#Greater smp

[roamingradio]

So I recently did another little mini photoshoot. It was very unplanned and disorganized lol but I really wanted to try and recreate this photo that @theeretblr did in their red banquet dress. Unfortunately it didn't turn out quire like I wanted but I still think it's looks really neat

[mbohjeezart]

Hermit a Day May: Day 18, Joe Hills, The Puppet, the Puppeteer!

@joehills And here's his full portrait without the text and background:

[crimeboys]

the problem with the dsmp nether is it's so fucked up i cant help but want to parkour on everything but i also understand why everyone was always fucking dying in there now

[chickensoup1025]

Thinking about desert duo again but this time The Song of Achilles flavored. Ow ow ow

[0asterous0]

Prologue, Part One.

Grian opened his eyes to darkness. There was nothing but a black void and pressure, the feeling of being dragged down to earth. He tried to remember where he was and how he got there but came up with nothing, his mind a complete mess of words and thoughts. It dawned on him that he was falling and instincts finally kicked in, forcing him up to try to save himself, but he couldn't. There was a noticeable absence on his back– he didn't have wings. The wrongness of the situation crawled deep inside his bones with fear overtaking his already racing mind. Grian was falling, and he didn’t know how far the ground was. 

“No… no, no, no, no, no, no-”. He tried to move his wings again, hoping that maybe it was just numbness and that his wings were still there, but they were not. Why? They were supposed to be there! He felt as if was falling faster and faster with every second, and his head started to spin in panic which only served to make him dizzy, when he saw something flicker around him for a second. 

Slowly, the darkness surrounding him started showing color– which would have been great if the color wasn’t a blinding white. His breath hitched when he finally recognized the white walls through the pain in his eyes, and this just made him even more panicked because he wasn’t falling toward the ground, he was falling sideways and Grian could see it because of all the doors he was flying by. With every flicker, every door left behind, he could see the golden numbers on the metal decreasing. He was sure he passed a golden 63 a few seconds ago, and now he was at 30-something. Did that mean..?   

Despite the fear running through his mind, he glanced behind his back– and horror immediately took over upon seeing the metallic door without a number at the end of the corridor, rapidly getting closer. He turned on his side, hoping that maybe he could protect his spine from the fall somehow and take all the damage to the shoulder, but it didn’t stop the shiver in his body now that he could see the approaching wall. He covered that side of his face with his hands and closed his eyes, bracing for the collision, for the pain. Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain-

He heard a metallic click and a little hope sparkled inside him that maybe he was safe; but the moment he tried to move his hands to look, his shoulder came in contact with the white wall. The sudden thud of his body against the wall made his body jolt, head hitting the surface. He screamed into the white void, feeling his bones crashing against each other and blood dripping down his temple from a wound that opened on contact with the wall. He didn’t have enough power to raise his head; instead he stayed there, lying on the floor. The pain in both his body and his head was pulsating, making everything worse, and Grian could feel the incoming nausea. He just got a concussion, he thought, and by the way it all looked, he was either going to black out or throw up. 

“Aaww,” Grian shuddered upon hearing the voice above him. He knew who this voice belonged to, he didn't need to look up and see the face to fall back into emotional distress; he could already feel the tears running down his cheeks, the agonizing pressure on his heart threatening to crush him to death.  

“Can’t the pesky bird fly anymore?” As always, the tone was sad and sincere, but he knew better. He knew that the moment he looked up, he would be met with a cruel smile, laughing down at him. 

Right. He remembered now. 

A nightmare. Of course. 

He opened his eyes and looked towards the door, seeing the familiar figure of a child through his tears– red vibrant eyes looking down at him. For a second, the cruel smile stayed the same, looking nothing like the kid from his childhood did, that he still held in his heart so dearly; but then it moved and Grian can hear a very steady and determined, but also not very childlike voice.

“Wake up!” Yeah, that is not the same voice. 

Wake up, wake up, wake up, Grian I know you can hear this, gooood morniiiiiing, hellooo!! Time to get up!!

“Uuughhh, Ren whyyy?” Grian tried hiding his face behind the pillow, but the stupid alarm clock kept going, the voice becoming louder.

Wakey-wakey!!! Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKE UUUUUP!

“Void, just kill me now,” Grian whispered into the pillow and finally leaned on his elbows, standing up from the bed. His wings swept against the blanket and dropped it down on the floor, but he had no desire to pick it up. His room was already a mess with all his paints and brushes scattered on the ground, while his desk was fully occupied with papers and pencils. Needless to say, he completely ignored the overflowing dirty clothes basket that was standing on the side of his closet. He needed to take care of it because soon he would be out of clothes to wear, but that’s a problem for future Grian; now-Grian had to deal with the clock. 

The awful clock that he– unfortunately– couldn’t break (“It’s a gift from Bdubs! He loves his clocks, it’s basically a friendship offering!” Ren had declared.) stood proudly on his nightstand. The annoying recording of wake up still going on and on, echoing in the messy room. He quickly found the button and finally turned it off. He would have loved to go back to bed and sleep some more, hopefully without any nightmares this time; but sadly, the alarm worked because Grian was now awake.  

Letting out a yawn, he stretched his limbs and turned towards the full-length mirror standing against the wall. Grian didn’t like looking in the mirror. He didn’t like seeing messy and greasy hair, knowing how good and fluffy it looked after a bath. He didn’t like looking at the dark eyebags that he’d been trying to get rid of for weeks. He didn’t like seeing his dirty and coffee-stained pajamas that he’d been trying to throw into a washing machine for a while now, without any success. So tiring.  

But he could see his wings back in their rightful place, and that was enough to calm him down. 

Stupid nightmares messing with him again. 

He checked that the battery on his phone was full before taking it off the charger, and then looked at the time. 7:38, the same time he woke up for work every day, but today it seemed too early. Maybe he didn’t get enough rest again, and his nightmare messed that up too. Ugh, he could already see how awful this day would be. Holding his phone in hand, he exited his bedroom, going down the corridor towards the kitchen while ignoring the door to another bedroom just ahead of his own. Knowing Ren, he was already up and about. 

-der the rubble. The superhero team alongside the fire department arrived four minutes later, getting everyone out without any lethal casualties. Two out of the eight victims were hospitalized in critical conditi- 

“Took you long enough!” Ren said with a giggle, while Grian flinched. Right, Ren. He took his eyes off the TV that was hung in the living room right in front of the kitchen, looking towards his roommate.

Despite the very early hour he already looked full of energy, his eyes sparkling and dog ears swiftly flapping around. He had his long reddish hair in a messy bun and wore his favorite “Let me cook!” apron, which made Grian laugh when he first got it. Hearing that giggle and seeing the mischievous grin, he knew that the ‘Ren alarm’ was loud enough for the culprit to hear it himself. He could see that he was very satisfied with the result. Grian could also see two plates on the dining table because Ren, as always, was cooking for them both.

______

'-.° Masterpost - Next Part °.-'

[lolli-popples]

I always see posts saying “Here’s who Jimmy could team with next time so he can actually survive and why” or “Here’s who we can team (X) player with to nerf them”

But like. What if instead of making things balanced or preventing Jimmy from dying, Jimmy instead teamed with people who are also incredibly death prone. 

Like give me a team of Jimmy, Skizz, and Scar. (Scar does usually last a while, but he has the reputation) Like, hell, let’s throw Joel in their too. He dies and does dumb reckless stuff all the time! And we know from Limited Life that putting him with Jimmy makes them both die 10x faster. 

“I want Jimmy to survive” Yeah, but clearly teaming him with competent people doesn’t work. Instead let’s see how fast an alliance can start a fight with someone else and than die in the DUMBEST WAY POSSIBLE. Will Jimmy have the shortest series ever? Or will somehow all the death prone people cancel each other out and survive until the end? 

[qprsmackdown]

The Entirety Of Lifesteal SMP (Lifesteal SMP) vs The Greater Mana Polycule (JRWI Riptide)

Lifesteal Propaganda: They literally murder each other and are also best friends and hate each others guts and they're all kinds of fucked up but would also kill for each other They are all so horrible and fucked up. On their server they have the most convoluted web of hatred and betrayal and alliance and friendship and they’d kill each other for not even one cookie but the second they’re off server or in front of other people they are an unstoppable force who always has each others backs. Except for when it’s funny to fuck them over. Someone once referred to their relationship tangle as “complex polyamorous divorce” they love each other they hate each other they’d kill for each other and at the end of the day they’d all settle down into one big cuddle pile with only a few arguments. Because they’ve pack bonded and tied themselves together in the most complex and fuckef up qpr to ever exist and I think more QPRs should involve killing a man and then instantly teaming with him. Only to betray him again

Greater Mana Polycule Propaganda: so many. so many. everything is connected. the world of the navy and pirates is so queer. they should win by sheer numbers alone So like the relationships between all the characters are fascinating and really meaningful and often very silly but also I just think it's funny. I polyship *everything* and I almost exclusively ship things queerplatonically so you bet your ass I'm gonna love a queerplatonic polycule containing basically every character who exists in the story they're so silly and queer. also what's more qpr than a pirate crew (and the surrounding pirate world i guess)

[snow-lavender]

yeah you would say that you fucking time player

[erstwhilesparrow]

god there are so many little bits of outsiders that make me want to chew glass. in an effort to exorcise some thoughts:

there's something really fantastically horrifying about how much visual and mental space the maze takes up for almost all of the server's run, contrasted with the fact that we learn in the owenge q&a that the maze is one of multiple scenarios, built by STARR for a handful of seasons and ultimately meaning nothing. all this about learning the maze, this structure that was the outsiders' whole world for what they believed to be years, and it was a set piece that might not ever be used again. i can't stop thinking about the fact that on the literal actual minecraft server, the maze was built floating in the sky, and like, yeah. it was for this one server and nothing else. i get why you'd build it like that, in terms of practical concerns, but god. to know that thing never even touched the 'actual' ground.

hey. cc!owen PLAYS A GOOD FUCKING HEEL. oh my god he's good at playing the bad guy. this is not like thoughtful analysis at all but being able to hear so clearly the shift in tone when he goes into hunting mode, the willingness to just let things sit in silence, the way he completely sells a character's absolute conviction. the way when he has a knife in his mostly-empty hotbar during Spill Your Guts the distance between the currently selected slot and the knife right next to it feels like a tangible weight somehow!

speaking of which. please tell me the berries in his hotbar during his demon killing spree aren't raspberries. i can't actually identify them because i'm not familiar with the mod but i think if they're raspberries i would simply explode into a million bits of confetti.

hey remember how there was a giant underground reservoir beneath the clearing containing the skeleton of some enormous creature? was that fucked up or what.

hey also remember how one of the last written records left by the people who died in the frozen clearing was about how at least their friends got to die peacefully, in their sleep? remember how the maze was full of notes scribbled on pieces of paper and scrawled in blood on the walls trying to warn them, begging them to get out, hoping against hope that their last words might mean something? remember how mohwee's last words to the outsiders were take care of each other? they tried so hard to look out for each other, and whether they ever did it especially well is an open question but MAN. you can't say they didn't try.

even after deciding apo can rot down in the prison, owen still says, "the next time i see him is when i go shackle his hands together, and drag him through that maze to get him out." in the wake of the [don't dirty my name again] conversation, owen promises rasbi, "we came up together, we're gonna get out of here together." even with his faith in -- and i think i will argue that this is accurate phrasing -- the world shattered, owen has no concept of actually leaving either of them behind. he can't even imagine it. ;-; .

i don't know what the event is called in canon so i'm going to refer to it as [the clearing event with the scuffed mcc energy], the one where acho drowns, and it delights me that the nature of the medium is such that sometimes when owen says something, it becomes true because he said it. (i mean, this is true for all of them, but i say owen because he's the one i watched and he has an interesting degree of narrative control by virtue of having such a comprehensive pov.) acho didn't die in a way that minecraft the game would necessarily call a death, i'm not convinced what happened to him was distinguishable from what the characters call being 'downed' in the maze, but because owen said it, on some level, yeah, acho did die in there. isn't it so fun how you can kill someone by saying they died? reach back through linear time and make true what wasn't before? and i think about this and i think about how often owen declared apo dead, and how it makes apo not just a ghost but a sort of schrodinger's cat. apo is alive except no he isn't except yes he is. reality is so frighteningly malleable in mcrp.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

the day people realise that mcyt fans (people who like anyone who plays minecraft on youtube), mcrp fans (people who like specifically narrative content created in minecraft), dream smp fans (people who like a specific narrative created in minecraft by 30+ people) and dream fans (people who like one of the actors in the prior mentioned narrative) are groups that overlap sometimes but are not the same is the day i will die happy

[treesareredinautumn]

[taigacryptid]

i love sneeg's community but why tf are so many people like. actively hostile.

i'm not gonna name anyone and i'll try to be as vague as possible, but someone in the discord was considering sending sneeg something that sounds dangerous but very safe, and several people responded like "wtf? don't do that, i don't understand how you think that'd be safe to send?" and were like. very much blowing it out of proportion.

no benefit of the doubt. no patience. no "maybe send something similar that's definitely safe" or suggestions of alternative things to send. just straight up, automatic hostility. like can we fucking chill???

the person who originally brought it up was immediately like "okay yeah y'all made fair points, i won't send it, i'll do something else." and like. the hostility really wasn't required. they understood and reconsidered and it was all fine and dandy. being an asshole was not necessary.

i'm assuming this wasn't the case, but a lot of the community is neurodivergent and a lot of us struggle with interpreting tone. maybe instead of assuming the worst of others and being so mean right out the gate, we can be patient and explain stuff and not be total assholes. just a thought.

there's a difference between being firm and being harsh. there's also a difference between offering helpful criticism and being harsh.

[getwoold]

hey gang ^_^ last month i started keeping track of how many fics there are for each lifesteal character, because statistics are fun and i wanted to see exactly how BAD the differences between characters were. here's my findings after checking exactly a month later! a couple notes:

- everyone's fic counts are what you see when looking at their overall numbers, so there are some other smps included (kaboodle smp, seaclean smp, eclipse smp, etc)

- the percentage column however IS only fics tagged under the lifesteal smp tag. this is to better see how much of the tag is taken up by which characters ^_^

- and here's a "fun" fact for you: there are 265 instances of clown/branzy. this ship is tagged more than 9 other members combined. much to think about

[7-ratsinatrenchcoat]

sometimes I wonder if my friends like me. then I remember how in 2021, my friend (who has/had no interest in mcyt) watched dsmp lore for me while I was at overnight camp and wrote to me about what happened for eight weeks while I was gone.

[0asterous0]

Prologue, Finale part.

"Grian runs in to find the girl and get her (and hopefully her mother) to safety." - Previous chapter.

TW// blood, gore, death.

He ran towards the explosion. He wanted so much to just stay away from all of this, but that’s a kid, either completely alone or with her mother wounded and unconscious. What kind of person would he be, if he just left in a situation like this? He didn’t care about people around who were running in the opposite direction, away from the trouble; if they could sleep after this, without a pang of guilt consuming them whole, Grian definitely couldn’t.

The second he turned the corner, he saw the entrance to the STARR labs, enveloped in flames. Come on, who attacks a blood donor lab? Some of these villains are just complete assholes, aren’t they? He briefly sees a little girl through the broken floor-to-ceiling windows, her leg stuck under the rubble, and runs towards her, quickly jumping in through the door that flew away from the hinges the moment the explosion struck. 

“I’m here,” He says quietly, the moment he goes down on his knees in front of the poor girl, trying to take off the rubble. “It’s okay, I’m gonna get you out, okay?”

The little girl looks up at her, eyes full of tears, but still nods, trying to contain her sobbing. Gods, she was so brave right now, Grian hopes her parents are proud. The last rock is lifted off her feet, and he can see the damage done to her legs, one bruised and one dripping down blood, bend in a different direction. The second the girl sees it, she bursts into tears even worse than before. Right, it’s hard sometimes to comprehend the true damage if you can’t see it, but now that she has, she’s probably terrified.

“Hey, hey, shh, it’s okay, we can take care of it!” Grian says, trying to sound as calm and collected as he can. The last thing he wants is to scare her even more. Looking down at her leg again, he could tell that it was broken, so he needed to be as gentle as possible to avoid making it even more painful for her. 

“Is your mom around here?” He asks, quickly looking around the room. There was smoke and rubble everywhere, but not a single other person. Maybe she was let inside, they were probably here for a blood test after all. But thinking about it, it was even worse because that meant she was closer to the explosion than he thought. The little girl refused to answer. No– it’s more that she couldn’t answer through all the sobbing.

“No!” Grian hears the scream of a man before he runs out of the door at the end of the room. His lab coat was fully ruined and there was blood on his temple, slowly running down his face. He looked terrified running away from something. Grian had a second to grab the girl and hide with her behind the giant rubble, before a sudden yellow light covered the whole room, immediately dying down. The man screams again, and a second later, Grian can hear a loud crash followed by a choking sound.

“P-pl..ea..se” the man struggles to talk. 

Grian is scared. Something in him is telling him to look behind and see what is happening, but his whole body is shaking. He has a hand covering the poor girl's mouth to keep her quiet. He doesn’t know who is behind this attack, and unfortunately, there are a lot of villains who are not afraid to hurt a child.

“Where are they?” He hears a new voice, hidden by a voice changer. Surprisingly, he sounds very calm, but Grian can hear the venom in it, his anger and annoyance fully on display. There’s another thud, the man falling to the ground. From what he can imagine, he was probably held by his collar to the wall and now was dropped to the floor. 

“I.. I d-don’t know.. What.. What th-they?” 

“Stop playing dumb!” The previous calmness was nowhere to be heard now, the new voice rising in anger, turning into a shout. It sends shivers down Grian’s spine. “The suitcases! They delivered three this morning! They should be here, but they aren’t, so where are they?!”

Grian lets out a shaky breath and finally, risking everything, looks out from the hiding spot to see what is happening. As he guessed, the man working in the lab was now lying on the ground, almost in tears looking up at the other man while trembling. 

Grian knows this villain. Standing above the scientist was a man with heavy muscles, mostly hidden by the black cloak running down his shoulders. The black and yellow striped costume’s interior was giving a slight glow, alongside the gas mask on his face, while there was running electricity in his hair to fully cover it in a yellow light. The sparks were flying all around the room, while his right leg was pushing down on the poor man's chest as hard as possible, causing him to cough in pain.  

Static.

Okay, Grian, what do you know about Static? His mind supplies. 

Static first appeared around five years ago; first as a vigilante, helping Boatem’s citizens with everything he could, from cleaning up the parks to stopping the street robberies even though he never worked under the law, which caused him to be the victim of police hunts for years. That was just over two years ago when his official status was changed to a villain after an attack on a public place.

Static is known for attacking mostly large companies. He does leave a lot of casualties behind, but it’s rarely lethal and never a direct attack on civilians, mostly because of his very destructive enchantment. That means that if he sees them, there is a big chance he will just let them go. 

“I d-don’t.. I-I-I c-can’t,” The man is choking on his tears, looking up at Static petrified. Even Grian understood that lying in a situation like this didn’t make any sense. When dealing with villains, you always need to remember that most of them don’t show any mercy. The lightning around Static disappeared for a second. He slowly lifted his leg off the man's chest, immediately hitting him once again harder, but this time, he can hear the man screaming, surrounded by the yellow sparks. Fuck, did he just electrocute the man? It lasted for a few seconds, Grian desperately holding the poor girl in his hands who was shaking in horror, listening to the agonizing screams. It cut off as quickly as it started.

“Last chance,” Static’s voice sounded flat again, no emotion peeking through the gas mask covering his mouth. If the smell of this place was bad before, with all the rubble and fire around, now it smelled like a lump of overcooked meat– it made him shiver. “I can find out on my own, you know, you can’t hide them from me– so speak before I hurt you even more.” As if on cue, his electricity sparked once again, crackling across the room and missing Grian’s face by an inch. He jumped, his face hiding behind the rubble once again to calm down. That was very close. 

“It’s in Falsewell! P-please, It’s in F-Falsewell!” The man screamed, and Grian shifted, his shoulders slightly dropping. That’s… That’s good, now that Static has information he will leave; that is what he’s after most of the time, right?

“Which lab?” 

“B-18! I-It’s… the one in front of-of the historical museum,” Grian slowly relocated back to the corner, looking out towards the two men. He could see how the poor guy was still shaking, lying on the ground, now with his eyes closed. Static’s boot was still on his chest, and Grian could see that he was not planning to move anytime soon.

“What’s your badge number?”

“HC-24, I-I don’t know anything, I p-promise!”

“Dust?” Static asked, turning his head slightly left. A few inches and he would have looked directly at Grian, but that was definitely not the plan, he still didn’t know they were there, no, he was talking to someone. He could see from here a little device in his ear, the control over his powers was terrifyingly good if it didn’t get destroyed in this lightning show, so close to his hair which was constantly buzzing in yellow light. But that gave Grian another question. Who’s Dust? He never heard that name before, someone new around here? And Static always worked alone before, but suddenly he has a partner? That was… a problem. What was in those suitcases that they were after? 

“No… No, n-no, please! PLEASE!”

“Oh, well,” Static started, turning back towards the man. He lifted his leg, putting it down next to the man, and squatting down to look closely at him. “It’s your lucky day!” 

Grian didn’t have time to look away. Barely under a minute, the poor man lying on the ground gave a relieved smile just before Static grabbed his face by hand. There was no scream of agony, just a growing sound of electricity, and an explosion under Static’s palm. Being blinded for a second wasn’t enough– Grian wished he hadn’t seen the moment that blood with pieces of meat and skin and muscle was splattered around Static; the man’s body was still shaking, seizing with electricity while blood dripped down his fully exposed and shattered skull. The body twitched and writhed with the aftershocks of the very dead man’s adrenaline, and Grian nearly vomited at the sight and the smell of the burnt up bits-and-pieces of the corpse.

Grian has seen injuries before– he has seen death before, but nothing was as gruesome as this. He couldn’t let the child see it. No, no, no, she couldn’t see it, this would ruin her for the rest of her life. He needed to… To hide, yes. They just needed to stay there until Static left, and then he would get her out, and he-

For a second, their eyes met. Grian immediately retreated towards the corner, hiding deeper behind the rubble, and holding the girl by his side, trying to shield her. Just a few minutes ago he was sure that they were okay, but now after witnessing this, he couldn’t risk it. He heard the sound of footsteps getting closer to their hiding spot, and he could feel the girl trembling in fear, trying to say something through Grian’s hand. No, no, no, not now!

“You don’t work here,” Grian didn’t even notice that he had his eyes closed, before he had to open them, meeting face to face with the villain, who crouched in front of them. The same way he did with the man. No. no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

The child let out a quiet sob, shaking. Looking down at her, he could see a wet puddle growing around her. Gods, this poor girl. He wanted to cry with her. He should have just picked her up and run when they had a chance, she wouldn’t need to be here. 

Static’s hand reached forward towards the girl, and Grain instinctively tried to shield her behind him. Fuck it, if they were dying here, he would at least try to protect her with his life– he would not go down without a fight. He just needs to… skin contact, right!! Grian, you spoon! He needs to touch Static’s skin and he can fight, but..

“I’m not gonna hurt her, calm down,” Static sounded peaceful, his glow around disappearing, only staying in his hair, which Grain knew was part of his costume to hide the identity. Grain observed him carefully, trying to find a hint of a lie in his voice, eyes, and body language, but Static looked… relaxed, as if he didn’t just take someone’s life. He was also reaching towards them with another hand, not the one still dripping blood, with remains of skin now attached to the black glove. He didn’t know what kind of reaction the girl would have if he did. 

He saw a hand getting closer and closer, and he scanned from the skin, he just... He just needed to get in contact with his skin, and everything would be fine… He just... He couldn’t see an open skin anywhere but Static’s face above the gas mask, and he knew that reaching for his face would be a suicide. His hand touched the girl's broken leg, and for a second Grian stilled, forgetting how to breathe. There was nothing, and a second later, he saw lightning enwrap her leg before the girl let out a scream.

“What the hell?!” Grian screamed, jumping backward and taking the girls with her, as far as possible. “You said you weren’t gonna hurt her!!” He looked down at her, trying to see if it left any marks or burns, but he couldn’t see anything, other than the damage that was already done.

“And I didn’t, she just got scared,” Static responded, slowly standing up. “I numbed her pain, broken bones are very painful to deal with, especially at her age when they are so fragile. The ambulance will be around here soon, she will be fine.”

With that, he turned around and went towards the exit, the doors missing from the hinges. Grian’s blood boiled. He was the one that attacked the blood donor lab, he was the one that got civilians into trouble, he was the one who’s actions broke that bone– and now he’s trying to act as if he isn’t? As if the girl should be thankful that he helped? 

“She was here with her mother!” He screamed at Static’s back, seeing him stop in place. Fuck, he shouldn’t have done that, right? He can just turn around and kill him, he said that he wouldn’t hurt her, not him.

“People are still inside,” Static countered, still not turning back and continuing to walk. “I told them not to leave before the heroes or police get them out, she’s probably fine.” With that, the form of the villain got wrapped up in the air in a lightning strike, disappearing from view. Right, he can control electricity and turn into it. 

“You alright?” He immediately asked, looking down at the poor girls, who continued to sob. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, but instead of answering, she just burst into more sobbing, hugging him and hiding her nose in his shoulder. He let out a sigh and picked her up, holding her close to his chest. “Just… stay like this for a second, okay?” 

He slowly left their hiding spot, trying to keep the girl's face in the opposite direction from the corpse, hoping that she wouldn't see it, and finally got outside. He could still smell the smoke, both from the reception that they just left, and the second floor– which he could see through the window– was still in flames, worse than the first. If Grian’s not mistaken, the second floor is where they keep all documents and blood tests. Static probably wanted to destroy something specific but found out that it wasn’t here anymore. He wonders what was in those suitcases that drove him to these measures. And who the heck was Dust?

“Let’s just… wait a little longer, okay? I’m sure heroes will be here soon,” On cue, from the corner of his vision, he saw something jumping onto the second floor from the roof, clearly in a costume;  after that, an ambulance and several police cars followed. 

Grian didn’t leave until a group of people ran out from the lab, one of them bursting into tears and immediately approaching the ambulance where the girl was seated. They wanted to take her to the hospital, but after telling them about her mother still in the lab, they decided to wait– and for a good reason, considering the woman approaching them had a gushing wound on her forehead, the red liquid running down to her eyes. 

Grian wanted to leave, he wanted to hide from the cops as soon as possible; and now with heroes in sight, his anxiety was rising even faster. Which is why the moment mother and daughter were reunited, he turned away from his dark little corner and took off. 

By this time the rain had already stopped, which was quite inconvenient. Like- how is it that it rains the whole day, but stops the moment something explodes and bursts into flames? Grian let out a shaky and anxious chuckle, finally approaching the apartment. 

“Oh, no…” Grian mumbled when he finally looked down at his phone; he could spot at least 3 missed calls in the last hour from Ren, alongside many worried messages. It’s okay, Ren will understand.

“Dude! You scared the hell out of me! Where were you?!” Ren exploded the second Grian took a step into the apartment, making him sigh. Taking off the shoes and the coat, he immediately turned towards the bathroom, mumbling on his way as he knew that Ren was following him.

“I was walking back when the STARR Labs exploded, you probably saw it?” Opening the door, he went inside and dropped the coat inside the washing machine, then took off his shirt. It still smelled of smoke, rubble, and urine– and while he’s not the most hygienic person these weeks, even he can’t walk around with this on. Also, he’s pretty sure he will get fired the moment he shows up to work with his uniform smelling like this. 

“Of course I saw it! I was here when the explosion went off, and I could see the smoke rising! What were you doing in the lab that had you caught in the middle of this?” Ren asked, crossing his hands, his dog ears nervously twitching.  

“I wasn’t in the lab, I just..” Grian stopped in his tracks after throwing the shirt into the washing machine and looked up at Ren, before moving his vision to anything other than Ren. “I heard a scream... A little girl yelling for her mother, so I… I decided to help, and then couldn’t leave the lab, because the villain was right at the door…”

“You were in the same room as a villain?!” Ren exclaimed, his hands dropping down. He stared at Grian for a few seconds, before his expression softened. “You helped her?”

“Yeah…” He answered, unsure what to do with himself, but still met Ren’s eyes when he smiled at him.

“Of course you did, you have that in you,” Ren whispered. It sounded like he was… proud, which made everything inside him twist. He was a coward. The whole time he spent there hiding, not even trying to help the pitiful man who fell victim to Static’s hands. And even then, when the villain approached them, he couldn’t do anything but sit there and watch. What if he did hurt her? Would he just sit there, holding the corpse of the poor girl, seeing a mess of unrecognizable gore instead of a face like Static did to that man? He didn’t, but what if he did? In the end, Grain did nothing to protect her.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Grian murmured, avoiding Ren’s gaze again. He quickly moved around him and left the bathroom, the washing machine now on and spinning as fast as his day managed to spiral. Ren followed him back to his room.

“Oh come on, Grian, you know I’m right,” He said, overly enthusiastic. “I... Grian, listen,”

“I’m listening,” he responded, though he didn’t even look back, searching through his closet and grabbing the first t-shirt he saw to get dressed. As much as he loved being without the shirts, his wings out and breathing, the small holes on the back were enough to get them through and move around. Ren let out a sigh, and Grian heard a sound coming from his bed. Sitting on his bed, the other spoke up.

“I know that… something happened with you before we met,” He starts, and Grian instantly tenses. They never talked about Grian’s childhood, it was basically a taboo in this house, never to be discussed. Hearing Ren finally mention it… scared him. “And you don’t have to tell me anything, you know this, we talked about this before, but I’m not blind, Grian– I can see a spark inside of you.”

He can’t. There’s no spark inside him, and there hasn’t been one for a long time now. It all died years ago, the day he made the choice of a coward and ran away.

“But whatever happened scarred and scared you, that’s why you’re so careful right now. Sometimes I look at you and see the mischief in your eyes, but then you notice it too and try to lock it down, acting like helping others or having fun is the worst thing that might happen to you.”

It is. He does not deserve any of it. He couldn’t save the people he wanted to save the most, he was a coward, and if he let them down, how can he help others? People that he doesn’t even know. And how can he have fun, when he ruined the lives of so many? He should rot. They are probably wishing the same on him, after what he did. It wouldn’t be a surprise. 

“You need to pick up the pieces of your life, Grian, and finally get it together because you will be so much happier when you look up and do something that you want to do,” Grian wanted to cry. Ren continued to talk and his voice never quivered, always the same determination, the same trust and belief, belief that Grian actually deserved to be happy. 

He doesn’t know what his life would end up like without him. He never had a “lucky” life, but Ren? Sometimes he thought that Ren was the gift from above, and he wasn’t even a believer– it was just so surreal, that someone like Ren would stumble across someone like Grian, and instead of moving forward, approach him and offer him help. His roommate didn’t know anything about Grian’s childhood, didn’t know anything about his trauma; and yet, he stayed by his side. He doesn’t deserve a person like Ren in his life.

“Just… just think about it, okay? I know you’re not having the best days of your life, and I kinda understand why,” It was a cycle. It happened every year around February, it was only a matter of time before Ren noticed it. “But I… You need help, Grian.”

“What?” 

How did they get here? Ren started this conversation by saying that Grian wanted to help others and that he should if he wanted to, so why… Why are they suddenly switching to this? He doesn’t need help. Help for what? 

“You don’t feel well, Grian, It might not be me, but you need to talk to someone,” Grian fought every impulse of looking at him. Everything was telling him to do it, to meet his eyes and finally put an end to this, but he couldn’t. Not today.

Ren exhaled, and Grian heard the bed shifting. “As I said, just think about it– I’m gonna go make us some dinner, you’re probably very hungry,” Ren left the room as he said it, but before closing the door behind him, he quickly added, “Someone left that mail in front of the door today, by the way,” Ha? “I didn’t open it because it’s addressed in your name.”

With that, Grian was left to his thoughts. He let out a shaky breath and held back a sob, trying not to break down. Gods, why did it affect him so much? How did Ren know just what to say, to almost bring him to tears?

He turned around, facing the bed Ren was just occupying, and noticed a small box lying on top of it. He doesn't remember buying anything online, and even if he did, the box wouldn’t be delivered to the door– they would have gotten a piece of paper telling them about the package, and Grian would have needed to pick it up at the station. This was left by someone else.

Curiosity in him won, and biting down on his lip, he took the paper knife from the desk and slowly cut the top of the box. After dropping the knife to the bed, he opened the carton and noticed the pink.

Huh???

He dug into the box and took out a crop-top jacket: the wool was painted pink with a red heart in the middle of the chest, the heart outlined in black. Grian loves red, but he doesn’t think he has ever worn pink out of his work uniform– and screw that, why is someone leaving clothes at his door? Putting the jacket aside, the next thing he grabbed was the white pants, once again dotted with small heart patches around, this time colored in pink instead of red. 

What the hell???

Is this spandex?? And here it was, on the bottom of the box, a black turtleneck made of spandex, with a black domino mask on top looking back at him. Was Ren pulling some kind of a joke on him? What does this all mean? There’s no way someone actually left this at their door and addressed it in his name.

He took out the shirt, ready to turn around and go to Ren to ask some questions when his eyes were caught by a piece of paper falling down, which was hidden between the domino and the spandex. He picked up the paper from the floor and opened it. A letter.

Listen to your friend and remember my words. 

You know where the suitcases are.

Time is ticking.

- Oracle

P.S. You will need this soon, good luck!

Grian doesn’t remember how long he stood there, rereading the letter over and over again, trying to wrap his mind around it. He wasn’t sure it was from Ren anymore. Time is ticking. Remember my words. The stranger. Of course. Grian knew that there was something strange about that man in the morning, but he didn’t think that it might evolve into something worse. The suitcases? The ones Static was after? Did they want Grian to intervene? But why?

Grian sighed, sitting down on his bed and looking back towards the new clothes. Something was telling him that he was about to get into something much bigger than he ever wanted to. And something was telling him that his boring day-to-day life was about to become much more interesting.

_______

'-.° Masterpost - Next Part °.-'

[itzwaku]

Apo nooooooo

I believed you when you said squidney pulled the lever 🥲