#We get a little main tag and hopefully it's fine it's fine don't worry about it

[kakusu-shipping]

Lost Time

This was going to be a short comic but everything has to be hard to draw tonight apparently so y’all get another Self Insert fanfic, but this time it’s for Pokemon Scarlet

In which I’ve been missing for weeks

“Emile? Where are you?”

Penny’s voice came through with heavy static, the video of her on the other side of the Rotom phone just as broken up.

“The crater” Emile answered flatly, taking a glance to his floating phone as he removed his glasses to clean them.

“the WHAT-” Director Clavell’s voice broke in the background. Penny flinched at the noise, glancing back as the director pushed himself around his desk and swiped the phone, holding it entirely too close to his face, “Emile you get back to the Academy this INSTANT! The crater is strictly Off Limits!”

“Hi gramps..” Emile sat himself on a rock, calling Koridon to his side, “I’m just doing some training with Koridon, it’s not a big deal. I’ll be back before sundown, promise.”

“Absolutely not! You will call a Taxi right now and return to the Academy at ONCE.”

“Training?” Nemona stepped in, easily pushing Clavell out of the way to steal Penny’s Rotom phone for herself, “With Koridon??? No fair why didn’t you invite me your Best Friend Rivals for Life Pal??”

Emile chuckled, “Next time, Nemona. I needed one on one time with Koridon today.”

“There will be no next time-” Clavell reached for the phone, just for it to float over to Arven.

“Why the crater? Couldn’t you have just gone into the woods or up the mountain like a normal person?”

“No way this is special! The crater is Koridon’s territory now, I have to help him keep it safe! It’s just for a few hours a week, no big deal.”

“Majorly big deal!-”

“Wait, a couple hours...?” Penny slid in between Clavell and the phone one more time, tilting her head a bit, “Emile, how long do you think you’ve been in the crater?”

“Like an hour or so, right? I’m surprised you noticed I was gone so fast.”

Before the crew could say anything more, the feather’s on Koridon’s head raised as he stood on his hind legs, glaring at something off camera. A low growl coming from the Pokemon’s throat.

“Oh- Sorry guys I gotta go! I’ll see you all when I get back!”

With that, Penny’s phone screen went black and returned itself to her pocket. The room stood still for only a moment, before Penny put her fist to her forehead, staring at the carpet as she mutterer, “A couple hours...”

--------------------------

“Alright Koridon! Good job!” Emile cheered, scratching the space behind Koridon’s eyes before planting a little kiss on his nose, “You’re such a good boy, Koridon, so strong and cool~” He cooed. Koridon chirped happily in response.

A loud, recognizable voice broke the moment.

“EMILE!!!!” Nemona came sliding down a slant of rock before sprinting to her fellow champion and scooping him into a hug.

“Nemona??” Emile gasped as Nemona plowed into him like a truck, only catching his breath again when she released him, “Wh-What are you doing here??”

“We’re here to bring you home, though honestly I personally would love to stay and train in here instead!”

“We????”

“Nemona, slow down, please” Penny gasped, running after Nemona after having carfulyl inched her way down the rocky slope. Behind them Arven was helping Director Clavell down as well.

“Penny? Arven?? And Gramps??” Emile’s voice squeaked, “Guys, I said I’d be back by Sundown, you didn’t have to come GET me.”

“It IS sundown.” Arven said when his feet finally hit flat ground, “It’s actually almost dark.”

Emile blinked and looked around at the bright, sunny day around him, “Uhm?? No??”

“Well not in here, but out there, it’s like past dinner time.” Penny added, pulling out her phone to show the clock, “See?”

Emile stared at the clock on Penny’s phone for a solid minute before looking up at the sky again, “Wha- Th-Then why-”

“Time works different in the crater..” Clavell spoke, adjusting his glasses as he approached, “The sun never sets, and time appears to pass much slower than on the surface.”

“So... your saying I’ve been in here all day?” Emile asked. The group shared a glance.

“Emile,” Penny pushed her glasses up, “You’ve... Been in here for almost two weeks already..”

---------------------

The taxi ride home was quiet. Emile stared out the window the entire time, holding Koridon’s pokeball securely in one hand, the other locked with his Grandfather’s, their fingers laced tightly together.

The next day he spent Training his main team with Nemona, and the day after that he spent traversing ruins in search of Gimmighoul with Arven, and the day after that he revisited all of Team Star’s bases, and the day after that his friends all gathered in his room to help him catch up with two weeks worth of missed school work, and time marched on as usual.

And then he went missing again.

--------------------

“Emile?” Penny was surprised the call was answered, though only as a call, not a face time like she attempted, “Where are you?”

She was met with silence.

“I’m not in the Director’s office, if you’re worried about getting in trouble with your Gramps again. It’s just me, Nemona, and Arven this time.”

Still nothing.

“Emile? Hey, it’s your Best Rival For Life. We haven’t battled in a whole month, man. I gotta make sure you’re not slipping.” Nemona chimed, bouncing on Penny’s bed.

Silence.

“Little buddy. Hey, uh, Mabostiff misses you, man. So just- Tell us where you are so he can see you again.” To emphasis Arven’s argument, Mabostiff woofed from his spot on the floor besides the older student.

. . .

“Emile...” Penny pulled her knees to her chest, “It’s been three weeks...”

“...Three weeks...?” Emile finally answered, his voice hoarse, only made worse by the static of an unstable call, “Really... It’s felt like only a few hours... two and a half at most..”

“You’re in the crater again?!” Arven stood, raising his voice and making Penny flinch. She silently motioned for him to calm down, which he didn’t do, but he did retake his spot on the floor.

“Yeah, sorry..” Emile admitted, “I wanted to see... How the time warp works.”

“How it.. works...?” Nemona asked, moving to sit on Penny’s desk to be closer to the phone.

“Yeah. Like, if I didn’t eat the entire time I was in the crater, would I starve faster? Would starvation only hit me when I left the crater? Or would it be like I just haven’t eaten in 3 hours?”

Arven made a move like he was going to yell again, but Mabostiff placed a paw on his thigh to stop him.

“You haven’t eaten anything for 3 weeks?” Penny asked, gripping her knees.

“Or drank anything. I’m a little thirsty, I guess 3 hours is a long time to go without some water. “ Emile coughed, “Don’t worry, I left all my Pokemon other than Koridon in the PC, so they’re all fine, and Koridon knows this place like the back of his paw now, so he can find himself food and water just fine.”

“So... You’re coming back now, right? Part of the experiment is seeing if leaving the crater makes time catch up with you, right?” Penny shifted.

Emile gave a hum, “I think.. I’ll give it a little while longer. Maybe 12 in-crater hours?”

“12 HOURS??” Now it was Nemona’s time to shout, “But every hour in there is like a full WEEK out here, you can’t be gone that long! We miss you!”

Emile laughed, “Sorry. This’ll be the last time I do this, promise. I’ll have a lot of school work when I get out, so I hope you three will be willing to catch me up when I do.”

“Emile, I don’t think-” Arven started to stand.

“-Ah, Sorry Arven. I gotta go. I’ll see you all in a few hours- uh Days? It won’t be long, I promise.”

“Emile-!” Penny’s voice cracked, and the screen went black.

-------------------

“I’m fine, Koridon,” Emile gently pushed the large lizard’s head away from himself, “Yes, I see the steam, and I told you I’m not going to drink anything for the next few hours.”

Koridon gave a whine and looked up to his trainer with his biggest, wettest puppy eyes. Emile quickly looked away.

“You’re not getting me this time. It’s for science, Koridon. I know what I’m doing.” The trainer insisted before turning his back and walking away from the running water.

Koridon followed Emile, glancing back at the stream one more time before galloping a bit to catch up with his trainer. He was worried, of course he was. Humans just seemed so fragile by default, and he could sense his was growing weaker. He wasn’t made for the crater like Koridon was. This flow of time isn’t safe for human minds.

Koridon hoped his human’s friends would come get him again.

-------------------

“Guys-” Emile held his hands up defensively as he found himself faced with his three best friends once again in the crater, “I promise I’m fine, and look, I’m learning so much watching the Paradox Pokemon in their natural habitat, I’m making hourly notes of how I feel, I’m keeping track of everything-” Emile pulled his spiral notebook from his bag, flipping through the pages scribbled with research notes.

Just as quickly as he had it out, Arven smacked it from his hand.

“Wha- H-Hey- Arven-” Emile’s words caught in his throat as the upper class man grabbed him by the upper arms. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he scowled down at the shorter student.

 He shouted, gripping tight enough to bruise, “We haven’t seen you in a MONTH, Emile. A MONTH. A whole MONTH of our time together is GONE because all you care about is this STUPID HOLE.” His voice was cracking, his hands trembling on his friend’s arms, “I don’t care what you’re discovering down here, what breakthroughs you have about the Pokemon down here, what new bonds you form with Koridon down here, I don’t CARE.” He sucked a breath through his teeth, his entire body shook. “I don’t... want to loose anymore family to this... stupid hole...”

Emile stared in shock for a moment. Arven hung his head, sobbing silently as he gripped so desperately onto Emile’s arms.

“I... I’m... sorry... Arven...” Emile muttered, hugging his friend, “Nemona... Penny... Y-You too.. I’m sorry, I-I didn’t..”

Nemona just laughed, and ruffled at Emile’s hair as she joined the hug, “Don’t sweat it too hard. We’ll make up for that lost month in now time.”

Penny, who didn’t like physical contact, especially group hugs, chose instead to give a light punch to Emile’s shoulder, “You know us, we’re a pretty clingy crew. Not even Director Clavell’s lectures about the Dangers of the Crater can keep us from you.”

Emile chuckled as he tangled his hand into Arven’s hair, resting the upper classman’s head on his shoulder, “Thanks... I don’t think I deserve that kind of devotion...”

“Then you’ll just have to earn it.” Nemona wrapped her arms around Emile’s waist, “Lets battle when we get back to school! I wanna see that special training with Koridon in full force!”

Hearing his name, Koridon excitedly lept from his resting spot under a tree and circled the four friends, chirping happily as he forced them even closer together by wrapping himself around them.

“Full force, you sure? He’s gotten pretty strong fighting Paradox Pokemon all this time.” Emile teased.

“For sure!! I want to see him go all out!!” Nemona split herself from the group, jogging in place, “Now I’m pumped!! Come on, let’s get out of this place before I challenge you to a battle right here and now!!”

Emile chuckled, gently shifting Arven to better stand. He looked awful, eyes already puffy, nose running, face scrunched up almost like a Maschiff. He was quiet the ugly crier.

Penny and Emile held back their laughter as he took Arven’s hand in his own and followed after Nemona, who was set on climbing up a rock slide wall rather than taking the long path up. Penny followed close behind, holding loosely to the back of Emile’s suspenders.

The taxi ride home was noisy. The cabin rocket as the four rough housed and laughed. They’d hardly noticed the rising sun out the cab windows, or how tired they were until they’d finally made it back to campus, and immediately all passed out in Emile’s dorm.

And time marched on.

[jinnie-ret]

HIII so I'm the one who asked Abt the sister reader and I wanted to rq a older brother skz x adoptive little sister reader where shes 15 and cusses a lot and is always getting into trouble like piercing her ears without anyone knowing, loud introvert, things like that and how they react to it? Love ur writing btw!🫶🏻🫶🏻

rebel

stray kids x adopted sister!reader

genre: fluff

content warnings: none

word count: 0.6k

summary: the boys are too used to their little sister's rebellious ways by now, but that doesn't stop them from worrying every now and then.

Hi thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy this one! :)

As always, like, reblog if you enjoyed, and my asks are open for any requests you may have. And let me know if you'd like to be tagged when I post :)

MAIN MASTERLIST

You had just arrived back to the dorms in the morning after coming back from your friend's house and spending the day with them all yesterday. It was silly of you to think that that boys wouldn't be awake at 10am in the morning.

"Ah, Y/N, nice of you to come home," Changbin says sarcastically, arms folded as he leans against the kitchen counter.

"It's not that late...?" you tried to get around the awkward situation, as you saw all of the boys eating breakfast with their phones out, and if you looked closer you would have noticed they had it open on the groupchat they had with you, waiting for a message to know when you'd be back.

"You could have told us you'd be ok," Han sighed in relief, coming up to you and affectionately stroking your hair back, but his fingers caught your ear, where you had gotten your second set of piercings done.

"Ow," you winced, causing him to raise a brow at you.

"You good?" Felix stood next to him, the September twins wondering what was the matter.

"Yeah, yeah, it's nothing," you shrugged them off and hopped onto the kitchen counter, nicking a piece of toast from Hyunjin's plate.

"I'll let that slide only because we were worried about you," Hyunjin sighed, still giving you the side eye despite his comment.

"Why were you worried?" you bit into the toast.

"Maybe because we haven't heard from you since 2am? What were you doing up at that time anyways?" Chan sighed, walking up to you and getting up from his seat at the table.

"Just watching films and that," you shrugged, mistakenly brushing your hair back.

"Oh, and what else did you get up to?" he frowned, huffing out a breath though his nose as his finger brushed against your new piercing.

"Ow... fine I got my seconds done," you admitted, looking away.

"With what money?" Jeongin laughed, "you only went to that local gig with your friends recently, and you can afford to have another piercing?"

"There was a discount! I got it done for ₩15,000!" you said happily, feeling like you had gotten a bargain.

"Oh dear, well hopefully you've got enough money left to pay for antibiotics when you get an infection," Minho wrinkled his nose.

"What do you mean?" you frowned.

"₩15,000?! That's too cheap, who knows if the metal is good quality, or if it was sterilised," Seungmin spoke up.

"Ah, well, I'm sure it'll be fine, only live once don't you?" you waved off their concerns.

"Yep, with infected gunky ears," Hyunjin patted your head.

"Stopppp," you whined at their teasing. But you didn't expect anything less from your brothers.

"Look, next time just tell us where you are and if you're ok, yeah?" Chan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, Felix thought you died," Changbin giggled.

"I did not! I just thought she got kidnapped..." Felix trailed off after his attempt at defending himself.

"You do worry about me a lot," you laugh poking Felix's cheek.

"You're still a child, of course we worry," he hugs you to him.

"Ah, I'm not that young, I'm mature enough," you smile at them all.

"Yeah right, we still hear you cursing like a sailor when you're on the phone," Seungmin exposed you with a smirk.

"Who corrupted our baby y/n?" Han shook your shoulders, making you almost dizzy.

"Ok, ok, calm down," you giggled at him.

"I remember when you were 11 years old, so innocent, and now look at you," Changbin cried out, putting on a fake emotional voice as he covered his face.

"Such a rebel now," Hyunjin laughed, shaking his head at the scene in front of him, as Felix clung onto you and Han, Jeongin and Minho where now inspecting your piercings.

tagged: @skz-streamer @backintomykpopphaseagain @hannahhbahng @kiraisastay

[cassi-pokeblogging-hub]

Heyo! I'm Cassiopeia!

The following blog is an ooc hub for all my pkmn irl accounts, and where the follows for all the accounts listed later in this post come from! This blog USED to be the rp blog for a character I no longer use and have no motivation for anymore, and is the main blog on this account, so I figured changing it into a hub blog of sorts would be a good idea.

I'm free to answer questions about my ocs ooc here, plot arcs, and generally talk about stuff in the pkmn irl community. I'll also possibly be boosting some accounts I think are cool, reblogging important posts and ask games in the community to hopefully spread them around a bit more, and just generally using this to store some posts about pokemon in general that I think are neat.

Info about the Mod and General Boundaries!

The following is some general information that might be useful. Like I said earlier, I'm Cassiopeia, but you can call me Cass, Cassi, or Pea! I use any pronouns, and I'm an adult (Adult meaning 18 or older in this case.) I'm the host of a system, and a splitroject (or whatever the term is I cant remember) with multiple sources, but notably several pokemon characters. Pokemon has been a systemwide special interest since we were a little kid, and we have a lot of opinions and headcanons, as well as know A LOT about the series as a whole. Our main account is @max-starfall but this is a seperate account so follows for pkmn irl stuff will come from here. A warning that we occasionally reblog heavy stuff or more adult oriented content on that blog (nothing outright nsfw, but usually some suggestive stuff and sexual humor, so minors beware)

I DO check peoples boundaries before I follow so don't worry! Only time I won't is if I miss them. Also sometimes I follow people just cause I think the blog is cool, but I tend to not interact outside of anons just cause while I like your blog, my blogs just can't or wouldn't interact, or I'm a little scared to, yknow?

Any pkmn irl rp account is allowed to interact with p much any of my blogs! Sentient pokemon, legendaries, eebies, etc etc etc. I run on Rotomblr being a multiverse. I may not interact much if our canons diverge too strongly for personal comfort but usually it's whatever cause of the previously mentioned multiverse thing. I will note that sometimes people just view things in such a way that sets our system off due to large amounts of pokemon alters that we will have to block you based off headcannon differences. Usually some pretty large stuff though. Minor differences are fine and we've been getting better.

Some general stuff I go by on all my blogs are people do eat pokemon, and pokemon do eat other pokemon. There are small bugs and bacteria and shit thatre still. alive but not pokemon. Not all pokemon lay eggs. A more mammalian pokemon like stoutland would give live birth like a real dog, and stuff like the more plant like pokemon like sunflora or oddish produce seeds. Not going to go too into details but thats something that happens.

While I am an adult, I prefer not to engage with more suggestive or outright nsfw content on the pkmn irl sphere (but i may rb some suggestive stuff or make brief jokes VERY RARELY, always tagged). There's a lot of minors in this community, and I'd like to keep my blogs generally safe spaces for them to interact. If it's anything you wouldn't joke about with a middle schooler or high schooler, probably not. There ARE some blogs I run that are exceptions to this, but if they are, you will see me making note that I'll be making a lot more suggestive jokes on that blog, and even then it will just be like sex jokes and not outright nsfw stuff. I try to tag stuff that can be upsetting on all my blogs, and I'll usually ask before doing anything big with anyone elses blogs. There's other stuff, but DNI's don't usually work, so I'll probably just block you if I don't like your vibes or find you really annoying.

My tumblr dms are always open, so if you'd like to plot anything out, I'm free to chat here or on the rp account in question! You CAN leave a message on my main account too, but I'd prefer to keep rp stuff here. If you already know my discord and we've chatted in dms there before in the past, that's also an option, but otherwise stick to tumblr.

If you have a problem with me, please tell me because I am stupid. If you don't want me following you please just block me, or tell me straight up because I will not realize.

Pokemon IRL Blogs I run:

Putting these under the cut cause there's a lot. Includes summaries.

@yveltalreal - maple is a narauva student with undoubtedly something wrong with her, yet insists she is completely normal and seems downright unaware of some of her own oddities. she cant see several of her own posts, regularly blacks out for several hours, and has a strange family history. not only that, there seems so be someone who ISN'T maple or her rotom occasionally using the account, someone who maple is unaware of completely. the fuck is up with that?

@nimbasawizard - guy preteneing to be a wizard for shits and giggles what more do you need?

@scatterdust-scales - vivillon fan numero uno!!!

@pure-incense - my attempt at making a normal ass guy i can just interact with a bunch of people with. probably gonna end up being a very active blog but who knows we'll see.

@sd-up - the blog of juno, an ex neoplasma grunt. an exploration of what inspired people to stay with plasma after the whole noble cause was gone, and what happens to people in that kind of environment long after they've been ripped out of it. tw for themes of past cult abuse and generally what comes with a member of evil teams. not a villain blog, but certainly a character with issues

@fruitbasket-gossip - A joint blog with 3 friends. I play Mod Starf. A group of NaraUva students and Blueberry students fucking around on Rotomblr. What will they do? Who knows!

@vital-spirit - A joint blog with a friend! A pmd blog in a setting inspired by various western movies. A whole new set of towns, dungeons, and characters unrelated to those in the various games. I play Lucario.

@blazingvictory - the blog of a bba student with so many problems and issues.

There's a few others but they're completely dead and I have no intent to use them again for a while, and are still attached to my main rather than this blog.

[its-jaytothemee]

Until I Met You - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: A Dim Light Among Shadow

Pairings: Halsin x Tav

Word count: 4,537

Rating: Currently M, will be Explicit in later chapters.

Read on AO3

Previous Next

Summary: Tav finally gets a chance to speak with Jaheira, a chance she's waited a century for. A couple of unwanted visitors stir up some trouble. Part 22 of the slow burn fic. Tav and Halsin POVs.

Tags: Slow burn, mutual pining, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, fluff, eventual love confessions, eventual smut, angst, implied past rape/non-con and abuse, graphic description of injuries, brief suicidal thoughts.

A/N: Given that Last Light is such a concentrated quest area, some parts of the story will be introduced later so I can keep the pacing manageable. But don't worry! All major events will be covered just a little differently than you may expect.

Tav took in the sight of Last Light Inn. The establishment was a refuge of sorts for those fighting against Ketheric Thorm all those years ago. She only ever saw it in passing. Their squad stayed on the outskirts of the fighting, only making their way closer to Moonrise Towers on that last day of battle.

The hearth in the middle of the main floor crackled, casting shadows across the stone walls. A few tieflings stood near the fire warming their hands, one of them was the bard she had met in the Emerald Grove. But something was wrong, her eyes were puffy like she had been crying. Tav went to take a step toward her, but Jaheira called out to her first.

“I hope our humble abode is to your liking.” Jaheira stood at a nearby table holding two glasses of wine.

“It’s certainly more than I had expected to find here. You’ll hear no complaints from me.” She smiled as she walked over to stand across from her. The High Harper gestured to the seat in front of her, beckoning her to sit. She followed suit once Tav had settled.

“Please, have a drink with me.” She pushed a glass filled with wine towards her. Tav went to take a sip but caught a hint of something that didn’t quite mix with the fruity bouquet.

Klauthgrass.

Not poisonous, just known to elicit the truth.

Jaheira gave her a knowing smile. “It doesn’t spoil the taste, you have my word. I would never ruin a fine vintage even for the sake of questioning.”

Tav smirked and took a large drink of the wine. She trusted Jaheira, and she had nothing to hide from her. The High Harper gave an approving nod before taking a sip from her own glass.

“Tell me – why have you come here?” Jaheira started.

“To infiltrate the Absolute cult and discover its secrets. Hopefully get rid of this tadpole while we’re at it.”

“What do you know about the cult?”

“Just what I told you when we first arrived. We know mind flayers are capturing people all along the Sword Coast and infecting them. What we don’t know is why.”

“I have traced them all the way from Baldur’s Gate. It is spreading throughout the city, precisely, deliberately, and with frightening speed.” Her words were laced with concern, a nervous edge clung to her voice.

“The cult started in Baldur’s Gate?” Tav tried to hide the anxiety creeping into the back of her mind.

A black hand on a gold cufflink. Slave logs in the Underdark bearing that same mark.

“I am not sure yet, that is why we are here.” She took a quick glance around the room. “We tracked them back to Moonrise only to stare into the eyes of a man we killed and buried over a century ago.”

Tav’s heart dropped, she knew who this mystery man was before Jaheira dared utter his name.

“General Ketheric Thorm. Remember that name.”

“That is not possible.” Her voice was a croaking whisper.

Ketheric Thorm lives.

“I put an arrow through his eye myself.” Jaheira assured her. “He pulled it from his skull like it was a leaf blown into his hair by a gentle summer breeze. It seems Shar’s paladin has gained immortality for himself.”

The room spun around Tav. Her only consolation from the last one hundred years was that Ketheric Thorm was defeated, and now he was back? And immortal?

She shook her head, blinking away tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

“With your help though, perhaps we can kill him. For good this time.”

“How?” Tav barely choked the word out.

“You can pose as a True Soul, infiltrate Moonrise as one of their own. If you can get in and find the source of his invulnerability, we could take it away.”

Tav smirked. “I shall do no less.”

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. I shall do no less. A response given by Harper initiates when they’re sworn in to the organization.

Jaheira once again studied her. Her eyes searched Tav’s face for any familiar feature to identify her by, once again landing on her tattoo. The same tattoo that she would have seen on Tev’aron’s throat.

“Have we…met before?”

“I’m afraid not.” She glanced around, making sure her companions were still preoccupied around the inn. “I was a Harper once, but never under your command, unfortunately.”

“I see. But you are a Harper no more?”

“Not since the last time I visited these lands. I was part of the last squad called in from Amn.”

They locked eyes for a moment, the guilt and sadness remaining unspoken between them, yet with complete understanding.

“Well, I am glad to see you made your way back to us, despite the circumstances.”

“I wonder if I might ask you a question.” She heard her voice crack.

“It’s only fair.” Jaheira took another sip of her wine.

“My brother was fighting for you that day.”

“That is not a question, my new friend.”

Tav gathered all her strength to speak again.

“His name was Tev’aron Mendelre.” She whispered the words, careful to make sure no one else could hear. “I wanted to know if you ever heard from him after…”

Jaheira’s eyes softened, a look of realization spreading over her face at the mention of his name.

“You’re Tav’ahria Mendelre?”

“Just…” She looked around the room with nervous eyes. “It’s just Tav. The others…they don’t know of my family. And I’d like to keep it that way.”

“I can’t say I blame you for hiding that.” She snorted, Jaheira was a Baldurian herself and would be plenty familiar with her house.

“Jaheira, please. If you know what happened…” Tav felt the tears burning in her eyes already. “I’ve spent a century without answers, it’s been agony.”

“I remember your letter. I could not quite put into words the things I witnessed that day. Yes, your brother fought with me. He was by my side until the very end when that terrible darkness sprung forward from the Thorm Mausoleum. I lost sight of him somewhere among the shadows. A couple of us fell behind, and he went back for them. I…I didn’t see him again after that.”

She didn’t know what other answer she expected.

“Thank you. At least now I know.” Tav sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall.

“I would not dare to give you false hope, Tav’ahria. By some miracle, he could have made it out another way, or found a suitable location to wait out the worst of the curse. But I just don’t know. I can only tell you what I saw, and that I know he never returned to our ranks.” She set her wine glass down and folded her hands on the table in front of her.

“It was a fool’s hope anyway. The hope of a naïve little girl wanting her big brother to come rescue her again.” Tav swirled her glass, wishing that she could drown herself in the small vortex created by her movement.

“For what it’s worth,” Jaheira reached over to take her hand, “he spoke of you often. He loved to embarrass the archers in our company with tales of your prowess with a bow. Given what we are up against, I truly hope those boasts were well earned.”

“I hope so too.” Tav stood up and took her hand back. “I should find the others, we have quite the job ahead of us.”

“Before you leave, go upstairs to visit Isobel. She’s the cleric maintaining the moon shield that surrounds Last Light. She will make sure you can pass through the shadows until a more permanent solution can be found.”

“Thank you, Jaheira. I’m very glad to finally meet you.”

“And I you, Tav.” 

“We’ll plan to set up a camp nearby. I don’t want us to be a burden on your already strained resources.” Tav took a deep breath to calm herself. “I’ll be sure to check in often, though.”

“As you wish. Know that the doors of Last Light will always be open to you and yours.”

“And our campfire will always be open to you as well.” Tav gave a small nod as she turned away.

Before she could gather her thoughts again, Karlach came running up to her, grabbing her by the shoulders. Wyll wasn’t far behind.

“Hey, soldier. We have a problem.”

“Turns out a bunch of our tiefling friends have been taken captive at Moonrise Towers. They were ambushed by cultists on their way to Baldur’s Gate.” Wyll was breathing heavily, like he had been running.

“Shit.” Tav cursed as she looked around the inn.

So not only did they need to infiltrate Moonrise disguised as True Souls, but now they’d need to sneak prisoners out as well.

If they’re still alive.

Tav suddenly realized the faces that were missing, among them the young girl, Arabella, that they rescued from Kagha. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Zevlor either.

Gale’s voice from behind her drew her attention away. Another voice joined his, familiar, smooth as a honeyed mead, perfect for hiding the poison underneath.

Raphael sat at a small table with a game of Lanceboard laid out on its surface. Mol sat across from him.

“I was right to make you the offer I did.” He gave a low chuckle to the young tiefling. "You will consider it, won’t you?”

“Make a habit of crawling from the hells to play games with children?” Tav walked over with her arms crossed.

“You wound me!” Raphael threw a hand over his chest in feigned shock. “I never crawl, from the hells or otherwise. It’s so hard to get the dirt from this mortal realm out of my embroidery, you see.” He flashed that handsome, unnerving smile at her as the rest of her adventuring party gathered behind her.

Tav gave a derisive snort. “Care to share why you’re here sniveling after a battered group of refugees?”

“What better place to make a deal? But all in good time, little flower.” Raphael’s tease caused her to snap her head forward. The others would see his jab as just another little feigned piece of flattery. Part of her wanted to brush it off as the same, just a coincidence as he tried to charm his way into a contract for their souls. But she knew better. Raphael was annoying and troublesome, but he was also clever and knew far more than he had any right to. He winked at her before turning his attention to Astarion.

“I can sense there’s something you want to discuss.”

Their party’s eyes all landed on their pale friend, who began to shift his weight back and forth under their gaze.

“Yes, I have a proposal for you.”

Tav inhaled a sharp breath at his words. Raphael started on more of his silver-tongued quips, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate on what he was saying.

“Someone carved well…something into my back. I’d like to know what the scars say.” Astarion’s voice brought her back.

“Astarion?” She furrowed her brow as he averted his gaze to the floor. “What scars?”

“Oh? You haven’t told them? And how unlike you to keep your clothes on, spawn.” With a snap of the devil’s fingers, Astarion’s shirt disappeared from his body, now sitting in a crumpled pile at Raphael’s feet.

Everyone gasped as their eyes found his back. Tav recalled that morning in the Underdark when she had felt the raised bumps under his shirt, but she would have never assumed something like these meticulously carved runes.

Three circles of script carved into his flesh with one additional sigil sitting in the middle. At the bottom, long scars dripped down his back, cut to look like a line of blood running down his spine. It almost looked like a poem, or an incantation of some kind, but the language was unfamiliar to her if that was the case. By the shape of the scars, they must have been carved into him multiple times.

It would have been excruciating.

Suddenly, her time with her father and Noravi seemed like a pleasant daydream. He had spoken of Cazador Szarr only a little, but Tav assumed he was the cause of this cruel masterpiece.

“Astarion…” She reached out for his shoulder, but he flinched away from her, looking ashamed.

“Ah, yes. Such talent, such skill, went into carving these runes.”

“Runes?!” Astarion snapped back. Raphael gave a few taunting tuts with his tongue.

“So eager. Don’t worry, I’m motivated to help you. I’ll be in touch with my terms, vampling.” He gave a final wink before puffing away into thin air.

Astarion let out a frustrated grunt as he stared at the spot Raphael had been standing. When he turned to face them, he couldn’t meet their stares.

“Well, now you know.”

“I’m sorry, Astarion.” Tav walked over to pick up his shirt still in a small heap on the floor. “I didn’t know he would–”

“It’s fine.” He snapped back as he snatched the shirt from her hands.

“Why is it written in infernal?” Karlach had her head cocked to the side as Astarion got dressed.

“What?” Astarion’s hands flew up to his back, tracing some of the lines. “I…I don’t know.”

“Well here, maybe I could–” Karlach reached for his back, but he jumped away from her.

“No!” He flinched back, almost crouching into a defensive position. “I…”

His eyes darted between all of them, clouded with a sudden terror that made Tav’s chest ache.

“Just forget it. We need to get moving, aren’t there people you need to rescue?” He pushed a few curls out of his eyes and back into place on top of his head.

She didn’t press him, just gave him a small reassuring smile.

“Before we do anything, we need to go see the cleric upstairs. She’s the one who created the moon shield, and she can protect us from the shadows.”

“I’m not wasting my time prattling with some moon witch.” Shadowheart rolled her eyes.

“Well, the rest of us still need some help to get through this curse. Just wait down here if it’s truly that revolting for you.” Tav returned the exasperated gesture.

“I think I’ll stay down here as well. I’d like to have a look around before we decide where to make camp.” Halsin’s eyes scanned the inn as he spoke.

Tav nodded to him as she gathered her thoughts once more. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. Ketheric Thorm, alive. Cultists from Baldur’s Gate. Evidence that her family was tied to the cult’s slaves. The shadow curse still raging across the land.

At least for a moment, she could be grateful for the small pocket of light amongst the darkness. And they at least hit a small stroke of luck. Up those stairs, there was a little beacon of hope, someone that could maybe help them pass through the shadows.

***

Halsin sat down at a small table in the corner of the room, the same place he played cards with his peers as they awaited their next day of battle. Their last day of battle. Shadowheart stood brooding in the entryway, unhappy to be surrounded by Selûnite magic, no doubt.

His mind wandered to the short conversation with the devil. One that had apparently contacted this group once already.

But all in good time, little flower.

What did he mean by that?

The little line of flattery had caused Tav to recoil like he had bitten her. And the scars on Astarion’s back? Also, the tieflings that had been captured by the cult. Their list of problems seemed to grow with each passing day, while their list of solutions remained miserably stagnant.

But this cleric sounded promising. If anything, she could buy them some time until they could find a more permanent solution to walking among the shadows. As he sat contemplating his next steps, Jaheira walked over to take the seat across from him.

“Interesting company you keep, Archdruid.” She crossed her legs as she leaned on the table with one arm.

“It is a most unlikely group of adventurers, I’ll admit. But they did save my life, a debt I promised to repay with my aid and counsel. Regardless of their differences, they work well together.” He leaned back slightly in his chair. “And please, there’s no need for titles. I gave mine up before we left.”

“Did you?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “You do not plan on returning once our work is done?”

“I was never meant to lead,” he responded.

“Never meant to lead, or never wanted to lead?”

“Are the two mutually exclusive?”

“Not always. But you seem wise enough, and your reputation speaks for itself. Did you not plan on returning, or do you think you will not be given the opportunity to do so?” Her eyes peered into his very soul.

“Well, it is a dangerous task we have ahead of us. I needed to make sure the Emerald Grove would be in good hands.”

“Yes, those of us who bore witness to the birth of these shadows seem doomed to return and experience them once more.” Her eyes flitted up to the balcony above their heads where the others were meeting with the cleric.

“Not surprising, considering how few of us are left.” Halsin took a shaky breath. “Besides, we have a duty to this land, do we not? To finish what we started?”

“Ah, so this is the real reason the Archdruid has returned to Moonrise.” She looked away for a moment. “It shames me to say the curse is no longer my priority. I cannot concentrate on healing this land at the expense of all of Faerûn. The cult must take priority.”

“You owe me no explanation for your motives, Jaheira. Regardless, this task is mine alone. I do not ask anyone to dedicate their precious time towards it.”

“Yours alone?”

“Yes, I cannot–” Halsin was cut off by a sudden roaring scream from above them.

Huge, winged monstrosities came crashing into the inn, some through the roof, others came flying through the entrance.

“What in the nine hells?!” Jaheira jumped up from her seat and called her Harpers to arms. Halsin wild shaped into his favored bear form and charged at one of the horrors. It took off, grabbing one of the tiefling children, Mol, before flying through the hole in the roof again.

From this angle, he couldn’t see up past the balcony where the others had gone. But from the sound of it, there was a raging battle upstairs as well. A few of the refugees had been knocked unconscious, and a small group of the children huddled together in a corner. Halsin hovered protectively near the kids, swiping at any of the monsters that came rushing at them. Just before one of them could land a clawed swipe in his back, a large black panther came diving at it. Jaheira sunk her wild shaped teeth into the creature’s neck and pinned it to the floor.

Another loud yell from upstairs followed by a cry of pain. He couldn’t tell who it belonged to. Harpers from outside came running into the inn to provide additional support. All of a sudden, a clatter sounded above them, and two bodies came crashing down from the balcony.

From the looks of it, Tav had tackled a Flaming Fist that now laid bloodied on the ground beneath her. Did he have…wings? He laid there taking ragged breaths, blood poured from his mouth and nose. Tav grabbed a small dagger from her belt and drove it into the Fist’s eye, causing his body to go limp.

“Tav?!” Karlach yelled at her from above.

“Protect Isobel!” She shouted back with a groan. “Get the creatures away from her, any way you can!” She turned to Halsin.

“Who’s the panther?” It was rare that Tav didn’t have a spell active to allow her to speak with animals.

“You no longer recognize the High Harper just because she’s an oversized cat?” Jaheira teased back at her.

“What’s happening, Tav?” Halsin had to yell to be heard over the chaos in the inn, the sound came out as more of a growl while he took the shape of a bear.

“The cult sent them to capture Isobel. They must know she’s protecting everyone.” Tav drew her bow, but Halsin noticed the enormous effort it took for her to do so.

Arrows soared through the air, swords ripped through undead flesh as the winged horrors fell one by one. A familiar raged scream from Karlach sounded from above. A moment later, one of the horrors had landed with a crunch on the floor in front of them. Jaheira leaped over and ripped the creature’s throat to shreds.

“We’re all clear up here!” Wyll shouted down to them.

“I think that’s the last down here, too,.” Tav called back.

Halsin and Jaheira both dismissed their wild shapes.

“Where is Isobel?” Jaheira looked around the room, her frantic eyes searching every face.

“I’m here!”

A young half-elf came running down the stairs and across the room to them. Judging by her Selûnite robes, this was the cleric protecting them from the shadows. Her face was bruised, and she was out of breath, but otherwise seemed fine. To Halsin’s side, Tav was kneeling as she cradled her wrist, now bruised and swollen.

“Here, Tav.” He crouched down next to her and held out his hands. She happily offered hers, letting him inspect the injury.

The wrist didn’t look broken, likely just a sprain. Lucky considering the diving tackle she took from the second story.

“It’s just a sprain, I’ll have it better in a moment,.” Hhe assured her.

“In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have tackled him from the balcony.” She gave an uneasy chuckle.

“Nothing to worry about, my friend. I’ve become accustomed to injuries stemming from your rash behavior.” He grinned back at her as the spell slowly returned her skin to its normal hue.

“Can I be of assistance?” The young cleric stood smiling over them. “It’s the least I could do.”

“That’s quite alright, I’ve got her.” Halsin answered a little too quickly. “It’s kind of you to offer, though.”

Tav rotated her wrist a few times after he completed the spell. “Thanks, love.”

He helped her to her feet as the others gathered around. Jaheira stood over the body of the Flaming Fist, looking troubled.

“Tav!” Karlach came running over as she laughed. “You wild woman! Tackling baddies off of balconies!” She slapped her on the back, knocking her into Halsin. Her cheeks reddened as she grabbed his shirt to keep from falling over.

“At least let me finish that protection charm for you, since we were so rudely interrupted.” Isobel raised a hand in the air and Halsin watched as the familiar silver moonlight of Selûne wrapped itself around her. The light moved from her hands to envelop himself and his companions.

“Perfect. This will help with the lesser effects of the curse, but there are places where it will not protect you. Places where the shadows are darker and hungrier.”

“Keep your silver magic off of me, moon witch.” Shadowheart sneered.

“Oh, what have we here? One of Shar’s nasty little terriers?” Isobel snapped back. Tav had to stifle a snorting laugh at Halsin’s side.

Shadowheart muttered something under her breath with a glare, a prayer of some sorts from what he could tell.

“This was no random attack.” Jaheira still stared down the bloodied body of the winged man Tav had tackled. “Marcus has been with us from the start, he would have told the cult everything.”

“We’re in more danger than I thought.” Isobel pressed a hand to her temple. “If anything were to happen to me, everyone in this inn would be dead.”

“What does the cult want with you, Isobel?” Tav was still working to catch her breath.

“I haven’t the slightest idea.” Halsin caught a small waver in her voice alongside a quick glance to the ground. He couldn’t tell if she was lying, or just battered after the fight. Given that Last Light was the only place safe from the shadows though, he opted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“The winged man said that this Keth-er-ic wanted you alive. Why take you alive if they simply wish to wipe out the people here?” Lae’zel asked.

Ketheric…no. That is not possible.

“Ketheric?” Halsin whispered as he felt invisible walls close in around him. Tav looked up at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get a chance to tell you.” She placed a hand on his arm. “He’s alive, Halsin.”

“And immortal, it would seem,” Jaheira added.

“No. No, we watched him be sealed into that mausoleum. There were runes and magic and…” His hands started shaking.

“And it would seem whatever curse he unleashed negated those entirely.” Jaheira continued addressing the others as Halsin spiraled into despair.

Ketheric Thorm still lived. Everything they fought for, everything they lost…it was all for nothing.

Not only did the shadows still consume the land of Moonrise, but Shar’s paladin was leading a cult of people infected with mind flayer tadpoles. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, hoping this was nothing more than a terrible nightmare from which he could force himself awake.

But when he opened his eyes, he still found himself in Last Light Inn. Jaheira still stood giving orders and assignments. Tav was still by his side, one arm looped around his. She looked deeply concerned as she turned to face him.

“Halsin? Halsin?” She called out to him, but he could barely make out the words.

He took his arm back and stormed from the inn, desperate to run and feel some semblance of relief from the grief gripping his chest. Tav continued to yell after him, but he kept walking. Once he reached the edge of the moon shield near the lake, he let go. The beast came ripping forth, bringing him to all fours.

Halsin ran to the water’s edge and let out a roar. At least in this form he didn’t have to worry about choking back his tears. He could snarl and rage and fall apart, but no tears would fall from these eyes to stain his face. No creeping redness on his face and chest would betray his anger. The chill of the darkness surrounding him had a harder time penetrating the thick layer of fur.

He wanted nothing more than to allow himself to be consumed with anger and sorrow. To claw into the earth beneath him until he collapsed from exhaustion. Instead, he simply curled up in the damp dirt and laid his head atop his paws. He recited the precious ritual in his head over and over again. Once again reaching out to Silvanus, praying, pleading, hoping that this time he could hear his voice again. …Silence.

[smolghostbot]

Patchwork Melody - Summer

Part two of the four-part story, the part where Patch and Melody are forced together into their "status quo". Link to part one here. Dashes denote a POV change.

Word Count: 7.2k! I think this is the longest part, but boy it's a little bit long I'm sorry... CWs: The main "conflict" of this chapter is confronting Patch's past abuse. So. Yeah. No explicit details are given for any actions, but kidnapping, physical contact, and scars are mentioned. There's also a brief onset of a panic attack, though it doesn't progress as much as the one in Spring.

Tag list: @gt-daboss @reborrowing

=====

Part 1

Patch stared up at the human, who seemed to have a slightly different eye color (maybe a trick of the light?), but was unmistakably Melody, the human who had allegedly “accidentally” kidnapped them not two weeks prior. The human was wearing a bright yellow sundress, contrasting the somewhat dark and dingy alley… and making it frankly embarrassing that the sprite is just now noticing them. Seriously? This human is big even by their standards, how do they keep sneaking up on me like this!?

While they could try to run, should try to run, they instead felt compelled to give a single small head nod, silently giving the human a chance to say whatever they want. With their arm feeling better, and knowing their enemy this time, they'd be able to escape a bit easier if push came to shove… hopefully.

Melody started off by asking a simple question, "How, uh… I guess you're still hanging around here, huh?", which garnered a simple cautious nod from Patch.

"Oh, cool. Um, have you… been by my door at all? Not like, in a weird way, but…" Melody trailed off, as Patch nodded their head, getting a surprised reaction from Mel.

"Oh! You have! Did you, um, get any of the apples? I was wondering if I was feeding you or just the local rats, y'know…" Patch gave another simple nod, this time accompanied by a soft bow.

"Nice! I'm… glad I could help you out. Is your arm feeling better?" Patch remained still at this question, afraid of giving away their secret defense.

"That's fine, you don't have to answer. So… you don't have to answer this either, but, if you're still around here, maybe we could… meet up again? On better terms. Maybe… tomorrow evening, at sunset. By my porch? We can both sit as far apart as you want and I could maybe just, ask some questions? You don't have to agree now or anything and I totally get it if you don't want to. But I just… I feel this need to make it up to you. I know, I know, I'm acknowledging a debt, but… there is one. I'll, uh, bring snacks, too."

Patch was silent, thinking about this. The human could easily catch up to them again, why would they set a trap like this? Why even lure them back in after freeing them? To savor the betrayal? Was this some kind of long con? No. She didn't know I was here. That face was clearly one of surprise. What's the plan here?

"Okay, well… this alleyway, uh, is kind of dark and sucks, and not super safe for me to just be standing around in… so I'm just… gonna go inside now”, Melody stated, with an air of awkwardness in her tone, as if coming up with an excuse on the spot, “But just… remember what I said. Sunset, front porch."

And with that, Patch watched in curiosity as she walked away from them, again.

The next evening, against their better judgment, the sprite made their way to the apartment door they recognized from the little flower bed outside of it, where they had been abducted previously. Why am I here? I shouldn’t be here… but she did promise food, they reasoned, and food was in short supply at the moment.

Sure enough, Melody was sitting there, on the ground, wearing an outfit similar to when they first met, though the shirt had a different figure on it. Unsure how to make their presence known, Patch walked closer to the human, fear in every step as they looked around, worried not only about Melody spotting them, but any other humans as well. As usual for this area, nobody tended to walk around, which was good. After all, that's why the sprite had set up shop around this building anyways.

Patch's thoughts were interrupted as Melody called out to them, her voice soft yet projecting, "Oh, it's you! You actually showed up!"

Patch awkwardly took a few steps back, keeping well more than a human arm's length between them, which caused the human to sigh softly.

"Okay, if that's where you're comfortable. I promised snacks, so here you go, I was out of apples so I figured a pear slice might be good? To be honest, I don't know what you actually eat… maybe you could tell me, and I could bring that next time?"

Mel gently placed the pear slice as far away from themself as possible, and watched as Patch walked over and tried to drag it just a little bit farther away.

-

Patch nodded and bowed as they began to take bites of the fresh fruit, once again eating around the skin of the fruit, which Mel watched with fascination.

"So… I noticed you never eat the skin of the fruits… should I peel them for you next time? If… If there is a next time." At that, Patch nodded.

"Oh, that reminds me, sorry, um, so I don't know if this helps, but, I figured since you can't talk, we could communicate like this!" Mel said, as she picked up a notepad next to her and reached out to place it near where the pear slice was placed. Once again, Patch tried to pull it even farther out of reach, but when they failed to move the heavy notepad, Mel took the initiative and scooted themself away from the small figure slightly.

"You can draw on there, I have a pencil if you need it, I could maybe break off a piece of the lead for you?"

Immediately, Patch's eyes lit up, and they swung their backpack over their (better) shoulder, reaching into the bag and pulling out their own little piece of pencil lead.

"Oh! You just, uh… had that, huh? Okay. Well then… What does your kind eat? So I can get you more types of food, if you want to keep doing, you know, this."

Patch started drawing at once, doodling little drawings that Mel couldn't quite make out from how far away she was sitting. After the little being stopped drawing, he stepped away from the notepad, and resumed eating the pear after putting the pencil lead away. Melody took the chance to scoot forward again and grab the notepad. Looking over the drawings, she was amazed at the quality, considering how fast Patch drew the figures on the page. Several different fruits, vegetables, and grains that Mel recognized were drawn, as well as some things that she wouldn't expect, grass, flower petals, and seeds that she couldn't identify. "I see… so you eat plants… are you some kind of herbivore?"

The confusion on Patch's face was obvious, even from the distance Melody was sitting. Once again, she chuckled as his little head tilted in confusion, his large ears flopping a bit as he did. "Sorry, a herbivore is a type of animal that eats plants. Like, they don't eat other animals or bugs or anything. Is that right?

Patch nodded affirmatively as they finished eating the slice of pear. Afterwards, they cautiously began to back away, having fulfilled the deal of answering a question in exchange for food.

"Ah… okay, I guess I get one question a day, then? Fair enough, if you want to answer one question for a snack then that works. Um… I'll be here tomorrow, too, if you want more. I'll try to bring something different, too, and make sure you get lots of different foods to eat."

Melody stood up, startling Patch, who began to back up faster, before they noticed that the human was moving towards her building's door. "See you tomorrow, then?"

The sprite cautiously nodded their head yes as they turned and left.

-

For the next several weeks, this pattern continued, with Patch showing up to Melody's patio every day to answer another question in exchange for a piece of fresh food. Throughout those weeks, Melody learned much more about the little being and his people. He was an adult, yet only ten years old, apparently about the equivalent of being in his early 20s. He enjoyed drawing, and had a real talent for it. His people live around humans normally, and scavenge things that the humans don’t need in order to survive, but Patch wouldn't elaborate on why they did that. For every answered question, the curious human had three more. Even despite that, Melody had grown to appreciate these little talks, though each one was only a few minutes long at best. And, the best part to her was that Patch seemed to be slowly growing more comfortable around her, no longer quite as skittish as he had been earlier in the summer.

As Melody sat at work, looking through the notepad and reminiscing about the previous weeks, remembering each conversation based on the drawing, she was already thinking about more questions to ask her new friend. There were still a few unanswered questions that she wanted answered, but wasn’t sure how to ask. After all, she was still terrified of losing the trust she was slowly building with this tiny creature, that she still couldn’t name. Her new little friend could draw most things, but she still couldn’t decipher the writing system he used. Research at work had given no results, which was maybe to be expected when dealing with a mysterious secretive being, but still. Melody would have killed to know what her new friend was, and what their real name was.

Part 2

“Hey Patch! I wasn’t sure if you were going to show up today, with how cloudy it is. Guess I’m just that irresistible, huh?” Melody said with a wink, as Patch rolled his eyes. In truth, the sprite was counting on Melody bringing food today, they had no luck scavenging recently… not that they would tell the human that.

“I’m just kidding, don’t worry. Anyways, I wasn’t sure what to bring today, but I got some berries at the store, and figured you could bring the leftovers home with you!” At that, Melody placed a few berries near the sprite, a couple of raspberries, blueberries, and most tantalizing of all to Patch, a strawberry, almost half the size of the sprite. He wasted no time taking the berries, wrapping each one in fabric, and shoving them into his backpack, before grabbing a tiny knife out of his bag and beginning to cut into the strawberry.

“Woah, okay, berries was a good idea then. But hold on, you know the deal, now I get to ask a question. And, I was thinking today I would maybe ask a tough question, so if you don’t want to answer it just let me know and I’ll ask a backup question.”

Ah, there’s the catch, thought the sprite, who had been thinking that this was too good to be true. Still, in the spirit of not offending the human, they waited to hear out her question.

“So… you’ve told me a lot about your kind, but I want to know more about you. So… what’s your story? When we, uh… first met, you mentioned another human who was, um… not nice. What happened there?”

Patch was as still as a statue as they heard the question. The sprite had done a good job of almost forgetting about them, and now they were being asked to describe them… how to even begin to sum up that time… and in drawings, no less. They would struggle to even speak about it, if that was an option for the mute sprite.

-

An awkward moment passed between the two, with Patch frozen in deep thought, before Mel started to worry that they had offended their little friend. “Okay, okay, no worries, uhh I had the backup question, remember? New question, forget about that person. No need to bring up bad memories. Um… so… do you have a favorite animal?”

The unamused expression on Patch’s face made it clear that he caught her bluff about the question being planned in advance, but regardless, he relented and motioned for the notepad. After he finished drawing, Mel noticed Patch continuing to mark something, this time on the back of the page. She paid it no mind, figuring he would show her when he finished, but she was surprised when Patch folded the page back over as if nothing happened. Getting the idea, Melody decided to ignore it, figuring she would check it later.

“Okay, so what do we have here… Oh my gosh, is this what I think it is?” Melody cried with delight as she took in the drawing of one of Patch’s kind, distinguished by the giant ears, riding on either a rat or mouse (Melody couldn’t tell), wearing some kind of saddle and harness, as if it were a mount. “Do… do your people ride on rodents like this for real?”, she said, awe in her eyes. As Patch nodded yes, Melody began to squeal with excitement. “Oh my gosh, that’s adorable! Do you have a little mouse friend?” Patch shook his head no, but Mel continued to coo at the idea. “Oh, that would be the most precious thing ever!”

Finally, after the human calmed down, a silence overcame the both of them as Melody watched the little being eat the strawberry with fascination. Patch ate individual seeds, dipping them in the juice of the strawberry. It was fascinating to Melody, but the look they got from Patch told her that their staring was making him uncomfortable. “Oops, sorry, sorry. I just can’t help it, you’re so cute when you eat! But I’ll mind my own business, sorry.”

After eating almost half of the strawberry, and removing most of the seeds, Patch finally seemed full, putting his little knife back in his bag. As he went to leave, his ears twitched moments before the sound of thunder was heard. Melody could hardly get a farewell out before the little being ran off in a panic as a few sparse raindrops fell to the ground. As Melody went inside, she hoped that Patch got home safe.

It wasn’t until the next morning that Mel remembered the back of the notepad. Taking a glance at it, she saw what was clearly a detailed drawing of a hamster cage… with a small figure inside, distinguished by their large, pointed ears.

Mel’s stomach dropped a bit at this, as she was unsure what to make of the situation. Was this… literal? A metaphor? She made a mental note to ask Patch for a follow-up… but the next time she saw him, she couldn’t bring herself to ask, remembering how distressed he was last time. He would tell them when he was ready, they reasoned.

Part 3

A few days later, it was all over the news: A tropical storm was coming. Everybody was preparing for it, people panicking and going to the stores for supplies, taking off of work, planning safety routes. But Melody could only think of one person, that being Patch. The last she had seen him was in that alleyway. Where was he living? Would he be safe? He probably doesn’t even know about the storm, thought Melody. That afternoon, umbrella in hand to combat the rain, Mel returned to the spot where she had seen Patch earlier in the summer, and gently called out in a whisper, “Hey, Patch, are you around?”

-

Patch rolled over in their makeshift shelter, nestled between the bricks in the dark alley they had called home for several months. It was more like a nest than a proper home, made out of an assortment of discarded fabrics and materials, used to keep body heat in and the elements out. It was the middle of the day, which would normally be when Patch would go out to try and borrow, however, traveling through the rain at their size was an exercise in futility. Patch chose instead to remain at home, conserving energy and heat by taking a lazy day. It wasn’t until they heard that familiar voice calling for them that they decided to wake up and investigate.

“Listen, I don’t know where you’re hanging out, or if you can ever hear me… I might just be talking to myself… but please come by later today, okay? I really need to talk to you…” Patch was a bit concerned with the urgency in the human’s voice, as she normally spoke in a relaxed manner, except for… that one time. Putting on their backpack, and grabbing a piece of plastic to use as a makeshift umbrella, Patch left their little nest, being sure to approach the human in such a way that she wouldn’t know where they came from.

-

Mel was relieved as they saw the tiny form of Patch walking near, using a discarded yogurt lid as a little umbrella. “Oh, thank the gods, you were still here! I was worried I was talking to myself… listen, we need to talk, this is important.”

She kneeled down, cringing slightly as her knee rested on the rainy concrete, but she disregarded it quickly as she focused on delivering her message. “Listen, there’s a big storm coming, and the worst of it will be here in the next few days. I don’t… know where you’re living right now,” Mel said, as they looked around the alleyway, wondering where Patch had actually emerged from, “But… I just wanted to let you know that it’s going to be pretty bad. And… if you don’t have anywhere to stay, um… I figured you could… stay with me?”

Melody immediately saw the apprehension in Patch’s body language as he took a hesitant step back.

“Whoa, whoa, don’t run, don’t run, listen. I… uh… saw that drawing… and I want to assure you, this is nothing like that. I just… I want you to be safe. You wouldn’t be… whatever the situation was last time. You’d just be a guest, staying for a few days until the storm passes, and then you can leave, I swear it. Hell, if you want to leave during the storm, you can too, though I don’t know why. Consider it a promise, a pact, whatever you want. I just want you to be safe.” At that, the human put her free hand over her heart, before extending it towards Patch, held as if she was going in for a handshake. Melody still didn’t know if Patch was technically a fae, but they felt like treating this with that much severity was still the right thing to do.

-

Patch was torn. Melody had seen the drawing, and they clearly already had guesses based on the last time… Patch knew they meant well, but couldn’t avoid thinking of the situation. Once again, they’re being approached by a human in an alleyway, being promised safety and protection… memories flooded back of the last time this happened, of how that human acted so sickly sweet to them for all of a single evening before… could they trust that Melody wouldn’t do the same? Sprites were particularly sensitive to the weather, Patch knew that the human wasn’t lying about the approaching storm. The decision caused them to start breathing heavily, weighing two options that both seemed risky. They could chance staying outside during a natural disaster, in a shelter barely protected from wind, or risk the human showing their true colors like the last one did. Was this truly good intent, or was it the long con, spending weeks gaining the sprite’s trust just so they could be thrown into a box like some kind of prize? Patch tried to think rationally, but their thoughts began to spiral as their chest tightened, worried about making the wrong choice.

“Patch? You okay?”, the human said, pulling her hand back.

Hearing the nickname snapped them back to the present slightly, enough to assess the situation a bit more rationally. If they stay out here with that storm coming… they die. If they go with the human, Melody… even in the worst case, they’ll live. Probably.

Still panicking, chest pounding heavy, they held out a hand, mirroring Melody’s earlier gesture. As the human reached back out towards Patch, the sprite winced, only to have Mel gently poke their outstretched hand with her index finger, in a sort of facsimile of a handshake. They remained there for a moment, staring at each other, before Melody spoke.

“It’ll be different this time, I promise,” Mel said, determination in her voice. “Do you… want me to carry you to my apartment, or do you want to walk there?”

Patch took a step back, and bent down, placing their hand on the ground palm-up. Melody got the cue and mimicked the motion, waiting to see what would happen, before Patch climbed onto her hand. A small shiver ran up her arm as the sprite climbed aboard, his tiny wet footsteps moving around on her palm before he sat down, and looked up at the human, nodding his head. Very slowly, and a bit clumsily, Melody stood up, before very slowly walking towards her apartment, her guest in tow.

Part 4

“Okay, well, um, let me formally welcome you this time to my apartment. It’s not much, and it may be a bit unsafe for you to go wandering, but make yourself at home regardless,” Melody said, as she opened the door, “I could, um, put you down on the floor, if you want, but I’d feel a bit better if I could put you down on a table. So we could be more eye-to-eye, you know.”

It took a moment and a glance from the sprite before Melody realized the odd sentence structure, quickly rephrasing in a way that her mute friend could answer easily. “Sorry… Just point where you want to go, I guess.”

After a moment of deliberation, Patch pointed to Melody’s coffee table, a shorter table that they could easily climb down if need be. The human nodded and gently placed her hand palm-up on the table, letting Patch walk off, though it was more of a stumble. The human sat down on the floor in front of the couch, such that Patch was at her shoulder height. Afterwards, the two of them looked at each other with uncertainty, both anxious about what the next few days would look like.

“So…”, the human mused idly, unsure what to do now, “Um… are you, uh… hungry? Thirsty? Need anything?” Patch shook their head in a no, although truthfully, they were a little hungry, as always. However, the sight of Melody standing up from a sitting position always made Patch anxious, being such a reminder of the vast height difference between the two. Instead, the two of them sat around for a moment, before Melody broke the silence again. “Do you like games? We could play like… a board game or something. I don’t know. Honestly, I’ve never really, uh… had a guest over before. That’s pretty sad, huh?”

Patch took a moment to think, before having an idea of what to do, they just hoped Melody would understand. After doing an exaggerated confused tilt of their head, they pointed to a nearby book, hoping to start a conversation about it. “Oh, that? That’s just a book I’ve been reading through.”

After another awkward silence, Patch smacked their palm against their face and began another approach. They made mouth shapes with each hand, and began pantomiming the two hands talking to each other. It took a moment before the human seemed to realize what they were doing. “Oh! Sorry, you’re trying to start a conversation, aren’t you. Oops… Ok, um, let me try again,” With that, Melody began to speak a bit more on the book Patch had pointed to. “It’s, um, about this vampire, well, she doesn’t start the story as a vampire, but it’s not really a spoiler because it’s part of the premise, but it doesn’t happen until partway through the first book, but anyways she has to find this guy-”

Patch was desperately trying to keep up as Melody began to ramble about some kind of creature called a “vampire”, nodding their head and tilting their head when they needed clarification. This side of Melody was a far cry from the stuttery mess that Patch was speaking to just a moment ago. It wasn’t exactly the conversation Patch had in mind, but it was oddly endearing watching Melody speak so passionately about something.

“- So then by the third act of this book she has to choose whether to embrace her vampire side or side with the humans and it’s this really great story and that’s where I’m at right now… sorry, I’ve been talking for ages, ”

Patch nodded, still trying to process the conversation. The concept was interesting for sure, and in some ways, they could relate… not that they could express that to the human.

“Sorry, I get pretty excited when I talk about books sometimes, heh. But hey, look at the time, it’s about dinner time and I’m ready for some food… What about you?”

Patch’s eyes went wide as they stared at the giant red eyes of the human in front of them, and the toothy grin on her face. She’s… just teasing, right? She doesn’t mean…

-

Melody was beyond confused as her little friend suddenly seemed terrified as soon as she mentioned food, backing away from her slowly. “Are you… not hungry? What’s with the face? Where are you going? What happened? What did I say?”

After a moment, Patch seemed to turn red with embarrassment, as he bashfully scratched his head behind one of his ears. He waved his hand dismissively, before motioning to his stomach to confirm that he was indeed hungry.

Melody couldn’t even grasp what Patch had been set off by. “No, seriously, what was that? What happened, so I don’t say it again? Was there like, a specific word?”

After noticing Patch go completely still and silent, seeming lost in though, Melody decided to simply sigh and continue on. “Well, I’m just gonna… go get the food now, then. I actually made a salad yesterday, so you can have some vegetables from that if you want." The human left, and a moment later returned with two plates of greens, one containing only one or two pieces of each item in the salad. “Here you go, bon appetit!”, The human said with a flourish as she placed both plates on the table, with the smaller portion placed near Patch. The little being seemed afraid of climbing onto the plate, but after an encouraging nod from Mel, he stepped up and began to eat, using his own small utensils from his bag. Melody watched with confusion as Patch went out of his way to position himself such that he was facing away from her.

Part 5

After the meal, which was slightly awkward without any conversation, Melody tried to think of what to do next. “I guess… the next step is to figure out where you’re gonna be sleeping tonight. Not that we’re going to bed now, but just to plan, you know,” the human said, closing her eyes in thought. “I mean, the obvious choice is the couch, but what to give you for a blanket… it’s way too hot out for somebody so small to use one of my throw blankets. I don’t really have anything small and light, aside from, I don’t know, a sock or something.”

Patch shook his little head aggressively no at that, with a fervor that Mel hadn’t seen in a while from him. “Okay, yeah… I mean, I was thinking of this one soft pair I have, but I guess maybe that would be weird. I guess the only other thing I have would be a washcloth? It would be a bit of a rough texture, but it would do for a few nights, if you want.”

Melody made a square with her fingers, roughly indicating the size of the cloth. Seeing that, Patch accepted, and Melody nodded her head to match his own motion. “Got it, I’ll get one for you later. For now, um, want to sit on the couch and watch TV?”

-

Watch TV? Patch thought, confused. They thought about it, not sure if they remembered what a TV was, but decided to just accept, hoping that whatever it was would be uneventful. Truthfully, after such a comparatively big meal, the little sprite was tuckered out, and the comfort of being in a human home again rather than their shelter on the streets was a bit… intoxicating, almost. All they really wanted to do was curl up and fall asleep, but their human host seemed insistent on waiting a bit before calling it a day.

The human held out her hand again, letting Patch climb on as she sat on the couch, placing Patch on the far side of the couch. Melody pressed a button on a plastic box, causing the device across the room to spark to life with a fanfare. Ah, that’s what that was called, Patch thought, remembering the device from the first house they lived in, as a young child. At the time, it mostly showed old images in a somewhat brown tone, but this was a much more vivid display with many colors. Patch wondered if the difference was technology improving over the decade, or if it was some kind of choice. After all, they grew up in the house of a much older human than Melody, a human who was older than their parents and grandparents… the reminder of their family made the sprite sigh.

As usual, Melody broke their train of thought by asking about what they wanted to watch. “I’m not sure what types of movies you like, but I like fantasy, mostly… they really let you imagine what it would be like to live in those worlds. Here, I’ll show you one of my favorites, check this out!”

It was a fairly boring story, at least according to Patch, some quest to destroy a ring for some reason they couldn’t keep up with, but what entranced the sprite was when the image would soar over the world, showing scenes that the sprite couldn’t even imagine previously, of geographic features that must be absolutely astronomical in scale to the little sprite, as the people in the TV were already so small compared to their surroundings. It felt like only moments before the video ended, although the darkness of the room and the rain picking up outside indicated that the sun had sunk below the skyline ages ago.

“Well, I’d show you the rest of the trilogy, but it is getting really late, how about we call it a night?” Mel asked, getting a nod of approval from the sprite. The human stood up and went to the bathroom, returning with a folded-up washcloth. She set it gently near Patch on the couch as she spoke. “Here’s the washcloth, as promised. Hopefully this is comfortable enough for you.”

In truth, it would be difficult for this couch to be less comfortable than the alley nest they had been sleeping in. Even despite the sprite’s reluctance to fall asleep around a human, Melody hardly managed to turn out the lights and utter a “Good night, Patch!” before the little sprite began to drift in and out of consciousness.

Part 6

The sprite woke up in a sweat, looking around. Ah, of course I’m back here, they thought, as they stared out the bars of the cage. A dream, again, or perhaps the couch they were on was the real dream. They were never certain, but the deep blue eyes staring at them felt very real. They spoke, their tone a sickly sweet one hiding a poison underneath. “Aww, did somebody have a little nightmare? You were twisting and turning in your sleep. Well, no need to worry, you’re safe now, here with your favorite person. Why don’t you come out here and let me hold you for a minute, to calm you down?”

The sprite began to panic. As much as they hated this cage, it was a brief respite from the human. As the door to the cage opened, the human spoke again, their tone beginning to drip with frustration.

“That wasn’t a question… come here, —”

…

The sound of the human using that name, their actual name, was finally enough to shake Patch awake, convinced it was a dream. After making sure that they were, in fact, awake, they tried unsuccessfully to go back to sleep. They would repeatedly nod off, have a dream about being approached by a human, either human, and jerk awake, only to repeat the process. Eventually, they simply decided to stay awake after only a few hours of sleep, spending the rest of the night looking around the room, taking in potential places to hide or escape… just in case.

-

The next day, the storm was raging outside in full force, causing the apartment to be dark aside from the artificial lighting.

Melody came out of her room to see Patch wide awake on the couch. “Hey Patch, good morning! How did you sleep?”

Patch nodded, though the bags under their eyes would have told a different story if Mel had looked closer.

Melody and Patch resumed watching more movies, with Mel explaining details as she noticed her friend’s confusion with the medium. Patch spent the morning drawing on the notepad, making little sketches of some of the wide landscape shots and even some of the fantastic creatures, though Mel was quick to inform him that they were fictional… probably. “After all, I would have said the same thing about a little fae with big adorable ears too, if you asked me a month ago.”

However, one thing that was bothering Melody was just how timid their friend was. It felt like every movement of hers spurred an intense fear reaction from her little guest, who still seemed skeptical of her intentions. Finally, Mel paused the movie that was on, and decided to confront him about it.

“Listen, if you don’t want to, I won’t force you, but… I want to understand what’s got you so jumpy. I feel like everything I do is upsetting you, and I don’t understand why. I want to help. Because, well, I don’t know if you feel the same, but I think of you as a friend,” the human pleaded. “Is this about… that other human?”

After receiving a small, but hesitant nod from Patch, Mel continued. “Can you… try to explain what happened? What they did? What you did? Anything would help me know how to be a better friend, please.”

Patch sighed. They knew from when Melody had originally asked that she would inevitably ask again, this human was curious if nothing else. But, maybe, just maybe, explaining to somebody what that human did would help. Patch made a motion for the notepad they had been writing in, and Mel took the initiative and flipped the page. “Would it help if I do something else for a bit and come back? Less pressure?”

After thinking on it, Patch accepted that offer, and Melody stood up, walking into her bedroom and closing the door. Patch could hear the distant sound of running water coming from inside the room as they solemnly began to draw. About a half-hour later, the human returned, and after asking permission, took a look at the thoughts that had plagued Patch for years.

-

… Horror was the reaction Melody had, seeing the drawings in front of her. She had suspected something bad when Patch drew the hamster cage, but this… this stranger has treated Patch like… she struggled to believe this was real. After the first drawing, an innocent one of Patch taking the human’s hand, the other drawings depicted a story of Patch being captured, threatened… tormented. Patch kept in a cage, the human’s fingers around the tiny thing’s neck, Patch being held above a grinning mouth, and other drawings that Melody couldn’t even bring herself to describe. Mel shuddered at the idea that somebody like this lived so close to her, somewhere in the same city block, even. What kind of sick person would treat any living being like this?

“Patch...” Was all Melody could say, her blood simultaneously running cold and burning with hatred towards his abuser as the images swirled in her mind. Patch wasn’t just captured, he was treated like a plaything, some kind of toy for a complete monster of a human. “Fuck.”

Melody noticed her little friend staring at her, anxiety in his eyes and his ears pulled apprehensively against the side of his head as his hands fidgeted with the scarf around his neck. “No, no… I’m not mad at you, how could I be? I just… what they did to you… how long did this go on for? How long were you their…”, She couldn’t bring herself to say the word she was thinking. “How long were you there?”

Patch shyly held up two fingers. “Two? Two what? Days? Weeks? … Months?” Melody questioned, getting more worried as Patch stayed silent. Finally, she quietly said “... Years?” garnering a small tearful nod. Melody had to stop herself, remembering Patch’s age. The poor thing had spent the start of his young adult life like that. Melody noticed Patch fidgeting awkwardly with his scarf again… the scarf he was wearing during the middle of the summer. As he fidgeted, loosening the scarf, Melody could just barely make out a deep mark across his neck now that she was looking out for anything unusual. Patch could only look everywhere except Melody’s eyes, tears welling up in his face.

“Patch… take off your scarf”, Melody said, somewhere between a question and a demand. Patch nervously complied, keeping the scarf in his hand as he anxiously fidgeted with it, while Melody took a close look at the scar on his neck. It wasn’t directly where his vocal chords would be… but it was close.

Melody wasn’t known for being a particularly quick to anger person, but she had to do some impromptu deep breathing to calm down, lest her anger scare her timid friend. “Fuck. Is that why you can’t…?” She asked, terrified of what the response would be, but Patch shook his head in a no, to the human’s relief.

“Either way, I need you to know… I’m sorry. For what that… that monster did to you. I swear to you, I would never… I’d like to think nobody would act like that, but I especially would never… ugh, no wonder you were so terrified!”

There was a long, painful silence that followed as the both of them looked at each other, pain in Patch’s eyes and fury in Mel’s. After another deep breath, and choosing her next words carefully, Melody decided to break the silence. “I know I’m not perfect… but mark my words, as long as I’m here, you’ll never have to fear them again. I promise.”

Patch made a beckoning motion, breaking Melody out of her rage. She saw him holding out his hand, and gently moved her hand closer to match, expecting a simple touch, but was caught off-guard when her little friend wrapped her finger in an embrace. Melody held her hand deathly still, as Patch began to cry enough tears to match the storm raging on outside.

The rest of the day was uneventful. The two of them watched TV, with Melody eventually noticing her little guest’s fascination for the wide shots and switching to nature documentaries after the movie ended. Before long, Patch fell soundly asleep on the couch, right next to Melody, who dared not move, not wanting to wake him up.

Part 7

“So… now that the storm is over, I guess you want to leave, huh?”

It had been about a day since the rain stopped, and the flooding outside had receded to a point where Patch could safely leave, if he wanted. Back to… living in an alley, raiding trash cans and plant pots for food…

Patch sighed, knowing that what they were about to do was stupid. If Patch wasn’t way past “Don’t interact with humans”, they would be judged so heavily for what they were about to ask. But despite that, and despite their own fear, they had to try.

-

Patch motioned for the notepad, and Mel diligently grabbed it for them, even though she was confused. Was he just saying goodbye or something?

It took a moment for her to recognize what Patch was drawing. It was a simplified version of Melody’s apartment, with a figure representing Melody standing inside it. In the space between “outside” and “inside”, there was a small figure, clearly representing Patch. Finally, there was a strange spiked figure on the outside which Mel deduced was the little fae’s way of drawing the sun. Melody tried to decipher what he was saying using their limited knowledge of Patch’s culture.

“The storm is over, and you’re… inside the wall? What… oh! Your people, you mentioned they live in human houses without being noticed… stop me if I’m assuming too much, but… you want to, um… move into my walls instead of leaving?”

Patch nodded, and Melody seemed conflicted. “Well… I can’t just pretend you don’t exist, Patch. We hung out, we watched movies, we bonded! How am I supposed to just… ignore you sneaking around and taking things?”

Patch’s expression dropped, as he went to put on his backpack, only to be interrupted. “Hey, hey… I didn’t say I was kicking you out, I said you couldn’t sneak around here. If you want to stay, it wouldn’t be like this”, she said, motioning to the notepad. “If you want to stay… I’d love to have you. But as a roommate, or a friend, not a stranger who steals my things. That’s fair, right?”

Patch wanted to argue that it was borrowing, not stealing, but considering the language barrier between them, arguing semantics seemed stupid. They considered the deal Melody had made. For the last few days, she had treated them nicely, and her disgust at their past had made Patch trust her much more… Hesitantly, he nodded, and the deal was made.

“Really? Oh my gosh, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting you to agree, but I’m honored! From now on, I’ll be the absolute best human roommate possible! You won’t regret this, I promise! Okay, let me think, we’ll need to get some strings for you to get around… I’ll need to make you your own room somewhere… obviously not with a box or anything…”

Melody’s expression darkened a bit as she thought to clarify something for Patch. “Oh, and Patch? Just to be clear… you can still leave, whenever you want, just say the word. Or, uh, draw it. You’re a friend, not… you’re not trapped here. Anyways…”

As the human began to ramble again, making a list of things her new roommate would need to feel at home, Patch felt an emotion that they hadn’t felt in years… a small, skeptical glimmer of hope.

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here friend for just a brief note. This episode just made me sad. Not the good sad-but-the-hurt-comfort-will-be-worth-it sad, just sad. I'm not going to bring The Discourse into your inbox, but I think I'll just pretend this episode doesn't exist (except of course for the fabulous attempt at sex doll resuscitation by Nancy) until next week. Also where the hell are Paul, Marjan, and Mateo??!! These characters are more interesting than just fun banter, give them screentime dammit!!

This episode was....fine. Like, I laughed at some of the Owen/O'Brian shenanigans but I do not give one single fuck about O'Brian so why would I care about his neo-nazi nephew? I said in the tags on a couple of posts that I'm not here to watch the FBI investigate a terrorist plot, or some kind of Criminal Minds torture-fest (next week is the episode I'm kind of dreading a bit 🤷🏻‍♀️), there are other shows out there for people who enjoy that! I'm here to watch first responders go out on calls! Sometimes they're funny, sometimes suspenseful and exciting, sometimes the crew is in danger and it's stressful, and sometimes they get confronted with something that applies to their personal life and helps to move that arc along for them.

We have.....not gotten a lot of first responding in these last two episodes. And consequently, we are getting very little for the 126, and basically NOTHING for Paul, Marjan and Mateo except for a few quips. Nancy too, but Brianna has ATE every scene she's been in this season and she at least got to have some input on Tommy's storyline in the first 2 episodes. I don't just want Paul, Marjan, and Mateo (Grace, Nancy, Judd as well but they're getting *something* at least) each to have 1.5 episodes centered around them, I want to see them involved in other characters' stories every week and doing their jobs on multiple calls! We had ONE team call out during the episode these past two weeks and probably the same next week. This is like, the other side of the coin from the problem the OG is having which is too many calls with nothing to tie into the mains' arcs and long set up to fill time, where as LS is having some enjoyable calls but so few of them and they are trying to cram too much outside plot into the episode so we loose the first responder element a bit.

As for the Carlos/Tarlos stuff it's also...fine. (I'm more worried about them leaning into the creepy factor next week like his last detective storyline because that shit is Not For Me.) I personally enjoyed the scenes with Iris and Carlos (though it's hard to reconcile them being so ride-or-die after having zero idea they were anything more than vaguely acquainted through Michelle before now), and I liked that he believed her when the detective didn't and I like that they aren't trying to pretend like she's "cured" now. I'm not too worried about the angst because I get Carlos kinda shutting down and blaming himself and everything he and TK brought to Iris' doorstep all at once, but I feel like we aren't getting ANY idea what is going on in TK's head. He had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene with Tommy but that was all about Iris not where his head is at, he and Carlos aren't talking about it, does Owen even KNOW?! Because we haven't seen Owen and TK even talk this season (WHAT?!), he hasn't gotten to sit with Judd or Nancy or any of the 126 and vent, not even his sponsor has had a mention! This IS a Carlos centric storyline so I'm not surprised we're seeing his POV and his interactions with Iris, but because the show is spending SO. MUCH. FUCKING. TIME on this Owen plot right now too, were not getting to see TK's side of this (though hopefully next week!), while still having time for a call (singular because god forbid these first responders get to do any first responding).

It's all just...fine. It's fine to watch, I'm laughing, and holding my breath, and yelling for Carlos to look out behind him, but then the hour ends and it's all just....fine. I get ending on the Carlos cliffhanger, but I would rather have some angst in the form of TK calling and calling and leaving measages to ask when Carlos is coming home overlayed by Carlos getting taken, than to save it all for next week and rely on torture for the angst, but that's just a personal preference for me and I wanted more than just one episode of TK being frantic that something is wrong and Carlos isn't answering. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To end on a lighter note, Nancy deserves an Oscar, even if it's justa handmade one by the team, for her dramatic performance reacue of Crissy (alexa, play "Chrissy Wake Up"), and Tommy and TK can get little mini Supporting Role statues as well. Definitely a highlight of the season so far.