#i personally have 'if i go outside the sun will kill me!' stuck in my brain

[build-a-buddy]

In the path of totality; here's hoping we don't get incinerated in the next hour! :3

[ja3hwa]

♡ 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟖: 𝐓𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 - 𝐉.𝐘𝐇 ♡

Planet 3564AB

【Synopsis】 : You're a Mercenary, searching for your next job in the galaxy. Little did you know, being stuck on a wateland planet was about to gift you more than just galactic credits.

『Word count』 : 1.51k

-> Genre: Sci-Fi. Smut. Poly.

Paring: Alien!Yunho x Mercenary!Reader

[Warnings] : Making out. Neck kisses. Unprotected sex. Anal. Lots of tentacle penetration. Multiple orgasms. Lots of bodily fluids. Dirty talk. Mention of Seonghwa and…laying eggs… I’m sorry, hehe. Hints of a poly relationship. Swearing.

Thank you, My Darling, @yourfatherlucifer, for requesting Yunho for this day. I hope you like it. ♡♡

Note: This is inspired by the amazing @sanjoongie and her absolutely filthy Alien fics she writes. I haven't written much along the lines of Alien/Sci-Fi aus, so her fics definitely helped in navigating the way of writing. (I think i still have a lot of learning with writing smut for aliens, ahah). She's such a kind person and a stunning writer, so please go check her stuff out. ♡

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Stuck on a rogue planet, you had decided to explore some of the caves nearby for any type of supplies but you were at no luck. Your ship's engine had seemly malfunctioned from a strange goop from the waste landed planet's surface. But other than the odd glowing goo dripping from your ship, you didn’t see any on the floor or tailing anywhere. but you soon brushed it off, blaming it could be from the atmosphere, a small life form maybe? Or even something you could have picked up along the way and it’s only affected the machine now.

Either way, you looked around the planet and through an unsuccessful scavenge you found nothing of use to help you. You had called one of your teammates from the same clan as you, San. He said he and Wooyoung would come over from Planet Gem which is just under a day's trip, so it meant you’d been staying the night on this shit-forsaken wasteland. Watching the two bright pink suns slowly begin to set, you had made a border, or a guard of some sort to help protect yourself and most importantly your ship while you were asleep. You had no idea what might be lurking on this seemingly empty planet.

You shifted in and out of consciousness, trying to sleep but something felt off, like something was watching you. That you weren’t alone. You had decided the only way you were going to sleep was to do one more quick sweep of the ship even though you had done a sweep over four times already before going to bed. But one more time, you kept repeating to yourself. And by the time you came to your cock pit the last part of the ship you had still found nothing. the doors were locked and nothing seemed to be inside the ship. Yes maybe something could be wandering outside but you were safe… right?

You go to leave to pilot room but when you open the sliding door you're met with a large body running into you. Everything was happening so quickly that you couldn’t even see what had grabbed you. A wet lanky object wrapped around your ankle, holding you against your captain's chair while another smooth, long object held your wrists locking them above your head. You thrashed, trying to push the creature off you, fearing it might be here to kill you but as another lanky object glided over your navel, you knew what it wanted.

“G-Get off me!!” You try to throw the beast but it only chuckled, with a deep velvet voice. His blue-ish skin was caught in your view its dark eyes caught your attention. It was a man, well mostly. Soft and fair freatures of a handsome man stared at you for a moment, his sharp teethed smile making you shiver. His body was board and a slip-like opening was painting the middle of his chest. It was opened slightly, letting yet another Tentacle spill out making it grab your other ankle, now successfully holding you open for the creature to shift himself between your spread legs. His large hands took a handful of fabric from your sleep shirt, ripping it off without a thought. You gasp, feeling your bare chest being tickled by the cold air. Your nipples were achingly hard, his face dipped down latching onto your buds sucking in harshly while a socked tentacle wrapped around your other one pinching it. “Fuck!”

Your body was burning, slipping under the control of the creature. Your mind became so foggy all you could do was whimper, no longer fighting him. He seemed to notice kissing up your neck until he found your lips, locking his with your plump ones. His very long tongue explored your mouth, making you gag slightly as the wet appendage almost went down your throat. His fingers hooked under your sleep short ripping them apart along with your underwear. Tears swelled up on the corners of your eye, feeling his tentacles spread your ass cheeks while another one poked at your tight asshole. He pulled away letting you breathe, coughing out while your saliva dripped from your chin.

 “I’m gonna fill you up. Breed you, my mate…hmm you smell so good.” The alien rambles repeating the words along the line of ‘breed,’ mate’, ‘fuck’. you weren't really paying attention, mind melting from the feeling of his appendages playing with your holes. His tentacle slipped inside your ass making you cry, having not prepped you properly. But the burn was so pleasurable you couldn’t complain. He fucked you fast, making you feel like you were going to tip over the edge. Your hazy eyes watching him sit up slightly, watching his tentacle fuck you. He was groaning at the sensation of your tight ass wrapped around him. Another wet limb slipped out of the gap in his chest moving down to snake around his cock. Pumping him in time with him fucking your ass. His fingers pinched your clit while the other free one squeezed your breast. The feeling was enough to send you over the edge, coming around nothing. While squirting on him. He bit his lip coming also all over your tummy and chest while his tentacle empty his load in your ass as well. You were covered in his seed, while he was soaked in your juices. But that didnt stop him. He needed more.

“I’m gonna breed you now, my mate.” He moaned, placing his hands on either side of your hips, lifting you up so your back laid awkwardly on the large chair and your feet dangled on either side of his huge body. His cock inches inside you in one clean motion while his tentacle had stayed still deep in your other tight hole, holding your ass cheeks apart. He thrust in a quick snap, making you gasp for air. His cock was just what your body needed. He watched you intensely, your mouth agape and mind gone. Your body was his to use as he pleased. All of his wet limbs could have their fun, filling all the holes they could find. Two in your ass, one slipping into your mouth making you lazily suck to and another two slipping slowly into your soaked cunt beside his cock filling you more than you’d ever been before.

“Fuck, Fgmnng mnnyu…” You rambled against his long wet appendage, making the alien grin. You were so full of him and he was living for every moment.

“You gonna cum baby? Hmm? Come on, make a mess on my cock.” the snap of the creature's hips sent your body into overdrive, making you squeeze his cock, coming down fast from your high. Your cunt clenched milking him for every drop he had, as he also came inside your ass and mouth, successfully filling you in every hole. His grip loosened, and all his limbs left you, making you feel empty. His tentacles unbound themselves from your wrists and ankles, letting your aching body sit upright on the defiled captain's chair. You rubbed your wrists while catching your breath, watching all the alien's tentacles slip back into the opening in his chest before he seals shut. You clicked your tongue, leaning back.

“What have I told you about stowing away on my ship,” you said sternly in between pants, but in truth, you were to mad at him.

“Seonghwa got to lay his eggs with you just before you left and I didn’t have time to tell you about the mating season. So I thought the logical to just come with you…” He spoke rather fast, “To be fair I didn’t know how long you were going to be and I didn’t want to spend it with Mingi again…” There was nothing wrong with Mingi, in fact, he loved the Altean but he needed his mate. You sighed, knowing the journeys you take sometimes last longer than anticipated but still, he didn’t need to hide away and goop your ship engine up just to fuck you.

“Okay…But just so you know, San and Wooyoung will be here from first light to bring supplies to fix what you damaged…” you crossed your arms over your bare chest feeling the stickiness of his seed. God, you needed a shower.

“Well then, let's shower and fucks some more before they arrive I’m sure once they smell my scent on you they’ll want a parting gift before they go back to base..” like he had read your mind, he wiggled his eyebrows, picking you up so your legs would wrap around his hips.

“You’re going back with them you realize. I’m warning you.” you groaned at him, resting your head on his chest as he walked to the shower bay. He kisses the top of your head before chuckling;

“I like to see you try.”

[thescarletnargacuga]

THE UNSEEN

A Harlequin AU oneshot ft. my OC

AU and ART credit: @tadc-harlequin-au @iamespecter

WARNING: heavy swearing, intense violence, blood, death

~~~

"Well, that was a fucking bore." Pomni flicked the charm into the air and caught it as she walked with her Caine-mandated blimp companion, Bubble. She had been sent on a mission by Ragatha to retrieve the charm, and she was sorely disappointed to find it unguarded by anything. She could just take it and leave. Yawn.

Caine's voice crackled through on Bubble's speaker. "I know, I'm sorry you didn't get the fight you wanted. If it's any consolation, we can spar when you get back."

Pomni rolled her eyes and pocketed the charm. "It's not the same, I need something I can tear apart with my bare hands." She clenched her mechanical hand tightly, and the metal creaked under the pressure of her grip.

"...You can tear me apart for your own sick enjoyment." Caine mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Pomni wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"He said-" Bubble started to say before Caine cut him off.

"NOTHING IMPORTANT! I'm just disappointed for you, my dear, that's all."

Pomni took a deep breath and surveyed her surroundings. She kept her head on a swivel, especially when things were quiet. The lands outside the city were barren and vast. Scattered war ruins were half buried by time and the elements. The wind blew loose dust in wisps at her feet. The horizon was most often empty of anything particularly interesting, but today something unusual caught her attention.

"Hey, Bubble. Can you get a read on that?" She pointed to the anomaly in the distance.

Bubble hovered higher into the air, and with a mechanical click, a telescope stuck out from his capsule. "Hmmm, looks like smoke."

"Smoke?" Pomni repeated and squinted. "Were there is smoke, there is fire, and were there is fire, there is action!" She took off at a full sprint towards the smoke.

Bubble puttered along behind her and his speaker came to life with Caine's voice again. "Wait, what? Bubble, what's happening?"

"She found some action, boss." Bubble reported with a smile.

"Wonderful." Caine sarcastically replied. "What did she find?"

"Black smoke."

"Black smoke..? Is something on fire?"

"Not that I saw." Bubble would shrug if he had shoulders.

"Wait..." Caine thought outloud. "POMNI! STOP!" His warning came through in time for her to skid to a stop a few hundred feet from what she thought was smoke. She saw no fire. No puppets. Only thick black mist that didn't burn away under the bright mid-day sun. It held fast like a barrier around a wide area of the abandoned landscape, and she could just see the top of an old ruin towering over the mist at the center.

She groaned at Caine's interference, and was even more annoyed with herself that she actually listened. "WHAT, Caine?"

"Pomni, I'm going to need you to describe exactly what you're seeing."

"Uh...it's some weird mist? Pitch black, super thick. Can't see through it at all. Do you know what the fuck this is?"

Caine's voice came through clear and serious. Every word held weight. "Listen to me very carefully. Do NOT go near that mist. It's extremely dangerous, even for someone like you."

Her interest was peaked. "You don't say? What's in there?"

He could hear the smile in her voice. "This is serious! There is an unbound construct in there that uses the mist as a cover. The locals call it The Unseen, but I think a more appropriate name is The Bladed Beast of Steel and Shadow."

"You know what is looks like?" She was sceptical.

"Vaguely, I was busy running for my life, but I am the only person that has encountered it and lived."

Pomni laughed. "Well, if you can say hello and walk away, it can't be THAT strong, now can it?"

"THIS IS NO TIME TO ATTACK MY EGO!" His voice cracked with desperation. "The point is, under NO circumstances should you seek out and try to fight what's in there! It WILL kill you! It's not like anything you have fought before!"

"So, what you're saying is, seek out and fight what's in there because it's not like anything I've seen before? Fuck yeah, I'm sold." She unsheethed her sword and advanced towards the mist.

"POMNI, NO!!"

"Pomni, yes." She grinned and licked her teeth. If this creature was half as epic as Caine made it sound, this was about to be a good day.

"POMNI! POMNI!!" Caine kept calling but she didn't respond.

"She's gone, boss." Bubble said as he watched her disappear into the veil.

"DAMN IT ALL!" A crashing sound in the background suggested that Caine had thrown something in frustration. "Stay right where you are, Bubble. I'm on my way. DON'T GO IN THAT MIST!"

"You got it, boss." Bubble lowered himself to the ground to conserve power for his tracking beacon.

~

Day became moonless night the moment Pomni fully entered the mist. The air reeked of unknown chemicals, her nose burned as she breathed. She tucked in her bell and pulled out some scrap cloth she kept for emergency bandages. She tied the cloth around her face, it helped some, but the air still felt corrosive. Her eyes watered on top of not being able to see more than a foot in front of her face.

She smiled under her impromptu mask. "Finally, a challenge." The uneven ground threatened to crunch under her footfalls, but her light step was just enough to maintain stealth.

She listened intently for any movement. Silence was all that greeted her as she slowly made her way through the abyss. She froze when something came into view. It looked like a puppet. It laid face down motionless on the ground, or, at least, half of it was. The other half was missing. As she continued, she found more bodies. Parts and pieces of varying puppets scattered the landscape. She stepped slowly and carefully over them.

She came to a wall of the ruin she had seen the top of. It was covered in claw marks as thick as her arm. Large dart looking projectiles were stuck in random patterns, some pinning unfortunate puppets to the wall. Her heart thrummed with anticipation, her body bristled on high alert. She gripped her sword tighter and clenched her mechanical fist.

A small piece of crumbling wall gave way and she looked to her right. Two pinprick lights looked at her from the darkness. "Ha!" She lunged and her sword struck right between the lights. She pulled back and the head of a pawn rolled towards her. It was already dead, the lights were on a helmet that has some power left in it. All she accomplished was give away her position. "Fuck."

Something unseen struck her with the force of a battering ram from behind and she went flying. She ragdolled into a pile of bodies and got up fast. The ground shook under the weight of a large obscured creature charging her. She saw two lights again, but this time, they were MUCH higher up and glowed like molten gold. As it approached, the golden glow spread to large fanned blades on either side of the creature's front legs. It pounced and she dodged the first strike. Followed immediately by a second strike she diverted with her sword, but only just, the force of the hit nearly tore her sword clean out of her grasp.

The creature kept her on her back foot, dodging a strike from a giant, razor sharp beak-like maw. She punched its face with her mechanical arm, and it reared back with an ear splitting, screeching roar. This gave her the precious seconds she needed to make distance between her and it. She held out her mechanical arm at what she could see of the creature, and her arm transformed into the barrel of a large gun. "Z says, eat shit!" She braced against the blast of the canon she had for an arm. An explosive incendiary round hit the creature in the shoulder. The air pressure from the explosion dispersed the mist around it, letting in some sunlight, and she finally got a good look at it.

It was horrific. An enormous quadrupedal metal construct covered in dried oil and rust bared its glowing blades at her. Slanted spikes covered its back to a heavy woven chain tail with a flared, spikey end. Black mist poured from its maw and chest, cloaking the area in shadow. It's eyes once again being all she saw.

"Holy. Shit." Pomni was THRILLED. This thing was everything Caine said it would be and more. She readied herself as she stared down the creature. "Come on, you motherfucker! Show me what you got!"

The creature roared and lunged. Its speed made the light of it's eyes streak in the darkness. It lashed out with its blades, she dodged. As it passed her, it swung it's tail, which has no glowing parts to warn her. It struck Pomni in the stomach, a single spike going clean through her abdomen and out her back. The creature whipped around and she ripped off the spike and flew into the ruin wall. The wall crumbled from impact and she fell with the rubble to the ground. She barely had time to get up before it was on her again, bringing down its claws. She rolled away and shot at it again with her arm. She was closer to the creature this time and made her own ears ring from the explosion but it got the thing to back off.

She got up and ran into the ruins. She tore off her mask to spit out the blood collecting in her throat. Pain racked her body and she braced herself against the furthest wall from the opening. She checked the hole in her abdomen, and she stuffed it with her old mask to stop the bleeding. "Fuck, that hurt."

A sudden shake knocked pieces of the ceiling loose and she jumped out of the way. The creature repeatedly slammed its body against the ruins, reaching inside to claw at her. There were broken stairs going up. She transformed her mechanical arm back into a hand and used its grappling hook feature to get herself up to the next floor. The creature dug desperately into the ruins on the second floor as well, so she went higher.

Looking out of a broken gap in the wall, she could see the glowing parts of the creature trying to break through the wall. Her knees started to shake. "What the fuck?" Her sword arm was trembling. "Knock it off!" She growled at herself. "Come on, think! There's got to be something..."

Talking to herself was helping subdue the shakes. "There were no spikes on the back of the creature's neck. So if I aim for the head, I may save myself from being skewered a second time. ...this is still a crazy idea." She jumped.

She came down on top of the creature's head and held on for dear life. The creature thrashed and tried to claw at her. It got in one solid slash in her leg but she held on. She plunged her sword into one of the creature's eyes. Glowing gold fluid spewed out and the creature yowled in agony. The fluid slicked her grasp and she let go before she got flung off uncontrollably.

She tucked and rolled away as the creature pawed at it's damaged eye. She took the opportunity to transform her arm back into a gun and take aim. The leaking flow made the creature easier to target, it poured down the neck and over the chest. She could see partially exposed mechanics from her previous close range shot. The core inside the creature was the source of the golden hour glow. "Gotcha." She fired her third round.

The creature was struck square in the chest, shrapnel exploded in every direction. Pomni covered her face as flying bits of metal cut at her body. The creature screeched and screamed and fell to the ground, gold fluid pooling around it.

Pomni kept her gun on the creature as she caught her breath. She took a few cautious steps forward. The creature didn't move. She grinned. "Fuck, yeah! Take THAT! Some creature of legend, you were! I've have worse fights with Bubble!" She laughed.

A blue flash of light next to her made her swing her gun around and she was looking at Caine. "Hey, you!" She greeted smugly and lowered her gun arm. "You're too late to join the party. I've already killed it."

Caine was out of breath. He had used a large amount of his blink ability to get here as fast as possible. He looked from the bleeding Pomni in front of him to the broken creature. "You...you what? No. That's impossible."

"Look at it and weep, tooth man. I should have made a bet with you." She transformed her arm and sheathed her sword.

Caine examined the surroundings. The mist wasn't clearing, it still emanated from the half glowing creature. The fluid around it stopped flowing out. He grabbed Pomni by her upper sword arm. "No... You didn't kill it. You just pissed it off."

The creature got up suddenly and charged the both of them. Caine blinked with Pomni to the far side of the ruins behind the creature. He took a knee. Between the travel to get to her and then blinking with her, he was feeling a bit drained.

"It was playing dead!? That bitch!" Pomni brought her weapons back out.

"Never trust anything is dead until you're holding it's heart in your hand, Pomni." Caine advised as he strategized. "How many rounds you got left?"

"Two" She cocked her gun arm. "And I took out one of it's eyes."

"What is it with you and eyes? First ragatha and now this?"

"Focus!" Pomni hissed. She watched for the creature. She could see it's faded glow searching for them.

"You have the charm?" Caine asked.

"Yeah." Pomni took it out of her pocket and handed it to him.

He took out a tool Pomni didn't recognize and used it to attach the charm to a metal band. He clamped it on her wrist and she felt a rush of energy.

"There. That'll help." He put his tool away.

"What is this?"

"Ragatha didn't say? It's a stamina charm. You could run laps around that thing now."

Pomni grinned. "Let's test it out then." She vaulted over the low wall they were hiding behind and followed the dim glow away from the ruin. Caine snuck out behind her and kept back a bit. Pomni kept low and quiet as she aimed at the glow. Caine readied his strings to either use against the creature or pull Pomni back. He wanted to avoid using his blink, as taking a passenger took a lot of energy and could render him unconscious if he overused it. Pomni stopped and so did Caine. She fired and hit what she was aiming for.

The target exploded into dust, but it was just that. Dust. She'd hit a rock with the creature's life blood smeared on it. They realized too late it was a trap.

The creature rushed Pomni and clamped it's sharp maw on her gun arm. Pomni was lifted into the air and thrashed like a toy. Caine activated his strings and the near invisible strands of energy connected to the creature. He struggled to hold it. "Drop her!" He commanded and the creature barely opened its maw. "I. Said. DROP! HER!" He shouted and forced the strings with all his might. The creature slowly opened its maw and Pomni fell.

She landed on her feet and rushed away. Caine couldn't hold any longer and the creature broke free. It went after Caine. He dove out of the way of it's deadly blades. Pomni took aim but realized her gun was bent to shit and would explode if she tried to use it. "Fuck!" She tried transforming it, but the bent metal refused. "GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!!" She released the dead weight of her useless gun and it detached from her shoulder.

Caine was dodging for his life, trying to stay in the creature's blind spot. He used his cane to stop a claw attack and cracks formed along its shaft. That's when Pomni came running up a pile of puppets to a broken wall and then launching herself at the creature. She aimed for its other eye, but the creature slashed at her and it's blades found purchase. She was carved navel to nose right up the front. She slammed to the ground and didn't get up.

"POMNI!" Caine signaled Bubble and the little blimp came down to his location. Bubble dropped small bombs on the creature whilst taunting it, giving Caine enough time to pick up Pomni and emergency blink as far as he could.

He collapsed to his knees from energy exhaustion and nearly dropped Pomni, but held her tight to his chest. She hung limply in his arms. "Pomni? Pomni, dear, say something." He opened her clothes and checked her wounds. The creature's blades had cut deep, all the way to her heart chamber. Her heart barely glowed with life. "No, no, no, stay with me. You're going to be okay, you hear me? You cling to life like the stubborn warrior I know you are!" He blinked away tears as he frantically dug for tools in his pockets. He was woefully unprepared. He hadn't expected things to go this bad this quick.

Bubble couldn't keep the creature distracted long. He ran out of bombs and flew away when the creature whipped it's tail and shot spikes at him. "Watch out, boss! The angry scrap pile is coming!"

Caine heard Bubble over his com and picked up Pomni. He had to find more cover. Even being surrounded by shadow, it's likely that thing could see through its own cloak. He ran as fast as could with her to a divet in the ground covered by victims of the creature. He slid inside the hiding spot and held Pomni close as he heard the creature roar. The ground rumbled as it grew closer. He held his breath.

The creature slowed, scanning the area. Fluid slowly dripped from its eye and chest. It growled with frustration, Caine could feel the bassy resonance in his chest. After a tense moment of the creature lurking near the hide away, it moved on.

Caine exhaled sharply and peeked out to see the glow of the creature fade into the blackness. He turned his attention to Pomni and held her cheek gently. She'd look like she was sleeping if it wasn't for all the blood. He brushed her hair from her face with his thumb. "I'm going to get you out of here. I promise." On an emotional whim, he gently kissed her forehead. Then he set to work on trying to stabilize her. He used his tool to remove a part of his own heart. It was excruciating, but he got it done and attached it to her damaged heart. The glow to her heart increased. "Atta girl." He smiled.

Caine racked his brain for ideas. They could try sneaking out, but without knowing the creature's location, that was very risky. He could try blinking them all the way out of the mist, but that would knock him out for sure and they would be easy pickings for the creature. He could try fighting it himself, but he knew he was no match alone. He whispered into his com. "Bubble? You still out there?"

"Yeah, boss. Just hanging out at the top of the ruin. You should see this view, so many war remnants."

"That's nice, Bubble. Listen, I need you to get help. Get everyone! Bring them back to this location and warn them of what's inside! Make sure they're prepared!"

"Sure thing, boss! Be back in a jiffy!" Bubble flew off out of mobile radio range.

Caine and Pomni pomni were left in the dark, eerily silent mist. He muffled a cough from the toxic air. Pomni stirred in his arms.

"Caine..?" Her voice was weak.

"Shhh, save your strength, my dear. We're safe for now but we have to be quiet. That thing could come back around at any time."

She could barely move, her whole body felt like it was made of lead. "I heard you..."

"What?"

"You said to hold on..."

Caine's eyes were soft. "And I'm so glad you did. Who would be a pain in my ass if you weren't around?"

She smiled weakly and closed her eyes to rest. He settled himself as best her could and tried to get some rest as well, who knows how long it would be before help arrived.

~

"Caine!? Caine! Can you hear me!"

Caine woke with a start to a woman's voice on his radio. He fumbled with his com and answered. "Ragatha! I can't tell you how good it is to hear your voice!"

"Is Pomni okay!?"

"She's alive! Weak, but alive! Where are you?"

"We're just outside the mist. Bubble said there was, uh...angry trash attacking you?"

Caine facepalmed. "Yes, but not entirely accurate. You've heard of the Unseen?"

"THE- WHAT!? WHY ARE YOU EVEN IN THERE??"

"Feel free to ask a certain combat harlequin when she wakes up." Caine said dryly.

"Figures." Ragatha said with exasperation. "What should we do, Caine? I have Z, Kingr and Jax with me."

"Jax? Really?"

"Yeah, he- HEY!"

Jax's voice came over the radio. "Sup, gums. Heard you needed backup... and I was promised payment. So, were is the little beastie?"

"Somewhere in the mist. DO NOT underestimate it. It's fast for it's size and intelligent. Pomni took out its right eye, use that to your advantage, and it's chest is heavily damaged. Go for the core!"

"Sounds easy enough." Jax's dismissiveness made Caine's skin crawl but he didn't say anything.

Ragatha's voice came back. "Give- give it here! Sorry, about that. Okay, Z, Kingr and Jax will go find the creature and I will follow Bubble to your location. I brought your tool kit!"

"You're a saint, Ragatha." Caine sighed with relief.

"I know." She said cheerily and Caine chuckled. He caressed Pomni's face. "Did you hear that? We're getting out of here." She continued to rest.

After fifteen minutes, the creature's roar mingled with shouting. Caine carefully looked out and saw flashes of gold from an intense battle not too far from where he was hiding. The familiar puttering sound of a blimp propeller brought Ragatha to him and she held Pomni as he got to work on Pomni's heart.

~

Jax somersaulted through the air and brought his hammer down on the creature's head. It's maw left an indent in the ground and cracked from the force of the blow. It lashed out but the agile rabbit animatronic easily weaved out of the way. "Too slow, sucker!"

His distraction gave Kinger a chance to grab the beast. His large mechanical hands grabbed it's front legs, forcing the creature to stand on its hind legs. It's underbelly exposed, Z came in and pile-drived the creature. The force of the blow knocked the creature out of Kingr's hands and it retreated.

"Aw, come on! You running from this fight, you coward!?" Jax called after it.

Kingr and Z did not let their guard down. Even more black mist filled the space. "The Unseen is getting desperate." Said Kingr, back to back with Z. "Watch yourselves."

A flash of gold slashed in front of Kingr. One of his arms was cut, but still usable. The creature disappeared back into the mist before he could retaliate. Another flash of gold, this time slashing Z's leg. They didn't even react, they stayed focused. The next time the creature came in for a strike, they brought both of their fists down in front of them. They timed it just right to smash one of the creature's fanned blades. It screeched and ran off again. "There...that should give us a second." They said flatly.

It was only just. The creature came back, again and again. Tearing one of Z's smaller arms off. Slashing Kingr across the front. Snapping the handle of Jax's hammer.

"This isn't working!" Jax yelled and threw his broken hammer. He kept close to Kingr.

Kinger was locked in. He figured out the creature's pattern. He was next and he knew where it was coming from. The creature lunged and he got it by the neck with his good hand. He used its momentum to flip it end over end and slam it to the ground belly up. Z was on top of it immediately. They started prying open the chest cavity to expose the creature's core. It thrashed and clawed at Z but they powered through and reached for the creature's core. The creature used its back legs to throw Z off of and clawed Kingr's arm until he was forced to let go. Heavily wounded, the creature ran off and didn't come back. A trail of gold liquid in it's wake.

The three fighters caught their breath and Jax had to have the final word. "Aaaand stay away!" He gasped. He was glad that was over, for now. They carefully made their way to the others. Jax jumped in the hold while Kingr and Z stood guard.

"Hey, you done in here yet? We're done with the monster." Jax laid back, doing his best to look unimpressed, despite the marks on him.

"You killed it??" Ragatha asked, shocked.

"Well, not exactly, but it won't be bothering us anymore."

"If it's not dead. We're not done here." Caine said as he focused on his work.

"Caine-" Ragatha tried.

"I don't want to hear it. I want to display it's core in my study." He said with cold determination. He found renewed strength in knowing for certain that Pomni was going to be fine. Now, he wanted that thing dead.

"You trophy hunting now?" Jax asked.

Caine didn't get a chance to answer. Pomni was waking up.

"What I do..?" Pomni opened her eyes to see Ragatha holding her, Caine wrist deep in her chest and Jax lounging in the background. "Wha..?"

Ragatha smiled down at Pomni. "Hey there, sleepy head. Heard you picked a nasty fight."

"Yeah...it was awesome."

Ragatha giggled. "I bet you were."

"She was." Caine said. "And she still is, thanks to you." He finished and carefully closed Pomni's chest.

"And you. You're the one that really knows your way around the tools. I'm still learning."

"Quite the learning experience." He huffed.

"Oh yeah, she really puts us through it." Ragatha shook her head.

"Tell me about it." Caine finished packing up his tools.

"Can you two stop talking like I'm not right here?" Pomni said with a bit more clarity in her voice.

Caine and Ragatha look at each other. "Nah." They said in unison.

Jax gagged loudly. "If you three are done being weird, the creature awaits."

Pomni sat up. She ached all over, but she'd power through it. "Where's my sword?" She asked.

"Oh, I brought your spare." Ragatha handed it to Pomni. "Figured you might have lost the first in the fight when you...when you...lost." She awkwardly finished.

Pomni held it in her remaining arm. "Let's kill that motherfucker."

"Hell, yeah!" Jax cheered, only to be shushed by the others. Even Pomni.

"Can you not give away our location!?" Ragatha hissed.

"Wait? I said it's not coming back. It ran off scared. You'll have to find it."

"No, I won't." Pomni stood and climbed out of the hole. "That thing is a hunter. Hunters don't let prey get away." She looked into the darkness with steeled determination. She saw the trail the creature left when it fled, and started following it. Caine and Ragatha at her sides. The others followed closely behind.

Pomni walked as though she could see into the darkness ahead. She was in tune with the fellow hunter, now that she understood what she was up against. She stopped. They were close to the center ruin, whose top disappeared above the darkness. She looked up in time to see the creature leap from the fourth story.

"MOVE!" She shouts and everyone scattered.

The creature landed with a heavy boom than broke the ground. It furiously swiped at anyone within reach. Kinger being the slowest, he was slashed, but he grabbed the creature by the tail and pulled until he tore it off. Ragatha threw her spear and stuck it in the creature's neck. Z tackled the beast head on, holding the unbent blade wing out of reach. The creature snapped wildly, but Jax jumped on it's head and double stomped repeatedly. "Come on, Pomni! Get this over with already!" He shouted incredulously as he dug his heels into the creature's skull.

Pomni ran forward and attacked the core directly. Her sword piece a few tubes, letting loss a cascade of gold fluid, and the creature howled in pain and desperation. She heard Caine whistle. She looked to see him on the third floor. He held out his hand and made a gesture as though he were puppeteering. She nodded. "Get that thing on it's back!" She shouted and jumped with all her might.

Between Z and Kingr, the creature was laid out. Jax and Ragatha stayed clear.

Pomni felt herself go higher than she could naturally jump. She flipped in the air and dove straight for the creature's chest sword first. She and the creature locked eyes the second before impact.

"I win." She smirked and plunged her whole sword into the creature's core.

With a final gutteral groan, The Unseen died.

The black mist faded away to reveal the sky in twilight. Stars pinpricked the sky amongst deep shades of purple and red. The golden sun setting it's final farewell. The mist cleared the creature's hunting grounds, it looked like a warzone with the amount of bodies piled and strewn about.

Pomni pulled her sword free of the core and started hacking away at the neck. She decapitated it and unsuccessfully attempted to drag the head along with her, but Kingr got it for her. "To the victor go the spoils." He pronounced.

"That fucker's head is going over the mantle." Pomni said as she cleaned her blade.

Caine blinked over from the building and immediately started examining the creature's core. "Fascinating. Z, would you mind carrying this back? Not the whole thing. Just the core."

Z shrugged and pulled the core free of the creature's chest cavity. At the very center, still faintly humming, was a gold crystal.

"I very much look forward to studying this." Caine rubbed his hands together.

"Good for you, where's my pay?" Demanded Jax.

"Oh, I forgot you were here." Caine deadpanned. "We'll talk at the manor."

Ragatha went over to check on Pomni. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah. A bit stiff, but I'll live. And thanks...things would've ended badly if you and the others hadn't shown up." She tried to be nonchalant, but her voice quivered ever so slightly.

Ragatha put her hand on Pomni's shoulder and smiled. "Hey, I'll always come when you call. No matter what. You can count on me."

Pomni gave her a reserved smile in return and put her hand on Ragatha's.

~

Later that evening, Pomni laid on the table in Caine's workshop. He was putting the final repairs on her body, new arm and heart. The piece of himself he used as an emergency replacement stood out amongst the rest he debated what to do with it. It was fine where it was and he could make himself a new part, but...what if she found it and didn't want it there? Found it violating? It wouldn't be right to keep it from her. His gentleman's code wouldn't let him. He woke her up.

Pomni looked down at her still exposed heart. "Uh...you done?"

"No. I wanted to ask you something." He pointed to the mismatched piece on her heart. "When you were...dying. I used a part of my own heart to keep you alive." He pointed to his own, a piece obviously missing. "It was an emergency, and I didn't know what else to do and I understand if it's weird to you that it's there but it does it's job so-"

"Caine."

He stopped talking, looking away.

"It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

She sat up and gently held his chin so he'd look at her. "Yeah, you gave up a literal part of yourself to save my life. I can respect that."

"I'd give up anything for you." It slipped out before he could stop himself. "Uh, except drinking. I won't do that." He tried to play it off as a joke but the look she was giving him told him she saw right through it.

She leaned in and kissed his bottom teeth. "Thank you."

The kiss left a shockwave of chills all the way to his toes. It was short, sweet, simple and he loved absolutely everything about it. He could barely form a response. "Anytime."

[dreamscapesofimagination]

A/N: I'm waiting on a timer for dinner so decided to write a quick thing for Alan, my other bby.

TW: Fluff? Confessions. Leo being a shit. Alan in a tanktop all sweaty which may be a whole warning itself lol.

Summary: You stop by to get Alan to look over some forms, and Leo decides enough is enough.

-----------

You silently cursed your uniform.

The sun glared down today, and it had taken approximately three steps outside for you to wish for some lighter clothing.

The only relief from the heat was the refreshing breeze that rustled the trees, bringing with it the faint smell of engine oil as your steps led you toward Vagastrom.

Even the cats seemed irritated by the heat, some lazily sprawled in the grass to soak up the suns rays without overheating.

Of course today was the day that something had been overlooked on the most recent report for Vagastrom, so not only did you have to trek to the staffroom to collect the report from an even more disgruntled than usual Professor Dante, you also had to then trek toward Vagastrom.

The only benefit was the fact that you needed Alan to look over the form personally. You had long since accepted your attraction to the stoic captain, and between Sho and Leo's relentless comments you had gleaned that he may feel something for you as well. Unfortunately, when it came to any sort of relationship, Alan was like a frightened bird, and so you refused to approach him yourself for fear of making him uncomfortable.

Alan had let you know he would be around back, working on one of the cars.

You made your way along the dusty ground, using the folder in your hand to fan yourself.

"Hey Alan, I have those-"

The sight of him stopped you in your tracks.

He was leaned over the open hood of the car, and you couldn't help the flush that rushed to your cheeks at the sight of his back, sweat causing the grey tank top to cling to his muscles.

He quickly turned and lord have mercy.

He was definitely trying to kill you.

His skin glistened, evidence he had been working in the heat for awhile, and a black smudge accented his cheek bone.

"You have the report?" He asked, using an old rag to wipe the grease from his hands.

"Y-yeah, Professor Dante said you had to revise the Darkwick Property Damage clause." You stammered out the words, quickly focusing on the car.

"Is that-?"

"The car that the absolute embarassment if a first year wrecked on the mission? Yeah. Luckily the broker of that anomaly wasn't able to do anything extreme but its still a headache to repair." Alan sighed, reaching into the cooler that was beside the car and pulling out two water bottles.

He handed you one as he took the folder, frowning as he examined the report within.

You perched on an old tire that lay by Alan's tools, enjoying the coldness of the waterbottle and desperately trying to avoid looking at Alan.

It was hard to not look as he looked at the report, leaning against the car.

His skin had gained a slight tan, and you found yourself wishing (not for the first time) that things could be very different between you two.

"I'll fix this report as soon as I'm done with the car, do you want to wait here until I'm done?" Alan looked at you, expression softeningat the sight of you pressing the waterbottle against your heated forehead.

You smiled at him, "yeah, I'll wait. I really don't feel like walking back across campus and then needing to come back here only to go back to the main building and then back to my dorm."

Alan placed the folder through the open window onto the seat of the car.

"Well, you're welcome to wait inside. I know its hot. It shouldn't take me much longer- one of the bolts I need to get off is stuck but I've almost gotten it," he leaned back over the car as he spoke.

You pulled off your blazer, setting it under your head as you laid back on the tire. When you weren't moving the sun actually felt nice, and you were admittedly loathe to leave Alan. It wasn't often you got to be with just him.Since it was unlikely you and he would ever be together, you soaked up as much one on one as you could.

Before you knew it, you were dozing in the warm sun.

"What're you guys up to?"

A voice that you knew all to well jostled you awake, and you sat up.

You watched Alan stifle a groan, supressing a smile yourself at your shared disdain for Leo.

"What do you want?" Alan asked, refusing to look at Leo, focused instead on the car.

Leo shrugged, "Just figuring out why you have the honor student laying on a tire." The words "honor student" were said with a sneer.

"I'm just waiting for him to correct a report so I can take it to Professor Dante." you spoke, eyes narrowed at Leo.

"Ah, I see. And you're waiting in the blazing sun because of what?" you felt a tingle in your spine at the knowing look in his eye.

"I mean, I can only think of one reason why you'd be out here, alone, in the blistering heat with our less than chatty captain."

"Leo." Alan's voice was stern as he growled the warning.

Ignoring him, Leo continued, "now, I've definitely noticed you following the buzzkill around like a lost puppy, and man is it pathetic to watch."

"Leo!" Alan snapped, turning to glare at the silver haired man.

Leo just shrugged, "c'mon, you're equally pathetic, Cap. It'd be a lot less gross for everyone else if you both would just get together already."

Your cheeks burned at his words, and a side glance to Alan showed his ears to be red.

"You and I are training tomorrow. I want to see if your hand to hand has gotten any better." Alan seethed, and from his tone you figured that Leo was still no match for the captain.

Rolling his eyes, Leo turned, "Yeah, whatever Cap."

You pointedly looked at your feet, avoiding looking at the man beside you.

You knew Alan harbored some sort of feelings for you, and you figured he probably knew about yours. However, knowing and having them thrust in your face were two separate matters entirely.

"Sorry 'bout him." Alan's voice pulled your attention back to him.

You shook your head, "you don't have to apologize."

You wondered if you made Alan uncomfortable- afterall, you knew he had reservations when it came to hurting others (at least, when it came to you). Maybe your clear desire to be around him was too much.

"Alan," he looked at you, "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. I can't really help how I feel but if me being around so much is causing issues I'll just stay away unless otherwise is necessary."

He frowned, tilting his head.

"That's- You are not the issue." he sighed, "I am."

He came over, sitting beside you on the tire.

"I have feelings for you, I just don't want to hurt you. I'd never forgice myself. Maybe its selfish but I'd rather have you close by never close enough than not see you."

You carefully reached out, taking his hand in yours. You could feel his body stiffen at your touch.

"Alan, you know you won't hurt me, right? I trust you. And if it takes awhile for you to trust yourself then thsts okay, and I won't push anything again. But, I like you a lot, and I'm here whenever you're ready." You watched his gaze fall to your hands and he squeezed gently before meeting your eyes.

You noticed the determination in his dark eyes.

"I want to try this out. For once, Kurosagi is right. Its honestly more pathetic for me to keep being petrified."

You felt your heart hammer in your chest as all your focus fell to Alan.

He smiled, "I'd like to take you out on a date."

The grin that spread across your face was so wide that it hurt, but the joy inside you wouldn't allow it to lessen.

"I'd love to go on a date with you, Alan."

[with-my-murder-flute]

TLT theory: Aim, Jod, and the second part of the message

My brain is fevered. I feel like I've constructed an elaborate Pepe Silvia corkboard in my mind, and it feels like it makes sense of everything, but I honestly have no clue if that certainty will last very long.

I think I know what the Messenger is carrying. I think I know why John has waited ten thousand years.

Spooky preview quote from HtN chapter 2:

I mastered Death, Harrowhark; I wish I’d done the smarter thing and mastered Time.

Spoilers for Gideon, Harrow, and Nona the Ninth.

BoE's chronology has always been kind of weird to me: Five thousand years after the Resurrection happens, they pop up with intense and detailed knowledge of the 21st century! Jod destroys languages and cultures and societies, but BoE keeps popping up! How.

Originally I thought the continuous thread over the years was a Lyctor who helped them (and the necromantic implant does seem to point that way) but I also think part of it is that the ships that escaped just before Earth's devastation have been showing up one by one, over a huge span of time. That's why Wake says "My long-dead natal sun" and can quote Eminem at length; she spent ten thousand years suspended in time, before re-entering it.

NtN, John 19:18:

They said they’d managed to find some poor dipshit geek who’d fixed the FTL problem of getting locked in the chrono well, you know, moving so fast you were stuck doing quantum wheelies. They’d come up with something where you could oscillate out so long as the ship was attuned to a prearranged spectrum outside. I still don’t understand the maths. It’s going to take me ten thousand years to understand it. I couldn’t follow, but A— could. He said immediately, What is the point if you still have no fucking clue where your ship is going to end up when you shake out of FTL. They said, Aha, but we can track it once it’s out. A— said, It could be halfway across the universe or phasing through a planet. They kept arguing that probably wouldn’t happen [...] They said it was expensive, so twelve ships would go first, with one guiding them out with the beacon frequencies like a tugboat leading a cruise liner, triangulate for Tau Ceti, dump the population, and come back.

I think that AIM's message is the beacon that will call the last of the FTL fleet out of the chrono well. They are "we", they are the first of two parts, because their identity is the person they were before coming the Messenger, and the ships that still haven't oscillated back into three-dimensional space yet, because they are under AIM's personal guardianship/intimately tied to possession of her body.

NtN, John 5:4

I think the only reason I haven’t done it already is that I can’t bear the idea that I wouldn’t be able to touch them—that they’d still be out there …

I think Jod has been at this for so long because he is waiting for an event that could literally take an infinite amount of time to occur. He hasn't killed the entire colonized population yet because he wants something out of them, and it doesn't seem to be labour or devotion or even thanergy.

I think he's looking for the fleet's beacon, in a way that's like lighting a grassfire to flush animals out of hiding and deprive them of shelter. I think he's constantly killing planets and relocating and resettling populations before funnelling them together again, like a distillery trying to heat and separate different liquids as they move from flask to flask, because he wants to finally decant the key to the last ships that escaped him.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I’m not sure if you’ve ever said anything about this, but the first time I read new moon, the vote chapter, there was one bit that really stuck out:

(from Bella’s point of view) Edward grabbed my face in his hand, forcing me to look at him. His other hand was out, palm toward Carlisle. Carlisle ignored that.

Bella later went on to say it was hard to talk clearly with how Edward was holding her jaw. I don’t know if I’ve misunderstood what exactly was happening, but why did the entire family watch that and do nothing? I’ve read the metas where you’ve said it’d take a lot for Carlisle to realise what Edward really is, but surely that’s a pretty massive indicator and Carlisle actively ignored it?

Anon, you're hilarious.

An Aside in Which I Say "Look in the Mirror"

I've been running this blog for a few years now (a terrifying thought) and I'm both a) one of the most critical of Edward in this space (which is not a bad thing, mind, people are free to do what they like) b) often get asks in which I am asked by anons to justify why I think poorly of Edward.

This is on top of the thousands of metas I've written pointing out various things from canon, where I've presented many arguments, and anons still will ask me to make more arguments.

This is fandom, anon, relatively objective observers who are privy to information the characters in the story don't have. We know Bella's exact thoughts, we know how Edward has interacted with her in private, and we even know Edward's private thoughts for at least the duration of Twilight because of Midnight Sun.

AND YET, I AM HERE.

And you ask this as if it should be obvious to the most casual observer.

Back to Your Ask

I've discussed this at length in posts I'm too lazy to look up at the moment but the crux of it is that

a) Edward's a beloved family member and it's deeply hard to think ill of those we love and we want to justify their actions

b) the family doesn't see most of what goes on with Bella and are only told things by Alice and Edward with Alice being firmly on Edward's side

c) Due to his having previously had a redemption arc in which Edward came back unprompted to the diet even though it must have been not only humiliating but terrifying, Edward comes across as one of the Cullens who best understands that human life is worth protecting and just why they're all doing the diet.

This particular moment though, I'd also give Edward a pass if I was present. To touch Bella at all, to move her like this, Edward has to be extraordinarily gentle and careful. If he was at all rough with her, at all, Bella would be dead or seriously injured (with her jaw crushed between Edward's fingers, her neck snapped, etc.) Basically, for Edward to do this at all, he's being incredibly mindful and the Cullens as vampires are very aware of that.

Add onto that that Bella can speak, when this is a guy who's hand is made of stone, he has to be holding her incredibly gently from his perspective for her to be able to speak at all (and not have a broken jaw).

Also from the outside perspective, where Bella and Edward are in this romantic relationship (even though they just got out of being broken up) and they all know Edward's deeply in love with Bella, this looks like an intimate gesture than it does a "LOOK AT ME" gesture. It's not something any of them would do, or a normal person would, but they're also not dating Bella/convinced they're soulmates with her.

Add into that that they're in the middle of a very intense day, in which Edward had just tried to kill himself and is very emotionally fragile, Bella's now asking to be turned directly, the Volturi barely pardoned them, and Edward is coming unglued with the idea that Bella's going to be turned and the Cullens aren't at the top of their game.

They're just trying to get through the conversation where they tell Edward (and Rosalie) that, yes, they actually do have to turn Bella.

This doesn't register as physical violence to them, and I don't blame them for this one.

[smok3r7]

Is Leaving Even An Option?

Joel x F!reader

Explicit, 18+

Five: Running Away

Main Masterlist & Series Masterlist - My Ao3

Summary: Your days have become one in the same, even with the terrifying reality of death right outside the walls of Jackson. You never thought you’d be in the situation you’ve been stuck in for seven years now, the daily abuse you endure has become an expectation. You take whatever your husband throws at you, literally and figuratively, because you’ve been trained to believe this is normal. But a new man, Joel, moves next door and happens to be friendly towards you, this causes your husband’s anger to worsen. Your mind starts a gruesome war with itself - can you leave him or do you stay until the inevitable happens?

Chapter Summary: Nate is officially out of the picture for good, at least for the last year. A fun night of card games and alcohol causes you and Joel finally to have a chance to maybe spark something new. But you get scared, and what do you do when you get scared? You run away.

Word count: 5.8k

⚠️Warnings: cards against humanity, sexual tension, grinding, fingering, relationship ptsd, feeling confused

I just wanna give a big shout to @chloeangelic she has been an absolute blessing to me, thank you so much for helping me through this process, love you🫂🫶🏼

—

The warm summer breeze flows through your hair as you sit on a rocking chair on the wrap-around porch you’ve come to relax on, the sounds of children playing surrounds you, the sun beaming down onto the green yards filled with dandelions in the neighborhood, and you couldn’t be any happier.

Another year has passed by without any problems, you practically live with Joel and Ellie, and you can’t remember the last time you set foot in your old place, too many horrific memories associated with that home. Nate has been gone for months now - he and Daniel got an assignment to go out West a bit more to find different supplies Jackson needs.

All you know is that they’re still alive, based off of radio communications, but in reality, you don’t care anymore, to the point where you have asked Henry, who’s in control of the radio, to stop giving you updates.

You’ve mentally and emotionally moved on from Nate, and he’s more a figment of your imagination by now. You don’t have any more romantic ties to him, which means, you’re back to your normal fun self. Your witty personality takes over the weak one that grew over you like weeds, and it’s pretty funny; you and Ellie are very similar, she’s what you would imagine your daughter to be like. It’s bittersweet.

“Hey darlin’,” Joel greets as he comes out of the house you now share with them, with a glass of lemonade in each hand, “Extra sugar, just how you like it.” He winks at you when you reach out to grab the tall glass, a smile grows on your warm face, “You, Miller, are the best.”

He laughs as he sits down next to you in the other chair with a groan, “I try my best.” You shake your head and take a drink of the freshly squeezed lemonade and your mouth is filled with the perfect mix of sugary sweetness and fresh lemons. You hum from the pure satisfaction that flows through your tastebuds, “Gotta hand it to you, Miller,” you turn your head to look him in the eyes, “This is perfect.”

His eyes gaze from your eyes down to your lips and back again, a soft smile grows on his worn face as he smoothly says, “Anything for you, sugar.” The two of you continue to stare at each other as you both silently drink the delicious yellow drink, just enjoying the beautiful summer weather.

The rest of the afternoon is spent with you both enjoying each other's company, along with the surrounding noise of people outside. However, there’s something different about the way you and Joel are communicating, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

—

“Okay, okay, here we go. What killed the dinosaurs?” Ellie finally gets out after a burst of laughter. Joel and you have started a game night type of thing every Friday with Ellie, Tommy, and Maria, and tonight is Cards Against Humanity.

“AIDS, oh my god,” Ellie chokes, as does the rest of the group playing, but you hear Tommy snicker under his breath. Welp, that’s Tommy’s.

“Bees?” She laughs as she sets the white card down, “I mean, what?” She shakes her head and leans back in her chair, “John Travolta’s right hand… Okayyyy.” A confused look grows on her face as she looks at Joel, but he doesn’t give any hint of whether it's his or not as he takes a sip of his whiskey.

“And finally,” she flips the last white card and immediately looks at you across from her at the dining room table, you try to give her a what are you looking at sort of look, but the wine you’ve been drinking catches up to you as you try to hide your smile that’s just waiting to crack with your hand. You know it’s your card and it’s a doozy, “Old lady, you’re something else,” she shakes her head and reads, “Having no legs, just toes.”

You and Ellie are the only ones who are cracking up, both of you hitting the wooden table and starting to see tears rolling down each other's faces. The rest of the table, however, doesn’t seem to find it as funny as you both do. “That’s the winner!” Ellie hollers as she slides the black card on the table to you, and your hand stops it from flying off the table.

“I win!” You yell with excitement as you put your arms in the air and start to wave them side to side, the red wine Maria brought over giving you a boost of adrenaline and confidence to be who you truly are, and you don’t care if they don’t like it - because this is the girl you’ve wanted to be for decades, the girl who could be what she wanted and didn’t care about what others thought.

“Really? AIDS was so much better!” Tommy playfully argues with Ellie, but Ellie is quick with the rebuttal. “I know but just imagine a T-Rex with its baby arms, and with just toes and no legs!” She breaks out into a fit of laughter before she can even finish her sentence, and it causes the whole table to erupt in laughs.

God, you can’t remember the last time you felt like this - just pure happiness and comfort. It’s so heartwarming to be able to live through this moment during the time of what seems to be the end of the world, along with surviving your shit marriage. You never thought you’d be able to see or even feel this again, it’s beautiful.

After the roaring laughter dies down to a lower volume conversation about whatever Town Hall is planning for this weekend, the sudden touch of Joel’s large warm hand on your skin catches your attention. You take a second to subtly look down and you notice how his hand fits perfectly on your squishy thigh as he softly squeezes your flesh. A shudder crawls up your spine, pure ecstasy surges through your body and, god, yes, you haven’t had this feeling in years, so long you honestly don’t even know how to take care of it.

Your cheeks start to heat up and your breathing gets a bit heavy, the wine definitely not helping to keep this hidden. Without giving it a second thought, you bring your hand on top of his and give a gentle squeeze back to tell him, this is okay. Over the last couple months, the subtle flirting between you and Joel has slowly turned into something that could potentially become serious, but the conversation has never been had between you two, so it’s been a gray area for awhile now.

You’re trying to keep your full attention on Maria who is discussing to the whole table how she’s so sick of having to plan all of the events that go on in Jackson, but let’s be real, you can’t pay her any mind. All your attention is focused on Joel and his gentle touch as he slowly swipes his thumb close to your now arousal covered panties, your stomach doing flips from the anticipation, and even though you continue to nod your head with her complaints, your patience with Maria is running thin.

All you want to do right now is drag Joel upstairs and fuck him like it’s the last and only time you’ll be able to, but that’s not possible at the moment.

Joel must be thinking and feeling the same thing because he then leans into your ear and whispers for only you to hear, “Want me to send them home?” You slightly turn your head, mainly your eyes, and all you do is bite your bottom lip in a smile that’s covered by your hand, as you barely nod your dazed head.

You’re so lost in the fantasy of you and Joel finally being able to end the long-awaited game of flirting, that you’re really not even mentally here as Maria and Tommy do their farewells and Ellie tells you two that she’s gonna head over to Dina’s for the evening. It feels almost like a dream kind of state, you haven’t drank like this in god knows how many years, and you really only had three glasses of wine - but you feel like you drank a whole bottle to yourself, so you’re drunk, basically, but not in a sloppy way, just with newfound confidence.

—

Now it’s only you and Joel, just the two of you alone in this huge house, and anything could happen. As you stand in the living room a few feet away from his muscular build, you slowly make your way to the staircase, and Joel then shuts the big door behind Ellie, then locks it, twice.

Joel turns around to face you, your hand now wrapping around the brown railing that leads to the second floor. He has this smirk on his lips that shows you he’s as riled up as you are.

Feeling a bit of confidence rise in your belly, you sing to him, “Catch me if you can, Miller,” and as you start to run up the hardwood steps, only a second later, you hear him chuckle, ooh just wait, and the sound of his quick feet behind you. Normally this would terrify you, but this is different, you’re not even close to feeling scared, you actually feel excited.

You’re feeling kind of frisky too, so you decide to be a little extra; you reach the door that leads to Joel’s room at the end of the hallway and you quickly spin around to face him as he reaches the top of the steps. You strip off your flannel and undershirt, then slip the flannel back on with only your black lace bra showing. Might as well make this more fun, right?

As he sees you showing off for him, he whistles and slowly struts towards you, “My, my, darlin’,” then gently wraps his fingers around your waist and presses into your plush skin, his bearded face close to your lips, “You sure know how to put on a show.”

You gaze at his eyes, his nose and his jaw, and when you see the way he adores you, a feeling stirs in your core that you can’t place, almost like a sense of hope. But you really don’t have a clue, you can’t place it, and it scares you, but for right now you push it out of sight and out of mind because you really want this. And, well, let’s be honest - you need this.

“I thought you might deserve it,” you purr back to him as you stare into his eyes, the ones that hooked you the first time you met him, and your hand rests on his chest. The next thing you know, you feel his soft lips on yours, the scratch from his beard riling you up even more, making you kiss him back with lust.

His tongue peeks out in search for permission and you eagerly open your mouth for him to lick every inch of you, his hands still on your hips but with a tighter grip, pulling you closer to grind on his hardening cock. Your hands are now grabbing his green flannel on his chest, your fingertips beginning to dig into his broad chest, both of you groaning into each other.

Somehow Joel gets his door open and you almost fall backwards into the warmth of his room, but he’s quick to catch you. “Good catch, Miller,” you chuckle as he brings you back into his chest and you begin to unbutton his shirt as he softly shuts the door behind him. He smiles as he says, “Would never let you fall, darlin’.”

Then, like a light switch flipping on, this overwhelming feeling of needing to be in control takes over, one you’ve never been able to have before in the bedroom, and you’ll be damned if that’s going to continue - this is happening on your terms only.

You swiftly spin your two bodies around, meshed together, your fingers reaching his bottom button, and when you undo it, you slide the flannel off of his shoulders and he lets it drop to the floor. Both of you pause for a moment to take in each other, and you watch his brooding chest rise and fall with his breaths, the drops of sweat that roll down his neck, and you eye his happy trail on his belly. God damn.

“You are absolutely gorgeous, sugar,” he murmurs softly as he lowers his lips to your neck and leaves a trail of kisses up to your pleading lips.

Your hands naturally move back to his chest, applying pressure for him to walk backwards to the queen size bed, his hands moving from your waist down to your jeans as he unbuttons them and rolls the zipper down. The feeling of Joel stopping his moving feet makes you realize that you’ve reached the mattress. “Sit on the bed,” you demand between moans and kisses.

“Yes, ma’am.” You can feel his smile on your plump lips as he leaves one last meaningful kiss, then sits down at the edge of the white comforter covering the bed, his legs spread open for you to stand between.

Even though you haven’t had satisfying sex, or gotten off at all in over ten years, not even by your own devices, the routine of it all has come back, almost like it never left you. You slowly strip yourself of your light washed jeans and discard them somewhere on his carpeted floor. Shit, you hear Joel whistle at the sight of you.

You bring your head back up to meet his gaze and you growl, “Back up to the pillows, take your jeans off first.”

“Gotta say, darlin’-” he starts sliding his jeans off and starts to move to the head of the bed, “I like you in control.”

You smile at his words and think, I do too. The image of him in front of you with his legs spread and his arms folded behind his head, just waiting for you to make your first move, makes you crave him ever more. You start to crawl on the bed towards him, your face is now above his black boxers that show an imprint of his cock.

God damn. You knew he was big, but not that big.

You continue to move up his body, along his belly and his chest, moving in rhythm with each other, and his face, his breathtaking features that you love so much. Your hands come up to wrap around the back of his neck as you sit on your knees on either side of his thighs, and your panty covered folds sit on his throbbing member, his large hands holding your ass as you start to slowly rock back and forth.

You’re so pent up that you could likely orgasm just from this, but you want to feel him fill you up and claim you as his own. No, you want to claim him - make him crumble apart for you, and only you.

The mixture of moans and groans from the both of you echo off of the bedroom walls, neither one of you trying to be quiet, not even the slightest.

“Fuck, sugar, keep doing that,” he groans as he watches the way your hips grind on his cock with such ease.

Your fingers wrap around his soft curls and firmly pull to make him look you in the eyes as you bring your lips to his in a fiery kiss. Your tongues battle for dominance for a moment before he finally gives in to you, the pressure from his fingers digging into the skin of your ass, causing goosebumps to rise all over.

With your right hand, you release the hold of his curls and you bring it down where your two bodies connect as you start to rub slow circles on your aching clit, causing your body to shudder from the motion. Your lips quiver against his and you see that cocky smile appear on his face again, “I gotchu sugar, not going anywhere.” His voice is low as he brings one of his hands down to replace yours, as he moves your panties to the side and starts to swipe through your soaked folds.

Your hips buck from the sensation of Joel’s thick fingers teasing your leaking hole and your throbbing clit, begging for attention. You feel his middle and ring finger slightly push into you, then release and go back to rub a few circles, and back in again. Each time he goes back to your hole, his fingers reach deeper inside you, creating this new feeling inside you.

A string of yes, don’t stop, and right there, roll off of your tongue from his fingers now fully inserted in your pulsating cunt as he continues to pump up and down.

Your head is in his shoulder as your hands have found their place back around his neck, your hips following the flow of Joel’s thick fingers.

“Look at you, pretty girl, sitting so pretty for me,” Joel coos into your ear, his other hand now on your hip as he continues to help your movements.

You start to feel the tightness grow in your lower belly, and you raise your head to look at him, at his beautiful brown eyes, as the overwhelming orgasm rips out of you. Your body stops moving as your mouth hangs open and a strung out moan leaves it, your forehead now resting on his, your eyes still meeting his gaze.

“There you go, let it all go, sugar,” he praises as he slowly pulls his fingers out of you and moves both his hands back to rest on your ass with a gentle squeeze.

Your ears are ringing, head feels dizzy, and your breathing is heavy from the intensity of the orgasm Joel has ripped out of you, almost like you’re a virgin again from how quick he pulled it out of you.

“Thank you,” you finally utter out between heavy breaths.

His face curls, “For what?”, and you chuckle as you pull your face away from his and lay your dazed head back onto his shoulder, burying your face in his neck. You softly say with a gentle tug of his silver and brown hair now damp from sweat, “For all this.”

You listen to the pattern of his rapid heartbeat as your head lifts and lowers with his hairy chest as he chuckles, “Oh darlin’, don’t gotta thank me for that.”

You hum in response with a stupid smile, pure pleasure flowing through you from head to toe, becoming so focused on his heartbeat that you don’t even notice how your eyes slowly start to close and your breathing calms down.

“You still there, pretty girl?” Joel asks, his voice causing your ears to vibrate.

Mhmm, you hum quieter than the one before, the scent of sweat, arousal, and the mix of you and Joel fills your nose as you slowly slip into a calming deep sleep.

—

Pancakes - the familiar smell wakes you up. You yawn as your hands come to rub your eyes and your legs stretch out underneath the thin gray sheet that’s covering you. You slowly push your heavy feeling body up so you can sit, and when you do, you realize you’re alone - just you half naked, in Joel’s bedroom.

What time is it? You mumble to yourself as you turn your head to look at his nightstand, eleven-thirty am, not too bad. You’ve got to be at the stables in about an hour, and you wish you had a bit more time to get ready, but oh well.

A sudden soreness shoots from between your legs as you stand up from the bed. That’s right - you and Joel slept together. Or, actually, he just fingered you, but still-

Oh god, you start to genuinely panic, he never got anything in return, he’s gonna be pissed. Even after growing out of your battered self, you are right back in it, that horrified feeling growing in your stomach and mind all over again. Your mind starts to become overwhelmed by the questions you’re asking yourself, questions that shouldn’t even be on your mind.

Why did you do that? How do you end up in these situations all the time? Why couldn’t you just give him a blowjob or something? God, why do you always have to mess it up?

The soft knocking on the door to the hallway startles you, so you quickly grab your jeans on the carpet and spring into the bathroom and quietly shut the door.

“Darlin’?” You hear Joel’s southern voice question into the now empty bedroom. “I’m in the bathroom,” you chirp out as you pull your jeans up and button them.

“Everything okay?” He must’ve heard the tension in your voice, though you tried your best to hide it, unsure of how he feels about last night.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” You respond a bit more defensive than you wanted.

“Was just askin, but I wanted to let you know that breakfast is ready for you downstairs.”

“Thank you, baby, I’ll be down in a minute.”

You hope that you’re convincing enough for him because you just want to be left alone to think for a second. You hear him sigh, alright, sugar, followed by the click of the door shutting, and now it’s your turn to sigh as you stare at your reflection in the long mirror in front of you.

Your PTSD brain has kicked into full gear, realizing that this is exactly how it started with Nate. Your first time with him was all focused on you, and he said it was okay at the time, and even made breakfast, pancakes, just for you the next morning. But then, the next time you wanted to have sex, he had no regard for you at all - you became his personal rag doll, for him to please himself whenever, however he wanted.

It’s starting to become a sick, repetitive cycle that for some reason just keeps happening to you. Your hands grip the granite counter and you start to rock back and forth, how could you be so stupid? You bend your knees and put your forehead on the edge of the counter next to your hands and you start to cry and cry.

—

You eat breakfast in silence, and even though Joel and Ellie keep trying to engage you in their conversation, you just stare at your plate and try to eat whatever your stomach allows.

After about ten minutes of mindlessly playing with your pancakes and not paying any mind to the conversation the other two were having, you abruptly stand up and gently put your dishes on the counter next to the sink.

“I’m heading next door to grab a couple things, then I’m going to the stables,” you say flatly, and before either one of them can say anything back to you, you’re out the kitchen, through the living room, snagging your bow and arrows that are hanging up, and heading out the front door.

I gotta get out of here.

You enter your old home and you're on autopilot again, your feelings turned off, thinking you’d be hyperventilating if you set foot in here again, but now, you’re not you anymore.

After making sure you locked the door behind you, so no one can barge in asking any questions, especially Joel, you run upstairs to your bedroom you once dreaded walking into. As you push the still broken door open, and you’re not shocked to see it’s in the exact same disaster the night you escaped. He’s such a pig, hasn’t cleaned up in over a year.

You take a deep breath in and out through your nose as you walk in and go immediately to your closet, then grab your dark blue travel backpack you had while you were on your own, and you start to fill the bottom with random clothes that are on your closet floor.

After you feel like you’ve packed enough, you head back downstairs to the kitchen and you start to raid whatever is left in the cupboards, finding cans of random foods that you stuff into the bag.

Lastly, you speed walk over to the front hallway closet and as you swing it open to grab the warm blanket on the top self when you hear rapid knocking and you freeze.

“Please, let me in darlin’.”

Knew it, you mumble as you shove the blanket in the top of the bag and zip it up, you then softly close the closet door and tiptoe to the kitchen, still out of sight of the front door, but another round of knocks happen and they’re louder, followed by the sound of Joel pleading your name, “I just wanna talk.”

You stop at the sound of your name flowing out his mouth with such concern and perfect ease, almost like your name was meant to roll off of his tongue, but you shake those feelings away. You continue to sneakily go out the backdoor, so you don’t have to confront Joel. You just can’t handle it, you know it would be your last straw.

After you shut the backdoor, with your backpack on along with your bow and arrow holder, you sprint between yards to the shortcut path to reach the stables, gotta grab Dougie, your horse you named after your father who passed three years before your mom got with Roy.

—

You sneak past the grocery store, not wanting to be seen by anyone who might ask questions about you having your backpack. You’re still on autopilot at this point, you just want to escape from the suffocating feeling of Jackson and its residents, needing time to really think about what’s going on with yourself.

It’s a little bit past twelve-thirty so Main Street isn’t too busy, most people out doing their jobs or going to the Tipsy Bison or Kenny’s Burgers for their lunch break. Now is the perfect time for you to jump the fence on the other side of the stables and grab Dougie, which you achieve with no problems, thank god.

However, your next difficult task is to come up with an excuse to let Vince, who’s in charge of letting people come in and go out of Jackson, to let you out of here with limited questions.

You’re on a time limit because at any given moment, Joel or Ellie will be here knocking on the barn doors, or they’ll do what you did and hop the fence to get in, and you wouldn’t be shocked if they did, because you know they care about you. So you quickly run over to your beautiful dark brown horse, who huffs as you pet his long face. Hi dad, you sigh, we’re gonna go on a little trip okay?

You unhook his reins and walk him over to the fenced in area, then open up the wooden gate and lead him out as you shut the gate to make it seem like nothing has changed. You finally mount Dougie and do a slight pull on the brown leather rein to tell him it’s time you go, just say Tommy’s okay with this and that Joel is coming after you later.

Thankfully the stables aren’t too far from the massive gate separating the infected from the living so you’re there in seconds, and just like you expected, Vince starts asking questions, but with genuine concern on why you’re going out.

“I’m just going out for a bit, want to take Dougie out for a ride,” you yell up to him as you put your hand above your eyes to shield the gleaming sun.

“By yourself?”

“Tommy is cool with it, and Joel will be coming after me later. I’ll be okay, Vince, I promise.” You nod and smile trying to convince him that this is okay.

He hesitates for a second, your anxiety starting to affect your limbs, your legs slightly shaking in the stirrups. You’re biting your bottom lip and your hands are starting to become clammy and sweaty. Vince, c’monnn.

“I’ll be back with Joel in a couple hours.” You yell at one last attempt to make him open the gates.

“Um, okay. Just … Please be safe by yourself.” He forces a smile, “Open Her Up!” He yells to the guy across from him.

“Thank you, Vince!” You yell up to him as you blow up a kiss to him, and just like that, you and Dougie are off on your own, running into the beautiful wooded land, with no real plan on what you’re doing out here.

—

You’ve been gone for just under a month, after you left Jackson, Dougie took off with you into the woods for a couple miles without stopping until you inevitably had to because the sun went down. You stopped and stayed one night at the same Motel 6 that Nate and Tommy found you in decades ago, and the next day you and Dougie went another couple miles until you found this beautiful little cabin surrounded by dandelions flooding the massive yard in front.

It was perfect for what you needed, a quiet and secluded spot for you to really explore and understand your mind and your emotions.

The two days you had been out, you only ran into just around a dozen runners and clickers, which was a piece of cake for you, and in all honesty, it was therapeutic to be able to really be you for a change.

You haven’t been outside in the real world in years and a part of you deeply misses the independence you once had, along with the constant feeling of accomplishment you received from taking down infected, or people if necessary.

The sun is just beginning to set, the sky a beautiful dark orange with a hint of bright pink hue that meshes perfectly together, and you’re sitting on the front porch on the singular brown rocking chair, ironically all very similar to yours in Jackson. You have a glass of lemonade in your hand as you gaze at the sky, and somehow, the drink is not as good as when Joel makes it for you. What is his secret?

This getaway was supposed to be healing for you, and it really has been overall, however, there’s a piece of your heart that deeply misses Ellie and Joel. This was supposed to be a way for you to make a decision as to whether Joel is exactly like Nate, with the manipulation tactics, or if he’s actually nothing like him.

Your brain knows that Joel is nothing like Nate, the complete opposite actually, however even after a year of excluding Nate as a person, you’re still in fight or flight mode. You are simply not as healed as you thought you were, and that’s okay, but you gotta find something to help you cope through it, you can’t just push it to the back burner.

You glance over to your right and you see Dougie grazing on some tall grass just a about a yard away from you, a soft smile warming your face as you stare at his beautiful brown hair and watch how he peacefully eats without a worry in the world - you wish that could be you, just a horse grazing without a care in the world, what a life.

You sigh as you bring your attention back to the summer sunset, the sound of crickets and birds chirping rings through your ears. You inhale and the smell of fresh flowers and the warm summer air overtake your senses, you lean back in the chair and bring your feet up on the seat as it slowly rocks your body back and forth.

The glass of tasteless lemonade sits on the small round wooden table in front of you and you stare at it, the condensation on the outside of the tall glass pools down around the bottom and creates a dark ring on the table. Why couldn’t you just stay with Joel?

As you continue to stare at the glass, a shadow starts to appear on the other side, you quickly stand up and grab your bow and arrow that’s on the floor next to you. Without any hesitation you grab an arrow and draw your bow back, the string taught against your cheek as you aim the slim arrow at the person riding a lighter brown horse, no way, you think.

The person riding this beautiful horse is about twenty-five feet away from you now, and as you try to make out the face of this mystery man, it finally registers, Joel.

This sense of relief overtakes your body, you drop your bow right at your feet and you stand there in absolute shock, how the hell did he find you all the way out here?

“Joel,” you gasp as hot tears roll down your face.

Before you know it, you watch as Joel jumps off his horse and runs to you, when he finally reaches your shaking body he wraps his large hands around your torso and picks you up like a feather, and he spins you around.

Oh my pretty girl, babygirl, I thought I lost you forever, and what are you doing all the way out here? Spews out of Joel’s mouth, you latch your arms and legs around his thick body as you continue to sob into his neck.

“I’m so sorry.” You repeat over and over.

Shhh, it’s okay, baby girl, he softly repeats back to you, I gotchu now.

The two of you hold onto each other like that for a long time. You don’t know why you ever left Jackson, you don’t know why you left Ellie, and finally, you have no idea why you left Joel. All you do know is that you’ll never leave Joel ever again. Not by your own choice, anyway.

Tags: @evyiione @oscarissac2099 @southernbe @pedrosfanny

[soimcoga]

"every major baddie problem in the lmk universe is caused by SWK not dealing with his shit properly"

exept he dealt with all the shit and i'm tired of people ignoring it to paint him as an ignorant, uncaring bastard.

(very very minor s4 spoilers, so the cut)

Demon Bull King? Got his ass whooped and was sealed away for however long years it took for an entire ass megapolis to be built literally on top of him, causing absolutely no trouble to anyone whatsoever. Oh, and what sealed DBK? The staff. And if you'd care to know SWK outside of the LEGOverse, you'd realize how strong was SWK's resolve to seal DBK - keep him relatively safe, one might say - by using his trusty staff. The guy would literally die seven times over than let go of this thing.

Also people like, ignore the fact that canonically SWK stuck around the area (for the most part to stalk MK, but still), so he was literally there to deal with the DBK family if something went southwards? He didn't, because MK was able to hold the staff and the legend of the Monkie Kid then began.

(also zero antagonistic feelings towards DBK from SWK, like, whatsoever. i bet the dude actually wanted DBK to be free, cuz he felt bad abt it)

Macaque? In a morally gray manner, still very dealt with. SWK killed the dude. He was literally as dealt with as it can be. Or what, should SWK have predicted that after thousand upon thousand of years later a spirit (he dealt with too) would pull Mac out of Diyu? Yeah, I'd like to see that thought process.

SWK isn't omnipotent, he isn't even that far-thinking. Never was, actually. So holding that against him is like, very stupid. Especially because you don't do it to any other character in the show. 

Spider Queen? Wouldja look at that, also pretty much dealt with. We don't really know how exactly, but we know that she lost literally every ounce of power she had and had to resort to living in the sewers, prolly never to cause troubles ever again because, well, we never even heard of her until the special. SQ was pulled onto the scene by the Lady Bone Demon.

Which is, again, something SWK couldn't predict even if he tried.

And now into the fun part.

Lady Bone Demon? Was sealed away by Tripitaka and also didn't cause any trouble until DBK decided to use this freaky coffin he knew literally zero things about for his plans.

"But he should've killed LBD!!!"

He tried. Believe him he tried. This decision just wasn't his, and if you hold it against him and not Tripitaka, shame on you.

"He should have told the crew about LBD!"

He really couldn't have.

And people thinking that are blatantly ignoring SWK's character. Not that obnoxious fan favorite uncaring bastard one.

SWK deals with things on his own. That is just how he is, how he always was and he never learned to do it the other way around. If that's a fight, he'll do it, because he's damn strong. If it's to scout the mountain, he'll do it, because Bajie is a lazy ass motherfucker. If it's to find food for Trip, he'll do it, cuz he's fast and his eyes are awesome.

Same applies here.

LBD? Tried to kill her and Trip didn't let me -> Basically I didn't do the job right -> WTF I always do my job right, I am Sun Wukong hello???

It was, dare I say, a question to his pride, and SWK will forever be prideful. And when he acts on his pride, he does it with style and flare, in the most stupid way possible.

Hence all of the s2 off-screen investigation arc.

"Well, he should've told about the Samadhi rings!"

It would've endangered Mei, questioned his at this point in time very shaky authority and ability to handle shit, and prolly would've fucked Mei up a very whole lot.

You don't go and say to a person that they are a part of the most dangerous seal in the world and could die and destroy everything they love because you fucked up long time ago (again, very much jabbing at his mentality of 'Sun Wukong can do no bad job, and if he does he'll better fucking die trying to make it right').

Was his plan a shitty one? Obviously. Like, no question asked, it was a shit show of a plan. Very in character, though (SWK handles all the shit because he thinks he can).

And this little character arc of SWK not learning a damn thing results in him, oh golly you would not believe it, running off to do things on his own because he thinks he can handle it, because he's THE Sun Wukong who already handled this in the past.

Who woulda thought.

MINOR S4 SPOILERS START HERE

And the new addition to the baddie group, Azure Lion. Won't be addressing all 'SWK is a betraying bitch' because the show refuses to give us SWK's perspective and I hate it.

But you already know what I will say, because you know the truth. He was dealt with. Got his ass whooped and sealed away in the inky scroll. To be pulled back onto the scene by a third party that Wukong literally couldn't have known about.

See a pattern?

SWK deals with the shit, some unknown variable meddles in it, suddenly SWK is an incapable asshole who left the problems for the poor lmk crew to deal with.

MINOR S4 SPOILERS END HERE

Wukong did his job. Someone fucked him over by undoing his job. He tried to deal with it again the only way he knows how, but the solo play doesn't fly anymore, so he made it kinda worse.

He's not an unbearable, incapable asshole because of it.

And I'm tired of people not seeing this.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, I am Sun Wukong Apologist till the day I die.

Have a nice day!

[laylaisthename]

ILW // Here they are! All 7 different end cards you can get in the many many more variations of the niche endings available in the game.

Google Drive Link to the cgs here

I am beyond honored to have been allowed to leave my own mark in the game like this, and honestly never in a million years expected to actually become involved with the game.

Everyone is fine to use these as phone backgrounds but if you do youre legally required to tell me which one is your favorite.

Putting it under the cut for length, but here's a breakdown of each card;

Starting with the Evil!MC end cards, that are lovingly dubbed Judas' Kiss if you stayed with Matty, or Scorched Earth for MC's solo end.

The images really mostly speaks for themselves; the flaming heart, hand in atrocious hand if you chose to share the power with Matthias, but then when you put it next to the solo end is where it got fun for me. The heart is broken, its just you now, but the glowing eyes are smiling. My first time testing the judas kiss route I did not hestiate for a second to hit "kill him"

Next is the death card

I really liked the idea of (if your mc wasnt a huge dick anyway) that they give you a grave outside the cave, something for people to leave Rowan flowers and gifts. A classic grave didnt quite feel like it fit so I settled on a cairn. It felt very fitting with the Power being a respect for nature and such. I set it to be at night, with moonlight streaming down on the grave to give it a melancholic sort of feeling, with the sun charm sunny gives you strung off it, and then placed flowers at the grave to kinda show that people have come by because they care about Rowan. Meanings for the flowers are below and while not canon, I like to think each of the LI's left behind one of them; red roses from Abel, blue violets from Amalia, sunflowers from Lincoln and the marigolds from Joss, though really they were all chosen more generally.

Onto the blood end card! Which I named New Horizons, and not because of animal crossing. A winding road in the mountains at sunset; the road has been long, it has been hard and now youre choosing to move on. Symbolically what i wanted this card to be is that feeling of leaving everything behind. The sun is setting on your old life as you go to embrace the normal life that Blood MC wants so much. Youre on the top road moving around the bend, not sure where life will take you but that's alright, you have the rest of your life to look forward to figure out where you'll go.

Onto my own canon end; the Mixed end!

Lovingly called "Best of Both Worlds" because mixed rowan is playing that hannah montanna life. More seriously; this card in contrast to the blood end is not about leaving everything behind, but embracing what you are. The card itself is set at dawn to contrast this; soft yellows and pinks, morning dew and fog clinging to the forest floor with a streak of Power playfully dancing among the trees. Its the dawn of a new day, seeing everything in new light after the darkness of the past weeks/years rowan spent trying to understand themselves. It's my personal favorite end even if my mc and Linc gotta do long distance for a while. But to me its about accepting yourself; moving on from the grief of losing your family without alienating yourself from your memories of them and embracing that Power side of yourself without being changed by it. The life you built after being ressurected is your own and no one can take that from you.

Next up my almost canon end, that does live rent free in my mind because I love angst.

Closed gate shadow end, Far, Far away (yes this is a shrek/starwars/nerd refrence); its a fairly straight forward card, thought it does have one of my personal favorite little details. This is the second draft I made of it after this scene from Lincoln's shadow goodbye stuck with me; looking up through the trees at the night sky.

I really wanted to hide an eye shaped constellation in the stars but couldnt make it look good sadly :sob: But my favorite little detail are the fireflies and how some of them are cyan; touched by the power Rowan is now again a part of. Not canon, but I like to think these little cyan fireflies come to sit on the LI's heads next they wander too close to the woods (Fireflies by Owl City starts playing).

Shadow end is just. Its so beautiful really. From sharing your experiences with the wisps, how Rowan's wisp has been changed by their time as a person, how despite their grief they are not sad or unhappy, melancholic yes but this is where you want to be. Its a cosmic love, the joy of having lived, coming inside on a cold winter day to find your home warm and inviting, your family waiting for you to tell them about your day. The card itself is a little whimsical, hopeful despite the closed gate that the power will forever be part of the world, even if its been cut off. And this brings us to the other shadow ending card; the flower

Eternal Bloom, a ghostly hand reaching out to hand this flower over to the world, a final gift, a final goodbye. Maybe a promise of "I'll see you soon" but first and foremost, it is a promise of love.

Thats right babes. Its all about Love. Unfading Love.

symbolically there isnt anything hidden in the card, but thats also in part of it at face value telling you all you need to know; its about love! its a gift, for you, to remember me by. You have not forgotten me, and even changed as I am, I have not forgotten you. Rowan's change in personality after merging shadow was sooooo heart breaking tbh but ITS SO GOOD. You found joy in what you were, but its time to come home, take off your coat, hang it up, take off your shoes.

And it is all about love! All these cards (well, not all of them) were for me made from the heart, trying to keep in line for the different themes each end resolves to give the players something to remember each route by.

To anyone that made it this far, let me know which one is your canon card/which card you like best! And im kissing you on the lips I love rambling about my thoughts and if you got to here then you deserve a reward. So.

[randomfanner]

Halsin x Tav x Astarion future headcanons

Halsin x Astarion is one of my favorite ships I cannot even lie. Maybe it is the werebear x vampire lover in us all that calls to me. Or maybe Astarion just needs to be given a bear hug. So here are some postgame headcanons with Tav

All three of you are pretty sick of society and other people so all three of you fuck right off to the forest. Of course the rest of the party is invited to visit the three of you whenever they feel like.

Halsin built a cottage for Astarion, you and Scratch. He also does live there, but he sleeps outside of the time he is prefers it. And he does love his home but also he would have been fine with a cave. This does not stop Astarion from convincing him to come to actual bed because cuddles.

Halsin of course is not the only person living there and sleeping outside. The Cub, Thaniel and Oliver. Oliver and Thaniel do have their own bedroom though! It is full of handmade wooden and stuffed toys from Halsin and Astarion. Oliver took to Astarion like a fly on shit and Astarion loves to teach this small child how to commit crimes. He even allows Oliver to practice pickpocketing on him… but if he gets caught he does suffer ‘The Wraith of Astarion!!!’ Which is Astarion tickles Oliver until he cannot breathe. Thaniel on the other hand was… not as eager to accept Astarion, at first. When they first meet He wasn’t rude. He wasn’t going to be rude to someone who helped save his life but it was obvious he had little interest in a vampire spawn who smelled like the city and death … until it became clear that Astarion was going to be with Halsin and not just with you .

And then things did change.

Thaniel is a smart, wise kid who knows his way around and about the forest. He knows the better then even Halsin does to be frank. He is also a fae. So, pranks.

he begins to prank Astarion nonstop. They are all harmless but extremely annoying. Astarion is not thrilled but has learned better then to lash out a child. And if he yelled at Thaniel he would never be forgiven. he is fully aware of this. So he is stuck in a game of kill them with kindness

and it works.

It takes awhile, a lot of warming up and a lot of patience but evetually Thaniel more then accepts Astarion, he actually does consider Astarion to be a parent. Astarion is still shocked it worked but he is so happy about it.

Thaniel and Oliver are not the only children you three have of course. Yvenna and plenty of children who got orphaned during the conflict who needed home. Any children you decide to have and well she is off on her own most of the time, Arabella does come to visit.

You are a nocturnal household. I know I didn’t need to tell you that with Astarion being a spawn and unable to go into the sun(You three are looking into hopefully helping him. Halsin has been trying to get the aid of the Oakfather well you and Astarion have been hunting for a different method that won’t any souls or threat of losing his own but it is a slow process).

more then Astarion though, Halsin is a nocturnal person. He is great at functioning during the day but he would rather not be. He likes the night. Perhaps that is the moon Druid speaking however.

Astarion becomes a ranger. He of course still keeps skills as a rogue handy but well, living in the forest, being around the animals and other things he… begins to find his skill set more at home hunting for animals and foraging in the forest then they were stealing and snatching people and items alike.

Halsin is of course extremely proud of him for learning about the forest and himself. And the skill set is of a great help with their lifestyle!

Fall is an extremely busy time for your household because there needs to be food put away for the winter. Halsin, Astarion, Scratch, the Owlbear and Oliver go out hunting well you, Thaniel and Yvenna all stay home and prepare the food. Preserving, skinning and bleeding everything. Once they are done forging and hunting, the ones who can help do. And even those who cannot certainly do try! it’s a lot of work but there is plenty when snowfalls to keep everyone feed. Winter also becomes the snuggliest time because cannot go outside, so may as well just stay nice and warm inside. Halsin does sleep a lot(inside the house) during winter. He is a bear, his nature is to hibernate and thus he does. When he is awake it is pretty amusing because all he wants to do is snuggle. would either Astarion or you deny him?

Immortal Angst with a Bittersweet Ending Time:

Astarion doesn’t fully… grasp that he is immortal. He knows it. He understands it. However he has been surrounded by vampires or people he saw at most five times before they were sent to Cazador. When Astarion realizes Halsin and you and Scratch and the Owlbear cub are aging, getting older and he isn’t. Scratch likely dies first, a long happy life and simply old age. Halsin and you are of course sad but do accept it happened but Astarion well…

Astarion disappears. And oddly enough so does Thaniel.

it causes everyone remaining in the house to panic and try to find the both of them.

Of course Astarion knew this was coming, he wasn’t an idiot but it still shook him to his core. He just sort of found stump to sit on and think. When Thaniel finds him he is great at comforting Astarion.

it is a long conversation between the two of them about being immortal and how well Astarion cannot die of old age… Thaniel reminds Astarion that he still can die. Thaniel will be around as long as the forest needs him. Likely how he survived the shadow curse to begin with… but Astarion can decide what needs him and when it no longer needs him.

So Astarion decides he will stay as long as his family needs him.

And so when centuries pass and it is just Astarion, Thaniel and Oliver and descendants who had long left the best…. Well.

Thaniel expect Astarion to decide that is when he is no longer needed… but Astarion stays by their side. After all, the forest needs them, so they are still here. They are still here, they are his family, so they need him.

[gayuu-the-necromancer]

William Rex Chapter 6

WARNING: The following story contains scenes of murder and violence.

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William: "Raise your hands."

I heard a cold voice and instantly, air rushed into my lungs.

Kate: "Koff koff! Haa....Haa....Haa.....!"

I choked and breathed in and out to fill air into my lungs several times and I finally look up.

William: "Let's begin the interrogation."

(William.....)

Against the setting sun, he was framed in gold.

The overwhelming beauty made me forget to breathe for a moment.

Chairman: "Nn..D-Don't...D-Don't come near me.....!"

William: "Keep your mouth shut until I ask you a question"

Chairman: "....! ......!!"

The chairman could no longer move his mouth and his reddish face, turned pale.

Kate: "Ha.....Ha..."

Right now, his 'evil' is about to be executed.....

As if I was watching a play, my gaze, and consciousness were entirely attracted to the two of them.

Liam: "Kate....! You okay!?"

After cleaning up the enemies outside, Liam came rushing in, covered in blood.

Kate: ".....Yes.....I'm fine....."

I answered almost subconsciously, with my eyes fixed on William.

William: "The chairman is in no way a good host. Such a rude way to treat your guests."

William smiles at the chairman, who struggles to escape by backing away on his free foot.

William: "I see now....so this is where you were hiding the documents related to receiving money as a 'butterfly', huh?"

William: "....And the telegraph machine that contacted the client."

William looked around the room and squinted quickly.

William: "You know that the 'butterfly' is back, right?"

Chairman: "Butterfly? W-What's that....I've never heard of it!"

William: "I don't have to call Harrison every time to know whether you're lying or not."

William: "We also can't leave you guys open. So please be nice and cooperate with us, will you?"

William: "Tell me who told you about us."

Chairman: "Ah.....Ha......!"

The chairman desperately resist by covering his mouth with his hand, biting his lip and clamping his throat.

But in the face of William's ability, it all seemed in vain.

Chairman: "Haa...Ahh..Ahh....Avalus...!"

William: "....Good."

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Chairman: "Haa...Ahh..Ahh....Avalus...!"

William: "....Good."

(Avalus....is that the name of the 'client' or in other words the 'initiator of the butterfly's revival'?)

As soon as the chairman spoke, he relaxed his entire body as if he had given up.

Chairman: ".....T-They'll kill me.....if they found out..I told you about the 'butterfly'...they will s-surely k-kill me...."

Liam: "It's fine. .....We'll make it easier for you."

With a light thud, Liam bumps into the chairman's back.

The chairman falls on his stomach like a puppet whose strings have been severed.

A knife, probably the one Liam had taken from the banker, was stuck on his back.

(I don't know what sin he committed)

(I don't even know if this death is a foregone conclusion)

What I do know, however, is that death comes equally and suddenly.....whether you are a good person or a bad person. (love you! Kate)

That's how it is.

William: "You must pay for the sins you commit. It's either too late or too early."

William: "And so do we."

William and the others have the same future as the bodies in front of them, perhaps even worse. A 'tragic end' is awaiting them as well.

(I can't...guarantee it won't happen within the month I'll be with them)

Harrison's voice comes from outside the room, apparently keeping an eye on the surroundings.

Harrison: "The police are on their way. Let's get out of here."

..........

We left the bank in the darkness of London, which had deepened completely.

The robbers were apparently arrested by the police who arrived on the scene, and the commotion was subsiding.

The death of the bank chairman was treated as if it was caused by robbery.

Harrison: "You took a big shower, Liam."

Liam: "Does it look good? ....What do you think?"

Liam: "But you're right. I can't walk around looking like this. I'll go back to the castle first and will report to Victor."

William: "Mmhm."

Kate: "Be careful."

Liam dissolved into the darkness leaving behind a smile as fleeting as a star at dawn.

Harrison: "........."

(.....What are you looking at?)

Kate: "What's wrong?"

Harrison: ".....No, nothing. Will, why don't we split up here? I want to stop by the bookstore."

William: "The release date for the new Arthur Conan Doyle novel, is today right?"

Harrison: "You're quick to pick it up."

Harrison waved his hand and disappeared into the London city lights.

(I don't know why he was looking at me....)

I want to think about what the gaze means, but somehow my mind just doesn't seem to be working right.

William: "......"

Kate: "Well then...shall we go back to the castle?"

William: "Hmm...you're right."

William gave me an inviting look after a short pause.

William: "How about we go for a walk before going back?"

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The faint sounds of waves and wind mingle with the distant murmur of the city.

Kate: "......The port is quite beautiful at night, don't you think?"

Kate: "When I pass through here in the daytime, I often had to rush through here so as not to bump into cargo or people....."

Kate: "I have seen this many times but never actually stopped to enjoy it."

Walking one step behind William along the deserted harbor road, I talked about a trivial matter.

(Why am I talking about something unimportant? I'm sure there are more interesting things to talk about)

(But, I can't stop talking)

Kate: "This once, I bumped into someone on that corner over there and almost dropped my delivery bag into the sea."

William: "Kate."

Kate: "Y-Yes?"

William: "How did you feel about the hard mission?"

Kate: "Ah......"

William's words reminded me of what happened at the bank, and my heart rippled like the surface of the water as if pebbles were thrown into it.

I laugh reflexively at the prospect of the ripples growing and overflowing all at once.

Kate: "I never thought that the wall I was leaning against would lead to a secret room with pinpoint accuracy, but I was too unlucky..."

-------Options-------

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Thank you for your help.

On the other hand, maybe we got lucky?

-----------

Kate: "Thank you for helping me back there."

Kate: "I'm fine. As you can see, I'm alive."

William: "Are you saying you will be fine, as long as you're alive?"

William: "....Do you not even realize you're hurt?"

Kate: "Eh....?"

I suddenly stopped walking.

(Hurt....?)

Kate: "It's true that my shoulders and neck still hurt a little from being grabbed so hard by the chairman....."

Kate: "I wouldn't go so far as to say, it's extremely painful."

I rubbed my neck to show him.

William: "That's not what I meant."

Gently, as if touching something precious, William took my wrist and pulled me closer.

(Um....)

My own hand, held out in front of me, is trembling.

Kate: "Umm...this is....."

William: "With lips so pale and trembling so much."

William: "Your mouth won't let you get away with one whine."

William: "Your eyes won't shed a single tear."

William's fingertips touch my eyes and gently run down my cheeks.

As if to chide me for laughing.

William: "....It's a fine self-inflicted."

(I....?)

The voice invites me to join in and the trembling of my hands spreads throughout your body.

Kate: "I....I was...."

William: "Come here."

He draws me closer to him, and my body leans forward as if collapsing into his arms.

William: "Let me bring out that voice of yours."

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William: "Let me bring out that voice of yours."

The words whispered in my ear sound like a devil's temptation.

(I'm trembling, but I can't stop)

The warmth of his soothing palm on my back, his gentle breathing, and the scent of roses enveloped my entire body.

Everything he gave me slipped into my body through a wound that I didn't even realize I had.

He gently strokes the tender part deep inside as if to soothe it.

(Why all of a sudden?)

(I guess I've gotten good at pretending not to notice)

William: "Say it out loud...the first thing that comes to your mind. Don't worry about anything else."

Kate: "....I....I-I thought I was going to die."

The warmth pouring from the wound is inviting and my voice comes out.

William: "....."

Kate: "I really....really, thought I was done for it."

William: "It's only natural you'd think like that."

Kate: "When the chairman threatened me.....it made my blood boil."

Kate: "Then I remembered what you said to me......and I fought back."

William: "Really? God, I wish I was there to watch you."

Kate: "And just when I thought 'Oh my god, I'm going to die like this'---"

Kate: "At that time, I had a regret..."

Kate: "I should have eaten that second berry pie before going there...." (lol)

William: "......"

Kate: "I really am a hopeless person....!"

Willliam: "Pfft....Hahahaha!"

(You don't have to laugh like that....)

At that moment, indeed, I regretted it terribly.

No matter how well you tried to be polite, how you tried to live peacefully, how you tried to keep your voice down.

I said that I thought I would die so miserably and I regret things that don't matter.

Kate: "I...."

I let out my fear and pettiness from the back of my throat, which was awfully clear.

As if in anticipation, the words begin to pour out on their own.

Kate: "When I die, I want to think that I am here because I chose what is important to me."

William: "........."

William looked as if he could see through it all and just listened to my gibberish gleefully.

The warmth of his touch poured into my wounds.

And that must be the magic pill that eased my mind.

Maybe it is also a poison that drives me crazy, exposing what should be hidden.

(But whichever one it is, I'm already)

(I can't keep these feelings locked away)

Kate: "So I....would like to know more about you."

Kate: "Not just for the mission, but because.....I want to know."

Dangerous and terrifying, kind and forgiving. I want to know more about his contradictory nature.

I want to see more of the world he wants to show me.

(I want to choose to know him of my own volition)

(I don't know if that's a good thing)

Even if the day comes when I realize that I did the wrong thing.

It is much better than dying of regret without knowing it.

William: "......Finally, you're being honest."

William smiled bewitchingly and gently stroked my hair.

The feeling given to me as if it were a reward was so pleasant that I couldn't help but squint.

I noticed that the shaking had all but disappeared.

William: "Well, then..."

William: "Shall we go home after eating a berry pie?"

Kate: "Fufu....I hope the store isn't closed yet."

We walk side by side toward the city of London.

The body has left me, but what remains inside me is what was poured by William.

It was mixed in with the blood that pulsated through my body.

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Kate: ".....Hmm....."

I arrived back at the castle and sat down at the typewriter, but my fingers wouldn't move.

(It is my job to note the 'sins' of William and his friends....but)

Tonight they killed a man. That is an undeniable sin.

(But.....'why' is not enough to write it off a sin)

(What sin is the 'golden butterfly' committing?)

(Why is Wiliam so eager to kill and why is he searching for the originator of this revival?)

(The reason he sinned)

(Without knowing that, what good would it do to just say.....I killed a man?)

All this time, I've had a knife tucked away in my pocket, and I take it out and put it on my desk.

The chairman's words made me angry, but I did not want to direct this at him.

Even if I have the power, if I don't have the will, I won't use it.

(When and why did William decide to use this power of his?)

...................

Two shadows hover in the corridors of a palace.

A reptilian-looking man with a magnificent mustache turned a cold gaze on the other.

Mustache man: "Marquis Avalus. What are you doing here so late at night?"

Avalus, as the well-dressed man called him, struck the window frame arrogantly with his caterpillar-thick fingers.

Marquis Avalus: "The bank was probed. The Crown must have gotten wind of it, as in the case of the mansion."

Marquis Avalus: "I'll be the bait like I promised....Let's destroy them together."

....................

(I should have asked Mr. Roger....which part of the garden)

The night after my mission at the bank, I spent the morning wandering around the garden looking for William, who was still not in his room.

(....Ah there)

Behind the pavilion, I find William's back.

Victor is also right next to him.

(I think they're talking about something important.....it's better to wait until they finish)

Victor: "So---Hm? Isn't that a beautiful robin hiding there? Don't be shy, come here."

Kate: "Good morning. I'm sorry to disturb you two."

Victor: "Don't be sorry. You're allowed to disturb us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

William: "We were just talking about you."

William: "We would like to hear your opinion on a certain matter."

Chapter 7

[mintasa]

CIRCUS ~ CHAPTER 6

Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin x OC

Genre: Circus AU, murder mystery, slowburn, enemies to lovers?

Warnings: Blood, injuries, mental problems

Word count: 4,2k

Synopsis: A series of murders in a successful circus disturbs the life of a young stylist. With no place to go, she is keen on saving the circus, even if that means risking her own life to do so. As if things cannot go worse, a group of newbies join the hawock, seemingly not knowing what they're getting themselves into. Can she figure out the motives of the murderer and keep her crew together? Can the circus survive under the growing pressure and distrust?

Note: This is the first story I am publicly sharing. It is a work of fiction, although it may not fit the criteria of a traditional fanfic (I physically cannot write in the second-person narrative). Therefore, English is not my first language, and while I'm pretty fluent, I still make grammar errors, so apologies in advance.

The story is vaguely inspired by Circus MV

Orion, out of nowhere, walks into the tent. Nadya glances at him pointedly; he isn't wearing the uniform. "What are you doing here?" She doesn't mean her words come out as harsh as they did.

"I came to see you obviously," he says, hugging her before placing a peck on her cheek. Nadya almost dies out of embarrassment, like a teenager. Jun whistles, only throwing her over the edge more.

"Did that idiot over there tell you to?" She points at Jun, who looks a little too happy.

"He may have gotten my number from your phone and called me," he says, scratching his head. Of course.

"I'm going to kill you," Nadya mouthed to Jun, and he stuck out his tongue at her.

"Take a day off and go to the cinema or something," Taraji shouts. Now the mother is in it too. Nadya glares at her briefly, and Orion starts laughing at her reaction.

"Well, I can see what you mean by saying everyone is a big family here." Orion pulls at the girl's hand, dragging her outside to the park nearby.

"Where are we going?" The girl questions Orions as he drags her along with him.

"You'll see," he mumbles.

"I hate such stuff!"

"I swear I am not going to drown you in the pond," he laughs. "Alright, close your eyes." Nadya rolls her eyes before following his command. "Now open them."

Her eyes adjust to dim lighting. The sun is setting. "A swing?"

"Yes, a swing. Let your inner child out," he mumbles as he helps the girl get up on the swing. She has never been on one. Shocking, right?

He gets up as well and sits down beside her. "It's hard to imagine you grew up without such simple pleasures as this," he admits.

"Well, I didn't know what I was missing until now," Nadya shrugs most sadly. Now she'll be sad to leave. Once you get a taste of the good things, you crave more.

"Now. Now. We came here to be happy."

"How did you find this place?" Nadya asks, watching the sky turn a deep shade of red. Red just like... She shakes her head, shaking the thought away. This is a happy place.

"I grew up around here, actually. As a kid, I would come here every day," he explains briefly.

That makes Nadya want to know more. Orion is a dream guy. He must have dated before. "How many girls have you brought here?"

"I came here to be alone often, so you happen to be an honorary guest," he says as he turns his head to look at Nadya. Their gazes meet. He gulps before capturing the girl's lips in his.

Maybe she shouldn't get too involved with anyone, but she's desperate. Fucking desperate for any kind of affection. She wants to be cradled. Ishe wants to be valued, and Orion values her. He cares. He tries to make her laugh. That must be why she is gripping his shirt like a desperate whore. She could die happily here on this swing.

Suddenly, his phone rings in his pocket. He groans as he looks at the screen. "It's from work; I have to get it," he mumbles before swiftly slipping from the swing. He disappears into the park and takes the call.

Nadya is curious, so she gets off the swing and follows him. He stands, leaning against the tree. "How is it going?" A voice asks on the other side of the call.

"She has no clue," Orion answers. Who has no clue? What is he doing that she doesn't know? Police business? She shouldn't listen, probably, but who's going to stop her?

"Have you gotten any useful information?"

"Not really. She talks a lot, but nothing too useful. It's not like I can interrogate her without seeming suspicious," he mumbles. Interrogate who?

"Well, keep going. Just don't start liking her for real," the man on the phone chuckles. Nadya doesn't like that man already.

"That would never happen. She's nothing special," Orion answers. He can't be talking about... No. She is assuming stuff. He wouldn't do her like that, right?

"A girl is a girl. Don't underestimate her."

"I almost feel bad. She's super innocent," admits Orion. "I mean, I feel bad. I'm like her first boyfriend." That is when Nadya realized that she was naive. It is naive to believe in happy endings. It took her way too much time to realize he was talking about her. He's been feeding her lies and acting interested in her just to get information for the case.

"Man, that's just evil," the other guy laughs. "She'll be miserable when you dump her."

"That's why I feel bad. She is genuinely nice. It wouldn't hurt a fly," he says.

Nadya's fish clenches as she listens. She wouldn't hurt a fly; she scoffs. She is about to punch him in the face so hard that his head will spin around a few times. Nadya trusted him. It was a stupid decision, really.

"Date her for real."

"I would never. She's too difficult."

"Well, good luck with her," laughs the man.

The call ends, and Orion looks around before walking back to the swing. Only then did Nadya realize she had to get back. She is not ready for the confrontation. She reaches the swing but cannot get up.

He looked at her suspiciously. "Where were you for so long? I was getting worried." Nadya lies straight to a cop's face. Maybe she's a good criminal after all.

He doesn't question her; she's a good enough liar. Why did she even lie in the first place? They are done anyway. None of this was real, at least not to him. "Duty calls; I have to go. I'm so sorry we have to cut this short," he smiles.

Nadya forces a smile, although her fist is itching to be used. Then she frowns; she should be sad. He's leaving after all. "That's okay. Your job is really important."

"I'll walk you back," he offers.

"No, I will be fine. Go," Naya protests, not wanting to spend a minute more with him.

He dusts his coat. "See you later." He attempts to peck her on the lips, but she turns her cheek. What is she even doing? Why is she pretending to be clueless? Is Nadya that desperate for attention? She can't just let him walk over her for something that isn't even real. He doesn't like her. He's using her.

Nadya walks back to her room without a care; she doesn't even cry. After the latest events, this doesn't even seem like such a big deal. She's surely hurt, but she'll get over it. She doesn't have to depend on a man to live happily; she's fine with how everything is. Nadya works and earns money for herself. She doesn't need anyone. She didn't need Orion. He just charmed her with his nice words. They do say to never trust a cop. She can't defend them anymore. Who can she even trust these days?

There is a killer nearby harassing her colleagues. People die, and yet she is not scared of any of that because she doesn't have a better choice. Most of the workers don't. They are stray children gathered in one place. They are each other's family.

Taraji is the mother, and Amir is the father. They are family. The pair wouldn't hurt anyone; she's safe around them. All she has to fear is what jumps from the shadows.

Nadya walks straight to the kitchen to get some water. There, she finds Hyunjin. From his expression, she can tell that he's up to no good. He will be an ass to her again just because she hit him with a pillow once. Spoiled princess. He's so multifaced that he could be an entire circus by himself.

He approaches her with clear disbelief in his face. One thing that he does well is show emotion. "We have three days to make new performances and practice them, and you still find time to go out with your boyfriend," he scoffs. "Be responsible."

"What are you trying to achieve by being an ass?" Nadya asks; she won't play along with his accusations.

He furrows his eyebrows; she should've shaved one for fun. "I'm trying to get you to do your part of the job."

"Well, I didn't ask for the extra work. No one even asked me properly. I didn't ask to be stuck with you so you could irritate me," Nadya points an accusing finger at him. Does he think she likes this? The arguing.

"I didn't ask for this either."

"Then why do you act like it was my choice?" She questions him and nears him. "Back out, we won't have to do that. I'll go back to my usual stuff; you go to yours," she pokes him in the chest. He swats her hand away. He's pissed, and Nadya must admit that he's kind of intimidating. Not really, though. Compared to her mother, it's nothing.

"We have to, though. There's not enough people," he argues.

"You can think of another performance." They're eight guys. They can dance that waltz with each other. Break the gender norms or whatever.

He scoffs. "Can't you do such a little thing for this circus?"

Nadya thought she was fine, but she could not handle everything. Not at once. Now she can't stand two guys. She can't stand his pretty face. She can't even punch him because he's more useful when he's pretty. "Whatever I'm out of, I really can't do this. Not with you," she mutters before turning on her heel and walking away from the dark-haired boy.

His eyes follow her dumbfoundedly; he didn't expect her to give up easily. She doesn't usually, but she has enough for one day. She had enough for a whole year.

A note slips under the door of her van. Nadya looked at it suspiciously before getting up to pick it up. It might be someone pulling pranks; she had a fair share of fun with drunk guys and little kids. They've tried to enter the vagons on multiple occasions, assuming nobody is inside.

"Meet me on the stage at 11 a.m. I won't talk if that makes you happy. We're doing this for the sake of the circus. Be considerate."

Nadya reads the few words scrambled on the paper. He couldn't even say sorry to her, and yet he expects her to show up. I guess I'll make her choice when the time comes. If he doesn't piss me off until then, she might go.

Hours pass fast, and soon the designated meeting time comes. She decides to go just because she wants the best for the circus. To be of use.

"I was doubting wherever you'd let down your pride," Hyunjin comments as she approaches him on the stage.

She sends him a pointed stare. "Didn't you say you'd be quiet?"

He shuts up immediately. They stare at each other. "We still have to communicate," he points out. Yes, they have to talk about the performance, not personal matters.

"That doesn't mean you have to be rude," Nadya utters. That's the only thing he's been doing since they met. Being rude without a good reason.

"You know the basic steps?"

Nadya raises an eyebrow at him as if to ask if he's kidding. He doesn't get that. "I'm sure everyone knows," she shrugs. How would she not? It is the most basic dance. Romantic dinner? You dance the waltz at a wedding? Waltz. Its everywhere.

"Let's try that first," he mumbles before turning to her and stepping closer.

One of his hands slips to the girl's waist, and the other grabs her hand. He already seems more experienced than her, although she did waltz throughout her childhood. Their eyes meet for a second, and Nadya looks away. "Alright, one," she says, taking a step, and he follows her. "Two, three."

They do a circle around the stage, and she lets go of his hand. He glances at her, trying to find the right thing to say. "You're stiff," he mumbles finally, as if scared to offend the girl.

"I don't like being close to you."

"Well, you better get used to me because you can't be stiff," he tells her through gritted teeth before gripping her wrist and pulling the girl into him. Nadya glares at him before getting into the position. "You have to step in between my legs."

"I am doing that?" She rolls her eyes at him. Nadya knows how to dance the waltz, just not with him, if that makes sense.

"Bend your knee a bit more," he instructs. She does as she is told, and suddenly they are practically brushing against each other. She moves away, slightly intimidated by the closeness. "Keep it there."

She doesn't like how bossy he is. They are a team without a leader. "Don't tell me what to do if you value your ability to have children," Nadya threatens him, and he just stares at her for a second before laughing.

"You wouldn't dare," he mumbles seriously again. He is seriously underestimating her; Nadya keeps her word.

"Oh, I would, so shut it."

With a few minor disagreements, the entire performance is planned out. They can't just spin in circles all the time. There is a lot to memorize, and it seems like Hyunjin already knows all of it. Nadya is the problem. It's her memory that's rusty. She's the one distracted. She's the one who can't deal with this sh*t going on. He seems fine. Of course, it's not his friend who's dead after all.

"Again," he mumbles as the song comes to an end and Nadya pulls away. He plays the song again before they get into the position.

They spin in circles, and then he spins her. Nadya is getting dizzy at this point, but she has to keep up with him purely for the sake of her pride. Although she used to dance, she hasn't done that in years. Ever since her mom forbade her because of one misunderstanding.

Nadya used to go to the dance club. They danced all kinds of dances. She did the waltz specifically, but before one performance, one of the girls from the hip-hop team sprained her ankle. The teacher asked her to take her spot; she did, and her mom found out. She told me that's not ladylike, that she should be ashamed, and I didn't let her do the waltz anymore. She had already grown to like it back then. Well, good things don't last. It was a distraction for a while. It's nice to come back to it for a second.

Nadya steps on Hyunjin's foot, and he hisses dramatically. It probably didn't even hurt. "Focus," he comments. Nadya does not focus after that and makes more mistakes than she did before his comment. Before the song can end, she throws her hands in the air and walks away. She lazily slumps on the floor, and Hyunjin follows her. "When I told you to focus, I didn't mean to think about each step. I meant to don't zone out. Don't be mad," he slumps next to her.

"I am not mad at you," she says, sparing him a glance. He thinks she got offended again. Come on, she's not as frail as his ego is.

"Who are you mad at, then?"

Who is she not mad at? "I don't know."

He pulls Nadya back to her feet and tugs her, making her crash into him. She jumps away from him as if she had been burned. "See, now that is a problem. You have to be one with your partner; how are you planning to do that if you draw a line at physical contact?" he mumbles.

Nadya must admit she is awkward, but she has never been in such close proximity with a man. Not as an adult, at least. "I am holding hands with you, aren't I?"

"But you're always a step too far from me. I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind," he adds. Not idiot number one, mentioning idiot number two.

She can't help herself but glare. "Not a boyfriend," she snaps at him.

He smirks knowingly. "Trouble in paradise, huh?"

"Can we not talk about that?"

"Well, I am not planning to sit in silence with you, so we can either talk or dance," he offers. He thinks he's a genius, doesn't he?

Nadya turns the music on before grabbing his hand and pulling him to the middle along with her. "Dancing it is," he mumbles smugly.

The dance finishes with the pair kneeling on one knee and hugging. Nadya hugged Hyunjin multiple times at this point. His body is firm to the touch. And she should not feel him up like this while she has the chance. For fucks sake!

"Leave space for Jesus," Amir's voice echoes.

"A kiss now for a grand end!" Jun shouts, and Nadya immediately pulls away from Hyunjin and stands up straight.

"I'll make you kiss the ground if you don't shut up," she mutters as she bumps into the guy as she is walking by. It was time for a break anyway.

Taraji follows her out. "The dance looks great," she comments, and Nadya simply hums in agreement. She cannot believe she was hugging that bastard, and everyone saw that. The worst thing is that she didn't even rush to pull away.

She needs to chill; they can't stand each other. Attention is not an invitation. What would her parents think? She laughed at the thought.

"What are you making?" She decides to distract herself; the nerves before the show are making her insane.

"Just some pasta," Taraji shrugs.

"Need some help?"

"From you?" She laughs, "Not really."

Nadya scrunches her face in preparation to beg. "Come on, I haven't set the kitchen on fire yet."

"I'm not letting you anywhere near the fire," she says, sounding terrified about the idea. "How about you grind cheese?"

The girl rolls her eyes before grabbing the cheese from the fridge. She hasn't even done anything bad in the kitchen. She had burned cookies multiple times and once overboiled pasta until all the water was gone and it cooked into a brown mess. Nothing too drastic, she'd say.

Nadya helps Taraji finish up with the dinner and sets down the plates. That's when the woman decided to send her away. "Nadia? Go get the boys."

Nadya finds all the boys in the same wagon. Except for Hyunjin, who isn't even on his own. What if he became the next victim? There's no way, right? They're new. They haven't wronged the murderer. They won't be targeted.

She walks out of his wagon just to run into the devil himself. "Dinner," she tells him shortly.

They gather inside the kitchen. Even with the newbies, the kitchen isn't as crowded as it usually is. "So how is the waltz going?" Han asks Han as they sit down to eat.

"She keeps stepping on my feet, but fine overall," Hyunjin mumbles, and he shoves a full mouthful of food into his mouth. His eyes crinkle as he does. He looks as if he's about to die. She hopes he chokes on that little bitch.

Then Jeongin inhales his pasta like a vacuum cleaner. They either don't know the manners or have been starved in the past. Who even eats their food as if it's going to run away?

Nadya glares at Hyunjin until he chokes on his food. That shakes her out of the trance. Taraji hands him a cup of water. He glares at her through the rim of the cup. It's not like she did that on purpose, though she wishes she could.

The next performance comes sooner than expected. Nadya gets others ready before herself. Overall, she'll be rushing back and forth because there are multiple outfit changes at this point. Everyone has multiple jobs.

She and Hyunjin open the act, so she has to hurry to get ready. Hyunjin is already dressed up in his fancy long coat. His hair is slicked back, and a red tint lingers on his lips. He looks like a vampire. in a good way. Does he even ever look bad?

For herself, she has a white dress with a flowy skirt and elongated flowy sleeves that swirl with her every moment. Then there are the heels. She practiced endlessly to dance in them the day before, so she nailed that by now. Nadya keeps her makeup simple and gathers her hair into a high bun, letting stray hairs fall on her face and neck.

"How long are you going to be there?" complains Hyunjin on the other side of the door. She had kicked him out because he was too distracting. Whinny little runt.

"Can you stop bugging me?" She asks as she opens the door. She walks back to her desk to put on her earrings. Hyunjin stays at the doorway; he eyes me up and down. "What? Do I look funny?"

"No, you look fine. Good. I mean okay," he stumbles over his words.

"Are you okay?"

"Absolutely."

"Let's go then," Nadya tugs at his sleeve.

By the entrance to the stage stands Amir. He's about to go on stage and introduce them. He greets Nadya cheerfully. "When did you grow up?"

Taraji appears out of nowhere, cutting him off. "I think my eyes are lying," she glances up at Hyunjin. "Who is she, and where did you abandon our Nadya? You're looking good," she giggles to herself. Then she unexpectedly piques Nadya's arm, making her jump forward.

"What was that for?"

"For good luck," she replies before walking away.

Once the woman walks away, her temporary distraction is over. Her hands are sweating, and she keeps rubbing them together. That is, until Hyunjin grabs her wrist and pins it to the side. "Don't let them know you're nervous."

"Easy to say," Nadya mumbles.

"Just imagine they are all naked or something."

"I think I'd be even more nervous to perform in front of a group of naked people." The girl forces a smile. Amir leaves through the curtain and soon comes back. She missed his entire speech. It's their time to come in.

Hyunjin pulls her to the center of the stage as the lights dim. They get in their positions, and the song starts. He leans in briefly. "You're okay; we didn't practice for nothing."

The lights go on, and Nadya's mind goes blank as she lets her body do the job. Soon, she finds herself kneeling in front of Hyunjin. He nods subtly before embracing her. The song ends, and the crowd starts cheering.

The pair stands up and bows down while holding their hands. Then Amir comes in and steals their spotlight. It was about time; now Nadya will fall down somewhere and sleep.

She walks backstage, only to find a guest there. Orion. He welcomes her with open arms, but she avoids the hug and looks back at Hyunjin, who is already scowling. He never liked Orion, but now she is starting to get him.

Orion furrows his eyebrows at her confusedly. "We need to talk," she tells him, and he just nods and lets the girl drag him away. "I know everything." Nadya uses up all her courage to say.

"Know what?"

"Don't play stupid. I overheard your phone call. There's nothing much to explain. Good luck with the case," Nadya tells him and walks away. At least attempts to.

He grips her wrist, stopping her from leaving. "I'm sorry, I was just doing my job." Is he sorry, though?

"I get that. I don't need your empty apologies," Nadya tells him as firmly as she can. There's absolutely nothing she wants to do with him anymore. He's dead to her.

Jun is waiting for her when Nadya comes back. "Here is my white swan," he laughs as he spins the girl around. His smile falls as he notices the girl doesn't share his enthusiasm. "Why the long face? You did great."

"I'll tell you later," Nadya mumbles as she walks past him. She won't tell him she's just buying herself time. He will forget to ask about it anyway. She'll be fine.

Once again, Nadya is stopped in her tracks. She rolls her eyes mentally, preparing herself not to smack anyone. And here he is. The vampire himself. "What is it?" He questions.

Nadya raises an eyebrow at him. "Elaborate please."

"Did I do something?"

She hesitates. "No."

"Then why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad," she shoots back. "Now, if you don't mind," she says, turning on her heel, but he grips her wrist again.

"I do mind. I want you to tell me what's wrong," he manages to get out. He looks like he's struggling. Is it that hard to be a decent human being?

Is he serious right now? Everything is wrong. "Why, so you can make fun of me later?" Nadya accuses him. He narrows his eyes at her, and then he's gone. Probably for the best.

[nomoreusername]

Lily Of The Valley (Part 3)

Pairing:Aris x female reader

Summary:You and Aris finally make your way into the real world.

The plan has been made. Maybe not a faultless one, but nonetheless, it was something.

As I expected, the Double T’s didn't want to leave. So all those times Aris said it was just him and I against the world was about to be a literal statement.

“Let's go over the list one more time. Water?”

“Check,”He nodded, looking at his bag while I did the same.

“Food?”

“Check.”

“Knives.”

“Check.”

“Jacket?”

“Check.”

“Cash?”

“Check.”

“That's good then,”I accepted. “I don't know though. I feel like we're forgetting something.”

“Yeah. You are,”He confirmed, tossing a bag to me. Glancing inside, I wondered how the hell I could forget pads as I put them in my backpack.

“Thanks. You're a lifesaver,”I promised.

“I know,”He shrugged.

“Don't get cocky or I’ll take the compliment back,”I sighed, rolling my eyes as I zipped my bag up. Glancing at the latch, I looked at him to silently ask if he actually wanted to go through with this. Because he knows very well where he goes I go, and vice versa. So if he said no we’d put everything back, I’d make fun of him a little bit, and we’d spend the rest of our lives here.

“It's now or never.”

“Yeah. Now or never,”I mumbled, wrapping my hands around the metal ladder that had remained untouched for years. So much so, that it put an instant chill over my skin, almost making me shiver. Or maybe it was the way I was about to see what had become of the world for the first time in years, if it had changed at all.

Moving up, I knew imagining whatever it may be was pointless. Whether I was optimistic or pessimistic made no difference to reality.

Taking a breath, I spun the bar and pushed it upwards, inviting a cool breeze and rubble inside. Putting my jacket over my mouth and nose with one hand, I pulled myself out with the other.

“How's it look up there?”Aris called, starting a chapter we never thought we would have in our stories.

“Like hell,”I called back, squinting as my eyes adjusted. After a moment, as I looked around at the unmoving rubble and demolished building, the dust settled back into place.

“You weren't kidding,”He said, coming up. Grabbing his hand, I helped pull him out.

“Thanks,”He mumbled, standing up. In dead silence, we looked at the roof that was barely standing and walls threatening to finish the job at any second.

“Last chance before we close the door,”I spoke up.

“If you don't want to leave then-”

“It doesn't matter what I want. If you're leaving I’m leaving. If you're staying I’m staying,”I said firmly.

“Okay. Then, let's get moving before the sun kills us,”He reminded me, a smile in his voice despite the words. Kicking the door with his good foot, when it slammed down he tightened the straps on his bag before gesturing for us to start the trip. With a sigh, I walked next to him as he looked at everything despite the way this had once been out home. Coming to a still standing doorframe he gave me a look that I didn't quite like as he stared at it. Then, just like we did when we were kids, jumped up despite being able to touch it without doing so, and hit the top. Giving in to the childlike wonder joy it once brought, I did the same.

“And outside we go.”

“Oh goodie,”I deadpanned.

“Are you going to be this sarcastic the entire trip?”

“Because I’ve never been sarcastic before this.”

“You're something special, you know that?”He sighed, giving me a boyish grin before nudging my shoulder with his. Not really moving, I invaded his personal space before pointing out that I had learned from the best.

“I should have left you behind,��He complained, as if this hadn't all been his idea.

“Come on, you dork. Let's go find your flower,”I replied, opening the entrance to this entire place, somewhere that we had never actually seen before. With the door being kind of stuck though, I was fighting to push it open. Shoving it, as I put my all into it Aris grabbed the handle on the other side and pulled.

“Oh,”I mumbled. “I knew that,”I lied, doing the same to my side. Looking out at the barely rising sun, we still covered our eyes as we adjusted to this amount of light again.

Once my pupils's weren't on fire anymore, this suddenly became real. With the sun in the horizon, hardly even touching the earth that has small patches of grass and orange dirt, it wasn't what I thought it would be.

Yes. The grass was dried and little, but it was plants. If there were plants then it was possible that we could find his Lily Of The Valley. Difficult for sure, but there was a chance.

“You ready to do this?”He asked, holding out his hand. Accepting it, I interlocked our fingers as we got ready for whatever the world has to offer.

× ~ × ~ × ~ ×

Heat. The world has a lot of heat. It was barely noon yet the amount of sweat on me could create another ocean.

“Remind me to never listen to you,”I pleaded, wiping my hands on my jeans.

“Wouldn't you be listening to me about not listening to me?”He pointed out.

“Don't complicate my words.”

“Is it complicated or are you just slow?”

“How funny,”I deadpanned, wiping my brow while wondering why the hell I was out here instead of safe inside.

As I looked at the smile that hadn't left Aris’s face though, the bit of light in his eyes, the spark that had been threatening to go out, I knew this was the right decision. For him.

“Why are you staring at me?”He asked, turning his head and catching me off guard.

“I would never stare at you,”I scoffed.

“Well, you should.”

“Because you're so amazing?”

“Obviously.”

“This is the idiot I’m stuck with?”

“Stuck with? Come on. You're out here because you love me,”He corrected.

“Yeah. I love an idiot,”I shrugged.

“Y/N-”

“Kidding, kidding,”I promised, nudging his shoulder with mine. “Kind of.”

“You at one mean remark from making you go home.”

“This is home now, Aris. Get used to it.”

“I already am. There's actual air out here and even more room to get on your nerves.”

“You are good at that.”

“Thank you very much. Now off we go,”He declared, swinging his arm over me.

“It is extremely hot out here.”

“I couldn't tell.”

“So don't touch me.”

“But it gets on your nerves.”

“Your existence gets on my nerves.”

“Maybe, but you're still here with me,”He pointed out. While he’s definitely right I couldn't let this dork go out here alone. Plus, he seemed so shut down when I said no the first time. No matter how much he may make me want to rip my hair out, he’s still my best friend. “Hey, Y/N?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for agreeing to come. I know that you were comfortable in the bunker, and it means a lot that left it for me,”He admitted, his tone more serious yet genuine.

“Of course. I’d do anything for you, and if that means looking for a flower than I’m going to look for that flower,”I said firmly.

“Well, thank you. You're an amazing friend.”

“So are you,”I told him, grabbing his hand. Accepting it, he interlocked our fingers as we kept going forward.

Forever.

All Parts

[whywhatswrongwithblue]

DW REWATCH

S1E2 THE END OF THE WORLD

The Doctor takes Rose on her first voyage through time, to the year five billion. The sun is about to expand and swallow the earth. Amongst the alien races gathering to watch, a murderer is at work. Who is controlling the mysterious and deadly spiders?

WHAT was he doing in this scene.

You think you're so impressive. ---I am so impressive baby’s first flirt….

2. You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. i adore this line. Iirc i read somewhere that this episode was made when a lot of negative climate focussed media was coming out and rtd wanted to assure young viewers that there was always hope? Not sure where i saw it but it’s stuck with me

3. Is that why we're here? I mean, is that what you do? Jump in at the last minute and save the Earth?-- rose we are literally here so i can trauma dump. Haven’t you heard of healthy coping mechanisms??

4. He's blue RTD my beloved. What an incredibly realistic, human observation—i feel like companions simply do not do this anymore. And they should!

5. Love the bark makeup. It’s so pretty!

6. The air from my lungs….this episode is so good damn it

7. Moxx of Balhoon better known as the CEO of sex. I give you the gift of bodily salivas lucky Rose

8. CASSANDRAAAAA

9. Rose being overwhelmed and running out. I can’t get over the amount of care and detail RTD put into writing her. She really is his baby. Can’t wait to see how he brings her back now (because he will. He will.)

10. Jabe’s device is unable to identify a timelord, probably because the rest of the universe thinks them dead? Although her reaction is very different from that of the Nestene Consciousness (who is implied to have lost quite a bit in the Time War), whereas Jabe doesn’t seem to have any personal connection. I wonder what the other outsider perceptions of the War were!

11. Ahhh Rose being kind to the plumber. I love my girl. LMAO at her realising she just hitched a ride with a complete stranger w/o thinking about it. The metal spiders are very Minority Report.

12. Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask? the WRITING. Just chef’s kiss. Even in this sort of power dynamic, you never ever feel like Rose doesn’t have agency. She’s so smart and capable and fierce. i love her.

13. Gotta love how fast they switch from arguing to flirting. Jiggery-pokery <3

14. I might be late home. and then she comes back a YEAR later JESUS

15. Bad Wolf mention!

16. Hahahah i can’t watch the Jabe scene without thinking of plant sex now, courtesy of Katie

17. I was born on that planet, and so was my mum, and so was my dad. I love how much Rose loves her dad. Like if you’ve never even known a parent, you probably wouldn’t bring them up in a context like this, but the addition implies that Rose thinks of her dad quite a bit, and this is a nice little subtle setup to my favourite episode of the season, Father’s Day

18. The sun filter scene! It’s unexpectedly tense. I remember being really worried the first time I saw it

19. This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Jack set them up….god that’s so sweet. The fact that he knows that they’re properly together in Pete’s World at this point <3333333 he is Literally Us. Putting his blorbos in Situations.

20. What are you going to do, moisturise me?

21. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. HUHHH?? LMAO

22. I love the turning fan trope, every time it’s in any movie ever, it’s got me on the edge of my seat

23. Everything has its time, and everything dies. OOF. Appreciate Rose still wanting Cassandra to be saved! Something something parallel with how she changed the Doctor so much that he’s willing to give Cassandra a peaceful death in New Earth <3 the power of love, folks.

24. The Earth death scene is beautiful. I remember feeling so sad that everyone just missed it! And the Doctor finally realising that maybe this wasn’t a great first trip for his young companion xD

25. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else.---There's me. What a beautiful moment of intimacy. And such great acting! The Doctor is finally beginning to let her in, and Rose has attached to this stranger so quickly, despite how prickly and condescending he can be. Soulmates <3

Loveee this ending. 10/10 again!

[marinerainbow]

Alright, it's Halloween peeps (everyone knows that Halloween lasts the whole month). And @wheezystan inspired me with their zombie weasels to post about something that's been brewing in my head for a while.

The Rotten Ink AU

Warning for... Well, zombies. And the horror and angst that comes with it. And isolation, and the insanity that that comes with as well. What have I done to our favorite toons?

Note that this AU is still being developed. I apologize if it doesn't look so cohesive 😅

~Story~

Set two years before the events of the film, in 1945. No one knows what happened. Not the humans, not the toons, not even the animators responsible for breathing life into ink and paint. Though things have started to go terribly wrong in Toontown.

It's hard to pinpoint when it started, though the first sign was when toons started to feel pain. Instead of a hand comically turning red and blowing up in size when smashed or punching a brick wall, the skin started to actually rip- and in worse cases, the bones would break just like a human. The second horrible sign was that, unlike a human, these wounds wouldn't heal. No matter how many bandages were applied and stitches were sewn. And the ink that made their person would ooze from the seams.

It wasn't just the sentient toons that were changing. The living architecture of Toontown started to rot away, coughing up coagulated ink onto the street and becoming more brittle. The chirping blue birds lost their song and would fall from the sky. Even the smiling sun and moon that used to shine brightly in the animated sky bled out, and their remains rained down onto the once bright and colorful town. Of course, this caused a panic among everyone. Though the humans assured the toons to remain calm, as they were already looking into what was happening. So, filled with dread, the toons attempted to continue life as normal.

However, it was only after an infected toon went deranged in a studio, causing so much damage to the other toons and people, did the humans decide on a drastic choice. It was taking too long to find an answer to what was happening to their beloved characters, and they saw no other choice but to cut them off from the rest of Los Angeles. The tunnel was closed off, with policemen guarding the entrance with orders to shoot on sight if any toons attempted to reach the outside world.

So now, the residents are stuck in the dying town. As time went by, neighbors were forced to fight each other as the infection grew worse and worse, turning each other into what everyone refer to as 'inkies'; toons that are husks of their former selves, with a seemingly insatiable urge to rip anyone they see apart for more ink. Toons have had to learn how to be cautious for their own lives, and as resources and shelter become more scarce, even those who have not completely fallen under the infection are now potential threats.

How did this all get started? Will there ever be a cure? Will everyone be turned to normal again? No one knows. But for now, all one can do is survive.

~

~Tid-Bits~

I was mainly inspired by The Walking Dead, and not just in the title. The infection in this AU works similarly to the virus in TWD (at least the Telltale game that I played). In that everyone is infected, and you not being bit doesn't mean you won't turn once you die. In fact, for the toons, as long as they don't get themselves killed, being bit will not turn them. The disease is already doing that job. It's mostly only a matter of time before someone is turned into an inky.

As such, there are plenty of toons that have bite marks, and even parts of themselves missing, yet they are completely safe to be around. As long as they aren't willing to hurt others to survive.

Since this is before the events of the movie, that does mean that Marvin Acme is still alive. In fact, he's the one leading the cause for finding a cure for toons. So he plays quite a big role in this AU.

That also means that the weasels are alive, too. And thriving. In this AU, they're the kind of group of survivors that the others find themselves depending on, as they are the ones who are willing to raid any inky infested area for supplies, but people are still afraid of them since they still act as a gang. They're kind of like a necessary evil in this town. Though as long as you don't get on their bad side, you'll be fine.

Since toons are based on emotion, having been made to make people laugh or cry, inkies are only permanently killed when you shoot them in the heart. Much like a vampire, yes.

I'm still debating it, but I'm thinking that, like the zombies in Shaun of the Dead, the inkies retain some semblance of their past life. For example, a cowboy inky may keep holding onto their revolver or stick by their horse despite them serving no purprise to it anymore.

That's all I've got for now. And it may change in the future. Wheezystan, as a fellow zombie lover, I hope you in particular enjoy this! ^^

And to everyone else, I apologize once more for doing this to our favorite cartoon characters.

[currentlyfckingurmom]

Human: Rewritten

Chapter 2

Series Masterlist

Chancay, Peru; 2013:

It was a beautiful day; it always was in that town. Eight never got to appreciate it, though. She was always looking over her shoulder instead of looking at the ocean or the historic castles. She was always planning out escape routes instead of enjoying the path she was on. She was so busy analyzing the everyday people around her to filter out threats that she never realized she was one of those people, too. The warm sun was shining in the cloudless blue sky and there was a slight breeze coming off the ocean, so she didn’t overheat on her run. She turned off of the main road and jogged toward the entrance of her quaint apartment. She turned the key in the lock and shimmied the door open一that lavender door always stuck.

After locking and dead bolting the door, she made her way through the living space, which only took a few steps, and entered the bedroom. Sbe peeled off her shirt and threw it toward the hamper; she would pick it up later. She went into the bathroom and hopped in the shower. After a cool shower and a change of clothes, she went to the kitchen to make some much-needed lunch. She was in the midst of cooking when her burner phone rang, and only one person had that number. “What’s up, Nicky?”

“Eight, you need to come in.”

“Hi, Eight. I’m good, how are you? It’s nice to talk to you.” She responded to his no-nonsense greeting with a typical sarcastic quip.

“I don’t have time for your shit today, Eight. Romanoff and Barton have been captured. Security is too tight to send in multiple agents and you’re the only person I know who can handle this mission alone.”

“How the hell did they manage to get themselves captured? She’s the fucking Black Widow.”

“We don’t know much. Barton sent an encrypted message using an old radio saying that Romanoff is injured and they needed immediate evac.”

“Send me everything you have about the location. I’ll go straight there on my jet.”

“Be careful, Eight.” He ended the call and she immediately got ready to leave.

Stemwede, Germany; 90 Minutes Later:

Fucking Germany. Of course it had to be Germany. Eight hates this place. She was created in this place. But she swallowed the anxiety and ignored the memories. This was about a pretty redhead and her best friend. Eight enabled the cloaking feature and landed the jet in a clearing about a mile away from the base. She quickly abandoned the jet and started the small trek to the base.

After the hike, she made it to the hill about 100 yards from the HYDRA base. She was crouched in the treeline with a perfect view of her entry point. She quickly checked her weapons; a sniper rifle, two pistols, a shit ton of extra magazines, a rather excessive amount of knives (but in Eight’s opinion, you can never have too many knives), and her two swords. She fastened the silencer on the rifle, loaded two bullets, and got into position. She seamlessly took out the two guards outside the door by the loading dock. She slung the rifle over her shoulder and started toward the door. When she got there, she hid the bodies and took the cover off of the keypad. She cut two wires and the door unlocked. Eight entered and made her way to the security room. She had studied the blueprints on the flight, so she knew where to go. She entered the room with her pistol drawn. There was only one guard sitting at the desk, so she holstered her gun and snapped his neck from behind. She placed his head on the desk so he looked like he was asleep. She clicked through the camera monitors until she found Romanoff and Barton sitting in a cell in the East wing. It wasn’t too far and there were plenty of shadows and corners to hide in. She had gone undetected in far more difficult conditions than these, so she wasn’t too worried.

She silently left the room and walked down the halls until she found the cell. She killed the two guards outside the cell and took the keys from one’s belt. She hid the bodies as best as she could, then unlocked the cell. Barton immediately stood and crossed the hall to retrieve his bow.

Noticing Romanoff hadn’t stood up, Eight went over to her and saw that she had been shot in the thigh. She had lost a lot of blood. She was so pale. The lower half of her suit was soaked with her blood. A million thoughts swarmed Eight’s mind. What should I do? I have to do something. What if she dies? She can’t die. She’s barely even conscious. Holy shit, Fury’s going to kill me. Oh my god, I’m going to kill the prettiest girl I’ve ever met一

Eight’s spiral was interrupted when Barton said, “We need to get out of here. She’s lost way too much blood.” Eight hurriedly took the belt off of her uniform and tightened it above the wound. Natasha’s pained groan was the only sign that she was still clinging to life. Eight tried to help her stand but the agent was totally out of it, so Eight just threw her over her shoulder instead. “Do you got her? You need help?”

“I got it. The jet is parked northeast of the base. Let’s go.” Barton had to take out a few HYDRA goons along the way, but they got out of the base without alerting everyone there. They had just crossed through the treeline when alarms sounded from inside the base. “Shit. They must’ve found a body or noticed you guys were missing. We’ve got some distance on them, but we gotta pick up the pace.” Barton gave Eight a dubious look, clearly not expecting her to be able to move any faster with Romanoff slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. That look was wiped off of his face pretty damn fast when Eight took off in a sprint toward the jet.

Once aboard the jet, she set Romanoff down on the bench of seats and went to the cockpit. She launched the jet, set the coordinates for the Triskelion, and put it on autopilot. She then returned to Romanoff’s side and got out some medical supplies. Eight injected a local anesthetic, but she was unconscious anyway. She cleaned the area, used Kelly forceps to remove the bullet, and cleaned the wound again. “You’re gonna be okay, Red,” She murmured, more to herself than Agent Romanoff. She stitched the wound closed, and when she was finished, Barton spoke up.

“Thank you, for helping her and rescuing us.”

“It’s my job. No big deal.”

“Except it’s not your job. You're not a SHIELD agent. You didn’t have to risk your life and do this, but you did. So thank you.”

Eight didn’t know how to respond to that, so she opted to stay silent and just nod in response.

The Triskelion; Two Hours Later:

Eight was walking through the hallway under the white fluorescent lights when Fury called to her. It was around 2am, so nobody was around except for a SHIELD agent here and there.

“I wanted to thank you. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve lost two of my best agents, who also happen to be Avengers.”

“That’s real sweet, Nicky. I’m glad you appreciate my awesomeness, but I know you didn’t come all the way down to medbay just to thank me, so what do you really want?” He hesitated for a moment but then began.

“You can’t tell me that you don’t miss it. You can’t tell me it didn’t feel good to complete a mission again. You were raised for this, you were raised to be in the action, not sit on the sidelines. You’re meant to-”

She abruptly cut him off by snapping, “Okay, stop. I wasn’t raised to do anything. I wasn’t raised at all. I was put through hell. I know what I was meant to be and I know what they made me into. I just wanted to try and live a normal life for once. I wanted to be a normal person with a simple routine, instead of a killer on an assignment.”

“And how did that work out?” He looked genuinely concerned and there wasn’t a trace of pity present in his features, and she felt her walls crumble the slightest bit.

“It didn’t go so well. People like me don’t get to live normal lives.”

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You can use your abilities for good, Eight. You don’t have to join the Avengers yet—or ever, for that matter—but give SHIELD a chance.”

“Fine, I’ll think about it. But I’m never joining the Avengers. I don’t even have powers and I’m the furthest possible thing from a hero.”

“Romanoff and Barton don’t have powers either. And you don’t have to be a conventional hero to be a little heroic once in a while. Just think about it.” Then, in true Nick Fury fashion, he spun on his heel and made a dramatic exit through the glass doors. Eight let out a low sigh and continued down the hallway. She entered Romanoff’s room and placed the plush spider she got her on the stand beside the hospital bed. The doctors said she wouldn’t wake up for a few hours, but she would be fine. So Eight grabbed the remote, plopped down on the chair beside her bed, and turned on the TV in the corner of the room.

Four Hours Later:

Eight was engrossed in an episode of Friends when she sensed Romanoff stirring in the bed. Eight noticed her eyes flutter open and immediately groan at the bright lighting. Eight breathed out a laugh and stood up to pour a glass of water. Romanoff tentatively watched as Eight helped her sit up and handed her the cup of water. Eight took a couple of steps back and, not knowing what to say, went with “About damn time you woke up, Romanoff. That chair gets really fucking uncomfortable really fast.” A look of guilt flashed across her face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Eight felt an unfamiliar twang in her chest at the sight.

“It’s not my fault that you’re a dumbass and decided to wait in a hospital chair for… wait, how long was I out? What time is it?”

“It’s a little past 6am, so you were out for about seven hours.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” It was quiet for a few moments, and Eight was fighting the urge to laugh at the awkward silence until she realized that Romanoff’s thigh was probably causing her a great deal of pain. “Oh, shit. You got shot, your leg probably hurts like a bitch. I should’ve gotten the doctor as soon as you—dammit, I’ll go get her now so she can give you pain meds. I just kinda forgot一well, I obviously didn’t forget but I just-”

“Eight, calm down. I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt that bad.”

Eight mumbled a small ‘okay’ and left to get the doctor, embarrassed from her nervous rambling. She returned a few minutes later with the doctor in tow. When she walked in, Romanoff was holding the plush spider out in front of her. She looked between Eight and the spider with an arched eyebrow and a smirk. Eight felt her face heat up and she looked down at her shoes, moving out of the way so the doctor could do her thing. When she was finished, she said something about resting and taking it easy, and then left. “Thank you for rescuing us, by the way. Took a lot of guts to go in there alone,” Romanoff said, breaking the silence.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Anytime. I mean not anytime because I don’t want you to get captured again but… never mind.”

She laughed again at Eight’s expense, but Eight didn’t mind because it was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard and it made her smile, too.

“So, does this mean you’re coming to the dark side?” Eight was quiet for a few seconds and she must’ve looked pretty confused because Romanoff continued, “Sorry, that was a movie reference. Are you joining SHIELD?”

“Oh! Sorry, I haven’t watched many movies. Um, I don’t know. I might.”

“Well, I think you should. Hell, you might give me a run for my money. And if nothing else, it would give you an excuse to see me more often.”

Is she flirting? Is that what’s happening? What do I say? Just be cool, Eight thought.

“Fuck it, okay. I’ll become an agent. Why the hell not, right? I wouldn’t mind seeing your beautiful face every day” Oh, for the love of God, stop talking, she scolded herself.

Romanoff laughed loudly and Eight felt herself falling into a familiar sense of ease and comfort at the sound. They talked for a while, and when the conversation died down, Romanoff asked the question that she knew would come up sooner or later. “So what’s your real name? And what the hell does Eight mean?”

Eight’s smile fell at this question and she sighed deeply. She saw concern replace the light expression previously resting on the redhead’s face. “I...shit, I don’t know how to explain this. I don’t have a name. I was referred to as Experiment 8. The whole point was to remind everyone, including me, that I was a weapon, not a child. They dehumanized me to make me more efficient. They referred to me as Ghost on missions but that was just my codename. I was never given a name and it felt wrong to give myself one because that’s not me, so I just go by Eight.”

Romanoff didn’t respond immediately.

“I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have bothered you about it.”

“No, I get it, don’t worry. Being called ‘Eight’ is weird as hell,” she said with a smile trying to break the tension.

It worked and a small smirk appeared on Romanoff’s face when she said, “Oh, I’m sure we can find something else to call you, детка.”

A blush appeared on Eight’s cheeks, understanding the Russian. When she didn’t say anything, Romanoff kept going. “Oh, now you don’t wanna talk? That’s fine, в будущем мы будем слишком заняты стонами, чтобы разговаривать.”

With a sudden burst of confidence, Eight replied, “По-моему, это звучит неплохо.” The teasing smirk immediately fell from Romanoff’s face and was replaced with a furious blush.

She mumbled, “I didn’t know you speak Russian.”

Eight laughed and replied, “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

детка=baby

в будущем мы будем слишком заняты стонами, чтобы разговаривать= in the future we’ll be too busy moaning to talk

По-моему, это звучит неплохо.=that sounds pretty good to me