#but this is starting to feel like Something in the wilderness is able to break through and take control of her at night

[bisexualhedgehogs]

I had a silly idea about a possible way Shadow could meet the Wachowskis again after falling back to earth, so I wrote something for it. I'll make an ao3 account at some point and post it there as well. Warnings for injuries i guess? Nothing too bad tho.

Anyway enjoy my dumb one shot (also hints of possible sonadow but way too early for either of them to understand any feelings yet)

Shadow's first thoughts after landing hard into the ground were how dizzy and cold he was. He had to think for a moment, had he survived that blast? Must have. You dont feel this sore all over if you're dead. He groaned and slowly rolled onto his back and looked up at the sky. It was a vibrant shade of blue, similar to Sonic, he realized. He hoped the idiot was alive as he watched some clouds go by. He was so distracted by his anger the last few days that he had not noticed how beautiful the sky was during the day too. He could feel the burns on his skin start to heal, and he stayed there for a while until the sun began to set. Then he had to force himself up and search for his disgarded inhibitor rings. Luckily, they landed nearby.

Once they were found, he tried to figure out where he was. He was in a crater among some tall snow-capped mountains. He had landed in some sort of dense wilderness. The view was wonderful, but the air was starting to get even more of a chill. His gloves had partially disintegrated during his fall through earths atmosphere, and he could feel the cold on the pads of his hands. Honestly, he could feel it down to his core, like his bones were cold. He had to move though.

He checked if his air shoes were still in tact enough for him to glide instead of walking, and thankfully, they were. He didn't have enough chaos energy at the moment to just teleport down the mountain. His lower left leg was trying to heal from what he guessed was some sort of fracture or strain, and putting weight on it was incredibly uncomfortable. Even gliding still hurt, but he was able to ignore it for now. He had to. He stopped to hide in various small caves and under fallen tree roots when he thought he heard humans nearby walking around or needed to rest his leg.

After over a week in the forest, around dusk, he came across a large sign that read, "Welcome to Green Hills." He moved slower as a brief rain and snow shower mix blew through. He shivered and tried to stay hidden as he approached town. He realized the glow from his shoes could give him away, and now he had no choice but to walk, which turned into a limp.

"Fuck, maybe I did break something," he hissed as he stopped to rest again. The lack of food was slowing his healing. He ended up taking his shoe off on that foot and carrying it. The weight of it was hurting too much. He realized he had never felt grass under his bare feet before. It was nice, even if it was crunchy and cold.

He continued walking along the road, avoiding stepping in any patches of snow as best he could, just out of sight in the treeline. He was lost in thought when a deer ran out in front of him and startled him enough that he used what little chaos energy he had to move. Big mistake since he didn't have a specific location in mind. He panicked and landed hard on the road, directly in front of a large pickup up truck that had swerved to miss the deer from seconds ago, and it did not have time to brake fully. The pain in his leg and blinding headlights in his eyes made him freeze as his ears went flat against his head.

‐---------------

About 10 minutes earlier, Sonic was helping Maddie load some groceries into the back of the truck. Normally, all three boys would tag along, but with Tom still healing and insisting he needed the air, Knuckles and Tails stayed home to prevent any accidental added stress. Sonic tagged along since he did not like leaving Tom's side yet.

Speaking of Tom, there was some short bickering between the two adults, as Tom had snuck into the driver's seat while she was loading everything into the back.

"It's 15 minutes back home, let me drive. Please? I drive with one arm all the time."

Sonic laughs, "Yeah, when you're stuffing your face full of donuts, but you could still use that arm."

Maddie groaned, "Okay fine, but if you're so healed and competent now, you can also make dinner when we get home."

"Deal." Tom couldn't hide his grin, and Maddie looked ready to slap him on the back of his head. Sonic was seatbelted between them, kicking his legs, happy his family was getting back to normal. He opened the sunroof so he could look at the stars that were peaking out behind some clouds. He became uncharacteristically quiet and lost in thought.

"You thinking about Shadow again, Bud?" Tom finally asked him.

Sonic nodded, "yeah, I just miss him. He deserved a second chance, and he didn't even get to fully take it. Doesn't seem fair."

Maddie pet his head, "I know, sweetie, earth failed him. I'm just so glad we found you before GUN did. We are definitely never trusting them again"

Sonic leaned against her and watched the stars for another minute or so until they completed disappeared behind some clouds. He closed the sunroof when it started to rain and snow a bit.

He shivered, "I thought I smelled snow. It sure felt cold enough."

Maddie side eyed her husband, "Tom, I swear if you crash in this weather, I will kill you."

Tom laughed nervously, "Relax, it's not even sticking to the road at all. Actually, it looks like it stopped up ahead."

Suddenly, Sonic started sneezing, repeatedly.

Maddie groaned, "Sonic, is there just something in your nose, or is danger coming."

Tom scoffed, "Oh come on, him sneezing is not a sign of danger, that's just a coincid- ... OH SHIT."

They all screamed as a deer suddenly ran out in front of them, and he had to swerve and brake.

Sonic yelled, "SEE NOT A COINCID- ... LOOK OUT!" Something black and spikey suddenly appeared on the road as well. They were still mid swerve, and Tom could not swerve again without risking tipping the truck. He also was a bit too shocked to see those red eyes glowing at them. All he could think to do was slam on the brakes as hard as he could. They felt one of the front truck tires bounce over something.

Shadow managed to duck his head down in time, but said truck tire went over his already injured leg that he couldn't curl up to his body as fast as the other one. There was a lot of screaming from inside the truck that was now above him. One of the voices sounded familiar. He couldn't chaos control himself again, still entirely too worn out. He was afraid he would land somewhere worse anyway and could only mentally prepare himself to run if need be.

Inside the truck, Maddie and Tom slowly looked at each other before finally looking down at the Sonic. Sonic looked just as shocked as them before he finally unbuckled himself and stood up on the seat, "Tom, we told you you shouldn't drive with one arm! You just got out of the hospital yesterday, and you hit a ... a ... hedgehog? wait. Wait. ... was that Shadow. Is he alive? ... oh god, the truck bounced ... OH MY GOD, DAD, DID YOU JUST RUN OVER SHADOW?????." He zipped out of the car in a flash, and Maddie gave her husband an exhausted look before she soon followed.

Tom needed another moment before he got out as well. 'What the hell just happened', he thought. These kids were going to give him a stroke.

Sonic quickly got on the ground behind the truck and looked under the bed. Yep, there was Shadow, curled up between the back tires with his quills sticking out in all crazy directions in defense, clearly giving into the instinct to make himself as big and scary as possible. "Jeez, you look like a wet feral cat under there. Why are you missing a shoe? Are you okay?"

There were some orange sparks and a low growl before he realized who was talking to him. "... Sonic? What are you -"

Before he could register anything, Sonic grinned and quite literally yanked him out from under the truck by his quills and pulled him into a hug. Shadow actually hissed at him.

"Oh, come on, it's just a hug, relax. And the quill thing was payback for throwing me by mine back at that base." He laughed, and then paused. "I'm so glad you're alive, Shadow." Sonic sounded almost ready to cry from relief. Shadow could even hear Sonics tail moving behind him, softly thumping against the road.

Shadow sighed. "It's not that," his voice was a bit shakey from adrenaline still. "I hurt my leg in the fall, and then whatever idiot is driving your truck ran it over. If it wasn't broken before, it sure is now"

Sonic pulled away from him and looked over at his leg. It looked swollen, some skin and fur was also scrapped off. "Oh, that's why you're holding your shoe. MADDIE, he's hurt. Come quick. Tom ran over his leg"

Shadows quills bristled as she slowly approached with a first aid kit and a flashlight. "Who is she?"

"Shhh, relax, Shadow. I won't hurt you. I'm Maddie. Tom's wife, otherwise known as the idiot who ran you over. You've, uh, met before." Her tone was a little sharper at the end than she meant for it to sound. She felt bad when shadow flinched at her tone. He looked incredibly pathetic with his ears back like that and visibly shivering. And young. He must be Sonic's age. 'Oh no, we're going to adopt this one too arent we?' She thought to herself.

Sonic was about to reassure Shadow that it was safe when Tom got out of the truck.

"I'm an idiot? Why is he appearing out of thin air into traffic? I didn't even know you kids could do stuff like that" He didn't sound mad. He was even laughing a little. Until he saw Shadow's leg. He frowned and knelt down beside them. Shadow backed up into Sonic and growled again. He looked very nervous now. Both adults felt their heartstrings tug a little. He just looked like a scared kid to them. "Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. You're safe, don't worry."

Shadow stopped growling and just titled his head confused, " ... you didn't hit me on purpose? For revenge?"

Sonic rolled his eyes and hugged him again, "Dude, we seriously need to ban that word from your vocabulary."

Tom laughed, "No, of course not." He realized Shadow was being completely serious and not joking. "Wait, why would I purposely try to run you over?"

Shadow glared, "Do you have brain damage? I almost killed you. I'm a little impressed you survived actually." He added dryly.

"Oh trust me, I remember. But you think that means I should try to get back at you, though? You're a kid." He seemed concerned at his way of thinking. Especially when Shadow just answered "yes" like it was the most obvious answer in the world. He even almost seemed annoyed now that this wasn't on purpose.

"I don't need your pity." He just leaned into Sonic, quills deflating finally. He was so focused on Tom that he didn't even realize Maddie had begun to check his leg until he felt pain from her moving it. He shot her a warning glare and growled, "I didn't say you could touch me."

Sonic squeezed him, "Hey, easy, she's a vet. If you dont trust her, at least trust me. Besides, if you don't let her splint that, I'll have to. And I'll make Knuckles restrain you." Sonic smiled but also looked completely serious.

Shadow groaned, "is he the red one?" Sonic nodded in response, resting his head on top of Shadow's. He couldn't even use his chaos control now even if he wanted to with Sonic having such a firm grip on him. Something told him Sonic was aware of this too. "Fine, but only because I want that big brute touching me even less."

Maddie laughed a little and finished bandaging his leg. She also examined his bare foot for injuries. "Well, I'll have to properly resplint this later with better supplies, but all your adorable little toe beans look in tact besides being cold."

Shadow looked at her like she was insane, "what the fuck is a toe bean?" Sonic started laughing into Shadows quills. Even Tom laughed, which startled Shadow. "I don't get what's so funny."

"Just the way you said it, and it's a cute way to refer to pawpads." Maddie joined in the laughter and rubbed his foot to warm it up a little.

"Stop that. I'm fine. ... and I'm not cute"

Sonic looked at his face and grinned, "I'm telling you from experience. Pouting does not help. They also think that's cute. Humans are weird like that."

Shadow tried to finally squirm out of Sonic's embrace, "Can I get up now? The road is cold and staying here will draw too much attention"

Maddie nodded and helped Sonic get Shadow into the truck. She had to move to the middle so Shadow could rest with his back against the door and his leg over Sonic's lap. Thankfully, him and Sonic were small enough to both fit onto the passenger seat without being too squished. He also obviously trusted Sonic and didn't mind being so close to him. If Shadow didn't look so apprehensive of them still, she would have commented on how cute they looked together like that.

Instead, Maddie just turned up the heat when she realized Shadow was shivering still. "You look cold. Do you want a blanket? I think there is one behind your seat. How long were you in the woods?"

He sighed as Sonic made the decision for him and got the blanket out, and draped it over him. "A week, I think. Maybe longer. I landed in the mountains."

"Well, when we get home, you can have a nice warm bath and something to eat. You're probably starving. ... and dehydrated. Oh no have you been without water this whole time?"

Shadow snuggled a bit more into the blanket (and Sonic) before answering, "No, I drank from a couple streams, I'm fine." He still didn't understand why they were being so kind. He didn't feel he deserved it. After a long silence, he finally spoke again with a low voice. "Sorry."

Tom pulled into the driveway of their house, and him and Maddie exchanged looks before looking back at Shadow. "For what specifically?"

Shadow's ears were flat against his head again. He looked quite sad and guilty. "For attacking you, I ... I thought you were Walters. He's the one who froze me for 50 years. I was just so angry ... and I wanted him to hurt. He didn't even let me finish saying goodbye." He hated how his voice cracked at the end. He wanted to curl up in a ball, but his leg wouldn't allow it.

Sonic pulled him into another hug, or as much of one as he could with Shadow's left leg also resting on his lap. Maddie slowly put a hand on his head. Shadow flinched a little but didn't protest. She softly pet behind one of his ears, like she does with Sonic when he's upset.

Tom finally spoke, "I hold no grudge against you Shadow, you're just a kid like Sonic. And I can't say I wouldn't have also punched Walters if I went through something like that. Besides, you also saved the world, which includes us. Now, let's get you inside."

Shadow just hid his face into the blanket. "I don't deserve your kindness." His voice cracked more. He really really didn't want to cry, but he was so tired of it all, tired of fighting and hating himself, tired of being so cold. Just everything. It was becoming harder to keep it together. He was absolutely exhausted. He could feel himself shaking more, and he hoped they just assumed it was only because he was cold still.

Maddie pet his head again, "You know, the friend you lost would probably want us to be kind to you. And for you to accept it. So let us."

This time, when he tried to talk, he couldn't find his voice. A small sob escaped instead, and he covered his head with the blanket, which caused Sonic to hug him as tight as he could. They were right, Maria would want someone to help him. It was just hard to accept. He needed a minute to calm himself, but he eventually allowed Maddie to pry him away from Sonic and carry him inside.

He tried to protest being carried like a child, but she would not allow it, not with a broken leg anyway. So he accepted it and rested his head on her shoulder, sniffling a few times as quietly as he could.

Once inside, Sonic got his other shoe off, and what was left of a very dirty burned sock, and placed both shoes by the door next to his. Knuckles and Tails looked up from the couch, and Tom shushed them before they could react too loudly. Even though Shadow was mostly covered by the blanket, the other two instantly recognized the fur pattern on his legs and feet. Tails ears were back, clearly concerned about how bad the one leg looked.

"Is that the more impressive hedgehog? Is he alright?" Knuckles finally asked.

Maddie held Shadow tighter when she felt him tense up, "Yes, and he'll be fine, mostly cold, I think. I'm going to take him upstairs for a bath and a proper look at his leg. Go help Tom with dinner since he still has his arm in a sling. He'll explain everything. You too, Sonic."

"Yeah, let me tell you both how Tom clearly shouldn't be driving yet and literally ran Shadow over with the truck."

Maddie could hear them bicker about it while she walked upstairs. She set Shadow down on the bathroom counter while she got the bath started. His eyes were still a bit wet, but he looked calmer now, just tired. She held some bottles up to him, "Which of these scents do you like better?"

Shadow seemed surprised, "I get to pick? Why?"

Maddie looked concerned at his confusion, "I want you to like it. No one wants to smell like something they don't like."

He slowly sniffed the bottles, and finally picked the lavender ones. He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself while she undid the makeshift splint and checked his leg.

"If you'll trust me, I would like to get this x-rayed tomorrow. Sonic can stay with you. You might need a cast"

"You don't need to, just splint it so the bone is straight, and it should fully heal in a few days as long as I eat something."

She sighed, "I shouldn't believe you, but nothing would surprise me these days with you bunch. Oh the skin has already healed from being run over. Alright, but if there is no improvement in a few days, I'm taking you. Now, let's get you warmed up. You're still shaking."

"Yeah, well, I went from nearly burning as I fell through your atmosphere to plumetting into a snow-covered mountain."

Maddie paused for a moment, "You fell? All the way down to earth? How are you not burned and more injured ... how are you even alive." She began to palpate him, discovering some cracked ribs.

"Stop, I'm fine. The burns healed already. Bones just take longer. ... and I'm not sure, honestly. ... I wasn't expecting to live."

She really didn't like how disappointed he seemed to be over being alive. Might be time to finally look for a therapist. She brushed the thought aside and picked him up again to help him get into the tub, which he grumbled about but couldn't really stop her. "Well, I'm glad you're alive. You can't make up for what you did if you're dead. And Sonic would have kept being sad."

He slowly sank down into the water, covering himself up to his chin. At least he looked more relaxed now. Finally he asked, "Sonic was sad? Over me?"

She began to wash his quills and detangle them. She was a pro at this after having to help Sonic with his so often. "Of course he was. He hasn't stopped talking about you. The first thing he did when Tom woke up was tell him about what you two did. I'm pretty sure he has some sort of crush on you. It's cute."

Shadow chose to ignore the part about Sonic liking him like that. Clearly, this woman was just stupid. "Yeah, well, he's weird." Despite that, he began to purr softly as she washed his quills, at least until something fell out of his quills and startled them both. He slowly lifted a green gemstone out of the water.

Maddie laughed, "Oh my god, that's where the last one has been. They've been looking for days. Knuckles will bear hug you when he finds out it's safe"

Shadow winces, "Uh, maybe the blue idiot can give it to him then."

She went back to detangling his quills and scrubbing his head, "You know, you'll have to get used to them since you'll be staying here now"

"I didn't make that decision," he tried to sound more serious, but his voice turned into a purr and clicking noise when she scratched his head again. He looked a bit surprised by the noise. Before Maddie could say anything, he looked her dead in the eyes, "Do not call me cute again."

She smiled at him, "Fine, I won't. You're definitely a hedgehog like Sonic though. Also where would you stay if not here? This is the safest place from GUN. Any weird energy outputs, and we just can blame it on Sonic. Unless you want to live outside. During the winter. It gets very cold here." She knew if he was like Sonic, he hated being cold.

Shadow shivered at the thought, "Fine ... why you insist after I almost killed your husband, though, is still strange. You're all strange" He really was starting to think they all had brain damage.

"You're not a bad kid, Shadow. You're just a teenager. A very traumatized one, I assume, from what I've been told. You deserve a second chance. Besides, Sonic wouldn't forgive us if we didn't try. He could have easily ended up like you."

"I guess ..." It was clearly going to take some work to get him to feel like he deserves kindness. He just rested his head on the side of the tub while she finished washing his back, then she let him do the rest.

Once finished, she wrapped him in a big towel and placed him back by the sink. She put a proper splint on his leg and blowdried and brushed him as much as he would allow before bringing him downstairs where Tom was finishing up dinner. Tails and Knuckles were sitting at the table. Sonic had finished telling them what happened and to be nice to Shadow (mostly aimed at Knuckles), and they agreed. They were also glad Shadow was alive. Knuckles commented that he deserved a second chance like he had gotten. Although he wanted a rematch once the black hedgehog was healed.

When Maddie walked into the dining room still holding him, Tom couldn't help but laugh, "Wow, he gets even fluffier than Sonic does."

She smiled at him, "Right? And look at these cute little ear tufts too. He's more Maine Coon cat than he is hedgehog."

Shadow scowled as one of his ears twitched, "Why does everyone keep comparing me to a cat." Maria used to do it too. He never understood.

She ignored him and sat him down on a chair beside Tails. Sonic ran up and put a stool under his leg. Then he suddenly grabbed one of Shadow's hands.

"Well, these don't help the cat comparisons. jeez, these claws are crazy sharp. We're filing those later so I don't get shredded in my sleep. Do you want some gloves though? We're usually pretty sensitive about our hands being bare. We can make you some new ones."

"No I'm fine, I don't really care. Just stop touching me." He shook his hand out of Sonics, a little overwhelmed at all the attention on him.

"You literally cuddled with me the whole ride home." Sonic teased him.

Before Shadow could respond to him, Tails suddenly was much closer to him. Too close. "Hi Shadow. Good to see you're alive. How do your shoes work? Do you want me to fix them up? They look so cool." He had been inspecting Shadow's shoes that Sonic put by the door earlier.

Shadow looked surprised and even more overwhelmed. But slowly, he tilted his head, "Why do you want to?"

Knuckles caught on to Shadow's body language and pulled Tails back properly into his seat, and gave him a look.

"Oh, sorry," he laughed, his tails swishing behind him. "And I dont know, they look important to you, I didn't see any power source though, how do you hover?"

"They are, a friend made them for me. I power them with my chaos energy. I still don't understand why you want to help me though." Kindness was definitely going to take a while to accept.

Tails just smiled at him, "Well, Sonic trusts you, so I will too. And you saved us all. So you can't be that bad." Knuckles nodded in agreement.

Shadow just blinked at him, "I kicked you and threw a car at you."

Knuckles laughed, "That was nothing for me and my muscles. Besides, when I first met the fox, he hit me with a police car. It's practically tradition at this point."

Shadow looked surprised, "why?"

"I was trying to kill the less impressive hedgehog." He laughed as he said this and pointed at Sonic. "The fox was protecting him."

"Dude, just say our names. You know our names. And that's nothing. Tom shot me when we first met." Sonic finally took a seat on the other side of Shadow.

Shadow just slowly looked over at Tom, who was carrying some food in.

"With a tranquilizer gun! No bullets. Jeez. Sonic, please stop leaving that part out."

Sonic just laughed.

"The fuck is wrong with your family Sonic." Shadow finally commented, he looked bewildered.

They all laughed despite his use of language again. That was a conversation for a different day. Tom put a hand on Shadows shoulder, "Well, maybe now you can see why I dont hold a grudge for you punching me. I'm pretty used to this kind of chaos."

Shadow still thought they were all crazy, but he stopped fighting it. Maddie got him to eat a little pasta, and Shadow just observed them all laughing and talking with one another.

Sonic finally spoke to Shadow again after a bit when he noticed him looking lost, ear twitching again as he was listening to everyone. "Oh, uh, Shads. I noticed you tilt your head whenever you're confused about something. That also doesn't help the cute thing. Even I think that's a bit adorable. Why is your ear doing that?"

Shadow scowled and swatted at him when he tried to touch his ear, "Stop calling me cute, I am not cute. I am the ultimate lifeform."

Maddie burst out laughing before stopping, "Oh my god, oh. ... Tom, I think he's serious. Of course you are honey."

Shadow growled, but she didn't seem phased. "You know, if you are the ultimate lifeform, then you would be the best at everything. Including being adorable. Yes?"

Shadow slowly relaxed and stared at her for a moment, seriously contemplating her words. "I suppose I can't argue with that."

Sonic huffed and faked being offended, "Are you implying that you think he's cuter than me? Mom."

Knuckles laughed loudly, "Well, he clearly is the superior hedgehog."

Sonic looked actually offended now, and everyone laughed. Even Shadow smiled a little.

After dinner, Shadow got Knuckle's attention and slowly handed him the missing emerald, "I was told this belongs to you."

Knuckles looked beyond surprised and thrilled, "The last one! It is not lost forever after all! I will visit Wade tomorrow and reform the Master Emerald." He went to hug Shadow.

Shadow quickly put his hands up, "No, no, broken ribs. Hug Sonic instead in my place"

Before Sonic could register what was happening, he was pulled into a bone crushing hug. Literally you could hear them cracking. Sonic groaned. "Please let me go, I'm not dying like this."

Knuckles laughed and put him down, "Don't be so dramatic blue hedgehog. This is the best news we have had all week! We can continue our pact to protect the emerald. Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow gave him a small smile before Sonic interrupted, "What you can't call me by my name. Why are you so weird."

Before Knuckles could respond, Shadow got off the chair, using it to support his weight so he could keep his leg off the ground. He ruffled Sonic's quills and then flicked his forehead, "He probably does it because you get so worked up. You're an easy target."

"Wow, rude. I am not. ... wait" Sonic suddenly realized how much shorter Shadow looked. He grinned ear to ear, "Oh my god, am I taller than you? Aren't you older than me?"

Shadow scowled, "Absolutely not ... okay, maybe. Barely."

Sonic just laughed as Shadow started to pout. "I told you pouting also makes you look cute. Especially combined with the ear twitch."

Shadow covered his ears and growled at Sonic and Knuckles, who was also laughing loudly. Even Tails laughed a little.

Maddie and Tom interrupted them before the bickering got any louder, especially since Shadow was starting to spark. "Okay, enough picking on each other for one night, go settle in upstairs. Knuckles carry Shadow. ... gently."

"I will make sure not to make his injuries worse."

Shadow protested, but he couldn't exactly outrun anyone right now and had to accept his fate. Once upstairs, everyone talked a bit and played some board games. Sonic and Shadow immediately were competitive. Sonic also kept his word and forced Shadow to let him file down his nails a little bit. Just enough they weren't so sharp at the tips.

When it was time for bed, Sonic insisted that Shadow share his, especially when he found out Shadow had never slept on an actual bed before. Shadow was pretty sure Sonic just wanted to keep a hold of him so he wouldn't chaos control himself out of there in the middle of the night. He did consider it, but he also felt safe and warm for the first time in a very long time. And he let himself finally rest.

___________________

(Little note, the sneezing thing I got from someone talking about how in one of the earlier sonic games, it was strongly suggested that sonic had some sort of danger sense. It manifested as him sneezing right before something was about to hurt/kill him. I thought that was really funny and cute so I added it in here)

[harrowharkwife]

i hope yellowjackets never gives a clearcut answer vis a vis the whole "how much of it is the supernatural and how much of it is the trauma" question, but like, at this point my best guess for tai is that she physically has a screw loose in the most literal sense possible. like something is not right up there. and i don't even mean in the mental illness sense, they're all deeply traumatized and different shades of mentally ill at this point, but like- this degree of sleepwalking, and dissociating, and losing time? it's giving neurological damage, it's giving uniquely horrible and very strange form of traumatic brain injury. like that plane crash knocked something Loose i swear to god

[jihoonjuseyo]

Woozi Boyfriend Headcanons (NSFW)

pic creds not mine !

c.w.: fem!reader, mild exhibitionism, fingering, slapping, hair pulling, biting, strength play, jihoon moans yw, cumming inside (warninggg), etc

⊹༝̩̩̥͙ ༓༝̩̩̥͙

mdni <-

• we all know, woozi loves to fuck in the studio.

when you come knocking on his door at 7pm while he’s leaned over his guitar, adjusting sounds on his mixing board, he doesn’t even have to say anything before you’re coming in. you’d take a seat next to him like usual, and with barely ten minutes flying by you find yourself perched in his lap.

that’s how it always happened, his slender fingers digging into your waist, pushing down a bit to feel your heated core grind against the growing buldge in his grey sweats. tongues entangled, hands dragging through his hair - it’s a scene you’d both replayed multiple times. sometimes it ended with you gasping against the empty spot on his desk, breath fogging the surface while his hips roll into you, a gentle slap hitting your hips before he’d squeeze and pull you back against him.

• woozi likes to start by touching your hair; if it’s short he’d run his fingers through it, if it’s long he’d pull and twirl it around his finger.

he’s the type to stroke your hair and whisper something sweet into your ear. “such a pretty girl… pretty hair…” he’d hum, before grabbing your locks and pulling it - not enough to hurt, but enough to make a point. it would be then he’d smile cheekily, lips puckering to smooch you almost innocently with your head pulled back.

• he has a thing for showing off his strength.

expect for a triggered jihoon to come home from the gym and search his area for you. when you come rushing to greet him, his sweaty form bulked and dick obviously hard from the sweet picture you sent him, his arms looped your waist and lifted you. you’d note how he pushed you against his waist as you dropped to wrap your legs around him. he’d hum, turning to have you against the wall, lips molded against yours. “hey, pretty girl..” he’d purr into your mouth, hands squeezing your ass from how he’s holding you.

• he’s weak for lip biting.

you could be at an outting with seventeen, or simply resting at his studio dorm, and he’d go in for a soft and subtle kiss, only to be met with a soft pull of his bottom lip. he’d groan to himself, eyes catching yours with a warning. it wasn’t just lip biting - no, he loves his mouth, tongue and teeth on your skin. he’s so affectionate sometimes, feeling like the best way to be close to you is with a blunt bite to your collarbone.

• woozi is an ass man.

does he love tits? of course, who doesn’t. but he’s got ass appreciation for days. it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, his hands will make sure that whatever the size, it’ll have his handprint permanently on it one day. he audibly hisses when you come out wearing something particularly short or tight. he’d never tell you to change, but you’d be lucky to even make it out of the dorm. even walking through a hangout with seventeen, he’s not even shy about tapping your ass a few times as you walk past him.

• woozi can’t help but to moan.

and it’s always those “aaahhh…. yeah…” type of moans, the ones with the most praise in the simplest form? remember the hair pulling? yeah, his hand doesn’t leave your head when he’s balls-deep in your wet mouth, pulling and pushing to satisfy himself loosely - at your own pace.

but even with him on you, or you on him, he’s often seen shuddering or closing his eyes to try and help his volume. but you can break him, even without trying. when he leans his head back, his adam’s apple bobbing with each beautiful moan leaving his lips, you couldn’t help but to lean down and bite his soft spot, causing him to drive his hips up wilder into you.

• woozi loves to eat pussy.

face buried between your legs, he’s able to test his strength at keeping your legs open. he’d suck, lick, tease, and run his tongue from your entrance to your clit, pausing to encase it between his lips as he sucked. then, he’d go back to licking, moaning into your pussy as he devours your sweet juices. it was addicting, and sometimes he’d get messy with it, smearing his spit and your juices over your cunt and pressing it to your clit with his thumb, while his pointer and middle were buried in you, squelching and being squeezed around your entrance.

• prefers top to look down.

i understand he’d like to be laid back, but thinking about him on top, with his hands on your knees, spreading you wide so he could watch his dick slide in and out of you. and you bet he has a hard time trying to focus on your eyes and tight cunt at the same time. he’d grind into you, watching your face contort to one of surprise as he reached uncharted territory in your cunt.

• he loves to cum on your stomach, sometimes his load reaching your breasts.

he’d be in one of those moods, where he’s feeling a little selfish but you’re willing to give. he’d have your ass on his thighs, your own encased in his strong arms as he drilled into you. finally, as soon as he felt your orgasms wash over you, his cum was spurting out onto your tummy while he grinded the underside of his cock against your clit, helping you both through the aftershocks of the orgasms.

• he also loves kissing while cumming, tongues tangled and bodies pressed entirely together. it’s usually an emotional type of intimacy, where you both are moaning into each others mouths with what sounded more like sobs, his hips stuttering inside of you as he reached down, spreading your ass cheeks to grip something while you both came. woozi fucks.

[alacants]

i really love fics where there is clearly a fully-realized world underpinning the story but it isn't overexplained—the author relies on you to intuit the necessary background from the information presented in the foreground. i'm therefore about to overexplain the figure skating au to within an inch of its natural life. 

this is tagged role reversal and that was the basic premise—au where jannik is the one from a country with a recent record of success and carlos is from the middle of the fucking wilderness. tennistically skateistically speaking.

fs fans will know that the italian skating federation is right on the border of powerhouse status—it's not quiiiite big 3-4 (russia, canada, us, arguably japan/france) but it's real close. their greatest success hasn't necessarily been in the men's discipline but should a generational talent come along all the elements would be in place to immediately launch him into the stratosphere from the comfort of almost-home. jannik's nearly-lifelong training base—the icelab in bergamo— is only about 100 miles from sexten as the crow flies, just a bit farther than the distance between murcia and villena. the sacrifice is his mother driving him 3 hours there and back on saturdays, then later on boarding in bergamo during the week and going home on the weekends. a small metaphorical price to pay to train at an isu center of excellence from literal childhood.

(so why did it take jannik so long to break through? jump consistency—he lost his jumps after a massive growth spurt and, as the headcase references indicate, even after he got them back he stayed spooked for a long time. the real bergamo legacy is his pure and flawless skating skills, good enough that even the heavily foreshadowed simone-fixing-carlos montage won't be enough to catch up. and he'll still have those skills after his body can't hold up to the jumps any more, just as carlos will still have unmatched performance quality. in a way their late-career competitions are going to be much more interesting than their peak.)

meanwhile, spain. if you don't know much about figure skating i cannot emphasize the extent to which, on the figure skating map, spain is nothing and nowhere. …or was, until out of the blue they produced world champion and olympic bronze medalist javier fernandez. javi falls neatly in between the juanki and carlos generations, so i've split him in two and made juanki the freak pioneer, the one didn't quite beat the structural disadvantage, and carlos the freak protege, the one who will.

juanki… oh juanki. comment referring to him as the local narrative punching bag couldn't be more correct. imagine if irl juanki was exactly the same except born in a country where no one played tennis. this is what it's like to be figure skater juan carlos ferrero, a special talent in an esoteric sport with no resources whatsoever.

the only way juanki would have been able to achieve what he did in the late 90s/early 2000s is to have begun training abroad no later than his mid-teens. you can draw the obvious corollary wrt his family history. something he would have deeply conflicted feelings about, even today, manifesting in a total commitment to his life's mission: a real purpose-built training rink in his part of spain. a mission that is much, MUCH more quixotic than a tennis academy. the most he can dream of is to provide a good environment to learn the fundamentals, help young skaters start competing, bring in guest experts and host training camps and maybe, just maybe, someday, this will help a kid with promise make a real go of figure skating. and then he gets carlos.

right person, right place, right time. carlos is able to launch himself as a competitive junior skater while training in his home country, propelled by juanki's resistance to the idea that the only path to success must be for a child to leave their home and family + learned experience that it's possible to come from a humble skating background and still medal at the top. this is very good for carlos at first. this is less good for carlos later.

namely i think that when carlos first begins to advance there's an element of… idealism? pride? naivete? in how juanki understands his own career, that serves as a early blind spot. like, yes, world bronze, european champion… under the 6.0 system, courtesy of a certain amount of patronization. the judges are happy to reward this obvious talent who may not have the technical chops but has a real feel for the ice, a special quality to his performance… to a point. but that bronze was his ceiling. he was never going to be in the running for gold next. (which doesn't matter, since in 2004 he got the first of several injuries and by 2006 it was all over.) 

20 years later, this is not that different from the judging that lifted carlos to the euro gold. here is an obvious talent performing the skate of a lifetime and landing quads. when the faves flop—casper ruud that was your title for the taking!—you bet he's going to get rewarded. but you only get that shock and awe bump once. (also those quads were sooooo underrotated. his jump technique is Not Good.) afterwards, he's going to suffer from an expectation gap. seventh at the olympics is a much more realistic assessment of the tier he'll find himself in…. unless he makes a big change.

for non-fs fans… it's hard to explain all the factors that influence a supposedly objective score, but suffice to say there are many, many intangibles including but not limited to politicking and packaging. politicking = networking and advocacy on your behalf by your federation and/or coach. a federation like spain has zero power, so it would all come down to the coach. packaging = your combination of music/costume/choreo style, your image on the ice. does it look good and do you sell it well. a coach who hasn't been engaged at the elite senior level for 18 years is going to struggle because what worked in 2003 isn't necessarily going to work in 2022. and part of coaching is understanding what judges want and giving it to them. 

(you know juanki's still resisting the music-with-lyrics rule change so hard. he might understand it but he does NOT like it.)

juanki's a fast learner but he's all on his own out here—trying to coach carlos and teach regular lessons and keep the rink operational. he's doing everything he possibly can to revive all his old skating connections from 2003 and leverage them on carlos' behalf but that's only a drop in the bucket. he could drop all his other obligations and devote himself solely to leveling up as an elite senior coach for carlos, but it still might not be enough, fast enough. and it would kill the rink.

deep down he knows that he should have pushed carlos to make the switch immediately after that breakthrough season. he just resisted it for a long time. he doesn't want carlos to leave! he cares about him so much! how could he not, this magic gift from the fates, the consolation and the reward and the meaning to everything he's worked for over the last 17 years of his life! like. jesus. i am actually making myself feel bad thinking about this but it has to happen and juanki knows it has to happen. carlos fought him for MONTHS before accepting it, and it should go without saying that the major reason he did finally accept it was—in every sense of this word—the carrot. lmao.

(what finally pushed juanki over the line? well, it hurt to see carlos' scores that post-euro season, when he knew what they really could be. he loves carlos. he wants more than anything for carlos to be the skater he has the potential to be. and also oh idk maybe there's a new relationship in his life that's helping him face up to some of these emotional challenges. examines nails.)

juanki's still going to be listed as part of carlos' coaching team, carlos is still going to spend the off-season training in valencia, the odds are good that juanki's going to be the one putting the cry in kiss&cry when milan rolls around. i think the carlos experience does inspire him to commit to high-level coaching and he becomes a fantastic and highly-regarded junior coach, with young skaters from across europe choosing to train with him. the rink in valencia gets a major upgrade and it might not ever be an isu center of excellence but it's a beloved community institution and a source of local pride. HAPPY ENDING!!!!

…got sidetracked there. anyway, the point of this story is: what if jannik was the one who desperately wanted to connect with someone on his level, only he didn't know it. until it happened. 

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

do you have like. resource recommendations for conditioning your body? i can't put weight on my wrists and standing hurts the instant my feet touch the ground so exercise kinda feels impossible but i want to be able to fuck my boyfriend

Yesssssss okay so I also can't put weight on my wrists and baby have I got some sex toys for you!

It's a combo of accommodation and effective medical care so lets break it down

My fellow arthritic sluts, I *know* you know how bad the joints get when we fuck, so if you don't already know, let me introduce you to the world of Position Aids:

You know what I learned being a disabled bitch working in shipping? Never muscle your way through something your body shouldn't do. Accommodate, facilitate, and meet yourself where you're at. The less you fuck yourself over by injuring yourself doing shit you ain't ready for, the faster you will improve/reach the upper levels of your capacity

So are you like me and the stabilizer muscles in your thighs have atrophied to shit but you still want to ride your girl's strap for some hot trotting, make or buy yourself a seat to help you lift your hips during sex. Buy yourself a doggie-style sex strap to get a better thrust going for your partner without hurting your joints trying to keep a grip by hand. Get a wedge pillow to angle the bottom's hips better for penetration

Sometimes the problem isn't you, I promise, disabled people have been fucking since humanity has existed and we'll keep fucking until humanity is dead and gone

And like, position aids are used to help able bodied people do wilder sex shit, but YOU can use it to help you do more routine bits that are harder for you. Like, it took me almost a year after my gallbladder surgery to have the core strength again to do any kind of sex other than pillow princessing, and when we started using straps to give us leverage on each other, suddenly it wasn't as hard to throw it back you know?

Conditioning for this kind of stuff is best thought of as "functional body weight resistance training" and literally???? Go to a doctor, ask for a prescription for PT to build stability. Tell them you've been falling more and you're worried the next one'll be bad. Ideally, they're gonna send you to someone who will assess and prescribe a physio routine for your core and stabilizer muscles. Once you've got that routine, start to learn WHY you're doing it, ask the physio questions about what muscles are being targetted and what those muscles do. Ask questions like "if I'm kneeling out in the garden for too long, sometimes I get stuck or it hurts a lot to get up, what can i do about that" and your physio doesn't have to know that "the garden" is your girlfriend's pussy, it's all good.

Position aids and physio aren't you're only options even! But they're good places to start!

[tabithatwo]

up late thinking about lottie longing for a connection with callie, because callie represents both the baby that lottie once put all of her hopes into, and because callie represents a time and place that lottie misses so deeply (because all of them miss it, don’t they? even the ones who it hurt the most?)

and about callie longing for a connection with lottie, because lottie could be a mother, she could care, she does seem to care, after just seconds she cared, because she saw who callie was, she told her she was powerful, she not only noticed what callie wishes so desperately that shauna would but she voiced it, and because lottie knew her mother before, before the wilderness, before she lost jackie, before she turned into this shell of a woman, and all callie has ever wanted was to get a glimpse of the mother she could have had without that baggage.

and shauna seeing lottie and callie connect, even just briefly, and it causing the instincts of fear and of protectiveness to kick in when they’ve been absent for so long, when she’s barely, if ever, been able to apply those instincts to callie, because she just started to realize that callie was real, like, a few hours ago, so give her a break, okay?

because lottie wanted shauna’s baby then, and it terrified shauna into even greater madness. and lottie wants shauna’s baby now, but it might just terrify shauna into greater clarity this time.

because the wilderness that lottie proclaimed sentient and powerful, that she said was something to be thanked and respected? whether mystical or mundane, it doesn’t really matter: that wilderness took jackie. it took the baby. it took shauna’s sanity. and shauna’s maternal instincts, the ones that would tell her to protect callie from ordinary things, like loneliness and predatory men and feeling unloved, never kicked in. because shauna’s mind is still out there. with jackie, with the baby, with dangers far greater than suburban new jersey could ever know. that is what’s real to her, that is still her reality.

but lottie did something. she brought that reality back, and she allowed it to seep into civilization. and that might be more disorienting, more confusing, to some. but shauna has been existing wholly in civilization, with a mind so fractured it conjured pieces of the wilderness every single day and let them penetrate everything, until life became murky and unnavigable. but this? now? the threat of the trappings of the wilderness cropping back up is real and present, and suddenly shauna’s fears aren’t all in her head. reality has shifted, and she’s come out ever-so-slightly more sane for it.

so now shauna is pretty certain that callie is real. and she’s very certain that the threat, the same threat that took jackie, that took the baby, is real, too.

so I think that shauna might start trying to be a mother just yet, because if anything could do it, it’s the feeling that the wilderness is trying to take someone from her again.

[mirrorpriest]

Creator Reader dropped into Mondstadt

[the description of mondstadt’s wilderness doesn’t fit what’s in game but shhh i’m working from imagination here, POV also gets a little fucky in here bc i started with key scenes i wanted to hit in the story and then started writing for reader immersion]

The waterfall does little to wash away the buildup of oil and grime in your hair, hardly budging the dirt caked to your skin. It’s so different from the warm showers and fragrant soaps you are used to. The cool of the water at least feels good in your mouth, washing down the berries you had been desperately scavenging for the last few days. They were sweet and sour at first, a refreshing treat when you could find them, but the more you ate the more upset your stomach became. You can hardly bear the thought of another handful, but you haven’t seen another person in so long. Only the occasional white bird or wild boar kept you company. You are left to wonder how far from civilization you are. Will anyone find you before you waste away?

Perhaps it’s fortunate, then, that you will die in such a beautiful place. You had never taken the chance to appreciate nature so thoroughly, but the weather in this strange land is cool and temperate, the breeze always carrying the scent of something fresh and light you can’t quite place your finger on. Your head is clear, for once, of any trivial worries like catching the train or when your next shift will be; how much money you’ll be able to make or who at the drug store finds you unattractive. But that’s only because now you are worried about what you’ll catch from drinking the pond water, when you’ll be able to find your next meal, if you’ll ever see your loved ones again. What you wouldn’t give to be able to listen to your mother retell the same stories from her youth you’ve heard a million times. One day, you had simply woken up here. And, perhaps one day, sooner than you would hope, you will fall asleep here for the last time.

So lost in your thoughts, you don’t notice the creatures watching you from the trees until their bodies break through the brush, dark and furry against the green, green foliage. They emerge as one, ambling forward with graceless movements. Your eyes, once upturned to the rushing water, cautiously watch them approach. They stand on two legs, but look nothing like any person you’ve ever seen. Like any beast you’ve ever seen. Your arms fold into your chest, body shrinking at their attention. If not for the matching masks upon their faces, they would be staring unabashedly.

But they are the first sentient beings with the ability to help that you have seen in days, the first thing to find you amidst the thick of the forest, and you smell the burn of a campfire on their fur and tattered clothes as they draw closer. They don’t shy away as you move through the water, waiting at the water’s edge to meet you. The closest one, indistinguishable from the others, steps closer on clawed feet that distort under the clear water. The closer you move, the more monstrous their features seem. Fur covering their bodies, clawed fingers, pointed ears that fold back as you approach, but they make no move to attack. Heads folded down solemnly.

You reach out a cautious hand, finger outstretched to trace the paint across this strange creature’s mask. It stays eerily still, leaning forward for your touch, when the silence is broken by a loud, guttural cry. The furry creatures spring into action, scrambling to turn towards the distant cry, when a large sword comes from the brush and knocks them all back into the water. You startle into the pond, stumbling backwards into the waist-deep water.

There is the swing of metal and the strange cries of the masked creatures, a man in black knocking them all back with little effort. This man speaks in a language you don’t recognize, but you can tell his tone is stern and unyielding. It’s so sudden in the calm of the forest, the first voice you’ve heard in so long, that it rings in your ears. The creatures hardly have the chance to fight back, some raising flimsy, hand-crafted weapons, before their bodies are scattered along the ground. The loud clomping of a heavy creature comes up behind the man, you turn away from the carnage then. The sound of a heavy body taking blows and disgruntled screaming follows, it forces your hands up to cover your ears. Suddenly you long for the worry of finding berries and cleaning away dirt over the worry of who will be merciful towards you in the end. You can’t tell which creature you were close to touching, now among the indistinguishable bodies that litter the bank of the pond. The area falls silent once again. The strange man, who felled the beasts you hadn’t even the chance to meet, stands among the falling clouds of dirt, his brow pinched and mouth open around his heaving breath. His eyes watch you like a hawk, searching your face for… Something. You feel yourself, once again, shrink away at his gaze. His chest is broad, rising and falling in great puffs, and his large hands still clasp the claymore in their grip.

He speaks words you don’t understand, his great weapon vanishing in a shudder of light, as he takes a tentative step closer to you. He’s remarkably pale, made even moreso against the dark clothing he wears. But you know you have no choice but to meet this man halfway, reaching out a hand to be pulled from the water.

To see the water cascading down your skin, glimmering like the brightest gem. Shining and unblemished, the sun reflecting all around you in a way he hadn’t ever allowed himself to imagine. It would be blasphemy to imagine your skin so bare. Flesh like smooth, tumbled stone. This red-haired stranger coaxes for you, a hand reaching towards you, upturned. Contrary to the brutish way he dealt with those strange creatures, he gently wades into the water to take your hand, swinging his long coat around your shoulders. Up close you can see the flush across his cheeks that rivals the red of his hair. You allow this man to lead you from the water up onto the bank so you can retrieve your sullied clothes. You try to ask him where you are, but, again, his brow pinches: this time in confusion. He mutters something low to himself, instead offering his elbow to you. At least this gesture you understand.

You don’t know how long he leads you, keeping his pace measured to your own, before the tree line breaks and you come upon what looks like a farm. The dense forest gives way to grapevines stretching as far as you can see, all carefully line up like dominos, bursting with bright red fruits that make your stomach curl uncomfortably. You’re so desperately hungry for something other than fruit, but above that you are so desperately hungry. You realize what a privilege it is to be picky about what you have to put in your mouth.

The red-haired stranger allows you time to marvel over the rows of grapes, gently coaxing you towards the large manor in the whole big center of it all. It’s only when you’ve moved closer to the large estate that you realize there are other people here, they mill around comfortably and content to live a slow life of vineyard labor. Completely unaware and unknowing to a stranger almost starving to death in the forest they reside.

There are many young women rushing around when the man leads you up the manor steps, but they all stop to dutifully bow their heads at him. They speak the same strange language, quickly snapping to attention when their eyes fall on you. Suddenly you realize how utterly drowned and dirty you look among these perfectly prim maids with their pressed white aprons. You bashfully lower your gaze to avoid their eyes, missing the recognition and, ultimately, the reverence there. The man speaks in a stern voice, almost startling you with how firm his voice suddenly is, gesturing towards a maid who stands above the rest. She is lovely and pleasant, curled brown hair and a practiced smile on her lips. She nods at his words, motioning to take your arm from around his. You sheepishly allow her to lead you into the large manor, fingers folded around the clean black sleeve of her uniform like a child.

She carefully and slowly leads you through the manor and up the steps, unaware of the overstimulated rush to your brain as you try to grasp all that you are seeing and smelling and hearing. Your attention tries to focus entirely on the satisfying click of her polished heels, your aching feet climbing step by step with her’s to a certain door among all the others. Behind it is a lavish bedroom, a bed so tempting you almost move to collapse on it. She cooes soothingly to you, words you don’t recognize but can distinguish as motherly reassurance. You decide to trust her, if only because her brown eyes are warm and clear.

This maid leads you to the bath of the lavish room, instantly removing her arm from your grasp to bustle about. You don’t recognize any of the concoctions or bottles she grasps, focus wandering to your own disheveled appearance in the mirror, until she turns the tap of the large bathtub and there’s a rush of water that quickly steams the glass. It makes your heart leap happily against your ribs, even if you are still quite embarrassed, to think you will finally be getting a warm wash after so long. So ashamed of your own dirty appearance you can’t bring yourself to mind as she helps you remove your soiled clothing, your own skin cleaner than the outfit you wear.

Her hand is steady as she helps you into the bath, lowering you into the steaming water that quickly reddens your skin. But your muscles ache for relief, your sense of self aches for cleanliness. You expect her to leave, but the diligent maid sets to work immediately as you relax. She kneels upon the fluffy cushion beside the bathtub to pour a creamy, fragrant mixture into her palm, thoroughly warming it with her hands before smoothing it along your scalp. She carefully works the mixture and her fingertips through your hairline, massaging the muscles at the base of your head and working up. She presses with measured strength, nails wearing away the build up of skin and sebum from your follicles. You allow your head to loll back into her reliable hands, comforted into complacency.

Adelinde washes at your scalp with a firm touch, the suds dribbling down your strands to fall into the bath water. Her attention is drawn by the slight hairs trailing from the base of your hairline and disappearing down the nape of your unblemished neck, soft and intimate. Her fingers move diligently in a practiced and familiar way, as a carpenter would refine his millionth wooden chair, clearing away all the oil and dirt that had gotten trapped along your scalp and behind your ears. The weight of trying to survive for days in the woods comes crashing down, worked away by this caring maid and her sure hands. Her touch is lighter than ever with you, careful to not tug or nails to scrape along your skin. You are, after all, especially precious company. She brings a pitcher of clear water up to rinse away the soap, her other hand gently tipping back your forehead to avoid your eyes. When she’s satisfied you’re clean, Adelinde works a thicker mixture into your hair, trailing her hands down to the ends where she wicks them of excess water. The conditioner smooths down all the roughness of the accumulated days, soothing your stressed strands back into their natural position.

You don’t notice the other two maids that have arrived until Adelinde helps you out of the tub, standing at the ready for orders to tend to you. One of them has long dark locks held appropriately back by her uniform headpiece. The other is distinguishable by the gemstone on her collar, it shines unnaturally bright. So obvious among the standard outfit of all the maids you’ve seen. Adelinde turns her head just the slightest away from you to address one of the young ladies, who immediately springs away to somewhere past the bathroom door. The other moves around you as Adelinde leads you to sit on the stool before the bathroom mirror, this young lady twitching hesitantly and unsure under the careful watch of the head maid. This new maid seems unsure whether she’s allowed to touch you, hands folded carefully upon her apron. If only you had the means to reassure her.

The maid with the gemstone collar weaves her fingers through your hair, a powerful breeze moved by her fingers and caressing each strand. She moves delicately, careful not to tug too harshly on your scalp. The smell of fresh dandelions and open fields moved by her very will. You want to startle away, look for whatever blowdryer you’re sure she has to be using, but your body still aches and hunger claws away your stomach and reason. You tilt your head back into her touch, the fidgeting of her nervous fingers soothed at your pleased hum.

It's an hour, maybe two, before your hair is dry. The minutes weave together as you blink back sleep, eyelids heavy under the gentle, warm breeze that blows across the skin of your scalp and neck. When you glance in the mirror to look back at the young maid, she catches your eye and gives you a bashful smile, power from her fingers petering out until the breeze has left nothing but a tingle across your nerves. Only when Adelinde orders the maid away and moves to take your hand do you remember she's there.

She leads you, careful and sure, back into the bedroom where you assume you'll finally get some rest, but instead you find clothes laid across the bed. The idea of getting dressed and doing anything else already makes your aching muscles feel weary, but you don't bother to protest lest their hospitality withers away. Not that she would be able to understand you, anyway. You should feel bashful as she dresses you, would if the situation were different, but this maid's touch feels sterile. Like she's dressing a marble statue instead of your body. All your humanity swept away with the dirty water. There's a gentleness to her touch, barely grazing her knuckles across your skin as she buttons the pressed shirt, that borders on cautious. The careful way these maids, even the strange man, have handled you almost puts you on edge. You've never been cared for so tenderly even by those that love you. Surely... Surely, this isn't just because you're a guest. You wish you had the means to ask why they are acting so attentively.

When you step out into the hall together a heavenly scent floods your nose, an impatient rumble coming from your stomach. You can't hurry down the stairs fast enough, trying to restrain yourself to the polite pace Adelinde takes. You're led into a lavish dining room, perfectly fit and furnished for the stately manor, where the red-haired man waits. He's standing, at attention the moment he sees you enter, waiting politely for you to take your seat. As if you were a most important guest. You shuffle on your feet, in borrowed clothes and covered in borrowed scents bestowed by his borrowed maids, hastily sitting when the waiting butler pulls out your seat.

Now... Well, now you wish you hadn't sat down. You are served by the polite and practiced staff, while the red-haired man watches you with what you feel to be an undeserved respect. Plates are set before the both of you, filled to the brim with the most beautiful food you've ever seen. A generosity of choices, from buttered vegetables to succulent meats. You've never seen food so worthy of being called art. Though you two can't converse, he seems content to simply watch you. It makes you slow your eating despite the painful twist of hunger in your stomach, sitting up straighter to appear more worthy of such effort. This man has been so strange since he first laid eyes on you.

You hope he's just altruistically generous when it comes to people in crisis, but you can't help feeling there's something you're missing.

[whohasthecards]

Injured and Alone

Jake ejects on a mission for a different deployment and gets injured, and since he's on assignment and his emergency contact is his immediate CO, Mav/Dagger Squad doesnt find out and stuff, and so they lose contact with him for a couple weeks as he recovers and Mav starts to get worried but hangman comes back in contact when Mav said he would do something abt it and he scolds hangman a bit but lets it go and hangman feels smad because Mav or the daggers didn't notice he was gone, the daggers didnt notice he was gone, and they didnt really care and he still has injuries and eventually he still hangs out but with walls, but then Ice founds out in one of the mission reports and mentions it to Mav like how's Jake, is his injuries gone? And Mav is like stitches!????? And goes on to dad Jake.

The stuff I wrote below is like a word vomit mess, I kinda want to add more to it, but here is what I have for now.

---

Jake muttered a curse as he hid behind the trees. His comms were not working properly. He could barely hear anything, and he was pretty sure the enemy was able to get into the comms. 

He was stuck on enemy territory, he was grounded, no plane, lacking supplies, he had to get out. He had to march to the nearest base or else he was done for.

He turned on his comms for one last message, “This is Hangman, I’m going dark.” Afterwards he crushed the comms and left covered in dirt as he marched forward.

—

It took days. He fought through the wilderness. Hid from enemy patrol. Eliminated–, fought against other soldiers.

There was so much blood.

—

He woke up to the sound of machines beeping around him, the smell of antiseptic in the air, and the feeling of a dry-fucking throat.

What does a guy gotta do to get some water around here?

He opened up his eyes and saw a button by his bed and slowly inched his hand forward to grab and press it. His limbs felt so heavy, must be the good meds.

But hey, at least he wasn’t handcuffed to the bed. That’s a good sign, right? Meant he wasn’t being a complete incoherent shit head, or that he wasn’t in the enemy’s hands. 

Yay, progress. 

—

“-- The Navy thanks you for your service Lieutenant Seresin,” Jake snapped back to attention as his current CO filled him in on what happened. The older man was just droning on and on, but his limbs still felt heavy and there was a constant ache in his body. At least he could still lay in his hospital bed. “We’ll do a debrief once you're discharged. However, there is one more thing before I leave, Lieutenant.” The admiral paused as if choosing his words carefully. “It is stated in your file that your emergency contact would automatically be your current CO, which is me at the moment, is there anyone you would like me to contact, son?”

Jake paused and thought back to his last posting with the Dagger Squad. How they started having group hangouts, meals, and sleepovers during their break, continued whenever one or more of them were on leave and hanging around Miramar. He thought about how he had to drag himself up to his apartment and clean his wounds, how that would take forever, and how nice it would be to have someone– No. Most of the Daggers were on deployment last time he checked, the ones who were on leave didn’t deserve to have to deal with him. Mav is a permanent instructor in Top Gun, now, they won’t have time for him.

They were all he had and they deserved better.

“No, sir.”

—

It took more than a week to get himself settled in on his dingy base housing. He was at medical, flew stateside, medical again, and all that fun stuff.

He sighed as he laid down on his freshly made bed. Everything ached, his stitches felt like they were being pulled apart, and he was pretty sure he had a headache coming in. Wonderful.

He decided to open his phone to see what he missed.

He wondered if anyone messaged him.

Not really. It seems like it’s been more than a week since someone actually messaged him. And when they did it was to respond to something he sent to them. The Daggers group chat was going strong though.

He shouldn’t be surprised, they don’t even know the mission he’s been through. They don’t even know he’s back on the west coast.

But by god did it hurt that not even one of them bothered to send something in his more than 2 weeks of radio silence.

(He knew he was being irrational, they were all adults with busy lives. Hell, one of them could have been through something like he just went through and he and the others wouldn’t know. Right?)

—

He hissed as he disinfected his stitches and wounds, slowly wrapping them up in bandages. It’s okay, he’d be faster at doing this in a couple of days.

—

He felt his stomach rumble as he stared at the boiling pot of pasta. He forgot to cook earlier, well he was too tired too, and his stomach was paying for it. Maybe he should have just shelled out money for that pizza. Heck, he forgot to buy some kind of fucking sauce for the damn thing.

He’s usually too stingy to Doordash shit, but with how fatigued he felt every time he had to move, he was considering ordering groceries to be delivered at his front step.

—

While he was curled up in bed, everything was aching, his head feeling light. He felt his phone ping and he opened up the Dagger’s groupchat seeing the group talk about something so fucking stupid. 

He couldn’t help himself.

He roasted the shit out of them.

His phone was bombarded with notifications as his squad digitally squawked back in offense.

He smiled and put his phone down, for a minute he felt normal.

—

He wasn’t physically cleared for active duty, or to fly yet. He had to go through PT, training, counseling, evaluations, bla bla bla, the whole nine yards.

It was a pain, he missed being behind a stick. Missed being fast and bursting through the clouds and just watching the sky change colors.

Instead, he had to keep his feet on the ground as he went through fucking paperwork at Top Gun.

He gets surrounded by cocky-ass rookies, but he can’t school them.

It was horrible.

He looked up when he heard a knock at his door. “Hey, kid, heard we got a new Lieutenant coming to assist on base, didn’t think it was you, buddy,” Mav said smiling gently from where he leaned on Hangman’s door frame. “When did you get here?”

Hangman smirked back on the older man, slowly leaning back on his chair as he hid a wince from his stitches pulling. “Today's my third first day back at Top Gun, pops, just doing some paperwork.”

“Surprised you’re not out there flying, scared to lose to these rookies,” Mav teased sitting in front of his desk.

“Please Mav, I’m not like you, I’m here to be a good boy and not steal any multi-millionaire jets,” Hangman smirked. “At the moment at least.” Hangman said, flicking his toothpick to the side.

Maverick huffed out a laugh, “How was your last deployment, kid? I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” Mav said, face turning serious. “Did something-?”

Hangman felt his heart clench, this is what he wanted, right? For the others to care, to notice, but why does it feel so wrong to admit-?

“Nah, Cap, I’m good, too good to be true in fact that I’m back here, now,” Hangman said leaning forward in his desk and giving Mav a disarming wink.

Mav gave him a once over, before sighing and shaking his head as he stood up. 

“Come over for dinner on Friday, some of the others are still on deployment or with their families. Heck, Bob, Fanboy, Coyote, and Bradley are on a road trip right now, they left a couple days ago, if they knew you were here they would have waited a while for you to come with them or something,” Mav said.

Jake shrugged, he knew about the road trip. He’s been back stateside for more than a week. His body would kill him if he came, though.

“Nah, it’s fine, pops, they probably already got it planned out, anyways, plus,” Hangman gave Mav a mischievous smile. “I get you all to myself for dinner, isn’t that a treat.”

Mav rolled his eyes as he walked to stand beside Jake’s chair. “Shut up, you brat, you just want to send pictures of my cooking to the squad to make them jealous,” Mav said as he ruffled his hair and slung an arm around the boy’s shoulders to pull him in a side hug. “It’s good to have you back, son.”

Jake turned his head to bury his head on the older man’s stomach for just a minute. “It’s good to be back, pops.”

—

“MmmMMm, this is the best fucking thing I’ve tasted in forever,” Jake groaned as he shovelled another bite of the steak. Mav was surprisingly talented behind the grill, and apparently the best mac and cheese was Ice’s personal recipe.

“I’m glad you like it, kid, make sure to eat your greens too,” Mav said smiling as he handed Jake the serving bowl of salad.

“Come on, Mav, let the boy enjoy his steak, he just came back from deployment,” Ice said grinning as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

Mav rolled his eyes upwards, “and people call me the irresponsible one.”

“Well, your Navy track record proceeds you.”

“As if yours is as clean as they think it is.”

“I’m better at not getting caught, also, which one of us actually remembered to do groceries this morning, love?” Ice said smirking and giving Jake a wink, making Jake remember to actually put the steak in his mouth as he watched the two banter.

It was surreal to see his Captain and the COMPACFLT in such a domestic situation.

Mav pouted and looked at Jake, “See what I have to deal with?”

Ice chuckled and gave Mav a small peck on the cheek, “You’re what I have to deal with. Forever.” Mav eyes softened at that as he intertwined their hands on the table.

“My wingman for life.”

Jake decided that he was being too nice and fake gagged, “you both our sickeningly sweet, there ain’t supposed to be anythin’ too sweet' with the steak, but you all decided to add too much sugar that ‘m growin’ cavities.” Jake said, narrowing his eyes at them.

“Too much sugar, hmm?” Ice said, raising a brow as he rested his chin on his fist. “So I suppose you don’t want the carrot cake I baked for dessert?”

Jake frowned, “Hey, hey, hey, I ain’t sayin’ that, carrot cake is good and healthy, I want some.”

Ice grinned wider, “What’s the magic word, Jacob?”

Jake rolled his eyes, “pleeaaaasseeee?” He drew out.

“Ah, ah, ah, no sass, young man,” Mav said, raising a fork at him as he stood up to presumably grab the cake.

Jake crossed his arms, “You can’t talk, Mav.”

“I can talk in my own house, kid. Remember, nobody likes a smartass.”

“Then why did Ice marry you?”

“My dashingly good looks, of course,” Mav said flashing a hollywood type smile as he grabbed the cake from the fridge.

Jake squinted, “I don’t see it.” Ice huffed out a laugh at that one as he started cutting up the cake. Jake perked up as Ice put down a big slice for him.

“Thank you, Admiral Kazansky,” Jake said, shoveling the cake in his mouth.

“What did I say about calling me admiral in my own home, son?”

“Not to do it because it makes you feel old, Ice.”

“Good job, now by the way, how are you Jake? Have your injuries healed nicely, or are they still sore?” Ice asks, for the first time looking at Jake seriously dead in the eye.

Jake froze and he felt ice go down his spine as he paused looking up at Ice wide eyed. He thought he got away with it, but of course, this is fucking Iceman, the commander of the Pacific fleet.

“Injuries? What injuries? Jake?” Mav said looking confused as he looked back and forth between the two.

Ice frowned at Mav, “You didn’t know? He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what, out with it, you two,” Mav sternly said.

Jake forced himself to give a small chuckle, “It’s nothing, pops, just a bit of a scuffle in my last deployment, nothing serious.”

He was in the sick-bay for more than a week.

Mav narrowed his eyes at Jake, “Uh-huh, does nothing serious cause you to be back stateside when your previous deployment was supposed to end in 3 months?”

Well, Mav didn’t make it this far for being dumb.

Jake poked down on his carrot cake, “I’m fine, pops, it’s nothin’, really.”

“Jacob Seresin, look at me.” Mav ordered, making Jake tense.

“It’s none of ya business, it’s my private file, you don’t need to know shit,” Jake growled, standing up, good mood ruined.

Jake felt his heart thump against his chest. They shouldn’t know, they can’t know. Why can’t they know? Because they’ll see you as weak. No they won’t. Yes, they will. He wanted them to be there, they can’t they won’t, stop being a bother, stop being a whiny--

“Jake, look at me,” Mav ordered again, albeit in a softer manner, Jake slowly met Mav's eyes, again. "Why didn't you tell us?" 

"I-I don't know," Jake softly admitted. 

He wanted them to find out for themselves, but he could have told them himself. He wanted them to be there sooner. And now that they know even though it's late. It was never their job to know, it was Jake’s job to communicate as a fucking adult.

“Do you really believe that we wouldn’t care?”

Jake shrugged in response. None of them noticed he wasn’t responding to messages for a couple of weeks.

Mav gave out a sigh, making Jake shrink on himself. “Is anyone helping you with taking care of your injuries, bud?”

“Nah, I’m good, pops, takes me a while, but I could figure it out on my own,” Jake said, sighing.

“You shouldn’t have too, son, come on, you need to tend to them before you go to bed, right? How about Mav will help you,” Ice said standing up. “I’ll get the first aid kit, Mav go settle Jake in the guest room.”

“That’s not necessary, sir-” Jake started, eyes wide.

“We know, but we want to help you, Jake,” Mav said gently clasping a hand on his shoulder steering him towards the room.

Jake could have fought, but he didn’t want to. He just nodded as they walked towards the room.

Mav made him sit down on the edge of the bed and ordered him to strip down to show the stitches, and Jake, too tired to argue just silently complied, unbuttoning his shirt to unveil the bandages wrapped around his torso and the patches of bruises scattered all around. 

He looked up when he heard Mav take a deep inhale of breath, seeing the pity in the old man’s eyes, making him scowl and look away. “I don’t want your pity.”

“I’m worried about you, Jake,” Mav said, softly. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“How’d ya know if I told someone?”

Mav gave him a look.

“My commanding officer is my emergency contact, he was the only one who needed to know,” Jake said, running a hand through his hair. “Shit, I don’t know why I’m here, I can do this on my own–”

“At ease, Lieutenant Seresin.” Ice sternly said as he came in with a very big med kit. “Let’s clean up your wounds first, then we’ll talk, alright?”

“Unless you’re really uncomfortable with us helping you,” Mav said, looking sadly at him. “We’re not gonna force you to do anything, buddy, but it would ease our old hearts to see that you’re okay.” Mav said, forcing a smile that just looked sad.

And didn’t that make Jake’s heart clench.

“Fine,” Jake muttered, shifting forward and started removing his old bandages.

Mav gently took over, asking Jake to put his arms up so that he could get to them easier. Mav slowly removed the bandages, making sure skin wasn’t pulled, maneuvering Jake, so that his boy would be as comfortable as possible.

Ice crouched down in front of Jake and showed him the assortment of antibiotic ointments and creams, Jake nodded in consent, pointing out which ones he usually used. Ice nodded as he pulled them out and slowly moved his hand closer to Jake as he worked in tandem with Mav, both of them treating Jake with so much care.

When he let them help him, he expected it to be painful and much longer than if he had done it. That’s usually what happened anyways when he had to rely on others.

He was wrong.

They were slow, but steady, steady made their actions smooth, efficient, fast.

Ice let Jake lean forward, his forehead resting on the older man’s shoulder as the man quickly ran a hand through his hair before dabbling antibiotic cream to the wounds on his back.

Jake swore he just closed his eyes for one second.

“Buddy? Come on Jake-y, wake up for a bit, then you can go back to sleep, okay,” Mav said gently, nudging his shoulder.

Jake grumbled and felt Ice chuckle as he helped the younger man sit up, again.

“Come on, little prince, hands up, please,” Mav murmured, helping Jake into a big hoodie. “Can you change into sweatpants?”

Jake nodded as he clumsily complied, afterwards he blinked and suddenly Mav and Ice were tucking him in the guest room bed. Someone turned the lights off, and the two older men were saying their goodbyes when Jake tugged on Mav’s shirt.

“Mav? I’m sorry I didn’t tell ya, I-I don’t know why exactly I didn’t,” Jake said frowning looking up with half-lidded eyes. “W-wanted ya’ll to be there, just, hard,” Jake muttered.

He felt the bed dip beside him, a calloused hand cupping his cheek, “It’s okay, little prince, I understand, we’ll talk about it more once you rest up, okay?” 

“We’ll be there for you when you wake up, son, and we’ll always be there for you when we can,” Ice said, reaching over to stroke Jake’s hair. 

That was enough for Jake to let himself rest.

—--

("I didn't finish my carrot cake," Jake muttered against Mav's chest.

"It's okay, we still have some more, and how about Ice makes you some chocolate cake tomorrow, buddy?" Mav softly said running a hand through Jake's strands, smirking as Ice scowled at him.

“Didn’t you just bitch about how Jacob here needs his greens, and now–”

“Please, Pa?” Jake said looking up. “I mean the carrot cake is delicious and I love it, so if you’re busy, I get it–”

“No, son, I can make the cake, I’ll just have to use my husband for some logistics help, okay?” Ice said, cutting off his rant as he rubbed Jake’s back.

“I-If it’s okay with you and pops, I don’t want to be a bo-”

“You’re not a bother, plus we were already planning on making chocolate cake for a while, you just gave us an excuse to move up our plans, and have an early cheat day,” Mav said, wagging his eyebrows with a wink.

“More like permanent cheat week,” Ice mattered.)

—

(“Put me down as your emergency contact, please.” Mav said as he squeezed Jake tighter, to make sure the boy won’t have to see the tears building in his eyes. “Please, son.”)

—

(Imagine what happens once the Dagger Squad finds out what happened to Jake.)

[blorbologist]

I wish you would write a fic where Pike never left the Trickfoots but still ends up interacting with VM in some way

Hi anon!

I didn't want to leave this in my inbox for too long - shits just busy - but I DO have ideas for this AU 👀👀👀

The really cool thing to me is that it starts way, way, way before even pre-stream canon so there's plenty of possibilities for butterfly effects! (Which imo a huge backstory change like this should provoke)

And given Grog' backstory is so closely tied to Pike's... >:D

rough notes so far:

Pike starts out as a Divine Soul Sorcerer (Like Dariax); doesn't think much of it, just considers the magic her 'Tricks'.

Given the environment she's raised in her brash, brawdy side is more in evidence - but her kindness does shine through (though she stamps it down around the family. Her parents still left her with Johann & co.)

In VM Origins where VM would usually meet Pike while looking for Grog... they obviously don't find her lol. I can't decide if Pike pretends she is some powerful cleric and scams the shit out of them, or plays Scanlan for a fool and only scams him. Leaning towards the later because it's incredible Kaylie foreshadowing. He does Not learn his lesson, ever.

Either way, proto-VM are miffed and Pike is keen to skedaddle - except the commotion got Wilhand's attention by chance. Pike recognizes the old Trickfoot who offered her a home as a little girl and, in seeing how devastated he is when informed of Grog's condition, she decides to help. Potentially with the intent of scamming the rest of them down the line.

Speaking of Grog: Pike wasn't there to heal him after Kevdak :) and Wilhand alone is too small and not magically inclined. He did what he could, but eventually Grog woke up and just... booked it into the woods.

By the time Wilhand found him there was a... wildness to the young goliath. And without the recent experience of raising Pike, or her influence, Grog has a bit of a feral manner to him (Path of the Totem Warrior)

(This means Totem Barb!Grog absolutely gets Trinket and can ritually cast Speak with Animals. Which is meta funny. Travis loves his wife's fake pet. )

Most pre-stream events are influenced by Pike being more of a self-serving shit, Scanlan feeling really off kilter because she made a fool of him, and Grog... well Grog is still very Grog, except he's closest to Trinket, not Pike. (Vex doesn't know how to feel about that)

I want Pike to still get chopped in half. She has a huge crisis after her resurrection. Her fake preacher tricks are abandoned and she starts to take Cleric levels from here on out, and spends much of the pre-stream year break on a boat.

Grog might come with (to protect Wilhand's kin, something something pack bonding) and they might end up getting close here?

The other Trickfoots, having never lost track of Pike, likely re-enter the story not long after VM start gaining a reputation. A fair part of Pike's arc would be learning to cut off her family, probably with a few backslides accounting for some of her stream absences. 50% chance Scanlan shits in their beds.

Hearing about Vex's death in the Sunken Tomb would be another big turning point. It's bad if she dies, but her friends... she has to be able to bring them back.

Changes will likely pile up around here, depending on what resurrection spells Pike has when deaths occur and how comfortable she can be sacrificing extremely expensive diamonds for her new friends. Probably snowballs into impacting Bards Lament, the progression of other ships, and if Pike can be Sarenrae's Champion during the Vecna arc.

Also she wins the Plate of the Dawnmartyr herself <3 with some sneaky Trickfoot style <3

(I think Pike and Vax are p close in this AU, which might miff Vex. Inversely, this wilder Grog probably buddies up to Vex through Trinket, and Keyleth too. Percy is probably uncomfortable with all of this initially and Scanlan... might not know how to handle a wilder Grog and a sly, mildly self-serving Pike. Pikelan probably has a lot more of Pike pulling Scanlan's leg; she does it in canon here and there but oh boy she'd think he's the funniest, horniest person to dupe and he's smarting for a long time and trying to one-up her until he realizes he genuinely enjoys their banter once she's dead. Hence his offerings at her ritual. I think he also figures out that there was never any real malice behind anything she did, unlike his own pettiness, which causes him to pull away for a bit. Pike meanwhile has Johann and Astra as her only reference for relationships, sooooo this is gonna be fun!)

(The big challenge with this AU to me would be seeing if I could salvage that Grog-Pike bond, and if it can't become strong like canon seeing who else these AU versions of the pair could get close to in similar ways.)

[thatmadshifter11]

The Shadowsinger and The Mistress of Love and Lust Pt.2

As the first rays of dawn break over the horizon, I finally allow myself to rest, leaning against him, our bodies entwined. His once bloody and torn wings are now starting to heal, the skin slowly knitting itself back together. There's still a long way to go, but we've made it through the night, and that's a victory in itself. I let myself relax against the man who I had loved for centuries the one who is now my mate, we haven't even gotten to talk about it the way we are bound to each other. To be completely honest I don’t know if I should even be sleeping beside him since he has said nothing to me other then “Mate” that doesn't mean he accepts it but it also doesn't mean he doesn’t.

I close my eyes, allowing the exhaustion to take over. But even as I drift off, I know that when I wake, I'll be ready to face another day, to continue the fight, to heal and protect my mate. I also know that he will do the same for me even if he doesn’t accept the Bond because that is just the type of man he is one with a heart. You may not be able to tell under all the brooding and shadowy exterior but he is one of the kindest most genuine men I have ever met.

His soft whisper rouses me from my sleep, "Thank you, Cici," and I squeeze his hand in response, and blush lightly noticing our proximity and the way we are both covered in his blood. “uh how about a bath?” I ask easing up from the bed moaning my exhaustion taking over me. Before my pain fully takes over I could’ve swore he said something about how he’d only take one if I joined him. I feel my old scars they are sore and my eyes are slowly lose their sight. I think quickly and using the last of my strength I winnow to Cassian and Nesta’s tent. “Cass? Nes?”

I stumble in blindly bumping into a wall- wait not a wall my best friend, Cass! “Cia are you alright?” he asks shaking me lightly and looking me over. “Where's Az is he ok” he asks frantic. “H-he's fine but I need help,” I say shakily. “My powers are weak and without anything to refuel them before I'm done with Az….” My eyes are welling up with my bloody gold tears and I let them fall.

Cass scoops me into a warm, brotherly hug. I hear Nesta approach, “What do you need to refuel?” she asks me and I can’t help but assume she is crossing her arms like I have watched her do for years when she gets curious. I smile, my senses and skills really show when I'm blind it almost makes me want to stay this way, but I will miss colors and glitter being able to see my family's smiling faces.

“Blood,” my voice shaky as I say it. Nesta huffs and hear footsteps shuffling around next thing I know I loose the presence of my best friend and I'm left myself. I can’t help but let my tears fall. I hear them again and Nesta approaches me grabbing my hands. “Eris said he’ll help he said he's done it before,” she says in a hushed tone.

Which brings me back to the time I spent with Eris camped in a cave hiding from threats, as he survived on animals we killed and my powers keeping him afloat as I kept myself replenished with his strong High Fae blood. He was the first High Fae I had ever drunken from. He allowed me to keep drinking from him as long as he stayed strong and healthy we survived 4 months out in the wilderness that way.

“Where is he?! I need it now,” I say agitated wanting to get back to my mate. “He is going to the healing tent to gather supplies,” “Alright thank you so much Nes,” I said leaning up to give her a kiss on the check which ends up rather sloppily on her ear. She laughs, a sound I haven’t heard from her in awhile. Eris helps me and gives me a few bags of fresh blood so I don't have to wonder around like that again. I rush back to Az fully recharged and ready to help him as much as I can.

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you reviewed Arcanine yet? I know you've done the hisuian form, but how about the regular form?

(Hisuian forms over here and here)

For the record, I do prefer the Hisuian forms for both of these guys. I feel like those forms added a bit more flavor to the line, with the theme being much more obvious and having additional details like Hisuian Growlithe's little bangs. I still like the originals, but the regionals added a lot to this line.

Anyway, that said, OG Growlithe is cute. It's mostly just a canine creature that is very loosely based off of a shisa (lion dog), but beyond that the stripes and wild fur always gave this line a bit of a distinct visual identity despite the relatively subtle theme. The orange color is pleasant and is complimented with additional cream fur, and the black stripes pop nicely.

That said, there are some weird visual quirks going on here—namely, the front paws. Seriously, what on earth is going on there?? It's so weird when it has proper back paws and Arcanine has all four paws as well. The ears are also a bit of a weird shape, something that the Hisuian version fixes.

Arcanine is the more distinct of the two, boasting a giant size (who doesn't want to ride a giant fire-breathing dog, really now), an even wilder mane, and more stripes. I like how it looks pretty strong and almost regal, befitting of the shisa concept. The extra spiky mane is also something rarely seen in modern Pokemon, which prefer smooth, easy-to-model shapes for fur instead.

Visually, I think Arcanine also smooths out some of the weirdness of Growlithe, such as the ear shape and the front paws. The way the head fur connects together to form a giant mane looks more natural than Growlithe's singular head tuft, and extra stripes are always a good thing.

My only visual complaint here is that the stripe patterning starts to feel erratic. The stripes on the legs have a triangular downward motion, while the stripes on the haunches are straight and have a forward motion... and then the stripes in the middle have a triangular shape but a backwards motion. It reduces the flow of the design and feels rather random, compared to picking one shape and direction for the markings and sticking with it. (Hisuian Arcanine does not fix this, but the markings are less noticeable due to the shape of its mane.) Otherwise, I do like it for what it is.

Site note: Arcanine's beta version was known as "wing", because the tufts on its legs were originally shaped like wings. This is why its Japanese name is Windie, why the Pokedex mentions it being able to run really fast, and why Hisuian Arcanine has the wing shape present in its front fur. It was mildly interesting, but it didn't really feel like it connected to Arcanine being a fire-type shisa in any meaningful way. Also, it didn't seem to have stripes in this version, which were a much-needed addition that help break the body up a bit.

Arcanine was also intended to be a legendary Pokemon at this point in development. It does kind of give off that vibe, but it probably makes more sense as just a cool normal Pokemon instead.

Anyway, not the most conceptual Pokemon out there, but still memorable enough and enjoyable in their own right even if the regionals are a little bit more thought out.

[crimsonlyinglilly]

Day 28: bloody nose / medic / abandoned

Day 28 for @augustofwhump.

sorry for being late got distracted starting a quilt.

NEW AU (when will I stop?)

Second Chances-  a attempt to break the Crescent curse goes wrong in an unexpected way, leaving the oldest three Mikaelson siblings waking in a different time.

Time Travel.

Mostly all grown from the seed @theotherworld97 planted.

----

“Freya!”

It was a strange feeling, the sound of both her younger brothers calling her name in concern, something she had never thought to ever have, heartwarming and yet at the same time in this current moment, it was irritating.

She can feel her nose bleed, taste the iron in the back of her throat, but she can almost reach their ancestors powers, the whole reason she had started this. With Elijah to act as her anchor and Finn the additional power she should be able to collect enough power that she would be able to break Dahlia’s curse on the crescent pack and give her niece her mother back.

“I know.” she snapped, as she found what she was looking for “Almost there,”

“This isn’t worth your life.” Finn complained, but she ignored it as she finally managed to connect to their bloodline’s past magic. 

“Something’s wrong.” Elijah’s quieter voice managed to make her open her eyes in concern, her eyes widened in shock as discovered Elijah red blood from his nose and eyes stark against his paler than normal skin.

Before she could call him she felt something grasp at her heart and pull.

Her brother's gasps of shock matched hers before everything went dark.

—

She woke to fallen leaves in her face, bird calls in the air and opened her eyes to find herself on the ground in the middle of some chilly woods and not in one of the upstairs rooms of the compound.

She pushed herself up to look around but all question on how and where they were; vanished as she found herself looking as Finn, her brother in his original body physical as the leaf litter mover as he pushed himself up in front of her. Given the way he was looking at his hands he was just as surprised but he still caught her when she threw herself at him in a hug

“You're alive.” she breathed as she reached out to cup his face, solid and living under her fingers.

“In a way.” he sighed, his hand coming up to rest on hers. She worked out that meant he had returned to his vampire state but she couldn’t care about that, she could understand his hatred of living like that but he was alive that was by far the most important part to her.

 “What happened?” Finn asked after a moment taking in the wilderness around them, she let him go to look around her herself but before she could do anything more a voice called out.

“I was thinking the same.” a far too young voice replied they twisted around at the same time, Finn trying to push her behind as he did.

A boy around 10 was staring at them, dark brown hair and brown eyes leaning heavily on a tree. There was something about him that was familiar to Freya but she couldn’t place it.

“Elijah.” Finn answered for her, her eyes widened as she retook in the boy to memorise the little brother she had missed growing into the man she knew, “How?”

“No idea, “ he shrugged, stepping away from the tree towards them swaying slightly as he did, “I felt myself being torn from my body.”

“Are you ok?” she asked, pulling herself from Finn’s hand to kneel in front of him, he was so small like this she thought as she reached to check him, she couldn’t help it even as she was trying to work out how this had happened.

What could have caused this change to her brother, from vampire back to young witch-

She remembered the state of him before the spell had gone wrong, or before she had noticed, somehow their ancestral magic had reached back and targeted the anchor to pull them away.

She hissed as she realised her mistake, it was their blood, the magic of their blood, she had thought with Elijah no longer a witch, as a vampire he wouldn’t have been affected by it but it seemed even after being turned into a vampire the magic of their blood still called to itself.

She wasn’t sure how that had ended with them in a woods somewhere or why Elijah returned to such a young age, if it wanted to return him to his human state surely it would have been easier to just return him to just before Esther had changed them.

And why hadn’t Finn similarly been transformed.

Her eyes widened as she noticed a second flicker of magic within Elijah, another soul but unlike when she had first met Finn in the other body, this one wasn’t asleep and this one was almost a match with Elijah.

“Your not alone in-” she started,

“This body.” he finished for her, wincing slightly “no, my younger self was looking after the babies when I woke here.”

“Your younger- time travel? That’s not possible.” Finn cut in as Freya’s mind spun.

She had been calling to the magic in their blood, their ancestors, but that had ended with them, they were the last generation for a thousand years so instead of granting her the power, the magic had sent them back to the last witches of their line.

Themselves.

“Time Travel or Parallel Universe, it’s one of them,” Elijah replied sharply, glaring up at Finn over her shoulder as he allowed her to place her hand on his forehead “as this Elijah’s memories are identical to mine from around this time until now. Or do you have another reason I'm stuck as a child?”

“I don't, why just you and not Freya or I?” Finn snapped back.

“I was the one casting the spell with your power, the magic must have viewed us both as witches but Elijah, you had the blood of their line but you weren't so- the magic brought us to the magic we were seeking and returned you the way it saw you should be.” he theorised aloud, swallowing back her comments about how adorable Elijah was this age even glaring at Finn.

Now was not the time, but she was going to treasure the chance she got to see sight of any of her siblings that were stolen from her. 

“So this is our ancestors' answer to correcting that and giving us the power you asked for?” Elijah asked dryly with a slight frown, and Freya had to stop herself from reaching out to pull him into a hug, the impression of looking more like a pout than the look she knew he was aiming for.

She had missed out on all of this, her siblings looking sweet and innocent, unhardened by time. 

“Can we fix this?” he asked again, to call her from her thoughts

“I need time to recover and to find out how you're connected.” she explained, she had to know how and where they had ended up and to ensure she didn’t harm the younger Elijah in any attempt, it would require a delicate touch and power. The second she would have time to recover, the first would take more work.

“ELIJAH!” a shout came suddenly from the woods around them, making her and Elijah jump, she turned to Finn to find him staring in one direction likely listening to whoever it was with supernatural hearing.

“I don't think we have time.” Elijah said, one of his hands moving to clutch his tunic in an uncharacteristic show of nerves, he seemed to notice as his other hand moved to cover it.

“Whose that?” she asked, it sounded like a child, so not one of their parents, she was slightly relieved unsure how she would react to either of them.

“ELIJAH!”

“Finn,” Elijah answered, “I was- he- this body was looking after the others before I woke up here, they would have noticed me vanishing.”

“EYLAUGR!”

“I’M HERE!” Elijah suddenly shouted before his own hand came up to cover his mouth, Freya quickly worked out the cause as she caught the surprise in his eyes shifted to annoyance.

“Elijah!” Finn hissed.

“Wasn’t me,” he snapped back glaring back up at Finn, she looked between them and realised if she wasn’t between them the venom and tension would likely be worse, and here she had thought Klaus and Elijah over the last few months had been bad.

“My younger self is up here.” Elijah told them two fingers tapping at his head. “Besides, do you have another way to deal with this, I'm- this body is going to be missed.”

Finn was silent as they all realised the truth in the statement, Elijah would need to return and play the role of his younger self until they were ready.

Something in Freya’s chest ached at the idea of somewhere beyond the trees were all her younger siblings, Klaus and Rebekah, even Kol who she had just missed out on meeting, too busy relearning the world after another century sleep to know she was losing her time with him and tiny Henrik, the one she had never thought she would get a chance to meet.

He had been dead by the first time she had learnt he ever existed. 

“ELIJAH!” The shout came much closer this time along the sound of frantic steps, she twisted slightly to the sound of it to catch the moment the owner of the voice came into view and saw them.

“Get away from him!” was shouted moments later and suddenly Elijah was pulled from her arms and pushed behind the boy.

Finn, a few years older than Elijah, fourteen perhaps, hair a darker brown making the season nearer winter than summer. Elijah looked somewhat surprised at young Finn’s action looking up at him from his new place at his side with a confused look.

“I wasn’t hurting him.” she offered showing both her hands to him to show her harmlessness, Finn moving behind her to scowl didn’t help her motives.

“Stay away from him, you can’t take him.” young Finn repeated, pulling a knife to keep them back.

She could almost feel her Finn wince behind her as he no doubt realised the same thing as her. A sibling stolen away by a witch, a reminder of Finn’s worst memory.

They were all silent for a moment before Eijah spoke, voice strangely soft and quiet, she wondered if the younger Elijah had managed to take over.

“It’s okay, Finn.” Elijah muttered his hand reaching out to grab Finn’s coat making Freya suddenly realise Elijah was out in the autumn cold in just a tunic, while she was cold, dressed for New Orleans heat, Elijah’s body was just a child it would suffer the effect sooner.

“He’s getting cold.” she said, getting a suspicious glare from Finn before he stepped backwards from them keeping Elijah behind him as he did so, once there was a distance between them he put the knife away and slipped off his coat to push onto Elijah. “Finn- i can’t- you’ll-” Elijah started as he struggled to hold the coat in his arms.

“Eylaugr.” Finn warned and Elijah sighed pulling the coat over him, the size difference meant it covered most of him, sleeves covering his hands and going past his knees and Elijah failed to hide the way he sighed at the sudden warmth.

She frowned at her own failing to notice he was cold when he had been under her reach.

“We’re going.” Young Finn told them before he started to walk away with Elijah under his arm, Elijah managed to send them a nod before he left.

For a moment she can enjoying getting to see the picture she had dreamed of in her first years with Dahlia, her little brothers together. Finn’s arm over Elijah’s shoulder to lead him away from the apparent threat.

Then she catches the words between them.

“Father’s furious,” the young Finn snapped but unlike the older Finn the concern in his voice was clear as was it in the arm still over Elijah’s shoulder holding him tight at his side, almost as if he expected Elijah to still be snatched form him. “you abandoned the little ones alone.”

“What’s the punishment?” Elijah asked with resignation in his words even as their voices faded from her hearing.

“I convinced him to let me find you but-” she caught before it faded completely, leaving her to watch as the pair of her little brothers vanished into the woods.

Punishment, because Freya’s spell had called the child from his task, because her spell had left Elijah in a body that was vulnerable and still under the care of a man that had grown cruel in her loss and a woman that bartered her first child away.

“Finn, we need to follow them.” she told him with sudden urgency, he frowned at her.

“What? Freya, why?” he asked, clearly his attention split between her and the distant sound of his younger self and Elijah.

“We came here together, we can't just abandon.” she explained.

“He’ll be fine.” Finn told her to reinsure her but the flat frown and the way he kept glancing from her to where they had vanished made her doubt it.

What’s the punishment? Elijah had asked unsurprised by it and little Finn hadn’t bothered to deny it.

“I want to see them.” She said, trying from a different angle, “I want to see the family I was taken from, the little siblings we should have got to look after together.”

Finn sighed but gave him, he really hadn’t changed much from her few most precious memories, he had given in back then too.

[widebrimmedhatsblog]

1 and 48!

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

I pretty much always have an end scene in mind when I start writing but the middle is absolutely the wilderness. I usually struggle to feel motivated if I don't know precisely how something is ending. It stresses me out!!

48. do you re-read your own fics? Before they're posted, yes! Even outside of editing if I REALLY like something I've written I'll re-read it a ton before I post it. But for me, once it's posted, I can't re-read it without wanting to edit and change things (obviously you can edit after posting on AO3, but the AO3 html is my sworn enemy) and re-reading with editor brain on is no fun! I'm hoping once I have a big enough break from some of my fics I'll be able to re-read them, especially since I can't remember like...events.

[blade-that-was-broken]

Ahora realmente quiero leer la reacción de John a la popularidad de Brozone y que sean algo que la gente estudia y a algunas cosas locas que dicen de ellos.

Ask: Now I really want to read John's reaction to Brozone's popularity and have them be something that people study and some crazy things that they say about them.

This is definitely something I'd like to think about or even write about if I can get back into the I'm Still Here au mindset. I do have aus of aus... in my thoughts and have a mini-series vaguely planned sooooooo maybeeeee something... I'm not sure yet. But I think it would be crazy funny though.

In I'm Still Here, JD has less of the blunt/obnoxiousness that he seems to have in canon (although honestly, I feel like once things calm down, he's slept for a bit and stuff, JD would chill out too because of reasons but idk since he's the butt of the jokes in canon, I doubt they'd go that route) and more of the tired awkwardness a bit? Like, he's got some social interaction in the last few years but before then? A lot of it was just him and Branch. And although he's good with making friends and stuff, he is NOT used to being around so many trolls consistently.

JD kind of expects Pop Trolls to know and even like Brozone - after all they were probably Pop's most popular band. He quickly comes to the realization that other types of trolls don't know Brozone, he may or may not introduce them. He's very proud of his brother's accomplishments and talents in the band, even if things went wrong.

However, I don't think he'd have a super easy time realizing/thinking that other beings outside of trolls know about Brozone, much less listen to them. But he would be happy about it because of course he would. He loves that people love Brozone.

It's the classes that study them that would surprise him. Don't get him wrong, he absolutely thinks Brozone was great and they did a good job with good music, but he would not expect anyone to be studying or even spending so much time discussing and analyzing his work.

JD wrote all of their songs and since it was a boyband, it's kind of impressive. He not only was IN the boyband, but he wrote all the songs, lyrics and parts for each specific brother, who had different skill sets and ranges, something he would have to keep in mind. A lot of work goes into something like that - with parts that can work cohesively together.

So when Floyd tells him his college spent a week talking about and analyzing Brozone songs and performances - JD thinks it's kind of a joke. Not in a haha, don't be mean Floyd kind of way but a LOL that's a good joke Floyd kind of way.

It takes him even longer to believe that these college professors found HIS writing work impressive. I'm Still Here JD writes because that's one of the few things he knows how to do and although he might not innately realize it, it's kind of a way that he expresses his feelings and stuff. It's more so after the band breaks up, obviously, because he's no longer writing for entertainment songs.

When the band breaks up and he goes into the wilderness with Branch, he actually starts just writing lullabies and funny songs to help teach Branch things or get him to do things. Since he's a baby/child and Trolls are very music-oriented. And then is kind of grows into other feelings and thoughts that JD has. He's SO used to writing, that's kind of how it ends up being expressive for him.

He writes a whole album + of sad songs solely because Clay yelled he was in a sad book club. JD had both very sharp and also very fuzzy memories of the fight. He remembers a lot of words and specific phrases but movements and images are kind of fuzzy to him. This is kind of a side effect of almost dying the first time he left.

If I am ever able to really write down a good scenario of JD finding out about Brozone's popularity - and his esteem - in colleges and stuff, I absolutely will.

[panzershrike-pretz]

*basically falls into your ask box* PRETZ I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVEN'T ASKED YOU SOMETHING YET SORRY

okay 10, 12, 21, and 27 for the hbowar ask game!!

HI BLU!!! Hope you didn't hurt yourself with that fall! XD

10. An OC you can't get enough of?

First of fucking all: I love you guys' ocs!! Feel free to ramble about them to me, I love meeting new characters!

So, starting off with @malarkgirlypop because I absolutely fucking ADORE Emily. She is just the best and reminds me of a friend of the same name, so I just love vibing away with her! Her whole deal comung from the future and being so absolutely different from ths boys but at the same time fitting right in?? Love that

And then there's @coco-bean-1218. I LOVE OC!CLAIRE SO MUCH SHE'S SO ADORABLE!!!! I LOVE HER AND CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE FUCK OUT OF WELL BEHAVED WOMEN NEVER MAKE HISTORY!!! (also can we talk about that title??? Because I love it)

We also got @next-autopsy 's ocs. All of them but like,,,, I have a special something for Francesca. Obviously I live Birdie as well but like. Francesca resonates with me. (I ABSOLUTELY ADORE BIRDIE'S NICKNAME AND SHE REMINDS ME OF A SHRIKE OR A LONG-EARED NIGHTJAR).

Finally, yours! @xxluckystrike! YOUR OCS ARE SO COOL! I am so fucking hyped to learn more about them and eead your fics qhen u post it!!

12. Songs that you associate with certain mutuals?

Idk if I'll be able to give explanations to everyone but I'll try! Also, I use only vibes.

@malarkgirlypop - she makes me think of Set It All Free by Scarlett Johnsson, from the movie Sing! I just adore her vibes so like. Am I wrong? (Don't answer this)

@luckynumber4 - definetely makes me think of the song Everything Moves by Bronze Radio Return! I love this song so much and it brings me Lou vibes, idk why.

@xxluckystrike - you make me think of Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder! You just have this fun vibe and I love it a whole lot!

@whollyjoly - We Own The Night by The Wanted! This is such a upbeat song and I feel like it fits you a lot, but also It's Tough To Be a God from Road to El Dorado, but especifically the Annapantsu cover. Yes it's because of the cult.

@sweetxvanixlla - Biscuits by Kacey Musgraves! You give responsible(TM) vibes a lot. And this song is just adorable like you. Fight me.

@georgieluz - Curses by The Crane Wives. This song makes me think of you, deal with it :]

@land-sh - The Cult of Dionysus by The Orion Experience! Yeah, listen to it and you'll understand.

@next-autopsy - Battlecry by Mazare and Philip Strand. I CANNOT listen to it without thinking of you and Made of Glass! I love this song a lot.

@coco-bean-1218 - Come Along by Cosmo Shelldrake. This is one of my favorite songs and artists and I just HAD to choose it since you were the reason I first got into the BoB fandom!

@footprintsinthesxnd - Fly Away by TheFatRat. I was OBSSESSED with this song not long ago! And it's just so good too? Definetely makes me think of you!

27. What is your favorite moment during your time in the fandom?

That has to be the Cult thing. It started as a joke and took over my fucking life xD

Again, sorry to any mutuals I didn't include! I tried my best here, so enjoy the songs and all that! Love u guys <3

[clumsiestgiantess]

Part 7 of the poll story; choice A!

A) You go to the large protected park

Surely, the extra time you’ll take to get to the larger park would pay off with a wider range of animals for Ralyr to choose from.  You begin making yourself a bowl of cereal for breakfast when a tiny form slowly wanders into the room, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  “Good morning!” you greet him.  He jumps at your voice, but calms immediately afterward.  “Morning,” Ralyr replies happily.  It’s mesmerizing how expertly he makes his way onto the table where you sit.  Glancing around, he starts towards the cereal box, then stops.

“I… don’t know whether I should bother struggling with that box when you can open it for me.  Normally, I’d get it myself, but the last few times I’ve tried to do something on my own, well,” he pauses, ears flicking downward for a moment as he glances up at you.  “You look like I’ve wounded you by trying it instead of waiting for you.”  You blink, unprepared for that kind of scrutiny so early in the morning.  “It.. just feels awkward if I don’t help.”  Ralyr thinks for a moment, then nods, gaze moving away from you.  “Yes, yes I suppose you’re right.  I’m sorry, I think I’m still a bit shocked by this whole situation.”  His eyes take on a faraway stare, and you wonder how long he would’ve had to be alone for him to be confused when others offer help.  Maybe his kind doesn’t even offer to help others in the first place.

He shakes himself awake after the bag of cereal crinkles and you pour out a few pieces for him.  “Thank you for your hospitality,” he tells you earnestly, taking one and biting into it.  You nod, “Would you like a drink too?”  Ralyr blinks surprisedly, “Just some water, if you will.”  

While you both finish your meal, you explain your plan to go to the large protected park.  The little being’s eyes light up excitedly.  “Untamed lands?  I haven’t visited a place of pure wilderness in years!”  “Well, I wouldn’t call them completely untamed,” you amand, “There are trails running through it and-”  “It's close enough!” he gasps, “Are we leaving soon?”  You smile at Ralyr’s excitement.  “Finish breakfast and we’ll go.”  He finishes in the amount of time it takes you to put on shoes and grab the keys.  Hesitantly, you hold out your hand for him to climb on.  Ralyr stares at it dubiously.

“You can’t walk to the car; it’ll take a while for you.”  He grumbles, tapping his chin.  “Can’t you bring me in that?”  A miniscule finger points out the bag you put together for the hike, with a bottle of water and a protein bar or two.  You sigh, confused why he keeps avoiding you.  You don’t want to make your little guest uncomfortable by picking him up and carrying him around, but you can’t deny that it would make you more comfortable — able to ensure he was alright instead of simply tossing him in a bag.  However, you open it for him and let him drop inside.  In the car, a few minutes into the drive, he slides back out of the bag, settling into a cupholder beside you.  The drive is already awkwardly silent, and it just began.

What do you say to break the silence?

A) “So, what was it like living in the supermarket?  I bet supplies were really easy to get.”

B) “What are you going to do when we get there?  Should I walk around with you in my bag, or do I just let you out on your own, and you’ll come back when you’ve taken something?

C) “You seem pretty excited to get back outside!  Any forms in particular you’re searching for?”

D) You can’t get the thought of safety holding him out of your mind.  If you were his size, surely you’d want someone who could protect you from such a big world. “Why.. do you keep avoiding touching me?”