#OKAY NOW I GOTTA SKEDADDLE

[hplonesomeart]

HEYYY GUYS quickly hopping back on here, messily taping/supergluing my art onto the blog, and then promptly skedaddling right afterwards because OH BOY I need to focus this week and lock into my animation MAP part. The time crunch has gotten real!! AUUUUU!! But I had to get this image out of my system before anything else so here ya go enjoy some solitary confinement Puzzle appreciation. I’m sorry that it’s rushed!! Maybe once I finish this MAP I’ll return and make it less janky (specifically for the animated gif here because OOF that looks rough buddy. But it’s the best I can afford to do without getting totally side tracked on my goals. It looks real lazy and is low-key triggering me but I’m letting it slide—sir is mocking my perfectionism right now. Gotta focus all that energy onto the MAP instead).

Yea okay that’s all folks byeeee

Okayyyy so apparently not only is the animated gif janky in motion but also kinda broken?? It’s supposed to loop but that’s not working on Tumblr so guess the entire thing needs to be redone when I have spare time :P

I’ve decided to include a compressed version so you can at LEAST see what I was trying to achieve jksjsksp help this is a mess right now

[ticklishshenanigansau]

LaughterLand - Chapter 29: Betrayal

(story by Mod Secret, art by Mod Kitty)

“I gotcha, Sans.”

After pulling himself up onto the grassy ledge, Papyrus reached over to help pull Sans up. Once both skeletons had made it safely up onto the grass, they collapsed onto their backs, finally taking in all the air they needed to recover.

“You fellas alright?” Sky asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah … I think so…,” Papyrus breathed out.

“Just … tired…,” Sans replied. “And a little … ow … sore….”

The adrenaline having finally passed left both brothers now fully aware of how strained their bodies were. Besides feeling the leftover ache of having slammed into the wall of the ravine, they felt the lingering soreness of where the Chortlewockies had dug their claws and teeth.

Papyrus had been used to recovering from this kind of feeling after so many tickle fights with Undyne that got out of hand. But Sans laid on the ground moaning miserably as the soreness made him not want to get up again.

“It’s okay, Sans…,” Papyrus comforted, softly rubbing his brother’s shoulder. “Just breathe through it, it’ll go away.”

“Quickly now…,” Sky urged. “Looks like about twenty minutes ‘til sundown. We gotta get you through that door!”

Finally remembering why they crossed the gorge in the first place, both brothers ignored the ache in their bones and leapt to their feet. They approached the enormous ivory door, looking at it with a sense of awe. It seemed to have a heavenly glow as it reflected off the setting sunlight, which was fitting since they knew this would be the door that would lead them home.

As Sans placed his hand on the large doorknob, he looked down at Sky. The little spider still had that cheerful look on his face as he beamed at them. Sans gave him a gentle smile.

“Hey, so…,” the older skeleton began. “Thanks for … y’know, everything.”

“Oh, yes!” Papyrus agreed enthusiastically. “We couldn’t have made it out of this nightmare without you. You have all of our gratitude!”

“Aw, shucks fellas!” The little spider blushed as his gaze turned downwards. “It was nothing. Just doing what I can to help the outsiders, that’s all!”

“Well, hey,” Sans replied with a shrug. “If this door ever appears in your neck of the woods, pop in and see us sometime, yeah?”

“You betcha!” Sky nodded happily. “Now you better skedaddle before you miss your chance!”

Feeling better for having given their new friend the thanks he deserved, Sans took in a breath and twisted the knob.

It didn’t move.

Confused, Sans twisted it again. Again, it refused to move.

“What the…?”

Sans tried again and again, but the knob refused to turn. It was stuck, and they were still trapped in LaughterLand.

“Sans … what’s wrong?” Papyrus asked hesitantly.

“It…. It won’t budge.” Sans’s voice was heavy with fear. He pulled on it with both hands, but the door refused to open. Sans turned to Sky, panic flashing in his sockets. “Sky … what’s going on?”

“I … don’t know.” The little spider sounded confused. As Sans pulled his hands away, he hopped up onto the knob to inspect it. “There must be a way to open it. Lemmie take a looksee.…”

The brothers watched as he crawled around the doorknob, his many eyes carefully scanning every inch of it, unsure of what could be the problem. Finally, he crawled underneath the knob and found a tiny keyhole. Much too small for even himself to crawl through. It was in the shape of an open mouth, almost looking like it was laughing at them. Sky let out a heavy sigh, he knew what this meant.

“Well boys…,” he said as he crawled back up to the top of the doorknob. “It’s locked up tight.”

The skeletons felt their Souls begin to sink. If they couldn’t find a way to unlock the door, they would be trapped here forever.

“W-Well, can’t you just unlock it?” Papyrus offered. “Isn’t there some kind of a key?”

“Afraid not, guys.” Sky shrugged meekly. “No key is gonna open it.” He pointed down to the oddly-shaped keyhole. “See that right there? That’s a LaughterLand Lock. If you want to unlock it, I’m afraid it’ll take something other than a key.” He stared at them with a solemn look in his eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Papyrus replied, beginning to get worried. “What are you saying?”

Sans sighed deeply. He crossed his arms uncomfortably, he knew what it meant.

“I know what he’s saying,” he answered coldly. “It’s not a key that’s gonna unlock the door. It’s our laughter. And we have to feed it willingly.”

“Oh no…,” Papyrus moaned, physically sinking his body down. “This nightmare never ends, does it?”

Sky looked back up at the sun. He noticed how much further it had gone down since arriving to the other side of the gorge.

“I know it’s the last thing you fellas wanna do,” he reasoned. “But, if you get it done, it really will be the last time you’ll have to do it!”

The skeletons looked at the door, then back at each other. There was an understanding in their expressions. If they wanted to see home again, they would have to be tickled just one more time. Looking at each other, they silently agreed right then and there that they would do whatever it took to unlock the door.

“Okay….” Sans let out a heavy sigh. “How do we wanna do this?”

Papyrus bravely stepped forward holding his arms above his head. He cringed with how uncomfortable it made him feel. But he was grateful nonetheless that it would be his brother who would be eliciting the laughter out of him, rather than another adversary.

“Just make it quick, Sans,” he said nervously.

Sans hated that he had to be the one to do it. His mind immediately flooded with all of the horrors that Papyrus had already faced at the hands of LaughterLand. As he raised his hands up to go after his brother’s spine, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Try to hurry, son,” Sky quietly urged. “The sun is setting.”

Trying not to dwell on it any longer, Sans began scribbling his fingers along Papyrus’s spine. He was gentle, only putting as much pressure on his tickling fingers as needed to get an audible response. Papyrus immediately flinched and kicked up his feet as he giggled.

“Nyeheeheeheeheeheehee!! Hahahaha!!”

Maybe it was the fact that his journey through LaughterLand had left him feeling so raw and vulnerable, but Papyrus struggled with holding his arms up more than he thought he would. He locked his fingers together behind his skull as he continued to dance in place.

“‘Kay bro, I’m gonna move up to your ribs,” Sans gently warned as he arched his fingers. “You ready?”

“Nyahahahaha! O-O-Okay—Yeeeeheeheeheeheehee!!”

Even with the warning Papyrus couldn’t stop himself from letting out a high-pitched squeal. Sans cringed at the sound, keeping his eyes locked on the door as a distraction.

“Okay, is it unlocked now?” he asked as he hesitantly scribbled along Papyrus’s lowest rib.

“No, it’ll open all by itself,” Sky replied sadly. “You might have to try something a little rougher.”

Clenching his jaw, Sans reached up to further tickle along Papyrus’s ribs and back. Still trying not to overwhelm him, but feeling pangs of guilt for having to put his brother in such a vulnerable position again. He couldn’t help but look around, fearful that that sound of his laughter would draw attention from another unwanted predator. But thankfully, the trio were alone on the other side of the gorge.

“Nyeheeheeheeheehahahaha!! O-O-Okahahahay! Okay! Stahahahap!! Breheheheheak! Hahaha!”

Sans immediately pulled his hands back allowing Papyrus to catch his breath. Papyrus put his arms down, rapidly inhaling and exhaling.

“S…. Sorry, Sans … it was … getting hard to … breathe,” Papyrus confessed, sounding guilty.

“Hey, it’s okay bro.” Sans placed a gentle hand on his back. “We’ve been through a lot. I certainly don’t expect you to be at full strength right now.”

“The problem is, that wasn’t enough laughter to open the lock,” Sky pointed out, sounding worried. “I think you two will have to try something a little bit stronger.”

Sans sighed again, he was afraid of that. This door wasn’t going to take any small giggles, it wanted big laughs. He glanced over at Papyrus. The younger skeleton wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead as his breathing regained its normalcy. He didn’t want to put Papyrus through anymore harsh tickling, so he knew what he had to do.

“Okay, Pap, don’t hold anything back,” he said as he raised his arms up.

At first Papyrus was taken aback. But he recognized right away what Sans was doing. Big brother instincts were taking over and he was trying to protect him again. Papyrus felt a pang of guilt as he placed his arched fingers over his brother’s ribcage. He knew that Sans had been through just as much turmoil as himself. It wasn’t a good feeling to have Sans, once again, taking his place in the hot seat because he was too weak to carry on.

“Are you sure, Sans?” he asked hesitantly.

“Just do it, Papyrus.” Sans nodded adamantly.

He didn’t want to waste anymore time thinking about it, he just wanted to get it over with. Papyrus took a deep breath before scribbling his fingers into Sans’s ribs. At first, he felt the ache from the last time his ribs were dug into so harshly. But his pained expression was immediately replaced with laughter.

“Aagh! Ahahahahaha! Oh-Ohohoho jeheeheeheeheeheez! Hahahaha!!”

At Sans’s remark, Papyrus immediately pulled his hands away. Terrified that he was already going too hard on him.

“S-Sorry!” he stammered. “Too much?”

Sans gasped in response. Not just from the lack of air, but also from the concern that Papyrus had stopped too quickly. He knew they weren’t going to get anywhere if they kept pausing for breaks.

“No! No! Pap, keep going. I can take it, I promise.”

He tried to brace before Papyrus got back to it, but was caught off guard when he felt his brother’s fingers starting to scribble along the bottom part of his bare ribs. He had nearly forgotten that one of the Chortlewockies had ripped his shirt in half during the scuffle. He nearly buckled as he felt ticklish sensation dancing along his bare bones.

“Agh!! Agaahahahahahaha!! P-Pahahaha…!! Ahahahahaha!!”

Locking his fingers behind his head, he decided to silence any form of begging in case it caused Papyrus to feel guilty enough to stop again. Though he did purposefully try to make his laughter louder and more boisterous in an effort to try and get the door open faster.

"Ohh … sorry, brother." Through pangs of guilt, Papyrus raised his wriggling fingers up to a higher spot on his ribcage and began digging his fingers through the in-between spaces.

"AAGH!! Ahahahahaha!! Oh no—Aaahahahaha...!!"

Sans had no trouble keeping up the volume of his laughter for this. As he danced in place and locked his fingers tighter and tighter, he erupted with bursts of frantic laughter intermixed with snorting spells.

"That's it, Sans," Papyrus quietly encouraged. "Just hold on a little bit longer."

The younger skeleton peered up at the door, to his dismay it still hadn't opened even a crack. He knew this meant that he had to go for an even worse spot. He didn't want to, he already felt horrible enough for forcing Sans to bear through his snorting spot. But he remembered what Sans had said about not holding back. He took in a breath.

"I'm sorry, Sans." He raised his voice to be heard over his brother's cackling. "I have to go a little higher, just … hang on…."

Trying to get it over with quickly, he practically jammed his fingers into Sans underarms, tickling fast and hard.

"AAAAGH!! AHAHAHAHA!! OHOHOHO NOHOHOHO!! AAH!! AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Sans didn't know what happened, but he instantaneously felt a loss of control and clamped his arms down tightly. Papyrus still managed to keep his fingers wriggling deeper into the poor skeleton's hollows, so all Sans really accomplished was trapping his brother's fingers into his horrible sweet spot. He tried to find the will to lift his arms back up, but the insanity had almost locked his arms down against his will. He fell over onto his bottom, laughing hysterically and dragging Papyrus down with him.

Papyrus almost laughed in spite of himself. If they weren't still in such a high-stakes position at the moment, it almost looked like their usual form of sibling japery. But no matter how much Papyrus kept tickling him, the door still didn't budge, though he could have sworn he saw the frame itself shake a little. As Sans devolved into near-silent squeaky laughter, Papyrus knew it was time to stop. He pulled his hands out, allowing Sans to catch his breath on the ground.

"Are you alright, brother?" Papyrus asked nervously. "I'm sorry … if I went too far that time."

For a few moments, Sans didn't answer as he breathed in heavily. Though he gave Papyrus the reassurance he needed by nodding and looking up at him with a weary look of certainty. Once he managed to shake off the tingling, he sat up to gaze at the door. Despite all of that effort, it still didn't open an inch.

"Oh jeez…," Sans muttered after a groan. "Now what do we do?"

"Well…," Sky finally spoke up. "I wonder if it's because … well…." He seemed unsure of how to put it into words.

"What is it?" Papyrus implored. "We'll try anything!"

"I don't think the lock will take to any … 'safe tickling' so to speak." He held up two of his front legs to make air quotes for emphasis.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sans asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well lemmie put it this way…," Sky explained. "Your laughter has a different sound and feel to it when you're tickled by … someone or something that you're unfamiliar with. When you two tickle each other, there is a sense of danger there, but the sense of trust that you have in each other is going to completely override the panic you would have in your laughter otherwise. Does that make sense?"

"Hang on...." Sans held up his hands, finally getting a grasp on the situation. "So you're telling me, this stupid lock not only wants us to get tickled AGAIN, but wants to put us in serious danger while doing it?"

"Wowie…." Papyrus sighed as he lifted a hand to his skull to gently massage his temple. "Who knew tickling could be so complicated?"

Sky looked back up at the sun, then back to the brothers with anxious eyes. He knew they were running out of time as well as options.

"Look fellas, I know we're not exactly enemies … and I'm not really keen on the idea myself … but if you let me, I can probably tickle you just enough to get the door unlocked."

Sans and Papyrus looked at each other. Much like Sky, they didn't really want to ask for help with this kind of thing. Besides it being embarrassing and uncomfortable as all get-out, neither of them were entirely sure how much experience a non-laughter-eater in this place could offer.

"What do you think, Sans?" Papyrus asked meekly. "I mean … we're not really getting anywhere with each other."

Sans nodded, knowing that there was no other way forward. He didn't know how many more times he could convince himself that this would for sure be the 'last obstacle' before they were home free. But he hoped with all his Soul that this would be it.

"Okay," he sighed. "Do it."

Without another word, Sky approached Papyrus and immediately started crawling up his left leg. Papyrus shivered as the felt the little spider's tingly legs moving quickly without so much of a warning.

"A-Agh! Aheeheeheehee!!" Papyrus was already giggling, he just couldn't help it.

"I'm gonna start with you since he needs a little time to recover," Sky explained as he made it onto Papyrus's hips.

Papyrus instinctively clamped his hands over his mouth as the spider was dangerously close to his secret sweet spot. But quickly removed his hands, remembering that his laughter was crucial to the plan.

"Whatever you do, try to hold still." Sky gave one last instruction before crawling up Papyrus's spine and disappearing into the top of his battle body.

"NYAAAGH!! NYAHAHAHAHAHA!! OHOHOHOHO NO!! THAT—WAHAHAHAHA!! THAHAHAHAT—THAT REHEHEHEALLY TIHIHICKLES!! AHAHAHAHA!!"

As Sky proceeded to climb up and down Papyrus's back and ribcage, the younger skeleton let out a shocked squeal. He didn't expect the little spider to be such a good tickler, especially given that he didn't partake in the consumption of laughter. Sky wasted no time skittering across every single rib bone several times over, even weaving himself through the in-between spaces, making Papyrus shriek and squirm.

"NYAHAHAHAHA!! OHOHOHO MY—AHAHA!! OH MY GAHAHAHAHASH!! IT-IHIHIHIT'S—AAGH!! IHIHIHIT'S REHEHEHEALLY AWFUL!! PLEAEHEHEASE!!"

Sans could do nothing except shift his gaze between his squirming brother and the door, now looking like it was actually starting to tremble. A small spark of hope ignited in his Soul as he noticed the movement, as bad as he felt for Papyrus he was starting feel better about their chances to make it through to the other side.

"Hey! Hold still out there!"

Sky's muffled voice immediately drew Sans's gaze back towards his brother. Papyrus was doubled over, trembling as he rocked back and forth on his heels and toes. His arms were crossed over the front of his battle body and he was gripping onto the fabric tightly in an effort to relieve the horrible tickling sensations. Though it was clear that Papyrus was giving Sky a harder time with the tickling treatment, squeaky laughter still pounded out of the skeleton as his face became bright orange with stress.

"Whoa! You're jostling around too much, son!" Sky sounded shaken up as Papyrus accidentally lurched too far forward in his squirming. "You gotta keep your hands away, or I'm not gonna get very far!"

As Papyrus managed to alleviate Sky's tickle attacks in the only way he could, Sans noticed with horror that the door had ceased its movement. Once again, it stood still and lifeless before them. Papyrus didn't even realize what he was doing, he had been so consumed with fighting off the horrid sensation that had plagued him since this horrible journey began. He didn't even realize that they had no time for him to try and defend himself. Sans noticed Papyrus straining to force his hands away. But just like with himself and the underarm tickling, rationality was completely overrun by his body's desperate need to defend himself. Sans knew what he had to do.

Steeling himself, he grabbed ahold of Papyrus's wrists and forced them down, leaving him wide open and defenseless.

"NYAAAHAHAHAHA!! S-SAHAHAHAHANS!! HAHAHAHA!! W-WHAHAHAT ARE YOU DOHOHOHOING?! AHAHAHAHA!!" Papyrus shrieked.

In his hysteria he had momentarily forgotten what was happening, his mind only consumed with the thought of escaping. Sans fought back the pang of guilt as he held his brother down. This simple act went against his deeply rooted big brother instincts to keep Papyrus safe from harm. He turned his focus back to the door as it began to shake again. The movement was subtle, even in spite of Papyrus howling in desperation. But it was enough to tell Sans that despite the guilt, he was doing the right thing.

"It's okay, Pap!" He wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure his brother or himself. "It'll be okay, just keep laughing!"

Papyrus reluctantly obeyed, though he couldn't stop himself from tugging against Sans out of reflex. He let out a new series of panicked shrieking as he felt Sky frantically stuttering down his spine to begin scratching along his kneecaps and legs. His legs were so spindly, almost sharp, but they tickled badly! Especially when he tried to tickle along the back of the younger skeleton's knees and travel up his femurs. Papyrus threw his head back, nearly on the brink of silent laughter. He tried so hard to keep his feet still, but ended up stamping and kicking the one that Sky had left alone.

The door hadn't changed its pace, the shaking was still subtle and it still remained closed. Noticing this, Sky suddenly jumped down from Papyrus's leg. As the younger skeleton finally took in a harsh breath, the door stopped trembling and remained still once more. Sans gave him a look of shock and confusion.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" Sans questioned as he released his brother's wrists.

"It's still not budging," Sky fretted nervously. "We need something stronger."

Sans looked at the locked door, then back at Papyrus. The younger skeleton quickly wiped away tears that were forming in his sockets. Sans knew that he didn't have any energy left for another tickle attack, and they didn't have time for him to recover. It was his turn. He just couldn't believe what he was about to say out loud. He took a step in front of Papyrus and sat down on the ground with his arms stretched over his head, a look of determination on his face.

"S-Sans … what are you … doing?" Papyrus breathed heavily.

"This way you won't be thrown off your game if I end up toppling over." Sans said facing Sky. The little spider nodded his head in understanding. Sans turned his head to face Papyrus. "Pap, do you think you can hold onto both my wrists with one hand?" He could already feel the warm tingle of a blue blush as his brother stared back at him in confusion.

"I-I suppose so … but … why?" Papyrus asked, his breath slowly regaining its normal pace.

"Because he's gonna need your help." Sans faced away as the warmth consumed his face. He honestly couldn't believe he was saying this so seriously. It was embarrassing and strange, but again, they were out of options. "He'll have to take … one underarm … and you take the other."

He almost couldn't say it, it was such an out-of-body experience. He just couldn't put into words how bizzare it was to be asking his brother and someone they just barely met to hold him down and tickle one of his worst spots. Taken aback by Sans's extreme request, Papyrus attempted to refuse.

"Sans, I-I don't want to—"

"Pap, just do it!"

Sans abruptly snapped. He didn't want to talk about it anymore than he had to. He just wanted to get it over with.

"We don't have time to waste worrying about my sanity. If that door closes, we'll be up against way worse than what we're doing now. Don't think about it, okay? Just do it." He shut his sockets tightly. Bracing, but also silently praying that his brother would swallow his hesitation and get on with it.

"He's right!" Sky added as he crawled up to Sans's hip. "I can't do it alone, you have to help me."

Papyrus's insides churned with worry. He didn't want to hurt Sans, or end up pushing him past the point of insanity. In his mind, that made him no worse than any of the other horrible creatures of this world. But when Sans looked back at him with pleading eyes, Papyrus knew that he had to put his faith in his big brother. That even though it was going to be unpleasant, Sans's laughter was going to unlock the door and get them home. It would all be worth it.

Without allowing another doubt into his mind, Papyrus gripped onto Sans's wrists with his left hand. It was difficult to reach around, but he managed to secure his brother firmly enough to keep him from pulling free. He then dug the fingers of his right hand deep into Sans's exposed hollow. Tickling, scribbling, swirling, and every motion he knew that would drive his brother bonkers.

"WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! AHAHAHA!! NOHOHOHOHOHOHO!! AHAHAHAHA!!"

Despite knowing exactly what he had agreed to, Sans still couldn't stop himself from begging and squirming for dear life as the terrible spot was toyed with. After seeing Papyrus finally committing to what had to be done, Sky immediately traveled his way up Sans ribs to join in the underarm tickling. Sans let out a surprisingly high-pitched squeal upon feeling the sharp tingling of Sky traveling up his ribs. But as the little spider secured himself to his opposite underarm, the squealing was replaced with frenzied screams and cachinnating.

"AAAAAAGGGHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! NOHOHOHOHOHOHO!! NOHOHOHO!! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAHAP!!"

He was only half-sincere in his begging, he knew that they couldn't stop no matter how much they wanted to. The tickling under his arms was absolutely horrid! He wanted nothing more than to pull his arms down and roll away. But true to his word, Papyrus kept his arms perfectly upright and unbending. The poor skeleton could already feel warm tears sliding down his cheekbones as he laughed and struggled with all his might.

"I'm sorry, Sans! I'm so sorry!" Papyrus profusely apologized.

But contrary to his words, he kept the harsh tickling going strong. Not stopping even with the added noise of Sans's frantic pleading. Sky, too, was using all eight of his legs to scratch and scribble mercilessly along his underarm. Following Papyrus's lead, he tried to silently instruct every one of his appendages to use a different tickling method in order to draw out the most laughter from the hysterical skeleton.

Two legs were poking around, another two were swirling in circles, while another pair was harshly scribbling, leaving the last two to slowly trace up and down. It was a mental struggle to say the least. But one that seemed to be working as Sans harshly screamed as a result of the horrifically ticklish techniques.

"Can you see the door?" Sky called to Papyrus through the fabric of Sans's sleeve.

Papyrus looked up at the door. Sure enough, it was beginning to shake again, this time even stronger than before.

"It's working!" Papyrus cheered. He turned to Sans to give him the good news, but was mindful to keep the tickling up so they didn't lose any progress. "Sans! It's working, brother! You're doing great!"

Sans almost seemed to have not heard Papyrus's joyful announcement. He threw his tear-stained head back as a mixture of harsh laughter and subtle sobs poured out of him. His knees were kicking up frantically and he pulled harder and harder on his wrists, nearly throwing Papyrus off-balance.

"AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! PLEAEHEHEASE!! PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAHAP!! I-I-HEEHEEHEE CAHAHAHAN'T!! I CAHAHAAN'T TAHAHAHAHAKE IHIHIHIHIT!! AHAHAHAHA!!" Sans screamed loudly.

As to be expected, the insanity overtook his mind and all he knew was that he desperately wanted it to stop.

"PLEHEHEHEHEEEEEEASE!! AHAHAHAHAHA!! PLEASE PAPYRUHAHAHAHAHA...!!"

He opened his teary eyes to give Papyrus a look of utter desperation. His pupils were reduced to tiny pinpricks, it broke Papyrus's heart that he was putting him through so much torture.

"I…. I'm sorry, Sans!" He apologized even louder to be heard over his brother's screeching. "L-Look! Look at the door!" He tried his best to distract him through the ticklish torment. "See it shaking? We're almost there, brother! Don't give up! You're gonna get us out of this!"

"Wait! You mean it's STILL not opening yet?" Sky shouted from beneath Sans's sleeve.

"No … just a lot of shaking!" Papyrus called back. "But it's getting there, I know it is!"

"AHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!! PLEAEHEHEASE!! I-I CAHAHAHAN'T DOHOHOHOHO IHIHIHIT!!" Sans wailed miserably, sobs wracking through his useless pleas and guffaws.

Sky paused in his tickling to peek out from the end of Sans's sleeve. Just as Papyrus had said, the door was still shaking, but it wasn't yet unlocked. He recognized right away that even with the two of them going after one of Sans's worst spots, it still wasn't going to be enough laughter to open the door. He crawled out of Sans's shirt and lowered himself to the ground. Once Papyrus noticed the little spider no longer tickling Sans he stopped in turn to stare at him with confusion.

"Wh-What's going on?" he stammered nervously.

"Give him a break son, let him breathe." Sky replied gently.

Immediately Papyrus released Sans. The older skeleton fell backwards onto the grass, greedily inhaling mouthfuls of air and exhaling with lingering sobs as they came to a halt.

"Sans, I…. I'm so, so sorry," Papyrus said softly as he crouched down next to him.

Sans could barely speak as he caught his breath, he placed a trembling hand onto Papyrus's knee, hoping that that would be enough to reassure him that he was okay.

"It's still not enough," Sky lamented, sounding defeated. "We hit it with a really strong tickling attack, but it STILL wasn't enough."

Sans and Papyrus glanced at each other again. This time, a look of total despair decorated their faces. It felt so hopeless, even driving themselves to the brink of insanity wasn't going to be enough to make it through. They were going to be stuck here forever. Sky turned back towards them, looking sympathetic.

"I don't suppose you fellas have any worse spots on ya?" he offered pathetically.

Then it dawned on the two of them. Out of all of their intense tickle spots, their secret ones had been the main source of most of their misery. The idea of willingly exposing them to be tickled was unbearable enough. They looked back up at the sun, it had finally reached the highest hilltops out in the distance and was steadily sinking. This was it, it was now or never.

"I do," Sans admitted, his voice cracking from the strain in his voice.

"Sans, no!!" Papyrus shouted boldly, Sans was surprised by the firmness in his brother's tone. "You've already been through enough, it should be me."

Sans attempted to protest, but was quickly stopped by the urge to cough. "N-No...!" He weakly spat out before the cough took his voice.

"Sans." Papyrus bent down further to meet his brother face-to-face. His expression was a serious one, something the Sans wasn't used to seeing on his usually optimistic brother. "It is MY TURN." He said it so firmly, so much weight in his words. Not one ounce of his usual exaggeration whenever he would normally try and get a point across.

"Brother, you have taken the brunt of so many of my shortcomings. Please. Just let me take this one. You don't have to protect me anymore, Sans, I can do it."

Sans just laid there speechless in the grass. He knew that he couldn't talk Papyrus out of this, and while he was worried beyond all measure for his brother's well-being, and sense of pride was welling up within him. His little brother had come so far in this strange and bizarre world they were trapped in, he just wished that he had to vocal strength to tell him how proud he was of him.

"I don't know…," Sky finally spoke up. "I'm starting to think that even if we went after your worst possible spot, there's a chance that it won't be enough. We don't really have time to explore anything different if that turns out to be the case."

"Well, we have to try," Papyrus said adamantly. "Even if it doesn't work, The Great Papyrus is prepared to go down fighting!"

In that moment, Sans began to feel that sense of pride he had for his brother expanding past his chest. Seeing Papyrus stand tall and brave amid the despair, ready to face anything and everything, suddenly gave the older skeleton the drive to stand back up on his feet. He was still shaky, he wobbled as gravity tempted him to fall back down. But he shook it off as he stood next to Papyrus.

"Then we'll … do it together."

He breathed out heavily. Papyrus turned to give Sans a look of concern, but Sans immediately returned with the same look of certainty he had given him earlier.

"I'm not gonna let you do this alone, bro."

With a firm expression of understanding between the two of them they turned back to Sky.

"How about it, Skyder?" Sans asked wearily. "Think you can find a way to get us both at the same time?"

"I think … I might know a way," Sky replied thoughtfully.

It took several minutes of planning, and a lot of work on the little spider's part, but at last he came up with a workable system. The brothers sat side by side on the grass with their hands and feet secured to the ground thanks to an extra sticky web binding provided by Sky.

He stood between them, having meticulously spun a soft and delicate string of web around and between the grooves of Sans's back. The motion drew out sharp gasps and strained squeals from the older skeleton, but thanks to the sticky binding, he wasn't able to move around and mess up the process. After the web was strung through Sans's sweet spot, Sky proceeded to wrap it around Papyrus's hips. As the delicate thread wound itself around the area where his hips and spine met, he, too, erupted with frantic giggles and squeaks.

By the time it was all put together, the sun was halfway past the hills, but they were ready. Sky's thread had successfully made a large loop that spun through both brother's sweet spots. Now all he had to do was pull to keep it spinning, leaving the motion of the soft thread to tickle the helpless skeletons.

"Ten minutes 'til sundown!" he called nervously. "You boys ready?"

Sans and Papyrus took one last nervous look at each other. This was going to be a rough ride, but as long as they did it together, they somehow knew that it was going to be alright. They nodded.

"Okay! Here goes!"

Sky tugged at the string with all of his might. The soft little whirlwind spun around and around, endlessly brushing and swishing through the brother's secret sweet spots. They were overwhelmed with screaming laughter instantaneously. It took no time before they began helplessly pulling against the webs. Shrieking and clawing into the ground as the howled and guffawed and shrieked and sobbed all at once. It was so unbelievably ticklish! It was all-consuming and endless.

Although the delicate thread had only been vibrating against one spot, it had almost felt like the tingling was spreading throughout their entire nervous systems. No matter how hard they thrashed, they could not wriggle away from it. Bright blue and orange tears began scattering in every direction as their heads violently shook. Sky had a hard time dodging the oversized droplets as he pulled on the web.

At last the ivory door began shaking harder than ever before. It vibrated the ground below them, although the brothers couldn't even tell from how frantically they were trying to kick up their legs.

"That's it!" Sky called. "This is gonna do it!!"

He used all of his legs to pull faster and faster. For a moment, both skeletons were spiraling into a fit of silent laughter. Their heads swam with desperation as they struggled to draw in a gasping breath. Noticing this immediately, Sky let up on the speed of the thread.

"Come on, fellas!" he urged. "Don't go quiet on me now, you're almost there! Breathe!!"

And by some kind of miracle, the skeletons gained just enough energy to inhale deep enough to let out one final scream.

WHOOSH!!

There was a burst of light followed by an abrupt gust of wind. Sky immediately released the thread and jumped down to the ground. Thinking fast, he raced over to the four sticky webs that held down the brother's hands and feet. One by one he pulled them off with lightning speed, finally freeing them from the earth.

"It's open!" he yelled frantically. "Come on, boys! Now's your chance!"

For a moment, Sans and Papyrus didn't move, they were too dazed and breathless to even realize what was happening.

"Come on, you guys!" Sky screamed at the top of his lungs. "It's almost sunset! You have to get outta here!"

Finally, Sans managed to blink through the confusion, though the blinding light from the door made it difficult to see. But once his vision adjusted, his Soul nearly leapt out of his trembling ribcage. The door was open! They did it! He quickly glanced over at the sun, it was almost gone! They had to make a break for it before it was too late!

"PAP!!" Sans screamed in spite of the pain in his throat.

Papyrus, too, was in the process of shaking himself out of the daze.

"S…. Sans?" He muttered weakly.

Sans knew there was no time left, thinking fast, he leapt to his feet and scooped up Papyrus in his arms. The younger skeleton let out a startled yelp at the sudden shift in gravity. Adrenaline raced through Sans’s bones, immediately masking the soreness that would have otherwise plagued his body. He took off running for the door. To his horror it was slowly beginning to close as the sun continued to descend.

"Run!!" Sky screamed. "Keep running!! Don't look back!!"

Just as they were a few feet from the exit, Sans made a leap for it. Almost in slow motion, he managed to throw Papyrus through the doorframe while in mid-air. Papyrus landed with a hard THUMP into the door, with Sans falling flat onto his front just outside of it.

Quickly, the brothers scrambled for each other. They clawed across the floor, reaching for each other's hands. At last, Papyrus leaned forward, barely catching himself before falling over. He grasped onto Sans's wrists with all of his might and yanked him through the door with every ounce of strength he had left. They landed on top of each other just as the door closed behind them, leaving behind the colorful world of LaughterLand with a loud BANG!

For several moments they both just laid there, taking it all in. The world around them was pure white and eerily silent. Nothing could be heard, save for their heavy breathing. At last, after what felt like an eternity, they both sat up to look around. The door was still there behind them, but that was the only physical thing they could see. All around them was nothing but white. White sky, white ground, white everything.

"This seems … familiar?" Papyrus finally spoke.

"Y-Yeah," Sans stammered. "I think … this might be where … we came in."

At last, he remembered, this was exactly where they had first entered LaughterLand. The place where they met the Ghost Children, the place where this nightmare began. Wearily, the skeletons helped each other up. They looked around, attempting to brush themselves off.

"Okay..." Papyrus breathed out. "Where do we go from here?"

Suddenly from out of nowhere, a deep, familiar sounding voice echoed off the walls of the white space.

"Oh, I'm afraid you aren't going anywhere."

The brothers practically leapt off of the ground in fear. Their Souls pounded against their bones and they trembled.

"Sans, look!"

Papyrus pointed a trembling finger just ahead of them. There was a figure in the distance, it was walking directly towards them. It was short, it appeared to be walking on four legs. It didn't take long before Sans began to notice other figures starting to appear from the distance and were rapidly making their way towards the nervous skeletons. They froze in terror, not knowing what to expect. Too scared to wonder out loud just who or what was surrounding them this time. As their images became clearer and clearer, the skeletons nearly dropped to the ground in shock.

Denial flooded their minds. It couldn't be! There's no way it could be possible! This can't be real! The Cheshire Cat stepped forward, his sharp-toothed grin now glistening brighter than ever.

"Good evening, gentlemen," he said in his low, posh tone.

Behind him followed the loud and lumbering footsteps of the Tickle Monster, it growled with delight upon seeing them. Dropwart appeared soon after, followed by her pet snakes. Two shadows appeared off to the side, and the brothers knew instantly that they belonged to the Ghost Children.

"Sorry, fellas," came a small voice from the door.

The brothers dared to turn away from their horde of adversaries to see Sky standing in front of the door with a cocky look in his many eyes.

"Nothing personal."

[honey-minded-hivemind]

yo- imagine a X-Men 97' version of Bat hybrid!Reader

Imagine Scott ends up trying to catch the flying street rat but they always manage to slip out of getting caught

And just-

Morph: huh, didn't know you'd be interested in taking in strays

Scott: that kid's going to get into trouble if they stay out there, yeah their wings helped them in running away, but they're blind as a bat

Morph: hah..... *remembers that one time he slept with someone with a bat mutation, some other times Scott had talked about this rascal he was trying to catch, and now piecing some conclusions* ..... Say sike right now-

Cube anon

Morph: Um... I have to go, right now! skedaddles away

Scott: Okay... Back to training! Gotta catch that bat child-!

Somewhere else-

Morph: LOGAN, I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!!!

Logan: What is it, bub?

Morph: LOGAN! I HAVE A LONG LOST BABY!!!

Logan: ... come again?

Morph: LOGAN, SCOTT FOUND MY BABY!!! I NEED YOU TO HELP ME CATCH THEM BEFORE HE DOES!!!

Logan: Say no more, bub!

Those two later-

Logan, running and screaming: YA DIDN'T SAY YER BABY WAS A FERAL LITTLE SH*T-!!!

Reader: noms Logan's arm

Logan: Oh no yoU DON'T! pries them off his arm

Reader: tries to fly away but crashes into Morph

Morph: MY BABY!!! hugs them

Reader: noms them

Logan: MORPH!?

Morph: OH, no worries buddy! See? their wound goops over I'm just fine! Now help me get them in the van-!

Logan: 😑🤦

[whitegoldtower]

Panic attack tips from someone who has them pretty much every day, and is currently having one:

- wash your face with cold water. Wash your hands and your feet. Put something cold on the back of your neck.

- Take a shit. No, seriously. Take a shit and tell yourself that you’re shitting out the panic. It’s disgusting but if/when you do take a shit, it’s probably going to be loose, and isn’t gonna look like a normal shit. This is fine, it’s just because your body is telling you that you’re in danger, so you’ve gotta evacuate your guts so you can run quicker.

- Sip ice cold water.

- if you get chills, grab a hot water bottle and cuddle it. Grab a person and cuddle them. If you have a pet, pet them. If you have other people in your house, there’s no shame in needing their company. There’s also no shame in waking them up if you have them at 3AM (as I usually do).

- Inhale for six, exhale for six, hold for three or four.

- if you feel sick, sip water and/or take a stomach settler like omeprazole.

- Relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw.

- gently tap your face with your fingertips. Gently scrape your chest outwards. Rub your stomach clockwise. Rub your feet against the bedsheets.

- Pick a colour and count every object you can see in that colour.

- Brush your teeth / use mouthwash. Strong mint taste usually helps bring me out of an attack.

- Sometimes it’s best to just lay down and shake for a bit. Just let it happen, as scary as it seems. If you feel really restless, just shake your fucking leg. Shake it like a polaroid picture.

- Acknowledge that it’s just a panic attack. When you feel one coming on, don’t start googling your symptoms. You know it’s just a panic attack. You know your brain is being goofy. When I feel my pulse about to spike, I press my fingers to my pulse and go “it’s nothing to worry about. Watch now; it’s going to go up.” And when it does go up, “See? There it is. And now my chest is going to start hurting.”

- Make it funny. Your body is shitting itself and being fucking goofy as hell. I picture cartoon skedaddle sounds when my pulse goes up and explosive fart sounds when my brain tries to convince me I’m dying. I look off to an imaginary camera like I’m having a fleabag moment.

- Remember that a panic attack won’t kill you. It’s scary as fuck and feels horrific, but it won’t hurt you. You’re okay.

- Keep yourself occupied. Do something that requires you to think, so that your brain doesn’t get the chance to make you worry about your symptoms.

- The pain in your chest isn’t a fucking heart attack. You’re not dying, you’re just panicking. That sense of impending doom? Yeah, that’s part of the panic attack. You’re fine, you’re safe.

- It’s okay to go to sleep. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. If you feel really scared, have someone sleep next to you. If you’re alone and it’s unbearable, go to the hospital, or just somewhere with other humans that you feel comfortable taking a nap: humans generally tend to rush to help each other, so if anything bad does happen (which it won’t), someone will help you.

- if you’re struggling to relax, hit your brain with ye olde factory reset and watch a show you used to watch as a child. It is a fairly common occurrence to see me (a fully grown man) shaking like a shitting dog, rubbing his feet together, cuddling a pillow and watching that little blue twat Iggle Piggle dancing around on screen with ya boy Makka Pakka.

[cherryluvrx3]

meat lovers amirite??

Dave Strider x Reader x Karkat Vantas

Chapter 4

Okay.

This has gotta be one of the worst days ever.

Like if there was a shitty day tournament, this day would’ve made it to the semi finals at LEAST . Actually no, I’m sure there’s people out there dealing with way more horrible shit but still.

First, I barely slept last night and when I did finally fall asleep, I ended up forgetting to put my alarm so I was late and my first period teacher chewed me out (can’t stand that bitch). Then later at gym, I was messing around with Gamzee, shooting hoops, and then MY PANTS FUCKING RIPPED!!! It wasn’t super noticeable but I spent the whole day wondering if people could see my lower ass cheek. All because I was ballin'. Oh, and as if my clothes weren’t ruined enough, Terezi accidently squirted ketchup on my shirt during lunch. Then I got my last period’s test back and a big fat F was the final slap to the face.

Now school’s over, it’s windy as fuck outside and I’m walking shamefully back home, running on 3 hours of sleep, my ass cheek hanging out, and crusty ketchup on my shirt. I probably look as miserable as a soggy kitten.

I tugged my shirt down again to cover my ass with a huff. Oh and my stomach growling just reminded me that lunch today was also ass so I skipped it and am currently starving. It’s been about a week and so I got a new allowance and money to use so I could buy lunch I guess. Or maybe just a snack since I have pasta at home? It’s gotta be a comfort food though, I need some damn comforting after today. Maybe something sweet but what could I..

I stopped in front of a Pizza Hut poster advertising their sweet little cinnabons for only $5 bucks! Yeah I could totally go for those right about now.

I wonder if Dave works today? I could eat some sweeties while talkin’ up a sweetie- okay that was mad cringe I’m sorry.

Before me was a golden opportunity to finally ask his number! And if he says no.. then this’ll really be one of my worst moments ever. But I mean at least I’ll get cinnabons at the end of the day?

I took a deep breath and walked in, hearing a little bell jingle.

Behind the cash register was a goofy lookin kid with black hair and glasses but.. I looked around and.. No Dave.

I try not to let disappointment show on my face as he greeted me with a “Welcome to Pizza Hut how can I take your order?”

“Uh yeah can I get a 5 piece order of cinnabons please? That’s all” I say and give him the money. “Alright, I’ll get you them right now.” and as he goes to grab them from their little oven thing, I hear a jingle as the door behind me opens and there walks in an exasperated Dave.

“John- oh..uh hey?” He awkwardly greets me as he heads behind the counter. “Hey.” I say nervously. “Wow you look like shit- I mean-” “Dave!” The guy who I’m guessing is John slaps his shoulder. It’s then I realize the wind probably whipped my hair in all types of crazy ways. “Nah it’s fine.. I look like shit ‘cause I’ve had a shit day..” I sigh as I grab my cinnabons from John. “Tell me about it, today’s been shit for me too! No joke, I almost got jumped.” Dave threw his arms up for dramatic effect.

“Huh-” “What?? Are you alright?” John asked, looking over Dave as if he would suddenly see any new injuries.

“Yeah I’m okay, I skedaddled and ran to the car- had to drop the pizza though.” He squeezed past John and went behind the counter to hang the car keys on a little hook that held a few other types of keys.

“Alright so what happened?” I asked and as Dave was about to answer, another guy with black hair and a mean face came out from the back. “The hell you’d get into this time, Strider?” He crossed his arm and asked in an irritated, accusatory tone.

“I’m literally innocent! I have done no wrong doings in the history of ever. I don’t know why you’d immediately think it’s my fault.” Dave grumbled while the other guy who’s name tag seemed to read ‘Karkat’ scoffed.

“But like I was saying,” Dave side eyed Karkat, or at least I think he did, hard to tell with the shades, “What had happened was this,” he lifted himself up to sit on the counter, John sat on a little chair by the register and Karkat stood near John. I was leaning on the counter with my elbows, intent on hearing whatever the tea was.

“Me, a valued, trustable worker, was just doing my job of delivering pizzas. I noticed the address was in a bit of a sketchy neighborhood but I thought to myself, ‘Y'know what Dave? Maybe these guys are alright citizens. Who are you to judge a book by it’s trashy, bullet riddled cover?’ right?” He began, “Then I stroll up to this ghetto house and knock on the door, it opens and low and behold there’s a fine looking gentleman that could be a prime example of the damage inbreeding does to a human,” I couldn’t help but snicker and John let out a few giggles too, “I says, “Hello sir, I have your pizza, the total is $14.99” and he just hands me a $10. I go, “Sorry sir but it seems you haven’t given me enough to pay, I can’t give you the pizza” and maybe he was having a shit day, like- his sister probably just broke up with him or something and I guess that was just the last straw cause dude just starts fuckin’ yelling at me.

Can’t lie I was scared, shaking in my fuckin’ boots at this meth addicted hillbilly hick that’s suddenly grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and shaking me like in a cartoon or something- dude was about to start winding up his fist to blow a punch hard enough to make me see little animated swirling stars 'n shit, seriously,” Dave laughs while speaking, clearly enjoying his own jokes, “And so, since I’m a big strong man, I shove the guy back, hard, and dude falls back into the house. Guess he had some friends over and I swear they must’ve just finished snorting up lines because I could see they had white dust on their faces and,” he leaned into me, “ I didn’t see no powdered donuts.” I bit my lip to hold in my laugh.

“So his buddies come, tryna back him up I guess. They start rolling up their sleeves ‘n shit and, I’m a man who picks and chooses his battles, and a battle between me and 4 hillbillies off a few lines of coke just ain’t a fight I wanna fight. So I just took off running and I guess druggies don’t have good balance cause them junkies was limping and hobbling after me as I booked it to the car. One of them grabbed me and I just threw the pizza at him and kept going.” He laughed and hopped off the counter to go to the little fridge they stored drinks in and get himself a coke.

I looked back and saw John who was snorting and giggling the whole time and Karkat who was trying to hold back a smile. Of course, I was cheesing hard through the whole story. Dave just has this way of pulling people in and the way he speaks just paints a perfect picture for telling stories.

“So yep, that’s that. Lost a good pizza and got no money. By the way, your hair’s still fucked dude.” Dave says after taking a sip of his soda.

“Ugh shit-” I immediately try to pat down any and all stray hairs, combing through the strands with my fingers.

“Who the hell even is this?” Karkat asks as if he suddenly noticed my presence and something about it makes me feel even more embarrassed, like I was intruding on something private.

“Oh uh, I’m just a customer haha..” I chuckle awkwardly and avert my gaze, I could still see John swat his shoulder and whisper ‘ rude!’’ Out of the corner of my eye.

“So eh.. you said you were having a bad day..?” John asks awkwardly as if trying to make me feel better. “Oh uh.. yeah but we don’t have to talk about it- I mean I’m sure you’ve guys got work-” “Nah go ahead, not like we’re doing anything anyways.” Dave says, encouraging me to speak, probably because he didn't wanna go back to work just yet.

“Well it’s not anything crazy like with you, just annoying school shit and I got a big ol’ ketchup stain on my shirt plus ripped pants.” I sigh.

I hear John whisper �� oh my god like SpongeBob ,” and Karkat giving him a down right dirty look.

“Oh and I guess my hairs all wack too.” I say and go back to trying to fix it. “Well if ya want we can let you use the bathroom and you can fix it in the mirror.” Dave offers and lifts the little counter door, inviting me in.

“Our bathroom is for employees only. ” Karkat said, also giving me a dirty look.

“Karkat, quit being such a fuckin’ wet blanket.” Dave rolled his eyes I think? and grabbed me by my arm, leading me to the bathroom.

——————

The door clicked as I went inside and Dave walked back out to the front. “Did they even buy anything?” Karkat asked John who was about to start mopping as if he didn’t two days ago. “Uh yeah they bought some cinnabons- but I guess they’re cold now.” He said as he picked up the box left on the counter.

“I’ll replace them with some warmer ones.” Dave said and took the box, switching places with another in the little oven.

“Why’re you doing all that for?”

“Kat," he sighed, "it doesn’t take much to be a little nice y’know? You of all people should be nice to them, actually, since that’s the dude who’s pizza ya burnt.” Dave said as he rolled the mop bucket to John.

“…really..?”

“Yep.”

“You burnt a pizza?”

Karkat didn’t answer, he just went to the back. In all honesty he did feel a bit guilty, actually, no. A better word was embarrassed.

Embarrassed that he seriously felt jealous enough to do something so petty. After a bit of thinking, Dave was right, it didn’t take much to be nice.

——————

I put some water in my hands and used it to better stick my frizzy hair down. After turning around to take a better look at my butt and see if you really could see my ass through the tear, there was a knock on the door.

I opened it and there was Karkat, holding some clothes and avoiding eye contact.

“Your clothes are trashed right? Here you can wear mine.” He grumbled. I just stood in silence, semi confused and in disbelief because I just didn’t think he’d be the type to offer me anything let alone a spare change of clothes.

“They’re clean if that’s what you're worried about. I’ll just walk home in my uniform. I need to wash it anyways..” He said and pushed the clothes into my hands.

“Uhm.. thanks! Seriously you’re a life saver, I could kiss you- do you want a kiss?” I puckered up my lips and watched as he practically jumped back and screamed “HELL NO!”

I snickered and said it was a joke! Before closing the door to change.

Luckily his baggy sweater fit and his joggers could be adjusted by the strings. I shoved my clothes in my backpack and walked out.

John mopped about half the store and Dave and Karkat were talking behind the register.

“Woah I didn’t think you’d give them your own personal threads, Kat. You having a random character redemption arc?” Dave teased and bumped Karkat’s shoulder, only to get bumped back harder with a “Shut the hell up, Dickbag Strider!”

“Haha yeah thanks again Karkat!” I smile and leave from behind the counter to grab my temporarily forgotten cinnabons.

“It’s fine… uh?”

“Oh yeah, my name’s (Y/n) by the way.”

“Right.”

I stood there for a bit before I remembered my second reason for coming here, getting Dave’s number.

Okay, act cool and natural.. gently slide trading numbers into the conversation-

“Do you- like need anything else or…?”

“Can I have your number?”

Oh wow, how smooth.

“I mean! All of your numbers ha! You guys all seem- uh really....cool..? Besides! I wanna give these clothes back at some point..” I say awkwardly while being stared down by all three Pizza Hut boys.

“Well yeah, me, I’m cool , not too sure about Karkat and John though.” Dave laughs while John lets out an offended “ hey!” and Karkat bumps his shoulder again.

John is the first to walk over to me, phone in hand, “Uh here.. do you have pesterchum? I like using it more than regular texting.” “Nerd.” "Okayy I see you Rizzard of Oz." “ Shut up!” I type in my handle while the other two pull out their phones.

I put my phone away after we all trade information and pick up my cinnabons once again.

“Alright, it’s been nice. Talk to you guys later!” I waved and walked out the door.

——————-

“Soo like… who is that guy seriously?”

“Hell if I know.” Dave answered Karkat before going to the bathroom to pee.

“I mean, the guy seemed pretty nice, maybe they just want friends?”

“I don’t really think friendship is exactly what they’re looking for.” Karkat mumbled. He noticed how when they asked for a phone number, they were asking Dave specifically. He doesn't think he's especially good at reading people's intentions but it doesn't take a genius to tell they were interested in Dave.

Thinking of them as competition is dumb, it’s not like they’re competing for anything-

“Hey Kat! You wanna sneak out for lunch at school tomorrow morning? I was thinking we could eat at Panda Express or something.” Dave smiled and Karkat felt that if Dave asked for anything with a look like that on his face, he’d say yes.

“Sure..” he grumbled and pulled away before Dave could notice his reddening face.

Is it going to be a competition?

———

a/n its not gonna be a competition theyre all gonna kiss and hold hands… #polyamoryftw

[fantasiasodapop]

Making A New Friend

This is a oneshot revealing the merging of Swap and Fresh into Ellie for the story of To Cure A Glitch's Blues. If you do not wish to consume spoilers, do not continue. If you are willing, walk on. A killer is waiting to greet you.

(Look in tags for trigger warnings. We keep everything light except for Fresh being a parasite but we don't want anyone getting hurt.)

Swap looked around, calling Fresh’s name. He had disappeared earlier that day and hadn’t told him where he was going, which was weird, because Fresh always told his little broseph. Swap knew so. Fresh promised.

Looking around the maze of a castle—Swap had gotten lost half an hour ago, but that wasn’t going to stop him—he tried to find any trace of the older skeleton when he heard… whimpering.

Swap froze. He knew that sound. He knew it far too well. Those were the cries of someone PAPS DON’T LEAVE ME PLEASE trying to hide the fact that they were dusting so no one would notice. He had heard it too many times to forget that muffled sobbing sound of a monster holding their hand to their mouth mixed with the coughing up of dust as they prepared to disintegrate.

That wasn’t going to happen today. Not on his watch.

Swap rushed up to the door and grabbed the door handle only for the sounds inside to stop.

“W-who’s there?” came the all too terrifyingly familiar voice of Fresh, wobbling and shaking with pain.

Fresh. It was Fresh who was dying alone in the endless corridors of the Crescents’ Castle. Not today. Not today!

Swap slammed the door open to see… a random Sans tied up on the bed and Fresh with his glasses off? Fresh never took off his glasses. What was going on?

"S-Swap? No... No no no no no Swap you've gotta skedaddle on outta here, squirt! You're gonna get totes unfresh if ya stay here!" Fresh whispered, waving his hands at Swap before noticing his left one disintegrating and hiding that one behind his back.

Swap just stared as Fresh's glove dropped to the floor in a pile of dust. "You're... You're... You're dusting! We have to get Geno!"

Fresh blinked, staring at him. "I... Kid, dis ain't what it looks like. I'm... I'm totes r-rad! I promise!" he said, trying to give the little skeleton a reassuring smile.

"No you're not!" Swap insisted, stomping his foot as tears welled up in his sockets.

"Really, if you close dat door I'll be totes fresh again in a couple o' days―" Fresh began before Swap shocked him into silence.

"STOP LYING TO ME PAPY!" the little kid screamed before covering his mouth, tears streaming down his cheekbones.

Fresh looked down at him, finally realising what was going on, why Swap cared so much... and why Berror had insisted on this one.

"I know what dusting means, okay?!" Swap yelled, staring at the floor as his little gloved hands clenched into fists. "I know what happens when people dust. They promise you that they'll be back, that they'll be okay, but then they dust and you yell and yell and wait and wait but they never do! And you're all alone and you don't know how to take care of yourself because you always had your big brother to take care of you but he's gone now and you're all alone and the human went away and I CAN'T DO IT AGAIN I CAN'T!"

Fresh gave a shaky sigh as his arm finished disintegrating, and he walked up and put a hand on Swap's shoulder, getting down on one knee so he could look Swap in the eye.

"Okay. Okay, broski. I'll tell you," he said softly, giving Swap the best smile he could. "I just... I know you'll probably hate me after dis, so... just let me explain, okay?"

"I know I wasn't brought here to just be your friend," Swap whispered. "It seemed like a weird request, but I was so lonely, and he was giving me a way out... I couldn't say no. I knew something weird was going on, but I just wanted to leave."

Fresh clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Dat... Dat explains quite a bit, actually..." he admitted. "How long have you known?"

"Since you glared at Starberror for offering to take me," he said honestly.

Fresh nodded. "Dat would do it... Dat would do it... You are a smart little broski."

"My dad taught me not to trust people if they said weird things that didn't make sense," Swap replied proudly. "I just... bent that rule this once because... I wanted to come home with you..."

Fresh gulped, trying not to cry himself as he took a shaky breath. "Yeah... I get it. Not having a family is hard, broski. Dat's why I'm so lucky I've got the gang, y'know?"

Swap nodded. "Why didn't you tell them you were hurting?" he asked quietly.

"Oh Swap... dey already know," he replied solemnly.

The little one's eyelights widened in horror. "And they didn't do anything to help you?!" he gasped.

"See, dis is deir help," Fresh said, gesturing to their surroundings. "Dey gave me a rad room, dey got me a totes fresh Sans dere, and dey left me alone."

"They left you alone to die?!" Swap repeated. "Why?!"

"Broski..." Fresh sighed and sat down on the floor as his legs started disintegrating. "I don't got a lot of time to explain dis, okay? So... I'm gonna have to make dis quick unless ya wanna wait until next week."

Swap nodded, sitting down in front of him and looked at him attentively. "Dis... Dis isn't my body, Swap. Dis is Sans's body from Echotale #932," Fresh began, looking down at the floor. "My body is da little tentacle thing wrapped around da soul in my socket."

"That Sans is really nice then," Swap said with a smile. "Why didn't he need it anymore?"

"He... He did need it, Swap," Fresh corrected him gently. "I... I just took it from him because I needed it too."

"You... You took it? Why?" Swap asked, sounding distraught.

Fresh flinched, knowing exactly where this was going to go. "Because... Because I would die without it, Swap. I get really, really hungry, but I can only find food in other people's bodies or by eating souls, and eating souls is harder because I have to fight the body that I have, broski. So instead, I only eat the souls of very bad monsters occasionally, and have to keep stealing bodies to stay alive."

"So... You want to eat the souls of bad people, but the people whose bodies you take don't want to, so you have to keep stealing bodies to stay alive?" Swap summarised, letting that roll over in his mind.

"Yeah, that's exactly right, broski," Fresh agreed, a tiny spark of hope igniting inside him. Maybe Swap wouldn't hate him after all...

"What if your body let you eat souls?" Swap asked curiously, the cogs beginning to click together in his head. "What then? Would you still have to steal bodies?"

"No, I guess not, but no one would willingly give up deir body to me. I'm... I'm a freak," Fresh mumbled.

Both of them ignored the frantic muffled screaming on the bed.

"What would happen if someone gave you their body?" Swap asked, continuing his line of thought. "Willingly, I mean? You never said."

"I don't know. It's never happened before, broski," Fresh admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"What if... I gave you my body?" Swap offered quietly. Fresh looked up for the first time since he had started explaining, eyelights wide.

"W-what?" he asked, startled and not quite sure he wasn't hallucinating or dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time he had hoped for something like this...

"I trust you. I'd let you have mine. We could share it! And... And you could eat all the bad souls you want, and we'd never be alone, and I'd protect you and you'd protect me, and you'd never have to hide in a dark room dusting by yourself ever again!" Swap rambled, rushing forward to explain his idea.

"Swap... You... You don't know what you're offering... You're offering to give up everything for me. You'd never get to be alone; you'd have to eat other people to live; you'd be labelled a freak by everyone outside our castle; you would be stuck with me for the rest of forever, broski! Think about what that means!" Fresh pleaded, little more than a rib cage and a skull now.

"I did, Fresh. It means you get to live and you don't have to be scared that there won't be a next body. I think I'm okay with that," Swap assured him. "Just... tell me how we do this. Do you... Do you need me to do something or...?"

"I... I shouldn't be agreeing to this... You're just a kid... You can't... You can't consent to this..." Fresh muttered to himself. "You can't actually understand this..."

"Do you really want to go and have to fight the skeleton tied up on the bed?" Swap reasoned, rocking back so he could fold his arms. "Do you actually want to have to fight just to live to tomorrow?"

Fresh stared up at the Candyfell on the bed and could feel the aching exhaustion settle in long before he even attempted to take the Sans for himself. He could already imagine the week-long struggle it would take to just get him ready enough for Fresh to go about his daily business, and the month after where he'd have to relearn to fight again away from prying eyes so no one could know of his weakness. Memories of nights going hungry flashed before him, a hunger he tormented himself with because he had promised himself that this host would last longer than the last one, because it wasn't fair to Geno and Error to make them hunt down a new one just because he couldn't make his food stretch. Swap was right; he really didn't want to do that. He hadn't wanted to for a long time now. He was just so tired.

Then his gaze shifted to Swap, kind loving wonderful Swap, who knew exactly what would happen to him if this went wrong and still offered everything to him. He shuddered, his little violet body curling in on itself around the last dregs of his current host's soul as he tried not to think of how nice it would be to just say yes, to give in, to let someone who loved him take him in and protect him for the rest of eternity. How... How could he say no to such a tempting proposition? All the food he could ever want; someone to talk to who wouldn't just scream at him about how horrible he was; the sweet warmth of being able to feel love and compassion from the soul he was guarding instead of hatred and fear; and he'd be able to, wouldn't he? He'd be able to protect Swap's soul instead of devour it, cradle it in his tentacles where no one could ever hurt him again and he'd be his wouldn't he? Swap would be solely his and no one would ever be able to take him away. He'd have a forever companion, one he could tell all of the stories he'd witnessed over his long, long lifespan.

It was then that Fresh realised he was out of time, and he shook the dust from his torso, looking up at Swap warily with one beautiful multi-coloured eye as he tucked his tentacles closer to himself. This was the final test, he supposed: Swap's reaction to his true form.

Swap looked down at him in awe, brushing off a little bit of dust before picking Fresh up―and didn't that make the parasite want to bolt; nothing good had ever come of being held before―and holding him up just below his chin so he could see him better.

"Is this... Is this you?" Swap whispered reverently, eyes beginning to sparkle with stars. Fresh, no longer able to speak, shuffled in Swap's hands for a minute before nodding his torso at him. "You look so cool, Fresh," Swap told him, gently removing one of his gloves with his teeth before running a gentle phalange down one of Fresh's appendages.

The parasite shuddered, leaning into the touch that he so craved. No one had ever touched his true self so kindly before... not that many ever had the chance, but Fresh could feel the beating intent inside of Swap's soul with every stroke of his finger, and there was not an ounce of fear or hatred to be found; only pure, unadulterated compassion and familial love for him and him alone.

"So... How do I...? What do you need me to do, Fresh?" Swap asked, studying him for any kind of reaction.

Fresh, resigning himself to his fate and trying to deny his excitement, pointed at Swap's scarf.

"You... want my bandanna?" Swap asked, confused. Fresh shook a tentacle at him to mimic a finger waggle before tapping Swap's hand and pointing at the bandanna again.

"Oh! You want to sit on my bandanna!" Swap realised. "Okay!" He carefully moved his hand over so Fresh could climb into the fabric. "Now what?"

Fresh chuckled silently to himself as he climbed over the fabric to the opening between the two collarbones and slipped through.

Swap burst out laughing, reaching for his neck instinctively. "C-careful! I'm t-ticklish!" he warned Fresh.

The parasite ignored the warning, practically not even hearing it, as he was too busy staring at the beautiful soul that had been given to him. It was pure and white and whole, the most beautiful soul he'd ever seen, and he got to hold it in his tentacles. Man, in a few years when all the other Sanses would look at his host buddy with envy, he'd know that he was the luckiest guy alive. Swap was that good.

Fresh gently wrapped his tentacles around Swap's soul and turned, getting ready to take it to its new home in the safest part of any skeleton as he climbed back up Swap's ribs and came out the other side, clutching his prize.

Swap's metaphorical breath hitched when he felt Fresh wrap around his soul, wondering for the first time if this was actually a good idea, when he felt Fresh climbing up his neck. "What... What are you d-doing, b-broski?" he practically whispered, beginning to grow nervous now.

Fresh just patted the side of Swap's skull, trying to reassure the little skeleton. With that out of the way, he gently vine-roped his way across Swap's head with his tentacles to be stationed right over his eye, both of them staring into each other's beings.

"Everything... okay...?" Swap asked, his voice slurred as he was entranced by Fresh's gaze and grip on his soul. Fresh nodded, content that he had prepared Swap thoroughly, before climbing inside his new host's eye socket.

Swap immediately doubled over, scratching at his socket without ever gaining purchase with hyperventilating breaths. It only seemed to get worse―then he froze and simply sat there for a moment, still as a mouse as he stared at the floor.

The Candyfell Sans didn't dare move a muscle on the bed, not wanting to attract either entity's attention in order to save his own metaphorical skin. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

"I'm... so... hungry..." Swap whispered, eyelights still dark as he stared. "So... hungry... We're so... hungry..."

Swap looked up at him, and in one socket there was his original eyelight dilated beyond measure while in the other a mesmerising red and yellow eye held him frozen.

Little did the poor Sans know that gaze had already marked him for death.

[gillie266]

Yeein' On That 'Haw Ch. 9-- Interlude: 10-80 In Progress

“(Y/N)! (Y/N), shit, dude, what’s goin’ on? You okay?” 

I knelt by my friend’s side, hurriedly placing a hand on their shoulder. They were screaming in agony, clutching the sides of their head and frantically digging their fingernails into their skin. Seeing them like this made me sick to my stomach. But we had to go! The police were practically up our asses at this point! I sucked in a trembling breath and leaned in to speak to (Y/N). “Dude, we gotta skedaddle like, now– the police are outside!” 

When they didn’t respond, I stood to my full height and cursed under my breath. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just leave them here to die, be arrested, or both! But I also didn’t want to be arrested. Then this whole thing would have been for nothing. The sirens were only getting closer. 

I frantically looked around for somewhere to hide, only to find nothing. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest, and in my panic, I reached down to my hip to retrieve my pistol. I had purchased it in a ‘why-not’ moment right before we were supposed to do this break-in. I didn’t think it would actually come in handy. With some quick thinking, I dragged (Y/N) to their feet and wrapped my free arm around their torso, using my pistol-occupied hand to point the firearm at the side of their head. They already seemed to be mostly unconscious, if not entirely knocked out, so they probably wouldn’t mind. 

Then I waited. I heard officers searching the building while I tried to calm my racing heart. The next thing I knew, several officers were charging through the door to the arcade-cabinet-filled room I was in. 

Before the officers could even see me, I took a deep breath and called out in my loudest, most ‘I-mean-business’ voice. “Don’t move a goddamned muscle or I’ll blow their fuckin’ brains out!” 

The officers’ guns immediately trained on me. Three of them. I saw one of them lift their walkie-talkie and mumble “10-32, 136” into it. I took another breath, forcing my expression to be blank. My eyes darted about the space, and I realized that I was relatively close to the window. I just had to get a little closer, and maybe I could jump out. 

But I had to distract the police. I didn’t actually have any intention of shooting (Y/N), but I had to pretend like I did. I opened my mouth to speak, but one of them interrupted me. “Lower your weapon!” He cried, his own aim not even faltering. Oh, how I wanted to point my firearm at him, but then they would certainly shoot me dead. I resisted the urge to commit first-degree murder and continued speaking. “No way I’m gonna put this thing down! You’ll riddle me with bullets if I do!” As I was speaking, I slowly crept closer to the window. 

“You won’t be shot, Violet,” that same officer spoke once more. I couldn’t stop my eyes from widening just slightly. They already knew who I was. Whoever reported a break-in to the police must have recognized me from somewhere. He continued, “We just want to talk with you.”

“Bullshit!” I yelled, causing their grips to tighten on their weapons. “As soon as I lower this gun, you’ll fucking kill me! Either that, or maim me so bad I can’t walk to the squad car!” Just a few more steps…

“You have two choices here,” began the officer, “You can either set the hostage free, or–”

Out of seemingly nowhere, the arcade machine from before lit up and bathed the room in a blue glow. Before I could properly process what happened, (Y/N) was gone, leaving me with no hostage, and no leverage. Well, shit. 

I darted toward the window just as the officers opened fire. They must have had stormtrooper aim or something because I managed to dive through the glass without being shot in the face. It would have been really embarrassing if the glass was reinforced, but thankfully, it wasn’t. The building was ancient. 

The glass shattered upon impact, sending me careening out of the window and plummeting toward the ground below. Maybe I should have thought this through. I was on the third floor!

Thankfully, my fall was broken by the awning covering the door to the museum, which I rolled off of before landing on the concrete below. It softened the blow, but my body was still severely battered and covered in a myriad of tiny glass shards. One officer had been stationed at the entrance to ensure that I didn’t try to escape, but it seemed that my sudden landing caught her off guard enough to allow me time to stand and grab hold of the pistol that I had dropped when I fell. 

In a moment of desperation, I pointed the pistol at the officer with the intent to shoot. My finger was literally pressing on the trigger. One of her hands was drifting near her own holster, the other poised in front of her. She had a wide-eyed, terrified look on her face. I hesitated for a moment– the biggest mistake of my life. She began to speak: “You don’t understand what you’re doing here. Put the firearm down–”

I pressed down on the trigger, clenching my eyes shut. The trigger simply didn’t press down all the way, making a dull clicking sound. I opened my eyes and glanced up at the officer, then back down at the pistol.

…The safety was on. 

I could only yell as she swiftly retrieved her own firearm from its holster and pointed it at me, immediately letting off two rounds in my direction. I bolted to the side and nearly fell over in the process. I cried out in pain upon feeling the skin and muscles in my side tear– I had been shot. Grazed, sure, but I had been shot. 

I darted behind one of the unoccupied squad cards and glanced down at my now actively bleeding bullet wound. It looked pretty nasty, but nothing I couldn’t deal with. I took a few steadying breaths and peered over the top of the car. The female officer was quickly approaching the vehicle, along with a few others who had left the building in pursuit of me. Shit, dude, I was a criminal. I was in too deep to back off now. I checked my pistol and flicked the safety off before aiming it over the roof of the car and letting off a few shots, one bullet lodging itself into the shoulder of an officer. 

Once I had stunned the group of police, I dropped into a half-squat position and frantically yanked on the door handle. It opened. Fuck yeah. 

I hurriedly climbed into the squad car and shut the door, finding the keys still in the ignition. Dumbass cops! At this point, they deserved for their car to be stolen. I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I instantly shifted it into drive and took off, ducking down just in case a stray bullet pierced the window or windshield. I heard gunshots clanking off the exterior of the vehicle and prayed to whoever was listening that it wouldn’t implode. An irrational fear, but a fear nonetheless.

Listen, I was panicking. I understand that stealing a squad car is like, the worst thing to do when fleeing police, but I was terrified! My friend had vanished, and I was alone and running away from the police! I even turned the sirens and lights on like a dumbass. But I must admit, it felt a little rad to just speed through traffic with everyone getting out of my way, though. 

When I finally got out of the range of the officers’ guns, I straightened my back and adjusted the mirrors, my chest heaving with panicked breaths. As I glimpsed myself in the rearview mirror, I noticed how wrecked I looked. My skin was covered in little cuts and spattered with blood, my eyes were wide and frantic, and I noticed an undertone of pure terror in my expression. It took all of my effort to flatten my expression into something neutral– if I was going out, I wasn’t going out scared. I didn’t even know where I was going until I reasoned with myself that I should get out of the city and to somewhere remote. There was an abandoned gas station just outside city limits that I could hide out in for a while.

There were a few moments where all was quiet aside from the loud sound of the sirens and my heavy breathing. I hurriedly buckled my seatbelt with one hand. Safety first, goddammit!

My mind finally processed what just happened– (Y/N) disappeared. Like, full-on vanished right in front of my eyes. Did I hallucinate that? No, I couldn’t have; the officers saw it too. They vanished when the room flashed with that blue light– the same blue light we saw emit from that strange arcade machine earlier. Did that have something to do with it? Was it a haunted machine or something? I shook my head. Be realistic, Violet. You literally stole a police vehicle and they’re bound to start chasing you down anytime soon. 

Just as I thought, I heard a second pair of sirens begin screaming their way toward me. I checked my mirrors and spotted the second squad car tearing down the highway, their lights illuminating the crowds of people walking down the sidewalks of the city. Shit, that’s right. I had to avoid hurting anyone not involved. Even when I was fleeing the police, I had to obey traffic laws the best I could. Christ. 

I cursed and slammed my foot on the gas, coming up to an intersection and veering the wheel to the left. I heard the rubber of the tires squeal as they skidded on the asphalt. I managed to make the turn safely despite the other cars on the road, which felt fucking awesome. 

Unfortunately, the squad car followed me. In my mirror, I noticed the officer in the passenger seat mumbling orders and codes into his walkie-talkie. Shit. I’d watched enough cop shows to know that they were probably anticipating my destination and laying spike mats on the main roads. Good to know– take off-roads!

I wasn’t too familiar with the layout of the city, as I had only lived there for a couple years and most of my time was spent traveling between work and home, but I did know that there were a shit ton of ways to get out of the city. I veered the vehicle to the right to take another turn, then rapidly made a sequence of turns in an attempt to confuse the police or lose them completely. It didn’t work, and I only scared myself. 

I’m not entirely sure how long this went on. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to lose the other squad car, and two more joined them in their pursuit after some time. It was becoming increasingly difficult to evade them as they kept splitting up and taking different roads. I did know that I was getting closer and closer to city limits, though. 

Then, just as I was about to exit the city entirely, I made a sudden left turn to get out of the way of a spike mat and found myself in a crowded street. A gasp fled my throat as I was suddenly tearing down a street toward a crosswalk filled with pedestrians. I had to make a decision– get caught and arrested, or commit vehicular manslaughter?

I glanced to my sides and found that there were buildings on either side. Fuck! There’s a reason I only shot that officer in the shoulder: I couldn’t kill somebody, let alone uninvolved passersby. My thoughts ran rampant, seemingly having thousands in the breadth of less than a second. Maybe if I was able to turn the vehicle all the way around and start heading the way I came, I could backtrack and find another way out. I jolted the wheel all the way to the left, turning the car around as fast as I could. 

My high speed was my downfall. The vehicle was going too fast to control the turn, causing the back wheels to hit the median. I felt a horrible lurching feeling in my stomach as the passenger’s side of the car lifted and began to rotate. In a tiny moment of luck, since I had managed to turn the car around, I didn’t go flying into a building. I also avoided hurting any pedestrians. But the thing is, the car fucking flipped. 

Before I could properly process what was going on, I was upside-down with my seatbelt pinning me to the seat. The roof of the car slammed against the road, which immediately dispensed the airbags. I heard a dull crack sound from somewhere in my chest, followed by what felt like pins and needles in that area. I think the windshield and some of the windows either cracked or shattered completely because there was glass everywhere. Honestly, it’s a complete blur. 

When my adrenaline-numbed mind returned to reality, panic flooded it. I could feel the dulled ache of several fractured or broken bones: definitely my clavicle as a result of the airbags, maybe a couple ribs, and I think something in my pelvis. As soon as the adrenaline wore off, I would be in a fuckton of pain, so I had to act quick before the police got their hands on me. I’m nothing if not committed. 

I reached up and unbuckled my seatbelt, causing my broken, battered body to tumble onto the ceiling of the car. I most certainly hit my head hard enough to leave a bruise, coaxing a pained grunt from my lips. I put all of my mediocre strength into pushing aside the airbag and opening the car door before crawling out of the vehicle, my hands finding the shattered glass that had scattered along the road. It hurt like a bitch, but I gritted my teeth against the pain and hauled myself to my feet. I looked up to find several officers charging in my direction. I cursed and turned, immediately regretting it when my pelvic bone screamed in pain. I winced but ignored it, beginning to run in the opposite direction. 

The police were, obviously, much faster. 

Without even being given the chance to surrender, I felt something hit my back. I grimly realized that it was a person. They took me to the ground, causing my chest to slam onto the glass fragments that littered it. A wheeze was forced out of my body when I hit the ground, and I writhed insistently in an attempt to escape the officer’s grasp, managing to elbow him in the face before he snatched my wrist. 

“You have the right to remain silent– anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” came a somewhat winded male voice from behind me. Hey, at least he read me my rights. He seized my wrists in one hand and shoved them against my back, pulling a strained groan from between my teeth. I only struggled for one more moment before I noticed another officer wielding a pistol brandishing it above my form. I went limp. There was no use resisting this any further. I felt the cool metal of handcuffs lock around my wrists just as I noticed the pool of my own blood coagulating underneath me. 

I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against the cold, glass-decorated asphalt. My memory ran through the events of the last several minutes and I swiftly tried my best to calculate the possible charges with what little legal knowledge I had: armed robbery, posession of a firearm, wounding an officer, taking somebody hostage with a gun, resisting arrest, posession of stolen law enforcement vehicle, crashing said law enforcement vehicle, endangering passersby– at least five years in prison. God. Fucking. Damn it. 

[witch-apologist]

Catra: "I'm not going to force Adora to come back for you."

Shadow Weaver: "If you dont ill torture you more and maybe kill you. Also i just demonstrated that you cant run away because i will literally know where you are no matter what so dont even think about rebelling "

Catra, terrified: "okay" (still gonna secretly cover for her tho)

Catra antis: "She was mean to adora for no reason, everything she did was out of evil evil malice not fear."

Adora: "come with me"

Catra: *considering it*

Light Hope: "Heres a series of memories that im going to make you relive specifically selected to make you mad at each other and i will kill both of you if adora keeps protecting you, so skedaddle because i want to groom this girl to do genocide just like the horde before me"

Catra: "welp im not sticking around otherwise we are both gonna die and im also severely traumatized from having to literally relive my worst memories so im kinda antsy and dont want to be tethered to the person who was forced to be responsible for me i want to prove im capable myself, so im not going to help you up the weird castle lady will probably save you anyway so i dont actually think im leaving you in danger."

Catra antis:" Shes so horrible she tried to murder adora and there was absolutely nothing but murdering adora for no reason on her mind, Light hope really cared about adora here and saved her from the horrible abusive catra. "

Scorpia: "Hey lets get out of the horde together because you could be happy "

Catra: "Hmm maybe youre right, well gotta go take care of this other situation."

Adora: "hey remember our mutual abuser who always made you feel like second best and tortured you and you know can track you anywhere on the planet and who just abandoned you like a week ago and who has literally told you multiple times shed kill you given the first opportunity? Well shes at my place now."

Catra: incredibly triggered and traumatized "Scorpia we are going to carry out revenge on my abuser i am solely focused on this because my rage at being abused has consumed my thoughts

Shadow Weaver: "Hi catra, nice to torture you again, ill likely kill you as well."

Catra: "okay now we're DEFINITELY opening that portal"

Catra antis: "everything bad she did was solely to spite Adora there are no sympathetic or understandable things that could possibly explain this downward spiral except that shes an evil evil abuser."

Catra: has literal amnesia and cannot see what adoras seeing "You are concerning me because it seems like you are suddenly developing psychosis"

Catra antis: shes gaslighting adora!

Catra: has nightmares,emotional breakdowns, and depressive episodes from the guilt of what shes doing.

Catra antis: "she wasnt even sorry she only acts good for adora because shes manipulating her"

Catra: "literally apologizes multiple times"

Catra antis: "she never apologized even once"

Catra: shows actual metered progress and takes in outside input to improve her behaviour and outlook

Catra antis:"she didnt even put in any work to redeen herself"

Catra: "defends herself from assault and restraint and protests to adora commiting suicide"

Catra antis "look at this abusive behavior persisting into their reconciliation"

Catra: Literally tries saying anything she thinks might keep adora alive and actively contradicts adoras negative self image.

Catra antis: "Manipulation! Guilt Tripping! Abuse!"

Catra antis reading comprehension: 0

[eshtaresht]

GUYS GUYS I CAN'T KSODKLSOSL!!!1!!1LKDKJ;;S !!!l1JK!::kKD;P SOSKSLSPSODS A;SDOKDLAD I CAN'T EVEN FORM WORDS

spoilers for ep 12 (and a bit for trigun in general) and my overexited ramblings under the cut

you know an episode will be good when where's no opening

so, the twins are meant to be characterized straightforward in every anime adaptation, ig. it's not bad, but the manga twists their personalities 180° and it adds SO MUCH nuance (I'll talk about this at length some day)

tbh I had to pause for laughter when knives was YEETED outta the gate (I have sense of humor of a five year old)

everybody already said everything, but still. OG HAIR COMEBACK OMG AHRAHAAKFJDlahjddjha!!!!!!!! ;!!! ;! and not only hair, but the whole characterization this episode was much closer to trimax vash, and not just sadboy depressive bbg

MERYL/REM PARALLELS LETS GOOOO!!! like, I guessed this would happen, but the visuals, the tension and pure GRATITUDE in vash's voice when he was able to break free from his mental prison... we're eating good

speaking of eating, I CAN'T get over that moment when vash deadass BIT KNIVES. that's peak sibling behavior, he's literally fighting tooth and nail over there

also mashwood is so real tonight!! love love love meryl&nico interactions in stampede, they barely spoke to each other in other versions! and the look of relief on vash's face when he sees nico skedaddling away with meryl!!! he's so glad that they're gonna be okay and that nico made the right choice and came back to help, if briefly. interstingly, he was able to remember everyone, but after the explosion at the end he still lost his memory.

and THE WINGS, DUDE!!!! it gives the finale of trimax, when they both had only one wing left..... still missing feathers, but I love the diversity with knives's, eh... knives, and vash's energy/void or whatever that is, I support it

he's so pathetic even when he looks cool, homeboy had NO control when he used his wing for the first time... cudos for learning new powers on the spot tho

ow ow ow that scene with the military hurt... and he couldn't even save them!

"why are you like that, vash?" "I'm vash the stampede" "IT'S BEEN OVER A CENTURY AND THIS IS THE BEST YOU COULD CAME UP WITH" same here, knives, he's hopeless. I anticipated that moment, but it probably hits even hard for stampede onlys

angel arm!!! tho it's not that angelic now... how are we gonna call it? I take suggestions. rip arm and coat, I feel like we'll actually get a more trimax leaning design next season!

to all the ppl (myself included) who wanted to see vash cry properly... are you happy? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY??? after the last episode, after all the mental torture knives put him through, vash still doesn't want to hurt him and, just like knives, can't handle the distance between them.......... I am inconsolable. and as much as knives wanted to break vash, it hurts him so much to see those tears irl....... but he just can't stop, because they're both SO FUCKING STUBBORN and it already took to much to get there and he just can't. stop. now.

"nai is dead, you killed him" first of all, *sounds of screaming crying throwing up*. second of all, his name is million knives, vash, stop deadnaming your brother/j

the death scene itself.... oh it's soo good and yummy. I know this mf isn't fully dead and conrad will fix him, but still. he can have a second death of self as a treat

btw, gotta adress my earlier theory about "happy birthday" being metaphorical. no, it is in fact July 21st, and tristamp lasted about two months in universe. still pretty hard for me to believe, it felt five times shorter due to the pacing. but it is what it is: I'm esht and I was wrong, I'm singing the esht wrong song

and just as I thought this would be the end of it, WE GOT A FLASH FORWARD THAT HAD BASICALLY EVERYTHING WE WERE HOPING FOR AND MORE

RAISED BOUNTY! MERYL GIRLBOSSIFICATION!! a hint at insurance society (tho that was more of a threat and she's still a journalist). MILLY CONFIRMATION!!! ERIKS' LACK OF ARM AND AMNESIA!!!! EARTH FLEET AND CHRONICA!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

IT'S GONNA BE GOOD SEASON 2 IS GONNA BE EVEN BETTER I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BONE MARROW

[zantedeschia-praesul]

//sadly i gotta try and get off the phone till the next 4 hours ish, but i honestly am not doing well at work these days even tho it's, what T-9 days to my last day? im just here filling my hours and speedrun shit sloppily and tbh maybe coz i really can't see the point of me even pouring in extra effort before i go. i hate this job so much now that i have less fucks to give now.

okay im gonna skedaddle later guys. maybe I'll put in a teeny self promo later :0

[shibusawaz]

Okay. Let's say you have to rob a high security bank. Choose 5 bsd characters to rob it, and 1 that works at the bank for some reason.

now based in logic, I'm choosing nikolai, jouno, and kenji.

nikolai is a given. he gets us in, he gets us out lots of shenanigans along the way, which is why we have kenji: he's backup and will do what he's gotta do. I have jouno on watch duty, he'd know when the popo/security get there and give us enough time to skedaddle. jouno also poses as a sort of safety barrier if we DO get caught, aka "I'm mister police here on very important business with my farmer boy detective friend and this terrorist.

my other 2 heist members, for funsies, are sigma and shibusawa.

yes, sigma gets anxious, but he knows how to manage situations and also has guns. sigma probably has the other 4 on baby leashes so that they don't blow something up. shibusawa is just an inconvenience. they have to stop every 5 minutes because he found A Shiny Thing or he's complaining about how boring this is.

my bank worker has to be Fitzgerald LMAO

he's less of a worker and more of a boss, but I think it'd be funny to see my heist team battle out Fitzgerald with fistfuls of money at his disposal

[gummybugg]

Uh oh! Your OCs and I decided to share a pizza and we're down to the last slice 😱 Who is eating it without remorse? Who is forcing it onto my plate before I can say no, its okay you can have it! Who is sitting there pretending not to notice its the final slice to avoid being the one to make the decision about who gets to eat it? Who feigns at being full so they don't get caught being generous? And who is the rat that steals it while the rest of us are busy having a generosity war?

⚔️Battle of the Last Pizza Slice!🍕

Thanks so much for the ask! I had so much fun and decided to do this with my characters from my wip Crater City :')

(Now, I want you to close your eyes and picture yourself in one of those children's arcade/pizza restaurants. Yep, that one. Musty carpet from the 90, scent of coins and sweat hanging in the air. Yeah, you know the one.)

...

"Wow, is that a plane or a geometrically sound bird?" Blair asks. You turn to look out the window at the invisible plane before he swoops in for the kill. You roll your eyes, but you're glad it wasn't another prank. At least this time, Blair hadn't gotten one of the employees to wear the rat suit and jump-scare you.

...

"No, no, you can take it," Darcy twists his face in disgust at the combination of cheese, meats, and microplastics on the large pizza pan in front of you. "Old-world food makes me feel bloated." He shoves the slice of pizza onto your plate before you get to object. You don't feel very hungry anymore.

...

You watch Elijah twirl his curly brown hair that sits in a clump on his head as he stares longingly at the arcade section of the restaurant. Either he's signaling you for arcade money, or he's letting you take the last slice of pizza... You're not sure if he's more interested in the food or arcade.

...

"Oh, I can't possibly eat anymore," Frasier takes a sip of his unsweetened Earl grey. You're not sure what pizza place sells Earl grey, but you try not to let it faze you. As he catches your glance, he gives a gentle smile that seems to light the rest of the dimly lit restaurant. "You can have the last piece," he says as he pushes the plate towards you.

"No, you can take it," you refute. "You paid for the order, after all."

"No, I insist."

"You're the only person here who hasn't robbed me of my pizza, made me lose my appetite, or begged me for arcade tokens. I think you should have the last slice."

"Well, I can't argue with that," Frasier chuckles before realizing the pizza has disappeared right before your very eyes. He raises a brow. Clearly, he hasn't planned for this to happen.

There is a muffled chewing sound coming from beneath the cheap plastic table. You both duck under the table to see Melony hunched over like a mouse, enjoying her late afternoon breakfast. Her lab coat pools around her, pressed against the greasy floor. You shudder at the unsanitary conditions.

"Let's face it, you two were gonna be fighting over that slice for hours!" She protests.

"True, but what are you doing out of your lab, you little mouse?" Fraiser picks gum from under the table out of her black bubble braids.

"I've been working for 18 hours, don't you think I deserve a little break?" Melony finishes the pizza without complaint. She stands up, brushes off her coat, and thanks you both for the midday snack. "Well, it's been real, but I gotta skedaddle. Gotta convention to go to," her pink eyes sparkle.

"That's right, I should be heading off, as well." Frasier sighs at the impending doom of his lunch break ending. He turns to you, his smile resurfacing, "But it's been a nice lunch date. We should meet again soon."

He rises from the creaky plastic booth held together by a few loose bolts and some bubble gum. "Blair, Elijah, Darcy!" He calls from across the empty restaurant, "You guys better wrap up that air hockey tournament. We're leaving."

Three disgruntled moans come from the arcade. Frasier sighs and slaps fifty on the table for the tip. No, make it sixty.

You can't help but stare at the strange rag tag group of people as they make their way out of the pizza joint whining about shrinkflation in the pizza industry, the alarming amount of microplastics found in old-world food, and how arcade games just aren't made like they used to be. You're not sure where that Melony lady went, but you're convinced this entire interaction was a fever dream. Four pizzas in a day? Absolutely absurd!

...

🚗 Crater City Taglist (ask to be added/removed): @writeouswriter @lyra-brie @digitalsatyr23

[theadventurerslog]

Discworld | Part 7

Part 7 and onward in my longest game here yet. In which I get that last artifact and finally make it to Act III and beyond!

But first that artifact. I knew the Fool had it, but I wasn't sure what it actually was. I assumed it might be his Chucky staff or something inside it. No, it turned out to be his hat with golden bells. I got a bit irked because for all five of the other people their artifact could be examined and was treated as an interactable. The hat? Absolutely nothing. I knew it thanks to a hint. I get you're supposed to know by the gold, but it broke the pattern already set by five, five! other artifacts!

Anyway, once over that hurdle and after a bit of a break from the game, I figured I'd need him to get to the bath in the bathroom to put his hat on the hat stand in the bathroom. Which, by the way, that room's music is obnoxiously louder than everywhere else for some reason. Everything about this Fool was out to get me.

I dumped the garbage can over his head. That'd get him dirty and smelly all right.

He fled to the bathroom and I followed to find him in the tub, thankfully curtained off, his hat on the hat stand as hoped, and his staff guarding the way.

Freaking Chucky.

But easily handled by adding the bubble bath and blinding Chucky with all the bubbles and foam.

I grabbed the hat and got out of there.

All six artifacts acquired!

I'd already dropped off the previous five with the dragon, so it was time to bring the last one at last.

I said something along the lines of nothing could possibly go wrong in bringing all the artifacts to the dragon. Perfectly safe thing to do.

With the last one given, he was free! ...To start enacting revenge on the world, the brotherhood, and oops, lastly Rincewind too because he had been at the ritual. Who'dathunk.

Rincewind skedaddled but now we had a new problem. Stop this dragon from coming for him later and I guess everyone else, too. After some initial what nowing it came down to having to stop the ritual from having happened the previous night.

But first I wandered and went back to the palace and discovered Nanny Ogg was gone now, so I guessed she got her seller's permit and sure enough she'd moved to the Square. She was selling a magic carpet and in her stall was her custard recipe book which she was not willing to sell.

I got the magic carpet and carried on...

Okay, so for this particular session I was already feeling kind of irritable and impatient, so while I still didn't succumb to a guide, I did go inch my way a little bit into what Universal Hint System had to say.

The ritual needed to be stopped which meant going back to that night. You can take the dragon summoning book that the thief steals, but that doesn't do anything. In fact the ritual still takes place exactly the same as always -- which does beg the question of what the book is actually doing here. Anyway, instead of just taking the book you need to replace it with something else for the thief to take. I used UHS as far as needing to get the thief to take something. Once I was on the right path it was a matter of 'okay, clearly need a different book'. And the only book I knew of was that custard book, so back I went.

I went through Nanny Ogg's conversation options again and in one of them, she gets flirty and tries a kiss pose which leaves her distracted enough to whisk away the book. So that turned out to be easy.

The book on its own isn't enough though. You gotta use them together to swap the covers, then put the newly decorated custard book in the shelf for the thief to steal, and then it's back to the hideout where Rincewind stayed outside this time to eavesdrop.

The ritual started out the same as usual but once it was time to use the book, it became custard time.

Too much oozy love custard leaking out the door... ick.

With the brotherhood otherwise engaged and the dragon not summoned, Rincewind raced back to the castle feeling quite the hero.

Which no one believed because the dragon didn't get summoned this time and dragons don't exist.

Rincewind kept insisting on the dragon being real and then... well they're summoned by belief, so...

In came the dragon with some new decorating techniques, adding a nice big hole to the castle. Despite the fiddling with time, the dragon still seemed to recognize Rincewind? So, maybe it sort of sits outside time? I dunno.

But that brought me to Act III at last!

So, Rincewind got out of there, as a Rincewind do, but now there's a dragon in the palace. Now there needs to be a hero, and I guess it was time to step up to the plate...?

It seemed like a full round was needed again for changes. I went to the city gate first and chatted with the guards. For a chance to defeat the dragon the odds have got to be a million to one because "It's a million to one chance but it might just work." And statements like that can't fail in a narrative.

This conversation brought up a little window to try different things on Rincewind to change or check the odds.

For now at least I only had the options of a tattoo, mask and magic book. Any combination of them wasn't getting the odds where I needed them. So it was time to start exploring and finding out what makes a hero.

Square: I next went to the square where I discovered that the old man who hadn't been doing so well, is in fact... not.

He's a gravestone now. Oh dear, oh dear.

Turns out he was still getting some comments from... down there? And the others seem to think he's still faking, so I dunno with these guys.

They continued to be not particularly helpful though did wind their way to talking about the traditional sacrifice of a virgin bound to a rock for the dragon.

Dibbler: now selling a leech weight loss program. After some arguing back and forth I got a paper bag of leeches. Examining the bag in the inventory took out the leeches. Two items in one!

Amazon Woman: Rincewind started to tentatively broach the subject of virgins and rocks but turns out she's not anymore. Someone bested her...at tiddly-winks.

Stall: Like the tomatoes, when I took one, the poor mouse went by now on a crutch and the egg dropped and broke over it... unleashing a snake?? I got the snake anyway. And I took another egg that I got to keep.

Psychia-trickerist: Not anymore! It's a casting office for the "Clickies". Film is starting to take off!

The troll is going by "Flint" now and reckons a hero should have a black mustache. He's got a lichen one going himself.

The girl is all into being a star now and was willing to give me her "ottograph" named after her agent, Otto, if I could bring her some nice paper.

Dunnyking: Also not the Dunnyking anymore, but now the custard king. The custard just never ends.

That was the Square done for now, so I headed to the alley next.

Rooftops: I got another scene of an assassin training on the rooftops. There's a replacement ladder but when I went up I couldn't take it. It can be interacted with though... Something for later.

Alchemist's home: He's figured out banged grains (popcorn)--gotta have the appropriate snacks for movies, but he's been purchasing expensive premium grain. Rincewind suggested he get some at the livery stable instead for a lot cheaper, so he took off leaving me free to steal the camera box, or 'impstamatic'.

Moving on...

Livery Stable: Corn's gone and the donkey is still under the weather. But I could examine the bumper of the cart where there two stickers or plates: one for Sybil Ramkin's Dragon Sanctuary which opened a new location! Yay! And one too muddy to read.

From there I went to check the barn.

Barn: I guess the dragon didn't stay in the palace because he was back there. Otherwise nothing to do that I found.

Palace: The guards were back. I got through them with the ink blot again, more wife insulting sigh.

I was assaulted by noise on entering because there is now a smoke device where the dragon had landed before.

It's loud...

Now the line to see the Patrician had the University chef, the little guy who got beat up at the Broken Drum, and still the peasant

The bathroom was unchanged and in fact the bubble bath was still bubbling

In the area with the smoke device I was able to now enter the dungeons. Here I found a couple people in cells to chat with--a thief doing time ahead of time to get it done now with the efficiency only the Patrician can bring, and the guy I got the golden banana from who was arrested for having all the gold in the kingdom, oops...

There was a mousehole with eyes peering out, and an iron maiden. Just things to keep in mind.

And I found the torture room with the Fool and the torturer who had been the tax collector but got promoted. They're the same department.

Not much but annoyance from the Fool.

I got a bone from the skeleton and then left for now.

Unseen University:

Library: Mostly unchanged but the door to L-Space is closed now

Kitchen: Got a spatula

Dining Hall: Learned from the Lecturer of Recent Runes that a Hero should have a magic talisman

Archchancellor's Office: I got his hat! It was just sitting on his desk. And when I examined his hat a bunny and handkerchiefs poked out: a seemingly endless string of them in there.

Broken Drum: Also mostly unchanged. However, there was a drink on the shelf - Klatchian cactus juice with a worm wriggling inside, that once I examined, I was able to order. That got me the worm that seems drunk. Happy, but drunk.

I still have several places just within in the city let alone outside it to check out, so the exploration and item gathering will continue next time.

[ahatintimepieces]

Oh my~ two song drabbles in the morning? What an early treat! If you’re still doing them, how about „You’ll be in my Heart“ from Phil Collins? A fluff classic and perfect for a cute little story~! Take all the time you need though!

I’m so glad to hear it! And omg yesss. I wrote this kind of quickly and hope it’s okay! It’s... long :’D I got carried away.

The ghost read in his chair. It was a new book he had nabbed from his latest victim. Not the kind of material he usually read but it was fine to pass the time. He had a lot of time in the afterlife. And yet, the past year had been one of the longest he had to endure.

Frustratingly, everything was fine. The forest was safe. The fire spirits didn’t come around too often. The queen was staying in her manor. The subconites sluffed off more than they worked. It was dang near perfect. But there was an absence. One that left him feeling sluggish and unmotivated most days. It took a couple months to admit, but with a heaviness in his chest unbecoming a weightless spirit, he missed the kid.

She just… left. Brushed him away with a broom. He supposed he understood. She had a home to get back to, but… no. He was certain any hopes he had that she would want to… well… stay was just his own selfish desires.

Grimacing he remembered the unsigned documents he had offered to try to get her to stay. They were still filed away by their BFF contract. He let out a sigh, trying to let go. It was what she wanted. It didn’t do him any good to linger in what was lost and gone.

It was just so easy for ghosts to do.

After turning a few pages, a splash came from the shallow pool around his tree. He didn’t look up. It was probably one of his minions and he wanted to finish reading a sentence while footsteps tapped into the opening of his tree.

A pause. Silence.

Snatcher finished his page before realizing maybe something was wrong. Tearing his golden gaze from the page, his usual smile dropped with his jaw. Hesitant blue eyes stared back at him.

“Kid?” His voice was strained. She nodded, her lips in a tight line as she clutched the corner of her cape in her hands.

“Hi,” she whispered tightly, looking down and shuffling on her feet.

He snapped his book shut and she jumped at the sound. Feeling a little guilty for startling her, but too caught up in his own pounding pulse to adequately respond he gripped the armrest with one of his talons.

Could she be back because—No! He inwardly scowled at himself, stopping the thought in its tracks. She did not come back because she missed him. Right? He had to act cool, calm, collected. Conceal. Don’t feel. All that ice queen jazz.

Leaning back, he summoned a smirk as he folded his talons together.

“Lose more of your hourglasses? Or did you want to try your hand at more contracts?”

Keeping her gaze low, she kept fiddling with her cape.

“A-actually.” She cleared her throat. “I was hoping to—landmyshiphere.” She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for a cold laugh or angry retort.

“You what,” he questioned, bewildered.

“Land my ship,” she said a little slower. “I… I was thinking… there was a lot I still wanted to do on this planet. A-and Subcon seemed as good a place as any…”

“What about your home?” Snatcher tilted his head, suddenly fretting over her planet’s well-being. He swallowed his feelings, shaking his head slightly. He hated that he cared so much.

“Hmm?” She paused before sighing. “It’s just—I went back and they—well—” she trailed off, slumping.

“You aren’t in trouble, are you?” He growled, ready to tear into the fool who could have caused her crestfallen features.

“No,” she said quickly. “I guess… I just felt… like they barely cared when I got back.” Her small fingers tightened around her cape, wrinkling it. “They just kept giving me more missions and I… I just felt… bad… all the time.” Her brows furrowed as she seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say. “They probably haven’t even noticed I left.”

“So, your plan was just to camp out in a haunted forest on a distant planet?” Snatcher raised an eyebrow with his golden mouth in a tight line, barely highlighting his fangs. “Why not Mafia town? They at least have markets and food. Nothing can really grow here.” Not anything edible at least.

“Well,” she offered with a nervous smile, “my BFF is here.” A moment passed and her small smile fell. “Snatcher?”

His talons were pressed tightly together as he kept his features frozen. Inwardly, he was short-circuiting. Did that mean what he thought it meant? She wanted to stay with him? It was almost too much to hope for; his heart ached as he tried to stifle the rising elation. He thought about the unsigned document. The one he had drafted meticulously and never had the chance to properly give her a chance to read through it. But… now…

“Park your ship here?” He cleared his throat and straightened, feigning a nonchalant air as he snapped his talons and summoned the document. “Well, let’s see, that’s a big favor to ask.” She squirmed a little and he cleared his throat again, trying to dispel his nerves. “If you want to park here, that’s just like saying the forest is as good as your home and I can’t just let anyone live here. So, tell you what, if you sign this paper and agree to everything it entails, I’ll let you live here and come and go as you please.”

The paper flew over to her and into her hands and a feathered pen appeared nearby. Immediately, her head snapped up with wide eyes.

“A-adoption papers?”

“I mean if you dislike it—" he fumbled, dreading the slightly panicked look in her eyes. But before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed the pen and signed at the dotted line. He blinked, almost in a daze as he waved a pointed talon and stamped his seal on the document. The document floated back to him and his chest swelled as he scanned it.

“That seals the deal, Kiddo. The forest is yours to roam freely—”

Sniffling caused him to pause.

“Kid?” He snapped his fingers, filing the adoption papers safely away before flying over to her as she wiped fruitlessly at her eyes.

“S-so I can c-call you dad, now?” She choked out with shaking shoulders.

“Yeah,” Snatcher said, rather ineloquently for a lawyer ghost who was also once a prince. She cried harder and Snatcher held out his arms, hesitating. Finally, he tentatively scooped her up and she looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.

“You’re safe now,” Snatcher promised, brushing her light brown bangs from her eyes. She blinked up at him and sniffled. His heart leapt to his throat as he thought of a song his mother always used to sing. It had been so long… and he wasn’t sure it would soothe the kid like he hoped… but if she wanted him to be her dad as much as he wanted her to be his daughter… he could try.

“Come, stop your crying,” he lowered his voice into a gentle cadence, brushing one of her tears away with a soft talon. “It will be alright. Just take my hand,” he held out his talon and she grabbed onto it, hugging it against her small stature. He couldn’t keep his smile out of his tone. “Hold it tight.

“I will protect you,” he continued softly, floating back to settle down in his chair, “From all around you. I will be here. Don’t you cry.”

She closed her eyes, leaning her head against his mane as she hugged his hand. Her tears began to dry.

“For one so small, you seem so strong,” he continued as she drifted. Leaning back, he closed his eyes, focusing on the words. “My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us, can’t be broken.” His voice wavered a little as he held the last note, either from lack of practice or from the lump in his throat. “I will be here. Don’t you cry.”

He shifted, trying to get into a more comfortable position. Her head readjusted on his shoulder. Her small fingers linked with his, their palms clasped together.

“’Cause you’ll be in my heart,” he sang, tapping his toes lightly in time to the cadence. Wait—He glanced down, mildly surprised he had shifted without thinking. His human hand was wrapped tightly with hers, and she leaned against the puffy, purple sleeve on his shoulder. His laced boots stretched up past his knees and she perched comfortably in his lap.

“Yes,” he continued, his voice soft as he examined himself for a moment before sighing and, instead, focusing on hugging his daughter close, “you’ll be in my heart. From this day on, Now and forever more.”

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered, keeping her eyes closed as a contented smile bloomed across her features.

“And I love you, Kiddo,” he whispered back, leaning down and pressing his forehead against hers. He sang a little longer, waiting until her breathing stilled and sleep and sweet dreams lulled her senses. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and muttered, “You’ll be here in my heart, always.”

[stcnebled-blog]

before i go, let me do a quick rundown on pietrina’s quirk.

the quirk is called mineral composition, allowing her to be able to change the molecular structure of her body to that of any minerals, gems, rocks, etc. to do so, she must know the molecular makeup and arrangement of said substance like the back of her hand. the more complex, the more difficult it is.

her most common form would be diamond, as it has the highest hardness on the Mohs scale and the chemical formula is the simplest she knows. however, impact toughness also comes into consideration when she chooses a gem or rock to become. for example, diamonds have a natural cleavage plane that makes them rather fragile under force despite the fact that it is not easily cut. if she were to try and withstand a large impact, she’d sooner choose jadeite jade, by far the toughest gemstone. 

all in all, the mineral she chooses depends on the situation. but she is not like this at all times. when her quirk isn’t activated, she is made of normal flesh and bone like any other human. 

[sagittariuswritings]

the night we met

prologue to (possible) series, the dressmaker

tasm!peter parker x reader word count: 1.3k warning(s): cuss words, guns, canon-typical violence, spidey feels guilty, and my undying love for andrew garfield a/n: i'm trying something new. i have a specific writing style and i'm sure it's definitely not everyone's favorite - and you'll find that that's how this is written. this is also only my second fic, and i am very bad at being consistent with things so if this becomes popular as a series please be nice to me, i'm a senior in highschool who works with horses, cut me some slack <3 also, no use of y/n THIS TAKES PLACE 4 YEARS AFTER GWEN STACY'S DEATH

commissions were nearly her main source of income at the moment with christmas just around the corner, and papers full of lists of measurements and sketches were stacked on her desk for about a dozen commissions needing to be finished within the next two weeks. christmas was in three weeks. her customers are lucky she offers free shipping with these dresses. with a pencil tucked behind an ear and a pin between her teeth, she made her way to the front of the store to flip the open sign to closed. she’d already kicked her shoes off in her office, tired of the heels on those overly priced shoes. sure they were pretty, but the comfort level absolutely sucked.

the dressmaker had just barely gotten halfway through her store when the glass windows behind her shattered into her store. the pin fell out of her mouth upon the impact, for which she was silently thankful for in the two seconds she was able to even think. she had fallen to her knees with her arms blocking her face, back to the windows, but when she looked up, none other than spider-man was slammed into the wall that divided her office from the rest of the store. he was groaning, and very clearly injured from the impact. next thing she knew, bullets were going off and she was right in the open. she didn’t even realize spider-man had moved, well, considering she was currently trying to avoid getting shot, and now she was behind the front desk with spider-man covering her body from any possible bullet that could get behind the front desk.

“are you okay?” the vigilante was quick to ask, a bit out of breath from being slammed into a wall and then barely having enough time to take cover from the bullets.

“physically, yes, mentally, could be better at this given moment.” it took a bullet almost hitting him for spider-man to not laugh.

“i’m sorry, but you’re not hurt, so i’ve gotta skedaddle.” and with that he leaped over her desk and the bullets stopped, and she heard punches and grunts and more glass shattering and, well, now it was just her in the shop.

hesitantly, she stood up from behind the desk and looked around her store. her jaw felt like it couldn’t drop down any farther at the sight before her. her entire family’s hard work was just fucking wasted because spider-man had to make a pitstop with his fight. bright side was, she was still alive, but the rest of the sides to this situation were just terrible and it took everything in her to not drop to her knees in tears right then and there.

the following morning.

she spent all night and so far morning being interrogated by cops and calling relatives and insurance companies. this wasn’t fair. she only just got out of college, and she thought college was a nightmare. no, adulting after college was worse.

everything was covered in the store, but it didn’t change the fact that the permanent marker smiley face her brother had drawn on the bottom right corner of one of the windows that framed the door was now gone forever. another memory of her brother was gone, and so was her hard work.

the leather and lace dress shop was ruined and it was spider-man’s fault.

she couldn’t just leave it overnight, there was no point in locking the door considering there were now no windows. she stayed overnight at the shop, and didn’t sleep for fear of getting robbed. she did have a cop on duty outside the shop for the rest of the night, though. she was really thankful, considering it was the beginning of winter. however, she still hadn’t had a moment to completely take the entire situation in. aka she hasn’t had a breakdown yet.

the cop was gone and new york bustle was in progress, everyone walking past her shop. she wanted to scream at everyone who just walked by. how could they walk by and not even care? why was every bad thing in the world so normal to these people? she wanted to scream. she wanted to just curl into a ball and never have to deal with anything ever again.

“whoa.”

she looked up from her near breakdown in the middle of sweeping glass, her tears disappearing. always have to satisfy the customers. “i’m sorry, we’re not currently accepting commissions. in fact, we’re out of business for.. i don’t know how long.” her voice was strained, but she put on the best selling face she had. smiling through the tears.

peter felt like absolute shit for busting into this shop last night. i mean, it’s not like he can just tell the bad guy ’hey i think we should avoid this store’, but he couldn’t help but feel bad. and seeing the state of the shop in the day and the owner clearly on the verge of a breakdown punched him in the gut. “no no, i’m not trying to buy anything — i’d love to, but i also don’t exactly have the body type for what you make, or anyone to get anything for —” he was rambling. “i was gonna offer help.”

it felt like some weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and she nearly started crying tears of joy over this. quickly, she nodded. “please, that would be absolutely amazing.. i’ll give you the rundown of what needs to be done.”

it took roughly an hour to get just the glass swept up. she got to know peter, where he grew up and his life at home, his job, and just his overall personality. he was super sweet, and he didn’t have to say it but he has a soft spot for messes. i mean, he has to, otherwise why would some random guy offer to help clean up a place that just got broken into? it was a bit weird though, how someone who was walking around new york didn’t even have any plans for the day. most people stopping by her store, when it was still in business, had places to be and people to meet, and something scheduled for each hour of the day.

maybe today was just her lucky day.

“that’s a cool dress.” came peter’s voice from across the room, standing the mannequin up.

“was” she added in, a small frown following her words.

“was a cool dress.. i’m sorry.” he frowned as well, seeing the bullet jammed right into the stomach of the mannequin.

“yeah, it’s actually one of my most time consuming pieces. also a very frustrating one. i had a gal commission the dress for a fancy halloween party, only for her to never show up. oh, and a few days after she was supposed to come in, turns out her card got canceled and the money never actually went through. i don’t even think her information was genuine.” she scoffed.

the dress was beautiful and intricate. the shoulders had spiderwebs on them, and the two slowly formed a larger one just above the breasts. one line went down the center of the dress and a spider hung from the single web right on the stomach. it was a fitted dress, and the sleeves were just covering the shoulders. each string of the webs were jewels.

“i almost kept it for myself, but fitted dresses aren’t really my style. i like my clothes to allow movement, especially since i’m apparently open to getting shot at, at any given moment.” it was bittersweet, and peter wanted to apologize for his actions, but he could only apologize from an outsider's perspective.

“i’m sorry this happened.”

“it’s not like it was your fault, peter.. but thank you for the sympathy, and the help.. i feel like i just got an angel sent to me.” and this was coming from someone who wanted nothing to do with religion. “insurance has people coming right now to put in some new windows, so i just have to stay for that and then i’m finally free to go home.” and have a mental breakdown. “again, thank you so much for your help. i owe you one.” she handed him a business card from the front desk, a tired smile gracing her lips.

“anytime.” he mirrored her smile.