#dying light 2 console

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

when their tsum courts their crush

I write reader as female

Masterlist

♠️ DEUCE SPADE ♠️

i love the fact that tsum tsum deuce is basically delinquent deuce, only smaller and cuddlier

like deuce explains, he’s very aggressive and quick to anger - it has no impulse control and can and will fight (i.e. headbutt/drop itsy bitsy cauldrons on) anyone 

like, unlike its human counterpart, it doesn’t even pretend to behave or be seen in a positive light, let alone act like the model student deuce is aiming for

but, like all things, there is an exception - and that, dear prefect, is you

you see, tsum deuce is an absolute terror to everyone - everyone except you

in fact, the second it sees you entering the rose maze (trey had you on speed dial the second tsum deuce appeared - everyone say ‘thank you, trey’) it comes bounding over to you and just leaps into your arms

and it just…stays there, all happy and content

and you just look down at this tiny, happy little angelic bean in your hands whilst every single person in heartslabyul is just gawking at how this demon just did a complete 180 degrees personality flip the second you showed up

human deuce is absolutely red faced and has suddenly become very interested in the grass whilst everyone is just giving him the biggest side eyes

so you, being the kind-hearted, altruistic person you are, just smile at the bean in your hands and cheerfully inform everyone that you wouldn’t mind babysitting tsum deuce until crowley finds a way home

everyone except deuce (and grim) is happy with this development

now human deuce already finds it hard to talk to girls but he especially finds it difficult whenever you’re around because he’s literally got the biggest crush on you and has been dying to confess but is way too shy to

but tsum deuce? tsum deuce has no such inhibitions

it will cuddle and snuggle and nuzzle up to you, rubbing against your cheek as it sits on your shoulder or hands as it rests in your palms

tsum deuce likes to grow big so that it can 1) be carried around in that child hug carry that parents do and 2) sit on your lap like a bond villain cat so that you can stroke its head and body

human deuce is not happy with either of these

like tsum deuce is just basking in your endless affection and endeared giggles whilst deuce is suffering so much that even ace gives him somewhat-sincere consoling pats on the back whenever you’d call the little tsum ‘sweetheart’ or ‘dear’ or ‘poppet’ or ‘darling or ‘angel’ or ‘cutie’ - and the list goes on…

what’s worse is that whenever you’re not looking it gives the most deadliest glare to its counterpart and when you turn around it looks back at you like ♡✧(^ ᴗ ^)���♡

like deuce knows that he’s supposed to keep his head down and nose clean like a good little honour student but his delinquent switch is wobbly on even the best of days and seeing you be so happily touchy-feely with that smug little rascal really does not help those buried instincts

don’t get him wrong, he’s flustered beyond belief at the sight of you being so affectionate to his lookalike but his annoyance and jealousy take precedence 

it all comes to a head when the cheeky bugger decides that its had enough of just receiving your kisses and just full on plants his ‘mouth’ on your lips

it takes everything in deuce to not full on punt it into the sun - especially when you look so flustered as a result, a gorgeous blush spreading across your features as you giggle at the little thing

deuce narrows his eyes - game on

❤️ ACE TRAPPOLA ❤️

@disney when are we getting tsum tsum ace? He’s the only first year to not have a marketable plushie

now ace has no problem with you being affectionate to his tsum

at first

you see ace and his tsum get along very well since they have very similar personalities

the two knaves of hearts just love causing trouble and making mischief together 

but being so similar means that at some point they’ve got to clash 

and clash they do >:)

when you come strolling in, tsum ace happily greets you and you, having been filled in on the situation (“thank you, Trey”), are more than happy to keep it entertained so you pet it and coddle it and dole out your sweet affection

and, honestly, it was a huge ego boost to see his crush being so sweet with a smaller version of himself 

of course, he’s going to be all ace about it and tease you like “why are you so affectionate with mini me? do you have a crush on me or something? don’t worry, i understand - i guess i’m too irresistible even as a tsum” with his signature grin

but then the novelty is very quick to wear off when practically all of your attention is being given to the little bean - especially when he realises that his tsum has just as big as a crush on you as he does, and he’s very quick to act on it

like human ace, tsum ace flirts by peacocking, living off of your praise like it’s the oxygen it breathes

and unlike human ace, tsum ace doesn’t tease you, which kind of gives him a head start 

basically tsum ace is an ace who doesn’t hide his insecurities and feelings for you behind a guarded wall of playful teasing and fake carelessness

it would show off by doing card tricks for you, using its own miniature deck it got from seven knows where to do all sorts of tricks - that do genuinely impress you 

and with every successful trick you’d clap your hands with stars in your eyes and fondly coo at it

and it would eat all of your praise up – with every flirty behaviour you would enable it with more positive reinforcement, spurring it to get bolder and bolder and ace is absolutely dying next to you

ace has a habit of ruffling your hair so tsum ace likes to sit on your head as you go about your day and everyone can swear they see sparkles surrounding the two of you

(ace doesn’t notice because that’s what you look like to him anyway)

you even gave mini ace the glacé cherry on the iced bun you had for dessert that day, hand-feeding the sweet fruit right into the little tsum’s mouth right in front of Ace’s cherry pie (and no, not even the taste of his favourite food can wash away the bitterness corroding his tongue at the sight of you and his tsum getting all buddy-buddy, not when something so much sweeter is just out of his reach)

quit paying attention to it! doesn’t it have its own y/n to flirt with?!

then, at one point, tsum ace has conjured up a tiny rose and has gifted it to you

“for me,” you smile at the tsum and the tsum nods, happily jumping up and down in front of you, “oh you shouldn’t have.”

you carefully take the rose from the tsum and gently pick the tsum up and place a kiss right on its head

“thank you, tsum ace,” you say, giggling with fondness, “that’s for being such a sweetheart.”

ace’s hand clenches around his magic pen and he swears right then and there that it’s no more mister nice guy – no more hiding behind poorly crafted taunts in fear of what ifs

he’s confessing to you by the end of the day even if it kills him

🦁 LEONA KINGSCHOLAR 🦁

honestly, leona couldn’t care less about the little things that came from the sky - not his circus, not his monkeys

though he was kind of miffed when his dorm thought he had turned into that stubby little thing 

he’s surrounded by idiots

he just palmed his own tsum off to ruggie and went off to the botanical gardens to nap

it was during one of his relaxation sessions that he heard your voice, only you were talking to someone 

turns out that ‘someone’ was his own tsum that was happily snoozing on your shoulder

apparently the little guy didn’t take kindly to being babysat by ruggie so it literally hunted you down and refused to leave your side

you didn’t see any problem with this

so you just continued on with your day with a tiny version of the big kitty of savanaclaw 

please understand that leona is a very jealous and greedy lion - he gets incredibly possessive if stray cats get close to you, let alone when you shower Grim with your affection - and now there’s an equally as greedy mini leona that’s demanding your attention

like it made it clear that it was trying to monopolize your attention, tail swaying in delight as you would pet its head or play with its ears - all things that you’d do with the bigger leona

it would jump up and press its head against your forehead, cheeks and mouth so you would kiss it back with your own lips (and leona just looks at the little judas all betrayed because you’ve never kissed him ever and he’s just so angry and jealous that he doesn’t even tease you about it)

so instead of spending time with him, where he rests his head on your thighs as you weave your fingers through his hair, you’re playing around with the tsum, giving it the affection that was rightfully his

at one point, it was still dozing off so you placed it nice and snug in the breast pocket of your blouse, making Leona’s right eye twitch uncontrollably when he could tell that the little deviant wasn’t even actually sleeping

honestly, he scoffs, faking sleep is the oldest trick in the book - and he knows that because he uses it on you all the time

you even played chess with it, and to leona’s surprise it was actually pretty good, only his slight amusement at watching you lose was tainted by how you were suddenly praising it for being such a good player - he’s good too! praise him!

he had finally reached his limit when his tiny doppelganger used its growing abilities to be large enough for you to wrap your arms around and bury your face into, your lovely features smiling in content as you happily sleep, unaware of the burning jealousy and intense scowl leona is giving the tsum in your embrace, or of the smug satisfaction said tsum is radiating

now leona is a man of strategy, of patiently waiting until it’s the right time to pounce, so for now he’ll just settle at baring his fangs at the little runt - he’s spent his entire life being second best (both to his brother, his nephew, that damned lizard), there is no way he’s going to be outshone by a furball that has no idea of the hierarchy of the food chain here. you’re the one thing in his life that he refuses to have taken away, even if it is by himself

and when you wake up?

you better be prepared

💙 IDIA SHROUD 💙

tsum tsum idia is such a sweetheart

while it does have idia’s social anxiety, he does hang around with you through the halls though by ‘hang around’ he’s usually buried in your pockets

tsum idia doesn’t have og idia’s fire hair but it does run naturally warm, which makes it the perfect warm pillow for you to snuggle with

idia didn’t have any strong feelings for his tsum. ortho loved it and it made you happy and that was it.

but it soon became a problem when it made you too happy

you see, idia had made a tiny little tablet so that you could play with the tsum whilst he was busy doing one of his own games

and like his counterpart, the tsum was good

too good

so good that you kept on praising it and snuggling with it every time it won

and apparently the tsum was in possession of some preloaded charm stats because it would keep on endearing you by texting you blue heart emojis or cute stickers that would make you coo at it

and watching you be so outwardly affectionate to someone that wasn’t ortho or grim definitely stung inside

even if that someone was a cuter, cuddlier, plush bean version of himself

so he just amped up the volume in his headset to drown out the sounds of your laughter and continued playing as he internally lamented how he was such a boring otaku that even a tsum has better moves than him

when it got late and you were about to leave (much to idia’s disappointment), you stood up only for the tsum to jump onto your shoulder and happily jump in place

“oh,” you giggle, “do you want to come to ramshackle with me?”

the tsum jumped up and down, indicating yes

“alright then,” you smile and turn to idia, “i guess we’ll see yo-”

“no-” he blurted out, the ends of his hair bursting into pink at the sudden silence that envelops the room, “i-i mean, you can stay. here. not here my room here - like here in ignihyde here. we have a spare room. unless you’d like to sleep over here in my room. if you want to that is. you don’t have to if you don’t want to infactyoucanforgetievensaidanythingohmysevenwhydidihavetoopenmymouth-”

“it’s okay, idia, i understand,” you say, “looks like we’re having a sleepover!”

maybe he should be a bit braver more often

[writingsbytee]

HIDDEN

TERRY RICHMOND x BLACK FEM READER

WARNINGS / TRIGGERS: NSFW; minors do not interact; mentions of domestic violence; self hate; angst; Terry is hard to read in the beginning.

SUMMARY: You’re running away from an abusive ex when you meet Terry working in one of his clubs.

TROPES: grumpy x sunshine ; “touch her and die”; slow burn; 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I took this idea and kind of ran with it. Let me know if you guys like it! I want this to be a series but only if you guys like it. I’m going to try switching POV’s; let me know if you guys like it or if it’s hard to follow.

WORD COUNT: 2.8k

*Please do not plagiarize, repost, or steal my work. This doesn’t count for re-blogs!*

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I whisper out. That fucking asshole shredded my passport. My expired ID will have to do for now. I’m running around the house trying to be as quiet as possible so I wouldn’t wake the sleeping monster who’s my soon to be ex. My phone vibrates in my back pocket, 

LEXI: Parked a block down, lights off.

ME: Give me 3 minutes.

I liked the message and continued to pack, I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I’d been with Rafa (ex boyfriend) for about a year before the motherfucker put his hands on me. I believed him when he said it was an accident. I looked at his tear stained face and heard the crack in his voice and thought ‘he loves me he won’t hurt me again’. Here I am two weeks later with a black eye, split lip, and I’m pretty sure some broken ribs

Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I peek behind me making sure Rafa is still asleep. When I saw that he was, I let out a breath I was holding. I may or may not have slipped some crushed sleeping pills into Rafa’s evening whiskey, ensuring I wouldn’t be interrupted fleeing from his ass. Reaching under the bed, I grab my suitcase that’s pre-packed with everything I need (besides my passport) and head towards the door. 

Before my hand reaches the door handle, I look behind me at Rafa. His features relaxed in this state he doesn’t look nearly as menacing as he did two hours ago when he was beating the brakes off me. Freedom was right in front of me yet, here I was close to tears dying to crawl back in bed with him. I shook my head and took a deep breath. Turning away from Rafa, my trembling hand reached forward to grab the door. 

“Just do it Daphne,” I whisper to myself. With another breath I pulled the door open to what used to be our bedroom and walked out.  I’m doing this for me, saving my life. As dramatic as it sounds I have to get out of this relationship before it kills me. 

“Girl, it’s about time you got in this car! I thought I was going to have to come in that bitch swinging,” my half-sister Lexi said. I threw my bags in the backseat before getting in the passenger side and buckling up. (Lexi's cast pic)

“I got stage fright all of sudden. I didn’t think I’d be able to go through with it, actually leaving him. I uprooted my whole life to be with him and here I am back where I started.” I said on the verge of tears. 

Lexi took a deep breath before turning to me, “ Look Daph, I know what it’s like to be so in love with the potential of a man you’re blinded by who he really is. Rafa didn’t give a fuck about you, he proved that when he put his hands on you. Look in the mirror Daph! I love you sis, and I’m going to support you no matter what, but believe me when I say this. You took your life back today.” My eyes blur with tears as I reach across the center console to pull my sister into a hug. 

“Oh stop it before I start crying,” Lexi lets out a watery laugh before letting me go. We release our embrace and Lexi starts her SUV up, and we drive away. I don’t glance back, ready to leave this life behind me.

2 Hours Later…

“Welcome to your new home!” Lexi sings as we pull up to her apartment complex. I chuckle as we grab my things and head up to her place. 

“The second bedroom has a bathroom right across the hall. I cleaned both of them out so you can make room for all your things. I got you a key fob from the front desk and I already added your name on the lease, but don’t worry about the rent,” Lexi says as she shows me around her spacious luxury apartment. 

I spin, crushing my sister in a bear hug, “I can’t thank you enough for this Lex, I’ll start looking for a job first thing tomorrow. I have enough money saved up to get me through the next few months, so I can help with rent if you need me to.”

Lexi playfully rolls her eyes, “Daphne I love you but please shut up. You’d do this for me in a heartbeat. You’ve always taken care of me, now let me return the favor. Plus I already found you a job.” Lexi and I found each out about each other in middle school and we’ve been inseparable ever since. 

I let out a deep sigh before nodding, “I love you too Lex. Now where’s this so-called job?” I ask, raising a brow. 

Lexi makes her way towards my room, motioning for me to follow her, “You’ll work at the club with me. One of the servers got fired and we’re really short. I put in a good word with my boss Terry, he just wants to meet you first.”

Lexi works at a high end gentlemen's club named ‘Fuse’. When she told me about it I was a bit apprehensive but, beggars can’t be choosers. I figured I can work there, save up for my own place and then go from there.

“Lexi, how am I supposed to meet your boss looking like this? I’ll scare his ass off,” I say motioning to my face. 

“Don’t you think I thought about that? He’s coming here, think of it as an impromptu interview. He’s discreet and won’t ask questions. Sis if you don’t want to do this…,” Lexi trails off. 

I shake my head, “No, No, it’s fine I’m sorry. What time should I be ready?” 

Lexi squeals before jumping into my arms, “I know you’re nervous but Terry’s assured me that we’re working the exact same schedule until you get your footing. If you decide at any time that the club isn’t for you, you can leave.”

I hug my sister back, enduring the sharp pain that comes from my rib cage. the weight of today is finally taking its toll on me, “I think I’m going to freshen up and lay down,” I say, detaching myself from our embrace. Lexi nods before showing me where the towels and things are, and then she leaves me to it. Taking a deep breath I cut the bathroom light on and looked in the mirror.

I gasp out a sob as I take in my features. My bright brown eyes look dull and lifeless, well the one that opens anyway. My lip looks worse than what it is. There’s a slight bruise on my right cheek. The worst is yet to come when I lift my shirt taking a look at my torso. 

“Oh my god,” I sob. I’m a nurse by trade so bruises, cuts, and blood don’t really affect me. But, seeing them on me is doing something crazy to my mind. I deal with cases like this all the time, vowing I’ll never be that woman. And here I am, that woman. I get in the shower on auto pilot. Not enjoying the art of getting clean like I usually do but just trying to get everything done. Once clean I moisturize and make my way into my new room. I don’t know how long I lay there and wait for sleep to take me. 

My alarm startles me awake, I groan and roll over reaching for my phone. Pressing the silence button, I begin to rub my eyes. I groan and roll into a sitting position, my face feeling even more sore than it did yesterday. Making my way to the bathroom, I flip the lights and turn the shower on. My mind reels as it tries to process the last 24 hours. 

Rafa hasn’t tried to contact me, not that he could. I blocked him on everything but, still the silence is alarming. I never told him where Lexi lives, so there’s no way he could know that I’m here. Pushing all thoughts of Rafa out of my mind for now, I start getting ready for my day. After doing my extensive body and skincare routine I threw on a hoodie and leggings. I decided not to cover up my bruises for the moment. Now that it’s the next day everything just looks ugly and swollen anyway. 

After finishing my morning routine I head out to the living room to find Lexi. I can hear her talking quietly to someone, I assume she’s just on the phone. When I round the corner at the end of the hallway I stop in my tracks. There’s a literal adonis manspreading on our sofa. Well over six feet this man is sitting on our sofa looking almost too big for it. God he was fine, I’m in no space to get involved right now but I can appreciate a fine ass man. Hearing my entrance, his eyes shot towards me stopping in my tracks.

“Oh! Daphne you’re awake! Perfect,” Lexi said from somewhere in the kitchen.  Seconds go by and I see her appear with a tray with three cups of coffee on it.

“This is Terry, remember I told you about him yesterday?” Lexi says with a nervous smile on her face. I nod looking back and forth between the two. My gaze lingers a little longer than necessary on Terry. He’s looking up at me with a curious frown on his face like he’s trying to figure me out, and I’m doing the same thing.

I push my shoulders back and walk towards him outstretching my hand, “Hi Terry, I’m Daphne sorry, if I’d known you were here I would have made myself look a little more presentable.”

Terry’s shaking his head before I can finish my sentence, “It’s all good, I was in the area and figured I’d just pop by and meet my new bartender. 

My eyes widen, “Just like that? I’ve got the job? What’s the catch?” 

Terry chuckles before crossing one leg over the other, “Lexi’s right, nothing gets past you. She told me you used to be a flight nurse, so I was hoping you could help me out from time to time.”

My brow furrows, “I’m not going to have to do anything illegal am I?”

Terry takes a deep breath leaning back, his gorgeous eyes assessing me, “We’ll keep that need to know. I won’t knowingly compromise your position or have you do anything that will put your license in jeopardy.”

I go over the details in my head. Could I really do something like this? It was clear to me that Terry was some sort of crime boss. He’s sitting so comfortably in our home like he owns the place (I wouldn’t be surprised if he did). He’s got money but doesn’t want to show it, based on the Rolex and Prada shoes he’s sporting.

“What if I say no?” I say, crossing my arms. 

Terry chuckles and leans forward, “Then I guess you’ll need to go job hunting sweetheart.”

I roll my eyes and look over to Lexi, she mouths ‘say yes’. I contemplate in my mind, I’ve always played it safe until now. I went to nursing school because my mom wanted me to have a “stable income”. I went out with Rafa because he was a “safe” choice yeah, that worked out real nice. I’ve always gone with the safest option, not wanting to disappoint anyone. With recent events plaguing my brain I nod my head. 

“Sure, what the hell. I’ll do what I can within reason,” I say to Terry. 

Terry nods before standing, “Great, I’ll see you both next week, and Daphne all my bartenders wear black. Cover up the bruises but keep the makeup to a minimum.” I nod mindlessly at the things he said.  Standing at his full stature, Terry is muscular, a few tattoos here and there and a face to die for. I was getting starstruck by my damn boss, which cannot happen. He exudes power, commanding each room he walks into, his height and size have nothing to do with it. It’s his aura he just gives off the vibe that he doesn’t take any shit. 

Terry nods to both of us, “Ladies,” he said, and then he was out the door. 

I sigh deeply and lean against the doorway, “Jeez Lexi you didn’t tell me your boss was finer than baby hair.”

Lexi laughs heartily, “Girl, it wouldn’t have mattered. Terry’s like a forcefield, he lets no one in.” I chuckle lightly and roll my eyes, making my way towards the sofa. I plop down and grab the coffee Lexi made. 

“So tell me about the club. What should I expect?” I ask while sipping my coffee.

Lexi settles in next to me, cutting on the TV, “It’s a high end strip club / gentlemen's lounge, so we have lots of politicians, upper level business men, basically anyone who can afford the fifteen hundred dollar membership fee. You and I will work the bar, as long as you show a little cleavage and laugh at their shitty jokes they’ll tip you well and leave you alone for the most part. You don’t have to worry about guys getting handsy, Terry used to be a Marine, so a few of his buddies from back in the day are working security.”

I nod following along, “Does Terry usually show up a lot?” I ask.

“Well, it is his club. So yeah he’s there most of the time in his office. He usually only comes out if there’s a problem,” Lexi said. 

“Hmm,” I reply with a nod. This was definitely going to be an interesting experience.

A WEEK LATER

“Daph! Come on! We’re going to be late!” Lexi yells upstairs. I sighed looking over at myself in the mirror, a simple black activewear jacket and leggings (link). My eye is almost healed, nothing a little concealer can't fix. I’m still favoring my right side because my ribs are still pretty sore.  I spray myself with my sparkling lychee perfume, grab my tote and head downstairs to meet my bratty ass sister. 

“Keep your panties on Lex I’m coming!” I shout as I look for my asics. Once I finally find them I meet Lexi at the door plastering on a fake smile.

“I’m sorry. Are you ready to go now?”,I ask with fake enthusiasm. Lexi just rolls her eyes and opens the door to lead us out. We head to her SUV and make our way to Terry’s club.

“Okay, so what should I expect?” I ask Lexi.

“Well it’s a Thursday night so it won’t be too busy but it’s a good thing you wore those shoes. We’ll be paired together so I’ll make drinks and you’ll take them out. Table one starts to the right of the door, and then they’re numbered clockwise,” Lexi said, adjusting the heat settings in the car. 

“I mean it sounds easy enough. I just haven’t worked in a club since nursing school. I might be a little rusty,” I say, getting self conscious. Lexi reassures me as we begin heading towards downtown. 

TERRY

This can’t be the sister Lexi was talking about, this is going to be a problem. She’s beautiful, fucking astonishing. I can’t even see the bruises, probably makeup which she doesn’t need.  She exudes a softness that has no business being involved with me and my business. I sweep my eyes over her before landing on hers. Lexi told me her piece of dickhead boyfriend beat the shit out of her. She doesn’t look bad, but her limp tells me otherwise. A part of me wants to find the sorry motherfucker and break his knees, but I’m acting too irrational over a woman I just met.

I’ve been watching Lexi show her the ropes from my loft office. She seems to know what she’s doing catching on pretty quickly. I adjust myself for the second time as she bends down to pick up something. 

“Ass fat as fuck,” I mumble watching it sway in her leggings. She drops off a tray of drinks at the police commissioner’s table and I watch as every set of eyes drop to her ass as she turns and walks away. She might be a problem

THE END

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Ok I didn’t want to get too deep in this in case y’all don’t like it. So please please like and comment if you want more. I’m so grateful for you guys I hope you all have a happy holiday season! Stay safe bookies <3

Until next time, 

TEE <3

TAGLIST

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DIVIDER: @cxrrodedcoffin

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP Prophecy Universe Part 3

Part 2

Tim reached up to rub at his temples and groaned. This was getting him nowhere. Normally he enjoyed going down the research rabbit-hole but this was ridiculous! Paranormal sciences were a bad joke. Most of it was conjecture, hearsay and unprovable theories with just enough scientific sounding jargon peppered in to confuse a layperson. Peer-review was practically non-existent, not to mention a proper scientific method. Francis Bacon would be rolling in his grave!

The slight hiss of the elevator doors opening interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey Replacement, you missed dinner!” Jason called, sauntering over with a loaded plate in hand. He set down a sandwich next to Tim’s elbow. “Alfie says he’s cutting off your coffee supply until you get some damn sleep. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna start prepping the knock-out gas soon!” he quipped, leaning his hip against the Batcomputer’s console. “Research on the League giving you trouble?”

“I wish.” Tim sighed, reaching for the sandwich, “The Assassins have actually been pretty quiet recently. I found some leads on suspicious political donations in Italy, but nothing I can tie to them directly. Talia’s in Paris as far as I can tell, working at an investment firm for God knows what reason. Probably money laundering related. And the ones holed up in Nanda Parbat have been quiet as murderous little church mice.”

“Ra’s isn’t up to anything? Colour me shocked.” Jason drawled sardonically, “You sure he’s not cooking up a new batch of demon spawn in that mountain of his?”

Tim shook his head. “You know Bruce destroyed his cloning labs after the last… incident. And I’ve found no records of the League procuring the necessary materials or equipment to restart production.” he wrinkled his nose, “Of course it’s possible that they used a shell company we haven’t come across yet, but I believe the odds are pretty low.”

“So what’s got your panties in a bunch then?”

Tim’s mouth twisted in a frown. “Ghosts.”

“Ah.”

Jason stared off into space and Tim took a bite of his sandwich. Egg-salad, score! The Cave was silent for a while, only disturbed by the noise of the actual bats heading out for their nightly hunt.

“I can’t tell you for sure if ghosts are real or not. I don’t remember anything from when I was… dead.” Jason said haltingly, and Tim stilled. “But we’ve seen people come back under pretty weird circumstances. So why not ghosts?” Jason shrugged.

Tim chewed and swallowed before replying. “Because it’s one thing for the physical body to be restored, but some kind of nebulous ‘spirit’ lingering? Why don’t we see ghosts all the time then? Why don’t people come back? Why not…” Tim broke off.

“Your Dad?”

Tim nodded and dropped the remains of the sandwich back on the plate. It suddenly looked as appetising as cardboard.

“I don’t know, birdie. We still don’t know why I came back.” Jason snorted “Maybe the universe just has a sick sense of humour.”

Tim’s lips curled up in a mirthless smile. “Maybe the universe missed your terrible puns. Some of those still haunt me.”

Jason barked out a surprised laugh. “That was terrible!”

“The universe clearly made a grave mistake.”

“Stop it, I can feel my brain cells dying!” Jason groaned and gave Tim a light punch to the shoulder.

“Well we can’t have that, you have so few already!” Tim snarked, then quickly leaned to the side to evade Jason’s attempted noogie. Jason huffed and stepped back, crossing his arms.

“All right mister teenage genius. What have you dug up about ghosts then?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “There’s obviously tons of folklore from all over the world. Pretty much every mythology has stories about the spirits or souls of the dead returning to haunt the living. But if there’s a scientific basis to all this then it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even the supposed leaders in the field are hopelessly biased.” He pulled up some documents on the screen. “Take these for example. The Doctors Fenton are supposed experts in the field of ‘Ecto-Biology’ as they call it, but their research papers would never fly with a proper scientific journal. A lot of it comes across as blatantly xenophobic towards the entities they are supposedly studying and their research methods seem geared towards confirming what they view as foregone conclusions. And most of their peers operate on the same track.”

Jason hummed thoughtfully as he skimmed one of the articles in question. “Do you think there’s anything to this, or is it all just a hoax?”

Tim snorted. “If there is, they haven’t offered any conclusive proof. Though they certainly seem to have made it work for them. The Fentons have a series of patents for weapons and defenses against these supposed ‘ecto-entities’ and it looks like there’s plenty of people gullible enough to buy them. I haven’t taken a closer look at their products yet, but a lot of it looks like something out of a pulp sci-fi movie.” He pulled up the image of what looked like a bazooka with green glowing parts. Jason whistled.

“So, con artists or mad scientists?”

“Could be both. Their financial records are all over the place and they’ve had some large transactions with what I’m pretty sure are shell companies in recent years. They live and operate out of a small city in Illinois.” Tim said, pulling up the relevant documents on screen.

“Amity Park?” Jason read aloud.

“Supposedly it’s ‘The Most Haunted City in America’. Seems on brand, doesn’t it?”

“It probably helps them stay in business. It looks like they have kids?” Jason pointed at the tax returns. Tim typed some search queries into the system.

“Two. One in high school, one just started her first semester at Metropolis University. With a full scholarship to boot.” He spent a few more minutes hacking into the university’s systems. “Here we go, Jasmine Fenton. Looks like she’s going for a psychology degree. And… hm…” Tim trailed off. Jason quickly realised what had caught his attention.

“‘The Damaging Effects of Envy Towards Metahumans? That’s a hell of a topic for a freshman-year essay.” Jason remarked.

“Yes. I wonder…” Tim drummed his fingers on the keyboard. “She might have some insight into her parents’ research.”

“And at a cursory glance, she didn’t drink whatever Kool-Aid her parents were serving.” Jason finished for him. “You wanna go pump her for information?”

“I might as well. If nothing else, maybe we can shut down a couple of mad scientists before they become a problem.” Tim stood up and stretched. “Time for a field trip!”

Part 4

[carmensbrain]

Heyy can you do angst like really really angst of reader dying in season 2 or 1 with Jayce x reader

This is so evil… of course I’ll do it ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧🎀

Contains- Jayce Talis x councilor! Reader

Rating- T for brains above 13!

Warnings- mentions and descriptions of death and gore(?)

Authors note- I’m currently coping with season 2 act 2 , I miss my soft lover boy Jayce so bad it’s insane ( • ᴖ • ｡)

Fic starts below the cut!

You had met Jayce in the academy days, keeping him company while he did his piles of research on hex tech. You loved to watch him work, seeing him finding that final piece of the puzzle and celebrating with you made your heart flutter. So after weeks of brushing hands, stares from across the classroom, and complements that were a bit too flirty he finally got the courage to ask you out.

Since then he’s been glued to you, fingers laced with yours while he rehearses his progress day speech for the 50th time, head resting in your lap as you work out some councilor paperwork late in the night.

One afternoon he walks into your office, face sewn with an emotion you couldn’t place.

“You’re needed in the council room, it’s important” his tone is flat but wavers at the end, after the attack on the bridge you could tell he was struggling, grappling with the weight of duties he never agreed to uphold.

You followed him into the room, dim with the sun setting just outside the large window. As he speaks to you and the rest of the council his voice is confident but the look in his eyes while he introduces the idea of a separation of piltover and zaun is full of worry.

The idea of zaun raised eyebrows but as the time to vote came the council, including you, agreed. Maybe once zaun is free the zaunites can finally find peace and piltover can focus on hex tech’s development. The final light flickers on as councilor Kiramman agreed to the proposition and a wave of relief washed over Jayce’s face, the looming dread leaving his face.

A moment later a distant explosion causes you to turn your head, momentarily blinded by the blue flash of a rocket barreling for the council building. Without time for anyone to react the room is practically reduced to rubble, a searing heat biting your skin as rubble pins you on the ground.

Everything sounds muffled as the remaining members of the council stumble to help each other, Jayce’s voice booming through the room as he searches for you. He’s able to pull a majority of the rubble off you you but the damage was already done, blood pooling on your dress as Jayce’s hand comes to cover the gash ripped in your side.

Tears fill his eyes as he tries to get help, screaming for help from the stunned councilors staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.

“Jayce…” you call out, hand reaching up to touch his face in spite of the shooting pain every movement caused. His skin is hot, stubble on his jaw pricking at your hand. His cheeks are covered in ash and dust, only broken up by tear tracks.

“I’m sorry- I- I can fix this I’m gonna get you help” He reassures, the words consoling himself more than you. His hands shake as he holds you, panic setting in while your skin grows paler and colder by the second. You guide his face to yours, lips colliding with his for the last time.

“Please… don’t blame yourself” you plead as you fight to stay conscious, every second passing increasing the pain ripping from you abdomen while the adrenaline fades. The finality in the way you spoke broke Jayce, a strangled cry leaving his lips as he felt you go limp in his arms.

Your mind brought you to a safer place, memories of the early mornings, date nights, and soft moments shared between you two playing as the sound around you fades and you can feel yourself slipping away. The pain fades and for a brief moment there is peace, no aching in your heart as you watch the man you love work himself to the bone to fix problems born centuries before him, no more constant stress about how to uphold the approval of the council while fulfilling your promise to your people in the undercity, no more fear of what tomorrow may bring.

As he finally lets your body go, lying you down as comfortably as he could so your final rest could be a good one, his gaze falls on victor.

He is in a similar position to you but there’s no visible bleeding and he’s still breathing, though shallow. A flash of panic courses through him as he rushes him to the lab, chest heaving while his thoughts cloud all of the other voices around.

I can’t lose them both tonight.

[sunofpandora]

Heyyy so I saw your requests post and I’ve been dying to get this one off my chest, so how about a neteyam x omaticaya! warrior! reader where reader’s a fierce warrior (maybe a protege of one of the higher ups). And we all know Neteyam (the mighty warrior lol) is strong and also one of the best their age, but what if Neteyam had such intense feelings for her that all he wants to do is impress her but whenever she comes around he gets all klutzy and flustered? And of course she finds it funny and cute and all that jazz. Just fluff I NEED FLUFF

P.s. The decision to fulfill this request is yours and I won’t be upset if you decide you don’t want to. As long as you’re comfortable, all’s fine by me.

But yeaaa have a good day/night :)

Authors note:

Hi babes!

So I loved this request so much! So I decided to make my very first actual long series! ‘Virago’ is going to be an original work and one of my first long projects. Unfortunately, I will not have a TON of time to do smaller requests in between chapters but i will def try! I’m very excited for this and i wouldn't have even considered this without the request so thank you so, so much.   

                                     

                                                  V I R A G O                   

Part 1.

The Day the Sky Turned Red.

8.7k words.

𝓭𝓮𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓼/𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼/𝓼𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼/

‘Y/n was made of fire. Oh, a goddess girl with lips of lightning and a caged Phoenx under her skin. Neteyam is just the ashes and remains of the heavens she crushed under her heel.’

When grief plagues the young warrior, Neteyam gives her a gift. But it is enough to console the flames in her heart?

Neteyam and reader having a sun x moon relationship (hello 'diaphanous’ readers <3)

Warnings: Descriptions of death/ parental death/ reader is a war orphan/ as always, spider, the reader, and Lo’ak are a trio/ Lo’ak and Reader being platonic soulmates?/ Spider and Reader being trauma twins/ Neteyam being lovesic/ Neteyam being nervous and shy around reader/ Neytiri being mother/ Jake being the husband i wish i had/ Tuk being a little sister and looking up to y/n/ Mentions of grace’s school.

Mentions of insecurity, blood, war, guns, reader being mommy/

I think that’s it?

Oh right, Reader fell first but neteyam fell WAY harder.

Extra info:

Y/n is one year younger than neteyam, the first part of this chapter is a flashback to when y/n was 15. Kiri, Lo’ak and Tuk are the agesthey are in atwow for the first part of the story. They age up in part 2 (in story)

(Ka’lik is the name of Y/ns father, her mother’s name is Zensira. Both were warriors, but Zensira was the best songstress in the clan. (Ninat go cry to the plant in the corner)) 

Super important note for the request sender:

Hey gorgeous so ik you asked for fluff and don't worry babes. I hear ya loud and clear. Unfortunately the first part of this chapter will be a bit angsty bc the creative juice were flowing and i got carried away but I swear on my grave the rest is nothing but fluff and lovey dovey shenanigans,

Not proofread

☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆

To some, surrender was a comfort. A sanctuary of softly spoken submission.

To Y/n? It was a ‘bitch move’

3 years ago.

Day the sky people returned.

Y/n is 15-16

The Na’vi say, every person is born twice.

That we can redeem ourselves in the eyes of the great mother. 

That being truly evil doesn't mean just craving the pain of others. 

That the life of a single diseased root does not kill the whole tree.

That darkness is deadly, because like the brothers and sisters of bountiful green that dwell in the great mother’s garden, we too need sunlight to grow.

Your mother always told you monsters aren't born from a seed.

They grow when they are deprived of light.

But sometimes, we find solace in even the darkest of places. 

That sometimes there's comfort in the dense night. Where others see hell, you build a home.

Sometimes we thrive in darkness because we feel we do not deserve the glory of sunlight. 

Is it wrong? Is it terrible of you?

To see light where the great mother’s grace and the violence of the sky demons collide?

Things that were not meant to tear the ground of our great mother’s delicate skin.

Their metals and turning wheels, their combat boots and weapons that scream and spit fire.

But did it belong in your hands?

Your father would say, 

“Each person is a thread, weaved within a tapestry that tells a story.”

The thing about stories is that sometimes, they may not always end well, or worse, they end too early. Some people stretch the thread as far as they can, too unsettled to be spread too thin, too soon.

Change is fundamental. Mo’at reminded you “there is no death, only change”

A moral structure that refuses to be severed. You believe that's whats what distincts na’vi from the sky people. Humans are quite flawed creatures. Humans love to dream and dance about stars and rain because their planet refuses to cry for them any longer. Humans dwell with memories that are haunted with light that only exists in the past, lingering behind desire to relive. Humans are afraid of grief, or loss. Of the empty void that lingers behind the shadows. Humans love to selfishly cling to the fantasy they don't live in.

You will never understand why they put themselves through such violent tendencies. To torture themselves. To provide reach towards an unseen daydream just to rip it out of their hands.

Humans remain. Na’vi evolve.

Na’vi find solace within the endless sky. Burning with color, blazing infinite. Na’vi dance on the precipice of the clouds. 

Grief came over like the waves grazing the tide, promising reassurance and return.

Violence was never a necessity. A lingering intrusion of a spark that refused to become a flame. 

But what lies beyond the sky? Was there truly a shadow behind the sun?

When the embers refused to settle.

You found yourself infatuated with open spaces. Abundance found within indecipherable notions.

Cracks in the mountains. Small tears in the tapestry where light leaked through the canopy of the trees.

Nothingness was never a threat.

Not when the promise of warmth remained.

☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆

Y/n met grief when she was only a child.

When she was 15, the RDA returned.

The day the sky turned red was the day the air smelled of sulfur and blood. 

Gray and red were never a pretty combination.

The demon ship’s wings stirred the trees and a storm of dust arise, 

Screaming, everyone running, the distant screeches of ikran and war cries.

The night your parents went out to gather some herbs, and never returned. 

When the pale light of the moon became a blazing, scorching, blanket of blankness that simmered into a forest engulfed in white flames. 

You found your mothers songcord on the ground the next morning.

Her body stained with red.

You stood next to Neteyam at your parent’s funeral.

You watched as Mo’ats hands guided the delicate floating Atokirina to rest upon your mothers chest as she murmured a prayer. 

People have this inherent conception that the hardest part of grief is change.

The loss of warmth in the safest of places, when the shadows loom rather than live. 

In reality, it's this unnamed feeling of a void.

Love is the amplification of a connection. Love distracts. It paralyzes you within its sanctuary of promises.

Grief feels like a shield with a hole blown through the middle. When the connection is shattered, and the sky is no longer protected without the scattered solace of the stars to veil the blank spaces.

Emptiness no longer infatuated you.

The sky without the stars is not a mystery anymore.

Neteyam held your hand. It didn't aid the hollowness within the cup of your palm. Guilt revenues in a realization, that even the great mother’s solace could not soothe this wound. This ache. This pain.

Neytiri’s soft sobs scorch the air with a soreness, the morning mist. Her fingertips, victims of bow strings and arrowhead edges gently brush the flowers placed around your mothers body. 

Neytiri was your mother’s sister. Not biologically. Preservations in our blood don’t always remain unsevered when a bond is born.

Your mother sobbed with her when hometree collapsed. Helped unbraid her hair for her night with Jake. Your mother had saved Neytiri’s life.

All those years ago when the RDA invaded Grace's school. When her body trembled at the sight of sylwanins blood that painted the floor and the walls, your mother walling as she desperately tried to drag Neytiri away.

To have such a bond. The heartbeat of one another emplaced in your bones, to sing a goodbye song with cruel unmeasured melodies. 

Jake held neytiri, gently rubbing circles onto her back, his own grievances had been paid due to earlier. 

Kiri’s tear stained cheeks didnt go unnoticed. She stood close to her father, Tuk’s tiny body squished between them as Kiri sobbed into Jake's shoulder . Kiri had always admired your mother. Chasing her shadow like wisp catching the breeze ever since she was a child. A woman of eywa. A healer. A hunter. Her heartbeat reserved for her home. Her people. Her daughter.

Lo’ak had placed his own tribute to the small spread laid out before the gently laid corpses.

A small carved arrowhead. 

Your father took over your mother’s job when she had other jobs to attend to, as being the one who trained a young group of warriors. Lo’ak included. He was patient with Lo’ak. Never discouraged him. A father liek mentorship had bloomed. So when his time came to join the great mother, Lo’ak contributed his own item of remembrance.

Lo’ak gave his arrowhead.

Tuk gave a small flower.

Kiri gave a small bundle of herbs the omaticaya believed was to aid the departing spirit on their journey.

Neytiri added a few carved beads from an anklet she wore. One your mother, Neytiri and Sylwanin had shared over the years, each of the three contributing beads or small trinkets to the piece.

Jake gave some beads as well. From a necklace your mother helped him make Neytiri when he struggled with the stringing of the oddly-shaped beads back when Jake was training for iknimiya, attempting to woo the young blue-skinned warrior he knew as neytiri.

All the omaticaya came to bear their gifts. Neteyam included, who gave you the gift of his warmth.

He cradled your hand in his, he raised it to his chest when the roots covered your parents bodies. 

You’ve loved Neteyam for many years now. Watching him grow from a boy to a man. 

You grew up next to the sullys. Your heights measured next to theirs as a child. Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri, even little tuk had built a circle around you. You were a part of their lives. They were  piece of yours. 

You found him in an irregular-shaped void in your heart that only he could fit in. Nights were filled of him. His voice. His eyes. His hands. The curve of his nose and the coves of his lips. 

His voice was made of tender summers. His eyes were liquid gold.

You saw him. You truly, truly saw him. Not the evascent shell of the perfect warrior or son made of stone. 

You saw him in the bleak day and in the night. When reality rivaled your thoughts of him, when the warmth of his touch seemed ephemeral, the invisible interstellar you swore was not a figment of your fantasies. You settled yourself from afar. Sullied yourself with stains of shame from the secrets you kept from him. The thousands of words you harbored, right next to the stars you swore you would steal for him.

This unrepeatable pattern became tiring, something you yearned to touch but your hands couldnt reach.

To tug on the silver string that dangled from this disguise he wore. This mask. This ruse of your heart.

He was to find the perfect mate. The perfect woman, A women to be the closest to an eywa incarnate. That wasn’t you. That could never be you.

Perfect with no edges. No uncalled for curves and no outward coves.

So you settled once again with the itching of your palms and the aching of your heart.

He was not yours.

Distance became a familiarity because distance was safe. 

There was a time where the itching in your palmsd for his. Now, his had felt hollow as it held yours now.

Grief was a funny thing.

You stood here, your skin feels more like a shell. Your mirror feels more like a window.

Staring at yourself with pity.

Such a weak thing she is.

Sobbing.

What once was warmth and abundant is now hollow and overcast by anguish.

You start to resonate with the corpses that once rested in your line of sight before the roots of the tree engulfed them.

Why is it that the sunlight denies you shelter?

Why must your whole become hollow? The ashes of what it once was line a new path. 

Is the sun falling? Have the stars collapsed? Will anyone catch them for you?

What is this? This pain? This agony? Why must it overcast your morals? Your rationality of peace? This homage harbors the resdiual of what little warmth is salvaged from this sunset of black. 

You feel the merciless fire in your veins. You want revenge. The cage of a Phoenix becomes an eternity of warmth. 

Even with neteyam at your side, the stars are falling. And the sunlight feels cold.

⋆｡☁︎｡⋆｡ ☾ ｡⋆⋆⋆｡☁︎｡⋆｡ ☾ ｡⋆⋆⋆｡☁︎｡⋆｡ ☾ ｡⋆⋆⋆｡☁︎｡⋆｡ ☾ ｡⋆⋆

Later that evening, the clan settled after Jake announced that his clan had to relocate to the Hallelujah mountains, where everyone would rebuild a stronghold and dwell with the loyal humans. To avoid any more bloodshed, Where the humans couldn't find you.

 You sat in the Sully’s Marui, Neytiri behind you as you sat infront of the fire.

She rebraided your hair. You had mo’at and kiri unbraided for the funeral. Neytiri’s soft humming soothes you a bit, but your hands haven’t ceased their small tremors of shaking.

She gently runs her hands through your locks, placing a few beads on each braid.

Th hut is silent, Neteyam sits in the corner, he hasn’t spoken since after the funeral.

Tuk perches on Jakes lap asleep, Kiri at your side, rubbing your back. Lo’ak sat on the other side of you, resting his head on your shoulder.

“My sweet”

Neytiri’s melodic whisper whisked through the heavy gray.

“We leave in a few days time, at first light for our new home,”

She paused, her thought lingering behind a wall of hesitation, she exchanges a look with Jake, who nods at her, gently taking tuk off his lap for a moment,

“Y/n, hon, with what's occurred..-”

He waved one hand around, flicking his wrist against the air to try and demonstrate some kind of invisible concept.

But you know he was referring to your parents deaths.

“We don’t think you should be alone.” Jake adds. Neteyam nods with his dad’s words, attempting to gain some kind of partaking in this conversation without speaking.

Neytiri rests her hand on your shoulder, making Lo’ak lift his head to peer at you. 

“What are you saying?”

It comes out as a breath, the unveiled remnants of the traumatic experience you had endured still fresh on your still-processing mind.

“Ma yawntu…We want you to stay with us when we settle in our new home. To stay in our home. We can take care of you.”

The warmth of the fire feels pale for a moment. I’ts vulnerability. Its shallow. Yet, Its deep, and dark, and you can’t see the bottom. Your’e left unguarded for a moment. 

“I’ll be fine on my own-“

You pause when you realize how hoarse your voice sounds. you clear your throat, your gaze meeting Jake’s. His eyes soften a you an you can tell its pity. Something you would have considered affection becomes an insult. A weakness.

“I’ll be okay. I’m not helpless. I can provide for myself.”

Jake sighs and shakes his head, his words calm.

“Y/n. I know you are strong. Hell, you’re one of the strongest i know, kid. But This is not something we’re going to let you carry alone, I made-”

He pauses, taking a breath, his head tilting down a bit and his eyes squeezing shut before he raises his head to continue.

“I made a promise. To the people. To the clan. To keep everyone safe. And to your parents, we would look out for you if anything ever happened.”

The lump in your throat is dry as you swallow.

Neytiri kisses your head gently.

“Ma yawntu, we will look after you..we will guide you on this path.”

She gently guides you to look at her bow in the corner.

“My father. He gave me that bow as he laid dying.”

The air becomes thick, even the moonlight seems to freeze with its slow creeping up the wall. 

The only sound is the soft 3-beat melody of Tu’ks soft breathing as she sleeps, but her heavy eyes flutter open now and then as she nuzzles into jakes side.

Neytiri squeezes her hand on your shoulder to keep her voice from breaking, her chest tightening.

“He told me to protect the people.”

The pain in her voice breaks through the cracks in the walls that kept the shadows out, cages that kept the anger in.

“I owed your mother my life. I could not protect Zensira. 

I have let the demons take another from me.”

The red in her voice stained the shadows behind ehr words, the sharp syllables in ‘demons’ evident, Kiri closed her eyes and winced at her mothers words, still holding your hand.

She took a breath and gazed at you.

“But yawntu, i will not let them take you. I will protect you. You have always been one of my own at heart. The skyships will not take that from us.

The familiar sting you felt only a few hours ago returned to your eyes along with the ache in your chest.

Jake nodded.

“We can be stronger together, Y/n. Let us look after you.”

The wisp of shallow aches still burn behind your heart but you nod, silently.

Lo’ak smiles in an attempt to lighten the load.

“Just like old times, sis. We used to have sleepovers all the time, now we get to have them every day.”

Neytiri was about to scold Lo’ak for his bluntness until she heard you chuckle,

Tuk’s big eyes blinked open as her tired voice mumbled.

“Now you can play with me more..and braid my hair..”

She mumbes as she smiles to herself. Jake chuckles and ruffles her short braids.

Kiri squeezes your hand and Neteyam’s gaze hasn’t left you since the beginning of the conversation.

You took a walk that night, creeping around the hammocks of the sleeping sully family as you quietly ventured outside the small camp village.

You stand under a tree, the moonlight leaks through the canopy as you start to count the stars. You wondered how the sky and the heavens could still be standing when your whole world had collapsed around you just earlier that day.

When you were small your mother would tell you not to pull on the loose thread of her tapestries she wove. Because the more you pull, the faster it will fall apart.

Thats how you felt. One loose string being mercilessly tugged and then all the colors were fading away, you chased them, you chased them along with the falling stars but no one caught them for you.

Your heart has been thieved. Your light has been stolen.

Sin and soul seem to have a war under your skin, and the soft lllabies of the creatures of your planet seem to have more of a shriek-like quality.

Why did the colors go away? 

Did they chase you to the place i cannot follow when you went away?

“Y/n.”

You jump slightly, the chill in the pale air becoming a prick of awarness as you reach for the knife on your hip, turning around quikcly.

Neteyam stands before you, his wooded-honeyed scent fills your nose, you blink as a breath of his name leaves your lips.

“Neteyam-

Oh Neteyam you scared me, you asshole.”

Usually he would have laughed. But not today, not with the shadow that looms.

He gently touches your arm.

“I’m sorry, truly-

What are you doing awake? Are you hurt? Are you in pain? Did something-

Did someone-”

You laugh at him. But its bitter and its thin. Its forced.

“For eywas sake why does everyone think i am the weak link suddenly-

I am fine. Stop looking at me like i am wounded-”

Neteyam cuts you off.

“Y/n, i would never think such a thing about you, ever. You know this. I want you safe, you can’t expect me not to be concerned when you wonder off in the middle of the night, syulang”

The nickname from whe you were children is a warm familiarity at the least.

You huff and lean against the tree bark.

“I just needed air.”

Its small and muttered.

A shaky breath left your lips.

“I’m trying to find ways to endure my own thoughts.”

Neteyams eyes soften as he steps forward, he gently takes a place y beside you, back against the tree as he stands next to you. Your hand brushes his, but your fingers refuse to interlace.

The two of you stared up at the stars for a moment.

“Teyam?

“Yes?”

“Do you think it’s ungrateful to feel as if you have nothing, even when others orrond you with love and promises?”  

“I’m not sure I follow…”

“Is it wrong to feel alone when your in the arms of others?”

As it falls into place for neteyam, he gazes at you as if you were a mystery in the moonlight.

He tries to see past your walls, to place himself in your shadow.

 He glances at you, then back up at the sky.

“No. It’s not ungrateful. I think we’re all born with some sort of circle around us.”

You pause for a moment, looking over at him.

“A circle?”

He nods.

“A circle. The people we love and care for? the people we would do anything for? The people who make our home, they all belong inside our circle.

My father, my mother, Lo’ak, Tuk, Kiri, they're all a part of my circle.”

He pauses for a moment, his tail swishing behind him.

“And…you are too. You’re apart of my circle, Y/n.”

You gaze at him and he withers under your eyes, averting his eyes and fidgeting with his necklace.

After a moment, he speaks again.

“I can’t imagine loosing people in that circle…things must become so…empty. As if the world seems too small all of the sudden.

So no, it’s not selfish to feel alone when that circle is gone.”

His words spark comfort. The hollowness within your palm seems less heavy.

“Thank you.”

You whisper, and he nods at you.

“You don’t have to be alone, y/n. My family…when they spoke to you tonight about staying with us when we travel to the mountains, it was not because there’s a need to replace what you once had. Y/n, we want you to embrace this new circle-“

“What if I’m not ready to find a new circle?”

The vehement tone you were bearning stunned neteyam for a moment.

“Your mother was right. The sky people will take, and they will kill, and they will hunt, until everything under the sky of pandora is either dead or theirs..”

Your eyes hardened for a moment and Neteyam was still as he took in your words.

You look up at the moon once more; taking a breath.

“I do not wish to fear them anymore, Neteyam.

I want them to be the ones who fear us.”

There was a new found devotion in your heart.

A bitter song of  fire and desolation.

Vengeance.

Each note a new mockery of blood and ash. Every chorus an unfamiliar revelry of hunger.

That night, under the fallen stars and the cold moonlight, the inextinguishable plotted purpose was born within you.

Neteyam sighed; his gaze fitting back to the moon.

“And so you will..”

No. 

Don’t. 

I don’t want to loose you in the fire.

But he didn’t dare speak it aloud.

After a moment, he spoke again.

“I have something for you.”

He felt his heart flutter when your eyes met his.

He reached into the pocket of his loincloth.

“It was a gift I planned on giving during the ceremony.”

You felt twitch of anguish as you recalled the memory.

“You already contributed your gift..you gave that armband my father taught you how to weave.”

He gave you a tender look. The kind whispered in the solace of summer and soft secrets.

“It is for you. Not for your loss.”

His words unclouded a new warmth in your chest.

For a moment, your anger ceased to simmer.

“I made this, for you a long while ago..but I never found the right time to give it to you.

Then..the incident happened and I knew it wasn’t a good time..I was planning on giving it to you on this day..but the plans changed.”

He opened his palm to reveal a small carved wooden spiral, polished and smooth. 3 strings with little charming dangling.

The first charm was 2 purple colored crystal, the second was a wooden bead that wore a Maude color, with a tree carved on it, the last was a stack of small purple beads with marbled colors.

He placed it gently in the palm of your hand, and you cradled it with such delicacy.

“Oh it’s beautiful…”

Your breath truly caught itself in his trap.

“When we were young your mother made you that necklace out of those crystals and small jeweled beads, the one she found in the river?..you were so happy to wear something so colorful..I remember the purple ones were your favorite. You always placed them so that they were in the middle. I’d thought I’d add them as a small bonus.”

He smiled at the memory.

You hugged him, your cheek pressed against his chest, he was stunned for a moment but hugged you back, you looked up at him and your breath caught for a moment, your faces mere inches apart.

You both Depart slightly and avert your eyes.

“Thank you. It’s lovely, Neteyam.”

You said softly, he nodded and smiled at you.

“The spiral suits you. Even now with this great loss you bear. It’s a connection. Even to those who are no longer with us.”

You smiled at him back, and the two of you started to walk back to the village.

How could you not see it? The spiral. A sign of support? Of friendship? Of trust?

No my dear Y/n.

It was how he felt like his soul was steadily orbiting around you. Thoughts of you never ended.

His circle.

His spiral.

You were the center.

☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 

Years later….(y/n is now 18.)

(her code name is “X” neteyam’s name through comms is canonically ‘pathfinder’)

Jake yipped to Neytiri as she raised her bow and looked over her shoulder.

Her face is adorned with war paint, much like yours. She had painted you for the day. Red, purple, blue, the colors of your ikran worn proudly like a hyde of victory.

“Remember the plan.”

Jake says through his throat comms, his volume fighting the wind. You held your two fingers to the small mic on your neck so you could hear through your earpiece.

“Neytiri and I will strike from above, X, you're my Archer. I want you to hit em’ quick and move out fast. Eagle Eye, pathfinder, you two are spotters. Do not engage in close range, or air combat, understood?”

You heard lo’ak groan through his comm.

“Bro, why does Y/n get to have all the fun!?”

You felt a tinge of pride. Knowing you were Jake’s right hand out in the field. Higher ranked than either of his son’s. A skilled Archer. 

“Because I'm older and I have more fun.”

You quipped back, unable to hide the smile in your voice.

“Ya know what'd be fun? If you were to crash straight into one of those mountains and fall in your cocky as-”

“Both of you! No arguing on the comms!”

You refocused as the smell of ash and metal was fast approaching. YOu and the war party arrive on the scene right on time

You flew up above the train tracks and watched as the vehicle crashed into a collision of smoke and ash on the derailed tracks.  The air scorched to sting your flesh with an uncomfortable heat.

Neytiri let out a ululating sound to signal to you as she flew down to help Jake. Behind you were 3 smaller aircrafts. 

You grabbed your bow from the side saddle, mentally commanding your ikran to dive.

Everyone who witnessed Y/n fight swore the wind under her ikran’s wings were grazed with fire.

She was made of red-ribboned rainstorms in a scarlet blaze of uncharted wind and wildflowers.

For a moment it’s all too real. The encore of your arrows, the satisfying stretch of your bow string, Like the last note before the chorus. You dive down, sliding down the neck of your Ikran ever so slightly as the wind stings your cheeks, the sunlight strong. You draw back, a loud call escaping your throat, and the arrow flies.

Its in a blink of an eye the cockpit window is shattered, the pilot now sporting an arrow of yours through his neck as the metal gray bird ceases it’s flight and collapses in a cloud of smoke and sulfur.

You’d usually be celebrating if two bastards weren't behind you.

You grasp two arrows this time, the long wooden shaft in your clutch as you line them up properly for the next shot. 

The pilots pathetically attempt to surf with the wind beneath you, scattering your duo targets into far off spots.

Thats the thing about humans. They tiptoed on the wind as if it was uneven ground. Na’vi warriors like you danced upon airstorms and harsh rains. A swirling spiral of helix grazes your skin as you feel one of their shots fly past you the heat just missing your ikran,

You soothe him before regaining your position, you mentally make a new command to your ikran.

‘Drop’

In a moment, the settled feeling of security that once shaved your bones seems to wither away.

Your ikran free falls, rolling against the wind that whips and wails. Your chest heaves as you ready your shot, the reverberation from your bowstring sings to your fingers as the two arrows fly, hitting both pilots as your irkan regains a flying position instead of a falling one, all adrift in a fleeting shot.

The aircrafts fall together, crashing against the ground.

The ground team jake had arranged comes into view frm the side forest clearing, all watching in awe as if you were the embodiment of phoenix.

They raised their bows and let out warcalls, you pridefully returned, raising your bow above your head and releasing a war call of your own.

Neteyam watched from afar. His ikran synced with Lo’aks as they circled the scene below, na’vi led by Norm gathering all the weapons they could.

But he couldnt let himself focus on the world below when all he could see was the woman made of exquisite inferno and grace was scorching the sky with her blaze.

Neteyam felt the wind brisk through his braids as he looked up, squinting against the sunlight in hopes to catch another glimpse of you.

The light of day made you seem grazed with gold that brushed the cobalt hues.

He watched as you shot down the aircrafts, he watched you shoot two arrows.

To Neteyam, you were made of fire.

Remnants of moonlight and high-tided sea storms. A hellish radiance and a scarlet soul.

Neteyam remembered the night he saw the flame embed itself in your soul. The night he gifted you that carving that was now a charm that rested tied to the long expanse of your bow.

He hated it. How inconsolable he feared you were, how he feared this new alit flame would burn his touch away from you. Useless was an understatement, of how he felt that night, even the stars above refused to guide him down teh right path.

He knew you were angry.

He was angry too.

He wanted to fight just like you did. His hatred for these sky demons simmered beneath his skin. He was a warrior. He wanted to fight next to you and his father. He was a protector of the people.

He had seen what they had taken from his home, from his parents, his family, from you.

At first, he thought it was jealousy.

The way Jake encrusted you to be his main archer. To shoot down sky ships.

Neteyam? He wasn’t anywhere near the fighting. Not anywhere near you.

He knew his father thought him and Lo’ak were “too important” to be fighting.

Jake was trying to salvage the sons made of stone before the heat of war can melt the rock.

Were you better than him?

Stronger than him?

Why did his father trust you more than he trusted his eldest?

As he watches you now, the archer who had her arrowhead aimed at his heart from day 1.

He knows its love. It must be.

It keeps him awake at night. The devoured feeling that gnaws at his heart. You were the center of his sky in all your celestial glory and he wished he would have gifted you the entire universe but instead he gave you that carved spiral.

He loved you because where other struggled to see in the dark you danced with dusk. You were a paradox. Detached, but focused. Because you somehow made the most dissolute and reckless seem graceful. You were real. Imperfect. Unconfined hunger bordered by each beautiful bruise blemish and scar that covered your skin. 

You haunted him.

“Bro!”

And funny enough, it seems eywa created little brothers for a different kind of haunting.

Neteyams eyes flickered to where Lo’ak circled around him on his ikran.

The cold colors tattered across the ikrans purple and blue skin, trapping the yellow large speckles of shapes of the banshee’s skin.

Lo’ak’s echoes dwindle in the gust of wind, the war paint he wore proudly on either side of his face, Neteyam had watched Y/n paint Lo’ak after his begging back at high camp.

Something about Lo’aks smile in situations like these always found ways to disquiet Neteyam.

His eyebrows hover above his eyes as his fangs bare through his smile.

“Bro! We have got to get down there!”

Neteyam shakes his head, a warning look traces his features.

“No way! Dad will skin us!”

Lo’ak shakes his head, the wind uplifting his braids as he dives.

“C’mon! Don’t be a wuss!”

The flushed first notes of an uncertain heartbeat ablaze neteyam’s mind as he dives as well.

“Shit! Lo’ak! Get back you dumbass!”

Lo’ak dived blow into the musk of what might as well be no man’s land. The air wailed and whipped around him as he hopped off his Ikran. Yanking his kuru from his banshees and running towards the chaos in question.

He looked over his shoulder to see Neteyam following suit. He laughed, waving his hand through the dust and smoke.

“C‘mom bro!”

“Lo’ak!”

“Lo’ak come back!”

Lo’ak faltered momentarily when he saw Norm directing some navi’s into a brigade to gather all the weapons from the train’s supply cart. Swiftly swerving to stay out of the dream walkers sight, he joined the forming crowd where around where Tarsem had just opened a new cart of guns.

“Here boy- take this weapon! Go!”

Lo’ak let put a silly war cry and puffed up his chest,

Neteyam came to a halt.

“Lo’ak, you don’t even know how to use it.”

Lo’ak waved the gun around like it was weightless, handling it like one of Tuk’s toys.

“Nah bro. Dad taught me!”

Neteyam rolled his eyes, done with Lo’aks bullshit.

“I’m sure he did-

Let’s go-“

He grabbed lo’aks bicep but Lo’ak shrugged him off.

“Or maybe I’ll just be like y/n and shoot down some sky demons!”

Above the clouds, you circled the ensuing hustle below. Watching the brigades, monitoring the ground team. Your bow at the ready in its position on your saddle sheath.

And then you saw them.

“Son of a bitch!”

You hissed quietly, swiftily diving down to where the duo of your headache embodied currently argued about something stupid.

Lo’ak smiled as he saw you, but it faded as he watched the shadow of your Ikran (which was larger than the average Ikran, granted)

Loom over the both as you hopped down, glaring at them.

“What are you two shitheads doing here!?”

The feathers on your raid top gently shook in the breeze, a few of your beads clanking together in your braids as you made your descend.

Neteyam seemed to straighten, but his breath seemed to form a blockade for his own voice.

Maybe it was the way the brightly covered beads and feathers of your top accentuated your skin. Or maybe it was the way the fathers in your braids matched your waist beads Kiri had made you.

Maybe it was the way your loincloth seemed a bit more perfect than usual as it hugged your hips.

Maybe it was the way the red, blue, and purple war paint on your face outlined your eyes like wings and shed down your cheeks like tears, sorrowed in starlight for you had just been warrior of the wind.

I guess we’ll never know.

Lo’ak spoke for him.

“We wanted to help! C’mon, we have the ground team to be spotters! They don’t need us! I’ve been practicing the trick you taught me with the bow, just let us fly with you- we promise we’ll-“

You shot Lo’ak down before the words flooded further, the scarlet hues ablazed and begged for nothing but obedience in your voice.

“Kehe! You will do nothing-! Go back to your post. Both of you. Now!”

You swatted Lo’ak with your bow, hissing at him, Neteyam tried to drag Lo’ak away.

“Bro let’s go!-“

The sound of heavy mechanical whirring instilled the heightening of your awareness in the moment, your ears pining back as you saw the larger ship approach.

“Gun ship inbound!”

Jake shouted, you saw neytiri hiss and take off on her Ikran.

“Shit! Run!” You cursed, shoving Lo’ak and Neteyam in the opposite direction and making a break away from the approaching enemy.

As it would seem time was not in your favor, your Ikran had already been spooked away by the blast, Neteyam grabbed your hand before you could run, 

“Come with us, now!

Go-!”

He shoved Lo’ak ahead of him as they ran, Neteyam’s hand clutching yours as you kept pace with the two.

The 3 of you climbed over the derailed debris, Neteyam and you scaling the bright yellow RDA logo train doors,

“Bro come on!” Lo’ak called.

A flash of light invaded your vision, the scorching heat of the blast incircled you.

You feel Neteyam attempt to reach for you, but instead all you feel is a tug on your wrist as your senses start to numb. 

Your airborn for a moment, then your body collides with the uneven ground, the rocky surface below.

You groan, your vision blurring. The embers and ash clash against your skin in the harsh sting of the hot air. 

You winced in pain as the adrenaline started it’s course of abandonment. The aching sensation swallows your body. 

Scarlet etched its way in a jagged scratch on your side. The world seemed to darkn as the scarlet hues slowly faded to black. The sky’s golden and blue game of chance changes its rules as your eyelids become heavy.

Neteyam’s eyes shoot open as his vision readjusts itself clearly.

Lo’ak is above him, shaking him awake. Panic in the half-notes of his jagged breaths.

“Bro!? Bro! C’mon, get up we gotta go!”

Neteyam stands to his feet, groaning, but quickly regaining his senses.

He looked down at his hand to see where something small and beaded made its home in his clutch.

A bracelet?

Your bracelet.

It hit Neteyam like a tidal wave.

“Shit! Y/n-“

Neteyam tried to run past when his body collided with a taller one, Jake stood looming over his son’s, placing one hand on each of their shoulders “Hey! Easy, easy, where’s Y/n?! Are you hurt?!”

Neteyam tried to speak but all it was met with is stuttered breaths and a poor panicked exclamation.

“That way! I meant to grab her arm and I grabbed this instead-

The blast-“

Jake didn’t hesitate as he started running in the direction you were in, Lo’ak seemingly still in shock and Neteyam following his father without missing a beat,

“Stay behind boy! Get your brother out of here!”

“But sir-“

“That’s a direct order!”

Norm, quickly dragged Neteyam and lo’ak away to the sidelines of the forest to make their quick escape.

The sound of a screech flooded your ears, the footseps barely audible over the smoke and wind.

“Y/n! Oh child, Eywa please no.” 

You reached for your knife with the last ounce of motor control you could muster, before a hand gently lifted you on your back, the sun’s blinding silver line halo of heat scorched your eyes, you hissed and winced in pain.

The hands were familiar, it calmed you rather quickly.

You knew it was neytiri when the blurry shape of gray purple and green, faintly recognizable as her bone collared-top.

You groaned, the raw rushes of pain encased your vision.

“I’m sorry-”

You mumbled.

“Shh. No apologies, my dear girl. Come, we must go. Quickly.”

The last thing you remember is the gently shrill of her Ikran and her hand around your waist was she settled you in front of her on her ikran. The Scarlet hue no painted the wind.

☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆☾𖤓✮⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 

When you awake, its to the sound of herbs grinding soflty in a boil. The reverberations of the grinding tool against the small wooden bowl make your ears twitch.

Your vision settles. Mo’at sits infornt of the small fire in the tsahiks tent, Tuktirey by her side.

Her big eyes blinking at her grandmother’s handy-work, her much smaller tail swishing to the beat of each sound.

You sat up slowly, with a small wince. But the pain was significantly better.

Tuk gasps

“Y/n! You're alive!”

She wraps her arms around your waist, nuzzling her little head into your chest. You smile at the smaller girls, roughly a few of her braids, kissing the top of her head.

“of course I’m alive, yawntu! It would take a million Sky People to take me out.”

You teasingly mocked the position of an archer, holding a pretend bow and arrow made out of thin air as Tuk laughed.

Mo’at gently cleared her throat, making her way to you as she placed a hand on your shoulder.

“ Child, your wounds were deep, but they shall heal quickly with the salve. Kiri shall be back with more herbs soon. But please rest, simply until the bandages are removed.”

You nodded greatfully, squeezing her hand in a gesture of thank you.

She was the closest thing you would have to a grandmother, even before your parents began their journey with Eywa. You never got to meet your actual grandparents. They died in the attack on hometree. The only memory you had of them was through the clans' stories.

You wore a choker that was strung with river pearls and brown leather, a small navy-blue colored stone in the middle. A treasured piece your grandmother once wore.

Tuk snuggled up to you in the hammock, and you gently rubbed her back.

A soft rustling made your ears perk up when Kiri slipped through the tent flap with a basket of herbs.

“Tsmuke, (sister)

You are awake.”

Her expression softened, as if tensed up since the moment you returned unconscious. It probably was.

She handed the herbs to Mo’at and kneeled at your side, gently brushing a few of your braids away from your face.

“How are you feeling? Better? I used yalna bark when grandmother wasn’t looking. Was it Lo’ak again? It’s always Neteyam getting in trouble and you getting hurt when that sxkwang gets bright ideas-“

You gently stopped her mid rant. Holding her hand gently to your chest.

“I am fine, Kiri. A few scratches and bruises has never done much harm.”

She chuckled softly, standing back to her feet to assist Mo’at with the rest of the preparations for other wounded warriors.

As the hours passed, and the sun started to set, Kiri had to drag Tuktirey off to bed and Mo’at left the tent for the night. Leaving you alone to find sleep.

Mo’at had insisted you sleep in the Tsahik’ s tent tonight. Get some extra rest.

You didn’t argue. It was better than sharing a hammock with Lo’ak. The boy snored more than what you were almost certain was normal.

It was an understatement to say you nearly killed someone when you heard the tent flap rustle. You jumped, instinctly reaching for your knife.

It was well after hours.

Everyone should be asleep.

Who was it? Were you followed when you left the train?

Was it a sky demon? An animal?

You slowly felt your heart steady once again when you saw a small pale figure enter your tent, the small glimmer of his mask dances in the firelight. Lo’ak is behind him, looking less hyper than usual. Instead, a subtle tinge of gray flickered past his eyes, but it quickly gilded itself to green and gold once it settled on your form. He released a breath of relief and spider smiled.

“See? I told you she was okay.”

It took you a moment to realize that Lo’ak was worried about you.

You gave him a small smile opening your one arm that wasn’t aching, and he slipped himself under it, sitting next to you in the hammock, resting his head on your shoulder.

Lo’ak was your best friend. But really, he was so much more than that.

He was your family. Your ride-or-die.

Your right hand.

It made you feel a bit guilty, that Lo’ak seemed to prefer you over Neteyam sometimes.

Lo’ak wanted you to be his teacher when it came to his archery training and sparring. Lo’ak wanted it to be you who he went on hunts with.

Yet again, he also only lets you braid his hair because apparently neytiri pulls too hard and Neteyam doesn’t know how to tie them off properly.

Spider was a bit of a different case.

As you grew older, you realized how much you envied your motehrs sense of lightness.

Her entire being seemed to be made of golden hour gardens and softly whispered summers.

She was strong. The strongest woman you knew.

But she was kind.

She wasn’t like Neytiri in the sense that she resented all humans.

Your mother always felt a sense of protectiveness over Spider. A small, pale boy who used his heart instead of brain, chasing shimmyflys and tripping over vines that were larger than him. She welcomed him into her circle. She shielded him from the storms of strange staring and pesky fears.

Your mother always cared for Spider. Helped him re-twist his locs and make him new loincloths and hair beads. Some of your earliest memories were you and spider playing with the small carved toys in your family’s tent, or giggling after dark under the blankets after your father told you both to go to sleep.

She argued when spider had to go back to his foster family, and ended up making bargains with him to stay overnight every few days.

You’re almost positive it’s the only motherly love spider has ever known.

He cried when your mother died. 

You think he might have cried more than you did.

Sobbed for days with you, and it brought you closer together.

You smiled as Lo’ak fidgeted with one of the bracelets on your wrist.

When you were about 8, Lo’ak was 7, spider was 9, your mother carved you these special beads for the three of you to use.

You three decided to make bracelets and your father helped you string them together, all collecting charms and gifting them to one another to add.

The two biggest stones were carved river crystal the two boys collected, Lo’ak rolled the beads between his two extra fingers, sporting a bracelet of his own you and spider made him.

“So, I heard you got your ass kicked.”

Spider snickered. Sitting down in front of you.

You whacked him with your tail.

“Fuck off. Those sky demons ate my arrows.”

Spider groaned, 

“I’m so pissed. I heard you fell down in a explosion and ate shit-

And now one took a picture for me!” 

Lo’ak threw and arm around your shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh yeah. And her Romeo was panicking because he didn’t save her in time”

You flushed, shoving him away.

Spider laughed, standing up.

“I can only imagine-“

He cleared his throat, before making his voice go an obnoxious pitch higher, twirling his locs around his fingers and batting his eyes, mimcmking what was supposed to be you.

“Oh Neteyam! My big strong warrior man! Come save me!”

You hissed in annoyance, but couldn’t help but bite back laughter at the back of your throat.

Lo’ak stood to his feet, puffing up his chest and taking his braid out of the way he tied them back, letting them hang, deepening his voice and stomping towards spider, dramatically holding him in his arms as spider collapsed with a loud rehearsed sigh.

Lo’aks Neteyam imitation sent you over the edge, you were now cackling and had rolled out of your hammock.

“I’ll save you from the demon ships with my bow and arrow!”

Lo’ak, you, and spider all break into a fit of laughter, rolling around on the ground. Lo’ak steadying himself by burying his face in your shoulder as spider banged his fist on the ground, finally, as the laughter died down, the three of you stared at the top of the tent, out of breath, the only sound being the gentle wheezing endnotes of your breaths.

“Glad you kicked some ass today. Those fucking RDA pilots didn’t stand a chance against you and that bow of yours.”

Spider whispered. Nudging your shoulder gently.

You smiled at him, Lo’ak squished in between you.

The three of you said your goodnight s, and you watched the two missing parts of your circle leave the tent before they could get caught after lights out.

You nestled back into the hammock, staring up at the ceiling.

The aching in your arms hasn’t completely vanished it’s fortification of pain in your shoulder.

You gently rub circles around the small carved spiral you untied from the long shaft of your bow when spider dragged it inside.

You played with the small crystals and the beads, gently humming to yourself.

Your fingers traced along the shape, Neteyams eyes invaded your mind.

It was fascinating, really. How a warrior such as yourself had won today's battle and yet the one thing you truly yearned for was still not within your grasp.

It hurts sometimes, to think about how beautiful he was.

The way his irises encompassed golden hour in all its starlight sessions.

The air was thicker in the mountains like this, up here in high camp. Perhaps that’s why the sweltering residual warmth that rippled across your skin like lillies to a pond every time you thought of him

You wondered if he tasted like the sun. Sweet, possibly bitter. Bleak and addicting, such a delicacy deserved to never touch your lips.

Alas the stars did not align for you.

Not tonight.

You trace the spiral one last time before letting your eyes flutter closed.

Your tail flicked as you heard yet another rustling.

The sound of footsteps, slightly heavier than last time.

You groaned.

“Spider did you forget something again?..”

When no answer was heard you grumbled. Standing to your feet and untying the tent flap, only to be met with two two golden hour orbs that had just plagued your mind.

“”Neteyam?..”

authors note:

I’m finally done! I haven’t slept in two days but I’m finished. I can’t decided whether I like the way this turned out but I LOVE some of the smaller little details. Y/n is such a badass and she’s serving left and right. We love to see it 😩👏 this first one was a lil angsty but I PROMISE y’all, this series is NOT angst. I’ve got a ton of stuff planned. I’m thinking maybe a little bit of jealous Neteyam? Some humor? Spider and Lo’ak being the captain of the ship? Mo’at being a sassy Granmda? Maybe some sister bonding with Kiri? AHHH IM SO HYPED. I, about to pass out and I can’t feel my fingers but that’s it for now! Stay tuned for part 2 🏹

-Sol

Jan 2024

“Virago” series, chp. 1.

Taglist:

@plooto

[ravenromanova]

Come back to me pt.2

Pairings: 838 Wanda x Female reader. 616 Wanda x Vision

Warnings: Nothing really for this one. But in the next parts there will be smut. i’m just getting the scene right now. this one might be a little short sorry :/

Masterlist - Send me requests!!!

Taglist ~ @wandanatlov3r @sparklymoonenemy @tigerlillyruiz @weeeeeeeeee3 @dark-hunter16 @alexawynters @leenasayeed

~

Part 1

”I’m bringing you home Malysh” She said as she closed the portal and walked over to where you were laying. For a moment you thought you were still dreaming. That was until you felt Wandas hand on your cheek ensuring you she’s real.

“Where’s home?” You asked after finally coming to terms with the fact that she’s really there. She smiled softly before she reached her hand out for you to take. You rubbed your eyes and then slowly grabbed her hand before you got out of your bed.

“You’ll see soon malysh” Wanda said softly before she flicked her wrist and opened up another portal. You were still very confused and not 100% sure you weren’t dreaming as you walked through the portal.

When the both of you walked through the portal you were met with vivid colors and a more beautiful universe. The universe had much brighter colors than yours did, the sky was a different shade of blue and everything just seemed better. Wanda led you from where she had made the portal to the little house she had bought in a woodsy town in upstate new york.

Once you walked into the house you immediately took a few moments to look at the decorations. The house was small but cozy with a soft furniture that complimented Wandas style. The walls were painted a light green, there were beautiful paintings varying from van gogh to flowers. You smiled as you took in all of the decor and for some reason you felt at home right away. Wanda smiled as she watched you wonder around and take everything in.

“This is home malysh” Wanda said once you took a moment to take everything in.

“It’s beautiful Wanda” You mused with a smile still holding her hand.

“I bought this house right after you passed…You had mentioned to me how much you loved this house one day as we drove past it. So i bought it to honor you after the accident.” She said softly leading you to the sofa and sitting down. You sat on the soft dark green sofa as you listened. The story made your heart break and your eyes well up with tears as she spoke.

“I’m sorry” Your words caught her off guard. “I know it isn’t my fault for ya know dying but im sorry that we never got time together and you had to come to a different universe for me. I honestly dont think im worth all that” Wanda squeezed your hand softly for reassurance and shook her head. Her eyes were soft as she looked at you and shook her head before speaking.

“Darling i would cross any timeline and go to any universe to find you again. I know im not your Wanda but i still love you the same. And if its any consolation i know your Wanda feels the same but is just too scared” She said with a certain sadness in her voice that made your heart break a little more.

“I know this is all a little weird but if you want i would love it if you stayed here…with me” Wandas voice wavered as she spoke almost as if she thought you’d say no. You smiled and grabbed her hands and rubbed your thumb against her knuckles.

“I’d love that…There’s nothing for me in my universe. I have no family, Wanda chose Vision as you already know, I dont really have any friends on the team besides nat so yea i’ll stay” She smiled brightly at your words and moved in closer before she brought you in for a passionate kiss. You knew that you probably shouldn’t stay that there would more than likely be repercussions of your actions. But right now in this moment you couldn’t care less because you felt so loved by her.

*Back in 616*

Wanda wondered the compound hoping to find you but had no luck everywhere she checked. She sighed as she wondered back to your room to see if maybe you were in there.

“Y/n? You in there?” Her soft voiced echoed through your room. After a few seconds of waiting and no response she used her powers to open your door. Wanda sighed when she entered and saw you weren’t in there. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath before age went to sit in your bed. She then saw the stuffed unicorn she bought you for your birthday one year and grabbed it. Wanda smiled softly as she held the stuffed animal.

That’s when she decided she was going to try to find you using a location spell. So she closed her eyes and focused on finding you. What she saw made her heart stop. You were sitting on the couch with her only… it wasn’t her it was a Wanda from another universe it looked like.

“What the hell” She whispered to herself as she saw the two of you walk around a small cottage looking house. Wanda’s heart stopped when she saw you leaning in for a kiss. You were giggling at something the other Wanda had said and it was just like when the two of you would hang out together.

Wanda sat there on your bed for what felt like forever watching you and other her interact. Her heart filled with joy at the look on your face. You looked happy with other her. But as Wanda continued to watch she couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss. She has always loved you but never had the courage to say anything so when Vision asked her out she didn’t think twice. Everything was great with Vision at first till she noticed how distant and quiet you got around her. As the days went on she tried to find the strength to leave Vision and tell you how she felt but she never did.

Twenty minutes passed before Wanda got up and knew what she needed to do. She left your room and then went to her own to change and collect her thoughts. After she got dressed and calmed her anxious mind down she opened up a portal of her own.

*818*

Once she conjured the portal she walked through and entered a world that looked like her own but yet it was vastly different. She looked around for a moment before she saw a red trail that resembled her powers. Her brows furrowed as she followed the trail for what seemed like forever.

When she got to the small cottage looking house from her vision the red trail ended. Wanda froze as she stood outside the house the house. She didn’t know what to do. Her mind was racing. What if you were mad at her? What if you were happy with this Wanda and didn’t want to come back? Should she just leave to be?

Her heart stopped when she heard your laugh from inside the house. The laugh sounded real and genuine… She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t ruin your happiness for her own selfish reasons even if she wanted to fix things.

*Inside the house*

You and Wanda were sitting down on the couch watching friends giggling at the antics of Joey and Chandler when Wanda felt something off. She tended under your touch as you laid on her chest and when your eyes met hers they were red.

“Wanda? Are you okay?” You asked placing your hand on her cheek growing worried. She didn’t respond as she grabbed the hand that was on her cheek.

“You need to go outside. She’s here” She finally said after her eyes went back her their normal green.

“W-Who’s outside?” Your worry and concern kept growing as you spoke.

“Just go Malysh” She said with a sad smile on her face. You could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t gonna listen to your protests so you nodded and headed words to the door.

Your hands shook a little as you twisted the door knob. And once the door was opened and you saw who it was your heart stopped and tears formed in your eyes.

“Wanda?” Her eyes meet yours and it felt like all time had stopped. “What are you doing here?” You asked walking down the steps.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you how i felt before. I’m so sorry y/n please please come back to me “ She pleaded holding onto your hips once you were in reach. Your hands found home on her reddened cheeks and you gave her a sad smile.

“I-I don’t know if i can” Wanda could hear her heart breaking at your words. It was in that moment that all her fears came true.

~The end of part two~

A/n sorry for the cliffhanger :) well not really but i promise the next however many chapters will be so much better and filled with so much more angst and fluff! I just needed to set the scene you know? ANYWAYS i love y’all

[petrichorca]

Hello, I am slowly figuring out how to use tumblr effectively. I thought I'd give an update on fics I've written in 2024, but keep forgetting to talk about here in a meaningful way.

As We Go Hand in Hand (explicit, gentlebeard, 7100 words) follows Ed as he processes the past few months while living on the island with Stede, massively in love but struggling with himself. I wrote it while feeling a lot of delayed grief around the (confirmed) s2 cancellation, and while it's sad at points it's also quite romantic I think. I really love this story.

Behind Closed Eyes All I See is You (explicit, gentlebeard, 5300 words) is a smutty PWP my dear friend @chaoticturtleturtle invited me to write with her. Stede lets Ed take the lead in a scene with some sensory deprivation, pwp, and aftercare.

like sugar to my heart (mature, gentlebeard, 4200 words) is a silly fic I wrote for my Animorphs OFMD AU co-writer as a birthday gift. Our blue four-legged four-eyed mouthless alien Stedeth gets foiled by a vending machine (based on the tumblr art of the giraffe centaur), and Ed consoles him.

like a bird (teen, gentlebeard, 3700 words) with @ghostalservice gives some backstory about Stedeth's life prior to the events of our 177k fic and features some very cute art of Mary and Stede's children (as Andalites, of course) by @theogem

Stede’s Cursed Red Suit as a Metaphor for Grief and Moving On (teen, stede + izzy, 1717 words) explores the squishy time of season 2, episode 5, and the dynamic between Stede and Izzy in season 2 overall. I am also obsessed with how Stede acts in the cursed suit. I find their s2 relationship really interesting so this is me looking a bit at that via a missing scene starting with Stede yelling OH FUCK OFF.

Calypso’s Dawn (explicit, gentlebeard, 1800 words) centers around how Ed made his boyfriend blush the morning after Calypso's birthday and how Ed feels about it. I love this fic. I've been trying to challenge myself to write more self-contained, shorter stories and this one turned out really well imo.

Life as a Series of Forward Rolls (teen, gentlebeard, 9900 words) features Stede running into his teenhood crush, the gold medalist in men's gymnastics from the 1996 Olympics. This fic also centers around a Barbie doll in Ed Teach's likeness, which @swashbuckling-sweethearts made an INCREDIBLE art of (embedded at the end of the story), inspired by my own 1996 Olympics Barbie. Silly and light modern AU!

Did you mean to do that? (teen, gentlebeard, 700 words) explores Stede's grief around Ed dying, even when he knows Ed is alive. I had no idea I would be so interested in writing missing scenes, but long conversations with friends have really ignited me in exploring these. (The length - I was trying to channel @brigdh, whose ability to write devastatingly brilliant drabbles inspires me, and I'm pleased with this one!)

Perfectly Ordinary Tuesday (mature, gentlebeard, 4900 words) with @ferventrabbit follows Stede and Ed deciding to get married on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday, and drag their inn guest Dave along for the ride. We split up writing the vows, and I balled my eyes out writing mine and then reading em's. This story is fluffy and fun, and it was a great way to start 2024. :)

What's next: I'm working on or noodling a lot of projects, solo and with different collaborators. Imminently, I've got a fic with @veeagainsttheday coming for AUpril on April 1st. Hoping to get something else out in April for @ofmdjanuaury's AUpril 2024 event, which I highly encourage folks to check out - it's for all sorts of creators!

@ghostalservice and I continue to think about our blue alien Stede and his human boyfriend Ed. Wanna Fly Away was such an important project to me while we were writing, and it's become even more special as folks find it. WFA now has art embedded in most of the 15 chapters, so if you haven't seen those check it out. More to come in that space.

Where was I going with this? Well, I suppose I want to say I'm still here. OFMD changed my life, and the OFMD fandom community is deeply important to me. I still hold out hope for a third season, or a follow-up that brings us more closure, but no matter what I'm still thinking about our pirates and will for a long time. If you read this far, thanks for being part of my community. <3

[creative-kny-fics]

I started rereading the KNY manga (for the thousandth time) and decided to write some curious facts that I have in my AU.

Warning: There are some ships that I like, if you don't like them, don't read and avoid having a bad time. And if there are any questions, I will answer them. Or in case there is some information that you like and that I also like, I can add it

Ships:

1. SaneGiyuu (Sanemi Shinazugawa x Giyuu Tomioka)

2. ObaMitsu (Iguro Obanai x Mitsuri Kanroji)

3. GenMui (Genya Shinazugawa x Muichiro Tokito)

4. UzuRen x Uzui's wiwes (Uzui Tengen x Kyojuro Rengoku - Uzui x Suma x Makio x Hinatsuru)

5. ZenNezu (Zenitsu Agatsuma x Nezuko Kamado)

6. TanKana (Tanjiro Kamado x Kanao Tsuyuri)

7. InoAoi (Inosuke Hashibira x Aoi Kanzaki)

8. KagaMane (Kagaya x Amane Ubuyashiki)

Before the Final Battle:

1. After Nezuko was accepted by Oyakata-Sama, Giyuu took in both siblings and let them stay at his estate to rest or to feed them.

Some time later, Giyuu left the property to both of them as he started living with Sanemi, but he always visited them to make sure they were okay, so it didn't really seem like he and Sanemi were living together.

2. However, after Nezuko was accepted, most noticed a change in Sanemi's personality.

This was because Sanemi remembered the moment he killed his mother and a guilt came over him. He tried to think of what it would have been like for him and Genya if he had known known that it was not necessary to kill her, but he could have sought help for her.

3. Shinobu and Giyuu became close after Kanae's death as Shinobu began to exhibit strange behaviors and Giyuu noticed.

Many thought that the two were a couple, and they were, but they discovered that they got along better as friends than as boyfriends, and they remained on good terms.

After all, it was Shinobu, with the help of Uzui and Rengoku, who helped make Sanemi and Giyuu a couple.

4. Nezuko's feelings for Zenitsu began when she realized that she was part of his priority and that he stayed taking care of her after saving everyone.

In turn, Nezuko really likes how Zenitsu cares about her, in addition to enjoying his gifts and having them in her box when he is on a mission.

5. Neither Mitsuri, nor Tengen, nor Obanai accepted hearing that Rengoku had died.

When Mitsuri found out, she immediately ran to Obanai and cried for hours because she couldn't believe that her mentor had died and she wasn't able to save him.

Obanai couldn't cry, he didn't know why, but he just couldn't do it, at least when he was awake, he started crying silently when he slept.

Tengen was probably the one who accepted that the best, but his thoughts that he was going to hell increased, nor did his wives manage to console him because he seemed to remain neutral about it in front of them. He only cried in front of his grave, it was the only place where he felt comfortable crying.

6. After the red light district arc, Kanao was the one who stayed by Tanjiro's side the most during his free time, often singing to him or having Nezuko with her to make sure everything is okay.

7. Although Nezuko could speak after the Blacksmith Village Arc, she was wearing her bamboo muzzle for some time.

It was something that Nezuko gradually stopped, even though most of the time she was seen without her muzzle, when she was alone she used a cloth because she felt 'uncovered' and she didn't get used to it.

The girls from the butterfly mansion and Giyuu were the ones who helped her get out of the muzzle, as well as taught her to talk and do other activities so that she stays busy and doesn't think about it.

8. Kagaya knew that soon he would have to die, so he decided to use himself as a sacrifice.

Although he tried to persuade Amane to save herself so that she could take care of her children, Amane never left him and asked Gyomei to take care of her children for them if he survived.

9. Mitsuri cried when she learned that each person was dying, which was reflected in her fight against Nakime, and Obanai was constantly repeating to her and asking her to make an effort so that their deaths were not in vain.

10. The surviving crows informed everyone they knew of the hunters who lost their lives about who won.

Although some parents were happy, others cried, others were extremely angry with the Ubuyashiki, but they did not dare to say anything to them because they were children and because they were escorted by Uzui and Rengoku.

After the Final Battle:

1. Since most of the hashiras died, Sanemi and Giyuu agreed to become their new owners so that they would not lack food.

Except for En, Shinobu's crow, and Kaname, Rengoku's crow, who were left in the care of Kanao and Senjuro.

2. When Sanemi and Kanao met, Sanemi not only gave Kaburamaru, but also a paper with activities, tastes, meals, schedules and instructions to take care of Kaburamaru.

This paper would have been written by Obanai shortly after he became hashira, the only one who knew about this was Kaburamaru, so he was the one who showed Sanemi the hiding place so that he could give it to Kanao.

3. Tengen, Sanemi and Giyuu pay a weekly visit to their comarades and family.

This started because on a visit that Tengen and his wives made, they heard cries and found Sanemi and Giyuu crying uncontrollably, so they began to go back to back to have better emotional support at those times.

4. Although part of Shinobu/Kanae's haori was torn, Inosuke found some fabrics and kept them carefully because it was the only thing left of Shinobu for him.

Upon learning that Nezuko managed to restore Giyuu's haori, he kindly asked if she could do something with Shinobu's, and although she couldn't do much since much of the fabric was stained with blood, she managed to make a small handkerchief.

5. None of the butterfly girls (Naho, Kiyo and Sumi) know that Shinobu is not coming back.

Neither Kanao nor Aoi have the heart to tell them that she died and every time they ask about her, they respond "she's on an important trip, but she asked us to remind you that she loves you very much."

6. Shinjuro left his alcohol problem some time after Kyojuro's death, becoming the father that Senjuro and Kyojuro remembered.

He usually takes Senjuro to spend time with the Kamaboko Squad while he simply observes them, especially Senjuro.

7. When Mitsuri's parents found out about her death and what happened between her and Obanai, they themselves organized the burial for both of them.

They always go to visit them and before leaving, they leave a small plate of sakura mochi for Mitsuri, and a plate of tororo kumbo for Obanai.

8. Although the bodies of Shinobu, Genya and Tokito could never be found, they, like the others, had their place in the bush.

Genya and Muichiro's graves are together, as Sanemi kindly requested that the least he could do to honor his brother is to be buried next to the person he loved, on the other hand, Shinobu's grave is close to that of Gyomei and Kanae.

9. If you remember, the first time Sanemi meets Kagaya, after Kumeno's death, he reads the will that Masachika had left for Sanemi and they let him keep it.

Obanai and Rengoku's letter was given to Senjuro and Shinjuro, Gyomei and Shinobu's to Kanao and Aoi, Mitsuri's to their parents, Genya's to Sanemi, and Muichiro's to Giyuu.

10. Kagaya and Amane's children (Kiriya, Kuina and Kanata) were "adopted" by Sanemi and Giyuu, as they considered it inappropriate for children to grow up without a father and mother figure.

Some additional data:

1. Giyuu, Sanemi and Tanjiro will live beyond 25 years, why?

My theory is that the hunter's mark was similar to the curse of the Ubuyashiki, so when Kibutsuji was defeated, both the curse of the Ubuyashiki family and the curse of the "marked" were removed. Although Sanemi and Giyuu thought they would die when they reached 25, they were surprised that this was not the case and that made them very happy, since they were able to accompany the Ubuyashiki in their childhood and be there as their support.

2. Inosuke didn't understand his feelings, so he initially thought that he was sick or that some BDA had affected him.

Kanao explained that he was just in love and went directly to tell Aoi about what he felt and she accepted it.

3. Part of the names of Uzui's sons were based on their fallen comrades. His wives didn't care and supported him in his idea.

Eeeeem... Uhhhh... Tag list? (Ig): @xxlady-lunaxx @giggly-squiggily @btsforver @giyuusimpblog @beddybites @ticklish-sidekick (I don't want you to do this, just, to read it hehehe)

[lura-valentine]

Hinte

World of My Hero Academia / Boku no Hero Academia

With the exception of Rain and the mysterious man, all characters belong to Kōhei Horikoshi

DabiHawks x Rain ➡️click for Rain's profil⬅️

Fanfiction with chapters

≈8 chapters are planned

I'm aiming for a weekly release of the chapters

The chapters will be linked together as soon as they are published

Please note that English is not my first language. So forgive me for mistakes.

----------

Concept of this fanfiction

Since the final war with the League of Villains, Touya has been dying. The doctors gave him only a few weeks, if at all, a few months, but the stubborn son of fire surprised everyone when he was still alive after 16 years.

He was only a shadow of his former self, trapped by vital machines, but something was keeping him alive, as if there was something else he needed to know...

----------

Overview

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 Aktiv

Chapter 4 Work in progress

Chapter 5 Work in progress

Chapter 6 Work in progress

Chapter 3

Hawks stepped out of the building and headed toward a sports car. The car was as red as his former feathers - a bright, striking red that almost glowed in the morning sun. The paint shone as if the vehicle had just been polished. The car's streamlined body reflected its surroundings, making it look like a predator ready to bolt at any moment.

Shoto looked at the car, and a slight smile crept onto his lips at the sight. He sat down in the passenger seat and closed the door behind him.

Hawks dropped into the driver's seat and started the engine. The deep rumble of the engine filled the air, and a moment later, the car accelerated as they merged into traffic. The city passed them by - huge skyscrapers, shopping streets, and people going about their early hours' routine. The light from the traffic lights reflected off the shiny hood as they stopped at a red light.

"Nice car," Shoto remarked, looking over the vehicle's immaculate interior. The red sports car was fast, elegant, yet discreet enough not to attract unnecessary attention - just like its owner.

Hawks grinned crookedly, sunglasses over his eyes, as he drove the car casually through the traffic. "Suits me, doesn't it?"

Shoto was silent for a moment, his gaze wandering outside as they stopped at the next traffic light. The engine hummed quietly as people crossed the street and life flowed on around them. Then Shoto spoke into the silence. "Hawks... How hot can her flames get? Can they keep up with Touya's?"

Hawks took a sip from the water bottle in the center console and thought for a moment. It was difficult to put Rain's Quirk into simple words. "Her fire is... different. Mystical, almost. It's not just heat. It's the fire of a Dark Phoenix."

Shoto frowned but listened attentively as Hawks pressed the accelerator again when the light turned green.

"She can keep up with Touya's blue flames, no problem," Hawks continued. "But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Rain's flames can turn anything into ash at will. And I mean anything. It's almost reminiscent of Shigaraki's decay Quirk from back in the day - the pure decay of everything it touches."

Shoto's eyes widened slightly at the comparison. "So powerful?" he asked as the car changed lanes with a smooth movement.

"Yes," Hawks replied, his eyes on the road as they stopped at another light. "But she's not evil at heart. Rain only uses her destructive power when it's absolutely necessary. She's always done that. That's why she's... hard to figure out."

Shoto leaned back, his hands resting on his lap as he pondered Hawks' words. "That sounds like one of the most powerful fire Quirks I've ever heard of," he murmured. "But... Why would she be after someone like Fischer? Why a businessman if she's not really evil?"

Hawks blinked. The question had caught him off guard, and for a moment, there was silence between them, broken only by the hum of the engine. Rain had always had a particular dislike for a certain group of people. And she never showed mercy to these people. Her destructive fire was reserved for them. Fischer... could it be?

"Damn." Hawks muttered, his expression becoming more serious as the realization hit him.

Shoto raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Hawks' hands clenched slightly around the steering wheel as they waited for the next traffic light. "Shoto... it could be that Mr. Fischer has something to hide. Rain probably isn't after a simple businessman."

Shoto looked at him seriously, as if he was already preparing for the worst.

"She was never random in her attacks," Hawks began slowly, his mind racing. "Rain... she only targets a very specific type of enemy."

Shoto's thoughts swirled in his head as they reached the city limits, the houses now smaller and the streets narrower. "What enemies?"

"Child traffickers," Hawks answered quietly, his voice vibrating with anger as he recalled Rain's relentless battles against such people. "She never hesitated when it came to taking out those who abused children."

Shoto swallowed hard and stared silently at the road ahead as the reality of this revelation sank in. "And Mr. Fischer..." he began.

"It makes sense," Hawks interrupted. "Perhaps Fischer is deep into this world. I think there is more to his business than we know."

Shoto shook his head and looked out the window as the last buildings of the city faded behind them and the streets became even narrower and emptier. "If that's true, then we have to be careful. If Rain has Fischer in her sights, then that could be why."

Hawks was silent for a moment as the sports car glided elegantly through the curves. "We need answers. We need to know what's really behind all this."

Shortly afterward, they reached the suburbs, where modern single-family homes with well-kept gardens lined the streets. The red car rolled the last few meters along the street until they stopped in front of one of the houses. It was a stylish, modern house, with clean lines and large glass fronts that reflected the minimalist front garden.

Hawks navigated the car into the driveway and turned off the engine. "Here we are," he said calmly, his eyes fixed on the house.

Shoto nodded, his eyes sparkling with concentration. "Ready?" he asked as he placed his hand on the door.

"Ready," Hawks replied, his eyes still on the house. "Let's find out what Fischer is really hiding."

Both men got out at the same time and looked over the modern property. The fresh air, enriched by the nearby forest, was almost calming, but the tension hung over the moment like an invisible veil. Hawks closed the door of the sports car with a quiet click, while Shoto, one step ahead of him, was already walking toward the house.

They walked slowly toward the entrance of the house. The immaculate cobblestones crunched almost inaudibly under their feet, and Hawks suddenly felt a strange cold on the back of his neck. He turned slightly to the side and scanned the area. His gaze instinctively wandered over the house, the trees, and the roofs of the neighboring houses... nothing seemed out of place, but the feeling remained.

Shoto, who was already a few steps ahead, stopped and turned to him. "What's going on?" he asked quietly but tensely.

Hawks grimaced, his eyes examining every corner, every line of shadow. "I have the feeling we're being watched... but I don't see anything."

Shoto followed his gaze, but he too could see nothing except the quiet houses and the neat front gardens. "Maybe it's just nerves," he suggested, taking a step toward Hawks.

Hawks nodded slowly but remained alert. "Perhaps," he finally answered, taking a deep breath. "But we should remain alert."

Shoto nodded briefly, his eyes slightly narrowed, but he said nothing else and finally rang the bell.

It took a moment before the door opened, and an elderly lady stood before them. Her dark dress and white apron left no doubt that she was part of the household staff.

"Good day, gentlemen," she said politely and stepped aside. "Mr. Fischer is expecting you. Please come in."

Hawks and Shoto entered the interior of the house, which was decorated in neutral tones. The smell of fresh coffee hung in the air, and the immaculate floors gleamed as if polished. The lady led them down the hallway, past several large paintings and an impressive wall of books, before taking them into a spacious living room.

“This way, please,” said the woman as she let the men pass through a set of double doors.

Mr. Fischer was sitting in a comfortable leather armchair, a cup of coffee in his hand, as if he had been waiting for them. His eyes brightened when he saw the two of them.

"Mr. Takami! Nice to see you!" he said, standing up and holding out his hand. "And this must be the hero who is supposed to protect me?"

Hawks took a step forward and shook Mr. Fischer's hand, a professional smile on his lips. "Yes, this is Shoto Todoroki," he confirmed. "He is the hero responsible for your safety."

Shoto stepped forward and extended his hand to Fischer. "Nice to meet you," he said in a cool, professional tone.

Fischer shook his hand firmly. "The pleasure is all mine. I’m glad that a hero like you is taking care of my safety."

Hawks stepped closer and gave Shoto a brief, meaningful look before addressing Fischer again. "There’s more you should know, though, Mr. Fischer. When you gave me that envelope - with the threats and the feathers - it became clear that there’s more than one enemy. There are two feathers, which means there are two people after you."

Fischer's smile gradually faded, replaced by a more serious expression. "Two, you say?"

Shoto stepped closer. "Yes, that’s why we want to make sure nothing is overlooked. It would be helpful if you could tell us if there’s anything that might have drawn the attention of groups like the Black Wings to you."

Fischer raised his eyebrows but seemed unimpressed. "Their attention?" he asked, his smile now looking slightly forced. "Well, as I told you, I’m a businessman. I run a logistics company. We import and export food - nothing out of the ordinary."

Hawks nodded, but his eyes remained sharply fixed on Fischer. "Food...? Are you sure that’s all? It’s just... I’m sure you understand that threats like this don’t usually come out of nowhere."

Fischer’s smile tightened as he sat back in his chair. "I understand your concerns, Mr. Takami. But no, we only deal in legal goods. My company is completely clean."

Shoto folded his arms across his chest, his eyes cool as he stared piercingly at the businessman. "So there’s nothing that could upset anyone? No competition, no rivals?"

"Nothing like that," Fischer replied quickly - almost too quickly. "We have solid business relationships. No conflicts."

Hawks dropped into the leather chair opposite Fischer and rested his arms on the armrests, his gaze never leaving Fischer’s face. "And yet you’re getting death threats," he murmured thoughtfully. "That’s... strange."

Fischer cleared his throat. "I can’t explain it either. Maybe it’s just people looking for problems... or someone who wants to make me look bad."

Hawks snorted almost inaudibly and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Maybe," he said coolly, while discreetly glancing at Shoto.

Shoto didn’t look back directly, but his eyes narrowed slightly as he studied Fischer’s face. "Let us know if you think of anything else - no matter how small it seems."

"Of course," said Fischer, his smile friendly again, though the tension in the air was unmistakable. "I want these people to be caught. That’s why I hired you."

Hawks slowly rose from the chair and stood to his full height. "Good. Then we’ll make sure you’re safe. I’ll personally oversee this mission. If anything unusual happens, let me know immediately."

Fischer nodded eagerly, a faint smile returning to his face. "I’m glad I’m in such good hands."

Hawks nodded curtly. "Good. Then we’ll get to work now." He glanced at Shoto before they turned and left the living room together. Their footsteps echoed through the silent, wide hallways of the house, the light sliding across the immaculate floors as they reached the entrance.

Once outside, Hawks took a deep breath. The cool suburban wind blew through the trees and rustled the leaves. He paused for a moment and looked around, his eyes scanning every detail.

"First, we’ll explore the area," Hawks said calmly, putting his hands in his pockets. "Every corner, every loophole, and every roof here needs to be watched. If anyone is observing Fischer, we want to know where from."

Shoto nodded in agreement. "Understood. I’ll talk to the guard and take a closer look at the house."

Hawks shrugged, his gaze sliding to the neighboring houses. "I’ll explore the neighborhood. Let’s see if there are any vantage points here that could be used for observation." He gave Shoto one last look. "We’ll stay in touch."

Shoto nodded, turned away from Hawks, and walked back toward the house. He circled the building, his eyes scanning for cameras and possible blind spots.

Meanwhile, Hawks strolled through the neighborhood, his gait relaxed but his eyes scrutinizing every detail. The houses were well-kept and quiet, but that meant nothing. An observer could be behind any window, or lurking on any roof. He turned slowly, letting his gaze sweep across the rooftops. A flat roof was an excellent hiding place.

He sighed softly, ran a hand through his hair, and muttered quietly to himself, "Oh man, if I still had my wings, this would all be so much easier."

He continued walking, passing through a narrow alley between two houses, and suddenly stopped. The alley was narrow - a perfect place to hide while keeping an eye on Fischer’s property. Hawks looked up. The brick walls on either side provided enough cover for someone who didn’t want to be seen.

"Hmm... interesting," he murmured, continuing down the alley. Emerging on the other side, he found himself facing a small park. Children played on swings while parents chatted on benches. Everything seemed peaceful, but Hawks knew appearances could be deceiving. He let his gaze wander along the edge of the park, searching for potential observation points.

Suddenly, he stopped, his eyes fixed on a house at the far end of the park. The roof was flat - perfect for someone who wanted to remain undetected. He squinted, trying to see more, but found no obvious signs of activity. Nevertheless, he made a mental note of the location.

As Hawks continued examining the area, he sent a quick message to Shoto. "Everything quiet there?"

Shoto, who had been questioning the security staff, replied briefly. "So far, everything is under control. Nothing unusual in the house. What about outside?"

"I found a few possible observation points, but it could just be coincidence. I’m not entirely convinced yet." Hawks pocketed his phone and resumed his exploration.

After checking the neighborhood further, he met up with Shoto again, who was just returning from the house. They exchanged a brief look before Shoto spoke first.

"The security situation here seems good. No obvious weak points on the house itself. What did you find outside?"

Hawks thought for a moment before answering. "A few spots look suspicious - a narrow alley with a direct view of the property, and a rooftop on the edge of a small park. Both could work as observation posts, but I can’t say for sure if anyone’s using them."

Shoto nodded and glanced back at the house. "We should still stay alert. It feels... strange. Too quiet."

Hawks grinned slightly. "Yeah, that’s true. Sometimes the biggest danger is when everything is too quiet."

Three Days Later

The routine had almost become established. Shoto had now become Mr. Fischer's personal shadow, following him to every appointment, meeting, and even the bars where the businessman ended his evenings. With every conversation, he hoped to uncover a tiny piece of information that could confirm the suspicion of child abuse. But so far, it has been in vain. Fischer played his role as a harmless businessman convincingly - almost too perfectly.

Hawks, on the other hand, stayed more in the background, his eyes always alert to their surroundings. Every person, every vehicle, every movement was registered by him as he scanned the area, always looking for a sign of danger. But so far, he too had not noticed anything suspicious.

It was a night like the ones before, and as so often, the evening ended in a bar near Fischer's house. The sky was starry, and a pleasant breeze swept through the empty streets. Fischer, visibly pleased with the company of Shoto and Hawks, walked between them in a relaxed manner, his voice cheerful - almost too cheerful for the situation.

"It was really nice in the bar," Fischer said, pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders. "The drinks were excellent, and the company... I really appreciate having you two with me. It makes me feel safe."

Hawks smiled slightly but didn’t take his eyes off the dark corners of the street. "That’s our job, Mr. Fischer."

Shoto nodded silently, his eyes fixed on the surroundings with the same cool alertness he had maintained since the beginning of the mission. Fischer continued speaking, almost enthusiastically. "It’s really reassuring to know that such capable men are at my side. Especially considering how insecure I’ve felt since-"

Suddenly, Fischer fell silent as a quiet, almost whispering voice penetrated the night.

"Keigo..."

Hawks froze. It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under him. His breath caught, and for a moment, he could hear nothing but the voice. It was impossible. But so familiar. He turned abruptly in the direction the whisper had come from.

Shoto was immediately alarmed and instinctively moved to shield Fischer. His eyes searched the darkness while he mentally prepared for a fight. "What was that?" he asked quietly, his voice tense.

Hawks didn’t answer immediately, his eyes fixed on a figure slowly emerging from the shadows. A soft rustle of feathers filled the silence. And there she stood, like an angel of death - Rain.

His old love, the woman he thought he would never see again. Her black wings, majestic and somber, shimmered in the moonlight, while her red eyes bored straight into his. For a moment, it felt as if the world had stopped around him.

"Rain..." Hawks whispered, unable to look away from her.

Shoto stepped forward, shielding Fischer more, his gaze locked on the woman with suspicion. "So that’s her."

Rain moved slowly but stopped at a respectful distance, her posture calm, almost calmly. "Keigo," she said again, louder this time. "I didn’t think we’d see each other again under such circumstances."

Hawks shook his head, as if trying to clear his mind. "What are you doing here, Rain? Why are you after Fischer?"

Rain paused, her eyes glittering in the darkness. "You know I’m not here to celebrate our reunion, Keigo. Fischer... is not who he says he is."

Fischer’s eyes widened at the accusation, and he instinctively tried to back away, but Shoto moved even more decisively to protect him.

"He was my uncle’s right-hand man," Rain continued, her voice cutting through the night. "Everything my uncle did - the child trafficking, the crimes he committed - all of it was only possible because of Fischer. He paved the way for my uncle to spread his business worldwide."

"This is absurd!" Fischer suddenly exclaimed. "I have nothing to do with your uncle! I run a clean company!"

Hawks felt his stomach clench. "Rain, there has to be another way. If Fischer is guilty, we can bring him to justice. We need evidence - not violence."

Rain’s eyes met his, filled with coldness and pain. "Evidence?" she whispered. "I’ve spent years hunting this man, Keigo. Years thinking I’d finally found him, only to be met with dead ends. Do you know what it’s like to always be so close, yet walk away empty-handed?"

Hawks saw the anguish in her eyes and opened his mouth to respond, but the air suddenly stirred. A rustling sound grew louder as another figure appeared, descending from the darkness above.

A man, cloaked and hooded, landed gracefully a short distance away. His black wings, shimmering faintly with blue, spread wide as he stood motionless.

Shoto immediately shifted his stance, his body tense as he faced the new arrival. "Who are you?" he demanded, his voice cold and firm.

The figure remained silent, the eerie stillness amplifying the tension. Fischer, now panicked, stumbled backward and fell to the ground. Hawks glanced at him briefly but kept his focus on Rain, searching her face for hesitation. Her expression was resolute, unyielding.

Rain sighed softly, almost mournfully. "There’s no peaceful way, Keigo. Fischer must pay for his actions."

With a smooth motion, she reached for one of her black feathers. The air shimmered as the feather ignited in dark red, almost black, flames. She stepped closer, the glow reflecting in Hawks’ eyes.

Shoto watched intently, his muscles coiled. Seeing her flames in action for the first time sent a shudder through him. He’d heard about her immense power, but witnessing it was another matter entirely.

Hawks took a deep breath and spoke firmly. "So... you want Fischer?" Without waiting for an answer, he untied the straps of his katana, letting the weapon fall to the ground. He kicked it aside.

"Then you’ll have to get past me first, Rain." His eyes met hers, calm yet pained. "But I won’t fight you."

Rain froze mid-step, her expression wavering. Hawks’ words pierced through her resolve, and for the briefest moment, something vulnerable flickered in her red eyes. The fire in her feather extinguished, and she let it fall. The feather crumbled into ash before touching the ground.

Rain’s voice trembled as she whispered, "I won’t do it either, Keigo..." She paused, her body shaking slightly. "But I’m not alone."

That was the signal.

With a single, powerful beat of his wings, the cloaked man moved. The air roared as he charged toward Shoto and Fischer. Shoto’s instincts took over; he raised his right hand, and a thick wall of ice erupted from the ground, enclosing the man in a crystalline prison.

For a moment, everything was still. Shoto remained vigilant, his eyes locked on the frozen barrier. But then, a faint blue glow began to pulse from within the ice. The cracks spread quickly, and with a deafening crash, the ice shattered into a mist of snow and shards.

The man stepped out, unharmed. His hood had slipped slightly, revealing intense turquoise eyes - the same color as Shoto’s left eye. An uneasy silence settled as they stared at each other.

Shoto narrowed his eyes. "What... are you?" His voice was rough, laced with disbelief. The man said nothing, but the cold intensity in his gaze spoke volumes.

Hawks broke the silence. "Shoto!" His voice was sharp. "Be careful - he’s strong."

Shoto nodded, his focus sharpening as the man spread his wings, his presence imposing.

"Whoever you are," Shoto muttered, flames licking at his palm, "I won’t let you through."

A wave of heat surged forward as Shoto unleashed a torrent of fire, a blazing pillar roaring toward the stranger.

But the man remained calm. Without a trace of haste, he raised his hand and hurled his own flames - bright blue and crackling with energy. Shoto froze for a moment. These flames... they were familiar, too familiar.

Hawks gasped audibly, his eyes widening as he recognized the blue, burning fire. "That... that's..."

The two flames collided, and for a moment, the world seemed to stand still. Then, the fires swirled together, forming a chaotic tornado - a dance of red and blue that bathed the surroundings in dazzling light. The wind howled through the empty street until, suddenly, Shoto's flames froze. They turned to ice, glittering and transparent, interspersed with scattered blue flames that danced across the surface like living creatures.

Shoto and Hawks stood rooted to the spot, unable to take their eyes off the surreal sight.

"That... that can't be..." Hawks' voice was barely more than a whisper. "Fire... that turns to ice?"

Shoto took a step closer to the frozen formation, his eyes wide in disbelief. He could hardly process it. Fire, frozen— something beyond his imagination. "How...?" He reached out hesitantly but pulled his hand back before touching it. It felt wrong, almost unnatural, to try to understand something so impossible.

Hawks suddenly turned to Rain, his voice trembling with tension and confusion. "Rain, who is—" He stopped mid-sentence. Rain had vanished. The spot where she had been standing was now empty.

"What the hell?" Hawks looked around frantically, searching for her figure. "Rain!"

Shoto cast one last, stunned look at the ice formation before turning his gaze back to where the strange man had been. He, too, was gone. Only the icy remnants of their encounter and the faint trace of blue flames remained as silent witnesses to what had just happened.

Shoto clenched his fists. "He's gone too..."

Hawks looked at him, the confusion in his eyes reflected in Shoto's own. "What just happened here?"

Mr. Fischer was beside himself with fear. His entire body trembled as he stared, wide-eyed, at the bizarre scene before him. "What... What was that? Who was that?"

Hawks turned to him with a cold, distant look. "We'll discuss this later," he said sharply, ignoring Fischer's uncontrollable shaking. He had no patience for Fischer's panic now. Instead, he walked straight to Shoto.

Shoto remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the strange construct before him. "I've never seen anything like this..." he murmured quietly, more to himself than to Hawks. "Fire turning to ice..."

Hawks stepped beside him, his gaze scanning the scene. "It doesn't make sense," he whispered, his tone distant, as if his thoughts were elsewhere. Then something caught his eye - a small, blue flame flickering alone at the edge of the ice formation. It glowed dimly, but its blue light was unmistakable.

"That can't be," Hawks muttered, his heart rate spiking. "Those are... Touya's flames."

Shoto tore his gaze away from the ice and looked at the flame. "But how...?" he asked, his voice laced with confusion.

Hawks stepped closer, his eyes locked on the faint flame. "I don't know," he said hoarsely. "But that's it. I’d recognize those flames anywhere."

He reached out, but the closer his hand got, the more he realized something was wrong. Instead of the familiar, searing heat of Touya's fire, he felt something entirely different - a cold, biting chill brushing against his skin. He shivered slightly.

"Wait..." Hawks pulled his hand back in surprise. "That... that's not right. That flame... it's icy cold."

Shoto stepped beside him, his brow furrowed deeply. "Cold?" he repeated, disbelief evident in his tone. "Fire can't be cold."

"And yet it is," Hawks replied quietly, his gaze fixed on the flame. "It’s like Touya's fire, but... different. It’s not hot. It feels like it’s draining the heat from my body."

Shoto carefully extended his hand but stopped short of touching the flame. "What... what kind of Quirk can do something like this?" he asked, as though the question were meant for himself.

Hawks exhaled deeply, trying to think clearly. "It's almost like... the opposite. Touya's flames are hot and destructive, but this..." He trailed off, unable to finish.

Shoto continued to stare at the flickering blue light. "A Quirk that drains heat... and still looks like fire? That’s impossible."

Hawks shook his head. "Nothing is impossible. Not in our world."

Mr. Fischer, still panicking, slowly got to his feet, though his legs trembled. "Enough of this! I want to go home! I want to be safe again!" he cried, his voice breaking with fear. "This... this is madness! I have nothing to do with these people!"

Hawks’ eyes narrowed, his patience evaporating. With a swift motion, he stood directly in front of Fischer and grabbed him by the collar. "Really?" he growled, his face inches from Fischer’s. "And what about the accusations? What about the claim that you traffic in children? What’s the truth in that, Fischer?"

Fischer blinked in confusion, his hands instinctively grabbing Hawks' arms in an attempt to free himself. "I... I don’t know what you’re talking about!" he gasped. "That woman... She's crazy! I had nothing to do with it, I swear!"

Shoto stepped closer, his expression calm but his tone firm. "Mr. Fischer," he said coolly. "You can deny it all you want, but you haven’t answered the main question. Are you involved in this business or not?"

"No!" Fischer shook his head violently, his eyes wide with panic. "I don’t know this woman! And I don’t know anyone called Godrick either!"

Hawks and Shoto exchanged a quick glance, both instantly realizing something was wrong.

"Godrick?" Hawks repeated, a cold smile forming on his lips as his eyes narrowed. "Rain only spoke of her uncle; she never mentioned a name."

Shoto's expression hardened at Fischer's slip. That alone was suspicious enough. "That proves you know more than you're letting on."

Fischer tried to back away, but Hawks held him firmly. "No... No, I... I just meant..." His voice faltered, and panic flickered in his eyes again. "It was... a misunderstanding! I don't know any Godrick."

"Enough of this," Shoto growled, pulling out his cell phone. He turned away and dialed the police, his fingers steady even as tension burned inside him. "We'll let the authorities sort this out now."

Hawks released Fischer, his eyes fixed on him like a predator watching its prey. "You won't run. No tricks, Fischer." His voice was low and threatening as he walked over to his katana and picked it up.

Mr. Fischer looked around wildly, his lips trembling, but there was no escape. "You... you're making a mistake!" he cried out in despair as he slowly sank back to the ground. "I had nothing to do with it! That woman lied! She confused me! I swear!"

"You talk too much," Hawks said coldly, crossing his arms as he cast one last threatening look at the man. "Maybe you should just keep your mouth shut until the police get here."

Shoto glanced at Hawks and nodded. "The police are on their way. It won't take long."

Fischer opened his mouth as if to protest, but the words died in his throat. The looks on Hawks' and Shoto's faces told him he’d better stay silent. He was trapped.

Beta readers

@doumadono

My moral supporters

@unhinged-bratty-boy | @isabeauwolf | @ahahahhaha

[lucille-artstuff]

mission status: pending

after suffering heavy casualties in an interstellar war, mech pilot eve is sent into a coma, left drifting through space in her broken starfighter class mech, isolated and unresponsive.

her mech had been keeping her on life support, regulating fluid intake and hormonal levels.

she slowly opened her eyes to the soft glow of a flickering ui panel a few inches away from her face, her whole body aches as she gradually regains her bearings.

"ughh,, ... the cockpit..? ..oww.."

the screens before her seemingly jump to life, bold text appears centred:

[STASIS MODE DEACTIVATED]

a slight jolt feeds through her link implant ports at the base of her skull through to the tip of her spine.

"oouh,,, ellie, status?"

"captain,

we've sustained critical damage,

left leg destroyed,

left cannon destroyed,

right leg nonresponsive,

shoulder mounted weapons system unavailable,

comms systems disabled,

sensors damaged,

life support system estimated at 2 months in stasis mode, 3 weeks in active mode..."

the pilot looked on in horror and disbelief at the reel of damage reports. it never seemed possible that she could face such a devastating loss, nor could she handle the guilt welling up inside her for letting her mech endure such intense damage.

"what's our mission status?"

the feeling in her legs slowly returns with a harsh ache,, her joints feel rusted and stuck, yet relaxed to the point of near dislocation.

"mission status: pending"

the screen prints.

"...pending ? but we didn't lose did we? ...how long was i out?"

"life support systems active for 954 days"

a wave of terror rushed over the pilots body as the realisation sets in.

she's been locked in her mech for almost three years, slowly dying and severed from all connection to the command centre.

"ellie please,, it can't be true... " she trailed off, shaking and trembling.

the console before her becomes blurry as tears well up in her eyes, mumbling to herself, "i can't,,, this isn't happeni.."

she's cut off by a proximity sensor flashing red, instinctively she flicks on the view screen and is momentarily blinded.

it's nothing but dirt and scrap as far as the visual sensors can perceive, two figures are walking around and stopping every few meters to gesture at the abundance of rusted metal and eventually continue beyond L-E's line of sight.

the visual sensors turn off and eve is sitting in the dark again, save for a pulsing glow that fills the dashboard of her mech.

"ellie,, where are we?"

"location unknown"

*sigh*

there were many thoughts and emotions flowing through the mech pilots distressed mind.

had we won the battle?

is there a way to return home?

does command even know i'm alive?

her thoughts continue;

my link with ellie, my fourth generation starfighter mech has been the only reason i'm still alive, but if her systems are critical, how long until either one of dies?

i didn't realise i was biting my nails, trembling with fear i accidentally stabbed my lip, i only just noticed my nails had gotten so long and when did my lips get so soft ?

the thoughts dissipate as another wave of pain shoots through the pilots body, fatigue weighs down her movements, not being used to this level of weakness, she barely recognises this body as her own.

the pilot sighs a deep breath and slumps back into her seat.

realising theres no imminent danger, she switches systems off from high alert, and is hit a flash of empathy thinking how stressful it would've been for ellie to constantly be vigilant, protecting her all this time.

[BUDDY MODE ACTIVATED]

the console lights shift to a deep purple, an emoticon appears on screen cracking a slight smile on eve's face, her immense feelings of isolation slightly relieved as a familiar presence appears

^-^

"... captain ?"

the console emits a soft robotic voice.

"are you okay ..?" :'(

the pilot draws a slow breath, and sighs with relief.

"ellie... you're still here.."

"oh! you're back! i was so worried you would never wake up!" ∩^ω^∩

the lights of the console rotate through the full spectrum of colour, and it almost seems like the ion reactor is humming louder than usual.

"ellie what happened? where are we?"

"i'm sorry captain,,, but our team was... w-wiped out, we barely survived with critical hull damage a-and most of my systems are down..." ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ω`ﾟ)ﾟ｡

pause

"...i..i did my best to save you!" ٩( 'ω' )و

eve was hot with frustration, the loss of her team was unforgivable in her eyes,, perhaps it would've been better if she was gone like the rest of her crew.

"i barely managed to dodge the orbital laser cannon, it only vaporised 35% of my shell... aah,, with that much neural shock,,, it's no wonder you fell into a coma" (´；ω；`)

"but what then? what of the mission?"

"oooh, we're not sure about the mission status, our systems went down momentarily after the blast and when we regained control, our comms systems were offline,,, s-sorry...

command only knows that we were hit in the enemy attack" (-_-;)

"... so they're not coming for us...."

the pilot mumbled to herself.

"if they knew i was alive, i'd be rescued by now.... oh my god..."

"captain your mood levels are dropping,, is everything okay?" (◞‸◟)

"ellie let me out of the pod"

"nnoooo!! captain, you've experienced massive trauma and your muscle atrophy has weakened you severely!

i'm not sure what will happen if we disconnect our link!" ((((；ﾟДﾟ)))))))

"just open the hatch,, i need some air... i'm not going anywhere"

"awhh,, ...okaii..." （╹◡╹）

the view screen crackles and powers down, a deep groan followed by a sharp hiss accompanies golden rays piercing into the cockpit.

the console lifts and floats upward revealing a mostly barren landscape before them.

the dust on the air is warm, almost nauseating, although not eating in several years is more likely the cause than the environment.

a red light flashes on her left, just in her peripheral vision.

[proximity sensor]

her body aches as she leans forward to see two figures rushing over to the damaged starfighter.

fumbling for her sidearm, she notices her heart beating heavy on her chest.

"HEY! who said you could touch my mech!"

his mech?

the two caught their breath just shy of the capsule, slowly realising just how this stranger managed to open the mech.

the battle suit was a dead giveaway, but the shaky hand holding a pistol towards them confirmed it.

she's military.

"woah woah, easy now... "

the older of the two had both his hands raised, elbowing the other to do the same.

"... we don't have to get galactic forces involved, let's just talk about this"

"pa look.."

the younger of them pointed to the bundled wires attached to the back of the pilots head, swaying with her movements.

"i think she's a pilot.." he whispered in disbelief.

the pistol still rattling slightly in her hand, her throat growing coarse from the arid environment, eve barely managed to speak.

"what planet is this?"

"you're on nexon" the older one starts,

"used to be a drillin' planet 'til everything dried up, now folks still here either sell scrap or can't afford a ticket out of this system"

she lowers her weapon.

the duo relax considerably and glance at eachother.

"u-uuh lady ? we found your mech floating through space about 6 months ago, we couldn't get it open so.. uhh"

the youth is fidgeting with his hands uncomfortably.

the elder takes over,

"we dismantled and sold most of your weapons systems, anything under a hatch we couldn't get to, i uhh... i'm sorry to say it but you've kept us alive and, and put food on the table for me and my family..."

she tightened her fist, how dare they touch ellie!?

"if there's anything we can do,, let us know,, just please don't report us to the galactic forces,, we can't handle another raid"

eve presses a sequence of buttons and the hatch closes, sealing the mech shut.

[graciegoeskrazy]

the 1975 masterlist

last updated: 1/31/2025

newest ones in bold!

Key!:

A - angst

F - fluff

S- sad like really fucking sad

! - heavy topics: check the trigger warnings!

☆ - a favorite of mine or a rec!

blurb masterlist

headcannon masterlist

reader instas au

m a t t y h e a l y

Teen!Daughter!r

Free now (A, S)

Matty sees his daughter for the first time in 3 years

Frail state of mind (S)

matty helps r through a panic attack

the birthday party (A, S)

matty forgets readers birthday

now you just look like anyone (A, S, !)

matty helps his daughter through an abusive breakup

we're all just the same, what a shame (F)

matty annoys his daughter and builds a fort, atpoaim rewrite

and too much racket (A)

y/n does drugs and matty helps her through it

undo (A, S, !)

y/n tells her father she might be pregnant

yeah u wanna find love (F)

y/n cries to the new Taylor Swift album

if it’s not with u (F)

matty talks about his daughter while on a podcast

then because she goes (F)

matty comes home to y/n who has a special guest over

mine (A, S, !)

y/n uncovers a secret that matty intended to stay hidden forever

you’re all i need (F, S)

reader gets cheated on and matty is there to console her

human too (F)

reader gets sick first day of huge msg show, luckily her dad is there to help her

i’ve got a woman now (F)

matty freaks out when y/n gets her first period

figure my heart out (A, S, !)

matty accidentally learns his daughters biggest secret

PART 2

“and i do make art ty v much” (F)

matty finds out y/n is a writer

if you’re living and you’re 17 (S, A, !!!!!!!!!)

y/n hates her life on the road

PART 2

my whole life waiting for you (F)

y/n and her dad a have a cute moment on stage together

an encounter (F)

y/n smokes her her first cig with her dad

Stepdaughter!r

a party that she had to miss (A, S, !)

gabi relapses

when we are together (A, S, lil F)

swift!r runs to matty during a fight with her mom

cuz it all means nothing my dear (A, S, ☆)

matty tries to step up when y/n goes through her first heartbreak

Daughter!r

It was no use at all (A, S)

Matty lashes out on y/n after a breakup

she's begging you to stay stay (A, S, F, !, ☆)

matty finds his daughter he didn't know existed

PART 2 - I'll give u one more time (A, S, !, ☆) PART 3 - one more fight (A, S, !, ☆) PART 4 - one more line (F, S, ☆) PART 5 - will I know you? (A, S, F, !, ☆)

if i believe u (A, S)

matty doesn't tell you he got engaged and ends up saying something he regrets

she lays down (F)

baby y/n wakes up from a nightmare

not looking like that (F)

y/n doesn't like her dad's new haircut

it takes a bit more (A, S, !)

young healy struggles through her fathers addiction

Other

You can yourself a friend (A, S)

Matty gets mad and takes it out on Maise

inside your mind (A, S)

matty picks y/n up from school when she gets in trouble

they’re just girls (F)

the younger healy sneaks away to a 75 show...and matty doesn't know

g e o r g e d a n i e l

xcx!stepdaughter!r

I find it hard to say bye bye (A, S)

r thinks george is gonna leave

it happens to your family and your friends (A, S, !, ☆)

George helps y/n when she looses her best friend, in the worst possible way

darling that’s what humans do (A, S)

r breaks her arms while alone with george and charli gets upset

on this night, in this light (S, F)

George and Charli help r through a nightmare

change is pressure (A, S)

y/n gets in trouble at school and acts out on George.

b2b (S, F)

y/n is scared her parents are breaking up

somebody else (A, S, !, ☆)

y/n's biological father makes a surprise visit

don’t worry, darlin (F)

y/n calls George when she gets a little too drunk

do u think i have forgotten? (F, S)

George asks y/n is he can propose to her mom

PART 2 - about you

a change or heart (F, S)

George and Charli help y/n through a breakup

daughter!r

not dying, no, just lying (S, F)

y/n blames herself for George's depression

healy!r

is there somebody who can watch u? (F)

George takes care of y/n for the day while matty is sick

r o s s m a c d o n a l d

Daughter!r

You can yourself a friend (A, S)

Matty gets mad and takes it out on Maise

You know I got you (F)

r gets sick while ross is on stage

Songbird (F, ☆)

ross has trouble getting baby maise to sleep

instead of living in your head (A, S)

ross finds out y/n has dyslexia

i can stage a situation (A, S, !)

ross finds out about y/n's eating disorder

making an aesthetic out of not doing well (A, F, S)

ross and y/n talk about her schools struggles

playing on my mind (A, S)

y/n is afraid she won't see her dad again

alright, baby (S, F)

y/n gets her first period and her dad is there to help

Actor masterlist

Marvel masterlist

handy dandy notebook🤍

WIP ✏️

[letthewhumpbegin]

My Demons - a Squid Game fanfiction

Fandom: Squid Game Characters: Thanos Prompt: this was written for day 2 of @febuwhump, prompt 'Holding back tears'. Word count: 915 Warnings: contains descriptions of anxiety / panic attack and depression. Slight mentions of drug use.

The nights were the hardest , they had always been. Even now, in a giant dormitory with well over 200 other people, Thanos knew what was coming for him.

The clock overhead counted down to the moment the lights would go out for the night. Everyone climbed into their bunk beds, and so, too, Thanos. He had purposefully chosen one of the lower bunks in a corner. Like this, he had the most privacy this place had to offer: neighbours only on one side and hidden from view from the bunks above him. 

Thanos lay down on his back, pulling the blanket up to his chin. His hands trembled, and he already felt his throat start to constrict with the impending surge of emotion he knew was coming. He had done this a million times before, and would probably be doing this a million times over, but that didn’t make him any less scared of what his own mind could do to him. 

The clock ticked down the last seconds, and the bright lights turned down to plunge the entire dormitory in darkness.  Thanos gasped quietly, because in the dark his demons came for him. During the day he could hide them, aided by his drugs, behind his cocky persona. But at night, in the dark, he was vulnerable to the woes of his own mind. All his troubles and worries suddenly pinned him down, suffocating him with their grip over his life. 

"L-- leave me alone." Thanos’ voice trembled. Tears burned behind his eyes, but he fought to hold them back. No one would ever see him cry, and especially not all these strangers here.  Thanos swallowed hard. His throat and chest hurt with the suppressed sobs as everything he was trying to keep in threatened to spill out anyway. 

Slowly sitting up in his bed, Thanos shivered all over. His mind had gone to its darkest corners, like it often did at night, and he had no way to stop it or get himself out of it. When he was alone, Thanos would give into it, but right now he would not allow himself to become the screaming and crying mess that it usually led him to be.  Thanos tightly grabbed his own hair, fingers twisting around the purple-dyed locks. He would give everything, anything, to feel better just for once and have a night of peaceful sleep, instead of having to face the anguish and horrors he saw once he closed his eyes.

The black hole of depression and anxiety that his mind already was, was now also fueled by images of the first game they had played here today. It had seemed a simple enough children’s game, until people were shot and killed for real. At the time, Thanos was high on his drugs and it had been fun, but now the realization of what it truly was, and what danger he was in, landed with him. 

The tremble of Thanos’ hands intensified at the thought of going out there and risking his life during any more of the games. But quitting and going back to his life outside of all of this was not an option either. Because, what kind of life was that? A disgraced rapper who couldn’t remember his own lyrics and was over a billion Won in debt? No, that was not even a choice. Only winning these games had a chance of fixing his broken life, and maybe fix him in some way. 

Thanos fought back another surge of tears. What if he was wrong? What if he was too broken to be fixed? Even a mended vase still showed cracks after all. And what if that was him?  Thanos gasped for breath to try and hide another sob, but the sound reverberated through the eerily quiet dormitory anyway. He knew many people wouldn’t be asleep after all that had happened today, so loads of people must have heard him. His only consolation was that at least they couldn’t see the big, famous Thanos breaking into a million pieces here in the dark. 

Thanos stared at the silhouettes of the other bunks and the faint glow of the illuminated money pig hanging from the ceiling high above all of them. What he wouldn’t give to have all that money. 

But you won’t have all that money, because you’re worthless, the voice in the back of his mind quipped.

Thanos hung his head. He was so tired. So tired of the struggle with his immense debt, the weight of his fame and the mistakes he had made in the past. But, most of all, he was tired of the struggle with his own mind. A mind that he only seemed to be able to temper with pills, and would burden him with anxiety and thoughts darker than anyone could ever imagine. 

Thanos’ hands trembled where they rested in his lap. Even though he was still fighting to keep his tears in, it was a losing battle. His demons would simply not rest until they had broken him down and torn him to shreds, like they did every night. 

Thanos whimpered softly under his breath when the first of the tears rolled down his cheek. The warm liquid drop fell onto the skin of his wrists, making the silent statement that his demons were winning once again. And that once again, no matter how hard Thanos fought against it, he would never be able to hold back his tears.

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[kylecrane]

So what do we know?

[FAQ summarized from the Official Discord - link]

Is this the Dying Light 2 DLC? And what is it?

It started out as the (leaked) DLC2, but has since grown into its own self-contained adventure, slash, game with yours truly (as it should) as the (dashing) protagonist. We're expected to see new toys to play with (gameplay features) and it'll be around 18+ hours long.

How do I get it?

If you have Dying Light 2's Ultimate Edition you will get it at no cost at all. Small print (actually, it was full sized): Techland will stop selling the Ultimate Edition and Ultimate Upgrade by September 30, 2024.

When will it come out? How much will it be?

No release date yet, nor a price.

Who do I play as?

This handsome fella. *preens*

But supposedly you do not need to have played Dying Light (1 or 2). I disagree, everyone should play Dying Light (1 and 2).

How big is the game?

Not too long. Not too short. Just right. Around 18 to 20 hours.

What about new features?

It'll still be open world (tightly crafted, they say, I hope for unique environments) and with variety. And *inhales* CARS, FUCKING FINALLY.

Oh and new weapons and enemies but, you know. Cars.

Where are we going?

We're not in Villedor anymore, Toto.

We're in Castor Woods, which is (*clears throat, quotes*) home to a national park with mountains, forests, fields and swamps, small villages, industrial complexes and the touristy Old Town, which is perfect for parkour. The new location is densely packed and tightly-crafted with lots of mysteries to uncover.

10/10, would escape into again.

When are we going?

As in, when is this taking place, not when is it released-

We pick up after the events of Dying Light 2.

What platform can I pay on?

PC, and current and old gen consoles, like Xbox and Playstation.

How is Dying Light: The Beast different from Dying Light and Dying Light 2?

It's still Dying Light, but we've got a new country-side style environment and a bunch new features. The goal seems to be to make it feel unique among the other installments.

Can I earn achievements in it?

Yes.

Some links

Official Site Official Discord

Taff: I kept my speculations out of this, this is just stuff that they've got documented.

[arachnixe]

A Better Family

(Part 2 of Night’s Longing - Previous: Den of Depravity)

A man kneels on a stone floor, coughing blood. His face is a battleground of despair versus anger, and he clenches his fists in a futile gesture of resistance.

“If it helps, I’m sorry in my own way. I’d hoped to let you live, but I cannot do that if you will not play your role in this story.” A figure, cloaked in darkness, circles the dying man like a vulture.

“Damn you, Alucard. I should have known it was you. I see now it was always you. The count—” Another coughing fit interrupts him. “I won’t let you get away with this.”

“You are not in much of a position at all to ‘let’ me do anything, Morris.”

“I can still… curse with the best of them. Enough blood here for it, at least.” The man puts a red, dripping hand to his forehead and breathes a prayer. “By the bloodline of the Boltman clan, I curse you. We will wipe your progeny from the world. When you die, it will be at our hands. On my life, I swear it. In the name of my family I do hereby vow. We will be your end, Dracula.“

In a flash of light, the man collapses. Somewhere far away, a child wakes up from a nightmare of his father dying, his face wet with tears.

---

I, on the other hand, wake up with a smile on my face. Get wrecked, old man. If I have to suffer your curse, at least I have the consolation prize of playing dream witness to your embarrassing last moments on your knees again and again. It’s a damn shame, I think, that one of my ancestors apparently was successful at killing Dracula at some point. Wasn’t enough to end the curse on my family, though. I guess we are supposed to kill every last vampire to fulfill the prophecy.

That won’t happen if I have any say in it. I am determined to be the last of my line.

“Wait, she’s awake again already?”

“What did I tell you? This girl is the best.”

I open my eyes, blinking through the haze and trying to reorient myself. It’s still night, and I’m lying across the laps of two beautiful women in a dimly lit booth. I only recognize one of them. “Hey, Vicky. Who’s your friend?”

“Not totally with it yet,” the stranger observes.

“Come on. You met Liz already, remember? My sister.”

“Right, the hot sister.” That rings a bell. I sit upright with Vicky’s aid and position myself comfortably between the two vampires. I’m still feeling a bit dizzy, and my limp neck struggles to prevent my head from lolling to the side. “Gonna have to get some calories and iron in me if you want to go again before morning.”

“Already got a big steak coming your way, Hanna. Extra rare, just how you like it.���

I can’t believe there’s a nightclub in this city that serves steak of all things. This place rules.

“Ooh, she does have good taste. Twice over, even.” Liz rewards my quality opinions with a kiss on the lips and a lustful squeeze of my boob. While she continues occupying my mouth, Vicky runs her hand up my thigh and takes a long, lingering lick from my collarbone to my jaw. The way they treat me like a premium cut of meat makes me shiver in anticipation of what’s to come later tonight.

I’m too distracted to notice when my own meal arrives until the smell reminds my stomach that I’m starving.

“Oops, looks like they thought that was for one of us,” Liz says.

No sides on the plate, just a fat fucking slab of barely seared beef swimming in blood—is that human blood?—in a presentation clearly intended for vampire clientele rather than a living human. This place must be damn fancy by vampire standards. Or maybe it’s just that full moon excess at work.

I’m drooling, too hungry to fret about the details. If Liz thinks a little blood is going to put me off my appetite, I’m happy to prove her wrong. I demolish the whole thing in record time, ripping chunks of flesh apart with my teeth and happily sipping the mixture of blood and beef juices until I clean the plate and give Liz a little wink in response to her shocked expression.

“And here I thought a place like this would have an aversion to stakes.“

Vicky laughs uproariously. It’s a universal truth that no vampire can resist puns about themselves.

“I’ve never been so turned on in my life,” Liz says. “You’re telling me she’s really a—“

Vicky hisses an interruption. “Not here. Don’t yell at me about taking a stupid risk and then turn around and talk about it in public!”

I’ve inferred that if a certain someone in a position of authority were to learn about me being a vampire hunter in their midst, I’d be in real danger. I’m durable, but I’m not invincible, and besides, the last thing I want to do is to have to kill a bunch of vampires who think they’re just protecting themselves.

There must be a way to earn some measure of trust from the clan, show them that I’m not a danger, that I’m not like my hateful family.

“What if I found a way to prove myself?” I ask. “Make some big show of loyalty that can’t be ignored. It’s all well and good for me to repeatedly give myself to a couple of the hottest women I’ve ever met, but I don’t think anyone’s gonna believe that’s an act of altruism, per se.“

Vicky nods, stroking my cheek with affection. “You’re a freak for sure, but that’s not quite enough on its own.”

“You could wipe out one of, uh… your kind’s cells,” Liz suggests. “One that’s been directly a problem for us. That would go a long way.”

My heart skips a beat at the suggestion. Wipe out. She means doing some straight-up murder. There’d be no coming back from that, but that’s the point, isn’t it? That’s what makes it a perfect test of loyalty. If I really want to make a difference, do some real good for the world, and spit on my family’s name in the process, here’s the perfect mission.

I lean back in the booth, turning my body to the side to face her directly. “Do you know of any specific one that would fit the bill?”

“It’s my job to know these things, my dear. Though I want to enjoy your company in full before I send you out on an obvious suicide mission. The cell I’m thinking of is run by a Boltman, which is a name that should strike fear into even your heart.” She squeezes my knee. “Of course, I wouldn’t blame you for changing your mind after hearing that.”

Vicky didn’t tell her, then. Or maybe she didn’t recognize the specific family affiliation identified by my tattoo. Not sure how to bring that up myself, so maybe I won’t just yet. Still, the name doesn’t change anything, really. It only helps me solidify my own feelings. I feel my face settling into an serious expression just shy of a scowl. “Quite the opposite.” My hand clenches into a fist. “I’m eager to take that family down most of all.”

---

There’s a difference between knowing of a hunter cell and knowing where to find it, of course, but I do have some advantages the vampires lack. I’m trained in several different hunter codes, naturally including the Boltman family’s.

Graffiti marks the location of safehouses, with special markings and modifications signaling how recently it was still believed to be uncompromised and whether other hunters are welcome. Some markings warn of nearby vampire dens with an estimated population count and risk level. Others hint at stashes nearby.

I meander the streets until I spot the first such sign: a stash. A false brick in an alleyway conceals some frozen sunlight and a silver chain. Smash one, pocket the other to pawn later, then keep looking. Where there’s one sign, more will be around the area.

The first safehouse I spot is unoccupied. Not too much of a surprise there; we keep plenty of redundant ones in case someone gets followed. Lucky break, though, someone has used it recently, and decoding the log book gives me clues about where to check next.

It takes only a few days to close in on the cell’s current location, and then no time at all to convince the guard to let me in. I know all the right words, and I flash them the tattoo that marks me as one of theirs. They have no reason to doubt me.

“Hey, Carlo!” The woman who lets me in shouts louder than I think reasonable. “This a cousin of yours or something?”

A shirtless man taking swings at the punching bag in another room stops what he’s doing, wipes the sweat off his face with a nearby towel, and approaches the two of us. He looks me up and down for a moment before responding.

“Not one I’ve met before.” He extends a hand. “Carlo Boltman.”

“Hanna.” I shake his hand. “Boltman too, that is.” I lift my shirt to show him my tattoo, a perfect match for his. I’m also dressed for the occasion in my hunter’s garb: strategically armored, belt full of essentials, and with knives and stakes strapped to me in easy to reach places. The leather gorget at my neck bears the seal of Clan Boltman, one repeated on my bracers and embossed on the back of my silver pendant.

“Hanna? Just like…?” Carlo turns and shouts toward another room. “Hey, Uncle Dan, come out here.”

Does everybody here feel the need to shout instead of walking over to—

“Well, well, well, the prodigal daughter returns to the fold. And here I thought you were content to steal from me and fuck off to a life of leisure.”

“Daniel. How good to see you well.” I keep my voice measured and composed, if icy, while addressing my father. I will not show him weakness. “I was unaware you considered it stealing to take the weapons and armor that were crafted for my measurements and with which I had grown accustomed during my training. I mistakenly assumed my father would bless his daughter with the tools she needs to strike out on her own and practice the family trade.”

He laughs. “Well, if you really have taken up the family trade in this godforsaken city, I may be willing to look past your transgressions. Tell me, how many vampires have you successfully hunted so far?”

“Five,” I reply without hesitation. “Two at once just a few days ago, in fact.” The smile of satisfaction I give him is even honest.

“Hmm.” He grunts. “Inadequate, but I do believe that’s within your capabilities. Be glad you didn’t try to lie to me.”

I almost pity Carlo, eyes darting back and forth at the two of us in our chilly confrontation. While it’s clear my father must have mentioned me before, it seems he wasn’t prepared for the truth of our strained relationship.

“I thought Carlo here would be the leader of this outfit, but I know you better than to assume you’d allow anyone else to call the shots when you’re around. So why don’t you tell me what you’re planning so that I can lend you my aid and we can part ways again?”

Daniel smirks. “No, this is my dear nephew’s mission. While I have graciously volunteered some input, I would never undermine the judgment of a fully trained and independent vampire hunter of our clan.”

We glare at each other for several silent seconds before I turn my gaze to my cousin. With a rueful grin, I say to Carlo, “I’m sorry about all this. You don’t deserve to be caught up in this kind of bickering. Would you brief me on what your group has planned?”

Carlo looks back toward my father, who gives a stern nod. “Well, first you need to know that we caught word Clan Sarthe is planning something big. ‘Resurrection of Dracula’ big, in fact.”

“You can’t ‘resurrect’ a vampire.”

My father snorts his disapproval with me. “Dracula is no run-of-the-mill vampire, girl. He’s the damn source of it all! And if you don’t want your job to get a whole lot harder, you won’t rest on your laurels hoping whatever ritual those bloodsuckers are planing is a dud.”

“Right,” Carlo continues. “We don’t want to take any chances. Which is why I called in a real veteran,” he gestures at Daniel, “and why we’re gearing up to hit the main hive.”

Leading me across the room, he unfurls an old-fashioned paper map of the city. That’s certainly my father’s influence; he is convinced all the tech companies are in the pocket of Big Vampire. I recognize a good number of the circled points on the map: several major dens I’m familiar with, including the Carmine. The circle he jabs at, however, is new to me.

“Warehouse district?”

“Right. The entrance is an unmarked building. We believe it leads to a network of tunnels that sprawls… well, we don’t know how far they go, but we’re pretty sure we can expose a lot of vamps to some surprise daylight with strategically placed explosives in the area.”

The plan is vile. The more he describes it, the gladder I become that I’m here to put a stop to this before they hurt any more innocents. I’m not even sure it would work, but a lot of vampires would die either way.

I nod thoughtfully and play my role, offering suggestions as though I intend to let them attempt this cruel scheme. I introduce myself to the other members of the cell, mostly ordinary people rather than true hunters. I don’t bother learning their names. The more time I spend around people like this, the more my own humanity disgusts me, the more apart I feel from all of them.

These people are not my real family. I know where I belong.

At night, most everyone falls asleep. The one exception, aside from me, is the guy keeping watch, just starting his night shift. The man doesn’t watch his back at all, and I quietly slip behind him and slit his throat.

It’s a nice safehouse, with enough rooms for everyone to have their own place to sleep even with six of us here. Better still, the walls are thick enough to muffle any brief struggle someone might offer, but I won’t need to rely on that as long as I hit them quickly and effectively. Fortunately, I am well trained in where and how to stab someone to prevent them from raising an alert.

Inside the first bedroom is the sweet girl who let me in. She sleeps on her back. I crush her windpipe, and in the same fluid motion I stab her through the heart. Her blood soaks the sheets without so much as a squeak of distress.

The second bedroom is where things go wrong. Carlo is awake, with someone going down on him. He’s too distracted to notice my entrance right away, but I don’t get far before he starts to yell.

My knife sails in a graceful arc from my hand into his eye socket. I dive forward, drawing another to stab through the sheets into the back of the nobody fellating my cousin. Carlo scrambles, losing blood, clearly in a panic, and I drive my second knife up through his diaphragm. Soon he too collapses.

That shout. There’s no way it didn’t wake Daniel up. After weighing my options, I choose to dash from the room yelling, “we’ve got company!”

Perhaps my father really is a sentimental old fool to the end. He bursts from his own room, armed with the famous family blade, and as I watch him scan the hallways holding that sword of his aloft, he shows no suspicion whatsoever toward me.

“How many, Hanna?”

“Two, I think. No idea how they got in.”

He swears under his breath, moving past me to peek into Carlo’s room, trusting me to watch his back. “Shit, Hanna. At least I’ve got you here. I never told you this, but—“

It’s all the opportunity I need to drive my dagger into his neck. I lever it back and forth to really shred his carotid artery and send his blood spraying like a fountain. Fuck that feels good. Oh, that really feels good.

On an impulse, I lean forward and catch the spray of blood in my mouth. It’s not like I draw strength from it like a proper vampire, but I’ve learned to love that salty, metallic flavor in my own way, and today it tastes like my freedom from this damn family of mine.

“Fuck you, dad.” I smear crimson victory across my face and laugh with sheer, manic joy. “I’d tell you to go to hell, but you always said that’s where all vampires go when they die for good.” I slice deeper, all but severing his head, then follow up by stabbing him again and again in each vital organ. Can never be too sure with a vampire hunter. “I’m sure, whenever I end up dying, that’s where I’m going too. And I’d rather not have you around while I’m spending my afterlife with everyone I ever loved.” I spit on his body. “If hell is my fate, then you can go to heaven or go to oblivion, but wherever the fuck you end up, go there without me.”

I grab my phone and text my family to let them know that there are some rapidly cooling bodies for them to enjoy if they’re feeling peckish. Also, I’ll appreciate their help taking some photos and videos to document my beautiful sins.

[nanabrainrot]

II. Play Pretend [Loki] Kinktober

Day 2: Loki likes to pretend you’re a lot more helpless than you actually are.

Warnings! CNC, dacryphilia, stepcest.

✎ ᝰ Love, Loki﹏﹏

“No, please, don’t cum inside - don’t!”

You could win an Emmy, an Oscar, for this Loki was convinced. Your hands so tight on his biceps that you were leaving crescent marks in his skin where your nails dipped into the dermal layers of pale white flesh. Wet streaks dribbling pathetically down your cheeks all red from the way he choked you, hit you - the skin impacted still painted that hue like a museum piece is stained with the oils and pastels and paints.

You were prettier than any painting like this.

“Why not? Tell me why baby sis,” Loki grunted, hot breaths fanning your face as he dipped lower to stare hard at you. Unbreaking blue eyes caught your face like a fish in a net and you thrashed like one too.

“You - ah! - you’ll knock me up!” you babbled in split words with drool dribbling from your mouth. Hair fanning on the pillow, as you arched deeper into it. Eyes wide shut. Tight and taught, just like your pussy, ducts dribbling wetness like it too.

“I can’t knock you up?” Loki hissed, a daring tone lacing his words. A dare. It had to be a dare on your part.

“N-No!” you slapped at his chest, pushing, pawing at his glistening pecs with all your force you could muster, “take it out, Loki!”

You bucked hard. Tightening.

“Why?”

Your back arched higher, eyes wide shut. Tighter. Clenching on him.

“Stop! Don’t get me pregnant, Loki! Please take it out -“

“Beg,” he choked, drunk on the way your hot pussy milked him for more while your mouth whined and pleaded for him to get away, “beg your big brother to stop fucking you. Beg me to not knock up my baby sis.”

Crescent marks on his pecs dragged down leaving red hot marks in its wake as your mouth opened with no noise. Clenching. Tighter. Wetter.

You shook your head, eyes clenched shut and your mouth locked into being wide open in silence at the stimulation: his dick stabbing into your heat and beating your cervix ‘til it hurt - you didn’t want him to stop, couldn’t even comply with his commands. Wetter, wetter - squelk.

You went limp, eyes rolling back as your cunt gushed rings of white cream on his member as he slid in and out - joyous. Your mouth no longer pleading but your body so obviously spent and unable to keep fighting. Typical. The first few times he started fucking you were nothing but fighting, pushing, slapping, biting. Weeks and months of hiding and avoiding him until he cornered you. His baby sis, your little face and body suddenly so swollen like a real woman one day. It was like it clicked: your mouth could keep saying you didn’t want it, but your pussy would always tell the truth. Even when it all began, when it devolved, you still seemed so hostile. It was that combative and bratty nature that stole his affections - and this beauty.

This natural phenomenon of your pussy gushing is enough for him to be content dying after this. After drinking in this sight of your warm and languid body melting into the sheets in the dim light of the candles lit on the sconces of your chamber walls, it’s enough. It’s enough to make him cum.

Twitching, hot, warm, and inside, he spills: white hot ropes flooding as he bottoms out with his warm pink head nudging at your mushy cervix. Lying limp, eyes lidded low as you can no longer find it in yourself to move beyond little twitches of muscles still firing off in the wake of your overstimulation and subsequent orgasm. You make no movements even after he pulls out, pussy gushing white onto the soiled sheets. You always fake fight him; it was instinctual at this point, coded into your dna. He captures the moment in his memory, his hand petting your hair in a congratulatory and consoling movement.

You twitch.

“You’re so good at playing pretend, baby sis.”

…You smile.

[cupidscatcafe]

Guys I finally got to see Inside Out 2 and omg do I need to rant

Inside Out is my current hyperfixation and I’m so happy I got to have it right when the second movie came out

So here’s everything I wanted to talk about from my first viewing of Inside Out 2 (Spoilers, obviously)

I’ve placed these in (rough) chronological order

1. Getting to see the emotions room! So, I actually missed the first few minutes because we accidentally bought 3D tickets instead of normal ones so we got the times mixed up. But! I got to see the Demo Day scene on YouTube and OMG THEIR ROOM⁉️ ITS SO CUTE 😭 THE BUNKBEDS, JOY AND FEAR HAVING STARS ON THEIR WALLS, AND ANGER HAVING THE WINDOW THINGY ON HIS 🥺

2. The emotions bed clothes! Omg I would kill for Joy’s pjs! They’re so cute and they definitely made a great decision with the design! I would have never thought of Sadness in a robe but omg does she look adorable! Fear and his plushie are actually like the cutest thing ever aND DISGUST⁉️ SHES SO PRETTY OMG 😭 Not much to say for Anger just cuz I feel like people would of kinda expected that to be his bed clothes 😭

3. “Who are you people?” I just kinda think the line delivery was neat :3 also the way Disgust puts herself between the construction people and Sadness to, like, protect her, its just so cute 😭

4. Ennui and her phone I know people don’t really like her that much but I did! I like how she had an app that she could control the console from but where did she even get it from? 😭 Did someone make that just for her or did she just “spawn” with it? 😭

5. “You can’t bottle us up!” The fact Joy gave them that idea and the way Embarrassment poked holes in the jar for them like they’re little rats you’d find in your kitchen 😭 I guess that is kind of what they were to the new emotions but I love how they literally bottled up emotions

6. Lance struggling to walk through the door I just thought it was funny he kept walking into the wall and it took a few tries for him to get through the door 😭

7. Disgust willingly sitting on a slice of pizza Do you know how greasy and gross pizza is 😭? She was hesitant to stand on broccoli but she was fully willing to sit in grease 😭 I just feel like that’s something she would never do 😭

8. The climb up the recall tube Just the way that Sadness was the last option 😭 Fear and Anger werent even an option to Joy, her first choice was Disgust and the only reason she didn’t do it was because she didn’t want to get her dress dirty 😭 Sadness was the only one left so she had too 😭

9. Sar-chasm Really no explanation, the joke is just funny imo

10. Joys “OF COURSE IM DELUSIONAL” It’s been stuck in my head since I first saw a clip of that on Tik Tok and it seriously plays in my mind over and over 😭 I also think it gives us a better idea of what goes on in her head and I really appreciate it 🙏

11. Pillow fort Joy being asked if she was drawing a hippo when she was drawing Riley and her hockey team, Disgust using Anger as a clipboard, Anger drawing Riley giving flowers to the other team, no one standing with Joy when she asked who was on her side, that one person who drew a cat, I just love the scene all together 😭

12. Brainstrom It rains light bulbs ☹️ /pos

13. “Grab an idea” The way Disgust didn’t even wait for any other order and just jumped off the balloon thousands of feet high in the eye of the storm 😭 She could have tried to catch an idea that came near her but she decided to jump 😭

14. Fears parachute He definitely has other safety equipment on his person and I need to know what else he has 🙏 he probably wears knee/elbow pads under his clothes or something 😭

15. Riley dying her hair She used that cherry koolaid thingy to dye her hair in the bathroom and omg that’s so real 😭 I, personally, used to use chalk though 😔

16. Anxiety During the panic attack scene where shes moving so quickly that it looks like she isn’t moving at all 😭 The small flickers were so cool 🙏 I love her design ngl, like shes so ugly shes cute, her character is honestly just so relatable, I love her sm ☹️

17. Riley’s hair Idrk what to say here, I just like her hair and the way it looks damp after her panic attack is just some cool animation 😭

18. Nastolga I just think the joke of her coming to hq when its not her time is funny 😭 She seems like such a cool character and if theres a 3rd movie I would love to see more of her!

19. Anxiety’s Chair I just think it’s really cute that they gave her a massage chair, it looks so relaxing 😭

20. Disgust constantly cleaning her dress She’s just so real for that

21. The animation OMG THE ANIMATION WAS SO PRETTY 😭 The glitter in the emotions hair, Disgust’s run cycle was seriously adorable, Joy and Disgust’s facial expressions (I was really only watching them because they’re my favourites ngl), the different styles for Lance and Bloofy/Pouchie (+ how excited Joy is when meeting Bloofy), Joy’s glow staying (I seriously expected them to forget about it) the way the wind affects their hair, it’s just all so beautiful 😭

I might get to watch it again this week so if I notice/remember anything else I’ll add to the list 🥺