#and i want her to deal as much damage as physically possible

[scariusaquarius]

rehab. 3.

Avenger! Bucky Barnes x Winter Soldier! Fem! Reader

Summary: While on a mission to find any more possible super soldiers that were a part of the Winter Soldier program, Steve and Bucky make a discovery in an abandoned HYDRA base that was cleared out a few years prior to their mission. They discover the Reader, a long-forgotten soldier that was still asleep within a functioning cryostasis pod; still awaiting orders. While Bucky isn't happy about it, he is put up to the challenge of helping to rehabilitate the soldier in Wakanda where she may be able to become a person again.

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A/n: I had someone on Ao3 ask me about how often this will get updated and my answer is that I don't know. My IRL can be pretty unpredictable and I do deal with depression on a daily basis. I'm going to do my best to update this while still working on my Leon Kennedy fic, Unlikely Salvation! Please do bear with me as I try to figure out where I want this story to go!

This is an au where Bucky joined the avengers but still rehabilitated in Wakanda (sometime before Infinity War [canon divergent cause NOPE]). I am NOT fluent in Russian, so I did use google translate cause I couldn't find a good translator that I trusted. If anything is wrong, PLEASE let me know!! Also, I tried to list as many warnings as possible so you know what the story will contain as chapters are posted. Stay safe!

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Genre: Slowburn, Enemies to Lovers/Friends to Lovers, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Humor, Drama, Dark Content Rated: Explicit Warning: Angst, Dark Content: Graphic Depictions of Sexual Assault, Blood and Gore, Mentions of Manipulation, Kidnapping, Canon-Typical Violence, Body Horror, Nonconsensual Body Modification/Scarring, Emotional and Physical Abuse, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts/Ideation, Graphic Depictions of Human Remains, Mentions of Sexual Coercion/Manipulation, Death, Misuse of Drugs/Forced Drugging, Self-Harm (Graphic Depictions and Mentions), Nightmares

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Author: ScariusAquarius

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rehab masterlist. chapter 1 / chapter 2

The lab was hustling with scientists, the Wakandan sunrise filtering through the enormous windows with an intensity that made Bucky eyes hurt as he stood by the cryostasis pod where the Winter Soldier would soon be housed.

The whole trek to the lab had been uneventful: not once did the soldier fight back. It seemed that the failure to complete her mysterious mission had caused her to shut down, and Bucky was tense as she was strapped down with multiple magnetic cuffs like the ones he and Steve used back in the quinjet.

Even with the super soldier serum coursing through her veins and whatever other enhancements she might naturally have or that HYDRA might have given her would prove useless. She was strapped down nice and tight.

There was a machine hovering over her knee, the tissue and bone beneath crunching and grinding as it was fusing back together, her expression unchanging despite her kneecap and patella being exposed. The air was beginning to smell of singed flesh and hair, and Bucky felt slightly nauseous.

Bucky hated knowing how much damage his arm could inflict; how unforgiving his grip was and how hard it was to regulate the strength at times so he would break yet another glass just by holding it and trying to take a drink.

And it had been so easy to crush her flesh like it was nothing.

"Howard? Howard, oh god...oh god, Anthony...!"

Bucky clenched his jaw, swallowing harshly as Maria Stark's voice whispered to him, and he was broken out of his trance by Shuri announcing.

"Once we are finished with her knee, I would like to begin deconstructing her mind. If efforts are fruitless, I would like for you to activate her again if possible. We might be able to figure out what her previous orders were and her intentions, history, anything that would prove useful to the eradication of HYDRA."

Steve frowned, asking as T'Challa simply stayed quiet, observing the Winter Soldier as she sat complacent and quiet; seemingly not hearing a word that they were saying.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if it doesn't work?"

Shuri replied confidently, flicking her eyes over to Steve before gesturing towards Bucky with a nod of her head.

"We will have to reset completely and start over. Sergeant Barnes' rehabilitation was easy due to the flaws within his programming that HYDRA was unable to remedy. However, we do not know what improvements have been made to HYDRA's algorithm since then. It will be challenging to separate the core person that this woman was before her programming, but not impossible."

T'Challa then asked, raising an eyebrow at Shuri as she shined a light into the Winter Soldier's eyes, taking down notes and recording her vitals.

"What if you are unable to separate the identity from the programming?"

Shuri sighed deeply, shrugging.

"She will have to be built from the ground up. This woman will be like a completely clean slate down to a new name if we are unable to figure out who she was before. I am already running the best biometric identification programs within our arsenal to figure out who she could have been. I would assume that Stark is also doing so?"

Steve nodded, replying as he watched the soldier closely as her eyes inconspicuously flicked to a scientist that readying a syringe.

"Yes, he's also got Nat looking through the database that we downloaded and coursing through any previous databanks we obtained from previous HYDRA raids."

Shuri then turned to Bucky, making him quirk an eyebrow up slightly as she regarded him with a raised brow.

"What is your take on this, Sergeant Barnes?"

All eyes were on him, and Bucky sighed slightly he stared down the soldier, watching the way her brow began to tense slightly the closer the scientist got. The second the syringe touched her skin, the soldier began to freak out.

Due to the cuffs restricting her movement, she resorted to smacking her back against the chair over and over, hissing and yelling loudly as the scientist jolted and stumbled back. T'Challa immediately shoved her down, Shuri exclaiming profanities as she snatched the syringe from the scientist and shoved it into the soldier's neck.

The soldier hissed and yanked her neck away, breaking the needle, and Shuri groaned, gesturing with her hands wildly.

"Really? Now I'm going to have to dig that out. You make things harder for yourself!"

Okoye quipped, her spear pointing towards the soldier as Steve and Bucky stood tensed and ready should the Soldier somehow get out of her binds.

"How primitive! She is like a wild animal!"

The sedative began to kick in, the woman's bucking gradually stopping, and she went limp within the chair, head rolling to the side as her eyes rolled into the back of her skull. Bucky's heart was racing slightly with adrenaline, and Steve observed.

"Seems like she knew what the syringe meant."

T'Challa frowned deeply, leaning back and brushing his hands off slightly as he glanced back at Steve.

"An important but grave detail: she must be remembering...or perhaps, it is a recent memory."

Shuri plucked the broken needle from the soldier's neck, humming.

"I will take it as a good sign that there is at least someone beneath the rubble. I promise you, Mr. Rogers, that I will do my best to find her."

Steve nodded before clapping Bucky on the shoulder.

"You going to be alright?"

Bucky glanced over at Steve, muttering truthfully.

"I don't want to do this, but I'm only doing it for you. I'm worried that she is going to somehow lead HYDRA to me and it's gonna be a shit-show all over again."

Steve was firm, declaring quietly.

"You know I wouldn't let that happen. I'd have to miss that big head of yours again."

"You're a goddamn punk, you know that?"

Bucky couldn't keep the smile from gracing the corners of his lips, and Steve smiled at him softly before hugging him firmly and backing away.

"Alright, I'm going to leave you to it. I'll check in periodically; let you all know what we find on our side of the world."

T'Challa hummed, walking towards Steve.

"I will accompany you. I would like to discuss some things before your departure."

Steve nodded, and the two men walked out of Shuri's lab. Bucky turned back around, making a slight face as Shuri cut away pieces of the woman's clothing, revealing a black and tight-fitting compression camisole.

There were numerous scars and marks all over her body, some jagged and unforgiving while others were clean and precise. Shuri hummed softly, muttering as her fingers grazed a jagged scar that ran beneath the woman's neck.

"The things this woman must have been through...HYDRA is truly despicable."

Bucky couldn't speak. Hell, he couldn't even think outside of the boiling hatred and rage that was beginning to consume him at the sight of the gruesome scars that covered her upper body. Bucky could only assume that it got worse beneath her uncut clothing, and he had to bite his tongue as hard as he could.

Whip scars, burn marks, mutilated flesh that never regenerated, her body was a canvas; a horrendous painting that HYDRA had taken delight in decorating. This was more than just punishment, it was a warning.

A warning that disobedience will not be tolerated.

How many times did they slash her throat for the scar to become so prominent? How many times did they burn her skin to the point that the serum couldn't work to regenerate? How often did they beat and prod and jab and shoot and stab at her until she was too weak to fight back?

In a morbid way, Bucky took it as a sign that despite her being activated and still dangerous, her history of resistance let HYDRA know that the person that used to be there still existed.

There was someone still underneath the rubble, as Shuri had put it, and Bucky hoped that Shuri could pull her out.

But even so, would it help? Would it be right to let this woman have to live with the memories and nightmares of what had happened to her? Was it right to subject her mind to the torture of HYDRA even after being rescued?

Was it right to try despite knowing how traumatized and desolated the woman was going to be once she was free? Hell, there were times were Bucky could still smell the scent of the cologne his Handler wore when punishing Bucky, and now Bucky couldn't stand to smell the scent without being pushed into a panic.

"Don't worry, White Wolf. I am going to do what I can to help this woman."

"That's not what I'm worried about."

His voice was choked, cracking slightly as he rushed to respond, and Shuri tilted her head at him, asking Bucky with a curious gaze.

"Then what is it that plagues you?"

"I just...is it right to do this when she's gonna have to live with the memories and the nightmares?"

Bucky felt ashamed by the frown that crossed Shuri's face, but was slightly relieved to know that the disappointment that flashed within her eyes was not directed at him.

"I understand the concern, and I understand that it will not be easy for her...but that is why you are here. You have survived HYDRA and are free of the programming they worked hard to instill within your mind. With living proof that persistence yields peace, I truly think that she may become a person again...it will just take time and a lot of work."

Bucky nodded, and Shuri was quiet for a moment before she murmured.

"While it may not seem fair to save her...it is truly a tragedy to deny her the chance that HYDRA never gave her."

The words left a profoundly bitter taste within Bucky's mouth, and he could distinctly taste copper from him biting into his cheek too hard. Shaking his head, Bucky looked away from the woman as Shuri began to assess her further.

"Reactivating her will come with a risk. I would only be able to activate her, but I don't have the knowledge to deactivate, if that's even possible. When I was activated...the longer I was out of cryostasis and hadn't been wiped, the easier it was to resist the programming. I don't know if it will be the same for her."

"As I said: reactivation will allow us the ability to communicate with her. She has not been wiped, it would seem, so it is possible that this woman knows something."

Shuri grabbed a butterfly needle and a vial, putting on gloves and tying a tourniquet around the woman's arm so that she could find a vein. Once she found it, Shuri inserted the butterfly needle, taping it to the soldier's skin.

"I am now going to collect bloodwork to run DNA diagnostics and input the data into the biometric identification program to see if we may be able to identify her this way. I'm also going to do some testing to see what serum she might have been injected with to trace it back to the creator."

Bucky nodded and sat back, watching and listening intently as Shuri described what she was doing and what the programs did on a deeper, intellectual manner. While Bucky was listening and trying to absorb the information, he couldn't stop glancing over at the scars that lined the woman's body.

Horrific couldn't even describe it. It made him sick to his stomach. If Shuri noticed that Bucky was slightly distracted, she gracefully didn't comment on it. Instead, Shuri tried to distract him the best that she could while the machine she was operating was taking a scan of the woman's brain.

After a moment, Shuri hummed, a perplexed look on her face as she sauntered around the hologram of the woman's brain, tendrils of red seeming to pulse all over the organ, and Shuri's brows furrowed as she thought to herself. Bucky asked with an intrigued look on his face.

"What is that?"

"This is a digital recreation of the woman's brain as well as the areas most affected by HYDRA's programming."

Shuri looked proud as she began to move the hologram around, zooming in and out of different areas and lobes before breaking it down into layers.

"Thanks to the work that I did for you, I was able to develop an AI that was capable of identifying HYDRA's programming, as well as detect the intensity and depth that it runs. It gives possible solutions and suggestions on what to work on first...and tells me when something activates the program."

Shuri's voice seemed to lower slightly, side-eyeing him for a moment before she looked back at the hologram, but Bucky didn't notice. Bucky was floored, in awe at the ingenuity of the AI that he couldn't help but to whistle lowly.

"That's incredible, Shuri."

"Please, compared to her, you were like a walk in the park."

Shuri waved him off before she hummed, pointing to a area that was largely red within the hologram.

"However, unlike your programming, her programming is much more complex. There are multiple layers where the programming intertwines with core pieces and memories, which will make unraveling the ties difficult. There might be parts of her that will not be salvageable."

Bucky pursed his lips slightly, shaking his head as he replied gently.

"Like you said: from the ground and up if needed."

Shuri smiled widely at Bucky, her eyes crinkling as she teased gently, pointing at him.

"See, now you are beginning to understand."

Bucky rolled his eyes before he asked as Shuri began to work, a screen popping up and flashing slightly.

"So, what is that?"

"If we are going to salvage as much as we can of the core person she was before she became a Winter Soldier, we will have to analyze every piece of her psyche. Unfortunately, I cannot do much with HYDRA's program basically firewalling me. It is like they added some sort of encryption to her so that any attempt of undoing their work would be unsuccessful or too risky."

Bucky tilted his head, becoming slightly confused as he pointed to the red parts of the woman's brain.

"Is that why those areas are red like that?"

"Yes. If you look closely, it is almost as though these red areas are wrapping around the parts that are otherwise untouched by HYDRA's program. If we can get past the encryptions, we might be able to get through."

Bucky nodded along, crossing his arms before he glanced down at the woman, asking apprehensively.

"Are you going to make me activate her?"

"For now, no. I do not think that it will be necessary. All I need to do is bypass the encryptions, break them down, and then I will begin to root out the memories with the most significance to her."

Shuri spared Bucky a glance, relaying to him honestly.

"If possible, I would like to keep you from doing so because of the mental repercussions activating her will have. I will entrust the process to Okoye if activation is the only option we have left."

Bucky shook his head, murmuring to Shuri as he glanced down at the woman again as her face scrunched slightly.

"No, I'll do it...let's just hope that I don't have to."

Shuri became quiet, staring Bucky down for a moment before she turned away and suggested.

"Perhaps you should see the Captain off. Breaking through the encryption will take time, and I can tell that you are starting to become brain-dead listening to me."

Bucky chuckled before bowing his head slightly, shaking his head.

"I'd rather not upset your brother by leaving you with her by yourself."

Shuri made a face at him, the expression reminding him of Steve pre-serum.

"Do you think I am not capable of defending myself? This is my territory, white boy."

Bucky raised his hands in surrender, wincing slightly.

"I'm sorry, your highness, but I've been on the receiving end of your brother's foot."

Shuri barked out a laugh, and Okoye made her presence known by snorting while a couple of the Dora Milaje stood by the entrance to Shuri's lab.

"At least he knows what he would be up against. Do not worry, Sergeant Barnes, I will stand watch. The Captain is about to make his departure."

Bucky nodded before expressing his gratitude, nodding gently to Shuri.

"Thank you. I'll be back shortly."

Bucky turned and left quickly, his steps quick and urgent as he arrived outside. However, the quinjet was already flying away, making Bucky purse his lips. T'Challa's voice greeted him, making the man look over at the King as he spoke.

"You just missed him."

"He's always running off on me somehow, so I'm not entirely surprised."

T'Challa chuckled slightly, before he glanced over at Bucky.

"How are you feeling about all of this?"

Bucky glanced over at T'Challa, regarding him with an exhausted look before he turned back front, watching Steve leave again.

"I'm worried, honestly. There's so many things that could go wrong. What if HYDRA is trying to find me and was using her to do it? HYDRA must know that the Avengers have been raiding the old facilities that aren't in use anymore, so why not leave her to be found and taken in?"

T'Challa hummed, clasping his hands together as he replied.

"Let them try. They will not make it very far."

Bucky pursed his lips slightly before he murmured.

"It's...strange, honestly...seeing this from an outside perspective. I knew that this was serious, but I wasn't aware of how bad it actually was. Standing on the other side of the glass...it's almost poignant."

T'Challa nodded, replying with a hum.

"When my father was killed and I was under the assumption that it was you in Vienna, a deep hatred rooted within me for HYDRA. While I understand now that it was Zemo's schemes...that hatred for HYDRA has never wavered. Even now when knowing the dangers that lie beyond those doors, I still hope for peace."

Bucky was quiet, listening intently to T'Challa's words as the king spoke, his brown eyes downcast as he continued.

"Nobody deserves to be subjected to such horrific torture."

Bucky wasn't sure on how to respond. Instead, the man just nodded and took a moment to breathe before he settled, glancing over at T'Challa.

"You're right, and if we have to start from scratch, then I'm willing to help how I can...both with rehabilitating her and eradicating HYDRA once and for all."

T'Challa nodded quietly before turning to walk back towards the lab, suggesting over his shoulder.

"You should get some rest...and maybe put that on ice."

At the mention of the wound on his temple, it began to pulse, and Bucky just sighed.

"I'll sleep it off...and thank you for listening."

T'Challa didn't respond, but a smile graced the king's lips as he disappeared through the doors. Bucky's shoulders sagged slightly, and he rubbed his temple gently, wincing when he pressed down to hard.

He had to admit: that woman could give a mean right-hook.

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STORY NOTES: Bucky, T'Challa, Steve, and Shuri are all within her lab with the Winter Soldier. So far, the Winter Soldier has made no move. Shuri is using a machine that heals and reconstructs the soldier's knee, and Bucky is perturbed by the damage he had inflicted. He reflects on the hardship it took to regulate the strength of his grip in his metal arm; reminiscing about the difficulty of clutching a glass of water.

Shuri then tells the group that she would like to begin deconstructing the Winter Soldier's mind to get an understanding of her intentions, and suggests activating the Winter Soldier again should Shuri's efforts fail. Steve is apprehensive, and Shuri voices that if neither efforts are successful, then she will have to completely reboot the Winter Soldier.

Shuri elaborates that she is currently attempting to figure out the identity of the Winter Soldier, and makes a remark that she hopes Tony Stark is also doing the same. Steve comments that Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is also combing through the databank Bucky had downloaded, as well as previously recovered databanks.

When a scientist attempts to inject a sedative into her, the Winter Soldier begins to resist; causing a scene and consequently breaking the needle of the sedative within her neck. Steve observed that the woman understood what the syringe meant, and T'Challa points out that it might be a sign that she is remembering.

Before Steve's departure, Bucky voices his fear that HYDRA is using her to get to him, and Steve reassures Bucky that he won't let HYDRA get their hands on him again. Steve exits with T'Challa, and Bucky and Shuri are left alone within the lab. Shuri begins to remove a bit of the woman's clothing, and more scars are revealed.

Bucky becomes upset by the sight of the scars, understanding what they meant, and Bucky begins to become apprehensive about saving the woman. Shuri reassures Bucky that what they are doing is right. Later, Shuri shows Bucky a digital rendition of the Winter Soldier's brain and explains what she is going to do in order to save the woman's core identity.

Shuri comments that Bucky should see Steve off, and though Bucky tries to get to Steve before he leaves, he is unsuccessful. Instead, he meets with T'Challa. They begin to converse with each other, Bucky revealing his concerns, and T'Challa reassures him that HYDRA would not make it far into Wakanda if they attempted to retrieve him. Bucky makes a final thought on the woman and reflects on her strength. End scene.

TAGLIST: @vicmc624 @tilldeathripsusapart

[alynnia]

Astra’s Champion 2

LaDs men if they were boss fights |Part 2 Xavier and Caleb|

《This is written from the perspective of playing an action game boss fight in the realm of Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, No More Heroes, etc with “cutscenes” at the start and during transitions of the fight. I’ve left most of the abilities and weapons the reader has open so it can be up to you on how you’d want your character to fight specifically. This will be incorporating their myths, creative liberties taken for the sake of cool and things get really over the top in their 3rd phases because I’m a sucker for the cinematics. Good luck. 》

Cw: Descriptions of reader getting their ass kicked and small death cutscenes of the love interests. NonMC Reader, annoying combat mechanics, possible choking

Premise of the game: You play as a being created by Astra tasked with taking out the MC for reasons unknown, but you're going to have to get through her love interests first. They know you are after her and will do everything within their power to stop you. Everything. But something about you unnerves them. You resemble her. Be it physically or an aura you have, the men can sense her within you somehow. Perhaps Astra did this to get them to let their guard down or there is more to your connection with her that you're unaware of. Upon winning each match Astra will bestow a blessing on you and the love interests will drop loot. 

Using your own Evol, special set of skills, and an outfit embedded with protocores you've collected on your journey, you might stand a chance against them. You may fight them in any order but Zayne will always be last. 

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Xavier Boss Fight

Phase 1: Blue Moon

Xavier steps onto the stage under the guise of Lumiere. The moon sits high in the sky in a waxing crescent state and the elusive masked knight vigilante stands before you with his blade outstretched, marking you as his target. At the very start of the fight comes a quick draw-like event where you need to be fast enough to hit him before he hits you. This man is all about speed and he does NOT hesitate in gaining the first strike. Most will fail this opening attack the first couple of times. After this, Lumiere takes you on with flurries of cuts, swipes, and jabs with his blade. Keeping up with him is going to be tough and you’re bound to get hit many times over. He’ll be the most difficult fight to 100% No Damage because of this but the damage he deals is less than the other LIs. This doesn’t mean he’s weak, not at all, because when he’s hitting you so many times, 100 strikes of 5 dmg is still 500 dmg. Still, you have small openings to dash out the way before he juggles you. You can also try blocking or eating it if you’ve equipped your outfit with high defense protocores. 

By the way, have you checked out the moon recently? During your fight it has been…changing. Lumiere has been striking less and keeps backing away, doing more guarding than attacking. And glowing faintly. You look up at the moon and notice it’s full, what does this mean? It means, you need to start using all your ultimates you’ve hopefully been saving and damage him as much as possible while you can. You’ll get more hits in while he’s on the defense. Soon enough, the full moon shifts into a waning gibbous and his attack pattern resumes to what it was before.

Until the sky darkens, the light of the moon is nearly gone leaving only a sliver of light in the form of a ring. But there’s another source of light. One brighter than the moon now leaping backward then lunging forward, blinking in and out of existence with an increased damage dealing omni-slash. Each hit on your person is double the damage matching that of the other men but remember the 5 x 100? It’s 10 x 100 now. This is where your high defense protocores will be needed most because he can easily melt your HP to critical in this move. Once the New Moon’s phase fades out to the next, if you’re not dead the cycle repeats until you defeat him in this phase. Dying in this phase treats you with the New Moon appearing at your feet and the Full Moon above, blasting you with a flashbang ray of light you can’t escape from and Lumiere striking through your core as the finishing blow. 

Phase 2: Beneath the Trees

You made it. The screen turns white and you think you hear a page turn again. You are temporarily stunned and disoriented as the battlegrounds shift into a different setting after the pages fly across your vision. Xavier’s eyes flint around for a second and quickly realizes where you both are, finding it to work to his advantage. You’re not an easy opponent so what better way to make use of that semi-demi-mini-god like power of yours than to feed you to the Starfall Forest? Better you than her, right? There he stands in his princely form, the trees rustling in the winds around you. The fight starts again the same as the first phase but without the moon affecting his damage. Instead, the prince of Philos is driving you deeper and deeper into the forest. The closer you get the more you can feel yourself being drained, HP lowering tick by tick on top of Xavier attacking you. 

If you have knock-back moves, now would be the best time to use them so you can run away from the life sucking center of the forest. If you don’t, another option is to use quick-time triggers to jump into the trees and then over Xavier over and over again. Anything to keep away from the center because once you’re there, you’re done and the planet of Philos claims another soul for its existence. If you do make it back and out of the forest, the second phase ends. 

Xavier is beyond pissed. 

Phase 3: Star light, Star bright

Xavier's collar blinks and shatters. The light within him becomes too much, enveloping his body completely. No longer is he made of flesh but pure plasma and light in human shape. The environment around you isn't enough to hold him so the page turns and the vast expanse of the universe stretches out. Billions of flickering specks of light litter the sky, the cloudy colors of what looks like the Milky Way can be seen to your right but your attention is drawn to the man-shaped star floating before you with several blades of light crowning his form like a halo.

You feel a shiver down your spine, bearing witness to an impossible cosmic entity. After fighting him as a representation of the moon, now you take him on as a star. His light blade in hand is now hard to tell where the weapon ends and he begins, blending into one another but that is the least of your concern. Those specs of light in the distance come flying toward you like comets that you need to quickly avoid being hit by either dodging or blocking. Since you’re in what you think is space, you no longer have a ground to limit you which takes some getting used to but manageable. Once the light shower ends, you blink and Xavier is behind you. You'll need to turn around quick enough to meet his blade or strike him. 

Every now and then the halo of star blades encircles him like Saturn’s ring, making it difficult to touch him as they spin around, cutting you if you get too close. You’ll need to maneuver yourself to strike from above or below to get a hit in or attack the blades themselves to destroy them and create an opening. There are 12 in total and if you were to pause and note the details, one could see that each of them are made up of different constellations. But who has time for silly things like that when you’re trying not to die? 

At the end of the grueling fight, Xavier’s light dims. He’s expelled far too much energy and you’ll notice his attacks are slowing down to your advantage. Still he keeps fighting, flickering, fading, until he’s got nothing left. In one last swing the light in him dims and he collapses toward you. You don;t know why, but you try to catch him only for him to dissolve into sparkles of light once you touch him and you notice a single blue light rising up and out of sight. You won. 

✨Astra’s Blessing✨

Starlight Flash. Gain the ability to temporarily stun your opponent with a bright light.

🎁Items Gained🎁

Guiding Light: A fragment of a star left in your hand. Provides +Speed

Star charm

❤Affection Bonus?❤

Fighting against him with a sword of some kind gains new battle dialogue where he comments on your technique being like Hers and suspects you may be a copy. Flag triggered.

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Caleb Boss Fight

Phase 1: Topsy Turvey

You land on one of the many floating isles in Skyhaven, a work in progress devoid of civilians. It’s peaceful, and quiet, you even take some time to get a look around at the new would-be neighborhood still in development. As you walk along the paved road a voice calls out from behind asking if you liked it. Turning around there he was at the other end of the road, adjusting the sleeve of his DAA jacket on his way to you. When the two of you lock eyes he winces for a moment then forces a smile. He tells you that this area was going to be a surprise for her, not like it would matter to you but for some reason Caleb felt the need to tell you this. To tell you that you could stop this senseless hunt that you’re on, you don’t need to fight. You could even…stay here? You hadn’t considered it, you were given one task by your creator. One purpose in your life and without it, what other reason would there be to exist? Your gaze softens…and Caleb’s brows flinch.  

You brace yourself, ready to make the first move on him but instead of him attacking, Caleb twirls his finger and your world spins on its head. “ Guess you really are a soulless imitation. “ In the blink of an eye, the two of you are upside down, feet planted on the…ceiling? No, another floating island above mirrored just like the one you were just on. Before you can get a grasp on your situation, a beam of light shoots right by your head. Caleb chuckles at your reaction, holding that massive gun in his hand and continues to shoot at you. When you try to attack yourself, you’ll find that unfortunately your sense of direction is reversed. Being upside down, your right is left and your left is right. Some would say this would be a fight that causes many to quit due to the confusion (what were the devs thinking?!) trying to dodge his shots when the directional controls are opposite is a trial on its own. But you press on, using the environment of the mirrored upsidedown neighborhood around you as a shield for shots you can’t seem to get out of the way of. Caleb taunts you as he keeps his distance until he jumps over-, under(?) you and grabs your waist from behind, leaping up (down?) to pile drive you right into the street below. Once this move finishes, your controls and sense of gravity are back to normal and the two of you are in a shootout with one another. 

A Strength focused protocore build is going to help the most against his gravity moves as it’ll help you resist them. If the flipping wasn’t annoying enough, when you see an empty hand reach out toward you he’s about to increase your weight, causing your moves to be slower. To avoid this, get behind something quick so that you’re out of his line of sight. If you are caught, your speed reduces by half making it extremely difficult to avoid getting hit. If you have high enough strength protocores this move will be a minor issue. If you didn’t stack your outfit accordingly, you’ll have to struggle out of it until he runs up and shoots you point blank. Once this shot goes off, you’ll take heavy damage but at least you’ll be free to move again. If you lose to him in this phase, his finishing blow will be rolling up his sleeve revealing his metal arm and catching you in a choke hold, squeezing tighter until your body goes limp.

Phase 2: Oh Captain, My Captain

His eye twitches and brings his hand up to his head. His vision of you flickers between yourself and Her causing Caleb to stumble back. Just as you have a clean shot of him, the loud whirring of thunder above distracts you. A carrier lowers itself enough for Caleb to reach as he snaps out of it, hopping up and inside. As it rises up again you race toward it to hop on board yourself, hanging by the edge. The carrier soars up and away but the force of wind knocks you off before you could get inside, falling down to not the same island you were on before, but ragdolling onto another. Gathering yourself up, you see that you’ve landed in a shipyard of jets, planes and other mechanized automotives parked around you. Looking up, you see the carrier above you and Colonel Caleb in the open frame, squatting with an even LARGER sniper rifle aimed right at you, aviators glinting in the light. Say cheese. 

The ground is lit up with bullets you’ll need to quickly run away from, similar to Sylus’ meteor phase only faster paced and smaller aoe ranges. When he stops to reload, nearby is a mobile suit you can climb into equipped with rocket launchers. Caleb will start shooting again as the carrier circles around you like a hawk but now you’ve got your own heat on your side. Prepare yourself for a round of Duckhunt as you try to shoot a moving target in a clunky hunk of metal while being shot at yourself. Hit the carrier three times to send it crashing down with Caleb leaping out of it, switching back to his handgun on the ground. He doesn’t stay on the ground for long this time around as he’s flipping up in the air in flashy acrobatic stunts while he attacks, occasionally calling in another carrier to pick him up again.  

Phase 3: Karma Sacrifice

You finally shoot down the last carrier and get Caleb’s HP down enough to the point he’s winded, kneeling on the ground. He’s holding onto his head again as his vision distorts and blurs, grunting something about the black hole in his head. Just when it seems like he’s about to lose it and you can finish this Astraforsaken fight, you hear the turning of pages. Shit.

The vision of pages flip and the world changes again. You’re falling, tumbling through space and above you X-02 is coming down with you. Unlike you, he’s not flailing but controlled in his fall with metal wings spread open helping him glide down. Shrapnel rains down alongside the both of you and you manage to snatch a ranged weapon if you already didn’t have one. X-02 has already whipped out the big guns showering you with bullet-like beams of light. Avoid getting hit by these and the larger debris coming your way. You notice there’s a blinking orange light on his neck and your senses tell you that’s what you need to go after. As the two of you shoot at one another and you try to make it through this Imperishable Night keep on the lookout for falling rocket parts you can grab onto and launch yourself toward him. You’ll collide into one another but you’ll be able to reach that orange glow. Pressing it, you’ll enter a hacking mini game where you’ll need to press a set of 3 buttons in a certain order. The order sequence is different each fight but once you figure it out, it will remain that same sequence during the current fight. Each time you fail this X-02 uses his evol to shove you back returning you to the bullet hell part of the combat. When you succeed, the exoskeleton suit will short circuit, temporarily freezing him and giving you a chance to use your ultimate before you float backward again. 

Complete the hacking three times to finish him. Well, you’ll try to but the last hack you succeed in X-02 is going to grab hold of you in one final attempt to take you out. A count down starts from 10. You struggle to break free, a task that’s easier with higher strength but if you wait just a little longer to break out of it, he whispers to you. It’s barely audible and all you can catch is her name on his lips. If you don’t breakfree, X-02 takes you out with him by self-destructing but if you do? Boom. There he goes in another beautiful explosion, a purple light flies up and off somewhere. You did it.

✨Astra’s Blessing✨

Weightless. Gravity no longer has an effect on you if you don’t want it to. 

🎁Items Gained🎁

Silverglow seed. Planting it and eating the fruit gives +Defense

Dogtag charm

❤Affection Bonus?❤

Using a ranged weapon like a bow or gun will trigger this flag. He’ll accidentally call you Pipsqueak and by Her name, stumbling over his words as he does so to correct himself. His extra commentary will be centered around trying not to confuse you for her. 

Up Next: Zayne | ????

-----

Zayne is complete but ???? is in skeleton mode. Here's hoping I didn't fuck up and left unfinished sentences in this. If you see anything like a sentence cutting off, let me know lol.

[stevie-petey]

episode one: the vanishing of will byers

Steve nods, as if you almost getting hit by his car makes perfect sense to him. When you walk over to your bike and inspect it for any damage, he follows after you.  “So,” he whistles, trying to pretend that this is all a completely normal occurrence. “You, uh, need a ride?” Honestly you don’t know why you’re surprised he hasn’t noticed the clear signs of you crying, your swollen eyes and red nose. Not only is he a boy, but he’s also Steve Harrington. It’s a miracle he even stopped to make sure you weren’t dead.

Summary: jonathan smuggles you free food in exchange for friendship, will goes missing the one time you listen to jonathan, hopper doesn't really like you, and steve harrington almost hits you with his car as you're sobbing like a damn baby (in a cool way).

Rating: general, although there's plenty of cursing and slight innuendos, so fair warning.

Warnings: cursing, fem!reader, and use of y/n.

Words: 7k

Before you swing in: hello ! this is the first chapter of my come home series, where i plan on rewriting the entirety of stranger things because i really love a good rewrite fic and this is me just indulging in my ideal fic fantasies tbh. before we start: this is a steve x reader fic, however there will be some slight feelings between the reader and jonathan, but it doesn't at all get in the way of steve and honestly just adds to the angst because i love a good tragedy. also, reader is dustin's older sister, but i tried to write her as neutral as possible in terms of physical features, so let's all just play along. that is all ! i'm very excited for this series and i hope y'all enjoy the reader as much as i do :)

-

November 6th, 1983

Your shift at Bookstrordinary ends at 8:30 tonight, so as soon as you’ve organized all the books within the store and cashed out the last customer, you say goodnight to your boss, Mrs. Waters, and clock out. Today had been a longer shift, and it didn’t help that you had to deal with a particularly eager bookclub mother who insisted that you had the latest copy of some obscure novel that she needed for her club. After several attempts to inform her that no, you really didn’t have some novel about a cowboy falling in love with a rodeo girl from Michigan, nor would you ever want to read that, the mother angrily walked away. 

You’re happy to finally be free from work though, excited to see Jonathan to tell him about the book club mom because you know he gets a kick out of those suburban middle class mothers that terrorize Hawkins. He works across from you, at The Hawk theater, and it’s one of your favorite things about the bookstore. Besides getting to be surrounded by books all day and reading Spider-Man, you get to be across the street from your best friend and share frequent breaks together. 

A bell signifies your arrival at the theater, alerting Jonathan to look up from the concession stand and smile at you. He looks tired, which you can understand. It’s been a particularly long school year so far with Jonathan having to work more shifts than usual to support his family. 

“Welcome to The Hawk, can I interest you in our specialty popcorn and candy corn mixture?”

You make a face, “No, thanks. Candy corn freaks me out.” 

Jonathan laughs, knowing you’d say that. It’s been a running joke between the two of you for as long as you can remember. You’re not picky with most foods, but candy corn? The bane of your existence. “Tough crowd, then.” 

You laugh as well, now standing in front of the counter, and you learn against it so that you’re in Jonathan’s space. After being friends for so long, personal space doesn’t exist between the two of you. You’re the only person that Jonathan lets get this close to him on a regular basis, which you’re secretly proud of. 

“So, you almost done so we can pick up our idiotic brothers?” Tonight, as usual, Will and Dustin are at Mike’s house playing DnD. They’d biked over as soon as school let out, while Jonathan drove you to work, so he was your ride back for the night. 

He shakes his head at you, wincing, “I picked up an extra shift tonight. Stacy called out sick, and it’s good money…”

You nod in understanding. He doesn’t have to explain himself to you, which he’s always relieved by. 

“It’s okay. Is my bike still in your trunk?” 

“Yeah, I can get it out for you since I’m kind of ditching you tonight.” 

You wave him off, already reaching across the counter to grab his keys from his coat pocket. “No need, I’ll get it out myself so you don’t get in trouble with your boss.” Jonathan’s boss is an older guy, extra scary. “I’m assuming that I’m taking Will home tonight?” 

“It’ll be late by the time you get the boys, and you’ll have Dustin. We only live a couple blocks apart, you can just bike with Will until you get to your street.”

“Are you sure? I know he’s scared of the dark.” 

“It’s fine, Y/N. You’re already doing enough being there for most of the ride; I’m sure Will can survive the last five minutes alone.” 

You give Jonathan an unsure look, but you don’t argue with him. He’s his brother, he knows Will’s capabilities, and it’s an unspoken fact that you baby Will a bit too much. He’s just so much tinier than the other boys, softer in a way that you want to protect. He’s special. 

Jonathan sneaks you a large peach lemonade and hot dog from the concession stand when you return with his keys. You’ve parked your bike up front, and you accept the food gratefully. You hadn’t had time to eat your usual dinner during your break due to the bookclub mother fiasco, so you inhale the food quickly and give his hair a ruffle. 

“You’re a lifesaver, bee.” 

Jonathan lightly hits your hand away from his hair. “Consider it your payment for dealing with Will and Dustin on your own tonight, bug.” 

Bee and bug were the names the two of you had given each other years ago. Jonathan had started it with bug, stemming from the fact that you love Spider-Man so much, and you had struggled to come up with your own nickname for him. Then it came to you: bee, or B, for Byers. It was perfect, and you’re still incredibly proud of yourself for the creativity, honestly. 

After your quick dinner, you say goodbye to your friend and head off. It’s late now, nearing 9, and you hope that Mrs. Wheeler and your own mom won’t be too upset with you for being late for pick up. You know they prefer to have the boys in bed by a decent hour, but in your defense, Jonathan did skip out on you.

You arrive at the Wheeler’s in a short amount of time and knock on the door. Your cheeks are flushed from the early November cold, and you’re regretting that you only put on a thin sweater and jeans this morning.

Mike answers the door, giving you a dirty look. “Did you have to come early?”

“I’m actually later than usual,” you sidestep him, making your way into his house; you’ve become used to Mike’s attitude. “I take it the campaign is still ongoing?”

“See, mom? Even Y/N understands how long a good campaign can go on for!” Mike waves his arms at you, as if to signify to his mother the importance of your understanding. 

Mrs. Wheeler ignores her son to greet you kindly, albeit a bit exasperated. “Hello, Y/N, please come in.” Then she turns to Mike, giving him a stern look. “Mike, why don’t you tell Y/N how you boys have been playing for ten hours? I’m sure she’ll be understanding then.” 

“You guys have been playing for ten hours?”

Mike looks down in embarrassment for a second before turning to his father for help. You laugh a bit at his enthusiasm and see a faint smile on his mom’s face as well. Quietly you excuse yourself to go downstairs to find the other boys, and Mrs. Wheeler wishes you luck. 

Everyone always acts like the boys are some giant pain; truthfully, you enjoy them. Sure, they can be a handful, but they’re just kids; it’s hard for you to ever stay mad at them. Plus they like you, so it makes dealing with them easier. 

Lucas, Dustin, and Will are running around the basement when you get down there, frantically searching for something. You hear Lucas inform Will that if Mike doesn’t see something, then it doesn’t count. The urgence in his voice amuses you; you’ll never fully wrap your head around why they take DnD so seriously, but you love that they can enjoy it with each other. 

Dustin is the first to see you. “Y/N!”

The other boy’s heads turn to you and they greet you with enthusiasm as well. Will rushes towards you for a hug, which you gladly accept. When you break apart, Lucas gives you a high five and asks about a comic you’ve put on hold for him at the store. 

“Any luck?”

“Sorry, Sinclair. It’s still sold out, but the second it’s restocked I’ll smuggle one for you.” 

“Sick!” 

Dustin walks over, now in his coat and holding a pizza box. “Want a slice?” 

You decline, informing him that Jonathan snuck some food for you. At the mention of his brother’s name, Will asks where he is. You tell him that Jonathan had to cover a shift and that you’ll be taking him most of the way home tonight. 

As you all make your way upstairs, you notice that Dustin continues up to the second floor. Lucas notices too, and the two of you share a knowing look. 

“Still have a crush on Nancy?” You ask, already knowing the answer. 

“Yup.” Lucas responds, smiling in disappointment. 

You wait for your brother outside, helping Will with his coat and listen to Mike’s rambling about the campaign. Lucas is already on his bike, ready to go. 

“There’s something wrong with your sister.” Dustin declares when he finally returns.

Mike looks at you, then at your brother, confused. “What are you talking about?” 

“She’s got a stick up her butt.” 

“Dustin!” You berate. Nancy isn’t your favorite person, but she’s always been nice to you the few times you’ve interacted. You guys used to be closer when you were younger, but high school has a way of distancing people.

“Yeah,” Lucas now speaks up. “It’s because she’s been dating that douchebag, Steve Harrington.” How the hell does Lucas even know about that? You didn’t even know about that until just now. 

“Lucas! Language!” 

“Yeah, she’s been turning into a real jerk.”

“Dustin, I swear to God-” 

The boys ignore you, which you’re honestly not surprised by. While they may like you, that doesn't mean that they listen to you. On a good day they maybe listen to you 25% of the time, but tonight was clearly not a good night. 

Mike finally cuts in, “She’s always been a real jerk.”

“Hey, she’s your sister. Give her some credit-”

Dustin is now the one who cuts you off. “Nuh-uh, only you get the sister leniency, Y/N. Nancy used to be cool, now she isn’t.” 

“Remember that time she dressed up as an elf for our Elder tree campaign?” Lucas asks, almost reminiscent. 

You shudder at the way he says it, and you shudder more when you see the dreamy look in your brother’s eyes. “Yeah, I remember…” 

“Gross,” you huff at your brother, now hopping on your own bike. 

Lucas and Dustin begin to pedal away, and you call after them to wait up. Will is still with Mike, and you promised Jonathan you’d get him home. You give the boys a bit of space, waiting a few paces ahead. Will has always been shy around Mike, something that you’ve tried not looking into too much, but to be safe you give them some privacy. 

Faintly, you hear Will say, “The Demogorgon, it got me.” 

Lights flicker a bit, but you’re too focused on the slight unease you feel by Will’s words. Before you can think too much about them, he joins you. “Race you up to Lucas and Dustin?”

“You’re on,” you tell him. 

Will beats you to the boys (which you let him do), and you’re out of breath. The four of you bike in silence for a bit until you reach Lucas’s turn into his neighborhood. 

“Good night, ladies.” He says, and you don’t need to be a psychic to know what your brother’s response is going to be.

“Kiss your mom ‘night for me.” Bless him.

You and Will giggle together, and Dustin smirks at the two of you, proud. He sits in the praise for a few moments before challenging you and Will to race home with the promise of a comic for whoever wins. 

“I call last year’s Black Cat issue of Spider-Man!” You call out, already biking away from the boys. 

“We didn’t say go!”

Dustin and Will call after you as they try to catch up, and within a few seconds the three of you are speeding down the hill towards your home. You laugh gleefully, enjoying the way the wind whips through your hair and the way Dustin, though annoyed by your early start, laughs alongside you with Will. 

Somehow Will is the one who wins the race, which you’re impressed by. He may be small, but he’s surprisingly good at winning when it comes to a competition. Dustin shouts at Will that he’ll kill him, which makes you send a warning look at him. 

“I’ll take your X-Men 134!” Will retaliates, still flying through the street. 

You and Dustin are now stopped at your mailbox and you take a moment to catch your breath before shouting at Will, “Be careful, please! Stay safe!”

“I’ll be fine, I promise!” Will’s voice is distant, now a few yards away, and you stand outside for a few more seconds to watch his figure disappear into the night. Dustin has already gone inside but you wait to follow, only going inside when you can no longer see Will, hopefully home safe and sound. You feel fear creep upon you, but you chalk it up to your usual worry when it comes to the boy. 

He’ll be okay, Jonathan should be home within the hour. 

– 

The next morning you’re frantically biking to school, pissed off at Jonathan. He’s your ride every morning, or everywhere, really, and for the second time in 24 hours he’s bailed on you. Dustin left for school ages ago on his bike, so you’re thankful he doesn’t see you embarrassingly sweaty and gross as you race to school. 

It’s not that you’re pissed that Jonathan bailed again, you’re pissed because he didn’t even have the nerve to call you ahead of time to warn you. Now you have only ten minutes before the first bell rings, and your sweater clings to you uncomfortably as you sweat. 

You make it to school with a few minutes to spare, so you quickly make your way over to your locker to grab the necessary books for the day. You’re still sweaty, and you don’t want to even think about what your hair looks like right now. You look down the hall towards Jonathan’s locker, still not seeing him, and you begin to worry a bit. Maybe he overslept after last night’s shift? 

A body crashes into yours, sending your notebooks spiraling to the ground. Steve Harrington looks at you sheepishly, only saying a small “whoops!” before continuing his fast pace towards the girl’s bathroom. You scoff, now even more annoyed with your entire morning, picking up your stuff as you see Nancy enter the same bathroom a few moments later. 

“In a public school bathroom?” You mutter in disgust, collecting the last of your things and heading to class. 

You decide to give Jonathan until second period, sophomore English which the two of you share, before you freak out. You know you have a problem with over worrying about the people you love, so you try to calm yourself down. While Jonathan has never been the type to cancel without at least calling first, you reason with yourself that everyone has a bad morning. He simply slept in too late. When he wakes up, he’ll come to school and he’ll be sitting in the seat next to you in English. 

Except Jonathan isn’t in the seat next to yours when you enter the classroom an hour later. Now you officially let yourself begin to worry. Something about this doesn’t feel right. 

You’ve never skipped class before, school has always been important to you. You’re the top of your class with hopes of running away from Hawkins with Jonathan to a big city with an even bigger university. However, you don’t even hesitate to flee the classroom and find the nearest phone in the school to call the Byers’ residence. 

Jonathan answers after a few rings, and the words that leave his lips change your life forever. “Will is missing.”

You feel all the air in your lungs be knocked out of you. You can’t breathe and you sway a bit as your knees threaten to give out. This isn’t real, this can’t be happening. 

“What?”

“Will, he-he’s gone, Y/N. We can’t find him and-” 

You don’t hear whatever else Jonathan says. You struggle to get air back in your lungs. Will isn’t missing, you just saw him last night. Mere hours ago Will laughed next to you, face alive with joy, he hugged you and joked along with you. 

“He didn’t come home last night-”

“He didn’t come home?” Jonathan’s words catch your attention and you feel bile rise in your throat. Will didn’t make it home last night. You were the last one to see him, and the realization crushes you; it’s all your fault. 

“Mom and I just searched the woods, and there’s no sign of him and-” Jonathan is rambling now, his own fear and despair clear in his voice. 

“Jonathan,” you force his name out, now needing to be there for your best friend. You can worry for Will in your own time, right now Jonathan needs you. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” 

“Y/N, you don’t-”

You hang up before Jonathan can argue with you and stumble towards the exit. Your limbs feel heavier than normal, and your ears are ringing. Will is missing. He’s so small, he’s scared of the dark… You left him alone in the dark. 

The bike ride to the Byers home is a blur. You don’t remember much, your body going on autopilot the second you hopped on your bike. You’re running on pure fear and adrenaline right now, too worried for your boys to focus on anything else. 

You don’t bother to knock when you arrive, instead you let yourself in. Joyce is on the phone, arguing with some woman named Cynthia. Your eyes find Jonathan’s, who is sitting on the couch hunched over something. You walk over to him and sit down beside him and your stomach lurches when you see the words “have you seen me?” he’s so neatly printed out on a piece of paper.

“Bee…” you exhale, voice cracking a bit. 

Jonathan doesn’t say anything, but you know him as well as you know yourself. He doesn’t want comforting words right now. You take his hand into yours and lean your head against his shoulder. Worry has made his muscles tense, but you feel him relax into you a bit as he rests his own head against yours. The two of you sit like that for a moment, taking in the comfort you bring each other. 

“Bitch!” Joyce slams the phone down, causing you and Jonathan to jump apart. 

“Mom,”

“What?” Joyce is a mixture of both rage and anxiety, and you feel awful looking at her. Her son is missing, you can’t imagine what she must be feeling right now.

“You have to stay calm.” Jonathan tells her, his voice firm but kind. You know it’s taking everything in him to be as stable as he is right now; he’s putting on a front for his worried mother. You squeeze his hand, hoping it conveys the support and love that you need it to.

He squeezes back, and you see Joyce finally recognize that you’re there as well. She sends you a weak wave, which you return, before she goes back to dialing and trying to reach Lonnie. Jonathan gives your hand one last squeeze and lets go, now returning back to the posters. You immediately understand that he’s doing this to distract himself, so you do the same and wordlessly help him.

You begin writing your own “have you seen me?” when Joyce once again slams her phone down. The sound makes you flinch, inadvertently messing up your writing, which you sigh at. Before you can ask Jonathan for another piece of paper, you hear a car pull up. 

Jonathan stands up to investigate, alerting his mom that the cops are here. You follow after them outside, your heart dropping when you see Will’s bike in the Chief’s hand. He ushers everyone inside, informing Joyce that he found the bike lying in the road.

“How far was it from the house?” You ask, your voice frail. 

The Chief looks at you, his nametag informs you that his name is Hopper, and raises his eyebrows. “And can I know who is asking?” 

You clear your throat, nervous under his scrutinizing gaze. “I’m Y/N Henderson. I’m close with the Byers, I biked with Will home,” your voice catches in your throat, snagging onto the guilt that has been clawing at you ever since you found out Will was missing. You clear your throat again, determined to continue. “I was with him last night. My brother and I live right off Mirkwood, a few blocks from here. He only had a few more minutes before he would’ve been home.” 

Hopper stares at you. “Mirkwood?”

“It’s where-”

“Yeah, those moron kids explained it to me. I just didn’t think someone your age would call the street that, too.” Then, as an afterthought, Hopper adds, “The bike was found a block from here.”

His words sting, but you ignore it. If the bike was found only a block from the Byers’ home, then that means that something had to have happened to Will only minutes after you last saw him. You feel the familiar churning in your stomach, wracked with guilt. 

“Did it have any blood on it?” Joyce now asks, and you’re thankful she’s taken the attention off of you. 

Jonathan sees your distress and grabs your sweater so that you fall back a bit from the cops and Joyce. “Do you need a minute?”

You can only nod, afraid that if you open your mouth you’ll either cry or throw up. He gently guides you to his room, closing the door. Once you’re alone, he wraps his arms around you and pulls you in tight. You’re shaking harder than ever now, Will’s happy and shining face from last night keeps flashing through your mind. 

You were the last one who ever saw him.

You’re the one who was last responsible for him. 

You.

“It’s not your fault,” Jonathan whispers, his voice muffled by your hair. You’ve always loved how you fit perfectly in his arms, your height difference being just enough that he always rests his chin against your head when he hugs you. 

“I’m the last person who saw him.”

“Y/N, I was the one who asked you to only bike him halfway-”

“No,” your voice comes out louder than you intend it to, and you push Jonathan away. He lets out a confused noise as you grapple at him, forcing him to look directly at you. “I should’ve been with him, Jonathan. It’s your job to support your family, and it’s my job to help you. I have to… I have to be the one who helps you.” 

You’ve always been fascinated by psychology, and you remember reading in one of the journals about codependency; the term was used in relation to addiction, specifically alcoholism, but it had caught your interest. To love someone to the extent that their actions make you feel responsible for them, to selflessly take on their burdens to a debilitating extent, well, it reminded you of your relationship with Jonathan. 

You’ve always taken on whatever Jonathan has had to deal with, ever since you were kids, and it’s always come so naturally to you. He’s never asked you to, and sometimes the extent to which you carry his weight angers him, but it’s how you love.

It’s who you are. You’re always the one who helps, it’s what you need to be able to do. If you can’t help the ones you love the most, then what good is your love for them?

Jonathan may not know about codependency, but he knows how hard you love those closest to you. “Bug, listen to me.” He grabs your face, almost aggressively, in order to cut off your rambling. “My mom, she-she’s already spiraling and I can’t… I need you. I need you to be here, with me, right now. If I lose you too, then I-I don’t know what I’ll do.”

His words cut through you like glass. He’s right, you know he’s right, and you feel another wave of guilt wash over you. This guilt is different from the guilt surrounding Will. This is mixed with shame for allowing yourself to spiral so far and forcing Jonathan to take care of you. Joyce is clearly unwell, you can’t fathom how much he’s had to deal with today. 

You gently remove Jonathan’s hands from your face and take a step back. If you’re going to help him, you need to collect yourself. From here on out, you have to be a wall for him to lean on, a shoulder to cry on, someone who will listen to him. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Jonathan shrugs at you, now allowing a hesitant smile to cross his face. “If it makes you feel any better, it took a lot less pleading to get through to you. I’m still working on my mom.” 

The joke is foul, one that should make you feel even worse than you already do, because what sixteen year old has to plead with their mother to remind her that he’s there, too? The joke is horrible, and it’s exactly what you need to find yourself laughing, and Jonathan joins. 

Codependency can be a bitch, but Jonathan understands you in ways that no one else can. 

“You think the cops are gone?” You ask, wiping away the remaining tears. 

Jonathan listens for any sign of them and shakes his head. “No, I think we’re all clear.”

He walks out the room first and you follow after him. Joyce is standing in the kitchen, staring at the counter with a far off look in her eyes. You and Jonathan look at each other and you motion for him to go talk to her. He nods, and then you motion to the living room to indicate that you’ll continue working on the missing posters. 

Carefully writing on the posters soothes you, in a way. It’s rhythmic, providing a sense of lull that you readily embrace. You faintly hear Jonathan talking with his mother, then you watch as he leads her to her bedroom and shuts the door. When he returns he sits next to you on the couch and begins to work on the posters as well. No words are needed. 

You work on the posters in silence for a few hours until it nears 3pm. Dustin will be getting out of school soon, and you have to be there for him when he’s home. While Will may be Jonathan’s brother, he’s also your brother’s best friend. You get up and head into the kitchen, long familiar now with its layout and usual contents within the fridge, and quickly prepare the ingredients for spaghetti. It’s a simple meal, but Jonathan and Joyce need to eat. Once it’s all laid out, you return to the living room and tap on your friend’s shoulder. 

“Hey, I have to head out now to check on Dustin, but I just put a pot of water on the stove along with some noodles on the counter. I also cut up some vegetables and put them in the fridge for the sauce. Start the meal whenever, I laid everything out for you.”

“Thank you, really,” Jonathan exhales, relief evident on his face. He hadn’t even thought about dinner, which you figured he wouldn’t. 

You bend down to kiss the top of his head. “Anytime, bee. I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” 

“Just…” you linger at the door, not fully wanting to leave him all by himself. “Be careful, please.” 

“Go, Y/N. I’ll be fine, I promise.” Jonathan reassures you.

“I’ll be fine, I promise!” Will’s voice is distant, now a few yards away, and you stand outside for a few more seconds to watch his figure disappear into the night.

It’s brief, but the flashback punches you in the gut. You close your eyes, holding onto the image of Will’s face in the moonlight last night, and when it fades you take a deep breath and force yourself to leave. 

The second you’re on your bike, pedaling away from the house, you let the sobs that have wracked against your throat all day out. It’s messy, the tears coming down your face faster than you can wipe them away. All the fear you’ve felt is now able to freely come out. It’s not the safest way to bike home, but you know that if you hold the tears in any longer you’ll collapse. You do your best to still be alert, but apparently you fail because a BMW honks at you to avoid you hitting it. 

“Fuck!” You yank your bike to the right, having no idea that you had been on the left side of the road, and topple over. The fall isn’t anything bad, but it definitely is your final straw for the day. You lay in the ditch you’ve landed in, staring at the November sky, and let the pain from your skinned knee serve as something to ground you to reality. 

“Holy shit, did I hit you?” 

Steve Harrington stands over you, a horrified look in his eyes. 

“Unfortunately not, otherwise I’d be able to sue you and get money out of it.” 

“Uh… okay?” He offers you his hand, although still very confused. “You didn’t like, happen to hit your head or anything, right?” 

You accept his help, albeit mostly because you have to, and brush yourself off when you’re up. “I’m fine. I just wasn’t paying attention, sorry.” 

Steve nods, as if you almost getting hit by his car makes perfect sense to him. When you walk over to your bike and inspect it for any damage, he follows after you. 

“So,” he whistles, trying to pretend that this is all a completely normal occurrence. “You, uh, need a ride?”

Honestly you don’t know why you’re surprised he hasn’t noticed the clear signs of you crying, your swollen eyes and red nose. Not only is he a boy, but he’s also Steve Harrington. It’s a miracle he even stopped to make sure you weren’t dead. 

“No,” you say, now repositioning your backpack so that you can get back on your bike. “Thanks anyways, Harrington.” 

Steve continues to follow you, even after you’ve started to pedal away. “You’re welcome, random girl I almost hit!”

You’re a bit further now, and you still feel like utter shit, but his words somehow make you laugh a bit. For a brief moment, you forget about everything, so you call behind, “It’s Henderson!” 

“That’s an odd first name!” The boy shouts after you, still following from a distance. 

“Y/N Henderson!” You’re fully yelling now, a good yard away, but you can tell that Steve hears you based on the way he begins to wave eagerly, finally stopping next to his car. Faintly you understand the boyish charm that makes him so loved by all the girls in the school; you understand why Nancy Wheeler has fallen for him.

“Bye, Y/N!” It’s faint, but you swear you can hear a smile in his voice.  

The good mood that Steve Harrington inexplicably puts you in vanishes when you near your house. Nothing has changed, yet it feels as if something has shifted. Will had been here only hours ago. You spot Dustin’s bike laying on the grass, haphazardly thrown as usual. 

Dustin is just taking off his coat when you enter, immediately running over to him to pull him into a bone crushing hug. 

“Y/N!” he squeaks in surprise. 

“Are you okay?” You know you’re squeezing your brother harder than you need to, but God. He’s safe, in your arms, and you’ve now learned that not everyone can say the same about their own loved ones. 

Dustin wiggles a bit, trying to break away from the hug, but you only pull him in tighter. “Geesh, no one died.” 

Normally you’d berate him, but you embrace his snarky comments. They’re what make Dustin so unique, his humor one of your favorite parts of him

When you don’t respond, Dustin stops wiggling around and finally accepts the situation. “I love ya too, sis.” 

You giggle a bit, now pulling away. “At least mom isn’t home right now. The minute she hears about what’s happened, we’ll be on lockdown.”

Dustin’s eyes widen. “Shit, you’re right.” 

“Lan-”

“Language, I know.”

You ruffle his hair, now feeling a bit better. Dustin is still Dustin, so maybe everything will be okay. You and your brother go into the kitchen for your post school snack, and you call your boss to inform her that you can’t make it to your shift. The words “family emergency” catch in your throat a bit, and Mrs. Waters is kind enough not to push it.

Dustin catches you up on his day, informing you about Hopper questioning him and the other boys. 

You scrunch your nose at that. “Is that even legal?”

“Unsure, but it was awesome.”

“Will went missing, Dustin. It isn’t ‘awesome’.”

Dustin tilts his head at you. “Well, I bet Will is going to have a blast hearing everything when we find him.” 

His words are so matter of fact, as if he already knows that Will will be found after all. His naivety worries you a bit, but you also can’t help but indulge in his hope as well. Then you think about what he’s just said. “Wait, who’s ‘we’?”

Your brother pretends he can't hear you, miming at his ears. “Dustin-”

“What?”

“Dustin, you and the boys can’t just-”

“I can’t hear you!” He’s running to his room now with you quick behind his heels. 

“Dustin, I swear to God-”

“I gotta do homework, Y/N, bye!” He slams the door in your face. 

You sigh. There’s no getting through to him, years of being Dustin’s older sister has taught you that, so you go into your room instead. You might as well get started on the assignments you missed today, and you have a huge chem test tomorrow, so you’ll focus on that and keep an ear out for Dustin. Whatever he’s planning with the boys, you won’t let them do it alone. 

After a couple hours of silence from Dustin’s room, you decide to call Jonathan. The line rings for a while with no answer, and eventually you give up. It makes sense that he’s not answering, he’s had a long day. You hope he’s asleep, but you know him better than that. He’s probably holed up in his room, trying to distract himself like you are right now. 

A loud thud from Dustin’s room breaks you from your thoughts. Then you hear a quiet “shhh!” that sounds suspiciously like Lucas, and you immediately throw on your shoes and a jacket and march outside. 

Dustin is halfway out of his window when you arrive, and Mike and Lucas stare at you, caught red handed. 

“Guys, I think she can hear us.” Your brother says, breaking the silence. Mike scoffs at him and Lucas groans. 

You eye the three of them, unamused. “Your best friend just went missing, what the hell are you guys doing out here so late and alone?”

Dustin awkwardly finishes his descent down, finally landing on his feet with a thud. He secures his hat back on his head and goes to grab his bike. You block his path. 

“I’m serious, one of you needs to start talking, now.” 

Lucas and Dustin look at Mike, who is their unofficial leader of the gang, and he huffs. “Look, Y/N, I like you-”

“How thrilling.” You say, voice monotone. 

The boy ignores you and continues to talk. “But Will is missing, and we aren’t just going to sit around and wait. He’s our friend, we have to do something.” 

You open your mouth to speak, but Lucas interrupts you. “You’re definitely our favorite sister in the group, so you’d be even cooler if you let us go.” 

Again, you try to respond, but this time Dustin beats you to it. “Yeah, you’re like, totally cool already. If you pretend that you never saw us, that’d be great.” 

“Guys-”

“And don’t give us a whole lecture about safety. That’s all bull.” Mike says. 

“Boys!” You scream. They all fall silent, not used to you ever raising your voice at them. You’ve only ever yelled at them once or twice, preferring to be the “cool” sister whenever you can, but right now they’re seriously pissing you off. 

“Let me speak.” When no one says anything, you continue. “I’m not going to stop you guys from looking for Will. In fact, I support it-”

“You do?”

You shoot Mike a death glare, which promptly shuts him up. “Yes, I do. However, I’m not letting you guys go alone.” 

The boys all groan at this, acting as if it’s the worst thing in the world to have you tag along with them. You ignore their complaining and head over to where your bike sits against the porch. You zip up your coat, the chill from the night making you shiver a bit. 

“No arguing, or I’ll call all your moms. Ours included, Dustin.”

“Why me?”

“Look, guys. I’m proud of you for stepping up, but I’m coming with. The last time I let one of you boys go off into the woods alone…” 

The boys shift uncomfortably now, realizing how heavy the guilt weighs upon you. After a few beats of silence, Mike finally gives in. 

“Fine,” he says, pointing a finger at you. “But the second you start to freak out, you’re gone.” 

You salute Mike, hopping on your bike as you all begin to bike away. The ride doesn’t take long, since you live just off of where Will was last seen. Thunder rumbles when you all approach the crime scene, and you shudder a bit. 

“It’s going to rain, guys.” You inform them. 

Dustin looks up at the sky with uncertainty. “I think maybe we should go back.”

Mike is quick to shut down the idea, urging the others to keep going. You admire his loyalty to Will, and you figure it’s why the two of you butt heads so often. Out of the entire group, you’re the most similar to him. 

Lucas and Mike go under the caution tape first, and Dustin hangs back. You place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “We can go back, you know.” 

He clenches his jaw, jutting his chin out a bit. “No, Will needs us.”

Your brother puffs out his chest and follows after his friends, leaving you to take up the rear. More thunder rumbles and the rain begins to come down. You flip your hood up, thankful you remembered to grab a hoodie when leaving. 

Mike guides the way with his flashlight, then Lucas, then Dustin, then you in the back. You make sure to keep your eyes on the three boys, scared that the second you look away they’ll be gone. The woods have always creeped you out, but you push your fear down to keep them safe. 

“Will!” Mike calls out, the rain now pouring down on you guys. 

“Byers!” 

“Will, little bee!” You call out as well. He never liked when you called him that in front of the others, but tonight was an exception. 

“I’ve got your X-Men 134!” Your brother bribes, unintentionally making you laugh a bit. If Will is nearby, he’ll surely come out to claim his prize. 

Your foot catches on a tree log, and you slip in the mud before just barely managing to catch yourself. It’s getting hard to see given how dark it is and the rain surrounding you. Dustin voices his concerns, only to be called a baby, and you bite your tongue. If you defend him, he’ll only look more like a baby to his friends. 

“I’m just being realistic!” He retaliates, which you commend him for. 

“Dustin’s right, guys. It’s getting really bad out here. We’re surrounded by a ton of trees, don’t they attract lightning?” You ask, now paranoid that you’ll be struck down any second. 

“You guys are being sissies.” Lucas taunts, annoyed as well. 

You try to argue, but Dustin voices a thought that’s been at the back of your mind. “Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?”

You think back to how Hopper seemed worried when he investigated the Byers home. From what you can recall, he suspected that Will had been running away from something, explaining why he’d abandon his bike.

“And now we’re going to the exact same spot where he was last seen, and we have no weapons or anything?”

Maybe Dustin’s right. This definitely wasn’t your best idea, and you’re regretting letting them follow through with their plan. For someone who claims to want to keep their loved ones safe, you really suck at it. 

“Dustin, shut up.” Mike voices, though he now looks a bit concerned as well. 

“He’s right, Mike.” You speak up, stumbling a bit in more mud. Your shoes are definitely ruined, now. “I was at Jonathan’s when Hopper showed up, he thinks Will was running from something.” 

The boys go quiet now, and when you’re about to suggest going home, you hear rustling in the bushes. 

“Did you guys hear that?” Mike asks. 

Your heart stops as the rustling continues and you all start to twist and turn, looking for the source of the sound. The rustling gets louder, almost as if it’s getting closer, and you tighten your hand around your flashlight, ready to use it as a weapon just in case. 

Then, the light flashes upon a little girl, drenched in an oversized yellow shirt, shivering. Her head is shaved, but her small stature suggests to you that she is indeed a girl. You all stare at her, no one saying a thing. She stares back, a terrified look on her face that breaks your heart. 

“Holy shit,” you whisper. 

Her eyes land on you; something about her reminds you of Will, and  you know that nothing will be the same again.

-

⌑ series masterlist

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⌑ thank you for reading ! feel free to like, comment, reblog, or send in an ask so we can chat <3

[beasblogsposts]

Restless Routine (NxR)

a/n: hiii! This is my second fic on here so pls be kind 🫣 I posted a poll yesterday asking if anyone would be interested in seeing a fluffy Natasha x reader showing how the couple deal with Nat’s nightmares. It was 98% for it so here u go!! I hope u enjoy, any comments / feedback always appreciated.

Much love - Bea ��

Natasha and y/n had been dating for three years, living together for around a year and a half. Had they moved a little quickly? Perhaps. But in the words Tony uses to consistently tease the black widow ‘when you know, you know.’

The two women met at a Stark gala four years ago (yes it took a whole year for Natasha to admit her feelings, she gets embarrassed every time someone mentions it now.) Despite it taking a short while to make it official, the connection between the women was instantaneous. Y/n’s job as a journalist meant she was working the event, occasionally managing to grab each Avenger for a casual interview and update on how their team was doing. The one she was most nervous for though, was the assassin herself…So when the end of the night was nearing, Natasha approached her instead, and the two ended up talking on a couch until 4am…Y/n didn’t even write any of it down, too mesmerised by the green eyes and the way Natasha’s lips moved as she spoke.

Even though the team were saddened to lose their quietest roommate from the compound, they knew they couldn’t stop Y/n and Nat moving in together for much longer. The pair already spent almost every night together, sometimes catching Y/n strolling through the entrance in the middle of the night (which most of the team assumed was midnight booty calls.)

What most of the team (barring Clint and Wanda) wasn’t privy to, is that since they started dating, the only thing that could soothe Natasha’s constant and overwhelming nightmares, was having Y/n beside her.

After three years of being in the happiest and stable relationship she had ever known, Natasha’s nightmares were few and far between, only occurring because of a trigger or a particularly rough mission. However, after an entire childhood in the Red Room and most of her adulthood spent seeing inhumane things, they torturous memories and nightmares of losing her loved ones still had her waking in a cold sweat and breathless.

Most of the time, the pair (meaning y/n) pretty much had the aftermath of these nightmares down to a science. She had a routing to follow that was very effective at soothing her girlfriend and bringing her back to reality as quick as possible.

9 times out of 10, their routine worked, and within 15 minutes the redhead would be once again sleeping soundly, wrapped in her girlfriends arms.

Tonight, however, was not one of those times. Natasha had been on a paired mission with Bruce, that ended in him losing control and almost throwing her off a cliff, only thanks to a new gadget tony had given her the day before was Natasha was able to prevent him from doing any physical damage. Alas, being chased and hunted by someone who is supposed to love you brought back memories for her that she did not want to relive ever again, ones that she had worked tirelessly to process and move on from.

To add insult to injury, the return from the mission was delayed, meaning the day she returned was 24 hours after she was supposed to. Y/n knew the 24th is the day Natasha is due back from her mission, so she managed to push her work trip to the 25th, ensuring she had a night with Natasha to help her recover from the mission before she had to leave. This meant that upon Natasha’s return, y/n was not there to soothe her racing mind, and she was left alone to simmer in her nightmares.

It hadn’t actually been that bad Natasha had reasoned herself as she thought back over the weekend spent without y/n as she waited for the front door to open. But god was she happy to hear the keys in the door.

Later on in the evening, after many hours of reunion kisses, legs tangling and a hot steamy shower, the couple were now sleeping soundly wrapped together in their bed. Both had fallen asleep quickly and were now enjoying some well needed rest.

That was until y/n felt the tell-tale sign of something fidgeting against her chest, she stirred and opened her eyes slightly, lifting her head to analyse how bad the nightmare was.

Natasha was twitching, clutching the sheets against her chest and mumbling incoherent things in her sleep sooo we’re at about a 6/10 Y/n thought, timidly lifting a hand to run along her arm

‘Natasha, baby…wake up’

She whispered softly, trying to rouse her girlfriend from her cursed slumber. This usually did the trick; Natasha would relax in her arms and turn back into her embrace at the sound of her voice.

This night though, the touch caused Natasha’s fists to clench tighter, and the soft words y/n spoke must have morphed into something else in Natasha’s scrambled brain, as she flinched and called out

‘NO…n-no get off her… please’

She all but yelled into the darkness of her bedroom.

Okay now we’re at a 9/10. Y/n thought as she sat up fully, placing her hands more firmly on Natasha’s shoulders and squeezing them just enough to hope that the touch would reach Natasha’s subconscious

‘Natty, baby I really need you to wake up for me… come on honey come back to me’

y/n says a little louder this time, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as Natasha’s eyes flew open and she gasped for breath.

The redhead sprung upright, lurching forward grabbing y/ns shirt and pulling her closer, gasping breathlessly

‘a-are you real? God please tell me this is real’

Natasha rushed out, tears running down her cheeks as she palmed at your shirt, trying to get her hands on any bare skin, just to make sure she could feel you.

‘I’m here my love, it wasn’t real, you’re safe now…I’ve got you my love’

Natasha nodded, burying her face into her chest, taking shuddering breaths and clasping her hands around y/n’s neck. These words alone were usually enough to bring her down, but her breath was still ragged and her eyes were darting around the room.

Without words, y/n knew what needed to be done, knew what Natasha needed from her right now. She carefully unhooked Nat’s arms from around her neck, and with steady movements so she didn’t startle her, stood from the bed, keeping one hand placed on Natasha’s arm.

She stood and flicked on the lamp, illuminating the room so Natasha could see all of her surroundings. Y/n held out her hand, and Natasha took it and stood up wordlessly.

The pair exited the bedroom and walked down the hallway of their city apartment; their first stop was the front door. Y/n still holding the hand of a timid Natasha trailing behind her, aggressively pulled and wiggled the door handle, demonstrating that it had remained safely locked since they had gone to bed earlier that night.

From there, the due moved to the sash windows in their lounge, where Natasha observed her girlfriend tracing her finger along the edges of the glass, ensuring there is no broken glass or gaps in the hinges, just to prove they are still firmly closed.

After this was the kitchen, the study, behind the shower door and into the back of the deep closet. y/n felt the grip on her hand tighten as it did every time they checked the closet, something about that particular confined spot bothering her more than any other part of their New York home.

After half an hour of checking and then rechecking any possible entry point or hiding place in their apartment, y/n and Natasha returned to the comfort of their bedroom, where y/n sat Natasha on the counter in their en-suite, running a warm damp cloth along her wrists and just below her jaw. Tracing her pulse points to relax her nerves and remove any traces of sweat on her skin.

In the few minutes of sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink, with her girlfriend stood between her thighs, trailing her soft hands along her skin, the redhead was now lulling against her, her head resting on her chest and her breathing now even and calm.

Holding a half-asleep spy in her arms, y/n laid down in the bed, cradling her 5’4 assassin. When she tried to reach out and dim the lamp, the spy grabbed her wrist and squeezed gently, sending her a silent sign.

At this, y/n chuckled, leaning back against the pillows

‘I didn’t forget, I was just getting comfy first.’

She spoke, before lowering her voice to a calm whisper to recall the rehearsed mantra Natasha needed at the end of their routine

‘You are safe…you are loved…I am here’

‘No red room…no danger…no fear’

y/n spoke, punctuating each word with a soft stroke along Natasha’s arm, the duvet now secured around them.

After just over a minute of repeating the mantra, y/n felt the grip on her body loosen slightly, and the weight on top of her completely still, the only movements being the rise and fall of Natasha’s torso as she released small breaths into the crook of y/n’s neck.

Every night, y/n would do this every night for Natasha, the woman who would soon be her wife. She made a mental note to grab the ring box from the top of her closet tomorrow morning.

[cripplecharacters]

This isn't my character, but I was playing a game where a character is physically disabled and using a wheelchair. She got into a car crash and suffered from nerve damage, resulting in both of her legs being paralysed. Her doctor told her she could walk again if she underwent a rehabilitation program, but she refused.

Prior to her car crash, she had lost her best friend, and had attempted to bury her grief in her work, becoming more demanding and difficult, which resulted in her co-workers disliking her attitude. The car crash that left her disabled was caused by her running over a red light in the middle of her stress and frustration.

After the accident, she reflected on herself and worked on becoming a better and more reasonable person to work with. Hence, the reason of her decision to refuse rehabilitation is to have her loss of her legs to serve as an anchor to remind herself not to lose herself in her own world and to neglect the feelings of the people around her.

It has been written that her disability doesn't affect her career (she's a film director), and she's still a successful person when we're introduced to her.

Still, I wanted to ask if having a character refuse rehabilitation for their disability a bad writing choice? And if a character wanting to stay disabled to remind themselves of an important life experience harmful to the disabled community in any way?

Hello!

I'm not familiar with the game you're referring to but from the sound of it, it seems to be falling into the Disability as Punishment trope.

The issue isn't necessarily with the character declining rehabilitation. Disabled people decline treatment options all the time for a variety of reasons. Maybe they aren't comfortable with the risks or side effects of the treatment, maybe the treatment process isn't feasible for their lifestyle, maybe they've tried other options and just don't want to keep going with it.

The problem with this case is the context around why the character declines the treatment/rehabilitation. We've talked a lot about the Disability as Punishment trope in the past (you can find some of these posts by scrolling through the #disability as punishment tag).

I'm hesitant to speak more about this specific case for a few reasons. The first is that, as mentioned, I'm unfamiliar with the source media and I don't know anything about the context besides what you've mentioned. Without knowing the full story, I can't tell you if it's a "bad" writing choice or not. The other reason is that we're a blog for writing advice -- not media reviews -- and I'd like to keep this as on topic as possible.

That said, there are a few things to consider if you want to make similar writing choices in your own work.

The first is what kind of message you may be sending, either intentionally or unintentionally. Is disability being portrayed as a "fair punishment" for the character's actions or is their decision something that is shown as being fueled by their grief? Does their decision end up changing at all or do they feel any regret about their decision?

I think this kind of thing (a character declining rehabilitation because they want to remind themself to be better) has potential to work in stories dealing with growth, acceptance, and grief but I'd be skeptical if it's just something in the background that's never addressed.

It's also worth exploring why the character would make this rather drastic decision. It feels odd to me that somebody would make this decision simply to "remind themself" not to do something and punish themself for doing it in the first place.

It feels very trivializing to those of us that didn't get a choice in the matter.

But yeah, without knowing more about the context and the character, I can't say much about the media itself. I'd suggest taking a look through the Disability as Punishment tag, though. It has some helpful information and answers to similar asks.

Cheers,

~ Mod Icarus

[bladekindeyewear]

I don't get why Jade couldn't just shrink everything like she did before and carry it all into the Meat timeline. It seems weird the story gives a constraint that doesn't need to exist? Nothing is stopping her from taking the whole earth into Meat.

We don't know what the constraints actually ARE on how many people could cross over; Vriska never specified. Is it just a physical or size constraint, or is it (possibly more likely) a constraint on how much relevance could be carried through the breach? How much irrelevance? How much each individual brought through adds or detracts from the overall chance of victory?

And how much did Vriska WANT to give them the opportunity to take along the whole planet and all its problems, rather than just the people she knew and liked and could trust? Was her offer to take anyone BUT the children a selfish wish in the first place that she knew was a risk? Or did she know she could "save" everyone from this warped timeline's Earth and simply refuse to offer? If so, what were her reasons? She hasn't given anyone time to examine them yet. Besides, Light and relevance is a funny thing, and Serket might have been able to see that bringing too much of the "funhouse mirror" guff from Candy Earth would just pollute the fuck out of the Canon timeline and potentially unacceptably dilute it, dealing more damage than was safe to Paradox Space and everybody's ability to give a shit about the story, even if it happened to be something that WAS technically in her power to accomplish. Canon is ruled by the strength of Story, and think how badly an entire Candy Earth could mess with the story currently being told! As I suggested above, on at least SOME level, she's almost certainly operating on rules and guidance that have little to do with raw physical capability here, and more with metaphysical Aspects of reality like Light.

Furthermore, DOES Jade as she currently IS still have the power to shrink a whole planet into the palm of her hand as she once did? All the other times we saw her do that, she had Bec's First Guardian abilities, as far as we know. She received a notable power-down since losing the might of the Green Sun, but we've deliberately not been told all the consequences or implications yet, what it truly meant for the newly-restricted limits of her abilities.

If a version of Jade becomes her Ultimate Self, perhaps undergoing as dramatic a transformation as Vriska just did, that might give her a ridiculous amount of power potentially-similar to what she used to command? And it was very strongly hinted in the Epilogues that thanks to the capacity left in her by being part Bec, Jade -- especially the Meat version of Jade, who considered the possibility (when seeing her younger dead body that Alt!Calliope took up, if I recall, back in the Meat Epilogues) -- COULD embrace her Ultimate Self and handle it with her current body, might perhaps still be so on the edge of it that she'd merely have to try to reach out to easily TAKE it... if she dares to CHOOSE to and take hold of that responsibility, to CHOOSE to step beyond the bounds of normalcy forever and sacrifice some of her control and individuality in order to embrace all the hardship and joy her countless iterations across Paradox Space have all experienced, depths of hardship she already knows might be horribly difficult to handle. She might eventually be forced to make that decision to save her friends... but even Meat!Jade has endured a chunk of the same struggles that Candy!Jade experienced in feeling out of place as a Living God and craving the normal life that she was denied in her childhood, so taking that step would mean giving up on that ambition for normalcy that she currently sees -- rightly or wrongly -- as perhaps synonymous with true happiness.

[beastofburdenxo]

Deal of A Lifetime

Tommy's new wife has a terrible accident. He makes a deal that could change everything.

MINORS DNI 2.1k words Tags: Language, face fucking, oral sex, degradation, unsafe sex, P in V sex, cream pie, slight dom/sub vibes, slight dacryphilia, multiple orgasms

“I’m sorry Tommy.” Polly’s words rang out like a bell in his head. “There was a terrible accident. She was hit by a car crossing the street to go to work. They don’t know if she’s going to make it.” Tommy dropped to his knees cursing any deity listening to his cries. “I told her Polly; I told her not to go in today. I knew something bad was going to happen, I just knew it. I can’t lose another wife; I just can’t do it.” A few years back his first wife was shot and killed in front of him, and now this. It’s almost like a cruel prank the universe has put on Thomas Shelby. He can only be happy for a little while until everything comes crashing down. She was his saving grace in his personal storm called life, and now possibly she may be called away. Tommy stood up, a mixture of sadness and pure rage in his heart. “I must go to her Polly. Maybe I can call her back to me.” He goes outside with almost a physical storm cloud over his head. The people of the town know to stay away, not even to give their condolences. The first person stupid enough to come up to him is liable to be shot. Tommy almost wishes someone would; so, he would have something to take his anger out on.  

He storms through the hospital doors, demanding to see his angel on earth. “Where is she?!” Tommy roars to no one in particular. “So help me God, where the fuck is she?!” A timid nurse takes him to her, and it is a grim sight indeed. She is lying in the hospital bed, with bandages on much of her body. She is unconscious, pain meds running through her damaged system. “It’s not looking good Tom,” Arthur comes up behind him, hand on his shoulder. “She has lost a lot of blood; Doctor’s say it’s touch and go. Most of her body is damaged in some way.” Tommy’s knees got weak at this news. “I want the driver found and cut on the spot; I don’t care who sees.” He enters her room. She looks so fragile and weak lying there. “Tommy’s here angel, I’m right here.” He gently grabs her hand. “Stay with me love, please, I need you.” With no one else around, he starts to cry. “I told you to stay home didn’t I, eh? So stubborn you are.” Tommy leans down to put his face in the crook of her neck, and just sobs. Begging and pleading with her and anything or anyone listening to stay with him. “I need you, love. Please. I love you so much, I can’t be left alone again. You are my everything, you know that? I do this all for you, fuck everyone else. I need you with me.”  

Night falls, and there is no improvement. Eventually, the nurses kick Tommy out and he is forced to leave her. Threatening them was no use. Anger surfaces again in place of despair as he proceeds to punch the brick building until red leaves his vision. He slumps down against the building, face in his bloody beat-up hands. He knows what he must do. Opinions of the family be damned. Against better judgment, Tommy Shelby must go to the crossroads. He’s heard of the crossroad demon all his life. He never had much use for one until now. He knew the payment in return would be high, possibly even his tattered soul, but it was worth it in his eyes. Five minutes till midnight he stands at the crossroad, small wooden box in hand. Inside is a picture of the one he is doing this for, and a lock of his hair. Tommy digs a small hole and buries it, a small offering to call the demon. For good measure he cuts the palm of his hand and trickles his blood over the mound of dirt. And now Tommy waits. He checks his pocket watch; it is midnight on the dot. “Alright, you demon where are you? I left the offering. I know you can’t resist the smell of blood.”  

Tommy hears footsteps. “Actually, it’s the smell of desperation that we can’t resist. The blood is just an added bonus.”  A woman; or what used to be a woman now stands before him. Tall and graceful looking, with deep amber skin. She was quite beautiful, but Tommy knew it was just a vessel. The inside was rotten as could be. “Ahh, Tommy Shelby. The devil of Small Heath. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Her voice was intoxicating, running up his spine almost causing a tremor. “Cut the shit, demon. You know why I am here; I want to make a deal.”  The demon slowly walks closer to Tommy. “Is that right? What could I possibly do for big bad Tommy Shelby? Not tall enough, are you? Trade your soul to feel like more of a man?” She finds this very funny, and she begins to giggle. Tommy’s patience is running thin. “This isn’t about me you bitch. It's my wife. She's in the hospital and it’s not looking good. Please help her.” She stops giggling. She blinks and her eyes are now solid black. Demon eyes. “Oh, poor baby. Tommy’s flavor of the month is going to die, oh no! Only a demon like me can save her.” Her voice dripping with sarcasm. “What’s in it for me? Your soul? That pathetic thing isn’t worth trading for. You have taken almost as much lives as me.” Tommy drops to his knees. “Please, I have money. I have gold. I have cocaine. Please name your price.” An evil grin crawls across the demon’s face. “Well, well, I have Tommy Shelby on his knees. She must be important for you to grovel. This is quite a pretty sight. Are you going to start crying too?”  

The demon reaches down and tugs at his hair, making him look at her in her midnight eyes. “I could leave you be with your love for ten years. Then send my hell hounds after you to take you back where you belong. Make you watch her cry for you until she moves on. Have you watch as another man claims her as his own. Would you like that? She would still be alive to break your heart over and over again.” Tears form in Tommy’s eyes at the thought of her forgetting him. But she would be alive, and that’s all he ever wanted. “You say you have gold, money, and cocaine. Is your body on the table as well?” Tommy’s eyes grow big. “Are you asking to use my vessel? Possess me?” She shoves him to the ground using her unnatural strength. She straddles him, pinning him to the spot. “Well, I'll certainly be using you. You’ll be begging me to possess you before it’s over. The pleasure will be just too much for your mortal vessel.” She bends down and licks the side of his face, making him cringe. “You nasty bitch!” Tommy snarls, “This is serious and you're using the situation to get laid?!” She runs her hands along his body, “What can I say? When the opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to take it. Besides, it’s the only thing I miss about being mortal. The hot nasty sex. That’s one thing you pathetic humans get right.”  

She pulls down the top of her dress, exposing her large breasts to Tommy. He turns his head, willing his body to not betray him. “Look at me Tommy.” She purrs seductively wiling him to fall prey to her. “Look at this beautiful body. Don’t you want this? I see inside you Tommy; I see your weakness. You love a willing woman, don’t you?” She slowly starts to grind against him, demanding that he participate in her sick game. “You’re not a real woman demon!” Tommy protests. “You’re using some poor vessel to disguise yourself. You are far from human you evil whore!” This angers the demon, and she slaps him across the face. “This is how it will be Tommy, give yourself up or little wifey dies. Got it? Now seal the deal with a kiss.” Tommy takes a shaky breath, knowing there is no way out now. He started this whole thing, he summoned her. Now it’s time to pay up to save his wife. He angrily grabs her face and kisses her with all he has. The deal has been made. “Now was that so hard Tommy?” The demon asks, as her hand reaches down to undo his pants. “Ahh, now here’s something that is hard.” Her hand contacts flesh and finds what she is looking for.  

She slowly pulls his cock out, her eyes returning to human form. “Well, well, so rumors about you are true huh?” Tommy sits up, fed up with her mouth. He grabs the sides of her head and forces himself in her mouth. “Shut the fuck up demon. You wanted me so badly, well here the hell it is. Choke on it.” She easily slides down to the base, taking every inch of him down her throat. He growls at how well she takes him. His wife can’t even do that. “Can’t speak now, can you? Just some fucking peace and quiet with a human cock down your throat.” Tommy continues to use her throat like a toy, berating her with every stroke. “Even a demon needs a man to put her in her place huh? Still some holes that need to be filled, soul or not.” Now it is the demons turn to be sick of his shit. She grabs his hips and throws him off her. She moves faster than the blink of an eye and has him on his back again. “I only let you do that to me. I could have broken your neck, you worthless sack of shit. You are my toy to do as I see fit. Now serve your purpose and shut your mouth before I change my mind you cock with legs.” Before he can form a rebuttal, she sinks down on him in one swift motion. She may be dead inside, but she is still very warm around him. Drawing him in her web. Tommy’s mind goes blank, too drunk on her to feel angry anymore. She tilts her head back in pleasure. “Yes Tommy, this is definitely your purpose. Just a brainless hole filler, aren’t you?” She looks down at his drunken face. “Can’t even form a response, it’s like you’ve never been fucked before.” She grabs his face, “Look at me when I fuck you, Tommy. It’s just what you need, to be reminded where you belong. Underneath. Me. Servicing. Me.” Thrusting hard with every word. As much as he hates this, her words make him fall apart with a cry inside her. A woman has never spoken to him like this before and his body can’t get enough of it. 

He comes inside the demon, his whole-body trembling. “Oh no Tommy, was that too much for you?” The demon feigns compassion. “Looks like we’ll have to go again, see if you can get it right this time.” Tommy tries to tell her no, that he is too sensitive. She starts up again, ignoring his pleas for a small break at least. His body ignores him too, he’s hard as iron ready to be used again. Tommy bites his lip, trying to hold in the whimpers of sensitivity turning into pleasure. “Let me hear those pathetic whimpers, Tommy. Be good for me, yeah? Be a good cock for me?”  She rides him on the hard ground with all she has, and Tommy can’t take much more. “Yes, yes, I'll be a good cock for you. Yes, please come, please come, yes, I'll be good.” Tommy is blabbering, not even sure he is making sense. He doesn't know if she is really that good, or if she's just using her magic on him. He honestly doesn't care. She is just so good that his mind is melting. “Good boy, Tommy. Good boy. I'm going to come so hard; you are such a good toy for me to use, aren’t you?” Without any further warning, the demon milks him with supernatural strength, making tears fall down Tommy’s face. Her orgasm causes her eyes to blacken again as she looks down at her human toy, crying and spent with pleasure as it’s her turn to tremble and shake. Coming down from her release, she strokes his overwhelmed face. “You know, you are so pretty when you cry. I’d go again if I didn’t think it would kill you. Maybe next time.” She stands up like nothing happened between them, fixing her dress. “Your wife is awake; you might want to fix yourself up and go see her. Consider the debt paid, until I want more that is. You will be seeing me again dear Tommy.” The demon disappears into the dark, leaving Tommy wondering if the debt will be until he dies naturally, or until she kills him. 

[yandere-paramour]

I know kids have been asked about but how they would they treat a physically pregnant darling?

From the second he learns about your pregnancy, Vivien dedicates himself to making this as easy as possible. He checks out all the books on babies at the library, reading and taking notes on everything. He wants to study every technique, every opinion, anything to ensure you have the safest and most comfortable pregnancy possible. You can't stop working, but as soon as you get home, he directs you to put your feet up and relax. Anything you're craving, he'll cook it for you. Need the remote, he's up and grabbing it. Morning sickness, he's holding your hair back and working with his herbs to find a concoction to beat it. Our sweet Vivien will run himself ragged trying to look after you. He says you're "growing body parts" so him running out at 3am to get sesame chicken is nothing. He shows up to every single doctor's appointment with a notepad, even if it's in the middle of the work day, taking copious notes on whatever the doctor says. He is also incredibly worried, but he doesn't want to annoy you or make you mad at him. He constantly checks how you’re feeling, reminding you regularly to tell him if you feel anything strange or wrong and he'll rush you straight to the doctor. He'll ask for the both of you to take gentle walks, to lay in bed a while longer, to eat more vegetables for the baby's health. He is fully aware that while this is your undertaking, he needs to take responsibility and be the best husband he can be. Any requests about the birth are honored, and he is the kind of guy to be fully involved by letting you squeeze his hand as hard as possible. He will also cut the cord and pull the kid out himself if he has to, he's not squeamish. He volunteers for every diaper and late-night feeding, and he will massage your aching stretch marks at least thrice a week. He starts out somewhat awkward with the baby, he has never had much experience with little children, but the love he holds for his child is almost tangible. He rambles to them constantly, talking about his plants, his work, and how much he loves his new little family.

Atalanta is pleased but concerned. She is not panicked like Vivien; she knows that the pregnancy itself is already implanted in the uterus, and thus, the hard part is done. She can take care of the rest. She becomes stricter when you're pregnant. Your main rule now is to do nothing that could put you or your daughter in harm's way, no junk food, a daily gentle exercise schedule, and your outfits planned by her to make sure you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on your abdomen. Atalanta cannot take a chance on losing this child; she needs an heir, therefore this child will be born and born healthy. She will pay an entire team of doctors to consult on your pregnancy with daily checkups to ensure everything is going right, no matter how annoying it is. You can still spend time with your friends and family, the time is just now limited because she wants you home and taking a rest once a day now. She completely stops all punishments, she is too scared that even hurting your feelings will damage the child somehow. Any small slights will be forgiven, and anything major will be remembered until after the birth. She buys only the latest, most well-studied baby equipment, and hooks you up to it daily. She will allow you to take charge during the birth, she knows it is a sensitive and delicate time, but she wants to cut the cord and hold the child first. After the birth, congratulations: you have earned the ultimate rest. Atalanta will bring in a trusted nurse to care for the child, and you do not have to worry about any of the gross things like changing diapers or dealing with spit-up. You just have to focus on healing and bonding with your new daughter. If you would like, Atalanta knows of a wonderful spa for postpartum mothers in California. It's only 1k per night; she can easily set up a month for you and the child to recover there; she'll just have to work remotely for a while. Atalanta loves her daughter; she is a good mother, albeit a little distant, but she will support and care for her child through everything.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Got any trans HCs for the amphibia trio? I love the many different interpretations I've seen from this fandom

I don't know about specific headcanons, I know I'm considering making Anne trans in RiAAU but I haven't decided yet.

In one hand: it would be interesting to think how she deals with her first periods because, well, amphibians don't have those, and Hop Pop assumes she's dying (she doesn't tell anyone else because she's so embarrassed). Not that he tells her that, but it really freaks him out. He thinks she has some sort of internal damage, and it's only after months of research that he finds out about some rare mammalian species, such as a few monkeys and rodents, that experience the same cycle Anne goes through. The whole point of this is that it makes Anne feel even more out-of-place. She doesn't remember her world or her parents, only that she came from "somewhere" (possibly another continent) full of people of her species, and she wonders if things would have been easier if she grew up with her biological family. I mean, surely this would be easier. It just serves as a reminder that she knows nothing about her species, not even its name, and she has no idea of how her biology works or what is good and bad for her or how long she'll live or what changes she'll go through.

.

BUT, on the other hand: Trans Anne. Let's start with the obvious: amphibians don't have penises or vaginas and they reproduce externally, meaning they like... release eggs and sperm in the water and they mix without the involvement of either parent, meaning no one knows what the cultural significance of a "penis" or a "vagina" tends to be in most human cultures. As a literaly 3yo, Anne probably didn't have an extensive understanding of s.ex and gender, and it wasn't like the clothes she showed up with told Hop Pop much. She just knew that, as time went on, she found herself relating more and more to the female frogs of Wartwood, and she almost subconsciously began to refer to herself as a girl. There wasn't any big coming out moment, more like a point in which, after months of ambiguity (this kid kept using different pronouns for herself) she just settled on some good ol' she/her and began picking somewhat girly clothes when Hop Pop took her to the market.

It's not like the concept of trans people doesn't exist in Amphibia, it's just that Anne didn't realize that was her situation until, at least, meeting Marcy, and noticing the differences between them. It's not like either of them had ever seen another human from up close, so they didn't know what to expect anyway. Anne's only encounters with Sasha beforehand had consisted on magical girl swordfighting in the sky and whatnot. Certainly not enough to discuss their unique biology, which is something Marcy is very excited to discuss, since she's never met anyone with her same "condition" before, and she wants to know everything, so she uses her as her little rat lab whenever she has the chance. Even then, since she also lacks all knowledge of human s.exual dimorphism and its cultural implications, she doesn't associate anything about either of their bodies to any specific gender that could possibly be asigned to anyone based on biological feautures. Since Sasha remembers the most from Earth, she's probably the only one who could maybe possibly remeber her mom or the kindergarden teacher saying something about "the difference between boys and girls", but by the point she's in speaking terms with Anne, and by the time she realizes their bodies are different, she doesn't really care.

That's not to say Anne doesn't experience dysphoria or that she never undergoes any kind of physical transition. It was probably around the time her voice started to change during puberty that she realized her case may be kinda unique: neither Marcy nor Sasha's voices have changed that much, she can tell even though she only sees Marcy in person like once every 3 years and all the words she exchanges with Sasha consist of death threats and insults. Plus, there's a clear difference between """male""" and """female""" voiced in frogs too. She doesn't want to sound like a man! She doesn't want to be anything like a man! Men are gross! Sorry Sprig, Hop Pop, but it's true. Men are icky icky yuck yuck and Anne is a girly girl. She doesn't want to turn into Stumpy! Or Buff Loggle! Oh, no, is that her future? She commits the triple mistake of 1) sending a letter to Marcy that same day, 2) knocking on Maddies' door promising her firstborn if she can save her from turning into Stumpy, and 3) she becomes obsessed researching mammalian biology in the archives. Bad decision. Bad bad. She's discovering things to feel dysphoric about she never even knew existed! Did you know mammalian mothers feed their offsprings with "milk" that comes from their "mammary glands"? Did Sasha and Marcy have those? She hates herself a little for checking out Marcy next time she sees her and she realizes that, indeed, in the past years she's grown a pair of those that Anne does NOT have. She notes that both she and Sasha are pretty much hairless. She used to think hair was a normal mammalian trait! That weasel that tries to eat the frogs every winter sure is covered in it!

Maddie shows up to her door with a bunch of new spells to try out, happy to have a willing subject. Most embarrassingly, Marcy starts doing her own research as soon as she gets Anne's letter and sends her all her discoveries, and now Anne feels mortified because Marcy knows about all the bad bad very bad changes she's going through (Marcy, for her part, is just fascinated by the nature of their "condition").

It takes a bit, but after a few very frenzied weeks, Anne comes to understad what's going on: her species had certain level of sexual dimorphism and she just happened to have been born with the supposed "sex" usually associated with "men" as a social category. When Hop Pop finds out, he burst into laughter. Oh, it was THAT all along! Anne made it sound so complicated, but it was just the same things he went through when he was younger, just the other way around ("Say what now Hop Pop?")! A few curses here and there and she won't have to worry about these so called "mammary glands" and "hair" anymore, though in the meantime, as Maddie perfects a human-friendly curse, she gets turned into all sort of different creatures. By the time it's done, she just wants to feel like... herself.

It's true that there are some things about her body that make her feel weird, like they don't quite fit in, but there are others she only worries about because she compared herself to Sasha and Marcy, which wasn't fair to anyone involved. Did she really want to fundamentally change parts of her body because of insecurities she developed last week over a book about lemurs? Then, a second set of fears come in: what will happen when she goes back to her place of origin? Because she does want to find her birth family. Will they recognize her, if they're looking for a boy? Will they think she's lying if she claims to be their daughter? If she changes only a few things but doesn't "go all the way", will people there think she's a freak? Will she ever be able to fit in with those of her species?

Does she really care so much about what other people think? She just wants to be herself. Some of the changes she's been going through are making her feel less like herself and more like she's being turned into a tax collector from Toad Tower. Those things have to go - her voice, for example. And she wants a more femenine silhouette (she may or may not show Maddie photos of young Mrs. Croaker as a reference). She wants a softer face. She's seeing her face changing in the mirror and she doesn't like it. She wants it to stay round and soft, not to grow hard and sharp or big and rough. She's not so sure she wants those "mammary glands". It's not like she ever thought about having kids, and the whole "breastfeeding" thing just seems gross, but after her research, and finding out she could have kids with, I don't know, maybe Marcy one day (a thought that makes her blush), she thinks it may be a good idea. She'll consider it. Maybe later. Her genitalia... well, she's used to what she has now. It already took her like 10 years to fully figure out what it was and how it worked and starting over with a whole new set just feels like too much work (also, the babies, the potential babies with Marcy). Frogs and toads have neither "penises" or "vaginas" so there's not a lot of information, and based on books about lemurs and her own empirical experience, comparing herself to other mammalian species isn't too useful. She'll leave it the way it is. She'll see if there's anything else she wants to change later, or if she wants to go back on something.

Marcy is surprised next time Anne visits Newtopia. In her letters, she described this strange transformation in excruciating detail, but seeing her in person now, holding her face in her hands, all she sees is the same Anne she's always loved.

A few more ideas:

HEADCANON: in Amphibia, two people of the same "s.ex" can reproduce through magic, which means there has to be a concious effort and intent. The external fertilization process there's no such thing as a pregnancy, and there's no such thing as s.ex. All reproduction is intentional, which means there's no need for abortion either. There are processes to destroy fertilized eggs and embryos, but they look completely different from human abortions.

Amphibians may perform acts resembling s.ex for pleasure or fun but they look different from human s.ex and have no relation to reproduction.

Andrias is the only person in Amphibia who knows enough about humans to know how they reproduce (a process he finds repulsive). He never tells Marcy, of course, though once she becomes queen, she finds his secret library and his hidden tomes on "alien biology", some of which talk about humans. He's also the only one who knows humans can have children on accident, and that Anne is the only human in Amphibia who could cause something like that to happen (he reads all of Marcy's correspondence). He knows his daughter is very close to this weird farm girl penpal of hers, and even though she's still a child, he worries for her future and the future of the crown. This new discovery could land the crown in the hands of a dynasty of aliens if he's not careful. Is it weird that he spends so much time worrying about his 12yo daughter getting pregnant from another 12yo? Yes, yes it is, but he already controls every aspect of her life, it's not like he's going to stop at her sexuality, future, real, or imaginary.

Man now that I wrote it all down, I think this option is more compelling than the first. Maybe I WILL go with this one.

[storiesconsumemysoul]

I don't know how to articulate this perfectly but I'm so happy for how the show is portraying Renna's desire for an emotional "connection" with Egwene as genuine because it highlights, to me, a crucial underlying aspect of Egwene's psyche going forward. A particular allergic reaction she'll develop let's say. The Seanchan are messing her up in about a thousand different ways but one of the more prominent ones is that it completely F U C K S with her relationship to power/authority. Especially within the context of a personal relationship.

Egwene is absolutely the embodiment of the "I'm going to get a good grade in ________, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve" meme. Which initially, while very strong-headed and singularly motivated, does make her quite amenable to being governed. She's a Grade A+ Student(TM) with a healthy dose of "respect authority" and "give benefit of doubt to the system and its enforcers" that generally comes with that. The only real conflict for her then was whose authority and which hierarchy of knowledge she was acquiescing to, Nynaeve/The Wisdom or Moiraine/The Aes Sedai.

Then she's made into a Damane. With all the horror that that entails. An absolute governing of every aspect of her being, a ruthless domination of her body, a weaponization of her mind against her. A complete stripping of personhood and agency while in the same breath exalting her power that is being put to "proper use". Now all of that is already enough to severely break her amenability to authority and people having power over her ever again. But it's more than that.

The horror is encased in intimacy. This forced intimacy that invades her body both on a physical level (all the ways in which her body is literally controlled directly by Renna) and magical level (the high/rush of touching the One Power even when done forcibly and against her will that is facilitated only through a connection with Renna). And Renna wants to have a third in genuine emotional intimacy. Renna sincerely wants to be close to her. She genuinely feels good and exhilarant when they're "connected". She offers, what are in her eyes, kindness, consideration, and thoughtfulness to this person who is, surely, resisting and defying merely out of stubbornness and spite. She is legitimately seeking a companion in Egwene to face the Last Battle with and make a stand for the greater good. Renna knows she is right and she wants nothing more than for Egwene to truly see that too. Why can't she see what is good for her?

If only ... she'd just ... submit. To being loved and held and ruled in the right way. For her own good.

To me, every interpersonal conflict that Egwene finds herself in, in one way or another, is tainted by this aspect of her time as a Damane. Renna poisoned her ability to navigate an interpersonal conflict as anything but an existential power struggle that she MUST win. No matter how much true love and care each party holds for the other, no matter which of them is right or wrong. Her sense of identity cannot survive anything else. Especially when it's with someone who does legitimately, in one way or another, have power over her and isn't afraid to exercise it.

I just ... I really love Egwene and I think her effed up relationship to power is really really interesting and heartbreaking actually. And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the lasting damage the Seanchan deal her.

[goldenhallas]

I unlocked all the memories in the Lighthouse and I'm vibrating with excitement rn! so many things me and my brothers discussed over the years have turned out to be true, or almost correct. We thought the Evanuris were also the Old Gods of Tevinter, which was close since the Old Gods were actually the Evanuris' bound dragons. We also thought Solas/other ancient elves were spirits (the way I shrieked when that was confirmed lmao). Now looking back at Inquisition it gives a whole new layer to the Cole situation... Cole chose to manifest in a physical body and he could become more physical, more human, but Solas didn't want him to and greatly disapproves if you do that, not just because it 'goes against his nature' as he said, but because it reminded Solas of when he chose to become physical and his regrets surrounding that. Damn. I wonder if it's possible for Solas to somehow reverse what he did and become fully spirit again, and if he would choose that if he could? What about Ghilana/Solavellan, would she change his mind on that? Anyway I digress. You know what really has me shook about all this... I was literally 100% certain, not a doubt in my mind, that Ghilan'nain created the Blight. I never for one second suspected it was Solas!? Like. Holy shit, he really, really fucked up on a whole other level with that one. He separated the dwarves from the titans / took away their ability to dream, and not only that, but he knew the damage it would cause and what he was doing was awful, but he did it anyway. All because he loved Mythal so much he would've followed her anywhere, even into doom. It's so tragic and romantic and terrible all at the same time, so very Solas, and I love it. I have to wonder though... how does he feel about what he did to the dwarves now? Obviously he regrets what he did, that's clear, but why didn't he give their dreams back at some point between then and now? All it took was Harding touching the lyrium dagger to get reconnected to the titan, so surely Solas could've done that? So why didn't he? I know he was preoccupied with other stuff but that's a pretty damn big deal. Maybe he didn't realise a simple touch of the lyrium dagger was all it would take to reconnect them? Or maybe - and I think this is more likely - the titan is too dangerous right now because of its anger at what was done to it (understandable) and he thought reconnecting them before he healed/calmed the titan (if that's possible?) would be a bad idea for the dwarves? My brother thinks he just didn't care but I think that's ridiculous and doesn't seem like Solas at all.

I mean Solas could burn down the entire world and I'd still love him, so whatever the case I'm his ride or die, but I do want to give him a bit of a clip around the ears and make him look the dwarves in the eye and apologise to every single one of them and FIX what he did to them. I'm also wondering if this whole thing with Rook IS part of his plan to fix what he did? He was known as the trickster god and he was known for getting out of traps, so you never know

[silens-oro]

I love everything about well enough Hawk and Pope are soulmates . Your writing is such a godsend in this fandom. I also love your memes.

Hawk is someone who is really needed in the series, I love how aside from the Andrea plot point J in school, like his senior year, is somewhat forgotten. Also like his care, who is taking this boy to the dentist or the doctor? Like is he studying for his SATs? I feel like Hawk would really be on the Cody‘s ass for this because let’s face it. That’s her son. I also think it’s hilarious how Hawk is his surrogate mom, he didn’t have to quite live in the squalor that he originally did. You know he probably has nice clothes, trendy sneakers fancy gadgets. And he’s facing the real possibility that Pope would be his weird uncle/step-dad, and he’s just nooot happy about that.

I understand since Hawk has the money in this series. I kind of imagine that she did try to get Julia clean and maybe paid for inpatient rehab and maybe it’s stuck for a little bit…but the damage Smurf inflicted and the fact that her whole family abandoned her really just broke her heart. Julia was probably very happy and grateful she had Hawk to be there for J and her (they were girls together 😭). HC, Hawk never gave $ to Julia to buy drugs but made sure she had a roof, clean clothes and food. Julia dealing with the fact that she never had a normal childhood, been dealing with addiction for so long, it makes sense something irrevocably broke. If anything this makes J even more angry because these people left his mom in the dust and are now trying to sink their claws into him and his other mom. he might be slightly less hardened in terms of survival skills (Hawk spoiled him) but he is still jaded.

I’m starting season three and it’s honestly just so tragic what is happening to Lena. She’s just getting borderline neglected by everyone except Pope, her personality changes so drastically. I feel so bad for Cath, everything she didn’t want for her daughter ended up happening. She didn’t play it smart enough sadly and died for it.

I wonder if Hawk is ever going to find out just the gravity of what J is involved in, it’s also kind of funny because she’s been losing her mind at Pope icing her out meanwhile, if she really knew what was going on she probably beat the crap out of just everyone.

That being said, despite them fighting, that magnetism between them that you have written is just so *chefs kiss*. Up till now the smut has been very sensual, deep and wholesome. She’s been this very nurturing person to him. I just imagine them fighting and that raw sexual energy amounting to something more fierce. *wink* Like a dress had easy access *wink, wink*

anyways, thank you so much for adding to this fandom and just dedicating your time into bringing such compelling characters into existence. I really appreciate it and I eagerly await any of your updates. big kith muaw 😽

tw: talks of addiction First off, thank you so much for this incredibly thought out message. I've read this and re-read it 100 times, kicking my feet and twirling my hair. I wanted to take the time to properly respond to this because you hit the nail on the head with most of it.

I wanted to show a more complex relationship for Pope where it wasn't just 100% nurturing him/filling the spaces that have been vacant his whole life. He and Hawk are human and will make mistakes (intentionally or unintentionally is a whole other conversation). Navigating those emotions and trials within their relationship, the give and take of the dynamic, with everything else that's happening around them and how it effects the both of them was very important to me.

Hawk is 100% stressing about the routine things that she did with J that she knows for a fact that Smurf just...does not care about. If there's a problem, Smurf will deal with it then, but Hawk still gets all of his yearly reminders for dental cleanings, physicals, eye appointments, etc. sent to her and when she tries to let Smurf know "hey, he has this thing coming up that he needs to go to", she is totally blown off.

The thing that Smurf did change, was Hawk's access to his school accounts. Normally she'd be able to check his grades and see any messages that his teachers would send out, see if he was skipping any classes, but one morning she went to log in and her credentials had been stripped. She only found this out after she called the school.

Now, when she asked J about how he was doing in school, he'd say he was doing alright (spoiler, he was not doing alright for obvious reasons). He was in danger of not graduating and if Hawk found that out, he knew she'd strangle him herself with the strap of his backpack. J's education, even up to a high school level, was incredibly important to her (because she grew up with nearly all high school drop outs (which in and of itself isn't an issue for some people, but the people Hawk grew up with were complete burnouts without a drive for anything other than adrenaline and crime) -and it was important to J as well up until his mom died and he was placed in Smurf's custody. Then it all sent sideways.

Hawk's visited colleges with J the year before to see where he wanted to go because he wanted to go to college. He didn't know what he wanted to go for exactly, but he was smart and he was driven, and by the time it came to applying and getting acceptance letters he'd know. Now...that didn't look like it was going to pan out.

When Hawk was able to, she started putting money into an account for J to have a nest egg when he grew up. He doesn't know about it, but it was still in an account racking up crazy interest over the last 13 or so years. He was set to go wherever he wanted, whether that was college or a trade school or a third option, but she wanted him to have a goal of something for his future. Whatever it was, she'd support him.

In my HC for their dynamic, Hawk definitely gave J a cushier life than he had originally in the series, but she made sure to instill good values regarding humility. He knew she had money and that she'd spend that money on him if he asked for it (he also got an allowance for doing a set list of chores around the house or helping out at the shop), so he never went without, but he still didn't like asking for things unless he truly needed them. He was taught that material things aren't everything. Sure, Hawk got him a cell phone when she thought he was old enough (to reach him once he started riding his bike everywhere. Hawk only used the tracker on it when he was out super late to make sure he was somewhere safe. She gave him his privacy as he got older because she trusted him, but as the parental figure, definitely still checked up on him once in a while. Hawk was a teenager, she knew exactly what kind of temptations were out there for normal teens.) But he never had things like cars, motorcycles, etc. Anything extra he had to put effort in for like any other kid.

Hawk wasn't the "cool mom" per say, but she was very much in the mellow realm of "you are a young human trying to figure out where they fit in the world and I'm going to guide you in any way I can to ensure that you have a better chance than I did". She treated him like a future adult with kid alterations to keep him youthful, but prepared to grow up.

There were things that Hawk did not tolerate in the house (smoking, underage drinking, recreational drugs, etc.) so when he got a taste of that freedom at Smurfs, of course he leaned into it. He was a teen and teens do dumb shit, naturally.

While Julia was very grateful (in her own way) that she had Hawk as a resource for her son and herself, her relationship with Hawk only got rockier as they got older. It was difficult for Hawk to see the decline in her best friend, but she still included Julia when she could when it came to J. Some days she'd go over to Julia's to drop off some groceries, or anything J would mention she needed, and Julia wasn't able to mumble more than one or two words coherently without nodding off. It absolutely broke her heart and it never got easier to see. There was some resentment towards Hawk, naturally, because Hawk was able to resist the temptations that Smurf pushed onto her own daughter that snowballed into who she was at the end.

In spite of Smurf, Hawk was successful (Julia did NOT know about the money Hawk fell into with her late father -for good reason. None of the Cody's did. Neither did J. He just knew she had money, not how much, and assumed it came from her business. Hawk was very adamant about keeping that info close to her chest.) and she had her life together in a way she wished she could have for her son, but every stint that Hawk and Baz (in the beginning) helped her out with regarding inpatient treatments felt like taking two steps forward and ten steps back when she was released. Julia never lasted longer than two weeks sober at a time, but for those two weeks, Hawk and J saw a shadow of what Julia could've been -like the clouds parting to show the sun after years of torrential downpour.

J was vigilantly with Julia when she did get released, though. Fully supporting his mother's sobriety and encouraging her at every turn because he knew she wasn't a bad person. He knew she loved him, she just loved the feeling of not feeling more because of the demons that plagued her night and day.

So when J moved into Smurf's how and saw how they lived, he was beside himself. And knowing that Hawk was victim to similar treatment that his mom experienced, but came out the other side -that very specifically placed anger boiled inside of him. Hawk is what his mother should've been and these people ruined Julia before she even had a chance.

The parallels between Julia/Hawk and J & Cath and Lena are 100% there. Similar, but different. Both mothers (Julia and Cath) wanted their kids nowhere near Smurf or the remainder of the Cody brothers, and both got absolutely shafted, and somehow Hawk (and Pope oddly enough with both J and Lena) ended up with both in their care. We've yet to see J's dynamic with WEA Pope and how they navigate each other, but it is coming down the line.

As we get further along in the seasons, things will definitely come to light. What those things are, are for me to know and for you to find out 🤭

[semi-good-wizard]

Possible candidates for the sixth weapon in hades 2 [Spoilers!]

didnt see anyone really talk about this on here, but i want to hear the tumblr thoughts on this

Part one: the patterns

first i have to start with the pattern i have seen in this game's roster so far: so far the weapons can be seperated into three categories, those with a short attack and ranged special (s/l), those with either long or short ranges (but not the other)(s/s and l/l), and those with long attack and short special (l/s). remember that im not factoring the omega options, since those vary to much. in the silver pool, they are ordered like this

you might also note, that each category has one faster and one slower option (at least by game feel, i didnt run tests) so the last weapon is probably a l/s slow weapon

the next point i realised was another split in the weaponry, illustrated here:

One might argue on my placement of Descura (the staff) in the magic category, but since its attack patterns drawing spell circles instead of clobbering foes, i hope i can dissuade these grievances. Of course this order could change in later updates.

so a martial ranged option would fit these findings

but there is another thing which places this into conjecture (maybe the skull is martial after all, since it physically hits things); when observed top to bottom, you may find this pattern

So a long attack, martial (?), floaty weapon according to the patterns drawn in the silver pool.

Part 2 cool concepts, which could fit these patterns

unfortunatly i cant think of a weapon that fits this bill, so lets ignore it and just imagine some that fits at least some of them

For this i consulted reddit threads, as mentioned above, who had some interesting ideas, like a whip or lyre, but im unsure about

first lets discuss the whip; this being a physical option with some range to it, fits 2 of my patterns, but i dont know if it can differentiate itself from the axe and staff enough. the axe has some range with sweeping attacks, while the staff has kinda single point damage (which i imagine the whip to have aswell). also what would the special be?

now to the lyre; while having some clear connections to already present figures (Apollo, Orpheus and Hermes) which could be great aspect choices; i dont think, if they are going for an instrument it would be the lyre, since zagreus already has one. for attacks maybe its a range of homing bullets/notes that Melinoe has to sit down for to play (kinda like one of Scyllas attacks), thereby creating a slower attack speed. but homing bullets might not have the heft known from slow weapons. for a special it could be a danse macabre type of deal, where Melinoe summons shades or the recently fallen foes to fight for her, or after a foe dies, the weapon spawns a mote that can be erupted by the special, kind of like mines

if theres a instrument based weapon i personally hope its based after Athena's/Marsyas' flute, since i dont hear that myth brought up a lot. (this can also fit the theme of divine punishment, since Marsyas got it bad after playing it). if we get Pan (since hes mentioned in the aspects), this flute could spark a conversation about his own. also with the danse macabre special, it could also reference the Piper of Hameln.

Another idea i heard was a spell tome, since the apparent witch theme; but im unsure since we already got the staff which is quite witchy with its sigils already. it could float so theres that

A lot of people also wanted another gun or other weapon type to return from the first game; but this is a boring option. cant you think of literally anything else?

if you can think of anything else i would love to hear it!!

[p5x-theories]

Not sure if anyone following this blog is having any trouble with the Shadow Katayama fight, but I just beat her (after several attempts) and figured out what felt like a pretty good strategy, so I wanted to share just in case it helps anyone else?

First and foremost, I realized that damage from status ailments doesn't add to her Rage meter (the pink one above her health bar, which goes up whenever you attack her based on the damage you deal), thanks to Key's burns since he's part of my go-to team. This really became the key (pun intended) to my strategy: deal as much damage as possible to her with ailments, so her attacks don't get too much stronger. Consistently attacking is important too, though, since the turn limit is always a concern.

Morgana's my go-to healer usually, since he's the only way to revive teammates, but while he lasted pretty long when I tried it with him the first time, ultimately the extra attacks Katayama was getting from hitting his electricity weakness were slowing things down. Probably any healer who isn't weak to electricity will work for this fight, I think? I went with Summer Tomoko because I like her ability to heal and hit the enemy at the same time.

That left two teammate slots to try to maximize ailment damage. There aren't actually a lot of teammates that really do that right now? Key was the obvious one, at least to me, because I always take advantage of his burn and Holy Fire ailments hehe, but I realized Messa is probably the other best teammate here, because his Bleeding ailment also damages a target on their turn, and he resists Physical, which is the other attack type that Katayama has.

So, with all that in mind, my team was Wonder with that 5-star blue knife that boosts his healing ability (Personas: Sarasvati, Oberon, and Anubis), Summer Tomoko with the regular Moko's 3-star knives, Key with his 4-star weapon, and Messa with his 3-star weapon. They're all level 80 themselves, but I think only Wonder's weapon was level 80; Summer Tomoko and Key's weapons were level 70, and Messa's was 51 because I'm in the middle of catching him up, heh. I can double check what cards I have on them, if anyone wants to literally copy my setup, but I wanted to give a general idea of the power level my team was at.

My strategy then was just keeping everyone healthy, and making sure Katayama was taking as much damage as possible on each of her turns. With Key, his first fire skill has a high chance of burn, and then his second progresses the burn to Holy Fire (without consuming the original burn), and his third deals extra damage when the enemy has Holy Fire, so it was roughly a cycle of first skill -> second skill -> third skill, trying to keep her burned and Holy Fire-d at all times, above all else.

Messa was a bit funny, because I was technically only using half his capabilities: since his Executioner form consumes the Bleeding status effect, I had much better results from only using his Hunter form, and never switching. Essentially, I'd use his first skill until 9-10 Bleeding were stacked on Katayama (I believe 10 is the max?), then use his second skill to constantly refresh them so the Bleeding never wore off.

Wonder swapped mostly between Sarasvati and Anubis as needed- Sarasvati to heal the team, and Anubis to use his main curse skill, which afflicts the curse status ailment, adding to the damage Katayama was taking every turn. I rarely used Oberon, but he does have Matarukaja, so I used that occasionally if healing wasn't needed but it didn't make sense to attack either.

Summer Tomoko I had mostly using her third skill, which allows other teammates' attacks to inflict Sparks, so she could usually get 1-2 triggers of her followup attack/heal per turn. If someone's health in particular was really bad, I occasionally had her heal them instead, and if I wouldn't be able to have Key, Messa, and Wonder all attack that round, I had her use her first skill instead, since it triggers a slightly more powerful followup attack/heal immediately.

This part's probably obvious, but in the two free rounds where Katayama is withdrawn and won't attack, I always had Summer Tomoko heal someone (whether anyone needed the healing or not, it allows them to inflict more Sparks for a round), Wonder use Oberon to buff everyone's attack, and Key and Messa guard.

As far as Wind's skills go, I'm admittedly not sure how useful her first one actually is on a boss who can't be knocked down like Katayama, so I mostly stuck to her third skill whenever her cooldown finished. I only used the first skill if I couldn't use the third.

All that said, I'm not sure how much this actually helps- I know Messa and Summer Tomoko are both limited 5-stars, so it's unlikely everyone has them- but I hope at least the core strategy makes a difference?

It might be possible to brute-force her fight, too, as long as you have a really good healer; I got all the way to the last pair of eyes (the last part of the final stage of the fight) with Morgana, Key, and Queen, and even with Summer Tomoko, Key, and Queen. If you can do enough damage to speed through the early stages of the fight, and heal enough to make up for Katayama's stronger attacks, you can probably make it work, but you might need to power up your team as much as possible beforehand (levels, weapons, cards, Persona skills) and some luck.

[mareastrorum]

I am left baffled by that fight because even though most of the party was unconscious more than once, it didn't feel any different from a regular boss battle to me? The Lucien fight was more varied and felt more dire! I just can't help but think that in trying to accommodate his players, Predathos has been diminished as an entity and an idea. Otohan was a harder fight, both times! Either we're missing something or the cast is.

I actually liked the fight quite a bit. Let me do a bit of a comparison.

In C2, the Mighty Nein were considerably less well-geared and lower level for the end game than Vox Machina and Bell’s Hells had been. In general, the second campaign had less loot, less money, fewer opportunities to buy what they lacked, etc. That resulted in a party that only had so many options in combat, and they did their best work by supporting each other in group plays. That meant they relied heavily on strategy and knowing when to run. Since they couldn’t unleash stockpiled magical items or souped up powers, they had to pick their battles carefully, and even when plans fell apart, the effort in talking out their ideas helped them adjust as needed. When the final fight was against Lucien in 2 phases, the combat was going to get pretty repetitive unless the boss mechanics gave them an opportunity to get creative. Thus, the fact that they were in the Astral Sea and that the Nein could mimic some of Lucien’s manipulations of reality added some things for the Nein to try when their own abilities wouldn’t achieve what was needed when their turn came up. It was a great improv option that didn’t detract from the work the players had done into building these characters into a formidable team.

Bell’s Hells are nepo babies. They’re have been gifted and have stolen so much shit. They have bought so little. They have more magical items than they know what to do with. They had a funnel to absorb powers from items to avoid attunement limit problems. Two of them ate pieces of dead primordials. Two are ruidusborn. One has a Luxon fragment in their head. One made a deal with a fey. One represents two gods who love/hate each other and has been courted by both. Like, they have not wanted for power in dozens of episodes. They hoarded so much power that they couldn’t possibly use it all. Thus, the final boss didn’t need to be complicated to be insanely tense and dramatic. Chetney was a utility caster with a magic staff for most of the fight despite being a blood hunter. Laudna finally realized why warlocks like Eldritch Blast—during a 15 minute turn when all her other ideas were useless. Ashton relied almost exclusively on his homebrew weapon, homebrew primordial shard, and homebrew subclass in the last episode. When the party is already that off the wall from the D&D part of their character builds, the boss doesn’t need to do much other than heal itself, do damage, and have legendary actions that do more healing and more damage.

I wish we had gotten to see more of what Matt had intended to do with Predathos’s apparently temporary attunement to Vordo and Ethodek. It probably would have worked better in a fight that had more rounds, but that’s exhausting for high-level combat, and Imogen resorted to eating the god corpse too quickly for us to get more than a glimpse. Like, it was a really fun idea, but unless it’s the core of the boss’s abilities, there’s too many other options to show off to get a satisfying amount of exposure to it. Might have gone a bit overboard with the number of abilities to choose from this time.

Overall, I’d say the E120 combat was comparable to Otohan’s last stand. Tons of damage going out, an insane health pool, defenses/healing that had to be countered, and other targets that had to be neutralized. I enjoyed both fights because it’s, like, you can have all the magic in the world, but against a creature that has become the physical manifestation of destruction, there is a dread that you’re only going to end up the latest victim. I adore that sort of tension.

[henrysglock]

A boy from Nevada loved Henry, and he loved him back???

I haven't watched the play, can you elaborate a bit more about it? please.

It's not that on the nose, it's v much subtext.

There was a boy back in Nevada who Henry seems to have physically attacked shortly before the Creels move/the attack was the driving reason for them to move. The severity of the damage varies by which source you're relying on. For example, Walter Henderson says Henry's "some kind of psycho" because he broke a kid's arm back in Nevada, but Virginia later says to Victor "he put that boy in a wheelchair" as Henry eavesdrops from the attic. So it's possible there are two boys, or that there's just one boy and the sources are unreliable. Regardless, Henry is in shambles over the whole thing. It's clear that whatever happened left a huge emotional scar and continues to cause him a great deal of grief. Whoever he was, Henry cared about him enough to fall to pieces at the mention of him.

That incident is also largely purported as the reason why Virginia doesn't want Henry to make friends or date anyone. Like...yes, Henry and Virginia have an uncomfortable degree of enmeshment, but the incident in Nevada seems to be what's making Virginia so neurotic about Henry being around other children unsupervised.

This, combined with the fact that the Mindflayer tends to lash out at a) people who are close to Henry, b) people who are too close to the truth, and c) people who are trying to separate Henry from Patty, tells me the boy who got attacked was someone close to Henry who was sticking his nose where he shouldn't have.

It's like I said when my friends and I were analyzing Henry's on-screen relationship with Virginia in preparation for TFS: We can see the shadow of the thing, even if we can't see the thing itself. (We predicted that Henry and Virginia had an uncomfortable degree of Boy Mom covert incest/enmeshment. Lo and behold, we were right.)

When we consider that Henry refuses to tell anyone the truth about his affliction, (not Patty, Virginia, Victor, or even Brenner) it then becomes a question of "Who was this boy to Henry, and how did he get close enough to be a worth of attacking?"

And some people might go "ohhh they were just good friends" to which I tap the sign: The Mindflayer seems to have a personal vendetta against people who pose a perceived romantic threat, personal enough for it to speak through Henry, and the people who are targets of that typically end up injured or dead. "Are you jealous?/Who's your sweet little boy now?" to Virginia vs her enmeshment with Henry and "I'm not your boy" to Brenner vs the weird romantic/sexual overtones to their relationship...and then both of them end up either dead or injured. Before anyone goes "oh but Patty gets hurt too"...a) Henry + the Mindflayer wasn't attacking her. The attack landed behind her, meaning it was meant for Brenner, who had just had his whole "[Henry] needs me, not you!" thing with Patty. Romantic threat. and b) that accident nearly killed her. She has a cane when she meets her mother. That's riiiiiight along the same lines as "He put that boy in a wheelchair".

So...what kind of relationship did this boy have with Henry to land him in a wheelchair?

Closer than Brenner and Henry, closer than Virginia and Henry...and closer, even, than Patty and Henry had.

By all accounts...it seems Henry had a boybestie that he left behind.