#he once puts a call on speaker and literally they are so lost on the conversation

[little-pondhead]

Danny's Evil Jaunt. Its Evil He Swears. Ignore the Charity. pt. 2

Hello! Im back with Part 2 Im honored that so many people were interested <3 HOPEFULLY THE COLOR STAYS RIGHT IM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT I DON'T POST ON TUMBLR OFTEN. also i have almost 0 history about Dc so if anyone wants to ramble about the charaters in the tags please do

Danny's outfit was based on @little-pondhead 's art and prompt was by @im-totally-not-an-alien-2

part: 1

AO3

Oliver Queen had thought he’d seen it all; however this Fenton guy just seems to be full of fun little gadgets. And puns. So many puns.

No one knows anything about the guy other than he’s a mechanical genius. Just magically appeared out of the blue one day with inventions that make Dr. Freeze’s gun look like a toy, claiming that ‘he’s not gonna be here long today but needs to do some field testing.’

And now here's Oliver listening to this kid(it had to be a kid, Fenton didn’t look a day over 14) ramble about how much fun he had today and that he had to come back soon(not looking forward to that). Green Arrow took a good look at the kid. 

He was short, maybe around 5’4 without the boots, and didn’t have much bulk, but clearly had a lot of lean muscle from what Oliver could tell from the fight, and black shaggy undercut hair. He wore a red hazmat suit with black gloves and red with black tinted lenses goggles. All covered with a lab coat that is definitely not OSHA compliant for mad scientist children, not with the way it was singed at the bottom and the sleeves had been torn off at the elbow, and the amount of sewn on patches - the biggest being the Fenton logo on his back. He was also lugging around a massive cannon that had Oliver bound to a lamp post with a glowing green net, but nets weren’t the only thing it could shoot, no it shot out so many things within the half hour they had been fighting that Oliver lost count. The kid also had some weird meta biology if the sharp teeth and pointed ears were anything to go on. But Oliver’s thoughts were cut off by a phone ringing. Fenton looked down and started feeling around his suit until he found his phone, a small Iphone with odd attachments with a green ghost case covered with stickers, stopped the alarm and moved his goggles up to rest on his head wincing as the rising sun shined in his eyes.

“Hoo bright. Alright that's it for today I guess! Thanks for playing with me Mr. Arrow, I think I'm gonna pick up some energy drinks and  a couple of snacks before heading home, I still need to write an English paper for Mr. Lancer and Jazz’ll finish me off if I don’t get home soon” Fenton grinned and started to punch in directions for the nearest convenience store on his phone. It was just around the corner from the street they had left the fight off on, nice. 

‘Maybe I should grab some for Sam and Tuck’ Danny thought, ‘Oh wait I forgot!’ just as he was about to turn into the store he rushed back to where he left Green Arrow, who was trying to saw his way out of the Fentnet with his knife. 

“Sorry! I wanted to do something before I left!” Fenton smiled and put his wiry arm around Oliver in a side hug and pulled out his phone and did a peace sign with the hand around Oliver. “Say Frootloops!”

Fenton pulled off Oliver and showed him the picture, Fenton had a Cheshire cat grin while he had a miserable expression. 

“Ooph, probably not your best look but I think we look cool. And really, that’s all that matters at the end of the day. How I think we look.” 

“You're a menace, what do you want?” 

“You don’t know? I’m god’s playtester and I’m here for bug testing before the rest of the world sees my inventions. Consider Star City my testing sandbox. Anyway see’ya!” and Fenton was gone down the street. 

And that was the day Oliver Queen knew that he needed to make sure that the world outside of Star City could never be exposed to Fenton. Especially the bat. If anyone found out his ego would never recover.

---------------------------------------------------

if you want to be added to the tag list please put it in the comments! it's easier to see there!

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[yukieya]

PING PONG!

you got a new message!

MINORS DNI

summary : he was doing the deed with you until his /your phone starts ringing.. what will he do?

pairing : luca kaneshiro x fem! reader / shu yamino x fem! reader

TW : literal smut 🧍‍♀️ praising , degrading , established relationship, overstimulation, HAIR PULLING , public sex n humiliation ( me thinks ) , JEALOUS! SHU , edging ?!-!1&1’qk, mentions of breed, mirror sex

SHU YAMINO

you both arrived home from a party, you were pretty drunk while shu was still sober since he didn’t want to pass out at the bar and you were touching him all over once he locked the front door.

shu didn’t know how to react except let you do it until you’re satisfied which you did not stop. He told you to stop countless of times but you didn’t bother budging.

and that’s how you end up with your hands on his desk while he pounds you senseless from behind, your back arching for him and his fingers resting on your spine. The perfect view for your handsome sorcerer.

“ s-shu!~ ah!– oh! shu.. so much.. “ you whined, tears threatening to fall while you hold onto the desk for dear life. Shu smirked at your reaction and pleads, leaning his chest down onto your back.

“ stop squirming, m’kay? it’ll be over soon. “ he whispered next to your ear, biting onto it as he continues pounding into your hole without mercy. You continue to moan and whine, desperately trying to release and get this over with.

shu would whisper sweet nothings to you and praising you, “ what a good girl you are, mmh? “ he’d chuckle softly as if he’s not wrecking your hole for hours.

he was so close.. so close he can finally releas– Your phone started to ring. Shu stopped his movements for a moment which you whined at the lost sensation , eyeing on the object that interrupted your session as he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“ hold on– sorry, i think that’s your phon– oh it’s your friend. “ he said in a dark tone, furrowing his eyebrows in annoyance until an idea came into his mind, smirking at you.

“ forgive me for this. “ he gave you an apologetic smile which quickly changed to his shit grinning fac— to your dismay, he answered the phone and put it on speaker.

you were about to snatch the phone away from him until he gave you sharp thrust, resulting you to yelp in surprise. “ s-shu..!- “ you yelled at him in a hushed tone, he’d look at you and putting his pointer finger in front of his mouth giving you a signal to be quiet.

before you could protest, he continued his sharp thrusting but not loud enough for your friend in the call to hear.. “ mhm? yeah, y/n is not here at the moment.. she’s busy with.. something. “ his smirk would get wider when you covered your mouth and letting out muffled moans and whimpers to keep yourself quiet.

he would send you a sharp thrust when you least expected it while he’s talking to your friend in the call, “ ah– sorry, i had to stretch a little bit. “ he said while pounding you senselessly from behind, he was so slow with it and you were about to whine for more.

he’d lean onto your back again, his mouth near your earlobe, “ you’re doing great, babe.. i promise i’ll give you what you need after this.. “ your body would shiver at his words and his breath on your ear.

“ or do you want them to hear how good you are for me, hm? “

you can feel his smirk growing wider next to your ear, you muffled a whine when he slowed down his pace “ ‘m sorry.. p-please– please fuck me.. please!- “ you whined, forgetting the fact your friend can hear you.

“ good girl. “

he fastened up his pace, you ended up letting out your shameless moans. Shu would smile at you, finally breaking and submitting to him.

of course he did not forget he’s in a call with your friend, “ sorry– i think we need to end it here, she’ll call you later.. or not. “ he’d end the call, tossing your phone on the bed as he continued abusing your hole while changing the positions, putting your legs over his shoulders to plow his length deeper in you and of course, giving your body the support it needed. He’s not that greedy.

you were letting out incoherent words of how good he’s making you feel but with the words you’re mumbling out he could barely understood it but also figured out what he had done.

he fucking knew he fucked you stupid.

“ can you see how much i love you..? how much i love breaking you to the point all you can think about is me filling you up to the brim? “ he’d whisper next to your ear, biting onto your earlobe.

he finally filled your hole up to the brim as he continues giving you one final push, shoving his length deep into you so his cum can stay inside of you even after he pulled out.

as in on queue you finally climaxed on his cock to which he groaned in pleasure, he finally pulls out and stares at his work with your legs barely alive and shaking.

as if a switch flipped, “ sorry babe.. you good? do you need anything– “ his sentence was cut off when he felt your lips on his, his body relaxed and returned the kiss sweetly.

“ i’m fine– you did so good.. “ you reassured him, patting his cheek to which he smiled softly at you.

“ eeh? you guys didn’t tell me you were having a fucking session..~ could’ve let me join too, hmph. “ Hikarino teased, his head peeking in from the door as shu could feel his body heating up in embarassment.

“ hika! get out! “ Shu exclaimed, pushing his brother out of the room. He gave you an apologetic smile, picking you up in bridal style and heading towards to your shared bathroom.

“ let me clean you up then, hm?.. and maybe have some fun. “

LUCA KANESHIRO

teasing luca during stream was a huge mistake.

luca would keep a tight grip on the mouse while talking to his chat, trying to keep his voice down and let out a quiet groan.

“ was that a groan?.. no!– chat, what are you talking about?– “ he’d reassure his fans as he glared down at you to keep quiet, gripping onto your hair as you slowly start to pump him with your hand.

you’d continue pumping him, giving his cock kitty licks and stopping once in a while to work him up. Whenever you do, he would quietly whine out of frustrations while his voice breaks whenever he talks.

it gets to the point he couldn’t even form a simple sentence without groaning every now and then, he decided to end his stream and bidding his chat goodbye tending to some personal matters.

he’d look down, gripping onto your hair tightly when he finally felt you capture his cock into your mouth as his face scrunch in pleasure.

“ f-fuck.. i’m gonna get you back for this.. “

you felt your body shiver in excitement as you continue to tease him by edging him from time to time.

you would continue edging him for hours until a switch flipped inside of him, he gripped onto your hair and shoved your mouth into his cock causing you to gag on it.

“ fucking take it, do your fucking work. “ his tone was dark, pulling your hair to make you take more of his cock in your mouth.

you could feel his hips starting to roughly into your mouth, every time he did you would let out moans that sent vibrations to his cock – making him moan in pleasure.

it felt like hours with you sucking his cock, until you felt his fingers took a good portion of your hair and suddenly shove your mouth into his length.

“ fucking take it. “

he groaned out, his cock throbbing inside your mouth and filling your throat with his cum – your eyes widened at the sensation as he pulls your hair back, staring into your eyes.

“ you look so pretty like this.. “

his view was you in a kneeling position, mouth open which is filled of his juices and cum — satisfied with the sight.

“ swallow it all. “

you didn’t even hesitate, you swallowed all of his cum down to your throat. His smile got wider as you obliged.

“ good girl. “

you were breathing heavily, trying to compose yourself as you felt an arm around your waist – dragging you to the bed, pushing you on it with your back on the mattress.

“ l-luca?– w-wait..– “ your sentence was cut off with his lips on yours, kissing you roughly as he removed his top revealing his tattoos and scars.

and that’s how you got yourself in a mating press position with your boyfriend railing into your hole, roughly as if he’s trying to breed you and fill you up with his kids.

“ this is what you wanted , mhm? fucking slut. “ he’d groan as he changed the position with you on all fours, taking his cock out and sharply thrusting it into your hole making you yelp in pleasure.

“ l-luca– ‘m sorry.. ah! ‘m sorr— haah! “ you whined out, the rough sensation making your vision blurry and your eyes rolling back when he kept hitting your g-spot.

“ sorry won’t cut it baby.. look how good you are.. nh.. taking my cock so well.. “ he’d chuckle, changing positions every single time to hit that g-spot of yours.

“ you’re so fucked out.. you’re drooling all over.. “ he teased, placing his hand on your stomach to feel himself on it until..

his phone started ringing, not bothering to stop his movements and just answered it as if he’s not railing you shamelessly.

“ i’m kind of busy right now, what do you want? “ his tone changed to the person on the call, wrapping his arms around your waist and plowing his length deep inside of you.

he continues to rail you from behind, he’d get an idea as he changed the positions again – making you stand up, facing you in front of the mirror and cupping your face.

“ look how dirty you are.. such a little whore for me mmh? “ he’d whisper next to your ear, pulling away to talk to his men and fastening up his pace which made the situation a lot worst.

it’s been hours since he’s been fucking you non stop, you having to look at yourself in the mirror and he did not stop talking to his men on the phone.

he gave you his seed like.. two , three.. you lost count how many times he came inside of you. “l-luca.. ‘m tired.. “ you’d whine out, he’d ignore the protests of the people in the call as he tosses his phone away to give his attention to you.

“ ‘m sorry baby..– let me help you. “ as you thought he would stop his movements, he started moving in animalistic speed as you moan out loud – trying to cover your moans which you received a smack on the ass.

you’d yelp as luca cups your face, making you face the mirror again to see your shameful form “ let them hear you, look how shameless you look..~ “ he’d smirk, putting you in a mating press position again.

“ look in the mirror, let them hear you while I fill you up with my kids mhm? “ he’d continue abusing your hole as your mind starts to get fuzzy – looking at yourself in the mirror, seeing how much your face changes whenever he hits the right spot.

“ l-luca.. feels sho good..– more,, pleaash.. “ you mumbled out, your mind getting clouded and all you can think about is him and only him. “ i love it pleash.. f-fuck!– “ you whined when he thrusted deeper into you, feeling your climax building up.

“ that’s it, say it more.. let my men hear you.. let them know who’s fucking you good. “ he’d groan when he felt you tighten up around his cock – “ you’re the perfect fleshlight, just for me. “

the way his cock slides in and out so roughly, making you sharply gasp whenever he starts rubbing your clit every now and then. “ s-stop teasing me.. i caan’t.. “ you whined as your walls squeezed around him, putting your legs around him letting his length get deeper inside of you.

with one hand gripping your hip firmly, he used the other to stimulate your sensitive clit, adding an extra layer of stimulation to your already heightened sensations that made you moan louder.

“ l-luca!~ haah!– i’m gonna– please!~ “ you moaned out, holding onto him for release – he’s enjoying the way you’re squirming under him especially when he sees your face changing in the mirror.

as your moans grew louder, luca could sense that you were on the brink of release. The sound of your pleasure mixed with the ongoing phone call, creating an unruly symphony of desire.

he watched, the intensity in his eyes matching the intensity of the moment, as your body trembled with the force of your orgasm. He didn't let up, continuing to thrust and stimulate you, prolonging your pleasure as he relished in his control over your pleasure.

“ that’s it.. take it for me , okay?.. “ he’d groan with a final thrust, he reached his own climax as you twitch in pleasure under him.

luca pants heavily, trying to compose himself and staring at your twitching body with drool near your mouth.

luca sighed, pulling out and taking his phone which was still unmuted. “ i’ll explain whatever we need to discuss tomorrow, i have a girlfriend to take care of. “ he said, ending the call – looking back at you, you were still twitching as an idea came into his mind.

he’d click the camera button, revealing a picture of you to keep it for.. business. He’d pat your cheek a few times, “ y/n? let me help you for now okay? ‘m sorry for going too rough. “ he gave you a soft smile as you weakly nod, can’t form a sentence due to how you lost your voice from moaning and whining all the time.

“ mmh.. i love you.. “ you’d mumble out when he picked you up from the floor as he giggled, kissing all over your face.

“ Love you too. “

05.07.23 — YOOO!! sorry if luca’s part is bad , it was very ruusheddd 🥹🥹 i hope y’all enjoy this though i absolutely love this summary a lot hehe(actuallyfirsttimewritingsmutsoososidkwhatimdoing)

idk if i’ll do the rest though , still sad abt nina’s graduation whwuehdjf 😭😭 but we’ll see i dont have any motivation or ideas for them atm

👟 scenario : 864 words ( wish i can make it longer tho.. or reach 1k but no ideas came into my mind dam )

🦁 scenario : 1.4k words 🧍‍♀️

i love this duo

[moonieloves]

nico the italian speaker

so i was talking to a friend about whether nico speaks italian or not and these are the conclusions we reached.

would have nico spoken italian when he first got to the us? yes, of course he would have. i feel like maria di angelo would have put a lot of weight into carrying on with traditions, and all that stuff. up until this point, italian is all nico ever knew. somebody might argue about him speaking venetian dialect, which i think is highly likely, but the point is sometimes the language in which lullabies were sung to us sticks. once you call the person that gave birth to you 'mamma' the first time, you don't really change it up.

did bianca speak italian? obviously. i also think that she would have been taken by the american dream quicker than her other family members, and she would have been the one to speak english with nico the most.

the lotus casino must have been were nico really learnt english, i reckon. before that, there always was someone to talk to in italian if he felt too lazy to express his feeling in this other, strange-sounding idom. now, though, there's no one else, and bianca sometimes slips up but she mostly sticks to english. the occasional italian word sometimes comes up in conversation when they can't remember what the correspective in english is, but that's about it. bianca wants them to adapt, and adapt nico does.

by the time they get to westover, nico has mostly forgotten how to speak italian, even though he still understands pretty much everything. even when bianca talks to him in italian, he answers in english. maybe he lost the ability to speak italian too quickly for it to be normal, but he's like ten, and not aware at all that he spent the last eighty years practicing his english with strangers in front of vintage video games. he really doesn't care, he just knows that this new sparkly world that is revealing itself in front of him speaks english in a nonchalant, given-for-granted way, and so he tries to do the same.

bianca was literally the only other person that even knows he supposedly speaks a whole other language. when she dies, everything wipes itself out. it hurts too much to remember how her voice sounded a bit deeper in italian than it did in english, and so he forgets it all together, along with his own ability to understand italian. the memory stays, but now that her words don't make sense in his head anymore, not really, he doesn't have to feel pain pulse inside his ribs that badly.

oh, it still frustrates him sometimes. sometimes, he won't remember how to name a certain object in italian, nor in english, and he is left to angrily sputter around. sometimes he can't wrap his mouth around the pronunciation of a certain word, because he just learned to do things another way even if he doesn't really remember. his english vocabulary could really use some improving, and his italian vanishes a bit more every day. but by the time hoo happens, i'd say, most of his accent has washed out, and he sounds properly american now. for the most part. he still dreams in italian sometimes, even if he doesn't understand half of it, and maria di angelo will always be 'mamma' in his head.

[hr-twink]

"Hello?"

The person on the other end of the call tried to get her attention.

"Ms. Guy are you there?"

Louisa came back to herself and tightened her grip on the phone she held to her ear.

"Yeah, sorry could you repeat that?"

"Um, Yes." The lady on the phone said. "As I said, you are listed as the emergency contact for one River Cartwright. We regret to inform you that he is deceased."

Louisa couldn't wrap her head around this.

"I don't understand–"

"Thats quite normal, Ms. Guy. You are entitled to counseling through our health program–"

Louisa cut her off.

"No– I don't understand how he can be dead if he is literally in the same room as me right now."

Hearing that he was included on this phone call, River perked up at his desk. He shot Louisa a look that was as confused as she felt.

The voice on the phone crackled as Louisa put it on speaker. "Pardon?"

"River Cartwright is in the office with me right now. Not dead."

The phone was silent except for the sound of rapid typing on the other end. Louisa looked at River who had scooted over to her desk in his office chair. The woman came back,

"Um. Are you sure?" Her voice was at least an octave higher as the realization that this was a mistake dawned on her.

Louisa turned the phone to River who leaned closer.

"Yeah Hi, this is River. I'm very much not dead right now."

More frantic typing, this time with some worried muttering.

"Uh, hello Mr. Cartwright. Sorry I am just trying to figure out how this could have happened. Could you provide me some of your details for me to verify?"

Louisa handed off her phone to River who rattled off his service ID number and some personal data. Louisa rubbed a hand over her face at how ridiculous the situation was. She got lost in thought for a moment, thinking about the last time she had thought River was dead... jesus what a fuck up this was. She tuned back in when the phone-lady started talking again.

"Mr. Cartwright we are very sorry about this. You have indeed been marked deceased in our internal files. These can only be changed by high-clearance staff so I'm really not sure how this could have happened. I don't know why but someone must have changed something up in HR–"

Louisa's eyes snapped up to River's which were the the widest she'd ever seen them. They spoke in unison.

"It can't be." / "You have got to be fucking kidding me."

River sounded awed. Louisa groaned.

"I'm sorry did I say something wrong?" Phone lady asked.

Louisa shook her head in disbelief. She reached over and took the phone, taking over the conversation as River had been struck dumb. "No sorry. We know what went wrong now. Could you please just amend the profile?"

"Of course. I'll do that right away. Sincerest apologies for any distress, Ms. Guy... and Mr. Cartwright."

Louisa hung up the phone and let it clatter onto the desktop.

They both sat there in stunned silence for at least a few minutes until they heard footsteps skipping up the stairs.

Roddy came into view but stopped dead when he saw River.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

River turned to him, "Gee, thanks Roddy."

"How the fuck do you even know?" Louisa spat.

Roddy recovered his composure, "I know everything."

River rolled his eyes, "Clearly not as I am fully alive."

"What's all this about Cartwright being dead?" Lamb's greasy voice made them all jump as he appeared like a spectre in the doorway.

Louisa sighed. "I got a call from The Park saying that River was dead, which he is not." She nodded in his direction. "Also not dead? Spider apparently."

Even Lamb could hardly contain his surprise, trying to play it off with a "Like herpes, that one. Can never get rid of 'im."

She continued past the vile image Lamb had just put in her brain. "He clearly decided declaring River officially dead would be a charming way to let us know he was alive."

Roddy, who had lost interest in the situation once he realized that he once again couldn't pilfer River's belongings, had left. Lamb merely grunted at this information and also took his leave. Louisa and River were once again alone.

She scanned his face which was going through an expression journey between shell-shocked, angry, bursting with glee, back to anger again. She interrupted his thinking,

"Go."

She shook her head and rebooted her forgotten computer.

River looked up at her. "Wha–"

"Just go. You know you were going to. Go now and save me from watching you stew...or pine for the rest of the day."

River didn't say anything. But he did get up and go to the door. He turned back sheepishly.

"Don't." Louisa held up her hand to stop whatever pathetic thing he was about to say. "Just go and don't tell me anything about it ever. Just don't do anything that will have me telling you 'I told you so'."

River smiled and have her a thumbs up.

She yelled after him as he went down the stairs.

"Give him my hate!"

based on this obviously: (maybe there was seduction somehow)

[cheerycherrycandy-resurrected]

What if we kissed in the Maize Maze?

Ok so I wanted to start posting my Soulmates AU for Raindrop month, but writing for my Medieval one is going waay better than planned and it's confusing me to have 2 separate backstories in my head at once, so while I still have *checks calendar* 5 DAYS, here's a little stand-alone ficlet!

What if we kissed in the Maize Maze? A Midwest Emo Ghouls AU ficlet

Rating: T Content: fluff, literally that's it just fluff Words: 615

Lots of love to @alwaysjustmina for organizing this month again this year, I love any excuse to write about our soggy boys!! 🌦️🖤

hello @revengeghoulette, here is your summons as promised!! 🫡

Read below, or on AO3!

Haymaking season was coming to an end, and Swiss, Mountain and all the ghouls who pitched in to help were looking forward to a well-deserved break. To celebrate the end of the season, Swiss had built a maze out of hay bales for the children and kits of the town, as well as some of the more enthusiastic adults.

The whole community had come together to put on a party at the ghouls' farm. Mountain and his colleagues from the hardware store had built fairground games, Dew had dragged the church's speakers down on a trailer and was playing records Mist had brought from her shop. Aurora's cafe had a small pop-up, and Cirrus had brought a vat of apple cider, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, for the younger guests. Cumulus was in her element, her little face-painting stall attracting such a sizeable queue that Sunshine had jumped in to help out. Phantom was taking his new role as Youth Pastor – and more recently Sunday School teacher – very seriously, replacing her in supervising a very intense game of tag. While Mountain minded the hay maze, Swiss was giving rides on the haycart he had hitched to the back of his tractor, driving the children and kits up and down the field in the warm afternoon sunshine.

After closing time, once the families had gone home, the ghouls had the place to themselves without getting in the way of the fun of the younger members of the community. Rain and Dew were the last ones left inside the maze. Aurora and Mist had quickly disappeared somewhere together, Sunny, Cirrus and Cumulus were deep into their mission of finishing off the cider now that their responsibilities were over, the three of them covered in rainbow paint and body glitter.

Dewdrop and Rain walked hand in hand through the maze, quietly drinking in each other’s company in the balmy evening air. Making it to the centre of the maze they sat down on a bale, surrounded by golden walls on all sides as the amber glow of sunset spread across the sky. Dew leaned his head on Rain’s shoulder, utterly content in the moment.

“It’s beautiful.” Rain commented, as they watched the play of colours around them. “Just like you.”

Dew turned his face to bury it in Rain’s neck, bashful.

“You are, and I’m so proud of you, taking over from Aeth like you did. You’re doing such a great job, love! Look at how the town and harvest are flourishing. I’m honoured to call you my husband.”

Never one to take compliments well, Dew redirected Rain’s affections by capturing his lips in a searing kiss. The pair lost themselves in each other, the cooling temperatures went unnoticed past the warmth of their bodies, the slight prickliness of the hay nothing compared to the soft slide of their lips.

By the time they came up for air, Dew having squirmed his way into Rain’s lap, the sky was glowing a deep russet colour. From outside the maze, they could hear the sounds of the others packing up to leave.

“Alright lovebirds, time to come out or I’ll send the dogs in!” they heard Swiss call. The pair only giggled, Rain placing feather-light kisses across Dew’s cheekbones while he blushed the colour of the sky.

“You don’t have a dog!” Dew hollered back as he struggled to hold in his giggles.

“Hi Dewy.” deadpanned Mountain.

Eventually, Dew and Rain managed to find their way out of the maze, neither wanting to be found and carried out by the giant earth ghoul.

“Nice straw hat, Rain.” smirked Swiss, “although normally you weave it into itself, not directly into your hair!”

[egglygreg]

Ahleri meets her new "housemate"

Ahleri groaned, opening her eyes slightly only to squeeze them shut again at the wave of pain that swept through her. Her whole body ached like she'd been digging post holes all day, and then had gone and got the snot kicked out of her by a fat angry jumbuck. What on Lhoam had happened?

And then a voice spoke out of knowhere.

"Um, g'day? You right mate?"

She shot to her feet (ignoring for the moment the horrible pain that shot through her) and desperately tried to find who had spoken. It had sounded super close. She spun wildly and stumbled a bit in her haste to try and catch sight of the speaker.

"Who's there!?" She said loudly, shaking a little.

"Er, me I guess?" Said the voice, a bit unsurely. It sounded so close! Almost as if the person was standing directly next to her? But there was no-one there.

"Who are you? Wait, WHERE are you!?" Ahleri asked bewilderedly.

"Oh, I'm... Bertie? Pretty sure I'm Bertie. Nice to meet you?"

Ahleri continued to try and catch sight of "Bertie" but couldn't see anyone anywhere. She repeated her question.

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm in your head? I mean, I'm not really sure exactly what's happening but I think that's what's going on."

Ahleri stood for a moment slightly stunned, before putting her head in her hands and groaning.

"That's it, I've gone mad. Fully round the twist. Completely bloody bonkers. Dad always said I was a bit nuts and here's the proof."

"I think you need to sit down, your heart rate is through the roof."

Ahleri laughed, a little manically, but she took the advice and sat down heavily.

"OK voice..."

"Bertie."

The voice sounded a bit more sure about it this time. Ahleri thought she sounded feminine, but wasn't certain.

"OK, Bertie, how exactly are you in my head?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it was the things you put on. What are they called? I know that I know what they're called, what is it? B, b, bracers? Brrracelets? Mmmm wait no, Bonds! You put on the Hero's Bonds, and here I am!"

Bertie sounded rather proud to have remembered that fact. Ahleri, however, was less pleased.

"The... wait THE Hero’s Bonds!? The things that the legendary Hero of Strahna wears? You're pulling my leg."

"Nope, I remember now! I'm the guardian of the Hero's Bonds, and my name is Bertie. It's my job to help the Hero know what they're meant to do and stuff."

Ahleri huffed a disbelieving laugh.

"And stuff? You're really filling me with confidence there, Bert. You're telling me that I found the lost Hero's Bonds? The ones that disappeared like 90 years ago?"

"90 years!?" She sounded genuinely shocked, which was odd, considering her prior declaration. "Really? Huh, that's a long time. Wait, what happened to old Zyggie?"

Ahleri was puzzled for a moment, before she recalled the previous Hero's name.

"You mean Hero Zygos? The last Hero? No-one knows, they say he just disappeared... wait, why don't YOU know?" 

Ahleri's tone became a bit accusatory.

"You were literally attached to him, right? How do you not know how he died?"

Bertie was silent for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was unsteady and halting.

"I... don't remember. Why don't I remember? I... I don't. I don't. Know. I don't know!!"

She sounded genuinely distressed, which made Ahleri feel very uneasy. She did take pity on her though, and changed the subject.

"OK, let's chuck that aside for a bit. What exactly am I meant to do now, Bertie? Do I need to get the Bonds to the Piyem in Bamerrac, so they can appoint a new Hero? I don't really know how this works."

"Weeeeell," said Bertie, a bit sheepishly, "you're... actually the Hero? Once the Bonds are on they don't really come off, not 'till you kark it. Sorry about that?"

"You... they WHAT!??"

(Ahleri, and Bertie in her "anxious" projection form, which is a gold glowing fat tailed dunnart)

[boyswanna-be-her]

Today was a banner day escorting patients past the anti-abortion protesters (I'll just call them "antis" from now on, which is what all the other volunteers call them). There were TONS of appointments today and plenty of antis--including Wayne, the LOUDEST man on their crew, who I absolutely hate, who has assaulted a volunteer, who ALWAYS talks to me and tries to get my goat (not possible--goat gone, watch for finger).

In an incredible turn of events, 4 volunteers showed up to escort. I'm using Wayne's real name but let's keep it real for the volunteers--no identifying info. Volunteer Robert and I have been there together TONS because nobody else has been coming. Volunteer Sue was one of the first people I met and I love her so much--she comes once a week. And volunteer Matty was a new-to-me volunteer who has been out a few times.

I started playing music at the site weeks ago to keep up my own morale, and we quickly discovered that among the volunteers, I had the loudest speaker. Of course playing music for us escalated to playing music to troll them (i can have a little petty behavior, as a treat).

Then this week I... bought a louder speaker.

One thing Wayne loves to do is to stand outside the waiting room windows and pray and chant and harass and sing at the people inside. Unfortunately, it's quite audible.

Usually when all the patients are in, it's the time when the volunteers get to mostly chill and catch up, so when I saw Wayne handing out fucking sheet music to his anti cronies, my blood pressure was already up. They went up and down singing and singing and I just followed them on our side of the property line (it's legally pretty muddy but we have enough of a berth that they're a car's length from the windows) with my speaker in hand. I have a playlist now, of course.

At one point, Volunteer Sue gestured at anti Kim who was booking it down the road and said something about how ridiculous it was, the way that Kim chases these people just trying to leave.

I said "I feel like the Benny Hill Theme should be playing every time she does that." And then it hit me that I had a speaker and I could absolutely make that happen.

The next time Wayne et al lined up to yell-pray at the window, I pulled out Yakety Sax and put my speaker on its highest setting. At this point I was really fucking done with them shitting on my quality time with people I enjoy, so I was a little in his face about it (he's larger than I am and taller), just cancelling out his loud praying with my loud Yakety Sax.

I've done a lost of testing walking around to see the way that my music travels because I don't want to bother the surrounding businesses of course (and I don't want to get myself into trouble with the clinic). I really only turn it up when everyone is inside because booming music isn't super welcoming for patients who are already in a bonkers fucking environment. But the speaker at full volume is startlingly loud up close, can't be heard once you're in a car or office.

I am usually completely non confrontational with the antis. What I get off on is shaming them by letting their own idiot words hang in the air when they say them and smiling back at them. But I swear I just woke up knowing that Wayne was gonna be there and get under my skin. Not today fucker. Your skin is MINE.

So Yakety Sax was VERY well received by the volunteers and innocent people in the parking lot, and you have to imagine it being played while someone AGGRESSIVELY prays at a closed window. The other three volunteers were literally stood up behind me, all with full-size rainbow umbrellas and rainbow hi-viz vests, and they were laughing it up (antis HATE it when we laugh at them holy shit does it darken their days!).

I was shaking from adrenaline because this man was in my face but I held the speaker up and pulled up "Entry of the Gladiators" to queue as the next song. Yakety Sax finished up, Spotify helped with a crossfade to ensure no silent moments, and the Gladiators began their fucking Entry.

Wayne was NOT having it. Never would I ever have thought that playing circus music at a grown man would make him lose his temper, but yes, this move fully fucked with the old man's head. Temper gone, chili stirred. He started yelling his prayer literally as loud as he could into my face.

I stood there and took it. His little buddies were visibly unhappy with how it was abruptly escalating. I stood there and took it. Like full minutes passed, I was glad I had a second circus song queued because I needed it. The time dilation was real, and I gotta say having an adult man yell a prayer in your face for 3-5 minutes really makes time go by slow.

During that time, things were also escalating on our side, as Volunteers Robert and Matty had started hollering at Wayne to back up (oh yeah, forgot to mention that I started out a good legal distance from him but he crossed over onto our property line so that he could properly yell in my face). So it was just cacophony, full blast three men in a triangle around me yelling at each other while "Bozo's Song" was blaring.

At that point, when my side started yelling back, I felt like I might actually be in danger--and at the same moment that occurred to me, I realized how powerful it would be to just stop the music abruptly and walk away. So that's what I did. My side was silent immediately. Wayne continued pray-yelling as loud as he could--but he knew he couldn't get away with following me so he stayed at the window, his friends visibly dismayed, wondering if they should intervene.

I just wanted to make him look dumb, not piss Wayne off more, but me walking away made him go NUCLEAR. I think it was that he knew he'd shown his ass, but also that he could no longer yell at me or harass me because I'd removed myself.

I was very shaken up but proud of myself. Robert and I backed our hatchback trunks up to each other to form like a shady spot for all the volunteers, so I hopped into my open trunk and grabbed a soda and tried to chill myself out.

When I looked up, the clinic OWNER was making a beeline for Wayne. I didn't even realize the clinic owner was in town. Honestly I wouldn't have provoked Wayne if I had because doing this is important to me and I don't want to upset the big boss or give her any reason to tell me not to come back. When I saw her, my heart really dropped.

The other three volunteers had stayed there with the praying group. When the owner came out, Wayne turned his fury on her. I was too far away to hear what was going on. I was so ready for her to make a beeline to ME after Wayne.

IDK if Volunteer Robert ran interference for me with her on purpose or not, but the escort solidarity was strong today and the other volunteers implied that everything that went down had been a group decision. Owner never even came over to talk to me, so I learned secondhand that she wasn't mad at me at all. They couldn't hear my music, even at full volume, but they could hear Wayne yelling!!! And he sounded like a scary crazy idiot! Way to court people to your side, boo boo the white supremacist fool.

Once I knew for sure that I wasn't in trouble, though, holy shit yall. Getting Wayne to embarrass himself in front of such a crowd today is NOT something I could've predicted for myself. Top 10 in the Kelly Highlight Reel for ya boy today. I'll be riding off the sheer bliss of fucking up his day for years, probably.

Wayne IMMEDIATELY removed himself from the scene (or they told him to fuck off, who knows) so we didn't get anything more from him until the volunteers spotted him in his truck, stopping to talk to the cop. He had to drive directly in front of us to get out of the parking lot so I said, "hey let's say goodbye to Wayne!" and the four of us lined up and leaned on our cars and smiled big at him.

He rolled the window down and before we could say anything (we weren't going to) and he said in a sarcastic voice, "I know, I know, go fuck myself," and roared off, leaving us in hysterics, possibly the only funny thing Wayne has ever done in his whole life.

[daisyychainssj]

Q!Max being right where you left me by Taylor Swift coded

Okay so I have a bit of time to write the highly anticipated (I doubt literally anyone cares but I neeeeed to talk about this even if i'm just screaming into the void) breakdown on how right where you left me by Taylor Swift is so q!Max coded it's actually outrageous.

"Friends break up, friends get married Strangers get born, strangers get buried Trends change, rumors fly through new skies But I'm right where you left me"

RIGHT OFF THE BAT, When the Spanish and English speakers arrived at the island, Max was one of the first islanders to begin building his base. He was, if i'm not mistaken, the first one to have the revolving base and had used the create mod for his windmill VERY early on. (Back to this later)

"Friends break up, friends get married" The Spanish and English speakers had barely settled in before Marianna broke up with Foolish on the very first day on the island. However, pretty much from the first day on the island there was a vibe between Foolish and Vegetta. There was a mutual respect and admiration for the building skills and a budding friendship blossomed that then became something more. Vegetta himself even saying that after they got paired up to take care of Leo that "you and me are predestined!" and Max has been very close friends with both Vegetta and Foolish since their first day on the island and so has been there for it all. He has also watched as Roier and Cellbit fell in love and got married. And was the judge at the Marianna and Slime trial for Juanna Flippa so had a front row seat to the MULTIPLE make-ups and break-ups they had just that day. All whilst he's just been on the sidelines, watching.

"Strangers get born" Then the eggs were introduced! "strangers get buried" Trumpet, Juanna flippa, Tilin and Bobby have since sadly passed away and despite the immense love the islanders feel for the eggs now, they were strangers, effectively dropped in their laps and told "here these are your responsibility now" Max experienced being given the responsibility of caring for this little egg and then the tragic loss of them. Alone. (RIP DanTDM who wandered away and was never seen again o7) Of course he had the support of his friends but they still had their eggs, the only people who could understand were grieving in their own ways so Max had to grieve through it alone.

And through all of this, Max is in his house with the windmill that he built so early on that became Trumpet's home and nothing has changed or moved except now the grave of his son is there too. Max is essentially "right where you left me"

"Still sitting in a corner I haunt Cross-legged in the dim light They say, "What a sad sight" I, I stayed there"

When Trumpet died, Max turned to food and alcohol to try and cope. BBH and Dapper were with him a lot, tried to help him and understand but grief is complicated and complex. Every time a loved one visited him there was such sadness having to see someone they cared about living this way "They say, "What a sad sight""

Once again going back to my first paragraph about Max being one of the first to completely build his base. After everything he has been through the past few months on the island. The loss of Trumpet, the forming of The Theory Bros, being visited by an unknown stranger on the island with blueprints, being killed by the code, building Sofia and bonding with her and beginning to see her as his daughter, losing her to Cellbit changing the access code, her then blue screening with no explanation or way to get her back, starting up his TV show, having to blow up the set for the tv show and along the way losing more eggs that loved him and called him Tio. Through EVERYTHING he still lives in that base from start. Where he bought Trumpet home and then lost him, where he was killed by the code and visited by the stranger and formed his base to theorise with theory bros.

At first I know it's like "well why wouldn't he stay there he put so much time and effort into building it" and that's true but let's look at the other islanders who have experienced significant loss/terrifying events. Slime moved SO far out to exile himself but has now made it a home and built a base there. He's been back to his original base once (I think) to grab some things from Flippa's room and that was an incredibly emotional and tough experience for him. Jaiden, similarly, moved incredibly far away after the loss of Bobby to build a new base as a way to both honour Bobby and allow her to heal. Roier moved in with Cellbit and has only recently (literally last night) went back into the tower he built with and for Bobby to show Richas some of the art in there. Even Cellbit and Forever moved out of the Favela after their big fall out over Richas' custody and Cellbit and Felps being kidnapped. All of these places were built and laboured over for hours and so much care and time went into them but they were attached to incredibly painful memories and grief. Yet. Max stays right there.

"At the restaurant, when I was still the one you want Cross-legged in the dim light, everything was just right I, I could feel the mascara run You told me that you met someone Glass shattered on the white cloth Everybody moved on"

Max was caught so unaware by the Festa Junina wedding with Forever not being real. Max has very real feeling for Forever and he thought, and hoped that they were reciprocated and believed the wedding was real and meant something real for both of them. Afterwards he was told a couple of times by different people that the weddings held on that day aren't real but he still held onto hope that perhaps Forever felt the same way he did. He had to watch Forever pine after Phil and flirt with BBH. All whilst he is right where he was left, with his heart on his sleeve, just waiting to be loved back.

"You left me no choice but to stay here forever"

Everybody on the island seems to be moving, whether thats changing bases and building new things, and their life changing constantly. Max is still in his house, with the windmill that he's been at since day 1. Almost as if he is holding on to what life was then. There was no grief, no loss, no death. It was the beginning of a vacation and a new start! So he's staying right there, where he was left.

If even (1) person reads this entire thing, I'm sorry for how long it was but i hope you enjoyed it in some way!

[lee-hakhyun]

606, 607

lee hakhyun SWEEPS THE POLL! (51% is a sweep to me.) hopefully he'll get that tiesweep with kim dokja <3 it's been a while!

episode 11. work (1) and (2)

606.

lhh is passed out. again. by now he's basically expecting to meet kim dokja whenever he passes out. when he opens his eyes, though, he's in the theater. jung jaewoo comes to mind, and he wonders if he's here.

what was once cute kkoma kim dokjas was now a little terrifying.. are all these kkomas dead readers?

noise come from the speakers, and there's two people on the screen. yoo joonghyuk, and han sooyoung.

he awakes, and literaturegirl64 hands him some tea to drink. he notes that it's not information found in orv. these transmigrated readers are adapting to the world,, jung heewon is still passed out, and it seems the backlash for using [incite] is very strong, so she won't be waking up for a while

lhh exchanges information with killer king, and they both had encountered ohdokhyup. killer king had been hit with a curse of disorientation, so him and his sister have been wandering around completely lost.. when lhh asks why literaturegirl64 couldn't lead, killer king says she's naturally bad with directions. then literaturegirl64 kicks him.

this yjh kinnie, man

lee hakhyun can lead them to the research laboratory, but they talk about whether to go right now or not. the black moon is still ongoing, and though one of ohdokhyup's constellations left the channel the snake is still there. killer king and literaturegirl64 were able to take down one 7th grade monster, but the monsters have been getting stronger under the black moon. fortunately, the duration is only 8 hours, so they could wait it out, or at least wait for jhw to recover. but lhh can't wait. if he waits, there are more readers in the theater dungeon that could die. and yoo joonghyuk is in danger. lhh tells them that, and killer king decides they should move now.

they start heading to the laboratory, and lhh asks why the group is called the 'seven apostles'. the 'apostles' were people who never finished wos in orv.

lee hakhyun says he can't, and killer king asks why. and he says that lee hakhyun asks like he alone knows the ending. lhh takes this as a joke, but killer king is serious.

for a while i thought that'd be nice.. :(

they reach the laboratory, and there's something there.

i'm seeing this a lot. it's in a future chapter, but these people are getting excited by the chance to see a new story,, even if it puts them in danger.

607.

they run in, and killer king and his sister start fighting

gamers! a literal real life parry..

him denying that he gave literaturegirl64's skill a weird name hahahah. the coordination needed for this is insane, and they need to have a lot of trust in each other to get the skill to work,,

they continue running, but the monsters are getting faster. lhh thinks, if he can't incite as the apocalypse dragon, then maybe something lesser? he incites himself as the 'snake the severs its tail'. there's an aftermath, but it's enough for him to handle.

they split here, with killer king going to the b-wing and lhh and literaturegirl64 heading to the a-wing

they find the embryo laboratory, which has the ampoules they were looking for.

they get the ampules, and they're split in half between the two of them. lhh takes the tyrant t-rex dna ampule, for later. considering what's at the last floor, he's going to need it... while heading up to the rooftop, the cretaceous lord roars, inflicting 'predatory fear', which lhh dispells with incite. looking outside, b-wing is not doing well. but literaturegirl64 assures lhh that killer king is strong.

there's 4 people, and only 3 can escape. jung heewon has to get on, as she's incapable of fighting, and literaturegirl64 gets on too. lee hakhyun starts to think of a strategy to get through 10 minutes, but-

good on killer king for immediately stopping lhh from whatever stupid plan he was going to think of

killer king runs forward with jophiel's red fog, which protected against the breath attack, though it wasn't as powerful as the fog from the 1863rd turn.

lhh tries jumping off when killer king is grabbed, but his sister stops him. she trusts him a lot

killer king is left alone in the movie, with an item that will only protect him for 4 hours. they need to clear the scenario to get him out of the movie before the time limit, or killer king might not make it out of there.

killer king may have officially read orv 99.8 times, but he definitely deserves to say he's read it more than 100 times now.

[imbonewary]

Shifting Sans Chapter 14 "Called Out"

~

Chapter 1 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 15

~

“I’ll put you on speaker,” Frisk said as he took the phone away from his ear, muttering “so I’m not the only one being yelled at.”

“where are you and who all is there?” came Sans’ exasperated voice from the phone. Despite the tone, Papyrus perked up upon hearing Sans’ voice. I don’t have time to analyze his emotional reaction, let alone mine.

“Heya, bro,” I interjected. Hopefully he’ll go easy on us if I remind him he has a brother now. “Me and Frisk are at Pap’s house with the man himself, feeding us soup ‘n sandwiches. How’re things on your end?”

“don’t change the subject, serif, I’m still mad,” Sans announced. “i literally gave you two one job, to call me at noon, and you both failed.”

“I know, bro, I’m sorry,” I continued. “We were just having so much fun getting to know each other we lost track of time.” Not exactly a lie, even if “fun” was a bit of a stretch.

Sans huffed a laugh.  

“fine, i’m glad you two made it to pap’s safe,” Sans relented. Ha, got ‘im.

“Like I said, best friends by the time you get back.”

Frisk gave me some major side eye but kept his mouth shut. I just shrugged at him with my signature Easy Grin.

“i could be called in at any time so i can’t stop by,” Sans continued and Papyrus visibly wilted. “but i did find out that, since frisk fell so recently, they’re the first human whose surface family is being contacted, which will happen tomorrow. the counsel wanted to knock this out as quickly as possible to help with peace talks, but it would’ve been nice to have more time to prepare. you’ll be given the opportunity to return to your human family, frisk, even though you’ve already expressed your desire to stay with me.”

Frisk had opened their mouth to interject, likely to reiterate that they wanted to stay, but simply nodded as Sans had continued. They must’ve then realized they were on a phone call and gave a grunt of recognition as well.  

“we’ll have to discuss it with your human guardian, of course, but there was also talk of a joint care arrangement or dual citizenship as a way to bridge the gap between humans and monsters; trying to make us all one, big, cross-species family. it was just a thought, though, nothing solid yet. it would throw you right in the middle of a political circus and i’m not exactly ready to come out of retirement myself.”

Frisk had stiffened at the idea. Their opinion seemed to be pretty clear.

“You ok, kid?” I breathed, quiet enough for the phone to not pick up. They swallowed.

“I guess I'll have to be there,” they said, staring straight ahead. “Since they want my opinion and all. Merri’s the only one in Ebbot City itself but I bet the others will come running once they smell blood in the water.”

“Once they what?” Papyrus voiced what we were all wondering.

“It’s a surface saying, referring to sharks,” they shrugged, less uncomfortable now that they weren’t actively talking about their family. “Uh, you might not know what sharks are. Sharks are an ocean predator that can smell an injured, bleeding fish from, like, a mile away or something crazy, I don’t remember the actual distance. My point is, they’ll come if they think they can get something out of it. Even if it’s just the satisfaction of knowing they won.”

“i see,” Sans didn’t sound too happy to hear that. He may have to fight for Frisk anyways.

“So if that’s mostly settled, what are you in line for?” I asked, changing the subject for Frisk’s sake. Their emotions were not doing well.

“the counselor for Lab victims,” he replied, allowing the change. “i was able to get an emergency meeting with them since you’re the first new victim to come forward in a while. if i understand correctly, a similar process to human adoption is used for Lab monsters if guardianship is required, so we’ll get some financial aid, among other things, until you can get yourself settled and on your own two feet.”

“Neat,” was my only response. I wonder if I’ll have to come up with some fancy lies about the Deep. This could require some research.

“so, how ‘bout you?” Sans turned it back on us. “what was so enthralling that you forgot to call me?”

Frisk and I glanced at each other. We definitely couldn’t tell him the truth.

Or at least, not the whole truth.

“I was telling ‘em about my world,” I responded after a bit too long of a break. Hopefully Sans didn’t notice. “And they even helped come up with some new names for the more important characters in my old life, just like how I have a new name.”

I shrugged at the others, who were looking at me. It wasn’t exactly a lie, right? Frisk gave me a deadpan thumbs up while Papyrus looked uncomfortable and Chara had disappeared at some point.

“well i hope you don’t mind repeating some of it,” Sans replied. “’cause i’d like to hear about your old life, too. oh, it’s my turn, see you all for dinner!”

And with that, the line went dead.

“Welp, that was fun.”

“How were you so calm under pressure like that?” Frisk asked in awe. “It’s like you knew exactly what to say to make him not be mad at us earlier.”

“Well, he is me,” I said with a shrug, though I couldn’t help but smirk. I think I can fit a lesson in. “So I knew he’d cool off a bit if I called him “bro” since he’s probably not used to it yet. Just one more reason learning empathy is important, yeah?”

“Wait, are you telling me to learn empathy just to manipulate people?!”

“If that’s what it takes,” I replied, taking a bite of my now cold sandwich. Still tasty.

“There are other uses of empathy, of course,” Chara piped up. She’d reappeared behind Frisk.

“And how many of those did it take to convince Frisk to even try to learn?”

“Eeeh…” Chara trailed off. Pap looked nonplussed but mildly suspicious of where I was going with this. Neither had a response therefore I win by forfeit.

“If you can figure out what someone else wants, you can convince them it lines up with what you want,” I continued. I think I gained Frisk’s respect at least, even if Chara and Papyrus weren’t quite on board yet. “And getting inside someone’s head is a great way to understand what they want and, more importantly, why. Most people get there through natural empathy but, lacking that, you’ll have to get there through logic and psychology.”

“I see,” Frisk said quietly, thinking very hard about something.

“And that, my friends, is how it’s done,” I announced, taking another bite of sandwich.

“How what’s done?”

“Manipulation, of course,” I replied. Fell right into my trap. “You’d have figured it out on your own eventually, Frisk, but you might need it sooner rather than later, if your description of your family is anything to go by. They sound like they wouldn’t be above manipulating a child to get what they want and you’ll need to be able to recognize it for what it is. And possibly use it in return, but hopefully me and Sans can handle that part.”

While still uncomfortable, realization seemed to dawn on both Papyrus and Chara. My soul clenched as Papyrus gave a small “nyeh heh heh” chuckle.

“You really are Sans’ clone, aren't you, Serif,” he said with a smirk and I tried to hide the sudden twinge of pain with a shrug. I turned back to my sandwich.

“Weren’t we supposed to take some of this Alphys?” Chara came to my rescue with a change of subject.

“That’s right! I need to get back to my post!” Papyrus cried in alarm, shooting to his feet. “I can eat my sandwich while I’m there, are you two done?”

“I am,” Frisk raised his hand.

“Just about,” I said around my last bite of sandwich before washing it down with my lukewarm soup. “It was great, Pap, thanks.”

“Of course it was,” he preened before turning on his heel. “I just need a moment to throw Alphys’ lunch together and we can be off.”

I started gathering dishes.

“And Frisk, grab a jacket from the closet! You’ll not be catching cold on my watch!”

[mauricemylittlemeowmeow]

gmorning gmorning. gmorning long post.

it's exactly 4am!!

blurry ass shot but i woke up, saw jupiter and thought "yeah definitely too early". but then i get up a bit more and i saw the moon right below it and i thought pretty!!!

skies've been too cloudy to stargaze for the past month. it's actually completely obscured the moon and jupiter right now so i'm glad i could get a shot in even though it was shitty lmao. it was real pretty and nice and fuckin mars was there with aldebaran and everything (if u squint u see them in the photo above jupiter)

dream time!!! on a scale of 10, dreams were a 7-8 today depending on which. one of them featured daniil which was funny so ill relay it:

premise was that i was the player character in what my brain helpfully supplied as some sort prequel game for patho. a nurse (i was talking to my nurse friend before sleeping and she was ranting abt phlebotomy or smth so lmao)

it mightve been set in a plague but basically there was some sort of epidemic and "i" tended to the in patients at an hospital (is it a hospital?? do people pronounce the h in hospital in english?) where most of everyone was sick with something really bad and barely curable.

anyways i was walking around doing my rounds. then i come over to this room with patients and it's literally like a closet with long shelves and everything but instead of supplies, the patients were crammed in there like a morgue or a line of standing coffins.

lo and behold i see daniil in all his p1 model glory. i pull him out. hes distressed so i tell him hes actually starting to get better (he was not) and that soon he'll be discharged after he's well again. i pat his head lovably and grow fond like i was comforting a cute puppy (i have 6 dogs) and i think about shoving him in the broom closet of doom again.

i think that was the part where i was like "lmao wtf is this dream rn" so my brain helpfully supplied some lore then when i was done "remembering" the setting above, the scene already shifted.

daniil was, once again, in distress. he was a lot like an asylum patient. like someone who lost their sense of self and was struggling very hard to claw at an identity of any sort that they might have had in the past. he was trying to use the phone to make a call. he struggles trying to recall a number but then eventually gets one right.

it rings and bc dream me really wanted to listen in on the conversation like a chronic gossip, i manage to "convince" him (dream coercion) to let me answer the phone.

it was his mum!! daniil dankovsky's mother 大草 lmao. i told her i was from the hospital, calling about daniil and she was like "oh... he's dead, isn't he?" and i told her that no he's fine actually and was to be dismissed very soon (i was lying).

while this was happening, i was trying my best to let daniil hear the conversation too but i didn't know how to put the telephone on speaker (bc fr idk how to put telephones on speaker irl. i think our telephone company doesnt provide speaker buttons????? idk im going insane) so i was just struggling, trying to put the receiver speaker in between us before giving up

i heard the tail end of her going on about needing "dr. burakh" to fix her up and my brain hit me with another dose of setting details at that point.

(artemy's a doctor/surgeon in the hospital and hes handling daniil's treatment too)

i laugh and tell her that there's no need to get artemy bc soon her son'll be home to fix her up instead.

at that point, i was urged to cut the call because someone came up to me, another telephone in hand, and said "you know this is a home line right?" (implying anyone could listen in)

i was too lazy to reply and continue the dream so i just woke up after that lol.

but yeah good morning yippee!! clean start for another day!!! cant wait to seize it, hope everyone does too!!!

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 235

Baby/Death in Heaven

“Baby”

Plot Description: shot entirely from within the impala, this episode follows Sam and Dean as they hunt a ghoul-like creature and try to make sense of an ominous dream

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: I’m GUESSING Dean’s not actually dead there, but he IS majorly unconscious

First of all, what a fucking weird episode concept

We are missing Jensen in shorts because it’s shot from inside the impala??? Rude. Like, if every other show can have scantily clad women washing cars, spn should show us Dean in shorts again. They may not even be scant

Sam, that’s not much of a smoothie

How does Cas know everything about pop culture now but doesn’t know what Netflix is??

How many years back y’all work that w****go case with Heather? Because y’all haven’t had time in the past like…six or seven

I can’t believe Dean’s not more annoyed with Sam for having sex in the back of his car.

It’s hard to be mad about seeing small moments between them in the car. Things normal people would say on long car trips, not always end of the world type shit and lying to each other all the time

WHY IS JOHN THERE??? GET OUT OF THAT CAR. It’s young John so not…AS bad as the John we all know and hate…but now I hate him too

It’s SO REFRESHING to hear them actually talk about what’s going on. Of course Dean is miffed that Sam didn’t tell him he got infected but………they’re talking about their literal DREAMS now. My heart is so soft

I don’t understand how what Dean is saying is any different than what fake dream John told Sam. That it’s up to them to bring down the Darkness, and that there’s no help…though I never really thought about what “god helps those who help themselves” means.

Good. Don’t indulge Dean calling a werewolf vampire hybrid a werepire

I knew his opposition to valet was about the car and not paying for it

Aaaaaaaand that’s why you don’t joyride the car you’re supposed to be valet parking, kids

“I’m mostly confused. I’m not sure how orange correlates with black in a way that is new” never ever change, Castiel

Dean, stop trying to make werepire happen. It’s not going to happen. Yeah, whisper is a lame name for whatever this…isn’t, actually.

The best thing about putting Cas on speaker while he’s in infodump mode is that he doesn’t realize Dean’s not there til he hears gunshots and Dean comes back in saying that it turns out he did shoot the deputy.

However, shooting him with silver bullets and decapitation DOESN’T SEEM TO HAVE WORKED. HOW.

If no one says “what’s in the box?” even once it’s a waste of putting the deputy’s still growling head in a cooler

Dean, DEFINITELY don’t try to make ghoulpire happen. DEAN. Stop calling it a ghoulpire. You sound ridiculous

Oh shit. The original victim’s wife is one of the……..ghoulpires (I don’t have subtitles on so I’m not going to try to spell out a name I can barely remember. Dammit, Dean). She beat Dean unconscious and stole the impala. She might be the alpha ghoulpire. (I’ve now typed that enough times to have my phone recognize it. Great.)

$20 says the purse left by the valet girl’s friend she went joyriding with has a penny in it minted before 1982

K she’s not the alpha. The deputy is. Omg…the hairpin Piper lost after her romp with Sam is find to get the handcuffs off Dean. The knife will decapitate him and the purse WILL have the penny. I’m sure of it.

Poor Baby. She doesn’t deserve this. She’s got no windows left. I know Dean will fix her up but damn.

That’s actually smart…instead of sifting through the pennies to find one minded before 1982, just shove them all in the ghoulpire’s mouth and hope for the best. Which does seem to have worked

I take it back. She’s got her passenger’s side windows left. To think we started this episode with a fresh wash, and now Dean’s rolling her totally busted up, engine barely working, hardly any windows left (and the ones she does have are covered in blood) out of the Oregon town. Poor Baby

“Death in Heaven”

Plot Description: with cybermen in the streets of London, old friend unite against old enemies

Does that mean we’re gonna get Not Vriska, Jenny, and Strax?? Perhaps a little River??

Ok, Clara, you pretended to be the Doctor once, let’s not get carried away and think you can pull that off again in the face of the cybermen

Missy calling the cybermen her boys is hilarious. I love it

Oh, Oswin! And Kate Stewart!! I AM excited to see her back! Both of them, really, but kind of mostly Kate

Join me in this episode where I try to figure out if I like Kate or Missy more of if I can simply simp for both

🎵I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending 🎶 (and I mean like…three days ago on supernatural)

(I’m also now thinking about how I’m going to have to purchase season 4 of Sherlock…and within the next month because we are winding down on this project)

Why…would you incapacitate the Doctor??

I’m trying to trust the process but am I supposed to believe that human consciousnesses are being literally rained down into graves and THAT is somehow going to create more cybermen? Does that make sense to anyone else??

This guy working in the morgue would not survive the first five minutes of a Supernatural episode

The differences between how members of the government treat the Doctor and his authority on Earth is incredibly interesting. Harriet Jones immediately went behind Ten’s back to shoot retreating aliens out of the sky. Kate said Twelve’s word is literally law as soon as he boards this plane

The Doctor’s disdain for the military never fails to make me happy.

EXCUSE ME?? He’s president of EARTH? The DOCTOR?!?!

I had no idea Clara was canonically like a month older than me. She always seemed younger. Is Jenna younger than me? (Quick google break) She’s older than me! By like 8 months but STILL!!

I knew from the moment this cyberman showed up, it was Danny. But the sad head fall as he said “correct” when Clara (still trying to pretend to be the Doctor) said she’s an excellent liar. Oh it’s heartbreaking

The Master tried to either enslave or destroy the ENTIRE human race and Oswin is still like “she wasn’t even the worst” also…love that she used Missy’s new pronouns. Trans inclusive radical misogynist Steven Moffat wrote this one

Gotta love the Doctor’s subtle way of telling people “you’d make a really good companion.” When you only have to say “all of time and space?” And people know? Hell yeah

Everyone’s being advised to stay the hell away from cemeteries so of course we’re gonna plop Clara down in the middle of one. Makes sense

I can’t even take the trope of sex pollen in fanfic seriously, how are you going to try to make me take cyber-pollen seriously??

That’s a really good question. How DO you win a war against an enemy who can weaponize the dead?

I saw a post here the other day that I wish I had either reblogged or liked or thrown in my drafts about how the worst thing you can do to the Doctor is interrogate or torture him. Because the person being interrogated or tortured is the only irreplaceable person in the room, and you’ve just given the person whose main weapon is words a stage where their words are the most important thing. And it’s a little bit what Missy’s doing here. She fed info to UNIT about 3W, the company she founded to figure out how to turn the dead into cybermen, so it would bring everyone together including the Doctor to do her big reveal. I love her

(Oh this is a LONG episode)

I love her even more now. She’s singing “Hey Mickey” but replacing Mickey with Missy. We stan a bitch with audacity and confidence who’s definitely unhinged

Sorry rando guards and Oswin, but it was also really delicious when Missy killed you

They really need to stop underestimating how many cybermen are around

This is TORTURE. I don’t even like Danny that much but it’s AWFUL to have to watch him hear Clara say that she’ll always trust and forgive the Doctor. That she’s his best friend and he’s hers…….and she’s never lie to the Doctor. OMG.

YEAH! How shit do you feel now, Clara??

Missyyyyyyyyy, why’d you have to go and kill Kate too??

Missy has exactly zero hinges. I love her so much

Omg, yeah. Justified.

Yes, it was cool that the Doctor called the TARDIS to him and dove into it but…please. Some decorum.

I’m not saying that Danny’s necessarily wrong about the Doctor, I’m just saying that his hatred towards him has been the most complex of all the companions’ attachments. And I do think that Danny does…or did underestimate Clara a bit

There’s no way she did all this solely to give the Doctor an army as a birthday gift…oh…look, the Doctor has taken some undue authority roles over the years but that’s not what he wanted. And to make him the general of this army of cybermen because the only thing that will keep humanity alive is going out and conquering the rest of the universe is DIABOLICAL (I say kicking my feet and giggling)

See? Yeah. He’s an idiot with a box and a screwdriver (his words). So he gives the army to Danny, who gives the order to burn the clouds turning people into cybermen. I’ll admit it is a nice full circle moment

How did Kate survive that fall? *the dawning realization* one of the cybermen who was near the plane was her father. He caught her and saved her and I’m CRYING (I’ve seen very little Old Who, but I’m still crying)

Danny sending the kid he either couldn’t save or got killed (I truly wasn’t paying attention at that point) back to earth to live his life as he should

Omg, they’re lying to each other worse than the Winchesters. He didn’t find Gallifrey and she’s not still with Danny. Missy lied and Danny’s very dead now. Wtf? Why are they like this??

Oh thank god someone finally said that the two of them weren’t alright. BUT I WASNT EXPECTING IT TO BE ACTUAL SANTA CLAUS

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

I thought it was pretty clear from the outset in the campaign that no one, Guardian or Neomuni, knows exactly what the Veil is or how it does what it does. I didn't get the impression at all that everyone knew what it was but just didn't feel like explaining it. Neomuna folk clearly know how to tap its energies to some degree, but Guardians have done that with the Traveler for centuries and still know next to nothing about it.

I don't think the Veil was studied at all during the Golden Age, and the reason why starts with an "R" and ends with a warsat strike. If the Veil is the "[H]" the Warmind Rasputin directs Soteria to get to safety, and I think it is, his notation suggests he considered it a paracausal object on the same tier as the Traveler, which he called "[O]". However he also talks like it's a thing, not a being, and he was well aware the Traveler was a being. So he thought the Veil was a paracausal artifact of Traveler-type power, but not a being with will or intent. And that would be enough for him to rule that no one was going to study it any further. Rasputin had no qualms about putting objects he deemed sufficient potential threats in (sometimes literal) boxes to keep anyone from playing around with them. He completely sequestered the Anomaly antenna on the Moon, for instance - no access for research, no experiments, no study beyond constant monitoring. He very much took a "better safe than sorry" approach with paracausal power. He would have locked the Veil up and thrown away the key - or planned to use it himself. When he tells Soteria to get it somewhere safe, he does so right after detecting paracausal anomalies that seem to be eliminating inhabited planets. He's thinking about it as a last-ditch weapon; for all he knows, those anomalies might even be other Travelers. Unfortunately it gets "lost" and for whatever reason (maybe the Veil's own shielding?) he can't recover it.

Although the Veil probably reached Neptune via Soteria's launch, the Ishtar Collective wasn't out there yet. Maya Sundaresh ended up in Neomuna, but assuming the writers haven't just decided to retcon the Spire of the Watchers lore already (I wouldn't put it past them), at the time of that launch she was still around to yell at Clovis about Pillorying Soteria. In the Winterbite lore about the IC aboard the Exodus Indigo proper, they're fleeing something nasty - it sounds like beasts of the Collapse - and run towards a Vex distress signal. If the Veil were onboard a ship that fell into Neptune, and the Vex tried to get at it and got messed up by the Veil, that would account for the distress signal, and account for how the Indigo found the old ship with presumably the Veil and maybe some very sad and confused Exos.

(Side note: this means my old theory about the colony ship founding Neomuna being the one Rasputin dispatched with a hold full of SIVA to Planet X might still pan out; the speaker in that loretab could be the Exodus Indigo.)

So most of the Ishtar Collective's study and later use of the Veil likely happened after the Collapse. It probably took them a while to figure out how to hide the city with it, which leaves time for Savathun to have been protecting it as well. If she followed the IC back to Neptune and observed the Veil (side note - was it Sav's own forces attacking the Indigo? that weird "exotic matter spike" sounds like something she'd build) she might have thought it wise to have an ace up her sleeve one day in case she decided to defy the Witness. So she hid the Veil and the lifesigns on the planet until the Traveler kicked everyone out of the system, and by the time the Fleet returned Neomuna had figured out how to hide itself. That accounts for her worm's statement that she deceived the Witness to protect the Traveler for her own ends: she denied it a tool it could have used to overcome the Traveler in order to perhaps one day use it herself.

Once on Neptune it seems like the IC managed to tap and crudely manipulate the Veil's energies, but that's all, and there hasn't been much work on it since. Nimbus knows the Veil's rough location and how important it is, but they aren't even sure how to get to where it itself is kept. When you get into the actual facility there's no sign anyone's been in there since the early days of the City's founding. Even the old Ishtar Collective logo is still around. So there's a very good chance no one in Neomuna knows much more than whatever the IC team was able to work out with a few decades of study, and after that the Veil was woven so tightly into the city's protection that nobody wanted to risk messing with it anymore. Neomuna's plan for Pyramid Fleet defense was for everyone to go into the Veil-maintained CloudArk, suggesting they thought this would keep the Fleet from noticing them. Staying safe from the Fleet would be the number one top priority of the city's founders, since they had no idea when it might return. So if the Veil was their main source of safety, no one was tampering with the Veil.

We should also consider the Veil itself might have had some say in all this. Red thought it wasn't a person, but an artifact tied into a universal web of consciousness must have SOME awareness, at least of the emotions around it. Everyone in Neomuna wants to be safe, and it's spent centuries being thought of as the city's defense. That must have made an imprint on it by now. Maybe even the unified will of all those citizens in a shared mindspace, all focusing on wanting to help us, shaped its emergence. I think we could see Strand because on some level the Veil knew it was under attack and was trying to empower us to defend it. That's why Strand breaches show up right where and when we need them to, and why they didn't before - up until now secrecy plus the Cloud Striders were enough, but now that Neomuna's cover is blown it needs more powerful defenses. The Veil deliberately pulls the weave closer to material awareness, already empowered by the thinning of the line between digital and real created by the VexNet/Neomuna cyberspace, just close enough for us to grasp those first threads.

Ok so I’m gonna give my Take(tm) about Lightfall here. Where the entire internet can roast me I guess.

Full spoilers.

Disclaimers: it’s all my opinion, is clearly not very close to the opinion of various Big Destiny Content Creators, so I’m probably wrong. I could also be giving the team too much credit by inferring some things, sue me I wanna give them the benefit of the doubt and say some of it was intentional.

Listen, was Lightfall flawed? Absolutely, I will not try to say it was perfect or even that some of its plot points were done well.

But…

Look, I can’t help but think about people asking questions that I feel like have answers in either the story itself or the past lore.

The most… detestable thread (haha strand joke) I wanna pull at is the Veil. Now, yes, the fact that everyone seems to know what it is without expounding on it is deeply frustrating. I feel like not enough was said in the story itself. But. We do get some answers. The Black Heart from D1 is a failed copy of it, which likely points to the veil equating to The Pale Heart mentioned at the end of Witch Queen. That by itself isn’t much, but it is a start. Additionally it very much feels like a question intentionally left not fully answered.

Next, the Radial Mast, much like the Veil is something of a MacGuffin, but I think there are drops of info given. One, Ghost detects a strong Light signature when we enter the Typhon Imperator, yet it radiates the orange energy we associate with Darkness in the mission where Rohan dies. I think this points to a blending of the two, which was needed to “convince” the Veil to connect to the Traveler. Which leads to the Witness.

Much like Nimbus, the Witness is one of the few unequivocally good things about the expansion, in my opinion. The Witness is subtle, and I think influences things in a way not really appreciated. Firstly, the Witness remains confident that their plan will succeed despite clearly looking down on Calus’ lack of progress. This entity is omnipresent, powerful to an extent we haven’t really seen, and has constantly possessed our ghosts for various reasons. So I personally believe that most of the plan as we see it was a ploy. That said I think the Radial Mask could have worked but that it wasn’t load bearing towards the Witness’s plans.

We see the Witness egging Calus on, only resorting to threats what their motives are questioned. They have a deep tunnel vision as to achieving whatever it wants—something characters are trying to investigate, another question being gradually answered. And we know it doesn’t care about its Disciples. Eramis is just a tool, and Salvation is quickly made into more obedient soldiers. Rhulk was left to rot in a losing turf war in Savathun’s Throne World. Calus is no different. The Radial Mast was a focused of Dark and Light—which I believe is proved by the twin energy signatures. And so when it’s destroyed, the Witness instead has Calus go down there himself, likely aware that the Guardian would head down there as well. What does this lead to? Dark and Light unleashed in great quantities during the final battle. Which allows the Witness to possess the Ghost and establish the connection.

I think the Witness, as we’ve seen it is manipulative and powerful enough to concoct this scheme, to use both Calus and us as puppets.

Finally, Strand suddenly appearing makes enough sense to not bother me because two things were mentioned. Nimbus stated that they can’t normally see strand. Not like we do, the lines floating around. Additionally, the energy of strand was stated to come from the Veil (a paracausal thing that reminds Ghost of the traveler yet offers darkness energy. Another guess as to why dark and light were needed). I do not have direct sources but I have played the campaign twice, I’m sure I could find these instances. Therefore, only Neomuni were near Strand and its source and there was no paracausal being (especially no Guardians) that could see it or manipulate it.

All told, I think there are subtleties that went unnoticed in Lightfall. I don’t think it excuses the entirety of the expansion, but I think it offers more that was people see on the surface. I’m not trying to defend all of Lightfall, merely pointing out things that I liked that I haven’t seen being discussed by anyone.

[teaandfiction-28]

Fluff - “Never speak of this again.” With Al and/or Trudy, pretty please 😊

@indelibletraces - I *love* the way you think!! 😂

I could write for this prompt over and over so I think I might leave it as a staple on the list. The possibilities are endless...

I was going to wait and post this later in the week ‘cause I didn’t want to bombard you with content but I literally *cackled* my way through writing this and I wanted to share the mirth! 

Really hope you enjoy! 💛

—————————

Prompt: “Never speak of this again."

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: None

Timeline: Set between C7 and C8 of ‘Brand New Day’.

“Ok, wait for my signal. We spook these assholes and they’ll go scorched earth.”

Hank killed the transmission, listening to a ripple of confirmations from his team before he pressed the radio against his lips, eyes trained on the derelict stash house that they had been surveilling ever since Kevin and Adam had disappeared from view almost an hour ago. It was supposed to be a simple buy-bust, in and out inside of ten minutes but, thus far, he hadn’t heard hide nor hair from either of his officers. 

“The hell are they doin’ in there?” He grumbled, jerking his arm away from his body to get a glimpse of his watch before returning his forearm to the strip of plastic just inside the window, fingers tapping rhythmically in an unusual display of impatience. 

“They’ll call it if they need to Hank.” Trudy reasoned, casting a glance across the cab towards her friend. The two Intelligence Officers had been cultivated by the very best and there was no doubt in Trudy’s mind that they would know when to pull the plug if the time came but his insistent tapping was making her unnecessarily anxious.

“So, how’re the sleepless nights treatin’ you?” Trudy asked, hoping that idle chit chat about his newborn would distract him from his goddamn tapping! 

“Last time I slept through the night was before Justin and Erin got their drivers permits.” He muttered with a huff of amusement. He had lost count of the number of nights he had lain awake waiting for the phone to ring and, knowing them both as he did, it had...many times. “At least I got some company now.”

As a matter of fact, he actually quite enjoyed those quiet moments in the middle of the night where it was just the two of them pacing the length of the nursery, her warm weight nestled securely against his chest and her sweet baby scent surprisingly soothing as he bounced, rocked and shushed her back to sleep. 

“Kate doin’ okay at home all day?”

He hiked a shoulder, shifting slightly in his seat. “It’s not been easy but she’s findin’ her rhythm.”

While her transition into motherhood hadn’t been without its hurdles, he wasn’t at all surprised by how naturally Kate had adjusted to parenting. Having been through the process once before, he sometimes forgot just how soul destroying it could be to cradle a tiny human in your arms, screaming at the top of their little lungs and having absolutely no idea how to get them to stop. She valiantly fought to put on a brave face every time Alexis’s earsplitting wails would fade into little whimpers the moment he stepped through the door and scooped her into his arms but he could see in her eyes how much the thought of not properly bonding with her firstborn was killing her. But with time and patience, she had steadily grown in confidence and both mom and baby appeared to be thriving. 

Before Trudy could respond, his cell phone began to vibrate in the centre console, Kate’s caller ID flashing up on the screen. He connected the call via the bluetooth speakers and instantly his SUV was filled with the familiar sound of Alexis howling in the background.

“Everything okay?” He asked in lieu of a greeting, his brow pinched as he instinctively listened for the subtle nuisances that differentiated the fussy from the serious. 

“Aside from the fact we’ve had two blowouts in about as many hours, everything’s peachy.” Was Kate’s slightly terse reply and he couldn’t help but grin in amusement having already been on the receiving end of an explosive diaper once already.

It soon became clear the that the cry he was hearing was a ‘you’ve dunked me in the bath twice today and now I’m royally pissed’ kind of cry. Bath times had been categorised as a ‘daddy task’ early on given how much of a fuss Alexis made being at submerged in a tub full of soothing warm water and, obviously, the experience was much more bearable when you had your favourite person on hand to get you through it. 

“Listen, um, could you stop at the drugstore on your way home?”

“What do you need?” He asked, thinking that she might be out of diapers or wipes given the unfortunate morning she’d had but what she actually asked for was so unexpected that it stunned him to silence. 

“Nipple what?” He eventually blurted when his brain finally caught up with her request. 

“Nipple cream. Between you and your continually ravenous daughter, my nipples could guide Santa’s sleigh right now.”

“Christ Almighty Kate.” He mumbled, trying desperately to look anywhere other than Trudy who had, thus far, remained blessedly albeit suspiciously silent. 

Of course he knew the toll breastfeeding was taking on her body and, admittedly, his obsession with her chest hadn’t waned since she’d given birth so stopping to pick up some products that would ease her discomfort felt like the least he could do. 

“It’s in a pink jar.” She continued, entirely oblivious to that fact that she was on loud speaker and he was, unfortunately, not alone. “You know the one, it’s next to the lube on the nightstand.”

‘Oh sweet Jesus.’

Never before had he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him more than he did in that very moment. Grinding out a few words of acquiescence, he jabbed his index finger at the button on the steering wheel and cancelled the call as quickly as he could, the car suddenly falling completely silent. 

For a few painfully long moments, neither of them said a word. Hank idly wondered if she’d just let it slide but he had known Trudy for far too long to even begin hoping that he’d get a free pass on something this embarrassing! Typically Hank was a man who valued his privacy but Trudy was one of the very few individuals who had enough dirt on him to fill a damn canyon. 

“Ya know, I’ve known you over thirty years and yet I feel like I’ve learned more about you in the last thirty seconds-”

Hank scrubbed a hand over his face with a groan of utter mortification, resigning himself to the fact that it was probably going to cost him a fortune in favours, scotch and candy to buy her silence on this one.

“I’m beggin’ you Trudy...please, let’s just...never speak of this again.”

He shot her his best pleading expression but he instantly knew it was a lost cause when she levelled him with a look that very clearly said she’d be filing this particular incident away for future use. 

“Oh, not a chance.” She scoffed, folding her arms across her chest with what could only be described as a shit-eating grin plastered across her face. 

His fiancé owed him, big time. 

[bahngray]

I JUST WANNA BE YOURS

Disclaimer This work is for mature audience.

Pairing - bangchan x reader

Synopsis- Are you in love with a person or an idea?

Parts - Chapter 1 , Chapter 2

Y/n - We had been going out for more than a month at that time and he invited me to his studio. It was when they were making Levanter and he said he wanted me to be the first one who listens to the tracks.

Though I knew what he really meant by that, he was just making an excuse for having me over since we couldn't meet up much around that period of time due to their new album coming up he was really busy. So I let him have his time because I didn't want him to have trouble at work because of our relationship.

Bangchan- I hadn't told the members about y/n even then but they seemed to have an idea about it you know when u start living with people they just know when ur hiding things from them.

I invited y/n to my studio and asked all the members to practice by themselves that day but they were pretty sus about the whole thing and just bugged me to my studio. I was trying to explain the situation with something that would convince them but that's when y/n called me.

My phone buzzed while displaying "Babe" on the screen and when the members saw it they literally lost it screaming, shocked and then Han just went ahead and took the phone, sliding it to answer while the other members held me so that I would not be able to move.

My heart pounded in my chest as I thought of the possibilities of how they would react to y/n once she comes up to my studio.

Han puts the phone on speaker, "Hey, I'm here in the lobby" She spoke softly and it felt as if I could melt right then and there due to the softness of her voice but I held my expressions back.

"Wait up I'm coming down to the lobby" Han beams loudly, and rushes out the door to head down the lobby with my phone in his hand.

I struggle to get out of the grip of the members but at last sigh in defeat when I see y/n laughing with Han walking up to my studio.

She looked ethereal on that red silk dress she was wearing, with an just the right amount of cleavage showing and her bare legs made me lose my mind. She just looked like a piece of diamond which I would cherish for the rest of my life.

When she saw me she walked up to me and started laughing, at this sight all the members also started laughing. At first I just couldn't get it why they laughing until y/n told me how red Mt face had become.

I almost died out of embarrassment right then and there. "Okay so since you all already have guessed or known yes this is y/n and she is my girlfriend, we have been dating for more than a month and yeah that's about it"

"Now can you guys leave me and my girlfriend alone so that we can't spend some "alone time" together?"  I said breaking the embarrassment I felt.

"Yeah yeah sure, but we'll see you tonight" saying this felix walks past me looking right in the eye.

"And if u Chan hyung ever annoys you y/n let us know we'll teach him a lesson" changbin says loudly while making a neck slicing motion with his fingers and points at me.

The members finally leave us alone after 10 mins of bickering. I turn to face y/n and try to explain why the members were acting so weird, "You don't have to explain" her expressions soft and warm as she looks at me.

Y/n - "so why did u ask me to come her?" I say receiving a smirk from him. He steps forward cornering me with the door. In a flash his hands go around my waist and his lips crash on mine. I shudder at the feeling of this familiarity, his warm breath against my skin makes me feel lightheaded as he touches me in the places I need him the most.

"Chris...mmmh...we have....mmmh...to stop" I say softly pushing him. He holds me tightly not making me able to move a bit. This man, he was so strong it made me feel weak to my knees. While he kept kissing me softly but hungrily and his hands were roaming around my body until they found their way under my silk dress and I shivered at the sensation of his hands pulling my breasts out of my bra and squeezing them softly.

"Ch..mmmmh...Chris...mmmh...we're...gonna get...mmh..c-" I say pushing him a bit more harder this time. His breaks the kiss looking at me with lust in his eyes.

"I just need you" he says breathlessly and pulls me into a kiss while lifting me up and placing me onto his sofa, as I sat on his lap.

His hands went around my breasts as he unclasped the bra and put his head under dress. I had far long lost to him and I was a moaning mess as he sucked on my hardened buds while squeezing the other one when we heard a knockon the door.

"Chan I'm coming in" his manager says form the outside as the doorknob twists to open. In that moment I felt as if I was going to lose everything I had earned, that I would have to give up on this relationship, on us.

Chan looks even more concerned. And just as his manager was about to head inside the room someone calls him form the outside making him shut the door and I quickly get off of Chan and start fixing myself up and he does the same.

I peck Chan goodbye and wipe the stain of my lipstick form his lips and head out of the studio. Thoughts swirling in and out of my mind as I walk out of the company building, outside as the scorching sun hits my skin leaving a burning sensation.

I loved him, I really loved him. That was the only thought I had when I left that building. I didn't want our relationship to end. I didn't want to leave him because of him being an idol but I knew he couldn't just risk his career for me.

He couldn't just throw away all his hardwork, all his members, his group for me. That would be selfish of me to keep him do that. So I called him and asked him to stop by my apartment after work.

"Hi, is everything alright baby?" He said coming inside the apartment and intervening his hands with mine.

His soft delicate skin touched mine and I could feel the movements of his nerves on my skin. He smelled like comfort, I rested my head on his chest as I nuzzle my neck into his neck. "What's wrong?" He said so softly that it felt as if his words were coming out like clouds hovering around me.

I held him tight drinking in the fragrance of his body as much as I could. "Y/n tell me, what is it?" He says letting go of the hug and looking at me with his warm brown eyes.

"Can you promise me something?" I said hesitating for a moment as his hands intervened with mine once again. "Yes I can" he says kissing my forehead softly.

"If you ever have to choose between me and your career, always chose your career first" I said while he looked at me with somewhat hurt in his eyes.

"Promise me" I said as a tear rolled down my eyes.

"Chris, please tell me you'd do it"

"Please" I said as tears started streaming down my face.

Bangchan - I couldn't. I just couldn't see her like that. All crumbled like that because of me. I wanted to protect her, hold her tight but I knew I was not capable of it. I didn't belong to myself, I belonged to stray kids and I couldn't just take a decision by myself.

I couldn't just leave the group I made because of a relationship I just started. I couldn't. And I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave y/n because I wanted a future with her. I wanted her, I needed her.

As she lay on my chest sleeping peacefully, her breathing hitting my chest as her hand stayed intervened with mine, I couldn't think of anything else but how I could keep both of them. Stray kids and y/n. How I could maintain a healthy relationship. I didn't know how. But I was eager to find out.

We were preparing for our tour in USA and I had to leave for 3 months and then more 2 months for coming back and forth and yeah so I would not meet y/n for 5 whole months.

When I told her that she congratulated me and told me to go ahead and do big shows, show everyone how capable stray kids were and prove the haters wrong. But I knew deep down inside she was aching. She didn't want me to leave and I couldn't bring her with me.

Y/n - 2 months passed and we weren't in much contact, he was really busy with work and though I knew that I wanted him available at all times, I wanted him to call me everyday, make some time for me.

I wanted a family guy and I knew he couldn't be that. But that's when my mom reminded me that I wasn't interested in anything easy.

We went 4 months without a single text or call and that's when our relationship sank. I was pissed off at him and he didn't even bother to contact. I was just so confused why he was doing that.

I didn't understand why.

I couldn't understand why.

Another month passed without any texts or calls and they were returning in two days. I went to his studio to talk to him. He wasn't there. I went to their dorm he wasn't there either.

Turns out they were out clubbing that night celebrating their successful world tour.

I knew which club they had went to so I got there because I had to talk to him. When I entered the club I saw hyunjin and Han talking with each other until they saw me and their faces gave a startled expression.

I asked them if they knew where Chris was, they exchanged looks but didn't give me a reply so I went searching for him on all the floors of the club.

Until I heard noises from a room beside the stairs and I was dead sure I heard Chris. I knocked on the door but there was no reply. So I entered the room and my whole world crumbled against me as I saw,

Him having sexual intercourse with some girl. His groans and her moans made me sick to my stomach as I heard Hyunjin and Han rushing up against me trying to explain.

"Y/n listen he's drunk, he isn't in his right mind" Han said as hyunjin made me turn to him. My eyes shaking in anger.

"Listen y/n calm down, calm down let's go downstairs okay?" Hyunjin and as he motioned against the stairs.

But I rushed back into the room and screamed, " GET OFF OF THE BED RIGHT NOW!"

Chris looked at me with a grin, at the sight of him he seemed drunk, core bulging out . He seemed wasted. He was off his limits again. I asked Han and hyunjin to pull him off the bed and take him to their dorm.

I went home and I cried, I cried my eyes out. My heart sank in so much pain that it was almost unbearable to contain a stable breathing.

I thought I was living dead. I was losing myself again.

The thought of him having sex with someone else flashed my mind. The thoughts that he was just using me, that he just took me as a one night stand and that was all he thought of me crossed my mind and I lay in my bed sobbing until it was 3am.

I was shaking so much from the amount of crying that I feared I would faint anytime soon.

I calmed down and took some sleeping pills but that couldn't ease the ache I had been feeling.

[wormstacheangel]

When Dean finally rescued Cas from the empty, he expected a happy reunion. He envisioned a strong hug like the first time he had escaped. He expected a long-awaited kiss and repeated confessions that weren’t said with sorrow or heartache. He expected to find the same Cas that was taken, but that would have been too easy.

Cas was left awake, alone, and in complete darkness for months on end.

So when Dean went into the empty, ready to wake up the love of his life, he found Cas curled in on himself—staring blankly out into the void of nothingness. He whispered something so softly and quickly that Dean couldn’t pick up on the actual words, but it sounded familiar. Almost like he was humming a song.

Dean tried to get him to stand up on his own, but he quickly realized that Cas wasn’t even looking at him. His gaze was distant, seeing something Dean can’t even imagine. He then noticed the white film over his eyes dimmed the once bright blue.

His fingertips gently traced over the skin he had only dreamt of touching for months before he took a deep, shaky breath to steady himself. With that slight pause, Dean used whatever desperate strength he had and dragged Cas back to the portal.

Back home.

As they got closer, the light of the portal seemed to startle Cas, and he started to shove Dean away. Dean had to put Cas down so he could take his green jacket off and place it over Cas’s head to calm him before he slowly continued to walk through the portal and into the bunker’s library where Jack, Rowena, Eileen, and Sam were waiting for them.

When they walked through, Dean quickly shushed them as he fell to his knees with Cas still in his arms, hidden under the jacket, and covering his ears at the sudden loud voices surrounding them.

Dean looked around at his family, all sharing the same worried glances knowing they were on the same page. Cas’s welcome home party would be pushed back until further notice.

Cas didn’t cry. His expression didn’t change much at all. All Cas did was sit or lay on Dean’s bed with the lights off. All but the desk light. It was an old lightbulb, so the light wasn’t a bright white like the rest of the place. Instead, it illuminated a soft golden glow against the wall.

Cas squinted at it at first, blinking so inhumanly at it, until all Cas did was stare at it. Whenever Dean made any move to turn it off or even just get near the lamp, Cas made a little whine at the back of his throat.

Little noises were the most Dean can get out of Cas. At least it brought him a little relief. It meant Cas could see him at that moment.

Cas still did that rapid talking or singing whenever it was a little bit too quiet. It made Dean wonder if Cas knew he was out of the Empty. Especially during those times when he would stare right past him, unblinking with cold eyes.

It was only the end of the second week when Dean broke down.

[continue under the cut or on AO3]

He didn’t mean to. He was trying so damn hard to keep it together, especially in front of Cas, but one night he just lost it. He can blame the lack of booze in his system, or as he wants, he can blame Sam, who came up to him about a stupid case. It pissed him off more than it should have. The fact that Sam even believed for a second that he would leave the bunker while Cas was like-well the way he was, just gave him enough of an excuse to raise his voice at someone.

Eileen had to step in and tell him to cool off.

Dean stormed off without a glance back and went to his room. He changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed beside Cas. He laid on his stomach as he wrapped one arm over the top of Cas’s waist, scooting close enough so that he could rest his head on Cas’s shoulder. He then opened his mouth to wish him goodnight just like every night, but something in Dean just broke.

He felt the pressure rise up his throat as he tried to hide his face into the familiar body beside him, but the sob still came.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry it took me so long to go get you. Fuck, Cas, please.” Dean took a shaky breath, sniffling as he reached to hold Cas’s hand closer to him. “We missed- I...I missed you. I missed you so much, Cas.” Dean brought Cas’s hand up to his lips and kissed the knuckles before letting the hand rest by his head. His eyes closed as he sighs, “I love you. So come back to me, okay?"

The only response Dean got was a squeeze of the hand, which was enough hope for the future, and more than Dean could have ever asked for at that moment.

As the days went on, Cas didn’t change. Literally and figuratively. He was still an angel, so there was no need for him to shower or brush his teeth, but Dean swore that Cas’s facial hair was growing, so he liked shaving him at least once a week. Cas seemed to like it by the humming noise he made.

They did learn a couple of things as the days went on.

One, peace and quiet are not what they strive for.

It only brought Cas anxiety, and his humming or singing became much louder and more desperate. They fixed that problem with a Bluetooth speaker constantly playing music in the background, a playlist Jack made mixed in with a playlist Jack helped Dean make. It made the humming stop, and Cas started to roll over in bed. He even sat back against the headboard with his eyes closed a few times.

A month after Cas got back, Dean's phone died in the middle of the night, and the silence must have gotten to him. He covered his ears while he started muttering to himself again. Dean woke up and pulled Cas to his chest while softly sing to him in his still half-asleep phase. He didn’t know why that was his first instinct, but he went along with it cause it started to calm Cas down. Then, Cas held him back for the first time—tucking his head right under Dean's jaw and relaxing.

Dean tried not to stiffen at the touch; if he were honest with himself, he would admit he was trying not to cry because he was busy singing. Busy, not wanting to disrupt this moment.

That night Dean sang all night long until Jack checked on them in the early hours and connected his phone.

Two, always have a light source on.

The lamp was the first one they had. Cas constantly wanted it on, but it bothered Dean all the time when he wanted to sleep. So they bought a cool starlight projector, Sam’s idea, that kept the light on the cement ceiling and not on Dean’s face. Cas seemed to enjoy it as he laid on his back, watching it all night, letting Dean curl up on his side as he slept through the night.

Three, never leave Cas alone.

Nobody wanted to leave Cas alone for more than a minute if they could help it. So they made plans to keep him company at all hours of the day. Of course, they weren’t crowding him. They all came in one by one, except for Dean, who would say, “This is my room. I get to come and go as I damn well please.”

Sam liked to sit by Cas's side and talk nerd like they usually would while cleaning his guns or doing research to help another hunter. He would even pause during the one-way conversation to give Cas some time to answer or try to imagine what Cas would say in that situation. Sam was always calm, wanting to keep it as normal as possible while Cas just stared at him, sometimes his eyebrows knitted together, and Dean had to excuse himself as he felt his chest tighten up.

Eileen sat by his side and watched shows she liked while she talked to Cas out loud and signed so he could hear her voice. Even then, she didn’t talk much. Instead, she let the laptop do the talking as she pets Cas’s hair while sitting on the chair by the bed.

Jack came in the most next to Dean. He liked reading to him or talking about how his skills as the new God have improved thanks to Amara.

"Dad, I hope you'll be proud of me." Jack once whispered to Cas, who was having a bad day, checking out more than usual as he stared off into the distance. Eyes wide and almost screaming.

It was almost the end of the second month when another big mile-stone happened.

Jack was lying in bed with Cas while Dean was at his desk, cleaning his guns obsessively again. Jack was reading him a book he bought during his recent trip to the bookstore with Eileen, it was a Star Wars story.

Jack was getting into the book as he read slower but louder during a big fight scene. He got so excited that he even jumped up and looked back at Cas, "Did you hear that, Dad? He won!"

Cas smiled back at him- a genuine smile- and Dean almost dropped the piece of metal in his hand while Jack froze, his shoulders tightening up while he scrunched up his lips as if trying to hold back his cry.

Instead, he quietly composed himself as he asked in a shaky voice, "You want me to read the rest?"

Cas only blinked at him, keeping the slight smile, and Jack took it as a yes. Jack sat beside him again with a big smile plastered on his face, wiping his eyes every other word, as he rested his head on Cas's shoulder to continue reading. Dean didn’t miss when Cas tilted his head down to rest his cheek on Jack’s hair.

He had to excuse himself again.

After that day, Cas slowly started to open up a little more.

Once Dean woke up with Cas out of bed. Dean was already in full panic mode, his shoes on the wrong feet and jacket inside out as he called out for Sam.

Then just as quick as the panic came, relief flooded him when he found Cas in the kitchen trying to make coffee. He turned towards Dean and gave him the smallest of smiles, but it filled Dean with such solace that he just dragged himself to Cas’s space. Dean held his arms open to press Cas into him, and without a second thought, Cas fell right into him as if it was an everyday normal occurrence.

That was the start of Cas now being up and around the bunker. It was like when a baby starts crawling, everyone keeping tabs on the baby’s first steps, except this baby was an eon old celestial being.

The library, Dean’s room, the Dean-cave, and the kitchen were Cas’s favorite places just to sit. He always had Dean’s headphones on, softly playing music, just in case it went quiet, and it took a while for him to be able to walk around without those.

It was the sixth month when Cas wished Dean a goodnight first and then added, “I love you, Dean.”

Dean fought the lump in his throat, but Cas instantly pulled him in, his arms wrapped securely around him. He had so much he wanted to say to Cas just to hear his voice again, anything to listen to his voice again, but instead, he kisses Cas’s chest before saying, “I love you, too.”

Days came and went. Sometimes it seemed like Cas was getting better as he talked a little more, but then those days would come when he would just stare off into the stars on their ceiling. Not moving an inch or bothering to fake breath like he liked. Those days the music was a little louder, and Cas held on to Dean a little tighter.

“I don’t want to go back. Please,” Cas pleaded as he stared wide-eyed at the darkness in the corner of their room. As if he was having a nightmare with his eyes wide open. “Please don’t make me…I-I don’t want to be in the dark again!”

Dean took Cas’s face in between his hands to hold his gaze. Only talking when he knew Cas was seeing him. “It’s okay, Cas. I got you. Nobody’s taking you away from me ever again.”

“Promise?” Dean felt Cas’s grip at his shoulder, holding him with desperation.

“Promise.”

That’s how Cas became human.

The nightmares have him waking up screaming some days, but at least Cas knew he was safe from the Empty’s clutches.

He was going to live his human life being loved and taken care of, and Dean was happy to say he felt Cas was doing the same for him.