#I know this chapter is on the shorter end

[soleilapproves]

catalyst - chapter 3

Life has many twists and turns- yours included getting rejected from med school and ending up as a manager for your burnt-out pro boxer ex. (sukuna x reader)

Note: fem!reader

fanfic masterlist / main masterlist

“And after you get your cast removed, you’re gonna go meet your therapist. You’re due for a session.” Sukuna couldn’t be bothered to listen to Uraume’s rambling. Not when you walked around in his apartment in those shorts that made you look so enticing. Those shorts wouldn’t have lasted a minute in his sight two years ago. Your body moved swiftly behind Uraume’s frame, which was slightly below face-level with him. 

As you cleaned his living room, his eyes followed your figure, putting away misplaced books and flash drives containing important fight compilations. You looked less exhausted now compared to when you first started working for him. It’s crazy what two weeks' worth of difference could do. Your figure looked a little fuller than before because of all the food you were eating with him, and the dark circles beneath your eyes were slowly disappearing. You also began replying to him with two sentences instead of one. 

He desperately needed to know what you had been up to. Most of your icing sessions with him were silent if you didn’t account for the loud sexual tension that was always there with how close you’d be next to him- smelling like his most ardent daydream. 

“Did you get all that?” Sukuna looked down to see Uraume with their eyebrow raised. 

“You weren’t listening to me, were you?” Uraume asked. 

Sukuna nodded. “Yeah, yeah, eat my vegetables, do my exercises.” 

His manager sighed and turned to see you bent over the couch, trying to pick up a pillow that fell behind it. “You’re such a dog.” The shorter individual grimaced before placing a binder full of information about shoulder exercises on the kitchen counter. “Do these every night. Make sure you ask her for help.” He said as he gestured towards your oblivious figure, still cleaning around the couch in a compromising position. 

“Uhuh,” Sukuna said with eyes trained on your bottom. He noticed that you were gaining some volume after eating meals similar to his. It worked out well for you because your shorts showed off your shape well. 

“Gross.” They pinched the bridge of their nose.

“She’s gonna drop you off at the therapist’s office, by the way.”

“Wha- why?” Sukuna’s eyes squinted. It was embarrassing enough for him to have his ex be hired to pick his life up; having her escort him to his appointments was another thing. “Someone has to make sure you actually walk through that door and not escape with an Uber. Besides, I have a hair appointment right after your cast removal. This bob doesn’t stay sharp on its own,” Uraume said while adjusting their hair. 

Short grey wire-like strands starkly stood out on your scalp. They looked like tiny plant stems sprouting from sod. You had always complained about being stressed from school, but Sukuna wasn’t expecting the effects to be this apparent. He wondered if your body was on its last thread before you moved in with him. 

He knew your dreams were important, but you had this knack for ignoring everything else and focusing on your goal. His hands itched to grab you by your shoulders and yell, ‘This isn’t you!’ 

You looked up at him after tying his shoes. “Shall we go?” 

Burning red irises stared back into yours. There was so much to say, yet so little came out of his mouth. “Yeah, let’s get this damn thing off.”

He smiled inwardly at the bunny loop laces on his trainers as he watched you pack your bag. 

-

Everything was unsettling. The clock ticking, the familiar smell of artificial vanilla wafting through the room, the blinds covering exactly three-seventh of the window (Sukuna knows too much about ratios because of all his training),  the propriety of the entire office (who even has coasters for different types of cups?), and worst of all, his therapist’s impassive face. 

Sukuna’s knees bounced as he watched the blond man in front of him write down his notes. The sound of his ball pen scratching against the paper created an uncomfortable ambiance. “You gonna prescribe me something? Don’t bother if weight loss is one of the symptoms.” 

“No, I was just doing my crossword puzzle. You’re well enough to avoid therapeutic drugs.” 

Sukuna scoffed. “Look, Nanami, reverse psychology won’t work on me. I know you’re prescribing me some shit.”

Nanami turns his notepad around to show Sukuna the latest New York Times crossword puzzle. “I’m much too educated to use reverse psychology.” And he was right. The PhD certificate displayed on his office wall and numerous awards in a small glass cabinet in the corner indicated that the man was good at his job. He was the only therapist who could approach Sukuna’s concerns without making him feel small.

Sukuna hated that. He hated when he felt like he was being poked and prodded at by doctors. He did not cope well with having moments of weakness, hence avoiding treatment. Everyone treated him like a broken doll. 

Which he wasn’t- he was a skilled fighter who just couldn’t push himself any further. 

“You’ve been skipping your last few sessions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for paid lounging, but I’m also curious. Why’d you come now?” Nanami asked, still not looking up from his engaging activity. 

“I want to get better. I-” he took a deep breath. “-have someone I have to get better for.” He couldn’t look Nanami in the eye while saying that. He hadn’t felt this self-conscious before a man for a very long time (except for Coach Yaga). It’s part of the reason why he avoids visiting Nanami.

“Is it-”

“Yeah, it’s her. So just tell me what I have to do.”

Nanami put his notepad down and crossed his legs, iron-pressed tan slacks refusing to crease. “I’m not a relationship counselor. I’m only here to help you.” The pro boxer could only stare out the window, where the car you dropped him with was parked. If he squinted, he would probably be able to see your sleeping face.

There was a hollowing void in his life after the breakup. It seemed he had lost his reason to live, even though Yuuji was there for him- someone willing to support him even after the big incident. With a wistful heart, he yearned to be someone significant in your life again.

“I want to be with her again, but I’m scared of what she’ll think of me.”

“Is it because of what happened in the past?” Nanami asked, calculatingly to the athlete on the couch across from him.

“Yeah.”

“There’s no right way to tell her. You can’t run away from what’s inevitable. How about we talk about the incident from two years ago? It might help you gather your thoughts and decide how to come clean to her.” Sukuna indolently nodded at his therapist’s suggestion. 

“But first, I must ask you something important- what’s a five-letter synonym for abdominal pain?” 

“Can’t believe I’m paying you three hundred an hour for this shit.”

-

Sukuna had been staring at you since you both returned from the therapist’s office. It wasn’t like his usual scrutinizing stare, where it felt like he was examining every inch of your skin. It was more like his head was in another universe; you were the only thing keeping him grounded. He was going to do it. Today was the day he’d tell you why he really broke up with you. 

He didn’t visit Nanami for nothing. He just needed to ease you into having a proper conversation with him.

You were massaging his shoulders after his routine shoulder exercise, and you were glad to be standing behind his head while seated. At least you wouldn’t have his intense gaze on you. He was shirtless again, and you were finding it challenging to keep your eyes on his shoulder rather than the expanse of his broad back. On the other hand, kneading your fingers through his firm muscles was quite relaxing after staying at the edge of your seat with him all the time. “You gotta massage near my collarbones now.” 

And your relaxation period ended. 

Without missing a beat, he pulled your arm and made you stand between his legs. His firm grasp then placed your hand where you needed to massage him. You wanted to reprimand him for moving you around as if you didn’t know what to do next, but you kept to yourself to avoid pointless arguments. 

Your skin felt hot, massaging around the socket of his joint. Your heart couldn’t help but waver with how his shoulders’ muscles rippled with every little movement. The tattoos made him hotter. You didn’t want to find him hot. There were better things to focus on.

Like his thick neck with veins popping out of them whenever you’d accidentally press too hard while massaging. Or his strong jaw. His sharp, bold jawline. Up to his beautiful cheekbones, to his beautiful nose, down to his perfect plush lips. 

You bit the inside of your cheek to bring yourself back to reality. You should not be thirsting over your boss (you weren’t sure if you would call him that, but without Uraume around, he was the closest to one).

“...so why this?” 

“Huh?” You were so distracted by his beauty that you didn’t even realize he had asked you a question. 

“You told me you were gonna go to medical school after graduating, so why are you working?” It wasn’t hot in Sukuna’s room, but you could feel yourself break into a sweat. It felt humiliating to announce your goals to the world just to fail at achieving them.

“Oh, I thought Uraume would’ve told you by now. But I, uh- I got rejected.” There, it was like ripping off a bandaid. 

“They didn’t mention anything about it. Also, all five of them rejected you?” You ignored how your heart jumped over the fact that he still remembered your dream schools.  “Yeah, all five.” You had to look away from his bewildered face to hold on to some of your already deteriorating pride. 

“But that’s crazy. You worked so hard for it since the beginning.”

“Well, it wasn’t hard enough.” 

“Bullshit, they were blind.” Sukuna’s breathing started to become shallow, and Uraume instructed you not to get him worked up during his resting period. “Sukuna, I’ll see you tomorrow. We’re done with the massage.”

“But-” 

“Kuna, please.” 

You said it. You said his nickname. He would have been elated in a different context, but right now, it just felt like you were trying to shut him up. So he let you escape. He let you go back to your room. He knew he couldn’t pressure you into talking to him, but he was ready to be patient. 

—

I can’t wait for you guys to read what I have in store for the next chapter 😼

taglist: @sukubusss @kyo-kyo1 @kensqueent @totallygyomeiswife @missthatgirl @iluv-ace @emoedgylord

[peachcitt]

merry christmas @burntwaffle12‼️‼️ this beast is just for you for the @mlsecretsanta gift exchange<3<3

you can read the first chapter of your gift here

happy holidays and i will be back so soon with more<3<3

[todorokistheories]

I can't be the only person who loves reading pro-hero aus and screamed for joy when we finally got to see what class 1a looks like as adults.

[libra-cant-just-dance]

Chapter 8 of Mirrored Walls!!!

I've been waiting for this chapter for SO long and it was so fun

[serenescribe]

progress update!

jesus christ

[not-poignant]

20. number of comments you haven't read. - I thought you read all the comments

I do read all of the comments.

There is not a single comment I haven't read, anon. Not one. Even in the periods of time where AO3 stopped sending out email notifications due to bugs, and those never ended up clearing, I manually checked and read everything on the site.

I've never missed a single fanfiction comment on any site, honestly. I see them all. I know who my regulars are, even if they think I don't notice them, even if their version of regular is 'a few times 8 years ago and a few times 8 years later.' And that's probably weird, but one doesn't end up writing serials if you don't care about your comments (well, I don't, anyway!)

Not only that, but I read every AO3 comment immediately, i.e. - as soon as I see it. I never let those emails wait. I open every single one. (Which sometimes has ruined some mornings, depending on if I get a shitty comment, lmao).

~

From the Assumptions meme!

[keets-writing-corner]

I have bad news friendsos. My aforementioned April 25th goal date of posting chapter 3 of my Prequel Fic is uhhh most likely not going to be met? IM STILL GOING TO TRY I PROMISE I'M GOING TO TRY! but omg chapter 3 is so bulky and tanky it's over 30k words (aka that's the size of chapter 2 for reference) aaaaand I'm still not done. This upcoming week is going to be a rather full for me. I will have SOME freetime but not a lot. Again, I'm going to try to make it to that 25th deadline but I'm not so sure I'll make it. Realistically speaking it might be more towards... eh april 30? hopefully?

Anyways, to make up for it, I've decided to give you guys an extended teaser of the beginning of the chapter. I did already show this a little bit in another post, but to make up for the delay I decided to give you guys everything I have written for the very beginning up until we reach the first asterix

But uhhh yeah! I'm sorry! Plz enjoy the sneak peek!

___________

High pitched ringing was all Lilith could perceive at first. Eventually, as time passed, she became aware of more things. The air smelled foul. She was laying atop something soft, but underneath the soft layer was the hardest rock she’d ever felt. As far as sounds, it seemed like there was a faint rumbling in the distance, but nothing extravagant. 

Blearily, she managed to open her eyes. 

Lilith was face to face with Lucifer who seemed to be unconscious, just as she had been moments ago. The soft layer she was on was his wing, with another one lying limp on top of her. 

She sat up slowly, groaning. Her body ached and her joints felt sore. The wings that were on top of her, slid off. 

There was something grey drifting down from the sky, and apparently, she and Lucifer had been laying there long enough that a thin layer of it had started to build up on them. Well, mostly Lucifer. Up until now, she had been safely shielded by his wings. 

Lilith gave him a nudge, “Lu, wake up,” she told him before moving to stand herself. 

The sky was a deep blood red. Any clouds that formed were either grey or black. The ground too, the harsh rocky terrain she and Lucifer were on was also a dark grey. It was now that she realized, she and Lucifer were dead center in a crater of sorts. 

That’s when the previous events all rushed back to her. Heaven attacked them and cast them down into, what was it the elders called it? Hell? Lucifer desperately shielded and protected her from the vicious onslaught and then from the impact of the fall itself. 

Now with the full context, Lilith rushed back to Lucifer who still remained on the ground, “Lu?!” Lilith pushed back the wings that were covering his body, and unveiled multiple wounds from heaven’s attack. The blood had long since dried, and Lilith realized she too was covered in Lucifer’s blood. His wings were also covered in his blood as heaven viciously skewered them to prevent him from flying back out. His once flowing robes were all but tatters barely clinging to his form.

Panic now fully setting in as she realized he looked even worse than when he had fallen from heaven and wasn’t even stirring, not even a little. She couldn’t even hear him breathe raspy breaths like he had last time.

“Lu! Say something!” Lilith immediately cradled him. 

His head rolled back limply as she pulled him to her. Lilith needed to readjust her grip on him in order for his head to lean against her torso gently. 

He had protected her… From everything. But the final blow had been the fall. If what little Lilith had experienced from the fall due to his protection had been enough to temporarily knock her unconscious and make her sore then… What must it have felt like to take the full brunt of it?? 

Tears began to build up in her eyes as she recalled him assuring her that she’d be okay. He had been unable to stop the crash, so he did everything he could to make sure she was going to be safe. Suddenly, it made sense why he had repositioned himself underneath her, to cushion her fall with his own body. 

“Lu?!” she called again, “Lucifer!” 

He remained still and unresponsive. 

Lilith’s breath hitched in her throat. He couldn’t be- he wouldn’t- this couldn’t have… killed him??? 

Lilith pulled him tighter to her, choking back tears and shook with rage against heaven. Why push her and him into that crevice?? All this because he wanted to help her and Eve but that was against the rules apparently?? Weren’t they supposed to be good?! Weren’t they supposed to be kind?! And what could she have done while the elders attacked? She had been powerless to help! Worse… They used her to lure him into the hole. As Lilith held him and choked back sobs, it occurred to her that he still felt warm. 

The faintest, slightest bit of hope fluttered in her, and she pulled away to get a better look at Lucifer. He still was completely still, and unresponsive but… maybe…

Lilith leaned her ear against his chest, hoping for what seemed to be the impossible. 

Faintly. 

Very

very 

faintly 

She could hear it. A heartbeat. Even fainter, she could hear a weak rattling breath from deep in his chest. 

He was alive…

He was still alive!

Lilith pulled him into a hug, cupping the back of his head and holding him tightly. Her tears now weren’t from grief but relief. “You’re going to be okay,” she whispered to him, “It’s going to be okay…”

They needed to get better bearings. Being at the center of the crater largely obstructed their view. Lilith stood with Lucifer in her arms. She had never tried full on carrying him before. Perhaps she thought that she couldn’t but now he seemed impossibly light. Maybe it was his small frame.  

As she stood, she quickly noticed a problem. Lucifer’s wings were going to get tangled with her legs the way she was holding him. Lilith crouched back down and readjusted Lucifer, draping him over her back instead, intending to carry him piggyback style. His wings were going to drag on the ground, and Lilith wished they didn’t have to, but she had no way of gathering them together. She knew he could change their size as he wanted, but right now they were stuck being big. He clearly wasn’t going to wake up any time soon. 

Upon pulling his arms around her neck, she realized that his arms and hands had been burnt black. Had this been from that wicked blast the elders had used on him? She gripped one of his hands and rubbed his knuckles gently. Rage towards heaven once again filled her. 

Lilith gave herself a shake. Now wasn’t the time. 

She climbed out of the crater as fast as she could while still holding onto Lucifer. When she reached the top, well… she wasn’t sure that was all that much better. The grey substance falling from the sky was covering everything. And the land was completely barren. The only variation to be seen at all was hills and rocky mountains in the distance. 

She hated being underneath this falling… what even was it? Upon a quick sniff it smelled like smoke. Lilith frowned and stared at the sky. Was it raining ash?? 

Glancing over to Lucifer’s face on her shoulder,  Lilith realized now wasn’t the time to figure out what was going on. She needed to find them some shelter from this. It’d be great if there were trees but she couldn’t see any. Maybe she could find a nice ledge or something that could protect them? 

Lilith set out walking towards the rocky hills. Surely, she’d be able to find a ledge somewhere that could shelter them. 

She walked. 

A million thoughts ran through her head. What were they going to do now? There weren’t any plants as far as she could tell, what could she eat? Maybe she’d have to look for plants. Surely this place wasn’t completely barren. 

She walked.

How long would Lucifer be out for this time? In Eden it had taken him a couple days before he began showing signs of regaining consciousness, and became fully awake about ten-fourteen days later. The air here felt harsh, Lilith could tell, and Lucifer had been beaten harder than last time. He was in a worse state than last time, and Lilith had a hunch that this place was going to make it harder for him to heal.

She walked. 

A million feelings raced through her heart. She was scared. She didn’t know what this place was. Lucifer was unconscious and couldn’t provide any answers if he even knew them. She was worried about him. What if he didn’t wake up? What if he never recovered from these wounds? What if it had all been too much? She was angry. Angry at heaven for putting them in this situation. She felt grief, grief at the loss of her home, and the loss of her friend Eve. Would she ever see Eve again? Would she ever see blue skies again? And also… a sense of loss of herself. She no longer felt innocent. Some part of herself had been lost in that whole ordeal, and she didn’t know how to cope with it. 

She walked. 

The ground here was rough. Her feet were already growing sore and irritated, only accustomed to the soft grasses and gentle dirt of Eden. Even the air felt hostile as every breath irritated her throat, and her eyes stung. 

She walked.

Hours passed and Lilith roamed still. Exhaustion clung to her, but she refused to stop until she could find some sort of shelter for the both of them. An anxious thought had entered her mind while she walked, and it was that surely all of this ash landing on Lucifer’s open wounds couldn’t be good for him. 

She walked. 

Hunger clawed at her, but worse than hunger was thirst. She also hadn’t spotted any water. Her throat was already raw from breathing in the air, but now it craved water and there was none to be found. Even Lucifer, who had felt light earlier, was beginning to weigh on her. In addition to all of the emotions Lilith had been feeling before, she felt despair begin to creep up. 

The weakest groan escaped Lucifer’s lips. 

Lilith glanced over to him, “Lu?” 

He struggled to open his eyes. At most he managed small slits for two seconds before they quickly closed again, as if they were too heavy to hold open. He wasn’t moving, Lilith seriously doubted that he even could, but she could feel him tensing against her in distress.

“Lu, it’s okay. I’m taking care of you,” Lilith told him, “You can rest.” 

“Lil…th?” he could barely choke out her name. 

Lilith reached with her hand and cupped his cheek. “I’m right here Lu,” she comforted him, “don’t strain yourself.” 

“Areyou…” he had to pause, clearly speaking was not only taking a monumental effort for him, but it was also painful, “areyouokay?” he splurted out as quickly as he could manage in one breath. It had been accompanied by some drops of blood.

Lilith felt a rush of mixed emotions. She was touched that Lucifer was here, barely awake or aware, couldn’t even move, full of wounds, having lost a lot of blood, spitting out more, and his first thought upon brushing with consciousness was whether or not she was okay. She wanted to hold him forever in her arms. And once again, she was visited by rage. Rage that heaven would even think to cast out someone as caring and as kind hearted as he was. And… rage that she had been powerless to do anything about it.

“I’m okay,” She leaned her head against his, “I’m okay,” she had to keep her voice from wavering. She didn’t want him to know how close she was to crying, that would only distress him. He needed to rest. 

“Mmm,” was all he managed to say in response and Lilith felt his body relax against her. 

“Just rest Lu,” Lilith whispered to him, but it seemed she hadn’t even needed to tell him. Just hearing that she was okay seemed to calm him enough to drift back into unconsciousness. 

Lilith nuzzled her face in his hair a moment longer, his brief brush with consciousness giving her a brave second wind. Now more determined than ever, Lilith picked up the pace. 

She cleared another hill and then she spotted not just a huge ledge jutting out from the side of one that could shelter them from the ash, but also a little pond filled with water was right next to it. Lilith climbed underneath the ledge and as gently as she could, laid Lucifer down. He didn’t stir in all that time. 

Lilith gently rubbed her thumb against his lips, cleaning the blood he had spat out, and then stared at it on her finger. An idea formed in her head, one that made her feel guilty but it had to be done. She bent down and kissed his forehead before climbing down to the water. 

The water was murky and grey, the ash didn’t help. Biting her lip, Lilith dipped her thumb with Lucifer’s blood, and just like it had back in Eden all those years ago, the water suddenly glistened and cleared, having been purified by his blood. 

Lilith almost hungrily gulped up the water. She tried to get Lucifer to drink but he wouldn’t even respond to her touch. She ended up using it to clean themselves from the ash and blood. As long as Lucifer had some wounds, she’d be able to drink this water. She felt guilty about it but it was all she could do. 

Lilith laid down and then pulled Lucifer on top of her. The ground was hard, and the furthest thing from comfortable, but she was exhausted, and she refused to let Lucifer lay on the hard ground when she could cushion it for him. It was the least she could do after all���

Things were bad. 

Lucifer was unconscious. She had no idea where she was. There was no food. The ground and the air were harsh. She was sore and tired.

But, they were alive. 

Lilith pulled him tighter, blinking tears out of her eyes. They would make it. She’d make sure they’d make it.

____

alright that's all for now! I might be persuaded to give more sneakpeeks and/or answer chapter 3 questions if any of you want more but uhh yeah!

sorry again!

[dallonwrites]

THINK i am halfway through this chapter it just Feels Right, though based on what i know needs to happen i feel like the second half will be longer and the first half is 4.5k so like, laugh out loud !

[aqqleshiqqing-archive]

preparing for afternoon classes.... check out my short king

[huffle-dork]

Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 17: The Bad End

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs| You've reached a Bad End (Also on AO3!)

Read SITCV | SATCV Masterpost | AO3 Link

"You do look more like me wearing that," Chase comments, looking over Bro in his new clothes. "The hand-me-down look really seals it. Sorry if they don't fit. We have, uh, limited options while living in a cave. At least they're clean."

Bro laughs, "It's okay- we're pretty similar just… bigger… arms I guess."

"You can say bigger muscles- I think Chase's self esteem was already shot just by seeing them~!" Jackie grins.

"Hey! Don't be mean! It's not like… I'm showing off! It's just! What happens when you fight crime!" Bro protests.

Chase laughs. "Don't worry, I'm not too concerned about being built. I'm more of a long range guy."

Stacy pokes her head into the storage cavern where Chase, Bro, Jackie, and Sam are waiting. "Are you guys done in here?"

The two swaps look at Stacy and Bro tries to hide his blush at seeing her as he adjusts the outfit. "u-uh yeah! I think so!"

"Great." Stacy nods. "I found a group of people who are going to come along."

Someone else leans into view. They have short dark hair underneath a blue beanie and are wearing a black jacket and skirt with leggings. "Hey." They wave.

"Oh! This is Raven, they're one of those people," Stacy says. "They wanted to meet you."

"Not often you hear about people from another world." Raven grins. "Nice to meet you. I'm the magician."

"Oh! A magician! That's great!" Bro grins. "We could use any help we can get!"

'Nice to meet ya, Raven!" Jackie smiles.

"Heh." Raven smiles. "Happy to help. If you get paused in time I'm able to unfreeze you. That's why I'm coming."

"Oh awesome! That'll make this way easier!" Bro laughs.

"Stacy, are you gonna go, too?" Chase asks.

"Are you?" Stacy asks him.

"I, uh… I want to help. But I think it'll make the whole decoy thing hard."

Jackie looks at Chase and then shrugs, "If you stay with us and hidden- it should be fine! Once Bro starts using his powers it gonna be real obvious it aint you so-"

"That's true…" Chase muses. "Alright. I'll go. I'm an alright marksman, I can stay hidden from a distance."

Stacy nods. "In that case, I won't go. It's too dangerous for both of us to leave. Just in case something happens to one group."

Chase nods. "Alright. Where's Jack, by the way?"

Sam gets off the box They're sitting on and wraps Their nerve-tail around something inside. A small pen. They awkwardly write letters on the lid of the cardboard box. A-L-T.

"He's still with Alt?" Chase asks. "Huh."

Jackie frowns. "… I feel like that's been a long time."

Bro looks worried. "Do you think they're both okay?"

Chase bites his lip. "I don't think anything could've happened to Jack. You literally can't touch him, yknow? But… something could be…" He shakes his head, not wanting to say it in front of Bro and Jackie. "I-it'll probably be fine. If everyone's ready, we should start moving right away. Jackie, are you gonna come?"

"Yeah man! I can be moral support if anything. But, also like- whats the saying… better with numbers…?" Jackie frowns. "Why can't I remember how that goes-"

Bro laughs, "Please try to stay away from any place you can fall and break something, Jackie-"

"Nooo promises!" Jackie grins.

"You want a gun, then? Or a knife?" Stacy asks, pushing open the lid of a crate.

"Oh- a knife please. Imma a terrible shot." Jackie laughs.

"Alright, here you go." Stacy grabs a sheathed knife and hands it to him. "That looks the right size for you. Feel free to slash away, the corrupted don't feel pain and they don't go down easily."

"ooh- that's.. fun. Good to know." Jackie says, taking the knife.

Bro frowns, "huh… i gotta be careful then… I don't wanna like- accidentally… you know-"

"Accidentally kill them? You're that strong?" Chase asks with wide eyes.

Bro flushes, "…I dunno! mmmmaybe? I haven't tried to! I'm very against killing- but I usually try to hold back once I see someone in pain."

"Yknow, Trisha once shot Error point-blank with a shotgun and he got up again, I think you punching them really hard won't do that much," Stacy says. "Just don't aim for the heads. These are still people under all the corruption."

Bro nods to Stacy and wrings out his hands and wrists, "Okay… I can do that. I don't like aiming for the face much anyways. Broken noses aren't fun for anyone… Unless they deserve it. …Broken noses are meant for criminals not mind controlled people. There that's a new super law for me." He nods.

Jackie snorts and rolls his eyes.

Stacy laughs. "Great, good to hear."

"Let's head out, then," Chase says. "The sooner, the better. We need Bro to hang out somewhere with a lot of cameras for him to see, while the rest of us stay out of sight."

Raven nods. "I can keep up an invisibility spell for a while, but everyone will need to stick close to me, it only covers so much ground."

"Alright, good luck guys," Stacy says.

"Thanks Stacy- stay safe okay?" Bro says with a smile. Jackie gives her a two fingered salute.

“Let's go." Chase checks his gun, then leads the way out of the cave.

--------

The door to the room appears, opening up. Jack looks away from Alt and towards it, stiffening. His form is overtaken by white static until he's just the staticky outline he was when Alt first saw him. He puts a finger to his lips.

Alt jumps slightly and then curls up as Jack becomes less solid. He shakily nods.

Error walks in. He looks at Alt and grins. "We're going to take a trip. Come on. Please don't make this difficult."

As Error walks in Alt growls and bares his teeth at him like a feral animal.

"Oh, don't be like that, this is your lucky day! Though you don't think of it that way right now." Error leans down, still grinning. He's not wearing the hoodie outfit from earlier. Instead, it's some red and blue jumpsuit, torn and bloodied. "Come on." His smile drops. "If I have to drag you down there, I will."

"Go ahead and try fucker-" Alt spits. He grins as his eyes spark with energy, "You already know I'm pretty slippery."

"Because of your glitching? Is that it? Hmmm." Error hums. "You know… the Place has a way of taking you where Anti wants you to be. So, sure, you can try. You'll probably just end up where I'm taking you anyway." He flashes a sharp smile. "But if you insist." He grabs Alt by the arm and starts pulling him towards the door.

Alt yelps and then quickly tries to glitch away and out of his grip.

And yet, somehow, Error manages to hold onto him. The static swarming around his body buzzes around Alt's glitches, causing some kind of rough barrier. "Come on," Error says, adjusting his hold so he's pinning Alt's arms to his side. He doesn't sound bothered at all by the struggles as he drags Alt out into the hallway. The static form of Jack follows.

Alt cries out and tries to fight as much as he can. "H-Hey! What the fuck!! Let me go!!"

"Nope!" Error says, almost cheerfully. He continues dragging Alt down the hallway, which slopes and twists downwards. Cables start to appear on the ground, ready to trip people up, but he nimbly dodges them. "Come on, we're almost there!"

Alt feels his stomach drop and dread starts to take over him as he tries even harder to get away. "N-No! C'mon J-Jackie! You're Jackie right?! J-Just let me go man!!"

"I thought I told you before." Error's grip on Alt tightens to the point where it hurts a little. "That's not me anymore." He reaches a door made of metal and opens it up, dragging Alt inside. It's completely dark, impossible to see, but somehow Error navigates it perfectly until he manages to push Alt into a chair, forcing him to sit.

Alt cries out and squirms and kicks as much as he can. When he's forced into the chair he tries to see if he can glitch away-

"No!" Error sees him doing that and pushes him hard back, hard enough that Alt's head clunks against the back of the chair. "Don't you dare," he hisses, quickly grabbing Alt's arms and pushing them into the arms of the chair, where cuffs snap into place. He quickly does the same for his ankles, cuffing them to a bar connecting the chair legs, and then backs up. "Just wait here quietly, okay?"

Alt’s vision flashes white for a second as he head hits the seat. He then struggles and pulls at the restraints, really starting to freak out. Terrified tears gather in his eyes as he starts to heave in panic. “P-Please don’t do this! I-I don’t want to be a puppet again! Please!”

Error grins. "It's not so bad. Maybe you'll find it's different this time. Maybe you'll be happy." And then he turns and leaves the room.

Jack quickly walks into the room before Error closes the door. The room is completely dark now, but Alt can hear Jack's voice. "You're not alone, I promise," he says.

Alt is panicking hardcore, even Jack's voice doesn't calm him down. His eyes try to find any source of light in the room but there's nothing- its dark and he's scared. "J-Jack…! I.. I don't want to be corrupted…! I..! I-"

“I know, I’m sorry,” Jack murmurs. “I-I can’t stop him, a-and I’m sorry. But I can fix it. Just before you guys arrived here, I figured out how to uncorrupt people. But I-I don’t know how to stop the corruption while it’s happening. Only after the fact. And I’m so, so sorry. But I promise people are on the way to help. I promise.”

Alt feels his stomach sinking even more as he hangs his head and tries to hide his panicked tears. He… he has to try to look tough for whatever's coming… he can't show he's weak- but he's so fucking scared.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Jack says. “You’re not alone. It’s going to be—”

Then the door opens again. The lights flick on, revealing the corruption room, just like the one Surgeon showed Mag. Standing in the doorway are two familiar faces. Anti… and Magnificent himself.

“Hey, Alt,” Anti says, grinning as he closes the door.

"Hello cub~" Magnificent giggles.

Alt goes pale. "M-Magnificent…"

Magnificent laughs wildly and teleports to grab Alt's chin, tilting it back and forth. "Awww look at you, kitten! You look fucking terrible~ Scared out of your wits, are we?"

"S-Shut the fuck up!" Alt spits, trying to pull his wet face away from his grip.

Magnificent giggles and teleports back by Anti, grinning. "This is going to be so fucking easy. It's almost sad-"

"Easy would be good, this is never 'easy' in my experience," Anti says. One of the screens on the walls lights up, showing nothing but static, the speakers letting out the sound of white noise. Anti glitches over to a table and starts looking through the items there. "You should probably cover your ears, Magnificent. I don't think it'll be able to affect you so easily, but better safe than sorry. You get started while I decide how to approach this."

"Ah- Yes. I can do that." Mag snaps and puts basically magic earplugs in and then grins, slinking back over to Alt.

Alt tries to pull his head away but Mag grabs him by the hair and slams his head back, giggling. "Oh you poor beaten kitten… your mind has already been scrambled so nicely for me~! So broken and disjointed… It's like you knew to expect me!"

"Mag- f-fucking! Don't do this! You're really g-gonna let me be a puppet for someone else?" Alt tries to growl at him.

Magnificent just shakes head and laughs, "Why not? I want to see how it works~! And you're already such a good puppet for me, Alt… I think I can lend you away for a bit~" He flares up some corruption in his hands- not enough to completely block Alt's magic- but enough to make him weak. He digs his claws into his neck and spreads it there as Alt screams and tries to thrash against it. As he works a bright purple and green spiral looms behind Magnificent- soon drawing in Alt's eyes as Mag withdraws his hand.

Alt weakly lets his head fall back, panting and heaving in panic- but he's starting to do it less- the anger and fear fading from his eyes. Corrupted purple flickers in his eyes but- he tries to fight against it, weakly squirming in his restraints. "n-no… no I… i-"

Anti watches this happen, observing. It really does happen quite quickly. "I've been able to put people in trances before," he says quietly. "But they always shake it off eventually. That sort of reminds me of it." He nods at the spiral, at the way Alt's struggles are fading. "I can work with that."

The white noise in the air sounds less sharp than it did before. More… soothing, almost. Anti walks around behind Alt, carrying something. He snaps it around Alt's neck, revealing it to be a metal collar.

"Alright, Alt," he says quietly, but not kindly. "Here's how it's going to work. If you start to do something wrong, you're going to get hurt. Same thing if you say something bad. Simple enough, right? You can do that, right?"

Magnificent's eyes widen and then he giggles, "Oh… i like where this is going."

Alt snaps slightly out of trance as he feels the collar get snapped onto him. He weakly glares at Anti, eyes sparking. "L-Like i'm gonna just d-do what you say just cuz you ask me- f-fuck off!"

ZAP. Anti can't pulse with electricity the way Alt can, but he has other tools he can use. Namely, a taser, which he presses to the metal of the collar and switches on for a second. "That's a low setting, and I know you can handle electricity," Anti says. "But I promise it can get worse. And I'm not just limited to lightning." He tilts Alt's head back so he can look him in the eyes. "You don't have to fight it, though," he whispers. "You don't have to go through this." He glances back up at Magnificent and nods towards the spiral he has conjured, silently asking him to increase whatever he's doing.

Alt grits his teeth and stiffens in his chair, trying to hide his discomfort. He feels himself get tilted up and he opens his eyes enough to just glare more at Anti. "I-I'm not l-letting myself be corrupted by you…!"

Magnificent tilts his head and the magic gets brighter and hums with intensity. The pressure on the room increases. Mag grips his hand and the corruption on Alt's neck pulses and grows slightly, making purple flash in his eyes as he gasps.

Alt tries to shut his eyes, shaking his head. "No…! Nono-!"

"Why not?" Anti asks. "Remember, I've seen your memories. I know what you've thought. All these Antis out here, doing terrible things. You know that you're not any different. Didn't you try to kill your so-called friends a couple times?"

"T-Those weren't for you to see-" Alt whimpers. "I.. I'm not like that anymore- I don't want to be that anymore…! I'm not like them- I'm not-!" He squeezes his eyes shut tighter, trembling.

ZAP! Anti goes up a setting on the taser. "Don't close your eyes," he snaps.

Alt grits his teeth and bites back another scream. Alt instinctively follows Anti's order and his eyes find the spiral.

"Alright, maybe you're not like that anymore. But you remember what it was like, don't you? Didn't a part of you like being like that? Being able to do whatever the fuck you wanted?"

Alt’s shoulders almost instantly relax as the magic starts to spiral in his eyes. His head lolls back more as he breathes slowly. He leans a bit more against Anti's side, talking hollowly. "… i… i… d..did…"

"That's it kitten… relax… and listen to Anti," Magnificent sings sweetly, increasing the burning magic. "Just like that…"

"I know you did," Anti says, his voice laced with static. "But you feel so bad about it now. Guilt is a useless thing, Alt. All it does is make you feel bad. Life is so much better lived without regrets. Nothing is stopping you from casting these feelings aside and doing something that you like. Even if people say it's wrong, they don't know you. They can't know you. It's impossible to fully know someone, since you can't possibly have thought and felt and experienced everything someone else has. So, why do you care so much about what these people who can't know you think?"

"I… I don't… know…" Alt whispers, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion. "…it… it.. shouldn't… matter…" His eye twitches and he tries to shake out his head, squeezing his eyes shut again as his head pounds. "n-no it m-matters it… it has to- I… I need to- be something b-better…! I…"

ZAP! Up another setting. "Better is arbitrary," Anti hisses. "Good and bad are constructs. Right and wrong are fictional ideas." The static echoes his words. "You only want to be 'better' because others tell you that you should want that. When you strip away those voices, Alt, you know what you really want. And I can help you, like I've helped lots of people before you."

Alt lets out a short scream now, clenching his fists and arching his back. He pants, eyes rolling in his head for a second before they find the spiral again. He starts to relax even more, even through panted short breaths. The magic glows brighter in his eyes as he whispers, "…what… I want…?" He leans his head back and sighs in pain, "i… i wanna be free…"

"Then let me help you," Anti whispers. "Let me free you." He puts one hand on Alt's shoulder. For a moment, he flickers, becoming a figure of black static. Something is in his chest. Right where his heart would be. It looks a little like a heart too, in shape. But it's not. It's a knot of strings, and one of those strings slinks down his arm and into the spot where his hand is touching Alt. Then he returns to his normal look, and the string is gone from sight. But it's still there.

Alt twitches a bit and rolls his shoulder where he feels the string but very quickly relaxes. His eyes glaze over completely and his fighting stops. "…free me, Anti." He whispers, lips hardly moving.

Magnificent giggles with glee, hardly able to stop grinning.

"I will," Anti promises. "Close your eyes. When I tell you to open them again, you'll be free."

Alt's eyes easily slip shut now, his head lolling forward to hang limply over his chest.

"One…" Anti whispers. "Two…" He reaches for the collar. "Three." And he snaps it off. "Wake up, Byte."

Alt's head slowly rises and he opens his eyes. Immediately- they are different. His sclera is now green static. The purple spirals still burn in his irises but… now its like- his pupils are glitching. They don't seem to want to settle, glitching across his iris and sclera in broken bits and pieces.

Byte leans forward and looks confused before his lips curl up into an unsteady smile. He digs his nails into the arms of his chair and starts to giggle. He's dazed- still seeming kinda lost and entranced. He falls back in his chair, letting his head hit the back of it as he dazedly giggles at the ceiling.

"…fascinating…!" Magnificent breathes, his eyes sparkling.

"Everyone reacts to it differently," Anti says. "I've given up on trying to predict how they'll act after the process--but somehow this feels right." He leans back, considering for a moment. "It might not be as well-settled as corruption usually is, but that was really fast. Worth the tradeoff, if you ask me."

"I think it was only so fast because his mind is already very open to my hypnosis. And… whatever happened with you two scrambled his brain and made it very easy to manipulate." Magnificent comments, crossing his arms as he studies Byte. "Still… I haven't seen him like this…"

Anti leans forward again, undoing the cuffs on Byte's wrists and ankles. "Hello there." He smiles at him, somehow managing to look both genuine and crazed at the same time. "How do you feel, Byte?"

Byte dazedly watches as he's freed, smile only getting wider. His eyes get a bit more of that unhinged look in them. He tries to glitch up out of the chair and then falls over himself slightly, giggling madly. He finds Anti's arm and grabs onto it, digging his nails in. "F-Fantastic-" He grins. "Fucking f̵a̴n̴t̴a̵s̷t̸i̵c̷~! And… and stabby- I feel stabby." Byte laughs more and looks at Anti with those wide glitching eyes, grinning like a maniac. "Can I stab you? I w-w-wanna see you b̷͚̂l̴̢̇é̷̠e̶̓͜é̸̯d̸͕͘d̴̞̑."

"Ha! Unfortunately, I don't bleed at all, despite this whole thing." Anti indicates the neck wound. "But we can go out into the city and find someone who will." His smile widens into an excited grin. He seems unfazed by Byte grabbing his arm, even as the nails dig in. He glances at Magnificent. "Guessing that sort of comment isn't normal, then?"

"Not at all." Magnificent replies, impressed.

"Can I bite them?!" Byte says excitedly, baring his teeth in a sharp grin. "That's what my name is now, right? B̵I̷t̶e̸!̸ ̵!" He snaps his teeth together like a playful predator, giggling.

"You can," Anti assured him. "Let me just find someone suitable. This will only take one second." He turned into black static and zipped away--and then, exactly one second later, he returned. "Well… I just saw something very interesting." He looked over at Magnificent. "A puppet who snapped his strings. My Chase is out wandering around. It must be some sort of trap, I caught a couple glimpses of people nearby. They must've thought they were hiding with that magician's invisibility spell, not knowing that some cameras can see through that." And back to Byte, grinning. "We can head out right now."

"C̸h̵a̴s̵e̷!̷ I know a Chase!" Byte says excitedly. "If there's twooo Chases- can I kill one, Anti?" He giggles. As he does, he's still glitching a bit in place- his normally bright green and blue glitches now darker and corrupted. Even his magic seems corrupted as he opens his hand up and summons one of his magic knives. It buzzes and fizzles with loud static and flickers between dark green, blue, red and black.

Magnificent chuckles, "That's true… that could mean our Chase is somewhere in there too. No doubt hoping to catch us off guard."

"Or! He can come back too! Two Chases! Two puppets~!" Byte laughs, bouncing on his toes.

"Two would be nice," Anti says thoughtfully. "But if it really comes down to it, you can kill the spare--the one not from this world. As well as anyone else with him."

The spirals in Byte's eyes pulse a bit at this, as if sealing in a command and he grins. "I can kill him. It will be fun to kill him~! And the others! Anyone I can!!"

"Oh this will be quite the show~!" Magnificent laughs, "My puppets wont know what's hitting them."

Anti flashes a smile. "Lovely knives."

"Thank you Anti!" Byte beams. He throws one knife out of his hand and lets its sink into the wall- then opens back up his hand and it flies back in a similar arc. He giggles. "They're m̸a̵g̶i̷c̵~̷" He then poofs them away and glitches around the room like he just can't keep still. "Can we go?!"

"We can go right now," Anti says. "I need Voice, but we can meet him at the exit. Hmm, I should probably take Error, too, just in case." He looks at Magnificent. "Want to join? The four of us together can probably defeat them all."

"Oh, my friend, I wouldn't miss this for the world." Magnificent chuckles.

Byte glitches to a stop, his hair spiking and curling slightly as electricity courses across it and his clothes. He grins wide. "I'll follow you! I still don't know how the Place works-" He says plainly but even that sounds a bit crazy and unhinged. Maybe its that wild look in his glitching eyes. He then blinks and looks to a certain corner and then points. "And what are we gonna do with Jack? He's watching."

Magnificent looks confused, frowning at the space and not seeing anything. "…what are you talking about…?"

Anti stiffens. "He's what?" he whispers, absolute venom dripping in his voice, thick enough to burn ears.

Jack has been watching everything. He'd wanted to reach out to Alt, to support him during Anti's attempts to corrupt him, to remind him that he's not alone. But then Magnificent had walked in and thrown him for a loop, and before he could recover, that spiral the magician conjured was blocking Alt's vision. He wanted to shout, to scream, but the moment the process started he froze up. It wasn't just Alt in that chair, it was Jackie, Jameson, Henrik, Marvin, Chase--all of them. All of his friends he couldn't help. All of his friends that he had watched get hurt and tortured and twisted beyond recognition and never been able to do a single thing about. The memory of helplessness locked him up, shoving him back into that mentality until it was too late.

Anti turns in the direction Alt was pointing and lunges forward.

Jack yelps, briefly flickering into view, and dives out of the way.

"Get b̵̨a̛ç̛k̕ ̸͠h͡e͟͠r̢͟ę̴̕!" Anti shouts, picking up a blade from the nearest table and throwing it.

Jack dodges it and jumps through the wall, disappearing.

Anti screeches animalistically--then glances at Magnificent and gets himself under control. "I'll… deal with him… some other time," he says through gritted teeth. "He can't be touched. He's just like a fucking ghost. Not important right now. Let's go. He's probably going to tell the group we're on the way."

Byte staggers back, fear flickering in his eyes. As Anti shouts and screeches, he curls up slightly- afraid of his rage.

Magnificent raises an eyebrow and then laughs, "Sore spot, I'm assuming?" He sees Byte cowering and grabs him by the arm and throws him forward. "No time to waste, Byte. You want your blood, don't you?"

"y…yes. Yeah I- let's go." Byte says a bit dazedly. He glances at Anti warily.

Anti takes a deep breath. He notices Byte's fear, and for a moment, regret flickers in his eyes. But it's only for a second. There are more important things to focus on. "Sore spot indeed," Anti says as he walks to the door. He opens it up and heads out. "Come on. We'd best hurry."

[brutal-nemesis]

YWDaC: Maybe It’s Not So Fun After All

Hiii here is part 2 of pirate shenanigans I’ll probably do one more to finish this out but it probably won’t be for a while cuz I have some other stuff I wanna work on so enjoy for now ✨

←Previous - Castys Masterlist - Next→

Ingredients: pirate battle, wood splinters in a guy, stitches

The next few weeks were truly a learning experience, and also just an experience. Castys learned far more than he ever thought there was to know about ropes and knots and wind and how to clean things, all while his back slowly hurt less and less. He hadn’t even been whipped that much, but it was still super unfun as an experience, enough to motivate him to be a good little pirate. Well, more like a sailor, they hadn’t done any pirate activities since he was so kindly given a spot on the crew.

And of course when battle did come, he wished he could go right back to the peaceful days of hard labor and yelling.

Kamon had been teaching him to use a sword during their free time, since Castys’s spear wasn’t well suited for combat aboard a crowded ship, but before he even got a chance to use it, the ships had to fire their cannons at each other a bunch. It was loud, somehow way louder than he’d been expecting, and his arms burned from carrying ammunition up from the hold. By the time the fun part started, he was already gonna be exhausted, just great.

His new orders were to take supplies up to the main deck, and he was somehow surprised that there was even more chaos and yelling up here than down below. They were getting pretty close to the other ship now, and it was probably almost time to board them and steal all their shit, which he was actually excited for. Mainly the stealing part.

Just as he set the crate down, there was a loud crack next to him, and his body lit up with all these sharp little pains, like…he looked down, and he was indeed covered in splinters. They were a wonderful variety of sizes, from tiny little ones that weren’t even making him bleed to ones that were as long as his hand, but the worst one had poked completely through his fucking cheek, filling his mouth with the taste of wood and blood, which was a weird combination. Ears ringing, he stumbled away from the destroyed railing, and was just about to start pulling the splinters out before he remembered the medic’s stern warning to not pull splinters out yourself. So he had a cheek piercing for now, hooray.

Before he’d made it back belowdecks, Captain Izogie called for everyone to get ready to board, so nevermind to hauling stuff. Castys pulled out the sword he’d been given, the weight still feeling a little unnatural, but it was all he was gonna get. He saw some dudes climbing up the rigging and swinging over on ropes, but he’d rather just wait and walk over on the plank like a normal person. Was boarding another ship a normal person thing? Okay, really, swinging looked fun, but he didn’t feel like climbing when he was full of holes that were full of wood. Also he didn’t trust himself to land without breaking something.

And then it was his turn to cross the plank, running so he didn’t have time to look down and think about falling into the cold ocean, jumping down into the chaos of the fight, trying his best to weave through the clashing metal and warm spurts of blood, and suddenly he was face-to-face with someone, someone he didn’t recognize, and he raised his sword, but just as he was about to swing he remembered that he’d never fought another human, not for real, and he couldn’t help but hesitate, and they didn’t, they swung, he only jumped back at the last second, it was them or him, he had to fight, remember what he’d learned, remember what it felt like to slice through flesh and hear screams, and it was more familiar once he did it, coming back to him now, his grip steady as he jumped over the body and moved on, belowdecks, rummaging around for valuables, helping his crewmates pry crates open and carry them back to the ship, the wood almost slipping out of his hands, when did they get slick with blood, he wasn’t sure, it was all a haze of back and forth, up and down, fight and slash and stab and dodge and search and carry and he almost walked back across the plank onto the now-sinking ship, all of its contents plundered, all of its crew dead. 

The fight was over, and everything hurt. 

With shaky hands, he tried to put his sword back in its scabbard, but someone stopped him. “Clean your blade, newbie. And then go see the doc. You look like shit.” Castys nodded, wiping the blood from his sword with his shirt before sheathing it and stumbling belowdecks. Maybe he’d get less of a share of the treasure this way, but at the moment he didn’t care. He just wanted the damn splinters out. And the gash in his arm probably needed stitches, which were always his favorite. 

He found Alfyn’s quarters without much trouble, having been there before after he’d been flogged on his first day. The healer was busy tending to people with more pressing wounds, so Castys just sat on the floor and watched. Alfyn’s healing magic was so strange to watch, the way he could just hold his hands out and make flesh rejoin the other flesh super unfamiliar to Castys. Neither of them could use magic back on the islands, so the whole concept was sorta new to him, especially this weird healing stuff. His fingers teased with the splinter through his cheek, wiggling it against his tongue. It would be kinda funny to pull it out and then try to squirt water out of the hole in his cheek, but that would require pulling it out and then finding water and also someone who would think he was funny, which sounded like a lot, so he settled for fucking with it and waiting for Alfyn.

By the time he got to him, Alfyn’s nose was plugged with a rag that was either completely soaked in blood or just red, but maybe it was red because it had been soaked in blood before. He looked Castys up and down, and Castys showed off his arm gash since it was very painful. Alfyn nodded, beckoning Castys to stand. “Nothing you’ve got’s pressing enough to use my magic on, but I’ll still get you fixed up. You’re…Castys, right?”

“That’s my name.” Castys sat on the little table, the spots of blood on it soaking into his pants, which kind of sucked, but what wasn’t dirty on this ship, anyway? “So why can’t I take out the splinters myself?”

Alfyn laughed a little, coming back over with tweezers and a metal bucket that had a bunch of other splinters in it. “I don’t trust you lot to get them out completely. If you do it wrong, little bits can get left behind.” He then started pulling out Castys’s splinters the right way, which seemed to be to do it slow and to use tweezers, but Castys could be wrong since he was a little distracted by all of his little wounds hurting all over again. Alfyn did the one in his cheek last, and once it was out Castys poked at the hole left behind with his tongue despite the pain, which got a sigh out of Alfyn instead of a laugh.

“Please don’t make the wound worse, Castys.”

“Sorry.” He was then a very still and patient and well-behaved boy while Alfyn cleaned all of his wounds, arm gash included. Whatever liquid Alfyn was pouring on everything stung a lot, but he sat still so he didn’t make things more difficult for Alfyn, who looked really damn tired now that Castys was paying attention.

“Alright, your arm and cheek are going to need stitches, so please keep holding still like you’ve been doing.”

“They used to call me statue boy.” Kind of funny considering the time he almost did get turned into a statue, but that was a joke for just him. He clenched his fists and Alfyn approached with the needle and thread. He’d been through this more than once, he’d be fine, it was all things he’d felt before. The sensation of the needle poking into his skin, the tug of thread following behind, the hand on his chin…

“Hold still.”

“I’m trying, but it’s hard not to laugh at the faces you’re making.”

“I’m trying to focus here, Castys, come on. You don’t want this to be a super nasty scar, do you?”

“Uh…I don’t really care. As long as I can still eat food and stuff what does it matter? I don’t see anyone else besides you, and I don’t think you care either.”

“I-I don’t, but…maybe there will be other people, someday?”

“Even then, whatever. If they’re scared off by a scar on my face they’re probably losers, anyway.”

“So you’ll fit right in, then!”

“And yet you still hang out with me all of the time.”

“Yeah, ‘cause there’s literally no one else, dumbass. It’s not like I have options.”

“Sucks to suck. I’m…I’m okay with just you, though.”

“...Me too, Castys. But that might change if you don’t sit still.”

His scars hurting more than his actual wounds was stupid, but it was certainly happening. He left Alfyn’s quarters in sort of a daze, trying to bury everything the stitches had brought to the surface. Focus on anything and everything else, on the awful food, on talking with Kamon, on getting more respect from the other crewmates, on drinking stolen ale, on the share of the treasure he was promised once they reached land.

But that night, lying awake in his hammock as the crew snored around him, his scars still hurting, the pain cutting through the warm haze of the alcohol, he didn’t feel any less alone.

Next→

Castys Cult: @as-a-matter-of-whump @blackrosesandwhump @fanmanga1357-blog @thehopelessopus @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @hearse-song @muddy-swamp-bitch @whumpasaurus101 @yet-another-heathen @galaxywhump @starnight-whump @his-unspoken-words @misspelledwitch @suspicious-whumping-egg @pumpkin-spice-whump @painsandconfusion @i-can-even-burn-salad @befuddled-calico-whump @whumpinggrounds @whump-queen @whumpedydump  @theelvishcowgirl

[plusultraetc]

why does this keep happening

[luvo27]

stress vs love cut scene concept from fabian's chapter!!

fabian's chapter ended up so much longer than i thought it would be. there was a scene concept where adaine and fabian break into rizs apartment to investigate and see if they can find out anything about baron, but it got scrapped for 1. time, 2. to avoid having to think about logistics, 3. the purpose it served for the plot/themes didnt work as much as i wanted it to, and while it probably would have worked out if i kept hammering at it, I'm happy with the chapter as it is. that being said, i have a few unfinished snippets to share!!

this scene was originally going to take place before the 2nd dream sequence:

“Whoever the fuck you are, I have a gun and I’m not afraid to use it—Fabian? Adaine?” “Hi, Riz’s mom.” “What the fuck?” “Hi, Mrs. Gukgak,” Adaine says sheepishly, getting up from the floor. “Sorry about your window.” “The window’s—kids, what in the world are you doing here?” “We’re, um. We’re worried about Riz.” Sklonda sighs and puts down her gun. “Yeah,” she says. “Me too. Do you guys—you, or any of the other kids, do you have any idea what’s happening? He’s been so…” she rubs her forehead. There are bags under her eyes, Fabian realizes. “He hasn’t been like himself,” Sklonda finishes. “Do you think we could…” “Kids…look, normally, I might say yes. I’m really glad he’s got friends like you in his corner, but it’s three in the morning and he’s asleep, so—” “We should let him sleep. Yeah.” “Plus there might be—” Adaine shoves Fabian in the side. “Ow!” He clutches his side. “What was that for?” Sklonda eyes them suspiciously. “Kids? Is there something I should know about?” “Maybe. We’re not sure yet.” “Is it something dangerous? Is Riz in danger?” Adaine hesitates. “Maybe,” she says. “We don’t—that’s why we’re here. We think it’s…it’s complicated,” she finishes lamely. “It’s Baron,” Fabian says. Adaine shoves him again. “Ow!” Sklonda’s eyes sharpen. “Riz’s boyfriend. Yeah. I talked to Jawbone about it, do you—you kids have met Baron, right? Do you know anything about them? Anything you haven’t told us?” Adaine and Fabian look at each other. “Not really,” Adaine says unhappily. “They’re dating Riz, and they’re probably not great, considering they’re like, Nightmare King adjacent or something. But we don’t know how, or what, or why—we don’t know what’s happening with Riz.” “Okay. Okay. I really…Riz could use all the rest he can get, so—” “Yeah, we weren’t really planning to talk to him tonight anyways, what with the powerful evil partner—-” “Powerful evil partner?” “Uh. Yeah. You know about the hands?” “The what? I mean, I guess Kristen mentioned something about hands a while ago—” “Yeah, exactly. Mrs. Gukgak, the point is, we don’t want to put Riz in danger. Or any more than he’s in already. We’re just…we need more information. Normally, Riz is the one who’d be breaking and entering—” “Fabian.” “Ahem! I mean, gathering information.”

“We should have brought Gorgug.” “We should steal Riz’s tie.” “We cannot steal Riz’s tie.” “He’s asleep! And we’re trying to help him.” “Yeah, and you were trying to help him when you asked about Baron during lunch.” Adaine goes silent. “Sorry. I didn’t—sorry. You, uh. You tried. It’s not your fault.”

“Mrs. Gukgak, have you been having problems with your heating system?” “No. Not that I’ve noticed.” “You’re sure? No problems with your heater, or like, windows opened, or anything? It’s been normal? You haven’t felt colder than usual?” “Well, I mean…we don’t turn the heat on super high here. But now that you mention it, I think I’ve been wearing warmer clothes inside than I usually do. And I think Riz has started wearing gloves, but I thought he was trying out a new look, and I didn’t want—you know how he gets, right?” Adaine nods. Sklonda lets out a breath. “Yeah,” she says. “It’s not—I don’t know if it’s something big enough for me to really notice, but if it helps, I do think it’s been a bit chillier than normal. Why?” “Just…thinking. It might be connected, I’m not sure.” “Right. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with, alright?”

“That was useless. If we had Riz…” Fabian trails off. If they had Riz, they wouldn’t have had to do all this in the first place. “Yeah,” Adaine agrees.

plus an additional bit of fabian's voicemail at the end of the chapter from before the scene got cut :))

"We’ve been doing some investigation. Me and Adaine, that is. You’d be proud of us. Or maybe not, we did get caught almost immediately. And we were also breaking into your apartment, and I don’t know how you would feel about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. How do you delete voicemails? Uh. Well, I thought I would tell you that, you know, we tried. Investigating’s hard, the Ball. Honestly, I don’t know how you do it. It’s, uh, a very impressive skill, I’m figuring out. It’s really cool that you’re so good at it."

[forasecondtherewedwon]

New chapter of The Ladies Whistledown coming today!!

[rolandkaros]

now here's a question do i do a super short chapter quicker or a super long chapter slower

[homosexual-fanfiction]

okay theoretically .. if you were to look at the word count for a chapter.. how many words do you think would make you say "this is too fucking long"