#hes doing rat things like sleeping for 16 hours

[unexpectedbrickattack]

YEAHH i love the idea of them going through the forest together tryin to just. get deliveries done but they keep getting stopped by gnomes that keep coming up to peppino like "hehehe.. omg hii" and hes getting increasingly confused and nervous. by the end hes just steamrolling through crowds of gnomes at top speed to finish his delivery job while tucked under his arm is a very pleased looking gustavo

😭😭😭 hes making it worse and he doesnt even realize it bc hes effortlessly carrying Gus around while running at mach speeds WHILE carrying all of these deliveries like he is so strong and fast and powerful and every other good thing u can think of and the whole time hes like ‘i fucking hate it here, I never know peace in this fucking forest’

[hiddenmoonbeam]

The Nutcracker

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin | ~4k words | Read on Ao3

Here we are, with my entirely unplanned and belated Christmas gift to anyone interested, an au I never knew I needed. It only exists because Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy got stuck in my head out of nowhere one night when I was trying to sleep, and once the idea had formed it wouldn’t leave me alone: a cursed boy, a mouse king turned grey-backed rat, and a good-hearted hero looking at a thing deemed broken and undesirable, and seeing someone lovely instead. This is the beginning of the story. I might write the ending too, because I keep thinking about it. The fate of the middle is more uncertain, though I do have some ideas for that as well. We’ll see how it goes. But for now, I hope you enjoy this. Have a lovely end of the year, and beginning of the next. 💖

It’s Christmas Eve and every inch of Black Manor shines. First the ice sculptures in the garden, followed by the fragrant evergreen garlands hanging around windows and door frames. Candles flicker in chandeliers leading the way from the gates to the great hall. And in there stands the most beautiful tree, so high the star at its top nearly touches the ceiling. It casts a magical light over the sea of gathered guests, glimmering in the women’s dresses and jewellery. The banquet table overflows with delicious dishes, and servants silently pass through the chatting groups carrying trays of sparkling glasses. 

Maybe once upon a time, Sirius enjoyed these occasions. When he was too young to attend, and could spend these endless and magical hours sneaking away from the nanny to spy on the whole spectacle together with his best friend. But that was before said best friend’s parents expressed one too many unorthodox opinions, and the family no longer received an invitation to the yearly party. Before Sirius’s own parents decided he wasn’t a good enough heir, or brother, or potential husband – or person, in general. And now at 16, he would rather sneak away and hide in the attic than play this game of performative small talk with distasteful relatives and their equally bad acquaintances. 

Which is exactly what he’s successfully managed to do. Once he’d made sure enough guests had seen him, greeted them and listened to them boast about themselves, countered backhanded compliments with his own, shot back with a smile and such finesse they wouldn’t realise the insult until later – once all that was done, he made his escape. Praying his mother would be too busy acting the perfect hostess to have time to search for him.

He’s been here in the attic for at least an hour by now, reading his book by candlelight between boxes and old furniture. It’s all calm and quiet, but for the sudden scratching sound somewhere to his right. He ignores it at first, but as the noise grows worse, probably because whatever is causing it got company, he gets up to check what uninvited guests have joined his solitude. And much like he suspected he finds the pair of rats in a dusty corner behind an old table, chewing on what looks like a wooden toy. Sirius shoos at the pests, and watches as they skitter back into the dark. He’d ask where the cats are when they’re needed, but he knows they’re probably being fed by the cook in the kitchen. 

Sirius’s gaze returns to the toy – a nutcracker, he realises. He sighs as he picks up the battered thing; one arm hangs loose, the paint is peeling off, and long jagged cuts cross the wood, both from time and the rats’ teeth. It’s not much to look at, yet something about it tugs at his curiosity. Like a whisper of something old and forgotten. With all its faults it’s rather misplaced in this Manor, where everything is clean and polished, and Sirius can’t help but relate. He wonders where it came from. The attic offers no answers.

It’s risky to return downstairs, but Sirius can no longer focus on the book he brought with him. So as silently as he can manage he sneaks down to his own floor, intending to retrieve the tool box he’s hidden under a floorboard in his room. Before he can get there though, he sees his mother by his locked door, demanding his presence downstairs. She hasn’t yet noticed him at the other end of the hallway, so he quickly slips into the old nursery instead, hoping no one will think to look for him in there among the covered furniture and toys neither he nor his brother has played with for years. It’s a ghostly room; decorated for Christmas like the rest of the Manor despite its lack of use, yet shrouded in shadows cast by the moonlight outside. The tree stands by the long windowed wall opposite the door, visible from outside, all for appearances. Everything else has been frozen in time, waiting for the next generation to bring life to it yet again.

Beneath a white sheet, a few steps into the room, Sirius uncovers the Clockwork Castle the Black cousins once received from the eccentric old clockmaker and inventor, Mr Lupin. The beautiful creation seems to glimmer with a timeless magic, even after all these years. It’s been nearly a decade, but Sirius still remembers his younger self’s fascination with the mechanics of it all. Mr Lupin showed him how to operate it, as well as the box of tools hidden beneath the silvery swans frozen still on the moat. He’s glad for it now, as he finds what he needs to fix the Nutcracker’s broken arm.

In the light from the candle, he settles in the corner farthest away from the door, not to risk the light breaking through the cracks around it and giving him away. Right behind him the moon shines through the tall windows, reflecting in the glass doors of the old toy cabinet. Close beside it, the grandfather clock ticks past eleven thirty.

While he works he tells the Nutcracker in a hushed voice about how much he wishes he could leave his family and the duties they’re set on forcing upon him. His mother caught him kissing a boy last summer, and now she insists on matching him with a suitable wife before he comes of age. Several of these young women are downstairs tonight, waiting for him to show himself again, to dance with them, and behave like the heir he is. How pathetic they’d find him if they knew he’d instead hidden away in this room surrounded by distant memories and childish toys. 

“There,” he says finally, placing the Nutcracker on its feet on the floor with a pleased smile at his handiwork. “As new.” 

The grandfather clock in the corner chimes for midnight – once, twice… but the third one falters. Sirius frowns up at the clock, the slowing pendulum. The fourth chime comes out eerie, the muffled music from downstairs suddenly quiet. 

At the fifth chime, a gust of wind swoops past, from nowhere; the Nutcracker topples over; the candle flame flickers, dies. A sparkle runs up his spine as Sirius rises to his feet, the comfort from just a moment ago now gone. Accompanying the still slowing chimes of the clock, he hears whispers and scurrying noises growing from inside the walls, like hundreds of tiny feet climbing closer. 

Sirius turns, and the room spins with him. Spins and spins, everything in it growing out of proportion while the ghostly chimes echo between the walls, through his head. He stumbles and barely catches himself against an accent table, vaguely aware through the turmoil that the height of it seems wrong; his knees hit the floor and he can no longer reach the edge.

Once everything stills, even the clock now frozen right before the final chime of midnight, Sirius stares up at furniture ten times their normal size, towering above him where he lies on the floor. To his right stands the extinguished candle, now nearly as tall as him. And to his left is the Nutcracker, the toy shimmering as the stiffness melts away, revealing a boy with skin scarred the same way the wood was marked. Sirius stares, mouth agape, while the boy, not quite human but also far from a lifeless piece, blinks back at him, eyes wide. His joints crack painfully as he moves, his motions slower than Sirius’s as they both rise to their feet.

Sirius’s head races with thoughts, one wilder than the last trying to make sense of what is happening. He must have fallen asleep – but that idea even crossing his mind suggests he actually is wide awake. Shrunk to the size of a doll, standing before a Nutcracker-turned-boy. Mind full of questions, but unable to voice any of them.

For a long moment the other boy doesn’t seem to know what to say either. He watches Sirius with a mesmerised expression, eyes flickering back and forth over Sirius’s features. As if it was Sirius who just magically came alive, wood giving way to that adorable face. Then it comes, a low, soft, “oh”. It pierces Sirius’s chest, etches into his core. Oh.

Something sad falls over the boy’s face then, his whole posture, as his eyes trail down to his scarred hands and worn clothes. Sirius knows that look; embarrassment, shame. As much as he hates seeing it, he understands the stark contrast between the two of them. Sirius in his beautifully embroidered waistcoat made especially for the festive occasion, and this boy in a uniform with the red paint peeling off. Because on closer inspection, Sirius realises the fabric isn’t fabric at all; it’s still wood, as are his hands, his almost life-like skin, even the soft curls peeking out from under his hat remain still in the same position no matter how he moves his slightly too large head. Yet he somehow feels more real than any of the guests downstairs.

Sirius reaches out, fingers to the boy’s wrist – and those pretty brown eyes meet his own again. Something passes between them, invisible, curious. Sirius opens his mouth, just about to speak, when a sudden noise from behind him breaks the moment. The boy’s gaze snaps over Sirius’s shoulder, his expression shifting to alarm. Sirius turns, and what he sees freezes the blood in his veins.

All over the other half of the room, from the Christmas tree to the Clockwork Castle, dozens upon dozens of rats have gathered, even more spilling out from the hole in the wall. And at the front stands the largest of them, risen on its hind legs and impossibly tall, a sword in hand, and head crowned with gold. 

The boy gasps, fingers clutching the sleeve of Sirius’s shirt – and suddenly the memories hit, old and filed away, of that Christmas when Mr Lupin presented them the Clockwork Castle. Of the Nutcracker found beneath the tree, and the story Mr Lupin told them about how it’d come to be; of far away lands steeped in magic, where toys come alive among gingerbread houses and castles covered in sugary frosting; of the vengeful Rat King and the cursed princess, and the young man finally breaking it by offering her the nut no one else had been able to crack.

And of course; the curse that befell him instead, turned him wooden and ugly. How the princess’ rejection made him shunned by all and cast out of society. Of the Rat King’s oath to hunt him down; the battle and love that must be won to free him again.

Staring back at the boy now, the terror on his face, Sirius’s own voice whispers in his mind from the past, What’s his name? Mr Lupin looked at him, startled and confused. So Sirius, slightly annoyed that this adult didn’t understand his perfectly reasonable question, added with a precocious tone, He must have a name, has he not?

“Remus,” he breathes now, echoing Mr Lupin’s soft response, and all of a sudden he understands the sadness in the old man’s eyes. The Nutcracker boy looks at Sirius with a similarly startled expression, and through the wood and growing age gap, Sirius sees the resemblance. “You’re Mr Lupin’s son.” 

It’s insane. Absolutely impossible. Yet Sirius is convinced it’s true – with the ghost of a nod, an illusion of tears in his eyes, the long lost Remus Lupin stands before him, the cursed boy from a bedtime story somehow alive and here in Sirius’s old nursery.

“Are you done hiding, little Nutcracker?” the Rat King calls, his wheezing voice sending shivers down Sirius’s spine. “Will you finally let me end your sad existence once and for all?” 

Sirius doesn’t know how he manages to push away from the insanity of it all to act. He scans the room, the army of rats in the opposite end of it moving in on them, and the closed door behind their growing number. Even if Sirius could reach it, there’s no way he would be able to open it while this small. Which only leaves the impossible option to fight, the two of them alone against a murderous army that would have been scary enough at his right size. Now, it’s downright terrifying. 

On the floor beside them lie the small screwdrivers he’d used to fix Remus’s loose arm. He dives for them now, desperate for at least some form of weapon; they’re heavy and awkward, and he hears the Rat King’s mocking laughter as he struggles to hold each with only one hand. He pushes one to Remus, who clumsily manages not to drop it. It’s clear it won’t do. They’ll need something better, something more sword-like, something made for their size–

Sirius’s racing thoughts and feverishly searching gaze finally settle on the toy cabinet, and fragile hope leaps in his chest. If only they can get inside, they’ll have an arsenal of swords and rifles, even cannons, at their disposal, though he has no idea how well any of those toys will actually work. But it’s something. He even thinks he sees movement in there, though he doesn’t dare wish for what that could mean. 

With a quick glance over his shoulder at the approaching rats, Sirius grabs Remus’s hand, and runs. 

“I’m not a fighter, I–I’m only, I was only a clockmaker apprentice,” Remus stammers out. “I don’t know how to–”

“I’m right beside you.” Sirius squeezes his hand, maybe as much to reassure himself as Remus, who stares at him in disbelief. “We will do it together.”

Remus shakes his head, though he looks ill from refusing the help. “I can’t let you–you have nothing to do with this. You might get hurt–”

But I do, Sirius thinks, and he can sense it, somewhere deep down, that it is true. Mr Lupin must have known what he was doing, leaving his cursed son here of all places, all those years ago. There must be more to the story than what he revealed to them back then. There’s a reason this is happening now; a reason Sirius has been magicked into it all, shrunk to fit the missing piece of the puzzle.

When they finally reach the toy cabinet, Sirius sees to his great relief that the movements weren’t an illusion of the moonlight. Behind the glass doors the residents of every shelf now stand up, joining forces to push them open from the inside. As their own rapidly growing side leaps past to the sound of the Rat King’s rage, Sirius can’t help a mad grin from spreading wide. He knows these toys; he gave half of them their personality, and the rest he learned from his brother and cousins. Tin soldiers with many a battle beneath their belts, wooden horses ready to charge, teddy bears with protection sewn into their very seams. Even his cousins’ pretty dolls gather at the rear, brandishing their parasols and purses with determined looks on their rosy faces.

They’re not alone, after all.

One of the toys hands Remus a sword – a real one, it looks like, made sharper and deadly by the same magic that woke them all up. Remus eyes it warily. 

“Do you know what’s needed to break your curse?” the doll asks, while a tin general barks orders for the gathered defence now between them and the rats. 

Remus looks towards the Rat King who swings at the first toys within reach with maddening force, and his wooden hand trembles a little as he grips tighter around the hilt. “I do,” he whispers. 

The doll gives a curt nod. “But you are not yet ready,” she continues. “The Rat King is a great warrior, and tonight you would not stand a chance against him. You must first return home, and learn how to defeat him.”

“Home?” Sirius asks, confused.

She points with her arm, and as if on cue, the Clockwork Castle lights up above the chaos of rats and toys, the mechanics coming alive, a musical hum rising from its core. “Once you’ve entered he cannot follow you that way, as those gates only work for toys and invited guests. It will buy you time.”

“But… the rest of you–”

“We can be mended. We are not fragile like bleeding humans.” She sends Sirius a look at that, before turning back to Remus. “Nor cursed to oblivion should we lose.” 

Sirius nods, while accepting another sword from a different toy. Again he scans the scene for their best option. The table with the castle still lies behind enemy lines, but the rats around the legs seem unnerved by the musical tunes, scattering away from it. Still, they will have to fight their way over there. He’s never had to fend for his or anyone else’s life before, not properly, but at least he’s somewhat prepared thanks to his fencing lessons. Remus on the other hand looks ill again; if a wooden face could pale, his would have lost all colour. But meeting Sirius’s eyes, determination still settles over his features.

It’s chaos. Tin cannon balls break through the army from a distance, the firearms powered by what can only be magic. Rats tear into the soft bellies of the dolls and teddy bears, stuffing spreading over the floor like fluffy intestines. The bizarre scenario is made even worse by the sickening feeling of slicing the sword through actual flesh, the screaming rats falling at Sirius’s feet. His hair, loose from the ribbon at his neck, whips into his face as he turns to fend off the next attack.

The Rat King fights to get to them. But the toys do their best to keep him away, shielding Remus while helping to clear a path towards the Clockwork Castle. Sirius doesn’t know why they’re so ready to protect him, or how they’re aware of his foretold and final confrontation with this vicious enemy. But it’s hardly the strangest part of the night, and so he lets his questions slide to the back of his mind, full focus instead on the task at hand.

They reach the table, wooden guards from the Castle already at the edge of it, throwing down a string of yarn for them to climb. Sirius pushes Remus towards it, not allowing him to argue which of them should go last. “I’m right behind you,” he urges when Remus hesitates. “Go!”

Behind them, just as Sirius grabs for the end of the string and the guards haul them upwards, the Rat King breaks through the defence. Sirius climbs as fast as he can, hoping against hope the rat won’t manage to follow after. But it’s a futile wish; he digs his claws into the white tablecloth, pulling himself closer with practised strength and speed. Far too soon he’s at Sirius’s feet, cruel eyes shining with malice as he grabs at his ankle, tugging hard. 

Sirius tightens his grip of the string, knuckles whitening, palms burning. He kicks down hard, boot connecting with the Rat King’s ugly snout. He lets out an angry roar, clawing towards Sirius’s leg again. But the force was enough to have him lose his grip of the cloth, and he tumbles back down to the floor.

Heart hammering in his chest, Sirius manages to climb the last bit to the edge. Remus is still there with the toy guards, wide-eyed and reaching down to grab Sirius by the arm. Sirius lets himself be pulled up, and even as the helping guard steps back to let him catch his breath, Remus’s hold on him remains.

One of the guards tells them they must hurry, that the rat is climbing again – and they’re back on their feet, rushing towards the towering, shining Castle now finally so close. They cross the moat, the crystal clear water swirling around the graceful swans gliding over the surface beneath the drawbridge. It’s raised behind them, forming the first solid structure between them and the threat. Cutting it all off like this place in itself is a different world altogether. Or at least an in-between, a break, a moment to breathe.

The courtyard looks even more magical like this, viewed from within rather than observed from above like by a god. Sirius stares, turning in a circle to admire the insane details of Mr Lupin’s handiwork, and how this magical night has spelled it all to life. On every side, figures are moving around, cogs and gears turning in their complicated patterns. Miniature Christmas trees line the roads, dusted with sugary snow and sparkling ornaments. Small lanterns hang on strings between beautifully carved columns, casting the setting in a warm glowing light. To their right a couple of wooden children skate around a frozen pond, a decorative fountain splashing water closeby despite the illusion of cold. To the left, a family of snowmen clad in hats and scarves sway to the tunes of the music. And ahead is the castle itself, front gates glimmering like a portal to yet another realm.

With a lurching sensation in his stomach, Sirius realises that’s because it is.

“The Rat King cannot breach these walls,” a guard informs them. “You will be safe here until the battle is over.” He says the last bit to Sirius, who responds with a grateful nod, though he has no intention to stay behind.

“I cannot thank you enough,” Remus says, also facing Sirius. Not until now does he let go of Sirius’s arm, and he finds he misses the contact instantly. “For all the help to get here, but also for fixing my arm, talking to me…” Sirius’s cheeks heat up when remembering what he’d been saying before all this started. But Remus doesn’t seem the slightest bit judgemental or uncomfortable about it. He’s wearing that mesmerised expression again, eyes flickering over Sirius’s face. “I feel like you even woke me up, though I cannot say how.” 

“I can’t take credit for that,” Sirius chuckles, averting his eyes and scratching at his own neck. His gaze trails back to the gold breaking through the opening gates, a strange, invisible pull tugging him closer.

Beside him, Remus adds apologetically, “I wish I knew how to turn you back to normal.”

“We’ll have to figure that out too, then.” Sirius steps towards the gates, a lot less concerned about his own state than he probably should be. He looks back at Remus, who frowns. “What? I’m coming with you, of course.”

An uncertain pause, then, “Of course.” Remus lets out a little laugh, nervous yet so endearing, before adding softly, “I don’t even know your name.”

“Sirius.”

Remus stills midstep, eyes widening. “Like the star.” 

Sirius almost responds with a good-natured eyeroll, pointing out that hardly warrants such an awed expression. But then he hears Remus’s added murmur, a whisper from the past, echoing the end of Mr Lupin’s tale.

His fate now lies in the hands of the stars.

Sirius freezes too, unease piercing his chest. Mr Lupin’s mysterious words were spoken with promise, hope, as he placed the Nutcracker with the older Black children. Three young girls then, now all of them married off, while Mr Lupin’s son remains in his wooden prison. And it hits Sirius then, that this role was never meant for him. He’s just the one the magic has to settle for, with the desired options gone. The idea of a part to play suddenly doesn’t feel as welcome anymore. Not like this, not if it means he will wield power over the outcome he isn’t supposed to have. It’s one thing to offer help, to do whatever he can to support and encourage. Another entirely to have the future of this already so mistreated boy laid into his hands, trusting him to somehow make the right choice, the one that will save him. It’s too much responsibility, too easy to fail, to ruin everything. And this time he won’t be able to fix him again, like his broken arm.

Remus eyes him in silence for a moment, head tilted. “You can stay here,” he starts, but Sirius quickly shakes his head. 

“No, no it’s not that.” Silence again, while Sirius chews on his lip, his words. “I don’t know how to help you. I don’t know what it means, what I’m meant to do.”

Something soft falls over Remus’s face, a small smile meeting Sirius’s frown. “We will figure it out,” he says, holding out his hand. “Together?”

Ahead of them, the gates stand open. Golden light pulsing within the frames. The pull tightens, whispers wordlessly, their destination waiting beyond the shimmering veil. Remus faces it with his back, his edges shining with the magic. Sirius meets his gentle eyes, looks at the scarred fingers still held out between them. And he realises it doesn’t matter he isn’t meant to be here – wanted or not, he’s the help Remus has been given, and he won’t leave his side out of fear of failure. 

So Sirius returns the smile; moves forward; takes Remus’s hand. Gives it a squeeze, to reassure them both. “Yes,” he agrees. “Together.”

And side by side, they enter the unknown.

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Worth it

Masterlist

A/N: More fluff? More fluff! Based off this horrible little shitpost from yesterday. So here we have 16 y/o Walter, and his 10-ish year younger, annoying baby brother Mikey. God help me, what have I become?

Characters: Walter Marshall, littlebrother!Mikey, OFC

Summary: Walter is babysitting his little brother Mikey while their mom is away for the weekend. He's also on a date...

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: Fluff. Vague hint at 'underage'(?) sex (They're both sixteen.)

@geralts-yenn @deandoesthingstome @keanureevesisbae @fvckinghenrycavill @ellethespaceunicorn @peaches1958 @sillyrabbit81 (I'm almost sorry to bother y'all with this)

“Walter! Walter, look!” The only thing I can do is glare at the little kid jumping around the room. My date is already distracted by the unruly projectile that is my baby brother. She was seconds away from kissing me, for fuck’s sake.

“Oh my god! Is that your little brother?” Oh, fuck no! Not again. The little bastard always does this. Whenever I have a girl over, Mike just has to swoop in and steal the show. They all think he’s adorable. And they’re not wrong, but they’re also not stuck with him every goddamn day.

“Yeah,” I growl. “Mikey, you’re supposed to be in bed. Get lost.”

“I can’t sleep!” Of course he can’t. You need to sit still for longer than thirty seconds to be able to sleep, and Mikey just can’t do that. It also may or may not be slightly before his bedtime on weekends, but I just want the couch and the TV – and Christina – to myself for a few hours.

“Mike, for fuck’s sake! Come on, back to bed!” It’s a good thing mom is not here to hear that language, because I’d be in trouble. In fact, I'm always in trouble. I'm already banned from going out tonight because mom decided I'd make a fine – free – babysitter. She usually pays me to watch her youngest spawn – of Satan – but there was a homework mishap again – Mike’s doing – and trouble at school means trouble at home. Did I blame the kid? No. He’s my little brother. My annoying, obnoxious, and right now; cock-blocking, little brother.

“No!” Of course not. Because why would this little rat listen to me so I can have a quiet evening with my girlfriend? Who the fuck knows.

“Mike, seriously, get the fuck out of here! Chris, hold on a minute.” I get off the couch to chase after Mikey, but he’s fast.

“Walter,” Chris says as she turns the TV off. It’s a good thing she has the common sense to do that, because that movie was not suitable for a six year old kid. “He’ll get tired.”

“Neveeeeeer!” Mikey says as he runs past her. He’s just doing laps around the living room now.

“He means that.” I slump back on the couch, next to Christina. “Mikey, can you stop screaming, please? And go back to bed.” This kid is exhausting. And he hasn’t even been here for five minutes. He stops running right in front of Chris.

“He wants to kiss you. That’s why I have to go sleep.” The little snitch.

“Is that so?” Chris laughs and looks at me, I can’t do anything other than just shrug. She’s not stupid, she knows I’d be happy to do more than hold hands on this damn couch.

“It’s the weekend. I can stay up until nine.” Chris gives me another look.

“That’s not tr...”

“Walter Marshall, you are a terrible liar!”

“Mum was supposed to take him to grandma!” It’s a weak excuse for sending your baby brother off to bed well before his bedtime, I know that. But I just wanted a few hours to make out with my hot girlfriend, is that so wrong?

Chris quickly covers Mikey’s ears. “Your mom is gone until tomorrow, right? I wouldn’t worry about curfew: My folks are out of town and I’ll happily stay a little longer...” She hesitates for a moment. “Or… Stay the night? But be nicer to your brother, that would really help your case right about now.” I shoot Chris an apologetic grin while I rub the back of my neck. I probably shouldn’t have tried to lock my baby bro away. And he is quite the little charmer, most girls I bring home – there have been like three in the past two years, settle down – love him to bits. He’s a carbon copy of me when I was his age, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was fucking adorable. So is Mike. He’s bouncier, though. And impatient, and hyperactive, and loud. Very loud.

“Hey, Mikey, do you want to watch a movie with us?” I say. Yeah, he’ll be in bed a little late, but if it wins me some brownie points with Chris right now...

“Can we watch the Lion King?” And he’s jumping again. Fantastic.

“No, we can’t watch the Lion King,” I say sternly. Not unless we want him to keep running for another hour.

“Why can’t we watch the Lion King, Walter?” Now Chris is the one pouting at me with sad puppy eyes. In fact, both of them are now pouting at me with sad puppy eyes. This is a nightmare.

“Because,” I say as I grab Mike off the floor and put him on the couch, “the songs make him all hyper.” Chris seems to accept that as a valid enough reason.

“How about Ice Age?” The look on Mikey’s face is a very clear ‘yes’.

“Oh, I love Ice Age!” Chris says. Her voice is genuine, as is her smile. She crawls onto the chaise and gets comfortable with a blanket.

“Can I sit with the pretty girl?” Mike doesn’t wait for an answer and just crawls over the couch towards her until he’s in her lap.

I grab some drinks – Chris is smart enough to ask for water, because the first thing Mike yells is: “I want some too!” – and make myself comfortable on the couch a solid Mike-width away from Chris. I manage to still put an arm around her shoulder, although Mikey is trying very hard to push me away. It’ll be fine. He gets snuggly when he gets tired – and he honestly can’t keep this up for that much longer.

“Hey, stop pushing your brother,” Chris says. It’s a fucking miracle, but he actually stops and looks at her.

“What’s your name?” He asks her. Oh she’s falling for those big blue eyes, I can just see it happening.

“Chris,” she says.

“That’s a boy’s name!” Mike laughs.

“It’s not a boy’s name, it’s my name. And it’s short for Christina,” she explains patiently. It’s the kind of patience I have with him on vacations, when I don’t have homework or girls or ice hockey to worry about.

“Christina is a pretty name!” Mike says. That, and forty more things before the opening credits of the movie are through.

He doesn’t make it past the first half with the chatter, though, and just before the end, he’s curled up in Chris’ lap – fast asleep.

Mom comes home just as I have to leave for my hockey game.

“Thanks, Walter,” she says, and I silently thank her for staying out overnight. I head off as fast as possible, because I’m going to be running late if I don’t. Chris is coming with me. She’s already waiting in her car – supposedly to pick me up, but the truth is that her car never left the driveway. It’s a quiet drive, with a couple of awkward flirty smiles as we both remember last night.

We even win the game. That’s an understatement: we demolish the other guys. This is starting to look like a really great weekend! Chris kisses me goodbye when she drops me off back home, and it fucking takes my breath away. I walk into the kitchen ready to tell mom everything about the game, when I hear Mikey’s voice right as I stroll around the corner.

“...and then this morning she made me pancakes!”

“This morning?” Mom asks, and I wish the ground would disappear from beneath my feet. “Mikey, baby, go watch TV.” Mike immediately gets up and disappears into the living room. Mom shuts the door behind him.

“Walter Marshall, you are in some serious shit,” she hisses.

Eh. Worth it.

[welikeclownsinthishouse]

Entry number 16 for @ailesswhumptober

Day 16: amputation/lab rat

He got brought back out earlier than he hoped he would but he knew he would be fine in the end. He could deal with another weird injection, could deal with another mystery illness.

When he got wheeled into the familiar room however he realized with dread that there were no needles this time. The only things lying on the small table he got placed next to were a scalpel and a small saw.

Ben's eyes widened in fear when he realized what they were planning to do and he tried to open his mouth, to yell or even plead but the muzzle wouldn't let him.

He could do nothing but watch as one of the Russians switched on a light that had never been on before and the sudden harsh, fluorescent lights overhead cast an eerie glow on the not so sterile surroundings. He could feel the cold, unforgiving metal of the table beneath him and a shiver ran over him.

The room was filled with the low chatter of the people doing this to him and Ben wished he could understand them. His gaze was fixed on the Russian holding the saw though, his face was obscured by a mask like it usually was.

He clenched his teeth as the surgeon's scalpel made its first incision on his upper arm, right where they usually stuck the needles. The pain was excruciating, an intense burning sensation that seemed to sear through his very soul. His muscles tensed and he struggled to suppress a scream, his nails digging into the edges of the metal table he was lying on.

With each deliberate cut, he felt another wave of pain needling through his whole being, a pain he had never felt before. The room seemed to start spinning, and his vision blurred as tears welled up in his eyes. He tried to blink them away but another deliberate cut made that impossible so he just tried to think about something else, anything that might help.

For a few minutes, he was able to distract himself with thoughts of his old team until he heard metal on metal at least. He glanced in the direction of the noise and felt another bout of dread when he saw that the guy had put away the scalpel only to grab the saw Ben had seen earlier.

Only seconds later he felt the bone saw's harsh grinding, heard the way his bone got split in two. The sickening thud as his arm finally fell into a metal tray would be etched into his memory forever.

He didn't really notice the scientists getting rid of the saw, didn't see what they did to his arm but he did notice that they didn't wheel him out. They just sat on chairs, surrounding him and keeping their eyes on him.

The dull pain in his arm and his face stayed with him as he cast a glance around the room, trying very hard not to look at the place his arm should be in.

He noticed his eyes grow heavy not long after and fought hard with himself not to fall asleep, he didn't want to miss anything they might do. The exhaustion of the day won out however and he fell into a restless sleep.

As he woke up, presumably only hours later considering each of the scientists that were with him previously were still there, still talking amongst each other, he could feel a deep throbbing pain in his shoulder.

As his eyes focused the pain intensified, and he grit his teeth, trying to stop himself from trying to scream; his mouth was already sore and bloody from trying to before and the muzzle was still there. It felt as if a thousand needles were being driven into his shoulder, and he couldn't even do anything to escape the agony.

As the minutes passed, he noticed something strange, a tingling sensation in the remnants of his arm, and he watched in a weird mix of horror and awe as tiny buds began to form. It was like watching a gruesome, yet fascinating, miracle unfold before his eyes, but the pain didn't let up; it only got worse as the new tissue grew and stretched.

He clenched his fist and sweat started pouring down his face as he stared at the new limb growing out of his shoulder. The regeneration process is incredible, but all he can think about is how excruciatingly painful it is. He longed for the sweet relief of anesthesia, or death he wasn't picky, but he knew neither would be granted to him.

When his arm was finally fully grown, the skin still looking pink and disgustingly raw, he finally looked back at the Russians still in the room. His stomach dropped at the sheer and open excitement on their faces, all of them talking over each other in a language Ben couldn't understand.

When one of them stood up he hoped they would bring him back to his chamber finally but said hope was squashed when the guy picked up the scalpel, pointing it at his leg.

Ben really hoped he wouldn't wake up the next time he fell asleep but he knew deep down that he wasn't that lucky. He had never been lucky.

[sumi-sprite]

I LOVE these, let's goooo!

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

Currently: Omeluum (BG3), Blurg (BG3, Omeluum's husband you can fight me on it), WD Gaster (UTDR), Pitch Black (RotG), SCP 049 (SCP), SCP 035 (SCP, 049's dubious partner, fight me behind the Wendy's). Probably a few more but I'm still waking up lo

2. lighter or matches?

Probably lighter...I have a bunch of nice ones from ZIPPO, but I like the striking of matches. very satisfying.

3. do you leave the window open at night?

In summer, YES. I live in the desert TwT

4. which cryptyd being do you believe in?

Honestly, kind of all of them?

5. what color are your eyes?

Brown!

6. why did you do that?

WHO TOLD YOU?! @prinx-quail I WILL FUCK YOU UP IF YOU RATTED ME OUT-!

7. hair-ties or scrunchies?

Scrunchies. I have to. My hair is too thick/heavy for regular ties. My hair EATS them.

8. how many water bottles are in your room right now?

Two, though one is in use, the other is plastered with stickers and basically a decoration right now lol

9. which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

I can't drink coffee, it makes my tummy upset TwT Love the smell of it though!

10. would you slaughter the rich?

Absolutely.

11. favorite extracurricular activity?

Currently don't have one, but I did volunteer work at the county morgue when I was in community college. HIGHLY recommend it if you're curious out forensics, the medical/post-mortem fields, or you're just curious. Sadly my favorite pathologist left and things got tense with the workload, so I also left.

12. what kind of day is it?

A bit cloudy right now, and VERY warm. The monsoons are on their way!

13. when was the last time you ate?

Last night? I had a protein drink this morning, but I'm not sure that counts.

14. do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

WHO DOESN'T??

15. are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

Of a kitty cat, yes~

16. can you drive?

Yes!

17. are you farsighted or nearsighted?

VERY nearsighted QwQ

18. what hair products do you use?

I'm kind of between products trying to find a good one. I used to order function of beauty custom shampoo/conditioner, but it got expensive.

19. imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

Sure!

20. do you say soda or pop?

Soda. I think "pop" is more of an east coast term, and I've always lived on or near the west coast.

21. something you’ve kept since childhood?

I have the original hasbro Mewtwo plushie from '99! That poor thing has been through SO much hell. Tantrums, pool parties, snuggling, strangling from frustration, lost like 3 whole times, dog slobber, and one instance of when build-a-bear became huge and I decided I needed to put a heart in him to make him "real". He's lost his "chest plate" and the back recently got the 20+yo stitching replaced! He always has a place on my bookshelf.

22. what type of person are you?

I'm still figuring that out, but overall, I think I'm a good person!

22. how do you feel about chilly weather?

LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!! All of you who say hot/warm weather is better are wrong.

23. if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

I don't know, just hanging out I guess? lol

24. perfume/body spray or lotion?

Lotion. My skin is super sensitive and dry, perfumes and sprays often irritate it sadly TwT

25. a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

In my head? Oh geez...classic shower thought scenarios. Man I should have said THIS to that person X years ago. Winning arguments with a mic drop moment. I'm pretty sure everyone does this lol

26. about how many hours of sleep did you get?

About...9 hours I think? I get WAY more sleep in summer since the heat makes me drowsy. Fall and winter is when I'm an early bird.

27. do you wear a mask?

Sadly not as often as I should, though I know I'd be safer doing so whenever I go out.

28. how do you like your shower water?

It kind of depends? I go for fairly warm/hot usually, but sometime I just want a cool shower because I want to cool off or just vibe.

29. is there dishes in your room?

Nope! (I had to look around to be sure lol)

30. what type of music keeps you grounded?

Lofi or ambience music. I usually listen to dark academia when I need to focus or get into a specific mood.

31. do you have a favorite towel?

No, not really. Whatever's clean/dry?

32. the last adventure you’ve been on?

I sadly can't recall off the top of my head. I'm a bit of a homebody, but I want to travel. I'm just broke.

33. is there a song you know every word to by heart?

Dark On Me by Starset! I often played this song when I left my evening classes and just belted the longer and drawn out lyrics to keep me awake.

34. what’s your timezone?

MST!

35. how many times have you changed your url?

I think once...?

36. someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

A couple very good friends of mine! We all met through fanfiction ironically, and have met IRL!

37. a soap bar that smells good?

I...don't know, I don't use soap bars lol

38. do you use lip balm?

All the time. I have to if I want to not have a mummy mouth out here in the desert lol

39. did you have any snacks today?

Not yet but boy do I want some...

40. how do you take your coffee?

I can't drink coffee TwT

41. an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

Oof...I admit, I play Time Princess nearly daily.

42. what’s your take on spicy foods?

I'm the worst mexican. I can't stand spicy food, BUT! I am very slowly working my way into enjoying very mild spice. My tastes have been evolving recently so I call that growth! Though I doubt I'll get to my dad's level. He's the "hurts so good", "make me regret everything", absolutely wants to scream in the bathroom, sweating over his green curry kind of spicy.

43. you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

A certain previous presidential candidate currently facing like, three dozen felonies (last I checked).

44. can you remember what happened yesterday?

Not...much because I really didn't do much yesterday. I was just hanging out at my computer lol

45. favorite holiday film?

Hands down, Nightmare Before Christmas! A classic for two holidays!

46. what was the last message you sent?

Texting my dad I'm at the store and if he wants anything lol

47. when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

Gods, it was...2021? I was way above drinking age, but I just never had a desire for or interest in alcohol. I've tasted beer and hated the taste. Same with wine. But my first time drinking and FINISHING a drink was when we were at olive garden and I got the spiked strawberry lemonade! I could BARELY taste the vodka, so it was enjoyable.

48. can you skip rocks?

I can if I find the right ones!

49. can i tag you in random stuff?

Sure!

This was fun! I tag whoever wants to dot his lol

(Also I realize there's 50 questions and I ended on 49. I cannot for the life of me figure out where I missed any questions or miscounted qwq)

here’s weirder asks

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

lighter or matches?

do you leave the window open at night?

which cryptyd being do you believe in?

what color are your eyes?

why did you do that?

hair-ties or scrunchies?

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

would you slaughter the rich?

favorite extracurricular activity?

what kind of day is it?

when was the last time you ate?

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

can you drive?

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

what hair products do you use?

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

do you say soda or pop?

something you’ve kept since childhood?

what type of person are you?

how do you feel about chilly weather?

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

perfume/body spray or lotion?

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

do you wear a mask?

how do you like your shower water?

is there dishes in your room?

what type of music keeps you grounded?

do you have a favorite towel?

the last adventure you’ve been on?

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

what’s your timezone?

how many times have you changed your url?

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

a soap bar that smells good?

do you use lip balm?

did you have any snacks today?

how do you take your coffee?

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

what’s your take on spicy foods?

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

can you remember what happened yesterday?

favorite holiday film?

what was the last message you sent?

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

can you skip rocks?

can i tag you in random stuff?

[megan-loves-surveys]

#47.

Under the read more.

1 • favorite dried fruit? Apricots probably.

2 • do you wear a ring every day? Not everyday.

3 • would you rather wear a dress or a suit on your wedding day? Neither, cos I'm not getting married.

4 • if you chose dress, will it be long or short? -

5 • if you chose suit, will you wear a bow or a tie? -

6 • have you ever wanted to be a police officer? Not at all.

7 • favourite insect? Butterfly.

8 • Chinese or Indian takeout? Indian.

9 • do you have a nut allergy? No, but I do hate them.

10 • favorite dog breed? Corgi and Labradoodle.

11 • if you had to dye your hair lilac purple, baby pink, or mint green, which would you choose? Purple, cos I have purple hair already xD

12 • do you accessorise with chains? No.

13 • how often do you cook dinner? Not that much.

14 • how do you entertain yourself while copying a long text? I do typing for my job, I'm used to it.

15 • order these things from most to least important: What things? You didn't put anything xD

16 • better too much or not enough of (thing)? Depends what it is.

17 • what have you given up on recently? Caffeine - it was affecting my sleep and my heart rate, so I've basically given it up.

18 • favourite condiment for fries? Tomato sauce/ketchup.

19 • ever had bangs? No.

20 • do you know any Italian people? Most likely.

21 • ice cream or ice pops? Both.

22 • which farm animal would you like as a pet? None.

23 • which zoo animal would you like as a pet? None.

24 • have you ever dated someone lgbt+? Yes.

25 • how many hours do you wish there were in a day? 24 is fine lol.

26 • if you were at Hogwarts, which pet would you want (out of cat, rat, toad, and owl)? Cat, definitely.

27 • what color would you like your future bathroom to be? Purple or blue.

28 • do you add sugar to plain cornflakes? Yes.

29 • are skeletons cool? No.

30 • favorite Selena Gomez song? Stars Dance or Kill 'Em With Kindness.

31 • do you like coffee flavored cake? Not particularly, but I'd eat it.

32 • do you still watch your favorite kid shows/cartoons? Sometimes.

33 • do you like going on walks? what's your favorite thing about them? how far do you normally walk? Depends.

34 • last time you had a hot drink? Thursday, when I had Milo.

35 • last time you went to Pizza Hut? Ages ago, but we're actually having it for dinner tonight!

36 • do you listen to Cher? No.

37 • what's your favorite thing that you're wearing? The Mox hoodie.

38 • would you change your hair color if you could? No, I like my hair the way it is.

39 • how could I cheer you up if you were sad? Depends.

40 • have you ever lived in a city? was it crowded? I currently do, but it's quite spread out so it's not bad.

41 • would you prefer to live in a big city or the woods? City.

42 • have you ever climbed a mountain? Yes, but only a small one lol.

43 • have you ever pet a donkey? Not that I know of.

44 • do you hear owls or crickets at night where you live? Crickets, sometimes.

45 • ever run away from home? No.

46 • are you scared to ride public transport alone? why? Not at all, I do it constantly lol.

47 • is marriage on your mind? No.

48 • do you miss the 2000's? Sure.

49 • did you own a dollhouse when you were younger? I did! It was a custom made one, built by my uncle and it was MASSIVE. It took up like half our spare room lol. It was big enough that when my cat was a kitten, he could fit inside it xD

50 • does the room you're in have a tiled floor? No, carpet.

51 • would you rather have claws on your knuckles or sharp teeth? Sharp teeth I guess.

52 • how many pairs of earrings do you own? None, cos my ears aren't pierced.

53 • what's your favorite cooked vegetable? Potatoes.

54 • ever had a crush on a book character? Yes.

55 • lastly, is your washing machine in the kitchen or the bathroom? Neither, it's in it's own tiny cupboard room.

do you have a favourite sibling? I'm an only child.

apple or android? Apple cos I have an iPhone, but my TV is an Android one xD

what colour is the blanket/quilt on your bed? It's grey on one side and black on the other, you can switch it.

any languages you want to learn? Japanese.

is maths easy or hard? HARD.

do you play basketball? No.

ever prank called someone? Yes, as a kid.

ever tried carrot juice? No.

what's an unusual/weird food combo you like? Hmm.

favourite milkshake flavour? Lime.

favourite type of milk? I don't like milk on it's own, only in things.

would you rather wear a suit or dress? I've never worn a suit, so a dress.

best year of your life? 2016 ruled.

how loud do you like your music in the car? -

prefer to write or read? Both.

favourite apps? YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, Pokemon Sleep etc.

did/does your favourite teacher wear glasses? I don't think she did.

how do you like your eggs if you like them at all? Poached and fried.

ever seen snow? Yes.

ever gone sledging? No.

favourite holiday? Christmas.

is your hair long? Kinda.

do/did you play an instrument? No.

do you have a nintendo switch? Yes.

ever skipped class? Yes, but only PE and Maths lol.

ever skipped a whole school day? No.

what is a fruit you refuse to eat? Anything that gives me migraines so plums & raspberries, and also cherries just cos they're gross.

would you rather gain weight or lose weight? Lose weight.

would you rather gain height or lose height? Neither, lol. I like my height the way it is.

when was the last time you ate cotton candy? Hmm... man ages ago.

are both your eyes the same colour? Yes.

do you prefer to carry a backpack or a purse? Both - I use a backpack for the gym, but I have a purse/handbag for the rest of the time.

do you like glittery things? Not really.

ever watched a play in the theatre? Yes.

are you naturally blonde? Yep.

do you have a pet rabbit? No.

do you have a pet fish? No.

do you have a pet cat? I wish.

do you have a pet chicken? No.

best thing that's happened today? I got Starbucks and McDonald's hashbrowns lol.

opinion on brussel sprouts? Not my thing.

what colour is your country's flag? Blue, red, white and black.

are you studying any languages? No.

how many followers do you have on instagram? I don't use Instagram.

how about twitter? Barely any, but I don't care.

are you brave? Depends.

how much would i have to pay you to get you to do karaoke? I'd do it for free, it sounds fun even though I suck at singing xD

would you rather watch a movie from home or at the movies? Depends.

last time you went ice skating? YEARS ago.

have you cheated on a test? Yes.

painting or drawing? Neither, I suck at both.

art or science? Neither.

dancing or singing? Both are fun, but I prefer singing.

history or geography? Geography.

favourite season? Summer.

do you watch supernatural? No.

if you could change your eye colour would you? No.

what colour would you change it to? -

what is your religion? I'm an atheist.

are both your ears pierced? No.

Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you? You mean like aliens? I'm not sure.

On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you? 1.

The person you would never want to meet? A serial killer of some sort.

What is your favorite word? Not sure.

If you were a type of tree, what would you be? Something majestic.

When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought? I was brushing my hair, so I was just thinking I needed to put dry shampoo on it lol.

What shirt are you wearing? A green and blue striped jumper.

What do you label yourself as? Nothing.

Bright room or dark room? Both at different times.

What were you doing at midnight last night? I was playing Pokémon Ashen Frost.

Favorite age you’ve been so far? 21.

Who told you they loved you last? My boyfriend.

Your worst enemy? Nobody.

What is your current desktop picture? The Shield - it's a pic from 2018 that I've never changed since then, it's been 6 years now xD It's one of their best pics, so no need to change it!

Do you like someone? Of course.

The last song you listened to? TLC - Case Of The Fake People

You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? Dunno, maybe a serial killer of some sort.

Who would you really like to just punch in the face? Logan Paul, cos he's a shithead and had to come to WWE and take up airtime. Fuck off Logan.

If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? Hahah, dunno.

What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional) My boobs xD

If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do? I'd like to think I'd look like Roman Reigns or Drew McIntyre lol.

Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it? Depends what you consider 'secret'.

What is one unique thing you’re afraid of? Ladders. I will not climb one under any circumstances.

You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. I just want an egg sandwich with loads of mayo.

You just found $100! How are you going to spend it? I'd go to the Converse outlet store and buy a pair under 100.

You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go? NYC or London.

An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be? Jim Beam.

You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? No onions in food xD

What is your favorite expletive? Gotta be fuck lol.

Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno? My teddy bear I've had since I was a baby, cos I'd likely already have my phone on me, cos I never go anywhere without it.

You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? Getting hit by a car.

You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world! NYC!

The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? That's a hard one.

What was your last dream about? I don't really remember, it was a mishmash of things.

Are you a good… [insert anything you’d like here]? Good what?

Have you ever been admitted to the hospital? Yes.

Have you ever built a snowman? No.

What is the color of your socks? I'm wearing black and white patterned winter socks lol.

What type of music do you like? Pop, J-pop, K-pop, rock, classical, new age, dance etc.

Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? Sunsets.

What is your favorite milkshake flavor? Lime.

What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) None.

Do you have any scars? Yep, I have a big one on my shoulder from surgery.

What do you want to be when you graduate? -

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Flatter stomach.

Are you reliable? Depends lol.

If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be? Are my boyfriend and I still together? Hahah.

Do you hold grudges? Not really. I forgive, but I don't forget.

If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create? Dunno.

What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had? Oh, I've had loads with my best friend, cos she's random as fuck.

Are you a good liar? I like to think so.

How long could you go without talking? Depends.

What has been you worst haircut/style? Dunno, maybe one of my super short hairstyles.

Have you ever baked your own cake? No.

Can you do any accents other than your own? I can try.

What do you like on your toast? Vegemite or jam.

What is the last thing you drew a picture of? Dunno.

What would be you dream car? Dodge Viper.

Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain. Sometimes xD

Do you believe in aliens? Maybe.

Do you often read your horoscope? Sometimes, for fun.

What is your favorite letter of the alphabet? M. My name starts with it and so does Mox xD

Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons? Dinosaurs. They actually existed xD

What do you think about babies? Cute, but I don't want one.

[nuriaredgrave]

Prompt #16: Jerk

*HOOT* *HOOT*

Nuria's bloodshot eyes forced open. This damn owl had been perched outside his window for hours, hooting louder than probably any other creature living on this star. So much noise localized entirely next to the exact place where he sleeps. Surely no one has ever suffered like this before in their life, this was the worst thing that had ever happened to anyone.

"ANY OTHER TREE!! I'M BEGGING YOU!!" Nuria leapt out of bed and slammed his fist on the window, hoping to startle the accursed flying rat into leaving. No luck. The beady-eyed nightmare stayed perched where it was, almost taunting him he thought. In desperation, he attempted to plead with it through the glass. "Please, man. I just wanna sleep, I got things to do tomorrow!! Even a couple hours will do, just go hoot somewhere else for at least a little while. Literally anywhere else!" By some divine miracle, the owl tilted its head to the side for a moment and flew away.

Nuria stood there for a second, stunned. Did that really work? He puffed out his chest in pride. They oughta call him the Owl Whisperer the way he swerved that situation. He climbed back into bed, pulled his heavy blanket over himself and closed his eyes again. *HOOT* *HOOT* He jolted awake and wrenched his head toward the window.

Two of them now.

[gaps-between-stories]

Fic Preview

Check out a sneak peek at an upcoming chapter in my fic Growing Sideways

Ed had started the local chapter of the Dead Dad's Club when he was 16, Izzy joining not long after. Anne herself wouldn't join until years later, long after they'd all moved out of Waihau Bay, but she had always been part of a different club, one that Ed had now officially been inaugurated into. 

"Iz should be here," Anne finally sighed, leaning back on her elbows. They sat together in silence, watching the sky shift from gray to dusky rose, until eventually the sun added its warm yellow and orange hues to the palate. 

They'd used to start their mornings like this all the time during the summer, the two of them crawling out of their sleeping bags hours before Izzy. His mum would make them leave the house until a more appropriate hour for their ruckus indoors. 

They'd sit on those same steps and watch the sunrise, trying to identify the different kinds of birds they'd heard waking up throughout the morning, each one joining in the chorus of dawn. They'd take bets on which stars would still be visible last in the light of the creeping sun, a bet Anne always lost until she realized it was always going to be Sirius. They'd dick around with the bugs and dirt until Izzy would finally emerge, hair fluffed in all kinds of wild directions until Ed's mum finally went in to tame it with a wet comb. 

That was back when Izzy spent more time with Ed's family than he did his own, prefering to put up with Ed's dad over his own, which should fucking tell you something about the state of that household. 

Izzy was the neighborhood mutt his mum had insisted on bringing into the house, and once she'd opened that door he never left. There was always a place at the table for Izzy, regardless of how thin their resources were stretched at times. He and Izzy were cut from the same cloth, a dingy piece of red silk, still tucked in his jacket pocket that had seen better days. 

But Anne? Anne had the life Ed had dreamed about as a kid, a big beautiful house with a yard that used to look like it spanned miles. Her dad drove fancy cars and paid for her to go to a fancy school. She and her dad moved to the bay from Auckland the summer after Ed turned 10, and she'd fascinated the fuck out of him from the get go. 

One day in August she'd found herself in the same park Ed and Izzy were definitely not trying to unsuccessfully start a trash fire in, where she watched them from afar for so long that Ed was sure she was going to rat them out, until she marched herself up to them and informed them that they needed drier kindling. The three of them were inseparable after that. 

He never understood why she insisted on spending their weekday afternoons doing homework at his house, why she so willingly slept in a bag on his floor on the weekends, why her summer breaks were filled with skinned knees and dirty fingernails and pulling leeches off of each other after swimming in the river instead of sleep away camp or fencing lessons or whatever the fuck rich kids did to pass the time. 

It wasn't until he saw the way she gripped his mum just this side of too tight sometimes, the way his mum never ended the hug before Anne let go first, the way that she watched his mum as if to memorize her every movement, that he finally understood. 

And Ed fucking agreed, it was one of the first things he'd thought when he finally came to at 30,000 feet. Izzy should be here, deserved to be here, frankly. Ana loved Izzy, was always asking Ed about him after they moved away together, complaining that he didn't call her enough. And Ed knew that 

"Bastard won't answer any of my fucking calls."

[lemonandlime22]

Idk if your requests are open but if they are, could you do headcanons with [Yuu] just with the overblot people and then for [whatever reason], they scold or make fun of them and they just reply with "Says the one who got beaten by a [12 - 14] year old." (Cuz I think you have to be like 15/16 to be a freshman/first year? Idk, correct me if I'm wrong)

I thought their faces would be funny when the realization of the fact a child stopped their blot

(I did get this from when I was reading your bitey child! [Yuu] and I love the bitey child cuz I was that kid <3)

Riddle, Leona, Azul, and Jamil reaction to a cocky little Yuu

Warning(s): cussing, violence towards yuu

A/N: yeah you got the ages right, all the first years are 16. Btw I have a character limit of 4, so I just did the first 4 overblot guys.

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

Riddle

Poor boys pride is already so wounded

give him a break.

Ok, what happened to lead up to this,

you, Grim, and the Adeuce duo were messing around in the heartslabyul gardens when you probably broke something or messed up a rose bush in front of Riddle

and those assholes ended up running away when he confronted you guys

leaving you to face Riddles scolding.

You got p annoyed.

So when the scolding was finally over, you just oh so quietly mumbled,

" says the brat who got his ass kicked by a 13 year old... "

"wHAT DID YOU JUST SAY-"

His face was so fucking red, it rivaled his overblot face.

an let's just say you nearly had your head cut off

and I'm not talking about his unique magic.

You got a hole 'nother few hours of scolding

and quite a tight collar that stayed on for a few days.

Ace and Grim got a good kick out of this btw

Deuce was very apologetic and even tried to help smooth things over with Riddle for you

it didn't work.

Leona

HA!

yes keep insulting the manchild >:D

*cough*

Anyway,

this starts the like most other interactions with him do

you interrupting his nap in some way or another

you can pick which way you did this time.

Now, he was having a p rough day

Ruggie wouldn't let him sleep through classes

so he was extra pissed when he got woken up and put what little energy he had left into threatening you with death or smth

and when there was finally a break in his ranting you snarked back at him,

"HA! like you ever could, your ass got wiped by a magicless kid in less than like 30 minutes!"

....

silence....

man was too stunned to speak.

I don't think I can express enough the absolute WRATH that was radiating from off him

you rly started to regret what you said

especially since he looked like he was going to actually kill you

and he was.

You got really lucky when Jack was able to catch his hand mid air

yeah...

this fucker was literally going strangle you if it wasn't for Jack having been looking for you.

Jack wasted no time dragging you out of there and far away from Leona

and for a long time it's going to be rly fuckin tense between you and Leona...

You also got one hell of a scolding from Jack.

Azul

Same thing I said in Riddle's

his pride is already in shambles

and you and the tweels are not helping one bit.

So on to what happened,

you were bored so you decided to check out the clubs after school

and your first stop was the board game club.

eh? eh? get it? wink wink nudge nudge??

ok ill stop..

Idia basically scurried to the corner of the room to play on his phone when you came in and Azul was more than happy to possibly teach a brat underclassmen.

As you know, Azul can get pretty cocky sometimes

and this was one of those times,

he was talking smack

blabbering on and on about how easy this is for him and how he should prob go as easy on you as he could if he wanted you to have any chance of winning

also kinda giving some hints at giving you lessons for using Ramshackle on the weekends

so naturally you,

being the lil sassy bitch you are <3, snapped back,

"Mhm, sure, says the fish that was outwitted and beaten up by a tween and their rat bastard band of friends!"

there was a moment of silence,,,

that was quickly broken by Idia bursting into a short laugh at Azul.

The poor octopus wasn't expecting such a clap back

epically not one regarding his overblot

he may or may not have teared up a little bit...

He was also p upset obv

so he just grabbed his phone and made a call

"Hey Floyd-"

and you booked it out of there.

Floyd did chase you a little later on at the request of Azul.

Jamil

Jeez-

he's doing best man 😔.

You were going to meet up with Ace and Deuce after their clubs and Ace's was usually finished before Deuce's so you went to go wait for him and then get Deuce together

but you accidentally got there early

and you know that means

more waiting!!

yay!

I hope you can tell this is complete sarcasm

so you were just waiting on the bleachers watching the basketball club members practice when the ball hit you straight in the face

causing you to get a nosebleed...

ouch,,

Ace and Floyd were on the ground laughing their ass's off

Jamil went to go get the ball and make sure your nose wasn't broken

dw I googled it, a nose can bleed without being broken

and even tho he is trying to be a better person he was still a very sassy person

so ofc he made a joking snide remark about you being a little brat or smth

and you ofc snapped back with,

"Well, in case you forgot, this 'little brat' kicked your snake butt with three fish and a cat!"

and he just walked away

you were very stunned, you expected him to at least glare at you

but I guess you really can't compla-

*SMACK*

oop-

spoke too soon I guess....

Now you definitely have a broken nose...

he hit you as hard as he could with the ball btw.

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

[marvelwitchergilmore]

Two Hunters and A Baby

Summary; Dean Winchester x OC (But can be seen as reader insert)

Mentions - pregnancy, child birth, complete terror etc.

(Not proof read)

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

When Sam and Dean first met Frankie, it had been in a bar in New York, a year before Sam would be setting off for college. 

Frances - known as Frankie by her friends and loyal customers - had been serving the bar that night. 

“What can I get you fellas?”

“Well, Frankie-” 

Frankie, however, cut the shorter brother off. “Ah. No. Frances, to you.”

“Frances, really?”

Frankie nodded holding back a smile as she poured some shots for a party of customers a few places down. “You’re not my friends nor are you regular customers, so, what can I get you gentlemen?”

“Two beers. Please.” 

Frankie looked up to the other brother. “Coming right up.”

It took Dean a few hours but two days later - two days he didn’t think it would take - she finally allowed them to call her Frankie. 

Dean had strolled in the next day around 1 in the afternoon. The place was mostly empty except for a few students from a campus nearby who were in to get lunch and a drink. 

Of course, he tried to flirt with her again, but nothing. She didn’t take the bait. 

“You wanna tell me what you’re really doing this side of town?”

Dean sighed and pulled the ID from his jacket pocket. “Oh, you’re one of them?”

Frankie smiled as she moved around the back of the bar, cleaning a couple of glasses and checking the till. 

“One of what?” Dean asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“A hunter.”

Her voice was calm and relaxed, but she could already sense that he wasn’t. 

“W-What?”

Frankie laughed. “Relax...Agent Jones. I won’t rat you out. Besides, no-one else in this town knows how to get rid of that thing.”

“You know about what we do?”

Frankie nodded. 

“How?”

“Some guys...I forget their names...they rolled in here a few years back. I was only 16 then and clearly too young to be working behind a bar, but my uncle owned it so I got away with it. But we had people-” She slammed the till shut and picked up a dish cloth to clean to counter, “dying...all around us. Granted, crime rates around here aren’t great but, deaths? Especially suspicious ones? Hell no. So, they turned up. Some haunted guy turned up here during the day, tried to kill me. They killed it before it did me.”

Dean seemed to be racking his brains. Where had he heard this story before?

“Bobby.”

Frankie smiled. “Yeah. And...Rufus! That’s it. You know em’?”

Dean chuckled. “Do I know them? Bobby...he’s like the father I never had. Any time dad would leave me and my brother behind, there was Bobby.”

Frankie held a smile on her face. “So you’re his boys? Isn’t it a small world.”

“It sure is.”

It would be a few more years before she would see either of the brothers again. And when she did, not much had changed other than the fact that the boys had made friends with an Angel that dragged Dean back from Hell and their entire lives were being written by a guy in his bathrobe. 

Frankie laughed. God, it was like honey on Dean’s ears. Just so..pure. Not forced. Not like she’d seen a bunch of crap and Hell for years on end. 

Frankie continued to turn the book over in her hand. 

“I can’t believe it!”

“Well, believe it. You’re in there, too, by the way?”

“No way,” Frankie opened up the book and skimmed through it. “You really thought I was hot?”

“Shuddup.” Dean said, trying to move past that. 

“God, he doesn’t hold anything back.”

Dean took the book from her and closed it. “Alright.”

Frankie laughed again and moved back. “So, what am I getting you? Beer? Whiskey? Vodka?”

“What do you suggest?”

“Water and sleep, for one.” Frankie told him. “But since you’re not gonna listen to that, how about...Jack Daniels?”

Dean nodded. 

“How about you, Angel?”

“Oh, I don’t drink.”

Frankie nodded. “Alright, then.”

Hours later, just as people began to pile in, Frankie looked to Dean. “You know, you can always stay here if you want? It’d be nice to have some company around here.”

Dean smiled. “Thanks, but...I - I better not.”

Frankie didn’t ask any more questions. His eyes told most of his story. 

“Don’t worry about it. But, if you ever need a drink...or even someone to talk to...you know where I am.”

Dean nodded. “I know. Thanks, Frankie.”

“Anytime.” She smiled before walking over. “Come here.”

“Oh, I don’t-”

“Now you do.” She told him before hugging him, Dean hugging back. “Stay safe.”

“You, too.”

It would be another three years before Frankie would see Dean again. And when she would, it wouldn’t be in the way she would have expected.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

“Just...Just breathe, okay, the ambulance is on it’s way.”

Frankie wanted to scream because she was in that much pain.

“Please, please just let us go.” 

A warlock. 

Frankie was giving birth and she had also been kidnapped by a Warlock. 

She let out a grunt. “Where the hell are they?!”

By ‘they’, she meant Sam and Dean. 

Three days ago, Frankie had been sat in her office going over paperwork when someone broke in, yelled some weird words and she blacked-out. 

She came to with the guy standing opposite her, a phone to his ear. 

“Why don’t you say ‘hello’ Frankie, I’m sure they’ve missed you.”

He had placed the phone to her ear. “You’re not my friend. It’s Frances.”

“Frankie?” 

Frankie seemed to come-to quicker than she expected. “Dean?”

“Frankie, don’t let him-”

But it was too late. The phone was taken away and placed to the guy’s ear again. “You have 76 hours to return what you stole from me, or I take away something from you. And I just keep going down the list until you give it back.”

Frankie didn’t know how much time the boys had left, but she hoped they’d hurry because, if they didn’t then not only was she going to die, but also some innocent woman who the Warlock had picked up a day after herself - to take care of Frankie - and maybe two or three EMT’s who the Warlock would enchant to help Frankie give birth before killing them, too. 

Frankie let out a scream. God, she wanted to push. 

Suddenly, the door was kicked down.

“Finally!” Frankie shouted. 

The following ten minutes were filled with fighting. Sam and Dean were trying to find a way to kill the Warlock when, eventually, they did. The thing he wanted back was the only thing that could kill him. Only problem was...

Frankie didn’t really pay attention because another contraction came across her quicker than she would have liked. 

“Oh...Dean!”

Dean made his way to his feet, the Warlock now dead and got to his brother’s side. 

“What-”

Sam pointed into the living room and Dean saw. “Oh. Oh...kay.”

Frankie tried to laugh. “Took you two long enough.”

The woman then stood up. “Shit.”

“What?”

“The ambulance...” The woman had forgotten to call. She had dialed but the Warlock...”He ended the call.” 

Frankie let out a groan as another pain shot through her. 

“It’s okay. It’s okay. My - My sister, she’s a midwife.”

“And where is she?”

“London.”

Fuck.

“But it’s okay. I will call her and she can talk us through it.”

The sister talked them through it, alright. She had her sister - Mary - go and get fresh towels and water. She also gave a couple more instructions - Sam was quick to voulenteer because he had an idea what was coming next. 

“Dean? Dean!”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“I need you go help her give birth.”

“What?!”

“Mare has a weak stomach. She’ll pass out at the sight of blood so it’s either you or your brother.”

Sam was long gone, helping Mary. 

Shit.

“What?! What! No. No. I don’t want him to - What?!”

Dean agreed. “I’m not - I don’t want-”

“Neither of you have a choice.”

And they didn’t. 

“Frankie, honey, I need you to push okay. Keep going.”

With the sister on Facetime, she took the four of them through what had to happen.

“Okay, Sam, I need you to tie the shoelace around - That’s it. Dean, you wanna cut? There you go.”

Midge had passed out for a few seconds after the birth, Sam and Dean were now, quite possibly, scared for life. Sam more so than Dean. Dean had raised Sam from the age of 4 so he was use to babies. Granted, not the stuff that happens during the birth. But, still. 

“Here you go.” Dean smiled, handing the baby over. 

Midge had only managed to find two towels. Both were dirty so a clean flannel was the best option for a baby blanket. 

“Thank you.” Frankie smiled towards Dean, taking her eyes from her baby for a small moment. 

“You did good, fellas. Midge -- lay down for a while longer.”

“Yep. Yep.”

“You’re gonna wanna get her to the hospital but you did good, lads. Talk later, Midge.”

“Yep. Yep.”

Two days later... 

“Dean, you don’t have to do this, you know?” Frankie told him for possibly the millionth time the past hour. 

Shutting the trunk Baby, he shook his head. “You’ve just given birth. You might be cleared by the hospital but you’re not cleared for flying or driving. You can stay with me and Sam. You will stay with me and Sam. I might not have met her, but I think your cousin would have my head if I let you drive back to New York.”

Frankie laughed, “Yeah. She probably would.”

“Thank you, for everything, Dean. I don’t think either of us will forget what you and Sam did for me.”

“Well, the image might be seared into my head for the rest of my life but I’d rather it be something good than someone dying...again.”

Frankie nodded. 

She had her baby daughter in her arms, fast asleep whilst Dean grabbed the baby bag and other things. 

“I know I might be a little late on this, but what were you doing in Kansas anyway?”

“I expanded the business a few years ago.” Frankie explained. “Business was good in New York and I wanted a change so I had my cousin run the bar up there whilst I managed the one in Washington before I opened up the third...here. It’s only been open about 8 months but, business is good.”

“Are you gonna stay here? In Kansas, I mean?”

“Maybe. I mean, if other magical beings have beef with you or your brother, it might be safer and easier to stick by you two.”

It didn’t take long for Frankie to get settled. Sam had managed to find a baby cot and cleaned it down. Clearly the Men of Letters had brought at least one of their children back here at some point. 

In this time, Frankie had also come to learn what she had missed in the last few years and how, Sam - shockingly - was alive. Was souless for a time. How Dean went to Purgetory and even how they had time travelled, and even met their Paternal Grandfather. 

It would be a month or so before Frankie would explain to at least one of them what had happened between Frankie and Poppy’s father. 

It happened late at night. Frankie was tired - both the brother’s knew this. That was why, one night, Dean decided to give Frankie a rest. 

Frankie had fallen into a deep sleep so hadn’t heard the beginnings of Poppy stiring awake. However, Dean was wide awake. 

He had been on his way back from the bathroom when he could hear Poppy. 

“Frankie? Frank- Oh.”

This hadn’t been the first time one of the boys had looked after Poppy. Of course, Frankie was always in the room. She taught Sam how to change a diper and what else to do should she be somewhere else for a few minutes - most likely the bathroom cleaning the puke from the ends of her hair. 

“Dean?” Frankie’s voice was horse. She was still partially asleep. She had been use to waking up around three to feed Poppy from her bottle. She had slept a little over an hour after this. 

“Hey, why are you up?”

“Is Poppy okay?”

Dean nodded. “Fed, burped and changed.”

“So, no different than Sam?” Poppy asked. Dean gave a quiet laugh. 

Frankie came up behind Dean, placing both her hands on his shoulders. “How long have you been up?”

It was now 4 in the morning. “Couple of hours. I heard her stiring and you deserved a rest so I brought her out here, I hope that’s-”

“It’s fine, Dean. I trust you with her. You’re really good at this, by the way. You ever thought of having your own someday?”

Dean shrugged. “This life...it’s not exactly most suitable for a kid. And my chance for the ‘apple-pie’ life...”

“You still have a chance, you know?” Frankie told him. “Quit hunting, find...some normality, in society’s eyes, anyway. Who knows, you might like it.”

“Maybe.”

They sat in silence for a little while longer watching Poppy sleep in her bouncer. She looked so peaceful. 

“I know I’m over stepping but...what happened to her dad?”

Frankie sat back. “I thought this would come up sooner or later.”

“Doesn’t he want-”

Frankie shook her head. “When...When I found out, I was 6 weeks along. We’d been together two years and had talked about having a family together and doing the whole marriage and kids thing. But, he was just about to make junior partner at his law firm and having a woman and kid in tow, well, lets just say he didn’t want to make a reputation for himself. After all, a man needs to have his fun.”

“He actually said that?”

Frankie nodded. “He did.”

“Asshole.”

“I kept him up-to-date on my pregnancy but around the 4 month mark, he’d found himself a girlfriend and wanted a fresh start. No history. No kids. Even gave me the papers himself to say he has no visitation rights.”

“What the fuck?”

Frankie nodded. “I know. I was pissed, too. But then I just had to think, if he was like that while I was pregnant, maybe my kid would be better off not having a father like that. And we’re okay, aren’t we Pop.”

Silence except a few soft snores. 

“Yep, see, even she agrees.”

Dean gave a weak smile to the kid before looking back to Frankie. “What if you stayed?”

“What?”

“Stay. Stay here, with us.”

“Dean. No, I couldn’t-”

“Frankie, this place is built for at least 50 people or more. You’re a 20 minute drive from the bar. You’re also both safe here.”

��Dean...I couldn’t do that. Not to you and Sam. In about two months, she’ll be awake during the night crying because she’s teething. You and Sam need rest and a break from what you do. You should be able to come back to peace, not a crying baby.”

“I think you’re forgetting I raised Sam. I’m use to the crying and screaming and throwing up. And, you’ll always have a baby-sitter.”

It would take another two months of convincing, but even then, it wasn’t so much brought up as it just happened. 

The three of them got into a steady routine. Sam and Dean kept hunting and came across everything they did, but once they got home...it was like none of that existed anymore. Seeing Frankie in the library with Poppy in her playpen, giggiling? It was like everything bad in the world melted away. 

[fandomhopping]

Casey was used to loss.

Growing up in the apocalypse, he lost every day. Supplies, sleep, friends, family... the Kraang never held back when it came to taking those things away form him. Casey knew what it meant to lose something or someone intimately, and yet he was floundering.

In the future he grew up in, there was always something that needed to be done, a distraction. Supplies need needed gathering and sorting, training needed to be attended, camps to build, patrols to do, kraang to fight. There was an abundance of things to keep your mind off of what you lost. The people you'll never see again because right then the most important thing was that you survived the next mission, the next raid, the next kraang.

22 years in the past it was a completely different story.

Casey had nothing but time to think over Master Leonardo, Master Michealangelo, his friends and family back home that are either dead or believe him to be dead. And... Leonardo too, the one from this timeline. The one that, thanks to him, would never become the adopted parent and sensei to Casey Jones Jr. when or if his mother ever had another version of him. The one he had as good as killed at the age of 16!

Splinter and his family have insisted that it wasn't his fault. They'd heard Leo begging over the comes as clearly as he had to close the portal, they knew it was what he had wanted. Even so, Casey couldn't help but feel responsible to his sensei's death, and spent hours at a time kneeling in front of the Hamato family shrine, right where the katana he had retrieved was up fo,r display and Leonardo's photo stood. Splinter would often join him there with tea, a father morning his son. He'd tell Casey stories about Leonardo sometimes, childhood stories that his Sensei had never gotten the chance to say,nhe thought maybe that was the old rat's own way of coping with his family legacy taking his 'Baby Blue' away without going completely catatonic...

The other turtles had a wide range of reactions to their missing member's death. Mikey had thrown himself into the mystic arts, determined to find a way to bring Leo back. Donnie hid away in his lab, pointedly refusing to even look at the photo on the shrine and has been completely nonverbal since ethe moment the portal had collapsed. April was determined to be the glue sticking the family together, trying to fill a role that should be inhabited by a turtle in a blue mask.

Raph had taken it the hardest. He buried himself in his training, shame and regret driving him to improve himself. He rarely asked them to join the training and refused to let Mikey or Donnie join him on patrol, despite his fear of abandonment. He didn't talk about being a hero anymore... Casey thinks Raphael blales himself for Leo's sacrifice.

If anything it was Casey's fault. He'd been the interloper on their peaceful lives, pulling these younger versions of his family into his mission. He'd been the one to put so much priority on the key and the mission he failed to notice Leo floundering due to the moss of his older brother. And then he'd gone and acted like Leo, who'd never had to deal with a situation like the Kraang, had no right to be upset or make a bad call simply because he didn't live up to his expectations! It had been his hands that pulled the key and sealed the kid's fate!

In the future there wasn't enough time to mourn or worry about the people lost. In the past there was nothing but time.

Bravo anon!

[theghostofblackbunnymask]

Do you have some insights about how the feral boys is serial killer au are like? Such as their background and occupation? I think they are older than college AU and are full adults now, and many things in college au may still apply since they are both set in a realistic world setting.

Detective AU Dream comes from the same background as College AU Dream, but with a twist. His parents were accused of the murder of a rich family, and his parents got life in prison, and all of this happened when he was really young, around 8, and Drista was a baby when it happned. They weren't placed into the foster system and were left on the streets, this is what made Dream begin his villainous journey. He had to take care of Drista and that was pretty hard. There were nights he didn't eat and had to sleep out in the rain, causing him to get sick, and he was fine with it, since Drista would get to eat and she wouldn't get sick because he would shield her from the rain with his body. When Dream was 10 he met Sapnap in the park while he played with Drista. Dream and Sapnap became really close friends and Bad decided to take care of Dream and Drista since they didn't have parents

Sapnap lives in a apartment complex with Bad, his dad, and Skeppy, his uncle. Bad and Skeppy own a well run bakery in the city and it's really well. Sapnap was always a troubled kid and never made friends that stook around, due to his anger issues and violent tendencies. Sapnap would spend most of his days hanging and helping out at the bakery, and when he didn't do that, he would sneak out into the parks and grab animals and stuff them into bags. If he didn't find any at the park, he would go to alleyways and grab raccoons, cats and mice. He would then take them to his room and torture them until they were unrecognized and dead. He would then throw they out and do it all again. Bad and Skeppy knew this and were concerned about Rat, but when they saw how Sapnap would play with Rat and full on beat the shit out of anyone who harmed or talked bad about her, they knew she would be fine. Dream was Sapnap's first friend, and was overjoyed and excited when he moved in with him. They shared a room together and they had so much fun together, playing video games and playing manhunt, and when Drista was old enough she would join some of their games, and she bested them a lot.

George moved from the UK when he was around 13 or 14. His parents had to move for business reasons and he stayed in the dangerous city. George's parents were doctors and were busy most of the time, so George would spend most of his time sleeping and doing crafts. George was kinda lonely at school and at home. He met Sapnap and Dream through Discord, and he really enjoyed talking to them. George met them in person when he moved to there school, and he was never happier. George spent most of his time at Sapnap's house and they would play video games, watch anime and other TV shows, play manhunt and steal stuff from Bad's bakery.

Karl's parents are historians, they taught him a lot about history and it really stuck with him. Karl always had trouble with his memory, it was mild at first, he would forget to do his homework and where his uniform was, very mild stuff, but the older he got, the worse it became. He started to forget his parents and where he lived. So his parents would have to drive out late at night to find him, and would see him walking down the sidewalk in a unknown neighborhood, and when they tried to get him into the car, he would scream and fight back since he forgot who they were. It became way too stressful on his parents, so they began to neglect him and take more work hours just so they didn't have to deal with him. At school he was taken advantage of for his kindness and his awful memory, and this lead to Dark Karl, and just like in the College AU, he lost control over him. Karl tried to talk to his parents about it, he would plan on doing it, but he would forget, he would forget to do it and he would forget Dark Karl existed. Karl met Dream, Sapnap and George at school. He was hesitant to be their friend since he was taken advantage of, but when he saw how genuine they were, he took the offer.

Quackity lived in Mexico for a majority of his childhood, and moved to the city the Detective AU takes place when he was around 15 or 16. He didn't know anyone in the city and not to mention the city was heavily dangerous. Quackity would play his guitar most of the day, and sometimes in parks while listening to nature, and one time someone thought he was doing it for money and gave him 50 dollars, man bought a cart full of snacks and candy with that money. Quackity's love life wasn't the best, he got cheated on, abandoned and used by so many people which lead to his instability, and he vented his frustrations and anger through music, which brought him a sense of safety and comfort. He met the others when he was around 18 while he was at a bar with a few of his friends. After that day he hanged out and with them more often and became good friends with them.

[coffee-in-veins]

Day 23: Hunted

an entry for darkest prompts promptober 2022  

previous days: 1, 2, 3,  4, 5, 6,  7,  8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

now available on ao3 too

Hunted ADJECTIVE - being pursued or searched for.

Goodbye to what we made No matter anyway We're climbing until we transcend Higher, higher to where the skies end -- Where the skies end by Starset

The blasted screeches of bugles left his ears ringing despite the fact that it had been hours since he gained some ground on the buggers and those were only haunting memories by now. The barks of the hounds were just as hard to get out of one’s head, and Dismas knew that from experience. If he concentrated on the feral hatred he had towards any flee-ridden mutt, it almost, almost made up for the frosty shivers those metallic, clanking barks sent down his spine each and every time he heard – or thought he heard – their distant echo.

Thankfully, his pursuers weren’t as desperate or daring as he was, so they chose easier routs, more traversable terrain. They didn’t try to sneak past a sleeping bear just to have a shortcut. They didn’t risk life and limb climbing down the cliffs to gain some distance.

Unfortunately, unlike his hunters, Dismas was exhausted and half-starved. The former convict didn’t have the luxury of taking shifts in running. He didn’t have proper gear to make an even semi-decent ambush. Sure, he managed to break out during the riot, having an audacity to fight the guards on their own field, using their confused bafflement against them and exploiting momentary disorientation to the fullest to weasel out of his shallow grave, but that was luck just as much if not more as it was skill to use some random shite as an improvised weapon.

Truly, the human kind was doomed when the very first man thought to pick the very first rock and use it on his fellow man.

Not that he had time to wax some poetic shite. A convict on the run had more important things to deal with. Like fucking survival for example. Yes, he managed to get further than he thought he would – and if the old rat was honest with himself, he merely wanted to die fighting instead of turning into a wasted ghoul like those older prisoners he had seen – but that brought a plethora of issues in itself.

First of all, the ex-prisoner was cold, almost deadly so, and however concerning it was, that was to no surprise. With barely a threadbare prison garment to cover him, barefoot, and with shackles still on his wrists and ankles to leech last crumbs of the living heat off of him – how could he not be left shivering pathetically from the barest gust of wind? Not to mention that everything, and most likely him as well, smelled of mud, crushed grass, sweat and blood. His mouth was still full of revolting tang of iron mixed with dirt, and even human flesh when he had to fight literal tooth and nail out of that shallow grave that kept him locked and rotting alive for so, so, so many years. Thankfully, it hushed pangs of hunger somewhat.

And so he ran. He ran despite having no destination in mind, no strength, no energy left to do so. Yet now Dis was overflowing with rage and spite, and with enough finesse, those could be distilled into tenacity and determination. He knew how to survive on lichen, crushed acorns and some field mice. He knew what gnawing on bark was like, if push came to shove. He’s been through worse.

He had been to prison.

Compared to that, he could manage everything else, thanks for fucking asking.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, there was the sky.

The night sky is never fully black – anyone who had the time to actually pay attention to it could confirm that. Surely, Dis, too, would know it, spending most of his life without a roof over his head. The sky was mostly the source of his inconveniences – scorching sun, cold rains, bone-rattling winds and damp, insufferable mists or sticky, life-leeching snow. It was merciless addition to his already troubled life, and Dismas rarely cared for it unless it went out of its way to make his life miserable, like that time when a fucking blizzard decided to start on the very night he needed to lie in wait by the roadside and couldn’t even get a proper fire going as to not startle his future prey.

But that was the moment when he saw it, seemingly for the first time in his life despite it already being well past his prime, and it felt like the first love all over again.

Blue, and purple, and teal, and cyan, and indigo, and pearl, and orange, and tinted pink at the east, swirled together before his aching, bloodshot eyes.

So he stopped. And he stared. And he tore the makeshift neckerchief down, taking the full lungs of air that was something else but dusty stones, and rusted blood powder, and the aching pain of his solitary cell.

And for a fleeting, beautiful, delicate moment... he was happy to stand still. To stand silent. To simply be.

And then the dogs barked, and he was a fugitive on the run again, but that latticework of color and feeling and meaning Dismas carried with him ever since, like a lucky coin.

The feeling of desperate hope blooming into manifestation, for once.

For every man, be it the highest of nobles or the lowest of rats, needed hope to live instead of merely surviving.  

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 16: Summertime Nightmares (Alt prompt: Consolation/advice)

AO3

Prev

The following week was the last of the school year. And it was...weird to say the least. Some of her classmates were upset that she hadn’t been the one to tell them. Many of them (most) assumed that she’d known and just hadn’t told them. She didn’t want to argue with them and she knew her dad hadn’t announced her existence in Gotham yet, so she just pointed out the fact that the Wayne family was very private.

That mostly worked. Lila kept poking though, insisting that Marinette would have told them if she trusted them. Nino disagreed, which shocked Marinette. He usually believed Lila, or at least he hadn’t ever openly gone against her before. But not this time. This time, he insisted that Marinette trusted them and it was probably her dad who asked her not to say anything. While wrong, Marinette didn’t disagree. She’d let her dad take the fall for this one. Alya though...she wasn’t taking it well. She thought Marinette should have told her ages ago. If she had known before Lila came, maybe she would have told Alya. But Alya had been more lax on what she posts on the Ladyblog since Lila’s arrival. She’d done less research, and was posting things not related to Ladybug and Chat Noir. While that wouldn’t usually bother her, Marinette did not want her newly discovered family to be the next big story on Alya’s blog.

So she basically just kept her head down, kept quiet at the class hangouts. And now school was finally out for the summer. It would be a little over two months with no Lila. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Marinette walks into the bakery and smiles widely at her Maman and Papa.

“Hello honey, how are you?” Her Maman asks, sliding a croissant into her hands.

“I’m fine, Maman.” She says, mentally preparing herself to ask what she’d been avoiding. Her dad had offered to let her stay in Gotham for the summer. It was both a chance to bond, and a chance for him to train her a little so that she could fight better, help her make a case against Hawkmoth, maybe even find his identity. He also wanted to give her a break. He thought that taking a step away from Paris, from always policing her emotions, was in her best interest. She agreed, but she still hadn’t talked to her Maman. Or her Papa.

“Bruce called.” Her Papa says. Marinette freezes. He wasn’t supposed to call yet! “Asked if we’d made a decision about letting you go to Gotham for the summer.” Rats.

“I was gonna talk to you guys today! I didn’t wanna upset you. I love you guys so much, but I also really wanna spend time with the other half of my family because I just met them and we haven’t really had a chance to bond or get to know each other and-”

“Honey, we understand.” Her Maman says, cutting off her ramble with a smile. Marinette blinks.

“Really?” She asks in a small voice. She didn’t want to hurt them. Her Maman smiles and relief floods her body.

“Of course honey. It would also give you a chance to not deal with constant akuma attacks.” She says. Marinette squeals in excitement, running over and wrapping her parents in a hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She yells. Watch out Gotham, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Wayne is coming back!

---

“Why hasn’t Marinette answered yet? She’s always down for a class picnic.” Alya says with a pout. Lila suppresses an eye roll, opting instead for a worried frown.

“Do you think she’s mad at you?” She prompts, knowing exactly why the little brat wasn’t answering. She was supposed to be on a plane right about now. Lila had borrowed Alya’s phone the day before (to make sure Marinette hadn’t tried to say anything about her again) when she saw the text. Marinette would be spending the entire summer in Gotham.

Lila, in a moment of what was surely pure excellence, deleted the text. It was perfect! Alya wouldn’t know Marinette had left and Marinette would be waiting for a text from her stupid BFF. But Lila had thought of that too. She’d changed the phone number on Marinette’s contact in Alya’s phone. It was now set to go to a fake number in a messaging app that Lila spent €1 on each month. It was worth it though, it’d definitely come in handy before. And now all she had to do was wait. Sure Marinette could always text Alya first, but Lila had heard too many times that Alya usually reached out first. Probably because of how much of a scatterbrain Marinette is.

“Why would she be mad at me?” Alya asks with a nervous smile. Hook, line and sinker. Lila frowns and places a hand on Alya’s arm in a faux attempt at reassurance.

“I didn’t wanna say anything, I really shouldn’t.” She says, shaking her head.

“Please. I’ll owe you one!” Alya insists, just as Lila had hoped. This would be a key part of her plan later on. Once Marinette has been silent for a few weeks.

“Well...okay. I heard her talking to Adrien the other day.” Lil starts, using the only other person who could go against her (but won’t!) “She said- she said she couldn’t trust you!” Alya flinches back as if she was hit.

“She said that?” She asks in a small voice. Lila nods sadly, celebrating on the inside. She’d be able to use this summer, while Marinette is away, to finally take everything away from that no good brat. It would be glorious.

---

Marinette was moments away from committing a murder. She was only going to do it because she knew for a fact that she’d get away with it. With a singular pout, she’d have the world’s greatest detective on her side. She was certain of it.

“Miss Marinette please put down the knife. I assure you prison is not lovely this time of year.” Alfred says with a sigh as he walks into the kitchen.

“Then tell Dick to get out of the kitchen!” She complains, pointing at her oldest brother who was currently covered in frosting and flour. She was trying to make cupcakes for after dinner, since she knew how much Dick likes sweets. She was trying to do something nice. And when Dick came into the kitchen, claiming he just wanted to spend time with his baby sister, Marinette let him stay. Because she loves her brother, she does.

But somehow in the two minutes that he was in the kitchen, he managed to dump the entire canister of flour. Not good, but she’d already baked the cupcakes so it wasn’t the end of the world. But then somehow, he’d managed to dump the entire mixing bowl of frosting. The entire thing. She had no clue how he had managed to do that, considering the fact it was frosting. It didn’t exactly run smoothly out of a bowl. It’s supposed to be able to hold its shape. Honestly, it was a mystery.

“Master Dick, you know that you are not allowed in the kitchen.” Alfred says with a frown. Dick pouts.

“I just wanted to spend some time with Mari.” He mumbles. Marinette almost regrets wanting to kill him. Until she watches as he wipes some of the frosting off of his head and eats it. Yeah, she doesn’t regret it anymore...but she does still love him.

“Okay, we’ll definitely have to spend more time together later. But for right now please go take a shower or something. I need to make more frosting and I do not trust you to be in the room when I do.” Marinette says exasperatedly. Dick sighs but leaves. Marinette puffs out her cheeks, giving Alfred a look.

“Yes?” He asks, his lips quirked up slightly.

“I honestly don’t know how you deal with them sometimes.” She grumbles before grabbing a new bowl. The cupcakes aren’t going to decorate themselves.

---

Jason huffs, annoyed that he’d been talked into staying at the manor with Marinette. He wasn’t mad at Marinette, he would do just about anything for the kid. Didn’t mean he wanted to stay at the manor just to make sure she didn’t sneak onto patrol. She’d assured them that she was too tired to try anything, but Bruce hadn’t believed her. Thus, Jason stuck at the manor.

But the kid had made a shit ton of cupcakes and Jason had a copy of his favorite book, so the night wouldn’t be too bad. After a few hours lounging in one of the rooms near Marinette’s, Jason starts to nod off. He’s about to welcome the rest, knowing everyone would be back from patrol soon, when he’s yanked from sleep by an ear piercing scream. Shit.

---

Marinette blinks as she looks around. Oh god. No, no please don’t let this be real. She chokes out a sob as she looks around her. Paris was once again completely underwater. The Eiffel tower was split in half. Hands shaking, she glances up and sees the moon. Or, what’s left of it. She moans in distress, letting her tears fall freely. She tries to breathe, but it won’t come. She’s panicking now, trying to ignore the burn in her chest as she sees the disaster around her. The terror around her. The destruction. She clutches her throat, trying to force her body to breathe. Force herself to suck in air, to be okay.

“Oh, Marinette, I see you’ve decided to join us again.” A familiar voice says. She tenses, slowly turning and looking behind her. Standing in front of her, just as she remembered him, was Chat Blanc. She should’ve known. She should’ve known that just because it was okay for a couple days didn’t mean it would stay okay. She should’ve tried harder to find Bunnix, should’ve tried to find a way to stop Adrien from finding out. Movement by Chat Blanc’s feet catches her attention and she glances down, regretting it immediately.

“What have you done?” She asks, rushing forward and falling to her knees, desperately trying to stop her little brother from bleeding out. “What have you done?” She yells, glaring at Chat Blanc through her tears. Her hands shake as she puts pressure on the wound, using Damian’s cape in an attempt to stop the blood.

“Marinette-” He tries to say, and she just shakes her head, hating that there’s blood coming out of his mouth. She knows what that means. She knows that this is bad. And there are no hospitals anymore. Everything is underwater. Everything except the three of them.

“Hey no, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay, I’ve got you little brother.” She chokes out, trying to smile at him.

“Father,” He manages to say, his voice barely audible. “Help him.”

“No, no, please. Please don’t leave me! Please, no, no!” She screams, trying to wake him back up, trying to force him to get back up. He couldn’t die like this. He couldn’t die at all. She just found him. And now she’s lost him.

“Now we can be together forever Marinette.” Chat Blanc says, finally speaking up. She glares at him and his stupid smirk. The smirk that had haunted her since the first time she saw the white suit.

“I don’t want anything to do with you! You killed my brother!” She screams. Glancing down at her shaking hands, she can’t help but notice they’re covered in blood. She shudders, trying hard not to throw up.

“Brothers, actually.” He quips. She snaps her gaze back to him.

“What?” She hisses, standing so that she can hopefully run and get to one of her brothers before it’s too late. She can’t lose all of them. She can’t. He casually steps to the side, revealing her other brothers. But none of them are moving. Cass is also lying with them, but she’s not moving either. Gone. All of her siblings. And it was all her fault. She let Adrien know her identity. She didn’t try to fix that mistake and this is what happened. She lost every- her dad. Damian said- She turns and runs away from Chat Blanc, scanning the horizon and trying to stay as together as possible. She had to try. She could still save her dad. She could still help him. As she looks around, she manages to spot his cowl. Rushing towards it, she lets out a sigh of relief.

“Marinette?” He says, looking at her with a frown. She scans him for injuries, relieved that he just had a few small wounds. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

“I’m so sorry dad.” She whimpers, throwing her arms around him. He holds her for a moment before pulling away.

“Marinette, we have to go. We can’t stay here. It’s only a matter of time before-” He stops talking and his face morphs into the most horrified, anguish filled face that Marinette had ever seen. Right before he starts to crumble into ash.

“No!” She screams, horror and grief washing over her in waves. She was all alone and it was all her fault. And now she was going to die too.

---

“Come on Pixie, wake up kid. Come on, it’s okay, I’m here. Jay’s here.” A familiar voice soothes. Marinette stops thrashing, coughing slightly as she realizes the loud noise had been coming from her. She’d been screaming. Jay’s here? But then- She immediately opens her eyes, sobbing in relief when she sees Jason looking at her. No blood. Okay. She lunges forward and wraps her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

“I’m sorry.” She cries. “I’m so sorry.”

“Oh kid, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s okay. You’re okay.” He whispers, holding her close. They sit like that for a few minutes, until a knock on the door frame makes her reluctantly pull back. She glances over and a new wave of tears immediately appears. She launches herself off the bed and runs into her dad’s arms, sobbing once more.

“Jason, what happened?” He asks quietly, she knows that Jason doesn’t know, but she doesn’t answer for him. She can’t. All she can do is cry in her dad’s arms, relieved that she could cry. That her nightmare didn’t end with her almost being akumatized like it had before.

“No clue. Heard her scream so I ran in here, but she was asleep. Once she woke up she started crying and apologizing.” Jason says softly, probably for her benefit. She tries hard to remind herself that the nightmare didn’t mean anything. Her family wouldn’t be hurt because of her.

“Is everyone okay? Damian and Tim and Dick?” She asks, still buried in her dad’s arms. She’d ask about Cass, but she was still in Hong Kong. Marinette made a mental note to text her later.

“Everyone’s fine. Did you- do you want to talk about it?” He asks, and she almost agrees. Maybe it would be better to finally tell someone about Chat Blanc. To share that burden with someone else. But...maybe not her dad. Especially not since Adrien actively knows her identity and she wouldn’t be opposed to dating the boy in the future.

“I- er, um.” is all she manages to say before shaking her head. She won’t talk to her dad about this, and she doesn’t want to leave his arms right now. Not while she feels safe. She can almost hear him whispering to Jason, but she knows he’s trying not to let her hear, so she ignores them and instead wraps her arms around him tighter.

“Can I go get you a glass of water? Maybe a cookie for Tikki?” Her dad asks after a few moments of whispering with Jason. Marinette frowns. She didn’t want to be left alone. Not yet.

“I’ll stay with ya Pixie Pop.” Jason says, almost as if he had read her mind. She nods, giving her dad one final squeeze before walking back over to the bed and climbing up, letting Jason wrap her in a hug.

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.” Her dad says before walking away. The silence only lasts a beat.

“You wanna tell your big brother why you woke up screamin’?” He asks. Marinette squeezes her eyes shut, desperate to get rid of the images from her nightmare.

“Nightmare.” She says simply. Jason chuckles.

“Kinda figured that part out Pix.”

“I’ve had it before.” She starts, aware of how her voice shakes. “But this time it was a lot worse. This time, I wasn’t the one who died.”

“What could be worse than dyin?” Jason asks, though she can tell by his tone that he knows. He knows what’s worse than dying.

“Watching all of you die.” She says simply. His hug tightens and she lets out a shaky breath, desperately wiping at her tears. “That’s not even the worst part Jay.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t wanna.” He says softly.

“I know.” She says. “A version of it has happened. In a different timeline. That’s the worse part. Luckily when I had to go save that timeline, I didn’t know you guys. So you weren’t caught in the middle of everything. But in my nightmare, since you know about me and- and you guys just wanted to help but no one can win against that. No one. It was so hard to beat him when it actually happened. But the dream. It was awful.” There’s silence as he just holds her, lets her know he’s there without saying it. She’s so thankful for her family. For her brothers.

“Here’s your water.” Her dad says. She finally sits up and looks at him, noting the way his face is creased in worry. She manages a small smile.

“Thanks dad.” She says, her smile growing slightly as his face begins to relax.

“Mari! You’re still up?” Dick says, walking into the room. She blinks at him in confusion, not expecting him to just walk in. She watches as he looks between everyone else, clearly putting it together that something was wrong. He frowns, before his face stretches back into a grin. “Come on, bring all your pillows and blankets and we’ll have a Disney movie marathon until we fall asleep.” He directs, running out of the room to presumably get his own materials for the movie marathon.

“You don’t have to.” Her dad reassures her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She shrugs.

“Might as well. I know I’ll definitely not be able to sleep anymore tonight.” She says, grabbing a couple pillows and her blanket, dragging it with her to the movie room. Leave it to her brothers to have a way to help her feel better after a nightmare. Marinette smiles to herself, once again relieved that she was in Gotham.

Next

Masterlist

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82

[shadyteacup]

Hi! Im the one req 7 for chuuya sorry i didint specified, i just realized it. Can i get angst prompt 7 for chuuya?

Hiya! This pained me to write, so I made it fluffy at the end... sorry if u were looking for pure angst! I can't go to sleep peacefully peacefully after writing angst, I need to clutch my soft toys and cry myself to sleep..

Warnings: Angst to fluff, maybe a swear word at the end.. dw, it's just "bish", but like the actual word.

Word count: 2006 😳yes, I got carried away

Nakahara Chuuya + “Please wake up”

Forewarning

“Don’t move, Chu.”

You grumbled against his chest. It was yet another lazy morning for the two of you. Lazy mornings consisted of waking up late, cuddling on the bed till lunch time, getting dressed and having dinner at some exotic place, going for a long drive, then coming back home. It was a perfect day for a traditional lazy day, except for the fact it was a weekday.

Chuuya sighed. He had to get to work, and so did you. You both couldn’t afford to miss any workdays, considering that you both worked for the same organization, one that didn’t hesitate to punish for untimely work. Chuuya was an executive, and so were you. You both had multiple solo missions planned out for today and one mission wherein you both had to team up. It was going to be quite a busy day, and Chuuya wanted nothing more than to just get it all over with. He was looking forward to some lazy cuddles in the evening, after both of your jobs were done.

“We have to get dressed, dove.”

He tried reasoning with you. You were a workaholic, just like him. It surprised him to see this lazy side of you. But then again, you must be tired, he thought.

“I know. But let’s bunk today!”

You looked up at him with wide eyes, hoping to convince him.

Chuckling, he pet your head affectionately.

“The mafia isn’t some school that you could just bunk. Besides, don’t you love working?”

You frowned at that. You were feeling weird today. It’s like something was forewarning you. But about what?

“I just have a bad feeling about today. I don’t know why, but I feel like something bad is going to happen.”

He sighed. He was never one to believe I such things. That was why you weren’t telling him until now.

“We work in the mafia. How worse can it get?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

You smiled, getting up to get ready.

....

“The target is in the warehouse.”

Chuuya said to you. You both were currently seated in Chuuya’ s car, parked on a hill. Your stakeout point had a clear view of an abandoned warehouse. Apparently, it was the location where a rival gang was coordinating with some members of the mafia and stealing their goods. You both had already executed the moles and had sent in one of your trusted members as a pretend mole. He would send you both a signal when he felt that the security was the weakest at the entrance. You both would then attack. He was supposed to cause a commotion in there, resulting in majority of the guards to rush inside and leave the entrance wide open for you two. Your men had already sealed all exits to ensure no one got out. Now you were both waiting for the signal.

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.”

Chuuya pouted at your jab.

“I was just being thorough!”

“By stating the obvious?”

“You’re so mean.”

“Says the angry redhead.”

“What has my hair got to do with anything?!”

“Your hair has got to do with everything! I-”

A sharp sound was heard. Both you and Chuuya were blinded for a second as white filled your vision. You felt your torso pinch a little. It almost felt like someone was sticking a few needles into your tummy. You heard screams. They sounded frantic. A few moments later, your vision cleared, and you saw yourself floating in the air, a frantic Chuuya saying something to you. It all sounded mangled and mixed up. If you could have laughed at the moment, you would have laughed at how funny he sounded.

The screams had turned to cries, now. You were so confused. Who was crying? And why was Chuuya pressing down on your stomach?

Looking down, you saw the blood. There was blood everywhere. It had completely soaked your shirt. Chuuya was using his ability and his hands to keep it in. He seemed hurried. His eyes were watery, and streams of tears were flowing down his cheeks.

Finally understanding the situation, you realised that you were injured. Looking down at your torso, you saw the two bullet wounds. And now, you finally felt them. The pain was overwhelming. It rushed in like water at the breaking of a dam. It completely filled you up. You now realised that those cries of pain were actually your own. You wished to have never woken from your daze. You wanted to remain oblivious. You wanted the pain to go back to mere pinpricks. It was too much. Succumbing to the enormous pain, you let your eyes shut close. You realised that your body was going to sleep. Maybe for the last time.

....

Chuuya sat in a chair next to your sleeping form. You were lying unconscious on the clean white sheets of the hospital bed. Your entire torso was covered in bandages. You had taken two bullets, one in the side and one right next to your belly button. The doctors were able to save you in time, and it was a matter of time till you gained consciousness.

Chuuya held his face in his hands. The memories of just moments prior to visiting the hospital kept running through his head. He kept seeing flashes of your blood oozing out of your body. He kept remembering the way your eyes had glazed over while he tried to apply pressure on your wounds. There was so much blood. His mere two hands were proving to be inefficient. So, he had activated his ability to push the blood back in. He had no clue if that had helped. He remembered activating his ability the moment you had let out a blood curdling scream. He had levitated you both out of the car and high up in the night sky.

He should have listened to you. Your forewarnings were right. Something terrible had ended up happening. The mole he had sent inside was found murdered by the backup team, and the head of the organization had fled. His men had taken up sniping positions all across the hills. Two of them had shot you at once. He remembered going on a mad spree and pelting boulders at all the men in his sight using his ability right before he flew to the hospital with you in his arms.

“Has she gained consciousness?”, the doctor asked as she peeked in. Chuuya had asked all medical personnel to leave him alone with his sweetheart, a little too passionately, after they were done treating you, and hence the poor doctor was a tad bit scared to check up on your vitals.

Chuuya whipped his head up.

“No.”

The doctor scrunched her brows in worry. Rushing in, she did some tests.

“I’m sorry, sir, but if the patient doesn’t wake up in another hour, we will have to declare a coma condition.”

“What?!”

The doctor jumped at his outburst, but answered him, nonetheless.

“The body is behaving as if it is already in coma. This can also be because it is repairing itself. It doesn’t necessarily have to be coma.”

She sighed.

“But, if the patient retains this state of unconsciousness, we will have to rule out a natural healing process. I suggest you try to communicate with the patient. Sit close, hold hands, maintain physical contact. Try speaking. That way, maybe the body will react to a familiar scent, touch or voice, and gain consciousness.”

Chuuya gulped, worried, and nodded.

“I understand.”

He shakily made his way to your face, observing your serene features. He hesitantly put your hair behind your ear, breathing unsteadily. He felt immense guilt and anger. He was guilty of not paying your uneasiness an ear, and he was angry because he couldn’t save you. If only he had been more vigilant, more aware of his surroundings, he would have been able to smell a rat.

“I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have been able to protect you.”

He gasped inaudibly, trying to keep his sobs in. He couldn’t stop the tears. They flowed freely down his cheeks, a symbol of his immense fear of losing you. He couldn’t bear the idea of loosing you. It might be selfish of him, but he wanted you to live, because God-forbid, if you didn’t, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He knew that if such a devastating situation ever occurred, he would lose all sanity and go mad. He would lose his mental balance and completely fall off the edge. He couldn’t bear to be separated from you for two days, forget the rest of his lifetime.

He caressed your cheek, smiling bitterly at your sleeping form. Nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck, he let himself truly cry. He let out all his emotions into your hair. He found comfort in your warmth. He has always felt the safest in your embrace. That’s where he could truly be himself.

He didn’t realise how long it had been when he began talking to you. Telling you how much he loved you and how he couldn’t live without you. He pondered on how he would take his life if you left him.

“I’d have to go to that stupid mackerel for guidance. But then again, he has been unsuccessful in killing himself for 22 years. He’s probably the worst suicidal guy out there.”

He was lying next to you now, cradling your frail form in his arms.

The doctor waltzed in, a serious and sorrowful expression straining her pretty features.

“Nakahara-san, I’m so sorry.”

Chuuya gritted his teeth, holding onto you tighter.

“No! There’s still a chance that-”

“Its hopeless. The patient has already been in this state for 16 hours.”

“16 hours?”

The doctor smiled sympathetically.

“I gave you a lot more time. I thought maybe the constant contact would help. But sadly, it’s out of our hands now.”

Chuuya sat up, holding your face in his large palms.

“Wake up! Wake up, damnit!”

He shook you gently, desperate to get any kind of reaction out of you.

“Nakahara-san! Please get away from the patient! You mustn’t cause any harm! Security?!”

The doctor rushed forward to pull Chuuya off of you, but he held onto you. He grabbed your arms, looping his own around them and pulling you towards him.

“Wake up!”

He rested his face on your chest, sobs escaping him.

“Please... please wake up...”

The doctor reached forward to clasp his shoulder, trying to pry him off of you.

A large gasp followed by couple of coughs were heard.

You took in a large breath, trying to swallow. Your throat was dry and scratchy.

“Y/N!”

Looking up, you saw Chuuya holding you in his arms, a relieved and surprised expression on his elegant features.

“Hey.”

Your voice sounded raspy, but it was music to his ears.

He engulfed you in a hug, one that knocked the air out of your lungs.

“She’s still a patient!”

The doctor reprimanded as the security guards pulled Chuuya off of you.

You smiled at the tiny ginger.

“I’m alive, Chu. Stop being dramatic.”

Chuuya laughed at your carefree attitude. He didn’t resist the men as they pulled him out of the room. He was relieved to see you awake. He didn’t care about anything else. Just as he was about to leave, you spoke up.

“Call Gin and tell her that I’m not dead!”

“You don’t need to call me, idiot. I was waiting right outside.”

You smiled as she walked in, giving you a hug.

“Why does she get to go in but not me?!”

Chuuya whined.

“Hey Gin, guess what?”

Gin smiled at you, sitting at the edge of your bed at the nurses did their check-ups.

“What?”

“I’m alive, bitch!”

Your snickers could be heard till the hallway, where the rest of your friends were seated. Shaking his head, Tachihara snickered.

“Good ol’ Y/N.”

[bardic-tales]

Happy WBW, NL!! "Do many people own pets, like cats and dogs? What about magical pets?"

Hi, Midnight. Happy WBW. Thank you so much for the ask. I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Pets are very common on the Arathean continent, but I'm going to focus on the region during the time period of Cold as Ice, as there are animal companions in that trilogy.

In the lower class, their livestock were pets as they lived side by side with the animals in the Dregs. Children would sleep next to pigs and ride cows.

Cats were not the pets as we know them. Their main purpose was to kill the rats in the Dregs and the Olessan Forum. These cats were feral and would run whenever an unfamiliar person approached.

However, it was not unusual for commoners to feed the felines. These cats were not beloved to others and often looked at as the carriers of disease. There are legends about immense cats gobbling up children.

In the noble houses, it is common for the men to have hounds. There was an annual fox, stag, and hare hunting event in the King’s Forest. While there were no horses, these men would allow their hounds to corner the prey before shooting it.

Exotic Pets

Harpy Eagles (Aquilina)

An illegal fox hunt is exactly how a young Cyras Covelli came to befriend Aquilina. This eagle’s species call Avis their home. Her foster father’s hounds had corner the poor fledgling and was tearing it to shreds.

Cyras would call upon her magick and heal the bird’s wounds and tend to her with such kindness that was withheld from her. Aquilina is very loyal to Cyras and can be seen rubbing her face against the Glorendine.

When she was forced into the union with the Olessan steward, Aquilina came with her. Aquilina would often comfort Cyras as her husband spend long hours in the city Olessa, the capital of the Olessan Empire.

After her husband’s death and her ascension as Stewardess, Cyras would build an aviary on her estate in Olessa. She can commonly be seen in the aviary tended to the Aquilina and the other birds.

People are hesitant to approach Aquilina. It is known that her species can crush a man’s skull with their talons. They have been known to pick up children and fly them off a cliff to drop them.

Wyverns (Aurelius)

There is only one person in the Olessan Empire who keeps a wyvern. If you ask Silas if Aurelius is his pet, he will quickly protest and say that he is his companion.

The Dragon King Brennan had once entrusted the Silvius side of the Arturis family with protecting the lesser draconic creatures. They would form bonds with their human handlers and become loyal creatures. This is how Silas met Aurelius.

Aurelius’ cousins are the dragons rumored to be lurking in the Valerian Wilds. Some say he is a direct descendant of the Dragon King, Brennan, but this is false. He is about 16 feet in length, weighs about 2,000 lbs, and a 40-foot wingspan.

Unlike his draconic cousins, he only has a pair of hind legs. His tail is almost half of his body. Aurelius is very mobile.

Many noblemen and women give the crown prince’s cousin a wide berth when Aurelius is with them. They do respect the wyvern, but they think that he is aggressive and not intelligent.

That’s the furthest thing from the truth. He is deeply loyal to Silas and protects those his master calls friends. Aurelius plays a pivotal character in CAI. There is a place in the book where he rescues her.

Greater Horses (Magnus)

Greater horses are considered sacred in the Olessan Empire. Magnus is Cyras Covelli’s black horse. She would befriend this creature when she was younger and sent on a pilgrimage with Aquilina into the Valarian Wilds.

Magnus is the only greater horse in Olessa. She commonly will tell the tale of how he was descended from the greatest horse on the Arathean continent.

He is very strong, kind, and intelligent as well as gentle. Like all of the other greater horses, Magnus can talk but only does to those who he deems worthy. He lives well beyond the Dark Savior trilogy.

The nobility often is astonished that Magnus would accept the Stewardess as a friend rather than a priestess. They often think that he should be housed in one of the temples that dot the Olessan region.

Fenwolves (Maximus)

Finally, we come to the Crown Prince’s animal companion: Maximus. I wanted a dire wolf to the be the companion of Vaene, but I decided against it and created my own species.

In the Olessan region, Maximus is a rare form of wolf called a fenwolf. He has a larger size and wider skull than a regular wolf. He has shorter limbs relative to his body size. Maximus has reddish fur but with green moss growing over his back. The moss consists of slender stems, bearing alterative thin, curly, heavy leaves about 0.8 inches long and .04 broads, that grow in chain-like fashion. This moss hangs down Maximus’ sides and stops at the wolf’s thigh.

It is rumored that after his wife and son’s death that Vaene went into the swamp surrounding Olessa with the purpose of joining his family in the afterlife. It was here that he found the wolf pup clinging to his mother’s body.

Maximus is fiercely loyal to Vaene, even Vaene’s bodyguard is fearful of him, comparing him to Eastern myths about ferocious devil-dogs.