#i mean we’re very different let’s get that straight. i just grew up fat and undiagnosed in an immigrant household. bastard child. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

saturnwritings · 4 years ago

Text

freeze your brain

—after a disheartening start to the evening leads you to hide under a table at a party, a chance encounter with kenma leads you to have one of the best nights of your life. | based on a pov by a cosplayer on tiktok (@/sea.kaninchen)

pairing(s): kenma x reader, past/brief daishou x reader

word count: 3993

warnings: cheating, hints to sexual themes (only briefly)

a/n: i think i should mention that I DONT HATE DAISHOU!!! i think hes a complex and interesting character and ppl shit on him a lot but i did need a villain for this so im sorry for being basic he doesnt deserve this 😪also i was honestly really excited to do this?? like tiktok cosplayers’ povs are not bad i love cosplayers its just straight tiktok’s povs im sorry 😔

9:32pm.

You let out a sigh as you glance at your phone for what seemed like the thousandth time that night, the numbers moving slow, in almost a mocking way. The blinding, multi-colored lights dancing around the room kind of made your eyes spin, and the air around you made you wonder if it was possible to describe air as ‘sticky’ and what… questionable ways it could get to that state. There were bodies moving all around the room, most likely all around the house, doing a multitude of things: dancing, talking, loitering.

You had been coerced by your friends, as well as your boyfriend, Daishou, to come to this party, with promises of letting loose and free food. As reluctant as you were, your boyfriend had assured you that he would personally make sure you had a good time; said boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

As you leaned against the wall, you raised your phone screen to your face as you mindlessly scrolled through various social media feeds and such, trying to pass the time. Ultimately, there’s only so much you can do constantly refreshing pages. On top of that, it might have just been your imagination but people seemed to stop and sneak looks at you, probably wondering why you were staying by yourself in a corner for so long.

Putting your phone away, you decided to approach some of Daishou’s friends - after all, the least he could do was to hang out with you at the party he kind of forced you to go to. Taking a quick look around the room, your eyes landed on a group of boys hanging out on the couches, you recognized them as your boyfriend’s friends. You greeted them as best as you could over the loud music, almost pounding your eardrums.

“I was just wondering, have you seen Daishou anywhere?” As soon as you mentioned his name, that atmosphere within the group grew tense. They all seemed to avoid eye-contact and some even started fidgeting. Suddenly, one of the boys spoke up.

“I- uhm, I think I saw him go upstairs?” He was met with pointed looks from the rest. Confused, you thanked them nonetheless and located the stairs.

Maneuvering your way through the many bodies on the stairs, you start searching through the many rooms of the house as you think to yourself: Who’s house is this? Why are there so many rooms? You must’ve looked through the first 4 rooms of the hallway (bathroom, storage closet, bedroom, bedroom) before reaching another door.

When you opened the door, thankful it wasn’t locked, you immediately saw two figures in a bed in the middle of the room. Upon closer inspection, you saw that they were very much not having a nap together but instead moving in tandem. You were about to exit before they could see you when one of the figures, a girl, locked eyes with you. She immediately fumbled and pushed the other figure, a boy, off of her and drew the sheets to cover herself. Feeling awkward and frozen in place, you started to spew out apologies.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, I, uhm,” you hands out in a defensive motion “I didn’t mean to walk in! I was just…” You trailed off when the boy turned around and you got a good look of his face. It was then when you had realized it was your boyfriend in a bed with his ex-girlfriend, Mika.

“Suguru…” Your face morphed into a disheartened expression, “You’re…” you couldn’t finish your sentence though, your eyes frantically shifting between Daishou and Mika, who you had just realized the identity of, in confusion as you opened your mouth to say something, but the words lay stuck in your throat. Fat tears welled up in your eyes, eventually falling down your cheeks, but you had yet to move.

“y/n! It’s not what you think!” Your boyfriend started as he moved off of the bed and towards you, fumbling for an explanation, but his lack of clothes told you everything. No matter what excuse he came up with, the intentions were clear.

You choked up and you pushed him away. “Save it! We’re through!” Your voice wavered as you turned and ran out the door, covering your mouth with your hands in an attempt to stifle your crying. Unfortunately, you moved to hide in the bathroom to gather your thoughts, gripping the door handle and pushing when you realized it was locked.

You looked around for something, you weren’t really quite sure what, but you knew you needed to be away from your boyfriend (ex-boyfriend, you reminded yourself) no matter what. In the heat of the moment, you stumbled your way downstairs and into the dining room. It was completely empty, which came as a surprise, but you realized it was probably because the living room was big enough for everyone to do what they wanted and the food was spread out in the kitchen and living room.

You managed to take a second to catch a break. You were about to take your phone out to call an Uber when you heard Daishou calling your name. In a moment of panic, your eyes landed on the dining table in the middle of the room. Swiftly, and with less gravitas than you’d like to admit, you crawled under the table, thanking the lords above that it was covered in a table cloth that reached the floor. An interesting style choice? Sure, but you were thankful nonetheless.

Holding your breath, you heard your name being called before you heard footsteps leave the room. So there you were, crying under a table at a party. You could still hear the loud techno and pop music from the other room, albeit muffled, and let it drown out your sorrows.

You thought of calling an Uber now, but you figured it would be smart to take the time to let your thoughts regroup so you at least stopped crying hysterically.

***

“Please, Kenma?!” Kuroo pouted as he clasped his hands together, “C’mon, it’s not gonna be that bad, it’ll be really fun!” Kenma sighed. He looked down at his paused game of MonHun and took note of the time.

3:51pm.

It was nearing 4pm and Kenma still had yet to clear this level. “I already told you, I don’t wanna go,” Kenma started, “I don’t like parties.” That had Kuroo bouncing and flailing around.

“But Terushima always throws the best parties, they’re fun for everyone!” Kenma grunted in response, he had started playing his game again, Kuroo narrowed his eyes and pouted even harder. “Pleeease?! Everyone’s gonna be there, it’s gonna be great! But it won’t be fun without you,” Kuroo pleaded. Kenma scoffed at that, he considered agreeing just so shut Kuroo up, but he wanted to know what he was getting into first.

“Who’s gonna be there?” Kenma asked, not looking up from his PSP.

“Everyone!” Kenma thought it was almost comical how Kuroo immediately perked up. Kenma shot him an incredulous look. “Uhm, okay, so I know Bo’s gonna be there, which means Akaashi’s gonna be there… You can hang out with him!” Kenma hummed, only partially listening, “No, you’re right, you’re right! What was I thinking? Obviously Akaashi’s gonna hang out with Bokuto, which means I’m gonna have to third wheel!” He tuned Kuroo out as he went on.

Just as Kenma had lost another round, Kuroo seemed to have finished his rant about being a third-wheel and the dynamics between Bokuto and Akaashi.

“Um, well, I mean pretty much all of the Volleyball teams are gonna be there, Terushima really wants this to be epic! Uhm, other than that… Oh! Isn’t there that girl? I forgot her name but she’s dating… Daishou…” Kuroo shudders, Kenma hummed in response. “She’s in your class isn’t she? What’s her name, you can hang out with her!”

“y/n.” Kenma offered, still not looking up from his game.

“Yeah, that’s it! Ugh, she’s kinda strange… like, Daishou? Really? Last time I saw him, he was wearing that ugly sweater…” Kenma tuned him out once again.

While Kenma continued his game, he subconsciously pondered on your relationship. You guys had never really been close, save for the occasional group and partner projects you guys did together, as was expected, you were in the same class after all. If Kenma was being honest, the only time he paid you any mind was when Kuroo brought up how Daishou was most definitely blackmailing you into dating him or something or the sort.

Fed up with Kuroo’s whining, Kenma spoke up after another round lost. “Kuro, I’ll go to the party,” Kuroo’s eyes widened as he gasped, sporting a surprised smile, Kenma continued, “But if I get bored or stressed, I’m leaving.”

Kuroo nodded.

***

Needless to say, Kenma wasn’t having a good time. While he did enjoy seeing his friend, Hinata, again, the loud and, quite frankly, annoying music was starting to hurt his ears and the food provided was decent at best, meaning fast food pizza and about a million different bags of chips.

“Kenma! C’mon, get over here! We’re playing beer pong, I need a partner!” Kenma sighed as he heard Kuroo call out to him. From where he was leaning against a wall, he could see Kuroo, Bokuto and Miya Atsumu setting up red solo cups on a table.

This had been happening all night, Kenma minding his own business, occasionally engaging in conversation with Hinata or Akaashi if they crossed paths, with Kuroo swooping in to try to get him to play some sort of party game with him. The first was Just Dance, which Kenma avoided by saying he was hungry, next came truth or dare, Kenma used the bathroom excuse on that one, and so on and so forth. The cycle continued, Kuroo hunting down Kenma and Kenma finding any way he could escape.

That led Kenma to this moment: leaning against a wall in the kitchen playing on his PSP, with Kuroo struggling to maneuver around everyone to get to him. Kenma checks the digital clock on his PSP.

9:46pm.

That seemed like a good time to leave, Kenma thought. As he was pocketing his PSP to get ready to make a dash for it, Kenma panicked for a moment, realizing that to get to the front door, he would have to pass by Kuroo and the beer pong table. Contemplating for a moment, he concluded that he would much rather wait it out and leave a bit later than have to explain why he was leaving.

When Kenma came to his senses, he realized Kuroo was even closer to him than he thought. Scanning for options, he ran the only direction he could, through the arch connecting the kitchen with the dining room.

In a moment of desperation, he ducked under the table cloth.

***

You checked yourself again in your phone camera. Thankfully, you had calmed down and stopped crying hysterically, and were only left with the occasional sniffle. Unfortunately, the redness was still very much present, as were the tears when you thought too hard about Daishou. Despite all the nasty things other people, especially in your school, would say about him, he was a kind person, passionate about many things and was very caring towards you: always cheering you up and lending an ear when you needed to vent.

I guess he just… really liked Mika, then, huh, you thought to yourself as you hugged your knees close to your chest.

Deep in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed the frantic footsteps making their way towards you. You only realized something was off when the table cloth rustled and was lifted open, only for someone to slip in and under the table with you.

The boy seemed to be catching his breath when you made a startled noise of surprise. Hearing it, the boy snapped his head up to meet your stare. You were both just staring at each other with wide eyes, after a moment you both started fumbling out uhms and i’s, glancing around to avoid eye contact.

After accidentally looking up at each other at the same time, you realized who the boy was.

“Wait… Kenma?” He blinked.

“y/n?” He responded with a tilt of his head, “Uhm, I’m sorry, I was just… trying to get away from someone…” You shifted in your spot, casting your eyes away in embarrassment hoping he wouldn’t see your red face and stray tears. “What about you?”

“Hm?” Your eyes widened in confusion.

“Why are you, uh,” he paused awkwardly and gestured around vaguely, “What’re you doing under a table?” You didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Uhm… well,” you felt tears welling up in your eyes again, “I-” a sob wracked through your body. Completely overwhelmed with emotions, you burst into tears. Kenma’s eyes shifted frantically before he regained his composure, he had never really been good and expressing emotions or helping others with theirs.

Kenma thought to himself: What would Kuro do in this situation? Sure, Kenma had gotten upset lots of times, and Kuroo always knew how to help. He realized that one thing that Kuroo did was ask him if he wanted to talk about what was going on - of course, Kenma never did, but for some strange, unknown reason, it made him feel just the tiniest bit better. In the back of his mind, Kenma thought that it made him feel better because it told him there was someone who cared about him.

“Do you, uh, wanna talk about it? Maybe?” He winced at his awkward delivery, his hands fidgeting.

“Is that,” you sniffled, “is that okay?” Kenma tried his best to give a reassuring smile, he was sure it came off as strained.

“Yeah, sure.”

You told Kenma about your relationship with Daishou; how it started, all the ups and downs, and finally how it ended. How you kept having chance encounters: at school when you were out shopping and even late one night at a public library - that was the night he asked you out for the first time, and you couldn’t have been more smitten.

During your relationship, he was so kind and considerate to you, and he never failed to make you laugh. You told Kenma how he even said that despite going to different schools, there was no one else he'd rather be that: that apparently didn’t stop him from hooking up with another girl.

After you went silent, Kenma found that you were finished. Despite only thinking of you as ‘that other girl in his class that was dating a volleyball player Kuroo hated’ until recently, seeing you cry and pour your heart out gave him a strange, internal attachment to you.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Kenma asked suddenly, turning to you and planting a hand on the floor, learning towards you ever so slightly. You blinked.

“What?” Surprised by his own outburst, Kenma decided to roll with it.

“There’s an arcade a few blocks down… sometimes when I get upset, I go there and it always cheers me up?” To be perfectly honest, Kenma wasn’t really expecting you to say yes. He expected you to brush him off, say you were feeling better and ready to go home.

Kenma himself didn’t know why he asked, he usually didn’t really like spended excess time with people he didn’t know that well, but subconsciously, there was a part of him that wanted to help.

“Oh, uhm, yeah! Sure, why not?” You metally cursed yourself for your stuttering, it was bad enough you were info-dumping and completely oversharing, you didn’t want Kenma to think you were that weak. You sniffled again, realization dawning on you.

“We gotta find a way out of here first, thought.” You said. Kenma cringed.

***

Long story short, you and Kenma managed to escape the table without anyone seeing you. You were extremely thankful, as it would have been very awkward if someone saw the two of you crawling out from under a table.

Getting outside was another thing, thought. Kuroo and the beer pong table were still very much blocking the way out, and there was always the risk of bumping into Daishou again. After a bit of asking around, you found out that there was a backdoor in the kitchen, so you and Kenma were able to make your escape.

Now you were playing away to your hearts’ content to some random racing game at an arcade. You both were playing side-by-side, versing each other. To no one’s surprise, Kenma was beating you. Deep down, though, Kenma was a little impressed you were able to keep up with him so well, being a religious player of Mario Kart himself and all.

You both fleeted from game to game, playing almost every game available from shooting games to claw machines to even a Space Invaders-esque game. You had managed to earn a good amount of tickets, all thanks to Kenma’s membership card and the loose tokens he found in his wallet.

Eventually, you had played until the arcade was empty and one of the employees came up to you to tell you they were closed. They did mention that you could still buy some prizes if you wanted to, to which Kenma turned to you.

“Do you want to?”

Over the time you had spent playing games together, you had gotten to know Kenma better than just ‘the quiet boy in your class’ in between passing conversations and empty, teasing threats, some of your favorites had been: I will steal your kneecaps and If you play with that character you don’t deserve rights.

“Yeah, sure!” You replied, a genuine smile crossed your face.

In the end, you had gotten a keychain with a mini funko character on it and Kenma settled on a cute sticker that, with much encouragement from you, he stuck on the case of his PSP.

After exiting the arcade, Kenma took a moment to glance over at you. The empty street illuminated by semi-faulty lampposts, and he found it showed your face more clearly than all the neon lights of the arcade. Your tears dried up, although there were still hints of red in splotches on your face.

As he watched you talk excitedly about your new keychain, he couldn’t help but feel a strange way, an unfamiliar feeling he had never felt before. It was warm in a way, something akin to stepping home for the first time after being away for so long. It was weird, in all the years he had known you, or been partnered up with you for whatever, he had never thought of you as anything other than a random classmate. However, after everything you had both gone through together that night, something new was forming.

Little did Kenma know, you were thinking the same. You noticed the little things about him; you thought back to how his nose would scrunch when he would mess up in a game or you would surpass him in something, or how his eyes lit up and almost sparkled ever so slightly when he was picking out stickers. Now that you were outside, you could see how his dyed hair swayed gently in the crisp November wind, or how his eyes would somewhat crinkle as he laughed when you made a joke.

After a few moments of silence, you spoke up.

“Hey, so, I didn’t really get to eat at the party… Do you maybe wanna get something to eat nearby?” You asked, turning your head to Kenma. Realizing how that sounded like you were asking him on a date, you quickly stuttered out “Of course, you don’t have to! We can just get a small snack or, or maybe we don’t have to get anything!” You laughed awkwardly as Kenma showed no obvious emotions, however his eyes were slightly widened and his cheeks growing more red, but you chalked that up to the colder weather and surprise.

Kenma suddenly remembered how he didn’t get a chance to eat as well, but in all the games you guys were playing, he didn’t get a chance to feel hungry. Realizing he had not responded, he quickly thought of a place to get food, his mind immediately wandering to 7/11.

“Oh yeah, sure. There’s a 7/11 down the street, if you want?” He said, and you were off.

***

Sitting in the 7/11 with Kenma under the fluorescent lights was oddly comforting. You were happily eating your warm soba noodles (topped with tempura) as Kenma ate his apple pastry (having already eaten half of an egg salad sandwich and wrapping the rest for later) as you engaged in mindless conversation, Kenma periodically pulling out his PSP to either play or check on things.

During some random conversation about a new game Kenma was playing, you noticed him occasionally glancing behind you. Eventually, you looked behind you to see what looked like a newly installed slushie machine, touchscreen and all. Realizing Kenma wouldn’t speak up about it, you decided to take charge.

“Do you wanna get slushies?” You said with a grin. Kenma looked surprised for a second before lightly laughing.

“Sure.”

Over the machine, you tapped the screen to get a strawberry lemonade slushie, while Kenma opted for cherry one.

Slushies didn’t exactly pair well with warm soba, but tonight was apparently a night full of surprise, what with finding out about your boyfriend (ex, you reminded yourself), not to mention these spontaneous adventures with a random boy who was, you thought, not so random anymore.

“Wanna have a competition?” Kenma’s voice interrupted your train of thought, “Let’s see who can drink theirs the fastest.” You grinned.

“You’re on!”

After Kenma counted down, you both tried to down your slushie. Halfway through, though, you had to stop.

“Ah! Brainfreeze!” You exclaimed, clutching your head with one hand. Kenma also stopped drinking and laughed, “My head feels so numb, argh!” You hummed. “At least now I won’t think of Daishou anymore… My brain feels like it’s pounding like, like it’s having a rave or something!” It was getting late, meaning you were dangerously close to your stage of drowsiness that caused you to infodump like crazy. Kenma’s smile dropped every so slightly.

“Hey, uhm,” he looked as though he was looking for the right words to say, “I’m really sorry about what happened, uh,” he scratched the back of his head nervously, “Sorry, I’m not great at… feelings… but, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

You blinked for a second before smiling.

“Thanks, Kenma.”

As you were finishing up the rest of your slushie, you turned to Kenma.

“Hey, uhm, I know this is pretty random but do you want to be my partner for the project we’re doing in science?” Kenma looked up from his PSP and stared at you, as if trying to remember what you were talking about, “The one about incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits? The teacher said you had to find a partner of the opposite gender so you could create a ‘hypothetical baby’, which, honestly, I find kinda dumb… Like, if the baby’s just hypothetical, then you could partner up with anyone, right? It’s not just me that feels that way?”

Kenma remembered what project you were talking about, but he really enjoyed when you would continue on these rants. Being one to not talk that much, he liked how you were able to fill in the silence, although the times when you would be eating and he would be playing in silence were not as awkward as he thought, they weren’t awkward at all.

“So… Do you want to pair up?” Kenma flushed, realizing he was mindlessly listening to you talk.

“Oh, uhm, yeah, sure.” You beamed.

bonus: you did your project on incomplete dominance and sex-linked traits and learned about the wonders of co-dominance in blood types. also kuroo was very worried about kenma leaving and thought he got kidnapped by a van that said ‘free games’ but it was all cool when he learnt kenma left with a girl ;)

#fics #written in June 2020 #woah this took me a while #like since may o_o my bad #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #kenma x reader #kozume kenma #kenma scenario #fanfiction #fanfic #anime fanfiction #anime imagines #im very proud of this wow ;-;#my baby ;-;#at this point i only write kenma x reader im so sorry #i have plans for other characters i swear!!!

91 notes · View notes

twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years ago

Text

Written In The Stars CIX (Harry Potter xF!Oc)

Words: 4,144

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Better Me, Better You’ -Clara Mae & Jake Miller

Chapter Seven: Dolores Umbridge.

"First years line up over here, please! All first-years to me!" Professor Grubbly-Plank shouted over the noise.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked anxiously.

"I don't know, but we'd better get out of the way, we're blocking the door," Ginny urged them.

"Oh yeah..."

"D'you think something happened while he was out?" Mel asked as they moved forward.

Harry shrugged. Both of them momentarily forgot about what was going on between them as they continued to talk quietly about Hagrid and where he could possibly be. When they reached the carriage, Harry stopped and stared at it strangely.

"Where's Pig?" Ron arrived quickly after them.

"That Luna girl was carrying him," Harry replied, turning to look at him. "Where d'you reckon —"

"— Hagrid is? I dunno– He'd better be okay..."

"Malfoy was being absolutely foul to a first-year back there!" Hermione appeared looking angry. "I swear I'm going to report him, he's only had his badge three minutes and he's using it to bully people worse than ever... Where's Crookshanks?"

"Ginny's got him," said Harry. "There she is..."

"Thanks! Come on, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up..."

"I haven't got Pig yet!" Ron said, Mel and Harry decided to wait with him.

"What are those things, d'you reckon?" Harry asked them.

"What things?"

"Those horse —"

"Here you are," Luna handed back Pig. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"

"Er... yeah... He's all right," said Ron reluctantly. "Well, come on then, let's get in... what were you saying, Harry?"

"I was saying, what are those horse things?"

"What horse things?"

"The horse things pulling the carriages!" said Harry.

Mel stared at the front part of the carriage, looking at... nothing.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about — look!"

Harry grabbed Ron's arm and wheeled him about so that he was face-to-face with the winged horse. Ron stared straight at it for a second, then looked back at Harry.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"At the — there, between the shafts! Harnessed to the coach! It's right there in front — Can't... can't you see them?"

"See what?"

"Can't you see what's pulling the carriages?" He said worryingly.

"Are you feeling all right, Harry?"

"I... yeah..."

"You don't look like you're okay," Mel frowned.

Harry just shook his head, looking more confused than ever.

"Shall we get in, then?" said Ron reluctantly.

"Yeah, yeah, go on..."

"It's all right," said Luna. "You're not going mad or anything. I can see them too."

"Can you?" Harry asked with concern.

"Oh yes. I've been able to see them ever since my first day here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."

"Lovely..." Mel murmured.

"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny once the carriage was moving. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"

"I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna. "He isn't a very good teacher, is he?"

"Yes, he is!" They all replied.

"Erm... yes... he's very good," Hermione said quietly.

"Well, we think he's a bit of a joke in Ravenclaw," said Luna.

"You've got a rubbish sense of humour then," Ron growled.

Mel felt anxious about being back. Most of the students were staring at her like she could burst into flames at any moment. She heaved a sigh, the girl was used to saying it every year but now she really had to get a grip. She wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction to call her crazy, fickle, or whatever it was they deemed her to be. Ginny and Luna left to join their friends, when they sat down, Harry said grimly:

"He's not there."

"He can't have left," said Ron.

"Of course he hasn't," said Harry.

"You don't think he's... hurt, or anything, do you?" said Hermione.

"No."

"But where is he, then?"

"Maybe he's not back yet. You know — from his mission — the thing he was doing over the summer for Dumbledore."

"Yeah... yeah, that'll be it," said Ron.

"Who's that?" Hermione questioned.

"It's that Umbridge woman!"

"Who?"

"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"

"Nice cardigan," Ron sniggered.

"She works for Fudge? What on earth's she doing here, then?"

"Dunno..."

"What d'you think she's doing?" Mel made a face. "Keeping an eye on my uncle, of course."

"No," Hermione gasped, "no, surely not..."

Professor McGonagall entered followed by a bunch of first-years. She remembered her first night there, and for some reason, that made her want to cry. She pushed it all deep inside just in time to listen to the hat's song:

In times of old when I was new And Hogwarts barely started...

The Hat continued on, until the last lines:

And we must unite inside her Or we'll crumble from within. I have told you, I have warned you... Let the Sorting now begin.

"I wonder if it's ever given warnings before?" said Hermione.

"Yes, indeed," said Nearly Headless Nick. "The hat feels itself honour-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels —"

Nearly Headless Nick interrupted himself when McGonagall stepped forward.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore, "welcome! To our old hands — welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

"Excellent," said Ron with relief.

"What were you saying before the Sorting?" Hermione asked Nick. "About the hat giving warnings?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I have heard the hat give several warnings before, always at times when it detects periods of great danger for the school. And always, of course, its advice is the same: Stand together, be strong from within."

"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" said Ron.

"I beg your pardon?" said Nearly Headless Nick.

"How can it know if the school's in danger if it's a hat?"

"I have no idea. Of course, it lives in Dumbledore's office, so I daresay it picks things up there."

"And it wants all the Houses to be friends?" said Harry. "Fat chance."

Mel scowled at him.

"If you ask me, judging people because of their house is stupid. The hat's right, it does nothing but divide us. What if we have different beliefs half-way through? Are we supposed to just ignore that and never change?"

"Sorry, but it was you who said you'd refuse to be in the same house as Malfoy," Harry replied in annoyance.

"I was a kid when I said that," She retorted in the same tone. "It's exactly that childish mindset what Erick and I have to–"

"Ah, Flint," Harry rolled his eyes. "Forgot we're not allowed to breathe too hard around him..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude," said Nick, trying to break their argument. "Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate Houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."

"Only because you're terrified of him," said Ron.

"Terrified? I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins —"

"What blood? Surely you haven't still got — ?"

"It's a figure of speech! I assume I am still allowed to enjoy the use of whichever words I like, even if the pleasures of eating and drinking are denied me! But I am quite used to students poking fun at my death, I assure you!"

"Nick, he wasn't really laughing at you!" said Hermione.

"Node iddum eentup sechew," Ron replied, his mouth full of food.

"Well done, Ron," Hermione scolded when Nick left in outrage.

"What? I'm not allowed to ask a simple question?"

"Oh forget it," said the girl.

"Hem, hem."

The small voice made several heads turn, Dumbledore cut his speech and looked to his right.

"Thank you, Headmaster," said Professor Umbridge in what had to be the most unsettling voice she'd ever heard, "for those kind words of welcome. Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me! I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all, and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!

"I'll be her friend as long as I don't have to borrow that cardigan," Parvati whispered.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance," She let out all of that at once. "The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction..."

Mel knew right away where this was going. 'Careful instruction' meant putting a stop to whatever Dumbledore was doing according to Fudge's ideas. She hadn't thought about it before, but she wondered if she was about to have her private lessons cancelled.

Umbridge sat down once she finished. Dumbledore clapped, Mel was amazed at the patience he showed after such a clear speech of censorship.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating."

"Yes, it certainly was illuminating," said Hermione sharing a grim look with Mel.

"You're not telling me you enjoyed it? That was about the dullest speech I've ever heard, and I grew up with Percy."

"I said illuminating, not enjoyable– It explained a lot."

"Did it?" said Harry in surprise. "Sounded like a load of waffle to me."

"Well, it certainly was a load of something..." Mel grumbled.

"There was some important stuff hidden in the waffle," said Hermione.

"Was there?" said Ron blankly.

"How about 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged'? How about 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'?"

"Well, what does that mean?"

"I'll tell you what it means. It means the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."

"We're no longer running on free will," Mel added, glaring at the short woman.

"Ron, we're supposed to show the first years where to go!" Hermione gave a start.

"Oh yeah. Hey — hey you lot! Midgets!"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed over Mel's laughter.

"Well, they are, they're titchy..."

"I know, but you can't call them midgets... First years! This way, please!"

"It suits her, doesn't it?" Mel smirked. "Finally found where to use her bossy nature."

Harry chuckled, and she realized that once again they had been left alone. It was a dreadful walk, not so much because of him, but because people were once again staring. At some point, Harry grew tired of it.

"Fancy taking a short cut?"

"Merlin, yes."

It took them longer to get to their tower, but Harry finally found an opportunity to talk to her.

"I was stupid to think things would go back to normal," He said darkly. "I know how it must've looked– Emerged from the Triwizard maze clutching the body... claiming Voldemort was back... then refused to speak about it, gave the whole school enough time to tell their own versions."

"There's no point on sulking about it," Mel replied. "You know how they are– Wouldn't have mattered... they think you're desperate for attention and I'm a nutter, so what? I have more important things to– Shit! We forgot to ask Hermione what the password was!"

They were staring at the Fat Lady, who didn't react kindly to Mel's swearing.

"No password, no entrance."

"Guys, I know it!" Neville ran up to them happily. "Guess what it is? I'm actually going to be able to remember it for once — Mimbulus mimbletonia!"

Once in the common room Mel spotted the twins pinning something up on the notice board, she marched up to them, not hearing the timid 'G'night' Harry mumbled to her.

"What's the matter? You look absolutely — oh for heaven's sake..."

Mel looked at the sign that Hermione had just noticed on the board.

GALLONS OF GALLEONS!

Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings? Like to earn a little extra gold?

Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gryffindor common room, for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs

(WE REGRET THAT ALL WORK IS UNDERTAKEN AT APPLICANT'S OWN RISK)

"Did you know about this?" Hermione asked her.

"Oh, yeah," Mel shrugged. "They told me their plans for this year..."

The girl decided not to mention she was also going to help them.

"They are the limit," said Hermione grimly, taking down the sign. "We'll have to talk to them, Ron."

"Why?"

"Because we're prefects! It's up to us to stop this kind of thing!" She huffed as they left the tower. "Anyway, what's up, Harry? You look really angry about something."

"Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who," said Ron.

"Oh, does he know?" Mel gave Hermione a knowing look.

"Lavender thinks so too," Hermione lamented.

"Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry muttered.

"No. I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down on our throats, Harry, because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side."

"...sorry," He mumbled embarrassingly.

"That's quite all right," Hermione continued in a steady voice. "Don't you remember what Dumbledore said at the end-of-term feast last year? About You-Know-Who. He said, 'His gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust —' "

"How do you remember stuff like that?" asked Ron.

"I listen, Ron," said Hermione.

"So do I, but I still couldn't tell you exactly what —"

"The point is that this sort of thing is exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. You-Know-Who's only been back two months, and we've started fighting among ourselves. And the Sorting Hat's warning was the same — stand together, be united —"

"And Harry said it last night, if that means we're supposed to get matey with the Slytherins, fat chance."

"Well, I think it's a pity we're not trying for a bit of inter-House unity," said Hermione crossly. "As Mel said, not everyone is so terrible, just look at Erick!"

"You two can adore that conceited twat all you want– He has both of you wrapped around his finger!"

"If I were you, I'd shut my mouth before I seal it shut," Mel scowled. "You know I don't care about the bloody badge."

Just as if to prove the boys' point, a bunch of Ravenclaws caught sight of her and Harry and hurried away.

"Yeah, we really ought to be trying to make friends with people like that," said Harry sarcastically.

"Hush!" Mel snapped. "I'll prove you two wrong..."

"Listen, I don't care if you insist on living in little fairyland–"

"This has nothing to do with fairytales, you idiot!" She hissed at Harry as they entered the Great Hall.

"Well then, what's your plan? Going to hire little dwarfs to sing us songs about friendship like Lockhart did?"

"You'll have to eat your words by the end of the year– It'll be as if the articles mentioning me never existed, everyone will want to be my friend, you'll see... I know how to win people over now."

"Because you're so patient and polite?" He said with heavy sarcasm in his voice.

Mel was so angry she had to bite her tongue so she wouldn't yell at him in front of everyone. She refused to talk to him for the rest of the morning.

"Dumbledore didn't even mention how long that Grubbly-Plank woman's staying," Harry commented as they sat down to have breakfast.

"Maybe..." said Hermione.

"What?"

"Well... maybe he didn't want to draw attention to Hagrid not being here."

"What d'you mean, draw attention to it? How could we not notice?"

"Harry!"

"Oh– Hi, Angelina."

"Hi, good summer? Listen, I've been made Gryffindor Quidditch Captain."

"Nice one," Harry smiled.

"Yeah, well, we need a new Keeper now Oliver's left. Tryouts are on Friday at five o'clock and I want the whole team there, all right? Then we can see how the new person'll fit in."

"Okay," He said.

"I'd forgotten Wood had left," said Hermione. "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"

"I s'pose. He was a good Keeper..."

"Still, it won't hurt to have some new blood, will it?" said Ron.

Mel caught him staring eagerly at Harry and she knew at once he was planning to try out. She definitely wanted to see how that would play out.

"Look at today!" groaned Ron as McGonagall handed them their schedules. "History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense Against the Dark Arts... Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that Umbridge woman all in one day! I wish Fred and George'd hurry up and get those Skiving Snack boxes sorted..."

"Do mine ears deceive me?" said Fred, arriving with George and sitting next to Harry. "Hogwarts prefects surely don't wish to skive off lessons?"

"Look what we've got today! That's the worst Monday I've ever seen."

"Fair point, little bro," said Fred. "You can have a bit of Nosebleed Nougat cheap if you like."

"Why's it cheap?"

"Because you'll keep bleeding till you shrivel up, we haven't got an antidote yet," said George.

"Cheers," Ron pouted, "but I think I'll take the lessons."

"And speaking of your Skiving Snack boxes," said Hermione, "you can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board."

"Says who?"

"Says me, and Ron."

"Leave me out of it."

"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough, Hermione," said Fred. "You're starting your fifth year, you'll be begging us for a Snackbox before long."

"And why would starting fifth year mean I want a Skiving Snackbox?"

"Fifth year's O.W.L. year," said George.

"So?"

"So you've got your exams coming up, haven't you? They'll be keeping your noses so hard to that grindstone they'll be rubbed raw."

"Half our year had minor breakdowns coming up to O.W.L.s," said George. "Tears and tantrums... Patricia Stimpson kept coming over faint..."

"Kenneth Towler came out in boils, d'you remember?"

"That's 'cause you put Bulbadox Powder in his pyjamas."

"Oh yeah– I'd forgotten... Hard to keep track sometimes, isn't it?"

"Anyway, it's a nightmare of a year, the fifth," said George. "If you care about exam results anyway. Fred and I managed to keep our spirits up somehow– and the Lady here helped us a great deal, even if we insisted we didn't need it."

"Yeah... you got, what was it, three O.W.L.s each?" said Ron.

"Yep," said Fred. "But we feel our futures lie outside the world of academic achievement."

"We seriously debated whether we were going to bother coming back for our seventh year, now that we've got —" Mel noticed how Harry's eyes widened and George stumbled over his words. "— now that we've got our O.W.L.s. I mean, do we really need N.E.W.T.s? But we didn't think Mum could take us leaving school early, not on top of Percy turning out to be the world's biggest prat."

"We're not going to waste our last year here, though," said Fred. "We're going to use it to do a bit of market research, find out exactly what the average Hogwarts student requires from his joke shop, carefully evaluate the results of our research, and then produce the products to fit the demand."

"I can't believe this is your last year," Mel pouted. "I can't imagine the school without you two..."

"Cheers Lady, you'll have us for a whole year before that happens!" George smiled.

"But where are you going to get the gold to start a joke shop? You're going to need all the ingredients and materials — and premises too, I suppose..." Hermione questioned.

Harry dropped his fork and dived down the table.

"Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies, Hermione. Mel gets it, she agreed to help us no questions asked."

Mel choked on her meal and grimaced, waiting for the blast.

"You're helping them?!" Hermione gasped.

"C'mon, George," Fred got up abruptly. "If we get there early we might be able to sell a few Extendable Ears before Herbology."

"I'm going to kill them..." Mel grumbled.

"Why would you do something like that, Mel? You know it's not allowed–"

"Well, 'Mione, because I broke my back for four years only to be merely considered for the prefect position! I think I deserve a break," She tried to sound as grumpy and serious as possible so Hermione would feel bad for her. It worked.

"What did that mean, though?" Hermione quickly diverted the subject. "'Ask us no questions...' Does that mean they've already got some gold to start a joke shop?"

"You know, I've been wondering about that," said Ron. "They bought me a new set of dress robes this summer, and I couldn't understand where they got the Galleons..."

Mel and Harry shared a look but she was still mad at him, so she did nothing.

"D'you reckon it's true this year's going to be really tough? Because of the exams?" Harry asked, trying and succeeding as well as her in distracting the others.

"Oh yeah– Bound to be, isn't it? O.W.L.s are really important, affect the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice too, later this year, Bill told me. So you can choose what N.E.W.T.s you want to do next year."

"D'you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Not really," said Ron. "Except... well..."

"What?"

"Well, it'd be cool to be an Auror," said Ron.

"Yeah, it would," said Harry.

"But they're, like, the elite. You've got to be really good. What about you, Hermione?"

"I don't know," said Hermione. "I think I'd really like to do something worthwhile."

"An Auror's worthwhile!"

"Yes, it is, but it's not the only worthwhile thing," said Hermione thoughtfully. "I mean, if I could take S.P.E.W. further..."

"An Auror's not the elite, though," Mel had been talking about her future with Sirius and Emily during the summer, so she had everything planned. "You know who's the real deal? The Unspeakables. Those are really something..."

"I thought you wanted to be an Auror too..." Hermione commented.

"Thought you wanted to be a Magizoologist?" Ron raised a brow.

"She wanted to be all that," Harry said under his breath.

"I can be all of it," Mel brushed it off. "But Aurors are only good if they have the right intentions, like Tonks, Moody, or Kingsley. However, it would also mean working for the Minister, and that man–"

"The Unspeakables work for him too."

"Not really," She smiled. "All I know is that whatever I end up doing, it won't be under any stupid man's orders."

"Suit yourself," Ron shrugged. "That'll be hard to get, though."

"We'll see."

"Hello, Harry!"

It was Cho Chang and what was more, she was on her own again. This was most unusual: Cho was almost always surrounded by a gang of giggling girls; Harry remembered the agony of trying to get her by herself to ask her to the Yule Ball.

"Hi," said Harry.

Mel had to drown a very loud groan when she appeared.

"You got that stuff off, then?"

"Yeah– So did you... er... have a good summer?"

"Oh, it was all right, you know..."

"Is that a Tornados badge?" Ron asked abruptly. "You don't support them, do you?"

"Yeah, I do," said Cho.

"Have you always supported them, or just since they started winning the league?" Ron insisted.

"I've supported them since I was six. Anyway... see you, Harry."

"You are so tactless!" Hermione exclaimed as Cho disappeared around the corner.

"Dunno 'Mione, Ron has his moments..." Mel said in amusement.

"I only asked her if —"

"Couldn't you tell she wanted to talk to Harry on her own?"

"So? She could've done, I wasn't stopping —"

"What on earth were you attacking her about her Quidditch team for?"

"Attacking? I wasn't attacking her, I was only —"

"Who cares if she supports the Tornados?"

"Oh, come on, half the people you see wearing those badges only bought them last season —"

"But what does it matter?"

"It means they're not real fans, they're just jumping on the bandwagon —"

"That's the bell," said Harry grumpily.

Mel got up quickly, accidentally hitting his shoulder. She didn't stop to say sorry.

It wasn't that she disliked Cho. She didn't, especially not after remembering she probably still thought Harry and her were a thing. However, the way Harry would react around her compared to the sulky comments he'd send her way, or the way he would dismiss her ideas, that was definitely a good reason to be mad. After all those years of friendship, he was going to favour another girl!

Well, two could play the same game.

Next Chapter —>

Taglist.

@dee123ksha @vampiregirl1797 @siriuslysirius1107 @stardusthigh @mikariell95 @vernon-dursley @thesuitelifeofafangirl @tomshollandz @kylosleftbuttcheek @reverse-hxlland @bloodorangemoonlight @omiwashere @t-rexs-world

#twoidiots writing #hp fanfic #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter xoc #WITT fic

19 notes · View notes

stanfrankdrake · 4 years ago

Text

my hot take on this coming from an east asian background:

i’m probably definitely going to get a lot of shit for this. but i’m going to share what i think. however in no way shape or form am i defending what those actors said, i just want to share my opinion.

i’m open to discussion :)

tw: r*pe, fatphobia

so, the bl world is in flames. cool.

if ur not caught up to what’s happening i’m not going to summarize so come back.

okay so i moved to an western country when i was young but i’ve been back and forth to my homeland a few times. i grew up with parents and grandparents who lived in an east asian country their whole life, and i’m still exposed to u know asian mannerisms, jokes, trends, and all that.

let me just say that asia and the western world are VERY different. and i mean EXTREMELY. in a sense that asia is still quite behind in the times. what i’m trying to say is that here in like a western country it is common to us that making r*pe jokes, fat shaming, and racism is not acceptable (because it’s disgusting and not right)

but in a lot of east asian countries, a lot of their slangs and sayings and jokes are based off of derogatory terms and meanings. in my language when you curse someone you usually curse their mother or younger sister saying like you’ll “fuck them” in a r*pe way? (i cant explain it) or if you want to insult someone you call them a r*pist basically. it’s kind of like us saying bitch or motherfucker. i have no idea why that’s the translation. there’s different words we would use to actually call someone a r*pist or to describe sexual violence, or just context is needed.

i remember some international students in my car were calling each other “r*pists” as a joke and i was legit so shocked but my dad had no reaction and i asked him like wtf and he had no idea why i gave that reaction, but he explained that it was just a common insult.

additionally, being skinny and white is the ideal standard in east asia unfortunately. whenever i go back to the motherland my relatives ALWAYS tell me that i’m too fat and i need to lose weight, it’s the first thing they say when they see me, but also praise me for being so pale. half of me is hurt but also the other half knows that it’s just something asian people say.

like my cousin straight up said “omg why are u so fat” and i was like wtf you can’t say that. and she was so confused about what i was talking about. bc it’s just something they do in east asia.

i think what im trying to say is, yes we’re mad that they said and did those things. and what they did was wrong. but again, asia is super behind and different in many ways from western culture.

i think we should all take this time to educate them on why it’s not okay, considering that they have a lot of international fans. we should take this opportunity to influence a big portion of asian media so they can be caught up and be better people :)

but krist can go fuck off ive never liked him hes straight up homophobic.

#vicspicks

61 notes · View notes

cathwritestragediesnotsins · 5 years ago

Text

Admiring eyes

Daryl Dixon x plus size!reader (implied)

Word count: 2,716

Summary: Daryl and Y/N’s relationship is one forged by fire. And maybe they’ll finally be able to communicate how much they mean to each other.

Daryl Dixon was a force of nature.

A beautiful, broken piece of art.

I was surprised when I seemed to be the only one to notice this.

Everything about him seemed to draw me in. My admiration for him only grew more and more every day that I spent with him and with every new thing that I learned about him.

His fierce, intense, searching, blue eyes were something I could easily get lost in if I had allowed myself.

His rough exterior and troubled past tugged at my heart, calling out to me to take care of him. To show him what real love felt like. I had always been one to gravitate toward more reserved people and Daryl was the most reserved person I had encountered. He was made out of layer after layer of complex feelings, emotional armor and self-destructive tendencies. And even though I was persistent in my quest to learn the very core of this man that had been abused and taunted into building up these walls, I fell in love with each intricate piece of him.

It became clear one afternoon when Carol caught me watching him that she understood my high regard for the man, but she and I both knew my adoration ran deeper and from a different place than her’s.

From the second I met him at the quarry I was drawn to him. At first because I was angry, lookin’ for a fight and he and his brother were an easy way to get one. But then after Merle went missing, after the CDC, something changed.

I didn’t stop hanging around Daryl. He made me feel safe. I was scared to get too close to anyone else, because I had lost everyone at the beginning, but for some reason I just kept coming back to Daryl. And slowly, he became the most important person in the world to me. Even as I allowed myself to integrate wholly into the group, allowing myself to forge a family once again, I never strayed far from Daryl. His safety, taking care of him, was always the priority.

He never questioned my presence; his way of telling me he didn’t mind it, maybe even enjoyed it. So I continued to seek him out. Even when we found the prison and began to build it into a home I hardly left Daryl’s side. That was just the way things were then. We had become a team. A unit. Two halves making a whole.

Our relationship remained unlabeled, but everyone could see how deep our bond ran. They saw the way I looked at him. But it was left unspoken.

After the prison fell we got separated, though I managed to stick with Rick and Carl through the chaos. Later on we found Michonne and were traveling as a group toward the promise of a safe space called ‘Terminus’ when we encountered the claimers. When Daryl stepped out of the treeline I let out a sob at the sight of him, so relieved to finally see that he was alive and uninjured. His eyes met mine as I knelt on the ground, one of the claimers holding a gun to my head, and I saw the panic and hurt there. He tried to reason with them, begging the group he had been traveling with not to hurt us, even offering himself as a sacrifice instead. Finally once everything had gone down and the claimers had been dealt with I ran to Daryl, flinging myself into his arms. He held me tightly, spinning me around as he hugged me. “’M so sorry.” he kept saying. “I didn’t know what they were capable of.” but I hushed him, burying my face in his neck as silent tears rolled down my cheeks “I know Daryl, I know.”

He didn’t let me out of his sight after that. Well, not until Terminus.

But all of that was behind us now. We were here in the Alexandria safe zone. At first we had all been wary of another promise of sanctuary, though deep down we all desperately hoped it was real. The first couple nights there Rick had us all staying in his house, not wanting the group to be divided until we knew it was safe. But once Rick became comfortable we were all allowed to choose places to live and claim rooms to sleep in.

It went without saying that Daryl and I would be sharing a room and though it was a bit awkward at first because we had never shared a bed before neither of us was willing to separate from the other.

I came to really like Alexandria. To cherish the peace that it provided.

But of course nothing is perfect.

In this case, the problem was that not everyone had clued in on the Daryl and I’s unspoken relationship.

I skipped down the steps from the porch fronting the house where Rick, Carl, Carol, Michonne, Judith, Daryl and I lived, on my way to find Rick when Deanna’s oldest son, Aiden I think, approached me. “Hey.” he said, falling into stride next to me. I nodded stiffly, only turning partially to acknowledge him “Hi.” I returned his greeting. I was trying to give Aiden the benefit of the doubt but I got bad vibes from him the second we walked through the gates so I was hesitant, not to mention I had had enough experiences with people these days to know to be wary of men.

“Where are you headed in such a hurry?” he said, painting a charming smile across his lips. A hint of a scowl drew my features together when I realized he wasn’t going to take a hint so easily. “To find Rick. Need to ask him s’mthin’” I say, vaguely, trying not to encourage any more conversation.

Aiden nods, picking up his pace a bit to walk backwards in front of me. “Mind if I join you?”

I give him a deadpan look, silently telling him that I do, in fact, mind while I say “Guess not.”

His grin only gets wider. Clearly he is either the thickest idiot I have ever met or an arrogant bastard who believes himself to be irresistible. I’m leaning toward the latter.

“So, how are you liking Alexandria?” he asks. I shrug. “It’s nice. Though I don’t think you people have any clue how bad things really are out there.” I say candidly. He quirks an eyebrow in amusement at that. “Well Sweetheart I think you’re underestimating me. I was in the ROTC before all this shit.” he says, gesturing around us. I scoff loudly and stop walking, turning fully to face him in the middle of the street.

“Alright asshole listen up, first of all never call me sweetheart again. Second, you can walk around here acting like you know everything and boasting about your time in the ROTC,” I say in a mocking voice. “But the truth is you wouldn’t last a day out there without these walls to keep you protected. You have no fucking idea about the shit I’ve seen, been through and even done. So take a hint dumbass, and hit the road. I’m not interested.”

Aiden’s face is slack with shock but I see annoyance making it’s way onto his features. He huffs, indignantly, “Whatever. It’s not like I really was interested either. You’re not my type.” Aiden sneers, looking pointedly down at my body.

I open my mouth to set him straight when suddenly I hear Daryl’s familiar angry growl behind me. “The fuck did you just say to her?!” he snarls, stepping in front of me and marching forward until he’s chest to chest with Aiden.

I see Aiden hesitate for a moment but when his eyes dart over Daryl’s shoulder to the crowd that our confrontation is attracting and he tenses up, ready to resist to protect his pride.

“I was just putting this fat bitch in her place. She’s got no right to reject me like that.”

The sentence is barely out of Aiden’s mouth when Daryl plants his hands on Aiden’s chest and shoves him back before swinging a punch that lands squarely on the younger man’s left eye.

Aiden fell back onto his butt and Daryl stomped toward him, looming over him threateningly “How dare ya speak ta her like that! Fucking piece of trash!” Daryl spit venomously. The Monroe boy scrambled up from the ground; pissed.

“Wha’did you just say to me you redneck piece of shit??” he yelled, lunging at Daryl and knocking him to the ground. I jolted forward into motion once I shook off my shock. “Daryl, don’t!” I cry, tugging at Daryl’s shoulders. The fight had quickly turned in Daryl’s favor and now he was straddling the younger man’s torso, pinning him to the ground while he mercilessly ripped into him . Aiden is no match for Daryl and while normally I would love to let Daryl teach the sonofabitch some manners, the people of Alexandria are watching, and we don’t need to give them another reason to mistrust us. “Get off!” I command, grabbing Daryl once again when he shrugs me off. This time he allows me to pull him away. He’s panting heavily and his glaring eyes don’t leave Aiden when I try to talk to him -who is laying on the dusty ground cupping a hand to his bleeding nose.

Finally, I step in front of him, directly into his line of sight, effectively blocking his view of Aiden. “You need to calm down.” I tell him firmly. When his gaze finally flickers over to me my demeanor softens a bit. “He’s not worth it.” I say quietly, nodding my head toward the crowd of horrified bystanders. Daryl’s eyes dart to the Alexandrians and he steps from side to side like a caged in animal, like he might pounce on anyone at any moment. But he allows me to speak gently to him, not quite calming him down but getting started. “Let’s go back to the house and get you cleaned up before we have to deal with this.” I say lowly, gesturing to the group of people- including Rick, Deanna, Michonne, Glenn, Nicholas and Reg-that are marching toward us.

Daryl nods hesitantly and allows me to pull him in between two houses, slipping away in the crowd before the leaders can reach us.

We amble between the houses and the wall, keeping a low profile on our way home just in case. “Ya know, you didn’t need to do that.”

Daryl gives me a sidelong glance but I continue looking ahead. “I mean, I appreciate it and all but you know I can take care of myself and right now we’re skating on thin ice so you and I have to be very careful of what we say and do.”

Daryl grunts in acknowledgement. “I know...just...couldn’t let that asshole say those things about you. They ain’t true and he has no right to speak to you that way.” he grumbles, getting himself worked up again.

I nod, my eyes drifting to the ground.

“Hey,” he says, stopping and turning to face me, very gently tugging on my arm to get me to stop next to him. “Y’know what he said’s bullshit right?”

I nod certainly. “Of course, yeah. I just...I can’t help but feel like I’m not worth the trouble. I know what he said was wrong but we probably should’ve just left it. I mean, he’s Deanna’s son!” I say, anxiously tapping my fingers against my thigh.

“Bullshit” “Yeah, you said that already.” I joke in an attempt to lighten the mood. Daryl gives me a look and I see it’s not working. I sigh. “All I’m saying is he’s an asshole but assholes are everywhere and we have to pick and choose our battles these days.”

Daryl shakes his head. “Alright, fine. But I choose this battle. You didn’t deserve what he said to ya!”

“I know, but in the grand scheme of things someone hurting my feelings is not that important!” I argue. Daryl grits his jaw in annoyance. “I mean, Daryl, thank you for standing up for me and all but seriously, why waste your time on this? I don’t care what he says about me.” “I care!” “Why??” “Because it ain’t true!” Daryl shouts. I go silent, seeing the distress on his face and waiting for him to explain further. He fidgets in agitation, running his hands through his hair roughly and pacing back and forth the tiniest bit.

“You just...” he starts but draws his mouth closed into a tight line when he can’t seem to think of the right words. I still wait, knowing if I’m patient he’ll spit it out eventually. He huffs but finally turns to face me fully, stopping his strides, to look me in the eye.

“Look you just don’t understan’ but you’re probably the most amazing person I’ve met and he ain’t got the right to treat you like that. You’re smart an’ strong an’ brave an’ always looking out for everybody else ‘fore yourself. You’re wise an’ easy to talk to an’ you make me feel like I might be worth somethin’ so I just think someone should do the same for you.” he says, with notes of pleading and stress in his voice. He’s afraid I won’t believe him. And coming from anyone else, normally I wouldn’t have believed all those good things spoken about me, but with Daryl, he would never say it if he didn’t think it was true. Not to mention I could see it in his eyes. He meant it.

He sighs, calming down a bit, embarrassment taking over as his gaze scans my shocked features. “Yer a good person Y/N...and no one should ever treat ya as less.” he mumbles, alternating between looking at the ground and meeting my eyes for a split second through the ends of the hair that hangs over his forehead.

I am taken aback; my lips parted in surprise. My heart swells. I let out a light, airy laugh that seems to catch on the breeze that tousles my hair. “Thank you.” I whisper. My eyes shine, smiling all their own as my mouth twitches up at the corners.

Daryl clears his throat, hanging his head to avoid eye contact and toeing the ground. “Yeah, ‘course.” he mutters.

I smile again as I replay his confession over in my head. I have always felt the same way about him and it makes my heart swell to know that he sees me in such a beautiful way.

He clears his throat awkwardly once again and motions over his shoulder “We should probably keep going.” he says before turning and continuing our walk home. I hang back for a minute, watching him walk away; my admiring eyes dancing over his figure. Everything about him, from his gait to the dirty red shop rag hanging out of his back pocket, is perfect to me. I shake myself out of my thoughts and jog to catch up with him, sweeping his hand up into my own when I reach his side. He turns to look at me curiously at the contact but I keep my eyes trained ahead, pretending not to notice. He copies this action after a moment of studying my profile but then I feel his hand subtly tighten it’s grip on mine. I bite my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot.

“I love you.” I tell him, still not turning to see his reaction, though I feel his body stiffen. After all of the sweet things he said about me I need him to know that I feel the same, that he means as much to me, even if I had been afraid to say the words out loud before. I think he knew, but he deserved to hear it. His grip on my hand becomes even tighter. “I know.” he whispers and I smile a soft, quiet sort of smile because it makes me want to cry with happiness that he said those words to me. Daryl Dixon knew that I loved him. And that was precious to me.

“I love you too”

175 notes · View notes

oikaw-ugh · 4 years ago

Note

HI BABE I SAW YOUR POST FOR FUJITA AND OMG I WANT TO KNOW THE REST TOOOOOO OK NEXT NUMBER IS NUMBER 2 >:) HIT ME

HSJSJSISJSIAKAKA I'M GRINNING RIGHT NOW I FEEL LIKE I'M SUCH A NERD FR HUHUHUHU

Also, halo, Pilar! @ineedselfcontrol-helpme BKSSJSJ I'M GLAD YOU ARE INTERESTED OF MY OCs too 🥺

Number 2: JUNKO

Full name

Arai Junko (Breath of Darkness)

Preferred name/nickname

Junko

Generally referred to as

The feminist HAHAHHAHAHA

Warning: mention of abuse

Appearance

Sex: Female

Height: 5'2"

Weight: Somewhere around 50-60 kilos hehe

Build: She's not fat, she's not thin either. Just right :')

Hair: She used to have a long silky hair that reaches up to her waist (like Fujita's) but she hated how men like her hair so she cut it into uneven layers and ties her hair now.

Skin: She has smooth and pale skin tone but ever since she became a slayer, her complexion became fair with all the sunlight.

Eyes: Her eyes are deep brown in color. Fujita used to mock her for being 'alive but dead' with how dull-looking her eyes are.

Mouth: Not too thin but not too full.

Hands: They are slim and long. A fact she likes because it is like her sister's.

Feet: Average

Scars: She got two lashes on her cheeks from her sister's abusive husband.

Other features: None.

Noteable features: Whenever she unties her hair, Fujita is in awe with how beautiful Junko actually looks with her hair down.

Voice

Accent: None

Verbal Ticks: None

Language: Let’s assume they speak Nihonggo.

Articulation: She kind of share the same vocabulary with Fujita as she also came from a wealthy family.

Laughter: Her voice is surprisingly low so whenever she laughed, everyone gets scared as it feels like listening to a huge man laugh.

Grump: She mutters under heart breath whenever she sees or hears something so sexist.

Breathing: She makes this cute 'Mmm' when responding to question. She mumbles most of the time which creeps Fujita.

Mannerism

Face: She always has this (o_o) face all the time and it sometimes creeps people who personally don't know her. Good thing Maria is always there to reassure everyone that that's just how Junko looks. She also space out a lot, too.

Hands: She likes to play with her fingers when she's spacing out.

Legs/Feet: She likes to tap them relentlessly on the floor as if she's anxious.

Habits: She always run her fingers on her hair. She checks whether if it's already too long for her liking.

Posture: Kind of slouching. She used to be as poised as Fujita but she learned that men like delicate women so no.

Walking posture: She walks delicately, though.

Sitting posture: She slouches which ticks Fujita off but she couldn't care less.

Personal space: She's fine. She can handle hugs or people who are close to her AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT A DUDE. I'm sorry. She just hates them.

Spacial awareness: She doesn't like bothering people so she's very wary of her surroundings yk what I mean?

Personal

Introvert/Extrovert: An introvert. Even when she still stays with his father, she's mostly quiet and her only friend was her sister.

Optimist/Pessimist: In between? She's kind of hopeful since she's with her friends but also pessimist as she fears things might not go according to what she'd hope.

Gender: Female

Sexuality: She's straight. But that does not mean she's interested with men.

Romantic: She's never been in love and I think will never be. Oh wait, she's in love with her niece ✨

Memory: SHE HAS A SHARP MEMORY. That would explain her hatred towards men.

Planning: In her most private daydreams, she planned on settling down with Amida, Fujita, and Maria if they all decide to retire.

Pensive: She doesn't regret anything that she's done. But if it's something about her friends, she'd overthink of it.

Intuition: She knows she's good at making decisions. If she isn't, she wouldn't be with her friends.

Goals: To keep her friends and her sister and her niece safe.

Insecurities: None. It used to be her scars but she realized that would kind of scare men away so she loves it.

Achievements: She's been told her whole life she'd only be successful if she settles down with a successful man. Her achievement was when she was able to stand up against her sister's abusive husband.

Anxiety: She hates men but truth to be told, their stares still make her anxious

Overwhelmed: When she visited her pregnant sister only to see her mistreated and in a poor condition.

Self-help: When she has internal conflicts, she thoroughly thinks of it. If it's too overwhelming for her, she asks for Maria, Fujita, and Amida's opinion because their different viewpoints gives her a clearer picture.

Comforts: Her sister's cooking, Maria's cooking, Fujita's 'funny' remarks and Amida actually rebutting against Fujita.

Philosophy: Men are trash.

Triggers: Men

The Past

Parents/Guardians: Her mother died even before she could open her eyes so she and her sister lived together with their sexist father. He has always told them that they would only be successful if they get to marry a successful man.

Her sister is her only friend. She learned kindness and gentleness from her sister. When her sister was bound to marry someone she didn't knew, her sister suggested the two of them run away. In the end, this suggestion wasn't pushed because her sister was afraid of their father.

School: No. But she was pampered well by her household.

Adolescence: She had the greatest adolescence! She actually grew very pretty! Hence, why men are all over her.

Leaving home: Was meaningful to her. It meant that she finally is able to stand up against her father. Leaving home was like freedom.

Further education:

Life events: When she didn't receive letters from her sister after her marriage, she grew worried and decided to visit her, only to see her wounded physically and pregnant. This got her fuming mad and she lashed out against her brother-in-law. He was drunk and was trying to violate her but she fought back, making her brother-in-law angry, breaking the bottle of alcohol just so he could hit her face, giving her scars.

Junko grew angrier with what he has done (WHO WOULDN'T THO WHEN YOU JUST WOUNDED THEM EYE-) He was about to go near her once again when Maria, who was on her way to another mission, heard of the commotion outside.

Worst day of their life: When she gave her brother-in-law the chance to hurt her and her sister and when she did not stand up against her father regarding her sister's marriage.

Lessons: Men are not to be trusted and she is not an object.

The Relationships

Family: The moment she left her household, her father is no longer part of her family. The only ones she considers as family are her sister and her baby, Amida, Fujita, and Maria.

As for Amida, at first she hated him. But when she knew of what happened to him, she kind of relaxed and accepted him.

Friendships: She's basically a loner her entire life and her only friends are her sister, Fujita, Maria, and Amida.

Friends in need: She'd be willing to help them. Be it as little as Fujita looking for her shoe or Maria chopping the firewood.

Annoyance: When in an argument, she's usually composed. But when you say something that offends her (like, this is why women should...), she'd actually scream at you.

Romance: She dislikes the thought. She hates the thought of being tied down with a man. Though if this man actually drinks his respect juice, she might - might - accept him

Marital problems: She was almost bound to marry someone.

Adversaries: -

Enemies: Men. And demons.

Strangers: She's gentle as long as you are not a dude.

Fun stuff: She loves visiting her sister along with her baby! She also likes it when she and the gang are on a stand by and they're just having fun.

Dating: None

Best friend: Amida, Maria, and Fujita

Love: Her friends, her sister and her niece.

Respect: She respects her friends, her sister, and women in general.

Interactions

Mingling: At first, people are wary of her. But if they get to know her, they'd grow fond of her because she's a sweet bean! (That is if you're not a guy)

Comfort levels: She's comfortable talking to women but men? She's out.

Physical: She low key likes it when Maria or her sister caress her hair. Exclude Fujita, though. That bitch does not even know how to gently pat your head.

Group: She's fine with mingling in groups as long as you're not a guy

Jealous: She's jealous of no one.

Temper: LONG. How did you think she survived her father if she didn't have one?

Empathy: She emphatize to those who are wounded. So when she learned about Amida's state before becoming a slayer, she grew soft.

Affectionate: Lowkey motherly-like. She'd ask if you are hurt, or are you hungry or thirsty. She'd listen to you ramble and she wouldn't mind you wasting her time.

Distaste: When she hates someone, she'd tell it straight to their face since she hates beating around the bush.

Responsibility: She feels like it's her responsibility to keep her sister and her friends safe.

Self-esteem: Normal. Not too high to the point she's arrogant but not too low to the point she'd shy away. But if we're talking about Junko who was still living with her father, she has a very low esteem.

Honesty: She's very honest to her friends and sister. Unlike Fujita, she wouldn't hesitate telling her deepest secrets to Maria. But on Amida's case, it took a while for her to relax around him and to befriend him.

Leader or follower: A follower. She follows wherever her friends are.

Praise: She hates praises. It reminds her of the feeling of how men aggressively praised her from the past because of her beauty. Praises make her feel like she's an object.

Criticism: She accepts them and she works on them.

Insults: She takes them lightly but if it came from a man, please prepare your ass for her breathing form.

Embarrassment: She's embarassed when she's seen doing something out of character. Like, when Fujita caught her trying to plant, she blushed as if it was taboo for her to plant.

Flirting: No. :)

Attention span: She's very attentive when it comes to her friends and sister. She remembers the smallest detail and she never forgets the things her friends tell her no matter how random they could be.

---

I know no one asked but I have 4 OCs from Demon Slayer universe and I'd love to create this with them but I'm confused on which OC do I make one first.

So pick a number between 1 and 4 :) (2 and 4 are out-)

#demon slayer imagines #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer oc #kimetsu no yaiba oc #kimetsu no yaiba art #kimetsu no yaiba fanart #kny oc #kny fanart #kny art #demon slayer fanart #demon slayer art #leia's ocs #leia does art

17 notes · View notes

mostfacinorous · 4 years ago

Text

Stoki Whumptober Day 22: Do These Tacos Taste Funny To You? [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]

As the day dawned and they considered their options, Loki sent tentative tendrils of power towards the stone.

It was recovering-- that much was clear, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being usable.

“This will take several days.” He announced shortly.

Rogers looked up from the fire, frowning. He seemed to have recovered some of his lost body heat, and nearly all of his wandering wits.

“Not much choice, is there? So what should we do?”

Loki pondered.

“We have a few priorities. The first should be sustenance, I think. Food-- preferably meat, if we can manage to trap anything. Then, shelter. What we made in a few hours yesterday was a start, but it is nowhere near enough to keep you alive, and my powers are low from keeping the heat around you.

Rogers looked startled.

“Wait-- what did you do?”

Loki cocked his head, then huffed a little laugh, feeling sheepish. He’d thought it would be obvious, but apparently Rogers had been too out of his mind to realize.

“It’s no matter. I kept the heat close, that’s all. Without food and rest, I will not be able to do it again, and so we should make an effort to secure both food and a place that will support us for the next few days.”

Rogers nodded. “What’s the best way to do that?”

Loki thought back to hunts and adventures, and adjusted for his current state-- tired, magically weak, and Rogers, human, though extraordinary for one.

“A den.” He decided. “We dig down before we build up, and that will be easier if we can find an area with good snow drift.” He glanced at Rogers’s hands, remembering how stiff and red they’d been the night prior.

“Perhaps I should take the lead on that. Do you know anything about tracking or trapping?”

Rogers shook his head apologetically. “The woods isn’t really my forte-- even back in the war, we just carried rations with us.”

Loki sighed.

“Alright. Shelter first, then. It will, I think, be the most pressing of our needs. And maybe we can build upon what we already have, rather than starting anew.”

This was less than ideal, of course, but they’d make it through. As long as they could keep Rogers warm enough, even if they found no food, they would last three days. This would all be fine.

Loki’s first act was to find two trees near enough to one another that they could lay the trees they felled between them, stacking them almost like weaving, to form a wall, and wedging more trees in at an angle, to form a triangular shape. It was, again, not wind proof, but he hoped to get it closer to that before night fall.

Once the walls were tall enough to allow them to walk inside while bent over, they switched to installing something of a roof-- simply more trees laid across.

“All these trees we’re tearing down-- it’s not going to affect the timeline, will it?” Rogers asked, when they’d nearly finished with their labour, as it grew to early afternoon.

Loki shrugged.

“It may have some effect, though who knows what… and it probably doesn’t do to dwell on it. We have little enough choice.”

Loki showed the Captain how to scrape off the snow and find the wet leaves and pine needles beneath. “This is to fill the gaps between the logs. Can you work on this, while I search for food? Take breaks and warm your hands by the fire when they grow uncomfortable.”

“Okay. Stay close though-- within hearing range.”

“Of course.” Loki wasn’t sure whether the Captain was more concerned for himself or for Loki, but given what he knew of them man, he thought it was likely the latter.

Sweet fool.

Loki wished he’d taken the time earlier to fashion and set traps, but he’d chosen to prioritize otherwise, and so that left him likely needing to use what was left of his power for the day on food.

He managed to use his Jotun eyes to find a rabbit’s burrow, and uncovered three fat rabbits for dinner. Satisfied they would have something, he began next to forage, finding a few mushrooms he was familiar with on tree trunks, low to the ground.

He wished he had a pot; a stew would be immensely satisfying given the temperatures, and being able to melt snow and drink it warm would warm them very effectively, but he was making do with what they had, and so spits over the fire would have to do.

He was careful not to cook the meat too long, unwilling to lose the animal’s fat to the flames, and passed two of them to Rogers to sup on.

“Is that gonna be enough for you?” The Captain asked, nodding towards Loki’s own meal.

“I found a few mushrooms, I’ll round it out with that and it will be plenty.” Loki assured him, opening the small satchel he’d made out of the hem of his cape, tied up and around itself.

The mushrooms, he had to admit, didn’t sound as appealing as the meat, but they would help him to feel more full. And it seemed to satisfy Rogers, who began tucking into his food with a voracity that Loki hadn’t expected. He wondered if his body, superior to the rest of his species, made superior demands of him as well. He was glad, suddenly, that he’d chosen to divide up the food that way. And with any luck the meat would help him feel warmer overnight.

They finished their supper and settled into their new lodgings, watching as the sun dropped behind the trees and slowly all light faded but that of the fire. Loki kept that built high enough to warm the space, and was gratified to find the set up holding heat much better than last night’s had.

He was just beginning to settle in when the first of the cramps hit him.

At first he thought little of the discomfort, but as it grew, he found himself clutching at his middle and wiping sweat from his brow.

“Are you… Loki? What’s wrong?” The Captain moved closer, clearly alarmed, and Loki waved him off.

“Perhaps the meat was undercooked.” He said, feeling slightly miserable about it.

“If that was the case, I should be feeling it too. What about the mushrooms? You know which ones are safe, right?”

Loki groaned. “I thought I did-- there must be some differences to Asgardian ones.”

Well, that would explain his current state.

“I should-- ah, go purge them.” Loki began to crawl towards the exit, and Rogers moved to follow. Loki stopped him.

“I will not freeze to death in my efforts-- you might. And, if you don’t mind… I’d rather you not see me like this.”

Rogers did not appear impressed.

“What happens if you pass out, or get lost, or if it gets worse and you can’t make it back?”

“Then you come look for me in the morning. I mean it, Rogers-- stay with the fire.”

The Captain glanced away, his lips going thin.

“I told you to call me Steve.” he said, and Loki sighed, glad that he was giving ground to Loki’s argument in favor of complaining about what he was called.

“Steve, then. Let me handle this myself. I’ll return as soon as I feel up to it.”

Rogers pushed a hand through his hair distractedly.

“Alright, but I’m not waiting til morning. If you’re not back by the time this log burns down, I’m coming looking for you.”

Loki glanced at the fire. That didn’t give him long, and if he had any hope of retaining his dignity-- his stomach cramped again, and made a sound like a restless beast.

“Fine.” he said quickly. “I will walk in a straight line from the door into the woods. But if it comes to it, I imagine at some point you should be able to smell me.”

He wrinkled his nose and climbed out into the cold, fully prepared to use the dregs of his magic to speed the process of emptying his stomach, if he must.

He could not say he was looking forward to it.

---

Some hours later, Loki returned to the shelter, shaking with exhaustion, and sore from the day’s exertions, and ready to simply curl up and rest, at long last. Rogers was still awake, waiting for him and staring into the flames, and though he’d wrapped himself in Loki’s cape, he was glad to see he didn’t appear to be as poorly off as he had been the night before.

“Hey,” he greeted. “You doing okay?”

Loki huffed.

“Well, I feel a good deal less like dying.” Though he did not mention that it had smelled for a bit like he had done, out there.

Rogers laughed a little, sounding surprised. “Glad to hear it, I guess. Here.” He lifted his arm, creating an opening in the cape that Loki supposed he was meant to crawl into.

“What?” Loki asked.

“I figure-- it’s cold. We should share body heat. Especially if you’re feeling sick-- we can’t afford for you to get worse.”

It was Loki’s turn to laugh, though there was panic hidden under it. The Captain was sweet, but a fool.

“Do you suppose I withstand the cold better because I run warmer than you?” Loki asked archly. “I am cold-blooded, Captain. I would only steal your heat. I have none to share.”

“Steve.” He corrected quickly, then shook his head. “I don’t care. As long as… if being warmer would help you, you should share my heat. You’re shivering.”

And Loki realized it was true; he was exhausted, drained both physically and magically, and his sleep had been cut short the night prior with watching over Steve.

He didn’t have the energy left to argue, and so worked his way around the fire to sit beside Steve, ducking under his own cape for warmth.

“If I make you cold, though-- you must tell me.” Loki cautioned.

“Alright. And if there’s anything I can do to help, you hafta tell me. Deal?”

“I suppose it must be.” Loki found himself leaning into the heat, and did not flinch when Steve’s arm curled around his shoulder to pull him closer, though it was a close thing.

#Stoki Whumptober2020 #Stoki #Frostshield #Capfrost #Steve x loki #Loki x Steve #Whumptober #That writing thing I do

10 notes · View notes

kathyprior4200 · 4 years ago

Text

Heavenly Boss Episode Four: D.I.A.B.L.O.

“Welcome the wackiest episode of the season! When Elves and Diablos clash over the fates of a fallen cherub trio, things sure do happen.”

Oh, hello. Docile here, welcome back to Heaven! I know things were a bit wild and confusing last time. Let me try and explain a bit.

Apparently the first Heaven’s blessing company C.H.E.R.U.B. had been under the guidance of one of my previous bosses, Kiva. I don’t know why anyone would approve of her, other than she’s famous for her singing in both Heavens. Instead of spreading faith and love, she wanted more fame and a chance to create her own world on Earth. She briefly used the cherubs’ powers to revive certain people on Earth and kill off others deemed “unworthy” in God’s eyes. There is a good reason why no one should bring back the dead. Even C.H.E.R.U.B. and my company E.L.F. know that would only cause overpopulation, war, and an alteration of history. It broke my heart when we had to reverse the damage Kiva had done. In the process, we freed C.H.E.R.U.B. from Kiva’s influence, Tirred from her influence and sent the dead back to the other side. We also had to erase the memories of the event from the mortals for obvious reasons. Thankfully, Deerie just straight up banished Kiva and her group…I heard they got arrested on Earth, but I have a feeling they may come back.

Tirred’s been experiencing a few struggles with getting over the event. He had given into his desire for more status and like many angels in Heaven, he tends to see demons as “lesser than.” He’s being monitored under supervision for a bit just in case, but I think he can fix up his attitude…mostly.

Recently, I got an update on how C.H.E.R.U.B. is doing. They had failed to save the life of a greedy inventor and were banished to Earth. I have a bad feeling that they’ll get corrupted in Hell and return for revenge against their I.M.P. rivals. I’m all for keeping I.M.P. in line to try and stop their horrible mass murders, but fighting fire with fire usually doesn’t end well. Although I think that indigo sheep, Collin, has the purest heart of the three.

So far, we’ve been doing business in Heaven as usual: record keeping on human life, plus spreading God’s words of good faith (and trying to leave out the bad messages of “ditch your loser friends who you can’t use.”) There’s a difference between leading cooperatively and leading selfishly. True leadership requires lifting others up as well as yourself. I guess our Heavenly Father doesn’t trust anyone else due to Lucifer trying to take His throne all those centuries ago. Paperwork is always tedious but it must be done. I know our business tithers between legal and illegal but we’ll deal with any consequences that may arise. My job is my passion and my employees are like my family.

Right now, my team and I are discussing some ways to meet and collaborate with C.H.E.R.U.B. I think they need some guidance on properly interacting with humans. Plus, I think Sunna and I are tempted to give those cute cherubs some hugs. Truthfully, I hope we can get to them before they “sink further down,” if you catch my drift. Ideally, C.H.E.R.U.B. could stay on Earth and continue protecting humanity. Or we could provide them sanctuary in our Heaven. The first option seems more likely due to both Deerie’s rules and interdimensional complications. It’s very rare for an individual to travel to the parallel universes…and Earth is in the middle of all the Heavens and Hells!

But hey, surely it’s worth a try, right?

Sunna was peacefully sleeping on one of the chairs around the smooth table at E.L.F. headquarters. The elves were seated in their spots with Docile at the head of the table.

“Alright guys,” he said. “This is a very important mission. With Lord Gabriel’s help, I’ve pinpointed C.H.E.R.U.B.’s location to be in a forest near a lake, not too far from that inventor’s old mansion.” He pointed to certain spots on a holographic map in front of them. “It appears they briefly stayed in a church for sanctuary last December and are now trying to stay low. Gabriel said they had been helping other humans in secret but haven’t gotten rid of their desires for acknowledgement, praise and material gains.”

“Hold up,” said Tirred with his usual yawn. “I thought that C.H.E.R.U.B. never asks for any fees.”

“That is true, but I’m talking about what they seek. The three cherubs were raised in a culture that values perfection, reward and the pursuit of happiness…”

Tirred coughed, “Americans,” which earned him a glare from his boss.

Docile continued, “Even Heaven’s citizens have flaws of their own. Selfishness exists in everyone, no matter how altruistic they try to be. C.H.E.R.U.B. knows that if they spread love, they can also feel good about themselves. But they always expect something in return for their work. Money, praise, God’s grace, whatever it is. The point is, they never help others just for the sake of doing so.”

“That actually makes sense,” Timmid added, brushing back her short white hair. “I wonder if they were so quick to collaborate with us because they just wanted us to promote their company.”

“Which is what we’re randomly doing instead of, you know…worrying about ourselves in our reality!" Tirred added, waving his hands for emphasis. “We shouldn’t have to care about some other cheesy company.”

Sunna happily mumbled “cheese” in her sleep.

“You have a good point Tirred, but this is different,” Docile elaborated. “C.H.E.R.U.B. may be from another realm, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to help them out. Remember that we help humans and angels alike when we can.”

“We can’t help everybody,” Tirred said. “Especially those humans and demons who…”

“We’re not talking about them,” Docile added, holding up a hand. “There’s no need to be a downer when I’m trying to spread light onto a dire situation here, okay?”

Tirred crossed his arms. “I’m helping you see the reality of things. The other angelic orders won’t approve of this. Especially since traveling to the parallel realms is forbidden!”

“And the reality is that we will continue on with this mission because it’s the right thing to do,” Docile argued, standing his ground. “It is our job to help those in need, no matter how bizarre the situation may be. So for your sake, I suggest you keep yourself in line.”

Tirred grumbled and backed away slightly. Docile sighed and straightened up.

“Plus, we aren’t traveling to the other Heaven. We’re going to Earth. That’s where C.H.E.R.U.B. is.” He glanced over at the large leather bound Bible that allowed them to travel to Earth. He didn’t know how much longer Azrael and Samuel would allow him to keep it, but hopefully a bit longer.

“Won’t we need disguises again?” Timmid asked. “Or Sunna?”

“I think we’ll be alright with going in our true forms,” said Docile. “But remember to lay low and stick together. After all, C.H.E.R.U.B. will be in their regular forms…might as well meet angel to angel.”

“Okay,” said Timmid.

There was a knock on the door, which startled Sunna awake. “Guys, do you hear that?”

“That was the door,” called Timmid.

Sunna walked over and opened it. “Hello,” she said as two men entered. One was short and fat, the other was tall and thin.

“Are those…supervillains?” asked Timmid.

“More like superheroes!” called the thin man. He had an elegant white mustache and white-gray skin. He wore a white top hat with a purple brim and old time glasses with purple lens. His suit was white with a large purple cross in the center, the arrow pointing up. His boots were purple and his cape was light blue.

The squat man beside him wore a white suit with thin blue lines on it with a beige collar. He wore a white bowler hat with a blue trim and white rimmed glasses with teal lens. His mustache was black and his skin was white-gray. Both men had halos and white wings.

“I’m Straight Nate!” greeted the thin man. “Craftsman of all things straight and narrow! This is my partner Kyle Kipton!”

“Nice to meet you both!” Docile said, shaking their hands. “How’d you get into Heaven?”

Nate explained. “I wasn’t always a young man. Kyle and I ran Kyle-Nate Tools, a local shop for farmers. Earlier today, we were giving food, eggs and farming equipment to the poor. We could’ve saved so many. We both got involved in our job and felt so much younger than before. It was marvelous! Turns out that Lyle Lipton’s anti-aging machine in his factory was sending out rays that turned us younger and younger by the day. Our customers soon grew suspicious when we suddenly appeared as children. Both of us were almost handed over to police. We raced toward Lyle’s place, hoping to get back to our normal ages. But before we could reach him, the mob had cornered us with torches and pitchforks. We refused to give them what they wanted and they…killed me. It was a miracle that Lyle’s machine secrets didn’t get out. Everyone believed the mobsters to be crazy. Thanks to some angel magic, no one else sought to be young again.”

“I died shortly after Nate,” said Kyle. “Almost thought about taking my life, but Covid 19 did that for me.”

“Sorry,” said Sunna.

“Brother bucking Covid ruins everything!” Docile spat.

“Wait,” Tirred asked. “If you turned into children, why do you look so…”

“Wise?” Kyle finished with a shrug. “Who knows? Age doesn’t matter for saints up here. We stay the same age as when we died on Earth like the sinners do in Hell.”

“Well that story was a load of rubbish,” Tirred scoffed.

“Don’t be rude,” Sunna chided.

“It’s alright,” Nate said. “Kyle and I are trying to figure out what do to next now that we’re in Heaven. I wonder if there are any farms around that could use our help.”

“I’ve never heard of farms in the sky before,” Kyle said.

“Well Heaven has a whole society like Hell does, so schools, farms, houses, pretty much anything from all time periods exist here,” said Docile.

“Have you heard of the Canadians?” asked Sunna. “They are anti-cannibals, against eating meat in all forms. A bunch of French-speaking vegetarian cultured folk. A bit eccentric. They make the best maple syrup and host the best air hockey games. You know, literally in the air…”

Nate rolled his eyes. “People are so quick to judge these days.”

On a nearby television screen, a commercial showed a dark teal skinned elf wearing a black outfit and a black hat, twirling a cane. “Are you looking for work to make solemn stories and formal films? Well call me at Sully Sirius’ Serious Idea Studios, where you can create art and get rich! The one who makes the best creation will receive two free tickets for Woo-Hoo Land! But still…I have standards for heaven’s sake!” A brief clip showed Sully selling holy water bottles at the theme park.

“Wierdo,” muttered Kyle.

“Well, I wish you two the best of luck up here,” said Docile. “Thanks for stopping by.”

“Anytime,” said Nate. Nate and Kyle waved goodbye before exiting out the door.

Docile turned to a winged cherub deer.

“You think we’ll succeed in our mission?”

“Yeah, oh yes, yes, yes!” Doe-Doe trilled genuinely, typing notes on an IPad while wearing yellow overalls. “Go beyond the rules and you do you! Yeah!”

0 0 0

Docile, Tirred and Timmid stood outside in front of their headquarters building, the heavenly sky shining down above them. The white building and the golden wing designs attached to it shone brightly in the light. Tirred briefly glanced enviously beyond a wrought iron golden gate toward the direction of the silver Holy City surrounded by glowing halos. Timmid took a deep breath and flipped through the Bible until coming across a passage to create a portal to Earth. After she chanted and drew a teal blue sigil with chalk, a gap opened up. A fearful Timmid led the way through, while Docile and Tirred followed.

The trio arrived at the vast meadow surrounded by forest trees and the shining lake. The sun shone brightly in the sky while a few white clouds dotted the horizon. Several birds chirped on nearby hanging branches, while brown squirrels and rabbits hopped along the grassy plain.

Docile sniffed the air deeply and sighed. “Nature truly is a wonderful thing. There’s something so genuine about Earth that makes it so…vast and beautiful.”

Tirred rolled his eyes. “Heaven will always be the superior place. It has marvelous light, gold, angels and the Almighty of course.”

“But the living world is unique in its own way. It’s the birthplace of all the saints and sinners. They make up the majority of the afterlife. Without this place, Heaven and Hell alike wouldn’t function the way they do now. No technology, no flare, no diversity. Our current worlds today are what some mortals call a “melting pot.” Different ingredients tossed together into one societal dish.”

“Blast, boss! Enough with your metaphorical mumbo-jumbo,” Tirred sighed, briefly tugging his pointed ears in frustration. “Do you even realize what could happen if we meet with other beings too long? Reality itself…”

He imitated an explosion.

Timmid laughed a bit. “Who’s spewing mumbo-jumbo now?” She playfully elbowed Tirred. “Relax, Tir. Docile knows what he’s doing. It’s risky but it’s for the greater good.”

“Greater good, my ass,” he muttered.

“If you wanna get your good ass kicked, then be my guest,” Timmid wiggled her eyebrows playfully as Tirred turned red in the face.

Docile summoned his golden staff and slowly moved it in the air in front of him. The staff tip briefly glowed when he aimed it at a lower part of the hill. He spotted something small and white flying in the same direction. Docile mentioned for his coworkers to follow. They headed down the hill until they arrived at a white park bench. There were some passerby walking their dogs or chatting on their cell phones. Several women pushed strollers around, while a child tossed bread crumbs for the ducks. The paths were lined with streetlamps and red rose bushes.

Just then, Docile spotted a flying boy and two winged sheep sitting close together on a bench. No one seemed to pay them any mind.

“Bingo!” Docile grinned.

The periwinkle sheep Collin sat and examined the park. The yellow sheep Keenie straightened up her yellow dress and red bow. Cletus sat in the middle in his reddish overalls, looking bored. Several white feathers fell off their wings and their halos flickered.

“I don’t understand,” Cletus said dejectedly. “We’ve done all we can to make amends. We’ve saved people, gave them advice, and lived among the humans. Why can’t we go back?”

Collin sniffed as tears started to trickle down his face. “Why can’t Deerie let us back? We were doing so well in Heaven. Our clients and the humans were always grateful for the work we did.”

Keenie stamped one of her hooves. “It’s so not fair! Deerie didn’t even give us a chance. She just sent us here to suffer and rubbed it in our faces!”

“If only that filthy imp leader didn’t blind me during the battle,” Cletus scowled. “Killing Lyle was just an accident. I was this close to eliminating them on the spot!”

“Killing is a bad thing,” Collin mentioned, straightening up. “Our job is never to kill, but to save and spread love!”

“Like I said before Collin, you still joined us in shooting at our rivals,” said Cletus. “Eliminating the threat is sometimes necessary.”

“We also have Exorcists for a reason,” Keenie added. “To eliminate all those shitty sinners and keep both Earth and Heaven safe from them. Those Hell table scraps are just as bad as them, if not worse!”

“W-w-whatever happened to ‘thou shalt not kill?’ ’Love thy neighbor?’” Collin asked, flying up and staring hard at his companions.

The cherubs hovered in the air.

“Those demons aren’t our neighbors,” Cletus told Collin.

“I know that, but still, we could’ve at least taken the fight outside the opera theater! Oh and maybe saved that singer, too.”

“When the imps were in the way, right there?” Keenie asked. “We had to watch over Lyle, too.”

“We had to save his life at any cost,” Cletus said, leaning in.

“B-b-but we didn’t, didn’t we?” Collin finished. “We all played a part in our fate and now in a few days, we’ll be down below facing our worst nightmares!”

Collin broke down into hysterical sobs, as Keenie wrapped him in a hug. “Oh Collin…”

The cherubs flew off toward the open meadow, leaving the park behind and looking around.

Just then, E.L.F. made their entrance in front of them, floating down gracefully on white wings in their own beams of sparkly light. Docile was in the center, Tirred to his right, Timmid to his left. Spiked white halos hung over their heads. C.H.E.R.U.B. stared quizzically at them.

Keenie glared. “Go away, demons! We’re tired of seeing you in your silly costumes!”

“You here to m-m-mock us some more?” Collin asked in anger.

“We come in peace…” Docile began, but didn’t finish. Cletus let out a combination of mournful cries and yells to the sky, causing the nearby humans to glare at them and scatter away.

“You won’t get away with this, I.M.P.! You’ll pay for what you did to us and the humans you slaughtered!”

Cletus finished his cries when a sudden force knocked everyone backwards. They straightened themselves up in the air. The ground broke apart and a column of red, orange and yellow flames shoot up from the opening.

E.L.F. and C.H.E.R.U.B. looked in wide-eyed terror at three small shadowy figures hovering forward through the flames. Three shadows with glowing yellow eyes.

“You seek revenge and are thirsty for blood?” came a low choir of voices.

The flames vanished, revealing a demonic trio. A pointed tail, sharp yellow teeth, a clawed hand holding a black Satanic book...

“We can help satiate your desires…”

The leader appeared, looking like a twisted version of Cletus. He had teal fluffy hair and pale white skin, his teeth sharp and yellow. His eyes were large and yellow with white sclera. He was chubby like Cletus but instead of angelic wings, he had small black bat wings with long red fingers within the flaps. He wore a dark blue undershirt, a black shirt collar and teal colored overalls, plus brown boots. Two reddish orange horns curved down to meet his chin. He put away his black Satanic book.

The corrupted Collin counterpart took the appearance of a bulky anthropomorphic yellow ram. His furry hooves were tan colored with sickly yellowish tips. He wore a wine colored red suit with a black bow tie under his thick neck. His undershirt was orange with an upside down black cross in the center. Sheathed under a black belt was a gun, a dagger and a few other weapons. His teeth, eyes and face were all a dull yellow, although a few black dots rested under his left eye. Ogre-like ears stuck out around his head of thick black wool. Protruding in curves from his head were two thick crimson-colored ram horns with little lines running down the surface. Little black wings held him in the air.

The last diablo was a blue anthropomorphic ram and Keenie’s dark counterpart. Her hooves were purple with dark green tips. Her dress was dark blue with a green bow around it. Her dress moved from blue to various shades of green and teal, becoming lighter at the ends. The hem of her dress was torn and gave the appearance of blue flames as part of the design. Black gloves covered her hands like an executioner’s. She grinned with yellow sharp teeth against a dark blue face. Her eyes had dark orange pupils, teal irises and white sclera. Her wild hair was a lighter shade of blue, moving like flames in the wind. Like her companions, she had black bat wings and curved red-orange ram horns. All the diablos could also grow pointed tails and retract them.

The leader sneered. “Surely you’ve heard of us. You saw our commercial, didn’t you?”

“What commercial?” Docile asked.

0 0 0

A large Leviathan monster opened its mouth wide, revealing sharp teeth, a long slimy tongue and a dark throat. The camera zoomed into the darkness before a red light appeared at the end of the tunnel. A bleak world with a red sky was revealed. A futuristic city in the distance was tall, black and metal: Sin City. The ground was black as was the grass. There was a pandemonium capital building not too far away along with a variety of shops set in a dystopian world: Tiamat’s Treasure Things, Kali’s Corner, Xenomorph Labs.

No Hazbin Hotel or I.M.P headquarters to be found.

A sign read “Diablo Den” and pointed down. The camera moved to show an underground tunnel with torches on either side. An entire subculture of demons lived down within the sewers and damp tunnels. Metal waterproof houses were situated under fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The leader popped up on the screen.

“Salutations! I’m Erebos! Welcome to Hell! Guess you must have done something evil to get here, and evil people deserve to give enemies special cruses!”

The jingle began, with organs playing.

“Does it make you want to yell?” asked Devvin, the yellow ram as a man was shown getting a promotion over a man dressed in rags.

“When an enemy ends up well?” asked Dammna the blue ram female as a rapist was pardoned from his crime.

“Do you frown from ear to ear?” sang Erebos as a man shot at several anti-LGBTQ protestors.

“When your rivals don’t shed a tear?” they all sang as a bully in a baseball cap laughed as a kid cowered in a corner.

“Locked up in a rut?” sang Devvin with a pose.

“A foe seeking your gut?” Dammna sang and posed.

“We can make them cold and dead!” sang Erebos.

“Even give you their head!” They all did villain poses.

“Cause here at D.I.A.B.L.O.!” they sang as “DIABLO” appeared in bloody letters surrounded by pitchforks and the trademark icon.

“We’re the masters of destruction from down below!” sang Devvin as Cletus shot fireballs at a barbed wire fence, allowing prisoners of war to escape. Devvin led the way as Dammna waved a flag with a pentagram and “B.U.R.E.H.C” on it.

“Cause here at D.I.A.B.L.O.!” they sang as the logo appeared again.

“Just name your price and we’re good to go!” sang Dammna as Erebos gave a greedy grin at a human handing him a bag of gold.

“Spreading sickness, chaos and hate!” Devvin sang as he and Dammna gave each other a high five with their hooves.

“History altered and fate!” sang Dammna as atomic bombs went off in reverse as clocks ran backwards and forwards.

“We do the dirty work for you!” sang Cletus as Devvin concocted a deadly virus and dropped it on coughing humans.

“And stirring up world wars, too!” added Devvin as Dammna whispered something in a soldier’s ear, resulting in two armies fighting on the field.

So sit right back…” sang Erebos before they all sang in discord, “…and let us curse a soul for you!”

“Oh, we are the D.I.A.B.L.O.!”

“How the primal chaos shall flow!”

0 0 0

C.H.E.R.U.B. and E.L.F. just stood there, stunned.

Just then, Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie entered through a portal onto the grass. Moxxie was trying not to fall, while Millie safely put away Stolas’ grimoire in a small black backpack.

“Alright gang,” called Blitzo. “Apparently someone wants us to kill that ginger-ass tour guide we saw last time. Looks like he’s at Lyle’s old house jacking off and snatching Lyle’s old possessions.”

Millie tried not to throw up. “This world is even crazier than ours!” Then she pulled out a dark sword and brightened. “Let’s keep on killin’ then!

“Sir, please don’t tell Lyle any of this,” Moxxie pleaded. “You know he’ll get mad if we fail this mission.”

“Oh I already sent him a text,” Blitzo grinned, holding up his phone. The text read “Off 2 kill tour intruder. Might want 2 sell ur stuff.” Moxxie face-palmed.

“I’m already tired and we haven’t even made it there yet,” Moxxie complained.

“Come on Mox, get your sweet imp ass moving,” Blitzo said. “We’ll be at his house before you can say…”

The three imps came to the clearing and froze in their tracks.

“Holy shit,” Blitzo breathed.

At that very moment, all twelve creatures divided in the four separate groups locked eyes with each other, some on the ground, and some in the air. The sky darkened to an abnormal shade of indigo, the ground suddenly warm to the touch. The air itself shifted from stale, to hot, to cold and back again. A strange energy crackled through the air, like any moment the earth would collapse underneath them. A stag with bloodstained antlers reared up his hind legs and raced across the forest as lightning flashed in the sky.

From inside the mansion, the tour guide and several people gazed out the window in awe through a telescope. The smiling man had the ginger bang over his eyes and wore a green suit and cap with dollar signs on it. He spoke too casually to the group as they took pictures on their phones.

“And now you’ll spot several groups of tacky super-powered cosplayers about to begin an apocalyptic battle! The feuds between famous people and ordinary folk is a sight to behold!”

0 0 0

“Who. The Fuck. Are They?!” Blitzo cried out, his voice echoing.

“Oh no!” groaned Moxxie, pointing ahead. “Those are the…”

“Imps!” Collin cried out, all three cherubs glaring at their rivals.

“Cherubs!” Moxxie finished.

“Diablos?!” Tirred asked.

“Elves!” sneered Devvin.

The intense stare-downs could have turned the universe upside down…which for a few moments, it did.

After several minutes of grueling silence, the first one to speak again was none other than Blitzo.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?!”

Cletus crossed his arms. “I’ll tell you what’s going on! Because of you three monsters,” he pointed at the imps, “We’ve been banished to Earth and are this close to meeting our doom down in your filthy world!”

Blitzo just grinned smugly. “Welcome to Hell, baby. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

Cletus turned red in anger. “Shut up! We may have been banished from Heaven all thanks to you, but there is no way we’re going to end up like you!”

Erebos grinned and moved slowly toward the cherubs. “You sure about that?”

He spoke in a bone-chilling whisper that made even Cletus forget his wrath for a moment. “It’s clear that you’ll never be allowed to return to Heaven. Why wish for something you can’t obtain anymore? The only thing you can do now…” he mentioned in the direction of the imps, “…is take back what you’ve lost.”

Cletus glared at him. “I don’t need filthy demons to tell me what to do!”

“Of course you don’t,” Erebos mentioned. “Your company was just trying to do the right thing. Why should you let those monsters stand in your way again?”

“Stop!” called Docile. He flew gracefully in Cletus’ direction. “Don’t listen to that demon.”

“You’re one too!” Cletus seethed, flinching back.

“No, I’m an angel just like you,” Docile said. “That devil is trying to divert you away from your true path. Your company may have been banished, but you can still redeem yourselves and prove the other angels wrong! You’re already great at spreading positivity to those in need!”

“Ha!” Millie called. “Just like how you cherubs failed to save the life of that old man.”

“It was an accident, you emo slutty freak!” Keenie spat.

“The past is then,” Docile continued to Cletus. “This is now. You still have time to prove your innocence. I believe there is goodness in almost everyone.”

Collin flew up to the elf with wide shining eyes. “Y-y-you do?”

Docile wrapped an arm around Collin. “I know it. It’s there, even when all hope seems lost.”

Erebos snickered to Cletus. “You really gonna believe an inverted version of yourself and his subservient goblin fuck toys?”

The cherubs and elves gasped.

“That is so inappropriate!” Timmid called.

“Kiss your ass, sissy,” Dammna taunted as Timmid flinched away.

“Might wanna watch your words, blue bitch,” Millie growled to Dammna. “Just because we’re fellow demons, doesn’t mean I’ll let you pick on others like that.”

“What’re you gonna do about it?” Dammna asked with a sneer. “Sing a murder jingle?”

“My coworkers and I did, actually!”

“I thought your song was very catchy!” Devvin praised.

“Thank you!” beamed Millie. “Now get lost, wannabes!”

But D.I.A.B.L.O. was far from done. Erebos spoke to Cletus. “Anyway…that deer cherub who kicked you out…she knew that you would fall. God doesn’t tolerate mistakes…thus those in Heaven now see you as just that, mistakes. How does it make you feel?”

“Shut it, demon crap!” Keenie shrilled. She flew toward Erebos but Devvin held her back. She freed herself from his grip. Dammna flew beside Collin, who whimpered as she licked her lips.

“Face it…the other cherubs wanted you three kicked out. Because you founded an illegal company that prided itself on saving human lives. You were getting famous for…not following the rules. Jealousy arose.”

“How do you know all this?” Cletus asked.

“We have our ways,” said Erebos. “Angels and demons going to Earth is mostly illegal…you know, changing of history, trauma and all.”

He flew into Cletus’ face and the Cletus flinched back in disgust. Erebos made his way around Collin and Keenie as he talked. “You could’ve been good passive little sheep and stayed in Heaven. But you didn’t.” He ran a hand through Collin’s white wooly hair. “Because you wanted something more. Paradise wasn’t enough for you.”

He grinned sinisterly at Keenie. “You were tired of being looked down upon by the more favorable members of your kind. Always searching for a way so that your…”

He peered underneath her yellow dress, “…divine talents could be brought to light.”

Keenie gave him a hard kick to the face, sending him back a bit. He scoffed in pain and rubbed his eye before straightening up and heading back toward Cletus. “And for a while, they did. But look where you are now. Fallen. Forgotten. Forced away from your home.”

“He’s using you guys!” Tirred warned Cletus. “You can still protect humanity and earn God’s grace once again!”

“No matter what you try to do, you’ll never be able to return. Becoming demons is your destiny!” Devvin said with a dark chuckle.

“Listen to the elf angels,” Collin pleaded to his boss. “The demons are full of sin, but you know we can choose to not stoop down to their level. We can be better cherubs, improve our relations with humans.”

“Right after we get rid of all those stinking demons!” Keenie scoffed, hands on her hips. “If we want C.H.E.R.U.B. to survive…”

“Then I.M.P. must pay, right?” Dammna asked, finishing her sentence. Keenie found herself nodding, mouth agape.

“Hey, we can hear you!” Moxxie yelled, drawing out his gun. He shot it upwards but the bullet was blocked by Tirred’s golden staff. The bullet rebounded away. Moxxie stared at Tirred in disgust. “Man you’re hard to look at.” Tirred just observed him coldly.

“Forget about I.M.P.!” Timmid called to the cherubs. “Focus on redeeming yourselves. It’s the only way you can return home.”

“Help other people for its own sake,” Docile advised. “You don’t need praise or rewards to keep doing the right thing.”

“He’s right, Cletus,” Collin added. “Help humans move away from sin…and we will as well.”

“Ha!” barked Dammna. “Sin and flaws are present in everyone, even in little angels. It’s as natural as sex, eating, drinking and breathing. No one can resist the natural temptations…”

Blitzo grinned. “I’d like to see you try and take us out,” he told Cletus. “Afraid we’ll make you a laughing stock again?” Cletus fumed.

“I hope the Exorcists erase you from existence!” Keenie shrilled.

Devvin appeared beside Keenie. “Why call on them, when you can plan your revenge yourself?”

“Not gonna happen!” she yelled. Just after she said that, her halo flickered again. A small crack appeared on Cletus’ halo. Bits of feathers drifted from Colin’s wings.

“This is not good,” Timmid whispered.

Erebos grinned. “Only a matter of time now, cherubs! It’s time to begin your journey toward justice!”

Back and forth, overlapping words, advice, taunts and threats pounded against Cletus. He felt like his head was being crushed by two opposing hands. Cletus grimaced, looking back and forth and around. He squinted and closed his eyes, curling into a ball.

“The accident wasn’t your fault, boss!”

“Help bring back C.H.E.R.U.B. to its former glory!”

“You’re nothing but a crying baby and a failure. No wonder Heaven doesn’t want you guys.”

“Thy company come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven…”

“Your demonic destiny is here!”

“Give into sin!”

“Spread the love for here and above!”

“ENOUGH!”

Cletus spread out his arms and legs. The force sent many of the individuals back, but they quickly recovered. Lightning flashed in the sky as the battle began.

Although Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie couldn’t fly like everyone else, they made up for it by their array of weapons. Blitzo fired his tan flintlock pistol, the bullets rising in the air. One bullet hit Dammna’s hoof and she hissed in pain. Another grazed Timmid’s shoulder and she cried out.

Docile waved his hand and three golden crossbows appeared in the cherubs’ hands.

“It’s temporary,” he warned.

Wasting no time, Collin, Keenie and Cletus fired sparkly golden arrows from their weapons at the two demonic groups. Cletus and Blitzo fired rounds at each other, both of them expertly dodging the other’s attacks. Erebos laughed as Docile landed punches at him, which he kept blocking.

“Just as planned,” he grinned. “What a joy it is to see C.H.E.R.U.B. and I.M.P. duke it out.” The cherubs’ faces grew more vicious as they chased after the imps.

“Stop fighting, C.H.E.R.U.B.!” Tirred called in concern, but her words fell on ignorant ears.

Erebos landed a punch to Docile’s face and he quickly retaliated via a well-aimed uppercut. “You won’t get away with this,” Docile spat. “I don’t want to fight any of you guys but it appears I have no choice.”

Timmid screamed as Devvin suddenly caught her in a headlock.

“Ha! Surrender or she’s a goner!” called Devvin. Timmid struggled in vain against his grip. Docile glared as he aimed his staff at him, debating on what to do next.

Zing!

An arrow from Collin’s crossbow hit Devvin in the side, sending him screaming and flying off in the distance. He flew back in anger, but Timmid had already recovered. The cherubs’ golden crossbows vanished, the group now defenseless. Moxxie, Dammna, and Millie seized the opportunity to charge in, surrounding the cherubs. Timmid, Docile and Tirred blocked the path of the demons, holding them off with their golden staffs.

“I can’t hold them much longer,” groaned a strained Tirred to the cherubs. “Flee while you still can!”

“We’re not leaving you behind,” Collin said, determined.

Cletus tried to flee, but Dammna grabbed hold of him and tossed him right back with a chuckle.

Erebos arrived and smacked Tirred’s golden staff from his hands…he punched at the diablo’s chest in response. Docile landed several kicks to Moxxie, sending him stumbling to the ground.

“Moxxie!” Millie cried.

“I’m okay!”

Millie took out a black dagger and tossed it toward Timmid. She caught it and tossed it away. Cletus continued to dodge the bullets from Moxxie and Blitzo’s weapons. Keenie charged at full speed toward Millie’s head from behind her. She was just about to land a hard blow when…

A large hand grabbed her by the hair…Erebos, and tossed her hard toward the ground.

Crash!

“Y-y-you monster!” Collin cried.

Keenie growled as she stood up on shaking legs, wiping the dirt from her dress. With a swoop, she lifted herself up in the air before Blitzo could shoot at her. She finally rejoined Collin and Cletus…but the E.L.F. members were almost drained from the battle. The cherubs and elves stood battered and back to back against the surrounding demons.

Lightning flashed as several pairs of the angelic and demonic warriors went head to head. Millie was slashing her sword from underneath Timmid and Keenie, who were punching Dammna and pulling her long blue hair. Keenie slapped Dammna across the face while Timmid yelped as she dodged Millie’s weapon from below. Timmid summoned an angelic harpoon and clashed with Millie. They moved in a dance, metal against metal. The point of the harpoon barely missed Millie’s head. Millie leaped onto the harpoon and raced on it with her sword in her mouth. Timmid’s eyes were wide with surprise. She flipped over Timmid, grabbed her sword and swung it in an arch, knocking Timmid down. The angelic harpoon clattered softly onto the grass. Docile made it vanish with a wave of his hand.

Moxxie fired his gun and hit Devvin several times. He hissed as black blood ran from parts of his legs. “Get the sheep, you idiot!”

“I fight my own battles,” Moxxie retorted, as he dodged Collin’s punches and blasted Devvin’s revolver out of his hand with a well-aimed shot.

Collin and Tirred shared a look, then both swooped on either side of Devvin. With two hard punches to his face, Devvin plummeted to the ground. He glared at them from below as he slowly stood up and shook his head. Tirred tossed Collin out of range of Moxxie’s bullets before he got hit himself. He gasped in pain before landing on the ground to recover. He winced and glared at Devvin. Moxxie rushed at him, but Tirred shoved him back with a force from his golden staff.

Docile, Erebos, Blitzo and Cletus were going head to head as lightning lit up the sky around them.

“Take this, you fucker!” Cletus yelled as he grabbed a nearby rock and threw it toward Blitzo. The rock exploded from Blitzo’s bullet. Another bullet hit one of Cletus’ wing tips, making him stumble in the air. Docile straightened the cherub with one hand as he twirled his staff against Erebos in the other. Erebos flapped his bat wings menacingly. The ground shook below as more cracks appeared. I.M.P. moved to higher ground, gazing at the red lava below in the ground. It created a demonic red glow near the ground. Black blood poured from the demons’ wounds just as white blood flowed from the angels’.

Timmid stood up and flapped her white wings, glanced around in terror. “We have to stop fighting!” she screamed over the yells and the noises of war. “We’re going to destroy the Earth!”

Timmid suddenly screamed as Dammna smacked her on the head from behind. She plummeted to the ground, with Keenie catching the dazed angel and carrying her to a safe spot.

With ear-shattering yells, Cletus and Erebos rammed into each other, as did Blitzo and Docile. The leaders pushed against each other with all their might, as forces from their attacks shook the area. The demons’ horns grew longer and eyes appeared on the angels’ wings. Cletus and Docile glowed blue and white while Erebos and Blitzo glowed red and black. Docile’s harpoon spear pressed against Blitzo’s flintlock pistol. They all seethed and gave each other deadly glares.

Before long, the cracks and forces would spread to the rest of Earth. Heaven and Hell would collapse, the Earth being the final battleground and resting place…

The explosions knocked everyone back, sending all the creatures crashing to the ground. The forest had been burned down to timbers and steam was rising from the lake. Lyle’s mansion had been blasted apart to smithereens…yet the soot covered crowd still took pictures as the tour guide spewed his ever optimistic commentary. His hat was lopsided and he kicked broken glass away.

“One of the Lipton family heirlooms is this golden money bag statue which was gifted to Lyle in the early 1970s. And it’s still standing…”

The tour guide glanced down to see the statue littering the ground in pieces. “…or it was. I call dibs!”

The battle had been an intense stalemate. And all seemed lost as the ground prepared to swallow everyone in the lava and magma.

The dark clouds swirled in a spiral vortex before slowly parting. Sunlight shone from a circular patch of blue sky. The shaking and the yelling stopped. The cracks in the earth fused together and the world slowly got brighter like it did before. The Archangel Michael arrived from the opening, along with the cherub Deerie by his side.

Blitzo helped up his colleagues. “I think we can call this mission a successful failure.”

Millie supported Moxxie. “What about our target?”

“Forget about him,” Blitzo said. “And forget about those cherubs too. They’re done for.”

The imps looked over at the barely stirring cherubs on the ground.

“Well, looks like we won again,” Moxxie said. “Though we really need to tone down all this fighting.”

“Yeah, I’m tired and could really use an iced coffee right now,” Blitzo said. He took out his green “mare-juanna” horse figure and kissed it. “I knew this lucky charm would come in handy. Let’s go gang!”

The imps grinned and high-fived before disappearing through the portal to Hell.

Michael hovered in the air in all his glory, supported by broad white feathery wings. He had pale skin, blushes on his cheeks, and short blonde hair like his fallen brother Lucifer. A sword made of flames was tucked protectively near his belt. A glowing spiked white halo hung over his head with a crystal in the center. He wore a white suit and tailcoat, while several medals and badges shown from the front of his outfit.

He bore a stern expression on his face as the other groups slowly recovered.

“Four interdimensional companies fighting in the one world to cause the most damage to mortal lives. I’m ashamed at all of you. You were lucky that no more humans got hurt.” Michael briefly glared at the cherubs and diablos.

The cherubs and elves bowed their heads in apology, while the diablos looked on.

“I ask that all of you head back to your worlds immediately. If I ever catch you fighting here again, I’ll erase every one of you from existence. Are we clear?”

“Yes sir,” chimed the six angels.

“Lord Michael,” said Cletus, lifting his head. “The demonic imps have already left. And those diablos are the ones who started all this!”

“Please Lord Michael,” said Docile. “My company came here on behalf of the importance of C.H.E.R.U.B.’s protection. I humbly ask that you reconsider their previous errors and allow them a chance to…”

A rumbling sound was heard and cracks appeared in the ground again. Two gaping holes appeared in the ground. One of them shoot fire into the air.

“There’s our cue,” said Devvin to his companions.

Dammna grinned and pointed toward the cherubs. More cracks were forming underneath them, soon creating another hole. Erebos and his gang flew into the cherubs’ faces. “Have fun in the inferno!” cackled Erebos and his crew before they flew into the column of flames and down below. The ground closed over the portal and the flames disappeared.

Deerie laughed nervously at the frightened cherubs. “Yeah, no sorry guys. I’m afraid your test on Earth has come to an end and…well, yeah there’s only one place to go now.”

“Noooo!” the cherubs cried, huddling together.

To the horror of the cherubs and the elves, the fallen trio was starting to change in appearance. Their white wings turned stiff and black, the last of their feathers falling to the ground. Small leathery bat wings grew in their places. Their white halos cracked and fell to pieces in front of them. Keenie frantically tried to piece hers back together. Collin gasped as he held the pieces in his hooves. The halo pieces stopped glowing, fading to a stony dark gray. Keenie buried her pale face in her hooves…hooves that were now morphing into sharp claws. She screamed out loud as she clawed at her face.

“Lord Michael, do something!” begged Docile. But the archangel stood solemnly in the air, shaking his head.

The cherubs’ teeth soon grew sharp and white, cutting into their tongues and making them bleed. Their outfits changed from cheery pastel colors to bold fiery reds, oranges, pinks and yellows. Cletus clutched his head in pain as two small pointed horns protruded from his ginger head. The other cherubs also cried out, clutching at their newly formed horns stained with blood.

The ground collapsed underneath them, giving way to a deep hole with a reddish light and a portal to Hell between the rock walls. Lucifer’s curious grinning face appeared in the opening.

The cherubs felt themselves being pulled back by a powerful force toward the portal.

“No, no, no, no!” Cletus cried. “This can’t be happening!”

Keenie shouted out prayers to God, begging for his forgiveness. Collin wailed and bawled as he hung onto the grass for dear life.

Docile, Tirred and Timmid raced toward the cherubs.

“There’s no point in rescuing them,” Deerie said, flying in front of them. “Unless you troublemakers want to join them.”

Docile promptly punched the doe in the face before making his way toward the struggling trio.

They each placed their right hand on the cherubs’ foreheads as light shone from their teal hands. Tirred placed his hand on Collin, Timmid’s hand was on Keenie and Docile had his hand on Cletus.

Docile chanted in the Enochian angelic language and said: “I bless each of you with a chance to find the light. No matter where you are, it is hope you’ll never lose sight. You will find one person or more, who’ll help you along the way. And after discovering your true righteousness, you’ll return home someday. By the will of the Lord, so may it be.”

E.L.F. removed their hands and the light faded.

“Bye!” Deerie happily waved toward the cherubs before vanishing through the heavenly portal.

Timmid grabbed Keenie’s hands and pulled with all her might. Keenie’s face turned pale, her yellow dress now torn in the appearance of wildfire. The helm of her dress was red and spiked, her horns now black and curved like those of Charlie’s goat bodyguards. She had black bat wings and a pointed tail. Her wooly hair was red and her eyes were pink and yellow…before they gave off a strange red glow.

Keenie sneered at Timmid, only seeing the red face of Millie laughing at her.

“Get away, you disgusting demon!”

Her voice sounded like her own but more distorted.

“I’m not…” Timmid began but Keenie slapped her in the face before falling with a scream into the portal below.

“Keenie!” cried Collin, briefly staring down at her disappearing form. “I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”

Cletus had horns and black wings as well, though his face took on more of a faint reddish tone. His overalls were red with teeth designs on the pocket. His hair was red and black and darker blushes appeared on his cheeks. His pointed tail was short and red. His eyes had red irises and golden sclera.

He looked at Docile, only seeing Blitzo’s face. He revealed his new grin of sharp white teeth and glowing red eyes. “This isn’t over, I.M.P.!”

Timmid and Tirred pulled with all their might, but Cletus was soon sucked in as well.

Collin glanced at the elves with bloody tears running down his face. His eyes were golden and pink, sometimes glowing red. He had curved goat horns, a pointed tail and black bat wings. His face was almost a tan-red shade and his wooly hair was black. His outfit had changed to a red-orange.

The three elves pulled, Tirred being supported by Docile and Timmid behind him, but Collin stayed in the same spot, his hooves dangling over the chasm.

“Sir!” called Tirred, as the elves were dragged inches closer toward the gap, even as they dug their feet in. “We’re being sucked in!”

“L-let go,” Collin whimpered.

“What?!” asked Tirred.

“You can’t let yourself fall!” Docile cried, tears welling up in his eyes. “We were supposed to save you guys…to help give you another chance…” The elves were almost at the edge.

Collin and the elves stared at each other in the eyes.

Collin took a deep breath as he thought of his friends.

“I-I-I’m sorry…”

With one last wide-eyed look, Collin let go of Tirred’s hands and vanished into the darkness. The elves weren’t getting pulled in anymore, rather they were pushed back a bit. The portal to Hell closed, and the ground in front of the elves sealed back together like nothing had happened.

“Why?” Docile asked Michael, turning around.

“C.H.E.R.U.B. set themselves up for their fate. They gave into their anger and were more focused on defeating their rivals instead of properly interacting with the humans. They still disobeyed the rules thus were sent to Earth to test their faiths. Alas, they gave into their selfish desires of revenge and pursuit of glory. One can now only hope that they'll redeem themselves in Hell…if they even survive that long. As for you three, remember my words of warning.”

Michael rose back into Heaven and vanished.

The three somber elf angels slowly rose up into the air and went through another heavenly portal back to their world. Back in paradise, Docile had never felt more alone. He gazed out at the colorful clouds through a window.

Docile didn’t even look at his coworkers. “Welp, the cherubs wanted to redeem themselves and continue their company, and we couldn’t save them. We failed. Thanks to those freaking diablos, they’re down in Hell now, so it’s a shame. All they wanted was to spread love and joy to the living world. And now, they’re separated from Heaven…potentially forever.”

Tirred grumbled. “Don’t say I told you so, but…I told you so.”

Timmid gave her boss a small hug as the three silently gazed at the clouds and sunlight.

From behind the elves, Sully Sirius did a small grin. He whispered, “Now this would make for a spectacular tragic film, don’t you think?”

Docile glumly turned his head all the way around, while his body stayed in place. “Please leave.” Sully looked at him and screamed in fright.

#helluvaboss #2p #heavenlyboss

2 notes · View notes

mego42 · 4 years ago

Text

1x07 Discussion Questions

My b! My b! I usually try to do these when the episode is fresh but instead I went to sleep, I am at peace with my priorities, tbh. As always, many thanks to @pynkhues for her time and energy putting these together and shout out to @foxmagpie for the assist.

1. What was your favourite scene of the episode? Tell us why!

Lot of contenders, tbh. I really love the scene with Mary Pat when she puts together the (extremely transparent) bullshit that is the whole secret shopper scheme (I mean come on y’all, did you even try????), I love Ruby and Stan’s date (high five to Stan for coming through with my parks & rec reference, it’s nice to know there is one (1) man I can count on). The Annie and Greg bit is REALLY SWEET LEAVE ME ALONE. The god tier brio content, specifically The Grab Heard Round The World My Living Room and the Give Me A Name bit. Some classic Rio nonsense (do you think if we asked him to point to an egg he’d point to an apple?) Tyler and his “reeeeeeally fill out the surveys?” was, obvs, the best moment on the entire show. Anyway, one of those for sure.

2. Was there any scene that missed the mark for you? And if so, how?

The Boomer setting up Annie stuff always falls flat to me and idk exactly why? Like, individual pieces of it are great, Mae does EXCELLENT work post police station and when getting arrested in the first place but ultimately I find it fairly forgettable in the grand scheme of things.

3. Let’s talk about the secret shopper scheme! What do you think were the strengths of it? The flaws? Do you think it had longterm potential? Or was it always going to crash and burn?

I said this during the rewatch but I straight up blocked out the fact that all of the shoppers are hitting the same store on the same day (waving around upwards of $5k in cash???? no less???????) because my brain cannot comprehend how three women we’re supposed to believe are reasonably intelligent didn’t realize this was the stupidest, most transparently obvious, most short-sighted scheme in the entire world.

I struggled with the sustainability of it a bit when I thought they were spreading their efforts around (they roped in A Lot of people, there are only so many Costcos in the Detroit metro area and waving around that much cash and then returning it all, again for cash, is uh, already p memorable) but I could deal with it when I thought they were spreading it around. Short-sighted, immediate solutions are a cornerstone of Beth’s brand, after all, but all of them at the same store at the same day???? Too much. I cannot.

4. The girls spent their money in very different ways! Ruby on romancing Stan, Annie on clothes for her son, and Beth on jewellery for herself. What do you think this tells us about them and their arcs? Particularly coming off the back of Ruby’s conflict with Stan, Ben’s issues at school with clothes, and Beth leaving Rio her pearls?

Love these connects. The show’s got a pretty clearly defined and consistent visual/character motifs (this may or may not be the word I’m looking for, shut up) when it comes to depicting the girls priorities and motivations. You also see it reflected and reinforced with their repeated coping mechanisms throughout the show. Whenever bad stuff happens, Ruby goes home to Stan, Annie crawls into bed with Ben and we usually close with Beth either alone (ouch david) or connecting with Rio in some way (exhibit a: the aforementioned pearls).

In all of the instances it comes back to the heart of their priorities:

Stan is Ruby’s number one, (which isn’t to say her kids aren’t a part of that, I think Stan is both himself in this sense while also representing her whole Hill family unit—TV is all about visual shorthand kids—but also it serves to illustrate that Ruby has something Beth and Annie do not: a true partner).

Ben is at the root of everything Annie does, she makes choices based on not only his. well-being, but how he sees her and he has the most influence over how she sees herself and what actions she takes as a result of that.

Beth, on the other hand, is at a contrasting point. She’s done the devoted partner and mother thing (lowkey implied by the little bits and pieces we get of her and Annie’s childhoods to some degree more or less for her entire life) and is now putting herself first, her needs, her wants. Which isn’t to say she doesn’t give a fuck about her family, she waits until she’s got a fat stack of cash and they’re taken care of before splurging on a thing, but as a symbol I think the necklace pretty clearly illuminates that for whatever Beth tells herself, she’s building an empire for herself, bc she wants it, needing it is secondary.

5. Eddie’s arrest is arguably what sets us on a collision course with the finale! Do you think Eddie was loyal to Rio until the end? How much do you think he told Turner? And what sort of loyalty do you think Rio inspires in his boys? And why doesn’t it translate with the girls?

OF COURSE EDDIE WAS LOYAL TO THE END HE HAS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED HE HAS SOME KIND OF CODE OF HONOR HOW DARE YOU SLANDER MY BOY LIKE THAT.

Tbh idk how to answer the loyalty question without more information from canon because the gang and how they operate, how they all came together, etc is pretty well shrouded in not-central-narrative-focus, though I think it’s been implied somewhat heavily that what’s going on with the girls is not standard operating procedure.

My personal headcanon for Eddie is tied up in my personal backstory for Rio and Mick that I started for my (lmao first) Mick POV fic. I gave Rio and Mick a friends since we were kids backstory and decided Eddie was a kid in their neighborhood, slightly younger then them, and always looked up to them/followed them around/thought they were cool. He ultimately got involved in crime because they did and they looked out for him and brought him up with them (which, you know, makes how it all turns out that much more tragic). Obvs, this is all just me and my tendency to imprint on random side characters and give them backstories. Let me live.

6. This episode introduces us to Mary Pat, who’s probably one of this show’s most complicated antagonists! What do you think of her generally? And could you have predicted her arc with Boomer and Turner?

I love her and I’m done lying to myself about it.

LISTEN, first off, Allison Tolman is great. Her line delivery is fantastic, she has a knack for subtly adding SO MUCH to every scene she’s in and uses her face and inflection and pauses exquisitely. Top notch comedic timing. Truly a gem.

Second, on a character level, the lady is in a bad spot and the girls basically gift-wrapped the circumstances and handed them to her like here is a present!!!!!!!!!!!! What was a struggling girl to do besides accept what was offered to her??????!!!!!!???

7. This episode features a very pivotal scene in terms of the Beth, Ruby and Annie dynamic. What starts as tension between Annie and Beth quickly pivots when Ruby criticises Beth and Annie leaps to her sister’s defence. What do you think this tells us about the dynamic between the girls as pairs and as a trio?

I am so!!!! curious!!!!!!! about the backstory that exists in the writers’ heads for Ruby and Annie (all three of them, really, but the bff and little sister having an independent friendship is of particular interest to me bc it isn’t something you, or I guess I, run into a lot) and how much of it was defined at this point vs how much it’s evolved/fluctuated as the show goes on. This fight pretty clearly illuminated that when it really comes down to it, it’s Beth and Annie vs Ruby which a) breaks my heart and b) isn’t totally a dynamic I think the show ultimately stuck with? Or maybe intentionally fluctuates? Idk this is a half-baked thought. Ask again later.

8. Greg is the one who kisses Annie! Who do you think left who in that relationship, and/or what were the biggest issues in that relationship?

I feel like there’s pretty much no way Annie wasn’t the one that called things off with Greg. Not just because of how it plays out this time but because he’s got a kind of persistent yet also go with the flow attitude that makes me think he would absorb a lot in the name of making it work whereas Annie seems to have a pretty established history of cutting her losses and bailing when she hits her limit. Based on how fond they are of each other and how much affection they clearly still hold, I tend to assume they just grew apart as they grew up which makes it almost more complicated and tragic because it leaves all of the good stuff and just mixes it with the knowledge that it wasn’t enough.

9. What did you think of Ruby’s sauce story? And what do you think it meant as a turning point for her arc?

I HATE THIS STORY SO MUCH USED BAND AIDS ARE GROSS ENOUGH ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT MIXING IN FOOD SERVICE AND MONTHS, MONTHS, OF MARINATION. I REFUSE TO TALK ABOUT IT. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE.

10. Knowing that Beth, Ruby and Annie’s system of paying Mary Pat off doesn’t work, do you think there was a way they could’ve handled her on their own that would’ve worked? Or do you think Rio’s intimidation (and potential murder) tactic was the only way out?

Idk maybe I’m just cynical, but I take trust no bitch to heart, they pretty well screwed themselves into a corner by being idiots.

#rewatching this ep taught me a lot about my feelings on the secret shopper scheme #gg rewatch #gg 1x07 #gg related #shut up meg

9 notes · View notes

goodwriterwithbadhabits · 4 years ago

Text

Flight of the Little Bird: 8 Months Ago

Previous| Next | Master List

Part 3/10

Your morning had started far too abruptly, with your phone blaring next to your head, jolting you from your already fitful sleep. To your shock, it was the boss calling you at 4 in the morning, and despite your exhaustion and sudden pit that had developed in your stomach, you took the call.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but I need you to go to twitter.”

“Alright, give me a second.” You roll out of bed, phone wedged between your cheek and shoulder, and stumble bleary-eyed towards your living room computer. The moment you opened your twitter feed you were bombarded with thousands of mentions and tweets directly at you, each and everyone surrounding a single photo. It must have been some frame from someone else’s video, but it was of you and Mark after one of their photoshoots. The place they had been shooting was absolutely freezing and he wasn’t given a jacket, so you had brought an extra-large one for the both of you to bundle up in. In the photo, you were pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around his torso while you were both bundled in the coat.

And now everyone was sure you were dating.

“Oh god.” You groaned, head hitting the table in front of you. “Why are people so sure anyone who so much as touches one another are dating?”

“Listen, Y/n I know how much you hate the press, but you’re going to have to make a statement.”

“Aw crap, what is Jacks going to think?” You mumble.

“What was that, Y/n?”

“Nothing, look, if the legal team comes up with a statement, I’ll sign it, and I’ll talk to Mark, make sure he knows what's up.”

“You’re being very professional. I know-”

“Manager-nim, these are my friends at stake, and if I’m being honest, that’s all I care about.”

Of course the moment you got off the phone with the manager you took a moment to yourself to have a quick panic attack, but that’s not important right now.

“Mark!” You greeted, pushing your sunglasses up as you crossed the street.

“Its 7am and my one day off, what the actual fuck do you want?”

“One, you said you’d join Jackson and I at the gym today, and two, how did you not get woken up with everything going on right now?” You jogged up the steps to his apartment, pulling out your spare key and letting yourself into the building. “I got woken up at 4, and my phone’s been sounding like its trying to commit suicide ever since.”

“What? Why? What happened?” You shoulder open his door, shouting your answer into the apartment instead of over the phone.

“They think we’re dating.”

“That’s weird, I’d rather die than date you,” Mark tells you plainly as he enters the living room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. You pull your hat off, dropping it and your sunglasses onto the counter by the door, dropping yourself onto his couch a moment later.

“I agree, but fans are still speculating.”

“I’ll say something if the company brings it up.”

“They’re making me a statement to agree on, probably something apologizing for angering Aghase and assuring fans I am only a member of staff.”

“Come on, most Aghase know we’ve been friends forever. I saw a few high school photos circulating a few weeks ago.” Mark assures you, draping himself on the back of the couch. “Have you talked to Jackson yet?” You groan loudly, draping a hand over your face. “Come on, I’m telling you, he likes you.”

“And I’m telling you, you’re wrong.” Mark lets out a small huff, moving into the kitchen to make himself something to eat.

“What’s the worse thing that could happen if you tell him how you feel?” He reasons. Your mind immediately floods with all the worst possible scenarios, ranging from him laughing in your face, all the way to him being enraged and getting you fired from the company.

“Oh, so many things.” You sit up, glaring at him over the back of the couch. “And don’t pull that “worse that could happen” shit with me again, you said that about meeting the boys and now BamBam is a constant in my life.” Mark laughs out loud at this.

“That was bound to happen, either way, just be glad you didn’t meet him when he was younger.”

“I almost wish I had, some of the stylings for those early years was awful.” You both erupt in laughter at this but Mark abruptly cuts himself off, pointing an accusatory finger at you.

“You’re deflecting!”

“I am not!” You lie.

“Then go find Jackson, and talk to him.”

“Fine!” You jump up off the couch, grabbing your hat and keys.

“And you’d better actually do it, or I swear to god, I will kiss you.” He threatens, you turn back to him, disgusted and shocked.

“You wouldn’t.”

“On the lips.” You gag at his words, but offer him a smile and a wave as you exit his apartment.

It wasn’t hard to find Jackson when he wasn’t at the gym, nor his studio, the only other option was his apartment. Good thing you had a key.

You didn’t barge in, just in case he was sleeping, but instead cracked the door and peeked inside. He was sitting on the couch, still in his pajamas, and staring at his phone. His laptop was also open in front of him, and you could only hope he wasn’t on twitter. His head shot up when the door opened wider, but the grin that always came to his face when you were there didn’t appear. “From the look on your face, you saw?” He just nods, motioning for you to come in. You oblige, toeing off your shoes and leaving your keys next to his. The image of the two key chains and your shoes sitting next to one another made your heart hurt a little, and the addition of the custom slippers he’d had made you wasn’t helping. You clear your throat, shoving the slippers onto your feet and making your way towards him. You stand across from him, and he leans forward, elbows on his knees and hands firmly gripping his hair. You’re almost sure he’s refusing to look at you. “You okay? You seem upset.”

“I just- you two aren’t?” He doesn’t have to finish the question.

“Of course not. He’s just my friend.”

“Am I just your friend?” Shock floods your body at the question, stopping your heart and making your eyes wide. He finally looks up, finding you staring at him dumbstruck. “I’m sorry that was too forward of me. I shouldn’t-”

“No.” Your own voice startles you as well, but it makes him stop talking and look at you properly. You can’t hold his gaze, instead opting to look literally everywhere else.

“No, no what?” You can practically feel his confusion as you try to find your words.

“No, you’re not just a friend.” You say tentatively, your own fear is evident just in those few words.

“What do you mean?” What did you mean? How were you supposed to confess? Just say “Hey Jackson I know we’ve been friends for a while now and I’m literally in charge of all of your styling, but I have a big fat crush on you”? Not a chance. Instead, you managed to whisper.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How do you not know?” He wasn’t mad, his voice was soft, but you still grew frustrated.

“I don’t know because I don’t know.” You huff, “I know you’re my friend but not like Mark.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He was getting upset now too, and for good reason. “I just want a straight answer.”

“And I don’t have one!” You exploded. “You’re my friend, but its different. You’re not like Mark, but you’re not like the other boys either.” You’re almost whining at this point. “I like you but I don’t even know for sure how, or why or if its even allowed. I’m just confused.”

“You don’t know how you like me?” You finally look at his face and his eyes are just as tear-filled as your own. You can only shake your head, not trusting yourself to speak again without crying. He nods, looking up, and blinking away his tears. “I think you should go,” Your heart shatters at his words, the first tear cascading down your cheek. “Until you figure it out.”

“Jackson.” You gasp out, but he just shakes his head.

“Please, Y/n.” You give in, not wanting to see how much you’ve hurt him and make your way to the door. Just as you’re reaching for the doorknob, keys in hand, you can’t help but speak.

“Jackson.” You turn to look at him, finding him back on the couch but looking your way. “I don’t want to lose you from my life.”

“I think you need to figure out how you want me in it.” You nod again, and this time, you leave.

“I know how I want you.” You mumble to yourself as you walk down the empty hall, “Why is it so hard to just say it.” You toss your head back, staring up at the ceiling of the elevator. “Jackson Wang, I love you.”

#got7 jackson #jackson wang #jackson wang imagines #jackson wang imagine #got7 imagine #got7 imagines #got7

15 notes · View notes

lpdwillwrite4coffee · 5 years ago

Text

BLOODY SUNRISE CHAPTER FIVE

Caitlin awoke with a jerk, arms flailing up. “What?”

“Rise and shine, darlin’,” Booker’s voice called from outside the car.

Where was he? She couldn’t see him…

Twisting in her seat, Caitlin blearily peered through the windows and back windshield. Booker was standing at the trunk—him closing it must’ve been what woke her—unfolding a map.

Fumbling with her seatbelt, she opened the car door. “What’s going on?”

“Ran outta gas,” Booker said, still staring at his map. “We’re not far from a few places to syphon—neighborhoods, parking lots, that sorta thing. But we’ll have to hoof it.”

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she squinted at him in the setting sun. “It’s almost dark.”

“Got a couple more hours of light.”

“Which we should use to set up camp.”

“Camp?” Booker chuckled. “Y’mean rolling a couple blankets out on the back seat?”

“You don’t have a tent?”

“Sure I do, but I’m not planning on settin’ that up on the side of the road for one night’s stay.”

Caitlin sighed. She should have stayed asleep. “Alright, fine.”

“Not gonna argue?” He glanced up at her. “Color me shocked.”

“I’m groggy. Give me a couple minutes and I’ll be back to my verbal sparring self.”

She stood up and stretched, glancing around. “Where are we?”

“About forty minutes outside of ‘If I lived here, I’d have a drinkin’ problem’.��

She laughed, his joke catching her off guard. She turned, still grinning, to look at him and spotted the delight in his eyes before he focused on the map again.

“Strip mall is closest. About a twenty-minute walk from here. If we hurry, we’ll be back with plenty of daylight left.”

“Think we can look for food too? My supply is low.”

Booker nodded, folding up the map and shoving it into his back pocket. “We’ll get ya sorted. C’mon.”

He grabbed up his pack, a couple gas cans, and his rifle from the back seat and started walking.

Caitlin gathered her stuff from the car, refusing to leave her meager belongings unguarded.

The first few minutes were quiet as Booker navigated them to a fork in the road and took the right branch. The area was pretty barren, save for a few patches of trees and occasional house or barn. Everything was deserted from what she could tell, houses boarded up and left in a hurry. They found a John Deere tractor in someone’s yard and Booker wasted no time syphoning the tank.

It was humid and sticky, sweat making her clothes cling to her uncomfortably. But she had to admit, the vastness, the open fields of crops gone unpicked, the lack of Geeks… It was enough to give her mind a reprieve from the horrible truth of the world, even for a moment or two.

“Were you with anyone before?” The question flew from her mouth as she stared at a light pole nearly covered in kudzu.

“With?”

“Like a group. People other than yourself?”

From a few paces ahead of her, she could see him shake his head. “Nope.”

“Not even family? Or friends?”

“Most of my family was gone long before groaners started walkin’ the earth. And my buddies all have families of their own to take care of. So, it’s just me.”

Caitlin nodded. “And you’re not married.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Y’don’t think I could be married?” Booker glanced over his shoulder at her, smirking.

“No ring, or tan line from where a ring used to be,” she said. “You’re not concerned about being somewhere soon, which means no one is waiting for you, and you decided to hitch up with me, so…”

“Observant,” he said, tone more impressed than his face would let on. “And you? Y’got someone waitin’ on you in New York?”

She shook her head. “I’m not married.” Then she remembered… “Well. There’s a guy.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. His name is Nathaniel.” She paused, brow furrowing. “Or… was Nathaniel. I don’t know.” She stared up at the side of Booker’s head. “Do we use past tense or present for people now? I don’t know if he’s alive or not… And it’s not like I can call him.”

He didn’t turn his head, but his eyes darted over as he said, “I guess you use whatever makes it easier to keep going.”

It was a surprisingly wise statement from a man with a Lynyrd Skynyrd patch on his backpack.

After a moment, she said, “Nathaniel’s nice. He’s sweet. He’s a fireman.”

“Dreamy,” Booker teased.

“I know, it’s almost cliché. And I’ve never been the type.”

“Type t’what?”

“Date a fireman. Date any stereotypically masculine guy. I usually go for nerds in comic tee shirts or software developers. Give me a guy with glasses and an obsession with PlayStation and I’m putty.”

“Please tell me you’re jokin’.”

“No, I’m serious,” she urged. “Something about a smart, kinda awkward guy… I dunno, they’re just dolls.”

“Nah, they’re still assholes, they’re just skinny assholes with carpal tunnel.”

“Excuse me—”

“Trust me, you get yourself an IT nerd, and they’re comin’ with a decade or two of baggage from bein’ bullied, never bein’ popular, always bein’ ‘just a friend’ and never gettin’ laid. And then if’n’when they manage to get themselves a girl—or guy—they don’t have any idea how to treat them ‘cause they’re flesh and blood and not some CGI wet dream.”

“You sound like you got dumped by an IT nerd.”

Booker chuckled. “Nah, just dealt with enough of ‘em. Served with a couple too.”

“IT Marines?”

“Made officer straight outta school and didn’t have any clue about service.”

“I think you’re making a lot of broad generalizations.”

“Just like you did about firemen?” He glanced at her, smirking.

Caitlin faltered. “Well… I have plenty of evidence to back up my theory.”

“’N I got a lotta evidence to back up mine.”

She huffed, disliking the stalemate she’d found herself in. Before she could come up with another statement, Booker spoke.

“So, this Nathaniel… Is it serious?”

She smiled at his use of present tense for her benefit. “Uh, well…”

“Take that as a no.”

“It’s not a no. It’s an ‘I don’t know’.”

“If ya know, ya know.”

“I can’t make a life altering decision like marriage after just six months of dating.”

Booker made a noise like sucking his tongue over his teeth. “I think if ya find the right person, you feel it. You know. Time ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.”

“That’s impractical. You have to know if they’re good with things like… Bills. How are they with money? Are they a Democrat or Republican? Do they put their dishes in the sink or directly into the dishwasher?”

“None of that matters,” he said, guiding them left, down a different yet still desolate road. “Bein’ with someone, really with ‘em, it’s all about how you work together. Ya gotta make a good team. It don’t matter if they’re the same religion or if they vote the same. Hell, it don’t even matter if they hog the blankets and kick ya in their sleep—”

“Clearly you’ve never slept with a blanket hog. It is absolutely a make or break thing.”

“All that matters is having each other’s backs. Bein’ on the same team. Even if you’re buttin’ heads all the damn time, as long as at the end of the day you want the best for each other, that’s what matters.”

Caitlin scoffed. “Says the guy who’s never been married.”

He laughed quietly, looking over at her. “Nah, but my parents were. Forty years. Never spent more than a night apart.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “That’s… Nice. Really.” She stared at the ground. “You’re lucky you grew up with that.”

Booker nodded. “They were good people. Honest. Loved me with everything they had.”

“And they’re… no longer with us?”

“Mama died of cancer a few years back. And Dad… I think he died of a broken heart. Found him in his Laz-y Boy two months later. Doc said it was a heart attack.”

Caitlin’s gaze lifted to his profile. “I’m… I’m sorry, Booker. That’s terrible.”

He nodded minutely. “They were meant to be. Real soulmates. Couldn’t live without the other. And now… I think they were lucky. Lucky in love, and lucky in death.”

He said it just as they spotted the strip mall in the distance, abandoned and surrounded by evidence that the world was no longer what it was.

Reality came crashing back down on Caitlin. Talking with Booker had helped her forget, alleviated the mental burden she’d carried on her own for the last month. But seeing broken down cars, buildings with smashed windows, blood splatter on concrete… It all was a brutal reminder life had changed forever.

“There she is,” Booker said. “Alright, here’s the plan. We go slowly, we stay alert, and we do not separate. If you see something to check out, tell me and we go together. Got it?”

“Sir, yes sir,” she teased, but his jaw was locked and gaze level.

“I mean it, Meadows. I don’t need you runnin’ off and gettin’ gnawed on. We’ll look for food first, then gasoline.” He looked over at her, waiting for her to nod in agreement before saying, “You got a weapon?”

“Uhh, just a knife I picked up. It’s not very sharp…”

Stopping to lower his pack, Booker dug around for a moment and pulled out a revolver. “Here. You’re not trained enough yet for hand to hand. This one’s trusty, not too much recoil, but she’s louder than a thunder clap, so don’t spook yourself. Y’know how to cock it?”

Caitlin took the gun from him gingerly. “Um, it’s this thing, right?” She pointed to the hammer and he nodded.

“Just make sure it’s pushed back like that—” he demonstrated for her “—and you’ll have a live weapon. While we’re walking, it needs to be like this, and tucked in your belt.”

“I’m not wearing a belt.”

“Then your back pocket.”

“What makes you think skinny jeans from Forever 21 are gonna have pockets big enough for that?”

Booker rolled his eyes and tugged her around by the shoulder. “Lemme see.”

“What are you—Hey!”

He flicked up the hem of her shirt to look. “Eh, it’ll fit. You’re fillin’ those out though, so don’t wiggle too much or the gun’ll fall out.”

Caitlin turned again, glaring up at him. “Did you just say I have a fat ass?”

He grinned down at her, brown eyes sparkling. “Not a bad thing.”

“Oh my God,” she muttered, walking away from him. “Careful jackass, I’m armed now.”

“Oh yeah, I’m shakin’ in my boots.”

The walk up to the strip mall was quiet as they kept their eyes and ears peeled for Geeks or threats of a more human variety. She spotted a couple Geeks shuffling around by the dumpsters of an abandoned KFC, seemingly oblivious to them. There wasn’t any wind to carry their scent and, given how sluggish they were, Booker jerked his head, signaling they’d leave them.

Making it to the parking lot, they stuck close together as they weaved between cars and silently jogged towards the SAV-MOR discount store. No Geeks yet, but Caitlin wasn’t optimistic about their odds of finding much. The store’s front windows had been smashed and trash littered the front. Still, Booker and she covered each other as they made their way inside.

One Geek in a store uniform shuffled and grunted down an aisle. Booker made quick work of dispatching it.

“Sweep first; then we’ll look for supplies,” he whispered to her, and she nodded.

The store wasn’t large and clearing it took less time than either of them expected. When Booker declared it safe, they started down each aisle, searching for anything edible or useful.

“I don’t know Booker, this place looks pretty wiped,” she said, inspecting a few cans without labels, trying to figure out if they were SPAM or peaches.

“Don’t lose hope yet, darlin’,” he told her, nodding to a door marked ‘Employees Only’. “Store room.”

“It’s either crawling with Geeks or empty too,” she muttered, following him. “You think people wouldn’t check back there?”

“Maybe. People tend to be idiots when they’re in a rush.”

Opening the door slowly, he searched for any undead, but the place was clear.

“And whaddya know…” he said, holding the door for her.

The stock room was full. Pallets of food, drinks, paper products… all untouched.

Caitlin gaped. “People are idiots.”

“God bless ‘em.”

She felt a little giddy staring at food she’d only dreamt of—Pop Tarts, Pringles, bottles of Coke, Lucky Charms.

“Damn,” Booker said, looking around. “None of this’ll do.”

“What are you talking about? This is as close to a cornucopia as we’re ever gonna get.”

“It’s all sugar,” he said. “Food is fuel. Eatin’ this trash’ll just spike your blood sugar and leave you starvin’ later.”

“Okay Doctor Atkin, you keep telling yourself that when you’re hungry tonight and I’m stuffing my face full of Doritos.”

She tore open the plastic wrapping, shoving mini bags of chips and pretzels in her bag. After a few moments she heard him make a noise of surprise.

“Ah, they’ve got jerky.”

“See? There’s your balanced diet right there.”

She moved on to the peanut butter, the Gatorade, and then Pop Tarts. She couldn’t pass those up even if she tried.

Booker came around holding plastic bags loaded down with bottles of water and jerky. Caitlin spotted the bright green of a Pringles can and had to bite her tongue to keep from mocking him.

“I think we’ve got enough to last us a while,” he said. “You get anything of nutritional value?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Four jars of peanut butter and more pretzels than you could dream of. And Gatorade.”

“Well look at you,” he said, lips curving.

“Gasoline?”

“Yep. Need anything else from out there?”

She shook her head and he took the lead out to the parking lot. They both spotted the small group of Geeks across the road at the same time, and Booker motioned for her to stay low by the cars. They’d try to work without engaging if they could help it.

Most of the cars were dry but a fancy looking Prius was a surprising goldmine with almost a full tank. Booker was almost done syphoning the gas into the cans when he stopped, head tilting like he was listening for something.

“What is it?”

“Shh,” he murmured, squinting as if that would help him hear. “Down the road a ways…”

“What, Booker?”

Keeping an eye on the shambling Geeks that still had no idea they were there, she listened intently. All she heard were insects and… an engine?

“Humvees,” Booker said, motioning for her to duck behind an SUV. “Stay low.”

“Humvees… as in the military?” She crouched down, and Booker followed, pressing his shoulder into the side of the car. “I thought the military flopped, what with the whole Zombie virus outbreak and ensuing chaos.”

“Military’s about the size of a grade school now, but they’re still around. And they’re not what they once were.”

He said the last sentence with a conviction held only by someone who’d had firsthand knowledge. She didn’t doubt it for a second.

Booker looked over at her. “Listen to me. The guys rollin’ up in those Humvees any minute now are not men you can trust, do you understand?”

Caitlin held his gaze as she nodded. “Don’t trust the government. Got it.”

“Armed forces bastardized into goon squads with tanks.”

The roar of the Humvees grew closer and Booker ducked down, making sure to stay out of sight.

“You know you’re gonna have to tell me this story later, right?”

“Sure, I’ll tell ya over a Gatorade and Snickers.”

The ground beneath their feet vibrated as the convoy drove up, engine noise tearing through the quiet.

But instead of moving on, the Humvees stopped. Male voices called to each other, barely audible over the machines. Caitlin could hear one of them say something about ‘hostiles’ before a machine gun fired.

Yelping, she nearly fell back, but Booker steadied her, shielding her momentarily. The gun wasn’t aimed at them, but at the small group of Geeks on the other side of the road.

When the gunfire stopped, the men yelled something else and she thought they were driving off. Booker shifted to look, just as something flew across the parking lot towards the building.

“Shit, get down,” he ordered, lunging for her.

Arms, hands protected her head, pushing her down to the ground. She cried out, but it was muffled by his chest as his body covered hers. Before she could comprehend what was happening, a deafening explosion engulfed the strip mall.

Caitlin screamed into Booker’s shoulder, hands feebly covering her ears. She fought to push him off, her body reacting as it always had—Run.

But Booker kept her pinned, arms cradling her head to shield her from shrapnel. He leaned into her, silently explaining. No, don’t. Not yet. They’ll see you. Stay down. You’re safe. Don’t move.

Smoke billowed out from the burning shell of a mall. After a few moments, the convoy started up again, driving down the road and out of sight.

Booker continued to cover her until he knew they were safe, that the Humvees weren’t doubling back. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he peeled himself off her and lifted her to sit upright.

“Y’alright?” He asked, checking her over.

Caitlin nodded, ears ringing painfully. “What the fuck was that?”

“Gentrification,” he said, standing up slowly and offering her his hand. “Military’s way of clearing the grid.”

“But… There’s… There was food in there. Supplies. Stuff people could have used. Why…”

“C’mon, I’ll tell ya on the way back.” He stooped down to gather their bags and gas cans. “Groaners ain’t the only things we gotta worry about out here.”

As they trekked back the way they came, Booker told her what he knew. About how evacuation teams had cordoned off sections of the country, shipped people there. At first it was for relief shelters, meant to be where everyone went when they could find their way. But soon things got out of hand. Supplies dwindled, people got sick, and more were still coming… All terrified, and lost, and in need. It became a Noah’s Ark situation. Only the selected few could stay. No more could enter. Everyone else outside the gates were damned.

What was left of the military was given orders—Kill on sight, undead and stray humans. Someone up top thought population control would stem the virus, give the rest of the people a fighting chance, keep food sources from getting over-taxed as they tried to rebuild. Barbaric, no matter the logic.

Buildings in designated “hot zones” were to be demolished, burned; how it was done didn’t matter as long as Geeks and people alike couldn’t hide out in them.

Thankfully, Booker was right about the size of the military. They were spread thin and not nearly as ever present as the zombies. Still a threat, but one that was rarely an issue unless you were near bigger cities or coming up to one of those Ark camps.

They were just about to the car when Booker slowed, cursing under his breath.

“What? What is it?” Caitlin squinted, dusk making it harder to see.

“The car…” He said and that’s when she saw the thin stream of smoke.

“They… burnt the car?” She stared up at him, horrified. “But…”

“Exterminators. All of ‘em.” He trudged closer to be sure, but he was right. Someone had torched the car. It was still on fire in places.

Caitlin watched the upholstery melt, realization twisting in her gut. “They thought we were in that building, didn’t they?”

Booker nodded. “Anybody not inside an Ark camp is just as good as a groaner to them. They’ll use us for target practice and not think twice.”

Taking another moment to look over the blackened remains of their vehicle, Booker said, “Guess we’re walkin’.”

“To where?”

“That shed ten minutes back up the road looked alright. Might be cramped though.”

“I’ve been sleeping in trees for a week. I can deal.”

“Atta girl.”

***

Caitlin wriggled on her makeshift bed, grunting. “Okay, see, when I said I could deal, I meant with an even division of space. Not this.” She bumped her shoulder against the side of the shed. “What the hell, Booker. I’m not claustrophobic but geez…”

“I told you, you’re better off with me between you and the door. And if something busts in, gotta have enough room to react. Therefore—”

“Therefore, you put baby in a corner.” She shifted again, trying to figure out a way to lay down that wouldn’t put her right up against the dirty shed wall or pressed against Booker.

“Stop that, you’re makin’ the whole place rattle.”

Exhaling roughly, she brushed a strand of hair off her damp forehead. “I’m not completely helpless you know. I can stand guard too.”

“Never said you were helpless.”

“Oh yes, you shoving me into a corner to sleep just screams confidence.”

Booker sighed, leaning his rifle on the wall next to him. “Just try to settle down, you’re gettin’ yourself all worked up.”

“I’m trying,” she said. “But if I lay this way, I’m uncomfortable. If I try the other way, I’m right up on you, so—”

Booker’s laugh cut her off. “You mean you’re throwin’ a hissy fit ‘cause you’re tryin’ to respect my personal bubble?”

She paused, looking up at him in the dim light. “Well. Yeah…”

He laughed again, and she pushed herself up. “We just met. I know the world’s gone to hell in a decorative handbasket but I’m still trying to keep some semblance of politeness—”

“This is you bein’ polite?”

“Shut up, you know what I mean.” She could just make out his profile in the darkness. “I don’t know your deal and I don’t… I don’t know, I don’t want to offend or…”

“Get caught in a nasty situation with a strange man.” He said it without any hint of being affronted by the insinuation. The world wasn’t picture perfect before there were zombies, they both knew that.

After a moment, he shifted over to give her more space. It wasn’t much, but it gave them a small area of neutral territory.

“Thank you,” she murmured, laying back down.

It was quiet, the only sounds coming from their breathing and the crickets outside. She was just starting to feel like sleep might not be far off when Booker cleared his throat gently.

“I, uh… I just need you to know,” he started, voice raspy. “I’d… I’d never.” He paused, and she wasn’t sure if he was searching for words or affected by something only he knew.

He started again. “Doing that to someone… It’s evil. Rips the soul outta person. I just… I need you to know I’d never…”

“I know,” she whispered, hand lifting to reach for him but pulled short. “Well, at least I do now.”

She heard more than saw him nod. “Alright then.”

“Thank you, Booker.” She said it slowly, so he’d catch everything she implied.

Thank you for reassuring me.

Thank you for looking out for me.

Thank you for being good.

“Night, Meadows.”

“Night, Booker.”

***

Run, run, run, as fast as you can.

Caitlin bolted upright, gasping for air. That same dream… Like running and falling at the same time. The plane crash. Seeing Geeks eating someone. Running. Always running.

“Hey, hey,” Booker’s voice cut through the fog of panic. “Meadows, you’re alright… Hey…”

She heard him sit up, felt him tilt towards her.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” she whispered, voice cracking. “I… It was a… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Y’didn’t.” He bent his knee to lean his arm on. “I only sleep for about two hours at a time anyway.”

She tried to take a deep breath, slow her heart rate. The shivering started, just like always. Too much adrenaline flooding her system with nowhere to go.

“Cold?”

She muttered a ‘no’, barely able to form words with trembling lips.

When she was alone, she’d gotten used to handling the nightmares herself. She’d wait until the worst of the shaking was over and then start humming to herself. Whatever song she could think of, anything to take her mind off the flickering horrors in her mind. She’d hum until her throat was sore and she was tired again. A self-soothing lullaby of sorts.

But now, with another person around… It seemed juvenile. A tough guy like Booker probably would think she was being ridiculous. Think she was too soft.

“Nightmares, right?” He asked, voice soothing. “You wanna talk about it?”

Caitlin shook her head, hoping he could see her. She didn’t trust her voice just yet.

“You… You need a distraction?”

She glanced over her shoulder, able to make out the line of his rugged nose and brow line in the dark.

“Buddy of mine used to turn the tv on when he’d get a nightmare. Play Nick-at-Night or somethin’ to help him fall back asleep.” He huffed out a laugh. “Not like we have a tv but… You want me to talk or somethin’? I can recite state capitols to bore you back to sleep.”

Caitlin laughed—a short burst of sound that surprised her. It was a kind offer, especially given that they’d barely gotten to know each other.

Jesus, had it really only been one day?

She paused, thinking it over.

“That… That song from earlier,” she started, voice weak. “The one you were humming in the car.”

“Willie Nelson?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Can… Would it be okay if…”

Booker leaned back against the shed wall. “Sure, darlin’. I’ll sing ya back to sleep.”

She expected a teasing tone, but he was sincere.

Shifting to give her more room to get comfortable, he started humming, just loud enough for her to hear.

After another moment, Caitlin laid back down, curling onto her side and drawing her knees up as far as she could. Booker continued to hum, and then sing a few verses. He wasn’t very good, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he sang, kept humming, gave her mind another soundtrack to focus on instead of the warped snarls and groans of Geeks playing over and over in her head.

“Booker, I—”

“Shh, it’s almost to the bridge,” he told her. But she knew what he wasn’t saying.

It’s alright.

You’re not alone.

Go back to sleep.

And she did. She slept through to sunrise.

#Bloody Sunrise #free novels for pandemic times #free fiction #my writing #ZA romance #zombie apocalypse romance

1 note · View note

high5nerd · 5 years ago

Text

Alone Together---Chap. Nineteen

A second reminder that this fic is 100% abandoned, apologies in advance if that puts a downer on my fellow Pitch Black fans.

Sadie was the only source besides calendars that told me that time had passed. Not only would she vocally shout all over the house what holiday it was or what special occassion was going to happen, but the little girl at age ten overtime turned fourteen.

And boy what a brat she can be.

She gave me that sigh with the roll of the eyes teenage girls do. Alice thought it was hysterical but me? I just wanted to smack it off of her! Giving me attitude, why, if I gave my parents attitude I'd be spanked with a paddle or hit with the back of my mother's hand.

But other than her attitude I can understand where she's coming from. She's wanting more independence, she's growing up.

Why does that remind me of Jack Frost? Ugh…

Luckily her age hadn't deterred her belief in me, because she told me straight up one Sunday afternoon, "It's a known fact you're real. Why wouldn't I believe in you?"

Sadie still retained that childlike demeanor, however. White was still her favorite color, she got excited over the smallest positive thing, she still begged for things like she did when she was ten, and once or twice I'd catch her playing with the mirror by making faces to it. To the point where it was actually sort of amusing.

...Don't tell Alice Sadie and I both were making faces in the mirror. It was raining outside and we were bored.

Sadie had grown into a smart young lady, and unlike Alice where patience was her center, Sadie...was a nutcase. Okay, that's putting it harshly. Her center clearly revolved around passion. I'm not meaning the romantic type, I mean passion for things like freedom and equality and justice.

One night after a snowstorm, a few weeks into January, Alice and I were in her room-don't think too hard on that-and Sadie was in the living room watching television. Out of nowhere, she started screaming in fury, "Damn right you're sent to prison! For corrupting your fellow politicians and bringing your town to shame, you asshole! Go to jail so some big guy with an ugly tattoo will make you his bitch!"

Alice looked at me with narrow eyes and folded her arms after Sadie's rant, "Now. Where did she learn that language?"

"The school bus." My response was a little too quick.

I think Sadie has heard me drop a few phrases of curses here and there. Bitch is her favorite word. Alice heard her swearing up a storm once she actually slapped the back of her head with a magazine and told her if she didn't stop she'll kick her outside until dusk.

Having a teenager around certainly was different than a child, despite keeping some childish traits. Sadie no longer was short and no longer had those cheeks with baby fat. She was slender, almost like Alice but not exactly her height yet. Sadie let her hair grow all the way down her back, preferring to have it in one long braid or just loose. She grew an interest in what's called...boho? No. Bohemian? I can't recall, but her choice of apparel was very grunge and artist like, and she loved clothings from different cultures, like Nepal and India.

Tooth would like her for her interest and passion in other cultures. Sadie would grow up to be a fine worker of international relations and activist. But so far Sadie's only interest is her family, friends, and her art and history classes at school. Good thing she's keen on her studies. As long as I'm around, no student's going to be slacking off in my presence.

Sure enough, Sadie's birthday would be rolling around and she'll be turning fifteen, and older and older she'll get along with Alice.

That scared me to death, knowing that they're aging and I'm not. What will I become when they're in their sixties? Just...just a memory? A daydream that they wish was still around? Even if I was I would feel so guilty for not doing something. It's not like I could give them immortality.

Or maybe...or maybe I can!

I was walking through the woods when I was deep in thought, waiting for the girls to come home from a party. I physically stopped at the idea.

"That's it! That's exactly what I could do! I could go to one of the older spirits and beg for them to become immortal! They'd have to agree to that!" I almost jumped in a circle with excitement and started gloating to myself, "Oh, you've done it now, Pitch! Wait until they hear this plan, it's brilliant!"

"Not so brilliant, I'm afraid."

...That better not be who I think it is.

Sure enough, it was. Jack Frost. Jack...Fucking...Frost. Whoop dee doo. I rolled my eyes as I saw him lying on his back on a tree branch, freezing autumn leaves solid with his toes.

Now it's time to take my leave.

Just as I was about to head out of the forest and to the house again, I heard Jack call, "Wait, Pitch!"

"What?!" I turned to snarl at him.

He wasn't phased by my bite. He looked awkward with his shepherd's crook behind his back as he walked towards my place. He looked pitiful. What an idiot.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to barge in on your thoughts." he tried holding out his hand, but I hid mine behind my back. No way am I touching him. No.

"Why are you even here? Spying on me…" I grumbled, looking away.

Jack sighed and switched his grip to his left hand with the wooden staff, kicking up leaves as we walked towards the house. I really didn't want him following me. I'd rather have Sandy around griping at me than this mixed bag of nuts.

"Well, I wanted to see what you do on a daily basis with Alice and Sadie. Since Jamie's all grown up and goodness knows where, I thought I'd observe how you-"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" I stopped him, staring at him in horror, "Who told you?! My business with the girls was only known between me and…"

Jack grinned, liking the look on my face that went from confusion to absolute anger. I growled and looked up at the sky, "That little dust bin is dead."

"Pitch, it's okay," Jack hopped into the sky and flew in front of me as I started storming forward, "He explained everything. I mean it, everything. Sure, North wasn't too pleased and Bunny was pretty pissed, but I get it."

I looked at him oddly, "You...you do?"

Now I know Jack Frost. I think you know I know Jack Frost. He's my enemy, of course, and nothing would change that. Yes, I was very skeptical and very guarded by his odd sense of kindness he was showing me. I thought any second he'd whip out a snowball and pelt me, or make some snide comment about my defeat and then take off before I could break his spine in half. I knew he was capable of immense power if he summed up enough of it, I knew he makes a mess wherever he goes, I knew he was trouble, a mischief maker, and adores children.

But I didn't know he'd side with me on the fight Sandy and I had.

"Sure," he shrugged, "Granted, you're a lying, slimy asshat and I could never forgive you for nearly destroying us," that made me cringe, but he continued, "But I understood where you were coming from when you stood up to Sandy."

"Really." I asked doubtfully, giving him a suspicious eye.

He held up his hands honestly, "Really. There are times I wish I had connections like you have with them. I get it, caring about family. You love them. It's not that hard to understand."

I must've given some sort of look that I still wasn't trusting him, that he could freeze me any second because he sighed in defeat and dropped back down to the ground, putting his hands in his hoodie.

"I suck at apologies, alright? I'm not going to say it. But because you've helped us gain some belief by Alice...well, we're neutral. Ish."

I scoffed, folding my arms. "Fine. I only did it for Alice, not for you."

"And Sadie." Jack grinned widely.

That made me smirk. "Yes, and Sadie."

"Hey, speaking of Sadie, how's she doing? Sandy's missed her a lot. He's changed these past couple of years."

I folded my hands behind my back as we walked towards the house, the lights all on and noises of cookery sounding inside. Frost walked along side, a hidden smile on his face that I hadn't noticed yet.

"She's doing well. She's grown up, very independent," I smirked at him, "Like you."

"Cool," Frost grinned up at me, "Does she know I exist?"

I nodded slowly, and that made him excited. Can't say I blame him, the euphoric feeling of belief was always welcome no matter what age someone was at. He continued to show interest in my girls, mostly about what they do on a daily basis. I told him Alice's job, Sadie's excellent skills in school, and Alice's support of the family. She was like the roman pillar that held up the roof when the other two cracked to ruins, and how she was allowing me to help her with some of the weight. Especially since Sadie's a rowdy teenager, it was more hectic than ever. Her energy was like dealing with three crazy triplets of little Sadie's.

"So, back to your 'immortality' thing," Frost started, swinging his staff over his shoulder.

"Yes, you bluntly said it wasn't a good idea. Shouldn't I know that better than you?" I sneered at him, but he shrugged.

"You should, but I get that you're desperate."

I glared at him, "I'm not desperate."

Frost gave me a knowing look, clearly stating that I was. I growled and looked away, muttering, "Fine. What's your reasoning? Not like I want to hear it."

Frost simply started anyways despite me making it clear I didn't care what he thought, "Well, for starters you don't want to go around telling other spirits you're in this predicament. Secondly, there's no spirit besides Man in Moon that can do that, and I doubt he'll listen to you since he's the one that made the rules."

"Damn…" I muttered, looking up at the sky. No moon out, but that didn't mean he wasn't watching.

"How long have you and Alice been together? Like, four years?" he asked.

I groaned, wishing his incessant chattering would stop. Now I was glad he never joined my side against the Guardians because this little brat talked up a storm, more than Sadie could ever in a lifetime. He continued on about how I was wasting my breath and time, and that sooner or later Alice is going to find someone else that won't be immortal.

Well that topic made me panic again. Hey, I had a reason to snap at him.

"Will you shut up already?!" I snapped at him.

But at the last moment, at the edge of the forest, I saw a sight that could never be erased from my memory. Jack stood still, looking between me and the two people outside. He finally rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, as if he knew the entire story I was watching.

Sandy was there. So was Sadie, and by her face she was genuinely surprised seeing him.

Jack wasn't kidding. Sandy really had changed. Mostly in physical appearance. He was taller, just inches taller than Sadie herself. He must've morphed his form during those four years, and believe me that metamorphosis for a spirit takes ages to do. How he was able to gain energy while transforming his body in just a minimum of four years, I had no idea.

His face was less round than before and his nose was more humanly sculpted, but nonetheless he was still recognizable. His sand body gave an appearance of Indian trousers and the signature folded jacket he had, and his shoes curled.

He...he didn't do all this for Sadie...did he?

I looked at Jack, who winced. "You don't mind I was a distraction, right?"

I growled, "I'll kill you later."

Not wanting to watch this display, nor embarrass Sadie with whatever she was discussing with Sandy, I melted into the shadows. Finally, away from Jack Frost.

Sadie stared, open mouthed. She looked Sandy up and down for the third time. Despite being known as a loud talkative person, no words could describe how she was feeling or what she wanted to say to him. She wanted to hug him and cry because she's missed him so long, she wanted to laugh because of the absurdity of her silence, she wanted to punch Sandy in the stomach for skipping out on her for four freaking years when she needed him most.

"You're...you're back." she stammered, looking into his golden eyes.

He shyly smiled and nodded, looking up through his lashes like a puppy. Sadie found it too adorable for her own good.

I never really left. He touched her hand, but she withdrew. She couldn't look at him, just at the wooden fence of the patio.

"No. You left. Four years and I was alone when I needed you most," Sadie said, looking at the ground with bitterness, "I told you how I felt when I was ten years old and you left because you were disgusted with me."

His fingertips touched her mouth, silencing her. She looked up at him, still angry. He looked mournful, like four years of regret and guilt were finally pouring out of him.

I left for bad reasons that I thought were in the name of your safety. It's bad for humans to love spirits-

"Big excuse," she muttered under his fingertips, "Pitch broke that rule and he's still around. Why couldn't you?"

Because you were young. There were other boys more worthy than me, and I misjudged your feelings as just childish crushing. Sadie, I really did care about you. Do. Why do you think you've never had a single nightmare despite practically living with the Boogeyman?

Sadie couldn't think of a response fast enough for Sandy's liking, so he continued. Now he wasn't just signing or having text float above his head, he was mouthing it. Sadie knew how to lip read, thank goodness for Sandy. She knew sign language as well, mostly from school, but Sandy was too desperate to sign everything that was on his mind.

I never left, Sadie. Physically I did but I would never leave you in any other way. I kept my promise that you would be safe. I always will-

"That's not enough, Sandy," Sadie broke away from him, fighting back tears, "You left for four years. I missed you. I almost gave up on you. But I couldn't, because I really did care about you."

Sandy stepped forward, But-

"But nothing!" Sadie yelled, tears building up in her blue eyes, "You hurt me worse than you thought, Sanderson. I needed you around. I'm still that outcast at school with minimal friends because I still believe in childish fantasies. You never kept me safe in daylight, only when I was asleep! At school I'm harassed by jocks and ridiculed by the teachers for being too liberal and independent. Who was I to go to when I cried? Who could I have possibly gone to that knew how to comfort me and be there?"

Sandy looked down at his slippers, ashamed.

"I couldn't go to Pitch because he'd be angry. Not at me, but he'd go after people and punish them, and the last thing I would want is for people to get hurt because of me. I couldn't go to Alice because she'd try to reason with me why maybe I'm the victim and she ends up sounding like the teachers. You were the only one I knew that let me cry on your shoulder when I needed it, you were there every moment I needed you…"

Sadie's voice fell...she couldn't go on. She didn't have the heart to. Tears were running down her face, and she stubbornly wiped them away, angry at herself for being so weak. Selfish! Self centered! She scolded herself, You make this all about you! How DARE you! How could you do that to him!?

She cried. She tried holding it back, but those four years of loneliness came rushing forth in the form of her tears, and she couldn't stop it. Horrible flashbacks of her lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for those dreamsand images to come hurt her. The images of her writing letters to Sandy she'll never send before throwing them into the trash, of drawing his face until it burned into her brain, thinking that if he had a voice what would it sound like? Lulling and soothing? Musical? Gravely and tough?

Gentle hands touched the sides of her cheekbones, and she looked up, not expecting to see Sandy's face close to hers, noses almost touching.

Without a warning, he softly kissed her, soft as a butterfly's touch. It was one of those kisses that was so gentle it made her heart soar that her wish was fulfilled.

His kiss lingered before he pulled away, looking into her eyes and letting his thumb wipe away her tears.

Do you accept my apology?

Sadie stared at him, not fully processing what was happening. When her brain finally comprehended Sandman's kiss, she clung to him in a tight hug. His arms wrapped around her, gently rubbing her back in circles.

"Don't leave me again. Promise."

Under Man in Moon's watch, I promise.

#pitch black #pitch black x oc #fanfiction #fanfics #rotg fandom #rotg fanfiction #rotg fanfic #rise of the guardian fanfics #rise of the guardians

1 note · View note

killervibe · 6 years ago

Note

Killervibe title: The Ramons

Note: I used The Middle’s episode 3x13 car scene as the template for the majority of this prompt. Like…..That scene (and that family) is exactly future Killervibe. You can’t tell me otherwise lol.

“We’re having a family meeting.” Caitlin deposited her cranberry juice on her coaster with a sigh, settling into her chair at the dining table.

Cisco ran his hand through his hair, psyching himself for big fat tears.

Dante frowned, bypassing the greens for rice. “I thought this was dinner.”

“It is dinner, take your peas.”

Amalia pushed the bowl to her brother with a pointed glare. “Dante Stein stopped eating vegetables because he got freaked out about genetically modified organisms.”

Cisco stopped cutting Heath’s chicken into smaller pieces. His front teeth were loose and he’d been complaining about it all week. “What?”

Dante shoved chicken into his mouth, talking with his mouthful. “It’s called being a vegetarian!”

Amalia choked.

“Honey, no.”

“Mom. Educate him.”

“You’re all putting poison in your bodies!”

“Your brain is poison! Mom always buys us healthy food!”

The two began to squabble and Caitlin clicked her fingers at her children.

“Okaaaay!” Cisco shouted, whisking the bowl of peas from the middle of the table to serve a portion on his son’s plate anyway. “Dante, you’re not a vegetarian. Amalia, don’t be mean to your brother. Heath, stop laughing.” He looked around and realized there was an empty seat. “Wait, where’s the baby?”

“Ballet, remember? It’s Tuesday,” Caitlin said gently, putting her hand over his.

He nodded gratefully. Between Star Labs and this house, Cisco swore sometimes he wasn’t sure what year it was, forget the day of the week.

“Your mom and I were talking about a family meeting. Which we’re having. Right now.”

The kids quieted at his clipped tone. He’s known to be the fun parent, Cisco knows that’s how they see him, but he’s not afraid to be serious. And this matter was not a joke.

“We have some sad news. Your aunt Clarissa passed away yesterday.”

Amalia dropped her fork. “I–What?”

“The lady who gives us candy?” Heath asked.

Cisco ruffled his hair. “Yeah buddy.” Some sad white lilies sprouted along Heath’s delicate branch, twining around his arm.

“She was old, Amalia,” Caitlin explained to their eldest. “You knew that. And you should be comforted, she died very peacefully in her sleep.”

“That’s not comforting at all!” Dante exclaimed, horrified. “I go to sleep every night! I’d be more comforted if she died in a freak storm.”

“Dante,” Cisco snapped. “Have some respect. Half of your name comes from her family.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, swiping his blondish streaked hair out of his face.

“Besides,” Cisco couldn’t help but add. “In your sleep is what you’re shooting for. You just close your eyes and never wake up. You won’t know.”

“You’ll never even know?!?!” Heath spat.

Caitlin shot Cisco a sharp glare. “The point is, this is our first death close to the family since...” She broke off, looking down at her nails on her lap. “We’ll have to go to the funeral.”

“Ugh, funeral homes.” Dante Stein shuddered. “I’m never ending up in a place like that.”

“What do you mean? We’ll all end up there. Everybody dies. I mean, except Uncle Barry, but you know what I mean,” Amalia said.

“Not me,” her brother argued.

Cisco ate silently, watching his children, wondering where on Earth he went wrong. “If you figure out a way to avoid it,” he started sarcastically, “You let us know.”

“I already did,” Dante Stein snarked back, lifting up his hand to form a block of ice. He plopped it in his glass. “I’m gonna be frozen.”

Caitlin’s face twisted. “You’re gonna be frozen?”

“Ew, Dante.”

“Relax, Amalia. Not my whole body, just my head. Think about it, when I go, the world is gonna be sad. They’re gonna want me back. When mom and dad find the cure to whatever killed me, then they’ll unfreeze me.”

“That’s creepy. Isn’t that the plot to Frankenstein?” Heath piped up.

“Yes, Heath. Good job,” Caitlin praised with a straight face. Cisco doesn’t know how she does it.

“You’re assuming that mom and dad would still be alive,” Amalia replied, and at this point his family have all but forgotten about dinner.

“Nora’s good with science,” Dante Stein shrugged. “I bet she’d do it. Or maybe Argus.”

Cisco shared a look with his wife, who had seemed to have mentally checked out of the conversation. He put his hand over her knee.

You okay? he mouthed. Cisco knew she’d been withdrawn since they got the news from Lily. Caitlin loved the Steins with all her heart. And it hurt his heart, to see her sad. The kids right now weren’t making this any easier.

“How would you know they put your head on the right body?” Amalia demanded, shaking her fork at Dante Stein.

“If I were you, I’d want my head to be put up on another person’s body. Here’s an idea–If you go first, I’ll freeze your head and put it on a dude’s body.”

“Dad!”

Cisco pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed an aspirin. But hey, at least they weren’t crying.

“You’re not freezing my baby girl’s head!”

“Daddy I’m thirteen!”

“Still my baby. Amalia it’s okay. He won’t do it.”

“No!” she exclaimed hysterically, nearly knocking over her glass of apple juice. “No, he will! Daddy, he will, and you won’t be here to stop him! Look at that evil face! Mom make him promise he won’t freeze my head!”

“Dante Stein, promise to your sister you won’t freeze your sister’s head and put it on another body.”

Dante Stein pushed around the food on his face, contemplative. “I don’t know that I can make that promise.” He took a bite distractedly, smug at Amalia’s frustrated garbled yell.

“You’re eating the peas,” Heath pointed out quietly.

Dante screamed out in fear, spraying mushy half eaten peas all over the dinner table.

Cisco blinked.

Caitlin pushed her chair back abruptly, having had enough. “Mommy’s gonna take a nap.” She took Heath’s hand, pulling him out of his seat. Cisco glanced to his side to find he ate all of his dinner. “You clearly are the reasonable kid this evening. Wanna watch some Netflix with me?”

Heath smiled widely, pink cherry blossoms blooming along his branches. She turned to their other two.

“Visitation is on Thursday. The funeral’s on Friday. I don’t want to hear a word or see a second of this nonsense there.”

Cisco leaned back in his seat when Caitlin rubbed her hand across his shoulders. She bent down to kiss him gently, and he brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Don’t forget to pick up the baby.”

Cisco set an alarm for three minutes before the ballet practice was over so he could breach to the studio, knowing he likely would forget if he didn’t.

The kids bickered until they realized Cisco had his arms crossed across his chest, displeased.

“Are you mad at us?” Amalia asked in a small voice. “Is mom mad at us?”

Cisco’s face softened, “Oh baby. No. But–you two were being very insensitive. Your mom is grieving. She’s sad. She wanted to talk to you about Auntie Clarissa, and why she was such a wonderful woman and you didn’t let her.”

Dante Stein went cold, frost growing over his dinner plate. “I–I didn’t think of that.”

“It’s alright,” he reassured him. “But your mom doesn’t want to hear you two fighting every night. Okay? Can we do that this week?”

The two looked at each other. There was a four year age difference between the them, and sometimes Cisco forgot how much older Amalia was than DS. She grew exasperated pretty quickly of his antics. But he was just a child, and Cisco didn’t want to curb his expression or shoot down all his thoughts. They didn’t with Amalia, but that’s when they were a family of three and four. Not six. Still, his chest swelled with pride as his eldest children had a silent conversation with their eyes, seeming to have come to a silent agreement.

“Yeah,” Dante Stein said. “We can.”

Amalia nodded. “We will, Daddy. We’re sorry.”

Cisco stood up to put their food in the microwave. “I’m not the one you need to apologize to.”

“Okay,” Amalia said meekly.

“And Dante, you are never freezing any part of you siblings’ bodies. Dead or alive. Is that clear?”

Dante took too long to answer, and Amalia zapped him with a small vibe blast.

He jolted. “Yeah, fine, ok! It’s clear, dad. It’s clear.”

“Thaaaank you.”

It went quiet, and Cisco was done discipling for the night.

“First one who finishes their dinner–including their vegetables-- gets to choose the movie we’ll watch with mom after I pick up your sister when homework is done.”

The two scrambled for their hot plates, suddenly famished again.

Cisco smirked at the two, tucking his hair behind his ear.

Yeah, he smiled to himself. Still got it.

#the flash #the flash fic #killervibe #amalia ramon #dante stein ramon #tkv fic

15 notes · View notes

lets-talk-story · 6 years ago

Text

Pied Piper of Hamelin

Hamelin town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The River Weser, deep and wide, Washes its wall on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see townsfolk suffer so From vermin, was a pity.

Rats! They fought the dogs, and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats, By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats.

At last the people in a body To the Town Hall came flocking: "'Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy; And as for our Corporation -- shocking To think we buy gowns lined with ermine For dolts that can't or won't determine What's best to rid us of our vermin! You hope, because you're old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe ease? Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking To find the remedy we're lacking, Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!" At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation.

An hour they sate in council, At length the Mayor broke silence: "For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell, I wish I were a mile hence! It's easy to bid one rack one's brain -- I'm sure my poor head aches again I've scratched it so, and all in vain. Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!" Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber-door but a gentle tap? "Bless us," cried the Mayor, "What's that?" (With the Corporation as he sat, Looking little though wondrous fat; Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister Than a too-long-opened oyster, Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous For a plate of turtle, green and glutinous.) "Only a scraping of shoes on the mat? Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!"

"Come in!" -- the Mayor cried, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure! His queer long coat from heel to head Was half of yellow and half of red; And he himself was tall and thin, With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin, And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin, No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin, But lips where smiles went out and in -- There was no guessing his kith and kin! And nobody could enough admire The tall man and his quaint attire. Quoth one: "It's as my great-grandsire, Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!"

He advanced to the council-table: And, "Please your honors," said he, "I'm able, By means of a secret charm, to draw All creatures living beneath the sun, That creep, or swim, or fly, or run, After me so as you never saw! And I chiefly use my charm On creatures that do people harm, The mole, and toad, and newt, and viper; And people call me the Pied Piper." (And here they noticed round his neck A scarf of red and yellow stripe, To match with his coat of selfsame cheque; And at the scarf's end hung a pipe; And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying As if impatient to be playing Upon this pipe, as low it dangled Over his vesture, so old-fangled.) "Yet," said he "poor piper as I am, In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats; I eased in Asia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats: And, as for what your brain bewilders, If I can rid your town of rats Will you give me a thousand guilders?" "One? fifty thousand!" -- was the exclamation Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.

Into the street the Piper stept, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while; Then, like a musical adept, To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled; And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered, You heard as if an army muttered; And the muttering grew to a grumbling; And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling; And out of the houses the rats came tumbling: Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and pricking whiskers, Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives -- Followed the Piper for their lives. From street to street he piped, advancing, And step for step, they followed, dancing, Until they came to the river Weser Wherein all plunged and perished -- Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar, Swam across and lived to carry (As he the manuscript he cherished) To Rat-land home his commentary: Which was, "At the first shrill notes of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting apples, wondrous ripe, Into a cider press's gripe: And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards, And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards, And the drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks, And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks; And it seemed as if a voice (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery Is breathed) called out, Oh rats, rejoice! The world is grown to one vast drysaltery! So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon, Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon! And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon, All ready staved, like a great sun shone Glorious scarce an inch before me, Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!' -- I found the Weser rolling o'er me."

You should have heard the Hamelin people Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple. "Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles! Poke out the nests and block up the holes! Consult with carpenters and builders, And leave in our town not even a trace Of the rats!" -- when suddenly up the face Of the Piper perked in the market-place, With a, "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!"

A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue; So did the Corporation, too. For council dinners made rare havoc With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock; And half the money would replenish Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. To pay this sum to a wandering fellow With a gypsy coat of red and yellow! "Beside," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink, "Our business was done at the river's brink; We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, And what's dead can't come to life, I think. So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink From the duty of giving you something for drink, And a matter of money to put in your poke; But, as for the guilders, what we spoke Of them, as you very well know, was in joke. Beside, our losses have made us thrifty: A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!"

The Piper's face fell, and he cried, "No trifling! I can't wait, beside! I've promised to visit, by dinner-time Bagdat, and accept the prime Of the Head Cook's pottage, all he's rich in, For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen, Of a nest of scorpions no survivor: With him I proved no bargain-driver, With you, don't think I'll bait a stiver! And folks who put me in a passion May find me pipe to another fashion."

"How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I brook Being worse treated than a cook? Insulted by a lazy ribald With idle pipe and vesture piebald? You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst, Blow your pipe there till you burst!"

Once more he stept into the street; And to his lips again Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane; And ere he blew three notes (such sweet Soft notes as yet musician's cunning Never gave the enraptured air) There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling, Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering, Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering, And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering, Out came the children running. All the little boys and girls, With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step, or cry To the children merrily skipping by, -- Could only follow with the eye That joyous crowd at the Piper's back. But how the Mayor was on the rack, And the wretched Council's bosoms beat, As the Piper turned from the High Street To where the Weser rolled its waters Right in the way of their sons and daughters! However he turned from South to West, And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed, And after him the children pressed; Great was the joy in every breast. "He never can cross that mighty top! He's forced to let the piping drop, And we shall see our children stop!" When, lo! as they reached the mountain-side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; And the Piper advanced and the children followed, And when all were in to the very last, The door in the mountain-side shut fast. Did I say, all? No! One was lame, And could not dance the whole of the way; And in after years, if you would blame His sadness, he was used to say, -- "It's dull in our town since my playmates left! I can't forget that I'm bereft Of all the pleasant sights they see, Which the Piper also promised me; For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, Joining the town and just at hand, Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew, And flowers put forth a fairer hue, And everything was strange and new; The sparrows were brighter than the peacocks here, And their dogs outran our fallow deer, And honey-bees had lost their stings, And horses were born with eagles' wings; And just as I became assured My lame foot would be speedily cured, The music stopped and I stood still, And found myself outside the hill, Left alone against my will, To go now limping as before, And never hear of that country more!"

Alas, alas for Hamelin! There came into many a burgher's pate A text which says, that heaven's Gate Opes to the rich at as easy rate As the needle's eye takes a camel in! The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South To offer the Piper by word of mouth, Wherever it was men's lot to find him, Silver and gold to his heart's content, If he'd only return the way he went, And bring the children behind him. But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor, And Piper and dancers were gone forever, They made a decree that lawyers never Should think their records dated duly If, after the day of the month and year, These words did not as well appear, "And so long after what happened here On the Twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and Seventy-six;" And the better in memory to fix The place of the children's last retreat, They called it, the Pied Piper's Street -- Where any one playing on pipe or tabor Was sure for the future to lose his labor. Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern To shock with mirth a street so solemn; But opposite the place of the cavern They wrote the story on a column, And on the great church-window painted The same, to make the world acquainted How their children were stolen away, And there it stands to this very day. And I must not omit to say That in Transylvania there's a tribe Of alien people that ascribe The outlandish ways and dress On which their neighbors lay such stress, To their fathers and mothers having risen Out of some subterraneous prison Into which they were trepanned Long time ago in a mighty band Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, But how or why, they don't understand.

So, Willy, let you and me be wipers Of scores out with all men -- especially pipers; And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice, If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise.

#pied piper #pied piper of hamelin #poem #nursery rhymes #poetry #mice #children #music

20 notes · View notes

thatishogwash · 6 years ago

Text

Pass

MatsuTen Week 2019

Day 2, 01/31 - Firsts

First kiss

AO3

It is Tendou’s first training camp with Shiratorizawa and he had been thoroughly enjoying himself. The more he practices with the other teams the better he can calculate how to crush them in a real game. His new coach is the first person to truly believe in him, to not care that he’s a bit odd, weirder than most of the other straight laces that attend the prestigious Academy.

It was the last night of the training camp when most of the teams gathered in an empty classroom. It was crowded and there was no doubt the coaches knew what they were doing and would punish them the next day by having them run suicides or flying falls but they were all impulsive teenagers. Consequences were to be dealt with at a later date, right now they were all gathered in a rough circle with a bottle in the middle. Tendou had been left out of most games and gatherings when he had been younger and while his instinct had been to get rest in the room assigned to Shiratorizawa, back where Ushijima was sleeping peacefully, he was glad he came.

Or he was until the bottle landed on a first year middle blocker from Aoba Johsai. He wasn’t anything impressive, his height probably helped him a lot in middle school where things that that could win or lose a game but high school was a completely different playing field. His thick eyebrows and heavy lids made him look perpetually sleepy though Tendou had seen the flashes of intelligence beneath that. Unlike many of the other first years he didn’t seem nervous or stressed in the least and he always seemed to be around a guy with cotton candy pink hair and an ever present smirk.

“You-” Tendou’s senior grinned, probably remembering how that same middle blocker had knocked down several of his spikes. Tendou could see the bruises that lined thin arms, the ring and pinky finger on his left hand taped together while his pointer finger on the same hand was swollen. Tendou’s own arms and fingers looked about the same.

“Matsukawa.” The first year spoke up without fear, nudged by his pink haired friend. The look on the seniors face turned almost feral as his eyes light on Tendou and he then knew that he should always go with his instincts. He should have gone to bed early like Ushijima had done.

“I dare you to kiss our monster.” The senior jerked his chin in Tendou’s direction. Tendou kept his face blank even as his heart beat faster, especially with the growing snickers and snorts coming from around him.

Tendou had never been kissed before, no one had even ever confessed to him. Ushijima was always getting confessed to, Semi always had a bag full of homemade chocolates after whites day, Oohira even had a girlfriend. But no one, female or male, had ever shown an interest in Tendou. He had even let Semi start spiking his hair, messing it out of the bowl cut his mother had said made him look like a little angel.

Tendou met dark eyes across the circle, his fingernails digging into the skin of his palms as the laughter grew around him, the taunts blending together. He had thought he had moved past this when he had graduated middle school but apparently not.

He should have gone to bed early.

“Pass.” Matsukawa stated, eyes looking away from Tendou and that probably hurt more than the jeers and laughter around him as his seniors pushed and prodded him. No one wanted to kiss him, even on a dare is what they said. Tendou smiled and nodded because he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do. Yamagata, the tall libero for their team, looked distinctly uncomfortable and Semi’s face had morphed into a deep frown that looked as if it might stay that way but no one else spoke up.

The next day while they were downing water after the grueling punishments dulled out by their coach for staying up late and getting close to no sleep, Semi stepped up to Tendou and used the bottom of the water bottle to poke Tendou’s temple. Tendou reached up to take the bottle.

“Fuck them.” Semi grumbled in a low voice, surprising Tendou.

“Oh my Semi-Semi, what language.” Tendou crooned out, earning a heated glare from the thin server.

“Last night-” Semi started then stopped, looking uncomfortable. His pinch face was hilarious to Tendou. “We’re going to replace all of them and they know it. The team will be built around Ushijima’s strength and you work better with him than anyone else. As for everyone else, let’s see if they are laughing when we stop them from ever going to nationals.” Tendou blinked at Semi in surprise before a slow grin covered his face. Semi was awkward, bad with feelings and worse at words but he seemed to know exactly what to say to make Tendou feel better.

Tendou would make it his personal goal in life to never allow Aoba Johsai any victory over Shiratorizawa, especially that middle blocker Matsukawa.

Tendou kept that promise for three years until some plucky upstarts in black uniforms decided to throw a wrench in everyone's plans. Honestly Tendou couldn’t even really be all that upset, though he wished for more time to play. He knew this was where his volleyball career ended, he didn’t want to be one of those people who hung onto something until all good memories were tainted and turned to ash.

It didn’t mean Tendou didn’t need a few minutes to pull himself together away from his team. Which is why he was hiding out behind some vending machines while the arena slowly emptied out. He knew he would have to get up soon but he thought he was allowed a couple more minutes to wallow.

How had that inexperienced little middle blocker read his moves? Tendou couldn’t even remember his name, though Ushijima had acted like he knew both him and the scowling server.

“Oh.” Tendou looked up, and up into familiar dark eyes. How many times had he looked into those heavily hooded eyes across the net? How many times had he purposely tried to provoke any type of reaction out of this very particular middle blocker?

“Come to laugh at me?” Tendou asked, his lips curling up into a familiar grin that Semi had politely dubbed his ‘psycho murderer grin’. Tendou thought that was a bit rude but then again, Semi was incredibly rude and it wasn’t the meanest thing he had said to Tendou.

“I was beat by the same team.” Matsukawa stated, looking behind him before turning back around to step over Tendou’s long legs and sit down next to him on the dirty floor. Matsukawa was wearing a turtleneck under a long jacket and jeans that stretched on his long legs. Tendou found it a bit frustrating. They were teenagers after all, how come Matsukawa never seemed to have gone through an awkward phase? Why did he continue to look like a model? At least during training camps and during matches he was covered in sweat and smelled just as bad as the rest of the plebeians but to have him show up looking like he did? It was downright insulting.

“They deserved it.” Tendou crossed his legs at the ankle, resisting the urge to shift and move around more. “And if the tricky little upstarts have their bus fall off the side of a mountain then they deserve that too.” Matsukawa’s laugh was a deep, echoing thing that did unfair things to Tendou’s stomach.

“I’m surprised you even let me sit next to you, usually you leave the room when I walk into it.” Matsukawa said, face showing absolutely no sign of what he was actually thinking.

“I just played five sets.” Tendou grabbed his thigh and flopped it uselessly against the ground. “Like limp noodles.” Matsukawa laughed again. His top lip was thicker than his bottom and Tendou kind of hated himself for noting that. “Plus it’s you who has never liked me.”

“Says who?” Matsukawa asked, thick eyebrows raising slightly. Tendou wondered if he styled his hair or if it just fell artfully tousled naturally. Probably the latter the asshole.

“You did.” Tendou wished he had kept his big fat mouth closed but now that it’s out there he thinks he’ll just go all the way. It wasn’t like he had any dignity to begin with, plus he would most likely never see Matsukawa again and he had always wondered what exactly made him so repulsive to the other middle blocker. “You said pass.”

“You didn’t want to kiss me.” Tendou turned to Matsukawa in surprise, his mouth was curled upwards just slightly. “I saw it on your face, you didn’t want to do it. I didn’t really want my first kiss to be on a dare surrounded by sweaty, smelly teenage boys anyways.” Tendou stared straight ahead because Matsukawa wasn’t lying. Tendou hadn’t wanted to kiss Matsukawa that night, he had just wanted to be apart of the game instead of watching from the outside like he had when he was a kid.

“Well don’t I look foolish.” Tendou muttered, though he didn’t feel all that embarrassed. Perhaps he was too tired for true shame, maybe that would come later.

“I would.” Tendou turned back to Matsukawa. “Kiss you, if you wanted.” Not much had changed in three years. Tendou still had never kissed anyone, never been confessed to and the only handmade chocolates he got were those Oohira stuffed into his locker. Oohira thought he was being secretive about it, but Tendou knew the other teens heart was far too big for most teenage boys.

“Oh?” Tendou asked before clearing his throat. “I don’t kiss until the third date.” He was an absolute disaster. Somewhere Semi was rolling his eyes without knowing why except that he knew, somewhere in the world, Tendou was making an ass of himself.

“Are you busy on Sunday? There’s a new arcade that opened up or there’s a sci-fi movie that just came out that’s supposed to be pretty good.” Matsukawa scratched his cheek and Tendou realized for the first time that the other teen was actually nervous.

“Are you confessing to me?” Tendou asked, turning his entire body to Matsukawa even though his sore muscles protested the sudden movement.

“Trying to ask you out on a first date, so we can eventually get to a third one.” Matsukawa smiled, his cheeks a little pinker than they had been a moment ago. Tendou’s heart beat faster but it was excitement rushing through his veins, not the fear he had felt three years ago.

They exchanged numbers, Tendou’s sore and swollen fingers having a difficult time hitting the right buttons but they got there eventually. They stood up, Tendou’s name being called from down the hall and Matsukawa’s phone ringing with an incoming call. They had a date planned for Sunday and Tendou couldn’t wait.

Tendou took a step towards Matsukawa, pressed a closed mouth kiss to the highpoint of Matsukawa’s cheek before taking a couple skipping steps backwards. Matsukawa’s own swollen and twisted fingers touching the spot before smiling.

Tendou turned and ran towards his team before Matsukawa could say anything else, though Tendou knew it would most likely be the first thing they talked about when they met up again on Sunday.

#matsuten week #haikyuu!!#my writing #haikyuu #hq #matsukawa issei #tendou satori

7 notes · View notes