thought painfully. I really do.

"It doesn't matter. He probably hates me now, for real this time." Your eyes darkened at the thought.

The arrival of your birthday was both exciting and deeply irritating. On one hand, you loved that you got to celebrate Kiri, and this time around felt extra special because of what she had just survived only days earlier. It was sort of a celebration of her recovery as well as her birthday. That being said, you hated the fact that people also insisted on celebrating you as well. It’s not that you didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but something about having everyone’s attention on you, showering you with an abundance of love and affection, was just not your thing.

So, when Tuk accidentally let it slip to you and Kiri that there was going to be a surprise party with everyone in the village invited, it was safe to say you were mortified. You had taken the entirety of the afternoon to sit in the sand by yourself and contemplate the best way to avoid the large gathering at all costs.

“You’re not getting out of this, you know.” Neteyam arrived silently from behind you, shooting you a pointed look as he sat down. “Mom and dad have this whole thing planned out. They even got Tonowari and Ronal on board.”

You groaned. “So that’s why this stupid thing is a community event?”

“Tonowari seemed strangely excited to make it into a big celebration.” Neteyam chuckled. “He kept talking about how it’s going to be so much fun to have music and dancing and a whole bunch of food and-”

“Okay, okay, I get it! Why do you insist on torturing me?” You moaned dramatically while Neteyam just laughed.

“Where was Kiri just now?” You changed the subject quickly when you noticed her returning from the village, coming from the opposite direction of your family’s marui. She had told you she was going to nap before the party.

“Oh- um- nowhere.” Neteyam was a notoriously bad liar. You raised an eyebrow, but before you could say anything, you noticed Lo’ak, Tsireya, Rotxo, and Ao’nung appear behind your sister, seemingly following her somewhere. They didn’t seem to notice where you sat, suspiciously watching them go by.

“Okay, what the hell?” You fixed your gaze back on your oldest brother, waiting for an explanation. You knew he had one because he was flushed, clearly trying not to act suspicious.

“I’m not allowed to tell you anything.” He admitted, a nervous laugh leaving his lips.

“Fine.” It took everything in you not to keep badgering him. He may not have been a good liar, but he was not one to tell other people’s secrets. “But if I find out that it has anything to do with my birthday, I’m going to kill you and Lo’ak.”

“What! But it was Kiri’s idea!” Neteyam said offendedly.

“And you and Lo’ak were stupid enough to go along with it,” You quipped. “Plus, it’s her birthday. It’s just bad manners to kill someone on their birthday.”

Neteyam laughed. “Okay, crazy. But it’s your birthday too, you know.”

“Don’t remind me.” You scowled.

“[Y/N]!” Your father called from behind you and Neteyam, squinting in the sunlight as his gaze fixed on the two of you. “Come! We need to get going soon!” He beckoned you over with a hand gesture and you sighed, allowing Neteyam to help pull you upright. You dragged your feet as you walked, hoping to prolong the inevitable.

“Neteyam, will you please get Kiri and Lo’ak?” Jake asked when you got closer, and the boy obediently dashed off in the other direction. Your fingers twitched as you thought about following.

“Don’t even think about it.” Jake laughed, throwing his arm across your shoulders as if to keep you on path with him. You rolled your eyes.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“Sure you weren’t.”

By the time everyone in your family had been rounded up, the sun had started to sink below the horizon. The darkness was anticipated, however, as a large glowing bonfire had been lit on the sand, casting a surprising amount of light all along the beach. Thankfully, the festivities had begun without any mention of you or Kiri, so you relaxed a little and tried to stay out of the middle of things. It felt more like a community get-together than a birthday party, to which you were grateful. You even started enjoying yourself a bit, eating some of the wonderful food as you soaked in the warmth of the fire and focused on the music through the chatter of the crowd.

“[Y/N]!” You heard someone call and you ripped your gaze from the fire, looking around. Tsireya stood a few feet away, smiling as she held out her hand toward you. “We’ve been looking for you! Come stand with us!” She beckoned, and you tried not to look reluctant as you followed her over to where your friends and siblings were. They had formed a sort of circle and were talking and laughing animatedly as you took a spot between Tsireya and Kiri.

Ao’nung was standing almost directly across from you while he talked with Rotxo, and it was hard to keep yourself from staring at him through the fire light. You'd seen him around the village over the past week, but neither of you had approached the other at all. He hadn’t even looked your way once in that time, which put a tiny crack in your heart. You missed the way he used to devour you with his eyes, the resulting feeling both intimidating and electrifying at the same time.

Just when you were about to look away, he abruptly turned and met your gaze. Something flickered in his eyes, and you convinced yourself you imagined it as the ghost of a smirk played at his lips. Your heart was pounding so hard you could feel it in your throat. So much for missing that feeling.

“[Y/N]?” Kiri nudged you, effectively snapping you out of it. Colour rose to your cheeks, particularly when you didn’t feel Ao’nung’s gaze leave you even as you turned toward Kiri.

“Hm?”

“I said are you having fun?” She was clearly trying to hold in a laugh. You narrowed your eyes.

“I guess this isn’t so bad.” You admitted after a few seconds of silence, glancing around the beach. As your head swivelled, you confirmed through peripheral vision that Ao’nung was still staring at you, though he was now talking casually with Lo’ak and Rotxo. You shivered slightly.

“No one’s wished me happy birthday yet, so I would call that a win.” You smiled a bit, but quickly dropped it when Kiri gave you a nervous grin.

“Don’t kill me, but I overheard dad saying that Tonowari was going to-” As if she had spoken it into existence, Tonowari suddenly called out a request for everyone to quiet down, stepping forward into the middle of the beach, glowing in the firelight.

“My people!” He grinned, spreading his hands wide in greeting. “I am glad to see everyone enjoying tonight’s festivities. While we need no reason to come together and celebrate, I do want to speak on what the celebration tonight is in honour of.” Your heart dropped out of your chest and flopped around pitifully on the sand. Tonowari turned to where you and Kiri stood, grinning widely as he beckoned for the two of you to stand by him. Kiri grabbed your hand, squeezing it lightly. While she smiled and accepted the spotlight gracefully, you imagined your expression resembled dread mixed with painful awkwardness. It was all you could do not to visibly cringe at the hundreds of eyes trained on you. However, only one pair really seemed to pierce directly into you, the intensity of it reminding you of the day you had first arrived here. Just like that day, he appeared to be seeing something about you that no one else was allowed to. It offered you a strange sort of steadiness.

“First, I would like to thank Eywa for the recovery of this young woman!” Tonowari placed a gentle hand on your sister’s shoulder. “We celebrate her health tonight.” You managed a small smile as everyone cheered, sharing a look with Kiri. You gripped her hand a little bit tighter. “And, of course, we thank Eywa for bringing the Sully family here to us. It is hard to accept change, but this has been a welcome one indeed. Join me in celebrating [Y/N] and Kiri on this wonderful day in which they were born!” You could hardly hear the cheers of the crowd as your cheeks burned and your heart pounded in your ears. As grateful as you felt, you didn’t think you could handle the attention much longer. Thankfully, Kiri nodded at Tonowari in thanks and lead you back to your friend group. Your brothers were cackling, practically beside themselves with laughter.

“Y-your face! Oh Eywa that was priceless!” Lo’ak howled. You glared, sticking out your tongue.

“Shut it, dickhead. Just because I don’t enjoy being stared at-” You didn’t get to finish as your brothers loudly cracked up again, holding their stomachs. Even Kiri, Tsireya, and Rotxo couldn’t contain themselves as they joined in. You grinned, shaking your head. “You guys are terrible. I’m going to find Tuk.” You spun on your heel, still laughing to yourself.

You skirted along the outside of the crowd, scanning for your youngest sister, when a hand suddenly grasped your arm, tugging you into the shadows of the trees, out of sight.

“What the hell are you-” You paused upon seeing who was holding onto you. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed, forest girl.” His eyes danced with a playfulness that you had missed, causing a skip in your heartbeat.

“Ao’nung I-” You were gearing up to apologize. You hadn’t planned on doing so, but you found it impossible not to as you stood across from him.

“Shh. Just follow me.” He turned, sliding his hold on your wrist down to lace his fingers with yours. You stiffened, eyes wide as you stared down at your interlocked hands. “Come on, freak!” He smirked, ignoring your confusion as he impatiently tugged you along. It didn’t take long for you to arrive at one of the little alcoves off the side of the island, just far enough away that you could no longer see the party on the beach and could only faintly hear it in the background over the soft lapping of the waves. You had been in this area plenty of times before, but you had never seen it at night. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The alcove was cave-like in a way, with large slabs of rock surrounding you and tucking the two of you mostly out of sight. There was little of the glowing vegetation that typically lit up the night on the island, but it didn’t matter because what looked like thousands of tiny glowing stars were embedded in the rock around you, effectively giving the illusion of standing directly next to the sky. You gawked, unable to tear your eyes away from such a magnificent sight.

“I heard you saying that you don’t like people staring.” Ao’nung broke the silence, chuckling a little at your awe. “I figured there’s no one to do that here,” He paused, smirking. “Except me.”

You flushed, remembering the delicate way he was still gripping your hand.

“I though you hated me again.” You said quietly.

“I do hate you.” Your heart dropped at his words, but for some reason he stepped closer, his eyes fixed intently on your face.

“I hate you because of your stupid smile that makes my hands all sweaty. I hate you because you’re the only one who puts up a fight when I tease you. I hate you because you actually drive me insane sometimes, and I hate you because I never know if you want to kiss me or kill me.” He grinned. “But mostly I hate that I don’t hate you. Not even a little bit.”

This felt like a fever dream. You held your breath as if you were going to wake up any second. But you remained where you were, frozen in uncertainty. It seemed the worst time to tease him, so of course, that’s what you did.

“I think you’re drooling.” You whispered, still not entirely sure how to move or think properly in the wake of his confession. He only huffed, ducking down close to your ear in one fluid motion. His warm breath fanned across your throat as he spoke.

“This is what I’m talking about, skxawng. Your inability to be nice,” You hadn’t realized he’d been slowly inching the two of you toward the wall of stone until he gently pressed you into it, one hand moving to grip your waist while the other flattened against the wall next to your head, the only thing holding him up over you. “It's driving me crazy.” The air felt like it had been sucked entirely out of the space between you, both of your chests rising and falling quickly. Despite the way his touch set you on fire, you had goosebumps from the proximity. Everything around you was charged with tension as Ao’nung finally tipped his head back away from your ear, staring at you so hard his pupils were dilated.

“Don’t you want me to apologize for yelling at you the other day?” Your voice came out small, though you’d gained a little confidence. All the time you'd spent convincing yourself that Ao’nung didn’t like you the way liked him was clearly wasted. His ears bent slightly as he smirked.

“Not with words.”

Oh.

“Oh?” You quirked an eyebrow, your breath hitching as Ao’nung pressed closer yet, almost every possible inch of you touching except for your heads, mere millimetres apart. The tension was so delicious that you almost didn’t want to break it.

You broke it anyway, closing the gap between you as you pressed your mouth to his, nearly gasping at the contact. It’s a good thing he’s holding me up, you thought fleetingly, your knees nearly giving out. Your lips fit together perfectly, moving in sync as he looped both arms around you, cinching you to him like he wished for you to meld together. Your hands roamed his chest, eventually making their way up to his neck, feeling the soft baby hairs there and making him groan into the kiss. You smiled.

“Happy birthday, [Y/N].” He whispered against your lips, smirking slightly. Your knees felt weak again. Just when he began pressing open-mouthed kisses along your jaw, something made you both freeze.

“Ewwwwwwww!” Someone who sounded suspiciously like Tuk squealed, followed by a fake retching noise that you often heard Lo’ak make. You whipped your head around, searching through the darkness outside of the alcove, Ao’nung’s grip on you relaxing a bit but not letting go.

“Just get out of these stupid bushes, guys. They know we’re here.” Neteyam grumbled, and finally everyone came into view from the greenery they had been hiding in. You gaped. Neteyam, Tuk, Kiri, Rotxo, Tsireya, and Lo’ak were all there.

“Oh my Eywa, tell me you did not just see all of that!” You gasped, fighting the urge to rip out of Ao’nung’s grasp. In response, Lo’ak grinned before putting on a stupid face.

“Oh, [Y/N]. I hate that I don’t hate you! Oh, Ao’nung, don’t you want me to apologize?” His imitation of your voices was horrendous. “Not with words… mwah mwah mwah…” Lo’ak had wrapped his arms around himself and turned around, crudely imitating a kiss. Tsireya smacked him on the shoulder, giving him a look, though her and the others were holding back laughter.

“Why the hell did you follow us here?” You questioned angrily before remembering the earlier events of the day. You snapped your head toward Neteyam.

“Is this what they were planning earlier?!” You raged, about to stomp over to him to give him a piece of your mind. Ao’nung pulled you back.

“Yes. Your sister explained to me how you were feeling and said she wanted to help me make peace with you. We all came up with the idea to take you here to talk and get away from all of your birthday stuff.” He paused, assessing your still fuming expression. “But I swear I didn’t know they were going to come spy on us!” He hissed, glaring at everyone.

“It’s not our fault you two decided to start sucking face!” Lo’ak cried.

“We just wanted to see if you guys would apologize and be friends again.” Kiri piped up, and you knew she was telling the truth. You softened.

“Well, I guess it worked.” You shook your head, smiling in spite of yourself. Beside you, Ao’nung smiled too, a real, genuine smile. Lo’ak made another gagging noise.

“Literally kill me. You guys are disgusting. Can’t you just go back to being frenemies or something?”

“Lo’ak, if you keep being a moron then I’m going to have to tell mom and dad about what you and Tsireya get up to when-”

“Okay, okay! Geez! Why does everyone have to know my business, damn!”

Everyone laughed and began turning toward the party, slowly making their way back. You and Ao’nung trailed behind, his arm slung around your waist as you walked.

“So how does it feel to be with the most attractive guy in the world?” He smirked cockily. You just scoffed.

“I wouldn’t know.” You earned a playful shove from him, laughing.

“You’re actually the worst.” Ao’nung grinned, shaking his head.

“I know you are, but what am I?”

“An annoying little brat, then.”

You gasped, faking offence. “Rude!”

“That’s what you love about me.”

You pretend to think for a moment. “Mm, nope. Don’t think so.” You concluded, laughing loudly as Ao’nung growled playfully, stopping both of you in your tracks. He turned toward you, capturing your face entirely in his large hands.

“Take it back.”

“No thanks.” You grinned arrogantly.

“C’mon, love. Just admit that you can’t get enough of me.” You shivered at the nickname, and he smirked. That stupid little smirk. It had gotten you into a whole world of trouble. But maybe it was worth it?

He leaned in, pressing a quick, but heated kiss to your lips.

Yes, definitely worth it.

taglist:

@luvlykrispy @foreverfolkloregirly @findingourtreasure @tiddybiddy @nao-cchi @goodiesinthecloset21 @elegantkidfansoul @azaleaniath @cloakedvengeance @philiasoul @aonungmybf @joshuahongsfuturewife @shartnart1 @ayanamire @tireytesulineytiriite @bigmama123 @fucksnow @seashelldom @melsunshine @donaldsmac @littlethingsinlife @kainari144 @thesheelfsworld @in-luvais @perseny @minkyungseokie @acrobatcheeks @theblaxkbird @sakura-onesan @gengarmylove @srrybroo @abcdasf11 @trulynotavailable @dreamergirljen @ipoopedmypants47 @hangezoes-wife @scarletrosesposts @kaealowri @eggnox

[littlest-bugz]

I think my favorite take on any sort of Sonic creepypasta is made by VibingLeaf on Youtube but is adapted from a written creepypasta by someone called ‪sinuois [unsure of platform they are on]‬. VibingLeaf is a phenomenal horror creator to begin with, they never miss the mark, but this is some of my favorite work of theirs [+ sinuois, but I believe the og creepypasta is in spanish and I cant even read a lick of it other than context clues and basic vocab].

It's a video called SONIC-el_pendrive_azul and is based off of the creepypasta called "El Pendrive Azul" or "El USB Azul".

You start off with a protag who is going through a USB of games from his friend who died of an epileptic seizure [important]. He finds a copy of a sonic game, which seems fine at first but delves into horror at a good pace [imo]. There's a first burst of extremely bright and flashing colors, and after it Sonic dies, right? Well there's this count down accompanied by a picture of sonic with bleeding eyes [NOT hyperrealistic- stylized]. Then what is played out is what I would call an 'epilepsy gif'. Essentially, the gif is trying to trigger an epileptic seizure [this is why I'm recounting it and not directly linking the video- afraid of sending people into a seizure despite a very obvious warning at the beginning]. I believe the first bout of flashing lights and colors is what is meant to truly trigger the epilepsy but after the countdown, it plays again- essentially meaning that if u aren't seizing on the first one, you certainly will be on the second. It's like its checking if you're dead yet.

Why I think this premise is so fucked up is because of how realistic this is. Someone making a troll game to trigger epilepsy is a real, and downright evil, concept. I have seen people post epilepsy gifs in discord servers. I have seen people try to make that sort of gif. It's vile, disgusting and evil, but that's what I love about this creepypasta. The concept that someone would hide an epileptic gif in a sonic game [or any game for that matter] is realistic, as absolutely horrible as it is. And its horrifying, truly. I'm not personally epileptic so I was able to watch the video in full, but as someone who has an epileptic family member, I would be absolutely fucking devastated if that was how he died- a troll game. The thought alone makes me very sad and almost angry, in a way.

Due to its realism, it's phenomenal and disturbing. It definitely fucked me up the first time I watched it- primarily because of the epileptic family member and thinking of that happening to him, but this concept is really fucked in general. Yes, the video is obviously not an accessible video for everyone, but that's kind of the point. It's remaking the creepypasta into a real, tangible video adaptation, so it would obviously include the epileptic gif, since its an integral part of the story and plot. There's a clear warning and I believe timestamps in the comments, but if you're epileptic? Avoid it like the plague- Don't even get curious about it. I'd say read the actual creepypasta instead of watching the video, but I'm unsure of where you could read it, and I'm unsure if its in English or Spanish. If you can read Spanish, go for it, but avoid the VibingLeaf video.

I've never been a fan of Sonic creepypastas- especially Sonic.exe and sonic game creepypastas. But this? Phenomenal and realistic. Fucked up in a way that horror should be- showing the real evilness of people that do those kinds of things.

[marvelmusing]

Keep Your Judgement

Chapter Nine

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova x Fem!Reader

Summary: A betrayal is brought to light, prompting you into action to save Aleksander’s life.

Warnings: canon level violence, mentions of death and poisoning.

My Masterlist • Series Masterlist

Early morning sunlight warms your face as you walk through the workshop, and the fox tugs frantically at your thoughts, dragging your attention back to the bundle of flowers that sit in a glass vase on Vladim’s desk. 

Circling back to stand in front of the flowers you try to focus on the fox as he nudges one of his own memories into your mind. 

“What’s this?” you ask Vladim. 

He looks up from the papers he’s been sorting through, his brows furrowing as he looks at the collection of thin stems bundled together. 

“Silphium plant. I gathered some last week and have been adding it to the General’s tonic.” 

With a frown, you duck your head down to sniff cautiously at the little white flowers, taking care not to inhale too much of the pollen. 

“This isn’t silphium.” 

Vladim’s frown deepens but you’re hardly aware of it as the fox shows you a memory of cows grazing in a field, munching on flowers like these only to be dead within a few hours. 

“It’s hemlock,” you say, a hollowness in your voice.  

His face drops. He shakes his head, moving quickly back towards the cupboards behind him. He yanks open a drawer. 

“I know they’re almost identical, so I always keep them separate.”  

Vladim’s voice wavers with anxiety as he stares at the dried clump of flowers in the cupboard. 

“They’ve been switched,” he whispers. “I- I don’t know how it happened, but they’ve been switched.” 

At the sight of your expression darkening with anger, Vladim’s eyes widen with fear. He stammers to explain himself, but your face immediately softens when you realise that it’s you he’s afraid of.

“I know you didn’t do this, Vladim,” you say calmly, despite how fiercely your heart is pounding in your chest. “I need you to go to the General now. Make sure he doesn’t drink this morning’s dose and gather together any spare vials of the tonic.”

Vladim nods hurriedly, taking off out of the workshop. With him gone, you feel able to crumble a little, leaning heavily against his desk as you turn your head to where Genya is standing at David’s desk.

The colour in her porcelain cheeks has been drained and your throat tightens as your eyes meet hers.

“There’s no cure,” you whisper hopelessly.

Silence rings painfully in your ears.

Then David stands, clasping his hands together as he thinks.

“Merzost will have been acting as an antidote. All the General will require is something to treat the potential symptoms of the poison.”

For a moment, you can barely process what David has just said. Then it clicks.

Nodding, you open up the book lying on Vladim’s desk, flicking frantically through the pages to find the side effects of consuming hemlock. David’s practical words have given you something to cling to, instead of dissolving into panic. 

Genya appears at your side as your eyes scan down the correct page and she reads the words printed there alongside you.

Muscle pain. Fatigue. Headaches. A persistent cough. Irregular heart pattern. Respiratory failure. Seizures.

Forcing yourself to stop reading, the air in your lungs feels light as you struggle to breathe. Half of the symptoms overlap with what Aleksander is already experiencing due to merzost, which worries you infinitely.

With shaking hands, you reach for an empty vial as David rummages through Vladim’s desk drawer.

“Ginger for muscle pain,” Genya suggests. David nods in agreement.

Together, the three of you manage to assemble a tonic to somewhat restore Aleksander’s health, hopefully counteracting any damage the poison might have done to him. His subconscious use of merzost is what concerns you the most, but there is little you can do to help with that.

As you make your way to Aleksander’s rooms, your thoughts are already focused on finding who did this.

It must have been someone who had either direct access to the workshop or his rooms, but that would include any materialki for starters. The Sanctuary doesn’t have the same level of order and security as the Little Palace, meaning that anyone could have entered Aleksander’s rooms and tampered with his tonic.

It appears Genya is thinking along the same lines as you.

“Hemlock stains both wool and silk,” she informs you. “Collecting the flowers will have left a mark on the culprit’s kefta.”

Turning to look at her, she meets your gaze determinedly and you give her a nod of acknowledgement. Together, you will find out who did this.

Aleksander is sitting in the armchair by the fire when you arrive, but he stands once you enter the room.

Two heartrenders, Fedoyr and Sergei, stand near Aleksander’s desk. He must have been in the middle of an early morning briefing with the corporalki.

Aleksander’s eyes lock on yours as David hands him the new tonic, and after a small nod from you he drinks down the contents within a few swallows. His nose wrinkles slightly once he’s finished but you breathe a small sigh of relief.

“What’s going on?” Sergei asks, fidgeting with the sleeves of his kefta as his eyes bounce over each person in the room.

The morning light is pale as it falls over your face, casting particular attention onto a series of marks on Sergei’s kefta and you go still as you stare at him.

“How many doses?” you ask him directly.

His eyes widen and everyone turns to look at him. Under such scrutiny, his fidgeting intensifies, nails scraping against the texture of white powder dried onto his red kefta.

“What?”

“How many of the General’s doses have you poisoned?”

“Are you insane?” He manages a weak scoff, but any attempt at nonchalance is destroyed by his wide fearful eyes as he glances towards the door. “This is ridiculous.”

He makes a dash for the door but you’re quicker. It takes barely any prior thought for your power to seize the thin chain hanging beneath his shirt. The strength of your anger and fear almost shocks you as Sergei stumbles backwards, grasping frantically at his throat as you pin him to the wall.

With shaking hands, you hold him there, the fox snarling in your mind.

“Genya?” you prompt.

She hovers her palm over the edge of his sleeves, examining the stains there. Her frown of concentration hardens into realisation before she nods.

“It’s hemlock.”

“How many?” you demand, turning your attention back to Sergei.

He wheezes, the veins in his neck bulging with the strain of trying to fight against the hold you have on him. Pressing your hands tighter together, the chain pulls harder at his throat.

“I can make this exceptionally painful for you.”

Something in his eyes shatters at your warning, no doubt seeing the truth in your determined gaze.

“Four,” he confesses.

The temptation to keep going tugs at you, to tighten your hold until his lungs are empty. He had tried to kill Aleksander. He could have succeeded. You could have lost him. That alone feels like justification enough.

Genya rests her hand on your forearm.

“He’s worth more to us alive,” she murmurs. “He could be a spy.”

Her words make sense, but the fox’s instincts are so deeply embedded in your soul that for a brief moment you don’t care if keeping him alive is the smart thing to do. He tried to kill your mate.

That thought from the fox shocks you enough to release your hold on the chain, allowing Sergei to slump back against the wall, his legs crumpling as he almost loses consciousness. His eyes widen momentarily before he passes out.

Fedoyr stops at your side, lowering his hands when Sergei lands on the floor with a thud and you realise Fedoyr is the reason for Sergei’s loss of consciousness. There’s a hardness in Fedoyr’s gaze as he looks at you. It appears you aren’t the only one furious that this had happened.

For a moment, nobody speaks.

Then Aleksander straightens himself, placing down the empty vial before he begins to issue orders.

“Fedoyr, take him down to the outhouse. I want a guard posted outside at all times and to be alerted when he wakes.”

Fedoyr nods.

“Yes General.”

With little care, Fedoyr seizes a hold of Sergei’s limp form and precedes to drag him from the room.

Aleksander turns to the rest of you. Too many thoughts weigh down your mind, preventing you from fully engaging with the conversation as he continues to speak.

“Genya and David, thank you for your assistance this morning. Perhaps you could help Vladim to create an alternative tonic, one that might prevent a repeat occurrence of this.”

The three of them nod.

“Shall I send for a healer, moi soverenyi?” Genya asks.

Aleksander shakes his head.

“I believe they would be of little help to me now. But thank you.”

Vladim seems distressed by this entire situation as he shuffles his feet, keeping the wooden box full of possibly contaminated tonics pressed close to his chest. He is the first to leave after bowing in Aleksander’s direction.

David hovers slightly, uncertain whether they have been dismissed or not. He watches Genya as she steps closer to you on her way towards the door. She knows you and Aleksander will want some time together.

“Thank you,” you whisper.

She gives your arm a gentle squeeze of reassurance and it takes everything you have not to break. Without her and David to help you make another tonic, you might have ended up crying on the floor of the workshop instead.

As the two of them leave, Genya closes the door behind her, and the room descends into a silence that rings in your ears.

You still can’t look at Aleksander.

“Are you alright?”

At the sound of his question, you stare wide-eyed at him. Then you burst into tears.

Dropping your face into your hands, you cry hard against your palms as the fear and anxiety of the last half an hour threatens to overwhelm you.

Silently Aleksander moves towards you and wraps his arms around your body, holding you close to his chest as you sob.

“Four doses. That’s almost two days. You could have dropped dead any time after the first one.”

He strokes the back of your head, not unlike when he pets your fox form. Struggling to breathe through your tears, you grasp onto his kefta, your nails biting into the fabric as you press your forehead against his chest.

“I should have known something was wrong. I should have noticed.”

“No,” he states firmly. “This is not your fault.”

“You could have died.”

“Yes.”

His simple response startles your tears into slowing as you tilt your head back to look up at him.

“That doesn’t bother you?” you ask in a small voice.

His brows crease slightly as he looks away from you, sighing softly, still cradling the back of your head.

“I didn’t say that.” The corner of his mouth lifts slightly but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes as he remarks drily, “You get used to it.”

The hum you give him in response is humourless and distant.

 His thumb traces over your cheek and the skin-to-skin contact has his power threading through your own which brings you back to yourself somewhat. As your eyes connect with his, he smiles softly.

“You could have died,” you repeat in a whisper.

He nods.

“I know. But it’s over now.”

He lowers his forehead down onto yours and a shiver runs down your spine at the affectionate gesture. Tears gather in your eyes once again as you nod. Aleksander might have narrowly avoided a deadly poisoning, but there’s no knowing what damage has been done already.

This is far from over.

Aleksander can see the weight in your eyes and his brows furrow lightly before he says quietly,

“I think I know what will lift your spirits.”

Curiosity fills your features as you tilt your head at him, and the fox nudges a few rather romantic ideas into your mind.

“How do you feel about deer for dinner?”

A frown creases at your brows at his casual question, and the fox halts his meddling in your thoughts to pay attention to Aleksander.

“The scouts haven’t been able to find a deer for weeks.”

He nods in agreement.

“But you can find one, can’t you?”

At the feeling of the fox bounding through your mind, bring back his memories of stalking through fields and running after prey, you breathe out a small laugh as his enthusiasm fills you.

“Probably,” you admit with a smile.

Aleksander looks down at you, the corner of his mouth curling into a small smile in return.

“Let’s take a walk.”  

»»---------------------►

marvelmusing Tag List: @dreamlandcreations @blanchedelioncourt @idaofinfinity @slytherheign @ellooo0ooo @vixenofcourse @dumb-fawkin-bitch @jane-arthur @ilikefictionmen @budugu @watersquirtpewpewboomm @mysweetlittledesire @dhampiravidi

S&B Tag List: @motheroffae

Aleksander M Tag List: @nyctophiliiiiaaa @jazmin2211 @wooya1224 @seronsalk @housekeeperjjswife

BB Characters Tag List: @rachlovesactors @noortsshift @aikeia @weallhaveadestiny @two-unbeatable-beaters

KYJ Tag List: @tartiflvtte @weepingwitchofthewest @issybee0611 @poemfreak306 @nanapuddingisasimpformrballs @writerloversjm @prochnost513

»»---------------------►

[silent-dark-entries]

Something I’m in the middle of writing !!!

Word Count: 1175!!

Warnings: Still proofreading so maybe some mistakes! Also my first Wizarding world fic so its probably not accurate ._. This also will be a smut but I’m just plot building :))

Oh!!! And seizure warning!!

Birdie looks herself in the mirror for the fourth time. Was her dress too short, too tight? She can't breathe, so she loosens her ribbons...for the third time. Maybe a muggle designer wasn't the brightest idea, but it's too late. Birdie can feel her friends, Nerissa and Imogene, growing impatient waiting outside in the Slytherin common room. They never have troubles getting dressed for these types of things. They're the exact same body type, if it looks good on one of them it'll surely look good on the other.

Birdie looks one more time. A green plaid slip dress, and shiny Mary Jane platforms  Final decision.

Birdie takes a swig of the smuggled in firewhisky as her and her fellow Slytherins make their way to the Gryffindor common room. The burn is dreadful but nostalgic nonetheless.

Birdie listens to her friend's talk but doesn't give them a second thought. She feels guilty of course. She had ignored their letters all summer holiday scared they would've known what she was up to. Scared they knew what her Mother had done. She didn't even sit with them during the sorting ceremony. In fact, she hid in the toilets when the food had come out. But they found her and cornered her asking if they had done something wrong. She denied it and just blamed it on an upset tummy.

Someone in the front of the line of students does the secret knock making the fat lady creek open. The students move through the silenced, glowing green, stone tunnel into the common room full of students. Birdie takes another swig of the fire whiskey before it's swiped by Imogene.

"Pace yourself Birdie." Nerissa says as they find their designated corner to stand in. Imogene throws her sandy Blonde hair behind her tiny shoulders before taking a hefty sip. She screws her face as the burn leaves her throat.

"Fuck's sake Birdie! They weren't kidding when they named this shit." Imogene rasps out. The three girls laugh before taking more tiny sips each.

Birdie floats towards the dance crowd as muggle hip hop blares through the speakers, her friends following closely behind her. Birdie throws her arms up along with the firewhiskey as she yells along to the lyrics of Rump Shaker. Birdie shakes her ass to the beat and occasionally drops to the floor as she's sandwiched between the two girls.

The crowd cheers as the song ends. Birdie opens her eyes that she hadn't realized were shut tight. The room spins beneath her feet as she makes her way towards a group of people sitting on the floor in a circle.

"What is this? huh, some kind of prayer circle?" Birdie snorts out. Birdie hates being seen as a mean girl but it's what people expect from her.

"It's kiss or drink." A gravelly voice from below her says. Birdie looks down at the familiar voice that she usually has great talent in ignoring to see none other than Fred Weasley staring back at her. He smiles up at her before blowing out the smoke from the joint he held between his lips. "We'd ask you to join us, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to tarnish that niminy-piminy attitude you keep up."

Birdie's jaw dropped. Her first thought is to take her bottle she has clenched in her hand and smash it against his head. But instead she sits where she stood inbetween Fred and some nobody sixth year. She keeps her eyes straight ahead ignoring the stares coming from the rest of the group.

Hannah Abbot, a geeky blonde girl leans forward and spins the green translucent bottle that sits in the middle of the circle. The groups hoops and howls as it lands on Neville Longbottom. Hannah giggles as she crawls across the circle closer to Neville before feverishly locking lips with him. Birdie bites her tongue trying desperately not to gag at the sight of the spit string between them as they part. Neville spins the bottle awkwardly fast.

Birdie takes the last swig of her fire whiskey instantly regretting it for it finally sent her over the tipsy versus drunk threshold. She wipes the dribble from her mouth before putting the bottle down between her thighs. She looks at the bottle in the middle to see who it landed on and it's of course her. Birdie looks up to see Neville moving towards her slowly.

"Take the drink Longbottom." Birdie says through her teeth. Neville nods defeatedly before throwing a shot from the bottle back. Birdie rolls her eyes before clumsily leaning in to spin the bottle. She looks around the circle to see if there's anyone worthy enough to kiss but sees no one she actually cares to kiss. Which works out for her for the bottle lands on herself.

"Well I can't kiss myself." Birdie picks up her shot.

"It's on Freddie." George cheekily says. "You have to kiss Freddie!" Birdie looks back down at the bottle. Certainly it's slightly pointed to the left, straight at Fred.

"Just let her take the shot! I told you she's too priggish to kiss anyone here." Fred sneers. Birdie slams her shot glass down and gets on her knees. She throws her arm around Fred's neck and the other hand on his cheek. Pushing him closer to her face until their lips finally meet. Soft and innocent first until Fred dips deeper snaking his arm around her body pulling her closer and slipping his tongue against hers.

Birdie breaks first scooting back on her knees leaving Fred's body cold next to her. She takes the joint from his hand whilst standing and stumbling away to find her friends, leaving the the small circle speechless

"Well" George says breaking the silence. "I don't know how we could continue after that."

Birdie finds her friends in the corner with their arms crossed staring back at her. She takes a hit of the joint and offers it to her friends in which they partake.

"What the hell was that shit, Missulena?" Nerissa says blowing the smoke into the air.

"It was hot!" Imogene says. Birdie shrugs lazily.

"She's pissed. We should get back to the dorms before she gets sick." Nerissa says gesturing them towards the door.

Birdie follows behind her friends before feeling a sharp pain it the middle of her forehead. She shakes off the pain before searching for her friends in the crowd. Birdie stumbles forward but before she could catch her balance she feels her legs give out beneath her making her fall straight on her back. Her arms become stiff against the sides of her sides as her back arch towards the ceiling. Birdie's eyes rolls eerily to the back of her head as her gaped mouth lets out a ghostly howl.

Nerissa and Imogene push pass through the crowd surrounding as Birdie's body rattles violently against the old rug beneath her body. Birdie looks up at her friends through her tear filled eyes. Until her eyes finally closed.

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

What Went Wrong

AI-Less Whumptober 2023: 1. Poisoned, 8. Seizure, 14. Bleeding Through the Bandage, 21. Near-Death Experience, 30. Coma, Alt. Prompt: Bloody Knuckles Fandom: DC, The Suicide Squad, Rick Flag, f!reader Summary: After a mission goes spectacularly wrong, Rick is forced to relay what happened, no matter how painful it is for him to relive it. Word Count: 5033 TW: Poison, Mentions of Death, Blood/Bleeding, Seizure, Hospital, Language, Rick is taller than Reader Note: Written for @ailesswhumptober's event. Thank you to the anon who requested Bloody Knuckled with Rick! It was really a wonderful inspiration! And thank you to @loverhymeswith for all the support and beta reading for me! 💖

Colonel Rick Flag sat in the small break room—now a makeshift interrogation room—oblivious to the world around him. All he could do was stare blankly down at his busted, swollen knuckles and watch as his blood slowly reddened the gauze he couldn’t remember someone wrapping them in. Apparently, someone had also given him something for the pain, but it was doing little to stop the throbbing ache that seemed to intensify with every beat of his heart. Yet, he sort of liked it. It gave him something to focus on, to ground him, even as everything else around him lay in ruins. 

Gritting his teeth, he balled his left hand into as much of a fist as the swelling and bandaging would allow, and almost blacked out as every nerve running from his hand up his arm screamed out in excruciating agony. Squeezing his eyes together tightly, he stifled a groan of pain as he forced himself to maintain the fist. 

Focus on the physical pain. Just focus on the physical pain. Let everythin’ else slip away until there is nothin’ but this pain.

“Colonel Flag….Colonel….Sir—”

“Flag!” 

Waller’s sharp tone cut through his fog and Rick’s fist instinctively uncurled, lessening the pain to a point where he once again became aware of his surroundings. Blinking, he looked up to stare at the pair in front of him in a slight daze. “W-what?”

Waller nodded at the other man who shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he cleared his throat and glanced down at the stack of papers in front of him. “Uh, yes, well, I understand this may be difficult for you but we need to get your official statement on what happened for the record.”

Rick sighed as he scratched at the gauze on his hand. “Do we really have to do this right now? I got better places to be.”

The man shot him an apologetic smile. “I understand that but the less time that passes between the event and the report, the more accurate it is. And considering there were numerous asset casualties, we need this to be as accurate as possible to avoid any liabilities.”

“Assets and liabilities,” Rick spat, the words like ash in his mouth. “That’s all any of them are to you, isn’t it? Numbers on a page to use how you want. But the members of Task Force X are people. Yeah, people who made some wrong choices or did horrible things, but that doesn’t mean they are just fodder you can throw at your problems.”

“It wasn’t so long ago that you too viewed your squad members as nothing more than that,” Waller said coldly, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes completely devoid of all emotion. “I wonder, did your view on them change before or after you started crawling into one of their beds?”

Rick leaped to his feet, his metal chair clanging loudly on the hard tile as it toppled over. The man jumped and cowered back in surprise, but Waller didn’t even flinch. Instead, she continued to stare Rick down, daring him to try and make a move against her. But they both knew what would happen if he did….

Recognizing he was in an impossible situation, Rick could only point at Waller and snarl, “You leave her out of this. Whatever relationship we might have didn’t affect what happened on the mission. And what I do on my own time is my own business.”

“Maybe, but you fucked her while she was my prisoner, which makes it my business.”

Before Rick could snap back, the man cleared his throat, his face bright red behind his glasses, and he reached for one of his papers. Scanning it, he asked, “Excuse me but are you confirming you had an intimate relationship with Belle Reve prisoner 0806?”

Rick turned his attention to the man, anger gleaming in his hazel eyes. This just proved his point. To them, you were nothing more than a faceless number, something to be used when convenient then tossed back into a cell like the other thousand inmates of Belle Reve. 

“Yes,” Rick said through gritted teeth as the man began to write something on his papers. “After several assignments together, a connection developed and we became romantically then intimately involved.”

The man paused his scribbling and glanced up as Waller began slowly walking around to stand behind Rick. “‘Romantically’...so this relationship between you and this inmate was more than just physical?”

A thousand moments with you unwillingly flashed through Rick’s mind: your head resting on his shoulder as you slept on the flight home from a mission; the determined glare on your face as you fought off a swarm of enemies all by yourself; the way he didn't need to say a word for you to know exactly what he needed; the pure adoration in your eyes as he settled between your legs on your tiny prison cot. How could he not have fallen in love with you?

Rick once again tightened his hand into a loose fist as he growled, “Why the fuck does it matter right now? However you define it, it didn’t affect the mission at all.”

“Given how the evacuation team found you, sir, one might say differently.” Rick began to rise up out of his seat but the man put up his hands. “I’m sorry. I have to ask these kinds of questions so we can get the full picture of what went on in that lab. It’s in your best interest as well as ours if you can be as honest and detailed as possible so we have all the information when presenting our findings. Right now, the depth of your relationship with this inmate only matters to me if it caused some sort of misconduct during the mission that led to its failure. Otherwise, I don’t care what the two of you have been up to or how you feel about each other, I promise.”

Rick could feel Waller’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his head and he knew that she felt very differently. If she had her way, he would be court-martialed immediately. Not because he had been sleeping with you or because he loved you—no, he was certain she already knew about that. But now that it was public knowledge the head of her pride-and-joy task force was sleeping with one of its criminal assets presumedly right under her nose, it would put a black mark not only on the squad but on her as well. And that was not something Waller took lightly. 

But for now, she wasn’t his main concern. He needed to get out of this room and upstairs as soon as possible. So, he nodded to the man and motioned for him to continue with his questions.

“Thank you.” The man gave Rick a small smile and looked back down at his papers. After scanning them for a minute, he looked at Rick and said, “Now then, Colonel, to the best of your recollection, can you tell us what happened? What went wrong?”

What went wrong….. It was the thought that had been plaguing Rick for the past twenty-four hours. He had replayed the entire mission over and over in his head trying to figure out what he could have done differently to save his team…..to save you.

It was supposed to be a textbook in-and-out mission with no foreseeable complications. An underground lab was developing a new weapon that could be catastrophic in the wrong hands—which included the scientists developing it. Though hidden, the lab didn’t appear to have more than the most basic levels of security and it seemed like a cakewalk for a small team to go in, destroy the research and weapon, and secure any scientists on site.

Because of this, it was determined this would be a good chance to break in the newest recruits to Task Force X and Rick found himself leading a team comprised almost entirely of untrained, terrified ex-criminals who wouldn’t shut up or fall into line. Before they even got off the plane, he was ready to detonate every last one of their nanite bombs.

Luckily, you had been allowed to tag along to help keep everyone under control….including Rick. Even if no one realized how deeply the connection between the two of you went, it was obvious that you had a way of calming him down and centering him even in the most dangerous or stressful of situations. Rick pretended to hate the idea that he needed someone to manage him but honestly, he didn’t mind as long as it meant he got to spend more time with you.

On your very first mission with Task Force X, Rick noticed you were special and unlike anyone he had met before. And by the third mission, he had you pressed against a wall in a dark alley as you shoved your tongue down his throat. Since then, he would do whatever he could to be near you, including bribing the guards to turn off the cameras in your cell for a few hours once or twice a month—and still it wasn’t enough. He was counting down the missions until you earned your freedom and he could have you in his bed every night without having to leave.

And this mission would bring that dream one step closer to a reality.

Once inside the building, Rick sent the rest of the Squad to destroy everything in the labs (he figured they could handle unbridled destruction without needing supervision) while you went with him to find the mainframe and extract any information you could before wiping it. 

The plan seemed to be going perfectly until you and Rick finished your assignment and were heading back to the rendezvous point. Just as you reached the lab’s exit, there was a whirring sound and a pair of thick, metal doors slammed shut inches in front of Rick’s face. You spun around to try to rush back the way you came, but another door slid shut, blocking your retreat. 

“Damn it!” Rick yelled as he slammed his fist against the thick metal door. Sighing, he picked up his radio to call into headquarters. Usually, they would all be on earpieces, but since it was supposed to be such a simple mission, they had forgone them this time. “Control, this is Flag. Do you copy?”

The radio crackled to life. “We copy, Flag. Did you complete your mission?”

“Affirmative, Harcourt. But on the way to the rendezvous, we got cut off. We are trapped between two metal doors and I can’t see a way out. Requestin’ an extraction team to come get us.”

“Launching extraction team now. ETA is approximately fifteen minutes. Stand by.” 

“Copy.” Rick slipped the radio back into his cargo pocket and shrugged at you. “Well, I guess we just wait. At least we have a few minutes alone together until they show up.”

Looking around at the tight space you were now trapped in, you took a step closer, pressed your palms against Rick’s back, and leaned against him as you whispered, “Rick…I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Ah hell, darlin’,” Rick muttered. “Now why’d you have to say somethin’ like that?”

Suddenly, the sprinkler heads on the ceiling sprang to life, and a mysterious liquid sprayed down on you. It was clear like water but had an oily consistency and a bitter, acidic smell to it. Rick spun around, grabbed your arm, and pulled you tight against his chest trying to use his large form to shield you from as much of it as possible but it was of little use. Soon, you were both drenched from head to toe. 

It lasted for less than a minute before the sprinklers turned off once again. Lifting your head from where you had buried it in Rick’s chest, you glanced around before muttering, “What the fuck was that about?”

“I don’t know. But I think we should get outta here before we find out.” Rick turned back to the metal door and began examining it for any sort of weak point or hidden switch.

From behind him, he heard you audibly shiver and he glanced back to see you rubbing your hands over your still dripping arms trying to warm yourself up. He wished he had something to give you but he doubted his soaked tact jacket would provide you any warmth. Either the extraction team needed to hurry up or he needed to get you both out of here as soon as possible. 

However, just as he began to turn back to the door, there was a burst of static from above you, and a voice called out from a hidden speaker, “So, this must be the current iteration of Task Force X. Welcome!” You and Rick exchanged a nervous glance as the voice continued. “I had a feeling Waller would track me down eventually, and it looks like I was right. Good thing I took precautions.”

“Who the hell are you?” Rick called out as his eyes scanned the ceiling trying to locate where the voice was coming from.

“She didn’t tell you? She just sent you out on a mission without briefing you on what you were walking into?” The voice scoffed. “Why am I not surprised? Well, let me introduce myself. I used to be one of the head research and developers at ARGUS before Waller got everything she wanted from me and tried to have me arrested despite the fact everything I did was under her orders. You see, I’m the guy who developed the technology that made the nanite bombs possible, including that one currently residing in your girlfriend’s head.”

You gasped as your eyes grew wide and your hand flew to the side of your neck, your finger tracing the small bump just under your skin that Rick knew was there. His eyes met yours and he knew you were both thinking the same thing: If this maniac invented the bombs then chances were….

Rick glared up at the ceiling and roared, “Now listen here you bastard—”

“I can’t detonate it if that’s what you’re worried about,” the voice calmly interrupted. “Waller is smart enough to change the frequency for every mission which means I, unfortunately, can’t access them. However, I had a feeling she would kick me to the curb once she had my technology so I neglected to tell her about the one flaw in my design. The unintended way to weaponize them. The one I just set in motion.”

A chill ran down Rick’s spine. “What are you talkin’ about? What did you do!”

“Rick…” Your fingers dug into his arm as you reached for him, your shivering intensifying—but whether that was from cold or fear, Rick didn’t know.

“The bombs are not the only thing injected into the subjects,” the voice continued. “A small amount of a typically harmless chemical surrounds it to help the body not reject the foreign object or start breaking it down. I say ‘typically harmless’ because it only becomes toxic when mixed with another rare compound….the same compound that was just released from the sprinkler system moments ago.”

“What did you do to me?” you asked, addressing the voice directly for the first time. “What’s going to happen?”

“Oh, not just you, my dear. Those sprinklers went off all over the building so I’m sorry to say your entire team is about to suffer the same fate as you…except for the Colonel that is. Or did Waller implant a bomb into you as well? It wouldn’t surprise me if she did.”

“Shut the fuck up and just tell us how to stop this!”

“Yeah, I’m not going to do that. I need Waller to pay for what she did to me and show her she was wrong for ever doubting my abilities. And the best way to do that is by eliminating part of her precious Task Force X. I am sorry you had to be a casualty of our war but just like any game of chess, pawns get sacrificed. I would hurry up and say your goodbyes if I were you. The toxin forming in her blood should begin to take effect any time now and her body will destroy itself before your backup arrives. But Colonel….tell Waller I said hello.” 

The speaker crackled out, leaving the two of you standing in a horrified silence. Rick’s mind was spinning with everything he had just heard. What the voice said couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t be. After all, Waller would have known about it.

“Rick?”

Waller was the one who came up with Task Force X and she oversaw every single detail as it came to fruition. She couldn’t have overlooked something like this….could she?

“Rick.”

But then again, what if she had? She wasn’t a scientist and wouldn’t understand all the uses of the different chemicals they were using with the technology. So what if the voice wasn’t lying and you only had a few minutes before—

“Rick!”

He whirled around to see you slumped against the far wall, your eyes wide as you wiped your fingers under your nose and watched them come away bloody, a bright smear still left on your face as more began to trickle out of your nose. 

“No….”

He closed the distance between you in two long strides and took your face between his large hands. Your body was shaking slightly as you looked up at him with tears in your eyes and your voice broke as you said, “Rick, I can feel it. It’s already happening. Oh God—” you frantically grabbed onto his wrists as his hands still cupped your face “—I’m scared. I’m not ready to die. Not now. Not when I’ve found—” The rest of your words were lost as you broke down sobbing.

Rick pulled you into his chest and wrapped his arms around you tightly. Resting his chin on the top of your head and rubbing soothing circles across your back, he whispered, “It’s okay, darlin’. You’re gonna be okay. I’m gonna get you outta here and get you help, you hear me? I can’t lose you either so I need you to fight. Fight and just hold on, for as long as you can. We’re gonna get outta here…together.”

He felt you nod into his chest and gently moved you away to look at you. Red-tinted tears trailed down your cheeks and more blood was smeared under your nose. Rick glanced down and saw some of it had wiped off on his jacket, but it didn’t matter. He bent down and pressed his lips furiously against yours—trying to ignore the metallic taste of blood coating your lips— then turned back towards the exit door. 

He had already searched every inch of it for some sort of switch but maybe he could pry it open. Rick tried to get his fingernails to dig into the seam where the two doors met, but the seal was just too strong. Maybe if he could find something to wedge between them….

As he quickly scanned the room for something—anything—he could use, he saw you clutch your chest as you began to cough. It started out small, like just clearing your throat. However, within what seemed like seconds, it had evolved into a wheezy, rattling hack that wracked your entire body. Rick watched helplessly as fresh blood sprayed across the floor as a particularly deep cough forced you to double over.  

As it subsided and you looked up at him, he inhaled sharply as he saw blood now not only trickling from your nose but from your eyes and mouth too. You tried to say something—it seemed like his name—however, from your rasping gasps, it was clear you weren’t getting enough air to breathe properly, let alone speak. 

“No…” Rick couldn’t believe he was being forced to stand here and watch you die with no way to save you. “No!”

Throwing his entire weight behind it, Rick smashed his fist into the metal door. Logically deep down he knew there was no way he would ever be able to punch his way through it, but right now, logic was the furthest thing from his mind. Instead, he wound back and drove his other fist into the door. 

Over and over again, he pounded at the metal, ignoring the pain as he felt his skin split and bones crack. The door was now smeared with the blood from his ruined knuckles but it was nothing compared to the blood that was spilling from you just behind him. Hearing you struggling and in pain yet knowing he was helpless to stop it was too much for him and he increased the strength of each blow.

It was only when he saw you collapse to the floor as your body began thrashing and convulsing that Rick abandoned his fruitless attempts at breaking through the door and he dropped to his knees beside you. Pulling your writhing body into his lap, he held you tightly against him and pressed his lips against your ear, muttering empty promises that everything was going to be alright. 

As you continued to seize, blood began to flow more steadily from your eyes, nose, and mouth. Your eyes rolled back into your head as your back arched and your entire body went rigid. You seemed to hold that pose for a moment, the entire room suddenly dead silent. Then, slowly and with one extended exhale, your body relaxed against his and your head lolled to the side. 

Ice spread through Rick’s veins as he stared at your motionless form. No. This couldn’t be happenin’. Not to you. Please God, not you. 

He gently took your face between his hands and turned it so he could see you better. Several trails of blood streaked down your face and though your eyes were mostly closed, he could just make out the dulled, faded color beneath your lids. And though you were lying on his chest, all he felt was an unnatural stillness—no heartbeat, no intake of breath. You were gone.

Tears began to stream down Rick’s cheeks as he buried his face in the top of your head. And though he knew you couldn’t hear him, he softly whispered, “Please, darlin’, come back to me. I need you and I love you and I can’t do this without you. So, please….come back.”

And that’s how Waller’s extraction team found the two of you moments later: Colonel Rick Flag with tears in his eyes as he clung to the limp body of one of the Belle Reve inmates.

Since that moment, Rick had been going on some sort of autopilot, letting himself be shuffled from place to place and doing what he was told. But now that his official statement had been taken and he had been released, there was only one place he needed to be. So, taking the hospital elevator up to the third floor, he stepped out onto the intensive care unit and followed the signs towards his destination. 

When he reached the end of the hall, Rick stared through the window into the hospital room, his forehead pressed against the glass as he struggled to maintain some sort of composure. He could barely see your face past the countless machines and equipment hooked up to you in an effort to keep you alive. 

By the time Waller’s extraction team had shown up and somehow managed to revive you, the poison had done its job and destroyed or seriously damaged most of your internal organs. It was a miracle the doctors were able to keep you alive this long, even if machines now controlled every aspect of your life support. The rest of the Task Force who had been in a different area of the building hadn’t been so lucky. The two of you were the only survivors—if you could call it that.

The doctors had done everything they could to save you and now the rest was up to you. Rick had heard the full spectrum of possible prognoses ranging from you making a full recovery to you being incapable of cognitive thought or movement—and all of it was dependent on you waking up which was an uncertainty on its own.

But for now, you lay motionless in your hospital bed just as you had for the past twenty-four hours. 

Fury boiled in his gut as Rick’s eyes landed on the pair of handcuffs chaining you to the bed. Did they seriously expect you to jump up and sneak out of the hospital? Your heart was struggling to beat without assistance and air was constantly having to be forced into your lungs yet they had to make sure you wouldn’t miraculously make a daring escape. It made Rick sick. As did the fact he wasn’t permitted to be in the room with you. All he wanted was to hold your hand or press a soft kiss to your forehead, but Waller made sure no one except for her and the doctors were allowed in. Just another one of her attempts to punish him.

As if summoned by the very thought of her name, footsteps echoed off the tiles behind him growing louder and louder until Waller stepped into Rick’s peripheral vision. He ignored her, instead keeping his gaze firmly locked on you, and Waller seemed to do the same. 

For several minutes, they stood in complete silence, the sounds of your rasping breathing and the beeping of machines the only sound in the dim hallway. Finally, without turning, Rick asked, “Did you know?”

“I know a lot of things, Flag, but you’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Did you know the chemicals in the nanites could be used like that?”

Waller was silent for a moment before she answered curtly, “No. We knew about the chemical surrounding the bombs of course, but we were not aware it could be turned into a weapon. Our lab is already researching alternatives.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure my team would be thrilled to hear that if they weren’t all currently down in the morgue.”

“Mistakes happen, people die. But that’s why we formed Task Force X. Nobody cares when those dying are criminals.” Waller’s eyes shifted slightly from the window to Rick and back again. “With a few exceptions.”

Rick clenched his fist at her words then immediately regretted it as a sharp bolt of pain ran up his arm from his busted knuckles. He wanted nothing more than to make Waller feel the pain he was feeling. For her to understand how much he cared about you. But he knew nothing he did would make a difference. If anything, it would only make it worse. 

Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself, he asked, “So…what happens now?”

Folding her arms over her chest, Waller said, “Despite my objections, the board determined you did nothing wrong on the mission. They said there was nothing you could have done differently to save your team and you are not responsible for their deaths and thus will not receive any formal reprimand or punishment. However–” Waller raised one eyebrow as she glared at Rick “–I have not forgotten your…indiscretion with her and it will not be overlooked.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t known about us since the very start. You’ve just been waitin’ for the moment it best suited your interests to bring it up,” Rick growled. “I don’t care what you do to me but when she’s better I want her released from Belle Reve. She only had thirty years left on her sentence—twenty after this mission. And this….this more than makes up for the rest of her time.”

“Possibly,” Waller said thoughtfully. “First, we have to wait and see if she even pulls through, then we can have that discussion. But until that happens, I expect you to do your job.” She slapped a file down on the ledge of the window. “Your next assignment. You leave tomorrow and you better be on the tarmac on time. Otherwise all of this–” she gestured to the hospital equipment surrounding them “–goes away. Do we understand each other?”

Rick clenched his jaw tightly as he just barely managed to hold back the slew of curses he wanted to direct at his boss but he knew that was exactly what she was hoping for. So instead, he gritted his teeth and in his most Southern twang said, “Yes, Ma’am.”

The “fuck you” was loud and clear in his tone but Waller thankfully ignored it. Shooting him one last glare, she turned sharply and began marching back down the hall. However, Rick called after her, “And I want those cuffs taken off of her. Now.”

Without turning or breaking her stride, Waller replied, “When are you going to learn, Flag? You don’t call the shots around here. I do.” Then she turned down another hall and disappeared from sight.

Sighing, Rick gazed back at your unconscious form. Pressing his hand against the glass, he whispered, “It’ll be alright, darlin’, I promise you that. You don’t worry about anythin’ except gettin’ better and wakin’ up. You do that, and I’ll take care of the rest. And no matter what happens or how bad things are when you do wake up, I’ll be right by your side for all of it, Waller be damned. ‘Cause I love you, now and forever.”

He waited, hoping beyond hope you had heard his words and they helped rouse you from your sleep. But this wasn’t some feel-good movie or romance novel where his bedside pleas would make everything better and you would wake up to fall into his arms once again. No, this was real life and in real life, people didn’t get their happily-ever-afters. 

At least…..not yet. As long as your heart was still beating—artificially or not— there was hope. And for now, hope was going to have to be enough.

Tag List: @loverhymeswith, @green-socks, @yespolkadotkitty,  @heresathreebee, @tavners, @merlehs, @sunshineflowerchild789, @mayhem24-7forever, @lovearne, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @that-sarcastic-writer, @indig0nebula, @katjnordstrom96, @wildbornsiren, @princessmisery666, @writercole

[hubbyenthusiast]

𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑺𝒐 𝑯𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏

This took me a lot longer than necessary... But at least it's out now!

CC: Readers gender not mentioned/specified

You were bored, walking amidst the crowd of people dressed in elegant gowns and tuxedos with various accessories that made everyone stand out in some type of way. Though there was one thing they all had in common. Their masks. Everyone attending hid their faces behind them, making them completely anonymous. That's what made events like this appealing to people in the first place. You were no different from them either, decked out in a dramatic garment that dragged across the floor as you walked and most importantly, your mask. You weren't there because you wanted to, you were on a mission in search for a possible wanderer sighting that was kept secret until further notice. So far, there weren't any signs of a wanderer nearby. Though your watch said otherwise, constantly going on and off spontaneously which wouldn't allow you to leave.

You found yourself admiring the people dancing on the ball floor. Their elegant movements added to the mystery of their identity as they gracefully moved in synchronization with their partners. Your mind wandered back to him. It has been a while since you've seen each other. The last time you saw him was after your last mission yet he had to run off to deal with affairs and left you on air ever since. The sight of the pairs dancing together filled your heart with the desire to see him, yearning for his presence once more. Just as you were about to turn to continue your hunt, a particular figure caught your eye.

The sound of your hunters watch going off had taken you out of your trance. The fluctuations warning you that there was a wanderer nearby. You immediately turned around to go look for it, but instead, you were met by someones firm back, causing you to stumble over yourself.

"I'm sorry, I was in a rush and- hello?" You had realized that the man wasn't paying attention to you but rather he was...sleeping. Sleeping while standing? How's that even possible? By then, the fluctuation of your watch had disappeared, giving you time to check up on the man to make sure he was alright.

"Um, sir, are you alright?" You began to gently shake his arm in hopes that he would wake up but he didn't. So you shook him a little harder which seemed to have worked. A sense of relief washed over you seeing that he wasn't having some sort of silent seizure or anything severe like that. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but notice that you were fast asleep. Are you feeling alright?" The man turned around at the sound of your voice, a pair of blue eyes met yours through each other's masks. Strange, he looks familiar. There was a pause in the air as you both stared at each other in silence before the man broke the eye contact. His eyes quickly looked at you up and down as though he was examining you. A small chuckle leaving his lips.

"Seems like I didn't need to call to see if you're doing okay." What was he talking about? You wanted to ask him how he knew you but that seemed rude. The way that he spoke gave you the impression that he was someone important but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. Despite that, you felt drawn to him somehow. As though you've known him for longer than you might've thought. Or maybe it was just your desire to see Xavier messing with your head. You wanted to call him right there but that would have to wait, you were on a mission.

...

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me now." The man teased. Only then did you realize you had been staring without a word. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." You both stared at each other for a while longer, he looked at you like he expected you to say something else but no other words came out of your mouth as you stared back rather awkwardly. Eventually, the man just sighed and gave you a disappointed smile.

"So you don't recognize me?" You shook your head, "I can't say that I'm not hurt. Although-" the sudden noise of your hunters watch going off again cut the man off mid-sentence, followed by the sound of glass shattering and people screaming.

Immediately responding to the alert you turned around and was about to run off once more only to realize the man was following you. You turned your head to question him. "You shouldn't be following me, if there's a wanderer nearby, you're going to get hurt." The man looked at you for a moment, a smirk playing at his lips before a blinding light flashed across the banquet causing you to quickly shield your eyes with the palms of your hands. As soon as you opened your eyes once more, the man was no longer beside you. Astounded, and maybe a little worried, you continued to hurry your way over to your original destination in hopes that was where the man was.

You spotted the familiar figure of the man standing outside the building. Just as you were about to call out to him, scold him for being so careless, you saw he had a protocore in his hand. Had he defeated the wanderer? Was he also a hunter? The sight of him crushing the protocore ripped you away from your thoughts as a sudden realization replaced them. You only knew one person who was stupid enough to do that.

"Xavier?"

You admired the guests waltzing on the ball floor with a sigh. Everywhere you looked you were reminded of him. As much as you missed him, you had to stay focused on the mission. Maybe then you'd have time to reach out and contact him once more if you weren't burned out. Not wanting to reminisce on Zayne any longer, you teared your gaze away from the crowd.

A sudden growl came from your stomach and only then you remembered that you hadn't had anything to eat since earlier that morning. Looking around, you saw that other people were carrying around glass drinks and small portions of food but you didn't see any servers or buffets in sight. So you turned to your only option and decided to ask someone near you.

"Excuse me." You said as you tapped on a man's shoulder who was holding a glass of what seemed to be wine. He turned around, his expression shifting for a second when he looked at you. A sinking feeling formed in your stomach as you got the impression that you were bothering him. Still, you went on. It was only a question, there was no harm in asking. "Do you know where I can find any food or drinks here?" The man sat his drink down on the counter nearby and turned back towards you "so," he started, "is that how you normally greet people these days?" Confused, you cocked your head to the side "huh?"

The man didn't respond. He looked over at the people starting to gather for another dance, waiting for the music to start. A small smile appeared on his face as he extended a hand out towards you "may I have this dance?" You felt a little flattered. You had been admiring the dancers from the moment you made it to the event and now you had the opportunity to be part of the group! Putting aside your hunger, you accepted the man's hand as he guided you onto the ball floor with all the other dancers.

You got in position, your left hand resting on his shoulder while his right laid on your waist. Both of your free hands held together in a grasp.

The orchestra began to play their next piece. It was a song you recognized S̲l̲e̲e̲p̲i̲n̲g̲ B̲e̲a̲u̲t̲y̲. As you danced with the man, he seemed to have noticed your recognition of the song. "Tchaikovsky was a fascinating composer, wasn't he?" You gave a slow yet deliberate nod, somewhat surprised that someone else knows of him despite how long it had been since his passing. "You recognize his pieces as well?" "Well, yes, you and I have listened to a few of them during downtime." What? Did you know him? If so, then how? The man's face shifted once more, the corners of his lips curving in on itself. "Do you even know who I am?" His voice was firm which only made you even more nervous to answer him.

The man sighed, his lips twitching upwards as his voice softened. "Only you would be so bold to dance with a stranger." You didn't know what he meant by that. Slowly, you began to think it through.

His black hair, green eyes, his way of speaking, it was all familiar to someone you knew. He mentioned you've listened to music together. Specifically classical music. You've only ever done that with one other person. The dots began to connect in your head, your eyes widened when you realized who exactly you were dancing with.

"Zayne!"

"What a drag..."

You thought as you mindlessly walked amidst crowds of people. As much as you wanted to enjoy the event, you couldn't, not knowing when the next alert would drive you away to another false alarm. You stopped in your tracks to lift your mask up for a moment to rub the sleep from your eyes. Right as you were about to lift up your mask, you felt something bumping into you. The force of the contact causing you to lose your balance, your body falling onto the floor with a thud followed by a yelp coming from you and another person.

Both of you groaned as you pulled away from each other. He got up before you did and offered you a hand which you accepted as he helped pull you up. "I'm sorry, I must've not been paying attention to my surroundings." His soft voice echoed through the orchestra playing in the near distance. You nodded as you dusted yourself off, "it's fine, I wasn't paying attention either." The man looked you up and down before chuckling, placing his hand at your shoulder which caused a raised brow on your end. "Out of all places, this was the last place I thought I'd run into you in." Another chuckle left his lips as he studied your reaction, he could tell you seemed lost, but he didn't clarify anything. Instead, he took your arm in his and dragged you off without saying anything else.

Halfway through your walk, you suddenly pulled your arm back, causing the both of you to stop walking. "If you need help I'd be more than happy to do so, but I'm in the middle of something here and you can't just-" you cut yourself off before you could even finish your sentence as you looked up at the man who silently stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a smug smile plastered on his face. You felt irritated, a familiar feeling whenever you were around Rafael whenever he wasn't taking you seriously.

"Are you listening to me?" You spoke, a little more firmly this time as you voiced your irritation. He continued to stand there for a moment longer than necessary before he shrugged his shoulders, turning his head away as though he was disinterested in hearing your complaints. The nerve of him!

"You're the one who let me bring you all the way over here, I don't know why you're only complaining now." You paused, the man was right. But then again, that still didn't explain why he took you away without even introducing himself or saying what he needed you for. "I thought you'd tell me who you were, I wasn't expecting you to drag me off like that." Another laugh came from the man as he looked back at you, leaning towards you just enough to make you back up a bit. "You should reconsider your position as a hunter if you can't even recognize me with a mask on."

Huh? You froze, how did he know you were a hunter? Moreso, you knew each other personally? Your eyes darted up to meet his as he stared at you as though he expected you to recognize him on command when your watch suddenly started going off. Instinctively, you looked down at it, the fluctuations signalling that the wanderer you were looking for was in the area you were in.

You looked back up, noticing how the man was looking down at your watch as well like he was able to read it as well. Maybe he was a co-worker of yours? No, he would've had a watch that'd be going off right now too. "Well," he started "seems like it's time to do your job, my bodyguard." You felt like your mind suddenly snapped in place like a puzzle piece. Those last words made everything clear now as you only knew one person who had the nerve to declare you as his bodyguard and you couldn't help but smirk a little by how long he had been playing mind-games with you.

"Rafayel."

[flightfoot]

Miraculous Fanfic Recs for ongoing Miraculous fics

So I got an ask requesting me to give some ML fic recs, so I decided to focus on some ongoing Miraculous fics! All of these have updated within the past two months. Feel free to tag anyone who I didn't know the tumblr username of!

Boulangerella by @aidanchaser

Once upon a time, magic was wild. The two princes of the kingdom have been tasked with choosing their brides by the end of their 21st birthday celebrations. Crown Prince Adrien Agreste will have to choose between a woman who can protect his kingdom, a woman offering the power to wake his sleeping mother, and the woman he has loved and admired for the past year. Then there's also the seamstress that he is suddenly falling for. By the time he realizes he doesn't have the power to choose at all, it may be too late.

Kind of a Medieval Fantasy AU here, though with more resemblance to regular Miraculous than I normally expect with such AUs. Kwamis are actually fae, but aside from needing some sort of "deal" in order for humans to draw out their power, they function mostly the same, with Ladybug and Chat Noir being activated in order to help fight against Hawk Moth, even.

Oh yeah, this fic was written pre-S4, so there's some oddities because of that, like Felix actually having a good father, for instance. Adrien and Felix are both still sentimonsters though.

---

Lows And Highs (Of Adrien Agreste) by @blackcatsbutterflies

Adrien Agreste- Teenage supermodel, son of Gabriel Agreste, hero of Paris... Type One Diabetic. When Adrien is diagnosed with a chronic illness, he goes through the mental struggles of dealing with this new life. Nothing will ever be the same again, and if anyone were to find out, he'd be humiliated. The world would find him repulsing. Who would want to love someone who was constantly giving themselves shots? Marinette would. (Based off my real life, when I was diagnosed at 13 years old.) TW: Mentions of drugs (no one does them) and the following stuff that will appear in chapters: - Needles - Blood - Paralysis - Seizures - Fainting

Oh man this one is a real treat! I know some basic stuff about diabetes, but not so much what people's day-to-day lives are like, so it was interesting watching Adrien go through this, what he has to do nowadays in order to, well, live. And since he only just got diagnosed, he's going through major lifestyle changes which is pretty overwhelming, and he's feeling pretty awful about it because well, this is gonna hit hard. Though thankfully, Marinette is able to help quite a bit.

---

Bell the Cat by @heartfulselkie

Ladybug is the Miraculous Hero of Gallia. She has spent the past number of years fighting the minions of the tyrant Hawk Moth, only for the war to come to an abrupt end. News reveals that Hawk Moth was brutally slain by his own champion and captain of his own elite guard - the infamous knight Chat Blanc, known to wield pure destructon itself. With the disintegration of Hawk Moth's army, Chat Blanc is captured and imprisoned until his certain execution. Being a beloved hero and instrumental in the realm's defences during the war, Ladybug is offered a reward of her choosing. Instead of choosing a title or luxuries as expected she chooses...custody of Chat Blanc??? A new threat is rising in the chasm Hawk Moth left behind, and Ladybug believes Chat Blanc's knowledge and skill will be vital in what's to come. And perhaps he could also answer some questions that have plagued her since even before the war with Hawk Moth began..

This fic is awesome so far, I adore a good enemies AU and Fantasy AU, so both of them together is great! There's a lot we don't know yet, like the specifics of how akumas work in this AU, but I'm eager to know more. Just as Ladybug's eager to try to find out what happened to an old childhood friend of hers who vanished around the time Hawk Moth rose to power...

---

Madness series by @consistent-chaos-corporation

Summary for "Found", the first multichapter installment in the series:

Chat Noir and Ladybug need to tie up some loose ends. Unfortunately, one of those ends is Felix.

I've really been enjoying my time with this series, and if you like Felix-focused fics, you might too! In this universe, Nooroo and Duusu actually used to play with Felix and Adrien when they were little, but Gabriel made Adrien forget that happened - Gabriel and Emilie edited out a lot of little inconvenient things from Adrien's memory, as it turns out.

Anyway, we mostly follow Felix post-Strike Back as he figures out what to do now that he has the Peacock Miraculous. The heroes bursting in and confronting him about it kinda forces his hand.

He goes through a lot of character development here, which I adore, especially when it comes to realizing "oh crap, I sold out living beings to someone who I knew would mistreat them." This series tackled that subject better than any other fanfic I've seen, with Felix directly helping to recover the Miraculous and free the kwami, feelings guilty upon realizing how badly Gabriel had hurt them, and having to deal with a lot of the kwami not liking or trusting him for very justifiable reasons - though they ARE willing to understand why he did what he did.

---

Kintsugi - The Beauty in Broken Things by @xaran-alamas

When freed from Mayura's control, and given a chance at a normal life, the Sentimonster clone of Ladybug must learn what it is to be not only a hero, but also a human being, and part of a family. Meanwhile Marinette needs to figure out what to do with a hyper-energetic Kwami with a broken Miraculous. Updates Sundays and Wednesdays

I've always loved Sentibug Lives AUs (as you might guess from my having written two fics where she gets to stick around), and this is one of the best ones I've seen, and certainly the longest.

I love how we get to follow Centi (as she names herself) as she tries to figure out what to do now that she exists and is likely to stay that way, and as she tries to cope with the knowledge that her creator controlled her and when she disobeyed, tried to kill her. She's a nicely developed OC, her feelings are really delved into!

---

Not Part of the Plan by @kasienda

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” Marinette wiped her tears with her sleeve, and pulled away just enough to reach into her pocket. She gripped the pregnancy test and held it out to her mother. Sabine’s eyes widened as she took in the results of the test in her hand. Her gaze flashed back up to Marinette’s. “You’re pregnant.” And it wasn’t a question, but it was enough to send Marinette into devastated tears once again. Her mother pulled her back into the hug and just held her. “It’s going to be okay.”

Teen pregnancy fic here, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea. I love how everyone comes together to help figure out what to do and to offer support - and not just to Marinette either, since Adrien's about to be a father as well.

---

True Blue by @rosie-b

Golden Bug and Chat Grise are the heroes of Paris, fighting to protect civilians from Hawk Moth and his akumas. Marinette is Gabriel Agreste’s young apprentice, training under the famous designer to become the next big name in fashion. But one day, Marinette finds an open safe with a beautiful peacock brooch in it... and suddenly, she’s not sure who the villain is anymore.

I love Enemies AU, as I've already mentioned. This is a more unusual one, with MARINETTE being the one on Hawk Moth's side instead of Adrien. I love how Rosie painstakingly weaves together Gabriel's manipulation and lies so you could actually believe that Marinette might be willing to help him - maybe not very enthusiastically, but believing that it's the best option she has. It's pretty impressive!

---

The Beauty of a Rose by properjitterbug

In the small town of Bellerose, Marinette and Adrien are childhood friends while secretly pining for each other. They lead happy lives until one day a long, forgotten promise is stirred awake; changing their lives in ways they couldn't imagine. With time marching on, Marinette is left to chase after ghosts of her past as a strange creature appears in the depths of the mysterious forest. Arc 1: Chapters 1-11: Complete Arc 2: Chapters 12-?: In Progress -- Werecat!Adrien x Marinette

Fair warning, this is an M-rated fic, and it earns that M rating, given it has several extensive sex scenes.

Anyway, I love a good fairy tale AU, and this is one of the better ones I've seen. I love how it's clearly inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but doesn't constrain itself by it. Adrien is not a jerk nor does he capture Marinette. Instead he randomly changes into a Werecat and is abandoned by his family, mistaken for a lumbering beast by the townsfolk, left alone for a year - until Marinette comes to visit the Agreste mansion, the home of her friend who just suddenly left one day, and she sees him in his werecat form...

I love this, Marinette is drawn to Chat, even with him looking pretty terrifying. Adrien's pretty insecure about his whole situation, but slowly opens up as he gets to reconnect with Marinette.

[aemiron-main]

Henry Creel, Seizures, The Exorcist, and Roland Doe: Did Henry Creel Have Epilepsy?

So! I’m wondering if Henry had epilepsy. And before we dive into it, a few things to note:

Not all epilepsy is photosensitive epilepsy/triggered by flashing lights

Not all seizures are grand mal seizures (the ones where people are laying down jerking). Absence and temporal lobe seizures are far more subtle & can just look like staring into space.

Some people have a combination of grand mal seizures and other more subtle types of seizures.

So, first of all, “The Exorcist” is namedropped regarding the Creels:

And we also have Will’s S2 seizure on the field where he has SO many Direct exorcist parallels during both that scene & his cabin scene “exorcism”

Which, those Will exorcism parallels made me think “well what if Henry had a seizure during his exorcism- but what would cause it? he’s not possessed the way Will was” but then it hit me: what if its the other way around and the seizures caused the exorcism?

And we’ll come back to Will’s seizure later, but focusing on The Exorcist for now, Reagan, the girl in The Exorcist, has a seizure.

And historically, exorcisms were frequently done on kids who had epilepsy/seizures, which were mistaken for demonic possession. But rather than speaking about history in a broad sense, let’s look at a specific example- Roland Doe, the boy whose story literally inspired The Exorcist.

And hell, The Exorcist was specifically inspired by the NEWSPAPER ARTICLE about Roland's exorcism, which has me staring DIRECTLY at the Weekly Watcher article that talks about the exorcism at the Creel house.

And get this-

This is EXACTLY what happened with Henward- his parents hoped that moving to Hawkins/a change of scenery would cure him, but it did not.

And after all, what were they trying to cure him of? What symptoms was he exhibiting? They never actually tell us what was “wrong” with him. Like, sure, he’s autistic, but there’s not many “symptoms” of autism that Henry displays as a child that are disruptive enough to have him sent to doctors & moving to an entirely new town in the hopes of curing him.

What actual event/symptoms made Virginia and Victor go “okay, yeah, this boy needs to see a doctor” AND also had them move to a new town (JUST like what happened with Roland Doe as a result of his seizures) in hopes that a change of scenery would cure Henry???? I wouldn’t be surprised if it was seizures.

And his powers don’t seem to have activated until he was in Hawkins, so it likely wasn’t those.

And also, Henward says that all of the teachers and doctors claimed he was broken:

Which, epilepsy can cause issues with learning and retaining information, and if Henry was having something like absence seizures in class, too, that would also likely freak teachers out/have them see him as “broken,” because he would seem outwardly fine/just be staring into space, but wouldn’t be able to respond to them calling his name/asking him things.

And going back to the talk of being “cured,” Epilepsy is also referred to as The Sacred Disease, which would also tie into all of the religious imagery with the Creels.

And we also have the auditory and visual hallucinations that can often be part of epilepsy. Starting with the auditory hallucinations, those are often likened to sounding like radios- which would be an interesting connection to all of the radios in the show, especially the radio with the Creels.

(And this is speaking from personal experience, but, it definitely does sound like a radio like not just “a radio is the closest comparison” but instead “i genuinely believed it was the sound of a radio/sounds like what we heard with the Creel radio malfunctioning where you can't quite clearly make out any of the channels”. I was actually scared of the sound of radios/radio static as a kid because I used to hear this sort of stuff all the time as a result of having epilepsy.)

And there’s also these drawings of visual epilepsy hallucinations, which James @henrysglock pointed out to me.

And when we look at Henward’s shadow monster drawing and all of the elder brain/brain imagery in the show and the mindflayer being named, well, a mindflayer, and DND mindflayers being controlled by an elder brain & the whole "cutting the brain off from the body"/directly referring to the mindflayer as a brain.... the vibes are definitely very similar.

It's also very interesting to me that the drawings of the tunnels that Will draws before having a seizure/draws as a result of what was CAUSING his seizures are directly paralleled to Henry drawing the mindflayer (Henward's mindflayer drawing style & the medium he uses actually resembles the tunnel drawings more than it does Will's own mindflayer drawing, especially with Will's frantic scratching during the tunnel drawings and Henward's frantic scratching during the mindflayer drawings).

And like I said, Will's tunnel drawings were caused by the same thing causing his seizure- so many Henward's mindflayer drawing was caused by the seizures as well- was Henward seeing epileptic hallucinations that would later inspire him to shape the mindflayer/shadow monster the way that he did?

And again, this part is personal experience, but as a kid, part what I would hallucinate was silver spiders hanging down from door frames (and also spiders crawling all over me but those only happened at night whereas the hanging spiders were throughout the day/constant and yes, I'm 1000% sure they weren't just nightmares). Which, of course, the Duffers aren't inspired by me/don't know about what I saw, but I'm not the only person with epilepsy who's reported seeing spiders (here and here and here), which makes me wonder if it was something they came across when researching seizures/epilepsy for the show & may have influenced the decision to include all of the spider imagery with Henry.

And going back to Will’s S2 seizure, we also have Will's "now memories," which, interestingly enough, they chose to have Mike ask Will if he sees anything in his "now memories" RIGHT before Will has a seizure. Which is interesting because strong feelings of deja vu tend to precede seizures, and "now memories" are very similar to deja vu/feeling like you've seen something before but can't quite place where/aren't really sure if it's Your memories.

El also has a seizure in NINA (this is before her cardiac arrest scene) and in Surfer Boy Pizza, which are both paralleled to Will’s seizure (and yes, El was also choking, but her body did seem to be having a seizure, and it's shot with the same sort of pose and rotating camera movement as Will's seizure and El's NINA seizure).

And we also have the stroke imagery with El and the fact that strokes can cause epilepsy AND people with epilepsy are at a higher risk for strokes.

Which has me staring at Henward’s “it almost killed me” scene and how his fainting scene is paralleled to El fainting in 1979 & then El waking up without her memories/with the sort of stroke stuff that Brenner talks about.

And the focus on all of the flashing lights in the show too?? NGL, I would laugh a bit if Henry’s powers started flashing the lights during his exorcism & that triggered a seizure. It would also tie into him just. Staring sometimes/being seen as weird for that because that’s also often a part of epilepsy/absence seizures.

And even if I’m wrong about the seizure thing (which again, it’s not smthn I’m super firm on), the Duffers DEFINITELY know about Roland Doe. Roland DEFINITELY inspired Henry- that bit about what happened to Roland with his family moving towns to cure him isn't in The Exorcist but IS identical to what happened with Henry, so it's not even something that the Duffers could've just pulled from The Exorcist, because it's actually one of the parts of Roland's story that didn't end up in the Exorcist movie.

And speaking of movies, we also have One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest on the S4 board. And in One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Sefelt has epilepsy and has a seizure:

And also, we have Henward’s straitjacket, which I talked about in this post.

We literally see him wearing the straitjacket on screen- but why was he wearing it? Why not just drug him if they wanted to keep him under control? And what good would a straitjacket do against a child with psionic powers anyway? It wouldn't have even worked to keep him under control! UNLESS the powers weren’t a concern (because he was unconscious/seizing) but the flailing/jerking from a grand mal seizure was making him difficult to transport/deal with.

And this is more of a minor sidenote, but something that's interesting to me is how quick Victor is to picking up Henry, almost like it's a habit. We see him pick Henry up in the dining room AND the foyer, and it's not something we ever see him do with Alice, so it's not just something that Victor Does With His Kids. But if Henry was prone to seizures and fainting, it would make sense that Victor is used to picking him up/carrying him around.

And Victor was also told that Henry was in a coma after fainting and then died- and again, speaking from personal experience here (and research), having a seizure can put you into a coma which may result in your death. So, I wonder if that's the explanation that they gave to Victor/if that was the official cause of death for Henry. Which would also make sense if, like I said, the straitjacket was put onto Henry because he was seizing, and Victor saw it happen.

I also wonder if Victor saw Henry still just sitting at the table staring & thought he was having another seizure (an absence seizure rather than a grand mal one, which would mostly just look like blank staring/exactly what Henry does in this scene) & grabbed him, especially since stress can trigger seizures, and well, watching Virginia die would've been stressful. I'm not saying that Henry was having a seizure in this scene persay, but rather that Victor may have believed he was/may have mad the connection that Henry's "fits"/moments of blank staring are connected to stress.

And the jerking motions and rolled back eyes during Vecna visions/his attacks are interesting considering how they resemble a grand mal seizure. Like, look at how Fred is posed the same way was Will was during Will's seizure:

And the same gaping mouth imagery:

And then the jerking motions:

Long story short: I won't be surprised at all if Henry/Edward had epilepsy and experienced a mixture of various types of seizures.

[bonefall]

howdy!! i was wonderin’ if you could list all the cats that are neurodivergent or have a mental disorder, and specifically what conditions? i was also hopin’ if you could expand upon how they present as well, but you don’t have to do all of them! you can pick and choose. or none at all if you’re tired! idm ‘:3

warriors and psychiatry are two of my SIs so i just wanna gobble up all of this information LOL

Sure! Though, I want to preface by saying that I try to make sure I'm very well acquainted with the neurodivergence I plan to add before adding it. I've always had a, "try not to overextend" sort of philosophy, trying to make sure each portrayal is going to be treated well in the narrative before promising it publicly

SO what that means is that this list is incomplete and I plan to add more, as I learn more about how to accurately portray something. Especially important with the more stigmatized disorders on this list-- for example I plan to add NPD once I have a better idea for how to feature it.

C-PTSD

Life in the Clans is VIOLENT. Most, or many, characters are going to end up with symptoms of PTSD, especially the cats who lived through the Plague, TigerClan, the entire Mothermouth Moorland War, and the destruction of the White Hart Woods in particular.

But C-PTSD is something I'm choosing more carefully, if that makes sense, so that it's something I write with 'higher priority' when approaching that particular character.

Birchfall (Human activity and child starvation are his triggers, also visibly unsettled by falling trees)

Brightheart (Dogs and dishonor titles, has recurring nightmares, self-harms through overexertion; refuses to take breaks to punish herself)

Stormfur (Severe trust issues, self-destructs relationships)

Lilyheart (Can't deal with water because she watched a sibling die instead of her)

Harrybrook ("big mood lilyheart")

There will also be some cats in WindClan who aren't able to eat rabbit, because it triggers memories of poison and causes them to wretch. This causes serious issues for them, because rabbit is the majority of the WindClan diet, especially in winter.

Epilepsy

Sorreltail (Absence seizures caused by brain damage from nightshade poisoning)

Shadowsight (Severe clonic-tonic seizures, Tawnypelt brings him to the Tribe to seek a very special treatment for him)

I reaaaaally need to add more here tbh

Autism

Mumblefoot (I know he's not a major character lmao but he was Pinestar's first deputy, and had dyspraxia.)

Yellowfang (It's super prevalent in her entire familial line)

Rowanberry

Stumptail

Brokenstar

Littlecloud

Rowanstar

Leafpool

Honestly I'm so autistic I kinda end up putting a little bit of autism in everyone. I feel like I can detect autism in every one of my little favorites. Spottedleaf, Speckletail, Dustpelt, etc

Borderline Personality Disorder

Cinderheart

Breezepelt

Squirrelflight

Etc/There's one cat who has it and I need to add more

Bumble, Blossom, and Briar have a lot of baggage from their parents' treatment, Bumble and Bloss are glass children.

Alderheart has anxiety

Carpwhisker might also have anxiety, she's really bad at standing up for herself

Poppyfrost is severely avoidant

Sparkpelt and Palebird both had postpartum depression

Dovewing has burnout and gets stressed out when her biofamily is around; not sure how to describe this.

Squirrelflight also has ADHD, this is kind of like Autism because I also have ADHD and it's difficult for me to imagine other 'ways' people think. like what do you MEAN, you have ONE train of thought??