#i’m just. AAUGH HE IS SO.

[emp-t-man]

Okay but can we PLEASE talk about how absolutely whipped this man is

[frozenjokes]

I had like one idea for this page and it shows but whatever

***

“Why would I tell them I’m leaving? They’ll figure it out, and they can teleport to my location anyway. God, when I first got here they wouldn’t stop because it spooked me so bad each time one just appeared in front of me! Eventually, I just got really good at not flinching so- AAUGH!” Scar’s scream was magnificent as he turned around to see Mumbo standing there, making a flying leap directly into Cleo’s arms. Grian popped into existence beside Mumbo, cackling as Cleo unceremoniously dropped Scar to the ground. Mumbo doubled over next to Grian, tears forming at the edges of his vision.

“I take it they’ve arrived?” Cleo smirked.

“Oh! Did you scare him?” Pearl said, delight evident in her tone as she pushed forward to examine Scar, still laying on the ground.

***

scar is so slapstick to me he’s my babygirl

[localcryptidinthewoods]

what songs do you associate with each of the Divine Warriors?

i have playlists for all of them but i’m only gonna use the ones that remind me of them the most (and a reason why)

also i do talk about cannibalism and some other gruesome + toxic stuff in this post so read at ur own discretion :3

Irene - Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives. Like I mentioned in my last post, Irene is fucked up, and she knows it. She knows the things she does are not okay and down right awful in some cases, she knows shes not a sweet girl like many thinks she is, and she dosent care. Shes a walking red flag telling you shes a red flag. I feel like everytime she meets someone that she gets intrested in (example, the divine warriors) she always comments how she will ruin them if they stay, warning them of who she really is but they never really lisent till it’s too late.

enki - Cassandra by Florence + The Machine. Enki is full of tragedy, thats not even a question. She exists in the cursed form that he is in order to pay for her mothers sins of cannabalism. Not only that but Enki has the ability of being able to look into the future aka being an oracle. No one believes Enki because they(the mass populace of where he lives) think of them as a monster born of evil. Enki has these haunting visions of the darkness in the world, the good, the bad, and no one belives them because of the fact they were cursed. The entire song is just so aaugh and reminds me on Enki so much.

shad - I, Carrion (Icarion) by Hozier. Shad in my rewrite has been becoming a very melancholic person. Someone who wants and longs but cannot give in to those feelings. Someone who is curious from a place of genuine intrest, unlike irenes often cruel curiosity. The song is a love song, its about finding someone who seems to change the world for you, in Shads case it being Irene and then the divine warriors, and wanting to lean on that feeling but knowing that you could also fall because of it, but willingly to balance both possibilities and taking the risk, which is when the start of Shads ‘downfall’ starts, with taking the risk for the sake of love.

esmund - Wait by the River by Lord Huron. from the start of the song, it talks about waiting for someone till you are dead and gone. Esmund is an incredibly loyal man, he lisents to orders and obeys them because of the love he has for the divine warriors. They are his family now. In my rewrite he gets asked to stay behind and protect some people, and he does, but the only person who comes back is Enki.

kul’zak - rule #14 - Fiddler’s Heart. Kul’Zak is, ofcourse, a nomad. He’s never really settled down anymore, not even after he first met irene. The two of them would travel from place to place, Kul’Zak playing his fiddle and instruments like the bard he was and irene joined in, singing with him or dancing to his music all while exploring the different sides of humanity and learning about people and what makes them tick. Kul’Zak is a bard and a flirt, the type of guy who would never willingly settle down with anyone because he would much rather continue to explore till the end of his days.

menphia - burn your village by kiki rockwell. menphia is, for lack of better word, a bad bitch. she is deadly, she is precise and she does not mess around. she is not your martyr, she is not the sacrifical lamb and she makes sure that is clear. menphia is a highly trained killer, and a ruthless one too. she fights for what she wants to fight for, and she’s just as much as a wild card as irene when it comes to trying to figure out her true intentions.

[sanddusted-wisteria]

Earth and Sky, Ch. 2

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“[...]perhaps I could inform myself several hours in the past that you would be falling down here, so my past self could rescue you. Or at least inform someone who could. My past self is…was? Busy. Very busy.” “Or maybe,” Wisteria blurted, an edge to her voice and shoulders hunched as she paused her search. “We can accept that we’re stuck in the present, and try to solve our problem in the present.” “Of course,” Qi huffed. “We should just be thorough in our exploration of the possibilities, builder.”

Also on AO3

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

Equations and variables. The faint glimmer of stars. Questions that lingered, only with vague, uncertain answers.

And then suddenly, the sound of crumbling stone and several yelps and curses.

Director Qi roused immediately from his dream, being thrown back into the rather unpleasant reality of napping in a sandpile. He leaned forward, peeking out from behind the mound of junk that he had curled up against. Nothing was there, apart from some new chunks of debris over by the end of the ruined hallway. So that was real, at least.

Someone…or something…appeared to have made the same mistake as he did several hours ago: a misaimed step over what looked like a solid pile of rocks. Silently, he picked himself up and grabbed his pickhammer. He slowly started moving towards where the noise came from…

Whoever (or whatever) it was muttered and groaned a bit to themself. Qi’s grip on the pickhammer tightened as he ducked behind an old locker of some kind by the wall. He didn’t recognize the voice. They got back on their feet with a sigh. Qi felt his mouth go dry.

He rushed out, raising the pickhammer over his head to strike—

“AAUGH!” the person shouted, flinching back with their hands over their head. The noise startled Qi and threw his focus off. His pickhammer didn’t fall.

The person stumbled backwards, body still tense and hands still ready to try and block his terminated strike. After a brief moment, they seemed to realize that he wouldn't hit them. They peeked out from behind their hands. He was greeted with the face of a vaguely familiar woman. Alert, dark eyes, framed by equally dark hair, straight but mussed up a little by the fall.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, her voice low in pitch and only lightly echoing off the stone and metal walls. She lowered her arms with a huff. “Don’t do that! You can’t just swing your pick around all willy-nilly in the dark like that!”

Qi realized he should probably stop looking like he still had intent to attack. He lowered his arms carefully. “Apologies. I wasn’t sure if you were hostile. Or a monster.”

The woman picked herself up again, brushing some of the dirt off her clothes and rubbing her shoulders. “I might as well be hostile at this point…” she grumbled.

Strapped to her back was a pickhammer. A well-worn tool belt was on her hips. Ah. It was her. “You’re the new builder, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Mm-hmm. And you’re the researcher guy.”

“Director.”

“Yep, yep. Director guy.”

He wanted to correct her—it’s just “Director”—but there were more important matters at hand. “I wasn’t aware that the Civil Corps were using builders now for their operations. Well, that’s neither here nor there. Proceed with your rescue plan, then. I’ll cooperate.”

The builder squinted. “Huh?”

Qi raised an eyebrow. “You…were sent here to extract me, correct?”

The builder pursed her lips, glancing to the side. “Uh…no? I just came to get some tin. I guess I’ve got no choice now, though.”

Oh. With how long he’d been stuck down here, he figured that someone would have noticed by now…

“We should have a look around,” he said, trying to push the thought down. “I don’t think we can come back the way we came, but maybe there’s another gap somewhere. Perhaps some of this wreckage could help us in our escape attempt as well.”

The builder nodded, taking her pickhammer off her back and scanning the area. She came across some odd chunk of metal and raised her pickhammer to break it down into parts. Good. It seemed like she at least had some semblance of a plan.

But as soon as the stone head CLUNKED onto the scrap, it snapped off its bindings and tumbled to the floor nearby.

Both of them stared at it, now almost blending with the rest of the ruin’s rocks.

A single word from the builder echoed off the cavernous walls:

“Shit.”

She sighed, shoulders slumped. The remaining wrench stick dropped to the ground. “Ah…I’ve never made a pickhammer before. I’m too used to the weight of a pickaxe.”

Qi realized that he should probably help somehow. “Um…you can use mine,” he said, holding his own pickhammer out. “You’d use it more effectively than I would, anyhow.”

The builder turned around with a raised eyebrow. She gingerly took the tool out of his hands, testing the weight in her hands. Evaluating it. It seems like it passed whatever test she applied, as the builder nodded, turned back around, and continued to dismantle the hunk of metal.

“How’d you get down here, anyway?” the builder said after a couple more swings.

“I was seeking out a particular relic for my laboratory. Unfortunately, from how much rock I overturned, I can only conclude that it’s not at this level.”

“What relic?”

“An equatorial mount.”

“Hm. Never heard of it.”

Qi was almost tempted to launch into an explanation, but he hadn’t answered her original question yet. “Well, in any case, I miscalculated how stable a rock formation looked, and I fell into this place. After confirming that I was indeed trapped, I decided the best course of action was to conserve my energy until rescue arrived. So I took a nap.”

The builder nodded. “Smart. You don’t wanna wander around if you get stuck ruin diving. It’ll just make it harder for help to find you.”

The scrap broke apart into pieces, and she bent down to inspect what could be used. Qi stared at her back for a few moments before she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Can you go and see what else is salvageable up ahead? You probably already saw something while you were down here.”

“Right. There should be some large debris piles over there. I can start sorting out some potentially useful things.”

“Thanks.”

He walked down the hall towards where he was trying to sleep earlier, pulling out some odds and ends in several junk piles that might seem useful. He wasn’t really sure if they were, but maybe the builder would be able to tell. He made a note of a shattered lifter robot to his right, and what looked like an old hoverplatform on the left.

He reached the end of the hall, where it opened into a long, vertical room, and looked up. It probably used to be an elevator shaft. There looked to be a decent-sized gap in the ceiling. Maybe that was their ticket out.

He turned around to let the builder know, but he hesitated. What was her name again…?

“Wisteria!” he shouted. It was dark down the hall, but he could just barely see the silhouette of her head perk up.

“Yeah?”

“There’s a gap in the ceiling over here! Do you think it’s possible for us to pass through?”

“Hang on, lemme see!”

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and soon Wisteria emerged from the gloom. She looked up the shaft and hummed. “That should be big enough, yeah. Probably could build a ladder using all this junk.”

“A ladder? Well, I have an alternate solution. Fewer components needed.”

The builder raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

Qi walked over to the old hoverplatform. “I believe this is a decommissioned hoverplatform. They were a prototype form of transport intended for traversing large indoor facilities quickly without walkable corridors or ramps.”

He went on to explain how they work, pointing out the propulsion systems and how the fuel was transported, to the balancers to calibrate and turn the vehicle, to the steering, which is unfortunately damaged.

There was an odd look on Wisteria’s face, but she nodded along, occasionally punctuating his monologue with an “Mm-hmm…” or a “Yeah…”. She followed him as he pointed out the specific components.

He was just about done explaining the details of the machine when she held up a hand. “Okay, uh, that’s cool and all, but… How’s it gonna help us?”

Qi sighed. “I was just about to explain that, builder…”

Wisteria rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Okay, okay…”

“My plan is this: we find an engine and some power stones in the rubble here, fit it to the vehicle, then we fly out the gap in the ceiling!”

The builder hummed and inspected the hoverplatform again. She pointed at the busted steering stick. “That’s the steering, right? You think it’ll be able to work like that?”

“Well, I’m sure we should be able to fix that as well. It’s just a simple stick—”

“And do you know how to drive one?”

“N-no…but I’m sure it’s fairly intuitive…”

“And what’s to say the…what, the stabilizers? What’s to say the stabilizers aren’t working right, either?”

“Er…well. If the balance of the vehicle can’t be properly calibrated, then… It might be incredibly difficult to control our trajectory, and we would…die. Or at least have a greater risk of dying.”

The builder fixed him an unamused stare. “...I think it’d do better as scrap material.”

Qi slowly nodded. “Yes…perhaps that’d be the more…pragmatic option.”

Wisteria flipped the pickhammer around to use the pick end to try and pry the platform open. And Qi was back to standing back and staring as she worked. His mind started to wander…wondering where he left off when he left the Research Center…

Ah, right. The other new builder (whose name was also escaping him) had requested a processor diagram. He put it off for later, given how trivial it was. He could probably get it done in less than 20 minutes. He figured that he’d search for the equatorial mount for a few hours and handle it after, but then he found himself in this mess.

“Anything else look interesting around here?” Wisteria was done with the platform, it seems. The hull was split open and several metal rods were spread out on the ground.

“Indeed. There’s an old lifter robot over there,” Qi said, pointing to where it sat pitifully against the opposite wall.

They both moved closer to take a look. It was a bog-standard model. Used in all manner of Old World facilities for heavy lifting and cargo movement. And yet, as he was standing here seeing it for himself and not through a sketch or photo, the shape and size felt vaguely reminiscent of…

“This machine…” he muttered idly before he could stop himself. “...It reminds me of something…very obscure. Something you never would’ve heard of.”

The builder looked up from where she was opening a panel into the robot’s motor chamber.

Qi didn’t say anything more for a second. His mind suddenly short-circuited. Mentioning anything about Gungam was absolutely not an option. But…ugh, the builder was waiting for a response. Maybe if he was vague…

The builder raised an eyebrow at his silence.

“Ahem. Well, it’s a…thought experiment of sorts, where a robot is teleported back in time…”

“Uh-huh…?”

Qi delved into a summary of that particular arc of Gungam. As vague as possible, of course. Absolutely no mention of the pilots or the mobile suit models involved. Meanwhile, Wisteria turned back to the robot to continue scavenging, once again punctuating her silence occasionally to acknowledge his words.

“...And unfortunately, the author…never managed to…finish writing this thought experiment, so we can only speculate on the robot’s fate.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Even so, it’s a fascinating hypothetical to consider…given time travel is indeed possible.”

“Yeah.”

“Take our predicament, for example. What if I were to travel back in time and warn my past self not to search for the equatorial mount today? Or…rather, just don’t stumble into this part of the ruins.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Hm. Well, you would likely also fall down here regardless of whether I was present or not. Considering the coincidental nature of our encounter, I think it’s safe to assume these events are independent.”

The builder sighed. “...Yeah?”

“So given that, perhaps I could inform myself several hours in the past that you would be falling down here, so my past self could rescue you. Or at least inform someone who could. My past self is…was? Busy. Very busy.”

“Or maybe,” Wisteria blurted, an edge to her voice and shoulders hunched as she paused her search. “We can accept that we’re stuck in the present, and try to solve our problem in the present.”

“Of course,” Qi huffed. “We should just be thorough in our exploration of the possibilities, builder.”

The builder shook her head with another sigh and continued rummaging through the robot’s innards.

It was silent after that, save for the clatter of metal scrap parts. In the newfound quiet, Qi realized that, despite her dismissive responses…the builder was listening. Something that most people only pretended to do whenever he would try to have a scientific conversation. And that was when they were being polite.

Perhaps, for once, he could have an agreeable colleague.

Wisteria stood up with a grunt, finished inspecting the robot. “Okay, think I’ve got enough stuff now. Can you help me move that fence thing over there?”

The two of them hustled about the corridor, pulling all the odd bits of scrap together into what was hopefully a stable-enough ladder. It was a rather clever scheme, even though the end product looked a bit shoddy. But what else could one do in an emergency?

After a lot of climbing (with much more thorough terrain checking this time), neither of them held back loud sighs of relief at the sight of the sun.

They were both quite lucky. No major injuries and nothing of value lost (he wasn’t sure if the builder’s slipshod pickhammer had any tangible value). Unfortunately, the reddish hue of the sky far above the gorge indicated that Qi had wasted an entire day down there. He bid a short farewell to the builder when the lift reached the top and turned to hasten back to the Research Center.

“Hey, wait!”

Qi froze mid-step and turned back towards the builder.

She was holding the pickhammer up in one hand, frowning slightly. “Don’t you need your pickhammer back?”

Qi thought for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t see myself needing it any longer. Best I avoid expeditions like these so as to not impede the progress of science. Besides, you are in need of a replacement, anyhow.”

“Oh,” said Wisteria, lowering her arm and looking down at her newest tool. “That’s, uh… Th-thanks.”

They were both silent for a moment. Qi was just about to turn around when she opened her mouth again. “Uh, what was that relic you needed again? I can probably keep an eye out for it if you give me a picture or something.”

Qi’s brow rose. Of course. She was a builder. She had experience in trawling ruins as carefully and efficiently as possible to gather resources. “I’m seeking an equatorial mount,” he replied. “If you could get me one, that would be most appreciated. I can send you a rough sketch of it sometime tomorrow.”

Wisteria nodded, fist balling around her pickhammer with a firm grip. “Gotcha. Can’t guarantee how long it’ll take, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

He heard a quiet “see ya” from behind him, voice fading into the distance as he descended the hill beyond the salvage yard.

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

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Wis’s mind started drifting again as her pickhammer (yeah, it was hers now, not Qi’s) went up and down into the dirt. Mining was always a bit tedious, and it was easy to space out. Not too much, though. Gotta stay alert for danger.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

This time, her mind started wandering back to her last foray into these ruins. The whole reason why she was down here again. That researcher…he was an interesting one, alright. Smart, for sure. But so…not stupid, but…oblivious? Spacey? It was like he resided in another world entirely. One where the only thing everyone could talk about was science, day in and day out, until their lips fell off. Unfortunately (or fortunately), not a world Wis was a part of.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

It wasn’t like what he was talking about was entirely boring. She’d always been at least a little interested in relics and things of the past, back when she still had the time and money to dig around in the mines for more than just ore. But did he really have to stand there and talk and talk and talk while their lives were potentially in danger? By the time he was explaining his time travel “thought experiment” (which totally sounded like some kind of sci-fi story), she’d already hit the hard limit on listening for one day. There was only so much socialization she could take at once, even if it was largely one-sided.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Even so… Qi had saved them. If it was just her and her crappy old pickhammer, she probably would’ve been doomed. And then he was willing to give his pickhammer up. It was a pretty good pick. Made of bronze instead of simple wood and stone. That blacksmith guy probably made it…Hugo, right?

Clang. Clang. Clang.

So, despite his…well, his whole self… Wis felt it was only fair if she at least did a favor for him in return. She still had no idea what this “equatorial mount” thing was for exactly, but she was curious now.

Clang. Clang. CLUNK.

Wis jolted as the pickhammer hit something different. She brushed away the loosened dirt away from where she just struck, revealing something colorful and plastic. Her eyes widened. What did she have here…?

She moved her hand up closer to the head of her pickhammer to tap away at the surrounding dirt more carefully, unearthing the relic little by little. It was something pretty big, by the looks of it. And oddly shaped.

About a minute into uncovering the thing, she recognized what it was. The plastic bit was the lid on the hinge of that equatorial mount! This was the last fragment she needed. The restoration machine could work with this and the other two pieces.

She continued tap, tap, tapping away at the dirt surrounding the piece, slowly working around its weird curves. If this was a “mount”, then…what exactly was it mounting? The size of this piece was already pretty hefty. What on earth could the whole thing hold?

After a couple more taps, the mount piece was free. Luckily the exit was fairly close by. Wis carefully grabbed a hold of an end and dragged the relic piece away and out into the hot afternoon.

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

Pushing the carrying cart to a stop and double-checking to be sure it wouldn’t roll off down the street, Wis knocked on the door to the Research Center. There was no answer.

Frowning a little, she knocked again. After a moment, the door finally opened, revealing Director Qi’s deadpan face. Before Wis could even open her mouth to explain, his eyes widened.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed. He quickly shuffled around Wis and took a hold of the cart’s handle. “Hold the door open, if you could.”

Wis pursed her lips. No explanation needed, she guessed. She pushed her back against the door that was already open and nudged her foot to open the other door.

The director pushed the cart inside, over towards the open space beside his desk to have more room to inspect the mount.

“Fascinating…” he breathed as Wis shut the doors. She approached the mount as well, though with a couple steps of breathing room as Qi circled it.

“What…what’s it for, exactly?” Wis asked, her curiosity bubbling back up.

“Ah, I’m glad you asked,” Qi said, pushing his glasses up. “This—” He gestured toward the mount with a bit of flare. “—is an equatorial mount. You see, when observing celestial bodies, a telescope alone is insufficient. Not only does this device uphold a telescope, it also contains a simple little device called a clock drive, in this chamber here.” He tapped his finger against the cylindrical thing sticking out of the bottom of the higher end of the mount.

“It has a very simple function: it is a motor that makes one full revolution every 23 hours and 56 minutes. The axis of the motor is parallel to the rotational axis of the Earth, so that when it revolves, it moves directly in contrast to the Earth’s rotation.”

Wis pursed her lips. She was lost. So it makes a full…turn…over the course of a day? But with a little less?

Qi plowed on, unaware of Wis’s confusion. “Therefore, upon adjusting the mount’s ascension and declination—” He twisted his wrist like he was unscrewing a cap, then drew a diagonal line with his finger. “—the telescope can maintain focus on any celestial body of one’s choosing, even over the course of the night.”

He finally looked back up at Wis. “A simple device in concept, but brilliant when applied, no?”

“Uh…yeah…!” Wis gestured randomly with her hands, trying to pantomime what she thought was going on. “So…planet turns, and so it turns the telescope one way…and then the…clock drive turns it the other way to…hold it in place?”

Qi shook his head sharply. “No, no, builder. The opposite. It turns it in contrast with the Earth’s rotation to keep the telescope in motion and fixed on whatever celestial body you focus it on. Otherwise, an observer would need to manually adjust every time the body moved. Which is constantly, for obvious reasons.”

“R-right, right,” Wis said, nodding her head half-heartedly. If she at least showed some half-understandng, they wouldn’t become stuck with endless explanations and clarifications.

“In any case. Now that the matter of the mount has been settled, that would imply that there may be a telescope somewhere in the ruins as well,” Qi continued as he circled the mount again, sounding less like he was talking to Wis and more himself. “That only reinforces my hypothesis that this Old World metropolis was a center for aerospace industries…!”

He abruptly looked up at Wis again, who jolted. “Builder. I have another request.”

Wis held up her hands. “Whoa, whoa. Hang on. I just got this one done. I don’t know if—”

“Just hear me out,” Qi interjected. “You likely aren’t able to fulfill it right away, anyhow. I need you to find a telescope. One that fits this mount.”

“M-makes sense, but—”

“Where? Gecko Station, by my calculations. I have no idea why there, in a transport hub of all places, but that’s what the math is saying.”

“Gecko Station…” Wis muttered. She hadn’t heard anything about those abandoned ruins. “Where is that exactly? Don’t think anyone’s said anything about it.”

“Ah. Well, it’s across the canyon bridge, but I hear that the Civil Corps has closed off the bridge due to the ongoing Geegler menace. You will likely have to wait. At the very least, you can make note of my request and reserve time to carry it out once they reopen the bridge.”

I haven’t agreed to anything yet, bud… Wis grumbled internally. She sighed. “I’ll see. Commissions come first.”

Qi nodded. “Good. An observatory-grade telescope out here would be a massive boon for science. Very well then, good day.” He seemed to think the conversation was complete on that note, and turned to unload the mount off of Wis’s cart.

Wis blinked. “Um…” Her voice came out again without much thought. “Do you… need help with that?”

Qi’s head snapped back towards her, one eyebrow raised. He almost looked surprised she was still here. “Eh? Oh. No. It isn’t that bad.”

He kept tugging at the mount. It was just about as big as he was. It was already pretty heavy for Wis to push in the cart, so someone as scrawny-looking as Qi probably didn’t stand a chance. He could only really slowly inch it off. He was clearly trying to make it seem effortless.

Wis sighed lightly and walked around to the other side of the cart. “Here.”

Qi frowned. “Er, that’s not necessary, builder—”

But Wis was already hoisting one end of the mount up, tilting it towards Qi. “Back up slowly.”

Qi relented, but not without an indignant huff. The two of them ever so carefully lowered the mount onto the floor, standing it up on its base.

“Over there,” Qi nodded towards the wall his workbench was against, and they scooched it over and nudged it into the gap between his fridge and the weird-looking machine with a slot for data disks.

“There.” Qi wiped the dust and dirt off his hands on his pants. “At a later date, I shall have someone install this on my roof. When you find the telescope, you can simply bring it up and install it right away.”

“If I find it.”

“You will. The numbers are near certain. Just bring it here straight away when you do.”

“I’ll see, I’ll see,” Wis mumbled again. She still hadn’t promised anything. “Do I get to use it, at least? It sounds pretty cool.”

For some reason, that of all things seemed to throw Qi off-guard. He sputtered a few times, eyes darting around randomly, before quickly righting himself again. “Er. Well. This relic is being extracted for research purposes. And you are not research personnel. So, no. Rest assured though, you shall be compensated the appropriate monetary value for your labor. Speaking of—”

He turned to this desk, pulling one of the drawers open and taking out a small stack of gols. “For the mount,” he said, turning back to Wis.

Wis’s hand raised, though not to take the coins. “Hang on. The telescope. You’re expecting me to lug an even bigger relic up from all the way down there and up to your roof, and you’re not even gonna let me use it even once? I don’t assume you’re planning on asking anyone else about this job…”

“Well…I suppose I can ask the other builder to be on the lookout for it, but she has yet to produce anything particularly noteworthy from the ruins aside from data disks, and I have long since learned to minimize my expectations for the Civil Corps’ relic retrieval services—”

“So do you honestly think that a one-time payment’s enough?” Wis said with a frown. “Listen. I’m not asking you to shower me in money or praise or whatever. Just…it’s only fair that I get to use it if I find it, right?”

Qi hummed. “Technically this is work for hire, meaning you relinquish your work to me… But I suppose your point does hold merit. Perhaps we can negotiate some occasional usetime, whenever it does not interfere with mine.”

Wis heaved a sigh and nodded. “Alright. It’s a deal. Whenever those ruins open, I’ll keep my eyes open.”

“Brilliant. Rest assured that I shall compensate you well, builder. Science thanks you.”

“Sure. I’ll do my best.” She held out her hand to finally take her payment.

“See to it that you do. Good day.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Wis let out one last sigh as the door of the Research Center shut behind her. Another job for Science Man. Last time was repaying a favor, this time was more like she was shoved into it.

But even so, a faint hint of curiosity lingered at the back of her mind. A relic powerful enough to see the surface of planets and even more distant stars…who wouldn’t be interested?

Wis recalled a faint memory of a science class from a long time ago, on light pollution. How it was so prevalent with the urban sprawl of the Old World, all suddenly vanishing with the great cities during the Calamity. Now, with only the burgeoning efforts of the reemergence of mankind, not even the lights of Atara could compare to the effects that a single Old World metropolis had on the state of the sky. They in the New World could see the stars just like the most ancient of humans, her teacher had said.

Still, Wis couldn’t help but wonder now how the people of the Old World saw it. Maybe not with the naked eye, but with all their technology and instruments and of course, giant telescopes. How detailed and vivid and alien those images must have been. The lack of the ancient dark sky was certainly rather sad, for sure, but so was the loss of seeing the stars through the intricate lenses of what were now relics.

She blinked suddenly and shook her head, shelving the thought for some other time. While she was lost in thought, she had walked all the way home already.

Parking her now empty loading cart right beside the gate, Wis hummed. Back to work. Elsie needed her glass panes by tomorrow.

But maybe later, she could head back down to the ruins again, she thought. It wouldn’t be a giant telescope, and probably not anything earthshattering. But maybe she could uncover something small down there besides all the copper and clay. Something that would be worth wondering about, even for a little while.

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

prev | next | index

[rokhal]

Who did it better? Post-transformation adjustments

Robbie Reyes: “Pink-eye totally makes your iris turn orange, right? Maybe? Screw this I don’t have time to be sick” “The shady guy who talks in my head and keeps asking to borrow my body is cool as long as he gets me a deposit for a condo” “Just gonna casually steal this collectible muscle car that my soul is now bonded to. It’ll be handy for grocery shopping” “What are these weird scars on mY HEAD AUGHHHHH -- shit late for school nobody’s gonna notice” “Just gonna completely ignore the chrome V on my forehead and maybe it’ll go away”

Miguel O’Hara: “I’m a hideous freak with fangs and talons AUGHHHH” “Why do my arms itch AUGH Web from my arms (at least it’s not from my butt)” “AAUGH why is my vision all janky I can see EVERYTHING AUGHHH” “Gee I hope nobody in my experimental human augmentation research lab notices all my accidental augmentations...Sunglasses 24-7. No one will suspect a thing!” “New plan: never show teeth while smiling. I’m half White, this should be easy.” “Lucky my fiance and I don’t live together :) So I can hide my hideous mutations :)”

[kuma829]

Decorate♥Crimson Chocolat Festival Chapter Nine

Ooh, your face’s doing that thing~

Cast: Keito, Izumi, Leo

Author: Yuuki Yoshino

Season: Winter

Keito: (I’m completely late, aren’t I?)

(I told Kiryuu that I’d head to the soundproof practice room as soon as my work at the student council finished, but…)

a-Aha? W… What? Just now, there was something in that bush over there…

Hmm… It’s a cat? Where did you come from? It’s strangely pretty friendly, but it doesn’t have a collar…

Izumi: Hold it, where are you going~?

Keito: …!?

Izumi: Aaugh, isn’t there a ton of work left to be done? Soooo~annoying!

Keito: That voice just now… Wasn’t that Sena? It looks like he's gone, but it looks like he’s searching for someone…

It seems like my body instinctively thought to camouflage myself into my current surroundings… What the hell are you doing, me?

It was just because I was holding this cat I found, it’s not like I was doing anything wrong, right…?

Heh, haha! That tickles, my, you’re making yourself comfortable, aren’t you? …For a stray cat, you’re extremely friendly.

Speaking of strays, I heard Little John’s kittens were blessed with good foster parents.

Just the other day, I received a letter. Ahh, Little John…

Leo: Hey, Keito! Why don’tcha tell me about all that while you’re at it too!

Keito: Ough!? Tsu-Tsukinaga…? You, where did you come from?

Leo: Chocolat~! I was looking for ya, don’t ya just go running off without permission, only bad kitties do that, right~?

Keito: …Chocolat? Do you know this kitten?

Leo: Mhm. I found this little guy at school. I ended up taking ‘em over to Sena’s house so we could take care of Chocolat there.

When we were playing dress-up, Chocolat up and disappeared~. That’s why all of us split up to search for Chocolat.

I never thought Keito would be the one to find and protect you!

Thank you, Keito! I looove you!

Keito: Hm, it was just a coincidence. Anyway, when you say “everyone” you’re implicating the other members of Knights, yes?

I’m not sure what’s the deal with “Sena’s House,” but on school property this isn’t permissible.

If you keep this type of behaviour up, Yumenosaki will end up becoming a lawless wasteland.

Leo: Wahaha! Is that so! Don’t you worry, Keito. Naru will take Chocolat home and we’ll find Chocolat some adopted parents~

Keito: I see, if that’s the case, I take no issues with that.

Keito: Chocolat, I hope that you are fortunate enough to find foster parents that truly care for you…. Fufu, you’re a friendly kitty and I’m sure you’ll find a home soon. Stay happy, Chocolat.

Leo: Ooh, your face’s doing that thing~ Keito, when you do that, the atmosphere becomes much more lighter.

Keito: …Cough. I best be going. I was on my way to lessons, but I ended up wasting time here.

Leo: Is that it? I mean, I have to take Chocolat back too, or else I think Sena will go into a hysteric episode…

Well then, I’ll be going! Bye~bye!

Keito: How hectic…

But, thanks to you… I can see a glimmer of light in this dark tunnel.

All Chapters

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[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Let’s Start the Game...

[Buffalo, New York City, Two Days Later...]

HELLOOOOOO NEW YOORK!

Heheh...You’ve been waiting this entire trip to say that, haven’t you?

Sure have!

Shame that Hiro wasn’t here to say it with me.

...

*Byakuya pats her on the shoulder.

We find this 404 guy, and we may be one step closer to getting him back.

Stay strong Hina. We’ll get through this.

Yeah...yeah, you’re right.

Ok, so...where do we start?

It might be ideal for us to split up into groups of two or three to cover as much ground as possible. According to Chihiro’s info, this is around where the ERR0RM3SS4GE graffiti was. 

So this is where we search. If we’re going in groups, then Maya and I will go together.

That makes sense to me.

Toko and Komaru are probably gonna go together so...I’ll go with Byakuya.

I accept these terms.

Yeah, I mean...we’ll get this done faster if we go with people we’re familiar with.

We should take Akeru with us too. Are you two gonna go together then? If so, what about Kuripa?

Well Kuripa? Would you like to come with us?

Actually, I think I’m gonna go solo on this one.

Huh?

I can get stuff done fine on my own. You go with your wife.

A-Are you sure?

You can come with Four and me if you don’t wanna go with them.

I still need time to think about things. I’ll drag you down if I tag along.

But...I really must insist-

Who the hell do you think you are...? I can take care of myself...!

...!

You’re my boss...

Stop trying to be my Dad...

...Sorry.

Don’t worry, I’ll be FINE. I’ll call you if anything comes up.

You broke your phone, didn’t you?

Oh yeah...

Alright, well, I’ll just come straight back to the van with anything I find.

Stay safe, ok?

I will, I will...

*Everyone starts to disperse.

...

...?

...

*Kuripa catches Akeru giving him a weird glance before she trails behind her parents.

...

*True to his word, Kuripa starts wandering and searching on his own, however, unlike the rest of the group, he has his sights set on a certain place.

(Boss relayed the story to me with what happened to Akane Taira here...She said she visited some internet café, which is where she got threatened...”

*He stands out the front of one particular internet café.

(Let’s see if I’m worth threatening too...)

*He enters the café looks for the booths. Most of them are already full.

...Well, I don’t have my phone, and it’s not like I brought a laptop or some shit with me...Only one thing for it...

*He suddenly enters one of the occupied booths.

Customer: Ah-!?

You look like a reasonably smart man! Listen, I don’t have time to explain, but I’m on a mission. Give me your laptop.

Customer: A-Are you crazy!? Get out of my booth you weirdo, I’m in the middle of something!

...

*Kuripa suddenly grasps the customer by his head.

That wasn’t a request...

*WHAM!*

Customer: AAUGH! Uuugh......

*Kuripa slams the customers head into the desk, instantly knocking him out. He drags his body and leans it in a recovery position against the wall behind him.

Sorry, official Future Foundation business.

*He cracks his knuckles and starts typing into the laptop. He goes straight to ERR0RM3SS4GES website.

“Rumor has it if you say ERR0RM3SS4GES name 3 times in the mirror, 404 materializes behind you and calls you a bitch...”

But why do that when you can just offer yourself up as a sacrifice? When 404 finds out how many juicy secrets I’M hiding, he’s not gonna be able to resist the urge.

*Kuripa browses the website, and then after a few minutes.

...

Ooooooh...Either this is some flashy pop-up ad, or aliens are contacting me!

Psh...Who am I, Hagakure?

Close, but no cigar...Kuripa Kurafto, yes?

Ah, so you know my name?

...!

*Unsure of whether he’s being watched, Kuripa pokes his head up over the booth and peeks around the cafe. When he doesn’t spot anyone suspicious, he ducks back down again.

I know more about you than just a name you know. ERR0RM3SS4GE knows almost everything about everyone.

Oh yeah? Let’s test that.

What’s my fetish?

ENF and public humiliation.

Big boobs or small boobs?

You like small boobs.

I once wrote an erotic fanfiction on WattPad, True or False?

False. You wrote an erotic fanfiction on AO3 though.

Shit man, you ARE good.

Is that really all you want to know? There are many others parts of your history that are suitably...colorful.

Ah-Let me stop you right there pal.

I certainly have a lot of deep dark secrets that I don’t want anyone knowing, but the reason isn’t because I’m trying to protect myself.

If they find out what I’ve done or who I am, they won’t feel safe around me anymore...They won’t trust me and...it’ll break Boss’s heart.

So if you really are an agent of societal justice like I am, you’ll keep what you know to yourself. Understand?

...

Also, don’t talk tough shit. Uchui probably told you all of that stuff about me, didn’t he?

No actually. Uchui endeavored to keep your secrets for you. It seems the sense of companionship between you remains even though you fight on opposing sides.

Uh-huh...

And what side are YOU on?

...

You don’t seem inherently hostile, and I have heard rumors about the big bad brutes of society you shut down. I can get behind that cause.

But you also helped Uchui betray me and get into cahoots with Organization Zetsubou. What kind of plot are you cooking here.

...

If you don’t wanna answer, fine, at least answer me THIS.

ERR0RM3SS4GE are based in Japan, or so they say. What are you doing here in the USA?

...I’m on a mission.

Ah he speaks...! Interesting...what kind of mission?

Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you and the Future Foundation about. You’re the first I’ve been able to get in contact with, but...I need help.

...Help huh? Give me one second...

*Kuripa starts navigating through the customers laptop, and luckily, he finds a recording function. He activates it and it starts recording the screen.

So...you need help with this “mission” of yours...Let’s say, hypothetically, that we agree to help you with whatever you’re up against. What do WE get out of this?

Future Foundation are used to helping people without direct compensation, but unfortunately, morally ambiguous hacker organizations aren’t exactly on our help list.

Hahahah...Your sense of humor definitely adds levity to this situation. But whether you think we’re good or bad, all we’re trying to do is make a difference.

...

Help me...and I’ll send you the location of Organization Zetsubou’s base.

Wait...you know where they’re hiding...!?

If you want me to be perfectly honest, no, I don’t. However, I currently have a plan in the works involving getting that information. Help me, and as soon as I get it, it’s all yours.

Then...the reason you helped Uchui...!? It was so you could use him to find Zetsubou...!?

We can discuss that later. But on top of information, you’ll get all my connections and all my assets to use as you please. If you play nice...maybe I’ll even lend you some gear to destroy Organization Zetsubou once and for all.

...

An enticing offer, but what exactly is it that you need us to do for you?

Unfortunately, I can’t say that directly. I need to know if you’re well and truly up to the task. Not just in terms of abilities, but in terms of how far you’re willing to go.

Well, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to rescue those kids that got taken at the camp. But I can’t say the same for my cohorts. THEY have standards.

Exactly. If you want to know what I know, then I suggest you make your way to a place called the Walkie-Talkie.

The Walkie-Talkie?

Yes. It’s placed at the top of a high-rise flat, and serves as a social gathering hub. People come and go and make business deals and also friends there. However, others tend to use it as a front for illicit dealings and otherwise.

I see...so your target is that place?

No...My target is something much bigger...

Huh?

But it is true that place is hiding some secrets. More will be revealed there. I’ve just uploaded the necessary data to this PC, so do with that what you will. I’ll be going now. 404 out.

Wha-Hey!

*Before Kuripa can stop him, 404 disappears from the screen.

Piss!

*He stops the recording, swipes the laptop and hurries back to the camper.

[rain-candles-jazz]

whumpcember day 5: "i hate you"

tw: medical, restraint, sharp instruments

Sariel opened her eyes instantly upon regaining consciousness. She proceeded to try to jump to her feet, but found that her arms and legs were tightly bound... again. Even if it had never worked before, she struggled with all her strength to attempt to escape them.

With this effort, and her adrenaline beginning to die down a bit, she noticed a pain in her left abdomen that flared up with each additional attempt at movement. Sari stopped and stared at the ceiling... the now familiar ceiling with the stain that reminded her of a tea cup and saucer, the ceiling she had counted the pockmarks of many times. She was tired and angry, and she just wanted all this to be over.

"ITCHY!" she yelled, her side aching with the effort. "ITCHY GET THE HELL-"

"WHAT?!" came Itchy's reply from across the room, probably from his curtained prep closet. Footsteps approached the table she was strapped too, and she heard the distinct sound of metal instruments clacking against a metal tray. "I swear you are so impatient," Itchy tutted.

Sari could only see glimpses of him, swaying back and forth, instruments clacking as he sorted them.

"Itchy," Sari growled. "What happened?" A question, voiced as a command.

Itchy was unfazed by her tone. "Don't you remember? God, you have a terrible memory." He stood tall, hovering over her so that she could see him, that look of superiority that she hated so much plastered on his face. Her side ached anew, and she winced, attempting to show no more signs of weakness. "You failed to grasp the entire scope of the battlefield! What kind of elite soldier drone thing can't even dodge some friendly fire?"

Sari blinked at him before realizing what he'd said. "You... you SHOT me?!"

Itchy shrugged. "It was a perfectly good line of fire. Can't help it if you stepped in front of it. Amateur mistake on your part, really."

Sari was furious. Itchy had shot her in the back and blamed her for it. Before she could say anything else about it, the ache in her side turned into a sharp stabbing pain.

"Aahhh!! What- what the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, attempting with little progress to flinch away from the feeling.

"I'm trying to get some of my shot back," he said as though it were the most obvious think in the world. "I'd much rather dig out what I can. Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to make buckshot?"

Sari recognized the feeling of a scalpel slicing afresh at her side. "AAugh!! S-stop! Itchy, please!" He cut deeper, and she felt like the blade was slicing straight through her brain, instantly erasing all clear thoughts.

"Ugh," Itchy replied in annoyance. "If I had any anesthetic, you know I'd give it to you. If for no other reason to shut you up." He knew well from trial and error that the restraints he used would hold Sari still enough to do what he had to. He grabbed a laryngoscope to poke around through the shredded muscles of Sari's abdomen. They tensed as he touched them, and he impatiently pushed them away so he could look further into the tissue.

Sari clenched her teeth and closed her eyes as she felt the cold metal pressing through her flesh. "Ah-ah! Itchy-" The scalpel was sliding in now, and she felt a deep cut further up towards her ribs. "Itchy stop!! God why?!"

Itchy ignored her completely, dropping the scalpel and grabbing a small pair of needle-nose pliers. He maneuvered them in, gripping a small jagged metal slag that was imbedded in tissue. He pulled it towards him, ripping the tissue it was lodged in.

Sari tensed all over. She opened her eyes wide but saw only white stars. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Itchy dropped the metal piece on his tray with a clang. He smiled. He knew there was stuff to salvage from this incident! He grabbed the scalpel again and began to poke around.

After a few moments, Sari seemed to regain herself a little, and she began to make noises that gradually progressed into words. "Ah... I... I... h... ha... haah!" Another pinch from inside her muscles made her wince. Another deep cut made her scream, and her voice and mind integrated enough to make her feelings known. "AAaah- I HATE YOU!" She yelled at full volume, straight into the ceiling. "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU UUNH-" Yet another stab. "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!"

Itchy winced at the sheer intensity of her voice but continued working through her mindless tirade. "Yeah well," he said softly, more to himself than anything. "Its not exactly my goal to be loved."

[monkeydlesbian]

i love you josuke higashitaka

[saviorsbookcafe]

The Savior’s Book Café in Another World: Chapter 9

INDEX || PREVIOUS || NEXT

Chapter 9: The Savior

Translated by: sydney Proofread by: Necro

Was my alone time always this slow?

It’s been a little over a week since Ill returned to the castle.

In the past, time would fly by in an instant so long as I was reading a book, but now it feels strangely slow.

In the meantime, I’ve been researching a little about Saviors.

Before, I had only briefly looked over the basics, so this time I decided to dive further into Saviors and their magic, and what happens when a Savior’s magic goes out of control, like God had mentioned.

There are a few things I’ve learned.

That when a Savior uses Great Magic, the same Savior’s Mark that is on a Savior’s body appears within the magic circle.

That as God said, there was a Savior whose magic went out of control before.

And that when that Savior’s magic went out of control, a magic circle containing the Savior’s Mark just like the magic circle for Great Magic appeared in the sky, and it blew away an entire country.

After running my fingers along the image of the magic circle that appears when a person’s magic goes out of control, I stand in front of the mirror and try to use Great Magic.

I made sure to stop before it activated, but in my case as well, the magic circle that had been expanding had the Savior’s Mark in it.

Not only that, but the glowing Savior’s Mark appears above my head as well, and all of my hair is clad in light from the glowing Savior’s Mark, and begins waving around, like in the wind.

After the Savior’s Mark faded, I pulled my hair away from where it had appeared and looked in the mirror, to see the Savior’s Mark clear on my skin.

I sink to the ground weakly in front of the mirror.

“And after I had it put under my hair so it wouldn’t stand out. If it’s just going to appear in the sky anyways.... And it makes my hair glow like crazy, I should’ve just let it show up somewhere on my body.”

Like this, I know the moment I use Great Magic I’ll be exposed as a Savior.

I was thinking that even if that Savior does something, maybe I could quietly create a barrier to protect everyone.

To the young Savior in the castle, please don’t do anything outrageous.

I really don’t want to have to worry about your magic going out of control.

In this country is Ill, who’s fighting to protect the country’s peace.

That Ill has become an important person to me, so I’m no longer able to abandon this country the way I would have when I first arrived.

I can’t quietly use Great Magic, and while I considered using Great Magic to put up a barrier before anything happens, in this country whenever someone mentions a Savior, they mean the girl in the castle.

If people think she did it, it’ll probably make things even worse.

I can only guess based on what I’ve heard from Ill and God, but she seems like the type who would tell everyone she casted the spell and use it as an excuse to act even more selfishly.

“Aaugh, I give up....”

Ill seemed rather resentful of the savior, saying she was just playing around and doing whatever she wanted.

But I’m exactly the same.

Because even though I have the ability to save this country, I’ve been hiding away and immersing myself in my beloved reading.

If he found out I was a Savior, I wonder what he would do.

“...I don’t want him to hate me.”

I never thought I would agonize over love this much at thirty-three.

For now, I can’t do anything but pray that the Savior behaves herself.

I glance over to my calendar.

The day marked ‘Aurora Festival’ is now tomorrow.

“Maybe I’ll look for something to wear tomorrow.”

It won’t do any good to worry, and because I’m finally seeing Ill again after some time, I want to look as nice as possible.

Because although I don’t have an answer for the conflict in my head lately, I have an answer for my feelings towards him.

And the next evening, he arrived at the same time as usual.

It’s refreshing to see him in casual clothes, rather than a uniform.

Seeing the broach pinned to his cloak made me a little happy.

As he approached on his horse, I called out to him, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you to. I actually wanted to come here earlier so I could spend some time here before we leave, but I only barely finished my work in time.”

“Oh, are you alright to go?”

“Yeah, I wanted to go with you no matter what. I’m relieved I finished in time.”

“O-oh, thank you.”

He smiles at me warmly, and I feel my face heat up.

Ill offers a hand to me from atop his horse and I take it without thinking, only to feel weightless for a moment.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on Ill’s horse, in front of him.

“Wait, huh?”

“We can go by horse like this. There’s a horse stable near the grounds reserved for the festival.”

That part’s fine with me, but, he’s so close.

Ill is so close to me.

We’re incredibly close to each other, and we’re so high up.

Right, she’s a war horse.

I knew Ill’s horse was big, but the ground feels so far away.

“It’s, so high....”

“Oh, sorry, are you okay with this?”

“I-I’m fine, but, this is the first time I’ve ever been on a horse, so I was just surprised.”

“She likes you too, so she won’t drop you. Just hold onto me.”

That actually makes me more nervous, I think, though I can’t say that.

Did he really lift me all the way up here with one arm?

I knew he was strong and he had big hands, but this is too much.

I suddenly become aware of the arm wrapped around me to support me.

What is this, a manga or something?

Is there a demand for love stories like in manga but with women in their thirties?

I’m jostled by Ill’s horse while my mind races faster than I can keep up with in my confusion.

Perhaps because Ill is skilled, or maybe because his horse is being careful, it’s not uncomfortable at all, so it’s kind of pleasant.

Though I can’t see his face because of how close I am to him.

After some time we arrive at what appeared to be the festival grounds, and that heavenly, but in a way hellish time ended.

It’s nearly pitch black out, and there are people around, but it’s relatively quiet for the number of people here.

“It’s really quiet here.”

“It starts with everyone just watching the aurora at first. The aurora disappears after about an hour, and then any shops and stalls open from then on.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Are you okay with walking a bit? We can go to the place I watch from every year, where it’s quiet.”

“Like a clearing? Sure.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

The fact that we hold hands unconsciously makes me a little happy.

We go up an incline, Ill leading the way, and emerge at the top of a small hill.

It feels like it’s just the two of us.

It’s a place surprisingly spacious in the middle of the growing trees on the hill.

“It’s amazing. You can see the whole sky so clearly, unlike anywhere else.”

“Yeah, my long-time friend told me about it before.”

“Is that friend not coming?”

“He’s the Vice Knight Captain, so every year we switch shifts for guarding the royal family. Well, he says he doesn’t mind either way because guarding the royal family means guarding his fiancée, the Princess.”

“O-oh, I see. Then it sounds like there’s going to be a special announcement soon in this country.”

“Yeah.”

Oh, so his long-time friend is a man, I think, realizing exactly how in love I am.

I was immediately disgusted by the part of me that wondered if he came here with a female friend just after hearing the phrase ‘long-time friend.’

One of the reasons I thought love was a pain was that specific aspect.

The old me wouldn’t have even been able to imagine myself thinking this much about one person, let alone in another world.

I thought love was a bother, and that if I had time to devote to a partner, I’d rather spend it reading.

The me that always thought doing things for others was a waste of time now finds it enjoyable to give up my time for the sake of the person next to me.

I glance up towards the sky, where the aurora still hasn’t appeared.

In the middle of the forest, we watch the sky together.

My hand feels hot in his.

Even though we’ve already arrived at our destination and we don’t have to hold hands, he makes no motion to let go.

It feels like he’s thinking of me.

It feels like the fact that we’re still holding hands makes that possibility a little more likely.

Is it okay to hope that maybe he doesn’t want to let go of my hand either?

“It’s starting now.”

At Ill’s words, I look up at the sky.

It was a sight I couldn’t put into words.

A curtain of light spread across the sky, from one edge to the other, high and low.

An aurora that, thanks to the sharp chill in the air, drifted through the sky, burying the brightly shining stars in a flood of light.

The fundamentals of the world I was born in may differ from this one, but it looked exactly like what I’d seen in pictures and videos.

But the impact was completely different.

Every inch of the sky was covered in a beautiful veil, and I was so taken that I nearly forgot to breathe.

I continue to stare at the natural display in front of me, unable to pull my eyes away.

Who would have thought there was something so beautiful in this country, where I live?

It feels like I’m finally realizing that this country, which I’ve been thinking of as ‘someone else’s problem,’ is actually relevant to me too.

I don’t know how long I was watching the aurora.

The curtain of light in the sky continued drifting with the wind, staying bright.

Suddenly I feel a gaze on me, and I remove my gaze from the sky and look beside me.

I meet eyes with Ill, who’s looking at me with a gentle expression.

“Do you like it?”

“Very much so. Thank you for bringing me here, Ill.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

I can see the aurora past Ill’s gently smiling face.

It feels like I’m looking at something incredibly important and precious, and I almost think I’m going to cry.

Ahh, it’s no good.

I really do like him.

I feel his hand squeeze mine more than ever before.

And just as Ill, smiling at me, opened his mouth as if to say something--

A thunderous booming drowned out all of the stillness.

I jolt in surprise, before I’m pulled close to Ill, his arms wrapping around me as if to drown me in his chest.

The ground shook, allowing me no time to be startled, and I desperately clung to Ill.

When I finally raise my head, I can see the sky, soaked in an ominous bright red.

As if puncturing the now-faint curtain of light, giant flaming rocks began raining down, coming our way.

“Eeek!”

Even though I can see the boulders closing in on us, my body is frozen.

I’m pulled even tighter against Ill, and I can see Ill’s arm directed towards the sky.

From his hand, water droplets flew towards the falling boulder, sending it flying.

“Tsukina, are you okay?!”

“I-I’m...okay....”

It took all my effort just to get the words out.

This is why I said I can’t be a Savior.

Right now I actually have magic, and I can put up a barrier, and I can spray water like him too.

But in the midst of danger, I can’t even think of defending myself.

Even right now, I have no idea what I should do.

Being raised in a peaceful country, all I can do is freeze up and tremble pathetically.

This isn’t a book or a game.

I can’t move perfectly like the hero of a story.

This is the reality when I’ve been suddenly hit with a catastrophe.

“What on earth....”

I hear a voice echoing from against Ill’s chest, as he continues to keep watch around us.

It seems he took out his transmitter.

“Ill, you okay?!”

“Beork! I’m fine, what about you, what happened?”

“It’s the Savior! She did this!”

My stomach dropped at the words coming from the other side of the transmitter.

When I look up at the sky, I see a faint magic circle in the red sky.

It’s the same one I saw in the book, the magic circle when a Savior’s magic goes out of control, with the Savior’s Mark in it.

Ill, looking up at the sky just like me, notices the Savior’s Mark, and shouts into the transmitter.

“What do you mean?!”

“The Prince said he’d persuade her, right, but it seems somehow our Savior’d rather the country be destroyed than her have to learn magic! What an amazing Savior!”

Within the bitter sarcasm of the person on the other end of the transmitter, a small, high voice echoes out.

“Why, why?! Mommy and Daddy said I could do whatever I want! They said I don’t have to do anything I don’t wanna do! I keep saying I don’t wanna study, but everyone’s trying to make me! And locking me in my room! I’m not ba--”

The voice that came through the transmitter sounded almost like a child throwing a temper tantrum, until a dull sound cut that voice off.

“Hey, Beork, what happened!”

“The Prince stabbed the Savior...! Prince, please stand back! Shit, Ill, the Savior’s still alive! A second wave is coming!”

“Hey, hey! Beork?”

The sound of an explosion rings out as the transmission cuts off.

From a short distance away, we hear screams.

It was almost like a scene from hell, with flaming boulders falling from the sky, towards the expanding forest below us.

A huge shadow appears from above us, and a small scream escapes from my throat.

Once again, Ill deflects the boulder hurtling towards us with magic, and his face contorts as he shouts.

“What, just what are Saviors good for! What are you saving us from?! You’re just selfishly manipulating us and taking what you want!”

I realize this is the first time I’ve seen him truly angry.

Even so, it feels like I’m going to cry from how kind he’s being to me, deflecting the boulders with magic and protecting me so I don’t get hit.

My chest feels hot.

What am I doing?

In contrast to the heat in my chest, the inside of my head is suddenly cold.

I stop shaking.

In my head, I recall my conversation that day with God.

“But, let’s see, if for example her magic went out of control but you were able to contain it with your barrier magic, then it would be possible for me to retrieve her without the country being destroyed. Even if the country was ultimately saved, it would mean she had still nearly destroyed it.”

“Like I said, whatever you decide is your choice. You should live as you like.”

I look at Ill, his breath ragged as he protects me, searching for some way out of this.

I feel the warmth of his body, almost hot, and I know he’s really protecting me.

The one person who I met and fell in love with after I came to this world.

Ah, I wonder if he’ll hate me.

“Hey, Ill.”

“What’s wrong, are you hurt?”

He looks at me, eyes filled with concern, and I smile at him.

Even if I can’t act for someone I don’t know, I can for him.

It’s okay, he’s protecting me right now.

I won’t die before I can activate my magic.

No matter what, he’s always providing me with safety.

“I like you.”

“...huh?”

He looks at me in surprise, as if in disbelief of what he’s seeing, and I smile at him again.

Please don’t hate me, please, my heart cries out.

“So, I know it’ll probably be difficult, but I hope you don’t hate me.”

Tears fall from my eyes.

This is pathetic, I can’t even control my emotions like a proper adult.

I remove myself from his loosened grasp, and gently raise my hands towards the sky.

If I could have, if you would have let me, I would have hidden it and kept smiling with you.

Magic gathers in my fingertips.

I see my hair glowing and waving around in my peripheral.

Surprised, Ill’s gaze moves from my face to over my head, where the sign of a Savior, the Savior’s Mark, must be visible in the air.

I wave my hands lightly, and shoot the collected magic towards the sky.

Below that girl’s magic circle, mine expands, spreading across the sky with incredible speed.

The red light of her magic is flung away and dispelled by my silver Great Magic barrier.

In addition, I saw light falling from the barrier, healing the destroyed forest, and likely healing the wounds of the people inside the barrier as well.

Inside my head, God’s voice rings out.

“I will retrieve her now. Thank you for protecting this world. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t do it for you, I think to myself as I turn to face Ill again.

The magic stopped flowing from my fingers, and the Savior’s Mark disappeared along with the glow.

In the sky, the barrier remained.

With the Savior’s Mark inside it, proof that it was the work of a Savior.

I looked over at Ill, still too surprised to move, and opened my mouth.

“I’m sorry for hiding it. The festival was really fun, thank you for taking me.”

“T-Tsukina, that marking, the Great Magic-- are you a Savior, too?”

“I’m going back to the café. Her magic should be gone now, but be careful getting back,” I say, not answering his question.

I’m too afraid to wait for his reaction, so I quickly turn on my heel and grip the waiting teleportation magic intermediary.

I’m weightless for a moment, and then the familiar café is around me.

All of the energy leaves my body, and I slide to the ground right there.

I wonder if I’m dizzy because of my emotions... no.

God did say that using Great Magic once would leave me bedridden for several days due to magic deficiency.

But one use of it should create a Great Magic barrier that will hold for decades, so this country should be secure for a while.

Using my arms, I manage to drag myself to the sofa in the café and collapse into it.

I let out a sigh when I feel the soft cushions against my back.

Now he knows.... He probably won’t come back anymore.

Or if he does, it’ll be on official business.

It’s hard to imagine the country would just leave the existence of a Savior be.

“Even though, I can’t...do anything....”

Even today, the only reason I was able to act was because I was safe in his arms, because I didn’t want the person I love to be sad.

Yeah, love....

The ceiling light in my vision blurs and I can’t see anymore.

We probably won’t be able to spend time together peacefully anymore.

It was as if I was being pulled along by the situation, I just thought, Well, if this is the end anyways, and looked at him and confessed, but maybe I shouldn’t have done that.

I hope he, who’s so kind, doesn’t think too much on it.

The end, the end.

Even though I confessed to him, even though I was undeniably happy until then.

I wonder if this is the punishment for keeping quiet about being a Savior.

But if it’s God punishing me, I think I deserve giving him a punch in the face, at least once.

“I’m tired.... I’m low...on magic....”

The world goes black, and I’m led into a deep sleep.

I wonder if anything will have changed when I wake up.

That’s what I had thought as I closed my eyes, but as it turns out, nothing has changed.

I’m the only one in the café, and Ill doesn’t come.

Because I have so much magic, it’ll take quite awhile to completely recover, and it’ll only replenish little by little.

About three days have passed, though most of my time is spent sleeping to recover my magic.

I don’t even know when I’m going to end up falling asleep, so I can’t even go upstairs to my living space in time.

I never thought a day would come where I’d be using that private room like this.

For days, I eat food summoned from my pendant, and I just take quick showers in the bath in the private room, and sleep.

After falling asleep and waking up who knows how many times, I’m face-down on the counter with absolutely no idea what day it is.

I’m still not used to this sudden drowsiness.

It’s not about being able to open the café though, because even if I opened it no one would come.

It just wouldn’t be unusual for a messenger from the castle to come any day now, but the door showed no signs of opening.

Either way though, I don’t have the energy to worry about that.

I can’t do anything about the sudden dizziness that overcomes me, so I try to return to the sofa once again to lie down.

I’m sleeping less now, so I’ll probably be awake again in two to three hours.

I decide to abandon my body to sleep, and close my eyes.

I wish I could fight off this sleepiness, but at the same time I am a little grateful I won’t have to look at this lonely café.

And then I’m conscious again.

I wonder just how long until I’m free from this drowsiness....

Having just opened my eyes, my vision was still blurry, but there was one thing I noticed.

Something smells nice, what is this?

It was like flowers, a nice smell, and I closed my eyes once again before slowly opening them.

In my slightly blurred vision is the color red.

Did I put something red here?

I rub my eyes, still in a daze from just waking up, and sit up.

“Are you awake?”

I hear a familiar voice, and suddenly the sleepiness is gone.

I don’t really remember how I got back from the festival grounds.

I remember getting on my horse; maybe I just let her bring me all the way back, she’s a very dependable horse.

The Prince who stabbed the Savior requested a punishment, saying it was his fault the country was almost destroyed.

But not a single person wished the death penalty on the Prince, the person who tried to fix the problem with his own hands by stabbing the girl with a sword, so he was only confined to the castle for several years and made to redo his various studies.

More than anything else, the entire country was worked up trying to find the other Savior.

If you look up at the sky, a giant barrier protects this country, the same as in the stories passed down, one made of a type of Great Magic that heals all allies within and shields them from any outside attacks.

Not with the sinister red light created by that girl, but a kind, silver light.

Only I know who put up that barrier.

I showed so much disgust for the Savior, but I never imagined her to be one too.

“So, I know it’ll probably be difficult, but I hope you don’t hate me.”

I can’t get her tearful smile out of my head.

Since then it’s been three days, and I haven’t made a single move.

Of course there has been a lot to clean up after that incident.

But really, I don’t know what I want to do.

I’m lost in my thoughts, unable to work on the documents in front of me, when a knock sounds from the door.

The door opens to reveal Beork, who looks at my face and sighs.

“What are you sighing at?”

“You, you were all excited to go and confess to her only to come back and not only not say a word to me, but get all depressed too. And it doesn’t seem like you just failed to tell her.”

“...that’s...”

“Were you not able to confess to her during the Savior incident?”

“Sort of. Well, she did first.”

“Huh? As a man you should at least be the one to confess, even I was the one who ultimately confessed to the Princess. But that aside, then it’s mutual, so why are you all depressed?”

“I haven’t answered.”

“What? Oh, because of that Savior’s attack?”

“Well, there was that too....”

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but as for me, I’d greatly welcome her being your girlfriend. Thanks to her barrier charms, miraculously there were no deaths during this incident.”

I stay silent, and Beork tilts his head at me, continuing in an exasperated tone.

“Just what on earth are you so concerned about? If you haven’t replied to her yet then just go see her. Or are you going to tell me you don’t know how you feel all of a sudden?”

“What if I did?”

“Hey hey, even though you’ve always spent all of your time thinking about the things you liked, it was almost refreshing how little you thought of the things you lost interest in. What you’re worried about is whether or not you like that woman, right? If you’re not sure if you like her, then imagine if she started dating someone else, how would you feel?”

I do what Beork suggests, and imagine a scene where a man I don’t know is standing next to her.

The man I don’t know turns into the man I saw at the café that one day, and all I felt was a strong discomfort.

“...I absolutely don’t like that. Sorry, Beork, but please switch shifts with me for today!”

“You’re so spirited lately. But for my one and only childhood friend’s romance it’s not a problem. I still owe you for helping the Princess and me out. You go buy some flowers or something and see her. If you start worrying about it again and hesitate, this time I’ll be the one pushing you into a frozen lake.”

Beork’s eyes have a joking light in them.

It seems he’ll never forget when he was worrying over his love for the Princess, and I accidentally pushed him into a lake trying to pat him on the back.

“Please spare me that. I’ll be back, I appreciate it.”

“If you really want to show your appreciation, then just introduce her to me once she’s your girlfriend. Both the Princess and I have been wondering about the woman who captured your heart.”

Beork watches me leave with a smile, and I start off on my horse.

I haven’t seen her since that day, I wonder if she’ll be in the café.

I suddenly get anxious, and my horse speeds up as if reading my mind.

“You really are a good horse.”

Taking Beork’s advice, I buy some red flowers and rush to the café.

Just like usual, though slightly rushed, my hands are shaking as I put my horse in the paddock, and I suppress my racing heartbeat and unease as I push open the door, which moves easily like always.

I don’t hear her usual “Welcome.”

Don’t tell me she really left the café.

I slowly peek inside, not seeing any sign of anyone, and my heart pounds loudly.

I step inside, and look around.

I can’t hear anything over my pounding heart as I wonder where she is.

I look around several times, before spotting her laying on the sofa in the corner.

I realize she’s asleep, and quietly move towards her.

She’s remarkably low on magic, to the extent that I can tell just by looking at her.

It’s probably from using the Great Magic.

Then she must be sleeping to recover.

Trying not to wake her, I sit down on the open part of the sofa.

Once she wakes up, I’ll finally tell her.

So please, let her still like me.

I gently stroke her cheek, and wait for her to wake up.

[cubedmango]

OMF YOU GET ITTT like domesticity is in idc we’re in this slice of life business until the END. but basically it’s really weird cause I read 5363838 jp fans’ logs and reviews of the movie and their fav scenes etc and no one mentioned this one? but the scene where they go grocery shopping and they walk back into adachi’s house and there’s letters on the floor for both of them bc KUROSAWA MOVED IN😭😭😭 (clenches fist bites tongue spins so fast on one spot I drill a hole through the floor) and he gets all giddy and smiley cause it sinks in that kurosawa’s mail comes there now because they’re a couple living together and oh my god i’m gonna d*e

it’s okay if you don’t post this btw bc of the spoilers I just had to get it out bc I haven’t even seen this yet and it’s already The Scene of All Time WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABT IT I’D GO BONKERS maybe i’m just easy to please😭

I NEVER HEARD OF THIS SCENE WAIT HOLD ON????? HOLD ON???????????????????? HOW DID I MISS THIS WAIT I NEED TO SIT DOWN . ANON............. ANON........................ (SOFTLY, WITH EMOTION) WHAT THE FUCK ..................... IM CRYING OVER FUCKING LETTERS ARE U KIDDING ME AAUGH KURODACHI MY BELOVEDS PLEASE STOP DOING THIS TO ME

[theshippingpro]

Hot to Patch up your Gremlin Child and Gator Brother! (Part 1/?)

(A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to the second part of my series called A How to Guide for a Gremlin Child to be a Pacifist? (It's Going Better Then Expected). I would really recommend that you go check out the first part of the series right here for part one, and right here for part two of the same story. Hope you guys enjoy the story!)

“Aaugh…”

Gregory curled into himself, leaning against the gator’s chest. Trying his best to keep his breathing even.

“Crap, little guy, are you alright?”

“Mmmph, yep, totally fine, it’s not like you just jumped from a catwalk. Oh, I don’t know thirty fucking feet in the air! When you could've gone down the stairs that were, oh I don’t know, right fucking next to us!”

“... So, mistakes were made…”

“Jeez you think!?!?”

“Let me see your side.”

Gregory felt the gators hands leave his back. Bring him up to the gators shoulder to try and get a better look. He opened one of his eyes to see what he was doing. But was immediately distracted by a light shining in his eyes.

“Wait, Monty, the S.T.A.F.F bot, behind you!”

“SHIT!”

Monty tightens his hold on the kid and started running.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Monty turned around the corner and ran straight into the hallway. Taking a minute to look around.

“... I think we’re safe now, let me get a look at your side.” Gregory glared up at the gator, his hand pushing down on his wound.

“I’m fine, it just didn’t like you jumping thirty fucking feet.”

Gregory felt Monty's arm twitch. Gregory tensed up realizing what he did.

Fuck, I made him mad. I should have kept my mouth shut.

“It won’t happen again kid, promise.”

Gregory's eyes widen at the gator. Blinking up at him, waiting for him to say or do anything else. But he didn't, he just looked down at him. He realized that Monty was waiting for him to respond. So, he said the first thing that came to mind.

“You sure are making a lot of promises…”

“That I plan on keeping, trust me kid, I’m a gator that keeps them. Now let’s see that side of yours”

Gregory pressed his lips together. Shit, this is where the punishment comes in. But I can't exactly tell him no, he'll just make it worst.

“... Okay”

Gregory moved his hand out of the way, and onto his chest. Giving Monty enough room to lift the kid’s shirt up, leaning over the kid a little, looking for any more damage that could have been done. Monty was a tough guy, not a lot of things could make the gator uncomfortable. But looking at the kids wound, knowing that it was his claws that did that. Even if he didn’t remember doing this… It kept making that thing in his torso moving in some very uncomfortable ways.

“Monty?”

Monty glanced up at the kids face. Noticing the way kid was still tense, his face completely blank of any expression. But his eyes sharp and watching him, he looked like he was waiting for something to happen. He hated that look, he wanted to erase that look off the kids face completely. He wasn't sure how; it was always Freddy or Chica that would handle the more emotional kids. Hell, even Roxy could clam a kid down if needed. But that was never Monty's thing, he was too rough, too scary, or too sharp for the kids. He just tends to make things worse, and make the kids cry more. He could always help after, or if they needed a distraction, he was good at that.

I'm not even sure if the other could get this kid to calm down.

This was completely different; this had never happened at the mall. Sure, they had some kids fall and hurt themselves, and a couple of scraps here and there. But never something like this. Never one of them hurting a child, never one of them spilling blood. It went against their programing to do so, like chasing a kid around after hours for who knows how long. At least it uses to be...

Monty took another glance down at the kids’ side, double check to make sure he didn't miss anything. And to make sure none of his anger escaped into his voice.

“It looks okay, I don’t know if that jump caused any of it to open more. But you're bleeding the same amount.”

“Yay, blood is still escaping my body. Just what we needed.”

Monty let out a mechanical noise, Gregory swore it sounded like a sigh. Monty looked back down to his side, his hand still right next to his wound, but Gregory had a feeling that he wasn’t looking at the wound. Gregory pressed his lips together. Monty was acting weird again he wasn't sure what was happening with the gator, he wasn't sure if he was lost in his own head. Or if Monty was going to turn on him and start chasing him once more. He really hoped not, he wanted to at least get back to Freddy before any of that would happen. So, Gregory took a deep breath and decided to ask him out right. Maybe he would give him a head start if he did want to chase him again.

“Monty? Are, are you…? Still there?”

Monty shook his head, from stopping his thoughts dead in its tracks. And looked back up to the kids face, Monty could see the fear on the kids face this time. His eyes a little wider, looking like he was going to bolt at any minute. Even with his side in so much pain. Causing the thing in him to act up even more.

Snap out of it, this is not the time to be thinking about that. Just say something to the kid and get a move on.

“Yep, still here, just got lost in thought. We should stop by the gift shop, see if there is anything we can use for that wound.”

Monty straightened out his back, moving his hand to help Gregory pull his shirt back down, as he looked around for anymore S.T.A.F.F bots.

“Really? And why not a first aid station?” Gregory asked as he put his hand back onto his side, using his other arm still resting on his chest, as he looked up at Monty. Glaring at him once more.

“They took all the first aid stations out of the golf course a couple of days ago. There was some sort of goo in all of them.” Monty looking back at the way they came as he said this

“Gross.” Gregory pulled a grossed-out face, sticking his tongue out.

“Yep.”

Gregory's face smoothed out and gave the gator a confused look.

“Why not go to Gator Grub instead? It’s closer.”

Monty turned his head back around and looked down at the kid.

“Kid, I’m not the brightest bulb around here. But even I know that we would have better luck with the gift shop. Unless you need something to eat? Should you even be eating? Is it even safe to give you water?”

Gregory bit his lips and taking a quick glance down to his side. Before looking back up to Monty.

“Um… I’m not really sure.”

Monty shrugged his shoulders lightly.

“Better be safe than sorry, let’s get you something.”

Gregory gave Monty a panicked look. Almost rising his arms up to grab onto Monty's shoulders, before thinking better of it. He didn't want to push him to far, at least until he got patched up.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, what if my side explodes?”

Gregory threw his arms up, trying to mimic an explosion. Monty’s jaw tightening at the thought of that happening to the kid.

“Can that happen to humans?”

Gregory brought his arms down, crossing them on his chest and glaring up at the gator.

“I don’t know! Do I look like a doctor to you?”

“We can always save it for later?” Monty almost moved his hand from the kids back to scratch his neck.

Gregory glared up at the gator for a moment.

“Fine, we can grab something on our way out.”

Monty snapped his eyes back up. Trying his best to keep the grin out of his voice.

“Alright, little guy lets head out. Trust me kid, the Gator Grub has the best food.”

“Monty, you can’t taste food.”

“The point still stands kid.”

Monty shifted his grip and started walking down the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Gregory was staring up at the gator, wide eyed. Looking back and forth between him and the walkway, where a couple of S.T.A.F.F bots were rolling up and down.

“...Monty…”

“Yeah kid?”

“Do you really think… that the S.T.A.F.F bots… won’t be able to see you… in the ball pit?”

“Kid, we both know that the bots are really stupid. They won’t be able to find us here.”

Gregory snapped his head up to Monty, glaring at him. Before he started to furiously whisper to him.

“Monty, the balls barely make it pass your ankles.”

Just as Monty opened his mouth to argue back, a flashlight landed on them.

“GO, GO, GO!” Gregory shouted as he pushed at the gator’s chest.

“I’M GOING, I’M GOING!” Monty shouted back, almost slipping on the balls as he ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Monty walked to the red door after the S.T.A.F.F bot moved away. And quickly shut the door behind them. Stopping at the door as he waited for the bot to move past the counter from the other side.

“Alright, any food you had in mind kid?” Monty asked as he kept an eye on the bot.

Gregory almost crossed his arms on his chest, before he remembered that he needs to keep one on his side. So, he just put his left arm on his chest, holding on to his shoulder, hoping he could still make himself look at least somewhat intimidating.

“I’m not a kid, and anything is fine by me.”

“Even the Mystery Mix?” Monty raised his eyebrow, giving the kid a quick look. His eyes going back to the bot. Trying to keep his amusement out of his voice, the kid looked like one of those over dramatic, stuck-up moms hearing their precious babies swearing for the first time.

“Anything but that, is fine by me”

“Come on kid, it's not that bad. Even Chica loves it.”

“Chica will eat trash straight out of the can. And she can’t taste it, she doesn’t count.”

Monty really couldn't keep his amusement out of his voice if he tried.

This kid is fucking hilarious, just wait until Roxy meets this kid.

“Come on kid, don’t judge a lady on how she gets her food. You don’t know if it tastes good coming from the trash.”

“I have had food from the trash, and it’s gross.”

Monty froze and looked down at the kid.

“... Kid, when did you have to eat from the trash?”

Gregory shut his mouth and looked away from Monty. Tightening his arms around himself. Looking towards the counter instead, looking for anything to distract the gator with.

"You know what, I think chips and a drink will work just fine.”

“Kid, that doesn’t answer my question.” Monty's voice was stern, and his grip tighten just a little. Gregory turned his head back to Monty and glared up at him.

“Hey, you don’t question the trash, I won’t question why you keep staring at me.”

Monty looked at the kid for another minute, knowing he should push the kid more about this. But they really didn't have time for this, the kid needed medical attention. This was something he could talk to Freddy about later. Before turning his head away. And walking up to the counter and started to look at what they had. His eyes landing on the can drinks.

“What type of drink do you want?”

“The Freddy Fizzy Faz.”

Monty gave a sigh. “Of course, you would, you sure I can’t get you to take my Fizzy Faz?”

“No, limes are gross.”

Gregory gave Monty a smirk, lifting his left arm up, and making grabby hands at the orange can.

“You are a gremlin child.”

“And you are a dumb gator.”

Monty’s head turned, and glared down at the kid

“Am not.”

“Are too, I was able to electrocute you by making you run into a wall.” Gregory turned his head to meet the gators eyes. His body tensed for a moment, his eyes flashing with an intense emotion. Before turning smug. He gave the gator a smirk.

“That doesn’t count, I had a virus in my system.”

“A virus doesn’t affect how smart you are.”

“It does for humans.”

“Human viruses are different from computer viruses.”

Monty kept glaring at kid for a moment. Try to think of an argument to give the kid. Before he let his glare drop and shrug his shoulders.

“Well, you got me there.”

The kid’s whole body relaxed. His smirk turned into a smile.

“That is because I’m smarter than you.”

Monty opened his mouth to argue back, when once again a light shined on them. Instead, he said.

“Oh shit, here we go again.”

Monty quickly grabbed the soda and some napkins, before he turned around and ran for the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Monty?”

“Yeah, little guy?”

“We forgot the chips.”

Monty stopped in the middle of the walkway for a minute, looking around to make sure no S.T.A.F.F bots were there before he responded.

“I’m sure we can get some later.”

“But they won’t be your chips.”

“... I guess we’re going back.”

Monty started to turn around, before he could start walking. Gregory used his free hand to get a hold of his left shoulder. Pulling himself up to Monty’s eyesight. Gregory letting out a whine as he did.

“Wait, Monty, I was joking, we need to get to Freddy.”

Monty used one hand to grab Gregory’s right side, and the other to the kid’s shoulder. He glanced down to the little guy’s side. It was still bleeding; they were able to use the napkins to put pressure on the wound. But too much blood was still coming out for Monty's liking. How could Monty even say that? The kid was still bleeding out, they need to stop fucking around, get to the gift shop, out of the golf course, and straight to Freddy.

Monty removed his hand from his shoulder and used it to take the kids hand off from his shoulder. Letting the little guy take his hand from his, and help the little guy settle back down in his arms. And turned back around.

“You’re right let’s get to the gift shop. They’ll have something better than napkins. Who knows what’s on those napkins.”

Gregory grimaced as he leaned closer to the gator’s chest.

“Don’t remind me, I’m trying not to think about it.”

Monty let out another mechanical noise. This time it sounded like an amused huff; Monty felt whatever that thing in his torso settles down. And something warmer taking it place. Monty felt vaguely worried about a second thing in his chest, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment. Plus, this one didn’t feel has bad as the first one. He would talk to Freddy about this later.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Why are we hiding behind a fucking vending machine?” Gregory whispered harshly while glaring up at the gator, hoping he could feel his anger from here.

“Come on kid, the bots won’t be able to find us here.” He looked down at the kid and saw him glaring hard. Monty could feel his wires shivering from the glare.

Damn, where did the kid learn how to glare like that from? Hopefully Roxy never learns from this kid. Monty’s wires shivered even harder at that thought. He didn’t want to be around when that eventually happened.

“Monty, you thought hiding in the ball pit while standing was a good idea.”

“Hey! That wasn’t the plan! The bot saw us before I could do anything else!”

“What else would you have done?”

Monty glanced up to his right before he responds, seeing a bot coming straight for them.

“I’ll tell you while I outrun this S.T.A.F.F bot.”

“Monty, you don’t even have to run from them, it's like a light jog for you. If they don’t sneak up on you first.” Monty let out a snort as he started to slide his way out from behind the machine.

“Don’t ruin my line, kid. It’s much cooler to say it that way.” As soon as he was out, the gator started jogging down the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Monty walked right up to the wood cabin that was the gift shop. It took longer than they wanted, but finally they made it.

“Here we are, Monty’s Gift Shop.”

“Did they really have to put your name on everything? That seems a little much.”

“Hey! There is nothing wrong with putting my name on everything. Besides the company’s name is Freddy Fazbear Entertainment, what else did you expect?”

Monty walked into the shop, glancing back to the entrance every minute. The S.T.A.F.F bots usually don’t come up here. But it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on it.

“You have a point, but let's get back to clothes. Do you have any Freddy stuff?”

“Kid, we’re in my golf course. Do you think that they would have any Freddy stuff?”

Gregory pointed to one of the standing shelfs in front of them.

“There is a Freddy plushie right there.”

“And only Freddy plushies, we would have to go to the main gift shop for any of Freddy's clothing. My face isn’t that terrible.”

Gregory looked up at Monty and raised an eyebrow at him. Tilting his head to the side a little.

“... Have you seen yourself in the mirror recently?”

Monty rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, very funny kid, just pick something out.”

Gregory took a moment to look around the shop. His eyes landed on a couple of things he thinks would be cool. But that he doesn’t really need now. But he couldn’t find any clothes.

“We might need to go straight to Freddy. I don’t see any clothes here.”

“Huh, I could've sworn that we had some here. Let me check something really quick.”

Monty moved past the standing shelfs, going to his right where the register was. Putting Gregory downright next to the register. Before walking around the counter. He squatted down, looking for something to use. There was a couple of boxes stacked on top of each other. Looking at the labels, he found one that said something about shirts. That would have to do. Hopefully it would be something the kid would like. He moved the box on top to the side, picking up the box that was under it. Bringing it up with him and placing it right next to Gregory.

“I found a box of shirts.”

Gregory turned himself to the left. Cringing for a moment, his wound being pulled at once more. Before turning his whole body around, putting his legs on the other side of the counter. Still looking at Monty as he did.

“Really? What type of shirts?”

“We’re about to find out.”

Monty brought his left hand up, placing his pointer finger right on the tape. Dragging his finger down, doing his best not to snag anything inside it. As soon as he was done, he grabbed both sides of the box and ripped it open.

Both Gregory and Monty leaned over to get a good look of what was inside. Gregory gave the box a deadpan look, it was a box full of short sleeve t-shirts covered in Monty’s cartoon face.

“Well, well, well that is one fine looking shirt. The best-looking shirt I’ve seen in a while. The company really out did themselves this time.”

“Oh, shut up Monty, and help me find a size that will fit.”

After a few ripped shirts, they were finally able to find a shirt that could be warped around Gregory’s waist.

“Let me tie it, you’re going to rip it.”

“You sure? You’re not looking so good, kid.”

“Yes, I’m sure, I don’t want you ripping all the shirts we have.”

Monty hovered for a minute, before his shoulders dropped and let out a sigh.

“Alright, alright, I hear you loud and clear.”

Monty moved a couple of steps back.

It took Gregory a couple of minutes, but he was finally able to tie the shirt around him. He was struggling to tighten the knot. He just couldn’t get his arms to work, they were too shaky, it felt like both of his arms turned to jello. He felt so tired as well, he just wanted to lay down and fall asleep.

Monty watches the kid struggle for a couple more minutes. Before moving closer to the kid.

“Let me tighten it for you little guy.”

“It’s fine, I can do it… I just need another minute.” Gregory said as he glared down at the shirt, if the shirt would just stay still for a minute, he could get it.

“Kid, you look like you're about to fall over. You took care of tying it, I can handle a little bit of tightening."

Gregory lifted his head up and took a moment to look at Monty. His eyes narrowed up at the gator. Monty could once again feel that glare down to his very wires.

“Fine, but if you tear this one up…”

“I’ll do my best not to. I’ll owe you a favor if I do, that sounds good?”

Gregory nodded, letting his hands drop to the sides. Monty got on his kneeled down to get a better look and grabbed the ends of the knot and started pulling at it gently. His shoulders tense, Gregory sat there looking down at the gator’s hands. Wondering how could Monty control his strength? Was it the same way that humans do? How similar are these animatronics to humans? Was there a difference? Beside them being machines, and humans being squishy.

What was the difference between us and them?

… Does that mean I almost… Killed a person?

Gregory notices the blood on Monty’s right hand. He tensed and looked away; he knew that the gator wasn’t in the right state of mind when he did that. Monty seems to feel bad about it. He kept staring at him when he thought he wasn't looking. Holding him close, almost flat out growling at the S.T.A.F.F bots if they got too close to him. He was trying his best to prove Gregory that was a onetime thing. That it would never happen again.

That was what his mom used to say, when she first started drinking. She would say or do something, the next day she would apologize, say it wouldn’t happen again. But still go back to her drinks the very same night.

He really didn’t want that to happen again.

He really didn't want Monty to hurt him again.

He didn’t want Freddy to start hurting him.

Gregory felt the shirt around his torso starting to feel a little too tight.

He jumped and turned his head back to the gator in front of him. Looking startled for a second before his eyes narrowed and he glared at the gator.

“What are you trying to do? Squish me into a pancake?”

Monty chuckled, letting go of his shirt, getting off the floor and taking a step back. His shoulders seemed lower than he remembered them being just a minute ago.

“Nah, just wanted to make sure it was tight enough, don’t want it falling off as I ran off with you. Or a S.T.A.F.F bot to grab you by it and drag you off to somewhere else.”

Gregory huffed, moving forwards a little.

“Like that would happen, I’m too fast for them.”

Gregory jumped off the counter, his feet barely touching the floor. When he was scooped right off the floor, and back into the gator’s arms.

“Hey! I can walk!”

“No can-do kid, you are not looking well enough to keep walking around. Besides, it's faster this way.”

Gregory huffed, crossing his arms and looking away from the gator. He could admit, he was tired, and he felt like he could fall over any minute. He has dealt with this before, when he went without food days at a time. But he wasn’t bleeding out those times, and he didn’t hide around every corner, with the risk of getting caught by some crazy robots, security guard, or that rabbit lady.

Even if Monty has the risk of turning on him. At least it seems like he would turn on him later, when he had Freddy.

“Whatever, let's just get out of here already.”

“Can do kid.”

Monty started to walk out of the store. Looking both ways to see if the coast was clear.

“Shit, Monty-”

“S.T.A.F.F bot?”

Gregory nodded and pointed right at the bot. Coming right towards them. How did these bots keep sneaking up on them? Monty sighed and started walking towards the elevator.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Monty couldn’t help but let out a whistle at how many S.T.A.F.F. were out by the main stage. Staring at the many bots from the entrance to his golf course.

“They are really bumping up security tonight.”

“It’s not always like this?” Gregory tilled his head up to Monty.

“Nope, it's usually about half of this amount. Unless something like a little gremlin was able to sneak in.” Monty looked down at the kid, about to move his hand up, and pull down his glasses and winked at him. Before he remembered what happened last time, he did that. He kept his hand on the kids back.

Gregory glared at him.

“Well maybe they should have more human staff to look out for this sort of thing. Or something like you guys.”

“They had some sort of puppet animatronic as one years ago. But it had a flaw in its design, something about it was too easy to stop.” Monty shrugged, Gregory rolled his eyes and looked away from the gator and back out to the bots.

“Well how are we able to get past all of this?”

“See kid, this is where my mind-blowing idea comes in.” Gregory could hear the smirk in the gators voice. He gave the gator a glance over his shoulder.

“Really?”

“Hey, don’t go doubting my ideas.”

Gregory turned his head back, giving him a look of disbelief.

“You said it’s better than hiding in Freddy’s stomach hatch.”

“It really is.”

“What place could be better than that?”

“Trust me kid, you’ll see…”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“This was your mind blowing idea? A fucking potted plant? There’s no way they won’t see us.”

“Hey, this tree is almost as big as me! There’s no way they’ll be able to see us!”

Gregory looked up to the gator with a deadpan look and looked off to his right. Looking straight into the eyes of the S.T.A.F.F bot that was headed right towards them. And back at the gator, throwing his right arm out, pointing at the S.T.A.F.F bot.

“Then what do you call that? A fucking huge Roomba with a hoverboard for feet and a flashlight not coming towards us?”

Monty snapped his head up, his eyes immediately finding the bot Gregory was talking about.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a Roomba, that would be the wet floor signs.” Monty said as he turned away from the S.T.A.F.F bot, bringing Gregory closer to his body. While the kid put his arm down. Walking away from his ‘mind blowing spot’, while making sure their path was clear.

“The S.T.A.F.F bots would be more like, uh… a knock off brand of that Siri thing! While clearly made to do something else.”

“How does that make any sense? What else would they be made for? And why Siri?”

“I don’t know, just something I heard from people. A couple of guys came in here a few months ago, talking about some rumor they heard, hiding missing kids in animatronic suits. I couldn’t hear more about that, Vanessa kicked them out pretty quick. And some lady, I think her name was Karen? Was talking to some human staff, comparing the S.T.A.F.F to Siri. I figure that they must be similar enough for her to compare them.”

Gregory snorted, covering his mouth.

“What’s so funny?”

“How do you know that’s the lady's name?”

“I overheard the human staff talking about it. She is always complaining about something, even at other stores, from the number of times I’ve heard guests and staff complain about her.”

Gregory giggled, trying his best to keep quiet.

“I don’t get it, what’s so funny about Karen?”

Gregory wheezed, his left arm wrapping around his stomach. Leaning into the gator, shaking in a semi-silent laughter. Monty smirked, glad that he was able to get the kid to laugh. Even if he didn’t understand why he was laughing about some lady. He turned to the left, going straight to Fazer Blast. Freddy had sent a message to Gregory’s watch earlier while they were running from some S.T.A.F.F bots. Telling them where he found the first aid station. Fazer Blast was the only place that Freddy thought would be safe enough to bring the kid to. But Freddy would have to wait in the area for them. If he left the first aid protocol would be canceled, and he would have to find another spot and start the process over again. So, Freddy would be waiting for them at the elevator entrance. Right next to the S.T.A.F.F bot guarding it.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like the other Glamrocks were not around. So, they only had to dodge S.T.A.F.F bots. Which Gregory had to admit, Monty was pretty good at dodging them. Sure, some of his hiding spots were… Interesting to say the least. He was fast, Monty didn’t even have to run from the bots. He just jogged away from them.

Gregory's body tense, the kid letting out a whine. His left hand now holding on to his side.

Fuck, that hurts. Note to self, never laugh when your side is all teared up.

“Easy kid, easy.”

Usually, Gregory didn’t like it when someone called him kid. He was too old to be a kid, he hasn’t been one for years. But it felt different when Monty said it, his voice didn’t change. Like how other adults would when they called him that. He couldn’t remember at this moment what, but he knew the tone of voice was different when Monty said it. Just like with Freddy, neither of them talked to him like he was a nuisance. They talked to him like he was something… What was it called?

“Kid, earth to kid. Are you there?”

Gregory shook his head. Looking back up at Monty, now is not the time to be lost in thought. Even if Monty seems to be back to normal, Gregory still remembers earlier. Monty looking at the catwalk, and in the hallway, he never thought it would be easy to read an animatronics face. But it was surprisingly easy to tell what they were thinking. Monty was angry, there was only a few times Gregory has ever seen that type of anger. And it never ended well for him, he thought he would be done for. Getting his attention, the way he did, both times, he knew from his mom that saying anything didn’t end well.

But Gregory couldn’t let Monty sit like that. Not when they had to get moving, not when there was something seriously wrong with the other bots. Gregory didn’t want to have to call Freddy back, saying his friend had turned once more. It would break his nonexistent heart.

What was surprising was Monty shook himself out of it. He wiped away any previous anger from his mind and asked if he was ready to go. Gregory was surprised by that, but right then was not a good time to ask about that. Gregory knew he shouldn’t even ask at all about the incident. He should be grateful he wasn’t hit and moved on. But he was curious about what got the gator so angry, and he would admit that he was concerned. Monty seems like a cool guy; he didn’t want to see him angry at all.

Gregory straightened up his back and looked at the gator. Even with his shades covering his eyes, he could feel his eyes digging into his skin. He put his left hand on his side, pushing the shirt down onto the wound. Even if the bleeding has slowed down, and the shirt was tight enough to keep enough pressure on it. It still hurts bad, and it made him feel somewhat better, keeping his hand pressed down like this.

“I’m fine, I just moved my side too much.”

Monty looked up for a second, making sure there were no more S.T.A.F.F bots in their way. Before looking back down at Gregory, making his way up the stairs.

“You’re, uh, not in any more pain, are you?”

“Nope, it’s still that same amount as last time you asked.”

“Just making sure kid, just making sure.”

Monty lifted his head up once more. Giving his full attention to everything around him. Gregory let his shoulders drop, and his body relaxed. Glad to have his eyes off him. He was never a fan of being the center of attention. It never ended well for him.

Gregory took this moment to get a good look of his surroundings. He hasn’t been able to get a good look of any of his surroundings since he got here. He had to admit, he could see why people would come here. It was very cool looking, and there was something around every corner. He would love to try some of the games out some day. Preferable during the day, without the killer animatronics after him. Especially Fazer Blast, it looked so cool! Speaking of Fazer Blast.

“Wait, how was Freddy able to get into Fazer Blast? I thought you needed a party pass to get in?”

“Fazer Blast is Freddy’s area, no one will be stopping him from going to his own area.”

Monty stopped right in front of the door. Waiting for a moment, keeping an eye out as the doors open. Jogging in as soon as the doors open, heading straight towards the elevator. Where Freddy was waiting for them, his ears perked up and he straightened his back.

“Gregory!”

(A/N: Hoped you guys all enjoyed that! Took a while to get it written but I think it turned out nicely. Papa bear is now here! We should be getting more fluff in the next chapter. I'm planning on about 3 chapters for this guy, but we will see how that will go. This was so much fun to write, I think this is my favorite part so far. We all love dumbass Monty. Here you guys go! I'll read you guys later! ;)

@tophthedaydreamer

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

calls and cries unendingly

Title taken from the poem Lost by Carl Sandburg.

Prompt: Stranded

TMNT 2012.

(tw near death experiences, oxygen deprivation, hyperventilation)

Inspired by this amazing art by anomale.

You can find the whole collection on AO3 here.

"Mikey!"

"Mikey, wake up!"

"Mikey, can you hear us?"

"Fuckin' hell, Mike, open your eyes!"

"Mikey, listen to us!"

"Mmmph...double anchovies..."

"MIKEY!"

"Hmmm, what--AAUGH!"

"He's awa--"

"AAAAUGGGHH---"

"Mikey! Shut up and listen!"

"Ohgodohshitohfuckfuckfuck--"

"All of you, get away from there. Mikey, sweetheart, listen to my voice. It's me, it's Leo. You need to listen to me, okay? Take deep, slow, breaths, like we practiced. It's okay. You're okay. You're alive."

"I--Leo, Leo, I can't see the ship out here, I'm alone, and the cord, oh god--"

"Mikey, what do you remember?"

"There--there was a battle, r-right? A gnarly o-one, and I..."

"You were caught outside of the ship while helping Donnie with repairs."

"I, I saw you get hit. I couldn't stop it. I'm so sorry, Mikey."

"It's okay, dude. It--it happens, right?"

"You were knocked off the ship and went spinning. We've got a tracker on you and we're undoubtedly moving faster than you are, but it's going to take time, okay?"

"You'll be back stealing my food and cheating at video games in no time, runt."

"I d-don't cheat. I...Leo?"

"Yes, Mikey?"

"It's dark here. So dark. I think there's something wrong with my helmet, I can barely see the stars...and there's nothing under me. There's nothing, Leo. I can't feel anything!"

"You're going to be fine, Mikey. We're going to be there any minute, okay?"

"O-okay--"

BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP BEEEP

"W-what's that?"

"Donnie, what the fuck is that?"

"Oh shit--"

"April, what's wrong?"

"Sensors are saying...oh god--"

"G-guys? It....it's saying that, that my ox-oxygen supply is l-low. It's saying that m-my oxygen supply is, is, is--I can't breathe, I can't--"

"Mikey, listen to me, you're hyperventilating. You should have enough oxygen for us to find you if we move fast enough."

"I--I can't breathe, I--"

"Donnie, Raph, go help Fugitoid with the ship--just go, okay! Mikey, listen to me. I need you to breathe with me, okay? Can you do that for me, sweetheart?"

"I..."

"In, out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out."

"Aaahh..."

"Are you breathing, Mikey?"

"Y--yeah. Breathing better, anyway."

"That's really good, Mikey, I'm so proud of you. So, so proud of you. I love you so much."

"L-Leo?"

"Yes, sweetheart?

"I...I'm scared. I'm so scared. I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, Mikey?"

"Cause we're supposed to be heroes and heroes don't get scared, do they? Batman doesn't get scared."

"Everybody gets scared, Mikey darling. I get scared all the time, and so does Batman."

"R-really?"

"Yes. It's okay to be scared, even when you know everything's going to be alright. Because everything is going to be alright."

"Leo, uh....a-are the others there?"

"No, not right now. Why?"

"I, um, I went to the b-bathroom in my s-suit. Just a little. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mikey. It happens."

"I-it does?"

“Yeah, it’s fine, Mikey. Really, it is.”

“O-okay. But...can you not l-let the others see? When they find m-me, I mean?”

“I will, I promise. Nobody’s going to tease you, Mikey. We love you so much and we’re all so proud of you.”

"But I messed up--I got knocked off the ship. I'm so sorry, Leo."

"No, no, it's not your fault. None of this was your fault. You did the best you could, you always did. You don't have to apologize for everything, okay? That's my job."

"N-no it's not."

"We'll have to agree to disagree, then."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"The bar's getting l-lower now."

"We're almost there, okay? We're almost there. You're going to be fine."

"I d-don't want to die."

"You're not going to die, Mikey."

"There are things I have to do. There are things I have to do, Leo."

"I know, Mikey. You will."

"I, I, I want to try Chicago Pizza. I want to try out my She-Ra cosplay at a convention. I want to tell Leatherhead how I feel. I want to have sex--shit; I shouldn't say that to you."

"It's okay, Mikey. I don’t care, really.”

"I..I want Karai to be my sister. I want to see Father again. I want to go to the woods again when things aren't trying to kill us. I want to have a garden. I want to paint a sunset and a sunrise. I want, I want, I want--"

"Mikey. Mikey, listen to me. Stop and take a deep breath, okay? You're going to start hyperventilating again."

"I, aah, yeah. I'm--"

"Don't say you're sorry."

"Of course n-not, dude."

"That's good, Mikey, that's really good. We're almost there."

"I c-can't see you...and my h-head hurts."

"Okay, Donnie thinks you should probably stop talking right now, before you give too much oxygen."

"But I w-want to keep talking to you!"

"I'll keep talking, okay? I can talk enough for both of us."

"O-okay..."

"I can see you on the screen, Mikey. You're like a little star up there, getting closer and closer with every second. You're doing so well, Mikey, so good. You've always been so good. You're the best of us, Mikey, you always will be.

"I'm sorry things have been so hard on you lately. I'm sorry for the times we've been hard on you. You deserve so much, Mikey, you deserve the world, and you're going to get it, I promise. Just hold on for us a little longer, okay? Hold on just a little bit longer. You can do that for you, can't you?

"Of course you can. You've always been so good at everything you put your mind to. I was jealous of that for so long--I still am, sometimes. You burn so bright and you light up our world, you always have. You always will."

"Dude? I-I know you didn't want me to t-talk, but my, my head's getting light..."

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

"Stay awake! You have to stay awake, Mikey, do you hear me!"

"'M sorry..."

"I told you not to apologize, Mikey! Just stay awake, you have to--"

"So dark, Leo...so empty...."

"Mikey, Mikey, open your eyes! Mikey, it's not empty, we're coming! We'll always come, please--"

"Love you guys, so much. You're, you're the best..."

"D-don't you dare! Don't y-you DARE fall asleep on me, Hamato Michelangelo!

"Love..."

"Mikey!

"Mikey wake the fuck up!

"Mikey, don't you dare, don't you dare do this to us!

"I won't let you do this to us!

"We'll go crazy, Mikey, please, we can't do this without you, we can't!

"Mikey!

"Mikey?

"Mikey, please..."

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZ

BUZZ

"Mikey?"

"Mikey, oh god..."

"Mikey, you need to breathe for me, okay?"

"You need to breathe for Donnie, Mikey--"

"You need to breathe for us, you need to--"

"You have to--"

"Oh, oh fuck."

"Fucking hell, Mikey..."

"Hnnnhh!"

"Mikey! Mikey, can you hear us?"

"Just breathe for us, baby, just breathe. Eyes on me. You don't have to let go, sweetheart, you never have to let go."

"....guys?"

"Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. It's okay..."

"It's okay, Mikey, Mikey--"

"Welcome back."

[goldentsum]

bokuto is like a lost puppy so i just KNOW that man is a sub. domming him means he’s super vocal! such whiny moaning baby i LOVE him

━ sub! and vocal! bokuto

𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤: dom! reader, sub! bokuto, bdsm, mommy kink, pain play, masochist! bokuto

“mMHNGG!!” bokuto moaned as his teeth bit down to his bottom lips, trying to suppress his moans at your command. his body jerked violently when you pumped his hard length rapidly, spreading the precum around the sensitive tip and on the base. 

you smirked at him, loving how he was so fucked out after cumming 3 times but he was still being such a good boy~ listening to you like the obedient slut he is. 

“you’re such a good boy, kou~” you whispered and leaned closer to his aching cock that was leaking so much precum, blowing air to it. bokuto gasped and his hips thrusted up on your actions, hitting your cheek and spreading cum on your skin. 

you glared up at the shivering man on the bed, his eyes filled with tears at the sensitivity as every touch was almost too much for him. you leaned away and grabbed your riding crop you disposed on the side earlier. bokuto gulped when he saw you hold the toy but he would be lying if he said it didn’t make him hornier. 

with a swift move, the leather hit bokuto’s thigh. the man moaned loudly at the pain, forgetting your command to stay quiet. your eyes darkened at his actions and sat on his thighs. 

“tsk. you disobeyed 2 of my rules, puppy. you know what that means, right” you sneered, a sadistic smirk on your pretty red lips. bokuto nodded pathetically, sniffling. the tears of pleasure and pain rolled down his cheek. 

“i-i’m sorry, mommy” his voice was all raw and raspy from all the screaming. you leaned closer to him and touched his cheek, wiping the tear away. 

“mommy has to punish you or you’ll disobey again. your actions have consequences, you know that right baby?” 

bokuto nodded, “y-yes, mommy. i-i’m sorry. i’ll be good” 

you smiled and moved your hand away as your other hand that held the riding crop went up and hit his stomach harder this time. 

“aAUgh-! m-mommy!” bokuto moaned, tears welled up on his dark gold eyes once again. his hard cock twitched at the pain as cum dribbled down. you watched his body react to pain and smirked, knowing too well that your pretty baby likes a little pain here and there. 

you traced his stiff length with the tip of the riding crop and watched bokuto writhe, whining too loudly. with a softer blow of the crop, you hit his cock. the man beneath you jolted, hips thrusting up. 

“m-mommy! p-please- mmfft-!” bokuto moaned around the leather when you shoved the riding crop’s tip in his mouth. you smiled mockingly at him, thrusting the toy in his mouth and watched him suck and gag around it. 

“you’re so loud, kou.” you muttered, staring at the beautiful scene below you. bokuto’s spit rolled down his chin and coated the leather as you removed it from his mouth. his quivering lips was covered with his spit while tears spilled from his dazed eyes. bruised up and hickey covered chest heaving rapid pants while the small bell around his neck rang a bit every time he convulsed in your clutch.

“fine. if you can’t keep quiet, let’s see how long til your voice gives out.” you smirked and gripped bokuto’s chin, looking straight into his eyes.  

[hoonie’s note]: i am hella thirsty for sub! bokuto pls!! i love him! and his moans would be heavenly! just imagine making his voice all raspy ugHH!! and he’s just so sensitive and reacts so well! toptier! <3 sub! bokuto is one of my fave subs! 

: back to thirst masterlist?

[disticfiction]

Philip winced as the door to the barracks opened, letting the sunlight shine into his cell. It hurt his eyes, so he covered them as he crawled back into the corner. When that door opened, it meant one of two things: food or fucking, and it was too early for food. As the man, one of the king's knights, approached his cage with clinking keys, he shook his head, tears welling in his eyes.

"Please..." he begged, huddled against the stone wall. "No more."

The man entered his cell, ignoring his pleas, but Philip learned mere hours after his capture that it was in his best interest not to fight back. With his wrists bound by rope, he couldn't anyway, and he was too tired to try. He'd lost track of the days, but he'd been held so long that his hair had completely grown back--a fact that only added to his shame. He hadn't had a full head of hair since he was a novice. The same question haunted his thoughts day after day with no answer.

How could God allow his faithful to suffer so?

"Spread your legs," the man said, his voice harsh. "On with it. I haven't got all day."

"Please, sir. I--"

"Now!"

Philip shuddered, cowering under the man's gaze. He did as ordered, slowly parting his knees. Surprisingly, they let him keep his robes for warmth, but they were tattered and ripped through the middle for quick access to his secret. He closed his eyes, disgusted as the knight stared at him, hungrily.

"That hole looks horrible," he teased. "So red and ruined. To think it was tight as twisted bread when you first got here."

"Please, don't..."

"Don't what?" the man grinned.

"D-describe it to me. Please, don't."

The man bent down, laying Philip on the cold floor and positioning himself between his legs. "Such a loose little hole. It doesn't fully close anymore, does it? You'll always have that tiny gape to remind you of your time in Lincoln. Of all the men who've had you."

Philip whimpered, his sorrow devastating. "God, please..."

"God isn't listening, monk. If He was, do you really think He'd let this happen to you?"

Philip clutched his fists, swallowing his tears. "O-one day ... you will pay for this. One day, when you stand before the Lord, our God, he will judge you and--aaugh!"

The man thrust in, reaching Philip's end and stretching his tortured hole. It adjusted as it always did, clenching down on the wicked intrusion and throbbing around it, contradicting his protests. He hated that he loved it. He hated that it felt so good. Every single time, it felt good.

"That's it," the man huffed, bucking his hips. "Cry for me. I like it when you cry. Let's me know you're enjoying it, like the backwards heathen you are."

Philip screamed, arching back, his insides sore from endless rounds of torment, but every pump left him wistful and wanting. He was so wet, his squishy sounds echoing through the fort, and soon his sobs were mixed with pleasured moans.

"N-no!" he gasped, his head spinning. "Please! It's so sensitive!"

"I know, I can feel you convulsing. How sinful of you, prior."

The man spread Philip's legs wider, watching himself work as his cock thrust in and out, fast and hard. He relished in the act, finding and spoiling every vulnerable area the monk kept hidden. He was so frail and skinny, but his seemingly delicate cunt could take more abuse than a man on the battlefield.

"Augh! I'm about to--!"

The man thrust harder, forcing an intense but unwanted orgasm out of his prisoner, and he smiled. Philip cried out, the pleasure tainting his soul. He wanted to pray, but his throat collapsed, a white light flashing in his eyes. It had happened before, and he'd come to accept that it wasn't the Holy Father, just his fleeting sanity.

"That felt good, didn't it?" the man said, pulling out. He spread Philip's gape further to watch the spasms. "Ooh, yes. Look at that. Mmm, it's so red in there."

This man, he was different from the other knights. He always seemed more interested in Philip's pleasure than his own. He was obsessed with his hole, but that was somehow more terrifying to the timid monk than simply being used and tossed aside. Sometimes the man would sit there for hours, holding Philip's hole open until it started to numb, until another knight came to retrieve him. During those moments, Philip would say nothing, afraid to anger him.

"P-please..." he stuttered, still shaking from his orgasm. "Stop looking at it."

"It's ruined, you know? I did that. Other men contributed, but this is mostly me. I wrecked this hole. Can you feel it?"

Philip shivered, struggling with the thought that God had not only abandoned him, but sent a demon to harrow him. He answered quickly, afraid that staying silent would rile the man's wrath.

"I ... I feel it."

"Where?"

"In ... in my hole," he cringed.

"Deep inside?"

"Y-yes. Deep inside."

It wasn't a lie. He did feel it, and it felt wonderful. The man chuckled and stretched Philip wider, earning a yelp, then propped him up against the wall, sitting him on his lap and throwing his bound arms over his shoulders. Their faces came uncomfortably close, enough that Philip could taste the man's breath on his lips, and then he howled as his cock slipped back inside him.

"Shh, don't scream yet," the man said, grabbing an unlit candlestick from his bag.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"What I have to. Your gape is beautiful, but it needs to be looser."

Philip's eyes sunk. Before he could say anything, he felt the cold wax enter him, lodging itself between his upper walls and the knight's thick, veiny shaft. He'd never been stretched that far, and the extra few inches were enough to make him gag. Drool rolling down his chin, he hugged the man's neck for purchase and fell into him.

"Out! T-take it out!"

"Shh. Easy. Holes shouldn't speak."

"I'm not--!" he cut himself off, still terrified of what the man might do, despite having lost all his pride ages ago. "It's too much! Please!"

"Is this too much?"

Relentlessly, the man slowly thrust the candle in and out, leaning back so he could fit a few inches each time, and he got the reaction he hoped for. Watching Philip's face twist with telling emotions and ecstasy made his balls tighten. It wasn't hurting him, it was elating.

"Please..." Philip wept, his tongue sticking out. "Don't ... do ... this."

The man pushed the candle all the way in once again, unraveling Philip's mind, then leaned forward and locked his scrawny legs behind his waist. As the poor monk lost himself in euphoria, he barely noticed the man bring his mouth to his ear.

"I'm going to rape you now."

And he did, ramming into Philip's hole over and over, milking every orgasm as he squirt and hollered like an animal. The candle would, occasionally, slip out through the palpations, but the knight was all too happy to shove it back in. The base bounced off his belly as he drove into the helpless monk, his cock and the candle rubbing his insides firmly, passionately. Philip lost count, but the knight caught four orgasms before he could no longer hold back. With a loud grunt, he tested Philip's resolve one last time, exploding inside him and stretching him to his limit.

"Aaaaaugh!"

When he recovered, he shuffled back and let the exhausted monk fall to the ground, gently, then pulled out. Once empty, the mess and candle gushed from Philip's battered hole, sticking to the floor. The knight was mesmerised, a crazed smile forming on his face as he stared at the outcome, while Philip thrashed and seized, his toes curled and gape winking. He was stretched beyond repair, exactly as the knight wanted.

"Oh, monk. It's perfect," he whispered.

Philip said nothing. He tried but failed to grasp his cross, his muscles drained and confused. He knew then that God had truly forsaken him, for only the Devil could make something so violent, so crude, so utterly mortifying...

Feel so damnimgly good.

[rosiehunterwolf]

two halves of a broken whole

Prompts: Scars and Free Space (stealing Post-Fight from the twixt board)

Word Count: 2,191

Characters: Nya and Zane

Timeline: Immediately after season 9

Trigger Warnings: Blood, Needles, Brief Swearing

Summary: The Sons of Garmadon have been defeated. Garmadon is in prison. The city has been saved.

In the aftermath of the battle, Nya is more than ready to take a much-needed break. But the life of a ninja is messy. Recovery is never that simple. Although the wounds may have healed, the scars still remain.

Zane’s scars seem to match up, though. And maybe together, they can begin to heal.

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Tumblr work under the cut

Nya stumbled through the dark kitchen, searching through the cabinets. She gritted her teeth as pain flared in her arm. Where are those painkillers? Ugh, how does Skylor find anything in here? There’s no system!

She gasped in relief as she finally found the medicine cabinet, but as she reached out to grab a bottle, she bumped her bad arm against the cabinet door. Crying out in pain, she jerked her arm back, and the bottles came tumbling down and clattering loudly to the floor.

“Damn it all,” she groaned, leaning her head against the cabinet. “Stupid, stupid arm, why do you have to be so weak-”

“Nya?”

Nya jumped, hitting her head against the cabinet door. “Ow! Zane, what are you doing here-”

The nindriod crossed the small kitchen in two steps, yanking off the damp towel she had draped across her upper arm, revealing a long, bloody cut stretching across the length of it.

“I knew it,” Zane muttered. “Nya, why would you hide something like this?”

“It’s not that big of a deal, I-”

“Not that big of a deal? Nya, this is serious! You need stitches! Next time, say something!”

She winced. “I didn’t want to bother you guys- Lloyd was way more hurt than I was, you guys had your hands full with him.”

“You could’ve gone to Skylor.”

“I wanted to prove I could do it, okay?” Nya snapped. “Skylor was so strong, walking off Garmadon’s power corruption like it was nothing. And she was being so generous, letting us all crash in her house like this- I didn’t want to bother her anymore, but instead, I just ended up bleeding out all over her bathroom floor.”

Zane shot her a sympathetic glance. “Nya, don’t worry about that now. Skylor will understand, and I can clean it up. The only thing we care about is that you are safe. Here, go sit down.” He gestured towards a kitchen chair and headed towards the cabinet. Nya slumped over into the chair, still clutching her arm, and Zane rooted through the medicine bottles, finally pulling out the painkillers and handing her three large pills and a glass of water. She eyed them warily.

“Isn’t this a little much? I mean, it hurts, but not that bad.”

“I still have to give you stitches, remember?”

“Oh. You’re doing that now?” Zane turned away, and Nya took the opportunity to down the pills, using the cheap coffee she had made herself to help her swallow instead of the water Zane had given her. “Nya, if I don’t do this now it will only make the cut worse.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know- ow!” she yelped as Zane rubbed at the wound with a wet, antiseptic-soaked washcloth, the fabric quickly staining red.

“I need to clean it, Nya. This would’ve been much easier if you hadn’t spent so long walking around with an open wound.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”

“I’m going to go get a needle and thread, I’ll be right back.” Nya sighed, slumping back against the chair. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid. The guys had been through hell recently. The last thing they needed was having to worry about her, too.

“Nya?”

Nya jerked her eyes open, turning her gaze towards Zane. What happened? Did I doze off?

Stupid coffee, not doing its job.

Zane seemed to catch on to this too, and frowned. “When’s the last time you slept?”

“I don’t need sleep, I have this magical liquid called coffee.”

He shot her a stern glance. “Nya.”

“Fine! I don’t remember, okay?” She reached for the paper cup again, but Zane snatched it from her hand.

“You can’t live off of coffee. First of all, it’s horrible for your health, second, it can never replace a full night’s sleep.”

Nya crossed her arms, grumbling. “Hey, at least I’m better than Lloyd. He dumps like five pounds of sugar into his.”

“Yes, well, Lloyd is sleeping. Like you should be.”

“Which is so not fair,” she huffed. “I spent weeks trying to get him to sleep and the second you guys get back, he does it instantly.”

Zane smiled, but his eyes were sad. “Kai’s always kind of had a way with him.”

“I know.” She turned her head, sighing. “I wasn’t trying to sound ungrateful, I’m so glad you’re back, but-” Nya let her hand fall to her side, where it bumped against Zane’s. Gently, she rubbed her fingers across the smooth metal, her heart pounding in her chest. Suddenly, she squeezed Zane’s hand, her breath coming in heavy pants as she closed her eyes.

“Nya?”

Her eyes snapped open. “I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Nya, it’s okay if you’re not fine.”

“I am.”

“I’m sorry we left you as we did.”

“It’s not your fault, okay?” She tugged away from him. Her hands were trembling now- from the coffee? The painkillers? The fear? She didn’t know. “It’s not your fault.”

Zane closed his hands over hers, steadying them. “No, but it still wasn’t fair to you. I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

“You don’t know,” she whimpered. “You don’t know what it was like. I wanted to give up so bad, and Lloyd-” she closed her eyes, breathing out slowly. “I don’t even know how I got him through it. He was so depressed. I can’t go through that again.” She turned sharply towards Zane, grabbing his hands. “I can’t. You hear me? That can never happen again.”

Zane squeezed her hands back, his eyes sad. “Believe me, Nya, I will do everything in my power to make sure it never does. But we are ninja. Dangerous things are going to happen, and if we spend our whole lives fearing that, we’ll never get through. We need to live life one day at a time. We need to trust in each other.”

“I do trust you!”

“Good.” He placed a hand on her arm, just below the wound. “Then you’ll let me patch you up?”

Nya glanced at the needle and swallowed, looking away. “Just go ahead. Don’t make me watch.”

“We really don’t have the proper numbing medication,” Zane said. “The painkillers will help some, but this is still going to hurt.”

“Believe me, I’m sure the sword going in felt a lot worse.”

Zane pressed his lips together. “Yes, I suppose it did. Ready?”

“Stop asking me if I’m ready and just do it already!” Zane flinched away, and she quickly added, “Sorry. I’m just a little on edge.”

“You’re going to be fine. Just hold still.”

The needle was cold on her skin, and then suddenly it was piercing through her flesh. It took all of Nya’s willpower not to jerk away, and she bit down hard on her lip, forcing back a scream. “Holy shit- Zane!” she broke off in a whine.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. It’ll be over soon.”

She tried to focus on her breathing as the needle pricked her again and again, Zane’s tugs quick and tight.

“Augh, remind me to visit Kryptarium later and go scream at those assholes for doing this to me.”

“We could’ve gotten you to a proper hospital if you had spoken up earlier. This is your own fault.”

“Oh, yeah, blame the victim. Besides, I hate hospit- aaugh, Zane, are you almost done?”

“Done.” Zane neatly snipped the thread, and Nya slumped over onto the table, grinding her teeth together and clenching her fists.

She felt Zane’s hand on her back. “Are you okay?”

“Gaugh, I will be, but son of a bitch, that hurt!”

“Alright.” Zane’s voice suddenly sounded cross. “It’s over now. That language is no longer necessary.”

“Are you seriously scolding me for swearing right now?” The table muffled her yelp. “I’d like to see how you cope when your arm stings like hell.”

“Nya.”

“You’re impossible!” Sitting up, she told him, “If you’re going to be such a goody-two-shoes, could you at least get me an ice pack?”

Zane got her the ice, and after about half an hour, the pain had finally dulled to something she could sleep through.

Exhausted as she was, though, she wasn’t done yet.

“Come see me in the morning,” Zane was saying, cleaning up the last of the bottles and putting them back in Skylor’s medicine cabinet. “It should be fine, but I want to check just to be sure. And try not to sleep on that side. I don’t want the stitches coming out during the night.” As he turned to walk out of the room, Nya grabbed his wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

He blinked. “To bed? Like any sensible person should be at this hour?”

“Not so fast, now it’s your turn.”

“My turn?”

“You patched me up,” Nya told him as she turned and rustled through Skylor’s junk drawer. “It’s only fair that I return the favor.” She pulled out a few screwdrivers, some scrap metal, and- score, a circuit board. And in pristine condition, too! Skylor always had the best stuff lying around. When you could find it, that is.

“But Nya, I’m not injured!”

She put a hand on her hip, glancing him up and down. Scratches and dents littered the ice ninja’s skin, and if she knew Zane, that was usually an allusion to something bigger going on.

“Oh please, the four of you came back a mess.” She walked around him, inspecting him. “Don’t tell me you came out of that whole ordeal unscathed. And I didn’t see anyone check you over today. Aha-” leaning forward, she rapped her knuckles against a spot on his back, near the shoulder, and the panel shuddered beneath her touch. “I knew it. This section isn’t sturdy. Take off your shirt so I can get to it better.”

“Nya, I am a nindroid, injury is inconsequential-”

“I said, take off your shirt! Or are you going to make me do it for you?”

Zane sighed, pulling off his pajama top so that Nya could see the damaged area better. The panel appeared cracked and loose, so, gently, she pried it off, revealing several frayed and broken wires. Part of the exposed circuits were fried.

“And you were telling me off for hiding my injuries?”

“It’s hardly the same. Human bodies cannot withstand the amount of force that a nindroid’s can. Plus, you are susceptible to infection.”

“Zane, I don’t care!” She got to work snipping at the wires and pulling some of the damaged parts out. “You’re still one of us. Just because you can take this sort of damage doesn’t mean you should!”

“I know. I was just worried about the others.”

“Well, it’s about time you thought of yourself for once. You can’t properly care for us if you’re not functioning at full capacity, anyway.” Sticking the tweezers between her teeth, she readjusted the wires and got to work on the circuits.

“I… I don’t like asking for help.”

Nya’s fingers paused.

“‘E ei’er.” The tweezers muffled her words, but Zane got her point clear enough.

“Sometimes we do need help, though. We are part of a team for a reason, after all.”

Nya removed the tweezers and wiped her grease-stained hands on a towel. “You’re forgetting that I was Samurai X before I was a ninja. I didn’t need any help then.”

“I didn’t forget, I just remembered the important parts. We were still there for you afterward, even on your solo missions.”

Nya was quiet for a moment. “Maybe that was why it was so hard with you gone. It was like a piece of me was missing. I couldn’t fully uphold the Resistance without you guys there to help.”

Zane’s fingers skirted across his heart. “I don’t know how we went on, with part of our souls realms away.”

Nya put a hand over his. “But we’re here now.”

“But you weren’t. We have all the pieces again, but they feel… broken.”

“Hey.” Nya pressed the metal against the gap in his back, using the screwdriver to secure it into place. She leaned back, admiring her work. Good as new. “I fixed you, didn’t I? Nothing will stay broken forever.”

“I can fix a car,” Zane sighed. “Or the Bounty, or the oven, or myself. But I have no idea how one goes about putting pieces of a broken heart back together.”

Nya sat down next to him. Their eyes met- stunning, electrifying blue against deep, gentle brown. “Neither do I. But maybe… we can figure it out.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Together.”

“Together is good,” Zane agreed, putting his arm around her. “I think I like it a lot better than being alone.”

Sitting there, on the hard wooden chair, raw stitches in her shoulder, with Zane’s hard metal arms wrapped around her, she couldn’t have been in a more uncomfortable position. Yet Nya felt more at ease than she had in weeks.

For the first time since the guys had gone to the First Realm, Nya’s sleep was peaceful and uninterrupted.