#Probably but what else is she going to do when there's free food involved?

[obsessedwrhys]

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ The Boys x Rogue!Reader (2)

ᯓ★ angst, fluff, typical the boys content, Butcher is an asshole?!?! (what a surprise) 😲. Reader is fem!! Here's part 1 if you missed it. (Didn't proof read because im sick again 🤒)

Sounds of muffled talking... needles poking through your skin... your mind fogged from the effects of the drugs... the heavy feeling of helplessness as you were tied down. Nothing you could do. You were hopeless. You didn't stand a chance.... Slowly you squint your eyes open as the vision of your friend's corpse comes to view. The horrifying sight jerking your body awake.

"Oh...oh..." You breath heavily with your body covered in cold sweat. The adrenaline coursing through your veins. You looked around to make sure you weren't inside your cage, but rather inside the room your brother had given to you.

When you were sure you were safe, you let out a relieved sigh as you rub your eyes, giving yourself a moment to settle down. Something tells you this won't be the last nightmare you'll have. Once you were sure you were in a stable condition, you got out of bed and decided to head downstairs to what seemed to be their office.

After last night when you were taken to their headquarters, Butcher offered you some clothes to change into and also making sure you were well fed. From how exhausted you were at the time, you could only remember talking about something to Butcher before passing out on his bed.

As you descend from the stairs, you couldn't help but peek your head to look at who were present. Even though they were told to be his friends. You yourself weren't that 100% willing to trust a bunch of strangers just because he said they were 'not the worst people he's met'. To your surprise it was just three people inside and they were each doing their things.

Butcher wasn't anywhere in sight.

This sucks.

Since you aren't planning to stand and wait at the stairway, you entered the office, it only took a few steps for your presence to be noticed. You sat on the sofa just a few feet from the girl who appeared to be busy writing in her book. She shoots you a warm smile which you hesitantly smiled back.

"I'm (Y/N)... what's your name?" You asked but she suddenly shifts her eyes from you to someone else. Curious, you looked over the sofa to see someone already approaching you.

"Her name's Kimiko..." He said as he takes a seat beside you.

"You still remember my name yes? I was the one who snuck you out" You thought for a second before finally recognising him.

"Frenchie right?" You asked and judging from the smile on his face. You must be right.

"I didn't get to say but thanks for rescuing me" You said to which he laughs.

"Ahh...! Don't thank me! Your brother would have skinned me alive if I refused. If you had seen his outrage when he found out Homelander had you involved, you'd think twice before pissing him off by saying no" He recalled, emphasising everything he says through his hand gestures and facial expressions.

"He does have a temper..." You uttered.

Just then the door opens and all four of you turned to see Butcher walking in with another guy. You got to your feet and went over to your brother who after taking off his coat, hands you the takeaway he had bought.

"Here ya go sis. I figured durin' your days as a lab rat you probably ate like one" He said as you realise he had bought you your favourite food.

The simple gesture somehow making you feel like a kid again. The simpler times where you felt stress free. Just sleep and eat. Though you didn't dwell too much into the feeling as the feeling of hunger soon made you quickly sit down and started eating. Butcher eyes you for a second before walking off to talk to his friend about something that you could care less about.

Mm... good food...

You were too focused gobbling down the food in front of you that you failed to notice the guy sitting on the chair before you. He watches you consciously as you ate like you never eaten in ages. It was when you began to choke that he panicked and quickly pushed the cup of water towards you. His hands retreating back to his lap to avoid any contact with your skin.

As you gulp down the water and finally waited for the burn in your chest to vanish was when you realised you had been eating like a wolf. Months of being locked up by Homelander felt like a physiological torture that you seemed to have lost all your self control. You really lost touch with humanity. It makes you hate him even more for what he did.

"Hey um... you holding up alright? We haven't properly met. I'm Hughie" He said once he sees you zoning out. You look at him with your brows slightly raised.

His voice was somehow soothing. Like the feeling of a fever dream.

"I'm (Y/N)"

"I know" He smiles slightly at you, almost like he's fascinated by your presence.

"So you're his sister. I didn't even think he had any family. He was always private about his life"

"So am I. I guess it runs in the family..."

Your harmless joke making him chuckle softly. As you go back to eating in a more slower pace, he couldn't help but watch your every movement. It was like watching a kid eating for the first time. When they had saved you, you were almost all bones. Your hands are trembling even now just from holding the spoon.

Just even thinking of that night, what still intrigued him was even after those months of torture you still had the energy to argue with your brother. It was there where he finally understood how you were both related. You were just as much as a fighter as your brother is.

"Ahh motherfucker" You cursed as you fan at the fly to get away from your food though the second it touches your skin, it instantly drops dead on the table.

The two of you stared at it as it twitches slightly before going limp.

Problem... solved?

"I assume that you did that on demand?"

"I... think so?"

Just when you thought things were ever gonna be back to normal, your powers always had to remind you of the true reality. The reality that you are NOT normal. Since you were curious of your new abilities, you reached out and touched the flower pot just placed in the center of the table.

Just one touch of your finger on the leaves. The plant slowly devolves from a lively colour to a rotting brown. The flower withers as the stem grows weak. Due to the lack of stability, it collapses completely. Somehow the sight of the dead plant made your throat dry. Images of your friend's corpse flashing in your mind.

Hughie took notice of your dilated eyes and decided to take the plant off the table, placing it carefully on the ground to make sure it's out of your sight. You could only take long breaths as you tried to get rid of the terrible image. Gosh... you can't even imagine how her family is dealing with this... or if they even know she's... sigh..

"Oi!" The sound of Butcher's call causing you two to look at him. When he waves at you to head over to him, you shoot Hughie an apologetic look as you got up to see what he's calling you for.

"You know you don't have to call me over like a dog, I have a name"

"Oh really? Your character hardly screams 'man's best friend', especially with that pissy look" He teases you with a slight smirk which you simply ignored.

"What is it?"

He stares at you, taking note of your expressionless face before nodding to himself. His whole demeanour becoming serious within seconds.

"It's about your powers" He said, his words catching your full focus in an instant.

"From what we've known... the only possibility for a non-supe person to have powers is to dose themselves with a modified version of compound v. But that's only temporary, and yours... are permanent" Butcher said, his eyes avoiding yours.

"Whatever they did to you, we're gonna figure it out... so, while I do that, M.M will be supervisin' you, won't ya M?" Butcher said, looking over his friend who's hunched over his table and writing something down.

"Well if it ain't me then who else is gonna"

"I can!" Frenchie spoke up, his forwardness catching everyone's attention. Once he realises the looks he was getting, he awkwardly smiles.

"You know, for research" He adds. You sigh as you close your eyes, turning your head to face your brother.

What are you getting yourself into at this point...

"Nothing you say quite makes sense to me. The fuck is a compound v??"

"It's what gives the supes their powers"

"What??" You narrow your brows.

"You're saying they weren't gifted?? Like, God didn't bless them and made them our saviours?? They're just a bunch of normal people high off of superpower drugs??" He grins widely at your conclusion.

"Congratulations sis, you're finally catchin' up" He said, giving you a pat on the back before walking away. You stand there, still a bit confused before going after him.

"Waitwaitwait, where are you going? You just got back a few minutes ago" You asked as he puts on his coat.

"I'm going to meet someone. Hopefully they can help me with your situation, or at least provide some insight on what Homelander did to you"

Homelander.

Just the mention of his name being said by someone made your blood boil.

You wanted to tear him apart.

"Alright... but don't take too long... okay?" You look at him, almost like you were trying to beg him to stay with your eyes. You could tell it was working when you saw how his face started to relax a bit.

"Yeah..." He reaches for your head but stops midway when he realises he can't.

The sad reality of wanting to hold his own sister could cost him his own life was completely breaking him.

All the more reason to meet up with this contact to figure out a solution.

He doesn't say anything after letting his hand fall to his side. You could only stand there and watch him leave. Somehow, some part inside of you was fearful of the speech Homelander gave you was becoming true. That his goal of striking fear in Butcher by using you was slowly working.

"Hey, (Y/N). I'm gonna need you to come here" M.M said. You didn't say anything but sat on the chair he instructed you to sit on. You watch as he scribbles something on his book before eventually turning to face you.

"Alright so I wrote down some theories and I need you to work with me" He said, his instructions pretty clear. Your eyes however couldn't help but peek at what he had written down.

Does it only work when it's in contact with skin?

Is it like poision? Or does it disintegrate everything it touches?

Can it be controlled?

If it's dangerous then how dangerous can it be?

"Here, put these on" He then handed you a pair of leather gloves.

You took it and did just as he said. You couldn't help but clench your hands a couple of times to adgust to the fabric of the gloves. Somehow you felt hopeful of this plan. Just then you see him pick up a small plant and placing it on the table in front of you. He nods his head towards it, telling you to touch it.

Though you hesitated... before finally obliging.

You let your fingertips touch the leaves just as you did only a few minutes ago to the other plant. To your surprise, it didn't change colour nor grow weak. It was perfectly fine. This discovery caused you to be overjoyed to the fact you were struggling to form words. M.M simply nodded as he wrote something in his book.

"Holy shit it worked" You exclaimed and couldn't help but stare down at your gloved hands.

"Guess the only thing that can stop you from hurting someone is those gloves..." He turns to face you once again. The smile on your face slightly drops at the mention of hurting someone.

"Guess so..." You uttered, a wave of sadness washing over the joy you were experiencing just now. This will have to be the new normal now...

"Hey, at least it's better than nothing" He said, giving you a comforting pat on the arm. You look at him with a grateful smile, acknowledging his optimistic view of the outcome.

For the next few days you were able to conduct several experiments with the boys. Ranging from testing out your strength to trying to read minds. There were definitely some very odd ideas they've come up with but neither of them wanted to leave out anything so they had to think of all the possibilities of what you could do. Although you were still uneasy about this new change, you felt reassured after knowing more about your powers. In a way you like to think that you had more control over yourself.

It was now Sunday, you were in their office resting on the sofa. Compared to your first day here, you could tell by your own body language that you were beginning to grow comfortable around the group. As you watched whatever was on the TV, you overheard a conversation going on between Butcher and M.M nearby. However judging by their tone it seemed to be about something serious.

"Seriously Butcher? You want to get him involved?" M.M said, displeased with something.

"Nobody knows this better than he does and I'm runnin' out of options"

"Options or patience Butcher, do you have any idea what he's done? If you ever so blink, he will put a bullet right between your eyes"

"Well then, you can rest assure that I'll keep my eyes wide open for any bullets" Butcher's stubbornness earning an annoyed grunt out of M.M.

"Relax mate... I've got this. When have I ever let you and the others down, huh?" He said, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"You actually want me to answer that?"

Without saying another word, Butcher simply walked away and you, who've been secretly hearing their conversation couldn't help but take a peek of your brother. Once you see him heading to the other part of the room far from the rest, you decided to get up and approach him.

"Are you having a fun time staring at the wall?" You said, pointing out how he has his arms folded as his hand is stroking his chin. His brows perked at your words.

"You're talkin' about me?" He scoffs.

"Honestly it's better than starin at your face... what do you want?" He looks at you, a playful look on his face.

"What were you talking about with M.M just now? Sounds like it was tough"

"Oh it's nothin', he's just being dodgy about the guy I strucked a deal with"

"If I heard it right, he also said he's slick enough to put a bullet through your head" You lift your gloved hand up to point at his forehead which he simply brush your hand away from his face.

"I've got my share of bullet wounds, I'll survive"

"Not through the skull though"

"How ironic, you've always did call me hard-headed sis" Just as he said that, he started to walk off like he always does when he feels himself being lectured by you, or anyone. That's why you stood in his way when he was just a few feet from the door.

"Where are you going?"

"What makes you think I'd tell you?"

"Okay, fine, don't tell me, just take me with you" He stares at you, unsure of what you were trying to do.

"No way in hell am I bringing you outside"

"If that's your concern then I can wear a disguise. Nobody will know it's me"

"Nobody is not my concern, my concern is you. What if you accidentally let a bit of your skin show and you, oh I don't know, turn a pedestrian into a fucking mummified corpse"

"What the fuck are you crying about? I can wear layers! C'mon, anything to get out of this cooped up place for once"

"You're complaining about this being cooped up? Tell me, would you rather spend a year here or that lab?"

"Hey fuck you! That is not what I meant! I just wanted to go outside!"

"Alright alright! Would you two quit it before you tear my ears off" M.M said, having to be the one to end the bickering.

"I was just about to leave anyways" Butcher didn't even look you in the eye and walked past you. His attitude was making you angrier than ever.

You just wanted to shout and throw things around. This is just like your argument with him regarding his path of going down a life of committing crimes against supes. He always never chooses to take you seriously. Yet even after years where you'd think the consequences of his actions would shape his character a bit, it sure as hell didn't, instead it just gave him a sloppy kiss on the face. You went upstairs into your bedroom and just as you open the door, you found Hughie inside. Awkward, he quickly stands from where he was crouching.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Oh uh sorry I was looking for the tools Frenchie asked for, he said it was in Butcher's room... which... is... your room now..." He clears his throat as he avoids your gaze.

"Is it the yellow box with the 'Do not touch' note on it?"

"Y-Yeah how do you—?" Without even letting him finish, you were already heading over to your bed to get it out from underneath it. You hand it to him and he takes it with a surprised look. The heavy weight causing his body to drop a bit but he quickly recovers from it.

"I guess I'll go... thanks" He said but you had your back turned to him as you went to sit down on your bed, clearly indicating you weren't in the best mood. He walks to the door, though he doesn't leave. After hesitating, he turns around to face your back once again.

"You okay?" He calls out. His question leaving you feeling even more conflicted.

"Just Butcher" You replied.

Oh.

Somehow that simple answer clears it up. He may not have worked with him the longest but he's worked long enough to know that the man can be such a pain in the ass. Pretty much a day with the man is enough to get a clear picture of his personality. What didn't make it any better was the difference in their beliefs about the supes.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Hughie asks. You stared down at your hands that are scratching at your nails. You do wanna talk about it but you're not sure anyone would listen to you, like actually understand how you felt.

"Are you gonna judge me?" You asked.

"Judge you? Why would I do that?"

"Well... would you be concern if I told you I'm debating whether or not if I should punch him the next time I see him?" You looked at him, searching for his reaction.

"... would it make you feel better if I told you I once had?" He said and the image of someone like Hughie punching Butcher made you chuckle a bit to yourself.

"I find that very hard to believe... but did it at least feel good?" You look at him and you could see him slowly inviting himself into the room as the conversation continued on.

"It did. For a while..." Soon he sat himself beside you on the bed.

"I don’t wanna seem like I'm intruding but why is it that you guys are always at each other's throats... I mean, he really seems to care about you so shouldn't you two get along well?"

"Psssh... he doesn't care about me"

"Errr, if he didn't he wouldn't have gone out of his way to save you from Homelander. He even sent me to spy on you when you were at work once. It was kinda—"

"Huh?" You interrupt him and your reaction had him hold his tongue.

"Spy on me? When was that?" He stares at you, batting his lashes at you blankly a few times.

"Uh I thought Butcher told you... I was the customer who asked to go to the restroom. Remember? The one with the jacket on?" He said but you were having a hard time recalling the exact memory. Your mind still a bit fuzzy from everything that happened before the kidnapping.

"I don't know... but I can't believe he would do that. Spying on me?" You said and once again the anger that was slowly dying down was now going back up.

"He was worried about you"

"If he was worried about me then he would talk to me face to face, not send one of his friends while he hid away like a coward"

"Maybe he was trying to find the right time?" You suddenly turn your head to look at him.

"Why are you making so much excuses for him??" You called him out since you figured from some of the things he told you, he probably hated him just as much as you did.

"I don't know... maybe it was that night when you guys hugged that... kinda changed my mind about him a bit... it's hard to explain but a different side of him showed. After you went to sleep, he stayed up the entire night in the office figuring out how to help you. I did try to get him to sleep but he just started cursing at me to fuck off" He said, recalling the night.

Just thinking of your brother going through computers and documents trying to find the reason behind your manifestation of powers made your heart melt a bit. You can only imagine the hours of sleep he missed, not that he even gets enough sleep but all that hours he could be using to rest and instead using it to solve your issue was nice yet sad to know. Too bad it lead him to doing business with some shady person you don't even know about. All because he wanted to help you.

"So I'm pretty sure that yeah, he does cares about you..." You stare at him, somehow amused at his way of talking things out with you.

"You really went all out trying to prove a point huh?" You said to which he laughed.

"Force of habit maybe? Anyways, I better go, Frenchie needs his tools and you look like you need some rest" He got up and began heading towards the door again but before leaving, he stops to look at you.

"Hopefully you guys work it out. He's been through a lot and I think having his family close by might keep him... human" He added. You take his words into consideration as he finally goes.

....

"Why'd you let that happen to me?" She yelled through her tears, grabbing at your shoulders as if she needed support from her limping body.

......

"You dragged me into this mess!!" Her nails were so sharp you felt like it was digging through your skin.

.............

"You killed me!! You were my friend!! You fucking bitch!!!" You couldn't breath. You felt like you were floating in an endless void.

...................

"Rot with me" She uttered. You scream as thousands of hands began grabbing at every corner of your body. The countless amount of nails on your skin sent shivers down your body. You try to scream for help but its as though your voice was stuck in your throat as no sound comes out.

........................

"NO!! STOP!!" You shout as you awake on your bed. Your screams were loud enough that it caused the door to swing open.

Your brother quickly sat himself on the bed, being careful to wrap you in the blanket before holding you close in his arms. Though your mind was too focused on the nightmare to even know who it was that was holding you. Her whisper like voice, her skeleton face, and fuck... the feeling of the thousand of nails poking your skin haunted you even more. It was so real.

"Sis... hey...! You're safe. You're here with me. No one's goin' to hurt you" He said, his voice being the thing to bring you back to the present. Your breathing somehow steadies after scanning the room to double take.

You really are safe.

"Shit.. sorry..." You could only say as your brother rubs his hand behind your back. The sight of your pale face grew concern.

"You wanna talk about what's got you screamin' in your sleep?" He asks and you let out a half embarrassed sigh. Hopefully you weren't that loud.

"I don't think I'm ready for that..." You said since what you wanted to do now was forget it.

"Aight..." He nods and continues on rubbing your back to provide some comfort. He's not big with words so this is the most he can do...

The room remained silent while you enjoyed the peace you got from his presence. When you felt yourself finally able to think rationally, you can't help but think of what Hughie told you. Working things out... To be clear, talking about your feelings with your family, let alone your sibling ain't easy as it seemed. But seeing the things you and him have gone through, that seems like the best option right now.

"Can I ask you something?" You look up at him and he looks down at you, you could tell he was worried about what you might say, yet he nods.

"Go ahead"

"... what happened after I left... like how did it lead to this? To... how you are now...?" You asked and it caused him to look away with a defeated grunt. As though he saw the question coming from a mile away.

"Theres not much to say... I fought... and I did what I had to do to survive... I wish I could tell you I was a good person for it but... I'd be lying, you wouldn't look at me now if I told you half the things I've done" He answers with his hand placed on your arm. You frown.

"It feels as though you're treating me that way already. You're my brother but sometimes you treat me like I'm just a package to you. That's what your job is about right? Whatever this job is..."

"That's not true sis..."

"Then why does your face tell another story?" You said and your words made him furrowed his brows even more. He stares at you, as if he's considering something in his mind.

"... you won't understand it"

"What don't I understand? We're family right? Blood is thicker than water. That sort of bullshit. We've been through hell together as kids. Having to take abuse from our shitty parents... then losing Lenny..." The mention of his deceased brother pained him even more that he was struggling to maintain eye contact at this point.

"Don't push me away... not again..." You pleaded while placing your other hand on top of his arm. He stayed quiet... almost too long that you were beginning to think he was gonna choose the quiet route out of the conversation until he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"How do I even start... I was furious when I found out Homelander got you involved in our fued.. but then through that rage, I also thought... what if I never went on pissing off a bunch of supes for my selfish reasons? It could have prevented how it led to this. To how he found you" Butcher began to say and you could just hear the guilt in his voice as he began confessing to you about his feelings.

"I regret some choices and some not so much... sometimes I wonder if I should've listen to you and visited that therapist you suggested. I still have the card in my wallet... but I also thought the road was too blurry to head back. I've already got too much blood on my hands, enough to fill a whole sea..." He pauses, then letting out a shaky breath.

"But if I'm being honest with you, my biggest regret would be puttin' you in any danger. Now I can't even look at you without being reminded of my mistakes... that's why it was better that you hated me instead, because it's not fair for you to forgive me after all that"

All his talking about himself was painful to even hear. Let alone the sad and defeated expression on his face. This was the most vulnerable he has ever shown himself to you. The big brother you always thought to be this indestructible force was now bawling out his emotions to you. Oddly enough, you felt glad to see him open himself up to you. This was a new start... when he became quiet, you decided to speak.

"I get why you'd think that but... didn't you tell me it was useless to dwell on things you know is irreversible? Yeah sure, I did have bad stuffs happen to me but you also helped me out of it"

"Bad things which you wouldn't be in if it weren't for me" He was quick to add when you paused but you were fast to respond.

"I know I know but... my point is... some good came out of it... and we can't change the past so we might as well control what comes next. You know... shape our destiny..." You said, feeling awkward as he stares at you a bit too hard but suddenly out of nowhere he snorts into laughter.

"What! Why are you laughing about?" You were confused at his reaction because you weren't sure if he was genuinely humoured or losing his sanity.

"I didn't know you were into that cheesy Shakespeare shit. Where'd you read that one from? The library?" He wheezes and you roll your eyes from his teasing. He can never take you seriously.

"Did you even hear what I said?" You said and from his body shifting a bit was when you realise your feet has been pressed against his leg the entire time you've both spoken. The heavy weight of the blanket must have made it harder to feel.

Even though your skin is touching his, he doesn't seem to be rotting or anything. Rather, he's still laughing at your talk just now. When he finally stops is when you point out your discovery to him. By the time he sees it, he's fast to pull his leg from contact of your skin as to not play with his luck.

"Well shit... what do you make of that?" Butcher looks at you after pretty much leaping up to his feet.

"Then it means that my powers could be controlled?? How is the question..." You said but Butcher seemed to have lose interest on that as another thing is already on his mind.

"So you don't blame me... after everything?" He asked and you look at him, your body frozen with your hand was in the process of lifting up your feet just now to get a close inspection.

"No... but if you keep pissing me off with your attitude I might start hating you" You said after finally leaving your feet alone. He chuckles lowly.

"You're not the brightest person I know" He said but there was a smile on his face. A happy one to be precise.

"That's because I'm related to you, fucker" You joked back.

Eventually after you two seemed to resolve the tension between you both, you manage to go back to sleep with Butcher willing to watch over you by sitting beside you on the bed, but it didn't take long for him to fall asleep, which trying to be as discreet as possible, you were able to catch a peek of. Since you didn't want him to freeze, you place the extra blanket onto him. After all, maybe he's not that much of an asshole.

TAGS

@demodemo909 @naniky @1infp1

[dovesdreaming]

What if Reader accidentally pissed off Wade when they lost Dogpool when walking them and would he take it too far?

Dog kisses

I LOVE DOGPOOL i need that dog!! I will happily write any requests involving that cutie 🥰. I loved this request and hope you can enjoy it too! I decided not to make it very angsty but I am very willing to create a version that is! <3

Wade was out doing whatever a mercenary does in their free time. It eft you and Logan alone in the apartment. You both weren’t really doing anything so when you heard the pitter patter of dogpools feet running towards you, you decided to entertain both of you by taking her on a walk. You offered Logan an invitation but he declined in his own happy way (“fuck off”). You put dogpools new collar and harness on that Wade had recently bought. They had pink flowers on which Wade said “matched her Beauty”. Logan’s reply under his breath had made you laugh “must be inner beauty”.

You decided to walk her through the park as it was a nice and sunny day. You walked around and played fetch with her before sitting down on a bench while eating icecream. You couldn’t resist letting her have some. You sat next to each other and basked in the sun together. When you had just finished the ice cream your phone rang, wades contact appearing on your phone. He wanted to know where you and marypuppins were so he could join. You obviously told him, never refusing his welcomed presence. When you turned back to face dogpool after the call you found she was no longer sitting next to you on the bench, all that was left was her lead. Shit. You should have not taken your eyes off her when you no longer had food to keep her occupied. She was always trying to wonder off and get into all kinds of mischief, reminding you of a certain someone else you knew but loved dearly. That certain someone, Wade, was going to kill you. He loved that dog probably more than you, he had spent the last month that he had her obsessing over her. Spoiling her with more than what a dog could need or want. You were fucked.

You spent the 20 minutes it took Wade to get to the park searching high and low, calling her name and offering food if she came forward. You saw Wade entering the park and your heart sunk knowing you would have to tell him. He bounded up to you excited to see you, he engulfed you in a massive hug, kissing your forehead before spinning around looking for dogpool. You nervously watched him search before he turned to you with a questioning look “peanut, where’s my baby?”. He could tell something was wrong when your face immediately crumpled into a mix of sadness and disappointment at his words. He pressed the question again this time with a slight tone of seriousness. You looked down at the ground while admitting “I’m so sorry Wade, I… I lost her”. Wades heart fell to his ass. He was feeling a mix of anger and sadness. He looked at you with a blank expression that slowly morphed into disgust and anger tied together. He immediately started calling her name, all her nicknames. “Come here marypuppins” or “sweety” or his favourite “shnuckems”. You of course helped him before he turned to you with a nasty look on his face “you’ve already done enough why don’t you just go home”. His words were harsh and blunt. They hurt of course but you understood where they were coming from, you would feel the same if he had lost your dog. You broke your gaze away from him, looking at the ground with a slightly dejected look before nodding, he sharply turned away from you so you began waking away towards the exit. You could hear him still shouting when you got to the gate of the park. You took one last look back before exiting when you heard a familiar ding of a collar. You saw dogpool running out of a bush on the outside of the park, shaking leaves off herself before happily running up to you like nothing had happened, like she hadn’t just caused massive heartbreak. She seemed to be in high spirits though, likely that she had run off with stolen food (it’s happened before).

Wade felt guilty the moment the words left his lips but he didn’t break the stern look on his face. He saw the shine that appeared in your eyes at his words and knew he had gone slightly too far. He knew it wasn’t your fault dogpool ran off and he knew you were only trying to help but his emotions went haywire and he had taken them out on you. He felt like he had lost you now aswell as marypuppins. He mentally and physically slapped himself for his actions but carried on searching, hoping you could forgive him later.

You picked dogpool up making sure she couldn’t run away again and slowly walked back over to Wade. He felt your presence behind him and questioned why you would come back after what he just said to you. He turned around ready to question you but his eyes fell on his beloved baby instead. His heart soared back into his chest and he swooped dogpool back into his arms. He hugged her close to his chest before raising her above him and spinning, like you do with your partner when you’re happy to see them. You still felt guilty and tried to make a quiet exit while Wade and dogpool had their moment but Wade stopped you. “Where do you think you’re gonna?”. You turned back around to be met once again with a smiley Wade. He brung you into his arms, your head slotting under his chin while dogpool licked at your face. You couldn’t help but giggle. “I hope you can forgive me” Wade said while tipping his head down to you. “Only if you’ll forgive me”. Wade was back to his usual self so he jokingly tapped his finger against his chin and turned to the dog in his hands “what do you think shnuckems? Should we forgive them?” The dogs only reply was a kiss to his lips which still slightly grossed you out. He descended into baby talk with dogpool, forgetting what he had just asked. You coughed to bring his attention back to you.

“Someone feeling jealous? Don’t worry I have enough kisses to share” you cringed at the thought of kissing him after dogpool.

Wade would definitely show he was sorry, trying to make it up to you in anyway possible. He also made sure that it wasn’t your fault that dogpool ran away.

Overall, yes Wade would overreact and maybe shout at you but he would realise his mistake and try to make it up to you the best he can. He does however always joke that you’re not allowed to be left alone with his shnuckems anymore though. Your definitely starting to believe he’s going to dump you for that dog soon.

[boolger]

So long as I'm your favorite toy ☆ COD fanfic

Originally posted on my AO3, where I post all my stuff. Always read the tags of my fanfics. The title is from Jazmin Bean's song favorite toy.

☆fem!reader x Simon "Ghost" Riley ☆ explicit. MDNI ☆ 1,655 words

☆summary: There was something wrong with Simon. You knew that, had a bad feeling whenever you were together with him, felt like he could tear you apart with his teeth whenever you saw him. Yet, here you were, once again. Together with him, with that bad feeling in your stomach, your instincts telling you to run away, telling you that he could hurt you. He sometimes did. You tried ignoring the feeling, tried not to think too much about it, about how he screamed danger. About how he used you like a toy.

☆tags: dead dove do not eat, toxic relationship, abusive relationship, stalker!Simon 'Ghost' Riley, Alternative universe, serialkiller!Simon 'Ghost' Riley or well its hinted at, BAD bdsm etiquette, bdsm, humiliation, degredation, verbal humiliation and abuse, non-con elements, squirting, car sex, semipublic, rough.

☆☆MDNI☆ Dead dove do not eat☆MDNI☆☆

extra warnings / note: This is just straight up an abusive relationship. Reach out for help at the proper resources in your country if you’re in one of these and maybe don’t read this fic. Simon doesn’t r*pe but reader does acknowledge that he probably wouldn’t stop if she asked him to. Also this is not proper and safe BDSM. Bdsm shouldn’t be like this, even if it’s cnc or free use. If you use your safeword, that should be respected and acted on. It is hinted that Simon is a serial killer, but he doesn't actually kill anyone, only mentions it.

There was something wrong with Simon. You knew that, had a bad feeling whenever you were together with him, felt like he could tear you apart with his teeth whenever you saw him. Yet, here you were, once again. Together with him, with that bad feeling in your stomach, your instincts telling you to run away, telling you that he could hurt you. He sometimes did.

You tried ignoring the feeling, tried not to think too much about it, about how he screamed danger. About how he used you like a toy.

He said it was bdsm and to a certain point you agreed. But in proper bdsm both parties respected each other, even when there was degradation involved. No matter how rude one was to the other, in a healthy bdsm relationship there would still be respect, there would still be the knowledge, respect and acceptance that if one party said stop the other would do so immediately.

… you weren’t so sure that Simon would.

Sure, you had a CNC kink, but even when that was practiced, a safeword was in place - and technically you had a safeword, but you doubted Simon would actually stop.

It was a dangerous game. Toxic. Unhealthy. You should really stop, really get out of whatever it was that you had going with him.

Yet, here you were, together with him. Again. He had texted you and you had come running like a desperate, shaking puppy, craving attention, even if it was technically the wrong kind.

Like a toy, ready to be played with.

“Fuck,” he snarled in your ear, “you’re such a fucking whore, yet your pussy is so tight all the time.”

A whimper left you, your eyes fluttering shut as you shook, his cock ruthlessly trying to bully its way deeper into your poor shaking body.

Sometimes, sometimes , he was nice afterwards, after fucking you, after using you however he wanted. His fingers running along your abused skin, littering it with kisses, muttering about keeping you for himself. His own little whore, pretty girlfriend in his house, his wife waiting for him when he got home, homemade food ready for him.

You knew he didn’t mean it. Or at least, you hoped he didn’t. The two of you never talked about it afterwards, he never mentioned wanting something else than the whole fuckbuddies thing you got on. You didn’t even know where he lived, if he actually had a house, hell, you didn’t even know what he did for a living. For all you knew, he could be a monster or a CEO, a cashier behind the counter in a supermarket or a handyman. You had no idea. You tried not to care. It wasn’t like he asked about you either… though he sometimes just seemed to know a little too much. Or he at least hinted at know.

The way it squelched as he fucked you made you dizzy, you body already hurting from the position you were in. You were in his car in the backseat, trying to pretend that you weren’t afraid you were going to get caught, your knees over his shoulders, you body bent in half, thighs almost touching your chest. You were crying - you didn’t know when you started doing so, but you couldn’t stop. Besides, Simon didn’t mind it. He just fucked you harder, making the entire car rock to his thrusts, even leaning down to lick off your tears, calling you needy, pathetic, a whore.

You had already come twice. Maybe that was why you always came back, the orgasms were fantastic and plenty. Simon might be a mean bastard but he always made you come at least 3 times every time you saw him.

“Fuuuuuuck, princess,” he moaned, one hand on your neck, squeezing a bit while the other was on the car door, giving him something to hold onto, “you’re so fucking wet - gonna squirt, huh? Squirt all over my fucking car seats? Make it - fuck - make it dirty and all wet, huh?”

You sobbed, trying to shake you head. “No no no pleased down, Simon it’ll - fuck - ah ah ah—“

“Fucking whore,” he continued, “I’ll have to get ir cleaned then, won’t I? Tell the staff how it got so dirty?”

You sobbed, only moans and wails interrupting them. You didn’t want to squirt, he would never let you hear the end of it, you already knew.

“C’mon then, lass,” he moaned, his cock hitting you even harder; it hurt, hurt so badly yet so perfectly as you cried.

“No no no - Simon - Simon - stop, I’m gonna -“ you tried begging him but it was already too late.

Despite Simon’s strength, his cock was forced out by your body as you squirted, but he merely slapped his tick member against your cunt instead, hitting your clit. He forced your body to continue, his hand moved from your throat, instead holding onto your ankle, keeping you open for him, using the other hand to tap his cock against you. It was like it kept coming, making you scream and twist in the cuffs he had forced you into earlier.

It was soaking his entire lower body and the seats, the shame worse than you had expected; you had sprayed your juices all over his thighs and it was dripping from yours too, when your body finally finished. He was moaning, somehow making that degrading and you could barely hear the words that followed, too gone.

He was on you again, forcing you into the same position, your poor, wet and puffy cunt stretched again as he filled you once more, making you squeal. Your sight was blurry and his hand was on your jaw then, grip bruising, as he forced you to look at him. You barely understood the words he said, something about fucking you dumb - but you felt the spit that then hit you cheek, splatting all over your face, making you whimper.

He continued to fuck you, as if he was some fucking machine, growling like a dangerous animal in a rut, unable to stop breeding you.

“I would kill for this pussy,” he moaned, eyes dark as he met yours, fucking grinning, a sight that made your toes curl and stomach twist,  “do you want me to kill for you, huh??”

“Noo,” you whined, shaking your head, making him laugh.

“I fucking would, princess,” he growled, making you cry again. It was getting too much, everything felt overwhelming, your poor pussy almost in pain - but somehow he forced another orgasm from you. It made your entire body shake and finally, fucking finally he came with a loud, primal-like scream, filling you up with his cum.

You panted beneath him, knowing you looked like an absolute mess. Sweaty, drool running from the edge of your mouth, his spit on your face; your own juices running down your lower body and his cum would no doubt drip out the moment he pulled out.

He was softening inside you, yet he still leant down, your poor legs hurting and still bent, kissing you. He kissed like he fucked you. Dominating and controlling, forcefully yet so fucking wonderful. You moaned and gasped into his kiss, making him smile smugly. Simon pulled back, just a tad, your faces so close.

You felt a shiver run along your spine at his words, nausea appearing in your stomach.

“I meant it you know,” he whispered, all lovingly, “I would kill for you, princess.”

You let out a small sound.

“I don’t want you to,” you answered weakly, voice shaking a little. He looked cold just for a second as he replied.

“Then don’t give me a reason to.” 

Simon grinned all happily then, straightening up and pulling out, cum immediately oozing out, giving your ass a hard smack, just to watch you clench and twist for a second as you wailed.

“Get dressed,” he then said, opening the car door behind him, casually stepping out all naked, “I’ll drop you off.” 

He stepped to the front door then, putting on his boxers, his own clothes on the seat all neatly. Then he reached into the small cup holder in the front, picking up the key for your cuffs.

You awkwardly turned around and he moved again, opening the cuffs and your arms hurt from behind beneath you for so long. Your eyes flickered to him as you reached for your clothes. But Simon was quicker than you. Without even looking apologetic, he reached down to pick up your clothes at the car floor, rummaging through it for a second until he found your panties. 

You knew not to argue.

You got dressed quickly, knowing he wasn’t always patient.

You felt his cum seeping into the fabric of your skirt as you sat down at the passenger seat next to him a minute later, hoping it wouldn’t drip onto this seat too.

Simon turned on the car, fully dressed himself, the radio automatically starting to some low rock music. He drove from the forest casually, his hand resting on your thigh whenever he wasn’t changing gears.

“Are you busy this saturday?”

You were. But he never liked it when you were.

“Only in the evening,” you answered carefully.

“Good. I’ll pick you up then.”

That was that. A little while later he dropped you off after a bruising kiss.

You stumbled into your apartment a few minutes later, body sore and dirty, discarded like a used toy that he was done playing with. You knew there was something wrong about him. The words about killing for you made you feel bad as they replayed in your mind again, as you quickly stripped, stumbling towards the shower to clean.

You should stop seeing him. Start dating. Get a partner, a good one, a loving one. Yet… yet you were going to go Saturday when he texted you. Like a good toy should.

[nokomiss]

For prompts, JaySteph, "How long has that been bleeding?"

“Hey, can you come help me with something?” 

A brief silence, then Jason’s voice came through the comm. “What is it?”

“I’m tracking this dealer, and he went to a carnival,” Steph said. “Pretty sure he’s selling to kids, but I thought I’d be less conspicuous with someone else than creeping along after him alone.”

And everyone else was busy, she didn’t say out loud. Well. She was pretty sure Cass was trying to get her to make a move and was only claiming to be busy with her own case, given how she’d slyly suggested that Jason might be free.

Steph hadn’t even gotten around to bringing up her sorta-crush on him yet, and Cass was already coming in clutch. She wondered if Cass had noticed something in Jason’s body language, and that’s what inspired the suggestion. She thought about asking, but honestly that would just make her self-conscious.

“Sure,” Jason replied. Steph tried not to read into a one-word reply, and just let him know the when and the where.

An hour later, she and Jason were in street clothes, walking side-by-side past food vendors and games.  Her mark was ahead – twenty-something, looking sleazy as he tried to chat up some girls who were clearly too young for him. Steph tried not to think about back when she’d been one of those girls, and instead decided to take this guy down before any of them made the mistakes she had.

“Thanks for coming,” Steph said. “It’s not exactly the most exciting call for backup ever, but I thought it would be way easier to just walk around eating fried Oreos than skulking around the shadows, ya know?”

“Definitely not a problem,” Jason replied. “Most of my cases were stalled out anyway, and I was just going to patrol. This is a much better way to spend the evening.”

Steph was sure that her cheeks were red, and she tried not to read into the way Jason’s voice had dropped a little on that last statement.  She compensated by offering him one of her deep fried Oreos.

He made an appreciative hum as he took a bite. Steph showed remarkable self-restraint by not making an appreciative hum of her own at the sound. She didn’t even stare. She was probably going to be nominated for sainthood at any moment. 

The dealer chose that moment to slip between two food vendors in a very sketchy way, and Steph shoved her last deep fried Oreo into her mouth as they exchanged a glance, both knowing they were going to follow him.

A tiny part of Steph’s brain brought up contingency plans if they were caught following him before it was time for a takedown, and almost all of them involved shoving her tongue into Jason’s mouth. A few of them featured doing something to draw the dealer’s attention so that she would have an excuse to explore Jason’s mouth. 

Tonight was definitely an exercise in restraint.

Jason rested his hand lightly on her wrist as they crept along. Steph tried not to over-analyze – she was sure that at some point she had done the same to someone else in a completely casual and platonic way, even though she was coming up blank at the moment. Instead she kept her eyes on the prize, who was looking around furtively and just in general being such a cliche that Steph was almost embarrassed that she’d done actual detective work to catch the guy. 

They were tucked in between two vendors – hot dogs and funnel cakes – watching the dealer. He was standing next to a chain-link fence that marked the boundary of the lot that the carnival was set up on, overlooking the docks.  

The dealer kept looking at his phone and then around, and it wasn’t hard to deduce that he was waiting on someone. Steph hoped it was his source; she’d been trying to get evidence that he was dealing for one of the Maroni offshoots.  

Jason whispered, “Do we wait on him to do something stupid, or just go and jack his phone?”

Mugging the dealer hadn’t been one of Steph’s contingencies but she did appreciate the irony. “Wait, he looks like he’s prone to stupidity. But I gott ask, do you mug your targets regularly?”

“I mean, how does one define regularly?” She didn’t even have to glance up at Jason to know he was grinning, but she did anyway. 

She nudged him with her shoulder and said, “Maybe next time.”

“Next time, huh?” he said, like she was talking about a date instead of just some run of the mill vigilantism.

“You heard me.”

Cass had been totally right to encourage Steph to invite Jason; this was better than she had hoped for. 

She didn’t get a chance to flirt some more, though, because the dumb dealer she was trying to take down finally did something interesting.

And by interesting, that meant that the guy decided to drop on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“What the hell?” Steph dashed toward the guy, who was still breathing but was otherwise totally unconscious. His phone was still held loosely in one hand, unlocked, and she took medical duties while Jason plucked the phone out and began to scroll through it.

The dealer looked fine, barring the fact that he was inexplicably unconscious. Pulse average, heartrate steady, everything appeared normal. 

“Well, I think our job here is done,” Jason said casually, tucking the phone back unto the dealer’s hand. “Got all the info about his next big meet-up saved, and I'm pretty sure there’s enough evidence there to get him convicted.”

“But why is he unconscious?” Steph said, nudging him with her foot. He didn’t react. 

Jason finished patting down the dealer, and held up what he found in one of his pockets. “I think he roofied himself.”

Steph remembered how young the girls he’d been talking to were, and felt not the slightest bit of pity for the man. “Let’s truss him up and make the call.”

It felt a little weird to be doing that in civvies, but it made blending back into the carnival afterwards that much easier.  They opted to watch the cops do their thing from the ferris wheel, which was more fun than a plain old rooftop. Steph had made a stop by the funnel cake stand on the way to the ferris wheel, and she happily licked powdered sugar off her fingers as she watched flashing lights from above.

Beside her, Jason leaned back, his legs leisurely sprawled into the footrest, thigh tucked up against hers.

It was easily the best end to a night of vigilantism in Steph’s recent memory. 

She nudged Jason in the side with her elbow, ready to let him know just that, but the pained sound he made was not proportionate to the force she exerted. Steph was proud to say she’d made most of the other Bats let out similar “Oof”s by this point in her career, but never with just a nudge.

She leveled him with a glare. “Jason.”

“It’s nothing,” he said in that casual voice that all of them had perfected. Unfortunately for him, he was trapped on the ferris wheel with her, and couldn’t escape without making an even bigger scene. She nudged open his jacket and, yep, his dark t-shirt had a suspiciously wet spot on it.

“How long has that been bleeding?” she sighed, because why were all the boys she knew like this.

“I might have been minorly stabbed right before you called me for help,” Jason admitted.

“This was absolutely not a dire situation,” Steph said. “You could have said, ‘Maybe next time, I’m currently bleeding from a stab wound.’ Did you even clean it first, or did you just slap a bandaid on it?”

“I smeared some ointment on the bandaid!” Jason said, like that made it any better.

“As soon as we’re off this ride and I finish my funnel cake, we are dealing with that,” Steph said. She resolutely took another bite of her treat to prove the point.

“It really isn’t deep,” Jason said, clearly attempting to mollify her. “I wouldn’t have come if I thought I would pass out or something.”

“But why did you come?”

A beat of silence. Steph glanced over at him, and Jason was looking at her with a soft, fond smile. He reached out, brushed the side of her mouth. She thought for a brief, glorious second that he was going to kiss her, but then she remembered the powdered sugar. “Because I wanted to hang out with you.”

“Oh.”  Steph could feel her cheeks heating up. “I… I asked you because I wanted to hang out with you, too.”

They grinned at each other, and Steph offered up the last bit of her funnel cake to him. He took it, and when she wiped away the powdered sugar from his mouth, brushing her thumb along his bottom lip just a bit too slowly to be taken as anything but an invitation, he pressed a tiny, soft kiss to the pad of her thumb.

“Maybe after you’re patched up and no longer actively bleeding out, we can try that for real,” Steph suggested, trying to act cool, like she couldn’t hear her heartbeat thrumming in her ears.

“Deal.”

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Hiya! Hope it’s okay to ask, but what were your kind of first steps to living in a more solar punk way?

Hi! Absolutely ok to ask, I love talking to people about this.

I can probably date my Solarpunk awakening, if you want to use the term, to a variety of points, but in the past few years due to both growing eco-anxiety and a new connection with nature (moved out of the city into the country) I became more concerned with the environment and this led me to give up flying and start educating myself on solarpunk topics through books and podcasts. Living with my parents, who have more disposable income than me, helped me see what it was like to be able to purchase organic and plastic-free food. Living rurally meant we got to know our neighbours. When our house flooded, they were the ones bailing it out with buckets beside us at 1am, up to our ankles in cold, dirty water. I learned a lot about community. I started foraging for snacks and treats (hello blackberries are delicious). I got interested in the ecological elements of paganism.

Later on I started incorporating more plant-rich food into my diet and getting interested in slow travel, rewilding, urban planning, etc. Then I started going to XR meetings, which led me to getting involved in (non-arrestable in my case) direct action. I joined some gardening volunteers which encouraged me to start trying to grow my own food at home. I decided to commit to not learning to drive or owning a car.

However, I’d actually say I’d been doing solarpunk stuff earlier than this without knowing it - seeking out positive news stories, attending protests, organising in my community (I was active in my school’s LGBT scene and ran several campaigns about it at uni), learning about indigenous cultures, telling stories. All of these things are solarpunk too.

But the single biggest thing that has helped me to be more solarpunk is changing the way I see the world, and for this the writings of Robin Wall Kimmerer have been hugely influential, along with a bunch of different writers that I can’t list all of here. But unlearning the idea that I am alone in a lifeless inanimate world has been HUGE for me. Today I thanked every element that made up my meal, from the rice in my noodles to mycoprotein that grew my meat substitute to the soybeans that made the sauce, the steel in my pan and the sunlight that powered the electricity that heated my induction hob. I walked along a river and said hello to geese. I noticed each plant and knew the names of many of them. I called my grandmother and tried to really listen as she narrated her experiences of the day to me, even though she can be difficult. Relationality has been the greatest aspect of my solarpunk work, learning to see myself as utterly interconnected with everything and everyone else, to remember that my very atoms were once compressed together with all the other atoms when this expanding universe first began. So a lot of it is about changing your thoughts, though it should also be backed up by action too.

Hope some of this helps!

[head---ache]

hello im going to talk about my non fankid oc's because i feel like i talk too much about my children (sorry) and too little about my other characters and i know probably no one cares but fuck you/lh im going to force you to care/j

Tools the Chinchilla (she/they) is the oldest character in the group! (Ironically age wise they're the youngest, being 14). They're an anti hero, of sorts?? But I think a better way to describe her is just a silly chinchilla doing her own thing, not caring about anyone else. They really just care about what they have going on and are going to do whatever they need to get things done. She does not care about relationships at all, and only tries to get closer to someone if it benefits her. They're a investigator/scientist, mostly studying about chaos, so you can guess how that leads her to follow the main cast around, trying to act all friendly to get info out of them (but everyone knows she doesn't actually like them because she's really bad at acting). She also has a very big ego, and constantly compares herself to characters like Tails of Eggman, pushing them both down although she's not really an inventor, unless she needs something specific.

Prince the Peacock (he/him) is my boy!!! I love his concept. He has hypnotic powers thanks to his feathers, and he also cares a lot about his looks. He's very sophisticated, but also very high energy and friendly (he can be a little too much, in fact). He's also a bit naive, but that's mostly because he usually sees the best in people, and believes anyone can be good if he's just nice enough. He sees himself and Tools as best friends, even though she can't stand him, he just thinks they're shy. He's a little bit too scared of everything, but after being saved by the Resistance during the war he feels like he needs to do his part, so he's actually quite brave and very usually pushes himself out of his comfort zone.

Ferocity the Spider (she/her) seems to be somewhat of a fan favorite, and I think that might be thanks to her goth lolita fashion and the fact that she's a spider, definitely not something seen in the Sonic franchise. She's a full on villain, and is que agressive. She has all of the abilities spiders commonly have, but I can't get more specific than that. I'm way too scared of spiders and could only use drawings as reference for her design, so I didn't actually take the time to decide what kind of spider she is bskdbskfnskx She has every move calculated, and takes everything into account, she's very careful and methodic, but, like I said, when she needs to, she can get very agressive and scary. She's also very closed off and untrustful, so while she does have someone she works with (more on that later), she usually prefers to do things herself, just to make sure.

Joy the Horse (she/her) is a total sweetie. She's very shy and quiet, but has the biggest heart ever. She's a baker!!! And has her own bakery:) she sometimes brings some of her baked goods to Restoration HQ because some of her friends are there. She's softspoken and kind, but don't look down on her! She can kick you over the next city if she needs to>:) usually in defense, not in offense. She doesn't fight often, but if her or someone she cares about is involved she goes all out trying to help. Also Joy is the only one Tools tries to be friends with, but that's because they want free food. Joy knows this, and yet she still pretends she doesn't see when the chinchilla sneaks a cookie into their pocket.

Torch the Angler Fish (they/them) is Ferocity's right hand!!! Mostly just the dumb henchman in cartoons. They're way too energetic and impulsive, which is why Ferocity usually has to hold them down. They normally do the dirty work; if they need to fight, Torch will do it while Ferocity watches from the shadows and only interferes if needed. Torch, of course, has a little light that can lure people closer to them, and they often hide in the shadows, to then attack by surprise. They enjoy scaring people, they're a bit of an asshole lol. I said Ferocity is agressive, and yet, Torch is the most agressive of the two, which makes them a bit more scary.

Index the Secretary Bird (she/her) is a cute girly who works for the Restoration as, you guessed it, a secretary. I imagine she was friends with Jewel, and when she saw how much work the beetle had, she decided to step in and help. She's also very methodic, and strict. She actually was a librarian before she joined the Restoration, so you can be sure she has outstanding organization skills. She's a bit unexpressive, and distant, but definitely not mean, and if you manage to get close to her you'll have a friend who will give you the best advice and will listen to you with all of her attention!! She also has some knowledge in first aids, so when needed she also helps in that area.

And yeah that's that the fankids get too much attention so these guys also needed a post dedicated to talking about them tehee

[quiggel]

Okay I decided I don't gaf and if I have to sit in the back of this cramped fucking car with two kids who bully me I at least get to be free enough to yap about toxic Yuri

Basically two characters ( I DO NOT HAVE NAMES FOR THEM ITS BEEN LIKE A YEAR TAKING SUGGESTIONS) A and B (set up to every reddit post) Anyways, basically they live in a fairly small fantasy town, and love each other very much, deeply know eachother, picture of cottagecore lesbians, one day character B decides she needs to see the world and find herself again and A understands but doesn't wish to go with her. Character A stops hearing from character B a few months in, and she goes missing. A is worried, but trusts B enough to know that she will come home when she's ready. Time goes on and A gets more involved in the local DND fantasy nonsense scene (Doing quests and shit) and a year or two passes, however a great evil is growing and spreading across the land and there's whispers of the woman leading it and A just, knows.

She joins a crew on their way to find this new evil queen and take her down, making some of the closest friends over the next 5 years she will ever have, all while very much still being in love with the woman who's harm and destruction she has to view first hand as they help towns pillaged and people hurt by this mysterious evil woman. There's so hope for A that maybe it's not her, maybe it's someone else and B just got captured by her, but deep down she knows.

After about five years of traveling, helping people and tracking down this evil (being about 10 years total since they last saw each other) A confronts B, in the process getting the rest of A's crew captured. B convinces A to join her, but they both know this is just a ploy, matching each others moves beat for beat. B having plans to kill A as she knows A will follow through once she sets her mind to something and A knowing B must be stopped as she won't change, but she doesn't know why. They understand eachother but they don't know eachother

It's like "I know you will do this but I don't know why."

So basically they are both plotting to kill eachother and this leads to poisoned dinner date, all while calmly discussing the other murdering them.

"You're not really here for me, are you?"

"No."

"This foods poisoned isn't it?"

"Yeah... and you were planning on stabbing me with that knife you have in your pocket."

"... Probably"

Anyways they end up infact poisoning and stabbing each other respectively and pretty much end up lieing dieing on the floor and just talking

She loves her, she hates what she's become, she knows her so deeply but feels betrayed that she never knew her at all

HOLY SHIT THANK YOU

This is amazing if you have any drawings of them or have written anything about them please please please show me I’m obsessed.

[weixuldo]

Enigma// ch 13

anakin x reader

a/n: sorry for the wait!!! i started a summer job and i’ve been hellllllaaaa busy lol- dw tho, im still writing!!

You have a relaxing dinner with Ahsoka until the end of the year approaches

warnings: cursing, cannon disabled character, insecurity, mention of periods, possible pregnancy mention,

_______________________________

More time passed and you prepped for finals; luckily this year you were able to exempt most of your sit in exams and instead only had one big project and a 20 page thesis due. 

You had been feeling nauseous for the past few days but the 20 page paper’s deadline was looming over you, so it was probably the stress from that. You also hadn’t had much time to eat, so you could also just be hungry. 

You ignored the feeling and went back to typing.

The paper was almost done, only two more pages then you were free for the weekend.. Just two more.

Ring Ring

Ahsoka was calling, you finished the sentence you were on before picking up the phone.

“Hey”

Hey hey! Are you busy tonight?

“I should be free after one more page of this thing”

Damn! Congrats! You've been at that shit since mid terms! I think that deserves celebration!

You laughed, hopefully she wasn’t proposing a party because you weren't quite feeling up to that.

“What do you have in mind?”

I dunno… wanna  just grab take out and eat it by the koi pond? I kinda just want a chill night before I have to start practice for nationals. 

“That sounds wonderful”

Cool! I'll see you at 6:30?

“Sounds good to me!”

Oki bye bye!

The end of the line clicked as she hung up and a small smile settled onto your face; even though you hadn’t known Ahsoka that long, the two of you just clicked and were almost always on the same wavelength.

Some of you wanted to tell her about Anakin, but you just felt like at this point it would add drama to the already stressful end of the year. 

You were seen as the baby of the friend group, so you wouldn’t know how they would feel if you and Anakin officially confirmed the relationship…Also Ahsoka could be a little dramatic at times and you were afraid she would become too involved and make jokes or treat you and Ani differently.

And you had known Anakin long enough to know that those small changes would piss him off and he might accidentally take it out on the relationship.

You got back to your computer when you got a really bad cramp in your abdomen. 

Oh fuck, you hadn’t gotten your period on its normal week so apparently its deciding to come now…great, something else to add to your delightful week.

You finally finished your paper and let out a long groan as you stretched your back. You grabbed your keys and headed down to meet Ahsoka outside the dorms. Once the two of you met up and got your food, you walked to the koi pond on the northern side of campus. 

The sun was setting and the sky was a mixture of beautiful oranges and pinks; you took a seat on the iron bench that overlooked the gardens surrounding the koi pond. 

“This is so nice, I needed to chill,” Ahsoka said, breaking apart the cheap wooden chopsticks that came with her bento box. 

“Yea, I feel ya” you said opening the box of lo mein you ordered. 

“Ya know, I cant believe i’m gonna be graduating in just a few weeks… Like what the actual fuck, I swear I was just a freshman like two weeks ago” Ahsoka baffled as she watched the fish swim laps around the pond. 

“Oh yea, I wanted to get a brunch with all of us next sunday before I have to go to nationals, would you be able to come?” she added.

“Yes! I’d love to” you responded, before remembering that would be one of the last times you would see her before her graduation. 

“I’m going to miss you so much Ahsoka” you said sadly, “Will you keep in touch?”

“Does a fish need water? Of course y/n!” she smiled; “you’re my best girl friend; sure sky guy and Ben are nice, but they're not another girl. And I like Satine alot, but she's older and in a totally different place in life than us, ya know?” 

“Yea, I’m glad we met too” you smiled. 

You conversed over random topics and future plans-

“Do you think you’ll party a lot next year?” she asked you

“Hmm, I don’t think so” 

“Why not? Don’t you wanna find a partner or atleast a hook-up?” She asked, biting down on her last California roll.

“I’m actually pretty content, I think most of my party phase was exhausted freshman and sophomore year” 

“Yea, I get it, I really only kept going out cause the team likes to go to the big parties. Kinda changing topics though, are you interested in anyone this year?”

You froze for a split second before bringing the noodles to your mouth, “Not really, I mean I’ve been seeing this guy off campus, but I wanna keep it on the dl and so does he” you responded (you didn’t have the heart to completely lie to her).

“Ooo, is he cute? How old is he? What's his name? Does he have socials? I gotta make sure he’s good enough for my girl”

“Hah, that's a lot. Umm, I think he's cute, he doesn’t use social media much, and he’s just a bit older” (yeah right, more like twice your age).

“Ok….what's his name?” she asked again, a devious grin on her face.

You smiled and looked away, “Ahsoka, I love you, but I can't tell you, I promised him we’d keep it under wraps… He’s a very private person” 

“Do I know him?” she definitely was gonna guess it if she kept at the questions.

You took all the power you could to construct a final lie, “no, I met him on a dating app”.

“Oh, never mind I guess, I’m happy for you!”

Phew.

You were not practiced in lying.

“Thanks, I really like him… I think I may be in love…I’ve never felt this way before” you smiled. 

“That’s amazing, y/n. Will I meet him some day?”

“Of course” 

The rest of dinner was pleasant, until your stomach started hurting again.

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing, I think I'm just gonna get my period soon” you said.

“Wait, shouldn’t you have gotten it like two weeks ago?”

Huh?

“Yea, remember, we’re kind of synced, You’ve been starting yours half way through my cycle since like September”

“Oh, I think it's just late from the stress”

“Hopefully so” she laughed, “Wouldn’t want that mystery man to have knocked you up”. 

She was joking, but something in you became worried… it had been a long time since your last period… and you and Anakin had been pretty busy…but wait

Anakin couldn’t have kids. 

The doctors said so.

But what if…

You shook the thoughts from your head and asked Ahsoka if she would come with you to the drug store to pick up some tums for the stomach ache.

She went off to go look at the shampoo because she needed some more and you sneaked off to grab a pregnancy test.

While you were in line you decided to update your boyfriend on the night’s conversation

“Hey babe, just fyi Ahsoka was asking about who i was seeing so i lied and said a guy from tinder, just wanted to lyk”

In no time your phone buzzed

Alright, thanks for covering, have a good night princess.

“Goodnight my love”

___________________________________

The week went by and you only had the project to finish. Most of your academic stress was subsided, but your personal stress grew by the day.

You hadn't opened the pregnancy test you got last week… you couldn’t bring yourself to.

or

Maybe it was because you hadn't had time…

oh who were you kidding? 

You were scared. 

But if you were pregnant, you should probably find out soon. Right?

Right.

You went into the bathroom and locked the door.

This was it.

The moment of truth.

***

a/n: so this ch was more of a filler to get to the next few chapters…. the plot is thickening and i hope your interest stays!! ty again for reading :)

taglist: : @dnamht @sxoulohvn @angeelcoree @wtf-andys @httpeachesblog @katsukiswrld @jetiikote @poisonedsultana

[datawyrms]

Truce time!

Hi @noxposting :v you got me as your secret gift giver. You get fic this year, because art and I look at one another with wary stares until the other backs down. Hopefully you enjoy it? I tried to add bits of multiple prompts but :v crypid danny going to a coffee shop won out. mostly. heh. On Ao3

Barista. Not exactly the pinnacle of anyone’s career, heck, many would call it a low point. Not Valerie though. She knew the real pits of food based service, thanks. It didn’t even involve food! That hideous mascot outfit reeked worse than a dumpster on a warm summer evening on a GOOD day; and anyone that saw you managed to treat you WORSE than that! Which was probably the whole point, when you got ‘promoted’ to cash or the grill you’d actually feel grateful. Seeing your face sure didn’t stop everyone from being the worst human they can be, but enough were too cowardly to be as rotten when the threat of spitting in their food was right there.

It didn’t help with the looks about someone ‘young’ working at a burger place so ‘soon’, and the next time someone asked if she should be in school on a Saturday was getting a special side seasoning of knuckles. If she didn’t need the money, she wouldn’t be working!

So yeah, in short? Getting hired at a coffee shop was a major step up from the Nasty Burger. Like, who calls a place Nasty Burger? She might not be the biggest fan of coffee either, but at least she wasn’t reeking of grease and having weird sauce explosion nightmares anymore. (The training videos about the Nasty sauce were ridiculous, there was no way you could legally keep something that explosive and give it to people to eat, why so graphic?)

Sure, fewer people from school dropped by here, but that was sort of a plus too. Even if it wasn’t as embarrassing to be seen working once free of mascot duty, it still didn’t feel great to watch how everyone else in class got to have fun while she worked for peanuts. Having some easy ways to slack off and chat a bit on slower days was nice though. Usually only bored old ladies wanted to chat here, and not about anything remotely interesting. 

Sam Manson was the only person she’d recognized today, but she didn’t really count. Valerie didn’t know what the goth girl’s deal was, but she always acted like she was trying to ‘steal’ her friend. Which yeah okay, she did date Danny for a bit, but it’s not like Sam even tried to date him first! Having more friends or romantic interests wasn’t going to kill the guy, seriously. In her opinion, Sam was way more likely to hurt Danny than she was. Maybe Sam should look at herself instead of getting all weirdo over-protective. Whatever. At least she didn’t make the same old person joke every single customer thought she never heard before. Paid, got enough sugar for her drink to reasonably be considered a soft drink, and left her alone. Easy.

Valerie got back to cleaning up her work area, there wasn’t more for her to accomplish just staring at the sitting area. The bell at the door would let her know if she had to turn around.

Which it did, twenty minutes later. It wasn’t Sam leaving, but some new guy wanting an order. Normal. Except Sam wasn’t sitting alone anymore. When had Danny got here? It wasn’t with Sam- she saw her come in alone. At the same time as new customer guy? Only if he could teleport. Pretty sure the Fentons didn’t have a magic teleporter invented yet, or there’d be way more weird ghost hunter home invasions.

She wasn’t staring. She wasn’t. Took an order, made it, put the cash in the register all without staring at the weirdness of a suddenly appearing ex. Totally.

Danny didn’t even do coffee! Why would he be here? You’d think someone so constantly tired would at least try coffee for the caffeine kick- but he acted like she suggested he stick his tongue in a blender when she asked if that’s what he kept in his thermos one day. Kind of a weird overreaction, but that was just Danny. It was kind of cute in a way, like he needed big reactions to get noticed at all. Considering his family though… she could get it.

If there weren’t more customers coming she might have gone over and asked if he wanted anything. Even if Manson would have been catty about it. She wasn’t scary, just loud.

Mostly people going to join the first guy who ordered. Friends meeting up, probably. Did it matter? No, but thinking about it gave her something to do as her feet got sore and staring while cleaning got boring.

Nosy friends. Sam wasn’t happy, judging by the death glares. Like she wasn’t ever loud with Danny or Tucker. Sheesh.

“Hey Val, can I get a water?”

She blinked once, twice. Danny had not gotten to the counter that fast. Without even making a sound against the slick tile floor. Yet there he was, shy half grin on his face, rubbing the back of his neck like he was asking for a big favour.

“Sure, but it’s gotta be in the dinky little cup. That alright?” It was a dumb policy, but that was jobs for you. What was he going to do with a coffee cup full of cold water, make ‘illegal tea’? Who cares?

“Totally. Thanks.” Danny’s grin grew, almost a bit too much for a guy getting a baby cup of tap water.

It was weird. The hairs on the back of her neck shouldn’t be acting up from Danny just being a bit of a goof over water. She forced the stupid feeling down as she handed over the drink and shook her brain back to reality. “No problem. Nasty Burger closed or something?”

“Nah. Tuck’s just grounded and Sam wanted to go somewhere that didn’t reek of cooking animals,” he said, adding playful air quotes to reek before taking the cup. “Those guys don’t seem like they’re locals, what do you think?”

“Listen, after like two hours you all look the same.” Valerie answered with an eye roll, earning another laugh from the boy. “I don’t think I’ve seen them here before though, no.”

“Elmerton, maybe?”

“Maybe? I don’t get paid enough to pay that much attention to them.” Valerie rubbed her forehead before looking at Danny again. Somehow he’d gotten even worse at making conversation! Who cares about some slightly noisy table group?

“We’d find out pretty quick if there was a ghost attack.”

Danny was joking, obviously, but it didn’t keep her from leaning over to hiss “Don’t you dare speak bad luck into my day, Fenton” under her breath.

“Okay, okay! I’m totally not doing that,” he held up his hands in mock surrender, but the easy smile stayed in place.

Sometimes she really wanted to strangle the stick of a boy. Ghosts weren’t funny! He knew that! Some were pathetic, but still not funny. “Good.”

Danny gave a little wave, nearly spilling the thimbleful of water that could fit in the sad little cup as he headed back to the looming thunderstorm that was Sam.

Maybe she was glaring as much as the goth was, she kept feeling the need to blink or rub at her eyes, but they didn’t feel dry. Weird. Her suit would warn her of any real danger from spectral pests, but she could do without randomly feeling really off for no reason.

Oh! She was just feeling weird because it wasn’t so loud anymore. That was all. The uncomfortable chill and too long shadows were just in her head. The noisy group kept looking around and fidgeting in their seats instead of just loudly saying everything and everything. Sam was comfortable enough, even if it looked like the light on her side of the room had died, leaving her and Danny lurking in shadows that kept creeping closer and closer to the other group- not literally.

She shook her head. She needed a break. Pushing back into the employee’s only section would give her a moment to drink some water and wake up before she started seeing things.

–

“Pushing it a bit? She totally almost caught you.”

“But she didn’t.” Danny pushed Sam’s comment away as he slid out of his seat. “Besides, I thought you wanted me to get ‘em to shut up a bit.”

“I did. You’re just being extra,” Sam rolled her eyes, watching the now quite cowed group of out-of-towners.

Danny gave a loose shrug, shoulders weirdly out of tune with the movement that should be all about them. “I’m hungry! No one local ever gets scared of easy stuff anymore,” his arm twitched as he spoke, a faint green twisting and twining through his skin. It seemed to thread through skin and muscle, pulsing and pulling bits from beneath before sliding back into smooth skin again, a secret no one was meant to really see.

Sam pointedly avoided looking at that arm. She didn’t try to tell him to be more careful again either.

Danny’s grin slid a bit too far to be comfortable on a human face before he moved closer to the group that kept looking for the door. “Hey. Did any of you guys see the light switch? It’s kind of dark here.”

It was dark in here. On a bright sunny day, with all the windows open. It shouldn’t be- but ghosts hardly cared about what ‘shouldn’t’ be. He wanted it to be dark- and his powers obliged. Eagerly, even. Happy, delighting that instead of squabbling and fighting with another ghost he was going to do what they were meant to do. Scare the daylights out of the living. Grab the feeling and emotion and life his own chest forgot how to feel some days. More and more often, lately.

“No? I-I didn’t really see anything.” The first person tried to answer back, failing to match Danny’s easy smile, leaning further back in his chair as Danny leaned forward, a tilt to his head.

“Really? Darn. Maybe one of you can help me out?”

It was funny. He was totally still ‘Danny Fenton’ right now, asking a very casual question in an easy way but everyone lurched back as if he asked to rip out their teeth. “I totally get it if you can’t though. I just have bad luck with switches.”

He reached out, arm twitching again in an awful, too loose way. Like he’d popped it out of his arm socket but it kept slowly reaching towards his target as it twisted and seemed to burn. Neon green scarring burst out from his fingertips and spread as he got closer and closer and flared into a painful glow as they screamed and tried to back away from him.

His friends didn’t do much better, scrambling away and abandoning their friend to the ‘terrifying thing’ casually just walking after him.

“What are you! Get back!”

Danny ignored the panicked pleading, only grinning as the others found the door to be locked. “Huh? I’m just a guy asking you for help?”

“No you aren’t! You-you-you’re some monster!”

His eyes flashed green as he put his twisted, burning, scarring arm to his chest. “A monster? Really?” The green scarring spread like the electricity that first caused it- the damage throwing his whole body into a sickly painful looking glow. “Is that what you see?”

His target tripped as he tried to escape, tangled in his own legs and shaking too much to really gain any ground even as Danny didn’t move above walking speed. “If I’m such a monster, how about you tell me how it feels?”

The shriek was enough to hurt his ears for a second as he reached forward and grabbed the unfortunate human, the rolling  green transferred over for only seconds before it leapt back to Danny, slowly fading back under his skin and taking all the horrific damage with it.

The doors had unlocked, letting all the others escape as he rocked on his heels, waiting for the one who’d passed out from sheer terror to get back up. It wasn’t as if he ACTUALLY felt how awful that day was. It was a fraction, a hint of his own memory. Not fatal. Just absolutely terrifying. 

“And Sam calls me dramatic.” Danny muttered, nudging them again with his foot before joining Sam back at the table. He could just say the others pranked him and left him if Valerie was annoyed at the unconscious person on the floor.

After all, it wasn’t as if any ghost was here. She’d know about an ‘attack’. He’d just gotten his own kind of snack.

[girldragongizzard]

Chapter 13: Terror

Sitting on the small craggy black rock that makes the peak of the mountain we find ourselves on, Ptarmigan is chewing on a toothpick, and she says, “I can’t help you anymore.”

Wentin has settled down into a loaf behind her, curled part way around that rock, tail whipping back and forth.

It led me here, up the slope of the mountain, out of the woods, through brush and rock strewn snow patches that harbored small herds of tiny white round birds foraging for some kind of food only they can eat, and up and up. It’s a dream. We ran right up sheer cliff faces like daring to go up the wrong way on a playground slide.

Either Wentin lied and knew right where Ptarmigan was. Or Ptarmigan entered our shared dream and changed the path we took. Dreams are like that, and I just don’t know and probably never will.

“Why not?” I ask.

She shrugs, “I shouldn’t even be here, but I did stir things up and I like you, so I should at least try to help you figure that out. It’s not a nightmare anymore. It’s outside of my Art.”

“Säure is a nightmare for Fairport.”

Ptarmigan shakes her head and says, “That’s a metaphor, not the truth. Everything works differently now. My art doesn’t apply.”

“But we need to stop Säure before he hurts people,” I tell her. “He must be having nightmares.”

She does nod at that and slowly say, “Yes.” But then she says, “But there’s surprisingly little I can do with that. I can help him escape his nightmares. I can make them worse. I can also try to communicate something to him through his nightmares. But actually getting through to him to change his behavior will work just as well as telling him to go to therapy. People are usually surprisingly dense about things that are panicking them. And he’s losing his self control and his position in the world. He’s losing his sense of self and purpose. He is not in a reasonable state.”

“What is a nightmare?” I ask.

“A dream about an emergency that isn’t actually an emergency,” Ptarmigan says.

“And this?”

“An actual emergency.”

“I feel like nothing you say makes sense.”

“Meghan,” Ptarmigan says. “You are asleep on your rooftop in the middle of the day, having a nightmare about chasing a nightmare to the Artist of Nightmares, and you’re asking me to tell you about how the world works. I’m going to frame everything in terms of nightmares, until I can’t. And then I’m going to be kind of stumped, too. Have you seen the movie Rashomon?”

“Akira Kurosawa?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s the one,” she says. “Three people are involved in a murder. And they each tell a different version of the events that led up to it, because their perspectives are so different. That movie. That’s what you get when you talk to an Artist. We each see the whole world through our Art. It’s part of the reason why we’re not as influential as some people expect us to be.”

“What about the collaboration?”

“Oh, I’d still like to do that someday. Particularly with Chapman. But the opportunity has passed for me,” she replies. “Like I said, this situation isn’t a nightmare anymore. It’s just a very real emergency.”

I ignore how that still doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m not sure it makes sense to Ptarmigan either, now that she’s admitted her limitation. But I latch onto something else she’s implied.

“Are there any other Artists in Fairport? Or the county?” I ask.

She rocks back and turns her head to the side, smirking, “You haven’t felt them?”

“No,” I say.

She nods, “They’ve been quiet. There used to be a lot. You’ve lived here your whole life. You probably remember a comic that was distributed on little brightly colored quarter page handbills. Harmless Free Radicals? One of my siblings was trying something tricky with that and got the attention of quite a few of us. Didn’t work as she planned. But she’s still here, at least.”

I think I do remember that comic. It lasted maybe two years on those handbills before being picked up by the weekly. Then it just stopped, I think in 2008. I was going through some of my worst years then. I don’t remember much about it, except that the cartoonist styled herself to look like a dragon, which appealed to me. But none of it made enough sense for me to follow it.

“You remember the wolf-dragon Brenna that you met in Wentin’s arboretum last month?” Ptarmigan asks. “She and her spouse, Ian, can lead you to her. I think she’s still going by the name of Fenmere. But she’s the Poet. I’m not sure there’s anything she can do for you.”

The Poet made comics? Honestly, I feel like giving up on this angle, and maybe on Artists in general. Ptarmigan is right. I can’t figure out how the Poet’s Art could help us, and if the Artists are so scattered and uncooperative, so bewildered by their own Arts like they are, maybe none of them can.

Ptarmigan watches my discouragement take hold of my body language, and then asks, “How’s Rhoda?”

“She hates you,” I report.

“That’s fine,” Ptarmigan says. “I can be hateable. I probably deserve it.”

“Chapman calls her a Bellwether,” I say. “You call her the lucid dreamer. What is happening with her?”

“I can only tell you this from the perspective of Nightmares and dreaming, Meghan. It’s not going to be the truth,” she reminds me.

“Okay.”

“Imagine that the Earth is a big huge person,” Ptarmigan says. “Only, it’s not a person, it’s a system, like Astraia. And each of us is a system member, a headmate.”

“What?”

“Roll with me here, Meghan,” she says. “Look up DID when you wake up, if you remember. Just listen for now.”

I give her a dragon scowl, which means opening my mouth just a little bit to show all my teeth. I know about plurality and DID, I’m just having trouble adjusting my thinking to this new metaphor.

She ignores my expression, “In some systems, when they dream, one headmate is the dreamer. They can switch out when they dream, just like when they’re awake. Sometimes all their other headmates are the other characters in the dream. Rhoda is one of the Earth’s headmates, just like you and I are, and for some reason her life experiences temporarily brought her forward and made her the frontrunner of the Earth’s nightmare. And I helped her turn it into a lucid dream. Only it’s not a dream, and never was. But it was, functionally, a nightmare up to that point. That’s what happened. And now she’s left with some of the Earth’s conscious power. I’m sorry, it’s confusing.”

“Does she have the power to stop Säure?” I ask.

“She’s bringing him down right now,” Ptarmigan says. “So, I’d say yes, she does.”

“But she’s not stopping him, just holding him at bay. She doesn’t want to do more,” I point out.

“Yeah. I think maybe that’s your job,” Ptarmigan replies. “Look. I’m going to fuck off now. I’ve got some work to do in Finland.”

“Finland?”

“It’s nothing. You don’t need to worry about it. You have a big, beautiful, crypto-fascist neo-liberal monster to quell,” she says. “You’ll figure it out. But be careful. He knows a lot about you. He probably reads your blog.”

—

When I wake up, it’s maybe only three in the afternoon and I don’t even feel like I’ve been asleep or dreaming. I remember that whole conversation pretty well, and that I was on a mountain top, so I know it was a dream, though.

And I’m so frustrated and discouraged.

I can hear cars driving about and people talking, the wind moving through the trees a little, and a train blowing its horn. Across the roof from me, a seagull is picking at the barfed up remains of one of its brethren. There’s nothing nutritious left in that. But the absurd audacity of the seagull doing this right in front of the seagull eating monster that left that indigestible garbage there sort of wakes me up further.

I should clean my roof.

And I realize I’ve lost track of what day it is. Ptarmigan said, at one point, “last month”.

So I pick out my tablet and turn it on to look at the date.

Tuesday, October 1.

Shit. I’ve missed another therapy appointment. There’s even an email from my therapist, but I can’t bring myself to look at it.

Living under the oppressive stress of Säure periodically flying over the city, being a threat but not actually doing anything, while having nothing to do to stop him, and nobody coming to challenge me about anything, I think has taken a significant toll on my mental health.

I want to enjoy my peace and get on with my life, but I’ve been in emergency mode for the past month, and it’s still actually an emergency. Just, nothing’s happening and I don’t know what to do. And that’s no way to rest and recover.

And I know I’m not the only one.

In a way, the local predicament mirrors the national one. And probably the global one.

Despite what Ptarmigan says, now it actually feels like a nightmare.

And it’s too big for me.

Too big for any number of mes. Too big for my family. Maybe too big for the city.

There’s one thing I know I can do right now, though.

I shift into my human guise, then type a sentence into my tablet to get it ready for talking.

Then I go to the access hatch, open it, and make my way through the building to Rhoda’s door.

When she opens the door to answer my knock, I press talk, “Let’s go have tea downstairs with our friends. No business.”

She smiles.

—

I want to tell you about all the wonderful things. All the moments with my friends and family that I get to enjoy. The way that my burgeoning relationships with Rhoda and Chapman are developing positively. And all these things are happening and do exist.

But we are living under the shadow of a monster, and that is taking all the focus. We do need to deal with that first.

It’s not going to save the world when we figure out what to do with Säure, but it could save us and our neighbors, and that has to be good enough. It’ll be a net gain.

In any case, we just have to.

He’s hardly in power anymore, but he’s still a significant danger.

It’s weird, because as his companies disintegrate from his plummeting reputation and draconic temper tantrums, we learn just how much influence he’s had. Business developments and deals all over the county, one after another, start changing hands or closing up shop, or declaring new mission statements. And the local politicians, mostly County and City Council members up for re-election, start changing their campaign platforms, or what they’re saying to the press. And not all in obvious ways, but usually such that they can disavow any affiliation with Säure.

And though the legal process of Säure’s decomposition is going to take years, maybe even a decade or more if other recent examples across the nation are any indication, Säure’s terrifying meltdowns are happening now.

Sooner or later, Rhoda’s newfound magical influence over him is either going to fail, or he’s going to choose to take his anger out outside of her jurisdiction, whatever that is.

And the Artists aren’t going to be much help. 

Chapman says that because sie is here, the others are handling emergencies all around the rest of the globe. And while sie can certainly try to come up with some sort of trap to physically subdue Säure for a few moments or something like that, it might just make things worse if we don’t have an appropriate follow up.

It leaves us with the question, is there anything a growing group of dragons and humans can do to mollify a failing and flailing building sized billionaire?

We have lots of days where none of us talk about this. But the closer we get to election day, which is terrifying in its own way, the more often the subject does come up.

One such night finally yields something.

—

“If he was just a human being, or a dragon your size, someone could walk up and punch him,” Kimberly observes to me. “It’s really not fair.”

“I don’t think I’d ever want to punch Meg, even if I wasn’t friends with her, Kimberly,” Nathan says. “Her teeth are just a little too sharp and…” He waves his hand in the general direction of my head. “Present.”

It’s true. If someone were to try to punch me in the face, their fist would most likely make direct contact with one or more teeth. Even with my mouth closed.

I’m kind of glad that Rhoda is not present. She would not like any of this conversation.

“You know what I mean,” Kimberly says.

“Well, then, technically, whenever Säure is on the ground, and you know where he is, you can still walk up and punch him,” Nathan says. “It’s all about your willingness to accept the results.”

Kimberly sticks her tongue out at him.

“Please,” Kim says. “Can we not talk about punching Säure?”

“He’s a Nazi,” Kimberly gestures at the horizon, in the conceptual direction of Säure. “We punch Nazis.”

“Is he?”

“Well, he’s a billionaire, and a hypocrite about his environmental stances, of course, and Meg witnessed him spouting off Nazi dog whistles, specifically at her,” Kimberly points out. “Also, his plans to coerce dragons away from their neighborhoods are super creepy.”

“I don’t know, it’s just,” Kim screws up her face and tilts her head one way then the other. “When you put it like that, it all sounds so cheap. Like it’s just circumstantial evidence. And!” She punctuates that word to interrupt Kimberly’s attempt to interject. “And, I know that billionaires by their very nature exploit everyone. They’re the focal points of everything that’s wrong with the world right now. But really?”

Kimberly thrusts her head forward and down, raising her left palm up, “I mean. Of course, when I say ‘punch’, what I really mean is –”

“Stop,” Kim says as sternly as she can. “No talk of that.”

“Sure. There’s a reason I’m not actually saying it,” Kimberly admits.

They both look around at the other diners, then they make faces at each other. No one’s paying attention to us. And if you listen in, some of them are having fairly similar conversations, actually. We’re eating street tacos at Maxilar Taqueria. Everyone has chipped in to make sure I have a seagull’s worth of them to swallow, and I really appreciate it.

“Hm,” Chapman sighs, and sie reaches over to grab the Tapatia again for hir next taco.

“What are you thinking, Chapman?” Nathan asks.

“Well,” Chapman says, shaking a few drops of the hot sauce into hir food. “I’m not sure. I’m torn between my usual perspective as an Artist, and in particular the Physicist, and my current perspective as someone living as a human in these current times. And, like, as the mortal human I usually just dissociate from the horrible things and end up thinking like the immortal Physicist that I actually am. So, I want to do that here? But I’m more invested than usual.”

“What’s the immortal Physicist perspective?” Nathan asks.

Both Kimberly and Kim have dropped their face making contest to pay attention.

“Are you sure you want to hear it?” Chapman asks. “I’m not sure it would do anybody any good.”

“Please,” Nathan insists in a light, polite tone.

“Well,” Chapman puts hir taco back down. “Typically, I would just sit back and observe. This is a new phenomenon and I need to see what happens. I also know that it’s all going to work itself out in the end, anyway. Energy will flow downhill, so to speak, and everything will become less interesting. Säure can’t hurt me in any meaningful way, so there’s no emergency. And mass extinctions are old hat. I mean, I think you could probably have guessed all that.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

“Obviously,” Chapman says, gesturing at me and then picking up hir taco and showing it off. “I’m invested.”

“As a human, what do you think we should do about Säure?” Kimberly asks.

Chapman stops with hir mouth open and taco about to enter it and furrows hir brows, then holds up one finger.

Kimberly bows her head and makes a rolling gesture.

Chapman stuffs the entire taco into hir mouth and starts chewing it, grinning a thanks.

Chewing looks so alien to me anymore. I don’t miss it. I don’t need it in order to have a full dining experience, either. I taste the food before it even enters my mouth, and the sensations of swallowing it are more than enough for me. Every gullet full is a different experience, too. Everything has a different shape, and it’s fascinating. No two tacos are quite alike, even.

“I’m not human,” Chapman says when sie’s done eating. “But, in having this human body and being invested in this current life, and all my friends in it, well. I’d like the gigantic tree that is Säure to fall the other way. And there are probably ways that we can make that happen. The question is, what do we want him to land on?”

“Does he have to land on anything?” Kim asks.

“Well, in this metaphor, imagine that he is the tallest tree in the forest, and he’s sick, rotten to the core, and he is going to fall over,” Chapman says.

“Isn’t he a person, though?” Kim interrupts.

We all look at her.

She gestures at me, “Meghan’s a person, right? We’ve all worked hard to establish that for her, even though she is also a dragon, she is a person. Doesn’t that logic work the same way with Säure? You can’t reason with a tree. You can’t talk to a tree. But you can do that with a person. Even if he actually is a Nazi.”

Kimberly thinks about this a little bit, and then says, “That’s actually what I meant by punching him. That is how you reason with a Nazi.”

“Sure. But, what I’m saying is that he’s acting out of feelings or reason or something, and we can affect that. It’s not like he’s actually rotting in the middle and going to die. We can communicate with him and make him change his behavior.”

“OK, but that makes me ask,” Kimberly responds. “Why isn’t he actually attacking the town, then? Why is he just terrorizing everyone still?”

“Well,” Chapman says, considering Kim with thoughtful eyes. “Rhoda’s effect as the Bellwether is definitely influencing him, I can see that much every time I scan him. Which I’d rather not do anymore, because he buzzes the city right afterward. But if you asked him, I’m pretty sure he’d say something else.”

“Can your scans tell?” Nathan asks.

“Not specifically. It seems to be less a matter of basic physics and more a matter of something more complex, like psychology,” sie says. “Or I’m just looking at the wrong details.”

“Ah!” Kimberly nearly jumps in her seat with excitement. “That reminds me. I want to know another thing!”

“What?”

“What is he eating?”

“Yes,” I say.

Everyone looks at me in confusion, so I take out my tablet to explain. “Wentin eats agreement, not people or animals,” I tell them as Kim starts to search for things on her phone.

I imagine she’s looking up whether or not there’ve been missing cattle or hits to the local ecosystem that could account for a building sized dragon that could easily eat a whale.

But I keep going and fill them in on some of my own thoughts on the matter, "Säure might not be eating anything physical..."

[windupaidoneus]

the workplace drama in the modern AU must go crazy.

under the cut w the highest hopes that makes it not show up in the searches. no one look at me.

it is downright infernal. the scions & the ascians are coworkers. fourchenault is there. nero is there. yotsuyu is there. asahi is banned from the workplace. the zeroes can be here if you all wish them to be. somehow zenos & emet coexist at similar ish ages. siblings? can you imagine? horrifying prospect. i think it's funny if it's the case. fandaniel has no reason to take on asahi's appearance anymore but he does it to uh, piss asahi off, i guess. guy who puts himself in a situation he doesn't like ("double date" with zenos & hilde/emet. no one is happy about this. he's not at all into zenos or anything this is purely a self destructive act that everyone involved either agreed to to humour him hoping for some reason this was an actual thing he wanted to do, went along because who give a shit or went along because someone begged them to try & humour him. yeah that's hilde zenos & emet in order) to be a nuisance to someone else. maybe he's friends with yotsuyu. maybe that's why he's trying to ruin asahi's life. compels me. on that note i wonder what fandaniel would go by. amon perhaps? seems to be what he'd favour at least like. from what i can tell. he's probably a system. in fact i can't imagine him not plural

i havent decided if athena is alive or dead in that scenario. athena being alive would be horrifying probably. i feel like she would somehow find a way to make going to work as high stakes as endwalker is. due to her problems. it's very scary to think about! emet steals thancred's lunch & gives it to hilde as a "gift" (he is NOT eating that himself & he knows hilde needs to eat more than he does so. he gets the free lunch) every single time someone steals his own lunch. doesn't matter if thancred isn't the one who stole it because emet does not like him

i think estinien steals the lunch more often than not & it's entirely bc he forgot what he brought/if he brought anything at all. causing the eighth calamity by being forgetful & he's just sitting there eating the food without a care in the world

there most certainly is some evil shit going on there but tbh a lot of it is everyone being exposed to cid & nero doing whatever the fuck it is they do. because they're both there. yeah this office has five billion employees (ok some of them are just there in the AU due to their connections w other characters who do work at the office. but i'll work out who does what at a later date). when haurchefant brings pastries for everyone it is a beautiful day where no one fights WRONG!!! all out war. even though he made sure to bring enough for everyone. also hilde & haurche probably dated in high school then parted on good terms at some point. of course bc of hildes #problems. they're still good friends

i like to think the whole thing w hilde & emet is being like. followed with bated breath by a lot of them. because they really dance around it for so long it just becomes the office's sports to watch them will they wont they lmao. nero doesnt give a fuckkkk hes usually mostly here to do repairs & whatnot until he hears thancred complain about it at which point he makes a completely uncalled for remark toward him in which 1. he probably has 0 stakes in 2. he may not even have any room to speak on the matter in question he's just ready & willing to be a bitch to the guy being a bitch abt his brother. yes they are still brothers in this au. good luck to this office

the ascian/ancient beef is unparalleled though. i shudder to think of what nabriales brings to the table.

[rachelsshowerthoughts]

Aware AU thought but, https://www.tumblr.com/tumblingxelian/754631895572267008/justanotherpersonsuniverse-i-didnt-watch?source=share

This very much gives the idea that Lila's mother is the intensely absent, IE neglectful parent who compensates by saying sweet things but doesn't back it up with any action.

Which likely also made it harder for Lila to really communicate her issues because her mom says nice things, she makes sure she has food, & sometimes spends time around her.

Who would believe her mom is anything but a bit busier than Lila would like? Don't be spoiled Lila, your mother works so hard for you!

With her likely internalizing her mothers sweet nothings as lies & lying herself to trick others to get by a little easier, to get a little attention she so craves, to cover for problems or mistakes.

I think the song Our Word would sum her up very well, either just the first portion as here here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y3DVFF0spY Or the full song here, which could also maybe represent a sort of, "This is what I could have become" angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9RHJTpLOVk

so, first off, the first thing I thought when I heard the song in its entirety was "Musical Lila!Akuma", so that’s going to live rent free in my head all day.

yeah, I think the implication is definitely supposed to be "absent mom" (though I think this is before the "multi-mom" nonsense) and I always took it as, the one thing Lila DOES tell the truth about is her mom's job. Ambassador is up in the air, but definitely works for the Italian embassy, which would actually go a long way to explaining a lot about Lila.

If Lila's mom is an Italian ambassador, Lila probably is well travelled, and probably has met SOME important people, at least by proxy. The best lies have a kernel of truth in there somewhere, after all. It’s plausible she could have met most of these people. She's also probably never in the same place longer than a year or so. She moves to a lot of new places, many of which may or may not have a language in common with her. She probably never shows up at the start of a school year, but partway through, when everyone's already formed their friend groups. She’s always "the new girl", either seen as a weird foreigner, or a shiny new toy with fun stories of other places. But how many people stick around when the stories dry up? Better make more stories, better stories, so you aren’t alone - and then it doesn’t even matter, because you'll be gone in six months, and eventually all your "friends" have steady lives to get back to, so they stop calling, stop texting, and you're right back where you started.

Plus, how much time do you think she's actually spent in Italy, in her own house, since she was little? Does she see the rest of her family?

Also, I find it interesting we don’t see her dad. Mostly cause the other kids have either really well established home lives, or we ignore them, with the implication they are "normal". If there are single parents, we eventually do get explanations - Anarka either never told Jagged or he decided he wouldn’t be a good dad, Mylene's mom sucked, Felix's dad died (and also sucked), we won't even get into Gabriel and Emilie. I think the only other "Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Show" parent we get no info on is Kagami's dad. So, where's Mr. Rossi?

Sick? Died? Missing? Divorced? Was he a nice guy? Equally neglectful? Did he know about Lila's lies? Did he encourage it? Ignore it? Is Mrs. Rossi acting like this cause of something to do with her husband? Is she mourning him? Did he cheat on her? Was she even ever married? Is Lila technically a bastard baby? Or is her mom truly a single mom - wanted a kid, went through IVF?

(I mean, I have similar questions about Kagami's dad, but if we keep the Sentimonster stuff, along with everything else, then it does actually make sense that Tomoe never had a romantic partner of any kind, she just wanted a kid/heir, no partner was involved at any point)

@tumblingxelian

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

followup fun facts about together, to that promised aquarium

this is gonna be just kinda a disorganized post of random things so uh. dont mind that.

the event title is actually a double reference ^^ its both a callback to 1dt with 1c promising to find time to do things as friends despite getting busier (even if theres no ichika this time), and also a reference to harusakis first kizuna!

colopale you still havent given us that aquarium they said theyd go to. theres a reason i had to do it myself. the fact that theres not an aquarium event in general is a crime tbh i know theres some romantic connotations with a pair going to an aquarium but theres very easy solutions to avoiding that? sending a group of 3+ characters together, having them run into other characters while there, inviting someone else along (even if they cant go, it helps make it feel more like a friend thing i think). i did a bit of the latter two, as you mightve noticed! in general though its just SUCH an obviously fun event theme i cant beleive we havent had one yet

while i am a known harusaki shipper, i kept the story pretty light on the stuff that could be read as explicitly shippy, since when im trying to make fake events, i like to think about how itd work in canon, which means keeping it low on explicit ship content. plenty of stuff that could be taken as ship food (as id like it to be!) but nothing that would alienate non shippers from enjoying the story too.

i actually didnt write shizukasas presence as intended for ship content at all though, but im definitely okay with people taking it that way lol they can be on a date too if you want them to be. my plan with them was simply theyre childhood friends too but dont get to spend time together that often anymore -> their schedules line up with a free day and tsukasa heard about the aquarium from saki, decides to invite shizuku to go there with him as a part of hanging out together -> surprise encounter with harusaki!

also both of them were scoring quite high on the form when i decided to lock in the lineup (tsukasa was absolutely sweeping the 2* category, and while shizuku wasnt winning anything, she was a pretty popular choice) and theyre very easy to work into a story together and also into a story that is focused on harusaki (╯▽╰ ) the benefits of siblings and unitmates

(tsukasa 2* poll sweep at the time of me solidifying my lineup)

the event and gacha names actually both came to me one night while i was about to fall asleep. struck by inspiration so strong i had to grab my phone and write them down in my notes app. and they actually worked very well! also heres the transparents of the logos if you want them i guess

the card/skill/costume names also mostly came to me in similar ways, in the last couple nights before i finished everything. i think only saki, luka, and shizukus skills didnt come to me that way.

while the rui fish in tsukasa card might be obvious, theres actually more animals referencing other characters too! theres a group of three fish in sakis card that are the colors of the rest of leoni, the sneakiest of the bunch, and also not quite as sneaky but maybe not as obvious as the rui fish is the airi and minori sea slugs :)

i did think about giving tsukasa fish to be emu and nene too, but that many differently colored fish in a 2* seemed like too much, so i didnt do it... at least of the units involved, 2/3 of them are fully represented in some way!

and now most importantly probably, is that this is in fact my second pass at an aquarium event! the original one i started back in 2022 and......... i think you guys can figure out why i couldnt just reuse it when i decided to go for making an aquarium event again this time.

yep, youre seeing that right. 4/5 of the characters i chose are the same as what ended up being 1dt, all i got wrong was the vs. thats pretty crazy, honestly. im still not fully convinced colopale isnt just stealing my ideas after val3 happened too /j

it was also saki focus actually! i had written out a rough idea for the story back then too, and while theres some similarities to the current one, it obviously went through a lot of changes when revising the lineup and also with everything that has happened in the story over the past two years. it was definitely a bit more explicitly shippy than my new attempt, although i still tried to keep the shipping stuff toned back somewhat

i only ever made one card for that set though, just lukas 2*... but thats the original reason i made the old 2* backgrounds! its always those fake events throwing me into the graphic design trenches (fist shake) i had been trying to do a more canon-accurate style to......... mixed success. its not terrible, but i definitely could not have done the full set like this. theres a reason i did promised aquarium in my own style!

the original theme for the set was kind of like..... performers at an aquarium? along with living water sculptures of animals. it was a fun idea, but i think i was much better suited to doing the underwater scenes of promised aquarium and also we have plenty of performance themed trained sets already ^^

considering i also technically kept her from the original set (plus she was also winning the vs poll), i gave her a higher rarity card this time around for fun. and also because i knew none of shizuku tsukasa or luka would have super significant roles in the story, and i thought it would be fun to design a lim hairstyle for her!

one final random fun fact: the thing that kicked me into gear making promised aquarium was the fact that haruka wasnt on beautiful sound. i was just a little mad that they had an underwater set WITH A PENGUIN COSTUME and there was no haruka. sometimes petty beef brings out my craziest motivations and then i proceeded to spend the better part of a month planning and making it happen.

[msookyspooky]

So... About the Severen poly situation with Jesse and DB... How do you think that would work? Asking because of science 😂 (nah I've also had my Thoughts✨ about it, but curious to see how you imagined it would be like 👀) also totally agree with Severen having the sexies for Caleb 😂 (not me going through the entire posts and tags of every single Near Dark writer ever because I'm desperate for more content 🥴🥴🥴)

OH! YES!

I doubt it's very often or a true closed throuple sort of relationship but he is definitely their plus one 😏🤫

I mean, I'm sure there have been many nights where it was just them 3 for decades...You're telling me they didn't invite Sev or he invited himself when Jesse and DB wanted to be intimate in a small space? Nah, DB probably pegged Sev once and either Sev was between Jesse and DB or DB was between Jesse and Sev (And she dominated both of them almost everytime)

I think they all have deep respect and love for each other but Severen isn't romantically involved with them either because he's a free spirit or aromantic or just doesn't view them that way but sex? Absolutely. 100%.

AND yeaaaahhh...Severen had the hots for Caleb idc. He did. What is this gay shit? "iT's CaUsE itS bLoOd-" OKAY. IT'S FOOD. I AINT NEVER SWIPED CARAMEL OFF MY FRIENDS FACE LIKE THAT ARM WRAPPED AROUND THEM MAKING EYE CONTACT AND PUT IT IN MY MOUTH UNLESS I WANTED MY MOUTH ON SOMETHING ELSE 😵🥴😭

This is a man wanting to explore another guys body idc!!!

Some ppl have been opening my eyes to Severen x Caleb x Mae in a new light. I can see Severen loving both of them like he loves Jesse and DB but both him and Mae hyper focusing solely on Caleb instead of each other. (Sev doesn't interact with Mae much other than protecting her in the movie or looking proudly at her a few times. Honestly? Sev and Mae and Sev and Homer feel like the only platonic relationships Sev has but Jesse and DB and Caleb?...Idk man. I'm just saying!)

Like Severen is everyone's designated spare fifth tire in the back. He is the plus one that just cozies himself into it. And he's so loyal and protective of his family that he loves them all the same in his asshole way.

Poor Homer is going outside to smoke pissed off as everyone/Severen with one of the couples is making out inside.

[littlefroginthegarden]

Sold to Heartsteel 1/24

its a liiiittle bit late but whatever... im trying to write an advents calendar fic, theres some buffer but ill write during the month so im also open to input if you have any good ideas :)

hope you enjoy!

Tags: semi-ironic adaptation of 'sold to one direction' trope so yeah theres obv selling involved, angst, fluff, friendship, romance, maybe smut, mlm, transmasc character, some transphobia but mostly just parents being shit but nothing explicit or slurs or stuff, yeah i think thats about it, ill update this if anything changes xoxo

Part 1

Hi, my name is Hwei and I’m a misunderstood artist. Well, that’s not exactly true. My Parents hate my art and they think it’s just a waste of time. But under the name DemonBrush I’m known all around the world, my art account just recently hit two million followers. Which didn’t help me at all in my real life. I’ve been 18 now for a few months but my parents still act like I’m 16. I haven’t finished school yet and I can’t move out because my anxiety has made working impossible so far. My parents don’t allow me to get therapy or meds and I’m on their insurance so there’s nothing I can do. I sigh and try to think about something else but looking out my small window into the dark December morning isn’t helping. I go and pull the curtains, turn on my fairy lights and sit at my small desk that is crammed between the bed and the heavy wooden dresser. 

My reflection stares at me in the mirror, dark shadows under my amethyst eyes, a sign that I slept terribly, once again. The nightmares wouldn’t leave me alone. I sigh and start doing my makeup, nothing bright, just some smudged dark eyeshadow and black eyeliner on my waterline. My mom was probably gonna complain again but I don’t care. Last week she told me “People might think you’re gay!” Yeah, sure mom. I mean, why do you think I have all these Heartsteel posters hanging in my room? Because I love their one song so much? But when she says "gay" she means "lesbian". She would have an aneurysm if I tried to explain to her that I’m trans. And then she would probably throw me out. As if she could read my thoughts, I hear her shouting from downstairs “Come down immediately, Hwa! I can hear that you’re up.”

Ugh.

I throw on a black oversized hoodie that matches my skinny jeans (also black) and put my dark juniper green hair in a messy bun before I run downstairs as quick as I can. Better not make mom wait, she’s awful enough as is.

When I enter the kitchen, I almost bump into a large man in a suit that is standing next to my mom.

“Oh fuck, sorry!” I quickly say, getting a death stare from my mom but for once she doesn’t even berate me for swearing. She just looks between me and this dude, who was wearing dark sunglasses (in December!) for some fucking reason.

“Who is this?” I ask after a few moments of awkward silence.

“My name is Mr. Mundo, nice to meet you, Hwa.” His voice fits his impressive stature perfectly.

My mother steps forward and puts her hand on my shoulder, looking at me more seriously than I have ever seen her. “You know that we haven’t had the easiest time since dad lost his job. And since you refuse to work and pay your share, we had no other choice.”

“What do you mean? What choice?” I ask, slowly starting to panic.

“You’ll go with Mr. Mundo, he has a job for you where you’ll work for six months. You’ll get a room and food and the money goes to pay back all the debt you owe us.”

“Debt? What do I owe you?”

“Darling, you've been living and eating here for free for 18 years!”

“This is insane!” I yell at her. “You’re selling me? You are a monster!”

“Selling? It’s just temporary honey, and it’s a decent job, don’t make it sound worse than it is!”

“You can’t do that, I’m an adult, you can’t force me!” At this point I’m full on panicking. This can’t be happening, it should just be another nightmare. But I know it’s real. My nightmares are way different.

“You are right and nobody is forcing you. But think about this, it would give you the perfect opportunity to get some good job experiences while at the same time helping out your family! Also –” she adds “if you don’t take this offer then you’ll have to pack your bags, we can’t pay for you any longer.”

“If you stayed off the booze you could.” I press through my teeth, anger winning over panic.

She just ignores it and tells me “Please Honey, think about it. If you go with Mr. Mundo at least you’ll have a roof and food. We just want what’s best for you! You’ll thank us in a few years, mark my words.” With this she turns around and leaves me alone in the kitchen with this absolute hunk of a man.

“Go pack your stuff, we leave in an hour.” He hands me a big suitcase before sinking down onto the washed-out red leather couch in the living room, turning the TV on, unfazed by all of this as if it was his daily job. Which it probably was.

Still in shock, I go back to my room and just stare at the mirror for a solid minute. I still haven’t processed what just happened but I start throwing my most important stuff into the suitcase. I have a lot of clothes but most of them are from my parents and I hate wearing them. So it’s not too difficult to fit all my favorite pieces into the suitcase, some skinny jeans, flowy tops and hoodies and of course accessories, I can’t leave my choker collection here. Then I go to my bed and from under the mattress I pull my binder. I put it under all the other things so it won’t be visible if my mom checks my suitcase. She would freak out. I gather the rest of the stuff, making sure I have my laptop, makeup and favorite books, and check the time. I still have 15 minutes left but at this point, the quicker I’m gone the better. I grab the heavy suitcase and try to carry it down the stairs. Two steps in I nearly slip and the suitcase crashes onto the step with a loud Thud. Before I’m even up I can hear heavy steps on the stairs.

Mr. Mundo grabs the suitcase without saying a word and carries it down. I awkwardly follow him, hoping my mom is distracted and hasn’t noticed the commotion. For once I seem to be lucky, she’s nowhere to be seen. At the door, Mr. Mundo turns around and asks me “Are you sure that you have everything? You won’t be able to come back here anytime soon.”

“Yeah I’m not planning on doing that anyways. Can we go?” I ask impatiently.

He doesn’t answer and just opens the door and walks down the driveway towards the black car with darkened windows that is waiting at the end of it. He puts my suitcase in the back of it with ease and opens the door in the back, gesturing for me to get in. I hesitate for a second, but when I can hear the front door of the house open again, I quickly get in before I can hear whatever my mother wants to tell me. He slams the door behind me and gets into the driver’s seat, which I can’t even see from back here because there’s a divider between the front and the back of the car. Like in a limousine. Or a cop car. It feels more like the latter, like I’m a prisoner.

The car rumbles to life and even though the windows are heavily tinted, I can see the shadows of trees racing past us. Where are we going?

[darkfinch]

it is christmas at babusia's house of murderchildren!! what do people get rabbit? what festive treats or traditions does he gravitate towards? (do that many cats make a decorated tree unwise)

Merry christmas in july!!

Baba’s cats are suspiciously well trained because everyone at Baba’s is suspiciously well-trained, so the tree is mostly left alone - Rabbit (tall, good uncle) comes down to help decorate it early in the season with any younger kids in the family. He’s the guy lifting babies up to put the star on top because he’s 100 feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been made by him :) some have been painted by murderchildren :) they are doing the strings of popcorn/dried oranges thing it's all very cute

Rabbit predictably is the worst person to get things for because he actively does not want anything. The shelves in his cabin are for pickled root vegetables and little wooden fish he’s going to paint later, leave him alone you are giving him an inconvenience. you gift-wrapped a burden. What’s he going to do, build another shelf? Please no items.

Traditional Rabbit Burdens are as follows:

—From baba, a sweater/socks/scarf that matches quinn’s christmas gift sweater/socks/scarf. this is tradition. they both act like it’s a delightful coincidence every time :3 matching lads :3 :)

—From Quinn, wood carving tools (risky, but quinn is Gun Specifications Georg he does research he knows what rabbit has and what he needs and what he’s ok with having be bought by someone else etc); books he thinks Rabbit might like; paint sets; a photo album of cool pictures he took that year since you know rabbit you don’t leave the cabin you probably haven’t seen a beach in a decade (shut up) do you remember what buildings look like (shut up) 

—From Masha, usually baked goods (she baked them <3 sometimes they are rabbit-shaped <3 sometimes they are weird flavours that only he specifically will enjoy due to he has no tastebuds <3) or really fancy jam that he would never in a million years buy for himself because *rabbit voice* dont fuckin buy jam you can make jam. fruit’s free (he loves the jam) 

—From Alina (Nadiya), fancy cigars. Rabbit smokes once every 3.5 months when he hits a wall of “i need a vice or i’m gonna do some ophelia shit in the river outside” and she thinks he should treat himself etc. Also occasionally Very Expensive Alcohol because Rabbit only drinks during family gatherings and, again, treat yourself

(No one else is daring to hand rabbit an item)

Rabbit prefers to sit in the corner of all festivities with a few cats, in his quinn-mandated party hat, not making conversation. however he’s also been a participant in the decades-long annual board game/card game grudge match between quinn and several other cousins, gambling is involved, there is yelling (rabbit is not yelling rabbit is sitting in his chair petting a kitty and enjoying the satisfaction of being a champion at, like, cribbage <3). 

Other activities: eating a superhuman amount of food in absolute silence with beloved nephew chattering next to him. Nodding at people who are singing holiday songs and resolutely not participating. Losing to Quinn at darts and pretending to be grumpy about it. He also occasionally joins in on the arm wrestling later in the night if he thinks someone else is getting too cocky and needs to feel bad abt themselves for a minute