#and restrain me first because i'll probably try to kill you

[makemeking]

Why does it always come back to "am I into that or is it trauma re-enactment"

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 90 (Under Pressure)

cw: a bit of coarse language from River, it's just his voice.

Light snow fell over Sable Square on this sunny winter morning, and Conrad tensed his shoulders as he opened the front door. But his best friend and future brother-in-law stood before him, and Conrad relaxed as he stepped out to greet him.

"Hey Riv. What are you doing here? We're gonna be in Henford in two days."

"I'm off for a few weeks with Cass and baby Sammy, but I wanted to talk when we weren't surrounded by family," River said. "Everyone's kinda worried about you, you know."

"Everything's fine. Work's just a little stressful right now."

"Yeah? Those security cameras are pretty intense. You've got that restraining order, and Hazel said you guys brought home a ghost from your date last night...?"

"He's not a ghost anym- Is there anything your family doesn't talk about with each other?"

"Not really, but you knew that already. Are my sister and her kids in some kind of danger?"

Conrad shook his head stiffly. "No."

River studied him. "That's good, because you know if you put a Landgraab in danger, that old bitch who hates my sister will probably have you killed."

He laughed a little but wasn't kidding, and Conrad shifted uncomfortably. "I've got to get to work soon, but come on in for a few minutes."

River followed him inside and greeted Gord with a smile. "You're also about to miss the deadline for our fantasy sportsball league."

"I completely forgot that was this week. I'm sorry. Maybe I should skip it this time around. My head's kind of jammed lately. I haven't even kept up on offseason trades."

"Dude, you're not okay at all. You're the first one in every season..."

"Riv, I just have a lot going on." He tried, but failed, to bottle his frustration with himself, but his reply came out terse and unwelcoming. If everyone could see his stress, he wasn't managing his secrets, but he didn't mean to take it out on River. "Sorry."

"It's alright...I brought the number for that ring designer you asked for, too." He paused, and Conrad didn't fill the silence. "You should go see Cass' mom. Every time she calls, she says how stressed you are. Cass thinks she talks like you're one of her kids, but that's Bella Goth for you - everyone's family to her. Besides, you and my sister have gotten into some real Goth-flavoured shit the last couple years, so it's no wonder she's started thinking of you like family."

Conrad laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "Maybe it's just a Brindleton Bay thing for everyone in town to pick up strays. How are you doing? How's Michael adjusting to having a new baby at home?"

"Michael loves Sammy, but he doesn't understand why the baby just stares at him so far."

"Ash was like that. Now Lavender tries babbling with him and he's a lot more interested. Seeing them together kinda makes me wish I had a sibling or two."

"Dude, you've got plenty these days." River stood from the sofa and tightened his scarf. "Listen, I'll get going. I told Cass I'd stop in to see her mother before I left town, myself. It'll be great to see you this weekend, and just...take it easy, okay? No case is more important than my sister and those kids."

"They're my entire world, man. If they're ever in danger, I'll do anything to keep them safe. Thank you for coming by, but I'm handling the stress. I swear to the Watcher."

River leaned in for a hug before they both left the house on Sable Square. He thought about their conversation the whole way to the precinct, about Heather's suspicions, needy Ximena, and angry old George Brindleton. By the time Conrad made it to work, he felt like his heart could explode from his chest.

He made a beeline for the break room and hit redial on the unlisted number he knew would be Ximena. This time, she picked up after only two rings.

"Conrad, do you need me?"

"Where's your brother?" He kept his voice low to ensure no one might overhear if they walked in the room.

"If I knew, I wouldn't have found you to ask for help."

"You found me before you said he went missing. What did you want then? Just me, right? Then what? Things start to go a little sideways with the cartel and you remember I said I'd help you if you ever left, the day I finally left you? But you never left, did you? When's the last time you worked for Los Tigres?"

"Four months ago."

"You and Jimmy, huh. How did it go?"

"It should have gone better!"

"Did they take your brother?"

"It's possible."

"Ximena, I can't do this. I can't help you. I've got kids. I'm not getting mixed up with you and that world again. When it might've been some degenerates trying to mess with the cartel, it was different."

"So you're just going to let them do whatever they want with him? Like they did with me before I took my future into my own hands?"

"You figured out how to beat the cartel at their own game once. If you're really against them and this isn't another lie, do it again for your brother. I'm not going to start investigating the cartel just because they've cut you out after too many bad deliveries." She stammered, and Conrad sighed. "Did you not think I'd read your file after you found me again? You don't even know that's who took Rafa."

"So you're really out? Even though it's Rafa." The sweet voice she put on for him had disappeared.

"Good luck, Ximena. I'm out."

He shook from a mix of anger and guilt when he hung up the phone and blocked her latest number. He was angry at her, but angrier at himself for letting it get this far. To never see her again wouldn't trouble him, but the mystery of Rafa's disappearance wouldn't be so easy to leave behind.

Yet River was right, as usual. He had to let it go. Heather and his family deserved his attention more than Ximena. More than Rafa.

He changed into shorts and a t-shirt and found one of the punching bags unoccupied in the upstairs gym. He funnelled a torrent of guilt and frustration through his gloves, pounding the leather bag at the end of his gloved fists.

For the rest of the day, Conrad stuck close to his desk to organize his case files. When 6p.m. hit, his head still clouded with stress, he clocked out and headed home.

But he remembered what River suggested and changed course, driving his cruiser across the bridge to Cavalier Cove, instead. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

Meanwhile, Ximena returned home and made herself a sandwich. Anyone recognize her apartment? 👀

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @subeddieweek, day two.

A Firm Touch

Prompt: First Time | Word Count: 1912 | Rating: E | CW: Reference to Past Recreational Drug Use | Tags: First Time, Established Relationship, Being Restrained, Light Praise Kink, A Bit of Subspace, Insecure Eddie, Virgin Eddie, Service Top Steve, Working Out The Kinks (Literally), Boys in Love, Just Trying to Figure Themselves Out

Eddie squirms away from Steve's grasp, again, another night fucking ruined and Steve sighs in frustration. Running his hand through his hair. He's disheveled, and Eddie wants…but he can't. It's not gonna work.

This is never gonna work, and he doesn't know why he thought it might. He just wanted it to, so goddamn bad.

The knot in Eddie's stomach grows, because he knows that Steve is getting frustrated. Not by the lack of sex, Eddie doesn't think, but more by the lack of understanding of why they aren't having sex. Eddie's been trying, then shying away, stalling and Steve's been patient, but Eddie knows he's running out of runway. 

He's being a fucking cocktease, he's pretty sure, though that wasn't the intent.

"Eddie…" Steve trails off, "what? What is it this time?" he asks, hands finding his hips. The question comes across harsher than his voice actually sounds, but he's staring at Eddie in a way Eddie hates. He doesn't want to be looked at, stared at, perceived, known. 

Eddie shrugs, and Steve lets out a breath that's pure annoyance. Like something he'd aim at the kids when they are fraying his nerves. Eddie doesn't want that sound pointed in his direction, it makes him feel horrible. Worthless. 

Finally, Steve speaks again, "I just. I can't read your signals. They're all over the fucking place. Do you not want this? Or not with me? What? Just, what? Tell me," Steve pleads, and it's tinged with self-doubt, and maybe a little anger, and it makes Eddie withdraw further. Steve's got his own baggage, and Eddie knows it. But Eddie can't just say these things, can't ask for them.

So, Eddie clams up.

Because the other option is to jump right in, ready for a full fight. And he doesn't want to do that, so he just stays silent.

"Okay, I'll go," Steve says, and Eddie doesn't want him to go. But he doesn't know how to get him to stay. 

"Don't go," Eddie says, barely audible, squeezing his hands into fists so hard that his short nails are digging into his palms.

"Then tell me, and I'll do whatever you want," Steve says, soft, worried. Begging a little. "I can't keep guessing wrong. It's killing me."

"I'm just not built like you, Harrington," Eddie finally says. Hoping that will end the discussion for one more night. Maybe Steve will still stay, and give Eddie a little more time to figure his shit out.

"What do you mean by that?" Steve asks, his brow furrowed, as he's folding his hands in his lap.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," Steve answers, "obviously."

Eddie is annoyed, frustrated. But he knows he's not gonna get anywhere with soft, sweet Steve Harrington running his hands all over him, like he's made of glass. Been there, done that. And it never ends in anything other than in frustration. There's something broken in him, and Steve would never understand that. 

"Eddie, I-" 

"You don't want me. You don't want what I want. What I need." 

"What do you need, Eddie?" Steve asks, putting his hands on Eddie's arms, gently.

Eddie's exhausted, and he finally snaps, "I need you to hold me down. I need you to handcuff me and…" he trails off when he sees Steve's face. "I need a firm touch. A firm hand. To get off." 

"Oh," Steve says, soft and shocked. Disgusted, probably. 

Eddie looks down. 

And then Steve's big, warm hand is on his thigh. Pressing down. Firmly. 

"I can't, like, hit you," Steve says, face way too earnest.

"I don't need you to hit me," Eddie says with a small smile. He wouldn't be opposed, but if Steve won't get off on it, there's no way.

"But I can be firm. Well, I can try. I want to try." 

Of course he does, because Steve Harrington always jumps in with both feet. Eddie's seen it in action. He just never expected to see it here, in the bedroom. He just thought he'd be able to get over it, whatever hang up he has, but it hasn't happened. 

"Okay, Steve, you can try. If you don't like it, you say so." 

"It's you," Steve says with a grin, "I think I'll like it just fine." 

Eddie just smiles at him, embarrassed, but hopeful.

"Tell me what you like, what your previous sexual partners have done for you that worked," Steve says, like he's ready to take mental notes.

Eddie laughs, shaking his head, "No previous sexual partners. But I'm flattered that you think that's a possibility."

"Then how do you know…?" Steve trails off.

"I still know how I feel. I know how I get off, alone," Eddie answers.

And that…how, is not very easy, never has been. At least not alone.

"Of course. Of course you do," Steve says, like he should have known that. Eddie doesn't think that's a thing that most guys ever contemplate. Eddie imagines Steve can get off easily, without even thinking about it. 

A few quick tugs, thinking about a pretty girl, or a cute guy, and that's all it takes. Eddie wishes it were that simple. He's trying to not feel embarrassed. It's Steve, and he's gotten used to the fact that he can tell Steve anything. 

And if he wants this to work, and he does, then this conversation has to happen.

"Okay, where do we start?" Steve asks, sounding chipper, and ready to go. To act. Now that they've got even a hint of a plan. Eddie cannot believe how brave he is. He's a take-charge kinda guy, maybe this will come naturally to him.

Eddie knows asking Steve to start with handcuffs is crazy, and he's never even been in them before, couldn't do it on his own, and as much as he wants to be, that's for later. Hopefully. Someday, maybe. So, he just lays face down on the bed. 

"Can you just…hold me down, maybe? Restrain me? With your hands?" Eddie asks.

"Yes," Steve says, like he's one-hundred percent certain that's something he can do, and then rolls him over, with a confidence that really works on Eddie. 

Steve's got big hands, hands Eddie has fantasized about on more than one occasion. 

And he grabs both of Eddie's wrists in one of his, and pins them above Eddie's head, pressing them into the pillow.

They aren't even undressed, but Steve crawls on top of him. Sitting on his thighs. 

"This good?" Steve asks, and Eddie nods. It's good.

He's clearly having to stretch to hold Eddie like that, so Eddie isn't surprised when Steve scoots up his body, until he's off his thighs, until they are crotch to crotch, and Steve doesn't shy away from that. He just pushes down against him, as he presses on his wrists even harder now that he has a better angle.

Steve's hard, and Eddie still isn't. Maybe this won't work. Maybe he's not meant to have anything as good as Steve.

But Steve keeps grinding down, over and over, as he squeezes Eddie's wrists. Then, Steve scoots up further, his hard cock pressing into Eddie's belly as Steve leans over him, his chest right over Eddie's face, and Eddie feels boxed in, Steve's shirt hanging down, brushing against his nose. The scent of Steve flooding Eddie's nostrils with every movement Steve's body makes. Eddie feels hidden. Secure. Safe. And he closes his eyes and just feels it all, fully. 

Enjoys.

When Steve shifts again, Eddie realizes he's hard. He doesn't know when that happened, but it feels so good. Steve is still rutting against him, and the pressure of him holding him to the bed feels like it's dug a hook into Eddie's center, and now there's an anchor pulling him down into the most amazing place he's ever been.

He feels drunk. He feels like he's taken the perfect amount of K, and now he's gently slipping into a hole.

Steve's not really doing much of anything, Eddie knows it's simple, but whatever Steve is doing is perfect. It's working.

Then, Steve leans forward, putting more weight on Eddie's wrists, holding them in place as he nearly lays on top of Eddie fully. Leaning most of his weight into it. Bringing them back together, hard cock pressed to hard cock. Still rolling his hips, grinding against him in slow, deliberate circles.

And even as Steve pushes all the air out of his lungs, Eddie feels like he can breathe, finally.

Steve's heavier than he looks, and Eddie is lost in the security he feels being under Steve.

He never even knew to dream about this, but here it is, his wildest dreams coming true at the hands of Steve Harrington.

"You feel so good under me," Steve says close to Eddie's ear, "you're being so good. Getting hard, just for me."

Eddie moans. 

"That's good," Steve says again, "are you ready for me to let you go? Do you want me to touch you?"

Eddie shakes his head no, then makes his request, "Lay on me."

And Steve lowers his whole body to Eddie's, pressing him into the mattress. Chest to chest, crotch to crotch. Eddie can feel every point of contact, every point of pressure, and it's good. So good.

His wrists are still tight in Steve's grasp, but now he feels like his whole body is being held in the same way. Safe. Secure.

Steve rolls his hips, one more time, and Eddie attempts to lift up his hips, tries to get his ass off the bed, but he can't, and he comes in his jeans. Steve following him over the edge.

Tears leak out of Eddie's eyes, and his breathing is shallow with Steve on top of him, but he's happy, and relieved, and kind of boneless. Steve finally shifts so he can hold Eddie's wrists in one hand instead of two, lighter now, and brushes the fingers of his open hand against Eddie's cheek. Face near Eddie's, grounding him.

"Whenever you're ready, tell me what you need. What to do," Steve whispers, and Eddie nods.

Eddie finally felt ready for Steve to let him go, so Steve's shifted so he's laying beside him, not on him, kissing his face, his neck, taking care of him like he always does. Just in a new way now. When Eddie pictured submitting, in the abstract, he was expecting punishment. Pain. To be used, and probably discarded. Thought that's what he wanted. Rough, hard, mean. He thought he needed to be hurt, or tortured, just a little.

And maybe he still does.

But Steve Harrington is none of those things, and his style of taking control isn't either. Steve's a take-charge kind of guy, but there's a softness there that Eddie never wants to see go away, honestly. 

"Was that okay?" Steve asks, and he looks so fucking nervous.

"More than," Eddie says, looking right in his eyes, "thank you."

"So, the handcuffs?" Steve asks, hint of a grin pulling at his lip.

"Wishful thinking," Eddie admits. Then raises his eyebrows, "Why? You interested?"

"For sure. Can we ease into it?" Steve asks, wrapping his arm around Eddie's waist, holding him tight, still so tight, and Eddie's sure he'll be asleep in minutes, feeling this comfortable.

This secure.

This safe.

This loved.

"Definitely," Eddie says, and closes his eyes, turning his face towards Steve's, nuzzling into him. Letting himself be held, not only down, but close.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @subeddieweek and follow along with the fun! 🖤

Notes: It was harder to write a first time (for both!) and have them have super defined roles. They're figuring their shit out. Together. And I like think Service Top Steve can grow into Pleasure Dom Steve, but not right out of the gate.

My other fics for this challenge week:

Day One Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six Day Seven

[mimisempai]

I started missing you the moment you said goodbye

Summary

Aziraphale calls Crowley every hour on his phone even though he knows the demon can't answer just to hear his voice on the answering machine.

Because a few hours away is worse than centuries when you know you love each other.

Notes

A minute or a hundred years, the absence is sometimes unbearable...

On Ao3

Rating G -  942 words

"You have 10 missed calls and 1 new message.

Ten missed calls. 

All from Aziraphale.

He'd only left a voicemail for the last call.

Crowley glanced at his phone several times, a little confused.

If it had been urgent, he would have known one way or another, and Aziraphale wouldn't have used this means to reach him.

But Aziraphale had called him ten times.

Once an hour.

The length of Crowley's absence.

The planetarium had organized an out-of-town event, a lecture series culminating in a night of stargazing, and Crowley had been invited by the board to contribute. Encouraged by Aziraphale, he'd accepted, which meant that the angel knew it would be impossible for him to take the calls, so Crowley wondered why he'd called him in the first place. To find out, he waited no longer and dialed the code to listen to Aziraphale's message.

"Um... Crowley, it's me, Aziraphale. Yes, of course it's me."

Crowley couldn't help but chuckle as Aziraphale's voice continued. 

"You're probably wondering why all these missed calls, right? Why am I calling you when I know you can't answer? But here we are, you've been gone for ten hours today. I've been calling you every hour just because I miss your voice, because I miss hearing you talk. Just to hear the sound of your voice on that recorded message.  And now you must think I'm an idiot, right?"

Crowley stopped the message.

The Angel was so wrong, for Crowley actually found it rather endearing and far from idiotic.

Aziraphale missed him so much that he called his phone once an hour just to hear the sound of his voice.

If only Aziraphale knew how much Crowley understood and felt the same way.

In the past, they'd been separated for long periods of time, and of course he missed the angel and was thrilled at every opportunity to meet him. But now that they were together, the slightest separation, even if it was only for a few hours, was agonizing.

Now, eager to hear the next part, he pressed play to continue listening to Aziraphale's message. 

"And today, even though you'll be back in a few hours, I wanted to tell you again that more than your voice, I really miss talking to you. About everything. About my day. About the last book I'm reading. About Muriel's latest discovery. About the latest gossip on the street. I miss listening to you talk passionately about ducks and stars or whatever you fancy. About anything and everything. The silence is killing me. (sigh) I'll stop before I get so maudlin that you hang up, so to sum up, just know that I miss you, that's all. Come home soon. I love you."

Crowley hadn't felt like making fun of Aziraphale before, and he felt even less like it now. 

He restrained himself from telling the Bentley to go any faster when he was already well over the speed limit.

He was even more eager now.

He couldn't wait to tell Aziraphale himself that he missed his voice, too. 

To tell him about his day. 

To listen to him tell what he'd been up to while Crowley had been gone.

To tell him how he missed his smile. 

That he missed everything that made up their daily lives. 

That he missed Aziraphale, even though they had only been a few hours apart.

As he parked in front of the bookshop, he noticed that there was very little light coming from inside, which was not surprising given the time of day he was returning.

It took him only three steps to get to the door, and he was in such a hurry that it took him three tries to get the key into the lock. 

He refrained from calling out, trying not to make any noise in case Aziraphale was asleep.

He saw that the faint light was coming from Aziraphale's desk and, barely taking the time to put down his bag and jacket, quickly made his way there.

He couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight of Aziraphale asleep in his armchair, his reading glasses perched at an angle on his nose, the book he was reading threatening to fall out of his hands.

Crowley approached, knelt in front of the angel and carefully took the book from his hands before placing it on the small table behind him. Then he gently removed the glasses from Aziraphale's nose before running his knuckle delicately across the angel's cheek, trying to wake him up without startling him.

The demon watched in silence as the angel's eyes blinked several times before opening fully, then watched as his lips curled into a happy smile as his gaze met Crowley's.

Aziraphale murmured in a still sleepy voice, "Welcome home."

Crowley brought his face close and kissed him softly on the lips before saying, his throat tight with emotion, "It's so good to be home."

When he pulled away, Aziraphale rubbed his eyes and straightened up, making room on the armchair for Crowley to sit next to him on the armrest.

Once seated, Crowley wrapped his arm around Aziraphale's shoulder as the angel did the same around his waist. Then, resting his head on the demon's chest, he said softly, "I've missed this, too. I've missed you. I missed you so much."

Crowley hummed, kissed Aziraphale's hair, and replied, "I know. Because I missed you just as much, Angel."

They stayed like that for a long time, in each other's arms, basking in the bliss of this reunion in silence.

They would have time to talk.

Later.

For now, they had said the essential.

_________

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Growing Love series : (After season 2) 

Part 1 Story 1-99

Part 2 Story 100-?

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here (Before season 2)

[gayuu-the-necromancer]

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

Days after the Crown members submitted their report on Jude and Ellis.....

Victor: "Do you know why I called you two here?"

Ellis: "For our first mission as the Crown members?"

Victor: "That's right!! Ellis, you're such a genius. 100 points!!!"

Jude: "Whether or not I accept depends on the nature of the assignment."

Jude: "Even if her Majesty, the Queen ordered me to do so, I won't accept an assignment that would be detrimental to me."

Jude: "I won't kill people unconditionally on someone else's orders unless the conditions are acceptable."

Victor: "Hahaha. I'm well aware that you're that type of person."

Victor: "You can wait and see if you're up for the task."

Victor: "What about Ellis? Any conditions?"

Ellis: "I'm not that picky when it comes to work, so any assignment is fine for me."

Ellis: "I just wish that, when I kill someone they are at their happiest moment of life. But I think that's not really possible on a mission."

Ellis: "My only condition is that....I at least want to make sure they don't suffer?"

Victor: "I see. It may be that Jude is a no-show but Ellis is okay in some cases."

Victor: "Although, I'm sure you'll both agree to this one."

Jude and Ellis: "......?"

Victor: "Wasn't there an ex-convict you were dealing with off-duty, who was trying to make a deal for some drugs?"

Victor: "Apparently, his friends have been released and is planning to re-offend....I want you to lure them and wipe them out."

Ellis: "That person's friends.....are still around."

Jude: ".....About 'wiping them off'."

Victor: "The method you use doesn't matter as long as you prevent them from re-offending."

Jude: "............."

Victor: "Are we good?"

Jude: "Sure, I'll do it."

Ellis: "I'm fine with it too."

Victor: "Great! Well then-----"

Victor: "Loyalty to your evil tonight."

A single purple plume of smoke rises in a corner of the London Port.

Ellis: "Jude, you should quit smoking. Roger said that too."

Jude: "Smoking for me is convenient. Kids should learn to shut up."

Ellis: "You said you smoke to go out with your business partners because many of them smoke. But there is no one here."

Jude: "I never said I wouldn't smoke when no one's around."

Ellis: "Jude's 'happiest moment' will never come true if you don't live long...."

Suddenly Ellis stopped talking.

Immediately after that, several men with murderous glare and bloodshot eyes surrounded the two in the darkness.

Jude: "Why should I live long for you?"

Unconcerned that they were surrounded, Jude did not draw his weapon, but instead let out another puff of purple smoke.

Ellis: "But Jude hates breaking promises, right?"

Ellis, still smiling, slowly pulled two knives out of the leg sheath.

The moonlight reflects dully on the knife.

Tonight the moon is shining brightly in the clear night sky.

Ellis: "The moon is beautiful again tonight."

Jude: "Man, I feel like shit."

Ellis: "I'm not sure how to dispose of them, after all. Should we kill them?"

Jude: "Just restrain them as painfully as possible but keep them alive."

Ellis: "Okay."

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "Is that you? The ones who caught my brother with the drugs and killed him on the spot?"

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "How dare called us to come to the port at 11 pm?"

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "Don't think you'll make it home alive!"

The men rushed in, starting with the respective leaders who jump out.

Ellis: "Sorry. But my job is to lure you out and wipe you guys."

Ellis: "You guys are the ones who aren't going home alive."

Ellis: "Ah, but don't worry. I won't kill you right now."

Ellis: "Even though, it would probably be happier to die here....right?"

The fight was over in a matter of seconds.

Ellis: "I guess it's everyone?"

Jude: "The lists says 13. The number of trash rolling around is 2..4..6...13."

Ellis: "Looks like we got them."

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "Haa...haa....w-what...what are you...planning to do with...Arrgh?"

Jude sits down on the man's back and crushed his muddled voice.

Jude: "You're a blustering piece of trash."

Jude: "But, it's natural to concerned about what's going to happen next since you're deprived of your physical freedom now."

Jude: "So I'm making you useful and asking you to cooperate me with my research experiments."

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "E-Experiments...?"

Jude: "You might lose an eye or two or get get demented, but don't worry, you won't lose your life."

Jude: "Isn't that hell of a lot better than getting drugged and killed by god knows who, like you did to your victims?"

Man with the bloodshot eyes: "Nn...Please...Please..let me go...!"

Ellis: ".....I feel sorry for you."

Ellis: "I need to help Jude...for him to be happy, so I can't help you guys. I'm sorry."

Jude's hand touched the man's forehead and the man loses his consciousness.

Ellis: "Jude, did I at least get little closer to your happiness?"

Ellis: "Come to think of it...this was our first mission together."

Jude: "...So?"

Ellis: "But it doesn't seem any different than what we normally do."

Jude: "You dummy. Of course, it's different."

Ellis: "....?"

Jude: "We get paid for torturing people like this."

Ellis: ".........Jude, you're really nasty."

Jude: "They're an eyesore. If you got time to waste, put them in the carriage."

Ellis: "Okayyy."

...........

Victor: "Hmm..Hmm..thanks for the report! From what I've read, it sounds like it was a smooth first mission."

Victor: "That just goes to show that I have a good eye for people!"

Jude: "Don't look at me like that. You're creeping me out."

Victor: "So mean."

Ellis: "I'm glad it went well. I think I'll be able to handle more missions like this in the future, Victor."

Victor: "You two are complete opposites.....like candy and the whip...maybe we should call you guys that."

Victor: "By the way, regarding the 'wiping out' of the criminal gang, although it was stated here that they were all killed."

Victor: "I'm guessing you took them to participate in some kind of interesting experiment, right?"

Jude: "....!"

Ellis: "How did you know?"

Victor: "Let that be a secret for now. However, you don't have to lie in your report. I was the one who handed them to you, anyways."

Victor: "As long as you stay true to your evil, that's all I care about."

Jude: "....Just how much do you know?"

Victor: "I only know what's on the surface. You were on heading there on foot but a carriage left the scene."

Victor: "There is another facility in a place that you frequent, apart from the Crown castle and your workplace or business partner."

Jude: "......Do you actually have spies hiding every corner of Britain, you pervert?"

Jude: "Why is that, of all the Crown members, you're the one who's most mysterious?"

Victor: "Hahaha. Of course not. I'm just an ordinary man."

Ellis: "Ordinary?"

Victor: "I mean a man who will do whatever it takes to protect your freedom."

Victor: "....But I can't see into your hearts. So I hope you will continue to tell me things about you."

Victor: "So please feel free to tell me about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, ideal type, measurements...."

Ellis: *shocked*

Jude: "Let's get to work, Ellis."

Victor: "Wait! Come back! Come back!"

Victor: "...........Fufu."

Victor: "Those two....what a great addition to the Crown."

Victor: "Hopefully, the crown (freedom) will shine over their heads too."

｡⋆｡˚🦋˚｡⋆｡

[rolandkaros]

That Igaryna gif is killing me 😭 Iga being completely oblivious to Aryna's awkwardness every time they interacted this year was hilarious. I do wonder why Aryna has become so weird (in a good way) about Iga, like why did she suddenly start talking about her in the media 24/7 and acting all nervous/awkward around her? It's very interesting

timing of this ask is incredible bc i literally just restrained myself from going crazy in the tags about them lmfao.

but THIS. is literally their whole vibe. and i was even gonna say like that gif is basically their whole dynamic summed up.

i think a lot of it is just timing tbh, because this i think is the first year where there was no obvious "gap" between the two of them (personal opinion that i think getting to no.1 last year was the big change for aryna). so whenever aryna talks about iga now it's not "my rival who is clearly better and way more successful than me" and instead "my rival who is somewhat more successful than me." and aryna even said it herself, that they're keeping it interesting, which i think circa 2022 was...not really the vibe. i think aryna is still in this position of thinking that she needs to play catch-up, and after winning two more grand slams + now with ye#1 and iga having a good season instead of an incredible season (lol), their levels look really comparable.

which is to say i think aryna is finally at the point where when she compares herself to iga and talks about their matches and their rivalry and competing for trophies and such, she doesn't feel like she has to undercut it with this tone of "ohh but she's just so much better than me so i'll just have to try my best and play my best tennis and hope that i can do enough" (<- literally what aryna sounded like in ~2022 talking about iga lol). so she is asked about/talks about iga because it's an actual conversation that can be had instead of just "what do you (#2 player with 0 gs) think about this player (#1 player with 3gs) who keeps kicking your butt"...like what could aryna even say. but now, like i said, they've actually quite evened out, so there's actually a lot of interesting conversations to be had about their rivalry.

i also think there's a couple things about iga that contribute. i think iga is very focused on herself (NOT in a conceited way lol, just that she tends to mind her own business) and as a result she doesn't really try to interact with aryna except if she's asked directly or they're playing each other. this was probably exacerbated as well by iga being #1 and previously quite far ahead of aryna, meaning there wasn't much reason (no offense) for her to talk about aryna other than being the next highest ranked player (which wasn't even always the case). so i think iga has naturally sort of been oblivious to aryna's opinion of her for the most part. and aryna is obviously quite extroverted so we see a lot more of her thoughts & feelings about stuff anyway.

additionally i think iga is very...how do i put this. her attitude is very clinical and logical with almost everything she does, and i think that affects both how she interacts with aryna on-court and how she talks about her off court. so like in that gif where she's clearly more focused on taking the picture than on what aryna's doing. if you watch her net handshakes most of them look almost the exact same from match to match (over-extending here to say it's like she decided at some point what the "right" handshake was and has been doing it ever since). even things like interviews, she has a very specific way of answering and talking about her tennis and whatnot. and obviously this isn't an iga-exclusive thing (it's called having a personality lol) but my point is that iga's personality and approach to tennis leads her to just not really notice or mention what others are doing in general, and to not output a lot of emotions or subjectivity of what she's doing herself.

all this leading to iga not really talking about aryna or interacting with her outside of tennis except to say "well yes of course aryna is a great tennis player we always have great challenging matches" and not much else. i think aryna conversely shares a more subjective perspective, which is partially due i think her personality but also because she just straight up has more to say about iga than iga has to say about her in terms of their competition.

going back to what i was saying at the beginning, i think this year was really the first time that they were in positions to interact with each other on level-footing (more or less). i think aryna would have been nervous/awkward around iga if they had interacted more previously but i lowkey think she viewed iga as out of her league (in a very literal tennis-sense lol). but now it's classic introvert/extrovert interactions where it's clear that they do not know how to act around each other and do not pick up on each other's cues or vibe.

which is how that gif happened. it was probably just instinctual from aryna to put her arm around whoever she's playing (extroverted) but the fact that there was clearly a moment where she went oh wait iga and i do not hug KILLED me. hilarious and devastating my god. and iga (as usual) is just not noticing at all because she's too focused on making sure she's doing the photo correctly.

also madrid where iga told aryna to her face "thank you for pushing me to be better" when aryna lost after having THREE MATCH POINTS and the worst part is iga was 100% being so sincere and aryna was contemplating murder because her rival basically just said "oop you almost got me haha."

also in cincinnati aryna was talking about "oh well yeah i had to keep it interesting because no one wants to watch a rivalry if its so obvious that one person's going to win over the other" and iga was like "oh yeah aryna i mean such a great player....what more is there to say?"

point being it's a pattern where iga is in her own little world doing her own little thing and aryna is Aware of Everything. summed up in that gif.

[greenerteacups]

I power read Lionheart months ago and it's been living in my brain ever since. In random moments, I see/think about your characters in the world around me. Like: a couple in the park holding hands? I start musing on your Draco's PDA thoughts. I remember the handholding moment as the Third Task started. I see a threadbare book in the thrift store? I wonder how fired up Hermione would be if someone asked her if wizards had an obligation to fix Muggle goods. If Reparo can fix a roof (and costs a witch nothing), should impoverished Muggles have to fight with their insurance company after a storm? On and on. I love it.

Thanks for opening up your asks for questions! Seriously, that's a badass move. There have been a few stressful moments in my life where--bing!--I check Tumblr and read one of your answers and I'm immersed in your HP world again, carefree and curious. <3

I have about a billion things I could ask/am curious about, but I'll restrain myself to two. This time. ;-)

Draco's mentioned once or twice that Harry & Ron don't understand him and Hermione. I was interested in that moment right before Draco follows Hermione to the Owlery. Harry stopped Ron from saying anything, and Draco recognizes that he's probably just as ignorant about Harry and Ron's friendship. So: 1) Is it too spoilery to ask what Harry (dear, sweet boy that he is) has noticed about Hermione & Draco? Does he think of them as one nerdbrain, or is he like Draco? Hermione? Weren't they married like, ages ago? I'm so fascinated by what others see when they look at Draco and Hermione because good GOD, what a power couple. And 2) Could you speak to Harry and Ron's relationship? Is Harry like, "Ron, you've gotta kill that Hermione pipedream," or is that topic irrelevant in the face of Quidditch gossip and less relationship-driven moments? Their (Harry and Ron) connection just seems so...necessary. It's beautiful.

I hope you're doing well! Thanks again for sharing such an immersive, gripping story with us.

Aw, this is so touching, thank you! I'll try to answer your questions as best I can without spoilers or breaching any rules on author-answer-ethics. Standard disclaimers: anything not in the text doesn't count, if I want you to believe something I have to give you a reason to believe it in the body of the fiction itself, and you're free to disagree with anything I say here. For the purposes of these types of questions, I'm basically just a fan who knows what the author had for breakfast this morning.

Harry knows that Hermione and Draco are... something. I think this comes through most in the arc of Book 4 where Ron separates from the group, and it becomes a tricycle of Draco, Hermione, and Harry. Harry is miserable, and it's not just because Ron leaves (although that's a large part of it); he's now in the position that Hermione occupies for most of the original series, where he understands very clearly that his other two friends, while both loving him very much, are First in each other's minds. He has a number of remarks that start to show his irritation with this, though he tries his best to be understanding — it is a similar dynamic to him and Ron, after all. (Fun story: I didn't realize until late in my drafting how much Hermione and Draco's dynamic echoes Harry and Ron in canon, from meeting on the train, the paying-for-candy moment, the Sorting, the class partnership, etc.)

All this to say that Harry looks at Hermione and Draco and sees a wall, in the same way that Draco looks at Harry and Ron and sees a wall. He doesn't understand it, but he knows that's deep water, and he knows he's usually better off not touching it. (Some of this comes through in Ron's conversation with Draco by the pumpkin patch; there's a blink-and-you-miss-it reference to "whatever the hell you and Hermione have got going on," along with a quick gloss on their weird pseudo-spiritual mind-meld connection, which was meant to give a glimpse into how the rest of Gryffindor sees them: eerily well-suited people with separately terrifying abilities who, when together, sail merrily off into their own universe of intelligence/plots-and-schemery and become a black hole of You Don't Want To Fucking Know. I sometimes amuse myself by thinking of Dean and Seamus giving the first years PSAs on Do Not Approach the Wild Swots In Action.) And he, like most of Gryffindor Tower, would have to be blind not to see how much they favor each other. They're always together. There's really nothing that they can do to hide it.

Which is probably why he pulls Ron back in the Owlery moment. He understands that what Hermione is dealing with is something that Draco, perhaps only Draco, can fix. She needs to hear a very specific kind of reassurance, and she needs to hear it from him. In the same way, when Hermione tried to calm Harry down before the plan to rescue Sirius in the third book, she failed miserably; they love each other intensely (they're siblings! the muggle-born twins!) but they're extremely different, and of all the Quartet dynamics, they're the ones who seem most at peace with that. Harry and Hermione's friendship works because they get what the other needs and they get that sometimes it's not them. (Harry more than Hermione, because she's still working on the concept of "sometimes people do not want my help" in general, but still.) There's a reason basically no one ever speculates about them being involved outside of a joke, because no one who knows them would think they could work romantically. They love each other, but they weird each other out, and they're content with that.

In contrast, Ron and Harry's friendship is more of the soul-bonded, life-partners, "he is more myself than I am" kind of friendship. Catherine and Heathcliff dig-up-the-corpse-to-lie-down-with-it type of shit. When Ron gets a death scare in the finale of Book 3, Harry goes fucking ballistic. Likewise with Harry's portkey fakeout in the end of Book 4 — Ron loses his shit. They are deeply, irrevocably attached to each other in an almost codependent way, which is the product of Harry's "first friend ever, like literally fucking ever, not nobody else, not one" situation meeting Ron's "first person who ever loved me as Ron and not so-and-so's brother" situation. So just as you put it, really: necessary and beautiful (and messy).

[psychotic-nonsense]

<< || < ||

"I was told."

'By who?'

'Eddie.'

"What are you?"

The thing just... sits there. Unblinking and still. Face still just barely compacted, like that's all it can do, the only amount of emotion it can show. Steve stares back, the burning in his eye returning for reasons he can't pinpoint. Desperation, fear, strain.

"You are still not well," the thing finally answers, slow and quiet. Restrained. Like it's forcing itself to say it.

Steve huffs out a breath, feeling stretched thin. "I just- please?" he begs. "I have to know."

It shakes its head. "You are not well," it repeats.

"Yeah, and I won't be for a while longer, especially if you don't tell me what's going on," Steve spits out, lacking in passion and volume but still standing his ground. "I'm not angry anymore, I'll listen to whatever you say, no questions, just- please."

That last sentence is what gets the thing to relax. Or, at least, for its face to go blank again. It looks off to the side, the pale shapes that are probably the equivalent to its actual eye tracing the wood of the boat. Seems to be thinking on it. Steve waits, not a little impatient.

Finally, the thing sighs, and turns back to Steve. It sets the rag down on whatever it's sitting on, and rests its hands on the edge of the boat. "Your friend," it finally says, "she had a vision of some kind, correct?"

Steve at first thinks about Robin, even glancing at her in confusion. Then the vision part clicks, and he turns back. "Nancy, our other friend, did, yes," he answers carefully.

"She told you it's contents?"

"Mmhm..." Steve's a little worried about what this might be heading towards, but he's finally getting something, so who is he to complain.

"Then you know the history of the world you call the 'Upside Down.'" Its eyes drift off from Steve's before he can nod, still so blank (Steve wonders if he should stop being so focused on that, but compared to the brief memories he has of Eddie, seeing his body, his voice, so unfeeling and monotone in comparison is just... wrong). "How the Human entered the world and took control."

Suddenly, something about the topic feels personal. Steve knows it's talking about Vecna, and nothing about its appearance or tone has changed. But Steve just has a hunch about it-

"I am the original ruler of that world. Or rather, it's spirit."

And wow holy shit he was right but that was not at all what he was expecting.

No time for a crisis or questions, though, because Steve is finally getting what he asked for. An explanation.

"I was something you humans would call a God. I controlled the world, kept the balance. I was the center of a collective mind, so my kind would never be alone, and I could keep them safe. When the Human took over, I was cast aside. Unable to die, I was forced to watch as he turned my world into his twisted vision. Turned the form I used as a body into a monster, took control of my collective and made my kind into enslaved, starving beasts. The Human drained my world of any light, turning it into the dark, stormy place you know. I took refuge in the clouds, becoming the red lightning, trying to light my world back into what it was before. I am too weak to fight the Human alone, now that he has my kind bent to his power."

Okay, this God/spirit thing may not have Eddie's nature, but it sure does have his words. And Steve may not understand most of how anything it's describing works, but this isn't the first time and it sure as hell won't be the last.

"More humans began to enter my world, and the Human would always kill them. I could not understand his anger at his own kind, or the want from other humans to keep coming back. But it gave me an opportunity. I still held some of my power. If I could find a new place to house my collective, I could regain my kind, body, and world."

Steve's starting to see where this is going, and it's turning the sight of the God/spirit thing beside him sour.

"But I am weak, only able to reach the humans when their body was weakened and their minds drifting away. I refused to enslave the same way the Human did, and wanted the original spirit present to help house my collective. But I was a stranger to them. I would always propose to help them get back home, so long as they helped me as well. Most I talked to either refused, didn't believe me, or whose minds and bodies were already gone when I could reach them."

A little less sour. A lot more hopeful.

"This was the first possible chance I had. His body was intact, kept safely within the strange structures created by the Human. His mind lingered, refusing to leave his place."

Steve sees that day again. The hardest choice he's ever had to make. Unknowingly the smartest one he ever will.

"I made my proposal, and he was the first to agree. I was unsure this would work, but he trusted me, so it did. I was barely functioning when I found you two in the woods. He recognized you, and helped me find this place."

Its voice tapers out, letting the moments prior speak for it. They stare at each other again, Steve unable to keep his face from falling into the pitiful desperation he's felt since waking up.

"So... that means you're, like- the original hive mind?"

"Yes."

"And... Eddie, is he-"

It nods. "Alive, yes."

Pain be damned, Steve can't help it. His control crumbles to pieces, uninjured hand coming up to cover his mouth. His face compresses, eyes shut tight to keep the tears contained. Guilt and confusion and fear and worry and relief falling from his eyes.

Eddie is alive, Eddie is alive, Eddie is alive, Eddie is alive...

"And... c-can he..." Steve's voice shudders, struggling to take in a solid breath. "Can he hear me?"

The vaguely guilty expression comes back as it shakes its head. "No. He would need to be in control for that. My presence keeps the injuries away, and if he were to have control, they would affect the body again." Well, that explains the glowing scars. "He cannot hear or see, but I can talk to him for you."

Steve has dreamed and feared for a chance like this. Every single hour of every day within every week that has passed since Eddie last spoke to him, since he found Dustin cradling Eddie's body, since he covered the body in blankets in Eddie's trailer in the Upside Down. Yet faced with the option, Steve is hit with so many possibilities, so many things to say and messages from their friends to relay, that he stumbles.

"Well- I- maybe..." Steve pauses, lets his brain fumble for the words. "Could you just- tell him I miss him? We all do? And-and that I'm... sorry. God, I'm so fucking sorry..."

He says that last one in a barely there whisper, partially to himself as the weight of everything crashes over him again. Not only did they lose against Vecna - lost Eddie and half of Hawkins and basically Max too - but they hardly did anything, everything just getting so much worse. And the fact that even the original ruler of the world that's been tormenting them hasn't even done any of this, has suffered just as much as them, losing its people and world and body, that its only saving grace was Eddie, that Eddie's mind lingered after his death for reasons Steve can only assume was him waiting for help...

He chokes a little on his breath.

The God/spirit thing doesn't say anything, and when Steve looks up from where his eyes had drifted away, it's just staring at the edge of the boat. The strange part is how its eyes have changed, the pale part in the center glowing brighter. Sort of reminds Steve of that look you get when you're zoned out, in your own head. Which actually makes a lot of sense in this case.

It's silent for a moment before it starts speaking again. "Eddie says, quote, 'I'm glad to hear you're okay, Steve. Thanks for the save.'" Though its voice is still monotone, knowing it's at least Eddie's words being said to him makes the relief spike again, makes him jittery. Steve lets out a stuttering, involuntary laugh.

"'I miss you guys too. Like, a lot. And you have nothing to be sorry for, I'm the one who should be apologizing.'" It goes to take in a breath, and it shudders on the way. Its eyebrows furrow again, not in guilt, but in confusion. It keeps going, but it looks like breathing is becoming hard for it.

"'I broke off from the plan, I wanted to s-stop running.'" Now it's stuttering. The words and visibly growing confusion make Steve more alert, and he sits up a little straighter.

"'I just had t-to keep D-Dus-Dustin safe, and-'" It's starting to look borderline scared now, eyes still just as faraway but moving to look at its hands, which have begun shaking. "'I n-needed to keep the... the bats away from y-you, and-and...'"

It goes to blink, and Steve sees the reflection of the glowing scars shine on the tears suddenly falling from its eyes. It cautiously brings up a hand, gently touching the wetness on its cheek and staring at the streaks it leaves behind. It goes to talk again, but all that comes out are tiny whimpers, which just scares it more.

Then it clicks. The spirit of the Upside Down may be in control of Eddie's body, but nothing could take control of his heart. This is Eddie leaking through the cracks, his true feelings breaking through the barrier of monotone and unfeeling, too strong to be contained. And the spirit - probably unaware of human emotion, based on its reaction - is left in its wake.

Cautiously, Steve reaches out to take the hand it's still staring at. Its eyes immediately snap up to meet his, fear to concern. Its eyes are still a bit brighter, and for some reason it feels like Steve's looking straight through them to Eddie.

"Is it okay if... I hug you?" he asks carefully. "I think you could use one." Who he's referring to there is beyond him, but either way, it's true.

It just looks a little more confused, trying to respond yet held back by the whimpers. So it just shakily nods instead.

Still careful with how he moves, Steve reaches up with his free hand to rest on its shoulder. Then, letting go of the hand he didn't realize was holding his so tightly, he pulls the body into his, wrapping his arms around its neck.

The spirit stiffens up at first, its breath hitching in a tiny squeak and hands staying firmly away from contact. Steve just squeezes tighter, the soreness in his eye and jaw fighting the involuntary movement of Steve's face twisting in grief.

"It's okay, Eds..." Steve whispers. He shuts his eyes, holds the body closer. "Let it happen. It's okay."

It shudders out a few more tentative breaths. Steve feels its shaking arms slowly lose steam, inching down to meet Steve's back. Feels its tensed spine loosen, chin gently resting on Steve's shoulder. Its arms finally wrap around Steve's middle, run across his spine, and that's what gets it to break. Eddie's heart overpowers the mind, and he begins to cry.

The moment the first sob comes out, Eddie's arms squeeze hard, clutching onto Steve to keep himself from falling over. Steve feels him sag into his chest, hiding his cries in Steve's torn clothes. Tears come to Steve's eyes as well, weak to Eddie's sharp hitches of breath and the muffled cries that he can feel punch out of Eddie's chest. Steve squeezes back, fights the aches that persist in his face, and holds Eddie through it.

It takes a few minutes - maybe longer, Steve kind of lost track - but eventually, Eddie's cries die down, and his breathing evens out. His tense arms gently loosen their hold, and his body sags just a tiny bit further in relief. Steve doesn't try to let go yet, though, not until Eddie's hands slowly slide up to his shoulders and squeeze once. He takes it as a sign and pulls away carefully, keeping a hand on Eddie's shoulder.

Eddie's rubbing his eyes when Steve lets go, and as he blinks the tears away, Steve watches the glowing white center dull back down, watches Eddie fade away from the helm. The spirit, back in control, wipes at the remaining face mess with its sleeve, taking deep breaths to get itself right again.

Steve doesn't expect it's crackled, "End quote." to actually make him laugh in such a time, but laugh he does. Hard enough to push a few more tears out and hide the pain in his face beneath the elation. He carefully wipes his face dry, turning back to the, once again, blank-faced spirit, whispering a soft, "Thank you."

The spirit nods, and Steve thinks he sees the tiniest hint of a smile as it does. "Thank you, too. I wasn't expecting something like... that to happen."

Steve huffs out another laugh. "Neither did I," he admits, looking away as a wave of shame suddenly passes through him. "Sorry, about all that. It was the only thing I could think of to calm you down."

He sees the spirit shake its head in his peripheral, urging him to face it again. "Do not apologize. It worked as you intended." It's eyes briefly divert from Steve's, before it cautiously reaches out a hand to rest over Steve's on the edge of the boat. "If it soothes you, I sense that Eddie could feel it as well."

Steve's heart flounders, relief surging so strongly that he can't help the smile no matter how his jaw aches. Looks right into the spirit's eyes and takes the faint glow at the center as a little bit of Eddie always shining through. "Good to know."

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Translations may not always capture the exact nuances or tone of the original text. Please support Cybird by buying their stories. Expect grammatical errors.

(Hm?)

Ellis: "Is something wrong, Kate?"

Kate: "I feel like someone is watching us."

I looked around, but I didn't see anyone particularly suspicious.

Ellis: "Everyone is probably looking at you because you're cute."

Kate: "That's not true..."

Ellis: "It is. You're just not aware of it."

Kate: "Don't tease me like that."

Ellis: "Fufu, I got scolded."

I looked around again, but everything seemed normal, and nothing was out of place.

(Maybe it's just my imagination.)

We went to the hill overlooking the city, where people gathered, and the soft breeze played with our hair.

Ellis: "There's something over there, Kate."

Kate: "Those are padlocks, right?"

There was a crowd around the fence with different colored and shaped love locks attached to it.

Kate: "There's an explanation. Carve a message on the padlock with the person you wish to connect with and hang it here."

Kate: "Then your wish might come true, and you might be able to stay together forever. That's what it says."

(It's like a wish. Harrison would probably scoff at this.)

Harrison: "Believing that your wish will come true with something like this is too ridiculous. Though it seems like something you'd be into."

(Fufu, I can imagine him saying that.)

Ellis: "Hey, who were you thinking about just now?"

Kate: "Huh?"

Ellis: "Is it about Harry?"

Kate: "Um..."

Ellis: "You're so cute and easy to read."

Ellis: "I want to do it with you, but I think you should do it when you're with Harry."

Kate: "But isn't this something that couples do? I won't do it with Harrison either."

Ellis: "Then, how about doing it with me? I actually want to deepen my bond with you."

(If he says that, I have no reason to refuse.)

I nodded, and he got us padlocks, pens, and message cards from the vendor.

Kate: "Huh? You already wrote yours?"

Ellis: "Yeah. I wish for your happiness."

(Did he wish only for my happiness?)

Kate: "Thank you, I'm happy."

He always put his happiness aside and wished for others to be happy.

(Maybe he didn't care much about his own happiness?)

(If that's the case, then I...)

I noticed his gaze as I tried to start writing.

Kate: "It's embarrassing, so don't look."

Ellis: "Really? Okay, got it."

We attached the love lock to the fence after having the engraver carve our messages.

Ellis: "Kate, could you wait here for a while?"

Kate: "Where are you going?"

Ellis: "To the restroom. If you feel lonely, you can come with me."

Kate: "I'll wait here."

Ellis: "Alright. I'll be back soon. Stay here."

I decided to wait for him, surrounded by lively couples in love.

After descending from the hilltop, Ellis entered a dark alleyway alone.

Ellis: "Hey. It's about time you showed up."

Ellis turned around, and the man in the black coat trembled in surprise.

Man in a black coat: "When did you notice?"

Ellis: "I guess since Paddington Station."

Man in a black coat: "Then why did you come this far?"

Ellis: "Kate doesn't like scary things, so I was looking for a safe place with people around. That's all."

Man in Black Coat: "Are you making fun of me? You two must be a police's lapdogs."

Ellis: "A little off the mark."

Man in Black Coat: "I have to kill you here."

The man took out a knife from his pocket and wildly swung it, grazing Ellis' right arm.

Ellis: "..........."

Ellis ran off as though he was flying, then kicked off the wall and jumped high.

Man in Black Coat: "W-What the hell is this!? My hand! My hand!"

Ellis touched the man's head and used the curse's power to restrain his hand.

Ellis: "You can try to kill me if you want."

Man in a black coat: "E-Eeek..."

Pulling out a pitch-black knife, Ellis gently placed it against the man's neck.

Ellis: "I'll help you if you answer two questions. First, what is your goal?"

Man in Black Coat: "If I bring your heads, I might become a high-ranking member."

Ellis: "Jude often says that people driven by ambition for promotion are a pain in the ass."

Ellis: "Second. Your hideout must be one of these three. Which one is it?"

The man looked at the paper Ellis presented with the three locations written on it, and his face turned pale.

The blade sank into the man's neck as he struggled to speak.

Ellis: "Tell me."

Man in Black Coat: "The third one, the cargo warehouse! That's our hideout!"

Ellis: "I see. Thanks."

Ellis: "Well then, goodbye."

Man in Black Coat: "Ha? Ah...ugh..."

Ellis: "People who easily spill information are likely to betray us and become snitches."

Ellis: "I don't want to scare Kate, so sorry for lying."

(Ellis is taking a while to come back.)

(Maybe something happened.)

Ellis: "Kate."

Kate: "Ellis!"

Kate: "I was worried that something might have happened."

Ellis: "Sorry for being late. I promise I won't ever leave you again."

(He doesn't seem injured, so I guess nothing happened.)

Kate: "It's okay. I'm just glad nothing happened."

Ellis: "I went to gather information."

Kate: "Huh?"

Ellis took out a piece of paper with the location of the smuggling organization's hideout on it.

Ellis: "I asked someone who knows a lot about the city. These two places are dead ends, but this one is the real deal."

Identifying the location of the smuggling organization was our mission.

Kate: "So that means..."

Ellis: "Yes, our mission is complete now."

It was surprisingly brief, but I felt relieved.

(Good thing he didn't get involved in anything weird.)

Kate: "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help. Thank you, Ellis."

Ellis: "No problem. Shall we take a look at some souvenirs on our way back?"

Kate: "Yeah, sure. Huh?"

Ellis: "---?"

Kate: "It looks like it's going to rain."

In no time, the weather took a turn for the worse.

Thunder roared, and heavy rain soaked our bodies.

Ellis: "You stay under the eaves. I'll go buy the tickets."

Kate: "Okay."

He quickly returned, looking very troubled.

Kate: "Is something wrong?"

Ellis: "There was a landslide due to the rain, and they are inspecting the tracks. They say it might take until morning."

Kate: "So that means the trains won't run until morning."

Ellis: "Yeah."

(Then...)

Ellis: "Kate."

Ellis: "Spend the night with me."

Part 1 ╎ Part 2╎ Premium End ╎ Epilogue

[thecampjuicebox]

My goodness, I'm about to walk away from this lookin' like a blood drunk Astarion!

Also "Warped in a Bow" Part 2, pleeeeeaaassse! I want that so badly!

*Warning: Messy Essay Incoming*

"Tav demonstrating why she was so hard to catch by subduing a fiendish assassin that snuck into the House of Hope (and probably ended up interrupting another bang session), despite her being without weapons or armor, by essentially using the silk or chain as a garrote wire on the attacker..."

"If anything, I think this kind of information would fuel Raphael’s fires. Turn him on to an unreasonable degree."

Oh, I think Raphael would first be livid that there is an intruder in his house and that his steamy times got interrupted; especially since we all know that he likes to bottom and seeing Tav nakedly assert dominance over a cur would probably make him even more hot and bothered (especially if your description of him seeing Tav crush a foe's head with their thighs is any indication 👀), but he can't *ahem* act on any of that excitement yet because he has to deal with the whole assassin thing first.

Haarlep might initially be mildly miffed that the bang session got interrupted, but would quickly get over it because I think the incubus would probably be able to pick up that the interjection of this naughty little assassin didn't kill the mood (you see what I did there? did you see what I-) but at worst only put it on pause for a bit, plus Haarlep would also find the sight of the all but naked Tav dominating this naughty little interloper to be extremely enticing (again, if your take on Haarlep seeing Tav deliver 'death by thighs' is anything to go by).

I can just picture things getting steamy again between the three before Tav suddenly perks up. Then, before either fiend can figure out what is happening, she is suddenly across the room with a devil struggling beneath her. Haarlep recovers first, slides off the bed and begins slinking around Tav and the pinned would-be assassin all 'Well, well, well~ What do we have here?' maybe even mocking/menacing the assassin by saying something like 'I don't see why you're being so feisty. I'd kill to switch places with you right now~ What do you think, Raphael?' Meanwhile Raphael is trying to think clearly and deal with the assassin situation while lust, fury, and perhaps a bit of amusement are all engaging in a full on kaiju level brawl for dominance in his brain.

Yes, yes, yes, and YES! I'm so happy you applied their reactions to Tav crushing someone's head to this, because I think they'd both just be so.. HNNNNNG at the sight of Tav absolutely destroying an intruder. Poor Raphael wouldn't have the wherewithal to even react before Tav has the intruder in a choke hold, arms restrained behind their back. Assassin where? Not on Tav's watch. I'm giggling at the idea of Haarlep just mocking them, too. "Awe, looks like someone is a little stuck, hm?" "If your boss happens to come calling, I'll make sure to let them know you're a little.. Tied up." AHHHHHHHHHHHHH And all the while Raphael is just "fuck fucking fuck shit fuck gods damned interruptions I'll kill them, I'll burn them, fuck" And Tav is using her normal alluring tactics to subdue the writhing interloper in her grasp. What a pathetic little display.

My brain automatically moves to.. Tav slitting their throat, covered in blood, and that just DOES THE DEVIL IN. That's it. He doesn't even mind the mess, he's just so enthralled with the way Tav looks all dirty and probably a lil sweaty from the struggle. eroghbvwe;roiughbqlweirug Let me not give TOO MUCH away

"Wrapped With a Bow" part 2 coming VERY SOON! Thank you for your essay, I will absolutely take these ideas into account (especially because you see things the same way that I do) 💕

[sawyerconfort]

hey I wanted to ask for a Duke angsty fluff with the prompt “your not alone, you never were” as in like the reader and Duke are friends and they find out about Dukes bulimia and try to comfort her and then Duke confesses her feeling for the reader and it ends with fluff

Hey!

It's been a long time since I've been here to write, and I'll definitely do it more often next year. It's just that, my life is completely crazy, I have too many commitments and every time I come back here, I always have a new idea for a fanfic on Wattpad instead hahahaha

Anyway, but that's not the point now. I know I've been promising you this for a while, so here it is. Anon, sorry for the delay, I really wanted to get this to you sooner, and if you didn't give up waiting, I hope you like it!

Enjoy!

No, requests are not open, at least until next year!

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

Not Strong Enough | Heather Duke x Reader

PROMPT: I don't know what to tell you, just that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time with your best friend who always swore she wouldn't hide anything from you.

WARNINGS: Mentions of bulimia, eating disorder, mental health, distorted image, anxiety.

***

"Hi, how are you? Like, class has started, how long does it take you to touch up your makeup?"

You ask. You're standing outside the women's bathroom, trying to get the attention of your best friend, Heather, who is on the other side of the door. It was a long conversation until you got the teacher's permission to leave the class, because the students had just returned from break, and it was like a school rule that you couldn't leave after break, or something like that.

Heather Duke said that she was going to walk you to class, but she needed to touch up her makeup first, and, even though you didn't know exactly how long it would take to do that, you found it strange that she was taking so long.

It wasn't news to anyone that Heather practically lived in the bathroom. The other two Heathers knew why she did this almost all the time, but you, her best friend, apparently didn't even know the half of it, and she refused to tell you, who knows why.

Determined to put an end to this torture, you invented an absurd excuse for the teacher and left the room, going to the bathroom door, where you were now, just being careful that Ms. Fleming didn't catch you and give you detention while you 'spy'.

"I'm almost done, it's just…", you heard her say on the other side, and then, the sentence remained there, incomplete, hanging in an eternal echo on the bathroom door. Heather was never silent, you were fully aware of that, and so, even if it was inconvenient, you did the first thing that came into her head.

Thankful that there were no other girls in the bathroom, for countless reasons, you opened the door abruptly, without even blinking.

The scene was a bit embarrassing and scary at first. You heard someone expel, and then you came across Heather Duke in one of the stalls, bent over the toilet, with the stall door half open because of the wind when you opened the bathroom door.

Running as if this was the last thing you were going to do in your life - and it would probably be because she was going to kill you when she found out that you had practically broken down the door -, you knelt behind her and held her long hair up.

But it was too late. Her perfect green uniform had a few drops of vomit on it, and the smell was even worse.

“Hey, hey, easy, easy…” you murmured, and felt Heather Duke gasp in her arms, scared. "It's okay, it's just me. It's okay, relax."

She took a deep breath and finally raised her head. You made her hair into a loose bun and flushed the toilet, restraining yourself from throwing up too. Then he closed the lid and took it out of the cabin, to the taps. Heather looked in the mirror and sighed, lowering her head shortly after.

"Is everything okay? If you want to throw up again, I'll hold you back," you whispered, worrying. She looked at you for a minute and shook her head. "Okay, then this is better. Now… I know it's a little inconvenient to ask, but why did you lie to me?"

"And I didn't lie, I withheld, they are two different things."

You rolled your eyes, and Heather sighed. Suddenly the idea became a little funny, and you commented, to lighten the mood. "Look, I know the cafeteria food isn't appetizing, okay? You don't need to feel guilty about telling me this, I won't tell anyone."

But his joke didn't have the expected effect on Heather Duke. She looked at you, frowned, then raised her eyebrow.

"Isn't that what you were talking about…?", she whispered, but you heard her, and it was her turn to frown.

"About what?"

"Nothing," Heather said, shaking her head and looking in the mirror again. "You know I didn't eat anything for lunch, don't you?"

You looked at her, frowned again. "You didn't? Why? Did something happen? Or because the mashed potatoes…"

"No, it's not the mashed potatoes, (Y\N), stop talking about food."

"Heather, what's your problem? Tell me, I want to help you, please. You're hiding something from me and I'm your best friend, that's not fair at all, please tell me!"

You didn't expect to express that feeling of anger and fear with so much anxiety and so much euphoria. But you did. And she opened her eyes wide in surprise, swallowing hard. Looking at the ground, you witnessed for the first time the moment Heather Duke let her guard down.

"I withheld something from you because…", she began, and cleared her throat, before turning to you, hands resting on the sink. "…no, you'll hate me forever, and I know I won't be able to handle it."

“Heather, don’t…” you whispered, approaching her slowly. "Tell me, please, I want to help you. I'm not here to hate you, I promise."

She sighed again and lowered her head. "I… I have bulimia, (Y\N)…"

"You what?", yes, that was your first reaction, and of course you couldn't hold back that reaction, such was the shock of receiving this news. "Wait, since when?"

"Since the beginning of the year", she confessed, still very quietly. "I think it started, actually, when I joined the Heathers, and I had to come to high school with this mentality of being popular. I… I didn't like my body and I thought people wouldn't think I was popular and brilliant. If I were…you know, fat."

You swallowed again.

"I didn't know that stopping eating would lead me to this kind of thing, it's just… looking in the mirror was torture, and it got even worse after I started. I wanted to eat something, and every time I saw In my reflection I saw my body distorting, enlarging, and that wouldn't make me a popular girl, so I just… stopped eating because at least that wouldn't make my image distort and people would like me."

"And why did you hide this from me? I would have done anything to help you, anything at all…"

'Because you didn't care about that kind of thing, (Y\N). You saw me and see me as the perfect girl, I know that, and I didn't want… I didn't want to be responsible for getting that image of me out of your head…", she laughed. "Or because I was maybe trying make me look tough, you know? It also helped with me being popular…"

You smiled, but Heather seemed to have something to say, something else, so you waited, patiently.

"And also because… I… I didn't want you to see me as a failure because… because I couldn't stand it," she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for keeping this from you. I didn't mean for you to be hurt, I was just trying to protect you because… because I love you."

Heather's speech took you by surprise, and you widened your eyes, increasingly confused. She stopped for two minutes and continued babbling, saying that she knew you would figure all this out eventually, and that she felt terrible for liking you as more than a friend, and that you would say she was confusing things, and that you would definitely want to get away from her now that you knew the truth.

And you didn't do any of that. You only stopped her from continuing to speak, pressing your lips to hers and holding her face with both hands. There wasn't a moment where you said you loved her back before the kiss, but it was enough like that. Because there was nothing more like you than surprising a girl with your unexpected, impulse-filled actions.

Heather pulled away from the kiss after a few minutes, frowning in her direction. "Aren't you mad at me because I just confessed to you?"

“Definitely not,” you whispered. "I love you too, silly. And I want you to know that I won't leave you alone. And that you will have me by your side to keep you on track with your looks and your body," you touched her face again. "I love you like this, the way you are, and I don't care if you're fat, ugly, full of pimples or with thin legs like someone who doesn't exercise during the week, regardless of all that, Heather… "

She smiled, as you leaned closer again.

"I love you. I've always loved you and I'll never stop loving you, whatever that may be, in whatever sense…"

"Go out with me?", she whispered, now acting on impulse. "Please?"

Your eyes widened. "What the fuck was that?"

She shrugged.

"I'm just trying. You don't have to accept it if you don't want to."

“I’ll take it, yes, Heather,” you said, and then touched her cheek. "But only if you agree to eat with me. Even if it's measly junk food."

[karizard-ao3]

My reactions to Evangelion episode 17: Fourth Child

I regret ever doubting Misato. It was not her who was sus, it was NERV.

Actually, I did wonder if the Angel was trying to communicate with him.

The need for "heart" to operate the Evas is stirring some things in my head.

Toji is a good brother.

ope, my kid is home. I'll save this as a draft and try to resume later.

Okay, it's later. My kid is asleep and I'm squeezing in an episode before I also go to bed. I'm just going to start from the beginning. I think I could probably actually watch this with him because the content doesn't seem too mature for him, however he would not be able to restrain himself from talking through the thing and I would annoy him by pausing the show if I have long notes to make, so he'll just have to wait to see if I feel I must do a second watch after the first one.

I like that Misato is protecting Shinji from this interrogation.

The Angels are EVOLVING?

So I've been thinking about how Adam appeared to be a fetus in a suitcase when Kaji brought him to Gendo and how he was called the first Angel when Kaji showed him to Misato fully grown, so I wonder if instead of dying they just do a little Steven Universe thing and revert back to an embryo? Or actually maybe comparing them to a phoenix is more apt. Also, I did find it weird when the lava Angel pupae looked so similar to fetus Adam but I also take it for granted that all embryos/ early stage fetuses look the same no matter what species they are, so I didn't think too deeply about it. That should have been my first clue that Adam was an Angel and not a person.

What is the S2 drive?

So the base or whatever vanished. It disappeared into the Dirac Sea. Was it the S2 drive and human error that caused this vaporization of sorts or was it an Angel attack?

The dummy plug is very interesting to me. The Eva needs to feel like there is a pilot to sync with. Is it because the implanted personalities long to have a soul again? Or am I just thinking weird things because I'm tired? lol

Is that actually Rei in the tube? I guess it is.

Ritsuko, why so creepy?

Asuka being mean again. Oh, young lady.

Does class rep like Toji??

Rei's got medication she takes.

Rei's reaction to Shinji cleaning up after her was so cute.

She's never said thank you before?

Here we go with some Garden of Eden talk. Is Tokyo-3 the Eden? Maybe it's a space station for when they destroy the Earth.

The Marduk Institute doesn't exist? And Shinji's school seems to be involved. Maybe all the kids there potential pilots.

"But I'm not a girl" Shinji, I love you.

Kaji is a watermelon farmer.

I wonder what traits they select for when choosing pilots.

Kensuke is so nosy,

The birth rate has been falling. Hmmm.

She's offering to make you a lunch, dumbass.

I'm changing Asuka's name to Karen.

In Conclusion

I feel like things are starting to come together but I'm still no closer to figuring out exactly what the secrets here are. Soon, soon.

Toji being the Fourth Children is tugging on my brain because I feel like if I could figure out what about him makes him the candidate they've been looking for then I would have a much better idea of what's going on with the Evas. I had thought there may be some kind of psychic element to this but I haven't seen any signs that they are being evaluated for psychic skills. It seems the "heart" is the most important part, but what determines that there is enough heart? All the pilots are so different, except for that they all do have some kind of trauma. Is that the trick? I don't seem to recall any mention of Toji's parents being killed but he just mentioned that there's no one at home to make a lunchbox for him anymore, so maybe he has lost them. Shinji lost his mother and his dad's a deadbeat, Asuka mentioned she has no one left to care about (if I remember right), and Rei is also alone from what I can tell and may have lost her loved ones horrifically. We know she has no one to make her feel connected to the world with all the suicidal sounding stuff she was saying that upset Shinji. Maybe she was the one who said she had no one left? Could have been both girls. So, I guess now I'm wondering if Toji's sister has died. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I have a feeling the dummy plug is going to be a disaster.

That's about all I'm coming up with right now. I have to get to bed or I will regret it in the morning and all day tomorrow, so I will try to watch another episode tomorrow night, but maybe earlier in the evening so I can fit in a couple. We'll see. It all depends on a certain dependent of mine and how fast he goes to bed.

[felixstudios]

Random Corporate Clash Headcanons, Playing Subnautica Edition

Ft. my art as a bonus

It's as dark as a movie... YOU CAN'T SEE IT!!!!! :D

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SUBNAUTICA SPOILERS!!!

Duck Shuffler

🎰Causes chaos

🎰Dies often and literally doesn't care

🎰This man does not know fear. He will approach a reaper armed with only a scanner and a repair tool, get bitten for 80 damage, and say, "Wow! Thith game ith tho cool!"

Prethinker

🧠Plans EVERYTHING

🧠"I'm going into the Lost River, which means I'll want to fill at least 2 lockers with titanium in my Cyclops to build a base by the Cove Tree. I'll bring the materials for a Moonpool and a Thermal Plant as well as all the interior modules. I'll stop at Lifepod 2 to grab the Cyclops Depth Module MK1 and also explore some wrecks in the Grand Reef and Underwater Islands for PRAWN Suit drill and grappling arm fragments. Once I get to the Lost River I'm going to..."

🧠"...and this Stasis Rifle will work to keep Warpers away for only a few seconds, but it will be enough time to..."

🧠"...perform this glitch speedrunners use to get access to this Purple Tablet hidden out of bounds, which will save me an ion cube as well as a trip to..."

Derrick Man

🛢️Does everything in the most practical, efficient way possible

🛢️Not afraid to hunt down a few Leviathans if they get in the way

🛢️Likes the PRAWN Suit quite a bit

Deep Diver

🫧Refuses to use the wildlife for food and water

🫧"This creature was probably inspired from [sea creature] in the real world."

🫧Will build a base with a LOT of glass and windows. She wants to watch all the wildlife swim around

🫧I feel like if you asked him his favorite creature or biome, he'd say all of them

Rainmaker

⛈️Scared of everything. Even screamed when she saw her first stalker

⛈️Refuses to explore at night because it scares her

⛈️When she saw a Reaper while trying to explore the Aurora, she had to pause her game and cry a bit internally

⛈️Really loves the creatures though and will make a massive aquarium in her base

Land Acquisition Architect

🚦LOVES base building. A little too much maybe?

🚦He especially likes doing it on creative mode where he's not restrained by power or hull integrity

🚦Still is the guy who builds a massive base in survival mode and like CONSTANTLY expands it even though it's already like a quarter the size of the biome

🚦Completely disorganized storage rooms

Gatekeeper

⚔️Has already killed every Leviathan in the game armed with a Seamoth and a Thermoblade

⚔️Builds a base in the most dangerous places JUST out of spite

⚔️Beats the game really fast, even for her first playthrough. Like... less than 10 hours fast

Witch Hunter

🔱He doesn't play it

Public Relations Representative

🧱Basically Buck except he gets scared of the Leviathans

🧱His base, is, erm... it sure is a base of all time {it's a complete architectural nightmare}

🧱Crashes the Cyclops into walls constantly

🧱Has an irrational fear of Mesmers. No, I cannot explain this oddly specific headcanon

Bellringer

🔔"Affectionately" insults the creatures and tells them to shut up

🔔Hurts his Seamoth so he can hurt aggressive fauna while he's driving

🔔Otherwise he's a pretty chill and normal player

Multislacker

🥪Has a little drive for exploration, but not really

🥪Mostly just clears the game and doesn't care enough to find out more about it

🥪"Oh... I'm supposed to cure a disease. That's a... lot of effort. Could you, like, just beat the game for me and I'll watch?"

Mouthpiece

☎️Thinks it's fascinating technology has come far enough for a game like this to exist, though she doesn't actually care much for Subnautica itself since it's just not her style

☎️She did find making small bases and exploring pretty fun, though

☎️Struggles a lot to control the game since gaming doesn't come naturally to her

☎️Likes to keep small aquariums

Major Player

🎹LOVES the audio and the ambience of the game, it's super immersive for him

🎹Not necessarily scared of Leviathans, but he's had some jumpscare moments with them

🎹He's the kind of guy to set his Cyclops on fire just to listen to Abandon Ship

🎹Loves exploring and just wandering around since the game is SO immersive for him

Firestarter

🔥"I, uh... I'm sorry, Peeper... I have to eat..."

🔥"Where am I?"

🔥The ceiling above him might get a little singed if he gets jumpscared

🔥"...Graham? Do you know where I am?"

🔥"What's the Ecological Dead Zone...?"

Plutocrat

🌑Doesn't really know how to play games, so he gets frustrated pretty quickly because he can't figure out how to do what he wants to do

🌑Starts thinking about a realistic survival scenario and often tries to solve problems that aren't even in the game {such at the bends, keeping skin dry, ETC}

🌑Doesn't care much for the story until he does after it FINALLY catches his interest like halfway through

Treekiller

🪵Finds very interesting solutions to his problems...

🪵Violence. He chooses violence.

🪵Sometimes purposefully kills innocent fish with his vehicles for laughs

🪵Genuinely thinks if he had Kharaa that he'd essentially be able to just walk it off

Chainsaw Consultant

🪚Who let this man play a horror game?

🪚Well, he's gonna be plenty traumatized by it

🪚He likes the peace and quiet of the safer biomes and will probably just sit with an observatory and vibe, but the sounds of aggressive fauna scares him a lot

Featherbedder

💤Falls asleep at the keyboard a lot

💤Even if it's high intensity like a Reaper chase, they will just. Suddenly fall asleep

💤The Cove Tree makes her especially sleepy though

💤Not really scared of anything and finds the story very interesting, just finds it difficult to sit through a gaming session without falling asleep

Pacesetter

👟Tries to beat the game as quickly as possible

👟"I'm not scared of Reapers!" 10 seconds later... "AHHH!!! FLINT THERE'S A REAPER CHASING ME!!!"

👟VERY dramatic about EVERY encounter. Example: "And then the Bonesharks started swarming and chasing me and biting my Seamoth! I was able to scan the Cyclops Engine Fragments and get away by just barely!" and all that happened was a single Boneshark bit his Seamoth and then swam away.

👟Example B: He'll see a Reaper in the corner of the screen swimwing away, he leaves, and then will try to describe it like this:

{WARNING: LOUD NOISES AND JUMPSCARE}

[clickerflight]

Whump Week: Stay still

@week-of-whump

Master list

Part 4

This one is probably the weakest of all the ones I've written. NGL, Anisha is kind of hard to whump because of how tough she is.

Content: Betrayal, restrained, listening to a friend suffer, head slam

..................................................

"Anisha! Welcome!" Anya said. The shopkeeper was more enthusiastic about seeing Anisha than she normally was, but Anisha wasn't about to complain. 

"Good morning, Anya," Anisha said, picking up a basket to grab the potion ingredients Matsu sent her to get. He usually got his ingredients from another shop where his friend worked, but there were some shortages on certain ingredients so he had everyone searching shops farther out through the city to get what he needed. This was one of the stores Anisha had on her routes when there were shortages. "You seem pretty happy today."

"Oh, yes," Anya said, flushing a little. "I just got a shipment of Goran berry jelly in."

"Ooh! That's actually one of the things I was here for! That's sure to make you a nice profit with the shortages going around."

Anya nodded. "Absolutely. I haven't unpacked it yet. Would you like to come into the back with me and we'll get you set up?"

"Sure," Anisha said, following behind Anya, her tail flicking back and forth happily. 

Anya pointed to a box and said, "Help yourself. I need to go make a call real quick. I'll be up front when you're ready to make your purchase."

"Thanks," Anisha said. She dug through the box, humming happily to herself. There was plenty of jelly in here, more than enough. She loaded up what Matsu said he would need, not wanting to over-buy and make stock even more limited for other potion makers and ritual casters. She hesitated, ear twitching as she sensed something odd nearby. A portal? Who was making a portal in this part of the city. 

She reached out through the bonds to make sure it wasn't one of her teammates, but they were still invested in their hunt through the shops. 

She stood up and turned in time to hear someone running down the hall and into the room. She caught a glimpse of weapons, and she dropped her basket, flaring her wings and screeching. She dodged the first attacker, but more were piling into the room and they were swinging around weapons that looked to be some form of taser. So, they were looking to capture her, not kill her. 

She slammed her wing into someone's gut, sweeping away another attacker as she tried to get to the door. They wouldn't be able to catch her if she made it to open air. 

She pushed a sense of urgency and danger through the bond with her team, trying to warn the others that something was wrong and get them to come help. 

Something caught her in the leg and she flinched away as power jolted through her. It didn't really hurt, but it made her muscles unreliable. 

She tried to get away, but someone else jabbed her, and another, and another until it was all she could do to keep on her feet. 

"Tough one, aren't ya!" someone called, and another one slammed into the back of her neck, putting her on the ground. It still didn't hurt since dragons have always had to be somewhat lightning proof, but her muscles wouldn't respond to her anymore as they were overloaded with signals. 

She whined, trying to get free. Someone pinned her to the ground, rubber gloved hands binding her hands and ankles, tying up her wings and putting an anti magic collar around her throat. 

They backed off, as did all of the weapons keeping her there, and she thrashed, using her legs and tail to send three of her assailants crashing to the ground. 

"Someone control her!" one of the fallen growled.

A gruff man, dressed just differently enough from the others to mark him as the leader, pulled out his phone and speed dialed someone. 

“Mech team, do you have the package?” he asked loudly as Anisha rolled again, snapping at the legs of the people around her. 

The phone was on speaker as the man on the other side said, “Package is secured, sir.”

“Oi, scaleon,” the leader said. “Stay still, or your friend’s gonna get it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anisha growled. 

“Mech 1.”

“Yessir.”

Through the phone’s small speakers, crackling with the range of it, came a scream that Anisha recognized. She fell very still, listening to Kira’s screams as they petered off, heavy breathing just barely reaching her ears. She glared at the captain of this team.”Not very sportsmanlike of you.”

“I don’t have to be. Mech team. Meet us at the rendezvous.”

Someone grabbed Anisha by the hair, slamming her head hard into the ground. She wasn’t badly hurt, despite the hit, but she was still quite stunned as her brain settled again, making it easy for the men to carry her out of the shop, Anya looking a little guilty, though a whole lot richer. 

@whumpsday

Part 6

[trinity-mia]

a story as endless as the ocean

the sea of monsters

1.9 red sky in morning

warnings : none ( lmk if that isn't actually true )

word count : 2.5k

1.9 The King of the Titans Installs His Back-Up Plan Just in Case He Can't Manipulate Me or I Die (Whichever Comes First)

That afternoon was one of the happiest I'd ever spent at camp, which probably goes to show, you never know when your world is about to be rocked to pieces.

Grover announced that he'd be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he hadn't gotten himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month furlough and a new set of reed pipes.

The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills hadn't improved much. He played "YMCA," and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us. I guess I couldn't blame them, seeing as I wanted to strangle his 'music' too. However illogically that was phrased. But, because I was a good friend, I managed to restrain myself and not break them. Though, I wasn't about to make any promises if he started on Hilary Duff again.

Grover told me he could dissolve the empathy link between us, now that we were face to face, but I had simply rolled my eyes and told him not to be an idiot. He put down his reed pipes and stared at me. "But, if I get in trouble again, you'll be in danger, Allie! You could die!"

"I'm a demigod, Grover," I scoffed back. "Dying's in the job description." I gave him a stern, unyielding look that said I wasn't going to back down on this. "If you get in trouble again, I want to know about it. And I'll come to help you again, Grover. I wouldn't have it any other way."

In the end, he agreed not to break the link. He went back to playing "YMCA" for the strawberry plants. I didn't need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it. I suspect I did everyone a favor when I confiscated the reeds and rapped him around the head with them. 

As for Tyson, the campers treated him like a hero. I would've been happy to have him as my cabin mate forever, but that evening, as we were sitting on a sand dune overlooking the Long Island Sound, he made an announcement that completely took me by surprise.

"Dream came from Daddy last night," he said. "He wants me to visit."

I wondered if he was kidding, but Tyson really didn't know how to kid. "Poseidon sent you a dream message?"

Tyson nodded. "Wants me to go underwater for the rest of the summer. Learn to work at Cyclopes' forges. He called it an inter— an intern—"

"An internship?"

"Yes." I let that sink in. I'll admit, I felt a little bitter. Poseidon did seem to actually care about Tyson. But me? He said to my face that I was a mistake. Who wouldn't feel a bit resentful at hearing their parent say that, no matter how they felt about the parent themselves? Then I realized, Tyson was going? Just like that?

"When would you leave?" I asked.

"Now."

"Now. Like... right now?"

"Now."

"Oh." I stared out at the waves of Long Island Sound. The water was glistening red in the sunset. I could feel tears pricking my eyelids. "I'm happy for you, bub," I managed. "Seriously."

"Hard to leave my new sister," he said with a tremble in his voice. "But I want to make things. Weapons for the camp. You will need them."

Unfortunately, I knew he was right. The Fleece hadn't solved all the camp's problems. Annabeth and Cody were both still out there, gathering an army aboard the Princess Andromeda. Kronos was still re-forming in his golden coffin. Eventually, we would have to fight them. War was inevitable, and the Great Prophecy loomed over my head like a Sword of Damocles. I would turn nineteen in a little over three weeks, meaning I would be exactly two years away from my much-dreaded twenty-first birthday.

"You'll make the best weapons ever," I told Tyson. I held up my bracelet proudly. "The best. No contest."

Tyson sniffled. "Brothers and sisters help each other."

"You're my brother," I vowed. "No doubt about it."

He patted me on the back so hard he almost knocked me down the sand dune. Then he wiped a tear from his cheek and stood to go. "Use the shield well."

"I will, bub."

"Save your life someday."

The way he said it, so matter-of-fact, I wondered if that Cyclops eye of his could see into the future.

"Just like its creator," I answered softly as he headed down to the beach and whistled, the way I'd taught him. Rainbow, the hippocampus, burst out of the waves. I watched the two of them ride off together into the realm of Poseidon.

Once they were gone, I looked down at my new bracelet. I pressed the sapphire and the shield spiraled out to full size. Hammered into the bronze were pictures in Ancient Greek style, scenes from our adventures this summer. There was me slaying a Laistrygonian dodgeball player, Luke fighting the bronze bulls on Half-Blood Hill, Tyson riding Rainbow toward the Princess Andromeda, the CSS Birmingham blasting its cannons at Charybdis. I ran my hand across a picture of Tyson, battling the Hydra as he held aloft a box of Monster Donuts.

I couldn't help feeling sad. I knew Tyson would have a fantastic time under the ocean. He would love his internship, of that I had no doubt, not to mention seeing Poseidon, whom he idolized. But I would miss everything about him— his fascination with horses, the way he could fix chariots or crumple metal with his bare hands, or tie our enemies into knots. I'd even miss him snoring like an earthquake in the next bunk all night.

"Hey, Allie."

I turned.

Luke and Grover were standing at the top of the sand dune. I wiped a few stay tears from my eyes. 

"Tyson..." I told them. "He had to..."

"We know," Luke replied softly, his expression gentle as he reached out to smooth down my curls. "Chiron told us."

"Cyclops forges." Grover shuddered. "I hear the cafeteria food there is terrible! Like, no enchiladas at all."

I let out a watery laugh, and he gained a pleased expression. Luke wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, Angel. Time for dinner."

We walked back toward the dining pavilion together, just the three of us together, almost like old times.

A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did (Thank Olympus for weather wards).

Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, safely sealed inside our magical borders.

Still, my dreams were restless. I heard Kronos taunting me from the depths of Tartarus. 

Polyphemus sits blindly in his cave, young heroine, believing he has won a great victory. Are you any less deluded? The Titan's cold laughter filled the darkness of the cavern.

Then my dream changed. I was following Tyson to the bottom of the sea, into the court of Poseidon. It was a radiant hall filled with blue light, the floor cobbled with pearls. And there, on a throne of coral, sat my father, dressed like a simple fisherman in khaki shorts and a sun-bleached T-shirt. I looked up into his tan weathered face and sea-green eyes, all older, but still looking just like me, and he spoke two words: Brace yourself.

I woke with a start.

There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. "Allie!" he stammered. "Luke... on the hill... he..."

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Luke had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened— I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I grabbed a piece of Ambrosia from my secret stash, then threw on a hoodie over my sports bra and pajama pants and shoved on the closest pair of slip-on shoes (which happened to be Gucci slides), while Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. He wasn't making any sense.

"She's lying there... just lying there..."

Who was she? The only thing I could think was that a new camper must have arrived, deathly injured by the sounds of it.

I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill as fast as they could, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas. I spotted Will and his younger sister Kayla Knowles, gripping a box of medical supplies and a quiver of arrows between them as they struggled up the slope.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

"Is it true?" he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was bloodred from the rising sun. The color made me queasy, as I remembered an old phrase one of my directors had often spouted. Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy. He's given himself a backup plan."

"What do you mean?" I asked fearfully.

"The Fleece," he answered me in a grim tone of voice. "The Fleece did its work too well."

That was, as you may have guessed, completely unhelpful. We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Luke was pale-faced and dressed in Greek armor as he knelt next to her. He didn't glance back as we cantered up to the group.

"My gods," he was muttering repeatedly. "My gods. My gods."

My instinctual fear caused blood to roar in my ears. I couldn't think straight. What had happened? Was Luke hurt? Was the Fleece still there? Still undamaged?

The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Luke finally looked away from the girl at the sound of Chiron's voice. When he saw us, he ran to Chiron. "It... she... just suddenly there..."

His eyes were streaming with tears uncharacteristically, but I still didn't understand. I was too freaked out to make sense of it all. I leaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl. Chiron said: "Allie, wait!"

I knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth— a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of different bands.

She wasn't a camper. I didn't recognize her from any of the cabins. And yet I had the strangest feeling I'd seen her before...

"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe..."

Nobody else came close to the girl.

I put my hand on her forehead, trying to use my rudimentary first-aid skills to assess her. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

"She needs nectar and ambrosia," I said. She was clearly a half-blood, whether she was a camper or not. I could sense that just from one touch. I didn't understand why everyone was acting so scared. I shot a scathing look at the medics, who were as frozen as everyone else.

Breakdowns are for later people. Not when there's someone in desperate need of medical aid lying unconscious in front of you. Gods! Well, if none of them were going to help, I would.

I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder. Then I pulled out the small piece of ambrosia from my pocket. I pinched her nose to make her open her mouth, popped in the ambrosia, and massaged her throat to make her swallow. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue— electric blue.

The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. "Who—"

"I'm Allie," I said, keeping my tone soothing like I was talking to Nessa's little half-brother, or one of the camp's younger kids (usually about five to seven, but there was a four-year-old son of Apollo who had come after his mother's death. I'll give Apollo this, he made certain that none of his children ended up in the foster system). "You're safe now."

"Strangest dream..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," I assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?" That's when I knew. Even before she said it. I had seen those eyes before, not just in a picture and I had heard that voice before too. "Wait."

The girl's blue eyes stared into mine, and I understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play— another chance to control the prophecy. If I died or he couldn't find a way to control me, he had a backup plan.

Even Chiron, Luke, and Grover, who should've been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future, and the war. And I was holding someone who was supposed to have died seven years ago in my arms.

"I am Thalia," she said, unaware of the turmoil she was about to cause the world. "Daughter of Zeus."

*    *    *

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[astramthetaprime]

Year of the Jackpot 2, Dog Attack Boogaloo

TW Animal injuries

My boy Genji was attacked on our own front porch by another dog on Friday night. He was sitting outside on the porch just chilling, lording it over all he surveys as he does. One of my neighbors has a pit bull, and she came into the yard and attacked Gen on the porch. I was in the back of the house, here at the computer in fact.

I ran to the noise of the most violent thing I've ever heard in real life, my dog screaming and another dog growling. I get there and got Gen separated, all but threw him into the house, chased the pit bull off the porch, went inside and locked the door.

The neighbor was right there "oh sorry let me get her". Dude, if you were that close behind her you either did this deliberately and came to watch your dog kill another dog or you're stoned so bad you can't get in there and pull your dog off when she attacks another dog unprovoked. She had her harness on, why didn't you have a leash?

This wasn't the first time this has happened. She's attacked Gen before. Why haven't they realized she's a dangerous dog and should be on a leash at all times when out of her fence?

Like I said, it's either deliberate because they want to watch her kill another dog or they're stoned idiots who can't count to potato.

I'm not normally one to immediately say "pit bulls are dangerous" because any dog can be dangerous. A Chihuahua can kill you. Don't laugh. Yes it can happen. Dogs are still canine predators and anyone of them can kill you if they're motivated enough. I determine if individual dogs are dangerous, not entire species. This one has proven she's dangerous. No dog becomes dangerous just because "oh it's a pit bull, they're all dangerous". No. If she's dangerous, she was made dangerous, either by trauma or negligent training or both. "Oh she's just playing". Bullshit. Playing doesn't involve taking chunks out of other dogs. Genji has played with dogs of all sizes at the dog park from terriers to German Shepherds and none of them have ever taken a bite out of him.

There's a drainage line under Gen's skin on his shoulder now that has to be emptied twice a day. Four different medications for pain, antibiotics and anxiety that I have to force down his throat twice a day because he won't eat. He has to wear a cone for five days. And he's probably going to be traumatized from this. My dog, who stands a foot tall, who was attacked unprovoked while sitting on his own porch enjoying the night.

I spent all Saturday morning from about 11:15 Friday to almost 6 AM Saturday at a 24hr emergency vet, alternately trying to sleep in my car and talking to the vet there. I got him home afterward I know not how. He goes out now only on a leash and only to go potty.

And I ... am looking at legal options. Because I can't just let this slide. I've already spent $1100, and we're not done. They have to take the drainage line out and that's going to be even more money. Beyond that, I'm going to ask that I get some kind of legally-binding assurance that the pit bull across the street be restrained at all times. If she's escaping, prevent those escapes. Fix the fence, it's a lot less expensive than court fees.

I'm going with a mediator first and hope that's enough. But if not, I'll see them in court.

You stepped in the shit, folks, time to clean up your mess.