#call outpost for kitty

[docholligay]

Taking The Bit

For her birthday, Jetty asked for a Kitty and Seth story, and I have done my best to give her something I think she'll enjoy. 2600 words. the whole tag for their adventures is here!

Seth wasn’t given to complimenting the world about much of anything, but she had to admit there was something she loved about the busy market days just before a festival. Bakeries opened their doors, the fresh scent of breads pouring into the street, baskets filled with loaves decorated with nuts, and fruits, and carvings of birds. Casks of wine, ready for tapping, hefted onto tables. All manner of things grown and gathered, brushing up against the freshly hung animals of that morning’s slaughter. It was a feast for the sense, and it made me people merry, and merry people didn’t generally cause Seth any trouble, and, more importantly, were easy to convince of almost anything. 

She and Kitty had been in this town only a day or two, a spot between an Elvish city and some human outpost with a cat wizard as their queen, both of whom were rumored to have information on the oracle who’d prophesied Seth’s birth, and her coming into the power, and how she was chosen. Regrettably, it seemed like said oracle was now dead, and so it would be a long week of asking questions of people, some of whom knew, and wouldn’t talk, and some of whom didn’t know, but desperately wanted to be included, and Seth wasn’t sure which she hated more. 

But whatever annoying things lay in the future, Seth was here now, with Kitty, and it was good to be at a market on festival day, sitting on her back as she strolled up to the open window of a tavern where beer came to the streets with a smile. 

The sounds of bards and small-time circus performers rang through the air, but Seth could hear the whispers beneath them, like a far-off brook in the middle of a dark forest. Kitty either didn’t notice or decided getting her beer was more important as she spoke to the man in the window. Seth should be used to it by now, the way people looked at the two of them. Centaurs were never seen anywhere, any exchanges done by only a handful of merchants that ventured to the north and didn’t mind their gruff manner and intense insularity. 

Seth often thought that if she ever decided to retire from challenging her own destiny, she might convince Kitty to become a trader with her. She could get better deals from the centaurs with Kitty as her partner, and Seth had her finger on the pulse of what was popular in all the different cities, as well as what would be popular if the centaurs could be talked into anything but simple exchanges of grain and antler knives. Seth’s mind began to swim with the possibilities: Kitty wore a belt and hatband with a sort of carved and dyed leather, and Seth had seen the looks given to it in the towns, and that little beaded pin in her hatband? The tiny knife she carried that could fold, and had a running centaur inlaid into the antler? All this suggesting craftwork that Kitty didn’t seem to think exceptional, but Seth knew would sell for top dollar; Kitty was impressed by silly things like painted silk anyhow. To say nothing of her extreme wealth once she convinced them to sell the secret of that revolving gun--

“Seth Fuzlae and Kitty McCrae, you are under arrest for theft, conspiracy to commit murder, public drunkenness, public nuisance, smuggling, assault, extortion, trespass, forgery, breach of prison, and public nudity.” 

Seth was torn from her reverie and imminent wealth by a city guard with a paunch and a flopping mustache, who unfortunately was accompanied by five much more impressive-looking friends

Kitty turned back to Seth. “How many of those’d we do?” 

“At least half.” She spread her arms wide to the police officers, “Oh, fine officers of the law! This is simply a case of mistaken identity, not our first, I’m afraid.” 

“Heh.” He put his hands on his hips. “Just another green haired gnome and patchy centaur out on the town, is it?”

“It’s called a paint pattern.” Kitty said, finishing her beer and slmmaing the tankard back on the windowsill.

“Of course!” Seth stood up on Kitty’s back and gave her a light kick. “Certainly you can’t think that only one gnome may have green hair, nor that you be the only blonde human, nor that my centaur friend here cannot have a similar coat to any other.” 

He barely acknowledged her. “You’ll be coming with us.” 

The group of six tightened around them, and Kitty backed herself against the wall. There was no hesitation in any of them, swords drawn, advancing slowly but all too steadily as Seth tried to think. 

“Welp,” Kitty started for her gun,her brow furrowed “I’ve no intention of going in.” 

“Interesting fact! We don’t have to!” She hissed into Kitty’s ear. “These people have never seen a centaur, not a real one.” 

Seth was speaking to Kitty, but it occurred to her she may as well be speaking to herself, for all Kitty paid attention when she was angry. 

“Kitty, you can’t shoot all of them.” Seth whispered through gritted teeth. 

“Hide and watch.” Kitty’s hand gripped the butt of her pistol, and Seth leapt off her back in front of the police. 

“Would we really find a centaur the most clever outlaw?” Seth gestured widely. “I told you, officers, that we’ve been mistaken for this Seth and Kitty before.” 

The policemen crossed their arms. “Aye?”

“And I understand!” Seth’s charm, when she wasn’t being actively hateful, could be quite, well, charming,  and she was fully using it now, drawing the men into her story. “Perhaps we bear a passing resemblance. But gentlemen, as a world-famous,” with this she stretched her hands across the sky, “centaur trainer, let me tell you, they are no great masterminds of crime.” She laughed. “May a cow be a thief? A sheep turn traitor?” 

“Centaur trainer?” 

She bowed low. “Qeck Zizulpless, known throughout towns and nations for my entertainments, you’ve heard of me no doubt. I come to join the entertainers of the market, for this your great festival” 

The men looked at each other, but none of them seemed confident enough in the face of her bravado to deny it. 

She bowed low and called out to the passersby. “Come one! Come all! See the magnificent and storied DANCING CENTAURS of the far lands!” She learned toward the men, who leaned in toward her, mystified by no magic other than Seth’s own personal charm. “My steed, Pearl Birch.” 

They looked at Kitty, staring, and Seth looked back at her, quietly mouthing, ‘come on.’ 

There was a pause, and everyone in the street held their breath for a moment, waiting to see. 

Kitty snorted and pawed at the ground with her hoof, shaking her head. 

Seth gave a deep sigh of relief and continued on her dramatic speech. “Such things as you have never seen, far and wide! A TRAINABLE CENTAUR.” She gestured to the crowd. “I captured her myself, as a colt, her parents slain by wolves,” she tried not to look back at Kitty, hoping she was simply still pretending to be the stupid animal the larger world already took her for, “I raised this wild creature and she trusts only me! Stand back!” 

A man clutched his child a little tighter, and Seth’s eyes glistened with the joy of the con. There was an undeniable joy in making people think what you wanted, even more so when they only needed to be compelled by her mouth and not her magic. 

Even the guards were standing and watching, their swords drooping as they stared at Kitty, the wonder in their faces. Wonder that Seth was extremely ready to turn into fear. 

“Now centaurs, of course, are dangerous animals, attacking even each other in great warlike bands,” She turned around and looked directly at Kitty, “KICKING their enemies to death.”

Kitty took the cue, and slammed her back legs into the wall behind her, the plaster cracking and trembling, a piece of shale falling from the roof. The crowd gasped, and one child burst into tears. 

“Now Pearl,” Seth began to walk backwards slowly, her palms outstretched. “I want you to walk toward me. Slowly. Me. See only me. Forward, girl!” 

Kitty slowly stepped toward Seth, who was backing her way toward the apparent captain of all of these guards, the one with the mustache that Seth thought his loved ones should be kind enough to tell him looked incredibly stupid. Kitty stepped heavy, slamming every hoof down into the ground as everyone stared, silent. 

Seth felt herself in the shadow of the captain, and drew Kitty just a little closer to her. Her eyes glinted as she raised a fist to the sky. 

“Pearl! Up!” 

Kitty reared on her back legs, the image of her so striking against the wide blue of the sky that one person muttered a prayer to some small-time God, and then, after a few held seconds, Seth brought down her hand, and Kitty reacted in perfect concert, thudding her hooves down right in front of the captain, who suddenly looked as if he’d never heard of Seth Fuzlae. 

Seth laughed and turned around, backing away from the captain and working the crowd, Kitty still glaring at the man in front of her. 

“But that’s not all! No! Hold your coins!” Seth tossed her hair “And perhaps they will multiply. As I show you something not seen outside of the arcane and mysterious realms, where I received my training in the calming of wild beasts. In these lands, far away, and long-hidden, the finest of their trained warriors, sujch as myself, prove their worth in a dance with their mount, as I will show you today.” 

Seth strode confidently over to Kitty and clucked her tongue toward her. Kitty obediently set Seth on her back, though Seth really did wish she would stop glaring at that man like she meant to kill him later and just enjoy the show. She had no flair for the theatrical and it was her greatest flaw, short of thinking her should shoot her way out of anything. 

“It is an ancient kind of dance they call...DRESSAGE! Bard!” She pointed to a man with a lute “Some music, please!” 

Seth sat down on Kitty’s back, trook up the strap on Kitty’s holster, and took a deep breath. She wouldn’t reach into Kitty’s mind. She had promised she never would, and she never had. It wasn’t that Seth minded breaking a promise, but it seemed wrong after they’d spent this time together in a way it seemed merely a way to keep Kitty from abandoning her earlier. Maybe she was getting soft in her old age. 

In any case, she simply had to hope that Kitty would understand what she meant. That she would feel it. 

“Hup hup!”

 As the bard’s jaunty little tune began, Seth gave a little bounce on Kitty’s back, and she responded, bouncing forward so slowly that she almost seemed to be standing in place. The crowd began to point, and clap, and a young man pulled on the reins of his horse, who simply looked at him, annoyed. The music continued as she pulled lightly on Kitty’s side, and Kitty crossed her legs one over the other, gpoing in a sideways motion, to the awed gaze of the crowd, hands dansheing to mouths as Seth swayed her head and gestured with a wide smile. Kitty turned in a tight pirouette as she hopped, children digging into their parents’ pouches for coins. 

Seth indicated to the bard that she wanted a big finish, and he sped up, as Kitty broke into a small gallop and turned around a cask of ale, then another of wine, running back to the crowd as Seth took Kitty’s hat off and held it out to the waiting crowd, who applauded wildly as Kitty stopped and reared once more, the crowd throwing coins as Seth beamed. Of course, a few of them struck Kitty and Seth, so after a moment, they swept down to the crowd, holding out that hat as it grew nearly too heavy for Seth to carry. 

“Never forget!” Seth proclaimed, making her voice boom with her natural vigor and a touch of magic, “The fine, fine trick you have seen played this day. Remember the name of Qeck Zizulpless, wizard of the time, tamer of terrifying, and--”

Kitty gave an annoyed, and, Seth meant to tell her later, a very fake sounding, whinny. 

“But we must fly from here, for there is yet another festival that awaits us, new people seeking to be amazed! By feats unknown, and dangers unfeared. Gentleman.” She tipped the edge of Kitty’s hat and very nearly lost a coin. “Pearl! Away!” 

They galloped off into the forest before anyone had the time to think that it was anything but the finest show they had ever seen. It was silly to think of a centaur as a criminal anyhow.

____

Seth counted her money, as she sat by a low fire on the edge of a meadow. It was true, though, the larger part of her said. Well, their money she supposed, though there was a part of her that loathed thinking that way. They were partners, now, whether either of them wanted to admit it, or not. Kitty had made a passable stew, and set it in front of Seth wordlessly, much as she’d done anything since they’d left the town.

Seth had long since given up on trying to figure out what Kitty was thinking at any given moment. Luckily, Seth didn’t think this took much figuring. 

“You know I don’t think that, right?” Seth stared into her bowl of stew pointedly. “That centaurs are...animals.” 

Kitty ladled some stew into her bowl and shrugged. “I know.” 

“It’s just--” 

“I get it, Seth. You gotta dance with them what brung you and if everyone believes a thing sometimes it’s alright to let that thing be true to save your own hide.” She settled in next to the fire and tore off a piece of bread, rending the wing from a bird on the brown crust. “The Great Mare always tells us to be the best we can, as much as we can, but life’s also life and you saved our asses today. I woulda tried to shoot my way out of it, and we know how that woulda gone.” 

The fire crackled in agreement. 

She dipped her bread in the stew. “Pragmatism’s not a sin, Seth.” 

“I didn’t say I was sorry, Kitty.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “I’m glad I didn’t let you die like an idiot today, WHICH YOU WOULD HAVE.” she stirred her stew. “I said it was important to me that you know I don’t think that about you. I don’t think you’re just an animal.”

“Thanks.” Kitty studied her bowl intensely.

“I mean, I think you’re dumb in an entirely non-animal way.” 

Her head snapped up. “You ever think ‘I should stop talking ‘bout one sentence earlier,’ or does that just never occur to you?” 

“I think we should keep that dressage act as something--”

Kitty leaned forward and reached for the skin of wine. “You can forget about that right damn now, you little--”

“I saved your life!” Seth tried to grab for the skin, pulling it back. 

Somewhere, something laughed, and something settled, and another piece of the prophecy might have slid into place.

[beargrace]

yoooooooo its been another 2 years you know what time it is (thank my SO for bringing up this post again last night)

Spring Awakening OST- Mama Who Bore Me (Reprise)

Grease OST- There are Worse Things I Could Do

Queen- Don’t Stop Me Now

Electric Light Orchestra- Mr. Blue Sky

Oliver Buckland- Icosa

Gurumin OST- Animal Minimal

Alkaline Trio- Movin’ Right Along (hey the punk version this time! lmfao)

Doja Cat- Go to Town

Jack Johnson- Upside Down

Undertale OST- Oh my…

Deltarune OST- Attack of the Killer Queen

Night in the Woods OST- Video Outpost “Too” (gonna make me CRY shuffle, i love nitw so much, fall needs to come back already so i can think about this game 24/7)

Nat King Cole- L-O-V-E

Mungo Jerry- In The Summertime

The Irish Rovers- The Jolly Roving Tar

Bo Burnham- 1985

The 8-Bit Big Band- I Am Impact! (From “Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon”)

DDLC OST- Ohayou Sayori!

Jack Stauber (Micropop)- 0Doctor

Tally Hall- Ruler of Everything

plasterbrain- Nimbasa CORE

The Beatles- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

(Minecraft OST) C418- Dry Hands

Evanescence- Bring Me to Life

(Persona 5 OST) Lyn- Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There

Arctic Monkeys- Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?

A Goofy Movie OST- Nobody Else But You

Toto- Hold the Line

Powfu & beebadoobee- death bed

Marina and The Diamonds- Sex Yeah

Wind Rose- Diggy Diggy Hole (cover)

Jamiroquai- Virtual Insanity

Ninja Sex Party- Attitude City

Maretu- Siu

Cyriak Harris- Kitty City

BONUS SONG: Scratch21- Big Balls

as tradition, ive added 5 more to the list! this time was chaotically soundtrack ridden. also a pain in the ass as tumblr kept closing on me and losing progress on adding/editing. Oh well. at least some of my own normal music poked through as well. theres always next time xD (added a bonus song that I chose as well since I wanted to complete the color pattern lol)

update on the favorite band though; NSP is still in my favorites but my normal artist favorites are also Tally Hall and Jack Stauber lol

YOU CAN TELL A LOT ABOUT SOMEONE BY THE TYPE OF MUSIC THEY LISTEN TO.
HIT SHUFFLE ON YOUR IPOD, PHONE, ITUNES, MEDIA PLAYER ETC AND WRITE DOWN THE FIRST 20 SONGS.
ONE RULE: NO SKIPPING

The Hoosiers- Cops and robbers

???- Rasputin

Your favorite Martian- Stereotypes song

Billy Joel- Uptown girl

All Time Low- Umbrella

Ashe- The gypsy bard (homestuck parody)

Adam Lambert- For your entertainment

JJ Demon- RIP everyone

Marina and the Diamonds- Girls

Never Shout Never- Can’t stand it

Miss Pavalova- DESPAIR

Lustra- Scotty doesn’t know

Simon Curtis- Super psycho love

Hetalia P.i.W- Wa wa world ondo

Paramore- The only exception

APH- Einsamkeit

Set it Off- Partners in Crime

The Offspring- Pretty fly (for a white guy

Cobra Starship- Hot mess

Frauenarzt and Manny Marc- Die atzen (disco pogo)

[luxmaeastra]

Wild Valg didn't usually get close to their defenses. But for whatever reason this one had, Sebastian had rigged a trap to catch it.

Of all the Valg Houses theirs, the House of Blood had the most wild ones it in. Feral beasts as the Fae called them. But they didn't know the reasoning these happened.

Proteus stared at the cub. The tiny growl it gave him. He exhaled and picked it up ignoring as it began to try to tear into his vambraces.

He found Devlon easy enough. Pity it was when was having breakfast with their granddaughters. He kept the cub fae from Shahar and Sandriel.

He looked to Devlon and Cassian.

"We found the culprit that had been getting into the livestock pens."

He set the cub on the table and looked to his son.

"What do you want to do with it?"

Devlon's lips twitched but he didn't comment going back to his meal. Cassian was the Warlord in this outpost. He would have his son disrespected just because Devlon didn't agree with some of his ideas.

His fried had calmed in recent years of course with the birth of the girls. But then he couldn't blame him. They had them both wrapped around their fingers.

Yvette came back frowning at the wild thing on her table. She glared at him setting the pot down.

"Why did you bring a wild animal into my home Proteus?"

"This one has been the one chewing the fences of the livestock pens apparently."

"Are you accusing me lying Devlon?"

Devlon snorted at him waving him off.

"No, but I am saying you were never very detailed orie - Sandriel darling don't -"

They all moved but Sandriel was faster reaching to touch the cub. It stopped cowering and trying to bite at the net it had been in. It purred, licking her fingers. She beamed at her father.

"Papa can we keep the kitty? Please?"

Keep the kitty. Cassian's eyes rose to Yvette when the question came, knowing very well that she would be one of two minds - which always depended upon her mood. It was sometimes hard to read her, only for the sake that she was not always an open book around others.

It was clearly a means of protection, of not wanting to overstep her bounds in front of others. Yet he always desired and respected her opinion.

Sighing he leaned back in his chair, his eyes looked towards Sandriel. "I believe this is a question for your mother, after all this is our household and she has ever right to make the last decision on having a wild cat within her house."

His eyes caught Yvette's, his lips quirked slightly. His wild cat.

[cosmic-voids]

You have no room to judge us @mistressphobia

[fairyhaven13]

I finally think I got a good handle on my non-SWTOR Star Wars OC! I wanted something unusual, so I went with a hybrid of a Theelin and a Farghul, since Theelins are already rare enough that they had to hybridize to sustain their race, and Farghuls are cute kitties. Thus, I have the Star Wars equivalent of a teifling! Woo! I’ll put her BG under the cut.

Edit: AH FRICK I forgot the shadows at her feet. Just ignore that, I’m too tired to go back and fix it, my dog is being put down tomorrow and I just don’t want to bother.

Dottie is an orphan raised in Black Spire Outpost by one of the grubby business owners who runs a bar. The bar is mostly visited by smugglers and scoundrels. Dottie was named because of her unusually bright Theelin speckles, and because her boss/father figure is super unoriginal. His bar is just called Bar.

Cad Bane is sent to search around Black Spire Outpost around 8 ABY, a year before the Book of Boba Fett happens, to look for traces of the Rings of Vale that have disappeared by then. He visits the Bar and finds Dottie amusing because of her endless cheer, and goes several times hoping to see somebody torch her as karma for being too nice. Dottie happens on the Rings while taking a hike through the woods, and they burn into her palms, giving her the powers of the Rings permanently.

Cad initially tries to capture her for his employer, until her new powers go out of wack and injure the both of them, and out of kindness she uses her new powers to heal him. This baffles him--what good is kindness?? But, he sees the use of having a source of somewhat-immortality, and so he makes a new deal to be her bodyguard if she’ll let him use some of the Rings’ power to stay immortal. This comes in handy after 9 ABY, when Boba stabs him, and Todo takes him to Dottie to get healed.

After that, Cad convinces Dottie to come with him for convenience, so he doesn’t have to keep flying to her to get his fix. The side effect of this is that Dottie’s kindness makes dirty work hard, and so he either has to tell her to close her eyes and walk into the other room when he does something unpleasant, or else take a more “moralistic” job. It really, really annoys him at first when she refuses to help him otherwise, but after a while he gets more used to this new standard. He’s still fearsome enough to keep his reputation, and changing his tactics some is worth it to keep living for basically forever.

That is, until the Rings start to have a corrupting influence on Dottie, and Cad must decided whether to keep her as his Philosopher’s Stone even as she goes mad and shrivels on herself, or remove the Rings and save her. His life or hers? It would have been an easy decision a year ago. Now, it’s not so much.

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis; August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because she photographed so well in that medium.

Fleming was born Marilyn Louis in Hollywood, California, to Harold Cheverton Louis, an insurance salesman, and Effie Graham, a stage actress who had appeared opposite Al Jolson in the musical Dancing Around at New York's Winter Garden Theatre from 1914 to 1915. Fleming's maternal grandfather was John C. Graham, an actor, theater owner, and newspaper editor in Utah.

She began working as a film actress while attending Beverly Hills High School, from which she graduated in 1941. She was discovered by the well-known Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who changed her name to "Rhonda Fleming".

"It's so weird", Fleming said later. "He stopped me crossing the street. It kinda scared me a little bit -- I was only 16 or 17. He signed me to a seven-year contract without a screen test. It was a Cinderella story, but those could happen in those days."

Fleming's agent Willson went to work for David O. Selznick, who put her under contract.[5][6] She had bit parts in In Old Oklahoma (1943), Since You Went Away (1944) for Selznick, and in When Strangers Marry (1944).

She received her first substantial role in the thriller, Spellbound (1945), produced by Selznick and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. "Hitch told me I was going to play a nymphomaniac", Fleming said later. "I remember rushing home to look it up in the dictionary and being quite shocked." The film was a success and Selznick gave her another good role in the thriller The Spiral Staircase (1946), directed by Robert Siodmak.

Selznick lent her out to appear in supporting parts in the Randolph Scott Western Abilene Town (1946) at United Artists and the film noir classic Out of the Past (1947) with Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, at RKO, where she played a harried secretary.

Fleming's first leading role came in Adventure Island (1947), a low-budget action film made for Pine-Thomas Productions at Paramount Pictures in the two-color Cinecolor process and co-starring fellow Selznick contractee Rory Calhoun.

Fleming then auditioned for the female lead in a Bing Crosby film, a part Deanna Durbin turned down at Paramount in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), a musical loosely based on the story by Mark Twain. Fleming exhibited her singing ability, dueting with Crosby on "Once and For Always" and soloing with "When Is Sometime". They recorded the songs for a three-disc, 78-rpm Decca album, conducted by Victor Young, who wrote the film's orchestral score. Her vocal coach in Hollywood, Harriet Lee, praised her "lovely voice", saying, "she could be a musical comedy queen". The movie was Fleming's first Technicolor film. Her fair complexion and flaming red hair photographed exceptionally well and she was nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor", a moniker not worth much to her as she would have preferred to be known for her acting. Actress Maureen O'Hara expressed a similar sentiment when the same nickname was given to her around this time.

She then played another leading role opposite a comedian, in this case Bob Hope, in the The Great Lover (1949). It was a big hit and Fleming was established. "After that, I wasn't fortunate enough to get good directors", said Fleming. "I made the mistake of doing lesser films for good money. I was hot – they all wanted me – but I didn't have the guidance or background to judge for myself."

In February 1949, Selznick sold his contract players to Warner Bros, but he kept Fleming.

In 1950 she portrayed John Payne's love interest in The Eagle and the Hawk, a Western.

Fleming was lent to RKO to play a femme fatale opposite Dick Powell in Cry Danger (1951), a film noir. Back at Paramount, she played the title role in a Western with Glenn Ford, The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951).

In 1950, she ended her association with Selznick after eight years, though her contract with him had another five years to run.

Fleming signed a three-picture deal with Paramount. Pine-Thomas used her as Ronald Reagan's leading lady in a Western, The Last Outpost (1951), John Payne's leading lady in the adventure film Crosswinds (1951), and with Reagan again in Hong Kong (1951).

She sang on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour during the same live telecast that featured Errol Flynn, on September 30, 1951, from the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

Fleming was top-billed for Sam Katzman's The Golden Hawk (1952) with Sterling Hayden, then was reunited with Reagan for Tropic Zone (1953) at Pine-Thomas. In 1953, Fleming portrayed Cleopatra in Katzman's Serpent of the Nile for Columbia. That same year, she filmed a western with Charlton Heston at Paramount, Pony Express (1953), and two films shot in three dimensions (3-D), Inferno with Robert Ryan at Fox, and the musical Those Redheads From Seattle with Gene Barry, for Pine-Thomas. The following year, she starred with Fernando Lamas in Jivaro, her third 3-D release, at Pine-Thomas. She went to Universal for Yankee Pasha (1954) with Jeff Chandler. Fleming also traveled to Italy to play Semiramis in Queen of Babylon (1954).

Fleming was part of a gospel singing quartet with Jane Russell, Connie Haines, and Beryl Davis.

Much of the location work for Fleming's 1955 Western Tennessee's Partner, in which she played Duchess opposite John Payne as Tennessee and Ronald Reagan as Cowpoke, was filmed at the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, (known as the most heavily filmed outdoor location in the history of film and television). A distinctive monolithic sandstone feature behind which Fleming (as Duchess) hid during an action sequence, later became known as the Rhonda Fleming Rock. The rock is part of a section of the former movie ranch known as "Garden of the Gods", which has been preserved as public parkland.

Fleming was reunited with Payne and fellow redhead Arlene Dahl in a noir at RKO, Slightly Scarlet (1956). She did other thrillers that year; The Killer Is Loose (1956) with Joseph Cotten and Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956), co-starring Dana Andrews, at RKO. Fleming was top billed in an adventure movie for Warwick Films, Odongo (1956).

Fleming had the female lead in John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) co-starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, a big hit. She supported Donald O'Connor in The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and Stewart Granger in Gun Glory (1957) at MGM.

In May 1957, Fleming launched a nightclub act at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. It was a tremendous success. "I just wanted to know if I could get out on that stage – if I could do it. And I did! ... My heart was to do more stage work, but I had a son, so I really couldn't, but that was in my heart."

Fleming was Guy Madison's co star in Bullwhip (1958) for Allied Artists, and supported Jean Simmons in Home Before Dark (1958), which she later called her favorite role ("It was a marvellous stretch", she said).

Fleming was reunited with Bob Hope in Alias Jesse James (1959) and did an episode of Wagon Train.

She was in the Irwin Allen/Joseph M. Newman production of The Big Circus (1959), co-starring Victor Mature and Vincent Price. This was made for Allied Artists, whom Fleming later sued for unpaid profits.

Fleming travelled to Italy again to make The Revolt of the Slaves (1959) and was second billed in The Crowded Sky (1960).

In 1960, she described herself as "semi-retired", having made money in real estate investments. That year she toured her nightclub act in Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

During the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, Fleming frequently appeared on television with guest-starring roles on The Red Skelton Show, The Best of Broadway, The Investigators, Shower of Stars, The Dick Powell Show, Wagon Train, Burke's Law, The Virginian, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, Kung Fu, Ellery Queen, and The Love Boat.

In 1958, Fleming again displayed her singing talent when she recorded her only LP, entitled simply Rhonda (reissued in 2008 on CD as Rhonda Fleming Sings Just For You). In this album, which was released by Columbia Records, she blended then-current songs like "Around The World" with standards such as "Love Me or Leave Me" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". Conductor-arranger Frank Comstock provided the musical direction.

On March 4, 1962, Fleming appeared in one of the last segments of ABC's Follow the Sun in a role opposite Gary Lockwood. She played a Marine in the episode, "Marine of the Month".

In December 1962, Fleming was cast as the glamorous Kitty Bolton in the episode, "Loss of Faith", on the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, Kitty pits Joe Phy (Jim Davis) and Peter Gabriel (Don Collier) to run against each other for sheriff of Pima County, Arizona. Violence results from the rivalry.

In the 1960s, Fleming branched out into other businesses and began performing regularly on stage and in Las Vegas.

One of her final film appearances was in a bit-part as Edith von Secondburg in the comedy The Nude Bomb (1980) starring Don Adams. She also appeared in Waiting for the Wind (1990).

Fleming has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Fleming worked for several charities, especially in the field of cancer care, and served on the committees of many related organizations. In 1991, her fifth husband, Ted Mann, and she established the Rhonda Fleming Mann Clinic for Women's Comprehensive Care at the UCLA Medical Center.

In 1964, Fleming spoke at the "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The gathering, which was hosted by Anthony Eisley, a star of ABC's Hawaiian Eye series, sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court, which struck down mandatory school prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Joining Fleming and Eisley at the rally were Walter Brennan, Lloyd Nolan, Dale Evans, Pat Boone, and Gloria Swanson. Fleming declared, "Project Prayer is hoping to clarify the First Amendment to the Constitution and reverse this present trend away from God." Eisley and Fleming added that John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Roy Rogers, Mary Pickford, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Pat Buttram would also have attended the rally had their schedules not been in conflict.

Fleming married six times:

Thomas Wade Lane, interior decorator, (1940–1942; divorced), one son

Dr. Lewis V. Morrill, Hollywood physician, (July 11, 1952 – 1954; divorced)

Lang Jeffries, actor, (April 3, 1960 – January 11, 1962; divorced)

Hall Bartlett, producer (March 27, 1966 – 1972; divorced)

Ted Mann, producer, (March 11, 1977 – January 15, 2001; his death)

Darol Wayne Carlson (2003 – October 31, 2017; his death)

Through her son Kent Lane (b. 1941), Rhonda also had two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly), four great-grandchildren (Wagner, Page, Lane, and Cole), and two great-great-grandchildren.

She was a Presbyterian and a Republican who supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.

Fleming died on October 14, 2020, in Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California, at the age of 97. She is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

[trashroyalty99]

There is nothing on this website (or anywhere for that matter) about Scooter so please may I have some headcanons for my favourite space cowboy? 🥺

You most certainly can. Scooter is an funny case as he's a fan favorite, yet there's so little content for him. Which, I'm here to do something about it.

Random and domestic headcanons for Scooter.

-Scooter as most will depict him is larger than life person.

-He will do everything with 110% motivation and effort. This usually leads him getting into some trouble but that won't dim his motivation. (Or brighten his sense of danger.)

-He has no idea when's appropriate to say something and when isn't. This often leads to some embarrassing situations.

"Holy, moley you're hot. Hot like skag turd under the sun."

"Thanks? I'm not sure, how to take that."

-It's not rare to hear an explosion going off in Scooter's garage as he's almost always trying to make the engines more kick-ass.

-When he's not tinkering with cars and engines it's save to assume he's at Moxxi's eating.

-He loves the food his mama makes for him. He will eat like a horse. It's still shocking to many how much he can eat.

-Brick once decided to challenge Scooter to an eating competition. Scooter won unsurprisingly. Mordecai and Lilith had to drag him to Zed's place to get him something to ease the pain.

-Scooter may seem like blabber mouth, but surprisingly he can keep an secret. If, others have told him something confidential, they can trust for Scooter to not say anything.

-Despite him being usually dirty, he enjoys a good shower. It's a nice feeling for him to rub off the grease from his hands.

-The cap he wears was an birthday gift from Moxxi,. It was their first year away from the Nomads, as well. He has had Ellie fix it many times for him, so he's gotten extremely attached to it.

-When Ellie moved away Scooter felt bad about it. He didn't mean, it that way. If, she had just said something about it, he would've kept respectful boundaries.

-Scooter isn't as good as a driver as he's a mechanic. He can drive the vehicle, yes but that one time he attended an race, he lost. And the Outrunner got completely wrecked.

-This is the main reason he's searching for an driver to compete in the races. As it would bring more publicity to Catch-a-ride and his creations would get to be used to their fullest potential.

-Scooter's handwriting is bad. Like, the doctor kind bad. Everyone is surprised that he can actually read it. Or that he's coming up with it on the spot.

-Scooter had some trouble when starting off Catch-a-ride. Not, only Pandora isn't the easiest place to start an company but psychos stopped him from setting up the first Catch-a-ride station. But, once he got things rolling it became easier and easier to make new stations.

-Scooter isn't as busy as you'd expect him to be. Despite, him being owner of Catch-a-ride he barely does any of the paperwork. He hired an assistant early on to do them for him. Moxxi will also occasionally help him with them, when she's not too busy with her own business.

-Scooter is protective of his friend and family. He will always make sure they're safe and try to help them. But, with his significant other there are times when he's bit overprotective.

-If, you're going out to raid some outpost this discussion will most likely break out.

"Babe, I'll be borrowing your Outrunner."

"Nonono. You won't."

"And why is that?"

"I just... I just got it cleaned up. That's why you can't go out."

"Scooter, I'll be okay." You kiss him on the cheek. "It's nice for you to think of my safety but trust me. I'll be fine."

-He will usually give in. Unless, it's about Hyperion. Those are the times, he won't let you go.

-Scooter has no idea when to stop working. So, it's not rare to see him falling asleep while working on a engine.

-Which, means his significant other will either bring an blanket for him or carry him to the couch.

-If, the later one happens Scooter will pull you with him down to the couch and won't let go.

-You just admit defeat and cuddle with the greased up man and sleep with him. On the morning, you'll be woken up by Scooter bringing breakfast to you.

-He's thoughtful like that. Except, he can't cook meaning your breakfast is burned eggs and bacon. Which, you believe is bacon. It could be coal for all you know.

-A lot of dates, will be spend in the garage working on cars or watching movies/shows. He really likes animal documentaries. It's outside of his usual interests and he gets something else to think.

-He at one point wanted an cat as an pet. But, he soon realized that his garage wouldn't be the best place for it, so he gave up on that thought.

-He would've called the cat Scooter Junior.

-He has a tendency to name his cars, so when you're asking about spefic car it'll go pretty much like this.

"Wow, that's amazing looking car."

"Oh, that's Jillian. She's a beauty ain't she? Fastest Outrunner I've done so far."

"You've, named it?"

"Hell yeah, I've named all of these ladies. That one over is Bethany and next to her is Kitty."

-He even does custom license plates for them. Or for anyone, if they ask for them.

-He will have an secret handshake he wants to teach you. After a while it's your normal way of greeting each other.

-Scooter as his name suggests actually owned an scooter once in his life. He used to drive with it everywhere but once he got taste of Outrunner's speed he didn't look back.

-He does still have it in his garage. Waiting for the day to be used again.

-Scooter always wanted to see the world beyond Pandora but his dreams were shot down by his noble sacrifice. He at least died while riding the stars.

Soo, yeah. Some random headcanons I have about Scooter and some domestic ones as well. Thanks for ask.

[scumpatrol]

@slartibartfast tagged me and i keep getting butt acne so i figured i should do it before i get more 😔

name: hmm u may call me ~ hay ~ 🤔

gender: 💦

height: 5’ 3” 🤔

sexuality: 🤔

fave animal: kitty kitty

avg. hours of sleep: sometimes 5 sometimes 8 i live life on the edge ���🏼😔✌🏼

current time: 3:30pm 🤔

dream job: getting paid to take baths 💅🏼

when i made this blog: whenever inglourious bastards came out because i was obsessed with eli roth 💦

why i made this blog: eli roth 👁👁

reason for url: the best devo song evr duh 😒

i’m tagging @nineinchniles @manicmaiden @coooolbabies @fatcuck @hotdadblog @zackgreinkes @jimdjango @king-of-the-outpost @lilwaynegacyjr @moncrieflanier @pastabot @taintmansion @uncunt-femmes @undertheearth @horrifyingemanation

pls don’t hate me 🖕🏼😾🖕🏼

[lothiriel84]

Just a few random considerations after my latest rewatch of series 1 of BBC Ghosts last night. 

Ghosts vs. the living

It’s extremely interesting that while as a rule humans are completely unable to see/hear ghosts, (some) animals are in fact shown to be able to sense the presence of a ghost, to the point of attempting to interact with them - see Tali (?) the dog barking up at Robin, and then wanting to be petted by Pat. 

It remains unclear whether that’s down to some kind of sixth sense specifically possessed by animals (dogs? bears? any animal at all?) as opposed to humans, or it somehow implies that the animal in question had a scrape with death at some point in the past. (Although the latter doesn’t sound very likely when it comes to Barclay’s dogs, or I should hope so, at least.)

Another interesting point is how often exactly do dead animals turn into ghosts. So far, the only animal ghost (or should that be ghost animal?) we’ve been shown is Button House’s resident pigeon - could that be because animals don’t often have any real unfinished business barring their access to whichever sort of afterlife is reserved to their kind? (But more importantly, was Arthur Shappey right in believing heaven is, in fact, full of otters?)

Schrödinger’s (attempted) murder

As I mentioned elsewhere - probably in the tags while reblogging someone else’s gifs, to be honest - I believe Julian being genuinely unable to tell whether he successfully pushed Alison out of the window or she basically lost her balance and fell as a consequence makes for a much more interesting scenario. 

To be absolutely clear, that would make no difference when it comes to him being guilty of attempted murder; he is shown to have no qualms whatsoever about killing Alison, and when all is said and done, it hardly matters whether his goal was reached by his own hand or through dumb luck (plus a non-indifferent dose of carelessness on Alison’s part).

All I’m saying is, think back of how much trouble he had with pushing a vase which was comparatively not all that bigger than a cup. And even if he did know for sure - admittedly, he might be capable of feeling the reaction of the object he pushes against, should he succeed in doing so - I, as a viewer, would very much rather be afforded a little room for doubt. Not for the sake of Julian’s character, but as I feel it somehow raises the stakes of this particular storyline.

Alison as one of the coolest characters ever

Not only does Alison figure the whole seeing-dead-people situation mostly by herself - with a little help from the ghost therapist at the hospital, but she could have easily written off the entire episode as yet another of her alleged post-traumatic hallucinations - but more importantly, her reaction when she realises she’s effectively stuck with a haunted house as well as a potentially bankruptcy-inducing mortgage is one of the coolest moments in the entire series. 

I dare say most people would be inclined to lose the plot a little bit, when faced with such simultaneously dire yet completely absurd circumstances; Alison, on the other hand, simply unbuckles her seat belt, gets out of the car, and confronts the ghosts head-first. And not only that, but she’s smart enough to call them out on their real reasons for haunting her, to the point they actually confess what they really want from her. (Which sums down, in most cases, to trivial requests such as being allowed to watch war documentaries, or having an incriminated portrait removed from a room.)

Forget her questionable choices when it comes to financial matters, she’s a feisty young woman capable of handling a herd of recalcitrant ghosts, and that’s more than can be said of almost any other character in the show. 

The Captain and the morality of choices

It’s hardly a mystery the Captain is a bit of a bastard, and we all love him for that. Right at the beginning, he is presented to us as someone who would make a show of wanting to ‘say a few words’ about the dearly departed just so he could immediately proceed to ‘bagsy her room’. I’d say his general mindset could be summed up as something close to the end justifies the means - with the caveat that we actually know very little about him aside the military persona he chooses to present himself as all the time. 

If I had to hazard a guess, facing everything life death throws at him as a military campaign could either be a subconscious defence mechanism, a habit so deeply ingrained he couldn’t shake it off if he wanted to, or something he elects to do as a way to cope with the listlessness that comes with being stuck in limbo (potentially) for eternity. And, quite possibly, a combination of all three. 

The main thing is, rules are important for him, but so is winning whichever military campaign he embarked upon at each particular moment in time. When his plan to enroll the plague victims as his new army fails, he resorts to strategic subterfuge in order to win the war; as they say, all's fair in love and war, and more often than not, battles are won by military tactics rather than such things as a superior army. He is very much the Odysseus of Button House, with the significant difference that he’s not so much attempting to conquer an enemy city as he’s fighting to take back control of an outpost he used to be in charge of.

In this (probably unfortunate) parallel, I’m afraid the poor Kitty serves as the infamous Trojan horse. (Juan Domingo, please, we’re not getting into this all over again.) The Captain knows Alison trusts her, and his subterfuge will therefore go undetected until it’s too late; and yet, remarkably enough, he still decides to offer Kitty a choice on the matter. Admittedly, he’s already counting on the fact that Kitty is neither particularly smart, nor in any way prepared to give up on Alison anytime soon - however, he still offers her a choice, and I feel like that is very much relevant to his character. He is, for all intent and purposes, tricking Kitty into fooling her friend/the person she loves; but while he’s concealing all the important facts from her, he’s not robbing her of her choice entirely. 

(Should Kitty have decided to prioritise Alison’s happiness over her own, I daresay the captain would have come up with yet another plan to overcome the temporary setback. Neither scenario makes him any less of a bastard, but he’s still a man of principles after his own fashion, and that’s how I choose to read him, regardless.)

A final note on Robin

I’ve made no secret of how Robin is my favourite character by far, just as I believe he is for a significant portions of fans of the show. As mischievous as he loves to be - which is, all things considered, a comparatively tame reaction to being stuck as a ghost for an incredibly long time, with very little hope of ever moving on - his pranks are mostly harmless, and he is at heart the kindest, most emotionally mature of all the ghosts. (Yes, even when he’s scampering around, marvelling at the builders’ equipment. If anything, it’s a sign of his natural curiosity and intelligence; we are, after all, repeatedly shown he is particularly good at problem solving as well as playing what basically boils down to blindfold chess.)

As often as the other ghosts tend to remark upon his language skills or lack thereof, they should probably pay more attention to all the occasions in which Robin’s brains made the difference, and I’m including his emotional intelligence in that category. As others pointed out before me, he’s a trickster with a heart of gold, and the only sane man among what is basically a swarm of squabbling children. 

And he faces all of that armed only with his peculiar brand of humour, and his enthusiasm for new things to discover, including - why not? - new ways to scare the living daylights out of Alison, just for the fun of it. 

[thecoleopterawithana]

Sometimes being a Beatle gave them the edge even over other celebrities. Their favourite restaurant was Parkes on Beauchamp Place. It was very small and very expensive and no matter who you were a table had to be booked weeks in advance because there were only four or five tables. The Beatles, however, knew Tom Benson who ran it and to them it was an outpost of working-class Liverpool where they could always be assured of getting the best table, the one next to the kitchen, whenever they turned up, unannounced.   PAUL: Tom was a very sweet, quiet-spoken Liverpool guy. His mum had a flower stall outside the Liverpool News Theatre which showed cartoons and news all day while you were waiting for a train. He said, 'You know the old lady who sells flowers outside the News Theatre?' 'Yeah?' 'It's me mum!' 'Oh, well, blow me down!' So of course then the flowers on every plate was all explained.   These same flowers made their way into a Beatles song. Tom would bend the petals back on tulips to create a strange organic sculpture for each plate, the stamen and inside colouring of the petals making an almost unrecognisable object. John referred to them in 'Glass Onion': 'Looking through the bent back tulips, to see how the other half live.' The other half being the wealthy Chelsea crowd who patronised the restaurant, as well as, presumably, the parts of a tulip not normally seen.

In Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now (1997).

I told you about strawberry fields  You know the place where nothing is real  Well here's another place you can go  Where everything flows.

Looking through the bent-backed tulips  To see how the other half live  Looking through a glass onion. 

Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I’m sure it’s got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let’s pretend there’s a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let’s pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. [...] In another moment Alice was through the glass, and had jumped lightly down into the Looking-glass room.

— In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).

Picture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes And she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds (3x) Ah

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers That grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore Waiting to take you away Climb in the back with your head in the clouds And you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds (3x) Ah 

Picture yourself on a train in a station With plasticine porters with looking glass ties Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

-

To me and John, though I can’t really speak for him, words like 'imagine’ and 'picture’ were from Lewis Carroll. This idea of asking your listener to imagine, 'Come with me if you will…’, 'Enter please into my …’, 'Picture yourself in a boat…’ It drew you in. It was a good little trick that. Both of us loved Lewis Carroll and the Alice books and were fascinated by his surreal world so this was a nice song to write.

— Paul McCartney, in Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now (1997).

-

      A boat beneath a sunny sky,       Lingering onward dreamily       In an evening of July—

      [...]

      In a Wonderland they lie,       Dreaming as the days go by,       Dreaming as the summers die:

      Ever drifting down the stream—       Lingering in the golden gleam—       Life, what is it but a dream?

— In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).

-

When I wake up early in the morning Lift my head, I'm still yawning When I'm in the middle of a dream Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream)

Please, don't wake me, no, don't shake me Leave me where I am, I'm only sleeping

[chaotic-good-hawke]

59 - 'This place is creepy' for whoever you want?

Thank you for the prompt! Here, have some end of Act 1 bants and bonding between Kitty Hawke and the crew!

“This place is creepy.”

Kitty Hawke had toagree with her brother. It really was. When they first entered, it wasn’t sodifferent from the caves and tunnels they were used to, underneath Kirkwall andon the Wounded Coast. But a few days in, things changed.

Currently, they werecamped at an old Dwarven outpost, but it had clearly been overrun by darkspawn.There were bones and…other things that marked it as theirs.

Hawke suppressed ashudder. Memories of the darkspawn were dark and twisted. They took so much.  

They were lucky theyhad yet to encounter any.

“I hate the Deep Roads.”Anders said, poking at the fire and pulling his cloak tighter.

Hawke was shocked athow easy it was to convince him to join their expedition. She thought she wasgoing to have to give several pitches, charming him, until he finally agreed.But, he just agreed.

Of all theircompanions, Hawke had to ask Anders to go with them. Maps notwithstanding, hewas the only one who could sense darkspawn and who had spent any actual time there,underground.

She hated asking him tocome. She knew the Deep Roads held bad memories for him, the escape he foundwith the Grey Wardens turning sour, one bad situation swapped for another.

It really is creepy down here.

Sounds echoing, thewalls carved too close in many places, or outright collapsed. And it was cold.So very cold.  

She leaned against Anders,trying to convey her thanks and warmth, while also eyeing her brother, who wascurrently stirring the pot of their dinner over the fire. “Come on! It’s not sobad. Add a little paint, straighten out the skeletons, it could be a lovely summerhome.” She threw out her arms for dramatic effect. “Escape from the Kirkwallheat!”

“Right, and we couldhave the darkspawn over for a housewarming party.” Carver said dryly.

“Housecooling party, Spoilsport.”Hawke said, sticking her tongue out at him.

“Idiot.” Carver threwback, but with no bite to it. It was a familiar sparing between them. Sarcasmand jabs, learned from a young age as habit, now impossible to break.

“Hey now, what have Isaid about calling each other names?” Varric said, approaching their fire. Hehad gone off to check with Bartrand, to check their course. “Don’t make meseparate you two.”

“Like you and Bartrandare any better. We could hear him yelling from here.” Carver commented.

“Yes, but he wasn’t yelling at me.” Varricsaid with a wink and taking a seat.

“This time.” Andersadded.

“Exactly.” Varric confirmed.“Now, are we going to eat or what?”

They talked about whattheir other friends would be doing right now, what they would do with themoney, old stories from their adventures. Conversation flowed easy between them.Carver and Hawke traded loving insults and snarky comments the whole time.  

Their meal finished,they all took to their bedrolls, to get some sleep before their watch. Hawkecurled up, next to Carver.

She hadn’t spoken aboutit with him, but they both refused to let each other out of their sight or gettoo far from the other. The memories of fleeing Lothering were there, thememory of losing Bethany, always present at the back of their minds.

They didn’t speak aboutit, but they both knew. They didn’t want to lose each other.

In the flickering light,Hawke looked at her little brother’s face.

He is starting to look so much likefather. Maker, I miss him…and Bethany…if only I did things differently…

He opened his eyes andsquinted at her. “What?”

“Nothing.” She said,reaching out and flicking his nose before turning over. “Get some sleep.”

We’ve got each other. That issomething. Even in this creepy place.

But, she couldn’t leaveit there, so she turned back over, just in time for him to flick her nose back.

Hawke crinkled hernose, but looked at him. “Hey, Carver.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, you know.”

There was a pause. Thena sigh.

“I love you, too,Kitty.” He said. “Now let me sleep.” This time he rolled over.

Hawke just smiled andlet herself finally drift off to sleep.

They had a long way to go. But they hadeach other.  

**

If you are interested, this pairs well with this ficlet (warning, it’s angsty). 

[azzandra]

Cave Felem

Girl Genius Event Week Day 3: Construct / Clank / Machine

Words: ~1200

(Part 1) (Part 2)

Cats were not uncommon on space stations or ships. Any place that facilitated the traffic of people or freight tended to be plagued by vermin, and even technology specifically developed to deal with this problem had its limits. When the DNA scanners, energy nets, organic dischargers and cleaning automats with switchblades all failed, nothing could beat a good old fashioned cat for murder with great prejudice.

What stations tended not to have, however, were uplifted cats. It was not uncommon for frontier or backwater colonies to have uplifted animals, but this was seen as a practice typical to obscure outposts, where extra working hands were always needed, and if the extra working hands were also not recognized as people, that was all the better excuse not to pay a wage. Core Worlds abhorred even the creation of uplifted animals as inhumane, and the traders who kept the flow of commerce between the frontier and the Core Worlds tended to share in that attitude.

Krosp was... an interesting outlier, on a series of levels. Agatha still didn't know what he'd been doing on the station, except his creator had apparently run foul of Captain Wulfenbach's militia. But he was unusually sharp even for an uplifted animal, and self-interested in a way that tended to be eliminated on a gene level during the modification process.

Which was perhaps why Krosp was the first one to notice when the pack of mercenaries caught up with them.

"There's three of them," Krosp informed Agatha in an undertone, poking his whiskers out of her backpack just enough to be heard.

Agatha was in the middle of haggling for parts, so she didn't pause to respond to Krosp, but her negotiations turned more aggressive after that.

They'd gotten as far as the Zumzum asteroid belt colony before Baba Yaga's rickety old hyperstream engine finally gave out. They could have surfed the hyperstream for a while longer, letting it take them all the way into wild space, but there was no saying if they'd run into an outpost before they ran out of steam. Zumzum was the last civilized marker on their map.

Agatha didn't get the part she needed, but she left the machine shop behind and walked into the flow of traffic. There wasn't much of it; as a trading post, Zumzum was secondary at best, and made its living off asteroid mining. But in the crepuscular lighting of the colony, kept at 40% to preserve energy, Agatha was hoping she could at least lose the tail.

She dodged between two buildings, climbed up a ladder, scooted across a thick pipeline, and dropped into an alleyway on the other side of the marketplace. It looked like a refueling station just off the space dock, but it was empty of workers at this hour. The colony was small, but it was built into an asteroid, and it was twisty, especially since they were clever about the artificial gravity. You looked up, and what you saw wasn't sky, but more buildings. Maybe that labyrinthine nature would be enough to help her escape pursuit.

She had to let Zeetha know about this pursuit. But calling her might be too risky, if the mercenaries were listening for any transmissions.

Agatha heard footsteps, and that sent her scurrying for a nearby grate, which she pried loose so she could hide into the crawlspace behind it. She had just enough time to pull the grate back into place before the footsteps turned a corner.

She help her breath, straining to listen and be quiet both at once, but the loudest thing was the thundering of her heart. Both she and Krosp stood absolutely frozen as they waited. The footsteps seemed to make a short circuit of the area just outside, and then fade into the distance.

The entire thing must have taken just five minutes, but Agatha was shaking with tension by the end. It might have just been paranoia, and whoever that was hadn't even been looking for them, but after the narrow escape out of Mechanicsburg, Agatha didn't want to take any risks.

Krosp's ears flicked, swiveling back and forth as he strained to listen for any sign of approach.

"I think they may be gone," he said.

"Oh, good." Agatha pushed the grate off the entrance, careful not to rattle it too loudly. "We need to find Zeetha and--ack!"

Agatha was interrupted by a hand clamping down on her forearm as soon as she tried to leave the crawlspace, and dragging her out.

Krosp hissed as Agatha was dragged out, her feet kicking and stirring up dust.

"Hoy! Look vot ve got here!" a cheerful voice rang out, and that was when Krosp zipped out and jumped right onto the face of Agatha's attacked.

The mercenary staggered back, dropping Agatha as he suddenly had a face full of claws to deal with.

"Agatha, run!" Krosp yelled, digging in viciously.

But when he glimpsed back at her, she was already in the clutches of a second mercenary, and--how had Krosp not heard two of them get so close?

Krosp froze with his claws still planted right in the face of the mercenary he'd attacked. He looked unusually green, now that Krosp thought about it. Baseline humans didn't usually come in that kind of coloration. And if this wasn't a human, then what--

The moment of hesitation was enough for the mercenary to grab Krosp by the scruff of his neck and peel him off, holding Krosp at arm's length.

"Goot kitty," the green one spoke, grinning even with the bleeding furrows on his face and neck, "but ve iz not goink to hurt hyu."

The grip on his scruff was immobilizing, sending a numbness down from Krosp's jaw to the rest of his body. But the mercenary dropped him, and Krosp landed gracefully on his feet. His fur stood on end as he hissed and prepared for another attack. There were three of them now, Krosp noticed. How were they this stealthy?

Agatha was not out of the fight yet. She snarled as she swung at her own opponent, managing a punch to the neck that would have made Zeetha proud. Most armor was vulnerable at the joints, and she'd been drilling Agatha on the weak points for every model.

"Hy giff up!" Agatha's opponent said, throwing up his arms, and this actually had Agatha freeze in place, unsure about the sincerity of the statement, but unwilling to keep waling on someone who wasn't fighting back.

"Ve iz ezpecially not goink to hurt you," the green humanoid continued, and then fell to one knee, much to Krosp's confusion. "Miztress," he added, his grin still in place as his eyes were turned down.

Agatha looked flabbergasted for a moment. The second mercenary took off his helmet to reveal a purple complexion and a mane of enviably glossy hair. He knelt as well. And the third mercenary, who had a horn sticking out of his head and had foregone a helmet completely, joined them.

"Krosp, they're Jagers," Agatha whispered to him, awed and even a little scared. "Uh... please rise?"

The Jagers were on their feet with surprising speed, grinning at her.

"Hyu haff a goot cat," the green one told her, voice rumbling with approval. "But how'z about ve do de fighting for hyu now?"

[thewildwaffle]

Abduction - Chapter 6

Yes, you read right. Chapter 6. In that this is the 6th part of this story. In that there are 5 chapters before this one. If this is the first you’ve seen of my “Humans are weird/space orcs” story, click below and read the previous chapters. It’ll make more sense that way, I promise!

First Chapter     Previous Chapter       Next Chapter

“I swear, I was just popping my knuckles. I’m fine. Can you stop touching me?”

Mike almost laughed, but he caught himself and hid his smile. It was funny, but not funny enough to risk Wenona getting mad at him. Gerben had nearly lost it after he heard the series of popping noises coming from her when she got up after a routine health check.

“Are you certain nothing’s broken?” Gerben still had Wenona’s hands in his long fingers, inspecting them for signs of injury. “Perhaps the pain hasn’t registered with you yet?”

“I’m fine. I am, I swear, just give me back my hand.” Gerben gave the hands one last look over before releasing them enough for Wenona to yank them back.

“Don’t worry, Gerben, it happens all the time, totally harmless,” Mike jumped in before either Wenona or the medic could say anything else. “People do it all the time. Well, uh, human people do it all the time, see?” He popped his knuckles as a demonstration. “It’s just tiny pockets of gas escaping the joints and stuff. It’s healthy.”

The look on Gerben’s feathered face looked less than convinced.

“I can pop my back too if you want to see.” “Please. Don’t.”

Of the two medics, Mike had quickly decided that he prefered Demfar. That guy was one inquisitive and easy-to-impress space-squid. Though he did like Gerben too. It was a different kind of like. Gerben was fun to get a rise or reaction out of every time some new “human thing” was discovered. Popping joints was just the latest on a long, long list that made Gerben’s face scrunch up in funny shapes.

“A-herm.”

All eyes turned toward the sound.

“Jebannuck! You’re early.” Mike thought he heard the slightest hint of relief in Gerben’s voice.

“Jeb! What is up my dude!”

“Are the humans ready?” He ignored Mike’s greeting while he stepped into the room and folded his arms across his chest. Mike hadn’t known him long, a few days, maybe a week. Had it been a week? It’s hard to keep track of time with everything that had been going on. Go figure. But in the time he’d known Jebannuck - however long it’d been -  he could tell he was a bit of a stickler for proper procedures.

“We’re going to be getting something to eat first, right? Before we meet with Salora?” Wenona chimed in.

“That’s Captain Salora. And yes. We’ll be stopping in the cafeteria  before I escort you to the bridge.”

“Sweet. What are we waiting for, let��s go!” Mike stretched his arms over his head. A few pops from his shoulders made Gerben wince. “Oops! Sorry bud, see ya later!”

They’d been to the cafeteria a few times now. Twice a “day” cycle, or whatever. It was always fun. Not the first time, though. It was a little freaky, actually. Their escort, who was usually Jebannuck, tried to time visits when it wasn’t very busy. There was always someone though.

He felt a lot more convinced that no one here meant any harm as soon as he found out that none of the aliens on the ship even slightly resembled a Montauk. With that established, it became something of an adventure to meet as many members of the crew as he could.

Pretty much everyone acted SUPER nice and curious about their new human passengers, and, well, they acted the same way most humans would if the roles were reversed. Mike, thoroughly enjoying himself, tried to meet and remember as many new (sometimes strange-sounding) named aliens as he could get within earshot of. Wenona, on the other hand, had been less excited by the attention. Jebannuck, and sometimes Ghem-et if he was there, did his best to divert crewmates from crowding the humans. Mike noticed that Wenona usually stayed pretty close to Jebannuck’s side whenever there were too many aliens around.

It wasn’t often though. Captain Salora, the medics, and their escorts had all proved very adept at making sure the humans were given plenty of space. But Mike could tell there were a few on the crew that were chomping at the bit to get in a little closer with their new passengers.

In fact, here came that orange furball now.

“Greetings Human Wenona, Human Michael! How fortunate that our paths cross!”

Jebannuck raised his brows. “I thought you were in the hospital wing, Thurrin. Feeling much better already, are we?”

“What? Oh. Yeah, I am, actually. Must have just been in need of a good stroll. Cleared my head right up!”

“Is that why we always saw you sneaking around outside the medic bay? It’s great to finally officially meet you, I’m Mike.” He held out his hand.

Thurrin tilted her head at the human’s gesture, before reaching out and patting Mike’s fingers a few times. “Good to meet you Mike, I’m Thurrin from the planet Bernor.”

“Thurrin, I thought I’d made myself clear that you, and the rest of the crew, were to not crowd the humans.”

“Aww, come on man,” Mike interjected, “We’re on a ship full of creatures from other planets and yet we’re lonely,” Mike bent backwards as they walked to add drama, earning a surprised and somewhat worried look from Jebannuck’s, and a giggle from Thurrin. “Or at least I am. We never really get to meet or interact, ya know? I don’t mean that you’re not great to hang out with, Jeb, but I’d really like to get to know more, uh, people”

“My name is Jebannuck, not Jeb.”

Thurrin led them to a nearby bench and table and quickly laid claim to her favorite cushion, “Humans are social creatures, they need to pack bond. Eepereep told me so.”

“And what about you, since when were booka so social?” “We can be social when we want to. And on top of that, we’re inherently curious by nature.” “Curious? Or just nosy?”

Thurrin gave a pouting look at Jebannuck, the fur on the back of her neck flickered a dark shade of red.

Wenona gave a small chuckle, “What a grumpy kitty,” and reached out to scratch Thurrin’s ears. Everyone froze. Wenona pulled her hand back. “Oh, I… I’m sorry. Oh my gosh, I wasn’t thinking. I, I grew up with a cat and… I’m sorry, okay? Can everyone stop freakin’ looking at me? Are we going to eat, or what?”

“Um, yeah. What’s for lunch this time, Jeb?”

“Human Michael, my name is Jebannuck, not Jeb.”

“No promises, Jeb...annuck. But I you’ll have to call me Mike, not Michael.”

Jebannuck sighed, “Very well, Human Mike. Your meal will be a banchip mash and a side of raw ruproot.”

“Again? That’s all we’ve had since we’ve been aboard.”

“Improvement from the last ship we were on,” muttered Wenona.

“Our information on humans is still quite limited. Once we dock at the outpost, we can upload the entirety of the Confederation’s data files on your race. That will include a list of foods we have available that are compatible with your digestive system. Until then, we’ll just have to stick with what we know won’t make you sick, or worse.”

“Aw, I knew you cared about us, Jeb.”

Jebannuck closed his eyes and sighed before he got up to walk to the food dispenser window. “You can do this, Jebannuck. Quick meal, visit with the captain, and then back to the medical bay. You can do this.”

[flippyspoon]

literally everything at hawkins starcourt mall was at the little mall i went to all the time as a kid just down the street; orange julius, sam goody, waldens...except we had a store called ‘accessory place’ (I BOUGHT FLIP GLASSES WITH MY ALLOWANCE) instead of claire’s (and there was another similar store with a shitload of hello kitty but it was not sanrio) also miller’s outpost, payless, mervyn’s, a bob’s big boy, a one-hour photo, a CONTEMPO CASUALS, wards, see’s candy, radio shack of course, spencer’s gifts (which i was NOT allowed to go into), hair salon,  a pet store, 31 flavors, a multiplex shoved in there (roger rabbit! princess bride!), OH KB TOYS.

the only thing it didn’t have was a big food court- it was a small mall. the glendale galleria had the big food court (and the fancier nordstroms and things like that) with hot dog on a stick and all that shit. 

sigh. oh eagle rock plaza. now there’s a target there, and some other grocery store  and some shitty whatever stores...but in the 80′s...it was everything i needed to be a tiny american consumer. shed a tear.

[write-havoc]

This Is How I Disappear Ch. 23

Summary: A girl named Chuck finds herself in the exact place she doesn't want to be, living with violent men in a desolate nursing home. After her former gym teacher finds her, will he be the savior she was looking for?

Fandom: The Walking Dead AU

Pairing: Negan/Original Female Character

Status: Completed (story continues in The Flame Is Gone, The Fire Remains)

Contains: swearing, violence, sexual assault, blood, smut

Readers 18+ of age only

Masterlists in my bio

——— Negan’s POV ———

I put my radio back on my belt after I finish telling Simon my fuckin’ plans for tomorrow. About twenty or so workers are headed off to RA outpost to get it fully operational. And I’m gonna fuckin’ oversee all that shit.

I put my fuckin’ plates in the sink and head out of my apartment toward the wives’ lounge. I’m not getting any off of Chuck tonight, so maybe one of them will oblige. I’d rather have Chuck, but... whatever.

I should ask the wives to make sure Chuck eats tomorrow, too, since I’m gonna be fuckin’ off site and she didn’t eat tonight. Her emotions have been all over the place lately and the first fuckin’ thing she does when she gets upset is stop fuckin’ eating. We’re not going back to being fuckin’ malnourished like before. I will _ not _ let that happen.

“Good evening, ladies,” I call out as I step into the room. The women are still sitting at their table, finishing up dinner of their own. And none of them say a word to me. Just fuckin’ staring at me like I grew a second fuckin’ dick. “Okay, then,” I say to myself with a chuckle.

I sit my ass down on one of the couches and wait for them to finish their meals. It takes me about three seconds to get bored as shit, so I clear my fuckin’ throat to get their attention. Get them to hurry the fuck up.

“What do you want, Negan?” Sherry says to me all bitchily.

“Je-sus Christ! The fuck is your problem?” I ask with a laugh. What the fuck has been going on up here that has her panties in a fuckin’ bunch?

The women start to clear their plates and Sherry comes out to stand in front of me, arms crossed, foot fuckin’ tapping impatiently.

“Well?” she spits out with a shrug.

The other women come out to sit on the couch behind Sherry. Apparently whatever is eating her is eating them, too, because they’re all giving me the fuckin’ stinkeye. Even Kayla! And she’s always a goddamn sweetheart.

“First of all, what the fuck is this attitude?” I wave my hand in front of Sherry. “And second, why the fuck are you acting like I need a reason to visit my own fuckin’ wives?”

Tonya lets out an incredulous huff and shakes her head. “You’re unbelievable,” she says under her breath.

I throw my arms up and look around. I have no fuckin’ idea what the fuck _ I _ did. I haven’t even seen the wives since yesterday morning when I took Kayla back to her room for some fuck time. Maybe it’s cuz a didn’t fuck any of them this morning. But I was fuckin’ busy getting on the road to the outposts!

“You’re gonna have to fuckin’ help me out here because I have no fuckin’ clue why you girls are pissed at me.”

Sherry moves back to stand beside Kayla, who is no longer giving me the fuckin’ stinkeye, but looks upset. Shit. The fuck happened?

“Yesterday,” Kayla begins, “when we were... I didn’t bring it up then, but when you were with me, you called me Chuck.”

Oh shit.

That can’t be. I don’t think I did that. Why the fuck would I do that? I’ve never called any woman by the wrong fuckin’ name before. Ever.

I chuckle to cover up my own shock. “You must’ve misheard, darling. I probably said ‘fuck’. They _ do _ rhyme.”

“Really, Negan?” Sherry groans with a disapproving look on her fuckin’ face.

“Were you fuckin’ there, Sherry? How the fuck would you know?” Goddamn, Sherry can piss me off sometimes.

“I know what I heard, Negan,” Kayla speaks up. “I know what this is here. My place. I know you don’t love me or anything, but it still hurt my feelings to think that I’m, you know, second choice when you’re with me.”

“Look, sweetheart, don’t think too much about it,” I direct at Kayla. I definitely want to end this conversation quickly. “I wanted to fuck you yesterday, so I did. Easy as that. You weren’t my second fuckin’ choice.”

That was _ mostly _ true...

The wives don’t look convinced, though. Of fuckin’ course. Anything to make my life fuckin’ more complicated.

“If you’re in love with Chuck, I don’t want to have sex with you anymore,” Kayla blurts out.

I can’t hold back my sudden laugh. Why the fuck do they think I love Chuck so much? That’s fuckin’ ridiculous. Isn’t it?

“Don’t be such a dick,” Tonya yells.

I stop laughing a little to respond. “I _ am _ a dick,” I exclaim as I gesture up in the air. “That’s the fuckin’ point. I don’t _ feel _ for anyone. You all know that.”

“Are you trying to convince us of that or _ yourself_?” Sherry scoffs.

Alright. Now Sherry is getting on my last goddamn nerve. “I don’t give a shit if you guys believe it or not. You’re fuckin’ stupid if you don’t, but that’s on you.” I look at Kayla. “And if you don’t wanna fuck anymore. Fine. That’s your fuckin’ prerogative. I mean, Sherry already doesn’t fuck me and Tonya and Frankie fuck each other more than me anymore, but what-the-fuck-ever. Your choice. But my dick will be ready when you want a ride.” I start to get up to leave.

“It’s not like your dick will be too lonely without us,” Tonya starts with a sly smirk, “since you’ll still be fucking ‘I’m-not-in-love-with-her’ Chuck.” She uses fucking finger quotes.

I halt my movement and turn slightly back to them. “You have a _ problem _ with her now?” That shit won’t stand if they do. Chuck is here to stay, no matter fuckin’ what.

Sherry butts in. “We don’t have a problem with Chuck. We have a problem with you lying to yourself. And her.”

I glare at her. Why haven’t I learned that fucking multiple women always gets fuckin’ complicated. And I don’t even fuck Sherry!

“Since you think I favor Chuck so much, why don’t you guys make sure she eats fuckin’ breakfast tomorrow while I’m gone. She’s not feeling good.” I say it all sarcastic, but I mean it.

I’m almost to the door before Tonya opens her smartass mouth again. “So _ that’s _ why you were here. To tell us to check up on your _ girlfriend_.”

I don’t fuckin’ turn around. I just continue on to my own fuckin’ room.

——— ———

Chuck wakes up to a soft knock on the door.

“Chuck. It’s Sherry,” comes from the other side.

“Come in,” Chuck calls out then yawns.

Sherry pushes the door open and enters. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” Chuck greets after sitting up. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Negan told us you didn’t feel well and to make sure you ate breakfast. We have a plate waiting for you in the lounge,” Sherry says in a friendly tone.

“Ugh. Did he really tell you to do that?” Chuck gets out of bed to follow Sherry out the door.

“Are you sick or something?” Sherry asks casually as they head to the lounge.

“No,” Chuck drags out as they walk. “I went off site yesterday and some stuff happened. When we got back I didn’t feel like eating, so I just went to bed.” By the time Chuck finishes her statement, she’s in the lounge. “Since I didn’t eat last night, Negan apparently thought I needed assistance this morning,” Chuck drones with an unenthusiastic tone.

“What happened yesterday?” Kayla asks, having heard most of what Chuck had said to Sherry.

Chuck sits down, grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs and toast to eat with the other women. “I went to the outposts to teach first aid and a herd went through,” Chuck explains before she takes a bite. She’s actually very hungry now, her sour stomach from the night before having passed.

“No shit?” Tonya cries out.

“How big was the herd?” Frankie asks.

“About a hundred.”

“Wow,” Kayla breathes out in shock. “That’s scary!”

Chuck shrugs and finishes her food. She hangs out with the wives for a while after breakfast, but they seem weird. Like something is off. They are being nice and joking around, but something is different. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but everyone’s mood seems weird. Like they don’t want to talk about something with her.

Chuck says her goodbyes, telling the wives that she’s going to get dressed then take some books outside to read in the sunshine. She dresses in skinny jeans and her Misfits T-shirt and grabs one of the pregnancy textbooks and a Sherlock Holmes mystery and heads outside.

She finds an isolated tree on the property and sits down under it. It provides enough shade so her fair skin won’t burn, but the air is still warm enough to be comfortable. She begins to read the medical text until it starts to get too dry, then starts the mystery.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a streak of orange pass by. She turns her head to see that it is the mommy cat and she’s making her way away from the trailers in back.

“Shoot!” Chuck cries out to herself. She gathers her books and walks quickly to her room to get the key to the cats’ trailer.

_ I forgot to feed her yesterday! I hope she found something to eat on her own. I’m such an idiot! _

Chuck dumps her books on her bed haphazardly and pockets the key from her desk. By the time she gets back downstairs to the kitchen, she’s a little out of breath from rushing around, but she picks up the scraps from the kitchen anyway and makes her way to the trailer.

Mommy cat isn’t back yet when Chuck enters, so she sets the bowl down on the floor, noticing that the kittens are nestled back in their bed sleeping.

“Sorry, mommy kitty,” Chuck says aloud. “Whenever you get back, you’ll have some nice food to eat.”

Chuck crouches down to try to coax the kittens out to play with her, but they are fast asleep. Suddenly, light fills the dark trailer causing her crouching form to cast a large shadow over the kittens in front of her. The light seeps in from the door which had opened and closed behind her. Standing and turning toward the door, Chuck furrows her brow in confusion at who would be in this part of The Sanctuary.

When her eyes fully focus on the person now standing in front of her, a chill runs down her spine.

Brendon.

“What are you doing here?” she asks quickly. Her mind races to find a good explanation as to why Brendon is in the trailer with her. She hopes it is purely innocent, but fears it is something worse. That Negan had been right.

“I followed you out here,” he answers flatly as he takes a step forward.

“Why?” She tries to back up but there is nowhere else for her to go, her bottom hits the counter behind her as she takes a step.

“I’ve _ been _ following you. Watching you. Since I first saw you here. And I know what you’ve been up to.” He takes another step. “I’ve seen you head up to Negan’s floor. So... why did you lie to me?”

Her voice trembles as she responds. “I didn’t lie to you about anything.”

“Are you really going to tell me that you don’t fuck Negan?” he asks in disbelief.

She doesn’t know what to say to this. Yes, she sleeps with Negan. But, no, she didn’t lie about it. Brendon hadn’t ever asked that. He asked if she was Negan’s wife, and she had responded truthfully that she wasn’t. Not that she thinks it is any of Brendon’s business, anyway.

“Why should it matter to you what I do?” she asks, trying to sound assertive.

“Just admit it to me.” He takes another step.

Chuck swallows to try to center herself. “I don’t have to admit anything to you. I owe you nothing.”

Brendon’s cold laugh fills the small room. “Don’t admit it, then.” His laugh drifts off, leaving rage to seep onto his face. “It doesn’t really matter what you say now.”

“What are you doing here, Brendon?” A tear of fear falls from Chuck’s eye as she speaks. Her intuition is telling her that this is a very bad situation to be in.

“Negan ruined my life because of you.” The look of confusion on Chuck’s face causes Brendon to chuckle darkly. “Don’t act like you didn’t fucking know that, Chuck.”

“I _ don’t _ know what you’re talking about,” she chokes out.

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” he yells, making Chuck flinch.

“I’m not!” Her fear is getting the best of her as her heart rate picks up.

“I had a full ride to UVA for baseball. But they pulled my scholarship when Negan cut me from the team. And I couldn’t afford it on my own.” His seething tone fills Chuck with dread.

“None of that matters now,” Chuck says softly, trying to convince him.

“It doesn’t matter?! My dad kicked me out for not going to college! He refused to talk to me! I had _ nothing _! And I never saw my dad alive again because of Negan! He had a heart attack and died still pissed at me for fucking up!”

“I’m sorry-“ she tries to get out but Brendon cuts her off.

“You’re sorry? You should be. Because it’s your fault, too.”

“I don’t understand-“

“It’s because of you. And whatever shit you had going on with Negan. He overheard me in the locker room saying I liked you. The _ next day_, he cut me! That’s not a fucking coincidence.”

“That’s not true. He cut you for being late,” she tries to reason.

“Is that what he fucking told you?” His face seems to soften minutely. “He’s been lying to you, Chuck. How could you love him? He’s evil. Don’t you see that?”

“I-I don’t...” Her brain is short circuiting.

“He almost _ killed _ Mr. Hanson. And that was before all this. Before killing was the norm. Did he tell you that?”

She nods meekly.

“And you’re still with him?!”

“Mr. Hanson wasn’t a good man-“ she reasons quietly with her head down.

“Are you fucking kidding me?! He took me in when I had nothing! When Negan took everything from me. Even though Negan had taken everything from _ him_, too! He gave me a job in his workshop. He taught me everything he knew about woodworking. Everything that Negan wants to exploit from me right now,” he responds coldly.

“He was inappropriate with students.” As soon as she says it, she realizes that arguing with him is probably not the best thing to do.

He leans forward aggressively. “He never touched anyone! And you remember what you girls looked like! You think Negan wasn’t looking at you the same way Drew was?!”

It’s obvious to Chuck that Brendon isn’t going to calm down and just leave her alone. She knows she has to try to get ahold of this situation.

“Brendon, please,” she pleads softly, but Brendon is intent on not listening to her.

“Me and Drew, we knew Negan was still alive after the end. He had to be. And we wanted to show him what he did to us. We wanted to make him pay for it.”

Chuck holds her hands up in a placating gesture. “Brendon, we can talk about this. Us and Negan. We can work it out.”

“No! No talking! This is how it needs to be.”

“Brendon. Think about this. There’s no way for you to get near him. It’s suicide if you try to kill him.” She tries to explain to him.

“That _ was our plan. To kill him. We looked for him, but... Then Drew got bit and I had to put him down. And I thought... It was stupid to get revenge, now, so I stopped looking. But the universe thought different. It _ brought _ me to him. Like some sorta sign. And the second I saw _ you, I knew what I had to do. Killing him would be too easy for him. I want him to suffer.” Brendon takes another step forward. He is now about an arms length away from Chuck. “I’m going to take away something that he loves.”

“Brendon. Please. Please don’t do this.” She tries desperately to convince him to stop.

“Shut up,” he demands flatly. “I’m going to ruin you for him. I have to, Chuck. I have to do it. And then I’m going to take you away from him.”

“Brendon, no! Please!” she begs through shuttered breaths.

“Take your clothes off.”

“No. No. No.” She shakes her head fiercely. “Please!”

“TAKE YOUR FUCKING CLOTHES OFF!”

——— Negan’s POV ———

“We’re headed out,” Dwight says into the radio from the driver’s seat of my truck.

“Copy that, D,” one of my saviors responds.

I can’t wait to get fuckin’ home. I’m tired as fuck after spending all goddamn day directing those dumb fucks at RA outpost. Setting up chain of command. Laying out what I expect of them in terms of goods and fuckin’ services. Scheduling fuckin’ pickups and drop offs.

I just wanna eat fuckin’ dinner and bury my dick in Chuck’s fuckin’ wet pussy.

When we finally fuckin’ drive through the gate, I hop out of the truck, give a few orders to Simon, and head upstairs. Chuck should be up there waiting for me. Hopefully fuckin’ naked, but I won’t hold my damn breath for that. I doubt she would even fuckin’ think to welcome me home that way. She’s too fuckin’ sweet, doesn’t have the dirty as fuck mind for that. Maybe I’ll fuckin’ drop the hint that I would like that. See if she’ll obey me.

I peek my head in the wives’ lounge to tell them I’m back and get an unenthusiastic response from them.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m glad I’m fuckin’ home, too,” I say sarcastically as I start to walk away.

“Oh, Negan?” Tonya calls out to me and I fuckin’ walk back in to see what she wants. “Your girlfriend is feeling better.” She smiles a smug fuckin’ smirk and waits for me to react.

I let out a deep sigh and rub my hand over my face. “Stop fuckin’ calling her that. Jesus Christ, Tonya.”

“What?” Tonya says almost joking.

“Did you guys give her shit today?” I ask, getting irritated. “Because she doesn’t deserve that.”

“Calm down,” Tonya says with a chuckle. “I’m just fucking with you. Chuck’s a sweetheart. We wouldn’t be dicks to her. We fed her and hung out for a while, then she went to read outside.”

Fuck, Tonya’s hard to read. So fuckin’ hot and cold. Is she pissed or not? I looked at the other girls and they don’t seem too mad. Frankie is even chuckling to herself. I wouldn’t think anyone would ever have a fuckin’ problem with Chuck. She’s one of the only genuinely good fuckin’ people I’ve ever met.

“You’re a weird fuckin’ chick, Tonya,” I comment and walk out, hearing the wives giggle behind me.

I walk into my oddly fuckin’ quiet apartment, turning the lights on as I go.

“Chuck?” I call out as I enter my bedroom. She’s not there.

I let out a growl of frustration. Now I gotta get my ass all the way down to her room. Fuck, I wish she just lived up here. Or we had fuckin’ elevators.

Her room is fuckin’ empty, too, of course. Two books are thrown on her bed, which is kinda fuckin’ weird. She must’ve brought them back up here after she was done reading outside like Tonya said. But where the fuck is she now?

Maybe Carson needed her for something.

If she’s not down in the infirmary, I’ll be pissed. Fuckin’ traipsing all over the fuckin’ place looking for her. She’ll be lucky if I don’t fuckin’ lock her in my room for good after what happened yesterday.

Carson is just locking up when I get down to the infirmary. He goes to kneel, but I stop him.

“Chuck help you out today?” I ask, getting right to it.

“Not today, sir. I haven’t seen her.”

“Hmm.” I scratch my head.

I walk away from the doc, headed for the cafeteria. I doubt she would fuckin’ be there, but I take a look around anyway.

She’s not there.

Alright. This is weird. Something’s happened.

I walk out the doors, trying to keep calm.

She’s fine. Nothing could happen here, right?

Simon comes out of the doors just behind me, giving me a nod. “Something up, boss? I saw you in the cafeteria. You looked weird.”

“Have you seen Chuck?”

“I saw her this morning walking around with some books. Why? She wasn’t upstairs?”

“No.” As a last resort, I call her on my radio. She should have hers on her. I fuckin’ hope. “Chuck?”

No answer.

“Chuck. Where are you?”

Silence.

“Anybody fuckin’ seen Chuck?!”

“_You mean me, sir? _” Fuckin’ Charlie the savior answers.

“Not fuckin’ you! Chuck the girl. 25. Redhead. Works with the doc.”

No one answers.

Then a familiar voice comes through the speaker.

“She’s dead.”

Brendon.

I feel the blood drain out of my face. I look up to Simon who looks equally fuckin’ shocked.

“I killed her with my bare hands. Right after I fucked her raw.”

No.

No. He didn’t.

It’s not fuckin’ true.

I see red. I throw my radio to the ground, smashing the fuck out of it. I bring Lucille down on any pieces I can see until nothing is left. I grunt and growl, screaming at the top of my lungs, barely in control of myself.

“Boss.” Simon tries to get my attention. “Negan!” he yells, finally snapping me out of it.

When I lift my head, I see that several other fuckin’ saviors have grouped around me. I look down to Simon’s outstretched hand and take the radio from it. I take a few deep breaths to try to calm the fuck down.

“Where is she?” I growl into the radio.

“You’ll find her soon enough. Or rather, she’ll find you. You know... when she turns.”

I look up to the saviors around me. They are all staring at me, fuckin’ waiting for me to say something to them. Not only did they see me freak the fuck out, but they heard everything that fucker said on the radio.

“I want _ everyone _ fuckin’ searching this place for her. Start in the least populated places. The cells. The garage. The fuckin’ furnace room. Those kinda places. Search the fuckin’ grounds, too. I want her found. _ Now_.” I scratch my beard. “And no one fuckin’ touches her. No matter fuckin’ what you see. You call me first.”

“You don’t want us to put her down, sir?” someone asks.

I almost hit the fucker with Lucille. “She’s not fucking dead. She’s not.” I bring the radio up to my mouth and hold the button down with so much force that I hear the plastic crack. “You are dead where you stand, motherfucker. You hear me? You will never know another fuckin’ moment’s peace because I _ will _ find you. I will scorch the fuckin’ earth to find you. And _ when _ I do, I won’t fuckin’ kill you. No. I’ll keep you fuckin’ alive. But you’ll wish that you were dead. I’ll cut bits off you and fuckin’ feed them to you for fuckin’ dinner. You haven’t known fuckin’ pain like the pain I’ll inflict on you, fuckin’ cocksucker.”

“Nothing you could do to me will ever take away the fact that I won. I beat you. Because I took something away from you and that is so fucking sweet. Almost as sweet as she was.”

This needs to end now. He needs to fucking die.

“I want him found! Someone get a team outside the gates and find that fuckin’ piece of shit. He’s still within radio range so he’s no further than two fuckin’ miles! Bring him back alive! Simon, you’re with me. We’re searching the grounds.”

Me and Simon search for-fuckin’-ever. Or at least it feels that way. The longer it takes, the more desperate I get.

“Anyone got anything?” I hear Simon say into his radio. His voice is fuckin’ tense and choked. I know he’s struggling with this, too, but he’s keeping it together.

The radio comes back with a bunch of negative responses.

I flip the fuck out and use Lucille to hit a bunch of pallets I’m standing beside. A fuckin’ cat jumps out from behind them and it just about scares the shit outta Simon.

Fuck.

The cats.

“Simon!” I call out as I break out in a full sprint to the back of the property. I hear him running behind me as I round the building heading for the goddamn trailers.

The trailers that no one ever thinks about.

The trailers that haven’t been fuckin’ searched yet.

“Chuck!” I scream, hoping to hear her answer.

Nothing.

There are three fuckin’ trailers back here, but I know which one she would be in. The only one with a lock on the door. The only one she’d be anywhere near. That fucker must’ve followed her back here. Ambushed her.

Fuck.

I run up to the fuckin’ door. The padlock is locked. And I’m assuming the only key is inside. With her.

“Baby girl, you in there?” I call out as I pull on the door.

All I heard is a shuffling. No answer.

“No! No no!” I growl out.

She’s not turned. She’s not dead. She can’t be.

No time to break the lock. The cheap ass door is fuckin’ weaker anyway. I start to kick the door, trying to break it down. Simon jumps in, too, and we break a huge hole in it. I push him back and rip the rest of the door off so I can fit though.

She is there. On her stomach.

Fuckin’ naked and hogtied.

But I can’t see much in the darkness.

“No, baby girl,” I cry softly as I fall to my knees.

——— ———

“Take your fucking clothes off now or I’ll rip them off you,” Brendon growls harshly.

Chuck knows she has to do something to get out of this situation. Now.

She tries to run past Brendon to get to the door, but he grabs her by the waist and slams her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her and disorienting her. By the time Chuck stops gasping for breath and comes to her senses, Brendon had ripped her shirt, pants, and bra off.

“No! Stop!” She screams tries to push him away from her.

He punches her on the left side of her face hard enough that her head snaps to the side. “Shut the fuck up!” He bunches her underwear up and rips them from her body, leaving brush burns on her hips.

Her mind is hazy as he forces her thighs apart roughly. She barely registers the sound of his zipper and his weight on top of her.

“Please don’t,” she slurs. Tears stream down her face and pathetic whimpers leave her mouth as she waits for that familiar pain to register. The pain she thought she’d left behind at Rolling Acres. The pain she thought she’d never feel again.

But it doesn’t come.

Brendon lets out a frustrated growl into her ear and sits back up, stroking his soft dick. “Come on,” he growls. “I have to do this,” he hisses to himself between his teeth.

Chuck thinks quickly. This is her only chance to stop him. “Brendon. This is wrong. You know it.”

“Shut up!”

“Please. You’re a good man. You don’t want to do this. Just stop.”

“I said _ shut up_!” He slaps her face and roughly covers her mouth. “Shut your fucking mouth. Stop crying.” His own eyes are filling with tears. “He has to pay. This is the only way.” He leans back over her, one hand still covering her mouth and one still on himself trying to get him hard. “This is the only way,” he growls.

Chuck opens her eyes to look at him. His eyes are screwed shut as he continues to grunt and growl with frustration at himself.

“Fuck!” he yells in her ear causing fresh tears to fall from her eyes. He sits back up, wipes his face, and tucks himself back into his pants. He shakes his head, seemingly wrestling with what to do since he couldn’t go through with his first plan. “I can’t let him get away with this, Chuck. I can’t.”

Suddenly, his hands grip Chuck’s throat, cutting off her oxygen. She struggles under him, trying to get him to release her.

“I’m sorry, Chuck,” he says through his tears, which now flow freely. “Why did you fall for him?! He did this to you! It’s his fault! He made me do this to you. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.”

His repeated apologies start to sound further and further away as Chuck gets weaker. Just as she is about to black out, he releases her. She coughs and sputters, sucking in the breaths that her lungs desperately need.

He sits back up on his knees between her legs, bringing is arms up to put his hands on the back of his head. “I can’t!” He shakes his head. “I can’t do it. I can’t do that to you. Fuck!” He stands up, frantically pacing the room as she gets her breath back. “Drew could’ve done it. He would’ve done it. But I can’t. He was the strong one.”

Something in the corner seems to catch his eye. A rope. He picks it up and flips Chuck onto her stomach, tying her arms and feet together behind her back.

“I would’ve been good to you, Chuck. Without Negan... we could’ve been happy together,” he says from behind her, softly stroking her hair. “I know it.”

Chuck hears him pick up the radio that is still attached to her pants somewhere in the room. Then he leaves without another word.

Chuck wait several minutes before she starts to scream for help. Her throat is already raw from being nearly strangled to death, so her voice gives out very quickly. Next, she tries to get loose from her bindings, but it is no use.

A wave of nausea hits her hard. She leans up, trying to make sure to vomit away from herself. Somehow she manages to remain clean, and scoots herself away from the mess she made.

She takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself and her stomach. “Must have a concussion,” she says to herself as she turns on her side. She tries to take stock of any possible injuries she has, but thinks there is nothing major.

So she waits. And waits for someone to come. She knows that someone would find her eventually. Negan would search for her. Unless something is keeping him. Through the small cracks in the covered windows, she sees that the sun has set. The passing of time has Chuck even more worried.

_ What if something happened at the outpost and Negan won’t be back? God. Why won’t anyone come for me? What kind of a person am I that no one misses me? _

Her heart rate starts to pick up. Her exhaustion, the heat of the trailer, what she had just went through, all of it, has her on the verge of a panic attack.

For a moment, she thinks she heard Negan call for her, but she isn’t sure if it had actually happened.

Then she hears it again.

Negan is at the door.

She tries to call out to him, but her voice is too quiet for him to hear, so she tries to shift herself closer to the door, so she could be heard. There is a sharp bang at the door, which makes Chuck halt her motion.

Negan is breaking in.

She is going to be safe.

She feels him enter the room and get on his knees behind her. “No, baby girl,” he whimpers sadly.

“Negan...” she rasps as loudly as her damaged throat will allow.

Negan lets out an excited noise and scoops her up tightly in his arms. “Oh, fuck, baby girl. I thought you were dead. He said you were dead,” he whispers into her hair. “I thought I lost you.”

Simon goes around them and cuts the ropes from Chuck’s hands and feet, giving her head a soft caress after. “I’m gonna call the doc. Make sure he’s in the infirmary waiting for us,” he says quietly.

“No. I want to go home,” Chuck whispers as she wrapped her free arms around Negan.

“Home?” Negan asks in confusion.

“Take me to your room,” she answers.

“Tell the doc to meet us in my room,” Negan commands to Simon as he pulls away from Chuck. He takes his jacket off and puts it around her, picking her up bridal style afterward.

Simon follows after the pair, Lucille in hand, giving Negan’s orders to Carson through the radio.

Chuck holds onto Negan as if her life depends on it, allowing him to carry her all the way to the fifth floor to his room.

[haikyuu-imagines-and-others]

MAFIAYAZUKI AU SENARIOPLSPLSPLS WITH KYOUTANI (if you do Him), kurooand iwai WHERE THEIR CIVILLIAN GF HAS JUST BEEN CAPTURED BY TEIR RIVALS AND ONCE THey FIND THEM THEY ARE LIKE TREATING THEIR WOUNDSBRUISES ETC AND JUST BEING REALLY PROTECTIVE OVER THEM IN GENERAL AND THEY NOTICE HOW THE GIRL IS LIKE REALLY QUIET AND FLINCHES EVERY NOW AND THeN JUST PURE ANGSTFLUFF

Oh boy oh boy! Guns and blood? Yessssssss Yakuza is my SHIT! Well…. Anything with guns or general badass-ery is my SHIT! For this request… I felt like it would be REALLY long if I did both the action of them getting you back AND the aftercare… So for now… please accept just them getting you back…. Once I open the ask box, please feel free to spike in the second part of this request (the aftercare) and I’ll get my ass in gear and write it! Thanks for requesting, sweetie! - Admin Satori

Kyoutani Kentarou: *Don’t hate me Mad-dog! I’ve never written for you either T~T*

Rage was bubbling all across his body, making his chest feel too tight, feeling like if he inhaled just the slightest he’d explode with fury. Why hadn’t he been there? How the hell had you escaped his line of sight? Kyoutani felt a mixture of shame, guilt, and unrelenting, hell raising rage as he burst through the doors of his family’s rival - mowing them down easily with his assault rifle. They’d been caught by surprised - they’d only just stolen you that afternoon! And yet here Kyoutani was to get you back! They’d been expecting negotiations, not a goddamn bloody raid!

Blood splattered all over the rivaling family’s furniture, some even back splattering on his clothes and face - but he couldn’t give a damn. You’d been taken from him. Right in front of his goddamn face. He tossed aside the rifle once it clicked empty, reaching into the back of his waistband and pulling out a pistol, popping off a shot at his hip as a rival goon rushed him. During battles, during fights, during brawls like this - war like this - Kyoutani was laser focused on what was needed from him. He had a tendency to tune everything out and do as directed.

Only no one was directing him now.

The Mad Dog’s muzzle had been torn loose.

“Stop! Or I’ll shoot her.” Came a faux confident voice from the top of the manor’s stairs, causing Kyoutani’s eyes to flash up at the speaker. It was the youngest son of the rival family. Kyoutani couldn’t be bothered to remember the punks name, but he knew he was a little bastard who always tried to pull shit like this with the other families. The drama queen - the overlooked child. Said child gulped at Kyoutani’s piercing gaze, pressing the barrel of the gun against your temple as a show he was ‘serious’. “I’ll do it!” He yelled, hating that his voice broke.

Kyoutani glared at the boy, not giving you a spare glance. He knew you were hurt, beaten, bloody and crying… He knew if he so much as looked at you…. He’d lose his mind. He’d lose whatever little control he had over the situation. And while this boy didn’t understand the first thing about bluffing and threats…. Kyoutani couldn’t afford to mess up now… Not with your life on the line - not with a gun to your head.

“N-now… You’re going to turn around and walk right out of here… She’s mine, now, got it?” The boy nodded his head towards the front door that Kyoutani had bursted through not moments before. “You can just tuck your tail between your legs and go fuc-“

Pop.

You screamed and ducked away from the noise, closing your eyes tightly. There was a heavy thud as the boys body fell back onto the hardwood of the floor, and a few seconds later you could feel blood seeping into your shoes and socks as it puddled around the two of you. You sobbed and reached up, covering your face, trying not to think about what had just happened - all because you’d strayed just a little too far from your boyfriend. If you’d stayed by his side…. You wouldn’t be sitting in a growing puddle of mixed blood.

“Are you okay?” A rough voice pierced your thoughts and made you jump in surprise, in fear, away from the owner of it.

You braced yourself and held up your arms in an X formation, a form of defense, “NO!” You cried out. You peeked open an eye to see it was Kyoutani, your boyfriend, the love of your life staring at you with warm golden eyes - he’d started to reach out to you, but had flinched back at your defensive maneuver.

“Shh…. It’s okay… I’m not going to hurt you… I promise…” He whispered, and the tender tone of his voice made you reach out and wrap your arms around his neck, burying your face in his shoulder and sobbing your heart out to him. Kyoutani felt his heart breaking in his chest, and he pushed away the remaining rage; You needed him right now. You needed him…. He’d just have to take care of the rest of the family once he was sure you were safe and taken care of. “Come on, _____…. Let’s go home…” He murmurs quietly, slowly wrapping his arms around you, one arm under your bottom to support your weight while his other rested on the side of your face. You realized he was shielding you from the heinous scene of death he’d caused. The destruction he’d singlehandedly brought to the rival’s outpost.

Kuroo Tetsurou:

Kuroo ducked behind a pillar as a barrage of bullets rained down on him, and he closed his eyes tightly, feeling the few cuts of close calls still burning with pain. “Fucking bastards….” He growled lowly before doing quick pop shots of the rival’s goons, taking one out with a headshot before ducking back behind his cover, and doing the same trick until the 5 of them were dead. Inhaling sharply, he rushed from the pillar to just behind an overturned table, rummaging around the dead goon’s bodies for anything of use - bullets, knives, information, anything. “They should fucking know better…. Off limits means off fucking limits.” He hissed.

“Do you really think I give a damn, Tetsu?”

“Fuck you!” Kuroo yelled, popping his head up from behind his cover before ducking again as more bullets were shot at him, “Why don’t you get rid of your little army and we can talk like real men!” He called to the second son of his family’s rival gang - Hisao.

The young man laughed, “I’m not a fucking idiot, Tetsu. You gotta show a little effort if I’m going to put out.” Kuroo was about to pull out one of his favorites, a flash bang, when Hisao tutted, “Ah, ah, ah - Old Tetsu isn’t going to be using the flashy grenade now is he? I don’t think little girlie here would much appreciate that. Such pretty eyes~! Would be a shame if she suddenly went blind… Or worse.” He mused happily, and immediately Kuroo was pulling his hand back from the grenade.

“Get her out of here, Hisao, and I promise your death will be quick.” Kuroo scooted to the edge of the table, glancing around the edge to see three more of the family goons were aiming their rifles at where he’d popped his head up just a few seconds ago.

“Oh? Is that so?” The young man smiled warmly, “Ah, I think I’ll be fine…. You old men are too slo-“

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Kuroo stood from his hiding place, smirking at the younger man, “What was that you were going to say, you little shit?” He asked smugly, walking closer to where Hisao stood with you on your knees in front of him.

Hisao held up his own gun right at Kuroo’s head, raising an eyebrow, “Drop it…. And I’ll think about letting her look away when I blow your head off your shoulders.” He shrugged, impishly, not really caring either way - but knowing he’d be held to the highest regard if he took out the only son of his family’s rival. No longer would he be frowned upon. He’d be calling the shots. “What a good kitty.” He hummed happily when Kuroo did as he was told, sliding his pistol over to where he stood, “Now…. Get on one knee…. And pledge to me your allegiance, like a good peasant.”

Kneeling on one knee, Kuroo was only a few yards from you, his golden eyes met your confused eyes - how could he give up his weapon so easily? You felt tears well up and spill down your cheeks as you stared at him, begging him to do something, to fight back. A ghost of a smirk curled the corners of his lips, and he sent a quick wink your way. “Well? What? Old bastard didn’t hear me?” Hisao was so sure of his victory, he’d neglected to watch Kuroo carefully, neglected to see the sly cat’s hands.

“Ah… Of course… Hisao…. There’s no satisfaction in hell.” Kuroo hissed around his smirk as he tossed out his arm, three small daggers escaping his fingers and embedding themselves in Hisao’s neck. The young man stumbled backwards, shock in his eyes before his hands numbly reached up, pulling out one of the daggers from his neck. “Wounds 101, Hisao…. Never pull it out.” Kuroo tutted as he made his way to where you were on your knees, your back to Hisao.

The young man choked out an unintelligible reply, his action of pulling out the dagger causing his blood to flow freely from his severed artery. He bled out within minutes and his body’s heavy thud made you flinch and close your eyes tightly. Kuroo reached forward and pulled you against his chest, his right hand covering the side of your face, “Don’t look…” He whispered, his voice softer than before, gentle, knowing you’d seen too much today - you’d been too close to the fire that consumed his everyday life. And while he was too selfish to give you up… He didn’t want you having the image of a dead man in your mind forever.

Iwaizumi Hajime:

“This is some straight up bullshit.” Iwaizumi growled, feeling like his head was going to explode with the rush of adrenaline pumping through his system. He felt stronger than ever. Whether that was because your life was at stake or because he’d been given permission to kill your kidnappers was still undecided. Holding his pistol in one hand, he used his other to pull the belt off the dead man he was crouched next to - needing it as a tourniquet to slow the blood loss from the bullet holes in his arm and shoulder.

“Come now, Hajime! I’m only returning the favor for what your family did to my cousins a few weeks ago.” The voice of the first son of Iwaizumi’s family rival, Kin, only fueled his rage, it hadn’t even been Iwaizumi’s decision that time! That’d been his uncle’s choice to take out that outpost. And while his uncle was a badass of a Iwaizumi family member, he didn’t speak for every member of their family!

Iwaizumi closed his eyes tightly, taking a deep breath before he popped out from his hiding space, taking out two of the guards before he was shot in his other shoulder. He crouched down again, his free hand going to press against his wound, feeling like his body was on fire from the pain. “Fuck….” He hissed before checking his clip. Only 4 bullets left. “Fuck.” He looked up at the ceiling, praying for his aim to be on point; Your life depended on his aim. “Piece of shit!” Iwaizumi yelled as he popped back up, shooting the remaining guards before approaching Kin, using the gun as a bluff to get as close as possible.

“Ah, ah, ah…. Not another step.” Kin smiled, having his gun pointed at your head. You stared up at Iwaizumi, tears in your eyes - you’d been through so much pain. So much of your body was hurting. One of your eyes had swelled shut after you’d taken a beating from the goons, your bottom lip was split, and you were sure you had a minor concussion.

“H-Hajime…” You whimpered, your tears spilling over now, “I-it hurts…”

Your boyfriends dark green eyes flashed to Kin, and for a split second, Kin realized this was a mistake. Messing with the Iwaizumi family only meant destruction of his own. But there was no backing down now. Go big or die trying. “Let her go….” Iwaizumi’s voice was low, almost quiet, but the strain of it didn’t go unnoticed by Kin.

Kin raised an eyebrow, “Why would I do that? She’s my new bride….” He smirked, glancing down at you before pressing the barrel of the gun to your temple, “Although… She’s very prudish… I’ll just have to make her into one of my whores after I’ve gotten rid of y- HEY!” Before Kin could realize what had happened, Iwaizumi had taken the opportunity of his eyes on you to chuck his emptied gun at Kin’s head before lunging at him. The two of them landed on the floor, Kin’s gun going off once, the bullet burying in one of the wooden pillars of the house, before the force of the fall caused Kin to let go - the metal of the gun scraping against the marble floor sealed Kin’s fate. Iwaizumi sat on top of his rival easily, bringing down his fists against the young man’s face - doing to him what had been done to you.

“H-Hajime! Stop! Please!” Your voice sounded distant to him, as if you were yelling down a long tunnel. He paid it no mind and continued to beat down on Kin, not even realizing that the young man had long since stopped fighting back. “Hajime!” A force against Iwaizumi’s back made him lean forward in surprise, and he quickly grabbed the arm that was around his neck before turning and raising a fist at whoever had attacked him now. You pulled your other arm above your head, cowering away from your boyfriend with eyes shut tight, your other arm still held hostage in his tight hold.

“____….” His voice was hoarse, but once he’d realized what it was he was doing, he immediately let go of your arm. You fell backwards onto your bottom, bringing your knees up to your chest and hiding your face in them - you’d been fine through the beating done by the goons… But just the mere thought of the love of your life hitting you terrified you. “_____.. I-I…. I’m so sorry…” Iwaizumi whispered, reaching towards you and flinching back when you leaned away. He looked down at his hands and realized they were stained with blood. His entire arm was covered in his own, and if he slowed down now… He was sure he’d start to feel dizzy from blood loss.

You noticed this. You saw his blood slowly pooling on the floor underneath him. He was in no condition to keep going. Steeling your nerves, you got to your feet, grabbing his unsure hand and pulling him behind you towards the entrance of the building. You weren’t doing too good either, your black eye gave you the worst depth perception, and every step you took felt like you were stepping on hot coals. White hot coals. But you’d walk through hell to make sure Iwaizumi was okay.