#Jen knows too but she's sticking to her guns

[bunnithechubs]

this boy would win the olympics for biggest fucking liar in the world.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Week 2024-09-02

Do you rember. Wen day is dark, sember.

Listening: @cyelatm released a new album Habit Prism that I've been listening to in bits and pieces. Even, rhythmic folk, good music to have on when you have people around.

In that vein, Bandcamp Friday this coming Friday! Make your lists!

Watching: Watched The Raid which I've had kicking around for a bit. Do you want to watch guys punch each other all over for like 15 minutes at a time for an hour? No? Get better taste in movies and then watch guys punch each other all over for like 15 minutes at a time for an hour.

The Raid is so obviously made for like two dollars, there's one building, every single gun and piece of armour is airsoft gear, the camera is visibly some mid-tier hardware that suffers from severe rolling shutter, and it kicks so much ass.

There's some really interesting things happening with camera movement in this movie. Really really complicated multi-axis camera moves, the same shot will take like six different dutch angles in a single move, or will lock on to different objects and follow them, it's great for martial arts but it's also used to pretty good effect in some interstitial scenes.

The culminating fight with Mad Dog is so wild, literally just three guys in an empty concrete cube fighting for a solid ten or twelve minutes and it works! Does not seem possible. They actively remove almost every prop from the room so it's just guys hitting each other but they keep doing incredible stunts.

It's funny looking at the gifsets on here because they're unreadable, everything happens so fast and requires so much context that is only delivered in the full flow of the movie. My favourite part is when he said "It's Raiding Time" and raided all over those guys.

Reading: Finally sat down and got through the Phalanx's Twilight, Legion's Triumph series on acoup.

Sections IVa-c mostly slid off my brain because it's a bunch of wars I don't know enough about to contextualize but it's mostly justification for what's explained in parts I-III which were great, and it's an interesting look at how the political and military structures of Rome interwove to improve the effectiveness of the Legion.

Also reading Skin Horse, which I started ages ago but never got very far, I think because I started a job around that time and lost track of it. Sticking webcomic tabs on my little ARM tablet is really convenient, I've jammed Out Of Placers and Laika's Comet in there as well, it's been a while since I did a big archive dive on a comic.

Skin Horse is very much of its time, not really in sensibility but just in content. The nerds are characterized by liking Harry Potter.

Making: Resolved the power delivery issues that were causing me to have mysterious failures with the LED driver. That was annoying. Anyway remember to split your power supply when you could potentially pull like 10A@5V to drive LED's.

Playing: Tactical Breach Wizards campaign is ongoing, as you get deeper into the campaign your team expands which dramatically complicates operations, your possible actions explode, and I'm not even halfway through.

Dall was my newest operator at time of writing and she's probably the hardest to use, she can deal a lot of damage but relies more so than anyone else on good positioning, it's really easy to end up way out of place and waste her moves, and she's too heavy to shunt around with Jen's storm attacks the way you can with the others.

Speaking of those, I really like how the short turns and deterministic actions mean you can get really into the weeds. The first time I used a gale grenade to shunt Zan over one extra block to line him up I assumed this would be a sometimes food but you really find yourself doing stuff like that all the time.

I'm heading back and picking through some of the challenge missions concurrently with playing partially to stretch out overall gameplay and partially because I think having fewer abilities unlocked will make those more interesting.

Tools and Equipment: You know, I think we know each other pretty well, I can put this here. The Doxy USB-C Wand is a safe and legal thrill.

[black-rose-writings]

Watching Shadow and Bone Season 2: Episode 4 - I don't like how far we are in the timeline already

Last one, then I'm going to bed. Not worth messing up my finally normalising sleep pattern for this shit of a show.

Love the intro. Yes, please, tear Ravka down, if you wish to do so.

I hate Vasily, but that is a fair reaction.

I notice an interesting change in the dynamic here. This is Nikolai's turf and they're discussing it over dinner, insetad of being marched into the throne-room and looked down upon by the King.

Less than year... If I have the timeline right, it's been barely half a year.

Also, Zoya of all people is one to talk. I mean, she's tellingthe truth, for once, but like...

So... if the ugly uniform the Queen's idea? Like, sure, I guess, but why the fuck would Alina choose to wear it later?

And I see Baghra is back to being preachy.

Ah, yes, the Fold is the reason people hate Grisha. Definitely no pogroms happening before that happened. And Kirigan will definitelly stop trying to change the world if its gone.

And I see the "West Ravka" plot has been forgotten.

Alina "My responsibilities start and end with tearing down the Fold" strikes again. And Vasily is watching her... making out with her boyfriend. Dear Saints, if he's going to accuse her of being a traitor because she's kissed another guy, I think he'll have to execute his own mother, too.

I like this Alchemi kid. And Baghra's being preachy again.

"Endured years of abuse at your orders". Genya had her agency. Had being the operative word, because she unfortunately became popular and that necessitated that be removed.

"Everything I learned, I learned at your knee" Finally, someone said it.

"Redemtion" my ass. Still don't know what exactly she imagines under those words.

Well, that's a change from taking four whole episodes to kill a person.

I guess everyone believes in the Saints, now.

I mean, I guess we have to have a fake plague somehow without Nina being maimed by drugs.

Ah, yes, the two options: Evil villain and sunshine idiot.

Dear god, I wish he was a spy. Unfortunately, autistic people make for terrible liars.

"There's always a cost" he says as if he knows anything about it.

Dear lord... I... I think I know where the crows are headed.

The Crows are going to be heisting the fucking sword from Amrat Jen. Fucking calling it now. I have seen no spoilers.

Called it. It would have been more impressive if it hadn't been like 2 minutes later, but this show presumes the viewers have no concept of memory, so they can't really bring it up once and then bring it back an episode later.

I'm like 90% sure Nina is faking betraying him, but okay.

Now, that sounds like a trap if I've ever heard of one.

Or not.

This was a good scene in the book and they've made it good in the show. No complaints here.

Except maybe that I still have trouble deciphering the fucking Irish accent, but that's on me.

Wow, would you look at that, a previously unadressed plot point we're bringing back.

I mean, that's one way to distance Alina from the monarchy so her stance is not as dumb, but like... the show needs to pick its villains and stick to them. I hated getting constantly hit with "Well actually" in Fate and I will hate it here. I have absolutely 0 faith that the show will actually make this work out in a remotely satisfying way.

Oh, look, corsets suck joke.

Also, like... Alina, I don't think insulting the crown prince is a good idea. But given that we're deaing with Alina "I like to give big men with guns lip" Starkov, I shouldn't be expecting a sense of self-preservation.

Pekka's getting what he deserves.

Very awkward crush confession.

Oh, they did actually bang previously.

Wow, look at that, Kaz is being snarky about *checks notes* a slave he just freed being concerned about slaves.

Okay, nevermind, Alina really went for the first army chic on her own. She's really commited to Grisha assimilation.

I am not a make-up expert (in fact, I don't know jack shit about it), but I'm not a big fan of Alina's make-up in this scene. IDK what it is, it just kinda rubs me the wrong way. I think it's the lipstick.

"Coming from you that means a lot"... what? Why? What does she know about ruling? Like, yes, I just don't think her input in private is all that valuable.

Vasily deserves to get his arm ripped of by the Nichevoya. In fact, it can't come soon enough.

Just on time.

Yes, please, have the confrontation.

Baghra? Protecting anyone but herself? I mean, everyone else is being remade into a better person, why not her?

That's some weak-ass table, if she's able to break it.

"You obsession with the Fold is naive" my man is spitting facts.

"We're going to change the world" "That is never going to happen" So you do admit change is evil and only morally correct choice is perpetuating the status quo. I mean, I knew that already, but sure.

The Fold? The Fold is the only thing he has left? Okay. I personally think you're full of shit, but sure.

I personally prefer the book version of this confrontation... that one was intimate and she had a goal and an agency.

I didn't agree with that goal (sacrificing herself to destroy Aleksander), but it was a goal, it was intention.

I'm honestly angry I kinda want to watch another episode to see what more they fuck up, however... I should really go to sleep. I'm cooking tomorrow and I'd rather not hurt myself because I'm sleep deprived.

[wordsmith30]

Black Lightning 1×06: “Three Sevens: The Book of Thunder”

Henderson and the rest of the police are gearing up to get Black Lightning. Why, I don’t know. He was literally helping them in the last episode with that Green Light kid. On the plus side, though, Jefferson’s cop friend Henderson doesn’t look too happy about it.

Head still ringing, Jefferson tries to stand and power back up, but it’s no good. Two kids further up the street recognize him, but thankfully, Gambi gets to him first. He can’t afford to get caught by the police now!

“Tobias is in Freeland, Gambi.”

Yes, he knows. He was supposed to tell you about it. 

Rather than say anything, however, his priority is getting him help. Gambi calls Lynn.

A limping and bleeding Toledo makes it back to Tobias’ office to tell him what happened and he’s not impressed. He wants to know the minute the cops have Black Lightning.

In the meantime, he’s put his sister, Tori, in protection after the threat from Lady Eve. While we don’t know exactly what she wrote to him, the letter was full of white dust from ground albino bones.

At the station, Henderson says that they got witness reports of Black Lightning getting into a black van, but because they were fans, that’s the only intel they’ll get.

“How does a criminal and a freak have fans?”

You tell me, copper. What exactly have you been doing for the Black kids of Freeland?

Henderson hesitates a moment and then asks him where he got his tip-off. Two seconds later, the chief gets a phone call from “JT” – aka Todedo.

So, the cops are in Tobias’ pocket, too. Be suspicious, Henderson. Be very suspicious!

Jefferson tries to explain to Lynn why he went after Toledo, but she’s ticked about him resuming his Black Lightning activities.

However, her saying that Jefferson’s father is dead and that there’s nothing he can do about it? Not cool. 

I understand not wanting him out there and being afraid for his safety (we’ve seen plenty of this with early Olicity), but Tobias is bigger than just Alvin’s death. He’s got all of Freeland under his thumb. Your girls have already been targets of The 100. This isn’t going to get any better!

Anissa and a few demonstrators take water guns full of pink paint to a statue on what looks to be a university campus. That is both very bold and very dangerous. Cops see Black people with anything resembling a weapon in their hand and they fire without hesitation. At least it was clear what they were doing, so security just arrested them. Still, that could’ve been a massacre.

One of Lynn’s coworkers at the lab shows her the brain scans of the Green Light victims. After he leaves, she takes out Jefferson’s scans for comparison. The same areas are all lit up.

Holy smokes. Is Green Light a variation of the vaccine (if that’s what gave Jefferson his powers)? 

Those kids had insane strength during those episodes.

Unbeknownst to her, the lab tech can see her outside the door and he’s on the phone. Oh, Lynn. You have to be more careful.

Lol, Anissa’s been arrested so many times, it’s like the novelty has worn off. Jennifer’s just like, “We’re back again!”

And Jefferson says the very thing I was most concerned about. Do not use fake guns!

Anissa continues her research on superpowers and realizes that her findings are supported by Alvin’s notes. She’s interrupted by Jen, who wants her to look over her homework.

Jen confesses that this isn’t what she thought dating would look like now that Khalil’s in a wheelchair. She wanted to dance with him at prom and now feels like they’re going to be stuck on the sidelines.

Anissa tells her that she’s not a bad person for feeling that way and that it’s a difficult situation to be in. Still, it’s always really sad to see the way people are treated after suffering from a permanent injury or disability. Few people are willing to accommodate or stick around for them.

Gambi and Jeff run some tests to make sure the suit is working properly again. Jeff is ready to go out and start hunting Tobias again so that he can put him in the ground for good.

Gambi doesn’t like that kind of talk and says that Black Lightning is supposed to be a hero, not a killer. Then, he goes on to say that maybe Tobias isn’t behind Green Light and Jeff gets suspicious.

While I do agree with Gambi’s point about vengeance, if you are not hunting Tobias, you are helping him. Whether you’re trying to protect Jefferson or not, the two of them are on a collision course. The problems that you want Jefferson to fight so badly are problems that Tobias helped to create and you know it. Send him in blind and he’s going to get killed.

Help him catch Tobias the right way.

Lynn comes in to work and finds Gambi already waiting in her lab. He expresses his concern about Jefferson and says that she may be the only one who can talk him down.

She maintains that he and Gambi chose this and she wants no part in it.

After getting an notification for a doctor’s appointment, Jeff decides to do some research on health concerns affecting people with albinism. The woman in the video he finds says that “regular screenings are a must” because of potential issues like psoriasis and skin cancer. That means Tobias may be seeing somebody.

Anissa stops by the lab to see her mom and asks how things are going between her and Jeff. Anissa says she used to hear them fighting growing up and knows their father is married to saving the world. Lynn was basically the “mistress.”

She shows Lynn the sample from Alvin and all I’m thinking is:

She must know what this is. Alvin’s work literally led to his death. You can’t exactly be running around with this stuff!

Lynn knows there’s more to the story, but decides not to pry, saying that Anissa can fill her in when she’s ready.

Jefferson decides to follow up on his new lead and breaks into a doctor’s office as Black Lightning. Gambi sees the footage from the suit cam and warns him that he and Tobias are different for a reason.

Black Lightning finds Dr. Henry Mayfield, who’s scared out of his mind. He says he does treat Tobias, but in secret after hours. Jefferson promises to help him and his family, and leaves him a phone so that he can contact him.

At school, Cara comes up to Jefferson with a cyberbullying incident: she shows him a video of a white girl dancing with Jennifer’s face plastered over it. It was posted by the same girl she got into a fight with, but under it is a comment from Khalil calling her a “Black Becky” with “nappy hair.”

Jefferson immediately goes looking for Jen and finds her in the workout room. He explains the “crabs in a barrel” metaphor where Black people lash out at other Black people because they’re supposedly rising above everybody else.

“No one is an expert on what is or is not Black because Black is everything under the sun.”

Thank you! It’s so infuriating when people try to stuff us all in boxes or make assumptions about our interests, our families, our skills, our backgrounds, our socioeconomic status. There is no one way to be Black just like there is no one way to be human. We can look like anything, speak like anyone. Stop putting parameters around what we can be.

Jen admits that that post backfired on the girl. Still, she’s not sure where things stand now with Khalil and wants to talk to him.

Khalil straight-up tells Jen that it’s her fault he got shot and calls her “Becky” to her face. Don’t even waste your time, Jen.

Dr. Mayfield calls Jefferson and tells him that he asked Tobias to come in for a test that evening.

Anissa, in full costume, joins the vigil for the girl who died in a white nationalist counter-protest. She stomps the ground, causing the whole statue to explode. All the mourners scatter.

Oh, Anissa. You couldn’t have done that when the people were gone?

She calls Lynn back in the car and says she needs to show her the reason she needs the research.

With his father’s murder still fresh in his mind, Jeff gears up to launch his attack on Tobias. Toledo, Syonide, and Tobias all get out of the car. Then Gambi puts Lynn through on his comms and she tells him that she can no longer separate Jefferson and Black Lightning. She accepts it as a part of him and as part of the hero he is.

Then Lynn’s lab is attacked, snapping Jefferson out of his rage. He ditches Tobias and goes to save her.

Anissa, however, gets there first and finds two guys tying up Lynn. Oh, the look in Lynn’s eyes as she comes marching through the doors and realizes that that’s her baby. 

She can only watch in shock and horror as Anissa flings them around like rag dolls and chases them from the room.

And then Jefferson shows up only to attack Anissa!

Stop, man! Stop! You don’t know your daughter’s face?

I have to give Anissa props, though. She gives him a run for his money. She blocks his swings and his lightning.

But the final blow is devastating. The poor girl gets the wind knocked out of her.

Jeff finally rolls her over on the ground and realizes what he’s done.

A concussion? Jeff, you idiot!

He’s just like, “What was she doing?”

“What you do!”

Y’all screwed up big-time.

Tobias takes Khalil out for a drive to tell him he made the right choice. Khalil, you son of a gun. How did Tobias get to you so quickly? 

Both he and Syonide promise that they can make him stronger than anything he’s ever been.

Gambi pays a visit to Lady Eve and apparently, these two go way back. He tells her that the Pierce family is supposed to be off-limits. She was behind the attack at the lab and says that Lynn’s research is invaluable.

Who are all these people that Lady Eve is cutting up anyway?

So, that’s why Gambi wants Jeff off Tobias. Lady Eve is blackmailing him.

Hi, Anissa, sweetie. Sorry about your concussion. That was Daddy’s fault.

I guess the family secret is out!

Y’all are going to have so much explaining to do. Honestly, did they never consider the possibility that the girls might inherit his powers?

Lord, help us all.

[id-kneel-for-loki]

hot take about the reoccurring problem with phase 4

okay hear me out- I know I've personally heard quite a bit of people talk about their dissatisfaction with many of the new shows and movies that marvel has been pumping out, and I just wanted to articulate one of the reasons why this has been happening. In particular, I want to highlight the reason why so many of the shows leave me (and others) with an uncomfortable feeling.

It's because of the way they treat the characters that have been established over years.

At this point in the mcu, it’s very apparent and obvious that each project is a buildup for a future project, and because of this, they want to introduce new “replacements” for the main characters of the shows. Very often, the shows spend more time focusing on the obvious replacement than actually exploring the backstory of the heroes that we’ve been following for years now. 

now, I don’t want to completely push this aside because in some instances, it’s worked. I’m personally a really big fan of Yelena and how she’s portrayed. However, they use this “bait-and-switch” technique in almost every. single. show.

but the bigger issue that I think people have is the way that the shows undermine and demean the “main characters” to build up their “replacements”. To build a strong character, it’s not necessary to humiliate an already established and beloved character. a strong character should have an arc that focuses on exploring their weaknesses, rather than an arc showing how they’re better and superior than someone else. 

for example, in the “loki” show, there’s quite a bit of emphasis on how much stronger sylvie is than loki, even though in the context of the mcu it doesn’t make sense. loki is a frost giant that could take on captain america and other heroes in the first avengers movie, has an unexplored potential of magical powers, and is cunning and mischievous- and yet he is defeated so easily by tva agents. the fact that he got pushed around so easily (especially in the loop cycle) just doesn't make any sense to me. the show spends an ungodly amount of time emphasizing the difference in strength between loki and Sylvie, and I think that building up Sylvie’s character could have been done in a much better way that didn’t leave everyone wondering where the hell angry, hell-bent-on-revenge 2012 loki was. and my god, don’t even get me started on the selfcest. 

the most prominent example, though, would probably be the first episode of “she-hulk”, where Jen argues that because she gets catcalled and ‘mansplained’ to, she has to deal with suppressing her anger infinitely more than bruce. now mind you, bruce is the same guy who has been subject to government experimentation, on the run from shady-ass government organizations for years, has tried to commit suicide by sticking a gun in his mouth and failed, and has lost some of his closest friends and loved ones. the sad thing is, this was such a missed opportunity because instead of spouting some bullshit answer about what makes her angry, Jen could have used this moment to talk about having to suppress her anger as a lawyer when she sees murderers walk free, defending people who are in the wrong because she got paid to do so, innocent people being locked up or charged incorrectly. but no, that would ground the show in too much reality because apparently, the writers of the show didn’t even do their homework about any legal jargon. I really wish I was kidding, but unfortunately I'm not. also, how does it make sense that a guy who has punched an enormous alien space whale in the face get run over and pushed to the side by a jeep??

the writers of these shows shit on characters that are loved by audiences to build up new characters, and that is one of the biggest issues that people have with the writing. also, the many of the hit-and-miss jokes don’t make the dialogue any better. 

I understand that the mcu is heavily focusing on bringing in new faces to the screen, but in doing so, they are ruining already established characters that are the reason many people watch these shows in the first place. 

sorry for the long rant, but I really had to get this off my chest

[batfam-rewrites]

Batfam During Quarantine: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Bruce: So I have Dick giving Damian the talk in the next room.

Harper: Is that the best choice. Having the person who has had the most sexual partners explain that to a 14 year old.

Bruce: I thought of that, but then I thought Jason would be very explicit, the rest of you aren’t mature enough...

Tim: What the fuck! I am much more mature than Dick!

Bruce: Hold on! My last point is that he has a giant sweet spot for Damian, so he is going to sugar coat every detail.

Dick: *plays Prince’s I Wanna Be Your Lover*

Bruce: NOOOOO!!!! *runs into the room and drags Dick out by the ear*

Dick: OUCH, OUCH, OUCHIEEE! BRUCE!

Bruce: I thought you could handle this!

Dick: I can, I’m teaching him about the birds and bees while introducing him to one of the greatest artists of all time.

Bruce: NO PRINCE!!!

Dick: FINE!!! *walks back in and plays Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing*

Bruce: DICK!!!!!!

Jason: I’m on it. *pulls out his guns and opens the door* TURN THE MUSIC OFF NOW DICKWAD!!!

____

Jason: *jumps onto his bed*

Dick: *opens Jason’s door* Hey Jason! Want to play Rock Hero with us?

Jason: No Dickwad!

Dick: Kk. See ya! *shuts the door*

Jason: Good riddance.

Harper: *opens the door and walks in* Hey Jason!

Jason: Jesus! Does anyone knock in this house! I could have been fucking naked!

Harper: You know what, never mind! I’ll leave you to whatever you were going to do! *slowly walks away*

Jason: No! No! Not like that!

Harper: Suuuurreee!

Jason: Get your head out of the gutter!

Harper: Hey, I won’t say anything, just lock your door next time! *shuts Jason’s door*

Jason: EVEN IF THAT WAS WHAT WAS HAPPENING IT’S A NATURAL THING!!! EVERYBODY DOES IT!!! *walks over to the door and locks it, then turns on his tv*

Tim: *knocks on the door* Jason, where’s my cape??

Jason: *opens the door slightly* I wouldn’t fucking know! Go away! *slams the door and starts dressing into his Red Hood costume*

Damian: *knocks on the door*

Jason: *opens the door with a box of Reese’s Puffs* What demon seed?

Damian: Give me back my Reese’s Puffs, Todd!!!

Jason: I don’t know what you’re talking about! This is my box! *finished eating the box of cereal and walks through the house towards the study*

Damian: I NEED MY CHOCOLATEY PEANUT BUTTERY CEREAL!!!! GET ME A NEW BOX!!!!!

Jason: You know how to drive, get it yourself! *moves the hands of the grandfather clock and enters the batcave*

Damian: Father won’t let me.

Jason: Boo hoo. What would you ever do. It’s not like you have a brother who will literally do anything if you give him a hug or another one who you could annoy into getting you some. 

Damian: THEY DIDN’T EAT MY REESE’S PUFFS!!!! YOU DID!!!

Jason: You have no proof that I did. *throws the box away* Now piss off! I’m going on patrol! *hops onto his motorcycle and drives to his safe house*

Jason: *opens the door*

Damian: Liar!

Jason: AHHH!!! SON OF A BITCH GET THE FUCK OUT!!!!

Damian: GET ME MY REESE’S PUFFS!!!!!

Jason: FINE!

____

Dick: You know, I wish I had a friend named Jen!

Stephanie: Why?

Dick: So I could make them a Jen and tonic.

Tim: Why’d you ask?

Stephanie: I was expecting a serious answer.

Tim: Dick? Serious? When is he ever serious?

Dick: It’s like a switch, I can turn it on and off!

Tim: Then be serious!

Dick: I don’t wanna!

____

Red Robin: Okay so Dami. There’s this duck.

Robin: WHERE!!! *gasp* Is he supposed to be a secret?

Red Robin: Uhhhh..... sure. I’ll tell you where he’s at later. Anyway, this duck will eventually reach the point where it will learn to fly and see other animals. It’ll see some monkeys, wolfs, bears, snakes, and and so on. Now at some point the duck will want to meet one, or multiple animals, and get....*clears throat* physical with the other animals. In some cases it could be another bird, or the duck might want to get physical with a bird and another animal.

Robin: Oh! I see where you’re going with this!

Red Robin: You do?!

Robin: Yeah! Now let’s go stop some super sick people pinning a free for all match with those animals.

____

Tim: SOMEONE TOOK ACE!!!!!

Stephanie: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!!!!

Damian: I’ll tell you what we are going to do. We’re going to hunt this sucker down and break every single one of his fingers and toes. Then we’re going to CASTRATE HIM, TIE HIS BODY TO A STRETCHING RACK AND STRETCH HIS BODY UNTIL HIS BONES BREAK!!!!!!!!!

Stephanie: Okay, I’m pretty sure what you said was threatening, but with how high pitched your voice gets when you’re angry and how chubby your cheeks are you look like a chipmunk!

Damian: I WILL KILL ANYONE WHO STANDS IN MY WAY!!!

Tim: *on the floor rolling* OMG.... STOP...... IT’S TOO FUNNY!

Later that day

Robin: *kicks the guy who stole Ace in the chest* I WILL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!!!!!!

Thug: *coughs* Who brought a *cough* giant chipmunk to a gun *cough* fight?

____

Blue Bird and Spoiler: *crashes through the top window of the building and takes out a few of Riddler’s henchman*

Riddler: With potent, flowery words speak I, of something common, vulgar, dry; I weave webs of pedantic prose, in effort to befuddle those, who think I while time away, in lofty things, above all day practical I may not be, but life, it seems, is full of me! Who am I?

Spoiler: Assface Dickwad!

Riddler: You all suck!

Blue Bird: And you have the right to remain silent!

Riddler: You’d have to catch me first! *starts running*

____

Dick: Okay, so I just found this new app called 3-D gym men, and is so cool!!! LOOK AT THIS RINGS ROUTINE I JUST MADE!!!!

Duke: Oh no! SOME ONE STOP HIM BEFORE HE TURNS INTO SUPER GYMNAST NERD!

Jason: *tackles Dick*

Dick: OUCH!

Tim: *walks in the room* Hey guys, I just got this gymnastics app and it is so DAMN AMAZING!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THE SUGGESTION DICK!!!!

Stephanie: Oh my god it's contagious!!!!! EVERYBODY LOCK THEM IN A ROOM!!!!!

____

Duke: Where the hell are my eskrima sticks?

Dick: I can’t find mine either.

Cassandra: Anyone seen like 30 batarangs that I had in my room.

Duke: Nope.

Dick: Nada.

Tim: I’ve been missing my cape for a few days now!

Jason: *walks by*

Dick: JASON!!!!

Cassandra: GIVE US BACK OUR STUFF!!!!!

Jason: YOU CAN’T PROVE SHIT!!!!

____

Jason: IT’S TIME FOR THE FIRST EVER BATMAN-OFF!!! PERSON WHO DOES THE BEST BATMAN IMPERSONATION WINS. WITH OUR JUDGES, BRUCE, SELINA, ALFRED, JULIA, AND CULLEN!!!

Stephanie: I’m Batman!

Jason: The judges are writing their scores, and Steph gets a 22. Nice try.

Tim: Criminals, by nature, are a cowardly and superstitious lot.

Jason: And the judges give Tim a 31. Currently in first!!!

Duke: I’m not wearing hockey pads!!

Jason: The judges give a drum roll please! A 29!

Dick: Nope, but be careful Robin. They’re wearing sunglasses at night. Which means they are very, very cool.

Jason: I think I speak for all of us when I say that gets a 0.

Dick: Hey you never said which Batman. I think I should get a 50. That is spot on Batman.

Bruce: Disqualified.

Damian: I thought you’d be younger.

Jason: And Dami gets a 31. Tied.

Cassandra: *drops down from the second floor and lands on the floor* Grrrrrrr.

Selina: And we have a winner!

Bruce: I don’t sound like that!

Alfred: Yes you do!

____

Blue Bird: Hey, my dad is calling. Orphan, you answer the phone.

Orphan: Okay. *answers the phone* Hello, Harper isn’t here right now, would you like me to find her?

Harper’s Dad: Yes, please!

Orphan: Okay, let me put you on hold *sings the Mii channel theme*

Orphan: *taking a breath* Blue Bird, your dad wants to talk to you. *goes back to singing*

Blue Bird: Obviously I can’t. We’re on a stakeout.

Orphan: Okay, *stops singing* I’m sorry for having you on hold for so long. I can not find Harper so I would assume she is currently online with her class! I am sure though she will either call you or text you at your earliest convenience. I mean her earliest convenience.

Harper’s Dad: Okay.

____

Bruce: Okay, so Alfred, you did such a great job with me...

Alfred: Master Bruce, it’s time we had a talk.

Bruce: Yes! I agree, you should give the talk to Damian.

Alfred: No! When you were entering puberty, I was very nervous what to say. I knew that it might have been the last thing on your mind but I knew it was going to come up at some point. So I sat you down and had the talk with you. Now it has come the time for you to do the same to Master Damian.

Bruce: Damn you and your parenthood logic. Should hire a tutor for this crap. *knocks on Damian’s door* Hey, Damian, it’s time we’ve had the talk.

[luxekook]

chapter one.

⇥ pairing: jungkook x reader; eventual bts/ot7 x reader

⇥ genre: college au with fluff, smut & angst

⇥ summary: a series in which the reader meets (and falls for) seven members of the Beta Tau Sigma (BTS) fraternity

⇥ word count: 2.3k

⇥ warnings: 18+, cursing, dirty talk, kissing, hickies, drinking, tatted jungkook, nipple piercings

© luxekook. please do not repost, modify, edit or translate.

characters | prologue | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine

Chapter One

Fall of Junior Year – 8:57am

I curse every single decision that has brought me to this very moment as I power-walk across campus, sweating under the already blistering sun. Campus in August could easily be compared to a swamp given the amount of unearthly humidity, and I'm pretty sure I currently qualified as the local swamp thing.

The only positive feature in my morning has been the table of free coffee and doughnuts staffed by Student Government. The first day of the fall semester always seems to be accompanied by frantically wide-eyed freshmen and celebratory freebies. However, air conditioning is the only thing I would be celebrating today as I finally reach Tyson Hall – the destination of my 9:00am class.

As I rush to my classroom with one minute to spare, I slump into a seat in the far corner – my preferred location for people-watching out of the large windows and for getting away with doing homework for other classes.

Familiar faces surround me, an unsurprising observation given that this is our mandatory research seminar as psychology majors. I notice my friend Jenni sitting in the opposite corner, eyes glued to her phone screen.

Opening my laptop, I shoot her a text to come sit with me. Her head whips up, black braids moving every which way as she immediately piles up her things and hustles over, “(y/n), I forgot you were in this seminar! I just switched over from quantitative research because I couldn’t take any more statistics – or Dr. Harding.”

Dr. Harding is the dean of the psychology department and has been teaching here for ages. Feared by most psychology students for his tough grading and intimidating persona, he’s actually a huge softie – something I discovered by going to his office hours and seeing all 85 pictures of his grandchildren hanging throughout the room.

“He’s not that bad, Jen.”

She scoffs, “You would say that because you got an A in statistics like some sort of wizard. Besides, Dr. Newman is so much nicer.”

Jenni has an excellent point. Dr. Newman is the main reason I chose this seminar. As one of the most respected researchers at our university, she’s known for her qualitative studies on gender across cultures. I consider Dr. Newman to be a real badass woman and I lowkey stan her.

I turn to reply, but Dr. Newman begins taking attendance and class begins.

Fifty minutes later, Jenni practically drags me out of the classroom, “I cannot believe she kept us the whole 50 minutes. Is she aware that it’s syllabus week? It’s practically law to just read over the syllabus and then dismiss class. This is outrageous– (y/n), are you even listening?”

“Hmm?” I totally had tuned her out, focusing on the number of students flooding the quad. I had missed this – the rush of students heading to class, the yells of people greeting each other from entirely too far away, the buzz of excitement over potential parties…

“Unbelievable. How did I forget you have this whole weird-ass feminist crush on her?” Jenni forges forth, “It doesn’t matter. What are you doing tonight? You’re going out with us, right? Luna and I want to go to Hannigan’s.”

Since the three of us had all turned 21 over the summer, we finally could legally go to the bars in town. Hannigan’s currently holds the top spot on the list of bars that most of the upperclassman frequent. It’s a popular Irish pub downtown known for its cheap beer and mixed drinks.

It’s also BTS’s unofficial hangout – a fact that makes me slightly uneasy. After learning who the higher-ups are in BTS, I have taken to avoiding them like the plague. It was a relatively easy thing to do since the spring semester tended to be less focused on rushing and recruiting for fraternities and sororities.

But now it’s rush season, and I’m pretty much fucked. There will be no avoiding seeing BTS’s president Kim Namjoon out recruiting with his vice president Min Yoongi and his social chair Jung Hoseok. There will also be no avoiding pledge master Taehyung leading around new BTS pledges like a mother duckling. And don’t even get me started on how Kim Seokjin, Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook will be popping up everywhere to advertise the latest BTS bash.

Sighing, I figure that the chances of actually bumping into them at the bar will be slim, given that it will most likely be super crowded and I can easily blend in.

I turn to Jenni as we keep walking towards our next classes, “Yeah, I’ll go to Hannigan’s. Are you going to come over to get ready at our place?”

Luna and I had moved into a cute little off-campus apartment over the summer. As it turned out, it’s cheaper to live off-campus than on-campus if you look hard enough. We also had it pretty good location-wise being just a few short blocks from both campus and downtown.

“Yes!” Jenni replies, slowing to a stop out front of the science building, “I’ll be over around 8 with tequila. I’ll text you later. I’ve got to go to neuro-psych lab now,” she rolls her eyes, “Hopefully we won’t be kept the whole time.”

Waving, we part ways, and I shake my head.

Tequila never leads to anything good.

Hannigan’s – 10:54pm

Fate seems to be on my side for once in my life. As soon as Luna, Jenni and I walk into Hannigan’s, my eyes are drawn to the back table where the BTS usually sits. It’s empty.

It’s practically an unspoken rule that no one else can sit there, and even though the bar is packed with all other tables accounted for, that one remains vacant – and for good reason.

Greek life essentially has a cult following around here. The Greeks provide status for those who are into that whole exclusivity thing. They also provide the best parties because of the size of their houses and because the university will never complain about one of their best sources of revenue.

I didn’t to rush a sorority way back in freshman year because I couldn’t feasibly afford it. The dues were way out of my price range, considering I was already paying for my education on my own. Luna, on the other hand, is in Epsilon Xi Delta (EXID) and consistently makes me and Jenni tag along to different Greek parties with her.

"Come on, bitches! Let's get some drinks," Jenni drags me and Luna through the packed room towards the bar that is already encircled by a crowd of thirsty students.

Tonight’s plan is simple – stick together, have fun, scope out cute seniors. Having already taken some shots before we left (saving that coin), we’re definitely feeling ourselves, flaunting our outfits like we didn’t spend a good hour picking them out earlier.

I had settled on a black t-shirt dress with a checkered flannel tied around the waist and some black Doc Martens. Luna and Jenni had tried to convince me to wear heels with them, but I knew syllabus week was a marathon – not a sprint. My feet would thank me later, and theirs would be crying.

As the bartender slides us our beers, the opening beats of Cocky AF by our badass queen Megan Thee Stallion blast through the speakers dispersed throughout the bar. Turning immediately to each other, we clink our beers together, take a sip, and head to the makeshift dance floor.

We squeeze and push our way through the masses until we reach a spot towards the back where the crowd has thinned out a little more. Within seconds, we’re in motion, hips swaying in time to Megan saying ‘bitch, I look good and you know that’.

Shaking out my hair, I get in the zone and lose count of how many songs we dance to. Eventually, our beers empty and Luna turns to me, “Another?" She accompanies her shouted question with an unnecessary charade of shot-gunning a beer in case I couldn’t hear her. I roll my eyes, laughing while I nod in response.

“Save our spot!” Jenni yells and disappears into the crowd of dancers with Luna towards the bar.

I continue dancing on my own. Swaying my hips, I decide to put my hair up to try to cool off a little in the sweltering bar. The music shifts into a new song, this one slower, more seductive, a favorite of mine – Lost in the Fire featuring The Weeknd.

As Abel’s angelic voice flows over me, a pair of hands slide over my hips from behind me. I start to pull away, but then I notice – the hands are tattooed. And for some reason, that hot little fact makes me relax into the large body behind me.

Those tattooed hands tug me back even more, bringing me flush against him as he falls into time with my movements. God, this guy can dance – a rarity these days.

His body is all hard muscle and heated skin. His mouth is hot against my neck, alternating between kissing, sucking, and biting. My skin buzzes. Fuck, I haven’t felt this way since–

Turning my head slightly, I can make out the vague outline him and it confirms my sinking suspicion... He’s a BTS boy.

"Hey, noona," he murmurs in my ear, his lips brushing over it as he speaks.

Fuck my life, I think as I shiver involuntarily in response. Spinning to face one of Satan’s henchmen, I toss my ponytail over my shoulder and jut a hip out in both defiance and defense. But really nothing could have prepared me for the sight of Jeon fucking Jungkook, the golden boy of BTS.

He somehow looks like he’s gotten even bigger since the last I saw him playing pong against Taehyung at that party – information that I cannot even comprehend. His left arm is completely tattooed, along with a few smaller ones dotting his hands. I glare at them, blaming those hands for throwing me off.

“Like them?” Jungkook waves his fingers in front of my narrowed eyes, “I got them this summer.” Smirking lazily, Jungkook makes his own perusal of me – taking extra time along the way.

His jaw flexes as his eyes turn molten, “You’re killing me, noona. Tae didn’t mention…” He trails off, swallowing hard.

I follow his gaze. Oh fuck. I had forgotten I decided to forego a regular bra tonight because I wanted to show off my piercings. Just having a thin bralette under my dress, my pierced nipples are definitely noticeable under Jungkook’s heavy stare.

Refusing to give into him, I square my shoulders, “Yeah, I got them this summer, too. But, I don’t see how that’s either your or Taehyung’s business.”

At my words, Jungkook rips his eyes away from my tits to finally meet my own eyes again, “Oh, but it really is our business. Tae said we’d like you and I agree.”

His voice is low and rough, and I swear I can feel it washing over my body, making all of my synapses fire in response.

“We?” I choked out. In full panic mode, I spin and try to leave, but I barely make it a foot away before getting stopped by a now-familiar tattooed hand wrapped around my wrist.

Luckily, a crashing sound echoes from the back table where the other BTS boys must be, and Jungkook lets out a string of curses, “Fucking hell, listen I have to go make sure no one’s hurt, or Joon will kill me. Stay here, okay? I’m not done with you, (y/n).”

His hand rushes up to the nape of my neck, pulling me into him. Our lips fuse together in a brutally hot kiss, his tongue slipping against my bottom lip for a fraction of a second.

And then he’s gone – disappearing rapidly through the fray to manage whatever trouble his frat has gotten into.

I stand there, shaking fingers on my lips wondering what the actual fuck just happened.

“Hey, sorry we took so long! This bitch cut in front of us and I swear she ordered for the entire fucking population of North America—”

Luna smacks Jenni’s arm, cutting her off, “You okay, (y/n)?” Luna peers closer at me, “Holy shit, is that a hickey?  We were only gone for 10 minutes!”

My hand flies to my neck as both Jenni and Luna grab me, dragging me to the slightly quieter back alley of the bar. As they conduct the second Spanish Inquisition, I spill the details on what happened.

After a moment of silence following my explanation, they both start talking at once:

→ Jenni: “Hell yes, girl, go off! Jeon Jungkook is fine as fuck…” → Luna: “(y/f/n) (y/m/n) (y/l/n), have you lost your damn mind…”

→ Jenni: “…I’d hit that in a heartbeat. I’m so proud!” → Luna: “…Do you not remember last semester? Are you high? Oh my GOD, did he drug you?!”

“Stop!” I slap a hand over each of their mouths, “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you guys are impossible. I am not ‘hitting’ anything, and, no, he did not fucking drug me.”

Sighing, I continue, “It was a lapse in judgement, okay? I remember last semester more than anyone, but he’s just so powerful and I don’t seem to have any common sense around BTS.”

I take my hands away from their mouths and immediately Jenni asks, “Wait, what happened last semester?”

Luna slings an arm around my shoulder, “Come on, let’s go get pizza and a six-pack from Ralph’s. We can go out another night this week.”

“Take-out from Ralph’s?” Jenni’s eyes widen comically, “This must be major tea. Let’s go.”

Instinctively, we clink our beers together for the second time that night and chug the remainder of our bottles in true broke bitch fashion (never leave paid-for beer behind).

With that, we trek back through the door and out of the bar. We finish our night filling in Jenni with our less than savory experience with the infamous BTS fraternity last semester.

But, as I lay in bed for the night, I can’t help but wonder if Jungkook had looked for me that night after I left… Or if he told Taehyung...

taglist (message me to be added):

@catsandstrawberries​ @h5naaa​

[badwasabi]

WRITING ADVICE: How not to write thoughts

Disclaimer: The following advice represents the opinions of One Nitpicky Guy. Readers should accept or reject it as they please. 

Jen opened her door and stepped out into the night.

“Hello?” she called. “Anyone out here?”

The trees rustled, blocking the streetlight. She mused that she had told Chris to cut them back, but nooo, he just said he’d get to it. Someday.

She pulled her handgun from her coat pocket, flicked on the flashlight, and panned it around the yard. Nothing. She wondered what had made the noise.

With her left hand, she reached for the porch light, tightened the bulb.

Nope, she thought, still out. But she decided not to stick around and replace it, not at night.

Something rustled in the bushes to her left, and her gun snapped around.

“Come out with your hands up!” she yelled, her heart beating loud in her ears.

A grey cat - the neighbour’s cat, Jen recalled - sauntered out of the bushes, stared at her insolently. As cats do.

She lowered her gun, and went “Jeez, Malky! You scared me half to death!”

She could just barely make out the cat’s features, the eerie greenish glow in his eyes. He looked at her, then right past her. Which meant, she reasoned, as the hairs on the back of her neck went up, that there might be someone right behi-

She was surprised when the killer’s arm wrapped around her throat.

There are certain words that you see a lot in writing, which are almost never used in conversation. If you think there’s a prowler in your backyard, you don’t call 911 and say “Police? I think I see a figure hiding in my primroses!” You don’t look at someone’s “features” when they’re talking to you, you look at their face. I’ve never “regarded” anyone, and how many of us actually know what “flashing eyes” would look like?*

IMO, it’s fine to use words like this in, say, an article or opinion piece, which is deliberately artificial. If you’re writing a story that’s in omniscient third-person (EG Hitchiker’s, Discworld), sure, why not. But using these terms in a close third-person or first-person narrative can be somewhat jarring, even if the reader never consciously notices.

And some of the biggest offenders are the “thought” words.

In reality, people don’t really “muse”. We seldom “consider”. Or “make mental notes”. Not in our own heads. Have you ever been telling a story about something you did, and you went “and then I made a mental note?”

One common mistake is going “X thought of [subject]” without ever explaining, thus;

Dolores licked her lips as she thought of what she’d do to that sandwich.

as opposed to

Dolores licked her lips. First she’d pick up the sandwich, gently, gently. She’d nibble at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

That’s a stronger image, more evocative. If you have to use “X thought of [subject]”, try to use it like a sort of thesis statement.

Dolores licked her lips as she thought of what she’d do to that sandwich. First she’d pick it up, gently, gently. She’d nibble at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

or

Dolores licked her lips as she thought about what she’d do to that sandwich. She thought about how she’d pick it up, gently, gently. About nibbling at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

In general, try to avoid saying “X thought of [subject]” just by itself and letting it sit there. There needs to be some kind of payoff. Even if it doesn’t show up right away. Even something like another character breaking them out of their thoughts.

I see way too many people who just use “X thought of [subject]” to summarize a character’s thoughts, but don’t unpack.

But more importantly for these tips are what I like to call inline thoughts. It’s when you present the characters thoughts, in the text, without italics. While I like to use ‘inline’ thoughts for the POV character, I sometimes used italicized thoughts when I want to give emphasis.

Speaking of interruptions;

Jimmy frowned.

Well, someone with no taste might think “Dangerous” is the better album, but it’s clearly “Bad”.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash from the next room.

Never say that. Just show the interruption, and then what interrupted.

Jimmy frowned.

Well, someone with no taste might think “Dangerous” is the better album, but it’s clearly “Ba-”

There was a loud crash from the next room.

Also, some people use single quotes to indicate thoughts. As far as my highly-compensated** research team can tell, this is grammatically incorrect, and you shouldn’t do it ever.

You know what’s even worse? No, not 'irregardless’, though that counts. Using both italics and single quotes. Which gets especially confusing when it’s in the same paragraph as italicized dialogue.

“Look,” I said, “I’ll get you the money, so you don’t need to be all nice place you have here, shame if something happened to it.” ’Please don’t ask how, please don’t ask how, Please don’t-’

Please don’t write

X, I thought to myself.

Pop quiz; how many stories are there where the protagonist has access to telepathy? Mind-to-mind communication?

Not many.

Exactly. So who else would they be thinking to?

If your writing is focused on a POV character, you generally don’t have to use “X noticed/saw/perceived/reasoned/etc.” Just describe what they saw, just like you described the interruption instead of telling the audience there was an interruption.

Look at this “inline” bit;

Sanjay locked his computer, picked up his smartphone, and headed for the empty break roo-

Oh.

“Hi,” Ingrid said.

“Hey.”

Now, watch what happens when I tell, not show.

Sanjay locked his computer, picked up his smartphone, and headed for what he thought was an empty break room. Needless to say, he was surprised to find Ingrid already there.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey.”

Just kinda sucked the emotion right out of it.

But what if I want to convey a non-verbal thought? Like an impulse?

Well, Timmy, then you lie.

What?

Lie. Fake it.

Carlos had a sudden urge to tickle his cat.

vs 

Carlos looked at his cat. He could tickle her…

or

Carlos looked at his cat. Would she mind being tickled?

As a general rule, you should use thought verbs the way you’d use “said”  verbs. For me, that means 'not at all, if possible’.

“So what’s the problem?” Jones asked.

“The anklet says she has a pretty set routine,” Brown said. “Home, work, grocery store. Sometimes she jogs around the block. But on one day, the day of the explosion, she stops at this donut shop. If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…”

Jones thought that was interesting. “Coincidence?”

Vs

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“

Interesting. "Coincidence?”

or

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“

Interesting. "Coincidence?”

Or

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“ Jones leaned forward. "Coincidence?”

Or

Jones’ eyes narrowed. “Coincidence?”

Or

Jones narrowed his eyes. “Coincidence?”

Remember when I said you should generally use thought verbs like said verbs? That doesn’t often apply when you’re using physical reactions instead of thought tags (which I personally prefer). People put more weight on actions than words, and from the outside we can only know most people’s thoughts by what they do and say. More specifically, try to put the physical reaction before the dialogue.

Sometimes you may want to use “X thought” to make the narration seem disconnected and distant from the POV characters. Let’s say some character has a concussion or just got some shocking news.

Jane blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” “There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.” This is impossible, Jane thought. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

or

Jane blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.”

Jane thought it was impossible. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

This works even in first person.

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.”

This is impossible, I thought. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

Any questions?

Good Hunting -Jon

PS: Oh, right, forgot;

Jen opened her door and stepped out into the night.

“Hello?” she called. “Anyone out here?”

The trees rustled, blocking the streetlight. She told Chris to cut them back, but nooo, he just said he’d get to it. Someday.

She pulled her handgun from her coat pocket, flicked on the flashlight, and panned it around the yard. Nothing. What had made the noise.

With her left hand, she reached for the porch light, tightened the bulb. Nope, still out. Best not to stick around and replace it, not at night.

Something rustled in the bushes to her left, and her gun snapped around.

“Come out with your hands up!” she yelled, her heart beating loud in her ears.

A grey cat - the neighbour’s cat- sauntered out of the bushes, stared at her insolently. As cats do.

She lowered her gun, and went “Jeez, Malky! You scared me half to death!”

She could just barely see the cat’s face, the eerie greenish glow in his eyes. He looked at her, then right past her. The hairs on the back of her neck went up. Was there someone right behi-

A strong arm wrapped around her throat.

* I do. But that’s another show. ** I throw a cheeseburger down their dungeon steps sometimes

[bitch4vanya]

Indestructible  (Klaus x Reader x Vanya)

Ep. Number 5

Warning: Mention of drugs (cocaine/weed are abused in this series), Swearing, Pretty gay, Female POV but can be easily changed if needed, SPOILERS, it follows the same story line as the show so there’s a ton, gore

Word Count: 1.8k

“What’re you doing under there?” You asked Klaus who was digging under his bed. He popped his head out, grinning at you wildly.

“Come here,” He waved you over. You cautiously took a seat on the floor next to him. He pulled out a baggie underneath the Polaroids of the two of you.

“Klaus is that-”

“Maybe,” He smiled, he was tired, but still the excitement of doing something he shouldn't overtook the guilt that weighed on him as his deceased brother looked over his shoulder disappointingly. “It helps quiet things down.” He explained looking behind you at a tall dark figures hiding in the corners of his room.

You watched, mesmerized by the fluidity of his motions as he skillfully rolled a joint, sticking the filtered end into his mouth before digging into the box to find a lighter. He took a long hit, coughing a little before passing it to you. 

You stared at your friend’s latest fix. Looking up at him as he exhaled shoulders relaxing as the smoke left his lungs. You craved that peace. The quiet he spoke of. You breathed in the smoke for the first time, 

and for the first time it felt like you could breathe.

//

Diego wordlessly drove you back to Griddy’s where you had your car towed to by the nice man in the truck for the low low price of a thirty second hand job. You played with your hands, feeling absolutely sick to your stomach. How could you have let this happen. Sometimes- Most of the time it felt like you were the only one there for Klaus. You had always been there for him. Even Diego hadn't been the one to bail him out of jail half the time. Or checked up on him while he was in rehab. Hell, to check in with him in rehab. Maybe you weren't the best influences on each other a lot of the time but you had always been there.

“I'm sorry,” You started not looking up at Diego. His jaw clenched. You still had hope for Klaus. Diego knew Patch was gone.

“It’s not your fault.” He croaked trying to keep his voice steady.

“I could have done something-” 

“”Drop it.” You stopped, bowing your head in shame and worry. He signed feeling sorry for snapping but not having the energy to apologize. “Go on.” He says pulling up next to your car. You give him a weak but appreciative smile, getting in your car. He nods and backs out of the parking lot, wiping away a stray tear.

You wait for him to leave before settling into the back seat, an old shirt of Vanya’s as a pillow.

//

“You have beautiful hair.” You smile, running your hands through her soft, dark strands. It was late. You should be in your room but you were dazed and a little high still, just wanting to be close to someone. 

“You’re high.” She sighed, looking away, the moonbeams accentuate the exhaustion on her face. She was still so lovely, and you were sure you looked worse. On her back, her hands on her stomach, her chest ached as you cuddled into her side. She had never felt this way before and she wasn't quite sure what this was.

“Only a little, but you’re always beautiful.” You say dreamily, nuzzling her shoulder. After a moment of silence you ask a question you had been wandering yourself for a couple months now, “Vanya,” She turns her head slightly, still shy but wanting to look at you. “Have you ever been kissed?” She hadn’t left the Academy more that thrice in the last year, even less the year before. The answer was a simple no. In her sixteen years of living she hadn’t known anyone but her siblings. Who would she have kissed?

“No,” She whispered embarrassed, a little curious, definitely anxious as you lifted yourself to get a better look at her. Your face hovered over her’s, eyes flickering down to her lips.

“Do you want to be?

//

You stumbled down the sidewalk, Agnes had found you that morning shivering and whimpering in your sleep. She woke you up by knocking softly on the car window. Handing you a cup of coffee and asking if she could do anything to help. You smiled softly thanking her but ultimately having a mission. You had to find Klaus. 

A couple blocks away from Griddy’s and you saw a small explosion followed by wails that sounded far too familiar. You raced around the corner finally finding Klaus, hunched over a broken suitcase, bits and pieces of it shattered. You called his name bending down beside him and taking his head in your lap. He sobbed clinging on to you as if his life depended on it. 

You hugged him close letting his cries die down until no sound was left. You had never heard anything like it from him. He was absolutely distraught. Tears of your own pooled in your eyes as both relief and dread settled into your chest. 

Finally you got him to stand, your arm wrapped around his ribs as you made your way to the only home you had left.

“You want me to make you some tea?” You asked softly, he had complained of a headache.

“Coffee actually, thanks,” He sighed, scratching his chest and settling on his childhood bed.

“Okay,” You smile softly at him, the expression quickly fading as you turned around and headed to the kitchen. He hadn't wanted to talk about it when you got home and you let that be. What he had been through in the past forty eight hours, calling it horrific couldn't begin to describe it. 

By the time you had made the coffee, Five was speaking to Klaus who looked dazed and annoyed. Five whipped around and glared at you, you stared back at him. “Get out,” He exclaimed, frustrated by your ignoring his glare as you handed Klaus the coffee. He took it gratefully smiling up at you weakly before downing the cup. You looked at the kid, handing him your mug of coffee thinking he probably needed it more.

“I'm trying to have a serious conversation with my brother.” He took the mug anyway, chugging it faster than Klaus had. You looked over at him, he shrugged exhausted and defeated. You go to say something but leave, emotionally drained from the day's events as well.

But you felt the urge to look for the people who had done this to Klaus. You felt the rage in the pit of your stomach burn and you pushed through the tiredness from your two basically sleepless nights. 

“-Interrogation over.” Klaus huffs, leaving to go after you but by the time he makes it outside you’re gone. 

//

A knock on the car window makes Diego and Klaus jump, seeing it's you Diego rolls down the window. “You guys suck at hiding.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“Same as you, I'm getting revenge,” You smirk.

“They'll see you,” Diego hissed. You shrug looking up at the mostly abandoned motel.

“”They know why I'm here,” You say looking up and catching Hazel’s gaze. You flip him off smiling grimly. 

“Get in.” You slip into the backseat digging into your jacket pulling out the gun you got the other night.

“I have a gun.” You say after a pause, making Diego whip around to see if you were joking or not.

“Why?!” He exclaimed reaching for it, you pull it out of his reach, as Klaus looks at you amusingly.

“I traded with my roommate for it.” You grin.

“Jen?” He asks.

“Mhm, well it wasn’t exactly a trade, she was like give me your drugs, bitch,” You gesture with the weapon, making Diego flinch, “and I said, Jen, please put it down, and she just kept yelling so I went and got the drugs and she threw the gun at me and told me to get out, and I mean even without any weapons she's pretty intimidating-”

“Where are you staying?” Diego asked, now more concerned than he was before. 

“In my car, “ You say casually, Klaus gave you a worried look, suddenly feeling guilty he hadn't thought about that before. “So now I have like three outfits, from when I was staying in my car last year, no drugs, and a gun.” You explain counting the things off on your fingers.

“Gimme that-'' Diego wrestled you for the gun, reaching behind the driver seat to get it. You yell as he snatched it from your hands.

“Stop! That's one of my only possessions, I gave everything for that!” You pout.

“Relax we were gonna use it for the same reason anyway.” He mutters checking to make sure the gun was loaded.

“Oh. Okay well, go get em, sport,” You grin almost sarcastically, patting his shoulder and exiting the car.

“Where are you going?”

“Well, I was gonna use the gun on them, but since you took it from me, I’ll just have to use my hands,” You smile wildly at Diego's shocked expression. He holds you back from climbing the back stairs of the motel, pushing you back into Klaus who had stepped out with his brother. 

“You two stay here.” He states not waiting for a response before sneaking discreetly but efficiently up the stairs.

“Are you seriously staying in your car?” Klaus asks, concerned etched in his tone.

“Yeah, where else would I go?”

“The Academy? Vanya's place?” You laugh at the thought. You had put her through enough over the years. “And you’re sober?”

“I had to be, I was looking for you,” You say looking over at him as you trailed behind Diego. “And I have no money,” You tease taking a breath as you two finally catch up to Diego. 

“Don't wait up,” You smile racing ahead of the two. You turn a corner into the open motel room. Empty. “Shit,” A shot rings out outside and Diego groans in pain. You sprint and take the gun from his hand, turning and shooting at the vehicle speeding up the street, hitting and shattering the back window and just barely missing one of the back tires. Another shot is heard but you barely notice as you sigh, having let them escape once again.

“Holy shit, (Y/N),” Klaus exclaims holding a hunched Diego, his eyes glued to your abdomen. You look down to see the wound bleeding through your sweater. 

“I'm keeping this.” You state calmly about the gun, aiming to finish what you started. You turn the corner before writhing in pain. Maybe Klaus was right. Maybe Vanya would take you in, at least for the night. You struggle up the street, gripping your stomach, she was only a couple blocks away.

//

“What about my family.” Five muttered.

What about them” The Handler spoke, unamused.

“I want them to survive.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, all of them,” he paused looking over at Klaus, “And that (Y/N), I want her alive to.”

The Handler chuckled, “Well you don't have to worry about that,” She grinned. Five gave her a suspicious look. She shrugged “I'll see what I can do,”

Tag list, 

@anthonystarksglasses 

[romancingromanoff]

Pride and Joy (Natasha x f!reader)

Author’s note: Pride is first and foremost a celebration we are privileged to have because of the bravery and sacrifices of so many. It was black trans women that lead the Stonewall Riots back in 1969 and yet black trans women remain some of the most vulnerable in our community. We need to step up. I’ve linked some petitions and places where you can donate at the end of this post so please, please, please, don’t ignore them.

Plot: Two gay girls head to Pride and you end up gaining some attention. Also this one is super cheesy but I’ve just got to accept that cheesy is my go-to style ugh. I also used she/her/hers pronouns for this one but if you’d like for me to do gender-neutral or use any other sort of pronouns just let me know and I’d be glad to do so :)

The cafe door swung open again and two new voices came under her radar.

“I’m telling you, every year this is THE spot to pick up cute femme girls.”

“I’m sorry, but did you miss the group of straight white frat boys obnoxiously ingesting natty light across the street?! They’re completely killing the vibe. Honestly, it should be a crime for the straights to show up here.”

“No, that’s the point,” the first person began to explain before lowering their voice to only a few notches above a whisper. “Brad and Chad over there hit on the stray femme girls with the whole ‘Oh, you just haven’t been with the right guy yet’ spiel and then try to convince them that they can change their mind. That’s when we step in, put them in their place, bruise their masculinity a bit, and ba-da-bing ba-da-boom, you’re the hero and you get to sweep her off her feet.”

“Jen, you’re a genius.”

“I know that’s what I’ve been telling you! Now buy me some iced coffee cause I’m broke.”

It was an solid plan that the pair of friends obviously didn’t want anyone else to overhear. Fortunately for them, Natasha couldn’t care less. As she continued to sit there sipping on her tea, no one would suspect that she was a former assassin casually eavesdropping into every individual conversation going on. It was technically her day off, but hey, she had time to kill while she was waiting and not much to entertain herself with. So Natasha silently applauded the two and continued on with her crossword puzzle. 

The parade wasn’t normally her scene, but the redheaded avenger knew she just couldn’t say no to her girlfriend who was ecstatic about her first Pride. 

“Nat, pleeeeeeeassee???” You had begged her all the way up till the night before to go with you. “I was kidding with the matching shirts. You don’t have to wear it, just please come.”

“Fine,” she gave in with a playful roll of her eyes. “But just so you know, it’s going to be crowded, loud, and you’re going to get pretty sweaty. I know you want to wear those rainbow slip-ons Bucky got you for Christmas but please don’t. They offer zero support for your arches.”

Natasha then continued to lecture you on safety 101. Don’t put your phone in your back pocket, blah blah, don’t wear a backpack, blah blah blah. It was a lot to follow just to make sure your paranoid girlfriend didn’t have to worry about you, but you knew it was all out of love. Unfortunately, the one thing you’d forgotten about before leaving the house was going to the bathroom, which is why the two of you had made a pitstop at a small corner cafe.

“The girl who just came out of the bathroom,” the voice that belonged to Jen almost caused Natasha to jolt. “See what I mean?”

“Yeah, she’s cute,” the other one woefully confirmed that they were, indeed, talking about her girlfriend.

You were dressed down in a white “Love is Love” t-shirt that sported two rainbow stick-women holding hands under a rainbow. It was supposed to go with Natasha’s matching black one but she was very against supporting capitalist corporations that sought to make money off of Pride Month merchandise. The rest of your outfit’s ensemble consisted of your favorite pair of shorts and some comfy white sneakers but the real show-stopper was your hair. It had taken hours of braiding to weave your hair so intricately into the flower crown that had taken even longer to craft. You were excited to show off your DIY project you’d had pinned on Pinterest for the last few years even if Nat hadn’t understood the hype.

“Sweetheart, you’re putting hours of work into this thing. I know you like doing it but we can just buy you one and save you the trouble.”

“That’s not the point, Nat,” you sighed never looking up from the hot glue gun you were trying to wield. “I get that I might not be super gifted when it comes to creative things like this but I’ll just feel proud of myself knowing I did it when it’s all put together.”

And right now, Natasha was really wishing she had pushed back harder and gone with the store-bought crown because you were standing there looking like a woodland fairy princess with your bubblegum lipgloss and GODDAMNIT why did her girlfriend have to be so freakin adorable all the time!?? 

You were still searching the crowd as Natasha’s blood began to boil. Jealousy urged her to march straight up to you and begin making out, claiming you as hers in front of everybody. Then the two of you would storm out of there, confront the gross heteros that would undoubtedly hit on Y/N, she’d beat them up and it’d be a solid victory for the badass super spy. A possible bonus could be that you get too frazzled and end up going home early.

But then she hesitated thinking that maybe you wouldn’t appreciate that. “No,” she thought to herself and calculated a better plan. “That’s possessive, gross, and directly from the straight male playbook. I love Y/N. I respect her. And holy fuck I guess I really am just gonna do this.”

Nat’s eyes ironically enough lit up at that same moment when you finally spotted her and waved eagerly with a giant smile on your face. She wasn’t too ecstatic about what she knew she had to do, but she knew it would make you happy.”

“Hey babe!” you greeted her with your full attention. It was clear from your demeanor that you were oblivious to the fact Jen and quite possibly many others were checking you out. “I’m ready to go now.”

“Actually, I think I might have to go too, but wait here,” Nat casually mentioned before slipping into the bathroom. That caught you off guard and you figured something was going on. Natasha never had to go to the bathroom. I mean, she did have to go, obviously, but it was never random and certainly never in public restrooms. Your anxiety began climbing as you went through all the scenarios in your head. Could it be that something was about to go down? You were sure that she had it handled but it bothered you slightly that she hadn’t told you ahead of time. Unless it was something more serious and urgent? There was that one time you two had gone on a day cruise but ended up getting airlifted out of the ocean when Nat ran into some Serbian gun traders. Your stomach was doing flips out of fear that you all might be in danger as you hesitantly knocked on the door.

“Nat, is everything okay?” you shook. “I don’t want to stress you out if you have some important stuff to do, but I am a little worried that-”

Door swung open and there she stood: Your gorgeous girlfriend, NOT suited up, but in fact wearing the matching black t-shirt.

“Seriously?! You know that you almost gave me a heart attack over here!” you half cry half beam with joy at the sight of your girlfriend laughing hysterically at you.

“I know and I’m sorry babe,” she kissed you sweetly on your forehead. “But these girls over there were checking you out and I had to make a quick change into this.”

“But you actually brought it? Sam didn’t have to do like a fly-by and drop it off to you in super stealth mode?”

Her reaction to your question was too good. “No, of course I brought it. We used the same bathroom right? You know there’s no window in there. How would Sam even be able to-”

You interrupt her with a quick peck on the lips. “Shut up and stop making me feel dumb, I’m just touched that you brought it and have it on now. We’re gonna get such great couple photos!”

“Oh shit, they’re definitely together,” Natasha could overhear Jen’s friend comment from across the cafe.

“I mean that sucks but also they make such a cute couple!” Jen unknowingly complimented the two which made Natasha laugh quietly to herself. She really had no reason to feel threatened or insecure about her relationship. Y/N was an amazing girlfriend and if there were any areas of improvement then they’d probably be on Natasha’s side. The spy then made a mental note to show appreciation for her more before remembering another detail.

“Actually, do you mind going out the back door? There’s just a sleazy group of straight guys out there hitting on women that I don’t care to run into.”

“Ew, let’s definitely do that,” you agreed wholeheartedly. “You know guys like that deserve to be put in their place.”

“Don’t encourage me,” Nat bit her bottom lip, ever-so tempted. “Because I was considering that at first.”

“No,” you grabbed her arm twisting her back around to you. “We should go over there and see if they actually have the nerve. And if they do, you beating them up honestly sounds super hot right now.”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t condone violence,” Nat raised an eyebrow at your proposition.

“Normally I don’t. But you’d look so cute doing it in our matching t-shirts!”

Nat rolled her eyes, smiling, thinking of how proud she was of her girlfriend.

LINKS

Petition for Justice for Tony McDade: https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-tony-mcdade

GoFundMe for Tony McDade's Funeral and Family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-tony-mcdade

Petition for Justice for Dominique Fells: https://www.change.org/p/philadelphia-police-department-justice-for-dominique-fells

GoFundMe for Dominique Fells' Funeral Costs: https://www.gofundme.com/f/dominiquefells

Petition for Justice for Riah Milton: https://www.change.org/p/liberty-townships-board-of-trustees-justice-for-riah-milton-womanmurdered-in-liberty-township-ohio

[endangered-liaison]

FFXIVWrite Prompt #1: Crux

[Featuring @with-fists-and-folded-steel ‘s Claudia!]

The smell of engine oil and ceruleum is a sickly, cloying scent. Memorable, in the way that breaking a bone is memorable. It sticks with you, even after years. They blend together, overlaying one another in a way that makes both so much worse.

Maxima wraps a cloth around her face, tying it back to cover her mouth and nose. Too many fumes.

"Ain't this somethin' for the Jens to manage?" She finally speaks up, voice muffled by the bandana.

The Decurion pauses in what she's doing. "Sure. But we don't take them into the field with us. Wrench."

Max lifts the wrench from her box of tools and passes it over. A moment later, she gags and coughs at the smell as Claudia twists a bolt and a flood of viscous, lumpy oil splashes from the hull of the Reaper she's working on. It spatters across the floor, making the realm's worst Rorschach Test. Max thinks it looks kind of like a map of Thavnair. "Fuck," Max gasps out, taking a step back so she can actually breathe without wanting to vomit. "We ain't in the field, Dec."

Claudia shrugs. "What happens if the walker breaks down in a fight? Or halfway across Gyr Abania after a combat drop?"

"Point." Max hates to agree, but it's not wrong. And hey, at least she's not being asked to learn about it herself. It's all Servius's pet project.

"Come look at this."

Max blanches, shifting a few shades paler. An excellent pureblood imitation, in all. "Uh...I'm good, yeah?"

Claudia turns her head to give Max a flat look with all three eyes. She raises one oil-covered hand and points a middle finger at her. "Get over here, Max. And bring a screwdriver."

Max groans, pantomiming taking deep breaths before stepping back into the splash radius. She grabs a pair of screwdrivers on the way, crouching down under the hull of the Reaper.

Claudia takes one of the screwdrivers from her hands and begins working on a small panel beneath the armour plating she'd already unbolted.

"So. The fuck do you want me to look at?"

There's a dull thud, and the whole plate releases. There's a low magnetic humming, and Claudia grins, lowering the plate with the care one would give to a firstborn child. Probably not the thirdborn, though. She hands the plates over to Max, who tries her best not to fumble it.

"This...is the core of the Reaper." Claudia points the screwdriver at what she'd just opened, then steps aside. With a degree of reticence, Max steps around to look at whatever's being indicated. It's...oh. Okay. Engines, Max knows well enough. But this is...different. Ceruleum pipes and electrical wiring twist like vines around a circular core, thrumming with power. The engine powers the vehicle's motors, but this is its weaponry, its readouts, its linking tech. It glows, faintly, rhythmically.

It's honestly almost beautiful.

"...It safe to be this close to it? Without the platin'?"

Claudia shrugs. "It's just magitek. Don't worry about it so much, legionary."

Max frowns, handing the armour plate back to Claudia. "Can't help it. I bunk with Castellus, the girl must be rubbin' off on me."

Claudia smirks sidelong at that but, mercifully, doesn't make any sort of comments. That would be more Lee's purview, anyway. Claudia raises the plate, slotting it back in place and starting to screw it shut again. She seems satisfied with whatever maintenance she's been doing, at least for today.

"Why's it...pulse like that?" Max can't help but ask the question, and Claudia pauses.

"...I think it's the photon generators for the side guns. But it really does look like a heart, don't it?" Claudia wipes a hand over her brow, smearing oil and ceruleum over her forehead, the dark brown and the deep blue muddying together to make an awful mess. "The beating heart of a steel beast."

Max leans back against the Reaper's leg, watching the Decurion work. After a moment, she gets an idea, and rummages through her toolbox for what she needs. After a few seconds, she finds a chisel and a hammer. Hardly the most high-tech tools, but still useful enough.

Claudia half-glances her way. "...Sawyer, what the fuck are you doing with that?"

"Got an idea."

After a few long seconds, she sighs, but goes back to working replacing the armour plates. She only stops when Max places the chisel against the cermet plating of one of the legs. "If you crack that, the replacement's comin' out of your pay." She thinks about it. "If you draw a dick on it, the replacement's comin' out of your pay twice."

Max sighs. "Trust me, yeah?"

Claudia gives a long-suffering look.

"Come on, Dec."

She just sighs, and pulls her welding goggles down despite not having any welding to do. If she can't see what's happening, she doesn't have to acknowledge it. That’s become somewhat of a mantra, running III Squad the way she does.

Half a bell later, after she's finished bolting the last panel in place on the Reaper, Claudia wanders her way around the Reaper to see what fresh nightmare Max has left her with.

Instead, what she sees surprises her. In Max's rough-hewn script, made rougher by the use of the chisel, there's two words. A name.

Ferro Ferarum

"Y'know, Sawyer?" She grins slowly, and wraps an oil-covered arm around Max's shoulders. "I don't hate it."

[homesweetgoodneighbor]

Saw this from @portergage and thought, why the hell not?

Thing is, though, on the fic I'm working on I have a LOT of OCs and and only the ghouls are from pre-war. So, I'll pick two (but will do more on my own because this will help me flesh out a few of them). Y'all be nice. I'm fragile and shit.

This is one of my protags. Not the main protag, but she's up there:

Stella

Full name: Stella Flynn

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: Irish American (no accent)

Pre-war job: born post war

Place of birth: Commonwealth

Current age: early 40s

Biology: human

Current living place: Starlight

[ALIGNEMENT]

Chosen factions: Ladies of Starlight

Role: Head of Security

Allied factions: Goodneighbor / Minutemen / The Slog

Enemy factions: BoS (not quite enemies as of yet but intense dislike) / Institute / Raiders (of every kind) / Triggermen / Gunners

[PERSONALITY]

Alignment: chaotic good

Main qualities: Out-going, friendly, extremely loyal, loves to laugh, rarely in a bad mood

Main flaws: has a tendency to bottle things up; will often let her sledgehammer do the talking when words would be better; will often put herself in harm's way; tends to drink too much when she's worried; despite usually being in a good mood she is quick to anger (but it passes quickly)

Fears: is afraid of bodies of water because she can't swim; has a debilitating fear of radscorpians and is forever worried that she'll eventually die to one because of that

[RELATIONSHIPS]

Status: taken

Sexual orientation: lesbian

People closest to them: Jen / Raina / Chuck

People they hate: Mad Murphy (zero relation to Mama Murphy) / Triggermen in general

Family: Had three brothers. Two older, one younger. Their mother died in childbirth having the youngest, and their father died a few years later of infection from a mole rat bite. The siblings were always very close and her eldest brother, Nolan. Nolan did his very best to be the father figure, although he was only 19 when their father died. Unfortunately, after a bad drought one year, he had to find a means to earn the caps to feed their little family, so he took to the fighting circuit, which later took his life. (It was his death that pushed Stella to be determined to be as strong as she could possibly be.) The next oldest, Caleb, did the best he could and eventually married a woman named Melissa, who was not at all cruel to his siblings but did not want them to stick around when they hit adulthood. The youngest, Tristan, became very good at making furniture and has a shop in Diamond City.

[PHYSICAL]

Height: 6' 1" (she and two of her brothers got their height from their dad)

Weight: She doesn't know and doesn't care.

Build: Muscular and stocky.

Hair color: brassy blond

Hair style: Straight and comes just below her shoulders. She usually has it in a pony tail.

Eyes color: green

Tattoos/scars/markings: One tattoo on her upper arm of a yao guai in honor of her oldest brother Nolan because he gave the best bear hugs. Lots of scars. Most prominent scar is across her chest where a raider's knife sliced her.

[ABILITIES]

Spoken language: English

Strengths: Physical strength, fast reflexes, strong melee fighter

Weakness: Is a terrible shot with pistols (with guns in general, but pistols especially); her left leg is weaker because of an old knee injury and when it's acting up it's hard for her to not telegraph that making it easier for enemies to focus on her left side

Favored weapons: Sledgehammer, but will absolutely pick up whatever is available. She likes hitting things with other things; also loves knives, but rarely has call to use them, keeping one on her as backup.

[RANDOM]

Favorite piece of clothes: black cargo pants, tank tops, and a punk leather jacket that she won in a game of cards

Lucky charm: Matilda, her sledgehammer

Favorite food: grilled brahmin burgers

Favorite beverage: a kind of bizarre mint julip made from gin...it's more gin than mint

Favorite season: Summer. She hates being cold. Likes to sweat.

[saiilorstars]

Falling in Temptation

Previous chapters || Sequel to Stars Dance

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Ch. 10: Reality

Chapter summary: Two Doctors would usually mean things would get solved quicker, but not this time. The gangers and humans are raging war against each other and now it's a race to find the TARDIS and escape with their lives. On the side, Avalon is determined to get the only piece of honesty she can get right now and it can only come from the Doctor.

Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

As soon as the ganger Doctor said spoken his first words to the group, he erupted into massive shouts of pain. "What's happening?" His words, his shouts, were all mixed up as if he was living through different moments. "I wonder if we'll get back. Yes, one day... Aaagh! I've reversed the polarity of the neutron flow!"

"What is he doing?" the Sapling cocked his head each time the ganger turned.

The Doctor tried helping the ganger but there was really nothing he could do at the moment, "'The Flesh is struggling to cope with our past regenerations. Hold on!"

"Don't you have like a billion of those?" Amy called in, making the Doctor momentarily pause to glare at her.

"No!"

"Would you like a jelly-baby?" the ganger Doctor questioned in his 4th incarnation's voice, "Why? Why!?"

"Why do they keep saying that?" Avalon suddenly asked, getting the glances of everyone, "I mean...that's what ganger Jennifer said too, remember Amy?" the second ginger had to agree with a nod, "What does it mean?"

"'Why' what?" the Doctor finally asked his ganger self, taking in Avalon's words and having to agree as well.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor," the ganger replied instead, using his 10th's self's voice, "No, let it go, we've moved on!"

"Oh!" Avalon snapped her fingers, suddenly beaming. "That's the one that went to New Earth!"

"Ava, not the time!" went the Doctor, but she mimicked his voice instead of agreeing.

"I'm never gonna meet him so I'll take what I can get!"

The Doctor's face might as well have stayed in a glare because it seemed like Avalon and Amy were taking turns making unnecessary comments.

"I've reversed the jelly-baby of the neutron flow. Would you like a..." the ganger grabbed the Doctor by the lapels, "Doctor...Doctor... I'm... I'm the... I can't."

"No, listen, hold on. Hold on!" the Doctor tried reassuring the ganger but was shoved away.

"No-o-o-o! Aaaagh!" the ganger showed his flesh-state face to the others.

"Doctor, we need you. Get over here," Amy called to the Doctor, taking cautious steps towards him with Avalon.

The ganger slowly stopped moving until he came to a complete stop. His hands fell from his head and came to adjust the bowtie around his neck. "Hello," he gave a wave with his hand.

"Hi!" the Sapling returned the gesture with a beam on his face.

"Cybermats," the Doctor crossed his arms and faced his ganger self. They really did look identical - it was really weird.

The ganger seemed to catch on and sighed, "Do we have time for this?"

"We make time. I'd like more proof that you're me. Cybermats?"

"Created by the kill by feeding off brainwaves."

Amy gave up trying to get the Doctor's attention and ran back to the door with the other factory workers. Avalon was a bit more awed by the situation but was nonetheless scared as well, so she hurried to the door.

"Don't you have guns somewhere?" was the first thing she asked the factory workers.

"Yeah, big guns would be good right now," Buzzer sucked some breath and nodded.

Jimmy was leaning against the door, a last resort to keep it shut against the gangers, "Why would we have guns? We're a factory. We mine."

"Get back!" Amy yelled as they heard a hissing sound along and saw smoke coming through the door.

"We are completely done for," Avalon declared as they all stepped back. She rolled her eyes at the conversation she was hearing from behind, "Are you two done yet?" she spun around to where the Doctors were, even Amy doing the same, "There's two of you yet still nothing gets done!"

"First of all," the Doctor headed for them and wagged a finger at Avalon. "Shut up!"

"Second of all," his ganger followed in suit with the same finger pointed at Avalon, "...still, shut up."

Avalon raised her eyebrows. Did they seriously think that because there were two of them they could win against her? Absolutely not. She folded her arms across her chest and smirked. "Two of you and you still can't come up with good comebacks. Truly sad. How many brains you got again?"

"Enough with the games," Amy sighed, "There's a problem that needs solving!"

"Breathe," was the Doctors' reply for her.

"What?"

"We have to get you off this island," the ganger Doctor looked at the not-so-well barricaded door.

"And the gangers too."

"Um, Doctor, I'm all for life, but the gangers are trying to kill us," Avalon pointed to the door where the acid could be clearly seen. She barred the Sapling from getting closer.

"They're scared, Ava, that's all," the Doctor assured.

"We're trapped in here," Amy also reminded.

"I don't think so. The Flesh Bowl is fed by cabling from above."

"But where are the earthing conduits?" the ganger Doctor asked.

"All this piping must go down into a tunnel or a shaft or something, yes? With us?" the Doctor headed for a large panel at the other end of the room, "Yowza!" he cheered as he removed the paneling to find a grate. "An escape rout."

Amy glanced at Avalon, mouthing 'Yowza' questioningly at her. Avalon made a face and shrugged, never understanding the Doctor most of the time.

"You know, I'm starting to get a sense of just how impressive it is to hang out with me," the Doctor smugly looked around the room.

"Do we tend to say "Yowza"?" his ganger genuinely wondered.

"Nope!" the Sapling turned around to answer. "Although you did used to say 'Allons-y' for some reason."

Avalon laughed and shot the two Doctors a look. "You did what!? Who did that?"

"I'd rather not answer," the Doctor turned his head away, intending on taking that secret to the grave. It was unfortunate that the Sapling did not agree.

"His last incarnation!"

"Sapling!" the Doctor frowned, feeling completely betrayed by the child.

"Ah, see, that's the one we need to meet!" Avalon sighed in true content, which did make the Doctor be a little less upset. It was better to have her laughing, even if it was at him, than to have her crying.

Just as the entire group managed to get inside, the gangers broke through the door. As they reached the grate, they saw the group at the grate where the Doctor sonicked the locks.

~ 0 ~

The group hurried down the tunnels after getting out of the grate. There was acid everywhere and it was making it difficult to get across without being touched.

"The army will send a recon team," Buzzer said to them.

"We need to contact the mainland," Cleaves reminded him.

"What about Rory and Jen? They are both out there," Amy stressed as she looked around in case they were somewhere nearby. Unfortunately, they weren't that lucky.

"This is a like a labyrinth," Avalon sighed, already having given up looking around their immediate areas. She held the Sapling's hand in hers, tightly, but she wasn't sure who was more afraid at this point.

"I bet you lot have got a computer map," the Doctor looked at Cleaves questioningly.

"If we can get power running, we can scan for them," the woman agreed but couldn't say more as they all started violently coughing.

"Doctor, you said earlier to breathe," Amy covered her mouth.

"Very important, Pond. Breathe," he stood by his statement.

"Yeah, I'm struggling to."

"Acid interacting with the stone," the Doctor managed to explain.

"Creating an asphyxiant miasma," his ganger finished thankfully.

"In English?" Avalon raised am eyebrow.

"Chokey gas. Extra heavy. If we can get above it..."

"The evac tower," Cleaves resolved and started leading the way, "This way!"

They entered a room full of machinery which was they assumed was the control room. As the Doctors got straight to work, the humans took a moment to end their cough.

"Ohh! I think I coughed so hard, I pulled a muscle or something," Amy remarked as she struggled to stand straight.

A bell chimed in the distance which made Jimmy sober up rather quick, "It's midnight. It's Adam's birthday. My son's five. Happy birthday, bud."

"Best present for him would be getting home," Avalon sighed and put a hand on her back as she stood correctly, "How we doing over there?" she called to the working aliens.

"Trying to get the power back," the original Doctor replied, "There's always some power floating around."

"Sticking to the wires, like bits of lint," the ganger Doctor popped up from behind the console.

Amy frowned, "Can you stop finishing each other's..."

"Sentences?" the Doctor finished, "No probs."

"Yes," the ganger nodded and both ducked down behind the console again.

"Confused as hell," Avalon commented with a resigned sigh, "You - well, one of you - said that the TARDIS was stuck in acid, so won't she be damaged?"

One of the Doctors stood up again, but neither Avalon nor Amy (nor the Sapling for that matter) knew who was who. "Nah. She's a tough old thing. Tough, old, sexy."

"No," the other Doctor stood up, "Tough, dependable, sexy."

"Come on. OK, how can...how can you both be real?" Amy felt like her head would spin if they continued to do that. She glanced at Avalon and saw the latte was more or less feeling the same. Only the Sapling seemed to be enjoying the situation.

"Well, because...we are. I'm the Doctor," went one of the pair.

"So am I," went the other, "We contain the knowledge of over 900 years of experience. We both wear the same bowtie, which is cool."

"Because bowties are..."

"And always will be."

"Stop it!" Avalon cut in with exasperation, "You weren't linked up to the Flesh so how did that work, exactly?"

"It must've been after I examined it," the original Doctor answered, "Thus, a new, genuine Doctor was created."

"Ta-da!" the ganger exclaimed.

"You mean I could've had a ganger too!?" the Sapling gasped at the idea as he recalled how close he'd been to the Flesh as well.

"No," Avalon shot him a look.

"Quite right," the Doctor agreed. "You were behind me, Sapling. I think it's better like that, though. Who knows what kind of ganger you would've gotten."

"It would've been cool," the Sapling mumbled, quite disappointed.

"But one of you was here first," Amy's pointed finger moved from one alien to the other.

"After the Flesh scanned me, I had an accident with a puddle of acid. Now new shoes, a situation which did not confront me learned self here."

"That satisfy you, Pond?" the ganger raised an eyebrow, "Ava?"

"Don't call me Pond, please," Amy said quietly as she moved around. She stepped beside Avalon when both Doctors looked at her. They were examining her as if she were some new experiment. "What?"

"Interesting," the ganger Doctor said, "You definitely feel more affection for him than me."

"No, I..." Amy could see why they would think that and felt uncomfortable having to explain. It should be obvious that she wasn't doing it to be mean. It was just natural. "Look, you're fine and everything, but he is the Doctor. No offence. Being almost the Doctor is pretty damn impressive."

"Being almost the Doctor's like being no Doctor at all," the ganger snapped.

"Don't overreact," Amy frowned.

"Well you are being rude," Avalon mumbled to her and received an elbow jabbed on her side, "Ow!"

"And what about you?" the ganger looked at the pained ginger.

"What about me?" she rubbed her side and glared at Amy.

"Do you think I'm real?"

"Being real is not the problem I have with you," blurted Avalon who then quickly covered her mouth, "Sorry."

"Ava," even the original Doctor was mildly surprised.

"Wha...she's the one who said you weren't real," Avalon pointed at Amy in a quick attempt to distract him.

"Yeah, thanks Avalon," Amy muttered, shooting her a glare.

"Oh shut up, you dug your own hole," Avalon snapped then sighed, dropping her hand from her side. "Look, I didn't mean for it to come out like that..."

"What were you trying to say, then?" the ganger was still snappy, which only made her frown.

"Listen, if you're really the same then you know exactly what my problem is. And just so we're clear, it's with both of you."

"Sounds like Father is in trouble," the Sapling announced. Avalon nodded her head, humming in agreement.

"I'm going to pull the 'I literally just came to life' card right now," the ganger Doctor happily said as it did free him of any problems. And even more, it made Avalon chuckle.

The Doctor watched with a frown as his ganger practically yanked Avalon's hand, bringing her far too close to him. What did he think he was doing? Avalon was smiling like she wasn't angry with them two seconds ago.

"Well, I guess I can't be that mad with you," Avalon bobbed her head while she pretended to think. "But you can't use that line all the time."

"I'll come up with better ones," the ganger promised her then winked. Avalon might have blushed.

The original Doctor wasn't very pleased with the interaction and did the only thing he could do, "Communication a go-go!" he slammed his hand on the console repeatedly to break them up, succeeding easily.

"Can it find Rory?" Avalon quickly forgot the situation as she and Amy ran for the computer screen, though the ganger Doctor shot his original a look for his obvious attempt. The Doctor ducked his head with the controls. He needed to work, after all.

Cleaves was already maneuvering the screen by the time the gingers got to her, "There's no sign of him anywhere."

"Come on, baby, show yourself," Amy insisted.

~ 0 ~

After a while of checking the scans for Rory and Jennifer, Cleaves decided to activate a transmission for the mainland, "St John's calling. Emergency Alpha. St John's calling the mainland. Are you receiving me, Captain? Come in'," but there wasn't an answer back, "We'll never get a signal through this storm. St John's calling the mainland. Come in, this is urgent."

"'We're just about reading you, St John's. How are you doing? We've had all kinds of trouble here'."

"'Request immediate evacuation. We're under attack. The storm's affected our gangers. They're running amok."

"'Your gangers?'"

"Yes, our gangers are attacking us. We need you to take us off the island immediately and wipe them out."

The two Doctors looked at each other with concern, that wasn't part of the plan and Cleaves knew it.

"'Copy that, St John's. Shuttle's dispatched. Hang on'."

"You'll need to airlift us off the roof of the evac tower. And Captain, any further transmission sent by me must come with the following code word. I'm typing it, in case they're listening in.'

'"Got it. We'll swing in, get you out and decommission the Flesh'.

"We've got to get out of here," Buzzer said immediately after the transmission had been cut off.

"But we can't leave without Rory nor Jennifer," Avalon reminded him.

"We're not leaving without them," Amy firmly said.

"I want 'em found too, but it's about casualties, innit?" he raised an eyebrow at the two gingers, "Can't be helped."

"Well you're going to have to cope because we're not going anywhere without them," Avalon declared.

"What are you doing?" Amy had noticed the Doctor sitting in one of the chairs at the console typing away. She moved closer and observed the screen.

"Making a phone call," the Doctor answered distractedly.

"Who to?"

"No-one yet. It's on delay."

"Right, not getting it. Why exactly are you making a phone call?"

"Because, Amy, I am and always will be the optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams. The wheels are in motion. Done."

"I dream of getting out of here," Avalon sighed, "And as quick as possible."

"Will be taken care of," the Doctor pointed at her assuredly.

The Sapling had noticed Amy staring at something across the room. He came to stand beside her and tried to catch whatever it was she was looking at, but he couldn't find anything. He then realized that Amy hadn't even noticed he was standing right there. "Aunt Amy?" he tapped her arm and watched her jump in place. "What's wrong? What were you looking at?"

Amy rubbed her eyes and gazed at the wall she'd been staring at. Nope, no eye-patch woman there. Why did she keep seeing that woman? Was it some effect from the TARDIS?

"Amy?" the Doctor called now once he saw how pale she was. "What happened?"

Amy didn't know if she would sound crazy but she had to get it off her chest. She'd been carrying the secret with her for a while now and for some reason, she felt like now it was getting worse. She kept seeing the woman by the hour. "I can't take it anymore!" she exclaimed. "It's her! I keep seeing her!"

"What is she talking about?" Avalon inched behind the Doctor. Like the Sapling, Avalon gazed at the wall but found nothing.

"There's a woman I keep seeing, a woman with an eye-patch, and she has this habit of sliding walls open and staring at me," Amy frantically explained and missed the reactions of both Doctors.

"Is that like a movie?" the Sapling glanced at his Mother for the answer.

"Not one I've seen," the ginger promptly responded. She checked to see what the Doctor thought but noticed how unsurprised he was. "Doctor?"

"It's nothing," the original tried to wave off.

"Yeah, judging by Amy's face it doesn't look like it's 'nothing'," Avalon tilted her head, "What are-"

"It's a time memory. Like a mirage," he cut her off, "It's nothing to worry about."

"Liar," Avalon whispered then looked at the ganger beside her, ready to question him too.

However, he had his eyes closed and looked like he was in some type of pain, "It's in my head..." he hurried out the room.

"Hey, hold on!" Avalon called after him.

"Don't let him go," Cleaves warned.

"Leave it to me," Amy hurried out the room, hoping to fix some the things she'd said to him.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem the case for when she returned to the room, it was in a hurried run and heavy breath, "Keep him away from me!" she ordered and ran over to where the other Doctor was.

"Amy?" Avalon frowned at the attitude of her friend, "What's wrong?"

"Did you sense it?" the ganger Doctor came into the room and questioned his other self.

"Briefly. Not as strong as you."

"Sensed what?" Avalon walked over to Amy and hoped to calm her.

"Is there pictures we're missing?" the Sapling looked between the two Doctors, just as puzzled as everyone else.

"Not quite," went one of the Doctors.

"Amy, I'm sorry," the ganger Doctor apologized honestly.

"No, you keep away!" Amy snapped, pulling Avalon closer. Rory would definitely not want Avalon to be around the ganger who had radical, horrific emotions, "We can't trust you!"

"It would appear I can connect to the Flesh," the Doctor wasn't particularly paying attention to her at the moment.

"Well, you are Flesh," the ginger continued to say.

"I'm beginning to understand what it needs."

"What you want. You are it."

"Amy," Avalon put a hand on Amy's arm, disliking the tone and attitude she was taking with the ganger. If he was connected to the Flesh, then he didn't exactly have a choice in what he saw.

"It's much more powerful than we thought," the Doctor continued on without notice, "The Flesh can grow, correct?"

Cleaves was another that wasn't very interested in the topic, "Its cells can divide."

"Well, now it wants to do that at will. It wants revenge," the Doctor approached her, "It's in pain, angry. It wants revenge."

"Hm, thing got a mind of its own now? Where did I hear that one...?" Avalon sarcastically looked around, "...mm, oh right," she crossed her arms as she finally stepped around Amy, "Me."

"Mother was right," the Sapling agreed with a nod of his head.

"Doctor, I told you that we couldn't trust him," Amy went up to the Doctor herself. "I was right. He can't be the Doctor. He can't ever be, he's just a copy."

"That's not very nice," the Sapling pointed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with the Sapling this time," Avalon folded her arms.

"Be quiet, Avalon," Amy snapped, nearly sounding like a mother and looking like it when she pulled Avalon back with her.

"Hey!"

"Doctor, it might be best if you stayed over there for now, hmm?" Cleaves resolved as she stepped towards the ganger, prompting the other Doctor to move up as well.

"Hold on a minute. Hold your horses," he cut in between the woman and the ganger, "I thought I'd explained this. I'm him, he's me."

"Doctor, we have no issue with you. But when it comes to your ganger..." Cleaves looked around to the other people for their opinions, though their faces were more than clear, except for one person of course.

"I think you're all overreacting a bit," Avalon tried to input but no one listened.

"Be quiet!" snapped Amy again, though this time Avalon sent her a deep glare.

"Tell me to shut up one more time, I dare you," she gritted her teeth. It was completely outrageous that they forced the ganger Doctor on a barrel like he was some criminal.

Amy would not take the dare; she'd seen the fights Avalon had in the past and she wasn't interested in getting a black eye in the midst of all the trouble. "I just think it would be safer," she said, though her tone was still strained.

"Safer? They're the same!" Avalon gestured to the ganger and then to Doctor. "Down to the same stupid bow-tie! No two people can make that same mistake!"

The Sapling covered his mouth to giggle when both Doctors gave Avalon the same deadpanning look.

Amy, though, wouldn't listen as she shook her head. "You're too blinded by them."

A new type of anger flourished across Avalon's face when Amy made that accusation. Making that accusation basically told Avalon that Amy believed she couldn't separate reality from her stories, from the all the stories she'd heard about the Doctor. It was an outright offence, honestly. "I am not blinded, Amelia Pond! I'm not seven! I'm not a child!"

"Avalon," the ganger Doctor stepped in when her face began to match the shade of her hair. He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her away from the mini-stare down she was having with Amy. "It's fine, really."

"No, it's not," Avalon continued shooting Amy glares. "I hate when they say that. Like...like I'm too engulfed in my stories to realize that I'm in the real world." She turned to him, expression akin to a beg. "I know I have my stories and I love them but I'm not blinded by them. I know you're real and that you have flaws and...this is the real world. It's not my fairy tale world."

"I know that," he assured her with a soft smile. "You don't have to prove it to me."

"...just like you don't have to prove to anyone that you're real," she said and shot the others another glare. "You're a ganger but you're the Doctor. I know you are."

"And that counts for a lot, trust me," he rubbed her arms comfortingly. "My Ava."

She smiled back but when he moved to sit on the barrel the others ordered him to, she yanked him to his side. "Absolutely not. They can all suck it." She stuck her tongue out at anyone who saw.

From his spot, the original Doctor struggled hard not to laugh right there and then. That's my Ava.

After a couple minutes, the group got word from the mainland they were trying to land when the signal was cut off.

"I can't find Rory. I'm going out there," Amy had had enough of waiting around.

"We could use the sonic to track him," the Doctor offered as he pulled out his screwdriver, "Humans and gangers give off slightly different signals. The sonic can tell the difference."

"Oh, so the sonic knows gangers are different, so the other Doctor is different."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "He is the Doctor."

"Not to me," Amy assured, "I can tell."

"Sure you're not prejudiced?"

"Nice try, but I know, OK? We've been through too much. You're my Doctor. End of."

"Amy, instead of making things worse come over here," Avalon was with Buzzer in front of the visual screens, "We've got Rory and Jennifer," everyone quickly gathered to see the screen.

"They're heading for the thermostatic room," Cleaves seemed confused and with great reason.

"Let's go get them," Amy declared but saw the screwdriver being tossed over to the Doctor on the barrel, "Hang on!"

"We can't let him go," Cleaves moved over to the Doctor, "Are you crazy?"

"Am I crazy, Doctor?" the Doctor turned to his other self.

"Well, you did once plumb your brain into the core of an entire planet just to halt its orbit and win a bet."

"I remember that!" the Sapling laughed as he watched the images in his head.

Avalon was not amused in the least. "That's not being crazy, that's being utterly stupid. And that's coming from me. Mels used to dare me to do the stupidest things."

"Enough!" Amy snapped. "Now he's not going-" she pointed to the ganger, "-I am!"

"Do you know, I want him to go," the Doctor stepped closer to her, serious, "And I'm rather adamant."

"Well, then, he'll need company, right, boss? It's fine. I'll handle it," Buzzer offered and stepped forwards.

"Thank you, Buzzer. It'll be all right. I'll find him," the ganger waved and left with Buzzer to follow.

"I can't explain it to you now, but I need you to trust him," the Doctor looked at Amy and even Avalon, "Can you do that for me?"

"Course," Avalon nodded but Amy seemed to have more trouble accepting it.

"What if you're wrong?" were her final words.

~ 0 ~

"These temperature gauges are rising," Cleaves read from the screen. They'd been monitoring the visuals for a while and was growing concerned, "Jennifer and Rory must have shut off the underground cooling vents."

"Why do that? They'll kill us," Dickens frowned.

"There's a million gallons of boiling acid under our feet..." Cleaves slowly looked down at the floor.

"And now it's heating up the whole island," the Doctor understood, "How long till it blows?" his answer was the explosion that rocked them entirely.

"Gangers or no gangers, we need to get the hell out of here," Dickens urgently said.

"Shuttle! We need evac," Cleaves started a transmission again, "Where are you? Can you hear me? Can you...?" she stopped when she felt a jab at her forehead.

"Cleaves? Cleaves, sit down," the Doctor helped her away the console and sat her on a chair.

"I'm fine," Cleaves assured as she put a hand on her forehead, I'm waiting for results, so let it go."

The Doctor had used the sonic on her and got results instantaneous, "It's a very deep parietal clot."

"Inoperable?"

"On Earth, yes."

"Well, seeing as Earth is all that's on... offer...hm," Cleaves slumped in her chair, "I'm no healthy spring chicken, and you're no weatherman. Right?"

Another quake struck and shook the room, "Something just cracked. I heard it," Avalon frantically looked around for anything that was breaking.

"Yeah, we can't stay here, let's go," the Doctor agreed and headed for the doors.

Cleaves moved to the console again and did another transmission, "Cleaves to Shuttle. We need to move, and we can't be collected from the evac tower."

'Give us the codeword'.

"The codeword is..." but her voice was cut off with another quake that struck that console and cut off the transmission.

"Cleaves? Cleaves, it's dead, it's dead," the Doctor called to them, "We need to get out of here. We need to get back downstairs and get those vents back on, come on."

They ran into a new room where the Doctor and Cleaves hurried to change the settings on the machine, "It's a chemical chain reaction now. I can't stop it. This place is going to blow sky high," the Doctor sighed.

"Exactly how long have we got?" Cleaves asked.

"An hour? Five seconds? Er, somewhere in between."

The klaxon sounded along with a series of explosions, "Out!" the Doctor ordered and ran out the room with the group.

They ran a couple feet until they found Rory on a turn. Amy was the first to hug him as she was the closest one.

"All right?" Rory pulled back and studied her followed by Avalon.

"Us? What about you?" Avalon hugged him, "Don't you dare do that again!"

"Yeah, aunt Amy and Mother were very worried," the Sapling informed as if Rory hadn't already known that.

"There's a way out. Jennifer found it. A secret tunnel under the crypt," Rory pulled away and looked at the group.

"From the crypt? It's not on the schematics," Cleaves shook her head.

"It runs right out of the monastery. Maybe even under the TARDIS, Doctor. Follow me."

As everyone ran after Rory, the Doctor seemed slightly hesitant to do so.

"We can't leave without Buzzer," Jimmy said as they entered the new room.

"I'll go back for him," Cleaves called.

Rory was with the Doctor and was looking nervous for some reason, "Doctor, look...I'd better tell you, I haven't been quite straight with you..." but ganger Jennifer pulled him out the room before he could finish and locked the group inside.

"Rory!" the Doctor pounded on the door, "Rory Pond, Roranicus Pondicus!"

"Rory! What the hell are you playing at?" Avalon shouted but caught sight of Jennifer on the other side and knew it had to be that woman's fault.

"Rory, there is no time. This factory's about to explode!" Amy called frantically.

"I'm sorry!" Rory was able to say before he was dragged away by the Jennifer.

"Can we hurt her?" the Sapling made a deep scowl appear on his face. They were just trying to get home and that woman was about to kill them off.

With no other alternatives, the Doctor hurried back to the acid with the sonic, "This is going to overheat and fill the room with acid, just as a point of interest."

"Please, stop talking," Avalon sighed, she'd rather not hear about their looming death.

Dicken started lowering the cap over the vat as an effort against it. Jimmy moved closer to the vat and shook his head, "It'll never hold her.'

"If you have a better plan, I'm all ears," the Doctor pointed, "In fact, if you have a better plan, I'll take you to a planet where everyone is all ears."

"I've also seen that one!" the Sapling tapped the side of his head. "Can I go there afterwards?"

Even through the now shut cap, the acid was far stronger. Cleaves observed it from a distance, "The acid's eating through."

"This is it, huh? This is where we're going to die," Avalon shuddered a breath as she stared at the weak vat with soon-to-be overflowing acid. She felt her breathing pick up. That was new. She never really considered that one of their trips might be the last one.

The Doctor came over to her and hugged her. He didn't care if she would push him away; he needed for her know that he wouldn't leave her side. "No, it's not," he quietly said.

"Oh you don't have to lie," Avalon sighed. She allowed him to hug her for a few seconds, letting herself enjoy his hold just for a bit.

Jimmy had moved to keep the vat's lid down but some of the acid managed to splash on his chest, knocking him to the floor. At that moment, ganger Jimmy ran into the room and went straight for his other self. The Doctor had gone to check the original but found bad results, "There's nothing we can do. The acid's reached his heart."

"Hang in there, mate," ganger Jimmy sighed.

"I'm quite handsome from this angle," Jimmy managed to humor.

"I'm...sorry. I'm the fake. Adam deserves his real dad."

"Shut up," Jimmy playfully rolled his eyes.

"What do you want me to do? Anything, just say."

"The way things are, mate... it's up to you now," Jimmy pulled on the cord around his neck and gave it to his ganger, "Be a dad. You remember how."

A stunned ganger Jimmy held up a wedding band in his hand.

"Jimmy Wicks...you're a dad," the Doctor clapped him on the shoulder.

"Right then, everyone, it's time to go!" ganger Cleaves called to the group and ran out the room first.

The Doctor stood by the door as everyone ran out but noticed Avalon staring at the corner of the room. "Ava! Let's go!"

"Amy said that woman appeared there again," she pointed at the wall. "How can that be? There's nothing there."

"Avalon, it doesn't matter!" the Doctor ran back to bring her out of the room. "We have to go!"

"But it does!" Avalon snapped, yanking her arm out of his hold after they'd gotten into the corridor. "Because you know what it means and don't want to tell us! And when you do that, it means something's happening."

"No, it's not," the Doctor tried his best to smile like nothing was going on around them, like neither of them were in danger. "You know me, I've got so many things in my head that I don't even know what's going on half the time."

"Nice try," Avalon rolled her eyes. "You know what's going on, more than you're letting on. But I shouldn't be surprised. It's what you do. Keep everything to yourself."

"This...isn't about Amy anymore, is it?"

Avalon once again rolled her eyes and when she attempted to leave, the Doctor grabbed her arm. "Look if you're not going to tell me anything, then just leave me alone."

"Now a wait minute, 10 minutes ago you were dandy with the other Doctor but now I'm the one you're mad at?"

"Are you seriously telling me that you're jealous?" Avalon didn't know whether to laugh or scream in frustration. "Why are you like this?" she air-strangled him instead.

"Like what?" the Doctor frowned.

Avalon groaned, her hands dangerously close to actually strangling him by the neck. "I hate you, you know that!? Do you enjoy being self-righteous with me? Especially with me?"

"I would never-"

"-then why don't you just tell me the truth already?"

"What truth?"

"I'm going to kill you, after," Avalon muttered and stepped towards him. She grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him close to her so he would definitely listen to her words. "If I'm really going to die here, then I refuse to go without hearing you tell me the truth about us."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh..."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Avalon could be pretty scary when she wanted to, and of course she'd choose to be the scariest when she wanted a confession from him about their feelings. She sure knew how to pick them.

"I don't think this is really the time. I mean, we have got some killer acid and actual killers after us-"

"-I don't bloody care," Avalon snapped. "I deserve for somebody to tell me the truth for once in my life." Her face suddenly softened, as did the grip of her hands on his jacket. She tilted her head slightly, eyes glimmering with tears. "And I would really like for that 'somebody' to be you."

"Ava...I can't..."

"Why not?" she asked through gritted teeth. "And don't tell me it's because there's nothing. Fantasy Fest. That's all the proof I need. You were about to kiss me and don't deny it."

"I stopped for a reason..."

"Because you nearly got caught."

"No, because...it was the right thing to do," the Doctor put his hands over hers and gently pulled them off his jacket. "Because I can't do that to you. You have me falling in temptation, Ava. Being who I am, it's a dangerous thing."

"And I told you plenty of times that I like dangerous. Literally. I love the adrenaline," Avalon said with the most honest smirk on her face. She raised her head as if daring him to challenge her.

He honest to God loved that look on her. He could kiss her to death right now. He brought one of his hands to touch her face, very soon grazing her lips. "My Ava. You have no idea what goes through my head whenever you're around me."

"I would if you just told me," Avalon whispered.

"Thing is, Avalon, I've done this before and it never ended well," the Doctor's gaze lowered a bit.

Avalon could see the pain etching across his face, as if it were still raw because it happened yesterday. She didn't have to hear each individual story to know that the Doctor blamed himself for every ending. "You're 909, I believe you."

"I don't want you to be the next one. Because sometimes it's not the fact that they've left me, it's how they ended up leaving. You won't be the next one, not on my watch."

Avalon's eyes watered up. "Can you just say it, though? Say it once, please."

But the Doctor wasn't brave enough. If he said it out loud, then it would finally become real. And when it became real, the pain that came with it would also be real. He couldn't do it. "I can't...I'm sorry..."

The ground suddenly rumbled underneath them, nearly knocking them both to the wall. The Doctor grabbed ahold of Avalon's arm - even if she wanted to murder him for his inability to speak the truth - and searched the hallway for a good route.

"We have to go!"

"I hate you!" Avalon didn't hesitate to start and he would be smart enough to know that this wasn't the end of their conversation. Just because they were about to die was no excuse! Not for them!

~ 0 ~

The rest of the group had entered a new room after being chased down by ganger Jennifer (who was now the only one bent on war). They'd met up with Rory and the other Doctor again and were now trying to keep Jennifer away from them. As Dicken came to shut the door that would keep Jennifer out, he crashed into a running Avalon and Doctor.

"Where the hell have you two been?" called Rory from the end of the room, frankly offended they'd left them to their luck.

"Yeah, ganger Jennifer is still after us!" the Sapling waved his arms frantically. Of course then he dropped them when he noticed how angry his mother looked. "Why are you upset, Mother?"

"Ask your father," Avalon shoved the Doctor with her to the side.

A scream carried down the hallway and made everyone look out to see Dickens shut the door with himself on the other side. Jennifer had killed him and was making her way towards the group now. Ganger Dickens shut the door in front of them with the help of ganger Cleaves and the Doctor that had come in with Avalon.

There was a creaking sound from the ceiling and the other Doctor looked up to see a familiar blue square coming through. "Here she comes!" The TARDIS fell down and added an extra rumble to the ground. "Oh, she does like to make an entrance! Move!" he ordered as he went up to the doors and opened them up for the group, "Go, go, go, go!"

Ganger Dickens left the door and ran into the TARDIS. Cleaves was going to do the same but looked back at her ganger, "Get on board! Go!" the ganger shooed he off.

"I'm not leaving," Cleaves tried to argue but the loud bang Jennifer gave on the other side of the door cut her off.

"Go!" the ganger yelled at her and so went Cleaves into the TARDIS.

"Sapling!" the Doctor called from the TARDIS. "GO!" The Sapling nodded his head quickly and made a dash for the blue box.

"Now's our chance," Amy hurried to the TARDIS and looked back at the others, specifically the Doctor at the door.

"I have to stay. Hold this door closed. Give you time to dematerialize."

"What are you doing?" Avalon frowned, "What happens if you stay here?"

"Well, this place is just about to explode. But I can stop her."

"Both of you can survive this, OK?" Amy looked between the two aliens.

"Or perhaps you think I should stay instead... Mr Smith?"

"No, of course not. But look, this man, I've flown with him, you know? And you are amazing and yeah, I misjudged you, but you're not him. I'm sorry."

"Amy, we swapped shoes. I'm the Doctor," the Doctor by the TARDIS informed.

"And I'm...the Flesh," the Doctor at the door said rather nervously as he looked at Avalon.

"You're what now?" her eyes widened.

"I, uh, I...probably should've mentioned that before-"

"-right, because telling the truth is so easy for you clearly," she rolled her eyes.

"No, hold on!" Amy shook her head fervently as if that would make things more clear. "How's this even possible!?"

"Well, they switched places, didn't they?" Rory wasn't that surprised the Doctor would pull something like that. In fact, they should've just seen it coming.

"Well I'm not the original, I haven't been all along," the ganger Doctor shrugged, not able to explain much further.

"I don't know which one of you to kill right now," Avalon looked between both aliens, though the reactions from each were different. The one at the door looked heavily frightened while the one at the TARDIS was trying to understand what was going on.

"Ava? What happened?" the Doctor, the real one, asked her.

"Is there a way you both can survive?" Amy's hair kept flinging from side to side as she asked the two Doctors.

"Yeah, so I can kill both of them," mumbled Avalon.

"You okay?" Rory touched Avalon's arm, the only one who wouldn't die at the moment. She shook her head in response. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" she quickly exclaimed, shooting the ganger a sharp look, "Nothing happened," though her face was upset and sad, "Just, um, just tell us, is there a way of survival for you?" she genuinely wondered.

"Get to safety, Ava," was the answer of the ganger, a soft smile on his face.

"Well we can't just let him die!" Amy exclaimed, frantically shaking as no one seemed very worried about that detail.

"It's fine, Pond," the ganger Doctor smiled just like his other version would. "We got what we needed from this place, didn't we?" he shared a knowing look with the other Doctor, both nodding in agreement.

"What?" Avalon caught on and frowned even deeper. "Oh! I am so done with you two!"

"No Avalon, wait!" the ganger grabbed her arm and gently tugged her to his side. "You were right...about everything." She still shook her head, more ready to kill him before ganger Jennifer did. "Hey, I mean it," he tugged her arm again, forcing her to look at him. "You were absolutely right, but then again...when aren't you right?"

She wanted to roll her eyes again but he had that stupid grin she liked a lot. While she was lost in her thoughts - deciding whether to keep pretending to want to kill him or just leave - she didn't notice that the ganger Doctor had leaned to her side until he whispered something in her ear. When he drew away, she had her wide-eyed stare locked on him and she had a deep blush across her face.

"What he say?" Amy scrunched, wondering if it was some other secret the two aliens had kept from them.

Even the Doctor by the TARDIS was puzzled. "Ava?"

Avalon shared a small smile with his ganger. "You finally said it," she leaned closer to him, letting her nose rest against his cheek. "Thank you. And you know that I feel the same," she told him in a whisper. She pulled away and looked at the door he and Cleaves were desperately trying to keep locked, but ganger Jennifer was using all her monstrous strength to pound against it.

"You need to go," the ganger ordered her. "Please."

"But..."

"I'll be fine," he assured.

"You lie," she said sadly. He didn't say anything except give her another smile. She nodded, indicating she understood, but before she left she surprised him with a kiss on the cheek. She went right into the TARDIS without looking at anyone else, much less the other Doctor who couldn't be more confused in his life! What had that ganger of him said to her and why did she react like that? They were so close too...

Of course he soon turned an accusing look on his ganger, demanding questions with a silent glare.

"Oh shut up," went the ganger in return. "Maybe she's the one who can change things. Because if you don't, and I survive this, I'm coming back for her. You got that?"

"I'm interested," Amy remarked to Rory, both of them looking at each of the Doctors at the same time. "But I'm so confused at the same time."

"I'm not," Rory frowned. It was what he specifically wanted nothing of for the sake of Avalon. "Let's go!" he yanked his wife towards the TARDIS, leaving the two Doctors to work out whatever they needed to.

Avalon was inside with the Sapling but while the tree child was ecstatic to be safe inside the TARDIS, Avalon was lost in thoughts. Rory took a quick stride towards the woman, dreading what was going on through her head.

"Hey Ava," his voice, though gentle, managed to startle her, "Are you okay?"

"Uh...yeah, I think I am," Avalon answered but she still seemed like she was figuring it out. "I just..." she laughed humorlessly, "Why is he so...like that!?"

"Ava," Rory deeply sighed and brought a hand to her curly hair. "I really wish you hadn't..." he couldn't finish it out loud, for her sake, but she just smiled sadly.

"I couldn't help it Rory," she said with the tone of a child. She always did that whenever they had a serious talk. He was like the grown up because God knew she could never be an adult.

"Told you," Amy was smirking, completely the opposite of her husband.

"I don't get it," the Sapling suddenly said, his lips curled into a pout. "What's going on? What are we talking about?"

Avalon just laughed, wholeheartedly for the first time that day. "Oh Sapling, nothing. Nothing except your Mother is a true idiot."

~ 0 ~

After making sure the gangers were stable and dropping ganger Jimmy back to his son, the Doctor brought Cleaves and ganger Dickens back to the headquarters of their factory.

"You really want us to do this?" Cleaves sighed as they approached the conference room.

"Your company's telling the world that the situation is over. You need to get in there and tell them that the situation's only just begun," the Doctor pointed to the door, "Make them understand what they're doing to the Flesh. Make them stop. Dickens, remember, people are good. In their bones, truly good. Don't hate them, will you?"

"How can I hate them? I'm one of them now," he gestured to Cleaves beside her.

"Yeah, and just remember, people died. Don't let that be in vain. Make what you say in that room count."

"Ready? Side by side," Cleaves said as they'd stopped in front of the conference door.

"You got it, boss."

Together, the two co-workers entered the conference room. Amy moved closer to the Doctor and nudged him, "You okay?"

"I said breathe, Pond, remember? Well, breathe," the Doctor sighed as he knew what was coming next. He started making his way back for the TARDIS where Avalon had preferred to stay. Now, on top of a ganger Amy, he had to decipher what secret Avalon was refusing to tell him. And more importantly, what the hell his ganger had whispered in her ear.

"Why?" Amy called but couldn't say more when she doubled over in pain. "Ooh! Woah! Oh!"

"What's wrong with her?" Rory quickly tried checking her for any injury, but he didn't remember seeing anything earlier.

"Get her into the TARDIS," the Doctor ordered and entered the box.

"What's wrong with aunt Amy!?" the Sapling's cry pulled Avalon away from her journal. She looked up to see the Doctor and Rory helping Amy get into the TARDIS.

"Contractions," the Doctor bitterly answered as he went around the console, setting the TARDIS in motion.

"Excuse me?" Avalon hopped off her seat and hurried to help Rory.

"She's going into labor."

The Sapling gasped. "Aunt Amy's having a baby!? I thought it was Mother!"

"Would you stop saying that!?" snapped Avalon. This was no time to remind her that she needed to change diets.

"Doctor, what are you talking about!?" Amy asked in-between groans. She literally felt like she was being stabbed in her stomach. "Rory, I don't like this - OW!"

"You'll have to start explaining this to me, Doctor," Rory practically ordered. He could handle the secrets the Doctor kept from them when it wasn't about Amy. Something was happening to his wife and he wanted answers now.

"What, the birds and the bees? She's having a baby," the Doctor moved away from the console. The Sapling gasped again, in delight until someone would tell him it wasn't all that great when the person in labor didn't even know she was in labor. "I needed to see the Flesh in its early days. That's why I scanned it. That's why we were there in the first place. I was going to drop you off for fish and chips first, but things happened and there was stuff and shenanigans. Beautiful word, shenanigans."

"You're getting off topic," Avalon snapped. "Not to mention the fact I knew you were keeping something from us!"

"It hurts!" cried the second ginger.

"Breathe," the Doctor pointed at Amy, "I needed enough information to block the signal to the Flesh."

"What signal?" Amy didn't understand and quite frankly didn't have the head to decipher it with all the pain she was feeling.

"The signal to you."

"Doctor?"

"Stand away from her," the Doctor sternly looked at Avalon and Rory. He expected the simultaneous refusal from them, but it didn't mean he would be patient about it. Time was literally of the essence now. From here on out, they were at war.

"You need to start explaining now," Avalon's eyes narrowed on the Doctor, and with good reason.

"Given what we've learned, I'll be as humane as I can, but I need to do this and you two-" his voice suddenly rose in volume, "-need to STAND AWAY!"

Avalon flinched when he started yelling. She didn't say anything back, she didn't dare to. Instead, she looked at Rory and the two slowly backed away from Amy. Why were they leaving her!? Why was the Doctor shouting at them!? And why did her stomach hurt so much!?

"No, no, Doctor, I am frightened. I'm properly, properly scared!"

Even the Sapling had the good sense to be afraid now that he was looking at everyone. He slowly inched closer to Avalon who, once she felt him nearby, slowly took him into a hug.

"Don't be. Hold on. We're coming for you, I swear it," the Doctor stepped closer to Amy, putting a hand on her cheek. He felt terrible for taking this long to finally do something about her situation. "Whatever happens, however hard, however far, we will find you."

"I'm right here!" Amy clung to his arm, shaking him to get him to listen to her. But despite her insistence, she could see in his eyes that he'd already made up his decision about her.

"No, you're not. You haven't been here for a long, long time," he stepped back and held his sonic at her. The mere act froze Avalon and Rory in their respective spots. It looked like Amy was suddenly the enemy trespassing.

Amy whimpered in her spot, one hand still wrapped around her stomach. "No..."

With one click of the sonic, she turned into a Flesh puddle.

Rory gasped at the sight of what used to be his wife.

Avalon's eyes wide to the brim. Her grip around the Sapling tightened as if they were next on the list.

The Doctor slowly lowered his sonic but he couldn't look at Rory nor Avalon. What would he tell them? That he'd known for a while Amy wasn't really there with them but he didn't have the tools nor the knowledge to find her?

"Doctor," Rory suddenly spoke up. "Hey?" he had to call twice before the Time Lord would finally glance at him, but only then it was a slight glance. "I don't understand what just happened, nor what is happening but I bet my life that you knew about this."

"Rory-"

"-NO," Rory's voice sharpened quick, shutting the Doctor down in that moment, "You knew about it for God knows how long so right now, you owe me."

"Rory, stop," Avalon's voice was a frail whisper. She was truly afraid of what was coming next, but Rory was already thinking ahead and it included her.

"Avalon, be quiet," Rory snapped. It was so uncharacteristic of him but it was another testament of how furious he was. He walked straight up to the Doctor, and showcased his deepest glare. "You owe me and I'm gonna use that to save the other person I just know is in danger." The Doctor blinked at him, unsure of where Rory was taking this until Rory's eyes flickered to Avalon. "I've felt this for a while and nobody would listen to me, not even Amy."

"Rory, what are you talking about?" Avalon asked, about to walk towards them when the Sapling hugged her tighter. He was mighty afraid and the fact everyone looked so angry and upset didn't help ease his nerves.

"The letter, Avalon," the Doctor said, side-glancing her with sorrow eyes. Now it was Rory's turn to be confused. Neither he nor Amy had heard about the letter. "What did the letter say?"

Avalon's eyes would blink several times before she answered and when she did, she still wasn't sure what it had to do with their conversation. "Dear Avalon, I know this is strange and probably confusing but it is imperious that you listen to me. You must remain with the Doctor for your own safety. Bad things are coming, and they will be coming for you and all your friends." She swallowed hard, attempting to keep calm but her body was visibly shaking. "But it-it's not about me right now. It's about Amy-"

"-but they could be the same people that letter was talking about," the Doctor sighed. "I should have known from the start. I should have been more careful."

"Doctor, they got to Amy but we can still keep Avalon safe," Rory said, now more urgent since they finally figured out what he was trying to say.

"Yes, you're right," the Doctor nodded, turning towards Avalon. The woman took an instinctive step backwards, bringing the Sapling with her in the process. "Avalon, you might be next."

"No, stop it!" she snapped. "We need to focus on Amy and-"

"-you," Rory said. "I'm not losing you too."

"What...what are you going to do?" Avalon asked, her tone laced with a clear fear.

"Whatever it takes," the Doctor promised her.

[h-o-l-l-i]

Restore Me

Daryl Dixon x Nurse!Reader

Warnings: Language, mentions of blood, SMUT (18+ only), unprotected sex

Word Count: 8.3k

Author’s Note: This is my piece for Jen’s Mystery Box Writing Challenge, go check out her stuff...she’s amazing in every way at @coffee-obsessed-writer! , this was an absolute dream to write; I loved every second of it and I hope you all enjoy it as well! Let me know what you think and if you would like to be added to any of my tag lists! REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

my prompt was delivered to me as follows: So, for you, my dear, I have a TWD Daryl x reader request. This person sent in a summary then ask for smut, angst, fluffSummary: Daryl gets hurt u find him and nurse him back to health

Everything: @negans-lucille-tblr

TWD: @wings-of-a-raven // @daryldixonandfrogs 

Daryl Dixon: @jodiereedus22 // @coffee-obsessed-writer // @sourwolf-sterek32 // @mtngirlforever // @hyphymanatee // @momc95 // @dashesoflipstick

“How is my favorite prisoner?” Negan cocked an eyebrow up at the doctor who kneeled beneath him.

“Um, with his injuries that he sustained during his discipline Sir; not good…” the man stood up onto shaky legs and looked the leather clad leader in his eyes.

“Leave him in the dark for a couple of days, maybe he’ll cooperate then.” Negan replied flatly without any trace of human emotion.

“Sir, he is badly injured with multiple lacerations on his face, arms and abdomen; if we don’t treat him in this condition he might die—” the doctor attempted to be firm against Negan it didn’t turn out well.

“I don’t give a flying fuck about what happens to that sack of Redneck shit!” Negan’s voice boomed off of the high ceiling of the large room before his leather gloved hands grabbed the bright white collar of his lab coat and tossing him headfirst into the open side of the furnace.

The mood of the wide-eyed survivors of the Sanctuary shifted of that into fear of their leader’s actions. Negan clicked his tongue and wiped his hand down is scruffy mouth, “Well, we are fresh out of medical personnel, so go to the Hilltop and take theirs…” Negan pointed to his right hand man, Simon.

Simon nodded and walked towards the exit stopping short of the door when Negan’s voice broke through the silence again, “Take some of their shit too while you’re there.”

___

His bare feet slapped against the dirt path in the thick wooded area, his chest heaving large breaths of night air into his burning lungs. The mild sweat that glistened on his dirty skin caused his shaggy brown hair to stick to his forehead. He leaned up against a tree in an attempt to hide from a lone walker that was wandering through the woods; ironic, that’s him except for he’s barely more alive than the walker.

He brought his arm down to his waist to grip his knife, the snap of a twig on the forest floor signified the walker was within range. His beaten body staggered out from the large trunk and swung the knife into the walker’s face, sending it down to the bed of dead leaves. The walker’s dark, thick blood seeped from the large whole that the knife had created, “Shit.” Darryl huffed, leaning his arm against the tree he was once hiding behind.

His bright blue eyes squinted in confusion as he looked at the walker he had just killed, “What the hell?” He tilted his head gazing at the walker’s rather clean look about him, “Where did you come from?” His eyes followed the obvious trail the dead man had left behind. “Reed’s” he grunted.

___ Reed’s General Store, the crooked, dusty sign read on the shoddy roof of a smaller building. Darryl eyes surveyed the surroundings of the perimeter, before he readjusted his grip on the handle of the knife he had and he snuck closer to the door. He cautiously peered inside of the dirty window and saw nothing alarming inside, his bloody hand turned the knob and entered.

His eyes glanced around the looted shelves and racks that littered the shop; his rough hands leafed through the sizes of the left over clothing before going to the next rack. He slid the spray painted sweatshirt off of his body, the small streams of blood glistened in the beams of blue moonlight that trickled in through the broken window, he winced in pain as his skin stretched the bruises that dotted his skin, He dug his fingertips into the lip of the sweatpants that Negan’s men forced him into and stepped out of them as they fell to his ankles.

Just before his hand could make contact with the black shirt that hung on the silver metal prong you swung around the corner with your gun raised, “Don’t try anything or I’ll blow your head clean off!” He raised his hands and stayed silent, “Now turn around nice and slow; don’t forget bullets are faster than your knife on the ground.” He turned around slowly to face you and it was only then when you noticed that he was fully naked. “You hurt?” You refocused yourself in attempt to gawk at his generous member. You eyed him as you notice the bruises and the blood that glistened slightly; he grunted deeply in response to you, “Kick your knife to me.”

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, girl.” Your breath caught in your throat at the sound of his rough, gravel-like voice.

“I said kick me your knife, asshole!” You raised your voice at him. He followed your order and kicked the knife towards you, the tip of the metal blade grinding on the floor of the abandoned store. 

You bent down, grabbing the handle of the knife, placing it in your belt and returned the gun to your waistband of your jeans, “Cover yourself up.” You lowered your voice, his bare feet stepped back into the sweatpants and he quickly pulled them back up to his waist. “Did it bite you?” You motioned to the sweatshirt that lay bloodied on the floor.

“It wasn’t the dead.” He corrected you, his eyes looked down at you cautiously as he was becoming weary about the interaction that was happening.

“Let me see.” He stepped away but you quickly grabbed his wrist before he was out of your reach, “I’m not going to hurt you; let me look.” You coaxed him; he submitted, allowing you to guide him over to the check out counter to sit down.  “You belong somewhere?” You question him.

His breath hitched in his throat when you brought a wet cloth to a wound on his chest, his eyes connected with yours when you halted your movements, “You’re good…yeah I have a group I just—”

You glanced down at the clothes that he was ridding himself of and finally notice the orange spray paint on the sweats “Negan?”

His body tightened with your inquiry, “How’d you kno—”

“I used to work for him.” He leaned away from you slightly, his eyes filling with anxiety, “I got out too…I was one of his nurses. He said I cared about his prisoners too much.” You chuckled slightly to yourself and resumed cleaning his numerous wounds that scattered about his body.

“So he just let you go?” He said carefully watching how tender you were with bandaging him.

“No,” you paused, looking up to his eyes from the last wound that needed covered up, “He offered me to become a wife—said I couldn’t do my job anymore; so I packed a small pack and left.” You smirked at him.

“There,” you said sitting back up and placed your hands on your knees, “You’ll be a bit weak and  pretty sore for a couple of days but you should be okay…” his face relaxed for a moment as he offered you a small smirk of gratitude.

“You didn’t have to do thi—” he broke the tension that was beginning to build.

“Save it…” you voice trailed indicating for him to reveal his name finally.

“Daryl.” He introduced himself.

“Y/N.” You stated back to him.

He nodded, “thanks…You have a group now?” His voice was low and his tone was curiously cautious.

“Not anymore.” You stood, turning your back to him to rummage through your belongings.

“I’m sorry.” He twitted his thumbs and tried to stand up but stumbled.

You turned back around in time and your hands wrapped around his waist and grabbed his arm to steady him, “You’re too beat up to be on your own for a while, at least until you have some antibiotics in your system.” You warned, “You’re going to need antibiotics, Daryl.” You said rolling out a blanket on the floor and laying down on top of it.

You relaxed in your place on the floor, sliding over to make some room for him, “We can go down the street in the morning.” You closed your eyes but you know he’s about to speak again, “You’re not in any shape to be on your own right now; plus it’s dark out there and Negan has people looking for you.”

“You’ve done too much for me, Y/N. Thank you—” he cleared his throat.

“You need those antibiotics so your wounds don’t get infected; if they do, which they will without those antibiotics, the fever will burn you right up and turn your brain into soup before you come back.” He still tried to attest you; you lean up on your elbows, “Didn’t your Momma ever teach you any manners?”

He laughed at you and slid down off of the box he was resting on and onto the floor beside you. He placed his head on the make-shift pillow and folded his hands on his chest, “Alright.” He agreed and settled in beside you.

There were several minutes of silence between the two of you, just the music from the many crickets that sang outside, “I hope you don’t snore.” You rolled over to face him.

“Oh don’t worry, I do.” He laughed with his own words, his eyes hovering on your lips for an extended second. “You should get used to it.”

“Oh really?” You leaned your head on your elbow and cocked an eyebrow up to him.

He grunted and slowly rolled onto his side so his face was close to yours, his eyes gently running along the curves of your smile. “You said I’d be weak for a couple of days and I need the antibiotics and I’m in” he used air quotes with his hands, “no shape to be on my own right now” he mocked your voice as best as he could. “I figured that could take a couple days…” his voice trailed off.

“How do you reckon it’d be a couple of days?” You whispered finding yourself get lost in his blue eyes.

“I do feel like shit now.” He confessed.

“Well, the adrenaline from your grand escape has probably worn completely off by now and you are really roughed up; like bad…” you admitted, rolling onto your back, gazing up at the ceiling.

“I wouldn’t mind staying with you for a couple of days; I could help you find more water and I can even go hunting for something once you make me better.” His voice sent ripples through the tension that built back again between the two of you once more.

“Yeah…I guess that would be okay.” Your voice became thicker as your body relaxed for the first time in a long time; maybe it was because of not being alone; because of him…

“I can take first watch.” He said leaning up on his least injured arm, gritting his teeth slightly.

“No; you need the rest.” You argued back to him.

“From the looks of it, so do you.” He spat at you and smiled playfully, knowing it would get a rise out of you in an instant.

“You look worse than I do, Daryl. Don’t even try me!” You gently nudged an elbow into his side making him grunt slightly, “Shit, sorry!” You shot up, your eyes filled with worry.

“You’re good, Y/N.” He nodded, his hand guarding his side where you had just nudged him.

You lie back down next to him and the two of you listened to the harmony of the crickets play in the forest, the occasional dragging of a nearby walker. Daryl’s ears picked up on the dead giveaway of the dead, your hand cupped his, “They can’t get in…this place is actually pretty secure, not too easy to get inside.” You whispered, careful not to risk being too loud.

“For the dead,” he began but he saw in the moonlight the way your eyebrows furrowed down, “it ain’t easy to get inside…hell I was half dead when I wandered straight through that door.” His low, tired voice sent shockwaves through your body and goosebumps to erupt on your exposed skin.

“Well, you weren’t the quietest so I could hear you coming in.” You bantered back with him. This is nice, you thought; you had forgotten what it was like to be with a live person, a good person. “Okay,” you sighed, “We’ve got a long way for you to go tomorrow so, let’s get some rest…” 

___

The warm ray of sunshine burst through the dusty window on the front door onto your face. Your eyes fluttered open, you rubbed your eyes from the sleep that still hung there, “Morning.” Daryl’s voice hummed, “You snore you know that?” Half of his mouth curled up into a playful smile.

“I assume you’re feeling better; still look like hell though.” You teased and twisted around to kneel and begin to roll the blanket up for your journey.

“Still catching up on your beauty sleep too?” He said sarcastically and tossed you a rope to tie up the blanket to your backpack.

“Ready, Daryl?” You said tying the knot in expert time.

___

“It’s just down this road about eight and a half or so miles.” You pointed, his eyes bugged out a little at the normally reasonable number but it seemed impossible in his condition at this time. “Hey, we can stop and take breaks whenever you need to, okay…how about we go halfway and set up a small camp, I can change your bandages and we can do the rest tomorrow?” You suggested, he remained silent but he nodded. You took his hand into yours and began your journey to get the antibiotics that he needed, hand-in-hand.

“Why’d you say no?” Daryl asked  you after about twenty minutes of walking slowly together down the long road.

You jumped slightly at the sudden rumble of his deep voice, you looked over to him, “What do you—Oh, Negan.” You nodded. “That man’s a monster…he means well with some things but he just—” you rambled, “He just doesn’t know when it is enough, goes too far.” You looked straight ahead again, gazing down the long road that you still had to walk down. “How are you feeling?” You changed the subject.

He grunted, “I’m good, little unsteady but I can make it. Could use some water though…”

You reached into the mesh side pocket of your pack, “Shit.” You muttered, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You frowned heavily as you turned the water bottle upside down and nothing but a couple drops of water dripped from the lip of the bottle. “Daryl, I’m sorry…I must have not closed it tight enough or something.”

“I’m sure there’s a stream around here or something; we’ll find something.” He swung an arm around your shoulder.

You smiled quaintly to him and reveled in the most physical contact that you’ve had since before you turned Negan down. “You’re group must be worried sick,” he tilted his eyebrow to you in silent confusion, “Nice guy like you…you are most definitely missed.” Your heart fluttered within your glistening chest and you internally rolled your eyes at your comment.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen them for a couple weeks.” He revealed to you, a small drop of sweat hung on his forehead. “shit, it’s getting hot already; how much longer do we have to go yet?” He said scrunching his nose in acute pain that began to sting as the sweat moistened his bandages.

“Uh, maybe about half way there or so…let’s take a break, maybe find some water, set up camp for the night and I can change out your dressings.” You suggested to him.

“Yeah, that sounds good, Y/N.” He nodded.

The two of you walked down the road a couple yards more before veering off of the road down the small hill into the woods that lined both sides of the road. “This should do, you think?” You settled your hands on your hips and blew a hair from your face and pointed, “Should be easy to make a perimeter around here, set up in the middle,” you took a few steps into your venue for your home for the night, “here.”

Daryl’s eyes were bloodshot and his skin was moist and pale, his shaky arm was resting on a slender tree trunk; your voice muffled within his ears but he grunted in agreement to whatever you were going on about.

“Hey,” you clapped your hands, “you going to pass out?” You said wrapping your arms around his body, “you’re going to pass out, okay. Over here.” You said, hoisting his body slightly as you helped him move to rest on a large, fallen, rotten tree. “You’re dehydrated.” You said cupping his scruffy cheeks in attempt to focus his attention onto you.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.” He groaned, nodding his head.

“I know you are, but you need to stay awake for a little for me okay?” You raised your voice and began blocking him in, attempting to hide and barricade him on the tree he was sitting on. “There’s a stream about a mile into the woods, I need you to stay awake until I get back, Daryl.”

“You’re not going alone, it’s too dangerous—what if something happens to you.” His voice croaked in his dry mouth and his eyes fluttered slightly.

“Here.” You said, giving him his knife back, “Use this on whatever that tries to kill you, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He nodded, his eyelids becoming increasingly heavier and heavier.

___

“Wake up!” You shook his shoulder, “I have water, here—” you shot backwards as Daryl’s sweaty hand emerged and swung around wildly in the air. “Daryl! It’s me, Y/N!” You said calmly in attempt to get him to realize it was you instead of a walker.

“Y/N?” His deep voice sounded thick with hesitation, his voice was followed by his body that rounded the edge of the trees. You nodded and held up the full bottle of water to him, “shit—I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking—”

“It’s okay, you were probably just having a mild hallucination from the dehydration,” you elaborated and sat on the dead tree, “Come on.” You patted the spot next to him, “Let me take another look at you.”

“Thanks.” He grunted deeply and took a long gulp of the water, sitting next to you. “You know,” he said as you helped him peel off his shirt to expose his numerous bandages, “After we ran into Negan, I didn’t think there was anyone else like us left alive.” His chest tightened with your fingertips picking the edges of his largest bandage.

You chuckled slightly to yourself, “Yeah, I guess there isn’t that many of us anymore.” You agreed, “Sorry.” You smiled up to him, “This is going to hurt a bit more, take a deep breath.” Your hand peeled off the last bandage, you leaned down so you had a better look at him to assess the wounds healing.

“How does it look?” He asked you with a hint of nervousness inside its density.

“Um, good…” you bugged your eyes out slightly, “You’re definitely going to need those antibiotics though…” you laughed and grabbed your backpack, rummaging into to it, retrieving your supplies.

Daryl’s pure blue eyes admired you silently when you were organizing your things before you dressed him again. His heart skipped in his chest and a cheeky smile crept onto his unshaven face. “What?” Your voice and sudden eye contact with him snapped him from the warm thoughts in his mind and made his eyes bug out slightly.

“Nothing.” He said shifting his gaze from your eyes.

You rolled your eyes at him and gently pushed his knee, “Daryl, what is it?” You furrowed your eyebrows at him, kneeling down by the tree he was perched on.

He hesitated and it was like you could tell he was trying to think of how to form his thoughts into a sentence, “No one’s ever cared about me. Especially like this. I ain’t used to it.” He confessed.

Your eyes lingered in his for a moment, “I’m sorry.” You whispered and stood up to your feet, sighing, “good news,” you faked a smile, “you’ll be good to go on your own in a couple of days, you’ll be all healed up then you can find your way back to your group.” Your smile faded a little at the thought.

“And what's gonna to happen to you? You said you don’t have anyone…” he grunted deeply in his throat.

You avoided his eyes, zipping the backpack closed, "I guess I'll just go back to moving around… and”

"Stay with us.” He interrupted.

“What?!” You said immediately in response to his outlandish proposal.

“You can stay with us, they’ll love you like I do—” his own voice stunning him. Your head snapped around to him quickly, “I mean—how much you take care of me.” He nodded in attempt to convince himself along with you.

“Oh,” you furrowed your eyebrows and shook your head from the timid thoughts you were having about what he actually meant. “I don’t know, I mean, I haven’t been in a group for a while and you guys seem to be close; I don’t think that’s for me anymore—” you finished.

“Think about it…okay?” He grunted and stood to his feet, you nodded in response.

The two of you worked on setting up a quaint camp for the night, Daryl doing the lighter contributions due to his injuries in the beginning stages of healing. You blocked off a perimeter and built a small circle of rocks to make a pit for a fire to cook and boil water. The tranquil sound of the woods slowly drowned out by your overwhelming thoughts of being with a group again and actually belonging somewhere.

The sun began to lower from its highest point in the sky, the rays of light shimmering down onto the forest floor where you were attempting to form a trap.

“Here.” Daryl said sitting beside you.

You smiled slightly back to him and then turned back to your hands fiddling with the sticks and twine, “I got it, Daryl. You should be resting for the rest of the trip tomorrow.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that you can do it, I’m just trying to return the favor; let me help you like you’ve helped me.” He held out his hand, gently brushing onto yours, “Please.” He smiled at you, making butterflies swirl around in your empty stomach.

You giggled, “Okay,” you said handing it to him, “I guess your Momma did teach you manners after all.” You joked.

A chuckle rumbled in his scruffy throat and his hands began to tie the twine tightly, your eyes watched his hands working but it wasn’t long before your mind began to think about what else that man’s hands could do…

His muffled voice started to become more clear and you blinked away your thoughts, “Y/N…are you okay?” His eyes wandered into yours.

“Yeah, I’m good.” You said lacing your fingers together and bringing your knees up towards your chest.

“Here, put this about a hundred yards down there,” his finger pointed to a thin trail that was etched into the woods, “Now, don’t walk straight down there, just keep your eyes on it and walk beside it then set the trap up. Like this.” He told you and showed you how to set the trap to hopefully capture some food for the both of you.

___

Night time fell over your camp quickly, the small flames of the fire cast a light hue of orange on your faces. The musical sounds of the crickets filled the night air, breaking any silence. “I can take the first watch, you need sleep.”

Your heavy eyes blinked slowly, “Okay, but only for a couple hours.” You adjusted, making yourself comfortable on the dirt ground of the forest.

___

Your eyes fluttered open, the harmony of crickets was replaced by the sweet sounds of birds chirping, you shot up in realization, “Daryl!” You shouted, your heart jumping into your throat.

He stepped out from behind a tree, zipping his pants back up, “There she is.” he smiled and hobbled over to you.

You were quick to your feet, “What the hell were you thinking?!” You shouted at him, making his smile fade instantly.

“You needed to sleep, so I let you!” He defended.

“What if something happened, Daryl?” You shouted, tossing your arms up in the air instead of shoving him. “Or what if you fell asleep too and walkers came to camp or Negan found us—”

“Yeah, well he didn’t!” He raised his deep voice at you, “And nothing happened so I don’t know why you’re all upset at me lettin’ you sleep!”

“Unbelievable.” You scoffed, packing everything up again, “and to think I thought you were different…” you muttered under your breath, latching the buckle shut.

“What did you say?” He tipped his head down.

“Did you check the trap; you’ll need something to eat…” you changed the subject. He hesitated for a brief moment, “I’ll check it.” You said storming past him.

You returned shortly with a small rabbit in your hand, “Here.” You dropped it in his lap before walking past him where he sat by the small fire that he tended to.

“Aren’t you havin’ any.”

“Nope. Not hungry.” You said shortly.

He expertly skinned the rabbit and slowly turned it over the fire cooking it, “I’m sorry.” He said quietly, you looked at him with his hand extended out to you. You stood up and grabbed the meat from him and took a large bite making him chuckle slightly. The two of you ate in silence for a little while, it wasn’t long before the two of you ate it all because the rabbit was fairly small.

“Do you need me to change your bandage before we leave?” You inquired, swallowing the last bit of rabbit with a gulp of water.

“Nah, I can wait until we get there; you said it’s not long until we get there anyway, right?” He said picking at his fingernails.

“Yeah, about an hours walk from here if we take the road; ready?” You asked.

___

“How are you doing?” You asked him as he slowed his pace down, “Do you need some water? We can stop if you need to.”

“No, I’m okay; just a little sore, that’s all.”

You walked beside him and grabbed his hand, lacing your fingers in with his, “It’s just up here, then you can go back to your group.” You cleared your throat, “Without me.��� He didn’t say anything but you noticed his grip on your hand got tighter.

The two of you walked a half a mile hand in hand in complete silence, the road veered off to the left and the trees cleared for a long building that used to be a strip of stores and businesses. “Here we are.”

“A veterinarian’s office?”

“Yeah, most medications are the pretty much the same; most people don’t know that so it should have what you need.” You said looking over your shoulder, walking towards the door retrieving your weapon and tapping on the glass section on the door.

After waiting a couple minutes for any walkers inside to come to the door where you just tapped, “Look’s like no one’s home.” You turned the knob to the door but it was locked; you took the end of your blade and smashed it through the glass, reached in and unlocked the door.

“Sit here, I’ll be right back.” You said, smiling to him before you wandered the isles and trailed your hand along the shelves, grabbing the supplies and medicine that you needed and put it in the red plastic shopping basket.

___

It wasn’t long before you returned to the front counter with the basket full of medical supplies for Daryl. “Take one of these, three times a day,” you said placing a white medication bottle on the counter, the contents rattling inside, “And take one of these in the morning for two weeks.” You looked up and he was staring intently at your face, memorizing it.

“You got it, Doc.” He grunted and tugged his shirt over his head, “thanks.” His tone tinged with pain.

You furrowed your eyebrows in response to his voice, but your brushed it off and peeled away his bandages and began to clean them. You could feel butterflies doing their dance inside of your stomach again, “What is it Daryl?” You asked not looking away from the task at hand.

“I think you should stay.” He responded.

“Daryl,” you sighed and sat back, making eye contact with him, “We already talked about it—”

“There’s an empty house you can stay in,” he continued, you leaned forward and resumed your work again, “if you don’t like it you are free to leave whenever…just stay, please.” His voice pleaded for your agreement, “They would be so grateful to meet the woman who saved my life, when I get back.” He paused, “We could need you there too, we don’t have anyone who knows half as much as you do anymore.”

You finished taping the last bandage secure to his abdomen, “There.” You said.

His heart dropped inside his chest, he looked down to the three large gauze patched on his bruised belly and nodded softly.

“I’m sorry, Daryl.” You whispered rubbing his knee gently.

“Yeah,” he paused looking at your hand on his knee then up to your face. The heartbreak in his eyes ate away at yours own, tears pricked the corners of your eyes.

You sprung up and cleared your throat, “Well, I guess this is it then.” You said turning away to wipe the small accumulation of tears that threatened to expose your true feelings about that man. You turned around to him to help him up but you were stunned when he wrapped his arms around your waist and presses his lips onto yours.

Your heart leaped within your chest, your hands easily found their way to the back of his neck, like they were going to where they were always meant to be. You kissed him back deeply, full of passion, his tongue teased your bottom lip gently asking for acceptance; you submitted and the kiss deepened, his hands wandered your body from your waist and settled on your ass.

You broke the kiss and he pressed his head on your forehead, “I—I can’t Daryl, I’m sorry.” You whispered, slipping away from his grip and grabbing your bag. “Here is where you need to go…” you pointed on a map that you sprawled out on the surface of the desk.

“Come with me.” He pressed, “you said it yourself, it’s dangerous for me to be out there on my own,” his eyes searched yours making your heart skip a beat. His hand gently made its way on top of yours, “Just a couple of days so you can rest.”

You flipped your hand over so you could intertwine your fingers with his, he smiled as he felt you squeeze his hand slightly, “Okay.” You nodded.

___

The two of you journeyed back to Alexandria over the next three days and two nights, you had stopped and made camp in abandoned buildings and scavenged what you could. The days that you spent together on the road was fun, Daryl taught you some hunting tips and you monitored his wounds.

“How am I looking, Doc?” He asked when you changed his bandages again.

“Really good actually,” you paused and changed the bandages faster because he was healing beautifully, “Those antibiotics are working great!” You paused, “How’s the pain?”

“Not so bad, I can tell I’m getting better but there’s still some pain.” He admitted, sliding on his shirt again. 

You leaned down and kissed his mouth sweetly, “Better?” You asked leaving your face inches away from his.

“Much better.” He smiled, rubbing your cheek with his thumb.

You quickly kissed him one more time before standing up straight again, “We’re almost home, right?”

“Yeah, about a half a day’s walk.” He paused, “I think we can make it before nightfall if we leave now.”

___ “Here we are.” He rubbed his thumb across the back of your hand nervously, “You ready, Y/N?” With the gentle squeeze of his hand the two of you walked out of the tree line and towards the gate of Alexandria.

“Holy shit!” Rosita said from the watch post, “Rick!” She shouted over her shoulder when she saw who was approaching the community, “Open the gate!” She ordered Eugene as she descended the ladder.

Rick’s attention was fixed on Rosita and the opening gate, the pistol bouncing in the holster against his leg as he came running; the other survivors emerged towards the growing commotion. “What is it? Negan?” His face hard with concern.

Rosita smiled happily, “Look!” She motioned with her arms out of the gate. Rick walked over towards the entrance and stopped in his tracks.

“Daryl?” He whispered, watching his face become more clear as he walked closer. Rick walked out of the community and closer to Daryl, the gap closing. Daryl let go of your hand and quickened his pace.

Rick’s eyes widened, his arms wrapping around his brother, “I thought you were dead.” He released Daryl, “Negan came here, looking for you; said you escaped, I thought—”

“I did.” Daryl interrupted, “Lucky enough for me, I found her.” He nodded to where you were standing a few yards back from where they reunited. “Her name is, Y/N; she saved my life. I got the shit kicked out of me just before I got out of Negan’s and my dumb ass stumbled into her and she fixed me up, gave me medicine…she’s good Rick.” He finished.

Rick placed a hand on Daryl’s shoulder, “I trust you, brother; welcome home.” He smiled then walked past Daryl over to you.

“Welcome to Alexandria. I’m Rick Grimes, Daryl tells me you saved his life; I cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done for him.” He reached out his hand from his hip.

You shook his hand, “Nice to meet you, Rick. I’m Y/N, it was great to know that there’s good people still out there…”

“You’re welcome to stay for as long as you want here, Y/N.” He smiled and the two of you walked back over to where Daryl was watching on.

“Thank you.” You smiled, Daryl took your hand in his once more, Rick smiled to himself when he saw this.

___

“This is where you can stay while you’re here.” Rick said, “I’m right over there in that house, the others are in that one there.” He pointed, “If you need anything, Y/N, please don’t hesitate to ask.” He smiled, “I’ll let you get settled in, I’m having dinner at my house; you’re welcome to come.” He patted your shoulder before walking away.

You walked up the stairs and opened the door, your eyes wandered the very clean interior of the model home that was all yours; it was weird, it was like the end of the world didn’t exist in this community; everyone was happy, clean and well fed…something you thought died when the world did.

You made your way into the kitchen and set the box of necessities that were given to you by Rick and the others, You brought your hand up and curiously flicked the handle of the sink faucet. Your eyes widened when the water generously poured from the opening, “Holy shit!” You exclaimed. You turned it off and ran upstairs and opened every door trying to find the master bathroom.

You turned on the water to the hottest setting and viciously ripped off your bloody, dirty clothes and hopped into the shower. You sighed heavily as the hot water washed over your body, the sweat, dirt and blood began to puddle before swirling down the drain.

You leaned your head back and relished in the warm water that rained down over your tired muscles.

“Y/N?” A man’s voice echoed through the minimally furnished home.

You shut off the water of the shower, “Hello?” You shouted once you realized that you were without a towel to cover up with.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Daryl said coming around the corner, “Oh, sorry.” He stood there, his eyes fixed on your wet, clean body. He cleared his throat, “Oh, here. I brought you a towel…” he said averting his eyes and handing you the fresh white towel.

“Thanks.” You said, wrapping it around your body, “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering if you were settling in okay or if you needed anything.” He said internally battling himself to not let his eyes roll over every curve of your body.

“Yeah, it’s nice here…it’s perfect, actually.” You said, wringing out your wet hair that was leaving small rivers to run down your shoulders and into the crevasse of your breasts. 

“All right, I can get that, I’ll just leave it in the kitchen for you then… I, uh, I’ll see you—”

You pressed up onto your toes and kissed him, “…at Rick’s later for dinner.”

___

You picked out some clothes from the box that Daryl had placed in the kitchen, you settled for some shorts and a black tank top with a grey and white flannel that you tied around your waist. The sun was beginning to set on the first day that you were living in the community of Alexandria, it was just about time for you to meet the rest of Daryl’s group over dinner at Rick’s place.

You walked across the street towards the house with the warm glow of family and fresh smell of spaghetti aroma seeping from the open windows, the muffled chatter mixed with laughter echoed slightly off of the steel walls of Alexandria. You nervously knocked on the door and you heard the inside fall quiet.

The door opened and there you saw Daryl, a smile on his face, “Hey, you look great.” He stepped backwards allowing you to walk into the threshold of the home, “They’re all excited to meet you.” He said placing his palm on your lower back.

“Everyone this is Y/N. Y/N this is everyone.” Daryl motioned to his family who sat around the large table, their faces warm with wide, welcoming smiles.

“Welcome, Y/N.” Carol said, handing her a plate with a pile of food on it, “Have a seat.” She nodded to an empty chair that was next to Daryl’s.

“So, Y/N. What did you do before all of this?” Rick asked as everyone began their meal.

You set down your glass of water and wiped your mouth, “I used to be a nurse, I worked on a medical-surgical unit for a couple of years then I moved to the emergency room a couple of months before the end.” You told them, “When I found him,” you jutted your elbow out to nudge Daryl’s, “He was in pretty rough shape from Negan.”

The mention of his name turned the room on edge, “How do you know Negan?” Rick set his elbows on the table top.

“I used to live there and work for him as a nurse.” You remained completely transparent with them, “He said I got too close to the patients and told me I would have to marry him or leave…so I left.” There was a break in the tension when you finished your story about how you knew Negan. “I’m sorry for whatever he did to anyone else; what he did to Daryl…” your voice trailed, “I’m sorry.”

Daryl grabbed your hand, “It’s not your fault, none of it was.” Everyone smiled and resumed eating.

The rest of the night went on without a problem, the group welcomed you into their family. You learned about everyone and how they all ended up here at Alexandria and why they chose to stay there and put down some roots. Dinner was concluded and you began to gather up the dishes, you brought the large pile of empty plates into the kitchen and set them in the sink.

“It was great meeting you, Y/N. It seems like you fit in well around here; especially with Daryl.” Carol said turning on the faucet and begin washing the dishes, “I haven’t seen him smile like that in years.”

“Thank you, Carol.” You said feeling your cheeks flush a bright pink, “He’s a good guy.”

“I got it from here, Y/N. Thanks for the help.” Carol smiled sweetly to you, “Daryl’s outside waiting to walk you home.”

___

“Hey there.” You said, tucking your hands into the back pockets of your shorts.

“Hey.” He grunted, “C’mere.” He said, grabbing your shoulder and bringing you into his body closely and kissed the top of your head. You wrapped your arms around his body and inhaled deeply. “Want me to walk you home?” You nodded into this chest.

His arm gently perched on top of your shoulders, “Well, this is me.” You laughed and turned towards him. Your eyes sparked when they met his again in the moonlight of Alexandria, his eyes sparkled as he looked down at you. You could feel the tension rising between the two of you, it had been growing ever since you met him about a week ago in Reed’s General Store.

You cleared your throat, “You need them changed again or uh, how are you feeling?” You shook your head at how awkward you sounded.

He chuckled and gently caressed your cheek, “I feel a lot better when I’m with you.” He paused, taking your face in his hands; slowly and gently kissing your lips tenderly.

Things picked up when you wrapped your hands around his neck, he allowed his hands to slide down your sides ever so slowly and settle on your hips, gently squeezing them. You took control and turned him so his back was pressing on the door to your new home, your hand left his neck and pushed the handle down and you swung the door open.

Once inside, Daryl broke the kiss so you could close the door behind you. His rough hands pulled the hem of your tank top up, you took the hint and raised your hands allowing him to slide it over your head and down onto the floor. You eagerly tore at each other’s clothes as you kissed passionately while you ascended the staircase, stumbling a couple of times and laughing into each other’s mouths.

Daryl trailed down the sides of your hips and under your ass, lifting slightly. You returned your hands to the back of his neck and hopped up slightly to wrap your legs around his waist. You broke the kiss and looked deeply into his eyes, “Are you okay, Daryl?”

He kissed you again before answering, “Perfect.” He entered the room, carrying you over to the bed, gently laying you down on the fresh linens that were tightly tucked over the mattress. His body pressed over yours in the most heavenly way possible. His hands tangled with yours and brought them over your head, pinning you down underneath him.

His hips ground down onto yours making you moan, you could feel his lips curl up in satisfaction. “You like that?” His lustful voice sounded more rough than it normally was. You bucked your hips up frantically needing more friction and nodded your head rapidly. He let out a deep, throaty chuckle that sent a shockwave through your body and settled in your moistening core.

You could feel his hardening member through the thin fabric of his boxers, his lips became absent of yours and began to pepper sloppy kisses on your jaw and down your neck making you squirm, “Please Daryl, I need you.” You moaned into his ear. His hands roughly squeezed your breast, you arched your back giving him access to your clasp of your bra. His other hand reached underneath and flicked it open easily.

“You’re so beautiful, Y/N.” He said taking in you sip by sip, his eye drowning in your exposed breasts. His mouth skimmed down the center of your chest, veering over to one of your nipples, taking it in his mouth. His tongue flicked over the nub as he sucked; his other hand tweaked your other nipple in his fingers.

“Daryl!” You moaned through your breath that hitched in your throat by his touch, the wetness beginning to seep into your panties. “Please, Daryl.” You begged.

“You’re so fucking beautiful when you say my name.” He hovered over you and kissed you sloppily, your hands clawed down his chest, stomach and entering the lip of his boxers. He moaned into your mouth at your gentle touch on his cock as you agonizingly moved your hands up and down his length slowly.

You adjusted your hips and wrapped your legs around his waist and squeezed slightly, pressing himself harder onto you. His hands pulled down your panties and he gripped the base of his dick in his hand and pressed onto your clit, rubbing it roughly making you moan again and involuntarily buck your hips for more, “You want this?” He asked you, his head inches away from yours. 

You nodded, looking into his crystal blue eyes, “Yes, Daryl.” Without a second thought he pressed into you, squeezing his eye shut in pleasure at how you felt on him; you squeezed his shoulders as the burning sensation faded as your body got used to his girth. You moaned sweetly when he began to move slowly in and out of you, his mouth pressed to yours, kissing you lovingly.

“You feel so fucking good, Y/N.” He mumbled onto your lips, “So wet and tight,” he kissed you between his words, “I’m not going to last long.”

“Then you better fuck me right then or we’ll have to try it again.” You said breathlessly, moving your hips in sync with his. His length rubbed against you in the right spot making you moan loudly as you began to feel the warmth build in your center. “Faster.” You clawed your fingers into his hips.

He leaned on his elbows and moved his hips at a faster pace, he looked down to watch himself disappearing into you, “Fuck!” He exclaimed and tipped his hips hitting into you harder, “You’re pussy feels so good around my cock, Y/N.” He grunted, quickening his pace even faster, his hands balling up in the sheets. You moaned his name loudly and leaned your head back; his lips attacked the exposed flesh on your neck, gently nipping and suckling at the sensitive skin.

“Oh my God, Daryl! I’m going to come, I’m close baby!” You screamed, hooking your arms under his on either side of you and dug your fingernails into his back so hard that there were sure to be marks there the next day.

“Come with me, Y/N.” He kissed you and looked into your eyes, thrusting into your soaking center at a hard, animalistic pace. 

You squeezed your eyes shut tightly as the red hot coil snapped inside of you sending you into the euphoric high of your own climax, you walls clenching down on Daryl’s cock that was still thrusting into you. You clawed harshly at his back and he kissed you gently as he rode you through your high to reach his own.

“Shit, Y/N!” He moaned and sank deep into you as he began spilling inside of you, the warmth you felt made you moan along with him as he kissed you sweetly; a contrast to what your first time making love with Daryl was like.

He pulled out of you and rolled over to his back, his arm bringing you closely to his side. “Wow.” He said catching his breath.

You snuggled your head on his chest as he rubbed your arm, “Yeah, wow.” You smiled and caught your breath as well.

There was a silence that grew between the two of you that normally would have been awkward because of the tension between the both of you but that didn’t exist anymore. The silence was sweet, you both marveled in the company of each other, your breaths becoming in sync with each other.

Daryl broke the silence, “What I said in the woods three days after I met you, I meant it…” his tone low and soft.

“What are you talking about?” You moved your head so you were looking at his face, the stream of blue moonlight gently washed over his perfect face.

“I love you, I meant it then and I mean it now.” He cleared his throat and kissed you gingerly.

“As scary and crazy as it seems… I love you too, Daryl. Saving you was what I was supposed to do; falling for you was a choice.” You whispered, “I was alone and not far from being broken when I found you…fixing you, fixed me.”

“And I would do it all over again for you, Y/N. I was close to dying and you you saved me…you make me feel alive in a world full of the dead.” He squeezed you tightly to his body and the two of you drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

[themangledsans0508]

@mindless-pidgeon lol I was supposed to be working but instead I finished this

Um quite a bit of blood so watch out for that

It was worth a shot, Mal thought to herself. She was lying on her back in the dirt, ferns clinging to her body as she felt the warm blood seep into the ground surrounding her from a bite in her legs. She had no idea what that thing was, both what it shapeshifted into once again and what it was naturally. Just a huge wolf, this time it was even bigger.

She didn’t feel anything. Emotion-wise, that is. Her back hurt like someone had broken her spine right in half, her arms burned from the scratches she received during her attempted escape and her legs…

God her legs.

They were coated in blood, both having been bitten and stabbed by sticks and rocks and anything with a damn point on the end. She had been dragged by her legs to her current position and it felt like her legs were nerves that got irritated at any touch.

So a lot of touch was really fucking painful.

She didn’t even know if she was even gonna live to make it to the monster’s destination. She didn’t know how she felt about that. 

 However, she was at peace with the fact she was going to die.

On the one hand, she really didn’t care. It was like running from the monster under your bed before you finally meet it face to face. It’s far scarier when it’s unknown. She was staring death in the face.

And she was laughing at her. She was laughing at death.

She didn’t think anyone would remember she fell off that cliff. Nobody would come looking for her. She had even driven her own murderer away before the job was finished. 

Did she hate herself? Meh. Not all of her, but probably a fair amount. However, she had always been scared of dying.

Of being forgotten.

Now she had come to terms with it. 

She looked up at the sun for the last time.

It was almost as bright as someone’s laugh had made her feel.

That girl could make her truly smile, to forget all her fears. 

She had dated others before, but she was different.

Molly was different.

The clock in her head stopped ticking.

She closed her eyes.

~

Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Twenty.

The clock in her head starting ticking again.

Started beeping.

She refused to die here.

She didn’t believe in god besides when he was useful in her cussing, but maybe she did believe in fate. There was a reason this had happened, she had come to this camp, she had met those fellow girls, and she had fallen in love. She was ready to start throwing around the “L-word”.

She knew she couldn’t get up, but she could keep breathing and wait. She wasn’t even going to try to get up. She may be strong enough to live, but she wasn’t in one of Ripley’s animes.

She heard distant gunfire and cussing. Lots of cussing.

Who the hell owned a gun in these words? Everyone just had hatches and bows.

Wait. There is someone with a gun. She remembered. Trampling and more gunfire came from the surrounding forest, closing in upon her.

“I wasn’t looking for a maniac! I was just looking for directions!” She recognized the voice, but the fear was unusual for something that had tried to murder her. She glimpsed the large dark mass leap past her line of sight.

“You found me anyways, fox! You want directions? Ask the Grootslang!” The voice was feminine and powerful. And another she recognized. 

Abigail ran in fast pursuit of the fox, shotgun in hand and in the process of reloading.

“Hey,” Mal called as loud as she could. Abigail froze and scanned the area, eventually laying eyes upon Mal. She cussed and ran over, dropping to the ground right beside her.

“What happened kid? What’s your name?” Her voice was soft but infuriated. Mal assumed about either her condition or the fact that the fox had gotten away.

“Hey. Um. Name’s Mal. I’m one of the Roanokes. The ones who tried to stop you from waking the Grootslang?” Mal’s voice trailed off. She didn’t first think that maybe when your life depended on the kindness of a psycho, you shouldn’t bring up the fact that you were previously her adversary.

“Roanokes? You’re a Lumberjane then.” Abigail seemingly chose to ignore the rest of her statement, which Mal respected and appreciated. 

“Yeah. I kinda got into some trouble and-”

“I can see that. What were you doing out here by yourself?” Mal thought of how to answer that. She didn’t know this woman, besides the fact that she may have been dating Rosie at one point. 

“I fell off a cliff,” she said. It wasn’t the full truth, but not a lie either.

“This doesn’t come from falling off a cliff. What did those bite marks come from? A wolf? A bear? Tell me Mal.” Mal sighed.

“A weird shape-shifting fox thing,” she confessed. “The same thing you were hunting.”

“She doesn’t usually cause harm herself. Did she say anything?” Abigail inquired.

“She was doing someone a ‘favor.’ I don’t know who,” she said. Abigail nodded.

“Alright. You need help. That’s a fact. My cabin is too far away to carry you in this state. However, if I remember correctly, the Lumberjanes camp is that way.” She pointed north. “Correct?”

“Uh, I actually don’t know,” Mal mumbled. “I got kind of disoriented in the process of ending up here, so, maybe?” 

Abigail pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed deeply.

“Okay, well then we’re going with my gut instinct.” Abigail bent down and gingerly picked Mal up, sending searing pain through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and held in a scream. 

“Alright, let’s go.”

~

Molly was hearing things.

Upon discovering the mess of red, Molly had briefly collapsed. Rosie remained as determined as ever, insisting that Mal was alive. She decided they split up, Rosie and Jen, and Molly and Nellie. She wasn’t blind to the fact that they hoped it would distract her, that she would be so preoccupied with asking questions that she would be able to get her off track while Rosie did the real heavy lifting.

Unfortunately for them, it didn’t work.

Molly ran through the woods, Nellie on her heels instead of the other way around. Molly hadn’t asked any questions, and Nellie had no sarcastic comments to make to the girl.

She could hear things, voices surrounding her. The trees themselves spoke to her. They told her directions, right, forward, left, back. She could sense animals that had meant harm avoiding her. She could even feel the portals to the other dimensions around her.

Then she saw a light.

And she ran straight towards it.

~

Nellie struggled to understand how people felt so attached to others.

Maybe it was because she was always a person who preferred to be alone. Maybe it was because she would rather deal with things herself, and let everyone else deal with their problems, or maybe it was because the only thing she truly cared about was these woods.

This camp.

This girl.

There was something different about her, she could tell. It was written on her. Rosie could see it, Abigail could see it, she could see it herself. The girl, Molly, could only feel it.

But there were other things that could see it too. Things that want to use it to remove the seal that kept these woods away from the rest of the world.

Despite all of this, she was different even for a guardian. Nellie herself would readily admit that she could use magic, but that doesn’t mean every guardian can. Molly, however, could use magic even better that she could. 

If she knew, that was.

Perhaps she felt obliged to care about her, perhaps she felt bad for her, perhaps she saw a bit of herself in her.

Whatever it was, she wanted to help this kid.

But, she couldn’t help this if she kept running into every dangerous situation she saw.

For instance, running into that area of woods.

His area.

“What do you think you’re doin’ girl?” She was lucky she was part bear, otherwise, she couldn’t keep up with that kid. She took off running after the stream of blonde, taking notice of the fact that wherever she stepped, the ground seemed to instantaneously die. 

~

Although she felt like she was burning to ashes, Mal was still awake and could see the sea of green pass above her as Abigail raced through the forest. Clinging as tightly as she could in her current state she held to Abigail’s back. She felt dizzy for several reasons, blood loss being a major one. Abigail was strong, but she couldn’t run as fast as either of them wanted.

She suddenly stopped, nearly slipping in her haste. She looked into the abyss of plants, her eyes fixed on something Mal could not see.

“There’s someone coming,” she said flatly. She carefully stepped towards the object of her interest, before freezing once again.

A burst of blonde dived out of the woods, eyes fixed solely on Abigail. Mal recognized her the moment she emerged from the dark.

Molly, with small scratches littering her body from dashing through the woods, stood directly in front of Abigail with anger and fear dominating her eyes.

“Molly!” Mal called. Her voice was weak, but she could hear her.

“Mal!” She rushed towards Abigail.

“You. Let. Her. Go. Now!” She demanded. Mal let go of Abigail’s back with one hand, loosely holding it in front of them.

“Molly! Wait! She saved me. It’s not her fault. But, um, Abigail? Could you let me down? I might be able to walk.” Abigail nodded, gently crouching down and releasing her. Mal tried to get a firm grip on the ground, but immediately almost fell back into the dirt. Abigail’s firm grip kept her upright. She turned to Molly.

“You might want to help her, I don’t want to leave her trying to stand by herself.” She nodded and rushed over, carefully wrapping her arms around Mal’s waist. Mal felt warmth flood to her face, being touched in any way by someone you really love can make you blush.

She learned that fast after meeting Molly.

~

Molly held Mal tightly like she was the only rope holding her up from falling in hell. She was never letting her go again. Metaphorically, that is. She felt tears escape the prison she had locked them. She closed her eyes and rested her head atop Mal’s. If Mal hadn’t been in danger, she would have wished the moment could last forever.

~

Nellie emerged from the woods at last. She wanted to see how the girl would handle it. But god, did she hate tears. She approached Abigail silently, before turning back to a human and resting her hand on her arm.

“You did good, girl. But don’t think for a second this means you can do whatever you want in these here woods!” She scolded, removing her hand and crossing her arms.

“You old bat! She would have died if I hadn’t come along! I should hang you up and-” she took a deep breath. “Thank you. For the compliment.”

Nellie nodded, a silent understanding embracing the two.

“Your girl is on the other side of the woods if you want to see her. I know you watch her from the woods, kid.” Abigail clenched her fists.

“Thank you, grandma,” She sneered and rushed off before Nellie could give her a lashing with her words. She turned back to a grizzly and approached the girls.

~

Sutela watched from the treetops, careful not to be seen. True, she was a small fox at the moment, but that old hag could recognize her if she was a rock. She lost the girl, the only thing the boss wanted. On the flip side, she found someone with even more potent energy to her than the flannel girl. He’d want to hear about that. She carefully lept from the trees back to her home and her boss, where she hoped she could make up for her failure.

~

Mal woke up at last. Coated in bandages and under bunk-arrest, she couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. She had slept for a while, exhausted and scarred (literally) from the adventure.

She didn’t know how Rosie managed to convince her mom that nothing had actually happened, and it had simply been a nightmare. That took talent. Or drugs.

Lots of drugs.

She breathed deeply. The warmth of her bunk reflecting on her body and making her feel safe.

Until the door creaked open.

She felt panic fill her body. Everyone was supposed to be at activities, it couldn’t be one of her cabin-mates.

“Mal?”

Or maybe it could.

Molly stepped into the cabin, carefully closing the door behind her. She came and knelt next to Mal’s bunk. She reached her hand out and placed it on her cheek.

“Are you okay?” She nodded and moved over, patting the bunk to invite her on. 

Molly complied, carefully climbing onto the bunk and laying on her side adjacent to Mal. She reached out and pulled Mal towards her so their foreheads were touching and intertwined their legs.

“Mal, I-” She squeezed her eyes shut, breathing raggedly. “I thought you had died.” Mal laughed weakly and moved one hand to hold hers.

“I did too. Molly, when I was out there, I think I almost died. And not to be sappy but, I think it was you that helped me hang on. I was about the throw in the towel, and I did. For like a half-hour, it was just dark. Then I realized I had to try and live because I had to see you again. “ She felt tears slide down her face as she spoke. She tried to keep her voice from cracking as she continued.

“I thought about you and the fact that I-I love you. Like I’ve said that before to other girls when I dated them, but you’re different. I think about things with you routinely that would have never crossed my mind with them. I want to grow up with you Molly. Through everything. I want to stay with you. And if you don’t feel that way, fuck, we aren’t even dating, it’s okay. I can respect that.” Mal held her breath.

Molly couldn’t help but feel jealous, angry even, hearing about the fact Mal had previously dated other girls. She had to remember that it was in the past. Even though she feared that maybe Mal was lying, she could feel the truth in her words. She was telling the whole truth.

“Mal, I did nothing but search for you for hours. I’d do it again, and again, and again. I want to be with you, Mal. I think I-” she hesitated briefly. “I love you too. A lot. I would do anything for you. And hearing you feel the same way, I can’t believe it. I get to call you my girlfriend. I’ll be so happy once it sets in.” Mal laughed.

“What’ll help it set in?” she asked. 

“Sleep,” Molly smiled. Mal scooted closer to her, nuzzling into her neck and wrapping her arms around her back.

“Well, I’m under bed-arrest, so we can do that for a while.” Molly grinned like a kid with candy and looked down at Mal, softly kissing her forehead. She held her tightly.

“I love you, Mal.”

“I love you, Molly.”

lol ill tag the wattpad stuff later but if you wanna request you can

[jordm]

Heartland 13x03 - Rearview mirror review

Previously on Heartland... Lou told Mitch she loved him & oh yeah almost forgot about that whole saga of events.

Lyndy is also talking and giving high fives and it’s real adorable. 

AND we get a “wife” aka Cassandra mention not once but twice! Once when mentioning her doing acupuncture and second when Caleb mentions getting the wife’s approval. If only we saw her (RIP Amy's friends)... but one can dream.

AND a Scott mention (so clearly Ty is still somewhat working with Scott, or at-least using his equipment) so clearly his business is still thriving. Did Ty go back and work with Scott since his own personal side business went downhill?

JACK

IT’S LITTLE JACK (played by actual little Shaun aka Shaun’s son)! 

Anyways, Jack is acting off. He’s yelling at Luke when he accidentally stumbles across his sister, June’s suitcase of things and doesn’t let Georgie help bringing in the hay-bales, even though she helped last year. Through flashbacks, we see what could possibly be the route of it; memories of June and himself from when they were teenagers (even if no one else except him or the audience realize it).

My guess is that Georgie reminds him of June, with the way she wants to help out around the farm and everything, and with Luke unearthing his memories, with Georgie reminding him of June, he doesn’t want her to do anything that brings up good - or bad memories.

Like for example, June saying her dad let her ride (knowing how her riding the horses turns out) and then his hesitantcy to let Georgie ride the cart during the hay bale even though it clearly makes the most sense

or when Georgie loses control for a second, and then gets things back on track, Jack refuses to let her take the reigns again due to what happened to June way back when, when she lost control, accidentally rode over a rock and ended up being dragged by the cart (and DIES; this is why they created the quick release thing right? Like if you get thrown off a jet ski it auto clips off). He doesn’t want Georgie to be rocked off and end up the same even if it’s a totally different situation.

But guys, this is how June dies.. DIES. Which is heartbreaking because not only was Jack not there, but she was only driving because he wasn’t there.  Jack said the reason that he pretends she didn’t exist, is because its his fault she died, but it wasn’t. I do think that this is some form of survivors’ guilt and back then, perhaps it wasn’t ‘normal’ to talk about his feelings with his family, so he never got a real chance to grieve. 

Did his family blame him since him going away caused her to be in this situation, when really it was one mis-placed rock’s fault? Or perhaps the other team members should have been close together to help her OR even better, someone should have been on the bugey with her like Jack was with Georgie (I know it was just sticks but STILL) just incase something happened? Or maybe this was more than a two person job?!?! POINT IS, it wasn’t his fault, even though he blames himself and I believe this story arc is going towards Jack finally finding closure... or some semblance of it because time doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll ever be 100% over a traumatic event.

KATIE

Guys, I’m totally on Katie’s side. It’s totally unfair that Katie has to share her room with Lyndy, while the foster kid gets the attic to himself. This is why this current arrangement to me, didn’t make much sense, and honestly, still doesn’t. Because either way they put it, let’s face it, they are one room short no matter how they put it.

Not to mention that she came home from Europe to find the entire family dynamic different, with Georgie in the loft, Tim in his trailer and Amy/Ty back in the main house. Lou may have said alright to the new arrangement but did anyone ask Katie about what she wants?! Anyone can see why she’s a little pissy at the new arrangements especially since Jack could easily move into Fairfield.

Luke: “Can you ride?”

Katie: “I’ve grown up on a Ranch, so plenty.”

I mean, it’s true; have we ever seen Katie ride? She’s may have grown up on a ranch but lately (as in the last 2 seasons) she’s been in Vancouver, Europe, a friends, grandma/grandpa... how much time has she really spend at the ranch?

Anyways, I think that Katie has been away so much that when she came back to find that Luke was here semi-permanently, the rooms have changed... and now Luke can ride better than she can - she just feels out of place. Maybe taking horse riding lessons with Georgie again will help her find her place in the family again.

RINGO (with Jade/Caleb/Amy/Ty... it’s an all hands on deck type)

So, apparently Amy hasn’t been working with horses for the past while due to the online troll aka Kirk constantly posing negative reviews, so when Jade asks her to look after her new horse Ringo, Amy is thrilled. Add to the fact that, apparently Jamie Wilcox sold Jade a horse with a broken vertebrae (and was beat while in auction?) and has a history of doing this with other horses. 

SIDE NOTE: How much time does Kirk have on his hands like damn man, get a grip. At what point will he ask himself, “Am I taking this too far?”. We still haven’t seen the Maggie confrontation, so clearly this storyline will be going on a bit more. 

Ty wisely says no to Caleb’s suggestion to lie that there was no Bute in his system to get Wilcox to admit that there actually was. But oh wait - luckily he has another horse up for sale that has been acting up and Caleb has a plan!

Amy: “Just don’t do anything stupid?”

Ty: “Me, Caleb? Never!”

They never got into mischief... never ;) and I miss their mischievous adventures, especially when they work out and give justice to the bad guys.

So Caleb’s plan is to “pretend” to be interested in buying in the new horse, while Ty secretly gets a blood sample. This works, and as long as Jamie doesn’t drug his horses anymore and gives Jade her money back, they won’t tell anyone. And since Jade and Amy (this pairing!) won the buckle, everyone wins! 

I actually genuinely enjoyed this storyline; seeing Caleb and Ty / Amy and Jade working together again was a nice change of pace, reminding me that there are other people in the universe besides the immediate family. Jade giving Amy a glowing review to counter the bad ones probably helps a ton too, especially since she can say “she helped the Ringo and me win a buckle”.

LOU AND MITCH 

Lou is baaack and is hiding her relationship with Mitch from Katie (much to Amy’s amusement), to the point where he is creeping in and out of her bedroom through the window. Like, are we in high school again? Why doesn’t she just go to his place? Doesn’t Katie love Mitch?

Anyways, Lou isn’t fooling anyone with these early nights... okay except maybe Jack because he gets his gun when he hears someone “breaking in” and it’s Mitch just crawling into Lou’s window.

This storyline was basically “kids aren’t as stupid as you think” because Katie knew all along and I still hate that Mitch is being defined by his relationship with Lou but what can ya do? But the result was that Mitch asked Lou to move in with her.  MOVE IN. Y’all how long have they been dating for? I can’t help but think that this is such a bad idea, esp given their history, even if it would solve the bedroom problem and would let Katie have her own bedroom (either at the new place or at the ranch).

SONGS IN THIS EPISODE

Dreamer - Jen Grant