#hi sorry u get the terror robot

[lncarnon]

❛ i’m sorry i can’t turn off my feelings as easily as you. ❜ (i'm so sorry my brain will NOT allow me to pick a muse i can't make decisions rn rahhh )

He'd been mocking the trembling excuse of a man, reveling in the distinct signs of fear: quickened breath and elevated heartbeats, eyes dilated and body scrambling away from his metallic frame, all signs of a weak mind and even weaker body. Humans had so much to fear when they could feel. A notion he'd shed a few centuries prior. The only thing Revenant had now, was his rage.

And.. my, my, the words coming out the scared man's mouth...

Perhaps.. there was more than rage, in his metal cage of a chest. Joy lived there as well. A delightful feeling, one he chased around these trials, that only arrived right before he shut up one of these fleshbags and lingered for a few moments afterwards. Intuition states that he is about to experience quite the flood of enjoyment out of taking Dwight apart, piece by bloody piece.

"And that weakness, is my gain," he replies, metal voice breathy despite lacking lungs. "This wouldn't be fun, if you didn't feel."

[canadiannationalfox]

NUzi fanfic - Nightmares and Comfort

(Finale spoilers, duh)

Uzi tossed and turned in her bed, feeling a painful pounding in her head. She no longer could feel the soft mattress below her nor the warm blanket above her. Her LED eyes blinked open, staring into the open void of space since the roof of her room was gone.

Golden bright tendrils of light spiraled upwards from below her and reached high into the atmosphere above Copper 9. Uzi screamed loudly, "MOM! DAD! N? ANYONE?" but alas, only silence, there was no one there with her....

A glitching monotone voice crackled through the silence of space, mocking coldly, "Oh U-Uzi. D-d-did you really think it was t-th-that simple?"

Uzi spread her bat-like wings and flapped hard to get away from the illuminated tendrils of Cyn, but they started grabbing at her. Uzi look a box cutter out of her boot and started cutting herself free, no luck. She focused hard, causing purple triangles of light to slice her free from the binds.

The zero-gravity failed, and Uzi began to fall, flailing while trying to make her wings flap. She screamed in horror, landing hard on a steel catwalk. She pulled her wings in and started sprinting through the fog, tears appearing on her LED screen eyes as she glanced back.

The crackle and glitching sounds, the monotone laugh, all coming from the grotesque remains of Tessa worn by Cyn. She giggled, smiling wickedly as she started climbing like a modern-horror flick zombie towards Uzi. That sickening sound of "Callback Ping" echoing closer

Uzi flinched as a half human-half worker drone hand grabbed her arm, the warm blood running off the hand and onto her metal. The purple haired robot girl screamed out as she shut her eyes in terror, "HELP N!"

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

When Uzi opened her eyes, she was on her bed, in her room, and standing above her was a very worried N who had stayed with her that night to watch anime while her parents were out on a weird date night thing.

"Uzi! Uzi! Are you okay?" N exclaimed worriedly, he scooped Uzi up into his arms and held her close, slightly rocking her like she was a frightened child. The emo worker-drone girl's eyes welled up with electronic tears as she wrapped her arms around N, she sobbed gently but yet full of emotion, echoes of her sorrow filled the silence of the room.

N repositioned one of his arms so he could gently rub his left hand over his girlfriend's messy purple hair. He set her back down on the bed so she was sitting up right before he sat beside her, rubbing the short girl's back reassuringly. The only boy disassembly-drone quelled gently, "I'm here now, Uzi, I'm right here."

Uzi hugged N from the side, she was scared to tell him about the nightmare as to not frighten him, but she still wanted to say something. "I... I had another bad dream.... about... ya know... and the planet blowing up and..." she was scared to say Cyn's name, worrying that creepy thing on the end of her tail would wake up or something.

N knew this was something he couldn't just tell Uzi it was alright and okay, he gently held one of her hands in his as he soothed, "Yeah, that day was really scary. And it's okay to be afraid, Zi. I'm so sorry it all happened." He kissed Uzi on the forehead gently.

Uzi hugged N as tightly as she could, not wanting to let go because he felt like safety. She asked in a vulnerable voice, "Could you like... sleep next to me... in my bed, if that's cool with you?" She let go of him and laid down, patting the side of the bed to invite him in.

N was a little worried about if Khan would see them but, right now, Uzi's mental health and safety was way more important. The white haired drone got onto Uzi's bed and laid down, his stomach against Uzi's back, his arms wrapped around her midsection, his tail gently coiling around her ankles so she felt held all over. He whispered gently before peppering the back of Uzi's neck with kisses, "Does this feel right?"

The purple haired worker drone took N's right hand and kissed it gently, she giggled, "Yeah, it's perfect, but like... don't tell anyone, okay?"

N buried the small raised section of his face right before his LED screen in Uzi's hair, it was shockingly soft for a synthetic wig. The former butler boy reassured, "I won't tell a soul, Uz, I promise"

Uzi's solver anxiety was creeping up, and she was getting a bit over-warmed but she wasn't feral. She gently pressed the tips of her teeth against N's palm.

N teased softly after stopping the gentle onslaught of neck-kisses, "Hmmm, is someone a little hungry?" he reassured, "I'll allow it, you have permission to bite me, but just be gentle."

Uzi gently bit down on N's hand, not overly hard, but hard enough to break the softer material, letting a trickle of oil flow. She gently lapped at the bite mark like a little kitten drinking milk, humming very quietly in delight. She stopped and kissed his injury and apologized, "I'm like, sorry, N. I'm sorry."

N's hand gently healed over before he took hold of the hand of Uzi closest to it. He quelled gently, "Hey, it's alright, I didn't mind, and if you know how I feel about anything, I like doing anything, especially for you or with you, Uzi." Uzi let N resume holding her closely again, being the little spoon to his big spoon. She murmured as she started drifting off to sleep, "Goodnight, N. I love you, so much. Thank you."

The loving boy disassembly drone cooed back lovingly, "Sweet dreams, Uzi. I love you more than anything."

N stayed with Uzi the whole night, the two of them both having wonderful and happy dreams where they had fun and laughed, kissed, and danced, safe from the grasps of the Solver or Cyn in their dreams.

The End

[alfiely-art]

FINISHED ACT 2!!!! I promise I'm taking my time

Act 1 live reaction here

Here are notes I took while reading!!!

Hi vagabond fella… you're cute

Huh. So the world ended. Okay

Happy birthday john, you fucked up!!!! My god!!!!

Oh interesting… wonder if the kernel will come back later

I like this sprite lmaoooo silly guy

“It's a long way down” Hey. Hey wait a sec. Isn't that deltarune

HEY THE BUNNY WHERE DID IT GO

Bro Rose probably thinks you're dead lmfaooooo

House trapped. LIKE THE TITLE HOMESTUCK DO U GET IT

Am I supposed to ignore the Stop Scurrying button btw. He will scurry to my hearts content

HEY WHERES DAD.

“Would you like to play a game?” C…caliborn….? :3

We scurried until we couldn't scurry anymore

Aw he's scared :( WALK ACROSS IT ur fine…

A voice?? Is it the blue text. The sprite

OMG ITS THE VAGABOND!!!!

Sorry rose I'm not reading allat

So wait. Did the game cause the meteors or is it just saving people from them. Why was there no warning

Betty crocker is born /j

Nvm sprite said No <3

NOT NANNAS ASHESSSSS LMAOOOO

“Hoo-hoo-hoo” HEY I SAW CALIBORN GIGGLE LIKE THAT IN A FIC. I know the Striders have more to do with Caliborn but let me reach

OH its the sprite

Dave. Honey. Nows not the time for your rap

Which admittedly has fun rhymes

AW FLUCK IT

Dave what are you yapping about

THE FUCKIHG CAR OH MY GOD

DAVE OH MY GOD HOW ARE YOU STILL GOING

Fluthlu… I love you

I'm not even gonna try to spell that but I like the other squid octopus creature as well

Oglogoth… goth !!!!

Hey wait. The horror terrors are part of sburb. Is the game influenced by their lives and interests. Like. Deltarune

OH PSYCHE!!! hi Dave

Sword!!!!!!

Wow your room is really mHEY I KNOW THOSE GUYS. THATS THE FELT GUYS. SQUAREWAVE AND RHE OTHER ROBOT. I KNOW THOSE ONES!!!!! OHHHHHH

Bleat like a goat and piss on your turntable

Oh Dave. Oh Dave

Hey wait is this earlier in the day.

Okay this is definitely earlier in the day

Aw. He doesn't wanna make satire of the sburb review

FUCK IM FALLING DOWN ALL THESE STAIRS……

Is that. John's hand???? what the fuck is happening in midnight crew

Flagrant Homosexuality

YOU CANT BE SAYING THAT WHITE BABY (I was told that they use slurs, slur count 2!!!!)

Her life depends on you playing that game Dave

Ewwww what's the shit under the door

It's okay Dave piss probably isn't that bad. It's also probably Apple juice You're fine

HE GOT PISS/JUICE ON HIS TURNTABLES NOOOOOO

. They're gonna fly out the window

OH MY GOD BIRD NO

Wait. Davesprite is a bird with a sword in him. Omg is that bird the beginning of Davesprite omg!!!!

Wizard

Rose and her mom are fucking weird

MOM!!!!!

Hardcore parkour

Jade be telling the future…. Why can she do that

LIL CAL MENTION

NARRATOR YOU CANT BE SAYING THAT (slur count: 3)

Ironic Indulgence

Btw. Are you able to. Win the strifes. I'm so confused

“Fine, you'll interrupt your reading and turn around, but you don't see what could possibly be so oh my god it's a monster.” Hi this is absolute gold this is how I type

John died :(

Yay he's alive!!!

YOOOOO SICKKKK AFFFFF MOVE

John is such a nerd I love him

JASPERS NOOO

Hi Nanna harlequin sprite

Dave is very suddenly creeped out by the puppets, okay. Don't diss Lil cal bro

Baked good hater for Life!!! Also I am just like John I have absolutely no idea what Nannasprite was talking about. We r along for the ride

HUMAN ETIQUETTE WOOOO I NEED THAY BOOK

Jade why do you know all this stuff

Haha Dave's an emoji

IS THAT A DRIPPED OUT SLAPPY

HI CAL HI BABYGIRL !!!! I like Cal he's the man

Sweet Bro n Hella Jeff is. I

Cals eyes are so shiny

HAHAHAHAH JOHN MADE A SWEET BRO AND HELLA JEFF REFERENCE. I can't

U and me both Rose. We Are giggling

John died again

What the fuck is happening at Dave's house

ROSE RAP ROSE RAP

WHSJSHSJSH THE LITTLE IMP????

What the fuck is happening

I WANT TO PLAY A GAME is this a caliborn reference. Anyway uhhh Bro is kinda weird what's going on with him

Why does he have a camera in the saw guy figurine. Bro. What's uh up with you

BRO REALLY IS A NINJA…. Whys he jusy moving Cal around

Dave. I know you said your Bro is awesome but I think he's just really weird. He's silly

I do think it's interesting. John doesn't like his dad even though his dad is great (worst thing is he ignores that his kid doesn't like betty crocker goods). Rose hates her mom, but.. for like, the wrong reasons?? Like yeah her mom’s an alcoholic and seems neglectful but she doesn't seem to do the Irony shit Rose says she does. And then Dave seems to think Bro is the absolute best even though. This is not a great situation. I wonder what Jade's family is like

Also John and Rose avoid their parents but Dave's Bro seems to avoid Dave. interesting

Anyway POOR DAVE HE GOT SMOOSHED

Hey that letter is the same as the one in the trans dirk comic I saw :0

NOOO I WANTED TO SEE BRO

Yoooo John that's a cool weapon actually

That's a big boy right there what a big boy

ROSE THE FIRE ITS AT UR WINDOW

YO WAS THAT SILHOUETTE JADE?!?!?! JADE YAAA

Big boy!!!!!!

HEY I WAS INVESTED IN SEEING JOHN FIGHT. Oh at least we can see Bro. Wait how's Rose

??? JADE???

OOP NOPE. VAGABOND

What the fuck is happening I

vagabond is so silly I like him

Hey guys I think a king hurt vagabond. Just a guess. Probably reaching idk /j

VAGABOND PISS SCENE ?!?!?! YIPPEE!!!

Oh nvm. Btw can we get this guy a burger

HES SO HAPPY OVER THE. idk what that is DANGANRONPA BLOOD IN A CAN!!!!!!

HEY WHAT THE FUCK ARE ON THESE SCREENS BTW. Wait I'm shouting so much. But what the fuck. Dave has his sprite??? Yay???? I thought he was gonna fight Bro??? What happened to Lil Cal???

Hey isn't that Jade's symbol on the pumpkin

Yooo that's such a cool cutscene actuHUH HOW IS IT THE END OF THE ACT AGAIN

The frick….

Anyway. Thoughts: I like Vagabond. Jade is mysterious. Dave gay. Bro creepy. Someone pls save Rose. John you gotta put your big boy pants on and fight those ogres. Good act!!! idk why people say the pre-trolls stuff is boring I'm enjoying myself

[snaileo]

Top 5 batshit characters you’ve encountered

in Nooooo particular order...hmmm i really gotta think about this cuz i feel there are Easy ones i could list. but then again this isnt objective, nor do i need to dig deep for this to be a nice list. 1. Umataro Tenma

Of course I feel the first i should mention is Umataro Tenma. like I can't start this list off any other way, this man recreated his own son in the form of a robot and then abandoned him when his senses came to him ( but they left as soon as they showed bc man was back on his bullshit next day) like truly. Batshit King. and thats only his most well know Shit. like this one time he deliberately went back in time, i dont even remember what for, i think it was steal the not Yet Awake atom, and his younger self SEES HIM and LIGHTS HIM UP. theyre BOTH batshit young and old

like. i feel like we dont talk about how tenma was strapped enough.

2. Terry Silver

The next batshit queen on my mind recently is none other than Terry Silver. It Is Very Normal And Well Adjusted Behavior to terrorize a teenager, torturing him physically and emotionally, all because your Bestie, Your Cinnamon Fucking Apple, told you to. You know. Very Normal Behavior for people in their idk. 40s. Dude is a coked up billionaire and he wanted to play the part of Humble Down to earth man so well that he bought a beat up truck, all just to fuck with daniel.

And Oh Totally normal to go through extensive therapy, turning your life around and overcoming it all, only for it all to be undone because?? Oh?? My Wrongdoings CAnnot BE UNDONE??? BY SAYING IM SORRY???" like the moment he realized daniel wasnt gonna accept his sorry ass excuse it was Over. 30 years of therapy down the toilet.

3. Diva

Here's a more tragic one. The me from 6 years ago would kill me right now for even posting her face because I use to be SUCH a stickler for spoilers regarding her but idc right now

ANYWAY shes for real batshit and shes one of those characters who you can be sympathetic towards, the tragedy of knowing how she got to be this way but god you deserve everything coming to you. There are many things she does as truly batshit but an often forgotten one is stealing the shoes of a man she just killed. And she's later shown putting them on, before continuing her killing spree and doing something that altered the trajectory of the story forever

she also has an operatic voice, which her singing alone is an omen for bad things to come

4. The Monarch

This is a more recent one as rock had showed me The Venture Brothers and i hate this man. I hate him and i love him. I don't have much to say other than i want to bully him I genuinely want to bully him

hes just so pathetic. he didnt want rusty getting therapy because he couldnt shit on his day , because well...he was in therapy and theres rules, so he killed his therapist so he'd be free. to. Shit on his day like i dont kno waht to tell you.

5.Hannibal

this one may feel cheap but understand that like. him being batshit is the greatest thing ever .and hes def one of my favs in terms of being batshit. he made the show such a wild ride and like Cookie I am Looking at you we WILL watch Hannibal (tv show) idk wanna say anything else for spoilers but yeah theres some batshit characters for u

[obwjam]

would you be able to do a Mandalorian/Pedro Pascal x borrower??

I guess the plot would be where grogu finds the borrower, the borrower is like terrified to death and then mando finds them, and like he has to do something that’ll make them trust him or something?

btw i’ve been reading your stories and prompts like for two hours straight and i just wanna say that i would stay up all night reading your works instead of doing anything else i love them so much 🥺❤️

also, it’s totally okay if you don’t want to, or have a reason not to, i have no idea if you’re still doing requests and stuff or anything. thank you so much though!

ugh oh my gosh thank you thank you!!!! i love to be a sponsor of procrastination. keep up the good work. i truly love the idea of grogu just unknowingly terrorizing a tiny and i’m way overdue to write some mando g/t so let’s go!!!

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Din Djarin found you running for your life, nearly tripping over yourself and screaming so loud that he was sure the entire planet could hear. He was confused at first -- he had never seen a borrower before, and it took him a moment to register what exactly was going on. 

What were you running from exactly? Well, you didn’t know what it was, but it had giant ears, tiny arms, outstretched hands and could waddle as fast as you could run. You recognized the look in its eyes, too. One word: food.

“GROGU! NO!” 

At the sound of another voice, you whipped your head up and subsequently tripped over a rock. You slammed into the ground, gathering yourself for a moment before flipping yourself over and gasping at the sight.

At this point, you kind of wish that fall had killed you. The only thing worse than a bloodthirsty creature trying to eat you was the human who owned it. And, god, you couldn’t even tell where this human started and where he ended. He was covered head-to-toe in shiny metal armor, complete with a dark helmet and some gnarly looking weapons. He looked like a giant-and-a-half. You were done for.

Din cocked his head, tapping the side of his helmet to do a quick scan of you. The scan didn’t tell him much, but it showed him you were four inches tall and scared out of your wits. He frowned at how badly you were shaking.

He held Grogu out in front of him and tilted his head down. “No. No. You can’t be doing that. You hear me? Don’t do that again. No.”

Grogu stared back blankly with a smile and a patoo. Din rolled his eyes and plopped him into his pod before turning his full attention to you. He was surprised that you hadn’t tried to run away, but truth be told, you were frozen in fear. When a human was involved, there was nowhere to run.

Slowly, Din crouched down, trying to a closer look without looming too much. It was impossible to do that, but he was trying. A pang of guilt shot through his stomach as he peered down at you, cowering and starting to cry. Oh boy. 

“Hey, hey...” he started, holding his hands up to show he wasn’t going to do anything. At the movement of his hands, you flinched and moved your arms up to cover your face. 

Din hummed. “No, no. See?” He waved his hands a little. “No weapons. Nothing.”

You gave this curious giant the side-eye. He was clearly a warrior, or a bounty hunter of some kind. Why was he trying to be peaceful?

“What are you doing out here, little guy?” he tried, the helmet masking the true sound of his voice. “There’s a lot of imps around here. It’s not safe.”

You raised an eyebrow, confused as to what imps were, but all of your words were stuck in your chest. You couldn’t tell where this giant was looking or what he was thinking. Not to mention he was absolutely huge. Those boots could crush you in an instant.

“Hmm.” Din spent most of his days talking to a baby who couldn’t speak basic, so this should not have been as big of a challenge as it was. But you were clearly terrified out of your mind with the way your gaze was locked forward and how badly you were trembling. You looked like you were about to vomit. 

“Uh, do you... do you have a name?”

You opened your mouth, but no words came out. Din was about to try another question when the sound of blaster fire filled the air. You both looked toward the source of the sound, and Din quickly whipped his head back to you.

“You need to get out of here. There are some really angry guys coming this way.”

As soon as the giant shifted his position, you assumed the worst. “No!” you cried. “No, pl-please. I... I don’t... please... this--this is my home...”

Din’s eyes went wide as you lost it right in front of him. He could certainly understand your apprehension, but he clearly wasn’t going to hurt you. The Imperials would.

“I know you’re scared, kiddo, but when those Imperials find you, they won’t be as kind to you as I am.” You could barely comprehend what he was trying to tell you. You were far too petrified. Din looked at you, back over his shoulder, and back to you. Those imperials would be here any minute. There was no way you weren’t going to get squashed. He only had one thing left he could do.

“AH!” you shrieked as soon as the gloved hand entered your vision, but it was useless to try to run. Giant digits wrapped around your body, and you clung onto the folds of his glove for dear life as he lifted you into the air at a speed that was far too fast for your liking. Stars popped in and out of your vision as you kicked and punched and yelled in protest. 

Din grimaced, barely able to feel the impact of your struggles. You were clearly overpowered, but more clearly terrified. 

“This is for your own good,” he mumbled, hoping you would hear him as he plopped you down into a brown satchel that was draped over his shoulder. 

Inside the bag, you were clawing for a way out. Screams of LET ME GO! went unheard as the giant started to move. Din was trying his hardest not to jostle you too much, but that was a tall task considering he was fleeing from a legion of stormtroopers who were after the kid.

There were a lot of grunts, screams and blaster bolts, but soon, all was quiet again. You had since shut your eyes and gripped tightly to the walls of the bag to stay stable and ignore the chaos, but it didn’t take long after the violence died down that you realized the giant was still walking somewhere.

“Hey. HEY!” you yelled. Din was ignoring you. There were surely more troopers hot on his tail, so he had to get to the Razor Crest and fast. He pushed Grogu up onto the ship and opened the roof to his pod before hurriedly climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. The deafening sound of the ship powering up made your stomach drop, but it all turned to a soft hum once Din made the jump to hyperspace. 

Light flooded your vision, and you grimaced as that damned hand came reaching for you again. Again, protesting it would be foolish, so you just closed your eyes to fend off the headache that was sure to come when he lifted you too fast. 

Din made sure to go slower this time, and when he held you out in his open palm, he finally got a sense of how small you really were. His fingers were slightly taller than you, and with your knees pulled to your chest, you were more the size of that stupid metal ball Grogu liked to play with. Maybe that’s why he went after you.

“I’m... sorry about that,” Din started, trying to sound earnest. “You were in danger. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

You finally opened your eyes. The view in front of you took your breath away. The sky was swirling blue all around you, but you quickly realized that wasn’t the sky at all. It was space. Hyperspace.

Din huffed a laugh. “First time in space?”

You nodded robotically, forgetting for a moment you were sitting in the palm of a giant. “First time... anywhere.”

Din smirked. He supposed that made sense, but it didn’t make it any less shocking -- or adorable -- to him.

“I’m sorry about Grogu,” he said, as if you were supposed to know who he was talking about. You cocked your head at him. “Grogu. The little green guy that... tried to eat you.”

“Oh.” You shuddered at the memory. “It--it’s okay, I guess.”

A pause.

“I can bring you back to your planet, if you’d like. It wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

You considered this, but something was holding you back. “What... who were those guys? What did they want?”

Din sighed. “Imperials. They were looking for me, but they were also occupying any and all territory they could. I hate to say it, kid, but even if I brought you back, I don’t think your home would be much of a home anymore.”

“It was never that much of a home anyway,” you grumbled. You were surprised that you could tell Din was waiting for you to continue. “I mean, it’s just. That green guy was not the first thing to try and eat me.”

“Oh.” Din didn’t know what to say. 

“It’s fine. That’s just... how it is.” A beat of silence. “Are you... are you going to sell me?”

“Sell you?” Din was confused. “Why would I sell you?”

“I--I thought -- that’s what humans do, isn’t it? Especially ones like you.”

Din frowned. That was not something he had thought of. “No. I’m not going to sell you.”

“...so what are you gonna do with me?”

“I...” Din faltered. What was he going to do? He was so focused on getting you to safety that he didn’t calculate the long-term implications. Through his helmet, he stared at you, your eyes shaking and pleading with him for mercy. You looked so small compared to the space around you. So vulnerable. Din felt this pull toward you; that protective instinct that caused him to change his life for Grogu. At least the kid could defend himself. You couldn’t.

“You can stay here, with me,” Din offered. “Until we can find you a place to live. How’s that sound?”

“Really?” This giant didn’t seem like the hospitable type, but he just shrugged. 

“You’ll be safe here,” he assured. “I promise.”

“What about... Groku?”

“Grogu,” he smiled. “I’ll make sure he keeps his distance.”

You could barely believe this was happening. You were nearly eaten, discovered by a human, kidnapped and killed; now, he was not only offering you shelter, but something you’ve never had in your entire life: protection. Even if it was a trap, what did it matter? What would be his motivation for lying? If he was offering you a place to be safe... how could you possibly turn it down? He didn’t have to try and save you from the Imperials, but he did. Maybe he was being sincere.

You tried to hide your smile, but failed. “Y-yeah. I guess I’ll stay here. I’ll... try not to get in your way.”

“...don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Din said. He gently moved his hand to the console in front of him and placed it down, allowing you to jump off. Din marveled at how some of the controls practically towered over you. “Is this okay?”

Once you got your bearings, you slowly turned around and fully took in the beauty of what was in front of you. It took up your entire vision like the most amazing spectacle in the galaxy. You couldn’t believe you hadn’t experienced this before.

“Yeah,” you said, turning back to Din, who failed to suppress a smile of his own. “This is perfect.”

[dccomicsimagines]

Looks Don’t Mean Everything - Cyborg x Reader

Requested by Anon -  Do u think u could make an imagine with yj s3 for cyborg/victor stone where he thinks because of how he looks now reader won’t love him anymore?? Xxx btw love your work really is the best ❤️❤️❤️💯💯💯💋

Author’s Note - spoilers for first part of young justice season 3

***

Victor glanced down at his phone. His finger hovered over the call button. He willed himself to press it.

“Damn it,” he hissed before pushing the phone away.

“Victor Stone stares at Victor Stone’s phone as much as Brion Markov does with Brion Markov’s. What is Victor Stone trying to achieve?” Forager asked, looking up from his homework. The two were sitting on the patio at M’gann and Conner’s house. It had been three days since Victor’s life had changed forever.

“Nothing.” Victor laid his head on his arm. His hand slid down to his sweatshirt pocket to play with the broken ring. He was surprised to find he still had it. The computer in him buzzed, reminding him why he could never press that call button. You couldn’t see him like this. He was a monster now. You wouldn’t be safe around him if you could even accept him.

***

You clung to the ring that hung around your neck as you slipped past Star Labs guards and made your way toward Silas Stone’s lab. It took everything in you to keep calm. Vic probably was just busy or upset by his father and didn’t text you back. It was probably nothing.

However, the two of you hadn’t went a day without contact ever since you started dating. It had been three days. He wasn’t at his house or with his friends. You knew something was wrong, you could feel it in your gut. 

Dr. Stone was sitting at his desk, working away. You noticed how the lab seemed under construction. Clear plastic covered the windows and the doors. Maybe they remodeled recently? You knocked on the door frame. Silas looked up with a hopeful gaze before frowning when he saw you. There was no recognition in his face. You had only met him once since you started dating Vic three years ago.

“Who are you? And how did you get passed security?” Silas demanded once you stepped inside. 

“I’m (Y/N). Vic and I have been dating for three years.” You gave him an eye roll when he looked surprised. “And security let me in once I told them who I was and that I had to speak to you.” You walked up to his desk, glaring at him. “Where’s Victor?” 

Silas bit his lip, not meeting your eye. “I don’t know.” 

You had to purse your lips to keep from snarling in disgust. “He was coming to see you when you didn’t show up for his game. Now I haven’t heard from him in three days and nobody else has. So I ask again, where is Victor?” 

“You don’t understand. I don’t know where Victor is.” Silas looked pained. He pushed away from his computer to put his face in his hands. “I was working on something for the Justice League and there was an accident.” 

All the breath left your lungs. “Please don’t tell me he died and you didn’t inform anyone.” 

Silas dropped his hands from his face. His mouth twitched. “He did, but then I saved him.” Your mind immediately went to the worst. Vic as a zombie or maybe more like a Frankenstein. Silas kept talking about a Father Box and how it used technology to repair Victor’s body. You struggled to keep up with everything Silas explained. “He lost control, then some girl came through a boom tube and rebooted him.” Your eyes widened. “Victor went with her.” 

You rubbed your temples. A sour feeling settled in your stomach. “Okay, so there was an explosion and Vic was fatally injured. You then decided to use alien technology that even the Justice League doesn’t know enough about to heal him and you made him into this cyborg who almost killed you.” You frowned at Silas. He flinched. “Then you let Vic leave with some girl who came through a portal and haven’t heard from him since!” 

“Don’t take that tone with me,” Silas snapped. You glared at him and he sighed. The life seemed to drain out of him. You could see the love he had for Vic. Too bad Vic wasn’t here to see it. “I failed my son.” 

“Okay.” You held up your hands. Silas turned away from you to sit back down at his desk. “Let’s just focus on finding Vic. Do you have any idea where he is?” 

Silas shook his head. “I do not know.” He buried his face in his hands. You felt a wave of viciousness creep up inside. You wanted to scream at him for giving up. Vic had to be in so much pain, so confused. Your eyes burned with tears. You needed to find him and help him in anyway he needed you to.

“Well, ‘I don’t know’ doesn’t get us anywhere.” You stormed out of the room. Silas let you leave, wallowing in his self pity. You stopped in the hallway, leaning against the wall to gather your thoughts. Taking several deep breaths, you held in your fears, calming yourself until you figured out what to do next. 

***

“And here is the hallway to the UN Ambassadors’ offices,” the tour guide said, leading the group passed the high security corridor. You studied the area. Dread settled in your stomach. This was probably the craziness thing you had ever done, but for Vic, it was worth it. 

After you gathered yourself, you went back into Silas’ office and demanded he get in touch with the Justice League. He refused, saying he no longer had a relationship with them due to the accident with Victor. It was frustrating, but you didn’t give up. 

You figured the Justice League would know of the portal girl or at least could help you find Vic. Besides, it was the alien technology that they gave to Star Labs that caused all this. If anything, you might get a clue about Vic’s location at the very least. 

Thus, you pooled your savings and took a bus to New York City. Not getting any luck with the Justice League’s hotline or email, you decided to do the next best thing, find the Amazon or Atlantean ambassadors. The Justice League was headed by Wonder Woman and Aquaman. They could at least pass a message to them. Which was why you were at the UN.

The tour started back to the lobby. You slowed, dropping to the back of the group. They turned a corner and you stopped, waiting until they were down by the elevator. You peeked around the corner and only moved when the elevator doors were shut. 

Doing your best to stay calm and act like you belonged, you went back to the corridor where the offices were. Eventually, you found the Atlantean ambassador’s office at the end across from the Amazon ambassador’s. The door was shut and locked for the Amazon’s, but the Atlantean’s was slightly ajar.

Your heart pounded in your chest. You grabbed the ring on the chain around your neck for support. 

“Garth, you must tread carefully. Luthor will just tighten the restrictions he has over the League if you are not careful,” a voice said from inside. You peeked through the crack in the door to see two men inside. 

“Kaldur, trust me. I have been in this position long enough to understand the risks.” The other man moved in the room. You held your breath. “These surface dwellers are very complicated. I never thought they would be more political than Atlantis.” 

You raised your hand to knock, but stopped. Ice cold terror flowed through your veins, but you thought of Vic. He must be so scared, so confused. You needed to be there for him. 

However, before you could knock, the door swung open. You quickly put your hand down as both Atlanteans stared at you in surprise. Your heart skipped a beat when you saw one of the men was Aquaman. “Hi,” you squeaked. Blood rushed to your face.

“May I help you with something?” Garth asked. You recognized him as the Atlantean ambassador. 

“I...” You had to clear your throat. Suddenly, you didn’t know how to start. You rubbed the back of your head. “I need help finding my boyfriend, Victor Stone.” Both Atlanteans stared at you blankly. Your face threatened to burst into flames. “Let me explain.” And you did. To their credit, both of them listened without interrupting. 

“I am sorry for what happened,” Aquaman said softly after you finished. He closed the door behind you. “Currently, I do not know about Victor Stone’s whereabouts, but I have suspicions from what you told me.” 

You grinned at him, heart threatening to burst out of your chest. “Can you find him for me? Make sure he’s okay?” Studying Aquaman’s face, you swore you saw a flash of guilt in his eyes. Suspicion soured your stomach. Your smile fell slightly.

“Although with the accident he had, are you sure he wants to see you?” Garth asked, raising an eyebrow. “It seems like you both are very close. Why would he not contact you?”

The rest of your joy drained out of you like someone pulled the plug. “I don’t...maybe they wouldn’t let him or maybe he’s scared?” You bit your lip. It didn’t occur to you that Vic wouldn’t want you to see him. “Maybe he’s afraid his father would find him through me? I don’t know, but I just want to make sure he’s okay.” 

Aquaman nodded, not meeting your eye. You knew he wasn’t telling you something. “I will see what I can do.” He placed his hand on your shoulder as knock sounded on the door. Garth got to his feet and answered it, having a rather tense conversation with who was on the other side. “I will escort you out of the building.”

“Can I give you my number or something? You can let me know if you find out about Vic.” You stepped to the side to make him look you in the eye. 

“Of course.” He gave you a tight smile. You saw the hesitation in his eyes. However, you reached down to write down your information on a notepad on Garth’s desk. You handed it him. He took it rather nervously.

“Yes, our visitor is leaving now. I apologize for the misunderstanding,” Garth said, opening the door to reveal several security guards. You gave them a cheeky wave. They all glared you at the same time. You wondered if they were robots. 

Aquaman led you out of the office. You nodded to Garth, giving him a smile in thanks. He smiled back before arguing with the security guards. Aquaman was silent on the way out of the building. He left you at the entrance and you sat down on a bench outside to think. You knew he wasn’t telling you something, but what could that be? Your mind jumped to worse conclusions, but you calmed yourself. If the Justice League didn’t get back to you in a few days, you’ll just have to take drastic measures.

***

“Victor, can I talk to you?” M’gann asked as she appeared around the apple tree Victor was sitting against. He sighed. The computer in his head beeped. He tensed, fearing the Father Box would take control again. It didn’t and he relaxed. M’gann stopped beside him before sitting down.

He rested his head back against the tree to look up at the stars. His hand went into his pocket to play with his broken ring again. He missed you so much, he physically ached. 

“I received word that someone named (Y/N) (Y/L/N) is looking for you quite passionately.” M’gann crossed her arms, watching Victor’s reaction. Victor tensed. A wave of hope and horror washed over him.

“No, they can’t find me. They won’t understand what I’ve...what I’ve become.” His hands shook. “I’m this freak. They’ll see me and won’t love me anymore.” He closed his eyes. “They’ll give me back the ring.” 

“Ring?” M’gann blinked in surprise. Victor sighed, taking out his broken ring. “Oh.”

“Promise ring.” He smiled sadly. “Though, I would probably marry (Y/N) eventually, but we wanted to finish high school and college first. Of course, that doesn’t matter now. I won’t be able to do any of that looking like this.” 

M’gann cleared her throat, taking the broken ring from Victor. “(Y/N) called the Justice League hotline over a hundred times about you. They also broke into the UN building in New York City to try to get in contact with the Justice League.” M’gann smiled. “It worked. They want to know if you’re okay.”

Victor jumped to his feet. temper flaring. “No, I’m not! I’m a freak! This cyborg! I can’t ever see them again! They’ll think I’m a freak and I might hurt them!” He shook his head. “Tell them I died.” He walked off, shaking. The computer beeped dangerously in his head, reacting to his fast heartbeat. “Leave me alone.” 

M’gann watched him go helplessly. She looked down at Victor’s broken ring in her hand. “Alright then.” She got up and walked back to the house.

***

It took a week before you got a letter in the mail. You wondered how the Justice League had your address, but opened it regardless. Inside was Victor’s broken ring. 

Tears filled your eyes, but not of sorrow, only of rage. How dare they just send this to you? What does this even mean? Is Victor dead or did he just didn’t want to see you? 

Your hand squeezed the ring in your palm enough to leave an imprint. Drastic measures it was then.

***

A week after Halloween, Victor found himself out by the apple trees again. The vicious side of the Father Box gone for good. He wanted to see you, knowing at least he wouldn’t accidentally kill you, but he was still a freak.

Out of his misery, the computer in him picked up your voice coming from the house. He was on his feet in an instant. You couldn’t be here? How?

“Where is Victor Stone?” your voice echoed throughout the orchard. Victor found himself running toward your voice, stopping when he got to the back of the garage. He peeked around to see you and some man with no face wearing blue trench coat standing up to M’gann, Conner, Dick, and Artemis. His jaw dropped to the ground.

“Listen, I understand you are upset, but Victor Stone is not here,” Dick insisted, stepping closer to you. You backed away. The man with no face stepped in front of you.

“I think he is, Nightwing formerly Robin,” the man with no face said rather smugly. He turned to M’gann, Conner, and Artemis. “Miss Martian, Superboy, and Tigress formerly Artemis. By the way, it’s dumb to have your hero name be the same as your real one.” Artemis flinched. The man turned back to Dick. “Who are you kidding here?” 

Victor hid back behind the garage before you could see him. His heart threatened to burst. The computer analyzed the situation for the best plan of attack. He quickly shut it down. “Why is Victor Stone hiding? Victor Stone’s partner clearly wants to see Victor Stone.” Victor almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed Forager was suddenly beside him. Forager laughed at Victor’s surprise.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the intense confrontation caught his attention again. “I didn’t know you worked for money, Question,” Dick snapped. Victor peeked around the corner again with Forager. 

“I wasn’t hired for this,” the Question said calmly, looking at his fingernails even through he was wearing gloves. “I was contacted by this lovely young person who’s soulmate was taken from them by some hideous act caused the Justice League.” He rubbed his chin. “It made me wonder why the Justice League was trying to keep it quiet.” 

Suddenly, Victor found himself being pushed out into the open by Forager. “No, don’t...” His protest died when his eyes met yours. 

“Vic?” You pushed past the heroes to run to him. He flinched, but you crashed into him with a breath stealing hug. “It’s really you.” You kissed his lips passionately. Victor froze before melting into the kiss. 

Forager laughed. You pulled away from Victor to look at him. Your jaw dropped slightly. “Wow, you really did join a strange crowd, didn’t you?” You turned back to Victor, pulling down his hood to get a good look at him. Victor closed his eyes, preparing for your rejection.

Instead your hand traced the metal side of his face. “Please don’t.” He grabbed your wrist with his robotic arm. You hissed in pain. “Sorry.” He loosened his grip, opening his eyes. However, he was met with your accepting gaze. 

“You know I thought you would be more like Robotman from the Doom Patrol or something.” A laugh escaped your lips. Victor smiled, not realizing how much he missed your laugh. “But this is very cool.” Worry filled your eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m working on it.” He drank in your face. You looked tired. He probably caused that. “Better that you’re here. I’m sorry I didn’t call.” 

You slapped his arm. “Yeah, that sucked.” You hugged him again. “You scared me to death, you know.” 

“I know.” Guilt made his stomach twist dangerously. He noticed the ring was still on a chain around your neck. “You still have your ring?”

“Of course.” You pulled away to glare at him. “But you don’t have yours.” You pulled it out of your pocket. He stared at it, confused.

The Question and Dick were still arguing while the others watched. Forager clapped his hands, enjoying the show. 

“How do you have that? I gave it to M’g...” Victor looked over at M’gann. She glanced over to meet his gaze before quickly looking away. 

“Don’t worry about it.” You put your hand on Victor’s cheek, bringing his eyes back to you. A smile pulled at your lips. “I’ll yell at them for you. You know it scared me to death to get an envelope with just your ring inside.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t know they would do that.” Victor turned to kiss your palm. He took the ring from you. His eyes widened when he saw it was on a chain similar to yours. “You put it on a chain?” 

“Yeah, I figured you won’t lose it around your neck.” You laughed. “I mean it works for me.” You helped him put it on. 

“Aww, love,” Forager chuckled. “Forager likes Victor Stone’s (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” 

You eyed Forager curiously. Victor laughed for the first time since his accident. “I’ll introduce you.” You looked back at Victor with a big smile.

“I hope so.” You kissed his lips sweetly and Victor no longer felt like such a freak. If you could see him and love him still, he could do anything. 

[alison-anonymous]

what the hair?! ♡ varian

What the Hair ♡ Varian Imagine

Requested: noootttt exactllyyy, but @technolilly gave me the idea. Darling, if you're reading this, let me know what you think!!! 😉😁

Warnings: lovestruck Varian😍

Summary: basically the first episode of the Tangled series, but I weaved the reader in and tweaked a couple things!

♡♡♡

Your life was incredibly complicated.

Like seriously, if someone were to give out an award for Most Complicated Life, you would win the title, hands-down. 

You were Y/n L/n, daughter of the infamous L/ns, or, as they are better known among the criminals as, the Kingdom Snatchers. Not a very creative name, but then again, their title was given to them by the puny-minded brains of burglars, thieves, and murderers. Your parents were villains who would weave their way into a perfect kingdom with the perfect Queen and King, and take over their kingdom before they reached dessert. They would murder the real Queens and Kings, imprison the citizens, and then leave the kingdom in ashes. They were driven to practical insanity from their corrupted, power-loving minds and became known and feared in all of the lands. Wanted posters littered the forests, offering generous amounts for their capture. But of course, anyone who tried to get close to them ended up dead.

And of course, after they had you, they tried to teach you their ways to become a Kingdom Snatcher so you could take over once they got old and withered. You were supposed to become a vicious, kniving, power hungry, and insane mass murderer/dictator/whatever the hell you want to call it.

There was only one problem.

You didn't want to be the bad guy.

Of course, your parents were furious. If you weren't willing to become an evil thief like them, then of what use were you to them? To have the ability to watch you grow up, living a happy and healthy life, making them proud that their daughter was able to find her own source of happiness in life? Ha! Your parents were killers! If you didn't want to join them, they might as well kill you and keep trying until one of their kids decided they loved the evil life.

And so, you did the only thing you really could do.

You ran away. You were only 7, hardly a child.

And as time went on, you learned how to fend for yourself against the treacherous ways of the world. You were alone for most of your life. And after a while, you began to fear that it might just stay that way. Until you met a certain blonde princess with seven feet of hair, and everything changed.  

♡♡♡

It was a bright, shiny morning; a morning that Rapunzel would fall in love with. You were out looking for the certain blonde herself, and lucky you to have found her sitting next to the fountain with her favorite Lady in Waiting.

“I was thinking about your hair,” Cassandra said as you walked up to them, pressing your hands on Rapunzel’s shoulders. She gave you her signature bright grin and motioned for you to join them. “Maybe we can find a way to get some answers discreetly, just us.”

“Ooh, mischievous,” you giggled. “I like it.”

Rapunzel nodded and leaned her head on your shoulder. “I mean, I still think you’re being a bit unfair about the Eugene thing, but what do you have in mind?” 

Cassandra’s features grew a little more excited as she used hand gestures. “Well, I’ve heard stories about this guy named Varian. Apparently, he’s some kind of wizard.” 

Your eyes raised slightly at the sound of his name. Varian... where had you heard of him before? Probably from some of the little off-their-rocker villagers. Rapunzel seemed pretty excited too as she clapped her hands together like a giddy child. “Wow! A real wizard? Like with a pointy hat and casting spells and stuff?” 

You couldn’t help but snort. “Those only exist in fairy tales. My money says he’s selling something. Probably laxatives.” 

Cassandra did her best to hide her laugh, but was still smiling as she continued. “No, girls we have to be careful. Very little is known about him and what is isn’t that good. He’s dangerous.”

“But if we want answers, he’s our best bet right?” Cass nodded. 

“Looks like we have a wizard to visit!”

♡♡♡

It didn’t take long to make it to Varian’s house, which was in Old Corona. The house looked simple enough, had it not been for the dark and foreboding feeling that apparently only existed in Rapunzel’s brain as the three of you approached the door. It was actually a quaint little thing, simple colors, no broken boards or cobwebs, and was decently larger than the other houses you had passed by.

“It looks nice,” Rapunzel spoke nervously. “In an I-wish-I-said-goodbye-to-my-loved-ones-before-I-left sort of way.”

Cassandra pushed open the door just before you could warn them about the importance of knocking and you all proceeded into the dimly lit house. The shadows seemed to crawl towards you as you help up the caboose of the line, Cass leading the way through the halls of the house until you finally pushed through a door surrounded by some very suspicious looking fog. 

“Geez, I guess those laxatives must really be working,” you joked as you propelled yourself through the cool mist. It passed through the soft fabric of your pants and your combat boots as Cassandra pushed open the door revealing yet another dimly-lit room covered in fog. Who was this guy? Just as you were about to speak, Cassandra’s boot made contact with some sort of string on the ground, triggering a myriad of complicated reactions that ultimately ended up with some sort of magenta ball being launched at your feet. You let out a shriek as it exploded into a goopy substance, gluing your feet to the ground. The three of you struggled to get yourselves free.

“A booby trap? Really?” Rapunzel grunted. 

“Everything’s going to be fine, Raps, we just need to-” Suddenly a very scary, very robotic looking figure emerged from the shadows. Your heart began to pound faster inside your vest-covered chest as your eyes widened in terror. 

“W-who... is...that?” You could barely muster as the figure got closer. Two, electric yellow orbs were all that you could see as Rapunzel held an arm out protectively in front of you. 

“What do you want?” The voice boomed throughout the halls, striking terror into your heart. Your mouth fell open as you stared, slight PTSD forming from all of the moments you spent witnessing your parents torture innocent people. 

“U-um, hi, sir, I really hate to bother you, but I was just wondering if I could get your help about my hair,” Rapunzel did her best to hide her stutter. “Because you’re such a magic exper-”

“Magic?” The metal laxative man robotically asked. “I do not work with magic!” He suddenly lifted the helmet off of his head to reveal someone a hell of a lot less intimidating and, dare you say, kind of... insanely cute. “I mean, technically, it’s alchemy but...” He drawled off the moment he laid his adorable blue orbs on you. It was almost as if though he had gotten lost in a trance as his eyes looked over every inch of you before finally resting on your face once again, a twinkle in his eyes that, the more you looked at it, reminded you of the way Eugene looked at Rapunzel. 

A little butterfly flew around in your stomach. 

“Um, hate to interrupt, but um what is this stuff?” Rapunzel awkwardly chuckled, breaking whatever just happened between you and this supposed “Varian.” Your cheeks held a tinge of pink to them as he quickly regained his composure, a bit of a blush to his own as well.

“Oh! Um, this is a chemical compound of my own design. We have a little bit of a beautiful- I MEAN critter problem,” he chuckled, glancing at you as he pulled out the “neutralizing particle” and sprinkled it over all of your guys’s feet. You watched with an amazed expression as the compound instantly dissipated before your eyes. Varian smirked slightly at your reaction. 

“I am so, so sorry, Your Highness.” He bowed to Rapunzel. 

“Your Highness?” Rapunzel asked in confusion. “You know who I am?”

“How could I not? Look at your hair!” He suddenly realized the error in his exaggeration and quickly apologized. God, how could one person contain to much adorableness?

...Wait, what?

“Rapunzel is just fine,” Raps smiled at him. “And this is Cassandra, and Y/n.” Cass gave him a firm nod and you offered him a polite smile. His eyes lingered on you for a moment longer.

“Y/n... okay! Anyway, so fantastical stories about your hair have spread throughout Corona. Most people think that it’s magic, but as you’ve probably learned by now, I don’t believe that.” You couldn’t help but smile at his boldness, the pride that he took in his work. He seemed to have something that you only wished you could have: pride. 

“Listen kid, we’re kind of in a hurry here, but let’s just get one thing straight here. Everything that happens here stays here, you got-”

“I don’t think we need to threaten him, Cass,” you quickly removed her hand from Varian’s shirt and gave her a reassuring smile. “He seems pretty harmless. Right?”

He quickly nodded his head, like a love struck puppy as he stared at you. After figuring out that Rapunzel’s hair no longer held its fantastical healing properties, Varian stuck her in a machine that he apparently made himself to determine the entire chemical makeup of any substance. 

“Woah,” you breathed as you stared at the great machine. “This is... amazing, you built this yourself?”

“Y-You think so?” Varian giggled, a bright crimson tinting his cheeks as he scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah, I did.”

“It’s incredible.”

“You’re incredible.”

“What?”

“What?” You were both staring at each other with wide eyes until you finally started giggling. 

“You’re funny,” you chuckled, shaking your head slightly and turning back to watch as the machine tried taking an axe to her hair. Little did you know that he was still staring at you the entire time. Time seemed to practically fly by as Eugene came in and then a bunch of Varian’s underground machines suddenly became radioactive or something. Cass and you went out to find him and before you knew it, Old Corona was in near ashes. 

You slowly approached Varian after his father had talked to him, and by the looks of it, it hadn’t gone well. You stopped when you were just behind him, trying to debate whether or not you should put your hand on his shoulder. 

“Varian...” You began, but stopped, trying to form the right words in your brain. He turned to look at you and instantly became flustered once again.

“Y/n, I am so, so sorry for this, I swear that I-” 

“It’s okay, Varian,” you assured him, flashing him a smile and tucking a stray lock of your hair behind your ear. “I mess up too. But that doesn’t mean that we’re any less amazing.” 

A small smile grew onto his lips at your words and he let out a soft chuckle. A short, comfortable silence fell between you two as you stared into one another’s eyes until he broke it. “Hey... I know we just met, but would you want to... umm... hang out sometime?”

“I’d love that,” You couldn’t help but grin.

♡ a.a.

[enchantedlokii]

The Last Great American Dynasty

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: mentions of death, mentions of terrorism

Characters: Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Dum-E, JARVIS, James Rhodes, Happy Hogan, Peter Parker, Morgan Stark, Lila Barton, Shuri, Harley Keener, Cassie Lang, EDITH

Mentioned: U, Butterfingers, Howard Stark, The Mandarin, Aldrich Killian

“Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny. Her saltbox house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis. Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money. And the town said, ‘How did a middle-class divorcée do it?’”

Pepper’s heels clicked as she made her way down the long stairwell. She smirked when she saw what Tony was up to. The man was arguing with one of the robots that helped around the lab, pointing at it and scolding it like a child. “Be nice to Dum-E, Tony,” she reprimanded, stepping into the workshop. “You’ll hurt his feelings.”

Tony gaped at her, grabbing his chest dramatically. “I’ve been betrayed,” he gasped. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Pep.”

Pepper rolled her eyes and set the paperwork down on the desk he was sitting at. She couldn’t stop herself from leaning over for a kiss. A few years ago, she would have laughed at anyone who suggested she had a thing for her boss. Now it was common knowledge that the two were together.

“Are we going for a drive?” She asked, looking over at the row of cars. “Maybe drive down to the ocean? Find somewhere private?”

“Because it’s not private here?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. “Last I checked, it’s just the two of us.”

“The two of us, JARVIS, Dum-E, U, Butterfingers,” she listed, looking over at the robot that was now distracted picking up spilled parts. “Let’s go somewhere that it’s really just the two of us. No tech. No suits.” She glanced over at the line of different suits enclosed in glass. “Just us.”

And that’s how Pepper found herself wanting her life to be. It wasn’t always easy being the girlfriend of someone like Tony Stark. They were never truly alone. There was always paparazzi or agents or someone watching them. And people liked to talk. They liked to twist words and create tales. And she understood it when she first started working for Stark Industries. The company was none for the scandals and the questionable decisions that Tony made, and before him, Howard. But that was before.

Not everyone could see that Tony had changed, but she could. She knew that he was different now. She knew that he cared for her and that he wanted nothing more than to protect her. His eyes sparkled now as he looked at her. “Okay,” he breathed. “Let’s go.”

“The wedding was charming, if a little gauche. There’s only so far new money goes. They picked out a home and called it ‘Holiday House.’ Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud. The doctor had told him to settle down. It must have been her fault his heart gave out.”

“You okay, Tony?”

Tony glanced over his shoulder and saw that Rhodey had came in. He had a red tux on that Tony had picked out for him to wear. Happy had a similar one on. But there was another matching tux hanging on the closet. “I’m okay,” he replied, giving his friend a small smile. “Just. . . He was supposed to be here.”

Rhodey frowned, glancing over at the suit. He looked back at Tony and walked over, putting a hand on his shoulder. “He wouldn’t want you to be upset,” Rhodey reminded him, crouching down to be level with him as he sat. “You know he’s here in spirit. He’ll be watching, and I bet his cheers will be the loudest of all.”

Tony smiled and hugged his friend. “Thanks, Rhodey,” he whispered, his voice shaking. “I-I think I’m ready.”

“Great,” Rhodey replied, holding out a hand to help him up. “Let’s get you out there.”

Tony could feel his heart pounding as he let Rhodey lead him outside. Everyone turned to look at him, smiling. His chest ached. It always ached some, but more than usual now. Because there were empty seats in the crowd. They had lost.

He stepped off the porch, glancing back at the beautiful home behind him. He loved the lake house, and so did Pepper. It was safe, tucked away in the woods of Upstate New York. It was a great place to raise their unborn daughter.

But not even the beauty of the home compared to how Pepper looked when she finally stepped out, a veil covering her ginger hair. The tight-fitted dress made her small bump visible, and she held one arm around it protectively. She would do whatever it took to protect her child. And so would he.

“And they said: There goes the last great American dynasty. Who knows, if she never showed up, what could’ve been. There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen. She had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

“Mommy!”

Pepper forced a smile as Morgan ran towards her, a wide smile on her face. She crouched down and held out her arms, pulling the girl close to her chest and stroking her hair. She didn’t even realize she was crying until a sob escaped her throat. How was she supposed to explain to her baby that her dad wasn’t coming home?

“Mommy, why you crying?” Morgan asked, looking up at her with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Sweetie,” Pepper choked out, pulling Morgan closer once again. “Y-you know how sometimes bad things happen? H-how Daddy has to help fix them?”

“Yeah,” Morgan said quietly.

“Morgan. . . Baby, he went to go help. You know that. He went to try to bring Peter home. You remember him telling you that, right?” she asked.

“Mommy, I’m scared,” Morgan whimpered. Pepper only held on tighter, unable to stop the streams of tears that spilled into her daughter’s hair.

“I’m sorry, Baby. Daddy’s not coming home.”

“Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever. Flew in all her B*tch Pack friends from the city. Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names. And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet. And losing on card game bets with Dalí.”

Morgan looked up as someone knocked on the door. She abandoned the project she was working on when she thought she heard her mother moving upstairs. “I’ve got it, Mom!” she called, walking over to the door and swinging it open. She smiled when she saw the familiar faces.

“Morgan!” One of the girls spoke up first; Lila. She was a lot older than Morgan. Most of them were, but their parents were friends. They grew up together. Morgan was smarter than most girls her age, anyway, so they didn’t mind.

One by one, her friends stepped inside. Until one stopped in front of her. “Hey, M,” the boy said softly. He was just a bit taller than her despite being so much older. “How are you, Little Miss?”

Morgan smiled and moved to hug him. “Hey, Petey,” she murmured, pressing her face against his chest. “I’m good. I’m really good.”

“Peter! Morgan! Come on!”

Morgan turned as Shuri waved them over. Her hair was wrapped in a tight bun, and she was pulling her shirt over her head to reveal her green bathing suit. “Let’s go!”

“Okay! Okay!” Morgan called, grabbing Peter’s hand and pulling him over. She made sure to give him a tight squeeze before letting him move to talk to Harley while she joined Lila, Shuri, and Cassie.

The girl pulled the oversized MIT shirt over her head to reveal the red-and-gold bathing suit she was wearing underneath. She grinned widely, heading towards the back door. “Avengers!” All the others looked up at her curiously. “Assemble!”

“And they said: There goes the last great American dynasty. Who knows, if she never showed up, what could’ve been. There goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen. She had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

Morgan huffed as she dropped the box in her uncle’s trunk. She turned to make sure he wasn’t looking before peeking inside and making sure the nanobot casing was still inside. She grinned and patted it before closing the box back and pushing it against the back of the seat.

“Alright, Morgan, I think this is the last of it,” Rhodey called, carrying a box out of the house. Happy was behind him, talking quietly with Pepper. She silently wished that Peter was here with them, but he stopped by the day before to give her a hug and wish her luck.

“Good,” Morgan said, smiling as Rhodey put the box with the others. “We should probably go ahead and leave then, yeah?”

“Yeah, if we want to get there before dark,” Rhodey agreed, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a side hug. “Go tell Pep and Happy bye.”

Morgan nodded and ran up the steps to stand in front of the two. “Well,” she started. “This is it.”

Pepper smiled and ran a hand through Morgan’s long hair. “I’m gonna miss you, Baby Girl,” she murmured before pulling her into a hug. “Your dad would be so proud of you. You know that, right?”

Morgan just nodded into her chest. That’s what everyone had told her when she was accepted into MIT. “You think he knows?” she asked quietly.

“I’m sure he does,” Pepper assured her. “I know that he’ll never stop looking out for you. He wouldn’t dare.”

“I hope so,” she mumbled before pulling away and going to hug Happy. “Keep an eye on Peter while I’m gone?”

“Morgan, I’ve been keeping an eye on him since before you were born,” Happy chuckled, rubbing her back. “Don’t worry. I won’t let him do anything stupid while you’re gone.”

“Good,” Morgan smiled. “I’ll miss you, Uncle Happy.”

“I’ll miss you too, Sweet Pea,” he replied. “If you ever get homesick, call me. I don’t care if it’s three in the morning, I’ll come pick you up.”

“Morgan,” Morgan turned back and saw that Rhodey was closing the trunk. “We need to go.”

Morgan nodded and stepped back. “I’ll see you guys at Christmas,” she said, giving them a watery smile. “Love you three thousand.”

“They say she was seen on occasion. Pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea. And in a feud with her neighbor. She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green.”

“Morgan Stark.” Morgan froze, turning slowly and lifting the faceplate of her suit. “So this is what you’ve been up to.”

“Mom, I can explain,” Morgan said, landing the suit and tapping the arc reactor so the suit would retract itself. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“It looks like you’ve been building more suits after I told you not to,” Pepper said, crossing her arms. Her expression was unreadable, and Morgan wasn’t completely sure if she was mad or amused or maybe a bit of both. Maybe even something completely different. “You’re just like Tony.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Morgan asked, unsnapping the arc reactor and rubbing it with her hand. She may not remember much about her father, but she knew that he was a hero. People loved him, and they loved her for being his daughter.

“No,” Pepper sighed, coming closer. “It just worries me, Sweetie. I don’t want to lose you too. You know you’re all I have left.”

“You won’t,” Morgan assured her before falling silent, looking out at the ocean beside them. “I just feel closer to him when I have a suit on.”

“I know,” Pepper murmured, following her gaze. Her gray hair looked silver in the moonlight. “You know, I used to hate his suits. So much. He would spend hours in the workshop sometimes. I almost left him because of it.”

“Yeah?” Morgan asked, still looking at the water.

“Yeah,” Pepper replied, looking down at her feet. “I’m glad that I came to my senses.”

Morgan smirked, glancing over at her. “I’m glad you did too,” she chuckled, earning an eye roll. She smiled as her mom pulled her into a hug. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Morgan. So much.”

“Fifty years is a long time. Holiday House sat quietly on that beach. Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits. And then it was bought by me.”

Morgan almost sobbed when she saw it. She looked down at the picture in her hand and grinned, looking back at the newly rebuilt penthouse. It looked just like the picture. This. . . This was her dad’s home. And it was beautiful.

“You ready?” Peter asked. He was standing beside her, a hand on her shoulder. He had helped her design the inside of the penthouse, and even helped set up the tech inside. It had been destroyed before he knew her dad, but he was old enough to remember seeing it on TV.

“Yeah,” she breathed, letting him lead her inside. He pushed a button on his glasses. “EDITH, lights.”

As they stepped inside, the lights turned on, brightening the room. The living room was large, a piano resting in the corner beside the couch. It looked just like the pictures that she had seen of the inside when her parents lived there.

“I-it’s perfect,” she breathed. She smiled and squeezed Peter tight. “Thank you so much, Bubba.”

“Of course, Sis,” he replied, kissing the top of her head. “I, um, I have a little surprise for you. Come on.”

Morgan tilted her head slightly before following Peter down the staircase. Morgan’s eyes widened as she saw the workshop. It was much bigger than the one in the lakehouse. She was sure this was the surprise that Peter was talking about, but he held a hand up before she could speak, closing his eyes. “Mr. Stark?”

Morgan blinked, stepping back as a blue figure popped up in front of her. She felt tears in her eyes as she immediately recognized him. “D-Dad?”

“Hey, Maguna,” he greeted her, smiling softly. He glanced around at the room, taking everything in. “Wow, never thought I would see this place again.”

Morgan gaped, looking at Peter. “I-is he. . ? H-how?”

“It’s not new tech,” he shrugged. “I’ve enhanced it. Tested it out with some memories that weren’t uploaded to the system, and. . . Yeah, it’s him.”

Morgan looked back at her father with wide eyes. “You’re real?” she questioned, still in shock. He looked just like she always remembered. Just like that hologram video that she would playback sometimes so she would never forget his voice.

“Yeah, Sweetie. I’m real.”

“Who knows, if I never showed up, what could have been. There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen. I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

Morgan let a small growl escape as she made her way downstairs. She picked up a pair of gauntlets and strapped them on, wanting to blast something. To destroy something. Anything. She was muttering under her breath, and nearly walked through the hologram as it appeared in front of her. “Woah, Morgan. What’s wrong?”

“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered, walking past her dad. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Morgan. . .”

“You don’t want to know, Dad,” Morgan huffed. “You’ll be mad at me.”

“Kiddo, you know some of the things I did when I was your age,” Tony pressed. Morgan stopped but didn’t look at him. “Talk to me.”

“The press said I wasn’t fit to run Stark Industries,” she sighed, turning to give him a sad look. She used her hand to pull up an article, letting him read it. “I got mad. Furious. I yelled at them. And it just made everything so much worse. They said I’m unstable. That my temper will destroy the company.”

“Come sit with me,” Tony insisted, walking over to the couch in the corner. Morgan hesitated before joining him. “Did Pepper ever tell you how this place got destroyed?”

“She said it was attacked by terrorists,” Morgan told him. “That it was too damaged to repair.”

“But she didn’t tell you why it was attacked by terrorists?” he asked. After she shook her head he continued. “We never really talked about it much after it happened. It was the worst Christmas we ever had. . . There was this man called the Mandarin. He was claiming responsiblity for dozens of terrorist attacks around the country. One of them happened here in Malibu.

“Happy got caught in the crossfire. It almost killed him, and I was furious. I let the world know, and the next day we were attacked. Turned out the Mandarin was a coverup and it was a man named Aldrich Killian. I had met him once years before and refused to work with him, and he wanted revenge. So he came up with Extremis.”

“Wait, Extremis. . . That’s when you met Harley, right?” she asked. Everything was starting to click together.

“Right,” he replied. “The point is, we make mistakes and we pay the consequences for them. People thought I was crazy for challenging the Mandarin, but in the end, everything turned out fine. I met Harley, me and Rhodey and Pepper stopped Extremis, and no one else died because of Killian.”

“Yeah, but that was you,” Morgan countered. “You’re a hero. An Avenger. I’m just me.”

“I wasn’t always a hero, Bug,” he told her. “I made a lot of mistakes and gained a lot of enemies. My temper was bad too. Just ask your mom or your uncles. It wasn’t pretty.”

“I can’t imagine anyone hating you as much as the press hates me right now,” she sighed, leaning back against the cushion. “I don’t know what to do, Dad.”

“Just don’t let them get to you,” he replied. “Go down to the beach and blow off some steam, then tomorrow get back out there and make sure they know you’re not giving up. Remind them who you are and remind them that Starks don’t give up.”

“I had a marvelous time ruining everything. A marvelous time ruining everything. A marvelous time. I had a marvelous time.”

Morgan took a shaky breath as she walked up to the podium. The room was packed, and only a few faces in the crowd were familiar to her. She glanced down at the hologram on her watch. “You got this, Bug,” her dad whispered, giving her a small smile.

She smiled back and looked up at the people. “Hello, everyone,” she started. She glanced at the cards that she had made, skimming over the scribbled words. “A lot of you have been asking about why I should be given a chance as the next CEO of Stark Industries and. . .”

Morgan trailed off, looking at the cards again. “Really, at first, I wasn’t so sure this was for me,” she said, laying the cards face down on the podium and looking back at the crowd. “Because, really, who could do a better job at this than my parents did?”

She paused, risking a glance down at the image on her watch. Her dad just nodded for her to keep going. Letting her know that this was okay. “The truth is,” she started, looking back up. “I have been working for years to try to live up to my father’s legacy. To be the person that he would want me to be. And he told me once that if I believe something is right, to never give up on it. No matter who tells you that you’re wrong or that you’re crazy.

“I’ve built more arc reactors now than I can count. I was the top of my class at MIT. I’ve recreated every version of the Iron Man suit that’s ever existed, plus more. And I have ideas that no one else is brave enough to try.

“I’ve been called a lot of things since I’ve moved here. I’ve been told that I’m not my father. And I’m not. No one could ever be as great as he was. But I am a Stark and I will fight for this company,” she smirked at a camera, looking around the room. “I’m not Iron Man. I never will be. But I will make sure that the marks he has made are never forgotten.”

[scumerage]

Attack on Metal Knight (Part 1)

Credit to /u/PoetOfSaffronPark for inspiration with The Human Monster vs the First Hero and When the Earth is in Danger. Loved the idea of ramming different character's philosophies into clashes to see how they would reach to each other. Here is my take on how Bofoi would react. Enjoy!

#I. Breakfast:

There he was, Dr. Bofoi, the greatest mechanical, weapons, armor, and robotics engineer, developer, and researcher in the world since the dawn of time. There was he was, hidden in his secret fortified industrial base, so secret even his student Child Emperor had never seen most of its complexes or the deepest of its bunkers. There he was, working tirelessly to save the world from evils not even tortured souls like the psychic Tornado of Terror, the brainwashed ninja Flashy Flash or mutant Zombieman could imagine. There he was, the most powerful man in the world while the invincible hero King stood idle and only acted infrequently on a whim… and what was Bofoi doing?

Having breakfast in his private domestic quarters like any ordinary human being.

Bofoi had already taken his daily physical scans, he remained in good health despite his age, no failing organs, no dietary issues, no significant physical weakness (he had never used a crutch his life). Yet here he was, filling his stomach with fuel to keep his limited biological system functioning… the basic, fragile system upon which the most powerful military force in history depended on. If he died, the access codes would be lost with him, his robots would continue to defend humanity until they failed without his efforts maintaining their effectiveness.

Ten minutes had already passed. The monitor on the kitchen wall beeped (Bofoi had one in every room), the efficiency levels of production had dipped 0.1% in his absence. He really needed to finish up eating and get back to work before things got worse. He still had nightmares from the time a single power failure in the factory coordination sector slowed down production by 2% for several hours. And the nerve of the Hero Association desperately trying to contact him! All about that “Monster Association” after rejecting the idea of simply killing them all at once. All because killing a single child to save humanity would hurt their public funding. Which was their own fault for selling out to donors and relying on popularity to support the Hero Association.

#II. The Attack:

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 10 Breached!

Bofoi started, his base was perfectly hidden! No radar, sound, vibration, or smell gave away its position, it was impossible!

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 9 Breached!

He jumped up and ran to his monitor. Already past Level 9? His test assaults by released monsters never made it that far!

“What is the assault pattern? Physical? Firepower? Chemical? Electrical?”

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 8 Breached!

“The method of attack is unidentifiable.”

“Unidentifiable? How?” Even if his sensors were annihilated, that itself would record the data of their destruction! Something is horribly wrong!

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 7 Breached!

This is bad! Forget the threat level, those defense were tens of miles apart. Whatever did it is moving faster than a fighter jet.

“What is the damage to the Defense Levels? What percent of them were destroyed?”

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 6 Breached!

“Damage levels are at…. 0%. Each Defense Level is functioning at 100% capacity.”

“0% Damage?! 100% Capacity?! That doesn’t make any sense!” All the expendable outer Defense Levels, 10-6, were overrun in less than a minute. Defense Level 5 with Bofoi's standby robotic armies was the last real line of defense.

“Mobilize all forces and destroy the threat! Aircraft, Mechas, Drones, anything! Destroy the factories if you must, but stop that intruder! Code **********!”

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 5 Breached!

“Military forces are not responding to orders. They are remaining on standby.”

“Remaining on standby? But I gave Attack Code! Standby Mode is disabled!”

If his robots were not responding… that could only mean… the enemy had disabled their programming! And that could only mean… oh no….

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 4 Breached!

Defense Level 4, the factories, the core of his entire military power, would be broken into. Now that they had fallen, humanity was as good as dead.

Next were the research labs. With the most powerful weapons Bofoi had ever created. As well as a few samples of human DNA and basic artificial wombs Bofoi reluctantly added as a safeguard in case of human extinction. If they fell, there was no hope of Bofoi ever recovering from this attack, of ever saving the world. But the intruder had not won yet.

“Activate All Prototype Weapons in Defense Level 3! Code **********! Is the intruder technological, and is it hacking my programming relays?” Damn it! Someone must have captured Child Emperor, and engineered a computer virus based on what few codes the student knew. Only they could be behind it!

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 3 Breached!

“No, the programming is functioning properly. There is no data of any hacking or foreign program. Nor have any authorized codes reversed the Attack Code or Prototype Code. All Prototypes remain inactive. The intruder is not technological.”

Not technological? No hacking? No malfunction? Not even stolen authorized codes? Bofoi turned off the monitor, it was obviously compromised. He pulled out his backup radio.

“Activating Alternate Communication Relays! Code **********!"

"Self-destruct all breached Defense Levels! Code **********!"

"AND all explosive and ordinance storage in Defense Level 2! Code **********!"

"If they want my technology, they can die capturing it! Is the intruder biological? Answer with maximum priority! Code **********!”

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 2 Breached!

“Biological Scan: Negative. Self-Destruct 10-3: Negative. Self-Destruct 2: Negative.”

All that was left was Defense Level 1… His fortress. His prison. His refuge. His home. Everything was lost. Humanity was lost. Even his few samples of human DNA in his private lab were lost. Earth was lost. But Bofoi… he had not lost yet.

#III. The End:

Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Waaahhh! Defense Level 1 Breached!

Oh… so Bofoi had lost after all? And he hadn’t even finished his breakfast. Well… if he was to die… he would die not a coward… but a warrior. He calmly walked to a side closet, opened it, and pulled the lever. No technological, biological, or supernatural interference could stop pure mechanical levers. Bofoi had always wanted to use IT. Even more than he feared IT. His final weapon. His last resort. His masterpiece.

The lever pulled smoothly.

Nothing happened.

Defense Level 0 Breached.

Bofoi shuddered in fear… and shame. Everything was lost. Even IT was defeated without a fight. His death would accomplish nothing, mean nothing, and… lose nothing. It was over.

“Kuseno.... I’m sorry.”

Nothing happened.

Bofoi waited for the end, shivering and almost crying. Just end it already.

He heard the sound of footsteps. The rustle of cloth. The slight sounds of light breathing.

Bofoi turned around. He could not believe his eyes. The spiky hair. The sleek suit. The gloves and boots. The large cape. It was HIM!

“Blast….?”

“Bofoi… we need to talk.”

[lucarioisinthevoid]

P H O N E H E L P F R E D D Y I S O N T H E R O O F W I T H T H E D E T E C T I V E S O M E B O D Y H E L P . O H G O D H E H A S A I R P O D S I N H E C A N T H E A R U S O H N O

"The- the detective is- what?!" Shocked he listen to that, before rushing onto the roof in a heartbeat.That sounded awful. It was dark, the wind howled.Rain was prassling down onto the roof, covering everything with a small wet film, making it harder to come to a stand properly, especially with the wind clashing onto the unsuspecting person daring to venture out.First a blinding white light flashed up, then thunder crashed violently. In the short, black and white scenery Freddy stood up against the darkness and rain, turned away from Phone Guy who had just ripped open the door- a noise drowned out in the storm- and a bit further, closer to the edge stood a lone figure with a long coat that was thrown around by the violent winds up here. Closer and closer the bear stepped, its heavy steps being carried into the wrong direction by the wind, towards Phone Guy who could hear the beyond clearly. Trying to rush up, he attempted to do SOMETHING- Yet he was too cowardly to actually touch the big animatronic or come closer than a few steps to it, so he could only watch as Freddy crept closer and closer to the man. What was he even DOING here on this roof?! Where did he COME from? Why was he listening to MUSIC?Finally, he heard some noise from the detective, carried to him in the storm. "Row... row... row... your boat... gently down the stream..." It didn't follow the music at all.Slightly the man turned, he was... crying. Alright, that was hard to tell in the rain, but the way his eyes looked up at Freddy's, wide, but not filled with terror, no instead far, far away... it was an expression a Phone Guy came to know well in his time at Freddy's.Seemingly the detective hadn't noticed him, hell, it was questionable if he managed to notice Freddy, even when he stared at him. "... I sometimes listen to it so I- I'm so scared. What if I forget her voice? What then? It's been... SO long..." Another thunder crashed. Freddy reached out, its mechanical eyes becoming glowing white dots in the darkness.The detective stepped back the smallest bit, closer to the edge, shaking his head- shaking all over in fact. "Why are you DOING this to me-?" His voice was breaking, now he had flipped to screaming at the bear, though in that weather screaming was the only way to properly communicate if you wanted to be SURE that the person you talked to understood you. Slowly he broke down, the tears being clearer now, as his body's shaking became more rhythmical with his suppressed sobs. "... where am I...?" Freddy picked him up surprisingly carefully, turning around and walking towards the door, shortly pausing in front of Phone Guy who quickly stepped aside, freeing the way. The bear entered and Phone Guy followed, all three of them we drenched to the bone (or endoskeleton in Freddy's case). The fact that the robot hadn't malfunction was a miracle in itself.Carefully Ethan was put down, looking like a kicked dog in general. He looked around as though he didn't know where he was. His eyes met with Phone Guy's rotary. "... you, uh... you look like you need a coffee." "I need to see my family." His voice was desperate, as though Phone Guy was the one to decide that."I'm- uh- sorry. I don't know how to help you with that. I CAN bring you a coffee though..." The man truly felt bad for the detective, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he had been all these times before. "Were are we? What is this?! I tried to go down the road- I CAN'T REMEMBER HOW I GOT HERE!" He leaned forward, the terror he experienced truly shining through. "... neither of us does either. Do- uh- do me a favor and don't- you know. Scream like that. You'll just, uh- make the others hysterical." "H-how-?" How could ANYONE stop screaming in a situation like this? How could anyone just accept this? Phone Guy pat him on the back and led him into the main hall, for now completely empty. "Uh- sit down over there please. I'll be right back." Quickly he prepared some black coffee, deciding against dumping any milk or sugar into it for now. He could ask for it if he needed it. As he returned, the detective was sitting there, Chica sitting next to him. "We could sing something! That would make y-your happier, ffffriend--!" In her usual unnerving, but upbeat tone Chica offered this to him. "I don't want to sing..." He whispered. "... I want to see Evelyn." "I-! I-! I can START!" After a moment of glitching out, she laughed and then began. "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream!" Despite his words, the detective responded, quietly. "... merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream..." It went quiet for a moment, before Ethan asked. "Is it that? Is this all only a bad dream? Or am I in hell?" In a rare stroke of honesty, Phone Guy sat down next to him and answered. "... I don't know.""Am I in purgatory for failing?" Pitiful Phoney looked at him. A broken man just like everyone else here. All of them were the broken rejects, the misfit toys that belonged nowhere else. And those who weren't upon arrival were whipped into shape. All in Henry's imagine, apparently. Phoney wanted to say something, but before he could, Chica reached out to pet the detective's back."I n-never have seen a purgatory with coffee! Don't look so grim! DaaAAa-----d----- Thhha- that's just- another challenge for you to overcome! Y-you're a detective a--after all! Like in the books!" "... yeah, like in the books." He gave a tired, broken smile. None of the books he had at home at been so gruesome. "How many purgatories have you seen anyways?" Her laughter was bright, then shortly got distorted, before going back to normal again. Concerned Ethan frowned before turning to Phone Guy. "... are they all like... this...?" "Uh... yeah. Sometimes. Most of the time, really. There's no point in fixing them either, seeing as none of the customers have interest in them." A tad the employee shrugged.The other one looked at Chica, with a bit of grief. No, he didn't particularly liked the animatronics, but seeing them slowly wither away still managed to kill him on the inside, as it was a very clear sign of the time had passed when Evelyn died.Back then they were new and shiny...He looked around. The killer was in here, he had to be. His instinct told him that. If he was, then there was a chance they all wouldn't want him around. Perhaps try to kill him.Worn out he looked at the coffee in front of him, before deciding to get it done and drank it all in one go.To his own surprise, he didn't instantly started to puke or cough up blood. Sure, there was the burn from the heat and the insanely bitter taste, but he didn't feel like he was about to die yet. Concerned Phoney looked at him. "I, uh... I can make you another one. Nobody will take it from you..." "I'm-" He coughed. "I'm okay, it's okay-" That was done, now he could go back to consider suspects. If they were like him, chances were good that they couldn't leave either... instinct told him-His gut feeling had been wrong for him before. Like when he accused the former owner Henry Miller, just for himself to become a victim and disappearing without a trace. Probably murdered.His wife never had forgiven him. Somehow she seemed to believe that it was his accusation that brought him over the edge, setting out to finding the killer himself. Crazy due to her grief. He couldn't blame her. First her son, then her husband. Eventually she disappeared too, apparently, at least for a short time. Nothing concrete as far as Ethan could remember. Everything was a blur from back then. It was quiet.He needed to gather his strength. The other suspects would show up and he needed to decide on how to handle them.

[flamingbluepanda]

Lmao could I interest you in the ASMR prompt for Spirk? Idk how it would work out but I’m just dying to find out

(Anything for you babe!)

Jim has nightmares.

Spock knew this, intellectually. He’s known this for years. From his first day on the ship, he’s been able to hear Jim through the walls. From the the Khan incident onwards, he crossed the bathroom to wake Jim up every time one happened.

But it’s only once Spock started sharing a bed with him that he realized how… wide they were.

Jim was able to share a bed with someone, easily. But in the midst of a nightmare, he got physical. He flung his arms and legs out and screamed and babbled both nonsense and curses and sobbed and kicked bit scratched punched-

The breaking point happens when Spock- too tired from a 56 hour state of emergency after a lab accident and 4 nights straight of Jim’s night terrors being worse than usual (prompted by a letter from his mother)- doesn’t move out of the way of one of Jim’s arms quick enough.

Jim, probably thinking he’s Nero or something, grabs him by the throat and starts punching him. By the time Spock gets him awake and help arrives, one of his eyes is swelling shut, and his nose is broken in three places.

Jim is horrified with himself. It is mutually agreed upon that something has to give.

~~

Attempt one- Sleeping pills.

Jim’s tried them in the past, claimed they worked once they got the right ingredients that he wasn’t allergic too. And for a few nights they do work, Spock sleeps soundly.

And then, a red alert happens in the middle of the night. Spock spends five valuable minutes waking Jim up, and he’s still not lucid enough for the command training to kick in.

That time was a false alarm, but Spock, for the safety of the ship, insists that Jim stops the treatment. Jim agrees begrudgingly, asks Spock if he wants to move out.

Spock doesn’t- it’s too late for that. He can’t sleep without Jim.

~~

Attempt two- Hypnosis

Jim’s sessions with a hypnodoctor are… unorthodox. And while the nightmares don’t stop, they do get less violent. Spock appreciates this, truly.

The hypnosis employs the use of a series of touches, which Jim does every night.

The problem is, he becomes complacent, starts forgetting to do them. And then, they stop being affective.

Spock sighs as Jim wakes him, again, and this time manages to get out of bed before he can be grabbed. He mentally notes to find something else before going to soothe the love of his life.

~~

Attempt three- Music

This one is Jim’s idea. He reads that playing music at night can help with nightmares.

Spock, as a scientist, is offended that his boyfriend would take an article at face value like that, because it doesn’t work no matter what type of music they play. All this attempt leads to is Jim fervently apologizing and Spock writing a strongly worded letter to the author editor and publisher.

At least they can laugh about this one later.

~~

Attempt four- Muscle inhibitors

Another one of Jim’s ideas, this time backed up with science and Doctor McCoy.

Spock is more hesitant to hit the button which will make Jim’s muscles lock in place via small robots injected into the muscle fibers.

“It’s just for now sweetheart,” Jim whispers between kisses that are far too convincing, “Just until we can find a way for me to stop beating you up. I hate the fact that I keep hurting you.”

Spock agrees, begrudgingly. But Jim’s first night paralyzed, and he has the nightmare of the year. Spock wakes up to Jim begging an invisible enemy to stop, let him go, please don’t-

Spock is sickened by the fact that he did that, and refuses to do it again and for so far as to hide the materials. Jim and he get into quite the argument over it.

It ends with he and Jim both going to bed angry, and him getting pummeled in the midst of a nightmare.

“You should leave,” Jim begs him between sobs as Doctor M’Benga treats his wounds, “this isn’t healthy. Please leave me, I’m so sorry-“

Spock takes his hands, and says never.

Jim proposes then and there, in sickbay at approximately 3:30 in the morning. Spock’s only stipulation is that they have a Vulcan bonding as well.

M’Benga sighs and says “congrats but can you both get out of sickbay, Len’s gonna have my head if I have to wake him.”

~~

Attempt five- meditation

Jim is a horrible meditation student and far too turned on by his fiancée in his meditation robes. The attempt fails miserably but reaps some beneficial results in the form of sexual favors.

~~

Attempt six- physical activity

Spock proposes this plan after noticing that Jim sleeps better after strenuous away missions. And going to the gym every night works for a bit, even gets them both down a few pounds.

But then, Jim breaks his leg on a mission, and they are forbidden from the gym for at least three months. When they go back, it’s lost all affect.

~~

Attempt seven- ASMR

This attempt is honestly desperation on Spock’a part- the tarsus anniversary is coming up, along with Jim’s birthday and Christmas and it’s the worst time of year for his nightmares.

The earbuds work, but continuously fall out when Jim moves in his sleep. Spock, for a Christmas/birthday present, finds Jim a pair of over the ear headphones. Jim adores them and uses them for music, reports, and his nightly ASMR tape.

And it works, gloriously, it works. Spock considers giving offering to whatever deity clearly intervened.

Except.

Every night, just as Spock is falling asleep, without fail, Jim manages to roll over and smack the hard plastic of the headphones into either his cheek or his shoulder. It always hurts, but honestly Spock is willing to take it. It’s better than before. He says nothing, and the months leading up to their wedding are glorious.

But then, a gorn rips his arm out of it’s socket. The dislocation destroys his rotator cuff and snaps his collar bone, he has four and a half reparative surgeries over the span of a week to fix it all.

The first night he’s allowed to sleep in his own bed, Jim is so careful all night, tending to his every need, kissing every inch of bruised and scarred skin. Spock lays on his back and Jim puts on his tape.

Like clockwork, Jim rolls over.

The plastic cup connects right with the snap in his collarbone, and Spock can feel the stitches tear as he screams in pain.

He has his fifth surgery- an emergency one for where a bone fragment pierced his vein.

When he returns to his quarters, Jim has completely moved out.

~~

Attempt Eight- sleeping apart

Spock finds that his bed is now too cold, no matter how many blankets he uses or how high he turns up the heat. Jim has insisted it’s not forever, but he refuses to hurt spock anymore. Not when Spock’s the one person he never wants to hurt.

But the walls are thin, and Spock’s hearing is advanced, and he can hear the other half of his soul shrieking in pain every night.

The final straw is placed on his back four nights in, when Jim screams his name.

Consequences be dammed, he’ll let Jim kill him before he ignores Jim begging for his help.

He runs across the bathroom, jumps on the bed and without thinking his hand slides onto Jim’s face, melding with him.

For a moment Spock is horrified- non-consensual melding is a crime, after all- but then, he realizes Jim is relaxed. What’s more, Jim is still asleep. His mental presence recognizes Spock’s and is no longer scared, although he is approaching wakefulness.

As he slips out and Jim wakes up, Spock realizes the answer to all his problems.

And he, victoriously, in a moment of pure humanity, decides he has earned every single one of his degrees. He’d been starting to doubt it, after all.

If he couldn’t crack human dreams, what was the point of any of them?

~~

Attempt infinity- Bonding

Spock lays in bed on day thirteen of their honeymoon, sated and warmed by the setting risan sun flowing in through the window of the small cabin they had.

Jim wanders out of the bathroom and crawls into bed with him, yawning and warm. Spock kisses his forehead and shifts closer to him. Jim mumbles something about dinner later, nap now. He’s asleep in minutes.

The warm presence of the bond in Jim’s mind satisfies his fears, reminding him that he’s never alone. Jim- and by extension, Spock- sleep soundly, physically and mentally tangled together until undistinguishable from one another.

(HOLY HELL THIS GOT LONG AS F U C K. W O W Z A. @herrhasen (who’s also the fabulous @deheerkonijn Incase y’all didn’t know) I hope you enjoyed this! I had a blast writing it)

[hisoillu-prompts]

Really long: Dragon AU

(sorry about paragraphs that seem rambly, this was me throwing ideas together. A fic that I was going to write but never got to it but it NEEDS to be made)

In which Hisoka is a dragon that terrorizes the kingdom of the Zoldycks, stealing livestock from farms, burning down towns, and killing all of their strongest warriors, including the ones sent to kill him. A truly fearsome beast indeed. 

They try to arrange for like a meeting with him but he doesnt show up the first time. Of course, the Zoldycks get pissed and Kikyo would throw a fit because how dare that vile creature, but they would call him again and again and just out of one part boredom and one part annoyance, hisoka would show up. Of course, despite how irritated they are, the two heads(most Silva since Kikyo is still internally fuming) would try to negotiate. But although interested in the gold they offered, Hisoka declines everything(as he does what he does for entertainment).

They ask him what he wants. He seems to think for a bit before asking for the whole household to gather in front of him. After looking, he picks killuia(that white haired kid of yours) since he thought he'll be the strongest/have the most potential(so they can fight lol). He doesnt really notice Illumi because he was kinda in a corner and is basically a shadow(as always), but Kikyo offers up illumi instead(he's my oldest[son]) because of course Hisoka cant take the heir- and Hisoka is would just be like 'eh sure he should be pretty strong too' and decides to let killuia 'ripen'. 

-a kinda transgression by having it sort of from the servants point of view? like 'the eldest prince, Illumi, was very...strange, even in his particularly weird  family. (Mention how he was like robot, empty dark home eyes, almost no emotion, follows orders, has a terrible empty aura kinda feeling, and is creepily good at fighting and killing) i have no idea im sorry

But when he actually gets Illumi the next day or something he's kinda like 'oh u arent scared' and Illumis like 'nah. Now what do u wanna do with me like srsly'

Illumi really longs for his house at first and is sort of at a loss at what to do without any orders, so he kinda just sits around and misses his bed and waits for Hisoka to get back or something. He’s glad that he was taken in place of killuia, as long as his family(and heir) were safe. 

-He eventually adjust, realizing that the silence in the cave really wasnt that new or different than in the castle

-Hisoka terrorizes a new town instead to make up his part of the bargain(although he goes back in his human form to see whats up sometimes) and its like most of the time he would just walk around in his human form as it was more convenient to fight people and yet not get him kicked out/ have to deal with the bother of people shouting at him for being a dragon and waving pitchforks and stuff, but he was kinda going for a chillaxing time when he decided to dragon form wreck Illumis kingdom. He had heard that it was a very strong kingdom of assassins, fairly famous, and he had decided to blow off some steam fighting, and he wasn't disappointed. Much.But anyway Illumi's kingdom was a little out of the way for him, he had to take longer time to reach there, the mountainous kingdom. Dragons all had one cave, unless they wanted to move their treasures to another one/ had another cave just for other treasures. His cave took almost 7/9 hours to fly to from the Zoldyck kingdom, and dragons flew pretty fast.

The Zoldyck family of assassins are basically a miniature kingdom, small with a town underneath their mountain that they protect. The town is relatively normal, with most everyone looking up to the deadly family looking after them. But there are some that try to train to become assassins with the zoldycks as inspiration(maybe they sponsor an assassin guild for the smaller kills they dont bother wasting time with).

-A random asshole villager dude saw illumi in town once with a disguise(as a female) and fell in ‘love’ and trains to be an assassin to rescue her(him) from the dragon. Inwardly he also wants to get into the zoldyck family as well, thinking he can if he impresses them with his rescue of illu and then marrying 'her'. Access to all that wealth and power made one considered untouchable. Illu is disgusted when he hears about this and claims that such a weakling wouldnt last a second in the presence of him nor his family.

-Anyway They both go to town together sometimes. In disguises of course, or if Illumi needs groceries

-eventually they just fall into an easy pattern and be friends and include a scene where Hisokas like 'alright Illu get ready another knight is here to rescue you(because they think you're a girl cough cough) and Illumis kinda just reading a book and letting out the occasional 'frightened(more like monotone) scream from his 'prison'(a giant birdcage cuz Hisoka is flashy as fuck) and the knight is kinda like 'ok that didnt sound like a very convincing scream/her voice isnt that great but i heard her beauty was astounding' -anyway so like Hisoka fuckin rekts him of course and one time a knight actually goes "RELEASE PRINCESS ILLUMI' and Hisoka smirks and Illumi twitches and after the knight is turned into crisps Hisoka turns to Illumi with a shit eating grin like "so i guess youre a princess. You never told me.."And Illumis just like fuck you

(very optional/not really fitting angst)

angst in how Kikyo gave up Illumi(the eldest. The strongest of the children. The one whos been with her the longest.) for Killuia, proving that she cared about him more. 'Or maybe it was because he was older, and this was just one of his responsibilities. But he couldn't help the foreign feeling of something shallowly sinking in his chest' Illumi still is kinda obsessed with Kil, but its more because he was suppose to be the heir and also Mil was kinda a bad child and Illumi actually was lonely so kil played with him a lot but their relationship slowly twisted into a sort of love hate for Illumi. Because even though he didnt care too much about the crown, he did care for his family. Although he wouldnt admit it; and his training refused to show a slip in his mask, Illumi did feel strangely empty when his family rained affection on Kil and only turned to him with orders on their lips. But no it couldnt be jealousy, no WAY would he be jealous of his younger bro! Hahaha! (Just keep telling yourself that, Ill)

(optional random angst end)

-Hisoka considers Illumi part of his 'treasure'/hoard and as all dragons are, he is fiercely protective of his hoard. Not that any thief could make it past Illumi, much less hurt him too much.

-when people describe illumi as 'beautiful and skilled' everyone always assumes that 1. Illu is a woman, and 2, 'skilled' meant as in embroidery or the such. Not in fighting/killing/assassinating. Not that he cant do embroidery because fuck yeah he can and frick yeah does it look good.So everyone is surprised when they see him decked out in armor with a blade pointed at their throat

-illumi like dies or almost dies and is turned into a dragon? Very rare, something about dragons being magical beings - anything can happen blah blah hisoka’s magic dragon magic infused into his body and now he’s filled with dragon magic that his strong will and body and mind turned into his own magic (i dont know where this idea came from, or really how else to explain it- just that past me had a good idea in mind that I now can’t remember)

-sleek, completely black dragon with blue gleam in scales if light hit them just right and sharp, wicked spines/spikes. All sharp angles and sharp lines, like any move can cut someone into ribbons. Deadly. He made hisoka, who was by no means a cuddly looking dragon, look almost soft-but despite misleading appearances, hisoka was definitely the more dangerous. What he lacked in looks he made up for in sheer brute strength and cunning.maybe stronger fire range too.

- illumi breathes blue flames, much much hotter. But small range. And could not stay in dragon form for long since originally human and originally not his dragon magic(it was like oxygen, reusable, but still limited).  Both of them had hard scales

If you looked carefully, you could tell. Hisoka was taller, bigger, you could see muscles rippling through every limb. Illumi lurked more in the shadows, looking slightly bored. .

[johnnydora]

someone close to amy dies, jake (and maybe kids) do their best to get her through it. also sending hugs!!!

how did u know i think about this concept all the time?? also this ended up being the longest fic i’ve written in two years did u just cure my depression?? shoutout to @elsaclack for giving this a read thru ily!!!!

When Detective Peralta steps through the doors of the Brooklyn’s 61st precinct, he’s greeted with a smile. “Jake! It’s so lovely to see you again. She’s in a meeting right now, but I’ll let her know you’re here!”

“Thank you, Lucy.” He tries his best, but his own smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

It’s nearly twenty minutes before the captain’s door opens and Amy steps out, shaking hands with the man exiting her office. She smiles, too, when she sees Jake, and he almost drops to the floor there and then. He vowed to preserve her happiness, until death do them apart, and he hasn’t broken that promise in five years. Today, he will.

“Hey, babe! We didn’t have plans today, did we?” In the quick moment she takes to check her watch, Jake lets his smile drop. “It can’t be your lunch break already.”

“No, actually, I’m still on the job.”

He slides past her, without the usual kiss on her cheek, and closes the door behind her when she follows. The light filtering in through the windows is clear and bright, a beautiful spring morning. Just a few hours ago, Amy was opening the windows in the kitchen, little Sadie in her arms, pointing out the new sprouts blooming after the heavy winter. She was smiling, laughing, sprinkling kisses over Jake’s face before they left for work. It was supposed to be a happy day.

“You should sit down.”

He directs her to one of the seats in the back of the room where he can sit next to her, hold her hand between his.

“Jake?” He won’t meet her eyes. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “Carlos was found dead Tuesday evening.”

There’s a moment where Amy’s face falls, but she builds it back up, and takes her hand from his. “Okay,” she says. “Is that all?”

He watches her stand up, rearrange a few items on her desk that were already straight.

“Amy.”

“You should get back to the 99. I’ll see you tonight.”

And she smiles, teeth white and eyes shining. Jake takes a deep breath.

“Yeah. See you tonight.”

She’s home before he is, which isn’t a surprise. It was her turn to pick up the kids from daycare. One of them comes running at him before he can close the door, her pigtails flying. He swoops her up in the air, dangling her upside down just a little until she squeals.

“Hey, peanut, how was your day?”

As she tells him something about the robot they built out of recycled materials, Jake wanders further into the apartment. The television is on, playing one of Bella’s shows. The kitchen is empty except for some animal crackers left under the cabinet.

“Where’s Mama?” he asks, flying the four-year-old back to the couch.

She screeches until he plops her down. “Napping.”

“And your sister?”

“Napping.”

She’s getting engrossed back into her tv show, so he knows he has to act fast to get any information out of her.

“Did you have anything to eat?”

“Shh, Daddy.”

He leans over the couch to kiss her cheek, even if she pushes him away a little. On his way down the hall, he checks on Sadie first, who’s sound asleep in her crib. Amy, however, is wide awake in bed and staring at the ceiling. Gently, he climbs in next to her.

“How you doing?”

She doesn’t answer for a while, so he turns his head to look at her.

“Mom called.” She drifts her eyes down to meet his. “The funeral’s next weekend.”

When he reaches for her hand, she drifts closer, curling into his chest. She’s motionless against him, her breath steady, and he knows she isn’t crying. Hasn’t cried yet. He thought he’d seen her and all of her ways—screaming rage and silent tears and that small smile when she can’t meet your gaze. He’s never seen her lose a brother.

“Do you need anything?”

“They identified him this morning,” she whispers. “Why did it take so long?”

“Ames—”

“I need to know how it happened.”

The air grows darker around them, pressing down. Or perhaps that’s his lungs, collapsing under the weight of his knowledge of the crime. Seeing the body, bloody and crushed halfway under the car. Jake runs his hand down her back, hoping she can’t tell that they’re shaking.

“It was a hit and run. Literally, the man climbed out of his totaled car and ran.” He stops to take a deep breath. When he was first assigned the case to find the runaway, he laughed. Run, run, as fast as you can, Toyata-man! His throat tightens, and he presses a small kiss to the top of Amy’s head. An apology. “Carlos was just a pedestrian, caught in the middle.”

“Why could no one identify him?”

“He—he was hit pretty bad.”

“How bad?”

He moves his lips to her forehead. “I don’t think—”

“I have a right to know.”

His arm is thrown off her as she gets up and starts pacing the floor. She’s mad now. He just watches, waits for her to slow down, maybe collapse and start sobbing. Her feelings always go in and out like waves, and he can’t tell what to expect next. But she stops, sits back on the bed by his feet.

“I have a right to know,” she whispers again.

He’s about to sit up and join her at the end of the bed, but their door squeaks open, and Bella pushes her face through the crack.

“Is it dinner time?”

Amy scoops her up with a smile. “Of course, mi reina. What do you want?”

As “marshmallows!” trails down the hall, Jake rubs a hand down his face. He stays there until the pizza delivery man arrives.

It’s not even two days until Amy gets her hands on the case file. He recognizes it immediately—it was on his desk only two hours ago. She’s hunched over the coffee table, spoon feeding bananas to Sadie as she goes. He’d heard her greet him when he came in through the door, but he still approaches cautiously, sitting gently by her feet.

“Where’d you get that?”

“Rosa.”

Amy flips to the next page, and he silently takes over banana duty.

It’s another three days when her steady facade falters. They took the girls out to the city today—Bella loves staring up at the skyscrapers, and she swears she’s going to build her own next year when she’s all grown up. She’s dancing through a little play fountain when Jake catches Amy fiddling with something in her purse.

He leans forward to press a kiss to her cheek, stealing a glance down as he does. Amy notices the moment she’s been caught.

“I haven’t opened it,” she says.

“Okay.”

“I don’t even carry a lighter anymore.”

He knows. She threw them all away the second they learned she was pregnant the first time around. Leaning his head against hers, he slips the cigarette box out of her hands and intertwines his fingers with hers instead. For a moment, he thinks she’s finally about to cry, but then she shifts away from him, and calls for Bella to come over. It’s time to head home.

Sometimes, she moves slowly. Like in the mornings when she waits for the third alarm before rising to her feet and starting her day, putting in a little less effort than usual. Other times, she’s unstoppable. Juggling two kids at once and managing three other chores at the same time.

Only once does she acknowledge her feelings on the matter, when they’re tucked in bed with the lights off. She mumbles into his chest, “Why did it have to be him?”

He doesn’t have an answer to that.

The funeral is louder than he anticipated. It makes sense, with the entire Santiago clan, including relatives he’s never even heard of, milling around and spreading condolences. Jake’s on daughter duty for the most part, watching from a distance and not getting too involved. But it’s hard to ignore the lump in his throat after his sixth brother-in-law says hello, and he keeps expecting the seventh that will never show.

He watches Amy drift slowly around, though she never strays too far from him. Every few minutes she returns to his side for a quick break. But she always puts a smile back on, braving herself for the next overbearing hug.

“You don’t have to be strong, y’know.” It’s something he’s been telling her every day since the accident.

She just puts on another smile. “I’m fine. Really.”

The first time Jake cries, Bella’s tugging on his sleeve as the immediate family gathers around the coffin with flowers.

“Where’s Tio Carlos?” she asks.

They tried to explain it before the funeral, sitting down with her and introducing the concept of an afterlife—they never wanted to force a religion on their children, but it was the only explanation they had. She only shrugged it off, asked if she could wear her light up sneakers instead of the boring Mary Janes.

So he stays silent and holds her closer to him, pressing kiss after kiss to her hair. She puts up with it for a few moments, then wriggles out of his grasp.

“Can I throw a flower, too?”

He sneaks a final kiss onto her nose, and decides it’s not worth the fight to keep her in her seat.

“Go ask Mama.” He sets her free.

It’s one month after the accident when Amy wakes up shaking and sweaty. Jake frowns as he slowly becomes conscious—he’s always been slow to wake—and throws a hand loosely in his wife’s direction before he manages to regain full function of his limbs and pull himself up to firmly wrap his arms around her.

“Breathe, Ames.” His lips ghost over the shell of her ear.

She takes a staggering breath in, then falls into him, sobs wracking her frame. He continues whispering in her ear, breathing through his mouth to encourage her to match his breaths. Though his hands are shaking where they trace her skin. He’s used to her occasional panic attack and her less often night terrors, but he’s never seen her quite this far gone.

It all stops abruptly, and Jake lifts her from him to look into her eyes. He recognizes what she needs instantly, and pulls her with him off the bed. They only make it just past the bathroom door  before she’s heaving and vomiting onto the tiles at her feet. Her knees buckle, and he carries her the few feet to the toilet before setting her down.

“Deep breaths,” he reminds her, pulling back her hair and securing it with an elastic band. He kisses her temple before fetching her a glass of water, then goes to clean up the bathroom floor as well.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpers.

He sits behind her when he’s done, stroking her back as she continues emptying out the contents of her stomach.

“What for?” he asks when she’s done, leaning back into him and away from the toilet.

She doesn’t have an answer for him, just turns her head into his chest and relearns how to breathe.

The nightmares aren’t a constant, but they return every once in a while. Some nights, they stay up talking, taking turns sharing their fears, what they’re grateful for. One night, Bella pokes her head through the door, tears on her face.

Jake beckons her towards him, pulls her up into his lap.

“What’s wrong, peanut?”

She grabs his shirt into fists, stealing glances at Amy. “Is Mama okay?”

He glances at her, too. She’s still against Jake’s side, but she curled more into the pillows when Bella arrived. Her head is turned away, though, probably to keep Bella from seeing her tears.

“Mama just misses Tio Carlos,” he says.

Bella crawls forward, trying to wrap her arms around her mother’s middle. “It’s okay, Mama. He’s in the heaven. It’s good. It has ice cream.”

There’s a moment where Amy’s breath catches, then she’s turning back towards Bella and enveloping her in her arms. Jake leans in and surrounds them both, and there they remain. For a little while.

“Mama?” Bella whispers. “Mama, mama, mama?”

“What is it, mi reina?”

“Can we have ice cream, too?”

She smiles and wipes away her tears. No more seem to follow.

“Of course.”

On their way to the kitchen, Jake grabs a sleeping Sadie and sits down with her on the floor, his back against the counters. Bella jumps around, way too hyper for three in the morning, so Jake tugs her down, too. Tells her stories about the ice cream monster.

Amy joins them with three giant bowls of ice cream moments later, settling down on Jake’s other side. She leans her head against his shoulder as he finishes his wild tales, tickling Bella with his free hand at the finale. Amy laughs along, her fingers tracing along Sadie’s head. He’s a bit delirious, a bit sleep deprived, but he’s certain it’s the happiest he’s ever been.

As for Amy, she never has a nightmare about her brother again.

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff’s Best of 2017

WARNING: I’d like to thank everybody who was here for me when times were low. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Cartoons; the one thing that I will continuously watch until I go blind. 2017 was an emotional handful and an exhausting trudge, can’t deny that, and I’m counting down the best cartoons/animations I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order. Only two rules, no sneak previews of future projects (sorry to Unikitty and Hideo Kojima). Here we go....

10. HANAZUKI: FULL OF TREASURES

This was a sleeper hit tbh. The fact all the episodes were free on Youtube blew my mind, but having a well structured story with a lovely cold space color palette, actually relatable characters, and a sinister undertones below its tender, colorful charm to be as a nice headliner to when Friendship is Magic came back in spring. It was an inviting start for the year, and with the guy behind Motorcity and Superjail taking the helm and having two more seasons being produced, Hanazuki is something I find is in good hands come 2018.

9. LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA

Four long years. I waited FOUR long goddamn years...and fuck me was it worth it. A spectacle is what I can call Little Witch Academia. Almost every episode dazzled me with its stage made bravado and confidence that always made me say, “Okay. Let’s make it til’ the next week”. Even when things got serious, LWA knew how to have fun and make the most of its concept. There is a sense of predictability sometimes, but the series would still throw you some good curve balls to never lose your interest. What did lose my interest was Netflix’s sorry excuse of a dub. The movies: fine. But Netflix, try that again, with any other anime, and I will rip your nuts off.

8. Now I might be cheating here since it’s not a cartoon, but shit it might as well have been

CUPHEAD

The effort that went into this is phenomenal, beyond the many other games of the year no doubt. While not everything is animated, I could tell they were cutting corners in some areas, the frame BY frame animated enemies, bosses, and effects made this one of the most visually colorful and alive games to date, next to Mario Odyssey. Not only was this game a frustrating yet joyous romp to start and finish, but the music and art flawlessly channeled the essence of a time where the word “cartoon” was only starting to make good progress. My favorite character would have to be Satan King Dice, whom is an animated homage to great musician and composer Cab Calloway. His stache, his clothing, even his Cheshire grin captured the cool, jazzy vibe Calloway always provided in his performances. He and his fight was the highlight of Cuphead for me and I hope this game, if a sequel isn’t possible, is well remembered for its unexpected excellence in how a video game can look.

7. CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS/L-EGGO BATMAN

Faithful is what I can describe these two. Captain Underpants was just an awesome book to elementary schooler me, but to see a well animated, well written movie about a dude in his underwear was nothing short of a simple yet powerful masterpiece. As for Batman, this is one of the three truest DC and Batman movies around this time, and it has a gay undertone with Batman and the Joker’s relationship (how can you not pull that off, Suicide Squad?). While not a big fan of lego myself, The Lego Movie put my faith WB making another one equally as good, and they did not disappoint. It’s a shame it got snubbed at the Golden Globes, it deserves the award more than the Boss Baby. Plus it had a Superman that didn’t bore me while having a terrible CGI lip job that’s only made worse by his two way dick nose....

Justice League costed 300,000,000 dollars.............

6. DANGER & EGGS

To me, this series felt like one of the few steps forward the world took to make the LGBT+ community feel more welcome and inspired in public outlets; a small step, but progressive none the less. It is a colorful and lively action comedy, a first to be created by a transgender person, where you can see a non-binary character, a pride fest, diverse background characters of orientation and ethnicity, and it feels like they are a part of the world and not footnotes that states that you should respect queer, bi, ace, and so on based on a say so. It’s a show don’t tell type of series and it brightened my summer before I had to remind myself that college exists and is expecting me.

5. TANGLED: THE SERIES

*ring ring* “Hello?” Ye, Disney? How fucking dare you?

My hype for this was undoubtful. I love Tangled the movie, I consider it one of my favorite 2010 disney flics beside Wreck it Ralph and Moana. And when the art style was up for a preview for this (?), I just sat and waited until it finally premiered and damn. I never stopped loving it, but it is until episode 16 where the series starts to hit high note after high note with the direction it’s going for the story. The fact that this all takes place not long after the movie makes the thought where Eugene and Rapunzel finally get married feels all the more earned. It’s working its way to a happily ever after, I adore this show, and this makes me appreciate Frozen a bit more for how far that’s fallen in the world after its one year of fame. Seriously, Gigantic had to get chopped, but Olaf can still live? Give me a break, Disney.

“Sir, I understand your enthusiasm....but this is Domino’s.” Then I will have the 5.99 large with Salchicha and pepperoncini with a liter sprite on delivery.

4. MADE IN ABYSS

This was so beautiful, so awesome, and much better than...

I wasted my life and I cannot say that I will ever reclaim that time proactively again the Anime

Made in Abyss is like Hunter x Hunter except Gon’s more booksmart and Kilua’s a timid robot. The bond between Riko and Reg was a fucking dynamic and heartfelt where Riko’s helps build Reg up and Reg kept Riko and himself safe with his bodily arsenal. That and this series has the best world building where they not only give the low down on almost everything about the titular abyss, but the atmospheric environments and the designs of the inhabiting creatures made this a unique world to want to explore myself. It knew what to show, and knew what to share. When things got serious, I actually tensed up at the thought of shit truly going down; they knew how to soften the terror while maniacally instill fear in us for the safety of the traveling kids. I want to recommend this link to an awesome breakdown of how great Made in Abyss was. However, as it seems that a season two has gone down the abyss as well, and I’m afraid it can’t come back up.

3. LET’S BE HEROES!!

Is it safe to call this the M.U.G.E.N. of cartoons? Just an all up mashup of stuff I love in a Saturday morning? Campy, action, and laid back, this is something I can be sober or grab some kush and I would be enjoy the show just the same. They even have references you might not have ever heard of, but might like the search. OK KO’s a popcorn cartoon, it’s not for everybody, but it established itself well into the modern CN era when Adventure Time finally has to move on. 

2. SAMURAI JACK

Getting this out of the way: episode 6 toiled the final season of Samurai Jack for me. Not gonna go into detail, but if that episode was remade, I would have been more satisfied looking back. However, that does not stop me from saying this is how a revival should be, this is how a reboot should work, THIS is how you can bring nostalgia back. Samurai Jack was great back then, but this season, wrapping up the loose plight of our boy trying to get back to the past and defeat the demon Aku, was satisfactory to many fans. Even those who’ve never heard or remember Jack could just enjoy this as a dynamic mini-series; it gives you context of what happened before without having to recap the original plot of it. For non fans, it’s mostly about an ageless samurai, longing to return to his own time, stuck in the future for over 50 years to the point of losing his honor and his mind. It’s a binge worthy 10 episode season, originally intended to be a movie, and aside from polar opinionated finale, this made Samurai Jack feel great to love again.

1. TRUE AND THE RAINBOW KINGDOM

This is a personal choice from me because 2017 was an honest to god terrible year for me; nothing but turmoil, season to season, and the struggle to cope with that despair in a way I felt actually could help. However, this small series here boosted my spirits because even with it being a show for little kids that I originally wanted to watch as a joke, the competent, enthusiastic spirit it had just moved me in a way that cartoons that I love for eons could only try to do on a whim. It’s not the best made cartoon, it’s not something I sincerely recommend to you all, but it helped me realize that the best thing about life is finding and seeking things that don’t just distract you from the hard and testing times reality puts on you, but gives you a moment of honest bliss and happiness that can influence your outlook on looking forward to better things because things like this, cartoons like this, CAN make you feel better. 

*sniff* Which is why, the actual cartoon of the year....

1. is STEVEN U., BABY!

Just kidding, guys! You will NEVER win, Steven!

TEEN TITANS GO! WINS IT AGAIN, BABYYYY! ONCE AGAIN BABY (i don’t even like it no more...), YOUR NEW FAVORITE SHOW (i don’t even fucking like it no...) RISES TO THE TO-

But Steven Universe in Space, though. That’s when it’ll be great again.

[hiagainyou]

I gas breakfast thank you! Just finished a cup of water 😊,did some yoga before classes started so I did stretch today.

Hope you did the same!

Sure go ahead I'll be waiting, fight me 😤

Thank you, I'm proud of you too <3

He'll let you, anyone can touch his hair as long as he's sure you won't try and make it neat. Let him see your hands and he's yours lol

Hes a coral snake! He dyes his hair green cause he got teased for his red hair. I tried to use all the colors of the so he has faint yellow freckles

E V E R Y W H E R E

And has red eyes but look like a burgundy in the light!

I like books, music, dancing, singing and writing! Im loving this show in Netflix called Carmen Sandiego oh and Baki! As for anime I haven't found any I've gotten into lately though Inuyasha was my childhood ✨ not a comic book but my fav books are 'Sister light, sister dark’ and ‘White Jenna’ by Jane Yolen I haven't watched musicals since high school musical, that ended it for me

What about you, bee?

— 🍯

Ugh I'm such an idiot

When I saw coral I immediately thought of the color pink and was very confused when I looked up the actual snake

And he has freckles??? Can I kiss his freckles???

And oof I never know how to answer when someone asks me about my likes

So let's see

I've been trying to read books more and some I've been reading are A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson and Beetle and the Hollowbones, both really good books so far!

Just songs that I've had on repeat recently are Want U Around by Omar Apollo, She by Tyler the Creator, Naked by Doja Cat, and Online Class by Dev Lemons

Dancing, singing, and writing are all faves of mine too! Haven't written much lately tho except long ass thirsts to terrorize my moots with cough You can always find me just like singing to myself and doing stupid lil dances

The Netflix shows I really liked were Kid Cosmic and Love Death + Robots, they're both animated but are on complete ends of the spectrum lol

Also Oggy Oggy shut up I know it's a kids show but their lil :) faces fucking get me they're so cute

And ugh not Inuyasha I just got war flashbacks 😵😵

I grew up with it too and let's just say 13 year old me was very crazy and leave it at that😅

Some animes I'd recommend if you don't like the mainstream ones are Afro Samurai or Samurai Seven or Lupin the 3rd part IV, it's the animes I watched with my dad and really liked!

And I'll have to check those out! Sister Light Sister Dark sounds interesting

And as far as musicals go I sometimes listen to Heathers when it pops up on my playlist, sometimes, and some Hamilton songs try to repossess me but I refuse to listen to them

Chicago is a really good musical tho! I'd recommend!!

And that about covers it

You're probably sleep it is pretty late sorry heh

[l-x-ie]

PROMPT PROMPT PROMPT. CAN I PLS GET KEITH MEETING HIS NEW BORN NEPHEW (SHALLURA BABY) PLS PLS PLS

“You got any threes?” Keith asked, sorting through the cards in his hands from lowest to highest.

Lance was hunched over, legs criss-crossed, chin braced on his palm from where his elbow rested against his knee. “Mmm, no, go fish.”

“You didn’t even look!”

Lance glared at him, mouth forming a pout. “I don’t need to look at my cards to know that I don’t have any threes, Keith!”

“Then why don’t you look then and make sure.”

Rolling his eyes, because apparently, his request was soooo out there and sooo ridiculous it had to have an eye roll. “Fine.” He lifted up his hands to stare for an uncomfortably long time, mouth pursing before he finally gritted out, “no threes.”

Keith threw his cards at him the thin sheets of paper fluttering everywhere, a few slicing through the air to nail the other boy in the face. “You fucking liar!”

His phone rang just as he was shoving Lance’s lying face into his cards, which did have a three, the fucking liar. Keith wiggled his phone out of his pocket, seeing Shiro’s picture on the screen.

“Hey, bro,” Keith greeted.

“Keith, oh, god, oh god, oh god Keith, Keith, Keith–who’s screaming?”

“Lance.”

“…Okay… Allura’s having the baby.”

“What?!”

“What? What’s happening?!” Lance demanded from under him, words garbled from where it was smushed onto the floor.

Holy shit he’s going to be an uncle. A small baby was going to be related to him. This is the start of him having an actual family. His brain honestly stalled. All he could think was ‘He’s an uncle. He’s an uncle. He’s an uncle. He’s going to be Uncle Keith.’ 

“Keith!” 

He blinked, Shiro’s voice cutting through the fog. “Y-yeah?”

“We’re at Trinity Hospital, get here as soon as you can, okay?”

Fuck, that’s like an hour away. “Yeah, of, of course!”

He could practically feel Shiro’s giddy smile on the other end of the phone. “Keith… I’m, I’m going to be a dad!” he shouted before hanging up.

As soon as he heard the tone ending the phone call he dropped his phone, slipping out of his hand and bouncing on the floor harmlessly. He gripped his hair by the roots, “Holy shit.”

“What?” Lance asked, wiggling out from under him.

He looked up, not really taking in anything but focused on the color blue. “Allura’s having the baby.”

Blue eyes widened before hauling him up to his feet and pushing him out of the door. “Go, go, go! Get to the hospital man! You need to meet your nephew!”

Keith laughed breathlessly. “Holy shit!” he shouted, running down the hall to the stairs.

Right before he launched himself down the flight of stairs he could hear the distant sound of, “Don’t swear around the baby!”

-

Keith screeched into the hospital parking lot, running inside to the counter, the compulsive habit of locking his bike the only thing saving his bike from being stolen. 

“Hi! Uh, my nephew? Is here? Maybe?”

The receptionist smiled at him, hands poised on the keyboard. “Okay,” she soothed, “just tell me his name and I can see if he was checked in at all.”

“Oh! Sorry, no, no, he’s being born. By my sister-in-law. Allura!”

The woman laughed, large gold earrings tinkling. “Okay, sir, what’s Allura’s last name?”

“Shirogane, or Kingston, I don’t know what they decided on that but one of them.”

She hummed and nodded, fingers tapping away. “Well, it looks like she had an easy delivery,” she said before leaning forward to point down a hall. “Right down there, it should be the fourth door on the left.” 

He nodded quickly, mouthing out a quick ‘thank you’ before rushing to the baby room. 

His heart was beating against his ribcage when he burst through the door. He was going to meet his nephew! No words could describe the absolute glee and downright terror that filled his veins. 

Allura was in a sitting position but was leaning heavily against the reclining bed, sweat still matted the hair around her temples and she looked exhausted but a beatific smile graced her lips. 

While Allura still looked like some sort of goddess despite doing all the work Shiro looked like trash. Hunched over on a chair in a way that couldn’t be doctor approved, he sat enraptured by a tiny bundle in his wife’s arms. Dark circles under his eyes and hair standing on end, he looked ragged but a soft unbelieving smile and a look of absolute wonder softened the hobo look.

Both parents were content at staring at the sleeping bundle in Allura’s arms, memorizing the little face, with his soft, round cheeks and cupid bow lips. Tracing a dark finger down the bridge of his nose the baby let out a little coo making his mother giggle.

Teal eyes found him in the door of the room and lit up. “Keith! Come see your nephew!”

Shiro turned to look at him, eyes sparkling with happiness. “Keith!” He got up and hugged him. “He’s just… perfect. Come on, meet your nephew.” Shiro settled his arm around his shoulders and led him to the bed.

“Would you like to hold him, Keith?” Allura asked, settling more comfortably upright, preparing for the transfer.

“U-uh, is, is it okay?” he stuttered, arms coming up stiff and robotic, nowhere near the right formation to hold a small child. 

She smiled at him. “It’s fine, Shiro, help him.”

Keith let his brother manhandle his arms into more of a baby hold than a butler holding a towel. Two towels. Gently he let Allura set the precious cargo in his arms, the soft whisper of, “Mind his head,” fading in the background as he focused and relaxed as the baby showed no notice of the change in arms.

The weight was so slight in his arms, practically nothing, but what he held was already so treasured that he already felt him take hold of his heart with his tiny fists.

“His name is Aaron,” he heard Shiro whisper from behind him.

“Hi, Aaron.”