#i’ve dealt with some frustrating situations in the tags of my reblogs before

[trashpandafiction]

We Survive (12)

Summary: What happens when the Behavioral Analysis Unit comes across a situation they weren’t trained for? When the dead begin to roam the Earth, it challenges the BAU to something they’ve never dealt with before: the apocalypse. Along their journey for survival, they come across Rick Grimes and his group of survivors. Among the survivors is Jocelynn Russo, who thinks that the new group could be helpful to them. Things seem to go well until an unexpected enemy appears. Will Negan and the Saviors be the one thing to break the groups, or will they be able to defend themselves? All anyone knows is they have one common goal; to survive. Pairings: Rick Grimes/OFC; Aaron Hotchner/OFC Word Count: 2,385 Warnings: None A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying this! If you’d like to be tagged in future updates, just let me know! Please do not redistribute my work without my permission! Reblogging is fine with credit intact.

Twelve - Adjustments

          The next morning, the council met and agreed to let Emily, David, and Derek stay in Alexandria, and offered a second house so they could be a little more comfortable. Spencer, Hotch, David, and Derek all took the extra house and the girls stayed in the first house. They had all talked about what had happened, and while Hotch and JJ hoped it would ease the tension, it only seemed to make it worse. Everyone understood why JJ said they were dead, but it didn’t make them feel less betrayed or hurt. Hotch was getting some short responses because he was the one who had the group move on. Emily, David, and Derek were trying to keep the peace, but they all had their own frustrations and reservations about a whole new community and group of people.

          After lunch, Emily was helping Maggie on a guard tower, David was in the armory with Glenn cleaning weapons and counting ammo, and Derek was doing a perimeter check with Michonne, while Penelope, JJ, Spencer, and Hotch took up their usual shifts. Everyone was friendly with the new members, and they managed to get the hang of things quickly.

          Jocelynn had offered to take care of Judith for the afternoon, so she was sitting on a picnic blanket with her outside of Rick’s house. They had eaten lunch and now were drawing pictures. As they colored, Hotch walked by, stopping when he heard a small giggle. He looked over at Jocelynn and Judith and smiled a bit, watching them coloring.

          Jocelynn looked up and smiled when she saw him. “Hey.”

          “Hey.” He said and walked over to where the two were seated. “What are you two up to?”

          “We are currently coloring pictures of…” she looked at the papers and hummed. “I think that might be Carl…maybe.” She laughed softly, looking up at him. “How’s your day going?”

          “Uh, it’s going alright.” He said with an unconvincing smile.

          “I’m not an FBI profiler or anything, but I think you might be fibbing just a bit.” She said and smiled some.

          “You might be onto something.” He said with a small shrug.

          “Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked, letting Judith climb into her lap to continue her picture.

          He hesitated a moment before walking over and sitting across from them. “I think I’ve got a few minutes to talk.”

          Judith continued to color while Jocelynn nodded at Hotch’s words. “Shoot.”

          “There’s just been some tension in our group since yesterday. I’m hoping it’s a temporary thing and that we’ll all adjust, but I guess time will tell.” He said.

          She wanted to ask what he thought about them being reunited with people that they were all led to believe were dead, but she wasn’t even sure how to bring it up. “I think it’ll take a little time to sort of un-grieve them. When all of this started, Carl and his mom were told that Rick was dead, but he found them and it was a bit of an adjustment for them, and for his friend that told them Rick was gone.”

          He nodded, smiling as Judith held out a crayon for him. He took it and scribbled with her, continuing his conversation. “I know JJ has a lot of guilt, and Reid feels lied to. Garcia wants to keep the peace, and the others are trying to adjust to a life here.”

          “And how do you feel about it all?” she asked, smiling at him joining in on the coloring.

          “I don’t know. I think trying to focus on everyone else has kept me from thinking about how I feel.” He handed the crayon back to Judith and smiled when she handed him another one, then got back to scribbling.

          “Well, if you need someone to talk to about anything, my door’s always open. I’m not great at advice, but I can listen.” she offered.

          “Thank you, I appreciate that.” He replied, attempting to draw a flower.

          “You know, if your other shifts here don’t work out, you could be an artist.” she teased.

          “I don’t want to make anyone jealous of my scribble skills.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I should probably go see how everyone is and see if there’s anything else I can do.”

          “I’ll make sure we frame this beautiful collaboration.” She teased, watching him stand up.

          “I appreciate that. Maybe we can put it up in city hall.” He teased back. “You two enjoy the rest of your day.”

          “Thank you.” She said and looked at Judith. “Can you say bye to Aaron?”

          Judith waved at him with a smile before getting back to coloring.

          “Bye, ladies.” He smiled and waved back before heading off to check on the rest of his team.

          Once he had left, Jocelynn looked down at Judith with a smile. “Are you tired yet or are you still coloring?”

          “Dada!” she smiled, pointing ahead.

          Jocelynn looked up and saw Rick coming over with a smile. “Hey Sheriff.” she smiled.

          “Thought I’d come over and see how things are going.” He replied, picking Judith up as she got up and walked over to him. “Hello, sweetheart.”

          “Just planning world domination as usual.” Jocelynn teased, getting the coloring pages and supplies cleaned up and put into the bin they were kept in.

          “Exactly what I expected.” He teased back. “I saw you talking to Hotch, is everything alright?”

          She looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah, I think so.” She stood up and held the bin on her hip. “I guess things have been a little awkward since yesterday, but he’s pretty sure it’ll be fine.”

          “Well, they were all under the impression that their friends were dead, so to see them walking in here probably messed them up a little.” He said.

          “Yeah, I can’t imagine.” She shook her head. “Do the new guys seem to be handling things well?”

          He nodded, swaying with Judith slightly. “They’re picking things up quickly, but you can see they’re all a little hesitant. Hotch and the others were the same way, so I’m sure they’ll be more comfortable as time goes on.”

          “You’re probably right.” She nodded.

          “I’m always right.” He smirked.

          “Okay, I think it’s time for you to go get some humble pie.” She teased, holding her arms out for Judith. “And I think it’s nap time for a certain someone.”

          Rick chuckled and handed Judith back to Jocelynn. “If you need anything, you know how to find me.” He leaned in and kissed Judith’s head gently. “Love you, sweet pea.”

          When he leaned in, Jocelynn’s stomach fluttered, calming down when she realized what he was doing. “Don’t work too hard.” She smiled some.

          “I never do.” He teased, patting her shoulder as he headed off.

          Jocelynn walked Judith back inside and got the coloring bin put away and Judith down for a nap. She ended up staying at Rick’s for dinner, and after they ate and cleaned up, she headed home. She was almost there when she heard Hotch calling her name. She turned and saw him, walking her way.

          “Hey.” She smiled, coming to a stop.

          “Hey.” He replied, stopping when he got to her.

          He looked like he needed to talk to someone, but she didn’t think he was the type to outright say it. “Out for a post-dinner walk?” she asked him.

          “Something like that. Heading home?” he asked her, knowing it was a ridiculous question.

          “Something like that.” She smiled softly. “Is everything okay?”

          He hesitated a moment, trying to think of the right thing to say. “You said I could come talk to you about anything?”

          “Of course. Do you wanna walk and talk? Or we could go inside.” she offered.

          “I don’t want to impose.” He said, knowing that she had roommates.

          “You won’t be. We can sit on the porch and chat if that would make you more comfortable.” She compromised.

          “Yeah, that sounds great.” He agreed.

          He walked with her the rest of the way to the house and when they got to the porch, they both sat down on the porch swing. It was quiet for a few minutes before Jocelynn spoke up again, “What’s on your mind?”

          “The team is having a hard time with everything, and instead of making it better, I feel like everything I try makes it worse.” He started. “You were in the cabin that day. What did you see?”

          She tried to put her words together before speaking, but she figured since his friends really were alive, she wouldn’t have to spare details. “The door was on top of the coffee table, and there was a pile of walkers on top of it.”

          “Were there any bodies underneath the door, or in the kitchen?” he asked.

          “No, just a lot of blood.” She waited a moment before taking a breath. “Hotch, can I be honest?”

          He looked over at her and nodded.

          “The bodies that were there weren’t…you could tell that they had been out there for a long time. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I could tell that those walkers weren’t fresh.” She explained carefully.

          “If you could tell that they weren’t there, then JJ would have known. She checked the scene after you did?” he asked.

          “Yeah. I went in first so if it was bad, I could give her a warning.” She looked at him and bit her bottom lip gently. “I didn’t want to make any assumptions, and I’m sure she had her reasons for saying they were there. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you sooner.”

          “You had no reason to. You didn’t know us, and accusing JJ of lying would have complicated things with Rick and the group.” He said simply. “I understand why she did it, she’s explained it over and over again, and we’ve had to keep things from each other one time or another when we were working.”

          She nodded and looked at her hands until he started speaking again.

          “What happened with Rick’s friend? The one who said that he was dead.” He asked her.

          “Things were a little weird for a while, but they started to level out. That wasn’t exactly a fair example though, Shane was…he tried to kill Rick after some time. Glenn was actually presumed dead after a run went badly, but he showed up here and things have been fine since.” She said and looked over at him. “I don’t see JJ randomly trying to kill anyone, so it’ll probably be the latter outcome for you guys.”

          He nodded, looking at his lap before looking back at her. “I know it’ll be okay eventually.”

          She cocked her head to the side slightly, “Then why are you worried?”

          He looked at her a moment before answering, “I don’t think it’s worry; I think it’s guilt.”

          “What are you guilty about?” she asked him, turning slightly so she could face him better.

          “I think the anger and hurt towards JJ should be aimed at me. We could have gone back to the cabin to help them out, I was the one who said we should push forward and assume the worst.”

          “You guys didn’t have the ammo to take them all out on your own.” She reasoned.

          “The three of them were able to escape on their own, if we would have just waited and come back later, we could have found them.” He shook his head.

          “Or there could have been more walkers and you could have been outnumbered. You can’t dwell on the ‘what ifs’, or the ‘could haves’, or it’ll drive you crazy. You did what you thought was right, JJ did what she thought was right, and now you’re all here and safe. It’ll take some time to adjust, but I’m sure everyone will be back to normal in no time.” She said, putting her hand on his arm. “It’ll work out.”

          The hand on his arm caught him off guard, but he didn’t pull his arm away. It felt calming in a strange way. “You’re probably right.”

          “I usually am.” she teased, wanting to lighten things up a little.

          He smiled some and nodded. “Humble too.” He teased back.

          “Always.” She smiled.

          “Thank you for talking some sense into me and listening to me.” He said sincerely, putting his hand on hers. “It means a lot.”

          She ran her thumb along his hand and smiled. “Anytime.”

          He squeezed her hand gently before letting go and letting out a breath. “I suppose I should head home.” They both stood up from the swing and she walked him to the porch steps. “You know, this goes both ways. I know it’s hard to open up to people you haven’t known for long, but if you ever need someone to talk to, you can come to me anytime. You can probably come to anyone on the team, really.”

          “I appreciate it. Just give it some time, and don’t blame yourself, okay? Easier said than done, I know.” She shrugged.

          He looked at her and smiled a little. “Seems like you’re speaking from experience.”

          She gave him a tight-lipped smile, “A story for another time.”

          He nodded, “Understood.”

          “Get home safe, okay? There could be weirdos out there.” She joked.

          “Besides you?” he asked, trying to hide a smirk.

          “Ouch.” She laughed softly.

          He laughed with her and hesitated before pulling her into a hug. “Thank you.”

          She didn’t expect it, but it was nice. She hugged him back and smiled. “You’re welcome.”

          He pulled back and looked down at her. “Night, Joce.”

          “Night, Hotch.” She smiled.

          She watched him walk back to his house, making sure he was okay. As she turned to go inside, she noticed Rick on his porch, looking towards her. She waved at him, which he returned, before heading into his house. Had he been watching her and Hotch the whole time? Maybe he went out for some air. He didn’t have any reason to worry about Hotch, so it had to be the latter. She headed inside and went up to her room to try and get some sleep, but her mind kept trying to wander to the little touches from Hotch on the porch. That wasn’t anything big, right?

[goldensunset]

So the more I’m thinking about it, I realized I love each member of the destiny trio individually, (and Sokai of course), but I feel like they're not really the best, most cohesive trio at the moment. I think maybe Wayfinder trio actually is the best, most cohesive, functional trio right now? Anyway.

I’m wondering if maybe the weirdness between the destiny trio in kh3 was intentional, and not the result of rushed development or something, as I keep assuming. Because they took the time to give every other trio special moments, but we didn’t get anything like that for SKR. Even the very last scene in the game mirrors the paopu scene: it’s sora and Kairi alone, and Riku separate from them. He's smiling, he's happy for them, but still, it's a clear separation of Sora and Kairi from everyone else, and Riku especially. I feel like remind could have been an opportunity for them to give even one memory or flashback or moment between the three if they wanted. It just feels like the devs only ever put sora and Riku together (like the ending of kh2, or ddd), or sora and Kairi (end of kh1, end of kh3/remind), but not all three anymore (secret ending of kh1 with the letter in the bottle). Sora vanishes sitting alone with kairi. At the end of the credits, the final image is the one of her and sora on the tree. Look at remind, it’s Kairi on the title screen. And like, if it were a fluke of 3’s development, why did it persist in Melody of memory? They could have had Yen Sid tell Kairi to stay home. The fact that it was riku just hurts so much more.

I don’t really have an answer but I just wanted your thoughts. Is this so they’ll reconcile later? Or as Nomura said in that interview:

"Nomura hopes its depiction of their bonds can offer a realistic sense of how friendships evolve and change over time. "{Kingdom Hearts is] not too realistic, but I do want my players to grasp a sense of reality from it as well," Nomura said. "For example, I'm sure you had friends when you were young, a good group of friends, but as you grow older things change and it doesn't always stay the same. I think all I can say is please play to the very end and see what happens. But I think [Kingdom Hearts 3] does depict how each character feels about each other in this new storyline."

It's intentionally vague, but like, does that mean the trio is coming apart? is it just sora and kairi getting closer from here on out? I just don’t know what the series looks like if they’re estranged from here on out. But to be honest, I sort of felt like sora and Riku weren’t even getting along that well in 3. It was weird almost bullying at times against sora. But they did have that “you don’t believe that” moment too, so idk man. Am I just reading way too much into this (probably)? Also, do you REALLY think they might be setting up a Kairi protag arc, or are we being set up to he let down again? I want her to be equal to/save her boys so bad, but it’s hard to hope for it after MoM…

sorry for this stupid long ask, but I would love to hear your thoughts :) also when you said "I risk my life every time I say it but riku's arc is done" I really felt that

*cracks knuckles* aight it’s time

*sniffles* so i didn’t know about that interview where nomura said that… *lies down definitely not crying* might explain a lot…

man i…i’m torn. like a part of me thinks kh should ultimately come back to the destiny trio as a group of friends because from the beginning they were established as the main characters. and to lose sight of that is to lose sight of kh’s heart. play up the nostalgia factor for the first game back when it was so simple and magical. something something disney magic power of friendship everything should work out in the end. it’s a feel-good fantasy where the power of love can always save everyone.

the other part of me…thinks exploring this concept of growing apart from old friends is very good. very painful, for sure. but who says disney should be all sunshine and smiles all the time? change and pain are part of life. and kids aren’t idiots. they’re no strangers to sadness. narratives that can handle this without making it awful and grim are very touching and valuable. but i would love for this specific type of pain to be addressed because it’s an issue very near and dear to my own heart.

my first ever friends that i knew and loved when we were toddlers are all gone from my life now. and from what i hear they’re completely different people now, people i would never want to be friends with. plenty more people have come and gone since, and i get debilitating anxiety about the relationships i still have, just in case i’m a hair’s breadth away from another fallout or distancing. the truth of it is that you can’t take anything for granted in life.

when you’re that close with someone, you think it’s gonna last forever. because you love them now, right? why would you ever stop? you want to live in the disney movie forever. you want the credits to roll and have everything freeze. when you get older, you want to live in the past because the past is comforting. but the truth of the matter is, it isn’t a reality anymore. and it hurts to open your eyes and acknowledge the evidence that things have changed.

as you’ve said, the destiny trio are certainly the least cohesive trio at the moment. i don’t think anyone can argue otherwise. which is ironic, given how in the past, they were the only ones who got to come back to each other, while the others were tragically separated. in and after kh3, the opposite happens. the wayfinder and sea salt trio reunite, while the destiny trio have drifted apart.

but the issue isn’t merely their physical separation. something has changed internally. too much has happened for them to go back to being the simple island kids they used to be. you could pluck sora out of quadratum tomorrow and give him right back to his friends but their reunion would mean next to nothing if the three of them didn’t do some soul searching individually.

which is why i’m hoping that they actually don’t rescue him right away. if he had to spend some time alone, and probably meet up with the new and strange folks in quadratum far away from anything or anyone familiar, he could reflect on his life and grow as a person. it’d be like in kh1 right after losing kairi riku and his home. sora was kinda mistreated in kh3 and made to feel like he was nothing on his own. the ‘my friends are my power’ thing really isn’t cute anymore if he’s saying it because he hates himself. our boy is strong and he deserves more respect!!!

like on the one hand if his friends came to rescue him it would be a nice demonstration of how much they care about him, esp after all he’s done for them. healers need healing too. on the other hand if he had to save himself he’d prove his worth once and for all and they couldn’t bully him by calling him useless on his own anymore (they never should’ve been doing that in the first place!!)

and it would be especially boring if it was literally just riku the hero saving him yet again. (*gets killed by majority of followers*) DDD already gave us ‘mister obsession and abandonment issues coolguy riku saves useless naïve clownboy sora’. i’ll put up with it once bc good for riku but i won’t put up with it again. it should be kairi, or riku and kairi, or the entire main cast. like maybe riku jumps in alone and kairi and/or the others have to jump in after him and have their moment to shine. at some point kairi’s like ‘ok now i REALLY have had enough of this’ and abandons her training to go after the boys (this is how kairi stans post-mom can still win-)

and if they all reunited after all this, having done some soul-searching? could they ever be the same? of course they could still be friends. but i really feel that we’ve crossed a point of no return for them. the other trios have changed as individual people, sure, but their group dynamic is the same as always. at this point, though, the destiny trio as we knew it in kh1 has all but dissolved. i wonder if any of them have started to think about this or not, to question what they still mean to each other in the context of their new lives and new friends. because when a relationship starts to dissolve, it might take a while to notice it, and a very long while to acknowledge it. and sometimes you can reform it into something new, but sometimes you have to let it go.

and i do think we’re moving towards sokai and i want that for them bc they deserve to be together at last but also like. having riku awkwardly third wheel is kinda?? i want to see him loving and being loved by sora and kairi too. he’s their best friend too. or at least he’s supposed to be. (truth is there was always tension in the group i think. oh the problems with a love triangle. they’ve kinda never really been a cohesive trio but that’s an essay for another day.) even if things aren’t the way things were when they were little anymore, there is absolutely no way riku can fade into irrelevance.

if i had to guess i’d say they’re probably gonna resolve this by writing naminé into a love interest for riku. which i wouldn’t mind if they like. did it really really well? they’d have to give her lots of great screentime first. but -understatement of the century incoming- it’s gonna make a lot of people really angry and i fear being on the internet that day lol. (plus there’s just the question of what group should naminé be a part of? should we really turn any trio into a quartet and alter the dynamic of the bonds that have been around for years? but she needs her own place to go and aaaahhhhh. girl has had so many different one-off 5-minute boyfriends lol)

this is a very long post uhhmm in conclusion:

they should all remain a part of each other’s lives forever in some way but it’s ok that things aren’t the way they used to be. the past is full of lovely memories but you can’t live in it forever. it hurts to think about but separation and/or change are part of life and i’d love to see them address the reality of this painful topic.

[imagine-loki]

Not as it Seems

TITLE: Not as it seems 

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter three

AUTHOR: Technically a-pandoras-box-of-characters, but my story blog (a-pandoras-box-of-stories) is a side blog, so I’ll likely be reblogging my story there too. 

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine that Loki is banished to Midgard shortly after Thor: the dark world. However, as punishment for his crimes, he is forced into the form of a common animal on earth to prevent his use of magic and silver tongue. This common animal is a cat. 

RATING: Right now should be fine for anyone to read, next chapter rating may change. 

NOTES/WARNINGS: The characters I’m using are Rp characters, but I thought that this would be fun. Feedback would be appreciated! :) (Also, her name is pronounced “Eye-zale-ia,” similar to ‘Azalea,’ but different because I’m weird and like the sound of my spelling better.) 

** Chapters may run longer or shorter depending on what ideas I have for them! 

Second + third note: He finally tells her his name! And I’ve started to upload this to my AO3 account, here.

Tagging: @puppens101, @whosaidididthat 

—————————————————————————————– 

The black cat now sat up, a bit unsteady because of the pain that it caused him. Seeming to be undeterred by it, he sat up anyways and curled his tail around his paws. His greenish-blue eyes drilled into Izzy, although it was only now that their true beauty was completely evident to her. The only reason that it hadn’t before, was because she had mostly been concerned with taking care of him and trying to get him situated. Now that she was able to sit down with him and have some sort of response other than hissing or growling, she could see it so much better.

  Unable to suppress the fact that him answering her made her happy, Izzy smiled a bit and sat up a little more. True, it hadn’t been very polite - nor had it been helpful in any real sense of the word - but it was something. And something, she could work with. 

“I’m going to guess that you’re not originally a cat, then, are you?” Izzy asked, raising an eyebrow. She tried to be gentle in tone when posing such a question, given that she was aware that if the answer to that was ‘yes,’ then there must have some kind of situation that put him in this form. And, depending on whatever - or whoever -  he had been before, it might be considered by him to be an extreme step down in the food chain. However, her attempts to be gentle were met with cynicism. 

“How astute of you to notice.” If cats could frown or roll their eyes, she was sure that he certainly would be. His ears were already back as it was, and he seemed to be impatient with either her, or his predicament, or both. “What tipped you off, my blatantly ineffective efforts to read this book, or was it because I wouldn’t talk to you from the start?”  

“Look…I just want to help you.” Izzy started, holding a finger to his mouth when he began to object. “And I can’t do that; if your only answers to me are rude and unhelpful. Alright?” With all seriousness, Izzy looked him directly in the eyes. He got his breath hard but did not answer her this time. Changing how she was holding him, Izzy went to go sit on her bed and put him on her lap. 

“Now, I’m going to try and heal you some..is that okay? I’ll have to use magic; if you know what that is…” she trailed off, trying to ignore what sounded to her like a bunch of indignant nonsense coming from him in response. “Shhh..” Aizalea whispered, resting her forehead to his. It was a strange and initially unwelcome thing to him. He just wanted to be put back down so that he could return to his pillow and sulk - to be allowed to avoid her and her loud, bothersome friend Ash. As well as Luna, since he just wanted to be left alone. Despite the fact that she hadn’t really been a problem to him so far. 

A calming chill ran through him, relaxing him in almost an instant. It was like no magic that he had ever dealt with before. It washed through his body and seemed to target exactly where he’d been hurt, then to carry it away just as quickly as it had arrived. Colors were seen differently to him right now, but the mist-like magic coming from her seemed to be of some darker shade of something to him; in effect, the whole thing was making him feel much more curious and much less frustrated. After she was finished, the pain was substantially lessened. It did not hurt as much to move, and the soreness had eased up. While he did not really feel much like talking anymore at the present time, he leaned up and licked her cheek a couple of times - an action that was completely embarrassing to him once he realized what he had done.

Reasoning that it was only because he was a cat right now, and it was natural for a creature of the feline species to do something like that, he decided not to think about it anymore. A decision that was made harder to keep, after she kissed the top of his head. Drat. Whatever! He would just stay silent, and wait to be put back down on the floor. Perhaps if he were patient– Ah, yes! She was putting him back down. Wonderful. Now maybe she would leave again, and he could–

“I have something to show you if you want to see it.” Aizalea smiled softly, heading towards the door again. Opening it, she waited to see if he wanted to come to the other room. He hesitated, but the offer had him intrigued. With the lack of so much pain, walking wasn’t really that difficult now…Alright, fine. 

Standing up again, he cautiously ventured out into the living room. From this point of view, everything looked huge. Not like how it had when he was up in the air, being held in Izzy’s arms the night before. It was daunting, but Izzy had moved to the side to let him through at his own pace - something that he appreciated, although he didn’t say so aloud. 

“It’s this way,” Izzy’s voice caught his attention, bringing it away from looking around the room, and from staring apprehensively at Ash - who was standing not too far away and watching him and Izzy. Looking instead in the direction that she had motioned in, he took a few more steps that way. What came into his sight was not what he had been expecting at all - it had multiple levels, looked to have places to hide, maybe a place for claw sharpening, and a dangly toy thing off to the side. At first, he wanted to feel insulted. This thing was for pets. For animals! It was not for him. And yet… the cat in him compelled him to at least go and check it out. 

At first sniff, it smelled funny. Venturing inside one of the little hiding places proved it not to be such a bad thing, though: it was soft, warm, and only had enough space for him inside. Right now, it was perfect - the perfect place for him to sulk and be aggravated. Because, while it was nice and he had decided that he didn’t mind it so much, he still wasn’t ready to let go of his frustrations about being stuck this way yet. For all he knew, the magic that Izzy had only extended as far as nice-feeling healing powers, and that was it. Well, aside from the ‘being able to communicate with animals’ thing. How weird was this Midgardian woman going to turn out to be? He could only wonder. 

“Did he tell you his name yet?” he could hear them talking from across the room. Ash was talking to Izzy, and Izzy looked to be upset when she answered her. 

“No, all he did was snap at me. I was able to heal him somewhat, but for now, I have no idea whatsoever if he even has a name. I’m beginning to think that even communicating with him was just all in my head.” she sighed, back leaned against the wall, arms crossed loosely beneath her chest. 

For some reason, her tone and expression made him feel a little guilty. He had been a bit rude with her when all that she had apparently wanted to do was help. Then again, why should he have to be in charge of her emotions or her well-being? She was the one who had brought him into her home. He hadn’t asked her to pull him out of the rain. To bring him in, clean him up, feed him, and give him a bunch of things to try and make him happy… No. He’d not asked for any of it. That was the bottom line. He was here because of her, and that was all. He didn’t care how she felt about it, he was done caring about other people or trying to help. That was what he’d been trying to do before he’d been stuck in this mess: he’d been trying to help; the expected outcome was to be rewarded - not to be turned into an animal with no means of changing himself back, or of communicating with anyone. Anyone but her…

An impatient sigh left him. If he was going to be stuck like this, then he was going to be free to sulk and be mad about it if he wanted to - no matter how it affected some woman. This was the decision that he had come to, and he was sticking to it. 

At least, this is what he thought that he was going to do. 

                                  ✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ 🐾 ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

The following days were nothing, if not at least interesting. 

While he had had it in mind to keep to himself and sulk alone, the three women in the apartment did not seem to be getting that memo; even Luna was paying him attention, not that he had expected it. Still, he found himself welcoming it more than he had with Ash - he still very unsure of her, most often because she was too hyperactive for his moods and got on his nerves - but there were some of her efforts, that he found himself later admitting that he had maybe not minded them as much as he originally thought that he did. She was trying, he could give her that, he supposed. 

The real bond he’d found himself making, however, was not with either of them. It was with Izzy. 

Even if he’d gone off to be alone, she’d usually leave him some sort of a treat to try and coax him out again anyways. Not that it usually worked, but she did make the attempt. And it was her perseverance that was most intriguing to him - for, he knew that he was not giving her the information she wanted; she wanted to know his name, but he had not budged. No name had been given, yet she did him the favor of not giving him some ridiculous or absurdly offensive name in place of it. He wasn’t cooperating well with her, yet more than once, she brought him up to lay on her bed with her when she noticed that he wasn’t sleeping well. It was unexpected and at first, rather unwelcome. No such comforts had been afforded to him since the passing of his mother, and so actions like these were greatly off-putting to him. Izzy was being kind to him, although she had no real reason to do so. It baffled him. Why should she be so nice, when he was being so stubborn? With all of his resistance and frequent bad moods, he had assumed that by now she would have given up and put him out. Or put him in a cage; as his not-father had done before when he’d done something that he perceived to be ‘bad,’ without even once trying to see if there were some cause for it: a reason for him to act in such uncharacteristic ways. 

But she never did.

Aizalea got upset with him for nipping or scratching and would tell him so, but had yet to lock him away and ignore him. Which, was part of why he slowly began to feel that it might be okay to allow himself to be closer to her. A little bit? It was something that he kept going back and forth on, especially with his nerves on edge lately. He’d been thinking about what all had happened the last time that he’d been on Earth - what had been the reason he’d been sent there; the torture preceding and the one responsible… It was the cause of his more frequent nightmares - and; subsequently, the reluctant relenting of his stance on staying up on Izzy’s bed. It was not so bad, he decided. She always allowed him to curl up on one of her pillows, as close to or as far away from her as he chose; if she thought that he may be cold, Izzy would reach for a blanket and put it over him. He usually really wasn’t that cold, but the thought was nice. 

Aside from slowly becoming more agreeable in nature, he found himself slowly giving in to the new - if a bit odd - instincts and urges that he had, as a cat. One of which, being to actually play with the toys that had been gotten for him. To his surprise, there were some of them that he quite enjoyed; ones meant to be mentally stimulating, or the ones with the stuff in it that was apparently known as “catnip.” Whatever the stuff was, it was amazing! …Though also a bit embarrassing later on, when the effect had worn off. 

When not in the kitty condo, carting around a toy, or getting healed up by Izzy, he had taken to exploring more of the apartment. There was a lot to it, and everything from this angle looked a lot bigger than it would of, had he been a person at the time. He was sure of that. 

There were plenty of places where he could lay in the sun - as he’d discovered was quite delightful - rooms to peek inside of and investigate and things nearly everywhere to climb on. Which, he’d learned, seemed to be another one of those odd ‘instincts’ that he’d found he now had: to climb up on everything and anything that he could get up to, whether he technically should, or not. 

In the end, none of this compared to when Izzy would sit and read to him. Whether on a pillow beside her or in her lap so he could see the pictures too, it was calming. Her reading voice was clear and concise; he nearly felt sometimes like he was inside the stories that she was telling, it was truly amazing. In all his years, very few had such a gift for reading this way. Couple this with her habit of running her fingers through his fur or scratching the top of his head as she read to him, and it made for quite an experience. It was quickly becoming yet another thing that he thought to be delightful; yet, he also found that it made him feel bad. 

She had given so much, and yet he’d still not given her so much as a name of which she could call him by… 

                                   ✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ 🐾 ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

“Ugh..” Izzy sighed, running her hands through her dark hair. She was hoping to get this song done before they had to start booking performances again. It was supposed to be the leading song for the album that they were trying to put together, but it just wasn’t coming out right at all. Digging her nails into her scalp and shutting her eyes, Izzy gripped her hair so tightly that it was starting to hurt her head. Ash and Luna had gone to hang out with their brother, so she was the only one here except for the kitty - that she still didn’t have anything to call by.

Getting her breath hard, she let go of her hair and sort of limply fell forward. She’d been at this for a good couple of hours now, and it was driving her crazy. Nothing that she put down sounded right, or like it fit together, and she was so frustrated with it. It was not only supposed to be the first song on the list of their new album, but their manager/agent had stated that he wanted her to write it all on her own. Ash and Luna weren’t allowed to help her, he’d made that pretty clear. And the stress of it was getting to her..again. This was why she almost didn’t notice the feeling of her hair being pawed at, from the end of the couch. 

“You’re crying.” Blue-green eyes stared up at her from where he sat on the floor, a matter-of-fact tone in how he’d spoken to her. As “matter-of-fact” as one who was currently a cat could be, anyways. 

Sitting up a bit and wiping her eyes with the palms of her hand, she sniffed. “How observant of you,” she sighed, her brows creasing together. She had a lopsided smile on her face, but it wasn’t fooling him. He knew she was upset. He could feel it, somehow; or..almost smell it, maybe? Whatever it was, he knew that she wasn’t having a great time right now. That much was evident. Even despite that she’d tried to repeat back to him what he’d said to her the first time that he’d spoken to her. It was in part..especially because of that, really. 

“You aren’t funny, Aizalea. I can see that you’re upset, I’m color-impaired right now. Not stupid.” He stated, giving her what she could only think was his attempt at a ‘knowing’ look. To which, she rolled her eyes. 

“No. But you are a smart-aleck,” Izzy answered him, offering a smirk and trying to boop his nose with her finger. It earned her the funniest of looks, and a moment of silence, that she couldn’t help but to laugh at even though she’d been so frustrated with her song not coming out how she wanted it to. 

“Hmph.” Giving her an indignant look and swatting at her when she tried to do it again, he sat up straighter. “Be that as it may, you are avoiding my question. So, tell me. What is it?” He pressed her, gaining a frown in response. She didn’t seem to want to let him see it, whatever it was. 

“..I’m trying to write a song. It’s for the new album that we’re supposed to be putting together..it’s the first one, I saved it for last because our manager wanted me to do it by myself. And I’ve been stuck on it, I can’t think of what to write. I have half a song, and can’t think of anything else. Nothing that I’ve tried makes sense!” Aizalea sighed, hiding her face in her hands. A short amount of time passed by before she finally looked up again; when she didn’t see him anymore, she was going to ask where he had gone off to - when she then felt paws walking up her back. 

“Let me see,” he meowed at her, nudging her cheek and peeking over her shoulder. 

“Hey, what’re you-” Izzy looked over at him and exhaled slowly. “Alright, but you won’t be able to understand it…” she muttered, adding “Persistent thing.” Moving the page over, she finally let him see it. It looked like a mix of musical symbols, and then a bunch of..weird squiggles..to him. Again. To hide his frustration with this, he stared at it awhile longer before answering her. 

“Well, what do you expect from one named Loki?”