#if i strain myself on a run i often get them

[rapidhighway]

My guy if you have a sudden foot/calf cramp you gotta stretch that leg immediately it will go away very quickly. Put the front of your foot against something and push your heel down. Do this:

on anything, you could even just lean forward and grab your toes and pull them up. Hold for a few moments, it can come back if you let go too soon. It's hard to do through pain sometimes but it really works and you gotta try.

If you get cramps like this in the middle of the night, the best way i know is to lay on your stomach and put your toes on your bedframe and push your heel down like the picture

[kisses4rafey]

sunbathing with older!rafe

It was unusual for you and Rafe to be were you currently were, not that it didn’t happen- but just not as often as lately.

It is now late afternoon, the sun slow, painting everything in gold. You’re laid out across the old wooden deck of the Cameron’s villa, one leg lazily draped over the side of the lounge chair, your skin glowing from the heat. The only sound the distant slap of waves against the shore

Rafe had told you to go outside and enjoy yourself while he was still inside with his mother, probably arguing over some documents or work related stuff

Then all of a sudden you feel hand reaching out to lazily adjust the strap of your bikini—fingers grazing.“You’ll get tan lines, baby.”

You hum in response smirking with eyes closed. “Then take it off.”

Rafe's hands slide expertly around your waist, pulling you against him, bare chest firmly pressed to your back, chin resting on your shoulder. He inhales deeply, his breath warm against your neck, and you shiver as his fingers slip beneath the fabric of your swimsuit, grazing against your skin.

"You know I like when you wear this one," he says, his voice low and rough. He flicks the strap lightly, "It accentuates your curves just right."

His hands roam over your body, lingering on your hips, fingers tracing patterns along the edge of the fabric. His mouth finds the sensitive spot at the base of your neck and then kisses you, tongue darting out to taste your skin. You arch your back, pressing yourself against his body feeling the heat.

"And you like when it comes off," you tease, your voice tinged with flirtation and challenge.

You feel him smile against your shoulder as he continues to roam your body, fingers sliding up your stomach and lingering just below your boobs, tracing lazy patterns on your skin.

“Your parents might come out and see…” your breath hitches, suddenly feeling all too aware of where you were.

You feel his hands pause but for only a moment before resuming their journey, the ghost of a smirk against your neck.

“They won’t,” he murmurs, lips grazing the sensitive skin just beneath your ear. “They’re both locked up in that office for at least another hour.”

You feel the material of your bikini top slip down, leaving you exposed to the warm summer air. Rafe runs his hands up your torso, palming your breasts and giving them a gentle squeeze.

"You're so beautiful," he whispers, lips trailing a path down your neck. You feel the stirring of his cock against your thigh making you arch to press into him.

“We really shouldn’t…” you say trying to be reasonable.

“I know,” you feel his hot breath trailing kisses down your neck. “But I can’t help myself.”

One of his hands slides down your stomach, finding the waistband of your bikini bottoms and hooking a finger and tugging it down, revealing your bare ass in the air. You feel him inhale sharply, hands gripping possessively. “God, you’re incredible, sunbathing out here nearly naked, looking like a snack all ready for me to devour.” You turn your head pulling down your sunglasses to look at him thru your shoulder.

His fingers hook into his own waistband of his shorts and pulling them down enough for his hard cock to spring free, tip already leaking, making a shiver runs through you.

You feel the thickness of his cock pressed against your entrance, and you can’t help but let out a small gasp. “Rafe- oh my god!” you bury your head in your arms as he’s pressed against your whole body, completely filling you up.

Rafe’s hands grip your hips tightly, holding you in place as he starts to move. His thrusts are slow at first, building up an agonizingly delicious pace. You can feel the roughness of his chest against your back, your moans muffled by your hands.

“You feel so good, baby,” he grunts voice strained with pleasure. “So tight and warm.”

“This pussy’s so fucking perfect for me” his lips against your ear. “You’re so perfect.”

He starts thrusting in and out of you faster, making you moan and arch and roll your hips to meet his movements.

He leans down, mouth next to your ear. “Feel good, baby?” his right hand slides down between your legs to rub your clit as he holds himself up with his left one, the sight of biceps making you roll your eyes to the back of your head. You grip the arms of the lounge chair trying to steady yourself "Rafe-“

His thrusts grow urgent, faster and harder, the sound of skin slapping against skin mingling with gasps and moans you’re trying to keep down as you bite into your hand. You feel your orgasm building, heat pooling low in your belly.

"Rafe, I’m gonna—"

And then all of a sudden he’s emptying himself deep inside you with a guttural moan, hips stilling against your ass before he smacks it, head slumped against your shoulder.

For a few moments you both just stay where you are, trying to catch your breath and then he lifts his head to look at you. “You okay?” he asks voice still hoarse. You nod feeling boneless.

You turn around to face him, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss, soft and lingering. When you pull away, you can't help but smile. “Yeah”

He leans down to press his forehead against yours, their noses bumping together. “You’re so cute when you try to keep your shit together, you know that?” he smirks pulling his shorts up and then fixing your bikini.

As you’re about to rebut, you see his mom showing up with some drinks and then turn to Rafe. “I expected more decency from you.” she looks at him with a raised eyebrow and a half smirk, making you go red while all he does is shrug smiling smugly.

“I’m a grown man, mom.”

[paranoiddreams]

Beware ೀ (HC)

‹𝟹 Stoner!Sukuna x GN!reader

‹𝟹 Warnings!! - THIS IS PURELY FANTASY!!, non-con, drugging, marijuana use, pls do not read if any of these topics trigger you!!, unprotected sex, pervy dirty nasty thoughts😔, mentions of masterbation (m), mentions of creampies :3, Sukuna is messed up, I tried to make it as gender neutral as possible but if it comes off more fem I’m srry, porn a little plot?, just filth as usual *sigh*, a random Ethel Cain ref (Gibson Girl) bc I can’t help myself, lmk if I missed anything<3

‹𝟹 A/n!! - once again, was writing this while listening to this song while writing this lolz. I was gonna name Animals the title of the song, but decided not to, and then wrote this and thought the title fit :3 Forgive the writing if it’s not up to par, I’m so sleep deprived rn😀 But neways, I hope you all enjoy this and share my love for stoner!sukuna😌 I’m seriously considering making a oneshot continuing this🧍🏻‍♀️

Stoner!Sukuna who’s your best friend, despite being a delinquent in a rock band, and you an innocent, stereotypical, goody two-shoes.

Stoner!Sukuna who towers over you with his muscular frame, and plays any song you want on his guitar. If he doesn’t know it, he’ll learn it.

Stoner!Sukuna who always smells like weed and cologne, and almost never wears any color other than black and grey.

Stoner!Sukuna who invites you over to his crappy apartment all the time, and even has a pink fluffy blanket on his bed for you.

Stoner!Sukuna who smokes a blunt while you both watch movies together, often watching a rom-com you chose despite his usual disdain for them.

Stoner!Sukuna who offers you a hit every time you come over, even though he knows you’ll just say no with that cute, innocent smile of yours. And you always do.

Stoner!Sukuna who has to stop smoking indica around you because the strain makes it even harder to push down his impure, feral thoughts about you.

Stoner!Sukuna who pulls you closer to him when the movie has really got you sucked in, grinning at how cute you look when you’re invested in something.

Stoner!Sukuna who can’t stop thinking about stuffing you full of his cum multiple times, making you cum in cock each time, whenever you cuddle into his side and throw a leg over his.

Stoner!Sukuna who decides after getting high alone one night and jerking off thinking about you that it is definitely time you get high for the first time. And he should be the one to show you :)

Stoner!Sukuna who bakes your favorite brownies with M&M’s, but adds a secret ingredient without telling you, watching with a smile as you eat a whole one without much thought.

Stoner!Sukuna who pulls you into his arms as soon as you’re both done eating, offering to let you pick a movie, as always.

Stoner!Sukuna who notices how clingy and needy you’re getting after 30 minutes of the movie you put on, already feeling his cock getting hard in his shorts as soon as your face nuzzles into his chest.

Stoner!Sukuna who shushes you gently when you start whining about feeling a little weird, his hands running down your back to feel your skin warming up under your clothes.

Stoner!Sukuna whose hands wander a little farther than usual, knowing you’re too high by now to even register it.

Stoner!Sukuna whose hard cock is pressed against your stomach as you lie on top of him, making it hard for him not to tear your clothes off and breed you then and there.

Stoner!Sukuna who places his hands on your hips, slowly grinding himself up into your clothed sex, closing his eyes with a low moan.

Stoner!Sukuna who feels your growing arousal through your clothes, and says: “Baby, if it feels good, then it can’t be bad,” when you ask him what he’s doing.

Stoner!Sukuna who whispers lewd words into your ear as he pulls your pants off, knowing that’s he’s got you in his clutches.

[sugurizz]

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ── So this was an interesting ask cause it was a big, hard CHALLENGE. Just like Jaekyung's D- *Ahem* Aaanyways Jae and fluff are scientifically opposite terms. So trying to merge the two together feels more difficult than buiding a rocket. But I did it, and tried to keep HIM in character as much as I can, cause let's be honest…he has his tiny fluffy moments too...sometimes, yeah. heh. Anyways enjoy some RARE Jaekyung 'fluff' folkss.

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧: 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐒𝐊.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: Just...fluff, Ig?

You stared at a gloomy, greyish sky through the huge bay window. The spacious emptiness of your roommate's apartment hit heavier in his absence. The raindrops trickled down, gradually getting thicker and louder under the thunderblasts of an imminent storm.

You did a few casual chores around the house, train of thoughts constantly derailing towards him…

− He took you in for a rather transactional reason, and you didn't particularly hate it either. You were in times of rut, torn between multiple jobs and restless days. And he needed someone who had it in them to take him, regardless of his temper and turmoil.

He had a professional to help maintain his fighter career by all means, and you had a luxurious roof over your head. And thus was your secret pact with the charming athlete.−

A louder bang shook you out your thoughts again. The storm running fiercer and wilder added to your unease. And the recurring, almost detonation-sounding noises strained your already worried heart.

You liked the rain, it even soothed you at times. But the violent thunderstorms often made you troubled, almost terrified. it brought fear and unrest in you.. some emotions and memories that you didn't like being brought back to the surface. The tall walls of the apartment resounded with louder rumbles. You cried out as you ran away, an inner instinct in you seeking a hideout narrow enough to shelter you…

____

'What are you in the damn closet for? Thought you were away.' He stared at you; curled up and shaky, holding your knees close to you chest as your hands wrapped over your ears.

You flinched at him sliding the closet door open. The chaotic noises outside had you barely notice him coming home, let alone walking on you in your hideout.

You raised your head and opened you mouth, struggling not to burst in tears. watery eyes and choked hiccups trapped in your throat, you took a deep sigh and tried explaining.

'I…got scared. I hate storms and w-was all by myself…I needed to hide somewhere.' You stuttered, face heating up with embarassment.

The timing was anything but convenient, especially with him fresh out the shower, cheeks pinkish and hair still a bit damp and messy with a towel over his shoulders.

'The heck? You a kid or something?' He huffed with a mean smirk, eyeing you down like some stray kitten on his lawn.

'Ugh. Just get out of there. I'm here anyways, the boogeyman won't eat you this time.'

He crossed his arms over his chest, staring at you sternly. The storm outside was still pretty audible to your ears, and so were the lightning flashing every now and then.

'I-I said I'm afraid…I'll just get out when I settle down.' You uttered, holding your legs closer to you again.

He didn't take what you said for an answer. Neither was he the type to reason with someone. Rather pulling your arm and caging you between him and the closet door sounded like the easiest way he had in mind.

'Still scared now?' He stared dead into your eyes and raised an eyebrow. You locked eyes on his, mortified, no words ready to leave your mouth.

'You're a grown woman, doc. Ya can't be sobbing because of a damn thunderstrom.'

Your head leaned forward, resting on his chest. The pent-up fear made him almost seem like a safe haven to you, and so did his overly tempting closeness against your body.

The tight muscles on his broad chest felt so warm, despite you only touching him for a couple seconds. It had your silly self almost wishing he would actually hold you tight…or even nuzzle you into his neck...

'Oi doc, let go now would ya?' He huffed with an eyeroll, turning his gaze away.

'Y-yeah…sorry.' You flinched away and shook your head, hoping he wouldn't notice the few warm tears you left on his shirt.

'Quite the scaredy cat you are.' He gave you a faint grin as you wiped your cheek.

'I'm hungry. Don't feel like cooking.' He turned around and walked out, hinting at you as he led the way towards the kitchen...

[kawhh]

I need to buy myself a chew toy I am going feral over all this dark content. When do you think the obsession started? Was it the moment he laid eyes on you? Did he completely tune out what his friends were saying as you walked by? Was he dazed and jumpy until you entered his sight again? Did his friends notice how little enthusiasm he had for almost everything after that moment until he introduced you, magically cured to full life? Did they make fun of him for randomly going on a renovation kick, buying things that added a homey, maybe feminine touch that killed the "bachelor pad" vibes? Did everything else cease to be important until he had you? Was he agitated during games before you started attending each one with his name and number on your back? Was it hard for him to focus, knowing you're states away with no one to love on you, not knowing that you belong to him yet (frankly not really knowing who he is at all)?

Nonnie, please buy me an extra chew toy. My personal notes and blurb ideas keep getting more and more off the rails. I have to keep checking that I'm writing them in the right place and not accidentally sending them to anyone lmao.

I cut myself off a bit so lemme know if you want more.

If you ever found out how he started his obssession with you.. he isn't convinced you wouldn't run. He can't ever hint towards it. Until he knows you're his forever and he can make sure you can't leave him, he won't speak a word.

He'd seen you on a night out - he'd been out with his friends in the summer break to blow off some steam and relax after the straining season.

The instant obsession corroded his brain. Your hair - it was perfection. He wanted his hands wrapped in it. Wanted to tug it and make you cry. Your skin - he just wanted to feel you. You looked so soft.. you'd feel so good in his arms.

He needed you. He wanted you. Nothing else mattered to him. Not his friends around, not his drink, not anyone hanging around him hoping for a chance.

The glance at you wasn't enough and he's struggling to find you again in the crowd. Were you a dream? A mirage? He could believe that with how perfect you were for him.

He's leaving his friends without a thought. He needs to find you again. He catches another glimpse of you - you're leaving the bar. Fuck. He needs to act fast, he can't have you enter his life and leave it. He'll apologise to his friends in the morning, they'll believe he was just exhausted.

He's dashing into a taxi, tipping them extra to follow you closely so he doesn't lose track of you, but far enough way to not be suspicious. He can't scare you off. You eventually stop at what must be your appartment. He gets the taxi driver to stop further up the road.

He won't act too fast.. he'll just.. watch. You really should learn to close the curtains. You live alone. That's good to know but also concerning. Who's looking after you? You look so fragile. He needs to learn your routine. Needs to know when he can sneak in. Needs to how how he can engineer a meeting.

Do you go to a certain cafe in the week? Where do you work? You were at the bar, do you go there often?

What decorations do you have in your apartment? What's your taste? He'll start preparing his apartment. You have plants? Well now he has plants.

[shiningstarwrites]

Their bad habits in a relationship

Arcane Characters x Fem!Reader

Vi

• Pushing You Away: Vi has a bad habit of shutting you out when she’s hurting. After a particularly bad fight in Zaun, she avoids you completely, thinking it’s better to keep you at a distance than risk you getting hurt. You’re left wondering if you’ve done something wrong, the silence between you growing unbearable.

• Broken Promises: She promised to always come back to you, but one day, she doesn’t. When she finally returns, bruised and battered, she sees the hurt in your eyes and knows she’s broken your trust.

• Arguments About Safety: Vi can’t stand the thought of you being in danger, but her overprotectiveness leads to heated arguments. “I can handle myself, Vi!” you yell, and her voice breaks as she responds, “But what if you can’t? What if I lose you?”

• Haunted by the Past: Sometimes, Vi wakes up in the middle of the night, sweat on her brow and a look of pure terror in her eyes. She doesn’t want to talk about the nightmares, but when you try to comfort her, she just whispers, “I can’t lose you like I lost them.”

Jinx (Powder)

• Unpredictable Pain: Jinx’s volatile nature often leaves you walking on eggshells. One day, in a fit of paranoia, she accuses you of betraying her. The words cut deep, and though she regrets it later, the damage is done.

• Past vs. Present: Jinx struggles with the person she used to be and who she is now. She worries she’s not good enough for you, often saying things like, “Why would someone like you love someone as broken as me?”

• Explosive Arguments: Her emotions run wild, and when you fight, it’s like a storm. She says things she doesn’t mean, only realizing how deeply they’ve hurt you when you walk away in tears.

• Isolation: Sometimes, Jinx disappears for days without a word, leaving you to worry if she’s even alive. When she finally comes back, she’s tearful and apologetic but can’t promise she won’t do it again.

Caitlyn

• Duty vs. Love: Caitlyn’s role as an enforcer constantly pulls her away from you. She hates the look in your eyes every time she says, “I have to go,” but she can’t abandon her responsibilities, even when it means leaving you behind.

• Strain of Expectations: Her family’s high expectations often bleed into your relationship. When her mother makes a snide comment about your place in Caitlyn’s life, Caitlyn doesn’t defend you in the moment, leaving you feeling betrayed.

• Overworked and Distant: Caitlyn’s work consumes her, and while she swears she loves you, her late nights and constant absences leave you feeling like you’re always second place.

• A Moment Too Late: One day, you’re caught in the crossfire of a case she’s working on. Caitlyn arrives just in time to see you injured, the sight of your blood making her realize how much she’s taken you for granted.

Ekko

• The Weight of Leadership: As the leader of the Firelights, Ekko carries the weight of an entire community on his shoulders. He loves you, but he often feels like there’s no room for your relationship amidst his responsibilities.

• Broken Promises: He’s late to a date for the fifth time in a row, and when you confront him, he says, “I’m trying to protect all of us! Can’t you see that?” His words sting, making you wonder if he values you as much as his cause.

• Survivor’s Guilt: Ekko often pushes you away, convinced that anyone close to him is doomed to suffer. “I’ve already lost too many people,” he says. “I can’t lose you too.”

• The Edge of Goodbye: During a dangerous mission, Ekko is caught in an explosion that leaves him gravely injured. When you find him later, barely clinging to life, he whispers, “I should’ve told you how much I love you more often.”

Mel Medarda

• Political Intrigue: Being with Mel means being thrust into a world of manipulation and hidden motives. When one of her rivals targets you to get to her, she blames herself entirely. “I should’ve known this would happen,” she says, her voice trembling with guilt.

• Walls of Gold: Mel’s upbringing has made her emotionally guarded. She loves you, but she struggles to open up, leaving you feeling like you’re constantly chasing a part of her that she won’t let you have.

• Fights About Priorities: You confront her about how often she puts her political ambitions above your relationship. “Do I even matter to you?” you ask, and her silence feels like a knife to the heart.

• A Love Too Dangerous: One night, Mel tells you she can’t be with you anymore, not because she doesn’t love you, but because she fears the danger her world brings to yours.

Silco

• Tainted Love: Silco’s world is one of violence and power, and no matter how much he loves you, it bleeds into your relationship. You hate the blood on his hands, and he hates that he can’t be the man you deserve.

• Constant Conflict: You argue about his obsession with Zaun’s independence. “Zaun comes first,” he says coldly during one fight, and you can’t help but feel like you’ll always come second.

• A Dangerous Game: One day, you’re caught in the crossfire of his enemies. When he finds you injured, barely conscious, he cradles you in his arms, whispering, “I’ll burn this city to the ground if it means keeping you safe.”

• Doubts and Distance: Silco often wonders if he should let you go for your own good, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he becomes colder, hoping you’ll leave him before he destroys you.

Viktor

• Workaholic Tendencies: Viktor’s obsession with his research often leaves you feeling neglected. “This is bigger than us,” he says, not realizing how much his words hurt you.

• The Fear of Losing You: Viktor’s declining health makes him push you away, convinced you deserve someone who can give you a future. “You shouldn’t waste your time on me,” he says, his voice breaking as he turns away.

• Unspoken Words: He’s terrible at expressing his emotions, and sometimes his silence speaks louder than words. You’re left wondering if he truly loves you or if his work will always be his first priority.

• The Final Goodbye: In his desperation to perfect his research, Viktor overworks himself to the brink of collapse. When you find him unconscious in his lab, you realize how much he’s sacrificed, even at the cost of your relationship.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Could you possibly write headcanons for a relationship with Mizu from The Blue Eyed Samurai? Hope all is well with you!

At first being in a relationship with Mizu was heavily strained for a multitude of reasons but the main one being that the people in Mizu’s life don’t tend to stay for the long run.

Which meant that Mizu was always putting a good deal of distance between the two of you as a way to prevent becoming overly attached to you, in the fear that you wouldn’t last as long either.

They acted like your second shadow with how close they stood near you, especially when in the company of unsavoury and shady individuals. A silent body guard that was about as still as a statue unless a move was made against you with ill intentions.

However thar never stopped Mizu from answering the call they had to protect you when needs be but by the time the threat was eliminated, it was back to pushing you away while keeping conversations you had to a minimum, all in hopes of deterring any and all hope you may have for a connection.

It’s not in a mean way but more so Mizu’s way of protecting you without integrating you into their mess, or be targeted by people who would love nothing more then to hit Mizu where it hurts.

It didn’t matter whether you were associated or not, you were still fair game for them to attempt other forms of capture.

Mizu wants the best for you and that isn’t sticking with them.

This often leads to arguments being had between the two of you because you felt as though Mizu was just trying to get out a relationship with you and doing things without your input on them, whilst Mizu believed you to be stubborn and not fully grasping the threat of being with them had on you and your well-being.

Anyway, enough of that angsty stuff.

Once Mizu gotten use to the fact that you weren’t going away anytime soon and rather serious in being by their side through thick and thin. They would slowly start to open up to you more by starting off small such as;

Shielding you from sight when someone becomes aggressive.

Making sure you don’t get injured and even if you did, no matter how large or small or maybe, Mizu would want to heal it themself and oversee your recovery process personally.

Sitting/ standing closer to you than before.

Or even Brushing off the snow from your clothes before it melts and soaks the clothing.

When Mizu gets even more comfortable within your relationship then they’ll start contemplating on how to enact physical contact but never knowing how. It had been a long while since they last allowed someone to hold their hand never less hold them but Mizu wasn’t quite sure you’d like that sort of affection.

So you’ll probably have to make the first step yourself by showing Mizu that you were more then okay with it by grabbing their hand, interlocking your pinkies together, holding on their arm or even straight up hugging the life out of them after a gruelling fight.

‘Thank god you’re okay.’ You cried into Mizu’s chest, breathing them in as much as you could as though the moment you let Mizu go, they’d disappear.

‘You know I’d always come back to you.’ Mizu told you as they reciprocated the hug despite how it pulled at their wounds but Mizu didn’t care, your health and well-being was something they hold in high regard.

‘I know that but I just can’t help my fear of the day I’ll loose you.’ You told them, pulling away from them a little bit and trying not to smile when Mizu instinctively tightened their grip on you. ‘But I also must remind myself that you’ve proven yourself capable enough to hold your own in a fight on multiple occasions.’ You pressed a tender kiss to Mizu’s cheek, chuckling when you saw their eyes widen at the innocent act.

For someone as powerful and amazing as Mizu, you pride yourself in how you were probably the only one that got to see this side of them. It was an honour to witness a moment that tasted as sweet as it looked.

Mizu meanwhile felt warm throughout their body, enjoying the feeling of you holding them as tightly as you were right now. Were they really this touch starved? Yes. Yes they were. Severely so.

They’d crumble internally during the more intimate moments where your both alone to your own devises. Run your fingertips gently across the scars on their shoulders or across their calloused hands and Mizu will be melting like butter. They felt safe within your hold, they felt as though the didn’t need to be on guard with you near and you felt protected and loved within Mizu’s hold, taking comfort in knowing that nothing could touch you with Mizu nearby.

You felt invincible either with Mizu and Mizu felt cherished. You both fill a void that neither of you thought could ever be filled.

Can and will punch Taigen for flirting with you. Mizu has done it before and isn’t afraid to do it again as extra.

[a-little-revolution]

Hi lovely, I hope you are well?

I saw the ask about the bathroom accommodations and it got me really interested in two things.

1) what are accommodations that are hLepful (trying to 'help' without actually considering the needs of the individual, for example the step not enabling independence and I imagine from prior posts that it would also cause strain on your joints? (Plus the whole hygiene side, run into that one myself with suggested accommodations) )

2) what accommodations would you want to see in public spaces (doesn't have to be bathroom related, this just showed me a gap in my awareness and I'd like to work on it so I can include more awareness whenever I'm partaking in conversations around accessibility. If you have prior posts do link them, the only one that's coming to my mind right now was discussing the lack of accessibility in hospitals)

Hope you have a good pain/energy day, and I really love your style!

Hello! Indeed, I spoke about some ways to make public spaces more accessible for little people here - particularly when it comes to public washrooms. Here's some more accommodations I'd love to see!

I would love to see more information/reception desks with varying heights! This is an excellent piece of infrastructure that allows little people (and wheelchair users) full access to the counter and a place to speak to an attendant.

In the realm of public counter tops - a huge point of inaccess for me is grocery store conveyor belts. They come to about my chest, which makes loading and packing very difficult. And the "accessible" lane is no different! Plus every grocery store I've been to makes the "accessible" lane also the express lane - so while I'm buying my load of groceries, there's always a disgruntled customer behind me - I've even been denied access for having too many groceries!

The self check out is even worse - in a world where we're now being ushered to interact with these robots instead of real people, I can't reach the screen or the debit machine! So either way I need to ask for help, which completely defeats it's purpose. I would love to see a more accessible option that is lower to the ground.

A second, lower handrail on public stairs is a must! I've seen these in children's hospitals and schools, and would love them to be common place. Average handrails often land at shoulder height or higher - they provide little to no stability or safety for little people.

An access issue that often gets overlooked is the height of public seating - this includes doctor's office chairs, modern theatre seating, bar stools, booths, and office swivel chairs. The irony of a disabled person not being able to sit down is one I come across on the regular. The number of times I've showed up for an interview and not been able to sit without assistance is absurd.

Having a variety of seating options, or providing public step stools (or a combination of the two) could be easy fixes to this issue. In hospitals I am seeing a slow shift towards even lower chairs and beds since this issue is not always unique to little people - anyone who has difficulty bending, sitting, or transferring from a wheelchair has this issue. Modern design needs to account for diversity, instead of steering towards minimalism.

Step stools are of course the easiest means of making public spaces more accessible for little people, but I want to point out that they're not always the be-all-end-all solution, and can actually just be a band aid to some problems. While stools are incredibly versatile, not everyone has the ability to use them and they can pose a hazard in certain situations. In points of high traffic, built-in steps are far safer and could even be designed to fold up when not in use - they can also account for weight and wear.

Additionally, when stools are option in public, it's vital that they be easily accessed and borrowed by patrons without the need for a special request. I've said it before, "If I have to ask for help, it's not accessible". In order for stools to be a viable accommodation, they should be as freely obtained as toilet paper.

[theonlyonesora]

Chapter 4: Silent Shadows

The apartment felt colder than usual, even though the heater hummed faintly in the corner. Night had fallen hours ago, and the dinner table remained untouched. The warm meals Kiyomi had prepared sat forgotten, their aroma now fading into the still air. She sat by the window, her hands gripping the edge of the sill as she peered into the dark streets below, hoping for a familiar figure to appear.

“He said he’d be back tonight,” she murmured, her voice strained. “Do you think something happened?”

Megumi, sitting cross-legged on the couch, feigned nonchalance. “I’m sure he’s fine,” he said, his tone carefully steady. But his clenched fists betrayed him. He avoided looking at his sister, not wanting her to see the doubt that flickered in his eyes.

Kiyomi wasn’t convinced. She bit her lip, her gaze never leaving the window. “What if—”

“He’s fine,” Megumi interrupted, sharper this time, though more to reassure himself than her.

The hours stretched painfully, and the siblings’ restless hearts grew heavier. Kiyomi eventually closed the curtains and moved to the couch beside Megumi. The silence between them was suffocating, broken only by the occasional creak of the floorboards or the distant sound of cars outside.

But Toji never came home that night.

.

Days turned into a week, and the once-faint unease had blossomed into a suffocating dread. Toji’s absence was a gaping hole in their lives, one neither Kiyomi nor Megumi knew how to fill. The apartment, once chaotic with Toji’s teasing and presence, now felt oppressively quiet.

Kiyomi tried her best to maintain a sense of normalcy. She cooked, cleaned, and kept up with school, but the strain was showing. Her cheeks grew hollow, and dark circles marred her usually bright eyes. She often skipped meals, brushing off Megumi’s concerned looks with forced smiles and quick excuses.

One evening, Megumi finally confronted her. Kiyomi was seated at the table, staring blankly at a plate of untouched food. Megumi approached hesitantly, his small hands clutching the fabric of his pants.

“Why haven’t you eaten anything?” he asked, his voice trembling slightly. “You look so tired... I don’t want you to get sick.”

Kiyomi blinked, startled by his words. She forced a weak smile. “Don’t worry. I’m just not very hungry.”

Megumi’s expression hardened, his lips pressing into a thin line. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. “You’re always so tired and worried,” he said quietly, his voice thick with emotion. “You skip meals because you’re too exhausted to eat, and I’m dying of worry... It feels like you’re going to faint at any moment...”

Kiyomi’s heart ached at his words. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back enough to look into his eyes. Kneeling to his level, she spoke softly, “Look, Megumi, I don’t know what happened to Dad, but I know he would want me to take care of you. Don’t worry, okay? I know it’ll get better eventually. Just wait a little, okay?”

Tears welled up in Megumi’s eyes as he shook his head. “I don’t care what Daddy wants. I care about you. I don’t want you to get sick from exhaustion...”

Kiyomi pulled him close, hugging him tightly. Her voice was firm but tender. “I promise to take better care of myself, okay? But you have to promise me you’ll focus on school.”

Megumi hesitated but finally nodded. “I promise... but you better keep that promise too.”

“I will,” Kiyomi assured him, her voice softening. She kissed the top of his head. “Come on, let’s go to sleep now, okay? It’s late.”

Reluctantly, Megumi let her go and shuffled off to his room. As he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, his thoughts swirled with worry. Kiyomi always took care of him, but now he felt an overwhelming urge to protect her too.

From the next room, he could hear her moving around, the faint sound of water running as she prepared for bed. He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come, but his heart remained heavy.

The silence of the apartment was deafening. It felt like a shadow had settled over their home, its weight pressing down on them both. And though they clung to hope, the absence of their father loomed large, casting everything in an unshakable uncertainty.

[goodgrlguides]

A Good Girl's Guide to Productive Time Wasting

𝐈. Ever scrolled through your phone and realised that you had scrolled your hours away on things you're most likely to forget? I bet you thought that you were going to spend your time productively, but your actions thought otherwise. Coming from someone who wasted a whole year trying to find friendship and trying to be loved until I realised that I was the one who needed to love myself first. But that's a story for another day. The main reason why I resurrected myself from an unplanned hiatus, was to give a perfect guide to wasting your time effectively when you don't want to work.

𝐈𝐈. Basic steps to effective time wasting:

Find an actual hobby - I don't mean one. And I don't mean two. I mean multiple. Actually realise that a hobby doesn't have to be something that you're good at, but more of something that you enjoy doing. This helps you waste time in a way that actually trains your brain instead of wasting your brain. ㅤㅤ▷ Read a book (not just classics dw) ㅤㅤ▷ Go outside and plant (have fun with it, give them names, grab a friend to do it with) ㅤㅤ▷ Plan your future life and elaborate. Go into every detail ㅤㅤ▷ Chat to GPT (it's sounds crazy but that's girlhood) ㅤㅤ▷ Paint by number or; ㅤㅤ▷ Practice mindfulness through art (One of my teachers taught me how to do this and I realised how much of a difference in my daily routine) ㅤㅤ▷ Go on a walk/run ㅤㅤ▷ Sit in the sun for fun (with sunscreen!) ㅤㅤ▷ Try journalling or decorating your journals ㅤㅤ▷ Take pictures or random videos of things around you ㅤㅤ▷ Sit and stare The last one sounds pretty direct, but it'll actually get you to think instead of drowning in content.

Listen to music - This sounds like a hobby, but it isn't. If you enjoy music, this will help you take your mind off of everything. Have a comfort playlist or a playlist of how you want to feel. Give them names that aren't too distracting so that you don't end up getting distracted by other things or forgetting what the playlist is for. The key tip here, is to listen and do nothing. Just listen to the lyrics. Listen to the different beat drops or the change of tones. It sounds boring but really immerse yourself in it and remember why you liked the song in the first place.

Breathe - This one won't waste much of your time, don't worry. Sit down in an empty space with you alone, close your eyes and breathe in through your stomach and breathe out through your nose, holding in your breath for three seconds. While you breathe, think. Take control over your thoughts and actually think about what you would think about without the distraction of devices.

𝐈𝐈𝐈. Practice mindfulness. I'm not kidding when I'm stressing this. Honestly, I just realised that I don't actually exhale as often as I inhale. My body is so tense for absolutely no reason, so take a moment to see how your body is right now. Are your brows furrowed for no reason? Are your shoulders up and tense? This body language not only influences your posture, but it also how stiff you are on a daily basis.

A practical way to practice this is getting a piece of paper, an eraser or small marble of some sort and pen or pencil. Dribble it on the paper with your pen and while you focus, remember to inhale and exhale, grounding yourself and completely relaxing without thinking of anything besides the lines your paper is making. Do this at least once a week or when you're feeling like you need something to do, instead of bringing out your phone and doomscrolling.

𝐈𝐕. Doomscrolling isn't the end. It's just the road that leads to the end. At the end of the day, scrolling isn't helping you, but only giving you a finger ache, neck pain and eye strain which isn't beneficial for you at all. If you are addicted to doomscrolling, don't worry, you're fine. All you need is some actual activities that will interest you and hook you on enough for you to be interested.

For a little disclaimer, always be careful what you take in on the internet. A lot of it is people just spewing out nonsense from their biased opinion on everything, so make sure that you don't take any of it to heart, especially when it has something to do with insecurities etc. So make sure you do the right things and get out of your doomscrolling habits become addicted to healthier things! 💢

As always, it was lovely having you here my loves and I hope you've really learnt something from this! If you guys ever need someone to chat to for advice or just anything, feel free to message me and I promise to do my best to be active on this thing and stop abandoning it!

Love you lots and as always, Be a good girl.

XOXO, GGG.

[smoothies-are-cool]

don’t worry

boyfriend! matt sturniolo x pop star girlfriend! reader

summary: reader is a singer and has vocal nodes but matt is with her every step of the way.

warnings: pet names (baby, sweetheart), use of y/n, surgery, anesthesia, hospitals, needles.

a/n: i’m not sure if anyone has ever done this before so please lmk if they have !! a lot of green in this story but pay attention because the green is like 5 different people because i’m limited on colors

being a popular singer has it’s perks but it definitely also has it’s own set of issues.

i had just finished my second united states tour and i was on my way back to LA, but in pain.

a few days before the last show my throat hurt so my manager, lexi made me see the first doctor available. we discovered i had vocal nodes and had to go under surgery almost as soon as i got back to LA.

my boyfriend matt, was one of the first people to know. he begged to come on the tour with me, but being an influencer himself i made him stay in LA with his brothers to manage their youtube channel and brand deals. he told me that i had no idea how bad he felt for not being able to be there for me.

with vocal nodes i’m not supposed to sing and i can barely talk. if i do talk i’m in a whole bunch of pain.

walking off the plane and into the airport was horrible. lexi doesn’t want me to go anywhere alone so i have one security guard with me at all times and that causes a lot of stares and people asking for things. today, i had sunglasses on, my hood up and airpods in.

i scan the airport, looking for my boyfriend and his 2 brothers. i immediately find them and i almost started to run to them but stop when i realize i still have my bags. i tap my security guard, mike’s shoulder and he looks down at me.

“can you-?” i ask, cutting myself off due to the pain in my throat. i point to my bags. he nods, grabbing the handle of my suitcase and the bag off my shoulder. i start walking quickly towards matt, taking off my sunglasses just before i get to him.

“i’m so sorry baby, are you okay?” he asks and tears fill my eyes. this surgery is very risky because there’s no guarantee that my voice will come back, so i’m genuinely terrified. singing is something so big in my life, it’s a huge part of me. if i can’t sing i don’t know what i’d do.

as i was attempting to talk matt cut me off. “you don’t have to talk, it’s okay.” he comforts. i nod, pulling away from the hug and turning to nick and chris.

“hi.” nick says softly, hugging me and rubbing my back. i just wave in response, pulling away.

“hey, i’m sorry.” chris apologizes, i just shrug. i turn back to matt as we stand in silence.

“let’s go then, yeah?” matt speaks up, grabbing my bags from mike.

we walk towards matt’s car with mike following closely behind. we can hear everyone talking about us and taking pictures but we ignore it. when we get to matt’s car i turn to mike.

“the car is over there. can you please tell them i’m with the triplets and i’m safe?” i ask, pointing in the direction of a black escalade.

“yeah of course.” mike nods.

“thank you so much. i’ll see you tomorrow.” i tell him, climbing into the passenger seat.

after a couple hours of hanging out with matt in mostly silence, he brought me back to my house. i had to go see a specialist tomorrow to schedule my at 8 am so it was just easier if i stayed at my house so my manager could pick me up.

“want me to come in for a few?” matt asks, putting the car in park. i nod and he starts to get out of the car.

“uh actually, can you stay please? i’m scared to be alone.” i ask, my voice strained as i wince from the pain in my throat.

“yeah of course.” he nods. when we get inside we go up to my room and i change into pajamas. since matt is over so often, he started keeping clothes of his at my house so he was able to change into pajamas as well. we climb into my bed and i lay my head on his chest, his arm wraps around me as i turn on our favorite show, new girl.

“i know you’re probably really scared right now, but i want you to know that i’m always here for you.” he tells me, rubbing his thumb across the exposed skin on my hip.

“thank you matt.” i tell him softly. if i speak soft enough the pain isn’t as intense as it would be if i spoke normally.

at the doctors office they scheduled my surgery. they wanted to do it as soon as possible so it was in three days.

matt had been with me everyday, getting me anything i needed or wanted. i tried my best not to talk, but when i’m around matt that’s all i wanted to do.

he had told me when it was the day of my surgery he was going to sit in the waiting room the entire time no matter how long it took. i tried to tell him how much i loved him but he didn’t want me to talk and mess up my voice even more.

3 days later

me, matt, lexi and mike walked into the surgical center and walked up to the front desk.

“y/n l/n has a phonomicro surgery schedule for 9 am.” lexi spoke for me. my nerves were so bad i genuinely thought i was going to throw up and matt could tell so he grabbed my hand and rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand.

“yes here she is. please fill out this paperwork and then the nurse will come get her in a few minutes to prep her for the surgery. you guys can take a seat.” the receptionist tells us, handing me a clipboard of papers and a pen and pointing to a set of four chairs along the wall.

we all take seats and i start to fill out the papers. it’s pretty basic and standard questions. ‘what’s your full name?�� ‘when’s your birthday?’ ‘do you have insurance?’ ‘have you ever had surgery before?’ i filled out there pages of the same questions that were worded in different ways.

i finished the paperwork and handed it back to the receptionist. a few minutes later my name was called. the nerves in my body spiked up and i immediately started shaking. matt and lexi stood up with me and matt pulled me into him.

“don’t worry sweetheart, you’re gonna be okay. we’ll all be waiting for you, okay?” he tells me soothingly which helps calm me down a bit. i turn to lexi.

“don’t think to much into it. you’re voice will come back.” lexi says, rubbing my arm. i nod, waving to mike before walking off with the nurse.

as we’ve walking to the room she’s asking me all the same questions i answered on the papers.

“okay i’m gonna have you change into this gown, these underwear and these socks. put your clothes in this bag. you can change in here.” the nurse tells me, handing me everything and showing me to the bathroom that was in my room.

when i walked out she took my bag of clothes and placed it on the chair. “you can go head and lay down. are you scared of needles?” she looked at me as she rolled her cart of things closer to the bed. i shook my head no.

“okay that’s good. i do have to put an IV in your arm so the anesthesiologist can give you anesthesia. do you want to squeeze this?” she asks me, holding up a blue stress ball.

“mhm.” i hum, smiling as she handing the ball to me. i felt her clean my arm with an alcohol pad and she paused for a second, i assumed she was looking for a good vain to put the IV in.

“okay, 3,2,1.” she counted, pushing the needle into my arm. “you okay?” she asked.

“yeah.” i confirm.

“good, now i’m gonna push you into the operating room.” she put the sides of the bed up, pushing me out of the room. when we got to the operating room there were people already waiting.

“hi y/n, i’m the anesthesiologist. you doing okay?” he asked me, i nodded and put my thumb up.

“okay good, i want you to count back from 10, okay?” he tells me, i nod. i feel him messing around with the IV and i knew he was getting ready to give me the anesthesia.

“10, 9, 8, 7-“ i managed to get to 7 before passing out.

when i woke up i was back in the room from earlier. matt, lexi and mike all sat in chairs around me and matt was holding my hand.

i squeeze his hands a couple times, giving him a sign that i’m awake.

“oh thank god.” he breathes, kissing my forehead. i open my mouth to speak but they all stop me.

“no!” they all yell, my eyes going wide.

“you can’t talk.” lexi tells me.

“you’ll be in pain if you do.” matt adds on. lexi turns to mike. “can you get the doctor and tell them she’s awake?” lexi asks. mike nods and walks out.

a few minutes later he walks back in the with doctor.

“miss l/n, how you feeling?” the doctor asks. “don’t talk! use your hands.” he quickly adds on, putting his thumb up and then down. i put my thumb on the middle.

“okay that’s normal.” he tells me, feeling my lymph nodes.

“you can’t talk for about a week, and you have to wait about a month before you try to sing, okay?” i shake my head yes.

“okay. we do have to keep you over night for observation but you should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon. you will have to be under close observation. do you have anyone that you live with or anyone that can look after you.” he asks. i point to matt. the doctor nods.

“well everything looks good for now. i’ll come back later and check on you.” he tells me, walking out of the room. matt walks closer and grabs my hand again.

“see you’re okay.” he smiles. i smile and nod.

“i know this isn’t a great time, but there was a picture that was leaked of us walking into the hospital so now people think you’re dead because you haven’t been active on anything.” matt tells me. my eyes go wide and i almost laugh. i do texting motions with my hands, letting them know i want my phone. matt laughs and pulls my phone out of his pocket and hands it to me.

y/n.l/n posted on their story!

a/n: should i make a part 2 of the recovery?? 😇 i wrote this while watching 8 mile.

[banabiohazard]

REINTRODUCE SUNLIGHT (A SUNNY X BASIL FIC I'VE BEEN WORKING ON)

Ten years. Ten years since Sunny left. Ten years and Basil hadn’t lived a day of it, he’d been doing the bare minimum for a twenty six year old, yes, he’d eat and sleep and work his shift at the othermart a few days a week, using the walk there and back as exercise. But truly he wasn’t there for any of it, he was a painted smile and a pleasant wave. When he walked home from work and saw his barren, dead garden, that was the only time he was alive, when he felt his heart sink with the droop of his dying flowers. But as long as he lived, as long as he kept going. He had to, to put some ounce of respect on her desecrated memory, it’s what she would want. Even if it was far from what he wanted. Not that it mattered. He hardly saw his remaining friends anymore, Aubrey visited him from time to time and Kel would call often, but as previously stated; he wasn’t there anyway. 

Beep, beep, beep, the sound of scanning item after item, like a ringing in his ears. 

“Could I also get a pack of montego one hundred reds please?”

The old woman across the counter asked, “Yes of course!” Basil smiled as he turned around and opened the glass display containing the jungle of cigarettes, after she had paid Basil took a look around, nobody. He glanced at the clock, hm. Wouldn’t hurt to close up ten minutes early. 

As he began to walk home, every little sound put him on edge, he didn’t like the dark. It let his mind wander, wander back to the sleepover. Regret. Regret was a thick cough syrup that was impossible to swallow but too sticky to spit out, you gag and cough upon it until you drown- Basil jumped at a touch on his shoulder, the terror welling behind his eyes quickly dissipated at the sight of Kel. 

“Woah! Sorry dude, wasn’t trying to spook you that bad, you alright?”

That familiar toothy smile put Basil at ease, “Yeah, doing fine. Good to see you.” Basil continued down the road and Kel followed, his long hair flowing in the cool night breeze. “Yeah! Sorry I haven’t been coming around recently, college and all.” He placed a bashful hand on the back of his head, “It’s all good,” Basil started, “Been busy myself.” He finished as he stepped up onto his porch and fished down in his shirt for the key that hung from his neck, “Thanks for walking me home.” He smiled. “Huh?” Kel looked up, confused, at Basil’s house. “Oh, I guess I did.” He blinked, wiping his hair out of his eyes, “Well, hey! Maybe I’ll drop by some time and we can hang out for real!” He grinned. A small smile, a real smile cracked on Basil’s face, “I’d like that.” He said. “Night Basil!” Kel called as he made his why down the sidewalk, and inside Basil went. 

His house was dark and empty, that feeling didn’t dissipate when the lights flickered on. He didn’t bother making dinner, he rarely did anymore. Instead he made his way directly to the back of the house, at the end of the hall, as he laid down on his grandmother’s old bed his thoughts began to run, he missed her so much. He missed a lot of people, truly. He wanted to cry, but nothing would come, it never did anymore. As he wrapped into himself he knew that any normal person would cry right now, but he wasn’t a normal person, he was a monster. A conspirator, a liar, a true monster. It didn’t matter that the truth got out to those who mattered, it was still kept for four years. Four years of her fate being a web of lies. He clutched his hair, and the worst part was, they didn’t hate him. They forgave him. They forgave both of them. And he could never in the deepest reaches of his mind understand why. 

The next day rolled around and it all started again: Wake up, lay still and stare out the window until there was no doubt he’d be late, get up and eat a hardly nutritious breakfast, walk to work, dragging his feet to put it off as long as possible, spend all day mindlessly scanning items with a painful, strained smile that never reached his eyes, walk home, start over. Three days, Three days of nonexistence and autopilot before a phone call broke the cycle on his way home, ‘Kel’ was displayed across the screen, Basil took a deep breath and looked over the trees at the setting sun painting the sky around it a brilliant crimson before he answered. 

“Hello?”

“Yo, Basil you free?” Basil started forward at his house, not far down the street, he didn’t particularly wanna go home. “I am.” “Awesome! Meet me and Aubs by the old church!”

Kel hung up, and there basil stood, alone in the darkening street again. He closed his eyes, let a held breath go and turned around to head towards Aubrey’s side of the neighborhood. When he arrived, there they were, sat on the doorstep of the long abandoned church building, the sun’s light barely illuminating them, Aubrey had gotten a haircut at some point, it barely reached her shoulders anymore, curled and pink at the ends with her dark roots having grown out to be the majority. She cracked a small smile at the sight of Basil, standing up and knocking a half asleep Kel on the shoulder before she opened the door and held it for them.

“Good to see you Basil.” 

She said flatly as he passed her. And there they sat, on the pews, the dimming evening light shining through the windows, stiff, still and silent. Kel coughed, “Been a while..” he stated, Aubrey groaned, “Godd, you sound like an adult, fuck small talk. Let’s do something, let’s make a story to tell later!” she stood up and flipped the pew she was sitting on, it broke pretty much immediately due to its age. “We uh, we are adults..?” Kel stammered, “Whatever! Just have a little fun college boy.” She pulled him to his feet and followed by yanking Basil up too. “Knock over the podium or something!” She shouted, grabbing a broken piece of the pew and tossing it out an already cracked stained glass window. Kel sighed but popped his neck and shouldered the pulpit off its foundation, after a moment it really seemed like he was having fun too. They circled basil like a destructive hurricane, Basil decided it was better to participate than just stand there, he walked over to a broken window and carefully tapped out a loose piece of glass. Truly he didn’t get anything from it. But seeing how much they were enjoying themselves admittedly gave him a shred of a joyful contact high, and anything was better than being at home. When all was said and done, the church was in shambles and it was dark out, they all parted ways with smiles on their faces, Basil hoped theirs were more genuine than his. As expected, sleep did not come easy, like every other night, it was a fight.

THIS IS A TEASER FOR REINTRODUCE SUNLIGHT ON AO3! TO CONTINUE READING PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW!!

[saturdaysky]

So… the God of Curiosity! How does he relate to the Lords of the Golden Hill? Is he invited in, is he seen as an interloper or usurper? Absolutely adore these two!

What a great question! I spent the morning refreshing myself on the Lords of the Golden Hills, which is the 5e gnomish pantheon, if anyone's unfamiliar. They are more active in the lives of their followers than other gods.

Also, sorry, this is where I reveal my superpower of being unable to write short answers to anything.

what's a god to a mayhew

Mayhew's parents are historians who take the name "the Forgotten Folk" as a personal insult, so he was weaned on myths and histories of the Lords of the Golden Hills. The Lords set Mayhew's expectations for what gods should be: invested and actively working to make things better.

(couldn't resist drawing mayhew and mamahew)

In game, Mayhew ran into many awful situations that he thinks good gods could have fixed, but didn't. Refugees slaughtered for sport, children locked in Cazador's dungeons for eternity, families enslaved and used as hostages, children murdered by Gortash's Steel Watch, you name it. These people surely prayed, but gods did not save them. Do gods who do nothing deserve worship?

Not to Mayhew. He was FULLY on board with Gale's astral boat scene logic of "we will be gods but BETTER because we CARE and DO STUFF." Mayhew is not a long-term thinker, especially if people are hurting right now, right in front of him. He sees only trees, never forests.

He views himself and Gale as being on their own side. All of his post-ascension decisions are based on them being an inseparable pair shaking up the system. He's not interested in being part of Lords of the Golden Hills.

what's a mayhew to a god

The Lords probably have mixed feelings about him. They would not invite him into their brotherhood. However, his goals often align with theirs, and as long as Mayhew didn't rock their boat too much, they'd be tenuous allies. More about Godhew and other gods under the cut!

Mayhew himself has many Glittergoldian qualities about him -- he's an elusive tale-teller and a sneak, and if you pried his coping mechanism sense of humor from him, he'd probably die on the spot -- so I think he'd get on with Garl Glittergold and Baervan Wildwanderer. Mayhew's not easily flustered, and he'd find it a hoot to be pranked by Garl, so I expect he'd pass any test of character Garl might run an upstart godling through.

Baravar Cloakshadow, god of illusions and deceptions, would be interesting. Mayhew is a born liar (deception is his second-highest skill after history) who cares deeply about protecting others, so on paper they're aligned. However, Baravar counts Mystra among his allies, so this alliance would be a strained one.

But the biggest reason Mayhew isn't interested in becoming a Lord of the Golden Hills? They're concerned primarily with the welfare of gnomes. As a god, Mayhew has broader designs than that.

a god for whom?

Mayhew cares about everyone, especially people who are unimportant. He was a latchkey kid who wandered all over the city from a very young age, poking his nose everywhere it shouldn't be and talking to people just to hear their stories. He probably even made friends with the sewer kobolds, despite historical bad blood between gnomes and kobolds. Most of the alliances Galehew make after ascension are Mayhew's doing. Gale is always grander and more powerful, but Mayhew is better-liked and better-loved by gods and mortals.

In particular, bleeding heart Mayhew is an ally and protector of children. Troublemakers, especially. The most common name he ends up being known by is the Children's God. In 5e, there doesn't actually seem to be a god FOR children, simply gods with "family" as part of their portfolio. To me, that reads as a god for parents. But Mayhew adores kids! In game, he looked out for all of them and spoiled them shamelessly via the barter menu. All the urchins got cash, clothing, trinkets, snacks, protective magical items, etc. He bought soup from Yenna every day. He gave Mattis 2000 gold (😭) for a key he never even used (😭)...and gave the amulet of greater health (😭)...and some grenades because all children should have a chance to make bad decisions...

To kids, he's like an imaginary friend who'll help you out of a tight spot, aid your capers, and shield you from terrors. When a child ages out of needing an imaginary friend, he's there as the God of Curiosity -- and what is curiosity without drive? Perhaps they'll follow their dreams in the footsteps of his partner, the God of Ambition. Completely unintentionally, Mayhew probably ensures the longevity of the Galerian religion this way.

Not all of Mayhew's ideals survive ascension, though he goes in with good intentions. He loses some of himself, but his love for people is the core of him. It doesn't change.

[dragongirlteeth]

I can still remember the warm sun on that March afternoon when Melly came into our lives. She was calm and gentle at first, the aftereffects of the anesthetic lingering, masking a ball of energy and curiosity that revealed itself soon after she slept a few nights in her new home.

How quickly we discovered that the animal we had brought into our family was not, in fact, the timid, shy thing she was at the shelter, but a highly intelligent scavenger, using every tool at her disposal to scrounge for tasty garbage, food left unguarded, and scraps from the table. Indeed, the young pup from the wilds of Tennessee had not yet left behind the life of a stray.

She wasn’t all bad though, for all the trouble. While we adapted around her, so too did she adapt to us in time, but through this process, we learned to love.

I remember early in Melly’s time with us, she showed no shortage of love. So much so, in fact, that her tail - ever wagging to and fro in her excitement, would inevitably get injured, leaving little streaks of red along the walls at knee height. I think a lot about that - It’s likely that we were the first people who truly treated Melly as family, and she was so eager to show that love in kind that she couldn’t help but injure herself inadvertently.

Other times, her wild nature got the better of her. Especially in her early years, Melly was a creature full of energy. We would often let her run in our fenced-in back yard, but a fence could not delay Melly’s curiosity for too long. One spring morning, when our gazes had been turned for a minute too long, we looked back to wonder “where’s Melly?”

The answer came a few seconds later, looking into our neighbor’s yard. Fortunately, we were on good terms, so it was no trouble to hop the fence and engage the fugitive in a rousing game of chase - ending with said fugitive held tightly in my sibling’s arms as we carried her back inside.

I also recall her love of food. While she would sit patiently while mom cooked in the hopes of being rewarded with scraps (which happened often), or lay patiently under the table for bits of dinner leftovers, there was one surefire way to summon an eager, black snout to your side. Melly absolutely loved potato chips. One needed simply crinkle a foil bag, and no matter how far away, soon the gentle tap tap tap of claws on hardwood would carry her to your side.

I could go on and on about the endearingly goofy behaviors of this sweet, tuxedo-colored gremlin. But as I do, I am overcome with grief. Mortality has been on my mind often of late - The recent passing of another friend to cancer, and my own grandfather’s struggles, strained as our relationship may be, have rendered death in stark resolution in my mind.

I had hoped to visit my family to see Melly before time took its due, but unfortunately, fate does not ask before it takes. Perhaps it’s a mercy that I was not able to see her in her final, most vulnerable moments, forever preserving the image of a spry, stubborn troublemaker as my lasting impression of Melly. I’m told some of those behaviors never truly left - The week before the decision was made, she still had moments where she would take the lead on walks, pulling on the leash as if to say “No, I want to go this way”.

To the point, however. Transience is the nature of life, pressing ever onwards through time. To wish for more time is a struggle against the universe itself. I have long thought on the transient nature of life, thought I knew what it meant, but as my grief wracks my body, I find myself wishing nonetheless that I might have had one more day, that whatever we pass into after life might offer a chance to see her again.

So instead, I will hold tight to these treasured memories, and move through grief as part of them. That her absence leaves such a mark on my soul is too a mark of the love she had for us. Teenage years are difficult, but Melly’s sometimes mischievous, sometimes needy attitude carried me through many dark nights. Truly, Melly showed love as only Melly could.

Give your creatures some pets, some care, show them how much they mean to you.

[beanieable]

I decided to dig up my Naruto AU again! I called it Family AU on my old account. I also have a few fics in the universe I called it Odd Family.

I want to change things around a little. The main plot in the AU were different ships and some new kids. Also Obito and Neji surviving the war somehow.

The new ships are:

Obito and Kakashi

Naruto and Neji

Sasuke and Suigetsu

I’m debating if Sakura should be with Hinata or not. On one hand it would be cute on the other I like the idea of them being strong independent single women. But at the same time it could be very cute. Maybe they could get together later.

Then since I got rid of two canon ships, Sarada, Boruto and Himawari don’t exist anymore. Instead we have some new kids!

Uzumaki Kento and Kiku

Uchiha/Hozuki Mako

Sayuki (later Haruno Sayuki)

Again, I could see myself adding one more kid, maybe someone Hinata takes under her wing, like Sakura has Sayuki.

There’s two more changes regarding the canon kids. Mitsuki and Kawaki. Mitsuki kind of gets adopted by Sasuke and Suigetsu. It was an accident but it happened anyway. Kawaki doesn’t go down the path he did in canon. He still gets taken in by Naruto (and with that Neji) but he just kinda grows into being part of the family and having two younger siblings. And I’m getting rid of the whole chaos afterwards. I might bring in Eida and her brother but if I do I’ll change her powers a bit.

Now a little lore for and fun facts for everything!

Kento and Kiku are twins, Kento is slightly older than Kiku. Naruto is trans and have birth to them.

Kawaki likes to cook with Neji. Growing up the way he did, being able to cook something to eat means a lot to him.

Neji has a few lasting issues because of the war. It wasn’t all that bad when they were younger. It got worse with age. He had some bad days where he is in a lot of pain. By the time Kiku and Kento start going to the academy, he had to be taken off active duty. He handles diplomatic issues nowadays.

Neji doesn’t say at least out loud that he loves his kids (and his husband) a lot. He shows it more often than not. He always makes them bentos and gets them little gifts and showers them in affection. When he does say it it’s still very special. Even if all of them know how much he love them.

Kiku sometimes reminds Naruto of Kushina while Kento reminds Neji of Hizashi at times. And much to their surprise Naruto sometimes sees Minato in Kawaki.

Growing up Kento and Kiku were really close to Inojin, still are. Obito sometimes babysat the three of them. Inos mom did too.

With Kento taking Borutos place, he is Mitsukis sun and the reason be comes to Konoha.

Mako is a testtube baby. Sasuke and Suigetsu asked Orochimaru for a favor.

Mako is a few years younger than the rest of the kids.

He travels with his dads around the world.

Instead of the arc with Sarada, there’s one with Mitsuki.

Sasuke, Suigetsu and Mako invested something, run into Mitsuki and some stuff happens and they have a new son/brother. Mako loves his new big brother.

With Mitsuki attending the academy, the three stay more often in Konoha. When they do have to leave, Mako likes to stay with Mitsuki. The other adults look after them and invite for dinner a lot.

As Mako and Mitsuki grow closer, Suigetsu and Sasuke see themselves and their older brothers in them. It’s bittersweet.

Now Sayuki, she has a strained relationship with her biological parents.

She looks up to Sakura and dream to be trained by her.

She’s the same age as Iwabee and similar to him also repeated a bit.

She’s put on team 7 alongside Kento and Mitsuki under Moegi.

With that, Team 10 gets to have Konohamaru as their Sensei, keeping the Ino-Shika-Cho and Sarutobi thing going.

And I’m sorry to say, (not really) but Denki will be pulled from team 5 and Kiku will be in his place.

When Sayuki eventually does starts getting trained by Sakura, the two grow closer.

Sakura finds out about her situation at home and works towards adopting her. She succeeds and presents Jun the adoption papers and her name is now Haruno Sayuki.

Since Sayuki dyes her hair pink and she has dark green eyes already, she can pass as Sakuras biological child.

Obito is a glorified housewife. He got his chakra sealed and only in chase of emergency can use it. Well the seal can only then be broken.

Since Neji is alive at the time of the last, he’ll join the team to save Hanabi and the story would change to be a story about the three Hyuga and their relationship.

Hanabi is a kid and her siblings are growing up and Neji is moving out, she’s worried about losing them.

Hinata got over her feelings for Naruto but trying to find herself. She pulls away from her siblings.

Neji is handling his new circumstances and new relationship with Naruto and unintentionally pulling away from his sisters.

In the end they know things will change but they’ll always love each other.

The big wedding at the end of the show is Kakashis and Obitos. Obito takes Kakashis last name. He’s Hatake Obito now.

I want to redo the references of the kids sometime in the future.

[masterserris]

Submas Fic: "We Will Meet Again" CH.3

My friend @eusouomar (Ingo) and I (Emmet) have been working together on an rp timeline!

This timeline is based on the concepts of Yin (Ingo) and Yang (Emmet) reincarnating through the ages, much to the surprise of the twins, and how to move forward knowing this and getting their lives back to normal after bringing Ingo home from Hisui. Shenanigans and fluff and angst ensue. Let it be known a happy ending is always the goal and the inevitable future. Enjoy!

Notes: NO SHIPPING in this fic.

General Warnings for the fic as a whole: strong language, depictions of mental illness, addiction, grief, violence/gore, character death, self harm, suicide mentions

MASTERPOST (TBD)

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Emmet doesn't play nice with nasty people.

Yes, for the first time in a long while people were smiling genuinely. Emmet could perk people up but only so much. Ingo was the heart of the railway; Emmet was more of the brains. Or logistics, rather. He had a lot to do. Employee reviews later, but first he had a queue of battles to run through while he was on the tracks. Sometimes he would be in the HQ room monitoring the stations from the screens, other days he had to do the leg work. This was definitely a leg day. Emmet pulled out Electross and Archeops and tipped his hat at the first trainer. 

“You’ve done verrrry well to get this far, but I’m afraid this is your last stop. All aboard!” The doors shut and the crowd watched from the seats as the first battle of the day began. Emmet was…. Merciless. He didn’t go easy on anyone, not anymore.

Thankfully one had to beat 20 depot agents before earning a fight with a subway boss so no beginners could get totally destroyed. Still, Ingo felt like something was off. His brother liked winning, sure, but there was something wrong in the air around him as the next challenger stepped forward to fight him. Ingo looked at the rest of the passenger's faces to see what they thought of the fight.

Emmet smiled fiercely and hit the opponent with thunder wave to pin them in place, then followed up by ferocious rockslide to slam into their poor paralyzed Pokémon. The crowd winced at the impact, Archeops often got carried away in battle and Emmet was not leashing him back. The opposing trainer

's Wartortle was no slouch but even it couldn't take the barrages of attacks. It, the last pokemon in a varied team, finally fainted leaving Emmet the winner. Ingo carefully watched Emmet's face. Was he really enjoying this?

A thunderbolt fried it silly. Truthfully, even with a smile on his face, the joy did not reach his eyes. He was not being challenged here and this was just going through the motions. He had much more volume since only the double lines were open for a boss challenge. Everyone wanted to try and beat the undefeatable Subway Boss Emmet. He was notoriously challenging and had only grown more so as he had to face everyone all of the time. Still, he clapped for the boy. “You tried your best! More hard work like that and you might just come back here someday for a rematch! This is your stop, have a nice day!” The doors slid open to let the passengers out. 

Everyone exited the train. Ingo stood up to talk to Emmet. "Are you okay?" He tried to keep his voice down so that others wouldn't hear. "I just have a feeling."

Emmet glanced over at this brother. He could just tell him he was fine, but he had been doing that for years now and it got him nowhere but strained relationships with family and friends. He couldn’t lie to Ingo either. It was time to heal and be honest. Like his therapist told him to do. 

“You’re not wrong brother!” He said shyly. “I haven’t been myself for a long time either, like you. These battles… aren’t much fun anymore. Not like this at least. I’m sure things will get better when you start working again, yup! It’s just a lot of routine and going through the motions. Sucks the life out of everything, you know?” 

Ingo was glad that Emmet could feel honest with him. "You know that never gets old? I thought it would but it doesn't." He told Emmet truthfully.

“What doesn’t get old?” Emmet asked not fully understanding what he meant.

"You calling me 'brother'." Ingo answered truthfully. "I like when you call me that."

Emmet snorted loudly. So silly. “Well, get used to it!! You’re gonna hear it forever now!” He patted his back and smiled broadly. For real this time. Emmet would have more challengers after this, but his Pokémon didn’t tire. He healed them after every battle and they were used to this by now. They always trotted over for pats and nuzzled up to Ingo as well for praise. 

Well, he could be a little too sentimental for people's tastes. Ingo sat on the chair and watched as a shadow. When one of them, Eelektross, came over he smiled and stroked his head. "Hey boy. How are you doing? You're getting quite the workout today, aren't you? You usually work this hard?"

The eel nodded and snuggled against his leg until the next challenger would come in. Yes, this was their new normal. A stern looking trainer was next and tossed out their Hydreigon and Leipard without saying anything. Emmet just smiled more as a “bring it on” kind of vibe, but his smile faded quickly as the battle grew fierce. He knew that fighting style. “Shouldn’t you be in jail?” He asked kindly. “Not many Ex-team Plasma members run free anymore.” She froze, ah shit. Caught.

Ingo froze at the mention of Team Plasma. There were painful memories that name brought up for him. Those people had tried to kill his uncle, tried to kill them, and had killed a few of their depot agents. He clenched his jaw at the sight of them.

“Galvantula, bug buzz!” The spider knocked the Hydreigon down with a powerful sonic blow and she was finished as Eeletross hit both of her Pokémon out with discharge. He would let her run off the train, but she didn’t seem scared, “I did my time.”

 “Hmm. Was it enough? For everything you all did? Or is this a way to vent your frustrations? This is your stop.” The doors opened and she glanced back at him before departing. Sometimes dangerous folks came aboard. Or just lost ones.

"At least I didn't murder my own brother." She spat back at Emmet before turning and leaving to get off the train car. 

Oh no, not with that attitude. Emmet scruffed her and hoisted her off her feet. He was stronger than his thin frame looked. “Oh really? Wanna eat those words?” He made her face Ingo. 

"Let go of me!" She growled at Emmet as he hoisted her. When she came face to face with Ingo, part of her stiffened at seeing his unsmiling face. "Nice Zoroark." She told Emmet in defiance.

“Nope! Wrong! Eelektross? Do me a favor and use thunder wave on this one. She is banned from the premises and I would like for the police to check her record in case she has not, in fact, done her time.” The eel glared at her when Emmet dropped her before it and gave her a hell of a shock. “Sorry brother! Unruly passengers! Boss has to take out the trash!” 

"What a shame for your beautiful train." Ingo had an urge to kick her while she was down and paralyzed but he was too professional for that. Zoroark indeed. Bitch. 

"But I suppose it's one of the few downsides of the job. Does that happen often for you?"

One of the agents came to carry her away, "Not often but vandalism is common. There was another this morning before you two showed up." 

"Vandalism?" Ingo asked.

“Ugh, again?” Emmet rubbed his brow. “They like to write verrrrrry nasty things about me, brother. And they take it out on the subway itself. Awful, really. Defacing such wonderful trains with their paint. Blech.” 

"Why!?" Ingo demanded standing, "What has Emmet ever done to them?" 

The agent looked uncomfortable but answered, "Everyone thinks that White Boss killed you. Everyone blamed him for that." 

"The news said that the police cleared Emmet of that crime." 

"Well, yeah officially." The agent nodded, "But most people believe, unofficially, everything the Unovan Enquirer tells them. The story is that White Boss got rid of you and stuffed you in a tunnel somewhere to be the only Subway Boss."

A memory flashed in Emmet’s mind as he frowned. Back to when he had gotten ahold of that damned paper. 

This was a little dramatic, even for her. Sarah got up on the train but it was empty save for two depot agents: Stefan and Isabelle and the man himself. The White Boss Emmet Kudari Gray of the very illustrious Gray family. Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Made for an excellent paper. 

"Very smart." She complimented, "Getting two witnesses here with you. Very, what's the word? Strategic, but then again, I've been told you're a very calculating man, Mr. Gray. Have to be to get so good at doubles battles."

“Enough snark, miss. I’m here for business since your secretary keeps dodging my calls and tossing my letters. I thought I would go straight to the source. I want you to retract those headlines. It’s verrrrry rude, you know. Verrrrry mean. And verrrrrry much wrong. You could get sued for such things, you know! It could end your very paper if you aren’t careful!” He held up his finger with a smile at that, “I’ve had a verrrrry rough time because of you! Two trips to the hospital in fact!!” It was hard to keep his voice under control. Oh yes, he definitely blamed her for the riot and the incident. 

"Well that truly is unfortunate." She replied, "But people have a right to the truth no matter how unpleasant it is. Unless you have actual evidence stating that any...theories the Enquirer prints are wrong, there's no compelling reason for us to print a retraction."

“The truth. Hah. So verrrrry rich coming from you. You also have no evidence for any of these accusations, no one has ever found any bones down here and yet here you are claiming someone saw them. Fuck. You.” He wasn’t smiling. He was done with her shit entirely and didn’t care the mask was gone. 

"Look, I'm just trying to get by, same as you." She replied unfazed by his anger. This wasn't the first time someone had been pissed about an article her company published, "These things fade with every new scandal. People will move on but positions don't. I'm still the Queen of the Gossip Scene and you're the sole ruler of the Subway. The unbeatable Emmet Gray. As soon as some celebrity gets arrested for dope or some politician gets caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar you'll get everything you ever wanted. My sources tell me you like winning more than anything else. If that's not winning, I don't know what is."

“You just can’t help yourself from LYING, CAN YOU!?” His fists balled in rage. “You bring up this ridiculous story all the time, you can’t stop beating a dead horse for every worthless penny! You don’t care who gets hurt, who even gets killed because of you! A man is DEAD, Sarah, because of your bullshit! We are not the same! I serve the public, I work hard to make life easier for people, and all you do is spread lies and misery! You could get money by sticking to the facts just fine, you don’t need the rage bait, but your greed demands it! You and your diamond earrings and Kalosian handbag, you make me sick!” Never had the agents seen Emmet fly off the handle at someone like this. It was different from a scolding, different from an emergency or an attack. This was personal. This was rage. “Retract those damned stories or I will sue you into the ground. That’s an Emmet Gray promise.” 

"Boss." Stefan put his hand on Emmet's shoulder in case he tried to take a swing. That wouldn't help their case at all and would just give those bastards more ammunition.

 "Those are dangerous words, Mr. Gray. Dangerous and unsubstantiated. My paper just prints theories. You're the one who knows this subway inside and out. You're the one who's killed people. You're the one who benefits if your loud, obnoxious, idiot of a big brother suddenly disappeared off the planet. We don't espouse or encourage violence of any kind. As for calling me a liar." She got up right to his face when Isabelle stepped in to get between them. Isabelle was daring Sarah to even try it. 

Sarah just stopped and smiled before looking over Isabelle's shoulder, "Why don't you prove it?" After a beat she added, "This is my stop. Thanks for the ride." Sarah moved to get off the train.

“Cunt.” Emmet was so mad it didn’t even register on his face. He needed to be away from people right now. What she said about his brother made his blood boil unlike anything else. If there was one person in this world he wanted to actually kill, it was her. Not even the man who attacked him deserved his fate as much as this bitch did. The doors slid shut and the car moved on. “Isabelle, could you do me a favor?” 

"Yeah boss?" Isabelle asked, turning to Emmet, "You want us to put her on the no ride list?"

“Nah. She’s going on the Shit List.” A rare list. One where nothing was done to the passenger, but everyone everywhere in the service industries knew of. They were all connected. And knew to give that person hell everywhere they went, and not just the subways. Diners, stores, hotels, everywhere. People hated Emmet, but the Shit List was a cut above. An unspoken rule, a line not to be crossed. “Please make sure she gets on the most packed rides with the people coming home from the gym. Good and smelly. Oh, and I’d hate for her lovely white handbag to get hit with coffee. Or maybe pomegranate juice. Perhaps Megumi could help with that.” 

Isabelle nodded, "On it Boss." People may hate Emmet but he wasn't the only one in the service industry. If it came from her, the others would be more likely to uphold it especially when Isabelle repeated what she had said about Ingo. 

Stefan let go of Emmet's shoulder. "Boss, you okay?" He asked.

“No. I’m not. I need to be left alone tonight. Radio me if you need me, but I will be in the maintenance tunnel for now.” 

"Got it. We'll cover." Stefan said. 

"But." Isabelle wasn't so sure if leaving Emmet alone was a good idea or not. 

"Izzy. Give him some space. He'll pop up again." She looked at Emmet worried as the car pulled into the maintenance station.

He would salute to them with a frown and disembark. Emmet waited for the car to pull away before going to the cans of spare parts and kicking them with all of his might and screaming at the top of his lungs. He pulverized a few tins under his boot with ferocity, pretending it was that bitch’s skull. Oh how he wished to crush her into pulp beneath his heel. Pistol whip her. Grind her nose against Ingo’s tombstone. Her fault! It was all her fault! He was so mad, so angry. Hot tears ran down his face and he set up some target practice to shoot. He pretended it was her, silently. In an enclosed space like this the gunshots were so deafeningly loud and the bullets ricocheted around if he wasn’t careful. He emptied all six chambers into the can and threw his gun at it to knock it completely over, stand and all. 

“Fuck you..” He cried as he slumped against the far wall. He tucked his legs into his chest and hugged them. Emmet buried his face against his thighs and sobbed quietly, letting it all out. Alone in the dark with only the lights above him for company. He would kill her, one way or another. Maybe not physically, but he would ruin her reputation and business so far she would never find work ever again and go bankrupt. If it gave her even a fraction of the pain she had given him, he would make sure it would happen. Emmet would return to the main station an hour after this, his hair combed and his attire back to normal. He would be quiet as he worked and his eyes puffy, but that was all. It was all he could do. 

In the present Ingo stared at the depot agent, "Emmet would never hurt me." 

The agent nodded, "I know, Boss." 

Ingo shook his head, "I'm not your boss."

Emmet walked over and quietly put his hand on Ingo’s shoulder. “Relax brother. Everything will be alright. I will get my name cleared soon enough. And you will earn your job back. I know we can do it together, yup.” His voice was low and soft. Distant, but still full of care. Emmet glanced up as the train approached the next station. “It’s break time brother, why don’t you go on with Peters to get something to eat?” 

"Come eat with us." Ingo said, turning back to him trying to get a hold of himself, "We can all get something together."

“No can do. This train must keep running. I brought a snack, now all aboard!” The doors slid shut and the train rolled onwards without Ingo. Peters went to Ingo’s side. 

“C’mon boss. This way. White Boss has it covered.” The agent would lead him to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. There were new faces who had never met Ingo before. How was everyone reacting to him?

Of course, they knew the story- that he had disappeared for five years. And they knew the rumors- that Emmet had done it. Killed him and hid the body in one of the tunnels. Maybe chopped Ingo up and fed him to his Pokémon. So of course, they stared at him like he had come back from the dead and speculated what could've made him leave for five years. It made Ingo feel like he was under a microscope. He reached in his pocket and squeezed the Light Stone for self-comfort. Turning to another agent they were with, Ingo asked, "Does Emmet seem different to you?"

“Shoo, ya Mandibuzzes, can’t a guy take a break in peace?” He made the more annoying folks piss off for a bit. “Different? You mean compared to before? Yah. Way different. But you seem out of it, so I guess it’s hard to tell huh?”

"Yes." Ingo confirmed, feeling grateful for less people, "Could you tell me in what way please? I've got a bit of an idea but I feel it's been the more censored version. But then again it could be my brain trying to fill in gaps that aren't really there. 'Not everyone is a major character in a story'." That last bit was a quote someone had once told him in Hisui.

“Hm. Well. He is short with people. He used to love to yap, but now he always has to go from one thing to another. He doesn’t always mean it, but he can be verrrrry stern, hah!” The agent grew serious again. “Some people called him Killer Boss, at first it was part of the rumors but only us old hands call him that now. We’ve reclaimed it from the gossipers. Buncha twerps.” He took a drink before continuing. “He doesn’t ask for help but we know when to step in. It’s a lot more body language. Some days are worse than others. Like he’s just a passenger in his own body going through the motions.”

Ingo took a drink from his own cup as the depot agent spoke. "Did a lot of people give him problems? Like any old Plasma team members?"

"Boy, you don't know the half of it." He said wide eyed and adjusted his cap. "Shit, I damn near got killed one day. Plasma didn't go softly after being defeated, there were always groups of them running around, especially in the big cities. Especially in the dark corners. So bingo, that means here. You and Emmet kept 'em pretty far off but when ya... vanished, they got bold. Reaaaaaal bold. They tried hijacking the trains a couple of times. Boss had to pack heat so he wouldn't get jumped and we got batons and tasers."

Hmm, interesting. Could this be a power play or was there something more to this? Suddenly, Ingo saw someone over the depot agent's shoulder. No, impossible. "Excuse me!" Ingo said a little too loudly standing up and rushing out the door. A turn down the corner and he was gone.

The last incident with Plasma was over two years ago thankfully. They ran outta steam for the most part. The depot agent followed him. "Huh, what was that about? See someone?”

"I thought I saw..." But that was impossible, wasn't it? He'd have to be over two hundred years old by now, "Apologies...I thought I saw someone from long ago but it appears I was mistaken. It must be the stress from returning. I didn't mean to disturb your break."

“It’s alright boss, you have it too, huh?” He sat back down with Ingo.

"It?" He asked, sitting back down again.

He glanced around and lowered his voice. “You know… seeing things? White Boss was real bad with it.” 

"Emmet had hallucinations?" Ingo made sure to keep his voice low but he had a tendency to go loud if he didn't consciously think about it. Emmet had mentioned it to him, but it was different coming from someone else now. It was sinking in how far it went.

The depot agent clammed up, realizing he had put his foot in his mouth. "Er... Well." Shit. "Y-yeah. He does."

There. He knew people were keeping things from him. "You say 'does'. Is it still current?"

"Well, yeah. It never went away, he just is... better with it than before." Cat's outta the bag. "He even smoked for a stint there, he would go to a slow station and take a break, muttering to himself as if someone was there. It was.. really sad. He would say he would see you and go running off. We would take care of things until he came back a half hour later looking like a mess. It was... bad."

Ingo made no face or noise of judgement. He just nodded his head listening along.

"Is that why that one depot agent thought that I was Emmet?"

“He sometimes dressed up as you, Boss.” He confirmed and looked down. “He would try and mimic your mannerisms but it was really bad. Sometimes you’d think he really fooled himself to play the part, but he would come back the next day sullen and in his white clothes. He would always apologize and just wanted to keep spirits up, but it did the opposite. That and it made the gossipers go wild. Thinking he was feeling guilty for gutting you. He broke, he went completely mad. I don’t know how else to say it. Sometimes he never left the station for days. He would wander the tunnels a lot looking for something. For you, I guess. He would wander the same routes over and over like some ghost possessed him. Really spooky when he was wearing your outfit.” 

"He looks so put together." Ingo gasped. He had a feeling that Emmet was trying to hide his hurt, that he was shielding Ingo from something, but he had no idea how bad it had gotten.

"You know I'm not upset? I'm just sad he felt the need to hide this from me." He admitted, "I wouldn't judge him for it, ever. Emmet's been through so much because of me. Thank you for being honest with me. I will keep our conversation confidential. I don't want to reopen any of Emmet's old wounds. I do have one final question and I hope you will continue to be candid. Did Emmet...did Emmet throw himself in front of the train?" They had talked about it this morning. He had seen the notes. Ingo wanted confirmation.

“Well, he has been doing better this past year and especially in recent months, so there is that. And… I don’t know. He always looked so worn out, I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell, but the timing was spooky. Maybe he was so tired he was even tired of living. I dunno. White Boss is strong, so very strong. Anyone else would have keeled over 6 months in. And he really cares about everyone. He’s tried so hard to hold everything together, he lost hold of himself. It’s good to have you back, Boss Ingo. We all… really really missed you.” He offered his hand to shake before it was time to hop back on the trains. Emmet’s train. 

"Thank you." He gave him a good firm handshake and prepared to put on a happy face when he boarded Emmet's train. Well, as happy as Ingo looked anyway. To the untrained eye he always looked like he was frowning. He smiled at Emmet. His brother had been so strong and went through so much.

"You sure you don't need a break? I wouldn't mind battling. It's all I did back in Hisui."

“You’re not on payroll yet, bro.” He laughed and shook his head. “Not allowed! Against the rules! I don’t want to throw you off of my train, now do I?” Still, he welcomed his brother aboard. “Refueled and ready? All Aboard!” The doors swung shut. The battles were almost over, they had a set cut off time at 5pm, but he still had to man the car like a depot agent might. Ticket checking, general presence to keep hooligans from running amok, and a smile for the passengers' sense of ease. Well. As much ease as they could get from him. “After this, it’s time for some safety inspections.” 

"Your train?" Ingo teased back, feeling himself chuckle despite it all. Still, he remained at Emmet's side like a shadow. He nodded at the mention of safety inspections.

"Make sure everything's in working order and that the tunnel tracks are cleared."

"I am the Boss, aren't I?" He gave Ingo a coy look. "I'm in charge, and don't you forget it!" 

He had to push and tease him around a little bit. Though some people would shift uncomfortably. Ya know. Because that's why Emmet killed him in the first place. Were they hallucinating a dead man too? No.. it was just so awkward. 

"Precisely," Emmet nodded. As the last passengers disembarked, the train went down a separate track for daily cleaning while they got off and would walk the tracks. He handed Ingo a lantern. "Now don't you dare get lost. Stay next to me, ok?"

"Do we need these?" He asked Emmet, "I remember in Hisui I can see very well in darkness. Can you as well?"

Still, he took one and didn't argue. The tracks...this was where Ingo had disappeared five years ago wasn't it?

"No, we don't. But it will help us see any little bit of debris. And more importantly, someone will see us if they are heading down the track our way. It's for our safety and theirs." Yes, he had disappeared along the tracks, that was true. Which ones exactly? Emmet had a guess but never an exact location. Lots of ghost types like to live down here which wasn't much of a problem because they could just go through walls and not be hurt by the trains. Chandelure liked these walks and popped out with a little sound of happiness.

Ingo gave one of his not-smiles at Chandelure. His oldest and first Pokémon. Even Ingo couldn't remember where exactly he disappeared. Still, he kept by Emmet's side and looked out for debris.

The firelight from the lanterns and from Chandelure made the shadows dance around them. Cling to them. Ingo was Yin, the black, he melded with shadow. Emmet was the Yang, the white, but he emanated shadow, not melded with it. Emmet casted shadow. Ingo emerged from it. Still, they were being watched by Pokémon as they passed. A little Dreepy nuzzled up to Emmet’s side for a pet, glad to see him again and Ingo. They had lots of friends down here. The tracks were clear. No one was lost down here and nothing was broken. All of the sensors worked too. Goody. As they walked the light of the next station came into view slowly. “And here we disembark. Thank you for coming with me. Now I have some interviews to do and paperwork, but after that we are going home. It wasn’t too bad of a day, was it?”

"Not at all!" Ingo agreed, "It was very pleasant. He'd stay with Emmet at the office while he finished up the last bit of paperwork and interviews for the day. He didn't mind the wait at all.

During the interviews he was doing performance reviews for the agents. Emmet had to put his big boss face on. Most were good, some were… not. He went into a separate office to do those, but it was glass so you could see inside. Verrrrrrry serious when he had to be, but when the last person was done, he looked so burnt out. “I was never good with those,” he muttered to Ingo before plopping the paperwork down into the filing cabinet where it belonged and was later saved to the servers. A few Joltiks tried to climb up his legs but he had to shoo them away. He couldn’t play much anymore, unfortunately. 

“I’m sorry, Joltiks, but this train is heading for the maintenance station! All passengers are to disembark here. I will see you tomorrow!” He gave a little salute to the tiny pokemon who skittered away with a happy squeak. He sighed. 

“Let’s go home.” Man it felt good to say that. His days were verrrrrrry long, it was 9pm almost. He worked 6 days a week. Three days of work, one day of rest. Rinse and repeat. That way it was always different days of the week he had off, so he could rotate shifts and keep an eye on all things, never neglecting any one shift. Rarely he did the night shifts. That was more of a bi weekly event. The night air felt so cool and brisk when they emerged from the tunnels. He sighed in relief.  And held his coat under his arm. 

Ingo was by his side walking with him although his coat was still on.

"Is this your normal work shift or did you have to pick up more because of my disappearance?" He asked him as they started the walk home.

“Ah...er... Well! It’s normal for me now, but when we worked together, it was less. We could go on separate tracks and keep an eye on things more consistently, we could have two days off every week and would be done by dinner time.” 

Good, then when he was hired, Ingo could really help take a load off.

"Are you hungry? I could make you dinner." He offered.

"Nopenopenopenopenope!" Emmet wouldn't have it. "Not a chance!" 

"Why?" Ingo asked, giving him a bit of a pout.

"One! It is my treat. You have returned home. I have already planned to make an old favorite! Two! You come from Hisui! I don't exactly trust you around a stove yet! Not until you show me you remember how to use it! Three...! I want to!"

"I'll have you know cooking over an open fire is a lot more difficult than a stove." Ingo huffed but relented, "Oh you do? And what is my old favorite?"

“You have several! I’m not going to tell you. You will have to guess it while I make it! You can help, if you want.” They reached their building and took the elevator on up. Emmet unlocked the door and tossed his coat and gloves on a chair. Ahhh it was nice to be back. He washed his hands and would get started right away. Most of the Pokémon came out to relax too. They had lots of Pokémon food and berries for them all the time, they never went hungry. 

Ingo let out all of his Pokémon to relax, even his friends from Hisui that were still new to this place.

“Hello, I am Emmet!” He waved happily to all of them as he got out the flour, some eggs, and a bit of salt. A little olive oil and some water too. He was busy, yes, verrrrry busy, but he was happy! So many new friends. And Ingo! Thankfully their condo was plenty big enough for all these Pokémon. Emmet… had a lot of cash. He didn’t do anything with it except pay his bills and research. Not until now at least.

Things seemed to be going well. The three groups of Pokémon, Ingo's old team, his new team, and Emmet's seemed to be getting along well so that was one thing they didn't have to worry about.

"Are you making a cake?" Ingo asked moving into the kitchen and watching his brother go this way and that with ingredients.

"Hahahahah, nope. This is dinner, silly." He playfully flicked a little flour at him and kneaded the mixture together with such force and vigor. He had to.

Ingo took a little flour and flicked it back again laughing. "Okay, you're mixing the dough...are you making pizza?"

"Hm, closer! I'll give you a hint. It's potato flour."

"You do like to keep me guessing...Gnocchi?"

Emmet blinked. "How the fuc-" Well shit! He got it! "Yes, yes, it's gnocchi. Now would you mind making the sauce for me? Recipe is in the book."

"I thought you didn't trust me near the stove." He teased but got out the book anyway.

"I trust you enough now that you have an idea what we are doing," he smirked. He was doing the hard part at least. He had strong arms. Emmet was lanky and thinner than before but it was all lean muscle. Ingo however... he was a real survivalist now.

Climbing cliffs and battling off alpha Pokémon did that to man. Ingo began to hum a tune as he worked Crustle rubbing up against his leg like a cat. She had really missed him.

Galvantula had a web hammock in the corner of the room she liked to nest in. They all had their special spots. Archeops wasn't small but he liked to park his ass on Emmet's shoulder and watch him cook. And beg for scraps of course. Emmet hummed with Ingo. Man it felt like the old days. Even though it was getting late, making good food always did lift the spirits. It would be ready and it would be so good.

"Perfect! Bravo!" It was so good too. Emmet hadn't felt this happy in... Well, he couldn't remember! He kept waiting to wake up, for this all to be just a dream.

It was no dream. It truly was him and Ingo and all their Pokémon reunited again. The older twin smiled at Emmet's use of his usual phrase.

"Thank you, Alakazam." He told the psychic Pokémon as he poured the sauce on top of the gnocchi. Alakazam had been using his mind to set the table.

"Smells delicious." He told his brother.

One last pokeball wobbled on Emmet’s belt. Dialga. It whined a bit, wanting a taste of gnocchi. “Even immortal dragons cannot resist pasta.” He laughed. 

"Will Dialga and Palkia be able to fit in here?" Ingo asked. It wouldn't be fair to give some to one and not to the other.

"Not really!" But the dragons were pushy and they pushed out of their pokeballs, instead emerging outside, hovering by the window.

"Hey! You're gonna scare someone!" Dialga chirruped and nudged his arm. Emmet relented and let them have a portion, which they gratefully accepted.

Not wanting Palkia to feel left out, Ingo put some in a little bowl for the dragon to eat as well.

"Thank you again, for taking us back home." He told the pink one. Despite being embodiment of concepts in many ways, the two legendaries were like any other pokemon. Then again, Ingo supposed he didn't have any room to talk about being an embodiment of a concept. 

Palkia reached down and placed their hand on his head gently. Their claws were like steak knives, but the water dragon was as gentle as could be. After their little snacky, the dragons returned to their pokeballs, satisfied. It was getting late, real late, so after a little cleanup they had to go to bed.

Fine with Ingo. He was absolutely exhausted. A quick shower to be clean for bed and he would just collapse in a deep sleep Chandelure hovering at the foot of his bed. How well did Emmet sleep?

He passed right he heck out, he was very worn out from the day and while his brain was buzzing happily, he needed the sleep. Hopefully no nightmares would bother him here, it was the last thing he needed. He would sleep soundly that night. If they did have nightmares Chandelure was more than happy to eat them.

Chandelure was a very well-fed dream eater indeed. But they could rest. Dawn broke and the boys got up. Doing his routine with Ingo again put a pep in his step. It was real, he was really here with him! 

“Alright, Ingo! Ready for round two? Today should be smoother, I don’t have as much to catch up on.” 

It would probably take a business week for the paper work to get through for Ingo to get his job back. Until then he was happy just to shadow Emmet for a while.

"I'm ready!" He told him happily. For now, he was fine with just following Emmet as he did his usual.

“Alrighty, all aboard!” Entering the station, the agents were happy to see him again. Like they needed the reminder that this was real as well. 

“Hiya boss! Boss one and boss two!”

 Emmet smiled and waved. “Alrighty, today, you are going to be in the command center! I will come by after some battles, but these maps will help you get used to the layout.” He would leave Emmet under the care of Peters before saluting and departing on the battle train. 

"Wait! Where are you going?" Ingo asked. If Ingo was supposed to stay in the command center, then what was Emmet doing? What the hell was he even supposed to do in the command center?

“Brother! You must learn the train routes again! And keep an eye out for hazards on the tracks through the monitors! Don’t worry, Peters will give you the tutorial! See you later!! All Aboard!” 

Oh dragons. Hopefully Ingo could remember this. Thankfully Peters was a very patient teacher. The cheat card he made Ingo helped as well. By midafternoon Ingo was beginning to get some confidence when...there he was again. How?? 

By about two pm Peters hit Emmet up on the phone sounding like he was going to piss himself. "Um...Boss? Could you come back to control? Please?"

“Hmmm?? Peters, I am in the middle of the battle. It’s verrrrry rude to interrupt! Is something wrong?” Emmet hoped not. 

"I've lost Black Boss. I can't find him anywhere!" Peters told him. The others could hear that over their work radio and the noise that came over was like all hell broke loose.

Emmet froze entirely as his heart literally stopped for a few beats. “You… What!? How!? He didn’t just wander off! You’ve checked the cameras, right?? Where was he seen last??” Emmet pulled away from the radio quickly to apologize to the trainer and cancel the double battle. He would award them their allotted BP as if they won as a consolation prize and hopped off the train towards the command center at once. Everyone was going to cycle their shift to cover him as he left his post. Someone to cover him, someone to cover the person who left, someone to cover them, so on and so forth. This… was a common occurrence when things happened.

Most of the agents were shaking as Emmet came in. Peters stood in front of them ready to report. "Boss, he went out one of the side exits. The cameras lost him after that. I thought he just went to lunch, but he never came back."

Emmet swore loudly. “Get a hold of city surveillance and see if they have seen anything. DAMN IT!” He clenched his fist in frustration but then let out a breath. Breathe. “We will find him. We will. He probably just got lost on the way back, yup!” Emmet forced himself to be positive, to smile, even if it clearly pained him. His silver eyes were not happy at all.

 “I will go up top and see if I can spot him, okay? I trust you to keep things running smoothly down here.” He placed a gloved hand on Peters’ shoulder. “I trust you.” 

Was that sincere or a threat? It was hard to tell with his mask on so uncannily. Emmet trusted you, Peters, and now Ingo was gone. Again. He is trusting you to keep things on track too. It would be good for Emmet to head up, away from the others as he was clearly distressed. He didn’t want to take it out on his agents, he had worked so hard in therapy to keep a lid on things. Emmet marched to the surface with his radio still on. He had been trying to stay on the bright side about Ingo just losing his path, but as time ticked by, he grew more and more frantic, and his composure was leaving him quickly. He grit his teeth. 

“Not again. I can’t even have two days of my life back, can I?” He muttered to himself. Emmet was clenching his fists now and then he got an idea. “Dialga!” 

He summoned the god of time in the alleyway, which was thankfully large enough to accommodate it. “Show me the past, where did he go?” Dialga’s eyes shone brightly and their crimson glow dominated the light as their gem began to emit light as well. Like a ghost, Ingo was shown: his exact movements as he had left the station. What happened to him? 

"Boss..." Peters face said it all. He didn't mean to lose Black Boss like that. He saluted in response.

Ingo had seen a man, a blonde, and followed him out of the station and onto the sidewalk, "Excuse me, sir!" The blonde ignored Ingo and continued walking, weaving through the crowd. "Sir! Volo!" 

Ingo called out but he lost him. Maybe...maybe he was mistaken. After all, if that was Volo, he'd be well over two hundred years old by now. Ingo should head back. As Ingo turned around he felt something strike his back shoving him into the road. He froze as he looked at an oncoming truck but then fell backwards into his own shadow as the truck slammed onto the breaks. 

From the sidelines, the vision showed Volo watching with a serious look on his face. "So it's true. You were right there under my nose the whole time. Guess I'll have to wait until you can crawl out of your shadow world. Don't leave me waiting, Warden. We're gonna change the world together." Then the vision ended.

Emmet ran after the spectre and saw his brother get pushed in front of the truck to his horror. 

“NO!” He reached out, but it was just a mirage, it was in the past. He stared at the ground. Oh dragons, he was killed! But…. There was no blood here. What the fuck? He would radio his team about what he saw and had the cameras pull the footage from this street corner for the police as well. 

“Agents, I want the man in blonde put on the no ride list. I want him found, if he shows his face in this city again, have him arrested. Our search continues, but if I see him again, I’m going to…” He was going to say kill him but he couldn’t be doing that over the radio. “Apprehend him.”

He would make sure the security systems AI would flag him with a red alert if he ever came back. Emmet marched down the streets for a while before returning to the tunnels. “How did he just… vanish!?” What was all this about? He had his hackles raised like nothing else and his aura ran foul as he returned to the station. What else could he do other than alert the authorities and keep a look out? 

As for Ingo he found himself in what looked like a dark tunnel littered with stars. No, not stars, windows. Catching his breath after that close run in with the truck he began to explore looking for a way to get out. These windows of light looked out into different sections of the world covered in shadow. He didn't know about Emmet's aura but he felt a pull to a particular window...the station! Gear Station. He could see Emmet and the other depot agents!

Emmet had friends in high places. If Volo showed his face in Nimbasa City again it would be known.

"Yes sir, White Boss!" 

Emmet was storming about with a frown on his face. He would not leave the station until he found Ingo. He had called Elesa and the whole subway was on high alert. No one liked this. It wasn’t the first time White Boss had gone off his rocker with a red alert, but if it was true that Ingo had been there yesterday and this morning… Maybe he had a reason to. This was bizarre. Ingo going missing twice out of the blue. Emmet wouldn’t let it happen again. Well… it had happened again, but he hoped this time he could do something about it and save his brother from years of isolation like he had gone through in Hisui. Dragons… Ingo had been gone for 30 years then. Would he even survive another round of that? Emmet tried to shove these paranoid thoughts out of his mind, but the fact of the matter remained that they were surrounded by supernatural events whether they liked it or not and he had to deal with it. Fix it. Emmet would march down the tracks with his lantern, clutching it with a death grip. He was furious. 

The track tunnels were nice and dark. "Emmet!" Ingo called out his voice echoing off the subway walls.

The boss whirled around at the sound, casting the light and searching through the darkness. There was nothing. He was about to call out to his brother, but the realization struck him and he felt sick and angry with himself. How was he supposed to search for him like this? When he could hardly trust himself. Emmet stopped in the middle of the tracks and picked up a rock, throwing it with all his might against a wall with a scream that tore his throat. The rock shattered into tiny bits on impact. He clenched his teeth as hot tears ran down his face. He tried to stay calm. He tried to keep it together, but he couldn’t right now. He breathed heavily and glanced at the far away track to see if any train was coming, not that he would be willing to move. 

A few days. He had Ingo for only a few days and then he was torn from him again. Was this some sick joke!? Bile rose in his throat and he slammed his fist against the wall. Ow. He could hardly feel it over the roaring in his heart and mind. His soul. He wanted to tear every brick down in his path to Ingo. If he was gone again, he just wanted to die. And that man. He wanted to watch the life leave his eyes as he strangled him to death. He crouched on the tracks for a moment, putting his arms over his head and wailed out his frustrations into the empty air. Vent it, then breathe. Breathe. Remember your lessons. He would have to up his dose for sure today when he got back to his desk. He caught his breath and stood again, adjusting his tie and mask before continuing his patrol down the tunnels. 

"Emmet, listen to me! I'm stuck in here!" Ingo called out. He remembered what the agent had said. Hallucinations. He thought that Ingo was his own brain playing tricks on him. "Emmet, go get Stefan or Isabelle and bring them here! If they can hear my voice you're not hallucinating!"

No one else could be the subway boss, no one was better at it than the twins. But still. It made some people wonder if the city should fire Emmet for all of this chaos. Not that Elesa would allow it, but she couldn’t protect him forever either. He wasn’t in much danger of losing his job, but if he really cracked publicly, he might get suspended again. Emmet paused again and listened. This was…. Hnnnrrrghhh. He turned and looked again, dreading what he would see, but there was nothing there. 

“Stuck where!? I can’t see you! I-if I leave how will I know where to find you again!? Wait!” He pulled out his radio and called for the two agents to meet him here in the tunnel. No. Emmet would not wander off. He would stay and wait. “Ingo, what the hell is happening?”

All of the usual ghost Pokémon fled from Emmet when he was like this. He scared them. His aura bled pure hatred for the blonde man and sorrow at the loss of his twin. Again. Reopening a fresh wound just recently stitched together. Still, Emmet didn’t give into it. Not completely. He still had hope in him, somewhere. That tiny light that would never die. 

"Someone pushed me in front of a truck. I thought I saw someone from my past so I went to track him down but I fell down here." Ingo knocked on the window with a frustrated growl. Stefan and Isabelle met Emmet on the track. 

"Boss, what's up?" Stefan asked, "You find Black Boss yet?" 

"Agent Stefan! I'm here!" Ingo cried out. 

Stefan whirled the flash light, "Where? I don't see you! You in the walls?"

Emmet was stunned. Holy shit, he wasn’t just tripping. That changed everything. Emmet had texted Elesa to track down the blonde man and get any information she could on him. From his past, eh? From Hisui?? This was a meditated attack. This was some bitch who knew Ingo back then and then came here to stir up more shit. Oh, he was extra dead now. Volo. From the Gingko Guild. Emmet palmed the dark orb in his pocket as a stress relief. What do we do? 

“How are you on the other side of the wall? The sewers don’t run through this area at all. Still, we will shut down this section of rail, yup.” Hearing Ingo’s voice was at least a comfort. 

"No, don't do that. I don't think I'm physically on the other side of the wall." Ingo explained, "I'm somewhere dark with lots of these pockets of light-" 

"Oh no! Boss! Don't go into the light!" Isabelle called out.

"Ah, I don't think it's that kind of situation. All these pockets look out onto the world. I can see the three of you for-" Ingo cut himself off as Isabelle turned her flash light towards him and the window disappeared. "Boss? Boss?"

“Ingo? INGO!!” Emmet yelled and pounded at the wall. He swore in anguish as his brother had been cut off from him AGAIN! How many times could a man take this? He waited for a response but there would not be one. Not while Isabelle had her flashlight pointed at the wall. Bitter and angry he turned on his heel. “He HAS to be somewhere! Keep searching the tunnels!” 

Isabelle moved, going to continue to search with Emmet. "That's it!" Ingo's voice called out again, "It's connected to light and shadow! Emmet, remember when we went to the temple?"

Emmet whirled around again at the return of his voice and trotted over to the wall, leaving his lantern behind. He pressed himself against the wall where his voice was the loudest. Ingo had always been a big mouth, heh. 

“Brother! You…” He shook his head, it was all so crazy. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do if you’re stuck in a shadow??? Can’t you reach out from it?” 

"I'm trying!" Ingo huffed. Honestly if Ingo could, wouldn't he by now? "This might take me a while. Emmet, you and the others have to get out of the tunnel and get back to work."

Emmet belted out a laugh. “Yeah right! As if we are gonna leave you behind, brother! Nope! Not at all, I am staying right here, yup! Stefan, Isabelle, go head back to the command center and brief the others on what is happening. And no, it’s not a case of the white boss days. It’s real this time. You know that.” Emmet, despite wearing all white, plopped down against the wall and sighed. “I won’t leave you,” he promised. 

"Emmet." Ingo sighed but Stefan shook his head, "It's no use. You know once White Boss makes up his mind there's no changing it."

"We'll make sure the trains reroute so that this tunnel isn't used." Isabelle said, "But Black Boss, you need to figure this out as fast as possible! We need you both back." The two would turn to head out unless Emmet had anything more to say.

No, Emmet would nod to them, grateful for having such good agents. No. Friends. Hours would pass. Elesa had told him who this blonde was and now he had a name for that damned face. But Emmet was not much for words right now and cut their conversation short. It was approaching 2am now. He was still sitting there with Ingo, lantern on the ground and bags in his eyes as he rubbed them. He felt himself getting dizzy and nodding off. 

Emmet heard his name and his head snapped to her direction hoping to see... Well, you know as he awoke.

 “Ah Elesa. I suppose you’ve come to collect me like last week’s trash, hm?” 

Something was wrong, he was no longer in the tunnel, he was in the maintenance station and it felt like days had passed. Like he wasn’t himself. A passenger in another body. His memory was all jumbled too. Ingo was missing, they had no trace of him, none at all after he vanished. Three days had gone by. 

"Emmet, have you eaten anything? Have you slept at all?" 

He just blinked at her and sighed. "We both know the answer to that one." He put his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do, Elesa. I can't do this again. I can't. Dialga showed me where he went and I'm... I'm too scared. I feel like I'm dying all over again, Elesa." He lowered his hands and stared forward unfocused into the darkness. His back was hunched and his hair was frazzled. "You don't have to put up with me, you know. You have plenty to worry about other than coming down here." He rubbed his knuckles, still sore from when he smashed them days before on the tunnel wall. 

"Don't say that." Elesa said going to his side, "You're my friend. I stayed by your side then and I'll do it again. Ingo would want you to take care of yourself. What happened to your hand?" She asked looking at it. 

“Busted it on the wall. It’s not broken, just the skin got scraped." He let it go limp in her hand as he stared forward. If Ingo was there, he would be choking on the rancid aura of Yang here. It was like a miasma. “Ingo, where the fuck did you go..?”

She didn't know about Ingo but Elesa could sense something was different. Emmet's whole aura seems to drag this place down. "Emmet, don't do this to yourself." She sighed. His hand didn't look too messed up. She would let it go for now. 

He reached into his pocket for his smokes. He still had some in his desk from a long while ago and decided he needed a light.

 "You are not smoking again." She glared at him. 

He flicked on the lighter to ignite it. “I know you don’t want me to, Elesa. I’m sorry to disappoint you, again and again.” Maybe she should just leave the man to his demons and not get dragged down by him. 

“I’m afraid I’m not much of anything without Ingo.” He blew a cloud of smoke away from her. Emmet couldn’t help it, his mood was in the gutter. He didn’t want to hurt her seeing him like this. She really was a good friend.

 She was very quiet, "Promise me that you'll call me if it gets too much, Emmet." 

He glanced up at her. He didn't want to scoff, it was so mean. "I'm.. I'm sorry Elesa. But it already is. Please, I don't mean to bring you down. I want you to be happy." 

"Okay, then how about we see the doctor again?" She suggested, "We can have him adjust your meds." She wasn't going to touch on how she couldn't be happy seeing him so miserable like this. 

"Later." He showed her his bottle of meds. "Don't worry, I'm still on track. I haven't fallen off the wagon or done too much. Only the prescribed amount.” 

"Okay, I'm going to check on you later. The book I special ordered is coming in. Emmet, don't go where I can’t follow, okay?" 

“I’ll be right down here if you need me.” He gave her the thumbs up and would finish his cigarette as she left. Once she was gone, his dry eyes bled themselves of a bit more tears, hitting the concrete at his feet. Fuck, man. Just. Fuuck. He doused the cigarette and picked up the lantern. He had burned down the candle to the stub, so he needed to get a new one. That meant walking the tunnels alone in the dark. Whatever. If it happened it happened. He just hoped the sensors would do their job. 

Then he felt something else. A rumble. Shittttt. He ran in the opposite direction, booking it as fast as he could, tripping almost on a few of the tracks. He narrowly escaped getting run over by a train as he dove head first back onto the station he had been resting at earlier. His heart was pounding and sweat beaded down his face. The train kept going onwards as if nothing happened, of course. He screamed a curse and hurled the empty lantern against the far wall, shattering glass all over the tracks. He was having a breakdown. He was on his hands and knees sobbing and crying out in pain, his body wouldn’t let him do anything else. Thank God this was a maintenance station that no one went to. Christ. 

"Ingo, where THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" He screamed and sobbed. His body was tired. He was tired. He laid on the ground for a bit as he tried to breathe. The world around him was irrelevant to him. The night would wane on into the next day.

The depot agents knew White Boss was alive because he would update tasks and respond to work emails like normal, but they knew he was far from normal. They never hardly saw him besides the office or locker rooms or vending machines. He kept going to the tracks. One day he wouldn’t come back, they knew it. He would be gone, somewhere in the darkness, split to pieces. They were just worried about when.

 He lit a cigarette in the shadows, his only light for now. He hummed a tune as he walked in the dark, his ears on keen alert for any sounds of trains. He had his gun, yes, but he wasn’t going to use it. He had no intention of that, really. It was too easy if he did. No, he walked and then he stopped. He was crying but no tears were there. After a moment, he continued walking, shakily continuing to hum from where he left off. 

Ingo felt weak. It was part from Emmet's distress, part lack of food, part lack of water. That didn't stop him though from finally crawling out of the hole in the wall. He stumbled onto the track in front of Emmet finally clawing into dirt. No, he had heard everything. This was his. His darkness and it wasn't going to control him. He was going to control it. He crawled until he felt the cool metal and saw a distant light up ahead, small like a cigarette?

"Emmet?" 

What the fuck was that? Emmet pulled out his gun. 

“Who goes there? These tracks are off limits to the public.” Ingo swallowed. His throat was so dry. 

"Ingo." Ingo replied, trying to push back on his legs so he could sit up properly. 

Emmet squinted in the darkness and continued walking. And walking. And walked right past him with a glance. 

"Hnnngh," he sighed. 

The hell? Ingo wasn't expecting that. Maybe for him to yell at him or shoot him but he just walked past. 

"W-" He coughed, "W-wait." He pushed himself up to stand. Ingo wasn't going to give up. He started to follow his brother. "Wait!" 

Emmet ignored him and would keep going. There was a station ahead at least, he could sit there for a bit. He must really be having a bad day. Everyday was a bad day without Ingo.

Ingo still wasn't giving up. Even if he had to follow Emmet all the way to that station. Were there other people in that station or was it just them? 

It was just them. The maintenance station. Emmet hopped up onto the platform and sat on the bench in a sad heap. He kept his eyes on the darkness waiting for the figure to emerge. 

Ingo then crawled up onto the platform. This must be the hallucinations he was talking about. Maybe Emmet thought he was just seeing him and not that Ingo was right there. "You...you're a hard man to get to." Ingo chuckled darkly but continued to head towards Emmet, but he didn’t move. He just watched Ingo walk. How he just materialized from the shadows. He didn’t respond, he just… watched. That was fine. Ingo could come to him. He knelt down to Emmet and placed his hand on his knee. 

"Emmet, it's me." 

“No,” he muttered. “You’re not real,” he sighed and pulled out another cigarette to continue his chain smoking.

 "You were so strong for me." Ingo said not bothering to argue with him, "I'm going to be strong for you now." Fuck but he couldn't lift him not as famished as he was. Maybe he didn't have to. Ingo drew out his pokeball and tossed it out.

"Come to me Haxorus." The Pokémon popped out looking between the two twins. His human and his brother looked like a wreck. 

That was it, huh? Emmet stood up and began pacing around. He started giggling, then laughing like a madman. 

“It was never real, was it? I just. Imagined this! I never went to Sinnoh, I never found him, it’s all just been in my head, I can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t, I’ve really lost it, huh? I’m gone! Gone!” He held out his arms and swung his head back as he paced in a circle, his hat hitting the floor. 

"Haxorus, go pick him up. Try to be gentle." Ingo said going over and picking up his hat. Haxorus made a sound and went over to try and scoop up Emmet bridal style. 

"Nuh uh!" Emmet dodged away and pulled out his gun. "I might not know what is real or not, but I won't be ushered away." His hands shook as he aimed between Haxorus and Ingo. Haxorus growled at the gun pointed at his human. 

"Okay, okay." Ingo said both to Emmet and Haxorus. Any sudden wrong moves might end badly for everything involved, "We'll do this your way. What do you want, Emmet?"

“I... I want… I want my brother back. I want my life back. This is my, our subway. I just want him b-back...” He cried miserably, but didn’t lower the gun. “B-but… but I caaan’t! He’s gone! He’s gone and he’s been gone and I’m never g-gonna see him again. He’s never coming back, I’ve just been lying to myself all this-this time.” He hiccupped. “I don’t want to live anymore. I don’t want to live without him. I don’t… I don’t!” He put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

…But nothing happened when the gun was fired. It was unloaded. He must have known that too as he slowly pulled it out and holstered it. He stood there, wavering, staring at the ground. Silently, he walked forwards and took Ingo’s hand to go walk back to the main station. He didn’t say another word. In reality, he hadn’t trusted himself with his firearm for a long while and unloaded it. It was just a show of force, even if there was nothing in it. They would come back to the main station.

 "NO!" Ingo shouted but it was too late and there was the terrifying sound of the 'click' from the hammer and nothing more. Oh thank Arceus. Emmet slowly put it down and took Ingo's hand. The two walked back to the main station in silence but Ingo kept a tight grip on Emmet's hand like he might lose him at any moment. The agents froze when they suddenly saw the two of them together. 

"Black boss? Wh- Where-" One of them began to ask but Ingo cut him off. 

"Could you please go and call an ambulance?" Ingo asked before pulling on Emmet's hand to come sit with him on the bench. Nobody said anything but one of the agents ran off to do as Ingo requested. Ingo sat with him and rubbed his hand with his thumb. He would get taken to the hospital and have time to recover. 

The dream faded and Emmet found tears on his face. What was that just then? Another world? Another timeline? So similar and yet it was different. Yin and Yang… so much to consider. Time and space. Light and dark. The existence of powers that could bend reality. It was so much to try and understand. He was just a subway boss! Him and Ingo! And yet, this was their lives. There was no turning away from it, only accepting and moving forward armed with this new information. It felt so real. Deep in his heart, Emmet knew it was real. A real possibility if Ingo never had called out to him in the tunnel, never heard his brother’s voice. Yang was time, and so he saw a vision. It wasn’t just madness. It was something trying to guide him to a better future. Maybe himself even? Bah, now was not the time to ponder such thoughts. Emmet was still sitting there alone in the tunnels. Well, not completely alone. “...Ingo?” He called out softly to his brother, hoping he was still there in the shadows, just out of sight. He was never scared of the dark, in fact he found it rather comforting, even as a child. It reminded him of Ingo.

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End of chapter 3