#grim-kitkat

[house-strong]

— DRAGONS BANE, chapter three ʾ ⋆

CHAPTER THREE — remnants of a friend

glossary ; chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five.

summary ; the royal family has presented a ball for the lords and lady’s of westeros under the guise of queen alicent and king viserys’s wedding anniversary. aemond is left with you and despite his best effort, he’s starting to take a liking to your presence.

pairing ; enemies-to-lovers!aemond targaryen x tyrell!reader

notes ; aemond is something i think about often!!! heavy dialogue bonding chapter before i RIP THE RUNG FROM UNDER YOU.

taglist ; @cypherpt5fttaehyung @farmerpinkpie @tachibubu @underatreedrinkingtea @anita-alice @shnadaidas @kitkat-writes-stuff @itisjustwhatitis @rosedovve @mistalli @thesnugglingduck @miaowchan17 @fancylisoo @merakiaes @sanguinalia @ephemeralninon @averageperhaps @sana-within-you @thegreat-annamaria @tina-theslytherin @signyvenetia @vikingsisthenewsexy @mitsuyaws @andysnewgroove @gloryekaterina want to join? click me!

“marriage agrees with you, helaena.”

from the table below the high table, you turn your head ever so slightly. your eyes fall upon the queen alicent and the princess helaena, an exchange that looks almost forced. helaena gives her a weak smile, one that doesn’t reach her eyes and spark the usual happiness she bore.

there’s a scoff from the other side of the table.

the interaction is enough to instill sadness within you. helaena, despite being the radiance she is, has been clouded ever since you had helped her dress for her wedding. she was like a shroud of dark rain clouds over a sweet summer field of flowers, and too much rain leads to dead flowers.

the festivities around you, the laughter and music that fills the air, does little to raise your spirits. you stare around with a grim look, lips pressed into a thin line as you play with your food in front of you. you exhale through your nose, reaching for the cup of wine next to your plate and taking a few, long sips. the content is smooth and velvety, enough to make the back of your throat tickle.

there’s some scuffling behind you from chairs being pulled from their position and soon, helaena and aegon descend the steps to the royal high table, hand in hand. the sea of dancing lords and ladies part, allowing them to enter safely and begin dancing with the crowd. helaena follows the steps to the dance perfectly and when her partner switches to another lord, it’s like an incandescent candle that flickers to life. she bears a large smile with rosy cheeks, bashfully talking to the lord who’d begun to dance with her.

you can’t help but beam, perhaps her true personality hasn’t been lost.

“why do you look so glum, little flower?”

once you realize the question was directed to you, you turn your head and your eyebrows shoot up at the presence of aemond. he’s standing there in fine clothes, black linen and leather clad against his body. from this stance, there’s some sort of regality that effortlessly flows about him, as if being a prince agreed with him.

your eyes flutter and you immediately swallow the thought, “no reason at all, my prince.”

the corner of his mouth twitches as he eyes you carefully. he lets out a little hum as if he was unsatisfied by your answer. his hand suddenly appears from behind his back and extends out towards you.

“dance with me.”

you look down at your plate, the food torn apart and obviously picked at. you fold your hands neatly in your lap before looking back up at aemond.

you shake your head, “i’m sorry, prince aemond, but i fear i have a sou–”

you don’t even finish your sentence before he interrupts you, “my queen mother insists.”

the lips of your mouth curl into an ‘o’ shape, a small noise of realization falling from them. you turn your head to glance at queen alicent, who smiles and raises her cup happily. you return your gaze to aemond and take his hand. his hand is warm and calloused in yours, with slender fingers curling to grasp your hand.

you allow him to lead you to the dance floor, where once again, the lords and ladies part for you. you assumed that was one of the perks of being royalty; the crowds would part at your mere presence. maybe that’s why aemond walked around with a self-righteousness that seemed to choke everyone around him. you can’t help the laugh that seems to come out your nose rather than your mouth.

aemond gives you a look but says nothing. you two part and stand in front of each other, the start of another song playing and cuing the beginning of the dance. aemond moves with light steps, one that makes his dance moves almost mystic and fluid. you assumed you had to thank ser criston cole for teaching aemond a thing or two about how calculated the steps to his dancing was.

dancing with aemond had drawn out interactions you had thought you imagined. with his large, warm hand splayed on the small of your back that lingered a little too long, an intense gaze that never seemed to leave your face, and the sighs that seemed to spew from his lips–perhaps these were just fragments of a chimera you’d wish to be true. maybe it was just annoyance and neglect.

“you look exquisite tonight, lady (y/n).” your name falls from his lips in a way it hasn’t before. your eyes flutter up at him, but you tut and shake your head.

“did your queen mother tell you to say that?” you ask, your brow quirking up as you stare questioningly at him.

despite the accusation, aemond smiles, “hm, she did not.” oh. surely his compliment wouldn’t be so far accompanied by an insult. perhaps he’d sneer ‘little ward’ at you or maybe reprimand you about westerosi customs.

“then is there some insult you’re going to spew at me?”

“do you think i’m vile?” aemond scoffs.

his question catches you off guard. your mouth remains parted as you two continue to dance. you twirl in his grasp and begin to gnaw on your lip. was he truly vile, or were you accustomed to this.. minute hatred he had for you? maybe you’d mistaken his annoyance for loathing.

your gaze returns to lock on to his, “i do, matter of fact.”

whether this sentence had hurt him or not, aemond had spun around as according to the dance the crowd was doing. aemond’s brows furrow and he feels himself become displeased with that answer. yes, he hadn’t been the most gracious of hosts, but it was hard to keep his emotions in check. he turns back around and returns to the front of you.

“aren’t parties the one thing girls love? how come you’re sour tonight?” his voice is like velvet to your ears and it scratches an itch in the back of your brain.

you roll your eyes once again, shaking your head in disbelief, “if you believe that, dear prince, then i’m afraid you know nothing about girls.” the dance has come to the point where you’re supposed to switch partners, but aemond’s hand never leaves yours. he sends a glare towards the lord that tries to take you.

“if you must know,” you say carefully after watching the interaction, “i fear for helaena.”

his eye returns to gaze upon you as you say this and there’s a small, upward twitch of the corner of his lip, “as do i. you’re not the only one looking out for her.”

almost as if on cue, both you and aemond glance to where helaena is. she’s off the dance floor and standing in between her grandsire and someone you’d assume was family on alicent hightower’s side. your nose scrunches and you look back at aemond. his arm settles on your back as he dips you, his muscles tensing at the newfound weight that you allow to settle onto him.

he picks you back up effortlessly and your arm snakes around his neck. the proximity is close–too close for comfort. you two are frozen in time, what seems like, eyes scanning over each others features as if it’s the last thing you’re going to see. with a small breath, you feel a small, warm breeze of air fan over your face. you notice that there’s tiny freckles dusted over his sun-kissed nose.

aemond inhales through his nose and almost sighs at scent of berries that wafts to his scent glands–that was the scent he had mistaken for helaena’s.

your eyes flutter and you inhale sharply, pulling away, “i’m glad to see that you have some sort of humanity within you, my prince.”

“aemond,” he corrects quickly, his hand dropping from yours then picking up your other hand as you two switch directions. “my name is aemond.”

you clear your throat, bowing at the waist when the song ends, “well, aemond, you’re a very fine dancer.”

aemond ignores the way his skin suddenly feels like it’s on fire when his name is spewed from your lips. it sounds like the start of a prayer, one that he unknowingly wants to finish. instead, he allows a smirk to twist the ends of his lip up, his eye radiating confidence. if he hadn’t been so hellbent on being this know it all, you would’ve fallen victim to the look he gave you. however, the next words that leave his mouth are enough to make you huff loudly and remember how much he annoyed you.

“i know.”

“do you ever say thank you?” you shoot back, slowly rising up from your bow. the prince blinks receptively, his eye never leaving you as he weighs the words in his mind before he decides to respond.

it’s only a few moments of shared silence before a soft, velvety answer dances out of his mouth, “thank you.”

it seems that aemond is not done pestering you for the night just yet, as his large hand slips into yours. he tugs you towards the edge of the crowd and it splits as quick as an axe to a chop of wood. you dip your head bashfully to the lords and lady’s who decide to stare. it’s only when aemond looks back that their gazes return to their partners and any trance of disturbance is gone.

you notice he’s led you to a dessert buffet table. before you, there’s an array of cakes–peach, lemon, apple, and many bits of chocolates and soft, chewy sugar rounded into small balls. your mouth begins to water.

“fancy a lemon cake?” he asks, a hand reaching out. his fingers curl around a small lemon cake and you watch him peel the caramelized lemon slice off the top, then placing it onto his tongue. he chews politely and doesn’t flinch at the sourness your sure has attacked his taste buds.

you make a face at him, “no thank you, aemond. i prefer peach cakes.” aemond notes that you call him by his name, again. it’s much better than ‘my prince’, he reckons. “lemon cakes have a certain sourness to it.. which is why i’m sure you enjoy it.”

the quip that falls from your lips almost escapes aemond. he turns his head, his brow furrowing and his lips pursing into a thin line. soon, his face melts into amusement.

“was that a joke, little flower?”

you stare back at him challengingly, sliding a piece of peach cake into your mouth. you chew on it thoughtfully and swallow before grinning ear to ear. he returns the smile, though his isn’t as grand or toothy as yours. you liked this aemond–the aemond who was lighthearted, quick to forgive, and most of all, kind. though in the back of your mind, you can’t help but feel as if this is some ploy.

soon the interaction passes and you carry the rest of the peach cake in a napkin on your hand. you break pieces off one by one, nibbling modestly onto the pleasantry while surveying the room. soon, you hear aemond hum in annoyance.

“have i ever told you how much i don’t like tyland lannister?” it’s almost as on cue that the lannister master of ships laughs, or rather giggles, very loudly. aemond almost winces at the sound.

you tut, “jason is far worse.”

aemond turns his good eye to you, “there’s two of them?”

it’s your turn to chuckle and you motion with your head to where jason lannister is sitting. he’s surrounded by girls, annoyingly, and wearing a smug grin as he’s no doubt telling them about how delicious the wine that’s brought from lannisport is. you crinkle your nose at the thought – they were both worse in their own ways.

“you’ve been at court all your life and you’ve never noticed?”

“it was a jest,” he responds, shifting on his feet so that his weight settled on one and his other stuck out. there’s another moment of silence between you two, yet this time it’s warm and inviting, less cold and awkward as the ones before. maybe you had been to harsh on aemond, perhaps he was just a boy who had grown up to fast and was catching up to the proclivities of life. you finish off your peach cake and hear, “i am glad that you are here, my lady.”

his body is angled more towards you now and is eye catches yours. it’s almost.. soft by the way the light sheens off the blue coloration. you suddenly shift your weight between your feet, taking a step back once you realize how hot it’s truly getting.

“helaena seems profound of you,” he continues. oh. you swallow and start to wring out your hands, fingers delicately toying with the jewelry that adorned your hands.

“careful aemond,” you hum, “you sound like you’re starting to enjoy my presence.”

his eye narrows and it’s like the softness you once saw has vanished, his usual, hardened stoic expression returning, “you’re alright, for a little ward.”

and just when he was dancing over the line of being on your good side, he had to pull that card.

you tut, roll your eyes, and abandoned him where he stood. you begin to walk aimlessly, eyes observing the gold plates, the armor the targaryen soldiers wore, the intricate detailing on the ladys’ dresses that you passed by, and the heat that started to rapidly come on. it all started to become too much so you abandon the great hall and make haste for a balcony.

the wind cuts your face like a whip at how cool it is. despite being summer, the days of winter were surely not too far ahead. you lean against the balcony, inhaling deeply and closing your eyes as you succumb to the intoxicating taste of distant rain and salt.

you notice the approach of footsteps and open your eyes. the serendipitous feeling of felicity you had felt quickly vanished like a violet waves of blackwater bay swallowing the rocks below the walls of king’s landing. you turn your head slightly and look to see who approaches out the corner of your eye. you hold back a groan.

“aemond targaryen, is it your destiny to annoy me to death?”

aemond chuckles. it’s short and sweet, the soft bass in his voice evident. he didn’t have the willpower to tell you that he had felt alone after you abandoned him, and that he thought an enemy, or whatever you were to him, was better company than none. though, he doesn’t want to see you gloat at his confession.

“i’m afraid it is,” he pauses to join you leaning against the balcony, “the seven visited me last night and pleaded me so.”

the sound of waves drowns your thoughts. you open your body to him, one arm dangling lazily on the shelf of the balcony wall while the other hugged your body. you watch him for a moment; the soft glow of the moon makes him seem more ghostly than in the great hall and yet it seems to compliment the sapphire colored iris in his eye. he turns his head to look at you and that’s when you realize you were staring.

you play it off by fluttering your eyes, inhaling deep, and tilting your head as if in contemplation. just there, you two stand staring at each other. it’s unwavering and quaint, all former softness, amusement, or challenge gone. just his blue eye watching your own, carefully.

it feels like you’re there for an eternity before you speak up, “i’m afraid the hour is late and i’m growing tired, aemond. good night.”

aemond mumbles a ‘good night’ back to you as well, turning his head forward and staring out into the landscape before him. he hums in thought as the sound of your footsteps slowly recede.

he notices the warmth that blossomed in his chest has extinguished.

[rebecoming]

art by @grim-kitkat (hope you don't mind, if you do I'll delete it ofc)

[homestuckdaily]

Upd8 Fanart Showcase #04

Hello toxic yuri enjoyers! This upd8 sure was something. Today's fanart showcase is all about celebrating that divorce fever.

Artists in order of appearance: @juney-blues [header] @strilondism @vampslxsher @grim-kitkat @flaringk @modestcage

[hwalyn]

sweeter than candy ➛ kitkats

prev | masterlist

SYNOPSIS! the universe probably hated her, why else would moon be partnered with a guy who cannot stand her for her midterm oh and add in the fact that he thinks she’s bullying his friends, well one can hope for the best.

A/N: and with that sweeter than candy is now over! thank you to everyone who liked, commented and enjoyed my first smau fic !

taglist : @randomness7198 @philanarose @noonaishere @hoohoohope @joongs-moon @every-body-is-positive @jaysbestie @kawennote09 @kpopnightingale @samjeffleodylan @butterfliesinthenightsky @khjcoo @uarmyhore @phoenix-karma @alanniys @woosluv @slutforshego @dees-writing-corner @paralumanniluna @yoongiigolden @ihoonbrry @seongsvngs @onlystylesangels @ightimmaheadin @leagreenly @knisterlicht @a1sh1teruu @perfectlysane24 @grim-adventures58 @exfolitae @hegdus @littlrmills14-blog @angelicyeo @john-joong @meltinghershey @poetryforthesad @chillllllli @danielapripasu @themochaboba @xxxfaithkxxx @lucycassiopea @miriamxsworld @allisonleannn @skittlez-area512 @dandelion-aj @yunhowooyo @kodzukein @scoupshushushu @mingiholic @marklee02

[cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien]

My Bio

Age: In my early twenties

Name: Can’t tell you

Birth Date: December 14, 2002

Favorite Adult Animation Shows: Solar Opposites, Robotomy, Rick and Morty, Adventure Time, South Park, Regular Show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Triptank, Lucy, Disenchantment, Futurama, The Simpsons, The Brak Show, Metalpacolypse, Soace Ghost Ciast to Coast, Central Park, Bob’s Burgers, American Dad, Clerks, Duncanville, Great North, Housebroken

Favorite Superhero Shows: Invincible, Villains of Valley View, Koala Man, Miraculous, Lab Rats, PPG ‘98, Hamster and Gretel, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Danny Phantom, Super Friends, Justice League ‘01, DC Super Girls ‘18, Static Shock, Horrorbots, Spider-Man ‘17, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, Kim Possible

Favorite Cartoon Network Shows: Amazing World of Gumball, Camp Lazlo, Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, Time Squad

Favorite Nickelodeon Shows: SpongeBob SquarePants, Santo Bugito, Invader Zim, My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre, Wonder Park, Modern Life, ICarly, Victorious, Kenan and Kel, All That

Favorite Disney Shows: Amphibia, Owl House, Ghost and Molly McGee, Hailey’s On It, Kiff, Star Darlings, Phineas and Ferb, Milo Murphy’s Law, Hannah Montana, Good Luck Charlie, Kickin It, Lab Rats

Favorite Discovery Family Shows: MLP ‘10, Aquabats Super Show

Favorite Streaming Shows: Centuarworld, Glitter Force Doki Doki

Favorite Food: Steak, Fries, Burgers, Chicken fingers, doughnuts, pancakes, bacon, fruit pastries, French toasts, fried chicken, turkey, duck, baked potatoes, hash browns, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, pork chops, ribs, Korean BBQ, Japanese chicken, steak fillet, Doritos, Ruffles, Cheetos, CC’s Chips, banana bread, Cheez-It’s Snaps, Goldfish

Favorite Sweets: Ice Cream, Hershey’s Chocolate, Reese’s, KitKat, Toffee, Cake, Cupcakes, Ice Cream Cakes, Skittles, Starburst, Cookies, Crumble, Cookie sandwiches, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream pops, animation character ice cream pops, sundaes, Nestle’s chocolate, Oreos

Favorite Fruits and Veggies: Asparagus, Carrots, broccoli, potatoes, strawberry, raspberry, lemon, like, grapes, apples, lettuce, cherry, bananas, coconut

Favorite drinks: Mountain Dew, Water, milk, root beer, coca-cola, tab’s, Mr. Pibbs, Pepsi, Dole’s juice brand, Fanta, Crush, Dr. Pepper, soda floats, Nesquick, smoothies

Favorite Actors: Patton Oswalt, Dan Stevens, Thomas Middleditch, John Gemberling, Will Forte, Charlie Day, Mike Sinterniklaass, Roger Craig Smith, Dan Mintz, Josh Gad, Dee Bradley Baker, Rob Schrab, Nate Corddry, Rob Corddry, Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Brian O’Halloran, Justin Feilbinger, John DiMaggio, Billy West, Oded Fehr, Michael Cusack, Zach Hadel, Phil LaMarr, Robbie Daymond, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Matthew Lillard, Kevin Michael Richardson, John Mulaney, Antanio Banderas, Richard Steven Horvitz, Brandon Rogers, Sam Riegel, Jon Heder, Andy Daly, Zeno Robinson, James Marsden, Dana Snyder, Fred Tatasciore, Rob Paulsen

Favorite Actresses: Felicia Day, Mary Mack, Lacey Chabert, Brenda Song, Stephanie Sheh, Kate MiCucci, Riki Lindhome, Kari Wahlgren, Grey DeLisle, Jenny McCarthy, Melissa Fahn, Cristina Vee, Lana Condor, Sandra Oh, Odette Anaboe, Edie Mirman, Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, EG Daily, Olivia Olsen, Hynden Walch, Christina Hendricks, Libe Barer, Marieve Harrington, Sarah Nicole Robles, Kimberly Brooks, Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Vannessa Hudgens, Tika Sumpter, Reba Buhr, Erica Lindbeck, Vivian Nixon

Favorite Music Genres: Rock, Classic, Pop, orchestra, country, funk, techno, dubstep, heavy metal, Christian

Favorite Band: Ice Nine Kills, Adelitas Way, Bowling For Soup, Hansen, Disturbed, Slipknot, System of a Down, Hollywood Undead, Kiss, Queen, A Day to Remember, Thousand Foot Krunch, Nightwish, Evanescence, Seether, Imagine Dragons, Skillet, Newsboys, Simple Plan, Play, Nickelback, BTS, Blackpink, aespa, Black Eyes Peas

Favorite Singer: Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, P!nk, Katy Perry, David Quetta, Jennifer Lopez, Sia, Halsey, Kelsey Belleriny, AJ Michalka, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, China Ann McClain, Ashley Tisdale, Avicci, Kelly Prickler, Aloe Blaccc, Lil Naxx, Post Malone, Eminem, Kelli Monologue, Paul Simon

Favorite Tv Genres: Animation Drama, dramedy, slapstick, comedy, animation, sci-if, romance, buddy, superhero animation, manga, anime

Favorite Movies: Hulk ‘03, Sky High, Kim Possible: So The Drama, Clerks, Incredibles, Ruby Gillman, Boy Who Cried Werewolf, Ratatouille, Alvin and the Chipmunk ‘07, Muppets in Space, Kickass, Belle, Elemental, Madagascar, Rugrats Go Wild, Wild Thorn Berrys Movie, Peanuts Franchise, Turning Red, Encanto, Emoji Movie, Ice Age Franchise (but not the Buck Wild one), G-Force, PPG Movie, Ben 10 2008 movie live action, South Park The Movie, PeeWee’s Big Adventure, Captain Underpants, Napoleon Dynamite, Jay and Silent Bob, Mallrats, Finding Nemo, Frozen, Super Mario Bros. Movie, Mitchells vs. Machines, Veggietales, Cars, 102 Dalmations, Romeo + Juliet, Small Soldiers, Godzilla vs King Kong, Godzilla: World of Monsters, Van Helsing, Hotel Transylvania, Secret Life of Pets, Sing 2

Favorite Wen Series: Annoying Orange, SMG4, Sunset Paradise, Helluva Boss, Hazbin Hotel, Meta Runner, Amazing Digital Circus, Eddsworld, Murder Drones, Most Popular Girls in School, Summer Camp, Summer Camp Island, Villanos

My Skills: Typing

My Weakness: I can’t draw

Favorite Monsters: Aliens, Kaijus, wereanimals, Kaijus weremonsters, robots, werewolves, vampires, mutants, giant beasts

[grim-kitkat]

Username is now grim-kitkat

wanted grim_kitkat but it wouldn't let me use a underscore

[ladyartemesia]

▨ Heat Run ▨•▨1▨

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

Pairing: Alpha Lawyer Kim Taehyung x Omega Reader

Genre: ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics) • Enemies-to-Lovers 

Word Count: 2000

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT. MINORS PROHIBITED. I DO NOT CONSENT TO ANY INTERACTIONS WITH PERSONS UNDER THE AGE OF 18. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Rating and Warnings: (M/18+) for mature themes, innuendo, and sexual content • discussion of discrimination • heats and ruts • this society is not always equitable • this world is recognizable, but many things are different  • reader is an orphan who was abandoned  • mentions of fertility

Author’s Note: I have this story already planned out, if you want to read more, please let me know. I love ABO and I have had this idea in my head for almost three years. 

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

2031: Uzari Desert 

The police found you near a gas station on the outskirts of Seraph, New Mexico wearing nothing but a tattered t-shirt and tiny flip-flop sandals. 

You were two years-old. 

You didn’t know your last name, and “Kitkat” was almost certainly a nickname... 

Your picture flashed across television screens and news bulletins for weeks… but no one came to claim you.

So you bounced from home to home until your 16th birthday when you were fortunate enough to present as a rare omega. 

Then everything changed. 

Men in tailored suits removed you from your criminally negligent foster guardian and brought you to an Omega Protection Facility where you were given new clothes, good food, and an exclusive private education.

You could read any book you wanted; learn any skill you desired. Scholarship offers poured in from dozens of prime universities. Medicine and optional sedations were available to mute the physical effects of your heat until you were ready to have children or donate eggs...

You made friends. 

Graduated suma cum laude from the Harvard University.

Gained entrance into the prestigious postgraduate law program at Dionysia University.

You lived an ideal life. 

Until him.

Until he brought you to the end of yourself and the edge of reason. 

He made you desperate... and desperation drove you here. 

Not the typical location for the depraved gamble you were poised to undertake. 

Your gaze passed over the angry red letters once again. 

Alpha Penal Colony: Maximum Security

The sign on the chain link fence rattled ominously in the wind.

A sharp ache of omega heat twisted through your clenching gut. 

“Are you sure about this?” Jungkook whispered, his eyes fixed on the grim scene ahead. 

Your hand closed to a fist as another bolt of hollow pain tore over your body. 

You didn’t flinch.

“Yes.”

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

Excerpts from “The Omega Paradox” by Dr. Bang Si-hyuk  

...at best, Omegas were second-class citizens; considered dangerous because they triggered ruts which ‘caused upstanding members of the community to lose their minds’...

...most commonly found in pleasure dens or group homes. Society regarded them as weak and primitive; creatures ruled by their instincts…

The Nationalist Commission of 1886 suggested it was best to “breed them out,” which prompted the government to offer free sterilization, but precious few other benefits.

...however, the status and public perception of Omegas were radically altered after Dr. Kwon Ji-yong  published his investigation into the appearance of several disturbing population trends in 1956...

The Kwon Papers (as they came to be known) were a harsh indictment of the Commission’s unfounded declarations concerning Omega intelligence and biology. Kwon’s research highlighted a spike in infertility among all designation pairings, as well as a rise in birth defects and still births since the “breed out” initiative...

Kwon’s articles argued passionately for the protection and preservation of Omegas: 

“Selective breeding is a disastrous practice. Omegas have been a vital component of a healthy populace dating back to early hominids. Cutting out an entire section of our collective genetic code was bound to end badly.”

...evidence was staggering. Efforts to remove Omegas from the gene pool had reaped disastrous consequences. Overnight Omegas went from humanity’s dirty little secret to its last hope...

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

Dionysia University: 2028

“Solomon isn’t interested in sponsoring non-Alpha interns.”

“Your firm said the top three candidates in the program. I gave you the top three. One of them is an Omega. I can’t change her grades to suit your boss’s whim. Don’t be an idiot, Taehyung.”

“You know my name is V. You’re just being difficult-”

Kim Seokjin leaned back and indulged in a smug smile. 

“Your boss made the internship public. It would not look good if he refused an Omega. Even he has to keep up appearances these days. Your brother-”

“My brother is not a part of this conversation.”

Jin rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting on his cousin’s childishness.

“The internship is a contract, one I wrote. Even you can’t wiggle out of it, V. She’s a brilliant student - far too good for your legal brute squad, but I can’t deny her the opportunity an internship at Solomon’s firm provides.” Jin made a show of examining his nails. “The matter has been decided. Solomon will simply have to accept it.”

V massaged his temples wearily, “Yes, well you’re not the one who has to tell him-” his eyes darted irritably to the clock on the wall, “I’m late for a briefing - I’ll be back at noon... - this isn’t over, Jin.”

Professor Kim smiled as he watched the fiery young lawyer storm out of his office. No, he thought, taking a long sip of his tea, it’s only just begun. 

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

Donated eggs from Omegas proven to increase chance of successful in-vitro fertilization in all designations 

Double Alpha and Double Beta pairs: 1 offspring

Alpha-Beta and Omega-Omega pairs: up to 2 offspring 

Beta-Omega pairs: 2 offspring (*3 in rare documented cases)

Alpha-Omega pair: number of offspring is limited only by the preference of the couple.

Highest documented number of  offspring for an Alpha-Omega pair: 12

Omegas cannot produce children with Alphas outside of a mating bond.

Mating bonds can only be forged during an Omega Heat/Alpha Rut. 

An Omega will only go into heat if they are mentally/physically healthy.

Explains the wave of pro-Omega legislation after the Kwon Papers (1956)

Jung Hoseok’s notes on “Designations and Fertility: Rebuilding a Healthy World” by Dr. J. Lee. Article was required reading for Human Biology 412 during his senior year of undergrad

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

“Where am I?”

“You're safe. Your mate brought you in a little over fifteen minutes ago-”

“I - I don’t have a mate-”

“Oh. I’m sorry I just assumed-”

Your head felt like an entire peewee team had used it for tee ball. 

“How did I get here? Where is here?”

“You’re at the University Medical Center. A man brought you in earlier - you sustained an injury to-”

“Ohmigosh FINALLY-”

You whirled toward the familiar voice and instantly regretted it. 

No sudden movements, champ. 

“Hobi, what happened?” 

He grinned. 

“What do you remember?”

“I was… walking to the dean’s office… I was going to meet you and Jungkook…”

“Uh-huh.”

“I saw you waiting for me across the lawn and you… waved?”

“Yes.”

“And then I…” you blushed. Hobi leaned forward expectantly. 

“And then?”

“I smelled something - someone - really incredible so I turned -”

“Annnd then you were hit in the head with a baseball.”

“I WHAT?!”

Hobi nodded sympathetically. 

“Yeah. It was brutal. You dropped like a sack of flour.”

You winced. 

“Was it Jungkook who brought me in?”

Hobi had that look on his face. The look of someone who definitely knows something juicy and is about to wreck your world with it. 

“...So … you remember last week when they announced the guest lecturer for this semester’s corporate law seminar?”

“Yes. They roped in Solomon’s slimy pet pirana; the devil’s bondservant. Honestly, I cannot imagine a worse-”

Your eyes widened abruptly. 

“No.”

Hobi grinned. 

“Yes.”

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

Hobi’s grin was barely holding back his snorts. 

“Dr. Faustus himself carried you in his arms like a swooning debutante-”

“I wonder how he managed it - what with the talons and the cloven hooves- wait-” your nostrils flared - you gasped, “-the smell.”

You yanked the side of your shirt (where his wrist glands would have rubbed while he carried you) and inhaled deeply. 

“Oh my GAWD,” you whined needily, “he was the glorious smell,”  Your entire body bloomed with a frantic rush of pheromones as you buried your face deeper into the shirt. 

“I want to lick it,” you moaned. 

“I think that’s the head injury talking,” Hobi grunted as he pried the cloth from your clutches. “I’m going to be a good friend and pretend I can’t smell you getting turned on by V Vante.”

“I appreciate that.”

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

“He’s pure evil.”

You laughed. 

“He’s an associate professor of corporate law.”

“-who sold his soul to the devil himself. Works for Solomon.”

Jungkook’s eyebrows raised in alarm.

“Isn’t he-”

“The mobster? Yes.”

“No one has ever been able to prove that - and our new associate professor is the reason why. He may be an insufferable pretty boy, but he’s brilliant.”

You snorted. 

“Pretty boy?”

Hobi shrugged.

“He has boy band hair.”

“-and no soul,” Junkook piped up from the couch. You rolled your eyes.

“I wouldn’t know anything about his hair. I never got a look at him.”

“Ah but you did get a good sniff, didn’t you-”

“Hobi, how would you like to be the university’s first eunuch?”

Jungkook choked on his noodles.

“So why is Solomon’s guardian angel-”

“-fallen angel-”

“Whatever - why is he teaching here?”

Hobi leaned in close. You and Kookie bent forward expectantly

“Appearances. Solomon always makes his boys do some sort of respectable crap every couple years. Park Jimin is on the United Charities Board and Min Yoongi takes cases pro bono - usually discrimination.”

“Now he’s got V teaching a law seminar - and probably scoping out the new talent.”

“Fresh blood for his actual army of lawyers?”

“Precisely.”

You let out a low whistle and collapsed backward into the couch.

“Honestly, I hope I’m there when Professor Gerrera meets him. She hates Solomon with a fiery passion and forced us to read a ton of articles about his evil deeds. I want a front row seat when she rips his heart out and eats it. ”

Hobi chuckled.

“She’d starve. There’s nothing inside that muscly chest cavity but coal and a routing number.”

“Lovely,” you sighed, shifting the weight of your heavy bag while you checked the time. 

“We’re going to be late. Professor Kim said to be in his office at noon.”

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

2031: Uzari Desert 

Before Dr. Kwon’s revolutionary study destroyed the breed-out initiative, the only way for an omega to guarantee their future was a heat run. 

The concept was simple enough - even if the execution was near impossible

An omega in heat would “take a run” through one of the wealthy neighborhoods or past one of the elite private colleges (or even high schools) where the affluent classes sent their progeny. 

The scent would trigger a rut - or several - and all hell would break loose.

The last alpha standing would mate the omega ... and once the bond was formed - it was permanent.  

Mating bonds were protected by law as well as the International Council for Human Rights. Separating a mated pair could cause terrible repercussions. 

A heat run required extensive training.. Most omega were helpless and wracked with painful cramps during heats. An omega looking to run needed to push past their body’s natural state. They were physically weaker in heat, but their stamina increased exponentially and that was where the real power came from. 

It took mental and physical strength to control your body during a heat run. It was hard not to respect an omega who could pull it off. 

Even if they were essentially inciting a riot and forcing some unsuspecting alpha into rut. 

An omega strong enough to survive a heat run and mate an alpha would be a strong companion...

“Don’t be afraid to use the guns.The tranquilizer in the darts is potent but harmless.”

Jimin’s voice was muffled through his mask, but the reassuring tone carried through to soothe you.

“Jungkook, Hobi, and I will take care of as many as we can - but I can’t promise someone won’t get close. You can’t hesitate. Shoot them.”

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

If you would like to be added to the taglist for this series, please let me know in the comments and I will tag you! 

Ask My Muse: Have a question for the characters in this work? Send it to my ask box and hear their side of the story. 

Endnote: This is the first chapter fic I am doing. If you really want to read the rest, please let me know. It may seem silly, but I don’t want to spend time writing it only for no one to read it. Feedback is really the only reward for endeavors like this and I promise I treasure every word, 

Masterlist: I got more where that came from…

• ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ • ▨ ▨ ▨ ▨ •

[whydontwebegin]

wrote again

my hand slipped and i wrote more words. still decay au (thats what i decided to call this when i threw the epilogues and hs^2 to the void)

-homestuck

-davekat

tw for implied major character death and more bad coping

It wasn’t like he didn’t know. He did.

If anything, Dave was the most aware of how his habits could destroy him. He was no prince, but he didn’t have to be to be self-destructive.

Perhaps the most subtle, unnoticed advantage of being a god of time was that Dave’s memory was virtually flawless, in the sense that he could simply place his awareness in a moment in his own past. He could pretend, for just a little while, that Karkat was next to him, warmth pressed solidly into his side.

Dave opened his eyes to an empty room and his fingers curled into the worn, fraying fabric of the sweater he wore. It was decades old, but that it hadn’t fallen apart spoke for its quality. Kanaya was a miracle worker. It wasn’t like she hadn’t offered to make him anything new, either. She had, multiple times. Dave just always refused, preferring the familiar, age-old comfort of Karkat’s sweaters. They were one of the few things that survived the test of time.

A test Karkat himself hadn’t even had the chance to face.

Dave shut his eyes again and opened them in a memory. Karkat turned to scowl at him.

“Seriously, shut up. That doesn’t even make sense, Dave.”

“Hm? Why not?”

Karkat made a low, guttural sound–a series of truly frustrated chitters. Dave’s heart ached in his chest, but the memory bade him smile, so smile he did.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Kitkat. I won’t talk about it again, promise.”

Karkat shot him a wary glance, lips pressed into a thin, disbelieving line. “Uh-huh.”

“Hey, come on, give me some credit!”

“If you shut the fuck up and eat your dinner, then maybe I will.”

The memory slipped from him just as he opened his mouth to respond. He felt a chill settle in, dread turning his blood to ice in his veins. He knew this memory. It haunted him in his sleep, and some days, it haunted him in wakefulness as well.

Karkat’s face was set into something close to grim determination. He never had been the type to let anything stop him, always refusing to give up, even though he got damn close more than a handful of times. His determination was the thing that had kept Dave going as the decay had begun to truly set into the timelines. Remembering the fiery look in his eyes from all those years ago kept him going, even now. Some days, at least. Others, someone would drag him from his bed. Rarely was he allowed to simply lay there all day and drift through his memories of the time before.

The conversation was lost on him. He focused on the rumble Karkat was making, on how it changed the way he spoke. He heard Roxy chitter and the suspiciously bird-like noises Dirk made, but let the meanings fall away and let the sounds themselves wash over him. He felt the vibrations of his own voice in his chest, but unanchored from the memory as he was, what he had said was lost on him.

Dave’s eyes snapped open and he choked on his breath when he heard the screech of metal. He could never relive that part outside of his nightmares. The terror in Karkat’s eyes always tore him to shreds.

Dave had tried to go back and save him. Dozens of times. But he was never able to reach him, waking up in the aftermath after something knocked him out or watching his past self fail to grab him by mere centimeters. Eventually, he had stopped–half due to an intervention, half because he was tired. Nothing he tried worked. He knew nothing would, really.

If it was going to work, Karkat would’ve been by his side this whole time.

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS | CHAPTER 4

Rating: Explicit.

‼️TW: Reader is EIGHTEEN! Recreational drug use, smoking and alcohol consumption, deeply internalised self-loathing, very questionable moral standards. Daddy kink taken half-seriously. BDSM themes in later chapters - explicit content will come with it's own TWs. FIRST PERSON POV. Bullying and non-explicit violence in this chapter, Peter whump.

Summary: You're Peter's classmate, a child of rich and famous but uncaring parents. Getting paired up for a lengthy project with the boy was an interesting turn of events and you don't know whether to feel blessed or cursed when you develop, seemingly, a perfectly normal, harmless crush on Tony Stark. Fueled by feelings of inadequacy and boredom, your life spirals out of control - and you're lucky your newfound friends are there to pick up the pieces even if you cannot find it in yourself to believe these amazing human (and not so human) beings voluntarily give you more than a fleeting glance and an offhanded thought. And they brought cake!

A/N: WE'VE GOT PLOT! Peter Parker deserves better. Steeb needs a vibe check cuz he keeps failing them :( Boomers are hot but ... Boomers. KitKat, anyone? Natasha is a Brain Cell™. Enjoy, deviants.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings @vozit​ @littlegasps​ @pilloclock​ @shereadsinquiet​ @hermione-grangers-wife​ @downeyreads​ @individualistfem​

Beta read by the lovely and patient @miscmarvelwritings 👑 - titty gators assemble! 👀

I scheduled a visit to the tower two days after my "illness" episode. Most of my lows passed without any lingering, the headache was gone and so was the nausea. My mood was still somewhere between "please kill me" and "I could eat a lot of cake right now" but it was bearable. I was very much looking forward to occupying myself with the project if only to divert my focus from overthinking about my own misery.

Peter said he was going to see Tony straight after school and offered for me to tag along with him: Tony sent his driver to pick up the boy. I didn't have the heart to refuse, seeing no point in waiting for an Uber on a rainy workday afternoon. Traffic was horrendous in New York city no matter the weather but a downpour took the congestions to a new height.

When I spotted the sleek, black brand new Audi I made a beeline for it, waving to Happy as I crawled inside as fast as I could. "Don't get the seats wet," The chauffeur grumbled.

"It's wet outside," I rolled my eyes into the next dimension. Whoever thought his nickname was in any way appropriate needed a psych eval. Peter sat on my right side looking wet and downright miserable. I had to swallow a string of expletives at the sight in front of me: the entirety of Peter's right cheek was an ugly shade of blue, eye on it's way to swelling shut and lip busted open. "What in the everliving fuck happened to you?!" Breathing through my nose, I fought bubbling rage inside of me. Peter looked like he went toe to toe with a Hulk.

"Flash happened," The boy mumbled, whining and brooding simultaneously. His cheeks glowed.

"That little runt?" I took another pause to steady my breathing, tentatively reaching out for Peter's hand. He grasped it tightly in gratitude. "Well, did you at least fight back?"

"No, I... I can't do that," Peter became even smaller, curling into the seat and in himself. I was disappointed for sure as I wouldn't just stand there and take a beating, but Pete was different. He was sensitive-a total pacifist to boot.

"Do any of the teachers know? I'm guessing this isn't the first time," Sure, I've seen Parker with an occasional scrape or a bruise but I'd always figured it was just him being a teenage nuisance. Curtain of depression I had over the previous days slowly began morphing into cold fury.

"No, well, they probably do. But Flash is the principal's son so they ignore it, I guess," Peter sighed in defeat. "Mr. Stark doesn't know either. Please don't tell him," He begged.

"Abuse thrives in silence," I parroted our sex-ed teacher but otherwise made no promises. My mind raced between comforting Peter and ordering Happy to turn the car around so I could find the shitty excuse of a human named Flash Thompson and violently make it known what happens to people when they get me pissed off.

"What are you going to tell Tony?" I asked Peter as we herded into the elevator, slightly wet and mostly miserable.

"I have an idea or two," The boy answered darkly.

"You have been summoned to the common floor, I was instructed to notify you there is food to be eaten before sciencing, per Doctor Banner's orders," Friday announced, rerouting the elevator to the aforementioned destination. Peter groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands.

"What the fuck happened to you, kid?" Bucky decided screeching like a banshee and attracting at least five of his teammates to come running from the dining room was the best way to approach an obviously spooked Peter. The boy shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"Our classmate beat him up," I answered before Pete could lie. "The fucking runt that doesn't know his damn place. His two cronies probably too," The venom in my voice could've melted steel. I was genuinely furious.

"What's his name?" Captain-Steve growled. I was taken aback at the large blonde man suddenly standing up, fists clenched. My feet moved involuntarily, taking a step back from the enraged supersoldier and Pete cowered, startled.

I stepped in front of him immediately. "I'm gonna need you to chill the fuck down, Cap," The trembling in my voice persisted but I stood my ground nonetheless. "Your roid rage is going to land you in prison if you keep going," In my own rage, self-preservation went out of the window along with common sense. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, Peter was downright shaking behind me.

"She's right," Bucky darkly eyed his friend. "Off to the sparring mats with you." He grabbed Rogers by the shoulder with his prosthetic arm all but hauling the blonde towards the elevator. Thor immediately took the Captain's other side, not quite touching him but obviously giving his friend a vibe check. I could've clapped. Not that Steve resisted much, but still.

"Everyone calm down, please," The Black Widow piped up in an even tone. I can always count on a fellow woman to keep calm in a situation where men's tempers almost cause a disaster. "Now, tell us what happened," She approached Peter on quiet feet. The boy shuffled around me looking every bit as dejected as I felt about the situation. "And someone fetch some ice for that bruise," Romanoff's offhand gesture had Barton scrambling into the kitchen.

Peter sat down on the couch, looking at the floor. "Flash has been bothering me since, like, forever and today I just ignored his usual remarks because I had a calculus test, I- I wanted to make sure I knew everything, and I was sitting in a really quiet corner, and I- Ned was hanging out with MJ somewhere and I guess Flash got angry that I didn't answer," Peter rambled in his usual nervous fashion, sentences jumbling together. Natasha kept nodding, simply hugging the boy softly with one arm. As soon as Clint came back with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a towel Natasha's other arm pressed it gently to Peter's bruised face. The assassin frowned at the pained whine that left Peter's lips.

"Honestly, that dude is a fucking piece of shit, I'm surprised how he's not in jail yet," I piped up from where I was pacing along the large window overlooking the city skyline. Wound up and tense, I couldn't stay still. "He stole a senior's car for a joyride, last year. He routinely picks on the freshmen and I've personally dislocated his wrist from slapping me on the ass in, like, eight grade," Peter's eyebrows raised at my admission and Natasha gave me a vaguely approving hum.

I caught Peter's eye the moment elevator doors opened revealing a panicked looking Tony and a worried Bruce with Loki standing behind them, talking to a man in... Robes? And a red cape?

"What happened to my science child?!" Tony's fury rang high. The engineer rushed over to Peter, frantically checking him over and growling at the state of his face, letting out a string of expletives seeing the busted lip had started to bleed again.

I gave a tiny tilt of my lips to Bruce who had the oddest compilation of worried, confused and amused in his expression.

"You should probably get him to a doctor, I think his mouth is cut on the inside," I scooted closer to Banner, informing him quietly.

"I'm a doctor," The man in the cape announced, ... strutting (!) over to Pete. There was really no other way to describe his long, precise strides. He quickly butted Tony out of the way and instructed Peter to open his mouth.

"This is utter chaos," Loki muttered, sitting down on the furthest end of the couch.

"It is and I'm living for it," I sighed. The situation was very disorganized with Tony flailing about in blind panic, Bruce just standing there, Cap's rage quit and subsequent intervention by his buddies. Then the new strange dude... Loki was brooding and honestly? Big mood. The only person who made some resemblance of order out if this cluster fuck was Natasha.

All and all, it was quite endearing. I imagined that's what a large, close family would look like. When I said I was enjoying myself - no lie there, even despite the grim situation.

"How are you? Are you hurt?" Bruce quietly asked me, laced with concern. His shoulders relaxed somewhat when I shook my head negative. "Hungry?" I nodded affirmatively and the doctor produced a kit kat bar seemingly out of nowhere, winking at me with a boyish smile. I just about melted on the spot, tearing off a block and giving it to him to avoid any embarrassing reactions I might possibly spout in the wake of my recently acquired crush.

We munched in silence as the Cape Guy explained to Peter (and anxious Tony) that a few butterfly stitches would be needed as well as CT scan to rule out a possible concussion. At that point Tony was steadily turning purple in colour, rage and anxiety combining for a large storm that no doubt will hit sooner or later.

I felt responsible, I guess. Peter must've known Tony was going to react so strongly to his science son getting hurt and well, I hated seeing Tony so mad and helpless. On soft feet, I padded over to the engineer, making sure to stay within direct line of vision. "Tones?" He shot his eyes at me. He was furious. "Look, I'm going to make that fucker's life a living hell," Tony made an agitated noise of protest however I wasn't having it. I knew I'd be in trouble later but for now, I firmly placed my palm over his mouth, enjoying the surprised widening of his eyes at the frivolous gesture. "Listen, right now you can't do shit. You guys are super-powered individuals and Flash is just a nasty kid. You'll get in a big fat mess and he'll get to go away with a slap on the wrist," Tony sagged, visibly, bodily, and I felt it was safe to remove my hand from his face.

"I hate to say it but she's right," Bruce piped up behind me, voice soft.

I nodded. "I'm going to ruin the guy without putting a single finger on him," Tony nodded grimly and Cape Guy halted his examination of Peter's head to give me a mildly concerned stare. "My mother is a litigator, a vicious one at that. I've learned a trick or two," I winked with a grim sort of amusement causing the man to snort. Tony chuckled humorlessly. "As much as I hate to be the voice of reason, it would be a shame for anybody in this tower to end up behind bars. Even if it would be for a good cause," I finished my speech, patting Tony on the shoulder. The surprised squeak made its way out of my mouth when the billionaire pulled me tight against his chest, wrapping his arms around me in a desperate hug.

Ignoring my skyrocketing heartbeat, I wrapped myself around him as best as I could. Whatever issues the man had, they had to be quite painful if he reacted to the situation so intensely. I was selfish, but not heartless, so I gave into the affectionate gesture despite the inappropriate feelings that blossomed within me.

"I don't know what I've done to deserve you," Peter whined, fat round tears beginning to drip down his cheeks. I could tell he was embarrassed beyond Hell but his feelings overwhelmed him enough to just spill through. I immediately made my meanest big eyes to Natasha and Cape Guy who immediately hugged the life out of Pete. There, all set.

"Now go get that scan done," I frowned, seeing Peter start to nod off. "I don't know your name, but can you arrange that? Since you're a doctor," I nodded to the Cape Guy.

"I'm Stephen Strange," he replied, effortlessly picking up a dozing Peter and carrying him to the elevator. Before I could react, he waved his one free hand in some sort of a circle and a glowing ring appeared with what seemed to be a ER room - Strange hastily stepped through, followed by Tony suddenly withdrawing and hurrying after the ... Wizard? The portal closed immediately after.

"What the fuuuuuck..." I gaped at the now empty space. Strange, indeed. Even Loki's scoff didn't put a dent in my perplexed curiosity.

"So, lawyer family, huh?" Natasha, who I'd forgotten about, spoke up, mildly interested.

"Just my mother," I replied casually. They were the last thing in the world I wanted to talk about, especially after being so upset for the past hour. Man, I needed a drink. My hands itched for a cigarette.

"What about your father?" The spy didn't relent, pushing the issue with deadly politeness - I was actually sure she'd threaten me into talking about it even if I refused to.

"He's a celebrity manager."

"Cool," Her tone perked up at that. "Know anyone famous?"

"Know? No," I thought about all the A-list Hollywood stars I've been around, the endless parade of one-hit-wonder musicians that my dad hung out with on a daily basis. "I've crossed paths with at least half the Billboard TOP 40 but that's about it. Katy Perry was really nice," I added as an afterthought.

"I see," Natasha gave me a thoughtful once-over, patting the seat next to her. "So tell me, what do you have in mind for this Flash kid?"

My smile came out sharp and vicious. People tended to underestimate the quiet, quirky loner and I was about to remind them exactly why my kind of kids usually ended up with either millions in their bank accounts or a lengthy criminal record. "I'm going to annihilate any chance he has with having a social life, a girlfriend and I'll be damned if he gets into college without his parents going bankrupt. It goes like this..."

The ominous beginning of my plan attracted everybody in the room, even Loki. If anything, he offered the most constructive advice and the smirk he wore was positively devilish. Steve, Bucky and Thor emerged sometime during the scheming and hastily joined us, identically grim expressions on their faces. We barely managed to get done with our nefarious cackling when a portal appeared once again, Stephen stepping out of it with Tony carrying a sleeping Peter. The boy's head was bandaged, he looked like a mummy.

I stood up, beelining for Tony. "Is Pete okay? Did you call May?"

"He's not concussed but he's taking the day off tomorrow. Yes, I called May. Pete is staying here tonight," Tony looked and sounded like an exhausted, worried parent.

The urge to squee appeared again and I stomped it down with a hard "Good. We made a plan. The fucker is going to choke on his own misery," I gestured to the people sitting in a circle behind me.

Strange snorted.

Furious. I was furious.

Hands on my hips, I swerved towards him, instantly recognizing the ridiculousness of the situation. Here I stood, an eighteen year old high school student, in my fluffy rainbow sweater and denim overalls, staring down a whole grown ass man with magic powers. I digress, my pride won the race against my common sense. "Ex-fucking-cuse you, Voldemort, that's my fucking friend on the line," I seethed, giving him my best death glare.

"Language," Tony barely held together his laughter, looking at the unfolding mess with amusement. Somewhere behind me, somebody chuckled, then I recognised Loki's signature "ehehe" and it kind of went downhill from there. It's a miracle Peter didn't wake up.

"I'd be careful, Strange, she holds up against Stark very well," Loki's quiet compliment only made me preen and puff out my chest in a display of dominance. Stephen's responding eye roll was more fond than annoyed. I counted it as a win.

[187days]

Day Eighty-Six

The fire alarm went off unexpectedly about fifteen minutes into the school day. I was focused on proofreading a student’s multigenre pieces, so I jumped about a mile. But then I collected myself and led my class out. If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you know this is the third time this has happened (causes: censor malfunctions, vaping in the bathrooms, who knows what else...) The Vice Principal joked that at least this one didn’t happen during lunch. 

And it didn’t take long for the fire department to clear the building and let us go back to our classes. I told my students we’d gotten to take a nice stretch break, and they mostly laughed and then got back to work. Their projects are taking shape, and they’re really cool. I’ve proofread a few, or glanced over them more informally, and I’m seeing great work. Some of the topics: far-right extremism, climate change, endangered species, world hunger, inflation, the civil war in Yemen, LGBTQ+ rights, criminal justice reform, Covid-19, human trafficking, child soldiers... Complex and varied topics, and it’s impressive for these young people to seek to understand them. So I’m happy about that. 

I’m happy about GOV, too, though today’s lesson was one of the more grim ones. I put a sprawling set of notes on the board to explain nativism, anti-Asian racism, anti-Semitism, and, of course, slavery and anti-Black racism. I had students look up certain information (ie: the Know Nothings, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Henry Ford and the Dearborn Independent, the Colfax Massacre) and I filled in the rest, so they could see the different time periods, places, people where aspects of the modern white supremacist ideology came from. More on the topic- specifically on the early twentieth century in popular culture and government policy- tomorrow. 

After school, the Vice Principal did a book talk on Hacking Classroom Management. I’ve read it, so I went for a little bit of PD (and also Kitkat bars because she has a seemingly never-ending supply). Ms. H went, too, so it was mentor/mentee time, which is good. Classroom management is a thing that she, like pretty much all first year teachers, wants to focus on and improve. Books like that tend to have some helpful ideas, and some that definitely won’t work, so we’ll chat about which is which in our next one-on-one meeting.

Meantime, the Covid situation is still... okay-ish. The fact that the pandemic is here will always be stressful, and there are students and staff who are out sick, but the numbers are starting to go down (knock on wood). And, clearly, instruction and learning are still happening, extracurriculars are still happening, it doesn’t feel unsafe to be in the building... I know it’s untenable elsewhere, so I consider myself very fortunate.

[anneimaginesundertale]

Costume Ideas 2020

Thanks for the ideas on yesterday’s Halloween costume post. We still need more ideas, but here is the current state of skeleton costumes.  

Bold means the skeleton has decided on this costume.

Italics means that the skeleton has not decided, but here’s some ideas. 

Even if they’ve decided, feel free to suggest other ideas.  Maybe they’ll like another one better! 

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

Sans - a whoopie cushion

Papyrus - Thor (complete with flowing hair wig)

Blue - a paladin (upgrading his knight costume again)

Stretch - Santa (Sansta?), to annoy Blue (and some of the others)

Red - A box of RedHots

Boss - vampire/ghost of a host, complete with spoooky voice

Black - Phantom of the Opera (book accurate)

Mutt - Cerberus (outfit here)

Sansy - a bag of Lay’s chips (“nah, bro, the couch is part of the costume, really!”)

Sweets - Hector from Coco 

Bones - Manny Calavera from Grim Fandango

Lucky - something steampunk and awesome...currently looking for specific ideas within that...(he might need Red to help with mechanical bits, but he’s very excited by the idea)...maybe inspired by Bioshock...maybe Treasure Planet...

Smiley - Cheshire Cat (he was going to be a zombie, but I like this idea better.  He does have a great grin.) 

Grim - Headless Horseman

G - Arsene Lupine, the gentleman thief.  (only problem with this is the accent on the name, which I will inevitable forget to type...)

Aster - The Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who

Comet - first mate pirate

Captain - pirate captain

Break - Hoodie with LED words on it-- “Break a leg” and “#1 Fan”.  He’ll also be handing out KitKats. 

Tango - Manolo from Book of Life

[lilypadedits]

do either of u have favorite halloween candy?

I don't personally eat a lot of candy but I enjoy Almond Joys a lot! And Slasher's are Twix, Kitkats, Tootsie Pops, and Skittles.

☆ Mod Grim

[homestuckdaily]

Fanart Showcase #03 - Halloween Edition

Let's roll back the clock to last week and stay Halloweenstuck for a little bit longer! Behold, lots of spooks, sweets, scares and monsters everywhere!

artists in order of appearance: @fatuousscribbles [header] @colouredteapot @littlestpetgoth @badlydrawnmeulin @m0rb1dspade @kavebot @number-0y @bundleofstyx @theo-ghost @askinsufferableprick @kapptt-o @mossolantern @shjiyemis @dyke-stuck @dolly-nejimaki @otagoshi @poorlydrawnvriska/@wolvesbaneandbuttercups @saradiation @cicidraws @kiwiuccu @kitkat-not-karkat @dailypolishstriders @mysterioushistorian @saccharinesaturnine @spicytuna09 @dead-obsith @jadekatyuri @casanovasadmiral @undyingumbrqge @biweeklydavekat @bombheart @leijonisms @grim-kitkat @bright-red-sunsets/@sunset-unbound @celestiallunarsky @twinghoulites @burntficus Thanks everyone! Don't forget to check out the artists and see you next time!

[burning-clutch]

The Not So Grim Reaper

Read on A03 Here Pairings: None Trigger Warnings: mild blood and cartoon style violence  Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost) Word count: 4291 Prompt by:  All-hail-trash-prince / KitKat Cat  FFN: the-trash-prince

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 It was the third anniversary of the half death day of one Daniel Fenton and said teen was not exactly sure how to feel about the matter. He had been contacted by none other than the master of the timeline, Clockwork, to let him know that today was going to be a big important day for him…

 So he was understandably nervous…

 The ancient ghost had taken a vested interest in him, sure, but Danny was pretty sure it was mostly to spite the Observants who had their hands in the old ghost’s work. Regardless of the reason though, when clockwork spoke or rather wrote him a note or some other such thing, he knew well it was important and he needed to heed whatever it was.                  At least it was a Saturday, so he didn’t need to worry about school, however, when his ghost sense went off causing him to exhale a wispy billow of cold air, he silently wished that the ghosts could give him a couple of days off a week as well.

 With a reluctant sigh, Danny transformed in his bedroom before taking off and heading off towards the location he’d felt the strongest pull from the ectoplasmic disruption. It was downtown, a great start overall, though what was odd was as of yet there was no destruction… no running people trying desperately to escape an ethereal threat…

 It was uncomfortably calm actually…

 Danny frowned and spun about trying to focus inwards to locate where the pull was. His eyes flashed open in an instant when he felt it, his ghost sense going off for a second time as he honed into the feeling. Whatever ghost had decided to pay him a visit today was powerful. Scarily so to elicit such a strong reaction from his ghost sense.

 He flew up towards the ghost, he was eager but weary. There was no outright attack yet so he wanted to hold out hope that whatever ghost was up here was peaceful.

 Danny was not prepared for a lanky ghost in a solid black robe looking out over the city from the highest building in Amity. Danny opened his mouth to speak but the stranger beat him to it. “Ah, Phantom… or do you prefer Daniel? Or some other such derivative of that?” the ghost asked, not even shifting in the slightest.

 Danny was unnerved by that. The ghost had a deep voice, gruff but buttery smooth… it had a strange resonance in it that made it sound both soothing and unsettling at the same time. Still, Danny was on guard. Ghosts could go from zero to a hundred really fast, and he’d been bitten by that ruse far too often to have not learned at this point… Still, he was always an optimist and any chance to get out of this without a fight he’d take it.

 “And you are?” Danny asked, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible to this potentially dangerous and powerful spectre.

 “Oh silly me, how rude.” The ghost chuckled out before turning around with a flourish. The ghost was bone white and rail thin, with ruby red eyes that shone with mirth around a deep navy blue iris. With the black cloak closed all Danny could see was the white glow around him and the elongated face of the ghost. As he laughed he revealed a long set of fangs both upper and lower hidden away by bone white lips.

 “My name is Mortimer, Morty for short if you’d rather. Most people prefer it anyway.” the ghost, Morty mused with a small tap of his white slender finger to his lips. “Ah well, that’s not important what is as that you’re a prompt kid, and I like that. Pleasure,” he stuck out a hand to shake.

 Danny eyed the hand suspiciously before grasping the pale appendage into his own. There was a cool and electric feeling radiating from Mortimer, that just screamed of power, but the literal grim grinning ghost before him seemed nice enough.

 “Right, introductions out of the way, now we can get down to brass tax hm?” the pale ghost said releasing Danny’s hand and clapping his own together with a soft and chalky sounding smack.

 “What?” Danny blinked stupidly. “You're a tax collector ghost?” he asked, making a face of confusion.

 “What? Oh Ancients, no! I am a collector of sorts and you Phantom,-”

 “Are going to be the newest thing in your weird collection? No thanks.” Danny scoffed having interrupted the ghost.

 “You don’t even know what the offer is and besides it’s not exactly something you can refuse being what you are, and how you have handled yourself up until now,” Morty said with a flippant wave of his hand. “Your fate was sealed into this the moment Clockwork took an interest in you.”

 “Clockwork? Where does he fit into this? With you?” Danny huffed feeling a little more angered by the second now.

 “Well, it’s your third death day right?” Danny nodded. “Well, today is when you officially transition from a kid to a teen, well from a ghostly standpoint anyway,” Morty said with a tilt of his head revealing a thin whisp of flame like hair that looked to be hardly there at all on his ebony ectoplasmic flesh.

 Danny blinked a few times as his mind caught up with that. This guy had mentioned Clockwork and Clockwork had mentioned today would be important… So…  “You’re who I was supposed to be looking out for today?” Danny asked.

 “I mean maybe? Were you told a reaping recruiter was comin’ to get you?” Morty asked in kind. “Because if you were that makes this a whole lot simpler.”

 “A what?” Danny barely got out before the other ghost grabbed his arm and thrust him forward into a ghost portal. Instantly Danny engaged his flight and rounded on Morty, fists flaring only to stop cold when he saw where he was brought.

 The literal valley of death.

 Morty now had out a scythe as tall as he was, with a blade that was half the length of the pole. The blade, seemingly made of a blinding white plasma dipped into the portal and closed it in an instant. Morty then spun the scythe banishing the weapon to whatever unworld it had come from.

 The weapon itself was impressive enough, but the fact that it matched the exact description shape and apparently portaling powers, from what he remembered the reaper ghosts were usually seen to wield… Danny was very glad he didn’t try to attack this ghost now.

 “You really are a reaper.” Danny gasped out, staring wide eyed at Morty.

 “Yes, I thought I’d mentioned that? No? Eh, well we’re here now and we’ve got work to do boy!” Morty said with a motion aimed at the halfa to get him to follow.

 Reaper ghosts were dangerous, said to kill a living person with just a touch of their hand… Danny’s eyes widened as he stared down at the hand he’d shook Morty’s with earlier. Did that mean…? He rubbed at his neck as he followed, thankful to feel the slow and shallow ‘Ka-thump’ beneath his gloved hand.

 “Wait, you mentioned you were a recruiter?” Danny asked moving quickly to catch up to the other ghost.

 “Yep,” came the simple reply with a popping P. “And you’re here because-.”  he trailed off with a wave of his hand urging Danny to put two and two together.

 “I’m being turned into a reaper?” Danny hazarded out his guess.

         “Got it in one kid. Congrats. Morty said with a nod of approval.

 “Wait… Why me?”

 “Well, the main one is you being a demi-ghost. You’re between the life and death binary system. Meaning, you yourself are the focal point in that scale of life and death,” the reaper responded.

 “What about Vlad? He’s a halfa too…” Danny asked, genuinely curious.

 “Indeed he is, but you are not like him in the slightest when it comes to personality. Tell me do you know what we do? What job does a reaper ghost have?” Morty asked, turning to look at Danny over his shoulder.

 “You take the souls of the living, collecting them and forcing them to die…?” Danny asked nervously. “I don’t want to kill people though! Even if they are on some list or however you decide who’s time is up!” he argued to Morty. He really didn’t want to kill people…

 “Ha! No, Why does everyone always think we deal in the living? Life and death are something that can’t be influenced by us.when your number’s up it ain’t us that's coming to kill you, nature does that plenty well on its own.”

 “Then-”

 “We deal in the souls of ghosts,” Morty stated. “When a living thing dies, regardless of whether they become a ghost or not, the souls flow to the ghost zone. If they do become a ghost it means they had an obsession that was stronger then the pull of the zone’s core, the collective.” Morty explained.

 “That much I know… It’s a basic concept.” Danny nodded curiously now as the reaper led him into a catacomb beneath the garden they were standing upon a moment ago.

 “Right, well, what do you think happens to ghosts who’s obsessions get out of hand to the point the ghosts themselves are a danger? Or ghosts that get trapped in the human realm? That’s where we come in. if they’re a danger it’s our job to force them into the collective. And the easiest way is to slice the obsession right out of them, slicing through their core with your scythe. No obsession, no reason to be and the ghost is absorbed into the collective.”

 “That’s still killing people! Even if they’re ghosts I still can’t-” Danny shook his head unable to think of himself potentially killing or ending a ghost… he would be no better than Dan then…

 “Well you’re not killing or ending, you’re returning them to the collective. Alternatively, you can also repair a broken core so long as the ghost isn’t too far gone. Putting down troubled spirits is our main service as a reaper, secondary is that making sure the collective stays as exactly that, a collective. We make sure nothing in the zone ventures too close, and nothing in, comes out.” Morty said with a sharp look about him as he said that.

 Danny offered the reaper a sheepish smile, before turning away from the glowing gaze to look about the catacombs. There were a lot of dirt torches on the walls and doors and really not much beyond that, but suddenly the door to his left was the most interesting thing on the planet.                  “You do not want to know what happens when something comes out of the collective and back into the ghost zone,” the reaper warned in a stern tone.

 Danny flinched his gaze snapping back into the ruby eyes of the reaper.

 “Besides most commonly it’s a reaper’s job to retrieve stranded ghosts from the human realm and lead them home to the zone. A starved ghost is not something to take lightly after all. And that brings us to why we’re recruiting you, and not the other halfa.”

         “Because I’ve been doing that as it is?” Danny tried after a moment of the other ghost looking at him expectantly.

 Morty grinned at that. “HA! Nice once again in one, and they said you were a dunce,” the ghost chuckled as they finally stopped to enter a large wooden door with a golden trim.

 “Who did?” Danny asked as he followed the ghost inside.

 “Don’t worry about it. Just pick out a scythe that calls out to you,” Morty waved him off dismissing the insult on his intelligence easily.

 Danny couldn’t bother to rebuttal though when he laid eyes on the weaponry in the room. They were in a word gorgeous. All glowing with an array of coloured blades and handles and the teen’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

 “Woah…” was about all he could get out as he gently reached out to try to grab a scythe with a bright white handle and a blue blade. As soon as his hand touched the pole Danny recoiled from the shock he’d received from the weapon.

 “Nope, that one didn’t like you kid,” Morty said amused. “A reaper’s blade is special to them, and only one reaper can wield a blade, so much so that if a reaper is destroyed the blade shatters along with them. It’s an extension of yourself,” he explained.

 “So then… how do you know?” Danny asked, trying to grab another one with a black pole and purple blade, only to recoil with a hiss and suck on his now burned finger.

 “You really need me to answer that one kid?” the reaper asked leaning against the door and crossing his arms.

 “...No…” Danny grumbled. The teen sighed looking at all the blades in the rows of weapons. They were all scythes and all slightly different, though some not by much to their neighbours. With a thoughtful frown, Danny explored the shelves.

 Morty watched the teen go eyes shining with mirth as he looked on into the rows and rows of weapons. As a halfa, he would become an angel of rebirth, a force to be reckoned with and eventually a great ruler. Until his one-hundredth death day, he wouldn’t know of that tidbit and instead would remain in their ranks as a reaper.

 Danny sighed after the tenth or so blade zapped him, he decided to try a new tactic. He closed his eyes and focused like he would when normally looking for a ghost with his ghost sense. These weapons felt like more than just average weapons after all perhaps they had a bit of life er, rather death in them?                  And so he focused and walked forward, moving along eyes closed until his hand rested in front of a rack. He blinked his eyes open and scanned the handles in front of him. It was easy to pick out the one that he thought was calling to him after that.

 The handle was deep black with coloured sparkling glowing speckles all along the shaft, swirling and pulsing shifting slowly all along the handle. They looked so much like stars that Danny’s core fluttered eagerly at the sight of that alone. When he grabbed the handle, he felt the sheer burst of power that flowed through him and it was both intoxicating and worrisome.

 He quickly regained his focus to stare at the white blade that pulsed and flickered with just the tiniest bit of blue. It reminded him of a comet’s tail with how it waved along when he moved the weapon. It was gorgeous and he knew it was his.

 “Oh, that’s a beaut’!” Mort said with a low whistle almost right into Danny’s ear, causing the teen to jump into the air and float there staring angrily down at the reaper. “Now you’ve got that I gotta teach ya how to use it, well the basics, then from there you’re to come back here every week til we deem you ready to don a cloak.”

 “I- right… so where do-” Danny didn’t even get the chance to ask as no sooner had he started Morty ripped a hole into space with his own summoned scythe and grabbed Danny dragging him through the portal. “Training…”

 “En- Garde boy!” Morty called, pointing the butt end of his scythe to Danny. “First things first summoning and banishing your blade, then portals, and that should do it for today. I’ve no doubt you’ll figure out fighting with it on your own after that.”

 “Yeah, ghost attacks in my town are far too common…” Danny admitted.

 “Well now you can portal them away,” Morty said with a chuckle. “I think that’s why humans all think us to be bringers of death, we’re often seen bringing newly dead ghosts across the threshold to the zone… but you being a halfa you can stay in the human realm and not have to worry as much about ectoplasm intake. It gives you a huge advantage.”

 With a final amused shake of his head, Morty went into army Sergeant mode. Like the flip of a switch, Danny was suddenly being worked over the proverbial coals. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to be able to summon and banish the scythe, but he was suddenly overly glad that there was only two things the reaper had wanted to work on.

 Once he had successfully done the summon and banish three times in a row they moved on to portaling. And this was where Danny felt the drain.

 He had to push his power into the blade to keep it rigid and allow himself to actually use the thing to cut. That alone was hard, but trying to force his power through the scythe to make the portal… after his third attempt, he was already almost ready to pass out.

 Push the power into the blade then past it, force it to burst out of the blade and reach into the human realm, then spin the energy around the blade to pull open the portal. He knew the concept Morty had drilled it into his skull by this point, but for the life of him…

 Danny panted leaning forward using his new weapon to hold himself up. He was almost ready to transform back…

 “Is that all you got?” Morty taunted. “If it is we’ll be here a lot longer. You’re not getting out of here unless you can portal out yourself. Do you have a clear destination in mind?” he asked again for the fifth time.

 “Yes, I do… I -I don’t think I have enough power.” Danny wheezed out.

 Morty shook his head. “You don’t, but your scythe does. You’re only supposed to use your power to supplement and direct that of your weapon. Now try again with that method.”

 Danny sighed and readied himself before standing up once more. With a deep breath, he readied himself and tried to talk with his scythe as weird as it sounded at first to his tired brain.

 “To Fenton works come on now… “ Danny urged. With a force of power from his weapon pulling from his own energy pool he swung his blade and sliced down. The curve went through space and sliced the fabric between dimensions open.

 With a triumphant cheer, Danny whooped out to his teacher. “You’ve done well kid. Now remember, to close it stick the butt of your weapon into the centre of the portal and give a small pulse of energy.” Morty said with a bright grin. “And I’ll see you next week.”

 With that, the Reaper ghost gave Danny a salute before opening a portal of his own and taking off to wherever it was he went when not on duty.

 Danny on the other hand eagerly flew through the portal, dispelled that, banished his scythe and B lined into bed practically collapsing onto the plush surface with a tired and sore groan. It didn’t take him long after that to fall asleep.  

 -.-.-.-

 It was dinner time when Danny woke up, or rather Jazz had brought up some leftovers to him after telling his parents that he was sick… Still, it was an easy win for him to sleep the day away and he’ll take any chance he can get for that.

 Jazz was easy to dissuade from pressuring him too much after he simply said ‘ghost problems’ she dropped it begrudgingly, and he was able to shoo her out of his room to eat his meal in relative peace.

 Or at least half of it since his ghost sense went off not too long into his meal.

 With an angered groan and a forlorn look to the mac and cheese loaf he had been enjoying, he transformed and headed out to knock some annoying ghost sideways… and for once he was almost hoping it would just be the box ghost.

 When a missile came flying towards him a few seconds later he knew that hope was dashed. Even more so when Skulker moved in himself to try to toss a weighted net at him.

 With a quick blast of his plasma the net was no more but the missile he’d dodged before rounded back on him, slamming into his back and launching him down to the ground.

 He pulled himself up with a groan and a small huff of annoyance escaped him when he saw an almost identical him shaped hole right beside the one he’d just pulled himself out from. “Well at least I’m consistent…” he muttered in annoyance, before launching back up towards Skulker.

 “I have you this time whelp!” The robotic hunter called out aiming a blast towards his prey.

 Danny threw up a shield before grinning to himself and summoning his new weapon. “I got something new for my death day and I wanna try it out!” Danny called. “Hope it gives me a new edge.” he offered quickly, swinging the blade around, doing his best to look cool, before pointing the business end of his scythe at Skulker.

 The self proclaimed Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter paused upon seeing the weapon. “That can not be real,” he scoffed out though the worry in his tone was clear as a crystal bell.

 “Like my new toy Skulky? I got myself a new upgrade!” Danny proclaimed channelling a bit of power to solidify the wispy blade into a solid and keen blade. With one two handed strike the thing struck true and sliced Skulker’s hand clean off as if it were butter.

 Skulker would be sweating if he were capable… as it were he could only stare at the halfa in dread and slight awe. “It’s real, isn’t it…” he gulped.

 “Very.” Came Danny’s amused reply as he decided to try something. Focusing hard on the area in the ghost zone just outside Walker’s prison Danny turned and stuck the air right beside Skulker. To the teen’s absolute delight a portal appeared in all it’s spinning glory. “It worked!” He chirped before kicking at Skulker to toss him through it.

 The bewildered robotic ghost hardly stood a chance and sailed through the portal with a yelp of dismay. To think the prey he’d been hunting all this time was a reaper!? It made him all the more valuable… Skulker reoriented himself before trying to zip back the way he’d come only for the portal to suddenly vanish leaving him stranded on this side.

 Danny meanwhile, was elated. This was going to make his job of protecting Amity a whole lot simpler. He wouldn’t need to worry if he forgot his thermos ever again! It was a good feeling. He swirled his scythe around like the leader of a marching band with far too much flare, simply enjoying how natural the weapon felt to him.

 His exceptional high feeling was cut short however when Valerie’s voice hit his ears. “What… What was that?”

 Danny squawked, he didn’t even hear her coming up behind him! He clutched the scythe to his chest, the blade’s wispy form flickering along with his ghostly tail and aura. “What?” Danny blinked stupidly.

 Ever since Danielle Danny had shared a shaky alliance with the huntress, though it was more of a stay out of my way and I won’t shoot directly at you, sort of thing. Still, any sort of relief from attacks, he’ll take.

 “That scythe… it’s new.” Valerie commented suspiciously.

 “Oh, Yeah! I’m three now so I got a cool toy! Apparently, I’m a reaper ghost. Neat huh?” Danny grinned doing his best to keep up his playful hero persona.  He spun his weapon around a few times before vanishing the thing and taking a bow.

 “A reaper?” Valerie asked carefully, floating a little bit further back from the male now.

 “Yep!” Danny exclaimed popping the P and straightening back up to properly face Valerie. “Oh! But I’m a reaper for ghosts, not one for humans,” Phantom added placatingly, hands up in a hopefully soothing manner. “You can still touch me it’s fine!” he added barely making out the frown behind the face shield the huntress wore.

 Valerie grimaced further at that. “I’d really rather not.”

 “No seriously, it’s fine. Come here! Let’s hug it out!” Danny called arms open wide and a shit eating grin in place.

 Valerie called out a curse to him and fired a volley of blasts forcing the halfa to dodge and fly back. “Try that again and I’ll put a hole through your head.” she hissed.

 Danny’s grin never faltered and instead simply used his bodily manipulation powers to do just that. While Valerie shuddered Danny tried again for the hug arms wide.

 “Ugh, you're impossible.” She grumbled, firing a blast with pinpoint accuracy through the hole he’d made in his face.

 “Come on Val~ That’s not nice.” Danny teased smiling brightly, only to yelp and zip off when she brought out her thermos threateningly.

 The citizens of Amity park that night were witness to an hour’s long game of cat and mouse, as the Red Huntress chased the elusive Phantom about. Though if asked about it later Phantom would insist it was all in good fun. Even if the burn on his backside begged to argue otherwise…

 And as Phantom learned more and more from the reaper ghosts, he became a better and more efficient hero to the people of Amity.

 The approval ratings going up felt nice too.

 -.-.-.-.-

 Complete:

 Total word count: 4291

[thatoneweeb02]

‼️possibly triggering/disturbing stuff about gore and horror for Twst‼️

I don’t know where I read about this or who wrote it before but I read a post that mentioned what if Twst was actually horror themed like Riddle would really cut off people’s heads and Crowley would vibe with it and crunch on people like a KitKat but now I wanna draw some of that and include Yumeiko in it since I make jokes about her being crazy all the time but would switch between a wholesome bean with killers that could potentially share one brain cell *cough cough* grim, ace and deuce *cough* for a reverse card and Yumeiko is also a crazy killer and also munches on people like because it’s a family dinner that’s the peak of her craziness, and to add my own spice in it savanaclaw eats it’s memebers via legit hunting or a sacrificial way, so be prepared for the gore (if I remember to do it)

[lailaliquorice]

drops of jupiter in her hair

you can thank the lovely anon who sent in this prompt for this angst fest, which was  “I might never get a chance to say this.”

and we have more beheaded cousins! I love these two so much and really need to write them together more. in my last fic with them I had anne looking after kat but this time we’re flipping the script and multiplying it by a lot because this is a lot, and I’ll apologise in advance to the sixcord who have had this dangled over their heads for a good few days now. love you guys!

there’s no tw on this other than mild blood bc as much as it doesn’t look like it for a while, there is actually a happy ending. i’m not that mean <3

A clear winter’s day after a week of non-stop rain had given Jane the excuse to force a very cabin-fevery Anne and Kat outside for the first time in several days, and they hadn’t just used their freedom to go into central London as per usual. Kat’s complaint that everything was so much more crowded and built up than how they remembered it from their old lives caused Anne to skid to a halt where she was heading towards their usual train line in the underground station, before abruptly changing directions and dragging Kat with her without giving an explanation.

And that was how Kat found herself getting off a train to be faced with a forest so beautiful it was worthy of being pictured on a Christmas card.

“Come on!” yelled Anne, zipping her coat and charging towards the platform exit.

Kat was left just running after her with her laughter leaving clouds of steam in the air, all but shoving her ticket into the barrier to let herself out of the station before they were running down a path through the fields and towards the forest. The pompoms on Anne’s woolly hat bounced just like her usual space buns did as she ran, bringing a smile to Kat’s face even though her cold ears made her wish she’d brought a hat for herself.

They skidded to a standstill once they reached the end of the forest, both panting to get their breath back as the chilled air made Kat’s lungs ache. “It looks bigger up close,” she commented once she could form words again, glancing upwards with a slightly nervous frown at the trees towering over them.

“We won’t go in far, I just thought it’d be nice to get away from the city a bit,” Anne reassured her with a grin that Kat couldn’t help but trust. “It’s not even like we’ve gone that far from home, Jane could be here in half an hour in the car but obvs that isn’t an option for me just yet.”

Kat gave an exaggerated hum as she grinned in an attempt to stifle her laughter; the fifth time failing her driving test had actually been due to driving too slowly in a desperate bid to pass and the fit she’d thrown upon returning home had practically shaken the walls.

Anne glanced up from the floor before Kat had a chance to rearrange her expression. “Shut up Kitkat,” she retorted playfully.

“I didn’t say anything!” Kat squeaked.

“Your face did! Ugh enough of this, come on!”

Their laughter echoed around the silent trees as they stepped foot into the forest at last, Kat trusting Anne to lead the way as she followed on slightly behind. The slight frost the night before meant that the leaves still crunched beneath her feet despite autumn being long gone, making everything feel a little eerie once their voices fell quiet to better take in the scenery.

Kat lasted five minutes before her own footsteps started to sound too much like someone was following them, and after putting on a short burst of speed to catch up with Anne she burst out “Can we keep talking please?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah, it was getting a bit spooky,” Anne said with an easy smile that Kat returned a little more nervously. She glanced around as if looking for something, then took off suddenly with a shout of “I’ll race you to that tree stump!”

Despite knowing that Anne would win Kat still ran after her; she loved spending time with her cousin since it let her be the rebellious child that she’d never been able to be back in her old life. That neither of them had really. While Jane mothering her meant that Kat felt more like a child with her too, there was something about Anne dragging her into trouble like an older cousin-turned-sister was meant to that she loved more than she could say.

Anne was grinning triumphantly as she turned to face Kat after hopping up onto the stump on the edge of a steep incline, pulling a superhero pose when Kat took her phone out for a photo. “I can see everywhere from up here,” she said, shielding her eyes from the winter sun with one hand as she looked out over the trees and the lake far below them. “I think that might be the city out there in the distance, lemme-“

She broke off with a scream as the rotted wood beneath her feet gave way and sent her plummeting off the cliff, tumbling head over heels and barely missing several trees before she fell into the lake with an enormous splash.

Kat shrieked Anne’s name as she scrabbled down the cliff after her, being as careful as she could manage while wanting to just sprint after her regardless of her own safety. Anne was heaving herself onto the bank by the time Kat made it down to her, her hat gone and her hair dripping with water, and when she looked up at Kat she could see the scratches on her face from her uncontrollable roll down the hill. “Well that was fucking cold,” she said, any bite in her words ruined by how her teeth were chattering as she shivered.  

She attempted to smile at the sarcasm, but she could hardly manage it with the worry that was making her heart race. “Are you ok?” Kat asked, eyes wide as she took in Anne’s sodden clothes and the smears of blood on her face and hands.

“Yeah, ‘m not hurt. Just damp,” Anne muttered, shrugging as she gave Kat a grim look. It fell into a crestfallen frown as she touched her hair and realised her hat was missing, but one glance at it floating across the lake was enough for her to decide it wasn’t worth wading back in again. “And bloody freezing too,” she added, “we’re going home right now before I die of cold out here.”

Kat nodded firmly, but her voice died in her throat from where she’d been about to agree when she looked behind her and realised she had no idea where they were. She could just about see the stump that Anne had fallen off of if she craned her neck upwards but there was no way they could climb all the way back up the cliff. The plan of just retracing their steps back to the train station was impossible now that they were stuck on a path they didn’t recognise with no idea how to get home.

A quiet “Ah, fuck,” from Anne made Kat whip her head around to see her tipping water out of the headphone port of her phone. “Don’t think this’ll be working anytime soon,” she tried to joke, but the seriousness of the situation was reflected in her solemn expression.

“We can use mine to get us out,” Kat said, though the glimmer of hope she felt was dimmed as soon as she pulled out her phone to see that she’d lost service.

“No signal?” Anne asked, clearly guessing from the defeated look on Kat’s face.

Kat shook her head.

Shivering violently, Anne pushed a strand of sodden hair away from her eyes as she said “Then I guess we’re gonna have to try and walk our way out of here.”

~~~

Anne didn’t know how long they’d been walking for. All Kat’s phone was good for was checking the time but very quickly she decided she didn’t want to know, preferring to just keep putting one foot in front of the other with no indication of time passing then be reminded of how long they’d been lost. Her hair was still dripping water down her face, sluggishly blinking droplets from her eyelashes, and her coat was so wet that she was considering taking it off and seeing if that made her any less cold.

But then she glanced down at the red skin on her hands and decided against it. If she kept her coat on then Kat would be less likely to see, and Anne couldn’t bear the thought of Kat worrying about her on top of everything else.

“I’m sure I haven’t seen that tree before,” Kat said from where she was up in front this time round, pointing to an oddly shaped tree that Anne would have probably been racing to climb on any other day. Her voice grew with confidence by the word as she continued her commentary with “That means we’re not going in circles, that’s a good thing, and even if we come out of the forest on the wrong side we’ll still be out. Do you think I’ll get phone signal back once we’re away from the trees?”

Anne gave a confused hum as she tried to take in Kat’s words. While she could recognise that they should have been making sense, she just couldn’t focus her mind long enough to comprehend what she was saying and what she was supposed to reply.

After several seconds of silence, Kat turned around to face her with a confused look that immediately turned into downright worry. “Annie?” she said in a scared tone.

“Mhm?”

“Your lips have gone blue.”

She lifted a shaking hand to touch her face, vaguely concerned in the back of her mind when she couldn’t feel the contact on either her cheek or her fingertip. “Oh,” Anne breathed out quietly.

They stared blankly at each other for a moment, unspoken fear hanging heavy in the air, before Kat hurried forwards to grab Anne’s freezing hand. “Come on, we have to get home,” she said, the former confidence in her voice still there but marred by a noticeable tremble.

Anne nodded, but when she tried to walk on as Kat tugged at her hand she felt her foot slip and she fell awkwardly to the floor. “’m sorry,” she slurred, trying to push herself back to her feet though not even Kat helping by pulling her arm could get her to stand again.

“Anne? Annie!” Kat cried out, her panicked voice sounding miles away to Anne’s confused mind.

She tried again to stand up but her limbs refused to cooperate, forcing her to admit defeat and settle with just propping herself up with her arm as she stayed sprawled on the floor. “I can’t, ‘m sorry,” Anne repeated as she looked up miserably at Kat, wrapping her other arm around her waist in a feeble attempt to protect what little body heat she still possessed. Her voice quietened to a mumble as she added “I’m so cold.”

Kat stared down at her for a moment with an unreadable expression on her face, before she fumbled to take off her coat. “Put this on instead,” she insisted, ignoring Anne’s protests to unzip her wet coat herself since Anne would never be able to grasp the zip herself with her frozen fingers.

Since her clothes underneath were soaked through too it didn’t make her feel any warmer, but it was nice to have the cold weight of her sodden coat off her shoulders. “Thanks,” she whispered, too drained to even speak properly at that point.

When Kat sat down beside her Anne let her head fall onto Kat’s shoulder, the hand bracing herself against the ground slipping through the leaf litter as her energy was used up. That was until she realised she was starting to fall asleep, and a jolt of pure fear through her chest gave her the boost she needed to sit upright and look Kat in the eye. “I might never get a chance to say this,” she started through gritted teeth, struggling to make her tongue form the right words.

“Don’t be dramatic,” Kat whispered, before she realised like a blow to the head that perhaps Anne wasn’t.

Anne gave her head a tiny shake when Kat interrupted, and the sight of tears rolling down her ghostly pale face was enough for her to fall silent. “I love you,” she said, moving with effort to place an ice-cold hand on Kat’s cheek. “You’re the best little sister I’ve ever had.”

Kat covered Anne’s hand with her own as she started to cry too. “I love you and you’re not dying here,” she insisted, choking out a forceful “No!” when Anne just shrugged. “Come on, you can survive anything. You’re Anne Boleyn, you always make it.”

The ribbon choker around Anne’s neck choosing that exact moment to come undone under its own damp weight and reveal her scar quickly proved that statement wrong.

“S’alright,” Anne breathed out, her head nodding forwards again as her short-lived strength deserted her. A delirious smile flitted across her face as she added “We ‘ad fun.”

“Annie, stop it,” Kat sobbed, grabbing her shoulders as she threatened to fall forwards.

Anne shook her head, just about finding the motivation to look up at her cousin as Kat’s distress pierced through the bubble of lucidity that had prevented her from panicking until then. “Don’t want to die again Kitkat,” she whimpered. She’d stopped shivering by then, which would have been a pleasant feeling if it weren’t for the voice at the back of her head quietly insisting that wasn’t a good thing.

Her head lolled to the side as Kat prodded her neck with two fingers to check her pulse, and from the way her eyes darkened Anne could tell that the result wasn’t good. “Just hold on, alright?” she begged, “I’m gonna get you help, I’m not letting you die here. Not again.”

Those confident words turning into a terrified scream was the last thing Anne heard as a black wave crashed over her vision and she collapsed to the floor.

~~~

Beep.

Beep.

The first thing she became aware of was the fact that she was warm. Blissfully, beautifully warm, compared to the numb coldness that she’d last known. But her contentedness at that lasted barely a few seconds before it made her panic, the question of ‘Am I in Heaven?’ screaming at the forefront of her mind.

She tried to sit up, eyes flying open, but almost immediately there was a firm hand on her chest pushing her back down.

“Careful, Anne. You’re ok, you’re in hospital and we’re all here. Just go easy for a minute.”

Anne focused her eyes at the familiar voice, looking up into the worried smile of Catherine of Aragon. “I’m ok?” she asked in a fragile voice, not quite ready to believe it yet.

“You’re ok,” Aragon repeated, unable to contain a relieved sigh at the sound of Anne’s voice after hours of waiting and worry.

She could have cried with happiness as she fell back into the hospital bed which felt like the most comfortable place on Earth, but instead she just found Aragon’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“You gave us quite the scare though,” said Cathy as she sat down on the bed in Anne’s eyeline, Anna pulling up her chair so she was close enough to grip onto Anne’s hand with a tight smile on her face. “Everyone was so worried and the doctors said it would be touch and go for a while. But your body temperature has returned to normal and there’s no sign of frostbite, so in a couple of hours you’ll be absolutely fine.”

Anne gave a tired but happy groan at the news, fully relaxing back into her pillow and closing her eyes. But then a horrible thought occurred to her as she replayed the last moments before she’d passed out, crying out a horrified “Where’s Kat?!”

The other three just exchanged a glance. The heart machine beeped a panicky rhythm as Anne’s heartrate soared, shouting again “Well? What happened to her, is she ok?”

“Shh, love, or you’ll wake her up!”

At the sound of Jane’s reassuring tone, Anne let Anna help her to sit up and look properly around the hospital room. Jane was sat in an armchair against the wall, and curled up in her lap was the very person Anne had been looking for. Kat was fast asleep and clearly dead to the world if she hadn’t been woken by Anne’s shout, completely wiped out by the events of the day.

“You can thank her that the pair of you made it out of there ok,” Jane said, and Anne watched her through wide eyes as she continued. “After you passed out she left you covered up in the forest and managed to run far enough to get phone signal to call an ambulance. She led the ambulance crew back through the forest to find and rescue you.”

Aragon nodded along to Jane’s account. “Then she called us and we met the pair of you here. She saved your life, Anne.”

She didn’t realise she’d started crying again until she felt tears dripping onto the hand in her lap. Words failed her as she met Jane’s eyes again, looking down at Kat in her lap and just holding out her arms in a voiceless plea.

Thankfully Jane seemed know what she meant, smiling knowingly as she nodded for Anna to carefully take the sleeping Kat from her arms. Anne shifted a little on her bed to make room for Anna to lay her down beside her, just as Kat sleepily blinked open one eye and murmured “Annie?”

“It’s me, Kat. I’m alive,” Anne choked out as she grinned tearfully.

Kat’s eye closed again as tiredness fought to claim her again but she still gave a beaming smile, wrapping her arms around Anne’s torso and resting her head over her heart.

“Go back to sleep, both of you,” Aragon murmured, smoothing Anne’s hair away from her face and wiping her tears with a gentle thumb. “We’ll all be here when you wake up.”

Anne continued to cry silently as she held her close. Exhaustion pulled at her own limbs as she sunk back into the bed, but the lingering fear of how close a call she’d just had kept her arms tight around her cousin and saviour as she gave herself back into sleep.