#also tweezers in big blue bag

[w04hxo]

This isnt the prompt but hopefully op enjoys anyway

im so curious abt what ppl carry around on the daily.....rb & tag what's in ur pockets/bag?

[narcissarina]

𝔊𝔬𝔩𝔡𝔢𝔫 ℭ𝔞𝔤𝔢, 𝔅𝔩𝔲𝔢 𝔅𝔬𝔫𝔡𝔰

જ⁀➴Previous chapter

Pairings: bodyguard!Leon × college billionaire!reader

Word count: 2,105

Tw: mentions of death, experiment, death threats

Summary: you woke up in a strange cabin, recalling the events had happen before this. Now, not knowing what next move you'd pull.

𝚅𝙸𝙸𝙸.

Your body lying against the hard ground, head spinning as you have a urge to vomit but you swallowed it in and cough out some strange liquids from your mouth. Trying to steady your focus, you sat up and look around to your surroundings—it’s unfamiliar and you’d be damned if your city had this kind of ruined room.

It looks like a cottage, ears started ringing as you winced and whined at the sudden ring and pain in your ear. You palm your ears to close and maybe the ringing would stop, it did—but it’s still painful. You had the urge to sob and call out for help, but it seems like no one is hear and no one would hear your cries.

It's almost dark, you got up and wail at the pain you have in your leg. Someone drew an X mark on your right leg, with something sharp. You wail and gripped on to your leg, it’s still bleeding a little of blood, you reckon its been a few minutes since someone cut an X in your leg.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, you focus your eyes to something that’ll wrap your injured leg—it’s not that big but it’s also not that small. Behind you was a bed, ruined and reeks urine, disgusting. It’s making you puke but you hold it on.

You limp your way to the broken cabinets, rummaging each cabinet. You could only see dead rats and spider webs in, but you’re determined to find at least one thing that could disinfect your wound and cover it some clean cloth.

Your legs gave out as you stood too long, you hiss at the pain when your injury made contact with the floor. “Fuck!” you hiss as tears burns your cheeks, you continue rummaging below the cabinet and something white shines from the corner of your eyes. It’s too far to reach, you stick your hand and cringe at whatever feeling your hand made contact with. The tip of your fingers caught it, you grab a hold of it and took it out.

“Finally! A fucking aid kit, the fuck.” You smiled at what you achieved to get, the med kit is a little dusty and dirty and, wait—is that a blood stain? Fuck it, you just rolled with it as long as it has what you need inside.

Opening the first aid kit and saw various of things that hasn’t been used yet, your wound throbs and you hiss. You took the distilled water first and dump it over the X mark on your leg, you felt something sharp inside the wound—though it wasn’t deep, you saw a light blue glow. You take the tweezer, put some alcohol with it and dry it off for a second.

Placing the tweezer to your injured leg, slowly but surely grabbing a hold of the small glowing rock. The moment it was taken out, you shudder and let out a relieved shaking sigh. You swallowed your saliva as blood splatter down your leg. Taking more distilled water and putting pressure to end the bleeding.

Once the bleeding stopped, you take the gauze bandage roll and made some folds four times and wrap it around your wound. To feel better, you made a silly but durable ribbon out of it but still left some bandage roll incase you need to change.

Your leg was shaking and you glance at the rock thing that made your wound hurt, it started to glow more and more. You wrapped it with thick clothing. Neatly folded the fabric three times and put the rock in and fold it another three more times.

There’s some bag pack that you could use and find a way to get the fuck out of here and get help, you also found a gun that’s been hidden away. You praise the man above for letting you have luck by your side.

It took a few minutes to finally get up, take the things you need and see the world outside.

It looks ruin.

You’re not in your street home.

You were taken away from your home.

Leon shot some zombies which he never thought would also be here, inspecting the room. Nothing that could help him, he did see a key from one of the zombie he just shot. That’s a first, he knelt down and quickly taken it with him and proceed to another room.

He just solved two puzzles and mystery in this mansion just keeps on stacking. It has taken him to solve it for almost thirty minutes and he would’ve just blown those puzzles with a fucking grenade for how much this place is testing his patience.

While looking for something in the area of the second library of this house, he thought to himself that this house very much value knowledge nor stories since it has a second library.

Leon swore he heard a gun shot from outside, since this place is a complete ruin and it’s been oddly too quiet that it has been eerie and uneasy about him. In the back of his mind that zombies aren’t the only thing he needs to fight in this mansion, but also mutated fucked up monsters or someone as big as the Nemesis, or something.

Grabbing a book, it’s unusual since it feels like it was attached from the back. “So, it’s like a secret room type of shit.” He curses and pulled the book as it angles to 120° angle. The ground shook for a bit as the bookshelves began to slide from each opposite sides—revealing a dark room, he took out his flashlight and flash it directly down, it has stairs. Great, he’s walking to his ultimate death.

Taking his gun to his hand while the other holds on to the light, he came down and he could hear every step he makes. It echoes the click, Leon made it to the flat surface and finds a light switch. It flashes dimly, which Leon accepted it’s enough for him to see.

There’s a desk in front of him, beside is a hospital bed and couple bodies were scattered—most of it is missing a head, one or both legs, an arm or eyeballs.

It made Leon shudder, knowing that someone or something is capable of doing such monstrous things. He wants to gag and puke, but he had seen enough—enough to twist his stomach and react to this things nonchalantly.

Leon felt a presence in the same room as him, but he didn’t bother it. Since it’s only observing him, as long as he doesn’t cause a certain movement to have the entity charge at him. He won’t be spilling crimsons in his hands again.

A few files were stacked on the desk, there’s dried blood splatter which was now normal to Leon every time he went out on a mission. He examines every file but one particular file took his attention when a piece of picture fell from it.

His heart dropped, colors from his face drained for the first time.

It was your picture.

Leon felt sick and quickly opened the document.

Experiment 106

Stable

Alive, barely.

Marked an X on her leg.

Left her in a cottage

She’s reacting, I don’t know if it’s a good sign. But we put her to sleep so we could perform the surgery and bury our most precious treasure deep part of her. We broken it to pieces and shoved it down in every muscle of her body. She was bleeding badly too, but it worked out in the end.

Manage to keep her alive, or else we are done for.

Looking forward to seeing the next result, letting the prey have it’s freedom while being unaware that the predator had started its hunt.

A distorted laugh was heard from behind him, he whips out his light and knife. A gun won’t be any use when it’s opponent is already close, the moment Leon turned, he saw the most terrifying thing he lay his eyes upon. He wanted to vomit at the ugliness and horrifying features that the monster before him has.

Adrenaline rushes through his veins, his instinct were kicking as he blocks and manage a stab of his opponent. It has a figure of a human, but it’s looks weren’t human.

The smile is has, left Leon tighten his grip to his light and weapon, the corner of it’s lips were reaching to its ear. Blood trailing down it’s lips, it was as white as ghost. Eyes were pop and wide as blood serve it’s purpose as tears.

There’s a cut from its throat, the dressing it has were bloody and torn. Leon question of this motherfucker went to a haunted house to be a scare actor. He knew it would nail it.

“sorry, dude. But I need to be on my way.” Leon said, making the entity laugh—it’s voice and laugh were distorted as if it came straight out from a movie, is B.O.W responsible for this? He asked to himself.

Almost losing it as the thing charged at him with a scream, “mother fuck!” Leon curses loud and threw himself across the room, avoiding the beast as he could. Taking his gun and shooting it a couple of few times, the bullets went through its skin and absorbs the bullet as if it’s food.

“Oh, what the fuck…” he knew he’s fucked. If he couldn’t kill a monster with a stab by a knife or a bullet from a gun. Then what could?

He needs to get to the other side of the room again, get the documents and get the fuck out of here and lock the monster in. He’d be dead if he couldn’t kill this bitch.

Leon successfully avoided most of it’s attacks, being careful not to get sliced by the sharpness of it’s hands. As if the nail and fingers in that monster were one, he took five of the files, manage to get the fuck away and lock and closed the secret door again.

It closed in time, or else Leon would be dead by now.

He breaths in and out, calming his breathing and heartbeat. Leon took a look at each file, he busy himself as the monster was screeching to be let out, chanting death threats on how it would eat Leon’s head and tear him from limb to limb. Those threats were already normal to him, he always make big enemies since he knew he has a reputation from inside the agency and outside.

Soon enough, the noise calmed down. Ears starts to ring when Leon read a particular information within your document and the other test subjects.

The used relic would be the only thing to stop the madness my brother created, the monster he created.

Name? Unknown

Very dangerous

Can’t die with a knife or a bullet from a gun.

We kept the cube inside our subjects to prevent the monster from taking it and destroying it. It made it feel weak and vulnerable, we could hear it screech from pain while my brother shouts that we should show mercy to “his” child.

I pray to God above that this madness would end and restore our humble island back to it’s glory.

This was written at the back of your file, messy and bloody handwriting it has. Making Leon feel rage and burn this island down, ditch his mission and go on to save you.

Life is shit, it targeted the only person he’s protecting. If he ever finds one of the scientists behind of all of this, he would do unspeakable and beyond humane things. Making their deaths slow and painful.

But first, Leon’s objective was to find you first.

A voice from his earpiece snapped him out of it, “I got something, Leon.”

“what is it?”

“Someone is in the island with you.”

Leon paused and nodded, “I figured.”

“How?”

“Just saw files of their twisted experiment and I know who they targeted.”

There was a long pregnant pause before the voice speaks, “who?” the voice asked.

Leon spoke your name in gritted teeth.

“Pin point her location if possible. This will be a lot trickier than I thought it would be.” The voice hum to Leon’s words.

“Good luck.”

The voice faded quickly, “Please be safe princess.” He mutters and took one or two papers with him, folded it quickly and tuck it in his pockets.

Change of plans, objective: to find and save you.

Next Chapter>>>

[the-jade-cross]

Come Back Home - Chapter 3

Fawn sat calmly in a chair surrounded by the snipers as Gally and Newt interrogated Teresa. Thomas was avoiding joining in the interrogation because he as well as everyone else knew that he still couldn't accept the fact that Teresa was a psychopathic traitor.....or at least that is what Gally called her and Fawn sometimes was apt to agree with him. When Teresa had woken up to her blindfold and gag removed, her eyes at once located Fawn, which was why the Snipers had wasted no time in surrounding the girl, not just to protect Fawn but also told down the red head in question should she feel the urge to murder Teresa.

"This isnt working," Newt said to the others, "if we want to access through the doors we will need to take her with us because she is the only one among us with fingerprint access."

"Not necessarily, we dont really need her," Gally observed. "We just need her finger."

Fawn stifled an amused chuckle when Gally picked up a small surgical knife.

"easy there big guy," Magnum said, placing a hand on Gally's shoulder.

"Diversion," Fawn said, immediately gaining everyone's attention. "Newt and Thomas go with Teresa to get Minho out and Gally comes with me."

"You can't do that!" Teresa objected, making Fawn roll her eyes, "The trackers in your necks will go off the moment you are within a mile of the city."

"Yeah yeah," Thomas sighed, "We know Wicked put trackers in our necks. That is what you are going to help us with. you have the counter code to prevent the trackers from blowing up so you are going to remove them for us. Gally and Fawn both dont have trackers so they dont need your assistance."

"But if they dont have fingerprint access they cannot get in without me! Besides what are they going to be doing if you and Newt are getting Minho?"

"I do not see how that is any of your concern," Brenda spoke up, venom dripping from her voice. 'YOu worry about getting them to Minho and if you betray them even slightly, your finger isnt going to be what you need to worry about losing."

Teresa rolled her eyes, "Fine. I need a knife and tweezers."

Gally untied her but stood right over her as she began to work on the trackers in Frypan, Newt and Thomas's necks.

"Brenda has recovered nicely I see," Teresa observed, trying to make small talk but Thomas tensed. "If you let me take a look at her I can see if she needs another dose soon."

"Don't even think about going near her," Thomas growled, shocking Gally who wasnt expecting that kind of reaction from Thomas. "Besides she is fully cured."

Teresa paused as she removed the tracker from Thomas's neck, "That's impossible. She would have had to be on the cure for the rest of her life."

"We told you already, we know what the cure is." Gally hissed, knowing full well that only Fawn knew the cure but she only knew in her memory before the maze which she was still lacking.

"Thomas there is no way one treatment could have cured her...." Teresa began but Thomas got to his feet.

"Shut up. You worry about helping us rescue Minho and then Gally is free to do whatever he wants to you."

As Newt and Frypan tied Teresa back up, Gally frowned to himself. What Teresa said did make him wonder. How did one treatment cure Brenda while Lawrence had to live off constant treatment? Not only that but when Puma said that Fawn had cured him.... if Fawn had leaked the cure information to Wicked because only they had the capacity to create the cure, how come Fawn managed to get her hands on the cure?

*******

"Thank you for helping me with this," Fawn said as Gemini handed her a paper bag, inside contained a rubber mask.

The humanoid smiled and nodded before holding out another bag which contained Wicked attire. Fawn slipped into a nearby room to change and when she emerged, Newt and Gally both jumped. Not only was she dressed like a Wicked surgeon but her face was also different with long blond hair, blue eyes and sharp features.

"Don't scare me like that!" Gally whined. "How come I didnt know these masks existed?"

"Miss Fawn didnt invent the transformer masks until one year before she entered the maze," Gemini told the boys.

"You just have all kinds of tricks up your sleeve dont you?" Newt smiled.

"Here," Fawn said, handing the two boys matching guard attire.

"One question though," Gally asked, "How are the two of us going to get in if Teresa is with Newt and Thomas?"

"I purposely didnt tell you guys earlier because if Teresa finds out, she could set off an alarm," Fawn whispered. "Teresa cannot use her card. She must use her fingerprint to open two separate doors. If she uses her thumbprint twice in the span of five ours , the system pauses for five seconds, long enough for me to hack the doors and get in before the system reboots. If she uses her thumbprint only once, it wont work so you have to convincer her. There are three separate doors you guys will pass through so you have limited chances."

"how could she set off an alarm?" Newt asked.

"She is already suspicious of where Gally and I will be. We will be trying to get into the holding cell where they hold the cure. If she knows what we are up to she can set off an alarm by using her pointer finger rather than her thumb which sets off an automatic code red."

"Sheesh. Wicked is seriously paranoid," Gally whistled. "So Newt and Thomas will try to get her to use her thumb twice. What happens if he fails?"

"I have a backup plan but I want to avoid using it if I can help it."

The two boys nodded, knowing that whatever it was, Fawn knew what she was doing.

"Miss Fawn," Gemini spoke, "Here is the mobile. It will give you access to all the security cameras."

Gally and Newt's eyes bulged at this advanced technology.

"It will shut off immediately after you have entered the holding chamber so that Wicked cannot track its signal or shut off access."

Fawn smiled as she pocketed the device. "Wicked may be paranoid but they like their holograms a little too much and they dont realize that holograms are the easiest thing to hack."

*******

"This is absolutely going to fail." Gally whispered as he and Fawn stood in the silent hallway, waiting for Teresa to give them access.

They had managed to bypass the doors that led from the garage into the hallway directly below the vault but if they wanted to continue into the vault room they needed fingerprint access to go further.

Fawn smiled at her best friend as she watched Teresa, Newt and Thomas on the security mobile.

"Okay they are approaching the first door now." She whispered, Gally rushing over to her side to watch as well.

They watched as Teresa reached into her pocket for her key card but Thomas purposely grabbed her arm, holding it as if in warning. they seemed to exchange a few words until finally Teresa used her left thumb to open the door.

"One down. they need to be careful because if they alert Teresa or if the security suspects that she is a hostage, we will be in deep shit."

The two watched as the three approached the next door. Right at that moment, a light began to blink on the mobile.

"Crap, someone is coming," Fawn whispered.

Gally hurried to the door on the opposite end of the hall and poked his head through the window. "I dont see anyone yet. We need to hurry this up."

"She used the key card," Fawn growled. "She is getting suspicious. We have one more chance."

"I see someone coming!" Gally whisper yelled back.

Fawn watched as Newt and Thomas tried to secretly get Teresa to use her thumbprint.

"Fawn!?" Gally hissed in her ear. "We need to go now!"

Fawn hastily snatched up her com link, "Newt, abort. Let her use the card."

Gally and Fawn saw through the mobile that Newt and Thomas immediately stepped back and Teresa used her keycard.

"Now what?" Gally whispered.

"Act natural." Fawn whispered as she tucked the mobile away and began punching in numbers on the touch screen before it suddenly asked her for her fingerprint.

Gally was muttering something about how acting natural was the least of their concerns in this day and age. At that moment the door behind them opened as the person entered and the door in front of them opened simultaneously.

Fawn and Gally stepped through the door and it shut behind them. Gally rushed to check and see where the person had gone to see that the person had disappeared down another side room in the hallway.

"How did you open it?" he whispered.

Fawn merely smiled and walked over to one of the vaults. "You're only allowed to open one vault at a time so you might want to start drilling the others. I'll get this one."

Gally drew out his tools when a computer voice spoke.

"Welcome Jade Cross."

"Who is Jade Cross?" Gally asked as he saw an ID photo appear on the touchscreen, "And how come she looks like the disguise you are wearing?"

"How do you suppose I stole the archives back from Wicked? I infiltrated Wicked as a scientist."

"So you worked for Wicked under the alias of Jade Cross.... anything else I should know?"

Fawn shrugged, "I was known as the genius scientist who was set the task of investigating the "leaked information" they were given and I was the one who discovered how to make a cure out of it but when Wicked canceled the operation they sent me to the security lab.... oh and we only have ten minutes before we are found out."

"Ten? How come?" Gally asked.

"Because when security notices that Jade Cross used thumbprint access, it will take ten minutes for them to send this warning to security and for guards to get down here."

"But I thought you said Jade Cross worked for Wicked. Why would they send an alert to security?"

"Well..... Jade Cross may be on their records as deceased because I might have faked my death.... they are under the impression that the Avenging Angel killed Jade Cross."

[neteyamxme]

Home (NeteyamxOC) (part 3)

Warning: English is not my first language. I apologise for incorrect grammars.

Enid's POV

It's getting worse

Right after I got out from my small lab/house, I wandered around the forest. I made sure that I sprayed this repellant I made that removes my scent against the nose of the animals here.

The sun is already up and I was examining the plants and trees I see. Their colors are starting to pale, some even fall indicating it's dead.

Trees have small black spots on their trunks meaning that they've also been infected.

It's almost seven months since this epidemic has started. I have no clue where this chemical came from, but it's affecting mostly my forest. Animals started to get wild, venomous, and dangerous. Plants are starting to die and be poisonous. I always have to run a test at every food I bring home before cooking it.

Before, I was chill and safe around these living things, not until one of the wild animals, with big nasty open pores on its back, attacked me. When I dissected it after I killed it, I saw something wrong with its system.

And I knew then, had to put an end to this.

My neighbours-- the Na'vi people which doesn't know I exist near them-- soon will be affected. If this unknown chemical infected the water; their home, no matter how vast it is, it'll be dangerous for them.

I went near a tree with the worst infection that makes it look almost black. Taking the little knife in my pocket and gloves on my hands, I burried it to the trunk to get some samples, and to my horrify, it's like digging some dirt.

It's totally black, sticky, and disgusting. I wrapped it around this small fabric I brought then carefully putting it in my bag.

Roaming my eyes around, I can't help but feel sorrow. It used to be very healthy and lively, now, it's like gasping for breathe.

I closed my eyes. "I'll save you. I will give everything I have to repay you your kindness and shelter for the past years."

---

It's already sunset when I came back to the lab with samples and couples of food to test and hopefully to eat. The small garden I built in front of it can't seem to bear fruits which I think because it's also affected, that's why finding foods became a lot more struggles for me.

As I opened the door, I was almost thrown back by loud scream, growls, and barks from the inside that I had to slam the door close after going in, afraid that some creatures might here the noises.

"Get away from me!" Neteyam tried to frighten the small animal on the floor by hissing like a cat, but to no avail. He's standing on the bed and because he's too tall, he had to bend while his bruised wrist was tied in a chain.

I rolled my eyes. I've almost forgotten about this blue creature I kept.

I clicked my tounge and the Baby Mongrel stopped to look at me. "George, here." its enraged face turned into a thrilled one as it run to me, brushing its head on my leg.

"You keep that as a pet?!" Neteyam exploded, panting. "You don't keep a mongrel as a pet."

I shook my head as I laid the things I gathered on the table including my mask. "In case you don't know, I'm color brown, 5 and a half. I'm not a Na'vi."

I didn't waste any time and took every samples out of the fruits to run the test in the machine. It usually takes 10 minutes or so, so I also pulled the sample from the infected tree.

"Are you really not planning to let me go?" He asked, sitting down. He's looking at his wrist which turned to red probably because of his attempt to run.

With the use of tweezer, I detached a bit from the nasty trunk. "Nope." I answered, almost in a whisper.

He bit his lip. "I hope you know that I'm actually thinking about your safety and your place as well. I'm okay being scold at, but this is your home and they'll destroy this." he explained which I didn't give much care about.

"Mhm..." I answered again as I put the sample in the microscope slide and place it on the stage of the microscope to look at it.

"They could just toss you around then kill you."

I nodded. "...mhm..."

"What's that?" I didn't know what Neteyam was talking about because I was busy investigating, so I didn't answer him.

My eyes widened with what I saw. Unlike before, I could only see the chemicals combined with the cells of plants, but now, because the cells are dying, I had a better look at those molecules. It's very familiar.

"Shit." I said as I backed away.

"What? Why?" Neteyam seemed to be intrigued and wanted to take a look too but he couldn't reach it. "What's that, tell me."

"It's from a substance on Earth." I said in amusement knowing well that it's a statement for myself.

"Tell me what's going on." he demanded, uneasy maybe because he wanted to relate to my reaction.

I was hesitant to tell him but I was dumbfounded. "The chemical that's killing this forest came from a substance on Earth. Which means..." i paused for a bit. "...they're here. Near this forest."

"Killing the forest? This forest is dying?!" he said in awe. I didn't entertained him more because he's in no need to catch up. It's my business, not his.

I started thinking about the possibilities of how it happened. I've been roaming around for months, there's no sign of sky people. It doesn't make sense.

"Let me help you. Come on, let me help you cure this forest."

I shook my head trying to solve my mystery. "No" but I still answered him.

His chains started to make sound as he, again, tried to get out. "Please. Forest is my home, I can't just sit here and wait for it to die. I want to help this forest. Please--"

In annoyance, I rolled my eyes. I can't think properly with his noises. "Okay, help me."

His face brightened. "Really? How?"

"Shut your trap. You're fucking annoying." then his shoulders dropped.

George might have felt my anger so from licking its legs, he started growling as Neteyam again, which in return Neteyam hissed at it.

"George." I called so he went back to licking.

"Look, let me help you. I know you know that I'll be a great help. An Omaticayan on your side, we can totally save this forest."

I raised one of my eyebrow. "You really have that confidence with yourself?"

"No, I'm just stating a fact. I'm not trying to show off or anything. I could help you, big time."

I checked him out. But nothing in him convince me that he's not reckless and a mess. His overall looks shouts disaster. Even his annoying begging smile disgusts me. "No." once again.

He started bit his lip as his fists rolled. "You won't succeed." he finally said. I could hear the emphasis in every word. "You're alone and, well, small, you'll gonna consume more time. And before you even find a cure, this forest will die. Don't try to be independent, it won't do you any good."

I sighed shakily, trying to control my temper. But it seems my temper IS controlling me. "That's it." I went to a small drawer nearby and pulled out a magnet.

I hastily walked to him then crawled to the bed. He was confused when I grabbed his big hand where the chain is and put the magnet on the metal on his wrist. In a second, the chain opened. And I got up, presenting the door.

"You're fucking free. Get out."

His mouth fell down. Not in surprise, but because he's angry. "No, I'm not getting out. You kidnapped me, you have to take full responsibility." he said, sitting at the edge of the bed.

I rolled my eyes. "That's why I'm letting you out, you fucking. donkey."

"No, I'll help you. I've decided."

"You really wanna die?"

He smirked. "Why? You're gonna fight me?"

"No, but the oxygen will."

"You can't fool me. I have a mask--"

"--which lasted probably an hour ago and you're just breathing oxygen now."

His face started to burn in anger, thinking what to do. He know he can't just dismiss what I said. He can't risk it.

"ARGH!" After a minute of contemplating, he finally stood up, throwing his mask on the bed. He looked down at me, I thought he was gonna say something but he was just enrage.

Stomping his feet, he walked to the door, his braids swaying with his aggressive actions.

I smirk knowing I won. "Call your Ikran. You'll die on the road."

He opened the door and slamed it shut behind.

[tadpole-san]

are we still friends? ;  d.g. part two pairing: titans!dick grayson x reader, on-and-off relationship warnings: dick being his therapy-needing titans self, slight canon divergence from titans 1x06, and an ending that may or may not lead to a part two a/n: i will never let go of my personal dick grayson grudge, but this exists solely because i love @capricorn-stark

The last time you had seen Dick Grayson, he’d outfitted himself with packed belongings and a one-way ticket to Detroit, Michigan. Seeing him off at the airport would turn out to be the last time you saw him for a year - a fact you hadn’t picked up on at the time, but did, in fact, predict. To a degree.

“You could come visit,” he’d offered, just steps away from his gate. “You - well, you said you had plans to go to Chicago, right? The drive’s not too bad.” It was hard to say no.

Because this was Dick Grayson, and he had to be so earnest about everything he did. Even when it was asking you to come see him as he was moving hundreds of miles away from Gotham (hundreds of miles away from you, a part of your mind whispered, even as you reminded yourself that this didn’t have anything to do with you so much as it had to do with his fractured relationship with Bruce). Because he was trying to make things work.

“How are you able to be friends with your exes?” you’d asked, bemused and flabbergasted all at once. It wasn’t the first time. “I really try to hate you, you know.” That got him to laugh - which was nice. You felt as though you hadn’t really smiled in a long time.

“Maybe that’s my superpower.”

“Your superpower is super annoying,” you’d deadpanned, before leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll see you around, Grayson.”

An empty promise neither of you acknowledged.

After that, it was all too easy to fall out of touch with Dick - one too many missed calls, excuses of taking more shifts at his police station when you were more than capable of keeping up with the news that spoke of a vigilant Robin without its bat, until eventually, total radio silence. And you were happy to leave it at that, knowing that whatever Dick was working through, he’d clearly rather do it on his own.

So when even the Robin sightings in Detroit stopped entirely, you didn’t push things. Maybe he’d finally done it: give up the costume for good, leave the life behind like he said he would do, but never actually committed to.

This was probably a sign. That you need to go see him, like you said you would do, but never committed to.

Which means that the last thing you expect, on your morning coffee run in Chicago, was to quite literally run into the man of the hour himself.

“Dick?” The word comes in a way that is akin to a strangled duck squawking.  You wonder if the man before you is real - if you’re not just imagining the figure that stands before you, cuts and bruises littering his face. As if he’s been in a fight.

With his track record, there probably was a fight. With him, there’s always the fight.

“Sup?” Dick’s not the one who answers you first. It’s the kid standing at his side, walking with a swagger that speaks volumes to the confidence of a kid who’s filling out the big boy shoes with his own ego. You try not to judge too much - there’s always a story behind a stance like his. “Jason Todd, at your service.”

A train passes on the overhead, the sound drawing you out of your thoughts. You realize his hand is still offered to you, and you shake it, still staring at Dick. He’s tense, shoulders drawn, hunched in on himself and bracing for a fight.

Something’s up. And with the Boy Wonder, it’s always something big, and possibly earth-shattering. Inwardly, you sigh. On the outside, you smile wryly and introduce yourself to Jason.

“You probably know who I am,” you say, letting go of Jason’s hand and stepping back. Your grip on your bag tightens. “Dick’s a big storyteller, once you get him going.” Dick verbally steps in before Jason can say anything to either confirm or deny your words.

“I could use your help.”

He doesn’t say we.

“I can see that,” you deadpan, motioning to his face. Your hand stops shy of actually touching the bruise blossoming against tanned skin. “A personal favor, then?” He turns his head away from you, and you spot the (quite frankly) atrocious brown car parked on the curb.

“That’s my ride.” He’s defensive, and you get the feeling that it isn’t about the car. You raise your hand in surrender, but he doesn’t relax - in a way, it’s nice to know that you’re probably not the reason he looks ready to pull a Flash and run as soon as the chance to do so opened up for him.

“You’re parked in front of my ride,” you reply, reaching into your bag and pulling the keys out. You let them twirl around your finger as you turn and walk towards your car, looking over your shoulder at him. “Am I going to need to make a stop at home to get the old suit out?” Somehow, that actually brings a smile to Dick’s face, and he ducks his head slightly as he chuckles.

“I just need you,” he calls out, finally pulling a hand out of his pockets and raising it in your direction to let you see the phone in his palm that’s open to your texts with him. There’s a new one that is likely the address of whatever safehouse he was holed up in.

You try not to linger on his words for too long.

“They’re hot,” you hear Jason say. It’s followed immediately by a yelp - presumably from Dick either elbowing him or punching his arm - and a “you’re way too young for that.” Despite yourself, you grin.

You’d missed him. Even if you weren’t going to admit it to his face.

When you finally make it to the address Dick sends you, he’s not even the one who lets you pass Bruce’s more-than-extensive security system. It’s Jason who does that.

Instead, you find Dick bent over the bathroom sink, the blade of a scalpel pressed to the skin of his arm. There’s also an unconscious body cuffed to the shower behind him, but you compartmentalize that for later.

“Are you okay?” At the sound of your voice, DIck freezes - like a deer caught in headlights - and looks up at you. You can see him visibly relax as he lets out a sigh that works to relieve some of the tension wound up in his body. You raise an eyebrow, and walk over to him.

“It’s not what you think,” he tells you, then uses the scalpel to motion towards the device discarded on the white porcelain. You pick it up, turning it over in your hands. “Bruce planted a tracker, in me, and I’m trying to-”

“Cut him out?” you finish, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Cut it out,” he corrects.

“I know what I said.” You watch through the mirror’s reflection as he finally makes the incision, thick red blood pouring down his arm and dripping into the sink. You’re already opening the cabinet to find gauze to wrap his arm with. “Let me see that-” The ringtone coming from the phone between you two cuts you off. You look at him. And then you look down at the screen. The name Kori flashes across it.

“New girlfriend?” you dare to ask, meeting his eyes in the mirror. Dick purses his lips, swiping a bloody thumb over the screen to deny the call before he’s reaching for the tweezers.

“No,” He grits his teeth, maneuvering the metal tweezers in the wound he made. “We just met,” Dick adds, meeting your eyes again. For his sake, you offer a tentative smile. He sighs, and finally retracts a tracker that resembles a battery watch. It falls into your open hand. You’re glad for the distraction, because - shit.

Those eyes.

Dick possesses what you swear is the most beautiful shade of eyes you’ve ever seen, and he models them beautifully. Those baby blues were always going to be your downfall, and seeing them had been enough for you to call in a precious sick day at work so you could help him out on whatever case brings him to Chicago. They’re the reason you have a case in your car trunk containing a suit you swore to leave in the closet.

They make you realize you can be so weak.

“I’m not dating right now,” Dick continues, filling in the space of your prolonged silence. He doesn’t take the gauze from your hand - even though he could - and instead, holds his arm out towards you so you can wrap it yourself. “Actually, I haven’t really seen anyone since I was with you.”

“I think that says less about what our relationship was, and more about you going full lone-wolf.” You hesitate to finish, and you keep a loose grip on his arm. His skin is warm. “The more you try to be the anti-Bruce, the more you’re becoming like him. You know that, right?” He’s not looking you in the eye anymore. Anger isn’t what drives him to do that, you think - it’s more like a combination of guilt, of the expression of a kid who thinks he’s a disappointment to the people leaning on him. People shouldn’t lean on a kid.

“I’m working on it.”

“I know.” Finally, you set the roll of gauze aside and release his arm. It allows you to take the chance to reach for him and make him look at you again. “And thank you,” you add. “For coming to see me.” He manages another smile, reaching up to cover your hand in his. You know what he would do if you were still dating. He would’ve pressed a kiss to your hand, and he would laugh it off, probably with some sort of cheeky quip. A I knew you missed me too much or I’d come by to see you any day.

You’re not dating anymore. And it’s confusing as hell, because sometimes it feels like you still are. On the rare days that he still calls you for no reason to tell you about a case from work he’s stuck on, or to remind you that you made a promise to see him, pairing it with a good tease about how seeing him in the new uniform would probably be too much for you. On those nights, Robin isn’t flying solo on the streets of Detroit.

“The lead brought me to Chicago,” he explains, tilting his head in the direction of the man lying in the shower.

“Is it a work case?”

“Not exactly. It’s-” you anticipate the familiar complicated. The word doesn’t come. “There’s a lot I need to update you on,” he settles on saying instead, running stained hands under the sink. “And if it’s Chicago, you’re going to be my number one. Right?”

“Right,” you agree, traces of amusement seeping into your tone as you cross your arms. “I called in sick at work,” you add. “Am I going to need to make up an excuse for the rest of the week?” The question, lighthearted as it’s supposed to be, holds weight to it that neither of you acknowledge.

“I’m probably going to be out of the state in a couple of days,” Dick says instead of answering, drying his hands off with a towel. He lets it drop in the sink, walking back out in the hallway with you. “You don’t need to - it’s a lot. And there’s these guys I’m kind of traveling with-”

“Dick.”

When he faces you, it’s your turn to shove hands in your pockets to avoid wringing them out in front of him. You take a deep breath, leaning back on your heels to look at him. “You didn’t need to find me,” you tell him. “That Jason kid? He wouldn’t be sticking around if he couldn’t be decent backup for this.”

“Are you detective-ing me out right now?” Dick’s actually trying not to laugh. You’re not sure if you should hit him or not.

“That’s not a word!”

“You know what I mean! And yes! I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with you!” By now, he’s actually laughing - and even if a part of you is annoyed, sure, there’s more of you that just feels relief. Because you can’t remember the last time he’d laughed like that, either, and it gives you a bit of hope.

Hope that the parts of him you fell in love with aren’t as lost as you thought.

“There’s a lot,” he admits, shifting his weight and trying to step back so he isn’t crowding you in the hall. “I know - the Bruce thing, you’re sick of that bullshit. I got a lot going on.” His phone starts up again, and this time, he pulls it out. The fluorescent light washes out his skin, but you can see his expression sober up. “I need to take this.” The traces of laughter in his voice are gone, and it feels like he’s slipping away again. There’s frustration that must show on your face, because he reaches out to you and moves a stray lock of hair out of your eyes in a silent apology.

“Go.” You manage not to sound as bitter as you feel - and with him, it’s not a bitterness that’s always there, but it inevitably creeps up on you. The same way the shadow of a bat hangs over him. Dick nods, and you start to walk away when he grabs your wrist again.

“You aren’t my backup for this,” he says firmly, and you know you’re fucked. Because he’s looking at you with those eyes, and it’s like you’re in that airport with him all over again, with nothing but empty promises and a broken relationship the two of you are hanging onto by a thread. “You’re-” he falters. He hesitates, and you’re ready to watch Dick Grayson walk away from you again.

“You’re everything.”

DC Taglist:

@cipheress-to-k-pop

[itsuki-minamy]

LIMITED KINGSHIP, WAR STORIES:

CHAPTER 1: BUTTERFLY AND MANTIS

* Mini Episodes KFCN (List of Chapters) * Projects & Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

"Uh... do I have to clean this up myself?"

With the mop and bucket on the floor, Tadashi Maruha complained.

Originally, it should have been a good room in this detention center. Whether in the reception room or the director's room, the custom-made furniture was so good that even Maruha could tell, and he might have imagined that it would be nice to live surrounded by such furniture.

If the burned blood didn't stick, he was sure he would.

At that moment, the interior of the room seemed miserable. Charred blood and internal organs were strewn across the table, couch, and cabinet, and every part of the human body, such as the hands, feet, and head, was rolling around randomly. It could be like this if you put multiple people in a red-hot mixer.

"I wonder if I should pick this up with tweezers... but if I don't do it early, Soma-san will get mad."

As he muttered and murmured, Maruha donned a mask, put on gloves, and placed a bucket on a charred table. At the moment, he started from a large place and raised the head that was nearby.

His face was familiar. One of his open eyes was crushed by a burn. "Wow.", he leaned back a bit, put his head on the table for the moment and Maruha clasped his hands.

"Well, what was your name? You sure were an acquaintance of Aniki, right? Well, anyway... Nanmandub, Nanmandub..."

Maybe it was Nembutsu, he didn't remember well. After muttering, Maruha threw the head of "one eye" into the bucket.

He started cleaning.

He put the scattered body parts in a bucket, put the debris from the shattered table in a garbage bag, and put the scattered debris in a bucket after a little hesitation. He could just throw away the garbage bag, but he couldn't bear to throw out the body.

"Sorry, I'll take care of you later."

When he finished cleaning the rough door, the living room door opened. What he see from there was a familiar face.

"Maru-san, are you finished? Let's eat meat, meat!"

With an innocent smile on his young face, Kyoji said that. Maruha looked up at the ceiling with furrowed brows.

"Kyoji, think about the moment and answer me. Do you think I can eat meat after cleaning the corpse?"

"Why? Isn't it good to eat meat at any time?"

"You might like it! I was cleaning burned human flesh just now! Maybe this is your kind of job after all!"

"Hehe, sorry."

The look that he laughed with his tongue out was that of a mischievous villain. Looking at him, he sighed instead of getting angry.

"Well, whatever, help me."

When the mop stuck out, Kyoji was surprised.

"Eh, but isn't it bad to keep Hiiragi-san waiting?"

"Ah? Why did Aniki's name come up?"

"No, because Hiiragi-san told me to go eat meat."

"Stupid, say that first!"

Maruha quickly looked back at the room. He was almost finished, but he had yet to finish. If he left it as he was, he would buy Soma's wrath, but an invitation from Hiiragi couldn't be refused.

"Kyoji, drop this! I'll bury it! Say nice things to Aniki!"

Pushing a garbage bag at Kyoji, he picked up the bucket. The bucket containing the human bodies of various people was quite heavy, and Maruha ran off, feeling the weight of the heavy corpse in both arms.

++++++++++

Executive class "Purgatory" member Hiiragi Soma liked meat

He liked to eat, but he preferred to bake. "Grilling" here was not what was often done in "Purgatory", but ordinary roast beef. Go to a proper steakhouse, order a large quantity of meat that you couldn't eat, and start grilling from one end. He liked the act of grilling and eating meat to the extent that he was careful and beat them when others tried to do so. As a man who had lived a life of violence and murder, it could be said that it was a strange habit.

That's why Hiiragi took Maruha and Kyoji to visit a local yakiniku restaurant. Most of the restaurants had already withdrawn from the area around the hideout. The yakiniku restaurant was one that remained.

Therefore, with the exception, it was like a hangout for "Purgatory". Mysteriously, order was maintained because there was a common understanding that "when this store disappears, there will be no place to drink alcohol". If someone tried to take away their oasis of life, mainly their opponents, "Purgatory" would kick them out quickly, most of the time.

"Hey. Top ribs, top loin, and 3 mugs of ale, old man."

An old man with the flavor of half a century had brought a lot of meat and sake. Hiiragi quietly began to arrange the top ribs and top loin placed on the table in the shichirin. Maruha found that it was always the same routine, but he was in a bit of a good mood.

"Sorry! I'll take it!"

Kyoji raised his mug of beer and began to drink with a squeak. Maruha slightly raised his mug in response to the "toast", and Hiiragi was still quietly roasting the meat. It was a show that would not be possible with a normal yakuza organization, but "Purgatory" is not a normal yakuza organization.

Kyoji, who had half the mug empty, wiped his mouth and then leaned forward and asked.

"By the way, Maru-san! What kind of kanji is King?"

Maruha took just a sip of beer and looked at Kyoji curiously, "Huh?"

"Maru-san, you were cleaning up, after the King fought, weren't you? Didn't you see him fight?"

Maruha was still unfamiliar with the fact that Kagutsu's name was not "Oyaji" or "Kumicho" but "King". Far from being a normal yakuza organization, "Purgatory" was not a yakuza organization in the first place. It was said to be a group of paranormal people with different abilities, led by what was called a "King".

Maruha responded with another mouthful of beer.

"No... I fought, I guess I went crazy. Don't look. I could die."

"Hey! It's a waste! It was close though!"

Kyoji felt sorry like a child who missed the hero show. Maruha wondered why such a boy had lived so long with his head on, and he thought on the other hand that he could have lived so long because he was such a boy. In fact, Kyoji must have been less than 20 years old.

Hiiragi threw down the pliers. Seeing the dripping sauce fall into the flames, he nodded, "Okay."

"Eat it."

"Ok, thanks!"

Kyoji swept about half of the meat with tweezers and brought half to his mouth. With a big smile on his face, he raised a voice between "Delicious!" and "Uhh!" Maruha also sighed as he minced the meat.

"Even so, I really don't understand Kagutsu-san."

"Eh? Why?"

"When I walked into that room, he looked in a good mood. I took some other guys along and I thought it was unusual, but he came out in less than a minute, and that's it. And when he came out he wasn't mad, he was still in a good mood. It was as if he had just taken a walk and came back."

"Mmm..."

"I wonder if I can be like this by killing those below. I don't know at all."

"Maru..."

When Hiiragi yelled, Maruha reacted sharply. It was a moment when he regretted saying that and criticizing, and Hiiragi immediately showed the Shichirin with his chin.

"Take it."

"Oh, yeah."

He took the tenderloin that was dripping with the sauce and popped it into his mouth. It was hot and delicious.

Kyoji, who drank the beer, raised the mug grandly, yelling "Oh, I get it!"

"They must have been spies of the blues! And the King suddenly noticed!"

"No."

Hiiragi denied it like a sled, and Maruha and Kyoji looked at his face at the same time. While he was roasting additional meat, Hiiragi said without looking at them,

"That person is that kind of man. It's the same as an accident."

"Accident?"

"You can't help it if you run into it. If you're lucky, you'll live, and if you're bad, you'll die. That's it."

It was hard to tell that Maruha and Kyoji, who didn't have any, fully understood the meaning of the word. But even so, the reactions of the two were contrasting.

"Uh...", Maruha was scared,

Kyoji admired him, "Wow…".

The two looked at each other. Maruha was stunned.

"Kyoji, you... will you die soon?"

"What's wrong, Maru-san?! What are you saying?"

"……"

Maruha narrowed his eyes. He feels on his skin that the air was tightening rapidly. It would be the same for Kyoji. He glanced at Maruha too, rolled up the arm of his black suit that didn't fit the body, and slammed it against the table.

"I'm not afraid! If the guys in blue come, I'll kill them."

Kyoji's eyes shone with brilliant fighting spirit. In response, the burn scars on his forearm began to glow red. The brilliance of extraordinary ability. Maruha opened his eyes to see if he was sane. If he made a fuss in this place, he may suffer a life-threatening injury from another member in black.

At that moment, Kyoji's body flew to the side.

Maruha was shocked and looked at Hiiragi next to Kyoji.

He had his arms straight at his sides. With the other hand, he was silently roasting yakiniku. Without even looking at Kyoji, he hit him with one arm.

"Guh..."

Kyoji's eyes, holding his cheeks and lifting up, blazed with anger. He wasn't mature enough to hold back here. Maruha was ready again for the worst development that suddenly fell.

However, he ended up melancholy.

Hiiragi looked at Kyoji. There was no killer instinct in his eyes, he was just in a bad mood.

"I'm the one who roasts the meat."

"……"

Kyoji's expression changed from anger to embarrassment.

Both Maruha and Kyoji were familiar with the fact that Hiiragi's words were not timely. Hiiragi was that kind of person.

He didn't know what to do, but there was no front or back. Hiiragi was angry because he tried to bake meat for himself, not because he was fed up with tantrums, or because he tried to wreak havoc in the place of the law.

It was absurd, but that's why it was "Purgatory". And Kyoji was also a person who could understand absurd language. He held her cheeks and bowed his head obediently.

"Sorry."

Hiiragi didn't reply, he was just roasting the meat.

Kyoji rebuilt his chair and sat there. He said to Maruha with the eyes of an angry child and bowed to him.

"Maru-san, I'm sorry. I said something wrong."

"No, not really."

Yakuzas are creatures like mantises. If they get sick, they should squeeze the other person immediately. It is like a reflection, not an action that is the result of thinking.

However, Maruha was no longer a yakuza. He was a member of the "Purgatory" clan.

Therefore, he sighed and sighed.

"I'm not scared. It's just ... I don't think it's appropriate."

That said, he drank the beer to the last drop.

++++++++++

The group that Maruha Tadashi belonged to was a group of leftovers so to speak.

Some might say they were a collection of yakuza and other gangsters. It was, but as with any group, there were differences in shit. Some leftovers can be laughed at, while others can cause nausea just by putting them on the rim of the eyes.

The Maruha group was the last group. Even within the industry, Shinogi with a frown was calm. Thanks to that, the wings were good, but the respect was next to nothing. The color of disgust was stronger than the astonishment in his eyes, and that color stimulated his outer ways.

They did anything to make money. It seemed like Maruha didn't even have the slightest bit of ethics.

The Shinogi are primarily drugs and human trafficking.

The kidnapped woman was drugged and sold to customs. They disarmed the kidnapped youths and sold their organs. In addition, they would take a photo of the situation and sell it to a rich man who had a hobby of hunting. In some cases, they used a combined technique to kidnap a pretty woman and sell her as she was to a rich man with a strange hobby (because the reaction was worse if she kept it on drugs). The woman would suffer almost every pain imaginable and die miserably.

Sachiko Kashiwazaki was one of those women.

The man who kidnapped her was Maruha's older brother at the time. One hot summer day, Maruha was summoned to a warehouse owned by the group. At that moment, he had a bad feeling. That warehouse was only used when making Shinogi in that direction.

There was a man and a woman in a warehouse room, where the concrete was exposed.

The man had scissors that were dripping with blood.

The woman clutched her bloody ankle and groaned without voice.

It was common group practice to cut off the Achilles heel to prevent the victim from escaping. Alternatively, the customer could have made such a request. In any case, man cut through the human body as easily as he cut weeds.

As he washed his hands in the built-in sink, the man turned to Maruha.

"It is time to ship."

"Prepare" meant to adapt the "goods" according to the customer's request, and "ship" meant to deliver the "goods" to the customer.

"Clean her body, you can't leave her bloody. I don't know what the rich think."

With a laugh, the man wiped his hands on a towel and touched Maruha's shoulders to leave the room.

Maruha turned his eyes inside and saw the box on the table. "Preparation", he probably he should use the content. He opened the lid and looked inside.

It contained a pure white wedding dress.

Maruha took a deep breath and exhaled.

Was the concept a bloody girlfriend? He couldn't understand anything.

He didn't even want to understand. He didn't want to understand what happened to the woman who would bring that to the client, but Maruha understood. It was because his older brother had shown him a video like that with half the fun.

Maruha looked at the woman reflectively, thinking that he shouldn't be looking at her.

They looked into each other's eyes.

Sachiko, of course, at that time, Maruha didn't know her name. The "item" was supposed to be called by number, but she was staring at Maruha, bleeding only with the pain of not begging for life and her silent resignation.

Perhaps at that moment, he reached the limit.

Until then, he had been doing the same. Each time, something sank into Maruha's chest, like drops of water in his cup. Then, Sachiko's gaze at that moment became the last drop, and the water finally overflowed from the cup.

By the time he realized it, Maruha was visiting Hiiragi. Hiiragi and Maruha were originally seniors and juniors from the same corps of fools. Even after the corps of fools disbanded and they belonged to different groups, the relationship continued to go out for drinks from time to time. He was a man who embodied the violence of that time, but Maruha did not hate him. He just wanted to hit him.

It was exciting to see that kind of honesty that was hitting the other person at the time.

He was not surprised when he heard that Hiiragi's group was attacked by "Purgatory" and that he belonged to "Purgatory". Within the industry, "Purgatory" meant a group of monsters, and it seemed natural for Hiiragi to be in that group.

Using holly as a messenger, Maruha encountered Kagutsu and gained a different ability in exchange for a part of his body.

Maruha took him to the warehouse and burned the man who was his older brother. After freeing the captive women, he went to the group's office and killed all the members, including the group's leader. He stole the group's entire vault and gave it to Soma, who later cleared up and became a member of the "Purgatory" clan.

He did not regret betraying the group and killing his friends. He just went to hell and sent them to hell. He was sure that he would go to hell, but at least he was no longer interacting with that garbage. That just made him feel refreshed, and the night he killed them all, he was fast asleep for the first time in a long time.

However, Maruha's chest started to feel uncomfortable again.

The meaning of the existence of "Purgatory" was simple. Destroy and kill, that was all. Like Kagutsu, most of the clansmen did.

Fight, raze, kill and die against the mafia, the Yakuza and, above all, the deadly enemy, "Scepter 4".

At the same time, they were causing enormous damage to the surroundings.

Only in that he was stuck. It didn't matter if he fought, rampaged, killed, or died. But it felt different to involve other people. So it was the same as that group. It was difficult to answer whether human trafficking or mass murder was better. Nothing happened, Maruha simply moved from one background to another.

Maybe Maruha was halfway there. He was so crazy that he couldn't live properly, but he was too plain in a swarm of monsters. Neither Hiiragi nor Kyoji could live anywhere else except in "Purgatory". This is where those guys were.

Where should he go if he didn't even have a place there?

Sachiko Kashiwazaki called out to him when he was about to overflow with such a sense of incongruity.

++++++++++

In a crowded cafeteria, he quickly found out where Sachiko was. She had her crutches on the side of her seat. Maruha somehow remembered the salvation that it was not a wheelchair.

"Ah."

Sachiko also soon noticed Maruha. He wore a black suit, which was labeled a "funeral home staff" in the industry, he emitted a seemingly insidious aura. He had an unbearable feeling.

"Oh."

Maruha's expression that raised his hand slightly was not clear. He wasn't sure why this girl called him. Wasn't it the symbol of a nightmare for this girl?

But in contrast, Sachiko smiled happily. She tried to stand up touching the table with her hand, she almost lost her balance and fell. Maruha rushed to reach out and held her body.

"I'm sorry. I'm still rehabbing, but I haven't been able to do it yet."

"No, do not worry."

After seating Sachiko, Maruha sat opposite her.

He was somehow uncomfortable because Sachiko was looking directly at him. Glowing eyes were the kind of thing that wasn't usually directed at him. He was not used to that. Maruha had to move his hips several times to endure the uncomfortable sensation.

"So what did you call me for?"

Sachiko slightly colored her cheeks when he asked her.

"Oh, no, that… I wanted to thank you again."

Maruha wondered what she was saying.

"Maruha-san… you helped me, but I couldn't thank you at the time. Thank you very much."

"I didn't help you in particular. It was a dead end."

It was a fact. He just wanted to get out of there, he just wanted to kill them all, and it was just incidental that he helped Sachiko.

But Sachiko didn't believe those words. She laughed and her eyes looked softly at Maruha.

"You are modest, Maruha-san."

Then Sachiko started talking about the ramblings. From her recent situation, her favorite food, hobbies, what kind of place did she live now, when she was rehabbing and walking around the neighborhood, she found a nice park and a bakery, so she always had lunch there.

Maruha was beginning to understand what the situation was like, as he established a suitable relationship.

Sachiko wanted to make up for it in some way.

She maybe she thought that Maruha was the hero who rescued her from the situation. It was a ridiculous misunderstanding. Maruha sent many women in the same situation as Sachiko to hell. Sachiko was saved because Maruha's boundaries coincided when it was her turn. No more than that.

Of course, he couldn't say that.

"What do you do on your day off, Maruha-san?"

Sachiko wondered if she had talked a lot about herself. She was impatient and nervous. She wondered if Maruha would be bored. Maruha replied with a slight laugh, as if he was a high school student.

"Well, I'm going to eat yakiniku."

He couldn't tell that he was killing and looting. Sachiko happily joined her hands when he responded appropriately.

"It's the best in the neighborhood, it looks delicious."

"You eat meat?"

"That's right. Yes! I like it!"

Maruha calmly analyzed that it was a lie. He maybe he didn't eat much meat. He only said that for her.

"Well then, would you like to go eat with me next time?"

With that said, Maruha closed his mouth tightly.

Sachiko was looking at Maruha with her bright eyes. Eyes with equal expectations and anxieties. The eyes of human beings that are unhappy but still look ahead and try to live hard.

Was he qualified to see that?

He could go eat with Sachiko. He maybe would repeat it two or three times and eventually they would start dating. There are some men who have a woman in "Purgatory" who can live with them, and some men approach the woman instead of hiding. He would be one of those people. Living under one roof, eating together, sleeping, getting up, helping with rehabilitation, eating delicious bread in a nice neighborhood park.

She could be killed by Kagutsu.

Or she may have been kidnapped by the mob who hold a grudge against him

Captured by "Scepter 4".

He could think of many ways to ruin it, but he couldn't think otherwise.

Alternatively, Maruha could expand his imagination and run away together. Somewhere far away, two people. He could escape from Kagutsu, the mafia, and "Scepter 4" and say goodbye to that sinister black suit.

Then he would follow a happy holly. Kyoji might also come. Soma did not allow anyone to escape. Even earlier, the "right hand" ended up being burned in the city. He did not think they would hesitate to involve a woman in the matter.

"Uh."

Maruha laughed. He was thinking about the future when he really didn't have a future.

Sachiko said with a mysterious voice.

"Maruha-san...?"

"Hey. Is there someone else besides you?"

Sachiko opened her eyes a bit in amazement and then shook her head. After all, Maruha thought, people who have family or relatives are not the target of that group.

Still, Maruha leaned forward and asked with a serious expression.

"Is there no one anywhere? Relatives?"

"Uh, I have an uncle and his partner in Kanagawa. They're nice people, but I don't usually get in touch with them."

Maruha was relieved. It was enough to ask for so much.

He looks for his own bag. He grabbed a couple of bills that he found and tossed them to Sachiko. With a pile of bills piled on her lap, Sachiko moved her body as if she had been pressed against a burned stone.

"This, huh?"

"Go to them with that money. They won't hurt you."

Maruha carried a bag on his back and stood up. Sachiko looked at Maruha with a cat face that understood the truth of the universe.

Maruha scratched his head and said...

"The other day, there was a conflict around Yodomiya. It was news. The city was burned down and many people died."

Sachiko blinked. The understanding hadn't caught up yet, but it was going well. If she only considered the facts, understanding will come later.

"It was my partner who did that. If you don't want to get burned, go somewhere far away."

With that alone, Maruha left the coffee shop.

He sighed deeply as he walked through the city for no reason.

"I am not suitable."

For groups, for "Purgatory" and for the world. He was not suitable. He did not know how to live. He was envious of Hiiragi and Kyoji who could find a place there.

Was when…

"You are Tadashi Maruha."

Before looking back, he had an idea who called him.

"We are "Scepter 4". Come with us."

Several blue clothes surrounded Maruha before he realized it.

He looks around. Maruha had come to the square in front of the station without realizing it. He can't find any way to take control. Perhaps he should limit himself to minimize the damage, but Maruha was easily enthused.

"If you resist, I will not forgive you."

There was no deception in the eyes of the blues. They have already cut many with their sabers. Just as "Purgatory" was not a yakuza group, "Scepter 4" were not police officers. It was a battle group to hunt down and kill those in black suits.

Maruha gave a fierce laugh.

"Hahaha!"

The burns on both arms glowed with pain from the heat. Fight violently, kill and die. Maruha also had that instinct. He was also a member of "Purgatory".

Suddenly, Maruha understood.

"Purgatory" cannot be a place for anyone. Only a handful of monsters, like Kagutsu and Soma, can "be" there. Hiiragi, Kyoji and he were the same. There was nothing there for them.

That was just his place of death.

"If you can, try it, blue clothes!"

While shouting happily, Maruha threw swirling flames from both arms and attacked the blues in front of him.

Three people died in the limited royal war that day.

On the "Scepter 4" side, Kuroshio and Kido Rokuhei's team.

Side of "Purgatory", Tadashi Maruha.

"Scepter 4" caught Maruha's movement and surrounded him with 6 people, but Maruha made a burst of different abilities and struggled as he burned his own body. Swinging the flames that sprouted from both arms like a sickle, he cut and killed two people, Kuroshio and Kido, and in the next moment, he was cut by four other people, was cut like a sickle and died.

[howaboutthat111]

From the Ashes, You Will Rise PT: 6

Series Summary: You were eleven when the snap happened, and Peter was the last family you had left. Now he’s gone, and you swear you’ll bring him back.

Chapter Summary: Y/N gets attacked but a certain Devil is there to save her.

Series Masterlist

Its been four years now since the snap. You are now 15 years old. You have nearly completed the time machine. You don’t have the money to afford that actual building of the time machine but you will cross that path later. You now know that the key to time travel is through the quantum realm.

All you need to do is figure out how to navigate it. The navigation part is the biggest problem though. You do not know enough about the quantum realm though. The only person who knows more about the quantum realm is Hank Pym.

You go to the library, and walk towards the computers. You go onto vanishingmemorial.com. Its a website that contains the list of everyone who died or is assumed dead from the vanishing from earth. You type in Hank Pym, checking to see if he is still alive.

“Hank Pym, deceased”, it says.

“Shit” you say to yourself leaning back in your chair.

“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The librarian across from you saying.

“SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” You mockingly day back to her, putting your finger to your lips.

“See how annoying that is”, you tell her, as she rolls her eyes at you and walk away.

You continue reading on Hank Pym, it says that his daughter, Hope Pym, also died in the vanishing. It also says that his van and his possession are held at East 81st Locus Road, San Fransisco. To take possession of the items, you need birth certificate, proof of relative, and driver’s license. All of which you do not have.

You go back to your warehouse, and go into your notebook to write some more theories. As you are writing, your pencil breaks.

“Gosh damn it” you say to yourself at you get up to go upstairs. The old warehouse has leftover pencils from the office upstairs that you steal only when needed. You start walking up the stairs, stepping over holes and stair opening where there are no longer stairs. You get to one of those opening, jumping over the gap. Right when you feet hit the next stair, the wood brakes, dropping you onto the group. You scream as you fall, letting out a loud “UGH!” As you land, braking the wooden floor on impact. Your feet and butt land on a soft object, saving you from getting hurt. You look down to see what it is.

Its another backpack. You grab the bag and get out of the hole, walking over and sitting down on the mattress. The red and blue backpack looks old, with what looks like bullet holes. You open the bag to find protein bars, blue jacket, jeans, shoes, and a shirt that says “find x, found x” with an arrow pointing to the x in the equation. Farther in the bag, there is a small brown paper bag, that says in black sharpie, “this belongs to you -TS”. You open up the baggie, pulling out a red and blue suit. You look closer at it, flipping it over. Two wide white parts stare at you, surrounded by black lines and red.

“Oh my god, Peter is Spider-Man. Peter is SPIDER-MAN!” You jump up, continuing to stare at the mask. You then run out of the warehouse, shocked by what you have learned. You run to an alleyway in Hells Kitchen, not too far away from the warehouse, about two blocks. You breathe hard, you mind running with thoughts. You try controlling your breathing, in and out, in and out. You repeat the process until you have completely calmed down.

“Ok, ok, ok, ok. So Peter is Spider-Man. He is Spider-Man. So he was on that donut in the air, yah ok yah. But that also means he knows the avengers. And the avengers are rich so maybe I can get them to fund the machine. Yes, yes I can, YES I CAN! OMG!” You screen out jumping up, smile on your face against. You start pumping your fist into the air, jumping up and down again.

“Turn around”, a voice says from behind you, stopping you mid-celebration. You slowly turn out, seeing a man standing behind you. He is wearing an old brown jacket, blue shirt, and cargo pants, all of which are littered with holes. His brown hair is ruff, matted, along with his extremely long beard. His arm is strYou put your arms up slowing, eyes growing wide with worry.

“Just give me your money, and we won’t have any trouble.” The man says, his other hand out, palm open.

“I-I-I-“ you stammer, having trouble saying even just a simple word.

“SPIT IT OUT GOD DAMN IT OR ELSE!” He yells out, turning the safety off the gun.

“I don’t have any money” you spit out, faster than you could even think.

“You lying,” the man says stepping closer to you. His forehead now only a few inches away from yours as your back is against the wall.

“I-I’m not! I swear!” You tell him, tears almost spilling out.

Right then his fist smashed into the side of my face, making me fall to my knee’s.

“STOP! LYING! TO! ME!” He yells as he delivers kicks to my stomach.

“I would stop hitting that girl over there and get away from her.” A voice then says. The man the stops hitting you, letting you finally lay on the ground in peace.

“Yah, and who’s going to stop me”. The man says back, looking at the shadowy figure.

“Me.” He says. The man and the figure start fighting, until the sound of a gunshot is heard. Time freezes as the man runs out of the alley, and the shadowy figure drops. You stand up painfully, stomach being filled with pain. To kneel in front of the figure, looking to see what ails him. You finally see the blood pooling out of him, coming from bullet hole in his left side.

“Oh my gosh, ok ok ok I gotta, I gotta clean him up. You look to the side and see a trash bin. You jump inside it, looking for anything that could be used to help bring him to the warehouse. You find a big piece of wood, two small circles, duck tape, and a blanket. You put the objects together to form a wheel barrel kind of thing, putting the figure on top of it. You then cover him with a blanket. You rush him over to the warehouse then, pushing the contraption a fast as it could go. Once you arrive at the ware house, you finally get a good look at him. He is wearing an all blood red suit, with black eyes and horns on his head. He’s the devil of Hell’s Kitchen, daredevil.

“Oh Shit,” you say, putting pressure on his wound. You remove his vest like shirt, getting a better view of his injury. You get out your tweezers, digging into the skin until you feel the metal object. You grab the object with the tweezers, slowing pulling it out of his body. You the run over to the Spider-Man backpack, pulling out the blue jacket. You remove a long thread from it. You run back over to the devil, tying the small thread around the needle. You go to sowing up the wound, putting in around 4 stitches. Once finished, wrap up the wound.

Once done, you walk to the wall and sit down. Your eyes slowly close, as you begin to drift of to sleep.

You wake up to the sound of a pain, quickly getting to your feet to attend to the devil who is trying to get back up.

“Wow wow wow there. You are in no condition to be standing right now.” You tell him, trying to stop him from standing.

“Well I’ve done it before so it’s fine.” He says standing up.

“Look, it’s nice of you to stitch me up and all but if you don’t mind, I’m just gonna be heading out of here.” He tells you, walking towards the door.

“Hold up,” you say, running over and putting your hand on the door to stop him from opening it.

“I need your help,” you say, looking him dead in the eyes.

“With what”, he questions annoyingly.

“Learning how to fight,” you say bluntly. He then starts laughing in your face, completely shocked at the request.

“I need to know how to fight, just help me”, you plead with him.

“And why would I do that,” he ask, looking back at you.

“Out of the goodness of your heart? Or because I saved your ass from bleeding out. Or that I didn’t look under the mask without permission.” You tell him, listing off the things you did for him. He looks at me for a second, contemplating if he should.

“Ok.”

“Ok?”

Ok.” He says again turning around.

“Yesssssssssss! Thank you Mr. Daredevil you won’t regret this”, you tell him, giving him a big hug as he awkwardly stands.

I’m going to learn how to fight.

[leora-rambles]

Tolerant (Ghiaccio x Reader [Fluff])

Ahaha remember when I said I’d post the Ghiaccio fic two days after my last post 😎 ? Biggest lie I’ve ever told. Anyways, here’s a fluffy fic of my favourite rat bastard

———————

“They got you good, didn’t they, Ghia?”

You sighed, carrying the stubborn man over to the living room from the front door, his messy blue curls bouncing with each step you assisted him on.

Ghiaccio snarled, “First of all, it’s ‘Ghiaccio’, second of all, they were no match in the end,” He stretched his limbs before dropping onto the couch ungracefully,

“White Album absolutely kicked their shit in.” A satisfied grin grew on his lips as he relaxed onto the soft, ‘Fuckin’ pricey’ (As Ghiaccio once stated) furniture.

You always wondered how Ghiaccio’s pride was so resilient. You wondered how it stood so tall, like a skyscraper.

He was covered in wounds and bruises, yet he wasn’t drooping his head in shame. Ghiaccio could break all his bones with multiple mistakes attacking the enemy, but he’d still win the fight with his overpowering confidence.

If you were to confess your feelings towards him, how would he act? Would he still be assertive?

These thoughts invaded your mind as you scurried to the bathroom to fetch the first aid kit, also making it to the kitchen to fetch some ice.

At your arrival, you noticed Ghiaccio looking at you as if you had seven eyes and a monkey on your head. “Are you a dumbass? You know my stand ability, don’t you?” You scoffed at his remark, plopping down beside him.

Careful hands opened the first-aid kit as you replied to his rude outburst, “Of course I know about your stand ability, but I also know that you shouldn’t be using White Album now,” he sucked a breath in as you held his hand in yours.

“You need a break.”

Your words slapped Ghiaccio across the face with a feeling even he didn’t know how to describe. It was as if time had frozen for only him, enveloping his senses in tender warmth.

For the first time, the big mouthed critic was lost for words.

Ghiaccio kept his gaze on you as you lifted his ragged sleeve up, too preoccupied to notice his watchful eyes.

You picked up a cotton ball with tweezers, soaking it in alcohol before carefully dabbing it on a particularly nasty scrape you found on his forearm.

The man flinched at the first contact with the alcohol. Ghiaccio cussed under his breath as you kept working, humming a tune he didn’t recognize.

This process repeated with each scar you noticed, to Ghiaccio’s dismay. His hisses were reminiscent of a threatened street cat.

As you were wrapping the stand users arm up with bandages, you noticed the males attention on your lips.

“You alright?” Those words seemed to break Ghiaccio out of his daze.

His blush rivalled the vibrancy of his glasses, “Yeah, I’m fucki—.” The bruise on the corner of his lip stung with his harsh pronunciations, causing him to wince. His adrenaline had died down, and he was beginning to feel every bruise he was given.

Ghiaccio could feel his heart thump loudly as you suddenly cradled his cheeks in your palms, bringing his face closer to yours.

He felt dizzy. Both your breaths mingled for a second or two until you finally spoke,

“Ah, sorry. I didn’t notice that on your lip.”

Pulling away, you grabbed another cotton ball with Ghiaccio attempting to fight his racing pulse beside you. He tried controlling his breathing once you pulled him close once more.

The stand user thought he was being slick, but in reality, his emotions were easier to read than a book with size 68pt font. He was inching his face closer to yours with the hopes that you wouldn’t notice— or, that you would notice and take initiative.

He melted into your touch as you carried his face, resting his right cheek onto your left palm before you moved your hands’ position.

“Are you fucking done yet?”

“I can’t treat your face properly if I rush, idiot. Hold still.” His chin on your hand, Ghiaccio found it hard not to stare at your face. He strained his eyes trying to look at anything else, but your face was blocking most of his peripheral vision.

The alcohol-soaked cotton ball stung at Ghiaccio’s busted lip. He tried his best to stay quiet as you worked, but he couldn’t help the growing blush on his cheeks.

Your fingers felt so delicate against his cool skin, and your thumb would often run against his bottom lip a few times.

With how close you were to him right now, he would only need a small push to have his bruised lips come crashing on to yours.

Ghiaccio’s eyes widened as he realized what he was thinking about.

He shook his head lightly, as if to dispose of the thoughts running through his mind—

“Ah shit—!” You flinched as the male rubbed at the back of his head.

“Damn...” Ghiaccio felt the bump on the back of his head. He looked up at you pleadingly, eyeing the bag of ice in your hands.

You ran your fingers through his disheveled blue curls to find the bump he was talking about, causing Ghiaccio to pleasantly shiver then wince. ‘Injury after injury.’ You thought dolefully, a bit angry he was constantly getting hurt, yet blew it off as if his injuries meant nothing.

It hurt a bit, because to you, his injuries meant everything.

You cared for the blue icy moron, even when he was being an uncontrollable madman.

You wanted to lecture him for hours about how you cared for him his health, and how he needed to be less audacious.

But if he was going to act like his nearly fatal actions were nothing, then you’d do your best to act unaffected.

“Jeez, Ghiaccio, how are you even awake right now?”

“It’s not that bad, don’t act like I’m a child.”

“The bump is huge.”

Although the male acted as if he hated your attentiveness, he secretly (and he’d rather DIE than let you find out) enjoyed your worries with him.

Ghiaccio adored the tender attention you gave him, he wanted nothing more than to lay with you while you comb your fingers through his hair.

He wanted to hear you beam his name everyday with a sweetness only you had.

He wanted you to look at him like there was no other person on earth.

The male looked up at you as you held the ice pack on the back of his head. You were checking the time on your watch, estimating what time Ghiaccio should be allowed to fall asleep.

‘His complexions the same, and he hasn’t puked yet,’ You thought carfully, watching the clock tick from 1:59 am to 2 am, ‘He should be able to sleep in 10 minutes.’

Though your mind was in one place, Ghiaccio’s was in another. The stand user coughed to get your attention, and catch your attention he did.

“Will you take me to bed already?”

You both drowned in the thick, honey-like silence after his sentence. The atmosphere went heavy with the suffocating awkwardness.

It wasn’t a weird thing to say, honestly. He wanted to go to bed. He was tired. But the way he said it, and the fact that it was coming from him, your crush of several months— it just caught you off guard.

You could see for a whole 5 seconds, Ghiaccio had stopped thinking.

The male shook his head as a way to clear his mind, his words coming out in well hidden panic.

“I wanna fucking rest, don’t be thinking provocatively.” Ghiaccio spat, nearly stuttering over his words as he struggled to maintain eye contact with you.

“It’s alright with me, as long as you don’t fall asleep for a few minutes.” You replied after a playful sigh, supporting the male over to his bedroom.

Ghiaccio groaned once he hit the bed. He sensed all of the tenseness melt off of his limbs, and he could feel himself getting drowsy with each second. The stand user was sure he would’ve fallen asleep if it weren’t for the hard flick your index finger delivered to his forehead.

Maybe that was a bit much, but your patience waved goodbye and exited the door at that moment.

He screeched as you threatened to deliver another flick, “What the hell was that for?!” you growled in response to his carelessness. “You can’t sleep yet, idiot.”

Ghiaccio clicked his tongue in response, grumbling as he sat up on his bed.

His mouth opened and closed like a trash can, as if he wanted to snap back, but was too frustrated to think of something.

“I’m staying here for a bit,” You plopped down on his bed, crossing your legs and grabbing a book on his bedside table, “I’ll tell you when you can fall asleep.” He leaned on his bed frame, scoffing,

“Fine.”

You sensed that Ghiaccio was beginning to get restless, he was shifting around more, and his grumbles were that of boredom. Coughing, you decided to strike up a conversation.

“How did you defeat the enemy earlier?”

The blue haired man stared at you apathetically before mumbling, “I found a weak spot with his attacks. He only jabbed with his left arm, so I ducked to his right side then froze both his arms off.” You nodded your head, already losing interest in the book and shutting it close. Who the hell reads a dictionary to bed anyways?

“That’s brutal. How did you get so beat up, though?” “His partner ended up sneaking behind me, and they were a much better fighter compared to him.”

Ghiaccio fiddled with his fingers for a split second, something very out of character coming from him, “Of course, no one could ever defeat my White Album, now they’re both probably in a ditch somewhere.”

You shuddered at the image of two unfortunate proxies, most likely dead in a secluded area.

You tried to be empathetic with them, but found it difficult concerning that they managed to mess Ghiaccio up this much.

Did they really deserve your empathy?

Your informal patient was eyeing you during your thinking, causing a brilliant idea to pop into your mind; tease him.

Why? Well, the whole squad had been teasing you about your attentiveness to the blue idiot, and it was time to let it out on said idiot. It was basically a cycle of bullying.

If you had to experience all that embarrassment because of him, then he should have a taste of his own medicine. Was it his fault that the Squad was full of assholes? Not necessarily, but you had to get your revenge somehow.

A grin adorned your lips as you leaned in closer to the Stand user, “I’ve noticed, you’re a lot more tolerant towards me than towards the others,” Your voice dropped a few notes, in a way you knew would fluster someone.

“Why is that, Ghia?” The aforementioned male scrunched his nose, cheeks and ears slowly reddening. “I don’t. I treat everyone the same.” He huffed out, obviously flustered.

A giggle rose in your throat, “Fine, then. Is it alright with you if I were to sleep here?” His eyebrows tilted downwards as his lips formed a deeper scowl. “I don’t care, do whatever.” The way his eyes jumped around the room rapidly contradicted his statement.

“Would you ever let any of the other members share a room with you?”

“No, they annoy me, and most don’t know what basic hygiene is.”

“How come you’re letting me sleep here?”

Ghiaccio grumbled something under his breath before laying down and facing the other way, chucking his glasses on his nightstand. You laughed lightheartedly, deciding to stop your teasing to slip into the covers as well.

“You can sleep now, anyways—“ eyes fluttering, you inhaled the strong scent of fabric softener in the mans blankets, “—rest well, Ghia.”

A harsh yawn escaped Ghiaccios mouth as he stretched, confusion clouding his mind as he felt his limbs intertwined with another.

He brushed his messy blue curls to the side before looking down, only to feel a warmth form from the inside of his chest travel all the way to his cheeks. Ghiaccio laid still as he admired the view of your arms wrapped around his torso.

The sunlight dodging his thin curtains hit your face with perfection, giving your skin a royal-like glow. Your eyelashes fluttered with each breath you took, leaving the blue haired male speechless.

His arm had become numb from your head laying on top, and he was tempted to slip it away to shake off the static, but you just looked so peaceful.

Ghiaccios breath halted as you buried your face farther into his chest. He apologized to his arm with the intent of keeping it there for the rest of your sleep.

Though he wanted to rise up from bed, the thought of being under the covers with you seemed more enticing the more he reasoned.

‘There are no cons to staying in bed just a little bit longer,’ Ghiaccio rationalized. You let out a sleepy grumble, causing the male to finalize his decision. Ghiaccio leaned his cheek down on the top of your head, shutting his eyes in pure, cozy bliss.

Maybe you were right about him being more tolerant towards you after all.

[wherefunsurvives]

The Ultimate College COVID Packing List

Okay kids, you’ve seen the post about packing light for college, so here’s some specifics for all of you incoming freshmen or returning students who will be living on campus! This is NOT the year to bring extra furniture, decorations, etc. This is the year to pack light and be ready to get on out of there at a moment’s notice if you have to. i proudly present to you -

“What to bring and what not to bring when going to college in a global pandemic!!!”

STORAGE

i used to swear by my camp trunk when i packed for school and while a trunk can be useful because it has more space inside it’s going to be harder to take on a plane or bus. If you go for a trunk, make sure its combined dimensions (length+width+height) are 62 inches or less (the size requirement for checked luggage). The ideal size would probably be a 32x17x13 inch trunk.

Instead of trunks or big containers, go for a combination of suitcases and duffle bags. Your goal should be to minimize luggage - you want be able to carry everything through an airport without any help. So let’s say in theory at MOST you should have a combination that looks something like:

2 checked suitcases + 1 checked duffle + 1 carryon duffle + one personal item backpack

1 checked suitcase + 1 checked duffle + 1 carryon suitcase + one personal item backpack

1 checked suitcase + 1 carryon suitcase + 1 personal item duffle

Get creative, mix and match, calculate the costs for each combination, which will vary depending on if you’re flying, taking a bus, driving, or taking a train. 

Checked and carryon luggage should ideally have 4 spinner wheels and a handle, this will make it easier to move all by yourself. Put your duffles around the handles of the luggage so you can carry everything yourself with minimal effort. If you have checked luggage and carryon luggage, consider a bag connector like this one! You can find surprisingly decent luggage at Costco and from Travelpro, which is designed for pilots and flight attendants but has massive markdowns all the time. 

A good duffle should be spacious with multiple compartments or pockets. If you’re an experienced camper or backpacker, maybe use those types of bags! If you’re not, get something that’s 40 liters of space or more. i bought this 50L duffle for $30 and it’s absolutely absurd the amount of stuff i can fit in it.Leave all other storage options at home. 

Don’t bring your own desk, drawers, furniture etc. Use only the furniture provided by the dorm. Don’t even bring a laundry hamper! Get a fabric laundry bag that you can easily fold. 

LEARN HOW TO PACK EFFICIENTLY. Choose your fighter, the army rolling method or the KonMari folding method (Marie Kondo also has a great video on how to organize what you pack and choose only what you need). This will allow you to bring the amount of clothes you need while taking up minimal space. Speaking of which -

CLOTHING

Your goal is to minimize both items and travel (meaning you shouldn’t plan as if you’re going to travel home every break to swap out clothes). Now is a great time to learn how to build a capsule wardrobe of basic items that can be mixed and matched. Keep it simple. Obviously if you’re in a warmer climate, this will be easier. For colleges with seasons, i’d say aim for 2 pairs of jeans or trousers you like, 1 pair of dress pants, and 1-2 pairs of leggings/joggers/comfortable pants. 1 pair of shorts, no more than 2 skirts, no more than 3 dresses (1 nicer, 1 more casual and comfortable). 10-12 shirts or less (include a variety of tanks, tee shirts, long sleeves, button downs, sweaters, etc.) and 3-5 “layers” like a blazer, cardigan, hoodie, etc. 2 pairs of pajamas, one for warmer weather and one for cooler weather. One raincoat, one fall/spring midweight jacket, one good winter coat - if you’re in Chicago, NYC, etc. invest in a warm parka, and i don’t mean Canada Goose. Just something sturdy that will keep you warm.

You’re going to repeat outfits. That’s fine. You’re not going anywhere important and you’ll be spending a lot of time in your room online. Being able to get out is more important than looking cute.

Pack an appropriate amount of underwear, socks, bras, etc. Bring a hat or two, one for sun and a thick beanie for the cold. Bring one tie and one pair of snow gloves if you need either. Bring a scarf or two for cold climates (they can be an extra layer of protection over a mask). If you wear jewelry, choose up to 10 items you really want and put them in a bag or a small portable jewelry box.

You only need 4 pairs of shoes maximum - one pair of sneakers/gym shoes that you could easily walk two miles in. One pair of of easy slip-on slip-off shoes for going to get mail or do laundry (because you don’t want to walk the dorms barefoot these days) and bonus points if they can double as comfortable ‘nice’ shoes such as cheap loafers, TOMS, basic flats, etc. One flip flops or sandals if you’ll be using communal showers and bathrooms. And one pair of boots that can double as rainboots AND snowboots (duckboots are great for this!) You don’t need heels, wedges, or multiple pairs/styles of shoes for the same reason you don’t need multiple dresses or a full tuxedo - you’re not going anywhere this year! Or at least you shouldn’t! Parties, formals, conferences, etc. are all a terrible idea unless you want COVID-19.

What you should have multiples of are masks and gloves! Have a few reusable face masks you can wash (RedBubble has them in every style, almost every clothing brand sells them, and VogMask/Camridge Mask are great options for something a little more heavy duty). Invest in disposable gloves and one pair of reusable gloves such as dish gloves. Some basic eye protection doesn’t hurt either - i love blue light glasses because they provide some coverage while also being great for reducing eye strain during all your Zoom calls!

SUPPLIES

Keep it basic, and that means you too studyblr kids! You don’t want supplies to take up all your space. Buy a spacious pencil case. Buy a basic back of black Bic pens and put 10-15 in. Those things last forever. Put in 5 presharpened pencils and 5 unsharpened pencils. Bring a pencil sharpener, 1 pink eraser, and 10 eraser toppers. The eraser always runs out before the pencil does. Pack 1-2 glue-sticks, 1 pair of good scissors. Fill the rest of it with your non-essential favorites like mildliners, highlighters, felt tip pens, markers etc. But no more than what can fit in the case. And nothing too expensive, just in case you can’t bring it with you.

Small multi-subject notebooks y’all!! Just get one or two. You never use as many pages as you think you will in your notebooks and multiple full size notebooks are a pain to carry and pack. For my last two years of college i would buy 1 or 2 Five Star 5x7 inch notebooks with 5 subjects for each term. They came with pocket folders inside and i never once used all the pages. i’d often re-use at least one from last term into the next term. It also means you never have to run back for a notebook if you’re at the library and want to do homework for that other class because all your notes for all your classes are right there!!

Bring 2 rolls of scotch tape and 1 roll of masking tape in case you need to repair anything. Pack any essential medication you take, a first aid kit with bandaids, wipes, tweezers, etc. Pack 1 small bottle each of ibuprofen, Tylenol or acetaminophen, any multi-vitamin you prefer, and a vitamin C supplement to help keep your immune system strong.

1 pack of pads/tampons. You can buy more when you get to school, save the space for packing.

1 reusable water bottle. Buy plastic ones periodically/accept reusable free ones given to you at school that you can take if you need to go to the doctor/hospital/etc. so you can throw them away if needed afterwards. 1 mug, if you use one. Make it one you’re willing to leave behind if you must.

1 small set of non-breakable plates/bowls and utensils. i like the Ikea KALAS ones because they’re plastic but can be microwaved or put in the dishwasher. And it’s $2 for a set of 6. 1 small set of tupperware - again IKEA has some good cheap options - that is also microwave safe. You’ll want these solely in the event it’s unsafe to eat in the dining halls. This will let you bring food back to your room and eat, save leftovers from the dining hall or takeout orders, etc. Buy a small bottle of dish soap when you get to school to be able to wash your dishes.

If you use liquid detergent, wait to buy until you’re at school. It takes up more space. If you use detergent pods, choose your own adventure. Buy your shampoo and conditioner at school if you can, same with soap. Same thing with toilet paper, paper towels, and so on. Buy it there, be prepared to leave it behind. Do bring hand sanitizer with you though. Keep a small size in your personal item for your travels and always keep some in your bag at school.

2 disposable toothbrushes, 1-2 tubes toothpaste, 2 toothbrush travel cases. Store the toothbrush you’re using in a travel case while at school to try to prevent contamination. If you become sick, throw your toothbrush away once you’re feeling better and thoroughly wash your travel case. Buy new disposable toothbrushes as needed once at school.

A small wallet or zip ID case with a lanyard. Make sure you can fit your state ID/driver’s license, student ID, transit card, insurance card, credit/debit card, and a little cash in it with ease. One with a clear window is great because you can put your student ID in it to easily show it when required without needing to open your wallet up. A lanyard makes it harder to lose and lets you put your keys on it if you have a physical dorm key.

Your phone charger, with a wall plug. And a mobile charger of some kind (many schools give them away at some point during your first few weeks, orientation, etc. TAKE THEM). You don’t need an Apple branded one, you can find sturdy and cheap ones at Target, etc. You’ll want these in case you get stranded anywhere. And you’ll especially want these because if you need to go to the ER/doctor, you never want to let your phone die while you’re there.

1 cheap tote bag or small backpack or knapsack, etc. that you’re not too attached to. This will be your hospital go-bag. Keep a mini-notebook with your name/birthdate, emergency contact information, relevant medical information, etc. written in it in the event you cannot communicate this yourself. Keep one packed and ready. Other helpful things to have in this bag once you’re at school are a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and underwear; a granola bar, and a disposable water bottle.

1 pair of cheap but reliable headphones, ideally with a microphone. In-ear headphones take up less space than over-ear headphones. These will be great if you’re on a Zoom call or something and don’t want to be heard by your neighbors. Also great for listening to music or podcasts in the event you’re at the doctor/hospital, because just like you never want to forget a phone charger, you never want to be without something to listen to while you wait for a few hours.

DORM STUFF

Now is NOT the time to decorate your dorm. i’m sorry, i love a good Pinterest dorm board and DIY project as much as anyone else. My dorm had a whole aesthetic. It was great. But it was a nightmare to pack up when COVID hit.

All you really need is a duvet/comforter, 1 set of sheets (ideally dark color so they won’t stain, just make sure you wash them regularly), and 1 pillow.

If you want stuff on your walls, don’t bring anything. When you get to school, you’ll likely get some free swag like a college pennant you can put up. Or at the least you’ll get a bunch of papers and maps and things. Hang up the maps. Make them look cool. Draw or do calligraphy on the blank sides of the papers for DIY art and signs. Order a wall calendar with fun art or images on it. Go to Walgreen’s website and use their photo system to order a bunch of photo prints. They almost always have a discount offer happening which makes it super cheap. You can upload photos of your friends and family to surround yourself with nice memories, or upload pictures of art, landscapes, quotes, images you found on Pinterest, your celebrity crush, and literally anything else. Voila, wall decorations.

The key here is to never put up too many things. Everything you put up should be able to be taken down in 15 minutes or less and without any help.

If you really really want some decoration - buy a cheap thing of string lights from Target or something to put up. They add ambiance without much effort and don’t take up too much space. If your room is freezing with concrete floors, a small rug can help if you really think you need one. But - and you already know what i’m gonna say - BUY THEM THERE AND BE READY TO LEAVE THEM BEHIND.

No chairs. No hammocks. No lamps. No furniture. No bulletin boards. No extra bookshelves. Keep it as simple as possible.

The caveat is to bring one small grounding item from home. Maybe it’s a souvenir from a vacation you took. A mug your mom got you. A framed photo of your best friends. Choose one, and make sure it is small.

BOOKS, ETC.

Buy your class books once you get there, either from the campus bookstore, a local bookstore, ThriftBooks, Amazon (if you really must), etc. Or download them online ;) Either way, they’ll take up space while going to school so just get them later unless you have to do reading in advance.

As a book lover it pains me to say this but leave your books at home. Bring at most 4 books with you to school. i’d recommend at least one you haven’t read yet and at least one that’s a “comfort” book you like to reread. Books are one of the hardest things to move and you won’t have that much free time anyways.

Pick one hobby to pack for, and keep it basic. If you like drawing, make it 1 small sketchbook and a mini-pack of colored pencils, markers, watercolors, or crayons. If it’s photography, make it 1 single camera with 1 lens. If you like gaming, bring something small like a Switch lite. If you need a hobby to keep you busy inside, grab yourself a pair of wooden/bamboo knitting needles or a crochet hook, 1 ball of yarn, and go wild. The bottom line is only what you absolutely have to have to not lose your mind.

Have 1 large (32 GB or more) flash drive or SD card to back up your files from your laptop or tablet onto. This will be a huge help in the event something happens to your computer.

Finally, always have a plan with friends/family in the event you need to evacuate. How will you decide if you need to leave? How will you get home/to a safe place? Who will help you get there? How will you afford it? And so on.

Feel free to add anything tips that might be useful!

[littlesliceofmarvel]

Back To The Future

Request/Synopsis: Tony and the reader have been friends forever, and the reader is related to Peggy Carter. Something goes wrong in the lab one day and the two of them are sent back to the 40s, and they run into a couple familiar faces. Along the way to get back home, they discover their feelings for each other.

Warnings: Swearing (ofc)

Pairings: Tony x Reader

A/N: As always, Gif isn’t mine. I know that originally the request was to have help from Howard Stark, but I changed it slightly. Also, I have no idea when this takes place in the timeline of the MCU, but oh well. I also don’t remember much about the first Captain America and the timeline of that, so ignore any mistakes I’ve made. Enjoy! xx

Being one of Shield’s scientists came with major responsibility and unpredictability. One second you could be doing an upgrade on Thor’s phone, which to him was rocket science, or you could be doing actual rocket science. You worked with NASA for countless years, and when they teamed up for a task with Shield five years ago, Fury was captivated by your skills and got you on board right away. You took the job without a second of hesitation.

You got used to the insanity of this job fairly quickly with the help of Tony Stark, who happens to have become one of your best friends. He was there to help you when it came to stuff you didn’t fully understand, like most extraterrestrial technology that came through the lab. You had become one of Shield’s most trusted scientists, and you were always the go-to person when Stark was out of town. You did love your job, and working with some of the toughest people in the world really helped motivate you to be the best at everything you did.

“(Y/N),” your thoughts were cut off by Fury’s voice, booming over the conference room, “Do you think you can handle this?”

Unfortunately, you had been paying no attention to what Fury had been saying, and you wanted nothing more than to sink back into the big black leather chair when everyone’s eyes faced you. 

“Of course,” you gave Fury a forced smile, to which he nodded, telling the team you had it covered. Your face flushed as you felt the humiliation settling in of not paying attention to Fury and getting yourself roped into something.

“It’s settled,” Fury clapped his hands together, “Dr. (Y/L/N) will handle the Infinity Stones.”

Oh, boy. You were screwed.

-

After accidentally agreeing to be the one to dissect the Infinity Stones, you found yourself in the lab, facing three glowing gems. One green, one purple, and one red. You were told they were the time stone, power stone, and reality stone. You were supposed to look into them to see what they possessed, what they could do, and how they worked. It was something you never expected to be doing. You had heard of the Infinity Stones in the past, having dealt with the tesseract and Loki’s scepter during his 2012 attack, but you wanted nothing to do with them.

“Ouch, son of a bitch,” you let out a small yelp when you lifted the time stone, a small burn mark left on your fingers. You turned around and grabbed a pair of gloves before turning back to the green gem. You placed it on a small stand, picking up a giant magnifying glass and letting it sit in front of your face as the gem showed up on the large screen. 

“THE TIME STONE, ONE OF SIX INFINITY STONES” the file read as you zoomed in on the image of the stone, analyzing its structure. There was a microscopic bead of light on the outside of the stone that caught your attention, and you zoomed in on it to see what it was. A small hole on the side of the stone led straight to the middle, the natural light it was producing leaking out of the tiny hole.

“How’s it going in here?” You jumped, facing a grinning Tony Stark who was munching away on a bag of raisins. You shot him a death glare for scaring you, turning back to face the green item.

“Not as bad as you’d think,” you grinned, showing Tony the screen that sat in front of you, a close up shot of the Time Stone catching his attention.

“What’s that?” he pointed towards the small hole that caught had your attention, offering you a raisin as he did so. One thing you couldn’t understand was how often this guy ate, and in the lab.

“Why are you eating in my space?” You crossed your arms, facing him.

He gave you a sassy look, placing his hand on his hip, “You’re actually in my space.”

You rose an eyebrow, “Ok, Mister Boss Man, whatever you say.” Tony gave you a glare and pointed to the stone once again.

“What is that, though?” he closed up the bag and placed it on the desk behind you, eyes not coming off of the screen as you picked up a tiny pair of tweezers, pointing to the Stone.

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know,” you shrugged, slowly moving to pick up the Stone with the tweezers. Tony turned his attention to what you were doing, watching as you carefully picked up the stone with the tweezers, and before you knew it, everything went green, and then black.

-

You woke up, your head pounding out of your skull. Your eyes felt swollen shut, but once you forced them awake, you were greeted by sunlight. You could feel grass between your fingers and on the back of your neck, indicating that you were laying down. It took you a few seconds to adjust to the brightness, your mind swirling with what just happened.

The Stone.

You jumped up, looking around for where you were, trying to find the lab and the stone. You remembered Tony, and your eyes immediately scanned around to find him. You looked around for indications of what happened and where you were, finding nothing but an empty field, a dirt road going through the trees.

“What the hell?” You mumbled, breathing heavily as panic started to set in, realizing what might be happening. The Stone, the Time Stone. Time travel. 

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Tony!?” You called out, brushing your hair out of your face as you started speed-walking towards the dirt road, “Tony Stark, where are you?!” 

“(Y/N)?” A quiet groan came from the long grass and you rushed over to where it came from, your heart nearly exploding when you saw Tony Stark laying in the grass, struggling to open his eyes, reaching his hand out so you could help him up.

“Where are we?” He asked, voice coarse from the passing out of sorts. You looked around, hoping to find some sort of a clue. And that’s exactly what you got. A vehicle passed on the road, a small Buick passing by on the road and turning into the trees, both of your eyes locked on it before you both exchanged a knowing look. It was a 40′s model.

“Shit, please tell me we didn’t go back in time,” you mumbled, grabbing Tony’s arm and looking in his eyes.

He kept his eyes on the road which the car disappeared on, “Oh, you want me to lie. No, we haven’t gone back in time.”

You let out a frustrated groan, throwing your head back and running your hands through your hair, tugging aggressively. How could this have happened? It was all your fault. How did the Stone send you back in time without you having done anything? And why to the 40′s?

“Tony, what the hell do we do?” You asked, eyes almost watering at how panicked you were. Tony turned his attention back to you and placed his hands on your shoulders, steadying you.

“Ok, first of all, stressing out isn’t going to help.”

You pushed him off of you, “Sorry, but we’re currently in the 40′s! Tell me what part of this I should be calm about,”

He rolled his eyes at you, “You know what? Be lucky we got thrown back to the 40s, we know people here.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, waving your arms, “Sorry, who the hell do we know here?”

“My dad, Howard Stark, pre-pubescent Steve is probably running around here somewhere, and your aunt, the one Steve loved what’s her name again?” Tony put his hands to his temple and everything clicked in your head.

“Peggy!” You shouted, a smile on your face, “Of course, this all makes sense.”

“Sorry, what part of this makes sense to you?”

You smiled at him, “Ok, the stone can connect to DNA, right? When you come in contact with it, you feel it as much as it feels you. So, when I somehow triggered a reaction from it, it threw us into time, in general. It connected the two of us to DNA from here, of course!” The Time Stone was one of the only Stones that could feel human connection, and it only made sense that once you touched it and opened a portal of time, you and Tony’s DNA got jumbled and matched it to your relatives in the 40s, Howard Stark and Margaret Carter. 

“I’m not following,” Tony gave you a blank stare, “but cut the enthusiasm, we still need to get back to where we came from.”

“Do you think they would know a way?” You asked, and Tony nodded at you, pulling your hand and dragging you down the road. 

After a long, long walk, the two of you pulled up to a small gate, and behind it looked like a military boot camp. You heard drill calls and groups of men running and you immediately thought that this is probably where Steve trained. There was a small circular looking building near the back, which clearly led to underground.

“So, this is the base where they’re all at, huh?” You asked as Tony used FRIDAY to hack into the card ID holder, letting the gate open wide.

You looked around, taking in the sights. Men walked around in old military gear, which to them was modern. Talks of German attack forces and the attack on Pearl Harbour two years ago would make this 1943. Your head swirled at the idea of wanting to take in as much history as you could, but you knew you needed to get back home. In the distance, you could see the faint outline of the old New York City, the Stark Tower obviously not being there made the seriousness of this situation feel so much more real.

You turned around to look for Tony, but a small body came crashing into yours, almost knocking you over. You looked down to face a familiar face, your heart getting caught in your throat.

“Rogers?” You asked, Steve’s blue eyes looking into yours questioningly. He looked like a child, his head almost looking too big for his body. You knew that Steve used to be smaller, but this was more than you had expected. Seeing him like this, knowing he didn’t know you at this moment made your eyes water.

“Do.. Do I know you?” He asked, his helmet falling into his face, practically making it disappear. You wanted to tell him, but you couldn’t. This was all too much for you. You had no idea what to do.

“C’mon, punk,” another voice came up from beside you, “You’re falling behind, it’s embarrassing.”

You turned to see Bucky standing next to you, smiling down at Steve whose cheeks turned slightly pink. You knew Barnes was a Sergeant, but something about seeing him here caught you off guard, as the only times you had come in contact with him was when he was the Winter Soldier. From the corner of your eye, you could see Tony’s mouth hanging open, taking out his phone to quietly take a picture of little Steve. 

Steve nodded at Bucky and turned away from you as your heart shattered. 

“Tony, we need to get out of here, now,” you spoke shakily, looking back to Bucky and Steve, who seemed lost in their own conversation. You couldn’t process everything that was going on, you just wanted to wake up and have this all be a dream. Tony pulled you in for a hug, soothing you, and somehow, it pulled you away from the chaos around you, and you found yourself sinking into his arms, your heart rate slowing down.

He pulled away and looked into your eyes, “Hey, I promise I’ll get you home safe.” You nodded, feeling the impact of his words hit you harder than anything this man has ever said to you. 

“Let’s go home,” you whispered, staring right into his warm brown eyes.

“Let’s get to my dad, then.”

-

Tony led you through long hallways, flashing a card that said M.I.T VISITORS to grant us access into certain spaces. The two of you checked all the doors to find the one that belonged to Howard Stark, and you figured Tony had found it when you came crashing into his back, notifying you he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Tony, what the hell, move your feet,” you groaned, regaining your balance.

You turned to see what had caught his attention and you were right, a large glass door with the words HOWARD STARK stood in front of him, making your mouth drop slightly.

“I can go in if you don’t want to face him,” your soft voice broke Tony out of his trance as he turned to face you, a little paler than he was a minute ago.

He shook his head, “No, no, it’ll be ok, maybe I’ll ask him for sushi or something.”

“Tony-”

“It’s fine,” he cut you off, turning back to face the door, knocking loudly. You didn’t think twice before looking over to him and sliding your hand into his, interlocking your fingers together, giving his hand a small squeeze, to which you saw him visibly calm down. He took a deep breath as a figure walked over to the frosty glass door and swung it open, and before you stood Howard Stark.

Tony’s hand went limp in yours as you took in the man in front of you. He had groomed brown hair pushed out of his face, a moustache of the same colour sitting right above his lip. If you didn’t know he was Tony’s dad, you would have very easily deciphered it. The two looked quite similar, although oddly enough, Tony looked older than his father. Which technically at the moment, he was. But he also wasn’t born yet in the moment. 

“How may I help you two?” Howard’s voice asked kindly, yet firmly, confirming his position of authority. You looked over to Tony who looked too gob-smacked to speak, so you took over.

“Hello, Mr Stark,” you smiled, sticking out your hand to which he shook, “We’re from M.I.T, and we needed more credits so we were told to come speak to you, actually. If you’re not too busy.”

He looked between the two of you and nodded slowly, moving out of the way to let the two of you in. His office was quaint, a large wooden desk sat in the middle with chairs lining the sides, a large window looking over the field where boot camp was installed.

“Take a seat, do you want coffee or anything?” He asked, and you shook your head, Tony still not fully being able to speak.

“So, what are we supposed to talk about, exactly?” Howard pointed to the chairs in front of his desk to which you and Tony took, as he sat in the seat facing the two of you, arms on his desk. This almost felt like an interrogation.

“Sushi,” Tony muttered, causing you to roll your eyes.

“Sorry, he’s a little slow, he didn’t eat lunch,” you gave a fake laugh and kicked Tony’s foot lightly under the table as to say ‘smarten up or he’ll get suspicious.’ You understood this was overwhelming for him, having tragically lost his parents when he was much younger, but right now, the two of you needed information from Howard.

“We actually are doing a presentation at the moment about time travel,” you smiled kindly, leaning forwards slightly, “Do you believe in such a thing?”

Howard squinted before leaning back in his chair, “I do.”

Both of your eyes widened, giving each other a knowing look.

“That’s - That’s great, why do you believe in it?” Tony regained his brain and tried to get the information you guys needed.

Howard smiled slightly, “Is this going in your presentation? It’s kind of top secret.”

You shook your head, “Of course not, Mr. Stark, we don’t want to reveal your secrets.”

“What she means is ‘please tell us,” Tony stated bluntly, causing you to snap your head in his direction. Howard chuckled, looking between the two of you.

“What are your names?” 

Tony took a deep breath, “I’m, uh, Tony St- Tony (Y/L/N), and this is my wife, (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” You thanked God that he caught himself before he let Stark slip out of his mouth.

“Well, Mr and Mrs (Y/L/N), I believe in time travel because I’ve seen some wild things in my life, this isn’t some ordinary United States military camp,” he gave you two a knowing smirk, causing you to look at Tony, who held a smile on his face.

“Can you show us? Or, tell us I mean?” Tony asked, shaking his head to show that he made a mistake in the first question, but I knew he wanted to see what he meant, it could lead us back to home.

“I can’t, guys, I’m sorry, that’s way past confidential,” he gave you a sad smile and you exhaled a deep breath, wanting nothing more than to find out what he was talking about. 

Tony dropped his head, “Alright, thank you, da- I mean, Mr. Stark.”

Howard asked if you guys needed anything more, and when you both said no, he let out out of his office, and once the door was closed, Tony let out a deep breath he had been holding, clutching the wall.

“Tony, are you alright?” You placed a hand on his shoulder, steadying him as he struggled to breathe. He shook his head and you placed your hands on either side of his face, causing him to look straight into your eyes.

“I know, that was a lot, I’m proud of you for being able to do it, Tony,” you gave him a sincere smile, your heart picking up speed at how intensely he looked into your eyes, “We’re going to get through this together, I promise you, okay? We just need to find-” You were cut off by the sound of yelling behind you, and when you turned around, two men came running down the hall in your direction, gunshots firing.

“Change of plans,” Tony grabbed your arm and pulled you down the hall and down a long staircase, the sound of the men following you close behind. Tony continued leading the two of you down at least five flights of stairs, the footsteps becoming louder, signalling that there were probably more people chasing the two of you. As you reached the bottom of the stairs, the door was locked. 

“Really? Every other fucking door was practically calling us in but this one’s locked?” Tony cursed, wrapping his arms around you as the sounds of the footsteps got closer. You knew they had weapons, so you shoved your face into Tony’s chest, his heart beating against your ear.

“Any chance you can become Iron Man?” you mumbled into his shirt.

“Sorry, sweetheart, left the tech at home,” he placed his face in your hair, silently placing his head in the crook of you neck, making your breath hitch.

“I got em!” A voice shouted and you heard a gunshot go off, making you jump and squint your eyes leaning further into Tony’s chest as you braced for impact. Why they had been ordered to shoot you, you couldn’t say, but you knew the two of you seemed suspicious from the get-go. Maybe asking Howard Stark some pretty invasive questions set off some sort of alarm, raising attention to the two of you being here. 

You didn’t hear anymore gunshots go off and your heart stopped, fear that they had gotten Tony made a tear slip down your eyes as you continued holding him tightly, your breath picking up. No more bullets came, and the silence was taken over by a small chuckle.

“Send them back in time and they become one person,” a familiar voice said, causing one of your eyes to open. You pulled away from Tony, your eyes scanning the all-too-familiar surroundings. The Time Stone sat in front of you, along with Natasha, Steve, Bruce and Rhodey, who looked at the two of you in confusion.

“Oh, my god,” you choked out, relief flooding through your entire body. To say your mind was jumbled was an understatement, but seeing that you were back home sent your body into a wave of comfort and your shoulders relaxed instantly.

“Tony, we’re back,” you pulled away from him slightly, noticing his eyes were still shut. He opened them and his face instantly relaxed, realizing that the two of you were safe and back home. 

“It’s about damn time you guys noticed we were gone,” Tony scoffed at the team, “I mean, honestly, we were stuck there long enough. After I saw your pre-serum body, Steve, I was ready to run back to the future.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Shut up, Tony.”

“How did you guys bring us back?” You asked, looking between the four Avengers. If you had been totally honest, although you had made a terrible mistake with the stone, you had been infinitely grateful to have Tony there, and you felt a special connection with him now, having shared this together.

“Well, after the stone sent you guys back, a flash of green went off and we knew something had gone wrong,” Natasha explained, “So, Bruce rushed in here and managed to figure out a way to reverse what it had just done.”

You let out an exasperated sigh and leaned your body over the table, laughing slightly when Tony’s bag of raisins caught your eye. What a day it had been. You pinched yourself repeatedly to see if it was real. You couldn’t believe the things you saw today. Steve, Bucky, Howard, it was a lot. You had secretly wished to see your aunt Peggy, but something told you that she would have suspected a lot more out of you than Howard did. 

“Well,” you started, “All I can take from today is that I’m now craving sushi,” you winked at Tony who gave you a smirk.

“How bout you and I go get a nice sushi dinner?” Tony approached you, “What do you say, sweetheart? I think we deserve it.”

You felt heat rise to your cheeks when you remembered the rest of the people in the room, but you nodded up at him and his face broke out into a massive smile, and you felt more relaxed than you had been in a long time.

Maybe going back in time wasn’t so bad. After all, now you have a date with Tony Stark.

[lightanddarklove]

Prickling Doubt and Burnout

5032 Words | Rating: Teen [description of an injury and swearing, self-esteem/ self-doubt and mental health issues]

I wrote this trying to get some pain out of my system but I didn’t get to write as much as I would have liked before the hiatus ended. If the new episodes don’t make me feel like I am treading the same ground as cannon, I have more ideas to continue this.

The only thing that I didn’t notice, a minor detail that I got wrong, is that they no longer have a closet under the stairs with the repaired house. So where are they storing their cleaning supplies? I kind of doubt they’re in Steven’s closet upstairs, so if anyone could tell me where their pantry or something is I will fix that bit.

Also, Steven swears, but not out loud, so I haven’t let Steven say fuck yet >:)c

Steven doesn’t feel like he can talk to Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl about his problems, so he finds another way to distract himself until he can find the right words to say. Unfortunately for him, cleaning the greenhouse doesn’t come without more hurt.

Takes place right after Prickly Pair. Steven-centric & Cannon compliant through that episode. Hurt/ Comfort but the ratio’s about 80/20%.

“I think I’ve said enough.” Steven’s voice was low and he ducked his head as he turned to walk back to his room. The concerned gazes of the Crystal Gems followed him, but they didn’t press. He spoke once more over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs, not turning to face them. “I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused… again.” With two more steps, he walked through the doorway and out of sight.

He waited a moment in his room, staring at the cactus flower in his hand and repeatedly turned it gently between two fingers. He almost expected one of the gems to follow him to his room and insist he talk to them, but there was nothing. He sighed and looked around the room. With the exception of the open balcony door, floor and bed littered in cactus spines and comforter not on his bed, there was little out of place.

He took one more step and was reminded with a sting of pain of the needles still embedded in his chest, legs, arms and face. He paused and carefully put down the flower near the tv. Grabbing the comforter and folding it over, he placed it on the floor. He quickly retrieved a pair of tweezers and a mirror from the area above his bed. With a grunt of discomfort he sat down on the comforter to remove the needles pricking his skin. He started with left hand palm, and plucked them out one by one. Each spine stung slightly and he quietly hissed through his teeth as he pulled them out. He willed himself not to anger as he worked.

It’s not worth it, he thought. Cactus Steven had caused enough damage, I don’t need the rage of Pink Steven too. He worked his way from his palm to his arm, focusing on his breathing and the morning light outside. Hopefully Cactus Steven will find some place he can belong. It would be nice if at least one of us could. He shook his head as he pulled a needle from his sensitive triceps’ area. Thinking that way isn’t helping. I messed things up here, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t still have a place here, right? He swiped a tear away from his eye with his now un-prickly left hand. He knew that tear wasn’t just from the cactus spines, but he couldn’t do any damage control like this. It sucks feeling like I can’t do anything right, but I have to try. I’m not going to run away from all my problems like she did. I can clean up my own mess.

Plucking a spine from his left shoulder he dropped it in the pile with the others and switched his tweezers to his left hand. I’ll wait to heal myself until all of these plant materials are cleaned up. I can’t risk bringing another plant to life and causing more damage. These spines are nothing compared to getting head-butted in the face or the toxic injector fluid on my arm. The faces of an angry Jasper and Spinel came to mind as he thought of old injuries, but he tried to shake the thoughts away. The burn on his arm had long healed but that patch of skin still had discoloration from the injury. His eyes were drawn to the burn as he removed more needles. Tiny drops of blood marred his skin further from the cactus gashes, but very few actively dripped, as most of the pricks only went skin deep. I’m sturdier than most people, he thought bitterly. I can handle it. He quickly wiped at the lightly bleeding cuts to prevent them from dripping into his comforter and instead rubbed it into his ruined T-shirt. No salvaging this, it’s too full of holes. Might as well use it as a rag.

Once he had reached the end of his shoulder, he picked up the mirror from the floor and began tweezing the spines on his face. He bit his lip as he plucked each needle from his cheeks, taking care not to let out an audible cry that could be heard downstairs. No need to worry them, he mused. He took a closer look at his reflection, swiping away the few blood drops that rested on his face and noticed a dark spot beginning to form above his eyelid. That must have been from when Cactus Steven bounced my shield back at my eye. I deserved that. He pulled more needles from the area around his brow, biting back tears. I was as so stupid to think that fighting him was the answer. The house is smashed and the gems got hurt because of me. I should have been better to him. When will I learn how to not be so impulsive?

With a few more tweezes he moved downward, plucking spines from his chest. He stopped after a moment and tried to remove his shirt, hoping to get all of them from his torso and waist in one pull, but as he tugged the sharp needles didn’t want to free themselves from his skin and simply tugged at his injuries. He huffed in disappointment and continued his slow methodical plucking. This hurts, but it could have been worse. Get over yourself. Don’t need to make a big deal of it. He moved further down to his abdomen, biting his lip as he pulled from the tender area around his gem.

Before long, he was free of spines, front to back. He stood and bubbled the pile of spines before floating the plant matter over to his trash and popping the bubble, causing the pile to fall into it with a quiet scraping noise. The room still had many needles littering the floor and Steven moved to go back downstairs to get the vacuum.

On the main floor, the gems were all trying to address the still spraying sink in various ways. Garnet was on her back, laying on the floor where the sink used to be, wrench in hand. She was trying to tighten a bolt to stop the flow of water and finding it slick and difficult. Pearl had a mop and bucket she was pushing across the floor, trying to clean its soaked surface. Amethyst had a funnel plugged into the sink hole and a hose in her other hand, which emptied into a large plastic storage container on the floor. Pearl and Amethyst looked up as Steven moved across the room but Garnet continued her efforts.

“I’m cleaning up the cactus needles upstairs,” Steven said, unable to keep their gaze. He moved to the cupboard beneath the stairs, carefully stepping over the broken debris of the coffee table. He retrieved the vacuum and moved to leave.

“Steven,” Pearl called. “Once we get the sink issue under control, we can help you with the dome, if you’d like.”

“Or just in general,” Amethyst added. “Did you feel like talking about it?”

“Don’t trouble yourself. I can handle it,” Steven replied, turning up the stairs. Amethyst looked away sadly.

“Got it,” Garnet said, tightening the bot into place and stopping the spray of water. “Steven, hold on.” He stopped on the landing and turned to face them. “The oven likely will need replacement parts, as water spray got everywhere. You’re not going to want to use the microwave either, so when you get hungry, I’ll have foods that don’t require preparation set in a bag by the stairs.”

“Thanks,” he answered and turned back to his room.

The spines littered the floor and bed when he came back upstairs, vacuum in tow. He turned over everything that had been on the floor and plugged in the vacuum. He flipped its switch and began to methodically work his way across his floor. He quietly cursed himself whenever he accidentally stepped on a spine the vacuum didn’t pick up. He tried to focus on the task at hand, working his way from the stairs toward the opposite side of the room.

After a bit, he noticed his phone light up from his position standing on the bed. He glanced up, continuing to work the vacuum over the needle covered mattress with one hand. He reached out and unlocked his phone, noticing a notification from Connie. That brought a small but genuine smile to his face. He remembered that she had a presentation today and he should wish her good luck in his reply.

Upon opening his messages, he saw a smiling selfie. She had taken the photo from an upper angle, flattering her young features. Her short hair looked neatly styled in a bob, as was typical, but there was a trace of mascara and blush, which was uncommon for her. She wore an azure blue button-up sweater half closed over a grey and white horizontal striped shirt, with a navy knee-high tapered skirt and black leggings, and dark grey ankle boots. She looked like she was putting her best foot forward for her presentation and his smile grew, gazing fondly. Her caption read: “Getting ready for the day. How bout you?”

He paused to admire her. He hadn’t smiled this much since before Cactus Steven started spouting back his dark thoughts, not really. All of his smiles for the gems the night before were placating smiles, not actually because he was happy, and when talking to them in the midst of his fight with his mutated plant, they were entirely false. However, the simple act of a picture sent just for him made him light up.

He replied, “Doing some cleaning. I haven’t gotten changed yet. I’m not presentable yet, haha, but you look,” he paused. Beautiful? Gorgeous? No, too much. Cute? Yes, but also she’s matured so much, she might not like that. Perfect? No, way too much. Terrific? That sounds stilted. How about… “Fantastic. Good luck on your presentation today, I believe in you!” After looking over his text again, he added heart and star emojis to the end and hit send. He slipped his phone into his sweatpants pocket and continued to work on vacuuming the top-sheet of his bed to rid it of cactus spines. He worked his way from foot of the bed forward, noting that the pillow was untouched by the needles. He finished his way across the bed, hopped down and placed the vacuum on the ground, shutting it off. A new ping on his phone took his attention.

“You could have just rolled out of bed and you’d look good,” came Connie’s reply.

Hah, not today, he thought ruefully. I don’t want her to see me like this. Another message popped up before he could come up with a response.

“What made you catch the cleaning bug so early?”

How do I say what happened without making her worry? He thought. I can’t distract her from her presentation. “Well, I woke up early and…” He paused. Cactus Steven broke a lot of stuff, but I definitely don’t want to tell her that. “-there was a bit of a mishap in the greenhouse. Just doing a bit of work to put everything back in its place.”

He slipped the phone in his pocket and pulled the top sheet off the bed, looking it over. There were minor tears in a few spots, but it didn’t look too damaged. Maybe dad knows someone who can fix it. Steven considered. I don’t want to ask Pearl, she’s already helping fix the mess downstairs. He wadded the sheet into a ball and tossed it next to his hamper.

He took the folded over comforter in his left hand and walked to the balcony door, opening it with his right. The morning air was cool on his arms and chest through the holes in the shirt. Taking the comforter in both hands he walked to the balcony’s edge. He tried to enjoy the view of the beach as he shook the comforter out over the deck. The cactus needles shed from the comforter with a few good shakes. Most of them fell to the beach below but a few littered the wood beneath his feet.

He took a few careful steps back, avoiding the spines and walking back into his room, comforter draped over his arms. He closed the door behind him and fished a spare sheet from the bottom drawer of his dresser. He quickly made his bed and looked around his room. With the exception of the wadded sheet by his hamper and the trash bin brimming with cactus spines everything looked in order.

He walked to his shoes stowed in the corner and slipped them on. Before turning around, a new ping brought his attention back to his phone. He promptly pulled it from his pocket and opened his texts. “Is everything ok?” Connie’s text read.

Steven chewed his lip as he considered how to put her mind at ease. Now you’ve made her worry. Way to go, he thought bitterly. He set the phone down on the bed and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe if I just show her the greenhouse and don’t tell her about the damage to the house it won’t distract her too much. If I tell her nothing that will definitely make her worry more. I can’t show her how I look though, especially not with this shirt.

In one swift motion he tugged his shirt off, wincing slightly as it pulled against his marred skin, and tossed the shirt by the hamper. He grabbed a fresh black and yellow star tee from the dresser and more carefully slipped it on, trying not to aggravate his injuries. He turned back to the corner of the room by his bed where he left his apron hanging on and slipped it over his outfit, tying it firmly. He scooped up his phone and ran his other hand through his hair as he walked back to the balcony, opening the door with his elbow.

Feeling through his curls he found a few lingering cactus needles and opened his phone to his camera app look himself over. He walked the short few steps to the greenhouse and plucked the remaining needles from his hair, tossing them over the balcony’s edge before making his way to the ruined wall of the dome. He activated the door and soundlessly stepped inside. The bruise that was forming over his right eyelid was somewhat noticeable but the slight cuts from the needles were less so. With a quick adjustment of his filters, it was unlikely anyone would notice them at all in a photo. If he didn’t include the broken glass in his picture to Connie, it wouldn’t look like there was much damage at all. Its fine, just angle yourself so she doesn’t see the hole in the dome. No reason to get her worked up when she’s got her presentation today. But that bruise, if I put a bandage over it, she’ll surely notice. How do I avoid making her worry more?

He thought back to their recent conversation when she had been having a rough week of cramps. She had sent him a dramatic selfie: forearm draped across her brow, mouth open in a seemingly pained sigh, head tilted back and eyes closed. She had included the whole of her upper body in the shot, loose t-shirt flipped up slightly, exposed waist showing several inches of toned midriff, hot water bottle pressed into her aggravated side, and sweatpants hung low and tucked over the water bottle. At the time, he remembered blushing over seeing more of her abdomen then had previously had the privilege of, muscles firm from years of sword training and tennis. Connie didn’t wear crop tops, so this felt like a secret between the two of them.

But now, he recalled the pose, and if he adjusted it slightly so his forearm was over the injured eye, there would be no reason to call it into question. He would be playing back to a recent memory shared for his Jam Bud, not looking hurt and forlorn. It would be easy to downplay as not serious, so he could convince her to focus on her school day. She shouldn’t have to worry about me, he thought firmly. He found the right position, had the filters just right to avoid drawing attention to any red marks along the arms or face, and imitated the expression a precisely as he could. He snapped the picture and looked it over. “My poor greenhouse,” he captioned, adding a few emoji that matched his overly-dramatic expression. With a tap the picture was sent. He added after, “everything’s alright now, just a mess I’ve gotta clean up.”

He glanced around the dishevelment, now that his task of easing Connie’s mind was complete. A few broken pots and upturned dirt as well as broken branches strewn the floor. Bluebell Connie had been tipped over from her rightful place on the stool where she sat, but other than a small bit of dirt having spilled out the flower was undamaged. He flipped the stool with his foot and scooped the overturned dirt back into the pot before setting the Bluebell upright with his unoccupied hand. He turned and scooped up a few broken branches lying and tossed them into his compost pile about before he noticed another pot flipped over. The flower itself looked like it may need a splint to keep it from wilting, but more concerning was that the pot it was in had cracked and a few broken pieces lay on the floor.

Steven was walking toward the broken pot when heard another ping and looked down to the phone. “What happened to the place?” Connie replied. He continued walking toward the broken pot but his focus was on the message to Connie.

“I’ll tell you later.” He answered, typing with his right hand and reaching forward with his left. “I’ve got it under control-“ he had the next sentence half typed before he was able to send. His balance was thrown off as he stumbled over a branch he neglected to pick up earlier and the phone tumbled out of his hand, forgotten as he moved to brace himself. Happy thoughts couldn’t come to mind quick enough to slow his fall. The hand that had been reaching for the broken shard of terra cotta met it with staggering pain as the broken pot pressed into his palm several inches deep. He let out a sound between a strangled cry and a shuddering gasp.

No, no, no, fuck. He thought as he fumbled to his knees, trying not to focus on the throbbing feeling through his palm. Why can’t I do anything right?

He drew his injured hand to his chest and sprang back to his feet with the force of his free hand. His breaths came in hard, pained pants as he saw the blood begin to stain his apron. The sight had him fighting a gag. With an empty stomach, he knew if the nauseating feeling overtook his focus he would just be caught up dry-heaving and unable to stop the searing in his hand. Get out of here, he thought, who knows that the fuck bleeding on these plants would do. He forced himself to walk quickly out of the greenhouse and back to his room, trying to keep the blood running from his palm from ending up anywhere but the apron already splattered red. Adrenaline had his heart thudding loudly in his chest and he fought back panicked instincts through his pain.

After opening the bedroom door he immediately noticed the stained and torn sleep shirt on the floor and grabbed it. By pressing a knee onto it on his bed, he cleanly ripped off a large chunk with his unhurt hand and pressed it into the wound to slow the bleeding. He hissed through his teeth in pain but was able to use his fingers of his left hand enough despite the hurt to keep the scrapped shirt in place. He bubbled his injured arm just past the wrist to keep himself from bleeding further onto anywhere else. He used the rest of the damaged shirt to shred into strips, using the same method of leverage with his knee, and draped them over his elbow before walking swiftly back to the porch’s back end.

Please don’t let them see this, he thought, please don’t let them hear me, please don’t have them bother me. This sucks enough, I don’t want them to make me feel like more of an idiot. I don’t want to feel more pathetic. After making his way to a part of the porch that couldn’t be seen through windows, he bubbled all of himself before releasing the one on the wrist of his hurt hand, pulling the rag to tamp the bleeding from between his fingers and set it across his left wrist. He turned the palm up to assess the damage and he felt his stomach turn with discomfort. The shard of the flower pot cut into his hand with at least a three inch long gash, and at its deepest point cut into thick muscle at the top of his palm. Dirt smeared across the broken flowerpot, meaning he wouldn’t be able to heal it immediately without risking infection, as he had suspected. He took a deep breath and bubbled his head as to avoid drawing attention if he cried out. This is going to hurt, just get it over with. He thought. He grasped the terra cotta piece with his right hand, and hesitated. Here goes nothing.

Steven bit his lip and yanked on the broken piece from his hand. He wasn’t able to suppress a shout but with the two layers of bubble his voice would not be easily heard from inside the house. With a shuddering breath, he bubbled the shard of broken pot and sent it to a corner of his room before pressing the from his wrist rag into the cut and closing his fist. Stars, that hurts. He grabbed one of the strips from across his elbow, held one end between his fingers and took the other end in his teeth. With a quick motion he released his fist and wrapped the shirt strips around the wound, tying it off with his unharmed hand. He repeated the processes several times until he was sure the makeshift bandage would hold but not leak. Once finished, he rushed from outside the porch back into his room. He tossed the unused shredded shirt strips onto his bed, pulled off his apron, leaving it discarded on the floor and made his way down the stairs.

The gems each had their own task that they were working on to begin the work of restoring the kitchen and living area but quickly their eyes were drawn to him as he came down. Amethyst was carrying a large coffee table under one arm from her room in the temple. Garnet was taking food from the soaked cabinets and setting them on the far counter, or in a trash bin if they were ruined. Pearl was walking those food items onto what appeared to be a restaurant-grade set of metal shelving placed close to the temple door. Upon looking over to Steven they all had various expressions of distress and Steven avoided their eyes.

“I’m just going to the bathroom, don’t worry about me,” Steven urged guiltily, as he moved down the stairs.

Amethyst dropped the coffee table with a thud, narrowly missing her foot. Garnet sucked in an audible breath before quietly letting it out through her nose. Pearl dropped the box of rice in one hand with a thump and squeezed hard on the can in her other hand of vegetable soup until it popped, contents squelching through tight fingers and splattering to the floor.

Amethyst was the first to break the quiet. “Dude, your hand!” her voice pitched up and cracked as she said the last word, rushing to the foot of the stairs as Steven moved down and hurried toward the bathroom. He avoided her concerned gaze.

“I got it,” he replied.

“Oh, oh, Steven,” Pearl called from the kitchen, voice thick with uneasiness. She moved toward him with quick, purposeful strides. “That looks serious, let me help you-“ Steven turned his head over his shoulder but did not stop moving toward the bathroom.

“Pearl, I can handle this, you don’t need to see this. It’s gross.” He responded sternly. She stopped, but her arm reached out and her eyes watered without reaching their tipping point.

“I’m pretty sure she’s seen worse,” Amethyst interjected with a disdainful tone.

“Don’t worry bout it,” Steven said, opening the bathroom door with his unhurt hand. Pearl looked back to Garnet who stayed by the kitchen counter, her usual impassive expression looking tight and strained.

“Steven,” Amethyst called uneasily as Steven moved into the bathroom doorway. “You know when I lost my memory last spring, you said ‘I’ll be right by your side no matter what?’ That goes both ways, man. I can help. We can talk about this if you let me…”

“I can take care of this, Amethyst. Trust me,” he replied. She let out a slight huff as he closed the bathroom door.

“Well if you sound like you’ve collapsed in there I’m breaking down that door.” She snapped. “Don’t test me.” Steven turned toward the sink and ran the faucet, trying not to consider Amethyst’s warning.

“Garnet,” Pearl said in a hushed and anxious tone, “are you sure he’ll be alright? Those bandages he had were covered in blood.”

Steven yanked them off and ran his hand beneath the warm water, feeling the sting to his wound. His frame trembled slightly but his feet held beneath him. He tried to ignore their conversation, but unfortunately, his hearing was vigilantly trained and the running water wasn’t enough to drown it out.

“This injury will not require outside intervention, Pearl,” Garnet replied quietly. “It won’t do any good to press him further.”

He got a squirt of liquid soap and began washing the gash in his hand and area around it, seeing the soapy water stained red.

“This wasn’t the worse possible outcome,” Garnet continued as Steven cleaned the injury. “He could have gotten a piece of planter stuck in his face.” He tried not to think about that as he worked.

Still running the water over the hurt left hand, Steven opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out hydrogen peroxide and gauze, which rarely were needed but he was glad they had. He rinsed both hands to clear he blood off his right and shut the water off. He unscrewed the cap of the disinfectant and poured a small amount over the still bleeding gash, hissing through his teeth.

“Garnet, how did this happen? What can we do to help him?” Pearl ask.

Steven pressed the gauze to the cut and moved to sit on the lip of the tub. He brought his right hand to his mouth and licked along his fingers before pulling the gauze back with his pinky and thumb, and slid it across the injury, watching his healing spit sparkle and close the cut.

No reason to have to taste blood when I can just use my other hand to get the spit on it, he mused.

“I see lots of ways Steven could answer if we ask,” Garnet answered, “but I don’t know which is the truth. He’s hiding things again.”

Steven swallowed as he watched the muscles in his palm form anew. The deepest part of the injury, a dark spot about half an inch long, still looked an angry orange-red, but the edges went from pink to white in a new scar. He sighed and stood, looking himself over in the mirror.

“Is there anything we can do to?” Pearl said, tone hushed and fretful.

Steven glided his fingers back over his mouth and slicked them with his saliva. He took the spit and applied it to his face and arms, watching the marks from the cactus spines disappear.

“It’s better to leave it be, Pearl,” Garnet replied. “Trying to get answers out of him is only going to push him away.”

Steven lifted his shirt and rubbed a bit more saliva to the area around his gem, where the skin was tender. Getting anything accomplished today will be harder if I’m constantly flinching from the pain around my waist. I can deal with the rest of it later, he thought. He straightened his shirt before moving toward the bathroom door, sparing one last glance in the mirror. At least I look presentable. He exited the room, tossing the bloody gauze in the trash.

Garnet was still busying herself with the food sorting. Amethyst shoved the debris of the old table from the couch nook with her foot and moved the new one in place. Pearl brought the mop back out to clean up the soup splattered on the floor.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” Steven called, walking back to his room.

“We’ll be here.” Amethyst answered.

Steven retreated to his room but realized he didn’t have his phone, so he made a beeline for the dome one more time. He scooped it up from the floor and looked it over, grateful it was undamaged. Glancing around, he counted his luck that there were no drips of blood on the floor. 

Moving back to his room, he saw the few responses to his last text to Connie. “I hope everything’s ok.” The first message read. “Don’t leave me in the dark.” The second one said, a few minutes later, followed by a frowny face. “I have to get to class now, but get back to me when you can, ok?”

Steven sighed, and sent a reply. “Sorry. Hope you did well on the presentation.” He laid back down on the bed, setting the phone on his nightstand and decided it would be best to rest before trying to do anything else.

[vore-scientist]

Fool Me Once (In Which There Are Thieves)

[M/m safe, soft GT vo.re]

A Tale of the Mystic Woods

Yonah (the “evil” giant wizard) deals with thieves on a regular basis. They are rather a nuisance but they do taste good!

Almost every encounter with a thief follows a pattern: 1) Thief breaks in to the tower. 2) Yonah catches and eats the thief. 3) Yonah releases the thief and if they accept it, gives them some money for their trouble.

“In Which There are Thieves” is a collection of short stories that all follow that pattern, but each encounter is unique!

Content warnings: the vo.re is soft and safe but unwilling and it’s Yonah’s job to be the big bad giant so expect fearplay. And the thieves don’t know that he plans to let them live. (Especially when he tells them the opposite)

Note: this encounter takes place before Sophia comes to live with Yonah

---

Yonah’s eyes snapped open. He was in bed and hadn’t been able to enter a deep sleep. Something was in his tower, and he had heard it. Thief or Slayer. Thief or Slayer.  He lay still and listened. Tiny footsteps outside his door.

A thief.

Slayers wouldn’t make that much noise. And neither did he, as he cast a silence spell around himself so he could get up and get dressed. It wasn’t proper to deal with a thief in his pajamas. He was looking forward to it, a pre-breakfast treat was just what he needed. His stomach grumbled silently.

But how exactly should he deal with this thief… He could just burst into the living room and bellow his lines. Classic, tried and true.

Naw, he wanted to try something else today.

He rummaged through a drawer and found the box labeled SPELLED STONES #3 YH. With a pair of tweezers he took out the stone in 5F. Then he found a very ornate box and set it on his night stand. He got out his reduction spice and dabbed a bit on his tongue and gripping the nightstand with both hands shrunk himself down, and clambered onto the tabletop. The stone in his hands glimmered with possibility. His plan wouldn’t work if he was over 2 meters tall. He placed the stone in his mouth and bit down cracking the stone and releasing the spell.

Examining himself in the mirror he beamed. He was in a plain but beautiful dress with matching flats. He had long blonde hair that fell around his clean shaven face and piercing blue eyes. And he had breasts. He was, as far as anyone knew, a princess. This was going to be fun. The thief would enter the room soon, if they got to the living room their next stop was always the bedroom. He climbed into the box and shut the lid. With one last spell before tucking his staff away, he locked the box.

And waited.

Sure enough the thief entered the room. Even from inside the box, Yonah could hear him. This wasn’t a very good thief. He waited until the thief was clearly on the nightstand when he called out.

“Is someone out there?! Please! Help!”

Oh it was WEIRD to hear the magically generated female voice.

The thief took the bait; Yonah heard them working on the lock and then light hit his eyes.

Jack looked down into the box and sure enough there was a girl in there! A princess! How interesting.

“Oh thank you sir!” She said, sitting up and beaming at him, and he helped her out of the box. She was, taller, than Jack expected. Not as tall as himself but nearly.

“What on earth were you doing in that box?” Jack asked, keeping his voice low. The princess wasn’t as careful and had practically shouted. But he also didn’t want to order a princess to do anything.

The princess looked woeful and stained off into space. “It is that cruel giant! He locks me up whenever he leaves. He does not trust me not to run off.”

Maybe she wasn’t so stupid. If she knew the giant wasn’t around why should she be quiet. Why should he be quiet? This was great news! He had snuck in at the perfect time!

“Don’t worry, you’re free now, and after I loot the place we’ll get out of here right quick,” he said.

“I am not worried sir,” she said, “just lead the way!”

Huh, not a very timid gal. Better for him, he didn’t want to deal with someone who might faint on him.

There was nothing on the nightstand so Jack and his newfound princess explored more of the room. The princess chatted endlessly and Jack tried to tune it out.

“If I may ask” she said, not waiting for Jack’s response, “why are you looting the place?”

“Because I’m a thief,” said Jack, “It’s my job”

“But surely” said the princess, looking into one of the boxes on the dresser, “half of my father’s kingdom would be worth much more than anything here. There’s nothing in this box by the way.” But Jack was sure she slipped something into a pocket. It left his mind as he focused on something else she had said.

“Half the kingdom?”

“Of course! We are to be married! You are my rescuer!” She bounced on the balls of her feet. Her blond hair bounced too.

“I hate to break it to you,” said the thief, “but I’m not into princesses. If you were a prince, well, that would be a different story.”

This did not phase the princess one bit who replied with “Fine then, but you will still be rewarded for my rescue”

She fiddled with her dress “and truth be told, I have a true love already.”

“Oh?” said Jack, more interested in the reward than her sob story. But he let her speak as they moved onto the next room.

“Yes! A cobbler’s apprentice. They may be plain, but I love them so!” She waxed fondly, looking off into space and fluttering her eyes lids. 

Despite increasing annoyance he let her go on about her love as he searched the room.

“They’re not the adventuring type, my love, and my father disapproved of our affections so he sent me away! To be rescued by someone he deemed suitable for my hand!”

It was hard to tune out her voice but he treated it as white noise as he searched. But!!! There was!!! Nothing! Arg!!! Just more magic shit! He couldn’t tell what was valuable and he didn’t have a bag of holding, just a normal ass bag.

“Hey do you know where any of the good shit is?”

The princess considered this for a long time. Jack was about to just continue his own search when she finally said.

“There’s a workbench upstairs. I don’t know much about magic, but he uses crystals and stuff, and instruments made with precious metals!”

That’s the shit he was looking for. Gold and jewels! He grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs. Going up the stairs took a while, each step was nearly as tall as they were. By the time they reached the top they were exhausted.

“Any idea when the giant will be back?” Jack asked, breathing hard, willing his strength back.

“I wish I did. You’re *huff* lucky the wizard *huff* is away at all” she said “I’ve seen-“ she started to shake “I’ve seen him deal with thieves and…”

“And”

“He eats them!” She cried, “I’ve never seen a thief make it out of here alive! Not one.”

“Not-not even one!?”

The princess shook her head. “It’s horrible! And, and I’m so worried, every day.” she started to actually cry, “That he’ll get bored with my singing and eat me too!”

“He would eat a princess! What a monster!” said Jack, “now come on, it’s time to get those jewels and get out of here before he comes back.”

With each other’s help they climbed up the stool and onto the desk. And sure enough, there were gems! Some were ordinary or semi-precious, but they were huge! And imbued with magic, so they had to have value. But there was also a small jar with more precious gems, and one with gold dust. Jack filled his own, smaller jars, with the dust and gems.

“Ready to go?” he asked, taking her hands.

“Yes, but, just one more thing,” she said, and smiled.

The change was instantaneous. One moment Jack was holding onto the delicate hands of dainty royal, looking down into her doey eyes and the next his own hands were engulfed by new hands, the size of dinner plates, and staring at the brightly patterned shirt of wizard robes. He looked up into the face of the tallest man he had ever seen.

If he hadn’t instantly realized this was the wizard, he would have called the man handsome. He had voluminous black locks, and a powerful jaw with a nice amount of facial hair. But the dark brown eyes smiled hungrily down at his own. The wizard licked it’s full lips.

The wizard’s grip was strong and starting to hurt, but then his hands were released and the wizard stepped backwards, off the desk!

With a mighty *POOF* of grey smoke the giant, the giant wizard, towered above him, and laughed.

“Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of the human kind. It matters not the things you stole, I’ll capture you and swallow you whole!” and snatched him up in one of its hands.

Stringing Jack along been delightful, but it was time to end the charade and get his reward for a job well done. Yonah held the thief up above his open mouth.

“it is indeed, time for you to go,” he said.

Finally the thief realized what was happening and screamed as his feet entered the giant’s mouth.

“Fuck fuck FUCK!!” he couldn’t seem to say anything but obscenities as Yonah swallowed him down. He tried futilely to grab onto Yonah’s teeth but Yonah simply flicked the hands off with a finger.

Yonah wasn’t entirely sure if it was the fear, or if this human just naturally tasted really good. Soon enough the thief was in his stomach, and it gurlged happily. /Oh come now!/ he patted his gut /you know you can’t keep him!/. The thief kicked out in protest.

“You tricked me!” he shouted, almost crying, “why!? You could have just caught me right away!”

“This was more fun,” Yonah said, “and it makes for a much more satisfying meal to know you’ve earned it. You tasted amazing by the way, five stars!”

“You’re a sick bastard!” Jack shouted at him.

Even though Jack couldn’t see him, Yonah shrugged. Then he stretched, keeping on hand on his stomach so he could feel the human’s movements. “It’s my job.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about this?!” the thief was taking his perceived demise rather well, he wasn’t begging for his life or anything. Maybe Yonah had primed him too much with the “merciless man-eater” description, this Jack didn’t seem to think he could persuade him to spare his life.

Yonah scratched his stomach and sighed deeply, “No, but this is.”

“What the-” the thief was cut off as Yonah started the process of regurgitating his captive. This thief was fairly large, he had to practically punch himself in the gut to force the thief out, and even considered reaching into his own mouth to trigger a stronger more innate reaction.

But he didn’t need to. The nearly suffocating mass of the thief made its way up his esophagus, slowly but surely. The thief slid into his waiting hands and scramble to sit up and stare in confusion at Yonah who smiled and licked drool from his lips.

“Feel better now?”

Jack shivered but nodded.

“You- you’re letting me go!? What was all that ‘no thief has left alive’ shit!?”

Oh, a talkative one! Normally they didn’t want to talk anymore. Too scared and ready to leave.

Yonah chuckled, “Surprised you didn't catch on, Jack. If I was lying about being a princess, why wouldn’t everything else be a lie as well!”

“You’re still a sick bastard” said Jack.

He slid out of Yonah’s palms and tried to wipe the spit and mucus off but he was thoroughly soaked. So he stood defiantly and tapped his foot at the now not-man-eating giant Wizard.

“What now?” He asked.

“Oh yes!”

Yonah reached into his pocket and produced a small purse and offered it to Jack. Jack blinked and took it.

“Wait, you’re giving me money!?”

“Well I can’t let you take the gems and gold dust! I need those,” said Yonah. Producing a handkerchief out of nowhere And wiping his hands clean. “And I don’t want you to leave empty handed! All that work sneaking in here would be for nothing. And if I’m right, you don’t have any money. That’s why you’re here right?”

Jack pocketed the gold. “Yes. It is.”

“Now that is settled, Jack, it really time for you to be on your way. I have to have a real breakfast.”

Jack had another idea.

“Actually! If it is not to much trouble, um,” shit he didn’t know his name! For that matter how did the wizard know his!?

“Yonah.”

“Yonah,” said Jack, “could I maybe, wash up? And if you’re making breakfast, I’m… kinda hungry too. No money and all.”

Then he added, “as long as it’s not like, human... meat...”

That shocked Yonah. Thieves asking to wash up… that was rare but it happened. But he couldn’t remember a thief who asked to stay, for a meal no less! Especially since he had just eaten them. This man had chutzpah!

“No, it’s eggs, bread, butter. Oh And fruits and vegetables from my garden.”

Jack’s eyes were going glassy as he described breakfast. When was the last time he had eaten?

“Sure, why not,” said Yonah, and he offered his palm. 

The thief climbed on, not scared at all. And Yonah carried Jack back downstairs.

[Thanks for reading! please reblog! for more mystic woods go to vore-scientist.tumblr.com/tagged/+mystic+woods+story or search ‘mystic woods story’ on my blog! I’ll have a tag for thief stories soon. probably “MW Thieves”]

[bookwormscififan]

Midnight Blue

OK, who’s ready for another swap au backstory? Wanna find out what Jared’s hiding under his mask? Here! 

Also, headcanon that Jared is immune to Juxta’s trickery, which explains how he was never taken in the three part fic.

Jared put his herbs away and closed his bag. It had been a good day; he had helped a lot of people with their illnesses or pains and he felt accomplished.

It was his job to help people who were afraid of going to the hospital for personal reasons. He let people into his home and helped them with Wiccan herbs and salves.

Slowly, he walked into this bedroom and washed his face and hands. He ran his hands over his overgrown stubble, enjoying the rough feeling the skin reacted to. He looked into the mirror at his blue eyes and small mouth, frowning slightly. Pulling the band from his green bun, he watched the hair surround his face, making him look like a homeless man.

“I like this hair,” he grumbled to his reflection, watching his face fall into one of anger as he remembered an old woman complaining about his hair. What right does she have to say things like that? Doesn’t she know I could have left her in pain? But his heart held him back. He may not be doctor, but he remembered his cousin Chase telling him the moral of doctors is to do no harm, and he couldn’t hurt a fly if he could.

Rolling the sleeves up on his red shirt, he began to run warmer water, ready to fill the sink for his nighttime wash. Being in a career like this, he could only afford a small one-bedroom house, meaning he barely had a sink or bathtub. He walked into his small closet and began to remove his clothes, pulling down a change for when he finished.

Once he finished washing, he went into the kitchen adjourning the rest of the house. Putting a slice of bread into the toaster, he pulled a jar from the fridge. When the toast was ready, he spread the contents of the jar onto the bread.

           Sitting on his chair eating the food, he started at a knock on the door. Checking the time, he sighed. I’m not working anymore today. Closed. But he got up anyway. Putting his bread down on the table, he walked to the door.

“Sorry, we’re closed-” he stopped as he saw a young man propping up a woman who was bleeding a lot. The man pleaded silently to him for help, and being the kindhearted person he was, Jared let him in.

Laying the woman on the sofa, a plastic sheet under her, he began to take items from his cupboards.

“What happened? She really should be at a hospital.” The man shook his head.

“She was shot. Hospitals aren’t safe. She’s just had a kid; you have to help her!” Jared stopped. Turning around, he looked at the man.

“Just had a baby? Where’s the child? What’s your relationship to her?” The man sighed.

“We were going to be married. The kid isn’t mine. She was pregnant when we met. Marriage was going to save her and the kid. But he found us before we could get to the boarder.” Jared knelt beside the woman with a pair of tweezers and some bandages.

“What’s her name? I really shouldn’t be doing this, but you need help.” The man told Jared the woman’s name, and carefully Jared spoke to her.

“Hold her hand. I don’t believe in anaesthetics, so this is going to hurt a lot.” As the man held her hand, Jared pulled the bullet from her stomach and placed the bandages over the wound.

The two left a few hours later, and Jared washed his hands again, picking his bread up and finishing it.

Three months later, Jared was closing the curtains and locking up for the night when a bump sounded at the door. Slowly, he walked over to the door and opened it. A blue lion lay at the doorstep, and Jared led it in.

“There, there. What are you doing here? I’ve never seen a lion like you before.” Jared stroked the midnight blue fur on the lion’s pelt, smiling as it began to purr. He made sure the big cat was comfortable, then left it while he went to bed.

In the middle of the night a growl woke him up. He opened his eyes to see the lion was staring at him from across the room, its reflective eyes making it look eerie. Slowly, fear welling in his belly, Jared sat up and began to edge closer to the cat on his bed.

"Hey there… are you alright?” He jumped as the cat seemed to disappear into darkness, then reappear right beside him. He yelped, scurrying to the edge of his bed. Slowly he watched as the cat began to convulse, then snap into a crouching position. He shivered as the cat’s eyes stared at him, death in their watery colour.

Suddenly, the cat seemed to snap into a pounce, claws bared and mouth open. Fear in his features, he yelled as the claws sank into his flesh. He held his hand to his face, feeling warmth between and under his eyes. When he bared enough courage to open his eyes, the lion was laying on the floor in a heap, limbs in awkward angles.

He stood up shakily, still holding his face in his hands. The feeling of blood still hadn’t stopped, and he could taste it now as it dripped down his face. Heading for his sink, he ran some water and washed his face. Looking into the mirror, he started as he looked at his mangled face.

His skin was ripped between and below his eyes, two blue pools looking out from a sea of red. Holding a face cloth over the scratches, he went into his closet and found a small blue half-mask. Heading for the kitchen, he found a salve and smothered it onto his face, gagging at the smell, but sighing as he felt his scratches start to heal. It will still leave scars. How will I explain that to the patients?

No longer feeling safe in his own house, Jared began to pack his bags. He had no idea where he would go, but there was at least a safe haven he knew of.

Tacking a note onto the front door, Jared put the last bag into the taxi and climbed inside. He gave the driver an address and sat fidgeting as the car drove away.

Knocking the door, he gave a small smile to Juxta when he opened the door.

“Hey, Juxta. I don’t think you recognize me, but it’s your cousin, Jared. I was attacked a couple of days ago and was hoping my room was still free?” He sighed in relief as Juxta nodded and let him in, taking his bags with him.

The only other people here are Malvern and Alto, but Alto only leaves the room for food or rehearsals so you should be alright. Malvern doesn’t interact much. And I do not leave my room unless Alto is away, so you do not need to worry about me. I have a couple of lions, though. They will prowl around the house, but as long as you do not disturb them you should be fine.

Jared smiled, dropping his bags in his room, and turning to shake hands with Juxta.

“Thank you, my friend.” A furry head bumped his leg, and he looked down. A midnight blue lion looked up at him, an air of familiarity clouding its eyes.

“Lions, huh? I like lions.” Juxta looked at him with momentary surprise, then left the room, leaving the lion to be petted by Jared. The magician looked after him, then crouched beside the cat, feeling the soft pelt. I think this is a safe place.

[kellanved-ammanas]

Space Mercenaries AU: Destination

The general buzz of excitement as they neared their destination got to even Medic. He’d finished all his preparations ages ago, he was more than ready to start working for real. He was tempted to experiment more on Scout to pass the time and for science, alien human hybrids were rather rare and thus warranted much research, but he couldn’t rock the proverbial boat again so soon. The last thing he needed was for half the team to be mad at him.

So, he was left to sit and stew in anticipation along with everyone else instead. Not even going over his medical records on everyone, including Scout helped ease the boredom after the fifth or sixth time going over it. He didn’t have one on Pyro, he could try to get one but Pyro wasn’t going to cooperate. The only way Medic would be getting anything from him was if he was injured bad enough to need medical assistance. If such an opportunity arose, he’d be sure take advantage of it, until then though he was stuck.

All these frustrations added up to make reaching their destination a huge relief. Scout was the first through the door leading to the gangplank as soon as the light above it when green, signaling they were free to disembark. Everyone else followed, Sniper and Spy bringing up the rear.

After being cooped up in the ship for weeks, the fresh air and light breeze felt great as Medic stepped outside. It carried a strange scent with it but it wasn’t unpleasant. They’d no doubt get used to it in a few days.

Ignoring Scout’s babble about how cool this was, Medic glanced around their new surroundings as everyone else joined them. The ship dock was connected to a building that presumably going to act as their headquarters for their mercenary endeavors while they were stationed here until it was time to move base. Above them, the sun was out and high in the sky, larger than Earth’s sun. It was hot and the sky was a deeper blue than Earth’s sky. Though it was perhaps possible that it had been so long since Medic had seen Earth’s sky that he’d forgotten what it looked like exactly.

There were no windows or doors leading to outside from the dock, they’d have to go though the attached building to find out. So, what kind of landscape they’d expect to be fighting in was still an unknown. It certainly wasn’t an icy or snowy one though, that was good.

Once they were all gathered in front of the ship’s gangplank, Miss Pauling clapped her hand together to get their attention. She had to do it twice to get Scout to shut up. “We are here and we are early, um, go us, I guess. I uh… really don’t know what there is for you guys to do now. So, I guess just chill and wait for orders for now. I don’t get any time off but you guys do so go have fun, don’t wonder too far away, we don’t know when our enemy will get here.”

 -

Exploring the building didn’t take long, it was mostly empty, there to serve as shelter outside of the ship which was their true base. Presumably there’d be other such facilities elsewhere at other important locations they’d need to base themselves at. Medic’s reading of the situation suggested this wasn’t a small-scale operation, this was undoubtedly not the only place they’d be stationed at.

Outside was a desert, the sand a deep red colour that contrasted nicely with the dark blue of the sky. The plant life was made up of big purple stalky plants like a mix between a cactus and a large coral plant scattered around. The larger ones had flowers and what looked like fruit growing off them. Medic collected samples of everything he could with tweezers and little bags he carried just this purpose, he’d experiment with them later for potential harmful or beneficial effects.

A short distance away from what was essentially their base’s parking spot was a river. It was wide and deep, things swam in it but they were moving much to fast for Medic to get a good look at them. On the other side was another building very similar to their own except blue instead of red and its space dock was empty. Presumably it was the enemy base, they were here to fight over the same thing after all. It was surprisingly close which was odd but whatever, from everything Medic had gathered this whole situation was odd. It was a job though, as long as he got paid and was free to experiment on his teammates – often to their benefit so it was a hundred percent allowed… probably – he didn’t care.

There was what was most likely a town/settlement visible on the horizon. They’d have to investigate what was up with that later when they had time. Luckily there was garage with a car in it. It was big enough to hold everyone but also shabby and old enough that even Medic could recognize that fact at a glance. With how expensive the base ship was you’d think their boss could provide them with better ground transportation but apparently not.

Overall Medic wasn’t too impressed with this planet until night came. It came rapidly, the sun moved rather fast in the sky. Everyone else going outside to see the stars drew his attention enough to step outside again too.

In the sky above them there was not one or two but three moons. Three different sizes, the largest of which was more than twice the size of Earth’s full moon, even the smallest one looked bigger. It made for a rather well-lit night and they rose steadily in the sky, one after the other with the smallest one in the lead.

“That’s fucking amazing,” Scout said, speaking far louder than was necessary. “Is this normal? Do lots of planets have moons like this? And since this is like an alien planet does that mean we get to come up with the constellations and name them and stuff? Assuming we’re the first humans here anyway” He went on, asking all sorts of questions and not giving anyone time to even begin to try to answer. His enthusiasm and energy were impressive, hopefully he’d be able to retain them once the fighting and war started properly.

Previous / Next / First

[thegreenhorseman]

We hear it every year, year after year…”This is going to be the worst year for ticks yet.”  It seems to get worse every year.  If this is unfamiliar to you, you might be fortunate enough to live in an area where the concern is not so prevalent.  In the northeastern United States, however, you’d be hard pressed to find a group that hasn’t expressed concern.

Why ticks?

These tiny vile creatures spread several diseases, most commonly Lyme Disease.  Since May is Lyme Disease Prevention Month let’s work to understand HOW Lyme is transmitted. We’ll also explore some steps we can take to keep ourselves and our animals (horses, dogs, cats) safe.

In 2017 nearly 30,000 cases of Lyme disease were diagnosed and another 13,000 were suspected as “probable.” Most of these cases originated in the northeastern United States as seen in the map below thanks to CDC.gov.  The chart following shows the upward trend of Lyme disease throughout the years.

Cases confirmed in the United States 2017.  Courtesy of CDC.gov

Cases of Lyme Disease in the United States 1997-2017 courtesy of CDC.gov

Ticks are arachnids, or eight-legged creatures, that thrive in deep grass and wooded areas.  Often areas where our horses enjoy, of course.  There are several different species of tick and they all have different life cycles, feeding habits, and habitats.

What is a bit more alarming is a new tick to the United States called the Asian Long-horned tick, which can reproduce without a mate.  The video below talks briefly about it.

Most of the time when we think of ticks we think of the most common threat; the deer tick/black-legged tick.  The deer tick is often the source of Lyme disease along with several other illnesses including Anaplasmosis, Powassan, and Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever.  Blade suffered from anaplasmosis in 2017 (Blade’s Got the Blues and Equine Affaire). 

The deer tick begins its life cycle as an egg laid by the females in springtime.  By summer the larva emerges from its egg and waits for a host.  Hosts are typically birds and small rodents.

Freshly hatched ticks they are free of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.  Only when they feed on their hosts do they pick up the pathogens.  In the United States the bacteria transmitted is either Borrelia burgdorferi or Borrelia mayonii.  Across the pond in Europe and Asia you are more likely to find Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii.

The birds and rodents that feed tick larva carry these species of bacteria without illness; they are simply hosts.  By fall the tick falls from its host and enters its nymph stage. The nymphs are barely visible to the human eye.  These critters lay dormant through the winter but by April/May they begin to emerge again.  They wait for a host to walk by so they can catch a ride.  Using their barbed mouth parts, the tick digs in for a blood meal.  The pathogen inside the tick enters the salivary glands and can be released through the tick’s saliva.  These hosts include us and our loved ones.  Nymphs are often the cause of Lyme disease since they are small and difficult to spot.

By fall the nymphs become adults looking for new hosts.  At 45°F they seek wooded areas to survive the winter.  When they emerge again in spring they continue to look for hosts and mate.  A single female tick can lay 3000 eggs!  After a two-year life cycle the new batch of larva hatches and begins the cycle again.

As you can see, we can become infected by both the nymphs and the adult ticks. The more hosts carrying the bacteria, the more likely it is to spread to us.

The hallmark sign of Lyme disease is the bullseye, a circular rash around the bite.  Symptoms may appear weeks after the bite.  This appears in a majority of cases…but what of our equine friends?

Horses suffering from Lyme Disease may have subtle symptoms.  They might be off mentally, emotionally, and physically.  They may be sore or lame, lethargic, grumpy, neurological, or have a low-grade fever.  Lyme is known to mimic other issues so a vet is critical in ruling out other problems.  Lyme will also elude testing, as there are many cases of Lyme that appear negative on test results.

I’m even learning that Lyme can be a cause for some headshaking in horses.  Headshaking is not commonly listed as a symptom nor have any of my vets over the past two years suggested the possibility.  This is, however, something I plan on looking into after this research. As you may know from past articles, Blade developed headshaking about 18 months ago (shortly after his run with anaplasmosis). Though our tests were negative it could have been one of those instances with a false negative.

Once Lyme has been diagnosed (or suspected) there are a few treatment options.

The most common treatment is called Doxycycline, an ingestable antibiotic often given in a powdered form with food.  A similar drug is called Naxcel.  Despite their popularity with horse-owners they only happen to be 50% effective.

The most effective treatment is more pricey… a study in 2005 reported 100% effectiveness.  The reoccurrence levels were considerably lower in the study as well.  What’s this treatment you ask?  Daily intravenous oxytetracycline.  My vet once called it the “gold standard.”  The reason most horse-owners don’t opt for this treatment is the administration. Having a vet visit and administer the shot every day for 3-5 days is pricey so most horse owners use the Doxy.

If I remember correctly I paid somewhere around $450 for three daily IVs of Oxytet for Blade.

So what are some ways we can prevent this problem from happening in the first place? As the Benjamin Franklin saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Lyme vaccines for horses are not available yet.  Studies have shown some effectiveness using canine vaccines on ponies, but it is still far too early.  There are no studies out (yet) showing the safety of this methodology.  Until we have vaccines we are tasked with the footwork that we should be doing anyway.

Checking for ticks often is the first thing you should be doing. Check yourself, check your dogs, check your cats, check your horses.  It takes 24 hours for a biting tick to transmit the disease.  I tend to find most ticks under the cheek, the neck, the chest, and the barrel (especially up behind the back legs).

There are a lot of Facebook experts who have tips, tricks, and endless opinions on tick removal.  The simplest thing you can do is use a good pair of tweezers and pull the tick up slowly and steadily so you remove the whole bug.  Another useful tool can be found in most pharmacies and pet stores.  The tick twister.  This little hooklike tool comes in a couple sizes (at least mine had 3 sizes in the package).  When you find a tick you slide the bug between the openings at the end so it becomes wedged.  From there twist and pull gently.  I have successfully removed many ticks using this tool and I love it. After a tick is removed you may choose to save it in a plastic bag for testing.  Apply alcohol or antibiotic ointment to the affected bite wound to be safe.

Since ticks prefer wooded areas, you can try to stay out of these areas.  That’s easier said than done if you enjoy the outdoors.

Keeping the grass and pasture mowed can be helpful.

Removing piles of leaves and moist ground cover is an excellent way to prevent ticks.  That leftover hay pile?  Let’s get rid of it!

Keeping down the rodent population could be useful.  Non-poison rodent traps, barn cats, and proper food storage go a long way.

Chickens and guinea hens love to eat ticks!

DEET and permethrins are of course some good chemicals that have proven efficacy for the prevention of ticks and other pests.  Some people use them others don’t.  That’s your choice to make.  There are many products on the market including fly sprays, spot-on applications, and even wipes.

I have had mediocre success with feed through pest repellant.  The more I use it the less effective it seems to be (though the first year seemed to make a big difference).

If you are opposed to chemicals more research has been finding useful essential oils that are as effective as the CDC recommended products. The key to the best product is perfecting the volatility ratio of oils.  High volatility essential oils disperse into the air faster.  This helps by preventing ticks from attaching in the first place.  Lower volatility oils will disperse into the air more slowly and have a longer lasting effect.  Check out the Tisserand Institute’s “Tick Talk” (link below) for more information on these oils.  I’ve also shared with you their formulation for DIY tick repellant.

Credit to Tisserand Institute

The thought of ticks and the disease they spread makes my head hurt.  Lyme disease is rarely fatal but it does lead to some frustrating and debilitating complications.

Other diseases like Powassan are rarer but a lot more deadly; this virus is associated with brain swelling.  Here in New York we are already beginning to hear reports of Powassan virus.  One group has found 25-50% of deer in the Adirondacks are positive for the virus and it only takes 15 minutes for the tick to transmit the virus to humans.

Whether Lyme, Anaplasmosis, or Powassan we can take steps to stay healthy and prevent ticks from biting.  It may take some time and effort but it’s completely worth it.

What are some of the methods you use to keep ticks at bay?

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

http://ssequineclinic.com/pages/services_lyme.html

https://ker.com/equinews/lyme-disease-horses/

https://equusmagazine.com/management/protect-against-lyme

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/animal-health-diagnostic-center/testing/protocols/lyme-multiplex-horses

https://igenex.com/ticktalk/2018/01/01/a-closer-look-at-the-different-types-of-ticks-and-how-to-identify-each/

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/graphs.html

http://www.aldf.com/deer-tick-ecology

https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/index.html

https://www.lymedisease.org/get-involved/take-action/lyme-awareness-month/

https://tisserandinstitute.org/tick-talk-2/

https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2019/02/powassan-virus-on-the-up-tick/

What Ticks Me Off We hear it every year, year after year..."This is going to be the worst year for ticks yet."  It seems to get worse every year. 

[nycbecomehuman]

Series: Detroit: Become Human Rating: T Genre: Adventure/Drama/Action (eventual romance) Summary: Before Connor, first of the RK800 line, began his fateful investigation of deviant androids, there was Jacob, the RK700 that preceded him. He failed in his assignment, but he did not go quiet into the night when he was decommissioned. Rather, he became the thing he had once hunted and disappeared into the depths of New York City in search of a new life.

( < Back to part 1 / < Back to part 4 )

Part 5 - Bullets

The bridge leading to Detroit proper stretched out before him, though was becoming shorter by the second as 700 reassessed his self-assigned mission to escape CyberLife.

Technically speaking, he had managed that, though the android was quickly coming to realize that while minutiae had served him well as a machine without free will, the word ‘technically’ was no longer his friend as a fully sentient android on the run.

Time, he thought, to add a few bullet points.

Bullet point one: Physically escape CyberLife tower (check)

This was added below the much larger and more amorphous mission of ‘Escape CyberLife’, which was becoming more complicated by the moment.

Bullet point two: Ditch the stolen car, as it likely had a tracker, and beyond that, was easily recognizable thanks to its flashy coloring and uncommon model.

Bullet point three: Find a disguise that would allow him to blend in with the human population. Clothes would have to be acquired, and his LED would need to be removed.

Here, the fact that he was a model of android unavailable on the open market would serve to help him hide. Yes, being the only RK700 model would make it easy for any direct agents of CyberLife to recognize him, but it also meant that the company couldn’t simply send out a warrant for any unattached androids of a specific model. If they tried to do as much using his image now, not only would it potentially affect their new RK800’s ability to function without interference in public once he was activated, but it would also attract media attention.

The cold and prying eye of the independent press was the dread of businesses everywhere, even ones as big as CyberLife. If journalists caught a whiff of internal strife within the confines of one of America’s biggest companies, they’d be on it like buzzards on yesterday’s roadkill. CyberLife had managed to repress the worst of the news about the deviancy problem thus far, but that wouldn’t last long once the journalistic community got involved.

Bullet point four: Leave Detroit. Where he would flee to was an unknown, though there were many options. Between 700 and that point, however, were a lot of variables even his impressive analytical program couldn’t account for, so he put a metaphorical pin in it for the time being.

Besides, he’d just reached the end of the bridge and he could see six cop cars rocketing straight towards him down the main thoroughfare. This development prompted him to make an addendum to his plan:

Bullet point one (a): Lose the cops.

700 made a sharp turn down a narrow side street and sped through a red light without stopping. One of his regulatory subsystems tried to object to this act, dangerous as it was, but the android simply shoved it down and focused on driving. Every light he came up against was red, and it occurred to him that the police must have had something to do with it, but he didn’t let it slow him down.

An automated semi-truck crossed an intersection in front of him and rather than slam on the brakes, 700 made a hard left to match its direction, making hard use of the accelerator to pull him out of the turn and put him ahead of the other vehicle. He didn’t make it far before more police, likely a second squadron called in for backup considering that the number of cars in the android’s wake hadn’t lessened by much.

Realizing that they must be making use of the CCTV cameras so common on the streets of downtown Detroit to track his movements, 700 changed tactics and jumped onto the first freeway that would take him out into the suburban sprawl where cameras were significantly less common. No doubt the police would soon have the information needed to track the car itself, but it would buy him at least a few minutes, and a few minutes was all he needed to disappear.

On the other hand, he might be able to earn himself more time if he could find some way to fool the tracking system in the vehicle he’d hi-jacked…

The freeway was sparsely populated, and the sports car possessed an engine that could, in human parlance, go like a bat out of hell. 700 opened up the throttle and watched for a moment as the flashing lights of the police quickly dropped away into the distance before turning half his attention to the center console.

He placed one hand on it and accessed its systems in hopes of deactivating the tracker, but was disappointed to find that it was, in a rather clever design move for just such an occasion, an independent unit not directly linked to the rest of the system. Still, it didn’t take the android more than a moment to suss out that said unit was embedded behind the central console; a difficult to reach spot in a hurry.

If you were a human, anyways.

After taking a second to check that the road ahead was still clear, 700 grabbed the lip of the screen with the fingers of one hand and pulled. There was a creak, then a groan, and the electronics all came spilling out into the front seat, a bundle of messy wires and other sundry bits that the android shoved into a heap on the floor of the passenger seat. Left hand still on the steering wheel, 700 reached into the new hole in the dash with his right and rooted around until he found what he was looking for, then took hold of the small, square box and tore that out too.

The wires that dangled from the tracker sparked a few times as the android lowered the driver side window and bided his time until a truck driving in the opposite direction approached. 700 performed a quick trajectory calculation, then threw the black box just in time for it to land in the bed of the oncoming vehicle.

He doubted it’d distract the police for long, but at the very least they wouldn’t be able to directly track his car anymore.

After picking an exit at random, Seven decelerated as he exited so as not to attract attention from the few passerby that lingered on the streets. He turned off into a neighborhood and quick use of his internal gps directed him to a small, isolated park where he finally brought the car to a halt in the shadows of a tree.

He cut the engine and sat back for a moment and considered his options once more before making another addendum to his mission.

Bullet point 2 (a): Search car for potential resources.

Well, the assault rifle would have to stay, useful though it had proven in his escape. There was no easy way to carry it without attracting immediate attention, which ran immediately counter to the rest of his mission statement, so 700 abandoned it in the passenger seat without a second look.

The android got out of the car and went to the passenger door to check the back seat for anything of potential use and found a backpack, a quick perusal of which provided a set of size small women’s gym clothes and a pair of size six running shoes. These were immediately discarded, but there were a few other things within that he decided to keep.

As 700 went around to the trunk, he made a mental list of his newly acquired assets:

- 1 backpack (black) - 1 nail care kit (blue) containing:

1 fingernail clippers

1 nail file

1 set of miniature scissors

1 set of tweezers

- $63.57 USD (2 twenties, 1 ten, 2 fives, 3 ones, 2 quarters, and 2 pennies) - 1 24 oz. reusable plastic water bottle (purple) containing:

17 fl oz. of water

The android’s search of the trunk added further to his resources, all of which he put into the black backpack.

- 1 15” pry bar (gray) - 3 24 oz. bottles of thirium (unopened) - 1 plastic shopping bag (previously containing 3 bottles of thirium)

Satisfied, 700 took a moment to consider the vehicle, double checking for anything he might have missed with a quick scan, then proceeded to strip out of his cyberlife issued gray jacket before stuffing it under the driver’s seat out of sight. That done, he removed his black, patterned tie and folded it neatly and put it away in his stolen backpack which he then shouldered and started off into the night without a backwards glance.

( On to part 6 > )

((Thanks so much for reading, guys! If you enjoyed, make sure to leave a comment letting me know what your favorite part was! Cookie if you reblog, heh. I’ve officially put parts 1-3 together into a single chapter up on AO3 if you’d like to follow there!

If you really enjoyed it, considering buying me a ko-fi?))