#balances out overgrown areas

[missusruin]

witchsona commission for @grandmazzter ;

mushroom / cozy / decay witch + mushroom familiars

[linked-maze]

.:It's about Time:. part 1

A story behind how Navi and Time found each other! enjoy!

It was a cold hazy morning in the forest, after a whole night of rain. The small beam of light from the morning sun was shining through the leaves, warming up the air that was fresh and with an earthy smell. A tiny blue fairy emerged from a hole in a great redwood tree. Butt in the air, she yawned and stretched her whole fuzzy body, shaking the sleepiness out of her and flapping her wings awake. She raised her snout to sniff the air and letting out a sigh of relief. After months of winter, spring was finally settling in, and Navi couldn’t be happier about that. The forest was alive with all her favorite snacks, spiders, grasshoppers, and more! So, no time to spare! She set out to search the environment for some breakfast.

Navi flew through the cold air, the sun hitting her from above. The floor of the deep forest was filled with big old stones with beautiful carvings all over the place with moss and ferns covering the ground completely. A river close by, water flowing steadily. Navi took a glance for any danger in the area, but all seemed fine. She decided to start her hunt here. Flying down to land on some of the wet stones, almost slipping but caught her balance. She skipped along from stone to stone, stopping a bit to sip some water from a nearby plant that was dripping from the rain. Then, in the distance before her, she saw a delicious grasshopper! Navi ducked down quickly, and without making a sound she sneaked up to the prey behind the ferns, slowly approaching, ready to pounce any second now. However, suddenly a disturbance from the distance echoed throughout the deep forest. The grasshopper hopped away in fright. Navi attempted to go for the kill, but it was too late. It got away. “Tch…” Navi sighed in disappointment. She flew up to one of the tree branches high above, away from any danger. What in the world was that sound? Monsters did live in these woods, maybe it was one of those awful wolfos striding around the area, looking for their own prey. Or maybe it was one of those atrocious stalfos beating up a tree somewhere for fun. Suddenly the sound was back! It sounded like thunder rumbling! This was no wolfos or stalfos. This was something huge and dangerous. Navis curiosity got the best of her, and she set out to solve this. Navi got closer and closer to the mysterious rumbling. She flies above an ancient, overgrown temple ruin. Walls, Pillars, and statues broken down over time, greenery taken over the place completely. She has been here many times for the amazing apple trees that grow here. It has always been such a peaceful place. But not today, birds flying away in flocks, frightened by the ruckus. It sounded like a huge fight was going on!

Navi quietly landed on one of the big ancient statues, hiding behind it to get a peek in on what was going on, but nothing could have prepared her for what was making all that sound. It was a Goron! Out in the middle of the forest throwing around huge rocks, destroying them into small pieces. The Goron looked angry yet saddened, mostly getting his frustrations out. What was a Goron doing so far from home? Was he lost? Did he lose something? Whatever it was, he was making a commotion. Navi rolled her eyes. She had no time for this. She was about to set off again, but something stopped her. She took a glance at the Goron. Something about him seemed familiar but she couldn’t put her paw on what it was… it was like she had seen those eyes before, the right eye barring a huge scar across it. Navis memories sparked for a moment, the eyes resembling her dear old friend, but there was no way this was Link, this was a Goron. Navi felt a little bad stalking this poor Goron. So, she decided to let him be. He clearly didn’t want to be disturbed. Why else would he do his outburst deep in the forest far from home. Besides, Navi still needed some breakfast. She set off as quietly as she came. Back home, Navi was digging for worms in some dirt right underneath the redwood tree. It was no grasshopper and Navi loved the hunt of it all, but it was tasty, nonetheless. continued her day with small tasks and gathering fresh leaves for her nest. Walking down to a little puddle nearby to wash her paws clean after an evening of work, she couldn’t stop thinking about the Goron. And Link… it has been years now, but she still missed him deeply. The day she left him after completing the Dekus trees dying request, she was supposed to move on with her life. Finally reuniting with her great fairy and all her sisters in the forest. Living life with all her sisters was nice but she felt empty inside every single night, wondering what Link was up to and if he was okay… so one day she decided to go look for him! The hero she was meant to be with! But… he was nowhere to be seen. No one in Hyrule knew where he was. But that didn’t stop her! She searched for days, weeks, months! But with no luck… It was like he was gone… dead. Navis hope grew thin over the years, and she settled down in the deep forest, Abandoning her quest. But no matter what she did, she could never let him go in her heart.  The day went by, and the sun started to set at around dinner time. Navi laying at the opening of her redwood tree hole, still in thought, and was not feeling like hunting. She felt restless and couldn’t focus. So, she decided to go to sleep early this time. Letting her mind rest. to be continued~

[creepswrites]

MASK OF HATE | Michael x Reader

a long awaited rewrite of my favorite fanfic i've written... i've come far since my first time writing it and i'm so so happy to be able to recreate my pride and joy!! if you want to see the original, here it is! but i'm thrilled to rewrite it and i hope you all like it :)

MICHAEL MYERS X FTM!READER (he/him)

SUMMARY: The jumpsuit he wore made you think that maybe there'd been an accident with a car or something? You weren't sure. It wasn't likely he'd gotten himself out this far with a wound that bad but you couldn't really think straight to work out logistics. A man was injured and he needed help and that's all you could focus on at the moment.

WARNING: graphic depictions of violence & injuries

NEXT

The smell of wet earth enveloped you as you made your way back home. The earlier afternoon rain had let up long enough for you to walk home from work, a long day spent at the farmers market and plant nursery. It was rewarding work and one of the few jobs you'd actually wanted to be hired at. Your family had moved here a few years ago and you'd fallen in love with the town instantly. You and your father lived on the edge of town, more in the woods than the city itself, but not too far that you had to go out of your way to go to work. Even after you graduated, you still hadn't moved out. Why would you? You helped pay rent, shopped for groceries, and could tend to your garden.

It was, as far as you were concerned, the perfect location. A lovely little house surrounded by trees and bushes of flowers, overgrown with vines, and a stepping stone path that led to the front door. The house itself was covered in a dark brick with the inside a beautiful white with dark wooden floors that smelt of books and fresh fruits and vegetables. And sometimes the smell of rain leaked in when you left the windows open.

So no, you had no intention of moving.

Today was one of those days where you'd get the house to yourself. As the current chief of police, your dad was known for working late nights and leaving you to your own devices for a few days. With Halloween coming up, the police were on edge. Rumors were circling in the station that Michael had escaped again but couldn't confirm yet. They were avoiding telling the public until they were sure.

You always enjoyed walking home more than you enjoyed driving. It gave you a chance to think while enjoying music in your headphones, hopping along to the beat. You were weighing your options for dinner in your mind as you got closer to home when you felt a sense of wrongness wash over you. When your song came to an end, you lowered your headphones to hang around your neck as you scanned the nearby area with scrutiny.

The smell of iron reached you in a soft breeze that brushed your clothes and skin. Coyotes weren't unheard of but you didn't exactly have a way to defend yourself if they got any closer. Not to mention there was the chance your cat had gotten out.

You picked up the pace, grimacing when the smell grew stronger and stronger. Had your head not been on a swivel, you would have missed the way the bushes shook. You froze, swallowing hard as a man stumbled out of the treeline and onto the paved street towards you. He was tall, dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit and a white Halloween mask that rang a bell in the dark recesses of your mind. But you were too prioritized by the gunshot wound in his side that bled copiously, staining the jumpsuit in dark blotches.

"Are you okay?" You gasped, watching the man stumble for balance. He just made a grunting sound so you rushed forward to catch him by the shoulders. "Oh fuck, okay, uh, I might have a first aid kit at home. It's not far, c'mon." You said, trying not to panic. God knows how this dude was even standing with how much blood he'd already lost. But you slung his arm around your shoulders to practically drag him along. He was silent, which unsettled you slightly, but you didn't have the time to be unsettled. This man was possibly dying and that was far more important to you.

Did you need to talk to him to keep him awake? You were worried that if he did collapse on you, you wouldn't be able to move him. "How'd you even get an injury like that?" You tried, jostling him a little. The size difference was glaringly apparent like this but you did your best to move him. "You're lucky I live near here. Don't want to imagine you bleeding to death out here in the woods alone."

The jumpsuit he wore made you think that maybe there'd been an accident with a car or something? You weren't sure. It wasn't likely he'd gotten himself out this far with a wound that bad but you couldn't really think straight to work out logistics. A man was injured and he needed help and that's all you could focus on at the moment.

The walk home felt like hours but you finally pulled him up to the back door, kicked the rickety old screen door open with your foot, and practically dropped the man on the floor against the counters. No way were you carrying him up the stairs, especially not when he could track blood all over the carpet. You threw your bags aside and ran upstairs to the bathroom, hurrying past your cat Mayhem who cried in hunger. "Later." You said quietly as you began rifling through the cabinet under the sink. "I should clean this out later."

First aid kit in hand, you tore down the stairs again and came to a stop in the awning of the kitchen. The man was slumped over where you'd left him and you took the brief moment to get a better look at him. Dirty, brown work boots that were covered in grass stains and wet mud had left a small trail of dirt alongside the blood drops. The jumpsuit was mostly clean except for what looked like oil stains and the blood on his side. As you approached him, you noticed blood staining his sleeves in streaks too. Odd. You made a mental note to check his arms when you were done.

You knelt down in front of him, close enough that you could hear his frantic breathing. Like he was attempting to stay awake. "Can you tell me what happened?" You asked softly, clicking open the first aid kit and reaching for the zipper of his jumpsuit. When he flinched away, you froze. "I'll need to unzip you in order to take care of your wound."

He stared at you. Or you assumed he did. The black voids of the eyeholes left much to be desired.

"Just give me a nod." You sighed.

A moment passed but he finally nodded. A small little motion that you would've missed if you hadn't been looking. You gave him a little smile and unzipped the jumpsuit to his waist, careful to avoid brushing against the wound as much as possible. The black tank top underneath had ridden up slightly which made your cheeks warm. Stuffing that down, you helped him carefully shrug his sleeves down so you could better see the damage.

It was hard to see what had happened with how much blood covered his skin. So you reached into the kit, using one of the little sanitizing wipes on your hands before grabbing the disposable gloves. "Okay, uh, I'm not exactly a doctor so just let me know if the pain is too much, okay?" You gave him a nervous smile before hiking the tank top up more around his chest to let you wipe down the skin with a clean wet wipe.

The amount of blood was almost ridiculous. But you were eventually able to make out what was undeniably a gunshot wound. "Who the hell shot at you?" You mumbled more to yourself than to him. But he still gave you a tilt of his head as though answering. "At least the bullet went all the way through," You sighed, looking between him and your supplies as you tried to figure out what to do. "Okay. Let's… see what I can do."

You didn't know anything about gunshot wounds, much less how to clean them. But you'd helped patch your dad up when he stuck himself with a fishing hook so you figured it couldn't be that much more difficult. Anything was better than letting it get infected. "Sorry," you said softly before giving his hand a squeeze, "This is gonna suck."

And you poured the hydrogen peroxide on both ends of the wound, wincing at the pained grunt he let out. You kept apologizing as you fumbled around for the needle and thread, also dousing that in the peroxide before you tried to stitch him up. Sewing had never been a skill of yours but it was the best you could offer him. At least until you could get him to a hospital. You pressed gauze at either end of the wound before wrapping him tightly in bandages. "I think the wound is supposed to drain? I think I remember hearing stuff about that. We'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get infected." You tried to give him a reassuring smile and sat back to view your handiwork. It was probably sloppy, yeah, but at least it was cleaned and covered.

It could've been much worse.

"Can you pass me one of the wipes?" You asked, holding up your bloodstained hands and giving him a toothy grin. "I don't wanna stain everything with blood."

He offered you a blank stare before reaching slowly into the kit and handing you one of the little packages. You tore it open and got to scrubbing. "I'd give you a sucker for being a good patient if I had any. Would you take dinner and a shower instead?" You scooted back to clean up more, letting him stand on shaking legs. "My dad shouldn't be back till late. But he should be able to drive you to a hospital once I explain-"

At that, he shook his head violently no. "No, what?" You paused, brow furrowing. "No hospital?" He gave you a nod. "I'm not exactly a doctor. Your injury probably needs more than my below average sewing skills and half a bottle of peroxide." But still, he shook his head. "Fine. Okay. No hospital." You sighed loudly, giving him a quick once-over. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

He tried to pull away but you finally saw it: a spot on his opposite shoulder where he'd been just grazed by a bullet. More a flesh wound than anything, but you'd missed it in your stitching him up. "Alright, c'mere mister," your tone was light as you raided the kit for more gauze and bandages. "Got anything else you're hiding from me?" You gave him a playful smile as you wrapped and cleaned his wound. "It doesn't look too bad. I'm way more worried about the gunshot wound." You trailed off. "I wasn't kidding about dinner and a shower though. My dad's got clothes I bet could fit you. Though the pants may be a bit short." He gave you a calculating look as you shrugged. "At least until I get your jumpsuit washed."

The two of you just stared at each other for a while. His head tilted slowly in confusion and you couldn't help but snort. "What, you think I'll just patch you up and throw you out? Not a chance. C'mon," you took his hand and led him towards the stairs. Mayhem had ventured downstairs and began to sniff you both over, hissing at your guest despite your soft scolding.

Once inside the bathroom, you tossed the first aid kit back in as the man took a look around the small space. White tiled floors and faint, floral wallpaper framed a huge mirror, spanning the distance of the smooth countertops. You pride yourself on keeping the bathroom clean, so you only winced slightly at the dirt on the work boots that left a small trail of dirt behind. "I'll get you some clothes if you want to get undressed. I don't mind washing your clothes for you." You gave him a smile, sidestepping him to slip back out into the hall. "A shower might help you feel better. Just try to avoid getting your bandages too wet."

You left him in the bathroom and slipped down the hallway to your dad's room. A rifling through his dresser earned you some plain sweatpants and an old, black shirt you knew he wouldn't miss. Worst case scenario, your guest bled all over the shirt and you'd have to throw it out.

Heading back towards the bathroom, a realization came to you. "Hey, I'm sorry, I don't think I introduced mys-" You froze in the doorway, words dying on your lips. The man had his back to you and had shrugged the jumpsuit off the rest of the way, his boots laying near the doorway by your feet and the blue material like a puddle around his ankles. His shoulders were broad and you could make out tiny scars that littered his forearms and shoulders. His mask had remained but that wasn't what surprised you.

He didn't have underwear on.

Your face felt like it was on fire as you slammed fresh clothes down on the counter, pointedly not looking at him. "Alright, here's your clothes, bye!" It felt like your words slurred together as you slammed the door behind you, leaning against it with an embarrassed sigh.

Once you heard the water turn on, you went downstairs to clean up the kitchen floor, grateful the blood hadn't dried too much yet.

Mayhem, having decided you'd spent long enough fussing over your guest, began to complain and shout for his dinner. "Alright, you needy thing, c'mere." You scooped him up and pressed a kiss to his fuzzy head. "Let's get you fed and then see about feeding our guest, yeah?"

Mayhem meowed, as though enthused only about the coming tuna.

The man took his time showering but you didn't really mind. He certainly needed it. Plus, you could empathize there - showers always made you feel much better too. In the meantime, you'd snuck back upstairs to grab his clothes and toss them into the washing machine. When you'd gotten a good look at his clothes, you recognized the auto mechanic company logo on the jumpsuit. "L. Smith?" You'd wondered aloud, frowning to yourself. "Pretty sure I'd tutored his kids when I was a junior…" But he didn't look anything like Lawrence Smith. "Maybe it's just a common name," you had mumbled. Something about this whole situation felt off but you couldn't exactly place why.

You shook your head slightly and sighed, trying to dismiss a nagging feeling you had in the back of your mind. Sparing a glance down at Mayhem, who brushed against your leg insistently, you frowned. "You don't think this is Michael Myers, right?"

Big yellow eyes blinked up at you and you sighed, chewing on your lower lip. Not much about the Myers case was made public beyond his crimes and his mugshot. Your dad had refused to divulge anything to you about the case and you'd only managed a quick peek at crime scene photos. Nothing about the way the man had been dressed or anything like that. Besides, it had been so long since that night that any details you could have seen have been lost to time.

"Impossible." You decided with a shaking sigh as you opened the can of tuna, not even believing your own words despite their conviction. "There's simply no way."

The sound of thunder outside was a welcome distraction from your thoughts. The rain had always been peaceful to you, the smell of wet earth and the chill breeze from the window had you relaxing. You smiled, whistling for Mayhem to come get his dinner and slipped past your hungry cat into the kitchen once again.

Cutting the vegetables and boiling pasta was peaceful, a wonderfully monotonous task you could just get lost in with the soft white noise of the rain. You would have missed the sounds of the shower turning off if you'd been any more zoned out. You had just taken the tomatoes out to cut them up when you heard heavy footsteps behind you.

You glanced over your shoulder and took him in. The sweatpants had stopped just above his ankles, which you had expected. What you hadn't expected was the way his broad chest filled out the shirt, struggling to hug around his biceps. You turned back around to hide your swooning, biting your lip hard to keep yourself from smiling like a fool. He'd put the mask back on but you couldn't even bother to give it a thought.

Swallowing, you cleared your throat. "Are the bandages alright?" You asked, turning your attention back to the tomatoes. He didn't say anything but, then again, you hadn't really expected him to. "Pasta's boiling right now so dinner should be ready in a few minutes if you want to sit down." You gestured to the nearby dining room table with only a few chairs pulled up. But you didn't hear him move. The feeling of eyes on the back of your neck made you tense for a moment but you brushed it off. If he needed something, he'd let you know, right?

As you reached for a knife, his hand shot out and covered yours. You weren't even aware he'd gotten that close and you jumped in surprise. The eyeholes of the mask bore into you as you turned to look at him once again. "Do you… want to help?"

He just tilted his head, as though bewildered by your offer.

You move your hand aside to let him grab the knife, stepping to the side to give him room at the cutting board. "You just have to make them into small chunks. Try and get them around the same size, I'll get the garlic going." You hummed, your fingertips barely grazing the extra knife before he grabbed your wrist tight, jerking your hand back. A surprised yelp left you as you stared wide-eyed up at him, noticing the way he white knuckled his own knife.

Something about this was very wrong.

Swallowing back your terror, you held eye contact with him, the two of you locked in a standstill. The room was silent except for his heavy breathing, barely audible over the pounding storm outside. Soft bluish grey light cast shadows on his face, making the eyes of the mask seem like bottomless pits. Everything felt frozen in time as the two of you stared at each other.

You were the one who broke the tension, reaching over with your free hand to uncurl his fingers from your wrist as casually as you could. Anxiety pounded through you when you heard his breathing hitch. "Don't worry," you gave him a weak smile once you were freed, "I have every confidence in you." You said, giving a weak gesture to the tomatoes laying on the cutting board. You slowly moved towards the stove to set about roasting the garlic cloves, trying to appear as calm as possible while he continued to stare you down.

You only let your shoulders drop when you heard him start slicing.

Making the rest of dinner didn't take long, especially with your guest's help. He seemed unwilling to leave you alone now, hovering around you as you finished cooking and plating dinner - pasta with garlic sauce and dried tomatoes - and only retreated to the living room when you'd reassured that you were right behind him. He took a seat on the couch and you caught him staring at Mayhem comfortably sprawled out on his favorite chair.

"His name is Mayhem," you told him as you sat beside him, setting two water glasses down before digging in. "He won't bug you, he knows he's not allowed on the couch."

The man's head turned slowly to look at you, letting you get a brief sight of one of his eyes: a blue-green color that looked almost hazel in the darkness of the mask. You held in a soft gasp and turned away, trying to push the idea that the man was pretty from your mind. You hadn't even seen his face for crying out loud! Much less gotten his name.

Instead, you just clicked the television on. "Anything in particular you wanna see?" You asked around a mouthful of food. "We've got movies too but I dunno if you like horror." You hummed, setting your plate down briefly to shuffle over to the drawers in the tv stand, leafing through VHS tapes. "It's almost Halloween though," you smirked, "But, judging by your mask, you knew that."

His eyes were boring holes into you again but you just chuckled to yourself. While you pride yourself on being good at reading body language, his ramrod straight posture and silent staring was like gazing at a white canvas. But maybe that's one of the reasons you liked him so much: he wasn't complicated to understand, when he needed to be heard.

You pulled out a particular VHS and flashed it to him. "Do you like cartoons?" You asked, dangling 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' for him to see.

He nodded then - so clear and obvious that you didn't waste any time popping the tape in and sitting back down alongside him. You kept your eyes glued to the screen as you ate, hoping that would be enough privacy for him to comfortably eat. He'd have to give you his name later, at the very least, but you felt the urge to give him some semblance of privacy as he ate. So you kept your eyes off him and the two of you ate in amicable silence, both your attentions rapt on the little cartoon. He ate like he was starving for it and practically chugged the glass of water when he was done, which made your heart hurt a little.

How long had this guy gone without eating or drinking anything?

"There's more in the pot if you want. Help yourself." You said softly, bumping his knee gently with yours to get his attention. He'd tensed up slightly at the contact and you momentarily scolded yourself for that. He was clearly not good with touch, but it had just felt natural to do for him.

But he didn't seem to hold it against you and just stood up, retreating into the kitchen with his plate. You watched him with a slight smile on your face. He was, no doubt, intriguing. His mysteries had you utterly fascinated and there was so much you wanted to ask. But a part of you feared the answers, paranoid your suspicions would be proven correct.

He would have killed you if that were the case, right?

The two of you continued watching movies once you'd learnt he hadn't, in fact, seen most horror films. "Well obviously I'm going to show you 'The Thing,'" you'd said as Charlie Brown came to an end. "It's one of my favorites, I think you'll like it." His staring didn't bother you anymore so you took his silence as agreement when the movie began playing. The night continued like that, the two of you watching movies together. Horror films seemed to intrigue him and you swore he jumped a little at some of the visceral body horror moments. But the two of you had cozied up just a little. He'd finally sunken back into the couch and had tolerated you scooting closer to him.

You were halfway through Frankenstein when you heard the phone ring in the kitchen. "Be right back," you whispered to him, feeling his eyes on you as you walked away. A quick glance at the clock revealed it was nearly midnight and you frowned. Your dad should've been home by now and your guest didn't seem in any hurry to go home. Didn't he have somewhere to go?

Regardless, you stepped into the kitchen on socked feet and plucked the phone off the receiver. "Hello?

"Kiddo? Oh thank god you're alright!" Your dads voice sounded monetarily relieved, letting out a sigh as he spoke. "You should've called me after you saw the news." He said, once again becoming frantic. "Lock all the doors, keep Mayhem inside tonight, and-"

"Calm down," you cut him off, "What's going on? I haven't even seen the news, I've been watching movies with-"

Your dad wasted no time cutting you off as well. "Just stay inside, okay? Keep your eyes on the news and just- just stay safe. My pistol is in my room in the bedside table if you need it."

A sinking dread began to settle in the pit of your stomach as you twirled the phone cord. "Just tell me what's going on!" You became equally frantic, running your hand through your hair in frustration.

He was silent for a moment before sighing. "Look, I'm not supposed to tell you. This is strictly police business. But the last thing I want is you digging into this yourself-"

"That was one time-!" You protested.

But he ignored you. "There's a killer on the loose." His words were like a gunshot to your chest. "We nearly caught him this afternoon but he managed to escape. We're- we're not sure where he'd gotten off to so I want you to stay inside and call me if you hear or- or see anything strange."

A lapse of silence passed and you can tell your dad was about to hang up but you quickly squeaked out. "What's his name?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you." His voice had a finality to it. He didn't plan on telling you.

You knew how to play him though. You faked a sniffle and a sob. "Dad, please, I- I need to know what I'm up against! W-what if he gets inside?"

Despite his voice being barely a whisper, it was deafening to you. "Michael Myers."

Instantly, you sobered up. Your fears were confirmed and you felt your blood run cold. Michael Myers was sitting in your living room in your dads clothes after you'd had dinner together. He'd been fascinated by Charlie Brown and had jumped a little at the chest defibrillation scene in The Thing. The Boogeyman of Haddonfield had helped you cut tomatoes and let you tend to his wounds.

You were still alive. As terrifying as this revelation was, you were curious why he hadn't killed you. You didn't know Michael Myers to be very forgiving or benevolent…

Wrapping up the call with your dad, you practically slammed the phone back into the receiver, your back still to the living room. You steadied your resolve and forced your hands to still when you turned back around. You nearly slammed into him when you did. He'd been eavesdropping and the idea that his mercifulness would end made you talk before he could move. "Seems we're locked in tonight." You managed a smile and a shrug. "Dad says it's too dangerous to go out tonight so at least it'll just be us two. If you want, I can set you up on the couch to sleep when you're ready."

He continued to stare at you and you swore he almost seemed…surprised.

You sidestepped him to head back into the living room and he let you, though he was hot on your heels. "Means you and I get more movie time though." Grinning up at him, you sat back down with a soft "oomf" and looked up at him expectantly. If you just acted like everything was fine, maybe he wouldn't kill you?

It seemed as good an idea as any.

Eventually he rejoined you on the couch after staring at you for a few good minutes.

You knew. And you had a feeling he knew that you knew. But what could you even do? It wasn't like you stood a chance against him if he decided to attack you. In fact, a part of you felt almost guilty for withholding your newfound information from him. He was literally a serial killer and you didn't want to make him think you were against him.

Which bewildered you. Why would you feel bad? You knew, logically, you should call your dad back and tell him Michael was here and let him and the rest of the force come try and catch Michael before he ran you through with a knife.

He'd extended trust to you though. You recognized that. You didn't want to betray that, especially since you didn't know who the last person he trusted could have been.

As the movie came to an end, you decided to take a risk. "Want me to make popcorn, Michael?" You kept your tone light and casual as you stood and stretched.

You didn't even get two steps in before he was up, grabbing your wrist tight and spinning you to face him. You kept your smile light and tilted your head the way he liked doing. "I think I have M&Ms if you want me to mix those in too." He continued to stare and you finally sighed. "I already knew. I, uh, had my suspicions before we made dinner. But dad called and confirmed it, basically." His grip tightened but you brushed it off. "I'm not going to tell anyone." You finally admitted.

His posture remained rigid, like he expected a fight. You felt your heart break a little. Has he ever had anyone be kind to him ever since that night? "Do you know about doctor-patient confidentiality?" His blank stare was an answer in itself. "When a doctor treats a patient, that patient has the right to keep their information private. Including their name." You placed your free hand atop his in what you hoped was a comforting gesture. "So, since you're technically my patient, I don't have to tell anyone anything." He still seemed confused and you just let out a soft sigh. "I'm not gonna rat on you, is what I'm saying."

He seemed to consider this before giving you a slow nod.

A part of you was relieved. A fair trade, you thought as you went into the kitchen to make popcorn. You patched him up and fed him and, in exchange, he didn't kill you.

The two of you wound up watching movies late into the night, with you adding soft commentary as you munched on popcorn and M&Ms. By 2AM you were fading, your head lolling to the side and bumping against Michael's shoulder in your attempts to fight off sleep. He was warm and, despite knowing who he was, you felt safe.

So you'd nodded off.

The next time you opened your eyes, you were being shaken awake by your father. "Get up," he whisper-yelled as he turned off the tv, a quick flash of the movie menu disappearing as soon as you saw it. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

You hummed, yawning and rubbing your eyes. "Early." A glance at the clock confirmed it was nearly 6AM. "Sorry, guess I was up watchin' movies." You sat up and looked around a little before your sleep-addled brain immediately recalled that Michael Myers had been sitting on your couch last night and you looked around.

As your dad herded you upstairs and past the kitchen, you noticed Michael's boots were gone. The dishes had been left atop the table but yours had been placed in the sink as though to hide the fact there had been two people here. Once of the knives from the block was missing too, but that didn't surprise you.

If your dad's weary expression was anything to go by, Michael had escaped before he'd gotten home. "'m headin' to bed," he grumbled, "You should too." He said before shuffling into his bedroom, closing the door with more force than intended. You nodded to empty air before retreating into your bedroom, noticing Mayhem lazily dozing on top of your messy bedsheets.

Your bedroom was dim and cool, the morning light just starting to shift the pitch black sky into a dark tealish blue color. Raindrops still covered the window, indicative of the storm that must be still going. You frowned and went to close your curtains to avoid being blinded by the sun once it rose but you paused just before you could yank the fabric closed.

There, across the street, only visible thanks to the streetlight he stood under, you could see Michael Myers staring up at you.

Dumbfounded, you smiled and gave him a little wave, swaying on your feet as you tried not to swoon. You wanted to believe he wouldn't hurt you, seeing as he had ample opportunity to do so and had instead laid you gently down on the couch to sleep when he'd decided to leave. But the realistic part of your brain reminded you, as you closed your blackout curtains, that it should be more concerning that you'd become a fixation of his.

You'd heard of Laurie Strode and how she was assumedly his previous fixation, seeing as he'd stalked her for a while before deciding to take action against her friends. She'd been terrified of him for years and continued to lock herself in her house for the past two years to protect herself against him. Despite her fear of him, she'd yet to move out of Haddonfield.

There wasn't any point in trying to figure her out though. She was of no help to you. You couldn't tell anyone about what was going on or risk yourself or Michael.

You were far too tired to think about any of that for now and just flopped down into bed, freezing when your hands brushed an unfamiliar texture. After scrambling around under your stomach, you held up Michael's tank top. He must have left it for you when he'd gone to change into his jumpsuit. You felt your face heat up at the implications of him leaving his shirt for you, opting instead to shove it under your pillow with your cheeks burning.

The memories of him in the tshirt filled your head as you fell back asleep.

Crunching dry, brittle leaves beneath your boots, you made your way into town for work. You always liked the walk, especially with how beautiful Haddonfield got in the fall. A gorgeous watercolor painting of oranges, browns, and reds, touches of yellow and green giving pops of color. Despite the tragedies that had happened two years ago, Halloween decorations were still up in full swing, the town determined to celebrate no matter what. There was even a small festival at the farm nearby, complete with haunted houses, hayrides, and pumpkin patches. Halloween spirit was everywhere and you loved it. It'd always been your favorite holiday, even before a certain man fell into your life.

As you approached the plant nursery you worked at, you mulled that over. The police hadn't caught Michael yet but were working round the clock. And although you hadn't seen him in person since he'd stayed over a few days ago, you'd seen glimpses of him. Enough to know he was definitely stalking you. While you should logically feel afraid, you instead felt… oddly comforted.

You stopped beating yourself up over why. You knew why. Michael Myers was the most dangerous person alive and he was looking out for you, in a way. You felt safe with him watching you. So you played the game and pretended not to see him. It was easier to play along anyways and, as far as you knew, he hadn't killed anyone since he found you. No one your dad talked about at least.

So you'd been spending more time in town or out in the woods, hoping that entertaining him would keep him from killing. At least, you hoped so.

It didn't help that you still found yourself fascinated by him.

You'd stopped beating yourself up for that too. Most people you knew were predictable, bland, or boring. They had routines and patterns that were easy to predict. But Michael wasn't like that. You never knew what he was thinking or how he'd behave. He was interesting, unique, and unpredictable.

You liked that. Maybe that was sick or twisted of you, but it was true.

"Helloooo?" Your co-worker's soft voice pulls you from your thoughts. "Did those blackberries do something to you?" Kalei snorted, nudging you gently. "You've been staring at them for, like, ten minutes now."

You responded with a yawn, rubbing your eyes. Despite having only been at work for a few hours, you were ready for it to be over. "Sorry, jus' haven't been sleepin' well." You slurred as you tried to give her a smile.

"Bad dreams?" Kalei asked, frowning slightly as she set her own blackberry plant aside. Working at the plant nursery had been your idea, more interested in working with plants than people. But Kalei was a good friend and always looked out for you. It was nice to have company while taking care of the plants.

You chewed on your fingernail and gave her a little shrug. "Just been… thinking about a guy, I guess."

They let out a shocked gasp. "A GUY?!" Kalei squealed, ignoring your desperate attempts to shush them. "Tell me everything RIGHT NOW, oh my god!" 

You blushed, trying to get them to quiet down, flustered at the idea of Michael listening in. "It's not anything serious! Just, um, met this guy and he's… interesting. I like him." You blushed at the childishness of your own words, focusing on your plants to avoid meeting Kalei's eyes.

They gave you a nod. "Well, as your workplace bestie, I am obligated to give him The Talk."

You chose to not mention the fact there were only five total employees counting you both. "Kay, it's Illinois. I doubt he'd be interested in me, available or not." Which wasn't untrue. Even if Michael was interested in you, it likely wasn't anything beyond obsession. At least the obsession went both ways, you thought to yourself with a private smile.

"Well, regardless, I have a duty to fulfill." They beamed at you, hands on their hips. "You're a cute guy and, if I didn't have a partner, I'd take you out sometime." They ignored your snort and continued. "If this guy screws you over, I'll kick his ass for you."

If only they knew, you chuckled to yourself as you left Kalei to attend to a customer. Michael wasn't exactly great "bring-home-to-the-parents" boyfriend material. Much less introduce to your co-worker. When you'd finished helping the customer, you froze at the sight of movement in the tree line across the road. Standing in the tall grass and brush, you swore you saw Michael standing there…

As far as you were aware, he stayed close by to watch as you finished your shift. You hoped that as long as he was watching you, he wasn't out killing someone. Hopefully. For all you knew, he could be supernatural.

But you'd let him watch you. The whole rest of your shift, the walk home, and as you got in the car to go shopping. While you usually got vegetables and fruits from the plants at your work, you still needed to get normal groceries at the store. So you parked around back to be a little more secluded and went inside.

It was a cute little supermarket, clean linoleum floors and shelves lined with food. You didn't need much but you definitely needed to refill your medkit and find a proper first aid book, just in case. Thankfully, it was relatively empty that day, meaning you had free reign of the aisles to explore and take your time shopping.

You knew Michael wouldn't come in the store but you didn't doubt he was waiting for you outside.

So when you finished loading your grocery bags into the trunk of your car, you didn't feel surprised when you heard footsteps approaching you. Michael was definitely taking a risk being out with you in public but you hadn't exactly spoken to him in a few days and you were itching for the chance.

Turning around, however, you were met face to face with an unfamiliar black ski mask. Definitely not Michael. The stranger grabbed you by the arm before pulling out a knife, his head on a swivel. "G-gimme all your cash! Now!" He hissed, jerking you aggressively.

"I don't have anything on me." You said calmly. Your dad had always prepared you for situations like this so you didn't worry too much, even with the glint of his knife in the corner of your eye.

"D-don't bullshit me! I know you j-just got outta there. G-gimme what you've got and I'll b-be on my way!" He spat at you, pulling you closer to press the knife against your neck.

You caught the faintest of movement in the shadows of the alleyway behind him but you kept your eyes on him to prevent the guy freaking out. "Okay. Let's just calm down," you said, keeping your movements slow as you reached for your hip, pretending to go for your wallet. The guy kept looking around frantically as though expecting something to jump out at him. Police, most likely. But when you saw the white face of a familiar mask over his shoulder, you felt a sense of calm settle over you.

"C-c'mon!" He hurried you, jerking the knife again to threaten slicing your throat.

At that moment, you jerked back as hot blood splashed across your face. Michael had effortlessly slashed the guy's neck open from behind, bright red falling like rain against the concrete below. You closed your eyes as the choked gurgles of the mugger's voice faded to silence and his body hit the ground. It was like you were frozen in place, unable to make your muscles move as you listened to the sounds of Michael killing the man. The vicious stabbing sounds made your skin crawl and you turned away from the scene entirely to check yourself over.

You hadn't gotten blood anywhere besides on your face, which was good. Easier to clean.

This was inevitable, you reminded yourself. That man wanted to hurt you and Michael was doing you a favor. Still, you tried to steady your breathing, bracing on the trunk of your car as he dragged the body away, presumably to hide it.

You heard Michael start to approach you and you let out a breath you didn't know you'd been holding. His footsteps could be silent, almost supernaturally quiet, so if he was making an effort to be loud, you knew it was his attempt to make you feel better. To let you know he was coming.

He stood in front of you now, covered in fresh blood and gripping his knife tightly. You were thankful for the setting sun that cast dark shadows over you two, obscuring the bloodsoaked Michael from view on the streets. You noticed the body slumped against the wall a little ways away and you swallowed back bile. "T-thanks." Your voice was soft and you cleared your throat. "For saving me."

It was only an assumption that he'd killed that guy to protect you. He didn't have to. He could have just let you die or at least be robbed. You were confident in that assumption though. He wouldn't risk your game ending so soon. 

On some level, he wanted you alive.

The blood on your face was beginning to dry uncomfortably and you desperately wanted to go home. You gestured to your car and gave Michael a tilt of your head. "You coming?" He seemed to weigh his options in his head before casually making his way for the passenger seat after a brief deliberation. "What's the plan if we're caught?" You asked him with a raised eyebrow and climbed into your own seat.

Turns out, once the cops got wind of the body, they were very easy to avoid. Predictable, you thought as you gripped your steering wheel tighter, careful to not draw attention to your car as you drove through the windy roads that led to your house.

You got Michael inside, shoving the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter as Mayhem came around the corner, meowing for attention and approaching Michael to give him a curious sniff.

It was then that you remembered stories your father would tell you about how Michael would kill animals for fun as a boy. How he'd leave the dead bodies of cats and birds in his locker at school to terrify the other kids. You weren't sure how truthful the stories were but you felt a heavy pit of anxiety when Michael looked down to acknowledge Mayhem.

"If you hurt Mayhem, I will turn you in." Your voice was steady despite the way you trembled. His head snapped up to look at you and you could feel the glare behind it. "I mean it. T-this is one thing I'm not bending on. He's my kitty and I won't let you hurt him."

Michael was still for a moment, letting Mayhem rub against his boots and yowl as though expecting the man to feed him. Slowly, ever so slowly, he bent over and let his fingers brush against soft black fur. The motion was gentle, like either you or the cat would lash out should he make a mistake. Mayhem loved the attention, purring and rubbing against his fingers more, which made you smile.

He was usually an anxious cat so seeing him this comfortable with Michael made you smile. You set about making up Mayhem's dinner while Michael tried to navigate petting him. He was shockingly gentle despite clearly never having pet an animal. "Did you have pets as a kid?" You asked as you scraped food into the bowl.

He didn't answer but you didn't really expect him to. His hand was still, just letting Mayhem rub all over it and meow at him. It was endearing, you thought as you set the bowl down and let Mayhem go to town on it. Michael's head tilted curiously as he watched and gently stroked his back once before standing back up.

"I think he likes you," you giggled, scritching the cat behind the ear.

Michael just watched the cat before slowly standing back up and heading back into the living room. You followed him, tugging on his sleeve gently. "Want me to wash your clothes?"

Your words trailed off when you noticed Michael was looking at a photo of you with your dad at your graduation party. A tired sigh left you when the man tilted his head. "I don't… want to talk about that." You mumbled, crossing your arms over your chest. "It's not like it's easy to plan for your own dad's murder." The words were heavy in your mouth and you forced yourself to look away from the photo.

Ever since your mom had died, you knew your dad had been different. She'd died in childbirth with you and all your dad's friends would whisper about how that changed him drastically. He'd always been distant with you, especially as you'd grown up. When you'd hear stories about him before your mom died, he sounded like an entirely different man: happy, enthusiastic about life, and excited to be a father.

But then your mom died and he retreated inward. As though the whole thing was entirely your fault. He didn't want to parent you on his own and therefore you had to grow up taking care of yourself instead. 

"Whatever you have to do," you swallowed, turning away from Michael entirely and your voice hollow, "Just make it as painless as you can."

It wasn't like there was an easy way to ask him to kill your dad painlessly. You tried not to dwell on how easy it would be to let him go. It wasn't exactly like he'd ever been there for you anyways.

"So. Your clothes. I, um, still have your shirt and the sweats you borrowed are clean, if you want to change." You changed the topic quickly, ignoring the way he stared at you. The last thing you possibly wanted was pity from the Boogeyman. "Either way, I'm going to go wash my face before someone sees me."

You went upstairs to the bathroom, leaving Michael to his own devices downstairs. You opened drawers at random until you found the wet wipes you kept stashed for when you wore makeup. Some good hard scrubbing and scented lotion and it's like you were never there, all evidence flushed down the toilet and out of sight. You sighed, staring at yourself in the mirror as the events of the day hit you, leaving you feeling winded and exhausted all at once. You were complacent in a crime now. It wasn't just you hiding Michael from the cops, you'd let him kill a man in front of you.

Trying to argue with yourself that it was self defense was pointless. No use in lying to yourself.

When you opened your eyes, unsure of when you'd closed them, you met Michael's eyes where he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. "Oh, sorry, do you want to shower?" Before you could even move to leave, he unzipped the jumpsuit, leaving you speechless.

You gasped in horror at the state of his chest. The black shirt was gone and left his bandages on display, dirty and stained with reddish-brown blood that mixed with ugly yellow pus from the drainage of the wound. It reeked of infection even a few feet from him. "Michael!" You hurried to him to get a better look, feeling sick for the second time today. "Christ, you should have come to me before it got this bad! With how wet it's been… Take these off and sit down on the edge of the tub. God, this looks awful."

Michael sat, watching you with amusement. At least you assumed it was amusement. Though you couldn't find anything funny about this. "I should have stitched you," you mumbled as you reached for your first aid kit and began sterilizing a pair of scissors, "Or at least looked up what to do."

Swallowing back your squeamishness, you cut him free of the bandages, practically retching when you got a better look at his wound. It had somehow gotten worse, a painful red and oozing pus. "Oh my god, Michael." Your voice was barely a whisper. "I'm so sorry."

He tilted his head and you almost wanted to smack him. How he wasn't in any noticeable pain was bewildering to you.

You began to undress him, uncaring of any potential nakedness, and he grabbed your wrists tight when you reached forward to take off his mask. "Michael, this infection could kill you. I need to see if you're running a fever. So either let me touch your forehead or I'm touching your neck." 

He stood quickly, stumbling slightly as he grabbed the bloodstained knife from where he'd apparently set it down on the counter. But you didn't back down. "Be mad all you want, this is really fucking infected and I'm not letting you get worse." You sighed, racking your brain to come up with an idea to placate him. "If I close my eyes, will you let me take your temperature?" 

Slowly, his shoulders fell. Which confused you. You'd seen his mugshots, you knew he wasn't disfigured or anything like that. So his insistence at not being looked at confused you but now was not the time to be worrying about that.

Prettiness aside, you needed to help him.

So you shut your eyes and held out your hand. A minute passed without Michael moving and you briefly worried he'd left the room entirely. Before you could open your eyes, you felt his fingers encircle your wrist and press it to his neck. You felt him swallow and you tried your best to focus on how hot his skin felt and not how this was an incredible show of trust. Goosebumps erupted across your arms as you cupped his neck gently.

His skin was soft and feverish and you felt your heart clench.

"You're definitely running a fever," you sighed. "I'll look for a sewing kit or something to stitch you up but I want you to shower and get all that gross off first. Don't scrub too hard, okay?" Before you could retract your hand, his grip on your wrist tightened. "Are you-?"

He lifted your hand, letting your fingers graze his bare cheek. You felt Michael lean into the touch momentarily and you reacted quickly, holding his face gently. He was burning up so hot you weren't sure how he was even standing in this condition. When was the last time anyone had taken care of him? Or the last time he was even sick?

Judging by his height, he was likely slumped against the bathroom counter. The idea made your heart clench. Despite every instinct in your body telling you to pull away, you ran your hand up the side of his face in a gentle, soothing motion. Your fingers ran through tangled hair, soft and curly, before sliding down behind his ear to rest back on his neck. "You'll be okay," you said softly. "The fever will break and you'll be back on your feet in no time."

Having had enough of being touched, he took you by the shoulders and moved you aside, careful to not let you stumble and fall. You kept your eyes closed when you heard the shower turn on and the curtain shift as he stepped inside. Only then did you open your eyes.

What... was that?

You looked down at your hand like it offended you before shaking your head in bewilderment. He'd never fail to surprise you.

You figured out pretty quickly that that instance of seeking your touch was the extent that Michael wanted you to touch him. He barely tolerated you checking him over for fever symptoms, opting instead to lounge in your bed like he'd been exorcised of a demon.

For the past few days, you'd done your best to keep Michael's presence in your house a secret. With your workaholic dad's late hours, he usually just came back home, ate a frozen dinner, and passed out in his bedroom before waking around 9AM to stumble to work and repeat the process all over again. So, provided Michael kept quiet, there wasn't any worry. You'd taken a few days of sick leave from work to take care of him, citing a head cold. Now you just had to hope that the police would continue their dedicated search even if people weren't dying.

You wondered, as you sat on your bed with a feverish serial killer half naked and asleep beside you, if hoping he recovered soon made you a bad person.

Probably.

But god he was a bitch when he was sick.

He kept the godforsaken mask on, which you had expected. But when his fever rose to 102 you had kind of hoped he'd take it off for the sake of wanting to cool down. He was persistent, you'd give him that.

You were getting the hang of his body language too. It was subtle but you'd begun to notice the slight shifts in his stance or the way his hands would twitch without a knife in them. At first you'd assumed it was just you projecting but you'd grown confident you could understand him now. Being sick definitely made him more expressive too.

Though, right now, you wanted to strangle him. "Michael, it's chicken noodle soup." You sighed, rubbing your temples. Trying to feed him was like dealing with a picky toddler sometimes. "It's chicken, noodles, carrots, and broth. All things I've fed you before." You could feel his glare at you and you were half tempted to get your own knife to speak his language better.

The infection was running its course, which was the only reason you had so much patience with him. His bitchiness was a byproduct of his fever and you had to keep reminding yourself that he probably hadn't been sick before.

That didn’t make you want to clobber him any less.

"If you eat the fucking soup I'll go buy you pumpkin pie when you feel better." You tried, glaring him down. "Because the sooner you eat this, the sooner you'll get better. And then you can go back to slaughtering the town."

He seemed placated by that. You turned your back to him so he could eat and you let out a silent sigh. You knew him well enough to know he liked that soup, he just wanted to be a jackass about it.

Later that afternoon you yet again threatened him with violence when he refused taking medicine. You weren't surprised he wasn't interested, seeing as he grew up in a hospital. But you were outgrowing your patience with him. You did smirk a little when you realized he absolutely wanted to throw you across the room for all but forcing the antibiotics down his throat. But once it was down, you softened. "C'mere, sleep will do you some good."

Michael glared at you but let you sit next to him against the headboard of the bed as he laid down. You'd learnt he was definitely a stomach sleeper and you could tell by his huffing that the heat underneath the mask was beginning to frustrate him. You jerked your head away when he ripped the mask off, throwing it with a growl and face planting onto the pillow.

"It's okay," you said softly, keeping your gaze straight ahead and fighting the urge to look down at him. "You don't feel as feverish today, you should be back on your feet in a day or two." You heard him grumble and you giggled. "Want me to rub your back? Might help you sleep."

He was silent. But he didn't immediately lash out so you kept your movements slow and purposeful. Like approaching an anxious, abused cat. He didn't know touch that wasn't associated with pain and you had to be careful to avoid startling him or overstepping. Your fingers made contact with his back and you slid your palm over his upper back, rubbing in slow, soothing motions.

Maybe it was exhaustion, the fever, or resignation to your touch but you swore you felt him relax.

Michael's skin was tacky to the touch and incredibly warm but that didn't deter you. You hummed a soft lullaby, keeping your movements slow and gentle. He looked painfully human and you were choking on the urge to care for this man. This strange, silent Boogeyman who'd fallen into your lap and sought you for care and food and attention and it made you want to cry.

If it weren't for his murderous hobby, you'd be infatuated with the sleeping man. The slow rise and fall of his chest made something in your own clench painfully as you continued to rub his back. You'd only known each other for a short time and yet you both had extended a lot of trust to each other. Most people met him with hostility or violence but you'd met him with kindness. A kindness he was unfamiliar with and must have been a welcome change. Either that or he just liked your cooking and bedside manner enough not to kill you. You weren't too picky about his motives.

You'd be lying if you said you weren't fond of him regardless.

The sound of the front door opening was like a bucket of ice down your back. You crept from the bed, carefully shutting the door behind you and heading downstairs, meeting your father's tired face. "You're back early."

"I'm only on my lunch break," he sighed as he shrugged his coat off, "Didn't feel like packing one so I figured I'd come check on you." He was giving you a strange look. "Are you okay?"

You watched him go into the kitchen as you loitered on the stairs, watching him through the awning closest to the steps. "Yeah, just been a little under the weather." You feigned a cough and sniffed. "Getting better though."

Your dad hummed as he opened the fridge. "Michael Myers killed a man at the store the other day." He reached in to pull out a sandwich you'd made for yourself at lunch and hadn't gotten around to eating. Trying to feed Michael was a laborious task.

"Really?" You raised your eyebrows, crossing your arms over your chest. "I didn't hear about it in the news."

He watched you with a painfully blank expression. "Correct me if I'm wrong but… I think you were out shopping before you fell ill, am I right?" Your dad took a slow bite of his sandwich, poorly trying to act casual. "The store clerk said a man was following you outside the store."

Fortunately, you were a better actor than your father. "I didn't see anyone."

But, of course, he didn't believe you. He never did. "Son, a man was killed by Michael Myers the day you went out and now you've been hiding away since then." His cop voice grated on your nerves. It felt like he never stopped being a cop, even with you. Every conversation with him felt like navigating a maze to try and hide yourself from him. You hated it.

"The weather has been getting colder and I work outside. It's really not that surprising."

"Have you seen Myers?" He got sick of beating around the bush, his hands on his hips as he leveled you with an unimpressed look. "Is that why you've been hiding out here?"

The word "hiding" made your hackles raise. Like this wasn't the same man who'd told you to lock the doors and windows when he first informed you of Michael. "Nope." Your smile was fake and bitter and you could see the way he flinched. "Hard to miss a man walking around in a Halloween costume." 

"Kid-" He tried to placate you.

But you weren't interested. "I'll be back to work in a day or so, don't worry."

He seemed remorseful now. "If Myers is stalking you, you can talk to me. You know that, right?"

An awkward silence hung in the air. Your dad seemed to deflate and he ate in silence, pretending to not see you. "Have you talked to Laurie Strode yet?" You asked as you picked at a stray string on your sweater sleeve.

He swallowed and shook his head. "We're hesitant to let her know what's going on until we're certain he's still after her. Dr Loomis has been working with us to try and find him as soon as we can." He scratched his chin in thought. "Maybe I should make a statement soon, what with Halloween approaching."

You gave him another acidic smile. "You'll find him, I'm sure. You're very dedicated."

Your dad gave you a helpless look. If you were five years younger, you might have apologized for being so curt with him. But you weren't sixteen and craving your father's approval anymore. You knew that the family charade you both put up was only because you helped around the house. He wasn't home enough to give a shit who lived there anyways.

He didn't even know the killer he was hunting was asleep in your bed, stitched up with your string and your soup in his stomach. You had no intention of telling him, partially out of spite at this point.

You hoped Michael got better soon.

Lucky for you - and unlucky for Haddonfield - Michael was back on his feet a day later. He was still a bit warm but you knew it was fruitless to try and keep him inside any longer. He had to make another appearance in town anyways or else he'd risk you both. If people paid too close to timelines, your sick leave corresponding with his disappearance would be too suspicious.

But his stitches came out easily and his wound had healed decently. "Next time, come back before your bandages get too dirty." You'd smirked at him as you zipped his jumpsuit up. It felt too close to a wife sending her husband off to work for the day and the thought made your face warm.

You managed to get a few days of relative peace, especially once your father was occupied by Michael killing again. It had also been a few days since you saw Michael and you hoped that was just because his bandages were holding up well. The last thing either of you needed was another sick week.

Currently you were heading home after spending the afternoon reading at the park. Your little bag bumped against your hip as you hopped along to the music coming out of your tinny headphones. It was unlikely Michael had been watching you, since you didn't feel his eyes on you, but you still felt like taking a break from the house for a minute.

The sight of a cop car parked haphazardly along the sidewalk made you freeze. It had hit the curb slightly and looked like the driver had been in a hurry to get out. The door was wide open and you lowered your headphones slowly, the frantic voice over the radio better. The voice was staticy and it sounded like whoever it was was running but their words were crystal clear. "All units respond. Multiple fatalities reported on Orange Grove Ave. Suspect has been identified as one Michael Myers. He is armed and extremely dangerous. Shoot to kill, I repeat, shoot to kill. Over."

You felt your stomach drop and your head whipped around. Orange Grove Ave was just ahead so you took off like a shotgun, sprinting down the street. The only sound was that of your shoes hitting the pavement as you tried to come up with a plan. If they hadn't seen him yet, you just needed to get an opening for him to escape. You knew of Michael's unnatural ability to vanish if your eyes weren't on him.

Desperately, you didn't want him to get shot again.

You rounded the corner onto Orange Grove with a sharp turn, your eyes immediately spotting a second cop car. "Fuck!" You hissed to yourself as you picked up the pace. You should have gone looking for Michael sooner. Should have left for the park earlier in hopes of catching his attention. Anything, anything to have avoided him getting caught.

When you got closer to the car, you noticed a cop hanging halfway out of the car. His head had been smashed in, a puddle of gore, blood, and brain matter leaking steadily down the side of the car door. You felt like throwing up but you held it in when you spotted his partner. A young man, likely fresh on the force, clutching his gun as he pointed it down the alleyway. His trembling told you all you needed to know.

The officer gave you a quick glance, fear obvious on his face. "Get back!" He called to you.

You ignored him and looked down the alleyway. Michael stood there calmly, hanging back in the shadows between the two buildings. Another cop lay before him and you watched with horror as Michael's boot made heavy contact with the cop's skull, a wet, sickening crunch echoing out in the small space.

"Get down and put your hands in the air!" The rookie said, hands on the gun shaking as he kept his eyes on Michael. An idea came to you. It was stupid, reckless, and dangerous.

You lunged for the cop, knocking his gun from his hands and sending him stumbling.

He didn't even have time to do anything but look at you with horrified eyes before Michael descended on him. He grabbed the rookie by his collar and lifted him effortlessly before running him through with his knife, spilling his guts on the sidewalk in warm waterfalls of blood. You scrambled backwards to avoid being caught in the spray but Michael gladly covered himself in the fresh gore. The rookie's lifeless body hit the floor with a heavy, empty sound and Michael turned his attention on you.

You scanned the nearby area and spotted a little path between two houses overrun with grass and brush. Without a second thought, you took off towards it and just hoped Michael was behind you. Other members of the force would be on their way and you both needed to disappear. You ignored the scratching of sharp branches against your arms and hands, only wincing when a particularly sharp one sliced a thin cut across your calf.

But you didn't falter. You kept running through the town, your heart pounding hard and pumping pure fumes through you as you ran. As soon as you broke into the treeline of the forest, you collapsed to your knees and let yourself catch your breath.

A hand gripped the back of your shirt and for a brief second you feared you'd been caught. But Michael dragged you towards a tree, pinning you to it and holding his bloody knife close under your throat, the blade digging into your skin. "Wait!" You struggled against his grip, kicking out at him with your heavy boots. "What did I do?! I got you out of there without getting shot!"

You could see his eyes this close. Hazel, like you'd suspected. His eyes were narrow with hate and anger as he glared you down. But you stopped struggling and that only seemed to make him madder. "I wasn't just going to let you get hurt!" You hissed, reaching up to grab the hand that held your collar tightly, keeping you rooted in place. "I don't see what you're so angry about."

He didn't like that answer. The knife pressed in and you gasped when you felt a stream of your own blood run down, wetting his fingers. "Stop," you pleaded, clawing at him frantically. "Stop, please, I'm sorry."

That wasn't good enough for him and held you tighter. Tears welled up in your eyes and fell, mixing with the blood. Pain shot through you when Michael yanked his knife away, taking a few steps back and letting you slide down the tree as you gasped for breath. Your hands gripped at your neck, slightly relieved it wasn't more than a surface cut. Blood started to stain your hands, falling in rivulets down your arm and leaking over your elbows only to stain the grass beneath you a muddy red color.

His head tilted as he watched and you wanted to spit at him. "Y'know, I kinda thought we had a partnership going on." Your words were choked as you glared up at him. "Was I wrong?"

That seemed to get to him. He straightened up and stared you down. You got up on shaking legs and stumbled away from him and towards the forest. His footsteps were loud as he followed behind you and that only served to make you angrier. The walk home was silent and he stayed a few feet behind you the whole time, never getting closer nor straying. The only sounds were the twigs crackling under your shoes and you were too rattled to feel or think much of anything. Your only goal was getting home.

You kicked the back door open and stormed inside and upstairs to the bathroom. You stared at yourself in the mirror and wanted to smack yourself for your infatuation with a killer who didn't care about you. The cut was, thankfully, small. And hopefully the amount on your arms could convince your dad you were just handling a blackberry bush at work or something. The one on your leg could be hidden under pants until it healed. So you began rooting around for bandages and ignored Michael standing in the doorway.

"I help you get away and you try to kill me?" You growled, glaring at him in the mirror. "I could have let that cop shoot you and I didn't because I fucking care, Michael." Tears threatened to fall again and you swallowed them back when he gave you a tilt of his head. "I get you aren't good with feelings and- and maybe this is just you needing me to clean and feed you but I wanted to help you." You dabbled your neck with a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide and hissed at the sting. "If that's all you want me for then fine but I need to know where we stand."

He watched you bandage your neck, his shoulders set tight as he waited for you to finish. He set the knife down on the counter and reached for you but you flinched back. "Wash your hands." You mumbled and stepped back more to give him access to the sink.

The water ran for some time as the two of you watched the blood swirl down the drain and out of sight. Once the water ran clear, he pulled his hands out and reached for you again. You wanted to run but were backed up into a corner with no way out.

He covered your eyes with one and you frowned in confusion. "What are you-?" He took your wrist with his free hand and held it to his face again, silencing you. His face felt wet and that concerned you. "Are you bleeding somewhere?" You tried feeling around for any cuts but he shook his head no. "Was it raining?" Another no.

So an idea came to you. A dangerous one if you were wrong. "Were you… crying?"

He nodded. Your heart broke.

You pulled him in for a hug, keeping your eyes closed as you just held him. He dropped the hand from your eyes to hold your hip, leaning into your touch like he did when he was ill a few weeks ago. "What happened?" You tried, holding his face with both hands.

Michael just shook his head helplessly and bumped your foreheads together. Oh. Oh. "Were you… worried I was turning you in?" No. "Was it because I was there while you were, uh, hunting?" No. You chewed on your lip as another dangerous thought came to you. "You were worried I was going to get hurt."

His jaw clenched as his throat worked around a growl. The Boogeyman of Haddonfield couldn't afford to feel anything. He doesn't. As far as anyone is concerned at least. Yet here you were, defying all odds and earning Michael's favor. His protection. His care. And the idea of losing you had terrified him, causing him to lash out at you for willingly putting yourself in danger. Emotions had run high and he'd acted out. He hadn't known what else to do but scare you back. 

"I'm sorry I worried you," you said softly, stroking your thumbs over his cheeks and wiping the moisture away as you kept your eyes closed. "I was worried about you too. I heard the police radio mention shooting you on sight so I went looking for you." His grip on you tightened slightly and you sighed. "I know that you're used to people shooting at you or- or attacking you. But I'm not used to hearing about it."

You finally admitted to yourself and him: "I don't want you to die."

After a moment of silence, he pressed your foreheads together. You felt his breath ghost over your skin and your noses bumped together awkwardly. You hooked a hand behind his neck to just hold him and he squeezed your hips tight. "I don't want you to die," you gasped into your shared air. He made a muffled sound and this felt so much more intimate than any kind of kissing you'd done in the past. You just stood there in each other's spaces, sharing air and warmth and closeness that you hadn't had with someone else in a long time. You couldn't imagine how it felt for him.

"We're in this together now, okay?" You said softly, your eyes fluttering open to meet his. Pretty, you thought absently. But you already knew that. Brown ringlet curls, one eye injured from his fight with Laurie Strode, and a light dusting of freckles across his nose. His face looked damp and you brushed under his eyes with the hem of your sleeve. Despite that, his face was expressionless even though you could see conflict swirling in his eyes. You couldn't imagine how he was feeling. "We'll look out for each other, yeah?"

He gave you a slow nod and you smiled. Your foreheads pressed together again and you felt his shoulders relax as his eyes closed. Trust. You both trusted each other and were partners in this now. You accepted you'd be complacent in his crimes going forward and he'd learn to accept your care in time.

Just you and your Boogeyman against the world...

[i-eat-deodorant]

hc + ✂️ for Lamb!!

[Ask Meme]

✂️ -> for a hair-themed headcanon

Sheep, or at least Lamb's breed of sheep, don't naturally shed. It's the reason why sheep's wool has long fibers that can be better spun into yarn, but also means that Lamb has to shear every so often.

When out crusading, they prefer to grow it a little bit long. The extra bulk protects them by absorbing impact during fights, but if overgrown it obscures their vision and impedes movement. Maintaining wool is a balancing act. Lamb usually never shears themselves to the skin, but sometimes--especially during hotter summer months and/or crusading in water-logged areas such as Anchordeep--they have it cropped short.

Their neck will always remain hairless. The scar tissue there means that no wool grows there.

[glocksglory]

#grownwomantypebeat

_You’ve officially entered your grown woman body era. It’s literally like you’ve undergone a second puberty. You have the body of a thick, curvy, mature woman over the age of 25, especially one that has given birth as you possess post childbirth hips. You got a fully-figured, busty, fully-developed, curvy, thick semi-pear shaped body that grows curvier and thicker with every breath you take. You have a milf, hentai, post-childbirth-like body. You always receive compliments on your thick, busty body and every1 wants to have a body like you, but it’s simply impossible because it’s all DNA and genetics frfr. You’ve always been thick but you’ve gotten so much thicker that it’s nearly impossible to fit into your old shirts and pants anymore; your skirts even rise when you walk. You’re gaining weight in all the right areas, especially your breasts, butt, hips, thighs, and calves. You store specifically subcutaneous fat, which is fat directly beneath the skin. You have a higher body fat percentage and a lower muscle mass percentage. You don’t have any visible bone or muscle definition seen through your skin; this is because you have a juicy, plump, soft, squishy, cushioned, plush, pillow-like body. You’re immune to looking bony or sharp and only capable of looking thick, plump, soft and curvy. Your body has fully developed and your breasts, hips, butt, and thighs are filled with so much muscle, fat and tissue. You have increased body fat deposits as you’re producing perfect, healthy amounts of estrogen that resulted in you receiving a curvy, thick body naturally, encouraging more body fat deposition! Calories, fat, and weight are heavily migrated in your breasts, butt, hips, thighs, and calves. Every molecule of fat you consume goes straight to your breasts, butt, hips, thighs and other desired places. You have 1111 pounds of fat in your breasts, butt, hips, and thighs. You've gained immense amounts of desired fat everywhere on your body except for your abdominal area. Your body is so thick and fleshy that bone definition is nowhere to be seen (except in your abdominal area); almost like Ice Spice. The fat cells in your butt, breasts, hips and thighs are rapidly multiplying and growing at uncontrollable rates. Your body is programmed to store fat only in your butt, breasts, hips, thighs and other desired areas. You gain weight without having to eat or workout at all, it is what it is.

_You have massive, rounded, tear-drop shaped, full, protruding, plump, perky, lifted, symmetrical, balanced, harmonical, proportional, close-set and attractive breasts. They’re so humongous that they practically spill out of any bras you wear, breaking the straps. So massive that they almost touch your laps yet remain so uplifted. You got anime-like tiddies that move with video game jiggle physics. Your breasts jiggle and bounce with every slight movement you make. It’s hard to ignore ‘em cause they bounce with every step you take. If you were to fall, they’d cushion and protect you. Your breasts have that push-up bra effect because there’s a natural cleavage present and they’re extremely close-set. People always think you wearing a bra cause they sit up so nicely. When people talk 2 you it’s hard not to look down; they’re so eye-catching. Like JT in Baggin (My titties perfect, they plastic), you got mfs thinking your breasts are fake with the way they sit so pretty effortlessly.

+ increase breast width, diameter, projection and volume

+ have insane amounts of breast tissue

+ have high breast projection from the chest wall

+ breasts, nipples and areolas taste good af

_Your butt is the epitome of the words uplifted, full, plump, jiggly, soft, juicy, perky, squishy, plush-like, fat, oversized, round, peachy, heart-shaped, shelf, colossal, puffy, huge, slappable, grabbable, humongous, gigantic, vast, enormous, massive, overgrown, cakey, thick, heavy, obese, inflated, protruding, ginormous, and ridiculously-large. You have a ginormous, thick, fat, booty that claps jiggles, wiggles, and bounces even in the thickest denim jeans. Your butt sits up and is so round making it embody the definition of “bubble butt”. Your butt is so jiggly like jello. You have jello-like cheeks that bounce, wiggle, jiggle, and ripple resembling ocean waves, even with even the slightest movements; like Ari Fletcher. Because your butt is just 2 big, you have deep, prominent, curved, under-cheek creases like Rubi Rose & Ice Spice (ex. https://www.instagram.com/p/CyU1hBguTbw/?igsh=MWhoY2g1Zm1hejg1dg== & https://www.instagram.com/p/CiqLMxJv_q7/?igsh=YWp5bmR6ZG5nN3Fp) Your gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus are so big and oversized; it looks like you’ve been doing exercises targeting the butt foreva. Your booty is literally way too big, fat, thick, and chunky to fit in your jeans or underwear; practically ripping every article of clothing you attempt to wear. Your buttcheeks are so big that your lips down there are hidden behind them. Each booty cheek weighs 1111 pounds; it lowkey deserves separate seats for each. You have exponentially multiplying fat cells in each of your butt cheeks, Your ass is noticeable and sexy from the front, back and side view; doing whole 360s in this bitch! When you walk past mfs, they be thinking *damnnn ha ass is fat*. Mfs can’t help but say “gyat damnnn” whenever you walk by. You have the perfect shelf booty that pokes out from the side, taking the shape of a capital letter ‘P’.

_Your hips are so wide it seems like you’re sitting down while standing up. Because your hips are so wide, you struggle to walk through doorways and you can’t even pull up yo pants. Your hips look as if they’ve been drawn by a manga artist. You have rounded, wide, broad, vast, curvy, padded, fleshy and expanded hips. You have broad, post child-birth hips in the best way possible. You got a low, wide lip flare that compliments your body. Your hips are so wide you can’t even wrap a measuring tape ‘round it. Mfs know you have a big butt as they can see it from the front because of your wide hips. Your hips are significantly wider than your shoulders; it almost looks fake. You have thick layers of fat and flesh on your hips; decreasing the muscle and bone definition and completely filling out hip-dips (if any). You have expanded and evenly distributed fat/tissue deposits and fat/tissue pads on the sides of your hips. You have plumped, wide, jumbo-sized, curvy, round, poking-out hips and an extremely fleshy lower body in general. Your cute, expanded, padded, plush, pushed outwards, inflated, plump, curved, round, obese, wide, smooth, fresh, protruding, feminine, maximized, swollen, broad, and fatty saddlebags (side butt) add to your curvy hips appearance and are heavily accentuated by your bone structure.

+ trochanters that are significantly wider than the ilium

+ have have hyper-wide, broad, trochanters

+ low-placed, low-seated, narrow ilium

+ possess the positive benefits of having hypertrophy saddlebags and steatopygia

_You are the human personification of the phrase ‘thick thighs save lives’. Your thighs could deadass break watermelons. Your thighs are literally the epitome of big, thick, large, humongous, enormous, gigantic, fat, chubby, squishy and soft. You have thighs similar to SZA and Megan Thee Stallion. Your thighs are soft and squishy like marshmallows, and thick and soft like pillows. Everyone fantasizes about using your thighs as pillows & you got mfs always begging to use your thighs as pillows. You literally have to use 2 chairs to sit down because they spill over chairs n shi. Your thighs are so thick that popeyes biscuits and molasses have nothing on them! You easily store and gain fat in your thighs. You have increased thickness and layers of fat and flesh in your thighs. You have the best thunder thighs in the world.

+ genetically store fat in the legs

+ have thick, plump, wide, chubby legs

& symmetrical, balanced, harmonical, proportional fat composition, muscle mass, body frame, bone structure, body shape, body angles, body proportions, body weight, body height, body type.

& symmetrical, balanced, harmonical, proportional neck, torso, chest, abdomen, belly, waist, hips, butt, legs, hands, arms, fingers, shoulders, collarbone, back, breasts, thighs, feet, and toes.

[bl4ckorch1d]

SHACKLE // Buckthorne Woods

Male Naga OC / GN! Reader

1.5k Words || AO3

Slight horror themes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The forest was almost deadly silent, an oddity for such a usually lively place. One place once visited by many turned abandoned acres. Though it wasn’t a mystery, the nation needed a specific place for the things they deemed ‘unsightly’ for their aesthetic modernized cities. It seemed not even the birds wanted to stick around, not wanting to become prey to either fangs or claws. 

Buckthorne Woods, a name known by many and feared just the same. It only seemed like a few years ago until the humans decided ‘monsters’ can’t roam free on their own free will anymore. Almost seems like they got bored of fighting themselves and moved on to a different area of the food tree. While the woods were certainly one of the largest in the nation, it still was nowhere near big enough to hold every ‘monstrosity’ that roamed the land; their population almost became cut in half due to this. Not much of a chance for a bloom either, while the forest dwellers stay among their own types and don’t fight with each other over land, most refuse to bring a child into such a hate-filled world. Some kinds are becoming almost extinct; mostly the less humanoid they look, the lesser their number is. 

A waterfall was all that truly broke the silence in this specific part of the forest, a beautiful sight almost no one will ever know exists. All that accompanied other than the lush forest greens was a small opening to a cavern, only lit by the sun shining into it.

═.✾. ═══════

The water rippled against the paddles that ran through it, a canoe accompanied by a lone fisher. Setting your canoe under light shading, between the endless green that surrounded your figure. With the paddle set aside, you are in high hopes for fish above the average. With your dominant hand gripping your fishing pole, in a single swoop, you swing the line into the water. A small splash accompanied the bobber as it broke the surface tension of the water. The rays of the sun crack through the open spaces of shade, your skin embracing the slight heat. Eyes steady for any slight pull, you sit there tense. A slight tug on the pole, “Finally, a bite.” you hum to yourself. As you go to start reeling in, your body suddenly drags forward, slamming at the edge of the canoe almost tipping over. You try balancing yourself all while whatever was hooked squirmed around violently in the water, splashing and sending slight waves in all directions. Stubbornly, you began pulling back in panic and hurry, but all this action resulted in was a loud snap. Your back harshly hits the bottom of the canoe, as it sways from side to side. “Damn it”, you thought to yourself, “Should have brought spares.”, as you looked down at the snapped pole.

  At this point, your only goal was to find your way home after that experience. The river only went in one direction, and you swore you remembered which way you came from. So why did it feel so ominously wrong? Paddling through the water, you had expected to find the subtle tracks you left behind to get back out of the forest. The endless overgrown verdure shielded most of your view, but you could hear the heavy sound of water crashing against itself. You knew at that moment that you were completely lost. Your phone was rendered useless without an ounce of service, and the map you brought was drenched from the fishing disaster. The idea of making it back seemed like a pipe dream. It was late evening, and by the time you could even make it back to your fishing spot, the forest would be enveloped by complete darkness. Heading on towards the sound of the water, your eyes were met with an enchanting sight. A waterfall with almost crystal clear water in the pool below it, the scene looked straight out of a magazine. Looking past the constant pouring, there was a cavern hidden slightly beside the falls. Seemed to be your last resort for a place to reside. Paddling on, you dock your canoe as close to the cavern as you can without it getting completely flooded. Grabbing any salvageable supplies, you adventure forward to the mouth of the cavern. 

Nothing seems odd at first glance, a few spiders with their webs seem to be the only company you’ll have tonight. You drop your bag only a few feet into the cavern, far enough to be protected from the elements but close enough to still see outside. The cavern seemed to split into many tunnels further along and that just seemed like a horrible idea to adventure in your current state. Luckily your small blanket had survived the onslaught of water, a small comfort in your hellish predicament. If it wasn’t for the bed of rocks you laid on, you could almost trick yourself into thinking the waterfall was a sound machine when you shut your eyes.

◦ • • • • • • • ◦

Pains shot up your left leg, and you could feel the bile burning in the back of your throat as you lurched awake. Your eyes water as you lose the fight against your nausea. Choking as the last bit of bile makes it out of your mouth. Reaching for your backpack so you can fish out your thermostat to rid the aftertaste of vomit. Instead of the bag, your hand meets straw. You aren’t where you fell asleep. Panic rises in your system as you notice your left leg has swollen like a balloon and the leg beside it has a glistening silver shackle around it.  

You try to make sense of the rest of your surroundings. You seem to be at a dead end of one of the tunnels you spotted earlier. A small fire lights the area with the smoke billowing out into a tiny hole within the wall. If that hole led outside, it seems it is still night. You can’t spot your bag anywhere in the room, there wasn’t much of anything other than the small straw bed you laid upon and the small fire. Oh, and of course the shackle around your ankle that seemed to glisten as it taunted you. Yanking on it seemed to only deliver more pain to the opposite leg as you slightly moved. The chain connected to it was rooted deep into the cave wall, you’d need a jackhammer to even hope to remove it. 

Seems like you really should have listened to all the warning signs you saw at the entrance of the forest, instead of delusionally hoping no harm would have come to you. Now you lay prisoner to some mystery creature. Yelling seemed pointless as no other humans would be anywhere near the entrance of the cavern, and you couldn’t tell how deep you were into it. The noise would also likely attract whatever trapped you, but that almost seemed better than willowing alone in pain. So, you did as any white girl would do in a cheesy horror film and yelled out, “Is anybody there?” . . . A weird mix of relief and disappointment washed over you as silence was your only response. Not even the slightest rustle, only the crackling of embers. 

A sigh escaped your lips, almost masking the slight foreign noise just outside from where you could see. Nausea hits like a typhoon once you lay eyes on who you guessed to be your captor. A naga male, he could almost be mistaken for a model if it wasn’t for the tail that replaced where legs would be. “The rabbit finally awakens I see.” A silky deeper voice, one that overenunciated its s’ by quite a bit. His tan upper half shifted as he went to throw the sticks into the dying fire. Once he moved closer you could finally get a good look at him, his snake side resembling a ‘tiger snake’ with the black and yellow banding. A sharp jawline matched, with sharp golden brown eyes. Black hair tied messily into a bun. Could be worse, much better than some smelly goblin at least.  Your internal monologue was disrupted as he moved to you, getting closer to your swollen leg. “Suprised it hasn’t turned purple yet.” He let out a snide hiss as he poked it, his smile widening as you whimpered out in pain. “But don’t worry, it’s only been mere hours. It’ll swell much more by morning.” A prideful huff as those sharp eyes glanced down at you. He was obviously mocking you, and you could only grit your teeth in response. His hand swatting at you, “No need for that, I’m not going to let it get that bad dear.” The tone made him seem so condescending that you wouldn’t be surprised if he bit you again, right in the same puncture wounds. “Now, give me a second, don’t go anywhere!” . . . Maybe a goblin would have been better. His form quickly slithers out of the area leaving nothing but the sounds of embers once again.

═══════ .✾. ═

[vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin]

Some thoughts about Cybertron in the Transformers One trailer (SPOILERS!)

I was most interested in the shown state of Cybertron in the trailer. Instead of the rather familiar image of a metallic futuristic and technologically advanced planet, the trailer shows a completely different state of the planet's surface. There is some kind of organic life here, and it looks interesting.

Many compare it to Cybertron from the endings of BeastsMachines and Cybertron (Galaxy Force) and the Cyberverse. But I won't agree. In the first case, the idea was that Cybertron, for the sake of balance, should combine its wild distant past and present, creating a techno-organic unity, in the second case it was a symbol of the rebirth of the planet and the return of power to Primus, and in the third it was a rather lazy and crooked way to show the world of Cybertron, which worked incomprehensibly and contradicted itself. At least that's how I understand it. Here, one gets the impression of a completely different idea.

The surface of Cybertron looks to be covered with organic plant life, not techno-organic, and this is interesting, given that most of the ground looks to be made up of metal and crystalline structures.

But most importantly, this vegetation looks somewhat wrong, but in a certain sense. It's like it doesn't belong here.

What I mean by that. Some of the plants look natural, while the rest looks out of line with the rest of the environment and even other vegetation. And this is not about the quality of the graphics, everything is just fine here, and therefore it seems to me that this impression is made intentionally.

Here is an example where plants look organic (first 3), and where they no longer combine with the place of growth (next 3).

And the appearance is strikingly different, as if these plants are not from the same biome, which leads to one thought, but more on that later.

On the other hand, animals, they are obviously completely metallic and mechanical. And, interestingly again, we see only these deer or antelopes, no flocks of birds or insects on the background, some small animals.

All this gives me the impression of a kind of post-apocalyptic world either at the stage of dying or at the initial stage of rebirth. Most of the territory is a wasteland of metal and ground, and the plants seem to be in separate oases. This may hint either that plants are gradually taking over the planet after a cataclysm, or that life is gradually dying on the surface.

We see the ruins of buildings covered with vegetation and the bodies, presumably of the Primes, also overgrown with some kind of plants. But all this does not look peaceful and whole.

At least there is an artificial danger for representatives of the fauna.

And since the Quintessons are definitely involved in the plot, I have two ideas about what's going on.

1. Techno-organic quintessons alter the planet for themselves and create suitable conditions and an ecosystem for themselves on the surface. This explains why the plants look so different, the Quintessons could have imported them from other planets or their native home. This would explain why antelopes resemble our animals so much, they could have been created under the impression of the fauna of other worlds. The ruins of the buildings could belong to transformers, who were enslaved and driven to live and work underground. Or transformers were also created in the image and likeness of someone as a workforce.

2. The planet was originally organic. Quintessons could fly here for resources or in search of a new home and begin to cyberform the planet, gradually killing organic life that remained only on small areas of the surface. At the same time, antelopes can be mutated or cyberformed animals that are gradually exterminated by the shown protection system. The buildings could belong to the alien race that originally lived here. At the same time, transformers can be a workforce created by quintessons.

This is definitely a very interesting and new look at Cybertron and the past of this planet, and it seems to me that the authors of the cartoon clearly decided to show Cybertron like this for a reason, there is an idea behind it.

Well, let's wait to see what happens.

[thepenultimateword]

Prompt #205

Villain picked her way across the rubble remains of the hero agency. Supervillain’s burning, smoking triumph. A message to every other agency in the area to back off and accept Supervillain’s coming reign.

She kicked a scorched piece of drywall out of the buildings frame, turning it to powder on the collapsed roof tiles.

Huh.

She wasn’t going to find anything after all. Usually she benefited from following in Supervillain’s wake, picking scraps off the bones of places like a vulture, but every once in a while things turned out unsalvageable. What a waste.

She turned on her heel to exit when the hic of a stifled sob penetrated the silence.

Villain frowned, spreading her arms and balancing across a fallen support beam to a small alcove.

She ducked her head sideways under the debris, blinking a couple times in the dusty shadow before picking out a curled up figure swathed in stained orange.

“Hey.”

The figure jolted, scrambling out of their cape cocoon to face Villain head one. Overgrown blonde curls were streaked ashy and his eyelashes were heavy with building dust. Pale streaks marked where tears had cut through the grime on his cheeks. It took a two seconds to identify him: a hero.

He pressed himself further against his ruble shelter, causing the pile to groan.

Villain held up her gloved hands. “I’m not one of the bad guys. I’m like…the rescue crew. Yeah.”

The hero’s shiny eyes drifted up and down, weighing the truthfulness of that statement. Apparently it wasn’t too ridiculous because he slowly uncurled his knees, scooting a few inches closer to the opening.

“You’re alright. Just come towards me. That’s right, step by step. Just come—“

The hero collapsed into her arms.

His cape draped over Villain’s elbows, exhausted limbs splayed at odd angles. And Villain just held him, circling him in false safety as he fully, truly broke.

“It’s ok,” she shushed. “I’m going to keep you so safe.”

Maybe this scavenge wasn’t a total dead end after all.

[the-eldritch-it-gay]

Majexatli as a Companion

[Part 1/?]

[Questions from here]

Where can your Tav be recruited?

Majexatli can be recruited in Act 1. They are found on the Risen Road, by the hyenas. When approaching for the first time, a cutscene will play, in which the player sees a dire coyote eating one of the hyenas and being attacked by gnolls. The dire coyote races after the gnolls beyond the trees and out of sight, allowing the player to investigate the dead and dying hyenas on the road. 

After the player begins combat with the hyenas, Majexatli will join initiative, rushing into combat to assist the players from where the dire coyote has disappeared. Once combat ends, Majexatli will introduce themselves and their tadpole will connect with the players, indicating that they too were on the Nautiloid.

Your tadpole squirms in recognition, their fragmented memories becoming your own. Flashes of verdant forests, vast grasslands, kneeling before a gathering of druidic elders, wandering overgrown paths, the title of Faithwarden. With each flash, however, an undercurrent of hunger, growing in intensity with each passing memory until it erupts into something blood-red and razor-sharp.

The Dark Urge will get a unique dialogue option here, relating to the bloodlust in Majexatli’s memories. Druids will also get a unique dialogue with an insight check where they can mentally speculate on Majexatli’s druidic background and note that Majexatli’s druidic armor is very different from most druids. Druid players will also recognize the title of Faithwarden and note the high honor of the title. Rangers can notice that their armor and clothing seem more reminiscent of a ranger than a druid. Clerics can notice their lack of a holy or druidic symbol.

Majexatli will offer their assistance to the player, saying that they are an accomplished druid and alchemist and that they can help navigate the area.

If allowed, Majexatli will either join the player's active party if there’s room, or be told to head to the player’s camp.

Does your Tav have any comments or advice when you recruit other companions?

I can't imagine Majexatli being recruited before some of the origin companions, but I've included everyone anyways for the fun of it.

About Wyll: The Blade of Frontiers... I haven't actually heard of him, I'm afraid. He seems a good man, though, and rather charming...

About Karlach: It's nice to have another tiefling in camp. I imagine she's one hell of a fighter, too, anyone who's lived in the hells has to be.

About Astarion: Hm. I'd keep an eye on the pale one.

About Shadowheart: If I've learned anything during my years, it's that you should always have a healer with you, regardless of whatever they have going on. Shadowheart will be important if we want to stay alive.

About Lae'zel: Lae'zel is quite the warrior, it's wise to have her around. I don't know much about her people, but if she says she knows the cure for our parasites, I'm willing to follow her lead.

About Gale: Stranger as it is, I've never met a wizard. Gale seems quite knowledgeable. He's kind of everything I imagined a wizard would be like, if I'm honest. Very... wizardly.

About Halsin: (sighs) I suppose it's good for Halsin to finally join us, given how long he's been in our camp.

About Minthara: I think it's good to have Minthara with us, as long as she stays on our side that is. I might not agree with everything she says, but she's quite impressive in battle.

About Jaheira: Hm. Another druid.

What sort of general actions raise or lower their approval?

Raise approval: helping people in need, killing people who are abusing power/authority, respecting nature, some violence, survival skills (foraging, gathering plants, gathering loot from killed beasts) being kind to children

Lower approval: senseless cruelty, delighting in the suffering of others, expressing disgust for monsters, abusing authority/power, taking advantage of innocent people, neutrality, maintaining balance or status quo

[doahaesunshine]

Chapter 20

Chapter WC: 3972

Tags

Some lore, some lore, wooo ahhh shiney

Still sick but so much better than god - T

Master List | Prev | Next

Get out of my head Get out Get out Get out Please Leave me alone.

As you ran through the forest stray branches grazed your skin, but the pain was nothing with the adrenaline rushing through your system. Even as your legs grew heavy and tired you continued onward, you had to see Jeonghan, he was calling to you. The lake was so close, your heart was pounding against your chest, but you didn’t care. 

Breaching the treeline, you saw the rocky shore and blue waters. It was a welcome sight, even if it had only been a week. You scanned the surrounding area, searching for Jeonghan.

“This way~” His voice pulled you in the direction of the gazebo.

As you followed the song the structure gradually came into vision. Under the shade of the overgrown gazebo sat Jeonghan, he was staring in your direction, a gentle smile on his face. You rushed toward him, joy filled you as Jeonghan greeted you with open arms. The man huffed out a laugh as you collided with him, enveloping each other in a warm hug, it felt like home.

He held your face in his hands and softly wiped the tears that had stained your cheeks. You didn’t even realize you were crying, and the tears were cold, not warm.

“I want you to try something with me, is that alright?” Jeonghan spoke smoothly as he idly brushed your hair with his hand.

You nodded in agreement as Jeonghan grabbed a journal left on the gazebo bench. Leading you to the edge of the lake, he guided you to sit with him. He sang out a melodious whistle and from the lake brush, appeared one of the albatrosses. 

Jeonghan held out his hand and the bird approached, swimming toward the two of you. The albatross walked onto the shore and sat across from you.

“Sage.” Jeonghan said as he took your hand. “This bird is dying. He’s old and withering.”

You watched the white and gray feathered bird as it struggled to keep itself balanced. Its beak was cracked and its eyes were clouded with age.

“But I think you have something deep inside you that can help him…”

You turned your attention to Jeonghan. “What? You think my empathy can save him?” You were half joking with your question.

Jeonghan shook his head. “No- Arcanists and humans of this realm manifest their base talent, but they can develop more.” He opened the journal and showed you a page. “I dug up a diary from ages ago and found this.”

The entry was written with a heavy hand, nothing like Jeonghan’s neat writing. You saw one specific block of text that stood out:

I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to bring back the village cat. Some of the citizens thought it was Necromancy, that she had raised the feline back from the dead. I believed it, I saw the cat, it was dead, scattered across the stone floor. The poor thing wasn’t able to catch itself. 

Juno found the critter and took it in her arms. I must have blinked or was seeing things because the next thing I saw was the cat walking. It was unscathed, perfectly healed. I thought the young woman must have been a Vitae, but she didn’t show any signs.

I know I will sound crazy, but I believe Juno has the ability to either bring things back to life, or have it so they never died in the first place. I will have to take this information to the council so that the Elders can review it.

The text stopped there. Who was Juno? And there was a council? Elders?

“Who’s Juno?” You genuinely wanted to know.

“No one you need to concern yourself with.” A low voice spoke behind you.

Jeonghan was the first to turn to the source. You didn’t have to look, you knew who it was. With a gentle hand, Jeonghan pushed the albatross back into the water and stood. 

“Wonwoo… What brings you out to these parts?” The raven haired man casually approached the Archivist.

The Siren paused when he saw who accompanied Wonwoo. Junhui stood behind the Archivist, expression unsure and meek. Turmoil written all over the blond’s face.

“Junhui- What did you do?” Jeonghan backed away, slowly reaching at the back of his belt.

You stood and trained your gaze on the two men. There was a sadness radiating off of the blond, but the Archivist was cold and collected. Whatever was going to happen, he was prepared for it.

Eris stayed by your side, protective in her stance. Cosmos’s eyes were affixed to the raven harried Siren, waiting to see what he would do under pressure. 

Jeonghan started to back into the water, hoping to escape.

“Glacies.” Archivist Jeon commanded in a booming voice.

The area turned frigid, the moisture in the air freezing. Jeonghan’s foot met solid ice as he tried to retreat. One look behind you and you saw that the whole lake had frozen over, Wonwoo did not want the Siren to escape. 

Both the Archivist and his familiar lunged toward Jeonghan. You were about to run to stop them, but Junhui held you back. To your surprise, Eris did not make a move to help you.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to hurt you.” Junhui said as he tried to place his hand on your temple.

Something in your vision shifted, everything turned red and you felt cold liquid drip from your eyes. With new found strength you shoved Junhui back, Eris rasped out a growl as she tried to stop you. 

“Sage, focus!”  

You heard Eris’s voice in your head.

“Fight it!”

You didn’t understand. What were you supposed to be fighting against? Your head thrummed in pain as your vision darkened. A quick glance to Jeonghan and you saw the Archivist closing in on him.

“Arma.” Archivist Jeon said as he held out an open hand.

You watched as a long, hooked dagger appeared in his hand. The blade was pure white and it gleamed in the sunlight as he ran toward Jeonghan. Once again you tried to dash toward the two, but Eris grabbed onto your arm with her mouth. There was a pressure, but no pain, even if blood began to pour from the limb.

“Eris- Let go!” You struggled against your familiar, but she was much stronger than you.

Junhui closed in on you again, grabbing your face so that you looked at him. Everything was still painted red as you saw the blond’s brow furrow in concentration.

“Mentsuzas Dominae.” Junhui spoke as he held his hand to your temple.

An excruciating pain shot through your head, something was moving beneath your skin. You screamed out as you thrashed against Junhui and Eris. Your mind went into overdrive, using every ounce of energy you had to try and push the two away using your talent. Fear, disgust, malice, sorrow, you tried anything.

Junhui pulled the leech from your temple and crushed it in his grasp. With the pest gone your vision returned to you, but you still felt a pull. Eris released your arm, causing you to take notice of the pain. Your ears rang as the migraine continued to wreck you.

“Help me, Sage.”

Jeonghan’s voice. You turned to where your friend and Archivist Jeon were fighting. The two were immersed in combat. Slinging spells and clashing blades with full strength, the two showcased an equal amount of power. 

You ran at full speed toward Archivist Jeon at full speed, before you could get within a foot of him your movement stopped and you were being lifted into the air. Wonwoo held out a hand toward you as he blocked Jeonghan’s blows with a shield spell. The Arcanist spared you one glance, solid red eyes stared at you, terror consumed you.

Jeonghan backed up with a malicious smirk. “You see what he is, Sage?” A laugh ripped through him as he spoke. “Behold! The Betrayer ! You were right to be afraid of him!”

Wonwoo’s eyes flickered, returning back to their usual deep brown. Something in his gaze softened as he looked at you, but he snapped back to attention as a sickle of ice shot toward him. It scattered against the magical shield.

Jeonghan dashed at Wonwoo, dagger in hand ready to strike. With one blow he shattered the shield and followed up with another stab. Wonwoo blocked the blow with his arm and wailed in pain as the onyx blade sunk into his flesh. You gasped as the intensity of his agony reached you.

Wonwoo lost focus on the spell that was holding you, letting you collapse to the ground. He shoved Jeonghan away and held his arm in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. 

“Sage~” Jeonghan sang into your mind. “Come here.” He said as he held a hand out toward you.

Obliging, you moved forward and accepted Jeonghan’s hand. You watched as Junhui was still under the effect of emotions you put him through, stunned and afraid. Cosmos prowled defensively around her Arcanist while Eris observed you and Jeonghan. 

Something at the back of your mind nagged at you. Screaming, begging to be let out, but you ignored it.

“Sage.” Wonwoo spoke, voice low and strained. “You have to fight it. It’s the only way I can help you.”

“You? Help? Wonwoo, you’ve done nothing but lock Sage away- and I know why…” Jeonghan purred as he brought you toward him. “You’re afraid of what we could accomplish.”

The statement piqued your interest. What did Jeonghan mean? Did Archivist Jeon know more than he was letting on?

“No- Don’t listen to him, Sage!” Wonwoo’s voice rose in volume. “He only speaks lies!”

Jeonghan clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Well you know that’s not true, right, Sage?”

You absentmindedly nodded in agreement. You trusted Jeonghan, he had never led you astray.

Wonwoo studied both you and Jeonghan. His eyes still flickering between brown and red, brow furrowing as he fought off the pain in his arm.

“Why don’t you ask dear old Wonwoo who Juno is? Aren’t you curious, Sage?” Jeonghan smiled, laughing through his teeth. “Go on, Sage. Ask him .”

“Who’s Juno?” Your voice traveled out of you, the words felt foreign.

There was a troubled look on the Archivist’s face, like he was torn between two decisions.

“I cannot tell you. The information would harm you!” Wonwoo straightened his posture as he kept pressure on his arm.

“Wrong answer, Wonwoo.” Jeonghan smirked. “I can tell you~ All you have to do is ask, Sage.”

You turned your attention to Jeonghan. His eyes were light and playful, as if he was dying to tell you a secret.

“Who is Juno?” At this point it felt like you were programmed to ask the question.

Jeonghan grinned wide. “Juno was our friend… Wonwoo really liked her.” His gaze went to the Archivist and he chuckled in glee. “I like to think I was the better friend though. Juno preferred to hang out with me when she grew tired of Wonwoo. Or well… When Wonwoo betrayed her.”

The Archivist sunk his gaze to the ground. “It wasn’t my fault-”

“What?! Of course it was your fault!” Jeonghan’s voice was laced with venom. “I may be the bad omen but she was the true harbinger. Not only did she leave you, she left me, this world and destroyed more than half of it with her departure!”

Jeonghan was bordering insanity as he spoke. “She killed the council, all of the elders perished! You were just too infatuated with her to strike her down!”

“She was like a sister to me!” Wonwoo spat back. “Of course I couldn’t kill her! And you-” He slowly approached. “You were also blinded. She never cared for you, Jeonghan- She was using you!”

The words sent a twinge of something foul through Jeonghan as he scowled. “Shut up! You don’t know anything!” 

Anger spiked in him, you could finally feel his emotions again. The sensation was uncomfortable, like you dug up something that should have been left alone. You watched as Jeonghan lost focus for a moment as he fumed.

“Incipio!” Wonwoo yelled as he ran forward.

A bolt of lightning shot between you and Jeonghan, causing the two of you to separate. You collided with the hard ice of the lake with a grunt. Before you could react, vines wrapped themselves around your legs. You tried to kick them away but they were relentless. The plants captured Jeonghan as well and when your eyes traced them back to the source you saw Soonyoung along the shore. 

Behind him was Vernon, Jihoon, Dokyeom and Mingyu, even Seungkwan was there, watching the scene unfold. All of their faces were a mix of stern and apologetic. You struggled against the vines, but they held on tight, keeping you in place. Jeonghan cut through them and rushed toward Wonwoo. Cosmos pounced, pinning Jeonghan to the ice with her claws sinking into his chest.

Wonwoo approached you quickly, dagger still in hand. Your heart raced as you thought the Archivist was about to cut through you. With the tip of the hooked blade he touched the amulet. The white blade of the dagger hummed with arcane energy, slowly cracking the magnetite. 

“No-” You cried out as the amulet shattered, your vision turning white as hot pain shot through your skull.

When you opened your eyes you were no longer bound by vines and Archivist Jeon stood in front of you, still as a statue. Looking around, you saw that everything had frozen. Jeonghan, a bolt of Vernon’s lightning, even the snow caused by the spell was suspended in the air.

“Finally- You figured it out.” A mature, monotonous voice spoke to you.

You scanned the area, but no one else was around. Someone poked your shoulder and you turned, meeting a familiar face. A woman who was so recognizable, yet you had no idea who she was.

“Who-”

“Oh- Don’t be foolish.” The woman scoffed in your face and rolled her eyes as she saw you did not recognize her. “I am the one named Juno.” She smiled with closed lips and bowed.

“Archivist Jeon and Jeonghan’s friend?” You asked, unsure of what else to say.

“Archivist?” She, Juno, walked up to Wonwoo. “Oh! Would you look at that! He’s all grown up.” With a gentle hand she played with the beads connected to his glasses. “And he still has this after all these years, what a sap…”

“Um- Not to be rude, but- Why the fuck is everything frozen?” 

Juno laughed as she listened to your question. “That’s a difficult question, little mushroom.” 

The nickname sparked something in you. It made you feel warm as tears welled in your eyes. You hung your head low as the tears fell, sniffling as you tried to conceal them.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Juno asked as she approached you.

“I- I don’t know.” You quickly wiped the tears from your cheeks.

As Juno looked at you something grabbed her attention. The shattered amulet remained scattered on the ground. She knelt before it and grabbed a piece of magnetite and glared at Jeonghan’s frozen form.

Juno stood and looked between you and the Siren. “You know, if I was still living I would have commended him on this.” She held a piece of the amulet tight in her grip. “But now that I am no longer alive and seeing as he used it on you …” Her gaze hardened, bitterness written all over her face. “Tell him to go fuck himself.”

Everything had happened so fast you didn’t realize how lucid you felt. It was as if the fog had been lifted, you were free and could think for yourself. A smile spread across your face as you were finally yourself, no one was controlling you anymore.

Tears of relief fell from your eyes, painting your cheeks in a steady flow. You wiped them up the best you could, but they wouldn’t stop.

“Oh-” Juno cooed as she returned to you and held you in her arms. “I’m sorry things turned out this way, little mushroom.”

She held your face in her hands, wiping the tears from your skin with her thumbs. “But just know there is so much more out there. This isn’t the end, there is so much ahead of you and you’re going to do great things.”

None of it made sense. You just met this woman, but something about the way she treated you felt correct. She reminded you of someone but their face kept escaping your memory and it frustrated you. 

Juno pulled you in for one last hug before time returned to you. A roar of lightning nearly burst your eardrums, Cosmos yelped as Jeonghan shoved the beast off of him. Soonyoung yelled a warning, you turned your head toward him for only a moment and when you looked back the onyx dagger was headed straight for you. Wonwoo pushed you out of the way, making you crash to the icy surface of the lake. 

“Wonwoo!” Dokyeom called out as he rushed over, sliding to a halt at Wonwoo’s side.

You watched as the Archivist held his abdomen, Jeonghan’s dagger buried deep. Complete chaos erupted, everyone rushed onto the lake surrounding the fallen Archivist, but you saw as Jeonghan tried to escape. 

“Eris!” You called out to your familiar.

The giant snow leopard sprinted at Jeonghan with full force, tackling him and dragging him back to the other Arcanists. He struggled against the leopard’s hold, but her jaw was too strong. 

“What are you all doing on the lake?” Wonwoo rasped out. “Everyone move, before I lose focus.”

Dokyeom and Mingyu moved to help Wonwoo off of the lake’s surface. Jihoon and Soonyoung aided Cosmos and Vernon kept a close eye on Jeonghan as Eris dragged him to shore. Once everyone was safely on shore Wonwoo dropped the spell on the lake with a groan of pain. The snow morphed into heavy rainfall, shrouding the area in white noise. Thunder boomed as purple light flashed in the sky, the change in weather must have triggered a storm.

Jeonghan ripped himself from Eris and ran for the lake. You felt rage begin to overflow in you as you focused on the man. 

“Jeonghan!” Every ounce of betrayal, pain and ire shot out as you yelled his name.

The man froze and turned, everything you felt mirrored itself in his eyes. Your vision fixated on him as you advanced, anger fueling you despite your exhaustion. With the rest of your strength you swung, fist colliding with his jaw. The impact hurt you as well, but it was nothing compared to the six month imprisonment he had subjected you to.

It was liberating, striking your captor, so you let go and swung again. This time the blow forced him to the ground.

“Go fuck yourself!” You yelled, ready to strike again.

Mingyu rushed over and held you back. “Enough, Sage-’

“No- That bastard deserves it-” As the anger melted you wept and sank to the ground.

Mingyu followed you down, still holding onto you. “It’s okay, I got you.” He pressed his cheek into the side of your head, placing a chaste kiss in an effort to calm you.

The others helped Wonwoo under the overgrown gazebo. Dokyeom applied pressure as he held the dagger stable. Junhui knelt down on the other side of Wonwoo, as he examined the wound.

“Open his shirt, let me see the injury.” Junhui said as he moved to unbutton the shirt.

Once the wound was visible, Junhui furrowed his brow. “Tide Maiden steel…”

“Wh- What does that mean?” Dokyeom had never seen a weapon like this before.

“There’s an enchantment on the blade, it feeds on a target’s Psyche. I doubt Wonwoo is even aware of anything right now…” Junhui turned the Archivist’s head to look at him, his eyes glazed over. “I’m going to pull the blade out, I trust your ability to heal him.”

“Okay.” Dokyeom was filled with worry, but he knew he had to remain controlled.

Junhui pulled the blade from Wonwoo’s torso, resulting in the Archivist’s eyes lighting up red as he tried to remain lucid. He moaned in pain as blood poured from the wound. Cosmos limped toward her Arcanist as she could feel his strength dwindle.

Dokyeom placed his hands over the bloody mess on Wonwoo’s chest, crimson soaking into the bandages on his forearms. The Vitae closed his eyes as he concentrated on his elder’s Psyche. He was able to visualize it, a golden string in the darkness of his mind. It was torn, horribly damaged by the magic of the blade. Dokyeom grabbed hold of Wonwoo’s Psyche and breathed life back into it with his magic.

You remained in Mingyu’s arms, shaking as your emotions were still running high. The tears had worn off, leaving you to simmer in a low boiling rage. Seungkwan casted spectral manacles around Jeonghan’s wrists, enough to keep him until they took him to confinement. Realizing that Wonwoo was still injured, you stood and sheepishly walked over to the gazebo. You had never seen so much blood, he was covered in it, laid in a puddle of it, barely conscious. 

“Sage, you don’t need to see this.” Dokyeom’s voice trembled.

Junhui stood and directed you back to Jihoon, Vernon and Soonyoung. “You should go back home. Dry off and rest.”

“But- Wonwoo-”

“He’ll be fine… I promise.” Junhui offered a reassuring squeeze to your shoulder as he handed you off to your roommates.

Vernon put his arm around your shoulders while Soonyoung held onto your hand. Jihoon led the way back to the house. You took one last look back at the scene. Dokyeom was still hovering over Wonwoo while Mingyu tried his best to help. Seungkwan called Junhui over to help him with Jeonghan. The raven haired man’s gaze focused on you as he was led away. Despite everything that had happened, the look in Jeonghan’s eyes was not one of malice, there was grief hidden under the pain and tension.

Your roommates drove your attention away as they talked about anything to lighten the mood. Soonyoung told you that he would grow you a bunch of flowers, ones that didn’t trigger your pollen allergy and Jihoon let you know that there were leftovers. Eris followed behind closely with Shadow, Ruby and Tigris in toe. 

Once you entered the dorm, your home, you broke out into tears. There was so much sadness, remorse and immense guilt that consumed you. Everything you did and said while under Jeonghan’s spell came back in one wave, crushing you. Soonyoung couldn’t help but cry with you which caused Vernon and Jihoon to also tear up.

“If you keep crying, I’ll keep crying, Sage.” Soonyoung pouted as he pulled you in for a tight hug.

“I’m just so sorry-” A sob broke through your voice as you tucked your face into Soonyoung’s embrace.

“Awh- Sage…” Vernon said as he rubbed soothing circles along your back.

Soonyoung released you and used his sleeve to wipe your tears and then his own. You looked over to Jihoon, who was standing a bit further than the other two.

“I was such an asshole to you-” The tears started again as you tried to speak. “Jihoon- I’ll understand if you can’t forgive-”

“Ah- Shut up.” Jihoon pulled you into a firm hug, the action catching you off guard.

You reciprocated the hug and smiled. These were your roommates, your friends, hell, these guys were your family. Through thick and thin, they would stick with you.

And you would do the same for them.

To join a tag list, please comment on the Fallin' Flower Master List!

@reiofsuns2001 @shinwonderful @starstrawb

[welcometowhore-rrorville]

𝓢𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓼 𝓐𝓷𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓵𝓼

Featuring: Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Brahms Heelshire, Michael Myers, Bubba Sawyer, Bo Sinclair, Vincent Sinclair 

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: mentions of animal death (minor, in Michael’s part), slashers as animals being assholes, just general fun headcanons, no cat or dog because I always see them as cats and dogs and wanted to mix it up

-

Freddy Krueger

Some sort of bird

Probably a Conure that lost his feathers in some sort of fire

Is an asshole

And is smart enough to mock you

Will wake you up by biting your nose

Always escapes his enclosure

Can no longer fly but will manage to get up on counters and on top of your fridge anyway

Has overgrown talons and will use them for violence

Do not bring any company over

Very rarely will calm down and nestle against your chest during movie nights

But then bite you and saunter off

Jason Voorhees

Reticulated Python

Has unique scale markings on his face that resemble a hockey mask

Is huge

And usually lurks in the corner of his massive enclosure under a hide

He’ll come out at night and explore the area, and eventually figures out away to escape and roam around at night

The first time he does this you have a heart attack

He’s a massive snake

And who knows where he’s at right now?

You fear for any rodents that might be lurking

But when you find him he’s slowly but surely slithering across the living room floor, tongue flicking in curiosity

He’s a gentle giant around you

Not a fan of house guests and will actively try to escape his enclosure to scare them off

Will tolerate being picked up by you for short stretches of time

Lucky for him picking up a massive snake is no easy task

He likes to make himself comfortable on your couch and slither on top of your head to rest himself there and stare at the tv

He’s never tried to strike at you and only accidently takes your breath away when he’s trying to adjust himself in your grasp

It’s not his fault his a big boy and also consists of 99% muscle

Brahms Heelshire

Mouse

Has a massive enclosure you put together so he has more than enough space to make himself at home

Doesn’t use his hide and instead climbs in between his hide and the cage wall and nestles himself there

Loves nestling into cramped spaces

Will make random piles of bedding and hide food within them

Only comes out when you’re not home for the first few weeks

Eventually comes out when you have a treat for him

It takes a while for him to become used to you enough for you to pick him up

He’s pretty big for a mouse

and really hairy, with lots of curls all over his furry body

Will wrap his tail around your wrist for balance

Likes to nestle against the back of your neck and the collar of your shirt

Will sit there for hours and watch as you do every day tasks

Just let him down for bathroom breaks

Like everyone else, doesn’t like strangers and will bite them or scratch them if able

Michael Myers

Rat

The most massive rodent you’ve ever seen

Will never stay in his enclosure

Ever

You never see him eat or drink or anything 

He just wanders your house and occasionally gnaws on things

Has massive front teeth and claws

Has various scratches and missing fur patches on his body

Never makes a noise

Will kill any rodent or insect crawling around your house

Just leaves the body there for you to find

Will very rarely lay in your bed, at the very edge, only half asleep

Doesn’t like being touched

Or caged

At this point he owns the place and you just pay rent

Will seriously injure house guests

And anybody who comes near the front door

Has bit you a few times

You still have scars

But you can’t figure out how to get rid of him so he stays

Bubba Sawyer 

Tiger Oscar Cichlid 

He is in a tank by himself after he cannibalized all of your other cichlids

He is massive

And even in the largest tank you could find he has some trouble turning around

Will eat anything and everything dropped into the tank

He’s got some missing scales, especially around his mouth and eyes

He’ll chase your finger if you put it against the glass and move it around

Has jumped out of the tank on multiple occasions even with the lid clipped shut

As soon as he sees his food he splashes out of the water and hits the top of the lid with a loud thump

When you scrub the algae off the tank he’s always right next to you, bumping your hand and arm

Weirdly enough, likes pets

Will keep bumping your arm until you run a hand down his side

You know it’s not good for a fish’s slime coat to do that

But it’s the only way to keep him calm long enough to scrub away the algae

You have to put him in your bathtub when it’s time to deep clean the tank

Refused to get in a bucket

You had to carry him--wet and slimy and flopping around in your arms

Any time you have company he always stares at them and occasionally bumps his head against the lid of the tank

People are mostly scared of the giant fish and don’t come over much

Bo Sinclair

Bearded Dragon

He will not quit head-bobbing at his own reflection in the glass

Very territorial

Has a very pretty scale pattern

Will bite you

Not hard

But you can tell he’s annoyed with you

He doesn’t like being in his tank much

Prefers to hang out on the kitchen counter and bask in the sunlight coming in through the window

It’s not like you can explain he needs the lights in his enclosure to get his vitamin D

Will also sit outside on the porch with you

Only eats worms

He will not bother to eat crickets when he knows you have food that doesn’t run around

You usually throw in a few crickets anyway

Also not a fan of salads 

You have to hand feed him each piece of leafy green or else he will not eat it

He’s spoiled

Will throw fits and knock over stuff in his enclosure until you let him have some outside time

Likes lounging on the couch with you

Also likes when you pet his head

Climbs in your shirt and stays there

Vincent Sinclair

Chameleon

Very big and gangly

Turns some really pretty colors when out in the open

Mainly stays up in the branches in his enclosure, blended into the greenery

You don’t see him often

Likes peace and quiet

Doesn’t like being held or touched

He rarely spends time on the ground of his enclosure, save for when he has to climb down to eat food

You leave the door to his enclosure open sometimes and he pokes his head out to look around before going back inside

He doesn’t do much besides mimic the colors in your room

After a while of having him you’ve managed to get him used to being held for short periods of time

Will nestle in your hair or behind your neck

Do not leave him in an open space with no hiding spots or he will freak

[nil-nothing-nada]

Stardew Valley Green: Junimo Natural Green

Recent advancements in technology have enabled Joja to effectively tap into the unique abilities of the junimos. By leveraging these innovations, the corporation has managed to integrate the magical powers of the junimos into their operations, using them to enhance productivity and streamline their processes for personal gain.

Below, the processes and effects of Joja's usage of junimo magic are explained in detail.

Junimos are small, apple-shaped forest spirits known for their vibrant colors and whimsical appearance. These enchanting beings are often found in the overgrown corners of abandoned buildings, where they thrive in the remnants of nature. Their primary purpose is to restore the lost magic of the natural world to areas that have been neglected or stripped of their vitality.

Typically, junimos are only visible to individuals who possess a deep understanding of natural magic, revealing themselves to those who can truly appreciate their ethereal presence. However, Joja has developed an experimental method to draw these spirits out of their concealed habitats. This method allows unenchanted individuals to witness the junimos, stripping away some of the mystery and magic that surrounds these forest guardians. By luring them from their hidden realms, Joja threatens to disrupt the delicate balance of nature these spirits work tirelessly to nurture.

The interior composition of a junimo is comprised of a vibrant, green, sap-like substance, which serves as the essence of their magical abilities and deep-rooted connection to the natural world. This unique substance has been scientifically classified as Junimo Natural Green, abbreviated as JNG.

Newly developed technology designed to harness the energy of junimos enables operators to gain remote control over creatures infused with various levels of JNG. These remarkable machines facilitate the manipulation of these entities, even extending their influence to those that have had JNG manually injected into their systems.

Extensive testing has demonstrated the effectiveness of this technology on living subjects, including humans. However, the exact state of consciousness of these individuals while their bodies are under control is unknown. Researchers are actively exploring whether those subjected to this remote manipulation retain awareness of their actions or exist in a state of complete detachment from their physical movements.

The procedure of extracting, injecting, and utilizing JNG results in the release of an excess of magical energy into the surrounding environment. Over time, this energy tends to stabilize naturally, giving rise to a phenomenon known as "green rain." This unique form of precipitation significantly accelerates plant growth in areas where it falls, leading to a remarkable transformation of the local flora. As a result, it can generate unusual mutations among native plants, creating bizarre and often vibrant foliage that may not resemble the original species. While the mutated plants can exhibit fascinating characteristics, the overall effects of green rain can sometimes be unpredictable.

Though the green rain itself is not inherently dangerous, caution is advised for those who find themselves caught in it. Extended exposure can lead to mild illnesses, such as respiratory issues or skin irritations, due to the concentrated magical energy dispersed in the droplets. Therefore, it's best to take cover during such events and limit time spent outdoors to ensure one's well-being.

Excessive absorption of JNG, whether through green rain exposure or direct injection, can result in a noticeable greenish discoloration of both the skin and the eyes. Initially, these symptoms are purely visual and appear to be temporary; however, continued exposure to JNG can lead to lasting changes in pigmentation that may not revert to normal.

In more severe cases, the effects of prolonged JNG exposure can become life-threatening. There have been instances where flora, such as plants and moss, begin to sprout from the afflicted individual’s internal organs. This unusual growth can sometimes penetrate the skin, creating a grotesque and alarming appearance. Such advanced symptoms can pose significant health risks and may ultimately lead to fatal outcomes if not addressed promptly. It's crucial to monitor individuals who may have been exposed to JNG for any worsening signs or progression of symptoms.

While the effects of overexposure to JNG can be deadly, there are remarkable cases where its magical properties, when wielded with sufficient strength, have been used to sustain life beyond what should have been possible. In experimental settings, this unique form of magic specifically targets the organs that are beginning to fail, effectively halting their deteriorating functions. Fascinatingly, the magic seems to create a sort of stasis for the troubled organs, magically perpetuating their functions even if they are entirely dead and motionless.

[thebibutterflyao3]

Day 11 - Prompt: Challenge @pandalilymicrofics

February Daily Series - 1014 words

<<<Previous Part OR Start Here

Mary’s rich, full-chested laugh tore her from whatever spell she’d fallen under. Lily slid closer to Pandora on the kerb. She needed to distance herself from her friends as they cackled like overgrown children. The sheer number of people gaping while they descended into hysterics was humiliating.

“See what you started,” she whispered. Lily aimed for playful, but it came out stern instead. Stress bled into her words.

Pandora’s smile twisted into a smirk as she leaned in. Her breath teased the tendrils of hair curled around Lily’s ear. “When you hold out such low-hanging fruit, I can’t help myself.”

“Filthy minds, all of you.”

“Don’t pretend yours is any better. You wanted to laugh too.”

Lily folded her arms over her knees. She was right, of course, but not for the reason she thought. It wasn’t the innuendo that incited her amusement.

“I like your laugh,” Lily said, turning her head. Too late, she realised they were mere inches away from each other. It took every ounce of her self-control to remain still.

She wanted Pandora to pull back first. If only to level the balance of power between them a bit. Lily needed that balance to breathe normally again. Except, Pandora didn’t back down from the challenge.

“I like you,” Pandora replied bluntly.

“You don’t know me. We just met.”

“In person, yes.”

Pandora’s gaze dropped to her lips and Lily’s chest clenched hard. She blinked rapidly when her eyes unfocused, then ducked her head, conceding the advantage.

“What does that mean?” Lily asked, toying with a loose thread on the hem of her jacket.

Pandora’s hand slid lower on her arm, then two fingers began stroking soothing circles into Lily’s wrist. “You seem familiar. I don’t usually connect with people this quickly.”

Lily’s anxiety peaked. She was already wary of the rather obvious attempts to push them together and couldn’t quite embrace the concept that Remus and his new friends’ meddling may have actually worked. It was inconceivable after his last attempt failed so spectacularly.

“Is this your way of saying that we knew each other in a past life or something?” Lily teased, trying to hide her nerves.

Pandora’s smile fell and she abruptly pulled her hand away. Before Lily could organise the jumble of words her mind offered to clarify, she was left sitting alone on the kerb. Pandora’s skirt swished wildly around her legs as she disappeared into the crowd. Her mind whirled with confusion, then stalled.

“Lily! What did you say to her?” Alice demanded.

“I-I don’t know. It was a joke, I didn’t mean to offend her.”

Mary winced and shook her head. “Oh honey. You better go after her.”

Lily pushed herself off the kerb with more force than was necessary. She stumbled forward, then steadied herself before searching the mass of people around her. Pandora’s platinum blonde hair wasn’t hard to find when the tiny silver bands that decorated her braids glimmered in the sunlight. She’d nearly reached the split in the path.

She hurried through the crowd, apologising each time she bumped into someone, but moving steadily forward. Pandora had slipped through so easily and was well ahead of her already. Lily darted around a group of older men blocking the path, then ducked between the food trucks. The staging area behind the stalls was littered with extension cords and boxes, but there was no one in sight.

Lily tucked her elbows in and ran. Dodging the random bits and bobs slowed her down and the chill wind bit her cheeks and nose, but she didn’t care. It was her fault that Pandora was upset. She had to make it right.

She darted back onto the main path and lifted up onto her toes to peer over the shoulders of several taller men. Pandora was either too far ahead, or she’d passed her. As she spun around to check, a slim figure collided with her and flailed their arms.

“Oh. You!”

Automatically, Lily grabbed their elbows to keep the person upright. Relief washed over her. She looked down with another apology on the tip of her tongue when the woman’s outburst and fierce glare registered.

“Pandora! I was—”

“How did you-I don’t-what?” Pandora spluttered. She inhaled deeply, then pulled her arms free from Lily’s grasp. “What do you want?”

Panic forced Lily’s words free before she could sort through her thoughts. “I’m sorry! I didn't mean to offend you or upset you or whatever happened back there, it was a joke. Probably a poor one, I’ll admit. Remus says I’m terrible at it and he’s better at gauging that sort of thing. Anyway! I don’t want you to leave thinking I’m making fun of you, or anything like that, if that’s why you stormed off—”

“Chut!” Pandora said tersely, stepping back and holding her hands up. “That's enough, Lily. I didn’t ‘storm off’ when you mocked me. I walked away before I said something I’d regret.”

“No, no! I wasn’t mocking you—”

“You were, and that’s…fine.” Pandora furrowed her brows at a man who jostled her, then asked, “Why are you chasing me?”

Lily clasped her hands together to keep from reaching out again. She doubted Pandora would appreciate her a hug, given the sharp tone in her voice. Though it was the open disappointment on the woman’s face that was truly devastating.

“I wanted to make it right. I didn’t realise my joke would upset you, I was trying to…well, deflect I suppose.”

“Deflect from what?”

“This? Us? Whatever you meant by us having a ‘connection?’” Lily admitted. She offered a weak smile and added, “It caught me off-guard.”

Pandora crossed her arms over her chest and studied Lily intently. “And if I do believe in past lives? What then? Will you laugh at me?”

“No. I wouldn’t, I swear.”

“What about fate? Or soulmates? Are those a joke to you too?”

Lily shook her head, but didn’t speak. She could see her words weren’t helping. At least Pandora wasn’t running away again.

That had to be a good sign.

Next Part>>>

[prince-liest]

aquarium rescape!

So my aquarium was getting fairly overgrown in its current layout, so I decided to rescape the whole thing! Also, I'm going to be moving in July and took the opportunity to give away 6 of my kuhli loaches to someone with a nice 75 gallon tank so as not to worry about them later.

My main goals with the rescape were:

update the look to something more aesthetically pleasing to me

have a larger sandy area for the loaches to enjoy

have a dirted area without gravel covering it for the plants

have more open swimming space for the fish

get rid of my less healthy stem plants to cut down on maintenance time

Here's the result!

The water is still a little bit foggy because of the bacterial bloom that rescaping caused, but ammonia is sitting pretty at zero and I have high hopes that I haven't crashed the cycle.

The only stem plants I kept were the filigree mirio because it grows very quickly but doesn't get unhealthy at its bottoms as it does, and my moneywort, because it's a slightly slower-growing stem, I like the look of it a lot, and like the filigree mirio, it doesn't get as messy as the various rotalas and ludwigias.

I've made my mainstay plants my giant monster crypts, and did a lot of decorating with epiphytes like buce and a few types of anubias. Overall, I really like the way the forested bit balances with the empty space, and I can't wait for the plants to straighten out/grow in a little better!

Also, I expected the fish to be stressed out and hiding after such a big change, but they're all quite enjoying the new swimming space and have been out and about:

The tetras have been swimming around a lot.

The loaches are all enjoying the new rocks and sand! The rocks are seiryu stone.

Even Jin Ling, who is normally hard to get a photo of, has been exploring rather than hiding!

And all the shrimp are swimming alllll over the place.

Total fish count is 1 honey gourami, 3 hillstream loaches, 8 neon tetras, and 6 java loaches, plus shrimp and snails. Overall, I'm really pleased with the results! Excited to see how it looks in a couple of months.

And here's a final look at the old layout right before I took it down!

[xskywalker21]

No Good Nor Evil Ch 4: Where the World is Empty, Save You and I

“You’re gonna hurt yourself,” Cornelius warned, reaching out a hand for her to hold on to.

Franny rolled her eyes, “Oh, please. I’ll be fine.” She returned the smile, trying to balance herself on a tree trunk.

Cornelius’s theory was strengthening as they continued their walk further from the city. Shrubs and trees became more prominent, houses were further apart. It was nice hearing some birds, they reminded him of the days when everything was going right in his life.

With every second they spent together, the more comfortable she became… as if she knew him her entire life.

Cornelius had changed into brown hiking pants he got from an abandon store along with a blue-grey button short sleeve. He also helped her find a white comfortable top and some of her own hiking pants. They both felt more lightweight, ready to either fight or flight.

“Well, don’t blame me if you fall over.” He said, still not removing his hand from trying to help her out.

Franny stuck out her tongue, feeling more light on her feet—not just due to the clothes. Jumping down from the trunk, she smiled before continuing on the route.

He couldn’t help but smile as he noticed her behavior change. She seemed… happier, similar to her old self.

Her black hair, smelling of baby shampoo, rustled in the wind. The sun beaming right through it. Her skin was back to its original, lively self. The smile he loved, brighter than ever.

There were times he felt he was dreaming. That it was all an illusion…similar to the hallucinations he had back when he was trapped as Doris’ puppet.

“Neil?”

His mind snapped back to the present. She was a few feet away from him with a concerned look on her face.

She walked closer until she was in front of him. “Are you okay?” Franny looked up at him, searching his eyes for any signs of distress.

Despite him maintaining his demeanor, she knew he was holding something back. The small smiles, even the big ones… they hid something.

Cornelius nodded, clearing his throat. “Yeah, yeah…I’m okay. I’m just admiring the view.”

Franny smirked, trying to lighten the mood by implying if he was talking about her.

He caught on, realizing he probably crossed a line. "The landscape view, I mean—!" He stuttered.

“Neil,” she chuckled, laying a hand on his chest. “I know what you meant. As I was saying, we should find a place to stay.”

He inclined his head, walking past her. She reached out and held his hand, letting him lead the way. Cornelius froze for a second, before continuing their walk.

In the rural area, it was eerily quiet. Way different from the constant mechanical sounds and chemicals fuming back in the city. The birds chirping and small rustles of the vegetation was more than welcoming in their ears. The sky was a beautiful gold as the sun was starting to set.

“Wow… so beautiful,” Franny whispered, gaping at the sky.

Back at the apartment, all she would see was the light pollution from the nearby city. Some smog lingering and filling the skies. The stench of sulfur and smoke would make its way every now and then. There was some beauty but nothing compared to what was once their home, or how Cornelius described it.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled a deep breath of clean air.

Cornelius watched her, feeling both love and guilt building up inside him. Love because she was here. The love of his life was right here with him. Guilt because she doesn’t remember what life was like before she was mind-controlled. Guilt because she doesn’t remember spending time with their son. Guilt… because he can only imagine what their lives could’ve been like if he never invented Doris.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, frowning as he tried to hide his solemn expression.

After walking several more minutes, they walked up to an abandon home. It was a small ranch style home. The surrounding area was overgrown with vegetation. Pines and oak tress were scattered, allowing for some privacy.

He knocked on the door, scouting around for anything suspicious.

“Hello?” Franny called out, peeking through the window.

The living room, from what she could see, looked untouched.

No signs of life.

Confused, she tried knocking again. “Hello, anyone home?”

Again nothing.

“Well, I guess we can—.”

Bam!

Franny yelped, jumping from the sudden noise.

“It’s open,” Cornelius said, letting himself in.

“Neil!” Franny frowned, “what the hell?”

“Well, no one answered.” He simply replied, looking at her in confusion.

She crossed her arms, frowning. “Obviously, but what if there are women and children?” She said matter-of-factly. “Let me scout out the house.”

That stopped Cornelius from further inspecting the home. If there were mothers and children, then Franny was right… like she always had been.

“Alright, but I’ll be right behind you,” he whispered, clutching the weapon in his hand.

“Let’s start downstairs.” She announced, placing her backpack down on the couch.

Cornelius nodded, but kept his pack on.

The kitchen brought her a sense of nostalgia. The warm sun rays seeping through the oaks and pines into the room. The pantry seemed to have a good amount of food. They’ll just need to check the expiration dates.

The living room and dining rooms were also inspected, nothing odd to be concerned about.

“Okay, upstairs.”

The bathrooms were empty. No signs of life nor the bedrooms. Everything was left untouched by the home’s previous owners.

Photos of the previous family were mounted on the walls along with more frames placed on desks and nightstands.

"Franny, I'm gonna check the pipes and see if things are still working or if I need to do some fixing," Cornelius said, laying his bag on the bed.

Franny was taken aback with the sudden distance. They were always at least a few feet away from each other. Well, with the exception of when she found water.

“Do you want me to come with you?” She asked, fidgeting with her fingers.

Cornelius shook his head. “No, I-um, I’ll be okay.” He said, looking out the window. “Listen, after I’m done, I’ll let you know if they’re good to go for you to shower.”

Giving him a skeptical look, she reluctantly agreed. “Okay, um… I’ll be here then. Cleaning and disposing of certain foods.”

Without another word, he left.

What's up with him? She wondered, walking over to the window to see him start his work.

Sighing, she immediately got to work. A good amount of the pantry was expired—big surprise. But there was still enough for a good few weeks.

Man, this family was prepared or something. Franny mused, dusting off the furniture and inspecting it as she did.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Cornelius’ bag.

Must be heavy, she sighed, walking over to it.

Sure enough, there were can foods, some clothing and small necessary products—including another pair of glasses.

Putting away the goods, she hummed to herself, trying to keep herself busy.

“Franny?”

Another yelp escaped her lips. Her eyes caught a glimpse of Cornelius standing by the door frame.

“Cornelius, you have to stop doing that,” she gasped, lowering her defense stance.

“I’m sorry,” he bit his lip. “I was just going to tell you that the water’s working. You should be able to shower. Let the water run for a bit though.”

Sighing, she nodded. “Okay, I won’t be long.”

Cornelius did the same, “I’ll be inside in a bit,” he said, before slipping out.

—

Feeling the warm water against her skin felt so good. It was numbing but also so peaceful.

Her hands raised above her head, lathering her hair and then down to her body. She made sure she scrubbed twice just to wash away all the dirt, feel cleaner than before.

After feeling satisfied, Franny turned off the water and stepped out. Her eyes locked on herself, just like they did back at the apartments.

This time, she saw her entire body. She would have assumed during her mind control she would’ve lost weight, an unhealthy amount of weight loss.

But the more she thought of it, Doris wouldn’t want unreliable hosts. All of them had to be physically capable, at least in “moderate” health.

Her body was still the same. Her softness, her black hair… all intact. There were some injuries but nothing the human body can’t repair.

She turned away, going into their bedroom to change.

Snap. Snap. Clink.

Franny frozen, catching her breath. She waited, slowly adjusting her sleep shirt.

Snap. Clink. Clash!

“Neil?” She called out, taking a fighting stance with a lamp in hand. Damn it, she cursed. What if someone lived here?

Before she made a complete turn, she saw Cornelius (freshly showered) taking down every frame in frantic motions.

She had never seen him this upset, well from what she was able to remember. Franny was sure they’ve gone through difficult times back then, but nothing like this.

His hands ripped the frames and smashed them onto the floor as they continued to pop up. The more time passed, the more irritated and frantic he became.

“Neil,” Franny croaked, frightened. She didn’t know what was going on, what was causing him to act with such anger and remorse. “Neil!”

He didn’t pay attention to her, he snatched every frame, any trace of the people that lived here before them and destroyed it.

“Cornelius!”

This time she stepped in, taking a hold of his wrists. “Neil, look at me!” she pleaded, frantically trying to do just that.

His eyes were wild, red rims from the previous tears that irritating them.

“You’re okay,” she whispered, trying to soothe his hands from trembling. Franny already knew what he must’ve been thinking. Closing her eyes, she inhaled.

She should’ve known he was still blaming himself for everything that happened… because he built Doris.

Seeing him blame himself for something he believed would bring happiness to the world hurt her soul.

Deep down in her heart, she knew he only wanted to do good.

“Sweetie,” she tried smiling, trying to reassure him. “It’s not your fault…”

“You don’t know that,” he hissed, pulling away from her.

“I do.”

“I’ve ruined these people’s lives, Francesca! I basically killed them all. All those people mind controlled? They're dead. I’ve hurt people, I’ve hurt our family, our son—you.”

Franny stayed silent, unable to respond.

“Seeing these images of those who used to live here—” he laughed, shaking his head. “It kills me. Mocks me. Haunts me.”

“Cornelius, you tried helping others. Make their lives easier. You know that, I know that.”

“And where did that leave us?” He snapped, walking past her into their bedroom. “Our family—they’re still trapped, we have no idea if they’re all okay. Our son has to deal with not having both of his parents because of me, Franny.”

She stayed quiet for a moment, hesitating as his words filled her mind and ached her heart.

Franny shook her head. “You created inventions for happiness, Neil.” She touched his arm, trying to comfort him. “What happened was a mistake, an error. You couldn’t have predicted any of this happening.”

He moved away from her touch, keeping his gaze away from her.

Franny stared at him, trying to find the right words. She tried reaching for him again. “I know… I know my mind isn’t 100%, my memories aren’t there but… I do know you are a good person, Neil. A compassionate and optimistic person. A loving husband. The one I fell in love with… and the one I’m falling in love with all over again.”

This time, his head snapped up. His eyes locked on her. His facial expression was of pure shock but also relief.

Franny stepped closer, slowly reaching up to touch his face. Cornelius didn’t pull away this time.

The air grew thick.

“I… I don’t remember much, but every time I’m with you, there are moments where I remember my life with you. I remember my Mr. Fix-It.” She smiled softly, letting the tears fall.

All these emotions she kept to herself were finally being unleashed. She wanted to keep her love at bay for the time being, but seeing him in such a state ached her heart.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he heard her words. His hand gently touched hers, leaning to kiss it.

The warmth ignited inside her once again.

“I’m so sorry, Franny…” he breathed, touching his forehead with hers.

Franny shook her head, her other hand reaching to grasp the back of his neck. “We’ll get through this,” she promised.

Cornelius pulled back, before once again, both moon and earth gravitated towards one another.

link

[theoriginalmarke]

THOROUGHLY THURSDAY THOUGHTS

If we remove all of the margarine on Earth the world will be a butter place.

I ranted yesterday about too many people not having food at home in case of an emergency. The Mormon church (or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to be more accurate) encourages this and you can buy bulk foods from them.

They also have a large food bank. So large that they have their own private label, Deseret Farms. Mom had some of their stuff. Canned foods, vegetables, even a bottle of shampoo that's pretty good.

She bragged on their spaghetti sauce and last night I finally got around to fixing some pasta and opened a jar of the sauce. It was a little sweet, but with a few shakes of Frank's Red Hot seasoning powder to balance it out it was pretty good.

I used to date a girl who had a parrot. Darn thing never shut up. The parrot was cool though.

A couple of the neighbor cats are spending more time in my back yard, the part I call the Back Forty. It's a large space that turns into swamp when it rains and you really can't get to with a vehicle. There's supposed to be an alley, but it's overgrown with weeds. Kind of a useless chunk.

Long term, I'd probably plant trees and make a nice garden area. Add some storage. But... Anyway. It's cool that the cats are feeling more comfortable with me and like hanging out.

A priest, a monk, and a rabbit walk in to a clinic to donate blood. The rabbit says, "I think I might be a type-o."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see what the dogs are getting into.

I love you, baby. You light my fire, probably because you’re my perfect match. MWAH!

Y'all have a great day.