#SOMEBODY hug this sad creature IMMEDIATELY

[whattheheckisatazelwurm]

Absolutely obsessed with this specific frame of Mike. Pathetic wet dog of a man (complement)

[for-those-who-wait]

it hurts me to ask this, but how would blorbo!Hunter respond to the death of flapjack…

Blorbo Hunter has cat brain where he doesn't really have a complex thought process (there's another ask about this in my inbox that I'll answer once I doodle some more, I'll try to go more in-depth about it then) so I think it would be that situation where one of your pets passes and the other is confused about why their buddy isn't around anymore and why their owner is suddenly very sad

I would really like to make a comic about it but it would take a while and my brain is mush so, taking crack seriously, I think it would happen like this (very limited memory of what happens in the beginning of For the Future):

Blorbo Hunter is probably in somebody's pocket or bag for the whole altercation with Belos in Thanks to Them, so he didn't actually witness anything. Everyone is very torn up about it after they go through the portal, the blorbo is a little confused about why Hunter looks sad and weird, but he's just kind of chilling. Hunter can't really stand to look at the blorbo for a bit (something about anxiety about loss and wanting to distance himself emotionally as a coping mechanism) so he passes him off to Luz and the gang to watch over while he broods in the corner at the Owl House like normal. Blorbo Hunter is just hanging out, he's kind of wondering what's up since I think Flapjack would be as constant a presence for blorbo Hunter as he is for regular Hunter and he's similarly not used to not having that presence nearby. They are friends, they love each other, and he wants to know where his friend is!

I think blorbo Hunter has a little bit of a signal thing going where he'll make little gestures about things he wants (he just learned that Flapjack is more likely to interact with him if he opens his arms like he wants a hug, and he kept doing it). So the gang is familiar by now that when he splays his little arms out, he's referencing Flapjack. And he doesn't actually do that until they're all calming down, slowly trying to fall asleep at the Owl House, and he finally wriggles away to find Hunter (because he follows him absolutely freaking everywhere and he might as well have a natural homing beacon for that boy)

Hunter's not really trying to sleep, he's been Irreparably Traumatized, and blorbo Hunter climbs onto him and splays his arms out like "Where's Flapjack?" since Hunter usually knows where he is, and blorbo Hunter has associated Hunter with Flapjack appearing. Hunter isn't even sure if he should respond to that, because he knows by now that the blorbo just can't really understand the concept of loss like that. Hunter's probably tearing up a bit by now because of all the stress and emotions he's shoving down, and now he's got this innocent little thing looking up at him for guidance that he feels he's incapable of providing because Flapjack, the one thing the blorbo is asking for, is gone in a way that Hunter can't explain and the blorbo can't understand.

Blorbo Hunter, ever the cat, at least recognizes that Hunter's upset. The blorbo climbs up onto his chest, probably lays right up against his chin, and just sits there for the sake of closeness and an attempt at comfort. And for his part, I think Hunter would just grieve a lot about it because Flapjack was probably there to help him process even accepting blorbo Hunter in the first place (I think Flapjack would immediately love the blorbo and would have to spend a long time convincing Hunter to give him a chance as well), and now he's left with the guilt of having initially disliked the blorbo and also killing his friend. Like "I killed Flapjack with the hand that I am currently using to try and comfort this weird clone-cat-creature he was friends with, I'm so incredibly messed up and terrible for this."

This child can fit so much trauma and self-hatred in him holy crap

ANYWAY sorry for the ramble, hopefully that answers the question, thank you for asking it :))

[celestialarchon]

The Celestial Archon

Chapter Two: The Moonlight Phenomenon

Genshin Impact x F! Reader

Warnings: major Genshin Impact Spoilers! Possible grammar errors.

Tag list: To Be Added. (sorry it needed to be published!)

With the return of a mysterious archon, celebrations began! The night was filled with laughter, food, and memories being made. One person was amiss during the celebration, Mona still found herself unsettled and unable to be as excited as the others. An eerie feeling of unrest and anxiety has settled over our esteemed astrologist as our beloved heroes celebrate.

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“I’ve finally found you,” Mona’s intense astrology session was interrupted by a cheery high pitched voice.

“Hello, Seraphim.” Mona turned to greet the beautiful woman.

She nearly gasped as the woman walked in, her hair now styled and her eyes shining brighter than before, the mysterious tattoos seemed to have faded and though she was still striking she looked far more human than before. The Celestial Archon merely smiled at the woman’s surprise and stepped towards her, hand out.

“We should talk, my child. Fate had brought us together, an astrologist with a water vision instead of a celestial vision is strange enough.” The woman was calm but not cold as Mona took her hand.

Mona was warm as the gentle archon interlocked their fingers and led her to the corner of the room, sinking down into a comfy chair and pointing at the one next to her. Disappointment creeped up in the astrologist as her idol released her hand. It was quickly replaced with embarrassment and a soft flush across her cheeks. Mona was wholeheartedly captured by the mystery goddess.

“I’m sure you’re aware,” The bright eyes goddess sighed, “That my arrival in Teyvat has stirred up some trouble.”

Mona frowned slightly, “There was already trouble, your sudden appearance is not the cause of it.”

“That’s good, but I still feel that my presence is going to stir the pot a bit. I am connected to all the stars and spaces of this world, I can feel and see things so deeply and I am well aware that there are challenges coming. It’s annoying in some ways.” Her eyes were distant again.

Words were lost on Mona for a moment. She couldn’t begin to imagine how stressful it was to feel so deeply, to constantly be overwhelmed by information and one’s connection to the world. Every piece of text written about the Celestial Archon was very vague. Information on the god of stars was hard to find and many details had been lost, yet one thing seemed to stay the same in ever piece of information Mona had consumed.

Even when the world was teeming with elemental energy and gods were far more common, the goddess of the sky, Seraphim, was an oddity. Before the Archon war, Seraphim was a lone wolf being without many ties. The last god of stars kept to herself and had no desire to interfere with the other’s problems, despite knowing so much of them. It was incredibly lonely and sad.

“You said it’s strange that I have a water vision,” Mona finally spoke.

“Yes,” The archon clicked her tongue, “Had I been around, somebody like you would’ve received a vision from me. However, you did not receive one of my visions and ultimately that should’ve impacted your abilities over astrology but it did not. You are quite the gifted character, aren’t you Miss Mona?”

Mona’s face was tomato red at the words of the beloved celestial archon, “I am honored to be complimented by the goddess of stars.”

“You’re very formal,” The starry eyed goddess laughed.

“Excuse me,” the two were interrupted by none other than the acting grandmaster, “I would like a word with the Lady of the Stars.”

Mona was hesitant, not wanting her idol to slip away but nodded and escorted the woman to the door. She was a bit dissatisfied with the conversation they’d had, wanting to know more and more of her long awaited god. The woman turned back to Mona, eyes twinkling, and embraced her. The normally level headed and somewhat haughty astrologist stiffened in shock but returned the warm hug. A sigh escaped Mona’s mouth, but she didn’t mind. The goddess was warm and something about her affection put Mona at peace.

“I am so lucky that somebody as beautiful and gifted as you awaited my return, Mona Megistus. Until we meet again, my darling.” The woman’s grasp around Mona tightened as she whispered in her ear.

The water mage watched as the strange goddess gracefully glided away with Jean. She was ethereal with the moonlight filtering in from tall windows, her skin illuminated as she hung on to every word Jean said. Even the confident and ever busy acting grandmaster found butterflies swarming her abdomen at the sight of the goddess. Jean felt as if she could be swept away by the young woman.

A part of Jean felt guilty for several reasons. As acting grand master, it was her duty to know about the citizens of Mond, it was her duty to work without personal emotions interfering, and her duty to oversee the safety of all the wind borne citizens. The Celestial Archon was challenging all of these duties. It was only natural for an astrologist to be obsessed with a god of stars, and Jean had interrupted the conversation. The Dandelion Knight couldn’t help but feel an innocent sort of crush on the goddess, she was kind and beautiful and she really seemed to want to get to know everyone. Ultimately, Jean was also aware of the danger a new archon posed.

Even so, the beautiful knight couldn’t help but want to push all those thoughts aside and capture the attention of the goddess for hours. She shook off that thought, attempting to focus on her duty as Mondstat’s respected Grand Master. Jean explained the general politics of the city of freedom and the individual jobs of the knights of favonious. She even went as far as to explain the adventurer’s guild and the recent trouble with Storm Terror. The Celestial Archon hung on to every word, nodding and asking occasional questions.

Jean took the time to explain the place they were in, a place between Mondstat and Liyue, and the teleport points that marked both countries. She was diligent and had already prepared some documents for the 8th Archon, maps and other things needed in the world. Jean had even communicated with others to ensure each safe place for the archon was marked. The allied domain was the middle ground, but Mondstat welcomed the new Archon with a living place and much to do. Liyue had also prepared a small home in the city for her.

The archon stared in wonder at the map. The knights of Favonious had prepared a room for her in their own head quarters, even the esteemed Tycoon had set aside a room. Wangshuu Inn welcomed her and Liyue Harbor gave her quarters close to Rex Lapis. Small notes were written for her, both Xiao and Diluc noted the stars were best seen from where they were while the traveler and Paimon had starred their favorite places to eat.

“Ah, Master Jean.” The Goddess spoke slowly, bowing.

“Please, Seraphim, there’s no reason to be so formal!” Jean’s voice rose nervously, “You are an archon after all.”

“Yes, that’s true. You do not serve me though, please refer to me as my chosen name. Formalities aren’t my taste much.” The Archon remarked bashfully.

Jean nodded, rose dusting her cheeks.

“I,” The Archon sighed, “Really need an open space so I can, uh, deal with my weapon situation.”

“Oh, oh!” Realization hit Jean.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” Jean babbled nervously, “Here let us go out to the cliffs, it should be okay, right?”

“Mhm,” The goddess followed the knight to the exit.

Aether and Paimon were also by the exit, turning at the sound of approaching foot steps. Aether grinned and waved at the Celestial Archon, she waved back and beamed. Paimon immediately took off, throwing herself into the Archons arms as the woman giggled. Jean’s face was priceless, attempting to process how this small otherworldly creature could just tackle and archon without shame.

Aether and his companion followed the two women, curious about the weapon another archon would wield. The group made their way to the edge of the cliff, the stars seeming extra bright and the moon full. The goddess lowered herself, feet on the lush grass and put her hand forth, palm out. Swiftly, she struck the air in front of her with her pointer finger, an unfamiliar constellation connecting at each point.

“Return to your master, Destroyer of Divinity.” Her words were clear and calm.

The constellation burst into a ray of white light, Aether covered his eyes as Paimon whined. Darkness fell again and he opened his eyes, gasping at the sight in front of him. The goddess held a long weapon close to her body, above her shoulder was a large opalescent curved blade, below the hip on the opposite side, another shimmering curved blade could be seen. No weapon in Teyvat was even similar.

“I-Is is that a scythe?!” Jean sputtered.

“Aha, well yes,” The goddess blushed at their reactions, “Destroyer of Divinity is an unusual weapon, meant to slice through dimensional and spatial barriers. I didn’t mean to shock you.”

Aether stood, mouth agape, “Even its name is terrifying! What the hell?”

“Ahahaha,” the archon continued to laugh nervously, “Well, its existence is basically to bring judgement from the heavens upon those deserving so yeah it’s a bit intimidating.”

Aether nearly screamed. How could she say something so casually?

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The traveler was feeling a bit nervous, as anybody would if an Archon decided to tag along for their daily commissions. Paimon and the Celestial Archon chattered away as Aether spoke to the Katheryne in Liyue. It did not help that the three had left before the others awoke and the Celestial Archon had left a note declaring it as a “friendly date.”

The last thing Aether wanted was to piss off literally any of the adepti, the Geo Archon himself, and even Jean who had taken a very noticeable interest in the goddess. A cloud seemed to look over the blonde but Paimon didn’t notice. The eighth Archon gave the teenager a sympathetic smile and put her hand on his shoulder, attempting to ease his nerves. Only one thing could make the situation worse, and unfortunately that particular thing was heading straight towards Aether.

“Let’s run,” Aether grabbed the startled archon’s wrist and dragged her to the teleport point nearby, ignoring the calls of a certain troublesome individual.

The archon chuckled, “I didn’t know daily commissions would be so exciting!”

Aether smiled sheepishly and let go of her wrist, trying to focus on which commission to start with. He was distracted by a sudden commotion, people yelled out as a hooded figure darted past the trio. Liyue Harbor’s guards thundered after the thief, knocking the poor panicked goddess off her feet.

The eight archon shut her eyes and prepared for the impact of the fall, but was yanked back by a pair of strong arms.

“Hey, girlie. Hold still.” A charming voice said.

The goddess watched as the lanky ginger haired man moved forward and shot an arrow, narrowly missing all the guard and hitting the suspicious character in the back. Aether’s eyes were filled with shock and panic at the sight of the man. Immediately, the goddess side stepped away from her hero, on high alert.

“Now,” He turned to her beaming, “What exactly is such a beautiful young lady doing with this kiddo?”

Her starry eyes met his azure eyes, “I’m just a new adventurer from Mondstat, learning the ropes from the best.”

“Hmm?” His gaze was questioning, “Well then, I’m Childe. Number 11 of the Fatui Harbingers. We should definitely get to know each other.”

The goddess moved to Aether in a quick swift movement. Suddenly, she wanted very much to escape Liyue Harbor. The Fatui were trouble, the goddess was new to the era but even she knew that they were dangerous. It was one of the first matters addressed at her arrival. She no longer knew the Cryo Archon, and this Tsarita sounded troubling.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” an annoyed voice chimed in, averting the red head’s attention.

A shorter man with a large hat and ominous aura stood behind the tall harbinger. Aether tensed up and the goddess wrapped her arm around his shoulder. Slowly, the trio made their escape at the expense of Childe. The older harbinger was chewing the younger man out for flirting and wasting time, both harbingers bickered as the traveler and his companions fled.

“You shouldn’t be wasting time on trying to get laid you, fool.” Scaramouche scowled, still ripping into his subordinate. “Especially not that woman, even from a mile away I can tell she’s trouble. You’re a harbinger not a host, get your shit together, Tartaglia.”

Childe smirked, looking down on his superior, “So you noticed her, too. I wonder what someone like that is doing with my favorite traveler.”

“We should alert the Tsarita of that girl,” Scaramouche mumbled, avoiding the earlier comment.

“I actually agree,” Childe’s eyes narrowed, “I was hoping to see for myself what she is, but that kid stopped me of course. There’s something strange about her but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I can charm it out of her?”

Scaramouche slapped his comrades back, “Let’s go you useless fucking playboy.”

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Wangshuu Inn looked beautiful and the aroma of food was far too enticing. Aether sighed as he watched his small, chubby companion chase after the eighth archon. The woman was supposed to be divine, yet in some ways he reminded her of a puppy or a kitten. She was somewhat moody with her affections and spacey like a kitten may be, and still somehow clingy and energetic like a puppy.

Luckily for the two, Aether had a commission from Verr Goldet. The blonde tried to maintain composure as he saw a familiar dark haired yaksha speaking with the Inn Keeper, not wanting to admit he’d accidentally led the Fatui straight to the Archon. The traveler watched in fascination and amusement as Verr’s face twisted from composed to horrified when Xiao was knocked over by the goddess. The conqueror of demons merely grunted and stood back up, clutching the ethereal woman to his chest.

Xiao’s eyes were cold as they met Aether’s, clearly annoyed with the boy, but his expression softened at the yawning goddess in his arms. Once again, the traveler was overcome with curiosity at her behavior. Only moments ago the woman was bubbly and hyper, now her eyes were fluttering and she was snuggling up to one of the most dangerous beings in Teyvat. Without a word, the tattooed man spun around and carried the goddess upstairs.

“I’m here for your com-“ Aether began.

“Who was that?!” Verr Goldet burst out, “I’ve never seen Adeptus Xiao so damn agreeable. What just happened? Is this a dream?”

Paimon giggled, “He loooooves her! That person is the one we told you about before! Even Xiao can’t be in a bad mood around her, it’s amazing!”

“Oh,” Verr blushed at Paimon’s words, “She’s that person? No wonder he’s been so restless.”

“Wait, restless?” Aether questioned.

Verr Sighed and beckoned the two to a guest free area. The two followed her into a small back room, exchanging glances. The boss lady pulled out an old book and brushed the dust away. Aether and Paimon peered down at the book, puzzled by its appearance. It was a dark leather with carvings of the moon and clouds on the front.

Carefully, Verr flipped the book open and turned it to the two. Paimon shot up, shrieking. The book looked like a book you’d find in a library but was strange. Instead of ongoing text, the pages had scraps and pieces stuck on the pages with various notes scribbled around. Verr turned to the first page, placing her middle finger at the beginning text and giving Aether and expectant look. The traveler leaned down and began to read the text.

“The moonlight phenomenon: Legend of Liyue.

It is said that there was once a ruler of the stars, one who ruled over the sky as the Gods rule over our land. When tides of war overcame Liyue, Rex Lapis sought out the monarch of the sky to form a contract.

Seraphim granted Rex Lapis the moonlight phenomenon. Liyue’s skies were never to dim even on the darkest of nights, the moon and stars would remain as guides for Liyue always. It is said that this contract assisted in bringing the evil gods to their doom, the sky illuminating the way to victory for Liyue and all of Teyvat.”

Verr flipped the page as Aether exhaled trying to wrap his mind around the strange passage.

“The Contract: Seraphim and Rex Lapis.

The circumstances of the moonlight phenomenon still remain unknown. It is an ancient mystery that many still attempt to solve, what exactly did the Geo Archon barter for his people?

Nobody knows, still. However, the most common theories are that the contract has not been fulfilled or that there was no contract to begin with. Many believe that Rex Lapis and Seraphim were secret lovers, and this was Seraphim’s gift to her beloved. Others hypothesize that Seraphim’s wish was never fulfilled, as her death sealed the victory for The Seven Archons.”

Aether shuddered. People in Liyue believe that The Celestial Archon died in the Archon war? Verr flipped to a page in the middle of the book.

“Liyue’s Priestess Seraphim

It is said that a woman with eyes vast like the galaxy beyond and mysterious astrological powers once enchanted all of Liyue.

Seraphim, the last Celestial wielder was Liyue’s last hope. Though she is not honored as an archon, she is known vaguely as a priestess. The woman who captured the attention of the archon’s themselves and was adored by the Adepti. Few remain, but Liyue’s legends claim that the priestess of the stars was the lover of Rex Lapis, the lover of the Vigilant Yaksha, or the lover another adepti.

Even fewer discuss the devastation that occurred when she fell from grace. Her death was the catalyst of the only known battle between Liyue’s very own Archon, The Anemo Archon and his people, and the Adepti. A lesser known battle that almost forced both Mondstat and Liyue into Civil Wars.

When the dust settled, all that stood was the full moon. Many Adepti still honor the priestess under the moonlight by fighting evil spirits and demons.”

Aether’s eyes widened at Verr. She solemnly shook her head as the traveler’s face fell. Xiao, Ganyu, Zhongli, Venti, all of them suffered so terribly. It was confusing to the boy that every text described the Celestial Archon as deceased. His head began to hurt from the information. Verr sighed and led him back out.

“Once you finish commissions, why don’t you two stay here? I’ll prepare a room for you,” The boss was sympathetic.

Aether grimaced but nodded, leading Paimon out to finish their duties.

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Somewhere in the shadows of Wangshuu Inn crept a Fatui agent, slipping away as the traveler set out. The shadowy figure grinned at the piece of paper in their hand.

“Protected by the traveler and the Adepti. Master Childe will be interested in this,” His eyes were dark as he approached his fellow Fatui agents, “She could be very useful to us, this (Y/N).”

The suspicious shadows began to slink away, overcome with desire to inform their boss of the new information. Only a few feet away, a strange creature ducked down to avoid being seen by the agents, fidgeting.

“The angel is here!” The creature shrieked as the cult like group left it’s sight, “(Y/N) will be ours.”

[azurevi]

Fluff 49 with the octa trio please? Thank you :333

49. “Is somebody jealous?” with octavinelle

Thanks for requesting! I hope this is good enough 😔

Azul

Your relationship with Azul is so secure that one might even comment about how laid back you are. But both of you know better than anyone that you love each other, and there's nothing to worry about at all.

Well, that's what Azul would like to think, but recently his heart has been betraying his words a lot. In his defense, you've been getting pretty close with someone else. It's not as though he doesn't trust you, no, it is your friend whom he doubts.

He's pretty sure he isn't imagining things, that the flirtations and sly glances and unneeded physical touches are signs that your friend wants more than just friendship from you. Although you've never responded to any of his attempts, he still feels a weird feeling boiling in his chest everytime they get a little too close to you.

It sucks more when he has to stay at Mostro Lounge and work overtime, because that means your friend can take the opportunity and snatch you away. He's grateful that you always come back to him after the day, but he can't get rid of the uneasiness. Perhaps he's scared. You may have told him times and times that you love him, but he admits that there's still something which your friend possesses and he doesn't. There's a constant voice in the back of his head, taunting him about how he isn't as good as them. Sometimes it's so loud that he just wishes to turn it off.

Your friend is getting bolder and bolder by day. Even when you and Azul are clearly having alone time, they will shamelessly join in, and being a nice person you never turn them down. Azul wishes you would though, but he doesn't want to upset you by being selfish.

You aren't oblivious though. It's clear as day how uncomfortable Azul acts around them -- his posture stiffens and his head tilts up slightly, eyes ever so cold but his fingers are always restless. He never confirms anything though, so for a while you just decide to let it slide, but he's been looking so bothered lately that you make up your mind to lure the truth out of him.

"Hey," you knock on the door to his VIP room. His eyes basically shine at the sight of you. 

"I thought you're going out with your friend," he says instead, once again lacking subtlety.

"I was, but I turned them down at the last minute,'

Azul flicks his gaze up. "You did? Why?"

"I don't know, maybe because someone is sulking?"

He doesn't have to say anything. His avoiding glances already reveal enough. "I'm not sulking," comes his futile, weak defense.

"Really? Then what's going on?"

After a moment of silence Azul puts down his pen, burying his face in his head as if in exasperation. "It's nothing… you've just been spending time with them a lot,"

Your brow arch curiously. "No way. Is somebody jealous?"

Blood shoots to his cheeks, painting the tips of his ears red. He looks like a child caught red handed for stealing candies during midnight. 

"I'm not- I- fine. I am a little jealous, alright? But I trust you. It's them I don't trust," he nudges his head to the side, as if your friend is standing right there. "I may be overthinking things, but I think they're interested in you,"

"Are they?" you recall the times you spent together, trying to pick up possible hints. At your serious expression Azul waved you off, "As I said, it's just me overthinking. Don't fuss over it,"

"That won't do, you're clearly troubled," you walk to his side, prompting him to turn to you. "How about we do this, I make sure to draw the line between us and spend more time with you. Will that make you feel better?"

"You don't have to. I'm not a child who whines when his mother disappears for a minute."

"No you aren't. What you are is my partner, and I am willing to do anything to comfort you, alright?" you plant a kiss on his cheek, noting how hot his face is. "I'm sorry for neglecting you,"

"You don't have to apologize…" he mumbles, although his originally furrowed brows have relaxed significantly. Knowing that you're going to be there for him no matter what is already enough for him to ease his worries.

Jade

Jade adores you. It isn't anything surprising, basically the whole school knows about it. It isn't as if he tries to hide it anyways. He loves to shower you with affection even when you're in public, more so when you're having alone times. His affection is gentle and understanding, which is one of the many reasons you fell for him, but you've never expected these qualities to become the source of your plaguing worries.

Jade's smile is one of a kind. It can be benevolent and hostile at the same time, and it can be as venomous as it can be soothing. As someone who has to constantly deal with customers by Azul's side, he has mastered the ability to please someone with his appearance. And being the serious businessman that he is, he seldom acts recklessly.

That explains why he's caught the attention of one business partner, and for the past few days they've been asking Jade to accompany them around the campus. You shouldn't feel jealous about it, really, it's part of his job after all, but you can't help comparing the both of you and realizing how you lack the same charisma that they hold. However, you decide to keep it to yourself, not wanting to come off as a clingy and inconsiderate partner.

There's only one thing that you fail to realize, which is how sharp Jade's eyes are. It's true that he has been spending less time with you lately, but during the scarce moments when you're together he can already figure out what is clouding your mind.

"Good evening, my dear," Jade arrives at the Ramshackle dorm after work as usual, to steal more time with you. His workload may be burdening, but he never misses any chance to be around you.

"How's work?" you ask casually, trying not to bring up the fact that he was once again asked to entertain the client and had to cancel your lunch together.

"Work's fine," he reaches out and pulls you towards him just as you walk to hang his jacket, planting a long, deep kiss on your forehead. "How was your day?"

"Fine," you frown a little.

"Is that right? You seem to look upset though," he leans back to get a good look at your face, but you bow your head down in embarrassment. "I'm not upset,"

It seems that you're not going to give up your secret easily.

"Is somebody jealous?"

Your head shoots up, eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

Jade chuckles. "I asked whether you're jealous. I know I've been occupied lately, and I don't want you to feel lonely,"

"I'm not lonely. I understand that you have responsibilities," you mumble, still too stubborn to admit what's going on in your mind.

"That's true, but I am also your boyfriend, am I not? Making you feel loved is my responsibility too," he cups your cheeks with his palms, fitting your face in his hold and looking at you with the soft look that's reserved only for you. "Don't worry. Even when I'm busy, I'm always thinking about you,"

His honesty brings a blush to your cheeks and you wrap your arms around him in an attempt to hide your flustered countenance. 

"Thank you, Jade."

"Of course, my love."

Floyd

Dating Floyd means that you're going to be loved for every single moment in your life. Floyd is physically affectionate, and he's definitely going to give you tackle hugs at any given chance. Be prepared to have him stick around and shower you with kisses and touches. With his constantly overflowing affections for you it's really hard for you to feel jealousy and envy.

Well, that's before the rabbit comes between the two of you.

You still can't believe that you're jealous of a goddamn rabbit, but here you are. Perhaps you've been getting too used to Floyd and his intimacy that the moment he averts his attention, you immediately feel hollow.

The two of you found this fellow outside your dorm, shivering in the cold and seemingly lost. Floyd took an interest to the small creature almost immediately and seems to have forgotten about you. You're sure he doesn't intend to ignore you, but suddenly losing his fondness just makes you feel out of place.

You refuse to act on your feelings though. What will he say if he finds out how needy you are? Perhaps he will deem you too hard to please or even a nuisance… you shake your head at the thought, returning to watching him play with the bunny.

"Oh, aren't you the cutest~" Floyd buries his face into the soft white fur, giggling at himself. At your silence he turns to you, only to find you seemingly troubled as your eyebrows knit together. 

"Y/N~" he calls out and pouts when there's no response. He scoots over to you and pokes your face, only then is he successful in getting your attention. 

"Is something wrong?" he asks, resting his jaw on his palm with an interested shine in his eyes. 

"Nothing," you shake your head, nudging your head towards the rabbit. "Why don't you go and spend some more time with it? I'm sure it's getting lonely,"

Floyd is quiet for a while, face blank as the gears in his head work. After a moment, he breaks into a small smile. "I only left for a minute, it's not going to get lonely that easily…" you gulp at his words that suddenly seem to carry a hidden meaning. "What about you? Are you feeling deserted, somehow? Or better! Is someone jealous~?"

"I'm not," you quickly retort. Floyd laughs, throwing his head back carefreely. "I think you are though? Are you sad because I haven't been giving you love lately?"

You grunt, unwilling to answer any more of his questions which he already has the answers to. Seeing your annoyed expression, he decides to drop his teasing. "Alright~ I will show you more love, alright?" he wraps you in his arms, bringing you close to his chest and swaying you from side to side. You're not going to admit it, but you've missed this.

"Next time you want hugs and kisses, you only need to ask~" he says in a sing-songy voice, chuckling as you denies ever having such desires.

[bleachanimefan1]

The Song Of The Titan

Chapter Twenty-Five,

Hunter flew with Azara, who had been silent the entire time. He shot glances down at her every now and then, worried. What could he say? The two of them both saw her mother get killed in front of their eyes. He had no experience with these type of things.

"A-Azara, are you okay?" he asked her, worried. Jewel chirped on her shoulder, worried as well.

"I'm fine." she quietly told them, not looking at either of them.

 Soon, they caught up to the others as they landed in front of the owl house. The two hopped off from the red cardinal palisman and it transformed back. Hooty saw them as the group arrived, calling out to them.

"Hey, guys, your back and you got Azara! That's great! Everyone's back safe and sound!" Hooty smiled. Azara's eyes widened a little as she tensed up, looking down at the ground. The air went dead silent as nobody said a word. Luz shifted her gaze over at Hunter and Azara, focused on her, concerned.

"What's with the look everyone? Your acting like somebody died!" Hooty smiled.

"Hooty! Not right now. Now's, not a great time for jokes." Eda frowned. The owl beast shot her a confused look before looking over at Azara. What happened?

"Oh, there's a visitor for you, King! It's your dad!" King's eyes widened in surprise as did everyone else, seeing Oberon stepped out as Hooty opened the door, revealing himself. King jumped down from Eda and ran over to him, tackling right into his arms.

"Dad!" He cried out, happy to see him.

"Hello, little one. I'm glad to see that your safe." the creature replied softly with a small smile. 

"Why are you here?" Eda asked.

"I saw the entire thing, what happened at the castle, while it was being broadcasted." He explained and looked over at Raine, who was still unconscious in the blight twins arms. He walked over to them, standing in front of Raine. He looked down at the witch's coven mark, seeing the vines of magic that was paralyzing them. He lifted Rain's wrist and tapped the brand with his finger as it was glowing. Eda narrowed her eyes at him, wary.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she questioned.

"Fixing your friend." King's dad assured her. Everyone's eyes widened in shock to see the vines that were encasing Raine, retreated back into the coven brand, releasing the witch from it's spell. Adding more to their shock, they also saw the mark, fade completely from Raine's wrist. Raine groaned as they slowly opened their eyes, seeing everyone in front of them then looked over at Eda.

"Hey, dingus..." Raine smiled softly. "What's with the sad look on your face? It doesn't suit you. I thought that you were tougher than that." 

Eda teared up and immediately ran over to the witch bard, throwing her arms around them. "Raine!" They hugged her back.

Everyone watched, smiling happily, at them. 

"What's going on?" Azara tensed up as she heard her brother, John, seeing him standing by the door. He noticed her and smiled and ran over to her and Hunter, hugging her. "Azara! You're back! You're okay! I was so worried!" Azara flinched, tensing up a little as he hugged her, then she quickly returned it. How was she going to tell him? 

"I'm glad to see that you're okay." she smiled. "I'm fine." Hunter frowned, looking at her worried.

John pulled back, looking at her. "When are we going back home? I miss mom." Azara's eyes widen a little more, before she bit her bottom lip. She felt her eyes starting to burn as she wiped them. She had to tell him. She had to tell him the truth.

"Azara?" John looked at her, turning his head, confused. "What's wrong?"

Azara sighed and placed her hands on Johns shoulders, looking into his eyes. "John,...we can't see mom anymore."

John's eyes widened and he stepped back away from her. He made a nervous smile. "Come on, Azara. This isn't funny. Of course, we're going to see her! You promised that we would! She's waiting back home for us to come back! She's probably just as worried as we are!" Azara shook her head, sadly looking at him.

"Mom is dead." John's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

"You see, mom has been keeping secrets from us. I don't know whether is was to protect us or something. But, there's something that you should know. She was not a human. She was a witch, the good witch Azura." John's eyes went even wider. "Belos killed her."

Her brother stared at her in complete and utter disbelief, before shaking his head frantically. "No, no, no...you're lying! Mom is not dead!" Tears were streaming from his eyes as he cried. Azara pulled him closer to her, hugging him.

"I'm sorry, John! But, it's the truth!" she cried as well. He cried into her shoulder.

"You're lying."

Everyone watched sadly, neither of them no sure of what to do or say. Eda walked over to the two, placing her hands on their shoulders.

"Well, there's one thing you got wrong, kid. Your mom fought bravely so that she could protect you two. You're welcome to stay at the owl house for as long as you need. We're practically family, now."

Azara smiled softly as she looked up at her. "Thanks, Eda."

"So, what are going to do now?" Luz asked.

"Let's rest and recover first. Then we'll decide on what to do about Emperor Belos." Eda told them.

Everyone walked into the owl house as Hooty opened the door letting them inside. Hunter looked back noticing that Azara and John still hadn't moved from their place. "Are you coming?" he asked, looking at her. Azara smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes," she looked down at John, worried. He had been dead silent the entire time and refused to look at anyone as he stared at the ground. She took his hand, pulling him with her and the three walked into the house.

A couple of hours later, everyone was sitting in the living room trying to figure out on what to do next.

However, Azara's brother, John, was not with them. Azara frowned, looking towards the kitchen, concerned. What was taking so long? He said that he was hungry and wanted something to eat from the kitchen and went in. But, that was 15 minutes, ago. She got up and walked inside, only to find that he wasn't there. Her eyes widened as she saw the drawer that was filled with knives completely opened and the window leading outside opened as well.

She immediately ran back into the living room to everyone. 

"John's gone!" she shouted.  Everyone's eyes widened in shock and in surprise. Eda and Raine stood up, looking at her.

"Slow down, kid. What do you mean, he's gone?" she asked.

"He's not there!" Azara cried out. Hunter got up, walking over to her.

"We'll, find him. He couldn't have gone too far." he tried to reassure her. Azara took his hand and nodded her head.

"Let me go!" Everyone's eyes widened in confusion. That came from just outside! They all ran out to find Hooty and John, who was wrapped up by the beast.

"Look, who I caught sneaking around!" Hooty smiled and hooted. He floated towards the group and dropped John on the ground in front of them. He landed on his butt, dropping the knife as well on the ground as he fell. "You stupid, tube!" Azara shifted her eyes over to it in horror before looking back at her brother.

"What were you planning to do with that?" she questioned, hoping that it wasn't true.

"I'm going to kill Belos!" John shouted, angrily, looking up at her. Eda sighed.

"Kid, you're no match for him. Neither of us are at the moment," she said. "We don't even know his weakness."

"That was a very stupid thing to do! What were you going to do?!" Azara shouted at him, furiously. "Just waltz right up to the castle and stab him?! He would've killed you before you had the chance!"

"I don't care!" John screamed out loud. Azara's eyes widened, staring at him surprised. "I don't care if I die! He has to pay for what he did to mom!"

A sharp slap filled the air. Hunter's eyes widened, as did everyone else, as they saw Azara slap her brother right across his cheek. John fell to the ground, before looking up at her, angrily, holding it.

"How could you say such a thing?" she said, shaking a little. "You're just going to throw your life away when mom sacrificed hers to save us!"

 Eda stepped in between the two. "Come on, break it up. Let's stop before we say something that we're going to regret."

John gritted his teeth, his fists shaking, and shouted at the top of his lungs. "I wish mom was here instead you!"

Azara's eyes widened before stepping back from him. John's eyes widened as well, realizing what he had said.

"A-Azara, I didn't mean it!"

Azara ran. She couldn't hear everyone as they were calling out to her. She ran deeper into the woods, not looking back. Hunter immediately chased after her, following her into the woods, as did their two palismans.

John cried where he stood as he rubbed his eyes. "I didn't mean it."

Raine walked over to him, hugging him. "I know that you didn't." They looked over at Eda and nodded their head. Eda realized that they wanted to be alone with them, told everyone to come back into the house. Luz stopped and looked back into the woods, where Azara and Hunter had run into, worried. 

[cozy-the-overlord]

Dances and Daggers

Summary:   The Summer Festival is upon Asgard, as is the tradition of the dagger ceremony, where each unmarried gentleman chooses a lady to bestow with the honor of carrying his dagger for the night. As Prince Thor’s betrothed, Teki’s only goal is to accept his dagger with grace and hope that her violent stepfather doesn’t find fault with her in the process. But Prince Thor is unpredictable, and when he ignores his engagement on a whim Teki finds herself in a desperate situation. Luckily, Thor isn’t the only prince in Asgard…

Pairing: Loki x Original Female Character

Chapter 14: The Reckoning

Previous Chapter  |  Next Chapter

Word Count: 2,438

Chapter Summary: With Loki gone, Teki finds herself reaching a breaking point.

A/N:  I’m sorry.

This chapter includes depictions of violence.

Thanks for reading!

TW: Graphic violence, child abuse

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae @moumouton4 @berriemalfoy @whatafuckingdumbass

if you want to be tagged, feel free to just send me an ask/message! :)

Read it on Ao3!

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Somehow, Teki managed to return to her rooms, although she didn’t remember how—she was fairly certain the Queen had offered to escort her back, but she wasn’t sure if she actually had or not. Perhaps she was in shock, or perhaps her mother’s training to keep a mannerly expression was rooted deeper than she realized, but some way or another Teki made it back to her bedroom before she completely fell apart.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. She sobbed into the front of her dress, the words circling her head in an endless chant. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair.

He was the only person she had, the only person she could talk to, the only person who would listen. He was the only place were she could smile, where she could stretch out and actually breathe instead of suffocating all alone laced into a crimson dress. He was the only person in her life that didn’t have to care about her and somehow the only person who did.

And they had taken him away.

It was clear that her mother and Osvald had known about it. The dressmaker debacle made sense now—it was all planned, to keep her and Loki from protesting until it was too late. That night, Teki face down on her bed, hiccupping into her pillow, listening them whispering outside her door.

“It’s a good thing,” her mother was saying. “Even with her throwing a fit about it. I’m glad the King agreed. He was just mucking everything up.”

Teki turned her head to the wall, staring but not seeing. Empty vials of poison danced across her vision.

Was Daddy mucking everything up too, Mama?

She was still sniffling that night when her door creaked open just a crack.

“Teki?” Brant’s voice was hushed, uncertain. “Can I sleep with you?”

She quickly wiped her cheeks, humming in quiet affirmation as she grasped for her responsible voice. “Did you have a bad dream?”

Ever since he had learned to walk, Brant had been sneaking into her room at night, fleeing his bed and the snarling creatures he was certain lurked in the darkness. He had only stopped this a few months ago, after Osvald found them curled up together one morning and spent breakfast ranting on about how Teki was turning his son into a recreant.

But tonight, Brant shook his head as he crawled under her covers.

She frowned. “Then what’s wrong?”

He stared up at her with wide eyes that glistened in the faint moonlight coming in from the window.

“You’re sad,” he said.

Oh, Brant. Teki pulled him close, and he hugged her back. She rested her cheek against his sandy hair. It was nice to have somebody to hold on to.

“Yes, I’m sad right now,” she murmured. “But it’s going to be okay. I promise. I’ll be fine.”

“I have to take care of you,” he whispered solemnly. “Prince Loki told me I’m s’posed to.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Prince Loki?” she asked. “When did he tell you that?”

“He came while you and Mama were gone. He said they were sending him away and he had to talk to you. He said he’d be learning more magic things, so when he came back he’d be able to give me wings.”

Teki bit her lip. She wondered what he would’ve said, had he managed to get to her before they sent him off. She thought of the day of the Games, hidden away in the healer’s tent.

I don’t want you to marry my brother.

Next to her, Brant inhaled.“Teki?” he asked slowly, as if he were afraid to put the thought to words.“Do you think you could maybe marry Prince Loki instead?”

There was a lump in her throat as she pushed his bangs out of his face. “No,” she sighed. “It has to be Thor.” Saying out loud only made the cords around her heart pull tighter.

“I like Loki better,” he whispered, barely a breath.

Teki stared into the nighttime shadows. “So do I.”

Suddenly, Brant grinned through the darkness. "We could run away!” he hissed excitedly. “Prince Loki says there's secret tunnels all over Yggdrasil. We could go through one and meet Loki in Vanaheim!"

"Brant." She hadn't heard that one before, but it sounded like something the prince would tell her brother. Teki felt very tired. "That's just a story. They're aren't any secret tunnels."

"Yes there are! He told me where— I put them on my map!" He sat up, readying to crawl off the bed. "I'll show you!"

Teki pulled him back. She wished she had his steadfast belief in everything-- in magic wings and secret tunnels and happily ever after. As it was, all she could do was hold him closer. "It wouldn't work," she said. "They'd follow us and take us back. It wouldn't work."

For a moment, Brant seemed completely deflated, but then he perked up once again. “If I change my wish, do you think he could make it happen?” he asked excitedly. “Instead of the wings?”

Something about his face, the way hope seemed to radiate from his smile, crushed her even more.

“No,” she whispered. “Nothing’s going to change.”

…

The next week was less of a continuous period of time and more like a string of actions that looped over and over again. She dressed. She played piano for Frigga. She picked halfheartedly at her food. She waited for Thor to ask her to dance, then waited for him to move on once he had. She fell asleep to the empty throbbing of her heart.

Rinse and repeat.

Sometimes at night, she’d  pull Loki’s dagger from its sheath and stared at her reflection in the polished blade, running her hands over the golden snakes on the hilt and wondering what he was doing. He had said he had always wanted to study in Vanaheim. She wondered if he was enjoying it. She hoped he was. Somehow, the thought that he was just as miserable worlds away from her as she was here made Teki feel even worse.

Her mother tolerated her gloom for a bit, but by the end of the week it was clear she was ready to move on.

“I had an idea!” she announced one day after barging into her room without warning. Teki had barely any time to shove the dagger into her nightstand drawer, but luckily her mother didn’t seem to notice her scrambling. “You know those little white cakes you love, that they make for the Winter Festival? I was thinking that perhaps we could convince the chefs to make an early batch. We’re nearing fall after all, and I can’t imagine that they’d refuse a request from the Crown Prince’s bethrothed!”

Teki mumbled a nondescript reply. Speaking to her mother—even looking at her—had suddenly become one of the most difficult tasks throughout the day. She avoided it when she could.

“Or, perhaps the three of us could take a day trip to the countryside! Remember that little cove we visited when Brant was a baby?”

When Teki didn’t even bother to answer this time, her mother huffed indignantly. “Tekla, I am trying here. You can’t just sit and mope in your bedroom forever.”

“Why did you marry Osvald?” Teki asked suddenly. It had been a question that had clung to her like a shadow for the last few days, Loki’s words rattling in her head. Your mother had a plethora of other options. Why Osvald? Of all people?

For a moment, her mother was stunned into silence. She laughed nervously. “Well, your stepfather and I met, and we got along very well, and we felt that we liked each other very much—”

“I don’t believe you.” The Teki of last month—the Teki of last week—would have fainted at the thought of such bitter words, but now she didn’t even flinch.

Her face darkened into a deep scowl. “What do you mean you don’t believe me?”

She should’ve stopped there, but the simmering resentment that had been bubbling within her for so long had just found a vent.

“Why did you really marry him?” she snapped. “What did he do to get you to marry him?”

“Stop!” her mother snapped. “I’ve had enough of this from you! You’ve had your time to sulk, now we have appearences to maintain.” She stormed from the room, only pausing briefly in the doorway to spit one threat. “If you won’t listen to me, then perhaps you should have a talk with your stepfather.”

The door slammed as she left. Teki sat in silence as the vibrations echoed in her eardrums. She had the sudden urge to scream—just to scream, at the top of her lungs until the windows shattered and the very foundations of the palace shook—but she swallowed it.

…

It came to a head the next day. She had just taken Brant for a walk in the gardens—his idea, as he insisted that looking at flowers always made people feel better. It had been sweet sentiment, and Teki tried her best to smile for him as they strolled past the lake, hoping that her brother didn’t realize that the sparkling water only reminded her more of Loki.

When they returned to their apartment, Osvald was waiting just inside. His cold glare immediately screamed trouble, but it wasn’t until she realized what it was that he was holding that Teki’s chest turned to ice.

“I found your little hiding spot.” His voice was low and dangerous as he tapped her father’s journal against his other hand.

Teki didn’t say anything. She watched the journal swing up and down against his palm, hypnotized by the soft beat of worn leather against skin. Besides her, Brant whimpered, gripping her hand more tightly. She didn’t move. Something kept her frozen in place, but it wasn’t the usual chill of fear. No, a single thought broke through the fog in her mind as she watched her only physical memory of her father dance in Osvald’s hands.

How dare you.

“You stole from us,” he continued. “You went through your mother’s things and you stole from us.”

“I didn’t steal anything.” She felt Brant stiffen at her words. You didn’t talk back to Osvald. They both knew this. They both knew what would happen if you did. But the fire blazing within burned through her caution.

Osvald was seemed taken aback by her bitterness, but he recovered quickly. “No?” He stalked closer to her, waving the journal in her face. “You’re lying to me now? Is this what I’ve raised? A filthy, lying little thief?”

“I didn’t steal anything,” she repeated. Every instinct in her body was screaming at her to drop her gaze, but she held her glare into his glittering eyes. How dare you. “That book is my father’s. It belongs to me.”

His scowl deepened. “I am your father. And I will not tolerate this behavior—”

“You’ll never be my father.”

She cried out when his fist crashed into her abdomen, doubling over as pain exploded across her ribcage and air rushed from her mouth. Her stepfather grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her backwards, slamming into the door. Colors splashed across her vision as her head smacked against the wood. Before she could completely lose her balance, Osvald yanked her up by the front of her dress.

“You think you’re tough, don’t you?” he hissed, throwing her back to the floor. Somewhere in the background, Brant was sobbing. “Brave little bitch.” His boot collided with her chest. Teki’s pained scream almost drowned out the sickening crack from her ribs. His foot came down again.

Her chest was on fire.  

Teki coughed as she struggled to shield her abdomen, the taste of blood metallic and heavy on the back of her throat. He kicked her again, crashing against her lower back. When she gasped for her next breath, it felt like burning coals rushing down her airways.

“You never seem to learn, do you?” he snapped. She braced herself for the next blow, but instead her stepfather cursed.

Painfully, she craned her neck just enough to see her little brother pulling at Osvald’s arm.  “Stop it!” he cried, tears running down his cheeks. “Get away from her!”

No—

Teki fought to get up but her limbs weren’t working properly, everything was throbbing, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe—

Brant shrieked in pain, a horrible screech that cut Teki to her very core. The room shook as a body hit the floor, Osvald growling words that she couldn’t hear over the pounding of her heart.

Get away him from Brant—get him away from Brant—

Her brother lay lifeless on the ground, Osvald towering over him like some malevolent spirit about to feast. Teki wasn’t sure how she made it to her feet, but once she did, she flung herself at her stepfather with the last shreds of strength she could muster.

He must not have been expecting her to move, because when she collided with him her meager effort was enough to send both of them tumbling to the ground. Her body howled as they hit the hard wood. She had barely enough time to gulp for air before Osvald had her pinned to the floor.

“Is that the game you want to play, you fucking cunt?” he snarled, his hand a vice around her neck. Teki thrashed against his grasp, but he only pounded her head against the floorboards. “Is this what you fucking wanted?”

She couldn’t breathe. Teki clawed at his hand in a panic as she battled for air, scanty gasps that were rewarded with a tighter grip.

She couldn’t breathe!

“Please!” she choked as his wild eyes bored into her. Her vision was going white around the edges. “Please!”

Osvald didn’t budge.

He’s going to kill me.

Tears flooded the corners of her eyes, running down the sides of her head.

Dead dead dead dead dead dead—

Please! she screamed in her head, for her voice no longer worked. Please! Mama! Norns! Somebody!

But it was only Osvald, panting down at her with eyes as black as Hel—

I don’t want to die!

Only Osvald, sneering mouth twisted in laughter because he knew no one else was coming—

… please …

But there was nothing. Even her stepfather dissolved into a million bits of sparkling glitter as Teki faded away into the white abyss.

[impala666]

The One With The Monkey Part One: Marcel The Monkey

Here you go! Ross gets Marcel and Phoebe sings a depressing Christmas song! 

Friends Rewrite (masterlist) Last Part (part four, episode 9)

Four of you were sitting around Monica and Rachel’s kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn and a bowl of cranberries and you, Phoebe, and Joey were helping them make a strand of garland. You had work early in the morning tomorrow and even all day tomorrow, but thankfully all you could think about was Phoebe finally getting to perform holiday songs at Central Perk tomorrow night and all of you were going to watch and support her. “Guys, there’s somebody I’d like you to meet.” Ross who just happened to poke his head through the door like he lived there, but to be fair all of you kind of did that. Your jaw immediately dropped open when Ross entered and the cutest little monkey came in riding in on Ross’s back. 

“Wait, w-wait, what is that?” Monica asked, not sure whether she should step toward it or run away. 

“That would be Marcel.” Ross introduced the furry creature. “Wanna say hi?”

“Yes, please!” You shrieked when you ran around the table to take the monkey from Ross, and Marcel seemed more than happy to crawl down Ross and on to your shoulder. Your smile only grew when Marcel’s tail hung over your other shoulder. 

“He is precious, where did you get him?” Rachel asked as she watched the monkey relaxing on your shoulder. 

“My friend, Bethel, rescued him from some lab.” Ross explained while he took Marcel back from you, but you couldn’t help but shake your head at the fact that the poor little guy had to go through so many experiments and tests that he never had the say of just because of the species that he was. 

“That is so cruel.” You nodded in agreement with what Phoebe said, thinking she was on the right path. But boy, were you wrong. “Why would a parent name their child Bethel?”

“That was not what I expected out of you, Pheebs,” you said a little disappointed in yourself for getting your hopes up. You reached into the popcorn bowl and popped one in your mouth to prevent you from saying anything else. 

“Hey, that monkey’s got a Ross on his ass.” Chandler greeted his friend after he had stepped out of bathroom, and leaned against the back of Joey’s chair. 

“Ross, is he gonna live with you like in your apartment?” Monica couldn't help but ask an actual question out of concern for her older brother.  

“Yeah, it’s been kind of quiet since Carol moved out.” Which seemed like a very logical reason to go out there and get a pet that is completely out of the normal, you could totally understand Ross’s thought process on this one.

“Why not just get a roommate?” Monica asked, yet another great question.

“I think when you reach a certain age, having a roommate is kind of pathet…” After playing with Marcel’s tail, Ross realized the mistake he made when he saw all of you staring at him waiting for him to finish that sentence correctly. “Sorry, that's ‘pathet’ which is sanskrit for ‘really cool way to live.” 

**********

Finally, finally, finally, your day was over with. You toured the school that you were accepted to and have a very long 8 hour shift, so now it was time to kick back and see your weird and beautiful friend sing her set at Central Perk. As you walked into the building you were finally able to unclench once you felt the heat after just walking block after block in the freezing cold snow. “,and one about a snowman.” You heard Phoebe finish as she sat on the arm of the couch with her guitar on her lap. When they all see you enter all of them flashed you a smile in greeting, which you returned once you had hung your coat and scarf on the hooks by the door. After you had ordered your preferred hot drink of the day, you finally walked over to spend time with everyone. But apparently Joey wasn’t there yet. 

“Might want to open with the snowman,” Chandler told her. But you just looked at him confused. “Oh trust me, you don’t want to know.” Chandler promised once he saw the look on your face.

“Oookay,” you mumbled into your cup as you sat down on the couch arm next to Monica. “Hey, Joey,” you smiled once you saw him walking into the shop as he dusted off some of the snow that had fallen on him. Everyone joined in on your greeting him, while greeted everyone else also walking up to you, placing a hand on your waist and pecking you on the lips as your greeting. 

“So, how’d it go?” Monica asked Joey, wondering how his job interview for being Santa Clause went.

“I didn’t get the job,” Joey groaned in disappointment as he took off his coat and sat down in the chair next to you. All of you awed in agreement with his disappointment, while you leaned forward from your spot on the couch to rub his arm in sympathy. It was hard enough for him to get work as an actor, and now he didn't get the one job he got and looked forward to every year. Joey looked up at you with a sad smile while taking your hand while he sat backwards in his seat. 

“How could you not get it? You were Santa last year.” Ross couldn’t help but ask, Joey was really looking forward to that job. 

“I know!” You whined in agreement with Ross, “you were a shoe in, and you were so excited.” Plus he would make a really really hot Mr. Claus, but you decided to keep that piece of information to yourself.

“I don’t know. Some fat guy’s sleeping with the store manager. He’s not even jolly, it’s all political.” Joey added in on the complaining that just seemed unfair.

“I’m sorry, hon.” You rubbed his arm as you got to your feet. “Do you want some coffee?” You offered while giving him a hug and wrapping your arm around his neck. He nodded a yes, and you pecked him on the forehead before turning to the counter and ordering a coffee to cheer him up. 

“So what’re you going to be?” Monica asked. 

“I’m going to be one of his helpers, but it’s just such a slap in the face, you know?” He just couldn’t get past the way that he didn’t get the job that he knew that he was so right for. 

“Hey, do you guys know what you’re doing for New Years?” Rachel asked, causing everyone except you and Joey to groan just at the thought that none of them had dates. “Geez, what is wrong with New Years?” Clearly not liking that way that she was getting attacked. 

“Well nothing for you, you have Paolo. And it’s not a problem for Y/N or Joey either because they have each other. You don’t have to face the horrible pressures of this holiday.” Chandler explained to her as he walked over towards her. “The desperate scramble to find anything with lips just so you have somebody to kiss when the ball drops! Man, I’m talking loud.” He finally just noticed that his voice was dramatically getting louder and louder with each sentence. 

“Well, for your information. Paolo is going to be in Rome this New Years, so I’ll be just as pathetic as the rest of you.” Rachel explained to the rest of you. “Well, except Joey and Y/N,” she grimaced at how lucky you two are while she watched Joey kiss you very sweetly after you brought him the coffee that you bought for him. 

“Yeah, you wish,” Phoebe added in where her comment didn’t really make sense. 

“It’s just that I’m sick of being victim to this Dick Clark holiday.” Chandler wowed. “I say this year, no dates. We make a pact, just the seven of us. Dinner.” Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

“How can it be no couples in the seven of us when two of us are already in a relationship?” You asked him, retaking your spot on the arm of the couch. 

“Just don’t act like one, okay?” Chandler whined as he tried to reason with you and his best friend. “I know which will be hard for you because you two are gross.”

“Well, thank you,” you said taking it as a compliment. 

“Well, you’re welcome.” Chandler played back. “And I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm.” Causing everyone into different forms of celebratory sounds. 

“Phoebe, you’re on.” Rachel warned her as she stepped onto the now stage to introduce her friend. “Ladies and gentlemen, back by popular demand. Miss Phoebe Buffay!” Rachel wooed as she and everyone else in the building applauded and Phoebe took the stage. 

“Hi!” Phoebe said into the mic. “Yeah, hi. I want to start with a song that means a lot to me this time of year.” You smiled watching in wonderment as Chandler leaned against the side of the couch next to you. Phoebe jingled some bells before she officially started her song. “I made a man with eyes of coal and a smile so bewitching.” Phoebe started to sing what sounded like was going to be a nice, cool Christmas song, but you should have know better by now that it would take a drastic and depressing turn. “How was I supposed to know that my mom was dead in the kitchen?” And immediately your smiling face turned into an uncomfortable and disturbed face, which you shared when with Ross and Monica. 

Now the mood in the coffee shop that was once filled with Christmas cheer was now filled with a depressing silence. Phoebe’s song was far from over, making everyone very depressed and just staring off into space. Rachel was sunk down in a chair, Chandler took your spot on the couch arm, and you were sitting on Joey’s knee with your head resting on Joey’s head with the look of deep sadness on your face. “My mother’s ashes, even her eyelashes are resting in a little yellow jar. And sometimes when it’s breezy, or I feel a little sneezy, and now. Excuse me!” Phoebe stopped singing which made you wake up a little tiny bit, and she started yelling at the rude, loud talking men. “Excuse me! Noisy boys? Is it something that you would like to share with the entire group?” She asked them, like a teacher catching a few of her students passing around notes during class. 

“No, no. That’s okay.” The nerdy guy in the flannel told her. 

“Ohhh they’re in trouble.” You whispered with a little smirk on your face. Chandler looked at you with a similar smirk, as well as Joey and Rachel next to you. 

“Well come on, if it’s important enough to discuss while I’m playing then I assume it’s important enough for everyone else to hear.” Phoebe argued back over at Flannel. 

“Well, that guy’s going home with a note.” Chandler told the three of you with a bit of a scared look on his face. 

“Could you speak up please?” Phoebe asked very close to the microphone when the other guy in the sweater started mumbling out his reasoning for interrupting her. 

“Sorry,” the guy in the sweater stood up. “I was saying to my friend that I thought you were the most beautiful woman that I’d ever seen in my life and then he said that you thought that Daryl Hannah was the most beautiful woman that he’d ever seen in his life. And I said, “Yeah I liked her in Splash a lot, but not so much in Wall Street, I thought she had a hard quality. And, um, while Daryl Hannah is beautiful in a conventional way you are luminous with a kind of delicate grace.” The guy paused after realizing he just said in public. “Then that’s when you started yelling.” After he finished the guy in the sweater sat back down in his seat. All of you turned towards Phoebe to see what her reaction was going to be.

“Okay, we’re going to take a short break.” She announced while setting her guitar down on the stand so that she could go talk to that man that said all the nice things about her. 

“That guy’s going home with more than a note.” Joey announced with a sneaky smirk on his face.      

[cuddlecave]

is xiphoid

first: you *are* good

next: alright thingrey au

how bout an alternate 'the team finds out the shapeshifter is still alive, whoops!' but in an utterly disastrous way

it's been a while since antarctica! a long while, and gord and benr *meant* to tell the team about them ages ago, when benr became human shaped again, but there just never seemed to be a good time? and really, whats one more day, week, month...

anyway the team is utterly oblivious of benr, but being aware of gord, means that's they've noticed he's not been spending as much time with them! been spending, like, a lot of time at home, actually--or away from town. sometimes even avoiding them! they're worried, bc really, this is not the way to deal with trauma, gord! you don't pull away from your friends, you get help! just bc you can't see a therapist doesn't mean you shouldn't try to process it!

anyway, gords generally cagey about where he is, but on a rare team night where he had come to hang over...they very much on purpose get him drunk. now, drunk gord is still pretty fucking cagey (he loves his boyf and would never endanger him if possible), which is a shame, but tom is able to ask a question casually enough that gord doesn't think about it...and ends up telling them he goes out to the [insert desert area here] sometimes. when pressed on why he goes, he seems to realize he made a mistake, and bolts, cutting the night short.

now, credit to gord, him and benr don't go back to that particular desert area after that. but the team are damn smart, and figure that just bc he's not at that area anymore, doesn't mean he's not in *any* desert area anymore.

takes some trial and error--figuring out when gord seems to be out (he never answers his phone when he's out, his car is not at home), and then checking a desert area (didn't get anything but desert the first few times). but eventually...they find his car.

things paint...a worrying picture. there's camping/chilling gear in the car (chairs and a shitty tent, left from when gord tried camping several years ago and never bothered to remove from his car) but they're not set up and gords not there? the doors arent locked and the keys are in ignition? (gord doesn't want to drop his keys running from benr, he did that once and it sucked. also why he doesn't bring his phone! but he's out like 55 miles from the nearest town, who's gonna steal his car?) there's torn up foliage around, as if something big came through (benr may give gord a head start, but he still likes to be big enough to a) chase well, and b) nom gord after), and most worryingly--a set of human footprints in the sand, clearly running based on stride. and some strange larger footprint *next to them*.

their friend was ambushed by something big, and is going to get got. (this is not entirely untrue. not ambushed, but definitely going to get got, lol.) they set off quickly following the footprints.

meanwhile-gord and benr are having a *great* time! the exercise feels nice for both of them, it's a cloudy day so it's shady, they're gonna order pizza and play playstation after this--its gonna be a wonderful day. it already is!

gord, at this point, is beginning to tire out. benr is getting closer. he pushes himself a bit farther, to stretch out the chase just a touch longer, and makes a sharp turn around a rock formation, causing benr to briefly crash into it, giving him a few more steps. but he's tired, and well, benr has better stamina--and agility. benr bounds over the rock formation and uses it's height to gain just a bit of an extra boost, and tackle-hugs gord. they nearly crash into some sharp shrubs, but they're fine.

gord turns and looks up at benr and grins, and benr leans down to him, and gives him a long kiss. gord hums in contentment and relaxes. he's gonna get to doze, now, before driving. naptime, hell yeah.

benr picks him up to swallow him and he just remains basically limp, exhausted, letting benr manhandle him, gently maneuvering him into his jaws. he's swallowed with little fanfare, and happily settles in his tum, almost immediately starting to doze as benr starts to walk.

then he hears screaming, and benr sharply moves, and suddenly he's wide awake.

-

the team follow the tracks. it's a long walk, even moving at speed--gord must have really been booking it, which means hopefully he's still safe, got away some how. surely nothing would chase him for too long, when he was outrunning it this well. the trail goes on and on and on--its looking less like this thing gave up. and gords footsteps are shorter, he's not managing a hard run anymore. they're coming up on a rock formation--its still several hundred feet away. close enough to see a figure that can only be gord run from behind it, but far, far to far away to do anything about what happens next.

they see him turn sharply, and something big hits the rocks, clearly taken off guard. he makes it a few steps. and the team look on in absolute horror as what can only be the shapeshifter jumps off the top of the rocks, and tackles gord to the ground. they're partially obscured by the desert plants, but it's enough to see, even at this distance, the rippling body parts of the creature, pinning gord down.

the thing leans its head down toward gord, and they can't see what's happening with the plants and distance. and then.

it picks a completely unmoving gord up, and swallows him whole.

oh, god. it snapped his neck. it ate him. it's going to try to finish what it started in antarctica oh fuck does anyone have a flamethrower?!

a seeing it stand and start to leisurely walk in the direction they came from, they're finally broken from they're spell of silence and horror. somebody starts screaming angrily, and bubby has a lighter and big spray, making a makeshift flamethrower--and they run towards it in vengeance.

it notices them and sharply turns, booking it in the opposite direction.

(1/?)

continued under the read more!

(cont) oh fuck, thinks benr. this is not good. Not Good at all. gord frantically asks what's going on?! and goes cold when benr says 'ur friends saw us. and buby has fire.' the good thing is, benr is bigger and faster than humans. the bad thing is that he's been running all morning and now has over 200 pounds of boyf swaying in him, even if he's holding gord as tight as possible so he's not getting thrown everywhere. he's not gonna last long, and there's nowhere to hide. gord is furiously thinking. but he's also exhausted, and panicking. the thoughts in his brain are sticky like drying glue when he tries do something with them, and he can feel benr slowing. it's not by much, but his alien bf getting hurt *at all* is unacceptable, so. he decides to stop thinking and start doing. he tells benr to 'stop and let me out! as fast as you can!' and benr skids to a stop and turns half facing the approaching team, and splits his abdomen open and gord comes tumbling out into the light, getting immediately covered in dust and mud sticking to the saliva covering him. it's kinda gross, but at the moment it's not even registering, bc in those moments buby has nearly caught up. gord stands, pushes benr behind him, who let's himself be pushed purely out of surprise, and holds his hands out. 'its me! I'm fine it's ok it's me, please I can explain, just turn off the fire! it's ok!' but the thing is, as far as they're concerned...'you fucking imposter we saw gord die! get a better lie!' and buby is still running full tilt at them. gord has enough time to think, *aw fuck, this is gonna hurt*, before buby lights his makeshift flamethrower and gord is suddenly extremely hot, in pain, and knocked on his back. he can see the sky for a quick moment, before what can only be benr is standing over him, protecting him from further fire. a few limbs quickly use the dirt to put out the couple embers on his shirt (well, what's left of his shirt...) buby jerks back at the large being leaping in his direction, but it stops as it stands over the gord-imposter. which... is not moving. or writhing like the shapeshifter, or trying to split off from the damaged part. it's just...lying there. shallowly breathing as if in shock. buby gets a bit of a sinking feeling. - I got tired after writing this but basically benr tries to angle around enough to protect gord and also use teal green on him from another mouth. the team quickly figure out something is fucky, and that gord...might not be a Thing?? gord is in zero shape to have a real conversation--burns are serious business, and he basically passes out during teal-green. so why was the creature... protecting gord?? especially if it ate him?!?! there's an uneasy (extremely uneasy) truce, and benr carries gord back to the car, flamethrower pointed at them the whole way. they leave gords car and take them both back to toms place, in the car they drove in. it is supremely awkward. especially when gord wakes up for half a minute, kisses benr, and passes out again. not sure how it would go from there,, .... didn't mean to accidentally write a minific but here we are!! I really like the 'extreme misunderstanding vore' trope, lol.

ohhhh man this is like an angsty version of a regular not-a-game au idea i've thought up before o: thinking about what would happen next... the whole car ride home, benb was hitting gord with more healing (tho he gave the guys ample warning first about what he was doing so they wouldn't think he was attacking or something), and thanks to that, gord's burns are healed up to the point where he doesn't need hospitalization, just some burn cream and good rest to finish it off. (and a hair cut. benb is very sad that he couldn't repair gord's burned hair and beard. when gord's awake again he's just "Dude it'll grow back, don't worry." "i knooowwww but it still sucks. your hair was SO pretty. and you look like a sixteen-year-old without facial hair. kinda weird. babyfaceman." "WOW shut up."). when gord's awake and aware enough again, they all have a sit down and get an explanation from him and benb. benb goes on to basically give a summary of his whole backstory; explain what exactly he his and how he got to earth, and what he was trying to do both at the b'mesa base and that first norwegian base he first thawed out in. when he gets to the part about why he never wanted to hurt the sciteam, that does a pretty good job of warming them up to him. "the thing about that frzn guy is he was a total asshole. HUGE douche canoe. and i was like 'maaaan i don't wanna be this guy, he suuuuucks', but then i noticed that he'd hardly ever interacted with anybody else there. new guy on the base. nobody knew him, or knew what he was like. so i figured i could get away with acting like myself instead of him, and nobody would notice. i've never been able to just be me around other people, only when alone. i didn't really... know how it was gonna turn out. but you guys ended up liking me! you invited me to come hang out on breaks, and play video games, and watch movies, and talk about soda and photography and it was fun and nice and good! you were nice to my dog body, too. giving me a name and everything... you're all great cools. i got attached to you guys. like, super attached. didn't wanna hurt you, ever. 's the reason i never touched the sled dogs, too- i knew tommy would be sad if something happened to the dogs, and i didn't wanna make him sad." (bubs probably acts like he's not touched by that, but he is :B and also, like i've said in a post on my main, bubs feels some sympathy towards benb after hearing about his origins as an unethical science experiment. bubs wasn't grown in a lab in this au, but he was still subjected to some painful "knowledge tubes" experiments due to his contract with b'mesa. so he still knows that feel, bro. unwilling lab rat solidarity.) benb apologizes for everything in antarctica, and bubs apologizes for torching gord, but then the team asks what the fuck? happened in the desert?? and gord explains the "one-sided tag" game they do to help benb burn up energy, and that benb was just carrying gord to let him rest from the run on the way back to the car. ("Carrying you in his stomach, though?" "nah i don't put him where food goes. it's the uhhhh *lip smack* nap organ. custom made for sleeping in. bedry time.") (they also at one point explain "also we're dating" to which gord gets accused of being a monsterfucker ha ha. and then benb's like "ew no i'm ace" and harold goes on about how beautiful interracial young love is.)

[shortyisweird9]

'Lonely ghost serie'

Proposition and Accord-part VII

"Ghoooost! Good noon!"

"Hello!"

You opened your eyes slowly, barely awake from the deep sleep you had. The grogginess in your voice shadowed by the abnormal deepness of the voice changer.

"Hey, ghost."

"Corpse! Always pleased to hear you."

"Always ,ey?" Toast picked what you said in a more suggestive tone, teasing you with it.

"Cut it ,man."

You didn't bite on the trap however.

" Anyway, mind if I bring a friend?"

"Of course!"

"Sure why not."

"Okay,brb."

"So ,Corpse..."

"To early for that ,Toast."

Near the white astronaut Ghost had, a new little one came. It was black with a pair of headphones and a Wall-e companion. On top the name Charon was displayed.

The others started circling the new mate as Corpse's pink character stood unmoved by your side.

"Good evening!" A low and mature voice came from a woman. It didn't had a mechanical effect to it so it was coming in naturally.

"Hiiiii!"

"Hello!"

"Guys this is Andreea, Andreea this is the Peanut gallery."

"Ha,nice. Good to meet you all."

"Likewise."

"You too."

"Your robot is cute." Corpse remarked.

You smirked when your phone immediately lighted up. A message from Andreea written in big bold letters: 'HIS VOICE IS HOT!'

'I know :)))'

"Andreea , you know how to play this game?"

"Y-Yeah ummm..."

"Sykkuno."

"Sykkuno! Yeah, I know me and Y- I mean ghost sometimes play it. "

"You play together?"

"Well yeah, we play Fallout together, sometimes Minecraft even Eyes the horror game. Speaking of which ghost?"

"Yeah?"

"My place tonight?"

You smirked knowing what's to come.

"Time to corrupt another soul?"

You laughed was intentionally made to be interpreted by the others as evil and dark. In the inside you cringed, you sounded so stupid.

"Umm,guys?" Sykkuno asked for clarification, to which he will not receive.

"YOU GUYS LIVE IN THE SAME CITY?" Pooki asked all excited for some reason.

"Yeah?"

"Same city? We leave in the same apartment building." Andreea told ,a pleasant hiss rang as her long nailed hands opened a Pepsi can.

'Cola is better'

'Fuck off, Y/n'

':))🖕'

"That's so cute!"

"I guess,but she's a pain."

"A pain? Moi? Please, I am only in pain not one."

The others chuckled at your shenanigans, the humour between you and Andreea being based in play fighting, cursing each other and bumping as hard as you can into each. Considering how much of a height difference is between you two, everything just gets more interesting.

"Maan,I want to stay in the same building with you guys also." Corpse pouted.

You two sounded really nice to be with, especially you. You were fun to talk witg and your natural voice was a godsend to his anxiety and insomnia. It made him sometimes slip into a blissful sleep,especially when you began reading to him Doom lore in the late hours of the night.

' "The Maykrs' need for the Essence is prime. Without it they must suffer the monstrous fate of Transfiguration, and see their wisdom and faculties slither from their twisted forms. By bidding of the Khan Maykr herself, the Order of the Deag has devised a method to improve and accelerate the production of the Hell aura. What once took eons for the savage beasts to attai...oof. Wait."

Corpse heard you move in the bed, your body getting its pressure off it before settling back in.

He wanted to start to ask you to read again when he was interrupted by the sound of smooching ? You were kissing somebody?

You puffed and smiled as Sergiu bombarded you with another waves of kisses, a tradition in your group. You all were touched starved creatures so you showed your platonic affections through hand holding, sudden hugging, cuddling- sometimes propping your cold feet on the other person's back just to be dickish- and rains of kisses.

Sergiu was the most affectionate out of all of you, the rain of kisses being something that his mother used to do before she left to work. 'A kiss on the forehead to brighten your thinking, two on the cheeks so no one is lonely and one wherever you want.'

"Alright! Alright! I get it, you are leaving!"

You laughed as you pushed the cuddly golden retriver of a man away.

His chains attached to his black leather belt with grey 3d rombes running all over it clicked as it bounced. His hair smudged on the worn out black leather jacket and his face all but a smile. He was happy and you love to see it.

-Vrei ceva? ("You want something?")

-Umm...PIZZA PĂTRATĂ DE LA DEDEMAN ȘI MOUNTAIN DEW.("Um...SQUARE SHAPED PIZZA FROM DEDEMAN AND MOUNTAIN DEW.")

The man laughed at your antics, roughing up your freshly washed hair and closing the door as he left.

"Corpse? You still there buddy?"

Corpse felt a pang in his chest, you sounded like you have much more fun with the other person. He knew it was stupid but he couldn't help feel jealous and worried at the same time. He wanted to be the reason to make you sound so happy and he didn't want to be worried of being replaced anytime soon.

"Corpse? My petit orchid? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah,I am fine."

It came out shaky and too abrupt for your liking. Something's wrong and you didn't want to overstep your boundaries but you couldn't let him go about his day while having something munching on his good mood.

"Hey,hey Corpse."

"Yes?"

"Wanna see my cat?"

"YOU HAVE A CAT?"

"Yes,so do you..."

"Hell yeah. I mean...sure I am cool with that."

You shook your head and became giggling, it's good to know you weren't the only one who didn't know how to cover their slip ups.'

"Trust me Corpse. You don't want to live with this anxiety filled owl."

"HEY! My anxiety adds spice."

"Oh my god!"

"Guys, guys. Can we start the game please?"

"Oh for sure."

————————————————————

"Watch out for the wall, ghost. Watch out for--GHOST! Oh shit ,I lost her guys! Ghost, where are you?"

His character ran in desperate search to find you. When it left the snowy environment from outside , it stopped abruptly. You were there in the office with Sykkuno ripped apart body in front of you.

"Oh shit! Sykkuno!"

His thoughts ran wilde as they hurried to reach a consensus. He knew that you will probably kill him also as you waited for those 10 seconds to pass.

His premonition was proven true went you shut the doors of the office , your character moving slowly towards him.

"Ahhh! Guys ,what the hell do I do?"

His eyes clenched shut as his finger hovered the report button.

The sound of a meeting went off,forcing him to let out the breath he's been withholding. His hands shook as he relaxed himself when his friends started discussing aka screaming at each other.

Someone else called in another body.

You held your fingernails between your lips, leg bouncing from the nerves. You knew Corpse will snitch you out,after all you did killed Sykkuno.

I am so fucked...

Your body covered in a white and black hoodie contorted itself into a smaller position.You ignored the pain that your dead thighs were trying to emit while being in a cross position. Head to busy with anxious thoughts of what Corpse may do.

"Phew, Jesus. I am too nervous for this game."

Andreea's words caught you off guard. She nervous? It's more likely than you think.

Your feelings long forgotten as your protective nature sprung out of the shell.

"You? Nervous? Andreea you are a freaking talented tattoo artist."

"It doesn't matter, my hands are sweating like they are the Danube river."

"Wait ,are you a tattoo artist?"

"Yeah ,I am. I started tatto--"

Mission accomplished! Your goal wasn't to comfort, you knew you sucked at that but to distract. To take her mind away from whatever cause her pain ,then to secretly totally not obviously attack the shit of whatever upset her even bad vibes. Fuck them bad vibes! You and your friends are bad bitches not second hand embarrassments.

"It will be nice if I could do henna also but this hoarding gremlin was only calm enough when she did them. So basically it became her summer job."

Ah. Your mind realised she was telling them how you two met.

You wanted to get some henna tattoos, see if you liked the way the look at you. Andrea was just a beginner when you entered the tattoo shop and her life.

You weren't always an anxious person,the situation changed when your math teacher decided to be a bitch and humiliate you for not knowing geometry. Since then you were always out of breath when you spoke in public, always bouncing your leg when stressed , biting off your nails and having a constant dread when it came socialising with others. And when you are a big girl that amplifies considerably.

People are just shallow like that and you learned a long time ago that their intolerance towards you was a THEY problem rather than a YOU problem.

It's hard thought, sometimes their words and disgusted glares burn you from inside out. Make you feel inhuman ,that your anger,sadness and your passion don't mean anything ,that they are not valid, that you cannot be yourself and liked at the same time nevermind seen as a romantic interest.

But I digress, when it came with Andreea ,everything when abnormally smooth, you joked and laughed, bitch about people and so on. You hit off immediately.

So when you wanted to make a bit of cash ,Andreea didn't hesitate to teach you how to do temporary tattooing.

"That's so nice guys,the body was in specimen room by the way." Dave said.

The others for some reason started blaming Rae , you didn't said nothing as you were still waiting with your breath tight for Corpse to rat you out.

"Corpse? Where were you by the way?"

Here comes the expose.

"I ..uh...wait. I was in the storage then I met Sykkuno in the office but left with ghost."

What?

"Ghost? Can you collaborate his story?"

"Yeah , me and him left Sykkuno. I think orange was with him last time we saw. I am done with my tasks by the way."

"What?"

"LUDWIG! HOW DARE YOU KILL SYKKUNO?!" Corpse growled.

You muted yourself as you squealed. You couldn't believe him. He really took your side!

You took a sip of your green tea, patting yourself on the back for being calm and getting back in the game.

————————————————————

"How could you ,Corpse? I trusted you and you stab me behind my back." Sykkuno exclaimed, pout evident in his voice.

"I am sorry Sykkuno..i-it's just...I...uhh.."

Your microphone was not muted this time so when you burst in laughter you dominated the whole discussion. You laughed ugly but happy as you always did, holding your lower abdomen as it clenched muscle you didn't know you have.

"It's NOT funny, ghost!"

"It'S nOt FuNnY, GhOsT! Bwahaha..."

Despite laughing ,deep down you worried you may have offended your new friends? Nah, too early to call them that.

"I think I know why Corpse did what he did." Grease started in a dramatic sober voice.

"You mean cheated on Sykkuno."

Ludwig ignited couple of laughter from the group.

"Yeah. He did it....drumb rolls please. "

Sean provided the suspenseful roll.

"Because he is a SIMP."

"WHAT?"

"No way..."

"You heard me."

The group went wilde. You didn't know what you could say, your mind crazy yet also numb. Poor Corpse.

"Hey, hey. Guys, please calm down. If you want to come for someone, come for my neck."

Your hands flared up into a peaceful backing sign, you knew of Corpse's bad anxiety and you didn't want to cause him distress by bringing the limelight into his face.

"It's alright, ghost. I am a big boy, I can take it."

You tried to keep it short, you really did but your mind wanted to say one more thing.

"Just like you can open foil?"

You heard a breath intake. You lowered your volume, thinking of what he may do.

"I FUCKING HATE FOIL!"

————————————————————

"Tonight was fun." Corpse said after taking a sip of water.

"Yeah, it was."

You watched your dark hair moving in the air as you played with your toes.

"Sorry again for bringing all the...uh...attention on you."

"It's fine,ghost. I know you didn't mean it."

"Y/n."

"What?"

"My name is Y/n."

Ah!

His heart jumped a bit ,you told him your name that means you trust him right. Lily doesn't know your name so he is the first to know. The first to guard this special information.

"Ghost was kinda wearing down,you know?"

"Y-yeah,...uhh..I mean no! Yes? No? Fuck...It's a pretty name,um...Y/n."

You haulted, getting used to him saying your name will take a while.

"Heh,thanks Corpsie."

"Mhmmm, did you have time to think about what I told you?"

Couple of nights ago,Corpse proposed the idea of starting your own Youtube channel. You were hesitant.

"Corpse, I told I don't think people really like me. I think they just like the voice."

"Non sense. You watched our stream?"

"Noo...? Sorry,I didn't really have time to..."

"Hey, it's okay goofball. Anyway,they were asking more videos with you. Maybe some of them like you because of your voice but most of them like you because they like your personality, gh- Y/n."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Look you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I just feel bad for all the fans that want to talk with you or sometimes I found something funny and I want to send you or tag you. It's stupid I know."

You didn't like the sad tone of his, your heart tightened and your worries worsened.

"I think I am going to sleep. Goodnight, ghost."

"'Night,Corpse."

You were left in the darkness of your room, at the end of the bed with your long fingers reaching towards your knife, your personal fidget spinner. You chew your nail as you moved the blade unconsciously.

Corpse's account:

.ghost added you. Add them back?

————————————————————

Hey,guys!💖💖

Hope you like the seventh part of the serie. I almost went into a writing block with this one.

Anyway, have a nice day!💗💗

Tagged💖💖: @moolujk @magenta-skyline @yikesyikesyikes95 @mythicalamphitrite @yoyoanaria @simonsbluee @cherry-piee @gaysludge @softboiicorpse @heavenly3308

[samdeancass]

Troubled

Requested by: _stellastyless on Wattpad

Pairing: Derek x Stella (OC character)

Genre: Angst/Fluff

Characters: Derek, Stella, Scott, Stiles

Before her parents died in a plane crash, Stella was a very traditional girl. She always obeyed the rules, never stepped out of line and always had the best grades. All of that changed, however, when the fatal incident happened. Her life came crashing down around her. She had no siblings, nobody to turn to apart from Stiles. Stiles and Stella became super close and he became the only one she would confide in, especially since she was a closed book around everybody else. Her parents deaths changed her in a way that nobody could have predicted. Stella went from the perfect girl with a perfect life to an independent woman, stubborn and sarcastic just like her younger cousin. Stella has had a number of fake friends and flings that ended badly which crumpled her trust with anybody apart from Stiles.

There was one thing that she didn't trust Stiles to do though: take himself and Scott home without being harmed. It seemed that Stella wasn't the only one with these doubts as Sheriff Stilinski also didn't trust Stiles enough to reach home alone which is how she found herself parked outside of Beacon Hills High School. Stella was sitting on the hood of her car, tapping her fingers impatiently on the hood when she noticed a guy standing a few feet away staring at her. She hopped off the hood and began to walk further towards the schools entrance. Looking back behind her, Stella noticed that the guy had begun to follow her. Anger was building up inside of her, but she really didn't want to kick this guys as in the middle of a high school parking lot, so it was lucky that she spotted another guy heading towards her, Derek Hale. Stella giggled internally as she remembered a conversation she and Stiles had had not so long ago involving Derek.

"There is absolutely no need for how angry he is, Stella. He just sulks in the corner of a room, not saying a word. I can always feel his eyes on me, li,e he wants to eat me or something." Stella chuckled at Stiles' description of Derek. "Are you scared of him, Stiles?" His head shot up as his eyes widened. "No, definitely not." Stella shook her head and went back to reading her book.

Stella headed towards Derek and grabs his arm, interlocking their fingers together. "Play along". Stella whispered in his ear, only to leave Derek even more confused. This feeling soon went away when he spotted the guy that had been following you. Derek's eyes turned into slits as he slid his arm around Stella's waist, pulling her close to him. The guys eyes widened at what was playing out in front of him and soon walked away. Derek's arm fell from Stella's back as she stepped away from him.

"Thanks for that. Really didn't want to make a scene in front of a high school." She gave Derek a sheepish smile as they both walked towards her car. "Anytime, Stella. I always enjoy rescuing a damsel in distress." He began to laugh as Stella dug him in the ribs. "That will only happen once, I can promise you!" Stella could feel a familiar feeling brewing in the pit of her stomach as she carried on the conversation with Derek. Stella and Derek didn't really know each other so it was hard to gauge how much she could trust him, but she really couldn't resist the flirtiness of her old self. "Wanna go out for some drinks later?" Derek stared at Stella a little taken aback. He knew that she didn't really talk to people that wasn't in her inner circle. He thought for a second before accepting the offer. Stella smiled at him before she spotted Scott and Stiles heading down the path in front of them. "I'll meet you at the bar at 7." Stella waved at the two teens before walking towards them, leaving Derek slightly confused but amused at the situation he found himself in.

Later that night at the bar after dropping off Scott and Stiles, Stella and Derek were sat at the bar having a light conversation. "So I know about all of the werewolves and supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills, but I just wanna know how in the hell you cope with it all? I'm not around here all the time, but when I am it always seems like you, Scott and Stiles are always out trying to fix the town." Stella took a sip of her drink as Derek laughed slightly. "To be honest, it's quite hard trying to keep this town safe. The amount of things that these people have witnessed over the years is horrific. I'm actually surprised there are people still living here." Stella laughed in response as she downed the rest of her drink. "Another?" Derek smiled and nodded as Stella hailed down the bartender. "So, Stella, I've sort of noticed that you don't really talk to people who you aren't close to, so I'm just wondering why you decided to invite me out?"

The question took Stella by surprise as she downed the drink that she had just ordered. "Well, I think it has something to do with the fact that you helped me, practically a stranger, scare off a creepy dude who was following her." She took a deep breath as Derek smiled in response. "The thing is Derek, I'm sort of broken. I never used to be like this, I was a totally different person before...." Her voice stuck in her throat as she tried to finish the sentence. Derek placed a hand on hers and nodded. "I understand. Something happened to my family when I was younger that changed me in ways that I didn't even know, so trust me I know exactly how you're feeling." Stella smiled gratefully and ordered two more drinks.

A lot more drinks later, Stella and Derek found themselves hooking up together. For Stella, it was partly accidental but partly intentional as well. She really felt that Derek and her had a connection with each other and she wanted to feel closer to him. Stella awoke and looked around her, finding Derek asleep next to her. She smiles softly at him before quietly getting out of bed and getting dressed. She looks back at Derek one more time before creeping out of Derek's loft.

When Stella is in Beacon Hills, she stays af Stiles' house. She was hoping that nobody would be there when she arrived in order to escape staring eyes and awkward questions. That hope quickly faded when she spotted Scott's motorbike parked outside of the house. Stella sighed inwardly and readied herself for the interrogation that was sure to come before putting her key in the lock.

When she opened the door, footsteps sounded from the upstairs of the house. She rolled her eyes as the footsteps came closer and closer to her. "Where have you been?" She turned around to see Scott and Stiles leaning against the wall, arms folded across their chests. "You don't need to know." As Stella began to move around the kitchen and dodging Stiles' questions, she could hear Scott sniffing slightly and she knew he could sense a change in her scent. She swung around and brought a finger to her lips when Stiles wasn't watching, silently asking him to hush. He nodded softly before Stella headed upstairs.

A few days later the pack had gotten together to discuss another supernatural threat. Frustration was evident between Stella and Derek but nobody wanted to admit it. Both Stella and Derek had feelings for the other but they didn't know if they were ready to admit it to themselves, especially Stella. She was so afraid of being hurt and putting all of her trust in somebody she barely knows, but somehow she knew that Derek was worth it. Throughout the meeting, Derek barely looked at Stella and the frustration that she felt began to build inside her, along with a little sadness. Stella thought that Derek had feelings for her but with the way he was acting now, she wasn't so sure. At the end of the meeting, the frustration had turned into bitterness as her mind dwelled on hers and Derek's relationship. Before he left, letting the bitterness get the better of her, she pulled Derek aside to confront him about the situation.

"Alright Derek, I need to know. Where do we stand with each other? I thought you hooked up with me because you had feelings for me, but obviously you didnt. I cared all along for you, Derek." You breathing became rapid and angry as he gave you no verbal response and shook his head. Stella's anger got the better of her and she slapped Derek across the face before walking away.

The rest of the packs meetings resulted in Stella defending everybody's reasons and plans apart from Derek's. Stella was still very bitter about what happened between them both and felt that Derek didn't acknowledge or appreciate the hard work the rest of the pack puts into putting the plans together.

At one of the meetings, Isaac sensed a change in Stella's scent and decided to talk to her. "Hey, Stella. You Ok? I can sense something's wrong." She sighed a little and reassured him that she was OK. He could still sense her discomfort and engaged her in a mood lifter conversation which Stella became fully indulged in. Throughout the conversation, Isaac could sense Stella's discomfort leaving her body which brought a smile to his face. Stella walked away and sat down, taking Isaac with her.

"The thing is, Isaac. I sort of have feelings for Derek but he doesn't feel the same way." Stiles overhears the conversation and walks over to Stella. "Seriously Stel, Derek? I get what you're saying, I really do, but Derek?" Isaac looked up at him and shook his head before kicking his shin. "Go away, Stiles." Stiles groaned in pain as he hobbled away towards Scott, who he undoubtedly will tell. "Dont listen to Stiles, he's a moron." Stella laughed in response and begins to talk to Isaac some more.

After that, at another meeting, Stella found herself having to contradict Derek. Isaac could sense the change of her emotions and immediately pulled her close and hugged her, which oddly calmed her down. Every time this happened, Stella could feel herself mildly enjoying the attention. Throughout the meeting, Derek was unconsciously waiting for Stella to snap at him like she has been. He becomes a little confused when Stella isn't contradicting him anymore and actually agrees with him. Derek looks over in your direction and sees Issac and Stella cuddling together.

Anger rose through Derek's body at the scene in front of him. "Isaac, would you please concentrate and leave Stella alone!" Derek gritted his teeth together to keep himself calm before Stella jumped to Isaac's defense. "Hey, lay off. We're talking about the plan." You frowned at Derek before turning back to Isaac, throwing her arms around him. At this point, Derek was seething with anger. He absolutely hated the way Stella seemed so comfortable with Isaac and how quick she jumped to his defense but he chose to act like it didn't bother him.

A few days after this, Stella's phone lights up with a text from Isaac asking her to hurry over to the loft for a meeting. She hopped into her care and drove to the loft. Stella opened the doors and walked inside, only to find herself with Derek. Stella groaned inwardly at how awkward this was going to be.

"Erm, how've you been?" Derek looked over in Stella's direction and cast a small smile. "Absolutely fine, and yourself?" Ste,,a looked over at Derek and kept a straight face showing no emotion. "Fine. What are you doing here?" "Isaac told me to meet him here for a pack meeting or something." Silence filled the air for a few moments before Derek walked towards Stella and gave her a questioning look. "So, I've noticed you and Isaac have been getting pretty close lately and I'm just wondering how it's going."

Stella stepped back slightly in confusion and raised her eyebrows. "What on earth are you talking about, Derek? Me and Isaac aren't a thing, we're just good friends." Derek let out an angry huff. "C'mon, Stella. Dont give me that shit." Stella threw her hands up in the air. "What are you going on about?"

"With all the cuddling and giggling and whispering, it looks like you two are a thing. You seem so comfortable with him, I just assumed that you were both together." Stella gave him a deadpan look. "We're just good friends Derek, nothing more. We just get along really well and we understand the things that we have both been through. That's it, purely platonic. I'm way older than Isaac anyway, so having a relationship with him really doesn't seem practical in any way."

"Why are you both always co,fy with each other then, always cuddling each other?" Derek's frustration was starting to show at how naive Stella was being. He placed around the room as Stella shrugged in response. "I'm like that with everyone." Derek stops and over to Stella, stopping right in front of her. "You're not like that with me, though." "I would be if you hadn't of been such a jerk and played me." Derek scoffed. "What is your issue with me?"

"I like you, OK. I have for a while now. All of the little things that you do, like taking on the big bad by yourself, putting your life before anybody elses. It's things like that that allowed my feelings to develop, Derek. I haven't felt this way about anybody in a really long time and I get that you dont feel the same way, but you really shouldn't be interfering in my personal life."

Derek's head hung low as she finished her sentence. "I do admire you, Stella. So much. It's just, my past still haunts me to this day. I've lost so many people and I don't want to lose you to." Stella huffed in annoyance as tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes. "Please stop pretending, Derek. Its hurting me more than you know." She turns away from Derek but stops in her tracks when he grips her wrist.

"I love you, Stella. So much, please don't leave." Stella looked up into Derek's eyes to try and find any sort of uneasiness but all she found was genuine love. Stella tries to push Derek off her but her fights back and places his lips on hers, engaging her in a passionate kiss. As time goes on, the kiss progresses into something more.

Stella and Derek pull apart when they notice that Isaac is skipping around them, throwing rose petals along with Erica. In the background, a soft romantic song played. Stella and Derek looked up to find Boyd and Peter looking smug as hell. "What in the hell is happening here?" Derek looked around the room at each person before the door opened, revealing Scott and Stiles.

"GET A ROOM AND HOOK UP ALREADY!" Isaac shouted from where he was standing as Scott and Peter looked at Derek and Stella. "That was step one, guys. Just wait until step 2." They both wiggled their eyebrows at the couple before Stiles piped up.

"Derek Hale, if you hurt her, so help me. I will grab some wolfsbane, wrap it in mistletoe and mountain ash and shove it up your furry ass."

[kortsitron]

Revenge

Relationship: Loki × Male! Reader { Something between platonic and romantic }

Location: Mention in one shot

Time: Around 7- 8 PM

Warnings: heartbreaking, ex-boyfriend being total asshole, angry Loki, swearing, homophobia, mention of acrophobia, one very bad f-word (I'm sorry)

Imagine: Your asshole boyfriend broke up with treats you like shit. Loki sees everything and decides to do something with this.

[A/N]

I have no idea what to say. I sometimes do have a really weird ideas. (you will see why I call it weird) Hope you enjoy this oneshot.

(Y/N) was bouncing happily to the park, to meet his boyfriend. Male loved him so much and he was happy, as always, to meet him. Unfortunately, he didn't knew what was going to happen. What his "boyfriend" planned for him.

As he was on his way to the park, his friend, Loki the God of Mischief, was enjoying himself at the bench, reading a book. This time, he wasn't dressed as a witch, Asgardian was wearing more comfortable clothes. It was way too hot for a black suit.

Loki knew (Y/N)'s boyfriend. He talked to him once and both men didn't liked each other since their first meeting. Loki thought that (Male name) was inappropriate for his friend. In his opinion he seemed mysterious, in the bad way, but he decided to keep all of his thoughts for himself after seeing how happy (Y/N) was. (Y/N) was like a small sunshine, happy most of them time, smile on his cute face was making Loki’s cold heart beat faster. Seeing him sad, was breaking him. Mostly, because Loki had a crush on him, but he knew how to hide it.

Loki looked up as hear a familiar voice, in bad meaning. It wasn't (Y/N)'s voice, it was (M/N)'s voice. God's face from neutral quickly went to glowering. An annoyed sigh left his lips as Loki was watching every move he was making. Something made him suspicious about the male, more than normally. Something was about to happen.

As (Y/N) entered the park, Loki closed the book and started staring at (Y/N) really closely, all his attention was brought to him.

"Hey babe!" (Y/N)'s said with cheerful tone and smile on his face. Male was about to hug his boyfriend, but instead of a hug, he got roughly pushed away. He landed on the ground and looked up to see the emotionless face. "Why did you done that?" He whispered, feeling unsafe at the moment. Everybody near them was starring at both of them.

"Do not touch me, faggot." This word made (Y/N) choke slightly on the air, not believing what he just heard.

"Why did you called me this way?" His voice was lower and quieter than before.

Loki looking at everything from distance felt the anger building inside of him. He wanted to go and stop this, but he needed to know what will happen next.

"Listen to me little bitch. I don't what you were thinking, but we're done. I was with you, because of the deal with my friends." He groaned. "I have no idea what you had been thinking, but it all was fake. I would never fall for such a pussy like you. If really want to know, I was having fun with some girls when you were sitting in your house." He laughed dramatically.

Tears started streaming down male's face as got up and ran from the park to his house. Loki exploded inside. He got from the bench and went to the (M/N) to tell him some very interesting things that he should heard way earlier. He had no mercy for people who hurted (Y/N).

"Who you think you are?" Loki's voice was low and it gave shivers down the others male's spine.

"Oh, you're his friend. You better go to him and make this fucking baby stop crying." Grin on his face made God of Mischief feel furious.

"I will go and treat him in the way he deserves it, but now, I have something more important to do." His voice become dead, as he grabbed (M/N) by his arms. His strong hands weren't going to leave him alone. The revenge in his head, planned perfectly.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

When Loki was doing everything he should, (Y/N) was already in his apartment. Male was in his room, on the bed. His eyes were red and puffy, but it wasn't the end of his tears. He was feeling bad for being so stupid and he was extremely mad at himself for not noticing anything. He wanted to scream.

Knock. Two knocks on his door. Male got up and wiped the tears from cheeks, he breathed deeply a few times to calm down at least a little. He got to the door and stood right in front of it.

"Who is it?" He asked, the way he said that made the person behind the door broke inside.

"It is me, dear. Please, open the door." Loki implored, his tone of voice was telling (Y/N) how worried and sad he was at the moment.

After waiting a few seconds, he opened the door. Loki saw a despondent face. (Y/N)'s was a little bit of a mess, his face red and his beautiful (e/c) were looking like they were made of glass.

Without thinking Asgardian pulled smaller male into a tight, comforting hug. (Y/N) immediately started crying again.

"Shhh... Everything is okay, I'm here..." Sweet words that would made (Y/N) feel better in other situations, didn't worked too much this time. This time he couldn't stop and calm down. It was way too much for him and Loki noticed it. Instead of saying anything or just simply stopping crying, he cried harder, making God’s hoodie wet. Not that he mind of course, he knew that he needed to get rid of all the bad emotions.

"H-Help!" Someone yelled outside the window. He quickly got (Y/N) attention, because voice was way too familiar. "Please! Somebody!" Voice was breaking, fear in it.

"Wh-what is..?" Male pulled away from God, to slowly go to the window. Loki followed him from distance to see his reaction. Outside, on high building, (M/N). Tears in his eyes. "Loki, did you..?"

"I did." He giggled as he went to the window. "I couldn't leave this creature without any punishment for the way the treated you."

"I am so sorry!" He cried. "I shouldn't do that, (Y/N)! Please! I want to go down!"

"How did you knew it will make him react like that?" He simply asked, looking at Asgardian. He giggled before answering.

"You told once about the fact that he have acrophobia, so I thought meeting his worst nightmare will made him feel sorry." Loki answered without hesitation. (M/N) shouldn't did what he done and God wasn't going to do anything about his fear. "You know that I listen to you." He smiled sweetly.

"I don't know what to say."

"He got what he deserved, my dear. And if you're really worried about him, I believe spider-child will take care of him."

"Spider-child?" He laughed a little at the nickname. "Why did you call him that?" He couldn't stop the smile on his face thinking about it.

"He is a child." Loki grinned once more at the scene outside the window before glancing at (Y/N). "How do you feel about my little surprise?"

"I.. He got what he deserved, just like you said. But maybe it was a little too much, Loki." He agreed with Loki, but not fully.

"I believe I did a good thing." He responded, hoping that Midgardian won't be mad at him for what he done to (M/N). "You are mad at me, aren't you?"

"Not really. I am more mad at myself than you." He looked down, embarrassed by his own words, but he was right.

"Don't be, (Y/N)." Loki got other male's attention and looked shyly into his eyes. "It's not your fault, you shouldn't blame yourself, alright?" He nodded slowly.

"Yes. You're right." He whispered. Male wiped his eyes a little, feeling another wave of tears coming to his eyes. "Sorry, I just..."

"Oh, no no no. Everything is fine, (Y/N). You can cry, you know me, I don't judge." He smiled warmly and bring smaller male into comforting embrace. His hand gently brushed his back, making his calm down a little. A few tears came from Midgardian's eyes, but he didn't made a single noise while it. Loki's cold skin was quieting him a little bit.

"Spider-child." He chuckled into the hoodie, couldn't stop himself from saying that. Asgardian snorted hearing the nickname. "Did I just ruined the moment?" He chuckled once again, a looked up at God of Mischief.

"I think you did." He smiled in return. "But in a good way. It's good to hear your laugh."

"Do you think spider-man will be here soon?" He asked looking outside, at (M/N) who was crying at the moment.

"I think so. I also think that my brother will find about my actions and he will be mad." Loki rolled his eyes thinking about Thor's talks. Listening to them, didn't seems interesting. "But I don't care about it too much."

As soon as Loki made (Y/N) feel better and made him forget about what happened, men decided to watch Netflix. When they were enjoying themselves, spider-man took (M/N) down. He was texting him, at first he was sorry, then his messages became aggressive, but Asgardian told him not to care. He even said that he will do something like this again, if his ex will try to hurt him. It made (Y/N) blush, nobody in his life never cared about him that much.

"Are you staying?" (Y/N) brought his attention to Loki instead of the movie. His voice was quiet and it was almost impossible to hear. He wasn't fully sure if he should ask Loki that after a day like this.

"I can stay if you want." He answered, looking at him. "Are you afraid that he is going to come here?"

"Yeah and I just don't wanna be alone." He looked away, not wanting meet his gaze at the moment. Male didn't see the other male’s smile.

"I will stay if need me. No need to be scared to ask." He gently had put his fingers under (Y/N)'s chin to make him look into his green, beautiful eyes. "It's okay."

"I know it's just... That situation seems kinda weird." He murmured. "Probably because (M/N) did what he do and you know... He broke up with me."

"Don't stress yourself, my dear. It's okay to feel the way you do. You just need to take your time."

"I am gonna take my time." He grinned a little and hugged him. "Are you in mood to cuddle?"

"I thought you wanted to watch a movie." Loki lowed his voice and smirked.

"We can still watch it."

Loki chuckled and hugged smaller male back. "Alright, if that's what you want."

[thedemisedroyal]

Dangerous Betrayal | TVD/TO

The Vampire Diaries & The Originals

AU Story

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝙾𝙽 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽!

• A U T H O R •

Esme and Elena looked at each other, after talking for a while they were caught up with everything each other knew. From the first experience Esme had with her powers, to her finding the ring, then Elena's discovery, and finally Vicki. The older Gilbert was going to ask a question, she was curious as to what her powers were, what she was able to do

But she couldn't even answer before Esme yelled in pain, and fell to the floor. Elenas eyes widened in fear and she immediately went to the floor beside her sister. "Esme? What's wrong, what hurts?" Elena asked frantically, the younger twin didn't answer as she felt the pain slowly fade, but then it was replaced by bloodthirsty.

She turned her head slowly to her sister, her eyes glued to her. The sound of her heart pumping through her veins was the only sound she heard. Almost immediately, Esme felt her blood thirst get even worse as she had a perfectly good subject right next to her. A perfectly good, and probably tasty, pulsing neck next to her.

No! Stop! Control yourself!

The middle child battled with herself before going through with the wretched thoughts that consumed her mind. She abruptly used her vampire-speed and hit the wall, away from Elena. Esme felt the urge become even stronger, she growled in hunger and pain. "I-I can't b-be here." He voice was scratchy and low, she slightly turned around to face her sister.

Who gasped, Elena was in shock, fear radiating off of her, and Esme could sense it, could feel it, and she was feeding off of it. Her eyes were glowing a dark blood red, which was not the normal color, and so were the flares around her hands. But, black, misty patterned veins grew underneath, something new that both Esme and Elena hadn't seen before.

When they locked eyes Esme used her vampire-speed out of the house, and away from her. Knowing she couldn't control herself, she ran far, far away from the house. Only to run into the deep forest and run right into late night joggers. Two females, young brunettes that were no younger than herself.

"Hey you okay." The taller one asked frantically, pure worry on her face. But the other one, shorter, was on the growing, groaning in pain. Esme didn't even realize it until she smelt the blood on the shorter ones forearm, after landing on a sharp rock.

The taller one turned around, her attention turning to her fellow friend. "Emily! Are you okay?" She knelt to the floor, taking the injured arm into her hands, gently, as she examined it. Esme turned her head to face the girls, her eyes were back to normal, under control. Well she was, until her eyes glued to the open wound.

Her eyes started to glow, the veins starts to scatter down her face, and the flares wrapped around her hands. She growled as she readied herself to pounce of the taller girl, who had Emily's blood on her hands and clothes. The wounded girls eyes widened in fear and shock as she locked eyes with the terrifying creature standing above them.

The taller brunette turned around but the girl couldn't react until she felt the creature latch onto her neck, feeling a pain sensation on her neck as four sharp fangs plunged into her neck. She yelled in pain, but that was the last thing she remembered, the face of the monster that nearly took her life, first of many to come.

• E S M E •

The girl sobbed as she slowly walked in the Gilbert house, blood covering her face and hands. Jordan felt guilt overwhelm her, she was now home with somebody else's blood all over her. And she still wanted to feed on more people, kill people.

"Me? Is that you"

(Me is pronounced May, it's Elenas nickname for her sister. Just a quick reminder)

She looked up at locked eyes with her sister,"Elena..I-I.." The younger twin didn't even finish before she was wrapped in a bone crushing hug. Elena didn't even care for the blood that painted her sister body. "Shh, shh, shh. It's alright, it's okay. I'm right here with you, I'm not gonna leave you." Elena soothes her sister, slightly rocking them as her twin sobbed on her shoulder.

"I'm a monster Le."

(It's pronounced Lay. Nickname for Elena form Esme, reminder because it does get a bit confusing.)

Elena furiously shook her head,"You are not. You are just scared and need help. Maybe we'll ask Stefan for help, or maybe research this thing. I'm not letting you go, I'll be right by your side." She whispered, Esme nodded, glad she had her sister... for now.

• E L E N A •

The older twin squirmed in her sleep, slowly waking up from the hectic night she had. She opened her eyes quite slowly , as she wasn't accustomed to the bright light that poured into her room, provided by the shining sun. Elena yawned, siting up in her bed, turning her head to face her younger sister that was also in her bed.

They were holding hands, something the two did whenever the one was sad or stressed, or they had nightmares in the middle of the night. It was basically their coping mechanism, but they could only do it within themselves, it always felt weird with someone else.

Elena felt her heart ache, her sister was going through something major and she couldn't help, she didn't know how. But she did know one thing, she would absolutely help her sister along the way. No matter what.

So the girl started her day, releasing her hand from her sisters and getting up from the bed. Heading to the bathroom to start her day. Unaware of the chaotic day ahead of her.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Written In The Stars LVII (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

A/N: I’m IN LOVE with this gif -Danny

Words: 3,044

Warnings: None.

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: Love Somebody -Maroon 5

Chapter Sixteen: Buckbeak's Appeal.

Mel had been pacing around the dormitory for five minutes, unable to put into words what she was going through. 

She sort of did it, but Hermione didn't understand, how did she know she was falling in love?

"Can you at least tell me what happened?" Hermione stood up in exasperation, interrupting her pacing.

Mel was originally going to say 'I don't know!' but her mouth blurted out something completely different.

"I almost kissed Harry!"

Hermione's frown grew.

"That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?" She widened her eyes. "That's everything!"

"Mel, if you could see the way you're always ogling at him you'd think you're always trying to kiss him."

"What?! No! Not always– Not ever... Or do I? I mean, sometimes when... and he's so clever... Wait, no! I almost kissed Harry for real, I leaned in to hug him and he turned and I..." She felt the shivers running down her spine. "Our lips sort of touched, but not really..."

Her friend snorted, going back to her seat on the bed.

"What's so funny?" Mel huffed. "I'm in the middle of a crisis and you decide to have a laugh!"

"What'd you want me to say?" Hermione giggled. "Everyone knows you like him, and he likes you back– We're just waiting to see who's the first to give up and say you've got it bad for the other."

"That's the problem, 'Mione," Mel's lip quivered. "I don't know if I want to 'have it bad' for him..."

"Why? He's your best friend, so far one of the most decent boys at school."

"Precisely," Mel sat on her own bed, hiding her face behind both hands. "He's my best friend–  What if I'm just confused? What if I ruin a perfectly good friendship because I think there might be something and everything gets complicated–"

"You're overthinking," Hermione moved to sit on her bed, patting her knee lightly. "You and Harry have something special, I think it'd be worth the risks..."

"We're too young!"

"I'm not telling you to ask him to marry you!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, we're still children but it wouldn't hurt to talk it out– at least let him know that if he thinks there's a possibility in the future... well, you're more than disposed to try."

Mel hugged her legs close to her chest and sighed. Was she ready to try? She's not even sure she's falling! This could be a new level of platonic appreciation, he's the oldest friend she has, maybe what she's feeling is normal?

Right, wanting to kiss your best friend is a clear sign that you love having him as your best friend.

She shook her head, tired of the uncertainty.

"What if he doesn't want the same?" She asked quietly. "What if then he steps back and then I'm just another of his lovesick fans?"

"You could never be that," Hermione assured her. "Not with the way he talks about you."

"He talks about me?" Mel inquired with the smallest glimmer of hope.

"Yes," The girl smiled. "He rambles– Ron has to shut him up because he could pass a whole hour talking about the new lessons you completed, or that funny thing you told him during lunch... when you're either with Dumbledore or... Erick," The name slipped easier out of her mouth, but still bitter on her tongue.

This could mean many things, but all of them concluded on the same little thought: He thinks about me.

Although this helped her a great deal with her embarrassment, she was incapable of spending time alone with him now, Mel would make up an excuse to walk the other way or Harry would mumble something about forgetting his quill. She didn't know if he was doing it out of kindness, maybe he could sense she was on edge.

Or perhaps, he was just as confused as her.

Harry was the normal amount of talkative with others on the daily, but there wasn't a day where they didn't share inner jokes or spend time ranting about something that annoyed them that day (usually Malfoy). However, after her mistake during the Quidditch final, things simply couldn't move forward with them.

The exams were right around the corner, and the common room was deadly quiet most days, with Fred and George finally deciding to take their studies seriously, the only distraction she had from time to time was Erick. Unfortunately, his friends were almost always accompanying him to the library to study, which had him in an awful mood and unable to join her table. With the arrival of their exams schedules, the realization that Mel was yet to find out how on earth was Hermione taking two tests every hour hit her. She didn't want to explain it to her, which made her terribly suspicious.

"Hermione?" Ron said cautiously, because she was liable to explode when interrupted these days. "Er — are you sure you've copied down these times right?"

"What?" snapped Hermione, picking up the exam schedule and examining it. "Yes, of course I have."

"Is there any point asking how you're going to sit for two exams at once?" said Harry.

"No," said Hermione shortly. "Have either of you seen my copy of Numerology and Gramatica?"

"Oh, yeah, I borrowed it for a bit of bedtime reading," said Ron.

Mel let out a tiny giggle, locking eyes with Harry.

Both kids snapped their heads in opposite directions, clearing their throats and pretending to be busy with something else. Luckily, Hedwig arrived immediately after.

"It's from Hagrid," said Harry, walking towards the window and taking the note his owl was offering to him. "Buckbeak's appeal — it's set for the sixth."

"That's the day we finish our exams," said Hermione.

"And they're coming up here to do it," Harry continued. "Someone from the Ministry of Magic and — and an executioner."

Mel's thoughts of unrequited feelings disappeared, her outrage bigger than her shame.

"They what?!"

"They're bringing the executioner to the appeal! But that sounds as though they've already decided!"

"Yeah, it does," said Harry bitterly.

"They can't!" Ron replied just as angry. "I've spent ages reading up on stuff for him; they can't just ignore it all!"

They were ignoring all, though. The last day of their exams they run into the minister himself, the executioner, and the representative of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. It was endearing and all.

Mel had the feeling that she'd done well enough in all her exams, even Potions. Her favorite was Defense Against the Dark Arts, a whole obstacle thingy– Her uncle made sure to tell her she'd made the full marks of it. She was quite proud of herself.

Their last test was Divination, and she had a jolly time throughout the whole fifteen minutes Trelawney forced her to sit down and stare into a crystal ball, decks of cards, a teacup, and her own hand.

Not.

She stayed around to wait for the boys, but she'd forgotten that their Professor was alternating the names, so instead of being Harry the first one to pass, it was Ron.

They stood there awkwardly for about ten seconds in which Mel pondered what she should do. She could either be a child and run away from her own feelings, or she could move past them and take care of the actual important things they were dealing with, like Buckbeak's trial.

Mel let out a defeated sigh and walked over to her best friend, she leaned on the wall and slid to the floor, tired of not being able to act normal around him.

"Everything'll be all right," Harry tried to cheer her up, sitting down next to her.

"I hope so, it's the first time I see Ron reading thousands of books so passionately," She chuckled lowly. "They still have one last chance."

She looked up and locked eyes with the boy, his stare was just as welcoming as always, even eager, it had been quite a while since they started avoiding each other.

"Glasses," She cleared her throat anxiously. "What I did during the Quidditch final..."

"You don't have–"

"I was euphoric and I acted out of impulse," She pressed on, ignoring him. "I am so sorry for making you uncomfortable– Please don't be upset, I promise it won't happen again."

She braced herself for the impact, hoping to see him visibly sigh and thank her for the apology, maybe even saying that he was afraid she was trying something when he clearly didn't want it.

Harry's chest deflated and his brows knitted together when his mouth opened to speak. He didn't get to talk though, not at first, but when he saw the worried expression on her face he cleared his throat, nodding shortly.

"It's okay, Mellow," He said with a small -was it sad?- smile. "I wasn't upset, just wondering why were you acting so oddly..."

"I thought I had stepped out of boundaries..."

"That must be the first time you care about those," Harry snorted.

Mel let out a tiny laugh, this time more comfortable.

"Shut up," She shook her head. "We're still friends?"

"Always," Harry smiled. "You won't get rid of me that easily, remember?"

Mel smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder and missing the look of mild pain in his eyes.

"Hey," She said, remembering something. "Why was Snape so pissed about the map? What did it do?"

"Why are you asking me about it?"

"Just curious, I've been meaning to ask you for a while now..."

"Well, at first nothing came up, but then words started to appear– they were insults towards Snape, all coming from the people that made the map: Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, Prongs, Ruddy..."

"Hmm," Mel's eyes narrowed. "I feel like I've heard those before..."

"Fred and George had the map first, maybe they told you about them?" The boy offered.

"Yeah," She yawned.

Harry told them to go once their friend climbed down the stairs. Ron was so eager to start relaxing that he happily obliged, dragging Mel with him. Harry promised to join them after his examination.

"Let's play chess!"

"I'm awful at it," Mel huffed. "You'll win!"

"Gobstones?

"The winner gets to ask whatever they want from Hogsmeade the next time we go?"

They found Hermione in the common room, way more relaxed than before.

"I'm so proud of you!" Mel sat down next to her, giving her the biggest hug.  

"I told you I could do it!" Hermione groaned, pushing her away lightly. "I told you!"

"It's different said than done," Mel grinned.

One of the School's owls tapped on the window and she got up to open it, the owl dropped a piece of paper on Ron's lap and left just as soon as it had appeared.

"What does it say?" Mel rushed over to them, reading above Ron's head.

'Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it

Hagrid.'

"No!" Hermione gasped.

"I can't believe it!" Mel flopped on the armrest, completely devastated. "Poor Buckbeak, poor Hagrid!"

Harry arrived at that moment, he was breathing harshly, for some reason he'd run all the way over to the tower.

"Professor Trelawney," He gasped, "just told me—"

But he stopped once he noticed their expressions.

"Buckbeak lost," Ron sounded deeply affected. "Hagrid's just sent this."

Harry took the note and read quickly, his face fell.

"We've got to go," He said. "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner!"

"Sunset, though," Ron looked out the window. "We'd never be allowed... 'specially you, Harry..."

Harry ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"If we only had the Invisibility Cloak..."

"Where is it?" Hermione asked.

"Under the one-eyed witch– there's a passageway, but if Snape sees me anywhere near there again, I'm in serious trouble."

"That's true, if he sees you..." She quietly got up. "How do you open the witch's hump again?"

"You — you tap it and say, 'Dissendium,' " said Harry. "But —"

Hermione held Mel's wrist and dragged her out of the common room.

"All right– Sure, I'll help," She said with amusement. "Are we seriously going to get Harry's cloak?"

"Shhh!" Hermione replied. "We ought to be with Hagrid, he needs us!"

"Merlin," Mel continued, jumping lightly. "Why so eager to break the rules, Miss Granger?"

"I'm not trying to break anything," She scoffed. "But they have been terribly injust to Hagrid, the least we can do is be there, besides I remember someone telling me I could do both, relax and be the best student?"

"That's true," She grinned. "You're a fast learner."

"Oh, bugger off," Hermione blushed.

Ten minutes later they found themselves standing in front of the witch. Mel kept an eye on the hall for any unwelcomed visitors while Hermione entered the passageway and quietly retrieved the cloak.

"All done?"

"The cloak's safe," Hermione grunted, cleaning the dust off her hands as she stepped out of the statue.

"Cool, let's go!" She turned around only to see Faustus and another Slytherin boy coming their way. "Oh no! – Go back, go back!"

"Look!" She heard an unfamiliar voice say. "It's the nutt-head!"

"And the Know-it-all," Faustus replied with a nasty smirk. "Alone."

"Unlike you, we don't need to be guarded," Mel frowned. "Leave us alone–"

"We don't enjoy the company of scumb," He sneered. "But we got matters to attend with you..."

She heard Hermione gulped next to her, but both girls (tiny compared to the boys' height and size) stood their ground.

"What?"

"You haven't apologized."

"Oh, sod off! Your friend didn't care, you're just looking for an excuse. Now, if that's the best your bird-brain can do, we've more important things to–"

"You're staying," The other boy pulled out his wand.

Mel felt her blood run cold, she had forgotten her wand back in the tower and she wasn't allowed to used wandless magic at all. Hermione raised hers, but against two older Slytherin... they had very slim chances to get out of there unharmed. That, until Erick appeared around the corner the Slytherins had come from.

"Griffin," He frowned, not noticing who were they talking to. "Isn't it a bit late to be tormenting first yea–"

His eyes landed on Mel and Hermione, he stopped four feet behind his housemates. His eyebrows raised ever so lightly, as if his interest had increased, but barely.

"Hello?" He looked at the boys. "Are you guys planning a double date?"

His voice sounded casual and controlled, the other two boys snickered at this.

"We found them here on their own, thought you might appreciate to get a proper apology out of this nut-head's mouth," The boy, who now Mel knew as Griffin, explained.

Erick's eyebrows fell into a frown.

"Apologize?"

"She crashed into you the first day of school, remember?" Faustus made a face. "That Potter tried to fight you because of it."

"If my memory doesn't fail me, he was trying to fight you, not me."

"All the same, we have them cornered!"

"We're standing in the middle of a hall," He stated.

"You want payback or not?" Griffin spat.

"I don't," Erick tilted his head, his frown never leaving his expression. "Are you twelve? I couldn't care less about what a pair of Gryffindor girls did to me by accident months ago."

Faustus' eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that reaction.

"But– She's... She's the Dumbledore girl."

"Yeah, and you're the Gibbon boy," He raised a brow. "Griffin is a Singh boy– I'll say it again, I don't care who she is, I won't risk my Prefect badge just because you're bloody bored, Faustus. Let. Them. Go."

Faustus and Griffin lowered their wands, grumbling and walking past them, pushing harshly on Hermione's shoulder. Mel held her in place.

Erick stayed behind. He seemed to be struggling between asking them if they were fine or just walking away. Mel was about to talk when Griffin yelled from the other side of the hall.

"Flint, what're you doing?"

Erick jumped lightly, his frown increasing as he looked over to the boys.

"Nothing! – Just checking you didn't do anything stupid like hurting the Headmaster's grandaughter!–"

"Niece..." Mel grumbled.

"I know," Erick whispered without looking at her, his frown never disappearing.

He left after that, hurrying to catch up with his housemates. The girls stood there in stunned silence until Mel turned to Hermione.

"Was that enough proof of his loyalty?"

"Please," Hermione huffed, starting to walk towards their tower. "I don't doubt him since our last session– No person would sit for hours and weeks to hear us talk about how muggles' lives just to hurt someone. I'm yet to find out why he needs to know all that, though..."

"You can ask him later, if he trusts you he'll tell you," Mel shrugged. "But see? He's a good boy! He wasn't hiding anything!"

"What about you?" Hermione asked while walking through the tapestry.

"What about me?" She frowned

"I don't worry about Erick's loyalty, but I worry about yours..."

"What?" Mel laughed. "What are you saying?"

"You haven't told Harry about Erick," She retorted. "You promised months ago, but you haven't. You don't trust Erick enough to let him meet Harry, or you don't trust Harry– I don't know which one's worse."

"That's not it," Mel replied calmly, though she could feel her heartbeat racing. "I trust them, I just..."

Hermione didn't pressure her to speak, she waited until they were climbing the stairs towards the Fat Lady.

"They'll get upset– It's been three years, I promised I'd keep our friendship a secret and then I go out of my way to tell you– it's not fair to hide things from my best friend, and it's not fair to talk without Erick's consent either..."

They walked into the common room concluding their discussion, Hermione handed the cloak back to Harry, Ron was beyond amazed.

"Hermione, I don't know what's gotten into you lately! First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Professor Trelawney —"

"Best Gryffindor in our year," Mel smirked, putting an arm around her friend's shoulders.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@tiphareth2018 @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @celestialhayi @mikariell95 @omiwashere​ @thesuitelifeofafangirl​ @reverse-hxlland​ @steve-thotgers​ @kylosleftbuttcheek​ @tomshollandz​ 

[hecohansen31]

Bad Kind Of Butterflies:

Werewolf! Duncan+Half Witch-Half Werewolf! Reader.

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

This is the second part to this ask!

I am in a rather ‘Duncan Shepherd Mood’, in fact other than this entire series (as always: let me know if you want more and if you have any special asks about this couple) I am writing another and I hope to be writing another about Michael.

I took a bit of a pause from asks, I have just two in my inbox so I am chilling a bit, and having a bit more of fun with original things, which I hope won’t be a problem for you lovelies!

With this being said, I hope you’ll enjoy this!

WARNINGS: Mention of Past Trauma, Problematic Family Relationship, Mention of Murder, Talk About Abortion/Pregnancy/Babies (if anything about this triggers you, this might not be the fic for you)/Light Angst-Fluff.

Your meetings with Duncan had become more frequent after your first ‘mating’.

But you both didn’t assume they were nothing more than simple ‘stress-relievers’ for each other, about which you wouldn’t talk about, ever.

And you also didn’t talk about the cuddles that came after everything had ‘gone down’.

You blamed it on Duncan’s improving skills, having made him an impeccable lover, who, instead of his younger self, was always ready to listen to her, appreciating your body in a way that nobody had ever did, almost as if he knew its reaction before they happened.

He knew just exactly what had to happen to make you gasp and hold your breath, meanwhile her stomach went taunt in anticipation.

You hoped that he felt the same way towards you, although you had only half the experience he had gained, but you made up for it with sarcasm and wittiness, with those laughs that made Duncan move your drenched hair from your face, smirking at you, before he bit aggressively your lips, as a way to tell you to shut up.

You never did.

Even that morning your coupling had been like that: you had spoken back to him, and he had taken it to himself to make you blush with the way you screamed his name, pleading with him for just that missing piece he wouldn’t relent to you.

Although you had to admit that it had been cut short by the ringing of your alarm, since that day you couldn’t stay at Washington but you had a scheduled trip to New Orleans, and although Duncan had protested and suggested you just spent the day with him, you had denied his request.

‘I have important things unlike you’.

You had meant it as a joke, but Duncan hadn’t laughed, probably having hit a sore nerve, the one of his family and his business in it, one of the other reasons why he had been hounding you as a lost soul, wanting desperately to feel something alive, which wasn’t a lie.

And you had indulged him.

You didn’t know if it was because you got some kind of sick satisfaction with the way he begged you desperately for more, when it was your turn to reign him or because you were developing a sicker affection towards the boy who had broken your heart.

Either way, the trip to New Orleans was needed also to clear your head from those notions.

But the thought of Duncan stuck farther than you had thought.

‘(Y/N)’ called her Cordelia, evidently since you had gotten distracted thinking about your ‘almost-relationship’ with Duncan ‘… is everything alright, sweetheart?’.

‘Yes, I am sorry… I have just been… a bit… on cloud nine, lately” you mumbled, meanwhile your ex-headmaster looked surprised but didn’t say anything, anymore, just gently pushing the cup of tea she had gotten ready for you, in your hands.

“It happens to everyone, sometimes” she smirked, mostly noticing the way your cheeks lighted up, lightly dusting pink over them “… even more when we are bothered by something”.

“I just… I am doing fine… like really” although you were still mourning the loss of your father and trying to find any clue on his death, you were… for the first time ever breathing.

Although you had to admit that you had thought you would again waste yourself in Washington, it hadn’t happened.

The challenge had made you blossom and grow, and you couldn’t help but feel like you were slowly reaching a new generation, where peace between different magical creatures was possible.

And then there was Duncan… but your preferred not to put him in the category of good things, since the last time you had… it hadn’t turned out well…

“… still I feel like something is strange about your body” mumbled Cordelia, as she brought the up the cup of tea to her lips, barely wetting them with the tea, before she sent you a rather questioning look, making you almost feel naked “… would you mind if I check it? I wouldn’t want it to be anything dangerous”.

You nodded, although you hadn’t felt anything bad happening to your body, except a general tiredness, which might have been caused by the fact that you found it extremely difficult to fall asleep at a decent hour and not wake up at the crack of dawn.

But Cordelia might get something to help with sleep or to energize your body.

What you hadn’t expected was the outcome of Cordelia’s quick check-up, after she examined your heartbeat and your stomach, where she obviously found a rather interesting news, since she brightened up, pushing her hands lightly onto your stomach, meanwhile you felt a light tickle onto it, as the light showed a little shape in your stomach.

You were rather shocked and immediately looked at Cordelia, worried, but she held one of the biggest smiles you had ever seen, although it was tinged with a soft dash of nostalgy.

“Is something wrong?” you asked worried that it might be some kind of tumor or bad cells or mass “…should I be worried?”.

“Nothing too bad, lovely” giggled gently Cordelia, leaning closer “… I should actually say ‘congratulations’, since you are pregnant, (Y/N)”.

“What?!” you were shocked, to say the least, and immediately rushed to mumble “… I haven’t… I…”.

“… had sex?” tried to complete Cordelia “… I don’t believe that this is an immaculate conception and I am pretty sure you are with child, (Y/N)”.

“I have used birth control, I can’t… this is not possible” because you had had unprotected sex with somebody else, in the past, with your previous partners and nothing… no baby had come from it.

“Birth control might work, but not always…” she mumbled, explaining it as if it was the most natural thing ever, meanwhile you couldn’t even process the fact that a baby was growing in your stomach “… and there might be some situations which might lessen the birth control’s effect”.

You thought about what might have made your birth less effective: you had taken it perfectly and hadn’t eaten or taken any other drug.

The only thing that had changed was… that you had had sex with Duncan on his heat.

Which might have blocked the effectivity since heats were made for females to become pregnant.

And this didn’t absolutely allow any exceptions.

As realization appeared on your face somehow, Cordelia realized your uneasiness on the entire topic.

“You don’t want it?”.

It wasn’t that you wanted it or not… you just…

It was all so confusing, since you had just gone to Cordelia for a quick check-up and you found out you were with child, from the man who hated the same nature that you would have partially passed to your child.

“... I just… I am confused” you spoke, breathing out loudly, meanwhile Cordelia pushed gently an hand onto your stomach, linking with yours so that you could feel the small little thing was creating in your stomach, leaving you no choice but acknowledge that you weren’t alone anymore “… I never thought about it… I never thought it would happen… so early…”.

“I know that you are confused, sweetheart” softly cooed Cordelia, although she didn’t know by experience she must have realized she was slowly panicking and moved to collect the tea, pushing it into your hands “… but you don’t have to do anything”.

Which was the opposite of what was going through your mind: should you keep the baby?

A part of you didn’t even question it: like Cordelia getting pregnant for you was supposed to be pretty difficult, it was part of being half witch and half werewolf, so you should have just taken this as a miracle, not to talk about the fact that, although you were pretty young, you were established in life.

But at the same time, the thought of another ‘little you’ living in Washington made you sick, alongside the thought of explaining to Duncan that he had gotten you pregnant.

It would have been awkward.

“You can stay here for a bit, I’ll handle Washington in the meantime, if it’ll make you feel better” suggested Cordelia, meanwhile she adjusted your shirt to give you a bit of modesty “… you can stay with your sisters, if you feel more comfortable”.

And although she wasn’t saying, she was obviously implying that you would avoid the father of the child.

Which would have been a good idea.

But you just didn’t feel like hiding anymore.

Washington had been good for you, because it had broken you out of your comfort zone and gotten you to raise your voice to get what you want, which was rather nice, although tiring.

But when had you ever chosen something easy?

“Thank you, Cordelia, but I prefer to go back, I have things to do, and it’ll help me to clear my head for the decision” one you wouldn’t make lightheartedly.

Cordelia nodded, although you saw that she was sad that you wouldn’t be staying but didn’t stop you.

You knew she hoped that you would keep it, as the child she had never been able to have.

But you wondered whether she would have kept this idea had she known to whom also, the children belonged.

She suggested you a few good vitamins to keep you and the baby healthy and told you that in case you intended to end the pregnancy to let her know so that she could accompany you there.

‘It isn’t something women should do alone, and not because we are weak or not strong enough but because… we sometimes… pretend to be stronger than we have to be’.

You had just hugged tighter and thanked her for everything.

On the way back home you had thought that the first step, before you thought about keeping it or not, was talking with Duncan, not because you’d obey anything he might think about the pregnancy, but you thought it would have been nice to actually tell him about it.

And not withhold information like his family had done with him.

You already knew that Duncan, if you decided to keep the child, wouldn’t want anything to do with them, but you felt like it would be at least nice to warn him that in nine months he might see a little Duncan by your side.

Your mind spiraled down onto darker thoughts about Duncan telling you to quit the pregnancy, exactly with the same ‘gentleness’ he had used, a lot of years ago, when he had broken up with you.

In that case, although it was petty, you thought about keeping the baby just to spite him.

You gave some rest to your mind, quickly setting up the table as you arrived home, meanwhile you tried to cook something, mostly to eat the vitamins that Cordelia had given to you, since you didn’t feel hungry.

But just as you were setting up the glasses, trying not to burn the quick soup you were making, the doorbell rang and you rushed to get in a bit weirded out by the hour of this visit, but you had some people coming at your house at even worse hours, mostly Faes since they didn’t have the knowledge of time, as humans.

… and Duncan.

… who was standing at your door, looking at you as if he had just swallowed a frog and with a dossier of papers in his hands.

“Well, did you miss me already?” you joked, thinking that this was definitely the Universe sending you some kind of signs that you were thoroughly fucked.

“More than you can think sweetheart…” although his tone was tired and sarcastic it held some sweetness in it that got you blushing softly “… I have some things to discuss with you, if you have the time”.

You just opened further your door, turning to check onto your ‘newly-burned’ soup.

“… still trying to cook, (L/N)?” he joked, passing you to the kitchen to take in the little massacre that your soup was, before he moved around the kitchen to collect various items to cook, both of you, dinner, meanwhile you looked at him shocked.

“I am truly scared that you know where all my things are” you mumbled softly, meanwhile he moved onto you, pushing lightly his body against you to collect something on your shoulder.

“Oh, don’t complain, beauty” he replied, meanwhile he started up the water where you would boil pasta for the night “… mostly when you get amazing pieces of food each day for free”.

“Oh, please excuse my arrogant ass but I thought that my hospitality was a payment enough for all your services” you sassed him back and he laughed loudly, making him smirk lightly “I am supposed to be good at cooking, I used to be amazing at potions”:

“Potions and food are two completely different things” he reinforced immediately, making you smirk lightly “…please don’t confuse yourself, I wouldn’t want to be turned in a bat”.

“I was thinking more of a donkey, like in the ‘Metamorphosis’ by Apuleio” Duncan literally sent you the blankest look ever, and you then refocused on the files of paper that were set onto your kitchen table “… but what are you doing here?”.

‘Please don’t tell me you realized that your heat might have gotten me pregnant’.

Duncan seemed almost taken aback but set back the cover onto the pot and then let the entire thing cook itself for quite a bit.

“You are not one for small talk, aren’t you?” he joked, with a sad smile onto his face.

“You used to think it was my best trait” you shot back, meanwhile you sat down onto your side, collecting in the meanwhile two glasses and a beer for Duncan and a bottle of water for you.

“.. then you grew tits” your harsh glare was enough to tell him not to joke about this “… but you are alright there is no need to talk around this question...”.

He then pushed the dossier with the papers towards you, to make you read them, meanwhile a hand went to your stomach, almost absentmindedly.

The dossier had two documents: one had your father’s paper, the one he used for the official documents and you had kept as an emotional comfort.

It was a decree to be proposed to the assembly of the clans, about the inheritance of the role as the alpha of the clans.

Although you weren’t one of the competitors, the document suggested you as your father’s successor, mostly because of the inability of the competitors: Duncan was not considered anymore eligible because he wasn’t a direct descendant of the Shepherd clan, which you knew must have broken Duncan’s heart.

But worse than that, there was also the refusal of Bill Shepherd, Duncan’s uncle and actual leader of the clans, since, from what your father had written, ‘he wasn’t able of any sympathy towards any different magical creature that wasn’t a werewolf and is actually more than happy to let a war happen to keep his family on top of the social ladder’.

They were strong affirmations, but you knew of your father’s opinion of Bill: he might tolerate Annette, but, to him, Bill was the worst thing that could ever take form as a werewolf.

But what shocked you was that your father had suggested that you took his place, although you weren’t in any way equipped and he should have known better, mostly because he had been the one who had told you to run away and never come back.

“… I found them, meanwhile I was looking through some stuff at my… Annette’s apartment…” he didn’t stay there anymore, avoiding it like the plague, preferring to stay either at his apartment or at yours, the most chosen “…I just needed some new paper and I…”.

“Did you nose around, Annette’s stuff?” although it might not seem the most terrible thing ever, you knew that it had taken a lot of guts for Duncan to do that, mostly if you thought about how attached he had been to his mother.

“Not exactly… I was nosing through my stuff, in Annette’s house” he replied, before he moved the other document towards you “… but this is more interesting and is what caught my eye”.

You set your sight onto the other document, finding it wasn’t anything related to what you had read before, finding it was an actual receipt about a purchase of a substance.

You knew the substance because you had studied it and it could be definitely one of the few you could use to fake a heart-attack and avoid it being detected.

It wasn’t a direct clue to her father’s death, but it definitely showed much more clearness, alongside matching your opinion on your father’s death.

“… it is a receipt for a substance I made some researches about, it is used for poisoning… it can be sold on the black market online and my uncle Bill has ordered some, enough to kill a man”.

Duncan was offering her both the reason and the weapon of the murder of his father, but you didn’t understand why he had come to you, instead of burning the documents.

He wasn’t faking the things: you could see the authenticity of the documents and you couldn’t see a reason why he would give you fake documents that would incriminate his family.

“Duncan… you just… are you sure…?”.

“For all my life I fucking had to listen to what that asshole asked of me, he treated me like shit and even worse, but…I never thought… your father… he was… he was nice with me I would have left the lead to you… I mean… not without a fight, but… I understood why he hadn’t wanted Bill beside him… he is…”.

Duncan’s shoulder shook with anger and again your hand gripped even tighter your stomach, in a rather protective stance.

“… what I am saying is that… my family has wronged you in so many ways, and I hoped that this could somehow right all the wrongs, although I know it isn’t possible, I hope it is a start”.

You still didn’t understand Duncan’s complete motives, but you took the documents, since you were sure that Cordelia could control them and look for clues, better than you, in your state.

Duncan let you took them, a look of total despair on his face since you were more than well aware that he must have been feeling extremely shitty at an even worse realization that his ‘parents’ had lied even more to him, showing him even darker skeletons in his wardrobe.

You, on your own, didn’t know what to do.

You didn’t honestly understand whether you should be pissed off, angry or scared: the thought that Billy had murdered your father didn’t make you feel almost anything…

You had already processed that the Shepherd might have had some kind of involvement in the whole things, but to see it was real, it was too shocking for you to register it fully, hence you didn’t know how to react, preferring to wait for Cordelia’s opinion on the matter.

You didn’t want anger or sadness to cloud your view of the entire thing.

You just couldn’t.

“I know this is too much to take and…” Duncan wasn’t even looking at you anymore “… but I understand if you… don’t want to see each other anymore”.

You didn’t know whether it was the frail way his voice trembled, clearly full of emotion or the fact that you sit couldn’t hold it anymore, but you blurted out.

“I am pregnant”.

Duncan looked at you confused, and you were just able to mumble:

“I am with your child” again an even more confused look “…you put a bun in my oven”.

Duncan finally reacted, paling immensely and you rushed to his side, worried he might faint.

“… I … you… child…” he mumbled, barely able to link the three things together, and your mind started rushing.

“Yeah, we did a child, and I know it’s yours because you are the only one I have been with” she wouldn’t have been surprised if Duncan questioned the paternity of the baby “… the birth control didn’t work because you were in heat, not saying it’s your fault, but I wasn’t expecting it exactly like you”.

“Have you decided what to do?” Duncan’s rough voice tickled your ears “… I mean… are you going to keep it?”.

“I don’t know” you mumbled honestly, setting up on the table in front of him “… I haven’t… for me it is difficult to have children, so I am thinking about keeping it, although I don’t want them to grow up here, so maybe…”.

“Why wouldn’t you want them grow up here?” Duncan seemed more involved than you had thought.

“Duncan, they would be exactly like me and I didn’t have a happy childhood” you didn’t want your child to go through the same thing as you, if you could avoid them at least that.

“Much has changed, (Y/N)” spoke Duncan, his voice sure and determined “… and much has changed thank to you, now somebody like you would be accepted, I am sure”.

“You don’t understand Duncan… you are not…”.

“I don’t fit in exactly like you” he interrupted you “… I am the forgotten son of a maid raised by somebody who just wanted him because of need… I don’t think that anybody truly fit in, but as you as a mother and a coven leader… you can change this place, you have already started”.

You didn’t know if it was the flattery that Duncan was playing or your hormones just fucking everything up already, but the discourse truly moved you.

“… if I do keep it, you don’t have to have an active role in their life” you mumbled, knowing this might be a pressing matter for Duncan “… I won’t disclose that you are their father or want anything from you, if you don’t want it”.

Duncan looked almost hurt by your affirmation, but he didn’t react, just simply reached out for your hand, grabbing effectively your attention.

“… if you do keep it, and I am saying this only if you truly feel like keeping it…” he raised his eyes to meet yours “… I would like to be a part of his life”.

This shocked you, because you hadn’t expected in the slightest Duncan to act like that.

“… maybe it is the fact that I don’t have a family myself, so I am trying to latch onto anything that might seem a family, or maybe it is the fact that I don’t want you to go through this alone and maybe… I am curious what it is like to be a father, my wolf certainly won’t forgive me, if I just abandon my puppy”.

Werewolves treated children as their most-priced-possessions, so Duncan was definitely right that it wouldn’t have approved.

You felt tears pricking at your eyes, and when Duncan reached out to softly dry them, you just pushed yourself a bit back from his hold.

“It’s the stupid hormones” you mumbled, pushing yourself to dry your tears with your sweatshirt’s sleeves, meanwhile you jumped off the table and pushed yourself onto the floor, with Duncan looking at you worriedly, proving the overprotectiveness that wolves felt towards their pregnant mates “… I am sure that you’ll see plenty of this”.

“I am willing to see many of these more, just please don’t cry for me, ok?” he mumbled gently caressing your side in a reassuring matter “… it breaks my heart”.

You wanted to throw back in his face that he had broken your heart already and made you cry for him much more than he had simply thought.

But you held your words: if you wanted all this to work, you would have both to swallow some pretty awful things.

Starting from the fact that the man who had killed your beloved father was his uncle.

Maybe this was all too fucked up for a child to grow up in.

“Can I?” mumbled Duncan suddenly, pushing himself away from you and gently pointing to your stomach, clearly asking if he could feel the baby and you just nodded.

Immediately the man was down on his knees, raising softly the thin cotton of your shirt, and lowering lightly your jeans, finally coming to contact where the little bub was supposed to be.

“Hey, little one…” you honestly wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation but were completely swept in by Duncan’s sweet tone “…I am your sperm donor, I don’t know if your mom will ever allow you to call me dad”.

You rolled your eyes, but Duncan was right, although he might make an appearance in the bub’s life, if you decided to keep it, you didn’t know if you could have him be a proper dad for him, mostly with all the mess between your families.

And their past.

“… but I already like you, and I am low key proud of you, although I don’t know if you are a little girl or a little boy, I don’t mind… I mean you could be both… me and your mom have worked so….”.

You slapped Duncan’s ear to make him stop the line of profanities that he was uttering.

“Not in front of the child!”.

“Our child is the size of a peanut” he replied, sending you a meaningful but joking look and you knew it was enough.

But you were greatly moved by the mention of ‘our child’.

Duncan spoke more ‘gibberish’ (which your hormones found tear-jerking) at the child and by then it was late enough that he also realized that it was too late for him to stay.

He wished you both ‘goodnight’, gently kissing again your stomach and your forehead, in a ‘goodbye’ kind of way, his step joyful as he reached the car.

And your heart sunk once he wasn’t there.

An important decision was to be made that night.

---

I am tagging a few person I think might like this!

@blakewaterxx, @codyfernmorelikedaddyfern @dyns33 @serenitybloodmoon @emmyrosee @lovelylangdonx @kaetastic @1-800-bitchcraft @ladynuwanda @so-langdon @lathraios @rosegoldrichie​

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

How is arya’s arc tying into the battle? I don’t watch the show all that closely but I enjoy hearing people get really animated about the show and the characters :-)

“What do we say to the god of Death?”

Arya has been a servant of Death since shortly after Gendry was taken away from her in season 3. She told Beric Dondarrion that Death was her god. She travelled to Braavos to learn the way of an order of assassins who consider Death—or the many-faced-god—to be their one true god. Her motivation is to avenge her dead, and she does that by offering names to her god in the form of a kill list she recites to herself like a prayer. Death is her friend and her leader and a force she feels she knows, and being a harbinger of death has been the only thing to bring her satisfaction—not happiness, satisfaction—over the course of many years.

But emotionally? Mentally? Death has done her no good at all, just drove her deeper and deeper into her own darkness, compelling her to travel to truly disturbing lengths to exact her vengeance. And yes, along the way she has picked up these immensely impressive combat and stealth skills (no word yet on how she learned to seduce men, but I think that might have just been naturally ingrained in her soul), including the ability to fight whilst totally blind, but any relief she ever felt at a successful kill was perfunctory, the way a band-aid might relieve a bullet wound for a hot second.

What Arya was meant to say to the god of Death was, “Not today,” but that was swallowed up by pain and heartache, and she welcomed Death with open arms instead.

The only reason that Arya fell so deeply in with her god of Death in the first place is because the people she loved—her family, her friends, her soft places—were taken from her, one by one, and in the most vile and cruelest of ways. She was present for her father’s beheading, watched her brother’s wolf die and saw Robb’s body paraded through a courtyard with Grey Wind’s head sewn atop his shoulders, lost her strongest, healthiest friendship to the clutches of a red priestess who wanted to hurt him, left the Hound to die, was blinded by a man she thought to be her friend, and found a carer in Lady Crane only for her to die immediately, too. Arya fell in deeply with the god of Death because what she wanted—friendship, family, love, safety—was denied to her over and over again.

(Side note: It’s hilarious to me when people say that Arya is the most emotionally detached of all the Starks when Bran is now as detached as it gets and Sansa has long been able to shelve emotion in favour of common sense when occasion calls for it. Arya is all emotion and feeling. She has never been able to rein in the stirrings that rule her, nor the love she feels for other people. That’s why she never could have made it as a true Faceless Man, because she finds it impossible to let those feelings go. And why would she, when they’re all she has left of Robb, of Jon, of Gendry and Sansa and her mother and her father?)

So Arya has had this kill list, and she’s ticked quite a lot of names off it. Polliver, Meryn Trant, the Waif (who was lowkey and deservedly on her list, since she kept trying to kill Arya) and the entire male line of House Frey all fell victim to her devotion to her prayer and to her god of Death. Who is left on the list now? A couple of people have fallen on and off over the years, but Cersei Lannister remains the one constant and popular opinion is that the season will end with Arya killing her, mostly likely whilst wearing somebody else’s face—because she can do that, followers who don’t watch Game of Thrones. She can completely transform into other people. It’s a whole thing.

What happens if she kills Cersei, though? Her arc just… ends? Mission completed, heart a dank pit in her chest, her soul worn away by death and death and more death? Arya has been miserable for years as she embarked upon this mission? Confident, yes, and skilled and snarky and very, very clever, but miserable. And lonely. She’s been very, very lonely.

Anyway, there she was with her list and her horse and her plan to go King’s Landing and kill Cersei, and then her old pal Hot Pie informed her that her beloved brother Jon had taken back the North, so Arya turned her horse around and returned to Winterfell for the first time since she was a wee, innocent girl, where she was immediately reunited with Bran and Sansa and—following a brief and incredibly meta interlude which pointed out how stupid the fandom’s disdain of Sansa is—established her relationship with her brother and sister again. She and Sansa in particular make for a very strong unit as we’ve seen, supporting and respecting one another as they ought to.

The pit in her chest begins to fill with clean earth. A little spot on her soul is rubbed clean.

Enter Jon, her most beloved brother. Enter Gendry, the first and only boy she ever fell in love with. Hell, enter the Hound, who was her surrogate father for the best part of a season. She hugs her brother for the first time in years. She listens to the Hound say that he fought for her and realises for the first time, perhaps, that she meant a great deal to him. On what might be her last night on earth, she initiates sex with a smitten, awestruck Gendry—who she trusts and loves and cares for and feels totally comfortable with, and who reminds her of a time in her life when she was not so broken—because she wants to feel good and be close to him and grasp on to her humanity. It’s such a human thing, to want closeness and connection to another person. Arya has spent so much time alone and she has fooled plenty of viewers into seeing her as a lone wolf, cold and emotionless, but that’s the opposite of who she is. She is hot-blooded and passionate and loves the few that she loves with total commitment. She is no natural servant to the god of Death, because Arya is Life. She personifies Life.

The Night King is Death.

Arya believes she knows Death’s many faces, but she hasn’t yet stared into his cold blue eyes and accepted what exactly that means. We know that Arya is going to be part of the battle on Sunday. It would be ridiculous if she didn’t, what with her impressive skillset and equally impressive array of weapons. Right now, she seems reasonably confident and cocksure (she has plenty of reason to be) and is considering the battle with a detached coolness, but I think this battle is going to change her irrecoverably. For the first time, she will be fighting for the living, rather than to avenge the loss of one already dead. For the first time, she will be coming face-to-face with the Night King, her god of Death personified. She’ll see first hand the horrors he can inflict, feel the terror he strikes into human hearts and be confronted with the very worst of herself, amplified in tenfold because this is her god. This is who she has been serving—this cold, blank creature who takes everything beautiful and replaces it with rot, and who has no aim but to destroy life.

But what better way to end this revenge arc, what better way to see her permanently on a path to love and friendship, and inner peace, and life, than to be the one who finally destroys the Night King? Wouldn’t it be perfectly poetic if Arya Stark, servant of Death, was the one to put an end to him?

Kill the Night King or no (though I really, really hope that she’s the one to do it) I hope she decides that Death can play no more part in her life. I hope she lets herself be sad and human and vulnerable, especially with Gendry, who is clearly plummeting into love with her at breakneck speed. I don’t want Arya to carry on with her kill list until there’s nothing left of her heart and her soul is rusted over. Fuck killing Cersei. What’s killing Cersei going to do for her that hugging her sister or laughing with her brother or pressing her skin to the body of the man she loves can’t? It can’t bring back her lost friends and family, and it can’t bring her any real sense of peace. I don’t care how “badass” 90% of this fandom seems to think she is whenever she crosses off another name, nor how little they value her for any reason aside from her combat skills. I don’t care about the people who whinge and crow about how she isn’t “suited” to a romance plot—she is more suited to falling in love with somebody than almost any other character in that whole damn universe.

I don’t want Arya Stark to continue to embrace Death. I don’t want her to serve Death. Fuck Death! I want her to look Death in the face and say, “Not today,” just as she was instructed to when she was a very little girl with a wooden sword in her hand. I want Death to shatter and vanish before her very eyes, and free her from this dangerous, draining, desolate path of servitude. I want her to drive her catspaw dagger through the centre of Death’s chest and become the woman who saved the living.

I want her to live her fucking life.

[my-brothers-corrupted]

My Brothers, Corrupted

Chapter 2 : Section 6 : Dam Break

Red has been pushing and pushing the limits of the protection he is allowed to give his little brothers. After he confronted Anti about Dapper’s medication, Anti agreed to allow Dok to be in charge of his treatment from now on – but he also decided that Red has to pay the price for the weeks of subtle disobedience he’s accumulated, and his punishment won’t be merciful.

Trigger warnings for major abuse, blood, murder, torture, imprisonment, and psychotic symptoms.

Find Chapter One here.

Find Chapter Two here.

  Section Six of Chapter Two: Dam Break

Anti, more than anything else, likes to taunt you.

That much you know. That much you remember. That’s why you’re here, at the end of the day. That’s the only reason you’re here.

Anti, more than anything else, likes to taunt you.

Your cameras have been dead for days, no signal forthcoming no matter how many times you try to connect. Now, an odd signal shows up on your tracker, not like anything you’ve ever seen before. You’re not hacking into a livefeed, you’re being sent an old recording.

From a police surveillance camera.

The image fuzzes painfully into view,  and Red appears before your eyes. He is curled in the back of a cold metallic prison cell, shaking, his cheeks wet with tears. You watch him through a pair of silent cameras in the corners of the interrogation room and the room beside it. Red doesn’t know you’re there, or maybe he just can’t focus long enough to stop crying and look up. You’ve never seen his shoulders shaking that hard.

The police officers chatter in rapid-fire Spanish on the other side of the glass, not loud enough for him to make out even if he could speak the language. The cop who brought him in comes back into the room and looks him over again, irritated by her own confusion. You can see it in her face.

“What’s your name?” she tries, not for the first time, through a thick accent.

His mouth trembles. He stares down at her professional little work shoes.

“If you tell us, it makes everything easier. For you. For me. Us. Makes things easier. What’s your name?”

No answer. His eyes are so sorrowful, like those little dogs in the shelter commercials. But she doesn’t feel bad. Monsters don’t deserve her pity.

She sighs and brings up her clipboard, scrawling something along the top. No ID, no documents, no address, nothing. Just a broken phone in his pocket, incapable of doing anything but glitch. “You’re American?” she asks.

He shrugs, holding his knees to his chest.

“No? Yes?”

He blinks and tears come trickling down his face. Exasperated, she lowers the clipboard again.

“Fine, don’t tell anything to me,” she snaps. “Soon we will find something. We will tell other authorities. Easier for you to get along with us, yes?”

Red closes his eyes tight and sticks the bend of his thumb in his mouth, biting down on it hard, trying to stay calm. She may as well still be speaking Spanish. He can’t focus on a word she’s saying. Can’t focus on anything but the blood.

His dark hands reaching up, begging for mercy, the heavy red river-run, making the whole air sting with copper-smell; Red had drawn back, revolted by his own hands, and the dark eyes slid oh-so-slowly-shut, the screaming dying down like an animal no one put out of its misery –

“Hey!” shouts the cop, slamming her clipboard on the bench beside him. “Pay attention! What, you are shaken up, huh? You are upset – sad? I don’t care how long you sit here crying, gringo. We all know you killed that man.”

“No,” croaks Red.

They let him wash his hands. He can still feel the blood.

“No, no, no…”

He just did what Anti told him to. That can’t have been bad. He can’t have killed him. Not really. It was a joke, maybe. One of Anti’s tests of obedience. Not real. Not real.

The officer swears in Spanish and turns her back on him, heading out the door again. Red reaches out as it begins to close, yelping in panic.

“No, no, no!” he screams, trying to rise on unsteady feet. “No, please let me go! I need to go back to my master! Anti! Anti!”

The door slams shut, locking with a fatal click.

 Red cries in earnest, slamming his head against the wall, sobbing like his heart is shattered, trying not to think.

It can’t have been real. It can’t have been real. It can’t have been real.

His hands are slicked in blood.

 The door doesn’t re-open for another twelve hours.

He looks up desperately at the creaking of the hinges, and there, there is that blessed silhouette of his little brother, standing before him with his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie, his face calm, his neck hidden by a scarf even in the tropical heat.

“Anti,” sobs Red, and then he is staggering to his feet and rushing towards the door, throwing himself into his brother’s arms. Anti hugs him back gently, running a hand down the small of his back.

“¿Lo dejaste aquí toda la noche?” he asks, letting Red thud his forehead soundly against his collarbone.

 Red realizes there are still cops with them, hovering strangely far away from Anti. It takes a long time for anyone to answer.

“Sí,” admits an officer finally, hiding slightly behind his partner.

Anti hums, nodding. He strokes a warm hand through Red’s hair, examining him carefully. His boy’s whole body shakes, timid and minute, and he claws compulsively at his hands, visibly distressed.

Perfect.

“Apologize,” says Anti, softly.

Red opens his mouth to say sorry immediately, looking up at Anti with desperation in his eyes, but his master puts a finger on his lips and silences him.

The officers exchange looks.

Anti turns slowly towards them. His eyes are dark.

“Apologize,” he repeats, quieter still.

A long pause in the hallway.

“Lo siento,” somebody whispers.

Anti nods slowly, pushing Red off his chest. He turns and walks away without another word, his boots clicking on the linoleum floor of the station, leaving several shaken law enforcement officials behind him. Jackie doesn’t know what he did to get him set free and he doesn’t care. He hurries after Anti.

“Anti,” he whispers, stumbling past processing stations, civilians, and officers alike as they head towards the warm wash of the open air. He wants someone to hold onto him, to put weight on his body and wrap him up tight in their arms. “Anti, Anti.”

His brother ignores him, pushing through the door to the outside. Jackie moans, feeling bleary and exhausted, and continues after him.

For a second, you connect to the surveillance camera outside, so Anti knows you catch the last glimpse of it all.

“Did you learn your lesson?” asks Anti, not looking at him.

“Yes,” sobs Red. “Yes.”

“You don’t want to go to prison?”

“No, no, no!”

“So…”

“I’ll be good! I’ll be good! I’ll be good, I swear!”

“Because - ”

“I’m nothing without you. I’m nothing without you. I’m nothing, I’m nothing, I’m sorry.”

Anti laughs, grabbing his wrist. “There’s my good boy. My good, stupid, pathetic little creature. Fucking idiot boy. You’re a horrible excuse for a brother, Red. So here’s what’s going to happen - you and I are going home. You’ll stay in the house. Put your brothers back in order, or I will send you out on another murder, and when you inevitably fuck it all up, I will let the cops have you. They can ship you back to Italy or Norway or wherever it is you’re wanted for the most murders. Sound good?”

Red is sobbing so hard all he can do is shake his head. He reaches out to touch Anti, but his brother pushes him away, and turns back towards the mountain without another word.

The date on the camera reads Jan 16.

Whydoilovesomanyvillians asked: Blue I would get the med kit ready buddy. Pixie-in-trebleland asked: Blue, your twin is in trouble. Things are about to get nasty. He knows everything! Anti knows everything! Anonymous asked: “…Dap.. Please use the horn that’s under the sink. You trust me, right..? If you do, please, us. The horn. I-I can help you.” -PF!H Anonymous asked: Blue I’m so sorry,,, Red went to help warn Anti about the medicine and now I think your twin is being rewritten. Anti knows the magic you’ve done so be careful once Red is back! Be strong for your family!

Anti’s little film finishes in cold static and you disconnect from the recording, finding a more familiar code available now that you’ve seen what you wanted to see. Reconnecting to the clinic camera code brings every camera in the house back onto your screens, and you’re with the boys again.

Blue is cooking in the kitchen - plain rice, it looks like - and he looks up in surprise as the camera begins pinging like crazy, picking up your old messages that never reached him in time. He opens his mouth, confused.

“Oh,” he murmurs finally, blinking and looking down at his rice. His voice is very quiet. “You all tried to warn me, didn’t you? Thank you… sorry, I didn’t… I don’t know, I… thank you for trying your best.”

Anonymous asked: Blue, are you alright?

“Oh,” sighs Blue, taking his rice off the cooker. “Just a little tired, is all.”

There’s soft crying in another room, and - is that screaming? It’s a little farther off, but you don’t know where.

nikkilbook asked: Not to freak anyone out, but Hermann, the guy who cornered Red, could turn invisible. We couldn’t see him, Dap couldn’t see him, he was only seen when he wanted to be seen. Y’all aren’t the only magic thing in this city anymore.

“Mmmh,” Blue hums, spooning rice onto a plate. He didn’t make that much. “Anti says Dapper most likely killed that one man, Hermann. Stabbed him deep. Most likely he’s not walking around one way or another, and definitely not hiking the mountains. The people around here watch out for us when it comes to the others… that’s how Anti found today’s guest of honor.”

Something cold and angry twists up Blue’s mouth.

“She was coming to hurt us. She’ll get what she deserves. Dok gave a man antibiotics for bronchitis last week, and this morning one of his sons comes running up the mountain to tell us there is a strange girl asking about a man with red hair… Anti scooped her up quick enough after that. That’s what she gets for trying to fuck with my family. That Genesis girl. She was the one almost took Red away from us.”

He sighs and rubs at his face, cooling a little.

“But you’re right… We’re not the only magic things in this city anymore. That’s made it a little harder on us lately. Anti seems so paranoid and Red is…”

Blue drifts off, stirring through the rice for no apparent reason. His gaze is obsessed with it. The circles under his eyes are very dark.

“Something has to change soon,” he mumbles. “We can’t keep living like this.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey! Red, what happened, duder?? It's been awhile!

The crying cuts off abruptly as the camera beeps back to life in Red and Blue’s room.

Red blinks at you from over his shoulder for a second before turning back to face the wall again. He’s tucked up in the corner with his knees drawn to his chest and his head against the wall. He doesn’t answer you.

A long thin chain snakes away from his body.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Blue, what happened to your twin? Why's he all chained up?

Blue takes a long time to reply.

“Apparently Red was becoming too… what’s the word… carefree. Lax, too, lazy in his duties. Anti said he worries too much about what’s going on outside the house and not enough what happens inside. So Red is just… inside, for a while. He can move around. Just he has to stay here. And watch us. And watch everything. Pretty, um, strictly.”

Blue’s lip curls, staring down at his rice.

nikkilbook asked: We’re with you, Jackie. Even if he turns us off, even if he resets you and pushes you back into the darkness he made of you, we’ll be here. Doesn’t matter what he does. Doesn’t matter what he makes you do. We’re with you.

Red stops staring down at the laptop at his feet and turns his head slightly back towards you. His face is slightly bitter and absent of anything else, until maybe a moment of regret makes his mouth soften.

The door in the clinic bangs open and Red turns his head towards the noise, pulling himself slowly to his feet and coming to stand in the doorway, where the door has been removed.

“Dap? You doing okay, sweetheart?” he hears Blue call, but Dapper comes zipping past Red’s room a moment later, ducking back into Anti’s. A moment later he emerges with a bone saw and a crowbar and zips back down the hall again - only to be stopped by a hand reaching out to snatch his collar.

Dapper freezes, stiff in Red’s grasp. Red regards him carefully, noting fresh blood on his shoes and the ends of his pants. His smaller body trembles with a nervous sort of adrenaline, making Dapper seem to buzz all over, staring up at Red.

Red sighs and releases him, pushing him away. Relieved, Dapper staggers forward again and darts back out the door without a word to Blue, leaving blood-stained footprints in his wake.

“Fuck,” cries Blue, slamming his plate down on the kitchen counter. “He’s using him like a little torturer and he gets so shaken up! He’s not doing well getting back on his medicine and this isn’t going to help. Red, tell Anti to let Dapper go, can’t he handle it on his own?”

Red rolls his eyes and turns away, heading back into his room.

Blue hisses and turns away, tears sparking in his eyes. “If you won’t say something, I will!”

And this was the wrong thing to say.

Red reappears in the hallway, his eyes dark. He steps slowly towards Blue. His twin, realizing his mistake, falls deathly silent, sinking back against the counter, until Red is standing nearly chest-to-chest with him, staring down.

Blue swallows, looking anywhere but at Blue.

“Don’t,” whispers Red. “Bother your master.”

Blue chews on his lip, his eyes flashing.

“Am I understood?”

“Yes, Red.”

Red pauses just a second longer before turning to limp back towards his room, that chain heavy around his ankle. Blue swallows again and again, blinking rapidly.

cest-mellow asked: red? are you okay? are you hurt?

Red pauses to stare at you. From an angle right above him, you can see a horrible exhaustion in his face, like something is eating him from the inside out, but his face is so taut and angry.

“I m-made lunch if you want some,” whispers Blue from the kitchen.

Red glances back at him, then at you.

“No,” he mumbles, retreating into his room again. “I’m fine.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: What's gotten into you, man? Y'all were buddy buddy again.

You hear Red’s breathing start to get heavy again. He sits down in his corner and pulls his blanket over his shoulder, shaking.

“That was kind of the problem,” he croaks, turned away from you.

Anonymous asked: where's dok and trick?

“Ah!” Blue claps his hands together, relieved just to think about the two of them. At least the younger twins are keeping it together, mostly. “They are just down the hill a little ways, helping with a birth! Could be gone for hours or could be back soon, but, uh, I can still hear screaming, so I’d give it a while. They… probably didn’t bring a camera to that, haha. It’s good for Dok to be able to help people and for Trick to get out of the house. I convinced Anti and Red to let them go.” He sighs out a breath of relief, sitting down at the table and picking up somebody’s t-shirt, spreading it out across the wood. “It’s good to know I do at least have some of my caretaker privileges intact.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: How are you holding up, Blue? Are you and Jackie still close?

Blue straightens out the shirt for much too long before he finally moves to get a needle, avoiding the gaze of the camera.

“It’s still my job to look after Red,” he whispers.

And then, even softer:

“I’ll always love him.”

cest-mellow asked: red, do you feel guilty for having to treat your brothers this way? even if it’s anti making you do it?

Red slams his hand against the ground, nearly wheezing. “I’m just doing what I have to!” he screeches, making Blue flinch hard in the other room. “Why don’t any of you ever understand? This is all my fault! None of this would have happened if I had done what I was supposed to in the first place! If I could keep everything in order Anti wouldn’t have to be so stressed and angry and then nobody else would have to be so sad all the time and Trick wouldn’t try to hurt himself and Blue wouldn’t get that look in his eyes like everything’s wrong! I have to keep everyone in line because it’s worse if I don’t! And Anti’s right, they do such stupid shit if nobody makes them stop!”

Red clutches at his hair, rocking himself back and forth. “And, fuck, the way that Anti looks at Blue and Doktor lately, like he hates them as much as he hates me! Like he’s fucking hungry… Stupid, stupid, stupid! I can’t keep anybody safe! I just did what he told me! I didn’t mean for anybody to get hurt! I didn’t want anybody to die, I don’t want them to get hurt anymore! I have to do this, I have to do this, I have to be good, get it together, get it together, get it together…”

Anonymous asked: We’re so sorry, Blue. Is there anything we can do? Has...has Anti punished you in any way for the shed incident?

“Mmh,” groans Blue, trying to ignore Red’s shouting in the other room. “No. Red took all the punishment for us… and now he doesn’t even look at us like he knows us. So I guess that’s my punishment. Ugh… there’s nothing anybody can do.”

He pauses, darning up the t-shirt with hands that shake very badly. In fact, now that you look at them, his fingers are terribly stiff, and the skin of his hands an irregular red, with white, flaking patches. He pauses to itch at them, trying not to think about it.

nikkilbook asked: I don’t blame you, Jackie.

“Mmmmh.” Shuddering, Red curls in on himself. “It was my hands. He didn’t even have to threaten the others… I just wanted to be good for him and make everyone stop hunting us… we’re always just being hunted and hunted and hunted… I just wanted it to stop…”

Pixie-in-trebleland asked: What's going on with your hands, hun? The lack of magic use getting to you?? Anonymous asked: What happened to your hands, blue? Did Anti do something or is your magic hurting them?

Blue laughs nervously. “My hands? Nothing. A rash, probably. I’ll ask Dok sometime. It’s all fine.”

But you’ve brought his attention to them and he cringes, trying to stop scratching. After a moment his fingers suddenly curl up into tight, shaking fists, and he gasps, arching his body around his own hands, his teeth gritted tight and his face taut with pain.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” he groans, suddenly whiter. His veins are extraordinarily blue. “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

His fingers relax again and he tries to return to his darning, shaken.

nikkilbook asked: Seems to me there’s a difference between it being your hands and being your choice. Just because he didn’t wear your skin or threaten your brothers doesn’t mean it wasn’t him holding the strings.

“It’s easy to justify things if you really want to,” says Red softly, turning away from you again.

cest-mellow asked: red, i’m sorry. i’m sorry. everything is gonna be okay. you don’t deserve this, none of you do. you’re a good brother, a wonderful brother, no matter what anti tells you. you’re so so wonderful.

Red laughs aloud, burying his face in his knees, drawn up to his chest.

“You know what he told me?” he whispers. “He doesn’t even think of me as his brother. Just… just his Red. Just a protector. Maybe if I’m good he’ll want me again.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Maybe find a balance, Red. Still be your warm ol' self, while keeping them in place.

Red doesn’t answer, running his hands through his hair.

cest-mellow asked: something has to change here, blue. anti isnt rigjt, you know this. i know you love him and want him to be happy but.. look at what he’s doing. making red go insane. using dapper as a torture machine, treating dok like he’s less than dirt, making trick feel worse and worse everyday. he’s hurting you, he’s hurting your brothers. if you all work together you can stop this.

Blue lets out a low, frightened breath through his teeth. “Sh, please, careful, Red will notice. He has that laptop now, he can see what he chooses to. And I, uh - I love Anti very much and I know that things will start looking up soon if we’re all good. So… that’s that, yep.”

He’s interrupted by the door opening and two sopping wet brothers appearing in the doorway, calling greetings. You watch Blue’s whole figure melt with relief, and he leaps to his feet to join Trick and Doktor at the door, immediately fussing over them.

“Why are you two idiots so wet? Oh, your poor coat, Dok, and it’s still pink! Ugh, you both smell, you need nice cold showers in this awful heat.”

Trick and Dok are in good spirits. “We got hosed down,” Dok explains with a grin. “To get the blood and afterbirth off.”

“Well, it didn’t work great, I have to tell you. Did it go okay?”

“It was great!” Trick claps his hands together. “Blue, Blue, you have to see the baby!” He looks like he might cry. “She was so, so, so beautiful.”

“Healthy little thing, shockingly healthy,” nods Dok.

“And look what they gave us!” cheers Trick, and presents Blue loyally with a big cardboard box full of eggs, bright yellow sodas, baked sugar buns, and, lo and behold, a whole skinned chicken.

Blue gains some color back in his cheeks, eagerly taking the box from Trick and setting it on the counter, running his hands almost reverently over the food. He didn’t know how he was going to handle explaining to them that they had run out of everything but brown rice. Handling buying groceries for everyone is not as easy as Red usually makes it look.

“You did so well,” he praises them brightly, and Trick and Dok both smile back at him, looking healthy and proud. “You’re both so talented. Look at all this, oh - I’ll cook you something to go with the rice. You go get your showers. There should be soap, still, isn’t there?”

“There is, Blue, there is.”

“Oh, good, good… Okay, yes. Ah! You’re both so dear to me. Look how well you did. Oh, you both worked for so long. I’ll get some food in you and we’ll get your clothes all washed. My excellent little brothers. Everything’s well.”

Trick and Dok welcome his praising with only one quick, concerned look between the two of them - Blue seems to get a little more assertive in his affection every day, like he’s scared they don’t know he loves them.

bupine asked: hey blue, you ok? you should see doktor about your hands if you can, it seems like they're hurting you

Dok pauses before following Trick back to their room, frowning. “What’s this about your hands?”

Blue turns away quickly, lathering them in soap to avoid their gaze. “Oh, it’s nothing, buddy, don’t worry about it. You can go get your shower.”

“Come on, Blue, you can tell me.”

“Dok, it’s really nothing, I think they’re just dry. Air’s so dry up here.”

“What? The ocean is within miles. Just show me, come now.”

“Please, Dok, you - ” Blue cuts himself off with a gasp and then Dok is yelping as someone grabs him by the hair and drags him back towards his own room.

“What did you do wrong?” asks Red flatly, standing him straight in the doorway.

“I - ow, ow, Red! I don’t - I was just - I’m supposed to look after him!”

“Oh? You’re supposed to look after him? Are you Blue’s big brother?”“

Shit! Doktor realizes his mistake. “N-no, I’m younger - ”

“So?”

“So I shouldn’t have - ah, Red! - I should have obeyed him!”

“Instead of?”

“Instead of - um - telling him to show me his hands!”

Dok is released. Trick rushes forward to grab his shoulders.

Red turns away and retreats to his room without another word, hair falling from his fingers.

Blue stands in the kitchen, mouth open and reddened hands outstretched. Trick and Dok scurry to the bathroom, holding onto each other like otters trying not to get separated as the night wears on.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Red, I understand your fears. But... you're going to end up pushing them all away if you keep carrying on like this.

“I know,” says Red, very quickly and very softly.

“I know I will. But maybe they’ll be a little safer. I can’t be their brother anymore. I have to be the dog in charge. And the dog in charge has to bite. Anyway, Dok knows the rules. Once I remind him a few times he’ll know and it will be easier.”

He hides his hands against his chest, curling in on himself.

“I’ve always been willing to starve to see them eat,” he mumbles. “But this is like I’m giving up my soul. The worst part is, the more I do it, the more I really feel like I want to hurt them. I think I’ll be gone very soon.”

Shrieking starts up from outside his boarded up window and he startles, looking up. He wishes he could be helping Anti instead of spoiled little Dapper…

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Is Anti's love more important than the others?

“Fuck!” hisses Red, shaking his head at you, despairing. “Fuck, why do none of you never understand anything, anything, anything! You think this is about love… haven’t you ever had to survive anything…”

Anonymous asked: Red, this can't go on much longer. The people around you, the people in town, those new parents, that brand new baby - they all have lives, freedom. Yes, they might be poor, it might be hard for them, but they don't have to live in fear. They don't have to hurt the ones they love. They do not have an Anti, and you don't need one, either. It's time to go. Please, Jackie. It's time to go.

“I know you see a difference between Anti and the others,” whispers Red. “Because he can be cruel and he leads us. But Anti’s not separate from them to me, except that he’s my master as well as my little brother. I couldn’t leave him behind. Him, me, Dapper, even Trick and Dok, we’ve all done horrible things. Fuck, just a few days ago, I… I…”

He drifts off again, sighing. “Anti just gets excited about it because that’s how he was made. I don’t care what it looks like to anybody else. He’s my family. I’ll always try to protect him. He doesn’t have to return the feeling.”

He rubs at his head like it’s hurting him and gets to his feet. Maybe he’ll go see if he can spy what’s going on in the shed from the backdoor. He wonders if that girl who tried to kidnap him is dead already, or if Anti is still having Dapper carve the information out of her.

Anonymous asked: Jackie, she can help you! I know you're angry for what she did, but I'm begging you, just give her a chance. We can't all be wrong.

Red blinks and then his gaze turns angry as he backs away from the door, chained inside the house. “Her? That Genesis girl? She tried to take me away! She chained me down and hit me! She could have killed me or I might have never seen the others again!”

His breathing is picking up again, his hand over his heart.

“If she tries to fucking ‘help me,’ I’ll kill her like I should have in that alleyway! I hope Anti’s ripped her to shreds already.”

You might be barking up the wrong tree.

Anonymous asked: Okay. Then Blue. You know magic. You know Genesis could help you. Do it for your brother.

“Help me with what?” frowns Blue. “She’s going to make Anti less grumpy? She’s going to hide us better so we can live in peace for once? She’s the one trying to find us, remember? Or those… people she works with.”

He frowns deeper still, rubbing at his hands. “Strange, I feel almost like I recognized those symbols they wear on their wrists… but I never can remember…”

Sighing, Blue turns his gaze back to you. “What, you guys really believe she’s somehow okay after what she did to Red? Do you even know anything about this stranger who’s been hunting us?”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Do you see anything wrong with how you guys are being treated, Red? Cause I think that is the problem she's seeing

“I think it sucks ass that we always have to be running! And I know that Trick shouldn’t be hurting himself, but we’re doing our best cause we can’t go to the hospital or a professional or something! And I know there was that stress with Dapper’s meds, but Dok is working on it.”

Red runs his hands over his face and sighs deeply.

“Look, I know we’re poor or whatever, and cut off from the whole world, but we do what we can. That doesn’t mean we need saving, especially not a version of salvation that involves dragging me away and killing all of my brothers with magic. Did you hear the way they talked about me just because they smelled magic on me? They think Blue and Dap and Anti are demons or something!”

He shivers and rubs his shoulders. “They could really hurt them. I - oh!”

He startles as the door of the shed opens and Anti emerges, towelling blood off his hands. Red sinks away from the door, avoiding his master’s eye.

Anti is panting a little, glitching passionately. He chucks the towel at Red and claps a hand on his shoulder, pausing to rest.

“Tell Trick to guard the shed tonight,” he says. “And keep an eye on the camera. She’s dangerous. And if she gets out, there will be hell to pay.”

“Yes, Anti,” Red promises stiffly.

“Um, Anti,” calls Blue anxiously. “Dapper can come in now?”

Anti pauses for a moment, regarding him. There is something dark and impatient in his eyes, but he moves on.

“He’ll be along in a minute. He’s doing that weird thing with the ghosts again. Tell Dok to hurry up and fix him. I’m going to go clean up.”

Panicked, Blue puts aside the lunch he’s making and darts towards the door as Anti retreats down the hall, only to be snatched up at the last moment by a hand on the back of his collar.

“Don’t go out there,” Red warns. “You weren’t asked to guard or check. Anti said he would be along in a minute.”

Blue scowls and shakes him off, backing away with eyes full of tears. For a second, you think they might say something to each other.

Blue goes back to making his little brothers lunch. Red retreats to their room.

Anonymous asked: you're the caretaker, blue - you have to know that help can come from the strangest of places

Blue lets out a weak laugh. “I guess… I wouldn’t mind some help, lately. I miss… I miss…”

But he doesn’t know what it is he’s missing.

Anonymous asked: We know she didn't kill Red when she could have. We know her friend, Hermann, wanted to help Red, that he stopped the others from hurting him, and we know that he called Anti "demon." And we know that there is a better life away from Anti, but when someone holds out their hand, you need to take it. We know you love Anti, but he is hurting your brothers. Take her hand, at least try.

Blue pauses, turning a leg of chicken slowly.

“I… didn’t know all that. Maybe… but fuck, you all sound just like them… Anti’s not a fucking demon, he’s just something magical. He’s a lot like me, you know, just a different brand of sorcerer. Anyway, I’m sorry, but there’s no hand to take right now. She’s Anti’s prisoner, now. I don’t expect there’s much help for her at this point. For all I know, she’s dead already.”

Anonymous asked: How is Noodle the cat?

Trick is shaving Dok’s beard over the sink in their bathroom, but he stops halfway through to clap his hands together, delighted. “Great! So good, I love him more than Dok.”

“Hey!”

“Haha, just kidding. Behold! My kitten!”

Trick scoops his cat off the bed and presents him proudly to you.

“Mrr?” complains Noodle, stretching his little golden body in Trick’s hands. He’s already a little bigger than he was when you last saw him.

“He’s a very friendly cat,” says Dok, frowning at his halfway-shaved beard in the mirror.

“Yes, yes, yes, the best baby.” Trick smothers him in kisses and sets him on his shoulder, where Noodle is content to crawl back and forth, mewling and pushing his head against Trick’s face, asking for scratches. “He’s so good. He’s sooo good.”

Anonymous asked: alright, Caretaker. then I guess you'll never know if you could have helped your brothers.

Blue’s gaze has gone flat.

“What would you even have me do?” he asks, voice raw. “What would the point of any of it be? What can I even do about any of this?”

Anonymous asked: a poem for you, blue!! i wrote this a long time ago, don't judge, a friend told me you liked poetry :) It goes: The man who holds tight to the chain / of many fearsome hounds / must let go when the strongest pulls / or be dragged along the ground.

Blue’s face lights up. “Oh, I do! ‘The man who holds tight to the chain - ‘”

Immediately, a bright blue light is burning on his hands. He gasps and recoils, drawing them, shaking to his stomach, gritting down his teeth on a scream. No, no, no, no magic, he can’t, he has to hold on to it!

It takes him a long time to straighten up again. His face has lost all color and strands of sweaty blue hair tumble into his exhausted eyes.

“Sorry,” he coughs. “I’m not… feeling so well lately. I like your poem, though. Your structuring is very good. Thank you.”

Anonymous asked: You can try, Blue. It's all anyone can do.

“Try what?” He glances over at Red standing in the doorway. “It would be really hard to sneak out… you’d have to help me and I - oh! Dap-Dap!”

He drops his spoon and darts to Red’s side, once again held back by a hand on his collar. He growls dangerously, an odd color lighting up in his hands, but doesn’t struggle for now, calling for Dap to come back to the house.

“Dapper! Honey, come over here! My poor little brother, baby, come here!”

Dapper is standing out by the shed, looking stiff as a mannequin. He stares blankly at the house, his arms held out before him, soaked in blood. His face is very blank and he doesn’t answer Blue.

“Let me go!” shrieks Blue, tugging against Red’s grip. “He’s upset, look at him!”

Red sighs. “Would you calm down? He does this a lot.”

Blue lets out a furious cry, turning to punch his chest, startling Red but not causing him to let go. “Look what you and Anti are doing to my baby brother!” he shouts, tears rising in his eyes and color burning in his hands. He groans and clutches his fists together, furious. “He does this a lot? No, he doesn’t, not unless he’s sick or scared or being made to do horrible things!”

Red’s breathing fast. He shoves Blue out into the dirt. “Go get him and bring him back,” he snaps. “Before you get the beating you’re asking for.”

“I hate that you’re acting like this!” screams Blue, backing out of his reach. Red’s chain binds him tight to the house. “Why are you letting this happen?”

“Shut up, Blue,” snaps Red, whirling on him and returning to his room. He reaches out to slam the door before remembering Anti took it off. Distraught, humiliated, he crashes into his bed instead of his corner this time and draws his blankets over his head, hiding.

Blue lets him go and darts out towards Dapper to get his little brother back into the house. Dapper lets himself be lead, his face empty and his eyes wide and unfocused.

“Feeling okay, Dapper?” asks Blue, pulling him snugly to his chest, ignoring the blood that soaks into his shirt. He’ll clean it out later. “What happened, my darling? Did that magician girl upset you?”

Dapper just leans slightly into his chest, shaking.

Anonymous asked: Red, there had to be a better way to go about this. Trying to lead by fear will get you nowhere. Please, don’t turn to this, they rely so much on you for guidance as a big brother, not a master. They already have one of those, they don’t need another.

“This is what Anti told me to do,” he mumbles, holding himself. “This is what I have to do. This is what I can do to make it easier on them. Better I hit them than Anti…”

For a long time, he lies in silence. He’s tired to the core of his being. He didn’t know you could be so tired it hurts this badly.

And then, to your surprise, he asks you for a favor.

“Will you wake me up again if I fall asleep?”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Sure then, Red....but just remember that, at the end of the day, there are a whack load of brothers that have your back, love you, and wouldn't treat you like a dog.

Red sighs, long and low. He doesn’t know how to… ah, he’s never been good at talking about shit. Blue always seemed to understand anyway…

Anonymous asked: No??? red, you need to sleep!

He clutches his hair and sinks in on himself, hugging his shoulders. Slowly, he shakes his head back and forth, exhausted.

Anonymous asked: jeez, where's Anti? lurking around and whining about his daddy issues as usual?

You hear shouting from his room, behind the only door left in the house.

“I was just fucking out there, you insufferable little brats. Sorry I didn’t give everybody fucking kisses and ice cream! What the fuck do you idiots expect from me? Are your heads so full of air that you can’t for one second get your brain out of your asses - ”

You might want to turn your attention back to other cameras.

“Motherfucking sons of bitches - !”

Anonymous asked: Wait a minute, who is he yelling at? Us? Where’s Chase and Dok?

Dok and Trick perk up on their bed, exchanging looks. “We’re in our rooms! Wasn’t yelling at us. Right?”

“Right…” Dok pauses. “Probably…”

“Must have been yelling at you, dudes.”

Anonymous asked: Dap, buddy, can you hear us? Are you alright, love?

Blue brushes at Dapper’s hair, hoping he’ll answer you, but he just sinks father down against Blue’s body and closes his big blue eyes. Blue squishes him close and kisses his hair, feeling blood squealch beneath his fingers. He shudders.

“Dok!” he calls. “Dok, Trick! I think he just got shocked from all the blood. He gets so strange with chores like that! Sometimes he gets really, really over-excited, and he’ll come home from chores shaking so hard and grinning like a madman - or he comes hope just sobbing and sobbing while Anti drags him along by his hair - or he’s a simpering little puppy, and all he wants is somebody to hold on him - ”

“Or he clams up,” finishes Trick wearily, appearing in the room and taking one look at his brother.

“All this fucking blood!” hisses Dok, darting forward to pull Dap from Blue so he can get a look at him. Dap stares sadly up at him as he runs his hands over his head and his torso, looking for wounds.

Anonymous asked: Bahaha Anti you salty bitch, what’s your problem?

Anti cracks open the door to his room just to glare at you for two and a quarter seconds and then slam it very loudly, which only makes Dap jump and burrow into Doktor’s chest in the kitchen.

Anonymous asked: Isn't there a camera in the shed...? Are we able to see that?

You flip through your cameras. Like Anti said, you have a view on the girl: Genesis, the sorcerer.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: What happened, Dap?

“Yeah, what happened, buddy?” Trick leans forward to give Dap’s shoulder a good squeeze while Doktor wraps his arms around him, frowning. “Too much blood for one hour? Did that girl say anything about who sent her? There’s not more people going to be able to find us, right?”

“Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts.”

Doktor feels the word more than sees it and pushes Dapper back slightly to read. “What was that, Dap?”

But Dapper stares dead ahead in silence, his teeth chattering.

“Trick, what do you do to snap Doktor out of it when he gets all shell-shocked like this?”

Doktor blushes bright red and turns away from Trick and Blue, avoiding their eyes.

“Oh - we mostly just lie down in our room and I put a blanket on him and read or something and he comes back to himself eventually. If he gets violent I have to hold him down.”

“Trick,” croaks Doktor, humiliated.

“Bud, it’s just a shock thing, it’s okay…”

“I don’t like talking about it…”

“Okay, okay,” Blue cuts them off, taking back Dap. “Let’s just give him some peace and quiet, then.”

“He needs to get the blood off first,” Doktor advises sharply. “So unhygienic.”

“Alright. Let’s use your shower, come on.”

“That’s too many hands on one little guy,” Trick points out. “You and Dok look after him. I’ll finish lunch. Call me if you need anything.”

“Oh, Trick, I can finish it!”

“Blue, don’t be ridiculous, dude.”

Dok gives them both a warning look with a little hiss. Trick whitens.

“I mean, uh - whatever you say, big bro!”

Blue sighs. “No, okay. We’ll go look after him. Don’t tire yourself out, though, Trick, you’re on guard duty tonight.”

“Aw, damn! I mean - okay, that’s fine!”

cest-mellow asked: genesis? can you hear us..?

Genesis stares at you, directly across from where she sits.

There is, through her right hand, one beautiful golden dagger - Dapper’s Christmas present embedded in her palm.

Amber eyes survey you warily, her mouth taut and her eyes flashing. She leans forward in the chair she is tied to and levels you with a glare, clumps of short black hair closing in around her sharp face.

“I can see you,” she tells you. “I can see words. The talking cameras.”

Anonymous asked: Can we...talk to her? Is she okay? Well, I mean, is she alive?

Cuts litter her like stars the sky, including a delicate star carved perfectly into her cheek. Amidst the abuse, you eventually begin to distinguish heavy, deep gashes along the torso and legs from thin, patient cuts dancing across his fingers and face in pretty patterns. Burns adorn her throat like a witch’s collar.

She spits at you.

“Okay,” she laughs. “Fuck off, talking camera elves…”

She has a heavy accent, but speaks clearly.

Anonymous asked: Did dapper give you that?

“Dapper, I don’t know that. What’s dapper?”

Anonymous asked: Oh! Ma’am, can you see us? We’re here to help as much as we’re able too.

“Oh, the elves are here to help, uh-huh. The elves expect me to believe they don’t work for the little motherfucker in the vest.”

immabethehero asked: How did you get here, Genesis?

“Oh, what, you don’t know, now? Huh? I saw the cameras in the streets and the shitty old bars, but I didn’t think they would be full of spies. So you told the demon I was coming, huh? Mean little camera elves. Little fuckers.”

She spits again, a sudden tremble consuming her body as the blood loss begins to hurt her.

“Haha, it stings… I was trying to find the demon who stabbed Hermann and made the man in the red hood his little slave. I cast spells all over the city, but, see, only in the mountain did I find magic I did not recognize… I know all the other sorcerers in the city, but there’s some kind of power up here, so I thought, it must be the demon. But he knew I was coming… I didn’t even tell Emmanuela that I was going…”

Anonymous asked: Hey, I mean, that’s understandable. That little motherfucker in the vest is dapper

“Dapper little motherfucker,” she says, rubbing her aching cheek against her shoulder, pulling against her ropes. “What sort of a demon calls itself Dapper? Sounds like a silly boy name. You’re making fun of me?”

Anonymous asked: dapper is the one with the moustache, but that's not his real name. we're on your side, here.

“Oh? He doesn’t use his real name? Dapper means something? If you’re really on my side, you should tell me his real name so I can curse him better.”

immabethehero asked: The demon in question is Anti. He's kidnapped and brainwashed a whole bunch of guys. The one in the vest is called Dapper, but his real name is Jameson.

“Oh, Jameson, huh? Pretty. I’ll fill his throat with razor blades once I get out of these goddamn ropes!”

She lets out a raw scream and tugs harder against them, disturbing a deep wound in her shoulder and hissing as blood comes flowing down. For the first time, she shows a flash of fear, hyperventilating for a second before she remembers herself and stays together.

Anonymous asked: his real name is Jameson Jackson, but Anti erased a lot of his (and the other boys’) memories about their past and their real names, so he might not respond to that name. You’re the magic expert here, thought.

“Tell me everything about this Jameson Jackson. Why does he keep the other men his prisoners? Why doesn’t he talk? Why does he have a mustache like a Frenchman from the 1930s? I’ll shave it off him. Fucker, little motherfucker.”

She pauses, trying to think of more English curse words.

“Dick,” she finishes confidently, nodding at you and flicking her hair out of her face.

Anonymous asked: Alright, let’s all chill out okay? We’re not here to patronize you. Dapper isn’t the demon. It’s Anti, the one that was most likely with him. And you must have pissed him off pretty bad too, which is great.

“Oh, oh, I piss him off? Here, tell him this, tell him he has pissed me off, and I will make him regret it, because I expect he will not like to have this chair shoved down his throat! Like I started this, huh? He’s the one stabbed my stupid idiot friend! And I love my stupid idiot friend! Motherfucker to the max!”

She rocks her chair and nearly tips over, giving a little shriek. After this, she needs a moment to recover, and sighs deeply, looking back at you.

“Okay, fine, but I think you understand why I am not ‘chill.’”

Anonymous asked: Jameson is mute. He dresses like he’s from the early 1900s, because he is. He can change the course of time with his abilities, so if something happens that he or Anti doesn’t like, it can be adjusted. And I’d advise you not to hurt him unless absolutely necessary out of defense, because you will absolutely be killed.

Genesis frowns, chewing on her lip, trying to distinguish between truths and lies.

“A very old demon, then… I will be careful… which I guess would have been a good note for before I came looking, but the Old Man says thinking ahead is not my strong suit. Or even a suit I fit into at all.”

Anonymous asked: Oh yeah, you’re totally right. But you also beat the shit out of our stupid idiot too so..we even? Can we talk now? Camera to woman, woman to camera?

“Hmmm.” She narrows her amber eyes at you. “Little camera elves… okay, yeah, we’re talking, aren’t we? Tell me who you are.”

Anonymous asked: Dap, Blue? What's happening?

“We’re just getting cleaned up,” Blue answers in a warm, soothing voice. “We’re doing just fine, just fine.”

You find him in the bathroom with Dap, getting himself soaked by holding Dapper up in the shower. They’ve stripped their little brother down to his boxers and Blue is running shampoo through his hair, massaging his scalp and turning the water around the drain a fine pink. Dok enters the bathroom with his first aid kit and Noodle in one hand, making Dap light up just a little.

Anonymous asked: You’re a good man Trick

Trick turns to give you a full and beautiful smile.

“Thank you,” he chirps, loading chicken and rice onto plates.

Anonymous asked: They’re telling you to listen to the woman, let her go. If you did then both Red and Trick would pay for it. Maybe instead you should try and learn something from her that you could use to save your family, Blue.

Blue washes Dapper’s face gently, deep in thought.

“Fuck, I wish I could know more about that girl,” he whispers. “Something about those people… I wish I could remember anything…”

He sighs, rubbing Dapper’s shoulders with the washcloth. “But it might be easier for you to talk to her than me.”

A moment passes and you expect him to be done, but then, just loud enough for you:

“I’m sorry I’m not of more use in this… please take care of my brothers in any way you can. My hands are so tightly bound…”

Anonymous asked: Don't worry, we want to help. We heard about your friend, Hermann. We're so sorry that he was hurt. What happened to him?

Genesis sinks slightly in on herself, her mouth falling.

“Mh, you’re sorry?”

She glares bitterly up at you for a second, but then she turns her gaze away, softening. It’s not you she’s mad at, in the end.

“He was very bad for a long time. What a miserable Christmas… he’s alive, still. He was asleep for so long. I hate seeing him like this. It’s like all the energy - zap, gone. And Hermann’s so stupid, you know, so he’s usually all full of energy. He’s like a dog that’s really excited to see you. Even if you’re like, okay, dog, you’re kind of annoying at first! Eventually the dog grows on you. And then the dumbass thing gets himself stabbed, and makes Christmas so shitty.”

She stares down at the floor, her lip trembling a little.

“He would notice that I’ve been gone… but probably Emmanuela and the Old Man will not.”

She pauses, alarmed, and sits up straight to glare at you again. “Don’t tell that stupid demon that, you little camera elves! You better not be lying about anything!”

Anonymous asked: Genesis, one of the boys, (Blue, former magician, great guy) feels like he recognizes a symbol on your wrist What is it? Did it mean anything?

Genesis stiffens, her eyes narrowing darkly. Her gaze flickers down to the band on her wrist - a leather strap with a raven etched into it, its beak open and its eye shaped like a jewel.

“It’s… nothing.” Her lips curls at you. “Just… a club. You don’t need to know!”

Anonymous asked: Hey, any go ahead from you is enough alright? Take care of the others and we’ll see what we can do

Blue looks relieved. He gives you a very shaky little smile.

“Okay… I can try to do that much.”

He’s never felt fonder of you.

florenceisfalling asked: woah, yeesh, we don't like the demon any more than you do.

“Oh.” She pauses, blinking at you. “No? You think so too? Motherfucker to the max?”

She puffs to get some of her hair out of her face. “Cut my goddamn ponytail out… you don’t work for him?”

Anonymous asked: genesis, four of them have powers, so it's unlikely you'll have an easy time getting out of this. please be careful, for your own sake, and theirs. the guys under anti's control will suffer if you fuck it up.

“Four of them have powers! Goddamn, goddamn! This sucks on ass! Damn! Well, I can take them!” She pauses, glancing around. “Really, I just need this knife out of my hand… then I could go home in a snap. Okay, four guys under the demon’s control?”

Anonymous asked: It's not the vest you should worry about - he's Dapper, by the way. Anti is the real problem here. We think we can help you, but can you tell us who you are?

She pauses, frowning. “But… the one in the vest came to find the one in the sweatshirt. He’s the one who stabbed Hermann.”

She blows air up onto her own face, miserably hot. “Oh, I’m cooking in this goddamn sun! This little garage is all metal! Who I am? My name is Genesis. You name just about any country on this continent and I’ve lived there. For work, I copy books in a library and stop catastrophes. What else you want, huh? I’m a Scorpio, okay? I have twenty-four years.”

Anonymous asked: Five, technically. He has no powers, just a gun and a kitten. Hell be out guarding you tonight. Maybe try talking to him later?

Genesis’s eyes light up, thinking. “So, okay. One of the little prisoners. A gun and a kitten? Tell me everything about him. Maybe I can convince him to let me go? Do you think?”

Anonymous asked: five total people under his control. dapper and blue have magic, but i don't think blue is allowed to use his. the others are normal. none of them are evil, just trapped with the demon.

“Five! Five, what sort of a monster! This shit must be why Hermann was so desperate to get involved! He kept talking about the twin gringos in the market, he was sure they were involved in something awful. Well, I hate to say it, but I guess he was right. Don’t tell him I said that. Shit, shit! He’s going to want to save them, isn’t he?”

She sighs out a deep breath.

“Okay, two magic boys, none of them are evil… according to you… how do you know none of them are evil? Tell me all about them.”

Anonymous asked: dapper isn't the demon, please don't try to mess with him - he's a victim, too. they all are, except the one who always glitches.

“Hmm.” She doesn’t look convinced. “Why can’t they both be demons, huh? I can smell the power on them and they look like brothers.”

nikkilbook asked: Have you seen the other one? The one that can change his shape and control the others?

“I saw the one in the vest and the one with two different colors of eyes.”

florenceisfalling asked: they're not evil because they don't choose to hurt anyone. they're a family, they used to have normal lives, jobs, and kids. they try their best to take care of each other and be kind, but they're super brainwashed. only one of them is a demon - there's power on dapper, but he's just a time traveler. he doesn't have any other powers that we know of.

Genesis stares down at the ground for a long time. She’s beginning to wear down. Dapper’s star bleeds gently down her cheek.

“I don’t know,” she says. “Lots of bad people have families. Lots of bad people have normal lives. Or even if they were good once… don’t you think, sometimes, when enough bad things happen to you, part of you just… becomes… bad too?”

She looks up at you, her eyes dark. “Listen,” she says. “I’m sorry. But I’ll do what I have to to get out of here. I hope you understand that.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Blue, did you used to belong to a club of some kind?

Blue washes the sticky blood out of Dapper’s hands, cleaning each finger. “A club? I don’t know. I don’t remember much before Anti. Figments is all. Luckily that stuff wasn’t important.”

Dapper sniffles, rubbing at his face wearily. Blue beams at him, trying to encourage him to move.

“How we doing now, sweetie?”

“Ghosts,” mumble Dapper’s hands. “Ghosts.”

“I know, buddy. I know.”

“Not reacting well to anything,” murmurs Dok, a hand on Blue’s shoulder. And then, louder, “Here, Dap, have some water.”

nikkilbook asked: Red, will something bad happen if you fall asleep?

Red is lying like he’s already asleep in his bed, his hair mussed all over the place and his eyes dull, but stubbornly still slitted open. Eventually he shivers and looks away from you, breathing deep.

“No,” he mumbles. “I’m just being a baby.”

bupine asked: red, it's ok for you to sleep. i'm sure nothing too bad can happen in a few hours :D unless anti told you you couldn't?

“No, I can, I can,” whimpers Red, clutching at his hair. “No, nothing bad will happen, nothing… just feels like it… don’t… you don’t have to watch over me…”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Someone needs to watch over you, Red. You aren't completely alone in this.

“Please,” snorts Red. “Like I want anybody to see me like this. Like Blue doesn’t have enough to deal with now that I can’t even… now that I can’t even…”

He trails off, his mouth very tight. The chain around his ankle drags loudly as he readjusts.

bupine asked: we're just trying to see if you're ok, red. you haven't been yourself lately, everything in the house seems so much more strained. how long has dapper been hurting that woman, do u know? he's so shaken up and keeps talking about seeing ghosts

“Fuck, damn,” Red hisses, covering his face. “Anti will be so angry… Dok can’t seem to find the right stuff to level him out again after his medicine was messed up. He’s super clingy and shaky. Anti will be so angry… I’m worried it’s not just hallucinations… fuck.

“We just found that woman this morning, though. I think Anti is trying to find out where she comes from and how he can find the other person. He’s still angry someone tried to steal me away.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Do you have any suspicions as to why they would have taken you, Red?

Red cringes, his mouth beginning to tremble.

“They think Anti or Dapper or Blue is some sort of demon… and I bet they think I’m bad too for fighting that man… and if they get their hands on me again they’ll probably…”

He clutches at his shoulders, curling in on himself, his teeth gritted very tight in his mouth.

“This is almost as bad as being asleep,” he groans, rubbing his face back and forth against his mattress.

Anonymous asked: Is he alright?

Blue helps a trembling Dapper back to his feet, fetching him a towel as he steps out of the shower, though all he does is pull it around his shoulders like a blanket and hide from you. Blue adjusts accordingly, getting a second towel to start drying him off himself.

“Yeah, we’re okay, aren’t we, bud?” soothes Blue.

Dap doesn’t answer. His face is twitching.

“Aren’t we, Dok?” asks Blue, turning to him.

Dok gives him a worried glance, biting down on his lip.

Blue hisses out a curse under his breath even as he turns to offer Dapper a big warm smile, toweling his hair playfully. “Something has to change,” you hear him whisper to Dok. “This environment is too much stress for him.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey Dok? Do you have anything to help Red sleep? He'd super on edge..

Dok pales a little, turning his eyes from you. “Trust me, Red doesn’t want anything from me. Nothing I can do about it.”

“He won’t sleep hardly at all,” whispers Blue.

“Maybe you could try giving him some melatonin.”

“He wakes up screaming every time.”

“I know, we hear him across the house. I don’t know why Anti doesn’t - ”

“Shhh, Dok, sh, careful…”

They fall silent again. Whistling reaches them as Trick comes down the hallway with chicken and rice and bright yellow sodas piled up in his arms.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Do any of you boys want to keep Red company? Maybe he needs a friend.

Dok shakes his head vigorously, and Trick nods along with his twin almost without thinking about it, setting up a late lunch in their room.

“Don’t ask us,” Dok tells you emphatically, putting a hand over his aching skull. “Most of the time he won’t even have Blue.”

Blue’s mouth has gone very thin. He glances back towards his and Red’s room again and again, but he doesn’t go to him. He’s been yelled at enough for today.

“Why’s J - happy - sad?” asks Dap, snuffling and shivering in his towel.

Dok and Blue frown and exchange looks.

“What was that sign, honey?”

“J - happy. Why sad?”

Dok blinks. Blue chews on his lip, shaking his head.

Dapper frowns at the two of them, blinking his eyes, confused.

Anonymous asked: i think he means red.

“Do you mean Red, buddy?” asks Dok, pulling him into their room.

“Red?”

Dok sighs and sits him down. Blue watches from the doorway, his eyes flickering nervously from Dapper to Red’s room.

bupine asked: j-happy? could be a personal sign dapper made up for red. he's seemingly a bit delirious right now, he's maybe not thinking right and forgot red's name?

“You know Dapper has his confused days,” Trick points out, already popping a bite of chicken in his mouth. “Remember that time he thought somebody had kidnapped him?”

Dapper frowns down at the ground, blinking slowly.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Dap, do you remember everyone's names?

“Who’s everyone?”

“Okay,” snaps Blue, shaking his head. “Enough talking about this. Eat your chicken, Dap-Dap. Look, your brothers even brought you fancy sodas. Yum, huh? Good to get some sugar in you.”

Anonymous asked: *whispers* do you mean jackie, dapper?

“Connection must be real buggy,” muses Trick, popping the cap off a soda. “Can barely make some of these out.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Dok? Is Dapper being this delirious normal?

Doktor glances nervously at the camera, reaching out to pet Dapper’s hair, uncharacteristically affection. You see him give a tiny headshake.

“Delusional, not delirious. But we just need to figure your medicine out,” he croaks, looking suddenly exhausted. “Wish we could just go back to the Haldol, huh, bud?”

Dapper tilts his head sorrowfully against his hand, looking up at him.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Red? Why don't you let someone keep you company? At least until you fall asleep?

“Oh, come on,” he scoffs, turning his back on you. “You really think the others are supposed to see me like this?”

There’s a long pause.

“Anti… nearly stopped Blue from sleeping with me anymore… we don’t talk, during the night… he says he’ll muzzle me if I do…”

nikkilbook asked: Guys, please don’t do this to him. Not again. You’ve all got each other—he needs you, too. Remember kindness, please. Red needs you. Jackie needs you.

Trick curls his lip up, stabbing at his chicken and looking over at Dok, who only frowns back. Dapper stares between his brothers, frowning and waiting for someone to talk, but nobody does.

Blue won’t meet the camera’s gaze. His hands tremble too badly for him to hold his fork.

“Can’t help someone who won’t let you,” he tells you finally, in a voice like a white flag.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Is there a way you could secretly get him back on the haldol?

“I tried putting him back on the Haldol,” Dok explains, his face falling. “But something about the Risperdal messed it up, and I had to wean him off that, and then I tried putting him back on the Haldol slow, but it wasn’t working, and he was having really bad hallucinations, so I tried something really strong, but he was having horrible dizziness, so he couldn’t even walk, so I had to take him off that slow, and now we’re trying something new - ”

“Dok, Dok.” Trick reaches out to grab his wrist and Doktor stops, burying his face in his hands. “Dude, it’s okay, it’s okay. You’re going to figure it out.”

Doktor doesn’t answer. Dapper stares up at Blue, bewildered, but all Blue can do is pull him close and rub his shoulders, pressing their heads together.

reverseblackholeofwords asked: Red, you know we're watching out for you, and your brothers won't let anyone take you or hurt you. You're protected and loved, and I know it doesn't feel like that now. But you just have to remind yourself that it's true.

Exhausted, Red lies still against his mattress, blinking slowly at you as he tries not to fall asleep. But there’s something warm and reassuring about the message, and even if it feels like his brothers are a continent away, he tries to take some comfort in it as it swirls around his head again and again.

Protected and loved… fuck, what he wouldn’t give… hell, but he’s tired…

Anonymous asked: uhhh trick, is red still awake or sleeping?

Trick glances nervously over at you, but consents to your request and gets up to check. He slinks carefully to the door of his room and peers out and into Red’s, hiding slightly behind the door.

Red is curled up in silence, breathing deep and slow, his eyes closed.

“Looks like,” he whispers, drawing away again.

“Give it fifteen minutes on the screaming,” mumbles Dok, sipping his soda. There’s something very dark in his gaze.

“Really? I give him… an hour and a half!”

“What are we betting?”

“Boys,” snaps Blue, his face furious. Trick and Dok avert their gaze meekly, returning to each other’s sides. Trick puts his head down on Dok’s shoulder and hums, too pre-occupied by the fact that it makes Dok smile to notice Blue hiding his hands beneath his shirt, his face stark white.

Anonymous asked: Genesis, do you know the name Marvin?

Genesis is already shaking her head back and forth on the camera, trying to keep herself steady and awake. She breathes out slow breaths, losing color and draining blood.

“Marvin? Oh, no… I don’t know, I don’t think so…”

Anonymous asked: Say what you're thinking, Blue.

“I think these little hooligans know exactly what I mean,” grumbles Blue, making the twins shrivel beneath his gaze, guilty smiles on their mouths.

“Sorry, Blue,” says Trick with a winning grin. “We were just teasing.”

“Making fun of nightmares is not teasing, boys.”

Trick and Dok exchange looks with a cold note of apathy in them. Trick’s hand falls subconsciously to rest on a dark bruise on Doktor’s wrist.

Anonymous asked: Blue, seriously, you need to talk to someone about whatever it is that’s happening with your hands. Ignoring it will only make it worse and probably harder to fix. It’s okay to need help sometimes.

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” cries Blue, clutching them together beneath his shirt, despite a blue light seeping through his clothes. Dok and Trick look up, alarmed. “I know the rules, I’m not trying to break them! It’s already my fault those people found us! I have to keep it under control!”

“Blue,” say Trick and Dok at the same time. Trick leans forward with his hands out-stretched, while Dok is already getting to his feet. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, nothing, it’s nothing!”

“Show me,” demands Dok, kneeling down beside him and grabbing at his hands. “Show me, now.”

“Please, Dok - ”

But Dapper is up on his knees too, reaching out to help drag his hands away. Dok grits his teeth hard, glaring down at the injured fingers and palms.

Blue’s hands are redder than his twin’s hair and they tremble so hard it must be painful. Skin flakes off them in peeling patches, like a bad sunburn, and blood is welling, for a reason Dok cannot fathom, from beneath the fingernails.

“What is this,” asks Doktor flatly. “Red did this to you.”

“No! Dok, it’s just - it’s just - it’s just power!”

“Your power is a part of you, same as Dapper’s, and his never hurts him like this. Does it? No. Why is this happening?”

“Because he hasn’t casted in months,” says Dap, but no one’s looking at him - except Blue, who boxes him off from Trick and Dok’s view and makes him scowl.

“It’s just because of the memory loss,” he chokes, suddenly rising to his feet. “I forgot how to use it right. I need to figure it out on my own, thank you. I think I want a nap, too, you’ll excuse me.”

“Blue!” cry Trick and Dok, in tandem for the second time.

“I said, you’ll excuse me,” snarls Blue, whirling on them, and suddenly he and Red really do look like twins, in more ways than one.

Trick and Dok fall silent, staring at the floor, the fight gone out of them.

Blue vanishes down the hall.

Trick leans down to kiss the dark bruise on Doktor’s wrist, and then over to kiss Dapper too, just for good measure, trying to get the look of utter confusion off his poor little brother’s face.

nikkilbook asked: Red doesn’t seem like he’s the one making the decisions here. Do you know about the muzzle?

“Fuck, don’t say that word!” cries Dok, looking horrified. Trick cringes and blushes bright red at his side, turning his face away from him and dropping his twin’s wrist.

“What an awful thing! Anti used to use that when Trick was still under the old master’s control! Don’t mention such a thing, oh, dear… For Red? Oh, dear… well, maybe that’s why he’s been such a motherfucker to deal with lately…”

Trick is covering his face with his hands, tomato red.

Anonymous asked: Blue, I think you know Genesis, and she's bleeding out. Is there any way you can sneak out and go see her?

You find Blue again in his room, panting on the other side of the room from Red, curled in on himself. He signs to be quiet.

“What, so I can get the shit beat out of me by my twin?” he asks, tears coursing down his cheeks. Grief and rage twist up his whole face. “If you really want to talk to her, Dok and Trick will be out together to guard her soon. I’m so fucking tired.”

He pauses, trying to take a deep breath or two.

“Is she… really bleeding out? I don’t know what you mean about knowing her.”

immabethehero asked: She was symbols on her similiar to a pack of cards. Does that remind you of anything?

“She does?”

Blue gets up uncertainly and tilts his head at Red’s computer, wondering if he can catch a glimpse of the girl on the security camera.

“Where? I only saw the sigil on her wrist.”

Anonymous asked: Genesis, is there something, anything you can tell us about your club? We think our friend was in it once, and we need to jog his memory. He might trust you if he knows even the smallest thing!

Genesis snorts and closes her eyes, turning away.

“I’ve said enough already! I bet the demon can see this, huh?”

She sighs and eventually turns back to you, frowning. “If he really knows something about it, he should have a… club…”

She sighs. “Okay, it’s called an ‘order.’ He should have a national order he belongs to. Otherwise he’s a rogue cast, which would be why his signal was picked up unregistered in the area anyway.”

immabethehero asked: It's a band on her wrist. A leather strap with a raven etched into it, its beak open and its eye shaped like a jewel.

Blue pauses. Even his hands are stilled for a moment. He stares at the floor.

“With… a jewel for an eye?”

immabethehero asked: I'm not sure. Do you have a club, anywhere on you?

“A club? I have card symbols on my ankle. Club, spade, diamond, heart.”

He shows you his tattooed ankle beneath his jeans.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Maybe we can try to phrase it differently....did you know a sorcerer of some kind who had an affinity for nature stuff? Marvin here, who goes by Blue, can make flowers grow with ease with his emotions. At least, he used to...

Genesis raises her eyebrows. “Sounds like a pretty power. Which hand does he cast with? Marvin, huh? What country he is from?”

Anonymous asked: Genesis says she was in something called an "order," and you would have a club on you. See? You're connected!

“Did she say I would have a club on me? I thought these were just my power symbols. Anti likes me to hide them. I don’t know what she would know about me.”

He pulls slightly away from you again, catching sight of Red and remember his mistrust.

“I don’t like her! She tried to take Red from me!”

immabethehero asked: Genesis!! The blue haired man, called Blue, has a club, spade, heart and diamond tattooed on his ankle!!!

“Oh, cool. I don’t know anything about that. What’s a spade? That isn’t what I meant when I said he might be in a club, but I always believed that coincidences must mean something, yes?”

nikkilbook asked: I thought you were angry with Red.

“Oh, so I should let him be fucking abducted?” scowl Blue’s hands. He whirls away from you, sulking.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Genesis, he has a tattoo of card suits on his ankle. He's European of some kind.

She shrugs. “Europe is big. But organizations out there are close-knit - I am surprised he is not registered with an order, or was never caught by those who prevent catastrophe. Magicians do not really function alone, or hardly ever. They are at least known to the national order, and usually a part of it.”

immabethehero asked: As in card symbols, Genesis! He has all four tattooe on his ankle!!! His real name is Marvin the Magnificent, btw.

Genesis shrugs at you, her mouth tilted into a frown. “Doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Anonymous asked: Yes, she's in really bad shape. Maybe you don't "know" her personally, but you might have some kind of connection to her. I know this is scary, but you're so strong. You can help her.

Blue keeps his back turned to you for a long time.

Like he’s waging some war with himself.

“I know about a bird with a jewel eye,” he says finally, aloud, but in a tiny, croaking voice. “But I… I can’t be like her, can I?”

He covers his face with his hands, trying to breathe. “What if Anti sees my - what if Anti realizes I’m connected to her and - and - and strings me up too? What if I do belong to some sort of horrible order that tries to steal people away from their families? I don’t… I don’t remember, I didn’t mean…”

He fidgets with the hem of his shirt, stroking his right shoulder.

nikkilbook asked: I suspect he uses both hands to cast, given that both hands are raw and bleeding because he hasn’t cast in months. He also uses poetry as focus words.

“Both hands?” Genesis sits up straight, staring at you with wide, excited eyes. “Like a really powerful sorcerer! Oh, poetry, like a real traditionalist!”

nikkilbook asked: Blue, I think a distinction needs to be made that she and her friends were trying to steal someone away from a demon, not their family. She calls them “the ones who prevent catastrophe.”

Blue whitens, staring at you.

“I don’t… know why I know that phrase.”

He stalks away, staring at the wall, picking at his shoulder.

Anonymous asked: Genesis? How are you holding up? We want to help you, and the boys that Antis captured. Can you tell us anything so we can do that?

She sighs, closing her eyes. “I’ll be fine, okay? I’m tough, you know, good blood in me. Strong heart and all, no sweat. Just a little blood is all. Damn. I don’t know how you can help - I need to tell the rest of my order to come help. They could maybe stop the demon… except there’s only a few of us, and he seems to have such a tight grip. Tell your magician boy that if he would cast something strong, strong enough to overcome the way the demon has been trying to hide him, the Order would be alerted and could come.”

badlypostedeverything asked: They've all been emotionally abused and manipulated into depending on Anti (The bad one). They think that he loves them, and are unwilling to hurt him in any way, however they are not bad people

“Anti,” she repeats softly.

“That’s the bad one, then? You’re truthful?”

She stares at the wall, thinking.

“What… is he? To control so many people enough that they believe this? Your boys are in a bad tangle, little camera elves… this is a great deal of power, hidden up here in this mountain.”

florenceisfalling asked: lots of bad people had families and lives, but CHOSE cruelty instead. these people didn't choose this. they just want to be safe again. and if you try to leave without helping them - helping undo what the demon's done - you're probably gonna get your ass kicked.

Genesis sighs. “I think I already did. It’s not that I don’t want to help - it’s just, I’m not sure I can.”

Anonymous asked: Well at least you’ve still got a sense of humour. And no, dapper is Antis guard dog at this point. Anti doesn’t like getting his hands dirty so he uses Dapper to do the work for him, and really anyone else.

“Okay, the little man in the vest - he’s good news, just controlled? What a dick he acts like. Like my skin is a canvas. Little fucker. Very well, I’ll forgive him if he can break free.”

immabethehero asked: Genesis, the guy with the hair is a magician with magic. His real name's Marvin the Magnificent!!! He used to have a mask with different card symbols before Anti screwed him over and brainwashed him

“The guy with the hair! Haha, are most of them bald? Okay, Marvin the magnificent magician.”

Anonymous asked: We're only trying to help you. If you're gonna get out of here, you'e going to have to know what you're dealing with. And Jameson is the LEAST of your worries, I promise. And we're really sorry about Hermann.

“Oh, thank you. Yes… I’m glad he survived. We weren’t sure, for a while there. He’s… he’s like a brother to me, really. Dumb boy…”

Cest-mellow asked: jameson isn’t the demon! none of them are demons except anti. if you want to kill someone, it should be anti. he has them all as his “little slaves” just how you saw the man in the red hood. all of them are brainwashed and hurt. anti made jameson torture you, and hell probably make him do a lot worse if you’re not careful. Five anons and immabethehero made similar points and were added.

Genesis shakes her head, disoriented by all the messages. “Hell, how many camera elves are there? Damn, okay, thank you, this helps, this - I’m sorry, time traveler?”

She pauses for a long time, staring at the wall.

“You know what,” she says, a little white. “Maybe obvious, but uhhh… I’m starting to think I’m in real trouble.”

Anonymous asked: You've never spoken to her, Blue, you can't know if you don't like her. Don't you know she probably has people she cares about, too? Her friend, Hermann, is hurt and she wants to take care of him. She keeps mentioning friends that she hopes are looking for her. You have to know what that feels like. Give her a chance.

“Oh, she… she really has friends? That could be dangerous, right, that… I guess she must be angry Dap stabbed her friend, though… I guess I get that…”

immabethehero asked: There is no resting for you guys, is there? Maybe you just leave Anti?

“I love Anti, I love Anti, I love Anti,” chant Blue’s hands, as he paces around the room, his fingers clenched tight together. “I love him, I love him. Blue, stop thinking.”

Anonymous asked: She says Hermann is like her brother.

“Aww.” Blue reaches for his heart as though touched, only to yank his hand away again, eyes wide. “No, I don’t care!”

nikkilbook asked: Blue, what’s wrong with your shoulder? Are you all right?

“It’s just a tattoo, right? It doesn’t have to mean anything! It doesn’t have to mean anything about her or me or anything. It’s just a tattoo. It’s just a coincidence. It’s just a bird! Right?”

Anonymous asked: Wait everyone hold up, this is great and all, finding someone who is sane and could help out, but how do we know that she’s the real deal? That she won’t go and kill the boys once she knows enough? I mean Antis fine but what about the others

“Yeah, exactly, exactly!” Blue clings too it, eyes too bright. “She’ll bring more people back, they’ll hunt us down, beat my baby brothers like they beat Red, steal us away, away, kill us! She’s bad, like Anti said! And I’m not like her!”

Anonymous asked: Ma’am, we’re sorry, but you have to calm down. No one is going to hurt you alright? Nothing gets said to the demon, this is all between us. You have our word, is that enough for now?

She sighs. Shrugs. Weary.

“We’re talking, aren’t we? That’s all I can promise for now.”

Anonymous asked: You do care, Blue! You care! You're angry, and sad, and you're full of love and poetry. Stop holding it in! The world deserves to see the Magnificence of you! Let it out!

Blue licks at his mouth, frantic.

“Fuck, but my hands hurt,” he sobs, making Red stir. “Fuck, but I want this to stop!”

Anonymous asked: Blue. Marvin. We need you to do a really big favor for us, and you're not gonna like the sound of it, but we promise you can trust us, okay?

Blue stares at you, eyes blown wide. Clenching and unclenching his hands.

Anonymous asked: hush. just tell me your favorite poem, blue.

Blue closes his eyes.

“Not that,” whisper his hands. “Red will be punished. He promised Anti… he promised Anti I would stop casting… I’ve held this back for so long, I can last, I can last…”

He sinks down to his knees. Staring at Red.

You remember, from a long time ago, hearing Anti call his twin system a failsafe.

Anonymous asked: We genuinely want to help, Genesis. The only reason we know anything that's going on is because Anti thinks it's funny. We know who the boys used to be and he wants us to see how he's stripped their identities away. It's his sick way of proving he's "won" but they're still here and so are we. So we help them however we can. And right now you're our best option.

She nods slowly. “So even you, too, are kept here by the demon’s cruelty… But I am just one woman. I think you are underestimating how much power it will take to be freed of a creature like this… I’ve heard only snippets of legends about monsters that steal love like this. Either you must get the boys away from the monster forever, or you must see that every single one of them turns their back on it, so the demon cannot be made strong by their control, and turn them against each other. It will take either a great external force to steal them away and keep them hidden for the rest of their lives, or an even great act of revolution from within each of these men he has made into slaves.”

Anonymous asked: this is how you save him, blue.

Blue stares at the floor, breathing in, and out.

“From… Anti?”

Anti’s guard dog is asleep at his feet. Anti’s ears are closed with Red’s eyes.

Blue stares down at the old scars on Red’s face. At the chain around his ankle.

In the other room, he can hear Trick and Dok chatting, light and happy, occasionally pausing to reassure their confused little brother of whatever’s upsetting them. They feast on chicken and soda pop, because most of the time, Anti doesn’t give them the spare change it takes to buy sugar.

Blue licks at his lips.

Anonymous asked: We try, Genesis, but the minute we have one, we lose him again. Anti can just take them away whenever he wants, and they love him. We're scared we can never help them. That's why we're so hopeful to meet you. Something new needs to happen.

“Yes,” she murmurs. “Yes, I’m sure, especially if a long time they have been under his control… it might take you a long time yet. Maybe we can get them away from the monster - if not forever, at least long enough for them to find themselves again. Damn, this is the sort of thing Hermann loves… he would know all about it, if I could get them back to him. Spells for purity and strength and resilience. They could band together there, and be able to fight him, but… the truth is… there are only a few of us at the base right now… the Old Man does not fight anymore, and Hermann is injured… I fear it will only be me and Nicholas and Emmanuela. Maybe one or two others, if they’ve stopped in.”

She sighs. “Your boys are very badly tangled up.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Blue, what's a little poetry going to do? Or hum a tune. Get your mind off of the pain, or get away from red and the others to let a little bit of the magic out.

“Not now,” he whispers finally. “Not now. Let the others fall asleep, so Anti will know it’s not there fault. Let it be mine alone…

“I can wait… just a few more hours. I can get everything ready, so, when I’m gone, they’ll still be okay.”

His face has gone very white.

But there is an old, familiar light in there.

“You’ll tell them I loved them, won’t you?”

He staggers towards the door, as if a weight stands on his shoulders - no, as if it has been taken off, after sitting there for so long it makes him unbalanced to be gone.

“I, um… I need to…”

What does he need to do? What can he do to caretake?

“Fresh water,” he mumbles, gathering up the jugs in the kitchen. “I need to get them fresh water…”

Anonymous asked: You're so brave. We love you. And you'll tell them yourself.

Marvin smiles at you, just for a second.

nova-cryptid asked: Genesis, a little while ago, when we mentioned the bird with the gem eye you have, Marvin starting picking at his shoulder, and when we asked him what was wrong he started rambling about how, and I quote “it was just a tattoo, right?” and “it didn’t have to mean anything about me or her” eventually saying (at this point he seemed worried almost) “it’s just a bird! Right?” I think maybe Marvin could have the same or a similar tattoo on his shoulder, but I’m not completely sure.

“Oh? Well, why you are asking me, then? Make him take his shirt off. Damn, I wish this was under a more fun context. You should make my guard boy take his shirt off too. What do you say?”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey Dok? You and Trick can take care of each other, right?

Dok and Trick sit up from where they were trying to coax Dapper to eat more, alarm in their faces.

“Um… yeah,” Trick laughs nervously. “Why do you… why do you ask? Is someone angry?”

Doktor’s getting to his feet, glancing around the house, worry on his mouth.

Anonymous asked: Marvin? How are you holding up, buddy?

“It’s weird how much better I feel just thinking about it… ending.”

Blue stares down at his hands as he scoops up bottle after bottle and jug after jug. You don’t know how he’ll carry it all when it’s full. It will take him two trips without his twin. He’s been doing it every day since Red was sent to get Anti that book.

“I think I’ll wait til… til tonight, and try and get far from Red, so Anti will maybe… fuck, I hope he doesn’t punish him, I…”

Blue chews on his lip, nervous.

“I’d just like this to end,” he sighs, rubbing his trembling hands. “Without hurting anyone. I wish Anti would just… but forget it. I can’t ask him to be something he’s not. This is just how it has to be.”

Anonymous asked: Don’t leave a note Blue, and go as soon as possible. Dapper isn’t in great shape to time travel right now. Be safe.

“Shit, do you think Dap will be in trouble too? What if he gets sick trying to turn back, or he’s too freaked out and Anti hurts him? My poor baby.”

Blue’s anxiety has shot up and he pauses in the doorway, staring back at the room of the brothers he’s started to think of as triplets more than anything else.

“They’re so good,“ he whimpers. “I don’t know how they stay so good in all this. All they ever do is look after each other. Oh, I can’t leave my little brothers, that’s - that’s my job, that’s my only job, to look after them, to take care of them! That’s your job, Blue!”

Anonymous asked: Nothing, boys. Tensions are high right now, we’re just concerned for you guys.

Dok retreats nervously from the doorway, wishing he still had a door to hide behind.

Trick tries to keep his voice light. They’ve been through a hundred days and nights like this.

“Hey, Dok, read us a story or something, man. He can recite shit, did you guys know that? Dapper, pick a story.”

“New book,” Dapper insists, pointing at Dok’s mattress, where the little gold book Trick bought him in Norway rests.

“New? I’ve read it a hundred times,” chuckles Dok, turning back to them.

“New to me! No ghosts.”

“It’s your favorite anyway, Dok-Dok.”

“Okay, okay,” laughs Dok, picking it up. “Lie down with me. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder. Part One: Perhaps an Accident…”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: They don't really have a choice to be good, Blue....Keep in mind, Anti doesn't give them a choice.

“Excuse me! Don’t have a choice to be good? They’re the best - the most caring - they’re - they’re perfect!”

It’s possible he has some blind spots in his little brother vision.

“Even when Anti’s mad, and Red’s mad, and I’m being a dick too, just to make it worse, and Dapper’s struggling and Trick’s tired and Dok’s hurting, they still just - they still just - ”

Blue might cry. He wipes furiously at his face, his hands over his heart.

“They don’t deserve… oh, I need this to stop, something has to change…”

bupine asked: blue, i really don't think you should leave by yourself. anti will take it out on the othwrothers. you gotta find an opportunity for you all to leave or everything's gonna end up just like last time

“I’m just going to go refill the water, sheesh… and tonight I won’t go so far Anti won’t find me.

Wait, you guys didn’t want me to run away, did you?”

badlypostedeverything asked: The best you can do for them is to go. They'll be alright, we'll look after them for you

“You did!” accuses Blue, reddening. “I - I can’t believe - you never stop, do you? I’d never leave my family behind! Not… not while there was still air in my lungs.”

Anonymous asked:

Um, yes, we thought so? Blue, what were you planning to do?

Blue stares at you, dismayed.

“’A little poetry,’ you said. ‘Genesis is your best chance,’ you said. I just need to get some of this hurt out of my hands…”

Anonymous asked: Oh, so leaving them forever was the better option? From the outside you could help them! Don't lose faith now, Marvin, you're so close!

“You know what, I don’t remember much, but I’m getting a sense of deja vu right now. Haven’t you tried to convince me to go on my own before? How’d that work out for you?”

Anonymous asked: What?? No, that's not what we meant! Do you really think we'd ever want you to hurt yourself? Of course not! We wanted you to be free! We want you to help your brothers get free, and you can't do that from the inside!

“No! Not - have you been listening - I would never abandon them! Never, never, not even if it was the death of me! On the outside? Of what? Don’t you understand what I’m trying to stop is just this… this… this anger! This hurt in my hands!”

He cries out and drops his bottles as his fingers tighten up again, and this time, to your alarm, you realize his hands are not the only thing glowing. He wails on the side of the mountain, clutching at a chest burning bright blue.

“Hot, hot,” he chokes, gripping at the dirt. Flowers burst up beneath his fingers. “Why won’t Anti let me cast? Why won’t he let me cast? I thought you wanted me to do what the girl asked and let this power go so her friends would see, and maybe they could stop some of this fucking anger in my family! I want them to stop Red from hitting everyone and Anti from hurting us anymore! I don’t want to leave anybody behind! I - fuck, this burns!”

He crumples over his hands with a shriek, grass exploding from beneath his palms.

“I wasn’t talking about leaving!” he shouts. “I was talking about this power fucking killing me!”

bupine asked: i'm glad you're not planning to leave at least, it's a bad idea to leave your brothers. be careful with your magic please, marvin, don't catch anti's attention

“I’m trying, I’m trying, just a little while longer,” he moans, dragging himself back to his feet as the light subsides, sweat dripping down his forehead. “I need to get this fucking power out, I need, I need… oh, I have to get my boys their water…”

Anonymous asked: Okay, okay! Okay. We're sorry, Blue. I guess we misunderstood each other. If that's what you'd rather do, we support you, but don't back down. If you do that, there's gonna be a fight to come.

“Already a fight,” mumbles Blue. “Dealing with Red and Anti lately is a fucking warzone. I’m not going to watch Dap get slapped one more time.”

Anonymous asked: HOW is that any different from leaving, Marvin?

“I don’t want to die,” he chokes. “I just need to get this power out, and you’re the ones who told me I should use the poetry to do what the girl asked. She said strong enough magic would break through Anti’s hiding us, didn’t she? And you told me I should cast like that. You wanted me to bring the girl’s friends to us, didn’t you? Why would I possibly just leave?”

Anonymous asked: You're the strongest of them, Blue. You can protect them from anything. That's why we believe in you so much. We're sorry that we upset you.

“It’s not your fault, it’s just this fucking magic eating me alive, and Anti treats me like I’m… like I’m some kind of bomb… the way he looks at me lately, it’s almost like he doesn’t even love me anymore. He gets this strange look in his eyes… ever since Red brought him that book. It’s like he’s… I don’t know, like he’s hungry.”

whydoilovesomanyvillians asked: What book blue

“Oh. That’s what Anti sent Red to kill that man for, I guess. Some big old ugly book with a raven on it. Ever since he let Red sleep in prison and he got that book, he’s cooped up in his room all day pouring over it. Barely even seems interested in Dap, lately… I’m worried about him. And he’s scaring me…”

reverseblackholeofwords asked: What book did Red get?

“Yeah, I don’t know what Anti wants with a book? My little brother isn’t exactly the scholarly type, right? Haha. Hopefully it’s just… I… I don’t know…”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey Genesis? Can you explain to us what relevance a book with the symbol on your bracelet on it night have?

Genesis looks up, surprised. “A book from our library, you mean?”

Anonymous asked: i'm no expert but i do not think this is wholesome literature we are talking about my guy

“No? You don’t think so?” Blue grins weakly at you, trying to joke. “It’s not Pride and Prejudice? I think he could really benefit from that one…”

bupine asked: hold on, what book did red bring anti? (did i just forget this or has it not yet been mentioned fgdghddghdd)

“They’re talking about a book too,” Dapper interrupts Dok’s reading, tapping on his camera, picking up a stray signal. “What’s the matter, guys?”

bupine asked: genesis, i think anti, the demon, has a book from your library. how bad is that on a scale from one to ten

Genesis stares at you.

For like… a really long time.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: I think so? It has the raven symbol on it, and they kept saying it was a "big ugly book" that the demon hasn't let go of since one of the boys got back from jail.

“Can’t be,” she whispers, though her face grows ever whiter. “You don’t understand what’s in those books… we guard them with our lives. He would have had to kill one of my friends to get something like that. Can’t be… in a demon’s hands…”

immabethehero asked: RECITE DR. SUESS BLUE AND TAKE ANTI LIKE THAT

Blue snorts, shaking his head, confused. “Am I going to soften my most murderous little brother up with Green Eggs and Ham, is that what you’re telling me? Haha?”

immabethehero asked: NO WaIT BLUE RECITE SHEL SILVERSTEIN

“No, that guy’s the real demon… look at that face… terrifying!” Blue grins and crouches down by the water spigot in the middle of the community, beginning to fill up his water bottles for his family.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Marvin, he doesn't love any of you. Anti is just using you guys.

Blue startles, unused to the brashness. After a moment, he fixes you with a glare and turns away a little snobbishly.

A little teary-eyed.

Anonymous asked: yes, from Anti. this is how you save all of them, Marv.

“He’s not so bad,” whispers Blue, rubbing at his face. “I mean… sometimes he is… but so is Red, sometimes. I just… I just think we need a little help. It’s not a betrayal of him, is it? I have to protect my family. I’m… the caretaker. That’s your job, Blue… like that night Dapper stabbed Anti to protect me… it wasn’t a betrayal… he’s just… too angry, sometimes, and I don’t know how to make him stop anymore…”

Anonymous asked: Marv, the best thing you can do for them right now is get away as soon as you can. They're strong, don't worry. It's going to be okay.

“I’ll call for help,” he assures you softly, closing his eyes. “I’ll try… I hope that Genesis girl isn’t lying that her friends will help us.”

Anonymous asked: you can do it, Marvin!

He chuckles, warming a little. “Thanks, guys.”

Anonymous asked: We know Blue, we know. Trust us, this will help you and them. You can do it, for their sake.

“Yeah, yeah… I have to look out for all of us. Anti needs help too. We’ll all be happier if we can balance out again. Like those first few days I remember… we were so happy… he promised me, you know… he promised me I’d be happy.”

Blue straightens up, hauling gallons of water into his arms. He stands on the edge of that mountain as tall as he can, feeling like a lone star without his twin next to him… chained up at home like a dog…

“Has to stop,” he mumbles. “Something has to change.”

He stares out over the mountain, down the shifting, dangerous dusty road that has scraped his knees a hundred times, across the shed-like one-room houses where this resilient people make their home, many of whom have shown him and his family kindness, across the little bar down the road where Dok and Trick helped deliver a new baby just this morning. The other side of the mountain is lush and private, but he does not look there, has no love for that locked off side of the mountain where the people could eat if anyone would let them.

Blue hums a song that sounds like an Easter hymn for the hope in it.

Down his mountainside is the city, huge and wonderful, with every color bustling around the streets, a blaze of smell and light where he spent hours trailing like adventurers through the markets and roads. And beyond it, the sea, great and beautiful.

Why does he feel like this is the last time he’ll see it?

Anonymous asked: Hey, deep breaths, blue, just deep breaths, alright? What you’re about to do is gonna shake up a lot of stuff, and Anti is going to be beyond pissed so you have to be prepared. No matter what you cannot tell anyone why you did it, otherwise that woman and her friends will be killed and your brothers will be up rooted and moved again with a lot more punishments and restrictions. Just stay safe, Marv, please, and best of luck.

“Yes,” he says, almost sadly. “Everything changes tonight, I think.”

Anonymous asked: anti's the one who's betraying you. he claims to love and want to protect you. protectors don't hurt who they protect, or make them hurt other people. love isn't forcing someone to live in a way that makes them miserable. you deserve to be treated better. all of you.

Blue sighs, staring down at his feet, turning away from the ocean to head back towards his home. “I don’t know anymore.”

immabethehero asked: Go Cat In the Hat on Anti. Recite anything with a climax that involves the house in absolute chaos and defeat Anti from there. Better yet, go Lorax and yeet him or you and brothers out be the seat of his or your pants

“There’s an idea,” he smiles wearily, looking over at you. “Some of you sure are wilder than others… we might need a little out-of-the-box thinking around here. But maybe not that.”

Anonymous asked: Marvin, before everything gets crazy and scary, just don't stop believing in Jackie. He never wanted to hit any of you, he only does it because he thinks it's better coming from him than Anti. And he needs you to remind him that he's a good big brother. You need each other, right?

Blue’s eyes well up and water over.

“Want him to be himself again,” he whispers. “Yeah… yeah, I need him. I need him to be my brother again. I need him to be their brother again.”

Pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey Blue? Could you take your shirt off so we can see the tattoo there? Bupine asked: blue, can we see your tattoo?

Blue stops short, his arms full of water.

The warm wind cuts across his hair, getting longer these days. His earrings clink against his piercings. It’s too warm for his brown coat, and all he has on is a nice blue t-shirt.

He sets his water down and pulls his sleeve away from his shoulder, where a tattoo of a bird stands in silent testimony - a small, perfect, delicate lapwing

With a small blue jewel for an eye.

bupine asked: you and your brothers could be free again, marvin. no more torture or walking on eggshells or panicked time travel or bloodshed or pain. you'd be together as the people you used to be, more or less. don't you remember your brothers names?

“Yeah,” he whispers, pulling his shirt back up his shoulder and picking up his water. “Yeah, I’d really like that. I - oh. Names? I… just the one, and I mustn’t say it. It’s a twin’s job to keep those old secrets, you know. But please, I really won’t tell.”

Anonymous asked: i know it's hard to accept, blue, but we wouldn't lie about this

“Yes, I… I think, perhaps, I trust you. After all we’ve been through. Right?”

Anonymous asked: i think anti's waiting for you to wake up

“What are you talking about?” yawns Trick, listening to Dok’s warm voice tell him a good story. “Who needs to - ”

Screaming erupts from the room across the hall and Dok, Trick, and Dap all react as one, rushing into the bathroom and pulling the curtain closed over the doorway behind them. They brought you with them and you sit beside them as they pile up in the tub, hiding from their big brother.

Red shrieks even as he comes awake, clawing at his wrists and head. He can feel blood running down his hands, seeping from his fingers, dripping down his face, and he chokes on a sob, collapsing against his mattress to writhe, rocking his body hard. The next scream is one of pure frustration, slamming his palm against the floor, hiding his face in his hands.

He doesn’t give himself enough time to recover before dragging himself to his feet, heaving for air. He stalks over to Trick and Dok’s room and immediately finds them in the bathroom, ignoring sudden cries of protest to grab Trick by the back of his shirt and shove him back into his room, picking up his gun and shoving it at him.

“Go guard that fucking girl like you’re supposed to,” he snarls. “Or do you want Anti to bash your head in?”

“I - I thought I had til nightfall - ”

“How much darker could it be out, Trick?”

Trick gives up on protest and races out the door, Dok hustling after a moment later. Dapper tries to follow, only to be snatched by the collar again and hauled back towards Anti’s room. He lets out a sorrowful little whistle, trailing sadly after Red and sinking obediently down outside the door when he’s pushed.

He curls in on himself, sulking. Red shouldn’t just - oh, wait. Why is he still standing above him?

Dapper blinks and looks up. Red stares back at him, something shattered in his eyes.

“J?” asks Dap softly, confused. “You… you’re okay?”

Red’s eyes flicker away and he scoffs, backing away, his hands shaking. He limps back to his room, curling in on himself.

He wants Blue.

immabethehero asked: You are loved, Red! Remember that!!!

“Motherfuck,” Red says blandly, slumping down in his corner again, his face white. “Stupid, stupid, stupid…”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Dapper, do you know anything about the book Anti has with him?

Dapper blinks over at you, rubbing his shoulders, and his eyes widen.

“That horrible thing! It feels awful, awful, awful! I can feel it from everywhere in the house, and it stinks like blood and sand and rubber. I want Anti to get rid of it! He said I was being a baby.”

bupine asked: red, can you tell us about the book you stole for anti?

Red stares at the wall, dead-eyed.

“I know that man was willing to die for it. Painfully.”

bupine asked: about the whole killing thing? uh, yeah, someone is definitely dead. anti had one of the boys go get the book and i think he killed someone to do it. sorry, genesis.

Genesis slumps down in her chair.

Staring at the floor.

Her mouth parts, and closes, and parts, and closes.

She says nothing.

nikkilbook asked: Red, do you still have your little alpaca duder? And your dog tags? Seems like you could use something to hold right now.

His hands shift, twitching for his things, but eventually he just curls in on himself. Monsters don’t get to hold alpaca toys and presents from little brothers.

bupine asked: genesis. what is in that book? anti's been reading it, and we need to know what he knows

“We have a thousand books! It’s a library! I fear no one but the demon will know until it’s too late.”

nikkilbook asked: Strange. I don’t see any monsters. I just see you.

“Do you know what I saw Dapper say once? What is a monster but a man who does monstrous things?”

bupine asked: you aren't a monster, red! you're a good person. you used to do such good things. you still would if anti would let you. but you have to do evil things so anti doesn't hurt your brothers, it's not your choice or your fault. it never was. you might not realise that now, but one day, when this is all over, you will. don't deprive yourself of comfort because you think you don't deserve it, cause i think you need it more than anyone right now

“I don’t want to talk,” mumbles Red, pushing you out of view of him.

“Hey, Red!” someone calls.

You can almost hear him perk up.

“Yes, Anti!”

“Where’s Blue gone?”

Red blinks, thinking. Where’s he gone? He’s not in the house?

Oh, fuck. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. He lost track. He’s the big brother and he lost track.

He scrambles to his feet, nearly tripping over his chain. A moment later, he darts into the clinic, searching frantically for Blue, searching frantically for -

Oh! Thank God. He’s coming up the path now. Red nearly slumps over.

“Red, what’s wrong?” asks Blue, worried.

“There’s my boy,” calls Anti, and appears in the clinic, playing with a knife. He looks cheerful and much more solid than he has been in a long time, pushing past Red to hurry towards Blue. “Why do I smell magic, then, huh?”

“Oh!” Blue stares at Red, alarmed. “Um - um - ”

“His hands have been breaking out awfully,” Red puts in, his voice croaking. “Look how sore they are, Anti. Magic’s all but leaking out of him.”

Anti frowns and moves forward, grabbing Blue’s hands. Blue hisses, pain rising in his palms. “Anti, ow, ow.”

Anti stares at them for a long time.

“Next week,” he promises, patting his hands. “Next week, I’ll have everything ready, and I’ll know exactly how to handle it, okay?”

Blue softens. “You’re not… you’re not angry?”

“I know you’re doing your best,” purrs Anti, stroking his cheek. Blue startles and then relaxes, a smile filling up his face.

And then he meets Anti’s eyes.

Warmth fills him up in a great rush, like apple cider and a hot bath at the same time. It’s almost too hot, but he doesn’t protest, suddenly a little dizzy under Anti’s hands. His little brother brushes hair from his eyes, humming.

“You’re being good while Red learns his lesson, aren’t you, Azul?”

“Oh, yes, Anti, yes.”

“You’re not scared of that girl in the shed or anything?”

“No, no. I know you’ve got it covered, you, you…” Blue trails off, blinking. What were they talking about? His hand is on Anti’s waist.

“You and Dap,” murmurs Anti, stroking his hand through his hair. “Are far more powerful than any of those little pests. And all your brothers are watching over you.”

“I’m not scared, honey.” Blue is eager to reassure, smiling at him. “I wasn’t. I’m not.”

“Ah, good then.”

Anti draws back and Blue goes cold, blinking rapidly, staggering back.

Red stares between the two of them, terrified.

“Well,” chirps Anti, cheerful as ever. “That’s all I wanted to check. Oh, and Red?”

“Yes, Anti?”

Anti’s eyes turn cold. Red, for his part, gets no warmth for them.

“Shut the fuck up with the screaming before I do you like Dapper, you understand?”

Red pales and nods swiftly, stepping back from him.

nikkilbook asked: By that logic, what is a man who makes sure his brothers get Christmas presents, puts himself at risk to make sure his littlest brother gets the proper medication, and quotes vines at the top of his lungs?

Blue staggers from one counter to another, blinking rapidly. “D-damn,” he stammers, disoriented. Water bottles go slipping from his grasp and Red hurries to scoop them up for him, grabbing his elbow to help him from falling. “What were you talking about, Red?”

“Nothing,” hisses Red. “Blue, are you okay?”

Anonymous asked: Red, you’re being so hard on yourself. We understand that you’re trying to protect them, but you still have a choice in how you act. It’s alright to be soft remember? There’s strength there, and you’re so much stronger than what Anti says. He’s so quick to discard people, it was never because you were weak. It was because you were too strong being who you really are- a kind hearted soul that loves his brothers. They don’t like seeing you like this and we don’t either. Just loosen up a bit, yeah?

“No, they’re definitely trying to talk to you about some shit,” stammers Blue, sinking back against Red’s chest. “What happened?”

“We weren’t goddamn talking! Blue, did he do something to you?”

“Feel dizzy,” complains Blue. “Ouch, like he took something.”

“What?”

Blue stumbles, gripping at Red’s hands. “Think I need to sit down.”

Anonymous asked: A man that does monstrous things and doesn’t feel /remorse/ for it, that makes a monster. The idea that you can’t even sleep at night because of the things you’ve done shows that you regret the pain that you’ve caused them. You are not a monster, just a tortured soul acting on what you’ve known for how ever long you’ve been here. I mean you still want to protect them! A monster only thinks for himself. And yes, there is such thing as a difference between the two.

Red brings Blue back to their room and sits him down on the mattress. He wants to rub his back, but isn’t sure if Blue would let him.

“Did you call yourself a monster?” asks Blue, bewildered. “My… my Red?”

Red turns as scarlet as his name and sinks away from his brother.

He’s not going to cry. He’s not going to cry. He doesn’t get to cry in front of anyone.

Anonymous asked: oh god, always at the worst possible moment this happens

“Weird how he seems to fucking plan it like that,” snarls Red.

Blue stares up at him, wide-eyed.

Red covers his mouth with his hands, choking.

“I didn’t m-mean that. He’s good… I’m not… angry.”

Anonymous asked: MARVIN DON'T FREAK OUT BUT ANY TIME NOW WOULD BE GOOD

“Oh, you’ll have to give me a moment,” slurs Blue, sinking down on Red’s shoulder, who stiffens hard. “Now I’m so… so tired.”

“What is going on?” frowns Red.

Anonymous asked: T-took something? What do you mean? Like, 'stole something important' took, o-or 'took a weight off your chest' took? Are you okay?!?

“Mmf, like I was warm, and then the warm was… all gone. But it was… it was my warmth and he took it.”

“Blue.” Red looks alarmed. “You’re scaring me.”

Anonymous asked: What the hell? Did he take your magic from you?

Blue shrugs and holds out his hand, focusing to get a little blue glow up in his hands, but it doesn’t spread to his chest anymore, and he doesn’t shake so much.

“Blue!” cries Red, grabbing his hands to hide them. “Stop that, now!”

Blue pulls the magic down again, shrugging. It’s not so much of an effort anymore.

Anonymous asked: oh, I don't know, red. maybe if you'd stopped wallowing in your misery for a minute you'd notice when your brothers need help

Red recoils from you, shocked.

“I - I - I wasn’t allowed to - and you - you think I want to be a screaming, fucked-up, shaking little - freak? Driven just by what Anti wants, driven all the time by this h-hatred. Is that - am I - ”

He curses and draws away from you, panting.

“I don’t care what you think. No, you know, you’re right anyway, and it doesn’t fucking matter.”

“Rojo,” mumbles Blue, looking up at him. “Ro, Ro. Come hold on to me, I’m cold.”

Red won’t turn back to him. Blue sinks in on himself, shivering.

bupine asked: blu,do you remember the idea you had? the one we were talking about earlier? please say you haven't forgotten.

“Mh.” Blue frowns, holding his shoulders. “You - you were telling me - oh, poems! You had poems for me! I love that! I needed… my hands were hurting me… poetry…”

Anonymous asked: blue, please get up and... handle the waters. right?

“Ah, the water, the water - ”

“I’ll get it,” Red cuts him off immediately, hurrying to the kitchen. He takes every bottle and jug and stacks them up neat, feeling his chest beginning to shake.

When he comes back, Blue is rocking himself on the mattress, looking very pale. Red returns to his side timidly and puts a hand on his forehead.

“You’re so clammy,” he murmurs.

“He got the waters for me,” mumbles Blue, closing his eyes and leaning against his hand. “See, he still loves me…”

Red’s eyes water.

Anonymous asked: Marvin, I've always been partial to The Tyger by William Blake. I think it's a good calling-out song.

“Oh, the Tyger!” gasps Blue, delighted. “I don’t even need to look that one up, yes, yeah, I know! Tyger, Tyger, burning bright!”

Blue pauses to smile up at Red, shaking above him. “That’s like my Red,” he breathes, adoring.

Anonymous asked: "..Oh, shit. ..Buddy, what'd he do to you?" -PF!M

“That’s that other magician,” chatters Blue, pointing at the camera. “The one that’s happier than I am.”

“It’s like you’re fucking delirious…”

Anonymous asked: You said your magic felt really hot, right? Well, if Anti took away the warmth, maybe he took away the excess magic, to make it more tolerable? Can he do stuff like that?

“Oh, oh,” breathes Red, relieved. “Maybe that’s all it was! Just a little excess off the top, oh, that’s good news, isn’t it!”

Blue swallows slowly, like it’s painful, his mouth falling into a frown.

“He… he didn’t ask me to do that.”

“No, well, it’s Anti,” laughs Red, aware that there’s a little hysteria in his giggles. He sees Dapper go wandering past their door, talking to himself, but he hopes he’s just playing puppets, because he can’t handle two of them shattering in one night. Dapper’s scared of him lately anyway, and there’s no one to blame but him. “He takes what he wants! He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t. You just - you just have to get used to it. That’s just Anti. That’s just who Anti is. You just have to handle it. And do what he says! Even if it’s really, really, really horrible!”

He’s pacing the room, gripping at his hair. Blue stares up at him, afraid.

“Why won’t you sit down with me?” he asks softly. “I’ve missed you.”

Red hiccups on a sob, turned away from him.

nikkilbook asked: Does it matter to you, Red?

“Does what?”

musical-in-theory asked: So Anti do you fear the others having power because if they knew how much they all really had, they’d realize just how weak, pathetic, and powerless you really are? Sure you can glitch menacingly and wield a knife, but other than that all you do is hide behind your puppets and let their power do all the work

You find Anti in his room, pouring over that book, practically clapping with joy.

“Say what you want, say what you want,” he sings, barely bothering to glance at his camera’s, most of which have been moved to Red’s room anyway. “Soon this will all be perfect, perfect!”

Anonymous asked: yeah, we know, red. that's what we've been trying to tell y'all

“I’m not mad, I’m not mad, I’m not mad, didn’t mean it, didn’t mean it, didn’t mean it. I love him, I love him, I love him.”

A very small voice cuts him off from the corner. “I love you…”

“Blue,” he begs, and he doesn’t know what he’s asking for.

“Come sit down with me…”

“I can’t, Anti says I can’t.”

“I feel f-faint, Red, come help me.”

This, at least, is enough to turn Red, and he hurries back to his twin’s side to hold onto Blue’s shoulders.

bupine asked: well, you're in a good mood, anti. what's in that book that's made you anything less than completely miserable tonight?

“Everything,” says Anti smugly.

Anonymous asked: do you want us to write something for you?

“Oh!” Blue seems to melt for you, clapping his hands together. “Oh, I would, but then I’d feel terrible choosing between you. But you can send me some!”

“Blue, what the hell is happening?” Red is reaching his wit’s end.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Maybe the Raven from Poe! Cryptic, and fitting for the bird tattoo. Recite that! :p

“I love Poe. Red, don’t you know the Raven?”

“Um.” Blue is clinging to him so hopefully. “Nevermore, bud.”

“There,” laughs Blue, putting his head on his shoulder. “He does love me.””

Red is going to cry. Or maybe hit something. And he’s not sure he trusts himself enough to be sure that won’t be Blue or Dap, because he’s a fucking ass no matter which way he tells it to himself. He should go.

Blue clings to his sleeve. He can’t seem to move.

bupine asked: "everything" is pretty goddamn vague. what, is it some magic that'll keep the boys in your control forever or some fucked up shit like that? man, i wouldn't put it past you.

“Wow, you’ve convinced me, I’ll tell you everything!”

Anti flips a page of his book and goes back to reading.

Pixie-in-trebleland asked: Blue, maybe you should go talk to Genesis and show her. Bupine and badlyposted everything added similar questions and were added.

“Oh, Trick’s out there, I don’t think I can.”

“No shit you can’t!” chokes Red. “You’re - you’re up to something dangerous, aren’t you? Something that will get you in trouble with Anti! And then guess who’s going to have to punish you?”

Tears soak down his face. He clutches Blue to his side, forgetting his shyness. “No, no, no, you have to be good, he’ll hurt you!”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Anti, what stupid tricks do you have up your sleeve?

“I got, like, three tattoos.”

Anonymous asked: guys, I can't believe i'm saying this, but for once - I don't think he's watching.

Red stops short. Blue, a little disoriented, nevertheless seems to grasp the magnitude of your words - he stares at the camera, rubbing at his tired eyes.

“He’s always watching,” says Red. “He’s always…”

He glances around the room. Out in the hallway, he can see Dapper playing happily, enacting a show with someone he sign names Brother Average as the main character, whistling and letting his shirt get wrinkled as he plays, pausing only to chat with the ghosts. Red peers up over his window and finds Trick and Dok leaning casually against the shed and drinking the last of their sodas like beers, Trick’s gun pointed down in the dust as they chatter away.

And beneath his arm, Blue is murmuring poetry, his hands glowing blue, but no one comes to make him stop.

Red’s supposed to be the one putting things back in order.

Red’s supposed to be the one putting things back in order.

On his head, on his head.

But… around his waist…

Blue is hugging him, pressed up to his side, leaning forward to hold the camera, cold but happy, snuggled up to Red for warmth.

“I… I can’t… this can’t be happening…”

Anonymous asked: oh, who cares, anti? you lose your grip so easily. I don't know what's in that book, but it's not gonna turn out like you think

Anti turns you off, humming to himself.

Anonymous asked: Red, how are Blue's hands? Are they worse, or better?

Red leans down to take one of Blue’s hand. A clean silver rose ring gleams around his finger.

“Um,” he whispers. “I think they’re a little better, b-but he’s bleeding under his nails.”

He turns to see Blue staring up at him, smiling softly.

“I… I…”

Red swallows hard and reaches out to knock their foreheads together.

“Blue, I’m so sorry.”

Blue’s smile falters away. He reaches out to touch his face, stroking his thumb down his beard. “I know you are, Red. But that won’t fix this. Something has to change, Red… I won’t watch you get hurt again… I can’t. None of you.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked:

Red, just savour the moment. Let your brothers be just that: brothers. Join them and have fun!

“This isn’t fun,” whispers Red. “I’ve never been more afraid in my life. He could kill one of us for this.”

Blue runs his hands through his hair, frowning. “I won’t let him.”

“Blue, what the hell are you planning? You could die.”

“Don’t let him,” whispers Blue, like it’s simple. “Help me. I just want to cast a spell. I want someone to come save us. That girl, her friends might help us…”

“Or they might not.”

“I can’t not try, Red. I can’t not try. And besides, my hands ache, and ache, and ache… soothed, for now, but I can’t take another week, Red. He’s made me hold on so long.”

Red’s face contorts; he wipes rapidly at tears.

Anonymous asked:

Quickly, Marv - can you give us a poem? Anything? Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson? Hell, Dr. Seuss? We can't lose this now.

“I love Angelou,” he whispers, still pressed up to Red’s chest, staring up at him. “’Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries?’ Not us, Ro, not this time…”

“Please.” Red covers his glowing hands like he could hold all his power in his own fingers. “Please, Blue, I’m afraid.”

Anonymous asked: Oh damn Anti, what kind of tattoos do you have?

Anti stares at you. He doesn’t know how you got this message to him, but you did. The sheer befuddlement on his face might have been enough to conduct it to him.

“Um… do you know who Jacksepticeye is, or… did you kind of just wander in here?”

He looks away.

Back at you.

“Bloodborne and Shadow of the Colossus,” he tells you, almost meek with confusion. “And, uh, that circle he got just to mock me… I - ”

He pauses, alerted by how loud two of his boys are talking in the hall. A frown cuts across his face.

Anonymous asked: UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH NOT AGAINNNNN

“Yeah!” laughs Blue, throwing his head back in a way that reminds you of Jack. “NOT AGAIN!”

“Blue!” cries Red, grabbing his wrists. “You’re delirious or something, stop!”

“Red, I made my decision!”

“He could kill you! He could send you to goddamn prison for the rest of your life! He could kill one of the little ones to punish you!”

“I’m not watching them suffer like this anymore! Not feathered in iron, pretentious in dying, not that way the impoverished spawn of the hamlet inherit you, oh death - ”

“Blue! Stop!”

His hands glow with power.

Anonymous asked: If he got the circle to mock you, then why are you wearing it?

Anti opens and closes his mouth, his face falling. “It’s - it’s my body too! He can’t just - I l-like wearing it like this! I like - ”

He pauses, biting down hard on his lip.

“Not like something made of flesh would understand! Don’t you assholes have better things to ask about!”

nikkilbook asked: If you can’t be unafraid, Jackie, be afraid and happy.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know about you, but personally I can’t even usually handle one emotion at a time, so - Blue, give me the messages!”

Anonymous asked: oh, perfect! hi blue!!! i sent you the poem before, about the dogs, remember? I wrote this last night, I was thinking of you! Here it goes: I told them there'd be flowers / when at last, at winter's end / the frost would put away its teeth / and spring came round the bend!

“Beautiful, beautiful!” he gasps, applauding you. Dapper is staring in at them from the hallway now, his head in his hands and his elbows on the floor, tilting his head at them. Red’s afraid he’ll snitch to Anti. “Spring come round the bend, oh… what a lovely poem, thank you! I loved the dog one too…”

Anonymous asked: uhhh okay seen any good shows lately? mr. robot is pretty cool. it's about a hacker, you might like it. first season is a bit of a slog tho.

“Oh, I like Rami Malek, and the narrative structure of that show is - FUCK OFF.”

In the hallway, Dapper raises his eyebrows, glancing between Anti’s room and Blue’s and Red’s. What a fun night.

whydoilovesomanyvillians asked: Red hes gonna die if he doesnt do this now

“He what?” shouts Red.

Suddenly Red is hauling Blue to his feet, his twin still glowing with magic between his arms. Dapper chirps nervously as Red drags him past him and down the hallway, towards the clinic.

Dap hears Anti standing up in his room, alerted by the yelling.

Anonymous asked: Oh, enough self-pity, Red! You know right from wrong, good from bad, monster from man! there is a monster in your house, you know who it is, and it is not you.

Red chokes, squeezing Blue’s fingers.

“It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter if he hates or loves all of us - though, hell, I know he doesn’t love us. Right and wrong don’t matter anymore! All that matters is keeping their heads on their shoulders!”

“Red.” Blue sounds like he’s the one trying to calm his brother, now. “Red, I’m okay, I - ”

“We need to get away from here! At least where he won’t fucking hear you!”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Maybe, if you have enough strength, you should go check on him. :)

Dapper blinks between your message and the door, listening to Blue and Red arguing.

“Oh, Red, Red, let me say goodbye to my little brother first, Red, I want him to know I love him - ”

Dapper turns towards his brother to sign an “I love you,” making Blue glow even brighter.

“Oh, baby, I’ll miss you if this kills me,” sobs Blue, making Red start shouting again, and Dapper backs away, frightened.

Okay. Not fun anymore.

He turns towards the room near the back of the hallway, hearing Anti approach.

Well… he figures he doesn’t want Blue to die any more than Red does.

He dashes forward and knocks on Anti’s door before he can open it, his face contorting with faux grief.

“Dapper?” Anti opens the door, staring around for signs of the disturbance, hearing somebody stepping out towards the clinic. “What’s going on? Why are you crying? Hey, hey, sweetheart, big brother’s got you…”

Dapper half tackles Anti back into his room, burying his face in his chest and crying like a good little actor, complaining about ghosts and red men and the girl in the shed with the star on her cheek until Anti is consumed entirely by an affection that delights in seeing him cry, and Blue and Red are slipping away.

bupine asked: don't be scared, red. this was going to happen sooner or later but it's ok, it'll all be fine in the end, everyone's going to be ok and you won't have to be red anymore

“What the hell is happening?” chokes Red, helping Blue up the path that leads away from their house. “You’re talking like Jesus Christ is about to show up and Second Coming our asses into a whole different timeline!”

“They wear in their skin a more urgent subsistence,” Blue is mumbling - still determined, though, worryingly, he’s clutching his hands together again, pain eating up his expression once more as the power rebuilds. “A thing of their own, poor petal, a raveling cord…”

bupine asked: blue, if there was ever a time to use your magic, it would be now. he can't see you, he's absorbed in his book, he's not gonna notice anything. but be careful - anti's book is dangerous, we don't know what kind of information it has that anti now possesses. stay alert my dudes

“He’s not even watching,” murmurs Blue, clearing up a little. He looks up at the shining sky, power breathing in his hands. “Oh, the stars are out… Red, lets go up to the rich man’s side of the mountain, where we used to run.”

Red stares at him, leading him slowly higher.

“Blue… are you really not mad at me?”

“You’re going to help me put it right,” says Blue, with a confidence so sound Red can’t even object. “If not all perfect today, someday. The two of us. That’s what I believed in, I think, when I gave myself up to him. That even if I couldn’t get away, at least we would be together, and that was enough for me to believe there was still hope.”

“More poetry?” asks Red, confused.

But Marvin only smiles and leads him higher up the mountain.

spicydanhowell asked: how is red out of the chain?

“Oh, he could have gotten it off whenever,” says Blue, pointing down. Red blushes hard and looks away. “Like when Anti makes Dapper wear his rope - remember he said that he could take it off? - or Trick his collar. We’ve mentioned it before. You can take it off whenever you want. Untie it, unlatch it, yank the chain off the stake in the corner of his room as you rush to carry me out of the room and probably bruise your dumb-ass ankle.”

“Sorry,” grumbles Red, bright crimson.

“It’s all humiliation, scare tactics, and symbolism. But the punishment that comes after… isn’t. We won’t worry about that right now, though.”

“I’m worried about it!” shouts Red. “Didn’t Anti once throw Dapper down the fucking stairs for taking off his rope in Norway?”

“Better than losing his mind sitting all alone in a locked up room with a dog collar on!” shouts Blue, finding his vigor again for a second - only to sway right back into Red’s chest a second later. He mutters Boy Breaking Glass under his breath and keeps moving, hiding his aching hands under his shirt.

Anonymous asked: welp, that answers that. whenever you're ready, marv, let 'er rip. we'll be right behind you the whole time

“Hey, you guys know what the sexiest poem ever is? Walt Whitman, gay as hell, three lines, you ready for this? ‘Touch me.’”

Blue pauses, breathing in the warm equator air. Magic is powerful out here, near the center of the earth. He wonders what it would be like to be exactly on the equator.

“‘Touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass.’”

He breathes in deep. Breathes out deep. Tries to remember his own name.

“‘Don’t be afraid of my body.’”

Red has fallen back behind him, trying to remember it too.

cest-mellow asked: red, jackie. anti cant hurt you if you work together. he can’t hurt you if you keep each other safe.

Red breathes out something that might be a laugh or a sob, staring up at his brother, glowing his way up the mountain.

“We always have been a force to be reckoned with, haven’t we?”

Anonymous asked: everything IS in order, Red. Go on, sing some poetry with your big brother.

“Blue,” says Red, very softly. “I think even if you do save the others, I’ll still be a monster.”

“Monsters don’t worry about being monsters.”

“I’ve never believed that. Even Anti shakes when he hears the name of his old master. Afraid to remember the things he’s done, sometimes.”

“Ah, now who’s the revolutionary… more poetry, Red, you’re an artist…”

“I’m not playing. Blood is all my hands are now.”

“Red. The past week has been hell for you.”

Red’s eyes water just to hear someone acknowledge it without saying he deserved it.

“My fault,” he croaked. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“No. No. He was wrong to do that. He was wrong! Your brain’s jumbled, I know, I understand, but I need you to trust me when I tell you - you’re not a monster, you’re a good man with a good heart, and I love you more than anything.”

Red won’t fall to his knees and cry. Not here. Not in front of him.

Blue wraps his arms around him.

“Would you just remember how to be my friend?”

Red bursts into tears and collapses into his shoulder, hugging his twin tight to his chest.

Anonymous asked: Jackie trust your brother, please.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Jackie wails. “I’m so tired of being scared all the time!”

“I know, I know. Just come with me. Come on.”

“Blue, you’re shaking so badly…”

“Almost there, now, almost there.”

Anonymous asked: uhuh okay, this is a thing now. Marvin you’re gonna have to act quick to even get to Genesis while Anti’s not paying attention. But there’s no way you’re getting to her in this state...oh gosh, Red will you wake up please and get Marvin to Genisis?

“I’m going to call for her friends first,” says Blue, and Red looks up in shock, but does not protest. “I don’t know how to protect here. Oh, fuck, this is… a lot of power.”

Anonymous asked: blue ik you're not feeling great but maybe just get this moving? doesn't matter what you recite, just whatever you can remember. then just rest i think.

Blue stumbles, beginning to shake hard, his hands aching terribly. The blue light has reignited in his chest.

“Get moving, get moving,” he chants, keeping on up. “Doesn’t matter what you recite… with fists raised, white teeth gritted, my body like a soldier’s knitted… I took from the world what suffering it offered me and let it ricochet through me…”

nikkilbook asked: Does it matter to you that you’ve had to become this? That you’ve had to push away your brothers and be only what Anti says you must be? You said we were right about you not caring about them, that it didn’t matter, but does it matter /to you/?

“Yes,” croaks Red, following him. He recognizes the poem Blue chants, but can’t remember where from. “Yes, that… I… I used to be somebody different…”

The moonlight casts Blue in silver.

“I used to be a protector…”

Nikkilbook asked: It happened long ago—I remember it still— I was hewn down at the holt’s end stirred from my stock. Strong foes seized me there, worked in me an awful spectacle, ordered me to heave up their criminals. Those warriors bore me on their shoulders until they set me down upon a mountain. Enemies enough fastened me there. (1/) Often alone, every daybreak, I must bewail my cares. There is now no one living to whom I dare articulate my mind’s grasp. I know as truth that it is a noble custom for a man to enchain his spirit’s close, to hold his hoarded coffer, think what he will. Just as I must fasten in fetters my heart’s ken, often wretched, deprived of my homeland, far from freeborn kindred, since years ago I gathered my gold-friend in the earthen gloom, and went forth from there abjected. (/2)

“Often wretched,” whispers Blue. “Deprived of my homeland… my gold-friend in earthen gloom…”

His eyes glow blue.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Keep going, Marv!!

Blue clutches at his chest. His shoulders shake so hard he is losing his ability to recite.

He has not cast in a very, very long time.

Magic slathers his throat in fire and he chokes, trying to breathe, trying to regulate. He wants to cast, but he doesn’t want to fucking explode.

“Get a grip, Blue, get a grip,” he pants. “I can do this, I can do this…”

Anonymous asked: Be mad, Jackie. Be furious.

“I am mad!” shouts Red, taking another step up the mountain. “I am, I am!”

“That’s my brother!”

“I’m mad that I did what I told him! I’m mad that I wasn’t enough for him! I’m mad that I can’t keep anyone I love safe.”

“Red - Red. Don’t… you don’t have to do that. You - here, try after me. ‘Whose broken window is a work of art!’“

Red leans back his head and shouts. “Whose broken window is a work of art!”

“Success, that winks aware as elegance, as treasonable faith!”

“As treasonable fucking faith! I’m mad he hit me! I’m mad he chained me up! I’m mad my heart still loves him but I’m more mad he lead me to murder and fucking abuse! I’m mad this is the life I’m living! I’m mad we’re not at the top of this goddamn mountain yet!”

He scoops Blue up into his arms, drawing a shout half of surprise and half of amusement out of his shaking brother, and heads up the mountain with him, his feet sure and certain.

bupine asked: red. think about everything you just said about anti and realize how fucked up that all is. if we told you that, hypothetically, there was a way to get away from anti and be free again, would you take it? out of pure curiosity of course

“I want to go home,” wails Red. “But I can’t remember where it is, or even much of who it is, not anymore, and I don’t myself, not for an instant, and someone else is standing in my skin.”

“There, there,” coughs Blue. “You’re getting it, you’re getting it…”

Pixie-in-trebleland asked: Genesis? Um, important question, but is it possible for your magic to be taken out from you? Marvin just had an encounter with Anti and he's saying all his warmth is gone. Cest-mellow and anon asked similar questions and were added.

Genesis looks barely awake.

“Black, black, black,” she manages weakly. “That’s some black magic…”

bupine asked: recite a poem for us, please, blue! any one you remember at all

“Damn, I remember so many more than I thought I would!”

“We might have hit the poetry theme a little too hard.”

“The memory of you emerges from the night around me. The memory of you emerges from the night around me. The river mingles its stubborn lament with the sea…”

“Blue, wait - too sad.”

“Something happier? For you, anything.”

Anonymous asked: "...Jackie? Are you okay? Please.. calm down. If you're waking up now isn't the time to be freaking out, alright..? Breathe. It.. It's gonna be okay." -PF!H

They reach the ridgeline of the mountain where the verdant green grass meets the dead dust of the barren side in silence.

The sky is a spinning top and it has no malevolence. Roses wrap up Blue’s fingers, silver and ruby, as a blade from the side of a thing still breathing.

Blue kneels on the ridgeline, his eyes closed. Beneath his skin, blue light - ethereal, illuminating, breathing against the frail cage of his bones.

“Blue?”

He does not cast, does not cast, does not cast.

“Blue? Blue? Pain, Blue? Are you okay, Blue? You shake. Blue!”

“Someone must come,” whispers Marvin. “Surely? As no one came on the beach that night, now, surely, salvation?”

The stars are laughing at him.

What was this? A moment’s idea? A girl’s suggestion? A shot in the dark, a moment of clarity?

“It’s the only chance I’ve had in a long time,” he whispers to the universe. “So here we are, accepting. Red, will you hold on to me? Red, will you hold me, please?”

Red listens. Red breathes. Red’s calm. Red trusts him.

“I’m right here.”

A promise.

“I’m right here.”

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Hey Blue? Maybe tell Red and the rest of us your favourite poem! It might cheer you all up. Right, Red?

“Yeah,” whispers Red. His hands hold him steady. “Tell me your favorite poem, Blue.”

Blue clutches at the clean pure earth beneath his hands.

“A Clear Midnight,” he says. “By Walt Whitman.”

He wants Red to know what to carve onto his tombstone.

“This is thy hour, O soul. Thy free flight into the worldless. Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done. Thee fully forth emerging - ”

He stops short.

He can’t finish it.

He can’t control it.

He -

Pain -

Light -

Red?

Oxygen, flame, fuel, Marvin -

The green mountainside is on fire.

pixie-in-trebleland asked: Jackie! Protect your brother! What's happening?

In the first five seconds -

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five -

Red is swallowed whole with a scream.

Not by fire -

Fire consumes the green side of the mountain -

But by plant life.

He screams as verdant green trees explode from the earth, breathing into life with their arms full of leaves. Grass chokes up around his feet, tangling around his legs all the way up to his chest and tearing him to the ground, where bramble and flowers begin to crawl over his chest, eating him alive faster than he can tear them off.

He howls as loud as he can, trying to scramble forward for his brother, but he is swallowed up in lily, basil, thicket, root, crushing harder and harder against his chest, pushing him down into the earth as the explosion of life pours off down the mountainside like thick dark alcohol from its container. He can hear people screaming farther down the mountain, alarmed by the fire, which, interested in this new growth of plant life, creeps ever forward towards a more intimate relationship with the other half of Marvin’s power.

A dog is barking close to him, maybe afraid. As he tears blood and bush from his eyes, he catches sight of Blue crumpled, unmoving, on the ridge of the mountain, his little blue t-shirt burning. He screams.

Hot breaths pant against his face as the dog finds him, and he recognizes, with an emotion he cannot name nor bear, his little brother. “Anti!” he screams. “Blue, Blue, my twin!”

A cactus bursts up through Red’s flesh and he screams. Anti, undaunted, bends his dog’s teeth down and tears the thing to shreds, taking the great weeping spikes of the cactus into his own snout. A moment later he is dragging Red out by the sweatshirt and sending him -

“Anti, wait!”

- careening down a harsh cut-off on the side of the mountain. Red yells as he rolls hard down the mountain, rocks and glass cutting into his face, dust filling up his lungs, until he slams down into a valley that is rapidly filling up with green.

He lies there for a good five minutes, too stunned to move, before he begins to cry, blood running rapidly down his face. He can hear yelling all around him and when he can clear the red from his eyes, he can see his little house a few meters away, with Trick and Dok shouting his name, unable to see him in the dark.

“Trickshot!” he wails, coughing as his ribs ache. He fears the trees have shattered them. “Doktor!”

They find him in the dark and haul him back towards the house, demanding to know what happened, but he is too dazed to explain, fixed too completely on the ridge of the mountain.

“Where’s Blue?” cries Dok.

“Still up there!”

“Red, come back to the house, Anti will save him.”

“The house will be swallowed up by the plants too, look, it’s spreading down the whole mountain!”

Shrill whistling alerts them to Dapper tugging on the door of the shed, watching through a crack in the door as grass begins to fill up Genesis’s prison.

“She’ll die in there,” warns Trick.

Dok sets Red on the ground. “Use your gun to smash the lock open.”

“No time,” calls a rasping voice from above them.

Trick drops his gun, his hands suddenly shaking too hard to support him, and crashes back into Dok, who pulls him away with low, desperate reassurances. Dapper picks anxiously at his clothes, straightening out as best he can, casting glances back at Red, who, distressed, can only stare up at the figure coming down the mountain.

Anti drags Marvin’s exhausted body along like a marionette, ignoring fleshless hands and a chest burned red with fire. His eyes are black as untouched ink, and his teeth all too white, until blood comes trickling down his bottom lip.

“Undo this!” screams Anti, and then he has Dapper by the throat, dragging him towards the fire as a threat. “Undo this, now!”

Dapper is frantic, hysterical, clutching at his throat.

“Turn it back, Dapper! Now! Dapper!”

He throws Dapper to the ground and Dapper scrambles away, terrified, his eyes flickering in every direction.

“Anti, Anti, Anti,” he signs, but with a frantic edge Red doesn’t recognize. “J-happy, H-healing, C-love, help me!”

“He’s having an episode, he can’t tell what’s going on, he’s afraid of the fire!” wails Dok, reaching out for his little brother. “He’s scared, stop, he can’t do it! Please, Anti!”

Anti screams his frustration and drives a kick right into Dapper’s nose before whirling on Red, leaving his time traveler writhing in the grass.

“What were you thinking?” Anti pants, his voice losing vigor rapidly as he realizes the magnitude - the irreversibility - of what’s happened. “What were you thinking? Red? Red?”

“Oh, fuck,” whispers Red, closing his eyes and opening again, closing his eyes and opening again, praying for it to go away.

“Look what you’ve done to your twin.”

“I - I - ”

Anti limps towards him in the spreading grass, one long white finger, cloaked in a rose ring, stretched out before him.

“You’ll atone for this,” he swears, pointing at Red. “You’ll pay for this, little hero. I’ll make you repair the wrongdoing with your own hands.”

“Anything - A-anti, anything, just - don’t punish him, I - ”

“Pack your bags,” coughs Anti, turning away from him, tearing off the last of Marvin’s shirt. Genesis catches sight of a shoulder inked with a dark bird. “We’re leaving, now. Red and Blue have summoned monsters to us, and we have little time if we are to remain together. If the magicians catch you, they will kill you, for they know nothing of what I am or what I can do, and they will give you up for hopeless cases once they realize you are my family, not just my slaves. And Trick?”

“Yes?”

Anti stalks towards the house, tearing off jewelry. “Kill that fucking girl.”

Anonymous asked: Anti keeping the girl alive will give you some leverage if the magicians catch up with you. If you kill your hostage, nothing will stop them.

“I’ll fucking stop them,” he snarls. “How about that? That girl inspired this stupid, pretentious, pandering, whiny, brattish little coward to give off a display like that? She should be grateful I don’t have time to tar and feather her.”

immabethehero asked: GENESIS LOOK OUT!!! Trick's been sent to kill you! He doesn't have magic, but he dooes have a gun!!!

The door to the shed must be shoved open - grass is growing thick along the floor.

But peaceful, almost.

A peaceful wave of green, past its initial moment of horror, like a violent birth that leads to a cheerful, pretty baby for Trick to clean up and present to a new mother, pressing her warm infant head into the hands of a loving parent, eyes wide with adoration.

Trick swallows.

Babies and murder are not a good mental combination.

He hoists that heavy gun.

Genesis is tired.

She thinks she might be dying.

Fatigue like she’s never felt before keeps her gaze trained on the ground, her dark face now sallow and pale.

The light of Trick’s sniper finds her forehead.

“Going to kill me?” she asks. Slowly.

Trick doesn’t answer.

She can hear his fingers readjusting on the gun.

“Are you a marksman or what?” She itches her chin gently along her collarbone, trying to flake off dried blood. “I’m an easy target.”

Still she does not die.

She can hear sobbing from not far off. She thinks the one in the vest, the one who carved her, has been left crying in the grass outside.

“You must not want to,” she says, closing her eyes.

Trick hisses through his teeth.

“I want my family to be safe,” he snaps, cocking the gun. “My brothers and I are sick of running from people like you.”

“This story he tells you, of everyone after you, of him the only one who could hide you… it is a lie.”

“You don’t know anything. You don’t know anything about my family. About what’s happening.”

His voice shakes like it could break. She wants to make a joke about it, but she hears Emmanuela’s voice in her head, begging her for just once in her life, just a little bit of caution. A little bit of earnesty.

“Don’t kill me, you poor sap,” she manages, with a deep sigh. “Just take this knife out of my hand and I’ll be gone.”

“What?”

“Your blue boy sets things on fire, the mustache one travels time, I disappear and go home… it’s not hard. Just take the knife out. I can’t go with my hand pinned, can I?”

He stares at her, eyes wide behind a scope he doesn’t need at point blank. A little of Dapper’s blood drips down his hands. Anti pulled him away when he tried to help him get up.

“Don’t kill me, tired man. I promise you, me and mine will find a way to return the favor. Don’t you have a brother you love? The one you were talking to for so long? A doctor, a healer? Would he want you to kill me?”

“Don’t,” snarls Trick, in that shaking, aching voice. “He knows what I am. He’s the only one who knows what I am. Who I am.”

She’s so tired.

The star on her face no longer bleeds.

“Well,” she says. “Who are you?”

 End Section Six of Chapter Two.

Find the next section here.