#i THINK it might be faer again but uh.

[incohorace]

i love not knowing how to decline my own neopronouns it really adds so much excitement to my life

[babysizedfics]

Pink Crayons and Pinky Promises - Part 2

Summary: Being a super cool big brother is hard work sometimes. Especially when you don’t feel as big as usual, Vee doesn’t feel as little as usual, you parents are asleep, your baby sister’s pullup needs changing, you both need breakfast, you don’t know where crayons come from, and you miss your Mommy. But Mommy always calls Roman a clever little boy, so he’s gonna try to deal with all that stuff anyway! That can’t be too hard, right?

Word count: 7.2k

Take me back to part 1!

Also on AO3!

oOo

As much as Roman tried to enjoy colouring again, it was suddenly really hard. His head felt stuffy and his chest felt full—and not in the nice bubbly way. In the yucky balloon way. The yucky balloon always meant he was bored, and Roman hated being bored!

He threw the crayon to the carpet and pouted around his toothbrush. Not even chewing the crunchy bristles could stop the yucky balloon that was swelling in his chest. He rubbed his feet on the carpet again, but that didn’t help either. And now his fingers were feeling tingly! It was the worst feeling in the whole entire world forever and ever!

He groaned and flopped back to lie on the floor with his arms spread out. Bobbles of the carpet caught under his fingernails as he scratched it over and over again. Everything sucked!

Vee squeaked.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Roman asked, feeling a little bit… not little anymore. It wasn’t that he wanted to be big—he really, really didn’t—but it was always tricky staying so little without a grownup there to encourage it.

There was no response from Vee except some little babyish hums. Then some silence. Then an even louder sound: a chirp!

Roman raised his head from the floor just enough to see Vee’s back. Fae was wiggling around on faer butt with faer hand still held to faer mouth. Sucking sounds told Roman that fae was still eating the melon. And every couple of seconds, fae would make more squeaks and hums and chirps!

The yucky balloon in Roman’s chest deflated. “Is it yummy, Titch?” he giggled, sitting back up.

Vee always made funny sounds when she ate. Daddy called them yummy sounds, and Mommy said that was stimming too. It didn’t look much like stimming to Roman, but Mommy was super duper smart so Roman believed him. He liked this version of Vee’s stimming a lot because the noises were fun to listen to!

More chirping met Roman’s ears. Then he saw Vee’s legs kick out gently against the floor. Kick, kick, kick, quick but soft. That meant Vee really liked what she was eating.

Vee being happy made Roman feel a whole lot happier, so he picked his crayon back up to keep colouring!

The only sounds in the room were the crayon scribbles, the toothbrush bristles, Vee’s yummy sounds, and Roman’s little giggles when Vee made a particularly funny noise. He was smiling so hard and for so long that his cheeks even ached!

Then one of Vee’s squeaks got cut short by a whine. Roman looked over at his sister just in time to see faer pick a big black seed from faer mouth and drop it onto the carpet.

“You don’t like the seeds?” he asked, taking his toothbrush out of his mouth. There were a few seeds all over the carpet where Vee had apparently dropped them already.

Vee shaked faer head. “Wucky!” fae squeaked, and even stuck faer tongue out to show just how yucky fae thought they were. “Not s’posed to eat them ‘cause then Daddy can’t gwow them!”

That gave Roman a really creative and clever and funny idea! He tried to look casual, inspecting his toothbrush as if it was far more interesting than what he was about to say.

“Well they can still grow,” Roman started with a sly smile. “They would just grow in your tummy instead of the ground.”

He waited a moment—just long enough to seem cool but not dismissive—then checked Vee’s reaction.

She was frowning suspiciously, the tip of her tongue stuck out in thought. (Though she might have just been licking some melon juice from her lips. There was definitely enough dripping all over her cheeks.)

“They don’t do that…” Vee’s fingernail went back up to her sticky lips and she went quiet again. Then she whispered: “Do they?”

“Sure they do!” Roman nodded. He acted surprised and asked, “You’ve really never had a little fruit tree grow in your tummy before?”

It was pretty funny watching Vee’s eyes get slowly wider. Fae shook faer head. “No, I—Well I don’t think so.”

Roman’s lips betrayed him by pulling into a smirk, but he quickly shoved his toothbrush back in his mouth to hide it. “I fink you woulda noticed if you did. You woulda felt it for sure.”

It was less funny watching Vee’s eyes get quickly shinier. “B-because it hurts?!” Faer breathing got faster and faer eyes darted down to the seeds on the floor. Then fae pulled faer legs up into another tight hug. “I don’t wan’ a fwuit twee hurtin’ m-my tummy!” fae whimpered.

Uh oh.

“No, no, no, Vee! I didn’t—It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt!” Roman scooched on his butt to be right next to Vee and wrapped his arm around her.

“How d’you know?” Vee’s voice was really quiet. She was still scared.

Roman had to think something up real fast. And fast ideas weren’t always the bestest ones.

“I had a melon tree in my tummy once.”

It could’ve gone a whole lot worse than it did, but luckily Vee didn’t look upset by Roman’s answer. She just looked really freaked out.

“In your tummy?!” Vee squealed.

Her voice was so loud and squeaky that Roman even dropped his toothbrush on his empty plate to cover his ear! “Hey, we don’t wanna wake Mommy or Daddy!”

“In your tummy?” Vee repeated in a whisper.

A giggle bubbled up Roman’s chest and out of his mouth. His feet went brush, brush, brush. “Yeah, Titch! That’s how I know it doesn’t hurt.”

All of Vee’s attention was now on Roman. Her mouth was dropped open and she was staring at him and leaning forward. “Was it when we had the melon when it was waining?”

Roman shook his head and sat up straight with a proud smile. “Nu uh, that was only a month ago. This was way before that. Like before you lived with us.”

“Wow…” Vee gasped. “Did Daddy help you get it out?”

Roman’s eyes went wide and he hurriedly added, “No, Daddy didn’t know about it! A-and neither did Mommy, so don’t ask them ‘cause they won’t remember.” That was a close one! He didn’t wanna be in trouble for thinking of cool answers that were maybe not that true.

Vee nodded in understanding, then looked down at her fluffy socks, frowning. It looked like she was thinking hard.

After a few moments, fae hummed and nodded to faerself. “Okay, but even if they’re weally small and it doesn’t hurt, I still don’t want any twees in my tummy.” As if to prove faer point, Vee picked a seed out from one of her melon cubes and dropped it on the side of faer plate.

“Suit yourself,” Roman shrugged. Then—just to prove to his baby sister that he was a brave big boy—he picked the seed up and popped it in his mouth.

“Wo-Wo!” Vee screeched and launched herself on top of him. Her feet kicked out behind her and flung the melon and crayons all over the floor. “Don’t, it’ll gwow in your tummy again!”

Roman laughed even as Vee was crawling into his lap and getting really close up in his face. Then he stuck his tongue out to show her the seed. “I mot swawowed it yep!”

A big gasp came from Vee and her hand quickly lifted, ready to reach into his mouth! But Roman was super fast and grabbed her wrist before she could. Vee kept pushing her hand forward though, and Roman jolted back to get away from it.

With Vee’s weight in Roman’s lap, they both tumbled back onto the carpet, Vee still trying to put her sticky fingers in Roman’s mouth and Roman pushing her hands away as fast as he could.

“Eww, what are you doing?!”

“I’m gonna take it out!”

“No, don’t touch me!”

“Gimme da seed!”

“Your fingers are all sticky and—”

“We not s’posed to hab twees in our—”

“Get your icky baby hands out of my mouf!”

Suddenly, a low chuckle came from the hallway that made both of the littles freeze. They looked over at the living room door just in time to see it push open…

To reveal Nana Janus!

“You two certainly have a lot of energy this morning,” Nana said, smiling as he stepped into the room.

“Nana!” both littles squealed in unison.

“W-we didn’t know you were here!” Roman scrambled to sit up and pushed Vee off his lap. She didn’t cry or anything, she just wriggled onto her butt and held her arms up to Nana, whining. What a baby!

“Good morning to you too, little ones.” Nana looked around the floor and his smile went a bit different—like the smaller, tighter, wobblier one he had whenever Vee was throwing her toys everywhere or Roman was running around in his underwear. The tired kinda one.

“I see you’ve been busy…” he said slowly, kneeling down to where Vee was making grabby hands at him. “Looks like Nana has his cleaning work cut out for him, don’t you agree?”

Roman twisted his head round to look over the floor. There was lots of icky melon and seeds and cereal and crayons all over the carpet. He bit his lip and looked back at Nana with a giggle. “Oopsy daisy!”

That made Nana’s bigger smile come back. “Oopsy daisy indeed.” He pulled Vee into his lap and it made her stop whining. “But don’t get yourself in a fret, little prince, we can tidy up a bit later.”

What silly words! Roman giggled and brushed his feet all over again.

“M-m-m-m—”

The baby was trying to talk! Roman and Nana both looked at faer and Vee blushed under their attention. Fae wiggled and pulled at faer pyjama shirt again. “M-m-me and Wo-Wo are habin’ fun!” Faer voice went real squeaky and happy.

“You’re having fun? Without me?!” Nana gasped dramatically and held Vee’s shoulders, jiggling them a little. 

Big giggles spilled from Vee, and then Roman joined in. They looked at each other with excited smiles. Nana was funny!

When they had gotten over their giggle fit, Nana spoke again. “I was listening to your conversation for a while. Roman, I never knew you were so knowledgeable on crayons and melon seeds.”

Electric excitement coursed through Roman’s veins and he bounced on his butt and brushed, brushed, brushed his feet and scribbled his fingers on the carpet! “Yeah, I-I-I teached Vee lots!”

“Yes, I know,” Nana said with a different smile. The sneaky kind of smile. He pointed at his eyepatch. “I could tell.”

Heat flooded Roman’s cheeks. Nana only ever wore his eyepatch when he was seeing lots and lots of yellow. And Nana only ever saw lots and lots of yellow when someone was doing lots and lots of lying.

“Um, Nana?” Vee whispered, tugging Nana’s waistcoat and making him look down at her instead.

Phew! Saved by the baby.

“Yes, little hatchling? Did you want to play with my watch chain?”

Vee shook her head and looked at Roman. Then she tugged Nana’s waistcoat again and leaned near his ear. Like she was tryna keep Roman from hearing it! But her whisper was too loud for Roman not to hear:

“Did you come down the chimney?”

It took a lot of effort for Roman to not roll his eyes. Ever since Christmas, Vee kept asking Daddy if anyone was gonna break into their chimney. And now it was summer! Roman thought it was a very silly thing to be worried about. Of course no one could come down their chimney; only Santa Claus could do that ‘cause he was magic!

And while Nana did know lots of magic tricks, it was a different sort of magic, Roman was sure. Although, Nana always bringed them lots of presents. And Roman saw him eating gingerbread cookies with milk one night when he was babysitting them… Maybe Roman would have to investigate if Nana had any links with the North Pole!

“No, darling,” Nana assured, tucking Vee’s bangs behind her ear. They were getting real long. “I didn’t come down the chimney.”

Vee sighed in relief.

“Did you, um, crawl through the dog door?” Roman laughed, knowing he was being silly. It was fun to be silly with Nana because he made cool jokes!

“Well yes, but that was last week,” Nana said, then winked at Roman.

That was his special way of telling Roman he was joking, because Roman was clever and he knew what sarcasm was! It made him feel super big and cool to be in on the grownup joke while Vee looked at Nana in shock, so he wiggled happily.

“I just didn’t go home last night,” Nana explained.

“Did you sleep in da apple twee?” Vee asked.

Nana laughed loudly and cuddled Vee closer to him. Roman hugged himself. He wished Mommy was here…

“That was the original plan, but then your Daddy said I could sleep in his bed. So I thought I might as well accept the offer.”

Roman gasped and got ready to speak—but Nana gave him the warning look and beat him to it.

“No, Roman,” Nana said sternly and raised his eyebrow—the one with the shiny piercing that Roman wasn’t allowed to poke anymore. “Before you accuse me of anything, your Daddy was not in there with me.”

Roman squinted at Nana suspiciously. You could hardly blame him for wanting to make sure his Mommy and Daddy weren’t cuddling anyone else!

Then Nana pulled a pack of baby wipes from his sleeve making both of the littles gasp—that’s the kinda magic tricks he did! “Now, why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to this morning while I clean Vee up a bit, hmm?”

The warning voice was back to a soothing voice, and Roman felt all wiggly again!

“Um, um, um!” Roman started, taking a big, stuttering breath. His chest was tight with just how much energy he had to get out, and his mind was racing with all the stuff he wanted to tell Nana! 

Like about how he stopped Vee from crying and how he offered to play without his cars so his little sister could join in. Or maybe about how he was so clever in thinking of how to get downstairs and make breakfast all without breaking any rules! Ooh, or about how brave he was for not crying when his hands got yucky and how he helped his baby sister read the crayon label! Oh but he wanted to show Nana his drawing too!

“Um, um, um, uh, um, um—” Roman babbled, his tongue struggling to keep up with his brain.

“Let’s start with what you did once you were downstairs, little prince,” Nana interrupted softly. “Can you do that for Nana?”

It was weird how Nana didn’t need to raise his voice over Roman to get the thoughts to stop zooming so fast in Roman’s brain, but it worked! Roman took a deep breath to calm down. It was really hard to talk right when he was so excited.

“Um, we-we-we—I made breakfast!” he said louder than he really meant to. He was just super happy because he knew Nana would praise him!

“Oh goodness, all on your own?” Nana’s jaw dropped in surprise as he passed Roman a fresh baby wipe.

Roman giggled with a nod and took the baby wipe to clean his hands. Then he accidentally made a weird happy, throaty sound. Kinda like Vee’s yummy sounds. He bit his lip to hold any more back and wiggled his knees as he wiped his fingers clean.

Then Nana gushed, “What a smart little boy you are, Roman!”

“Eep!” Roman couldn’t hold that sound back. “Y-yeah, yeah, yeah, I am!” He felt almost dizzy with excitement! He quickly finished cleaning his hands then screwed up the wipe and dropped it into Nana’s lap. “I was so clever and-and-and big!”

“Very big indeed,” Nana agreed while he ran his own baby wipe over Vee’s hands. He swirled his finger on Vee’s palm and she squealed and kicked her feet and twisted her head to rest it on Nana’s shoulder.

Then Nana tutted and picked off a piece of cereal that had been stuck to her cheek with melon juice.

“Eww!” Roman giggled. “Vee, you got food everywhere!”

Vee just giggled back and buried her head in Nana’s neck. It looked like she was getting even more little now that they had a grownup with them. Roman was too! He just wasn’t a baby.

“Come on, sweetie, up, up.” Nana stroked Vee’s hair as fae lifted faer head back up and looked at him with a pout. “Say ahh, baby. Ahh, ahh,” Nana demonstrated, holding his mouth open and his chin up.

“A-a-ah!” Vee opened her mouth in a little circle, and Nana quickly wiped all over her sticky cheeks.

“There we are,” Nana whispered, screwing up the wipe and dropping it into Roman’s lap. (Roman squawked and flicked it off straight away!) “Well, I certainly hope at least some of the food ended up in your little tummies.” Nana’s finger swirled on Vee’s tummy this time and fae squeaked and quickly hugged faer tummy.

“Yeah, look!” Roman blurted, remembering yet another thing he needed praise for. He hurriedly grabbed his Spongebob divider plate and held it up proudly. “Look, Nana, look!”

“Yes, darling, I’m looking. And do you know what I can see?”

Roman nodded quickly, eyes tight shut with a smug smile. He was such a good boy and he knew it! “Mhm, my empty plate! Be-because I was a good boy and eated all my breakfast!”

“Oh, it’s not quite empty.”

There was no way that was true! Roman remembered, he eated all of his food! He opened his eyes, knowing there was nothing left on his plate except his—Uh oh.

His chewed up toothbrush…

“Roman, look at Nana.”

The warning voice was back and Roman bit his lip and lowered the plate back to the floor. Keeping his mouth firmly shut, he looked up at Nana with the most innocent smile he could muster.

Suddenly, Nana’s hand darted forward, his fingertips landing on the sole of Roman’s foot and scribbling over his sock.

“Aah, Nana!” Roman squealed, immediately falling into a stream of laughter. 

He hurriedly pulled his feet under his butt so Nana couldn’t tickle them anymore. (It was really fun when Nana or Daddy tickled his feet, but not as fun as when Mommy did it. Mommy was Roman’s favourite tickle monster!)

But then Nana’s fingers held Roman’s chin up and gently pulled his lip down. Oh no! Nana had tricked him!

“Nanaaa,” Roman whined, scrunching his face up and squinting his eyes shut. His gums kinda hurt from his mouth being open… 

Thankfully, Nana dropped his chin quickly. But it was too late. Roman opened his eyes and saw Nana giving him the you’ve-been-naughty look.

“Your gums are positively raw, Roman!” Nana tutted. Then he sighed and shaked his head. “Would you care to tell me why you’ve been chewing your toothbrush when your Mommy and Daddy and Nana have all said that that’s not allowed?”

“Uh ohhh…” Vee whispered, and Roman glared at faer. Fae hid faer face on Nana’s shoulder again.

“I not been chewing it!” Roman defended with a pout. “I was just, um, lookin’ at it!”

That was never gonna work. All Nana had to do was tap his eyepatch for Roman to scramble over an excuse.

“Um, w-well I might of chewed it a little, but only ‘cause… Um, be-because—”

Vee’s head quickly poked up from Nana’s shoulder and she squeaked, “He was chewin’ on it all mornin’, Nana.”

“Little prince!” Nana scolded. “You know you’re not allowed to do that. I’m going to have to tell your parents.”

“Vee-Vee, we had a deal!” Roman whined and kicked his feet on the carpet. What a little tattletale!

Vee didn’t look sorry at all! She even had an evil little baby smile and fidgeted with her pyjamas while she giggled. “You said don’t tell Mummy or Daddy! And Nana is allowed to tell them!”

“What a cheeky little monkey,” Nana chuckled and tickled under Vee’s ear, making her squeal. “That was very clever, baby.”

Hot, heavy stuff filled Roman’s ears and head and he clenched his jaw so tight his gums hurt all over again. Two could play at that game! He crossed his arms and argued, “Well then I’m telling Nana you didn’t change your bedtime pullup!”

That stopped Vee’s giggling. Roman even felt kinda proud at how much her face dropped and how loud she gasped.

“Oh, sweetheart…”

Nana’s voice was so soft it kinda surprised Roman. His own mischievous smile dropped off his face and he looked up at Nana.

Nana was looking down at Vee’s face with a worried kinda look, and he stroked her bangs again even though they were already tucked back. “Is that true, darling?” he whispered.

Fae tugged at her pyjama top again and nodded silently. She looked like she’d done something naughty and felt really bad about it

“Can you tell Nana if it was wet when you woke up?” Nana asked gently.

It made Roman’s heart and tummy drop when he saw Vee’s eyes go wet again.

Now he probably looked like he’d done something naughty and felt really bad about it…

“Nana?” Roman mumbled, hunching his shoulders a little when Nana looked at him again. “Um… her pullup was wet but she said she didn’t wanna change it.”

Vee whined loudly. Faer body went really stiff on Nana’s lap and fae looked up at him really scared—like fae was getting ready to be told off.

“Shh, it’s alright, Vee.” Nana’s hand cupped Vee’s cheek. “You’re not in trouble.”

Even Roman sighed in relief. He never wanted to get his baby sister in trouble.

Nana continued, “But your pullups aren’t like your nappies, sweetie; we really need to change them once they’re wet. We don’t want any leaks, do we?”

All of a sudden, Vee’s wet eyes got even wetter. Fae sniffled and tugged faer pyjama shirt down. Kinda like if fae was trying to hide faer—

Oh… Roman’s tummy sinked even more.

It looked like Nana thought of the same thing, because he had a sad kinda smile now. “Can Nana please check, little one?” he asked really quiet.

Nana nudged Vee’s hands off her pyjama top and out of her lap. Then they could see a small wet patch on her pants.

Vee started whimpering and wriggling straight away.

“Oh, sweetie,” Nana cood and cuddled Vee back on his chest again, swaying her gently side to side.

She made a sad squeaky sound and choked, “Didn’t kn-know.”

“I know, Vee. Shh, it’s not your fault, darling.”

Roman’s eyes went wide. Did that mean Nana thought it was his fault?

“It’s not my fault either!” Roman quickly yelled. “She wouldn’t let me help! A-a-and she pinky promised that she wouldn’t have a accident!”

“Didn’t m-m-mean to!” Vee cried back, but it was all muffled because her face was on Nana’s shoulder again.

“Hey, hey, both of you stop for a moment.”

Both littles went quiet. Even Vee��s sniffling stopped.

Nana nodded at Roman and squeezed his arms tighter around Vee. “Very good. Now we’re all going to take a deep breath, all together. On three, ready?”

Roman’s lips twitched up at the corner and he scrunched his fingernails in the carpet again. He liked taking a deep breath with Nana, it always helped. So he nodded.

“Alright,” Nana said very quiet and soft. “One… Two… Three.” He squeezed Vee’s shoulder to let her know it was time to breathe, then they all took a big breath in.

Roman’s chest filled up, up, up with air, like a big balloon. He watched Nana and when Nana nodded with his chest puffed out really far, they all breathed out again slowly.

Once it was done, Roman’s tummy felt a lot better.

“Now—” Nana’s voice was still soft “—it wasn’t anyone’s fault that Vee had a little accident. Vee, sweetie, do you remember what we say about accidents?”

Vee’s pink cheeks puffed up like they did when she was thinking real hard sometimes. Then she looked up at Nana with her fingertip between her lips. “Um… jus’ habben.”

“They just happen,” Nana repeated with a smile. “They’re not bad or yucky or naughty. They just happen, and that’s okay.”

Once Vee nodded (and smiled when Nana kissed her cheek), Nana looked over at Roman.

“And it’s not your fault either, little prince. I know you were just trying to help your sister feel comfortable. And the most important thing is you didn’t make her do something she didn’t want to do.”

Roman’s heart felt a bit lighter hearing that. But not completely… “Fae still got wet pants, though,” Roman whispered. “I wanted to help faer stay dry!”

Nana shook his head and patted Roman’s knee. It made Roman wiggle his toes. “That’s not your job, sweetheart. And wet pants are very easy to fix, aren’t they, little one?”

For a moment Roman’s tummy flipped in excitement. Nana didn’t call him little one very much, but Roman always loved it when he did!

But then he realised Nana was looking at Vee, not him. Vee was the little one, not Roman… It made his chest feel spiky and whooshy.

“Now let’s get you in a fresh pullup and dry clothes, little love,” Nana told Vee while he reached over to pick up her pacifier from where she dropped it on her colouring. “Those ones can’t be very comfy, can they?”

“Gaga pwup?” Vee babbled with her whole thumb stuck in her mouth. She was obviously more of a baby now. Which meant she couldn’t play with Roman anymore!

“Yes, little hatchling, Nana will help you change your pullup.” He held up the pacifier and Vee gasped. “Do you want your dummy, baby?”

Vee did the grunt that meant yes please, and Nana pulled her thumb out from her mouth and put in the paci instead.

“There we are!” Nana smiled. Then he moved onto his knees like he was about to lift Vee and get up.

But Roman hurriedly grabbed Nana’s wrist to stop him from standing. “We weren’t finished colouring yet!”

Both Vee and Nana were looking at Roman surprised. He let go of Nana’s wrist and pouted grumpily to hopefully distract them from his blush.

“Little prince, I know you and your sister were having a lot of fun on your own.”

Roman nodded enthusiastically.

“But it’s time to fix a couple of things now,” Nana said slow and gentle, like he was being careful not to make Roman cry. But Roman wasn’t a baby, Nana didn’t need to be careful! “I need to help Vee change and then we’re going to tidy up.”

“No, I don’t want to! I want Vee to stay and colour and I want you to go away!”

The last bit wasn’t completely true… But if Nana was going to make Vee not play with him and make him do boring chores then Roman didn’t want Nana there!

“Listen to Nana, little prince,” Nana sighed and sat back down on the carpet, pulling Vee closer on his lap again. “I know you like to be a big boy, but today I think you’re too little to be on your own. That much is clear from the mess you’ve both made. Neither of you are in trouble,” Nana quickly added when Roman’s shoulders went tense. “I know you couldn’t help yourselves, and that’s okay. But now I think we need to give you some grownup supervision before anything else goes awry.”

“W-we’re gonna wake up Mommy?!” Roman squealed, bouncing a little on his butt. “I’m gonna show him my colouring and my plate and the cereal pieces and—”

“Not so fast, darling,” Nana chuckled. “Your mummy still needs his rest, so Nana is going to be your caregiver this morning, alright?”

It made the inside of Roman’s chest swishy and crackly and hot. Like lava! Like angry, sputtering lava!

“Now while I help your baby sister, why don’t you start by collecting all of the crayons and—”

“No!” Roman yelled.

Nana went silent while Vee whimpered. Roman knew it was bad of him to yell around the baby, and it was kinda scary to be a bad boy because he really didn’t want to be bad… But he didn’t want to clean up either! He wanted to play!

“Okay then,” Nana started, slow and gentle again. (Roman wasn’t a baby!) “Perhaps you can start by picking up the pieces of food from—”

“No!” There was no way Roman was gonna touch icky floor food! He crossed his arms tightly.

“Roman.” Nana used his strong voice. “We are not doing this today.”

The strong voice meant he wasn’t happy with Roman, and sometimes it even meant Nana would tell on him to Mommy and Daddy later. The idea of Mommy being disappointed in him made the backs of Roman’s eyes burn and his lips pull down, but he quickly scrunched his face up angrily so no-one noticed.

Nana’s voice was a bit softer when he said, “I’m sure you don’t want to clean up the mess, but I’m afraid it has to be done. If we do it together—”

“No!” Roman yelled again, his voice cracking a little.

It made Vee whine and look up at Nana, who took a deep breath.

Roman knew he was being really naughty now, and it made him feel scared and embarrassed and sad. But he was nearly gonna cry and he really didn’t want to in front of Nana, and Nana wanted to take Vee away from him, and Nana wasn’t letting Roman see Mommy! Nana was mean and Roman didn’t want to do what he said! He grabbed his toothbrush to hold it tight. It made him feel better to hold his favourite things.

“Would you like Nana to help you clean the—”

“No!” This time he even raised his foot from the carpet and stamped it back down! (It was hard because he was still on his butt, but Roman had a lot of practice stamping his feet in all kinds of situations.)

Nana ignored the foot stamp. “Well then would you like to be left alone?”

Roman’s eyes widened and he clenched his toothbrush so tight it hurt. Being left alone sounded really scary and made Roman’s throat clog, but he couldn’t let Nana know that! So he gritted his teeth and put all his strength into making his voice steady: “No, no, no!”

The look on Nana’s face wasn’t happy at all. It was tired and annoyed. “Then you’re clearly too little to make a decision for yourself. Nana is going to help you whether you like it or not.”

“No!” Roman shouted. “I don’t want Nana, I want—”

Roman gasped and closed his mouth really tight. Hot tears made his eyes wet.

Even though it was blurry from his tears, Roman could still see Nana’s face soften. Then Nana asked in a low voice, “What do you want, sweetheart?”

And that was exactly how Mommy always sounded when he was cuddling Roman and helping him to stop crying.

Without any warning, Roman suddenly felt his face crumple and his mouth made a squeaky sad sound. He quickly buried his face in his arm to try to squeeze the tears away like before, but it was too late. His sleeve was already getting wet from him crying.

“I-I—” Roman squeaked, trying to think of another clever idea. But it was too hard. He couldn’t think about anything except…

“I want my mommy!” he wailed into his arm. His tummy sinked all the way down now, and he hugged it with his free arm to try to make it feel better.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Nana cood softly.

It made Roman’s tummy swoosh so he hugged it even tighter. Then he heard some quick shuffling and suddenly a warm arm wrapped around him. Nana’s hand laid flat on his back and rubbed up and down, nice and slow. It helped Roman take a deep breath, but it was shaky and got caught in his chest. A sob broke free and he bit his lip.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, little prince.” 

“I w-want Mommy,” Roman whimpered, spluttering on his tears.

“I know you do, Roman,” Nana whispered and Roman slowly leaned against him. It was warm to lean against Nana and it felt safer. “Oh, you poor thing.”

Another little squeak met Roman’s ear, and for a moment he thought it came from him. But then he felt small fingers wrap around his hand and knew it was Vee. Roman whimpered and squeezed his sister's hand gently. He hoped fae knew it meant thank you.

Fae squeezed his hand back.

Nana’s hand went circle, circle, circle on Roman’s back. Nice and slow. “You miss your mummy, don’t you, little one?”

Roman waited a moment to find out if Nana meant him or Vee. But then Nana squeezed his shoulder softly and repeated the question. Roman was the little one.

With a wet sniffle, he dropped his arm from his face. There was no point hiding anymore, Nana and Vee definitely both knew he was crying. He still didn’t wanna look up from his lap though.

“I just—” Roman cut himself off because his voice was all croaky and thick and wobbly. He whimpered and squinted his eyes shut and squeezed his toothbrush as hard as he could. This is why he hated crying, it made him sound like a baby! 

“Deep breath, little prince.”

Just like Nana said. Breathe in, deep… Breathe out, slow… 

That was better. Plus, Nana’s hand was still rubbing Roman’s back and Vee’s fingers were still squeezing Roman’s hand. It all felt very safe.

Roman quickly wiped his sleeve over his eyes then looked up at Nana.

It was easier to whisper when he cried, so Roman tried that instead. “I just want Mommy to see h-how clever I been.”

Nana had a sad smile. “And he will, darling. Just as soon as he wakes up.” 

Roman didn’t like that. It made his tummy sink all over again just thinking of waiting even longer to cuddle Mommy.

Then Nana’s fingers gently wrapped around Roman’s other hand and lowered it. Roman had started raising his toothbrush to his mouth without even realising! He pouted as Nana tugged his toothbrush down. Chewing his toothbrush would help him feel better right now, but he wasn’t allowed.

“Don’t you think it’ll be so much more fun to tell Mummy all about—” Nana’s eyes swept over the messy room quickly before landing back on Roman “—your endeavours after we’ve tidied up a bit? Then you can brag—uh, tell him all about how you helped to clean up, too.”

“But I want Mommy now!” Roman whined, stamping his foot again. It wasn't as hard this time though, only a soft kick. “I waited all morning a-an-and I always wake up Mommy and he’s never ever mad about it!” His lip wobbled even though he was sure he was done crying now.

The hand rubbed circles on his back again, nice and slow. It reminded him to breath in, deep, then breathe out, slow.

“I don’t doubt it for a single second, Roman,” Nana said in a bouncy voice. It was the babysitting voice and it made Roman’s tummy feel lots calmer. Even Vee perked up at the sound and wiggled happily on Nana’s lap. “But your mummy wasn’t feeling very well last night. Do you remember?”

Roman’s lips twisted in thought. Last night Mommy felt sicky and he was sad and his bedtime was really early, even earlier than Vee’s. After a moment of thought, Roman nodded his head. “Mommy was feeling yucky.”

“Wucky!” Vee squeaked and bounced in Nana’s lap with a squeal.

Roman giggled at faer excitement. Fae was just a baby, so fae didn’t really know what they were talking about… Fae probably just liked that word! It was kind of funny when the baby was excited when something not very exciting was happening!

“That’s right,” Nana said, wiggling his finger on Vee’s side. She smiled and wiggled just like the finger. “And when we’re feeling yucky, we need lots and lots of sleep to feel better.”

“But… b-but if Mommy was awake and he saw what a good boy I been then he would be happy,” Roman whined. Then he added, “And maybe I can make Mommy feel better.”

Nana’s lips pulled up in a smile and he gave Roman a squeeze. “That’s very sweet, Roman, but it’s not little ones jobs to look after their parents. That’s a big grownup job…” The hand on Roman’s back lifted away, but before Roman could pout, Nana poked his nose! “And I think we might have a very little prince this morning, hm?”

It made Roman blush and fidget. “Mhm…” he agreed quietly, then felt his toothbrush stroke across his lip before Nana tugged his hand down again.

“No, darling,” Nana scolded gently, tapping Roman’s wrist. “No chewing. Unless you want me to tell your Daddy.”

Nana was beginning to sound like Vee. Apparently being a tattletale ran in the family… With a massive sigh that he hoped would make Nana feel really guilty, Roman dropped his toothbrush back to his plate. Then he stuck his tongue out, just in case Nana didn’t realise Roman wasn’t happy about it. It made Nana laugh!

Maybe Roman wasn’t that annoyed. It actually felt really nice and soft and warm and bubbly and safe that Nana was trying to help him stop chewing the toothbrush, even if Roman really wanted to. His gums were super sore now anyway. And no matter how clever Roman was, he was still only a little boy! He knew that grownups usually knew more than he did. That was okay though! It meant Roman could just play and have fun and leave the big responsible stuff to the grownups.

“Gaga?” Vee whispered.

When Roman looked down at Vee, it was obvious she was pouting behind her paci. And she was tugging at her wet pants.

Nana’s cold fingers unwrapped from Roman’s wrist so Nana could cradle Vee’s head. “Sorry, sweetie. Let’s get right on that.” His thumb stroked over Vee’s cheek and she hummed and closed her eyes. She looked kinda sleepy.

Then Nana paused and looked back at Roman softly. “I know you’re worried about your mummy, little one, but I was with him for an hour or so last night. I promise you that he’s okay.”

Normally Roman believed Nana (unless Nana winked at him, which meant it was a big kid joke!) but this was very important. So Roman needed Nana to make a very important promise.

“Pinky promise?” Roman asked, holding his little finger up.

Nana’s pinky wrapped around his without hesitation. “Absolutely. Pinky promise,” he said very clearly, and Roman believed him. Then Nana’s hand dropped and his smile was back—the happy, soft one! “And I bet once he’s all rested up, your mummy would love to play with you later.”

Obviously! Mommy always loved playing with Roman because he was such a clever and creative little boy! Roman’s legs vibrated just thinking of all the fun he would have with his mommy. “Maybe-maybe-maybe playing lots!”

“Lots and lots!” Nana gasped, then he shuffled Vee around in his lap to start getting her ready to stand up. (She whined, but she always whined when she had to use her legs.)

Roman giggled, “A-and maybe he will play cars with me!” 

“Oh, I’m certain he will.”

“And Nana you’re allowed to watch us play cars!”

A big chuckle came from Nana as he stood from the floor and helped Vee stop from tumbling over. “Thank you for your generosity, little prince. I would adore being a spectator for the hundredth time.” Once Vee was standing upright, Nana unwrapped his arm from her shoulders to hold her hand

“W-well, now you get to be a vip spectre!” Roman assured Nana, bouncing up onto his own feet. He jumped up so fast his head went all spinny and he had to hold Nana’s arm to help stay balanced.

“A V.I.P. spectator, sweetheart,” Nana corrected. (But Roman didn’t like saying each letter on its own. It took too long.) “As I said, I would love to do that later. But for now—” Nana held his empty hand out to Roman “—will you please come with me and your sister upstairs?”

Roman pouted at Nana’s hand. It was nice to hold hands, but it felt like Nana thought he was a baby who couldn’t walk on his own. Like Vee.

“Um…” he muttered, wringing his hands to avoid holding Nana’s. “But I’m a big boy. I can stay here on my own and clean the mess.”

Roman didn’t want to be on his own or clean the mess, but he did want to sound like a good big boy.

“That’s very true,” Nana nodded slowly, lowering his hand. “But you see the thing is, I seem to have forgotten all of the rules to your special car game. So I need you to explain it to me all over again, otherwise I’ll be completely lost when I watch you play with your mummy.”

“Awober again,” Vee whispered.

“Nana,” Roman giggled. How silly of Nana! “You always forget the car game rules!”

“I know, it’s funny how that happens. Now could you be a good big brother and hold Vee’s other hand for Nana?”

Yay! Now Roman got to hold someone’s hand and still feel like a big boy! Roman quickly bounced to Vee’s free side and took her empty hand, very happy that it wasn’t sticky anymore.

“Wo-Wo!” Vee cheered, smiling up at him past her paci and hugging his hand to her chest.

“I’m gonna help you walk, Vee-Vee!”

“Good boy,” Nana praised from Vee’s other side. “Now, are we all ready to head upstairs?”

Roman and Vee both nodded at Nana. It was fun when they were on their own, but it felt better to have a grownup to help them with grownup stuff. At least Roman thought so.

“Alright, here we go, little ones,” Nana announced, and they all started walking toward the hallway hand in hand. As they stepped carefully to make sure Vee didn’t trip up, Nana asked, “So will you be so kind as to tell me about your cars again, sweetheart?”

Roman’s cheeks bunched in a big smile. It was good Nana kept forgetting the car game, because it was Roman’s favourite thing to talk about!

“Okay! For the billionth time!” Roman laughed, his chest bursting with excitement for the day ahead.

“For the billionth time. I think I remember a little though. It’s the blue car who always wins the race, right?”

“Nana, it’s the red one!”

“Oh, of course. How silly of me.”

“Siwy!”

“Yeah, Vee, Nana is silly!”

“I suppose I am. What else can you tell me about the red car, little prince?”

oOo

I really hope you enjoyed the latest fic for this ongoing series! If you did, please consider reblogging, leaving a comment, or sending me an ask or message! They really keep me motivated to write more!

Thank you for reading! ヾ(ᴖ๑ᴖ)ﾉﾞ

Take me back to part 1!

Also on AO3!

[missorgana]

only waiting for this moment

pairing: loki/mobius

fandom: marvel cinematic universe

rating: general

word count: 4272

warning: swearing, implied character death

summary: Loki is not looking forward to sitting next to a stranger on the way to faer older brother's wedding. But said stranger proves to be good company, after all. (meet-cute, human au, single dad mobius)

(yet after loki’s ended i still obsess about lokius my god..... anyway! i’ve been working on this silly au for way too long so finally it’s out there! is it stupid yes. most likely. but it’s based on this cute fanart so let me live! also loki goes by fae pronouns because :’)))) enjoy! ❤️)

read on ao3

Why does Loki find faerself on a stuffy plane to Venice in the summer heat with several suits and a ring in faer luggage, you may ask?

Because of faer stupid older brother, of course.

Now, don’t mistake fae, fae’s happy for Thor getting married. Seriously!

Faer brother is one romantic bastard, and fae’s seen his looks and smiles around Bruce, fiancee and future husband in about three days, it’s like he would be lost without him. It’s quite endearing, in an overbearingly annoying way. Loki’ll let him know it’s annoying, plenty.

But of course, fae agreed to be the ringbearer, it’s the least fae could do, and fae loves that big fool just as much as he loves faer, even though fae’ll never willingly admit that to anyone other than faerself.

Fae just doesn’t understand  why  they had to make everyone travel out to Venice to celebrate the wedding, when they could’ve just saved the trip for their honeymoon, but nooo, the ceremony had to be at “the most romantic location in the world”, as Thor dubbed it.

Absolutely ridiculous, but what can you do?

Fae’ll just have to strap faerself in for the nine hour long plane ride,  dear god , hope the food isn’t completely horrendous and that their movie selection is decent.

The last part seems to be true, but alas, Loki’s bound to have trouble, considering fae’s found faerself in questionable situations many, many times before. Often Thor’s fault. Often fae’s own fault. Siblings you annoy the shit out of and siblings you would die for, simultaneously, of course.

However, Thor and Bruce arrived in Venice the previous day for arrangement, Jane and Brunnhilde are only leaving tonight because of Brunn’s schedule, and since Sif left earlier today, Loki’s alone. This fae doesn’t mind at all, appreciating peace and quiet, especially with an older brother as enthusiastic and energetic as Thor.

He’s not always annoying, he’s rather comforting, in that way. But times like this, fae could use a little break.

Until the passenger for the seat next to fae arrives, that is.

The person that comes into faers line of view is apologising profusely to a flight attendant for blocking their way, then nearly drops their bag in the face of a passenger in front of them, until they greet fae with decidedly  way too much vigour.

They look to be a typical tourist, grey hair and moustache and a goofy smile and a pale blue button-up with fucking flamingos on it. Lord, have mercy. But it really would be fine, absolutely fine, if the person next to fae would have the decency to leave fae alone. Which they didn’t.

It’s clear to fae that they’re the sort of person to spark up a conversation with strangers, and Loki isn’t really in the mood. Rather, fae wants to plug in faers music and hopefully sleep through most of the flight.

“Hey there, buddy!” faers new companion says cheerfully, strapping themself in, apparently not noticing one earbud already in faer ear, “Going to Venice too, huh?”

Loki feels the well-known urge to roll faers eyes. But suck it up, you know… try to be polite, fae tells faerself. “Sure am.”

The passenger nods, satisfied with the short answer it seems. This is why fae is quick to plug the other headphone in before they can get the chance to change their mind. Maybe it isn’t a big deal, they’ll get the hint, surely.

But boy, fae is soon going to discover how wrong fae is. This is going to be a long trip indeed.

*

It’s about one hour after take-off that the trouble starts, more or less. Loki managed to nod off to sleep in an instant, thank the heavens, because… flying. Not great. Sleeping’s become fae’s number one strategy, if fae absolutely  has to get on a plane, that is.

Fae made sure to give faers older brother shit for this trip due to that very reason, but Thor’s apologetic eyes and the convoluted three other ways of transport he desperately planned to specifically get fae out of that plane was too endearing, and also too much trouble. Fae loves him for it. Fae also hates carrying luggage, so this is definitely the least tiring option.

Soon enough, however, Loki’s stirred from faers slumber by the tinny voice of the pilot over the speakers, and faers new companion tapping the armrest. 

On and on and on. Oh my god, they’re tapping their foot, too.

It’s fine, it’s  fine , fae almost feels bad, but fae’s also antsy and groggy which is in no way a good combination.

Regardless, Loki figures fae might as well shake it off, for now. One hour down, eight left to go.

The tapping, combined with the sickening heat sneaks up on fae way, way too quick now. Fae nears the point of airing a snappy comment towards the person next to fae, which could potentially start an argument but  who cares .

Perhaps luckily faers stream of thought is interrupted by the flight attendant from earlier, blonde ponytail and a slightly strained smile, rolling along a cart of coffee and soft drinks. Or rather, interrupted by their companion calling out for the attendant.

“Oh, excuse me? My apologies,” they say once they have the blonde’s attention, “My buddy here, they were asleep earlier. Didn’t know what you’d like to drink, heh.”

The last part obviously aimed at yours truly, Loki finds faerself furrowing faer brows. That’s… thoughtful. Fae could’ve surely asked for something faerself. Alright. Anyway.

The attendant nods, seeming to hesitate whether they should start listing all the drinks. Loki puts faer hand up in confirmation, “I’d appreciate some black tea, if that’s possible?”

“Of course,” they reply, hilariously chipper. Faer companion winks, which isn’t really a wink because they don’t seem to know  how .

And now, that is what fae expects to be the end of a talk, once more, as fae thanks the blonde and sends them on their way. In fact, fae would grab faers earbuds again, immediately, if the person next to fae didn’t nod in faers direction and tapped the seat twice.

“Sorry to put you on the spot, there,” they say.

Loki tries to keep faer huff in, but to no avail. “Don’t worry about it.”

And faers companion flashes another one of the goofy smiles, such a suburban parent thing. They can’t be more than ten years older than fae, twenty years at the most. The grey hair suits them, Loki decides.

“Oh and how silly of me!” they nearly gasp, “I forgot to ask for your pronouns. I’m terribly sorry.”

Jot fae down as pleasantly surprised.

Fae’ll admit, faer is a little too quick to make assumptions. And given the generational gap, Loki had faer expectations at the very bottom, sadly.

Maybe this person isn’t too bad. Now, at least, whatever. They better be quiet soon, though, because fae’s not sure fae will last a nine hour plane ride with polite small talk, the thought alone is enough to get on faer nerves.

“That’s alright,” fae replies, and if fae returns the smile for just two seconds, it’s not like anyone else will notice, “I go by fae/faer. And you?”

Faers companion’s smile widens by about three sizes, which should be impossible, logistically. “Lovely! He/him for me. Argh, I’ll quit bothering you now, I fear that announcement woke you.”

Loki nods. It did. And he did. Whatever.

“What can you do,” fae sighs, trying to make it significantly less noticeable. “Thanks for the, uh, the tea.”

This man is a lot more pleasant than fae had feared, could definitely have and have had worse company. He’s frustratingly nice, actually. The annoyance will be bearable though, Loki concludes.

And so faer companion waves his hand dismissively, before picking up the magazine from his lap, “No bother. Name’s Mobius, by the way.”

“Loki.”

*

Mobius will soon prove to be interesting company, well, besides the horrendous clumsiness from earlier, which is just more than consistent.

The man has stumbled over Loki’s legs both times he went to the bathroom, dropped the lunch tray from the blonde attendant straight on the floor and had to get it replaced, and, of bloody course, couldn’t figure out the small television without fae’s help.  It’s fine .

It’s not nearly as angering as faers brother at his most oblivious and annoying, but fae  needs to sleep again at some point. Soon.

Loki would be lying, though, if fae claimed the sheepish smile from faer companion wasn’t just a tiny bit endearing.

Fae can imagine Thor wiggling his brows if he saw fae, now.

This Mobius is just so overbearingly polite and ridiculous, it strangely doesn’t bother Loki all that much. Fae’s not going soft for a complete stranger, though. How dare you even suggest such a thing? 

And when fae attempts to fall asleep for the second time, for real, Mobius starts rummaging for  something  on his side and tapping his feet obnoxiously loud and adjusting the air conditioning when it was already perfect,  thank you very much , Loki’s just about to put faer rule of politeness to hell and let the man know what fae thinks until-

Fae stops in faer tracks for a second.

Mobius is humming. Another reason to be annoyed, perhaps, only detail is that Loki instantly recognizes the melody, not from faer own playlist, but a place a bit further away in faer memory.

That’s  Blackbird. No doubt about it.

Who is fae kidding, logistically, there’s probably only a tiny fraction of the human population that  doesn’t  know The Beatles. Regardless, it strikes Loki as… nostalgic.

Faer mother used to sing that song, in particular. It was her favorite, fae recalls. She even sung it to fae and Thor when they were very young. Long before she got sick. And… okay.

Loki shakes faer head at faerself.  Not now .

But that memory’s been distant for a while, so it’s rather almost relieving to unlock it now, the revelation that it still exists, still tangible if fae digs it up from faer recollection. 

You see, Thor talks about their mother a lot. He can deal with emotion, you know, unlike faerself, hence why faer older brother is the best shoulder to cry on. But don’t tell him fae said that.

For some reason, the words slip out of fae’s mouth before fae can stop them, “I love that song.”

The man next to fae seems to startle for a moment, but quickly collects himself. “Hm?”

“My apologies, uh… you were humming.  Blackbird. ”

Mobius’ eyes widen, like he’s had the biggest revelation of his life, “Ah! Me too. Gave that one to my daughter, actually- she collects vinyl records, and that was her first.”

Loki finds faerself chuckling, fondly, in a way that seems uncharacteristic, even to faerself. Reminds fae of faer mother, again.

“My mother used to sing me that,” fae decides to tell, since the man has already shared some information from his life, might as well return the favor, “When my brother and I were little, growing up.”

And Mobius puts the crossword page of magazine he was occupying himself with before down, already engaged in the short conversation, that… is a little endearing, fae’ll admit it. “It’s a classic. Are you traveling with them? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

Loki waves a hand, “You could say that, hah. My brother’s getting married tomorrow.”

This news only excites the grey haired man more, by several degrees. He’s grinning, at this point, and almost jumping in his seat, as if he’s been waiting for something,  anything  to celebrate. “Oh my, congratulations!”

Fae nods, simply, shortly. Hopefully it still conveys that fae is very much excited for the big day. Loki feels bad that fae doesn't quite express this that much, not… bursting with energy as many would, but that doesn’t mean fae’s not happy!

“Got stuck on ringbearer duty,” fae jokes, grimacing for good measure. Wait, fae’s joking with a stranger right now? What the fuck?

“Of course,” Mobius replies, getting the sarcasm, thank heavens. And when Loki asks the same question, he laughs, “Not nearly as exciting here, I’m afraid. My ex-husband and I split up a year ago, and I haven’t exactly had any vacation since then, so… flying solo.”

This is something that could make Loki flinch, almost.

First of all, embarrassing to ask something personal and the reveal of something  that  personal and that just makes fae feel all kinds of rude. Second of all, ex-  husband , huh. Wait, wait, wait. That’s not shocking, fae means… it’s not like fae starts to think about the fact that the man next to fae is single or anything. What?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“No, no, don’t apologise. Peaceful divorce, no worries there.” This talk is… nice. Another sort of peaceful silence falls upon them and it isn’t even uncomfortable, Loki thinks. Fucking weird.

And fae guesses that  maybe  Mobius is attractive, his face is soft and smile annoyingly contagious and his hands are rugged, wonder what he works with- no,  no , stop. Brain, shut it. Shut it down immediately.

Thor would be having a real field day if he could see fae, right now.

“One day, you’ll find someone to melt your heart, trust me!” he had assured fae - once again, older brother, such a romantic, they couldn’t be more opposite. Perhaps that’s why they get along so well.

And so their talk progresses, and it’s really not that dull small talk to fill the void as Loki expected. Most shocking thing all day, of the year, even, fae might just like this man’s company. 

Turns out this Mobius has an extraordinary interest in watersports, particular jet skis, knows way too many facts about that, too. He’s also a history teacher, and likes pineapple on pizza, which is nearly unforgivable, but he also shows Loki tons of vacation pictures of him on said jetskis, and him with his daughter, and his dog, so fae will look past it.

Pity this is a chance encounter, in… six and a half hours, they’ll be on the ground and fae probably won’t ever see the man with the silver hair and moustache and horrendous flamingo shirt ever again. 

Perhaps it’s for the best.

*

Good news! Loki finally managed to fall asleep again, fae was due for that, only to be awakened once more by shaking and tumbling.

Until now, fae’s been talking more and more with the man next to fae and noticing little things about Mobius which fae doesn’t want to consider too much why fae is noticing or why fae is finding him adorable and attractive and way too funny for his own good. Right.

Is Loki turning into faer brother, right? God forbid.

But the grey haired man’s jokes are good, fae swears. And he’s so goddamn polite and has apologised to fae for the smallest things,  even going to the bathroom , so many times that fae’s lost count. Now, normally, a stranger next to fae being this unable to sit still or be quiet, but… at this point, Loki’s struggling to be mad about anything.

Mobius’ voice, even, is strangely soothing, huh. It goes even softer and almost to the point of a whisper when he talks about his daughter, which may or may not make fae’s heart warm. Just a bit. Listen. Listen.

He just sounds so caring, right?

Besides that, his hands. And eyes. Everything about him just exudes warmth, for some reason. Strangely enough, it makes Loki want to hold the man’s hand. Nuh uh, not happening.

Maybe that’s why fae somehow found it easier to fall asleep again, about halfway through the flight. A sense of safety, somehow. That is, until fae’s now awake once again, the seat feels like it’s moving, most passengers back seated and strapped in, the plastic cup of water on Mobius’ tray table looking awfully disturbed and fragile.

Shit.  This is not good. Not good at all.

Granted this is probably just turbulence, right? Right. Most flight crashes begin with turbulence, though, don’t they? 

Oh god. Why is fae’s companion so fucking calm right now? This is bullshit.

Loki feels like ripping faer seatbelt off and screaming at whoever is responsible for this, but no one is and fae’s legs feel frozen and hands are shaking way,  way  too much.

When the sky turned grey when they were younger, when they were home alone as their mother was in the hospital and their father was… God knows where, Thor used to comfort fae. Loki’s always been scared of lightning. Fae’s older brother loves it, fascinated by it for some stupid reason, but Thor also knows when fae needs him without even saying anything.

His presence alone helped, and he’d only hug fae when fae asked. What the fuck is Loki supposed to do now?

Fae is not about to cry in a damned airplane full of strangers because of turbulence. Absolutely not happening. But fae’s throat is almost closed up, now, Loki can’t do  anything , even if fae wanted to.

It’s sort of like the world’s cracking and swallowing fae up. No, fae doesn’t really give a shit if fae sounds overdramatic right now, because fae’s freaking out, almost to the point of the tears stinging like needles behind Loki’s eyes, and if the tight feeling in faer chest is any indication, this is bad. No. No, no, no.

Thing is, Loki doesn’t quite realise how long the shaking’s been despite the pilot reminding them all to remain calm, or how long fae’s been stuck without being able to breathe, until a hand comes to rest on faer upper arm.

Fae can’t even turn faer head, but notices the touch immediately. Then, a whisper of unintelligible words meets fae, Loki doesn’t understand, so fae swallows thickly and gets a, “I beg your pardon?” out through clenched teeth.

“Is there anything I can do?” The question comes clearer now. Loki frowns, faer hands shaking even more than before.

“What?”

“To help. I know it’s scary,” Mobius says. He sounds eerily calm, but also as a fog of assurance and stability, distracting fae even if it’s just for a second or two.”

Loki sniffs, shakes faer head at faerself, “This is childish.”

“Fear isn’t childish, darling,” the man says, and when fae finally finds some way to look at him, a bearable way through the held in tears and the voice in faer head nagging fae to suck it and not be such a fucking coward, Mobius smiles, “If you want me to leave you alone, I will.”

So Loki considers this. That is, after all, what fae wants about 95% of the time.

However, embarrassingly enough, fae sort of has come to prefer the attention of faer companion. Fae hates him a little bit for it.

“Do you mind if I hold your hand?” Loki asks then, surprising faerself, and Mobius perhaps, but maybe he’s just hiding it. The request for affection sounds strange in faer mouth. “I just need a moment.”

And will you look at that, the grey haired man has already grabbed faer hand before replying. Softly, simply a hand moving down from faer arm and resting on faer knuckles. Loki decides to latch onto his hand, because screw it. Mobius doesn’t remove it.

“Not at all,” he replies.

This is, by all measurements, very uncommon.

Loki’s holding a complete stranger’s hand, a stranger who offered comfort and fae asked for comfort, a stranger who apparently could see past faer gritted teeth and realise just how scared fae was. 

The turbulence feels like it’s never going to end. Mobius doesn’t say anything, or hum anything, or tap his foot like he did before. Just looks at his little screen and suddenly taps his thumb one time on the back of Loki’s hand, and while fae still can’t breathe, fae does nod to the man offering one of his earbuds to him.

The Beatles, typical.

When Loki counts the minutes of each song, it helps. Fae focuses on the strumming of the guitar and the warmth of the man’s hand in his until fae’s own has stopped shaking completely, and not long after the plane stops, too. 

They’ve passed. The glowing seat belt sign is turned off. A two digit number of passengers rush for the bathrooms. The baby four rows down has stopped crying.

Loki sniffs once, breathes out like faer life depends on it, before realising and extracting faer hand from Mobius’. Fae held onto it for way longer than necessary. The grey haired man just smiles again, however, snaps his fingers and offers fae a piece of gum. “You did great.”

Fae accepts. Why does Mobius feel… safe, somehow? They’ve known each other for seven hours now, goddamnit.

Whatever. Maybe fae can catch sleep for the rest of the trip.

But then, fae only now realises what the man next to fae said earlier, or rather, what he called.

Darling . That’s a nickname. A nickname by a divorced dad who enjoys The Beatles and wears printed shirts and is passionate about jet skis and holds Loki’s hand when fae’s nervous. Alright, then.

*

To Loki’s and probably everyone’s surprise, those nine hours have suddenly passed surprisingly fast.

Soon enough, they’re preparing for landing and fae’s not feeling like the world’s crashing down and Mobius is chatting again, which fae doesn’t mind at all anymore. Damn that man.

But here they are, on the ground, and faer companion is grabbing his luggage and gestures for Loki to go first, such a gentleman, and he’s smiling so stupidly all the goddamn time, it’s exhausting. Almost.

In fact, Loki’s caught up with Mobius and his chatting and his gestures and faer own thoughts and smile fae can’t hide until a text pops into faer phone, from Thor. Over half of it is emojis, faer older brother is ridiculous, but fae reassures him fae has safely arrived, now fae just has to get to the hotel.

The rehearsal dinner is early in the morning, so fae better get unpacked.

Brunnhilde sends a group of selfies with Jane, too, because you know, couples. Loki being the only single person in their friend group at this point is in no way surprising, and it’s not like fae was eager to bring a date to the wedding, either.

Except… well.

Fae is tragically still staring at Mobius just a little too long when they pick up their suitcases, the conversation dwelled to a comfortable silence already.

The grey haired man must be talking on the phone with his daughter, if the, “I love you,” is any indicator, then he tells a puns that is just so bad fae can hear her laugh from the speaker. He also freaks out about his lost sunglasses until Loki nicely ( very  nicely) points them out on the top of his head.

Okay. Loki’s about to do the stupidest thing in faer life. Here goes nothing.

“Mobius,” fae says as they exit the airport out into the street, fellow tourists bustling alongside them, “I have an… unusual preposition, if that’s alright. If you’re not in a rush?”

Loki finds the nerves bottling up in faerself, for some reason. Fae picks at faer black nail polish before the man turns back to fae with a raised brow and smile perfectly intact.

“I’m all ears,” he grins. Fae may feel a little like floating.

Fae also takes a deep breath before continuing, “Remember my brother’s wedding tomorrow?” It’s more a rhetorical question, but Mobius nods in certainty.

“Well, Thor- my brother, offered me a plus one, of course,” Loki starts out, trying to word it in a way that doesn’t sound absolutely absurd, “I don’t have one, uh… a date. And well, I was wondering if you’d like to come with me.”

The grey haired man raises both his eyebrows now, seeming deep in thought.

Was that weird? It was weird. Can fae even save this, oh god, “I mean, you’re probably busy. Gosh, my apologies, that was stupid-”

“Loki,” Mobius interrupts, a hand on faer upper arm once again, grin turning even bigger and warmer if not just a tiny bit curious. He adjusts the sunglasses on his nose before continuing, “That was far from stupid, I assure you. I will say I’m probably not a good choice for that.”

Loki almost wants to scream. “What do you mean?”

Faer companion has this habit of laughing at himself. Loki still can’t decide if it’s most endearing or annoying.

“I’m just an old fool,” Mobius tells fae. That’s rather infuriating, definitely false, but fae can’t bring faerself to interrupt, everything about the man just signalling softness and familiarity and like an embrace of some kind that fae hasn’t even experienced, “Can’t imagine why someone as… stunning as yourself would want me around, is all.”

Loki softens faer irrational irritation several degrees. The compliment might even cause a blush to rise in faer cheeks, but you take that to your grave.

Fae likes this Mobius, that’s absolutely certain. An old fool, faer ass. Consider that faer new plan, to get to know faer new companion way more than this. Hopefully soon. Hopefully for more than just this vacation, maybe. One can dream.

“Excuse my bluntness,” Loki answers, already reaching out for the man’s hand the same way he did to fae mere hours ago. This is new, and yet, like coming back home. “But I don’t think I’d want anyone else.”

[a-lonely-tatertot]

Finding Home

A/n: Hey this will be a multi chapter fic with a bunch of different ships and characters in it (expect them to all be gay in some way) this is based off of a set of hcs from @linhamon-roll  as always this was betaed by the lovely @bookwyrminspiration and I am extremely grateful for faer help! (Also if you guys like this enough tell me if you want a tag list for it, @everyonehasthoughts whoops posted this one instead)

Tw: talk of nightmares (if there’s more please tell me)

word count: 2760

Chapter 1: Back to the Beginning

Breathe.

“I’m not going to the upper levels,” the words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them. Wide eyes stared at her from all around the room. She managed to count three breaths before the inevitable outburst.

“What?!” Grady shouted. He’s not angry at you, she reminded herself, just surprised.

“Are you kidding?” Fitz whispered in confusion.

“You have to go to the upper levels. How else do you think you’ll become a part of society?” Alden said in his perfect no-need-to-worry voice that just made her want to smack him more.

“Sweetie I know it’ll be new and it’s normal to be scared-” Edaline started before she cut her off.

“I’m not scared okay? I don’t give a damn about being a part of society, and no I’m not kidding. This is my decision,” Sophie snapped. She was so done with this, with the stares, the names, being “Sophie Foster” and “human-raised”, a “war-hero;” she just wanted to be no one again. Maybe that made her a coward, but that’s who she was.

“Sophie, you’re not making sense,” Alden said, shaking his head, smiling that horrible venom-filled smile that barely contained the storm. Ever since she’d learned what Alden had done to his family she’d hated him almost as much as the Neverseen. Because he and Cassius were the same, but only one paid for it.

“Did I not speak clearly enough for you?” she asked, letting the hatred seep through her words and relished in the surprise on his face. “I am not going to the upper levels. I am not staying here either. Here I’m always going to be Sophie: the Moonlark, the leader of Team Valiant, the war hero. That’ll always be me. Here I’ll be stuck picking up the council’s mess for my entire life and I wanna be a kid still.”

“So what do you plan on doing?” Biana spoke up after a silence.

Breathe. “I’m going to go back to the Forbidden Cities, I’m gonna go back home.”

The uproar came back twice as loud as before. She was hit with hundreds of “no”s and “you can’t”s and the occasional “that’s illegal” but in between it all she locked eyes with Fitz. They didn’t need to be Cognates to understand what the other was thinking. She held his gaze and didn’t back down, this was her decision. Fitz smiled a bit at her stubbornness and nodded slightly. There wasn’t any danger from him, no “You can’t do this!” Nothing that the boy she used to know would do.

He’s different now, Sophie realized, how had she missed it?

Her eyes drifted to Biana who was staring at the middle of the room with a blank expression. It was like she wasn’t there, lost somewhere in an ocean of thought. Finally, she looked up, “It’s your decision Fos-boss.”

A hundred times before those words had been directed at her. When deciding the fate of the world she was always plagued by uncertainty. But for once, it felt right; she was going home. Alden and her parents would say no as many times as they could to make her stay, and Fitz and Biana would try at some point, but one way or another she was leaving. She’d be back eventually, but for a while, she wouldn’t have to be Sophie Foster.

The next night they had gathered everyone. Well, not everyone, just the people she cared about. Della and Livvy stood off to the side and Sophie smiled at their intertwined fingers. Maybe, just maybe they would be fine without her. Keefe stood quietly, his face blank, and it made her rethink everything. But Linh placed a steady hand on her shoulder and she was back. Stay focused, don’t lose it, Sophie told herself sternly.

Grady and Edaline watched her, and she wondered how the house would feel without her. She took a breath and turned to Dex. He, out of all of them, wasn’t quite ready for her to leave.

“I can’t make you stay, can I?” Dex asked. His voice wavered slightly and there were tears in his eyes. There were tears in all their eyes.

Sophie shook her head slowly, “Not this time.” Everything was in place, all she had to do was just leave. That was the hardest part. To make it real.

“C’mon Soph, we did it; it’s over,” his eyes pleaded with her. “Let me come with you.”

They had all tried this. In different manors, in different ways, except for Linh. All she did was wrap her arms tightly around her and squeeze like she would never let go. Some part of her, buried under many many layers of protection, knew that if Linh tried she could make her stay. “That’s the problem Dex,” she had said this so many times before, “We are always going to be fixing things and we’re always going to be fighting, and I am always going to be Sophie Foster the human. I just want to be normal, for a few decades that’s all. I’ll be back soon, just make sure to keep these idiots in check while I’m gone alright? I gotta do this alone.” Her voice caught on the last word as it dawned on her that it might be the last thing she would say to them for a long time.

Dex wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, picking her up slightly. “I’ll miss you dumbass.”

She nodded mutely into his shoulder, “Likewise asshole.” It’s time now. She stepped away, flash drive in hand, because if Dex couldn’t join her he would always help her. And she loved him for that.

She turned away from them. She dug her heels into the dirt and braced herself.

Three. Linh’s hand left her shoulder and she could feel all their eyes on her.

Two. It wasn’t the first time she had done this. It was teleporting. It was in her bones, literally.

One. Dex sucked in a breath in sync with her. The feeling of the tension running through her, becoming her, was intoxicating.

Zero. There’s no looking back now. And she ran. Her feet pounded the ground, her heart seemed to get faster with every stride. Dirt bounced with every thud of her shoes and she was free. And she jumped.

Falling. Floating. Landing.

The stale, polluted, stiff air greeted Sophie on the other side and she had never been more relieved to step into a broken world. Her broken home. From now on, she’d be Amilia Ruewen and that was okay.

“The hell you doing here kid?” an old woman stared her down from behind the counter. She had wrinkles; on her face, on her apron, on her surprisingly steady hands that held an outrageous stack of plates.

“Uh,” Amilia said nervously, “I need a job.”

The woman’s dark eyes narrowed further, “And you came here.” It wasn’t a question.

“That I did,” she muttered, it took every bit of her not to yank out her eyelashes.

With a huff, the woman set down the plates and walked out from behind the counter to march up to her. Amilia swallowed hard as the woman grabbed her hands from her sides. Her stark white hands seemed too pale and clean in the older woman’s dark hands. Amilia felt like she was under a microscope, like this woman could see every bit about her life as she stared at her hands.

“You’ve worked, you’ve fought,” she said quietly, and dragged her eyes up to hers. “If you can clean you’ve got a job.”

Something exploded inside her and couldn’t’ve been happier. But wait, “No cooking?” Amilia called out as the woman went behind the counter again.

She chuckled lightly, “Clean first, then we’ll see. Chop chop, it’s almost time for the rush and these tables still haven’t been washed.”

“I don’t even know your name ma’am!” Amilia realized suddenly.

“You want a name, new girl?” she said. fixing her with another hard stare, “It’s Mari, you’ve got a real name?”

Amilia closed her mouth tightly, “It depends on your definition of real.”

Mari let out a harsh laugh, “Less philosophy more cleaning.”

A smile tugged at her mouth as she caught the wet rag the woman tossed her.

By the end of the day, she had been introduced to the regulars as nothing more than “the new girl”. She had scrubbed the counters over and over and Mari still managed to look unimpressed. Her sweeping skills got corrected and she became more familiar with the crappy sink than she would’ve liked. If you turned the old fashion handle too far right, then the water was basically boiling. If it was too far to the left, you got ice. There was one temperature that was decent and it was not moved from that spot. Amilia had found that out the hard way.

When Mari flipped the paper and probably homemade sign from “open” to “closed”, she flopped down on one of the booths. She was tired and wiped, but it was good because she was happy. She couldn’t have done this in the Lost Cities. And she wouldn’t have done this in San Francisco. Because this was normal, and no one knew her name, and that was the opposite of everything she once was.

“You going home yet kid?” Mari asked from the lightswitch. She hadn’t thought about that, where she’d stay for the night. The booths weren’t optimal but they would work.

“Can I stay here for the night?”

“In these shitty booths? Not happening,” Mari responded, shaking her head lightly. Amilia’s heart fell to her stomach and Mari sighed at her probably pitiful expression, “You really don’t have a place to stay?”

Amilia shook her head. “Fine, come on. You can borrow my couch for the night.”

The night turned into two, to a week, to a month and eventually Mari stopped asking about her family.

“We’ve all got secrets,” she’d say, and Sophie wondered what her secrets were. Mari stopped asking about where she was going too.

“This is a pit stop town,” she said one night while they put away dishes.

“It wasn’t for you.”

“It’s where you find yourself when you’re young and get pulled back into when you’re old and broke.”

“Maybe I’m finding myself,” Amilia said only to get a hum in response.

The words that Mari had said when she first met her came to Amilia often. Could she really tell what she had gone through? Or was it some weird old lady thing she did to freak her out?

There was one night where the nightmares came back worse than ever. She woke with sweat soaking her shirt and barely breathing. There was soft clinking in the kitchen that sounded too much like throwing stars. She remembered how they felt in her hands, drawing her own blood as she cleaned them. The sweet release as they left her hand to make a soft thunk in her target. How the rush it gave Sophie was always followed by a thick sense of dread. Because if it made her excited, how far away was she from the monsters she fought?

“I thought it’d be a rough night,” Mari said leaning on the doorway.

“How did you know?”

“You’ve fought wars, those don’t go away easy. Come, I brought sugar, thought you would need it.”

So she stumbled her way into the kitchen, tired and trying as hard as she could to keep her tears in. Mari had pancakes and shakes and had brought them out to the front porch. The best thing about this place was you could see every star in the sky.

“How could you tell I’ve fought?” Sophie asked. The shake was shockingly cold against her hands and she tried to stop the shiver that ran through her. Mari rocked back quietly like they had all the time in the world to watch the stars move.

“You have the look in your eyes.”

“But you looked at my hands, why?” Somehow, the shake tasted like mallowmelt. The kind that Edaline would make on bad nights before tucking her into bed.

“Because your hands have been everywhere, they can tell stories if you let them.”

She decided not to ask any more questions, every answer would just be more confusing than the last. “And because they look like mine,” Mari finally said quietly.

“Oh.”

Mari didn’t look at her while she talked, “I saw a kid, who looked lost as hell with no immediate future, who had the hands of a fighter and eyes that held secrets. I thought I could do right by her.”

“I think you did,” Sophie said. For real this time, she wasn’t Amilia, she wasn’t trying to be her sister, for this night under the stars, she could be Sophie.

Over the year Amilia sometimes forgot about the demons that haunted her. Her past life- lives. They were not her anymore. Days and hours where nothing other than the simple act of flipping pancakes and washing tables were her only thoughts. The town was small and out of the way. No glittery castles and fancy houses. Only small farms, sketchy strip malls, and home. There was only one hint that she wasn’t human, the small leaping crystal around her neck.

“For emergencies,” Biana had said placing it gently around her neck.

“And when you’re ready to come back home,” Fitz had whispered against the top of Sophie’s head.

So it stayed around Amilia’s neck, night and day; a reminder that she never had and never would belong. But she wanted to; she craved it. And Mari made her feel somewhat normal.

She wanted something human. Something reckless and young, that was the human she wanted. Sitting at her computer at the table in Mari’s old yellow motorhome that had housed her, she found herself looking at colleges. When she was younger “college” was an expectation, perfect grades, perfect words, perfect scores. Sophie didn’t get to decide her future. To put it simply, it was never an option, her years were already filled with other’s ideas. But as Amilia clicked the tab for courses she realized that for once she controlled her next small forever. And in her next small forever she could just maybe belong.

Tables had been washed, the sun had gone down, and she had flipped the frayed sign. She had thought about it all day, the college she chose was far away and she didn’t know how to tell Mari this. The woman had become much closer to her than she thought she would. So as she grabbed her small packed duffle bag and held the door handle she tried to ignore the sharp pain that hit her chest. It only got worse as a soft voice came down the hall.

“Amilia?” Angie, Mari’s “friend”, whispered down the hall.

“Go back to bed, I’m just grabbing some things,” she said, wincing at how well she lied.

“That duffle says otherwise young lady,” Mari appeared seemingly out of thin air. Sophie knew this wasn’t going to end well, the feeling cemented itself as anger flared white hot in her stomach.

“‘Young lady’? Sorry did ‘kid’ just get thrown out the window? What are you now, my mom?” she snapped.

Mari gapped at her for a second, “Oh I’m sorry, right now I guess I’m more of your mom than whoever had you and left you on your own!”

“You don’t know nothing about them!” Sophie shouted. She didn’t mean too and she hated the way Mari flinched. But Sophie had pushed them away and that wasn’t their fault.

“The hell is this all about Amilia? You wanna go, go. Just don’t be a coward and leave without a goodbye.”

The tears fell fast down her face, because it was all too familiar. And she had never wanted to leave Mari like that. But she was angry, and that never ended well. “Fine, you want a goodbye? Goodbye.”

The door slammed hard behind her, and the rain soaked Sophie’s jacket mixing with her tears. It felt like a crappy hallmark movie from the early 2000s, but she was too angry to care; About the rain, about how muddy her shoes were, or how she didn’t really know where she was going.

The next morning she regretted everything. But by then that bridge was ashes in a stormy ocean; there was no going back. She moved forward because she had to.

[if-the-crown-fits-translate-it]

Discord pt 92

[Date: 17/03, 07:42 PM GMT - 17/03, 09:29 PM GMT]

jayyyyyyyy: “fetch, come on, cant you see this isnt doing anything to help?

just take the damn ointment”

Little-K1ng: “he... what?”

Marcus: “I back read a little bit”

Marcus: “Just not here”

fetch: “fine. you want me to be honest huh. go on look at the fucking doc. just another place where my problems turned into everyone else's.”

Little-K1ng: fetch.... you really, really need to stop lying to me. im doing my best here, im trying so hard to let things slide in the name of giving you what you need. but you are far from making it easy on me”

fetch: “we're gonna forget all this happened in 3 days time anyway. it doesn't fucking matter what i tell you or what i dont.”

Little-K1ng: “you get angry when you're stressed, you stop responding, you stop listening to reason

but-.. wait, whats going to happen in 3 days?”

Maxwell: “....prince told us that faer family is coming back in 3 days”

fetch: “the beginning of spring.”

Maxwell: “spring officially begins then”

jayyyyyyyy: “we'll get you guys back, if you somehow go back in the first place”

Little-K1ng: “so.... so i get warning, this time,

thats.... almost too cruel”

fetch: “whatever. i honestly can't be asked to care at this point.”

Marcus: “You’d really say that to Mona of all people?”

Little-K1ng: “i..... i wouldnt ask that of you”

Marcus: “...three days huh”

Little-K1ng: “i would simply fucking EXPECT IT FROM YOU. HOW THE FUCK. AM I MEANT TO FEEL. WHEN I CANT STOP GRIEVING SOMEONE. WHOS RIGHT IN FUCKING FRONT OF ME, FETCH?”

donti (e): “... mona u alright...?”

Marcus: “Is that really a question you’re asking right now?”

donti (e): “ah.. sorry.”

jayyyyyyyy: “honestly at this point im willing to chuck a bucket of weedkiller at fetch's head”

Marcus: “Jeight.”

donti (e): “hey hey lets not get hastyy”

Little-K1ng: “i... [huff] i .... [sniff] i just.. i shouldnt have yelled i....”

Marcus: “This isn’t helping”

fetch: “i... you're expecting too much from me. i mean. you expect me to care at this point? when death is coming to our door and all we can do is throw on a little sprinkler? when all we can do is sit in a huddle and wait until these vines in our skulls fully bloom?”

donti (e): “... we discussed possible solutions to the buds if you.. want to change subject.. or not”

jayyyyyyyy: “fetch, the thing about this is that we have a fighting chance

we lose that chance if you stop fighting”

Little-K1ng: “im expecting you to fucking try, fetch. im expecting you to understand that we're all going through this, and every time you lie to me, to us, you cost us more time we could have spent trying to fix it”

fetch: “how would it help, by piling on more and more to the shitheap we have already? you're not supposed to worry about me. ive always been able to handle myself.”

Maxwell: “please ⌇⏁⍜⌿arguing....why are we arguing.....”

Marcus: “..”

Void: “...”

Little-K1ng: “wh... what did you just...?”

Maxwell: “....what....”

fetch: “...”

Maxwell: “why are...”

Marcus: “Max..”

Maxwell: “why are you staring at me what”

Marcus: “Can you say what you just said again”

Little-K1ng: “that sounded like...”

donti (e): “max...”

Little-K1ng: “say that again, max”

Marcus: “Please”

jayyyyyyyy: “actually maybe dont”

Marcus: “Max say it again”

jayyyyyyyy: “that. i think fighting is causing the process to speed up”

Maxwell: “please stop arguing....why are we arguing.....?”

Little-K1ng: “i... thats not what i heard”

donti (e): “... lets stop arguing”

Marcus: “That’s..that’s what I thought you said

You just

Didn’t say it like that”

Maxwell: “but i did”

fetch: “...yall still think I need to be priority right now?”

Maxwell: “thats what i said”

jayyyyyyyy: “you, uh, said "stop" in enderspeak”

Maxwell: “what no i didnt”

Marcus: “Fetch. This is going to be you so kindly shut the fuck up about not being a priority”

Little-K1ng: “fetch, you fail to recognize that you're always my priority, even if you're kind of an ass”

Marcus: “Max it’s okay

I told you it would be okay”

Little-K1ng: “max, hug?”

Maxwell: “why....why are you all acting so weird?”

Little-K1ng: “its alright, max”

jayyyyyyyy: “we're all just stressed mate”

Maxwell: “are yall okay?”

donti (e): “weere fine its fine..”

Maxwell: “its?

look im not a child you can tell me whats going on”

Marcus: “We told you”

fetch: “you spoke in ender.”

Marcus: “You denied it”

donti (e): “you spoke ender.”

Maxwell: “you....youre kidding right?”

jayyyyyyyy: “nope”

Maxwell: “ha funny joke”

jayyyyyyyy: “we're not joking”

fetch: “for once im not lying.”

Marcus: “You told us to tell you.

We told you.”

Little-K1ng: “here, come in for a hug, wont you?”

Maxwell: “no no no no no”

Little-K1ng: “ive got you, max”

Maxwell: “i couldnt have no”

jayyyyyyyy: “hold on, hes panicking”

Little-K1ng: “its the stress, max

its alright, im here”

jayyyyyyyy: “mona, give him a little space”

Maxwell: “no no no stay please”

jayyyyyyyy: “i never said for anyone to leave

are you okay with being given hugs, or would you rather not?”

Maxwell: “im okay with it”

LLyr: “they’ve kind of established max likes the contact at this point i think”

jayyyyyyyy: “yeah, but you can never be too careful”

LLyr: “fair enough”

Little-K1ng: “i appreciate the concern for max, jayx8″

fetch: “I. i would offer a hug but I'm not feeling up to it. i think I'm just gonna go for a walk.”

jayyyyyyyy: “its

Little-K1ng: “fetch...”

jayyyyyyyy: “​hm”

Maxwell: “i dont wanna go back no no please no”

Little-K1ng: “i would rather you not go out where the court roams

you got in one good bite, let it be enough”

fetch: “i'll stick nearby.

i just need to get out of the house.”

Little-K1ng: “stay where you can see the road, alright? text me if you need a pickup”

jayyyyyyyy: “stay near the neighborhood. go to the mineshaft if you need to”

fetch: “yeah. got it. later.”

Maxwell: “I'm scared”

donti (e): “...”

Little-K1ng: “oh, max...”

Maxwell: “oh no oh god oh merde”

donti (e): “sh shsshshh max its fine.

calm down its alright.”

Little-K1ng: “tell you what, we can destress with some hot cocoa? with the tiny colorful marshmallows you like?”

Marcus: “I can go make it

I don’t think max wants to be alone right now”

jayyyyyyyy: “maybe watch some movies? ones that uh, dont have kidnapping in them, too. moana would be good?”

Little-K1ng: “i dont actually.. own any movies

i dont watch them”

donti (e): “youtube videos ?”

Little-K1ng: “that works”

[They watch a video of an otter for a while, and discuss the events from earlier this day. Max thinks that the wreathe mayn’t be as bad as everyone thinks it’ll be, as it will have calendula marigolds which are good for helping to heal.]

Little-K1ng: “....ah.. they are, but maybe..... nah, nevermind.... ill let you enjoy the thought”

Maxwell: “they may be fully metal but still...maybe then can help the family....”

Marcus: “...”

Little-K1ng: “.........”

Maxwell: “what?”

Marcus: “..yeah max, that’s a nice thought”

Maxwell: “i thought so too!”

Little-K1ng: “i cant believe.... im staring down the barrel of either losing all 3 of you... or going with you and not remembering any of this... that hurts, and it hasnt even happened yet”

Marcus: “Well

I don’t know if this will comfort you or not

But you might not entirely forget this”

Little-K1ng: “true! this is honestly the happiest thing to happen to me in an incredibly long time, there is a chance itll stick”

Marcus: “Baron and Prince remember their childhoods a little bit”

Maxwell: “stick...sticky...ha honey is sticky but not good

tastes yucky”

Marcus: “...I remembered Elizabeth and I learning codes

....max?”

Maxwell: “hm?

something wrong?”

Marcus: “What was that about honey just now?”

Maxwell: “oh!

well mona said stick

and stick is one letter off from sticky!

and hony is really sticky

but i dont like honey”

Marcus: “...got it

Maxwell: “bleh”

Marcus: “Okay yeah that

That makes sense”

Maxwell: “yeah!”

Little-K1ng: “i wish i hadnt snapped at fetch like that... maybe when he comes back i can give him a proper apology”

Maxwell: “hm perhaps that would be good

family should get along”

[this message was deleted shortly afterwards]

Marcus: “....”

Little-K1ng: “i...?”

Maxwell: “what?”

Marcus: “M..ax?”

Little-K1ng: “max?”

Maxwell: “god damn it did i speak fucking ender again or some shit???”

Marcus: “N..no”

Little-K1ng: “n..no.....”

Maxwell: “the fuck happened then? yall look freaked out”

Marcus: “Um”

Little-K1ng: “nevermind! :)!!”

Maxwell: “hm.....if youre sure...”

Marcus: “I must be tired, it’s fine Max! :)”

Maxwell: “youve been sleeping a lot man you sure?”

Marcus: “Yeah, gotta be tired to sleep a lot right”

Maxwell: “I guess”

Little-K1ng: “are you guys...... hungry?”

[The conversation switches to the topic of making brownies and other baked goods. There was also small talk about methods of removing the growing wreathe buds that had been suggested earlier in the day. Mona suggests cutting one of the buds off, if Max could handle it. Jack and Marcus argue over their priorities: their concern for Max and their family respectively. After snipping off a small part of the buds, the following conversation ensures:]

Marcus: “...he’s not bleeding”

donti (e): “can you guys take a look at what mona cut off?”

emuhlee: “well, that part is good?”

Maxwell: “theres some time of fucking liquid ow”

Marcus: “It looks like that...cellulose that comes out of dandelions”

Little-K1ng: “Hhhhhhhhh”

Marcus: “Mona?

donti (e): “is max alright??”

Marcus: “Uh..in pain?”

dreaming: “uh get a towel?”

Marcus: “It’s not a lot”

Maxwell: “that really hurt jesus fucking christ”

Marcus: “Have you never picked a dandelion?

It’s like that”

Little-K1ng: “That's kinda. Gross”

Jack the Observer: “it's not blood though, right?”

Maxwell: “my headache is much worse....”

Little-K1ng: “No not blood”

Marcus: “It’s..

Huh”

donti (e): “blood substitute?”

Marcus: “It stopped”

Jack the Observer: “huh.”

Marcus: “......”

donti (e): “hey what happened to the bud”

Marcus: “Mona

Mona look”

Marcus: “Mona there’s two more”

Maxwell: “God damn it is this fucking Hercules or some shit”

Jack the Observer: “pft”

donti (e): “well.

we can at least look at the bud that was cut off.”

Marcus: “It’s just sitting there”

[The conclusion from this experiment was that the buds have nerve endings, which is why it hurt Maxwell and worsened his headache when it was cut, even after being numbed with ice prior to cutting. People ask about Fetch’s whereabouts. This was his last known update to the document:]

[With this information, people begin to speculate that Fetch might not be back for a while…]

[transtrendhumanity]

well it has now been closer to three weeks since roll call but uh, here it is.

your host today is cilla, i think casey is going to follow me around and say hello to everyone.

echo gives us a sleepy greeting in the main house, and tells casey to behave themself.  casey says she will, and then gives me an exaggerated wink. amelia and floret are sitting close together on the couch, drinking tea. it seems like rayn’s aquarium is finally done! it seems to be sleeping right now, but it’s nice that it can be indoors. perien is standing against the wall by vex’s door. there’s room for kyr to sit on the couch but amelia and floret are giving off such a coupley vibe i guess kye feels awkward about getting in their space. gabbi is preparing tea in the kitchen.

nitexx seems to be charging in zir back room.

vex, for once, is asleep at eir desk. jace motions at me to shush when i open the door. i try to move quietly past eir to visit venic and vaccine.

venic is still sprawled dramatically on the couch, muttering sinisterly. vaccine is standing on the other side of the table, staring at kyr harshly. they nod to me in greeting, but their expression doesn’t change. i nod back and flee the room.

heading upstairs... remm seems to also be asleep, gentle dim lighting coming out from behind vir cracked open door. haze glares and mutters at me when i check on er room. e looks a bit different from usual but i don’t really want to think too hard about the implications of it.

riley and nessie are sort of piled onto the bed, but they seem to be dissociating moreso than sleeping. i think they’re bored of fire emblem but callon is on a quest to beat them all (or at least all the popular ones) so, sorry guys.

out into the cold. it’s not nearly as cold in headspace as it is irl, sort of a crisp november feeling, despite the snow on the ground. i can see my breath. casey pulls their borrowed jacket closed.

we head up to the treehouse. yacinthe greets us warmly, and cer and casey hug. i guess they’ve been hanging out here a fair bit while we weren’t paying attention. they hug vite too, and then try to hug nero, but get shoved away. kei is farther away, so they only get an enthusiastic wave. one of the boys challenges casey to a round of mario kart, and they take them up on it. the four of them sit down to play while kei watches. kitt is also half-watching, but mostly dozing. e seems peaceful.

i hop out of the treehouse, and find tyto waiting for me. ey offers to escort me to skye’s cabin, and i gratefully accept. eir owl form is still mostly shadows, even with eir paler appearance as of late.

skye seems a bit surprised to see me. aloe hides in faer hair. i apologize for being so late, and fae tells me not to worry about it, would i like a mint leaf to munch on? i decline politely. tyto offers me a lift to corian’s cabin.

ey drops me through the window into the loft, instead of taking me to the front door. ethan is flipping through some magazines, but seems very tired. i tell them that i’m sure they’d be allowed to sleep in nika’s room, if they’re so inclined.

i head downstairs. corian smiles at me, and as usual, offers some tea. i decline. today is just a short visit, and we’re already munching on cookies. elster is here today, nine draped around hir shoulders. ze complains that ze had thought hir setting to be quite original, but the nohrian capital is actually quite similar to it. i jokingly ask if ze might end up kinning someone from there, and ze groans at me.

kestrel walks in, looking very dignified. ae has adopted the kinshi rider halo, with some degree of smugness. ae says our recent success in the game is thanks largely to aer and ailecent’s efforts, but i am not so sure about it. it seems like it’s mainly been callon, to me. although then again, it’s always a struggle to tell when kestrel is cofronting. ae huffs at my skepticism. ailecent seems to be on the roof. despite aer icy appearance, the snow around aer has melted from just aer body heat, leaving the roof mostly cleared. thick icicles hang from the eves.

i feel for a moment that i sense the presence of someone else, but the feeling passes quickly.

nika is out by the pond, sitting on the bench and looking pensive. i take a moment to ask if sie’s ok. sie smiles at me, a smile that doesn’t reach sier eyes, and says sie’s fine. i don’t press it.

azdien’s mansion is the last major stop on our tour. i’m a bit nervous to go inside. as i expected, as soon as i set foot in the lobby, azdien is waiting for me, and has some stern words to spare. i apologize, but we both know i’m not backing down. vae’s not pleased about it, but returns to vaer reading room nonetheless. tobias peers at me from the hallway. darion is sitting in the dining room, as usual, but looks somewhat concerned, or even sad, about azdien’s mood. drohen, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying it. jody doesn’t seem to be affected either way, and shares some gossip with micah, who is still in snake form, but out of their room. seeing a snake sitting calmly at the fancy dining table is a bit funny, tbh. trysten is in sier room, in bed. it’s hard to tell if sie’s sleeping or just sulking.

aren is also in his room, but he’s hard at work on some sort of tech project, as is usually the case. vyrn is sleeping in a cabinet in azdien’s kitchen, and honestly seems more comfortable there than in xyr own room, despite xyr wings not fitting very well. kisoquine is standing nearby, seeming a bit confused as to why vyrn isn’t up for hanging out with xyr. xyr levels of detachment from humanoid norms are astounding sometimes.

raliel is still out by the cliffs. it’s a little bit stormy out here, cold rain falling. wav doesn’t seem to mind. wav doesn’t acknowledge my presence, either.

gail is prowling the woods nearby.

the tall ship is back in headspace waters, but i can’t reach it to tell if it’s inhabited or not. i wouldn’t be surprised if cyrren was back, but if ae is, ae doesn’t want to admit it.

our connection to ooze ocean today is very limited.

i realize at the last minute that i didn’t notice kayden around. before i can grow concerned about it, vite tells me that he’s up in the treehouse with them. kayden huffs about being left out, but doesn’t put much heart into it.

callon is tapping eir foot impatiently, ready to get back to fire emblems.

[babysizedfics]

half regressed vee putting her pullup on backwards

one day vee and patton were pretty much alone for the day - roman was out and logan was working in the dining room with janus

and vee started to regress, but only half. when fae is half regressed, fae still has accidents but is a little too self conscious to let papa change faer into a diaper, so usually fae is either old enough to put on a pullup faerself or fae lets papa help to put it on

this time she insisted she was big enough to do it herself and so she went into her room and patton waited outside for her

when vee came out of faer room , fae was very smiley and proud that fae put on a pullup all by faerself and skipped over to papa and tugged on his hand teling him they can go and play now!

but because in the past vee has forgotten that she went to her room to put one on or didnt pull it up all the way or something, patton knows from experience he needs to check that she did it right otherwise there might be an upsetting accident later

so he chuckled "not so fast sweetie" and pulled vee in to stand in front of him "can you let papa check your pullup please?"

vee instantly blushed and gave a little whine because fae's impatient when fae is half little and wants to play with papa shhshshs but fae stepped forward into papas open arms and buried faer head against his chest and hugged him tight - thats how fae lets him check faer pullup

"good girl," patton praised, and stroked vees hair soothingly with one hand while he just dipped his fingers into her waistband and pulled the hem of the pullup up a bit to see, then--

"b-haha-baby," patton giggled in disbelief. he shuffled vee closer to him in the hug and tugged faer waistband down faer butt a little to confirm - yes, vee somehow put faer pullup on inside out and back to front

vee whined and wriggled in pattons arms "papaaa"

patton just chuckled more and put her waistband back and squeezes her gently. "how did you manage that, huh?" he giggled, swaying vee a little to comfort her if she was embarrassed

fae squeaked and was a litte blushy, patton could see from faer face that peeked from his chest. he smiled and kissed faer head and whispered "okay, angel. i think you're littler than you thought, hm?"

vee wiggled and hummed and patton felt his heart squeeze

"papa's gonna change you properly now, okay sweetie?"

he felt her nod so he guided both of them into the bedroom again - he got vee talking about sanrio (her special interest) to help distract her while he pulled her pyjama pants and pullup down and fixed it and put it back on her, this time the right way

so he pulled the pullup up nice and snug and smiled and stood up "all done baby!" then he gave a tiny pat pat on the back of the pullup because hes a papa and he cant resist shhshs and it rustled quietly

vee blushed and immediately crashed into faer papas chest again, hiding faer pink cheeks - the little crinkles made faer feel tiny and cute!

patton smiled "uh oh have we got a tiny little baby?" he teased gently

"m-mu uh" vee mumbled then put her thumb up to her lips and pulled back from papas chest to look up at him with wide eyes. "m bib!" she babbled and smiled around her thumb

"ohh, youre big are you?" patton asked and booped vees nose softly

fae giggled and bounced a little on faer heels. "mhm m bib an-and mow papa come pway!" fae cried in excitement and instantly started toddling towards the bedroom door

patton laughed and quickly caught vee around her waist. he lifted her and spun her around so that patton was now between her and the door. "yes baby, papas going to play with you," he agreed, then shook his head in amusement and asked with a gigglish bounce to his voice "but do we want to get you some pants or a skirt first? or was my baby planning to walk around in just a pullup all day?"

to punctuate his point, patton scribbled a finger lightly on the back of the pullup to make it crinkle again, and vees eyes flew down as if fae was surprised by the sound

apparently she had forgotten she was only wearing a tshirt and pullup. she blushed seeing herself in just the pullup then looked back at papa with a babyish giggle "umm, thkirt!"

patton nodded with an affectionate smile. "skirt it is! come on babygirl, lets pick a pretty skirt for the pretty little princess" and he kissed her head and lifted her onto his hip to go to her wardrobe

[if-the-crown-fits-translate-it]

Discord pt 98

[Date: 19/03, 06:01 AM GMT - 19/03, 06:50 AM GMT]

[CW for unethical floral experimentation, injury mention]

kateza affectionate: “mona, don't be so hard on yourself, ok?”

Maxwell: “....i....think we should tell her about the other stuff

mona”

Little-K1ng: “............theres more????”

Marcus: “.........heh”

Little-K1ng: “uh. heh?”

Maxwell: “I saw syds observation post from yesterday...it had a scrrenshot of something I said, and jack and them told me thats what you didnt want me seeing yesterday....”

Marcus: “Oh that

....yeah”

Little-K1ng: “O_O

uh..........................................................”

Marcus: “...that’s kind of what the argument was about”

Little-K1ng: “,,,,,,,,,,,,um

oh fuck. i

max...”

Maxwell: “im not upset”

Little-K1ng: “i just...”

Maxwell: “i took some time”

Little-K1ng: “you're... not?”

Maxwell: “and i get why you did it

yeah

but”

kateza affectionate: “you're in an unprecedented situation. a situation that keeps getting worse and worse with seemingly no reprieve. I don't blame you for slipping up here and there- there's so much stress involved that it's almost expected for you to be upset. i don't think anyone blames you for doing these things. that's all i wanted to say.”

Maxwell: “its gotten worse

baroness has images of more times where i've slipped up

at least twice during my argument with her”

Little-K1ng: “oh christ”

Maxwell: “and then I switched back to ender for certain words....”

Little-K1ng: “i.....”

Maxwell: “and....i sent prince an ask on faer blog....”

Little-K1ng: “you... did?”

Maxwell: “saying i was sorry for upsetting faem and i hoped i could see faem again soon”

Little-K1ng: “oh no oh no

oh max....”

Maxwell: “fae said "see you soon, page"”

Marcus: “...max signed the ask as page as well”

Maxwell: “no no

the was the second one”

Marcus: “..there was one before??”

Maxwell: “after he answered the first one i closed my eyes to breath”

Little-K1ng: “how can i be getting worse so much faster....”

Marcus: “.....I don’t...remember”

Little-K1ng: “unless...”

Marcus: “...huh”

Little-K1ng: “oh fucking christ no non on ono nonon ono nonono.....”

Maxwell: “and when I opened them like three minutes had passed and I had sent an ask as page apparently”

Little-K1ng: “did..... did crown do something? did he get in? did he get in when i left the door open??? and make it worse???????”

Marcus: “...I don’t

...max i don’t remember you sending an ask

Only page”

Little-K1ng: “is it my fault? did... did i do that? did i really.... i..... left you vulnerable....... i....”

Maxwell: “no it isnt your fault”

Little-K1ng: “i just....... this doesnt.... this doesnt hurt me nearly as much as it should.... im not... im still not upset..?”

Marcus: “Mona, Crown didn’t come in...I would’ve seen him. It’s not your fault”

kateza affectionate: “this isn't your fault mona

you're probably emotionally tired”

Little-K1ng: “but i just... i still just feel empty about it. i feel fully justified about this and i know i fucked up but im not hurt”

Raeva: “oh...”

Maxwell: “uh....I have marigold tea if you want some”

Little-K1ng: “i cant even fucking apologize right”

Marcus: “You didn’t mess up

...max what”

kateza affectionate: “you're emotionally burnt out, Mona. This is a bad situation”

Little-K1ng: “wh. where did you get marigolds?”

Maxwell: “oH

uH”

Marcus: “max”

Little-K1ng: “....;max????”

Maxwell: “hm.....well....

Little-K1ng: “max i dont have any tea except dandelion root

you're 16 you dont have money or a car

where the fuck,????”

Maxwell: “fetch was hurt....and i wanted to make sure I could help him tomorrow if he came back home tomorrow”

Marcus: “.....arent the flowers on your laurel...”

Maxwell: “.....”

Marcus: “max you didnt”

Little-K1ng: “mAaAaAaX??!!!!

what the HELL”

Marcus: “Don’t yell at him!”

Little-K1ng: “ahhhhh??????????????

im ??? not yelling on purpose im just????????

what the hell ??????”

Maxwell: “i wanted to help and it works?!”

Marcus: “you tested it???”

Maxwell: “yes”

Little-K1ng: “thats such a silly idea max of course it worked??? magic is like that sometimes??? but why would you have even thought about it ?????????”

Marcus: “max”

Maxwell: “i...”

Little-K1ng: “thats so silly how did it taste wh”

Maxwell: “i knew marigolds have the ability to help heal wounds...they can help speed up the process sometimes by a couple of days”

Marcus: “Are you okay??”

Maxwell: “they can help with blood flow”

Marcus: “Which ones did you cut off? Did you only cut one?”

Little-K1ng: “are you???? ok max first of all. heavy metal poisoning speedrunning. nice one. but also. dude cmon they double when you do that”

Maxwell: “and can sometimes even be used to treat infections...

i only cut one but it workss”

Little-K1ng: “one flower for how much ??”

Marcus: “...”

Little-K1ng: “like. did the water change color? bubble strangely? make fucked up ender noises at you??”

Maxwell: “i got a scrape on my arm when I was pacing outside waiting for fetch and I dipped a paper towel in it and put it on the wound”

Little-K1ng: “god maybe i am emotionally exhausted”

Maxwell: “it almost fully closed instantly”

Marcus: “...I kinda hope it made ender noises that would be funny”

[Maxwell: “it almost fully closed instantly”]

Little-K1ng: “hUH”

Maxwell: “it healed the wound faster than normal

not completely but enough”

Little-K1ng: “oh you better hope you dont do that too much and find out once your laurel wilts the wounds just open wtf”

Marcus: “I don’t think normal marigolds do that”

Little-K1ng: “thats like. supremely fucked dude??? thats weird.”

Maxwell: “.....”

Marcus: “...interesting”

Little-K1ng: “if you only used one did you??? just use the one i cut?”

Maxwell: “i wanted to help fetch

no the...one you cut was a bud

i needed one with petals that was bloomed...”

Marcus: “Y’know Max, I don’t think anyone else would’ve tried that”

Maxwell: “also the bud hasnt wilted despite being cut off a day ago...

but yeah i needed petals”

Marcus: “....”

Maxwell: “i tried to take em off when it was on my head but it felt like I was pulling out my hair so i stopped and just....”

Little-K1ng: “no, i understand the need. i get it. i want to help fetch too and honestly? i would have done the same”

Maxwell: “took a whole one”

Marcus: “...are you okay?

How did that not wake me up”

Little-K1ng: “im. i just. i feel so screwed up about this whole thing.”

Maxwell: “i didnt yell”

Marcus: “...”

Maxwell: “i numbed it with ice and grabbed the scissors

fetch wasnt happy when i told him”

Little-K1ng: “well of course not”

Maxwell: “jack saw it as an experiment”

Marcus: “...you talked to fetch?

Like directly?”

Little-K1ng: “you told him???”

Maxwell: “no he was messaging her”

Little-K1ng: “i dont even tell him when i hide a pill in some cheese for him

wait dont tell him that i said that”

Marcus: “I thought he just gave an update and that’s how you knew about stuff”

Maxwell: “to let us know he wouldnt be home tonight

yeah and i said i knew a way to help heal him”

Marcus: “...”

Maxwell: “he...knew i was gonna do something I shouldnt have

theres still quite a bit left”

Marcus: “....i can see why he would think that”

Maxwell: “it's in a bowl....

....you can use some if you need it”

Little-K1ng: “...........ok. would it be weird. if i drank it

like a little bit

maybe itll?? pick up my mood or something”

Marcus: “What if it cures your migraines”

Maxwell: “i dont know if it works for moods”

Little-K1ng: “god i WISH”

Maxwell: “uh give me a sec”

[Marcus: “What if it cures your migraines”]

Little-K1ng: “MARCUS IF IT DOES THAT IM GIVING YOU TWO THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE”

Maxwell: “you could try but as far as i remember it wont work

it works for wounds and inflammatory stuff”

Little-K1ng: “damn”

Marcus: “Why would you give it to me-”

Little-K1ng: “yeah ill be honest i maybe do not want the weird rat juice . at least not right now”

Maxwell: “its...flower

i put the petals in a pot and boiled em”

Little-K1ng: “Brain Flower of the Rat is not exactly the most appealing tea flavor, max. with all due respect”

Maxwell: “then i strained them”

Marcus: “Juice of Brain Flower of the Rat then”

Maxwell: “actually tastes slightly like normal water...

if anything slightly sweet

jack said it might taste like rose water”

[Marcus: “Juice of Brain Flower of the Rat then”]

Little-K1ng: “sick new lacroix flavor”

[Maxwell: “jack said it might taste like rose water”]

Little-K1ng: “.....rose water?”

Maxwell: “yeah you boil the roses then strain em into a bowl

like i did with the marigolds”

Little-K1ng: “i like rose water... :/ guess maybe i do want the fucked up rat brain plant water”

Maxwell: “you could try some its not like I cant make more”

Little-K1ng: “....hm !!! dont like that

do not make more rat water”

Maxwell: “....”

Little-K1ng: “i will try some but do not make more”

Marcus: “...please stop calling it rat water?”

Little-K1ng: “marcus?? do you want to try some (Patent Pending) Maxwell Ratatouille's Funky Fresh Brain Tea™️?”

Maxwell: “....

im too tired for this shit”

Little-K1ng: “im coping max.”

Marcus: “....”

Maxwell: “ fair”

Marcus: “I don’t have any injuries?”

Maxwell: “im.....i might go to sleep soon....

who?”

Marcus: “Who?”

Little-K1ng: “we dont have injuries

basically

okay so uh?? bottoms up i guess”

sip sip

sip

Marcus: “..oh wait

My elbow?

Does it work on old injuries?”

Little-K1ng: “uh. hm

it tastes good?”

Maxwell: “oh yeah its burned! it wont get rid of the injury but it might help with any lingering pain?”

Little-K1ng: “it tastes nice actually, the rose water thing was actually accurate

........................................huh

wtf”

kateza affectionate: “I’m gonna head to bed. Stay safe y’all. Much love /p”

Little-K1ng: “gn Kate !

uh

hm. okay”

Maxwell: “hm?”

Marcus: “What Mona?”

Little-K1ng: “so. i may have forgotten to mention out loud to yall but i have some pretty bad joint pain

like, typically, its a mid level pain all the time

and its jsut? less

less pain

thats nice”

Maxwell: “told ya it works!”

Little-K1ng: “it.... does !

dont make more though

ill enjoy this for as long as it lasts but for gods sake max dont pick the laurel for tea”

Marcus: “Please don’t make more rat juice max”

Little-K1ng: “gonna do a rat juice high five marcus

try it??”

Marcus: “I’ll..try just applying it to my elbow”

Little-K1ng: “something something dab joke”

Marcus: “Man you really are tired huh?

Little-K1ng: “i am so tired

work was hard

and i came home, expecting like, the remnants of a fight”

Marcus: “Okay- oh”

Little-K1ng: “only to realize that like, just about every problem for the last 2 days are probably entirely my fault”

Marcus: “Mona”

Little-K1ng: “and i dont actually have it in me to think i actually did anything wrong and i keep getting angry and snapping at people who dont deserve it”

Marcus: “Mona it’s fine

I promise”

Little-K1ng: “<:(”

Maxwell: “you okay marcus”

Little-K1ng: “^this is an incredibly forced frown. again, i dont feel bad”

Maxwell: “the water didnt hurt you right?”

Marcus: “Huh?

Oh

No it’s quite soothing actually”

Little-K1ng: “yeah weird right ??”

Marcus: “A bit”

Little-K1ng: “i WILL physically fight you max if you try to make more though

i will get mad. dont”

Maxwell: “....sorry”

Little-K1ng: “i mean dont be sorry for trying it, that was a good idea

but you've done it once, thats enough”

Marcus: “Please don’t make more max”

Little-K1ng: “for safety reasons”

Marcus: “Yeah”

Little-K1ng: “i dont know how easily those stems get infected

and with how deep they run i really dont want you to find out

i already endangered you all this far, please dont help me do that

guys... you both look so tired”

Maxwell: “you wont endagenr us its fein”

Little-K1ng: “maybe you should go to bed”

Maxwell: “im fien”

Little-K1ng: “sounds like it ,':)

head to the tulips, dormouse :)!”

Maxwell: “fuckign what”

Maxwell: “awwwww i love emas”

Little-K1ng: “do you guys want to sleep in the living room? my bed is pretty huge”

Maxwell: “oh iv emafe a neast on the fllor”

Little-K1ng: “oh perfect, and it looks like marcus is already asleep :) thats okay!! goodnight you guys”

Maxwell: “nihgtn”

[transtrendhumanity]

it’s time again for system roll call. kind of overdue, yet again. i think that at front we have nika (regretting our snack), kayden (excited about pokemon characters), and callon (focused on pokemon gameplay).

we’ll start in nika’s loft at corian’s cabin. sier and ethan have been pouring over wedding magazines for the past several weeks. i think ethan is the one in charge of budgeting, both for that and in general, while nika has more of the aesthetic vision for the whole thing.

downstairs, corian and nine are relaxing with some tea. i think they’ve been gossiping. tyto is still curled up on the couch in the basement. ey seems to be calmer now, sleeping. kestrel and ailecent are in kestrel’s cavern, and they both seem to be feeling quite intense about their uh. counterparts? obsessions? we’ve been wanting to let ailecent talk to some canonmates, but ae’s... a lot. the idea of it seems to have woken aer up quite a bit though.

skye is lingering at the door. fae no longer feels like tyto needs faer full-time care, but fae’s still hesitant to leave. we’ve shifted back to a full callon front, so we leave nika in the loft and.. wait is trysten up there too? i think sie is. as much as trysten and nika get along on a personal level, their aesthetics are pretty different. but trysten seems content to take a back seat wrt wedding planning. sie teases ethan a bit, and ethan responds very seriously. sie seems to be getting a kick out of it.

i head on to the treehouse. kayden is curled up with kei in their beanbag chair in the corner. i think they’re sharing thirst secrets lmao. nero seems both disgusted and curious. he’s playing mario kart with vite, but losing since he’s distracted. yacinthe is sorting cer deck. ce’s lost to vite a good few times recently, and even nero, who’s new to the game. ce’s not exactly losing confidence, but i think we will have to get better with cer deck. kitt is still keeping watch over the lot of them from the couch.

the idea of heading to the main house or azdien’s mansion are equally unsettling. i’ve been feeling distant from the system as a whole, now that we have fewer people to talk to about it and more time to spend as a functional singlet. but vex’s rooms at least are a place i can handle, so i head in that direction.

venic and vaccine are playing chess in the back room. i think they were the last time i checked too. they seem very focused on their game. when i walk into the study, vex aggressively ignores me in favour of whatever artistic endeavor ey’s working on currently, while jace eagerly approaches me to talk about what they’ve been getting up to. they’re excited about our upcoming scrapbooking look book, even though we don’t have anything close to the supplies we’ll need for their page. vex reluctantly admits that that’s what ey’s been thinking about as well.

with some anxiety, i open the door to the living room. amelia looks very tired, and is drinking a tea that smells kind of bitter even from here. floret is sleeping with cir head in mer lap. gabbi watches them quietly from the kitchen, ready to supply any physical nourishment that might help.

nitexx seems more awake than usual, doing zir makeup in preparations to visit kayden and discuss his robot future with him. his being so awake recently is good for all of us, i think.

echo is sleeping on her chair. i almost didn’t notice her. cilla is curled up on the floor nearby, in her small form.

upstairs, nessie and riley are quieter than usual. maybe even sleeping? i’m not sure i’ve seen nessie asleep outside periods of widespread inactivity actually. i don’t want to disturb them, so i don’t open the door. raliel, also in the hallway, surprises me by mentioning, quietly, that my decision not to open the door was a good one.

haze is awake and brooding in er room. e seems to be having some kind of a kinfeel, but like before, it’s hard to tell whether it will fully bloom. i kind of hope it doesn’t.

remm’s door is also closed, the lights spilling out from under the door not as bright as usual. ve must be sleeping as well. that’s something of a relief. we have been wondering lately whether nessie’s increased activity will render remm obsolete, and ve’ll move on to greener pastures. but there are still some differences between them. i think it’s more likely that things will continue as they have been: nessie in charge of deserved spite and pettiness while remm rests, and remm still being there for more intrusive and aggressive thoughts.

today, possibly because it’s raining outside, there is an indoor skywalk connecting the main house to azdien’s mansion. i catch a rare glimpse of the second floor: a long hallway with empty rooms lining it, none of the doors fully closed or fully open. a washroom in granite and glass with brass fixtures rests at the end of the hallway, reflecting azdien’s opulent taste more than the simplicity of the rest of the hallway does.

i descend the staircase, careful for kisoquine. xe isn’t draped across the staircase today, thankfully, but xe is sprawled awkwardly at it’s base. vyrn sits nearby. they’re talking about pitou, i think. it’s been some time since kisoquine has engaged in real conversation. i’m somewhat glad for it.

i don’t wander into the basement, but i can catch a visual of vyrn’s room, though it’s empty for now. though the rest of the basement is a simple hallway and includes no pitfall, it is uncomfortably reminiscent of ailecent’s darkest year.

i step into the dining room. drohen, as usual, is serving coffee. azdien is at the table today, which i haven’t seen in quite some time. tobias, pouting dramatically, is seated beside vaer. he seems to have been taken in as azdien’s son, moreso than the other residents of the mansion. it’s an interesting sense of family, but it seems to work well for them, despite the complications of their canon families. azdien is chatting with darion, relaxed fatherly gossip. jody sits across the table, only half paying attention. i think they miss trysten.

in the back hallway, micah’s door is just barely cracked open, and for once, they don’t try to beckon me over as i pass. maybe they’re sleeping as well, although somehow, i doubt it. the rest of the bedroom doors are closed.

i pass into the library. elster has made hirself very comfortable in one of the reading nooks, which resembles an art nouveau greenhouse more and more every day. there are even a couple hanging plants now. there’s a fancy tea set on the table in front of hir, doubtless supplies by drohen. ze’s reading, but i can’t decipher what. ze is almost radiating smugness about hir renovations to azdien’s mansion.

when i exit the mansion, tyto’s shadow offers me a lift to the top of the mountain, though ey seems to still be asleep personally. arriving at skye’s cabin, i look around, but i can’t get any sense of where gail is. it isn’t in its lean-to. i think it might be prowling the woods, but it’s hard to tell.

i decide not to peep in on aloe for long. ae seems to be resting, and i hope ae will be able to continue resting until our surgery is over. aer reactions to it are something we’re all concerned about.

in the distance, even ooze ocean seems peaceful.