#Just don't let him know I'm living in a shack in the woods

[blueflare7pkmn]

✪

Bug Dad is an amazing dad!! I mean, I was half joking when I asked to be adopted, but he didn't even hesitate!! I do wish he didn't get bitten by Vamp Dad, but that's old news. He's caring, sweet, and all around a great guy! Besides, he's full of bad puns, and who doesn't love those?

[jinxthequeergirl]

The Ol switcharoo (pt3)

Stan pines x reader/ ford pines x reader

Summary: 30 years pass and you meet stanfords family.

Warning: NONE

Sorry for another short chapter. Consider this a filler episode. Chapter four should be better.

~~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~

30 years is a long time.

You can do a lot in that time.

You can live a lot of different lives in 30 years.

You started cutting your hair in that time, Stanford taught you to box, You'd gone on many different adventures. Most of which you often questioned the legality of, but they still made you laugh.

Now you mainly tended to the Mystery shack no more adventures, you wondered as you sat on the couch next to Stanford when you'd gotten so old. And when your life had changed so much.

You had almost forgotten all about anything before your family vacation. you and Stanford had grown into a pretty comfortable life together. You wouldn't lie you'd come to love the life you've grown into with him.

But you've also missed the adventures you used to go on, finding monsters , exploring the unknown.

But you were only met with gluing eyeballs to pieces of plastic halloween decorations and making up stories to make out of towns folk get a good laugh in.

You had tried to find Stanfords journals just to "relive the glory days" but with no luck.

You were never sure what happened to them, if he had accidentally tossed them out, if he had lost them himself or if that was part of what happened while you where away. Either way you stopped looking. You never asked about them either.

Stanford seemed to really enjoy his life with you too, you never got the idea he wanted to turn back or like he was waiting for some big adventure.

"This may sound corny but you and the mystery shack are my big adventure...I wouldn't trade you or the old shack for anything y/n. Not. For. ANYTHING."

So you stopped worrying yourself with the journals or the old research, let alone the real monsters that lurked in the woods.

You hunkered down, sold stories and bumper stickers in your matching suits and watched night time television before falling asleep on top of eachother every night.

This was the routine you'd fallen into. You found it odd if you had to sleep without Stanfords shoulder as your pillow or his jolt of laughter before he realized you fell asleep. It was odd for both of you to not debate who got giftshop duity over tour duties. (You always got gift shop.)

It was odd when a pair of twins arrived on your front lawn.

"You never talk about your family." You said following Stanford down the stairs to meet them. "Sure I do." He said clearly a little nervous.

"Mmm no...I didn't know you had a sister! Let alone great neices and nephews!..excuse us, Soos." You say almost chasing him through the gift shop almost knocking soos over.

He paused as both of you looked out the little door window at them. "Listen...I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my family... to be fair... we aren't really close..but somethings came up and-" You could see his stress building up as he tried to piece together something that made you understand how important it was to make a good impression on those kids.

You placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm here with you... you can explain it all later, but right now, I'm right by your side, like always." He smiled and placed a hand on top of yours.

Before heading outside to me, you are in tow.

"I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD A GREAT AUNT! A GRANT!? A GRRR...GRAUNT!?" The girl in the pair shouted excitedly after stan had introduced you to them.

"That's cause you don't. We aren't married y/ns a friend."

You laughed at the girl who energetically and enthusiastically introduced herself as Mable. The introduction was followed by several need to know now questions, all of which would later be scribbled onto a paper for you to fill out and return to her.

☆what's your favorite color

☆ do you like my grunkle stan?

☆if you were a magical creature, what would you be? Why? WHAT WOULD I BE? why?

☆do you LOOOOVEEE grunkle stan?

☆opinion on stickers?

"Alright, you two leys get you up to your room for the summer." Stan said, pulling Mable away from you and grabbing her bags.

You grabbed the second set of bags and followed stan and the two kids.

"Dipper, right?" You asked the boy who fell in line with you "oh yea! Yep that's me!" He laughed nervously.

"Very cool name,I like your hat by the way." You prayed you didn't seem like you were trying too hard to get them to like you.

"So you and grunkle stan run this place?" Dipper asked, looking at all your hot glue collages as Stanford decided to give them the grand tour before their room.

"Yup." You nodded.

"What's the point? Isn't this all fake? I mean... I can see the string on the invisible man's glasses." He said pointing out the attraction as you passed.

"Oh c'mon Dipper, how could you not love the jackalope!? Is he a deer? Is he a rabbit? I can't tell!" Mable said, carrying the creature in her arms like a teddy bear.

"I just don't get it? Why lie to people when I'm sure there has to be something real out there!"

You smiled at him. He sounded like you when you were a kid...he sounded more like Stanford before the shack. "You like the supernatural?" You asked.

"Oh yea, dippers a huge nerd he loves all that junk!" Mable said punching her brother in the shoulder.

"Oh, here we go! Don't get this one started on mystery and supernatural boogie men!" Stanford said, stopping to join your conversation.

"Y/n used to be big on hunting and looking for stuff like this." He said, wrapping his arm around you. "Used too...I haven't in over 30 years...it got too complicated." You opted to give them a simple answer as to why you stopped.

"Really!? That's so cool!" Dipper exclaimed. "If you ever need someone to go on adventures with, you can trust me."

Over the upcoming weeks, it was slightly rocky with the kids getting settled in, but eventually, they started warming up to the shack as well as yourself and Stanford.

You were quite pleased to have their company, actually. You felt something change in your everyday lives when they entered the shack.

"Depending on who you ask." You said continuing your story as you placed plates in front of the kids. "Your grunkle and I are married." The kids gasped. "Only through some silly machine in Vegas it wasn't real there was this one time -"

Stan chuckled to himself as you told the story of your fake marriage in Vegas as he watched the three of you laugh in the kitchen.

He smiled. Watching you frantically move your arms to further dramatice the story, a certain shine he'd noticed had been missing from your eyes for a few years now. You had it when he'd met you.

The same day, he knew things would be different for him. They HAD been different. You accepted him for everything he was. You went along with his crazy shenanigans. You gave up a whole life for him.

He remembered the birthday parties you had thrown for him. Even if you were the only person to be there for him.

He knew after a few years of you doing so that you would always be the only one there. He had the strangest feeling the night of his 35 birthday when he realized this.

He lied awake in bed, staring at the ceiling when it occurred to him what the feeling was.

"Oh no."

He quietly snuck away from you and the kids, still hearing your laughter erupt through the house behind him. He made his way into the darkened gift shop and punched a code into the vending machine, and went down to the basement he swore to you he'd destroyed.

30 years, and all he had offered you was lies. After all you'd done for him after all the care you'd shown him after all you had sacrificed. He just wanted you to have a normal life. A good life.

Not something he had fabricated.

He spent most of his time thinking about the large machine that still sat in his basement, the other half worrying about you. If he was giving a good life if he was soing as good a job being in your life as you had done for him.

He worried about what might happen when, IF he was able to pull of bringing his brother back.

How would you react to being lied to for 30 years. Maybe you did really feel the same way he had felt about you for years and you would forgive him.

In order for that to work, he'd have to actually admit his feelings to you.

He wanted to, he also wanted do a lot more for you in the 30 years you'd been together but always failed before he could make a move or do anything really. He pushed aside a notepad filled with ideas of kind gestures he could do for you (most of which were crossed out) and replaced the space with the journal Ford had left him.

He would get it right.

All of it.

Eventually.

Then again.

He could always ask Mable.

While you laughed with two kids at a dinner table and Stanley beat himself up about lying and tried to rebuild his life.

The real Stanford pines sat out there amongst the stars with nothing but a creased photo of the two of you and wondered why it was taking you so long to find him.

~~~~~~~☆~~~~~

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@bandaids-n-porceline

[ckret2]

Chapter 35 of human Bill Cipher is still prisoner of the Mystery Shack and still handcuffed to Stan in spite of their mutual irritation: we return to them under attack by the tooth fairy and her dentist lackey.

In light of this terrible peril, Bill and Stan put aside their differences, politely agree to cooperate, and work together maturely to deal with the threat—

Haha I'm kidding, no they're screaming the most offensive things they can think of at each other.

####

Packed in a dark cluttered closet, trying not to breathe too much of the same air as Bill, under the sound of the dentist mauling his way through the bedroom door, Stan growled, "Okay, genius—do you actually have a plan for when we get downstairs?"

Bill had hooked his borrowed umbrella over his elbow to let him rummage through the closet's contents. Trying to keep his voice low, he said, "We can take the fairy ring down to the guest room and make a run for the exit in the floor room." His eyes lit up with delight. "Hey! Vintage congressman top hat!" He sniffed it. "It still smells like Quentin and peanut brittle." He put on the hat.

Eugh. Stan found himself glad he couldn't see in the dark. "Why the floor room? It's a lot faster to just cut through the living room to the gift shop."

Bill hesitated. "Sure. Fine—"

"What's the matter, Bill, you got a problem with the living room?"

"What?" Bill scoffed. "Of course not. I said fine. It's fine!" He found a large baggie full of teeth, popped it open and licked one to confirm they were real, and stuck the bag under his new hat.

"But it took you a second," Stan said. "If we head for the living room, you won't slow us down by trying to go the other way, will you?"

"Of course not," Bill repeated. It was a little less convincing than the last time. "I was just—trying to figure out if that was the fastest way—"

"Oh, really," Stan pressed. "You sure you aren't scared to go in there with me?"

Bill whipped around to stare at Stan in the dark.

"You think I haven't noticed how you bolt out of the living room any time I come in?" Stan asked. "Or how you flinch every time I raise my hand?"

Bill swallowed hard. "I don't know what you're talking about." He chuckled derisively. "I think you're fantasizing, Stan—"

"Do you really think I don't remember how you died."

Bill's voice caught in his throat. "You said..."

"Yeah, I wanted to see what kind of story you'd make up. You just can't stop talking down to me even when you know it's all lies," Stan said. "As if I'd ever forget seeing you on your knees, begging me for mercy, while I shattered your face like a cheap mirror—"

Bill shoved Stan against one wall, small hands wrapped ineffectively around his throat. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Admit it!" Stan shoved Bill against the opposite wall; Bill tripped and landed heavily on a cardboard box. "Admit that I killed you too! I played just as much a part in it as he did!"

"You did not kill me!" Bill stood on the box, even as it threatened to collapse under his weight, so he could scream in Stan's face, "You couldn't have killed me! I'M NOT CAPABLE OF BEING KILLED BY SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF ME?!"

"I'M NOT AFRAID—"

An enormous drill bit pierced the wood between their faces. Bill and Stan screamed.

Just on the other side of the door, Pearl cried, "Careful! Don't hit the girl's teeth!"

Stan snarled, "You moron, look what you—!"

"You started it!" Bill pounded on the door. "Hey! Frankie! Is this worth it?!" He jumped back as the drill came through again, just in front of his sternum. It grazed Stan's bicep; he roared in pain. Bill shouted, "Was paying off your dental school loans worth this? Do you wanna be a murderer, kid?!"

"I can't stop now!" Dr. Illing was audibly sobbing. "You don't understand, I'm in too deep!" The drill pierced again, widening the hole he'd already started.

"If you think she's scary, you can't imagine what I've got—"

Stan clapped a hand on Bill's shoulder hard enough to make him jump; but he growled in Bill's ear, "Count of three."

Bill hesitated, squinting at Stan's future to see what he was planning; but nodded. "Fine." He didn't understand the purpose but he could copy the motion.

Stan put his hand on the doorknob. "One, two..." Bill squeezed his eyes shut. They slammed their shoulders against the door, Stan grunting in pain. Dr. Illing's drill caught in the wood, and they kept shoving it open, jamming the dentist between the door and the wall. Bill leaned against the wood with his full weight to keep Dr. Illing trapped, using his new umbrella to swat away the fairy buzzing in his face. Stan toppled an old fortune telling machine in front of the door to pin it in place.

Pearl barked, "You're useless, Frank!" She had drawn out a wand that looked like a metallic blue toothbrush and was aiming it at Bill's face. "I'll get those teeth myself if I have to!"

Wheezing through crushed lungs, Dr. Illing said, "But the treaty—"

"What treaty?!" From five feet away, she fired a bolt of mint white magic at Bill's horrified face.

Stan seized Bill's umbrella, opened it, and deflected the spell. It ricocheted off the umbrella and punched a flaming hole through the ceiling. From behind this temporary shield, Bill took out the teeth bag and flung a handful across the room.

Pearl gasped, abandoning Dr. Illing to dart after them. "Babies! I didn't hurt you, did I?!" Huh. More effective than Bill had expected.

"Go!" Stan ran for the door, grabbing Bill by the wrist to pull him along too. Bill snatched back his umbrella as Stan paused to shut the bedroom door behind them again. Even though Dr. Illing had shredded the wood around the latch, maybe he'd still struggle to figure out how to open it.  "Living room?"

"I said fine!" Bill shut his umbrella and used it to point toward the fairy ring. "As long as you don't act immature about it!"

"I'm the one being immature?! You're the one who's scared of a room!" They stopped in the fairy ring, too close to each other for comfort; and then, with a disorienting whoosh, they were standing in an identical circle of mushrooms in the guest room. "Why does it even matter so much whether Ford or me killed you?" Stan yanked the door open. "Why is it so hard to admit that I threw the punch that took you out?!"

Bill clumsily kicked several sliced mushrooms aside, breaking the fairy ring, and nearly fell as he tried to keep up with Stan's pace. "Because you didn't kill me! You can't kill me because YOU AREN'T IMPORTANT!"

Stan spluttered in outrage, turning to stare at Bill. "Not important enough to kill you?! How does that even make sense! What, you think you're—too good for a guy like me to take down?!"

Bill's eyes widened the tiniest bit, as though he'd just realized something. A sickeningly gleeful grin stretched across his face. "It's true! I've looked into countless universes! No matter where you go or what you do, you just don't matter!" He wrenched his arm free of Stan's grip with such an effort that he nearly fell down; but he raised his gaze again to Stan's face. "If anything, you just make everything worse."

Stan's hands curled into fists. "You'd better watch your mouth—"

But when Bill planted the tip of his umbrella in the carpet and raised his cuffed hand to point at Stan, he stopped. Just a second ago Bill had been whiny and defensive; but now his inhuman gaze transfixed Stan to the spot. There was power in that mad self-assurance Stan had only ever seen before in criminal lords who commanded hundreds of gangsters. Bill bore himself like an ancient god preparing to pass judgment on a mortal, and Stan had no choice but to listen in dread to his revelation.

Bill said, "You know, I first tried to work with Stanford in a universe where you don't exist? And I couldn't get into his head! He wouldn't give me a chance!" He jabbed his finger toward Stan's chest like a knife. "Because YOU hadn't ruined his life and made him desperate enough to trust an alien! And YOU hadn't spent your whole crooked childhood training him to put up with a con artist's lies—so he'd be ready when he met me. Isn't that funny, Stanley?"

The air rushed from Stan's lungs. His voice was thin and trembling with rage. "You just— You're trying to get on my nerves." He'd never heard anything before that sounded so terribly true. 

"So what if I am! It's still true!" Bill's laughter was like a shriek. "You were stillborn in that universe! Your brother had to grow up without a twin watching over him—so he actually learned how to make friends. And he was a big success at West Coast Tech. Your mother was devastated she'd lost you—but you know what's really funny?" He had the awful grin of a court jester about to deliver a punchline that would start a war. "I think your family loved that dead baby you more than they ever liked the disappointment you turned out to be—"

Stan socked Bill as hard as he could.

He expected Bill to flinch, to duck, to shield his head—something. Bill always flinched. Instead he locked up, facing Stan, wide-eyed and watching the incoming blow. The punch connected with his face with a sickening crunch. Bill toppled flat on his back. His top hat and umbrella tumbled across the floor. The chain jerked Stan down to kneel over Bill.

It was like a spell had broken. Stan stared down at Bill like an idiot. He felt like an idiot. The shock even snapped him out of his anger. He uncurled his fist, saw a smear of blood on one knuckle, tried to say something, and only managed to come up with, "Aw, jeez."

Bill was weak. He wasn't a demon anymore; he was a yappy chihuahua trying to sound bigger than he was because he was scared. Stan knew that. He was only kicking a washed-up loser of a con artist while he was down.

He'd been there before.

Bill had slapped his hand over his mouth and nose, fingers digging into the skin, eyes squeezed shut in pain.

Stan swallowed hard. "Hey, I didn't mean to do that much— I mean, you had it coming, but still... uh... you okay?" He awkwardly offered Bill a hand.

Bill reached up—and placed a bloody tooth, root and all, in Stan's palm. 

Stan stared. "Wh."

"Tooth fairy bait." Bill gave Stan a wild, bloody smile. "Thanks for the help. It's been loose for days."

Tooth fairy— Stan automatically glanced toward the doorway to see whether their pursuers were catching up. And only then did he realize they were in the middle of the living room, standing in front of Stan's armchair. He'd been set up.

He stared at Bill.

Bill glared up at Stan. Voice rough, he said, "Who's scared of you?" He spat a wad of bloody spit at Stan's face. The attempt was so weak it landed on Bill's own shirt. A far cry from the whiny triangle who'd tried to bribe Stan into sparing his life.

They both looked up at the sound of wood cracking. Stan said, "All right, we've got bait." He seized Bill's bloody hand and, with a grunt, tried to heave him upright. "Can we set a trap?"

Bill unsteadily climbed to his feet. "I guess?" Either he hadn't thought past getting punched in the face, or the blow had knocked his plan out of his head.

Upstairs, Pearl snapped, "Now hurry, before we lose them!" Dr. Illing's footsteps thudded across the attic floorboards.

"Move," Stan hissed, and when Bill turned to glance cluelessly behind himself at the door, Stan rolled his eyes and shoved him.

Bill tripped over the steps up to the gift shop and stumbled backwards through the swinging door, with Stan following. When Bill had steadied himself, he stared in wide-eyed bafflement at the door he'd just passed through. "How did I..."

"Focus, Cipher!" Stan snapped his fingers in Bill's face. "Gimme some nerdy magic. What traps fairies?"

Bill dragged his gaze away from the door and shook his head woozily. "Uhh... carefully-worded contracts... salt lines, iron..."

"You couldn't have mentioned salt when we could've reached the kitchen?" Stan looked around the gift shop. Iron, iron...

"Wow, that's a great idea. Remind me why we were so bent on getting to the living room?"

"Watch it. You've got a few teeth left." Stan smacked Bill's arm, making him jump, and pointed. "Got it! The old diving helmet!"

Bill squinted his eyes unevenly. "Oh yeah—the one Fordsy got ripped off on. Hey—didja know diving helmets are supposed to be copper, but he got sold a spray-painted—"

"For two minutes, please stop talking about my brother. Will it work?" 

Bill slowly traced a finger through the air as if he were trying to track the path of something only he could see. "Yeah, it could work."

"'Could'?"

The gaps at the top and bottom of the "Employees Only" door glowed bright blue. "Fresh blood," Pearl said, "they went this way!"

"Give me the tooth," Bill said. "And keep Frank out, we're dead if he gets in."

"In there!" Pearl cried, and Dr. Illing's drill revved again. The door to the living room was a swinging door without a latch; curse or no, if Dr. Illing hit it, it would fly right open.

Stan yelled, "Hold it! Do not drill that door! It's... it's load bearing! Yeah, if you start hacking holes in it the whole shack could come down on us!"

The drill powered down. Dr. Illing said dubiously, "That doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about doors to dispute it."

Pearl swooped under the door—carrying an armload of the teeth Bill had thrown earlier—but she turned around when she realized Dr. Illing wasn't following. "What are you stopping for, you idiot! He's lying! Doors don't work like that—"

"Hey, sparkles!" Bill held his bloody tooth up next to his head. "You want this?!"

She gasped in horror, clapping her hands over her mouth and dropping the teeth. "You knocked it out! You monster, what if you chipped it?!" She drew her wand again and, with a tiny shrill roar, she dove for it.

Bill pulled it out of her way with the grace of a matador dodging a bull. She wheeled around faster than Bill could react, flung a spell at his back, and made another dive for the tooth. Stan jerked him out of the way. Bill laughed, "Is that all you've got? I've seen better flying out of dandelion seeds!"

She whirled around to face him again with a growl of frustration, fluffy bob cut puffed up in rage, wings buzzing like the propeller of a fighter plane. The third time she dove for the tooth, she snatched it out of Bill's fingers.

And immediately rammed head-first into the back of the solid iron diving helmet. It rang out like a broken bell. She croaked, "ow."

Stan slammed the front window of the helmet shut. "Ha!"

"Yes!" Bill pointed at the helmet. "You're stupid!"

Dr. Illing—who had dropped down to the ground to peer through the three-inch gap at the bottom of the door—cried, "No!" He pounded on the door in frustration. It swung a few inches open. He stared at it in bafflement. It swung back and hit him in the forehead.

"Well, well, well. It looks like we've got a proper hostage situation, don't we?" Bill rapped on top of the helmet with his umbrella's hooked handle. "Better stay away from the sides, Pearly. What would you say touching iron feels more like—being burned, or electrified? I've always wondered, but never had an opportunity to possess a fairy—"

Stan elbowed him. "Ix-nay on the ossess-pay."

"Right, right." Bill turned to Dr. Illing. "It'd be pretty easy for me to bounce your patron off the walls of this thing. So how's about you drop the power tools and back away from the door?"

Dr. Illing gave Bill the despairing look of a man who'd been struggling to carry an impossibly heavy weight for decades, only for one swift jab in the ribs to make him drop it. But he got to his feet, and after a moment, his yellow tool bag dropped heavily beside the door.

Stan opened the door, slung the bag over his shoulder before Bill got a chance to rifle through it, and pulled out the drill Dr. Illing had been menacing them with. Holding Dr. Illing at drill point, he nodded toward the gift shop exit. "Get walking. Outside."

"But..." Dr. Illing tried to look past Bill and Stan to the diving helmet.

Bill slung an arm around Dr. Illing's back, aggressively encouraging him to hasten toward the door. "Don't worry about her! We plan to resolve this peacefully, don't we, Fisher?"

"Oh yeah," Stan said. "Nothing to worry about."

"But we're negotiating with the boss, not the lackey. So..."

Stan opened the door. Bill planted a foot on Dr. Illing's butt and shoved. "Out you go!"

Dr. Illing went sprawling across the porch. Stan slammed the door on him as he got to his hands and knees. He looked over his shoulder to give them a look like a puppy who'd been kicked out in the rain.

"You're going to be in so much trouble when I get out of here," Pearl yelled. She grabbed the bars across the window in the diving helmet, then gasped and withdrew her hands as the iron burned her palms. "When the fairy queen hears about this—!"

"That you were breaking into a human dwelling to try to rip my teeth out of my mouth?" Bill asked. "Oh, I'd love to know what she'll think of that."

Stan rummaged in the nook where Wendy shoved spare napkins and plasticware whenever she brought fast food to work. He used a few napkins to wipe off the bloody scrape the drill had left on his shoulder in the closet, and held a handful out to Bill. "Here."

Bill took them. "What?"

"Your face is a mess. Thought you might wanna—you know." Stan attempted to pantomime shoving napkins in his mouth. As much as Stan thought Bill had deserved the sock, he'd feel like a heel if he didn't help clean him up after the fact.

"Oh. Right." Bill attempted to wipe off his chin, then stuffed a napkin up in the gap where his tooth used to be and pulled it out to see how much blood it picked up. It was a lot. He shrugged and turned to the tooth fairy, grinning. "So. I believe we were negotiating?"

"I'm not negotiating anything with you," Pearl huffed. "Look at what you did to this poor tooth!" She was hugging it protectively to her chest, her thin blue dress stained with blood from the root. "Maybe I haven't obeyed the spirit of my treaty, but I've obeyed the letter of it, and the fairy court will back me up on that—"

"Again, you did try to rip my teeth straight out of my mouth in the middle of the night," Bill said.

"I never! A dentist did! If he happened to feel like giving me the tooth after that, that's his business, isn't it. I could have been aiming my wand at anybody, you don't know."

"Sure, sure! You did nothing wrong. You slid neatly through those loopholes. Maybe your court will even agree with you." Bill leaned closer to the helmet, grinning through the window. "But don't you think—if I drive over to Multnomah County, walk backwards into your queen's court, and tell her what you've been doing—she won't want to close those loopholes? No more hench-dentists."

Pearl had gone very still. "'Walk b—'? How do you... What do you know about our court?"

Bill laughed wryly. "Kid, I've known your court since before it moved to America. I've spoken with the ancestors of the ancestors of your queen. The fae tell fairy tales about me, so if you know what's good for you—"

"Easy." Stan put a warning hand on Bill's shoulder. "Just because she's not human doesn't mean you can just..."

"I know, I know."

Pearl had been watching Bill skeptically as he spoke, clearly trying to weigh how much of his boasting was true—but seeing Stan try to silence him apparently persuaded her of his honesty. Her eyes widened in alarm. "Who—What's your name?"

Bill cast a sideways glance toward Stan, then shrugged ruefully. "Afraid I'm not allowed to tell. You know where we are—even people like you and me can't afford to disobey the collector's house rules. You can call me Goldie Locke. And if you don't want me to negotiate your release with your queen, then you'd better be willing to negotiate with us. Are we clear?"

Pearl nodded.

"Wonderful." (Dr. Illing had circled the gift shop to the nearest window, where he was staring forlornly in at Bill, Stan, and the helmet containing Pearl. Bill waved cheerfully at him.) "I don't know about the Fisherman, here—but I, for one, would like to make sure this doesn't become a problem again. So how about this: if you promise to leave, never harass us again, never have your agents harass us, never via any means attempt to harm us or steal our worldly goods—teeth included—either directly or indirectly, and never return to this house, then we promise not to report your little dentist scheme to your queen. Does that sound fair to you?"

Pearl pouted; but she reluctantly nodded. "Yes, yes—that's fair. I agree."

"Hold on," Stan said. "Once she's outta here, how do we know she'll keep that promise? Shouldn't we get some kind of, I don't know, insurance?"

"She's a fairy," Bill said. "She can't lie even if she wants to. They're compelled to tell the truth. They can twist it, and they can try to get you with tricky wording, but they can't lie. Once they've made a promise, it's unbreakable."

Stan considered that. "Huh." He'd have to double-check that claim with Ford later, he'd know.

"Which is why I get along so well with them," Bill said cheerily, "since I never lie either."

Stan laughed loudly, smacking Bill's back. "Sure! And I'm the queen of England."

Bill mock bowed. "Oh my, your majesty. I had no idea." Stan laughed again.

"I agreed to your terms," Pearl snapped, "so set me free!"

"Hold on." Bill propped his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand, leaning close to the helmet again. "I seem to recall I only promised not to tattle to your queen. I didn't promise to let you go." He glanced at Stan. "Isn't that what you heard?"

Now what was he up to? But Stan nodded in agreement. "That's what I heard, all right."

Bill winked. "Like I said: tricky wording."

Pearl let out a swear that sounded like tinkling bells and stomped her foot. "That's ridiculous! If you've already sworn not to tell the queen about my methods, you no longer have any blackmail against me! You can negotiate with her for my release now, for all I care!"

"Your tricky wording backfired," Stan said.

Bill didn't look bothered. "All right. I'm sure you're happy to wait right here until we make the long drive into town, aren't you. You do know where we are, right?"

The fairy's face immediately darkened. "You... I don't see why not! There's nothing to fear in this house."

"Isn't there? Want us to go wake up the head of the house, ask him to babysit you until we get back?" Bill asked.

Huff. "He's gone."

"He's back," Bill said. "If you're lucky, maybe he'll stick you in the freezer for an hour, so it won't hurt when he pins your wings to a cork board." (Stan blinked at Bill in amazement. Head of the house—Soos? Soos?)

Pearl shuddered. "You're a liar."

"Am I?" Bill raised his cuffed wrist. "I've worked with the queens of your queens. I have powers you've never dreamed of. Do you think I'm chained to a doppelgänger for fun?"

Stan said, "To a wh...?" but at Bill's sharp look, he fell silent. All right. A lot of phrases that didn't make sense to him had just flown by. Clearly Bill was using some kind of fairy talk mumbo-jumbo to give her a wildly inaccurate impression of what was going on in this shack. Stan had manners, he wasn't about to interrupt a fellow professional in the middle of conning a mark.

Pearl worked her jaw angrily; but there was something nervous in her gaze now, glancing between Stan's face, the handcuffs, and the rest of the shack. "Maybe you're not as important as you think you are," she said unconvincingly.

"I've got magic teeth, girl."

"Fine!" Pearl stamped her foot. "Fine, I'll negotiate with you! What else do you want?"

Bill pointed at her chest. "I want to choose my payment for that tooth there."

She hugged the tooth protectively, but said, "Fine."

Bill looked at Stan. "You want anything?"

He considered that. "Better-fitting dentures would be nice? Can she do that? Is that something I can ask for?"

"Yeah, you can ask for that."

"Is that all?" Pearl snapped.

"Dentures for him, payment for me, unenchant our door and take out the carvings you left in it, and..." Bill glanced at Stan again, who shrugged. Bill said, "Yeah, I think that's it. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Bill gestured toward the helmet, and Stan flipped its front window open. Pearl stepped out, hovered up level with Stan's face, and gave him a murderous glare; but she drew out her toothbrush wand again and flicked it at him. "There. Happy?"

Stan adjusted his jaw thoughtfully. "Yeah. Oh, those're real nice. Hardly feels like they're there."

"They're better than you deserve," Pearl said haughtily; then turned to Bill. "And you? What payment do you want?"

Bill grinned wide, pointing at the new gap in his teeth. "Solid gold replacement! 24k."

"Pure gold's too malleable for dental work."

"I don't care, this body's a temp. Gimme the good stuff."

She gave him a sour look, but again waved her wand. The blood evaporated from Bill's teeth and gums and a new tooth materialized in the gap, the exact shape of the original but shining gold. Bill licked it experimentally. "Yeah, that'll do."

"Now get outta here," Stan said, "and take your creepy tooth temple with you."

"Hmph!" She turned her nose up at both of them; then zipped across the gift shop, ducking down to snatch up a couple of dropped teeth as she went. She dipped under the door into the living room and was gone.

"Well," Bill said. "We ended up better than we started. Free dental work, a bag of tools..."

"A bunch of property damage," Stan said. "We should've asked her to fix the kids' door."

"Ah." Bill winced. "Nooo, no, probably best we didn't push our luck. Fixing the other door's enough."

Stan shook his head, without much real rancor. "Can't admit you made a mistake, can you?"

"That would be a lie, wouldn't it? And like I said, I'd never lie." Bill smiled impishly. His new tooth gleamed in the dim light. "Let's clean up some of the teeth and mushrooms, huh?"

####

Sweeping up the gift shop was awkward with the handcuffs in the way, but they worked out a system: Stan handled the broom while Bill knelt and held the dustpan. Bill had retrieved his borrowed top hat and umbrella when they went for the broom, and now he kept his cuffed hand on the umbrella, which limited Stan's movement. He almost fussed about it, until he realized Bill's hand was shaking, and each time he stood he leaned on the umbrella like a wobbly cane. Stan tried not to notice how Bill sometimes winced when he had to turn his neck.

As they awkwardly swept up the gift shop, Bill said, "Lucky you got the dentist to stop drilling the door in time, huh."

"What?"

Bill nodded toward the living room. "The load bearing door? I didn't even realize it was that important." He laughed flatly. "We'd really be in trouble if he'd managed to knock it out, huh."

Stan stared at Bill. And then he burst out laughing.

"What?"

"You idiot, doors aren't load bearing!"

Bill stared up at Stan, face slowly going red. "Well, wh— How was I supposed to know that!" Over Stan's laughter, he demanded, "Then why did you tell him it was?!"

"Eh, if he'd so much as nudged the door, he could've gotten right through. Even with that curse you put on him," Stan said. "I had to say something to keep his drill away from it."

"Huh."

Stan could practically see the gears trying to turn in Bill's head as he attempted to understand that information. Maybe he should lay off the poor guy. It was really funny that a little curse made him too stupid to work a door; but he'd turned around and used that same curse to save their hides, Stan should probably give him a temporary pass just for that. He cleared his throat and tried to think of another topic. "Using that tooth as bait wasn't a bad idea."

"Yeah, it was pretty good."

"You could've just asked me to knock it out, though."

Bill glanced up at Stan. His face said, No I couldn't.

Stan understood.

During Stan's decade of travel—thrust into the world far too young, scared, alone, and homeless, with nothing but his wits and a mask of machismo—he had seen, again and again, the truth in one of his father's most frequent lessons: if you weren't tough, then you were nothing. Didn't matter what kind of money, possessions, or friends you had. If you weren't tough enough, you could lose them all in an instant.

And so often, toughness wasn't measured by how many punches it took to knock you down, but by whether the first one made you flinch.

The best thing you could do for yourself was win a fight. But if you didn't stand a chance (and Bill—short, noodle-armed, tiny-fisted, barely able to control his body, facing a man who'd been boxing for fifty years—didn't stand a chance), then the next best thing you could do was show that you could take it like a man. It might win you respect. If it didn't, then at the least it might let you keep some dignity. Bill was desperate for dignity.

Stan had the feeling that Bill had played this game before.

Who had Bill been before Weirdmageddon? Who had he been, that he could call Stan nothing but a con artist and a complete failure who'd have been better off never born—and in between suggest that Ford only trusted Bill because he reminded him of Stan?

####

They cleaned up as best they could, then dragged themselves back to bed.

Bill gave Stan a hopeful look. "Do I get to sleep in the guest room now?"

"No." Ford would murder Stan if he found out he'd let Bill sleep on his bed, and in his final moments Stan would probably think the murder was justified. And that was assuming Bill didn't murder Stan in his sleep.

"Aww, c'mon!" Bill said. "And here I thought we'd bonded a little!"

"Are you kidding? After you said I'm the reason you fooled my brother and my family would be happier if I was dead?!"

Bill laughed lightly. "You're too sensitive!"

As they repositioned their cushions and mattress on either side of the ajar door, Stan paused. "Was that stuff true? Or did you just say it to get a rise out of me."

"What, everything about Stanford being an only child? Naaah—I just thought it would be funny to make you mad."

In his heart, Stan knew Bill had been telling the truth.

Maybe not about there being a dimension where Stanford grew up alone, maybe Bill had made that up; but if so, he'd only made up a fiction that echoed the truth. Mr. Hotshot All-Seeing Eye was right: Stan had only made things worse for the people around him. The best thing he'd ever done with his life was put it on the line to destroy Bill. And apparently, even that hadn't been good enough. 

Not for the first time over the past month, Stan wondered: if he'd never recovered his memories, would Bill have died with them? Was that the lifeline that had let Bill claw his way back? Would it have been better if neither of them had ever recovered? If they'd gone down into oblivion chained together?

Probably, on some cosmic level. Bill would be gone. Stan could've used his last few years learning to be a guy that brought more to the table than lying and punching. Everyone would be having a much better summer this year. But, on the other hand, Stan liked having his memories; and to be honest, Bill had been pretty worthless so far. Maybe it was okay that Stan had only done a C+ job at demon-killing. C+ was a passing grade; and he'd never been a straight A's kind of guy. 

They'd just have to grudgingly tolerate being chained together.

Stan said, "So was it 'funny' getting your teeth knocked in, too?"

Bill considered that; then let out an involuntary giggle. "Yeah, actually." He settled down on his cushion bed. "But—no, really, I never saw a universe where you two weren't inseparable as kids. I'm sure it happened somewhere, the multiverse is infinite—but I didn't dig that hard. Wasn't one of my priorities. I only needed one Stanford to get my portal running, and the one here did just fine."

Stan still didn't think Bill was telling the whole truth; but then, Stan didn't think Bill had been telling the whole truth earlier, either. Bill wasn't actually telling Stan anything about what the multiverse was like—he was just telling Stan how he wanted Stan to feel.

And Bill could have said that everything he'd said earlier was true. But he didn't.

"You really are a pretty good liar, Cipher," Stan said. "It's too bad you're a lousy dirtbag bent on world domination, or you could've made a decent partner-in-crime."

"Yeah?" Bill settled down, holding his broken umbrella to his side and laying his free arm over his collapsed top hat, as if he was worried someone would steal them in his sleep. (Stan would have to get that umbrella in the morning. It had been fine for Bill to keep it while they were fighting for their lives, but he couldn't keep a blunt weapon covered in metal poky bits indefinitely.) "Well, my schedule's clear and I'm bored. Let me know if anything comes up."

"Don't count on it." Stan slid their chain under the door and pushed it shut.

Bill had wiggled out of explaining why he wouldn't admit that Stan had killed him; but Stan didn't think he needed to ask again. He kinda had an idea. He was at that age where he was starting to worry what his obituary would say, too. "Killed by his dimension-hopping long-time nemesis with 12 PhDs" probably sounded a lot better than "Killed by a crooked grifter in his underwear." The first one might let you keep some dignity.

####

Dipper and Mabel came home shortly after dawn. The light was already on in the kitchen; Mabel curiously ducked in to see why. "Grunkle Stan! Bill! What are you doing up so early?" She paused. "Is that my top hat?"

"Mine now."

Stan and Bill were sitting at the kitchen table, with two plates of eggs and bacon (Bill's eggs had chocolate sauce), and mugs of, respectively, coffee and Mabel juice spiked with ground-up caffeine pills. Stan had a bandage on one arm. They looked exhausted. Their wrists were still handcuffed. 

"Oh, you know—" Stan yawned, "—just... full of vim and vigor today."

Dipper surveyed them, tried not to laugh when he saw the cuffs, and asked, "Did you guys even get any sleep?"

Stan grunted and looked at Bill to field that one.

Bill said, "By the looks of it, more than you two did." Dipper's and Mabel's hair were tangled messes, and their clothes were stained with dirt and grass. Dipper looked like he'd fallen on his side into a mud puddle. "How'd the monster hunt go?"

"Partial success!" Mabel said. "The thing that was stealing Pacifica's alpacas came back and we froze its leg! We followed it back to its forest lair and rescued the alpacas! Including Giorgio!"

"The anomaly got away, though," Dipper said, more to himself than anyone else. "But how? It was ten feet tall, it couldn't have hidden. Unless it was... abducted, maybe? In some invisible space ship...?"

Bill rolled his open eye. "Hey—how many of the alpacas were shorn by the time you got to them?"

Mabel gave him a surprised look. "Everyone but Giorgio. How'd you know?"

"We don't need to know," Dipper said quickly. "We can figure it out on our own. C'mon, Mabel." He headed upstairs. Mabel shrugged apologetically, and followed after him.

Stan watched them go, then asked Bill, "So what did take the rich kid's exotic sheep?"

"Freak in the woods who really likes wool suits."

"Huh." Stan sipped his coffee. "It's not dangerous to the kids, is it?"

"Not as long as they don't try to film him." Bill picked up a strip of bacon, tiredly tried to stick it in his eye, sighed, and redirected it to the correct hole.

From upstairs, Mabel shouted, "What happened to our door?"

Stan winced. "Don't worry about it, sweetie! I'll fix it later."

Bill said, "We didn't clean upstairs, did we."

Stan tried to remember what all had been left behind. Bedsheet hanging out the window, teeth on the floor... "It's—it's fine. Those kids love mysteries."

"Ha. Yeah, the boy would probably just get mad if we told him what happened before he figured it out himself."

There was the faint sound of the vending machine opening. A moment later, Ford walked in with an empty mug of coffee. "You're up early," he said. "Did you sleep well?"

Bill gave Ford a sleepy smirk. "Aw, I didn't know you cared."

Ford shot Bill a glower, did a double take at the top hat, then shook his head and looked away. "I wasn't asking you. I hope you got a crick in your neck that lasts the rest of your life." (Bill laughed.)

Stan shrugged off the question. "Oh yeah, no problem. Got comfortable and didn't move all night."

"We barely even noticed the cuffs," Bill said, stifling a yawn. "Slept like babies."

Ford raised a skeptical brow. Still, he nodded and went to get coffee for himself. Stan had a broken umbrella hanging from the back of his chair; Ford assumed it was yet another confiscated weapon and picked it up to move somewhere Bill couldn't access it. "Well, I'm relieved that at least nothing weird happened last night."

"Yeah, nothing weird at all," Stan said.

"Most normal night of my life," Bill said.

There was a knock on the door. At this hour of the morning? Ford said, "I'll get that."

He answered the door.

On the porch was a haggard, slumped, very sad looking man in a white lab coat. Nearly on the verge of tears, he asked, "Can I please have my ability to open doors back? I—I had to sleep outside last night. So many bugs."

Ford stared at him. "Only the person who cast the spell can lift it. Just a moment."

He ducked into the kitchen, glared at Bill, and said, "'Slept like babies,' did you?"

Neither Bill's nor Stan's innocent smile was convincing.

Ford focused on Bill's mouth. "And where'd you get that tooth?"

"Ah." Bill looked at Stan.

Stan cleared his throat. "So the good news is, we've got a great story for your journal."

####

(And that concludes the tooth fairy arc! If you enjoyed it, I'd love hearing from y'all! I'm really proud of how this whole plot came out. Next week we start on the absolute stupidest plot arc you've ever seen.)

[hannahbarberra162]

Can we get a izou story snippet? Pleaseeee if not don't worry, ily

Of course Nonnie! I'm writing the second chapter now but I'm not sure when it will be done. I'm hoping this week but I can't promise.

Also, if you left me an ask, please know I'm getting to them. Unfortunately brevity is not one of my strengths and all these delicious ideas turn into like 5k+ word one shots (looking at you Yan Sabo Nonnie - I'm cooking up something good for you). I'm not complaining, I love reading everyone's ideas and suggestions. It just all takes time to write :)

“Commander Izou, my h-home is to the right,” you stated with uncertainty in your tone as Izou carried you in his arms to your residence. He told you that you would pack up whatever you most needed and that he would take you with him to his ship. You’d protested initially but he had left no room for argument. He could scent your fear and felt your trembling fingers wrapping themselves around his neck as he carried you through the snowy town. He’d have more time to explain later that you’d be safe, that nothing bad was going to happen to you ever again. But for now he wanted to put as much space as he could between you and the horrible people to dare call themselves your family.

You were wearing flimsy cloth shoes that were unsuitable for the winter climate on the island. By the rips on the sides and wear on the soles, you’d been wearing them a long time. Yet another reason Izou wasn’t upset by the destruction his brothers were wreaking on your employer. 

“B-but Commander, you don’t need to hold me, I can -” you’d been trying to get him to put you on the ground since he’d first swept you off your feet, before you’d even made contact with the snowy sidewalk.

“Carrying you pleases me,” Izou said simply. Given your reserved nature as well as the strict social hierarchy you were raised with, he knew you’d defer to him.  It was a dance he hadn’t done in a long time, playing along with the social cues and mores of Wanese culture but in this case it worked to his advantage. If he tried to explain that you were underdressed for the weather or that he felt the need to feel your meager weight in his arms, you’d protest further to prevent inconveniencing him. Truthfully, it did please him to carry you, to have your scent so close to his own, to feel the reassurance of you in his arms. He’d carry you forever if you let him. 

“Ah, this is it,” you indicated, pointing to a large brick house with smoke coming out the chimney. At least they’d given you a proper place to live, he thought to himself. As Izou stepped on the cleared path to the house, you shook your head. 

“N-no, sorry. The house behind this one,” you said quietly, pointing to a shack set back towards the snowy woods.

Of course.

Izou noted the rickety shack and the rags covering the windows - either to keep in heat or to keep out prying eyes. Swiftly walking towards the hut, he opened the door and set you down inside.

“Gather your things,” Izou said softly, putting his hand on the small of your back to encourage you. The inside of the single room hut was as dismal as Izou imagined it would be. There were gaps in the thin wood walls, letting in the harsh winter air. Your tiny bed was crammed into the corner, leaving enough room for a table

“I apologize for the state of my house, Commander. If I had known someone like you would be joining -” you were already bowing to him again, your hands stiff at your side. Izou bent down to put his hands on your shoulders and righted you to standing.

“Do not apologize. Collect your things,” Izou ordered in a gentle tone. You frowned but nodded and walked over to the small bookshelf on the wall. You grabbed an old, battered tome, wrapping it like you were swaddling a baby in one of the few blankets on your bed. Holding it to your chest, you put it in a basket and saw Izou watching you.

“Ah, the cookbook my father gave me before I left Wano,” you said in answer to Izou’s unasked question. You’d mentioned leaving Wano a few times but Izou hadn’t heard of many people leaving the country in recent years. He’d have to get the full story out of you on the Moby. Moving towards you, he noted a picture of himself tacked onto the wall. It was from his most recent Wanted Poster (an attractive photo, if he did say so himself). You followed Izou’s eyes towards the picture and hung your head.

“This is embarrassing. Please do not take offense, Commander,” you begged while looking down at your feet. Izou laughed softly into the sleeve of his winter yukata. 

“What man would take offense at a beautiful woman having his picture hung on the wall? Please, continue to gather your things. I would like to take you away from here. This building offends me,” Izou said. You were spurred into action from his words. You gathered a few clothing items and a lacquer hair comb, likely also from Wano based on the style.  “I am finished, Commander. I await your next instruction,” you replied seriously, like you were one of the men under his command. He’d have to get you to relax eventually, to accept help and seek it out from him. The Alpha in him wanted to grab you and take you back to his rooms, to show you he could protect you. But Izou knew you were traumatized and nervous, unsure what to do with yourself while you navigated the relationship between them.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Full Family AU Part 36

"...Excuse me?" Camila's annoyance was quick to return after such an insane request.

"I mean, your couch looks comfy," Eda said. "A bit lumpy, but preferable to that shack in the woods."

"Are you...homeless?" Manny asked next.

"Oh, heck no! I've got a home, just not in, er, your neighborhood. Where me and King came from is under a lot of stress at the moment so we're laying low, hiding out in your realm for the time being."

"Why would you need to lay low?"

"Well..." Eda then dug into her hair and pulled out a wanted poster of herself with her hand aflame. "I'm sort of...wanted. From the law."

"...Oh. Okay." Camila pointed to the door. "Get out."

"Here me out--"

"I am not letting some...some witch criminal live under my roof!"

"I didn't break any major laws!" Eda defended, putting the wanted poster back in her hair. "Just the dumb ones. I didn't join a coven when I graduated magic school, I own a stand without a permit, I have a hocus without a pocus--"

"I don't care how illegal your activities are!" Camila exclaimed. "They're still illegal and I don't want that anywhere near my kids!"

"Speaking of kids, hot dang those daughter of yours are heavy sleepers," Eda noted, looking at the miraculously sleeping Luz and Vee. Even King was surprisingly still asleep. "You've been raising your voice this whole time and they haven't so much as peeped an eye open."

"I know, right--Don't change the subject!" Camila snapped. "You're a criminal!"

"I prefer outlaw."

"That's not better!"

"It at least sounds cooler."

"YOU--!"

"Camila." Manny puts his hands on Camila's shoulders, trying to relax her with a little massage. "Can I speak with you for a second."

Camila growled at Eda once more before relenting to Manny, letting him walk her a few steps away from the wild witch. "You better not try and talk me into hearing her out," Camila whispered.

"I know it might be insane," Manny whispered back, "but it's at least worth considering."

"No, it isn't."

"As far as we know, she comes from the same world Vee does. She might have answers to so many questions that Vee's unable to give. It wouldn't hurt to make nice with someone like that."

"She's a criminal."

"Because she broke laws that don't seem too bad."

"Still a criminal."

"At least she's not dangerous."

"Dangerous or not, she's still a criminal."

"Excuse me," Eda said, interrupting Camila and Manny's little conversation. "Couldn't help but overhear, mainly because you're both some pretty loud whisperers, but is it at least worth considering that I came clean about being wanted? Because the way I see it, I had two options: I could either lie about who I am and cause ya to overreact when the truth somehow came out--'Cause it always does--or I could just put all the cards out on the table and explain myself."

"Well, you're not doing a good job at explaining yourself," Camila said with a scowl.

"Actually, I'd say I'm doing a perfect job. I already told you that the laws I broke weren't anything major. They were just little things that never actually hurt anybody. Well, aside from the coven guards, but trust me when I say that those chumps had it coming."

"So you assaulted your world's version of the authorities."

"Authorities that will either put you in a box that you don't want to be in or petrify you for refusing even that."

"Petrify?" Manny curiously asked.

"Turn you to stone," Eda briefly explained. "It's permanent and ain't exactly pretty."

"That's...awful," Manny voiced sympathetically, to which Eda shrugged.

"It's nothing that'll happen to me, I'll tell you that much. Not as long as I can avoid being caught. Hence me staying in the human realm for a bit and me asking if it's cool if I crash on the couch." Eda focussed on Camila again, who seemed to lessen her frustration a bit, but not enough to relent completely. "What say you, Tiny?"

"Call me that again, and you'll lose more than your head," Camila sternly replied.

"Got it. Sorry."

"And...I'd feel bad under any other circumstance, but something about having a known criminal, even if the laws she broke aren't too awful, is just...too much. For me."

"Oh, for--It's not forever," Eda said, her annoyance showing. "Just for the night. Maybe two. Honestly, I'm only here because my current security system for my house is out sick and needs to 'recooperate.' Don't bother asking me what that means, because I do not want to know. I've learned not to ask him things."

Camila and Manny shared a curious look with each other, not even sure how to tackle that.

"Okay, how about just for tonight, then?" Eda suggested. "Me and my boy just need one break from sleeping in that shack. Can you at least give us that? We'll be out of your hair by morning and you'll never have to see us again. I mean, would you really let that precious little guy out in the cold for that much longer...?"

Eda gestured over to King, still sleeping soundly. Camila narrowed her eyes at him, finally noticing something she was amazed not to have noticed earlier.

"Wait...That's the dog you brought in," she stated.

"Ah, right, you still want payment." Eda started digging in her hair again. "Hang on, let me just--"

"No--I mean, yes. I do want my money. But I want to know is how did you make him look...not like that in the vet?"

"Oh, that?" Eda then blew a raspberry as she waved her hand. "That's nothing more than a simple illusion spell. Any witch with a starter's knowledge of illusion magic could do the same thing."

"You can make fake things seem super real?"

"Up to a point. Can't really make anything tangible. Only real enough where you think you can touch it."

Camila then glanced over to Vee, snoring softly without a worry in the world. Camila looked back at Eda, an idea forming as her worries appeared to have an exit.

"...Do you think you know how to make something like that...permanent?"

[panchulien]

Had to let it out my system. Injured Nikolai. Abrupt ending because I couldn't stand my writing any longer.

Two months. Two months since Price had last heard from Nikolai. Normally it wouldn't be unusual, they've gone longer without seeing or talking to each other. It was expected, they were used to it, given the nature of their respective jobs, both were busy men who had little to no time to themselves let alone each other. But even then, the two would have some idea about what the other was doing, whether they were alive or not.

Price wasn't worried at first. He knew what Nikolai did for a living wasn't very... conventional. Man had his secrets, his own ways of doing things. And it seemed to be going well for him. Price didn't question it. Maybe he simply just went for another job without notifying Price, maybe the mission took longer than usual. A late night phone call to Syd did confirm his suspicions, but wasn't enough to settle down his nerves. Syd had told him that Nikolai did, in fact, leave for a job, but he was solo. John didn't like the sound of that.

"He left me in charge. Muttered something about it being 'personal'. I don't know. I'm sure he can handle himself, Captain." was what Syd had told him.

Price just muttered a 'thank you' and hung up. It was fine. Nikolai dealt with shady business all the time. He was sure Nikolai had his reasons.

And so Price gave him another week. Waited patiently for a word. Just in case he had people after him and had to lay low. Maybe he was hiding in one of his safe houses. Whatever it was, Price was certain Nikolai knew what he was doing. Although the uncomfortable feeling in his gut never quite went away.

"I've been managing the operations just fine, Captain, but I'm starting to worry as well. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Syd had told him over the phone one night. Price mindlessly tapped on the desk with his finger, contemplating.

"No signal from any of the Chimera safe houses?"

"None. Have you talked to Laswell?"

"Nah. Haven't yet. She's got bigger things on her plate." John replied, "I got one last idea. If that fails, we ring the alarm bells." A nod from Syd, the end of their phone call.

**

It was John's last resort. It was why John wasn't panicking just yet. The tiny shack somewhere only the two of them knew. Not even Laswell. It was their little secret. Sometimes they'd come here for fishing, a hidden 'safe house' in the woods near a lake, just for the two of them.

He drove as fast as he can, feeling uneasy in his stomach. If Nikolai wasn't there, he actually wasn't sure what he'd do. Go after himself? Alert the others? We'll see.

Two bloody months. If he's there and alive, I'm gonna kill him myself, John thought to himself.

He pulled over near the small shack in the woods, covered by the trees, almost impossible to spot. John felt a familiar warmth at the sight of it. They'd made some good memories there.

Approaching the door, he paused. It was already slightly open. A break in?

A shouted swear from the inside pulled John from his thoughts. He pulled out his gun, carefully approaching the door and letting himself in.

It was cold and wet, things were scattered inside. Someone had been here. John braced himself for whatever as he approached the main room, his finger steady on the trigger.

A broken sob came from inside, along with muttered curses in Russian. John would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Nik?" He lowered his gun as he pushed the door open in a hurry, stopping in his tracks as he took in the sight before him.

There Nikolai sat by the wall, needle and thread in his shaky hands, blood soaking the floor. Blood dripping from a seemingly deep cut on his arm. He looked drained, dark circles under his eyes, tears from wide blown eyes wetting his cheeks, looking up at John.

"John? What are you..." He sounded weak. Pained. John's heart clenched at the sight. What the hell had happened? How long had he been here?

Rushing over to him, John dropped to his knees, hands immediately on the man before him. Checking for any other major injuries. He was confused, he had a thousand questions running through his head. But most important of all, Nikolai was alive. Battered and bruised, but he was alive.

Nikolai's eyes fluttered, like he couldn't believe John was there. "What are you doing here?" He rasped quietly. God, he looked like a mess.

John didn't even know where to start. He raised one hand to hold Nikolai's cheek, tapping on it to get his attention. "Nik. Nikolai. Stay with me. Focus. We're gonna go get some help." He looked down at Nikolai's arm. "Christ, you... You were trying to stitch that on your own?" His voice came sharper than he intended, filled with shock and concern.

Nikolai looked on the brink of passing out, but he still managed to smile slightly. It quickly turned into a pained wince though. "I had it under.. under control, Captain. You shouldn't have come."

Price reached for Nikolai's trembling hands and grabbed the needle. Before they got out of there, it'd probably be wise to close the wound up. It seemed like Nikolai already tried to clean the wound, but the bleeding just wouldn't stop.

"Fuck's sake, Nikolai. We had an agreement." He cursed under his breath as he worked on the wound, the broken whimpers coming from the man below shattering his heart.

"Something happens, you come to me. You don't just go off on your own and handle things. You don't try stitching your own wounds. How many times has it been?" He couldn't help the crack in his voice. "You could've died, Nik."

Nikolai's face scrunched in a wince as Price worked on stitching him up, it was far from good but for the meantime it would do. Nikolai sniffed, "And yet you save me once again" He tried to joke.

It wasn't the first time they'd done this. There had been many instances where they saved each other, but most of them were on ops they did together, life and death situations. This, although rare, was John's least favorite. John knew Nikolai was a closed off person, wasn't fond of relying on others for help, so he would often try solving his own problems in private. He'd go to hell and back for the people he loved, but receiving the same kind of attention seemed strange to him. This wasn't the first time Price had found him lying on the floor, bleeding. Nikolai hated being seen as weak. Hated asking for help. And it'd always come back to bite him in the ass as an emergency situation like this. Leave it to Price to clean the mess. Ironic fucking paradox, isn't it?

"Fucking hell, Nik." He finished closing up the wound and moved his hand to hold Nik's in his own. He was trembling, cold. They were gonna have a long talk about trust and safety when all of this was over, but for now Price focused on the man in front of him. He looked pale and thin, eyes missing that familiar warmth. Price felt a pang of guilt and sadness in his chest. He should've come sooner. He should've checked, thought of something sooner. Price grabbed Nik's face, pressing their foreheads together. "You scared me to death."

Nikolai let out a shuddering breath, fresh tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." came barely audible.

"I'm glad you're alive." Price whispered before pressing a kiss to his head. "Don't ever pull that shit on me again, okay? We're partners. We lean on each other. Don't just go off on your own without a word. Please."

Price pulled Nikolai close, letting his head fall to his chest, holding the sobbing man in his arms.

Hospital visit first, then a long honest conversation is on the way, John thought.

[hanzajesthanza]

everyone wants a relationship like yennefer and geralt, until you have to deal with the aftermath of your feral husband adventuring downstream and into the woods to avoid social obligations, chasing the local wildlife, and drinking river water

(i need suggestions on where to hide his swords, he has lost his blade privileges)

i don't suppose geralt travelled too far from yennefer's lap (or you know what else, lol - meaning, where the baby dragon stuck his head) when he was staying with her in vengerberg. she probably wouldn't let him in the house until he hosed down and agreed to eat all his meals with a fork and knife.

that is, until he caught the detrimental side of his mommy issues, and walked out on her

swords... they could go wherever they go... into a pocket dimension, maybe. but it's ineffective to take them from him, because he devolves into an anxious mess without: "i feel like a snail without its shell." (though that saying is strange. snails die if they are separated from their shells. well, maybe it's accurate in this case. what is a witcher without his swords? more often than not, a dead one).

ideally, he wouldn't need them.

i imagine geralt rising from his seat, upon hearing with his sharp ear yennefer from downstairs, in tense conversation with a husband of one of her clients, who is in the middle of hurling a tirade of abuse her way. geralt laces his bruising spiked gloves on, takes his sword, ties his headband, smiles nastily thinking he looks quite frightful, approaches the door, "i'll teach him a lesson."

by the time he reaches the stairs, a crack of electricity severs the air, emitting the scent of ozone. the satisfied-customer's dissatisfied-husband is already cowering, yammering an apology to the dignified, well-learned lady yennefer.

the witcher stands on the stairs. unties his hair, slowly walks back up to the bedroom... perhaps it's inappropriate to quote fringilla vigo here, as i'm talking about yennefer and geralt, but: "what are you trying to prove? your masculinity? i know better ways."

other thoughts on geralt's lifestyle shacked up in yennefer's house:

i have a headcanon that yennefer, finally speaking on geralt watching brush her hair with adoration, decides to comment (going something like this):

'What are you waiting for? Counting how many times I curse upon discovering split ends? Is my nightly routine really so special to you?' 'It is.' 'Is it? You're not a child. You know what a brush is. You even run one through your own hair. On occasion.' 'On occasion.'

it's her way of doing it which intrigues him. its her hands, her particularity, a foible of hers... wordlessly, she rises from the dressing table and sits on the bed, curling her bare legs in-between the eiderdown, resting her hands on his shoulders and beginning to brush his hair, gently, softly, caressing him...

i think that, (though i'm not at all saying that you were saying this, i'm just getting off-topic and commenting about a take ive seen floating around), the idea that yennefer "civilized" geralt and "taught him how to behave" is a slight misinterpretation, there's an emotional note to it. after all, geralt was not brutish before he lived with her, he dined with a queen, for god's sake. he was familiar with social rules, but just used to no one expecting them of him, caring if he smelled like his horse, because no one cared if he rode through the night, was cold, suffered. he never lived in a house, because he never was invited into one.

yennefer wished for domesticity of him, a home life. that was what she gave him, "more than she gave to any man" (bounds of reason). she gave that to him... out of love. that which he tired of, and hurt her in rejecting, then regretted it and came to wish for the same thing.

she showed him gentleness. like he showed her gentleness:

"... although neither quite knew what caring and tenderness were, they succeeded because they very much wanted to."

[slaymitchabernathy]

Written in the Stars

"Coryo we shouldn't be here," she giggles, letting him tug her along in the darkened hallway. He wants her to see the Academy rooftop, how you can see the Capitol skyline from up there, how you can feel like the only two people in the world up there.

Coriolanus flashes her that famous Snow smile and pulls her into his arms, resting his chin on her shoulder, "But don't you want to see where I'm taking you?" He asks, his voice feigning innocence which makes her laugh, "For all I know you could be taking me to some dark room from which I will never return," she replies rather dramatically.

Coriolanus rolls his eyes, "Please, I've had you alone in a dark room one too many times for you to think of me that way." He knows she's blushing even though he can't see her face. Finally, she caves, "Alright," she mumbles, allowing him to lead her to a rickety-looking ladder. "Is that thing safe?"

Coriolanus grabs a hold of one of the rungs, "Perfectly safe," he assures her, even though he's not so sure himself. He's only come up here a handful of times since discovering this secret spot. He begins to climb and looks over his shoulder to see Soarynn following him, her red ribbon shining in her blonde hair. He smiles because he likes the ribbon, likes her hair, likes how she manages to look good in the Academy uniform, with a simple string of pearls around her neck showing off her class and wealth.

He also likes how she's a powerful politician's daughter.

Much better than some runt girl from District Twelve he decides while pushing open the rooftop hatch. It groans as he opens it and he's hit with the cool evening air. Coriolanus pulls himself onto the rooftop and turns to help Soarynn climb out. He ends up grabbing under her arms and simply pulling her right out, earning him a squeal, "Oh, you're so strong," she gasps, placing a hand on his arm. Coriolanus shrugs, not one to boast even though she's right. His Peacekeeping side quest led him to develop muscles he'd never seen before.

Besides, Soarynn's on the smaller side, he could throw her off the roof if he wanted to. But he won't. Because he likes her.

Soarynn looks up into the sky and her eyes widen, "Oh look at all the stars Coryo." He looks up too, remembering how many more stars you can see in District Twelve since there's less light pollution. But that place is downright filthy in other ways. His eyes scan the skyline of the city, looking at all those tiny apartment lights that represent the lives of Capitol citizens. "I can see the President's Mansion," he nods in its direction. He'll live there one day, President Coriolanus Snow.

Soarynn barely gives it a glance. It's not important to her, not a lifeline like it is to him. When he was stuck in Twelve he'd often lay in his bunk picturing himself in the Mansion, servants at his beck and call, expensive clothes, extravagant parties. President Coriolanus Snow. And Soarynn would be by his side, his first lady. She didn't know that of course, they were just starting out in the grand scheme of things but he'd done exceptionally well these past three months in securing a permanent spot in her life.

For starters, he took her virginity. Such an easy thing to secure. She'd been so willing yet so nervous and hesitant. But Coriolanus was endlessly patient with her and whispered reassurances throughout the entire thing. He wouldn't always be this way, kind and caring. Once they were married he could be rougher, meaner, himself.

He spoiled her with gifts and praises. He proudly paraded her through the streets with her on his arm, her rightful place.

He hadn't uttered those three words yet. He couldn't. Not after Lucy Gray, the wretched, deadly girl. What had she sung that night to him right before it all came tumbling down?

"It's why I love you You're as pure as the driven snow"

Then she nearly killed him with that snake, left him in that sad-looking shack in those godforsaken woods with his own devices. One of them just so happened to be a gun. And for what? To dig up some Katniss? Or was it swamp potato? It didn't matter, he'd left that all behind along with her dead body at the bottom of the lake.

"Coryo?"

Soarynn's question pulls him from his unsettling thoughts and he feigns a smile, "Yes darling?" Soarynn nervously shifts on her feet, her shiny black heels giving her a small boost of height. She's still much shorter than him, and he likes that too, how small she is compared to him. He loves it the most when he's inside her but now isn't the time for nasty thoughts. "I um...I was wondering if I scared you off the other night once we finished..." she mumbles, looking down at the pavement they're standing on.

Coriolanus remembers the other night far too well. They'd had sex, wonderful, passionate sex that ended in several orgasms. She lay on his chest while he dragged his fingertips up and down her back, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. He thought she'd drifted off to sleep but Soarynn had propped her chin up on his chest, her gray-blue eyes looking into his piercing blue ones. "Coryo?" She'd asked, sleepiness in her tone. Coriolanus had tilted his head, admiring her freckles, "Hmm?" Soarynn had bit her lip for a moment, debating on what she'd say next. That's another thing he liked about her, she thought before she spoke. Sejanus or Lucy Gray certainly couldn't say the same.

"I know we haven't been together for long, but you've taken such good care of me and I just wanted to say...I love you."

Coriolanus had mastered the face of indifference but he wasn't able to hide the look of surprise from washing over his face when hearing those words. He often wondered if he was even capable of love and here Soarynn was, giving it to him so freely. He hadn't known how to respond, not when he didn't feel that way towards her yet. He'd cleared his throat and given her a tight-lipped smile, "Thank you for telling me that Soarynn."

And right now on the Academy rooftop, he could see how much it had been eating away at her. It probably didn't help that he'd made a rather brisk exit once she told him those three words. And he knew Soarynn well enough to know that she wanted so badly to be in love, to be loved. She was a typical Capitol girl who was predestined to be married off to some rich man and give him children.

To her, love was the only thing to live for.

He gently takes her small hands in his, squeezing them gently, "You didn't scare me off Soarynn, I...I was just surprised is all. But I want you to know how deeply I care for you, how much I think of you. My darling I'm sure we're meant for each other."

He could see how much those words meant to Soarynn, how they calmed her and her doubts, how she clung to them like a lifeline. He almost pitied her. He'd been like her once, clinging onto old phrases whispered before going to face one's death. He remembered thinking of Lucy Gray, watching the arena for her, wondering if she was thinking of him too. He couldn't afford that again, to fall in love.

Coriolanus takes it a step further and pulls her into his arms and presses a passionate kiss onto her lips, one which she eagerly returns. She lets out a satisfied hum once he pulls away and wraps her arms around his broad torso, resting her head on his chest while they both look up at the stars.

"You're mine and I'm yours," she whispers with a smile.

Coriolanus shivers and it wasn't from the cold air. Months ago another girl had said those exact words to him and he was determined for this to have a different ending. He presses a kiss to her forehead before whispering back words he remembered so clearly that they would be ingrained into his being until the day he died.

"It's written in the stars."

| tumblr oneshot/drabble |

[nitrozem]

Bailey's secondary skill is handiness. Just what we need to break into this old building.

Flora: Hey, do you think you can break the door on that old shack open?

Bailey: Hmm maybe, I'll get over there in a minute...

Flora waits for him, and he comes over, though she is surprised he doesn't have his tools with him?

Flora: Uh, don't you need any tools for this?

Bailey: Let me see what I'm up against first!

She shows him the door

Bailey: Tch, don't no tools for this old piece of wood.

Bailey: I watched this kung fu movie with my buddy, Ricky! Just need a swift kick! HEEYA!

He managed to kick the door handle off, al though at the price of a stubbed toe it seems...

Bailey: How the guys do that in the movies bare foot and not get hurt?? I'm, gonna be feeling that for a week...

Flora: Movies exaggerate things, ya know. You got it open at least, so lets take a look!

Bailey: I'm going in first in case there's like...a crazy person living in there

Flora: You gonna kick him too or?

Bailey: Tch...

[jylesthejester]

WHAM BAM DIVING INTO MY OCS LORE THIS TIME ITS LONGER SO HERES SOME THINGS I WANNA MENTION BEFORE GETTING INTO IT(NOT ALL OF MY OCS WILL BE MENTIONED HERE)

[Also I recall @therummonster wanted to hear more about Raegen! His block of text is at the top :D]

1-Though they all may come from different universes they all know eachother due to multiversal travel.

2-I have made up certain species/things for some characters, if you have questions about them feel free to ask

3-I made a post covering Maxie and Stella in a way that gets most of their story across, so I will only be covering everyone besides them, if you want more of Stella and Maxie I will give you more, just ask.

4-Some smaller details might change later as I'm still working out stories for some characters

5-Theres a little inspiration from almost every fandom I've been interested in/actually in (TSBS, TMNT, LMK, etc) so if something sounds familiar thats likely why

6-My characters are unrealistically tall so most have the ability to alter their height if it's beyond a humans ability to be how tall they are.

7-Most characters have complex relationships that I'm not sure how to write all that well, so excuse me if I explain it horribly

Let's get into it :D

Raegen Caballero aka Radioactive :

Raegen Canallero was mentioned in my last post, to sum up their backstory, the non-humans and humans in his universe had a war where the humans flat out took the non-humans to scientific research facilities for testing, Raegen was a victim of this type of abdution, earning him the name Radioactive for the Radioactive poisoning his breath caused to humans. Raegen works for an organization called the Elements, which, obviously, consists of people with Elemental abilities, Raegan oddly being favored in this organization due to their awe inducing slight of hand and special abilities. Raegen wears a belt that has two drills attached to it with cords, making it easier for him to break into buildings. Raegen is often seen wearing a cropped jacket with shorts and blue boots, with, of course, the belt and some gloves. His eyes are green, and ones radioactive green with a lime colored pupil, the other eye is a deep dull green color with a blue pupil. Raegen is in a friend circle with their (before mentioned) sibling they lost. They just don't know it yet. If you want a good feel of his character, try to associate with him with "Drift away" from SU. Raegen is very easily manipulated, being forced to stay in a facility for a good portion of their development years. His name means "King(R) Soldier(C)". His hands are calloused from climbing, grabbing, and often touching rough surfaces. They live in the woods in a small shack, which is essentially a hide out for them, they keep all their possessions there. His lungs have developed to have a negative reaction to Radon (Radon is a radioactive gas that has no smell, colour or taste. Radon is produced from the natural radioactive decay of uranium, which is found in all rocks and soils. Radon can also be found in water. Radon escapes from the ground into the air, where it decays and produces further radioactive particles.) Which causes them to pass out soon after inhaling it, which their gas mask filters. Raegen has a lot of knowledge about chemistry and science. Raegens abilities include - Breathing toxic gasses, can consume toxic liquids(his lungs immediately processes it and makes his breath have the same affects/smell/taste as the toxin for a limited amount of time depending on how much of the selected Toxin they drink.), Teleportation, slight super hearing (can hear everything thats about in a 50 foot radius around him), height alteration. Raegen, whenever he has free time, goes to lost to time/dead dimensions and helps the souls in there pass on to the afterlife, allowing the dimension to finally Decay and the souls to Finally rest. Raegen once found an alive child in a dying dimension, and helped them out, giving them to Maxie and Stella in secret.

Celeste Kanth Novaflare :

Celeste is Maxie and Stella's biological daughter. She's about sixteen and helps around the casino at times, not being allowed to stay in the heart floor for long amounts of time. Celeste looks like both her parents in equal parts, her main color is blue, being a mix of green(maxie) and purple(stella). Celeste has abilities she hasn't yet learned to control, so she refrains from using them. Celeste knows how to use a bow and arrow. Celeste has a passion in Ballet and performing, both her parents attend all her Ballet performances. Celeste has the same half space type of face Stella has, with the constellations instead being blue but still connecting to make a spider web around the eye. Celeste's abilities include - Teleportation, elongation of limbs(from maxie), floatation, spawning weapons from the constellations(from Stella), being able to make a person blind for a selected amount of time in turn making them extremely sleepy, being able to spawn a cloud to ride on and or use for transportation, and being able to spawn limited Portals. Celeste is a eccentric child, being very nice and forgiving which gets them in bad situations at times. Celeste is homeschooled because most schools around wouldn't accept Celeste due to Stella and Maxies track record. Celeste could be called "spoiled", but shes very humble, she loves giving gifts. She's about 6'1 at the moment, she grew quickly which her parents were surprised but quickly adjusted to. Celeste has one best friend called Gelatin. Celeste has curly hair just like Maxies natural hair. Celeste has one green eye with a yellow pupil and one purple eye. Celeste is a germaphobe and is often cleaning or wiping down counters by her own will, cause she knows it's dirty. Celeste realizes if people are trying to manipulate her quickly, and catches it before they can go on. Celeste doesn't have a whole lot of backstory, since she just grew up being homeschooled by her parents and hasn't really experienced anything bad. She's very warm and welcoming to people in the casino.

Alix Caballero aka Lix :

Lix, after experiencing a similar situation to Raegens, was placed in a facility where she was kept against her will, as her abilities developed and she was given minimal amounts of food and water, clothing was white long pants and white long sleeved shirts, she was deprived from human contact and assumed her sibling was dead. After so many years, Lix got a chance to run out and took it. She quickly left the place, burning the walls down as she ran, helping everyone else in the facility escape. Lix eventually evolved to be a Harley-quinn type person. Lix is very sarcastic and rude to most, but at times, she can be funny. Lix's main colors are a light cyan Color, Grey, and black. Alix has naturally brown hair but dyed her hair to have some sections be Ice blue and others being Grey, and putting them up into spikey Buns. Lix's main weapon is a baseball bat, but she also knows a bit of magic next to her abilities she naturally has. Lix has a spikeball tail, she's unsure why it looks how it does, but it's there. Lix's abilities include - Pyrokinesis(blue fire), hypnosis with his voice, able to turn parts of his body/skin into a malubale kind of putty and can shape it into different things, Teleportation, super speed, and Kryokinesis/Cryokinesis(manipulation of ice). Lix talks in a very sarcastic and dramatic voice, mocking people most of the time. Lix has shark-like teeth, which also work like actual Sharks teeth to(grow back after falling out), do at times she'll pull a tooth out for an occasional trick or for scared/horrified reactions. After getting out of the facility, she built up muscle so she could protect herself not only with magic but also with just their general strength. Lix's seclaras have a light tint of blue, and it's noticeable from afar. Lix has visual snow and didn't know it until later on in life when he told some friends about it.

Palin Rockfeller aka Invert :

Palin grew up in a black and white universe, the universe slowly started to gain color(watercolor type colors) as time went on, though once they got the chance to leave the universe they took it, and never went back, due to this, the portal messed with their colors, making half of their body/clothes inverted, anything they wear becomes half inverted and goes back to normal after she takes it off. This didn't affect her much, so she lives with it and usually goes by the name "Invert.". Palin found a handful of friends in this new dimension and met a girl named Lila and her twin named Maya(both are down in this list, Lila is right below palin), Eventually Lila and Palin grew close and started hanging out with only eachother on weekends instead of the two of them with Maya, at some point Palin found Raegen and enjoyed talking to them so eventually added them to their friend group. One day, Palin was going down the street when she heard some screaming. She quickly located where it was from and went down a dim alleyway. This led to her finding Lila's body, She was shot in multiple different parts of her person, Palin took Lila to her place and hoped she could take care of her, since there weren't any local hospitals. Palin eventually realized Lila was going to die if she didn't do something, so Palin attempted to make her into a robot of sorts, but kept her personality and memories in her code, so she wasn't completely different(that's where I'll end the backstory). Palin likes making robots cause she has a passion for design, so she draws in her free time. Palin's abilities include - Being able to split objects into two of itself(one being inverted the other not), short range teleportation, being able to change other people's vision/their vision to see everything with inverted colors, being able to make something the opposite of what it is (eg: medical supplies becoming something that causes harm), being able to visualize words outwardly(like projection, she usually does this when reading stories to children). Palin collects powerful artifacts from across universes and keeps them safe. She has dark brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin, and half of her entire body is inverted.

Lila [Gear] :

Lila grew up in a good home, her parents and both her and her twin sister all were an 'ice family' in their universe, meaning all of them could manipulate ice. Lila's a twin sister to Maya. Some of the few memories she has are of Palin, Maya, and right before her death. Lila had some alteration in code from Raegen to kind of make her a bodyguard robot for Palin. Lila's main weapon is a hammer. Lilas abilities include - Cryokinesis, Super speed, decoding computers (by plugging them into her head), heightened senses, being able to sense when someone's(Mainly when Palin's) in danger, Scanning Wounds/DNA samples and finding how to take care of it/matches for the DNA. Lila has white skin, black hair with a cyan ombre, black & cyan horns, a halo, and black eyes with cyan pupils. Lila has a phobia of Clowns, so she can't hang around Inky for too long until her fear starts getting to her. Lila is like Molten from TSAMS or Jack from TSBS, she'll attack a set target/go after a set target unless Palin (In the TSBS case for this, Moon/Solar) tells her to stop. Lila is quite fond of Raegen, she doesn't remember him but enjoys his company. Lila's code evolves and learns constantly, just like how humans do, so her code can't be permanently hacked cause it's like manipulation to Lila, she'll eventually realize it and leave the person. Lila has a handful of favorite universes to travel to when she needs to clear her mind (Palin's universe, dreamcore-like universes, anything peaceful like that). Lila has artifical lungs and organs, so she can physically get sick, but it's like 10x worse cause her heightened senses cause her to succumb to the sickness more, so she usually acts dramatic and acts like she's going to die when she's sick. Lila loves jazz music and loves dancing. At times, she and Palin will dance to jazz music around the house they own. Lila can adapt parts of her body to become weapons and / or Sheilds, which helps a lot in fights. Lila has a passion for singing and music. She loves giving people vocal training/vocal classes. Lila loves trying to figure out what instruments were used in songs from movies/shows. Most of her main story is in Palin's section, so sorry I can't put it here :,3

Nova Starstruck :

Nova's actual name is flare, but that's been erased from their memories. Nova grew up in a dimension where everyone had shadows over their faces/bodies, making their eyes permanently white and stuck in place. Nova was chosen as a servant for a multiversal creator. They left their original dimension to pursue this job and new life. They go to various dimensions and note down anything they notice or anything important, making up names for the dimensions based on the notes. Nova has gone to various dead dimensions that usually end up in them just walking around for a bit, taking in the amount of Ashes and taking notes about what is there(that hasn't died yet) or what could've been there. Nova's very devoted to her work and tries to avoid making connections to anyone in the universes they visit. Nova dresses like a pastel Clown to make themself somewhat blend in at some points as a street performer. Nova is extremely tall and looms over anything or anyone they meet. Nova has red hair, a shadowed body/face, and white eyes. There are various other versions of Nova, they were one of the two options the Multiversal creator was going to chose, and the creator chose them for one significant difference, the ability for them to leave their life behind easily. Novas abilities include - Height manipulation(on themself), Illusion/Major image/Minor image, teleportation, a remarkably flexible neck(/ref), can know someone's name by looking at them,

Inky Inkwell :

Inky comes from a dimension called Geometricks where everythings made out of shapes. Inky is very docile and not intimidating. Inky carries candy in his pockets to give to children(upset children or just children who want candy). Inky was/is a juggler at their carnival ("Once upon your wildest dreams") and used Shurikens/Ninja stars in their juggling acts (at times also juggling both objects with Party favor in their hands). Inky's abilities include - Telekinesis, Shapeshifting, Teleportation, Disconnecting limbs, Making matter out of nothing, moving molecular structure, electrokinesis, human cloaking(being able to make himself look human). Inky doesn't talk much about his universe but it's suspected by others(Maxie, Nova, etc) that they left it forcefully. Inky looks legitimately like 2d animation when walking around, they dont have any shading though, so he's just flat colors and some outlines. Inky has Tear marks on his face(look at drawing on my profile if u haven't seen it ^^), when he's actually crying the tear marks turn green and yellow. Inky has a gap between their teeth(which are naturally off white). Inkys neck & waist frills are from the universe theyre now in, unlike the rest of their outfit. Inky keeps poloroids of their close friends (Their Carnival friends and Party favor), they haven't managed to get a picture of Nova yet. Inky's human form is pale with green hair and blue eyes. Inky loves the cuphead universe for the rubber hose artstyle it has. Inky has never been seen angry, they're either bored or happy. Inky can consume his juggling shurikens/daggers, it's a trick they've learned from some of the swallowing-sword's people in their old Circus.

Ricin aka John Doe :

It's suspected that he was the cause for his universes death.

Party favor :

Party favor is Inky's closest friend. Party favor is actually a monotonous nightmare-dream eater, though they've stuck around Inky because of the amount of nightmares they have, so Party favor gets to eat nightmares regularly. Party favor has extremely long pointed limbs and a very odd face when in their natural form, the form they're usually in is a compressed version of their form (I might have to draw their monstrous form sometime). Party favor didn't like much of the "Once upon your wildest dreams" crew but tolerated them since Inky got him a kinda-job-sorta at the place. Party favors abilities include - Confetti spawning, Mind manipulation, minor image/Minor illusion, Hallucinations, human cloaking (Same thing as inkys ability). Party favor likes using Sparklers as a distraction at times to get away from people. Party favor doesn't talk about the (now dead) "Once upon your wildest dreams" crew infront of Inky, which they're usually near/around, so they just don't talk about them at all. Party favor has various hats they wear at separate times. Party favors "Eyes" can also be a mouth, the middle of the X is where the mouth pops out of, like a demogorgon sort of.

Jimson aka Clementine :

Ricin is a dead, unidentified body. He died from a workplace accident and fell onto a pipe, busting his head open, before falling into a vat of chemicals, completely burning his skin and Eyeballs out of their sockets, no one was brave enough to get his body out of the vat so they gave him the nickname "Chemical vat John Doe". Ricin is a vengeful spirit and Haunts the company buildings, causing more workplace accidents (which bodies have been identified from), and trying to get people to figure out who he was, it upsets him that he just got the name "John doe" then they went on. Ricin's abilities include - Teleportation, Hallucinations, Portals. Ricin was smoking right before he died, so his spirit has a cigarette in its mouth, the fires unextinquishable. Ricin has purple hair, one green eye, one red eye, slightly tanned skin, and is wearing a black suit with a red tie. Ricin doesn't often make friends with other spirits. He's very rude and reclusive(like EaPs Eclipse!). He consistently tells any new spirits that the police aren't going to find their bodies, and they'll also be known as a John/Jane doe. The only person he sorta gets along with is Jimson(who isn't a spirit, but can see him). Ricin was supposed to get sent to hell, but his spirit escaped, keeping his soul in the factory(that's now been long abandoned [he died in 1920.]). Ricins soul is physically stuck at the factory, he can only go 150 feet away from it before being sucked back to it.

Jimson is a 2d-looking character, similar to Inky, except they're actually 3d. Jimson loves gardens and helps Kaede(an oc that's not on this list) out with his garden! Jimson can see spirits and often helps solve Jane doe/John doe cases, but also is a murderer of sorts. He uses dead bodies he finds for compost. Jimson has a sun mark and a rain-cloud mark under each of his eyes, his eyes are green and his hair is brown, his bangs are a somewhat-pastel indigo, his skin is tanned, and he dresses in overalls, short sleeved shirts, and boots. Jimson is very pushy, which often makes most people steer clear of becoming friends with them. Jimson convinced Ricin to tell them where he died so they could maybe help solve a case (from over 50 years ago? Yeah, good luck, buddy lol), he ended up not being able to help, but he could talk to Ricin better at the factory since Ricin's soul was stuck there, so they talked more. Jimson eventually would find that Ricin can possess an object they have, but I won't talk about that much yet :) Jimson can eat/consume/smell poisonous food/berries/flowers/etc, they have a immunity to it. Jimson quite literally sprouted out of the ground, which is why they have a sprout on their head. Jimson doesn't seem to have a mouth, but when they open their mouth they have teeth like a lamprey(if you guys know what that is, if you don't, Google it, they're pretty metal /pos). Jimsons abilities include - Geokinesis, ghost-seeing/spirit-seeing, being able to consume poisonous things, being able to suck out blood like a Vampire, can sense how far along a plant is to being done growing.

Lydia Summers :

Maya Chrome :

Lydia is the leader of the Elements(the organization Raegen works for). Lydia comes from a Fire family (like in Lilas thing, a fire family means a family that can manipulate/control fire). Lydia is very manipulative and overly pushy. Lydia is good friends with Maya from childhood. She has red-orange-yellow ombre hair, pale skin, fire-like eyes, a small crown on the top of her head, and a fire tail. Lydia dispises Lila a Lot, even though she's Mayas sister, Lydia never got along with her no matter what. Lydia's abilities include - Pyrokinesis, melting/welding/bending metal to her touch, being able to make her whole body fire. Lydia's hair spikes up in Flames (think like redson from LMK) when she gets mad. Lydia's clothes mainly are made out of non-flammable material, so she doesn't burn them. Lydia hates when she's not able to get in on any fights. Lydia is power-hungry, so she has most of the people under her control gather powerful multiversal weapons so she can use them all to rule the world (classic villian). Though Lydia's whole organization is about the main elements/Elemental powers(though there is one using electricity- shshshsh) she still put Raegen in the organization despite him not having any Elemental powers, he's just kinda the barbarian of the Organization (aka the only one like REALLY physically strong). Lydia grew up incredibly spoiled, in a wealthy household, which didn't help much with how power-hungry she got later on in life.

Relationships (main) [Relationships you guys should know about] :

Maya is Lila's twin sister, she doesn't know her sister died(technically) and thought she just went missing. Maya is incredibly reluctant to help Lydia with her goals, but does anyway since Lydia is her best friend. Maya admires the "Casino crew"'s (Maxie, Stella, Palin, Kaede, Gacey, etc[most I haven't wrote about here]) work, but knows they're a threat to the Elements organization, so knows she has to take them down at some point. Mayas abilities include - Cryokinesis, Teleportation, Water manipulation, minor Illusions. Maya has black hair with a light cyan ombre, light cyan horns and tail, cyan eyes, black diamond pupils, and pale skin. Maya respects most of the Element's people, mostly respecting Raegen for dealing with Lydia's bullshit most of the time. Maya loves fashion and includes it in her everyday outfits. Maya often wears a chrome belt on her outfits, liking the look it gives against her skin. Maya often leads buisness meetings since Lydia hates doing them. Maya's one of the kinder people in the Elements, most are insane or just need to go to a mental hospital or therapy. Maya is very gentle with people, and usually when talking to Karen's uses gentle parenting techniques.

Main Organizations/Companies/Groups :

Maxie & Stella - Married

Inky & Party favor - The consuming and the consumer/Being used and doesn't know and using them

Lydia & Raegen - Manipulative 'Relationship'

Maya & Lydia - Best friends

Jimson & Ricin - Friends with romantic tension/Ghost and annoying person they're attached to

Kaede & Jimson - Being helped and Helper/Friends

Gacey & Kaede & Lix - Love triangle with a lot of tension (AND I LITERALLY MEAN LOVE TRIANGLE. NOT A LOVE V.)

Party favor & Nova - Hates eachother but get along around one person(Inky)

Nova & Inky - Thinks they're friends(Inky) and Hates the other person(Nova)

Maya & Raegen - Knows they're both in a bad situation and bond over it

Lila & Palin - Creation and creator/Admires eachother deeply

Raegen & Celeste - Cool uncle and cool niece/Chaos embodiments

Lix & Raegen - Awkward but chill

Palin & Maya - Friends that distanced themselves from the other over time

Celeste & Inky - Besties!

More Oc lore that I'm going to write about :

Once Upon Your Wildest Dreams Carnival - Flare(ringmaster)

Elements - Lydia(owner/creator)

The Multiversal Casino - Maxie & Stella (Co-owners)

Special weapons/items in the story :

All of the 'Once Upon Your Wildest Dreams' Carnival characters' Lore.

Gelatin (another oc)

Weapons/powerful items that exist in the multiverse I've created.

The Code breaker chain/Multiversal Glitching Chain/Glitch chain/Multiversal breaker chain (it has a lot of names)

Eclipsical Staff

Color absorber pallette

Jingle-bell Scythe

Starstruck information orbs

Lmk if you want me to talk about the whole little multiverse I've made in my head more ^^ I really enjoyed typing all of this out :D I hope you all enjoyed reading it!

[spinjitsuburst]

Walker Farm Day 1

hi gang i'm liveblogging me playing through stardew valley as jay let's go

first off! we hop off the bus as we arrive in the valley to greet Robin :D she kind of reminds Jay of Skylor, just much less into wood and carpentry than noodles

she leads us to the farm, a little shack by the beach that uh

well. it's seen better days

the mayor has already dropped some seeds off for us and after a goodnight's sleep we can begin the game

leave it to jay to have bad luck his first day

i spawned jay in a beack farm, as it's a farm type i've never used before and thought it'd be fitting! upon taking a screenshot to see what i'm working with:

eugh boy... almost no farmland. hmm. definitely going to be relying on other means of making money for the time being

after clearing some of the area and planting the parsnip seeds given to us by the mayor, jay heads into town to meet some of the townsfolk. rumor has it befriending a certain neighbor will grant him some blue chickens, so he heads to the bar to meet him!

great start

after talking to some more townsfolk, he begins to head home, noticing a tent off in the distance. there's a man living on his own, and growing up in a junkyard he knows what it's like to not have much. he decides to befriend Linus, giving him some spring onion he'd foraged near the south river

(tip from a Stardew Valley veteran: foraging spring onion is a great way to make some money in the beginning when you don't have much!)

back at his farm, jay has to fend off some monsters with his scythe before he can make it to his house

because of this he doesn't make it home until 12:30am, and when he does he crashes into bed, absolutely exhausted

what in ninjago has he gotten himself into

DAY ONE RESULTS:

[gwenkmu]

Okay that's literally the beginning of one of my stories so here we go (english is not my mother tongue so sorry for mistakes)

« Human ?

-Well, yes, that's – that's how we call ourselves, replied Leon.

One of the creatures handed him a cup full of something that looked like wine. Leon took it and mumbled thanks. Strange creature, it was. Quite frightening at first sight, but they were actually rather nice. Maybe they were nice. Or maybe they were feeding him so that he would taste better. But it was a little too late to run now – if he distrusted these monsters, he should have never followed inside their town – but he was so exhausted – the whole night wandering in the woods – horrible woods – no food, no water – he was so relieved when he saw the town – and he nearly died of terror when he came upon three of these creatures – he drew his sword to defend himself – but he was so exhausted – they told him to calm down – proposed him food and rest inside their town – and yes it looked like a trap – but what other option had he, going back inside the woods – he was too exhausted, he would'nt have lasted one hour – so let's follow the monsters, he thought – if I'm lucky they'll kill me quickly – and he was too exhausted to think – too exhausted to fight – so he went into the town.

That wasn't really a town, actually. More like a slum. Or a refugee camp. Huts that looked more like wreck, all askew, shacks built with rotting beams, with sheets of metal – and materials Leon couldn't recognize. At what must be the center of this wretched mess were this more or less circular place were Leon were sitting, on the ground, next to a fire, speaking with one of the creature – some kind of lioness, big lioness, with enormous fangs, who just asked Leon what he were.

(Leon knew he should have been surprised. Because speaking with a lionnesse, whatever its fang looked like, wasn't supposed to be normal. But he was to thirsty and starving and tired to get surprised.)

« Human, repeated the lioness. I have seen others like you. »

(Maybe there were creatures from the tales, thought Leon through his weariness. Maybe all that little folk and werewolves wasn't fantasy of old centuries, but just creatures that lived in the deepest of the woods. Did they have their fellow in France ? Or did they prefered less civilised country, like Poland ?)

Leon took a sip from his cup and winced. The drink looked like wine, but tasted like some too spicy, alcoholic fruit juice. He never drank anything like that before. Were this rum ?

« What do you want to do, now ? asked the lionness.

-Find back the river. »

The monster stared at him with amazement.

« Which river ?

-Well, I suppose you know better than me, that river with an umprononceable polish name, we have to cross it on our way to Russia. »

He took an other sip. That beverage wasn't that bad, once you were used to it.

« Because, maybe you haven't heard in this remoted place, but the Emperor is going to invade Russia. And (he raised a finger to prevent objections) do not tell me it's too far away and too big and too cold and anything. We're speaking of the Emperor. Napoleon. If he decided to conquer a land, that land can do nothing but submit. And (he raised his finger higher) the Emperor has the greatest army ever seen. The Cossacks won't stand an hour against us.

-Oh, said the lioness. You're a soldier of this great army, aren't you ?

-I am (his voice was overflowing with pride).

-And you're all alone ? Where's the rest of the army ?

-I didn't desert if that's what you insinuating, grunted Leon. I've been sent as a scout to find a ford – to cross that river I can't remember the name. But I lost my way in the forest, and then the night fell, and that's been hours I'm walking and trying to find back my regiment. So if you're kind enough to guide me...

-We can't help you, said the lioness.

-I have money to pay you, sighed the soldier.

-That's not the question. We can't help you because we don't know where your river is. »

There were a moment of silence. Leon stared at the lioness with astonishment. He noticed that some others creatures were standing around, listening to them, but he didn't care.

« Isn't that your land ? he finally said. Come on, surely there can't be so many rivers around ! And if really you don't know, just give me the direction of the nearest city – I know Poland enough to...

-Soldier, interrupted the lioness. Whatever Poland is, you're not there anymore. »

New moment of silence.

« But, replied Leon. That's not possible. I walked an entire night, but that's not enough to reach the borders, and...

-That's not a question of borders (there were impatience in the lioness' voice). You're lost, soldier. Totally lost. Like all of us. You've lost your world. »

The only thing Leon could answer were :

« ...what ?

-You crossed inadvertently some kind of.. portal, probably near that river of yours. You stumbled out of your world, the world where there's a place called Poland, an emperor and a great army, and you fell into an other world. This one.

-That's not really a world, pointed out an other creature, behind Leon – a really strange one with big eyes like a fly. A world has laws, logic, consistency. Here there's nothing of this. It's just a place.

-All right, all right, grunted the lioness, so you fell into a place, this one. The place between the worlds.

-Between the... worlds ? (Leon were trying to understand, but all of this sounded so strange that it barely made sense inside his brain. Weariness and hunger didn't help.) So where... where's the way home ? To Poland ? »

The lioness burst out laughing – a bitter laugh.

« The way home ? Oh, if we knew it, we wouldn't be here !

-You... »

Leon frowned.

« ...you're lost too ?

-We all are, said gloomily the fly-eyed creature.

-Many things, many people fall into that place, said the lionness bitterly. There are those who try their luck – who take the road and look for a way out. There's a way in, so surely there is a way out, but I don't know if one can find it. And the road is hazardous. As for us, we didn't take the chance. We decided to make our lives here. »

Leon glanced at the dilapidated shacks around him.

« Doesn't seem really nicer than a road life, he muttered.

-It's not a paradise, replied the lioness, but we have what we need. If you decide to stay, soldier, you'll find here a steady life. You'll have friends around, a roof over your head, water and food every day – almost every day. »

Leon drained his cup at one gulp.

« I didn't become a soldier to have a steady life, he said. If the Emperor is going to Russia, I'm going too. I fear no road. And then, I just have to find back that bloody river, it won't be that hard, will it ? »

1953

"Oh dear, little human. You're a long way from home."

[howlingday]

What about Cowboy/Bounty Hunter Jaune meets Ruby? Idk what story that'll bring but it's just something about Cowboy Jaune x Ruby that intrigues me. (Lancaster)

As for Jaune's weapon of choice he has 2 Schofield revolvers, a Lever Action Rifle with a scope (made by Ruby and gives him sniping lessons) and Crocea Mors for melee.

"Rose..." Jaune growled as he stopped whittling his tree branch to watch the bounty hunter walk up the dirt trail to his shack. "You finally come fer mah head, Red Dog?"

"Not this time, Arc." Ruby said as she drew closer. "Got a job for an outlaw."

"A job?" He spit on the ground. "I ain't yer hound dog, Rose. Those days are over." He went back to whittling. " 'Less, a'course, you can get the law to look past me bein' a murderer."

"I don't see a murderer, Jaune. I never have." Ruby stepped closer. "The only reason you're being hunted is because Watts was friends with Schnee."

"Well, if Schnee controls the law, I want nothin' to do with it." He stopped whittling, then looked past Ruby. "No posse?"

"They don't know I'm here." Ruby said. "Too busy on patrol for the White Fang, which is why I'm here."

"The White Fang?" Jaune looked like she had slapped him in the face. "You're not thinkin'-"

"I am." Ruby replied. "And I need you to help me."

"No." Jaune tossed away his branch and stood up, walking around the house. "No way."

"We need you, Jaune!" Ruby followed.

"What you need is a miracle." Jaune stamped up to his shed.

"And that's you!" Ruby said, catching up to him. "We need someone they don't recognize as the law."

"I'm still human."

"But you ain't the law!"

"And I ain't goin' to be again!" Jaune turned on his heel and got in Ruby's face. "I've seen the kinda men the White Fang got. Oh, they're a cowardly bunch, but they ain't stupid. Once they see me, I'm as good as dead." He turned back to the shed. "Like I should've been."

"No, you shouldn't." Ruby replied. "What happened in Fall Gulch-"

"Got Ren stuck in bed, and Nora almost killed." He shuddered. "An' Pyrrha-"

"...I know." Ruby looked away, before steeling herself and pushing past Jaune. "But that's why we need you, Jaune. So we don't let a thing like Fall Gulch happen again." She opened the door. "Look, just give me five-"

"GIT DOWN!"

Jaune swung Ruby to his chest as he twisted to cover her from the blast. The instant he saw the tripwire, he knew who figured out who was responsible, but was confirmed when he heard the beastly howls.

"White Fang!" Ruby shouted.

"Git to the house!" The two ran inside, their heads low as they heard the growling and snarling get closer. Jaune shut and locked the door as bullets whizzed through the flimsier wood. "Got damned animals!"

Jaune rushed to the couch as Ruby stayed under the table. He pulled out a box from underneath and opened it. Quickly grabbing his pistols, he kicked the box to Ruby. Remaining inside was his old rifle.

"All I got is twenty rounds!" Jaune shouted. "Make 'em count!"

Buleets shattered glass and splintered wood as the two loaded and cocked their weapons. Soon, the firing ceased, and the two looked out the windows.

Coming close were men and women wearing white masks and black cloaks, coats, and ponchos.

"Must be crazy." Jaune said.

"To be messing with us?" Ruby smirked.

"To be wearing black." Jaune answered. "Damn near noon, and they're cookin' 'live out there."

"Well, they're about to get a few holes." Ruby held the rifle up. "That oughtta cool 'em off." Jaune quirked a brow at her. "Y'know, like a vent? In a steam plant? It relievs pressure, and, uh..." Ruby trailed off.

"You are one strange girl, Ruby." Jaune said, as he cocked his pistol. "But a hell of a shot."

"If I help you, will you help me?"Ruby asked.

"They blew up mah shed and shot at me." He growled. "If you weren't here, I'd be doin' it myself by now."

[lattekatte]

had a tmc dream and it was weird as hell, I was Sarah and I was in this shack in the woods off of a highway where I live irl and Mark and Cesar and I were hanging out in there. Cesar had a hand mirror and he was going to hold it up to himself but for some reason both Mark and I knew that he was an alternate and we didn't want him to find out so he wouldn't start panicking, so I grabbed the mirror and threw it into a hole in the floorboard that was covering this sort of basement-well-thing. we didn't hear it hit the bottom and Cesar was really upset. This red and white winged thing that I think was supposed to be Gabriel came up out of the basement-well-hole and said Something that I don't remember now but I remember it was really deep and profound and VERY upsetting at the time and then he grabbed my head and like. killed me or took my soul out of my body or something so I was just kind of in Spectator Mode watching Mark and Cesar freak out over my (Sarah's) body being dead on the floor. the two of them start to run out of there and Gabriel (?) decides to let them live but switches their bodies to mess with them so now Mark is in Cesar's body and vice versa and I'm just kind of floating in the air trying to get their attention. at some point I guess I got put back in my body but I was kind of fucked up and alternate'd so this guy on the highway who I think might have been Thatcher picks me up and puts me in the back trunk of his car. Cesar-Mark and Mark-Cesar sit in the back seats and I remember the bit from John Mulaney where he says to kick out the headlight and so i do that and wave my hand out of the hole but Thatcher Guy and Cesar-Mark and Mark-Cesar are the only ones who can see me. next thing I know we're at Thatcher Guy's house, he tries to get the two guys to run really hard into each other so they might get back in their own bodies, OBVIOUSLY this doesn't work and Thatcher Guy starts crying, I forget what happens after that but at some point I'm on the couch talking to Mark-in-Cesar's-body and he says to me "this is wrong, I'm clawing out of myself from the inside" and I remember that being really scary for some reason. and then I wake up

[jayswing103-blog]

Gravity Falls AU Idea

I just wanna go ahead and throw this idea for an AU that I've had for a while out there. You know, just in case even a single person finds it slightly interesting.

The story starts in little Piedmont California where one Mabel Pines lives. She was an only child, always wishing for a sibling to bond with, or so she thought. One day she happens to overhear a conversation her parents have on the phone with someone called 'Stanford Pines' and asking about their 'son'.

When confronted her parents refuse to elaborate so instead Mabel begins planning. She starts saving up money and looking into 'Gravity Falls' and, then, when Summer came around and school was out, she packed her bags, took her money, and secreted away to find her long lost twin brother.

Once there she starts asking around until she finds a strange tourist trap out in the woods, the 'Mystery Shack'. She goes inside to find Wendy manning the counter and asks for Stan. When Stan comes out and asks who she is she tells him, "My name is Mabel Pines, and I'm here to find my brother."

That is where the story starts, but not where it ends. In this AU there are many differences, however most of them center around Mason 'Dipper' Pines and the people he interacts with.

Being raised by Grunkle Stan Dipper is almost nothing like his canon counterpart, except in his desire to study all things weird. Physically he is a lot more in shape due to constantly running around on his adventures and some boxing lessons from Stan.

He also curses like a sailor because while Stan tried to keep things clean, living with him for over a decade means that there are going to be slip ups so after the fifth or so time he just stopped caring and started letting Dipper swear too. It doesn't help that he's also friends with Wendy and pseudo-friends with her own group of friends who, being teenagers, all take any chance they can get to curse.

Having been raised in Gravity Falls, Dipper knows most people, but doesn't particularly have any kind of relationship with most of them due to his introverted nature. The people closest to him are Stan, Wendy, Soos, and Abuelita.

Stan is a pseudo-father figure to him having raised him, but also kind of like a really cool grandpa who lets him get away with almost anything and teaches him how to con people.

Soos is his weird, but lovable, older brother figure that he can always go to for help, even if it sometimes makes things worse. Because of Dipper, Soos doesn't hate his birthdays in this AU. He did at first, of course, but trying to explain to a sad four year old why you don't like your birthday and don't want to celebrate it even though they got you a present is kinda hard.

Abuelita is his pseudo-grandma who dotes on him as if he were her own grandchild. Stan loves Dipper to death, but trying to raise a baby all by yourself is hell so every now and then he'd ask her to watch him for a day or two so he could get some rest and so the Ramirez's are like a second family to him.

Wendy is like his cool older sister who'll go on adventures with him and won't hesitate to punch someone in the face if they're picking on her 'little bro'. They met while Dipper was out on an adventure and stumbled across the place she likes to hang out when she needs to get away from her family for a bit. They hit it off and never looked back since. Part of the reason why Wendy got a job at the shack was just so she and Dipper could hang out more often. She's the one who gave him the nickname 'Dipper', but also sometimes refers to him as 'Lil' Dip'

Dipper and Pacifica have a weird love/hate thing going on between them. They've been in the same class since kindergarten and have a rivalry. Dipper's a genius, and without a hyperactive sibling dragging him everywhere he has plenty of time to study, so he's always been top of the class. He dislikes Pacifica because of her belief that being a 'Northwest' makes her better than everyone else, but also thinks that she's absolutely gorgeous and admires her intelligence and drive. Pacifica, being rather smart herself, and also having private tutors, is often tied with Dipper for top of the class. She hates how Dipper keeps one-upping her, but she also thinks that he's actually kinda cute. Every now and then the two actually end up having a civil conversation and enjoy each other's company.

Mabel herself is in a rather strange place. She's his sister, but also not. She's his twin, but they're little more than strangers to each other. Dipper feels awkward around her because it feels like some stranger is trying to forcefully insert themselves into his happy life and family, but she is his family. Mabel, herself, is sad that all her fantasies of a tearful reunion and instant connection were shattered by the reality of trying to get along with someone so vastly opposite of herself. Dipper and Stan also decide that it's best to try and keep her away from all of Gravity Fall's 'weirdness' since they know that she'll eventually have to go back home to her normal life.

Finally the last thing to address are the changes to the plot. Dipper found Journal #3 early on in his life. He's always had a thing for weirdness and mysteries, but finding the Journal was a massive turning point for him. He started actively seeking out the paranormal and keeping a Journal of his own with his own new findings.

After one too many scrapes and close calls Grunkle Stan finally had enough and sat Dipper down for a talk. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk Dipper out of going on adventures he did the next best thing, he helped him. He told Dipper everything, showed him Journal #1, and started teaching him how to box.

That's all I got. Hopefully someone enjoys this.

[demonsandmischief]

My Warrior Wolf - Ch. 1

Marvel - Bucky Barnes Werewolf AU

Warrior! Bucky x Human! Female Reader

-> Alpha: First in Command. In charge of the whole pack. The leader.

->Beta: The Alpha's Second in Command. Keeps the pack organized.

->Lead Warrior: takes orders from Alpha/Beta. Fiercely protective and a strong fighter.

-> Mate: Soul-Mate. A wolf's other half. Predestined.

1.3K Words

-Chapter 1-

The beginning.

---

"This house is a little more isolated, and it's definitely a fixer upper, but it's below your budget," the real estate agent gave a sniff as she looked around. She stuck out like a sore thumb in a pencil skirt and a perfectly pressed shirt. "Are you ready to move onto something else, maybe a little closer downtown?"

You walked through, taking in the wood floors that groaned in protest with each step. The house was bare. There was no furniture, just a large layer of dust.

There was something quaint about it that you loved. It had a cottage feel, and there were so many windows that highlighted the towering trees.

You walked through the kitchen. Your mind was filled with endless possibilities. It was like a dream. You stopped in your tracks, catching a glimpse of something running through the thick vegetation. Probably a deer.

"Are there any neighbors around here?" you asked curiously. It did make you a little nervous to be out here by yourself.

The lady paused like she was baffled you would even consider the place.

"There might be a few scattered, but nothing that close. Do you want to see some more places?"

You smiled, "I don't think I need to."

---

"There's someone moving in. East territory - that old run down shack of a house." Bucky announced to his Alpha and Beta.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, opening the refrigerator up for a drink.

Steve Rogers frowned, placing the stack of papers down. "Did you see who?"

"I didn't get a chance to. I just saw that pesky agent pulling the for sale sign down."

"Maybe when they move in, we can scope out the place by being neighborly," Sam Wilson grinned, not even looking up from the laptop he was staring at. "By pesky agent, do you mean that one lady that simply asked for you number, Buck?" He closed the lid, standing up and walking to Steve's side.

Bucky's frowned deepened when he reached for the orange juice and pulled out an empty carton. "Who the hell puts it back empty?" He straightened, finally answering Sam's question. "She wasn't my mate, so I wasn't interested."

The three of them were best friends. They weren't always close, but after what happened to Bucky, they naturally migrated to each other for company.

Steve was an excellent leader and Alpha, and Sam was an excellent Beta. Bucky never felt like he actually belonged, but they treated him like a brother, and secretly, he longed for the comfort.

Bucky wasn't born into a role like Sam and Steve. He had to work to build his rank, but he was happy to put his energy into something other than his past that always seemed to drained him.

Steve's alarm rang out. "It's seven o'clock. It's time for training." He stuffed his phone in his back pocket. "You're leading today, Buck."

"I'm no leader, Steve," Bucky said. "We've tried this before. It never works."

"Are you defying an order, Warrior?" Steve was such a hard-ass.

Bucky was tempted to roll his eyes, especially when Sam snickered a little.

"No, Alpha," he grumbled.

Walking from the offices down to the open field was always a journey for him. He couldn't help but let his mind wonder when he saw mated pairs, or little pups running around. Bucky was a broken man though, and he was certain his mate wasn't out there. Even if there was the slightest possibility that you were, a life with him was no life worth living.

He loved to train, but he hated leading it. He knew Steve used this to get him out of his shell. He was a bit of a recluse - keeping to himself most of the time, but being the lead warrior did mean being intune with the others, so he did his best.

"Your position is sloppy," he said to one of the sparring females. They were working in pairs, warming up before they got into the actual training.

"What do you see that I can't?" Steve asked, his voice low and discrete from where he was watching.

"They are getting too comfortable in routine, Alpha," Bucky frowned, crossing his arms.

"You should join them, then."

"You know I can't. I will have the advantage." Bucky wiggled the metal fingers of his prosthetic arm.

"But not as wolf," Steve patted his shoulder, ordering the warriors to break apart.

No, as wolf, Bucky stood on three paws instead of four. His human side was lucky to have the benefit of technology, but his wolf side, not so much. That's why he always wanted to prove that he could do it.

---

You felt accomplished. A week after getting your belongings into your new place, there was not a speck of dust anywhere.

You were enjoying the many tasks that had to be done. It felt good to put your mind to something, and the woods that surrounded you were very calming. You felt safe and grounded. But, being outside had always felt that way for you.

It was just you. You had some friends at work, but they were only work friends. The house was quite small, but maybe you could have them come over. That might be a good step to initiate.

You pushed away the thought. You'd have to get some actual furniture first, and some working appliances. The stove and refrigerator were being delivered tomorrow, so you had been focusing your energy on cleaning and painting while the space was free.

You paused, hearing a car in the gravel outside your house. Were you expecting someone?

You frowned. Maybe the appliance people were early?

Except, the two strange men on your porch said otherwise. You felt panic blossom when they knocked on the door.

You hesitantly pulled it open. The man on the right gave a bright smile while the man on the left glowered.

"Hi, I'm Sam Wilson, and this is my friend Bucky. We live a few miles away, but still technically neighbors," Sam chuckled, holding out his hand.

You lightly grasped it, "I'm Y/N. I'd invite you in, but I don't-" you swallowed thickly, feeling absolutely scrutinized by the man named Bucky. He was incredibly handsome, with short messy hair and haunted blue eyes. "I don't have furniture." You finished with an uneasy smile.

"That's alright, we just thought we'd introduce ourselves." There was something about Sam that was you liked. He seemed very personable and kind, but first impressions could be deceiving. "If you don't have furniture, do you need anything? We could run it back to you."

Bucky's gaze was like a magnet. Even when Sam was talking, you were immediately drawn to him. His eyes never left you, and although it normally would have been unnerving, this felt different.

"That's really nice of you, but I'm okay," you relaxed slightly at their generosity.

"What about dinner?" Bucky spoke for the first time, and you were stunned by his voice. It was deep and husky, and it took you a moment to realize that he was looking right past you and into the empty kitchen. "It doesn't look like you have an oven."

"I was just going to go back into town to get something," you smiled with a slight chuckle. "All of that stuff is coming tomorrow."

"If you're sure," Sam said. He seemed really sweet. "If you need anything we're just right up the road."

---

"Thank you. It was really great to meet you both." And with one last lingering gaze with Bucky, they walked away.

Here's Chapter 2.

A/N: I've been working on this series for so freaking long. I'm so excited it's finally coming out.

Please note! I will not be tagging the people I normally tag for Bucky/Marvel after this chapter.

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Tags: @drayshadow @leyannrae @alexabarnes17 @bklynxbaby @jerseynatural-enthusiast @nyx2021