#but all the plush I got were smaller and I thought about them for 20 minutes each before buying

[plushie-lovey]

Today has been very eventful you guys. I sadly did not take any pics tho. But I took Autumn out with me (along with my datemate of course) to a tourist town, which is a 30min drive from where I live, that's famous for having witch stuff and huge for celebrating Halloween. While there we found so many amazing plushies, including some super cute and unusual animals from the brand Miyoni by Aurora, the largest selection of Palm Pals I've ever seen in one place, and a nicknack store half of which I can only describe as Jellycat Valhalla. Yes I came home with some new friends. I adopted a very fluffy rooster, 2 precious red pandas, an axolotl, and a jellycat little dexter dragon

[dreamerwitches]

We're long overdue a merch showcase yaaayy! I've had a lot of great finds recently!

This is all my Madoka merch in my little shrine (plus some dolls and stuff that dont fit elsewhere :P my room is stuffed... ) I'm so happy to have everything I have, especially any witch stuff. Looking at it, you'd think homura was my favourite character but no XD its mami lol I've just happened along a lot of her stuff and I wanted to collect all her plaits figures. I have all the plaits homura kyun-chara now!!! :D

My recent additions are the nagisa nendoroid and school uniform homura cupoche and figma. The nagisa was £60 from ebay. Yes, its a lot and the most ive spent on anything but my god, she goes for over 100 usually, it was a steal (box and all). The homuras were £20 each from vinted which is even more of a steal, i am ecstatic about them because they also go for extortionate prices. (the only bad thing is that figma homu doesnt have a smiling face :( )

My favourite item is probably either my Lotte or Elly since they're both rare and I got them for good prices but also all of my Nagisa merch because damn she has nowhere near enough figure merch... Also the witch stage sets cause they're SO cute

The handmade stuff is (left to right): Elly figure, a human Elly doll made by my bestie for a doll trade, Charlotte figure, a Sasa doll from Oriko Magica, plush Candeloro at the top, Charlotte doll, Valentines charlotte figure, papercraft Oktavia (very top), back down is a Manuke figure, maid Lotte figure with custom Mami and Homura dolls above, swimsuit Homulilly figure and a Walpurgisnacht doll~!

Nagisa is certainly one I don't regret spending money on but I kinda do with the plaits homura dangler just right of Sasa. I got her because she was a good price (though still from america so the shipping was a lot). She's rarer so I thought she'd never show up again for a good price but then after I bought her I saw another listing??? So she's not that rare?! Like, come on... T-T I love her but I remember when she came, I didn't get that excitement spark from her. Maybe because she was smaller than I expected. I can't help but look at her and think 'eh, was she worth it..?' I guess I'm glad to have another plaits homura piece of merch...

On my wishlist is of course any witch merch and plaits homura as well as nagisa and cute mamis. Ones I'd really like are the school uniform mami nendoroid and maybe the maiko one (less so but she comes with charlotte :P ). Definitely the movic witch sets, though im less fussed about the familiars. My big wants are oktavia, walpurgis, patricia and elsa maria. Also the homulilly from the rebellion set but im sure she is way rarer... Nagisa's kyun-chara. I missed a good listing on ebay for that once and i regret it T-T The Mami and Charlotte stage set. It's the last one I want from the set..!

[fivedayslater]

Part 20: Talk to Law

Dinner and a Murder: A Mr. Prince Mystery Masterpost

“Let’s go talk to Law,” Sanji says as he heads for the door, “We do really need to find out who was in this room and when.”

“Okay,” Zoro says as he follows dutifully after him, “He was in the study, right?”

“That’s what Usopp said,” Sanji holds the door open for him and waves him through, “Shall we?”

Zoro slides through the doorway, right into Sanji’s personal space. When their faces are only mere inches apart, his eye darts to Sanji’s lips, and the world freezes for a moment. Sanji’s eyes fall to Zoro’s lips too, and he finds himself wanting nothing more than to close the distance between them, to find out what Zoro’s lips taste like for himself.

But then Zoro steps back, a blush high on his face, and the moment is over.

“Let’s get going,” Zoro says as he turns and heads towards the dining room.

Sanji grabs his hand before he gets too far and tugs him in the right direction, “It’s this way, lost moss.”

“I knew that,” he huffs, but his hand is warm around Sanji’s as they make their way to the study.

The study is a smaller space compared to the other rooms. There’s a bookcase taking up the entirety of the wall by the door, and a plush couch in front of large windows right across from it. A handsome wooden desk is in one corner, a comfy chair planted in front of it, with a drink cart tucked away in another, right next to the couch. An intricately patterned throw rug takes up most of the center of the floor, but the hardwood peeks out near the walls.

Law sits on the couch with a book in his hand. He looks up when they enter, and quickly shuts it, placing it down next to him, “I see you found me.”

“You didn’t make it easy,” Sanji huffs, releasing Zoro’s hand to light a cigarette, “Why did you leave the dining room?”

Law shrugs as he leans back in his seat, “Didn’t see the point in staying.”

“That’s a bullshit answer,” Zoro mumbles under his breath.

Sanji agrees, but still elbows him in the side as a cue to keep quiet. It wouldn’t do them any good to annoy Law when they needed him to answer more important questions.

On that note, “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure,” he shrugs again, “That is your job, after all.”

“Right,” he glances quickly back at Zoro before pulling the prescription papers out of his pocket and handing them to Law, “Do you recognize these?”

Law frowns as he takes the papers from him, “Yes, these are from my prescription pad.” He glances back up at him and raises a brow, “Why?”

“We found them in the trashcan in the lounge,” he explains as he takes a drag from his cigarette.

“What does that-?”

“That’s where Ace was killed,” Zoro interrupts, crossing his arms as he stares down at him, “So what were you doing in there?”

A frown pinches Law's face as he answers, “I didn’t step foot in the lounge this evening.”

“Then, can you explain how your prescriptions ended up in there?” Sanji asks.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he says with another shrug, “Luffy was bugging me when I showed up, so I wrote him out a fake prescription. It’s possible a few papers fell off the pad then, and someone picked them up and threw them out in the lounge, since that’s the closest trashcan to the entry hall.

“Seems a little convenient,” Zoro mutters, making Law’s eye twitch.

“It’s just a guess,” he says, “I don’t know how they got there. I just know that I didn’t put them there because I didn’t go into the lounge.”

“Alright then,” Sanji takes the papers from him and puts them back in his pocket, and instead takes out Nami’s ledger book, “We also happened to stumble across this during our investigation, do you recognize it.”

His brow furrows as he looks over the book, “Can’t say that I have.”

Sanji flips it to the end and points out his total, “How about now?”

“Ah, yes,” he nods in understanding as he hands back the book, “And now with Nami dead, you must be wondering if I had anything to do with it because I was so indebted to her.”

“The thought has crossed my mind,” he admits, taking another pull from his cigarette, “Your debt was quite substantial.”

“It would look that way on paper, yes,” he looks away, his fingers drumming on the cover of his book, “In addition to my normal practice, I may occasionally take on unsavory clients that have nowhere else to go. Sometimes I hear things. I pass – passed – these things on to Nami, and she would reduce my debt.”

“She was always big about knowing everyone’s secrets,” Zoro confirms with a nod.

“Exactly,” he nods in return, “She found our arrangement agreeable.”

“Of course,” Zoro continues with a glare, “Now that she’s dead, you don’t have to pay her back at all. Either in secrets or in money.”

Law returns his glare with a fierce one of his own, “I hadn’t thought about it, but yes, I suppose I don’t.”

Sanji quickly tucks the ledger book back in his pocket, hoping to finish the question before Zoro and Law start actually fighting, “We found a rope in the kitchen where Nami was killed.”

Law’s gaze slides back to him, “Okay.”

“I’m pretty sure it was the rope from the conservatory.” He puffs on his cigarette, exhaling wisps of smoke as he asks, “Do you know how it got there?”

“Because I was in the conservatory earlier, you think I brought it there?” Law chuckles and shakes his head, “For what purpose, may I ask? If you’re accusing me of killing Nami, there would’ve been no point. She wasn’t strangled, her head was bashed in.”

“I’m aware,” he nods, “But it didn’t grow legs and get there on its own, so I’d like to know how it did get there.”

“I didn’t move it,” he says as he crosses his arms and leans back, “I don’t know how it got to the kitchen. Perhaps one of the staff moved it. They are doing work in there, and maybe they realized they needed rope.”

Sanji frowns as he takes another hit from his cigarette. It’s as good an explanation as any, but it doesn’t sit well with him. When would the staff have had time to move the rope, after all, and get it in the kitchen without noticing Nami?

“Just one last thing,” he says, nodding towards the corner of the room, “Did you know there’s a secret passage in here that leads to the kitchen?”

Law turns to examine the corner, “I did not.”

“There’s one between here and the kitchen, and the lounge and the conservatory,” Zoro adds.

“Interesting,” he turns back to Sanji, “Do you think the killer utilized the passages?”

“We’re not sure,” he says as he finishes his cigarette, putting the butt in a nearby ashtray, “But it certainly adds a new layer to things.”

“Yes, I suppose it does.” Law says as he looks off in the distance, his hand clenching over his book.

“I think that’s everything,” Sanji says as he nods to the door, “Shall we continue?”

“Yeah,” Zoro nods eagerly as he follows after him.

“Wait.”

Law’s voice stops Sanji at the door. He turns back around and raises a brow, “What?”

“I just thought of something,” Law says as his gaze locks on to Sanji’s, “About Ace’s murder.”

Sanji frowns. If he knows something, why didn’t he say something earlier? It couldn’t be very important if he’s just thinking of it now.

Then again, in a situation like this, every piece of information could be vital.

He glances over at Zoro, who’s looking at him expectantly.

[dottie-writes-tmnt]

Family Bonding Time? We don’t Even Know

This is part 2 of my fic A New Kind of Familiar! Tags and other chapters can be found here!

Raph has breakfast with the rise Hamatos, somewhat unpacks what happened, and then brawls with someone. Well-rounded plot, right?

If you’d told Raph that he’d be meeting a smaller version of him; one without as much experience with control, a little vulnerable kid, he might have laughed. He was just now getting the smaller to sleep, having noticed his yawning around 20 minutes ago.

It was more of a challenge than he’d thought it would be. At first, he just suggested sleep, being brushed off immediately. Then, he tried for a different route, rubbing the other’s shell, but that didn’t work either.

Currently, Small Raph’s eyes were barely open. The snapper stood, bringing a slightly confused Small Raph with him, the mentioned still clinging to his Kuromi plush.

“Tired, bud?”

“Mmmnuh-uh,” came the quiet answer, coupled by a head shake before the other’s face was shoved into the plushie he held.

He simply hummed. The smaller had already established that he would be sleeping in the living room, leaving Raph to put a hand on his shoulder and talk to him a bit, quietly of course, and walk that direction.

As smart as a Raph would be, the other red-wearing turtle realized three times, mumbling a protest and turning them back around. On the fourth, he finally fell onto the couch, though he got a hold of the snapper’s tail.

“Whatcha doing, buddy?”

A bunch of nonsense mumbles.

“I see.”

There was no removing the box turtle’s hand. Not easily, at least. He simply patted the other’s hand, inching closer until said hand was near one of Kuromi’s ears.

Loosening each finger slowly and gently took around 10 minutes, and he made sure to keep the smaller “talking” (if you count gibberish as talking), until finally he transferred the hand from his tail to the ear, which went basically unnoticed.

“Oh wow, buddy, is that a life size dinosaur in my living room?” he questioned dramatically, receiving no answer.

The smaller was asleep finally. This was a bit more difficult than it was to get any of his brothers to sleep, but an accepted challenge. He risked another glance backward, his mind going back to earlier.

 

When he bumped into something small, his immediate thought was Mikey, but, 1. This was smaller, and 2. Mikey had just run off. He looked down to see red and paused for a moment.

This was the Raph the twins had brought home, which he wasn’t questioning right now. An apology was on his lips before he realized the tears running, the dumbfounded expression, the shaking hands. He was immediately concerned, but said nothing.

Then the smaller lowered his head into his shell slightly, shame coating his expression as he shifted his gaze.

“You must be the Raph they brought home,” he said, getting a nod.

He simply went for a smile, speaking again. “Are you angry, or are you just upset?”

The other clarified that he wasn’t mad, and they went to his room after a bit. He was questioned a bit more heavily than he’d anticipated by the little turtle on his carpet, and found out that his guest was trans.

Their conversation allowed him to make a few deductions about his home life but he said nothing. Raphael’s reaction to dinner made his night. He inspected the box turtle while being inspected, himself.

The smaller sported green eyes, a small missing chunk in his plastron, a much smaller tail, and a few scars.

After they were both satisfied in their evaluation, he took note of how the smaller visibly relaxed once they were immersed in Hello Kitty. He had some things to think about, later.

 

Later, indeed. However, the entire ordeal of getting Small Raph to sleep had taken an hour. He was tired, himself. He could think about this all, tomorrow. Raph collapsed onto his bed without much other thought in his mind after that, tail curling around himself. A good night’s sleep would help him think better, anyway.




—




Raph woke up on the sofa, curled around a Kuromi plush, not noticing much else at first. He didn’t move his gaze around yet, waiting to fully wake up, then his eyes went to the screen that was playing some weird space show.

The volume was off and the captions were on, which drew his eyes to the slider sitting against the arm of the sofa, who had nodded off. There was some quiet talking in the kitchen, and Raph, recalling what happened yesterday, decided to listen in.

 

“Look, I don’t know how they got him here. I don’t know where he came from. It’s gonna take me a while to figure that all out, not to mention figuring out how to even create a portal! And an interdimensional portal? That’s insane. It’s gonna take a long ass time.

“And we talk about what the first thing he said was? Well not the first, but one of them. He said I’m not gonna fucking cry like they want me to, talking about his brothers.”

“He didn’t seem all too happy talking about them yesterday.”

Big Raph’s voice sounded.

“Maybe they got into a fight before the whole accident. You guys talk bitterly about each other after fights. Let’s just help the guy feel at home here until he can go back. And no more questions about his brothers.”

Muttered agreements could be heard. The box turtle went to return Big Raph’s plushie, not really knowing how to feel about what he’d heard.

At least Big Raph warded them off? How bad had he been feeling to let that much slip? The prospect of that ever happening again scared him. He’d just have to be more careful. He set Kuromi down with the others and turned back around to see the other Donnie, who frowned.

“Breakfast’s ready.”

“‘Kay.”

The softshell squinted at him before walking away. He frowned, considering just not attending until voices came from the room he’d just been in.

“We dunno how he’s here, but you gotta be nice to him, Jr. Help him adjust until we can get him back.”

“Of course! I’ll help as best as I can!”

“Thanks, Case.”

“It isn’t a problem. I think I can empathize pretty well. Also, Michelangelo says you should come in for breakfast.”

Casey? The hair was longer, form different, mask marked in red. The slider which he now recognized as this world’s Leo was sitting with him, the two talking about him.

“Alright, I’ll be in, in a minute.”

Casey simply nodded, leaving the room. Leo spoke again, his tone somewhere between taunting and empathetic, if that was even possible.

“Dude, I can tell you’re there. I dunno what to call you, but Mikey’ll be looking for you if you don’t hurry up.”

He said nothing, but he did find himself going to the kitchen. He stood in the doorway, simply watching the people in the kitchen interact.

A tall girl with brown hair that was in an Afro being mildly tamed by a head scarf was swamped in a white sleeveless hoodie, socks dragging across the tile as she muttered into her phone, which was pressed to her ear by a shoulder.

A plate in each hand, she started to the table. Casey was pouring drinks and Mikey was making conversation with Big Raph and Donnie while bringing a few more plates to the table.

“Yeah, Cass, Drax probably won’t mind. Text him, he should be up and about. I’ll call back after breakfast, kay? Bye,” murmured the unknown girl, hanging up afterward. He finally stepped into the kitchen and Big Raph acknowledged him first.

“Morning. How’d ya sleep?”

“Fine.”

“Why don’t you eat with us? I made you a plate,” Mikey offered, and fuck him because Raph sucked at saying no to Mikey recently.

“Sure.”

Donnie leaned against the counter, plate in hand. Mikey noticed Raph’s questioning expression, waving him off with a ���bad morning, no-contact corner’, like that explained anything. He didn’t question further, his eyes instead straying to the stranger in the room.

“April, you’re close to the cabinet. Can you grab me Donnie’s mug?”

“Mhm,” hummed the girl. That was April? He shrugged after a few moments, watching the family shuffle around the table and arrange however they pleased.

After a few rounds of musical chairs, April finally dragged up a chair between herself and Mikey and ushered him to it. He muttered a thanks as he sat, the others glancing at Mikey briefly.

The box turtle took a bite of his food and apparently this was a cue for the others to do so, too. Raph started on his own food, humming happily. This Mikey had the best cooking.

The table was tall, meaning the chairs were also tall, meaning his feet didn’t touch the ground. He didn’t know how he felt about that. It was weird, sitting at such a tall table. He simply continued with his breakfast, feet kicking happily. April huffed a laugh beside him as she looked at her phone.

“Cass convinced Barry to be her practice buddy.”

“Uh oh. For sparring or for hockey?” Big Raph questioned, an amused smile on his face.

“Hockey. Send him good luck, he is going to need it.”

He had no clue who those two were. He didn’t really care. Mikey cleared his throat.

“Names. What are we gonna call you two?” came the question, both Raphs being gestured to.

“I could always go by Red. He literally named us colors.”

“We could call him Little Raph,” offered Leo.

“We can call you Dumbass,” Raph retorted instantly, the venom pouring into his tone as easy as breathing. He chewed another forkful and observed.

A challenging smile arose on the slider’s face. He kept his expression even for now, staring across the table without lifting his head, not pausing his actions.

“There’s no need to get short with me, you know. I’m just trying to contribute, Little Raph.”

He stared at the grinning blue idiot for all of two seconds before he decided today wasn’t the day. He simply sighed, ignoring the other completely. He was tired. The remainder of the oddly large family looked around awkwardly.

“We’ll figure something out.”

“I don’t mind being called Red, guys, he can keep the name.”

“It’ll still get confusing pretty quickly. You’ve been responding to Raph for years.”

“Just consider it a temporary fix, Leo.”

“I also respond to Ruby,” he finally volunteered.

The entire table went silent and the eyes on him made him want to disappear. He finally stilled, not risking the glance up. He didn’t want to see Leo across from him, giving him that look. He hated that look, he hated what it meant. He hated that he got it so often. But he was forced to look up as the silence stretched on and he was met with a probing look, smugness gone.

“Nevermind,” he muttered. “I’m sure you guys’ll figure something out.”

“Ruby’s good! I’ll try to remember that,” Mikey said, nodding. The others agreed after that, nods following their responses like a big group of mirrors. It reminded him of his brothers. He huffed a tiny laugh.

He finished up and stood, putting his plate in the sink and leaving the room. His tPhone was dysfunctional so he had no clue what he planned on doing. He should ask this Donnie to connect him to their wifi or something. Later. He should probably work on avoiding Splinter for as long as possible after making a fool of himself yesterday. 

Meanwhile, because he hated idle time, what should he do? He could try to unpack everything that was going on, but did he really want to do that? Not particularly. After some thinking, he decided against leaving the lair, and found nothing to do. Still. Guess he was unpacking.

 

So, he’d fought with Leo all week, the older trying to corral him into a box so he would be easier to work with.

A figurative box, he reminded himself, and Raph still didn’t know how to feel about it. He was fine to work with. He wouldn’t ever let anything happen to his brothers and if a situation got dangerous he’d gladly let himself take the damage for the sake of his brothers. Would they do the same? He wasn’t sure.

Anyway, with Leo fighting with him and slipping up with his name more often and the constant taunting, he’d been feeling like shit. And when he felt like shit, he got angry, and when he got angry, shit happened. Bad shit happened. And bad shit did happen— he lashed out at Donnie, re-broke his already shaky bond with Mikey, and they gave him hell for it.

Then the whole situation happened and now he was here and he had no clue what was going on now. Who could he trust here? Big Raph, for now, he supposed. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the others. Well, except for Splinter. And even then, he still didn’t know.

There was a sudden crash somewhere in the lair, followed by chattering. One voice rose above the rest, however, and Raph glanced a little ways away to see the family crowded around someone, Big Raph’s tail lashing and hitting the floor as his concerned voice rose higher in volume.

The person simply yelled louder: “I am fine, I do this all the time! Now, where is the other Red One? I wish to battle with him to measure the strength of our new ally!”

This was his cue to either gear himself up to probably go too far or just walk away. The group parted to reveal a ravenette with red eyeliner, a buzz cut, and black lipstick, the girl somewhat tall and exuding a fiery energy that Raph found a bit more familiar.

Finally, something that wasn’t weird and backwards. The girl wielded a hockey stick and was slinging a white skull mask off to the side, dressed in a pink skirt and a dark red hoodie. She had a black skirt on and platform boots. She had a pretty face and brown eyes, a grin on her face as she looked around.

Her muscles were quite obvious if you knew how to look and Raph found himself pretty psyched to fight this chick. When she laid eyes on him, she grinned, canines glinting with her coal black eyes.

“Red One! As per the rules of the Hamato Clan, we must fight for you to remain in everyone’s honor,” the girl lied. “I am Cassandra Jones, but my friends call me Casey.”

“Wait, so now there’s… two of you?”

“Weird story that we aren’t explaining right now.”

“Oookayy.”

Well, the one in front of him looked like she was probably the rabid teen he was used to. He decided to train his attention on her for now.

“Uh, I’m obviously Raph, but you can call me Ruby.”

“Well, Ruby, we are to battle to determine which of us is stronger! Prepare to lose!”

Younger Casey rolled his eyes, huffing with a smile. Big Raph stepped between them before any weapons could be drawn.

“Rules. You two, be respectful, and no murder, Cass. Keep stabbing to a minimum, neither of you aim for tiddies, no breaking or dislocations of bones, and I’d say no hair pulling, but…”

A few snorts behind the snapper.

“The first one knocked out of the ring loses. Of course, Mikey is gonna draw the ring on the floor, so be cautious of it.”

The rules all seemed fair enough, and soon, Ruby and Casey were standing at opposite sides of the “ring”, a bright orange square drawn to take up the majority of the area in the pit. Raph quickly surveyed his location, things in it that could be used to his advantage, and finally, his opponent.

The girl grinned, showing no intent to take it easy on him. Good. Ruby, grinning, pulled out his sai. He didn’t know her, he could go as far as he wanted as long as he didn’t break bones, draw excessive blood, or actually murder her.

He spun his weapons in his hands, relaxing. This would be fucking fun. Big Raph took this time to announce each of them like this was some official match.

“Alllllrighty, folks, we have what will no doubt be the battle of the century here! Lemme hear ya!!!!”

Cheers and claps resounded accordingly.

“In the corner to our left, we have the almighty, the fierce, the powerhouse; Casey Jones!!!!” Raph announced, and the others whistled and clapped.

“And to our right, we have someone never seen before! With a strong fighting style and the willpower of a fucking tank, please give a warm welcome to the fearless crimson chaos, Ruby!!!!” Big Raph boomed, his tail wagging and indicating his excitement as he made his voice growl more than enough while carrying the notes of each word so he genuinely sounded like an announcer.

He drew out Ruby’s name in a way that almost made him laugh, rolling out the r’s in each of his sentences.

“Match begin!” the snapper commanded, stepping out of the ring.

Casey rushed toward him before he could make a move, coming in with her hockey stick from the side. The box turtle ducked, sweeping her legs from under her. She sprung back up quickly, though now, she faced a ferally grinning Ruby, the mentioned running at her.

Their weapons met and Ruby kicked her in the stomach. She stumbled back, before coming at him and landing a blow that nearly knocked him on his shell. He found himself laughing. This shit was fun.

His ears picked up on a very mixed selection of cheers from those outside the ring, Big Raph cheering for him with Mikey on his shoulders rooting for him as well. Donnie and Leo cheered for Cassandra, and Casey Jr. cheered for his mother— she was his mother?? —as Raph barely avoided another attack, leaping over her head and stumbling slightly when he landed.

He’d mentally mapped everything out, noted how the air felt different near the barriers. He was close to the boundary line. She was charging again, he could slide underneath her when she rushed at him, then take her by surprise.

Not surprise because she knew he was behind her, but still. Whatever, he was starting to sound like Leo. The blow to the face is what really kicked him into gear. It was that moment when anger made him impulsive, as Splinter and Splinter Jr would say.

He dropped his weapons, running toward her. Expertly dodging most attacks and simply taking those he couldn’t, he advanced on her. And as predicted, anytime he got past her stick, she stepped back, trying to keep him at bay with hits that, rationally, should’ve downed him.

And probably would’ve, but anger made him numb. A perk, he believed. A blow to the head made him dizzy, but a swiftly executed kick to her head seemed to knock her woozy as well.

He was near a boundary line. He came back to himself in time to watch Casey run at him. Her momentum would throw her out, and if it didn’t, he would.

He sidestepped her attack, watching her stumble to avoid falling out, and with a less-than-gracious shove, she was out. She growled, launching at him and ditching her hockey stick, the two simply tussling on the floor until Big Raph pulled them apart.

Ruby simply laughed, not even struggling as the rabid girl grinned at him.

“You are a worthy opponent, but that was just luck.”

“Nobody normally wins against her on the first try,” Raph explained.

“I’m just good like that.”

“You won’t be if I don’t check for concussions and loss of brain cells. Casey’ll be fine, though,” Leo said with a shit-eating grin and a shrug.

“I will feed you to my dogs,” Casey threatened, jabbing a finger at the slider.

“We carry salmonella,” the blue-coded turtle drawled.

“He’s lying,” protested Donnie and April.

“If Donnie biting April made her sick for two weeks, I think I can say we’re carrying something.”

“That was because I was sick, dumbass.”

“My point still stands!”

Ruby simply watched them all interact before Casey ran up to him, slinging her arm around his shoulders.

“WWE’s on tonight,” she drawled, hearing the happy gasps behind her.

“Ghostbear’s up against Skullcrusher! We must acquire snacks to watch the match!! And you are paired with me and mini-me,” she finished, jerking a thumb in the raven-haired boy’s direction.

The box turtle considered this statement for a few moments.

“Sure.”

He knew, with the Hamato luck, that they’d get into trouble. He was so fucking excited for it.

Previous chapter | Next Chapter

[sugarnspicefics]

Recovery

Dad Bod Fatgum x Reader | NSFW | BNHA

Summary: Sweet, sweet lovin'. Our favourite BMI hero takes time out of his recovery to indulge in his needs.

Warnings: Smut, vaginal sex, vaginal fingering, adult language, praise kink.

Authors Note: The first one got flagged by Tumblr, I guess they couldn't handle the spice. Feedback is appreciated. I would love to hear what you think and what other characters you'd like me to write for.

Playing with Toyomitsu's hair, his face is cushioned between your breasts. He's battered and bruised from his latest battle.

It was a battle that has left one pro hero in critical condition and the other three badly injured. Toyomitsu being one of the three.

You remember how everyone in your office huddled around the break room's shitty tv to watch the fight. Bets being tossed around. All fun and games for the first 20 minutes.

Your heart drops and your stomach twists. Your coworkers watch their beloved heroes being beaten but you were watching the man you love.

Recovery has been slow but like always his appetite needed no time to recover. You love Toyomitsu and his many forms but if you had to be honest when his body is fuller with a soft stomach this. That Toyomitsu is your favourite.

That Toyomitsu is a man that can provide for you, love you with such kindness that makes your teeth rot and a hunger that has you begging like a whore.

Toyomitsu Snapping from your thoughts he pulls you in tighter. His hand resting on your stomach works its way down to the elastic waistband of your panties.

"Taishi." You warn.

A laugh that will lead to nothing good rumbles from the depths of his chest. Your protests die short on your lips as he presses the pads of his fingers against your clit. Earning a shallow gasp.

You spread your legs for him, just like that. Toyomitsu doesn't need a better invitation.

He stocks your cunt. Coating his fingers with your slick. Toyomistu slides a thick finger into your heat. He teases you with slow movements before adding another, going in knuckle deep.

Your walls quiver around his fingers. Bucking your hips against his digits, bottom lip quivering. "That's is fuck yourself with my fingers."

The sight of you fucking yourself with his thick fingers. Using him. It drives him crazy.

He can feel himself growing harder, his cock aching for you. Toyomistu crashes his lips into yours, swallowing your lusty whimpers.

He needs to take his time. He's large, and that you need to be well and truly dripping before he can stuff you with his cock.

He brushes a callused thumb over your clit. You come with a cry, gushing around his fingers.

The smile on his lips sends a shiver down your spine. He presses his slick covered fingers against his lips. You can't stop the moan from passing your lips as you watch him sucks you off his fingers.

"You're the sweetest thing I have ever tasted." He purrs

A blush stains your already flushed cheeks red. Rolling away, your hide your face. You thought you would be used to his sweet yet cheeky remakes by now. Yet his words still activate a swarm of butterflies.

He presses kisses to your shoulder, trailing them down your back. Goosebumps rise onto your sensitive skin. His large hands work your drenched panties down your legs. You hum with anticipation. His boxers gone and likely disowned to the floor along with your panties.

Without any warning, Toyomitsu pulls you up on all fours. His hard cock between the plushness of your ass cheeks.

Sinking his cock into you. Your cunt swallows every inch of him. "Just a little bit more, baby, you can take it."

The delightful ache of him stretching out your pretty cunt has you gripping the sheets.

Slowly he starts to move. Blunt nails dig into the sensitive skin at your hips. Pulling lustful gasps from you with every stroke.

His lips brush against your ear, "that's my good girl." You nuzzle the sheets, pushing your ass higher. His voice drops with ginger, "you take my cock so well."

He's taking his time, and you are putty beneath him. His cock large and veiny. He's teasing you, deliberately missing the spot that you need him to reach the most. Yet you can feel your orgasm approaching. Are you about to cum Purley from this man's dick?

Just as you were about to be lost in a sea of pleasure, he pulls out.

You whine out his name like a bitch in heat. Shaking your ass, hoping to entice him back into your heat.

Toyomitsu's large hands cover your smaller ones. "Such a needy girl." He trails of kisses down your spine. In a fluid thrust, he's back inside.

His rhythm is rough and fast. Lewd and wet noises complement the headboard as it bangs against the wall.

His grip on your wrists tightens as he whispers his desires. Fucking you with a wanting of a man that couldn't fuck for three weeks, and you are taking it like the good little whore you are.

You lose control of your body as Toyomitsu massages the swell of your clit. A scream falls from your lips as your orgasm blooms.

Your legs give out under the weight of your orgasm. Toyomitsu follows with one last thrust.

He crushes you as his own body filters under the weight of his orgasm. Toyomitsu rolls onto his back, keeping you in his arms.

"I might have..." He wheezes out.

"You might have overdone it?" You giggle.

Toyomitsu nods in agreement, "this is why they say not to have sex with fractured ribs."

[snowdice]

Sometimes Labels Shift (Mini Fic Series 43)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Virgil & Logan, Virgil & Patton, Logan/Patton

Characters: Virgil, Logan, Patton

Summary: Logan enjoyed Virgil’s graduation ceremony. Everyone else enjoys the after party.

“Ugh,” said Virgil when they entered the mall. “Air conditioning. Finally.”

Patton glanced over and smiled at him. He himself was relieved to be in the air conditioning after having sat in the heat for over 2 hours and then taking pictures outside the school. The drive from the graduation ceremony to the mall had been too short for the car’s air condition to manage to cool it down, so coming inside was the first relief they’d had.

Virgil had removed his cap and gown after taking pictures. Between the cap and his sweat, his purple tinged hair was sticking to his head a bit, not that he seemed to care at this point.

“I’m going to eat so much pizza,” Virgil continued.

“He doesn’t get to choose the type of pizza we’re getting, right?” Remy stage whispered to Patton.

“Oh, Logan’s buying me whatever pizza I want today because he made me sit through that.”

“You will be glad you went to your graduation ceremony later in your life,” Logan insisted. Patton wasn’t sure if that was true for Virgil, but Patton had gotten to get a lot of cute pictures of him in his gown, so he was content with having sat in a stuffy auditorium for a couple of hours.

“I will not,” Virgil argued back. “Which is why I’m getting shrimp and olive pizza today.”

“We’re buying our own pizza,” Remy said to Emile.

Patton smiled as Remy, Virgil, and Logan started arguing about what pizza was going to be ordered once they got to the restaurant.

They were about halfway to the restaurant which was on the other side of the mall when Patton’s eyes landed on a sign.

“Oh!” Patton said, stopping in front of the Build-a-Bear. “Virgil, do you remember when we first came here to buy you stuff.”

“I do, Pat,” Virgil said, glancing at the storefront. “Shadow’s on my desk right now.”

Patton smiled.

“Patton no,” Logan said as Patton grabbed Virgil’s arm. “We-” Patton pulled Virgil into the store to the boy’s amusement.

“They have little graduation caps!” Patton said, enthused.

“Yes, I can see that,” Virgil said with a wide smile.

“We have to get you one!”

“Patton please…” Logan said.

“We have to get him one, Logan,” Patton insisted. “Or two. Or three!”

“One,” Logan said.

“Or three!”

“Patton…”

Patton paid him no mind, linking his arm with Virgil’s who was grinning widely. “Take it as payback for the two hours I sat in that auditorium,” Virgil said.

“I thought that was the pizza…”

“The pizza’s worth, like, 20 minutes max of that,” Virgil said, sticking out his tongue.

“Come on, let’s pick some out,” Patton said.

They walked through the aisles looking at all of the choices. Remy and Emile joined them, but then wandered off to whisper to each other amongst the shelves.

In the end, Patton did make them get three (sort of four), though they were part of a special set. The set was a plush bird’s nest, and you got to pick three birds to go in it. The demonstrative pictures mostly had birds of all the same type in each nest, but Patton asked an employee if they could pick out their own birds and they said yes.

After much debate, Patton and Virgil picked out three birds for the nest. Easy enough to choose, they picked out a bluebird first and dressed it up in a little vest and glasses. Then, they chose a dove and put it in a doctor’s coat and last, they picked out a slightly smaller crow which they dressed up in the graduation outfit Patton had pointed out before.

“It’s perfect!” Patton gushed. “I love them.”

Despite his headshake, Logan smiled as he paid for the stuffed animals.

“Anyway,” Virgil said once the new stuffed animals were paid for. “Shrimp pizza?”

Logan sighed.

Emile and Remy were already waiting outside for them with their own bag.

“What did you two get?” Patton asked curiously.

“It’s actually a present for you,” Remy said with a huge smile. Emile was looking away, clearly trying (and failing) to pretend to not be a part of this.

“For me?” Patton asked, confused as he took the offered bag.

“Well, really it’s going to be a present for all of us, I’m sure,” Remy said with a wink.

Patton frowned and reached into the bag. He immediately laughed. “Aw!” he said. “A Bluebird teddy bear!”

“I hate you,” Logan immediately said to Remy.

“I’ll love it forever and ever!” Patton declared.

Virgil laughed. Logan sighed.

Want to read more? Click below!

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

[maprron]

Crush Culture

Chapter 2

chapter 1

Summary: Lucy is your average teenage girl... but she's not, it's complicated but not in a "OH I'm actually a supernatural being" but in a "OH I have to get married as soon as I turn 18" type of way. Problem #1 she doesn't like anyone and problem #2 she might have to marry her dad's friend's son... yay

Disclaimer: This story was created mainly for my friend and has no romance but they are gay so...  also I did read over this a bunch but if something doesn’t make sense blame my dyslexia... okay let’s continue

Two things kept Lucy from absolutely despising this town: her friends and the kids she babysits 

She loved kids and hoped that one that she herself would be a mother many years from now; however, the way her father decides to control the big aspects of her life it may be sooner than hoped. 

Lucy held her coat close to her body as she walked up the snow covered driveway to an unfamiliar house. She dreaded today’s job for two reasons, the first one being the events from the night prior. 

She couldn’t believe that she willingly went to Erza’s party knowing she had a job the next morning. Luckily she wasn’t dealing with a hangover however she was running on only about 4 hours of sleep thanks to her lovely friends. She didn’t leave the party till long past 3am all because Levy didn’t want to go home, Lisanna didn’t want to leave without Levy, Mira didn’t want to leave without her sister, and Lucy’s ride was Mira. 

There was a small part of her that wanted to ask Natsu and Gray to drive her back to Levy’s house, where she was staying for the night to avoid her father’s questions, as she watched them leave the party at midnight. Her mind unfortunately pushed that idea to the side, she wanted to avoid Natsu for the rest of her life if she could.

Besides it was for the best that she stayed, there was no need in worrying her friends considering they were now almost all phoneless as a very drunk Levy started tossing random phones down the staircase including her own. So Lucy hung around.

The other reason is that the child apparently belonged to one of her father’s friends. 

The worst children are the ones that belong to her father’s friends.

Well that’s what she deemed 3 years ago when she first babysat one. The kids were so bratty and disrespectful, Lucy knew kids can be bad sometimes but these kids are over the top.

Lucy was glad that while her mother was alive she showed her love and affection, something these kids unfortunately have probably never experienced. 

She felt bad for these on that aspect but she knew these children act that way usually due to their parents neglect

Lucy knocked on the front door and patiently waited for the door to open. Soon she heard shoes clicking against the wooden floors on the inside of the home. As the door opened Lucy was surprised that instead of a 40 something businessman she was greeted by a young woman that was probably in her mid to late 20s. And instead of the frown that is usually present upon these people’s faces Lucy was graced by the warm, big smile on her face. And instead of the usual medium length, fried hair the women she met commonly had from years of damaging their hair from products, this woman had fluffy, long, healthy looking white hair that went past her knees. And instead of the tired looking eyes Lucy was used to, for once she was met with pretty blue eyes.

The woman was dressed in a white sweater, a tan trench coat, matching dress pants and white heels. Her expensive looking purse was hanging from her left shoulder. She was dressed similarly to the others yet she looked like a model showing it off for a new designer brand rather than a woman going to a meeting in a rush and leaving their child with the first teen they could find.

“You must be Lucy” she looked Lucy up and down with non judgemental eyes. Something Lucy had only seen a few times in her life.

It took Lucy a moment to process the words that the lady had said to her as she still took in her appearance. Lucy thought she was beautiful. “OH uh yeah… sorry- sorry about that” she laughed nervously at her embarrassment 

“No need to worry dear, I am Grandeeny” she reached a hand out towards Lucy who quickly accepted her hand shake. “Please come in dear, it must be freezing out there” the woman quickly moved out of the way, allowing Lucy access inside the home.

Home was the right word because this one felt warm instead of cold, by just walking inside Lucy could tell that it was full of love.

Lucy took in the beautiful home in front of her. There was a chandelier hanging in the foyer above her head. To the left of her sat a shoe rack that had the shoes neatly stacked on the rack, the only thing giving away that a child lived here were the smaller shoes. Before walking any further into the home Lucy took off her snow covered boots and placed them next to the shoes on the rack.

“I’ll go get my daughter, I’ll be right back” She heard Grandeeny say as Lucy slowly walked deeper into the home.

As she looked around she was impressed with the neatness of the place. Most homes she had been in with young children tended to be cluttered with toys all over the place, even the homes with maids, yet if someone was to tell her that there was not a single speck of dirt in the house she would have believed it.

“Lucy, this is my daughter Wendy” Grandeeny said as she made way back down the stairs, this time with a little girl following behind her.

“Wendy, honey say hello” she said once she got to the bottom as she crouched down beside the girl

“Hello” the little girl waved as she simultaneously twirled a strand of hair around her finger. 

The little girl was by far the most well dressed kid she had ever seen outside of a formal setting. She currently wore a white button up with a yellow sweater vest over it and a white skirt. Her hair was fluffy, similar to her mother’s, yet unlike her mother she had dark blue hair that was short.

Lucy couldn’t imagine what she dressed like when she left the home. 

“Alright Wendy,” Grandeeny spoke finally “I know you will but please be nice to Miss Lucy while I’m gone” 

“Will you be back tonight?” Wendy’s eyebrows furrowed together as she looked up at her mom with big brown eyes

“Unfortunately not honey but don’t worry, later one of your cousins will come by and they will take you anywhere you want, now I gotta go be good” she smiled to her daughter, ruffling her hair a little before she stood back up “Lucy, my number is on the table in the kitchen if you need it, one of my nephews should be by later, 5 maybe, please let me know if they aren’t here around then okay? Okay I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow Wendy.”

“Bye mama” she reached out her arms and pulled Grandeeny’s leg into a hug. Grandeeny smiled at her daughter. Lucy had seen that smile before. She missed it 

And before she knew it Grandeeny was gone. But not the gone that Lucy was used to. A gone with a promise to return the next day. It wasn’t empty promises. Lucy missed that too.

“So,” Lucy finally said after a few moments of silence “what do you want to do?” She smiled at the girl as her eyes lit up with excitement 

~~~~

“Hey, Miss Lucy?” Wendy said as she painted Lucy’s nails 

“Hm?” Lucy looked up from her nails towards the girl in front of her 

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Wendy giggled almost as if she was laughing at herself for asking the question 

“No I don’t” Lucy replied to the kid in a calm tone, not phased by these types of questions

“Oh… do you have a girlfriend?” This question was the one that caught Lucy off guard, she wasn’t use to kids asking about that

“No- no not that either” Lucy stuttered out 

“Aww, why not you’re really pretty” 

“Thank you honey but I guess I just don’t like anyone in that way” the information was odd even to Lucy because her whole life she had never felt that way about anyone. She wanted to, she really did but she couldn’t 

“Does it feel strange?” Wendy asked another question as she continued to paint Lucy’s nails

“Sometimes…” the little girl only nodded at the comment, still focused 

“You talk a lot,” Lucy laughed, Wendy blushed probably from embarrassment Lucy concluded “it makes it sound like you like someone yourself” Lucy watched as Wendy’s face became even more flushed with red than it was and she finally stopped painting

“I…I do” she looked down at her plush rug that the two girls sat on top of “but they don’t like me”

“How do you know?” Lucy felt the need to ask. She wasn’t sure why she was talking about this with a child though

“Because…” Wendy paused and took in a deep breath then with a big huff let out “we’re both girls” Lucy kept quiet at the comment. “Also she is 9 and I’m 7… I think you might see the problem.” Lucy assumed that the problem was that 7 and 9 feel so far from each other even though they are only 2 years apart in age. 

“You’re smart,” Lucy commented. Wendy looked at her with confusion evident in her face. “You know these things yet you are so young… most kids don’t talk to me about these things or even think about these types of things.”

“Blame it on my mama I guess.” she shrugged. “She talks to me a lot about… things. She doesn’t have anyone else to talk about things with so she talks to her daughter.”

“You talk mature too” Lucy noted

“Yeah, people tell me how I remind them of mama especially in my speech,” she giggled a little “I guess it is from listening to mama over the years”

Without a doubt Wendy was an intelligent kid, she almost reminded Lucy of herself at that age. Later Lucy would find out that the reason Grandeeny talks to her daughter so much about things was she almost had no one else. All but her brothers stopped talking to her after she got pregnant because she was only seventeen and Wendy’s father wasn’t in the picture. Lucy doesn’t know how or why her dad is friends with Grandeeny considering her past and his odd values. Lucy did know however that Grandeeny was rich and successful so maybe her father just wasn’t familiar with her past but she would never be sure. 

“Hey you want to meet my cat?” The earlier conversation had long come to a close and they had finished painting each other's nails, the ones Wendy did might look better Lucy giggled about it to herself.

“Sure” Lucy smiled as Wendy got up from the rug to go fetch her cat. Soon she returns from the other room with a fluffy, white cat in her arms and a big smile plastered on her face.

“Miss Lucy this is Carla, Carla this is Lucy” she introduced the two, waving one of the cat’s paws at Lucy. 

Then there is a knock at the door and with a huff Wendy stomped off out of her room towards the front door. Lucy quickly jumped up from the floor and ran after the girl. 

The little girl opened the door as soon as Lucy reached the bottom of the stairs and the face that she was greeted with on the other side of the door was one she knew very well yet was the last one she wanted to see anytime soon.

“Natsu! I was just showing her Carla, couldn't you show up at another time.” Wendy whined with the cat still in her arms.

“Sorry Wendy” he chuckled as he made eye contact with Lucy.

Of course it was Natsu Dragneel

[joat-jackofalltrades]

Batfam OC Headcanons

These headcanons are all about my superfamily, who I've dubbed the Shadefam. I have post dedicated to their basic info, here. I'm posting this for fun and to invite others to make their own super family or OC family with far too many headcanon and random chapters for a book that'll never be written.

BTW when I say S1, S2, or S3 I'm referring to the certain seasons in Young Justice

Buck- trans ftm taken in by Faith at age 12 because his father isn’t able to properly take care of him. (His dad loves and accepts him, but is very broke and wants what’s best for his son)

Hope is taken in by her sister at age 8 in 2013 when their mother died

Buck dates Bart for a period of time before they mutually agree to break up, both lowkey being attached to other teammates at the time (Jaime and Tim)

Faith is bi and doing fine

Grace is lesbian and freaking disaster

Hope is ace and valid

Buck is trans/gay and perfect

Cody is ace/aro and chillin with his homies

Faith and Grace had a fling for a few months but broke up mutually

Grace has a butch lesbian girlfriend named Joana

They always go to pride and their hero atls hang different pride flags the night before July 1st around the city

Hope lowkey grew up without really registering gender and doesn’t say hello to new people, but asks for their preferred pronouns

Bart’s the closest person to Buck in the Outsiders, being the only person that knows about his true powers as well as the few that knows his birth name

Goes to Bart or Garfield when he has a nightmare at the headquarters

Bruce payed for Buck’s top surgery after S2

Keith is the only straight person in the Shadows

Lily is pan and loves her frogs

Lily really likes frogs and has a small tank for them in her apartment

Hope has one frog gifted to her from her favorite aunt

Cody is the only person allowed to cook in the Manor

Cuddle piles when the enter family is together at their secret hideout

Cody is the only one that owns an actual house and they use the basement as their “hideout”

Lots of “Are the Straights Okay?” moments when the group is people watching during stakeouts

Grace being a flirt to everyone

Hope knowing every curse word at age 9 because her sister can’t shut up

Lots of scolding because of profanity

Faith smacking people upside the head

Cody is Buck’s go to when he’s feeling dysphoria when he’s with the fam

Family nights every friday cause none of them got the most normal lives (Faith lost her parents young as did Cody, Grace wasn’t accepted by her family and lost her parents before even turning 20, Hope only had her parents for 8 years, Lily never had a father and her mother is a thief, Buck lost his mother young and left his father before age 13, and Keith lived mostly alone with a constantly working father. Plus they’re all heroes so I mean none of them are remotely normal)

Cody entered the Shadefam after S3 and doesn’t know that he was previously working with Jason for a period of time

Very confused brother reunion when Cody and Jason meet again

The pair of them both worked for Ra’s a Ghul at the same time in the S3

Lily gives Buck a frog plush that he holds after nightmares at the headquarters

Faith does daily calls to her children

Faith was raised by Bruce, how could she not take in a small child that looks like a mini her

Faith being a mom to everyone, even her brother at times

Faith: “Cody… why are you not wearing any socks?”

Cody: “Why would I be wearing socks?”

Faith: “Because the floor is freezing! Now go put on some damn socks so you don’t get a cold!”

Cody: “But-”

Faith: “Do not try me Cody North Miers.”

Cody: “Damn… the middle name.”

Cody trying to keep Lily and Grace from getting killed on the field

Faith trying to keep Lily and Grace from getting killed off the field

Faith moves in with Keith after her amputation because he has a first floor apartment and she can’t do stairs yet

Keith finds out about MJ and Faith finds out about Hunter after he sneaks back in from a patrol before the accident

Grace and Lily are chaotic a hell, pushing themselves as far as they can during training and mission

They are the two that get hurt the most often

Though Faith always has the worst injuries cause she’s a mama bear that will leap in front of her children

Cody will get pretty severe ones as well when he jumps in front of Faith

Cody: “Why the fuck do you keep jumping in front of them?!”

Faith: “I am mama bear bitch!”

Cody: “Well stop being mama bear cause you’re going to get yourself killed one day.”

Faith: “I can’t die bitch!”

Cody and Faith being responsible adults and the most mature of the group, to being bickering siblings at each other's throats

It always ends up shocking the rest of the fam as well as the Team and the Batfam

Cody: “Can you grab me a pop?”

Faith: “The hell is a pop?”

Cody: “You know a Coke or Sprite.”

Faith: “You mean a soda?”

Cody: “Yeah a pop.”

Faith: “It’s soda!”

Cody: “Pop!”

Faith: “SODA!”

Cody: “POP!”

Halo: “Are they fighting over what to call a drink?”

Buck: “Yeah…”

The Shadefam is sort of a faction of the Batfam

Buck ships Bartuardo and got Hope to agree with him after she jumped ship from Bluepulse

Bruce is lowkey protective of Buck (he loves his grandson)

Buck is Alfred’s favorite of the Shadefam children

Cody and Faith are his favorites of the adults

Faith insists they eat dinner at the table together before leaving early to go invent

Grace and Faith have coffee addictions

Hope is not allowed near caffeine, neither is Buck

Lily shows up at Grace’s and Faith’s separate apartments randomly

Faith was the shoulder Lily cried in after Jason death

Bruce accidentally introduced Buck as his grandson to a board of people when he stopped by Wayne Enterprise

Bruce: “This is Buck, my grandson. He’ll be sitting in today because his mother is busy.”

The news outlets had a field day trying to figure out which Wayne kid was his parents and the person that they knocked up or got knocked up by. Many settled on Faith getting knocked up by some random guy before realizing the math didn’t work.

One outlet found out that Buck was born female and called him a “she” in their coverage of it.

Bruce lost it.

Bruce: “I read your coverage of my grandson. I would like to kindly ask you to pull that story.”

Reporter: “But Wayne sir.”

Bruce: “You misgendered my grandson. So either print an apology or I will be suing.”

Bruce does not stand for misgendering

Keith and Faith child’s godmothers are Grace and Joana

Hope and Buck are practically their child’s older siblings

Lily is the child’s favorite auntie

Keith leaves after their child’s birth

Keith: “Someone needs to be here in case something happens to you.”

Faith: “Nothing’s going to happen to me, Love.”

Keith: “Can you guarantee that?”

Faith: “...”

Keith: “That’s what I thought.”

Faith: “I’m not leaving.”

Keith: “I know. And I don’t blame you. You were built for the hero’s life. I wasn’t.”

Faith: “I swear I’ll be careful. For you and for them.”

Both Hope and Buck move to the Outsiders and later Buck leads the Team, leaving the Shadows.

Faith: “The Team? Buck that’s great!”

Buck: “I thought you’d be a bit more… I don’t know feeling the mode about this.”

Faith: “Why? Cause my little hodgepodge of a team is losing a member?”

Buck: “Well yeah.”

Faith: “Buck. The Shadows were just a covert team for the East. Plus it’s not like I’m really losing you. You are my son after all.”

Buck: “I know. And I’ll never forget that… Mom.”

Lily moved in with Jason and the two of them focused more on Gotham, Lily becoming a true Bat.

Lily: “So I guess I’m a Bat now.”

Faith: “Yup.”

Lily: “No longer a Shade.”

Faith: “The Shades were created by a Bat and consisted of like four current Bat members. The Shades are like a stepping stone.”

Lily: “I guess. I’m still gonna miss family nights.”

Faith: “The Shadows might be decreasing in numbers, but that doesn’t mean we’re ending Shade family nights. Bring along Jason, I’m sure he’ll have a ton of fun.”

Lily: “Yeah surrounded by youngins! He’ll be ecstatic!”

Faith: “Well he does need to prepare.”

Lily: “How the fuck did you know!”

Faith: “Wait, what!”

And that’s how Faith learned Lily was pregnant

Grace leaves the hero world once she and Joana get married and she becomes a criminal prosecutor, sealing the fate of the Shadows

Faith: “So you’re giving it up then?”

Grace: “The hero's life is great and every Faith, but.”

Faith: “I know. It’s a lot.”

Grace: “I mean I never wanted to be a hero, I just wanted to put the bad guys away. That’s what I’m doing now. Plus Joana always frets over me after a mission, even if nothing bad happened.”

Faith: “That’s pretty reasonable. Keith tends to exaggerate the smallest cuts.”

Grace: “So you’re not upset that you’re losing another member?”

Faith: “The Shadows were just a covert team for smaller crimes. I always have my back up with the League.”

Grace: “So the Shadows are done now?”

Faith: “For the time being.”

Cody never left the team, but with only two members it became more of a partnership. They continued to work together, with them assisting the League, Team, and Bats whenever they were needed

Even after the team breaks up, they all gather up once a month and hang out for board games, movies, or a patrol around the city for old times sake.

The older members (Faith, Grace, and Keith) do a lot of reminiscing while the “kids” (Buck, Lily, and Hope) just goan and roll their eyes as Cody listens to the tales of his sister and her friends

Lily and Jason never planned on having any biological children, but they did plan on taking in a street kid. They ended up with one biological child and one street kid

Cody becomes the next Bruce Wayne, training and taking in kids that need a good home

Grace and Joana have three kids, two of which have Grace’s abilities

The entire Shade family is always invited to Bat family reunions. Damian was very confused by the massive amount of people that showed up after Bruce told him he only had a “few” siblings.

Damian: “Eight is not a few Father.”

Bruce: “You have seven siblings Damian. Buck is your nephew.”

Damian: “He’s nearly 16 years older than me.”

Bruce: “Yes but he’s Faith’s son.”

Damian: “Reigns is only seven years younger than Miers.”

Bruce: “He still calls her mom correct?”

Damian: “Yes.”

Bruce: “And he calls me Grandpa?”

Damian: “Yes.”

Bruce: “Then he is your nephew.”

Damian: “But Kyle also calls her mom.”

Bruce: “Your sister does it as a joke to annoy your oldest sister.”

Damian: “Kyle is the only blood sibling I have here. Why must I consider the rest of these people siblings?”

Bruce: “Because they are.”

Damian: “Well… seven is still not a small amount of people.”

Bruce: “With the amount of people here, seven is a few.”

Cody is a light sleeper, waking at the slightest sounds

Grace sleeps like the dead, freezing water and banging pots are the only thing that wake her

Keith can sleep through stuff if he’s in a deep sleep, but also wakes to small shifts in the bed when Faith has a nightmare

Faith is another light sleeper, though not as light as her brother

Lily can and will sleep through anything that doesn’t sound threatening, aka wakes only to gunshots and the scrapping of a blade in its sheath

Buck is a deep sleeper, though often wakes to nightmares

Hope sleeps a lot like her sister, though she’s easier to wake up

When Cody wakes up, he’s up. If he’s woken up, a perimeter check is needed before he goes to sleep. If he wakes up on his own, he still does a perimeter check before going about his day

Grace doesn’t fully wake up until she’s had her eggs and instant caramel coffee

Keith rises with the sun full of energy after seeing Faith sleeping beside him

Faith wakes up tired and a little sluggish, needing black coffee to really wake up in the morning

Lily lives in a permanent state of sluggishness during daylight hours, she draws her power through the moon

Buck is always a bit tired, with usual bursts of random energy

Hope wakes with the sun cause she herself is a ray of sun

Faith & Keith child

Valarie (biological)

Cody’s children

Westly (adopted)

Conner (adopted)

Grace & Joana’ children

Derek (Grace’s biological)

Sophie (Grace’s biological)

Adrian (adopted)

Jason & Lily’s children

Charlie (street kid)

Jaden (biological)

Faith, Hope, and Grace are called the holy trinity as a joke

How Lily and Jason act

PDA constantly, it’s not huge things but it’s very clear that they are together

Nightmare comfort

Got together after Jason came back from the dead, working together as Red Hood and Scarlet Falcon

Were rivals of sorts before his death when Lily was still Misfortune. They fought a lot as Robin and Misfortune, though Faith refuses to let Jason take her in

Lily runs cold so she often wears Jason’s jacket

Faith gave both Lily and Jason the “if you hurt my sibling” lecture. Jason was terrified by it, while Lily shrugged it off

Faith: “You hurt my baby brother, I will hurt you tenfold. I will get a crowbar.”

Lily: “Reasonable.”

Faith: “If you hurt my baby sister, I will hurt you tenfold. I will get a crowbar.”

Jason: “Okay ma’am.”

Buck isn’t a meta but cursed

Hope gets killed in 2023 during the first mission that the team gets together after 2020

Shadefam split by 2020, with Keith, Hope, & Buck leaving in 2018, Grace leaving in 2019, and Lily leaving in 2020 with Faith moving from High Hills in 2019

Keith and Faith move after S3 in 2019 to Star City to man the Wayne Enterprise in the West and raise Valerie in a less crime-ridden area

Cody takes over protecting High Hills, taking on two wards

Grace and Joana move to a smaller town outside of New York so Grace couldn’t be dragged back into the Life

Lily lives with Jason in Gotham

Cody was almost taken by the Court of Owls to become a Talon (their mother’s death was a result of the Court) saved by the League of Shadows instead

Valerie

Metahuman with the True Sight ability

Born 2018

Year younger than Damian

Joins the Team as Seer

Connor

Eldest of the Shade children

Born 2014

Joins the family when he's seven

Loves musical theatre

Doesn’t do fieldwork and works as the man behind the screen for his brother and father

Westly

Second eldest of the Shade children

Born 2016

Joins the family when he's six

Works on the field with his father (Bullseye)

Mathlete

Derek & Sophie

Twins

Born 2019

Sophie is a shadow bender (Yin)

Derek is a light bender (Yang)

Both join the Life (much to Joana dismay)

Adrian

Same age as the “twins”

Born 2019

Doesn’t join the Life

Works with their mom (Joana) in the family jeweler shop

Charlie

Equal eldest Shade child (though entered the family far later than Conner)

Born 2014

Joins the family when he's nine

Doesn’t join the Life and studies pre-med to fix up his family

Jaden

(2020)

Joins the Life

When People Call Faith “Mom”

Cody, Grace, Dick, and Jason call her Mom as a joke or when she’s being to much of a mama bear

Grace: “Alright. Alright Mom. We’ll stop.”

Faith: “Don’t call me Mom Grace.”

Dick: “Alright… Mama Bear.”

Faith: “I will kill you Dick.”

Jason: “Oh don’t kill him Mum, he’s a good big brother.”

Faith: “-Jay.”

Cody: “Relax Mother. They’re just playing with you.”

Faith: “CODY!”

Lily does it as a joke most of the time, though often accidentally does it

Lily: “Jeez let up Faith I’m fine.”

Faith: “Fine? Lily, you nearly bled out an hour ago.”

Lily: “Yeah an hour a ago.”

Faith: “Sit the fuck back down you asshole.”

Lily: “Okay.”

Faith: “What were you thinking Lily? You could have been killed. You could have gotten Buck killed.”

Lily: “You quoting Lion King now?”

Faith: “Lily.”

Lily: “Sorry.”

Faith: “What were you planning, Lily? What if we couldn’t have gotten to you in time? What if Buck was in your place? What if we lost you?”

Lily: “I’m- I’m sorry Mom.”

Faith: “I know you- Did you just call me Mom?”

Lily: “Aaaa- no?”

Hope never means to call Faith Mom, but it does just kind of happen

Faith: “Time to get up, Hope. You got school in thirty minutes.”

Hope: “Mmmm.”

Faith: “Come on Hope.”

Hope: “I don’t wanna go Mom.”

Faith: “It’s only for seven hours, Hope.”

Hope: “Mmm. Fine.”

Faith: “Good. Be ready in ten please.”

Hope: “Alright M- Faith. I meant Faith… not Mom.”

Buck calls her Mom the most (besides her own daughter)

Faith: “Have fun sweety.”

Buck: “I will Mom.”

Faith: “You know I’m not old enough to be your mother.”

Buck: “I know Mom. And you know I don’t care.”

faith: “And neither do I in all honesty.”

Tim accidentally called her mom once, which her reflect response was “I’m too young to be your mother”

Faith: “Tim? What are you still doing up?”

Tim: “Working.”

Faith: “For how long?”

Tim: “... I’m on hour… 56?”

Faith: “Go to bed Tim.”

Tim: “But I just need 10 more hours to finish.”

Faith: “Nope. You’re going to bed.”

Tim: “Hey! Put me down!”

Faith: “No. Tim you are a growing boy who needs to sleep.”

Tim: “But I have to-”

Faith: “Sleep! You have to sleep.”

Tim: “Put me down Faith.”

Faith: “Alright.”

Tim: “No I’m not going to bed.”

Faith: “Yes. Yes, you are.”

Tim: “I don’t need you to tuck me in Faith. I’m a grown man.”

Faith: “You’re a seventeen-year-old boy, not a grown man. Now go to bed.”

Tim: “Mmm. Fine. Good night Mom.”

Faith: “I’m too young to be your mother.”

Tim: “...”

Faith: “Good night Timmy.”

Damian also did it by accident once (Jason never let him live it down)

Faith: “I’m fine guys. Just a bit banged up.”

Jason: “Just a bit?”

Dick: “Faith you were held captive for nearly three weeks.”

Tim: “We stayed up endless nights to get you back.”

Lily: “We got to you to find you with a punctured lung and a broken arm.”

Faith: “Yes. But I’m fine now.”

Bruce: “You’re off patrol for the next three weeks and I’ll make sure you get a week off from work.”

Faith: “I don’t need that Bruce. I’ll be fine going back to work and I doubt three weeks probation is needed.”

Damian: “You nearly died Mother!”

Everyone: “Mother?”

Faith: “...”

Tim: “Did you just call Faith Mother?”

Dick: “Well it certainly wasn’t a joke.”

Jason: “I think the demon needs a mommy figure.”

Damian: “Shut up Todd!��

Jason: “Demon misses his mommy!”

Damian: “I said SHUT UP!”

Faith: “Enough! Both of you! Damian get off your brother! Jason stop teasing your brother.”

Damian: “...”

Faith: “Thank you. Now. Damian I’m fine. I’ve been through far worse.”

Lily: “No you haven’t.”

Faith: “You do remember that I got into a car accident where I lost my leg, right?”

Lily: “... Right.”

Faith: “Now I’m going to go watch a movie cause I’ve been stuck in a wooden chair for a few weeks and I have a strange urge to watch Ratatouille.”

And that's it for now. I might make another post about these guys, maybe I won't, depends if people like this.

[idreamofthemeparks]

My idea for an ATLA theme park

Disclaimer: I just finished watching ATLA for the first time the other day, and I haven’t interacted with its fandom at all. If these ideas were already thought of by someone else, it wasn’t intentional. I haven’t watched Korra yet, so I apologize if I get anything terribly wrong.

The park overall

-The setting is 20 or 30 years after the events of ATLA, when the war’s fallout has been (mostly) taken care of and things are generally peaceful in the world.

-The park is in a hub-and-spoke layout, with four themed lands (one for each of the four nations) making up the spokes.

-Each kingdom has an entry gate; these gates are all giant indoor rooms, which open into their respective kingdoms after their brief introduction shows. These introduction shows consist of a master of that kingdom’s respective element (original characters, in the form of animatronics) giving you a brief rundown of that kingdom’s history, and getting you excited for the attractions within. These are mandatory for entering the park at rope drop, but after that, they’re optional for kingdom access. Bonus-- the masters are walk-around characters, and they’ll teach you some bending moves if you meet them in their kingdoms.

-The center of the park is themed like a giant, permanent festival, celebrating unity through all four elements. There’s cultural exhibitions (dances, street food, murals) from all four nations. A couple of times during the day, there’s a “Bending Showcase” show, where master benders from all four nations show off their skills.

-Since this is the current year, there would be a tie-in technology or smartphone app. This would enable guests to interact with the world by “learning bending”; you’d have a smart watch of some kind, or just an app, which allowed you to “bend” to interact with parts of the world, learn from walk-around characters, duel others, etc. Some parts of the world would use this differently than others; in the Water Kingdom you’d primarily use it for controlling water features, but in the Fire Kingdom you’d use it for fighting. You can choose one element to bend per day, and you have the option to reset your choice upon each visit. (And you can mix and match-- what happens if you’re a firebender in the Water Kingdom?)

The Earth Kingdom

-Each of the four kingdom areas is aimed towards a slightly different mood. The Earth Kingdom has a little something for everyone-- you can relax and shop, have an adventure, or go on a thrill ride.

-This kingdom is set almost entirely in Ba Sing Se. You can visit more famous locations from the show (like Iroh’s tea shop, or the expensive table-service Earth King’s Palace restaurant) or you can walk through the streets and find your own adventure.

-Here, you can use the bending system to move rocks and sweep aside the earth to discover all kinds of cool secrets. What’s behind that huge boulder? Is there something in that sand pit? Find out!

-The rides in Ba Sing Se itself aren’t too thrilling, but everyone can enjoy them. The monorail gives scenic views of the whole city. The Tales of Ba Sing Se dark ride is full of fun scenes that we didn’t get to see in the ATLA show.

-Outside of Ba Sing Se is an Omashu area. There, you can ride the Omashu Postal Service coaster, or play in the highly-interactive Bumi’s Challenges play area.

The Water Kingdom

-The mood of this area is a lot more relaxed, and it caters more to adults.

-The setting is the Northern Water Tribe. If the whole park isn’t indoors, then at least this kingdom is; the dome ceiling is made up of screens. It’s pleasantly chilly, all of the structures look like they’re made of ice, and there’s a lot of little fountains and water features.

-This kingdom has no thrill rides, but it has two boat rides. The first is a retelling of the Northern Water Tribe’s history; like a big ride-through storybook, it would show the tribe’s story from its founding to its role in the defeat of the Fire Nation. The premise of the other ride is that you’re the judges of a waterbending festival; you’d watch several scenes of animatronic benders performing amazing feats, and you’d press a button in your boat towards the end of the ride, voting to determine who wins and which ending scene you get.

-The main restaurant and its corresponding bar are made entirely of ice. A “hole in the ice” in the restaurant is filled with a sparkling blue “spirit water” soda, and for the cost of a glass, you can drink as much as you want.

-At night, the sky lights up with the Northern Lights. Every night is a full moon, and just before the park closes, Princess Yue comes out of the moon to wish you a good night.

The Fire Kingdom

-This area is more fast-paced, and it’s geared toward teenagers and the thrill-seeking crowd.

-Rather than one large area, this kingdom is segmented and has a few different places to visit. It’s made up of the Sun Warriors’ ancient city, the outskirts of Royal Caldera City, and a new location: Obsidian Ridge.

-Obsidian Ridge is a town that’s on the very outskirts of the Nation’s volcanic archipelago. It’s a beautiful little town that’s filled with traditional Japanese Fire Nation architecture, but it has a dark underbelly: people here aren’t too happy about Ozai being overthrown, and they still want to carry out his plan to conquer the world. They bide their time, training and trying to recruit people.

-Obsidian Ridge is where the bending system is primarily used for fighting; you can duel other benders (other guests and characters alike) throughout the whole world, but this is where you go if you’ve got an itchy trigger finger. The townfolk and its militia will try to convince you to fight with them, and they tend to challenge people to duels when they disagree. There’s even an Agni Kai stage, where duels happen on an even bigger scale. You can duel the local Ozai or Azula impersonator! (Or you can lay low and just go to the live-fire restaurant.)

-The outskirts of Royal Caldera City are just fancy enough that you can go to nice restaurants and buy expensive art, but not so much that you’ll see the palace from up close. Firelord Zuko’s royal caravan parades through the town square once or twice a day. If you stand in the right places at the edge of town, you can hear Ozai and Azula, complaining in their prison cells.

-Instead of the palace, there’s an ornately-themed and very tall drop tower with a dark ride portion at the top; it’s called Sozin’s Revenge. The story is that you’re going up into the royal astronomy tower to look at Sozin’s Comet and chart its course. When you get to the top, you find that the comet is much closer than anyone thought, and Sozin’s angry spirit uses the comet’s power to come back-- and fling you straight down at 72 mph.

-The Sun Warriors’ city has a cool pyramid and some shops, but it mostly exists to host the Dragon Dance coaster. This flagship attraction has two (red and blue) intertwining tracks. The tracks stretch out over the whole area, so you can see the whole kingdom from up high. No this isn’t a Dueling Dragons clone, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

The Air Kingdom

-This area is fun and playful, and it’s geared primarily towards younger kids.

-This is primarily made up of the Eastern Air Temple; the Northern Air Temple takes up a smaller but significant portion.

-The Northern Air Temple is a huge, intricately themed play area. (Think of Fortress Explorations at Tokyo Disneysea.) Its art and structures have mostly been restored to their former glory, but some of the machinist’s modifications are still there. Maybe you can solve a puzzle on a wall to open a secret door, or turn some gears to make a mechanical air bison move along the ceiling.

-The machinist’s workshop is open, and not only is there a museum of his best inventions (and a mechanical diorama that tells the story of how they fought off the Fire Nation), but plenty of his cool devices can be played with.

-You can fly (zip-line) between the two temples.

-The Eastern Air Temple has the rides and restaurants, which are primarily located in an open courtyard. There aren’t many shops, because the air nomads weren’t very materialistic. You can get an arrow tattoo done in face-paint, though!

-There’s a Dumbo-style ride where you can choose and ride a flying bison. The flagship attraction is a dark ride called Aang’s Animal Adventure, where you fly across the world with Aang to discover all different kinds of fauna. This could be a gentler version of the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride system; you could soar through the air and dive under the sea, and it could end with you coming face-to-face with a lion turtle.

-The bending system would primarily be used in the Northern Air Temple to activate certain features, and it could also be used for interaction with flying bison. There could be a few bison located throughout the kingdom (in both animatronic and screen form), and you could make friends with them if you could airbend for them. (If you buy a bison plush, there’s a ceremony where it “chooses you”. Like Ollivander’s but cuter.) You could probably also “airbend” to get a boost on the zip-line or the bison ride.

Special events

-For one month every year, there would be a festival celebrating the end of the Hundred Year War. There would be re-enactments in every kingdom, and a big parade would go through all four kingdoms every day. You can imagine how the people of Obsidian Ridge would feel about this.

-Every kingdom has its own New Year celebration, set apart by a couple of months. The regular New Year would be celebrated in the central hub.

-The Earth Kingdom would have its own Avatar Day, complete with Aang, Korra, Roku and Kiyoshi impersonators.

-All throughout December, fake snow would fall throughout the park. Each morning, there’d be a ceremony where a group of waterbenders gathered to “summon” the snow.

Bonus

Since I like extinct theme park attractions, here’s how the park would deteriorate/ be replaced, when management inevitably decided it wasn’t pulling enough profit:

-The Water Kingdom would get an ill-thought-out water park.

-Obsidian Ridge would be re-themed to Ember Island. This would probably coincide with the point when the combat/ bending system broke down or lost its novelty. This area would probably also get a water park.

-Speaking of the bending system, people would complain that they could only bend in one kingdom at a time. The park would eventually offer an Avatar upgrade (for a high upcharge) so that you could bend all four elements. This would take away the incentive for a lot of people to visit for more than one day, and ironically, that would further contribute to the park’s downfall.

-Eventually, once the park was more or less dead, it’d be demolished-- that is, except for the Water Kingdom. That would meet the same fate that everything else in Central Florida eventually will. It’d become a Frozen attraction.

[tiffyfoundsomething]

Part 2 of nananananana

So, we just opened the weird plastic shell on our Na! Na! Na! Surprise (that’s the Amazon link again), right?

... I mean... When I first heard about the line I thought they were plushes and had literally 0 interest in the line. I have a few plushes, but plushes aren’t really my thing.

But then I heard they’re not plushes at all. They’re vinyl bodies with fabric over them. That got my attention and piqued my curiosity.

She has kind of roughly woven fabric “skin” with printed on facial features, undies, and socks. I’d rather at least the socks were separate.

And she has 5 points of articulation! Neck, shoulders, and hips.

She’s squishy in weird ways. Like her leg here, it feels like her knee is hollow but then her lower leg feels firmer like it’s stuffed.

DEFECT! I’ve opened exactly ONE of these and already ended up with a flawed one. That’s not a great track record there, MGA.

I did NOT expect soft-sculpted hands. A factory worker had to sit there and stitch those fingers in place.

At least one friend was musing about removing the fabric cover, stitching it back together, and stuffing it like a proper plush. I’d guess it’s possible. She does have seams that could be picked apart, and it doesn’t feel like the fabric is glued in place.

We know I’m all about doll hair, so this is a bit disappointing. She has a single weft of hair stitched to her hat, and her hat and that hair are permanently attached to her head. I’m sure it could be removed if you really wanted to.

It’s not even stitched on in a way that hides the weft.

Oops. That happens.

Being a single weft of hair, it’s VERY easy to pull hairs out during regular brushing or combing. There are going to be mostly bald, horribly dirty, and ripped-skin NaNaNa’s showing up at the thrift shop soon enough.

I’m not a huge fan of this huge tag, either.

On the plus side, her hair is nice and soft.

Open the smaller bags (more trash!) and there is a pair of shoes which remind me of the Vi Va dolls’ shoes (might be compatible?), and a simple and OMG SOFT WHY IS IT SO SOFT sweater dress.

I’ve seen mention of scented shoes and while these shoes do certainly have an odd, sweet scent, I’m not sure it’s actually deliberate.

The firmer lower legs keep the shoes on nice and snug. I swung her around by her hair to test whether they’d come off, and they didn’t.

She’s so cute, and shockingly heavy. Mine can’t stand on her own, and she certainly can’t sit down. If you try to seat her, she does side-to-side splits instead. Kind of defeats the point of even having hip joints.

She’s also not really my thing. I bought her out of curiosity, only. She’ll look good on my mostly pastel display shelf, though.

As for whether she’s worth $20, well. I’d almost like to say no, just because I personally didn’t get much use out of most of the gimmicky bits like the balloon. But honestly, this is a quality doll despite her face defect. The materials used to create her are lush and sturdy and her internal body feels strong. Those hands!

But holy crap the trash.

[pandas-pandemonium]

Per Sempre Insieme - Chapter 3

Pairings (in this chapter): Brunox Fem!Reader

Warnings (in this chapter): Mention of loss of loved ones

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 |

Chapter Summary: You get to know the capos of the respective major teams in the newly reformed Passione. You also get a little closer to Bruno.

2.9k words

The hallways were unbelievably long and daunting;  doors lined at the side, a good distance apart from one another. You didn’t need to look inside to guess how big the rooms must be. Now when you think about it, you didn’t know where the Passione headquarters were. It seemed to be a rather extravagant and well furnished building, it definitely didn’t seem like something that could go unnoticed in a city area, so that narrowed down the locations. The walls were also lined with paintings that looked like they sold for a lot. Something told you the Picasso painting on the wall wasn’t fake. You looked away from the decorations and to your guide, Bruno Buccellati. The older man, clad in a black suit with white paint dots and decorated with gold zippers walked in front of you, looking back every now and then to make sure you were still with him.

“Signore Bruno,” you called after him, hurriedly picking up your pace to reach his side to talk comfortably with him.

Bruno paused and turned his head towards you, “Just call me Bruno, Y/N. We'll be working together from now on, it would be good if we started to treat each other like team mates,” he said.

“Oh, um alright then. Bruno, where are we going?” you asked.

“To see Abbacchio, the capo of the data and information gathering team. He should be able to help you find your sister’s killer. Also, we do need to assign you to be under a capo's surveillance and guidance to help you familiarise yourself with Passioné's  system.”

You hummed in acknowledgement, nodding your head in agreement. “I guess you're right. By the way, do the members of Passione all live here?”

Bruno shook his head, “Only if they need to. But most teams reserve a room in advance to have their meetings. Of course, we have various hideouts at our disposal all over Italy. It’s just your luck that today most of the capos and their team members are here.”

Just as he spoke, he stopped outside a door and knocked on it twice. There was no answer. Wordlessly, Bruno stepped back, a light blue humanoid emerging from him and unzipping the door. You blinked, you did not expect him to use his stand just to get into a room by force. Silently, you made sure to remind yourself that locked rooms would not be any help against him, but he would be very helpful in such a locked room situation.

Once he stepped through the hole, he looked back at you, offering his hand.

“Well?”

You blinked again and snapped yourself out of your surprise and took his hand, helping you through the hole. The inside of the room was a little smaller than Giorno's office, but still as extravagant. The floor was carpeted, and at the corner, a billiards table was stationed. You took notice of two men playing a game of billiards, the shorter male seemed to be a little dejected. In the center, just next to the billiards table was a similar coffee table to the one in Giorno's office. However, instead of a velvet red plush sofa, it was a faux black leather sofa set, arranged around the table. As your eyes wandered, you noticed the rather large figure lying on one of the sofas, headphones on his head and his feet propped up on a cushion.

“You guys! Did you not hear me knock?” asked Bruno, his voice instantly commanding attention. The two men playing billiards paused, the taller one quickly placing his cue stick on the table and speaking.

“Sorry Bruno! Narancia and I were too into our game of pool ya see,” he said. Your eyes were instantly drawn to the bold patterns of his clothes. A purple checkered cropped sweater and white tiger print pants with a purple tint to it. Not quite something you’d wear, but somehow…it fit its wearer? The shorter male's outfit was a little less loud than the others. You assumed he was the 'Narancia' the loudly dressed man had referred to. Unlike his friend's purple theme, he was sporting more of an orange look. Subconsciously, their colour theme reminded you of a kids’ show called Barney that was showing quite frequently lately.

“Next time, pay attention! Anyways, Abbacchio, I thought you said you had work to do! What are you doing lazing about on the sofa?” Bruno asked, his hands on his hips and his eyes stern as he looked over to the long-haired man who was now awake, but still in his previous position.

“Finished it. It was just some reports and payments to deal with anyways,” he replied, now shifting himself into a seating position. As he spoke, his gaze turned to you, instantly turning sharp.

“Who’s the chick by the way? Some new recruit Giorno picked up from the streets?” he asked, his gruff voice held an edge to it. You shifted uncomfortably under his hostile gaze. This man didn’t seem to trust easily.

“Yes, she is a new recruit and I wanted to introduce her to all of you. It’s a good thing Mista is here, because I do need her to decide which team she wants to be in,” Bruno explained. He looked over to you. “Now, how about you introduce yourself? These two men, except the younger one there, are both capos of their respective teams.”

“A-ah right. I am Y/N Pellerini and I just joined Passione today. I look forward to working with all of you,” you said, standing straight, your hand placed on your heart. The first one to respond was the loudly dressed man.

“Nice to meet ya, Y/N. I’m Guido Mista, but just call me Mista. I’m the capo of the assassination team, so if you’re interested, I'd be happy to take you under my wing!” he said with a grin, and a hand held out for you to shake, which you did firmly, looking him straight in the eyes. The next one to introduce themselves was the younger man.

“I’m Narancia! Glad you joined us!” he said with a wide grin and a hand out as well. You shook his too. It was then you turned to the man Bruno brought you to see in the first place. The tall, light-haired man groaned, getting up and stared down at you. His tall, muscular frame towered over your smaller one.

“Hmph, I really don’t need anymore newbies to watch so if you consider joining my team you better pull your load. Since we are colleagues though, you can just call me Abbacchio. Not Capo or any formal titles like that. That’s only for my team mates,” he said. There was no handshake, for his arms remained crossed over his chest as he glared at you, his violet eyes almost piercing your soul.

“Abbacchio! Be nice to the new recruit!” Bruno responded, placing an arm on your shoulder. “Also, I didn’t come here just to introduce her to all of you. She came here for a favour, she needs you to find her sister’s killer, if possible.”

Abbacchio tilted his head as he processed the request. “Hm, and why should I do that, Pellerini?” he asked, looking at you.

“Because we’re both members of Passione? If loyalty is not enough, I'm willing to pay you,” you said, trying to negotiate.

“Huh, if you’re gonna pay me, it better be a lot. I hate using my stand for someone I barely know,” he said.

“I’ll give you 10% of the earnings I make from my jobs from Passione for a month,” you said, your eyes sharp as you looked up at the capo. He laughed and grinned, and took out his hand, and…spat on it. Your face contorted into one of disgust as you looked at his saliva-stained hand that was outstretched.

“Make it 20 and we'll shake on it. You gotta problem?” he asked. You could just hear the mockery in his voice.

“Leone!” Bruno exclaimed, stepping forward. You shook your head, putting your hand out to stop Bruno.

“It’s fine, Bruno.” You then faced the light-haired man, “It’s a deal, Abbacchio,” you said and spat onto your own hand as well before shaking Abbacchio’s. Internally, you had to suppress a gag as you thought of the gross wetness between your palms. It appeared your new co-workers were shocked too, at your stunt. Both Mista, Narancia and Bruno’s eyes were wide as you shook Abbacchio’s spit hand.

“Heh, you've got guts I'll give you that. Alright, I'll help you, signora. Once you’re done with your little orientation just come back here and give me the details I need to find your sister,” he said, turning away. Away from your view, you could barely see him take out his handkerchief to wipe off his hand.

You smiled; you were one step closer to finding your sister’s killer. But first, you still needed a group to join.

“Bruno, what other capos do I need to meet? As appealing joining either the Assassination or Info team is, I want to know my other options,” you said. Bruno looked at you before thinking.

“Well, he does owe you an apology, plus they’re quite a crucial team to Passione. Very well, the only other capo in the building right now is the Capo of the Transportation team. They’re the ones who brought you here,” he said. You pressed your lips in a line.

“I see. Well, let's go then. I'll make my mind up after wards,” you replied. With that, Bruno led you out the room, this time through the door as he should have.

~*~*~*~

As Bruno guided you to the next capo you had to meet, you both engaged in small talk. The consigliere was polite, and seemed quite welcoming to your questions.

“So, who’s this capo of the Transportation team and what do they do? They can’t just be solely responsible for only transporting items…right?” you asked.

Bruno shook his head as he pressed the lift button to head down. “No, the Transportation team is a new team created by Giorno to replace the Narcotics team after we got rid of them. The group was originally just a bunch of stand users lurking around the end of Passione’s ranks. Giogio saw their potential and brought them together as the Transportation team. That’s just a general term though. They operate quite closely with other teams and ‘transport’ things, whether it’s bringing other teams and cargo to other locations safely and undetected, or kidnapping,” he explained.

You took in the information carefully, at least you knew more or less what you were getting into. When the two of you got into the lift, your guide spoke up.

“Just now, you mentioned you wanted to avenge your sister’s death, didn’t you?” he asked. The question caught you by surprise. You did bring the topic up earlier, but you didn’t think someone would ask you about it.

“Uh…yeah,” you replied, looking down at your feet. You heard the man hum in understanding.

“I see. If it’s not too personal, may I ask when and what happened?”

You swallowed; you weren’t sure if you wanted to say everything. After all, even though it had been a couple years, you still haven’t come to terms with your sister’s death.

“It was a stand user… I’m sure of it. I don’t know why the bastard did it, but one day after school, she was just…” you trailed off. You couldn’t say it. It hurt too much to think about it. The morbid mess that met your eyes the moment you entered your house. As you felt the tears welling up, you felt a hand stroke your back.

“It’s alright. I’m sure Abbacchio will be able to track them down. If it was a stand user, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find them,” he said. Somehow, his deep tenor voice gave you sense of calmness and reassurance, as if you could depend on him. You smiled back and held his hand in yours.

“Thank you, Bruno. I’m grateful, really,” you said. Your sudden gesture took him aback for a brief moment, his cheeks darkening as he shook his head.

“It’s nothing. It’s what you’re here for anyways, and as a new member of the family, we’ll do our best to find your sister’s killer.”

Just then, the lift doors opened, leading out to a large lounge room.

Ahead of you, you could see a group of people gathered around a coffee table, lounging on black leather sofas. Immediately, you recognized two of them; the lanky man, who now when you could see properly in bright light, had rather noticeable light blue hair and striking blue eyes to match. The other woman’s features was almost similar to the other man’s with the same light blue eyes. However, her hair was coloured a pale, cotton candy pink.

“There they are,” you muttered under your breath. The duo that was responsible for bringing you over. Without thinking twice, you marched up to the group, Bruno hurriedly following after you.

“So, there you are,” you commented, glaring up at the man who had trapped you in concrete, Penny Lane's user.

“Oh? So, the boss has finished his business with you then?” the man asked, unfazed by your hostile attitude.

“Giovanna has told me all I needed to know. As much as I hate to be saying it, but it looks like we’ll be seeing each other more often,” you spat. The man chuckled before holding a hand out.

“Listen, I'm sorry about having to leave you like that. But my partner and I were only following the Don's orders,” he explained. You looked down at his hand before huffing and shaking it anyways, much to the man's pleasure.

“Great! Good to know you aren’t too hung up about it! I’m Acquario, member of the Transportation Team. Our capo is still in the washroom, but I'm sure you’ll be able to meet him soon,” he said. You scanned the rest of the group, behind Acquario were two other women, talking idly. One of them you didn’t recognise, but you definitely recognised the tall, blue-eyed woman who knocked you out. Just as you were looking at her, she turned and you both made eye contact.

“Oh! It’s you, the new recruit!” she exclaimed as she got up to walk towards you. “Bilancia, Acquario there is my lovely little brother. Pleasure to meet you, I hope you aren’t too shaken up from your journey here,” Bilancia smiled causing you to frown. Acquario had the decency to apologise, but this woman was just making it seem like you came here voluntarily.

“I wouldn’t know about the journey. After all, someone so graciously knocked me out and brought me here without my consent,” you replied, bitterly. If she noticed your annoyance, she did a good job ignoring it. Instead, she laughed it off, forcefully taking your hand to shake it. You groaned, you just met this woman and you barely liked her already. You wanted to comment on her lack of manners, when Bruno cleared his throat, signaling to you to look towards his direction.

Sure enough, a tall, dark haired man approached. He was clad in a three-piece suit, as well as adorned with expensive accessories. To complement his high-class attire, the man also exuded an aura of confidence and charisma. The man then stopped in front of Bruno, bowing slightly in greeting.

“Bruno! So good to see you, what are you doing down here?” he asked. It was barely noticeable, but you could hear a slight hint of a French accent in his voice.

“I was just showing our new recruit around the building,” he replied, gesturing towards you. You hurriedly stepped forward, wearing a polite smile and an outstretched hand.  

“[Y/N] Pellerini. Pleasure to meet you sir,” you said. The taller man nodded, his grey eyes scanning over you while he shook your hand.

“Vierge Bianco, Capo of the Transportation Team. Pleasure to meet you too, signora. If you haven’t chosen a team to join yet, I would be pleased to welcome you into mine. We are a little short-staffed after all,” he said. Bruno then looked at you.

“Well, as much as I would love to introduce you to the other capos of Passione, there are just too many to count. Also, the three you've met are the only ones here in the main headquarters right now. Have you made your decision yet?” he asked.

 You swallowed, your [E/C] eyes scanning the room, first looking at Vierge, then the other members of the Transportation team. You also thought about Abbacchio and Mista, the Information Team and the Assassination Team. A knot appeared on your forehead as you frowned, this was difficult. Should you choose to join Abbacchio’s team, where you would be able to gather as much as data as possible on your sister’s killer? Or do you join Mista's team? Where you would be most comfortable in, seeing as your skill set is well suited for the Assassination team. On the other hand, you could join the Transportation team, where your stand could come into handy? You mulled over your options for a while, before you finally made up your mind.

You smiled as you looked back at Bruno, “I’ve made up mind.”

 A/N: Had to delete and repost this, so there are quite a few edits. I prefer this version better honestly. Please vote for the team of your choice! Would you choose one of our newly appointed capos, or the new capo of the new team? Also, the Transportation team is just a group of OCs I had to make up on the spot, you’ll see them a lot more often as they’re quite important to the story. 

Fugo will come around soon enough, don’t worry. 

[warofshadowstheorder]

Chapter 04

The flow of the Atlantic Ocean was calm and steady.  Airplanes flew overhead as different boats and ships floated by on their way to various destinations.  Underneath the waves, the various marine life forms that populated it went about their daily lives and saw to their needs.  In the sky, a Peregrine Falcon gracefully and swiftly soared through the air.  It flew through the sky and away from the populous nations that surrounded it.

The bird’s path instead led it far away from the nearest logical established landing place and far into the Atlantic in a region very seldom traveled.  An island measuring five miles around, located approximately 100 miles northwest of Ireland, shrouded in mist was the bird’s final destination.

The falcon flew directly into a mist off the coast of the island and perched on a high tower.  The tower was a parapet that was part of a 20-foot high wall encircling the island like a giant snake protectively coiling around its eggs beginning approximately 20 yards inland with the Atlantic Ocean forming a natural moat.  The island varied in elevation, the lowest points being by the ocean, the rest of it was mainly rises that rose into hills and back down again.  The highest part took up most of the northwestern, northern, and northeastern sectors of the island.  It was a mountain rising up to 3,000 feet with a prominent ridge at 1,200 feet.  The locals called the mountain Mount Titus, the ridge they called Gideon Ridge.  Together, they formed an impenetrable barrier from the part of the island.

There was a large quarry not much farther inland from Mount Titus.  Several teenage boys were inside hard at work harvesting ore, under the supervision of a few older men.   Not far beyond that was a mine shaft with more teenage boys occasionally entering and emerging from it.  On the western coast of the island, there was a small hydroelectric plant set up that used the flow of the ocean to generate electricity.  Further inland, various structures dotted the landscape.  Several homes ranging in size so that the human inhabitants could see over the wall surrounding the island were the most numerous.  In the midst of the homes were a few other buildings dedicated to various tasks.  All of the homes and buildings branched out from a prominent hill, whose peak was dominated by a large breathtaking church built after the manner of a Gothic Cathedral.

The soil on the island was the most fertile imaginable.  Over parts of the island not taken up by man made structures corn, potatoes, turnips, spinach, lettuce, carrots, apples, oranges, and various other forms of vegetation thrived alongside cattle, horses, chickens, pigs, and other animals grazing freely over seemingly endless fields of grass.  On another part of the island falcons, pigeons, doves, and numerous kinds of birds flew through the air; sailing on the winds before perching on some of the various trees in the dense woodland that began just after where Mount Titus ended.

The island was a hive of activity.  Little children ran around playing in the warm open air.  Elsewhere, activities ranging from boxing training to lessons on Renaissance art and how to cultivate the various kinds of plants found all over the island were in progress.

One of the buildings inside the Monastery was a dormitory with various bedrooms on multiple floors.  Nearby was a dining facility with a kitchen and an adjoining area for people to eat.  A few different gymnasiums were close by as well.

The Cathedral was the focal point of the island, with the chapel at the center.  The chapel consisted of pews for a congregation, an organ, and a podium for a speaker with an elaborately carved symbol consisting of a red background with a dark colored circle on top with four white beams inside of it in a plush shape extending from the center to the edges.  Another part of the Cathedral housed the chambers of the one they called the Apostle, who oversaw everything, and was also used for some specific rituals.  Another room was something unique to the monastery.

At the top of a high tower was an empty room except for several large cauldrons placed all along the floor.  The cauldrons were black with large handles on either side and filled with water.  Besides the handles there was nothing particularly unique about them other than their mere presence.

The room was still and quiet, with a black duffel bag resting on the ground near the front.  By the duffel bag was a small table where two young women dressed in dark gowns resembling Habits without Wimples sat.

The woman sitting closest to the cauldrons had long red hair and beautiful blue eyes.  The other woman had long light blonde hair and big chocolate brown eyes.  The brunette, Alicia Bruce, waited with barely contained patient anticipation.  The blonde was her friend Sara.

“How much longer do you think you’ll be here?” Sara asked slightly concerned with a Dutch accent.

“Until he gets back,” Alicia answered in a Scottish brogue with a tone reflecting the fact that she’d been in that room for several hours, “I have Gifted McAllister looking after the boys and I don’t want to be relieved until my Odin gets back.”

“You sure do love him, don’t you?” Sara asked with a hint of admiration.

“He’s the man of my dreams,” Alicia answered “I hope that someday you can find the man of yours.”

“Some of us aren’t as fortunate as you,” Sara said, “the perfect man isn’t just brought into the Order and then given a love-struck girl to show him around the place.”

“Oh please,” Alicia said, “I completely loathed him when he first got here.  I didn’t like how he was cocky and arrogant and such a smart-aleck.  But,” she got a far-off wistful look on her face, “in time I got to see that he had dedication, persistence, and charm as well, and that when taken together…he was everything a girl could ask for.”

“Hmm,” Sara said, “if the first step to having the man of your dreams is to loathe him, then I should say that I have a good start with about half the Knights here.”

The two of them laughed heartily and were almost at the point of tears when they heard a sound like a rock splashing into a pond emanate from the nearest cauldron.  They both paused and looked at the cauldron, ripples forming in the water.

“You take it,” Sara said, “we both know that you would rather get the news than me.”

Alicia smiled and walked over to the cauldron.  She pulled back the sleeve on her robe and put her arm into the water.  She felt around at the bottom of the cauldron until feeling a rock resting there.  A watertight bag with a note inside was wrapped around the rock.  She undid the rope and read the note:

Dieter and Olcán in USA, convenience.

Alicia’s heart sank enough that it was visible to Sara as she read the note.  She walked up and gently took the note from Alicia.

“Do we have any higher priorities right now?” Sara asked.

“Not at the moment,” Alicia answered, “we should have time to bring them back.”

“Okay,” Sara said, “I’ll prepare the cauldron.”

Sara walked to the cauldron.  She then put the tip of her finger into the water, closed her eyes, and concentrated.  After a few moments, she slowly moved her finger in a crisscross pattern before stirring it in the center.

After removing her finger, she opened her eyes.  She looked into the water and saw it begin to swirl in a whirlpool motion before stopping and moving back and forth.  In a moment, the reflection of the water began to change and distort until the image in the water was of a tiled ceiling and what appeared to be a storage area in someone’s basement.

In a moment, she saw Dieter’s face in the water.  He looked into her face and a smile made its way across his features.

“Guten tag Sara,” Dieter said into the water, “you’re just looking for any excuse to see me naked aren’t you?”

“Just keep telling yourself that spierkop,” Sara answered, “Alicia and I are here and right now you two are our top priority.”

“Olcán’s right here,” Dieter said, “und we are on our way over.”

“Fine,” Sara said slightly annoyed, “we have your Brussels package here, and tell Olcán we’ll have a towel and clothes for him.”

“Well stand back,” Dieter said with a smile, “because you know that I am too much of a man to not cause an overflow.”

“Yeah,” Sara said rolling her eyes, “your ego takes up too much space.”  She then stepped back from the cauldron before Dieter could say anything else.

A moment later Dieter rose out of the cauldron, with a significant amount of water splashing out as he did so.  He came up with a gasp and shook some of the water off his head before rubbing his eyes, the water dripping off his immensely muscled body as he stepped out of the cauldron.

Many of the people at the Monastery, including Sara much to her chagrin, were so impressed with Dieter’s physique that they thought he looked like a comic book character or some kind of Hellenic deity.  Every inch of his body was solid muscle and looked like he had been sculpted out of pure Granite.  His body was so chiseled that it seemed as though someone had made a conscious effort to organize each muscle so that they weren’t crowded together.

His body was adorned with ten geometric symbols on his shoulders, chest, back, and abdomen.  He also had a tattoo on his left forearm that read:

124872

לעולם לא

The most prominent mark was a large black circle over the left side of his chest.  It had been burned onto his skin, the borders of the dark circle surrounded his flesh.  Within the circle, four beams extended from a smaller circle to the borders of the larger one.

He was completely naked with the exception of a metal Star of David medallion with each corner fashioned into a razor-sharp blade around his neck.  It was three inches high, an inch and a half wide, and an inch thick.  It had a silver color, with the exception of red beams that rose above the middles of the beams that made up the Star with a prominent rise and point at the center of the symbol.

“Like what you see,” Dieter said confidently to Sara, who threw the duffel bag at him.

“Just hang tight,” she said, “you have to join Duncan in Brussels for your assignment as soon as Olcán gets back and I can get the water prepared.”

“I love how you are able to mask your feelings for me,” Dieter said confidently as he walked forward to take the duffel bag, not bothering to dry off.

“Whatever,” Sara said, “Nigel says not to bother cleaning Bathsheba or Solomon since he took care of that for you.”

“Ah,” Dieter sighed wistfully, “I will have to thank him personally when I get back.”

“In the meantime,” Sara said trying to sound disgusted, “do us all a favor and cover up.”

Just as she said that, Olcán came out of the cauldron in a similar fashion to how Dieter had earlier.  Olcán also had a muscular build, but it was more trim and toned compared to Dieter’s large and chiseled form.

He had the same marks on his body that Dieter did, in addition to nine more.  His medallion was in the shape of a Celtic Cross with red beams and bladed corners similar to Dieter’s.

Several scars also adorned his body, including a long jagged one up his right side, and a smaller one over his heart.  He also had a Japanese character burned onto the base of his neck and wore Odin’s crucifix next to his own.  Olcán climbed out of the cauldron as Sara tossed him a towel.

“Go raibth maith agat Sara,” Olcán said as he dried off his face and ran his hands through his flat hair to put it back up into a flattop.

“I’m not surprised to see you here,” Olcán said when his eyes found Alicia, “don’t worry, Odin should be fine.”

“Oh thank God,” Alicia breathed out, “when the note said that it was just you and Dieter I thought that…”

“He is just going to be a little late,” Dieter chimed in, “he volunteered to stay behind and distract the authorities who were there while Olcán und I slipped out.”

“Do you have any idea how long he’ll be?” Alicia asked concerned as she took the crucifix Olcán handed her into her hand and held it tight.

“We told him that the longer he was away, the more worried he would make you,” Dieter responded, “but you know as well as I do that how long he stays locked up is his decision.”

“He’s in jail?!” Alicia shrieked out catching Dieter and Sara completely off-guard.

“Jah,” Dieter replied after a moment, “but we got the message out that he will need legal counsel, so he will be fine.”

“I’m sure he will,” Alicia said getting a smile on her face, “he always finds a way to get back here.”

Olcán smirked as he thought of his old friend and comrade and remembered some of the many missions the two of them had undertaken.  One particular event that he remembered with fondness was when they went on a mission to rural Mexico and had to go on the run afterwards.  They wound up in the desert eating whatever Rattlesnakes and other animals they could catch as they moved to where they could get back to the Monastery.

At about that time, Sara had again placed her finger into the water and gotten it back to normal.  She then put her finger back in and concentrated until the image in the water changed from a reflection of the room known as the Cauldron Chamber, to a cellar somewhere in Brussels.

“It’s ready now,” Sara called out, “now get out of here Dieter.”

“Auf wiedersehen,” Dieter said grabbing the bag, “try not to miss me too much fraulein.”

“I will manage,” Sara replied callously.  Dieter then jumped into the cauldron feet first holding the bag above his head.  He fell into the cauldron and didn’t stop dropping, and he didn’t come up in the monastery.  Sara looked into the water inside the cauldron and saw Dieter’s face in it looking back at her.

Once she saw that he had made it there, she put her finger back in the water and cleared it.  Olcán had already dried off and dressed in a black undershirt and shorts along with the dark Cossack that had been provided for him.

“Why’d you cut him off like that,” he asked, “you’re supposed to wait for him to confirm his safe arrival?”

“I probably should,” Sara answered, “but I don’t want to give him a chance to talk more than he already does.”

“Hmpf,” Olcán lightly grunted, “I imagine the Apostle wants to see me?”

“You imagine right,” Sara answered, “you should probably tell Chloe and the boys that Odin will be delayed.”

“I’ll do that,” Olcán replied as he walked up to Alicia and gently put his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll see you around Alicia.”

“Thanks Olcán,” she said as she softly put her hand on top of his, “I’m glad that my Odin has a friend like you.”

He then left the room and made his way down a stone staircase a short distance from the door.  He walked down the staircase slowly, knowing that he didn’t need to hurry.  He got to the bottom of the stairs and walked through the back end of the chapel to a staircase leading to the Apostle’s chambers, stopping for a moment to look into the chapel.

The chapel was very simple, but it was all that the residents of the Monastery needed.  The floor was made of stone, as were all the floors in the Monastery that weren’t earth, and the pews were simple wooden hand-carved benches.  An organ rested behind the makeshift pulpit, and stands for a choir were on either side of it.  Despite its simple nature, the atmosphere inside the chapel instilled feelings of reverence, humility, and solemnity in the hearts of anyone inside.

The only somewhat elaborate decoration similar to something that would be in a similar structure was a large circle carved out of a thick block of wood with the center removed.  Four beams forming the shape of a plus sign extended from the edge of the circrcle, they converged on a solid dark circle in the middle of the larger one.forming the emblem of the Order.

Olcán looked to the front of it and paused for a moment to let the feeling of the place sink in.  He thought for a while about what he had done, and what he would continue to do, in the service of the organization he belonged to and the ones he served.  After a while, Olcán genuflected and walked across the chapel to ascend the stairs to the other tower.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw a familiar face coming out of the only door.  It was a man about his age and height, with long brown hair down to just past his shoulder blades.  He was very handsome, and had a dashing appearance akin to figures depicted in swashbuckling films and books.  He also had alluring grey eyes.

“Dang it Tadeas,” Olcán said, “when are you going to get a real haircut?”

“I’ll get a ‘real’ haircut,” Tadeas answered with a sly smile and accent-free voice while making quotation marks with his fingers, “about the same time that you fail a mission.”

“If that’s true,” Olcán retorted, “then your hair will be tickling your heels before you know it.”  The two of them laughed and then hugged.

“It’s great to see you again,” Olcán said after they came apart, “how did your assignment in London go?”

“Jolly good,” Tadeas answered with a perfect English accent, “it was difficult to find the targets,” he reverted to his real voice, “but after Jamuike and I found their hideout the rest was pretty easy.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Olcán responded, “is Jamuike in there now?” he asked gesturing to the door.

“Yeah,” Tadeas answered, “the Apostle wanted to go over a few things with him before we left.  You caught me on my way out.”

Tadeas and Olcán had gone on several missions and a few holidays together.  They both had pictures together from various parts of the world they had visited.  One favorite of theirs was them standing on the Great Wall of China wearing old-time Chinese hats.  They were disappointed that they didn’t get to see as much of each other as they would have liked, but they did their best to make up for it whenever they got an opportunity.

“Are you planning on staying here for your next holiday,” Olcán asked, “or are you going somewhere off the island?”

“Olcán,” Tadeas said calmly as he patted his old friend on the back, “when have you ever known me to stay around here when I have holiday time?”

“Touché brother,” Olcán answered, “where do you think you’ll go this time?”

“I’ve wanted to go back to Monte Carlo for a while now,” Tadeas said, “I figure that now’s as good a time as any.  Are you up for a little Monte Carlo adventure?”

“Thanks,” Olcán said, “but I really don’t feel like traveling.  Besides, Odin got arrested on our last mission and…”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Tadeas asked rhetorically while rolling his eyes, “He’s got to learn to be less reckless and more focused.”

“Hey,” Olcán answered, “we all have our shortcomings.  Odin’s happens to be discretion.”

“We can both agree on that,” Tadeas said, “but I’m sorry for interrupting you, what were you saying?”

“I was just saying that while Odin’s gone I should really stick around and help Chloe with the boys while Alicia’s waiting for him.  Plus, I should check up on Declan and see how much he’s progressing.”

“All work and no play Olcán,” Tadeas said “you shouldn’t take yourself so seriously.”

“I don’t,” Olcán answered as the door to the Apostle’s office opened, “but I take this work very seriously.  Jamuike.”

Olcán greeted a large black man with a shaved head and muscular build who came out of the office.  Jamuike had had a serious look on his face when he came out, but at the sight of Olcán and his greeting, he immediately brightened up.

“Olcán,” he said in a Nigerian accent as the two of them shook hands and patted each other on the back with their free hands, “I take it the American assignment went well.”

“It did,” Olcán replied, “the only damper is that Odin got arrested when we were trying to get out of the hot zone.”

“Really,” Jamuike asked surprised, “does he have an escape plan?”

“We took some precautionary measures when we loaded up for it,” Olcán replied, “so I have every confidence that he’ll get out fine.”

“Let’s hope so,” Jamuike answered, “if he’s away too long Alicia will kill him when he finally does get back.  Worst case scenario, she’ll have the kids take her name.”

“I doubt it will come to that,” Olcán said, “but he should be getting back soon enough.”

“Olcán,” a voice came from behind Jamuike, “coe in here please.”

“I guess you’d better get in there,” Jamuike said, “the Apostle has been expecting you.”

“Right,” Olcán turned to face Tadeas and patted his shoulder, “I’ll see you when you get back.  Have fun in Monte Carlo.”

“Thanks,” Tadeas said as he patted Olcán on the back, “I hope you have fun hanging out around the island.”  Olcán smirked and then turned to Jamuike.

“Always nice to see you Jamuike.”

“Same to you Olcán,” Jamuike answered.

Olcán walked through the door Jamuike had been holding open and heard it close behind him.  The chambers of the Apostle, unlike the chapel, were adorned with various decorations.  The most prominent features were three large paintings and two other wall decorations.  One of the paintings was a depiction of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” in a condition that appeared as though it was fresh from the artist’s canvas.  Another was a depiction of a man dressed in Roman armor with a shield and long spear, and a black man almost as large as Dieter holding a sword with a flaming blade facing some kind of huge monster in a barricaded area near a small village.

The third painting depicted a man kneeling on top of a high cliff overlooking a vast ocean.  The man on his knees had the sword from the other picture resting on top of his hands while a majestic celestial being standing before him reaching forward to take it.

The other wall decorations were two large plaques with an elaborate collection of symbols engraved on the top portions.  Several nameplates were underneath the symbols, along with more adjoining plaques with additional nameplates.  One of the plaques had considerably more names than the other.

A dazzling array of different artifacts from every region of the world, most of them priceless, decorated the walls and rested on several shelves around the Apostle’s chambers.

A man sat behind a desk set up at the far end of the room.  The man looked to be in his late forties or early fifties and had a full head of brown hair that reached down to the base of his neck, along with a short beard that matched the color of his hair.

His eyes were green and had a constant look of compassion and nurturing.  He spoke with a voice that was simultaneously calm and comforting but also strong.  He was sitting comfortably and smiled as Olcán entered.

“Olcán,” the man said standing up and pointing to a chair in front of the desk, “please have a seat.”

“Yes sir,” Olcán said as he gave a respectful half bow and sat down in front of the desk as the Apostle did the same.

“I was expecting Odin,” the Apostle said calmly with a strong voice, “but I’m sure that you will let me know why I have the pleasure of addressing you.  Now, you know what I want to hear, so let’s have it and we can both move on.”

“The mission was a complete success,” Olcán said in his usual tone, “the target was taken out and no one else.”

“Good,” the Apostle answered simply, “I have to commend you and the others on the execution of this mission.  When I first heard of it, I was worried about our chances of success.  The mission itself must have been difficult.”

“This is what I do sir,” Olcán answered with his usual tone, “and that man had to be taken out.  Anyone who makes a deal with the Devil has forfeited his right to share this world with those who follow God.”

“Do you hate them Olcán,” the Apostle asked in a strong voice mingled with mild concern.

Olcán was silent.  He sat still in his chair staring forward, never breaking eye contact with the man across from him.  The Apostle mirrored Olcán’s stare, knowing that eventually Olcán would answer his question.

“Sir,” Olcán answered still maintaining his usual tone, “you know that the mission is always my first priority.  I will never let any ill feelings I might have interfere with that.”

“I understand that,” the Apostle answered, “but I need to know that those ill feelings will not overpower you.  If we harbor anything apart from pure feelings, then we are no better than what we are called upon to fight.  It’s…”

“The price we pay for doing the work of God,” Olcán finished, “I know that sir, you’ve told me many times.  You know that I’m focused.”

“It’s not your focus that concerns me Olcán,” the Apostle answered, “but your motives.”

“They are pure sir,” Olcán said.

“And what of the other group that bears your disdain,” the Apostle asked in a strong voice with a hint of concern, “do you harbor ill feelings toward them as well?”

“I’ve come to terms with the past.” Olcán answered.

“Have you?” the Apostle asked making a slight gesture to Olcán’s right side earning a slight wince.

“I have enough,” Olcán answered quickly and spitefully.

“I couldn’t help but overhear you talking outside,” the Apostle said inwardly deciding to move on with the interview, “and your presence here rather than the man who was in charge of the operation prompts me to ask what happened to Odin.”

“Everything went as planned up to the escape,” Olcán said inwardly grateful to be moving on and returning to his usual tone, “Dieter was in his seat and made sure that there was validity in the voice recordings that we used.  But when we met up with him after the mission,” Olcán paused, obviously a little embarrassed at admitting what happened next,  “our exit route was blocked and we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to walk out without leaving the rifle or some innocent bodies behind.”

“I see,” the Apostle said, “and what was the result?”

“We realized,” Olcán continued, “that one of us was going to have to distract the security at least long enough for the rest of us to get out.  We knew that Dieter needed to be back here as soon as possible and couldn’t risk being caught.  Then Odin volunteered to go and I didn’t have time to argue with him.”

“I take it that Odin did the best he could at being a distraction,” the Apostle said already knowing the answer.

“And I ‘m sure that he is continuing to be a distraction in the penal system,” Olcán said, “I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping he gets back soon.”

“We all feel the same way,” the Apostle said, “but I am glad to know that the mission was successful.  I can only imagine what would have happened if he had become President.  I don’t know if we would have been able to stop him had he reached that point.”

“We would have found a way,” Olcán answered, “but it would have been a lot more difficult and probably with a larger body count.”

“That,” the Apostle replied, “is one of the many reasons why our Watchers are so invaluable to this organization.”

“They have their uses,” Olcán replied with a hint of resentment, “few though they may be.”

“Olcán,” the Apostle said firmly but doing his best to convey honest concern, “you can’t let what happened in the past forever control how you feel and act.  The past is gone, and it is essential that we learn from it., but you must live in the present.”

“My past,” Olcán responded, “is what has made my present.  I act the way I do because I have learned from the past.  I can’t help it if the results are somewhat undesirable.”

“Very well,” the Apostle said knowing full well from previous conversations that this issue wouldn’t be resolved any time soon, “you have two weeks of holiday starting tomorrow.”

“I will only take one,” Olcán answered in his usual strong voice.

“Do you want to spend it off the island?” the Apostle asked.

“No,” Olcán answered, “I’m fine here.”

“You concern me Olcán,” the Apostle said, “it’s been years since you’ve left the island for any reason other than a mission.  I encourage everyone here to use the resources we have to go out and see as much of this beautiful world as possible.  Why don’t you take advantage of this?”

“With all due respect sir,” Olcán answered in a respectful tone, “I have seen much of the world already, and I prefer to stay here.  I have all I could ever need right here, and I should help out with Xander, Angus, and Malcolm until Odin gets back.  I would also like to see how Declan is progressing in his training since I will be vouching for him soon.”

“I see your point,” the Apostle said, “although if you ever have some time when you have holiday and no obligations here, I suggest you tag along with Tadeas.”

“I will think about it,” Olcán answered.

“If you have nothing further to add,” the Apostle said, “you are dismissed.”

“Thank you sir,” Olcán said as he stood up and the Apostle did the same, “I will be around here if you need me for anything.”

“Enjoy your holiday,” the Apostle said, “with all you did for your last mission, you have certainly earned some time off.  May the light within…”

“Drive away the darkness without.”  Olcán replied before turning around, walking to the door, and beginning to open it.

“One more thing,” the Apostle called out to Olcán, “stop by the Combat Room.  O’Connell will want to know that you are back safely.”

“I will be sure to do that,” Olcán answered, “thanks for letting me know where he is.”

The Apostle nodded, and Olcán exited the chamber.  He walked back down the stairs and made his way over the grounds, overhearing teachers inside various classrooms as he passed them.  Some of them were talking about traditional subjects such as math, science, or history; others were talking about subjects as diverse as military history and modern vernacular.

He made his way across a patch of open ground where several people were sitting on benches reading, talking, and otherwise engaged.  Olcán moved by unnoticed until he was spotted by a small group of children.  Three skinny red-haired boys were out in the field playing together when they spotted him approaching.  In no time at all, the three boys ran over to Olcán and wrapped their arms around his neck.

“Hey boys,” Olcán said happily as he hugged the three boys when they came up to him.  They were Odin and Alicia’s three sons, Xander was nine, Angus seven, and Malcolm five.  They knew Olcán very well through his friendship with their father, and they all loved him.

“Have you been good for Gifted Murphy while your dad and I have been away?” Olcán asked the boys.

“Yes,” Xander answered in a voice that was equal parts Scottish and Australian while his younger brothers continued to squeeze Olcán, “is dad back yet?”

“No, not yet,” Olcán answered, careful to keep the same upbeat tone he had been using, “but he told me that he will be back soon.  Until he gets back, you three need to keep being good for Gifted Murphy and stay out of trouble.”

The three boys laughed and nodded, then Olcán stood up.  Malcolm and Angus continued holding onto him and laughed as they went up into the air with their arms wrapped around Olcán’s strong neck.  Olcán spun around once and then wrestled them to the ground, loosening their grip by tickling them until they released him.

“You boys go and play,” an older silver-haired woman said in an Irish accent, “Mr. Olcán needs to be going.”

The three boys laughed again before running off to another spot on the grounds and starting to play with some of the other kids.  Olcán walked up to the woman and the two of them embraced.

“Hello Gifted Murphy,” Olcán said once again speaking in Irish Gaelic, “was Xander telling the truth?”

“Oh yes,” she answered in the same language, “they’ve been perfectly well behaved.  They just have so much energy” she sighed, “I’m getting too old to handle children.”

“Please,” Olcán scoffed, “Odin’s boys can be a handful, but you’ll never be too old to handle children.  Mother Theresa would’ve had trouble with those boys.”

“That’s probably true,” she said laughing, “they’re so much like their parents.”

“What makes you say that?” Olcán asked.

“They’re wild and energetic like their father,” she said, “and at the same time they’re polite and well-behaved like their mother.”

“You’ve got a point there,” Olcán replied, “complementary opposites really do make for the best combinations.”  Gifted Murphy nodded.

“Are you going to see O’Connell?” she asked, Olcán nodded.  “I know he’ll want to be seeing you, go on down.”  Olcán gave her a kiss on the forehead and was on his way.

There was a staircase leading down inside the building adjacent to the open ground.  As he went down the stairs, he could hear the sounds of fists, feet, and legs hitting punching bags, jump ropes repeatedly striking the ground, several men yelling out instructions and criticisms, and bodies slamming onto mats.

Olcán got to the bottom of the stairs where a simple door stood against a wall of stone.  Above the door was an intricately carved wooden sign with the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” carved in large imposing letters and surrounded by relief-carved skulls with a large fire behind them.  Olcán pounded the sign with his fist before opening the door and walking into what was officially known in the Monastery as the Combat Room, but what Olcán and the others who trained there called The Pit.

Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music played over speakers throughout the room.  The walls were decorated with various posters.  Some were of boxers, including Olcán’s personal favorite Rocky Marciano.  Other posters showed Bruce Lee and other famous martial artists and MMA fighters.

Very little floor space in the room was visible.  There was a full-size boxing ring in one part, with a complete Mixed Martial Arts-style octagon-shaped cage at the other end.  There were four traditional punching bags, four Thai-style ones, a row of Mook Jongs, and half a dozen speed bags distributed about the room.  There was another area that was entirely matted where several men and boys of different ages were practicing rolls and throwing moves, wrestling and grappling each other in hard and almost inhumane brutal training.

The only feature in the room not specifically dedicated to combat training, was an interlocking series of wooden plaques with several name plates screwed on.

A few older men around the room were coaching and offering instruction.  Olcán walked toward a man a few inches taller than him with scraggly silver hair that went down to the base of his neck, a similar build to Olcán, and an appearance so grizzled that he looked as though he had been living in the woods since St. Oliver Plunkett's final sermon.  He was standing outside the boxing ring barking out instructions to a sixteen-year-old boy sparring inside.

“Keep your guard up,” the grizzled man barked out in an Irish brogue that matched his appearance, “chin down and hands up boyo, remember that!”

“You’d better do what he says,” Olcán spoke up loud enough for anyone nearby to hear, “if you get him really mad he will jump in there himself and make sure that you never ignore him again.”

The man paused for a moment, and then looked at the stopwatch he was holding.

“Time!” he yelled out, “go in the corner and relax for a bit!  But don’t spend too much time sitting on your arse!”

“Little wolf,” the man said in Irish Gaelic after turning around to face Olcán.

“O’Connell” Olcán said and the two of them shared a strong embrace.

“So I take it that the mission was a success?” O’Connell asked continuing to speak in Gaelic.

“Now I thought you knew me better than that,” Olcán answered in Gaelic as they came apart, “after all, I was brought up by the best.”

“You give me too much credit Little Wolf,” O’Connell answered with a smile as he placed a hand on Olcán’s shoulder, “but I’m glad that whatever you learned from me you are putting to good use.”

“Absolutely,” Olcán said before turning to look into the ring and getting his first good look at the boy’s sparring partner, “Declan?”

“Oi master,” the sparring partner, a twenty year old boy with long red hair tied back in a braid and brown eyes said in an Irish accent, “when did you get back?”

“Just now,” Olcán answered, “what are you doing here?  Is this the best way you can get ready for your trials?”

“Oh no,” Declan said quickly and apologetically, “I had some time off and O’Connell asked if I could help him with Nathaniel for a while.”

“Okay,” Olcán said turning to face O’Connell, “once you’re through here would you mind if I take Declan off your hands for a while?”

“Not at all Little Wolf,” O’Connell said, he gave Olcán a smile then turned to face Declan and Nathaniel in the ring, “GO!”

He then hit the stopwatch and the two of them went back to sparring while Olcán watched and helped O’Connell with his advice and critiques.

[shurisneakers]

espresso [8]

Summary: In which your best friend’s brother begins to set you up on dates when you mention that you haven’t been in a relationship in years, but things don’t go as expected.

Warning: swearing, angst (????), pining lol

A/N: surprise bitches i’m back but will disappear soon again for months at a time this is my entry for the exuberant @viktordrago‘s writing challenge (it took me like 20 minutes to find you kumi i2g) thank you to the best beta @samingtonwilson love u and our cinema boi  the fact that i had to fuckin gif this myself shows how desperate i am

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous part- Part 7 || Espresso Masterlist

Everyone has probably met that one person who is very different from the rest. Someone so profoundly boring, you had no idea you’d rather watch a tap faucet drip for eight hours straight than to ever be within a feet of them breathing.

That would be Vision.  

Vision talked like he had a thesaurus up his ass, smelled like mothballs, and had ideals much too similar to a less-funny, almost less-human Dwight Schrute.

“Hey birthday boy,” you excitedly hushed into the phone at midnight.

“Hey there,” he replied softly so you could nearly feel him smile through the phone.

“How does one more lap around the sun feel?”

“More or less the same. Hold on.” He paused for a second. “Yup, I feel normal.”

“You’re a bore, Bucky Barnes. You’re supposed to be excited or something,” you could hear Nat and Clint giggling about something in the room adjacent to the kitchen where you’d snuck to call Bucky.

“It’s just another day, my dude.”

“It’s your birthday!” you protested, filling up a glass of water and bringing it to your lips.

“Meh.”

“What do you have planned?”

“First off, bold of you to assume I thought I’d live this long to actually plan something,” he snorted and you could hear papers shift under him.

“How edgy.”

“Secondly, I’m sleeping till noon and I’m seeing you today,” He cleared his throat. “You all, I mean. The group.”

“Sounds ideal.” You took a large gulp of water before leaning on the counter.

“What about you?”

“Currently; an all nighter with Nat and Clint to complete assignments.” your eyes flitted to the doorway which you realized had gone quiet. You narrowed your eyes. “Other than that, I got nothing else to do other than your birthday thing.”

“Oh yeah, funny story by the way,” he laughed nervously. “I forgot to remind you that your next date is today.”

“Bucky I still don’t get it,” you straightened up immediately. “Today’s your birthday, why would you set me up today?”

“You’re busy through next week and then you have midterms after that,” he defended himself weekly. “And besides, relax. He said it’s an afternoon thing. He’ll drop you off before it starts.”

“Who is it?” you sighed, rubbing your temples.

“Jarvis; also known as Vision.”

You were silent for a moment as his name registered in your mind. “Why have you forsaken me this way?”

“Just give the guy a chance,” he chuckled, before yawning. “And remember, be at my place by five.”

He checked his rearview mirror again before turning his head back to the road.

You didn’t know if he was doing this on purpose, but he was driving at the slowest imaginable speed and you thought you’d reach the café faster if you just got out and walked.

He also happened to speak as slowly as he drove. “Can’t take my eyes off the road, you know. Road safety is a number one priority.”

“The world simply would not turn without capable drivers like you,” you murmured, sinking back into the seat that smelt vaguely of hospital-grade disinfectant.

The chances of you dying in an accident with him as a driver was much smaller than you dying of old age in his car.

He didn’t speak, a look of concentration as he made a turn at the curb, eyebrows furrowing in concentration.

“I thought Vision and Wanda were a thing,” Nat remarked, peering over your shoulder and into your phone when Bucky texted you. Regardless of the content of said text, you smiled anyway when you saw it was from him leading her to completely invade your privacy.

It was just a stupid meme anyway- something that he thought would be an apt goodnight message.

“Wanda doesn’t even remember him.“

“Ouch,” Clint winced from beside you. “That’s gotta hurt the dude in the feelings.”

“Assuming he has more of an emotional quotient than a potted plant,” you muttered grabbing your pencil from under Clint’s hand.

The three of you had assignments due next week, which you decided to do together over many cups of coffee and energy drinks.

“I’m gonna fail this stupid fuckin’ thing. We had to do a meta-analysis of this stupid novel and all I’ve done is watch the fucking movie,” Nat groaned, burying her head in the sheets right by your leg. “I can’t believe I paid a school thousands of dollars, which I don’t have, just to write a meta-analysis, which I haven’t done.”

“Get up, c’mon. You can do this,” you said, nudging her with your foot. She swatted it away, choosing to lie there.

“Nat, I’m too broke to make it rain at the strip club you’ll work at if you drop out. Come on. Let’s get this grade.” Clint rolled his eyes, prodding at her with his pencil.

“You’re so mean, Clit. I’d never invite you to my place of strip anyway.” She raised her head to pout at him but rolled over nonetheless to sit up straight.

“Strip club. And I told you to stop calling me Clit.”

“Whatever.”

As you pulled into the coffee shop eight hours later, you reached over to open the car door only to have him damn near hiss at you.

You reeled back in surprise, watching him shake his head vehemently and unbuckling his seatbelt.

“It’s dangerous out there, especially with those zero-traction shoes. Over 17,000 people die annually because of slipping and falling. Twenty percent to thirty percent of people who slip and fall will suffer injuries like hip fractures, or head injuries.”

”Zero to a hundred real quick, my friend,” you stated, nevertheless not moving. “I know it may not seem like much to you, but I do know how to walk. Been getting enough practice all my life.”

“This is a matter of life and death, Y/N. What if you slip on the sidewalk and crack your skull open? I’d be the one who would have to account to the officers about the lack of awareness when it comes to winter treading and it wasn’t fun the last time it happened,” he said, all in one breath, his head moving side to side furiously.

You stared at him, unable to form any words. Absolutely nothing.

He got out of the car, one foot at a time before slowly standing up and assessing his surroundings. Finally, he took one step forward before pausing and doing it again until he finally reached the other side of the car to open your door.

Wonderful.

“Be careful, don’t jump out too fast,” he commented, holding his hand out to you.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“It was made very clear to ensure your safety at all times. James was very, very–“ he looked like he struggled to find the words “—fastidious about it.”

“Oh?”

“Say, Y/N, why exactly is Barnes setting you up with such… specimens?”

“He asked if I needed help in finding someone ‘dateable’. I agreed.”

“Your reasoning being?”

“Why not?”

“Excellent logic.”

“I was bored, Clint. He looked like he genuinely wanted to help.”

“Why didn’t he just set you up with himself?” Clint twirled his highlighter around his fingers. “He missed a great opportunity to pull the greatest plot twist of the century.”

“I really don’t think-“

“It’s probably not the best plot twist. He’s making it pretty obvious with the whole intense staring and heart eyes and writing on your cup thing.”

“Okay, first of all, there is no heart eyes or intense staring or- wait, what writing on my cup thing?” you caught yourself mid-sentence.

“Clint!” Nat hissed, glaring at him.

Clint looked between Nat and you for a few seconds before letting out the most apathetic and monotone, “Oops.”

“You just ruined it, you shit-eating fuck hammer. Bucky’s going to kill us both and then himself when he finds out.”

The place Vis took you was actually decent. It was the nicer of the two coffee shops in town, the other one being where Bucky worked. Still, something was missing and soon you felt yourself missing the chipped tables and fake plants of the other joint. You liked it much more than the pristine white walls and cold plush chairs here.

“Can we get a table for two? Preferably away from the noise-“

You glanced around to pinpoint what noise exactly he was talking about but came up blank.

There were two people in the shop.

“-And away from the sunlight?”

It was cloudy outside.

“Also, could you reduce the heat, please? It’s rather suffocating.”

It was winter.

“Do y’all have tables in the restroom?” you asked blankly.

He blinked at you, expressionless, “The restroom is a goldmine for germs and particles of fecal matter. Surely you know that, Y/N.”

“I just- it was a-“ you sighed. “Okay.”

The waitress however was a sweetheart, and you made a mental note to leave her a good tip before you left. She led you to a quiet corner, meeting all of Vis’ demands before leaving you alone with the menu.

“I think I’ll just go with an Americano.” Lord knows you needed it after last night.

Vision let out a tsk of disinterest, eyes scanning over the card tediously.

“Coffee can damage your liver, increase your risk of osteoporosis, and increased blood pressure. Especially the concentrated form in espresso shots.”

“Oh bother, well, I’ll just have to take that chance.“

“I prefer tea; rich in oxidizing properties. It’s also a wonderful material for composting,” he continued, ignoring your statement. He snapped the card shut, smiling knowingly at you.

The both of you gave your orders before returning back to the non-existent conversation at hand.  Vision chose to keep his hands on the table in front of him. It felt like he was about to give you The Talk. He looked straight into your eyes, never faltering or looking away.

“So,” you dragged out the word, pressing your lips together when he didn’t respond or shift his stare. “What’s u-“

“Do you compost?” he asked suddenly, not breaking eye contact.

“Compost?”

“Yes.”

“I would, but I can’t-post.” You grinned at him, expecting a laugh or at least a groan.

“I compost,” he said stoically.

“That’s great, Vis. What else do you-“ you tried to veer the conversation in some other direction because you had a very good idea of where this was heading.

“I have my own compost. Have you tried making one of your own?” he asked simply. “It’s very simple.”

“I gotta say, buddy, I’m not wildly passionate about it right now.”

“Do you want me to tell you how to make one?”

You blinked at him. “I’m fine, thanks.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you.”

You screamed internally, smiling at him nonetheless.

It was 4:40. You’d be out of there soon enough.

“Why would you tell her that?!”

“What the hell are you both talking about?” you demanded, shoving your things aside and sitting up straight.

“How would I know she didn’t know?” he ignored you, instead answering to Nat, who was beginning to look somewhat like an angry parrot.

“Jesus Christ, will someone just tell me what don’t I know before I start throwing hands?”

“The shit James writes on your to-go cup every time you show up at his workplace.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” you nearly shouted to match their volume.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen them! They’re so glaringly obvious, he might as well be sticking neon signs declaring his love on them.”

“I have never seen any of what you’re talking about except the ‘Mario’ he writes.”

“That’s only one side. Haven’t you seen the other?”

“No! Why would I?”

“He writes really cute messages on them,” Nat said quietly. “Some of them are normal stuff, like “I hope you have a really beautiful day” the others are like small bits of poetry that I think he writes.”

You stayed quiet, trying to absorb this information as much as possible.

“It was pretty clear that he didn’t want any of us-“ she glared at Clint who finally looked a bit guilty –“to tell you.”

“I genuinely thought you knew. He’s been doing it for months now.”

“I didn’t,” you muttered, sinking back. “That explains the weird thing he does whenever I throw away one of the cups.

“You what?!” Nat screeched, leaping to her knees. “Why would you throw them away?!”

“Hey, I didn’t know!” you defended yourself, throwing your hands up in surrender. “I literally found out about them thirty seconds ago.”

“Can you imagine how shitty he feels?”

“Now’s a good time to stop.”

“Just watching the girl you love throw away things you’ve made an effort to make?”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“And that would be intimidating if you were… well, intimidating.”

“So once you finish one layer, you move onto the next and so on and so forth.” Vision stirred his cup for what seemed like the twentieth time and at that point, it was much more interesting than the shit coming out of his mouth.

He had been speaking for composting for what felt like a good hour, not allowing you to get a word in sideways about any topic that would be infinitely more interesting than this.

“Y/N, did you hear what I said?”

“What?” you jerked your head when you heard your name. “Oh, yeah.”

“Did you like a part in particular?”

Fuck.

“Loved the part about the… layers.”

“Layers are really the key to this whole thing, if you don’t have enough-“

“You know what has layers?” you said quickly, sitting up straight. “Onions. Ogres are like onions. What is your favorite movie?” if you had to hear him speak about soil and manure one more time, you were going to drown yourself in your tears right then and there.

You could feel your phone vibrate in your pocket, but you didn’t bother answering it before putting it on silent, feeling like you at least owed him basic etiquette.

“I’m not done,” he said blankly, “Now, as I was saying, layers really bring out the-“

You bring your hand down on the table a little too harshly but quickly cover it up with a smile. His voice faltered slightly before pausing when you looked at him expectantly.

“I don’t have a favorite movie. I think they’re all too dependent on suspension of disbelief. There is no true realism. None of them truly cater to what I want.”

“You’re a film major.” “So I can make films that capture the true essence of-“ he inhaled deeply before gesturing with his hands “—everything.”

The same waitress from before asked you if you wanted a refill, to which you agreed, Vision doing the same. You fiddled around with your cup in silence for a while, not knowing how to continue.

“Do you want to hear my idea for a script?”

“Sure.”

“It starts with a twenty minute shot of the ocean. Just lets you get into the tone of the movie. Then the next shot is of a horse stable. Then the next is of a wilted meadow. Then an opening door. Then an unruly bed. Then-“

“That sounds great, but what’s it about, Vis?” you emphasized, hoping to speed things up.

“I’m getting there, but please remember this desire for narrative has been fed to you. Without narrative, we truly push away from the comfort films provide and embrace a reflection of the world around us,” he insisted. “The next shot is a branch. Then a towel. Then-“

You nearly banged your head on the table.

“A church. A running tap, just to introduce motion, you know, to get things moving-“

“You need to make a move. Tell him you know about the cups.”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

It was 4am and all of you had collective taken a break from whatever it is that you were doing around thirty minutes ago and were now just laying there, waiting for the caffeine rush to wear off.

“Why not?”

“Why do you care so much, Clint?” you asked, slightly irritated.

He moved his hands to rest on his abdomen. “I don’t. It’s just agonizing to watch.”

“Don’t watch then.”

“Fine I’ll date him then. I’ll get him to write me love letters too.”

“Go for it,” you snorted, shaking your head.

“Maybe I will. I’ll ask him out today, just watch me.”

“Don’t let him break your heart, babe,” Nat encouraged him.

“He’d have to reject me to do that.”

“Why on earth would he ever do that?” she poked at his cheek, watching him grumble and shove her away.

“I think he and Dot are a thing,” you said suddenly, facing the ceiling.

“I don’t think so. He doesn’t look too invested.”

“They hang out a lot now, did you know?” you continued, ignoring Clint.

“You should ask him. Set the record straight.”

“I think I’ll keep all my feelings to myself and then die, thanks.”

“Just tell him, man. It’ll make your life much simpler,” he rolled onto his stomach to look at you. “Sweetheart, I love you, but all this pining isn’t helping either of you. Tell him, and if he likes you back, great. If he doesn’t, well, at least you’ll know, right?”

“That’s easy to say, but try doing it yourself.”

“Oh I did. The first one rejected me straight out, and it fucking sucked balls, but I could move on. Sometimes it’s better to take that chance.”

You were silent. You couldn’t believe you were actually considering what he’d said.

“Alright fine, here’s the deal. If I can gather the guts to ask out Bucky, you’ll have to do it too.” Clint held out his hand for a handshake and you narrowed your eyes at him.

“Fuck outta here. You’d do it without any regrets.”

“True, but you look like you need a push and I’m offering you one.”

“I appreciate it Clint, but it’s never going to happen. I’d rather choke.”

“I’m not gonna force you, but just think about it. It’s all about a leap of faith.”

The three of you remained in silence before Nat broke it, giggling to herself.

“Are you going to ask him out though?”

“Hell, maybe I will. Five o’clock, right?” Clint looked at his watch.

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna do it, watch me.”

Five.

Five.

Five.

Fuck.

You suddenly broke out of your train of thought and scrambled for your phone, interrupting Vision’s marvelous idea for an Oscar winning script.

Your heart stopped beating altogether.

It was nearly 6:30 and there were nearly twenty unread messages and around ten missed calls illuminating your notification bar.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you cursed steadily before standing up, your chair scraping against the floor behind you.

“Is something wrong?” Vision asked delicately, still clearly immersed in his thoughts.

“We need to leave now.” You pulled out enough cash to pay for your share, tugging your jacket back on hurriedly. “Now.”

“Why?”

“I’m late. I’m really, really late and we need to go now.” You had no idea that much time had gone by, scolding yourself for not keeping track of how long you were there.

“Alright, but are you-“

“Now, Vision.” You glared daggers at him until he relented, paying his amount and walking to the entrance at his own pace while you were nearly running.

From Becca:

Where are you???

From Becca:

We’re waiting for you to cut his cake

From Steve:

Hey, are you on your way?

From Becca:

McFucking Dot is here why tf is she here who invited her and why is she so touchy with bucky

From Nat:

I swear to god if you’re off making out w/ that boy instead of being here

From Wanda:

hey, we just cut the cake without you, hope you don’t mind. Where are you??

From Becca:

Someone “”””””accidentally””””” spilled their drink on dotzilla she’s all wet now

From Becca:

I can say with 80% accuracy that it wasn’t me

From Nat:

Becca just spilt her drink on Dot what the hell

From Clint:

Dot just left the room to go change because this dumbass turd just poured beer over her. now’s my chance

From Becca:

Yo where tf are you

From Nat:

We’re just sitting around, watching a movie. Are you showing up?? Why aren’t you answering our calls? Is everything okay?

From Becca:

Clint just asked out Bucky wtf sdjhgdkjfhgkdjfhg

From Clint:

I asked him out. he rejected me. I think I’m gonna keep trying

From Nat:

Clit’s bribing Bucky into saying yes

From Clint:

He said no im leaving this bullshit party

From Becca:

I just told Bucky you’ll be running late are you even showing up where are you

From Bucky:

Date going well? Hope you’re safe. Saving you a piece of cake 🍰

“Can you drive a little faster, please?” you urged him, furiously responding to everyone’s texts as quickly as you could.

“I’m already going as fast as I can,” he replied, driving at almost half the speed limit.

“Sweet Jesus,” you breathed out, running your hands through your hair. “Alright Vis, detour. Drop me off at this address.”

__

You didn’t wait to catch your breath as you ran up three flights of stairs to his dorm room, hands repeatedly slapping against the door.

A minute later it swung open, revealing a slightly panicked Bucky.

“What the-“

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so fucking sorry. I lost track of time and I didn’t even realize, it was entirely-“

“Woah, hey- hey it’s okay. It’s okay. ” He opened the door wider, a mix of confusion and concern on his face. “Take a second to catch your breath.”

As you did, you noticed he was wearing a black t-shirt that had no business looking that good, grey sweatpants, and his hair was pulled into a half bun, having grown longer due to months of not trimming it. He looked beautiful.

You took a moment off of staring at his stupidly attractive face, and beyond his shoulder into his dorm. You could see the empty beer cans littering his living room, the clear signs of a party.

“Everyone left?” you asked quietly.

“Yeah, just a few minutes ago.”

“Shit, Bucky-“ You sighed, frustration evident in your voice, feeling your heart sink. “I never meant to miss this, I promise.”

“I know you didn’t, don’t worry. I see you almost everyday, Y/N, it’s definitely okay to miss one evening.” He laughed lightly, shifting his weight to his other shoulder.

“It’s your birthday.”

“Like I said, it’s just another day.” He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s nothing too big.”

Stop staring at his fucking chest.

“I bought you something,” you blurted out, tightening your grip on your bag. “A birthday present, I mean. I bought you a gift. For your birthday.”

Stop mumbling, you big oaf.

“Y/N,” he complained, “We talked about this. You didn’t have to-“

“It’s a journal,” you interrupted him, scrambling through the contents of your backpack to find it. “Each page has a question. 365 days, 365 questions. I mean, theoretically, it doesn’t work for leap years but, you know, this coming year isn’t one and I-”

You finally grabbed hold of the brown, leather bound book, pulling it out with ease and holding it out to him.  He looked back at you without a word.

“And I know how much you like writing, I just thought it’d be nice to look back on how much you change or how much your thoughts change over the year.” You pushed it forward gently, urging him to take it. He held onto it silently, running his fingers along the pages before flipping open to the first page.

You keep records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them. If you want to Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education, it’s history.

You watched him read it, his eyes widening slightly once he realized where the excerpt was from.

“That’s- that’s from-”

“The Catcher in the Rye. Yeah.” You shifted uncomfortably when he fell silent again, staring at you without a word.

Great.

“I know it’s stupid and nowhere near anything you’ve gotten me and I can get you something else-”

“I love it.” The look in his eyes made you want to melt. “So fucking much.”

“Really?” You couldn’t hide the surprise from your voice.

“It’s probably one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever given me.”

“There are some really stupid questions in there, like about memes and stuff because I thought you’d like it, but the rest are relatively normal.”

“It’s absolutely perfect.” He blew a few strands out of his face, letting his hands fall to his side. He opened his mouth to say something else but instead he shut it again.

It was probably the silence that ensues that made your fight or flight instincts take over because the next thing you realized is that you had both your arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug, earning a small ‘woah’ from him.

It took him about a second but he slowly wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you in closer, if that was even possible, dropping his forehead into crook of your shoulder. He smelt of fresh laundry and cinnamon and you couldn’t help the breath that escaped your lips. You could feel his breath tingling your neck and the warmth he exuded seeping in through your sweater. It reminded you of home.

You unwillingly pulled back, stuffing your hands back into your pockets awkwardly. “Happy birthday, James.”

“Thanks,” he said softly, biting his lip. “I, uh, saved you a piece of cake.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Finally he shook himself out of whatever he was thinking, moving and holding open the door invitingly. “Do you- uh- do you want some?”

Just tell him you like him, for the love of God.

“James I-“

“Bucky? Do you know where the tissues- oh hey Y/N!” There was no mistaking who walked out from Bucky’s bathroom. Bucky whipped his head around, confused, before who it was registered in his mind and he turned to look at you again.

“Hey Dot.”

“We missed you today,” she chirped, approaching the doorway, placing a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.

“Yeah, me too.” Something was amiss about her before you finally caught on.

She was wearing his shirt.

Oh.

“Um, I better get going.” You swallowed. It felt like you were missing something crucial. Why would she be wearing his shirt at his place?

“Wait, I thought-“ he furrowed his eyebrows, straightening up.

“It’s getting pretty late, I gotta go.” You half-smiled, pointing behind you to the setting sun. “Maybe some other time.”

“At least let me drop you back. Let me just grab my keys-“ he turned around, ready to walk back into his apartment.

“It’s okay,” you interrupted him, taking a step back. “I could use the fresh air.”

“It’ll be dark out soon.”

“I’ll be fine,” you assured him, continuing to walk backward before waving at him. “I’ll catch you later, Buck. Bye Dot.”

“Y/N-“ he tried again but you just waved again before spinning on your heel and walking off, waiting till you were out of eyesight before fumbling for your phone and calling Nat to come pick you up from his dorm because sure, you may be feeling like shit, but that didn’t mean you were going to walk home in the middle of winter, alone.

Leap of faith, my ass, you thought.

Leap off a fucking cliff was more like it.

Part 9

[queenmorgawse]

dead and gone so long (seventeen’s so gone)

for #sangchengweek2019 on twitter, day 6 : jazz/noir, ft. detective jc and speakeasy singer nhs in 20s new york city. some soundtrack if that’s your thing! read on ao3 for end notes.

The Nightless City is as Jiang Cheng remembers it : loud and gaudy, its red silks smelling of expensive alcohol and tobacco and perfume.

Some of the patrons throw him suspicious glances as he elbows his way through the crowd. Even dressed like any of the undercover businessmen who usually frequent this place, he must look too much like a cop for their liking. Jiang Cheng pays them no mind, instead making a beeline for one of the few seats left unoccupied on this Saturday night. It’s tucked into a corner, a bit too close to the stage for the view to be all that great, but he’s in no condition to be picky.

So he does as he’s always done in these kinds of places ⎯ he plops down on the chair, pushes down his hat to cast a shadow over his eyes, and tries to look mean enough that no one will bother to come over and try to start a conversation. ( Sure enough, a few flappers throw interested glances at him through their mascaraed lashes, but a glare or two sends them scurrying off in a flurry of glittering skirts, chirping indignantly among themselves. )

The crowd oohs and aahs when the lights start to dim, bathing the speakeasy in soft hues of red and pink. Jiang Cheng feels like he’s sitting in the heart of a rose, his surroundings turning hazy and faraway.  

Heels click on the polished wood of the platform at the same time the orchestra plays its very first chords, now in absolute silence. Limelight flashes bright as the sun, and by the time Jiang Cheng finishes blinking white spots out of his eyes, a silhouette is standing in the middle of the stage, as poised as if they were there all along.

Nie Huaisang is a vision in gold, the dramatic shadow he casts on the wall behind him making him look larger than life. The lustrous fabric flows down his sides like water, outlining his waist and thighs and oh, that is definitely a corset under there, Jiang Cheng notes, his mouth suddenly dry. His amber eyes are lined in kohl, even sharper and deeper than they usually are. When his gaze sweeps across the room, Jiang Cheng could swear something smolders in his clear irises, and it takes his breath away. Everything is too loud, too much, his own heartbeat a war drum in his ears.  

Then Nie Huaisang smiles at the patrons, wraps a gloved hand around the stand of his microphone and starts to sing.

His voice rings through the speakeasy, soft and husky, heady as honeyed wine. It folds around the audience like a silk scarf, drawing them close until each spectator feels like he’s singing for them and them alone.

With a jolt, Jiang Cheng realizes how much he’s forgotten in just a handful of years, and how much is coming back in waves, nestling back into place in the hollow spaces between his ribs. He sits still, so mesmerized by the shape of Nie Huaisang’s mouth, red as sin, that he almost misses the moment when their gazes meet.

To his credit, Nie Huaisang doesn’t waver. From an onlooker’s point of view, nothing truly changes, but Jiang Cheng sees the singer’s eyes widen ever so slightly, the smallest flicker of his easy confidence. He holds on, staring back with growing determination. Nie Huaisang is the first to look away, nonchalant as ever, as if nothing happened at all.

-

As it is, Jiang Cheng quickly confirms that confidence was mostly fake when Nie Huaisang marches up to him a few minutes after stepping off the stage to thunderous applause and countless bouquets of flowers. The other grabs him by the collar with surprising strength, dragging him down to face level. “What the hell are you doing here?” he hisses into Jiang Cheng’s ear. “I thought we agreed to stay out of each other’s lanes.”

To be fair, there was no such agreement, since it would imply they spoke even once after that last fateful argument ⎯ only the implication that things didn’t need to get uglier than they already were, and thus they’d better keep to their own parts of the city. Jiang Cheng would point it out, except he’s not here to pick a fight. Instead, he says : “I’ve got a lead on what happened to your brother.”

In the moment that follows, he knows he’s won. Nie Huaisang’s death grip slackens, his hand dropping from Jiang Cheng’s neck. “...What about my brother?”

Jiang Cheng readjusts his tie, smooths out an non-existent crease on his coat to keep his hands busy, and nods toward the door that leads backstage. “I’m not having this conversation out here. Can we go somewhere more private?”

Nie Huaisang looks him up and down, as if deciding whether it’s worth the trouble to stab through Jiang Cheng’s foot with his high heels and call it a night. He seems to settle on no, though by an unfortunately narrow margin. “Fine. You better make it worth my time, Jiang Cheng.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jiang Cheng mutters as he follows suit, ignoring the curious glances of party-goers. “It’s a real page-turner.”

-

Nie Huaisang’s dressing room is very him. As the Nightless City’s star singer, he gets one all to himself, but the illegal status of his workplace means it is still very much cramped, and made even smaller by the sheer number of clothes scattered about on every available surface. Everywhere Jiang Cheng looks, he sees sequins and glitter and gossamer, draped over one another like some crazy fairy godmother’s lair.

Nie Huaisang closes the door behind them with perhaps a little more force than necessary, then all but pushes him towards the brightly lit vanity and the plush little stool sitting in front of it. “Stay put. I need to change out of these.”

As he disappears behind a folding screen adorned with cranes in flight - oddly clashing with the rest of the room’s style -, Jiang Cheng stifles a sigh and decidedly stares into the mirror, ignoring the rustle of fabric a few feet away. The reflection looking back seems older than his thirty-three years, sporting pronounced shadows under his eyes and a general air of exhaustion about him. While time has been kind to Nie Huaisang, letting him seem barely a couple of years older than when they parted, Jiang Cheng feels like each of his own has been etched into his skin.

Payback’s a bitch, after all. Even if saying it aloud would mean swallowing his pride, the fact they parted in the first place was his fault to begin with. Dwelling on past dalliances does nothing but waste time and taunt the Prohibition, but here, surrounded by Nie Huaisang’s things and the life he stormed out of, Jiang Cheng allows himself to feel a pang of regret.  

He’s distracted from this downward spiral when the other emerges, wrapped in a bottle-green satin dressing gown. He must have wiped his face behind the screen, because though his lashes are still unnaturally dark, his lips have returned to their usual pale pink. With a pointed look from him, Jiang Cheng wordlessly gets up and returns the stool to him.

Devoid of makeup, the singer’s features do look a little more worn. Worry must have aged him a little more than Jiang Cheng expected. “Start talking, Detective Jiang,” Nie Huaisang demands, unfolding one of his many (familiar) fans. Whether it’s meant to clear the room’s stuffy atmosphere or hide his face is unclear.

“I assume you know it’s a series of cases rather than an isolated one,” Jiang Cheng begins. The space around him doesn’t leave much room for pacing, but he turns on his heels anyway, feeling restless energy creep up his legs again.

Nie Huaisang gives a sharp nod. “I heard. It has been selling headlines like hot cakes, you know.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. For an instant, it’s like they’re back to their usual banter-slash-flirting, though he quickly shakes the thought off. “The police hasn’t found any convincing lead. They’re filling up the news with some useless babble so civilians don’t start a riot, but they’re as clueless as the rest of you.”

To be fair, he cannot really blame them. It’s a mystifying case to say the least : normal citizens, who were living their lives without a hitch, inexplicably lost control of themselves and went on a rampage. If some were restrained before they could do much damage, others had gone mad in public spaces, and injured or killed many before they were either subdued or put down.

Nie Huaisang’s brother belongs, fortunately enough, to the former. Jiang Cheng assumes it isn’t much of a reassurance to have him locked in an asylum in the meantime, still out of his mind and frothing at the mouth with rage, but better that than the morgue.

“The problem was,” Nie Huaisang says slowly, “that they didn’t find any common point among the victims, wasn’t it? Old and young, rich and poor, living all over New York City. You’d think there would be a pattern.”

“Right.” Such is the biggest problem, in Jiang Cheng’s opinion. Putting aside the wounded and the death, the unpredictability of these attacks means it’s easy to suspect one’s neighbour, even one’s friends and family, when the attacker doesn’t seem to even acknowledge reality after the deed is done. Toss in paranoia, officials’ inability to come up with a decent explanation and the rumor mill turning a hundred miles an hour, and you have a recipe for chaos, Jiang Cheng thinks wryly. Whoever is behind this must have their reasons.

Nie Huaisang’s voice snaps him out of his musings. “So what’s your great breakthrough, then?” Although he delivers the line as sarcastically as ever, Jiang Cheng could swear he heard the faint tremor of hope in his words.

“Of course the coppers ran background checks,” he explains, his steps slowly coming to a standstill. “They found wildly different jobs, no common origin or education. But I don’t think they went as far as to check for hobbies. Wouldn’t have found out either if it wasn’t some theater critic’s wife who hired me. Her husband’s one of the more recent madmen. I was going through his papers, right, as I do, and I found this.”

Nie Huaisang accepts the notebook Jiang Cheng hands him, eyes moving across the pages. Jiang Cheng can deeply relate to the furrow of his brows at the sight of the man’s...say, questionable handwriting. “Play notes? Oh, right, he’s a critic. The Patriarch,” he reads, then pauses and looks up at the private eye. “What does this have to do with anything? It’s his job, he probably attends dozens of plays like this one every year.”

“Here.” He leans over Nie Huaisang’s shoulder, tapping at a margin. “Despite the actors’ stellar performance, I left the theater with a sense of unease, as if I’d just witnessed something out of this world. However, I believe Nettie Cavanaugh… Well, that bit doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have paid attention to it either if this wasn’t the play the latest case recorded attended just the day before she attacked and gravely injured two of the friends she was out with.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes narrow, a spark of understanding shining behind his pensive gaze. “So the others…”

“All thirteen of them went to see The Patriarch sometime these past few months. It’s rather popular, I heard, so it’s not like no one ever saw it, but it could mean something.” As he speaks, Jiang Cheng realizes part of it is waiting for Nie Huaisang’s approval, for him to say you’re right, I think something’s off there. He could just as well dismiss him as a lunatic, reaching for straws where there is none. “Even your brother. He and Lan Xichen went to see it almost two months ago.”

“Xichen-ge wouldn’t have anything to do with this,” Nie Huaisang says immediately, reverting back to Chinese. “It’s a coincidence.” Even so, Jiang Cheng can almost see a seedling of doubt take root, insidious.

“I’ll have to talk to him again after I get a clearer idea of what the hell’s going on.” He pushes away the thought of soothing Nie Huaisang, tell him I’m sure he’s not involved. This is an investigation, not an attempt to get back with an old lover.

To his surprise, Nie Huaisang says, “I want in on it.”

Jiang Cheng stares at him, incredulous. “It’s going to be dangerous. If there’s someone behind this, they’ve been planning it for months.”

“And da-ge would do the same for me if I was the one targeted! Besides, if...when he recovers, he’s going to need something to prove his innocence. That he’s not the one responsible for these people he hurt,” Nie Huaisang insists. His amber eyes have turned to gold. “If you don’t take me with you, I’ll investigate on my own.”

“Fine!” Jiang Cheng snaps. He is, to his irritation, less annoyed by this turn of events than he should be. “But you’ve got to promise me you’ll drop out of it if things get too messy. This isn’t your job, it’s mine. Got it?” Silently, he adds, I don’t want to see you hurt. ( One could argue it’s already too late for that. )

“Fine!” Nie Huaisang echoes. He sounds...for lack of a better word, relieved. “So what’s our plan, partner?”

If Jiang Cheng didn’t know better, he’d call his tone teasing, almost flirty. “First of all, we’re not partners, I’m only bringing you along and you can fend for yourself. Second…” He shoves a hand into one of the inner pockets of his coat and fumbles around until his fingers close around two small scraps of yellow paper. He pulls them out and holds them up to the light.

“Wanna go see a play?”

[fullmetaldevil-blog]

An Upset Stomach

This story was inspired by @zanzaflux ‘s “Fever” about Bendy getting sick and I wondered what would happen if Benny got sick.

There are descriptions of vomiting, but it is only ink so its kept pg 13.

Anyways I hope you ladies and gentlemen enjoy the short~

On with the show~!

Allison was out for a few days for a small part in a movie shoot while Tom had taken a few days off to be home for a well deserved vacation as well as to care for Benny. The toon was a bit bummed that Allison won't be home for a little while, but upon hearing that Tom was taking several days off to be home with him made him truly ecstatic. Benny more then happy to spend time with his father figure and Tom was more then happy to spend time with his little one, the man already plotting on how he should spend his vacation with his plush toy son.

Clouds hung low in the sky and despite the threatening look of the heavens there was only a small chance of rain. Seeing a clear opportunity Tom had decided to do a little fishing at a river 20 minutes from home. Benny had inquired about why the sudden urge for fishing since it was cloudy and that they should stay home, but his answer was that the bigger fish come out on cloudy rainy days or when it's dark out. The toon watched as his dad packed up two fishing rods, bait, and a cooler and loaded up the truck while he was urged to grab a raincoat and boots just in case.

The road was soon behind them as the duo headed down the highway to the forest a few miles away. Tom was thankful traffic was light due to the weather and could already spot the swiftly approaching mountains. Benny happily bounced in his seat when he saw the approaching tree line indicating the woods, causing Tom to chuckle at the excitement of the toon. Benny liked the little area that Tom and Henry discovered. It was a old quiet hiking trail that panned out to a small open area with a river that ran just beyond the tree line. No one liked coming to the spot since it was a solid 20 minute walk just to reach the site, but for the toons it was well worth it. The creeping oaks and towering pines created a perfect little hideaway encased by the soothing sounds of the river.

The 20 minute walk was spent with Benny eagerly asking Tom about what they were going to catch while riding on his dad's shoulders. Tom described all the types of fish that he and Henry spotted in the river and that at this time of year they should be more then plentiful plus if they were to catch any that he would make fish fry with them. He noted that the backfire is that patience catches fish better then haste and that once they got there that they would be spending a lot of time relaxing while waiting for the fish to bite since fishing isn't exactly a fast paced sport. Benny nodded in understanding and was more then willing to wait if it meant getting a good meal, but his patience came to an end the minute their trek to the clearing and he heard the sounds of the water lapping at the rocks beyond the trees. He tried to wiggle off Tom's shoulders to bound up to the waters edge but was stopped by the man telling him to at least put his boots and coat on while he set up.

Tom positioned himself next to a large rock right by the rivers edge and dipped his bucket into the water leaning back using the boulder as a chair and with the bucket at his side he motioned for Benny to join him. Benny was swiftly at his side dressed in his little coast and boots and Tom showed him how to tie the bait onto the hook. When the bait was secured Tom showed Benny the motions of how to cast the line before casting his own and patiently waited for Benny to do the same. The toon not wanting to disappoint cast his line with all his might and nearly cast himself in the process. Quick thinking on Tom's part kept the plushtoon from ending up in the water so Tom resorted to holding onto him while the toon cast his line. The floaters bobbed up and down blissfully in the river and Benny took the moment to relax in Tom's lap while the two idly chatted away about little things simply enjoying the others company. Benny's line was the first to get a bite and Tom showed Benny how to reel in the fish and to handle them once caught. He had Benny hold onto the fish and the poor toon was getting slapped in the face by the fish's tail, tom intervened and then it was his turn to get assaulted by the upset fish as it smacked him hard right in the nose. After some fuss and nearly dropping the fish into the river the fish was placed in a cooler filled with water for later. Several more fish later and thankfully with not nearly as much resistance as the first one, the cooler was full of the fish which was making Benny's mouth water with the thought of all the fish fry they could make.

By the end of the day Tom had pulled the fish out of the cooler one by one taking photos with Benny to capture their capture on film. The man sized all of the fish up and tossed all the fish back in the river except for two of them. Benny whined at the loss of the potential meal and Tom chuckled telling him that baby fish are let go to mature and reproduce, while older fish already reproduced and are for only caught for their needs. In short 1 fish per person to keeps things fair and to not over fish an area. Benny understood and watched the man clean and prep the fish which earned a small look of disgust from the toon pulling more chuckles out of his dad at the toons reaction. Tom buried the innards which earned another round of questions from the devildoll. He was told that the body will break down and add nutrients to the soil to help plants grow as it was a part of the natural cycle of life.

The cooler was emptied except for the 2 freshly cleaned fish and Tom carried the cooler and rods while watching Benny run around the base of the oak trees collecting the bright fall leaves and a few acorns. Tom told him to leave the acorns out in a pile for creatures like the Grey squirrels to collect for the winter months since they would need them and the toon was more then happy to oblige. A sense of serenity swept between the two on their journey back through the woods. Benny asked many questions about the forest fauna and landscape while Tom did his best to answer his questions. They occasionally stopped to look at smaller wildlife for which Benny learned that frogs scream when held scarring him and thus earning a squeaky toy scream out of him as well. Tom thought he was gonna bust a rib at hearing both the frog and Benny scream at nearly the same time and both nearly sounding the same. It took awhile for the man to calm his laughter and even more so to peel Benny off him after the encounter.

The ride home was spent with Benny singing in the car to the radio while Tom joined in on rare occasion with the promise that Benny never told Allison. The man was too embarrassed to admit that on the rare occasion he liked to sing, but found a small partner leaning into his side encouraging him to sing a little louder. The truck was a chorus of tunes as the pair lightly sang to some jazzy pieces until Benny lightly complained of being hungry, and Tom had to admit he couldn't hide his own hunger as his stomach at one point spoke louder then Benny's getting a small chuckle out of the toon and the man turning red. A quick stop at a fast food stand was in order and he pulled into a drive through to get a quick bite to eat. Benny didn't like the taste of the food since he felt something was off, but he was so hungry his didn't care and ate it anyways. Since Benny inhaled his food Tom opted to enjoy his slowly while he scooted down the road to home listening to the soft hums of the toon as he watched the world move along the road.

The truck came to a stop in the driveway and Tom stepped out pulling out the cooler from the bed of the truck, before he grabbed the fishing poles and bait Benny offered to take them into the garage while he headed into the house to start cooking the fish. The man consented and headed into the home while Benny slid the fishing equipment out of the truck and closed up the bed. He wandered out to the garage and felt a small pain in his stomach, but it wasn't a big deal so he ignored it and put all the equipment away before running back to the house. He was greeted by the smell of garlic and fish upon opening the door as Tom had garlic bread in the oven and was frying fish on the stove. Benny could hardly wait and set the table while the man worked and occasionally got his horns scratched as he passed by back and forth behind Tom.

Once the fish was ready Tom pulled them out the oil and placed them on a paper towel to cool and get rid of the excess oil before checking on the garlic bread. He slipped on a oven mitt and pulled out the bread that was dripping with garlic butter and cheese. Benny was an instant barnacle on the mans leg making the man laugh as he moved around the kitchen with his demonic anklet. He was released from the demonic bondage as soon as the klink of the plate was heard on the table and Benny materialized in his seat. Tom swore it was like the toon teleported to food.

Appreciative hums drifted through the air accompanied by the crisp crunching sound of bread being broken and the fish being cut. Benny loved Allison's cooking, but something about Tom's cooking was just as good even though the man was simple in his usage of ingredients. The toon happily ate all his food slowly to savor the taste and chatted with his dad about little things. Once the fish was all gone Benny collected his dishes and slid them into the sink while Tom washed them before passing them off to Benny to dry them. The toon winced when his stomach pains returned gaining attention from his dad.

"Benny? You ok?" Tom glancing over his shoulder at the toon whom didn't look well for a brief moment.

Benny looked up at him and put on a shaky smile "I'm fine, just a little tired."

"How about I finish up here while you head off to bed?" The man gently removed the plate from Benny's hand and placed it in the cupboard.

"Ok. Good-Night then." Benny hugged him and slowly made his way down the hall to his room. He opened the door while clutching his stomach out of Tom's sight. He wandered up to his drawer and pulled out a long night shirt and put it on before burying himself under the covers. He didn't want to admit it out loud to Tom, but his stomach felt funny and was really starting to bother him. He didn't know what was going on but he hoped whatever it was would go away soon.

Tom breathed a small sigh at finally finishing the dishes and putting everything away for the night, the kitchen restored to it's former glory. Satisfied for the evening he retired to his room to grab his night clothes and changed in the restroom after showering and brushing his teeth. He practically threw himself onto his bed with giddy eagerness. Thoughts drifted through his mind as to how he should spend the following day with Benny since he was finally getting that vacation he always wanted and yearned to spend much needed time with his toon son. Should he go to the park? The museum? Hell even just doing simple projects with the toon always made him happy.

Tom was thankful more ways then one that Benny had a simple desire: attention. The toon never asked for much, but always enjoyed being included in on whatever was going on. Neither Tom or Allison liked excluding Benny from any activity and the couple had developed a silent agreement that if children weren't allowed to go then they wouldn't go. What made it all the better was how well behaved Benny is. They were able to go almost anywhere since Benny was always quiet and on his best behavior.

Tom quietly thanked whatever god or gods that may be at Benny's sweet and quiet nature. He knew he himself as a child was a bit overzealous when it came to some things which would explain Benny's eagerness with food, but as a child Tom was rough around the edges and blunt. The man chuckled at his youth of the days he spent running around driving his own parents up a wall with how energetic he was, but he wasn't a troublemaker. His chuckle grew to a full on laughter at remembering Benny running around in the woods on the way to and from the fishing and camping site. The plushtoon was acting just like he did when he was a boy and it was endearing watching a mini version of himself in a cartoon form doing what he once did a long time ago. Is this what it felt like to be a parent, if he could call himself one, watching your kids do the same things you once did?

His laughter slowly died down and was replaced by a large grin while Tom made himself cozy for bed. He knew his parents would be kill to meet Benny, but he didn't even know if his or Allison's parents were even alive any more since being gone for 30 years. He knew his mother would have a field day with the toon while his dad would most likely wish he got a hell spawn instead to make up for all the Grey's he put on his old mans head. That would be something that would warrant investigation: to see if their folks or family members are still alive, but that would be for another time. Thoughts of potential introductions and the family he missed passed through his mind as sleep slowly took him

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

In the early morning hours long before the sun rose and a time that would make many question one's sanity for being awake Tom rustled out of his bed awoken by deep gurgling sounds and groans that drifted through the home. The man had never heard sounds like that before in his life and immediately went on the defensive suspecting someone broke into his home. First things first, protect Benny, he's not gonna let anyone mess with his little one. Tom reached around the edge of his bed pulling out his trusty base ball bat and crept across the room to his door slowly opening it part way and looked around. Confirming the coast was clear and listening to the noises better, it was concerning that it was coming from the direction of Benny's room.

Double checking that the hallway was clear of potential assailants, Tom quietly and hastily made his way to Benny's room and grew more concerned with the fact that the noises were getting louder. He hoped it wasn't from the toon, but the more he listened the more he heard the familial gurgles the toon's Ragdoll form makes. God he hoped he wasn't having a nightmare. It was always safer to view Benny from a safe distance when he was having a nightmare and in Ragdoll form for fear of him lashing out. Allison usually hummed or sang which was a from of comfort to the devildoll and would carefully tread to him avoiding his trip lines to enter his protective cocoon of his threads. Tom hoped it wouldn't come to that and hoped it wasn't anything severe.

The man's rough hand gently rested on the doorknob to Benny's room and he pressed his ear against the door to listen to the sounds within the room. The room was riddled with gurgles and groans, but what caught him by surprise was the occasional squeaky-toy like whine mixed in. Benny never made that sound in Ragdoll unless he was hurt, spurring Tom to open the door.

The sight before him made him drop his bat staring in confusion. Benny was on top his bed out of his night shirt and seemed to be in a strange half state between Ragdoll and normal. His teeth were triangular and the stitching on his face looked like it had been pulled apart with the threads by his jaw completely undone. He had a little ink dripping from the right side of his face but not enough to cover his eye like he would in Ragdoll form. However his stomach looked exactly like Ragdoll's and the toon writhed around on the bed in agony in his sleep.

Ignoring the strange state of the demondoll Tom hastily went up to Benny and rested a hand on his shoulder and started to nudge him trying to wake him.

"Benny? Benny? Ben get up." The man nudged the demon slowly stirring him as a pie cut eye opened looking up at him. Tom was surprised to see that Benny's normally solid black pie cut eyes had a yellow iris just like his Ragdoll form. The devil groaned with a prominent frown on his face as his eye looked up at Tom sleepily. "Hey little guy, feeling ok?" Tom's worried eyes looking at his distressed toon.

Benny shook his head no and softly spoke from both mouths " My StOmAcH hUrTs."

Tom looked at the devildoll worried, he didn't know if toons can actually get sick since they are living ink and in Benny's case ink and fabric. He built the machine that made the toons, but even he had no clue about their anatomy. They did all the things a normal living creature did except basic bodily functions, their bodies just seemed to turn everything consumed into energy.

Benny's groans taking Tom out of his thoughts he looked back down and gently ran a hand between the devils horns. "Hey lets go to the kitchen. Ok?"

Tom's answer was a small nod and he gently wrapped a sheet around Benny and lifted him out of his bed cradling him. The toon offered no resistance and Tom was thankful that the stitching that made up the toons body seemed to be holding together. While traversing to the kitchen Tom could feel the toon twitch every now and then and the worst area was his stomach. The area since it was in the mouth form seemed to be constantly twitching and he could hear groans escaping the second mouth while his normal was silent. He didn't know what was wrong with the toon, but hoped to figure it out quickly. The man pulled out a chair and gently sat Benny down leaning him against the counter to help support him. Tom knelt down to further examine Benny's stomach since he said it was the source of his problem and gently unraveled the sheet to reveal his chest and stomach.

Benny's stomach looked just like his Ragdoll form, but on a much smaller scale. The jagged edges were twitching slightly and seemed to be the source of most of the groans and occasional gurgles. There was a small liquid oozing on the edges of the mouth between the small teeth that caught Tom's attention. He leaned down and realized that Benny was essentially drooling ink which was far from normal for the toon. He only expels excess ink from his stomach to revert back to his normal size, not to excrete the fluid at his normal size let alone to release the fluid at more then just a constant drip.

Tom stood back up and rested a hand on Benny's cheek causing the toon to open an eye looking up at him. "I'm gonna make some soup and hopefully that will help. Ok?" Benny nodded resting against the counter while Tom turned to try and make some soup.

Tom hastily paced about the kitchen to fix up a quick soup and was more then thankful Allison bought cans of ready made soup that could just be heated. He fetched a can of tomato soup figuring it was only liquid on the off chance the toon didn't want solids and poured its contents into the pot and placed it on the stove. Just when Toms hand rest on the knob to light the stove to warm up the soup he heard a small hiccups followed by the sound of a lot of liquid splashing against the ground.

He turned around to see Benny desperately trying to contain the fluids in his mouth and was using his hands to try and keep his stomach closed, but was clearly struggling to do so. His stomach spasmed violently causing him to loose grip on his stomach as another wave of the ebony liquid escaped in copious amounts coating the floor. The toon looked at Tom completely upset and in distress at the mess he accidentally made and was continuing to make. He started to cry while trying to keep from expelling more ink but was failing to do so. Tom realized the little toon is indeed horribly ill and is trying to keep from making a mess.

"Hey it's ok." Tom bent down to attend to the sick demon. "It can easily be cleaned up, no worries." putting on a smile for the devildoll while gently petting his head.

Benny looked at him with worry and tried to speak, but instead expelled a good quantity of ink completely rendering immobile until his body was done retching the fluid. He hated that he was having such difficulty doing the most basic of things without making a mess. Each time he expelled ink, his body was racked with pain and exhaustion as the fluid was being forcibly purged from his body. He didn't know what was wrong with him and that growing frustration only added on to his level of stress making him cry even harder. The only comfort he had was the gently coaxing massages or pats Tom was giving to his back to try and comfort him and one the toon was done vomiting he mumbled a small 'sorry'.

"It's ok." Tom rubbed his back a little more before getting a mop to soak up all the ink that had accumulated on the floor. Tom was used to the ink simply disappearing when he dumps the excess he accumulates it but this time round it lingered which was very unusual. Did cartoon logic not work when the cartoon character in question was feeling ill?

The mop made quick work of the spilled ink while Benny quietly cried sitting beside the counter. He wished for whatever was making him feel so bad to stop and for his pain to subside. Each time he lost more ink his pain and exhaustion only intensified and it very much reminded him of his birth when he had so little ink and had sustained so many injuries with no way to numb the pain. The mere reminder further fueling the growing frustrations within the toon while Tom looked at the little demon with pity and concern. He had never seen the toons get sick before and for him to expel such large quantities of ink can't be healthy for him, but it was also 2:30 in the morning and he couldn't call Henry for advice. The old animator was the only other person with a toon in their care and as one whom used to create cartoons he would have more insight as to what to do.

Just as Tom set the mop to the side of the stove and was working on getting himself a cup of coffee since it was gonna be a long morning the sounds of more liquid hitting the floor man the man slightly cringe. He turned to see Benny once again trying to keep from vomiting, but his stomach betrayed his mouth and a small waterfall of the ebony fluid poured out of him along with a banjo that clattered against the floor. Tom stood flabbergasted at the sudden introduction of the banjo. He knew Benny always carried the banjo in his hammerspace, but why would he suddenly reject it? Was it because his stomach was so upset it was disturbing his hammerspace causing the two to temporarily mix? The man toyed with the idea of calling Henry even more so, and hearing the clattering of a few more objects being purged along with a considerable amount of ink spurred him to pick up the phone.

----------Henry's House----------

Henry was sound asleep when the ringing of the phone caused him to stir. Who could be calling at this hour? The man carefully reached over as to not disturb the sleeping demon against his side and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he tiredly groaned into the phone.

"I'm sorry for calling so early in the morning. It's Thomas." the mechanic on the other end sounding exhausted and worried.

Henry lifted a brow and turned over to look at his clock squinting at the numbers before picking up his reading glasses to better view the numbers and mentally cursed the hour. "This must be good for you to be calling me at this hour of the morning."

"I'm really sorry, but it's Benny. The little one is sick." Tom sighed on the line. "I don't know what to do."

This got Henry's attention and the man sat up accidentally jostling Bendy whom mumbled in protest grasping onto the blanket pulling it back over himself. "Sick how? What's wrong with him?"

A long sigh was heard on the line from the clearly tired mechanic "Well he's vomiting a lot and I mean a lot of ink. I know the toons convert the food consumed into ink to sustain themselves and with Benny's appetite he, in theory has a lot of ink, but this is crazy. I've resorted to using water basins to collect the ink and have made many trips to the restroom to pour it down the toilet. What makes it worse is not only is he tossing up the ink, but he is dumping his guts literally and figuratively. His stomach mouth is also upchucking ink and I'm guessing his stomach is so upset that his hammerspace is getting thrown in the mix and he's upchucking stuff from it as well. I'm at my wits end, I don't know what to do other then clean up after him."

"Hmmm...well did he say anything or act strangely prior to feeling ill?" Henry scratched the back of his head as he pondered the information. It sounds like when any normal human gets a stomach bug and empties their guts having little choice but to let the illness run it's course. Though what about the toons? They aren't human and lack normal bodily function, so would they suffer from food borne problems?

"He briefly complained if his stomach bothering him after we got home from an outing earlier, but that was it." There was a big of a pause on the line before Henry heard the man tiredly groan. "And he just up chucked a violin, a sewing kit and some toys from his stomach."

"Well let me let you go to clean that up, but from what I'm hearing it sounds like he ate something that is making him sick. Perhaps you gave him something he isn't used to or maybe something was off, but either way he probably got a hold of some food that wasn't right. Though at the end of the day it has to run it's course and he will eventually stop on his own, but make sure you have ink at the end of it all on the off chance he runs himself too low. I'll swing by before work in the morning to drop off ink if you need some." Henry sat up and felt small nudging on his side to see a pair of sleepy pie cut eyes looking up at him. He petted Bendy and was silently urging him to lay back down.

"Well thanks. I'll take some if you got to spare. I don't know how much more he is gonna lose and I have a feeling I'm gonna be in for a long day." Tom sighed and a small chuckle was heard on the line "Thanks Henry and sorry for waking you."

"It's ok, just focus in Benny,he needs you and I'll see you in the morning" with that Henry heard the line cut meaning Tom hung up and the nudging on his side persisted even more so. He looked down to see Bendy was more awake and was now looking at him worriedly.

"Was that Allison?" The toon inquired.

"That was Tom" Henry scratched the space between Bendy's horns getting a hum. "Benny is really sick right now and Tom is taking care of him."

Bendy tilted his head slightly "What's wrong with him? Where's Allison? Doesn't she usually take care of Benny?"

"Tom said he is vomiting a lot. The little guy probably ate something that upset his stomach, but problem is since he has an internal hammerspace alongside his stomach he is also tossing up literal objects alongside the ink. I'm guessing Allison isn't home which is why he called for advice and I wish him luck. I'll pop by in the morning to drop off some excess ink just in case and to check up on Benny." Henry laid back down allowing Bendy to curl up against his side once more.

"Can I come too?" Bendy leaned into the man's side.

"Yeah sure pal, but be on your best behavior. Benny wouldn't be up for playing right now." The man covered the both of them back up.

Bendy laid his head into Henry's side and whispered “I'll be good. I'll wait till he's feeling better and make up for it.”

Henry chuckled and made sure the toon was properly tucked in before making himself comfortable and allowed sleeps sweet embrace to take him once more.

----------Back at the Connor's----------

Tom continuously paced back and forth as Benny continued to purge ink in massive quantities alongside the last few objects contained within his hammerspace. The toon long since stopped crying and had grown more frustrated with his bodies inability to cooperate and the constant convulsions, his growing anger made his ink boil and his body contorted to his Ragdoll form. Tom initially kept his distance at seeing Ragdoll sitting in the kitchen growling in anger digging his claws into the floorboards in frustration, but when his body was racked with a series of spasms and he upchucked ink his threatening manner melted to one of exhaustion. The man looked at Ragdoll with pity and a slight twinge of annoyance since now he was twice as large as his normal form meant twice the amount of ink decorating the floor. Tom inwardly groaned and grabbed his mop cleaning around the water basin which he was thankful caught most of the ink that had been expelled. Ragdoll looked at the man with sorrow and exhaustion in his eye making a small squeaky toy whine. Tom sighed and gently rested his hand on Ragdoll's head to comfort the demon, but retracted when the demon's body violently convulsed and started dry heaving. The urges and heaves continued on for several minutes and each time the demon looked more and more exhausted and Tom realized he was completely cleaned out of any and all excess ink he accumulates along with his items in his hammerspace. The dry heaving had taken it's toll and made Ragdoll start crying again since the heaving was more painful and exhausting then when he had something to reject.

"Hey it's ok." Tom laid his hand on the side of Ragdoll's cheek looking at the demon strait in the eye. "I've been this sick before and believe me it's no fun, but it looks like whatever was in you is gone and with any luck the urges will die down." the demon nodded sleepily and leaned into the man's hand. Tom looked at the sleepy demon and smile tiredly. Benny seemed to be finally done with the worst part of being sick and now all he needs is rest. “Wanna lay down on the couch?” Ragdoll shook his head 'no', but was leaning more and more and almost slid off the chair.

“C'mon.” Tom grabbed Benny by his right arm above the elbow since it was connected to his shoulder directly and urged the demon to stand up. Ragdoll's legs horribly wobbled beneath him as sleep was rapidly catching up to him and Tom resorted to pulling the demon forward and piggy backed the oversized devildoll on his back. The man groaned and grunted from the additional weight since Benny was heavier then he looked in Ragdoll form and he slowly edged towards the living room to the couch.

He laid the demon down and soon found he couldn't move away from him. Ragdoll's threads had completely wrapped around him during the move from the kitchen to the living room and now was slowly curling up around him. The grim fact hit Tom; at night Benny curls up with his plush toys and now that he is in Ragdoll from Tom is the toy. The man wiggled and tried to free himself of Ragdoll's threads, but the more he resisted the more the threads coiled around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. Soft snores drifted from the deviltoon telling Tom that Ragdoll had finally fallen asleep and that he was going nowhere. The man chuckled realizing his situation and opted to simply get comfortable until Ragdoll woke up.

----------Several Hours Later----------

Henry and Bendy stood outside the Connor residence ringing the bell several times with Henry occasionally calling out for Thomas to answer the door. The man and toon stood in the doorway confused as to why the house was so still.

"Huh that's strange." Henry turned look behind him seeing that Tom's truck was still in the driveway. "His truck is here so he should be home."

"Well Benny is still home, I can sense his ink." Bendy set his bag down and hopped up on the windowsill to try and look into the home.

Henry scratched his head while looking back at the door. "Hey bud?" Causing Bendy to look over at the animator. "Wanna let ourselves in?" The man gesturing to the door.

Bendy looked at him in confusion till a little light bulb lit above his head in realization. He hopped off the windowsill and joined Henry at the door. He lifted his left hand that dripped profusely with ink as his body stretched and grew taking on his Ink Demon form. The now towering demon grinned as an inky portal opened up on the door and a wall within leaked ink connecting the two. Bendy held out his hand to Henry in invitation and the man grabbed hold after grabbing Bendy's bag and the two stepped through the portal entering the home. Henry shrugged off the excess ink from the portal while Bendy went back to his normal toon form looking around after retrieving his bag from Henry. The house was oddly quiet except for the ink splatters that looked like searchers had been slaughtered by the dozens all over the floor and buckets and catch basins littered the floor. Bendy lifted his hand the ink pulled itself off the floors and floated around and into the buckets and basins leaving the floors spotless. His reward was a pat and scratch between his horns extracting a small whistle like hum from him in gratitude.

Henry looked back up looking down the quiet halls of the home. "Now lets see where Thomas is."

Henry let Bendy lead since the toon always seemed to know where Benny was, and the little ink demon wandered towards the living room. Bendy poked his head around the corner and waved for Henry to come not wanting to shout. The man carefully crept down the hall and looked around the corner and the sight before him immediately made him seek out the family's camera.

Tom was laying on the couch asleep with Benny in Ragdoll form curled around the man like he was a toy, large inky threads kept the man from escaping Ragdoll's clutches. At least Tom was in a comfortable position laying on his back with Ragdoll's large head resting on his chest and the toon's body wrapped around him like a black blanket. Benny had a fondness for sleeping on people's chest or lap and it seemed that even in Ragdoll form he still had that habit.

Bendy stood quietly snickering while Henry returned with the camera and he quietly paced back and forth around the couch taking photos while trying to hide his own snickering. Bendy pulled out a few pieces of paper and used his ink to draw the scene before him on the off chance they wouldn't be able to get copies of the Kodak moment before them. When Henry finally finished up he motioned to Bendy to set the ink wells down while he returned the camera back to it's original location and making a mental note to call Allison for the photo's later with the hopes that Tom wouldn't find out. He returned to the living room with Bendy waiting for him and he quietly requested a sheet of paper to leave a note before they had to go.

Hey punk,

Bendy and I popped by to drop off the ink wells for you and you were sleeping like a baby. Benny looked like he was doing better all curled up on you making a perfect little picture. Anyways I'll call later to check up on the little one. See you soon,

Henry P.S Get well soon!: Bendy

----------An Hour Later----------

Tom finally stirred but still found himself trapped beneath the Ragdoll demon. A chuckle escaping the man as he looked at the demons sleeping face. It was always so strange seeing Benny's Ragdoll form and realize that under his warped and ruined face was still the little toy demon. He gently ran his hand on the left side of the toons face that was warped and the stitching was pulled open. His skin despite his menacing appearance still felt like soft fleece fabric and small amounts of ink dripped on his right side. He was surprised that despite the severe ink loss Benny's right eye was still obstructed from the ink that always dripped down. Deciding not to dwell on the matter he needed Benny up and off him.

"Benny, Benny, C'mon get up." The man gently patting the side of Ragdoll's face getting a small growl in annoyance. "C'mon" Tom moved his had to scratch at the base of his horns getting a low purring sound. Tom continuously scratched and nudged the sleeping demon getting either small purrs or growls depending on his action.

Benny curled around Tom tighter getting annoyed at the constant prodding not realizing that he was in his Ragdoll form and that his 'stuffed toy' was his dad. After awhile his purring turned to groans as he was slowly stirring and easing up his grip on Tom. The man in question silently thanking the heavens he was allowed to breathe a bit better since Ragdoll was squeezing him a bit too hard when he was annoyed with the disturbances to his sleep. Ragdoll lifted his head and slowly opened his eye finding that not only what his right eye obstructed, but the room seemed oddly smaller.

"How are you feeling?" A gruff tired voice sounded beneath him causing the devildoll to look down and realize he was in his Ragdoll form and was curled up on top of Tom.

Ragdoll squeaked in shock, which to Tom sounded hilarious given Ragdoll's normally garbled tones. The toon in question practically jumped off the couch trying to unravel himself, but only succeeded in tying himself up further with Tom unfortunately still in the middle being dragged along for the ride. Ragdoll staggered on his feet and bumped into the coffee table knocking Henry's note onto the floor under the couch while the ink wells threatened to fall over, but didn't. The demon shook his head whining trying to better wake up, but he was still feeling weak and was struggling to unwind himself around his dad.

Tom noticed Benny's struggles with his body and calmly placed a hand on top the panicking demons head to comfort him. "Hey it's ok. Take it one step at a time, you're still feeling under the weather."

Ragdoll nodded and focused on trying to retract his threads while Tom helped keep them from getting tangled. After a few pulls and unraveling Tom was freed of Ragdoll's coil-like arms and the toon was slowly pulling himself back together. Tom watched as for once Ragdoll didn't expel a good quantity of ink to revert back and simply shrunk in size back to his normal plushtoon state. Benny's legs wobbled and he swayed on his feet and was caught by Tom before he fell over. His reverting back to normal taking more energy out of him and he gave Tom a small shaky smile while looking at him with half lidded eyes.

"Let get you a little soup." The man pulled Benny into a warm hug cradling him, and stopped briefly when the 4 inkwells on the coffee table caught his attention. 'Huh. Henry must have popped by, but he didn't leave a note. I guess I'll thank him later' Tom thought to himself while he gathered up the inkwells and retreated to the kitchen. He was thankful that he was no longer feeling any spasms unlike several hours ago when Benny's body twitched uncontrollably with the urges to vomit. With any luck the worst had passed and he can now try and get something in him to make him feel better.

Tom cradled the toon and set the inkwells on the table before retreating to the stove warming up the soup to a medium temperature where it wasn't too hot and wasn't too cold. He fetched a mug from the cupboard and scooped a small amount of the soup into the mug and set it on the table after turning off the stove. Tom pulled out a chair and he slowly sat down with Benny still in his arms and uncorked an inkwell trying to hand it to the tired toon.

Benny was hesitant for fear of expelling the ink again, but he was so worn out and exhausted he knew he needed the ink to hasten his recovery. He tried to lift his hands to grab a hold of the bottle, but found it difficult to do so. His body was just too tired from reverting back to normal. Tom smiled warmly and lifted the bottle to the toons mouth and Benny slowly started drink the liquid. Tom was patient while he had Benny drink the ink wells slowly, the toon not even arguing with the man when he kept introducing more and more ink to him. Once the ink was all gone Tom set the last bottle down and followed up with the mug of soup. It had gone cold by the time they finally got to it, but Benny didn't care, unlike Bendy, Benny didn't care too much for the taste of ink. He didn't hate the taste but wasn't fond of it either and would have preferred actual food over the art supply.

Benny slowly reached for the mug helping Tom bring it to his mouth and carefully drank the liquid, it was just simple tomato soup. He took his time drinking the fluid all the while Tom patiently watched and waited. Once Benny finished the mug letting go, tom refilled it and held it up to him again. He shook his head 'no' and the man simply set the cup down and looked at the toon whom was starting to nod off again.

A glance up at the clock told Tom that it had been a long day. He spent hours cleaning and watching Benny wishing that his vomiting sessions would subside swiftly and that he would recover. The little toon nodding off in his arm was a gentle reminder to his own levels of exhaustion. Tom set Benny gently down on the chair and cleaned up the kitchen while the toon tried to stay awake but small Z's kept persistently popping up over his head and bursting every time he shook himself awake. Tom occasionally glanced over his shoulder noting the toon refusal to sleep and set to finish cleaning the kitchen as quickly as he could. A small chuckle escaping him at Benny's stubbornness.

The kitchen was laid to rest and Tom felt he should do the same. He turned to look at Benny who finally lost the battle with the floating Z's and was completely out like a light and thankfully looked more relaxed then his fitful night and morning. Tom gently lifted Benny up as to not disturb him too much and cradled the plushtoon as he headed for his own bedroom. Feeling that whatever was bothering Benny has long since passed and Benny would be fine in his own bedroom he preferred to keep the toon in his room with him so he could better watch over him. Better safe then sorry. The man strode down the hall quietly and reached his room opening the door with care and slipped inside.

Tom pulled down the blanket of his bed and carefully laid Benny on Allison's side of the bed before crawling in himself. Once he was on the bed one hand gently pulled Benny closer to himself while the other pulled the blankets over them.

Tom looked at Benny's sleeping face and ran his hand gently on his cheek getting a small smile from him. He didn't know what it really means to be a parent, but he felt like he learned a little more of it's meaning today. Watching Benny get ill and doing anything and everything in his power to help the little toon is what a parent does for their child. A parent is someone whom cares for the child with all their being even if they are or aren't related. Even though Benny was made with a little of his blood, at the end of the day Benny made him feel he could devote his all to the little plushdevil and that's what makes him his parent. He now had a better understanding as to why his own father had so many Grey hairs on his head dealing with him growing up. Children are the most stressful, joyful things in life and they make it well worth the ride.

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: DokiDoki May 19

Initially I wanted to post this after waking up this morning, but I got to sleep really late due to taking a late nap, and then I got woke up to go visit my mom (who is in the hospital recovering from colon surgery). I picked up dinner and ate, so here I am now. My mom is doing a lot better today so she’ll be coming home soon. 

This months theme: Puppy Party

“Woof woof! Wan wan! This month we want to welcome you to our “Puppy Party” crate. To celebrate we have featured dogs iconic in Japan, whether that be one of their national icons or some of their famous puppy characters. This puppy party is sure to be a tail waggin’ good time!“

Despite the Pompompurin prize, he’s not featured anywhere else in this box. Missed opportunity? I guess it depends on whether or not you like him.

Suteki Crate

As of late these have been more cohesive with the contents of the box, so this could be considered a spoiler as to whats in this months box character wise.

I love the Cinnamoroll calendar x3 and the Pochacco plush holding a Pochacco plush~!

Mocchi-zuu Shiba Plush

A cuddly companion perfect for a puppy party :3 this doggy plush is actually from a series we’ve encountered numerous times in a variety of forms, I probably have 5-6 collected by now. You might notice the familiar tag attached to it in the pic if you’ve been around here before.

He also came with an accessory :D

A set of paper socks!

I’m not really sure why they put these on the plush (I assume its to keep the paws from being pulled off?), but it’s kinda cute in a way.

I don’t know it was just mine or if all of them come this way, but my doggy is serious under-stuffed. He’s still stretchy like a marshmallow but not as cuddly as my others. Otherwise he seems to be decent and I didn’t notice any problems, and if you play around with the stuffing a little it seems to improve it. 

Call me a complainer, but I kind of wish they would have had a few doggy options, because he looks exactly like the orange kitty I keep getting in various sets of these. I would have liked something a different color.

Pochacco Purse

Next up is this cute little Pochacco purse, featuring Pochacco and his little bird friend, and banana ice cream apparently. Not sure I agree on his preference but to each his own :P It includes 3 pockets, 2 on the inside and 1 on the back that has a clear cover and zipper. It is held shut by a velcro strip and includes a black buckled strap.

It’s on the smaller side and the material isn’t “loose” so there isn’t much give and the shape restricts what you could put inside of it, but you can definitely fit the essentials. The only real thing bothering me was my bent and stiff strap; which to be fair is probably because it’s been stuck in the box for as long as it was <3< but when I compare it to the one on another purse I have, it just doesn’t feel right. I also don’t like the length of the strap. 

Dog Sticky Notes & Shiba Stickers

And now for 2 cute pooch stationery items, first is a sheet of Shiba Stickers, including a mixture of cuddly, cheeky Shiba Inu. Right away I could say the style doesn’t really appeal to me, with its neutral-soft color scheme, but it has a fun ridged texture and they're decently sized. They would be perfect for decoration or just to add a touch of fun to a note or letter. It would be fun to even draw a picture and find a way to include them.

Also, due to its size you can see the lovely detailing, so while you don’t get an over-abundance you get a nice handful and they don’t have a cheap feel.

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Speaking of notes, we also got a small set of dog sticky notes. There is a total of 20, each featuring an adorable pup on a pink cloud-like background. It’s hard to see but the notes also have a few rows of lines, giving you the option to write on them or over them. They pull off smoothly and stick well (there’s the rare occasion when I run into some that don’t), and I like the pastel color scheme.

Cinnamoroll Cube Pouch

(I know its nearly impossible to see the facial details, I kept trying to find a way to make it more noticeable... and now as I type this, I realize I should have tried getting something white! >3<)

Our final item of the puppy party is an adorable cube pouch; if you have been around the blog you might recall that these were included with a Yume Twins a few months ago, I got a Waddledee from Kirby. It includes a ball chain and strap on each side, so you could switch it around if you like, along with a zipper across the top of a powder blue strip to accent Cinnamoroll’s features.

As cute as these are... this one got pretty bent from being in the box, despite being full of plastic sheeting. Also, this is a personal opinion, but the clear material makes it a little difficult to see the details and it bugs me a bit. But besides that it’s a handy little pouch for things like money, small lip products, contacts, erasers, sanitary items, etc.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 3.5 out of 5, just because of the little things I had an opinion on. I did generally like the items, but there was nothing about this months box that made it feel unique to me. All of the contents are items I got before in some shape or form, not specifically the same ones, but they aren’t items I necessarily needed; and there wasn’t even any variety, so I feel like there wasn’t really any excitement value to this one. But I will say its practical, so I probably would use the items if I didn’t already have as many as I do.

Theme: 5 out of 5. I’m a cat person, but I thought the idea of a dog-themed box was interesting. It could have been done at any point in the year though, and it doesn’t feel like a summer box to me, but that’s not necessarily a big deal. In terms of items in the box and in the Suteki Crate, I think they nailed it.

Total Rank: 8 out of 10 Cuties. Although I can’t say the items were my favorite as a whole, they’re not of poor quality and I could see them appealing to other people. As much as I love cats, we don’t get as many doggy items so it was a fun change to have this type of box; I just wish there was a little more variety and uniqueness to the items to make it seem even more special.

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Pochacco Purse

2. Shiba Stickers

3. Cinnamoroll Cube Pouch

4. Sticky Notes

5. Shiba Plush