#and he is none the wiser and never will be

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt 139

Geralt has noticed some... Things... About his traveling companion, Jaskier. Troublesome things. Like how he's almost certainly of faeblood. It's just little things he does or says or is that make Geralt's imaginary radar go off. He never uses iron utensils, He is truthful to a fault, He's mischievous and lustful, He never breaks a promise, not in an honorable way, but almost in a way as if fate is forcing his body to complete whatever he promised, no matter what. He's also gorgeous. Even in times when the road should've worn him down. Where there should be dust or grime, Jaskier somehow still shines like a freshly polished jewel. And don't even get Geralt started on the impossibility of Jaskier's freakishly vibrant blue eyes. That is NOT human! There are always wildflowers when Jaskier walks in the woods, even sometimes when they are out of season. Trees seem to bend toward him, always making a cover for the rain to keep him dry. When he went swimming, Geralt swears the water looks cleaner afterward. One time Geralt got tired of human-safe food, and decided to cook their dinner that night differently. He cooked one serving all the way, safe for humans, and one only a little, still nice and raw, unsafe for humans. And yet Geralt came back from feeding Roach to find Jaskier happily chowing down on the raw one. Geralt went to warn him, but stopped. Could Jaskier really not tell the difference? Surely the texture and taste was different... And then Jaskier was done. Geralt waited a few days, just sure Jaskier would fall ill, as humans usually did when eating food Geralt has learned is unsafe for them, but Jaskier didn't fall ill. In fact, he seemed healthier than ever. Which could only mean he isn't human. When Geralt talks to Jaskier and hints about knowing however, Jaskier doesn't seem to realize. Which means he must not even know. Geralt paces around camp. How is he to break the news to Jaskier that Jaskier has fae in his blood? Perhaps his mother cheated, perhaps one of his parents were a changeling, perhaps a grandparent wasn't what they said they were, perhaps he, himself, is a changeling... Jaskier returns from a bathroom break and cocks an eyebrow at his witcher pacing around camp like a restless animal. "Geralt? Darling, what are y-" "Jaskier, you're fae." Geralt blurts. Fuck. That is not how he wanted to break the news to poor Jaskier. Jaskier is standing there, face paling, eyes wide, breath coming in short rasps. It's difficult news to deliver, and Geralt did it insensitively. Jaskier seems to be panicking. Geralt will help him, will comfort him. Fae or not, that's his Jaskier. Jaskier is freaking the FUCK out. Geralt found out he's fae! Fuckfuckfuck! He thought he was so good at hiding it! Sure, there were a few slipups here and there, as there is with any big secret, but he really thought Geralt was none the wiser! He should've known the monsterhunter would recognize a monster when he saw one. Now Jaskier must decide if he'll die by Geralt's hand, or try to outrun the witcher, as surely no man wants to be companions with a member of the trickster faefolk.

[disastercyborgecho]

Hope I did this justice :)

***

Logically, the Ghost Crew knew that their newest member was just a man. But logic and them were never close friends before, now were they.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first victim was Ezra, who swears he was minding his own business when he stumbled across Kallus napping in the small kitchen of the Ghost. This should have been normal, they all grabbed sleep wherever and whenever they could. 

But Kallus was sleeping standing up. 

Ezr had sleepily shuffled in at an ungodly hour in search of caf and potentially a sugary snack that Kanan and Hera didn’t need to know about. Instead he was met with Kallus, stock still and holding a caf mug, eyes closed and a small snore escaping his lips. Ezra just paused for a moment, unsure if he should wake the man up. Eventually, he shrugged and went about pouring his own mug. At least Kallus was nice enough to leave the pot warmed up. 

The soft noises of ceramic on alloy seemed to rouse the man a moment later, and Ezra watched, a little dumbstruck, as Kallus just shook his head a little, took a breath, and then pulled out a datapad and resumed whatever project he had been working on. He took a sip of caf and then had the audacity to look insulted when it was lukewarm, as if he hadn’t been fully asleep a moment ago. He took no notice of Ezra at all.

The padawan shook his head and headed back to his bunk. “What the kriff?” he muttered under his breath in a soft awe. He decided he needed to make Kallus teach him how to do that.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second victim was Hera. The incident was also in the kitchen, coincidentally. It was early morning, and she had gone to make herself some breakfast before running protocol checks for the Ghost before they lifted off, and Kallus had beaten her to it. Starting a little at his presence, used to her morning routine being a solitary one, she quickly moved to pour herself some cereal. Kallus was reading something on his screen, squinting, but the sound of her breakfast seemed to remind him why he had entered the area in the first place, and he joined her at the counter.

“Mind if I use that after you?” he gestured to the cereal box.

Hera shrugged her consent and passed it over, humming.

Then watched aghast as he poured his milk in first and then his cereal. 

She looked up at Kallus, hoping to detect some kind of sign that he was messing with her. This man was a highly trained and specialized operative, this had to be a bit. 

But Kallus was happily sipping his cursed breakfast, none the wiser, and Hera was forced to move on with her day as if this information hadn’t irrevocably changed her.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The third victim was Kanan. He liked to pretend he wasn’t affected at all, but Hera had photographic proof of his expression, which she periodically reminded the man of.

They had been taking a break, desperately needed, and Hera had landed the Ghost next to a small isolated cove, the water clean, clear, and an almost eye-straining blue. Ezra and Sabine had immediately donned bathing suits and threw themselves into the water, cackling and trying to push each other under. Zeb settled himself under an umbrella with a book and a mug of tea, mumbling about salty water and fur, and Kanan rolled his pants up to wade along the shore with Hera. The water was delightfully cool on his feet and he signed in contentment. 

Then Kallus made his way off the Ghost. Ezra waved at the man and shouted for him to join them, and he smiled, seeming to enjoy the sun on his cheeks. Kanan was happy to see more color in the ex-imperial’s face, the bags under his eyes a little less prominent. Then Kallus shucked off his boots and joyously made his way into the water. With his socks still on. 

Kanan refuted this later, but Hera swore he gagged. The camera shutter of the blasted photo being taken pulled Kanan from his initial shock and disgust, but he couldn’t stop staring. Kallus looked down, shoved his hands into the sand and pulled out a glittering pick shell. Excitedly, he turned back to show Zeb, who peeked over his sunglasses and nodded approval before going back to his book. And Kanan could not tear his eyes away from the now soaked pair of socks on Kallus’ feet. Hera had to pull him away, nudging his shoulder.

“Let him enjoy himself, love,” she said.

“Yeah, sure,” Kanan mumbled distractedly, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it for at least a whole three more rotations.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fourth victim was Sabine. At this point, the Ghost crew was acclimating to their newest member and his quirks. Ezra had once referred to Kallus as their ‘friendly cryptid’ and wouldn’t elaborate, but Sabine wholeheartedly agreed. She thought they had mostly gotten used to learning about the completely mundane but quirky aspects of the blonde man. 

Apparently she was sorely mistaken.

After learning that Kallus enjoyed sketching some in his freetime, she had delightfully invited him to join her and work on art together on a day where they were stuck in hyperspace. When the time came, and he hesitantly knocked on her door to ask if the invitation still stood, his sketchbook clutched in his hand, she happily let him into her bunk. She had been adding to the mural painted on the ceiling, trying to fill in some of the blank spots with tiny doodles, and gestured to a spot she had yet to get to.

“You’re welcome to add something if you like, no pressure,” she said.

Kallus nodded, still taking in the swirling colors of her walls, but eventually he picked up a paintbrush of his own. Sabine left him to it, getting sucked into her own work, but when she leaned up to crack her neck and stretch out her cramping muscles, she turned to check in on the man.

He too was invested in his painting, taking no notice of Sabine, which allowed her a solid minute to watch in disbelief at the way he held a paintbrush.

It was gripped in his fist in the way a child might pick up a pen, all fingers wrapped around it, zero finesse, as he stared up at his work, a small dribble of orange splattered on his cheek. And listen, Sabine was the last person to judge (sometimes), but genuinely, what the actual kriff.

She never did say anything about it though, because the painting did end up turning out well, and the whole thing felt a little like a fever dream. Kallus hummed happily as he made his way back to his own bunk when they finished, his hands stained with bright colors and his shoulders relaxed. Sabine decided that the next time they did this, she would just have to never look at his hands until he put the blasted paintbrush down.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zeb refused to admit he was caught off guard when it happened. Kallus was his friend, he would not be taken aback by the weird things the man sometimes did. He was an incredibly competent strategist and spy for Force sakes, what did anyone care if the man poured his milk in before his cereal?

Then Kallus walked by one day in the cramped hallway of the Ghost and Zeb smelled the most horrific, plasticky, fake cinnamon scent on his breath. The Lasat had to hold his breath until Kallus made it into the cockpit before exhaling in a huff and immediately high-tailing it to the fresher. 

On the shelf where they all kept their hygiene supplies, in the small spot Kallus had taken for himself in the corner, a tube of cinnamon-flavored toothpaste was tucked innocently against the wall. Zeb glared at it. This would not stand if he ever wanted to speak to Kallus again. And why did the man even own something like that? What kind of mad-man would brush his teeth with cinnamon? 

But Zeb was a problem-solver.  And if Kallus went to use his toothpaste and found regular old mint with his original tube suspiciously gone, that was simply none of Zeb’s business. 

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kallus was long integrated into the Ghost crew. A part of the family. But they had yet to run any complicated missions with the man, since much of his time was spent working in Intelligence.

Then he’s sent as their backup with them as they break into an Imperial compound for information on flight plans that the Rebellion desperately needed.

And the Ghost crew was reminded why Kallus had survived this long in his line of work. 

Kallus was taken prisoner. Again. A mission had gone wrong, and when he had gone to meet an information, he was met with an overwhelming wave of stormtroopers instead, and immediately taken into custody. 

But the Ghost crew was going to get him back. They didn’t leave family behind.

They arrived at the facility, and though an alarm had been triggered, it was going well. Ezra, Sabine, Kanan, and Zeb made their way quickly through corridor after identical corridor, searching for the cell Kallus was supposed to be kept in, according to Chopper. The droid wheeled ahead of them, beeping at them to hurry up. 

They were all worried about their newest member. The Empire knew that Kallus had defected to the Rebellion, and the Force only knew what kind of interrogation he was undergoing even as they sprinted closer and closer to him. 

Sliding to a stop to avoid another squad of stormtroopers as they marched past on the search for whoever tripped the annoying flashing alarm on their base, Chopper beeped that they were almost there.

“What’s almost, you bucket of bolts?” Ezra complained, panting.

They got their answer just as Chopper was about to zap Ezra in answer when a stormtrooper, sans bucket, flew out from the corridor to their right, sliding to a stop just as Kanan’s feet. Emerging from the smoke that was slowly curling out of the darkened hallway, Kallus stepped into the flashing light. He was barefoot, wearing only his cargo pants and thin white undershirt, which was splattered with a concerning amount of blood. His hair was wild and stained red, and his nose was crooked, bleeding and smeared across his cheek. He rubbed a fist across his face, only making it worse, his knuckles busted open and bleeding as well. In his hand he held a shard of metal, cloth wrapped around it as a handle, edge scraped to a dangerous level of sharpness. Blood dripped from there, too, and down his arm. 

For a moment, the ghost crew didn’t move, frozen in surprise. Kallus looked up at them, seeming to brighten, and a smile spread across his face. A tooth was missing but Kallus seemed in better spirits having seen them. He walked over casually, as if he wasn’t in horrific shape. 

“Great to see you, why don’t we get out of here?”

Slowly Kanan nodded, and shaking himself, he pushed the rest of their members towards their exit plan, Chopper once again in the lead. As they passed the corridor Kallus had come from, a pile of unconscious stormtroopers could be seen, the broken lights sparking over red smearing over the walls and a fire still burning at the entrance of a cell, the door to it blacked and charred.

Ezra glanced at Kallus and then looked back at Zeb as they ran. Zeb could only shrug his shoulders and shake his head. 

‘What the kriff?’ Ezra mouthed at him. 

They made it to the Ghost, parked down the side of the cliff by the compound’s hanger, with no one harmed (anymore than they already were), and Kallus settled himself down in an open seat of the cockpit, shiv still tucked in his pocket and blood still staining, well, everything. The rest of the crew followed after, piling into the cockpit as they watched Hera masterfully guide the Ghost out of the atmosphere and into hyperspace. 

Then Kallus tugged up his pant leg, where a twisted piece of rebar was curled around and stuck into part of his calf. Grunting, he tugged it off, slowly pulling the metal from the meat of his leg. Tugging off his undershirt he staunched the bleeding that followed and twisted around to glance over at Kanan, who was closest.

“Think you could grab me the surgical glue?” Kallus asked.

“What the kriff?” Ezra said. And then the room devolved into shocked shouts and admonishments and heartfelt cursing and Kallus could only look on bemused.

“Can I please just have some surgical glue?” he asked again, unhelpfully. 

***

Haven't gotten a chance to write Kallus before this which is ridiculous 'cause he's my fav, but really enjoyed this short little blurb! Hopefully in the near future there will be more <3

Every day i yearn for a 5+1 crackfic where its 5 times the ghost crew realize that Kallus is just... a dude (and kind of a weird one at that.)

Im talking stuff like... bro is eating chips with tongs and Ezra nearly loses his fucking mind

Or he commits to a bit so hard that Sabine honestly cant tell if he's joking or not

Ir smth like he wont be caught dead wearing a hat. Helmets? Fine. Hats? Evil. Nobody knows why, and he refuses to explain, but tbh Kanan gets it.

And then the plus one is an instance in which theyre all reminded that, oh yeah, HES CRAZY WHYD WE FORGET THAT HES FUCKING INSANW

[ottpopfic]

Four almost dads take a little girl to a pumpkin patch and nothing bad happens

-

“Will!” Leo shouts through a rainbow, scaring the shit out of the blond as he preps dinner

“Jesus fuuuu-freaking Christ man what do you want ?” Will saves just in time, still getting used to having impressionable ears around 24/7

“Pumpkin patch!”

“Pumpkin patch?”

“We need to go to a pumpkin patch”

“Aren't you supposed to be wedding prepping?”

“No shut up, I just learned Jason’s never gone”

There is a muffled call of “I've been to a patch of pumpkins before” from somewhere on the other side of the rainbow. 

“Babe a garden doesn't count!” Leo yells back before returning to Will “Also it would be fun to take Katie she needs a pumpkin”

The eight-year-old perks up at the sound of her name, having been too busy in her own world of coloring to pay attention to grown-ups. Today the drawing is of Festus, a welcome break from her usual repertoire of what they're pretty sure is her bio dad being brutally ripped apart and eaten by Cyclops.

Nico is sitting right next to their foundling at the table, a research text in one hand and his sketchbook in the other as he picks his way through the spellwork of his current case. But Will can tell his husband is listening by how he’s no longer taking detailed notes. 

“ Anyways ,” Leo continues on, his gestures getting bigger in his excitement “I found this place that-“

Leo’s arm goes right through the rainbow, disconnecting the call. Will takes the opportunity to go sit at the dining table with his family before Leo calls back so they can all be in the frame.

“We can go in the middle of the week,” Leo says without greeting as the rainbow reconnects “It's not like Katie is in school or anything right now”

It's true, she's not. She legally barely exists at the moment, just enough for Will and his husband to be her foster parents, making it so the truancy office is none the wiser. Right now they are focused on her mental and physical health, getting her into doctors and helping with her episodes. She obviously has some PTSD from her time in the swamp, and she's still underweight as well. They only just got an order in for braces for her weird backward knees, but it's still a week out until they are ready.

Therapy on the other hand they were able to find through The Program. Dr. Block isn't a demigod nor does he have the sight, but his sister is a child of Dionysus making him in the loop on the magical world. They have more mortals with halfling families joining these days, their family members living to adulthood opening doors on both sides.

It's probably the best that she's not in school at the moment, she's only been officially theirs for a little over a month since they brought her home from camp. The kid is still a little unsure about getting left again, and still very unsure of the outside world in general. The only places she truly relaxes are the di Solace apartment and the Way Station.

“Also there will be fewer people then” Leo presses on “easier on Chiquita and spotting monsters”

“Neeks?” Will checks

“I don’t have anything time-sensitive,” Nico says with a shrug before turning to the eight-year-old “You wanna go on an adventure Mostriciattola?”

Katie looks taken aback by being asked her opinion on the planning, so it takes a second for her to pause before thinking it over and then nodding with a smile. 

“Perfect!” Leo exclaims “You have some days off next week right -”

So next Wednesday the five of them pile into Will’s little four door and drive out of town to the pumpkin patch. 

They were able to find Katie a pair of green heavy-duty rain boots in her size from the Way Station’s collection, and she has her new favorite pair of embroidered overalls stuffed into them. It had been fun getting ready this morning, their little apartment bustling with the addition of Leo and Jason. Leo helps Nico get the kid ready by putting her hair in a pair of french-braids, and Jason helping Will pack the cooler. They have gone on double-date outings like this before, but the addition of Katie is making it extra joyful.

Leo drives because Will is sleep-deprived and Jason shouldn't and Nico hates it and if Leo doesn't he gets car sick. Something about being able to feel the machine working while the world moves around him, but when he drives he can just be the machine and it's fine. Whatever, Will passes out fifteen minutes in anyway. 

Katie wakes him when they get there, climbing over Will in her rush to get out. Then she's doing that excited stim she does, a little stomping dance from foot to foot, before giving a spin so she can shake Will's arm.

“I'm up I'm up” he laughs, Katie gives him a huge grin and then speeds off to see what Nico and Leo doing in the trunk.

“Okay,” Jason admits as he steps out of the shotgun passenger door  “This is not a patch of pumpkins”

It is very much not a single patch of pumpkins. The place was at one point a family farm, most of the original buildings have been repurposed into things like gift shops and cafes. There is a large corn maze off in the distance, hand-painted wooden signs showing the way to the pick-your-own orchards and caramel apples. There is a playground made of hay bales and a paddock of animals to pet and feed. 

With the leaves just changing color and the air slightly crisp the whole place feels cozy and autumnal. Both Katie and Jason are looking around in amazement, Will wonders if their kid has ever been to something like this before 

Fortunately, the place isn't crowded. There are what looks like a handful of families and one group of preschoolers on a field trip. This is good, because they all figured out fast that Katie struggles with large crowds, becoming quickly overwhelmed. They haven't figured out if it's her PTSD or obvious neurodivergence yet, but Will suspects it's a combination of the two.

When they start off towards the buildings Katie quickly falls behind, even with everyone walking slowly. It is hard for people over six feet to compensate for a little girl with a disability, so Jason gleefully crouched down to ask if he can carry her. Then the big softy has the kid perched on the crook of his arm bent close to his body. Katie's smile is blinding, one arm holding onto Jason's shoulder the other free to stim on the floral embroidery of her overalls or to point when she spots something interesting. 

“Fuck that's cute” Leo murmurs to himself before catching up with his fiancee and taking his free hand in his own 

Katie directs the group with her gestures, for a kid who still won't really talk she communicates very clearly. The four of them are perfectly happy to go where she wants, a lot of it is peering at plants and decorations until they find the menagerie of animals behind a wire paddock. They scrounge some quarters between them to get pellets from the coin-operated machine, totally worth it for the little giggle the cows get out of Katie when they eat from her hand. 

Nico is audibly surprised so many of the barn animals aren't running screaming from him, that is until they figure out that the cows are obsessed with Jason.

“I hate this” Jason gripes, but he's not moving away because Katie is half leaning out of his arms to pet the cows and get all slobbered on. The ones not getting loved on by the kid are inching closer staring at Jason like he has something they want, a few of them attempting to mouth at what they can reach of his sweater sleeves. 

“I think they have peacocks in the next pen” Nico points with a shit-eating grin.

True to his word, the next paddock is full of birds, and the two peacocks and single peahen are staring down the son of Jupiter like they want to eat him. Jason lets out a little puppy whine of distress.

That gets the girl's attention, turning back to the blond with a concerned face and papping at his cheek with a bovine-slobber-covered hand.

“It's okay,  I'm okay” Jason tries to reassure her, but Will can tell the expression doesn't reach his eyes by the way she frowns. 

They have found that Katie does this thing, where she will study your face for a long moment until she finds what she is looking for. It's a little unnerving, big dark round eyes boring into your own with such intensity many people become taken aback. Will finds it reminds him of Nico as he tries to parse some dead something out of your aura, or when an Aphrodite kid is looking into your love lines. Taking a peek into parts of you that only someone touched by the divine can do

They have no clue what she can see in people when she does that, but it feels like she's looking deep into your heart and separating out your true intentions. 

Also, the longer Jason has worked on his own mental health the shittier his poker face has become, so for Katie he's not a hard egg to crack. She wipes cow spit off on his sweater and points to the hand sanitizer dispenser. 

“Ready to clean up” he asks, trying his best to keep the relief out of his voice, Katie nods yes and points again.

Katie directs them to pumpkins next. It's a small hay ride to the patch, lame compared to the ones back in Texas though Jason looks a little spooked by the rattling of the cart, past an apple orchard heavy with dark fruit. The kid has no interest in the trees, she's off following the hand-painted signage to the pumpkin patch before they are all of the tractor bed. Nico is quick to follow her, and they are in the waist-high grass before anyone can stop them, though Leo hangs back for a moment to squint at the tractor. 

Will immediately starts to fret watching his husband and kid toddle about into the tall grass “What if there's ticks”

“Can't you like, psychically remove ticks?” Leo asks.

“I can check for lyme disease and stop spirochetes, it's not the same”

“I think it's too cold for ticks now” Leo tries to reassure.

“I can zap the ticks off” Jason supplies plainly like it will help anything.

Leo gives his fiancee one of his patented ‘babe that's ferial wolf shit’ looks “You are not zapping ticks off the kiddo” he tells him.

“It's always been fine before, I just get staticy and they fall right off”

“Anyways” Leo breaks in, “I think it will be fine”

Will's worry spiral is interrupted by Katie’s little ‘whoop’ of success, holding a pumpkin bigger than her torso above her head. The three of them clap and cheer as Nico tries to help steady her on the uneven muddy ground, but she is not deterred. She's carrying the gourd through the dead cattails and goldenrod back to the group and looking very pleased with herself.

Katie plants her big orange prize at Will’s feet and is then dragging Jason into the grass and vines by the hand, determined to get him a pumpkin too. Leo and Nico switch places as the small child guardian, Will’s husband with his own much smaller pumpkin on his hip.

“There are no ticks,” Nico tells him, sliding his free hand into one of Will’s back jean pockets, knowing his worries as always “I can tell they sprayed”

“Okay,” he relents a little, leaning into his husband's shoulder.

“Do you want to go get a pumpkin?”

Will pulls his lips thin, watching Leo struggling to keep Katie from eating a frankly ginormous grasshopper as Jason snacks on a rogue pumpkin flower.

“I promise there's no ticks”

“Promise?”

“Promise” Nico squeezes his butt with the hand in his pocket “Also I don't think Leo can keep both of them from eating bugs at the same time”

“Fair enough” Will relents with a snort of laughter, and wades into the grass to join the commotion. 

After paying they drop the pumpkins off at the car, no use hulling them around. It also gives them a chance to get drinks from the cooler and remove the bits of dead plants off Katie. She doesn't look to mind all of the fussing over her, everyone picking bits of foliage and seeds out of her hair and clothes as they spot them, she's perfectly happy to sit on the ledge of the trunk with the gourds, drink her juice-box, and kick her boots against the bumper.

“Not sure where we should go next,” Nico asks as he studies the map Will nabbed when they got there “What else is there to do now that we have pumpkins?”

Jason tilts his head to the side like a confused dog “I thought you said you have been to one of these places before”

“Yeah but that was for like, a zombie outbreak” Nico confesses with a shrug “This is the first time I've gotten to explore without the undead”

“I mean, you could add the undead” Leo teases, Katie perks up excited at the idea.

“No” Jason and Will monotone together, both Leo and Katie huff and complain good naturally and then grin at each other like the little goblins they are.

“We can just wander around” Will supplies, peering at the paper over his husband's shoulder “There's like food stalls and stuff”

“Sound like a plan?” Nico asks Katie, she smiles around the last of her juice box and nods.

They pick their way back across the gravel parking lot to the main buildings. Leo is squinting at the pick-your-own tractor that is currently loading the preschool group as they pass “There's something off with the tractor”

“Leave the tractor alone,” Jason tells him.

“But-”

“Leave the tractor alone,” Nico and Jason say together, Leo sighs deeply and dramatically. 

They get caramel apples at the cute little stand, mostly because Jason has never heard of them and the way Katie’s eyes get big and excited at the colorful display of toppings. Will insists on making sure they are cut (because choking hazards and the feral idiots chewing on the sticks), but that doesn't stop his kid from forgoing her fork to excitedly scarf down her treat and becoming incredibly sticky, it's very cute.

“Do not lick her” Leo warns his fiancee with a threatening plastic fork, clocking something in Jason’s posture and clueing Will in that it's time to clean her up. 

“ But ” Jason starts, looking conflicted “but puppy -”

“Don't lick my kid” Nico reinforces, Jason gives a huff sigh of defeat and pitifully watches Will clean Katie off with a wet-wipe. 

Katie acts like he's trying to waterboard her, squirming and trying to suck the excess charmel off her fingers. The wet-wipes quickly get abandoned so Will can take her over to the hand washing station situated by the port-a-potties. The eight-year-old is fine washing her hands on her own, so Will gets one of the bandannas out of his bag to sneakily wet under the spigot. 

“Ah-ha!” he laughs at his kid as he wipes her down, her face scrunching against being cleaned  “Got you.” She gives him a stink face when he's done and then drys herself off on his sweater sleeve, he guesses that makes them even. 

They wander for a while after that, either letting Katie lead the way or encouraging her game of musical adults that consists of getting passed from one pair of arms to another at her insistence. There are gardens and decoration displays to look at, lots of things to climb and explore, and photo ops at every turn. It feels like someone is always taking a picture, and no one is being sneaky about it, Will even catches his husband setting his lock screen to a photo of Will holding their kid among a huge patch of mums and marigolds and smiling to himself.

Eventually, they make it to the back of the property where the corn maze is. The thing is huge and intricate, the map on the plack showing that it has shapes of stars and moons and a smiling jack-o-lantern in the design.

“Do we wanna race?” Will asks, hand in his pockets.

The normal double date plan when they do something like this is a competition, either splitting up as couples or one pair against the other to see who can get through faster. 

Jason is not a competitive person, not like Will can be, and neither tends to be Nico. At least until Leo Valdez is in the picture, whatever it is about that man brings out this sibling-like competitiveness in Will’s husband. Something about their part goblin part I-have-known-this-person- way -too-long-and-lived-through- way -too-much-of-each-others-bullshit esk relationship just makes them egg each other on in the right circumstance. 

This time they have Katie though, making the teams uneven. 

Leo has that covered “You wanna see if we can beat your dads at the maze” he asks the girl.

And that's pretty awesome, to be called Katie’s dad, Will is still getting used to it. She hasn't called them ‘dad’ yet, at least not out loud (but that's not much of a surprise, she doesn't say much) but she's acknowledged them as such in other ways. Mostly in how she reacts when others call them her dads, pointing or agreeing when they do.

Like now, with Katie nodding and confirming. She does an excited little hop before turning to Will and Nico and sticking out her tongue. 

“Rules?” Jason asks, knowing his fiancee.

“No powers, no inventions, no weapons, no explosions, no flying, no talking to the dead” Will ticks off on his fingers.

“And no talking to birds!” Leo adds.

“I can not control what the birds have to say to me” Jason defends

“To the middle or the end?” Nico breaks in before they get into another spiral of how far passive powers can go before it's cheating. 

“Uuuuuuh”

They all look at the laminated map of the maze stapled to the plack to decide, Katie points at a tower structure towards the center.

“To the tower?” Will asks

Katie smiles and nods yes.

“To the tower it is!”

“Couples or blonds vs brunets” Leo asks the child.

Katie thinks for a second, grins, and then tugs Nico over to Leo.

“Then it's settled!”

Per camp rules, the youngest gets to count down the start of the race. Katie does so with her fingers, the second she gets to zero Leo scoops her up under his arm like a sack of potatoes and sprints off down the tunnel to the right, Nico hot on his heels. Will can hear his kid’s giggle through the dried plants as she’s sped off.

“Oh we're totally losing this aren't we,” Jason asks.

“Yep” Will confirms, and they both set off to the left.

“I gotta ask” Jason starts as they wander through the half-dead corn “How are you three doing?”

“Good, I mean” They take a turn to the right past a quaint little scarecrow, Will putting his hands in his hoodie pockets against the breeze punching through the leaves “You’re probably hearing it all from Nico”

“Yeah but I wanna hear it from you”

“It’s pretty awesome,” Will can’t help but smile remembering the little patter of bare feet inbound for a hug every time he unlocks the door at the end of the day “I wish I was home more, but we knew that was going to be a thing from the beginning. I can’t deny that coming home to a full house doesn’t make my day”

Jason grins at that “She has a way of lighting up the room doesn’t she”

“She really does” Will agrees “and she’s already doing loads better. I’m really proud of how well she’s done today”

“Yeah Leo did good finding this place”

“He totally did. We just want to wait a little longer until we take the next steps, I want her a little more back on her feet before she makes a big decision”

“Hm?”

“We want to ask her if she wants to be adopted,” Will says “It's really her choice, she might still have other family out there”

“But you want to adopt her?”

“Gods yes,” Will says tipping his head back “More than anything, we should have done it from the jump”

“You should have” Jason agrees matter a fact, but he's already bitten Nico’s head off about this “But she's here now”

“She is” Will looks both ways at a fork as Jason sniffs the air, both deciding left at the same time “She always felt so right”

“What are you gonna do if she still has family out there”

“I mean we're looking” because they are, because it matters “Nico has feelers out on the dead end, but it's been no luck so far. She deserves that opportunity”

“And if you find her family?”

“Then we take it from there” Will shrugs. He doesn't want to give Katie up, but everything he's been reading about adoption says that kids do best with their family of origin, or even just keeping bio family in their life. Will and his husband are ready to do whatever they need to do for their kid.

They lose the race, getting to the tower finish line a bit after the other half of their group. Nico is holding Katie in a front carry, looking like an adorable mix of tickled pink and hating life. Leo on the other hand is laughing so hard he's bent at the waist with a hand braised on the wooden structure to keep himself upright as he wracked with mirth.

“What happened?” Will asks

“Katie called me ‘dad’-” Nico starts.

“No!” Leo interjects as he catches his breath “ Chiquita what did you call him?!”

“Papi!” the kid declares, a quiet chirp and so so proud of herself, turning to look at Will in his husband's arms with a big smile.

Nico groans but doesn't correct their kid, pointing his face to the sky in a proud ‘why me?’. Will can't help but melt at the sight.

“Aw,” he coos “is Nico your dad?”

Katie frowns at Will like he's stupid and shakes her head no. “Papi” she insists, quiet but firm. Then the whole world changes as she points to Will next and declares “Dad”

Will points to himself “I'm Dad?” Katie nods yes enthusiastically, he can feel the smile that's splitting his face as he chokes out “I can be Dad”

Katie smiles impossibly wider and reaches for him, and who is Will but to take his kid out of his husband's arms and hug her close.

“Are you crying” Leo bullies

“No” Will sniffles wetly, then sneezes because of the lie. Katie startles at the sneeze, looks at Will like he's gross (fair), and squirms to get put down.

“I think your adoption talk is going to go well,” Jason tells him as his kid toddles off to torment Leo, clapping him on the shoulder. 

Will grins and wipes at his eyes “I think so too”

-

Notes:

How ‘Papi’ actually happened

Nico and Leo are discussing different words that are the same in both Spanish and Italian (Katie is pointing at things to demand their names in both languages)

Leo AuADHD no filter ping pong ass brain Valdez: lol it's so funny that ‘Papi’ is a word for dad in both languages

Katie (pointing at Nico): Papi

Nico: 🥲

I have also settled on what the Katie Stare actually is. She has always been able to see and manipulate things that take the form of ‘fibers’, breaking down make-ups and patterns they hold in her mind (a legacy gift). So technically she pinging into the neuro pathways in the brain and getting what is a basic ‘vibe read’. If you asked her what she was doing she would only be able to describe it as a ‘vibe check’. It's not super strong, Will’s a better lie detector with just his allergies, and she has to focus to use it but it gets the job done. I like the idea that a lot of powers are not always understood on the scientific side because of how demigod culture is under-researched with all the dying and all, but there are technicalities to gifts if people decide to study them.

[aceinthefreakinspace]

Pride Month Asepc Headcanons Day 1

Oswald Cobblepot - Gotham (2014-19) - Asexual

We're kicking off Pride Month with Oz since I'm currently in the middle of my Gotham rewatch and I can't get this off my mind. It's more technically semi-canon, but I just had to include him.

Relatable moments:

Telling his mom he "doesn't date" due to aceness in an allo world + other outside factors just generally combining to not wanting to yet. Soon followed by, despite this, catching feelings for a friend and it ending with said friend getting a gf about the time feelings were to be confessed (my situation thankfully didn't end in murder. it actually just ended in nothing happening since I never said anything since no murder happened haha)

Queer mother-figure that helped in formative years (that is the only way my softball coach is like Fish tho lolll)

Wearing ace flag colors subconsciously literally all the time

Fed up with straight people's drama

I, too, would adopt a slightly violent child from an orphanage on my own (I love Martin so much)

[lucabyte]

Happy PMD Red is on NSO day. Sadly I don't think King the Skitty and Muse the Cyndaquil will be returning to finish up their adventure regardless.

[iinterstellars]

" ⸻ what do i like... about sex? " the amusement is clear in his features. for a moment he actually considers telling her, how he likes it, what he prefers, the kinks he's acquired. not because he WANTS to talk about that, but just to see her reaction; she was always so enthralled whenever the bits and pieces of his life made their way through conversation. thomas, so painfully dense, couldn't understand why she found it fascinating but, in turn, he also found her receptivity to be refreshing. still, the little common sense that was still hanging on for dear life was REALLY packing a punch and he doesn't. instead he just tilts his head to one side, and looks at her. " i don't think it's interesting if i just tell you. do you have any theories? " for once the flirtatious tone she is SO good at using doesn't bother him, mostly because his is almost there. bordering the line between teasing and playful. NOT GOOD in normal circumstances but he couldn't care any less right now. oh. her laugh, so real and unrestrained manages to disarm him in a way he wasn't ready for. he wishes he could freeze this moment FOREVER, live in it until he takes his last breath. she's so goddamn gorgeous he's finding it hard to focus on what she says. all he knows is that it's a question. " hm? " when he comes back to his senses he has to think, try to recall what they were talking about. " um... it varied depending on how much energy i had left to cook. egg fried rice, hearty salads, steak if i was particularly hungry and had the patience for it. " there were other things too, obviously. but all things considered, despite knowing HOW to cook he didn't spend that much time in the kitchen. most of the time he ate at the hospital or got it delivered. " oh you're gonna make me even more hungry... middle eastern food was one of my favorites. " he didn't have it often but when he did it was always out of this world. " mostly, yeah... i wouldn't go out of my way to get it though. " now this does make him feel a little dumbfounded. he's only slightly aware of how... dense he is. though he'd probably say it's because he has other things in his mind, which wouldn't be wrong at all, but if there's something deeper than that he'd be none the wiser. blissfully unaware and all. " well, i wouldn't know. so... " the accusatory gesture does make him chuckle, sound that is cut off with her next statement. thomas CAN tell she's getting bolder with the questions now, somewhere in the back of his mind there's a voice saying he should put A STOP to that immediately and he knows, drunk and all, that it's true; that voice is right but... he drinks. the embarrassment pushes past the comfortable haze the booze provides and he HAS to look away, takes the time to think of something else. " never have i ever... gotten a tattoo. " that has to be innocent enough.

I'M DRUNK . defne realises it like a light's been turned on inside her . it makes her want to giggle but that'd be a VERY obvious sign that she's drunk . a foggy part within her wonders if thomas is drunk too . he seems slightly more chatty . more smiley . SHE WANTS TO KISS HIM . the feeling is unreal . it's a desire she's never had before , not this strong . she's staring at him and all she wants is to lean against him . she likes this moment with them . every moment with him really . it shines so bright . it leaves her feeling warm and fuzzy and SATED . defne's grin only gets bigger at how he endears her over the condom talk . her eyes flick down and over him , trying not to check him out as painfully obviously as she wants to . she's sure her tipsiness only makes it more clear than ever , but the alcohol thrums within her and ensures she doesn't feel it . not yet . that's a tomorrow problem . he looks both laidback and shy all at once . " so . . . what else do you like ? or not like ? " defne drags the words out , her tongue slightly heavier than usual , making her words sound flirtatious and suggestive and mortifying all at once . she doesn't care if he won't answer . she likes that she got this far .

defne laughs loud and hard , her eyes squeezing closed as she does . she can't imagine ever doing ANYTHING without thomas by her side . let alone TO thomas . she's not ready . she doesn't think so anyways . defne reopens her eyes , eyeing him up and down yet again but this time more discreetly . she tries not to linger on any part of him but it's hard when he's so strong and sturdy and BUILT . the clothes fit him well - it's not fair . " what did you usually cook for yourself ? " she asks . she can't quite picture a thomas in the kitchen . she wants to see it but can't just yet . mainly she only sees thomas she knows him . she'd love to know him in any other way as well , though . him in a kitchen . him with a car . him with her . " HMM " defne considers his question back to her . " anything with rice i could do a good job at . " she admits , and tries to ignore the way her stomach wants to grumble in desire . she misses warm rice , slivered almonds , meat falling off the bone and warm , thick sauces . she misses being in a kitchen . " middle eastern food was my thing. mansaf . tagine . " she smiles to herself , unable to stop the memories flicking through her brain like a picture book . " are you good with spicy food ? " defne asks , trying not to imagine a world in which she'd cook for him and they'd be in a kitchen together and it's NOT the end of the world .

THE WAY THOMAS LAUGHS . he has no idea . she's never met someone so frustratingly clueless , yet smart all at the same time . " you're humble . " she retorts , with a playful eyeroll . how can he not know the effect he has on people ? how he makes her feel ? NOT JUST HER , EITHER . it's so painfully obvious . " you're the kinda guy who never knew when a girl had a crush on you . " she's speaking from experience as she points her index finger at him . defne's eyes can't stop drinking in his every move . his hand on the glass . the way he sits . she wants to memorise him , paint him , sing and talk about him . it's such a lame crush that she even wants to cringe at herself . defne tries not to feel happy at the way he dismisses ghosting people . she wants to dig more and ask if he's a ONE NIGHT STAND GUY . but that's not quite part of the game . she doesn't care that it's not her turn . she picks up her glass again , body fully turned to him , leaning in slightly closer . " never have i ever . . . " ok the alcohol is VERY clearly working now . she pushes the envelope more . " had sex in public . "

[yiling-laozu-is-loml]

You know what's sad about Wei Wuxian's death? Its not that a bunch of people disliked him and said 'die bitch!'. No. The thing with Wei Wuxian was that he had to die. There was no other way.

Wei Wuxian was kind, selfless, paid his debts and favours as deserved, cared about people, used his skills and cultivation for good of as many as he could, didn't shy away from danger or back down in the face of injustice. He was, in short, the very definition of what a cultivator should be. And that's why he had to die.

If he lived, corruption would have decreased and ended over time. If he lived, civillians and younger cultivators would've realized their rights and how they shouldn't take bullshit from clans. If he lived, next generations would've realized that rules and traditions were just constraints set to keep them under strict control and from realizing they didn't need all those useless elders after all. The system would've changed, no one would've tolerated all this extortion, corruption, nepotism, power imbalance, crimes that were swept under the rug due to the committers being influential. Absolutely no one.

And all that would've been caused by the existence and actions of one man. Wei Wuxian.

So how do we deal with that? We nip the evil in the bud. First use his horrible treatment at the hands of Jiangs as a base to show that yes, he's bad, his martial family treated him that way and they know him best. Then cutting off his allies by skewing their perception about him and his intentions. Then by sowing fear into hearts of allies and civillians. And then leading a siege to cleanse the world of 'evil' so that their bullshit won't be discovered or put a stop to even centuries later. So that his end would serve as a warning to anyone who wishes to rise against evil and corruption, as an unspoken threat to anyone who cared for people and their duties for real.

And it worked. It worked spectacularly. Anyone defying the rules was punished, anyone saying anything similar to Wei Wuxian's? Anyone trying to do real good or anyone following in his path was deemed evil. Their torture and murder were never even acknowledged, yet the rumours were spread to discourage others from trying. Even people who didn't follow his footsteps and chose to be righteous of their own accord didn't live to see the results of their goodness (Nie Mingjue, Xiao Xingchen, Song Zichen etc) and if they did, no one found out and they were forgotten quickly (Mianmian).

It worked so well that every harm that befell on anyone, whether it was from the gods or from someone playing god and taking advantage, was attributed to the Yiling Laozu's evil ways. He was dead, yet everything that went wrong was his fault. Your marriage didnt work out? Wei Wuxian was behind this, I am sure. There was a flood that destroyed years worth of your hard work? Sounds like the Yiling Laozu. You had a cough because you ate something cold in the winter? Pretty sure the evil Wei Wuxian is behind it, he has various very evil tricks up his sleeve. That Monster!

He was all-powerful, a man who didn't bend to the whims of gods or wills of mortals. Someone who could defy everyone if he woke up in the mood to.

The propaganda and brainwashing worked so well that people never stopped to ask themselves the question: If Yiling Laozu was truly so powerful, how did he get defeated by a bunch of corpses? How did the Ghost General, his most powerful weapon, get killed by a few dozen cultivators?

And thinking of that is depressing as fuck because he died solely so the rich could get richer, the evil and corrupt could advance in their evil ways (Jin Guangyao, Xue Yang) and everyone could stay on their carefully curated bubble of bliss with none the wiser about their deception, manipulation and bullshit about bloodlines and traditions (Jiang Cheng, The Lans, Jin Guangshan, etc).

[turtleblogatlast]

I find it interesting that Leo tells Raph that Raph was Mikey’s age when he first went out alone because it’s fun to draw the conclusion that Donnie and Leo were not that age when they themselves first went outside.

Sure, they likely could have just ventured out at the same time as their brothers and Leo just chose to focus on Raph to make his point, but given Donnie and Leo’s respective personalities I can absolutely see them just leaving anyway at a much younger age.

[skitskatdacat63]

Misc lore drop day 3/?

Before and throughout Vettonso's marriage, Fernando is constantly making up paranoid escape plans or planning ways to fake his death. But Seb keeps unknowingly bringing him back from the brink, usually just by virtue of his honesty or earnestness, which Fernando has a reluctant soft spot for.

For example, before they take their actual wedding vows, after like a hundred random feasts and celebrations and such, Fernando is like: "Alberto. Here's the plan. You cause a distraction, and I'll escape in these monk robes I got smuggled in!" But at that very moment, he receives a missive from Seb, something along the lines of "I know we've had our struggles and disagreements up to this point, but I really think we can make this marriage work!" Fernando's just hitting the wall like, god damn it, I cannot resist this earnestness.

Fernando is like, I'll pretend to die while eating this dessert, and then I can escape! But then Seb is starry eyed eating his cake, like, "Good heavens, Fernando! Is this cake not immaculate! I do believe it is the best cake I hath ever sampled!" And he can't bring himself to ruin Seb's enjoyment 😔

[theflyingfeeling]

Olli has such big, sad Bambi eyes I don't know what to do with myselllffffffff 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[averygayplant]

The cool thing about my brother being blind as shit is that I can scroll through tumblr and shamelessly like and reblog and even draw and post Trolls fan art and he shall be none the wiser because we're still waiting for his glasses to come in

[softquietsteadylove]

Helloooo!! ✨🖤

I thought about something for the Zombie AU.

After Thena dragged Gil to the hospital they (Ajak and Sersi maybe) discovered Gil had an infection or something and he's out like a light for a few weeks, recovering. Meanwhile Thena insist to sit by his side but Ajak(?) insists that she has to recover too. Thena is dehydrated, starving and weak. One day she collapses and after they took care of her, they tied her to a bed so she finally can recover.

Hugs and Love ✨🖤

She had carried Gil all the way here to the hospital. People came out to help them, carried him in for her. She didn't have the strength to go after him.

When she had first woken up, she had managed to find her way to Gil's side again. An infection, they said--a rusty little cut on his finger or something trivial that she should have known about sooner. Supposedly he would pull through just fine, but she couldn't be as sure as they were.

Then she had collapsed.

"Please," Thena gulped, her throat still dry as a bone, "please, just let me see him."

The doctor kept working around her, checking on this and that.

"Please," Thena rasped again, determined to get them to listen to her if her vocal cords bled dry. "I have to see Gil."

"What you have to do is rest."

Thena pried her eyes more open. It wasn't the shorter doctor who seemed to be in charge of this place. This one was taller, younger--she was obviously also a doctor, but maybe worked for the other one. "What's your name?"

The doctor glared at her, walking a little more into the light that was shining down on Thena (despite the rest they so clearly believed she needed). "You want names now?"

Thena shrugged.

The doctor put her chart of whatever down and looked at her. "Do you remember how you got here?"

"You mean," Thena lifted her wrist--as much as she could, of course, with her wrists and ankles restrained. "Here?"

"What do you remember?"

Thena sighed, swallowing again. She raised her brows as the doctor came forward with a bottle of water, tipping it up for her to take a few well controlled sips. "Thank you."

She capped it again, nodding in a silent promise to offer more when she had her answers.

Thena cleared her throat and tugged faintly at the restraints again. They had a fair amount of slack on them, so they couldn't have thought she was that dangerous. "I...I remember getting Gil here. He'd had a fever for a week already, and I knew I had to get him where people were."

"He was severely dehydrated when you got in, had one hell of a fever and needed antibiotics for an infection," the doctor listed off. "You're lucky I worked in pharmacology. We got him what he needed, you know. He'll pull through."

That didn't do her any goddamn good if she couldn't see him with her own eyes.

"You collapsed."

Thena looked at the doctor again, who looked pissed at her, if anything. She shrugged again, "being out there isn't easy. It's-"

"You gave all your water to him--your food too, I imagine," Doctor Sassy hypothesized (correctly). She looked at Thena again, "you were just as exhausted as he was. You're restrained because you kept getting up to go see him and I found you collapsed in the hallway."

She couldn't sleep. She had been trying, and Doctor Crabby was right, she was exhausted. But unconsciousness only lasted so long, and when she was awake, she couldn't think of anything but Gil's well-being.

"I often couldn't sleep," Thena began, staring up at the hospital ceiling while offering what she could to Doctor Pissy, "out on the road. Gil and I...we found each other by accident. But we could stick together. I got used to having him around."

Doctor Stink-Eye actually softened at that, maybe able to relate to some part of it. She tilted her head at her, coming a little closer, "you can't relax without him here."

Thena didn't exactly confirm it--seemed like damning information to give these people she didn't entirely trust. She tilted her head on her pillow as the doctor came into the light. She had gentle eyes. "We had only each other out there."

Doctor Doe-Eyes nodded, offering a sympathetic little twitch of her lips. She had beauty marks. "My husband is part of the team who goes out for perimeter checks and supply runs, here. I worry about him out there. I can't imagine what it's like."

If she had to hazard a guess, Thena had to assume it was the tall and gruff sounding one with the accent she remembered from when Gil was carried inside.

"We mean no harm, truly," she tried to get through to Thena, leaning further over the bed. "I know it seems excessive, but staying stationary, having this many people here...it's a big risk when we take in new people. Even if they're seeking help."

Thena supposed she might understand that. Outsiders all had the same instinct for survival that people living with a certain amount of security simply didn't have. Or it wasn't as sharpened, at least. And they would have to be wary of those using the hospital's good will as a weakness and way to infiltrate their populace. "That's why I'm tied up?"

Doctor Huffy frowned and gave one of the restraints a tug. "No, you're tied up because I couldn't trust you not to get up and walk back to your husband in this state."

"He's not," Thena started and then stopped, coughing again. Her throat was still raw from going so long without water, only to then scream at the top of her lungs for help.

"Okay, okay," Doctor Softie soothed, tilting up more water for her. "Either way, I couldn't have you wandering around unattended. Ajak frowns upon it, for good reason."

Ajak must have been the shorter doctor Thena remembered on the other side of her when she was dragged in after Gil.

Thena swallowed more precious water before looking at the doctor. more awake, more hydrated, her eyes were clearer--the doctor was around her age, maybe a little younger. "What's your name?"

"Sersi." It was a very lovely name, for a lovely woman. "And you're Thena."

She bristled.

But Sersi gave her a more smug look, tipping her chin up, "Gil has awoken, you know--a few times."

Thena felt her eyes widen, a manic energy rushing through her veins, "he...and you didn't tell-!"

Sersi leaned away just enough, given the restraints. She pursed her lips, "it was never for very long, and he was still nearly delirious with fever."

Thena eyed the woman. Sersi may not have been out in the world like she was, but she obviously wasn't naive in any way. "So, why tell me?"

"I know your name because that's all he could say," Sersi raised her brows at her. "He would wake for a few minutes at a time, and yet we wouldn't even know his name was Gil if you hadn't said it. All he could get out was 'Thena', and 'where is Thena?', and 'I need to get back to her'. It's rather sweet, actually."

Thena laid (collapsed) against the pillow again, blinking as her tears collected in her eyelashes like morning dew on leaves. She could hear his voice in her head now, the sweet, gentle giant. She certainly wouldn't let anything stop her from trying to find him. Well, nothing but some leather restraints, that was to say.

"Nearly threw Kingo across the room in his hysteria," Sersi continued to mumble. "We had to use a sedative on him."

Thena squirmed. "He's not really a fighter--truly. He just...forgets how strong he really is sometimes. He didn't mean any harm."

Sersi smiled at her, maybe amused by her apologising for Gil's actions. "Ajak wants you separated, and for good reason."

Thena waited eagerly for the metaphorical 'but' to follow.

"But I might be able to convince her to let me move you into his room," Sersi didn't so much as promise but postulated. But she had to admit that the self-assured smirk on her face suited Doctor Snippy. "If you think you can behave."

Thena nodded eagerly, all but forgetting about her bound limbs, "anything."

Doctor Sersi nodded, getting ready to leave Thena for the rest of her nightly duties. She picked up the water bottle for one last offering, "can you tell me...?"

Thena merely waited. She had promised anything in exchange for seeing Gil again, as much as this didn't seem to be part of those conditions.

"He's not your husband," she concluded, even though Thena never actually verbalised her denial of it. "So then...what are you? If I may--I mean, what is he to you?"

Thena looked at Sersi. She could just tell her that this didn't seem like pertinent information for her to have, as their doctor. But she sighed, "everything. Gil is absolutely everything to me."

Sersi offered solemnity, tipping up the water for her, "I suppose you have no choice out-"

"No." Thena was almost as surprised as Sersi when she cut her off in the middle of speaking. But she continued, "it's not just that. He...Gil is good. Everything about him is right when the rest of the world is wrong. He's the best thing left in it, now, and I...I just want to protect that."

"I was an auditor, Sersi," she professed, the words all but spilling out of her like a broken water line. She sounded like Gil. "I worked a boring office job, had no life outside of it, didn't think of calling a single person when everything happened. I never did anything to put any good out into the world. But I can keep Gil in it."

Either she was astonished by Thena's speech, or she heard ones just like it all the time; either way, Sersi smiled. "Just a little longer, Thena. I promise, I'll do everything in my power to help you see him again."

Thena laid back, looking up at the ceiling again. Waiting was easier said than done, but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter either. She did feel remotely better, having a potential ally in Doctor Sersi. She closed her eyes, hoping that next time she opened them, that she could see Gil.

[tchaikovskaya]

I could/should elaborate when I’m not falling asleep as I am rn but like. I feel like for the people who you “mourn” who have died young and/or suddenly who you knew only in passing, or only casually interacted with, or were once close to but in the years between then and their death you barely spoke, etc etc etc, you arent actually mourning them or their presence in ur life (and now palpable absence) (supposedly) but just what it means to be a human on earth who has to grapple with inevitable loss and the immense weight of what a Person is and their footprint on everyone they interact with that is fleeting even tho there are several billions of us on the floating rock but none of those billions of lifetimes are ever overlapping 100%…. sigh :/

[dylawas-reblogs]

One thing I do look forward to about in-person work for the first time in four and a half years, even if it's 28 miles of travel both ways right during the worst winter months, is I can't be my father's free Chore Servant when he's too busy (read: disorganized and lazy) to sort things before he leaves for the day

[moss-flesh]

I JUST GOT FUCKING JUMPSCARED BY GIDEON EMERY WHILE PLAYING SKYRIM WTF HES IN THIS TOO ????

[theheadlessgroom]

https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/723147826502254592/theheadlessgroom-beatingheart-bride

@beatingheart-bride

“I’m sure you would’ve too,” Dorian smiled fondly, as he brushed away the tears pricking the corners of his eyes with his handkerchief. “She was an incredibly kind, incredibly gentle woman that I felt very honored to know, even for a short time. She was...very motherly to me as well when I was a boy.”

Oftentimes more than my own mother! he thought to himself wryly, as he began to recall stories from his youth to Emily (Randall briefly wondered if she’d heard these stories in the future when they were all dead, but it felt good to talk about his mother, and so he listened, chiming in here and there as well). While Mrs. Gracey was often away, having tea with her other wealthy friends (perhaps including Mrs. de Clair?) or just elsewhere in the house, June Pace was happy to keep an eye on her employer’s son (at least, when Beau couldn’t), always patient with the rambunctious Gracey boy (whose bountiful energy often rubbed off on her own son). She indulged his (many, many) questions and even showed him some of the finer points of gardening, allowing him to help her in her work, quickly enamoring him with the wonders of the world of horticulture.

“In fact, I credit her as being the one to get me invested in gardening,” he smiled, thinking of his bounteous conservatory, and all of its splendors. “We still maintain the beautiful rose bushes she planted-I see to that personally.”