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skylermadness · 3 months ago

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Renewal of Strength (Saxton Hale TF/MC)

(Original Date of Upload: May 29, 2024)

Original Description:

Story commission. So this was a rather fun story to write! I've been itching to do something on Saxton Hale for some time so being commissioned to do this was actually really fortunate for me! I do wish there were some things I could expand upon such as the voice changes and whatnot but since I was on an, albeit flexible, word limit I had to do a couple omissions of things. But I got to do some extremely good muscle growth and I'm rather proud of how I handled the MC segments! Admittedly I still feel I'm not all that up to speed on TF2 stuff but like, I think it worked out well either way. This story is based heavily off artwork drawn for Arti by moltingscales on FurAffinity. The artwork can be found here. This is also my first story I'm giving a full Adult rating to. I would mark it Mature but I'm going a step up just to be on the safe side. This is mainly because there is some overt masturbation that goes far beyond being just implied.

“How long does it take to get a single vaccine for someone?”

This was a question that was directed towards no one in particular. It was just one asked by a frustrated Arti as they sat on the bed in the hospital room they were currently in. This frustration was furthered by the fact they were shirtless, which had led to them becoming rather cold during their time waiting for someone. All they could really do was stare at the door in anticipation, especially since once they got whatever vaccination they were overdue on they could finally put their shirt back on and go home. Unfortunately for them another minute goes by without any indicator of anyone coming.

“This is what I get for agreeing to random vaccine renewal requests-” Arti starts muttering to themselves, but is quickly cut off by the sound of the room’s door opening.

A man wearing standard medical garb wordlessly walks into the room. His face is extremely obscured by both a medical mask and a pair of glasses that his eyes are somehow not visible through. The only two things Arti can really tell about this guy is he has neatly kept hair, and he might be relatively buff judging by how his clothes interact with his body. Although they try not to analyze the guy for too long. They do catch a glance of what might be an empty syringe in his hand though.

“Hey,” Arti said, looking up at the doctor’s obscured face and awkwardly waving as he walked towards them. He didn't seem to get any kind of verbal greeting back however. They just watch as the doctor silently pulls out a chair from beneath a nearby desk and pushes it towards the bed the enby was sitting on.

So this was going to be quick and to the point, Arti thought to themselves. Then again having doctor's make small talk with them as they’re getting jabbed with thin pieces of metal has always been rather annoying. But also they weren't going to deny the oddly creepy air of having a silent masked man walk towards you without saying anything during the ten or so seconds of being in the room.

“So uh, this is just going to be a standard vaccination thing…?” Arti asked in an attempt to strike up a conversation and break the mildly eerie air.

The doctor had taken a seat by this point. They could also tell his gaze was fixed on them for a second, but he just nodded once in response. Guess that puts small talk out of the question…

Well, at least this'll be quick, Arti thought with a sigh.

The next few seconds were when the weirdness amped up by a little bit. Arti watched as the doctor pulled out some kind of vial from the innards of his lab coat. The strangeness came from the fact that the vial had some kind of bright golden fluid within it. Then they had to watch as he poked the syringe into the vial to pull some of the fluid within it. They couldn't help but wonder what kind of vaccine this was supposed to even be.

“Uhhh, so what vaccine is this for?” Arti asked, a mix of curiosity and worry in their voice. “I don't remember any of them looking like… that.”

The doctor had brought their chair a bit closer to them and was readying the injection. “Tilt your head rightwards,” was his only statement. No answer to the question at all. Also he had a rather thick German accent. Oddly familiar too, but Arti was too focused on the presumed lack of proper medical protocol to dwell on that for long.

“Oookay, don't answer my question then,” Arti mussitated before doing as they were asked.

For a couple seconds they felt the cold and gloved hand of the man on the side of their face, keeping their head still as the syringe inched closer to their neck. Then in one split second the needle broke into their skin, injected the weird gold fluid into their body, and then was quickly pulled away from the flesh of their neck. A low, golden glow remained in some of their neck veins for a few seconds before disappearing as the mysterious liquid dispersed into their bloodstream. A strange occurrence that Arti hadn't taken notice of as their head was unhanded by the masked man.

Instead they just watched the man push their chair back to discard the syringe on the table nearby. He would then turn to face Arti, hands clasped over his legs. He seemed to just be watching the enby, if their scopaesthesia was any indicator anyway.

“Aren't you supposed to put some kind of bandage on me or something?” Arti questioned, unconsciously touching the spot of injection with their hand. Crap, they shouldn't be doing that!

Curiosity got the better of them though and they brought the hand up to the front of their face. They were surprised to find absolutely no traces of blood on their fingers whatsoever. They were also beginning to notice a strange feeling of warmth begin to enter their body as the seconds continued to pass.

“Uhh, did someone finally turn the temperature up?” Arti nervously inquired. They would get no response from the doctor though. Just a wordless gaze through a pair of glasses they couldn't gaze back into.

The heat still persisted, and strangely enough it seemed as though the feeling was a little bit isolated at the time. There was a fair bit in their neck at the point of injection, but it had also felt like it dispersed into various areas on the right side of their body. Although among these areas it was their right arm that had the most amount of the feeling of an increase in warmth.

The truth behind this change in temperature, unbeknownst to Arti at the time, was all because of a certain change in their physicality. It was relatively minor at first as it manifested in what seemed to be a rapid fading of the scar tissue that stretched across their body. Bands of scarring that had been on their arms and the massive one on their chest, scars that have been on them for years, were dissipating into the enby’s skin to the point they might as well had never had scars in the first place. Subtlety would be lost in seconds though as another change manifested in their right arm and hand.

What was starting to embed in their hand was a tangible alteration in its size. The width and length of it had both stretched out, the appendage getting wider and larger with each passing second. This had come with a pretty hefty meatiness getting added to it as it increased in thickness rather significantly. This was something that was further accentuated with how their fingers were affected. Getting longer in proportion, but also getting quite chunkier in size. This was coupled with a certain blunting in the ends of their fingers that gave each one a blockier appearance than it had prior. In general this meant their hand had transformed into a bulky mitt, the size of it now possessing an aura of intimidation to it by just existing.

The same could be said with Arti's now swelling arm. Muscle was rapidly adding itself to the enby’s fairly skinny limb, years of working out being placed in them in just seconds. Heat continued to course through their muscle tissue rapidly as this all occurred. In their forearms, their extensor muscles beefed up in strength as ridges formed in their skin to properly outline their budding musculature. Furthermore there was what seemed to be a layer of brown hairs sprouting across the back of their forearms as well. A fairly thick dusting of fuzz had been rapidly growing across the once bare region of skin.

Their upper arms weren't left out of this swath of changes of course. At the same time as their lower arms were thickening, the musculature in their upper arms was enhancing substantially. Sweat beaded across their shoulders as their bicep burned, swelling and bulking as raw strength continuously became visible in their limb. The associated tricep was enlarging in conjunction as well, further increasing the amount of ridges that deepened within their skin. Heat spiraled within their right shoulder as their deltoids developed, broadening the region more and more as a certain roundness was being added to that half of their body.

Combined, all these changes had made their right arm look so thick and powerful. The amount of raw beef that had been added to the once thin limb was impressive. And it seemed as if that hadn't been the only area of their body it would be contained in as while the changes slowed in their right arm the transformative effect would seem to spill over into their chest and torso. The temperature of their core steadily rises and sweat continues to formulate on their hot, hot body. This meant the intense warmth circulated within their chest and with that came more meat being added to their twinkish body.

The amount of mass that was in their chest increased at a relatively steady pace. Second by second their pectorals swelled forwards, the previous flatness of the region being accreted and built up into a sturdy form. This form was one that was rectangular, yet round. Relatively meaty with a side of fat. That had been the appearance that was being taken on by their newly thickened pectoral muscles. And with the continuous passing of time it would seem as if their pecs would continue to inflate into hefty slabs of meat. Though their increasingly larger size may have been helped by the fact that Arti’s body was steadily broadening in its size and width. This would also be accompanied by the growth of hair beginning on their chest region.

It was by this point that all the weird feelings Arti was experiencing had finally prompted them to investigate why they felt so warm or their chest had felt ridiculously itchy. Although once their gaze wandered to their chest their eyes widened in panic. “What the- why am I so large!?”

Their eyes constantly shifted focus between looking at their chest and looking at the doctor that sat a few feet away. A part of them had been expecting some sort of answer, but of course they'd get nothing. Instead they're just forced to watch the swelling in their chest seemingly slow as the massive shelf they had developed finishes forming. They had also been granted the sight of watching as a thick bush of chest hair emerged atop their pecs. Starting off as a light dusting before rapidly thickening, the brown coloration became more prominent as the fluff got denser. All the while it seemed to be taking on some kind of shape as its amorphousness was quickly shifting into the appearance of…

“Why is my chest hair in the… the shape of- urgh-”

Their statement rapidly gets cut off as they feel a tingling in their throat. Although beforehand they could hear some kind of rapid alteration settling in their vocal cords. As if in mere moments their voice had gone from normal to quickly deepening in tone.

“Th-the hell…”

The changes in their physicality would only continue to spread. Heat shot through their left arm as the muscles began to rapidly plump up in the once-unchanged limb. Their thin and impressive form being quickly consumed by the pure strength of an enhanced musculature. It wouldn't take very long for their left arm to swell to mirror their right one. Bulky biceps, thick triceps, hairy forearms, and another chunky hand that could knock the lights out of a person in an instant.

Concurrent with that was a change in their abdomen. Their gut churned as what little fat was on it appeared to bubble. It quickly is proven that it isn't their fat that's bubbling however as yet again muscles rise from their once untoned form. Sculpting out of their abdomen was a series of rock hard abs. The fat in the area practically melted away as a six-pack chiseled itself into their form. This was accompanied by another surge of strength, a strange feeling of power continuing the cycle itself around the enby’s masculinizing form.

“Ugh, why does this… feel kind of good…” Arti moaned as they felt more sweat bead off their warm skin. The sound of their changing voice continuously resonates in their ears. So deep and manly, and they could swear they were hearing the beginnings of an Australian accent settling into it. Perhaps that would explain the Australia-shaped patch of chest hair.

“…fuck, mate, that’s actually hot,” they remarked, a slow realization about the rather attractive nature of this transformation forming in this mind. “I-I shouldn't be enjoyin’ this though… this isn't normal-”

More sweat forms on their forehead as they feel an odd pressure in their lower body. Could it be their legs finally bulking up? No, it was obviously not in that region. It was much more centralized. Much more intense. Arousing, even. So Arti’s gaze moved further downwards to the source of the feeling.

The only thing Arti had been wearing was a pair of sweatpants. Legwear that had normally fitted the enby just fine, alongside being pretty loose and comfortable. That was a notion that was being contested real fast as a roundness steadily formed in the middle of what they were wearing. A straining coming from within the briefs they had beneath their pants. A bulge forming where one had not existed before in both garments. And what's worse is they could feel their thickening manhood rub up against their undergarments. All those nerves being stimulated all at once, an intense eroticism being added to their transformation in a way that hadn't existed prior. It somehow made them heat up even more.

“Mmphf, no, can't-” they let out a deep moan. Speaking was already proving itself a mistake. Just hearing their voice was making more and more blood rush downwards at unfathomable speeds. The deep tone echoing in their ears as the Australian accent lined their speech.

They couldn't stop themselves from bringing a hand down to their groin and squeezing it a little. To just further stimulate that intense feeling of arousal a little further. An action that should be pretty easy with how much meat they seemed to be packing now. One that seemed relatively large judging by that bulge they were sporting now.

“Fuckin’…” was all they could utter as they rubbed their bulge more. The erotic intensity of their changes being further fueled to such a point that it replaced all their panic and concern. All of which caused a thought pattern that they needed to do this at least once just to end that feeling. So that's what they ended up starting to do.

The transformation hadn't ended though. That act of submission was more of a sign that it had to continue more than anything else. Especially since the lower half of their body still had more that had to be done to it.

This meant that the rest of their sweatpants were on the way to becoming just as strained as the crotch region, if not moreso. Another wave of muscle mass alteration washed over their legs and prompted a reaction in their thighs. Their hamstrings and quadriceps grew in tandem with each other, swelling with bulk at a relatively rapid pace. It wouldn't take very long before the crevices that outlined and defined their leg muscles indented in the material of their sweatpants.

All the while the comfortable, stretchiness of their legwear proved to be somewhat useful as despite the very tangible undersizing of it their shorts were still trying to contain their beefier legs. It would seem as though their sweatpants couldn't contain everything as they steadily rode up the crus of their legs, a mixture of height adding and their swelling calves prompting this to occur. This allowed some of their relatively sparse leg hair to become visible, and it was the same shade of brown that had been taken on by the hair that was on the rest of their body.

The last part of their lower body that was consumed by this menagerie of concurrent changes had been Arti’s feet. They had actually still been wearing their shoes, which had resulted in a budding pressure in their footwear as their feet had begun to enlarge. Similar changes to their hands had occurred within their feet with them both stretching out in length and width while getting increasingly thicker. The appendages had pressed up against the sides of their shoes as a result, while the bridges pushed up against the top. They could feel the topline constrict against the wider diameter of their ankle while their heels dug into the back portion of each shoe. The toecap of what they had worn bulged with multiple mounds as each of their toes chunked up in size, and these mounds got larger as their toes continued to squeeze into the front end of their shoes. After a good few seconds though a rip would pierced the air as their footwear finally burst open to allow room for their larger feet to breathe.

“Mmf, guh,” Arti’s transformed voice practically rumbles in their neck. Their mind continues to be filled with a certain erotic euphoria as they stimulate their bulge more and more. “Damn, feels… so good…”

They were fully into it by this point. Heat continued to envelop their entire form, a weird mix of transformative warmth and the flames of arousal. Sweat continued to form and dribble itself down the enby’s forehead. Their deep and grizzled voice practically growls as they can feel themselves on the cusp of release.

A pressure soon begins to wrack Arti’s skull, and they clench their jaw as they push through the oddly discomforting sensation. The aforementioned jaw quickly became affected by this pressure as it entered a process of reshaping itself. Their once rounded jawline quickly hardened, chiseling into a more rigid and angular form. This was accompanied by an alteration in their jaw’s bone structure, each end just slightly diffusing to grant their chin a cleft. Although the entirety of their skull’s structure seemed to shift as it widened and shifted to attain a more rectangular form.

As this occurred there was a light itching that they started to feel above their upper lip. A sensation that was being caused by the sprouting of a few hairs in that region. Although a few quickly became a lot as more and more brown fuzz continued to poke out their skin. A sparse and stubbley appearance momentarily had been taken on before it thickened even more. Just so many hairs forming to create a dense bush of fluff above their lip, said bush seeming to take on an almost trapezoidal shape as the hairs grew in prominence. By the end of this formation Arti sported a rather thick mustache.

That wasn't the only thing going on though. Concurrently there had been multiple aspects of their face that were in the process of shifting to fit their more rugged face. The shape of their nose heavily altered as it widened, rounded even to take on a thicker and more chunky appearance. Their eyebrows seemed to thicken a fair bit, thin lines sprouting more and more hair to turn them into thick bushes of brows. This would also come with some reshaping as a more diagonal angularity embedded within the form of their eyebrows. Perhaps the most extreme of the changes was just how weathered their face was becoming though, signs of aging rapidly setting in with the formation of wrinkling beneath their eyes and around their mouth. This all further enhanced the ruggedness of their facial features though.

Another extreme change had settled in their hair. All while their faces changed, their hair was rapidly shearing itself. Clumps of fluff cutting themselves off from Arti's head before straight up disintegrating in mid-air. Meanwhile what hair did remain was extremely short, and its nigh-indigo coloration was instead being rapidly replaced by the on-set of brown. This would only continue throughout the entirety of their head. What was once long and fluffy hair was being lost at an extremely quick pace, more noticeable bits cutting away and disappearing from the front of their face and the back of their neck. Other bits that couldn't shear themselves were shortened instead. No matter what though it all led to the exact same result: a short, crew cut style that looks nothing like how their hair used to be.

With the changes to their head and face settling it would seem as if Arti’s physical changes had come to an end. This had coincidentally come with an additional thing coming to an end as the pent-up sensation within them finally released, the overwhelming stimulation they were experiencing coming to a slow halt as they finally came to a climax. This came with the steady flush of all the heat within them as their body entered the refractory period.

“Fuck, that was good…” they admitted. Their voice had seemed to settle into that hot Australian-accented deepness that it was obtaining this whole time. Although now that they were finished pleasuring themselves they were slowly coming back to their senses. “I… I have a feeling I shouldn't have done that-”

Their deep breaths continued to escape them as they pushed themselves forward. Everything felt weird now and they could feel a headache emerging in their forehead. They couldn't help but clench their jaw in reaction, one of their massive hands being brought to the side of their head as they felt so many things rush into their brain.

“Fuck, my… head-” they groaned out in confusion.

It was like some kind of hurricane was storming around their psyche. As if the changes hadn't only been physical, but mental as well. Thoughts and memories that hadn't existed before were being implanted at an extremely rapid rate, rushing into their brain and practically overwriting every aspect of who they had once been. And all because that one moment of weakness was enough for their mental fortitude to absolutely collapse and allow for this to happen.

They weren't unaware of any of this of course, but there was nothing they could really do about it. It was already a struggle to discern what was right and what was wrong about themselves at all by this point. Furthermore anything that was Arti was just being completely replaced with a whole new identity. Completely mundane memories being rapidly replaced with a life of over-the-top violence and animal combat. Their perception of themselves quickly warped into that of a strong, confident man with a constant itch to get into a fight. Something that was completely ingraining itself into his personality as that bloodthirsty boisterousness completely overpowered his former self.

There had also been layers upon layers of additional strangeness. Was the world around him shifting? No, it couldn't have been. It had always looked like some lair of medical catastrophe. Although he could've sworn it was different. He could've sworn he was wearing something different as well. Although there was the shine of the metal on his belt, or the rugged appearance of his denim shorts, or the tough look of his boots, or even the sensation of his Akubra hat atop his head. All of this had an overwhelming air of familiarity that felt more correct. These were the only things he was fully willing to wear after all.

“...the hell was I goin’ on about?” he asked himself, mental alterations seeming to force him to forget his concerns. Forget almost everything that had just happened. Purged the thoughts that he had been someone else, that he had become someone else. The only thing he could recall from the past few minutes was that feeling of intense eroticism that completely overwhelmed him for a bit. “That felt great!”

The massive room that was the Medic’s medical office (slash experimentation chamber) loomed over the two men as Saxton Hale came back to his senses.

“You seemed to have enjoyed that quite a fair bit!” The Medic commented as he finally took off his mask, alongside removing his glasses to disengage the protective lenses that had been over them. “I was anticipating a rather intense reaction to my advanced healing formula, but I had surprisingly not accounted for an enhanced sexual drive.”

“Well it feels like that did a whole lot more than just heal me.”

“Hm, potentially,” Medic put his glasses back on. “Now tell me, how do you feel? Any liquefied organs or the sensation that something's about to explode?”

“I feel good!” Saxton responded, flexing both arms in a show of raw strength and power. “If anything I feel like I can finally get that tiger back for almost tearing out my heart!”

“You probably could,” Medic said with a sly smile. “If the formula works properly you will be able to survive multiple incisions to your jugular veins!”

“Whatever that means, it has the word ‘survive’ in it and I like it!” Saxton dumbly replies. It's honestly a surprise he heard anything the Medic said since he seems rather fixated on his massive muscles. Although he does take a second to glance towards Medic to say, “Thanks for this, doc!”

The doctor smiles from the compliment. “Of course! Not often do I get the chance to test out my projects on the CEO of Mann Co.!” Medic then sits back in his seat, smile becoming more devilish.

Not often is he able to succeed on such intense transformative effects from his creations either. He will definitely have to make sure to replicate this outcome again in the future…~

#character tf #tf #transformation #human tf #muscle growth tf #male transformation #bara tf

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lilyway · 10 months ago

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Tainted Melody {Alastor x Reader} CH 2

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Starting Over

The morning light spilled through the windows casting the warmest glow over Charlie and her energetic Charlie. She was able to see the sun if she really tried and was able to brighten up the kitchen with just a smile alone. (Name) watched her interacting and laughing with her loved ones. It reminded her of home.

For (Name), the sight of Charlie and her companions stirred memories of a bygone era. A time when mornings were imbued with the simple joys of familial bonds and shared moments. She couldn't help but be transported back to her own childhood, where the kitchen served as the heart of the home, a place where laughter flowed freely and love knew no bounds.

(Name) could almost hear the echoes of her parents' voices, the clatter of utensils, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee that permeated the air. It was a time of innocence and wonder, a time when the world seemed infinitely brighter and full of possibility.

As Alastor stood by (Name)'s side in the bustling kitchen, she was grateful for his presence around her. But, she didn’t want to stop him from having his own meal. Instead, she nudged her bowl of soup his way and motioned him to have a bite. The pair was just watching Charlie and her loved ones talk from afar.

As they watched Charlie and her father giggle amongst themselves. The genuine affection and camaraderie between the two left (Name) slightly jealous. It was endearing seeing them just interacting with one another. More so, seeing Lucifer talking to anyone in such a friendly tone. It didn’t make him seem like the King of Hell. Or, well the king of anything.

Her lips curved into a slight smile as she watched Alastor step away to the cabinet and pull another bowl to serve himself. He was never the sort for public displays of affection, another thing that didn’t change after almost a century. Something that would probably never change.

(Name)'s gaze remained fixed on her food as Lucifer approached, bearing a plate of fried bacon and eggs. She greeted him with a polite nod, her tone reserved yet cordial. "Hi? Do you need something?"

“Sooo, what’s the deal between you and our dear ol’ Al?” Lucifer’s probed, his jab towards Alastor didn’t go unnoticed as it ruffled her feathers slightly.

(Name) toyed with her food, a telltale sign of her annoyance as she braced herself for the inevitable question that would haunt her morning. "Your Highness, if you’re asking about our relationship. He’s my husband," she responded evenly, her voice betraying a hint of resignation.

Her words hung in the air, punctuated by the sound of Lucifer choking on his bacon. (Name) watched as he struggled to regain his composure, his surprise evident in the way his gaze snapped to Alastor. "Husband?" He exclaimed, his tone a mix of disbelief and genuine surprise. "You had a wife? Since when?"

Alastor, unfazed by Lucifer’s questions, made his way back to (Name), a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Is that so surprising?" He inquired, a playful note in his voice, savoring the surprise that danced in Lucifer's eyes.

Lucifer, visibly dwarfed by Alastor's presence, looked up at him with a bemused expression. "I'm just surprised anyone would marry you," Lucifer quipped, a cheeky grin playing on his lips.

(Name), not one to let such remarks slide, felt a surge of irritation. Her wings flapped in annoyance without her realizing. "Aren’t you a charmer? " She retorted, her annoyance was laced in her every word.

“I mean-” Lucifer, seemingly undeterred, gestured towards Alastor's entire being, as if implying something about (Name)'s choice.

Before he could finish his sentence, Alastor interjected with a sharp retort. "Ha ha, fuck you."

(Name)'s patience wore thin as she redirected her attention to Alastor, her tone firm yet tinged with exasperation. "Luci, right? Kindly, shut up," She interjected. Her nickname for the king of hell made him raise a finger to object.

She pulled herself away from Charlie, her arms crossed, as she approached the trio.“What’s going on over here?” Her voice was stern and commanding as she glared at (Name).

(Name)'s eyes narrowed as she turned her attention back to Alastor, her demeanor cool and collected despite having Vaggie so close to her. "Just some friendly banter. Right, Darling?" She remarked, her tone masking the undercurrent of frustration that simmered beneath the surface.

Alastor's grin widened at (Name)'s words, his charismatic charm making butterflies flutter in her stomach. “Correct, Sunshine. Nothing but friendly conversation,”

Lucifer, sensing the shift in dynamics, rolled his eyes in mock exasperation as he returned his attention to his food. "Oh, nothing much. Just talking about Alastor’s lack of charm," He quipped, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Alastor’s eye twitched slightly as (Name) shot Lucifer a glare. “Always so comical, Sir.”

Vaggie, ever the voice of reason, stepped between the two men, her stern gaze silencing the brewing tension. "Keep it civil, you two. I don’t want any fights in the morning," Her stern tone made (Name) narrow her eyes.

(Name) took a sip of her soup, her gaze lingering on Vaggie as she spoke. "I’m sure that’s something you know all too well," She remarked, a smirk playing at the corners of her lips.

Vaggie's fists clenched at her sides, her patience wearing thin as she met (Name)'s gaze head-on. "Excuse me? Do you have a problem?" She demanded, her voice tinged with frustration.

(Name) leaned back slightly as she straightened herself up. “A problem? Never,”

Sensing the escalating tension, Charlie intervened, her voice carrying a note of urgency. "Okay! That’s enough of that!" She pleaded, her discomfort evident in the way she hurried to diffuse the situation. (Name) made a mental note that Charlie isn’t the sort who likes conflict.

(Name)'s attention wandered as the tension in the kitchen gradually dissipated, replaced by the familiar rhythm of mealtime. She stole occasional glances at Alastor, her gaze lingering on the small antlers that adorned his head. It was a detail she hadn't noticed before, but now found endearing in its own right.

As she finally managed to finish her soup, despite the multiple interruptions, a new figure entered the kitchen, drawing her attention away from her thoughts.They seemed to look like a spider of sorts, that was her best guess with his two pairs of arms and the eight eyes on his face. His fur was already brushed for the day and unlike Charlie didn’t seem like she just got out of bed. However, his small spider eyes were barely open as he leaned against the counter.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Looks like the party's getting started without me," He declared with a playful twinkle in his eyes as he entered.

Vaggie greeted him with a shake of her head, her expression a mix of amusement and playful annoyance. "Speaking of trouble,"

"Hey Angel! You wanna take a seat?" Charlie offered, gesturing to the spare chair next to Vaggie.

Angel declined with a casual shake of his head, his attention drifting towards the oven filled with an array of tantalizing dishes. "I’m good, toots. So, whatcha talking about?" He inquired, his curiosity piqued as he surveyed the group.

Meanwhile, Lucifer, ever the instigator, seized the opportunity to tease Alastor, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he sought to stir the pot. "Join the fun, we were just discussing... uh, the joys of marriage," He quipped, a wicked glint dancing in his gaze.

Angel’s eyes lit up with a joy that (Name) didn’t think a sinner was capable of. Angel turned his attention to Charlie and Vaggie, his excitement brought a smile to (Name)’s lips. "Finally thinking of tying the knot. Fucking finally!"

“Uhh, sadly we’re just not there yet.” Charlie's nervous laughter filled the air as she quickly clarified the misunderstanding, gesturing towards Alastor and prompting Angel's eyes to widen in disbelief.

“ No fucking way. Mr. Fancy Talk Creepy Voice, over here is getting married?” Angel's grin stretched from ear to ear as Alastor seemed a little annoyed at his teasing. “Sooo, who’s the lucky girl?”

"My Effeminate Fellow, meet my wife, (Name)," Alastor’s confidence made her blush slightly as he gestured towards (Name), who offered a polite wave in response.

(Name) returned Angel's warm smile, though she couldn't shake the feeling of being scrutinized as he eyed her up and down. Her warmth faltered slightly, replaced by a subtle sense of unease at the intensity of his gaze. “It’s nice meeting you, Angel.”

Alastor, ever vigilant, moved to block Angel's view, his eyes narrowing as he sensed Angel’s eyes lingering for a little too long. "Well, color me surprised," Angel remarked, his tone tinged with amusement as he grabbed his plate and fork. “Who woulda thought that Smiles over here would ever tie the knot.”

“Right?” Lucifer agreed with a chuckle of his own.

Vaggie took the last bite of her salad. “It is a bit surprising,”

Tapping her chin in contemplation, she sought to dispel their surprise with a simple explanation. "I don’t really think it is. We got married a long time ago," About a century ago, (Name) thought to herself but kept those details to herself.

Her mind churned with unspoken questions about the nature of marriage in Hell. The notion of vows, traditionally binding until death, took on a different connotation in a realm where both she and Alastor were already deceased. Would those vows still carry any weight here? What were the rules around marriage here? Those questions were best kept to herself.

(Name) instinctively picked up her plate and Alastor's, carrying them over to the sink. She found it peculiar that Lucifer and Charlie seemed to manage without the assistance of maids or household help. In the world she knew, such tasks were typically delegated to servants, a norm especially prevalent among the nobility. Yet here, there were no signs of traditional staff attending to these menial chores. Lost in her contemplation, (Name)'s thoughts were interrupted by the unexpected presence of Angel by her side. He had an awfully amused expression on his face as he sipped on his drink.

Angel wore a suggestive look on his face as he thought of something to say. “So, toots. Does Smiles take care of you?” Angel's suggestive question didn't escape (Name)'s notice as he posed his question, his words laden with innuendo. Yet, the true nature of his question went over her head.

With a puzzled expression, (Name) turned to face Angel, her brow furrowed in confusion“What do you mean by that? Of course, he does.”

But Angel persisted, his demeanor taking on a playful yet probing quality as he continued to press the issue. His question struck a nerve, stirring a sense of unease within (Name). Why would Angel care if Alastor took care of her or not. "Like, does he take care of all your needs?" His question made (Name) slightly jump at how he said it.

(Name)'s laughter, though strained, betrayed her nervousness as she attempted to deflect Angel's line of questioning. "Are you asking me a lewd question, Angel?" She ventured, her smile faltering in the face of her growing unease.

Alastor's timely intervention provided (Name) with a sense of relief, his gentle nudge guiding her away from the uncomfortable exchange with Angel. “That’s enough of that, My Effeminate Fellow.” Alastor’s rescue was perfectly timed, she didn’t want to answer any of Angel’s lewd questions. But, there wasn’t anything to really mention.

“Aww, you’re no fun!”

Angel's laughter trailed behind them as they made their way back towards the main entrance, his playful banter was refreshing compared to someone like Adam. Despite feeling uncomfortable moments ago, (Name) felt herself smile as she walked next to Alastor.

Vaggie emerged shortly after, her expression grave as she left Charlie to enjoy some quality time with her father. "Maven , a word," she called out, her tone cutting through the air with sharp precision as she leaned against the grand stairway. (Name), recognizing the seriousness in Vaggie's voice, rose to her feet with a resigned sigh, and Alastor mirrored her movements, prepared to offer his support.

"Alone," Vaggie emphasized, her demand clear and unwavering, setting the stage for a private conversation that brooked no interference.

(Name) offered Alastor a warm smile, seeking to assuage any concerns he might harbor. "I'll be okay, Darling. Stay here,"

As (Name) followed Vaggie upstairs, a heavy silence settled between them, punctuated only by the rhythmic sound of their footsteps echoing with every step they took. The tension in the air was palpable, and (Name)'s smile faltered as they moved out of view, leaving them alone in the hallway. It seemed, once again, she found herself in the company of Vaggie, a situation she hadn't anticipated nor desired. Despite her inner frustrations, (Name) couldn't help but notice that Vaggie looked different with her longer hair and missing eye, she looked better.

For Vaggie, the use of the name "Maven" stirred a dormant rage within her, a reminder of a past she sought to bury deep within the recesses of her memory. The name that should’ve remained dead when she woke up in Hell.

With purposeful strides, Vaggie led (Name) up multiple floors until they reached a relatively empty room. The sparse furnishings, including a half-built bed and some cabinets. The vermillion curtains adorned the windows, casting a warm glow against the otherwise barren surroundings.

As the door slammed shut behind her, (Name) felt the weight of Vaggie's accusatory gaze bear down upon her. "What are you planning, Maven?" Vaggie's words cut through the air like a knife, sharp and unforgiving. Despite the intensity of the moment, (Name) couldn't help but find amusement in Vaggie's agitation.

(Name) walked farther into the room and took a seat on the semi-built bed. "Planning something? Heaven's, I would never, " She quipped, her tone laced with playful sarcasm. The sight of Vaggie so visibly perturbed by her presence only fueled (Name)'s amusement. "Besides, what could I do? I've been in a coma for months."

"You know what I mean," Vaggie retorted.

(Name)'s laughter filled the room as she reclined against the unfinished bed, her hands propping her up as she met Vaggie's gaze head-on. "The only thing I have planned is to help Charlie,"

The threat in Vaggie's voice was dripping with venom as she advanced towards (Name), her grip firm as she seized her up by the dress. "I swear to fucking god if you hurt her!"

(Name)'s eyes narrowed in response as she pushed Vaggie away. "Calm down, Vaggie. I'm not Lute, I wouldn't hurt her," She asserted, her voice tinged with frustration. Despite her attempts to maintain composure, a glint of something darker flickered in her eyes. "You're scared. You think I'm going to sell her out."

The accusation hung heavy in the air, stirring the simmering tension between them. “You will,” Vaggie couldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt, not then and not now. "You're just like them. You're cruel and vengeful. The type that destroys everything good that ever comes their way."

(Name) felt her patience wearing thin as Vaggie invaded her personal space, jabbing a finger into her chest with unwavering resolve. Her wings flared out instinctively as a warning to Vaggie to back off. “Just like them? Speak for yourself.” she retorted, her voice laced with righteous indignation. Memories of Vaggie's past actions resurfaced, fueling the fire of her frustration. "You know nothing."

"I know nothing? What about you? You have no heart and no morals," Vaggie fired back, the words laden with accusation and resentment.

(Name) felt her blood boil with rage, a surge of power coursing through her as her hair began to float in the air. “No heart? No morals? Do you think I wanted to do that? Do you even know how much I suffered?” There was something off as chains wrapped around Vaggie’s legs as her blessing became infected with her rage. “Who was punished when you couldn’t do your job? Me! Who took your position? Me! Who got pushed into a position where I couldn’t say no? Me!” (Name) returned the favor and jabbed her finger on Vaggie’s chest.

“You had the choice and you still did it. That makes you no better!” Vaggie retorted as a flicker of regret appeared in her eyes.

(Name), her anger pulsating like a tempest, bent down and dismissed the chains around Vaggie's legs with a wave of her hand. "Unlike you, I never had the choice. I'll remind you, you're the one who removed that choice for me,” Vaggie’s betrayal made her life much harder as an exorcist as Lute and Adam made sure there would be no way to repeat the same mistake. “Thank you, though. Your act of betrayal did serve me well.”

Vaggie rubbed her ankles, confusion etched across her features. "What do you even mean by that?"

“Well, I got my freedom back. I’m back with my husband and I plan on repaying the favor.” (Name) explained as she walked towards the door.

“I don’t trust you. If you do anything to hurt Charlie or this hotel. You’re done.” Vaggie’s threat wasn’t something (Name) cared much for as she placed her hand on the doorknob.

(Name)'s smile was hollow as she placed her hand on the doorknob. “Isn’t Charlie’s hotel all about redemption? Or, do you not believe in second chances? I’d love to start over.”

“Of course, I believe in Charlie’s vision!” Vaggie snapped back, but (Name) didn’t believe her. Well, (Name) didn’t trust Vaggie either. The rift between them ran deep, too deep for mere words to bridge. “Maven, you’re not someone who is capable of change. You’re just like heaven, you don’t listen and you will never change.”

(Name)’s smile dropped, replaced by a look of pure hatred directed at Vaggie. “You’re right, I might not be able to change. However, don’t speak to me like you know me. You know, Maven. You don’t know me as a person, and I refuse to be Maven ever again.” With a resolute motion, (Name) opened the door and motioned for Vaggie to leave, signaling the end of their conversation.

The two went back downstairs and there wasn’t a word spoken between them. Just a heavy tension as the two angel’s walked down the steps. They pretended like they weren’t fighting minutes ago as (Name) put on a smile as she approached Alastor and took a seat next to him. Vaggie returned to Charlie’s side and sat next to her on the sofa and offered her a quick kiss on the cheek.

(Name) raised an eyebrow as she observed the scene unfolding before her, the small girl with her reddish-pink hair darting around, a knife in hand, and a manic gleam in her eyes as she chased the cockroach. Despite the chaos, there was an undeniable charm to the girl's innocence and determination.

“Should she be doing that?” (Name) inquired, her concern evident as she watched the girl's antics.

Charlie's nervous laughter filled the air. “She's harmless, probably,”

(Name)'s skepticism deepened at Charlie's response. “You aren't sure?” she pressed, her gaze still fixed on the girl's erratic movements.

Husk, the bartender from earlier, approached, his presence calming amidst the chaos. “Niff? Just leave her to do whatever she does,” he advised, his tone resigned but accepting of the girl's quirks.

With a swift motion, the girl managed to skewer the cockroach to the floor, the sight making (Name) cringe involuntarily. The image of the insect impaled on the blade was unsettling, yet the girl seemed unfazed as she skipped back to Alastor, her innocent laughter echoing through the room.

Alastor's smile remained warm as he introduced the little girl. “Sunshine, this little darling is Niffty.”

Her singular massive eye looked her up and down. “All clean!” She seemed awfully proud of herself as she presented her achievement to Alastor.

(Name) smiled and took the blade from her hand and placed it on the table. “That's great, honey. Let's keep the blades on the table.”

Alastor chuckled softly, observing Niffty's pout as her knife was taken away. “I’m sure she’d give that back to you, Niffty darling,” he reassured, his amusement evident as he watched the girl's reaction.

Niffty's presence on her shoulder was unexpected, but (Name) couldn't help but find the small demon endearing as she settled onto her lap. “Hii! It's been a while since I've made a new friend,”

(Name)’s eyes softened at Niffy as she pulled her to her lap. “Is that right? Well, Niffty I'll gladly be your friend.”

Niffty's small hands began to work their magic, deftly braiding (Name)'s long hair. “You’re nice,” Niffty remarked, her admiration genuine as she marveled at the silky strands. “Your hair is so long. It's so silky, like cobwebs.”

(Name) just nervously smiled. She didn’t want to explain the reason why it was so long. “It is a bit long. I should cut it soon.”

A sudden tug on her hair drew (Name)'s attention back to Niffty, whose eyes sparkled with excitement. “Oooh! Can I cut it? Please!” Niffty looked so happy as she held a bunch of her hair in her tiny hands.

“I suppose you could? Perhaps, tomorrow?” (Name) replied as Niffty nodded happily and went to try getting her hair off the floor.

Niffty started running her slim fingers through her hair as tried to get most of it off the floor. Alastor watched with a smile as (Name) stood as still as she possibly could. Niffty had to weave it with her whole body to get it into a decent braid.

Charlie watched with a smile on her face. “Have any plans after this?”

“Oh! There was one thing I was meaning to ask you. I was wondering if I could help you out and stay here?” (Name) asked as Alastor narrowed his eyes as Vaggie ran her fingers over her face.

Niffty's eyes widened with excitement. "You’re really staying?"

Charlie's enthusiasm bubbled over as she leaped from her seat. "Are you sure? I mean, if you want to?" Her eagerness to have (Name) join them. She wanted her to join since their first meeting when she cheered her up.

“I’d love to help out. Besides, I believe in your foolishly large dream, Charlie. I want to help you make it a reality.” (Name)'s words resonated with sincerity and support, drawing a smile from Charlie. Meanwhile, Niffty returned to her braiding with renewed fervor.

As (Name) glanced around the room, she noticed Alastor's subtle reaction, his eyes narrowing slightly, and Vaggie's contemplative demeanor. Yet, Alastor's sigh conveyed a deeper concern, one that (Name) recognized with a sense of gratitude

“Of course! We’d love to have you on board!” Charlie grabbed her hands as (Name)’s smile widened.

“What can she even do? I doubt she can even clean.” Vaggie was trying to act like the voice of reason. (Name) could tell she just didn't want her there.

(Name) felt a strange chill coursing through her nerves as she offered her proposal. “I can give you information on Heaven. Your and Luci’s information is outdated. You don’t know how Heaven works anymore.” She hoped they wouldn’t detect the strain in her words.

“We already have someone who knows enough about Heaven.” Vaggie snapped back as Alastor narrowed his eyes.

“You sound like you have an issue, my dear,” Alastor interjected smoothly, his voice commanding attention as it sliced through the room, redirecting their focus to Vaggie.

“You mean Luci? Or yourself? Neither of you have been in heaven for years . I'm not saying that to be rude, it's the truth of the matter.” (Name) replied with a matter of fact tone.

“Excuse me?” Vaggie snapped back.

Charlie tried to step between the two. “Maggie, please.” She pleaded as Vaggie flashed a look of pain and backed down rather quickly. “Okay, we’ll talk about this later! Maybe tomorrow?”

Lucifer walked into the room with a plate full of snacks. “What did I miss?”

(Name) nodded. “Of course, I’d love to.” It was exhausting trying to deal with Vaggie.

When she was about to get off the sofa, Alastor got up and offered her a hand. “Shall we go?” Alastor’s smile was all she needed as she took his hand.

Alastor guided her upstairs, leading the way back to the room they had left earlier. The journey was quiet, with only the subtle echoes of their footsteps resonating through the hallway. (Name) stole glances at the various paintings adorning the walls, their vibrant colors contrasting with the subdued ambiance of the corridor. The fragrance of fresh flowers in the vases lingered in the air, adding a delicate touch to the surroundings.

She can’t help feeling so tiny next to him now. He grew several feet with his new body and (Name) was still stuck the height she died in.

Truly, unfortunate.

But, Alastor never looked better. He still looked refined and gained some more quirks. Like his ears, the antlers on his head. She did wonder if he had a tail. But, there was a big blank on how he got here. From what she could remember, he was an upstanding individual. Sure, he had his faults. But, he never committed a crime.

“Darling, can I ask you something?” (Name)’s question had a hint of fear in her voice. She was scared of hearing his explanation.

Alastor halted abruptly, causing (Name) to bump into his chest. "Of course, Sunshine. Ask away,"

Looking up at him, (Name) prayed that her anxiety remained hidden behind a facade of composure. "How did you end up here, Darling?" (Name) saw a flicker of something dark in her husband's eyes. Something that scared her that made her take a step back.

Alastor's expression softened as he gently lifted her chin with a finger. "Sunshine, I went to hell for you. That man who killed you, I shot him to death," His words were all sickly sweet and she ate every single one like candy.

(Name) with a flap of her wings lifted herself up and kissed Alastor with a passion that she didn’t know she had. “I love you, Darling. I’m sorry , I won’t ever leave you again.” (Name) never felt more loved than she did in that moment.

Alastor returned her affection with a tender peck, his arms enfolding her in a protective embrace. "I’m glad to hear that, Sunshine," he murmured, his voice suffused with warmth and affection, offering her solace in the shelter of his embrace.

(Name) listened to his heartbeat as Alastor carried her back to his room. It was soothing and a reminder that he was still alive. That the wound that Adam inflicted was nothing more than a flesh wound. Her husband was still alive and kicking. Alastor wouldn’t be the sort of man who would die so easily.

Alastor placed her back on the bed gently. “Get some rest, Sunshine. You still need it.” His smile gave her no room to argue, he was right after all.

"Where are you going?" she inquired, a hint of curiosity lacing her words as she dipped her feet back into the cool water.

"I have some errands to run," Alastor explained, his tone matter-of-fact, yet (Name) couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to his departure than met the eye. "I am an overlord now, Sunshine. There are things I must attend to."

(Name) couldn’t feel a pang of disappointment in her chest. “Are you going to be back soon at least?”

“Of course, Sunshine. I wouldn’t part from you for long.” Alastor placed a soft kiss on her forehead before disappearing into smoke.

“Right, of course.” (Name) muttered to smoke as she fell back down into the bed with a groan of pain.

(Name) found herself interrupted once again by the haunting melody of the music box, its eerie tune echoing through the room with renewed intensity. Though the pain it inflicted was dulled, it still sent a sharp sting through her body.

“Hello? Can you hear me, my little Ange?” The voice, deeper this time, echoed around her, its presence unsettling. It didn’t mimic her voice back to her this time around.

(Name) straightened her posture and adjusted her skirt. “I can hear you,” She responded, her voice steady despite the unease creeping into her heart.

“Great! Our little exchange is finally settling down,” He seemed overly happy with himself for his little interactions finally working as intended.

“I don’t mean to be rude, sir. But, do you need something?” (Name) asked as she rested her head on her palm.

The voice chuckled, a sound that sent shivers down (Name)'s spine. “Oh, my dear little angel, you are always so polite. I like that about you.” The voice seemed to emanate from all around her, surrounding her in an eerie atmosphere. “I’m just checking on my favorite little angel.”

(Name)’s eyes narrowed when she heard him repeat his new little nickname for her. “I’m not little.”

The laughter only intensified, echoing around her. “You are quite small,” the voice teased, its amusement clear as day.

“Alright, thank you. I think that’s enough for me, good day, sir,” (Name) said, attempting to end the conversation early and put an end to the teasing.

“I’m quite sorry to say, but you don’t get to make those decisions, Little Ange,” The voice retorted sharply, its tone commanding her attention. “Besides, you’re my only source of entertainment, and you’ve been awfully boring.”

“I’m not your sense of-” (Name) felt her words getting stuck in her throat as she tried to finish her sentence. “Heavens, what did you do to me?” (Name) asked, her voice laced with confusion and concern as she scanned her surroundings for any sign of the enigmatic man.

“Nothing, you’re bound to the rules of our agreement. You can’t deny me. Same goes with speaking back when I don’t let you,” The voice explained, its tone devoid of remorse.

(Name)’s eyes narrowed as she processed his words. “I didn’t agree to that,” She countered, her frustration mounting.

The voice chuckled ominously. “Give me strength. I don’t care if I die. Take the dying embers of my life if it means I can save him. I’ll give you everything I have. My soul, my memory, whatever you want. That is what you said, I just answered and agreed. You gave up more than you think.”

“I want you to entertain me. Sing, ” The command washed over (Name), and the melody of the music box shifted to a faint piano.

“The last page of a fairy tale,” (Name) felt her body move against her will as she began singing for her new patron. “Is rewritten, and changed into tragedy.”

“Hmm, I always enjoy tragedy. So much emotion, so much on the line,” the voice remarked with a hint of amusement, though it did little to ease (Name)'s unease. The realization that whoever she had made a deal with could exert such control over her was deeply unsettling..

“I even lose sight of, the one person I believed in.” (Name) wanted this to stop. She didn't want to sing and make people accidently lure people to her. She didn't want to be Maven again.

“You seem scared.” Her patron commented, there was a faint tone of superiority and amusement. “Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I did, promise.”

If You mean that, you'd let me go sir. (Name) mentally snapped back and he only laughed at her. “Love and dreams are almost like a sand castle.”

“Be grateful, I'm not as malicious as you believe me to be.” He hummed back, he was clearly too amused.

“They're fragile, and they crumble down. Even if you don't wish for it.” Her patron released his hold on her body as (Name)’s perked her head up to a knock on the door.

“Enjoy that little warning, my dear dove.”

“What does that even mean?” (Name) mumbled to herself, her mind still reeling from the unsettling exchange.

Their eerie comment hung in the air, unanswered, and (Name) felt a surge of frustration at the lack of clarity. Pushing aside her myriad questions, she focused on the immediate issue: whoever might be waiting behind the door.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, (Name) forced a smile before reaching for the doorknob.

“Hello?” she greeted as she swung the door open, only to be met with the sight of Lucifer standing before her.

“Hello!” Lucifer chimed cheerfully, but before he could say more, (Name) slammed the door shut in his face.

She mentally panicked on the other side, trying to figure out what to do. It was clear as day that Lucifer and Alastor didn't have the best of relationships. Now, she had to deal with him alone.

Taking another deep breath, (Name) forced another smile on her face. She really didn't want to deal with anyone right now.

Reopening the door, she was met with a very confused Lucifer. “Hello, Lu Lu . Do you need something?” (Name) wanted to scream she didn't mean to call him Lu Lu. Her patron, in the meanwhile, was laughing their ass off in her head.

Lucifer felt his eyebrow twitch at her little nickname for him. “Hello, again. Is Bambi there?” He seemed a little dramatic, especially with how he said "Bambi."

“I'm sorry, Lu Lu. My husband isn't in. Can I help you?” (Name) watched Lucifer deflate slightly, and she tried to suppress a laugh.

“Fuck. I mean, that's great! This is a perfect time for us to get to know each other, whatcha say?” Lucifer's attempt to get under Alastor's skin was pretty entertaining.

“You're terrible with people.” (Name) laughed as she straightened his hat.

“Yeahhh. Are you coming or not?” Lucifer asked as he motioned down the hallway.

(Name) laughed, shaking her head. “I'm not giving you any dirt on my husband. Just so you know.”

“Uh huh,” (Name) replied with a hint of skepticism.

“You don't trust people, do you?”

“Nope. I trust your daughter, I don't trust you,” (Name) replied, her firm tone betraying the smile on her face as she laughed.

“Harshh. But, that's fineee,” Lucifer shrugged as he kept motioning down the hallway.

“You really want to know dirt on Alastor, don't you?” (Name) couldn't help but giggle as she stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

“I don't. I just fucking hate that deer,” Lucifer replied, his distaste evident in his tone.

“Ha ha. You and Alastor have something going on,” (Name) remarked, finding the situation amusing. The idea of the King of Hell having some sort of spat with her husband was rather unexpected.

“There's nothing going on,” Lucifer quickly corrected, his tone defensive.

“Right. Do you like tea, Lu Lu?” (Name) asked casually as she started walking down the hallway, the tension between them momentarily lifted.

“Sometimes? I mean, depends on the tea? Are we talking about drama tea or actual tea?” Lucifer inquired, his curiosity piqued by her question.

(Name) burst into laughter at his response. “I'm talking about drinking tea. It's best to befriend someone with a cup of tea,” She explained, extending her offer to Lucifer in a lighthearted manner. She made sure her offer was left at Lucifer’s feet, forcing him to either accept it or reject it.

“Befriend? Of course, you'd want to befriend me! I'm the Big Boss of Hell!” Lucifer proclaimed with theatrical flair, reveling in his title. He really was a little too prideful with his title and status she was coming to realize.

“I think the Tiny Boss of Hell suits you better, Lu Lu,” (Name) teased, watching his eyes narrow at her playful jab.

“I'm not tiny. Thank you very much,” Lucifer retorted, a hint of defensiveness in his tone.

“Sure, whatever you say,” (Name) replied, unfazed by his protest.

“You're also short,” Lucifer added with a grin, trying to turn the tables as (Name) shook her head.

“You're right. But, I'm sorry to say my husband still dwarfs you,” (Name) quipped, a mischievous grin spreading across her face as Lucifer let out a small growl.

“That deer isn't that tall,” Lucifer insisted, his competitive spirit shining through.

(Name) just laughed as she skipped forward a few steps. “Right, keep telling yourself that.”

Perhaps, there were some joys of being hell. She was always pleasantly surprised at the childish his little rivalry with Alastor was. She knew Alastor was probably the same way. Always trying to outdo the other or having the last say.

Maybe, she'd be able to pull it out of him during their little tea party.

The song in this chapter is:

Return to the Sea from Mermaid Melody.

#alastor x reader #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel #hazbin lucifer #hazbin angel dust #hazbinhotel #alastor #hazbin #hazbin hotel au

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kataraslove · 1 year ago

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I was just told a few days ago that they love momtara becauses it tragic that she has to do all the workd for people until of couse Zuko comes along to help out making it less tragic and that logic made zero sense. katara is not cinderella im not sure why her so called fans want her to be cinderella.. or a damsel in distress until zuko comes along its not very pro katara to me it feels the exact opposite.

there’s this really great thread made by my friend @rukihimehive on kataangthinker on twitter debunking momtara with evidence from the series. i highly suggest giving that a read if you’re as tired of the fandom adultifying katara as i am.

I’ve seen momtara enthusiasts say that anyone who is critical of the fandom trope is “taking away her maternal nature, which is associated with her trauma of having lost her mother from a young age.” in other words, “if you don’t support fandom’s insistence that katara is the gaang’s literal mother figure and interpret all her interactions with the gaang as motherly, you’re erasing her trauma.”

which is so ridiculous to me. in the episode the runaway, katara herself dislikes the label of motherly. she takes personal offence over the idea that the gaang would view her as their mother instead of their peer, and demands to know if it’s true that her behaviour comes across as too motherly, especially because “motherly” is associated with negative connotations such as “bossy,” and “overbearing.”

I’ve seen people state that the gaang’s treatment towards katara is unhealthy, that katara is forced to do all the emotional work and emotional labour and none of the gaang ever supports her in anything. which just isn’t even remotely true.

episodes like the desert - in which the gaang are under extenuating circumstances that forces katara to step up and take care of them - are the exception, not the standard. in bitter work, katara explains to toph on how they divide the chores amongst themselves. katara takes personal issue (and for good reason) when toph only wants to do her share.

there’s multiple episodes in which the gaang help pitch the tent and perform campsite duties. there’s a whole episode dedicated to how katara and sokka are both sick, resulting in aang having to run across the world to retrieve them medicine. there’s an entire episode dedicated to how the gaang cannot get anything done without sokka, who usually manages their schedules and itineraries and helps ensure that they’re on track. there’s plenty of moments in which aang and katara are goofing off, and sokka gets mad at them for not sticking to his carefully curated and meticulous schedule and for putting a wedge in their plans to save communities (see: imprisoned and the painted lady). there’s moments when toph assumes responsibility; there’s moments when aang assumes responsibility. and then there’s moments when none of them have any clue on what to do, when they literally act like children navigating a world that’s constantly trying to kill them.

and what about in katara-centric episodes? what about in the episodes dedicated to developing her character? surely the selfish gaang couldn’t possibly support and understand her goals and desires?

1. imprisoned - sokka and aang aide in katara’s plan to immediately get captured and free haru. aang takes her side when katara suggests to free the prisoners. aang and sokka aide katara in freeing the imprisoned earthbenders.

2. the waterbending master - aang rejects learning from a sexist because pakku refuses to teach katara. aang agrees to train katara everything he learns in the middle of the night. aang and sokka cheer katara on as she goes head-to-head with master pakku.

3. the puppetmaster - the gaang allows katara the opportunity to learn waterbending from hama, a southern water tribe bender, until they discover what hama’s been doing all along. sokka and aang rush to confront hama and to protect katara. later, they provide katara comfort after she breakdowns over learning how to bloodbend.

4. the painted lady - aang calls katara a secret hero for helping people in need, even though katara lied to the gaang and pretended that appa was sick. he later helps katara destroy the factory, and then aides in her plan to confront the fire nation soldiers as the painted lady.

sokka defends his sister’s actions:

“Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you. Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river, and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her!”

the southern raiders - this episode is so misconstrued by fandom that every reading of it has become so far detached by canon. no, sokka and aang were not demonizing katara for believing that revenge was the suitable option for her (we find out in the episode that it wasn’t). yes, katara wanted far more than just confrontation (she said it herself - maybe revenge was what he deserved). no, aang was not demonizing katara for stating that her words reminded him of jet’s, who had died a noble death and who katara had personally mourned for. no, jet is not a terrorist and/or a psychopath - he was a child indoctrinated by propaganda and motivated by the death of his parents at the hands of the fire nation. aang and sokka do not interfere in katara’s decision to pursue the man who killed her mother, even if they felt that katara might end up killing that man. no, if katara had killed that man, aang and sokka would not shut her out or ignore her or make her feel subhuman. aang himself had several instances in which he would have taken several lives (sandbenders) if katara hadn’t stopped him. that’s why he says, “I’m proud of you,” because katara arrived at that moral decision on her own, without the influence of external sources (reminder that in the desert, katara had to physically stop aang). at the end of the episode, katara discusses with aang that forgiveness was not the approach she would take towards yon rha, but it was the approach that she would take towards zuko, who had earned her forgiveness.

in each of the above katara-centric episodes (with the sole exception of tsr, which I had described in great detail) the gaang understands katara’s goals and desires and helps her accomplish them, and protects and defends her. to me, that does not come across as a dynamic in which katara is overwhelmingly at risk and treated like absolute dirt. it’s actually quite telling on the quality of a fictional ship (or lack thereof) when fans must demonize katara’s friends and family in order to prop up her fanon love interest.

and when her fanon love interest DOES join the group, nothing… really changes in terms of the dynamics. he serves them tea occasionally? he tells sokka to get out of a bison’s mouth? katara still performs the cooking duties. katara still asks if zuko’s okay and makes sure that he’s included in group activities. the gaang turn to zuko because he is sufficient at hunting down aang, but they all formulate a plan for the comet together. one throwaway line informing someone to get out of the bison’s mouth and him being a strict teacher towards aang does not make him a dad. especially when none of the gaang truly see him as a dad and would probably die of laughing before even considering him as such.

that’s not to even mention the point of zuko’s arc when joining the gaang is not for him to assume an authority, paternal role over a group of kids younger than him (but around his age). it’s for him to finally realize that he belongs to a group of children as traumatized as him, to a family for once in his life. so why should fandom enforce him into a pseudo dad role that isn’t even canon nor would his character even want?

going back to katara, at her core katara is a young, fourteen year old child who has been forced to assume a motherly role to compensate for the loss of her mother. episodes like the runaway delve into how this trauma has forced her to grow up and act older than her age, but at the end of the day, she is still a child and does not wants to be viewed by her peers as some form of motherly figure. which is why it’s so important that characters like aang and toph remind her that she still is a kid, like them.

dark-skinned female characters like katara suffer from the phenomenon of adultification and hypersexualization in fandom spaces. their characters are treated as pseudo mother figures, irregardless of what the narrative could or could not outline for the audience. momtara is a problematic trope because it erases the nuanced dynamics in katara’s relationship with her friends and family, assuming that all interactions with the gaang are of her being their mother. and that canonically, that’s all katara can be towards them. especially in the interest of a ship.

#this is my manifesto of why I can’t stand that trope #antizutara

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writingfool001 · 2 years ago

Text

I Already Found My Happily Ever After Part 3

Author’s Note: If I ever write about female readers, they will be strong. Also, you are tall in this one because there isn’t enough tall reader materials. Also, I don’t know how I did after writing Kalim’s section since I was having some difficulty with it, but here it is.

Request: Nope

Pairing: Kalim, Rook, & Lilia x Female Reader

Warning: Female Reader, pronouns you/your, strong character, characters may be a bit ooc, bit of angst here and there, fluff.

Part 1 (Riddle, Leona, & Azul) Part 2 (Jamil, Vil, Idia, & Malleus)

It was a joint school get together or basically what prom would be with several academies together which was an upside for you and your lover. You barely have had the time to see each other since both of you go to different schools and your school would rather affiliate themselves with the Royal Sword Academy than Raven Night College.

When the event was announced, the headmistress advised everyone to be on their best behavior and if anyone from another school tried to force themselves, you had full permission to take care of the problem or find an instructor. Yeah, your headmistress had zero tolerance for assholes. She also mentioned that it was NRC's turn this year to

You met up with each other at the event and your lover was dressed handsomely as he stood out in the crowd. You both decided to have a nice night, wanting to enjoy the time with each other. He complimented you on your attire and gave you a kiss on the cheek before escorting you to the main hall where the event was being held.

At some point, you stepped away to use the restroom and right as you were on the way to return, a figure stepped into the middle of your path which made you stop.

“My humble apologies, but I couldn’t help ignoring your gorgeous self and was wondering if I could possibly have this dance as your date.” He started bowing and held his hand out.

“Sorry, but I’m here with someone,” You decline politely, stepping around him to continue on your way and only get a couple feet away before he spoke again.

“What could be better than dancing with a prince and possibly your future true love?” He said, causing you to freeze as others paused and watched the interaction.

“What could be better than that, you ask?” You turn your head to look at him over your shoulder, “Dancing with my betrothed.”

“Who could he possibly be? Possibly from RSA?”

“Nope, he goes to NRC.”

“A villain?! Are you mad?”

“Nope, I’ve always loved the villain more than the hero. Perhaps all the other girls, fawning after you, will take up your proposal.”

You walk off, leaving many people’s jaws on the floor as you made your way over to your beloved who saw you publicly humiliate some prince.

Kalim

He wasn’t really paying attention because he had his breath taken away once he saw you and noticed you were walking towards him, breaking out of his small trance, before excitingly approaching you and showering you with kisses then telling you how he has missed you. He held your hands, enveloping them in his warm grasp. As his thumbs brushed over your hands, he felt the faint texture of your ring that you wore and thought back on how this all came to be with you.

He remembers sitting in on a meeting of his father and another man, the head of a well-known merchant family, who were discussing his future and who he would be wedded to. Earlier, he asked his father about the man he was going to meet, he was told that he was also a well-known merchant and had a family with two children around his age. He was somewhat listening to the two adults converse before hearing the door slam open and a young girl appears, furious.

“The audacity of adults, especially you,” The girl furiously stated before pointing at the man, sitting opposite of his father. “You’re in here deciding my future when I have no say in this. I may be your daughter, but you’ve taught me to fight for myself and I refuse to be given away to the highest bidder!”

The girl stormed out and her father got up to go after before apologizing to his father for the interruption then ran off to chase after you. He realized that what you said was true and ran after you, ignoring the call of his father. He realized the unfairness of this and wanted to clear up to hear what you wanted. He ran around the palace, passing servants and his family, and was about to give up before seeing the same little girl sitting beside one of the tigers that his family had. He slolwy approach as the tiger acknowledged his presence and wrapped their tail around her then the little girl looked up to see him, eyes puffy from tears.

“What do you want?” she questioned with a harshness to her voice before Kalim brought his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

“I just wanted to check up on you,” He responded, “Do you mind if I sit?”

Seeing you nod, it took a while before you both started talking and then he apologized for having sat at the meeting with your father without noticing you not there. All you told him was that it wasn’t his fault, you just didn’t want someone to decide your future and marry someone you didn’t love nor stop Kalim from being happy. He was surprised you thought about this, especially when you both were barely 11. He then brought up that he agrees with you and tells you that he wants you to be happy, bringing up your fair point that by the time you both were older, you would probably have your own ambitions. You continued to talk and came to a deal with each other that you both made sure that your fathers would respect.

You both came back, to both fathers, while holding hands and telling them that you both would betroth, but if either of you wanted to out, you could break off and go your separate ways. Mentioning that the supposed marriage would be out of love rather than convenience. From that day on, your family would visit during breaks and summer as well as the event when they were invited.

During your visits, you would spend time with Kalim and forget about the whole betrothed thing as your relationship began to blossom. You told him about the outside world and the places you’ve gone with your father as he listened to your stories, painting vivid pictures in his mind. During the summer, you were introduced to Jamil, and you introduced Kalim to your sister. Occasionally, you would help him with homework from his tutors and show him some of the magic that you’ve learned so far which helped spark his interest in learning magic. He came to you and wanted to learn more from you, even though he had the top tutors to teach him. He has seen how you interacted with his siblings and how you adjusted to paying attention to so many. He would show you around the palace and the animals that his family owned. He had come to realize your fondness for tigers which resulted in you both napping with them in the afternoon occasionally. There was a fondness that started to grow in him whenever you two were together and he had come to love your dazzling personality, hoping that you shared the same fondness for him.

His family was hosting a party and there were many who attended, including your family. Everyone was having a grand time, dancing, eating, and socializing, and Kalim was taking turns dancing with his siblings who could. As he noticed you not in the crowd, he looked towards the dance floor to see you expertly dancing, it was as if you lost yourself in the music and let the music guide your steps. He stared in awe before slipping into the dancing crowd and twirled you around once he reached you. He notes the surprised expression turned to a caring one before you both danced together in sync with each other. He began to lose himself as his attention was fully on you until the next thing he knew was him being shoved to the ground as he heard his mother scream.

Immediately looking up to see you holding someone’s wrist as they tried to bring it down, hoping to injure you enough to get to Kalim. You knocked the knife out of their hand before shoving them back and used your magic to protect him. Right as the intruder pulled out a sword and charged to attack, you caught the weapon your sister threw at you before engaging in combat. Kalim watched as you gracefully fought back, not letting this person find too many openings to attack you, then knocked their sword out of their grasp then decided to engage in hand-to-hand combat as you were injured. Your attacks were precise yet flowy, it was as if you were dancing with this stranger. Kailm was then surrounded by guards as you held the intruder in a chokehold, hoping to knock them out, as they were struggling before falling unconscious. Once you made sure your opponent was defeated, you handed them over to the guards before you started to collapse, and Kalim rushed to catch you.

He looked at his hand to see if it had the familiar crimson on it, he called for guards to take you to the infirmary. He watched as they carried you out, keeping pressure on your wound. The party ended as you both spent the night, resting in the infirmary. As you slept with bandages around your wounds, he realized you could have died tonight right in front of him and missed out on the rest of your life as well as the possible life you both could share together.

When you woke, he was clutching onto you for dear life and crying while telling you that you shouldn’t have risked your life for his while getting snot all over your shirt. When you told him that he had more people to live for rather than you, he immediately shot it down and told you that No matter how brave or happy he may act, he couldn’t spend any single moment without thinking of you. He told you of how you balanced him out and completed him as well as you continued to see him, even though you could have broken the engagement between you two off. He remembered your gentle smile as you comforted him and apologized for worrying him as you both kept each other in each other's embrace. It was after that your engagement became official.

A couple months later, he brought up about attending Night Raven College, he remembers you being concerned about him going as well as his safety and attempted to suggest him to go to perhaps Royal Sword Academy, unknowingly to him that you were trying to give Jamil a chance to grow, but he was persistent, and his father agreed, not to mention, as well as made a heavy donation to his son’s chosen school. Part of you think that he decided to go because Jamil and you went to school while he stayed home to learn. You were there to wish your lover goodbye before the ghost carriage came to pick him up and watched as he said goodbye to his family then he turned to you. He took your hands into his and kissed them lovingly before telling you that he’ll stay safe and will make sure to stay in touch with you then showered you with kisses.

For the past two years, he would text you, may it be random night talks or good mornings. He would look at your magicam account to see how you were doing and cheer you on in your hobby. He would tell Jamil how much he misses you before Jamil would have to stop him from flying to see you. You would both make study calls, and you would help him the best you could, only to have him text you later so that he passed his test. He would send you gifts, and it would get a bit out of hand to the point you’d have to tell him to slow down, and you didn’t need a chandelier in your dorm room. Even though you both had distance between you two, it still felt like you were close to each other.

Now, here you were, dressed lovely and within arms distance of him. He was happier than usual and kept his hand in yours for the rest of the night, only letting go when either of you had to grab something or go to the bathroom. He snuck you out and took you on a carpet ride, like you used to before. He brought your hand up and kissed your ring that you wore multiple times throughout the night. He didn’t care if he would get lectured by Jamil, he was here with you for a night.

Rook

He swoons as he watches you strike the boy down easily with your sharp tongue and kiss the back of your hand then up your arm. He guides you towards the dance floor like the ring on your finger and looks back on your relationship.

His family was visiting a friend of theirs and most children were finding ways to occupy themselves. Rook’s older siblings were hanging out with the older kid while the younger hung around his parents. Rook, being 10, was exploring their extensive garden that had different plants, it reminded him of a forest. He skillfully ran through the greenery with the hints of colors in tow. There was a point where he stopped for a rest as a figure caught his eye. Quietly moving into the bush, he watched through the small opening of the leaves.

He sees a young girl in black sitting on a bench, scribbling in a small book and pausing whenever she looks closely at some flowers. She was entirely focused on what was in front of her, leaving the world. He watched silently before a glint caught his eye then heard a thud next to him. He turned his head to see a throwing knife, impaled his hat, sticking against tree and right as he was about to move, a voice interrupted him.

“I know you’re there,” you said, not looking up from your book as your pencil continued to move against the paper. “Show yourself or else I won’t miss on purpose this time.”

He pulled the knife from the tree and put his hat back on top his head before standing up. He stepped out of the brush and stood to his height as you raised and turned your gaze towards him, silently examining him.

“You must be part of the Hunt family.” You said, putting your book and pencil down on the stone bench before standing to your tall height. “I forgot there were going to be guests today.”

“You know who I am?” He asked

“Yes, my parents speak highly of your family so I would rather make sure not to make enemies. Besides, I’d rather not accidentally have to kill you then feed you to my pet plant to hide the evidence.”

He looks back at the plant that you were studying to a carnivorous plant, one that he has only heard of and read about in books, and that sparked a long conversation between the two of you, one that resulted in the beginning of your relationship.

When his family visited again, he went to explore the garden, not caring about the gloomy weather but hoping to find you again and see you sitting in a gazebo with a crystal ball on the table. Right as he stepped forward, he was immediately pulled into the air as his vision was suddenly upside down. He watched as you step closer and look with a small smirk as he hung upside down.

“I thought you would have seen that obvious snare, Rook?” He simply smiles before letting out hearty laughter and congratulated you on catching him off guard then helped him down. This often happened whenever his family visited; you both spent the entire time together while occasionally both sets of parents would watch from a distance.

Most would find this type of relationship strange, but to be honest, Rook was a strange one and you intrigued him. He enjoyed your attention to detail and how adventurous you are when it came to your morbid hobbies and interests. Not to mention your specialization in botany as well as fencing. He saw you as a breathtaking enigma that has lured him into your clutches with your charm. No one really knew when you both started dating, it just happened.

When Rook was around the age of 15, there was an evening when his family hosted a gala that had guests dancing and socializing while dressed to the nines. He socialized with a few people before spotting your family enter and then his eyes set on you. You were dressed elegantly in black.

He excused himself and approached you before seeing that you got asked to dance by another fellow close to both your age. You accepted and were guided to the dance floor as Rook decided to join the dancing circle. Again, he socialized with his passing partners and asked if they enjoyed the party while keeping an eye on you, dancing gracefully. After a couple pass, you spun into his arms and greeted him in french which he greeted back as well. Another thing of your relationship was you both spoke in french a lot to each other as if it was your secret language.

“Are you enjoying the party so far?” he asked, looking up slightly at you, as the world blurred while you both danced.

“Yes, quite an interesting event, but I think I scared some of the guests.” You respond, remembering some of the past dancing partners this evening.

“They’re only scared of your beauty and the aura of mysteriousness around you.”

“Do I scare you, Rook?”

He gracefully stopped and dipped you with sincerity look in his eyes and a small lovesick smile adorning his face.

“Of course not, you only draw me closer to you.”

You both waltzed the night away, dazzling your audience with your grace and skill. He then showed you around the Hunt household and even the garden. Later that night, the Hunts offered your family some rooms to stay and your parents did not refuse. As you were about to go to bed, you saw a familiar messy set of blond hair outside of your window then approached the window that had the perfect view of the garden.

“Most would scream and panic when seeing someone outside their window in the middle of the night.” You said once you opened the window.

“We both know you are not most people. Most don’t have extensive training like you.”

“You are a strange one, Mon cher.”

“That I am, but Mon amour, you do quite love the strange.” he said, gently taking your hand and kissing.

“Why do you haunt my window this night?”

“I’m certain that I could not live with the thought of a life without you in it. So I have come to ask, would you marry me in the future?”

He showed you a beautiful yet simple ring before you chuckled and accepted it. Both sets of parents were delighted to hear the news of your engagement, knowing that you two were perfect together. Nothing really changed between you two, you were both still showering each other in love and acting like a lovey dovey couple. You both would chat through a crystal ball or by phone during the school year. You met Vil who you would have tea with whenever you visited and he questions how you ended up engaged to Rook, only for Rook to say it was with his charm. Whenever Vil and you would hang out with each other, Rook has an overload of beauty in front of him, he doesn’t regret introducing you both to each other.

He introduced you to some of his fellow classmates and was delighted to see you socializing with others, even striked up a conversation with Malleus. As the same as the countless nights before, you both danced around and forgot about everyone else in the world, only wrapped in each other and enjoying the night.

“Oh my, what have I done to deserve such a beautiful smile?” Rook asked with his usual lovesick expression before kissing you lovingly.

Lilia

He playfully chuckles as you approach before kissing you gently and escorting you away, teasingly mentioning to you how you could have let that poor boy down easier since you were already taken. You thought you were engaged to this old man? Nope, you’ve been married to him for a while.

During his time of service, he would occasionally catch glimpses of you as you went about your duties as he did. From what he’s heard from the other guards, you were very skilled both physically and magically as well as having few people who you could call close friends. The fear he would hear in other guards’ voices whenever they mentioned approaching you, piquing his interest and curiosity wasn’t going to let it kill this bat fae.

At first, he would observe you from afar, maybe during training, meal time, passing by during duties, and such. Your first interaction between you two was during a sparring match both physically and magically. As he fought, he was in awe as you moved with precision and smoothly, almost gracefully, yet packed a powerful blow behind your attacks. He also learned how stubborn you are, especially when refusing to yield, which was another thing he loved about you.

He volunteered or traded with someone else to get paired with you on patrols and would strike up a conversation with you any chance he could get. His interest began to grow, and he would occasionally question the fluttering in his stomach when he would see you. The feeling grew as you both spent more time together as he fell more for you over the years.

There was a war starting and you both were sent to lead troops separately on the battlefield. This was not the first time that you two were separated during times of war, you both kept in contact using a locket and would leave each other message for a certain period of time. Messages were left and answered as chaos and ruin continued while you both fought for your kingdom before you both returned to be in each other's arms. There were nights where Lilia thought about you and how he hoped for the end of war, wanting to get back to you.

Towards the end of a war and he returned to the Briar Valley, he heard that you were fatally injured when you pushed through the enemy’s line to give your men the upper hand and recently passed out before immediately racing to your bedside in the infirmary to see you laying there, still and peaceful. Tears began to somewhat fall, as thoughts flooded his mind about how you may die and leave him here alone, and he gently took your limp cold hand then held it as he prayed for you to be alright. It was around this time he realized that using violence would end in death. During the time that you were out, Lilia would always stop by and spend his meal times with you while telling you about the day's events. He brought up how you both would be receiving a medal and about how they were going to try to have a ceremony without you before he and the royal family said no. As he was about to leave, he decided to stay with you and climbed into the bed before kissing your cheek goodnight then fell asleep.

There was a point at night when he felt a hand run through his long hair and your voice speaking softly before he opened his eyes to see you smiling down at him. You greeted and told him that a splash of color would look good in his long black hair before he took your face into his hands and kissed you passionately, as if he’d never see you again. There were more tears in his eyes as he held you close. It was at that moment he realized that it was probably time for both of you to retire and he should marry you.

You both had a small wedding with a few colleagues and the royal family attending before you both went on a honeymoon, traveling around. Right when you both got back and thought you were going to have a peaceful retirement, the queen had a baby and you both were appointed as the young prince’s caretakers. It was an interesting time for the both of you, was the least to say. He remembers hearing your laughter when Malleus accidentally burned his bangs and how you reassured Malleus that he was going to be okay whenever he started crying. Lilia watched you interact with Malleus and how motherly you were with him, teaching him and showing him enough love, helping to raise him into the man he was today. You also had to be the one to cook and keep an eye on Lilia if he was in the kitchen.

As Malleus was older, Lilia realized that he wanted your little family to grow, which ended up with him coming home with a baby wrapped in his jacket. You interrogated him, as Malleus held the sleeping baby, and he told you how he found the poor child alone during his stroll in the forest. Right as you were about to go deeper into it, you both heard a cry and looked to see the child begin to cry as Malleus tried to comfort him before looking at you with a panicked look. You sigh softly before gently cradling the child in your arms and begin to soothe him as Lilia begins to sing a lullaby, slowly soothing the baby before he looks up at you and clutches onto you then snuggles against you. That surprised Malleus and you as Lilia laughed. After that, you both named the baby Silver and raised him as your own with the help of Malleus. Only for a couple years later to welcome Sebek to the family. For a time, you were the softer yet firm one out of Lilia and you helped Lilia realize the two boys weren’t the soldiers that you both commanded on the front line. Lilia realized you were right and started being more laid back but continued to show silver parental love and raised him to who he was today.

You eventually got to meet Malleus’s betrothal and was introduced as his second mother. By the end of the night, you told her all the childhood stories about him as Lilia comforted an embarrassed Malleus. You both became close friends. When Malleus started attending NRC and Lilia went with him, you stayed in Briar Valley until Silver started to attend NRC until you decided to go keep Malleus’s fiancé some company which she appreciated and used the excuse to teach her more about her future duties as queen. The queen saw through your excuse and the only condition she gave you was to return in emergencies.

Both you and Lilia made sure to appear younger to not raise any suspicion, Lilia and you would game with each other a couple of times a week or he would just randomly appear to spend time with you. He also keeps the same locket you both communicated with, and it has a picture of you in. If anyone outside of Diasomnia catches him looking at it, he would say you were his betrothal which you told him to refer to you as, in case anyone asked about you. Malleus notices the lovesick look in Lilia’s eyes whenever he sees your picture in the magical history textbook. You would occasionally hear serenading outside your window to see your beloved, floating with a rose in hand.

He often looks back on the countless years you both spent together raising your little family and chuckles to himself as he recalls one of the many funny memories of your time together. He escorted you towards your boys and introduced you to his friends and classmates. Eventually, he escorts you back to Diasomnia and you both dance with music echoing through the dorm

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etherfall · 9 months ago

Note

Not the best but, here's the summary of BW2 of this AU (I'll go by Protag Rosa for this)

Wall of Text Warning

The story is probably altered, but mostly the same (kinda)

By the time of BW2 begins, N was defeated by Hilbert (Protag of BW1) but he turned it down. Finally he has a goal to pursue which he's away from region for a while

By then, he was challenged by Iris and lost the battle. Resulting he was stepped down as a champion and now currently living in Driftveil City (Specifically the building when you obtain Zorua) and created a small organization protecting Pokémon with his sisters as his assistant. Still maintaining a close relationship with Alder

During the intro and until Pre-Nimbasa City is mostly the same. Rosa and Hugh go to adventure, collecting gym badges, and encounters with men/women in in masks claimed themselves as Neo Team Plasma while being assisted by Hugh and several people in the process, meets Iris, and Encounters a man in lab coat named Colress.

By the time Rosa arrived in Nimbasa City, she encounters a man with Christmas Tree hair which she's recognize him as N. Son of Alder and the Pokémon Whisperer (People dubbed him due to ability to understand Pokémon).

After chatting for a while she meets Hugh and introduces him to N (Hugh is a fan of him)

Eventually they encounters Neo Plasma, battle them. Which N notices there's anger in Hugh's eyes which he thinks that Hugh probably have a history with Plasma.

After he battle Hugh finally opens up about what happened 2/3 years ago about his little sister's Purrloin was stolen by Plasma for "Liberation Purposes".

N decides to help him to find his Purrloin and Hugh is extremely grateful for that.

When they reached Driftveil City, N takes them (the same building where he creates his organization) to the building and introduces them of his organization and explains of their purposes. But Hugh finds out that several members of them are former Team Plasma (includes sage Rood)

Bewildered of this, he asks N why which he explains that they are actually believes that Pokémon deserved to be freed from bad humans which he agrees of that. But that doesn't mean that not all humans are bad.

After some explanation, Hugh calms down and reach understanding with N. He left the place to train with his Pokémon. Rosa remembers that there's a gym in the town, so she parts with N for a while.

Sometimes later, after local tournament on PWT, they meet again with N and Hugh notices a Neo Plasma grunt runs towards to the harbor. He decides to go after him despites Colress warning. Rosa, Cheren go after him. Leaving N and Colress behind.

During that time, Colress introduces to him and asks about his involvement with Ghetsis. Surprised by the question and ask how Colress know about it. He reveals that he met him few months ago and can't help that N and Ghetsis are so much alike, but he assures him that Ghetsis is not N's Father in Blood.

N asks him that he's involved with Team Plasma and he answers some other way around. But he told him that the only think he cares about is the Pokémon's true potential. Colress plead to him not to tell to anyone and N relucantly agrees.

Sometime after, Rosa, Hugh, and Cheren returns after the ship flew away, N told them that he has a thing to attend and they part ways for now.

From there until Pre-Opelucid remains he same.

Gotta finish this later, feel free to correct this or whatever.

Oh this is so cool!

I actually had a different idea and planned to make N become the Champion (since he's been training with Alder ever since he was young to take this position), but I really like the way you've taken the story!

(Still making my way through B&W2 so I'm not completely caught up on events yet...)

But like I've stressed before, all interpretations are welcome!! I love the way you manage to weave the characters & their interactions in, and am excited to hear the rest :D

#alderadoptsnau #long post

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wisteriaiswriting · 1 year ago

Note

Hi! Since its okay for me interact, I wanted to tell you that your pan fic is absolutely adorablem. I was hoping to ask if you could write an Apollo x reader (they/them) something fluffy maybe? Picnic at the beach or something like that or whatever you can come up with :D.

Do take your time n have a nice day! Thanks in advance.

𝕆𝕦𝕥 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕝𝕕, 𝕀𝕟 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕖𝕨

A party in Aphrodite's honor didn't capture Apollo's attention as much as you did.

Words: 645

Whenever Aphrodite holds her leaving party a mixed bag of emotions are always present. This includes many who are happy for her, glad she won’t have to suffer and a new idol is about to emerge. While others don’t want it but can’t do anything about it, whether they think they can help her choice is made.

A few people who don’t agree, include Apollo and Eros. While the two are aware that they can’t change her mind, Eros still tries every so often with Apollo eventually resigning to the sidelines, just watching nowadays.

Just hoping that someone else will step up, and it seems that Grace might be the light to guide Aphrodite down a new path.

Now it was the waiting game, he arrived early with plenty of time left. Watching as everyone else piled into the room, spilling across the space. Talking among themselves at the tables covered in food, looking out the windows. Anything they could do they did.

Dragged out of his thoughts by someone calling his name, Grace. She actually came. Their conversation was cut short as the main doors opened, Aphrodite herself was first. Another woman wheeled in behind her, her bright pink looks captured many idols' attention.

He watched as Grace walked up to them, unable to hear their conversation but still able to see it. A few different expressions followed before a surprised one covered Aphrodites, she turned to Venus and gestured towards something behind them.

Seemingly giving grace no explanation either. Forcing her to step to the side as Aphrodite walked forwards.

“Everyone, thank you for being here!”

All conversations were cut short and everyone’s attention was directed to her.

“As we know why we're all here today, I also have another announcement!”

She gestured to something behind them again, Venus leaving the room for it.

“As Venus takes on my role another idol will join her, one who we have seemingly forgotten.”

Murmurs started like wildfire, still somehow quite enough to not disrupt her. Hushed conversations went silent as Venus returned with nothing… what?

“I want to introduce Y/N,”

He watched as the doors opened again, Venus was the first to enter. Wheeling to the side to hold the door open, as someone else slipped through them and stood on the opposite side of Aphrodite.

To make it known it was quite common between idols that they could wear anything they wanted, which meant most wore more modern and comfortable clothing. This seemed to include you.

A dark [colour] cardigan sat over a white shirt along with a pair of baggy jeans. The pants knees were ruined, dirt and rips covered them, so he could only guess who you were.

“Otherwise known as, Demeter.”

Soon enough Aphrodite let everyone talk and wander around. This caused you to follow Venus as she moved around, and while she didn’t head towards Apollo you eventually separated and caught him off guard.

“Apollo, right?”

“Oi!”

You’ve been told Apollo is quite jumpy but you didn’t realise it was this easy to scare him. He had jumped up off the wall and was facing slightly away from you, he was clutching at a side of his shirt just above his heart.

“What, gonna have a heart attack?”

“When I’ve just entered my prime? Not yet.”

“Really, just entered? More like just left.”

He scoffed at you, the attack was obviously banter but it’s not like anyone else could tell. Even if no one, you included, could see the small smile on his face. Quickly changing it into a smaller, and hopefully cooler one.

“Then let me teach you about your new life, you’ll need it.”

It's your turn to scoff now, rolling your eyes as well.

“Show me then Apollo.”

At your words he throws his arm over your shoulder, pulling you into his side.

“I will then.”

#stray gods x reader #stray gods apollo #apollo x reader #wisteria♥

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nikipuddings · 1 year ago

Text

Going a bit into depth about Shu and her character because I got bored and. Uhm. Uhm.

Ex Valkyrie

In 'Reminiscence Marionette,' Shu is a second-year student with a strong dedication to making Valkyrie perfect without consideration for the feelings of Mika and Nazuna. Despite her harsh treatment towards the two, it was not due to her having bad intentions or wanting to hurt them. It was the opposite. It's essential to understand that she's dishonest with her feelings and communicating with others. This makes it especially hard for people to understand her, and her true feelings. It's important to note that, while she seemed to put her work and Valkyrie above the members' feelings, she loved Nazuna and Mika deeply. However, due to her bad experiences growing up, she had difficulty understanding how people should be treated and showing affection. It's important to understand that Shu's harsh behavior towards Nazuna and Mika did not come from a place of malice or ill intent. In fact, she had no intention of hurting or harming anyone in Valkyrie. Rather, her actions were motivated by her lack of understanding of how to express care and show affection. She is learning from her mistakes and working hard to become a better person. Despite the mistreatment she has caused, she is driven by her desire to protect those around her and help them succeed, even if she had a poor execution of doing such. It takes great strength and self-awareness to acknowledge one's wrongs and take steps to improve oneself. She knew deep down that she had to work on herself, and that's exactly what she's doing. This shows excellent character development and growth for her. She has clearly matured and learned from her mistakes, with her current actions reflecting this growth. Her newfound understanding of the importance of treating people right and showing affection is a testament to her personal development.

Tananata festival

Shu's growth in Tanabata Festival was remarkable, as it was the turning point in her development as a character. After her hiatus, she began to slowly improve and the Valkyrie started engaging in activities again. This event was not the one where she recognized her past mistakes, but it was where she acknowledged Valkyrie's true position in the entertainment industry. The unrealistic belief that Valkyrie would always be at the top was no longer present. Instead, she gained the strength to accept defeat, even though she recognized how unfair it was, due to Fine being more popular. Additionally, it was during Tanabata Festival that she realized the reasons why Nazuna left Valkyrie. She acted bitter towards her for betraying Valkyrie, but deep down she knew that’s not how she felt completely. Where she really started improving was in In repayfes, Shu was shown to have forgiven Nazuna, and did not call her a traitor. Later in their performance, Shu realized Ra*Bits' true potential, calling it art. Shu started to soften and opened her heart to those around her, making less hateful remarks over time and becoming more honest with her feelings. This was a major shift from her previous behavior, demonstrating growth and maturity.

Enstars and surface value

In Enstars, it's important not to judge any character by their surface appearance. Many Enstars characters have unique ways of presenting themselves, but there's a catch -- they're all complex. Take Mayoi, for example. She may come across as flirtatious on the surface, but if you interact with her in-ES, she'll monologue about her insecurities about her own self-worth and how she’s “worthless” simply just for getting in your way. The writing in Enstars is incredibly well done and nuanced, and it's not always easy to understand at first glance. Rinne has especially fallen victim to this, with many fans judging him based on his initial impression rather than taking the time to delve deeper into his character. Rinne seems loud and aggressive at appearance, but those who take the time to get to know him will discover that he's actually a caring and sensitive person. Shu from the surface, seems arrogant and rude, when that’s really just not the case. In short, the characters in Enstars are complex, and in order to fully appreciate them, it's essential to look beyond their surface level traits. Akira is a skilled writer so I’m 98% sure this is on purpose.

Shu’s trans coding

Shu had a strained relationship with her family, particularly over their lack of understanding of her emotions, except for her grandfather. Whenever she faced difficulties, Shu would run to the cellar, where she stumbled upon Mademoiselle. She formed up a bond, with Mademoiselle serving as Shu's escape from her troubled life. Shu was always bullied for expressing her femininity through dolls and traditionally "girl" clothes, a common trait in trans girls. Shu had a deep dislike for puberty, as it took away her feminine traits and made her more masculine (another trans trait!) She compares herself before puberty to a doll, and she uses dolls to express her femininity. Through Nazuna's doll-like appearance, Shu seemed to enjoy what she couldn't have. again, implying that dolls equal femininity to her. Shu harbors disdain for puberty, calling it a curse in her life. She is often associated with figures and symbols strongly associated with womanhood, including the virgin goddess Astrea, who embodies purity and femininity. Shu experiences gender dysphoria, struggle for many transgender individuals, in addition to other challenges faced by trans women. It is difficult to see how anyone could misidentify her as transmasc instead, given the numerous signs of her feminine identity. The name of her unit, Valkyrie, is especially significant. In Norse mythology, Valkyries are the twelve handMAIDENS of Odin, sent to the battlefield to choose the slain who are worthy of a place in Valhalla. Furthermore, she is often depicted surrounded by flowers that symbolize femininity, such as pink roses and lotus flowers, which represent womanhood and femininity. This is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a woman this is a wo

(Uhm..yeah,, if you saw this anywhere else that was me.)

#ensemble stars #enstars #enstarrie #shu itsuki #itsuki shu #ex valkyrie #valkyrie ensemble stars #valkyrie enstars #mika kagehira #kagehira mika #nazuna nito #nito nazuna #writing #enstars writing #enstars fanfic #kuro kiryu #enstarries

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takadanobaba · 1 year ago

Note

Yeah the part two would mainly focus on the town's folks first interactions with the twins and their Pokémon. Most would be completely made up since we haven't fully seen everyones take on them.

Potentially interactions were:

Pierre's hostile first meeting the twins and their starter, he places a 'no Pokémon allowed' sign on the door because he's subtle. (He also hints that all Pokémon were driven out by removing all berry plants when they try to buy berries)

Harvey being a good person but they mistake his friendliness as professionalism, he falls in love with Klinklang.

Emmet and Durant mets Sebastian out on a walk, it is painfully awkward. Sebastian thinks a giant metal ant is cool.

Jas and Vincent sneak into the railway. They met Archeops and call her a turkey since she's 'too big to be a chicken'.

OK I've realised I actually have alot more scenarios then I first thought (I have four-five more tucked away) so that part two is actually possible.

Most of the people are just awkward around the twins and their Pokémon but the few who are hostile kinda warp their views on things.

Fun fact: in the drafts of the fic, the scene between Lewis and the twins was called 'Lewis pulls some petty manager-esque BS to bully Train Boys into not fucking up his train station'.

Oh god Pierre. Step aside Morris we might have a new main antagonist lol

For Harvey, we were thinking that he isn't opposed to Pokémon exactly, just more concerned about the health risks they pose. The twins themselves aren't the healthiest people (Emmet collapses from overwork in his 2-heart event....) and they're a bit out of the norm even among other Pokémon trainers. He's worried for them and they find a mutual annoyance between Harvey's nagging and the twins' stubbornness. Here's their checkup dialogue! Ingo is haunted and Emmet is immune to paralysis due to prolonged exposure. They're fine.

Harvey and Klinklang would be cute though, I haven't considered that!! It fits well since we were thinking that Maru would adore Klinklang too... We were thinking that Maru would be the one to look into getting better Pokemon healthcare in Stardew Valley (with the help of Marnie, since they're essentially animals)... the hospital nerds and Klinklang!

And oh god..... Emmet and Sebastian..... man do I have thoughts on that. Any interaction would definitely be awkward between them and quite possibly end in disaster. I know a few people want to see Emmet and Sebastian together but outside of both of them being the "rude but really just socially inept" type, I think they would clash. Since the twins are on good terms with Maru because she watches over the pokemon for research(/babysitting), Sebastian might be bitter towards them out of association, the twins themselves would feel sorry for Maru for having her brother hate her for no reason of her own. The twins support each other and push each other to be the best they can be, they're inseparable (or at least... shouldn't be separated...) and the thought of their sibling hating them terrifies them. I wouldn't say that they have a healthy relationship since they're a bit dependent on each other, being a two-car train and all.

Ingo would dislike Sebastian for being a bad big brother, and Emmet would dislike him for how ungrateful he is for the people in his life; Emmet's distaste would be stronger though. Along with being terrible to Maru, Sebastian's relationships with his friends would also raise red flags for Emmet (poor guy has trust issues and a low tolerance for that kind of thing). Sam and Abigail both favor Sebastian, but Sebastian has lines about not really seeing Abigail as a friend and thinking that Sam is clingy/annoying to hang out with. Emmet is a little insecure about being the lesser-liked twin and an outcast, he's lonely and while he doesn't bother with faking courtesy like Ingo, he is still verrrry grateful for anyone who isn't deterred by him for whatever reason that may be. Emmet is also a bit clingy with the few people who do win his trust and would probably make Sebastian feel bad for being a bad friend. Emmet and Sebastian are opposites in a conflicting way.

Here's some dialogue made super early on referencing how Sebastian visits the Railroad in his schedules:

Sebastian has a line about how he used to like trains when he was younger too, but it's very distant and angsty, like much of his reflections. He'd probably think of the twins being passionate about their special interest in trains to be a little cringe.... they would think he's cringe for not liking trains as much as them. I feel like they would project a bit and see each other as a reminder of their insecurities so.... they would not be good being together for too long.

Sebastian taking an interest in Durant would be interesting though..... Durant and Excadrill in this mod are drafted to have a henchman and mafia boss dynamic with each other and are always getting into trouble together so maybe he'd enable their shenanigans.

We do have a bit about Jas and Vincent liking Pokemon too! They'd love Archeops since he's basically an extra big and colorful chicken... the kids and Evelyn are the three people who aren't initially deterred by Pokemon, they get used to it for the most part later though.

And LOL love that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

#subway to stardew #mail car connecting line #subway to stardew terminal station #Emmet and Sebastian friendship is not happening they're going to be enemies #The chad Emmet vs the virgin Sebastian #doctorsparkle and I both started playing with dating Sebastian in mind but left him for Harvey and Elliott LOL we might be biased #I married Sebastian to see what the hype was all about and divorced him because I hated it lol sorry everyone #I'm sorry Elliott for making a new husband you will always hold a special place in my heart </3 #Actually started getting into modding because I wanted to see all of the content in an Elliott mod and started digging around in the files #Shoutout to Elliott for making stardew submas real #If you go after Emmet then he makes it verrrrrry clear that you are his best friend and how important that is to him even after dating btw #I have Many thoughts on Emmet and his relationship/socialization struggles......... this conductor has problems #Excadrill and Durant have thick new york accents #Garbodor and Linus is also a fun one.... Linus doesn't like Garbodor at first but later learns that she's not fighting him for food #She's going for the actual garbage LOL it all works out in the end

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heydorothea009 · 4 months ago

Text

Bread on Toast 2162 - A Future Man s2 Fanfiction

After saving the world from the Biotics, Josh and Liv are catapulted into Tiger and Wolf’s time, 2162. The gang is separated from each other and contention begins to brew. Tiger and Liv find themselves face to face with an old “friend”, while Wolf gets caught in being someone he’s not, and Josh’s life is on the line. Things can’t possibly get any worse.

Warnings: strong language, violent descriptions

Chapter 6: Homicide: Life In The Mons

Liger

Stu Camillo’s Compound

Tuesday, Blapuary 2ndth 2161

08:17AM

Tiger shook Liv awake the next morning. “Stu found something.” She said excitedly.

Liv groggily sat up, not understanding a word Tiger had said. “…what?”

“Get dressed, Stu needs us.”

“…what?”

Tiger sighed, dragging Liv out of bed and pulled her to the main room. They found Stu standing in front of the screen of camera feeds using his hands to summon up pictures and blueprints.

“What did you find?” Tiger asked as she and Liv stood at his side.

“A break!” Stu said enthusiastically. “Using facial recognition, I pinpointed a location where all the Pointed Circle members intersected before dropping off my grid.” He zoomed in on the map of the Mons. “There’s not much out there, mostly storage units.” He pointed to the small bunch of circles that represented the storage units. “Go a little bit further and you’re in cannibal country.”

That woke Liv up. “I’m sorry, ‘cannibal country’?”

Tiger gave a breathy laugh. “Ah, so you guys have cannibals in this timeline too?”

“Desperate people will eat each other.” Stu shrugged and started laughing jovially. Tiger joined in.

“They will, they really will.” She laughed. Liv uncomfortably stood next to them, watching.

Stu’s laughter died down. “Anyways, you should talk to Jeff Breakfast, he runs the storage facilities over there.” He summoned Jeff Breakfast’s picture.

Tiger clapped Liv on the shoulder. “Copy that, Jeffy Breaks. Let’s go.” Tiger began to walk towards the door.

Liv followed Tiger out, extremely confused by whatever the fuck that interaction was.

Storage Station Bravo

2 klicks south of cannibal country

10:21AM

Jeff Breakfast was a short man who wore the same yellow jumpsuit as the rest of the Mons. Tiger looked around at the storage units, which were reflective dome shaped tents, and looked unimpressed.

“People must not be storing anything of great value here,” she murmured to Liv. “I could break into any of these no problem.”

“Hello, ladies, how can I help you?” Jeff Breakfast rounded one of the tents. Liv and Tiger immediately recognized him. Wordlessly, Liv held up the picture of Dr. Hogeveen.

Jeff squinted and got closer to the picture. “Oh, uh,” he looked at it for a moment. “Hm…I don’t know who that is.”

“You haven’t seen anyone coming or going?” Tiger asked, hands on her hips.

Jeff shook his head as he lifted some storage crates and stacked them. “No one ever comes here. They store all their priceless possessions and then just kind of forget about them.” He turned back to them, face sad. “Kind of like me…”

“Oh…” Liv peered up at Tiger, who just rolled her eyes at Jeff.

“Okay, yeah, yeah, we get it, you’re all sad and lonely. We’re just gonna go check things out.” Tiger pushed past him. Liv stepped around him, avoiding eye contact.

“Oh, you…you ladies don’t need any company?” Jeff asked hopefully, following behind them.

“No!” Liv and Tiger said at the same time. They disappeared behind the tents and out of Jeff’s view. Liv unzipped one of the tents slightly and peeked inside.

“How will we know which one?” She asked quietly. Tiger placed her hands on her hips again and scanned the tents, eyes narrowed. A crash behind the tent caught both of their attention. Looking at each other with wide eyes, Tiger motioned for Liv to look around the tent. Liv peeked around and turned back to Tiger, rolling her eyes.

“Woah!” A shrill voice whined.

Tiger sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please tell me that isn’t who I think it is.” Liv looked equally annoyed and nodded. TyAnne bumbled her way over to them, tripping in her high heels over every crate in her path, making a loud noise with each fall. Tiger set her jaw. “There goes the element of surprise, you dumb slunt.” she groaned.

TyAnne, in her space buns and her irritatingly massive fuzzy heart shaped coat, cocked her head. “That’s really not how you use that word.” She stumbled up next to Liv.

“Why are you here?” Liv asked, barely veiling the annoyance in her voice as she peered up at TyAnne the giant, with her six inch chunky heeled boots.

“Um,” TyAnne panted, using Liv as an armrest. Liv bristled as TyAnne put an arm around her. “Well, you said you guys were gonna leave after this, and then I thought, maybe this could be our last chance to hang out, you know, like we talked about non-verbally.” TyAnne gave Liv and Tiger a massive grin. Liv sputtered as some of TyAnne’s fuzzy coat got in her mouth.

“Oh,” Tiger rolled her eyes. “Last night when you tried to kill me.”

“Yeah!” TyAnne beamed.

“That was a nice moment.” Tiger folded her arms. Liv unwrapped TyAnne’s arm from her shoulders and stepped away from her. “You know what, fine,” Tiger sighed. “You wanna help? Here’s what you can do, I want you to start by checking that area over there.” Tiger pointed over TyAnne’s shoulder. “Liv, start that way.” She turned her head so TyAnne couldn’t see and widened her eyes at Liv in a way that said, “don’t worry, I’ll handle her��.

Liv slowly nodded and walked a few short steps away, looking over her shoulder to see what Tiger would do.

TyAnne pranced over and looked around the tent Tiger was pointing to. “Do I get a cheddar blade?” TyAnne sang as she unzipped the tent and poked her head inside.

Tiger stalked up behind her. “Yeah, yeah, I got your cheddar blade,” she smacked her fist against TyAnne’s neck. “Right here.” TyAnne slumped down into the tent.

“Holy shit!” Liv gasped.

“She’s fine.” Tiger sauntered back over to Liv.

Liv started to snicker. “Holy shit.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that for.” Tiger looked proud of herself. “Check that one.” She pointed to the tent TyAnne had dumped all the crates around. Liv ducked inside the tent and stood upright.

“What should I do?” She asked, looking around at the loads of cases inside.

“Move them around and see if they trigger or are concealing anything, I’ll check this one over here.” Tiger disappeared from view. Liv started pushing around the cases, flipping them over and shoving them aside as she scoured the tent. She tilted her head as she studied the metal floor. The rounded shaped cutout in the metal sure looked like the perfect secret door. Liv shoved the last few cases and crates aside and stacked them.

“Tiger!” Liv called. “I might have something.” She heard the rustling of Tiger shuffling out of her tent as she turned back to the metal floor. She slipped two fingers into the indents in the floor and lifted it. It was indeed a trap door. Tiger poked her head in just in time. Liv stood upright in shock, looking at Tiger with giant eyes. “I found it.” She mouthed.

“Rat pot.” Tiger whispered in awe, ducking inside the tent. A clang came from down below. “Somebody’s down there, go, go!” Liv hurried and swung herself down into the opening, climbing down the ladder. Tiger followed after her. Dr. Hogeveen, who was sitting at a table full of destroyed research, looked up at them climbing down, convulsing.

“Athena,” Liv seethed, jumping down and beelining for her.

“You’re too late, your trail ends here.” Dr. Hogeveen said shakily. Liv faltered, noticing the electric hum in the air, the red dots pressed to Dr. Hogeveen’s temples, the way her body seized.

“What is she-“ Liv’s eyes darted to the remote in Dr. Hogeveen’s hand. She was killing herself.

Tiger noticed too and stalled. “Eunice,” she sighed, as if she were only disappointed. “Why did you have to go and do that?”

“You-“ Hogeveen twitched. “You were going to torture me for my secrets,” she gave them a defiant look. “And I didn’t want you to.”

“Well, you got me there.” Said Tiger, an edge of annoyance in her voice.

Liv slammed a hand on the table. “Where is our TTD!” She yelled.

“What?” Hogeveen managed to choke out.

“Time Travel Device.” Liv and Tiger said in unison.

“That’s a…stupid name.” Hogeveen twitched.

“Really, that’s what you’re going to waste your last breath on?” Tiger spat. Hogeveen nodded weakly and fell limp. Tiger threw her hands up in the air. Liv let out a frustrated cry and pushed Hogeveen’s dead body to the ground.

Secret Pointed Circle Lab

Necropsy of Dr. Eunice Hogeveen

10:47AM

TyAnne was so horrified by the death of Hogeveen that she went mute. She’d woken up a few minutes after Hogeveen had passed, wandering around above them and whining so loud that Liv and Tiger could hear her with the trapdoor closed. They figured TyAnne’s loud voice and her bumbling around was how Hogeveen had known they were coming and shocked herself to death. They’d pulled TyAnne down into the underground lab to get her to stay quiet. That’s when she saw who was dead in the lab.

TyAnne’s whining had alerted Jeff Breakfast, who came running in a frenzy. He saw the trapdoor and had a panic attack, swearing up and down that he didn’t know it was there. Tiger and Liv decided he should know about what had been going on under his nose and let him down into the lab too.

Tiger stood over Hogeveen, nudging her with her foot. “I remember my first dead body.” She said, almost fondly. “I was four and half of a person just fell from the sky during a drone-ado. Just a body sliced,” Tiger made a slow downward slicing motion through the air. “Right down the middle.” Liv made a face as her stomach turned.

“She was the closest thing I had to a mother.” TyAnne finally spoke after several minutes of sitting in the corner in shock. It was the first time Liv actually felt bad for TyAnne. Tiger didn’t feel bad.

“You’ll get used to it.” Tiger leaned against the table. “By the time I was six, we built training grounds out of corpses.” She gave a fond chuckle. “The Obstacle Corpse.”

“Tiger…” Liv sighed.

Jeff Breakfast, who hadn’t stopped spinning around in circles with his eyes almost the size of his head as he took in the idea of this underground lab, finally spoke too. “This is a full-on hideout?!”

“Yeah,” Tiger raised an eyebrow. “And there were a ton of footprints by the exit that were not yours, or mine, or Liv’s, or TyAnne’s. Trust me, I checked. Are you one hundred percent sure you didn’t see anyone coming or going?”

“I’ve been here all day, I didn’t see anything!” Jeff answered.

“Then you sir, are bad at your job.” Liv jabbed a finger at him, narrowing her eyes.

Jeff looked panicked. “Okay, but- it’s just- this job is all I have. I don’t wanna die.” He walked off and looked around at the lab in even more horror. Tiger shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“So…” TyAnne started, running her hands over her knees. “Now that the one thing you guys were looking for is…dead…” she looked down and tucked a strand of loose purple hair behind her ear. “Does that mean you’re leaving?”

Liv opened her mouth to answer, but Tiger beat her to it. “See this finger, TyAnne?” She held up her finger. “This is the ‘stop talking finger’. So when you see this,” she held the finger to her lips. “You stop talking.”

Liv kicked at the ground. “Tiger, she just lost her mother figure. Come on,” she shook her head disapprovingly. Tiger held the “stop talking finger’ to Liv as she looked down at the ground. Liv tensed. “Tiger, don’t you dare do that to me-“

“Do that again.” Tiger said, quirking an eyebrow down at the ground.

“What?” Liv furrowed her brows.

“Kick at the dirt again.” Liv scuffed the toe of her shoe again and Tiger’s face lit up. “Did you see that white powder you just kicked up?” Tiger crouched.

Liv looked at TyAnne, who looked just as confused as she did. “…no?” Tiger pinched some dirt and sprinkled it onto her tongue.

TyAnne wrinkled her nose. “Ugh!”

Tiger ran her tongue over her lips and looked deep in thought. “Sedimentary…hint of limestone…very old…why would there be ancient stone dust here…where is it from…?”

TyAnne’s face lit up and she raised her hand. “Ooh! Ooh! I know!”

“Tell me.” Tiger demanded. TyAnne raised an eyebrow and folded her arms defiantly, falling silent.

Tiger nudged Liv. “You ask.” Liv rolled her eyes.

“TyAnne, will you please,” she shot Tiger a look. “Tell us.” TyAnne shook her head brattily.

Tiger groaned. “Ugh, fine. You can come with us.” Her tone was mocking.

TyAnne grinned and clapped her hands. “Yay!”

Hab Unit of Lil’ Jimmy McGurgan

(First Boy on Mars)

“Art Smash”

12:02PM

TyAnne led them to Jimmy McGurgan’s place, finding the door unlocked. When they walked in, they were immediately greeted with famous artwork and statues lewdly decorated with penises, smashed to bits, and with holes punched through the canvases.

Liv looked around, jaw on the ground in disgust. “This is just disrespectful!”

Tiger rolled her eyes, running her finger over a painting covered in stone dust. “Come on Liv, don’t be a prude.”

“This is- was- art, these were in museums! You can’t just smash them like that?!” Her head was on a swivel looking around in horror. Jimmy McGurgan could be seen down the hall, bowling with a cherub statue head. There was a loud tearing sound that reverberated off the walls as a canvas ripped. “Unbelievable!” She cried.

“Okay, nerd.” Tiger condescended, folding her arms and walking ahead of TyAnne and Liv.

TyAnne looked over at Liv and grinned. “But it’s fun!” She skipped ahead of Liv and joined Tiger. Liv stomped up to join them. Jimmy had two other friends over, all fucking up different art from various eras. Liv couldn’t believe the disrespect.

Jimmy turned and saw them walking into the room. “Well hello, ladies!” He greeted them enthusiastically. “What brings you to Chez McGurgs?”

“You cannot just destroy-“ Liv began angrily, eye twitching as she saw the broken frame and torn up canvas of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” beside him.

Tiger held up her “stop talking finger”. She’d used it more on Liv than who it was meant for. “I got this.” She muttered, turning to TyAnne. “You just get these chuckle fucks out of here.”

TyAnne bobbed her head. “Hey Thad, Greg!” She called out to the other boys in the room. “Come with me, we’re gonna make a slip n’ slide out of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” The other two guys perked up, excitedly following TyAnne out of the room, passing an angry, gaping Liv.

“Those are historic!” She cried out.

Jimmy strolled over to the two of them. “Famous Miss Tiger and Liv.” He put his hands sassily on his hips. “A lot of people are wondering what you two are doing here, where you come from, how you exist.”

“We’re time travelers from alternate realities.” Tiger deadpanned.

Jimmy chuckled. “Okay,” he seemed to accept this answer. “Fly and coy.” He stepped closer. “Listen ladies, as someone who has been in the public eye my entire life, I know what it’s like to be talked about.” He reached out and pat Tiger’s arm.

“Don’t.” Tiger whispered coolly. “I just want to know how long you’ve been smashing this stuff.”

“And demand that you stop.” Liv added.

“Liv,” Tiger nudged Liv.

“As soon as Stu moved up the launch!” Jimmy answered excitedly. “We can’t take all this with us, so we might as well have fun.” He shrugged, looking at Liv. “Sorry if that makes you upset that we’re having fun.”

“Who’s been in and out of here?” Tiger asked, stepping around Jimmy to inspect the room.

Jimmy turned to face Tiger. “The inner circle. Centurion deck and above.” He looked over at Liv, who stood firmly with her arms folded. “I’m Alpha Deck on the Camillo One, obviously.” He bragged flirtatiously.

“I literally don’t care.” Liv glowered at him.

The back door whooshed open. “Jimmy, are you guys still going? I brought my hammer!” The girl walking in said. Jimmy waved at her. Liv dropped her arms to her sides in shock. Tiger’s eyes widened in recognition. Jeri Lang, in full Mons attire, stood in front of them, holding her hammer proudly.

“No fucking way…” Liv breathed out.

“Shoe-Neck…” Tiger muttered.

Jolf

In the excitement of the new Supreme Overlord being crowned, Josh was able to slip out of the Smash Pit unnoticed. After almost being abducted by the Pointed Circle he had to get out of this timeline. Now. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to the NAG, hoping he could find Wolf. He threw open many doors to many shacks that didn’t belong to Wolf, alarming many people, but he moved so frantically fast that he was darting away before anyone could pinpoint him as a Stray.

“Wolf- Wolf!” Josh stopped so hard that he almost fell over, spotting Wolf sitting at a desk through a window. He flung himself inside, toppling over at Wolf’s feet. “You gotta help me, okay? They’re after me, they’re after me!” Josh stammered, whole body quaking. “The Pointed Circle is inside the NAG!”

“Rogue Smasher!” Josh turned to see the guard from the Smash Pit barreling at him. Josh yelped and ducked behind Wolf, who seemed unphased. The guard stopped and bowed to Wolf respectfully.

“My apologies, your eminence.”

“Eminence?” Josh quivered behind Wolf.

“But this one still owes a debt in the Smash Pit.” The guard pointed at Josh accusingly. Wolf sighed and looked down at the many scrolls in front of him.

“Wolf, I can’t go back there.” Josh responded quickly. “It’s not safe.”

Wolf sighed, looked at Josh, and then looked back at one of the scrolls. “‘Smash Pit is a publicly held entity, requiring an open forum and 2/3rds majority to commute your service, or failing that…” he followed along with his finger. “‘A stampede of yellow ants, followed by a carrot-colored wind.’”

Josh stared down at the scroll in disbelief. “Wolf, you are reading nonsense from a bean husk.”

Wolf looked back at Josh. “An airtight bean husk. My hands are tied here. I can’t amend this thing until the next blood moon.”

“Wolf!” Josh waved his hands frantically. “I cannot go back there! If I go back there, I will be killed! They already attacked me once, I am a sitting duck. It’s not safe!” He pleaded. “Please!”

Wolf looked torn. He glanced up at the guard. “Look, Chisel,” he called the guard by name. “Your Honorable Pit Boss, maybe we can come to an understanding.” Wolf gave him a charming grin.

Chisel left that day with a brand new bicycle with far too many wheels, a giddy smile on his face.

The Wheelmaker cluster was not so fond of the idea of having a Stray in the house, so Wolf made Josh stay outside while he talked them into it.

Josh paced around outside the back door, trying to listen in on the cluster inside. He could hear talking, but couldn’t make out the words. A shadow passed over him, making him spin around, eyes wide with fear thinking it was someone ready to kill him.

Instead he saw several drones flying in the sky over the NAG. His jaw dropped to the ground. Pieces of paper began to flutter down around him. He stood, arms reached out on both sides of him, awestruck. He caught a piece of paper.

“‘Mars launch in…’” Josh’s heart dropped. “‘2 days’?!”He blinked hard, making sure he was actually reading the pamphlet correctly. The writing remained the same, the Mars launch was in two days. Josh turned and shoved his way through the door. “Wolf! Wolf!” He cried, holding the pamphlet in the air. Wolf’s cluster turned to look at Josh, their faces varying from shock, disgust, and terror. He ignored them, running straight for Wolf. “Drones are dropping pamphlets from the sky!” He shoved the pamphlet in Wolf’s face. “We have two days to stop the attack. We’re all gonna die!”

Wolf’s husbands and wives gasped. One of his wives plugged her ears and started humming nervously, resting her head on the woman’s shoulder next to her. Wolf pursed his lips and shook his head at Josh, signaling to him too late that it wasn’t a good time.

“We won’t even notice him, huh?” One of Wolf’s husbands, a black man, made a raw muscle, folded his arms and gave Josh the death stare.

That was how Josh ended up being chained to Wolf’s makeshift dog house. Wolf fastened a cuff around Josh’s ankle.

“I’m adding this to my list of things I’m telling Liv about.” Josh glared down at Wolf.

“You brought this on yourself.” Wolf reminded him. “I was so close to getting you a mat on the floor behind the cum bucket.”

Josh opened his mouth to retaliate, but the words quickly left him at the mention of “cum bucket”. He just stood with his mouth hanging open for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m not even going to ask about that, but I will ask about this: what are we planning to do about the Pointed Circle attacking me last night?”

Wolf stood up and towered over Josh. “Who you think attacked you last night. The de-bat got everyone all worked up, my guess is someone saw you talking to me, old loyalties die hard, and they tried to murder you.” He shrugged. “That’s democracy in action.” Josh set his jaw and looked away, growing frustrated. “I was almost hit by an assassin’s arrow, from who? Who knows. You don’t see me all worked up.” He started for the door.

“Well, you should be!” Josh stopped him. “How can you even think that we’re safe here? Are you serious?”

Wolf took a breath before talking down to Josh in a condescending tone. “I can see this is important to you,”

“Yes, thank you.” Josh sighed.

“And I am committed to being responsive to all my constituents of this burgeoning modern city-state.” Wolf whipped out a small journal and pen from his cape, scribbling down Josh’s “complaint”. “Investigate claims of possible…” he said out loud as he jotted his thoughts down.

“Definite.” Josh’s voice was taute.

“Internal terrorist activity.” He shut the journal and gave Josh a smile. “And there you go.”

“Don’t you want more information? I have leads, Wolf.” Josh turned as Wolf walked around him and back inside. “Red hair, resistance tattoo-“ Wolf just gave him a big thumbs up. Josh squinted at him in irritation. “I find your concern disingenuous.” Wolf shut the door behind him. Josh let his head fall back as he groaned, squeezing his fists. He turned back to his dog house of a shelter. He sighed and ducked inside, curling up on the bed in defeat.

Liger

Hab Unit of Lil’ Jimmy McGurgan

The Interrogation of Cunt-O Shoe-Neck Bitch

1:08 PM

Jeri was tied to a chair, whimpering in confusion and fear. Tiger and Liv stood over her, glaring.

“Seems like old times, huh, Jer Bear?” Tiger folded her arms. “Why don’t you tell us where the TTD is and maybe this time you can keep your head.”

Jeri shook her, looking as though she were about to break into tears. “Who’s Jeri? My name is Geraldine, and I don’t even know what a TTD is!”

“Time Travel Device,” Liv and Tiger said in unison.

“Don’t say it’s a dumb name, we know.” Liv said, rolling her eyes.

Jeri shook her head earnestly. “I won’t, it’s not in my nature.”

Liv let out a sharp, snarky laugh. “Oh yeah, right.”

Tiger stepped forward. “I’m gonna hurt you Jeri, ‘cause we know that no matter the timeline, you’re a murderer and a liar.”

Liv stepped forward, pointing a finger in Jeri’s face. “And a manipulator.”

“And you’ve got a real slunty face.” Tiger added.

“That’s…that’s not how you use that word.” Jeri flinched as soon as she said it, worried that Tiger might execute her for speaking out of turn.

“I’m sorry,” Tiger tilted her head, feigning an apology. “I don’t speak Bio-Tech.”

Jeri looked up at Tiger, confused. “But aren’t you one too?” Tiger’s lips pressed together. She wound up and slapped Jeri across the face. Jeri gasped in pain, looking back up between Liv and Tiger. “It seems like you two are going through something right now, and you’re using me to work out your issues.” She looked at Liv with those pleading eyes she remembered her giving Josh.

Liv scoffed, not falling for it. She wasn’t in love with Jeri like Josh had been. “Oh, what, so are you a therapist now?”

Jeri nodded earnestly. “Yes, yes that’s my vocation.”

Liv and Tiger shared annoyed glances. “Why don’t you stop stalling and tell me where our TTD is?” Tiger hissed.

“Stop! Guys!” TyAnne threw open the door. “Geraldine had nothing to do with this!”

“She has everything to do with this! We’re getting answers.” Liv swung her head around to look at TyAnne.

“Yeah, and everyone knows that torture is the most effective way to get the truth out.” Tiger said.

“Yeah,” Liv followed immediately, pausing when she realized she’d just agreed with Tiger about that.

Tiger wound up to slap Jeri again, but TyAnne quickly caught her arm. Tiger looked shocked, yanking her hand away. TyAnne looked hurt.

“This has been about your stupid time machine.” Her eyes darted between Liv and Tiger. “You never cared about Stu,” she accused Tiger. “And you never cared about getting to know me.” She gave a wounded look to both of them.

“Not really.” Tiger rounded Jeri in the chair, standing behind her.

“See, now that’s hurtful, Tiger.” Jeri said.

“Shut up.” Liv rolled her eyes.

TyAnne narrowed her eyes at Tiger. “At first, I wanted to be more like you, but now…I think you might be the worst version of me.”

Liv’s face fell and she looked back at Tiger, who’s cheeks flushed red. “No. You’re the worst version of me.” Tiger said, a little louder than she’d meant to. “Worse versions ask better versions for help…that’s…that’s the versions rule.”

TyAnne shook her head. “You were getting something out of it too.”

“I was trying to fix you, but just like this place, you’re a lost cause, which is why Liv and I are bailing.” Tiger snapped.

“We all want to hit the reset button.” Jeri jumped in. “But unfortunately, life doesn’t give us a machine to go back and fix all of our problems.”

“Shut up, Jeri!” Tiger and Liv yelled in unison. TyAnne gave Liv and Tiger the “stop talking finger”.

Tiger looked stunned. “You cannot use my finger against me.”

“I’m using it.” TyAnne snapped. She pointed to a counter directly behind Jeri and Tiger. “When did those get here?”

Jeri craned her neck to see. “Oh, those? The storage guy brought them this morning.”

Liv quirked an eyebrow at Tiger. “Jeff Breakfast said he never left his post today.” She reminded Tiger.

“Jeff Breakfast lied.” Tiger whispered as TyAnne drawled the exact same thing.

Liv shrugged to Tiger. “TyAnne just cracked the case.”

Tiger shot Liv a glare. “Come on, let’s go.” She walked around Jeri’s chair.

“No thanks,” TyAnne sang, stomping her foot down. “After today, the last thing I want is to be more like you.” There was venom in TyAnne’s words. She sashayed to the door and left Tiger, with her brow twitching, and Liv, biting the insides of her cheeks.

“Relationships are hard.” Jeri's voice came from behind them. Tiger struck Jeri again.

Hab Unit of Jefferson Breakfast

Objective: Torture With Intent to Interrogate

3:43 PM

“I can’t believe we just took that whiny creep’s word for it.” Liv grumbled as they stormed back to the storage units in search for Jeff Breakfast.

Tiger sighed as they walked up to Jeff’s hab unit. “Well, if you ask me, he plays the victim role really well.” She said as her and Liv stepped inside. They both froze as they heard the click of a loaded blaster next to both of their heads.

After being blindfolded and led to another room, Tiger and Liv were both strapped to chairs and had their blindfolds removed. Tiger didn’t put up a fight, wearing a small smirk on her face. Liv was trying not to seem frantic about this situation, but on the inside she was losing her mind. The door swung open and Jeri stepped inside, looking at them both with a smug look. Neither of them knew how she’d escaped, seeing as they had left her tied to a chair, but here she was.

Liv gritted her teeth. “Once a bitch, always a bitch.” She seethed under her breath.

Tiger shook her head knowingly up at Jeri. “In every timeline.” She added.

Jeri put her hands on her hips. “Looks like the shoe’s in the other neck.”

“You don’t even understand that reference.” Liv raised an eyebrow.

“Your time machine has a battery and it’s missing.” Jeri studied them as she said this. “You’re going to tell me where it is.”

“Nope.” Tiger shook her head. “I’m a warrior, Liv’s just my companion. We don’t do all the science-y stuff.” She sent Liv a side glance that Liv understood immediately. Fuck with Jeri’s head.

Jeri scoffed. “Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure you both have very leveled,” she stepped towards Liv, eyeing her. “Skill sets.” Liv stared back up at Jeri, eyes burning with anger. “As tough as you look,” Jeri cooed in a condescending voice to Liv. “I’m not afraid of you.” She swung her fist directly in front of Tiger’s face, stopping her knuckles just centimeters from her nose. Her hand reached down into the neckline of Tiger’s shirt, hooking a finger around the Cameronium vial that Tiger had strung on a chain. Tiger kept a blank face as Jeri snapped the chain from Tiger’s neck. Jeri glanced at Liv for a reaction, but Liv shoved down any rage, keeping her face neutral. Jeri couldn’t hide the flash of disappointment in her eyes from seeing how neither of them gave her the reaction she wanted.

“What do you want with my glow worm blood?” Tiger asked in a steady voice.

“Blood that fits in the vial that perfectly fits into your time machine?” Jeri narrowed her eyes.

“Times were tough where I came from, there was only one vial size.” Tiger said in the same tone.

Jeri nodded in disbelief. “Right…I’ll see you around ladies.” She gave them another smug grin. She caught Liv’s slight eyebrow quirk, making her grin falter. “…what’s going to happen when I put this in the machine?”

“Oh,” Tiger looked over at Liv and shrugged. Liv played along, shrugging back nonchalantly. “Nothing, if you know how to do it right.”

Jeri smirked. “Nice try, we’ve used the machine before.”

“Oh, then you must know the initiation sequence that activates the fuel after it’s been removed?” Tiger said, studying Jeri’s body language. “You get that wrong, you lose your head.” She sent Liv a knowing smirk.

Jeri’s brows furrowed. “You’re lying.”

“Sharp as a nail, Jeri.” Tiger shook her head with a smile.

“Reverse psychology won’t work.” Jeri said in the same tone as Tiger. “You just told me everything.”

“She’s good.” Liv said, feigning surprise.

Jeri furrowed her brows again. “Reverse-reverse psychology won’t work either.” She had an frustrated tone in her voice.

“Sounds like that’s just psychology.” Liv continued to pester.

Jeri glared at Liv. “I’m not a psychologist, I dunno.” A man walked into the room holding a case. Jeri got an evil glint in her eyes as she took it from him, opening it to show off the TTD with different colored wires plugged into it. Liv caught sight of Tiger’s fingers curling tightly around her restraints.

“Yahtzee.” Tiger muttered under her breath as she grinned, ripping through the restraint, making Jeri’s face fall. She kicked Jeri in the gut and slammed the man’s head into the wall. She wrestled Liv’s restraints off of her.

“Holy shit! Tiger that was-“ Liv’s eyes were bright.

“Hold your applause.” Tiger said, as another woman burst into the room to stop them. Tiger threw her out of the window.

Liv grabbed the TTD off of the ground, ripping the wires out. As she made for the door, something caught her ankle. Liv fell face down onto the floor with a grunt, holding the TTD against her chest. Jeri rolled Liv over, sitting on her while she tried to pry the TTD from her arms. Liv held on tightly, teeth gritted.

“Come on, tough girl,” Jeri gave a sharp tug. “Give me the time travel device.”

“TTD,” Liv corrected, holding on tightly. Tiger lunged at Jeri, knocking her off of Liv. Liv began to run for the exit. Before Tiger could hold Jeri down, she slithered from her grasp. Jeri tackled Liv to the ground, grabbing Liv’s hair and smashing her head into the floor. Hard. The ringing in her ears was disorienting, the world began to spin. She felt a sharp pain in her forehead as a sharp slit in the metal floor cut through her skin. She felt woozy.

The TTD slid across the floor, hitting the door. Tiger and Jeri lunged for it at the same time, their heads smashing against one another. Jeri’s hand landed on it first, snatching it up and stumbling quickly out of the door.

Tiger panted, spinning around to check on Liv. Her forehead was bleeding, a nice gash slashed over her right eyebrow. Tiger picked Liv up and supported her arm over her shoulder.

“Come on,” Tiger panted, helping Liv stumble out of the hab unit. Jeri was awkwardly jogging away, clutching the TTD tightly, holding her stomach and coughing. She caught sight of them, stopping and opening the TTD, a threatening look in her eyes. “Don’t do it!” Tiger yelled. “A plutonium-based power source has a fraction of the joules necessary to generate a field stable enough to breach the inter-dimensional plane!”

Jeri wobbled as she pressed buttons and flipped switches. “No science stuff, huh?” She coughed again.

“I guess we’re all liars.” Liv said shakily. “Don’t do it, Jeri.”

The TTD began to start up. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Wait, wait!” Tiger held out the hand that was not supporting Liv.” We can all walk away with something we want. You with your head attached, us with the TTD.” Tiger negotiated.

Jeri narrowed her eyes. “If you say it won’t work, that means it will.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Tiger held Liv tightly. Liv gripped Tiger’s shoulder.

“Then I’ll die knowing I took away the one thing you wanted most.” She looked down and fired it up.

Tiger grabbed Liv around the waist. “No!” She screamed, pulling both of them behind a large crate. The sound of Jeri’s body exploding ripped through the area. The moment Liv saw innards splatter around them and her world went dark. Tiger caught Liv as she slumped forward, quietly cursing. Jeri’s head came rolling in front of them. Tiger peeked up over the crate to see that the rest of Jeri’s body was in bits and pieces within a mile radius. She glanced back at the head. “God fucking dammit!” She screamed, hoisting up Liv’s unconscious form.

Jolf

Josh sat curled up on his cushion fiddling with Pup-E, who he’d named Pup-E Q. Barkington. All he wanted was to turn on the little robot and to give it a second chance at life. He pressed on the head, which was loose and threatening to fall off. He pressed his lips together and pressed down again. The sound of the back door opening behind him made him jump, quickly hiding Pup-E under his cushion and grabbing a rock for protection. He was surprised by the amount of horrors that were in the NAG. A young blonde girl’s face popped into his view. He yelped in surprise.

She giggled apologetically. “I’m sorry,” she looked at him, eyes full of intrigue. “I’ve never met a Stray before.” This must have been Lugnut, Wolf’s fake daughter. Josh lowered the rock and let out a sigh of relief. “Can I see you gills?” She asked excitedly, crouching down.

Josh stared at her blankly. “Uh…my what?”

“Are you going to steal my hair and make a nest? Take my baby teeth and make a crown? I have them under my bed if you want, and this one’s loose!” She was beaming excitedly, showing him her wiggly left canine tooth.

Josh slowly shook his head. “No, uh, no…” he was baffled. “I’m just…from out of town.”

“I heard you only have two parents.” She said, wrinkling her nose.

“…that’s part’s true actually.”

She looked at him with her eyebrows raised slightly. “Is that why there’s a horn growing out of your butt?”

“…no?”

Lugnut and Josh became fast friends. Josh told her about what he had seen when he was almost captured. Lugnut listened intently, excited by the idea that she could help this stranger.

“So, have you seen anybody who looks like that?” He asked her after recounting the memory.

“You said hair that’s red like blood? There are only, like, five ladies in the NAG with hair like that. I know all of them.” She grinned excitedly. “I actually know everybody here! It’s the faces of the dead I pushed from my mind.” She said.

Josh blinked a couple times. “Cool…cool…so, uh, the one I’m looking for has a cut about here,” he made a cut motion on his thigh. “So all you need to do is see if any of those ladies are walking kinda funny-“

“Oh, then not Trowel, she can’t walk.” Lugnut interjected. “She has no legs.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

“Then we’re down to four.” Josh said. “You think you could, uh, check them out for me? Our little secret?” Josh held out his pinky finger. Lugnut looked confused. Josh demonstrated linking his pinky around his other one for her. “It’s called a pinky promise,” he explained. “It means you promise to keep this our little secret.”

Lugnut nodded earnestly. “Yeah, I can do that!” She linked to pinky finger to Josh’s.

“That’s great!” Josh sighed in relief. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” Lugnut began to skip off before she stopped and turned back to him. “Papa Torque said your name is Josh, right?”

“Uh, yeah…papa…Torque is right.”

Lugnut gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you for helping my Papa Torque escape. He’s told us about you and the other girl, Liv.” And with that, she skipped away.

Wolf was humming to himself happily, sipping his bean juice and reading over his scrolls when Lugnut came running in, face contorting with panic.

“Papa Torque!” She cried. “Papa Torque, come quick! It’s the Stray, Josh!”

Wolf bolted from his seat. “What- what’s going on?” He hurried over.

“Well, the Stay, Josh, asked me to help him find a lady with hair like blood and a cut on her leg, but Mama Thimble found out and told other people about it, and…they’re trying to burn him.” She admitted, sounding guilty. Wolf grabbed Lugnut’s hand.

“Show me where.”

They found Josh in the town center, tied to a chair, eyes the size of saucers in fear.

“Burn the stray! Burn the stray!” The crowd yelled, carrying torches.

“Damn...” Wolf breathed out, eyes as wide as Josh’s.

“Not a good move!” Wolf scolded Josh.

Wolf had had to jump up in front of Josh and plead for his freedom, promising to keep him in check. Then Wolf had carried him home, Ram’s Sack style.

“You mess with the cluster, you’re gonna find yourself on the business end of a bonfire.” Wolf finished chaining Josh back to his dumpster shelter.

Josh groaned. “Do you even hear yourself right now? Those people were trying to burn me alive! Like the Salem Witch Trials!” Not only was he terrified out of his mind, but also annoyed that Lugnut hadn’t taken her pinky promise very seriously.

“You shouldn’t have brought Lugnut into this.” Wolf scolded again. “I promised I would look into your Pointed Circle allegations, and I have never broken a promise in my whole political career.” Josh let out a frustrated sigh. “Hey! A little gratitude would be nice, I just saved you from being burned alive. Salesman Witch Trial, or whatever you said.”

Josh glared up at Wolf. “You promised me that if I came to your time, you would take care of me.”

“Well, looky here,” Wolf gestured to the dumpster shelter. “You’ve got a roof, three walls, and mushy bean leavings fed to you. I’d say you’re living pretty large. Now, hold still while I put this muzzle on.” Wolf whipped out a muzzle.

Josh immediately tried flinching away as Wolf wrestled it over his head. “Woah, no, no! You’re not gonna muzzle me! Don’t muzzle me!” He strained and craned his neck, trying to fight off Wolf. “I’m J1, you can’t just muzzle me!”

Wolf got all the straps around Josh’s head, holding his head still as he buckled it. “I can. I will.” Josh glared up at Wolf as Wolf shushed him. “Just did.”

Josh tried to say something, but it was muffled.

“You brought this on yourself.” Wolf said, cupping Josh’s cheek. Josh began to try and speak again, but Wolf just held his finger to where Josh’s lips would have been. “Shhhhh.” Their pagers beeped in unison. Wolf sighed as he pulled it out. Josh tried to peer over Wolf’s hands and see. “Oh, boobs, of course.” He turned and started to walk off.

Josh followed him as far as the chain would allow, his cries of protest muffled. “No, no!” Wolf whipped back around, pointing a stern finger at Josh. “You need to stay.”

Josh cried out again.

“Stay!”

Josh folded his arms angrily.

“Stay.” Wolf gave him a look over. “Good boy.” He said, winking.

As Wolf walked away, he could hear Josh’s furious pleas following him.

Tiger and Liv stood at Josh’s piss hole, Tiger waiting stoically and patiently, Liv waiting anxiously and impatiently. It was dark by the time Wolf came trotting over to them, Liv’s whole face lit up, only to quickly fall when she realized Josh wasn’t there.

“Where’s Josh?” She asked anxiously.

“He’s tied up.” Wolf said casually. Tiger and Liv both squinted their eyes at him. “Literally.” Wolf added.

“Why is he tied up?” Liv asked, anger rising in her voice.

“Look, he’s been causing some uproar amongst my cluster, it’s to make them and the rest of the NAG feel better about a Stray living with them.” Wolf tried explaining. Liv’s eyes were growing angrier and angrier. “I had to muzzle him because he was putting ideas in my Lugnut’s head-“

“You MUZZLED my boyfriend?!” Liv screeched, storming over and shoving Wolf in the chest.

“Woah, woah!” Wolf barely budged, but still held up his hands defensively. “Liv, don’t shove the Supreme Overlord-“

“Liv, shove him again, he can’t tell you what to do.” Tiger said loudly, glaring at Wolf. With a loud cry, Liv shoved Wolf again.

“Liv-“

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Liv screamed, pounding her fists on Wolf’s chest. She whipped around to Tiger. “I told you he should have come with us!”

“2162 has made you feisty, Liv.” Wolf chuckled lightly. Liv screamed again and punched Wolf in the arm. Wolf actually winced. “And stronger too.”

“Shut your rathole, Wolf.” Tiger narrowed her eyes at Wolf. “We need to get Josh. That Jeri bitch blew up again and the TTD got destroyed.”

“Her again? Head explode?”

“No, the rest of her. It was her head that was fine.” Tiger said, sounding skeptical of Wolf. “We’re officially trapped here. If we want to survive we need to be on a spaceship to Mars in two days.”

Wolf snorted, raising an eyebrow. Tiger stiffened. “We’re going to a sky sparkle? Ha, no thank you.”

Liv glowered up at him again. “2162 has made you an asshole.” She seethed.

Tiger took her keycuff bracelet off, offering it to Wolf. “Take this.” She demanded. “It’s a key to Stu’s compound, it will let you in no matter what.” Wolf scoffed and shook his head. “Wolf. This is serious.” Tiger pleaded.

“My name isn’t Wolf. It’s Torque.”

“Your name is Wolf.” Tiger snapped.

“Was. I was Wolf, then Corey Wolfhart, then Wolf again briefly, and now I’m Torque.” Wolf folded his arms. “Or if you want to be formal, His Eminence, the Supreme Overlord Wheelmaker, First of His Name.”

“Okay, Supreme Overlord,” Tiger’s tone was angry and condescending. “The planet’s about to be uninhabitable.”

“Don’t try and make me feel bad with your climate change lies, okay?” Wolf scoffed. “Everyone knows that scientists just made all that up because of…of the…” he searched his brain for why that could possibly be.

“So the NAG completely turned you into an idiot.” Liv snapped.

“Look, it sucks that your TTD was destroyed, but look around, this could be our new home.” Wolf held his arms up, gesturing into the night. “Come back to the NAG, you can see Josh,” he said to Liv. “And we can build a new home.” He said to Tiger.

Tiger and Liv both tensed. “I can’t do that.” Tiger muttered.

“Why not?” Wolf finally burst out. “Why? Why do you keep fighting this?”

Tiger shoved her hands into her pockets and dropped her gaze. Liv looked up at Tiger and shifted her feet uncomfortably, looking down at the sand too. In the uncomfortable silence, Wolf began to piece everything together. His face slowly became one of shock and disgust.

“The DMC gas…” he whispered. Liv stared off, swallowing thickly. “You’ve…you’re one of them…” he looked to Liv for confirmation. She wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“I’m still me…” Tiger lifted her gaze to his. He looked disgusted and terrified of her.

“You’re a Biotic. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tiger felt a prick behind her eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to matter. We were supposed to come back to a time where this didn’t matter.”

“We come from a time when it does.” Wolf stated sharply.

Tiger let out a shaky breath. “I guess I just couldn’t take you looking at me…like that.”

“You’re a liar.” Wolf’s furious gaze turned to Liv. “And you’re just as bad as her. You knew!”

“We’re liars, Torque?” Liv lashed out. Wolf was taken aback. “You go home and lie every single day to that man’s family and his daughter.”

“Don’t you dare bring my daughter into his!” Wolf shouted.

“She’s not your daughter!” Tiger scoffed. Wolf swallowed, lips quivering in fury. “You know deep down that no matter how much you smile and charm them, their love is for someone else.”

Wolf walked right up to Tiger, standing over her. “At least I have someone else. Who do you have? Liv? I give it a few more hours before she bails on you.” He turned away and brushed past Liv, whose eyes were beginning to stream with hot, raging tears. He turned back, looking Liv straight in the eyes. “Josh is waiting for you.” Then he disappeared into the sage brush.

#josh futturman #future man #josh hutcherson #tiger future man #wolf future man #derek wilson #eliza coupe #maia mitchell #bread on toast #hachi machi #future man season 2 #Josh Futturman x OC

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closingwaters · 2 years ago

Text

PARTIES: @stainedglasstruth @closingwaters

SUMMARY: Arden finds Teagan sleepwalking and helps her back to the Wormmates' apartment.

TIMING: Last Night

WARNINGS: Mentions of Parental Death and Sibling Death

There was blood. It pooled underneath the closet door, then began seeping from the ceiling and to the walls. Teagan—at least a younger version of herself sunk into herself, covering her ears as the piercing sounds of her family’s screams began to reach her ears. She could see stars behind her tightly shut eyes, the lights fading when she slowly crept them open. The scene changed completely, jarring Teagan into a small panic.

Looking left and right, she tried to find some sort of familiarity in the green. The woods should’ve been more welcoming, but everything was dark and looming, screaming at Teagan to make her exit. For a few moments, she didn’t know where to go. “Mum…?” She called out quietly, knowing she wasn’t loud enough for anyone to actually hear.

“Efa…!” Once again, Teagan called out for someone. Her voice was nothing but a croak, echoing ethereally through the trees. That’s when it clicked…she was dreaming again, and she couldn’t force herself awake. She wondered where she would end up that time around as she wandered in the dreamy woods. Would it be a bridge again? Would it be downtown? How far could she go in her sleep? Teagan hoped she wasn’t walking about at all, that she actually stayed in bed. But dreams didn’t come true, and she was in a nightmare realm. She just had to wait until the claws unlatched themselves and let her wake up in whatever strange place her feet wandered her to.

It was the weekend, and Arden had wanted a drink. As odd as it still felt, The Wormhole had quickly become her go to drink spot since moving to Worm Row. As much as things had changed, they also seemed to stay exactly the fucking same.

She called it at two drinks, not trying to get wasted, just to get a nice buzz going. She had a chat with the bartender and wrote half of a terrible poem, and then she was out, stepping into the cool night air. If the town didn’t smell like fucking garbage, it would’ve been such a pleasant night, but as it was, Arden was hurrying to get home. Or she was, she was until she caught sight of a familiar face. Was that…

“Teagan?” she called, walking over to the woman. It was surprising to see her in this neighborhood, especially at such a late hour. As she got closer, though, she noticed something was off. Was she barefoot? What the fuck? Brows furrowed, she quickened her pace toward Teagan, who hadn’t reacted whatsoever to the sound of her name or to Arden’s presence. She stood in front of the fae, confusion clear on her face as she noticed the blank look on her face. Was she okay? Were those …pajamas?

Christ, she was sleepwalking. Had she really walked from her home all the way over here? While asleep? The dirt on her feet indicated that, yes, she had done exactly that. Arden had never interacted with anyone who was sleepwalking before, but she’d heard it was bad to wake them. She had no idea if that was actually true. Fuck, okay.

She took off the jean jacket she was wearing, putting it over Teagan’s bare shoulders. She’d been walking for god knows how long in just a tank top and some sweatpants, she definitely needed the jacket more than Arden. She was going to try to gently lead the woman back to her apartment when she called out first for her mother, then for Efa? Probably not a good dream, then, knowing what had happened to Teagan’s family.

Fuck it.

Hands on her shoulders, Arden gently tried to shake her awake. “Teagan? Hey, can you hear me?”

Teagan could’ve sworn she heard her name. It echoed, amplifying as it bounced in the confines of her nightmare. No longer did trees surround the nix. Instead, she saw the hanged clothes in that ever familiar closet. Her gait paused, and her breathing became shallow and quick. It was happening again. Teagan began to panic, tears rolling down her face just as the blood began to pool at her feet.

Again, her name echoed, and then another voice took shape. Arden’s voice. Now, that was strange. Arden wasn’t supposed to be there in any capacity. Not only did Teagan not know her in youth, but there was no way she’d let herself into the fae’s home without invitation. Was she walking again?

Was she—another scream cut through her thoughts, and Teagan searched for a way out, but the walls were closing in. “No…please…” Teagan choked on her words, feeling the squeeze of the walls on her shoulders. She yelped out a fearful whine, trembling as she gasped into the physical world. Eyes widened with shock at the sight of Arden, and she jumped back, falling onto the hard ground. The sudden jolt sprung her gills and claws to shift, and she was left panting on the concrete.

“W-where am I?”

Oh, fuck. Maybe she should’ve followed the advice of not trying to wake a sleepwalker.

Tears began to roll down Teagan’s face as her breathing quickened and Arden felt the panic rising in her chest. She was bad with crying. She hated crying herself, and she never knew how to handle it with others, and, while she didn’t know the details, she knew that Teagan had dealt with more tragedy than Arden could ever imagine. And she was crying again. Fuck.

Her heart broke a little, hearing the choked plea and pained sounds the other woman was making. Arden was a moment away from pulling her into a hug when she let out a gasp and appeared to wake with a startle. She didn’t have a chance to try and catch her, she was sprawled out on her ass before Arden could move. And, she continued not to move as the fall seemed to change the woman, the fae as she was reminded, her nails turning razor sharp and were those gills?

She looked around, making sure they were alone on the street, before pushing that to the side for now and kneeling down. “You’re in Worm Row,” she said, picking up her fallen jacket and putting it back over her shoulders, mostly covering up what definitely seemed to be gills. Later. “Not too far from the Wormhole and my apartment, actually. Are you okay?”

Worm Row? How in the hell had she gotten herself to Worm Row? Heart raced when Arden’s features came into focus. She looked worried and scared, and for what? A woman she hardly knew? For Teagan? The nix almost scoffed at the idea, but she was too enamored with the expression on Arden’s face to let the sound come to fruition.

“I’m…I’m…I don’t know. I want to say I’m okay, but I don’t know. Not hurt physically. But I’m…I’m…” Fates, Teagan didn’t want to cry, but she couldn’t stop the wave of tears from breaking through. They streamed down her cheeks, and she was quick to wipe away as many tears as possible. Teagan detested crying in front of others. Hell, she could count on one hand how many people had seen her cry, and most of them weren’t even alive anymore. Fates, she wanted to hide.

“Can…can we go to your apartment? I-I don’t want to be out here.” Teagan tightened the jacket around her shoulders, unable to stop trembling. “Please.”

Oh no. Arden’s anxiety shot up, seeing Teagan fighting back tears that fell regardless. Her hands twitched, feeling like she should reach out, but not wanting to overstep. When they had gone for coffee, she had tried to brush off the teary moment, and she, understandably, seemed to try to avoid talking about her family as much as possible. So Arden really didn’t know how to handle this.

It was a little bit of a relief when she asked to go to the apartment, honestly. She could do that. Plus, she really needed to get the nix inside before anyone else noticed that she had claws and gills. “Yeah, of course,” Arden got to her feet and offered Teagan a hand up. “Let’s get you inside. Just… watch where you’re walking, okay? We don’t want you stepping on anything sharp.”

With a swallow and a few deep breaths, the gills managed to retract, giving Teagan a more human appearance. Her claws, however, wouldn’t quite shift back to normal. This would usually be fine considering how proud Teagan was to be a nix, but she was out in the open, for anyone—even a hunter, to see. One wrong move and she could expose what she was. Time was of the essence.

“Okay.” Teagan gave Arden a curt nod, careful with her webbed claws so as to not hurt her friend. Her eyes gave a silent thank you, and she rose to her feet, still holding onto Arden’s hand. Teagan wasn’t one for such affections. It was too intimate for someone like her. But she needed it at that moment, and it had been so long since she last had any sort of touch that wasn’t a means to an end. Because for as much as she craved it, Teagan knew it was one of her weaknesses. So to keep herself strong, she starved herself, never allowing herself to actually consume her desires in any way. At least, until that moment. Teagan was too fragile to deny any longer. Her control was wavering.

“Is this…okay?” Her eyes searched Arden’s and she gave her pitiful excuse. It wasn’t even a lie. Just…a good cover. “Need to hide my claws. You know,” Teagan looked around, spotting a stranger in the distance, “Just in case.”

To Arden’s amazement, she watched the gills just disappear after Teagan took a few steadying breaths. She would have missed it if she wasn’t so close, so focused on the other, but she was, and she saw the magic as it happened. It was one thing to know that there was magic in the world, but seeing it? That was such a vastly different, mind-boggling other thing.

Her claws didn’t seem to be retracting into something slightly more human and dull, so Arden appreciated the careful way she grabbed onto her. She shivered as the wickedly sharp nails ghosted over her skin. Teagan could, without a doubt, kill her with great ease, however, she was nothing but gentle, and she had been since they met. It was absolutely stupid and so incredibly reckless of her to put so much trust in this woman who was still basically a stranger, but her instincts had kept her alive thus far, and for whatever reason she felt like she could trust the fae. And besides, she clearly needed some support right now.

Arden nodded, trying to give her a comforting smile. Even if Teagan hadn’t asked, she had intended on holding her hand until the other woman pulled away. She didn’t know how to best deal with tears or when she had last held hands with someone, but the least she could do was give her that small amount of comfort, keep her grounded as she led them back to the apartment. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Come on, let’s get you inside.”

Teagan rarely let anyone take control. Hell, she found herself on top so often that she wondered if she was meant to be a roof. She probably wouldn’t be a very good one. With how often she cried in the comfort of solitude, Teagan knew she’d be damaged and leaky. Not much good. As always. It should’ve bothered her to come to such a conclusion, but what did it matter?

Once again, she had found herself in a situation of her own making that required she relied on another. It was only a matter of time until Arden cut herself on the shards that made up Teagan. After that night, she knew it may be time to cut her losses and run. Put up that familiar wall to protect Arden from whatever danger the nix may cause. Until then, Teagan would appreciate the time left and memorize the hand in hers, likely prolonging the inevitable so that she may get to pretend just a little longer. How could she not? She was awfully selfish.

“You have roommates, right? Will they ask questions? I saw one when I took my leave last time. Didn’t say a word since I rushed out, but I don’t know. What if—” Teagan realized she was nervously rambling and put a stop to it, brows wrinkling together with embarrassment. “Sorry.” She averted her gaze from Arden, opting to stare at the ground as they walked instead. “I’ll get cleaned up and leave as soon as possible. Don’t want to bother you too long. Enough of a problem as it is.” Teagan chuckled dryly and worried her lip, swallowing thickly past the ball in her throat. No longer was she the confident flirt. That facade was gone. She was just Teagan. A broken image with missing pieces.

“How much longer?”

Arden kept quiet as they walked, not knowing what to say or if she should say anything at all. She kept sneaking worried glances at Teagan. She had mentioned having night terrors, but nothing about sleepwalking. Was this new? Had it happened before? How the fuck had she managed to walk so far while sleeping?

They were getting close to the apartment when Teagan finally broke the silence, though her words only made Arden that much more concerned. She could relate to feeling like a burden. “My roommates are some of the nicest people I’ve met, you don’t have to worry about them,” she reassured her. She had seriously lucked out in that department. “The worst they’d do is tease me about bringing someone home,” she grinned, trying to lighten the mood a little.

She checked around them before pulling them to a stop for a moment. Looking into her eyes, she tried to convey her sincerity. “Teagan, you really don’t have to apologize. You’re not bothering me, and you’re not a problem, okay?” Arden gave her hand a squeeze, trying to offer her a bit of reassurance or comfort. “I’m not gonna kick you out, especially not after you’ve had such a rough night. You’re free to use the shower and borrow some clothes, and you’re welcome to stay. Or I can drive you home, if you’d prefer.” The last thing she wanted was for her to have to make the trek back to Darkling Lake in the middle of the night.

“Just another block.”

Truthfully, after what happened, being a person never came easy to Teagan. She was always too emotional, or too in her head. Always thinking ahead. Hoping for the best, and instead of preparing for the worst, she expected it. This, and she never realized she was her own enemy, the cause of her own sabotage. But who else would protect people from her? How would anyone else know to watch out for her?

Aside from her obvious ability to kill with ease, Teagan knew she was too broken to love properly, or to be loved properly. Anyone who got to close would cut themselves on the shards. It was only a matter of time until Arden did. She was too sweet for that. Even one cut would be too much. But fates…she was so selfish. She wanted desperately to pretend she wouldn’t wound Arden. It was an internal lie that twisted her stomach as she nodded along to what she was told. Teagan needed to believe they weren’t lies, and she would. Just for that night.

“Okay,” Teagan let out a breath, not realizing she had been holding it. “I’d…I’d like all of that. The-the clothes, and the shower, and the staying.” Throwing caution to the wind, Teagan trembled her head forward, connecting their foreheads briefly as she fought back tears. When she pulled away, she gave Arden’s hand a squeeze. She looked back in the direction they’d been walking in, then back to Arden again. “Shall we?”

She’d been prepared for Teagan to argue. There was a fieriness to her, a fiercely stubborn and independent side from what Arden could tell, so it was a surprise and likely a testament to how crappy she was feeling that she hadn’t put up any fight. It was also a bit of a relief, to be honest.

Her heart raced as Teagan leaned forward. She hadn’t expected her to press her forehead tp Arden’s, but the gesture felt so much more intimate than a kiss it left her a little flustered. There was a slight discomfort, too, a feeling that had her heart racing for an entirely different reason, and she had to fight the urge to pull away. She wasn’t used to this sort of intimacy, it frightened her, and that had led to the downfall of her previous relationship. But Arden did care about Teagan, and she was seeking this sort of comfort tonight, she could put her discomfort to the side for a moment. “You’ve got it, then.”

When she finally pulled away, Arden gave her a smile. “We shall.”

It wasn’t long before they were making their way into the building. Shooting a glance to Emilio’s door, she checked to make sure the hunter was nowhere around as they passed and made their way to the door of the wormmates’ apartment. She let them in, grateful to find that no one hanging around the shared spaces. It was a bit late for that, she supposed.

Arden immediately felt better once they got to her room. Teagan was okay, and they had made it without being seen– mission accomplished. Throwing her bag down, she made a beeline for the closet and pulled out an extra towel. “For you. And feel free to raid my closet for a change, I guess? I think we’re a pretty similar size, so that shouldn’t really be an issue.” She was bad at eyeing that kind of shit.

There was a tension that arose when their foreheads touched. A hidden reluctance and a subtle twinge of movement that stuttered. It caused a twist, a painful bend in Teagan’s chest that forced her back to reality. Right. How could she forget? She wasn't the first choice. Teagan was only a backup plan. Who would want a leaky roof anyway? She understood.

Sure, Arden cared. It was obvious in her eyes and in the gentle gestures she offered, but Teagan knew it had to be temporary. She’d only ever be left with her wounds. They’d decorate her chest and scream how much damage she’d sustained and how little value she had left. Until then, she’d make her best impression of a person and exist. Take her leave in the morning and set Arden free despite knowing she should’ve just ran off then. As always though, her selfishness won out.

Just a little longer. She begged the Fates. I can pretend a little longer.

Everything next was a blur. When the pair entered the apartment and the towel was handed to the nix, she couldn’t prevent a sob from choking out. Teagan just felt so unbearably wretched. It was as if the apology wanted to tumble out right then. It had to. “I’m-I’m sorry about earlier. I shouldn’t have done that. Been so close. I get carried away and it isn’t fair. I-um…yeah. I’m sorry.” She sighed, swallowing thickly and hugging the towel close. “It won't happen again.”

Teagan rushed off before anything else could be said, remembering where the bathroom was from before. The water rushed to life at the turn of the knob, and Teagan jumped in as fast as she could to feel the soothing sensation of water over her skin. The sooner she got herself calm, the better.

Of course, she had noticed her hesitance. Of course, she had fucked this up. She always did, sooner or later, and this time it hadn’t taken long at all. Teagan had already been hurting, and now she thought she did something wrong because Arden was a fucking mess who panicked whenever anyone got too close. Why was she like this?

It’s not like she didn’t crave intimacy and physical affection so much it physically fucking hurt, so much that seeing Leah and Nicole together made her jealous. Hell, even seeing the platonic relationship between Zack and Wynne set off that bone deep ache sometimes. She couldn’t just be happy for the people she cared about because she couldn’t just be fucking happy.

…she missed Jo.

Something brushed against her ankle and she looked down to see Hobbes, Atreyu not far behind. Reaching down, Arden gave him a few scratches behind the ears. “Hi, bud.” A small smile graced her lips as she pet the two cats. Hobbes circled her legs as she stood up and threw on a change of clothes. God, it’d been a fucking night. She wanted to pass out, but she needed to talk to Teagan first– apologize and also find out what the hell was with the sleepwalking.

Dirt and grime slid off of Teagan’s body, and she watched it swirl down the drain as she sat in the shower. The water bounced on her pale-pink skin, and as soothing as it was, there was still a layer of sting on the surface. Teagan had removed her glamour to let it recharge as she sat in her ache. It felt like she had a slight burn all over her body, and all the water was doing was irritating her skin. It should’ve felt calming and safe, but the look on Arden’s face only served to deepen the sting.

Teagan supposed this was fine. She couldn’t keep herself in the shower too long anyway. The faster she was done, the faster she could head home so she could stop infringing on Arden’s space. It felt as though she’d already overstayed her welcome. Nothing of the sort had been outwardly said, but Teagan felt she had a knack for sensing such things. Protection? Probably. But she would never delve into that can of worms.

With her body cleaned, the water was shut off, the curtain was pulled, and Teagan wrapped a towel around herself as she made her way back out to Arden’s bedroom.

There were two cats. Both hissed at the sight of a humanoid axolotl, but Teagan had yet to realize she hadn’t put her jewelry back on. “Huh. That’s strange. Animals aren’t usually so cross with me upon the first meeting.” She tried to chuckle the ball in her throat away. Her brows furrowed together and she tilted her head curiously, still unaware of her appearance. Well, guess that meant she’d definitely overstayed her welcome. Always a burden, Teagan thought. Panic rose like bile in her throat, and she wanted to see herself out.

“S-sorry. I messed up. Again.” She searched for the exit, everything a blur behind tear-filled eyes. “I-I-I didn’t realize you had—they don’t usually hiss at me. I’m normally very good with animals. Sorry.” The confident mask seemed to be gone indefinitely, and all Teagan had left was her overapologetic heart and mind. “I don’t have to stay. You can rescind the offer.”

Arden had the itch to write. Flopping onto her bed, she pulled up her notes app as Hobbes took the opportunity to sprawl across her stomach. The thought of a Midas touch, a ruinous touch, the image of poison dripping from fingertips wouldn’t leave her mind. She struggled to find the right words to convey what she was feeling. I am where love goes to die. Okay, edgelord. She absentmindedly gave him pets as she thought. My body is a graveyard, open plots as far as the eye can see. It was something, she supposed. I am a shitty writer and a shittier human being. She forced the app closed and tossed her phone away from her.

She stared up at the ceiling, feeling pathetic, until she heard the telltale creak in the floorboards. Before she could sit up, Hobbes was hopping off her stomach to crouch beside her, hackles raised. Her eyebrows shot up as he hissed; she had heard Hobbes hiss maybe once or twice ever. He was typically friendly to the point of being annoying, begging for pets and attention. She could hear Atreyu hissing from somewhere on the floor, too. “What the fuck, Hob?” She asked her cat, sitting up.

Glancing up at her visitor, she froze. Oh. It wasn’t just gills and claws now, this was– This was Teagan. In her true form. It was still obviously her, she had the same blonde hair and beautifully mismatched eyes, but her skin was a pale pink and framing her face, sticking out from her damp hair, were the pink external gills of an axolotl. And was that a tail?

It was always difficult for Arden to truly conceptualize the fact that there were strange and magical beings in this world. She had grown up obsessed with the fantastical worlds of the books she read, she’d spent countless hours imagining the adventures in far away lands filled with mythical creatures and impossible obstacles. It had turned her world upside down, learning that the things she had considered just fantasy were actually real. No matter how many books and notes she devoured in the Scribes’ library, it was always just so surreal. She was lucky she hadn’t had many encounters with the supernatural forces she spent studying; there was so much out there that could so very easily destroy her fragile human body. But her lack of experience had made it that much more impossible for the truth to fully sink in.

But Teagan was standing in her bedroom looking like some kind of fucking mermaid so very incredibly obviously not human. It was a little terrifying and exciting, and Arden’s brain was shortcircuiting trying to accept the fact that what she was seeing was, in fact, real and that the incredible being in front of her was the same woman she had gotten coffee with and slept with and found sleepwalking tonight. That was certainly her voice coming out of the mouth full of very pointy looking teeth.

She still sounded so fragile, and while Arden noticed it and wanted to do something about that, she was still having a bit of a moment. “I– Uhm–” she gulped. “You’re– You’re beautiful.”

Jesus fucking christ, Arden. Could she not be a homosexual for two minutes, please?!

“It’s your glamour,” she explains, finally able to string words together instead of gaping at Teagan like an idiot. “And, no. Stay.” It sounded both too forceful and too much like a plea. “If you want. You should stay.”

Teagan was always told by her mother that if she wasn’t careful with her own heart, someone else would break it. So she hid it away. Ripped it out of herself and stuffed it into a concrete box that no one could get to. Not even herself. Even under all that rock, Teagan could feel her heart bending impossibly. But this time, it was out of pure joy that Arden had found her true form something to marvel at. Of course she was beautiful. Teagan never doubted her beauty, but there was something that always struck a nerve when someone looked at her with terror when that wasn’t her goal. She didn’t always want to feel like a monster. Sometimes all Teagan ever wanted was to feel like she could be anything other than what she turned out to be.

She wanted to take shape into something that wasn’t a monster kids screamed about when they had nightmares. Because Teagan had nightmares too. Monsters could be many things, and most of the time, they looked like ordinary people. The ones anyone would least suspect when they passed them on the street. Teagan wanted to believe she could be one of them, but she constantly noted how fake it all felt. Her stomach was constantly in knots over the lie.

That moment, though? It became fact. Arden deemed the nix beautiful in spite of how her cat reacted, and all but pleaded for Teagan to stay. “Only if you’re sure.” She worried her lip and looked at her claws. The towel fell with nothing no longer holding it, and there was no rush to pick it up. There wasn’t really anything to be seen. If there was, Teagan was never one to worry about nudity, and it wouldn’t have been anything Arden hadn’t seen before. Still, this wasn’t Teagan’s home, she was a guest. How she presented herself needed to be at the host’s comfort level.

“I’ll get my glamour if you need me to. It won’t last very long since it needs to recharge, but I can wear it as long as possible.” Stepping carefully closer, Teagan pointed at the spot next to Arden, silently requesting if she could sit. “Most people go off running unless they’re fae.” She smiled wanly. “You’re a funny one.” She sat down, dorsal fin curling behind her as she turned her hand over to offer to Arden. “I appreciate the compliment. You’re quite beautiful yourself.” It was a sincere compliment. Not that it hadn’t been before. There were just no underlying flirtations, no walls to keep Teagan from being intimate.

The explanation and compliment seemed to calm her a little. At the very least, she didn’t look like she was a second away from bursting into tears, and that was a relief.

“I’m sure,” Arden nodded. “You’ve had a long night.” She definitely blushed as Teagan let the towel fall to the floor, and she looked away, embarrassed at her reaction. Seeing the fae’s true form had entirely thrown her for a loop, and right now she was oh so very far from the cool and collected facade she always strove for.

Hobbes was still standing on the bed in front of her, ears back and fur puffed, so she tried to calm both of them, running a hand through his fur as she willed her pulse to chill the hell out for a minute. “No, it’s okay. I just might need to kick the cats out if they don’t behave,” she said pointedly to her little gremlin. He seemed to be calming down somewhat. She wasn’t sure where Atreyu was, but he’d probably run out of the room as soon as possible. As Teagan moved closer, Hobbes began to tense up again, but she just kept giving him scritches, and he slowly relaxed.

Arden chuckled at being called a funny one. Maybe she was. There was a fucking faerie in her room, a naked faerie no less. But she was the same person who had let her out of the promise bind and cried at the mention of home and said sugar father. She was the same person who Arden had grown to care for, who had gone through something horrible, and seemed to really need a friend these days. So, with her free hand– she wanted one on Hobbes until he could be trusted because the bastard was a biter– she took Teagan’s hand.

It was even more surreal seeing her so close, feeling just how different her skin felt. The blush that she had been getting under control flared up at the compliment. “Ah, than–” she caught herself before she could finish the sentence. Arden closed her eyes and hung her head, a smile on her face. “Goddammit, I keep doing that,” she laughed. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she turned to Teagan. “How are you feeling?”

A teary grin tugged at the fae’s cheeks, sharp teeth on full display without any of the sinister energy they usually had. In fact, they might as well have been dull what with how lilac dusted over Teagan’s cheeks. That was jarring, to say the least. She was usually causing the blushing, had already done it considering the pink painted on Arden’s face.

“It takes some getting used to…cariad. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Teagan squeezed Arden’s hand, looking away as the topic steered back to her. It was impossible to keep her mask on, to keep herself at the high standard of independence she had set. Teagan was completely disarmed, and she didn’t have the energy to mend that. Fates, lying was so human, but sometimes she wished she could fib even a little.

“Not feeling too great, I’m afraid. Feel like a right child. Always do when this month comes ‘round. You can…c-can probably gather why.” Not willing to jump fully into the topic quite yet, Teagan shifted the focus to the adorable cat on Arden’s lap. She feigned a smile, clicking her tongue to get his attention. “Hob, was it? He’s a good lad, protecting his mum and all. I’m not offended. I look like a lake monster. Well…” Teagan chuckled, shaking her head and finally locking eyes with Arden again. “To most. Didn’t take you for the type, but I’m not displeased. Makes me like you a bit more, in fact.” She elbowed Arden playfully, trying to keep everything light for as long as possible.

Sadly though, everything had an end, and Teagan’s sorrow slowly trickled back in. She sighed, “I want to be okay, truly. It’s late, and it feels so unfair to put you in the middle. I should owe you for everything you’ve done, and I do. I owe you a favor.”

The dark pink flush stood out on her pale skin, almost the same color as the external gills that fanned out around her face. It really felt like Arden was dreaming every time she looked at Teagan to find that she was still in her bed, still looking like nothing she had ever seen before in her entire life. And calling her some sort of Welsh nickname? What even was her life right now?

It was clear she didn’t exactly want to talk about it, but was she saying this sleepwalking was something that just happened sometimes? Was this some strange fae thing that Arden had never heard about? No, if that were the case, a lot of people would be affected, and that would be noticeable… right?

She wished she had a better understanding of the fae, but it was probably wise of them not to trust humans. She loved being involved with the Scribes and the amount of information it gave her access to, but, well, knowledge was power, and they sure knew a lot about the supernatural. It would only take a few people with negative intentions for things to turn very bad.

Perking up at the mention of her gremlin, Arden smiled. “Hobbes. The name’s from a comic strip I read with my dad growing up. The character’s named for a philosopher, though– not that that’s really relevant. He’s usually friendly, a bit of an attention whore, really,” she laughed. “I’m sure he’ll warm up to you pretty quickly.” Hopefully.

The teasing combined with the locked eyes, it was too much, she felt the heat rising to her cheeks yet again, that fluttery, anxious feeling in her stomach. It was ridiculous how flustered she was getting tonight; she could just picture Zack’s shit eating grin in her mind’s eye. She could lie face down on her bed and groan into her pillow about how she was a useless idiot tomorrow. She would.

But now, Teagan needed to be reassured, “you really don’t owe me anything, it’s okay. I was out, and I happened upon you, and I’m glad I did. I don’t exactly love the thought of you wandering around Wicked’s Rest of all places in the middle of the night while you’re not even conscious of what you’re doing.” Arden looked her in the eyes as she kept talking. “We haven’t known each other very long, but I like you; you’re sweet, empathetic, you’ve got a good sense of humor, and I feel like we’re kind of similar in some ways. So, you know, if I can help in any way, even if it’s just letting you crash here or something, I’d like to.” She squeezed her hand for emphasis.

“You mentioned something about this month– does this– has this happened before?”

Teagan was getting a glimpse into Arden’s world with just the name of her cat. Hobbes. A character she read about with her father. The more time she spent with the woman, the more she was endeared to each small trait and mannerism. Arden rambled and went on tangents, a testament to how much went on in that head of hers. “Do you like philosophy? Did your father? Is that why you like to write?” Teagan wondered a million things, but there was one question that stood out for a moment. How much of those rambled thoughts were filled with pain? Banshees spoke of Fate and balance, as did her mother. For every piece of matter, action, thought, or what have you, there was something equal and opposite.

Like with Hobbes. Obviously he was a great delight to Arden, bringing her joy and humorous frustration, but perhaps he was a reminder of what she lost too. But isn’t that bittersweet? All that untapped love Arden has for her father. She packed a piece of it up and gave it to her cat, marking him with something both sorrowful and joyful. The love could continue to spread. Teagan didn’t think she could ever do that. All she did was cause pain and destruction. It was all she was good at, no matter how much she pretended. The mask never lasted. One’s nature could only be suppressed for small spurts at a time. She hoped it would last the rest of the night. Arden deserved that much.

“I…like you too.” Teagan chuckled, it was a short and dry thing. Humor almost all but lost in it. “Wait until you get to know me. I’m not always so sweet.” There was a reason her family didn’t talk to her. But who needs them? Who needs her? They were safer without Teagan around. Everyone was. “But I want to be, you know? Sweet. And you’re right—we’re a bit similar. Think it’s why it’s so easy to be kind to you. Same pains, but you actually deserve the kindness. You care and you have a beautiful heart. I’ve only seen a glimpse, but Fates…” Teagan blinked, realizing just how intense her gaze had gotten. “Sorry. Always been too forward and honest. Rambly too. Another thing in common.” She smiled sheepishly, giving Arden’s hand a careful stroke with her thumb. Ever mindful of her claws. She was the last person Teagan wanted to hurt. “But—all this to say, I’d help you any way I can, too.” She added emphasis in her own way, kissing Arden’s cheek and nodding her head while she collected her thoughts for the next subject.

“Um…yes. This-this has happened before. Happens every year, actually.” Pausing, Teagan rubbed the back of her neck to buy herself some time. Many people had found Teagan sleepwalking over the years, but she never stuck around to explain why. Arden was the first, and as nerve-wracking as it was, she was at least easy to trust. “Ever since what happened with my family—well, you see…I-um…I was there when it happened. When they were killed. It’s lived with me since.” Her head fell and her hands began to tremble. “So now, every year, I’m like this. I know, it’s pathetic, but I can’t stop it. The night terrors are worse and I'm always running and trying to save them, but I can’t.” A shaky sigh escaped Teagan. “It passes once the day’s over with. Mostly. Their anniversary is the twenty-first.”

She wasn’t expecting the questions, but the way they spilled out of Teagan made her think that she was genuinely interested in hearing the answers. It was also an easier topic than the one they were skirting around. “I suppose so? I’ve never properly studied it, but it’s interesting to think about life and the nature of people and the world we live in, our purpose, the existence of an afterlife. It’s interesting to hear a person’s thoughts on those subjects. I know my dad had some books on the subject– he was a big reader, my mom, too– and he made his thoughts known on ethics and free thinking and the importance of art, in his actions and his parenting.” Arden’s smile was entirely soft and fond. “He was brilliant and so incredibly kind.”

“The writing came from my love of reading, I guess. That, and we’d make up stories to tell each other. He always spun some wild, fantastical story, but I eventually realized he’d just been telling me an overexaggerated version of the truth. Tales of these undead beings and people who could turn into animals, fairies and fire breathing dogs and the like. He had a soft spot for the cryptids, too.” The tank top she’d thrown on meant her Tendrilla tattoo was in plain view, though she didn’t know if Teagan had familiarized herself with the town’s cryptids.

You care and you have a beautiful heart. I’ve only seen a glimpse, but Fates…

Between the words and the gentleness of her touch and the way she was looking at her– it was too much. It was everything Arden wanted, everything she was terrified of, and it brought tears to her eyes that she was determined to not let fall. She huffed out a laugh when Teagan called her out on her rambling. Clearing her throat, she tried to rid herself of the lump that had appeared. “Thank you,” she murmured as the fae pressed a kiss to her cheeks. “You deserve kindness, too. No one is good all of the time, what matters is that you try– my dad’s philosophy.”

They sat for a moment, both trying to pull themselves together, before Teagan finally addressed the question that had been on her mind since she’d found her tonight. And just broke Arden’s heart. “Oh, Teagan, I am so sorry,” she breathed. She wasn’t a big hugger, but she didn’t hesitate to pull the other into her arms. “It’s not pathetic, okay? You went through something so horrible, and that’s traumatizing. Your body’s just trying to deal with it as best as it’s able.” She ran a hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her to the best of her ability. “Do– do you manage to get outside like tonight often, too?”

Arden’s father sounded a lot like Catrin. Brilliant and incredibly kind, with ideals that matched the golden core of their heart. The way she spoke of him made Teagan’s chest squeeze, and she wanted to learn more. To listen and watch the reverence take over Arden’s every feature. The pain was evident, but it truly seemed as if her fondness of her father was winning over. At least right then. Teagan even found herself smiling. It was a small, tired thing, but it was a smile nonetheless.

“Can you show me some of your writing sometime?” Teagan searched Arden’s anxious eyes, eventually tearing her gaze away to look at their intertwined hands. They both needed the break. Especially with how Arden’s gratitude slipped out into her speech. “And I release you, silly.” Teagan’s eyes scanned back up to her companion’s face, again catching a glimpse of the tattoos she’d seen before. They hovered for a breath or two, memorizing every line in the cats, the typewriter, and some other thing that Teagan couldn’t quite decipher.

Her attention eventually snapped away at the philosophy of trying, and the nix finally registered the tears collecting in Arden’s eyes. “You’re much too pretty to cry.” Carefully and with a crooked, playful smile, Teagan wiped a tear just as it crept over the precipice. She tried to lighten the energy, to no avail, but the next thing she knew, she was in a tight embrace.

When was the last time she’d been hugged? Truly hugged, where the intentions weren’t sensual or in the middle of messing up a bed? Teagan didn’t know, to be quite honest. She ran away well before anyone had the chance to even think about hugging her. This time though, she was stuck in place, unable to tear herself away. She sank into Arden, exhaustion seeming to finally take over after decades of holding the entirety of her sorrow’s weight on her own. Tears broke through and her body shook despite being soothed by the affections. With all the tears, she was unable to say much more than a croak that sounded a little like a “Yes,” at Arden’s question, and then a crumbling apology just as she managed to finally stop. She didn’t even bother pulling away, appreciating how soothing it was to let herself be.

“Maybe we should get some rest.”

Arden blinked, brought out of her reverie by Teagan’s question. “Oh, sure. I mean, my articles are all online, so you can see those whenever.” It felt like she might be asking to see something more personal, though, which… If she were honest, it’d be a lot easier to go back and recite poetry in front of the crowds of strangers at Masque of the Red Eye than it would to show her personal writing to someone she knew. Her poetry was full of all the raw emotions she desperately wanted to hide from others, and her prose was so messy, the characters all had pieces of her in them, the plot was nonexistent, it just wasn’t at a point where she felt comfortable showing anyone. Though, she didn’t know if there would ever come a point where she did. Zack didn’t like to show off his art either, she wondered what that said about them.

She hadn’t even noticed her slip up this time, goddammit. Arden was lucky Teagan was nice and apparently liked her. She wasn’t lucky enough for her tears to go unnoticed, however. Another chuckle escaped her at that line. It was some ungodly hour of the night, she was having a very emotional conversation with a nix who looked like an axolotl, and said nix was still being smooth as hell despite both of their teary eyes. Seriously, what was her life right now? She could almost laugh, but Teagan…

The way she melted into her embrace in the exact way Arden always yearned to do, the way she hadn’t since maybe her father’s funeral, it brought up a wave of emotions she couldn’t entirely decipher.

Teagan fell apart a little, and she just held her through it, heart aching for the other. She’d been there while her family was slaughtered by hunters, Arden couldn’t even begin to imagine the depths of her pain, and it seemed like she had been carrying it all on her own for years. Falling apart was justified. Arden was just happy she could offer some sort of comfort, be a safe place where she could let her guard down even a little.

Her attention had been fully on the fae for a while now, so she didn’t notice Hobbes creeping toward them until he was close. He approached the fae cautiously, and Arden kept her eyes locked on him, uncertain of his intentions. But he just sniffed the fae, and eventually, very cautiously, rubbed his face against her side. It made her heart melt a little.

She liked to pick on him because, god, he could be such a pain in the ass, but he was a good cat. He always offered her comfort when she was upset and crying, and he seemed to be doing the same with Teagan. He was getting so many treats in the morning.

When the tears came to an end with an apology, Arden just shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for.” She continued to hold her, and she would until Teagan pulled away, but sleep did sound like a good idea. She was fucking drained, and she wasn’t even the one who had been dealing with so many emotions, she could only imagine how the fae was faring. “Might be a good idea, you sound exhausted.”

“I’ll have a look-see at the articles sometime then.” Teagan took a deep breath, letting her eyes flutter shut. The warmth of the moment combined with the actual warmth emanating from Arden in the embrace, made it all too easy to let the weight pin her eyes for a few beats. Before Teagan could let herself drift though, she slowly tugged herself away.

“You sound exhausted too.” She scooted back an inch, bumping into Hobbes slightly just as he rubbed his head against Teagan. A small squeak escaped her, excitement filling her at the breakthrough. “Look who’s come around.” Humming, she softly scratched Hobbes’s chin, a purr vibrating in his throat. His eyes squinted with joy, and Teagan felt bad when she had to stop to redirect her focus back to Arden. He looked a bit miffed, nipping at the fae slightly to get her scratches to return. It was all for naught. The human in front of the nix had her full attention.

“Where should I sleep? I can make the floor comfy. Wouldn’t mind either.” For once, Teagan wasn’t looking to hide under the sheets with a woman to help her ride out the pain. Her eyes were the softest they’d been in a while, and her voice was sincere. “You’re a good person, Arden. I’m glad we met.” Planting another kiss to the woman’s cheek, Teagan stood up languidly, legs a tad wobbly from the exhaustion.

“Good night, then?”

A large smile overtook her at the absolutely delighted sound Teagan made as the calico gave her some affection. It was such an odd sight, watching the nix with her cat– Arden wasn’t sure she would ever get used to seeing the fantastical and magical beings that existed in this world– but it was endearing nonetheless. It was nice to see her smile, too, especially after the night they’d had.

She rolled her eyes playfully. Like she would actually let her sleep on the fucking floor. “We’ve literally had sex, like, you can sleep in my bed, Teagan,” she smiled. Before she could stand, Arden grabbed her wrist, tugging her back. “I’m definitely not letting you sleep on the floor when there’s a perfectly functional bed with room for two.”

The joking smile turned soft at the woman’s words. “I’m glad we met, too, and, for the record, I do think you’re a good person.”

Her eyes were heavy as she moved to one side of the bed, fishing her phone out of the mess of sheets and making sure to turn off any notifications. She was going to sleep in tomorrow, so help her, god– or Fates, as the fae had said. She’d have to ask her about that sometime. After turning off the lights, Arden turned to face her, pressing a kiss to her cheek in return. “Goodnight, Teagan.”

#wickedswriting #writings #waving words #good grief #arden and teagan #c: arden #parental death tw #sibling death tw

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