#Why Old Bombs Are Still Deadly

[samaraxmorgan]

Your Roommate Sukuna

“That Time He Sabotaged My Date”

Modern no curse AU, Sukuna X Reader

Synopsis: This housing crisis sure is no joke huh? Rent is just too expensive to live alone, so you put out a listing for a roommate and ended up living with none other than the tattooed bad boy Ryomen Sukuna! This is part of a series of drabbles and oneshots showing glimpses into you and Sukuna’s living situation!!

Contains: yandere(ish)!Sukuna, fluff but he’s kinda very toxic, stalking, fem implied reader (wearing a dress and heels), brief mention of a bomb (there aren’t any bombs present), narration is from Sukuna’s POV

Word Count: 1.78k

Series Masterlist - My Full Masterlist

Whoever decided this dingy shithole is a decent place to take you on a date should be fucking shot.

Maybe it was wrong of Sukuna to eavesdrop on your private conversation this morning, but in his defense you were talking on the phone loud as hell in the middle of the living room. Should’ve been quieter when you were telling your friend about the date you had planned for tonight.

And maybe it’s weird that Sukuna secretly followed you here to keep an eye on you, but it’s not like he has nefarious intentions. He’s heard of this place and one, it’s fucking gross, and two, it’s got one hell of a reputation to say the least. Definitely the kind of place for someone to get murdered, he’s just watching out for your safety!

Oh christs sake, who is he fooling? No, he followed you here because he’ll be damned if you get a boyfriend.

He feels like a creep, sitting at the bar behind your table in a black hoodie and an old baseball cap, eyes fixed on the back of your head. The guy sitting across from you is so bland, yet for some reason you’re still giggling and twirling your hair around your finger as if you don’t know that you can do so much better.

There was no need for you to doll yourself up for this fuckin’ loser; you’ve got on a pretty red dress and stiletto heels, probably anticipating him to take you somewhere nice, decent, at least. But he brought you to some run down shithole restaurant that hasn’t been renovated since the 70’s and is definitely bearing several health code violations. It’s honestly embarrassing, Sukuna would take you somewhere so much nicer than this, he knows what you deserve.

He’s been sitting at the bar sipping on his drink for the last half hour, watching the way you prop your elbow onto the table, cross your legs in your seat, tap your heel against the leg of your chair, listening to you laugh and chat about your job. Meanwhile, mister nobody in front of you is chewing with his mouth open like some kind of ape, not realizing how much of a privilege he has by being able to treat you to dinner. Un-fucking-believable.

Finally the moment he’s been waiting for happens. Bland And Boring stands up from his seat and leaves you at the table to go use the restroom, so now it’s time for Sukuna to get this fool away from you. His eyes follow the man as he walks past the bar, not even trying to be discreet. He gives Sukuna a quick glance and nods his head politely, making his way towards the bathrooms near the front of the restaurant.

There’s no time to waste.

Sukuna stands from his seat at the bar, trailing behind your date and following him into the bathroom. As the door clicks shut behind him he realizes that it’s just the two of them. Perfect, no interruptions.

He walks up behind the man, watching him through the large mirror above the sinks. Now that he’s up close he can really see how pathetic this guy is, nervously looking up towards Sukuna as he absolutely towers above him, his stature menacing and the look in his eyes bordering on deadly.

���D-do you need some-”

“You should leave.” Your date jumps at the sound of Sukuna’s voice; dark, deep, and serious.

“Um… why?” His eyes flicker around the room, definitely praying to whatever god he believes in to come save him.

Sukuna is surprised he isn’t immediately obeying. Has he grown soft? Surely not, this guy just needs a little extra push.

So Sukuna says the first thing that comes into mind.

“I have a bomb.”

Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but god damn does it do the trick. The guy looks like he’s about to fucking piss himself, eyes widening in terror as he quickly nods his head and runs out of the restaurant.

Sukuna keeps a keen eye on him through the windows, watching him nearly leap into his car and hearing the tires screech as he speeds out of the parking lot. It seems you also had an eye on your date, your jaw nearly dropping to the floor as you assumed that he just ditched you with the bill.

Now’s his time to shine.

He stuffs his hat into the front pocket of his hoodie and strides up behind you to your table, bending down to be eye level with you in the booth and putting on his best mildly surprised and kind of amused expression, “Well look at that.”

“Ugh, god.” You bury your face into your hands, “And here I thought my day couldn’t get any worse.”

He can’t help the smirk that grows on his face. It is his fault you’re in this situation, but I mean come on, that guy was no good for you anyway. “You sample the whole fuckin’ menu or something?”

You groan and roll your eyes, perfect, you took the bait, “I just got dine and dashed, asshole.”

Sukuna lets out a laugh as he flops down into the seat across from you, god if only you knew. A man would have to be a real idiot to stand you up, but he has to try and keep his act together, “Yeah? Guys are fuckin’ assholes, surprise.”

The pout on your face is too sweet, makes it hard for him to really feel bad, “I was really liking him too.”

Oh, he definitely doesn’t feel bad now. He pulls his card out of his wallet as the waitress approaches the table, handing it off to her nonchalantly as he continues the conversation, “Don’t know why you bother going on dates with these guys.”

You try to interject the waitress but she walks away before you can stop her, a defeated frown pulling down your lips, “What are you doing here anyway?”

He plops his elbow onto the table, shrugging his shoulders casually, “What? Am I not allowed to go to my favorite shitty restaurant?”

You perk up slightly, “Right? I saw a roach on the way in, I can’t believe he recommended this place.”

The waitress comes back and hands Sukuna his card, he quickly scribbles his signature on the receipt and stands from his seat at the booth, “Let’s get you out of here before you get ringworm or some shit, nasty fuckin’ place.”

Finally a smile creeps onto your face, lighting up the dreary atmosphere. You adjust your dress as you stand up and he can’t help but smirk at how good you look all dolled up, dark red dress hugging your figure as if you wore it for him. He leads you out of the restaurant, making sure to hold the door open for you since he noticed that your loser date let it slam in your face on your way in.

Droplets of rain were starting to sprinkle down, which is pretty unlucky considering it’s a ten minute walk back to the apartment. But that’s not a problem for Sukuna, if anything it’s a perfect opportunity. He catches the frown curling down your pouty lips as you fix your fingers through your nicely styled hair, probably trying to keep it from getting messed up, and without missing a beat he pulls his hoodie off, sliding it over your head and down your arms.

“I’m sure you spent hours dolling yourself up, would hate to ruin it.” His voice is smooth as butter, leaning down to eye level with you as he adjusts the hood to make sure your hair is covered.

A blush creeps onto your face, mumbling a quiet “Thank you” as you pull your arms through the sleeves. It honestly looks like you’re drowning in his massive hoodie, the sleeves too long for your arms that your fingers can’t even peek out and the hem at the bottom falling at your upper thighs.

Sukuna thought you looked good in that red dress, but god damn you look heavenly wearing his clothes. Why didn’t he do this sooner?

You both start to walk down the sidewalk to the apartment, the evening is quiet save for the muffled sounds of music and chatter coming from the bars and restaurants that you pass by. You’re walking right up against his side, your arm occasionally brushing against his and he can’t help but wonder if you’re getting closer on purpose.

Sukuna breaks the peaceful silence, “So was the food good at least?”

You look up towards him quizzically, squinting your eyes in a way that’s too fucking cute for him to handle, “Shouldn’t you be the expert?”

“Why t’fuck would I know? Never been there.”

“I thought that was your favorite shitty restaurant?”

Oops.

He got way too distracted looking into your pretty eyes. Lucky for him, he didn’t need to come up with an excuse to cover him because a loud snap rings through the air as you stumble forward. His arm quickly wraps around your waist to steady you before you can fall, holding you flush against him.

You look down at your feet and let out a loud groan of frustration, “Fucks sake, really?” You lift your foot up to inspect your shoe, your stiletto heel barely dangling by a thread as it snapped off from the sole.

Sukuna didn’t mean to laugh, but there was no containing it. You look up at him with an adorable angry face, cheeks burning red as you curse him out and it only makes him smile more. You’re just too damn cute when you’re pissed off.

“It’s not funny! These were expensive!”

“Yeah yeah, c’mere.” His arm stays wrapped around your waist as he leans down and hooks his other arm behind your knees, lifting you off the ground with ease as you squeal in surprise and wrap your arms around his neck to cling onto him.

Now he could bet that other guy wouldn’t do this for you, not just was he scrawny as all hell but he wouldn’t be nearly enough of a gentleman. Your arms tighten around the back of Sukuna’s neck as he starts walking to the apartment again, your cheek nuzzled against his shoulder as you slowly relax into his hold. He’s actually liking this a lot, silently considering purposely taking a wrong turn on the way home so he can hold you longer.

Hopefully after this you’ll stop going on stupid dates with worthless men, you’ve already got everything you could ever want right at home after all. Soon enough you’ll realize that you don’t need anyone but him.

A/N: This was SO FUN to write!! I love him he’s such an asshole askakksksk, I rlly liked the idea of doing a light hearted yandere part (even tho NOBODY asked for this skaksksk) Dividers by @adornedwithlight

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[hoshigray]

hiiii!! I loveee your posts!! can you write something about Tojo or Geto being extremely jealous to the point y/n wants to break up but they don’t allow it? I don’t know I can picture it in my head but I can’t write anything good like you 😭

....why not do both? (¬‿¬) ty for the love, sweetie ♡ hope ya like this one! tagging @neptunes1nterweb bc they asked to be, lol, ily sapp!! ☆

cw: Geto + Toji x fem/afab! reader - smutty, so minors, move. - fingering (f! receiving) - biting (ears + shoulders) - clitoral stimulation (fingers + toy) - imagery of taking pictures of your naked body - pet names (baby, princess, sweetheart) - overstimulation - use of a vibrator and rope to tie your hands (geto); oral/cunnilingus (f! receiving) - impact play; pussy slaps (3x) - toji being a tiny bit of a meanie + possessive - overstimulation - pet names (baby, mama, sweetie) - clitoral play (licking and pinching) - heavy depictions of being given head - mentions of spit/saliva (toji)

You love your boyfriend, you know you do. And you know he loves you just as (if not MORE) than you. There's never been a day where you'd doubt this love. His love...but this love does have its bad moments — like this one.

Your boyfriend tends to be quite possessive of you, to the point of jealousy. There have been times you'd try and excuse the behavior; he's just your partner making sure you're safe and that no one gets any funny business when it comes to you. If anything, it's his way of showing his seriousness about you, right? Well, that's what you've been trying to tell yourself all this time, even when bringing it to his attention, to which he'll brush off or reassure you it's for your own sake. But today? Oh, it was the last of it.

Your friends invited you to a party they were having, and you, being your good partner, invited your boyfriend to tag along. It was all of good intentions, no? After all, it's not like you planned on staying til things went crazy; just meet and chat with some old buddies, eat some bomb food, a drink or two at max, the usual. And things were going great doing just that; you stumbled upon a very old friend you hadn't seen in ages!! Excited to see his face again, you spent most of your time catching up with him on the living room couch and seeing how life's been on his end. The conversation was going swell, nostalgia getting the best of the two of you. So much so that your old friend got a little tipsy from his drink and got a little handsy — putting his arm around you when the two of you would laugh reminiscing old memories together.

However, your laugh ceased when his laughs turned to abrupt howls of pain. You'd then turn behind to see your boyfriend standing behind the couch, who ripped the poor guy's hand off your shoulder and is crushing his wrist with a deadly grip. Immediately, you'd stand to stop the commotion and excuse your friend for your man's actions (he surprisingly expressed forgiveness), and you two left that party. No words were exchanged in the car ride home, but you had your mind set at that late hour. There's no point in being with someone who's just going to be envious of anyone who has your attention — even old friends, for God's sake! This is it, for sure! Those were the words you went with as you stormed from the bathroom and into the bedroom where your boyfriend lies on the bed of your shared bedroom. With crossed arms and furrowed brows, you tell him these words with a confident breath:

"I think we should break up."

ʚ⁺˖↪ Suguru Geto

"Mmmph!! Ahhhnnn!! S-Suguru, stop!! Your hands, too fa—Ahhhh!!!"

"Hold still, baby." He coos to your ear before teasing it with a blow; shudders run down your spine from the breath play.

With your back to him and your hands tied with a rope, Geto uses this position to play with your vulnerable body. Your panties exposed for him to see, a wet patch blossoming more and more from the touches of his slender fingers as they roughly rub on your clothed, leaky cunt. The lacy material becoming drenched with your fluids, he has your body twitch on him, and he sneers at the pathetic display.

"Ohhh, fucking shit—hic..." Tears well up from shut eyes, the swift motions of his fingers increasing the pounding in your head. "Suguru, pleaseee, it's teww muuuch!!"

"Awww, is it?" He mocks your whines. "Serves you right, though. You scared me with what you said earlier. Breaking up with me after I was trying to make sure that guy didn't try anything funny with my princess?"

"Nnnnmm! I'm s-sorry, Suguru! But he was my friend, and you were bei—Iiiiieee!!!"

Your body jerks when Geto snakes his hand inside your panties, using a forefinger on your clitoris and rubbing harshly on the sensitive bud. You can just picture the cunning smirk with the chuckle you hear while he kisses your bare shoulder. "Well, your friend seemed to be a little too touchy for my liking. And you," Geto suddenly sinks his teeth into your shoulder, having your nude figure jump at the bite. He uses his free hand to keep a leg to the side, making sure your legs are wide for him. "You seemed too close with this friend, huh. You were practically making him blush the entire time."

Did I really? Was I being too open? You couldn't answer those questions; it hurts to think with your boyfriend's fingers inside your slit, fingertips grazing your spongey walls, turning your brain to mush. The squelching racket from your southern lips and his digits ring your ears to a lewd trance — it makes your face dial to an unbearable heat.

"Nnmaaa, Ahhhhh!! Suguruuu," a tear makes its way down your hot cheek. Geto hums into your ear, and you shiver as he nibbles on your lobe. "Pleaseee, forgive me...I should've known you were just there for—Mmmm! M-Me...I'm sorry, so please..."

It's best that you couldn't see Geto's eyes narrow at your apology, the bedroom light donning his dark orbs a purple hue. He snickers, "See? My Y/n is understanding. Such a sweetheart for me, huh." He lays sweet kisses down your neck. "You're forgiven. Not thinking about breaking up with me now, right?" You nod erratically, earning a hearty chuckle while he grabs for something on the side. "Good, but we're not done yet."

Your sweat runs cold when you hear a familiar buzz when Geto presses a button on a small remote. You turn to see a bullet vibrator, the mattress experiencing the whirr of its vibrations. And when he picks the toy up and brings it down to your inner thighs, your anxiousness scales to an all-time high.

But you're too late to voice concerns as the toy makes contact with your clitoris, the delicate bud unprepared for the touch of the cold surface and intense buzzing. Especially with him pressing down on your clit and bringing his fingers back into your vagina again, his digits scraping your tender walls, your orgasm hit you within seconds.

Your nude body bucks to the aftershocks of your climax, your cunt pulsing around Geto's fingers, and come coating his digits and sliding down to the sheets. The pitch of your wails descends with every exhale, your mind too fuzzy to think of anything else but sinking into your man's hold.

Geto rubs small circles on your clit with the vibrator; you gasp and try to squirm away, yet to no avail. "Did so good, princess. Kinda wanna take a picture for your friend. Show him how much of a great time you're having with me...I'm kidding, I'm kidding~, so don't cry. Okay, princess?"

ʚ⁺˖↪ Toji Fushiguro

"Hoohh!! Ohhhh!!! Tojiiiii!! W-Wait, I already came—Eeeyahhhh!!"

Toji's got you with your back to the bed, legs propped up by his hands, and your bare cunt not even centimeters away from his face. His mouth is situated on the folds of your chasm, tongue lapping around your slick walls, and nose brushing on the fragile button that is your clit. Your moans at a higher pitch than before as your man is feasting on you for another orgasm, his chin already painted of your come from a few minutes ago.

Your legs tremble from the pleasurable abuse on your sore nerves, yet Toji's hold prevents you from so much as writhing away from him. He lifts his chin from your sloppy cunt, licking traces of your come from the scar on his lip. "C'mon, mama. I know you can cum more than one time." He gives your inner lips a suck before swapping his mouth with his fore and middle finger, the two sliding into your vulva with ease. Your brows skewed down and mouth agape for moans to escape, Toji enjoys your disheveled display with a devilish grin. "Heh, look at you. Lookin' all pretty like this because of my fingers."

"Haaaahh, Tojiii, Ohh, Jesus..." You grip the sheets below as his digits swirl and pump to and fro into your cunt, difficult to breathe with the hot air surrounding you and heat spreading from your cheeks to your ears. "Pleaseeee, I'm too sensitive — hic — G-Give me a min—Ohhhooo!!"

"Aht aht aht, don't act soft on me now," he gives your slit a smack, the rough hit from his palm catching you off guard, almost choking on your breath. The stinging pain pushed tears to roll from hot cheeks into the pillowcase. "You already tried that with that lil' friend of yours. Lettin' that fucker get too close fr' my eyes, and then you walkin' up here actin' all high and mighty talkin' about a breakup. Where's that now, Y/n? Hmm?" He licks circles on your clit, having you howl his name in despair — music to his ears. "Did'ja let the kid make you forget who can make you crazy like this?"

You peer down — big mistake — to see his fierce emerald eyes honed in on yours. You chew on your lip at the helpless atmosphere you're drowning in. "Mmmph...Toji, please, I'm sorry. I—Ohhhh, fuck!!" Toji's fingers do a 'come hither' motion, skimming your walls with the tip of his digits. "I really am...You just made me really upset that time, but, Hmmmm...I love you, I love you lots..."

The smirk on his face gets broader. "Ya know I ain't mad at you, not with that cute face of y'rs." Toji kisses your inner thighs, lightly nibbling on the skin to make you yelp. "Just teachin' my baby a lesson." Another slap to your hole results in a sudden scream from your puffy lips. "Who does this belong to?"

"...you—Ahhhhhh!!!" A third smack.

"Louder."

"Yours!" Your voice sounds broken. "I'm yours, only yours..."

"Good," you flinch at the feeling of his palm on your slit again, but he soothes the pain away by rubbing gently. "Now you just sit still while I finish, 'kay, sweetie?"

He doesn't give you time to reply, stuffing his mouth on your cunt and sucking on your folds. The image of his raven hair buried down to your thighs and his gruff moans as he eats you out shed you into another level of embarrassment that you throw your head back to the pillow. The commotion between your legs and his mouth is the only thing you hear that suffocates your senses, along with the growing heat.

Tingles crawl up your spine. "Nnnmm, naaaaa, Toji, I'm so close, I'm gonna..."

Toji hears your pleas, a hand dragged to your clitoris, giving the swollen bud a few pinches while he resumes using his mouth to stimulate your heightened nerves for another release. And it comes in hard, choked sobs lashed out from your throat as your body is stimulated to experience your second climax of the night.

With his grip still on your legs, your body is forced to endure your crescendo, muscles tensing, abdomen tightening, and your essence being lavished by your boyfriend, his tongue moving to gather your come to drink and savor from your messy entrance.

And when things finally calm down with your body following a steady rhythm, he withdraws from you with a satisfied grunt. Licking the last remnants of you from his thirsty lips, he gazes down with a proud leer. "Always tastin' so fuckin' good fr' me, mama." He takes off his shirt, his eyes still honed in on you. "We're not done yet, though. Gonna spend all night makin' you go crazy fr' me."

[mayakern]

hiiii it's me! devin! ur favorite!

maya is still banned from doing big business things on social media while she takes time to rest and detoxify from the poison that is running social media full time for ten years. everybody clap! yay!

i'm here to share some info on our button-up shirt and dress preorders!

as many of you already know, i lost my anti-preorder campaign due to the high minimum per design. there's been some confusion and uncertainty. carsyn's doing her best but preorders are overwhelming and i have some time today

SO TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS:

how close are you to hitting the minimum goal for the button-up shirts and dresses?

not close lol. as of 4/26 we're at about 8% funded. i refuse to panic until after may 3rd

why the funeral design?

the funeral design won our design poll

initially we were going to run preorders for two designs: funeral as well as astronauts. when we got news that the minimum would be 400 garments per design (we're able to spread that across the button-up shirts and dresses) we decided to cut back to one design. we're really not big enough to expect 800 orders on an $80-90 item

why not another design?

another design did not win the design poll

what would have been chosen other than funeral or astronaut?

deadly florals, hiss from a rose, microorganisms, and hands were all the top placers in the design poll after funeral

can you do solid color?

yes

why didn't you do solid color?

you can buy a solid color button-up shirt or dress from anywhere. the plan has always been to introduce these garments in solid color after their initial introduction

...so can you do solid color?

we will consider doing solid color preorders if these preorders bomb

how much would solid color cost?

probably the same. it's not much cheaper. it's faster to make tho

how much would the ecovero viscose cost instead of cotton?

maybe like $10 cheaper

it's really soft tbh but it's a different weave from the viscose for the skirts. it's my number one fabric for the button-ups but alas the cotton fandom won for now

what happens if preorders bomb?

we cancel and refund all preorders.

maybe we'll try again with a different design or with fewer features after we have some time to decompress from the nightmare that is running preorders (can you tell i hate preorders). if they bomb bad enough we may completely nix patterned button-up shirts and dresses. we don't know yet!

does that affect the picnic top?

the picnic top is completely separate. since it's made out of a different fabric it has its own minimum, so it will not be affected by button-up shirt and dress preorders

and like, to be totally honest, it's way cheaper to produce. we can eat some of the cost and just make them. they're small enough to store easily and they're at a lower price point so we can expect to sell them after we receive them, like the wrap tops

btw, we have other ready-to-ship things already in production. we've been working on a whole secret project. surprise!

why did you launch preorders for the button-up shirt/dress at the same time as the picnic top?

the picnic top sample came in with the button-up dress sample and it needed very little alteration. also maya liked it. also we may be developing an entire line inspired by the picnic top so keep an eye out for that next spring

why is the new button-up shirt more expensive than the old button-up shirt?

it's more expensive to make

why is it more expensive to make?

this is a different factory from the one we used before. it's more expensive because they pay their staff a higher wage and likely have other costs

this is a different fabric from the one we used before. it's a stretch cotton with a GOTS certification

this is imported from a different country from the one we used before. turkey has much higher import fees to the US

what is a GOTS certification?

the short version is the fabric itself is more environmentally friendly and produced with more fair labor practices than standard cotton

you can read the long version here here

can you do fulfillment from somewhere other than the US?

we're working on it. it probably won't lower prices tho, since fulfillment centers also cost money

anyway...

none of this is to shame someone for not preordering. groceries are expensive and things are tight, plus it kinda sucks to spend on a tight budget and not get what you ordered for a few months

(can you tell i hate preorders)

i think there's a lot of surprise since we've never done preorders on a single design before, and that's fair! we debated on doing a kickstarter but a) i hate doing kickstarters b) kickstarter takes a percentage of sales and our profit margin on these is already lower than we'd like it to be

i'm tired and i can't remember anything else i wanted to say. i may answer any additional questions from my own tumblr (@punchyemblem and now i'm gonna get a notification that i'm gonna be jumpscared by) but carsyn will be handling most questions

also don't worry, when you say nice things we still show maya. also she's fine, she's just in her (forced and highly necessary and possibly permanent) limited social media era

[littleskrimp]

Can we just talk about the differences in Beatrice’s character between these two fight scenes?

In season 1, Beatrice is the one who is the moral compass of the group. She’s always keen on the mission and the mission alone. During that particular hallway fight, she only injured her opponents. The goal was to retrieve the divinium shield which doesn’t mean much to her personally but that doesn’t matter because it was a mission for the good of the OCS. So, she kept the damage to a minimum. Season 1 Beatrice puts her personal opinions and feelings aside for the good of The Order. It’s just how she operates given what we know about her past.

In season 2, we see parts of Beatrice start to open up (mostly due to falling for and being around Ava). There’s times where she lets her emotions get in the way of the mission. For example, when she kept Ava from detonating the divinium bomb. When the mission went to hell, she immediately retreated to her old way of thinking. She kept her personal opinions and feelings to the back of her mind. That’s why she said she couldn’t go with Ava when she told her to run and hide. In the season 2 hallway fight, Beatrice’s mind laser focused on getting to Ava. They had kissed for the first time not long before and everything after that became clear to Beatrice. She wasn’t going to lose Ava like this. It may not look it by her expression, but Beatrice is all amped on her emotions at this point. She warned those who kept her from getting to Ava because Beatrice is still the moral one. When they refused to walk away, there was bloodshed. All because she wanted to get to the Warrior Nun. HER Warrior Nun. Her Ava. ❤️

Also, the colors! The left side is blue which to me symbolized Beatrice’s stern and contained nature. It can often be seen as cold. No emotions. The right side is yellow. Maybe orange. Leads me to view this as Beatrice’s inner fire (like the woman in the bar said) burning to be free, finally being let out like an inferno. All emotions on high.

I love characters like Beatrice who walk the lines of nobility and who are considered the moral one. When it comes to those they love getting hurt/possibly dying, they unleash this deadly dangerous side to them in order to protect the ones they love.

[slasherhoe87]

Peepaw Michael's s/o thinking he passed in his sleep 😭😭

So this happened to me with my s/o this morning. I'm still shaken but all is well... felt writing would help me.

SFW / Fem!reader / Angst, fluff, emotional

The sun's warmth and light greeted you when you awoke. Sighing, you felt like if you closed your eyes you could easily fall back asleep.

You turned your head to your left and smiled fondly. Michael was fast asleep. He seemed to sleep longer and more often these days.

Its been five years since he barged into your life and for the first three years of knowing him he did not sleep often nor for so long as he does now.

His age is catching up to him. Though still a deadly powerhouse you notice he comes home earlier than he used to after a night of hunting. When he returns you spy the subtle stiffness in his gait, the crick in his right knee, the weary sigh behind the beat up old mask.

He doesn't protest and fuss like he used to when you offer to draw him a warm bath with your favourite horror themed bath bombs. He sinks into the tub with a blissful groan while you soap your beloved up and massage his taut, knotted shoulders.

You find he seems more content now to sit by your side on the sofa, watching movies or tv - his large calloused hand holding your own, his thumb rubbing small circles on its back. Before this, he lurked alot in the shadows and corners of your small home. Always alert, always hovering, standing, watching. Now he just wants to be close to you at all times.

In the beginning of your relationship, touch was something he was not comfortable with. He had reminded you of a feral cat - aggressive, aloof, skittish. Half the time he ignored you unless he wanted food or sex.

But now, he sought out your touches, your hugs, your cuddles, like a man starved. And sex was no longer just sex - it was love making. It was no more just animalistic rough rutting - now Michael sought your hands to intertwine his fingers through your own. No more does the mask stay on. Now you are gifted with warm, loving soft kisses to your jaw, neck, chest, forehead and mouth.

Sighing softly, you rolled over to face Michael's back and gently ran your fingers up his bare arm. You leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his neck and then to the side of his handsome, matured face.

You frowned slightly when you received no response. Michael was typically a fairly light sleeper and by now he would'e felt your touches and responded as he always does.

You tried again, this time running the palm of your hand up and down his toned bicep while murmuring a soft good morning in his ear.

Nothing.

Worry slowly bubbled up within you as you still received no response from your lover.

"Michael?" You tentatively call out.

Nothing.

Another call of his name and a firm shake of his bicep this time.

Nothing.

"Michael?"

You place your hand in front of his nose and barely feel any air leaving his nostrils.

You shake his arm harder this time. "Michael!?"

Nothing.

Your bottom lip starts to tremble, your eyes blur with unshed tears, your heart thrums wildly inside your chest all the while shaking his arm again and again.

Just as you let out a choked sob thinking the worst, he jerks awake and immediately turns to look at you, bleary eyed and slightly confused, still in a sleepy haze.

You break down and start crying in full force. Your body feels shaky, your heart is still pounding in your chest.

Michael swiftly sits up and wraps you in his strong embrace. He doesn't know what the hell is going on or why you are so panicked. His first thought is perhaps you had a terrible nightmare and simply need some consoling. If that's the case then he's happy to oblige for the only person he gives a damn about in this world.

Your hold on Michael is like iron - like if you grip him any softer he'll disappear from you like sand falling through your fingers.

Eventually your heartbeat evens out and you feel like you can breath again, think again, feel anything other than dread and sorrow.

Your rest your forehead against Michael's for a moment before you begrudgingly pull away from him.

When you look into his good eye you see worry and confusion. He tilts his head in question as to what had you so spooked.

You look down at your lap, wipe your teary eyes and tear stained cheeks before looking up at him again.

"Y-you wouldn't wake up... I touched you, shook you, called and shouted your name but you continued to lay motionless. I even felt for your breath on my fingers and felt nothing"

You took in another deep breath. Michael had begun to gently rub soothing circles on your intertwined hands.

"I... thought you died in your sleep"

Your lip trembled once more and sobs came out in full force again. You didn't know what you would do in a world without Michael.

Before Michael, you had felt like you were living your life on auto-pilot, just going through the motions of a mediocre life.

Then on halloween night, five years ago, Michael barged into the back door of your small home, injured, bleeding. After getting over the initial shock of the Shape in your home, you tended to his wounds as best you could and Michael seemed to have decided that he wanted to stick around after that.

Now, five years later you truly felt Michael was your soulmate. You only wished that the two of you could've met sooner... that you could've had more time with Michael.

After hearing your answer Michael was taken aback. He certainly didn't expect to hear that of all things. Did he really sleep so deeply last night? It seems so. Though thinking on it now, he has noticed that for a while now he has been waking up more groggily, his eye taking longer to open, his mind taking longer to clear from sleep, him sleeping in well after y/n has gone to work.

He nodded his head and gave a soft sigh. Before he would've scoffed and glared at you but now he could understand where you were coming from - he was entering his winter years and the chance of passing in one's sleep would increase with each month and year to come.

Cupping his large, warm hand to your soft cheek he leaned in giving you a firm, passionate kiss. Within it was the message that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. You spent the morning making love with one another - the morning's ordeal forgotten.

[rambyol]

You know what doesn't sit right with me? The fact that in E4C4 [<-spoilers:] when Bruce finds John in Harley's old room there's the option to Slap John (while he has a Bruise and Tears around his eyes) or Yell at him, but never an option to actually COMFORT (hug) the guy? What kind of conclusions are we meant to draw from that? (Are we meant to believe Bruce is just... more likely to be insensitive or cruel... towards John?... ;-;)

I completely agree with that sentiment. There really should have been an option to comfort John more, however I understand why there wasn’t and what we can dissect from that scene. So let’s jump in!

Now I like a healthy balance between canon, subtextual, and subjective interpretation. So I think it’s important to start with the context behind that scene. Here’s what we know; The Interrogation with John takes place Post-Bodhi Spa/Lab scene. The stakes are very high because Harley has the virus, Riddler’s body has been ruined and is no longer preserved meaning there’s no chance to get a cure, and Avesta and Bruce noticed makeshift bombs around the hideout.

So their main objective is to find Harley. And they were anticipating that the person inside Harley’s office would be Harley. They weren’t expecting John, since he’d disappeared after the agency raided the Lab.

John is the closest and only chance they have to find and stop Harley, so everything that Bruce did in that scene was done under stress and a sense of urgency. And if you play Bruce as a good person in that scene he exhibits a reasonable balance of empathy and compassion whilst also keeping grounded in their situation;

Joker: “There’s no point. It’s over. The Pact. The dream. Us.”

Bruce: “Not yet it’s not she’s still out there. With a deadly virus in a city full of innocent people.”

Without the luxury of time, Bruce comforts John in the only ways he could’ve. Remember, John is supposedly drunk, being erratic, and at times wielding a gun whilst stating he doesn’t care about the deadly situation they’re in. So it’s not extreme to suggest that Bruce, or anyone in such a situation would act cautiously. I mean Avesta is on guard that entire scene because of how erratically John acts.

The alternative to the slap option is the hand on the shoulder gesture that Bruce does, in a way it’s the closest physically intimate act he did which was a step or two removed from a hug. In my ‘The Stab’ post, I mention how physical contact between John and Bruce is gradually built up throughout the narrative, so I guess since John hugs Bruce in the Carnival Bro’s scene, we could interpret Bruce’s touch to John’s shoulder as a moment that anticipates a bigger act of physical intimacy.

There’s definitely something to be said about the lack of acknowledgment towards John’s black eye. He’s just told them that he was physically hit by Harley and there’s no attempt to console him or show concern. Now again, this could be due to the high stakes at play, but of course there’s a broader discussion to be had about male victims of abuse not being treated/taken seriously. (I’m saving my thoughts on this for a future post)

Lastly, I wanted to bring your attention to this moment.

(and I don’t want this to discredit the point about male victims of abuse but rather relate to John’s character and his dynamic with Bruce)

No matter what choice we pick for Bruce, John has the exact same response. I think that, John may have been ‘milking’ this time with Bruce.

He has Bruce’s complete attention (albeit not for the reason one would hope) and spends the majority of the scene venting about how Harley and Bruce let him down whilst also ignoring Bruce and Avesta’s pleas for help only to suddenly change his mind at the end. I think that moment serves as a reminder that John’s intentions and emotions are ambiguous.

And Bruce understands this which is why he doesn’t tolerate any of John’s ambiguity when you select the harsher/objective choices, which can come off as cruel.

I hope that gives you some new ideas or reaffirm ones you had! I’ve been meaning to analyse that scene more but I think all my ideas come under separate topics so we’ll see if I get around to that sometime!

[f10werfae]

Sy, I am Backup

pairing: Captain Syverson x Girlfriend!Sniper!Reader

summary: Reader is like a total badass super deadly sniper and she leads like a badass group of women who are also deadly soldiers. Anyways the ladies are called in to help rescue Sy and his team? (requested by @stormcloudss )

Warnings: Gun Violence

requests are open/ likes, comments and reblogs are appreciated♥️

Henry Cavill Masterlist, Full Masterlist, Taglist Form

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

“You sure you’ll be okay baby? You know the girls and I are always on call to help?” Y/n said helping pack her boyfriend Sy’s backpack for his next mission at his recent position, commander. “I know sugar, but i’d rather not put you into danger, ya know this” Sy huffed throwing on his boots before hotly kissing his woman goodbye and off he went.

Y/n L/n, wasn’t the most innocent, with her being head of the sniping division, she had quite the talent herself. In fact that’s how Sy and her met, they were put into the same training group at the deployment centre, and voila. Sy couldn’t help but find himself drawn to this amazing woman, not only was she able to carry herself, but Sy as well (Literally)

Now 7 months down the line the two had moved in together and were finally getting serious, until the dreaded call came. They needed Sy out there again, luckily it was only a short drive and a smaller scale task, but still all the more dangerous. Even though Sy was mean and scary to others, to Y/n he was nothing but her big baby that asked to share showers, kisses and cuddles on the daily.

“Ok I don’t have a good feeling about this” Y/n whispered to herself and calling up her fellow girls on their groupchat, watching as Sy’s truck pulled off and out of their home’s driveway. Rifling through her old gear, Y/n got out her old suit and equipment with the phone stuck between her ear and shoulder.

Steph: God did I think we would never talk again, Miss L/n

Y/n: Come on now Steph, it’s only been two months

Grace: Did commander send us a task or something?

Y/n: No but he sent Sy’s team one, a drug bust, which is unusual because how violent could it get for soldiers to be there

Sophie: Jesus there must be bombs or something, there’s no way it’s just a drug bust

Y/n: That’s what i’m sayin! Which is why I think we need to get ready girls-

Stephanie: Woah woah owah, ready for what?

Y/n: Look, all of our men are on that squad, and we know damn well their general is going to hound us for backup

Grace: She’s got a point, we are the most experienced snipers around the place

Stephanie: I can’t believe i’m actually agreeing to this, meet y’all at L/n’s place in 15

Sophie: Omg the gang is back together

Within a half hour, all four girls were stood in the living room, strapped into their camo gear. Hairs in ponytails, heavy duty boots in tow and let’s not forget them reloading their customised weapons of war. Each different sniper sporting a different colour, each representing each woman’s aura. Y/n’s was a strong deep red, you can guess the reasoning for that.

“So what do we just wait here or something? How do we even know they’ll need us, there’s like 6 of them” Grace asked setting down her green sniper and sitting down onto the velvet white couch.

“Because of this” Y/n rushed out showing them the newest message from their commander

General L/n, assistance is needed at (insert address) Be prepared for situations 302 and 105. Mild casualties reported, enter from the side and take position. You know what to do.

“302? That means mild explosives does it not” Sophie asked looking at the phone herself, her hand reaching for her purple sniper, her fingertips tingling with anticipation and exhilaration.

“Yeah and 105, means outnumbered. Holy shit girls, we got ourselves a good one” Grace shouted getting up, the rest of them following her out of the house and into the one van they were going to use.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Reaching the destination which seemed to be a dingy old warehouse, the girls got a glimpse of the amount of men walking in and out of the building, not their own men of course. Slinging on their extra ammo and their snipers, the girls found a wide enough pipe system for them to climb up skilfully. Y/n the first one to end up onto the roof, found herself a nice little spot with an opening straight into the warehouse. Setting up her stand and sniper, peeked into her scope and saw Sy’s squad.

Oh my were they outnumbered, they were practically surrounded, all of them tied up and some were clearly bleeding out. Just how strong were these other men? I mean granted there must be 100 of them, but wow.

Y/n felt her breath hitch when she saw her man, Sy, sitting dejectedly against a pile of cardboard boxes. His face still as brave as ever, but this time sporting more than a few cuts with blood running down his face. Y/n was going to kill these sons of bitches even if it was the last thing she did.

Looking up around the roof, Y/n saw that the other three girls were also raging, all of them nodding at each other before focusing down at their targets. Y/n found her first shot, a bald man who was tattooed all over, he seemed to be the one giving the orders.

Counting down under her breath

“3, 2, 1” And the trigger went off, the bullet embedding itself into the man’s head, instantly knocking him into the ground.

“Gotcha asshole” Y/n whispered loading up her next bullet, hearing all the men down below go into chaos at who shot their boss, the other three girls taking down what was assumed to be his right hand men. Leaving only the pawns of this vigilante group, when all of a sudden, Grace found herself making eye contact with one of the men, his smirk revealing golden teeth and a horrid face.

“Shit shit shit, i’ve been spotted, we gotta go now!” Grace shouted slinging back on her gun and running to the other girls, everyone hearing the men shouting up the side of the compound before they felt the shaking of the pipe system. Their only way down.

“Ok fuck uh- we gotta jump” Y/n rushed out looking over the hole she was spying on, noticing the high stack of cardboard boxes that could break their fall.

“Ok L/n even if we jump, we have to somehow get six injured men into a van, how does that work?”

“Let me take care of that, you guys jump and get them all into the van. If i’m not there in 10 minutes, leave without me yeah?” Y/n said stepping away from the hole and putting the other girls forward towards it.

“The fuck do you mean? Sy will kill us if anything happens to you, plus we can’t just leave you. No man left behind” Steph shouted

“Look, I won’t be left behind if this fucking works ok?! Now just go!” Y/n shouted, seeing the three girls salute to her before each taking their turn to jump onto the boxes, when all of a sudden Y/n heard the sound of metal behind her. They were here.

“Well, it’s just a little lady, musta got lost?” The front man said, twirling a pistol in his hands,

Within seconds Y/n had aimed her sniper and had shot the man full force sending him off the edge of the building, “Bring it on you filthy fuckers” She shouted loading in another round and going to town at the men in front of her, whilst running about trying to dodger bullets

- -

Grace, Sophie and Steph despite hurting their feet in the landing had now found themselves alone with their soldiers, untying them rapidly until a gruff hand pulled Sophie’s, “Where’s Y/n? I know she’s in your division. Agent L/n” Sy asked desperately limping, Sophie couldn’t help but stay quiet and instead looking towards the ceiling where they heard a loud cry say “OW FUCK SAKE” A woman’s cry.

- -

Y/n had near wiped them out, leaving one man behind to step over the bodies of his comrades. Realising she had no more bullets left, the man smiled at the sound of the empty gun, aiming his gun towards her leg before shooting it, immediately sending her to the ground, “OW FUCK SAKE” Clutching onto her leg Y/n growled and groaned, watching the man step closer towards her, a victorious look on his face.

“Looks like you’re down sweetheart, how unfortunate, women are always pathetic” He spat laughing at her, walking back towards the pipe system, leaving her to lay there in agony.

“Not yet” Y/n groaned pulling the key out of the hand grenade she was wearing with her teeth, and throwing it as hard as she could towards him as he bent down to climb

- -

“I need to go back for Y/n, you fuckers don’t understand-“

“No trust me we didn’t want to leave her either, but her orders were to get you guys into the van and wait ten minutes” Grace said guarding the back of the van which held the 6 grateful men, thankfully all of them only having mild injuries ranging from dislocations to cuts

*BOOM*

Shattering their conversation, everyone watched as a man's body blew up mid air, parts of the building edge being blown up to pieces. Everyone going silent at the thoughts in their heads,

"get the fuck out of my way or i'll make you" Sy growled, Grace immediately sighing and letting him step out, his now bandaged leg giving him the ability to somehow walk strongly. Sy groaned as he pulled himself up the pipe system, his heartbeat pounding in his ears at the fear of what's happened to his beloved girlfriend. His first love as well as that.

Relief filling him as he looked over the edge and saw a very much conscious and in pain

Y/n, who still had that same smirk on her face, “Told you I was here for backup baby” She shouted watching him shake his head and walk over to her,

“Don’t you ever fucking do that again, ya hear me?” Smashing his lips onto hers as if she would disappear if he didn’t hold on tight enough, that’s how he felt.

(A few weeks later)

“Baby can I have a chocolate bar please” Y/n shouted from the living room, her casted leg set up on the couch, with Aika licking at her exposed toes.

“Comin’ right up honey” Sy said walking into the kitchen before settling beside her, her head falling on his chest with his arms wrapped around her shoulder.

“So about our next mission-“

“Shut it sugar, we’re not going anywhere anymore, not after that last scenario. We are done baby”

“What do you mean done? We can’t just quit?” Y/n questioned looking up at him confused, his lips pressing soft kisses to her temple and cheeks

“Of course not, but parental leave is a thing i’m sure we could get” He shrugged smirking down at her, taking a swig of his beer before taking a deep inhale in her neck, smelling her sweet peachy scent that he oh loved so much. A bit too much actually.

“But we aren’t parents Sy- Wait- HOLD ON-“

——-

Taglist Tags (Form is up there^^): @thereisa8ella @beck07990 @vrittivsanghavi @diyabhanushali1 @angelmather1 @hp-hogwartsexpress @lastwandastan @fdl305 @uwiuwi @alexxavicry @bookfrog242 @alina02 @aerangi @i-beg-your-pardon-laufeyson @sparklemarysunshine @oliviah-25 @mischiefsemimanaged @nikkitc0703 @hallecarey1 @misshale21 @girl-of-multi-fandoms @mansaaay @princess-paramour @stormcloudss @marvelgurl @taramaria @mysticfalls01 @kebabgirl67 @athena-roy @tinyelfperson @madebylilly @dumb-fawkin-bitch @kimhtoo17 @pandaxnienke

[chaoticstarlightwonderland]

Spy x Family Naegiri + Izuru Kamukura AU

Kyoko Kirigiri as the spy suddenly tasked with making a family appear out of thin air. As a young girl, her father died in the early bombings and her mother, fearing for Kyoko’s safety, sent her on a train to her estranged grandfather. Said grandfather was the leader of an intelligence agency and from then on Kyoko was trained in all things related to spying. Even after her grandfather’s death she still continued with this career, believing that it was her duty to give other people a peaceful lifestyle that she will never be able to truly understand.

Makoto Naegi as the assassin who needed to swallow his moral quandaries to look after his sister. As he has gotten older he felt like he couldn’t leave because a lot of his targets were dangerous people. The current peace is so fragile, he wants to do everything he can so that more people can have hope for the future.

But who would their telepathic child be? I know Shuichi is often depicted as a naegiri baby but I don’t think he is chaotic enough to get into the same shenanigans that Anya does. What character would purposefully cause so much chaos for their own amusement?

Izuru (Kamukura) the young telepath who is desperate for anything to escape the eternal boredom. Everyone’s thoughts are so predictable. Even going to the outside world quickly become boring for the young boy.

Izuru is definitely smarter than Anya in canon, but not as smart as he is in DR. He is good at the sciences, the technical stuff and the hard rules the language and arts, but he is so apathetic that he struggles with emotional nuances in all these subjects. Perhaps the reason why scientists thought he was a failure is because Izuru didn’t care enough about what people thought and the results of the tests.

Whether he escaped or was kicked out, Izuru survives using his telepathy. He decides to use a different name to cover his tracks, calling himself “Hajime” when other people ask. Through all this, nothing reduces his boredom and he never tries to bond with anyone. He gets adopted for his intelligence and kicked out for his creepiness 4 times.

Then one day Kyoko arrives at his orphanage, and Izuru reads the most interesting mind he has ever encountered, the mind of a spy. Surely if there are any people in the world that could keep Izuru entertained, it would be the thrilling, dangerous life of a secret agent. Izuru also supposed they have something in common since Izuru created the “Hajime” identity.

The two have a different bond than Loid and Anya initially. Kyoko and Izuru initially find a decent rapport due to their naturally stoic and analytical personalities. Their first roadblock is when Kyoko has to get Izuru to do something he is not interested in (Such as studying subjects he is not interested in or befriending kids/targets). Kyoko realises the two haven’t actually been acting like parent and child before then. Kyoko buys parenting books for research and realises that Izuru’s behaviour may be a trauma response for his past. Izuru experiences an unknown emotion having an adult not throw him out when he’s being difficult. Also, Kyoko understands Izuru more than other cuz she herself can be very detached to individual problems. For Kyoko it’s due to her upbringing and because she is usually busy focusing on the bigger national issues.

In comes Makoto who takes Yor’s role as the “emotionally intelligent parent” in the family. Izuru immediately wants this harmless-looking deadly assassin under his roof, and tries to set the two adults up. Unlike Anya who sings about she wants a mama, Izuru is probably like “Hello, my mother is a single woman who is considered attractive by many people. How would you like to snatch her up before the rest of the competition.” Complete deadpan 5 year old here. Makoto and Kyoko are very shocked, but they do end up talking and eventually settle into the arrangement they do in canon.

Here Makoto acts as a stronger emotional glue to Kyoko and Izuru as the two are too stoic to develop a proper bond on their own. Makoto is also very caring towards Izuru and tries to be supportive when he knows that Izuru struggles with emotions. Both with his own or other people. Izuru is a soo a bit shocked by this because before he was always demonised for supposedly having no emotions but Makoto accepts Izuru just the way he is. I think Izuru quickly becomes attached even if the boy can’t explain why, and Makoto is happy to have such a cute stepson.

As for how Makoto covers his assassin skill, unlike Yor with clumsy lies, Makoto has a “talent” for disguising attacks and assassin skills as dumb luck- sometimes good sometimes bad. You know that martial art that is based on the fighter being drunk during? Well Makoto is similar except it’s not drunkenness but clumsiness that Makoto uses. Partly out of practice to disguise his skills, and partly due to Makoto-brand luck, it often looks like he slipped and accidentally hit someone so hard they passed out. Or he slipped, tumbled down a hill and landed on the bad guy. Kyoko never gets suspicious because Makoto’s klutziness is so extreme it can’t be faked. Surely.

Like the original all 3 grow to become a family, even if they don’t realise it for a long while. Perhaps the character who ends up with the most change by the end is Izuru turned Hajime.

I see Izuru’s character progression in this AU like this:

In danganronpa, a boy named Hajime turns into lab creation Izuru Kamukura.

In this world, a lab creation called Izuru becomes a boy named Hajime.

[trulytiredhermit]

How about a reader who has deadly plushie bomb like Amber's Baron Bunny (A character from Genshin Impact)

Can you imagine if one of the links accidentally setting off the bomb plushie (if they didn't know the plushie had a bomb in there)

*Okay so I don't actually know anything about Genshin Impact so just gonna take Bomb Plushie and run with it lol!

Also I just went with that it's a bunny plushie because again I don't know anything about Genshin Impact or the Character.

Totally also not because I think it would be absolutely hilarious if Reader had a deadly pink bunny plushie

Also, sorry if Wind maybe seems out of character at the start! Since he’s getting into that teenager stage and maybe even from influence of Tetra’s crew, I somewhat headcannon him as trying to appear more ‘manly’ and mature the whole:

‘I don’t do ___ anymore because I’m a man now’ shtick

But he secretly still does/wants to

(Also, I'm trying out some dividers! let me know what y'all think of them!)*

Reader With A Plushie Bomb!

Wind stared at the pink plushie with a raised brow and a hint of perplexation in his eyes.

He knew Reader had told him not to touch it whatsoever and he responded with a little scoff of how he was far too old and manly to play with toys anymore.

but... it's warm, fluffly, pink fur just looked so inviting...

He had to touch it, just once he told himself and that was it!

Reaching out his fingers just barely grazed the silky fur of the plushie before it was taken away and Wind gaped in surprise.

Wild looked down at the toy curiously, turning it about as he smoothed the plush fur of the toy.

“This is a lot softer than Riju’s seal plushies, I’d love to have one.”

Wind snatched the toy out of the older man’s hands, first marveling at its softness before speaking up.

“Y-You’d actually want one of these? But I mean…” His words grew softer as if he wished for no one else to hear what he spoke of next.

“They’re toys though it’s not… manly right? I-It’s little kids stuff.”

The Champion just gave a small shake of his head with a bit of a smile present on his face, a chuckle breaking the silence.

"The Old man has said you can still be a kid at heart and be grown up at the same time? And besides as far as I'm concerned, if I want something I'm going to get it even if that something is seen as being 'childish'."

The young teen let out a soft sound, turning his attention back to the plushie within his hands he turned it around, admiring the cute dark pink bow that went well with its pink fur and long floppy ears where tufts of white resided to resemble the ears of a real rabbit.

"I think Aryll would like something like this... she always made me play dolls with her when we were younger."

His mind flashed with memories: Aryll forcing one of her dollies into his hand while she held the other, her voice becoming higher in pitch as she talked through her doll before returning to her normal with a small glare towards him until he begrudgingly began to play along, high-pitched voice and all.

Back then he had been slightly annoyed at the time but now? Right now he'd give anything to be back home playing with his little sister even if it was dolls.

"...I think I can agree with you about wanting one of these now, the bow feels so smooth too."

Wind rubbed at the silky bow around the toy's neck, Wild smiled at that and nodded, agreeing as he brought his scarred hand to feel the bow as well.

The soft sounds of the open plain surrounded them as they simply sat in the pleasant sounds of nature: the slight whooshing of the small breezes that swept their hair, the rustling of distant trees as said breeze swayed their branches full of leaves, the ticking sound from the...

The duo's ears twitched.

A ticking sound? Why was there a ticking sound all of a sudden?

A thick southern accent sounded behind them as the rancher of the group came closer with the others in tow, curious and perplexed looks upon their face at his actions until they too got close enough to hear the strange sound.

"How're ya makin' it do that tickin' noise?"

Twilight leaned over Wind due to his height, taking a closer look at the toy.

"Sounds like one of 'em fancy clocks they got up in Castle Town. Real cute though ain't it Legend?"

"Don't you start dog breath."

Legend rolled his eyes as Twilight barked out a laugh, even their resident Skyloftian seemed to be having a bit of a chuckle himself at the clear resemblance between the fluffy pink bunny toy and Legend's other form.

"Is that noise getting faster?"

Four noted, raising a brow as the mechanical sound did seem to be gaining in speed.

"I think it is. You know it's almost like it's counting down to something."

Hyrule added in as he marveled at the toy having never really seen many things like it within his own Hyrule.

Suddenly something seemed to click in the eldest of the group's mind as his one good eye widened and he let out a shout of warning.

"Everyone down now!"

Grabbing the toy, Time threw it as far away he could before taking cover with the rest behind his shield. Everyone was on-guard now.

The toy hit a patch of grass, landing just shy of a nearby tree, laying there harmless and innocent in all of it's fluffy pink glory yet none of the group made to move from their defensive position.

"What was wrong with it?"

Time didn't even turn, he knew it was Wars who had asked the question, likely with his own keen eyes never once leaving the toy just like Time was doing.

Call it instinct but Time was familiar with such mechanisms within things that looked like they could have been toys. That ticking sound reminded him of a tool he had used back when he was a child stuck in that dreaded three-day time loop.

"It sounded like it was a-"

A loud deafening boom had everyone's eyes going wide like saucers as the charming little pink toy rabbit was spread apart the area like one of Wild's Korok puzzles.

And the tree that stood idle by the once put together toy?

Well, it simply wasn't there, only a dark and charred impact area was in its place with fiery splintered wood all about.

A shiver racked through Legend as he stared at what could only have been the pink rabbit's head, now charred with its pink fur looking gooey and melted rather than fluffy.

Yeah, this would definitely be haunting him at night.

"It was a bomb?! HOLY FU-"

"Language."

Wind's near curse was put on pause as three sets of eyes, well two sets and one eye really, were watching him with stern looks. Of course, these eyes belonged to none other than the resident mother hens of their little group: Time, Twilight, and Sky.

Pouting, the sailor kicked a rock, grumbling to himself softly about how he "was old enough to swear now" and "it was a bomb disguised as a toy, that deserves a swear".

"Such craftmanship, I wonder how it was even made. To have something so delicate as a bomb be hidden within a toy that one could throw around yet only detonate when its bow was touched?"

Their resident smithy was off mumbling to himself as he marveled and pondered how such a thing was possible, clearly, he wanted to meet the maker and question them heavily.

"I think what we should really be focusing on is if this was a surprise attack from the shadow or other enemies like the Yiga. We are in your world after all Champion, have they done this sort of thing before?"

With his mind set in captain mode, Wars was going through all the negative scenarios about this; thinking that the toy must have either swapped out for the real thing to harm one of them or, goddesses forbid, their dear companion.

"No never, all they've really been capable of is disguising themselves as travelers. Something like this is out of their league."

A hurried set of footsteps sounded behind them, a panting voice coming out soon after.

"Hey what's going on?! I heard an explosion and-"

(Name)'s voice trailed off as they took in the scene: the bits of burnt pink and the boys' cautious behavior as Twilight pulled them in to the group huddle while Sky wrapped a protective arm around their shoulders.

"It is good that you're here, we think the Shadow or another enemy of ours set a trap for you. Don't worry, while you travel with us we'll-"

Sky's hushed attempt at soothing words was cut short.

"Which one of you didn't listen about not touching my stuffed bunny? I told you guys to not go around touching my things! At least one of you was able to realize the danger before disaster struck! For heaven's sake, it was a bomb you guys!"

A quiet hush fell over the group; wide eyes looking towards each other, over to the decimated area where the remains of the toy lay, and finally turning to look at their dear companion who glared down at them with what could only be described as the look a parent would give to their child when caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Then the group had an explosion of their own.

"What-you made it?!"

"You knew it was a bomb?!"

"What do you mean it was a bomb? I'VE SEEN YOU SLEEP WITH THAT THING!!"

Cries of shock and surprise filling the air while a few members only let out sighs of relief that this wasn't an attack from some outside source.

Meanwhile, (Name) just stared back, shrugging their shoulders nonchalantly as if this were just another Tuesday afternoon and they hadn't built a toy bunny with an explosive device capable of disposing a small building stuffed within it.

"As if it's hard, I've been building stuff like this for ages now and besides who says a bomb can't also be cuddly and cute."

Time rubbed the bridge of his nose, a heavy sigh leaving his lips as he stood. Placing his hand upon their companion's shoulder he gave them a pleading yet stern look.

"(Name)... no more toy bombs and tell us before making any more surprises like this."

(Name) whined, throwing their hands up into the air whilst gesturing to Wild.

"What? He gets to have his fun bombs why can't I?"

"No. Just... no, no more bombs."

Anyways obviously the whole group is going to collectively decide that while this plushie of Reader's can be an incredible advantage in battle/within a dungeon I think they would try to get Reader to not be making things like that or being around something so dangerous in the first place (especially if we're looking at a yandere chain)

But I definitely think Four would be ambushing Reader with questions about the mechanics and just how they had made it work, he NEEDS ANSWERS!! Wars is also wondering about how such a thing was made, though don't be fooled. He won't be letting Reader near anything that they could make a bomb out of. But it is comforting to know that in a pinch Reader can be quite the ingenuitive inventor.

Wind is cooking up schemes out the wazzo okay, he's the one ya gotta look out for because he WILL be stealing them, and he WILL be using them for his nefarious pranks (whether those be against monsters or other members of the chain is up to fate).

Wild's expecting his plushie at the end of the week, no if's and's or but's. He wants one and it better be as fluffy as the one that blew up. (Wind may or may not be hinting for one himself, eventually he'll force himself to outright ask for one)

Sky, Twilight, Time, and even Hyrule are all in the category of 'I don't care how cute it was and how much you whine about it. Ya ain't getting another one!' They're putting their foot down, no more bomb plushies and especially no cuddling bombs at night!

(cuddle one of them instead)

[littlelesbinonny]

The Devil's Den

Chapter 42: In Which The Daylight Is Dawning Pt. 3

You can read this also on Ao3 at: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46831621/chapters/117962293

::!TW!:: Depiction of self harm, but not in an unaliving way.

The concrete was still wet but it was setting quickly.

Without thinking twice you rushed past everyone in your way and dug your fingers into the mixture, prying and pulling and digging with all your might, but it was so thick and cold it was freezing your fingers. The bite of that icy cold was rendering your efforts to stall.

A large hand grabbed your forearm gently and pulled you back.

"It's ok, just relax," Karl assured you, a crooked smile meeting your visage full of panic, "I brought my favorite toys!" He exclaimed, dropping the huge bag off his shoulder, "explosives! Never know when you need 'em, right hot shot?"

Somehow his lack of, or refusal to show worry and concern helped calm your nerves for the most bizarre unknown reason. He seemed so sure of himself and it was comforting. At least someone was.

You were about to respond to Karl but Angie came flying down the stairs like a bat out of hell, which shocked you because you don't remember her disappearing at all.

"We gotta blow the fuckin' door NOW!!" She yelled, nearly slamming into Donna to stop herself, "I just came from the control room - " she paused and flashed her hands covered in blood, "mutants - the sun is already entering the silo! They have 10 minutes tops!"

Everything around you became unintelligible as they all began to speak at once. You sank into yourself as something else grabbed control of the wheel. A sudden flood of warmth ensnared you and your eyes shot up.

"The setup takes time and care! These bombs aren't ready-made - this isn't fuckin' McDonalds!!" Karl shouted, "If I blow this willy nilly the whole motherfuckin' tower might collapse!

"Are the tops of the silos accessible above ground?" you inserted quickly, "I can try to block out the sun from up there, buy us all some time."

There was really only a split second everyone was silently looking at you, then Karl sprung a giant grin on his face.

"She's a fuckin' genius, I know why Alcina likes her - c'mon fairy wings, let's go!"

Karl shoved everything he was holding in Dmitri's arms and patted him roughly on the shoulder, "you 'member the schematics, right? Lefty-loosey, righty-tighty, all that jazz, just don't push the splodey button until the amp light goes blue!"

You had no idea what the fuck he was talking about but you sure hoped Dmitri did, because Karl offered no more explanation or clarification and was grabbing your arm and hauling you through more of the underworld maze before you could blink.

Everything was in utter disarray as the two of you scrambled through the tunnels and corridors and passageways galore. There was plenty of carnage along the way too; dead bodies (mainly mutants to your relief) were splayed about here and there, the evident battle a chilling reminder that you were a very mortal being in a very deadly environment. Still, your mind was occupied with Alcina more than anything. The haste to squeeze every last drop out of every second to make them count giving you unwavering focus now.

Would there be anything to actually cover the silo opening? 

Would you be too late?

The thoughts had to come to a screeching halt as a very rickety metal ladder now faced you and Karl to the top of the particular part of this run down old building.

"Up ya go, sugar. That door to the left of the platform takes us right to the roof of the building."

You didn't need to be told twice.

Without further delay you took to the ladder and climbed, not bothering to wait for Karl, though he was right behind you. You ran down the even wobblier metal mesh platform and shoved your way through the almost rusted shut door, falling out into the bright sunlight. It was blinding and you covered your eyes as you eagerly searched for the silo top, finding it not too far off to the right of where you'd entered.

Karl was already on his way there and you followed, finding there to be a thick metal grate welded to the top of the wide silo opening. While this would make it easier to place things on to seal out the sun from below, you needed to find something to put there.

Your eyes couldn't help to gaze down the long dark tunnel below. You so wanted to be able to take time to see if you could see Alcina but this was the last time and place to doddle. 

Karl was already running about on the roof, looking for anything that he might be able to use for a shield against the sun, but there was barely anything worth having.

Displaced 2x4's, scrap metal not larger than a few feet wide or long, and the flooring to the roof was too secure to rip up either.

The sun was progressing. You were not.

As you were about to splay yourself over the grate, which really was far too large for just your body to make a difference, you heard and felt a familiarity come swooping in.

Your crows came cawing and flapping, landing next to you on the broad edge of the silo. 

You almost cried. 

Ebony was the first to hop to you and eye you curiously as if waiting for instruction.

"C-can you - can you all cover this and stop the sunlight from getting through down below?" 

Without so much as a pause, Ebony and the other five crows hopped onto a piece of rebar that made up the grate, spread their wings meticulously and created the most perfect make-shift wing umbrella you'd ever seen, completely blocking out all sunlight from below.

Several tears of relief went strolling down your freezing cheeks and you smiled, "thank you, thank you!" you whimpered, reaching out without thinking to stroke each of their heads with love and appreciation. In turn, to your surprise, you received tiny coos and purrs.

"I'll yell up to you from below when you can leave - thank you! I owe you all the croissants!"

A clatter pushed you back to the present and you looked behind you. Karl was standing there with the most 'what the literal fuck is happening' look on his face. The clattering seemed to be the large bit of scrap metal he had found somewhere along the line falling to the roof from his grasp. He just stood there, cock-eyed and slack-jawed.

There was little time for gawking. You rushed back over to him, wrapping your arms over your chest as the awareness of how damn cold it was up there smacked you across the face.

"The fuck was that?!" he blurted as the silent agreement to head back to the underground was put to action.

"Uh, well, they're my friends?" 

Yeah it sounded weird but you were literally talking to a lycan so, this was the farthest from the strangest thing that's ever happened in your life.

Karl chuckled loudly as he slammed the door behind him and the scaling of the ladder began once more. He grabbed the comm at his hip and radioed Dmitri, "you're clear to blow the son of a bitch, we, er fae-bae here got the top covered!"

"Copy. Charge still setting." 

"I'm gunna really look forward to getting to know you, bird-whispering fairy child - you are interesting as fuck," Karl mused as he led you back through the labyrinth of the underground.

You couldn't help but give him a look as he gave you a glance of his own, "fae-bae?" you inquired with a raised eyebrow.

He cackled, "get used to it; nicknames are my specialty. You outta hear some of the ones I have for your woman."

Your woman. 

Yes, she was your woman and you were hers. Even in this dire circumstance that gave you a blanketing warmth. And so many flooding emotions came from this and the enveloping of it was giving you more strength to carry on. This tidal wave of memories and feelings weaved through you and sewed you together for whatever lie ahead; you were ready; you were ready.

"Somehow I'm sure she has plenty for you as well; I may or may not have heard a few," you tested playfully.

"Oh yeah?" he asked just as the two of you were turning down another corridor, unfortunately being met with a rogue mutant far from the herd.

Karl's reflexes kicked in immediately and he shoved you out of the way into the neighboring wall, drew his gun as he kicked the mutant in the chest and began to blast. But it didn't go down as fast as the others had. It rose and charged Karl again. This time it was met by Karl's large fist to the face, the butt of the gun to the top of its head, and as soon as he put more distance between them, shot at it again and again. It only snarled and shrieked with rage and lunged once more.

You took this moment to test your magick, just to be sure you had the grip on it like you felt you did.

While Karl was almost getting bested in this fight, you hunkered down on the floor against the wall and held out your palms, focusing on the mutant with the need to protect, like you had with Malka. And you'll be damned if it didn't start to slow down, sputter, and stall as the sensation of prickly stinging numbness flowed through you. 

As Karl went to make his final blow with a gun barrel between the eyes, you saw the blood swelling in the mutant's eyelids before the bang went off.

It dropped like a bag of rocks and you smirked wickedly.

Yes, you were very much in control. Good. Because you wholeheartedly planned on killing Mother Miranda as soon as you had the chance.

You were slowly uncrouching from your spot when you realized Karl was yet again looking at you like you had become a tiny green alien in the last five seconds.

"Wh - what - the fuck? D-did you help me, did you do that??? Is that what you did to Mother Miranda? Do you just like - fry bodily circuitry or some shit?!"

You shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious, "I'm not entirely sure? I don't know what my magick does exactly. My friend calls it 'mind EMP'."

Karl burst out laughing and holstered his gun, offering his arm to you as you both stepped over the dead body, "Hoooly heyseuss kreestoose! We need a couple hundred of you to keep around; you're useful in a fight. Keep your bag of tricks handy, just don't mind EMP any of my bombs or electronics, ok?"

Your surroundings were becoming more familiar as the disjunct conversation was becoming quieter, and as the two of you made it down the same set of stairs you came in, you heard Dmitri's voice holler; "Charge is hot - cover!".

A loud pop echoed followed by a sharp bang that stung your ears, followed by a reverberating miniature shock wave that knocked you into the wall.

The view was a relief to your whole system.

Through the small puff of rising smoke and settling dust, the archway that had been sealed up was open and the entry inside was dark.

Donna was the first to climb over and through the rubble to get inside, Dmitri second, Angie remained outside the debris grinning like a mad-woman as she saw the two of you approach. You were set to head in as well but Karl grabbed you and held you steady.

"Hold on, let them bring her out."

He said as if he could read your damn mind.

From inside the hollow dark silo you could hear muffled, raspy female voices barely conversing with Donna. Several clangs and what seemed to be chains dropping to the stone floor echoed through, and then shuffling as Alcina's three girls were brought out first.

You'd heard Alcina talk about them at length, and even as defeated and worn as they looked, they were even more beautiful still than Alcina had described to you. Several bickering emotions decided to show their faces, but being overtaken by fear, uncertainty, and like the weird boyfriend mom brings home after divorcing dad and trying to make nice with the kids was not something you could deal with. This was not your place at all.

They were too tired to notice you anyway, and Donna had immediately dug through her bag and handed each of them what you deduced to be bags of blood to drink.

Everyone's attention now lie at the mouth of the silo once more, bated breaths waiting for Alcina's arrival.

Your heart was pounding so hard in your chest and through you whole body you felt like you were actually pulsing. Time felt so stupidly slow as you waited, as everyone waited, until Dmitri emerged with a limp, bloodied, grey-skinned Alcina in his arms.

Your feet molded to the ground. You couldn't force your muscles to move. She looked in a way you never ever wanted to see; dead.

Her once cream colored blouse was shredded and stained with crimson. Her skin slashed and gouged from each whip lashing. Dried blood covered her upper body, down her arms, splattered haphazardly around her neck, and some of her very sunken face. 

Everything fell to the pit of your stomach. You couldn't breathe, you couldn't think. The shock of what you were looking at immobilized you.

Dmitri carefully laid her down on the ground. You realized then how quiet it was as every little sound of the shuffling of fabric against skin and stone was almost violently loud in your ears.

The state of Alcina's shirt gave her barely a hint of modesty in its tatters, the very stark contrast of her black bra glaring against the cream, grey and red. And you could see then a very deep, ugly wound just below her sternum. A stab wound. One that gave you an ill remembrance of a story she once told you, and a scar you can recall all too vividly on her side. You don't know how you knew, but you knew.

Donna was immediately retrieving another bag of blood, hooking a tube to the opening at the top, hunkering down at Alcina's side and carefully placing the article to her dry, thin parted lips. She began to squeeze the liquid from the bag as her daughters gathered around their mother as the blood was administered.

Cassandra and Daniela held tightly to Alcina's hands as Bela propped her head and upper body up to help the blood flow down her throat.

You were frozen in your place. Still barely breathing. Making deals with unknown deities for your lover's recovery.

Karl sensed your disconcerted demeanor and carefully wrapped his arm around your mid back and pushed you forward so you could see.

Still, you could hardly move or force a reaction as the painful suspense dug its claws into your heart.

If she died, or was already gone, you could not fathom what the future would even look like.

You could not fathom a world... your world... without her in it.

Through the deep concentration of draining bag after bag of blood into their Matriarch, Donna thoroughly checked Alcina's forehead, throat, cheeks, and chest for something you couldn't understand. Warmth, maybe? Any sign of life? And the more this went on the worse the lines became in Donna's lovely face.

"It's not... it's not changing her state," she blurted, quite upset, tossing another empty bag with contempt across the hall, "her blood loss is too great, I don't have enough reserves with us to help her the way she needs - we need to get her to a medical bay immediately."

"The city is far too overrun and we have no idea where Mother Miranda is, the risk is not in our favor."

"She will die if we don't!" Donna barked at Dmitri's warning, "our options are none as it stands right now; it is either the risk or her death - what's it going to be?"

Donna, Dmitri, the three girls and Karl had a duel of exchanged silent looks until you couldn't stand the feeling of uncomfortable electricity sparking in your nervous system.

"Does anybody have a knife?" you asked, splitting the quiet, gaining everyone's attention, "My blood might help."

Donna blinked rapidly, "I've already given her six packs - she needs intravenous blood administration - "

"That blood isn't my blood. I'm not human, remember?"

Before another word could be exchanged, the sound of a switchblade flinging open could be heard and Angie stepped closer to the group, brandishing a sharp, shiny blade.

"Hi! Middle name's shiv, or shank," she grinned wildly, "er, should be anyway."

"Everybody move back," Cassandra chimed in, nodding at you briskly, "please, try."

The tension could not have been any tighter as you stepped forward and grabbed the knife from Angie, swiftly and precisely kneeling down next to Alcina as you rolled your sleeve up as far as it would go over your elbow. The sight of her this close made her condition all the more dire and you quickly placed the blade to the vein in the crook of your elbow and punctured it. Bela propped Alcina as close to you as she could; you placed the spilling blood to her lips, and grasped her freezing cold shoulder for more support; Donna held to the other side of your arm to alleviate stress to the blood flow, and you all knelt there in great anticipation as the seconds ticked on. You so wanted to wrap her up in your arms and care for her like you would in your apartment, but you didn't dare in front of everyone, especially her daughters. You had to put on a strong, distant front.

Your arm began to ache as you were starting to feel a coolness set in, but you closed your eyes and held fast. You could smell the thick metallic of her dried blood all over her and it made you wince, thinking about the pain she must have endured, and how badly you wanted to make them all pay for this. It was consuming how violent you felt inside. 

After at least a minute, which felt more like fifteen, you felt a warmth engulf the crook of your elbow; Alcina's tongue.

Looking over almost dizzyingly quick, you could see her eyelids fluttering and a smile burst across your face. You let go of your breath and held even tighter to Alcina as you felt her begin to drink voluntarily, her shoulder was no longer freezing cold and something even warmer than her tongue sprung loose inside you.

"It's working." You said softly, hearing the rest of the collective sighs of relief echo through the area.

Where Alcina had been in the dark, bleak confines of her mind before she felt life tingling inside her again was a place she didn't wish to return to. While everything was still in slow motion, she could comprehend the beautiful sensation of the hot, rich, satisfying blood that was coursing through her mouth and down her throat as yours. What a way to come back from the brink of nothingness. Her strength was slowly waxing and her senses began to creep up, but the wounds she had endured were becoming more and more fitful in the fight to heal. Your blood was vigorous and relentless and Alcina knew when the dam burst, the pain and brutal retaking of her body would be unpleasant at best.

And that moment was now.

Like an army breaking through battle lines, Alcina's body, at the mercy and aid of your blood, began to heal and reanimate itself with ferocity. Yanking her head back from wherever she had been feeding off you, Alcina cried out as the excruciating sensation of being reborn pummeled every sense in her body. It burned. It itched. It spasmed. It cracked and broke and then spilled out and over into a soothing warmth and numbness as some normalcy seeped back in.

With fluttering lids, she opened her eyes to see every face that was near and dear to her heart.

You. Her daughters. Donna. Dmitri. Angie. And, yes, even Heisenberg.

Bela, with the help of her sisters, scooted Alcina back towards the wall and sat her upright there. The three of them fawned over her through quiet whimpering relief as they clung to her with secure embraces.

"Shhh, Sunt aici. Sunt aici," she cooed, "iubitele mele, suntem cu toții aici."

(Shhh... I'm here. I'm here - my loves, we are all here.)

As you were being aided by Donna quickly wrapping your arm with a tight bandage, Alcina's slate colored eyes found yours and she offered you the most endearing smile you think you had ever seen in your life. It was a knowing smile. A proud smile. A smile that wordlessly said thank you in a way no language on the planet could express.

"Looong live The Real HBIC!" Angie shouted, accompanied by a short celebratory dance, "Woooooo yeah! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Now when the fuck can we go kick the rest of the smelly ass down here?!"

Well, the tender moment was short lived.

"Ang, please," Donna huffed, trying her best to stifle her smile, "Alcina still needs more nourishment and we need the rest of a plan."

"I'm with Angie," Karl butted in, giving Alcina a tip of his hat, "we got hot shot mind melter and our Matriarch back, let's go whoop some ass."

It wasn't so much bickering as it was very energetic clashing of ideas, but as they all spoke above you animatedly, you and Alcina once more stole calm, loving glances at the other through Donna shoving more blood bags in her face to drink and her daughters clinging to her for dear life, until a clobbering sound from the other stairwell shot everything into a halt.

Unceremoniously came a plump, sheepishly hunched figure from the shadows.

Salvatore Moreau slowly slipped into the light and the sound that followed had everyone rattled to the bone.

The throaty, shrill shriek had come from none other than Donna herself.

The tiny brunette had sprung from the floor and charged the vampire in question, pinning him to the wall as she bore her teeth in utter fury; "TRAITOR!" She screamed, her hand around his throat with nails threatening to pierce his flesh, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS WITH YOUR LIFE! I KNOW YOU AIDED MIRANDA - I KNOW YOUR FILTHY LITTLE HANDS HAVE BEEN ALL OVER THIS TREACHERY AND I PROMISE TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR EVERY DISCRETION UNDER THE SUN!"

During Donna's rage, Angie had donned perhaps the most psychotic look of glee any of them had ever seen. Even Karl was a little unnerved as he watched the whole thing unfold. Alcina had risen from the floor, and she too had now a look of murder on her stoic face. Dmitri had joined her side and you were watching quite unsure what to do with yourself next to the wall. 

"Please!" He squeaked, holding up his hands shakily, "Please, just wait! I have information! Information about Miranda! The mutants! I come in truce!! I have information you need if you want to win this war!"

Donna snarled even louder as she sunk her claws into his neck, "Why should I believe you?!"

"Because! Because! I - I realize - I realize I made a huge mistake! I chose the wrong side! PLEASE you must trust me!"

Karl carefully and hesitantly nudged the deranged looking Angie, "you uh... wanna do something about your sister?"

Angie's big eyes glanced at Karl momentarily, "oh... oh yeah!"

And she was off like a bolt, knife in hand accompanied by a cackle.

"No, n-not like that!" he huffed, dropping his head to rub at at exasperatedly, "I meant to stooop her from killing him, not help - oh Jesus fucking Christ what's the use." he muttered to himself.

Now Salvatore was at the mercy of two very deadly Beneviento sisters. His face showed every ounce of his dread as his big beady eyes shot from one sister's face to the next, knees quivering as he swallowed with struggle. 

"P-please, please, listen... I want to help," he swallowed once more through Donna's claws and Angie's knife pressed to his jugular.

Donna was still seething but paused, taking time to calculate and reason with her own rage before clicking her tongue loudly, "Alcina? Your call."

You blinked hastily as you watched with eagerness, noticing the very elegant and nonchalant movements of Alcina as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Bring him to me." 

She commanded with a dominance that made you weak in the knees.

He was yanked from the wall, drug to Alcina and thrown at her feet. He showed no signs of struggle or the urge to flee for his life, which in your humble opinion, would have been a smart move.

Alcina glowered down at him and pursed her lips, looking more and more like herself as the minutes passed.

She placed her hands on her hips swiftly which made him jerk in fear, but she remained unmoved, "it's a little late in the game to be switching sides, don't you think?" she snapped.

"My Lady," he quivered, bowing his head sharply, "please, My Lady, I am a coward and I will not deny it. Mother Miranda offered me falsity. Her lies I thought were truths became apparent the moment she made her move. It is never too late to redeem oneself from the side of tyranny. Please, let me tell you what I know, you will not defeat her otherwise."

"You seem awfully sure of this," Alcina bit.

"That is because, as Donna has said, I have been part of this from the beginning."

Silence permeated the area once more as all focus went to Alcina. Her eyes never left the sniveling man at her feet.

"Then speak."

The next several minutes was a verbal vomit of information that had everyone pretty fucking shocked.

Mother Miranda, in her psychotic search for perfection, had begun breeding and mutating parasites nearly ten years ago to infect fledglings to whatever end to make them into the mindless, deadly, stealth machines that had invaded their city. Salvatore explained her brutal trial and errors and the horrific mutations that had gone wrong and how simply she discarded vampire after vampire like a broken toy. How that when she had perfected the mutation to her liking as it stood now, she infected herself with the queen parasite DNA that gave her the complete control over the hive-mind of the vampires she controlled. When she is at her peak strength and ability, they are the deadliest creatures known to any vampire or lycan imaginable. But therein lies the Achilles heel to this creation.

"I had hypothesized it well enough in my own mind, but it wasn't until I realized you," he stated, nodding to you in the midst of everyone else, "had escaped and in the attempt wounded Mother Miranda, that the so-called hive mind did in fact falter. If Mother Miranda is vanquished, they become unarmed. They will have had their tie to their very reason for existence severed, hence, they will have no direction and they will quite literally be living statues. So, in order to win this fight, you must keep Miranda's strength at a bare minimum. You must keep her down. Otherwise, at full strength, there will be none left alive in the underground."

Once more, Salvatore's eyes returned to you, "whatever you have done to her, she is still recovering. In all my many years of serving Mother, I have never seen any foe deal such damage the way you have," his focus went back to Alcina, "but she is recovering, that is the part that is the most important. If you want to win this you need to act quickly and hastily. Your lycans and vampires have done much damage to many mutants, but at their best, ten of your men cannot best even one of them."

Not even fifteen seconds had passed before Karl was clapping and rubbing his hands together eagerly, "Aight, so, lessss go?" he gestured shamelessly towards the staircase.

"Not without more of a plan," Dmitri growled, "if Miranda is getting stronger we can't run out there guns blazing the way you like it, we'll start losing too many too fast."

Alcina sucked the last drop of blood from the last pack and threw it aside with a sharp sigh, "We haven't the time for planning. I need to find Miranda and bring her down."

"You can't do that alone," Donna added, "please let Angie and I help you."

"No, I need you both in the field - Angie I need your stealthy expertise to be the eyes and ears for the troops, can you do that?"

Angie nodded, "fuck yeah."

"Heisenberg, I need you, your men, and your explosives rigged in the best and most efficient way possible when that bitch begins to falter. Can you do that?"

"Roger!"

"Dmitri, I need you and your men ready to back up the lycans in their wave of attacks and whatever tricks lie in that brilliant military brain of yours, can I count on you?"

"Always, My Lady."

Alcina's eyes skimmed over you with a wink and settled on Donna and her girls, "and you three... I want Ethan and Mia captured. Alive. Make that happen."

Her daughters beamed with a wicked glint in their eyes, "yes mother," they all replied.

"Karl, arm them to the teeth."

Grabbing his chest in the most dramatic way possible, Karl staggered back and looked up at Alcina with a silent gasp, "y-you called me Karl! Oh my god, did y'all hear that? She called me Karl. See that? Near death experiences change a person. It's like she likes me or something."

Alcina narrowed her eyes, "keep it up and I won't like you again."

Karl beamed and straightened his hat.

Donna was still less than sold.

"I don't want you facing her by yourself."

"You'll be doing something much more important for me," Alcina smiled warmly, "you'll be protecting her," she motioned over to you.

You almost did a double take, "uh, sorry, not to be disrespectful but no, I'm coming with you."

"Like hell you are," Alcina retorted furrowing her brows, "this vampire in question is hellaciously unpredictable and deadly -"

"And off her rocker - yeah I know," you interrupted, "we've met personally and I escaped her."

Her face dropped cold, "you what?"

"Yeah, you haven't been brought up to speed!" Karl waltzed over, shouldering you playfully, "your fae-bae here escaped Miranda's sticky lil fingers after mind blasting her ass - pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I got first hand experience with her magick when she helped me fight off a mutant before we came and saved you. I uh, I'd reconsider taking the nuclear bombshell with ya," he winked at you, "two hell cats are better than one, baby! AND she's got a legion of crows at her command or some shit, that's how we blacked out the silo."

"Oh shit!" you exclaimed, remembering you'd not released your crows from their post, "and technically, they're called a murder."

Smirking at Karl you jutted to your right, hopped your way over the rubble of the blown blockade and peered up into the silo. It was still completely dark and you smiled, "you all did wonderful!" you shouted up to them, your voice carrying loud and clear, "thank you Ebony, Ash, Onyx, Noir, Sidda, and Shade! Please get home safely and be warm!"

Their caws echoed down to you and one by one they took to the sky, leaving a remaining brightness from the clear sky now that the sun had passed.

When you returned to the hall, Karl was shaking his head with his arms folded over his chest.

"Named every one of 'em, did ya?"

You returned his grin, "and?"

Alcina's eyes went from Karl to you, back to him and then you again before she was able to really collect herself. There was a lot to digest right at this moment. She had to choose wisely as to what she was ready to take a bite of. The crow issue was last on her list, you and your powers were at the top of it, screaming.

The two of you had only briefly spoken about the changes you were going through before Donna showed up and everything promptly fell apart. She didn't want to believe you had grown so much and she'd missed it all, but she more less wanted to believe you weren't strong enough to go with her, risking your safety if it wasn't necessary.

"Draga..." she stated softly, "this is... this is not a danger I want you anywhere near ever again."

You watched as her hands carefully rested on your shoulders, eying you in that beautifully desperate way.

"Uhm... Mother?" 

Came a voice you'd not heard before.

"Poate nu ar trebui să te îndoiești de ea. Cum ai încredere în noi acum, poate că ar trebui să-i dai la fel." Cassandra stated with a knowing smile.

(Maybe you should not doubt her. As you trust us now, perhaps you should give her the same.)

Man, you needed to learn Romanian.

Whatever her daughter had said gave Alcina great pause. The smile she gave Cassandra made you smile by proxy, it was so genuine and soft.

Taking one last look at you, Alcina dropped her hands and turned to gather everyone's attention.

"I have faith in all of you. Go, quickly. Make this a battle that will be painted in remembrance for whatever outcome lies ahead of us. Let our valiance and spite be known. Violently."

She turned back to Donna and took a deep breath, "I would like you to make use of Moreau. If he makes one move you don't like, kill him. But if he is truly set to redeem himself, use whatever knowledge he has and exploit it to our every advantage."

Donna nodded somberly, "and... you are off to find Miranda?"

"Yes," Alcina smiled, "and I won't be going alone."

Two sets of beautiful eyes from two beautiful women now rested on you.

[ersatz-ostrich]

Fox x gn!Senator!Reader: Partners in Crime

[A/N]: Another old work from Quotev. I've changed the name of this chapter so many times that it's getting to me.

Summary: A Separatist attack group detonates a bomb in Coruscant's massive Senate Building, causing a frenzy among senators and staff. Not long after the bomb explodes, the Separatists manage to breach the building's security barriers and invade the government building. Commander Fox is tasked with protecting the Chancellor alongside the rest of the Coruscant Guard, but when he is separated from his squad and the Chancellor, he collaborates with the clever Senator L/N to devise a plan to drive the Seppies out of the building for good.

Warnings: None, canon-typical violence

read it here on ao3!

"Senator L/N, this is your last warning! Evacuate the building!" A clone shouted through your commlink, which lay on your desk by an overwhelming stack of datapads and reports.

"I'm on my way!" You called out. You snatched up the commlink, taking the blaster from its hiding place in your office—you’d learned the hard way that Senators like yourself had to resign to quietly arming yourselves in times of espionage, civil unrest, and Senate infighting. You were rushing out the doors of your office as another explosion shook the Senate Building. Finding no one there to either kill you or escort you to safety, you dashed down the corridor with no apparent destination but the exit. The deadly silence prodded at your rationality, urging you to lose your calm. Fear threatened to render you helpless when the sound of marching droids met your ears, so you dove into the nearest office—which just so happened to be Chancellor Palpatine's. 

"Senator L/N! Are you unhurt?" Palpatine began from behind his desk, voice laced with worry. He was flanked with at least a dozen of the Coruscant Guard's finest shock troopers.

"I’m unharmed, but I heard droids in the hallways. We can't stay long." You replied. 

"Well then, we must not tarry." The guards followed Palpatine out of his spacious office, only to be met by a flurry of blaster bolts. Headed by a bounty hunter, what appeared to be an entire platoon of droids trained their blasters on the Chancellor. Each of the guards returned fire, as did you, and ushered you and Palpatine towards the nearest elevator that would hopefully lower you to safety.

"Get the Chancellor!" Commander Fox commanded, hammering the elevator's down button. Beside him, you knocked down a few droids with your blaster. Finally, the doors opened, and the Chancellor toppled in, followed by the rest of the present Coruscant Guard. Fox hammered the close button with vigor, gesturing wildly for you to get in as well—but you were still under fire and were unable to make it into the elevator when the doors slammed shut.

"Senator!" Palpatine exclaimed, disappearing down into the floor below. With only you and Fox left behind, you decided that it was worth a shot to escape.

"Run for it, Fox!" You cried, evading blaster fire as best as you could while dashing down the corridor. Fox matched your pace, and you took refuge in a deserted office once again. Panting quietly, you shut the doors and barricaded them with what you could find. 

"They'll be back soon." Fox mused, beginning to search the office for anything to use in defense against the number of droids and bounty hunters milling through the Senate Building.

"It's even more serious this time. The Separatists didn't just bring bounty hunters, they brought droids and even more explosives." You remarked, also searching through the office. After a long pause, you slid behind the desk and began to examine its contents. "Why don't we do something? I don't think we can just wait out the droids in this office."

"What do you think we should do, Senator? We've been separated from the Chancellor and the rest of the Coruscant Guard. This entire floor's crawling with clankers, too." Fox replied. Continuing to rummage through the desk and finding a spare commlink, an idea popped into your head.

"How about we set a trap?"

A few scrapped ideas later, you and Fox came up with a plan. The sound of muffled blaster fire continued, and time was running out.

"I think this will do fine...so, I'll comm Senators Amidala and Chuchi. I might be able to reach Mothma, too. They'll contact the rest of the Senators we can connect without showing up on the droid's channels. We'll meet at this rendezvous point—" You pointed to a room tucked away from public view in a holographic map of the Senate Building. "—Senators Amidala and Mothma will likely be armed, but we'll be outgunned. Still, we can hold our own until we can herd the droids into this plaza area, where detonators and EMPs will be rigged." Fox nodded, deep in thought. 

"With all due respect, Senator—this plan seems to be a bit too daring for the likes of you. Are you sure you can contact the senators without revealing your connection to the droids?" Fox sassed. You flashed him a knowing smile.

"There's a lot you don't know about us senators, Fox." You teased with a wink. "I know I can reach Senator Amidala just fine." 

"Well then, what about the detonators? I've got a few charges, but not nearly enough to wreck however many droids are in the Senate Building right now." 

"We can blast our way through the armory and lay the trap."

"Also..."

"What?"

"Why haven't the Jedi arrived yet?"

"Senator Amidala, come in! I repeat, Senator Amidala! Is anyone there?" You barked into the comm, punching Padmé's comm address again, hoping to get a response. Finally, a crackling noise was heard, piquing Fox's attention from across the room where he was scrubbing away at his twin DC-17 blasters. 

"This is Senator Padmé Amidala. Senator Y/N L/N, is that you?"

"I hear you loud and clear, Senator. Where are you?" You asked.

"I was on the second floor of the Senate Building when the firefight broke out. I'm...hiding in a storage closet on the second floor." Padmé hissed. "I heard a couple squads of droids pass by, but none of them noticed me.

"Do you know if the Jedi are aware of the attack?"

"I can't say. However, it doesn't appear to be so." The senator paused. "Do you know where Riyo and Mon are?" She inquired.

"I haven't got the slightest idea. I intend to comm them soon, though." You replied. "How close are you to the southernmost entrance?"

"A few corridors away."

"Each of us are going to grab all the senators we can reach and gather them there. Fox and I can acquire some charges here in the lower-level armories. We're going to rig the meeting area, where we will leave our comms on the droids' scramble setting. They won't find any of us there, just a few comms and some droid-poppers."

"Sounds like a plan Ani would come up with." Padmé replied with a giggle. "All right, I'll meet you there. I'll also try to get in touch with the other senators. Stay safe, Y/N." Padmé bid you goodbye, the commlink going dark. Stepping forward, Fox extended a gloved hand in invitation.

"Shall we?" You lugged away the heavy chaise from in front of the office doors. 

"Let's go."

Upon exiting the office, you and Fox were met with little resistance—you assumed that the droids had finished sweeping the floor you were on. Checking a chrono on the corridor wall, you'd realized you'd spent upwards of ten minutes pondering in the barricaded office. Reaching the end of the deserted hallway, you and your partner in crime headed for the elevator. Unluckily for you, though, the doors hissed open to reveal an entire gaggle of B1s, headed by a Commando droid.

"Well, this complicates things..." You tsked. Blaster bolts soon began flying to and fro. Thankfully, Fox was able to down the Commando; as for you, the rest of the unlucky B1s became your prey, thus securing the elevator compartment for both of you. Beginning the next phase of your tricky operation, you tried to comm Senator Chuchi from the elevator on the network you'd called Senator Amidala with. 

"Riyo, come in!" Nothing. "Riyo, I swear! This isn't about Bly and Aayla!" This time, the senator responded almost immediately. 

"This is Senator Chuchi. Identify yourself!"

"This is Y/N speaking, and it should be obvious that we've got an emergency!" You repeated the plan once again, and Riyo pitched in her thoughts as well. 

"I'll grab a few humanoid droids. That'll throw off the Separatists." A great clattering and clamoring of droid-speak was heard on the commlink. 

"Fox, why don't we stop here and check on Senate communications? We might be able to alert the Jedi." You suggested as the doors of the elevator slid open. 

He nodded in confirmation, so you continued down the corridor, blaster at the ready. You dashed into the nearest room, which was pitch-black save for an abandoned desk lamp. Whichever senator had occupied said quarters was long gone—inching closer to the desk, you noticed a slumped form on the floor—the senator had already been killed. 

Backing out of the office, Fox waved you into a meeting room where you could make an attempt to contact the Jedi Temple. Both of you fiddled away at controls for a moment, messing with holos and constantly switching communications channels. It wasn't long until the sound of marching came about, though—so you had to think fast.

"Y/N!" Fox hissed, knocking you to the ground. Lying on the floor underneath the conference table, you heard a couple of droids enter the room. With Fox lying on top of you, half-straddling your hips, you prayed to the Force that they wouldn't grow suspicious of the glowing blue holos still powered on in the conference room, set to Jedi frequencies. 

Fox’s body heat, radiating from his gloves and the exposed segments in his armor, bloomed over your skin as the silence dragged on, sending chills down your spine. Finally, the droids stepped out, not even bothering to check under the table or further in the conference room. You hoped Fox couldn't see your trembling and blushing from underneath that bucket of his. Thankfully, he was quick to leap off of the ground, trying to conceal his own flushed face and stuttering pulse from underneath his helmet. You quickly returned to work, trying to figure out what was going on with the Jedi communications networks. 

"The droids have been doing something, probably overloading or jamming our communications. The Jedi haven't realized a single thing!" You exclaimed, hunched over rows upon rows of glowing blue Aurebesh. 

"Can you contact them with your private networks?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow from beneath his bucket. 

"Sorry, but those chats are for senators only." You answered, already on your way out of the meeting room. "Come on! We've got more Senators to rescue."

After a couple of floors' worth of sweeping, you picked up Onaconda Farr, Orn Free Taa, and dozens more prominent senators. Even Mon Mothma found her own escape party of about fourteen using secret comm channels, which, once upon a time, were used for both gossip and long-distance communication over the cavernous Senate chamber. 

You finally found Riyo Chuchi and Padmé Amidala waiting at the rendezvous point, and you'd also stopped by the armories while Riyo and Padmé had managed to rescue their own groups of senators. 

In total, there were over one hundred senators crowded into the huge atrium and dozens more staff in the cavernous room. With the rest of the massive Senate dead, escaping, or off-world, you and Fox had done everything in your power to covertly gather the surviving senators and staff into the atrium. Everything was going all according to plan, save for the amount of senators you'd managed to rescue—it seemed to be that the reach of said secret comm channels were not as far as you had expected. Following the projected destruction of nearly all of the patrolling droids and the south atrium, there was a possibility that you and Fox would have to conduct even more rescue missions.

"Deposit your commlinks here, please." You instructed, activating your own commlink. You tried to contact the droids and bounty hunters stationed around the building. After a few tries, a Weequay bounty hunter answered the commlink.

"What do you want, senator?" The hunter spat. 

"This is Senator Y/N L/N. I've gathered myself and the rest of the available senators in the southern atrium. We want to negotiate." The bounty hunter paused, then sighed.

"Do you have any guidelines for...say, a surrender of the Senate building? I would be more than happy to patch Count Dooku in..."

"Nonsense. We will settle this right here, right now, with Dooku or without." You answered sternly, shaking your head. 

"Fine, then. I'll meet you there." The bounty hunter waved along his droid troops, and the final phase of the plan was set into motion.

"Y/N!" A voice called out. Appearing in the southern entrance was Chancellor Palpatine, still flanked by the Coruscant Guard  as the crowd of senators and staff parted for their Supreme Chancellor. The Guard seemed to be missing a few troopers, but other than that, Palpatine appeared to be unharmed.

"Chancellor!" Padmé exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're alright." Fox immediately regrouped with his squad, waving signals frantically. The remaining troopers marched to the entrances to the southern atrium and stood guard. 

"There were so many droids..." Palpatine lamented. "I'm afraid we were unable to call for reinforcements." 

"Don't worry! I've got a plan, Chancellor. We've got some EMPs and charges here, along with our comms and some humanoid droids to lure the Separatists here." Fox and his comrades produced what was left of their thermal detonators and EMPs, also setting them about the plaza. "We'll be gone by then." 

"But what about the droids stationed outside?" Palpatine asked. You shared a look of askance with Fox. Other droids? How did he even know that there were more outside!? The Chancellor awkwardly cleared his throat. "I saw some B1s patrolling through the window. I'm worried we won't get past them alive."

"Sir, that's what we're here for." Stone cleared his throat, gesturing towards his brothers. "We'll make sure that you get out of here alive." Fox nodded, cocking his DC-17. 

"Turn on the comms, Y/N. It's time to move out." You nodded and quickly powered on all of the commlinks piled up on the plaza's floor with. Falling silent, Fox and the rest of the guard soon burst out of the Senate building, immediately attracting Separatist blaster fire. Thankfully, there were little more than B1s and a couple of B2 Supers on border patrol, leading you to the docking area where senators could be ferried to wherever they needed to go. 

Casting one last look at the Senate Building, you surveyed the damage it had sustained—the droids' heavy weapons and explosives had scorched spots of the large dome, and the interior that was once elegantly and sleekly decorated was now pockmarked with blemishes made by blaster fire and scorch marks. Nearly all of its staff had been evacuated, and more were dead. You couldn't think of how many lives that had been lost at the hands of a super's wrist gun or a pirate's rifle. However, you were snapped out of your reverie when you saw a massive group of droids approach your carefully-set up trap through the towering glass doors of the Senate entrance. You grinned mischievously. 

"Time to detonate the charges!" You sang, pressing the button rigged to all of the explosives, waiting for your sweet revenge.

Meanwhile, the majority of the perpetrators and droids gathered round the southern entrance, searching for where the senator's transmission had originated. 

"Huh? Where are the senators?" One droid asked, looking around with confusion. Only a few moments later, the Separatists' attention was directed to the comms sitting in a heap on the atrium floor, still on and tracking the Separatist frequency.

“Oh, n—” Scattered around the room and piled near the comms were dozens upon dozens of EMPs and thermal charges, each of them bidding the Separatist perpetrators a swift but painful death by combustion or permanent deactivation. From outside the Senate Building, you locked eyes with Fox as an explosion shook the gargantuan durasteel structure. Blood-orange flames and tendrils of electricity from the remaining EMPs licked at the busted-open doors of the Senate Building, nearly all of the droids up in thick smoke and the majority of the senators evacuated. 

"We did good today, right?" You beamed brightly at Fox, who in turn removed his bucket and smiled tiredly.

"Yes. Better than I had expected, Senator." Clasping his gloved hand and leaning into his shoulder, you watched on as the southern atrium burned, the Separatists left to die. The day had been won, but not without casualties. 

"I couldn't have asked for a better partner in crime, Fox." You replied. He chuckled, pulling you closer. 

"Me neither, Senator. Me neither.”

Fun fact: This oneshot was initially labeled as platonic when I first published it (years ago). I’m not sure what I was thinking when I said this was platonic. Must be the sleep deprivation talking.

Want to be on my general or Star Wars taglist? Let me know! Until next time x

[k-s-morgan]

How are you?

Since you sent this ask today and it's the last day of the month, I decided to use it for my monthly post! I hope you don't mind <3

I'm doing more or less okay, though February marked one year anniversary since the start of the senseless war. There were repeated bombings through February; more apartment complexes and residential buildings were hit, more people died - all because of the outdated ambitions of one government and the stupidity, greed, and bloodthirstiness of a half of the nation it rules. Ruzzian soldiers keep invading Ukraine to kill Ukrainian people, bomb Ukrainian territories, burn Ukrainian ecology, including wild life, pets, and birds, destroy Ukrainian crops, buildings, and culture, and condemn millions of people to the loss of their loved ones and the homes they spent a lifetime saving up on. Why? None of them can give even a semi-believable answer. This is a unique phenomenon that psychiatrists should study for decades to come.

Here's a photo of the building situated across of mine. Second day of war, February 25, 2022 - the first results of a new reality Russia decided to bring to its neighbours. The explosions, the terror, the separations; endless queues in the stores; air raid sirens; deadly silence in the huge building that used to be full of voices, laughter, and arguments.

But February 25, 2023 was different. My building was full of chattering again. A neighbor was singing in the shower as he always does; my pigeons were arguing; two annoying children downstairs were yelling and arguing. Life has returned, and this year made all of us stronger.

Last year, I was sure that Russia was about to win. I had no faith in Ukraine, only bitterness because my country was never perfect and it made its share of huge mistakes. But now, things have changed. Russia humiliated itself on a global level. It will forever be remembered as a hotbed of fascism and mindless greed, and there is every chance that Ukraine will win. I have faith now, though I understand that many scenarios are possible. Either way, I'm extremely proud of my country, and I have Russia to thank for turning me into a passionate patriot of Ukraine.

I did a lot of writing this year, and everyone who supported me through comments, Patreon and messages largely contributed to it. I don't have many friends in real life, I'm not a very communicative person and I'm a hopeless introvert, so you all played a huge role in inspiring me and giving me strength. Thank you, I will never forget this.

On a personal front, my three wonderful idiot cats are doing fine; I'm still fighting for the health of 4 of my pigeons, though. One pigeon in particular is in danger now. Here she is: her name is Aristrokratka.

She's always been a wild pigeon - I was feeding her from my window for over a decade; one day, I noticed that someone broke her wing. She struggled to fly: once she reached the top of a streetlight (this was as far as she could go in her state), she stayed there for over 24 hours to regain her strength. I was despondent, so I, my brother and my mother tried to catch her. The entire neighbourhood watched how we chased her under the cars and on the mini-roofs. Finally, I managed to trap and get her.

She's been living with me for over 2 years now. Sadly, she has an egg stuck inside her. It's old, it got entwined with her insides by now, and she needs surgery. It's risky, so we decided to do it only if she starts feeling poorly. Her condition isn't perfect, but she's well enough, so I don't want to possibly steal whatever time she has left.

While I'm sad that she might leave me soon, her story is not sad. She has had a long and fulfilling life, and she has everything I can give her.

Here's the recent video with my two cats: Tom, my clumsy boy, couldn't climb up from the hole he hid himself in, and Laoriy tried to help him. Though I suspect he wanted him out just because he wanted to hide there himself :D

Thank you all again for staying here and supporting me. I hope 2023 will be happier in every respect for my country, as much as it's possible. But we'll see.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day 

National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day is celebrated on April 19 annually. This day aims at honoring the deceased, injured, and volunteers when the devastating event occurred. Two anti-government extremists — Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols perpetrated the terrorist attack. They did this with white supremacists and right-wing terrorist sympathies. The bombing happened at 9:02 a.m. at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and killed at least 168 people, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed more than one-third of the building.

History of National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day

Timothy McVeigh, an ex-Army soldier and security guard, parked a rented Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. He decided to commit mass murder there. The bomb was a powerful one. It consisted of a deadly cocktail of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals. McVeigh got out of the rented car with the bomb inside, locked the door, and headed towards his getaway car. He ignited one timed fuse, then another. At 9:02 a.m., the bomb exploded.

A third of the building had been reduced to rubble in just a few seconds, with many floors flattened. The surrounding area looked devastated. More than 300 nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed; dozens of cars were incinerated. The consequences to human beings were still more devastating: 168 souls were lost, including 19 children, with several hundred more injured.

It was the worst act of terrorism in United States history. The F.B.I. quickly arrived at the scene to support rescue efforts and investigate the facts. There were clues in the area they found. On April 20, thanks to the rear axle of the Ryder truck, the vehicle identification number was traced to a body shop in Junction City, Kansas. Employees helped the F.B.I. quickly compose a composite drawing of the man who had rented the van. F.B.I. agents started to show the sketch around town, and local hotel employees supplied a name: Tim McVeigh.

National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day timeline

1995The Bombing Occurs

On April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City is destroyed by a terrorist attack.

1997Terrorists are Tried

The bombers are tried and convicted.

2001McVeigh is Executed

McVeigh is sentenced to death, and executed by lethal injection.

2003Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is Replaced

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is replaced with a 185,000-square-foot building.

National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day FAQs

What components' symbols are used in the Oklahoma City Memorial?

There are nine rows, each representing a floor of the federal building where the field is now located. Each chair has the name of someone killed, and smaller chairs stand for the children.

How old was Timothy McVeigh when he was executed?

He was 33 years old.

Why is it difficult for the United Nations to draft a definition of terrorism?

Mainly because the characteristics of terrorism are hard to define. Many member countries harbor terrorists.

How to Observe National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day

168 seconds of silence

Information

Post on social media

168 people died in the bombings. The nation joins 168 seconds of silence to honor those people.

Learn about terrorist attacks and bombings. Learn how Oklahoma City recovered from this devastating event.

Write a post on social media to raise awareness about this commemoration day. Do not forget to use the hashtag #OklahomaCityBombingCommemorationDay.

5 Terrorist Attacks In History

AMIA bombing

U.S. Embassy Bombings

September 11 attacks

Christmas massacres

7/7 bombings

It occurred in 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It occurred in 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania.

It occurred in 2001 in New York, United States.

It occurred in 2008 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These occurred in London, killing 56.

Why National Oklahoma City Bombing Commemoration Day is Important

It is a day to remember

It is a day to raise awareness

It is an opportunity to address threats of violence

This day is perfect for remembering those who died not only in the Oklahoma Bombing but also in any other terrorist attacks. Many people die in this type of attack.

This day is also helpful in raising awareness about the problem of terrorism. Security issues affect almost all countries.

Awareness is crucial to disrupting terrorist plots to avoid future attacks. Governments should be committed to holding accountable those who perpetrate such attacks.

Source

[hazbinextgeneration]

Demon Bride Ch36 Demons Are Strange

Last Part Here:

https://www.tumblr.com/hazbinextgeneration/738417773697433601/demon-bride-ch35-when-in-rome-or-a-demon?source=share

First Part Here:

https://www.tumblr.com/hazbinextgeneration/709087246035337216/demon-bride-ch1?source=share

Next Part Here:

I'm adding some important info about the au.

*How many demons blood arts will Y/n have?

She'll have 4-

#1 Blood Demon Art Flora Bomb

By digging her nails into wood/branches, Yn will be able to inject the wood with blood and produce bombs she can use like grenades.

#2 Blood Demon Art Petal Poison

A scent that can given off either as a warning (Ex: Orange Lilies which means hate) or they give off a poisonous smell that is deadly to inhale to ANY demon or human alike. 

#3 Blood Demon Art Perfumed Slashes

Y/n deadliest and most efficient attack. Thanks to a mutation in her blood, Yn can turn her blood into a deadly poison that she can then infuse into her nails by clawing her body to cover her hands in blood. This poison is full of wysteria and can be smelt in the air.

#4 Blood Demon Art Foresight 

As for this ability,  Yushiros blood demon art allows him to see things no one else can example being Yahsba's arrows. Y/n has the same ability only slightly different as she can sense things others can't. Such as she was able to sense that Gyutaro would attack the vender and Kokushibo's different aura compared to everyone else. This blood demon art is more subtle and works at random.

(Warnings!!: Enmu IS his own warning, possibly some innuendos, and blood being drawn.)

"I'm sorry I kissed you without asking...That was wrong of me."

"Don't apologize. I thought the kiss was cute."

"O-Ok...I'm...also sorry for just dumping all of that on you. I understand if you don't want to see me again."

"I DO want to see you again. And I want Rui to be able to see you too. Don't apologize for being honest with me."

Akaza had taken nearly an hour to get himself together after that surprise kiss, and you took the long moment to process the shock of that being the second kiss someone gave YOU in one day. By now Akaza seemed better. Rui was cradled fast asleep in his arms and Akaza didn't give one complaint about cradling the eleven year old in his arms, in anything else he seemed content to hold onto him. Which lead to him just quietly staring at Rui for a bit...

"...He doesn't seem to hate me. I'm relieved to know that I guess," he mumbled.

You were confused at this. "Why would he hate you? He's literally calling you his father now."

"....He knows what I did to his actual father.''

You paused stunned for a moment.. before blinking. "What? How do you know that?"

"When we were traveling he awoke while you were asleep one night. He refused to sleep again unless I made up a story about something random I thought of....But he said something I haven't mentioned up til now." Rui mumbled in his sleep as Akaza shifted him to stand. "He said the reason why I was sent to the mountains was to free him...I never told him I went to his Clan's home, which meant he must've seen me there at one point and...knew what I've done." ....He silently stood up still looking at the sleeping child in his arms. "But he doesn't seem to hold that against me.."

"Probably for good reason." You also stood looking at the scene in front of you. It seemed almost domestic. "...I can't say what exactly his relationship was with his other family was, but he seemed to have a pretty bad relationship with both his parents. You doing what you did might've been the kindest thing anyone's ever done for him in his mind. ...That might be why he imprinted on you specifically out of everyone."

He scrunched his brows in thought considering what you said for a moment before sighing. "Still...I deprived not only him, but all those other children of that father. That being the case... I'll have no other choice but to fill that position for Rui." He nodded. "But he's not the only one.. I'll have to speak with..." He grimaced and nearly growled with his next words. "..Douma, about placing a positive male figure in those other children's lives. Not him mind you, but perhaps their mother could remarry or we could find a male they could imprint onto until they get older." He hummed again. "...I'll have to work on that while I temporary take over Kokushibo's work."

You again blinked. "You'd go though all the trouble of finding his brothers and sisters a father?"

"I'll figure something out. But I think in the meantime I'd better be going. Kokushibo was supposed to be looking into a string of recent murders, but I'll have to go instead." He looked around the darkened room. "Where is he sleeping?"

"Over there." You pointed to a connecting door to your room. "He has his own room through there."

Akaza nodded before turning  to the door and you watched as it slid open with him disappearing inside, a moment later Akaza returned with a sigh from his lips. "He's been put to sleep. It's late so it's no surprise he fell asleep."

You nodded. "Yeah. He's not the only one tired. I think I'll turn in too."

"I'd imagine....Y/n, listen. If..you really don't want me to court you, I'll respect your wishes and take back my gift. I'll no longer court you and I will respect whomever you choose to be with."

Your eyes widened... before you sighed. "I don't know what I want to do Akaza. I really like you and some of the others but It's too soon to make a decision. But if you want to court me..I guess everyone can until I make my final choice."

"REALLY?!..I mean-.." He coughed covering the excitement earlier.  "Yes. I will keep that in mind." You chuckled at his antics but stopped when a hand of his pulled your bangs back. "....Good night, Y/n. I'll try to see you again soon."

And he left you standing there blinking at the place he once stood.. Before you sighed a pink coming over your face and your hands ran over your face. You had too much on your mind. Right now what  you needed was a good night's sleep and that futon looked very inviting to your mind. Walking over, you nearly face planted into the soft blankets and allowed the deep cushions to encase your body eyes closing. You'd think about what to do this tomorrow for now you'd just sleep just take you away from all your problems. The darkness enveloped as your eyelids closed and the night took a hold of your senses.

"My Lady. Wake up, My Lady. You need to get up now."

You groaned out again from someone prodding your shoulder and opened your eyes up to not one but three fancily dressed up lady demons smiling down at you. ".....I already said I don't want servants." You grumbled turning to your side to show your back towards them all and throwing the blanket over your head. "And Im sleeping in right now. So don't bother me."

"But Lady Y/n, you have gifts from the nobles,"  one insisted pushing on your shoulder again making you groan and poke your eyes out.

"What?" 

"Your gifts, Your Ladyship," one of them smiled at you wider. "It's customary to gift things whenever a Kizuki gets engaged to make the new lady feel welcome, and you're the only one here."

More gift giving? Why? You were planning to leave here soon, you couldn't have all these things when you do go. Your exposed eyes crinkled up in slight annoyance. You couldn't even sleep in around here? What were things coming too? You barely blinked when one of those smiling faces shoved a bright blue box in your face.

"A gift from the lady Iko from the Watoshi family! They're responsible for the manufacturing of most beauty products we use! I'm sure she sent you something splendid!"

"....Open it and tell me what's inside."

Not surprising it was make up. You sat up groggily but quickly woke up when you saw the pile of boxes literally behind them. They were all smiles and giggles- Rui was digging through them and pulling out a couple. He pulled it open, looked at the insides, and made a face before harshly shoving it back in the pile at random only to grab another.

"Rui." Said child looked at you with a pink box in his hands. "What are you doing?'

He simply shook the pink box in his hands and looked at it. "I'm taking the ones I want. Most of these things are just kimonos that won't fit me." You watched as he opened the pink box and peered inside, only to reach inside and pull out a small wall mirror surrounded by a frame of gold. "....This one's going in my room."

You huffed a chuckle. "Be my guest. Take anything you want. It's only fair since you came here with me."

"Excuse me, Lady," One of the girls spoke with a concerned look. "Is that a good idea? These gifts are meant to be for you."

"And I said he can have what he wants. It's not like I can do a lot with a mirror." What were you going to do with it? Just stared at your reflection all day? If Rui wanted a few things he could have them. He deserved some things too after everything he's been through- "WHOA! HEY!" Your hand flew to your head and you snapped your eyes around to one of the ladies welding a brush in one hand who had touched your hair. "What are you doing?"

She blinked her three eyes at you. "Doing..your hair?" She asked unsure. "You have horrible bed head." 

"I can do that myself thank you," you spoke calmly holding up your hand, "Also I'd appreciate it if you asked me first before touching my head. I'm not keen on stranger's touching me without asking." You looked around the place and caught another woman holding up a kimono to you while a third held another box. "... Where's breakfast?"

"We must get you ready first, Your Ladyship," the one holding the kimono said holding the many, many layered kimono up to you insistently. "There's lots to do today."

"Like what?"

"There's the unwrapping of your gifts of course and more is coming in as we speak!" An arm tugged on yours as she tried to get you out of bed. 

"Then there's all the letters of gratitude you have to write back in thanks!" Another hand tugged on your hair again. "And you've been invited by seven families for tea. You need to sort out the dates you will meet them." You jerked your head back as two other hands shoved their way past the hair and tugged on your face. "There's also your introduction to high society and the tutors who'll be teaching you everything you need to know."

"Know?!" Your vision became fuzzy as you felt boxed in. "Know what?"

"How to carry yourself in high society of course. Your manners now are unbecoming of a lady of your caliber. It's obvious you've never had a proper tutor to teach you proper manners." "Or how to properly dress yourself." "Or have the correct manners and attitude to match your position. Don't worry. Miss Yoko will ensure your new self will be the envy of any man-" 

"Get OFF of me!!" 

The women all screamed as a blanket was suddenly thrown up into the air and on top of them. Taking the chance you scrambled in the panic out of the bed and crawled along the floor towards the sliding door.

"Mother? Ah!"

A box of expensive looking handkerchiefs fell from his hands as a stronger hand grabbed hold of his arm on instinct and flying he went dragged away by a running form dashing out the sliding door with a bang and into the hallway you fled.

"MY LADY!! WAIT!!"

You ignored their calls of coming back in favor of running down the fancily decorated hallways across the place passing by paintings and rugs and shining things that sparkled so much it nearly blinded you. You passed by other demons who carried objects or heavily scrubbed everything to keep it polished up. They all looked towards you but you ran right past and around them. 

"Mother! I haven't had breakfast yet!"

You weren't able to hear what he said as you sharply turned a corner and still ran past surprised faces that glanced at you. Exit. Exit. Exit. Screamed your mind as they ran and ran and ran.  Where was it?! Where was it?! Your head felt clouded and full of fog as your feet moved. You ran! Ran out of  that room. That situation. That...From those women. Along the shiny decor. Past surprised faces of perfectly fancy demons polishing everything and anything to keep it shining. Past paintings and rugs and things so shiny that they blinded your eyes as you ran Rui in tow. EXIT. EXIT. EXIT-

THERE IT WAS.

A giant sliding door stood there after another twist of a hallway and your feet bolted towards it. The giant door flew open and out across the docks two figures ran. Across the maze of docks illuminated by glowing blue water as you left it all behind as you ran. Koi fish darting away as you stepped. You were nearly there. Nearly towards the end of the docks-

You tripped.

On a board that was slightly higher than the others, just sticking out there enough to catch your foot on. Losing your balance and falling over. Your hand losing its grip on Rui. Purple eyes's fear illuminated by blue moonlight shining from the water. It's rippling surface allowing you to see just how deep your watery grave would be. Eyes snapped shut.

....But there was no splash?

You felt as if you suspended in mid air. Not a thing holding-...No. wait a second. There WAS a a grip on you. A hard grip was square in the middle of your back holding onto your kimono and dangling you from the side of the dock. What the?...You opened your eyes to gaze at the sparkling, rippling water's surface glowing back to you completely bewildered.

"I know I wanted you to fall for me, but I fear maybe you're over doing it, Begonia.~"

...You knew that voice. Your head turned up over your shoulder and met very familiar real colored eyes. 

"Now what could scare you so badly that you'd jump into the water?," Enmu cooed at you tilting his head. 

....You sighed. "Get me back on dry land and I'll tell you." Surprisingly he did. You were lifted up and back onto your own two feet. Before reaching around to shoo his hand away from your back which he chuckled at. "Thank you for helping me but what are you doing here?"

"In light of a new situation, I've been ordered to investigate an important scientific matter ordered by the Master himself ~," he purred with a wide smile at you. "So I'll be staying here until the matter is settled. Lord Muzan has been gracious enough to let me use his own laboratory.~"

"That's nice but why are you here? Are you here to see Hantengu as well?"

Enmu actually giggled giddily holding a cheek. "No silly.~ I'm staying at the Kizuki Dwell until my assignment is finished. I'm here to make arrangements for my room. But ..I admit there are other reasons as well."

"Oh?... What's that?"

"I need another sample of your blood."

"....Excuse me?" 

"There's been a recent development of your blood tests,'' he explained with a smile, "Apparently more and more people smell only a certain type of flower from you. I asked around and apparently Kokushibo links hydrangea to you. And Douma was under the impression that you stink of lotus blossoms when you first met. However they're not the only ones. I spoke to Hantengu's sons while they were imprisoned. All five of them think you smell like aster blooms."

"Really?" You weren't shocked by this point but it was surprising to you...Wait. Kokushibo DID mention Hydrangeas when you both spoke yesterday. "Why is this happening so much?"

"I think I have an idea but I just need a little bit more time to run a few more tests to be absolutely certain what I think is happening to you is in fact happening. You'll need to be a little more patient. But enough about me right now." He tilted his head looking your disheveled form up and down. "....You look a mess. Like you just survived being chased by an animal.~ What's happened to my dear Y/n-chan?~"

You opened your mouth to speak-

"MADAM Y/N!! WHERE ARE YOU?!,"A distant woman's voice wailed.

Enmu blinked as something dove behind him, gripping onto his shoulders and he tilted his head amused at your form peeking over his shoulder and Rui tilted his body watching carefully. "Ah. I see the problem. Oh poor darling.~"  A hand cooed reaching up to pat your own hand sarcastically amused. ''Did the servants' over enthusiasm scare you?~"  

"They want to subject me to hell!," You hissed at him making him chuckle more. "It's NOT funny! I just told them I didn't want servants and I woke up to three women trying to dictate what I did! I wasn't even served breakfast first!" 

"Neither was I. I'm hungry, Mother."

"Rui as well!!" He chuckled again and you frowned stepping to the right to stand next to him and face his smile. "It's no laughing matter. Rui needs proper nutrition provided to him if I want him to remain healthy." You tilted your head. "Isn't that what you said he needed? He needed proper care especially food to safely take his medicine?"

This time Enmu did hum. "....You have a fair point. And it's strange that they would do that."

"Do what?"

"Not serve you dear son food. They're supposed to care for the both of you..not just you, and blatantly ignoring your requests your first night here.." he hummed deeply squinting his eyes. "Interesting."

"Is that bad?"

"It's certainly strange. Right now you rank higher than they are and yet they blatantly deny the boy despite his new position and the clear orders you gave them."

"Not only that! They're all going to try to change me!"

His eyes refocused from thinking and snapped back to you with a hum. "I beg pardon?"

"They're gonna try to brainwash me into some 'high class lady worthy of my position and caliber' because apparently I 'have bad manners that was obviously never taught to me correctly '." You scowled at him as he stared at you. "No one has Time for that!"

"LADY Y/N!!"

You dove back behind the demon as he stared at nothing in particular. My, my, my, my. Well this was certainly an interesting development. No food. No rules being followed. It sounds as if the situation was being entirely dictated by someone else who was ignoring Y/n. Did the Master not explicitly state what care the boy needed for his stay? Well..This wouldn't do. Not only that..They planned on messing with his Begonia's head? Changing her to fit a certain role? Hmm....That meant a change in herself. Which meant a change of personality. Which meant no more of that fiery passion that caused his nerves to stand on fire. The way she'd push him back three steps for every one he walked. After all when was there ever a woman who actually had the gull to throw him around when he was much more stronger than her? He loved the feeling- No. The THRILL of the unpredictability that is Y/n. Never knew when she'd throw him out a window or hide behind him. It was a fun experience he never had before. To change her into a walking copy of every other spoiled rich woman would deprive him of that joy....

The HELL if that was going to happen.

He gave a slight inhale reaching out to pat your hand again.  "Well that won't do at all. Let me see if I can get this fixed for you. Then we can see about those blood arrangements.~"

"Just keep your hands to yourself or I'll throw you into the water!"

He chuckled again despite the frown on her face. "Shall we then?"

You didn't move until he started walking forward with you staying right behind him using Enmu as a shield. Rui never took his eyes off Enmu, narrowing his eyes as he followed them back towards the entrance way to the fancy place. He could feel the grip tightening up on his shoulders as they neared, it seemed she was ready to bolt at the slightest hint of them cornering her... Adorable.~ He stepped along with a smile on his face and briefcase in one hand. The sounds of frantic footsteps and distant voices became closer and closer the closer they got. The woman staying right behind him even as the door was pushed further open revealing the tiny Kizuki demon there. It took a moment to really take in what they were all doing. A lot more demons had gathered about babbling to one another or walking around aimlessly trying to get something done as everyone else spoke. But soon one of the men stopped noticing Enmu standing in the doorway, face instantly paling in fear. The demon he was speaking too also stopped talking to turned confused but got the same expression as the first demon. Slowly but surely everyone started looking. Everyone stopped talking. The silence set in as everyone stopped moving to stare petrified at the figure in the doorway with a child still glaring daggers at his side and a woman peeking out behind him with a scowl. 

"Such wonderfully shocked faces.~ I did send a message ahead to expect me this morning, so you all shouldn't be so surprised to see me. Unless...Oh. is there something wrong here that I should know about?"  A few demons looked at each other uneasy and a few others started sweating. Interesting.~ "Mmm. I think Im a little hungry. Why doesn't someone bring enough food to my room to feed three people? After all, I have guests with me."

With that he started walking again. You didn't stop using him as a shield between you and everyone else. It was like when that Oiran parted the crowd in the entertainment district, the demons parted from the middle of the halls as he walked past them all with a hum.

"Just point out the direction of your room and we'll start from there, Dear."

"Start down that hall-" You pointed a hand. "-and then take two lefts." He started off in the direction you pointed and listened whenever you pointed out a different  direction for him to follow until you pointed not at a hall but a room. "There. That's my room there."

He turned his head and looked like he was going to ask you something-

"LADY Y/N!!"

Your head turned. Your eyes widened. "Oh hell no!!"

"HAH!!" Enmu squealed as two hands grabbed his sides and swung him Around to face the upcoming small group of ladies running down the hall towards you all. His face lighting up a pink as you essentially death hugged him from behind. ... before he gave a little shiver and smile over his shoulder. "Why Y/n.~ I never knew you were so forward, and with so many people ar-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll throw you into a train engine!," You growled behind him making him chuckle again. "ITS NOT FUNNY-!!"

"MY LADY!!," Yoko cried holding up the hem of her kimono in order to allow her to run faster. What was she doing here?! She stopped in front of you all with a look like her make up would start smudging any minute. "There you are. We were so worried when you just ran off like that! What ever got into you?"

"Ah. That's what I would like to know."

Everyone looked at Enmu who smiled wider. Everyone paled. Everyone immediately bowed. 

"L-Lord Enmu! You're here? With the Lady? AH!! I MEAN OF COURSE YOU ARE!!", Yoko panickedly corrected her earlier blunder that Enmu. Did. Not. Miss. Tilting his head at her. "Y-You both are engaged After all!! Why would you not be with your fiance?! W-We were not expecting you so soon."

"I have gotten that impression." His head tilted more. "Now I wonder just what you all could've done to make my begonia flee like she did."

She visibly went rigid. "....Us?"

"Of course. No sane person would bolt like she did unless she has a reason to or she had a nervous break down. As much fun as it would be to see her break down, I'm under the impression that there's someone overriding her choices here~," he sing singed with a creepily cheery attitude before humming a finger tapping his chin. "Now what on earth could've that been I wonder."

"There was strangers in my room when I SAID I didn't want strangers in there!," You hissed from behind him making him hum. "Not only that, but I had three people I didn't even know trying to touch my head and dress me!" It sent a shiver down your spine. "Not to mention the plan to brainwash me!!"

"Brainwashing. I'm actually very familiar with that concept! Even have some hands on experience.~" He proudly cooed with a hand on his chest. "But the thought of any of you doing that to the woman, who may I remind you I am attracted to by her original self.....Well that thought makes me very upset.~" His voice took a small twist that made you blink at him.

"N-No!! No!! We would never!! Honest, Lord," Yoko nearly squealed in his presence. "I-I merely set about t-to make sure t-t-that she would be prepared for her n-new position is all!"

"By completely ignoring what she asked? By going over her head and dictating what she should want based on your own standards? ....Going behind our backs to change our woman??"  No one spoke after that sentence making him hum louder and twist his head to the side with an audible crack of his neck. "What was it she told me? Soon to be taught the proper way to behave for a lady of her position or something close to that? Oh dear, oh dear. That won't do at all. The blatant disrespect and disregard is something I can't overlook here. It would be a shame if the others found out."

"W-We'll fix all the wrongs right away!! P-Please have mercy!! W-We only did what we thought was best-"

"No. Not 'we'. YOU. But luckily for my beloved Im here to fix it!!" His cheery smile and tone return as his head popped back up.  "And you lovely ladies have the chance to redeem yourselves! Now the first order of business is for me to just say...If anything of this magnitude happens again, I'll convince the Master to allow me some 'volunteers' for my new wysteria tonic." The air dipped in feeling that even sent a shiver down your spine.  "Now on the other hand, would one of you ladies be a sweetheart and bring all of us some food?" His tone shifted again back to happy go lucky. "If I recall, you all never even fed them first before shoving your ideals on her."

"That's not the only thing shoved onto me." He again hummed in question. "Look inside my room."

He paused for a moment before Enmu turned- ?! He blinked amused when two strong arms just grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to walk backwards still forcing him to stay between you and them until you got to the door and motioned towards the door. He chuckled again, you scowled deeper, and he held up his hands before opening the door. .....Hmm. Now wasn't this interesting? A completely normal room except for the obvious mountain of boxes and gifts scattered everywhere. Oh my, oh my. It looks like there was already some spoiled people trying to get in good with his lady. The thought bubbled up a small but very primal anger in the back of his mind as he turned to face the half bowed ladies staring at him in fear.

"Now what have here? You should know better than to throw all of this on her her first night here. Don't you know what stress that would cause?"

"B-B-But Sir. T-The nobles always traditionally give gifts to a new Lady-"

"Then send them a thank you card on her behalf and tell them all that she's too overwhelmed to be bothered.~" He smiled wider. "If they have any problems with how we handle things then please tell them to feel free to talk to the Kizuki. In the meantime..." He pulled back the sleeve on his other wrist. "I am running behind on some appointments...Set up a room for me close to my fiance and bring us some food. I have some unfinished business to do. Come Begonia.~"

He motioned for you to follow him as he just walked into the room and not wanting to stay anywhere close to the demons who tried to essentially take over your life, you followed quickly followed by Rui. As soon as the door closed , you exhaled a huge sigh of relief allowing your body to relax against the closed door and breath. Gods these demons were crazy. CLICK!! You slowly looked back up and found Enmu with his back to you digging through his open briefcase he had set up on top of the mountain of boxes. He hummed happily to himself rummaging through it meanwhile Rui stood as still as a statue staring at him.  Guess Rui still had a bad impression of Enmu from the last time they've been alone with you, but Rui hadn't made any effort to tie him up again....Yet. 

"Alright! I found it!," He happily sang with an absolutely cheery voice turning back to you with a clean vile like he usually used to get your blood, a sharp nail already ready to poke your hand with once more. "Now hold still. This won't take but a moment.~"

You rose a brow starting to get tired of this process. "How many times do you HAVE to do this?! I'm starting to think it's hopeless."

"Actually this will be the last time I need it. I just need a present day sample to test and compare it to the older samples. Then I can actually confirm if my theory about your blood is correct."

"Mind sharing?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to spread false information in case I am wrong. If I am it'll just cause more trouble, but rest assured I will tell you once I confirm it. Now your hand please.~"

You deadpanned but sighed and held up your hand- "Ow!"

A sharp prick hit your finger and you found Enmu again pressing the vile against the small cut and blood dropped into the vile. You only watched as he got a decent few drops before he let you go and slapped the cork back on. Staring at the red lovingly with his teal eyes.

"So pretty.~ Your blood always fascinates me.~"

You rolled your eyes already used to his antics. "Nice to know you're taking this seriously." He turned to place the vile back in his bag. "Thank you by the way." He hummed pausing his movements to look back at you. Your hand gestured to the door. "Back there I mean. If you hadn't scared the heavens out of them, they might've tried forcing me into all those things. It honestly scared me for a moment."

He hummed with a blink before smiling again and continuing to put things away. "Well I was able to see your face in despair which excited me.~ So we can call ourselves even for now.~ Besides I can't have anyone going around trying to change my pretty ill tempered mistress can I?~" 

"You know the only reason I accepted that 'gift' was because I needed the medicine for Rui, right? I didn't want any engagements. No matter how cute your reactions are, I'm not accepting your love.'' Enmu had paused, his eyes widened at you. "...What?

"Y-You..Think I'm cute?" His genuine surprise slowly twitched into a spellbound love struck look before he giggled like a girl who had just gotten kissed by her crush, hands grabbing his cheeks stained a pink....shit. "Aaaawww.~ My Begonia's already in the denial part of the falling in love stage.~ It makes me so happy!~"

"Enmu, knock it off before I change my mind about throwing you in that water!"

"YES!!"  You jumped as he moved quicker than you thought possible and in one moment he was right in front of you clutching his chest. That same love struck look in his eyes staring at you. "Please throw me! Please punch me! Do please do anything as long as I feel your skin upon mine even for a moment.~"

...You blinked before reaching a hand to your temples. "Ah shit. You really do have it bad huh?''

"But of course.~ I love everything about you. That's why I don't want them to change you.~"

...You slowly looked back to him. "You like....me being myself? Well..No offense but I wasn't expecting that answer from you."

"Oh I might seem like that but it's true~," he continued to gush, "And you're the first for everything for me.~ My first time anyone let alone a lady threaten me. Push me around. Defend me. Trusts me enough despite my actions and personality.~ Even now you don't cower away or reject me outright.~ Even when you threaten me I can tell you have emotions aimed just for me behind it.~ Don't you see..Y/n. I love you." He gushed and you blinked when he grabbed your hand. "You excite me in ways I've never been given a chance to feel.~ Why would I want that absent from my li-..." He completely stopped eyes going wide and jaw dropping as that hand reached up to cup his cheek. "....life."

"Alright I get it you love struck fool." You said with a roll of your eyes. "I guess I owe you a little bit of gratitude for all you did for me, and still doing for me. And I can appreciate the honesty at least. But promise me one thing."

He shivered before leaning towards the touch he felt. Hands reaching up to gently hold the hand holding his cheek. "Name it.~"

"When you do get the results of my blood, I would like to know fully what you've done with it. I think I have a right to know that at least."

"Done.~" He then tilted his head sideways and you jumped when a soft pair of lips gently kissed the palm of your hand before the face nuzzled into it's warmth. "Trust me.~ Your blood's story is one I'm most thrilled to tell you.~"

You nodded. "G-Good." You cleared your throat nevermind the slight pink of your cheeks. "I e-expect you to keep your word."

"Do I get another kiss in thanks?~"

You rolled your eyes. "You and kisses. By the way you're acting it's like I gave you the first kiss of your Life-"

"Yes."

You blinked. "What?"

He chuckled again. "Did you think I was wrong when I said you were my first? Your kiss was my first heavenly experience with love.~ And I would not like it to be my last.~"

[damiansgrayson]

Dick kills for the second time, Jason finds out about the first. (ficlet)

Amy Rohrbach is the one to give him permission when she hands him back his badge and gun. The one to say, “As a police officer…you have more options.”

Her words run through Dick’s mind as he goes to follow up with the reporter; the one who is dead only minutes later by a bullet through the head as glass flies everywhere and Desmond crashes through the window. Dick’s on his feet in minutes, already attacking, trying not to scream in rage as the words fall out. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you.”

Part demand, part secret plea.

“There isn’t one, Nightwing. Not one. That’s the best part.”

Mass murderer. Domestic terrorist. The former residents of his building on floors one through three probably died instantly when the bomb went off. But four and five... the floors fell through on them. They were crushed, trapped, they died of internal injuries and smoke inhalation. And floor six... they burned. 

Roland continues, knowing he's finding weaknesses Dick refuses to give into. “Nor is there a single good reason for me to harm a hair on your head. The essential truth of your nature is that you could take every beating I could dish out. You might even enjoy them. You have absolutely no regard for your personal safety. But the people around you, well! That’s a different matter, isn’t it?

“I’ll take out the people you care about- hell even strangers you stand next to on the street. You won’t be able to shake someone’s hand without marking them for death.”

After his parents, Dick knows all too well about the mark of death. 

“Do you like being alone, Dick? I’ll make sure you can’t save any of them. I’ll make sure you relive over and over your failure to save your relationship, your circus, the residents of your building, Ms Michaels- that’s how I'll take you apart. Loved one by loved one. Innocent by innocent. It will never stop. I can keep this up forever. Every loved one, every stranger.”

He's right. It never stops. Dirty cops are one thing, but then there's the attorney generals, the judges, the jails that never seem to hold. It never stops. 

Punching harder, kicking stronger-- it’s all useless with someone like Blockbuster, who can take the beating without crumpling like most, but Dick continues. Rage flows through him in a messy way, the kind Bruce would say gets people killed, and he’d be right. Dick’s all but seeing red, trying to control himself and failing, trying to picture anything but the people he’d failed to save.

“And you’ll let me do it, won’t you? Just so you don’t tarnish your own moral righteousness. Just like Batman.”

One moment Roland is waxing poetic on threats; the next, he’s choking on his own blood as a wingding rips its way through his throat. 

Moral righteousness be damned, Dick can't forgive himself if he lets himself become locked in a deadly battle with his own form of the Joker. He still runs to the roof and retches before collapsing to his knees. He's failed. Bruce will never look at Dick the same way again. 

What else could he do? 

In a fugue state, he calls Amy about the body. She comes up with some alibi. He hands back the gun and badge and disappears before she can argue. 

-

Back in a hotel room as he gets ready to leave Bludhaven for a bit, he stops. Outside the window of the fire escape he hears someone, blinds closed and obscuring vision. Heavy step, large build. Sound of uniform. Doesn't want to be quiet. Not afraid. Dick readies himself. 

“Hello Dickard." 

Only one person uses the most irritating, immature forms of nicknames for him. “Go back to Gotham, Jason.”

Cursing Babs for tattling to his brother may not help the situation, but it's easier than getting a smug Jason to leave once the window is broken into and he climbs in. She trusted Jason more than others under Bruce's shadow had when he returned. Maybe it was shared hatred of the Joker- the way he'd killed Jason and killed Barbara's old life. Bodily traumatized by him in ways few of the other heroes had been. 

There's a million reasons he's here, but if comfort or concern was one of them, the last person he'd tell would be Dick. “Or what, you’ll kill me?”

“Fuck off,” Dick snarls, misplacing his guilt inside of anger. If he didn't hate himself so damn much, it might feel good. 

Of course the tone goes ignored, just as the words, and Jason launches into, “Remember how I told all of you that sometimes lethal force is necessary and all I got in return was lectures on morality?”

Dick ignores him.

“Remember how the second you wore the cowl you had me arrested because you ‘weren’t a hypocrite like Bruce’?” Dick hadn't so much had him arrested as hadn't stopped Gordon from doing it, but the point was moot. 

“Are you done?” 

“Is your fragile sense of self still intact?”

If it was anyone but him asking, Dick might have answered honestly. “It’s fine.”

“Seems too fine.” Jason says. “Guess I should have expected as much from a cop.”

The words feel like sandpaper on the gaping wound that is Dick’s guilt and before he can help it, he’s stupidly asking, “Are you saying I should have let him live?”

“That fucker?” Jason scoffs. “Of course not.”

“I’m not proud of it.” He says, as if that makes things better. As if a man wasn't dead, however monstrous, and Dick wasn't a killer, however once described  righteous. “I’m not proud of it, but it’s done. It’s not like the Joker.” 

Bruce wasn’t there to fix it. 

Jason stills in a way Dick doesn’t catch on to until the shaky tenor in his voice gives his anger away. “What do you mean ‘not like the Joker’?”

Years have passed and somehow Dick hadn’t realized it was still secret-- had he expected Tim to say something? Alfred? Or the Joker himself? It seems stupid to not have known Jason was never told but he’s the last one to want to admit how much more of a hypocrite he was this same night. “Nothing.”

“No, what? Not like the Joker killing me?” Jason irrationally demands, always jumping to the conclusion that no one loves him properly. “This time people you actually cared about were in danger?”

“No.” Dick huffs, glaring and admitting with a flat tone, “Not like when I killed the Joker.”

“The Joker is alive.”

Dick hates the mixed feelings that come up every time he thinks on those four words. “He wasn’t for about three minutes.”

“What, hit him wrong with your escrima stick?” 

“No.”

“I deserve to know. It’s him. If KGBeast-”

“Get out, Jason.”

“Not until you fess up.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

Within the minute it takes for Jason to draw the gun, shoot it, and Dick to leap out of the way, his temper is already unleashing again. “What the fuck.”

“Please, if I thought you couldn’t dodge, I would shoot you. Now tell me.”

Despite knowing that he's allowing Jason's psychological manipulation to win, his anger overrides pride as he spits out, “I beat him to death with my own hands.”

Jason stands, gun lowering minutely. “Why?”

“He made it look like he had killed Tim.”

“That was enough? After all these years?” Jason challenged, unbelieving. “You’re not that stupid.”

“He took a crack about your death in the middle of it.” Dick looks away, not wanting to see Jason’s expression. "You had only been dead a few months."

Jason, for once, is more silent than he's ever been around Dick when not nose deep in a classic novel. 

“Bruce revived him.” Dick said, heading off the next logical question. “He didn’t want a death on my conscience.” Another death at least, Dick laments to himself.

There's a stillness to Jason's quiet fury as he says, “Bruce belongs in Arkham with him.”

Thinking of how he himself had  allowed Zucco to be riddled with bullets, or how he had manipulated lightning into frying Creighton, Dick can't help but mutter, “All of us do.”

“Would you do it again? Kill him?”

What was the Joker’s current murder count? Every death he saw in the reports was a death that Dick felt differently than before. Small, perhaps a bit broken, he confesses, “Yeah. Yeah, I probably would. But that’s not a good thing.” 

Right?

Jason cracks. “I hate him, Dick." He knows it's Bruce. "He doesn’t give a shit about anyone other than the clown who leaves carnage in his wake, doesn't care how many people die, or get paralyzed- we're just toy soldiers. He's a fucking monster for bringing him back to life. You know that, right? Why do you all act like I'm the crazy one to suggest we put him seven hundred feet under?”

“You’re not crazy.”

“Then why is he still alive?”

Thinking of mitigating potential damage, even if he has no place doing so, Dick asks, “Are you still asking about the Joker?”

Surprisingly, Jason doesn’t shoot Dick for the remark. He wouldn’t have blamed him if anger arose, but instead the man shakes his head, looking out the window for a moment. “It’s not that easy.”

“You don't actually want Bruce dead,” he says. “Sometimes I worry you need the reminder.” 

Jason scoffs. “Hypocrite.”

“I know.” Dick sighs. After a moment, he goes back to the original question about the Joker. “I don’t have a new answer for you."

“Don’t let Bruce stop you next time.”

He deflects. “Don’t shoot up the manor on your way home.”

“No promises.”

“Alfred will shoot back,” Dick points out, although it's not like either would actually harm the other. 

“You going to hide out?”

Dick can't face their mentor. His adopted father, rather. Alfred might calm Bruce down, Babs might do a good job of distracting him, but the confrontation will happen regardless and Dick's too broken to let it happen now, however much of a coward it makes him. “I’m riding out to Donna’s in a bit.”

“At least Diana believes true justice can cost a life.” Triton, Maxwell Lord, Ares… names from the League files that Bruce keeps on its members. Diana tries peace before all else, though. Jason's spent too much time around Artemis if he thinks otherwise. 

Thinking about Wonder Woman only makes him think of Superman, though. There's no League member close to Bruce on the list of people he wants to fail less, and just the thought makes him feel sick to his stomach. 

He has to refocus. It's done. 

Jason’s demeanor toward Dick has shifted, and while there’s some chaos and upset brewing around Bruce, he’s at least postponed his anger at Dick. “If no one else tells you but me; you did the right thing.”

"This isn't some bonding moment, Jason!" Dick growls, yelling again. "I'm not this person!"

Jason rolls his eyes. "Delude yourself all you want. Just answer one question." 

Dick waits, even if he knows better. 

"If you hadn't been taught by Bruce, would you still be holding onto that no kill rule-," Ever one to cross a line to make a point; Jason finishes, "-Or would Zucco have died by your own hands too?"

"I know better than to be jury, judge, and executioner by now." Dick says. At least I should.

"Bludhaven isn't different enough from Gotham for you to actually believe the American justice system works. Even if it did, jails here don't hold either. How many people do you think he would have killed next?" 

Unsure who he’s arguing for anymore, he replies, "I can't prove that he would have."

"You're not that naive, no matter how much you want to be Superman's fanboy."

Dick waits a minute, and Jason doesn’t fill the silence, before finally admitting, "I couldn't let myself become Bruce. I couldn't create my own joker."

"Stop, you're going to make me have to respect you."

Quiet fills the space again.

“Just promise me you’ll go back to Gotham and stay out of the Nightwing costume.” It wouldn't be the first costume of his that Jason has taken, after all. 

“Oh, come on, this would be the perfect time for him to start using guns." Jason’s grinning.

As much as Dick wouldn’t mind punching him, he only rolls his eyes. “Have fun finding a place to fit them."

“I’m sure there’s room where you keep the fake butt padding, but fine. I can’t fit in your tiny suit anyway, some of us have muscles.”

“Some of us didn’t cheat by using the Lazarus pit." 

“Whatever you have to tell yourself."

“See you around." 

[tobiasdrake]

Back on the trail.

I think you already burnt that bridge when you marched the entire clientele into a river on promises of a better cafe's coffee, Fubuki. But just in case, Yuma, disarm it now.

Fucking... Icardi didn't say shit about passcodes.

Shinigami please stop poking the deadly explosive

Fubuki, if we explode into a shower of limbs, can you still rewind time? Is that possible? Asking for a friend.

Oh, good. It's a minigame. Icardi isn't a total monster; Just an obnoxious bastard.

Don't rest on your laurels, Yuma. We've got two more to do.

That's still fairly generous. Maybe we can swing back over to Dohya and investigate some more. I want to check out the command center, see if anything's left of it. I also want to sift through the rubble behind the building.

That's bothering me too, Shinigami. Why give Yuma the opportunity to disarm the bombs? What's the point?

They're making him do it on a timer, but they're also providing extremely generous timers. It took us less than fifteen minutes to get to Ginma from Dohya, and those are on opposite ends of the map. But we had sixty to do this in.

It's super weird. I still think Icardi is a rat, and that's why he made the big "Hey Peacekeepers, @ ME FUCKOS!" declaration. It's the only thing that makes sense.

We didn't get to go inside the command center. But the cops did. Then all three of them chased Shachi out and pursued him upstairs. Probably wouldn't have all gone up there if there were any other suspects in the room to arrest.

Maybe that should be our next goal. Figure out where the Resistance leaders disappeared to.

Matter of fact, old man Margulaw said he owns a shop in Kamasaki. That might be a great place to start.

Which is also in Kamasaki. We might run into Margulaw purely by coincidence.