#but despite it being dark mode everywhere else

[kirathegreatfoxandkingofeyeballs]

Fucking eloquent way to put that lmaooo

[coke-whore]

𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐀 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲!

- Billy Loomis 𝓍 fem!reader

𝜗𝜚 - billy loomis x fem!reader

𝜗𝜚 - horror

𝜗𝜚 - mentions of blood, gore, underage drinking, implied use of drugs

ღ - a/n: I'm working a ton of requests right now so stay tuned!!

p.s my posts look better in light mode

𝜗𝜚 - main masterlist requests are open

𝜗𝜚 - alice's post office!

"love is a gentle thing, yours is thicker than a velvet ring

Blood. That was the first thing your mind could compute after being brought out of its haze. It was everywhere; splattered across the walls, dripping off different pieces of furniture, skidded across the floor. Your heart was beating like a rabbit as you descended down the staircase occasionally slipping on the metallic liquid that had stained the bottom of your heels.

You had originally been passed out on (what you assumed was) Stu's bed after having one to many beers. A loud bang was what had caused you to startle awake in the first place, but you had brushed it off, just assuming that some of the partygoers had been messing around and crashed into something. Nonetheless you decided it would be best to let your friends know you were perfectly fine and just a bit tipsy.

That idea was exactly what had led you to the sight of dripping crimson colored liquid smudged on the wall of Stu's parents' bedroom wall.

You froze in spot as if some unknown force was blocking you from taking any further steps. Your limbs felt numb, and all at once the room started to spin around you. Regret washed over you as you felt that churning sensation in your stomach and you swore to yourself you would never drink again.

This was not the first or last time this promise was made.

A mixture of bile and cheap beer rose up from your stomach and you quickly found something to hurl your guts into. Hunched over whatever you had managed to find, (you vaguely remember a potted plant or vase of some sort) you threw up until you were almost shaking. You wiped away the tears starting to prickle at your waterline, threatening to spill over like a flooding river, and stood up, coughing before facing the blood-stained wall.

The sticky substance was slowly rolling down the wall like a raindrop on a car window. It was a darker shade of red than what you were accustomed to seeing in slasher movies, and you wondered why they didn't do more thorough research beforehand to make it more realistic. Do their research where you thought, scrunching your eyebrows in confusion despite nobody else being present. The seconds ticked by as your brain seemed to come up with more ways to distract you from the situation at hand. Neglecting might be a better way to phrase it. Building barriers around that dark image and burying it so deep it never resurfaces.

Why don't they ask doctors, do some research-oh that's a cute shade of red plus I really do need new heels- How would you even begin to explain that shade to a store manager though-

And then you really saw it. The red staining into the wallpaper and sliding down the wood door. You screamed. You screamed a blood curdling scream that could have been mistaken for a banshee. At least that's what your brain told your vocal cords to do, but the sound clung to your raw throat; still sore from throwing up all the beer.

Your back found the wall behind you and your knees began to buckle as the dam holding back your tears finally broke. You slid onto the floor with a 'thud!' and let out a noise that was a mixture between a sob and a choking sound.

Your once flawless makeup was ruined, and blotchy mascara made its way to your cheeks. Your hair was a frizzy mess, your eyes were dilated and bloodshot and you were shaking so bad you could barely hold yourself up.

If you had been more sober, and a bit more conscious, you would've noticed that the blood smelled sickly sweet, and that it was oddly sticky, causing it to make a sound identical to the sound of a glue stick leaving paper whenever you lifted your foot to take a step.

"Corn syrup. Same stuff they used for pigs' blood in Carrie."

A thought bubbled up from the deep thresholds of your mind- if this were a horror movie the audience would be shouting at the screen the way they do when someone does something so ludicrous it's almost laughable, because who the fuck goes to a party and gets drunk while there's a psychopath on the loose. You apparently, you thought, even though you're not some big breasted blonde bimbo who can't walk one step without stumbling into something.

Not that you could speak much on that part, you were still glued in place to the floor.

Everything seemed to be travelling to your brain in a 2 minute delay because all of a sudden you could move again, and you were walking down (shakily wobbling down while clutching onto the handrails) the large staircase that led to the living room.

You were about to dash right out the door -because who's dumb enough to stay in a house with a slasher in it? - when you spotted a familiar looking boy sprawled out on the ground looking like a TV cop show corpse just ready to have a chalk outline around it.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -Ferris Bueller

'BANG' bullet to the shoulder!

Randy. Your loveable geeky horror movie nerd friend randy. You choked back a sob and rushed to him as fast as your drunk, sluggish brain would let you. He was bleeding, you could see it soaking into the carpet his cold body was laying on. Hot, fat tears welled up in your eyes at the realization that this was all very real. This was not another slasher film you were watching while yelling 'he's right behind you!' This was a life or death situation and you were too paralyzed to do anything.

The phone remember? There's one in the kitchen you can use it to call the fucking police.

You sucked in a sharp breath; more of a gasp if anything and stood up to your feet. You ran (hobbled) over to the kitchen, where you had remembered seeing a phone sitting right on the marble countertop. That is until the ghost wall had reappeared and stopped you dead in your tracks. Voices. If you could even call them that, it sounded more like psychotic yelling, akin to something you might hear if you've ever gone to a psych ward.

They were yelling something you couldn't quite wrap your head around due to the pounding in your head, but you understood enough to know there is no way in hell you were approaching that room.

It's a dream. It has to be. In a few minutes you'd wake up with a hangover and run to the toilet to throw up again. You squeezed your eyes shut hoping that your alarm or the barking of your neighbor's dog would end this nightmare. You would call Randy, telling him how you were the final girl, and he would laugh and say that's impossible because there's no way you would follow the rules. A sob clawed at the back of your throat.

Please wake up, please wake up, pleasepleasepleaseplea-

Your eyes snapped open. That was Sidney's voice. She was yelling something you couldn't quite pick up but there was no doubt it was her.

You're not sure if what you did was brave or stupid, but either way it happened. Adrenaline filled your veins, and you sprinted into the kitchen ignoring the way your head throbbed in pain. You almost threw up again when you witnessed the red, bloody mess in front of you.

Billy Loomis had Sidney in a half chokehold, holding a knife to her throat while Stu Macher, the very person who had invited you to the party in the first place, stood a few feet behind them beside the kitchen island. Both of the boys were soaked in blood head to toe, and you found yourself wondering if it was a fucked up Carrie reference.

You could physically feel yourself stop breathing. The throbbing in your head traveled down until it spread into a dull ache inside your chest. Is this what heartbreak feels like, you questioned before noticing the tall, lanky boy approaching you. But of course, this is the moment the invisible ghost wall decided to greet you again as if it was mocking you, saying 'hey there again old buddy, old pal, why not die like this huh? It's whatcha get for being so goddamn naive'

God, you wanted to cry. You wanted to scream and cry and sob until you were so exhausted your body just gave out. You wanted to rip your hair out and curl up into a ball on the floor until you were soaked in a puddle of your own tears. You wanted the floor to open up and swallow you whole even if it meant you could never come back.

And a scream did make its way to your vocal cords the moment you felt the warmth of a pair of arms around you. It climbed its way up to the back of your teeth, itching and scratching and begging to be let out until it just gave up and evaporated on your tongue.

Warm breath ghosted over your neck, you could feel it move a few strands of your baby hairs, but your mind was somewhere else. It was deep inside yourself, a void it never once sought to adventure before. A void that was as fragile as glass and as delicate as silk, a place that was consumed with a wispy black smoke that blinded you. You were screaming from behind the murky barrier your subconscious had veiled over you, clawing at the sheet that covered your eyes.

Behind your glassy eyes all you could think of is what an idiot you were. What a goddamn fucking idiot you were. You went to this party for what? Cheap beer you could have already stolen from your parents' fridge. Weed you already had stashed under your bed at home. You could have slept without the knowledge that your two friends were psychopathic killers.

Stu was whispering into your ear, but it was all muffled. It was like someone was holding your head underwater. You couldn't be bothered to listen to them drone on about a motive and what propelled their fucked up horror movie nerd minds to start slicing and dicing.

'Click'

You could feel the cold metal burn against the skin of your forehead before your brain had actually registered what was happening. The smoke and the veil had lifted, and you were met with a very pissed off looking Billy. Ironic considering the situation.

"Y'know it's not very good manners-ignoring someone while they talk." he said with his signature smirk plastered across his face.

As if he wasn't covered in blood. As if he wasn't Ghostface. As if he wasn't holding a gun to your head, finger just itching to pull the trigger.

So, you laughed. You cackled like a hysterical woman until it started to morph into a guttural sound between a sob and a scream. Your chest heaved up and down as the air that once filled your lungs started seeping out.

The boys looked between each other; utter confusion written on both of their faces. Sidney stood forgotten, still leaning on the counter next to the sink hoping to somehow find a last minute escape strategy.

"Billy, man, I uh- I think we broke her." the blonde haired boy spoke up as he tightened his grip on your waist. "Shut it dipshit." was all Billy said before hesitantly lowering the gun from your head.

"O-Oh my god" you wheezed breathlessly. "Oh, my fucking god. Now that is fucking rich. THAT is fucking rich Billy."

The dark haired boy scowled at you. Who the fuck did you think you were yelling at him like that? He hadn't actually done anything to you. Yeah, maybe the gun was a tad too much, but he had kept you alive, hadn't he? Your friends were still alive and so was your family. If anything, he and Stu had fucking protected you. And this is the thanks he gets? Some psycho bitch laughing?

"Who the fuck do you think you two are? Michel fucking Myers? Fuck you both - holding a gun to my head a-and acting pissed well guess fucking what you don't have any right to act all-all- pissy and shit."

Billy's jaw tensed at your words and Stu's grip on your waist had tightened yet again. Your glare met Billy's as his chocolate brown eyes bore into your own. In that moment you knew exactly what people meant when they said, 'eyes are the window to the soul.' There was nothing but raw anger and hysteria in the boy's gaze. The flicker of mercy and mischief was long gone and replaced by a wildfire. Anger and betrayal etched his handsome facial features, but you could see the cracks in his facade. You could see the vulnerability he had suppressed deep down, the pain and fear he kept in a locked box.

All of a sudden it was as if you had leapt between time and space, and you were 5 years old again playing in a sandbox at a familiar looking playground. You had been building sandcastles under the scorching sun for the past hour leaving your cheeks a rosy pink. You looked up to see a small brunette boy mindlessly rolling a toy truck back and forth watching the small grains of sand take shape into the small tire patterns that adorned the trucks wheels. You smiled showing the small gap between your two front teeth, excited to make a new friend.

The same boy stood in front of you, pupils dilated, and breathing raged but nonetheless the same boy. Billy Loomis never cried and yet you could see the small salty beads of liquid start to form at his waterline.

The silence was broken by Stu who had managed to obtain the gun from Billy and cock it in Sidney's direction. The girl had seen the moment as an opportunity to slip away and somehow get help despite all the phone lines being cut.

Both you and Billy were brought out of the nostalgic haze that had infected you both, and a wave of despair rolled over you like a shockwave at the realization that this is how you would remember the brunette boy from the sandbox.

'Sandbox love never dies'

The next thing you remember is Billy tugging you away from Stu and replacing the taller boys' hands with his own. A black L shaped object was forced into your palm as Billy positioned your arms to aim the barrel at Sidney. His breath hit your cheek as he murmured into your ear.

"Listen, all you gotta do 's pull the fuckin' trigger. Her mom fucked up both of our lives remember?"

You despised the way he made the most venomous words sound so natural in that velvety voice of his. You recoiled at the fact his voice was so steady when he talked about murder. And most of all, you were disgusted by the fact you still had it in you to forgive him.

"I-I can't" you exhaled with a shaky breath. Your voice had cracked at the end of your sentence and if it weren't for Billy's hands keeping yours steady you would've already dropped the gun on the kitchen floor.

The boy behind you let out an irritated sigh as gripped your hands tighter.

"Dollface- yes you can it's real easy just pull the motherfuckin' trigger."

"Billy, no, I can't- I won't-"

"YES YOU CAN. JUST PULL THE DAMN THING."

"FUCK YOU YOU FUCKIN-"

BANG!

Sidney's body fell to the ground with a dull thud. Billy had wrapped his finger around yours and forcefully pulled the trigger, tired of waiting for you to cave and do it yourself.

The sound of the gunshot had left a lingering ringing noise in your ear. The inside of your mouth tasted like metallic blood (you must've bitten your tongue you later realize), and every limb in your body trembled as you collapsed onto the ground after Billy had eventually taken a step back. You covered your mouth with your (now dirty) hands as the tears began to fall again.

Billy hummed and hoisted you up as Stu stood behind him and giggled in a way that could only be described as Stu-like.

"Damn we really did a number on her dude." The blonde haired boy had said as he stuck his tongue out. Billy scoffed before chuckling and nodding.

"Sure did. C'mon scream queen cops are gonna be here soon."

You should have stayed home.

[king-k-ripple]

Kirby Games Ranked From Easiest to Hardest

If you haven’t played a Kirby game and don’t know where to start, hopefully this can help you decide based on what you want from Kirby. If you’re looking for a game to simply relax with and have a good time, games ranked 13-9 will suffice. If you’re looking for a challenge, every Kirby game ranked 5-1 will be up your alley despite the popular belief in all Kirby games being cakewalks. Finally, games 6-8 are what I consider to be an average difficulty by Kirby standards. Keep in mind that the difficulty of these games will be based on simply finishing them, not necessarily 100%ing them, though some games require 100% completion to be finished regardless and I will take that into consideration in games where it will be applicable. If you have played these games, I’d love to see where my rankings agree and/or disagree with the rest of the fandom. Without further ado (oh look a Kirby pun), here are my rankings:

13: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

It is literally impossible to die and no collecting is required. Very little to no effort is needed to finish this game. I wish I could say more, but there isn’t anything else to talk about.

12: Kirby Star Allies

The reason why this ranks so low is because a good amount of the game plays itself with the helpers both in puzzle solving and combat. Bosses, often the hardest parts of Kirby games, go down in mere seconds. The reason why it’s not at the very bottom is because it’s at least possible to die in this game, and there are more one-hit kills in this game than any other game in the series. Yes, there are difficult stages like Heroes in Another Dimension and the return of the infamous Shiver Star factory level, but both of these are completely optional and therefore not make the base game any harder.

11: Kirby Super Star Ultra

The combination of being able to take like 10-12 hits and the sheer power+versatility of the copy abilities makes you almost unstoppable (except for auto scrollers). Not even the extra modes like Revenge of the King are all that hard, and Meta Knightmare Ultra is far easier than the main story because you can heal yourself up to 5 times by collecting 10 blue orbs from killing enemies per use, and seeing as enemies are everywhere, your ability to heal recovers and stacks fast.

10: Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland

Not a lot stopping you except for the eratic enemy behavior, but your 6-point health bar makes it only 1/6th as bad as instant death, and seeing as every door is a checkpoint with about 2-5 doors per stage, and the fact that this game showers you with lives, this game isn’t much of a challenge either. Although this game’s Meta Knightmare is an actual hard mode with only three HP and a lack of blue orbs, it has the same issue as Star Allies’ hardest levels in that it’s optional and doesn’t make simply finishing the game any harder.

9: Kirby Squeak Squad

This is the first game on the list with something that can genuinely halt one’s progress, that being the star seals. The player will not be able to progress to World 7 if they missed at least one star seal. With that being said, the required star seals only barely raise the challenge since there are only five of them, three of which are easy to obtain. Mecha Kracko, Dark Daroach, and the Star seals in 4-2 and 5-1 are the only somewhat hard parts of the game. Aside from that, it’s basically Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland 2 but even more forgiving with combat because of the ability scrolls and health upgrades.

8: Kirby’s Dreamland 1

Both the levels and bosses are pushovers. It doesn’t help that this is the shortest Kirby game by a long shot, so there isn’t much challenge the game can throw at you. So why is this in the middle of the list? It’s because of King Dedede, who is easily the hardest Dedede fight in the series. It’s all thanks to the claustrophobic arena you fight him in, making the window for evasion of Dedede’s attacks far smaller than the fights in the rest of the series. I legit “game overed” to this fight many times when I played Dreamland 1 for the fist time. Even to this day, Dedede knocks me out a few times before I get the hang of his move set. Regardless, one very difficult boss fight in an otherwise easy and short game can only get Dreamland 1 so high up on the list.

7: Kirby Return to Dreamland

Now we get to the games that consistently require effort to finish, and not just limited to one or a few instances. Return to Dreamland is basically Kirby Star Allies but with less automation in that you have to perform a lot more tasks yourself, from problem solving to obstacle dodging to combat. Although the number of one-hit kills isn’t quite as high as in Star Allies, it’s up there, especially in Egg Engines.

6: Kirby 64 the Crystal Shards

This entry would be a solid contender for the hardest game in the series if it weren’t for its cheat code, because Kirby 64 has the highest number of mandatory 100% completion tasks, but because the code exists, Kirby 64 is middle of the road when it comes to difficulty, and it plays a lot like Return to Dreamland, being a straightforward action platformer where the meat of the game is overcoming tricky to fight+dodge enemies+obstacles, with a fair amount of obstacles being 1-hit kills. The reason why 64 is above Return to Dreamland is because Kirby is nowhere near as agile in 64. Not only can he run out of flight, but he walks and runs slowly, making avoiding obstacles harder to avoid than Return to Dreamland.

5: Kirby’s Dreamland 2

If you’re like me and prefer easy games over hard ones, this is where the franchise transitions from a lot of fun to kind of frustrating. This game has a 100% completion requirement in the form of rainbow drops, though there are only seven to collect. While that sounds easy, getting the rainbow drops in 4-4, 5-5, and 6-2 are some of the hardest things to do in a Kirby game. 4-4 and 5-5 are fast-moving auto scrollers that can easily one-shot you and take away the power you need for the Rainbow drops. 6-2 has an insane amount to steps to get its rainbow drop, and all must be performed in a row flawlessly. Another thing that puts this game high on the list is the lack of time to react to pretty much anything and everything. Ever played Marble Garden Zone from Sonic 3? The zone where you move far too fast and the hazards move far too fast for you to react? Imagine if every stage was like that, it was on a 10-9 aspect ratio, and the sprites were large relative to the screen. That is basically the level design of Kirby’s Dreamland 2. With no time to react to and prepare for any enemies or hazards, a player is likely to take hits and die quite often, many of which feel more like the game’s fault than a lack of the player’s skill.

4: Kirby Planet Robobot

3: Kirby Triple Deluxe

2: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Triple Deluxe, Planet Robobot, and Forgotten Land all share the same reasons for their high placements on this list. The first reason is not allowing non-completionists to finish any world if they haven’t obtained enough collectibles, many of which become inaccessible if the player fails to collect them after one attempt. The second reason is because unlike the rest of the series, completing the boss rushes are required to finish the games because the final bosses can’t simply be fought in the main stories and instead are locked behind the tail ends of the boss rushes, and unlike the regular stages, there are no checkpoints or continues in the boss rushes, so the margin for error is insanely small. The reasons why the Kirby games are in this order are because Triple Deluxe on average demands more sun stones than Robobot does for code cubes and the absence of the stone ability in Forgotten Land makes the boss rush at least ten times harder than it was in Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot.

1: Kirby’s Dreamland 3

Imagine taking the difficulty of Dreamland 2’s 4-4, 5-5, and 6-2’s rainbow drops and putting it in every single stage of the game. That is basically what you get for Dreamland 3. There is not one heart star that isn’t a pain in the butt to get, and the worst part is that they are all mandatory. Because there is absolutely zero margin for error, I have no choice but to put this game above all the others when it comes to difficulty.

This truly was an interesting way to analyze the Kirby series, and if you have a difference in opinion, I’d love to hear what Kirby games gave you the easiest and hardest time.

[smallnetbusiness]

MacBook 12in M7: Power and Portability Perfected

Power and mobility are well balanced in the MacBook 12in M7. It provides outstanding performance for all your computing requirements with an Intel Core m7 CPU. Its ultra-thin and lightweight construction makes it convenient to take wherever you go, and the brilliant Retina display guarantees crystal-clear pictures. The improved battery life will let you work for extended periods, and the most recent OS and cutting-edge security features make it highly user-friendly. It's simple to connect to other devices thanks to Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connectors, and typing is made pleasant with the backlit keyboard and Force Touch trackpad. For people who appreciate power and mobility, whether you're a student, professional, or casual user, the MacBook is a great option.

Outstanding Performance

The MacBook 12in M7's potent Intel Core m7 CPU contributes to its outstanding performance. This CPU is a great option for people requiring a laptop to handle demanding applications since it has fast clock speeds and optimal power utilization. You can anticipate lightning-fast performance with the Core m7 CPU, whether streaming high-definition films or running many programs simultaneously. Additionally, the CPU has Intel's Turbo Boost technology, which enables it to dynamically raise its clock speed and provide additional power as required. Overall, the Intel Core m7 CPU in the MacBook offers excellent performance you can count on.

Macbook 12in M7 Gamer Keyboard

In addition to being a comfortable size for writing and playing games, it also functions as a 10-digit number pad. The majority of individuals do not need this. Despite having fewer keys, the Macbook keyboard is ideal for developers, gamers, and picture editors. On your desk, this full-size keyboard takes up more room. The fact that a mouse's right side moves less than its left side will be welcomed by right-handed users.

Lightweight and Ultra-Thin Design

The MacBook 12in M7's mobility was taken into account during manufacturing. Its ultra-thin and lightweight design makes it the ideal laptop for traveling. This laptop is highly portable, weighing just 2.03 pounds and having a thinness of only 0.52 inches. It is simple to tuck into your bag or backpack and bring it everywhere, whether going to a conference, a coffee shop, or a library. The MacBook is a powerful computer that can readily handle demanding tasks despite its lightweight form. Its small size makes it a fantastic choice for those who regularly travel or have limited workspace. Overall, the MacBook ultra-thin and light design makes it a great option for anybody who values mobility and ease.

Incredible Retina Display

The beautiful Retina display of the MacBook 12in M7 produces clear and detailed images. The display has a resolution of 23041440 and four million pixels, producing incredibly detailed pictures and movies. Because of the Retina display's high contrast ratio, colors are vivid, and blacks are intense and dark. The display is also designed to lessen glare and reflection, improving visibility in bright situations. Related article: lienware 17in Laptop: High-Performance Gaming Beast If you need a laptop to display high-quality photos and videos, whether you're a graphic designer, a photographer, or simply someone who likes watching films and TV programs, the MacBook Retina display is ideal.

Longer-Lasting Batteries

With the improved battery life of the MacBook 12in M7, you can work for extended periods without needing to recharge. Depending on use, the laptop may run for up to 10 hours on a single charge, making it a great option for professionals, students, and anybody else who needs to work on the road. A powerful Intel Core m7 CPU is also included in the MacBook, contributing to a longer battery life. Along with that, it has Apple's Energy Saver function, which, when used, automatically dims the display and puts the laptop into standby mode when not in use, therefore preserving battery life. The MacBook  is a dependable and practical option for anyone who requires a laptop to keep up with their hectic schedules, thanks to its lengthy battery life.

Friendly features for users

The MacBook 12in M7 is simple to use and safe thanks to its user-friendly features. It is powered by Apple's most recent operating system, macOS, which was intended to be simple and user-friendly. The OS performs smoothly and effectively since it is tailored for the MacBook  hardware. Additionally, macOS has several built-in programs like Safari, Mail, and iMovie to make your tasks easier and faster. The MacBook has cutting-edge security technologies safeguarding your data and privacy. It includes Touch ID, which lets you use your fingerprint to unlock your laptop and use Apple Pay to make safe online transactions. The T2 Security Chip, which encrypts your data and guarantees that only authorized people may access it, is another feature of the laptop.

Versatile Connectivity

The varied connection options provided by the MacBook 12in M7, like Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connectors, make transmitting data between your laptop and other devices simple. Large files, such as high-definition films, may be transferred quickly thanks to Thunderbolt 3, which has an extraordinarily fast data transfer rate of up to 40 Gbps. There is no need for an additional power cord since the Thunderbolt 3 connector can charge your laptop and enable external displays. The MacBook has a USB-C connector, a flexible interface that may be used for charging, data transmission, and connecting external devices, in addition to Thunderbolt 3. Many more modern gadgets, including smartphones and tablets, now come equipped with USB-C connectors as the USB-C port gains popularity.

Conclusion

Consequently, even years after their release, Apple goods like the MacBook, iPhone, and Apple Headset are still in great demand. The MacBook was one of the things with an innovative and durable design. Even while newer MacBook models, including the MacBook Air with macOS Sierra, provide more functionality and features, the MacBook 2016 is still useful for the workplace. 12" MacBook m7 We should be aware that MacBooks aren't built for gaming and don't have good graphics processors, but that doesn't mean they can't run high-resolution games. You can learn more about Clevo NH70 here. This is a strong and capable gaming laptop. Read the full article

[celleryeller]

Holy shit! They have a game development commentary mode!! That’s super fucking cool!! I’ll write down answer to my questions and general cool shit here

The sizing was all just proportional to the distance it moved- twice as far away means twice as big.

The level designer had to careful adding barriers everywhere, because objs could be picked up from any distance so long as they were visible

Originally the game was shipped without controller support! I think that’s a pretty good example of “don’t ship with something that sucks”

I didn’t notice it, but they chose to have interactable objs a contrasting color to the background! Like a yellow chess piece when the walls are beige and greeny cyan.

Art direction was based on questions, like “what would someone in the early 90s think of for a futuristic testing testing site? What would they do with a shoestring budget but infinite time?” That’s an interesting way to phrase art questions! Not “what do I want out of this” but a “ what would someone else make?”

The introduction was designed to solve problems that occurred in playtesting, teaching the players how to do big-to-small and small-to-big and dealing with distance. I like how they did that! I thought the tutorial was GREAT, and it all came from playtesting research!

Players would get lost during infinite hallway moments, so the art direction added some uniqueness to locations and people stopped getting lost.

The music had a main inspiration, piano solo jazz by Bill Evans.

There are secret blueprints in the levels. Like I suspected, they’re top down wireframes of the level!

The principal artist mentioned that they got one pink hallway down in terms of clutter and noise, and that helped with the later iterating

The game commentary itself doesn’t spoil any tricks and Easter eggs with commentary; it’ll only play their explanations if you find it yourself. That’s pretty good, to keep the player experience in tact like that while sharing about everything you can

Secret areas were added as a response to what players did/tried to go. I’m really enjoying how much they seemed to respond to players instead of the fallacy of “ the players are playing my game wrong”. Must’ve been loooots of playtesting

At some point, they had to stop asking realism questions- “why is this door up there?” And just say. It just is. And that’s the puzzle.

Sometimes they chose to not play with perspective, but expectations.

…Wow! They STILL have a bunch of new varieties for the loading screens!! That’s so cool!

Each level was originally supposed to be a story; the idea was scrapped, but the horror level (with the purpose of “making the player scared of their own shadow”) stayed.

Their choice of teleportation cuts was inspired by movie cuts!

They put a commentary node that says “boo” over the scary door that closes on its own. I officially love these developers.

The scary level also introduces the idea, that’s important for the end of the game, that not being able to see, that pitch black doesn’t mean somethings there.

This horror level, due to the fact that everything’s dark as hell, is the only one that makes me itch to just look up where the secret star room is.

Horror Level also plays with an idea I’ve been chewing on recently, about light and dark. Because this is a video game, the human ability to adjust your eyes to the dark is absent. There’s one puzzle where you need to walk backwards into the dark and see the objects via contrast on the light.

Also. The pause menu has nice piano music. Which, although most people aren’t sitting on the pause menu for long periods of time, it’s really nice for me to pause and listen to something nice as a write up each paragraph,

Something I noticed myself doing is jumping over dark spots, because the game as shown it’s not afraid to make a pitch black spot on the floor a giant pit. As a jump over, my heart does a little “auhghha” despite the fact that everywhere else in Horror Level I’m fine and aware that nothing scary is going on.

Sometimes the lights in the horror level look like glowing eyes of giants creatures, and that part stills scaresa me some. But it’s just my perception, nothings really there.

FOUNF ANOTHER NEW COLLECTABLE FUCK OFFF THATS GREAT. The chess piece collectibles really required thinking outside the box- I found this one while searching every nook and cranny for the star room, and ended up using the flashlight object as a jumping platform. That’s a really cool reward! And it breaks the replay problem of doing what worked the first time!

End of level again and I didn’t find the star room… damn.

Whenever the turn on the lights, they talk about the frame rate issues they needed to work around. Suddenly hitting everything with light tanker performance, so they chopped up the room. The room is still a little choppy on the frames, but it’s worth it for the joke.

One new tutorial is introduced as just a sign that says “press lt to return” which they comment is the most unread sign in the game. Ah. The horrid fact that players Don’t Read Signs

I liked how they mentioned that the cloning mechanic would always make players smile. Because that’s a really fun thing to notice! And it has all the right parts to make it fun! The little ascending pop noise for each cluck, the way it makes things tiny, the initial unexpectedness of “huh?” It’s great

The player can changes sizes by changing the size of their doorways they walk through. They worked around this by making kind of “reset doorways” that scaled to the player size before letting you move into the next scale puzzle. That’s cool

They don’t have any commentary on the hidden piano :[

When changing size, they had to adjust lots of things- one of them being gravity. That one’s noticeable, in fact, I just made a huge object take multiple seconds to fall because I was tiny. Sometimes you have to ignore physics to get a better feel.

They were shortish on time for the elevator posters, so the artist just. Put their cat in there. More games should have the developers cats featured.

The Labyrinth level is SO good. The alarm coming in right before teleporting you back, then the sudden room change that completely fucks with perception. Very excited to hear them talk about it. ( they didn’t that much :[ )

The infinite elevator trick, which a node explains, get explained even more by the node’s existence, which marks one elevator that you keep coming back to.

In Whitespace, The paradox world breaking effect is cool, and they talk about how they struggled to get it. It reminds me of the paradox look from Outer Wilds. I also super like the filter on the camera that makes everything look bleary eyed, like you just woke up.

The design choice to fiddle with perception so much you get rid of depth perception is also so incredible. Everything flat and black or white is just a great exercise of how much can you fuck with. How much can you play with the medium?

The hallway puzzle I got stuck on was actually added in, because with no infinite hallways players immediately started rubbing up on everything and found the solution.

The end sequence, was a reflection of the game. The music was originally disliked by the level designer. The movie cuts lining up with the piano was SUPER cool.

During the credits, they said “the design goal of this level was to show you who made the game.”

Thank you to everyone at Pillow Castle for this wonderful game!

Game design thoughts- Superliminal

I’ve decided, for shits and giggles and bettering my analysis skills, that I’ll write and post some thought about the game design of games I’m playing for the first time. Not a rating or anything, just a sort of what I learned from it

I just finished Superliminal on the Xbox. Only took around 2 hours for a solid first playthrough. Made in Unity, released 2019.

The main mechanics were around perspective. Unfortunately, this playthrough wasn’t completely blind, because there was a gif set or promo trailer floating around Tumblr a couple years ago, and it showed the mechanics before I got a chance to figure them out myself. But, the premise is picking up objects, and their size depends on the actual perspective when you drop it.

I think those mechanics are pretty fucking cool. I would love to see how the idea was originally prototyped. Or how they came up with the idea. Honestly tomorrow morning I might look into if the creators have done any interviews or anything.

The tutorial was pretty sick though. Instead of ui elements floating and telling you what to do, everything was written on objects in the game. My favorite was “press a to jump” being on a wet floor sign.

Narratively, it did make me ponder about brute forcing puzzles, and trying the same thing over and over. There was one puzzle I was stuck on near the end that I only decided to change perspectives on after I noticed the classic game trick of teleporting the player to create a feeling of infinite looping. While I didn’t walk away fundamentally changed, I did gain a new perspective on how I do puzzles.

The juice was pretty good, too. It got me giddy to pull every fire alarm and use up every fire extinguisher just because the option was there. There might also be achievements for doing that each level? Idk. Superliminal also had some good (although a little too loud) controller shake when an object was made huge and dropped on the ground. There was text I couldn’t read on papers that I wanted to read. The loading screens were great too, and while the bar animations weren’t accurate, the variation and weirdness for each one made up for it.

The limitations, unfortunately, were a touch obvious. The edges of light could shine through objects in a way that initiated something was up. Too many objects bumping around (which didn’t happen often) made a god awful sound. Screen hiccups happened a lot. Honestly, all of it was bearable, but the first one in particular just made me think about how light does that and it pisses me off as a developer that I can’t control it.

Other thoughts:

The walking around and setting felt very reminiscent of The Stanley Parable, especially in the repeated opening segments.

Music cutoffs were well placed and heavily affected the tone.

Late game played heavily with dream with dream sensation, and so perfectly emulated the dream feeling of looking at everything right side up while it feels like you’re laying down.

Played with the medium. I mentioned earlier that it used teleportation for infinite hallway tricks, but at some point it just started teleporting you for the purpose of being jarring.

On a similar note, it loved to play with the first person camera. It knew that you couldn’t look behind you, so it had complete free range to silently change whatever you weren’t looking at. Then when everything was breaking down, it started fucking with you and changing things as you looked at them, so you only saw the change once you moved

There was one level intended to be eerie, and it did that so well it made me google “is Superliminal scary.” The answer is no. I’m just a bit of a paranoid fraidy cat. It ended with a joke so good I instantly forgave it for making me scared.

The humor was also pretty good. It’s a good reminder that games can bet serious AND a little bit silly with it.

The piano music was superb

The options menu was simple and bland. It didn’t need to be anything else. Everything it had could simple fall under “gameplay” or “audio” settings.

Conformed to the wonderful idea that text to speech voices are evil. Fuck tik tok.

Overall, it was a sick game! I might do a couple more replays tomorrow. Or I’ll move to something else.

[blzzrdstryr]

Chrysalis

Yandere!Albedo x gn!reader

Wordcount:2115

CW:Yandere themes

Working for Albedo isn’t that bad - the payment is good, the knowledge he provides is even better - a chance to delve into exclusive alchemical research with a widely acknowledged genius is a far more valuable award than any amount of mora or jewels could ever be. Said prodigy isn’t an awful person to work with either - he’s polite and well mannered, careful not to offend anyone even if his words can be cold and cutting sometimes. Most of the time Albedo is a pleasant company to be around, if one would turn a blind eye to his quirks.

For instance, he has a weird and frankly unnerving habit of staring at you - his teal eyes track your littlest movements as you set up an alchemical apparatus and prepare needed solutions. At first you thought he was overseeing you, checking if you had made any mistake as a fledgling alchemist, yet this hypothesis was quickly disproved when you caught him gazing off working hours. You never voiced your complaints - you wanted to keep your job and study, and maybe he is too socially blind to see how his behavior could be received by others.

Today would also be a great example of an alchemist's lack of tact - he requested you accompany him everywhere for the last few weeks, taking you from the cold heights of Dragonspine to sunny and bustling streets of Mondstadt. You two are sitting in the corner of his laboratory designed for rest and food and share a meal: two portions of his favorite fish, despite being nothing more than the employer and employee or teacher and student.

Albedo doesn’t seem to get or mind what kind of rumours he causes with this seemingly blatant favouritism before you, no he looks as calm as usual as he plunges into the dish with fork and knife.

“[First]”, he says, after the first bite: “Have the aches stopped bothering you?”, a hint of concern and something else. Two or three weeks ago you developed a strange soreness in the different parts of your body - wrists, neck, heart, legs - it would appear suddenly, burning and throbbing and making you gasp, leaving you tired and nauseous afterwards. No one could find the source of the problem, not even Albedo, yet after some time these far from pleasant sensations got subdued, easier to bear and endure.

His hand reaches for your left wrist, thumb caressing the skin, and he pulls it closer to his face, eyes examining the sore spot. You don’t protest, stunned by his sudden action.

“Hm, that’s”, he mumbles, more to himself than you: “that’s good”, he concludes, letting go of your limb.

“What’s good? Did something change?” you inquire, instantly forgetting to take offense at his grabbing.

“You could say that”, Albedo ambiguously says and returns to his fish. You ask the alchemist what he meant, but all you get are even vaguer answers and long silence in the end, as he finishes his meal and nudges you to start your own sunshine sprat.

In the end your questions remain unacknowledged, as Albedo leaves displaying you to accompany him. Surprisingly he heads for the gardens instead of the library, his step light and fast. “Master Albedo” you start, seeing that alchemist is in his creative mood again: “shouldn’t you bring an easel or sketchbook with you?”

“No, [First], I don’t intend to draw, not now. This walk is for me to get some inspiration”, Albedo quickly replies, still walking ahead: “In this time of year the environment changes so rapidly, it provides a mind with a lot of good ideas. You should come with me too, alchemy is a science of change, creation and destruction and nature is better at these three aspects than any of us”. He adds, seemingly sensing the next question you would ask.

He walks near the bushes, teal eyes focused on the blooming fragrant flowers, before he squats, pushing some of the wigs back.

“[First]”, he turns his head in your direction: “you should come and see”. You comply, curious what has caught Albedo’s attention, squatting near him and looking at one of the inner branches usually hidden by others.

It’s an ordinary dark cocoon. You almost turn your head again, before the slightest of movements catches your attention - it’s an insect trying to break out. Chrysalis cracks and deforms as a fledgling butterfly makes way past it’s confines. One second and it stretches its wings, revealing a vibrant blue coloration, the next it leaves it’s former cell entirely, elegantly soaring into the air, it’s azure wings lazily flapping, as it makes its way to the other bush.

“Fascinating”, Albedo breathes out, eyes still on the disappearing figure of the insect: “It transformed to such a great extent”.

You hear a hint of excitement in his voice - he wants to share his thoughts or knowledge then - and nod, prompting him to continue.

“Did you know that a larva needs to literally dissolve itself to reach the next stage of its life? After caterpillar finishes its cocoon, it produces enzymes that turn most of its tissue into a liquid matter and only after that does it rebuilds into an entirely new form”, he turns his gaze back to you, usually cold and thoughtful eyes now warm and dreamy: “Sometimes, I think humans are meant to metamorphose too”.

“How so?” you ask, tilting the head.

“Humans, despite all complexity and intelligence, are still fragile creatures. They’re prone to sickness and ailments and in the end old age ends those who managed to evade death before. Wouldn't it be better if one could go through metamorphosis, be reborn free from pain and hunger and constant threat of passing away? Those humans could live on forever and dedicate themselves to the higher cause without having to worry about dying and suffering".

You raise eyebrows, surprised by the sudden “outburst” - Albedo, despite his partially philosophical nature, has never shared his inner thoughts so freely, not to you at least. He, either out of embarrassment or deep contemplation, shifts his eyes somewhere behind you, and you turn back, following his eyes. He looks at the statue of Barbatos.

Tall and proud, it looks magnificent in the day’s sunlight, golden rays making it glow and shine with the fairness of the marble. Looking at this epitome of unchanging vision, you suddenly get an answer to Albedo’s thoughts and you voice it out the same second:

“Wouldn’t it negate the meaning of life then? Nature breeds diversity - the reason why we have so many flowers is because some kinds aren't adapted to particular conditions and so they change, producing entirely new types of plants. Eternal and undying beings, unconcerned with the earthly matters would have no need to reproduce and pass on its features to the next generation, depriving the world of thousand possible combinations. No new life would be created if the old one could be perfectly sustained".

"That's how you see it", Albedo replies, placing a now empty husk of the cocoon inside your palm - the testament of the nature’s miracle, the testament of one's ability to change: “I’ve witnessed many wonderful sights for today”, he adds, still looking at you, surrounded by flowers and flying butterflies, light breeze playing with your hair and sun illuminating your whole figure with a gentle golden glow.

You part with Albedo shortly after - he closes himself in the lab, before checking up on your sore spots again, quietly mumbling something to himself the whole time. You head for your house and open the alchemical textbook, studying it until late night. That place on the wrist slightly throbs at every movement.

Only when your eyelids fill up with lead and thoughts slow down from the general fatigue you allow yourself to head for the bed, falling asleep the second your head touches the pillow. You see phantasmagorical dreams - of you being a bulging and large larva, spending days simply eating green leaves, until a strange urge overcomes your entire being and you start to build something - a cocoon. Now, surrounded by pitch black darkness you feel a burning sensation - enzymes, enzymes that will dissolve your tissue. Pain quickly escalates and you want to scream and cry, but you can’t - you’re an insect you don’t have vocal glands or tear ducts to do so. Who could have known that butterflies suffer so much?

You writhe and squirm, caged by your liquifying body and hard chrysalis around you and you are in so much agony you want to die.

And then you wake up. All sweaty and distressed you grab at your wrist - it hurts so much, your entire body is on fire, it seems that you have another episode of that strange soreness. You quickly rise to your feet, snatching the painkillers from the nightstand and downing them with a gulp of water. As medicine begins it’s work you lay in the bed again, ready to fall asleep and forget the midnight pains, as you see something that makes your breath hitch and heartbeat fasten from fear.

A strange greyish white discoloration on your wrist in the same place that used to throb this evening. You touch it and it leaves a dry white imprint on your fingers, it also doesn’t have any strange smell.

You rise and quickly dress up, barely suppressed panic and anxiety dispelling the last remains of sleep. The walk towards the Favonius HQ’s is short, especially when you break into a sprint on the way. He is here, he is working into the night today. Quickly passing sleepy knights you climb on the second floor and almost run to one particular door, loudly knocking at it.

Just as you expected, there’s a sound of footsteps and soon a familiar voice asks: “Who is here?”.

“It’s me, master Albedo”, you say, feeling how the pain returns despite the painkillers taken: “you said to report if something changes, with my aches. It changed”.

The words you say and desperation accompanying them prompts alchemist to open the door, as he gestures you to come in, and shut the door as you do so:

“Strip”, he says, mind back to the analytical mode, you comply, feeling ashamed with every second Albedo continues to observe you: “Wait, there’s something on your neck”.

A cool touch to your skin, a short yelp, another burst of pain. You fall on your knees, blinded and deafened by sheer agony. Alchemist produces a distressed noise, walking up to your collapsed figure and carrying you to the nearby table.

He pushes alchemical apparatus away, turning the table into a makeshift bed, and gently lowers you down. “[First]”, his hand card through your hair, while the other nudges a mug with some brew to your lips: “There’s nothing to worry about, your metamorphosis progresses as it should be”.

“Metamorphosis.. What are you talking about?”, you ask, panic creeping into the question. Alchemist looks you straight into the eyes, an eerie smile blooming on his face as he hears it: "Isn’t it obvious? You're going to change and I will help you with that".

“Change?! Change into what?”

“Into a better version of human of course. Do you think I would let you get old or sick and die? You’re too dear to me to do that, you should live and experience a life free from human limitations”, for the first time in your life you’re terrified of him. Albedo always seemed so knowledgeable and calm to you, like a wise wizard from the childhood fairytales, yet now he looks mad and devoid of any humanity:“You shouldn’t worry about these stains, they will disappear once your transformation is complete. Those are just chalk you see, a side effect of your tissues changing over the weeks”.

“When did.. When did you start it?”, you croak out, sensing the agony returning and growing again. It hurts so much I can barely think.

“Dragonspine. You were eating with me”.

You want to insult and accuse him, yet another wave of pain renders you speechless, short huffs and whimpers escaping you as tears start to stream down your face.

“I understand it can be very stressful to you, given how change of this scale is always carrying a great risk”, his voice adopts the same philosophical tone: “The purpose of cocoon is protection of the soon-to-be butterfly from the external harm and influence that could lead to other complications and we don’t want any of that”.

He cards his hand through your hair again, a mockery of a concern dyeing his next words: “You shouldn’t worry, I will be a good chrysalis to your metamorphosis”.

You black out from pain.

[sulphuryasecretcloset]

What if...? Part 5

(I know, I knooooow....I said 4 parts. Then adjusted it to 5 parts... Guess what? I’m up to 7 now. I can only hope that will be the final number... T-T And I still blame y’all xD You beautiful enablers, you <3 You know who you are! Writer baiters, commenters and rebloggers, thank you all! <3 <3 <3)

-

What if Dulsissia hadn’t died, what if she had grabbed Corin and fled? What if she met Davarax? What if...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

She has to get away. She has to run. She has to grab Corin and run. There are no storm troopers kicking in the doors of the Covert yet, there is still time. They can still try to get away.

The thoughts keep spinning inside her head and her heart is beating so hard she can barely hear anything except the pulse thumping in her ears. Her fingertips tingle and she’s dizzy.

“Just…” Davarax turns his attention to the children staring with horror at them. “Paz, continue the training. Everything is okay. Corin, do you hear me? Your mother just had a scare, but she’ll be fine. You’re all safe. I promise. Just go back to training and I’ll be back in a bit.”

Dulsissia makes a weak sound of protest when he bends down and picks her up like she’s a bride at a wedding and not in the middle of a disaster, but he ignores her and carries her out into the hallway.

“We’re going to your room and then you’re going to tell me what’s going on.” Davarax says, it’s a gentle tone but he’s determined.

“We have to leave…” Dulsissia whispers, strangely weak and helpless all of a sudden, haunted by the countless memories of Macero unleashing his fury on others for much smaller offences than the one she’s committed against him. His pride will never recover and he will never forgive her.

Davarax doesn’t answer, merely continues walking down the hallway and doesn’t stop until she has to reach out and press the button to open the door to her and Corin’s room.

When he steps inside, she notices Davarax pausing for half a second as his gaze goes from cup to cup and whatever else she had used to put the flowers in to place them all around the room, then he snaps out of it and walks over to lower her to sit on the edge of the bed.

Once she’s steady and her feet are on the floor, Davarax crouches down in front of her. “Dulcy, tell me what happened.”

“I went above.” She replies in a whisper, staring emptily ahead. She can feel herself wringing her hands until her fingers hurt and then a pang of absent gratitude when Davarax gently places his gloved hand over them to make her stop. “I saw… There are storm troopers in Nevarro.”

There is a moment of silence before Davarax says the least thing she expects; “I know.” He doesn’t sound surprised or worried at all. “Is that what upset you? A storm trooper?”

Snapping out of her staring, Dulsissia flicks her gaze down to his t-visor. “What do you mean you know?”

Davarax gives a faint shake of his head. “There’s a military base not too far from the city. They come in to get some extra supplies some times. Nobody really wants them here, but it’s safer for the people of Nevarro to just sell them their goods and get them on their way again.”

Confusion battles with her fear and Dulsissia tries to make sense of things. If Macero knew she was here, he wouldn’t send a lone storm trooper to chat up the villagers. The city would have been burning and there would be white armor everywhere. She swallows and exhales. Just a random trooper then? Or a scout? How can she be sure? “If… if a storm trooper came here not to buy goods, but to… look for someone. You wouldn’t know the difference, would you?”

“The Covert is keeping an eye on that base, believe me. And we have ears in the city. If something was going on, we’d know.” Davarax reassures her. He seems to need to gather a bit of courage before asking his next question: “Is… is that who you are hiding from? A storm trooper?”

A bitter laugh slips from Dulsissia’s lips before she can stop it. If only! A single storm trooper she could have handled, but Macero has thousands of them at his beck and call. “I wish.”

“An officer then.” Davarax deduces. His fingers curl gently around hers. “Do you want him dead?”

He is offering. If she says yes and gives him the name, Davarax will go for Macero’s life.

Dulsissia thinks about how in a fair fight Macero wouldn’t stand a chance against Davarax’ muscle and skills, but then she also thinks about Macero hiding away in the heart of the Empire, surrounded by guards and the terrifying amount of soldiers and all kinds of horrible weapons available to him.

“No.” She lies. She will not risk having Macero take Davarax away from her and the children.

Davarax looks at her, knows she’s lying, but eventually gives a nod. He respects her choice.

“I didn’t…” Dulsissia knows she doesn’t have to explain herself to Davarax, but she wants to. She can’t stand the idea of him thinking less of her now. His opinion matters to her. “I didn’t know he was like… that when I…” She exhales, sharp with anger at herself and her own naivety. “I could have handled it if my mistake only hurt me, but… I couldn’t do that to Corin. So I ran.” She looks over at the visor and forces a smile. “I guess you’re regretting those flowers now, huh?”

“Do you still love him? The officer?”

The idea is preposterous. Dulsissia shakes her head. “The man I fell in love with back then wasn’t real. He never was. It was all an act.”

“Then, no,” Davarax reaches up and tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear, “I don’t regret them.”

Her eyes flood with tears and Dulsissia cannot believe just how good this man is. How incredibly lucky she was to have met him in her hour of need. Him, of all the souls in the Galaxy. “You are a bit too good to be true, Sir.”

Davarax hums thoughtfully before speaking in that wonderfully teasing way of his. “As I said, I’m not ‘that’ good.” He then moves up to sit next to her and sighs. “I’ll double check with the others, though I think if there was someone looking for you, asking around, we’d hear about it. But first, we’re going to go back to the kids and you’re going to tell them you had a bad experience in the city but we’ve sorted it out and you’re okay now. Sounds good?”

Dulsissia nods. “Okay. I can do that.” Her son doesn’t need to worry too.

-

When they step back into the training room, Dulsissia feels another stab of sharp guilt when she sees Paz ordering Din, Raga and Barthor around the room, doing exercises, but has Corin under his arm in his usual protective mode. Corin, who has his arms around the older boy’s waist in return and looks like he’s been crying earlier.

Dulsissia doesn’t hesitate to head over to them and Corin turns to wrap his arms around her waist instead when she’s close enough and she hugs him tight. “I’m sorry, baby.” She kisses his hair.

“You… you need help with… whatever?” Paz asks, looking anxiously from her to Davarax and back again. The other children stop to stare at them as well.

Smiling, torn between guilt for having caused the boy to worry as well and endlessly charmed by Paz’ very real offer to help despite not having the faintest clue about what is going on, Dulsissia reaches out and cups the side of his face with her hand. (She is definitely charmed by the instant flush it causes.) “That is very kind of you, Paz. Thank you. But me and Davarax worked it out.”

Corin looks up at her with badly hidden hope. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She ruffles Paz’ hair, he ducks away with a faint laugh, and then she focuses on her son again. “Everything is fine.”

“So you’re not leaving?” A voice asks, loud and clear.

Everyone in the room turns in surprise to look at the one who’d spoken: Din. Who rarely speaks above a mumble. He is staring at Dulsissia with agonized worry in his eyes.

“We’re not leaving.” Dulsissia confirms in a calm and reassuring voice, realizing he fears losing his new friend like he had ‘lost’ Davarax. “We’re staying right here with you, Din.”

The boy nods, solemn as usual but now with obvious relief in his dark eyes. Much like the relief on Corin’s face as he smiles up at her. “We’re staying?”

“We’re staying.” Dulsissia combs his hair back with her hands. “Mommy was just being silly.”

And while there is a tiny ball of anxiousness in the pit of her stomach, Dulsissia takes one glance over at Davarax, who gives her a faint nod and she feels her strength and courage return.

She’s not alone. Not any more.

Hiccuping with relief, Corin dares to lets go of her, but just as he’s about to take a step away to rejoin the other children, he hesitates and looks back at her. And while it is so very, very tempting to just wrap her arms around him and hold on tight, the fear of losing him still so vivid in her mind, Dulsissia gives him a nudge.

Corin hesitates once more and then heads over to the other children, who include him like one of them. And that is what he is now, isn’t he? Dulsissia can’t let Macero take that away from him.

She’d panicked up in the city. She can’t afford to panic. Macero is a cold strategist, so she’ll have to become one too.

If he thinks he can take Corin away from her and have her back as the obedient little wife, he’s got a rude awakening coming to him.

A bit like the one Dulsissia gets the next day after walking Corin to training. (It’s difficult to go back to the room instead of hovering in case a battalion of storm troopers appear.) Something vicious snarls behind her just as she’s about to press the button to open the door.

Jumping around with a startled sound, Dulsissia fumbles for the blaster that isn’t in the lining of her pants because she didn’t bring it because she thought she was safe inside the Covert because she’s an idiot and… Oh.

Dulsissia puts on a careful smile and tries to pretend her heart didn’t just jump up into her throat. “Aren’t you supposed to be training with the others?”

Glaring at her with murderous intent through the crazy mane of curly hair, Raga makes another growl. The little girl is just standing there, her hands curled into tight fists and her skinny frame radiates waves of anger so strong it’s a miracle she’s not hovering over the floor.

Clearing her throat, Dulsissia crouches down. “Is there something wrong, Raga?”

At first it doesn’t look like she’s going to say anything, not even a growl, but suddenly the girl shouts at her. “Paz is MY friend, not yours! You don’t get to take him away! He’s mine!”

Dulsissia’s eyebrows makes a valiant effort to reach her hairline. Oh dear. Okay, time for some careful diplomacy here. Like Davarax does. “Raga, sweetie, I’m not trying to take Paz away from you. I promise. And he will never stop being your friend. He cares about you very much.”

The furious eyes flicker a little and Raga’s lower lip trembles a little. “But you’re pretty!” It’s an accusation, not a compliment. “Davarax thinks so too. He watches you all the time. But you don’t get to take Paz away!”

Sighing, Dulsissia tilts her head a little. “Sweetie…” She considers her options and straightens back up. “Why don’t you come in and we can talk a little.”

Raga instantly tenses up with another snarl. Her little shoulders draw up and her feet move into a stance where she can attack or bolt into retreat.

Dulsissia presses the button and the door opens. “You can have some cookies.”

Raga’s shoulders relaxes. “Okay.” And she trudges inside.

-

Dulsissia wants to help the girl settle on the chair, but a warning snarl makes her keep her hands to herself and she gets a plate of cookies to put on the table.

The girl grabs a handful and shoves them into her mouth, chewing noisily and not very ladylike.

Feeling like she’s defusing a bomb, Dulsissia tries to find some clever way to approach the subject. “I’m not going to take Paz away from you, Raga. I just want to be his friend. And yours.”

She gets an angry eye scowling at her through the mess of curls for her effort.

This is not going to be easy. But surely there must be some way to reach the girl. Something they have in common. Dulsissia makes another effort at a smile and gestures towards her. “You have such lovely hair.”

Raga pauses in her chewing, scans her warily before she mutters; “My mom wants me to cut it. I don’t want to.”

“Then you shouldn’t.” Dulsissia agrees.

Shrugging, Raga plucks at the edge of the table. “It’s not pretty. Like yours.”

“You have beautiful hair.” Dulsissia objects, daring to take a step closer. “I wish I had curls like you.”

That gets her another wary glance, but there is cautious curiosity instead of open hostility now. Raga sits up a little straighter. “Have to cut it when I put the helmet on…”

“Nonsense.” Dulsissia scoffs, gesticulating towards the wild hair. “With some braids, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Now Raga is actually paying attention and the anger seems forgotten. “Really?” She frowns. “How?”

Dulsissia shrugs. “I could show you…?”

Raga’s eyes narrow for a second or two, then she gives a cautious nod.

It takes a long time untangling the crazy hair, not because it’s awfully tangled or Raga complains, but because Dulsissia is overly cautious about tugging her with the brush and enjoys doing something she actually have the skills to do. A lovely side-effect is how Raga sags more and more in the chair and almost falls asleep under the gentle treatment. There’s not a single growl.

Braiding most of the hair back from the very top to bottom in a simple but lovely pattern, once again taking her time, Dulsissia lets some hair hang free to frame Raga’s face so she can hide if she wants to, but the rest of her thick mane is now held back from obscuring her vision. That should make it easier for her to fight. She steps into the refresher and grabs a mirror so she can show Raga the final result.

“Look at that.” Dulsissia says, feeling no small amount of pride that Raga had trusted her enough to allow this. “Practical, yes? And you look so beautiful.”

Raga struggles against a tiny smile. “Do not.”

“You do.” Dulsissia reaches out and adjusts the braid a little with feigned nonchalance. “And just you wait until Paz sees this. He’s going to be so amazed. You look like such a warrior queen. The Mandalorian who can kick butt ‘and’ have long hair. I bet he’s never seen that before.”

Raga puts the mirror on the table and ducks her head down, now as flustered as the aforementioned Paz had become when Dulsissia kissed his cheek. “M’not pretty.” She mumbles, but she is smiling.

“You are ‘beautiful’.” Dulsissia insists. “Come. Let’s go show the others.” It’s about time she picked up Corin so why not show off her accomplishment too?

She just isn’t prepared for her heart absolutely shattering the moment they step into the hallway and begin to make their way towards the training room and Dulsissia feels Raga’s  hand reach over and take a hold of hers.

And luckily, after seeing how excited the girl was to show off her braid, Dulsissia’s predictions were completely accurate. Not only Paz stops what he’s doing, but the three other boys too, and they all flock around her to admire and try to figure out how the braid was made.

“You got to teach me how to do that.” Paz declares, mesmerized.

“I’ll think about it.” Raga snootily replies, slapping Din’s hand away from her hair.

Dulsissia has to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Which is when Davarax sidles up next to her by the doorway where she’s watching the kids.

“Okay,” he says, “show me your hands. Hold them up and let me see them.”

A little confused but mostly amused, Dulsissia holds up her hands and looks over at him. “Why?”

“Because I want to see how many fingers she bit off before you managed to subdue her.” Davarax says, nodding towards Raga.

Laughing and giving him a smack to the stomach, which doesn’t cause him to flinch at all, it’s like slapping a wall, Dulsissia turns her attention back to Raga and feels an intense joy in seeing the smile still on her face. “She’s a sweet girl.”

“Yeah, she is.” Davarax agrees, with no small amount of affection. “But she doesn’t give her trust to just anyone. People have to work for her trust and most adults take offence to that in a child.”

Dulsissia forgets to breathe when he tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear and this time lets his gloved finger trail down the side of her neck as well before his hand just rests on her shoulder.

“If you keep this up, you’re going to end up with every single one of them falling in love with you.” He murmurs.

Dulsissia dares to glance over at him and sees her reflection in his t-visor. Her heart is suddenly racing again but this time not from fear. “I think… I would like that.”

“Yeah?” Davarax asks, his voice low and soft and only meant for her ears. “You wouldn’t mind a big family? Even if they came with their… issues. And were a lot of work.”

“I can’t think of anything I’d want more.” She replies, her voice a little shaky but she means it. “A big family, all that love, why wouldn’t I want that?”

Davarax lets out a soft exhale and he stretches out his finger again, trails it along the collar of her shirt. “I’m starting to think that maybe ‘you’ are a little too good to be true.”

Dulsissia lower her eyelashes and tries for a sneaky smile despite how she can feel her face burning. “Trust me. I’m not ‘that’ good.”

His finger pauses on her skin.

In that moment, it’s like it is just the two of them on the entire planet, but of course that isn’t true and they are sent crashing back to reality at the sound of running feet and Corin’s voice;

“Mommy, can you braid my hair too?”

Davarax yanks his hand away and she turns to her son with a faint laugh. “I’m sorry, baby. I think you may have to grow your hair out a bit for that.”

-

No storm troopers flood into Nevarro, kicking down doors while looking for her and Corrin. The trooper she had seen must have been from the military base without any connection to Macero. Dulsissia wants to believe she’s safe, but the experience has left her skittish and reluctant to head up into the city again.

At least she can’t cause trouble as long as she stays in the Covert, right? Wrong.

Clearly the training had gone on a little longer than usual because they’re still in the middle of things when Dulsissia enters the room to pick up her son. The sound of the door opening distracts the kids; Paz looks over just as he’s throwing a punch and Din looks over as he side-steps, but Din steps to the wrong side and Dulsissia watches with horror as the punch slams into Din’s face.

Davarax and the other children automatically move over to where Din is squirming on the floor and covering his face with both hands. Dulsissia runs over as well and she’s seeing blood by the time she’s halfway there.

“Easy, take it easy.” Davarax kneels down and helps Din sit up. “Let me see.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t mean to…” Paz makes a half-choked sound when Din lowers his trembling hands and reveals the blood gushing from his nose.

Dulsissia, knowing this was her fault, not his, slides her arm around Paz’ shoulders in a weak offer of comfort and support. He just stares at Din.

“It was an accident, Paz.” Davarax says, cupping Din’s face and gingerly prods the already swelling nose. He then lowers his hands with a sigh. “Yeah, it’s broken.”

Paz makes that sound again and Raga moves over to his other side and takes his hand in hers. Her eyes are big and solemn. Barthor is watching with a blank face. But Corin looks ready to pass out.

“You want me to do it or the medic?” Davarax asks Din.

“You.” Din replies, sounding like his sinuses are severely clogged.

Davarax nods, and if not for the situation being what it is; Dulsissia would have been shocked beyond words at the sight of Davarax pulling off his gloves and revealing his bare hands. Strong, confident hands. That move up to touch Din’s face again, focusing on his nose.

“Okay, you ready?” Davarax asks.

“’eah.” Din mumbles through the blood.

Before Dulsissia can really understand what is going on, Davarax does something, there is a disturbing crunch and then he lowers his hands again. “Done, but you’re going to need some ice on that. Up you go. Come on.”

“I didn’t mean to.” Paz offers a little helplessly. “I thought you were going to dodge. Otherwise I wouldn’t have… so hard…” He’s genuinely distressed. “You… you want to punch me?”

Getting up on shaky legs, once again assisted by Davarax, Din shakes his head with a faint smile. “Stob. S’find. Aggsidendt. Mby fauht too.”

Paz steps forward and reaches out to take a hold of his arm, clearly worried Din will just flop over again. “Ice. We’re getting you ice. Okay. Ice. Yeah. Let’s go.”

Corin looks over at Dulsissia, despair in his eyes, clinging to Din’s other arm. “Mom?”

Dulsissia nods. “It’s okay, Corin. You go with him. Come back after, yeah?”

Paz and Corin hold Din between them, Raga marches ahead to clear a path, while Barthor trails slowly after them. He pauses by the door, looks back at Dulsissia with narrow eyes and then disappears along with the other kids.

Dulsissia looks over at Davarax picking up his gloves and how he wipes the blood off his hands on his clothes. There is that golden skin again. He must look gorgeous under that armor and yet all she can think about is... “That was my fault.”

Davarax shakes his head and there is an amused tone when he speaks. “That was not anybody’s fault. It was an accident. Accidents happen.” The t-visor turns towards her. “They got distracted by the door, true, but do you think the fights out there, in the real world, is contained to quiet rooms with Do Not Disturb signs? No. They need to learn to ignore distractions or pay the price. I don’t think those two boys will make that mistake again, do you?”

Probably not. And it might be lesson that could save their lives later. But still doesn’t feel nice.

Dulsissia distracts herself by looking at Davarax’ hands again. The gloves look worn. “You need new gloves.”

Davarax studies his gloves and shrugs. “They’re good for a little while longer.”

“Would it be better if I got you some new gloves?” She asks.

Davarax lowers his hands and tilts his head a little. “Better? Better than what?”

“When you gave me that blaster, I didn’t understand what that meant.” Dulsissia says. “I realize now that bringing you some stupid cookies wasn’t… right. But I’m not sure if gloves are right either. I mean, Decco said weapons or armor. Do gloves count as armor?”

“What? No. Nono.” Davarax takes a step closer. “The cookies weren’t stupid. Or wrong. I’ve gotten weapons and armor before, but never cookies. Cookies that you made. That was… I liked it.”

Stupidly flattered, Dulsissia lowers her gaze and tries to not act like a twelve year old girl. “So, that’s a ‘no’ on the gloves?”

Davarax leans close and murmurs; “I prefer the cookies.” before he walks over to clean up the blood.

-

At first she thinks it is just coincidence and bad luck, but on the second day when door after door in the Covert refuses to open for her and no one else is having this problem, Dulsissia starts to wonder if it is something more.

That is confirmed on the day when she steps inside and finds her room filled with countless hairy bugs scuttling over the floor and walls and even the ceiling.

Her screams didn’t just bring Davarax running to the rescue, but also half of the Covert; thinking they were under attack by something horrible.

After that incident, she has little doubt as to who is the evil mastermind behind her recent misfortune. There is only one who could do stuff like this and get away with it.

Knocking on the door, Dulsissia puts on a polite smile and when it opens, she asks the person there; “May I speak with Barthor, please?”

The Mandalorian sighs and leans against the door frame. “What’s that boy done now?” There is dry irritation and resentment in that voice. And for some reason, that annoys Dulsissia.

“Nothing.” She chirps. “I brought him some sweets.” Dulsissia holds up the small packet with sweets she’d brought as bribery. “He’s a friend of my son. In Davarax’ group.”

The Mandalorian straightens and shakes their head with a sigh. “Whatever. He’s in his room.”

They point towards a door and walks off.

Dulsissia scowls at their back. No wonder the boy is pulling pranks to get attention.

Knocking on the door and then pushing the button to open it, Dulsissia steps into what is a small but extremely tidy room.

Barthor is sitting on his bed, reading, and the second he sees her; he jumps off the bed to land on the other side and just about cowers there. “You can’t prove anything!”

“Oh, I am aware of that.” Dulsissia says. “Davarax said you were incredibly clever, so I know you know how to cover your tracks. I’m not here to get you into trouble.”

He peers suspiciously at her. “Why are you here?”

“May I sit?” She points at the bed as there are no chairs or any other option in the room. When he just keeps glaring at her, Dulsissia sits down on the bed anyway and starts opening the packet. “I’m here because I wanted to talk to you. I’m hoping we can be friends.”

“Friends.” Barthor sneers, still in hiding. “You don’t want to be my friend.”

“I do.” Dulsissia says, putting a sweet in her mouth before holding the box out towards him and offering him some. She suspects he’d never eat anything he didn’t see her eat first after what he’s done to her. And after a little scowling, he reaches out and takes a sweet. “I just need to know why you’re so angry with me. Did I do something to upset you, Barthor? Do you mind telling me what that was?”

Barthor keeps glaring at her, but she can see the clever mind working and looking for whatever motive she has for doing this. Eventually he straightens up and goes from scowling to defiant glaring. “I don’t want you to take Davarax away.”

Dulsissia shakes her head. “I’m not taking him away.”

“Yes, you are.” Barthor states, calm but definitely angry. “In the past, I could always go to him if I had questions or needed help.”

“You can still do that.” Dulsissia claims.

“When I needed his help on my project, guess where he was.” Barthor dares her.

She shakes her head, having no clue.

“He was out picking flowers.” Barthor throws his arms out in clear disbelief. “Flowers! Stupid, pointless flowers.” He sets his angry glare in her again. “And I’ve seen the way he looks at you and you look at him. You’re not even a Mandalorian!”

Dulsissia swallows down the urge to snap back at the boy. “Here’s the thing, Barthor; Davarax has the right to have a personal life too. He lives and breathes for you children, he really does, but he also likes me. And I like him. That’s not going to stop just because you are mean to me. You know that. The only thing you can achieve is make me upset and disappoint Davarax, and I doubt the latter is something you want.”

For the first time, Barthor lowers his gaze. His shoulders slump slightly.

“How about a deal?” Dulsissia suggests.

The boy looks up at her again.

“How about, instead of you being mean and me supposedly taking Davarax away, we become friends and we all spend time together?”

Barthor scoffs with so much scorn and conviction it hurts. “You’re just saying that. You don’t want to spend time with me. No one does.”

Dulsissia purses her lips thoughtfully. Challenge accepted.

-

Davarax looks a little confused when she shows up that evening at his door and hands him a written invitation to dinner the next day. He looks at the card and then her and shifts a little uneasily. “I, uh, would love to, but…”

“Oh, I know you can’t actually eat,” Dulsissia waves a dismissive hand at him, “I just need you to be there.”

Davarax looks at the card again and gives a slow nod. “O-kay….?”

“Excellent!” And with that, she darts back to her own room. She’d handed cards to Corin and Din to deliver at Paz’, Raga’s and Barthor’s residences too.

There’s not much Dulsissia Motti knows how to do, but she knows how to throw a dinner!

The resources are limited, the dining area even more so, but Dulsissia makes the best out of it and she has two excellent helpers in Corin and Din.

Poor Din, with his still colourful and sore nose, spends more time at her place than he does his own home and Dulsissia has grown quite used to having the quiet boy underfoot by now. He doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t mind hard work and he hasn’t run off with Corin again.

When the day comes, Dulsissia is a bit nervous, which is hilarious. She has thrown dinners and parties for men who ruled half of the Galaxy and she never broke a sweat doing so, but these children and that man, their approval means everything to her.

The first of the other children to arrive is Paz. He’s early and hangs out in the kitchen with her, interfering with her cooking until she slaps him over the fingers and he instructs her to avoid certain spices (Barthor is allergic.), not to place those vegetables on Raga’s plate (She doesn’t like them.), and that Din loves an obscene amount of salt on his food. (The weirdo.) Dulsissia tries to ask him if he doesn’t rather want to play with Corin and Din, but Paz shakes his head and inspects the boiling pot like a security guard.

However, when Raga stomps into the room, she drags Paz away and they huddle together next to the other two to talk quietly while Dulsissia sets the table.

Usually Corin and Din help her with this, but today she has informed them they are all entirely off kitchen duty.

Today is her gift to all of them.

Davarax is next to appear and he is visibly surprised when he steps into the room and the children all jump up to run over and greet him. Handing out hair ruffles and playful nudges, Davarax sneaks a glance over at her as Dulsissia puts some flowers on the dining table. She gives him a smile.

(Dulsissia has had to rearrange the room, pushing the beds over to one side, borrow a table and chairs, but they will all fit at least.)

Davarax also offers to help her, but she gives him firm orders to go play with the children.

(She does not blush at his faint snort of laughter or the brief touch of his hand to her hip. Nope. Okay, maybe a little.)

When the food is ready and on the table, on time, Dulsissia takes her seat and watches the others choose their own seating. On her right sits Davarax, on her left is Corin and next to him, Din. At the opposite side of the table of Din, there sits Raga, who of course has Paz next to her. But the chair next to him is empty.

Dulsissia feels a tiny stab of disappointment.

She’d known there was no guarantee that Barthor would show up but she’d hoped…

“Okay, everyone,” Dulsissia chirps, determined to make the meal memorable for the others at least, vowing to find some other way to convince Barthor he is welcome, “let’s-”

There is a knock on the door.

Davarax gets up and walks over to open it.

It’s Barthor. He looks tense and wary, but Davarax pretends not to notice and merely ushers him inside. “We were waiting for you. Come on. There’s your seat. Hop to it.”

Dulsissia can’t stop smiling. She beams at Barthor, who greets her with a tiny nod, no scowling, and finally things feel right. Everyone is there.

The children chatter, bicker and eat. Corin laughs at something Din said to Paz.

Paz, who completely ignores the fact that Raga is eating off his plate and merely reaches over to slap Barthor’s shoulder to inform him that he’ll make him run twenty laps during training tomorrow if he doesn’t make a stink-bomb that Paz can plant under Din’s bed.

“No stink-bombs.” Davarax orders, pointing from Barthor to Paz and back again.

Barthor shrugs and focuses on his food. “I wouldn’t know how to make one anyway.” But the smile on his face says otherwise and Paz cackles with glee.

Davarax tells tales from his travels and answers their questions with never-ending patience as usual. Dulsissia makes sure everyone is tended to, takes care to talk to each of them, delights in watching them squirm under compliments as well as some gentle teasing. Even Barthor.

It’s perfect.

This… This is what Dulsissia has always been missing in her own life.

This is what she had been craving, even as a little girl and had no idea what she was aching for while she was surrounded by endless wealth and loneliness. This is what she thought she could have when she got married and didn’t. This is what she wants for her son.

Yeah, this definitely feels right.

This feels like… family.

[kazuyumi1412]

I’ve been reading a lot by @gilby-the-geek-girl recently, especially their “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” story, and I’ve absolutely fallen head over heels for their rendition of Virgil being a sizeshifter! I found it pretty interesting seeing how his ability works, along with seeing mentions of him wishing that it could work in both directions, and I thought that I’d write my take on what could happen if his ability could make him shrink too.

Note: This is just something I wanted to write and is in no way canon to gilby’s story. So read with a grain of salt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hero in Hiding

[Regrets]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. No, no, no. This cannot be happening.

Well, it was happening. Right before Virgil’s eyes, but…

Ah, geez. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

There he was in a ransacked room with three roughed-up roommates and a royally spooked Roman. How’d any of that even happen? Honestly, it was all such a blur to Virgil. One second, he was in his room, stressing about school and his too-rapidly-dwindling meds. The second… Well, the second was too blurred for him to remember anything other than accidentally creating an extremely-localized earthquake and nearly causing part of the ceiling to come crashing down.

How the hell did his reverb cause that?

“Holy–! What was that?!” Roman asked Virgil, clearly still being in fight-or-flight mode.

“That was clearly the reverb from his voice, Roman,” Logan calmly stated as he brushed himself off. Some dust had landed on him from the cracked ceiling. “Albeit much stronger than normal.”

“Aside from that, Microsoft Nerd.” — he quickly gestured to Virgil, who was tightly covering his mouth with his hands — “He barely grew at all, yet look at this mess!”

“Now, now. Let’s try to calm down,” Patton told them. “Losing our heads isn’t going to help right now.”

Losing our heads. If the vibrations were any stronger, Virgil was sure that they’d have had something happen to their heads. Or would something have happened? Logan could’ve easily held up any falling debris with his telekinesis, but a whole ceiling? A whole roof, even? Virgil’s heart pounded as his mind ran rampant with possibilities.

What if the ceiling caved in and crushed them? Would he even be able to use his powers to protect them? Why was the reverb so powerful that time? He was sure that he knew what would happen with his powers at that point. He’d been living with them for practically all of his life! But what if they were changing? What if this was the beginning of a domino effect? What if—

“Virgil!”

His heart skipped a beat as he refocused on reality. Roman was right in front of him, hovering his hands over Virgil’s shoulders. Did he not want to touch him in case it spooked him? Well, that can’t be right. He already spooked him a bit already when he snapped him out of his trance.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Roman told him, keeping his volume low. “We’re alright. Just try to calm down, Panic! at the Everywhere.”

“Really?” Logan deadpanned as he cocked an eyebrow.

“You want to try calming him down, then?”

They both knew that Logan was pretty much useless when it came to emotional support, but he still replied. “No, but I’d prefer if you didn’t use those nicknames when Virgil is in this kind of state.”

Despite how much of a killjoy he was, Logan had a point. “Fine.” — he looked back at Virgil — “Breathe for me, will you? Four seven eight.”

Roman sung the tune to himself as Virgil tried to follow along, trying to keep his reverb to a minimum. “ONE TWO THREE FOUR ONE TWO…” he whispered.

They kept going for a bit, with Virgil feeling the sensation in his body lessening as he slowly returned to normal, but he completely stopped when he saw something slowly flowing down Roman’s forehead.

Blood.

Oh god, he actually hurt him. He hadn’t noticed it before due to how dark Roman’s brown hair was, but the blood was clear as day on his skin. And he was not easy to injure. And apparently, none of them had noticed until Virgil stared at it.

“Ah, your head!” Patton exclaimed as he rushed over to heal the wound.

“Since when did this happen?” Roman said as he looked at the blood on his fingers from checking.

Virgil’s stomach immediately felt uneasy as he felt a strong sensation surging through his body. However, he didn’t seem to recognize it, feeling different compared to what he was used to.

“Are you okay?” He asked before quickly shutting his mouth.

That was definitely not reverb.

“You alright there, Stormageddon?” Roman asked, having heard the odd new tone in his voice.

“I-I’m fine, really,” Virgil replied as he took two steps back.

“Well, when you’re not feeling fine, you better believe that your pop knows it.” Patton said as he was healing Roman’s head wound. “Is something wrong?”

He tried to repress the feeling in his throat as he replied. “You guys should worry about yourselves first. I’m just the guy that caused this mess–”

Okay, now they all heard it. God, he really did have something wrong with him, didn’t he? No, he didn’t. He wouldn’t have something else wrong with him. Living with his powers was already a pain sometimes, especially when he couldn’t control it! Virgil looked around to the others, seeing the looks on their faces.

Shock? Fear? Maybe even a glare?

Then again, he probably deserved it. For hurting the people that he cared about.

“Virgil, what’s happening?!” Patton asked, frightened.

Maybe it’d be better if he was gone for a while.

“What’s going on?!” Roman panicked.

…

And everything went out like a light.

__________

Virgil came to again a few seconds later, unsure of where he was. He heard what sounded like the low rumble of an approaching storm, along with other sounds that he couldn’t quite make out at the time. They echoed around him, the sound waves bouncing off every surface and reverberating back to him.

…Wait. Reverberating?

He looked around, seeing what looked like four pillars supporting a giant ceiling. And giant objects that went up and down from the ground, making the ground shake a bit. And…

“VIRGIL, WHERE ARE YOU?”

“IF THIS IS A JOKE, IT’S NOT FUNNY!”

“VIRGIL!”

Voices.

Their voices.

“So this is what it feels like to live with me…” Virgil muttered to himself, still hearing the change in his voice.

He thought of trying to change back, but a thought ran through his head. He didn’t have school the next day. Maybe he could try disappearing for a while like he thought earlier. See what a day without his presence was like.

It wouldn’t hurt, would it?

After all, he didn’t want to hurt the others any more than he already did that day.

[jade-it-queen]

Jade believes in Raiden

So, hear me out. 

Me and my bestfriend have been rewatching story modes and interactions between some of the MK characters (like we always do). As the biggest Jade simp known to humanity, I have made my personal vow to know every interaction with her possible. And we’ve found this gem:

And here’s what I got to say -

Kotal brings up Raiden in a conversation with Jade. He’s concerned that she doesn’t know him very well as she was absent when he descended to darkness. He fears she thinks too highly of him (jealous much, Mr Liar?). Jade stands up for Raiden as she believes he will be Outworld ally. That brings me to conclusion that they have been talking about the Thunder God a lot. They probably even had a fight because Kotal does not trust him... and Jade does.

Reasons why Kotal is concerned with Jade’s trust in Raiden:

in MKX, when Jade is absent, Kotal is a total dick to everyone - she might not know this because she was NRS knows where and he doesn’t want her to get anywhere someone who might actually enlighten her

Jade and Raiden have some sort of connection with each other (Jade has a staff named ‘Lord Raiden’s gift - why would he give her a gift of all people?) and he’s simply jealous

he does not give a single f^#@ck about Earthrealm as he planned to sell Cassie and the squad to Shinnok so he doesn’t want his waifu (bleh) to become attached to the realm he’s already gave up on

he uses Raiden’s mistakes to cover up for his own

he is lowkey afraid of Dark Raiden because with him Earthrealm could rise above all realms

it is very possible that he banged D’Vorah (allow me to puke) and doesn’t want Jade to know - I don’t know how his connects to Raiden but come on people, he CHOSE THAT BUG I MEAN DESPERATION HAD TO BE REAL

Real talk now, where was Jade during MKX? Dead? Revenant? Silently banging Dark Raiden?

Okay, now.

Everyone in MK11 has a weird fetish of being a dick to Raiden - as if he is the only responsible person in the entire MK universe. I know that he tends to save others’ asses from being handed to them but that is not his responsibility to be everywhere, do everything and be flawless during all of this. He is allowed to make mistakes ffs.

I have a feeling that Jade understands. She has shown to be very compassionate and understanding even though her strong moral spine prevents her from being too easy on people. Kotal must have tried to convince her that Raiden has turned bad (so she doesn’t trust him anymore, just like everyone else) and she disobeyed. Jade still believes in Raiden and his good heart and knows his mistakes do not mean he can’t go back. It could be because of her absence but I have a lurking premonition that she respects him despite problems he has and isn’t going to judge him so quickly. Jade, unlike many others, wants to give Raiden a chance to reclaim their trust.

I love her, I swear.

If you have read up to this point, have a victory cookie:

Thank you babes, love ya!

[wannajointhecrabcult]

Reckless Rescuer

I literally just came up with this idea at midnight last night when I was just starting to go into fever dream mode so... This will be interesting. You asked to be tagged so here you go @justconfusedperiod!

Imagine that Marinette never became Ladybug.

Master Fu chose actual adults to go save Paris while Sabine and Tom gave Marinette combat training.

Despite not being a hero Marinette was still caught up in a lot of akuma attacks (Because Hawkmoth is a bitter ass) so she learned how to use everything and anything to her advantage.

Even though she's crafty Marinette still dies in akuma attacks and gets revived by the Miraculous Cure at the end of the day.

As sad as it is, she becomes used to dying.

That doesn't mean that she TRIES to get hurt during attacks, it just means that she expects her life to end one day because of an akuma or something and for her to not come back, so dying isn't a fear for her anymore.

She also builds a tolerance for pain during attacks where she doesn't die, but still gets very injured.

It's amazing how trauma can practically destroy someone's life while others are just so desensitized that it doesn't affect them anymore.

One day the Dupain-Chengs move to Gotham to both expand their business, and to get away from a certain magic fueled fashion disaster.

I mean, seriously.

You're supposed to be a designer but here you are walking around looking like a cardboard candy cane beige toothpick of a man.

Don't get me started on what the heck happened with Hawkmoth's costume.

What is that?

Are you wearing a silver condom on your head or what??

Anyways, Marinette attends Damian's school and they bond over being the only one's not overly worried about danger in certain situations.

At one point Damian thought that she might have been a hero or something but threw that thought away when he witnessed her somehow fall UP a staircase. (I've actually done this before. Surprisingly it's pretty fun.)

All was fine and dandy until one afternoon when they were walking to Neti's place after school to work on a project.

They were walking through a less populated part of the city and were passing a shoe store when two thugs held them at a gunpoint demanding for their cash.

The youngest Wayne was fully prepared to attack the men when Marinette started scolding them for being rude?

Marinette: Hey! You can't just do that! Do you know how rude it is to interrupt someone's conversation?! Apologize right and leave us alone right now OR ELSE.

The two men just looked at her for a moment before doubling over and bursting out in laughter.

After all, what can this tiny school girl do to hurt them?

The first guy calmed down and was about to threaten them again when all of a sudden a pink flat was thrown at his face.

Because of he was unprepared and because of the force behind the flying shoe, he was knocked over and fell to the floor with a thud.

The second guys turned to look at the girl who just threw her shoe at his partner when he was suddenly wacked in the face as well.

So there they were.

Two teenagers, one with no shoes on, in front of a show store with two thugs at their feet.

Truly a sight to behold.

Marinette turns to Damian and asks him for his shoes.

When he doesn't respond (he's in shock) Marinette just shrugs, turns around, and SMASHES HER ARM THROUGH THE GLASS WINDOW OF THE SHOE STORE TO GRAB A CROC AND CHUCK IT AT THE FIRST GUY AGAIN BECAUSE HE WAS GETTING UP.

She then turns to the second dude who was on his knees and says in a dark tone, "You better go and leave us alone before I get my hands on a pair of iceskates. Got it?"

He nods his head and scrambles to run away from the short girl with pigtails that just single handedly smashed her arm through glass and was somehow not wincing in pain from her many bleeding cuts and she threw shoes at them.

His partner frantically got to his feet and followed him.

After making sure that the two would-be-muggers are far away Mari turns to Damian and waves her still bleeding hand in front of his face.

"Heelllooooo? Anybody home?"

She then shakes his shoulders a bit.

Damian, now no longer in shock, starts freaking out about her injuries.

"oh...my...gosh....oh my gosh... oH MY GOSH YOU'RE BLEEDING EVERYWHERE!! OHMYGOSH THAT WAS SO RECKLESS OF YOU, YOU COULD HAVE DIED AND OH NO YOU JUST STRAIGHT UP BROKE A GLASS WINDOW WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!! YOU FUCKING IDIOT YOU'RE HURT! WE NEED TO GETYOUFIRSTAIDOHMYGOSH!!!"

She tries to get him to calm down but that honestly makes him freak out even more.

"HOW ARE YOU NOT REACTING TO THE PAIN OF CUTTING YOUR ARM WITH MULTIPLE PIECES OF GLASS?!? YOU FREAKING THREW SHOES AT THEM! SHOES! WHAT IF YOU FREAKING DIED FROM THAT?!?"

"Well that would make it the 2615th time."

"...."

"....."

"Excuse me but wHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT WOULD'VE BEEN THE 2615TH TIME YOU DIED?!??!??"

Marinette was trying to get him to breathe since he was almost on the verge of a panic attack when the owner of the shoe store came out with a first aid kit.

The elderly woman proceeded to patch up Marinette's arm while thanking her for scaring away the muggers.

"Those two just keep scaring the customers away so I cannot thank you dearie enough!"

"Oh, it was no problem ma'am. They really needed to learn some manners anyways!"

"They really are so rude aren't they. And there we go! Your arm is all bandaged up. I would be careful with it if I were you."

She old lady then turns to Damian who has calmed down a bit now that Marinette's arm is bandaged.

"You've got quite a wild girlfriend here. Be sure to watch out for her safety or else you're gonna lose her."

That causes the two teens faces to burn red.

"Oh no you've got it wrong. She's not my girlfriend although I do agree that I should start looking out far her health more." He turns to Marinette as he says the last bit.

She just replies with a sheepish smile and a shrug.

"She's definitely going to give me gray hairs early."

The store owner gave Marinette and Damian a knowing look before sending the two on their way.

On the walk to Marinette's house Damian kept scolding her for her brash decisions and worrying over her arm at the same time.

At one point Damian asked her if she could actually feel the pain from her cuts or not and she just replied with "I got injured a lot when I lived in Paris so I have a high pain tolerance. This isn't even the worst wound I've ever gotten."

Needless to say, that did not reassure Damian at all.

When they did reach their destination they ended up deciding to finish the project on another day to let Marinette's arm heal a bit.

He calls Alfred to pick him up and when faced with the butler's questioning stare he just replies with "Too much excitement for today."

Before the limo drove off Marinette ran outside to the car and handed Damian a bag full of pastries.

"Consider this an apology for making you freak out so much."

He nodded and took the bag but still told her "You're an idiot you know right?"

"Haha. Or so I've been told." She shrugs. "See you tomorrow in class if you're not too traumatized!"

"Tt. We live in Gotham. It's gonna take more than that to truly scar me. Although I have to say, that's the closest someone's gotten in a long time. Don't do it again."

"No promises!" Marinette yells as the limo drives off.

That night Damian got a nightmare filled with shoes.

Marinette is now known and feared throughout the more amateur criminal community.

True to her word, Marinette tried to reduce the amount of risky choices that she took.

I mean, there was that incident with the llamas, trumpets, and skateboards but we don't talk about that.

Her safety streak ended when Damian was kidnapped.

And by the Joker no less.

Ya, no.

She's not just gonna stand by while her friend litteraly gets kidnapped by a clown man thing when she could do something about it.

The Joker called the Waynes through a video chat and threatens the dump Damian into a pool filled with unidentified and possibly contaminated water until they give him half a million dollars.

And because it's a two way video chat and all of the Waynes (except Damian) are there they can't 'call the batfam' to save him.

Because they were all so busy panicking and Joker was busy laughing, no one but Damian noticed a dark silhouette sneaking around in the shadows.

The moment he saw them he immediately knew who it was.

'Oh no. ThaT'S MY IDIOT!!'

Marinette noticed Damian's panicked stare on her and just, gave him a thumbs up? Before going back into the darkness.

'Oh no oh no ohnoohnononono what's she doing?!' He thought to himself as he heard quiet shuffling in the shadows.

Going back to the screen, Bruce was about to send the money when all of a sudden a bright light was turned on from behind the Joker to the left.

And they weren't expecting what they saw.

There under the light was someone in a Barney the Dinosaur costume sitting in a rainbow bumper car with a radio and a bag filled with something strapped in the passenger side.

TrULy RaDiAnT.

The purple dino turned on the radio, (which was playing the Barney theme song) made eye contact with the clown, and promptly said "Beep beep bitch." in a robotic voice (there was a voice changer in the costume) before driving full speed at him.

At first the Joker tried to run away from the vehicle but for some reason the bumper car was extremely fast and RAN HIM OVER before turning around,

AND FUCKING DOING IT AGAIN!!

Double oof.

They did this around 12 times before the Joker managed to push up from under the bumper car at the perfect time.

Marinette did a backflip (dramatics are guaranteed) as she jumped out of the rainbow ride while simultaneously throwing the radio at the Joker at full force.

The Joker, not expecting that, was thrown against the base of a wall.

He got up just in time to see his attacker pull out a shoe from the bag and chuck it at his nuts.

*cue everyone either laughing at his pain or wincing in sympathy*

The Barney pulls out a sandal from the bag and throws it at his face and uses a black stiletto to pin the clown's arm tO THE FRIGGING WALL when he reaches to touch where the flip flop hit him.

(Is there a difference between sandals and flip flops?)

She then uses another stiletto (a red one this time) to pin his other arm and pulls out YET ANOTHER SHOE (a rainboot) to hit his face.

...again....

This time he gets knocked out though so there's that.

...

....

.....

The power of FOOTWEAR!!

The purple and green dinosaur goes to untie Damian while his family just watch through the screen with their jaws on the floor, still processing what the actual heck just happened.

They get snapped out of their shock when the youngest Wayne launches himself into the Barney's arms and starts rambling about how worried he was and did the store owner give you all those shoes and why the heck did you follow me here.

They don't know what they were expecting the person under the Barney costume to look like but they definitely weren't expecting a young girl with pigtails wearing stilts to come out.

Apparently she needed them to fit into the suit.

Damian: How did you even know I was in trouble?

Marinette: I sorta have a six sense for this kind of stuff. It's disappointing that I didn't get to use all of my amo though :(

Damian: Wait. You brought MORE shoes?

Marinette: Yep! And a couple other things as well. Like this trumpet case, and this bowling ball, and this duck themed alarm clock (I have one lol), and oh! Wait a moment would ya?

*walks over to the pool and dumps around 30 bath bombs in*

Marinette: There! Now this place will smell super nice!

Damian: Did you just dump a ton of bath bombs into a pool of unidentified liquid?

Marinette: Yep!

Damian: Let me rephrase that. Did you just dump a ton of bath bombs into a pool of possibly chemically contaminated water which could possibly have a bad reaction to the bath bombs which could possibly explode or just generally be the death of us?

Marinette: ........

Damian: ........

Marinette: ......

Damian: ........

Marinette: ....well it wouldn't be the FIRST time I-

Damian close to tears: yEs I KnOw PLeaSe StOp ReMinDiNg mE.

Ya so this was just a random idea I had and that I will probably not be adding to but y'all reading this are more than welcome to! If you do continue or make your own little spins on this please tag me! I would love to read them :D

[countessmorgasson]

Where are you?

Angsty(?) Muriel x MC! Muriel wakes up alone in the hut... for the first time in years.

Gender Neutral MC

(Disclaimer: Based on Muriel’s route)

When you weren’t next to him in bed this morning, Muriel didn’t think twice about it.

Not because he should be worried, he assumes. You’ve finally come around to waking up at the crack of dawn to work on errands around the hut. It even came to the point where you were up before him.

That’s why he didn’t think twice. Not until he didn’t smell tea brewing. He knew your routine well enough by now- you always had your morning tea.

“M/c..?”

He sits up in bed, pushing away one of the many blankets you two share. No, something’s wrong. There’s no trace of you- nothing to prove you had even been here earlier. No dirty cups lingering around or even the remnants of burned firewood. Did you leave in the middle of the night?

His heart starts to feel like it’s being crushed, but he tries to keep from panicking. Nothing bad could happen to you- right? That’s impossible! Not after what you’ve been through together...

You’re not outside. You’re not with the chickens or in the forest. You’re not out gathering firewood. Oh dear Gods. When he realizes he can’t find you, Muriel has to fight tears. You two have lived together for years now. He knows everything about you and all your routines by now. He knows you wouldn’t just leave without saying something... No, and you wouldn’t leave in the middle of the night... something’s got to be wrong! 

As if she can read his mind, Inanna’s at his side, eager to comfort him but it doesn’t work. Muriel scoops Inanna up and rushes out of the hut, eyes wandering everywhere in case he missed you the first few times he searched.

-

The shop is his first go-to. 

He doesn’t care that it’s the early morning, or that people are out and about their days- for the first time, he doesn’t even think about the eyes that are on him. When he knocks, he recoils over how loudly his fist meets the door.

“Muriel!” Asra’s eyes widen at the sight of him. “Is something wrong with Inanna? Come in-”

“Is m/c here?” Muriel looks around the shop, again feeling his heart sink into his stomach.

“What? Wouldn’t they be with you?” Asra’s eyes glitter with a hint of concern as he starts to realize why his old friend has barged into the shop. Muriel shuts his eyes, unsure of how to deal with the frustration.

You’re not here either?! Where else could you possibly go? The docks?

Oh, no. A thought so chilling comes to mind he has to distract himself. Is it possible that you could just... disappear? He never fully understood you being brought back to life, and frankly, he didn’t question it until right now. What if there were finally consequences to locking the Devil away?

“Muriel. Look at me.” Asra’s voice is soothing, but all Muriel can do is try and think of any other place you could be. Inanna’s even wriggling around in his hold, as if to try and shake him from his train of thought. “Why do you think m/c’s gone? You probably just didn’t see them- it’s a big forest...”

“No!” Muriel’s voice is loud, but shaky. It’s even enough to make Asra stop in his tracks. He seems to deflate. “I can feel it. This isn’t right.”

“You’re really serious, aren’t you?” He mutters to himself. “Oh no. No, there’s got to be some explanation, right?”

Muriel says nothing, but his frown starts to waver. 

“M/c’s tough. We’ll find them- they’re going to be okay.” Asra’s nervous pacing doesn’t ease anybody’s worries. “I might be able to track them with my magic.”

Asra closes his eyes, and for an excruciatingly slow moment, Muriel is left alone in the dark. He didn’t want to disturb Asra, but you’re still out there, and the two of them are just standing in the shop! 

What if you’re not safe?

“I can’t find-” Asra starts.

With a disgruntled sigh, Muriel nearly storms his way out of the shop, determined to find you himself. Asra is a dear friend to him, but you, you’re the one who lit a fire in Muriel. You taught him to fight for what he loved- and now, he wasn’t about to stand here and sulk. You’re the best thing to ever happen to him- he wasn’t letting you go that easily. If you were missing, he was going to find you.

No matter what. He’d do anything.

-

You’re not at the market. Or the Red Street. 

Muriel did the one thing he swore he’d never do again: talk to other people. That’s right. He asked the baker who sold your favorite pumpkin bread if he’s seen you around- which of course, he didn’t. He asked the vendor from your favorite jewelry stand- and they didn’t know where you’ve been either. He even asked the fortune tellers if they’ve seen you out and about- but to no avail.

Frustration builds up deeper, but it easily transitions into sadness- despair. The disappointment is too much to bear. Leaning against the brick walls, Muriel shuts his eyes, forcing more tears back.

He just wants to shrink away, far from eyesight. If you needed him, he’d come to the city in a heartbeat. But you’re not here. You’ve suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth, and now part of him wants to do the same.

What if..? What if you weren’t actually in any trouble? No, that can’t be right... but what if that’s the truth?  Maybe you’re safe and sound somewhere he can’t reach...  Was it just a matter of time before you wanted to be away from him?

What if you never come back?

Just before he can break down, footsteps can be heard. He opens his eyes, still tear-stricken.

Even through blurry vision, he knows its not you in front of him.

“...Muriel, you’ve got to calm down.” Asra has to look up to make the eye contact, but Muriel only looks off to the side, heart still pounding and his hands trembling.

“But... but- m/c-”

“We’re going to find them. But you’re acting... so differently. I’ve never seen you like this, Muriel. It’s scaring me.”

It wasn’t exactly unfair of Asra to say that. Whatever happened to m/c seems to be sending Muriel over the edge. If Gods forbid, something serious really happened to m/c... there’d be no going back. For either of them.

But Muriel...

Asra sighs, crushed at the sight of his best friend. He tries to hide them, but the tears are apparent- glistening against dark green eyes. It seems like all he’s known is pain, all his life.

M/c was the only person in the world that seemed to stop the suffering. After years of being manipulated by Count Lucio, years of believing his own family abandoned him... for m/c to be taken away from him, that would be the breaking point, wouldn’t it?

M/c is... one in a million- and losing them is the heartbreak of a lifetime.

Asra would know.

Shaking himself from the thought, Asra straightened up. There wasn’t time for this. They needed to find m/c.

“Come.” Asra extends his hand out, half-expecting Muriel to ignore it. “There’s a few places we haven’t been to.”

-

You’ve lost track of most of your surroundings by this point. How long have you been running? Is it even considered running at this point, the way you drag your feet across the ground?

The dark sky looms over your head, and as luck would have it, the moon was hidden away. You’re completely surrounded in the darkness.

It’s a damn good thing you’re used to this place.

That’s right, you finally made it to the dark forest.

Your heart’s hammering against your chest painfully and your lungs scream for air. Sweat holds your clothes against your skin, but the only thing that matters is getting to safety- to Muriel.

He must be worried sick. Guilt weighs on you even as you’re still in flight mode. How were you supposed to explain this? You’re not even completely sure what happened to you.

You were just outside the hut last night, breathing in the scent of rain and grass. The forest was your safe place- the fact that you were alone was practically an afterthought. With the hut hidden away so well and Muriel only being a yell away, you never in your wildest dreams thought you’d ever be at risk here.

You should have known better than to not to expect the impossible.

And yet before you could realize, you were being dragged away. 

Things in Vesuvia had changed drastically after Lucio’s temporary reign... unfortunately not everyone came out of it unscathed... but you never expected people to go so dark. Kidnapping? Riots?  There were many reasons why you retreated into the forest permanently. 

That’s the last time I meditate outside alone, you think.

Finally, you reach the hut and nearly hurl yourself through the door, locking up behind you. You’re so caught up in the relief you almost don’t notice your surroundings.

No one’s here. It’s freezing cold- no one’s been here all day. Muriel must have gone off for you, you realize.

Shucking off your dirty outerwear, you start a fire and try and calm your nerves. You’re still very detached from what happened, despite it running through your mind over and over again...

Your heart skips a beat when you hear running. Someone’s coming this way! With the last bit of your energy, you muster whatever magic can come to your aid. It starts to fizzle in your palms, but you stand tall. 

You’re not going to let yourself get taken again.

The door flies open, revealing...

Muriel, Inanna, and Asra.  Other than Inanna, everyone’s got the same expressions on their face at first. Asra’s the first to break from the spell. 

“Oh, thank goodness.” He leans against the open door, nearly sinking to the floor. “Thank goodness.”

He feels a million miles away- too far for you to interact with. 

You’re too busy in Muriel’s arms- holding back sobs. His arms are warm around you as he pulls you to his chest. All he can seem to do is whisper your name, over and over again with a hoarse voice. He strokes your hair with his gentle hands, and you realize why you’re so emotional.

What if things had gone differently, and you didn’t make it back? Where would you be now- what would have happened to you? What would Muriel think? Would he think that you had left him? Most importantly...

What if you never saw him again?

A sob forces itself from your lungs as you bury your face in Muriel’s chest.  It’s almost like the sun has finally risen, and you’re basking in the warm sunlight. Oh, sweet relief. You could sit here with him forever.

Inanna even trails alongside and gently rubs against your side- as if she were thanking you for making it back. 

“What happened to you?”  Asra’s voice is a harsh reminder that you two aren’t the only ones in the world.

“Not now.” Muriel’s voice seems to fill up the room. “Not now...”

You nod, holding as tightly as you possibly can. You really don’t want to talk about it- especially not while Muriel’s already shaking. He doesn’t need to hear it right now. You’re safe in his arms- that’s what matters right now.

You made it back.

Your story isn’t going to end without him.

[brideofcthulhu10]

WARNING: 18+ CONTENT INCLUDING SEXUAL THEMES AND DESCRIPTIONS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

NSFW Prompt: Soundtracks to having sex with the boys.

David: Poison - Alice Cooper

Its heated, tight, slow, every minute he's in control. A king, he lives to worship and be worshiped. Expect bondage to be a must. Crude, tight strips of leather used to tie your hands together, he wants you at his mercy and there will be very little of that. Trailing slow kisses up your legs, slowly morphing into bites the closer he gets to your most tender regions with gloves hands running along the side until you're ready to burst. It's so cute the way you squirm like a fly in his web. You bet your sweet ass he'll make you beg, how could he not? His skin is so chilled yet your body is sticky with perspiration, every kiss, every tender touch pushing you closer to a ledge. You don't even realize he hasn't even pushed himself inside, the anticipation of it all is practically maddening. But the fun doesn't stop there. He's tried blindfolding you, but finds the disconnect works both ways. Instead he commands eye contact. Don't even try to turn away, he'll grasp your chin between his thumb and pointer finger and force you to look at him.

"Don't you dare hide from me," he'll hiss into your ear, fangs dragged across tender flesh just enough to catch the skin. Whether or not he keeps his gloves on is always a surprise, usually keeping them on for those quickies in dark corners where no one will spot you. Onlookers beware, he will debate whether or not he wants to kill you for seeing his lover exposed despite it being his own fault. Regardless he'll scare them off and return to you, barely fazed by the events and particularly oblivious to your own embarrassment. Those beastly eyes will devour you. If you're not ready for him to cum inside he'll drop you to his waist and have you take a mouthful of his length, you're not about to waste his cum by having it painted anywhere other than your face. Worry not, he'll tease and prod inside you with his fingers until your legs are drenched. If you are ready for him release within, he'll fill you inside until it's spilling out, leaving himself inside until he's absolutely sure he's drained every last drop. By the end you're a trembling, panting mess, but don't think he'll leave you. Instead he'll quietly praise you in low rumbles, keeping you tightly grasped in his arms the whole night through.

Dwayne: Dreams - Fleetwood Mac

Dwayne takes his time and savors you. You swear you've become like a school girl, regardless of just how much experience you have. The way he holds you so close against his chest, it's tight yet somehow tender, almost as if he's afraid to break you. His nose will glide over your neck to take in your scent, his stubble scrapes and tickles until you have to bite your lip to avoid a giggle. He doesn't mind of course. Your laugh twinkles so beautifully, stars in the sky would be jealous. Expect plenty of sweet nothings tenderly whispered so softly you swear it was the wind spilling through the cracks of the cave. Dwayne's calloused hands would draw you onto his lap and cup the arch of your back, steadily traveling to your buttocks. Just like David he'll steal a few nips across your skin, and you won't be able to resist rolling you head back savoring his lips on your collar. He'll keep you on his lap the entire time, he wants you as close to him as he can. Time is lost to these moments, coaxing your body until he slides in with ease, by which point you've entirely melted in his iron grasp. Expect to feel his hands entwined in your hair for those passionate lip locks because he's determined to steal your breath away. The climax is an ethereal high leaving you floating in your own body. He'll lay back on the bed keeping you on top, lazily slinging dishevelled sheets over your bodies listening to your soft breaths until they lure him to sleep.

Paul: Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard

Handsy, handsy, boy. You're his precious kitten, and he wants all of you. Now.

Foreplay isn't really necessary, you two are caught making out easily three times a day, that's just expected by that point. Honestly, if his hands weren't on your butt you'd be concerned. Instead he'll probably spend the day whispering to you everything he wants to do to you, teasing you to the point you don't know whether to kiss him or smack his arm. Either is fine by his book, he just loves to watch you squirm in place. In fact, take a swing, it's free on him, he'll just make you regret it later when he's pounding you from behind. Every second is noisy, wild, and messy. Frankly he doesn't care where you guys fuck, it's free real estate, baby! You're at the board walk? Fine, he'll drag you to a dimly lit alleyway and hoist you up against the wall. If you get too loud he'll just shove his tongue in your mouth- you can't scream then. The hotel? Oh he'll want to take you on every surface, even the ceiling if he can. Expect him to make every noise under the moon. It's hard not to chuckle, you're so mouthy every other second of the day but the moment he's mixing you up inside you become a slurred mess. Teasing or taunting him is a ballsy move. Sure he'll play along, but if you're not giving in yo best hope you have a fast pair of legs because he will chase you and rip your clothes right off. Jealous sex is mind-melting! He'll grasp you by your throat or hair, gruffly snarling about being his, biting and scratching. Hickeys are left everywhere, he wants to ward off any fuckhead who even looks at you twice. By the time he's finished he's just as much a sweaty mess as you, but he'll still hold onto you. It's easy for him to lose control, so afterwards he'll always check you to make sure he didn't break you or something. He'll lay his head on your shoulder or wrap his arms around your waist just so you know he still loves you even if he can't really say it.

Marko : Shake the Disease - Depeche Mode

No one would expect that fang baby to be a god in bed, but we've come to learn when it comes to Marko appearances can be deceiving. Submissive is easy enough, sure. But most fail to realize how much of a soft-dom he is. He's not as handsy in public as Paul, but he'll have his arms around your waist and a head on your shoulder whispering all kinds of sweeties that make you blush. It's cute to see you get all giggly, he can't help but chuckle at the sight of your cheeks turn rosey. Both he and David will tease your mouth with their fingers, it's hard not to love the way your tongue devours them so eagerly. Loves to tease, cannot be teased. Like a puppy he'll grow whiny if denied sex and follow you, granted only if you're the one who started it. If you're genuinely not in the mood he'll accept that and resort to cuddles. Meanwhile he'll drag out the foreplay, what better way to start off than by making you a whining mess just like you leave him. Blood play is his favorite, and yes, that includes shark week. It's a sweet ambrosia, the scent of it will leave him panting against your skin smearing your flesh red. You are his baby doll, expect him to coax you through every act in a tender purr, gushing over how beautiful you look painted in cum and blood. He'll stroke your hair through oral, trying to see just how far you'll go.

"Take as much as you can, baby girl, you're doing so good~"

If you're insecure he'll be sure to have you on top where you can't hide, and almost become offended when you try to cover that beautiful body from him. He lives for every inch of you, baby, don't take that from him. Gently he'll pull away your arms, grinding his hips into you with a gleeful smirk curling his lips. Marko gets jealous just like anyone else which translates into how your two behave in the bed. He sulks, but rather than lash out he'll take you closer, and harder. Holding you tightly against his chest he'll ram into you until your eyes roll back, even roll on top of you while locked in place as he cums inside. Even after he won't let go, wedged tightly in your arms with a pout on his face. You're his, he's not about to have you taken from him. It takes a bit of reassurance just to dispel any worries, then it's a plethora of cuddles, his favorite being when you lay on your side in his arms and play with his curls. The way you're nuzzled up on his chest is heaven, all the while he can rest his cheek atop your head and savor your sweet scent.

[smallnetbusiness]

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Macbook 12in M7 Gamer Keyboard

In addition to being a comfortable size for writing and playing games, it also functions as a 10-digit number pad. The majority of individuals do not need this. Despite having fewer keys, the Macbook keyboard is ideal for developers, gamers, and picture editors. On your desk, this full-size keyboard takes up more room. The fact that a mouse's right side moves less than its left side will be welcomed by right-handed users.

Lightweight and Ultra-Thin Design

The MacBook 12in M7's mobility was taken into account during manufacturing. Its ultra-thin and lightweight design makes it the ideal laptop for traveling. This laptop is highly portable, weighing just 2.03 pounds and having a thinness of only 0.52 inches. It is simple to tuck into your bag or backpack and bring it everywhere, whether going to a conference, a coffee shop, or a library. The MacBook is a powerful computer that can readily handle demanding tasks despite its lightweight form. Its small size makes it a fantastic choice for those who regularly travel or have limited workspace. Overall, the MacBook ultra-thin and light design makes it a great option for anybody who values mobility and ease.

Incredible Retina Display

The beautiful Retina display of the MacBook 12in M7 produces clear and detailed images. The display has a resolution of 23041440 and four million pixels, producing incredibly detailed pictures and movies. Because of the Retina display's high contrast ratio, colors are vivid, and blacks are intense and dark. The display is also designed to lessen glare and reflection, improving visibility in bright situations. Related article: lienware 17in Laptop: High-Performance Gaming Beast If you need a laptop to display high-quality photos and videos, whether you're a graphic designer, a photographer, or simply someone who likes watching films and TV programs, the MacBook Retina display is ideal.

Longer-Lasting Batteries

With the improved battery life of the MacBook 12in M7, you can work for extended periods without needing to recharge. Depending on use, the laptop may run for up to 10 hours on a single charge, making it a great option for professionals, students, and anybody else who needs to work on the road. A powerful Intel Core m7 CPU is also included in the MacBook, contributing to a longer battery life. Along with that, it has Apple's Energy Saver function, which, when used, automatically dims the display and puts the laptop into standby mode when not in use, therefore preserving battery life. The MacBook  is a dependable and practical option for anyone who requires a laptop to keep up with their hectic schedules, thanks to its lengthy battery life.

Friendly features for users

The MacBook 12in M7 is simple to use and safe thanks to its user-friendly features. It is powered by Apple's most recent operating system, macOS, which was intended to be simple and user-friendly. The OS performs smoothly and effectively since it is tailored for the MacBook  hardware. Additionally, macOS has several built-in programs like Safari, Mail, and iMovie to make your tasks easier and faster. The MacBook has cutting-edge security technologies safeguarding your data and privacy. It includes Touch ID, which lets you use your fingerprint to unlock your laptop and use Apple Pay to make safe online transactions. The T2 Security Chip, which encrypts your data and guarantees that only authorized people may access it, is another feature of the laptop.

Versatile Connectivity

The varied connection options provided by the MacBook 12in M7, like Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C connectors, make transmitting data between your laptop and other devices simple. Large files, such as high-definition films, may be transferred quickly thanks to Thunderbolt 3, which has an extraordinarily fast data transfer rate of up to 40 Gbps. There is no need for an additional power cord since the Thunderbolt 3 connector can charge your laptop and enable external displays. The MacBook has a USB-C connector, a flexible interface that may be used for charging, data transmission, and connecting external devices, in addition to Thunderbolt 3. Many more modern gadgets, including smartphones and tablets, now come equipped with USB-C connectors as the USB-C port gains popularity.

Conclusion

Consequently, even years after their release, Apple goods like the MacBook, iPhone, and Apple Headset are still in great demand. The MacBook was one of the things with an innovative and durable design. Even while newer MacBook models, including the MacBook Air with macOS Sierra, provide more functionality and features, the MacBook 2016 is still useful for the workplace. 12" MacBook m7 We should be aware that MacBooks aren't built for gaming and don't have good graphics processors, but that doesn't mean they can't run high-resolution games. You can learn more about Clevo NH70 here. This is a strong and capable gaming laptop. Read the full article

[nerdyfangirl67]

Lean On Me - Criminal Minds Reader Insert

Pairing: Emily x reader (platonic - best friends), Rossi x reader (platonic, almost fatherly relationship)

Warnings: Emily’s death, feelings of sorrow, anger, and denial, angst, includes headcanon thoughts about Emily and Morgan gaming duo, generally dark and kinda angsty.

Word count: 1238

The reader doesn’t know how to process Emily’s death and a mysterious friend online just might be the answer.

A/N: The URL , hotzzforHotch, from the story belongs to the reader, with the other URL, vonnEgutgrouPi70, belonging to the “myserious” stranger. Hope you guys like the story! If y’all want to see something written, let me know and I’d gladly give it a go!

“Everybody needs somebody to lean on.” She had told you that once and you had found out quickly that you always had her to lean on. She was easily your best friend and the person you trusted most in the world. You hadn’t known each other exceptionally long, only four years. But the two of you had hit it off the moment you met and ever since then, you spent much of your free time together, quickly becoming the closest pair on the team. But, she was gone now, leaving you broken, lost, and angry. 

You couldn’t find relief from the pain. Everywhere you went reminded you of her. The bullpen held the whispers of past conversations carried on long into the night. Clinging to the walls of your apartment were secrets passed between close friends after a few too many glasses of wine. Lingering in the dark recesses of your favorite bar were the intoxicated giggles that followed stolen glances at attractive bar patrons. 

Despite your knowledge that every other member of the team was hurting just like you, you couldn’t bring yourself to reach out to them. The only one you had been in contact with since her death was Rossi. Somehow he knew how hard it would be for you to go back to your apartment and he had gently insisted you stay with him. He had even had someone go to your apartment and gather some of your things. 

Even though you had spent days in his mansion, which he conservatively called a house, you hadn’t stepped foot outside the bedroom. He had made sure to leave meals outside your door two times a day, many of which you left untouched. He had even tried to talk to you and get you to leave the room, and as much as you didn’t want to be a burden to Rossi, you couldn’t bring yourself to reenter reality. 

In fact, you had pulled further away from reality in the little cave you had created out of blankets and pillows in the constantly dark room. You spent much of your time either sleeping or playing the online video game you’d heard Morgan and Emily talk about animatedly several times on the jet. For some reason, playing that ridiculous game helped you feel closer to her and became the sole focus of your time. 

Rossi, however, was not a fan of your self-isolation and after over a week of being secluded in one of his guest rooms, he had apparently had enough. After sharply knocking on your door three times, he pushes it open, earning a half-attempted protest from you. 

“Alright, bella, I’ve been patient enough. You can’t live the rest of your life like this. I don’t want this for you and Emily certainly wouldn’t have wanted this for you.” His words, although gentle, serve as a harsh wake-up call to you. You let out a harsh breath before a sob seizes in your chest. And just like that, the dam holding back all of your intense sadness breaks and you are crying uncontrollably. 

A guilty expression takes hold of Rossi’s face as he steps forward, kneeling next to the bed and grabbing you in a tight embrace. You cling to his expensive button-down, unable to properly catch a breath through the hysterical crying. You are unsure of how long you weep in Rossi’s arms, but when you are finally able to stop the sobs, you utter a soft “Thank you.”

“Mio caro, you have nothing to apologize for.” He whispers, one hand moving to brush a strand of hair away from your eyes. “Come join me for dinner. We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can get intoxicated if that’s what you want or you can simply sit there and we can enjoy one another’s presence.” His voice betrays the worry he is feeling. You let out a simple nod, afraid that you’d start crying again if you spoke. He presses a soft kiss to your temple, before leaving you to get cleaned up for dinner.

Rossi makes an intricate pasta dish, with steamed veggies and freshly made garlic bread for dinner. You help set the table, choosing one of your favorite wines from Rossi’s extensive collection to go with the meal. After each of you dish up your plates, you settle into a comfortable silence. Neither of you speaks through the entire main course, aside from simple questions of “Can you pass the salt?” and “Would you like more wine?” When Rossi spends the entire dessert portion of the meal stealing glances at you, you know he is more than worried. 

“Rossi, I’ll be okay. It will take me a while, but I’ll get there.” You murmur, laying down your fork on your dessert plate. 

“I know, mio caro, I know. We all will, at least as best we can.” He responds, moving one of his hands to rest on yours. 

The two of you lapse into silence, only speaking again when Rossi suggests going to sit out on the balcony with a glass of wine. You agree and as the sun slowly sets, one glass of wine becomes two, which in turn becomes three.

By the time the two of you come in from the balcony, you were closer to intoxication than a light buzz. Rossi assists you in stumbling back to your room, getting you a clean shirt and sleep pants, and even getting you a fresh towel for you to wash your face with. After pulling on fresh clothes and wiping off your makeup, you clumsily crawl into bed.

You don’t expect to be awake for long but after half an hour of tossing and turning, you can’t fall asleep. Letting out a long sigh, you pull out your laptop and open up the game you had quite quickly become obsessed with.

Usually, you play the game solely with the goal of defeating the various levels. Tonight is different. You don’t know if it’s because of the wine or because you were tired of feeling so lonely, but when a random individual reaches out, you respond.

vonnEgutgrouPi70: OMG! I <3 ur URL

hotzzforHotch: thnks. 

vonnEgutgrouPi70: howd you come up w/ it

hotzzforHotch: i’ve been crushing on my boss for ages. we call him Hotch at work

vonnEgutgrouPi70: cUtE! ;) im guessing he doesn’t play?

hotzzforHotch: oh no! I’d be sooo embarrassed :0 if he did

hotzzforHotch: i’ve actually nvr told anyone else that b4. Just my best friend.

vonnEgutgrouPi70: well im honored, thnks for sharing 

hotzzforHotch: i’m guessing u r a vonnegut fan?

vonnEgutgrouPi70: :)) yes! Huge nerd, i am 

vonnEgutgrouPi70: wanna partner up and play in team mode?

-----

Days pass and for some reason or another, vonnEgutgrouPi70 finds an excuse to talk to you. And something in you always has you responding. You and the Vonnegut loving, cyber individual become friends. Somehow this individual manages to distract you from the pain you had been feeling since Emily’s death. The more you learned about them, the more you found out that the two of you had a lot in common. And although you weren’t looking to replace Emily, you soon came to the realization that you could easily become close friends with vonnEgutgrouPi70, maybe even best friends. 

What you couldn’t shake though, was the feeling that this person gave you, a feeling you’d only ever felt once before. With Emily.

[charmed-henry]

Baby There’s a Shark in the Water | Candenrose feat. Bruce

Date: 5/17/21 Trigger Warnings: references to drowning, blood, head trauma, general violence  @thehuntress-rose�� @i-want-candy​ @brucewhite​

Candace goes for a swim, Bruce goes for a snack, and Henrose goes Baywatch

HENRY

Finally, finally, Henry was going to relax and have a beach day. Things were going surprisingly well. The wedding, introducing Ashleigh to his family, finals, the fae situation, sure, it could be better, but it could be a lot worse. And so, in his favorite swim trunks and sunglasses, Henry was just slathering on some sunscreen when he heard some splashing in the water and the alarm bells started going off in his head again.

No, he was overreacting. He and Eric hadn’t found anything when they went exploring.

Still, he glanced at Rose. “You’d think the lifeguards would do their jobs a little better, right?” he pointed out, trying not to look too worried.

ROSE:

Yes, Rose agreed to hang out at the beach with Henry with the intention to relax. And yes, she knew it wouldn't last long with her particular company. Still, she remained unbothered by the thinly veiled anxiety in Henry’s voice. She took the sunscreen from him and used some on herself. Rose was only concerned with the horrible tan lines she’d get from her high neck bikini top today. No one could fall overboard, so why worry?

“You seem to be pretty good at it, why don’t you do their job then?” Rose suggested in jest, peering over her red sunglasses. “I’m joking. Don’t actually go all BayWatch on me. You need to relax. There are no man eating sharks in the lake.”

She didn’t know how ironic those words would be later that day.

HENRY:

Henry rolled his eyes. “I’m not worried about man-eating sharks. I’m just saying…” Henry trailed off. He didn’t know what he was just saying, to be honest. If he and Eric hadn’t found anything, what was there to worry about here?

He was being paranoid. As usual. He needed to relax and enjoy the day. Henry leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes, pulling the shades back over his eyes.

Nope. The splashing was bothering him. And then, cutting through the regular beach noise, a shriek. Henry sat straight up and threw his sunglasses off. “I’m going over there. Rose, back me up!”

ROSE:

Rose sat up straight. She heard the sharp rising of a scream above all the chatter and waves and splashing too. It was then she realized she was going to eat her words. Man eating shark or not, trouble seemed to follow the people in organizations made to stop it. Immediately she was in work mode. Protect, attack, obey orders.

“Got it!” She pulled her hair back as she stood up, ready to dive into the action. She scanned the shore line for the origin of the shriek. And then another sounded. And another. “There!” she nodded and began to run over, feet kicking up sand and water licking her ankles. “Is that..?”

Candace? Candace and blood? What was going on here?

CANDACE: The weather had decided to warm up on this particular saturday in mid-May. When a few girls from Candace’s major asked if she wanted to go to the lake, she said yes. Not because she particularly liked these girls--they were fine and everything...they just didn’t have a lot in common--but because a day at the lake sounded perfect. Finals were starting soon and Candace really needed a zen day before that happened because she had felt her focus slipping with everything else going on.

So, to the lake she went.

And it was a nice day. The sun was baking down on her and the water was the perfect temperature. Maybe a little cool, but on her floatie, she was perfectly relaxed. Her body was half in the water, arms wrapped around the inflatable tube that her friend was sitting on. With her legs, she was lazily directing them about the lake as they sipped on cold beers that someone had brought in a cooler.

If asked later, Candace would not be able to tell you what she was talking about, but for now, they were all just idly chatting. One of the dumb boys splashed water at them and they retaliated with squeals of playful displeasure.

A lovely, normal day at the lake...

BRUCE

Bruce was going on thirteen days vegetarian. The last time he got hungry, he demolished an entire bag of frozen shrimp alone in his room, like an animal. He stared at it afterward, the ripped plastic remains of the bag reminding him horribly of the carcasses of the live sea creatures the researchers used to bring him in the lab, and vowed that he was done for real this time. The more he practiced, surely, the better he would get at this.

He didn’t get better. He got worse. It started with getting shaky and distracted, then incurably hungry, then a pull toward the water. Then there was a full moon, and Bruce didn’t sleep as well, flashbacks and memories keeping him up at night, and he started fantasizing about fish at all hours. Bruce promised himself he would stay away from the lake during that beach party, but only a few days after, he found himself at the lake.

It was so risky. There were people everywhere. But Bruce wasn’t thinking right, and the next thing he knew, he was in the water, in his merman form, prowling around the bottom of the lake. Not the same as the ocean, not by a mile, but enough to call forth his instincts.

He smelled it from across the lake. A tiny drop of blood. And before Bruce could stop or reason with himself or try any of those tactics he had taught himself, he was zipping across the lake, his instincts taking over. He was hungry. He needed to eat, by any means necessary.

Bruce followed the smell to a pair of girls sitting in inner tubes. One of them had a small papercut, the one with red hair, and without thinking, Bruce sprang out of the water and sank his sharp teeth into the girl’s leg.

CANDACE “Ugh, Greg!” Candace grouched in the direction of the boy who had splashed them, “you made me cut my finger!”

The wound was sharp and bleeding but shallow. She must have sliced it on the seam of the inner tube when she jerked away from the splashing water.

Scowling at the asshole, she dipped her hand in the water, rinsing the cut out.

“Ew, Candace! This water is so gross.”

“It’s not that bad, actually. I’ve seen worse.” Growing up around the Great Lakes meant trips there on family vacations and being around a million gross tourists. Candace was not really an outdoorsy kind of girl, but a little lake water didn’t phase her much.

Candace didn’t think twice about it. To the point where, later, she wouldn’t be able to pinpoint that as the moment she became a target.

It all happened very quickly after that.

At first, all it was was a tug. As if someone had dove beneath them and grabbed her around the waist. Probably Greg because he was an asshole like that.

“Candy,” huffed her friend, who was almost dislodged from her tube. And then, more forcefully: “Oh my god, Candy!” as a bubble of red water burst at her side.

“What?”

The first shriek was not Candace’s. It was her friend’s as Candace was torn off the inner tube and pulled into the water. She gasped as soon as she went under, filling her lungs with lake water. Disoriented, she twisted slightly, but that only made the pain in her leg pronounced. It shot up her thigh and into her hip and her nails instinctively clawed at the dark shape in the water as she screamed.

HENRY: As they jogged over to the shoreline, Henry was about to start bragging about how his intuition never lied and people should really listen to him more when he saw the source of the shouting. Candace. And, launching itself at her, some sort of sea creature?

Henry wished Eric were here, because he would know exactly what to do. Henry hadn’t brought his weapons with him today, but maybe the beach umbrella could work. “Hold on!” Henry shouted, then ran back to where the umbrella and chairs were set up and ripped the umbrella out of the ground, not really caring if he looked ridiculous. He ran back over to the water and brandished the umbrella and its pointy tip. “Get away from her!” Henry warned.

ROSE:

Unfortunately for Rose, she was more of a head first approach kind of gal. She didn’t need a weapon; she was a weapon. The huntress ran forth into the shallows and truly saw the scene for what it was. A grey creature had latched onto Candace’s leg. It was dragging her under. Rose grabbed the redhead in an attempt to keep her head above the water.

Without thinking, Rose kicked it in its side. It wasn’t too hard considering the water slowed her down. She tried to pull Candace away from its teeth, despite the screaming. If she pulled too hard more damage would be done to the damsel. It was on her to get free. Rose could hold off this beast, but only for a few moments.

“Henry! Hurry it up!” She overestimated herself, they needed a weapon.

CANDACE: Time had lost all sense of meaning to Candace.

Her lungs were burning, deprived of oxygen and full of lake water. If she didn’t die of blood loss, she was most definitely gonna die from drowning. In fact, she could even die of a pulmonary enema if she survived this. Or have brain damage. Or organ damage. At the very least, she could develop an infection. She watched too many medical shows, apparently, if this is what she was thinking about before she died.

Because she was pretty sure that was what was going to happen. She was completely unaware that there was anyone trying to rescue her.

When her head surfaced, due to Rose grabbing her under the arm and pulling—Candace didn’t even register that was what was happening. She kept thrashing on instinct, clawing at Rose as if she was an attacker too. Trying to use her to stay afloat above the water as she coughed and gasped for air—dunking Rose under the water instead.

HENRY

If only Eric were here. If only Henry had paid more attention in the lessons about mercreatures. Maybe this was some horrible kind of irony, that he had been so indignant about people valuing his family’s specialty but should have considered others to the same level of threat. He knew there might be creatures in the lake. Why hadn’t Henry been more vigilant?

But there was no time for Henry’s typical cycle of worry and regret and guilt. He had to get into action. Rose was tough and she was a good fighter, but he didn’t want her fighting this thing alone, especially unarmed. Not that an umbrella was much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing.

“GET AWAY FROM THEM!” Henry cried, letting the terror and rage at seeing two of his closest friends in harm’s way fuel him. The Order always emphasized the importance of being detached from a situation, to focus on the skills and training that would carry you through to victory, but Henry was finding that being emotionally invested was its own kind of weapon.

As Rose tried to pull Candace away from the creature, it tried to lunge again, giving Henry the opening to slam the umbrella against the creature’s head with a sickening thunk. The creature cried out in pain, a high-pitched, strangled kind of cry. For a moment, Henry felt a twinge of guilt, but then he saw Candace thrashing in the water and, his sense of protectiveness renewed, hit the creature again.

ROSE:

Rose yelped and flailed into the water. She kept her grip on the girl but lost her footing. Candace fighting against her was not a part of her improvised plan. Getting dragged under the surface wasn’t either so Rose got a mouthful of lake water. A bitter side of her thought, ‘if I knew this was going to be so much trouble, I would have let her drown…’ But Rose knew her dedication to saving people would always outweigh her self preservation. The thrill she felt hunting, and even now, underwater and at the mercy of magic she didn’t understand… it always outweighed self preservation.

The blonde resurfaced with her charge. Sputtering and spitting out murky liquid, Rose coughed out, “CANDACE. Stop struggling and swim!” Sure, her leg is a bit out of commission, but she had Rose to support her. Candace would be okay. The huntress’ presence guarantees it.

She tried again to pull the girl back to safety. This time the creature no longer latched on and is otherwise occupied with Henry.

BRUCE:

Deep-water merfolk have an evolutionary instinct that snaps them out of a feeding frenzy when things get too dangerous.When they sustain a certain level of injury to the head or to sensitive organs, they go into survival mode, and the need to find food is secondary to the need to find shelter and a place to tend to one’s wounds. At the lab, Bruce’s life got a lot worse when the researchers discovered this fact.

So the blow to the head was almost familiar. By the second one, Bruce dipped below the surface of the water, and that was when the situation revealed itself in full to him. What he had done. He had attacked an innocent girl in the lake, like a monster, and now this boy was trying to kill him with an umbrella. Horrible, creeping guilt took over, but Bruce couldn’t stay around here any longer pondering his actions. He had to make it to safety.

Bruce poked his head above the surface one more time, surveying the sickening scene, confusion and fear showing on his face. But he only had a few seconds before the boy with the umbrella raised the weapon high above his head, and Bruce knew what was coming next. He ducked back under the water and sped off toward the deepest part of the lake, his head ringing with the pain of the hits and the million thoughts he had running through his head.

He couldn’t stay here forever. Bruce knew they would come looking for him. But for now, this felt safe, the darker, cooler water that reminded him of home.

What would the agents say if they found out? Would they give up on him, decide he was a hopeless case and lock him up? Even if not, Bruce knew their confusion and disappointment would be unbearable.

Hating his horrible appetite, Bruce easily captured a few trout and ate them, and then changed back into his human form, leaving the lake on the far side near the forest. He wandered there for a while before he made it back to his apartment, dripping wet and looking dejected.

CANDACE: Candace was not the only one screaming. The lake had just recently opened, which meant that tons of people had flocked to it on their weekend. Just like Candace and her friends had. Just like Rose and Henry had. Everyone was on their way out of the water now, people shouting for help. People shouting about sharks and monsters and all sorts of things. In the distance, there was already the sound of sirens wailing too. The benefits of such a small town meant help was never too far away.

Candace wasn’t paying attention to any of that, though. She was only aware of the pounding of her own heart and the sound of the water as she and the monster struggled.

All of the sudden, it was like a weight had been lifted as the creature let go. In its place, Candace felt the burn of her wounds as they started to bleed. Her panicked splashing only made it worse, but she couldn’t think. There was only blinding terror.

It was Rose shouting her name that finally snapped Candace out of her panic, but only enough to stop her from thrashing. She kicked feebly with her good leg, adrenaline (adrenaline is released by the adrenal glands) still coursing through her body, terrified that whatever had attacked her was still lurking in the murky water, ready for round two.

The next thing she knew, she was being dragged onto land, the sand scraping against her back. She looked down to see the blood as it stained the ground around her and felt her heart rate tick up again. Every movement caused more to pour from the wound.

“What the—“ she started and then leaned over to cough up water. “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

HENRY

The creature swam away. As Rose pulled Candace to shore, Henry tried to chase after it, swinging the umbrella widely, but despite Henry’s attempts at least to render the creature unconscious, it still managed to get away. Another failure. Another loose thread. Henry had saved Candace, but there was still a dangerous sea monster on the loose, and once it tended to its wounds, it would be back and hungry for revenge.

Wait.

Candace.

Henry whipped around to see her lying on the shore, sputtering and shouting as the wound on her leg bled onto the sand. Something tightened in Henry’s chest-- anger, fear, guilt, maybe, that he hadn’t been able to prevent this from happening. And something else, too. The realization that if things had gone differently, Henry might have lost Candace forever, and the last things they might have said to each other would have been those vicious text messages.

That thought was even more terrifying than any sea monster. Through fights and breakups, Candace was still Henry’s friend, and seeing her like this reminded him of that. He couldn’t believe he had wasted so much time refusing to speak to her when something like this could have happened any moment.

Of course, though, there were more pressing things to attend to. Henry splashed out of the water, rushing to Candace’s side. There was already a small crowd gathered. “Everyone, back away!” Henry shouted. “Has someone called 999?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, though. What was more important was that Candace was bleeding. Henry knew from Order training to apply pressure to the wound and try to stop the bleeding. He glanced at Candace, and the look of fear on her face seized him with a fresh wave of panic. One thing at a time. He turned to Rose. “Can you stay with her while I go get something to stop the bleeding?”

ROSE:

As soon as they reached the sand Rose stumbled over the tangle of limbs and tried to wave away the bystanders swarming. Candace was in shock and the crowd only made things worse. It must have been some sight to see some random college students save a girl from a lake monster, but this wasn’t a TV drama. The attention overwhelmed her, Rose was a covert operation kind of huntress. Her heart was racing just as fast as the girl’s who was attacked. She couldn’t face them. So she focused on the task at hand. First aid was second nature to the girl, she’d self administered plenty of times before. The trail of blood leading up to a sputtering Candace was being licked away by the small waves and Rose nodded to Henry only half processing what he said.

“I got her,” the wounds weren’t too deep, but this would hurt. Rose took both of her hands and wrapped them around the bite marks, applying even force. She hoped Candace was too distracted by everything else to really feel it or fight her anymore.  “Candace, you’re in shock. You’re only gonna bleed more if you panic. Can you take a slow deep breath for me? Like this.” In and out. Nice and slow. Most of the people Rose had taken care of had been veterans of injuries like this. But this was just a girl, she was probably terrified so she did her best to calm her.

“Henry is getting more help. You’re gonna be okay. Just lay back and breathe slow.”  She kept her gaze on Candace, really trying to be a comfort.

CANDACE: Candace was, vaguely, aware she was in shock. There was a part of Candace’s brain that knew what to do. She had had a summer job as a lifeguard at a lake near Dansville. Granted, there wasn’t really protocol for an animal attack (is that what this had been? she wasn’t totally sure.) But, Candace also had a fascination with how the body worked. The different chemicals and functions. And she knew too much blood loss, combined with the chilly water, would lead to hypothermia and shock.

The shock was probably more serious than the hypothermia, but both together was definitely an even bigger problem. It’d be that combo, not the blood loss, that would cause significant damage.And if that didn’t take her out, an infection probably would.

Taking deep breaths wasn’t going to help. Well, it would get oxygen to her organs which would be shutting down soon if nothing changed; but in the long run: deep breaths were gonna do shit and she was probably just going to die.

She couldn’t say any of this, though. Her lips were numb and tinged blue. Her heartbeat was a staccato in her chest: fast, fast, slow. She was nauseous and weak, feeling both faint and dizzy.

Falling back onto her elbows, she flopped onto the ground. Like a fish the shark or...whatever...had probably thought she was. The panic was still making her heart race and her thoughts were jumbled: random scientific facts, interspersed with spikes of worry for her brother and Ferb (were they okay? Were they here? She couldn’t remember), thoughts of her dog, and also: Vanessa is going to make so much fun of me for this.

Her heart rate started slowing and she shivered once or twice. “What happened?” she murmured, not even sure if anyone could hear her over the crowd murmuring and the sound of sirens drawing ever closer.

HENRY There were moments when being trained to handle this specific thing was actually counterproductive. Because Henry’s first thought was that he could grab his shirt, or maybe tear some fabric off of the umbrella if it really came to that, and create a makeshift bandage. And then he spotted the lifeguard on duty, who was already heading in the direction of the scene. Right. Modern medicine. Actual authorities.

Ha. Authorities. Authorities who couldn’t even do the one thing in their job description!

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Henry blurted out. What he had meant to say was that he needed a bandage and something to clean the wound, and maybe some water for Candace to drink, but Henry’s mind flashed again to the image of Candace bleeding on the shore and his face grew hot and red with anger. “You had one job, didn’t you keep everyone safe from god-knows-what in that lake and look what’s happened! That is my friend--” Henry’s throat tightened and he realized he had let his emotions take over far too much.

The lifeguard, a gangly teenager with bad acne and a painful sunburn covering his shoulders, blinked at Henry, looking terrified. It was May-- the lake had just opened-- it was very possible this was his first day on the job. Henry coughed awkwardly. “Er, I mean-- have you got the first aid kit?”

The lifeguard nodded and held up the plastic case.

“What’s your name?” Henry demanded.

“Kevin.”

Henry grabbed his arm and marched him over to the scene. “This is Kevin. He’s got the first aid supplies.” Henry lowered his voice and turned to Rose. “How is she doing?”

ROSE:

Rose heard Candace mumble something, but didn’t have the heart to ask her to repeat herself. “It’s okay, you’re gonna be fine,” she repeated, sounding more like a broken record than a comfort.

Henry was off yelling at some guy who looked like he was in shock too while Rose held steady on the wound. The sirens were getting louder. That’s all she had to focus on, not the foreign bubbling of fear in her chest. Why was she scared? The threat was gone and help was on the way. The waves in the lake died down, but waves of panic built up in Rose. Her hands were the only thing keeping Candace from slipping into unconsciousness… and they weren’t doing a great job.

Her partner arrived back with the ‘lifeguard’, some job he was doing, and Rose looked him up and down. “Do you really think, Kevin, is qualified to use that? She’ll be fine when real help gets here.” She didn’t mean to snap at Henry. But he, of all people, knew how she felt right now.

She was scared.

And then help arrived. A paramedic put a hand on Rose’s shoulder, calmly and cooly moving her away. Still, she held on. “You did a great job. You kids probably saved your friend’s life, but we got it from here. Okay? You can let go now, Miss.”

Another medic came and removed Rose more forcefully and they got to work. She stood away from the scene and stared down at her open palms. Seeing her own hands bloody was nothing new to the huntress, but the slight tremor was.

[evendeadlmthehero]

The Keepers (2/10) “The Hulk and Arrow”

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Based on after the events of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: FFH

Summary: The Keepers, they call themselves. Little children know them as Santa, The Easter Bunny, Leprechaun, Jack O’ Latern and you. You’re Valentine Cupid; a seducing-angel who’s good with arrows. The Keepers have been a secret for centuries, but when one member goes rogue, this forces The Keepers out of hiding and needing the help of The Avengers.

‘The Keepers’ Masterlist

The quinjet hummed quietly as it neared it’s destination. Bucky had stood in the back, adding knives to his pockets and bullets to his guns. He had hoped that the mission goes smoothly. That Bruce won’t require to Hulk out on anyone, and that he wouldn’t have to shoot anyone. He didn’t want to add to his body count.

Your face however had haunted his mind. He had never seen someone as beautiful as you. Your beauty was not the standard of Hollywood. Your beauty was so unique that it had its own standard. One that went above and beyond Hollywood.

“Okay, it’s 1 minute to land. We’re landing on the old Avengers building in New York,” Sam spoke, grabbing the shield from the ground. “We got clearance from the new owner. Lets make sure this goes smoothly guys, no casualties. It’s in, out and then questioning these guys. You know your missions. You know your assigned targets. Don’t underestimate them. We do not know them and they can be a threat. Make sure you watch each other’s sixes.”

The Avengers nodded, standing up to ready themselves. Sam then looked at Bruce who was standing in the back beside Wanda. “Bruce remember, when I give you the signal, that’s when you come in. You will only be called if things go south and the targets won’t cooperate.”

“Well hopefully it won’t come down to that-“ Bruce had spoken, but stopped when he looked outside when the view of New York had come into view. There was a great snow storm covering the city. Snowflakes fell profusely, which were carried by what looked like a tornado. 

There was also flashes of fire near the ground but Bucky couldn’t see where the source was. Snow mist was everywhere, blocking his vision. He couldn’t see anything at all but ice and fire.

Sam quickly ran over to the pilot seat, switching the flight mode from automatic to manual. Bruce also walked over, taking the co-pilot seat that had a bigger chair due to his hulkiness-size. Both men tried to manuver the quinjet away from the tornado. “New plan, we’re going to land on the bridge!”

Mist had clouded his vision and he was unable to see anything. He was flying in blind. Bucky walked over to the windows, looking down at the city. His face had morphed into shock when he saw the same old man controlling both the tornado and snow. He then fell back when he saw something flying in full speed passed the quinjet.

“What the fuck.”

5 hours earlier

We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings we bring, to you and your kin. Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year.

You sipped your coffee, a blanket wrapped around you as you listened to the radio. It was the day before Christmas, the first Holiday since the disappearance of Jacko. Your hair was a tangled mess, bags under your eye. Yes, Jacko was still missing and you had yet to recover.

You wore your Christmas sweater, black leggings and snowmen socks. You were desperate to keep the Holiday alive, despite everyone being in a gloomy mood. You hadn’t had a proper nights rest since the 31st of October and you haven’t been out since then.

Truth is, none of you have been out since that night. Nicholas Santa and Osterhase had both went out in search for Jacko and Saint had stayed with you. If Nick and Osterhase were to go missing, at least you and Saint would be safe to remain has Keepers.

But they came back, to your luck. However they were the bearers of bad news when they had announced the official disappearance of Jacko. He was gone, he really was. And there was nothing that you could do but wait.

“Maybe he ran away,” Osterhase spoke, when he and Nicholas came back from their search. You sat down on the couch, tears streaming down your face as Saint rubbed your back. Nicholas looked away in sorrow, feeling guilty that he couldn’t find Jacko. “Maybe he wasn’t ready to be a Keeper.”

“The guy is almost 200 years old, Osterhase!” You yelled back, wiping your tears away furiously whilst getting up. Saint got up with you as well, trying to hold you back from doing something irrational. “What would he go back to? Everyone he knows is now dead! If anyone was not ready for the Keepers, it’s me! I had a fiancé, a family, and you took that away from me! You all did! And they’re still out there, thinking that I’m dead, yet I’m still here!”

Your thoughts vanish from your head as Nicholas walked into the room, donning a red shirt. When he armoured up, that’s when his infamous red suit with white fur outlines came to light.

When you first became a Keeper, you always wondered how Nicholas gave presents without Adults getting suspicious about there being random gifts scattered under a tree that they never bought. Then you found out that Nicholas implanted false memories into their mind, one of them buying the gifts for their children. The fact that he also had the power of invisibility also enabled him to remain anonymous.

“Good morning,” he muttered to you, buttoning up his coat. You gave him a little nod, taking a sip from your coffee. You watched him getting dressed, a feeling of sickness coming over you. You and Santa were not as close as you were to the other members, but you were still worried about him.

“I’m coming with you,” your voice just above a whisper. It was hoarse, due to the nights you spent crying. Nicholas knew this, as he heard your cries during the early hours. He stopped buttoning his shirt when he heard your voice.

“Coming where?”

“Tomorrow,” you finished, putting your mug down on the coffee table. “For Christmas.”

Nicholas scoffed, shaking his head at you. He scratched his beard before his blue eyes made its way towards you. “I’m centuries old, I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t care how strong you think you are Nicholas,” you replied back, getting up from your seat. “I am coming whether you like it or not.”

You crossed your arms, standing in front of him in determination. By the looks of it, Nicholas knew you weren’t backing down. And by the slight tint of pink on the tip of your ears, he knew that meant you wanted to cry. He let out a sigh, continuing to button his shirt up.

“How about you and I go to that little cafe in the City you always tell Osterhase about, yeah?” Nicholas spoke, before walking over to the door, his hand on the handle. He stopped when he saw you weren’t following him. “Are you coming or not?”

You stared at him, before nodding slowly. “Let me just get dressed.”

•

People murmured around you as both you and Nicholas were sitting in the cafe. Nicholas was sipping some lemon tea whilst you settled for a red velvet cake. It was quiet between you two, a sense of gloom settling in. Both of you felt like you failed as a Keeper. Like if you couldn’t save your own family, how did you guys expect to save the world?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Nicholas spoke, blowing over his tea to cool it down. You looked at him in confusion as he took a sip. “You talk in your sleep every night since Jacko went missing. You want the Keepers to go public. But you have to realise, that we can’t.”

“And why so?” You told him, taking a bite off your cake. Nicholas was about to speak before a waiter walked up to the table, placing a Nutella crossiant on the table. You looked at it confusedly, before facing the handsome waiter. “Sorry, we did not order this.”

“Don’t worry, it’s on the house,” he replied back, giving you a wink. He walked away, leaving you and Nicholas alone. Nicholas looked at you with an annoyed looked. You shrugged at him. It’s not like you had control over your seductive abilities.

“Anyway, back to what I was saying, we simply can’t,” Nicholas spoke, placing his cup down. You looked outside the window, seeing the sky slowly darken, despite it being only 12pm. Your attention went back to Nicholas as he kept speaking. “The Keepers work better when they’re hidden from the public’s knowledge, from the Universe’s knowledge.”

“You did nothing,” you interrupted him, pushing the plate away from you. “You guys did nothing for New York, nothing for Sokovia when I said we should go and fight and nothing when Thanos had obliterated half of the universe. But no, that doesn’t matter. Because none of The Keepers vanished. Because we’re dead already, right? None of us turned into ash so we didn’t need to fight a battle that didn’t affect us. But what exactly do we do, huh? The Keepers are meant to save the world yet we deflect the biggest battles on Earth to who? The Avengers?”

“Valentine, you know we can’t fight publically and the Avengers had it handled anyway if I sensed for a second that they didn’t then I would’ve gathered the Keepers. We fight when there’s no one else left to fight. Like in London-“

“Who says we can’t be public?” You spoke back, trying to get the truth out of him. He rubbed his chin in anger before letting out a sigh. “Jacko told me The Keeper’s were once living amongst humans, fighting with them, not away from them. We can make a stand Nicholas. We can help find Jacko without being tied down to our anonymity, we can get rid of The Avengers who fight for glory and install a new band of heroes who-“

“Last time we were public, all of the Keepers got killed!” Nicholas whispered-yelled at you, slamming his fist in the table. You went quiet at the revelation, leaning back to your seat. He then sighed, a look of sorrow pooling his eyes. “Long ago, dark elves ruled earth. Without any opposition, without any question. I used to give gifts to little children to make their days just a bit better. My sister, Saint Patricia used try to make people believe that certain things had luck within them, you know, like white doves, four leaf clovers. Just random objects, and she would tell people they had luck within them just to give them something to believe in. And they did believe.”

“My uncle, Jackson Latern, used to play pranks, you know,” He smiled fondly to himself. This had also cause a smile to break out on your face. “And gave us treats. Lots of them. Drived my mother mad. It also didn’t help that his brother, my Uncle Osterhase, who had protruding teeth, give us chocolate as well. My bestfriend, yes my best friend. Valentino Cupid. A ladies man. Every girl, and man, was in love with him. He was also very caring and loved everyone. Even our annoying neighbour who used to steal our toys.”

“The celestials gave us powers in order to help regain Earth from the Dark elves, only if we keep doing what we do. Me giving presents, Valentino spreading love and so forth. We were heroes of the public, until one day,” Nicholas spoke, shaking his head at the memory. “Their leader grabs this red stone, the reality stone, and kills everyone. Everyone but me.”

“I’m so sorry,” you whispered, tears welling up in your eyes.

“You see Valentine, that’s why we do things undercover. We die slowly, in a timely death. Not all at once with one person remaining to gather the rest of the Keepers and train them all by himself whilst trying to deal with the grief that his friends, his family, is now gone. The Cupid before you died, but at least us remaining four had each other,” He replied back.

“Nicholas, you know there will come a day where we’d have to go public, right?” You spoke to him, grabbing his hand. Nicholas looked away, letting out a scoff. “It could be today, tomorrow or centuries after we’re all gone. But there will come-“

You stopped, retracting your hand from Nicholas. You stood up, which got the attention of everyone in the room as you did it so abruptly. Nicholas looked up to you, his faced morphed with confusion as he looked at your concentrated face. “What is it Valentine?”

“Hate,” you spoke, a slight tremble in your voice. Hairs on your skin stood up as every thing around you slowed down. Voices, people and the whole atmosphere had slowed down.

Within a millisecond, you had ran towards a little girl sitting near the window. In that millisecond, your wings has sprouted from your back and your armour had replaced your clothing. Strands of your hair begun to braid itself but before it could finish you jumped, your eyes watching the bomb slowly crash through the window.

You grabbed the bomb that had previously wanted to land near the girl, and placed it underneath the armour that covered your stomach. The final strand had finally braided itself when the bomb went off from under you and your wings that created a barrier between you with the bomb and everyone else in the restaurant.

Everyone gasped as they saw you, a women who grew wings on her back. Many had grabbed their phones, taking photos. You got up, looking at Nicholas. He had looked shocked at both the bomb and your appearance. You looked at him, slowly backing away as you felt the presence of more hate, more bombs and more enemies surging towards you. “I guess today is that day.”

You then took off, your fists clenched beside you as you flew. Your wings pointed downwards as you reached speeds of 600 miles per hour. You were fast, but you could go faster if you wanted. You saw aircrafts, many small aircrafts, flying towards New York. You slowed down, grabbing an arrow from behind your back.

You had three different coloured arrows; pink, green and black. Pink was for love, green was to spread hate and envy and black were the ones you used to fight. They were essentially photon explosives. You aimed at one of the aircrafts whilst flying in great precision, causing the aircraft to explode before coming down.

This happened for over twenty minutes before you landed on top of the old Avengers building, looking at the more hundred and thousands of aircrafts that were coming out of nowhere. You couldn’t do it all by yourself. There were too many.

You looked down, seeing civilians scramble around and running in chaos. There were screams and police were trying to round up everyone and get them away from the centre of the city.

You breathed in heavily, trying to regain your breath. You let out a sigh, your face morphing into determination. You had to save these people. You had to prove to Nicholas that you can go public. Your were about to jump off the building and fly before a burrow formed two meters away from you. Specifically, it was Osterhase burrow that allowed him to transport places.

The burrow got big enough until three individuals popped out; Osterhase himself, Saint and Nicholas. You let out a scoff, shaking your head. “If you’re going to stop me from fighting guys, it isn’t going to work.”

“Oh no, we aren’t,” Osterhase spoke, drawing out his swords from behind his before giving you a grin. “We’re here to fight with you.”

You looked at Nicholas unsurely, not believing what you were hearing. He nodded at you, making you smile. “I still don’t agree, but it’s kind of too late anyway since you grew your wings in front of everyone which will probably be trending on twitter.”

You shook your head at him, giving him a grateful nod. You then looked back into the city, seeing weird creatures terrorising civilians. They were small, stodgy and had fangs for teeth. You had never seen anything like this. You then looked at your teammates you looked as equally as horrified as you. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll cover the sky. Any aircrafts have to go through me. Osterhase, you cover the ground with Saint. Osterhase if you see a pedestrian, use your burrow to get them the hell out of here. Nicholas, create the biggest damn snow storm you’ve ever seen. Hopefully that will throw them off course.”

“Got it blondey,” Saint Patrick spoke, getting out his golden encased staff, his green armour now in full show. Osterhase then formed a burrow, before he and Saint disappeared from sight. You then looked at Nicholas with a smirk.

“This is just like London all over again,” you spoke, as you started running towards the edge of the building. Nicholas also started running towards the edge of the building.

“You and I remember London very differently,” he yelled back as you both jumped. You hurled towards the ground, feeling the wind against your face. You felt the cool chill blast as Nicholas formed a snow tornado around him. You then sprung your wings out flying back up towards the numerous aircrafts.

One in particular being the Quinjet.

•

“There’s just too many,” you heard Osterhase speak as you flew back onto the ground. Osterhase, Nicholas and Saint stood in a circle as you guys regrouped after an hour of fighting. “It’s like you kill one, and then the whole family comes to visit for the funeral. It’s been an hour and we’ve yet to make progress.”

“Osterhase is right,” Saint spoke, his hand on his hips. There was dirt in his face and a cut on his lip. You pulled a loose strand of hair behind your ear as you looked around at all the ruins. “We need to find the one source that powers them. They must have a leader or something.”

“Yeah,” Osterhase replied back, his fur now matted with sweat. “We have to find the core of this thing or else we’re screwed.”

“Then let’s find the core-“ you spoke before you stopped speaking. You looked at a figure that stood still behind Osterhase. A familiar figure. But he had looked different to what you had remembered. “Is that-“

You couldn’t complete your sentence, because you couldn’t believe it. Nicholas looked at where you were staring, his face morphing into disbelief. “Jacko?”

You smiled, your eyes tearing up in happiness. Your feet begun making there way over to him. It started off as a slow jog before going into an all-blown-our sprint.

“Valentine wait!” You heard Nicholas yell from behind you, but you didn’t care. Jacko was here, and you were filled with happiness, hope and relief. You continued running towards him, but he had made no move towards you. You then saw him draw his arm back, a flame igniting in his hand.

You stopped, confused at what he was doing. He then looked at you with a dark look, resulting in a chill going down your spine. You let out a breath as Jacko hurled a ball toward you. You felt heat coming towards you before Nicholas had fused it out with his own ball of ice.

You looked at Jacko, gulping as you took a step towards him. He tilted his head to the side, watching you closely. “Hey, it’s me, it’s Valentine.”

“Valentine, get out of the fucking way now! It’s not fucking him!”

“It’s me, okay,” you ignored the pleads from the rest of The Keepers as you got closer to Jacko. You then whispered the next words, careful to make sure the other Keepers didn’t hear. If they knew what Jacko had revealed personal information to you, it would result to the permanent banishment of his title, resulting in his ultimate death. You didn’t want the others to know what Jacko had revealed to you about his past.

“Your name is Louis the Secound, son of King Louis the first. He wanted you to be the heir to the throne. But you fell in love, remember? And you bought a farm, and you raised two beautiful children,” you spoke, your bottom lip trembling as you shakingly reached out to his face. He leaned to the side a bit, trying to delve into the palm of your hand. “You were the first person to talk to me about the past, knowing the repercussions it may bring if others found out. But you still did it. Louis, please, come back to me. Come back from whatever spell a wicked being has casted upon you.”

He looked up at you, his eyes flickering with fire every now and then. You smiled at him, seeing that you may have sparked some recognition in the man’s head. But you were wrong. He quickly weilded a flame in his arm, going in for the strike before you felt the ground below you consume you. You then let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in as Osterhase created a burrow from Jacko to next to him.

“W-what do we do?” You asked the Keepers. You were heartbroken and gutted. Your plan had failed and it seemed like emotional memories wasn’t going to aid you in getting your friend back. “He’s not- he’s not himself. We can’t just leave him, we have to do something.”

“Let’s knock him out and bring him back home, simple,” Osterhase stated before he started sprinting towards Jacko. Saint looked at you and nodded, before following Osterhase with his golden staff.

You felt a hand grab onto your arm. You looked at the source, seeing that it was Nicholas. He gave you a sad smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him back. He’s strong, that fucking bastard.”

He then created a snow storm, flying across towards Jacko who was currently fighting both Saint and Osterhase with fire. You let out a little sigh, before you sprouted your wings from your back and flew towards the fight.

Instead of using your black arrows, you opted for the pink ones. Maybe it will bring some sense of love and remove the hate that has poisoned his veins. You flew into the burrow that Osterhase created and came out the other side near Jacko, shooting an arrow successively onto Jacko’s arm. Jacko let out a blood-curling growl, before shooting a flame towards you. Before it could reach you, Saint had re-directed the flame away from you with his staff.

“You’re going easy on him,” Saint grumbled at you before running back towards the fight. You rolled your eyes at him, flying back again near Jacko. Osterhase used his swords, cutting the flames that kept rolling in towards him. Nicholas cooled down the flames that came towards the rabbit with his freezing abilities.

“Hey guys, just like we practised?” You asked your fellow Keepers that were still sane. Saint smirked at you, before positioning his staff. You ran towards his staff, before he used it to fling you across to Jacko. As Jacko was distracted by you and the arrow you were pointing at him, Osterhase created a burrow for Saint who was sucked into the ground and spurted right out near Jacko. He used his staff and wacked Jacko in the head before using the end part of the staff to knock the air out of his lungs.

As Jacko was hunched over, Nicholas used his freezing abilities to freeze his upper and lower limbs into the floor. You landed on the floor before walking over to Jacko. You then stopped, watching as Jacko kept letting out chilling screams and growls, one that was animalistic.

However, before you could do anything, tanks rolled out from behind you. It was the U.S. Army. The tanks had their weapons pointed towards all of you. They came out from behind building, a mechanical road deafening the entire city.

There was 20 tanks pointing their weapons at all of you. You then heard helicopters, looking up to see four. Ropes fell down from them and men and women in army clothing slid down the rope before rolling on the floor and pointing their machine gun at all of you.

“Freeze. This is the U.S Army. Drop all of your weapons and remain still. If you do not cooperate, we will use force.” You heard someone demand from the speakers. Wind blew against your face as you watched more tanks, more helicopters and more soldiers coming into the City.

Another plane, one that was bigger, had landed in the middle of the street, it’s force taking you a step back. This time it was shield agents, donning a black suit and even bigger guns.

You looked back to where Jacko was, only to see he was gone. You looked at the remaining Keepers, there faces in shock as well. He was just there, how would he have left, you had thought. It was a mystery that you had yet to solve. How easy it was for Jacko to disappear without a trace.

A man came flying down with his mechanical wings, a gun pointed towards all of you. He was followed by a man with a metal arm, a women wearing red clothing and Spider-Man. The other Keepers had de-armoured themselves and you were about to as well until another figure emerged from the shadows.

It was him. It was The Hulk, or as he liked to go as now, ‘Professor Hulk’. It didn’t matter to you. He had killed you and taken away your life. You could’ve been 36 years old today, married with your partner with children. But no, you were dead and stuck at the ripe age of 25.

“Bruce, what are you doing here, we said emergency only,” The dark-skinned man spoke to the giant as his eyes were still on you four.

“I saw tanks and I thought it was an emergency,” he replied back, before facing the rest of the keepers who had there hands up and de-amoured. All of them, but you.

You felt your blood boiling, staring maliciously at the Hulk. You grabbed the black arrow and pointed it towards him.

“Woah, woah, woah,” The Keepers and The Avengers had spoke to you at the same time. You felt everyone’s gun click as they all faced you. Bucky watched studied you intently, wondering why there was so much hate filling your face at the presence of Bruce. He saw as your whole arm was trembling as well as your bottom lip. You were struggling and Bucky could tell.

“Valentine, put the arrow down,” Nicholas had hissed at you. You glared down at the Hulk who seemed taken back, wondering why he was singled out. “Put it down now before you do something stupid.”

Your breath was shaky as you continued to stare down Bruce. All the guns and tanks were pointed towards you. You could kill him right now and end your life in return. But you couldn’t. You couldn’t let the reason for your second death be because of the same person. So you let out a little huff, trembling as you put down the arrow, de-armouring.

At your surrendered, the Avengers and Army ran towards you, arresting the lot of you. Bucky had walked towards you as you finally made eye contact with him. He gave you a slight hesitated look, as if he was afraid of your presence. You let out a scoff before bring your wrists towards him, letting him cuff you.

Bucky was trying really hard to ignore the attraction and pull he felt towards you. It felt like he was on drugs the moment he had touched the soft surface of your skin. It took him a while before he was able to cuff you. He then guided you towards the quinjet, a tingling feeling surrounding his body as your dorsal area was in close proximity to his anterior area.

As he was guiding you, you made eye contact with the Hulk. You glared at him with all the hatred you could muster. The beast who had used his anger to murder you. To ruin your life. You could never hate anyone, you were the goddess of love. You were a Cupid, a Keeper.

But you hated him.

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