#i think in a side timeline where his dad survives

[lukewarmchicken]

I love my silly little AU so much. <<< Guy who is actively drawing Byakuya suffering through feelings about his situation and how fucked he is.

[kathaynesart]

I remember when you first started Replica and I haven't been here in a hot minute!

May you please do a debrief of what it is, the characters and their relationships.

I want to be able to give my friend (who I finally dragged down into this TMNT rabbit hole) a good explanation of your wonderful comic!

(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

Aw thank you so much! Hm… I suppose a summary would be good to have on hand. For the uninitiated with no context, here is the basic elevator pitch:

The year is 2044 and the last remaining Resistance of Earth has just fallen to the alien invaders known as the Krang. In a last ditch effort to save the planet, Casey, a freedom fighter is sent back in time to undo the events that first led to the invasion. While he is ultimately successful in his mission, the state of his original fallen timeline remains unknown. The last of the freedom fighters, his family, perished to ensure his safe escape, leaving their world to the mercy of the Krang.

Which brings us to the ultimate question: when you already know the heroes are doomed to fail, what can be gained from being told their story?

For the rest below, I’m going to write with the assumption that the reader has some basic knowledge of the series and the film because I feel that this story is best enjoyed with proper context.

SUMMARY

Replica is a story meant to answer many of the questions the first 4 minutes of the movie left us wondering. It’s to explain the basic history of the bad future timeline and how it came to be. The plot focuses particularly on the later half of the apocalypse, all with the intention of leading up to the opening scene where the Krang wins and Casey Junior is sent back in time to fix the mistakes that Leo and his family could not.

It’s to answer questions like:

How did Leo get injured?

Why is Mikey so old looking?

What were these characters like in the future?

What happened to Raph, Donnie, and April?

Where is big bad Krang Prime in all this?

How did the Resistance finally lose to the Krang?

Did they plan to send Casey back in time in advance?

What happened to this world/time-branch after Casey Jr was sent into the past?

MAIN CHARACTERS

For the most part, the cast is comprised entirely of characters from the series. My goal is to keep this as canon as possible, so no new OC's... save for one (kind of).

Omega Bootyyyshaker 9000 is where this story starts and ultimately where it ends. He is a brain scan AI of Donatello, created to act as both a support system for the Resistance after the turtle’s untimely death and also a key component in a plan that will hopefully put a stop to the Krang should the Resistance fail. Omega is great because he adds some much needed levity to the story, acting a bit more like the aloof but silly teenage Donnie (a side affect of not having to experience the usual physical weariness that comes with being an organic, aging organism in an apocalypse). However, he also adds more weight by being the thing that is supposed to outlast all of them and act as the last line of defense for the remainder of the universe. He claims to merely be a "replica" of Donnie's mind, but whether he's just a digitized scan, his own AI person, or somehow connected to Donnie in a deeper way has yet to be seen.

Leonardo Hamato: the man, the myth, the legend. Casey Junior spins tales of how great his sensei was in the movie, but in this story we really get to see Leo go from his lowest point as a pawn for the government, crushed by the shame of his past actions, to his greatest height as the leader of the Resistance. He is going to fail a lot in this story... but ultimately his greatest success is overcoming his own inner demons and coming to terms with being the father figure he had never asked to be. He cares deeply for his family and Casey... but he thinks he'd be a horrible dad.

Michelangelo Hamato: the only other surviving turtle to see the end of the world. He is the emotional bedrock of the family and a stand in therapist when he's not being a silly little guy. His mystical powers are unparalleled, but in his attempts to regain his lost Ninpo he taps into something far deeper, leading them down a path that intertwines the destiny of their doomed future and a past that has yet to occur.

Casey Jones Jr: a sweet boy taken in by the Hamato family. He strives to become a great warrior like his mother (Cassandra) and his Sensei (Leo). We are going to watch him grow from child to teenager as he slowly takes on the roll of being a fighter in the resistance. Through it all he must walk an unsteady line that allows him to find the strength to weather the storm but retain a certain spark of hope that helps keep his family going.

April O'neil: Commander of the Resistance and another honorary Hamato family member. She is the voice of reason and most emotionally stable of the family. Even after dealing with so much loss, she keeps a stiff upper lip as well as cold and calculating mind that always puts the colony's wellbeing first and foremost.

Donatello Hamato (deceased): The story begins shortly after Donnie’s passing during an infiltration mission against the Krang. He was dead set on planting a probe behind enemy lines that would allow them to spy on the Krang’s movements. However it seems that he had a secret agenda in planting something that would work as a final doomsday weapon against the Krang. What that is exactly, we do not yet know. The man self-destructed in a last ditch effort to avoid being interrogated by the Krang as well as a final attack to injure Krang Prime.

Raphael Hamato (deceased): The eldest brother who sadly passed away many years ago in the fight against the Krang. A boisterous but considerate man whose death sapped a great deal of the fighting spirit out of his brothers. His absence is greatly felt, but he might not be as far gone as he seems.

Krang Prime (One): Our big bad of the story. He is the leader of the Krang that has latched onto this planet like a cancer, using up its resources and assimilating its population. However, unlike the hundreds of planets that have come before this one is particularly personal. He doesn't want to merely assimilate but utterly destroy the descendants that caused his imprisonment thousands of years ago. His current state is unknown after being last seen with Donatello at the time of the man's self-destruction.

NEED TO KNOW DETAILS

All Resistance fighters have tiny self destruct bombs in their brains so that the Krang can not probe their minds to find out the Liberty Colony's location. They go off automatically after Krang infestation reaches a certain percentage, but can also be set off via voice command.

Donnie's brain bomb was far more potent because of the amount of information he knew. He did not want to risk the Krang getting any part of his mind.

The Krang have been searching for the resistance in a frustrating game of cat and mouse which has only become more difficult now that the Resistance easily knows their every move by using Donnie's probe.

Central Park Colony: now destroyed, but was once the last massive human colony in North America, housing both the EPF (Earth Protection Force) and US Government. Racism was a huge problem as most yokai and mutants were either quarantined, tested on, or used as living weapons in the fight against the Krang. It has since been destroyed.

Liberty Colony (aka the Resistance): grew from the ashes of the Central Park Colony. It is comprised of the survivors and lead by Leonardo, April, and several others. It is much smaller and more militaristic, but treats yokai, humans, and mutants equally.

Artificial Intelligence (like Omega and Shelldon) are able to fend off the Krang assimilation that people and tech would normally succumb to. It is for this reason Omega is used as both a protector of the Liberty Colony and operator for a majority of the vehicles so that the tech can no longer be easily taken over by the Krang during attacks.

Leonardo and Michelangelo (as well as Donatello's) Ninpo have all been stripped from them by this point in the story. While Leo can not tap into his family connection at all, Mikey at least has regained the ability to use some of his mystic powers.

Mikey's mystic abilities however come at a price. Since he can not tap into his Ninpo and the fountain of energy from his ancestors, he is instead using his own life force to cast his spells. It is slowly draining him.

TIMELINE Can be viewed HERE

SOURCE MATERIAL The video that inspired this all can be viewed HERE

Hope this helps! Sorry it's a bit long, tried to break it up with images. At least there might be a few interesting bits of information other readers may not have noticed. I snuck in a few things that haven't been mentioned yet, hehe.

[holdmytesseract]

New Old World [EoH]

Daryl Dixon x fem!Reader feat. Teddy Dixon

Summary: Being stranded in the Commonwealth changed the life for you and your little family. Adjusting to this new, yet old world wasn't easy. Neither for you, nor Daryl and certainly not for Teddy...

Warnings: Alternative Ending/Different Timeline! TWD things? fluff, talks of babies, swear words, Daryl being the smol insecure bean he is, age gap

Set in the Commonwealth!

Word Count: 3,2k

a/n: This story is part of the EoH universe, but has an alternative ending with a different timeline. 🤗

Tagging: (in the comments ☺️)

Life in the commonwealth was strange - and yet so familiar. It felt like getting thrown into another dimension. Another world. Well, perhaps it was normal to feel like this after five years of fighting for survival every day in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. You had seen every cruelty this world had to offer and now... Suddenly you landed in this community, where the most people's worry wasn't the undead anymore, but how to… earn money? It felt wrong and nevertheless you couldn't deny that it was somehow... right.

Two strong, yet soft hands on your waist ripped you out of your thoughts and daydreams. "What yer thinkin' about, sunshine?" You smiled at hearing the gravelly, loving voice of your husband from behind you. Reaching up your hand, you buried your hand in your lover's hair. It had grown so much the past years. The dark brown strands reached in soft curls over his shoulders by now - and you absolutely loved it. "Just about this... What we have here..." The answer you got was nothing more than a low grunt. You knew Daryl didn't trust this place yet - and you understood why. Money, jobs, restaurants and Halloween? Oh please...

But on the other hand... A piece of normalcy and not fighting the dead, other people and death itself was what you all wanted - and it broke your heart that Alexandria couldn't be that for you at the moment.

"I still dunno 'bout all this... Feels... weird." You nodded. "I know, but... Until we can go back home, let's make the most out of it, yeah?" Daryl didn't answer, just huffed out a breath. Not unusual for the man who didn't need much words. Instead, he gently moved; went to press your back against his chest - which felt hard and not really comfortable, like you noticed instantly. Turning in his embrace, you realised why... Daryl wore his commonwealth uniform. Right, you remembered. Your man had suddenly a job again and was working. "Are you off to work, cutie pie?" You witnessed, how Daryl's cheeks reddened softly at your chosen pet name. "Yeah... Jus' wanted to say goodbye, 'fore I leave." You nodded; scanning his handsome face with your eyes. He had grown over the years - of course. Got even more mature and responsible-minded. You sensed major DILF energy radiating from him.

"How sweet of you," you said, leaning closer to place a soft, quick kiss on his lips. "Have fun - I guess, and don't let yourself get stressed so much. I know Sebastian Milton is an asshole, but you and Rosita will make it. Think about picking Teddy up from school with your cool stormtrooper armour. He's going to lose it - and he'll be so proud, seeing his dad being one of the 'cool soldier guys'."

School... Another crazy thing. Sure, you tried to teach Teddy a few things and there had been a lot of small education thingys in the past five years. Be it in the prison or Alexandria. It had always been there but this? This was a whole other thing. This was a real school. With real teachers and actual classes. Something you hadn't seen in over seven years.

"Ya think so?" You smiled and gently scratched his slightly grey goatee; feeling the hairs tickling your fingertips. "I know so." You then stood on your tiptoes, in order to involve Daryl in another loving kiss. But a firm knock on the door of your sparse, small apartment caused you to jump apart; ending the kiss way too early. "Daryl?" Rosita's voice sounded from the other side of the door. "We gotta go!" You sighed; wrapping your arms tighter around your husband's neck. "Seems like duty calls..." "Mhm..." Daryl grumbled and turned his head towards the door. "'M comin', Rosita!" He lifted his hands to your arms, trying gently to loosen them from around his neck - but you kept on holding on; not budging. "I gotta go, sunshine." You pouted, but eventually let go of him. "I know, 'm sorry. But I promise, I'll be back soon." You nodded and watched with crossed arms, how Daryl grabbed his helmet; ready to leave. "What are you up to today?" You shrugged your shoulders. "I dunno. Perhaps I'll visit the rest of the fam." Daryl nodded; knew of course what you meant, and walked towards the door. "I love you. Be careful, yes?" "Love ya, too. Don' worry. I always am. 'Sides, Rosita's gonna hold me back from doing some stupid, headless shit." With those words, he opened the door and marched out. It stayed long enough open for you to see your friend. "Hey Rosita!" You waved at her. "Y/N," the black-haired beauty answered; smiling at you, before the door fell in its hinges.

While your son was at school and your husband at work (It still sounded crazy in your head.), you spent the whole morning with cleaning up the apartment - which mostly consisted of collecting Teddy's small carved artworks. Since his father showed him how to carve something (mostly spears to hunt fishes or other weapons to defend himself) out of wood, he was obsessed. Whenever the opportunity was given, you'd find the boy sitting somewhere underneath a tree - or even up in a tree (the safer option), carving. He practiced year after year and by now, he was really talented. If Teddy just wouldn't leave his little figures and weapons laying all around the apartment...

After that, you decided to take Dog out for a walk. The fluffy Belgian Malinois with the brown-black fur was a faithful companion of your little family, since the day Daryl brought him back from a hunt. Teddy fell for him immediately anyways, so... And as much as Teddy loved Dog, Dog loved Teddy in return. They were a great duo.

"Dog, come on, let's go out. Time for walkies." Dog's ears perked up at your mention of 'walkies'; head lifting. "Come on!" You tapped your thigh - which was his sign to literally jump up and run to you. You giggled; petting and scratching the fur behind his ears. "Let's go." You opened the door and out Dog ran. He was a very loyal and well-behaved animal. Daryl had trained him well. He'd never run off or leave your side - unless he had a good reason.

It was quite a beautiful day today. The commonwealth was bustling with people. Some of them working, some of them enjoying their day off. You hadn't a specific destination in mind, when you took Dog out. Most of the time, Dog decided on where to go. Today, the faithful Malinois led you to a very good friend of yours. A member of the family - without a doubt...

Dog already saw him from afar, grooming a white-brown patchy pony. Dog announced his - and your presence with a loud bark. The man with the black, greyish dreadlocks turned on his heels at the sound. A smile crossed his features, as he saw you and your four-legged companion approaching. Dog ran up to him; tail wagging in excitement. Ezekiel squatted down, in order to welcome Dog. He literally jumped Ezekiel; paws landing on the King's shoulders, causing the man to laugh heartily. Dog liked Ezekiel and Ezekiel Dog. There was no doubt about this. It was fact.

You came to stand beside the pair; Dog still enjoying Ezekiel's petting. "Hey Ezekiel." The King straightened; stood up again, in order to properly face you - much to Dog's disappointment. "Greetings, Y/N. What a pleasure to see you! Tell me, what brings you to my modest, little farm?" You shook your head, smiling. "Dog decided to bring me here. I think he wanted to visit you. Nevertheless, it's great to see you, too." Once again, the man laughed, scratching Dog's head in an affectionate manner. You adored Ezekiel. You really did. He was always so positive. A true ray of sunshine. A very kind man - and now, here at the commonwealth, he was able to do what he loved again... Being a zookeeper.

"How are you feeling today?" You asked him then, referring to his medical condition. "Oh, I'm feeling great, Y/N. Thank you. Better every day." "That's really great and reassuring to hear." He nodded; one hand still petting Dog, who was sitting beside the man now. "Well, if it wouldn't have been for Carol and Tomi, I probably wouldn't be walking this earth anymore as a living man." "That's why we are all a big family. We help each other." The King nodded, "Truer words have never been spoken, dear friend." giving you one of his brilliant smiles. "How is Teddy doing in school? Carol told me he had quite a rough start?" You sighed, nodding. "Yeah, he had... It was after all the first time for him to go to a real school. Sure, he had his friend, Nick. But unfortunately, Nick is in a different class. So many new children and all so much different from him - and Nick. Most of them weren't on the road. Anyways not as long as we were. He never had an easy time adjusting to new, different things. He was quite afraid of attending school."

The corners of Ezekiel's mouth twitched into a small smile. "Well, this sounds to me quite like someone else we know..." You understood that reference, of course. Both, you and Ezekiel knew exactly who you were talking about. You giggled; shrugging your shoulders. "Like father..." "...like son." The King finished your sentence, laughing. "Well, I hope Teddy is able to adjust soon." "I hope so, too. Just have to give him some time..." The man nodded. "I'd say so, too. If you're looking for a little distraction for him, you are more than welcome to send him - and Nick over to me. I promised Teddy to teach him how to ride a horse already quite a while ago. Now, I finally have the time - and opportunity." "Sure, I am definitely going to do that. Thank you." He smiled; nodding. "Of course."

While you were still out with Dog, walking through the whole commonwealth, Daryl made his way to the elementary school, in order to retrieve his son. After all, he had promised him - and since Daryl went to school directly after his shift, he was still dressed in his commonwealth armour. The archer was really looking forward to this. It was his personal highlight of the day.

"I need to pick Teddy up from school," he told his friend. "See ya later?" Rosita nodded. "Sure. I have to look after Coco as well." With that being said, the two long-term friends parted ways.

Daryl made his way to the school then and waited in front of the rather big building for Teddy to come out. It was quite a bit ridiculous for the archer - and also a whole new experience. He would have never thought, that he'd pick up his son from school one day. Not after the world went to shit. Back in the early days, everybody had different problems than sending the kids to school. Surviving, for example. Getting enough food on the table for his family - and all the people who became his family.

"Daddy!" Teddy's happy, relieved voice urged to Daryl's ears; announcing his son's arrival. A soft smile spread over Daryl's face, when he saw his son running towards him. He squatted down; waiting. Teddy ran straight up into his awaiting arms, hugging him. He may be ten years old by now and would soon grow into a man, but for now, he was still Daryl's little boy - and he'd enjoy every hug he got. "Hey, buddy! You good?" Teddy didn't get to answer the question his father asked him. A group of three other boys had approached them.

"Your dad is a commonwealth soldier?" One of them with glasses and bright blonde, tousled hair asked; eyes wide. Teddy nodded proudly; stood beside his still crouching father and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Yep, he is!" "Wooow..." Every boy of the group was stunned. Teddy started to smile proudly; his shyness suddenly forgotten, as the boys finally noticed him. Due to his cool dad. It made the young Dixon happy - but he also knew, that they were probably just going to like him because his dad was one of the countless commonwealth heroes.

"Let's get goin', huh? I bet your mother already waits for us..." Daryl noted; noticing immediately what game those boys played. Teddy nodded and turned to his seemingly new friends to say goodbye.

After that, Daryl and Teddy walked home together. "So... How was school?" The little boy shrugged his shoulders; his mood suddenly changing fast. The school topic wasn't an easy one... "Okay, I guess..." "You get better along with them other kids?" Another shrug. "A bit." That didn't sound convincing. Not at all.

Daryl stopped in his movements and turned to face his son. Once again, he squatted down and placed both his hands on Teddy's small shoulders. "Alright, talk ta me, buddy. Don't bottle everythin' up. I used to do that too, y'know. 'S not good. Spit it out." Teddy sighed and bit his lip nervously - a habit he copied from his dad. "I just feel so lonely... 'Specially without Nick... The other kids think I'm weird." Tears were shining in the young boy's blue-grey eyes. Daryl saw it. Despite his long, softly curled bangs of brown hair. "Why?" "Because I'm not as good in school as they are. A-And because I know more about gutting a fish, then our home country..." Daryl's heart ached, as he heard that. He knew how his son felt. He knew the feeling of being an outsider.

"Hey, Teddy... Don't listen to 'em. Ya hear me? I know it's not easy, but always remember... You're so much better than them." Teddy looked up at his father through teary eyes. "H-How?" The archer smiled. "Firstly, 'cause you're a Dixon and secondly, 'cause you're a survivor. You know how to handle a walker. I taught ya everything ya need ta know - except hunting. But we'll do that as soon as you're a bit older. That's why. It might sound hard and cruel, but those kids would never survive out there alone. You do." At those words, Teddy's eyes lightened up again - and he smiled. The same, sweet smile you always smiled. A smile Daryl loved above everything and would never tire to see.

"Really?" The archer nodded. "Really." The boy threw his arms again around his father's neck; hugging him tight.

You were already back home again with Dog, when you heard the front door getting opened and closed again. The barking of Dog echoed through the small apartment, followed by your son's giggles.

Unfortunately, you couldn't spend the rest of the afternoon together, since Daryl had to go back to work. Nevertheless, you had a great day; took the boys out for some riding lessons with Ezekiel and prepared some dinner together with your husband's mini-me. That's what Teddy was - and it hadn't changed over the years. The boy was still his father's spitting image. Even the tattered, ripped jeans hadn't changed. He only had grown into them by now.

Now, you were sitting at the small dining table, together with Daryl and Teddy; eating dinner. Dog was laying on his little blanket; sleeping. Everyone was eating in silence - until Teddy came up with a conversation both, you and Daryl didn't see coming. Like, not at all…

"Mom, dad?" "Yes, sweetie?" You asked, while Daryl only grunted in response; needing to chew first. "We, uh, talked about our families today in class and... Almost every other girl or boy told us about their siblings and how much fun they have with them. I-I know I've got Dog and Judith and RJ and even Coco, but... Can I, uh, can I have my own little baby brother - or sister?" Daryl almost choked on his foot, hearing this, while you blinked rapidly at your ten-year-old. "I-I promise I'll look after him or her a-and protect them and play with them!" "Teddy... Sweetie..." You started; having to swallow hard and take a deep breath. "This, uh, this isn't an easy decision and not just to be made within a few minutes. Especially not in this dangerous world. I- We, your dad and I will have to think and talk about this first, okay?" Teddy looked at you with his soft, blue, greyish eyes - and nodded. "Okay." "Can you understand that?" "Uh.Huh, yeah." The conversation had turned someway, somehow slightly awkward, so you left it at that. Daryl had said absolutely nothing; didn't even make a peep.

Later on, once Teddy was in bed; sleeping safe and soundly with Dog in his arms, you approached your husband, who stood at one of the windows; having a smoke. Wrapping your arms around his now black sweater clad torso, you pressed your cheek against his right upper arm. "What do you say?" "What do I say to what?" You decided to not beat about the bush. "Having a baby again." Daryl took a drag of his cigarette, before puffing out a small cloud of smoke. "I dunno if this is a good idea, honestly." "Why? I mean, we're safe here now. Soon in Alexandria hopefully as well. If not now, then when?" Daryl merely shook his head and you could swear that he was chewing on his bottom lip. "'S not that, sunshine... Even though I don't trust this place. I trust in Alexandria." "What is it then?" You asked; rubbing his sides affectionately. He paused; didn't answer you straight away - almost hesitating.

"'M not gettin' younger, ya know..." You frowned and adjusted your position, in order to look at him. You were hugging him now more or less sideways. "What does that mean now, cutie pie?" "What I said." You were still confused by his words. You clearly didn't understand - and Daryl noticed. "Y/N, 'm in my mid almost late forties now..." "So? I'm sorry, my love, but I don't really see the problem? You don't have to worry about a biological clock, unlike I... And as we speak, the time is running out so slowly." Daryl took a last drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out. Then he turned to face you; biting his lip again. He was clearly troubled by that topic. You could see it in his eyes. "You think 'm not too, uh, old for that?" You shook your head, smiling. "No, absolutely not." The corners of his lips lifted slightly into a crocked smile. "So..." He started; turning to face you wholly. "You really want that? With me?" You cupped both his cheeks with your palms; nodding. "More than anything. I thought about it for quite a while, honestly."

Daryl blinked; was quite a bit surprised. "Wha'? Really?" "Mhm. You're such a good father for Teddy, so why not make you a daddy again?" The arched blushed at your words; and he couldn't help himself but to smile even brighter. "Ya think we can handle a newborn and a soon-to-be teenager?" You giggled; now running your hands down his chest. "I thought we can handle everything, Mr. Dixon? After all, we handled the end of the world. I think there's nothing that can better that." "Well... I guess yer right." You giggled once more. "I'm mostly right, cutie pie."

[stealingyourspins]

So if the first Spinjitzu master was the child of a dragon and oni, would it be so far-fetched for the other masters to be dragon children too? Especially with how wonky they are with the timeline.. Like the parents that fought with Wu are probably at least in their 30’s-50’s when the ninjas are born?? Idk I just like to think they’re long lived too.

Or, in which Kai’s self esteem/abandonment issues act up, leaving him feeling unneeded. So dragon puberty combined with getting sick with some fire elemental specific flu decides to throw him into a loop and force himself to be the one cared for, for once in his life. 

-

Kai hasn’t been in a good mindset lately. His siblings don’t seem to need him anymore. Lloyd is (mostly) all grown up and Nya is now a warrior in her own right. He doesn’t have to work in the forge or scrape for odd jobs just to put food on the table. They have a better home than he ever could have dreamed of. They have an allowance. They have a parent guardian that does all the things he shouldn’t have had to do in the first place.

It’s just, the others all have such useful talents. Zane can cook, strategize, and do incredible robot things. Cole had super strength, climbed cliffs like a spider, and was a natural with animals. Jay and Nya could build just about anything they can think of, and Nya always said that his own smith work was shoddy at best. Lloyd was the actual chosen one.

What was he good at other than burning things down?

Kai thought he was past this, past the need to snap out at others and do things alone. He was the last to join the original team. The other three were probably training together for years before he was brought in just because Nya was kidnapped. His entire induction was a trial by fire. It’s just far too easy to fall back into old habits sometimes…

His village was rustic and poor, so far in the outskirts that they didn’t have electric power or indoor plumbing. Nya learned to read before he did,(he still had trouble with it) insisting on her staying in school while he spent all day scrounging up any money he could. Whether from quick jobs or quick fingers. Food was hard to get as a six year old, let alone learning to use the forge with what little he could remember dad teaching him. He had street smarts and improvisation ingrained into him. Thinking on his feet and jumping into action so they could survive another day.

His mood was making him slip, he knew it was but he couldn’t stop it. Sparring against Jay always got him riled up, with all the verbal jabs at his sore spots that normally he could brush off and banter right back. Today he was just angry. Not just his temper but his body feels weird too. Restless, frustrated, sluggish, sore. His skin felt too tight and his muscles ached. His gut and lungs were clogged with soot. His head swims in fog.

Another miss had him slamming into a pillar. Everyone on the side chuckled and it made his chest burn hotter. Kai’s throat rumbled with a growl, a breath of flames licked over his teeth as he abandoned his weapons, loped forward on all fours and pounced, knocking the stunned blue ninja to the ground where they grappled and flipped and rolled through the dust.

Kai’s head lunges forward, teeth snapping together just a second too late to catch an arm. An electric kick to his stomach sends him flying back. Rolling tail over head once, then digging fingers and toes into the dirt till he slides to a stop. Crouched low to the ground, hissing and tensed to pounce again before something black and heavy jumped on his back, wrenching his arms behind him and pinning him in an unbreakable grip.

Kai kicked and screamed and flared his flames against stone skin until falling limp under Cole, exhausted and out of breath. A tickle in his throat turns into a cough, a wad of ash and spit splat on the tiles. 

Cole sighs in relief slowly easing off the other in case he starts up again. Instead Kai keens, tiredly chasing the lost touch. Cole smirks, his fingers petting through the wild hair until the hot head drifts to sleep.

–

“Somebody please tell me WHAT THE HELL THAT WAS ABOUT?!!!” Jay shrieks after watching Kai throw a hissy fit underneath Cole, who was already taking the fire ninja to his room.

“Kai has seemed unusually stressed as of late. Perhaps he is feeling unwell?” Zane says

“Stressed? STRESSED? He tried to BITE me! He went full primal and chased me around like an animal! He grew a tail for Wu’s sake!!”

-

(later after someone goes to check on him, finds his bed buried under a mountain of blankets and clothes stolen from everyone, and runs to Wu)

Wu- “It appears young Kai is experiencing a nesting phase.”

“Nesting?”

Zane- “Nesting. The act of birds or dragons preparing to lay eggs and raise young.”

“He’s pregnant?!”

Wu  “Not necessarily. It is more likely that Kai feels like making one to make himself feel better during his illness.” Wu strokes his beard. “However, if he, or even any of you, decides on a partner in the future it might be possible.”

“He can GET pregnant?? But he’s a guy!”

Wu “Dragons are the very source of creation. Something as small as gender wouldn’t stop a determined dragon.”

“HOW does that work?! Why would he WANT to get pregnant?!!”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older. Maybe a few decades from now.”

-

Is Wu kidding? who knows~ :3 Also would a fever for a fire elemental rise enough to bake the air, and ignite the nest? or douse them into dangerous cold? Having trouble deciding.

[novembermorgon]

veeerry intrigued as to what viserra and maelor mean for the dance... viserra gets a dragon? their kid gets their own faction? KING MAELOR? many possibilities

this is how i can tie all my ocs together into one alternate timeline with a little ribbon on top .

this one is tough... i'm so bad with timelines and making things slot together neatly. BUUUUUT.......... i think it'd be interesting if absolutely nothing else because there's at least one extra dragon in there with maelor's ebrion hanging around . i don't think viserra claims a dragon partially because there aren't really many around to claim but i think at least one or two of their kids get little eggs in the cradle so that's another two dragons in there .

realistically there isn't really any chance for their kids to make a claim on the throne by the time of the great council in 101 - with both viserys and daemon alive alongside rhaenys they're pretty far behind, but i imagine they'd ally themselves pretty closely with viserys especially because he's like a block of clay . easy to squish around and shape into whatever you want . maybe theyd even try to snake a marriage in there somewhere. i imagine in a situation where there are cousins present it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that daemon marries one of their children (assuming they'd have at least one girl .. i didnt think about it that hard . im sensing.... an even split with 2 girls and 2 boys with one of the boys not surviving into adulthood). would probably not be as hostile as his marriage to rhea but him marrying someone else and not being opposed to it makes the whole timeline here soooo different that it's hard to even really imagine .

if we're assuming everything is relatively the same until the start of the dance though .... at that point maelor and viserra's kids would be around rhaenys, daemon & viserys age - a little bit younger than them but like firmly adults starting to getting older. being that they were raised by parents who are definitely kind of inclined to scheme a little when given the chance & to some degree end up feeling sidelined just by being a little further down in the succession (especially when viserys decides to name rhaenyra heir over, in their eyes, more capable candidates) i think theyd be inclined to side with the greens . at least THEIR heir is a MAN which dad always said was VERY IMPORTANT . i guess they just sort of fit in better there . everyone some degree of bitter with a hate for fun.

i'm suuuper bad again at timeline crafting & pondering stuff like battles & wartime happenings but with an extra set of dragons (assuming idk one of their kids cradle eggs hatches and one of them claims maelor's dragon) i think itd be a much more even and later a much more one sided war . the greens probably hold king's landing for longer, but then shit kind of stirs up because yeah i think later on they'd be inclined to split off and make another side of the war here. clearly neither aegon or rhaenyra seem very suited to rule because the war has been a whole shitshow so why not crown someone older and more experienced . it's the pitfall of everyone in this damn family thinking 'after all why shouldn't i get to be king too'.

it gets messy i fear . theyd probably be relatively passive in terms of their involvement but after aemond and daemon die i can see them sort of trying to wrangle king's landing from either of the other factions and they manage to hold that power for a little while but the issue is they have no idea HOW to rule they just like the idea of it. and given they're sort of in an awkward spot in the succession they don't have anywhere to go like rhaenyra does with dragonstone - they're ultimately trapped in king's landing and when people start getting upset because they can't rule for shit they don't know what to do . maybe ends with a french revolution esque storming of the red keep that ends with them all just murdered . after which their dragons are left without riders and sort of fly off to wherever dragons go . manage to dodge the storming of the dragonpit because they were busy plotting when it happened

ultimately i dont think they'd live past the dance era and i dont think their line goes anywhere. sort of doomed from the start. viserra seeks help and safety with her brother so she doesn't need to marry against her will and ends up trapped in the same situation anyways. maelor is overconfident and believes himself better than he is and dies pitifully and gracelessly in the woods . their children live long enough to rise and fall but they leave behind no legacy and nobody to remember them . truly the jaehaerys alysanne kid effect

funny though imagine saera and her kids watching from lys . having a little giggle.

[pnchinbeez]

Guys I been feeling ideas recently

And one happens to involve jedtavius

So basically ig for if the ever make a show (the show idea has been popping up on my timeliness alot) I need an episode where a different museum goes on tour and end up at the natm museum (I forgot the name soyeah) I believe it would be funny if they had most of the same human exhibits but a little different like

Wax figurines jed, octy, and the Mayan leader guy ig idk

Instead of teddy you have like jfk (he was consider one of the nicest u.s. presidents)

Marco polo as an famous explorer

King tut or cleo would be a cool one for their pharaoh, I lean towards tut because I feel like a snarky and sarcastic 12-13 yr old would be amazing

Maybe we could get calamity Jane? Idk shes cool (she's the most famous frontier women ever basically, put her name in Google and no joke what shows up is probably what happened, also fun fact I was named after her!!)

Also because we have lancelot in the one movie I feel like we would need one of these three arthur, merlin, or Guinevere, maybe bother merlin in arthur idk that idea needs to be thought of more on my side

Instead of dexter we could have miss baker the squirrel monkey (the first monkey to survive coming back from space) but I think have laika the dog the first animal to go to space,one because I live her and it's so sad what happened to her (search up Brenning Davis's "Fist Dog In Space" IT will make you cry) but also I just think it's such a cute idea in general

Miniatures could be Qin Shi Huang the self declared first emperor of China and the guy that made the terracotta army to protect his tomb in the after life and maybe Victorian Era people

I would also like a plague doctor played by Adam Sandler (WE HAVE OWEN FUCKING WILSON AND HUGH JACKMAN, NOW GIVE ME ADAM OR ONE OF THE RYANS) but beggars can't be choosers

Maybe some Greek pottery and the pictures on them come to life like the paintings in the movies

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

Instead of a t-rex or dinosaurs like that there could be a prehistoric ocean exhibit like whale bones and fish that swim (was that already in a movie?? I feel like it was , idk)

I feel like cool extinct animals should be on display are

barnary lion: the biggest baddest lion ever its the ones the Romans would fight in the colosseum and are also bigger than normal lions they look bad ass

PASSENGER PIDEON: these guys don't get enough recognition they where the funniest things ever and also one of the best messaging pigeons, then we hunted them to extinction, so yeah

Carolina parakeet: this bird went extinct fairly recently, in the late 1980's actually, they where one of the smartest non domesticated parakeet species out there and they are super cute ( another fun fact when my dad went fishing as a 20 something yr old with his dad in the 90's he swears he say a flock of them in an old tree by the lake they were in , around the Georgia border to North Carolina, pretty cool honestly)

Also the night guard for this group should be played by Jack black, channing Tatum,or ben schwartz

Nicky should be either walker scobell or a (and hear me out ) Tommyinnit with gyed brown hair

Weirdly they both kinda are like nicky I lean towards tom because in the animated movie nicky is very skinny and walker randomly got a bit buffer as of now soooo idk

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

So basically this story would follow the timeline of the museum got super popular so they go on tour to another one and meet this group but as both the night guards figure out nicky and the other night guard try to warn each other that their exhibits come to life (nicky ahkmenrahs tablet but the other night guards is a curse on the sarcophagus of which ever Pharoah they have) and then all the exhibits meet and stuff and I think that both big jed and octy and little jed and octy to be dating their respective partner,, it would make for a funny scene

Also big jed and big octavius should basically parent king tut if that's the Pharoah because the real jed grew up with about 10 brothers and sister and had one son of his own supposedly. But octavius was recorded to have a daughter Julia the elder (a very fascinating women) that he exiled and was recorded feeling guilty about it and probably died feeling guilty about it also I think they would make a good parenting duo

Jfk and teddy interaction are strictly mandatory

Marco polo and wea

The miniatures from our museum and the miniatures from the other need interactions NOW

lots of jedtavius please and thank you

King tut and ahkmenrah interactions????

I feel like their relationship would be cool uncle and nephew type

The extinct animals go on a rampage at some point (we need cowboy jed and herder teddy )

Miniature escapades and shenanigans as always

And that's it

Maybe I'll finally write a fanfic for this series but idk

[walkingintheheartbreaksatellite]

Through the Dark (1)

(Harry Styles x Miller!Fem!reader)

(The Last Of Us AU)

(If you haven't seen the show or played the game, it's fine. But I definitely recommend it. This follows the timeline of the show.)

Joel Miller knew one thing. To survive. Protect his little girl. Keep her close, keep her safe and keep himself going. With Ellie in tow, the three of them in pursuit of the Fireflies, they meet a man. And whether Joel liked it or not, that man would change everything.

Character intro

Chapter warnings: Blood, suicide(brief),strong language .

Bill and Frank's-Lincoln, Massachusetts. 2023

With a slam of the hood of the truck, dad wipes his hands with a nearby rag. He sighs as he rests up against the truck, his eyes sullen as he avoids my line of sight.

I can't blame him. I'm the same way. The pain from losing Tess is still fresh, but now Bill and Frank? I know he just wants to get rid of Ellie quick and find Uncle Tommy, and it's killing him that he hasn't heard from him.

"Truck's ready to go. Grab what ya can, baby girl. We.. We won't be comin' back."

I open my mouth to respond when Ellie walks into the garage, hair wet with a smile on her face.

"There's hot water. You guys should shower, 'cause you smell baaad. Like you could wake the dead-."

Dad growls and glares at her before he stomps off towards the house. Ellie frowns, her face practically screaming an apology.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't-."

I force a small smile and shake my head as I throw a bag in the cab of the truck.

"Don't mind him. He's always like that. You're fine, Ellie."

She nods as she walks over to the gun wall, tracing her hand over a small pistol.

"Don't you even think about it!"

Ellie and I turn our attention to my dad, his hair wet and wreaking of Old Spice as he glares at the young girl. She mumbles something under her breath before walking over to the truck and leans against it. I sigh and head inside the house to take a shower myself.

I keep close to the guest room, not daring to go anywhere near the master. I try to take a bit of extra time to enjoy the peaceful silence as I'm done washing myself, but my peace is interrupted by a pounding on the bathroom door.

"Y/N! Hurry up! Joel is being an asshole and I can't handle him much longer on my own!"

Ellie bangs on the door again and I let out a heavy sigh.

"Give me a minute, will ya Ellie?"

She mumbles through the door and I turn off the shower and push open the curtain, reaching for the clean towel I had found. I quickly dry off and change into some clothes I had found.

I slip on my boots and run my fingers through my wet hair before throwing it back up in it's usual ponytail. I let out one more sigh before opening the door to see Ellie, opposite the doorway as she leans against the wall.

She looks up and gives me a small huff. She tosses me a stick of deodorant and I nod on thanks, applying it as we walk back to the truck. I hop in the front passenger side with Ellie in the back and dad in the drivers seat.

We drive on and on, only stopping to refuel and stopping once to sleep, since dad insisted that I couldn’t drive. We drive until we can’t, and with no way around the dozens of cars blocking the way, dad parks the truck and gets out. I start to get out but he snaps and glares at me.

“Stay in the truck. Both of you.”

I scoff and start to get out anyways when he comes over to my side and shuts my door.

“I’m not gonna tell ya again, Y/N. Stay. I mean it.”

I groan and fall into my seat as he goes looking around. He comes back a few minutes later, getting back in and starting the truck. He turns us around and I start looking at the map, trying to find another way.

After about 30 minutes of driving, dad gets pissed of and begins to snap.

“Y/N, I swear. You’re fuckin’ 29, you should be able to read a map!”

“I am reading it but it’s smudged! Not my fault! It’s hard to see clearly!”

“That’s some lame bull-.”

“Holy shit guys! Is that the QZ?”

Dad slams on the brakes and we turn our attention to where Ellie is pointing.

“Where the fuck is FEDRA?”

Before either of us can respond, we hear a shouting from outside the car.

Holy shit there’s a guy! Joel stop! We have to help him-.”

I force myself to look away, knowing full well we won’t be stopping to help him.

Don’t trust anyone but family. That’s what he always says..

Dad drives off, a little faster, ignoring Ellie as she complains.

“Seriously! He was hurt! You can’t just-.”

She is cut off by something falling into the windshield, smashing the glass. Dad lets out a string of curses and with no clear sight, we crash into a building.

“You two okay? Not hurt or nothin’?”

“ ‘M fine, dad.”

“I think I’m okay..”

He starts to say something but is interrupted by the sound of gun shots hitting the truck. We duck down and unbuckle, getting out the passenger door as the gun shots continue to pour through.

Dad grabs his gun and ducks, waiting to fire back, when he’s tackled by a man. The man starts to choke him and with every fiber in me, I try not to freak out as I grab my gun. I attempt to pull the trigger but my gun jams, sending me into a full on panic attack.

Before I can tackle the guy, I hear another gun click and I see Ellie is the one holding it. She hesitates only for a minute before she shoots him in the leg and he groans in pain. He gets off of dad, crying as Ellie continues to hold the gun to him.

I rush over to dad, coughing to catch his breath, but he only pushes me away. The guy continues to cry, spitting out apologies and saying that he doesn’t want to die.

Dad gets up and takes the gun from Ellie before turning back to the idiot who attacked him. He then turns to look at us again and with a stern clear voice, he mutters instructions.

“Back behind the wall. Both of you. Now.”

Knowing it’s better not to argue, I grab Ellie’s hand and drag her through the hole in the wall before pulling her off to the side. She lets out a long, trembling sigh as we wait for what’s coming.

“No.. No please no..!”

She squeezes my hand, though her eyes remain trained on the wall in front of us. It’s quiet for another moment for dad speaks up through the hole in the wall.

“Y/N, I gotta get in there, I can’t get through.”

I look around and Ellie pipes up.

“There’s some stuff against the door.”

“Well, hurry up and move it.”

Working together, we pull the desk back as dad continues to slam the door, before he hurries in and pushes the desk back against the door. He looks at me for a minute, worry in his eyes, but I shake my head. He then nods at Ellie and she shrugs, slinging her backpack.

“I’m okay. I’m good. I- uh.. got some food in here still and I got your light.”

He takes the flashlight from her and we head through a door, carefully treading outside, quietly making our way across the alleyway and into another building.

We quietly make our way through and settle by a window that’s covered in newspapers.

“Dad-.”

He shakes his head at me and I sigh. It’s quiet for a minute before Ellie quietly speaks up.

“Will we be okay in here?”

“For a Little bit maybe. Looks like they’re lookin’ through apartment buildin’s first. But they’ll be comin’ through these places soon enough.”

Ellie stands up and starts looking through the window, and that’s when I start to zone out. I can hear their voices, but not enough to comprehend what they’re saying clearly.

I feel dad take a seat next to me and he lets out a sigh. I continue to zone out until I hear Ellie call my name.

“Y/N.. Y/N!”

I look up and she looks worried. Dad lightly shoves me and I turn my head to him.

“Y’ okay, babygirl?”

I quietly nod, letting out a sigh as I plop my head against the wall. They continue to talk quietly, my eyes drooping before I suddenly lose consciousness.

The next thing I know, I’m being kicked, rather hard as I begin to come to.

“N-Y/N! Wake up! Come one! We’re leaving!”

Ellie pulls on my arm and I sigh as I get up and grab my bag, slinging it on my shoulder. I wait at the door by dad and he looks at the both of us, his face filled with worry.

“We’re gonna get through this, ‘kay?”

Ellie and I nod and he gives us one more look before opening the door slowly, with Ellie and I following him outside. We move quietly through the streets, somehow not running into any more problems by dark. We find an abandoned building and dad hoists Ellie up to one of the vents outside so she can get it.

“Okay, I’m in.”

“Take a look around first..Ellie? Goddamn it..”

Dad grumbles and before he can say anything, the door opens.

“Where would you be without me, huh?”

Dad groans and I laugh.

“By now, Wyoming.”

“Oh..yeah.Walking into that one.”

I let out another quiet laugh as I close the door behind me, following them inside. I pull out my flashlight, turning it on as I follow close.

“We’ll make our way up, and come morning, I’ll take a look at the city and find our way out.”

Dad pushes open the door to the stairwell, and as soon I see the number of flights of stairs, I let out a snort.

“Dad,there ain’t no fuckin’ way you’re makin’ 45 flights of stairs with your knees.”

I can see him glare at me briefly from the flashlight and Ellie and I chuckle.

“No, smart ass. Just like you’re uncle Tommy sometimes I swear. We’re not goin’ all the way.”

Ellie and I share a mischievous look.

“How far then, Joel?”

He’s quiet for a moment before he responds in a grumble.

“..As far as I can make it…”

We make it up about 15 flights before we start to pant from exhaustion.

“Hey.. That guy that said he was hurt.. how did you know it was an ambush?”

Dad hesitates before answering her.

“I’ve been on both sides..It was a long time ago. We did what we needed to survive..”

I frown, thinking back of some of the darkest days.

Seeing him like that.. I couldn’t look him in the eyes for a while back then.

He glances at me and I just shake my head.

“You two? And Tess?”

My dad shakes his head.

“Not Y/N. My brother was there.. And some other people that we were with.”

Ellie is quiet for another moment so I keep moving up the stairs, when her next question causes me to stop again.

“Did you kill innocent people?”

Dad looks at her before looking up at me. I avoid eye contact and start walking up again when I hear him mumble.

“c’mon.”

Ellie finally drops the topic and at about the 33rd floor, we enter the nearby door, all of us collapsing against the wall out of breath. Not even giving us much of a minute to catch our breath, Ellie kicks dad’s shoe and holds a hand out to him.

“Gimme a minute, will ya?”

Ellie shakes her head and kicks his boot again.

“Get up, you lazy ass.”

He growls under his breath before taking her hand, allowing her to help him up.He then walks over to me and pulls me up without breaking a sweat.

“Lazy ass.. I’m 56 years old, you little shit.”

Ellie and I share a small laugh as we follow behind him.We enter a vacant room and dad shatters the glass of the door, spreading it around the entrance of the room.

“What the hell..?”

She looks at me in confusion and I just shake my head.

“Don’t argue with him. Bill gave him a bunch of survival 101 tips and he uses them like he’s a fuckin’ Boy Scout. He’s spreadin’ the glass so no one sneaks up on us while we’re sleepin’.”

She nods and lays on one of the cushions she found. I toss one over to dad and he nods but raises a brow when he sees me sitting up still.

“I’m keepin’ watch Daddy, it’s fine.You need the sleep.”

He shakes his head and throws his jacket to me.

“Darlin’, you more than anyone needs some shut eye. Sleep. We’ll be fine. I’ll hear the glass. Promise.”

I sigh and lay down on the spare cushion, in between the two of them.

Dad’s back is to me and it’s quiet for a minute until Ellie breaks the silence.

“Joel?”

He hums as a response.

“Did you know that diarrhea is hereditary?”

Dad turns over a little to look at her.

“What?”

She nods with a straight face.

“Yeah.. It runs in your jeans.”

He looks at her all the way and she begins to snicker, while I have to hold in my laugh.He turns back over but I catch a faint smile on his face before I start to snicker.

“Jesus..”

He lets out a small snicker as Ellie begins to laugh.

“That is so goddamn stupid.”

“You laughed, motherfucker.”

I snort as they bicker.

“I did not-.”

“Yes you did!”

He snickers and shakes his head.

“Jesus, I’m losin’ it.”

I snort as I curl up with his jacket.

“Yeah, kinda known that for years, daddy. Glad you’re startin’ to notice though. Acceptance is the first step to recovery.”

Ellie and I snort as dad lets out a breathy laugh.

“Go to sleep. The both of you. Stop pickin’ on me.”

I smile and close my eyes, drifting off to sleep. The next thing I wake up to, I hear Ellie shouting.

“Y/N.. Y/N! Joel!”

My vision clears and I’m face to face with a gun pointed at my head. I advert my eyes and see a little boy pointing a gun at dad, and a different man pointing one at Ellie. The man by Ellie is stern and snaps at dad when he looks at the little boy.

“Eyes on me. You don’t have to worry about what to say. We don’t want to hurt you, we want to help you.”

I roll my eyes and bite back at him.

“Oh sure, because what you’re doing right now is all sunshine and rainbows.”

The man pointed the gun at me growls and pushes the tip of the gun straight against my forehead, before speaking in a think British accent.

“We’ll kill you if we have to, so shut up and listen.”

I look him in the eyes, ready to send him a glare when I see his face.

He’s terrified, and I can tell by the shaking of his hands that he doesn’t want to be doing this. I sigh and give in, lowering my hands before the other man begins to speak again.

“I don’t know what the next step is with something like this, but if I lower my gun, we didn’t hurt you, so you don’t hurt us, right?”

Dad turns to glare at me, silently telling me to keep my mouth shut before he turns back to respond.

“That’s right.”

The man grows panicked, his voice shaking.

“That’s a weird fuckin’ tone, man”

Before I can respond, Ellie pipes up and I have to fight to hold back my laughter.

“That’s just the way he sounds. He has an asshole voice. Joel, tell him he’s okay.”

All attention turns to dad as he, once again, responds in the same tone.

“Everything is great.”

“Dude!”

The man hesitates before letting out a sigh.

“Okay, I’m gonna trust him.”

The man holding a gun to my head begins to argue.

“Henry, we can’t just-.”

“We don’t have a fuckin’ choice, Harry! Now drop your gun before you shoot her in the head!”

The British man huffs but lowers his gun, freeing me from the uncertainty. The man by Ellie then starts to sign to the little boy. They begin to converse before the little boy nods.

“But if any of you try anything, we won’t hesitate! Yeah?”

Dad slowly gets up, gun still pointed at him.

“Who are you?”

The man stares at dad, his gun moving away from Ellie and now to dad.

“My name’s Henry. That’s Harry and my brother Sam. I’m the most wanted man in Kansas City. Although right now, my guess is you’re running a close second.”

All the guns are then dropped and put away. Henry pulls out a light and places it in the middle of the room, and we all gather around it, Ellie sticking close to my side. I pull out some of my cans from my bag and we all eat, though Ellie starts to nod off as she eats.

Henry looks at us, firing away with a question.

“Where’d you get these?”

Before dad or I can answer, Ellie sleepily pipes up.

“From Bill. He’s dead.”

Dad rolls his eyes and I sneer and snap at her.

“Ellie!”

She raises her hands up and I sigh. We stay quiet for the most part, but as I’ve learned, Ellie hates the silence and always feels the need to fill it with conversation.

“How old is he? Your brother?”

Henry looks at Sam, who signs to him before turning back to the curious teen.

“He’s eight.”

She nods and smiles.

“Cool! I’m Ellie.”

They continue to talk, Henry signing to Sam as Ellie speaks. The other man, Harry, sits quietly on the other side of Sam, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

“Psst. Y/N. Introduce yourself.”

I roll my eyes and turn my back to the group, leaning on dad as I close my eyes, until dad nudges me.

“Thought I taught you some manners, Y/N Miller.”

My mouth gapes from disbelief.

“Okay that’s it! A. We’re in an apocalypse right now, those don’t matter much and B. When the fuck have you ever used manners?! Sarah was the one that-.”

He only glares, angry at me for bringing up my sister. I swat at him and scoot away from him, my back still to the rest of the group.

“I’m Joel. This here is my daughter, Y/N.”

It’s quiet for a minute until Ellie pipes up.

“Psst. Dude. In the corner, Mr. antisocial. Are you gonna introduce yourself or-.”

I hear her whine and let out a small complaint, meaning dad must have done something to correct her.

“He doesn’t really-.”

“It’s fine, Henry. Fine, ‘m Harry.”

“Cool, okay. But why do you sound weird?”

I turn back around to enthralled in the current conversation to look away anymore.

Harry gives Ellie a small glare and I can’t help but chuckle.

“You’ll have to forgive her. We don’t come across many Brits and you’re probably the first one she’s met. He’s from a different country Ellie, he doesn’t sound weird, it’s just the way they sound there.”

His expression softens and he gives me a faint smile, and I can’t help but blush.

“Okay, well if you’re not from here, how’d you end up here?”

“Ellie-!”

Harry shakes his head, his expression turning sad.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. I was on a trip with my mum and my sister. Mum had a friend in California that was sick and she wanted to see her. Then the-.. Everything happened and we were separated. And that was 20 years ago…”

I frown and feel the need to grab dad’s hand. He squeezes mine and just gives me a nod.

We know what that’s like. Dad is real worried about Tommy, and I can’t even bring myself to think about where he might be…

“Look, you ate, we didn’t kill each other, let’s just call this a win-win and move on.”

Henry nods and clears his throat.

“You came up here to get a better view of this city, find a way out right? I can help you.”

Dad nods.

“We’ll get some rest. Wait ‘till the mornin’ to get a better look. But I swear if you-.”

I roll my eyes.

“Dad, shut up and get some sleep.”

He shakes his head and finds a comfortable spot, leaning back and closing his eyes. Everyone else falls asleep, leaving me and Harry the only ones awake. He crawls over to me and starts to whisper.

“Hey, it’s Y/N, right?”

I give him a small smile and nod.

“Yeah. Y/N Miller. Not that surnames matter much anymore.”

He gives me a small smile and nods.

“ ‘M Harry. Harry Styles.”

Before I can respond, I hear a snicker come from nearby. Ellie.

“Styles. That’s funny! What kind of name is that?!”

I turn my head, taking my sweater off before chucking it at her.

“Shut it, Ellie! Go to sleep!”

She snickers once more and I sigh before turning back around.

“Sorry about her. You know how kids are- But her especially.. She’s a special case..”

He shrugs and gives me a small yet comforting smile.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. She seems like a thrill to be around. Haven’t had much of that lately…”

I give him a small smile and hesitantly lay a hand on top of his, to which he gives me a bigger smile on return.

Before I can respond to him, I hear my dad’s deep, tired voice.

“If y’all don’t shut up and get some fuckin’ sleep, we’re gonna have some problems.”

We hold back a laugh and we get in our own sleeping positions.

“Sorry dad”

“Err, sorry.”

I give Harry one more smile before falling asleep, and for the first time in a very long time, I dreamed of a brighter future.

Daylight

Waking up bright and early per usual, we walk up a few more flights of stairs to get a better view of the city. Dad and Henry walk towards the large windows but instructs everyone else to sit at the large table in the room.

“Dad, c’mon-!”

He shakes his head and points to the table once more, responding with a stern voice.

“I ain’t arguin’ with you about this Y/N. Sit your ass down and stay there. And you too Brit boy. Don’t need to make it any more obvious that there’s people hidin’ in this buildin’. We clear?”

Harry and I roll our eyes but join Sam and Ellie at the table. And of course, Ellie has her book open.

“Hey, you guys ready for this one? I heard about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda. He is lucky it was a soft drink.”

I groan and Ellie bursts into laughter, as does Sam.

“Please god no. I can’t take it. I’m gonna burn that damn book of yours!”

She holds the book protectively to her chest and flips me off.

“I’ve told you, Y/N. You can never escape Will Livingston. You’ll have to face it.”

I sigh and Harry lets out a small laugh. I see my dad looking at us and nod to him.

“So how the hell are gettin’ outta here?”

They walk over to the table and Henry takes a piece of paper from Sam, and he begins to draw on it.

“The highways. Downtown. Us. This whole area belongs to Kathleen.”

He circles his fingers in certain areas on the paper and I narrow my eyes.

“And Kathleen is-?”

Harry pipes finally and has his arms folded as he speaks.

“She’s the leader of the resistance, and a hardcore bitch at that. She’s got guards posted everywhere, and she’s determined to make it impossible to escape.”

Ellie looks worried and let’s put a sigh.

“So how do we get across?”

Henry knocks on the table and Sam looks up at him. He signs to Sam before the little boy looks back down, writing on his pad before putting the pad up. Tunnels.

I furrow my brows.

“Kansas City has a subway?”

Henry shakes his head.

“No, but they do have maintenance tunnels. There’s a bunch of buildings all put up by the same developers. And they share these tunnels, including- a bank building here.”

He points to the paper again and I fold my arms in frustration. That is, until Harry speaks up, now pointing to the paper just as Henry was.

“So we enter the tunnels here, travel underground, and pop up here.”

Henry writes as Harry points on the paper and dad lets out a sigh.

“Okay, sounds like a good plan, but what do you need me for?”

Dad folds his arm and Harry speaks up again, dad glaring at him.

“What’s one thing that you’ve noticed is missing here?”

I think for a minute when it hits me.

“There’s no infected.”

Harry shakes his head.

“Yes and no. There are, just not on the surface. FEDRA drove ‘em out 15 years ago. Best thing those fascist motherfuckers did.”

Dad only growls.

“What, so you want us goin’ into a tunnel full of infected? Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?!”

Harry growls and before he can respond, Henry interrupts him.Everyone thinks that it’s full of infected, including Kathleen. Which means that we won’t be running into any of her people. But you see- What I know.. it’s empty.”

I raise my brows.

“And.. You know this how?!”

Henry hesitates before responding.

“No- but the FEDRA guy that I worked with told me that it’s clean, completely clean. They cleared it out. All of it.”

Ellie looks a bit hesitant as she finally pipes up.

“When..?”

Harry shrugs and hesitates before answering for Henry.

“About three years give or take?”

Dad and I scoff, shaking our heads as Henry begins to stammer.

“Okay- Maybe there’s one or two, but you handle it.”

I can’t hold it in anymore and I snap.

“And what if there’s more?”

Ellie grabs my arm, fear in her eyes and I feel her trembling.

“Or one of those blind ones that sees like a bat?”

Harry lays a hand on her shoulder to comfort the teen.

“There won’t be clickers down there, that’s for sure. But if you’ve run into them before and you’re still alive, that means that we’re all gonna be fine. So don’t worry so much.”

Dad sighs and shakes his head.

“So do we have a deal?”

Dad and I share a look and I let out a sigh before nodding. We grab our things and make our way down the stairs and out of the building. We tread through the alleyways before we reach another building. Harry makes sure the coast is clear before nodding, so we quickly head inside.

We jog through the building and reach the door to the access tunnels.

“This should be it. Are you guys ready?”

Dad looks at Henry before turning to Ellie.

“Get your gun out.”

She pulls the gun out of her jacket pocket and he rolls his eyes, obviously making note in his head to yell at her for it when we get out of the city.

The tunnels are drippy as we start to walk, and Henry joyfully pipes up.

“See? What did I tell you! It’s fine!”

I shush him and dad growls.

“We’ve been down here two seconds, keep your damn mouth shut. We ain’t seen shit yet.”

Henry sighs and looks at Ellie.

“Your dad’s kind of a pessimist.”

Ellie growls, as does dad.

“He’s not my dad-.”

“I’m not her dad.”

Henry holds his hands up in self defense and dad only sighs and shakes his head.

“Just point your damn light forward. And be ready to run(🤭).”

We continue to make our way down the tunnels, but in complete silence. That is until we reach what looks a mural. Dad slowly opens the door and we walk inside. Tables and chairs surround the room, as do more murals.

“I’ve heard about places like this. After outbreak day, people built settlements and went underground.”

“What happened to them?”

Dad shrugs and continues to ramble on as we look around. Ellie and Sam sit down at one of the tables and begin to laugh amongst themselves as they look at something Sam had pulled from his bag.

“Hey, you two. Keep it down, we’re not out yet.”

Ellie groans at dad and he huffs.

“Oh come on! Can’t we just rest here for a while? There’s like actually shit to do here.”

Henry shrugs and looks at dad.

“Wouldn’t be so bad to wait the light out a bit. Safer in shadows when we pop back out on the other side.”

It’s quiet for a minute before dad takes a seat in one of the empty chairs. Ellie and Sam decide to kick a ball around with the makeshift goal on the wall, leaving the rest of us to talk. After a while, we decide to keep going and eventually we reach the exit point.

As expected, it’s pitch black outside. As we walk through the streets, Ellie strikes up a conversation with Henry.

“So what’s next for you guys after this? We’re going to Wyoming!”

Dad turns his head to Ellie, glaring at her, but Harry lets out a small laugh and shakes his head.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll just call this a success and say our fond farewells.”

Ellie shakes her head as we continue to walk.

“No, he’ll change his mind. Trust me. This is how he goes. He’s like ‘No,Ellie. Never ever ever ever happening.’ And then I’m like ‘I’m gonna ask you a million more times and’-.”

She is quietly interrupted by the sound of gun fire.We quickly shoot down to the ground, rushing to the nearest car.

“Where the fuck is that coming fro-.”

“Shut up!”

Gunshots continue to fly through the air, and suddenly, Henry takes off with Sam in the other direction, surprising Harry.

“Henry, what the fuck are you doing?!”

“Getting Sam ou-Oh shit!”

They run back to the car and we’re all quiet for a minute. Dad looks over his should before turning back to us.

“All right. Stay here.”

“What?!”

“Dad!”

He shakes his head at Ellie and I, refusing to give in.

“If you don’t move, he’s not gonna hit you. I’m gonna go around, try to get in the house through the back, and then I’ll take him out.”

Ellie shakes here head, her body starting to shake in fear as she grips my hand.

“But if you go out there, he’s gonna kill you-.”

“It’s dark and he has shit aim, nobody’s gonna kill me.”

“Then he’s gonna kill us!”

Dad looks at her as she continues to shake.

“You trust me?”

She gives him a small nod and he pats her shoulder before he gets up. We share a look and I know he can see the worry in my eyes. He trails around the car and slowly begins to tread as bullets fly through the air again.

It’s quiet for a couple minutes before we hear one more gunshot, and Ellie starts to freak out a little. I pull her in close, burying her head in my neck to keep her quiet.

“I gotcha. Promise. Nothin’s gonna happen. He’s gonna be fine.”

It’s faint but I hear someone that sounds like dad yell, but it becomes clearer.

“Run!”

Lights head our direction and take off fast, running from the oncoming vehicles, bullets flying through the air. One of the drivers is shot and the truck crashes into a building, catching everything on fire. Harry grabs Ellie as we run towards a stray car to take cover.

It’s quiet, minus the sound of guns clicking, when a feminine voice pops up from the other side of the cars.

“Dead end, Henry. Gonna step on out? Save us some time?…No? That’s alright.. Doesn’t matter.”

Henry looks at Sam before hesitantly shouting to the woman, who I assume to be Kathleen.

“I’ll come out! Just let the kids go!”

“No. Sorry.. The girl is with the man who killed Bryan, And Sam..Well-Sam’s with you.”

Henry gets frustrated and Harry and I share a look, trying to plot an escape as Henry buys us some time.

“You don’t understand!”

“But I do. I know why you did what you did. But did you ever stop to think maybe he was supposed to die?”

“He’s just a fucking kid, Kathleen!”

She’s quiet for a minute before she responds again.

“Well, kids die Henry. They die all the time. You think the whole world revolves around him? That he’s worth.. everything?..Well this is what happens when you fuck with fate.”

Henry turns to Harry and I, a stern expression on his face.

“Get ready to take them and run.”

Harry shakes his head quickly, and he opens his mouth to argue, but Henry gives him another look.

“H. Please, don’t argue with me. Do it.”

Harry sighs and takes Sam’s hand while Ellie grabs mine.

“It’s time, Henry. Enough!”

Henry takes a couple deep breaths before he stands up, his hands up and his back now to us as he walks to Kathleen.

“It ends the way it ends.”

I hear a gun click but before it can be fired, the destruction from the fire begins to escalate as the truck starts to fall into what very well may be a sinkhole. It’s quiet for a minute but then the screeching sound of infected echos the area. They come running out in a stampede, so Harry and I quickly grab the kids and make a run for it, Henry running after us.

Ellie falls to the ground and begins to army crawl to a nearby car. Henry and Sam are surrounded by clickers, shouting as I hear Sam cry. Ellie looks at Harry and I and before I can pull her back, she starts to run towards them, clickers getting shot down left and right as she runs.

I sigh and Harry and I make a run after her, quickly catching up. I quickly stab the surrounding clickers before we pull Sam and Henry out from under the car before we all make a run for it. We continue to run before we’re stopped by Kathleen, who points a gun at us.

“Stop!”

Before she can say anything else, she’s tackled by a clicker and she is quickly ripped to shreds and she screams.

“Don’t look, let’s go, c’mon.”

We starting running again and we meet up with dad, running to an abandoned warehouse.

We eat what we have, and dad tries to catch his breath. Ellie and Sam sit on a bed, looking at the book from Sam’s bag. Harry gazes over at his brother in worry.

“You think they’ll be okay?”

I give him a small nod as I look at the kids.

“It’s easier when you’re a kid anyway.”

I frown at dad and he’s quiet for a minute before he looks towards the rest of us.

“You don’t have anybody else relying on you. That’s the hard part..”

We’re all quiet for a minute before Harry responds, giving me a small smile.

“Well, I guess that means we’re doing a good job, then.”

Dads quiet and looks at the kids, nodding to them.

“What’s that comic book say, ‘Endure and survive’?

Henry only nods.

“Shits pretty redundant..”

Dad let’s out a small laugh and I chuckle.

“Yeah.. It’s not great..”

It’s quiet for a minute until dad speaks up, and he surprises me.

“Look. I don’t know how I’m gettin’ to Wyoming-I’m probably walkin’.. But..you know if ya’ll want to.”

Harry and Henry nod, and Harry subtly laces his fingers through mine.

“Yeah. I think it’d be nice for Sam to have a friend. And Harry seems pretty taken with Y/N..”

Dad furrows his brows and his eyes land on our conjoined hand.

“You get your-“

“Daddy, stop. I ain’t havin’ this conversation with you. Deal with it and shut the fuck up.”

He growls and looks away, and Harry just squeezes my hand.

“I’ll tell him in the morning. New day, new start.”

Dad nods. We send the kids off to bed and head there ourselves. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a light.

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

I’m woken up by a blinding light and what feels like someone nudging my leg. I open my eyes, allowing myself to adjust to the light for a moment before looking at my attacker.

“You know.. as your daughter, I feel like you could’ve woken me up a lot nicer.”

Dad shakes his head with a chuckles and walks away. Harry walks over to me and holds a hand out to me with a smile. I take it with a small thank you, and it only takes me a second to gain my footing. I open my mouth to say something but before I can, I hear a scream. Ellie.

We all rush into the room to see Sam attacking Ellie, and by the looks of it, he was infected. Before Dad or I can try to help her, Henry shoots at the ground, preventing us from helping. Harry looks at him in shock.

“Henry! Stop! You can’t-!”

Ellie continues to scream and finally, Henry shoots Sam, who falls off of Ellie and onto the floor. Sam remains unmoving, blood pouring out onto the hardwood floors. Dad looks at Ellie, his eyes full of worry as he starts to approach her.

“Ellie, you okay?”

Before she can respond, Henry points his gun right at dad.

“Henry-.”

Dad tries to calm him down but nothing he says is getting through to him.

“What.. W-What did I do?..Sam…”

Dad walks closer to him, trying to take the gun from him.

“Henry, give me the gun-.”

Henry shakes his head, and shaking my raises the gun to his head. Harry’s eyes widen and he begins to shout.

“Henry- no!”

BANG

Ellie lets out a scream as Henry falls to the ground, and Harry falls to his knees as tears begin to fall down his cheeks. I quietly move over to Ellie, laying on hand on her shoulder.

“I need you to stay with Harry, ‘kay? Dad and I will take care of them..”

“But-.”

I give her a sad look and she nods. She crawls over to where Harry is on the floor and hesitantly hugs him. Dad and I exchange silent glances and we nod at one another before getting to work.

We bury them together, and I have to hold back the tears as I fill the hole. Ellie flattens it and leaves Sam’s writing board on top, a look of sadness on her face. I give Harry a hug and he lets out a shaky sigh.

Ellie stands up and looks at dad.

“Which way is west?”

Dad looks around before he nudges his head to the west.

Ellie looks at Harry and I hear him let out a sniffle.

“What’s next for you then?”

Before he can respond, I answer.

“With us. If he wants to..”

Dad scoffs and shakes his head.

“Y/N!”

“Daddy, stop! He’s comin’ with us if he wants and that’s all I’m gonna hear about it.”

I look at Harry and he gives me a small nod. Dad lets out a sigh and starts walking off, Ellie quickly following him. I look at Harry again and he just shakes his head, walking close to my side as we jog to catch up with dad and Ellie.

“Are you.. gonna be okay?”

He looks up for a minute before he looks back at me.

“Will you stay close to me..?”

I nod, giving him a small smile as I hesitantly hold a hand out to him.

He takes my hand and squeezes it, pulling me to his side.

“Then yeah. ‘M gonna be alright.”

END OF PART 1.

Please let me know what you guys thought of this! I poured my blood, sweat and tears into this so I hope you enjoy! If you enjoyed, please feel free to check out my masterlist!

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[satancopilotsmytardis]

Birthday Angst

Pairing: Shigadabi

Rating: T

Contents: Angst, Angst with a happy ending, suicidal thoughts and tendencies, getting together

At least he's not homeless this year. 

That's the first thought that he has when Dabi slips from his bed and heads towards the bathroom to get ready for the day. At least he's not spending his birthday freezing on the streets again. No, this year he'll spend it in shitty meetings, and then training some shitty recruits, and then finally getting to lock himself back in this room and avoid the others for the rest of the night. 

He's pretty sure he used to like his birthday. When he was little and his mom made a cake and his dad always took off so he could be home to play with him and unwrap presents. And then he went wrong and those things slipped away. Mom still made cake, always did for all of their birthdays, but it would be a quiet, dower affair as she got more and more worn down from her treatment in the house. And Enji was never home for any of them. Not until Shoto. 

And then there had, of course, been the coma. He missed a few birthdays. Pretty sure he missed two when he'd woken up afterwards too. The first couple of years on his own were so survival- focused that he didn't think much about the date unless he had to. This is probably the best birthday he's had in years if only for the fact that he knows where he's sleeping tonight and that he'll be able to eat today. Hell, this may be his last birthday if Shigaraki's timeline comes to fruition. He pauses as he brushes his teeth, that thought rolling through his mind and leaving something... strange behind. He's never been sad about his inevitable end, but there's a weight to the thought that comes now that he's never felt before. He finishes up, rinsing his mouth like he can send that unpleasant heaviness down the drain with the minty foam. 

Whatever. It's just a day, and just like him, it doesn't matter anyway. 

///

The first round of meetings goes fine. He's kind of already in a shit mood, and apparently everyone else is too. Not that he can blame them, it's fucking freezing, and apparently they're gonna get hit with a hell of a snowstorm starting later tonight that's likely to shut down their operation for a day or so. Geten, the freak, is blowing off training the new recruits with him to go deeper into the range and get some of his own training in, which clears up Dabi's afternoon. Compress and Spinner can't do anything with their work while communication and supply routes are down, Ujiko is apparently trapped at the actual hospital so Duster's treatments are on hold, and Toga and Twice are more than happy for any excuse to call it a snow day and find something more fun to entertain themselves. But that means that he's left with nothing to do for the rest of the day to occupy his time. 

He waits until the others have mostly filed out of the meeting room before he pauses Shigaraki, "Hey, boss?" 

Shig stops, giving a curt glance at Re-Destro and getting him to scurry out of the room before he turns to address him. "What is it, Dabi?" 

He worries at a staple for a second before sucking it up, "Don't suppose you have any side projects I could work on while things are slowed down?" 

Duster raises a brow at him. "Not off the top of my head, why?" 

"Just looking for something to do." 

He doesn't love the scrutinizing look that he gets from the other man at that. "You do more than enough around here, Dabi. I would rather you take the day off, to be entirely honest." 

Which, that is kind of weirdly nice of him. He's been weirdly nice to all of them since Kamino, and Dabi really, really thought that was just because he didn't want them all to scatter to the wind without AFO's backing. But he's come to the unhappy conclusion that being around AFO just made Shigaraki worse. He was so volatile and childish when he was under his thumb, but the second he was out from it, he'd immediately grown the fuck up. Started acting like a leader. Become someone worth following. Someone... he may feel a little bit guilty about abandoning halfway through this fight, so he tries to ignore that. Keep him and the others at arm's length as they all seem to get closer and closer. 

"...Fine." He grabs his laptop. He'll find something else to do today if Duster's not gonna be any help there. He's rounding the table, ready to head out when Shig catches his sleeve and pulls him to a stop. 

"...Is something wrong?" 

He bristles slightly. "Why?" He almost misses Duster wearing the gross hands everywhere, but especially over his face. Because he feels like a pinned insect with those red eyes boring into him. 

"You seem more agitated than normal." 

"Nothing's wrong, it's just shaping up to be a boring as shit day." 

"Why don't you go do something you like? It's not like we've had a day off since summer." 

Really hates that those eyes see how that kind of makes his brain stop working because, fuck, does he even have anything he likes to do? Training? Working? Surviving? That's all he's done for almost a decade. He's pretty fucking sure he hasn't cultivated any interests outside of that. 

"...Dabi, what's actually going on?" Hates himself more because a few weeks ago he probably would have just told him to fuck off, maybe with a shower of sparks for good measure. But instead, today, because he's stupid and childish himself, he feels his throat going a little tighter and can't quite meet his eyes. 

"...It's my birthday." There's a slight pause and Dabi pulls his arm free of the loose grip Shigaraki had him in. "Whatever. It doesn't matter, I just would rather be busy." He turns and heads towards the door. "I'll find something else to do." He gives a forcefully lazy wave over his shoulder and keeps moving. 

It doesn't matter. He shouldn't have said anything. It's just another day. Last birthday or not. 

///

Dabi, unfortunately, doesn't find anything to do. Hawks is MIA because of the incoming storm. Skeptic, like the other non-League lieutenants, doesn't live on site, and left with the others before the weather got too bad, so he can't bother him about hacking into Endeavor's servers again to see what his dad and brother are up to during his internship. The rest of the League seems to be settling into the common area for games, food, and movies for the rest of the day. Toga comes and invites him to join in with a big smile and bright eyes. 

"Come on, we're all gonna wear our pajamas and have like a sleepover! I'll paint your nails black." 

He ignores how her expression falls when he tells her, "Not interested," and shuts his door on her before she can try again. He's not even sure if he wants to be alone today, but he also knows he doesn't want to pretend to be personable either. The others will have their fun without him and hopefully Duster will keep his mouth shut about what he said earlier. 

So Dabi smokes his last joint, gets food brought up to his room for lunch, and then promptly burrows back into his blankets to shut out the rest of the world for a little while. 

///

He wakes a few hours later, but not enough. Only ten o'clock. Fuck, damn near slept through this fucking day that's doing something unholy to his head, but he still couldn't even get that right. Knows immediately from how high his quirk has creeped that he's not going to be able to get back to sleep without cooling off for a bit first. Tempted to just go take a shower, but after a glance out the window, seeing the heavy blanket of white that's fallen since he was asleep, he pulls on his boots, digs out his cigarettes from his coat pocket before leaving that behind, and heads out of his room, up to the roof. 

He puts footprints into the four inches of snow that has already accumulated, more falling steadily around him and blanketing the mountaintop in white, as he heads over to the railing. His skin steams in the frigid temperatures, but it's not an uncomfortable sensation. His broken body was made for the cold after all. Dabi leans against the railing and shakes out a cigarette. Only two left, he'll have to get more if he doesn't want to bum the nasty brand that Twice likes off of him. Dabi lights up, letting the flame flicker on his finger for a bit too long, until it feels real as it starts to sting, and then he lets the snowflakes douse it. Smokes as his skin slowly cools down to a more comfortable temperature and just lingers in the silence. The sky is that ambient dark of deep winter, of heavy clouds, that bounces around and diffuses the hidden star and moonlight all around him, reflected off the falling snow. It brings a false warmth that he can just see by and if he were a different man, maybe he'd say that this was peaceful. Today it just feels lonely. 

He finishes his first cigarette, mars the white snow further when he puts out the butt and leaves a gray ash streak in it. Then he lights up again. Halfway through that one when the door creaks open. There's a slight pause and then fresh footfalls crunching through the snow towards him. He spares his unwanted company a glance and finds Duster, bundled up in his big coat, making his way over. 

Shigaraki doesn't say anything, just moves to stand a foot or so away, claiming his own spot on the railing and watching the snow fall. Knows the boss doesn't sleep much, thought he just would play his games or something when he wasn't. Didn't know he came up here. They stand and watch the snow quietly for a few minutes before there's a slight rustling, and Dabi sees Shigaraki place a modest gift bag on the space between them without comment. 

He snorts slightly, seriously? He finishes his cig and flicks this one off of the edge, tempted to do the same with the bag for nothing other than spite. But he doesn't. Instead he rolls his eyes and peeks inside. 

There are three things swamped in the black tissue paper, the pack of his brand of cigarettes is an immediate and welcome surprise. The little velvet jewelry box is a bit more concerning though as he reaches in to see what that is. He flicks it open and finds a new set of ear cuffs, black titanium with what looks like three bands of sapphire that mimic his staples set into them. Which, that's a pretty pricey gift, but given the unlimited plastic they were all given, he supposes it's not really that much to Duster. And, at the bottom, so it stayed flat and unjostled, is a slice of cake with mixed berries and a black candle on top. 

"...Didn't take you for such a sap, Duster." He takes out the piece of cake, finding a fork attached to the side of the box. 

"I don't think it's particularly sappy to try and show my second that I value him being around." Shigaraki tells him in the same even tone. 

"You didn't tell--"

"No." 

Silence stretches between them again and Dabi opens the cake, after a second he lights the candle with his pinky, letting the flame flicker for a moment. Then he blows it out. He doesn't make a wish. He doesn't think there's a single force in the universe that would give him something he asked for, but he knows that those same forces have been conspiring to take away the things he wants throughout his whole life. He won't offer up something else they can tear away from him. He sinks the fork into the cake and takes a bite. The sponge is light and airy, the frosting a whipped cream that's not nearly as sweet as he was expecting, and the berries bursting with a pleasant tartness. He didn't know that Shigaraki picked up on the fact he hates sweets, doesn't know what to make of the fact he'd brought him the perfect cake. 

He takes a bite and then offers the fork to Duster. His boss hesitates only for a second before he takes it and has a bite of his own. And they pass the fork back and forth as the snow falls until the dessert is gone. It's colder, later, and the snow is thicker than it was when they first came out. Both of their footprints have a fresh layer of snow filling them in when Dabi caps the empty container and puts it back into the bag. He wonders if it's late enough to not be his birthday anymore. 

"...Thanks." 

It was hard enough to make himself say that, he's glad that Shigaraki barely acknowledges it. "What did you wish for?" 

"Nothing." He tells the other man, actually turning so he can see how that lands. 

Duster meets his eyes, and his are... too sharp. Dabi knows immediately that Shigaraki has seen right through him. That he knows why he wouldn't make a wish, why he didn't tell any of the others, why he hid away and tried to pretend. And it's not pity in his eyes, not something that turns his stomach and makes him wish he'd been able to keep his mouth shut earlier. It's just... quiet. Maybe something close to... acceptance. Though maybe, maybe there is a little hint of something mournful in that look too. Or maybe Dabi's deluding himself. 

Shigaraki starts to move away from the railing, but this time Dabi catches his sleeve. Moves, slowly, but sure enough before he can think better of this. Presses a kiss to the very edge of Shigaraki's lips. Soft and light, quick, before he's pulling away, a little worried he might have sealed his fate of having this be his last birthday. But when he pulls away and lets go of his sleeve, Shigaraki doesn't look disgusted or annoyed, doesn't look like he's about to tell him that was inappropriate and that he crossed a line. 

Instead he reaches with very deliberate slowness, and Dabi lets him. Settles a hand against his cheek, the leather of his gloves cold, the one uncovered finger stroking gently along his skin, just above his staples. Red eyes watching him to see if he flinches, if he backs away, but he doesn't. And then Shigaraki leans in. His kiss is pressed against Dabi's lips. He wonders if Tomura's mouth always feels like shattered stone or if it's just because both of them have been standing in the cold for so long. It's a light press of their lips, and he starts to pull away just as quickly as Dabi had, but he catches the other's wrist and keeps him there. Moves in closer and parts his lips with a soft sigh. Already let him have so much today, maybe Duster will give him just a bit more. 

And he does. He presses back in and kisses him firmer, deeper, his tongue flicking over that parted seam of his mouth and slipping inside when Dabi invites him in. They both taste like berries and Shigaraki kisses him like he knows he's never going to get another chance. Like he's wanted to. Like he'll be... sad when Dabi's gone. It makes that heavy weight that's been hanging on him all day focus itself and shatter his chest into sharp fragments of bone that are cutting into him with every breath and each increasingly rapid beat of his heart. But he doesn't stop. He tangles his hands into Duster's hair and pulls him closer, kisses him a little hotter, a little hungrier, and Shig meets him there. Kisses him until Dabi's body is steaming in the winter air as his skin steadily grows warmer, but both of their breaths are filling the air with steam when they part. 

Red eyes on him again, a question in that look. Dabi pulls him back in. 

Okay birthday, he supposes. Though he was wrong about knowing where he would be sleeping tonight. 

[blaperile]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon (reactions pages 656 - 665)

Ok wow, my mind went ALL OVER the place while (and after) reading this update.

Before starting the update, I expected Vriska to end up in just some kind of generic black space within the Black Hole.

But this… it seems like she's in some kind of Dreambubble emulating her old hive? Except we never saw an ocean, pirate ship or horses near her home. I would rather associate those with memories of pre-retcon Vriska who saw horses in the Dreambubbles and went on this exact same kind of pirate ship on the treasure quest for finding the Plot Hole.

So that thought made me think at first that Vriska was somehow going to encounter her pre-retcon version here.

Though in the meantime abundantChewtoys has seen an interesting Tumblr post which indicates that perhaps this ocean was always there near her hive and we just never saw it, so I'm willing to believe it really does just represent her hive.

But her seeing the SPRITES??? That I DEFINITELY did not expect.

How is that even possible?

Like, I could understand Davepetasprite^2 being here. Last we saw of them they rode Lord English into the black hole, and the only thing we know for sure arrived on Candy Earth was one of Davepeta's feathers. So if Davepeta was still stuck somewhere in the black hole, I could kind of understand that.

But the other sprites?? We haven't seen Erisolsprite since the end of the Game Over timeline, and sure there was speculation that he also survived and came along with LOWAS to the post-retcon timeline, but how would that explain him ending up here??

It makes even less sense with Gcatavrosprite and the Nannasprites, in the official Credits we saw they came to Earth.

But what makes the least sense of ALL is Fefetasprite's presence here. We KNOW she died. She exploded, and the ghosts of Feferi and Nepeta then joined the ghost treasure hunt until they left with Sollux.

So there's no explanation for Fefetasprite physically being here. The only thing I could imagine is that the ghosts of Feferi and Nepeta got stuck in the black hole, and due to Dreambubble-like appearance mumbojumbo majykks (where we know ghosts can just change their clothes) they "changed" into their Fefetasprite form here.

It's notable however that we haven't really seen the Nannasprites, Gcatavrosprite and Fefetasprite (other than a brief emoji) speak yet. And that we haven't actually SEEN Fefetasprite, just the brief emoji dialogue. Is it an indication they are not actually physically there and just some kind of memory/projection? Kind of like how the ghosts behind that window (in reference to Vriska's old kills) are presumably not actually there, and like how Doomed John found (a memory of his) Dad in the Dreambubbles but Dad couldn't actually really be there.

Are ANY of the Sprites actually there, or is Vriska just dreaming/hallucinating?

And are these sprites the Meat versions or Candy versions? ARE there multiple versions of them or not (I would except there are, at least for the Nannasprites and Gcatavrosprite here)?

It's also interesting to note that there's no indication yet that Arquiusprite is here. It's still the question how he eventually ends up with Caliborn to be sucked into Lil Cal (I think there was a theory he placed himself into Lil Seb?).

Also, no Jasprosesprite^2. I mean, we know in the Meat timeline she was on Earth and went on her side adventure with Jane. But even if we assume there's no separate Candy Jasprosesprite^2, take into account that the Jaspersprite in there is from the pre-retcon timeline and we never really found out what happened to the post-retcon Jaspersprite.

God, there's just so many questions about this.

Anyway, if the Sprites are going to help Vriska do some reflection, does it mean they're going to try and teach her about the lessons her pre-retcon version learned? Are they going to make her REMEMBER, and open up to her ultimate self?

I'm really curious where this is going, and just how much of the above will actually be explained haha

[tending-the-hearth]

do you think domino squad would get along with the batch?

they ABSOLUTELY would

especially because of what Domino endured from the other squads while they were training on Kamino, getting made fun of and talked down to because they couldn't meet the standards set until the very end, and definitely because of their own encouragement from 99.

I think Hevy would connect the most with Crosshair. Hevy, in my mind, is very painfully honest and sarcastic, and is the "no one makes fun of my brothers but me" type. He'd get along so well with Crosshair, and give Crosshair that understanding about his attitude towards his siblings that no one else really seems to get.

Droidbait is the one who I hc to be the youngest of Domino, he's the baby of the group, so he'd attach himself to Tech's side and just watch, wide-eyed as Tech talks about his many inventions. I like to think that if Droidbait had survived, he would have been similar to Tech, studying the droids they fight against and making modifications to every blaster and ship he can get his hands on.

Cutup and Wrecker get along like a house on fire and it's concerning to absolutely everyone. Wrecker gets why Cutup needs to use humor to cope with things, why he can't always articulate what he wants to say or do. They get each other better than anyone, and while obviously Domino gets Cutup the best, outside of the squad, it'd absolutely be Wrecker that Cutup goes to.)

Fives... I mean, technically I could say "oh Echo's a member of the Batch so ofc Echo's his favorite", but I honestly think Fives would be very connected with Hunter. I think Fives craves stability. The same stability he finds in Echo, Rex, and Cody. He'd have one conversation with Hunter and immediately go "you're my brother now, i'm never letting you go" and Hunter would see Fives and his dad instincts would go into overdrive

Imagining a timeline where Domino lives, but maybe Echo still gets taken down at the Citadel. Maybe the Techno Union raids the remains of Rishi and finds three clones, and suddenly, Rex is staring at the faces of two brothers he's never met, and two brothers he thought long-dead.And maybe Fives survives, and is already part of the Batch (bc that's my favorite hc, that Fives lives and ends up starting anew with the Batch), and suddenly he's got his batchmates back, he's got his twin back.

And Omega, instead of gaining five new brothers, she gains nine, and each of them loves her so very, very much, and instead of just Echo leaving when they meet with Rex on Coruscant, it's the entirety of Domino leaving to finish what Fives started.

[nights-flying-fox]

✨️ Hi hi hello, welcome!! I'm Nighty, and I reblog a lot of stuff*, sometimes draw and write too. Both fanart & oc art!! 💖

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💜 AU Tags:

🐀 Animaniacs: Toons (Storks AU) • There's a Beast in There • Pirates AU

🐢 ROTTMNT: Dimension Hopper Leo AU MASTERPOST • Where You Belong (Separated AU) • Let's Grab a Slice Together • Hopelessly Surviving AU (Resurrected Leo AU) • A Turtle Like Me, A Turtle Like You Masterpost • GENERAL AU MASTERPOST

🌟 Fandom Tags / Masterlist ⬇️

🪶 Some of the stuff that I find myself thinking about them 7/24: tmnt/rottmnt (rise leo is the blorbo), hazbin hotel (alastor & rosie friendship aaa), warrior cats (longtail, hollyleaf, hawkfrost my beloveds), kingdom hearts (khux & days), the legend of zelda (miphvali & botw zelink), linked universe (legend is fav), animaniacs, pokemon (unova ftw)...

tLoZ - Breath of the Wild

Art - Fics:

-Warmth (Zelink / One-shot) AO3

-Christmas Together (Multichapter Modern AU Xmas Fic / Ongoing / Includes Zelink and Miphvali) AO3 [currently on hiatus]

-Following the Silent Princess (Modern AU / includes Zelink and Miphvali / multichaptered ongoing) AO3 [currently on hiatus]

Zines: By Your Side Zelink Zine

tLoZ - Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Art | Fics:

-Mountain Walk (Miphvali / One-shot) AO3 | Chinease Translation (AO3)

-For You (Zelink / written for Fated: Through Time digital zine / one-shot) AO3

Animaniacs

Art | Fics:

-Welcome Back, Doc (Space Jam: New Legacy crossover fic / multichaptered ongoing / Dad Bugs) AO3 [on hiatus but might finish it before the end of may <3 ]

-Years Ago, A Winter Night (Wakko's Wish fic / a lot of angst & hurt/comfort / multichapter & completed / XMas fic) AO3 | Playlist

-Happy Allergies Dot!! (one-shot / Dot centered) AO3

-Guilt Is Eating Him Up (one-shot / lots of angst & hurt/comfort / Wakko centered) AO3

-Toons (Storks AU / multichaptered ongoing / kinda on hiatus??) AO3

-There's a Beast in There (Beauty and the Beast AU but without any romance / multichaptered ongoing / *holds it gently* this one is my fav) AO3

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Art | Fics:

-A Friend Against Dark (Raph centered / fluff / pre-series / one-shot) AO3

-Finish the Tale, Ven, Please? (Where You Belong AU / fluff / one-shot) AO3 * tumblr

-finding your stellar association (for @/ashwii's Celestial AU / one-shot / fluff) AO3 * tumblr

-so I dive straight back in the ocean (hurt/comfort / post-movie / Leo centric / one-shot) AO3 * tumblr | playlist

-Little Talks with a Big Robot Turtle (for @/somerandomdudelmao's Cass Apocalyptic Series / Raph centric / fluff / one-shot) AO3 * tumblr

-Deep (Purple) Thoughts (and Realizations) (Donnie centered / post-movie / angst & hurt/comfort / multichaptered ongoing) AO3

-Last Resort (Mikey centric / bad future timeline / Let's Grab a Slice Together AU but you don't have to know about it to read it / angst (with a bit of comfort??) / one-shot ) AO3

Warrior Cats

Fics:

-One Last Night (Leafpool x Hawkfrost / one-shot) AO3 | Turkish Translation

[pocketramblr]

Desperately wanna know how izuku reacts to both aizawa being a grown version of eri, and eri being a baby version of his homeroom teacher

This is a tricky question because most loops of Izuku never find out

Shouta 1(the father we start off with in that ask)'s original timeline Izuku died, and his second timeline/ Eri-Shouta's original timeline Izuku is in a coma. However, when/if he wakes up, assuming the timeline doesn't cease to exist, he'd ask where Eri is and would freak out to hear that he's been sent back in time (and oh yeah uses he/him now). The time travel thing would be the biggest shock, and I think he genuinely might not believe the other part until Shouta 1 moves his hair to the side to show the tiny horn there. Then he'd pass out again, and have a million questions on waking up.

Eri-Shouta's second timeline after going back, that Izuku has a chance of surviving alive and having a chat after the war. I see Eri-Shouta pulling Izuku 2 aside and explaining everything, horn reveal etc, and then asking what he should tell Eri 2, who might be the first version that doesn't have to go back in time. Izuku would ask why he's asking him that, he was Eri, shouldn't he know best? Eri-Shouta would huff and say that he hasn't been that little girl in a very, very long time. And besides, when he was, he mostly just wanted to see Deku again, awake and alright. Izuku thinks about it, and says they helped give Eri freedom from the shadow of Chisaki. He thinks she should be free from the shadow of the other timelines too, though he isn't sure how to explain to her the fact that her adopted dad has secretly had a version of her quirk the whole time. Eri-Shouta nods, and then thanks Izuku "for everything." Izuku thanks him in return.

[annachum]

I've been seeing A LOT of Sigyn fan works, and the #JusticeforSigyn trend on social media. I'm a Sigyn fan and I stand by Justice for Sigyn too.

However.....I actually have a feeling that Sigyn exists in the MCU THE WHOLE TIME, except she is CURRENTLY offscreen ( still manifesting for her official debut in MCU, possibly in Loki S2 )

Like, imagine her and Loki being childhood friends to lovers ( with a crazy love story ). They attend Yggadrsil Hall of Learning together ( alongside with Thor, the Warriors 3, Sif, Brunnhilde and Heimdall. Amora, Lorelei and Theoric go to school there too and they are part of a gang of mean kids, and Amora and Lorelei fled to Nornheim to learn dark magic from Queen Karnilla of Nornheim in their high school years ).

And as Loki and Sigyn grew, they got together sometime before Thor 1

Imagine her, an Aesir Light Elf hybrid from Alfheim with Aurora Manipulation powers, and a Valkyrie veteran who is one of the very few that survived the Massacre of Valkyrie. And she at first is unwilling to go back to Alfheim and Asgard because HER MOTHER DIED THERE TOO.

Yet she exhaustedly agreed, cuz those who survived inspired her to realize that there is still hope around the horizon. And she soon became a bodyguard/lady in waiting to Frigga and a diplomat in Alfheim Embassy in Nine Realms Intercosmic Embassy.

Imagine her being Loki's consort lover in Thor 1 during Loki's 1st rule of Asgard, yet she began to feel torn between her love for Loki and her understandable concern of Loki slowly turning to dark side. And then she mourns for Loki's 1st fake death.

Imagine her, after coming back from multiple intercosmic diplomatic business trips, and hearing all about Loki causing havoc in Earth all to try to offer her a throne ' worthy of Sigyn ', she found herself joining the Asgardian fleets to defend Asgard from the Dark Elves. And on top of that, even as she rightfully calls out Loki's crap, she defends him through thick and thin and CANNOT bear him to be possibly executed. AND THEN Theoric ( an abhorrent admirer WHO TURNS OUT TO BE A SPY WORKING FOR THE DARK ELVES ) TRIES to woo her ( actually tryna glean some spy info from her ) yet Sigyn spurred his advances and still remained loyal to Loki.

And then she also mourns for Frigga's death, gave Thor and Loki magical first aid kits for their big escape...and manages to tell her Nine Realms cohorts that Theoric is a double crossing spy. Well that ( and upon hearing Theoric is bothering Sigyn ) is more than enough to have Loki pull strings to have Theoric killed in battlefield.

Imagine her, thinking that Loki died ( again ), reunited with Loki in secret and became a bodyguard of Loki/Odin and a Chief diplomat in the Alfheimr embassy in the Nine Realms Intercosmic Embassy, and eventually Loki and Sigyn married in secret

Imagine Sigyn, during Ragnarok, joining the Light Elfs to battle against Hela's forces while also help run a refuge behind the waterfalls in Hummingbird Bay ( where the Sea Elves dwell in Alfhem in coral abodes ). And she broke down witnessing her healer dad died trying to save her life.....

And all the while, EVERYONE else found out her and Loki's initially secret marriage, and also Sigyn and Loki kept in touch via crystal ball communications and magical notes while they had their crazy adventures.

Imagine Sigyn managing to escape the Massacre of the Airship caused by Thanos to an alternate timeline where Alfheim is ruled by a council of Valkyrie veterans and military leaders ( via Sylvie unleashing the Multiverse via Stabbing Kang )

And imagine Sigyn, who soon heard an Alt Loki was out there somewhere, began a time hopping journey to find Loki when she was abducted by the TVA yet manages to escape and eventually reunite with Loki, and the 2 commence a coupe against the TVA together ( this is what I would LOVE to see happen in Loki S2 )

GIVE LOKI HIS BRIDE BACK

[klonoadreams]

oh yeah, side note, but Scarnoa exists in the same timeline as Punch Baby Akari and Brie.

They are, effectively, the same person...but have become their own separate beings through time and their environment. So if Brie and Scarnoa were to meet, they’d really wouldn’t recognize each other and, at most, they’d just ?????

(Punch Baby Akari has since lived out her lifetime, she’s in her own blurb, with her bloodline continuing with Cynthia and Dawn. :V)

anyways what I’m saying, is that I need Iono constantly bringing up Raihan and just commenting on his polydex like “have you seen that thing? who WOULDN’T be envious? But at least I got you guys! *wink wonk*”

Raihan shows up as a guest and whoops.

Anyways for japes and hilarities, due to the fact that Brie IS sponsored by a luxury brand due to the fact that her clothing is the Eldegoss and Cottonee mix, based on this Shield dex entry blurb:

AND THE FACT THAT A CERAIN TEAM STAR BOSS’S FAMILY OWN’S A MAJOR APPAREL COMPANY IN PALDEA:

Here’s me killing two birds with one stone, and that’s Brie’s sponsor legitimately being Ortega’s family company brand. From one fairy user to another.

vgjklerjglkefhbtf

ACTUALLY IM CRYING, BRIE ACTUALLY INSPIRED ORTEGA, BUT UNINTENTIONALLY. (she’s older than him vhrfjkhblkfb)

anyways, this brought to you by the fact that Opal bought Brie the most expensive set of clothes, of which included a turtleneck that Brie refused to remove because the fabric was SO nice, and it kept her nice and warm, and cool when she needed it...only to proceed to wade into mud, get covered in honey, curry, and get into fights with Pokemon.

The fact that the material survived the ordeal is the big reason why Ortega’s fam decided “WE NEED HER NOW”. Who else to make the most of the clothing-line’s high pricing, but Brie’s disastrous adventures? :V

(Ortega, of course, loses his fucking shit whenever he sees her battles and the like. and has the whole collection of her Galarian Pokemon Tournament journey)

(he will never admit it, but Penny knows about it because Ortega thinks he’s being sneaky on his private social media account, not knowing he and Penny are private mutuals DISASTER)

(others that are part of this timeline are USUM’s Alolan!Noa, who has adoptive dad Nanu, and a different SIOC, Sawyer, brought upon by my sinus infection suffering last May, of which is set in Black and White - she is what we would refer to as the Touko replacement, because Touko (Hilda) doesn’t exist, just Touya (Hilbert), but there’s something familiar about these two, and in many ways, Touya effectively sees himself as her older brother, SO...yeah)

(forget about whatever elaborate family tree I had when I was writing Pokemon fic like a decade ago, the new meta is the PokeNoa Verse, where aspects of my SI OCs exists within the same timeline of each other)

[justagalwhowrites]

me, a doc x tommy truther til i die, watching these anons like omg the girls are fightingggg

im just kidding, literary discourse and media analysis is ALWAYS good and i don't think theres enough of it in fic spaces (it's always "it's just fanfic it's not that deep" YES IT IS i love thinking and having thoughts about everything). so here's my opinion that nobody asked for i just can't resist LMAOOOO

the great thing about fiction is that you (both reader and writer) can safely explore and experience things that you otherwise wouldn't be able to, including things that would be dangerous irl. joel and doc's relationship was never perfect (even pre-outbreak), they lose each other for years and both go through insane amounts of life altering, major trauma, and then find each other again. of course the relationship is going to be toxic this time around! the idea that finding doc again would have been enough to make him overcome having his only child murdered in front of him is insane to me and im SOOO glad you didn't go that route when writing.

i get what people are saying when they say it's too much/toxic/bordering on abusive for him to treat doc this way. it is toxic and it is abusive but it's also a very realistic depiction of a toxic relationship ("even though it's bad and he's bad and it won't last i'm choosing joel instead of moving on"). he isn't a good guy and people forget that because he's a walking HOT SINGLE DADS NEAR YOU! porn ad but he's robbed, killed, and tortured people, some of which didn't deserve it. it's never confirmed in canon that he didn't sexually assault people pre-ellie and pre-qz when he was out there. i don't even think it's IMPLIED that he never did these things (other than hating david). point is, he kinda sucks if you think about it too hard. in a different timeline every therapist in the country would tell joel and doc to go 100% no contact and joel would have an abilify prescription.

but alas, this is fiction! these people are not real and these situations exclusively exist as a combination of letters on a screen. i know it's technically a joel x reader series, but am i the only one who doesn't see myself as doc? she's a whole oc at this point (side note: what's everyones doc fc? mine is dianna agron slay). i think that could be another reason people are hesitant with how joel/doc are playing out; they see doc taking him back without him doing much begging and it takes them out of it because it isn't something they would do. which is fair and i have no rebuttal for that! there's no right or wrong way to read. keep doing you besties but plz don't take back a toxic lover just because they grovel omg

tldr joel/doc = toxic but they aren't real and also they live under a fascist regime during the apocalypse where italian 4 cheese cheez its don't exist so cut them some slack alright if i had to live in those conditions i would be worse than both of them

this incomprehensibly long take brought to you by my love for literary discourse, my decade of experience in therapy, and my autism that makes me overanalyze every aspect of everything that exists :D

OMG BABES I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

I love all the conversation around this fic and that people have different interpretations and feelings around it (even if sometimes I’m like “wait here’s why!!”)

But yes ultimately, these are two very traumatized, hurt people who are trying to survive and that drives soooo much of their choices.

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2022 Day 7: The Side of Caution

[BEGIN TRANSCRIPT]

The second time we met was during one of the few moments of peace I got to enjoy while wandering the void. In that timeline, by some miracle of chance, there was no cult, no demons, no haunted living arrangements, no cannibalistic neighbors, and very few ghosts. My mom had still died when I was little, I was still disfigured, and my dad had his usual vices because of it, but all things considered, it was one of the few timelines where my life in Nockfell was what you might consider ‘normal’. 

With the bullies in grade school being the highest level threat I had to deal with, I had managed to stick around in that universe until my early twenties. I was living with Larry, Todd, and Neil, and attending college with them and Ash at Henrys usual insistence, but I hadn’t really been going to class with any goal in mind. I neglected my school work in favor of hanging out with versions of my friends that had above average survival rates and didn’t spend all their free time doing cult sabotage… or being dead. I pretty much slid by with C’s across the board.

One evening, I was back at my dads place for dinner. Henry and Lisa kept giving each other these looks, and finally, Lisa said:

“Sal, we wanted to talk to you about something…”

They both suggested I get a part-time job for the summer- a ‘resume-builder’ that would ‘start me off on my career path’, whatever I chose for that to be. 

“You have a bright future in front of you, son. You can do anything you set your mind to, I know you can! You just have to be willing to put in the effort to do it.”

I tried and failed to hold back a snort.

“No, really! Everyone starts somewhere, Sally. It’ll be hard work, but I’ll bet you’ll love it once you get used to it!”

At this point, I’d never had an actual job before. I know, ‘Over 600 years old and he’s never had a job? What a loser!’ In my defense, it’s hard to have a decent work-life balance with school, cult sabotage, friend and family relationship maintenance, and ‘always dying young’ already on your plate. But, like I said, this time was different. I thought about what it would be like, being able to experience the fabled hum-drum daily grind of being a wage-slave in the service industry…. It seemed like torture for most people, but it sounded more like a vacation to me- a predictable and safe routine, normal-person problems, a bunch of normal people to bitch about them with, AND I’d get my own pocket money, too.

“Yeah! That sounds awesome, actually… did you guys have somewhere in mind?”

Robert- you remember Robert- is always a successful, self-made business man, but the kind of businesses he runs is almost random- real estate, tech, marketing, insurance, landscaping… whatever he thinks will be successful, he makes it successful. In that universe, he bought and ran one of the few restaurants in town after its previous owner, Terrence Addison (yes, that Terrence Addison), had announced his plan to retire, sell his various properties, and travel the world. The restaurant was a long-standing staple to the community that literally everyone in town ate at- The Nockfell Diner, a 24-hour greasy spoon that just so happened to be in need of a new dishwasher. 

Less than a week after that discussion with Lisa and Henry, I was in uniform, pacing around in the ‘dish pit’. All day, I sprayed the food scraps and grease from the plates, put them neatly in racks, slid the racks into the washing machine, took them out, arranged them back into stacks, and put them away so they could get dirty again. I did this over and over, for hours at a time, until my hands were red and pruny and my clothes and hair were soaked with dirty dishwater. It was a repetitive, mind-numbing, physically taxing (and sometimes nauseating) process, but I found a weird satisfaction in it that I couldn’t really pinpoint at the time. ‘Spray, load, wash, stack….’ It was simple, straightforward, and really obvious about its necessity in the process of the system- plus, I didn’t have to risk being killed or have to murder anyone. It was relaxing. It lulled me into a false sense of security. I wasn’t paying attention when it happened…

I rounded the corner into the kitchen on autopilot, holding a big, heavy stack of dinner plates.

“CORNER-”

I collided with something really solid. The tower of dishes I was holding started to teeter over. A pair of hands steadied the top as I steadied the bottom, keeping the plates from falling and shattering on the floor.

“Whew… Jeez man, watch it!! Didn’t you hear me say ‘corner’?”

I looked up at the man I’d run into, and I knew him. His dark hair and pale skin, those big eyes with the long lashes, a few crooked teeth, the button nose, his pierced lip… he was taller, more muscular, and a guy, but I recognized him instantly.... If it wasn’t obvious to me who he was, it was written right there on his nametag: ‘Mitch’ in big letters, ‘the bitch’ in small letters. I made a note to ask him about the second half later.

“Ah- no, I… wasn’t expecting you… to-”

He gave an exaggerated sigh, his shoulders sagging dramatically.

“Okay, who the fuck’s training the new guy…?” 

The cooks on the line shrugged. I hadn’t been trained, necessarily. Mostly, I’d been told where to stand and had otherwise been relying on trial and error and a little common sense to get the job done. ‘You’re a smart guy, you’ll figure it out, Sally…’ (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?)

“So nobody was gonna bother filling him in on some basic safety shit? Hm? I can’t even buy the guy a drink before me and his ass get into a crash? Tsk, that’s just fuckin’ tacky, guys….“

“Bar’s open ‘til 2, you got plenty of time for another round, Mitch,” a waitress passing by chimed in.

“Oh, not with you here I don’t, baby! I got plans to-night~” he made kissy noises in her direction before turning back to me. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, dude. How’re you supposed to know if nobody bothered to tell you?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“‘Corner’ means ‘I’m around the corner, and I comin through! Get the fuck outta my way!’ Okay? Always listen for that- keeps everyone from ending up like roadkill during a rush, ya’know?”

He laughed with that signature lop-sided smile, clapped me on the shoulder, and passed by me with a wink. He shrugged his strawberry-print bag up on his shoulder, and there was a heart-print bandage on his wrist…

“Uh- okay, I’ll keep that in mind,” I nodded, “I mean, it would kind of be a shame… if I ended up roadkill before you bought me that drink, right...?”

"Ha! It sure would be..."

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eye. I’d found her! Er- him. Mitch. It was undeniable- it was them…

 just a little different.

[END TRANSCRIPT]