#if we all hold hands and close our eyes we can make her 3 dimensional

[renmorris]

Pete and Josie's relationship makes me want to die btw. Has Josie ever been loved so unconditionally before? does she recognize it as unconditional? She can’t put down her mask. Pete makes her and Harry snacks for their secret date in a deleted scene. She can’t let her mask slip. Does Pete recognize it? Do you think his kindness ever fuels Josie's self hatred.

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 30 - "Are you with me?"

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: G

Warnings: -

A/N: I had absolutely no idea what to do with this one… and it shows I think… also can this be considered crackish?

"Danny you ready?"

"Give me a second Red!"

"No time! Going live in…"

"Wait wait wait!"

"3..."

"I got the popcorn!"

"2…"

"What about the block against the Justice League?!"

"1…"

"Red locked them out of the system. Now get ready!!"

"Go!"

Danny blinked as he got pushed by Superboy in front of the camera Impulse was standing behind. Behind them was Wonder Girl giving him a thumbs up with one hand and holding up giant flash cards with her other one.

"Uh Hi?"

Impulse raised an eyebrow and moved his hand in a keep going motion. Nervously Danny rubbed his neck. He looked left and right as if looking for something until his eyes focused back onto the camera. He coughed, took a deep breath, unnecessary in phantom form but helpful to calm down, before smiling and touching his hands together at their fingertips.

"Ahem. Hello, hi. Now you might be wondering. Who the fuck is that guy to interrupt my Saturday night movie program. I am Phantom, the newest member of Young Justice. King of the Ghost Zone also known as the Infinite Realms. The Dimension that's pretty much gluing our entire reality together." He gave the camera a nervous smile before he continued. "I am here to tell you on behalf of the entirety of the Infinite Realms. That you humans, of this dimension…"

Danny took a deep breath, from the corner of his eyes he saw Superboy giving another keep going sign while Red Robin was checking something on his laptop, making sure none of their mentors was trying to cut short their live feat over the entire world as well as that the subtitles worked for different language countries.

"...well you humans suck." Danny said as he breathed out, closing his eyes and pausing for a moment to let his message sink in. "Look, I get it. It's always hard finding something new, seeing change but come on. Anti-Ecto Acts? Was that necessary?"

He waved his hand around like he was thinking to find the right words while peaking at the flash card Wonder Girl was holding up.

"Like come on, can't you humans get your act together? Why hunt down an entire species just because they are different? You humans are already constantly at war with each other, aside from the idiocy of that, do you really have to add interdimensional war to that list?"

Danny chuckled nervously ignoring the additional flash card Impulse was now holding up to make him call out some of the humans' crimes against, the list mostly containing petty things Impulse didn't like. "Just so you know. I am barely keeping my council from declaring the dimensional one by the way." He added instead.

"Now you all are probably wondering what the hell this random ghost hero is talking about with no solution." He glanced to the side. " Well I have one."

Danny coughed into his hand and right his stance. "Dogs."

He held out his arms and Cujo appeared out of nowhere jumping into them. Off camera Wonder Girl coed. His ghost puppy had pretty much charmed all his hero friends since day one.

"They are loyal, awesome, cute and every beings best friend. Ancients even Superman has one!" Danny said smiling as he held up Cujo into the camera, he was glad he had remembered to infuse Red Robin's equipment with ectoplasm so the broadcast wouldn't get distorted.

"It's something we can all agree on. So, are you with me? Let's discard these stupid acts and all focus on the cuteness of little beings like him? How could anyone want to destroy his entire existence!"

"SHIT!" Red Robin cursed loudly off Camera and Danny blinked head turning towards his direction. "B got our location! Oracle ratted us out and is about to shut down the broadcast!"

"What this soon?! We didn't even get to the juicy parts yet!" Impulse complained loudly and Danny nervously faced the camera.

"Uh… Yea so.. No Anti-Ecto Acts and pro Dogs!" He summed up liften a encouraging fist up as Cujo barked happily in his arms.

"ETA 2! We need to bolt!" Red Robin shouted as Wonder Girl Rushed across the camera to open the window on the other side. Superboy was already picking up Red Robin and Impulse was gone before Red had even finished his sentence.

Phantom gave the camera one nervous smile as Cujo jumped out of his arms. "For the record. This broadcast was brought to you by sleep deprived Red and our opinion that the Justice League is taking too long!"

The next second phantom was seen rushing off to the side most likely following the others a moment later a crash was heard in the distance before the camera tilted and fell to the side. The broadcast was cut off at that point.

Unknown to the audience, a group of young hero's was rushing away from there not so secret broadcasting location, trying to escape their mentors that were not happy about their kids trying to take matters into their own hands just because 'the adults are taking to long'.

[saintvainglorious]

Fics I Enjoyed in April

12 fics total. Includes fics from the following fandoms: Back to the Future, Black Sails, Our Flag Means Death, The Witcher

commands & captains by FortinbrasFTW/@fortinbrasftw Our Flag Means Death/Black Sails | James Flint/Izzy Hands | 5k | Explicit | Part 1 of the cross dimensional nassau bar of getting izzy hands laid

The first thing Izzy realizes is he looks absolutely fucking furious — which yeah, alright, fair enough. He’s got shorter ginger hair. A beard like Izzy’s but kept neater. Earrings like Izzy’s but worn simpler. Bleeding like Izzy but, well, maybe a bit less. And he’s handsome. Izzy realizes it suddenly and slowly somehow all at once. Bit like a bloody painting even. The kind you saw up on walls in rich folk's houses. Only, well, no painting had eyes like that, did it? You’d have to be mad to keep a painting with eyes like that in your home. They were bright and clear and looked — honest-to-fucking-Christ — ready to set the whole damned world on fire. Izzy’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad night takes an interesting turn thanks to a completely different sort of pirate captain.

health & safety by FortinbrasFTW/@fortinbrasftw Our Flag Means Death/Black Sails | James Flint/Izzy Hands | 6k | Explicit | Part 2 of the cross dimensional nassau bar of getting izzy hands laid

This your ship, then?” Izzy asks dryly. The Captain makes an affirming sound. He’s still by the door, nudging it shut and twisting the metal of the lock closed. Izzy paces over the smart creak of the wooden floor, thumbs hanging off his belt, letting himself take it in. He sniffs. “Looks like shit.” It looks incredible. “And a bit small, isn’t it?” It’s the biggest ship Izzy’s ever set foot on.

salt & stars by FortinbrasFTW/@fortinbrasftw Our Flag Means Death/Black Sails | James Flint/Izzy Hands | 7k | Explicit | Part 3 of the cross dimensional nassau bar of getting izzy hands laid

Flint stares. “Excuse me?” “We should fight,” Izzy repeats. He knows his voice isn’t as hard as it could be but he’s hoping the grate of it will make up the difference. “Like, actually fucking fight.” Flint looks him up and down once, eyes narrowing. “We fight plenty,” he says eventually. “Not really,” Izzy notes, holding onto a casual tone for dear life. “I let you win.”

To Be Free of Temptation by anselm0 Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver | 13k | Explicit

“What would you suggest we do instead, then?” Maybe it was the way he said it, the way Flint was sitting with his knees sprawled out, or the secrets he guarded so closely; Silver didn’t know what it was, but somebody’s Devil took ahold of his tongue then and he said, “I think we should fuck.”

A history of dragons in popular culture by Deputychairman/@deputychairman The Witcher | Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer | 18k | Explicit

“I wanted a point of comparison,” she said. “Because he looks at me like he really – loves me, or something.” “Yeah,” said Jaskier, resigned. “He does that sometimes. Isn’t it a bitch?” They were half way through the second bottle by now, and their shoulders were touching. She could feel the hard line of Jaskier’s thigh against hers. She was very aware of the chest hair visible at the open neck of his shirt, and how he could probably see down her dress from here. She hadn’t moved to put any distance between them and neither had he. “Why are we still talking about him? I don’t care about Geralt of Rivia any more,” lied Yennefer. “Nor do I,” Jaskier lied back.

can i offer you a little salt for that wound by ShanaStoryteller/@shanastoryteller The Witcher | Geralt/Jaskier/Yennfer | 14k | Not Rated

Two months after Geralt breaks up with him, Jaskier runs into Yennefer at Coachella. “Oh fuck no,” she says, which he thinks is pretty fucking unfair, all things considered.

on a cosmic scale by kathkin/@penny-anna Back to the Future | Gen | 43k | Teen & Up

“How far up does it go?” “All the way, I suppose,” said Emmett. “The universe is theoretically infinite in size.” “Far out.” Marty heaved a sigh. “Doc. I don’t like that.” "Really? Personally, I take great comfort in the insignificance of my existence within the unfathomable scale of the universe.” He leaned on the workbench, bringing his head down level with Marty’s eyeline. “You know, in the grand scheme of things, every single living creature on earth is infinitesimally small. On a cosmic scale you and I are essentially of a size. Isn’t that interesting?” “If you say so." When Doc Brown realises there's something living in his lab, he thinks he has an unusually smart rat. To his amazement, he finds himself with a four-inch tall teenager on his hands - a teenager who is lost, and alone, and a long way away from home.

empty spaces (waves and particles) by kathkin/@penny-anna Back to the Future | Gen | 7k | General Audiences

It was done, he told himself. Whatever change had occurred in the timeline, it was already in the past, irreversible as any other event. And after all, he’d known Marty for only a week. It was irrational to think of him as a friend. It was wildly irrational, to mourn something that had never existed. After hearing about the birth of the McFly family's second daughter, Doc Brown can only conclude that the worst has happened and that Marty has somehow been erased from time. He resigns himself to being alone, but when he crosses paths with the new McFly kid he can't help but make a friend.

i'll be seeing you by youatemytailor/@annevbonny Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver | 19k | Not Rated

Silver is out of his chair and across the room before he knows it. He has a grip on the barkeep's shirt before he knows it, and he's pulling him up, hauling him eye-level, only to head-butt him to the ground again. The barkeep's mouth is thrown open in a wail, but there's no sound, Silver thinks, no sound at all, save for the blood rushing in his ears as he looks at the other man on the ground, watches him roll to his side with a groan. Flint, Silver thinks, and nothing else. It beats around the knife in his gut like a drum. Flint. And then Flint is looking at him.

The Dark Lord Proprietor by Amiril/@runawaymarbles Black Sails | James Flint/Thomas Hamilton/John Silver | 19k | Mature

A year ago, James Flint was in a stable relationship and was within spitting distance of taking over London. Now he's single, with a dubiously loyal henchman, a lairmate determined to learn his every weakness, and a Secret Past with the new supervillain on the scene. And thanks to a new government program, it's all a race to the bottom.

With Strange Aeons by Amiril/@runawaymarbles Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver, James Flint/Thomas Hamilton, Jack Rackham/Anne Bonny | 60k | Mature

After the disappearance and presumed death of Captain Flint and Long John Silver, Max smuggles Jack and Anne to Oglethorpe’s plantation. Thomas learns that not only do the three of them have a friend in common, but he is not the only one whose dreams are haunted by a strange city and a terrifying name. Meanwhile, Flint and Silver try to escape an island trapped in time, impossibly built and impossibly old. Along the way they’re forced question reality, each other, and themselves. And in his house in R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. (Prior knowledge of Lovecraft is fun, but not required.)

leave the lights on by natlet/@natlet Black Sails | James Flint/John Silver | 28k | Explicit

John Silver tries to run a con. (alternate buzzfeed title: "James Flint wears dad shorts, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!")

[nevermindirah]

Do you have any thoughts on the use of AAVE for Nile (or lack thereof) in TOG fanfiction? I've been reading some Book of Nile fic and some writers seem to write her as a Millennial™ (using words like "fave" and "woke") but never acknowledge her Blackness in her patterns of speech. I know we don't see her use as much AAVE in the films, but I would argue she's in situations where code-switching would be valued (first in a "professional" environment in the army, then around a group of non-Black strangers).

Hi anon! I have many thoughts on this and I'm honored you asked me! But I should start by saying I'm white and any thoughts Black fans and especially Black American fans have on this that they want to share would be beyond lovely. (I'm not gonna tag anybody bc that feels rude but please add onto this post if any of y'all see this and want to!)

The main reason I personally avoid AAVE for Nile in my own fics is because I'm not Black. But Nile-centric fics by Black writers tend to avoid using much of it too, at least from what I've noticed/understood, and my guess is it's largely for the reason you mention, that she's in situations that encourage code-switching.

In movie canon Nile is highly competent at tailoring her language to each situation she finds herself in. This fantastic linguistics analysis meta shows how skillfully Nile chooses her vocabulary and grammar to meet her goals with different conversation partners in different contexts. In comics canon Nile had a bunch of different civilian jobs before joining the Marines, so she would've had experience code-switching in the ways that made sense for all those different contexts as well as the Marines and her family and high school and wherever else she spent her time before we met her. And now she's spending her time with a handful of immortals none of whom are native English speakers and a fellow Black American but one with a Queen's English UK accent whose professional experience is in the CIA where high-status code-switching is often an absolute must for success or even survival.

Fics featuring Nile are charged with extrapolating from that to how it might show up in her use of language that she's coping with a traumatic separation from her family and her career and pretty much everything she's ever known and now she needs to be able to make herself understood to people who seem to care about her and each other but are super duper in crisis, three (soon to be four) of whom predate Modern English entirely and the only one who's anywhere near her contemporary she's not supposed to talk to for a century. All of these people are telling her that pretty much any contact with any mortals poses an existential threat to her and the rest of the group. How the FUCK is she supposed to cope with that, like, generally? And would it be a more effective way for her to cope if she talked to Andy Joe and Nicky using the speech patterns that she used to use with her mom and brother, to at least retain that part of her identity even if it means having to do a lot of explaining, or would it meet her needs better to prioritize Andy Joe and Nicky understanding what she means with her words over using the particular words and grammar forms she used with her family?

I've seen several fics, both Nile-centric / BoN and otherwise, explore this a little bit in how/whether Nile uses Millennial™ speak. It's often a theme in Nile texting Booker despite the exile because of the popular headcanon that he as The Tech Guy is the only other immortal who understands memes. But Nile's much-younger-than-Booker mom probably uses Boomer and/or Gen X memes and Andy has been adapting to new communication styles for forever as evidenced by her canon high level of fluency with standard-American-accented English.

Which brings us back to people avoiding AAVE because they're not Black and they don't want to make mistakes (or they're not Black and they don't want to get yelled at for making mistakes, though I think many people overestimate how much they'll get yelled at while underestimating how much these mistakes can hurt). I can imagine some Black fans hold back from using much AAVE in fic because they don't want to share in-group stuff with white people who are likely to then adopt and ruin it, as white people so often do with Black cultural stuff. Some links about this including a great Khadija Mbowe video. I'm saying this gently, anon, because you might not know: woke, an example you cited as Millennial™ speak, is AAVE, and that's gotten erased by so many white people appropriating it and using it incorrectly online.

And also there's the part where fandom is a hobby and you never know when you're reading a fic that's the very first thing someone's ever written outside of a school assignment. This cultural considerations of language shit takes a level of effort and skill that not everybody puts into every fic, or even could if they wanted to because they haven't had time to build their skills yet. It's definitely easier for non-Black fans to project our millennial feels onto Nile than to do the layers of research and self-reflection it requires to depict what Blackness might mean to Nile, and it's not surprising that often people sharing their hobby creations on the internet have gone the easier route. There's not even necessarily shame in doing what's easier. It's just frustrating and often hurtful when structural white supremacy means that 3-dimensional Black characters are rare in media and thoughtful explorations of them in fandom are seen by the majority of fans as not-easy to make and therefore Nile Freeman, the main character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, has the least fic and meta and art made about her of our 5 main immortals.

I've been active in different fandoms off and on for twenty years and I barely managed to write 5,000 words about Sam Wilson across multiple different fics in the 7 years since I fell in love with him. There's an alchemy to which characters we connect with, and on top of that which characters we connect with in a way that causes us to create stuff about them. Something about Nile Freeman finally tipped me over the edge from a voracious reader to a voracious writer. It's not for me to judge which characters speak to other individuals to the level of creating content about them, but I do think it's important for us to notice, and then work to fight, the pattern where across this fandom as a whole Nile gets way less content, and way less depth in so much of the content that's in theory about her, than any of these other characters.

Anyway, back to language. My two long fics feature Nile with several Black friends — Copley and OCs and cameos from other media — but all of those characters except Alec Hardison from Leverage aren't American. It's very possible I'm guilty of stereotyping Black British speech patterns in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore. I watched hours and hours of Black haircare YouTube videos in the research for that fic and I modeled my OCs' speech patterns on what I heard from some of those YouTubers as well as what I've heard people like John Boyega and Idris Elba saying in interviews, but the thing about doing your best is you still might fuck up.

I'm slowly making progress on my WIP where Nile and Sam Wilson are cousins, and what ways of talking with a family member might be authentic for Nile is a major question I need to figure out. For that, I'm largely modeling my writing choices on how I hear my Black friends and colleagues talking to each other. I haven't overheard colleagues talking in an office in a long-ass time, but back when that was a thing, I remember seeing a ton of nuance in the different ways many of my Black colleagues would talk to each other. Different people have different personalities! And backgrounds! And priorities! A few jobs ago my department was about 1/3 Black and we worked closely with Obama administration staff many of whom were Black and there was SO MUCH VARIETY in how Black people talked to each other, about work and workplace-appropriate personal stuff, where I and other white coworkers could hear. There are a few work friends in particular who I have in my head when I'm trying to imagine how Sam and Nile might talk to each other. From the outside looking in, God DAMN is shit complicated, intellectually and interpersonally and spiritually, for Black people who are devoting their professional lives to public service in the United States.

One more aspect of this that I have big thoughts on but I need to take extra care in talking about is the idea of acknowledging Nile's Blackness in her patterns of speech. There's no one right way to be Black, and Nile's a fictional character created by a white dude but there are plenty of real-life Black Americans who don't use much or even any AAVE, for reasons that are complicated because of white supremacy. (Highly highly recommend this video by Shanspeare on the harms of the Oreo stereotype.)

Something that's not the same but has enough similarity that I think it's worth talking about is my personal experience with authenticity and American Jewish speech patterns. My Jewish family members don't talk like they're in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I've known lots of people who do talk that way (or the millennial version of it), some of whom have questioned my Jewishness because I don't talk that way. That hurts me. Sometimes when another Jew tells me some shit like "I've never heard a Jew say y'all'd've," I can respond with "well now you have asshole, bless your Yankee-ass heart," because the myth of Dixie is a racist lie but I will totally call white Northerners Yankees when they're being shitty to me for being Southern, and this particular Jew fucking revels in using "bless your heart" with maximum polite aggression, especially with said Yankees. But sometimes I don't have it in me to say anything and it just quietly hurts having an important part of me disbelieved by someone who shares that important part of me. The sting isn't quite the same when non-Jews disbelieve or discount my Jewishness, but that hurts too.

Who counts as authentically Jewish is a messy in-group conversation and it doesn't really make sense to explain it all here. Who counts as authentically Jewish is a matter of legal status for immigration, citizenship, and civil rights in Israel, and it's my number 2 reason after horrific treatment of Palestinians that I'm antizionist. But outside that extremely high-stakes legal situation, it can just feel really shitty to not be recognized as One Of Us, especially by your own people.

It can also feel really shitty to be The Only One of Your Kind in a group, even if that group is an immortal chosen family who all loves each other dearly. Sometimes especially in a situation like that where you know those people love you but there are certain things they don't get about you and will never quite be able to. I'm definitely projecting at least a little bit of my "lonely Jew who will be alone again for yet another Jewish holiday" stuff onto Nile when at the end of I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore she's thinking about being the only Black immortal and moving away from the community she'd built with a mostly-Black group of mortals in that fic. Maybe that tracks, or maybe that's fucked up of me.

Basically, this got very long but it's complicated, writing about experiences that aren't your own takes skill which in turn takes time and practice to build, writing about experiences not your own that our society maligns can cause a lot of harm if done badly, it can also cause a lot of harm when a large enough portion of a fandom just decides to nope out of something that's difficult and risky because then there's just not much content about a character who deserves just a shit ton of loving and nuanced content, people are individuals and two people who come from the exact same cultural context might show that influence in all kinds of different ways, identity is complicated, language is complicated, writing is hard, and empathy and humility and doing our best aren't a guarantee of avoiding harm but they do go a long way in helping people create thoughtful content about a character as awesome and powerful and kind and messy and scared and curious and WORTHY as Nile Freeman.

[supercorpkid]

This is why you should never trust an Imp – Part 3.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 2255.

“So, Kara knows.” Brainy says after you finish telling him your story.

“She hasn’t received any verbal confirmation, but yes.” You close your eyes thinking about how you might have ruined everything. “Should I expect to be stuck here forever?”

“According to my calculations…” Brainy says and you snap your eyes open to look at him. “There’s a high probability of my calculations being inaccurate.”

“What are you saying?”

“Look. The fifth dimension is unrelated to the sheer fabric of the regular dimensional space-time.” Brainy is about to open his mouth again and you interrupt him.

“So, you can’t do any correct calculation because Mxytopelek powers don’t respect the rules from our dimension.” You add and he looks at you perplexed, like he didn’t expect you at all to have understood that. “Luthor’s brain.” You explain yourself and he agrees with his head. “So, what do I do now?”

“I…” He looks at you and clasps his hands together. “Don’t know.”

“Great.” You give him a forced smile. “If we have no idea of what will happen next, can I please, please tell my moms the truth?”

“There’s no way to know the outcome of this, but you are aware of that.” He says and you agree. “I would say, do what’s best for you.”

He doesn’t have to tell you twice. You’re already flying back to the penthouse catching both of them off guard.

“Ok. Listen, I might be tearing the fabric of spacetime, but, well. Here goes nothing.” Kara turns back at you with a smile on her face. Lena has her eyebrows furrowed. “How do I explain it?” You take a deep breath. “Lena figured out how to combine both of your DNA’s so you two could have a daughter. Then I was born, like fifteen years ago. Or seventeen, I’m not sure.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Lena is completely in disbelief, but Kara doesn’t seem at all shocked. You were right, she knew it.

“Let her finish, love.” Kara asks and you agree.

“Kara, she’s saying she is our daughter, I think I’d remember if I had a daughter.”

“Right, well, remember that hypothetical question about time travel?” Lena shakes her head agreeing and Kara looks back at her, confused. “Yeah, well, it’s not really hypothetical. Cause, you see, I met this imp from the fifth dimension…”

“Mxyztplk!” Kara yells and you agree with your head.

“He said he would show me my future, and I got curious about what I was going to choose. You know, powers or science or robotics (I’m really good at that), and I wanted to see if you guys would be happy with my decision, but I guess he tricked me…”

“He does that a lot.” Kara adds, trying to make your story more believable to Lena.

“I should’ve known better. I am really stupid.” You look down ashamed and Kara goes to you and holds your chin.

“You are not. He’s an evil prankster, and you could never have guessed what would happen.” She makes you look at her and you smile at her.

“Yeah, well. There are a few possibilities of why no one remembers me. Y’know, different reality, memory wiping, maybe this is all a dream. Brainy have considered the options, but since the fifth dimension doesn’t oblige by the same rules from our dimension, there’s no way of knowing for sure, so if he doesn’t come, I might get stuck here forever, and if this is true then I needed you to know who I really am.”

“You’re our daughter.” Kara says with the biggest smile on her face and you smile at the realization that she’s happy about your existence.

“Ok, wait.” Lena stands up and walks to where you are both standing. She seems to analyze you for a second. “Why do you look so much like Kara?”

“Kryptonian DNA is actually dominant, and since the two chromosomes involved didn’t share similar sequences, if you had decided to combine them, it would probably have damaged the cells, producing genetic abnormalities. Since you couldn’t combine them, you chose to use Kara’s DNA so I could have powers.” You say and Lena’s eyes grow bigger. Kara is smiling next to her. “You know, the usual.”

“At least she has your brain.” Kara says looking very excited.

“Yeah, she used her DNA for that part. Anyway, I would love to tell you guys more, but if I’m being honest, I’m still hungry. You think maybe I can eat some more, momma?” You look at Kara and she smiles from ear to ear.

“You hear that, Lena? I’m a momma.” Kara says making her way to the kitchen and grabbing a few things she can cook. “So, you eat like a Kryptonian.”

“Like half a Kryptonian, which is already way more than any normal person.” You are almost going to the counter when you go back to Lena, who’s still pretty shocked at your existence. “Mom, are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fi… Wait, why am I mom and she is momma?” Lena still looks very confused, but she’s leaning into this.

“You guys taught me my first words, so I’m guessing you two chose that before?” You sit on the other side of the counter and Kara puts a plate of waffles in front of you. You start eating immediately. “Or, I don’t know. Kara looks this adorable all the time and I caught her vibe?”

“I look adorable!” It’s Lena’s defense and you go back to her, so you can hug her. She doesn’t hug you back, but also doesn’t pull away.

“Of course you’re adorable, mom.” You smile at her and Kara agrees with her head. “Maybe I call you mom ‘cause you’re the one who carried me for 9 months and so I had to make up something else for Kara?”

“I like that explanation better.” Lena smiles and Kara chuckles.

“And I like the other one.”

You go back to eating and they stay on the other side of the counter whispering to each other, you laugh at that.

“Hey, um, just so you guys know, I have super hearing.” You say and they both look back at you. Lena sighs and Kara laughs like it was really stupid of her.

“Well, as much as I want to get to know you, and I love the fact that I have a daughter…” Lena says turning back to you. “You have to go back to your own timeline. Or reality. Or even get out of your dream state.”

“Wait. Why?” Kara looks at her and pouts. “If she was erased from our timeline then I guess is ok, but what if she’s from another reality? What if she’s not our kid, and she leaves and… I won’t be a momma anymore.”

“She makes a good point.” You say looking at them. Lena looks at you and then back at Kara.

“Kara, you’ve been a momma for half an hour.” Lena crosses her arms. “I get why you want her to stay, and I want it too, but don’t you think that if she’s from another dimension her real momma is missing her?”

“Oh yeah, that’s a better point.” You agree with your head, and Kara looks back at you like you’re not helping.

“But, but…” She goes to you and holds your face with both hands. “Just look at her, Lena, she is so adorable, and cute, and beautiful.”

“Kara, she looks just like you when you were younger.” Lena rolls her eyes, and you smile squished between Kara’s hands.

“EXACTLY!” She yells excitedly. “Please, let’s keep her.”

“Honey, she’s not a dog.”

“Lena, she’s our daughter!”

“Ok, wait. We don’t know that. There’s like a 50% chance she is not!”

“That means there is a 50% chance she is! I like those odds!”

“Kara!”

“Can I just say something?” You raise your hand and they look at you. Kara finally let go of your face and you smile at her. “Mxytopolik said he’ll come tomorrow to pick me up, so… Maybe we should wait and see if he’s keeping his word?”

“I doubt that.” Kara says and you look at her.

“This will give us more time before mom invents a time machine or something.” You raise your eyebrows a couple of times and she smiles, looking back at Lena.

“I say we wait!” She holds you sideways. “Let’s go flying together! I’ve always wanted a kid to fly with me.”

“I’m a teen, but ok.”

You had a fun day flying around National City with Kara, and eating all the pastries you could. You showed her the house you all live in, and even stopped a robbery with her. At lunch, Kara dropped you off at L Corp, so you could spend some time with Lena, while she went to work at CatCo. Lena didn’t have much time for you, but you two still talked about science and your inventions in her free time. It was great, which only made you miss your timeline/reality more.

It’s been fun hanging with your moms, even if they have no idea of who you are. You never thought that telling them the silliest things of your routine will make them so excited. Kara almost peed herself when you told her that you fought Mister Freeze and won, and Lena’s face lit up when you told her that you have your own lab at L Corp and that you two often work together. You didn’t know these things made them so happy.

At night you went back to the penthouse with Lena. Kara was so excited about the next day, she had it all planned out. It was very disappointing when you told her that Mxytoplolik would probably come to pick you up. But as the night went by, you realized he had absolutely double crossed you again.

“He’s not coming!” You say walking from one side to the other. “He’ll leave me here! Stranded in the future!”

“Did you guys set up a time?” Kara asks and you go back to her.

“No, we didn’t set up a time! Who sets up a time with an imp?” You cross your arms and Lena takes a deep breath.

“It’s ok, we can figure something out. You’re smart like me, we will think of something.” Lena says being the voice of reason like always.

“What?” You cross your arms. “We don’t even know if I’m still in my timeline, or in a different reality, we don’t even know if this whole thing is actually real. We literally know shit about this.”

“Language!” Kara makes a hard face at you and you soften your features.

“You definitely sound like my Kara.” You sit back in the chair in front of them. “I’m sorry, I’m just afraid. If you’re not my moms, then the real ones are probably so desperate right now.” You hold your necklace in your hand and a tear falls from your eye.

“Hey.” Kara goes to you and squeezes your knee, reassuringly. “We will figure this out. I promise you.” You shake your head agreeing and she looks at your hand squeezing something. “What’s that?”

“Oh, um, it’s the necklace grandma Alura gave it to you.” You show it to her. And Kara’s eyes pop out right away. “I didn’t take it! You gave it to me when I turned 13!”

“Except, my necklace is right here.” Kara stands up, getting the necklace out of her shirt and you furrow your brows.

“There aren’t two necklaces in your timeline, right?” Lena already knows the answer, but she wants you to get there too.

“I’m not in my timeline.” You say completing Lena’s thoughts and she shakes her head agreeing.

“See! Now we know, so we just have to, um, figure out how to create a portal to your dimension.” Lena says trying to look confident and you agree with your head.

“You can call the Flash! He can help with that, he is always-”

“Who’s the Flash?” Kara asks and your face drops.

“Well, if the necklace wasn’t proof enough.” You’re sad again. You can’t stay where you are. Your moms are probably worried sick knowing that you’re gone. How are you even going to explain yourself to them?

Actually, that’s not what you’re worried about. You’re worried about never seeing them again. Kara and Lena from this reality are amazing, and they sound just like your moms, but now that you know you’re not with your real moms, it’s not enough. You need your Kara and your Lena.

“Hey, we don’t need the Flash, we can do it. Me and you, kid, we can do it.” Lena goes to you. She kneels before you, and pulls you in for a hug. “I promise you, I’ll do whatever it takes to send you back to your moms, ok?”

“Thank you.” You hold her tight, and it doesn’t take long until Kara joins the hug.

“We’ll figure this out.” Kara says with her chin on top of your head. “I’m just really sorry you’re not my daughter.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that too. You deserve a kid so adorable, and cute, and beautiful like me.” You all laugh, and Kara kisses the top of your head.

“Come on, smart-ass. Let’s figure out how to create a portal.” Lena is the first one to let go, and you stand up right after. “Let’s get you home.”

You smile to yourself. They might not be your moms, but you already love them dearly.

[spooks-and-tea]

Entangled (Spencer Reid x femReader) [Ch.11] The Final Chapter.

Summary: You don’t know how it happened. One moment you were watching Criminal Minds, and the next moment you were literally in the show. Can Spencer be the key to helping you find your way back home?

Warnings: minor character death, mentions of su*cide, bad explanations of quantum mechanics, bad words, sexual situations (some non-con), the usual criminal minds-type content

A/N: Some big bad interrogation Spencer vibes. Thanks for reading. This chapter was short, so I just decided 2 chapter posts in one day. Let me know what you thought of the story~Pleeeeease no one repost on other sites without my permission.

Word Count: 2,015

Chapter 1.  Chapter 2.  Chapter 3.  Chapter 4. Chapter 5.  Chapter 6.  Chapter 7.  Chapter 8.  Chapter 9.  Chapter 10.  Chapter 11.  

************************************************************************After Spencer had disappeared, JJ was surprised, to say the least.

She held the unsub by the cuffs as he angrily spoke about Spencer's big genius brain solving an equation in 2 minutes which had taken himself a lifetime of work to figure out. She asked him where the machine had taken Spencer and he replied with all of this talk about quantum mechanics, particle waves, split dimensions, and voids. Stuff that Spencer had been info-dumping about for months, regarding the case.

All JJ cared to know about was if Spencer was safe, and to that the unsub just shrugged.

The first thing the team did when you all returned to the BAU was throw the unsub into an interrogation room.

Spencer was quick to volunteer as the only interrogator in the room, he argued this unsub would react the strongest to him.

The rest of the team were still flustered from all of this inter-dimensional information that Spencer had gone on about on the ride back. You had backed him up wholeheartedly and you were seemingly in great health after being gone for 5 months.

"Alright Reid, you seem to be the only one of us that has a good idea of what's going on. We'll watch from here, and if he gets too aggressive, we'll send someone else in," Hotch agreed.

You watched from the double sided mirror, the unsub was looking at it as if he could see you. You clenched your fists. He was the reason you'd nearly lost Spencer. He was the reason that Spencer looked sick from overworking and you had nightmares for 5 months straight.

"Hey, will you be okay in here?" Spencer lowered his voice to ask you. You had refused to stop holding his hand since you got here. He noticed your fist clenching tighter.

"I don't want him to take you away from me again," you replied.

"He's in handcuffs, and his machine is being collected for evidence. He isn't a wizard, he needs that machine like Nikola Tesla needs an inductor. He can't hurt us anymore," Spencer tried to comfort you, using the soft tone he knew you loved.

"Just don't take too long in there, and give him hell for me, alright?" You stood on your toes and kissed him.

He gave you a small smile and nodded.

You slowly slid your hand from his as he turned to walk out.

When he entered the interrogation room, he was no longer soft-Spencer.

The unsub didn't even turn to look at him, he was fixated on the double mirror. His eyes unnerved you.

You crossed your hands over your chest and leaned against the wall, deciding to keep your eyes steadily on Spencer.

"We know who you are." Spencer spoke. You smiled, recognizing that Spencer was turning the unsub's words to you against him.

Was Spencer purposefully trying to make you happy while he was in the middle of an interrogation?

"I know who you are as well, Dr. Reid," his gritty voice made your skin crawl.

"Good, then you should know that I understand the significance of the science experiments you've been conducting, Dr. Arnold Lynch. You've been labeled as a dangerous person to the entire world; a mad scientist." Spencer sat in a chair, his arms crossed.

"Now they listen." Lynch, rolled his eyes, finally looking at Spencer. His unimpressed gaze trailed up and down, sizing him up.

"I was like you once. Young, an impressive mind; maybe if I had found her sooner she would have loved me." Lynch added. He looked back to the mirror, you tasted bile at the back of your throat.

Spencer leaned forward in his chair, putting his elbows on the table.

"You're trying to change the subject." Spencer pointed out. "Tell me how all of this started. Tell me where your partner, Dr. Deborah Tryst, is hiding and how she helped you."

Lynch's eyes widened. "We were colleagues. She helped me build the machine, and I wrote the equations that made it work. We went in together, the first time."

"She tested the machine with you?" Spencer asked.

"Yes, we experimented. We tried to study the void space for years. Then, one day, a crack formed. Through that crack I saw her." The unsub looked towards you, seemingly locking eyes with you through the one-way glass.

"Y/N?" Spencer clarified.

"Correct. She was spectacular, the girl from a parallel dimension. We didn't know why the crack revealed her at first, but then we saw the string. It was barely noticeable, like a fishing line. It led from her dimensional crack to ours. All it took was a tug on that wire to know who the other end of that line connected to."

He was watching me? What a sick creep!

"Who?"

"Don't play stupid with me Doctor, I know you feel it."

Spencer swallowed, his eyes flicking to you for a moment.

"I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance. My colleague thought differently. Now that the cracks were open, she observed you both, she knew you both would feel-" he sighed, "-incomplete until you were in the same space. She decided to play matchmaker and ruin everything. I loved Y/N first. Y/N was mine and she was a beacon, a magnificent anomaly! I took her back so she could be my pet; so she would never be yours!" He angrily spat, slamming his fists onto the table. Spencer stood, seething. You felt similarly.

"You had no right!" Spencer's voice was deep and angry. You'd never heard him so angry, other than in the show.

"No, Tryst had no right bringing her to you in the first place!"

"Y/N wants to be here. This is her decision. If you're so convinced you love her, you would want what is best for her."

"What's best for her Dr. Reid, or what's best for you? Is she any better off fighting criminals for the BAU? A job she isn't trained for." He cruelly laughed. "Is putting her in danger just so you can fuck her every once in a while off-duty not selfish? You think I'm the selfish one, look at yourself. You're just expecting her to be the lawful Bonnie to your Clyde, how long until you drive her into a hail of bullets?" Lynch smirked.

Spencer's eyes widened and he gripped the table.

No Spence, don't let him get to you.

"That's it, I'm going in there." Morgan spoke up next to you.

Hotch held his hand up to block him; his eyes on Spencer. "Wait, let Spencer speak. He's getting the unsub to talk, and that's good."

Spencer quickly collected himself, his expression going blank.

"Where is Dr. Deborah Tryst?" Spencer asked.

"Ooh, did I strike a chord, Doctor?" Lynch chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

"Where is Dr. Deborah Tryst?" Spencer repeated, angrier.

"Probably playing matchmaker. There are an infinite amount of dimensions for her to play with." Lynch shrugged.

"She's still in the void?"

"Yup, she's the reason the crack sealed when you two went through. She trapped herself in there and made sure I could never go back. Whatever she's doing, we'll never know for sure because it is impossible to recreate the initial crack. You should know just how improbable it was to create one in the first place, Dr. Reid."

"So there is no further possibility of danger?"

"Not cosmically, but, for our impossible girl over there, who knows what kind of dangerous situations you will put her in." Lynch nodded to the double mirror.

"She is not yours and she will never be yours. We're putting you in a maximum security prison where you will never see her again. So you can sit in your cell for the rest of your life and remember that she's with me, not you." Spencer's eyes darkened. You wanted to end this fight and get him out of there. He was only getting angrier.

Hotch walked through the interrogation room door, holding it open. "Reid," was all he said.

That was it, Spencer had gotten a lengthy confession from the unsub. The details would come up during his trial.

Spencer stood up, not caring about the wobbling chair as he did so. He walked out of the room and you went to the hallway to meet him. You met him as he was stomping down the hall away from you. "Spencer!" You called, hurrying to follow him.

He made his way inside an empty meeting space and you quickly slipped in behind him; closing the door.

He loosened his tie and ran his hands through his hair. You let him cool off for a few moments.

"He's right. I am selfish." He sounded beyond angry, even guilty.

He leaned forward on the meeting table, clenching his fists against the wood.

"He was just trying to get the last word in. Don't pay his words any more attention." You spoke, softly; placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You shouldn't work here. You're not properly trained for the high-intensity, high-risk situations."

"Then I can train. Anyways, I doubt Hotch is going to let me work here now that he knows," you said, sadly. You loved working here. You loved helping people and being with your BAU family. You loved Spencer's daily teasing.

"Being with me puts you in enough danger. I couldn't protect you. What's stopping something from happening to you again?" He looked up at you, though he was still hunched over the table.

"All the other times you protected me." You gave him a small smile. "When Chris threatened me, you confronted him. When I jumped into the lake, you stopped me from drowning. When I was stuck in my dimension, you rescued me from a life of being absolutely miserable without you. When the unsub first encountered us, you stood in front of me even though you couldn't see him. You've protected me far more times than you are choosing to acknowledge. I trust you with my life, Spence."

Spencer's shoulders fell as his breath evened out.

"I love you Y/N, I just don't want you to get hurt." Spencer whispered, his grip on the table loosening. He slowly stood up straight to look at you.

"We aren't some alternate justice-duo, Bonnie and Clyde. We're perfectly capable of protecting each other, and we aren't some crazy serial-killing, bank-robbing couple. We're Spencer and Y/N, the BAU's hottest couple." You spoke with exaggeration and winked.

Spencer gave you a small smile. His hair was a mess, his clothing was wrinkled, and his tie was undone.

"It's been a long day. Take me home?" You asked, giving him your best doe-eyes as you reached up to fix his tie.

"Oh. About that- you're apartment and all your money and assets are sorta gone now. You were presumed dead."

"I'm not talking about that place." You rolled your eyes; unaffected by the news.

You were used to being dirt poor anyways and that house was nothing but an empty shell.

"Home, with you," you explained.

"Oh."

Spencer broke out into a large grin. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into a kiss. His coffee and woodsy-vanilla scent enveloped you like a warm hug. When he pulled away, he held his hand out to you.

"Come on then, I'll take you home."

Home, it was a strange concept. Your now-empty apartment in your dimension was once your home. You'd once almost drowned yourself to try to get back to that place.

Then you fell in love with Spencer, and living with him made you discover what a home truly was. It wasn't where you were from, it was the place you loved to be; the place you felt most comfortable, the most yourself.

Your home was in Spencer's dimension, Spencer's apartment, Spencer's arms, Spencer's everyday gestures, Spencer's smile, Spencer's late night chess games, Spencer's "I love you's," Spencer's raspy morning voice, Spencer's unruly hair, Spencer's hand kisses, Spencer's scrunched nose ticks, Spencer's info-dumps, Spencer's everything.

It was the most improbable circumstance and the one thing you were most thankful for. You got to spend your new life with Spencer.

In the end, Spencer Reid kept his promise; he did help you find your way home. Your way home to him.

[spacesuitsforemergency]

Libraries

Word Count: 2.6k

Pairing: Strange! Fem! Reader x Danny Rand

A/N: based on the headcanons I posted awhile ago. also it has a shifty ending but you know how it be

Warnings: gets a little heated but nothing over pg-13, I swear. On god. Also Doctor Strange tries to give them “The Talk”

“Careful with that!” Danny yelped as you nearly hit him with the books. You had been working on perfecting a new list of spells Mordo had given you, and you were having a particular hard time with this telekinesis spell.

“Sorry.” You giggled as he walked farther back behind you. Some other sorcerers were working in the library, and would glance at the two of you every time you made any noise. So it was pretty often since both of you would laugh every time you messed up a spell.

“Y/N, focus.” Danny reminded over your shoulder.

“You know, telling me to focus just distracts me from focusing.” You mumbled as you tried to regain control over the heavy books you were levitating.

“Steady your hands.” He added.

“Danny!” You turned to snap at him for distracting you, instead making you completely loose focus.

You loose control of the books, and they fly across the room. You wince as the heavy books knock a whole shelf over, and it starts a domino effect. Danny watched with his jaw dropped as the shelves all tumble over, books scattering across the floor as they fell out. It stops with one last crash against the far wall.

Every single sorcerer and sorceress turned to glare at you, annoyance evident. You feel their stares but don’t look them in the eye, since they can all be really scary and intimidating when they needed to be.

“Sorry.” You smile nervously. That only seemed to make them glare harder, if that was even possible, at you.

“I think we should leave.” Danny whispered to you.

“I think so too.” You nod, and followed him out of the room. You two rushed outside, nearly knocking Wong clean over. Seriously, what was wrong with you today?

“What are you two up to now?” Wong asked, smoothing his robes out.

“Sorry, Wong.” You grin, grabbing Danny’s hand and sprinting away.

“You are in so much trouble!” Danny laughed as you both ran, scared to be caught by Wong once he figured out you had ruined half of his library.

“Don’t remind me!” You say as you two reach a temple, where your father was talking to Wiccan, a magic user your age who would visit once in awhile.

“Ms. Strange, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Wiccan greeted you. “Hello, Iron Fist.”

“Hey Wiccan.” You greet quickly.

“Y/N, what did you do?” Your father raised a suspicious eyebrow at you.

“What? Nothing.” You say, though it was obvious you had done something from your tone of voice.

“STRANGE!” You hear Wong scream from the library, which was only a few buildings down.

“Gotta go!” You shout, taking off down the street.

“Wait for me!” Danny scrambled after you.

You looked behind you and saw Wong racing after you, which was funny enough on its own, but you also saw your father shaking his head in disappointment, which was even funnier.

You and Danny ducked behind a building once you momentarily lost sight of Wong. You both stifled your laughs as he ran by, and he turned to say something.

He stopped when he realized how close he was to you, your bodies pressed against each other in the small alleyway. You stared into his emerald green eyes, admiring the sparkle of mischief that was so rare to see in the honorable warrior.

You both realize you’ve been staring at each other and look away, clearing your throat awkwardly. You poke your head out of the alleyway, not seeing Wong anywhere.

“Uh, coast is clear.” You tell Danny.

“Can’t you just use a sling ring and take us somewhere...where Wong isn’t after our heads?” He asks.

“Oh shit you’re right.” You dug into your pocket, sliding the ring onto your finger. You point and think of his room in K’un Lun. The portal opens, just as you hear a yell behind you.

“Run!” Danny yells, jumping through the portal as Wong charges at the both of you.

“Sorry Wong!” You shout again before following, and closing the portal just before Wong can get to you.

You pant, out of breath. You make eye contact with Danny, and you both burst into laughter. You fall onto his bed as he sits down like a normal person.

“You are in so much trouble when you get back.” He chuckles as you continue to die laughing.

“It’s not like I meant to knock over half of the library.” You giggle as you sit up. “Did you see my dads face? And Wong running? It was totally worth it.”

“Okay...I guess it was pretty hysterical.” He nods after awhile. “Still, he’s going to kill you.”

“Eh. He’ll probably just make me clean it up. I could just steal the Time Stone and fix it.” You shrug.

“Doesn’t your dad never let it out of his sight?”

“Please, he takes it off when he sleeps.” You scoff. “Besides, even then it’s not that hard of work.”

“If you say so.” He smiles.

You both catch yourself in a silence again, staring into each other’s eyes.

You’ve been best friends forever, ever since you and your father first visited K’un Lun back when some inter dimensional demon was threatening your existence again. He had been kind, polite, charming, and practically making you swoon over his stunning smile. The first time you hung out was at the K’un Lun library, and he taught you some meditation techniques to strengthen your focus while you were casting spells. Eventually one of you was hardly seen without the other. Whether it was studying, eating, drinking tea, working, or training, you would always do it together.

He’s been your best friend for almost 3 years now, was it a crime to develop feelings for him? You didn’t think so. And how could you not, he was an amazing person, and it didn’t help that he was really hot. Especially now, as you both couldn’t take your eyes off the other.

“Um...Y/N?” He says, just above a whisper. “May I, uh...may I kiss you?”

Your eyes widened, stunned that he asked you that. Sure, you’ve been flirting back and forth for the past couple weeks, but you didn’t think it was because he actually liked you.

“Sorry, sorry. Forget I said anything.” He looked away. “Sorry, I didn’t-“

You grab his face and crash your lips onto his. He’s stiff at first, but quickly melts into the kiss. You tangle your fingers in his sandy blonde hair as his arms wrap around your waist, your chests pressed against the others. You’re holding onto each other as if the other would disappear if you let go. Your kisses become more heated and passionate with each one, pent up feelings for each other over the years pouring out.

When you do finally pull apart to catch your breaths, you’re still holding each other and press your foreheads together. You breathe in the familiar scent of incense and green tea, trying to savor and soak in the moment.

“You know I’ve liked you ever since we met?” He whispers after a few seconds.

“You know I have too?” You smile as you pull away slightly, just enough to fully see his face, most likely chiseled by the gods themselves.

“I apologize if it is too soon to say this but...I love you, Y/N Strange.” He smiles sheepishly, a light blush spreading across his face.

“And I love you too, Daniel Rand.” You beam, overjoyed that he did indeed feel the same way you did. You just felt stupid that it took you two dorks 3 years to finally realize it.

He leans in and kisses you again, holding you close as he lays you down so he’s on top of you. You grab his hands and intertwine your fingers as you feel his tongue swipe across your bottom lip, and you part your lips to deepen the kiss.

“Ha! I knew you-! Oh.” Someone shouts as the door slams open.

You recognize the voice and shove Danny off of you, both of you whipping around to see a very stunned Wong in the doorway.

“Hey there, Wong.” You scratch the back of your neck as Danny quickly climbs off of you and catapults himself to the other side of the room. Both of your faces and necks turn bright crimson red the longer Wong stares.

“Well, um...I guess I owe Mordo and Scarlet Witch $25.” He finally states. 


“What?” You raise an eyebrow.

“We have a bet going.” He shrugs, before crossing his arms and his usual poker face returns. “So sorry to interrupt your little make out session, but I have 30 bookshelves knocked over and the books are all over the place.”

“Wong, I swear it was an accident.” You spit out. “I promise I’ll help clean it up.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t ask you to help with something that time consuming.” He says, dripping with sarcasm. “You’re cleaning it up by yourself.”

“Yes sir.” You sigh.

“Now, I expect it to be properly organized by tomorrow afternoon. Let’s go.” He motions for you to follow him.

You groan as you get up, dreading the hours of arranging the shelves you’d have to do. You slip the sling ring into Danny’s hand as you pass and whisper, “My room tonight.”

•

“Wong, have you seen Y/N anywhere?” Doctor Strange walked into the now neat and tidy Kamar Taj library that you had spent hours working on about a week ago. He had been looking for you, wanting to help you practice perfecting the telekinesis spell, which obviously didn’t go well the first time.

“I believe her and Daniel are tending to the Garden of P’an-T’ao.” Wong waved off the question, deeply concentrated on trying to win a Twitter roast against this talking raccoon. And this talking raccoon was quite brutal, to Wong’s surprise.

“Is it just me or have they been hanging out way more often lately?” He asks his friend.

“They always hang out.” Wong mumbled.

“Well yes, but they’re basically joint at the hip now.” Doctor Strange paced. “There’s something going on between them, I can feel it.”

Wong stayed silent, trying to think of ways to divert the doctors attention elsewhere. He had another bet going with Mordo and Scarlet Witch, Wiccan and Magik had joined in on this one, so he wanted the grand prize of $80. Now they were betting on how long it would take the Sorcerer Supreme, one of the smartest men on earth, to figure out that his daughter was now dating the Iron Fist, and Wong had bet the longest amount of time.

“They’re just gardening.” He shrugs once more.

“I suppose. But every day?”

“They’re probably just enjoying the last few weeks of summer left.” Wong quickly adds. Thank god you had complained about having to do homework again soon, or he wouldn’t have thought of that.

“...you’re probably right.” Strange nods finally.

“Oh, curse you, rodent!” Wong throws his phone down after reading the latest, and particularly nasty Tweet the raccoon had just posted.

“What on earth are you doing?” Strange picked up the phone and his eyes widen. “Oh wow. That’s clever.”

“Load of help you are.” Wong scoffed, still offended by the insults.

“Ha! This ones even funnier!”

•

You were definitely not gardening. First, because gardening was one of the worst things ever. Second, because you would much rather be spending time with your boyfriend. You cringed at yourself when you felt giddy just saying that, but you were in fact now dating Danny Rand.

You weren’t necessarily hiding it, but it was quite amusing that your father hadn’t yet cracked the case. He was a smart guy, but was apparently clueless about your personal life. Human interactions weren’t always his strong suit, to be fair.

You and Danny were just peacefully reading in your room, since you still needed to do more research for Mordo’s “tutoring” (which was really just him watching you make mistakes over and over until you learned how to fix them yourself), and Danny was always reading. You two were just nerds that way. So when your father burst into the room, neither of you were thoroughly impressed. I mean, it’s only taken 2 weeks for him to figure it out.

“You two are dating?!” He screeches at the both of you.

“Really?” You say sarcastically as you turn to your boyfriend. “Danny, why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve put my book down.”

“Now is not the time for your clever little jokes, young lady.” Your father snaps, offended when Danny snickers. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Gee, maybe it was because you’d react irrationally. My mistake, I should’ve known you’d be totally cool with it.” You say dryly.

“Plus, we weren’t exactly hiding it.” Danny added.

“Shut it, blondie.”

“Dad, don’t be rude.” You cross your arms.

“Well, now that I know you’re dating, I think we need to have a little discussion.” He clears his throat awkwardly.

“Oh God...” You groan, already knowing what’s coming.

“You’re too young to have sex, but if you’re going to do it-“

“Do it safely, responsibly and consensually.” You and Danny recite, already hearing this a million times from Wong and Mordo when they found out you were dating.

“...right.” Your dad narrowed his eyes at you. “So don’t forget to-“

“Use protection.” You both say,

“...um, yes. And make sure-“

“We both consent with an enthusiastic yes.”

Your dad stares at the both of you, apparently you had already heard this speech. He was your dad, he hadn’t given it to you before. He would have to have a little chat with the other sorcerers. But he sensed that you two weren’t taking him seriously, despite how maturely you were taking it.

“I’m just saying, you know how many girls your age I’ve seen giving birth at the hospital?”

“Dad, you were a surgeon, not an obstetrician.” You blink at him. “Besides, I don’t want children, I’ve mentioned this. That’s more than enough reason for me to uh...not do it.”

“Well then. This was a lovely chat. Carry on with your...reading.” He slowly exits your room, leaving the door open. Not that it really mattered, he stepped through a portal to the Kamar Taj library, leaving you two alone in the Sanctum.

Doctor Strange turned to Wong, hand on his hip and an eyebrow raised. Wong stared at him, freezing mid-bite of his food.

“So when were you going to alert me that my daughter was dating Daniel?” He taps his foot in annoyance.

“What? You weren’t supposed to find out till November!” Wong threw down his food. “Curse Wanda.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Anyways.” Strange shook his head as he joined his friend at the table. “I gave them a little chat. I think I really got through to them. We’re on a new found level of respect.”

•

“Now is not the time for your clever little jokes young lady.” Danny mocks your dad, and you double over in laughter.

“Can you believe him?” You wheeze. “Oh man, that made my year.”

“So are we ever going to tell him that we’re waiting till marriage?” He asks as he follows you through the Sanctum, on your guys’ way to the library.

“Nah.” You giggle as you intertwine your fingers. “I’ll let him stress.”

“You’re an evil daughter.” He chuckled.

“Hey, that’s what he gets for sitting and watching me put every single book away when I knocked them over.” You shrug, placing a kiss on his jaw.

“You’re the one who knocked them over with your clumsy ass.” He laughs as you open the door to the library.

“I am not clumsy!” You shout, slamming the door open. Turns out you slammed the door so hard, and your father rearranged the shelf placement, because the door knocked over a case of books. Then another, and another, and another...

“No you’re right, you’re graceful and elegant.”

“Run?” You wince as the last shelf makes a loud BOOM as it collides with the marble flooring.

“Run.” He simply nods.

[redstarwriting]

That Damn Book

Stephen Strange x Reader

Request: “Can we have a strangexreader piece where the reader is constantly trying to make sure that Stephen doesn't overwork himself, slleps and eats at decent times? Maybe one day he locks her out of the study and she opens a portal to snatch away his books?”

Word Count: 1,078

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: swearing, Doctor Stephen Strange being a stubborn ass

A/N: I fucking LOVE writing for Stephen Strange. I literally love Dr. Strange so much I went as him for Halloween last year LMAO. This was really fun to write. I kinda relate to Stephen though, not gonna lie. I mean considering I wrote this at 3:33 in the morning after eating dinner at like 11pm. Yeah, he and I are ~the same.~ Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one!! Thank you for the request!

───────────────────────────────────

Living in the Sanctum Sanctorum had a lot of perks. You were always surrounded by magic, you could read as many books as you want, you were able to take care of your stubborn ass overworking ass dumbass smart ass boyfriend, and it was right down the street from your favorite café! A café you went to often, considering you needed to feed Stephen somehow. Even though you loved this man, he could be so ridiculously and infuriatingly stubborn and downright stupid sometimes. He seems to forget that he can’t do everything at once all the time, causing him to overwork himself. In doing this overworking, sometimes he doesn’t eat and sleep. Like at all. You genuinely don’t know how he survived before you came along.

“Stephen, it’s time for you to eat,” you say, knocking on the door to his study. You hear nothing in response and sigh, opening the door and letting yourself in. Stephen is surrounded by books, intently reading probably the thickest one of all of them. “Hello? Earth to Stephen,” you say, waving your hand in front of his face. He glances up from his book at you and says two words before going back to it. “I’m reading.”

“I see this. But you should be eating. Lucky for you I got your favorite, so,” you form a portal and grab the dinner you got him from where it was currently sitting, bringing it into his office. You push a few books out of the way to make room for it before sitting it down and giving him a grin. A grin he doesn’t see. cause he’s too damn invested in that book. This causes you to frown immediately, and you suddenly form a portal under his book, causing it to fall. He gives you an annoyed look and you just smirk as a portal opens above you, the book landing in your arms. “You get this back after you nourish yourself. You know, for a doctor you’re really bad at self-care. You’d think you out of anyone would advocate to have a healthy body,” you start rambling, turning to go to the door and take the book with you. “(Y/N), I really need that book. This is important, and it could be detrimental to the universe if you don’t give it back to me so I can finish the whole thing right now.”

“You used that excuse last week, Stephen.”

“Yeah, and then seven demons nearly entered our realm and I had to stop it and he only way I knew how to do it was because I read the necessary book so, please. Give it back.”

“After you eat. The theory of,” you glance at the book he’s reading, nonchalantly saying the next part, “Different dimensional deities can wait for now.” You hear him sigh, and you shoot him a wink, turning away from him again. Before you can actually leave his room, though, a portal opens underneath of you. You shriek before falling right into your boyfriend’s arms. “That was horrifying!”  He chuckles, grabbing the book from your hands. You reach to snatch it back, only to have Cloak wrap around your shoulders and literally fly you out of the room. You’re taken far enough away from the door that you can’t run back in before Cloak does, shutting the door behind him. You go to the door, turning the doorknob only to realize, you were locked out. You groan out of frustration, “Oh, come on Stephen!” You hear a chuckle before his muffled voice rings out, “Thank you for the dinner, (Y/N). I promise I’ll eat it, just let me finish this.” You sigh. “Fine. But you better have your ass in bed later or I swear Stephen I will burn that book.” He just laughs and you roll your eyes.

The next few hours are made up of you doing things around the Sanctum. You clean up some messes, make sure to talk to all of the magical objects that appreciate being spoken to, practicing your own magical skills. Before you knew it, you were tired. And it was around eleven o’clock at night, so you decided to go to bed. You went in yours and Stephen’s room, preparing to go to sleep when you realized Stephen was not here with you. You silently curse but give him the benefit of the doubt. Surely, he’d be here before two in the morning.

Wrong.

You were frustrated to say the least. Honestly all you wanted right now was for him to be next to you in bed, holding you as you fell asleep. But nope. That book was too important apparently. You sigh, before getting an idea. You smirk to yourself as you silently begin opening a portal to your boyfriend’s study. Sure enough, there he is. What looks to be about twenty-five pages left in that damn book. You silently enter the portal, slowly creeping up behind him. Usually he would turn around right away and ask you what you were doing and why you were doing it, but because he. was so engrossed in this book, he genuinely had no idea that you were there. Before he could even process what happened, you snatched the book away from him, running back through the portal. He turned around as soon as he processed it, only to see you sitting in bed, waving the book in front of you before you closed the portal. You smile to yourself when you hear footsteps coming from down the hall. The door to your room opens and a very tired and annoyed looking Stephen is standing there. “I told you I needed that.”

“Stephen. You have the twenty something pages left. You and I both know you can read that tomorrow in like thirty minutes. Please come to bed, I’m tired,” you say, stretching your arms out and doing grabby hands toward him. “And I want cuddles,” you complain, putting on the puppy dog eyes. He sighs. Normally people giving him that look didn’t faze him, but you weren’t just people. You were you. So, he gave in. The next morning, he finished the book in record time. And it’s a good thing that he did. Some deities from a different dimension showed up on Earth like three hours after he finished it. He beat them, of course, but he didn’t let you hear the end of it for a while.

[jetsetlife138]

Imaginary - Chapter 6

Rating: Mature for this chapter, but Explicit in future chapters

Pairing: Alastor x Fem!Reader

Summary: A mysterious device throws you into the animated world of Hazbin Hotel. Once an average human living in a three-dimensional world, you’re now transformed into a two-dimensional human that has been cast into Hell. Pentagram City’s residents are curious and most harbor ill-will towards you. Charlie and the staff of the Happy Hotel take you in and offer you protection while they try and figure out how to return you to your world. That is… until you come across a certain Radio Demon with different intentions. Warnings: Manipulation, Language, Awkward Situations

Previous Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Tags: @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice @edgy-drama-queen @chasingfireflies1999 @galaxy-meteor @cecidit-31 @shadowclawstudio88 @utterly-disappointing @opheliuva @trinswhimsys @skylarhedges @whogavebrynjolfpermissiontobehot @sailor-earth-1

After your tiff with Alastor, you stomped off to seek the solitude of your own room. Dealing with him was infuriating and confusing. He had a way about him where even though you couldn’t stand him, you sometimes found yourself craving his company.

Maybe you were a masochist. That would make the most sense for why you were so fucked up and had weird, conflicting feelings about the arrogant demon.

The next day when you returned to the library, you were not at all surprised to see Alastor there waiting for you. Before you could even negatively comment on his presence, he held his hands up in surrender. “My dear, I owe you the sincerest of apologies. My behavior has been abysmal, and I am quite ashamed.”

You narrowed your eyes, suspicious of his sudden change of heart. His grin widened at your hesitance. “I’ll admit, I’ve gotten carried away during our prior interactions. Let me assure you, I only have the best of intentions. I would like us to be comrades. After all, as previously established, we can help each other. I am still dedicated to helping you return to your world.”

“Whatever, Alastor,” you brushed him off, pinching the bridge of your nose, your patience lacking. “I really don’t have the mental capacity for this right now. Just… keep your pervy hands and weird opinions to yourself. That’s all I ask.”

His lips peeled back further to make his already creepy grin look even more sinister. “Of course, my dear. As you wish.”

You weren’t stupid. You’d be a fool to think that he was being genuine, but at the same time, he was one of the most powerful beings in Hell. As you had already concluded, it couldn’t hurt to let someone like that help you, even if he had selfish intentions. It was just a matter of not falling victim to his advances.

Yet again, the two of you hit the books, making yourselves comfortable on the couch. Much to your relief, he stayed on the opposite end rather than crowd you with his overbearing presence. Instead, he kept to himself, humming softly as he skimmed through the pages of the books, seemingly content with the tedious task of research.

After intricately combing through five different books on magical travel, your eyelids started to get heavier, no longer able to concentrate. Not long after, you found yourself dozing off, your limbs going slack as you unintentionally slid down on the couch until you were met with a cushioned surface, enabling you to soundly fall asleep.

It wasn’t clear how much time had passed. It could have been merely a few minutes, or several hours. Either way, you were extremely comfortable and didn’t feel like moving.

Unfortunately, a voice nearby caused you to stir, interrupting your glorious nap. “Al, you soft son of a bitch.”

“Good evening, Husker. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Alastor’s voice sounded odd. Deeper and strangely close by, whereas Husk was clearly speaking from another part of the room. Still, even knowing that others were present, you couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes, the allure of sleep keeping you content.

“How long you been sitting here like this?” the cat demon snickered.

“Oh, it’s difficult to say,” Alastor sighed candidly. “To be frank, my friend, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation.”

Husk’s deep laughter echoed softly throughout the library. “So your aggressive approach didn’t pan out, huh? What a surprise. Always knew your bark was worse than your bite. Now you’re just a teddy bear.”

“Is there a reason for your visit? If so, I do wish that you’d just get on with it. I do not enjoy being mocked.”

“Settle down,” Husk prompted. “I’m not here to ruffle your feathers. I was coming to relieve you and help out the girl with research, but seeing as you’re so comfortable, I guess I’ll just be on my way.”

“Do not leave me here,” the Radio Demon warned, the static in his voice thickening with subtle rage. “Do something. Now.”

“You’ve slayed Overlords. You can’t manage to push a weak human off of your shoulder?”

“Husker.”

“Alright, alright,” he relented, sensing Alastor’s tone. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

A firm pressure on your shoulder followed by an abrupt shake quickly alerted you to the situation that you were in. Eyes fluttering open, you tilted your head back to see that you had been pressed up against Alastor, using his body as a pillow.

You immediately shot up, giving yourself a head-rush as you did so. “Oh… Uh, Alastor, I’m so sorry. I didn’t…”

At a loss for words, you felt your cheeks reddening with embarrassment as you glanced at Husk who had an amused expression on his face.

Quickly rising from the couch and stretching his limbs, Alastor brushed off your apology. “Think nothing of it, my dear. I am glad to be of assistance, and I hope that you are now fully rested.”

Okay, what the hell? Who was this new Alastor? He went from being perverted and possessive to kind and charming? No, something was off. There was no way that his personality could have changed so dramatically overnight, but now was not the time to interrogate him about it.

“Yeah, uh, much better. Thanks. I’m… going to go take a shower,” you muttered, trying to find any reason to leave the library immediately.

Before either Alastor or Husk had a chance to respond, you practically sprinted out the door and ran for your room where you plopped face-down on the bed and released a muffled groan. You were slightly convinced that you were dying of embarrassment and that was the real reason you were trapped in Hell.

Sighing heavily, you eventually got up and took a cold shower, washing away the essence of Alastor that might have clung to you when you laid on him. Shortly after, you dried off and walked back to your room, shocked to find Charlie and Vaggie waiting for you with concerned expressions.

“Um, hey?” you greeted nervously. “What’s up?”

Vaggie narrowed her eyes and scoffed while Charlie took a more delicate approach. “So, listen… we’re so glad to hear that you’re becoming more and more comfortable here, but…” she trailed off, not sure how to proceed and turning to her girlfriend for help.

Crossing her arms, Vaggie stated bluntly, “Don’t hook up with Alastor.”

Mouth agape, you struggled to find the words to convey your bewilderment. “Um, I’m sorry, what ? Why the hell would you say that? I have no intention of spending more time with him than necessary, let alone that .”

Rolling her eyes, Vaggie countered, “Look, it’s no secret that he’s taken a liking to you. He’s a determined little shit and he will try to charm his way into your good graces. His whole persona is based on his ability to manipulate. It’s just better to not get involved with him. If I had it my way, he wouldn’t even be allowed in the hotel, but what’s done is done.”

“Okay? What exactly does that have to do with me hooking up with him? You don’t think I have more restraint than that?” you questioned, still unsure as to why they were upset.

Charlie interjected again, easing the tension. “We’ve seen you with him and things seem to be getting very… friendly. Husk told us you slept with him…” Ugh, it was like Angel’s prior accusations all over again.

“ On him,” you clarified defensively. “We were doing more research and I passed out on his shoulder! That’s it! Listen, I don’t trust him any more than you do. You don’t need to lecture me about staying on guard. That’s all I’ve been doing since I arrived here.”

Charlie bit her lip and gave you an apologetic look while Vaggie’s expression softened a little. “We didn’t mean to ambush you,” Charlie added. “We just wanted to make sure that you were okay and that he wasn’t forcing you into anything. We’re still getting to know him ourselves.”

“No, it’s fine,” you replied, waving your hand dismissively. “I get it, and I appreciate it. I didn’t mean to come off as bitchy, I’m just… stressed, I guess.”

“Understandable,” Vaggie chimed in, no longer appearing as hostile as she did a minute ago. “We’re still looking for answers on how to get you back to your world, and I can only imagine how terrifying and crazy this has been for you, but we want to make sure that your head is in the right place. Stay away from Alastor.”

“You called, little moth?”

Turning towards the entryway, Alastor stood proudly, twirling his staff nonchalantly in his hands.

Growling, Vaggie snarled, “Do you really have to be here all the time? Don’t you have somewhere else to be? A seedy back alley, perhaps? Busying yourself with souls to torment?”

“Ha!” he exclaimed, amused by Vaggie’s unwavering disdain for him. “Darling girl, this is where my priorities lie for the time being. Fear not, I have no intention of interjecting into what I’m sure is a very fascinating conversation.”

“Then why are you here?” she snapped, flexing her fingers angrily like she was trying to hold back from choking him.

Widening his permanent grin, he turned his attention to Charlie before replying cooly, “It appears you have a visitor.”

“Me?” Charlie asked, perplexed.

“Yes, my dear,” he confirmed, resting on his staff that he had stopped fiddling with. “Your guest is waiting for you in the parlor.”

The three of you began to head towards the door to see who had arrived, but Alastor whipped his staff out in front of you, preventing you from going any further.

“No, no, no, darling. Not you.” Charlie and Vaggie didn’t seem to notice as they continued out of the room, leaving you alone with the Radio Demon.

Eyeing him skeptically, you asked, “Why not?”

He almost looked… nervous? You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but it was an uncharacteristic look for him. Though his smile remained, his demeanor wasn’t his usual arrogant and unbothered self. “Believe me when I say that it is in your best interest to remain here.”

Worrying your lip, you replied, “Alastor, I really don’t think that it’s a good idea for you and I to be alone together anymore.”

Tiling his head to convey his confusion, he asked, “Oh? And why is that?”

Swallowing thickly, you muttered, “I-I just… um… people are starting to think--”

Before you could finish your thought, an unfamiliar voice was drawing nearer, distracting you.

“...permission to enter my own hotel? Foolish daughter. You may work here, but this hotel is mine, as is everything else in Pride Ring. Now, where is our exotic guest?”

Though he was playing it off well, you noticed how Alastor went rigid as the voice got closer. Listening more intently, you could hear multiple sets of footsteps along with Charlie begging, “No! Dad, please just listen to me! Don’t--”

Not a moment later, a strange, yellow-eyed demon burst through the door, beaming right at you, followed by a very nervous Charlie. Vaggie was nowhere to be seen.

The excited demon was taller than you, though not as tall as Alastor. He was as pale as Charlie with similar rosey cheeks and blonde hair. He was adorned with a white and red tuxedo with dress pants and a cane with an apple on the end. His toothy smile was just as wicked as Alastor’s, and left you with a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.

“Ah, there you are. Look at you!” he proclaimed before surging forward and taking your hands in his, pulling you harshly towards him.

You stumbled forward, tripping on your own feet but managing to find your balance before he danced around you, inspecting you closely. Quirking a brow at him, you weren’t keen on the idea of someone looking you over so intimately.

Catching you off-guard, he suddenly reached forward and cupped your face with his hands as he ran his thumbs across your cheeks. Instinctually, you smacked his hands away, just as you had done previously with Alastor. “Seriously? What is it with you demons and lack of personal space?” you snapped, now seething with irritation.

He stood back, clearly surprised by your tenaciousness. “Feisty, aren’t we?” he chuckled, fiddling with his bow tie before straightening his posture. “Oh, we’re going to get along just fine. I can see that.”

“I’m sorry,” you replied with exasperation. “Who are you?”

Smiling wider, he answered, “I’m Lucifer, the King of Hell, my delectable little human. And you’re coming with me.”

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #620: Waiting Patiently (Sonic X Crash Bandicoot)

3:00 p.m. Outside of Tails' House......

Coco: (Looks at the Time on her Screen Phone) ('Groans a Little') What is taking Wave so long? It's freezing out here!

Tails: (Shrugged) Maybe she just landed a few minutes ago. You do know that she lives in a blimp, right?

Coco: Yeah. But she could've easily convince that Jet to drop herself off here. (Crosses her Arms While Pouting) Makes it a lot easier than walking all the way to the house in the cold.

Tails: (Chuckles Lightly) You really wanted all of us see that "Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer" movie that badly, huh?

Coco: (Shrugged) Ehh. Not exactly. Crash and I used to watched it a lot when we were younger. So I figured I bring the DVD here for us to watch for the rest of the evening....But I DO wanna share a few theories, I came up with, about the song with the same title.

Tails: (Immediately Knows What Coco is Talking About) ('Gasps') Is one of them about how one of the family members was secretly the grandmother's murderer and how they used the song itself as a cover up of what really happened to her!?

Coco: (Excitedly Nodded Rapidly) That's right! I've been aching to start this discussion for the longest!~ (Sighs While Rolling her Eyes) But I guess we still have to wait for Wave to get here before we say anymore, huh?

Tails: (Gives Coco a bit of a Sheepish and Reassuring Smile) I'm sure she'll get here eventually. We just gotta be a little patient, you know?

Coco: ('Sigh') If you say you......(Turns to Tails) So you have any plans for Christmas this year?

Tails: I think I'm gonna spend the week at the mansion, celebrating the occasion.

Coco: (Smiles Softly) Neat. Crash, Aku, and I are gonna do the same at our end. Dingodile said he gonna come over to our island and try to cook for us.

Tails: You're talking about the guy who helped you out on your dimensional journey, right? I sometimes wonder what his food tastes like....

Coco: (Frowns in Fear) I don't recommend you trying any of them.

Tails: (Raised an Eyebrow in Confusion) Really? How come?

Coco: Well.... Between you and me, Dingo's line up of meals aren't.....quite as good as you would expect them to be. In fact, most of them cause food poisoning.

Tails: (Eyes Widened) For real?

Coco: Yep. I heard it was so bad that one of the food critics gave his restaurant an immediate "F" the moment he walked in.

Tails: Yikes. So wait. If his food was really that bad, how come you guys are letting him cook for holidays?

Coco: Because unsurprisingly enough, Crash and Alt. Tawna are only ones who actually like that stuff.

Tails: (Shrugged) Maybe they both have a strong digestive system?

Coco: Maybe.......(Smiles Softly Towards Tails) Still, I hope you guys have great Christmas this year.

Tails: (Smiles Back at Coco) I hope the same for you guys too, Coco. I'm gonna miss seeing you when the time comes though.

Coco: Aww~ You don't have to worry about that. We can totally see each other again a day or two after Christmas is over with. But until then....(Smiles Brightly) You better expect a lot of text messages coming your way, Miles!

Tails: (Chuckles Lightly) Yes, ma'am.

Coco was giggling alongside with Tails until she noticed something very familiar hanging above them.

Coco: Hey, Tails?

Tails: Yeah?

Coco: (Points up at the Thing Above her and Tails in a Bit of a Shyly Manner) I-Is that.....A mistletoe?

Tails: (Sighs After He Looks Up at the Mistletoe as Well) Yeah.....Amy convinced me to put it up there yesterday. (Rolled his Eyes) Probably to get Sonic to kiss her whenever they visit here.......(Immediately Starts To Blush Once He Comes Up With an Obvious Realization) B-B-But we don't have to do anything under here if you want to!! I-I-I know being under a mistletoe is Christmas tradition and all but-

Coco: (Gives Tails a Peck on the Cheek)

Tails: (Eyes Widened While Blushing Bright Red)

Coco: (Starts Blushing as Well While Looking Away) S-Sorry! I didn't mean to kiss you without any warning! Something in my self conscious told me to get this over with and I just....Did it! I-I completely understand if you didn't like it or-

Tails: Nononono! I-It's okay! I like the kiss! A-A lot really!!

Coco: (Slowly Turns to Tails With a Genuine Surprised Look on her Face) Really?

Tails: (Smiles Softly and a Bit Bashfully) Yeah. I mean...Sure it was completely out of nowhere and all, but....I still think it was really sweet of you to do it in the first place. Even if it is tradition. So, I thank you for that.

Coco: (Smiles Softly as She Hugs Tails Softly) You're welcome, buddy. Honestly, I'm just glad you like it at all. I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything.

Tails: (Hugs Coco Back) I never feel that way when I'm with you. In fact, it always make me happy everytime I see you or whenever we start hanging out and text with one another. I know it's been a few months since we became friends, but I'm really glad I had the chance to meet a smart and caring person like you in my life. I love you, Coco....A-As a friend of course.

Coco: (Heart Begins to Melt in Pure Happiness As She Hold Tails Close to Her) I love you too, Tails. Thank you so much for being my friend.

Tails: Same.

????: And saved.

Tails/Coco: (Gasps at the Sight of a Very Familiar Person Casually Walking Away from a Nearby Tree) WAVE!!?

Tails: (Starts Blushing Again) H-How long were you behind that tree!!!?

Coco: (Glares at the Swallow) Were you spying on us this entire time!!!?

Wave: (Makes her Way to Her Two Friends with a Smug Look on her Face) Well, to answer your simple questions, shorties, I already arrived here a few minutes ago. I was going to say something beforehand, but I've noticed a mistletoe hanging above you guys from a distance. (Smirk Grew a bit Wider) So I'd figured I find somewhere to hide and record the whole thing. Though, I gotta be honest....(Turns to Coco) I did not expect you, of all people, to make the first move.

Coco: (Growls at her Swallow Rival) You are SO lucky snow isn't here yet!! (Grabs Tails' Hands and Make her Way Inside his House) Come on, Tails. We gotta a movie to watch.

Tails: (Follows Coco) Oh! Uhh...okay!

Wave: ('Sigh') Those two are too easy. (Follows the Duo Inside the House)

@keyenuta

@26shann

@anxiousmuffinstuff

@cyber-wildcat

@albion-93

@ma-lemons

@miki-13

@lovekittynoir

@caleb13frede

[spmcomic]

Theia and Gaia

Cover

Chapter 1: (part 1 | part 2)   Chapter 2: (part 1 | part 2)

Chapter 3: (part 1 | part 2)   Chapter 4: (part 1 | part 2)

Satriya considered the uneven chain mail in front of him, hung on the rack, dripping wet. He rolled a topaz between the fingers of his gloved paw. Now, where exactly did the Den Mother expect him to find a place for a gem of this size? Perhaps it could fit on the chest, with the proper setting.

“Apprentice,” he barked, his ears high and severe. He should at least look the part of the strict mentor. The kid poked his nose around the corner, whiskers quivering.

“Get that empty necklace with the triangle settings. I’m going to show you how to modify damaged armor while you repair it.”

“Here is your map,” something said in the distance. A colored sheet appeared in front of the space. “We’ve loaded it into your processor. You can access it the same way you would move your leg. Just reach for it.”

“Yes, sir.”

A shift in weight. Some kind of belt went over its back.

The creature pointed ahead. Rolling hills stretched past the hand. “Arborville is that way- houses built into the trees. If you get lost, use your life-form radar. It’s not hard.”

“Yes, sir.”

Exene touched a paw to the enormous footprint and rubbed the damp clay between her fingers, letting the earthy scent fill her nose. Her eyes narrowed. An unfamiliar predator lurked nearby, and she was very, very far from home. Then… Just the most hushed breath. Just the slightest change in the air. Her grip tightened on her bow and she bounded away as the monster dropped from the dense, dead trees above, leaving a crater in the clay where she had stood.

The rocky outcropping nearby gave her enough cover to scramble into a crack where the monster couldn���t reach. She took a rattled breath, grasping at the quiver on her back. Looking out through the tiny sliver of daylight, she could see the monster’s sharp triangle ears twisting this way and that. It raised its nose to the air. She shrank back out of sight before it could turn her way.

But the monster had heard her. With two huge leaps, it landed on the boulders, further settling the pile. Exene cried out as her arm and bow caught between two of the shifting rocks. The monster hissed, rocking back and forth on the pile to crush her. She curled up, gasping at the pain in her twisting arm, and put her feet against the boulder above. Even with all the might in her legs and feet, she could hardly keep the boulder from rolling off its support, and she grunted with the effort.

Then she heard the quick whistle of an arrow leaving its bow, and another soon after. The monster screamed and fell back, its shadow crossing the narrow opening above. The others made short work of it while Exene panted and held the rock off herself. They had better not leave her-

Finally, the weight lifted, and her brethren freed her mangled arm.

“I think we can make a home here,” she hissed through gritted teeth. One of her sisters laughed and handed her the aloa leaf, which she snatched away to wrap her arm in.

“You’ve got a pebble stuck in your joint, hold on,” a voice murmured. The space stopped moving. At the creature’s touch, its elbow strained under some pressure, and then loosened with a vague relief and freedom.

There were trees.

Tiny fingers struggled to reach the rough valves of the trumpet. Its bleating filled the empty nest in the moonlight.

Then, there were no trees. There was a ravine.

“We move out at dawn,” the Warlord snarled, cowing his advisors. “You can go one night without sleep.”

Then there were the walls of a ravine stretching overhead, and hard ground.

Fu bumbled with his quill, struggling to keep the stack of skins in a straight pile in his arm. How the Mayor expected him to write and walk at the same time, he had no idea. He shuffled forward, poking his feet out one at a time while he kept his eyes on the skin on top, his quill dripping.

As the Mayor spoke, Fu’s attention drifted to the view from the top of their little fort. An entire town coming together like this… The Mayor was truly an inspiration. As strange as the social structure was… Maybe, just maybe, this could work.

“Did you get all that?”

Fu nearly dropped his stack as the Mayor turned toward him.

“Did you hear about Head Merlock?”

“Ha. What did she do this time?”

“She’s shut herself in her study again and won’t let anyone in the fusion chamber. No one in her department’s going to finish their studies at this rate.”

“Ha! I’m glad I’m not her apprentice…”

Well, this was a fine predicament. Their quest wouldn’t be a very long one if they couldn’t even cross the mighty Yangtze river winding across the wide, wet fields a few miles outside of town. Ishani thumped the ground a few times and hopped back toward the shrubs obscuring their resting spot. The other five members of the party had clustered close in the thin shade.

“It’s dry season,” their leader offered. “If we head upstream for a few days, we should find a place to cross. Even the plains here aren’t flooded.”

“A dry season in a dry year,” the oldest member of the group tutted. “Predators will be hungry.”

“They would have moved downstream by now.” Ishani poked her ears above the shrub. The breeze cooled the tips, and she heard no whispers in the wind.

“But we would lose several days of travel,” their guard piped up.

Ishani frowned. “No. That will take us up into the mountains… The Yangtze curves west through the range. It’s a little out of the way, but not more than a day or two.”

The eldest only twitched her whiskers.

Ishani snapped her fingers. “Oh, wait, this could work to our advantage! The paths there will save us a trek through the Eagle Pillars. That’s slow and careful work anyhow.”

The leader raised her eyebrows. The breeze played with her mane.

Ishani swept her foot through the grass, digging out a little trail in the light dust. “See, if this line is the river, and we move this way…” She dragged her finger through the dust across it. “We skip out on that entire eagle nest. That cuts the danger of our journey in half.”

The eldest blinked. “But only half.”

She shrugged. “We’ll take care of the second nest when we get there. Maybe we can find another shortcut.”

A porcelain monster walked alongside the space. The space tingled at a familiar shriek that echoed across the ravine and cut off with shattering glass. The monster next to it flinched, falling a step behind, before it hustled to catch up.

“Oh. You’re not awake, are you?”

No response.

“… What assignment have you got?”

The information came easily. “Apprentice Merisis has instructed this unit to deliver the filled globes to the Scrying center in Optym.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

The porcelain creature leaned to the side, head tilted. “Which route are you taking, Lazarus?”

“The provided map gives directions across the overworld.”

A harsh, static noise. “I know a faster way. More efficient.”

“More efficient.”

“Yeah, follow me.”

Ajith smirked, clapping his paws together. “Listen. Someday I’m going to play Tempest. Just watch.”

His brother let his head fall back over the side of their nest of skins and cushions. “You’ll never make it. You’ve got no grit, brother.”

“Grit!?”

The memory cut off as the porcelain creature gently rapped on the armored side with several clinks. “Don’t drift too far off. We’re here.”

In front of the two of them stood a row of tall, colorful doors set into a vast wall. From one end of the platform to the other, there were seven, each metal slate splashed with a different color.

The other creature hopped between its four feet. It stepped forward to pat the wall energetically. “Karchner’s perfecting something called Dimensional Doors. Travel between cities is instant, when they’re running properly.”

The space waited for the path to open so it could continue forward.

“The Sentry over there gave me their power schedule, when I worked there a few weeks ago.”

The porcelain creature continued talking, but…

Deven leaned on his spear, watching the other soldiers play their card game.

One of his companions turned their head up to him. “Pouting because you lost?”

Deven sighed. “No, I’m keeping a lookout. My constant vigilance is the only thing keeping you sorry morons alive.”

Another barked out a laugh and tossed down her cards. “That’s a pouting face, if I ever saw one!”

“One of us has to watch!” Deven’s voice cracked as he threw his free hand in the air.

“Sure, but only because you lost.”

Next round, he would kick their tails to the horizon.

The surface. Tall grass, trees on the horizon. Then, the ravine. Then, the surface.

Bugs speckled the inside of the ancient amber. Jing turned it this way and that in her paw, letting the torch light glitter off its surface. This would make a perfect talisman for the Gauntlets of Healing.

Two voices from above, sitting in the trees, while the space waited for its load:

“Meret told me something interesting. You want some city gossip?”

“Hit me.”

“Underside’s slowed its robot production rate way down. Head Merletaph is furious. Meret caught her chewing out Head Merlock big-time on the roof of his apartment, he said he just had the window open and they didn’t even try to keep it down.”

“The most important thing, when you’re brewing tea…” Masala began to her crowd of wide-eyed youngsters. She couldn’t help but grin at how their ears perked. “Is to set the right environment.”

The stars twinkled above. The space’s head lights cast long dim beams across the grassy hill. It turned its head upward to follow the slope, and noticed the moonlight glinting off its fingers.

The moonlight…

Something was wrong. What was it?

There should be three moons, the voices whispered together.

Neima hunched over her stone in the dead of night, pausing every few moments to turn her head up and examine the moons. Their light played off each other: sturdy bronze, icy blue-white, and airy reflective gray between the two. She jabbed her quill against the rock, crumpling the tip. With a snarl she tossed it away, grabbing yet another out of her cup. She dunked the end of it in her ink and very nearly chewed on the tip while she contemplated the three heavenly bodies. Ink dripped off her nose, leaving her whiskers quivering in the multicolored light.

How could you translate such a sight into music? The moons hung serenely in the sky, blotting out even the stars in such a wide circle. The way the colors lit up the long strands of dead grass, bounced off her slate, twinkled at the end of the quill… Neima’s brow furrowed and her ears drew back. She shuffled her stiff feet, trying to force some feeling back into them. They would be out of phase again soon. The next collection like this wouldn’t come around for another two years. She had to make her decision. Bronze, and white, and blue, and gray… The cold and the stillness and the crisp smell of the dew collecting on the rough stones. What notes brought them to mind? What might another instrument accomplish that her trumpet could not?

The song was meant to be her magnum opus, but upon facing the reality of the sight, how could she ever do it justice?

Lazarus paused. I guess I never will, the voices mused together. It stood, on the hill, for a long moment. The packages on its back pushed its knife-legs into the soft ground, so much softer than it was at home.

It could never get home, could it? From the very beginning… the Artificers had total control over Lazarus’ fate, and had ensured it was trapped forever. The voices never had a chance. Even if Lazarus did get home, the voices had been gathered from across time, from across the countries and tribes and regions. Where could Ishani fit, in this new world? Where would Timur? Bryagh? Kai? They had never heard of some of the ideas the other voices shared- the Mayors- the quills- the games- the armored mounts-

Was there even any way home? How did they get pulled into this world? What could Lazarus do on this world, if it did disappear into the wilderness between settlements? Were there other robots out there somewhere?

Lazarus turned its head away from the strange, foreign moonlight and stared at its wrist protrusions, dug into the ground. Before it acted, this time, it needed answers.

-

Previous | Next

[terrorandtales]

Where the fuck are you supposed to start with something like this? My therapist has encouraged me to try this exercise to help with my night terrors. Which I trust her. Dr. M is one smart cookie. I’m just scared shitless to have all of my night terrors come to life while I’m awake. The whole point of this is to redirect the story. Control the narrative and directly know that they aren’t in fact real. They may share some oddly sick similarities, but hey Doc knows best so let’s dive in.

Arctic Tundra

So I’m trying to piece this together eloquently. It’s been a few days since I had this night terror. Bear with me please. Alright like most dreams/nightmares how are we supposed to know where the beginning, middle, and end are. Could it be that the end is the middle? The middle is nomans land, and the beginning nonexistent? Does time even exist in this pandora’s box, this colorful brain of mine? Half the time I don’t even know if it’s me in the dream as the lead character. Most of the time I am, but sometimes I feel like I’m a ghost floating through these nightmares scene to scene. Still, living the God awful fucked up shit, but seeing my physical self below my floating self just asking the other me, “what in the actual hell is happening? Can I wake up now? Let’s set the scene…

My other me (I guess my sleeping me) is seeing my physical me in a Biergarten walking around aimlessly. Fretting about some assholes that look like storm troopers rounding up the masses. It almost feels like we’re all the Anne Franks of the world in this place. My brother, sister, and Jean Paul (my lover) are in the dream. So these motherfuckers find our hiding spot which honestly isn’t hard to find because it’s literally the Biergatedn I’ve been to before in real life on a drunken Seattle night. Anyways, we all start panicking and make a run for it through these hidden secret hatches on the floors. Tear gas is dispersing and those fuckers are closing in. I lose sight of my brother, sister, and Jean Paul. I think they made it out before me. So I’m running and trying to get through this secret hatch with all of these panicked people. The hatch turns into a ceiling shaft. Almost like the one in the movie Posidean where they were all trying to escape a sinking cruise ship that was overturned by a tsunami wave. Anyways so I’m panicking because I know those God-awful Sith bloodsuckers are coming for us. The person in front of me is crawling and turning the corner then he starts screaming because he gets blasted in the face with this green and orange acid that starts burning his flesh off immediately. Kind of reminds me of the contagion movie where those people started bleeding from their eyeballs. Sick stuff man. Don’t ask me how it smells because I have no idea. I haven’t had the terrible pleasure of smelling burnt skin in my waking life. So his skin starts peeling off, his eyes are burning out of their sockets. Meanwhile, I’m in shock and trying to crawl back to get away from him and the acid. I don’t know if there’s more coming!! So I’m like what the hell!! When I turn around on all fours which I think is much faster than crab-walking backward up a metal shaft by the way the scene changes again. Now I’m on an airplane. The seats are gone. Everything is stripped away. I’m in what looks like a cargo plane, but the emergency windows look like the ones on a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. There’s padding along the sides of the aircraft and I’m not alone. There’s a little boy stuck inside with me and we’re trying to get out before the plane sinks in the arctic ocean. I’m scrabbling around to try to get the windows open. The first two exits I try are jammed because I guess the plane hit an ice burg or something and it’s dented in. We’re peering out the smaller windows and we can see people lined up in huge parkas with gear. They made it off the plane, but somehow we’re the only two left. The snow is coming down hard and whistling so loudly. So they can’t hear us screaming for help. You can barely make out the faces of the people because of the blizzard. Plus they have their heads down to protect their faces. I look at the kid and say, “don’t worry we’re going to get out of here. We’ll be okay.” I can feel the bile rising in my throat and the butterflies in my stomach. I feel guilty because I honestly don’t think we’ll make it out alive, but I can’t lie to this kid. So the third emergency exit that I try and put all my strength into opens miraculously! I yell to the crying kid, “come on let’s go!” He gets up and runs to me. I throw his gear out first and then push him out of the plane. Meanwhile, the plane starts jerking violently. So I know I’m running out of time. I throw my pack out of the exit. When I try to get out the exit seems to become smaller. All of a sudden I can’t fit. I start panicking. Screaming for help, but they can’t hear me. I’m crying and try to use my arms to push along the ice-cold plane to push myself out. My tears are freezing to my face. My lips are burning because of the cold. My lungs are on fire, but I’m still fighting. I can see the plane approaching the water. “I’m going to die,” says my sleeping self to my physical self. Then before the nose of the aircraft hits the water I wake up shaking and gasping for air. (End Scene)

Okay, so now here’s the part where I take control of the narrative and direct it elsewhere. So which part do I change? Nomans land, end, the nonexistent beginning? Just seems like a lot of work, but we’ve come this far. So let’s pick up from this particular part of the ending scene “I’m going to die.” Ready? “And scene!” “Action”

As I close my eyes preparing for my doom strong hands grab my forearms and violently pull me out of the aircraft seconds before the tip of the aircraft hit the water and the ice underneath gives. I can’t see the person’s face at all because my eyes are closed shut with fear and ice streaked tears. All I can hear is the loud crashing sounds of the ice breaking and the aircraft sinking into the ocean. The blizzard is swirling around us like we’re in the eye of a hurricane. My body feels like ice and I’m so scared I refuse to open my eyes. I just let myself be carried by these strong arms. I feel the wind swirling around us still. I can hear the air and feel the wind pick up. All of a sudden the terrible cold starts to fade. I start to feel warmth coarse through my body. I feel my cheeks start to warm. The wind starts to die down, and those strong arms...Wait Cut! Let’s talk about that for a min. Not a dream min, but a real-life minute or two. The arms holding me are just arms. I don’t imagine anyone. I don’t even imagine the body of a man or woman. If anything it’s more the comfort of them and the bravery of them. They’re magical; invisible strength and comfort you’d feel from a father figure. Caring arms, strong arms, non-judgmental arms. What I’d imagine Hagrid’s arms to feel like as far as size is concerned. I’m remembering that particular scene when he’s carrying Harry’s body back to Hogwarts, minus the death because these mystical God fearing arms saved my life. Anyways let’s get back to the scene. Ready? Take 2! Or is it 3? Anyways, Action! The wind starts to die down, and those strong arms holding me lie me down on what feels like the softest fur, almost like what I’d imagine the Lorax’s fur would feel like. Finally, when I start to feel this immense calmness overcome me and flood through my body I decide to slowly open my eyes. I’m in a white vast 2-dimensional allusion. I’m on a soft mound of grass resting underneath a Pink and orange Truffula tree that smells like papayas and lemons. My skin is glowing like I’m Joy, from the “Inside Out” movie. Except I’m still me. My skin is just the same, just bright and I feel warmth, love, and wonder coursing through my body and mind. When I look up into the white nothingness the scene changes again. Now I’m looking at a beautiful night sky lit up by green, white, purple auroras. Shaped as beautiful people dancing to the music I can’t hear. I’m sitting up against the Truffula tree and peace overcomes me; a faint smile comes across my lips and I fall into a deep slumber. (End of scene)

Okay, Dr. M!! I see what you’re saying. This was a very enlightening experience. I can feel that peace and comfort right now. I feel safe and adventurous. Off to the next one I suppose.

Goodness, I’m writing these back to back. So I’m going to be on a roller coaster of emotions. Extreme fear, anxiety, wonder, enlightenment, and finally peace. It’ll just keep repeating. Rinse, Freak Out, Repeat. No matter, I’ve been putting this off long enough. I have 4 more stories to share. They’re all blending together so I better hop to it.

[writingithink]

Keeping In Mind Pairing: Ten x Rose Rated: T Wordcount: 2,359 Summary: The Doctor finally looks into Rose's telepathy (a bit). Notes: Life got busy, but finally Day 6 of @timepetalsweek ! I used the picture prompt and the word prompt 'wolves'.

For the first time, I'm going to say that if you haven't ready any of the other ones you might not enjoy this one as much. I don't think you'd necessarily be lost or anything, but yeah.

So many innumerable thank yous to @hey-there-juliet for betaing <3

All mistakes are mine.

I own nothing.

READ IT ON AO3 -> copy/paste link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25539580

“I think it’s that way,” Rose pointed, laughing as the Doctor tried to stand on his tiptoes to see over the crowds of people and ended up knocking his forehead on her chin.

“You know, the parade’s over. Don’t you want to stand on your own now?”

“No. I had to use my favor for this, so I’m gonna make the most of it, ta.”

He rolled his eyes, even as he smiled up at her. It really wasn’t that bad, she didn’t weigh much at all as far as he was concerned. If they ever had to do this the other way around, his wife would likely be shocked at how dense he was despite his skinny body. So he began to slowly weave through the groups of families that still hadn’t dispersed despite the late hour and the park closing. Just because giving her a piggyback ride was physically easy didn’t mean it wasn’t awkward to navigate.

I can get down if you really want.

“No, no, you’re right. It’s your favor. Blimey, I don’t know what I’d use mine for. Suppose I’ll just save it, I’m sure it will come to me.”

“Mmm shoulda put an expiration date on ‘em. That way I wouldn’t be blindsided whenever you do figure out what you want.”

“Were you planning to forget?” he asked, pausing to look around again. He could sense the TARDIS nearby, he just couldn’t see.

“No,” she chuckled, “but knowing you, it’ll be, like, ten years from now and you’ll be like ‘ Rose, remember how you owe me a favor’ and then ask me to do something completely barmy.”

The Doctor grimaced. “Don’t. Don’t do impressions. It’s not- no.”

But he did love the idea of her being with him ten years from now. She kissed the top of his head, their bond buzzing with pleasant emotions (and a hint of irritation, but he’d known that was coming the moment he questioned her character work - but really, she could settle for being good at most things, no one’s good at everything).

“Aha!” He finally locked eyes on their time ship and sped up, Rose gripping him tighter.

When they reached the door he paused and bent over so that his bondmate could unlock and open it, as his arms were still busy holding her up. Once inside, he kicked the door closed and paused once they got to the console.

“Down now?”

“Nope.”

“But how’m I supposed to fly the TARDIS?”

“Where are you trying to go now? I’m knackered. We landed at Epcot before it even opened and have been riding rides all day.”

“Nowhere, really. Just not here. Maybe orbit around a nice nebula.” The Doctor tried to shrug, but it was hard to accomplish with Rose on his back.

“Then it can wait. Let’s go to the galley, have a cuppa,” she suggested, and he wondered if he’d have to hold her the whole time she made tea.

Yup, came her mental response.

This can’t possibly be that fun for you, he insisted, despite the contradictory information the bond was giving him.

“C’mon, it’s a new experience,” his wife insisted, and she wasn’t wrong but it definitely wasn’t a new experience he would have ever put on a list of things to try.

With a sigh, the Doctor walked them around the console and to the main corridor, but he wasn’t paying nearly as much attention as he should have been as he turned down the hall and ended up bashing her head on one of the coral struts.

“Ow!!”

“I’m so sorry! So, so sorry!!”

He could feel how much that hurt over their connection. Still didn’t know how to turn off that part. It was so unconscious that telepathic barriers didn’t really do anything.

“Ohhh I think it’s bleeding,” she groaned.

“Sorry, sorry! We’ll have it fixed up in a jiffy, don’t you worry,” he promised, making a left instead of a right to get to the infirmary.

After kicking open the doors, the Doctor sat Rose onto the cot. “We’ll just press pause on the piggyback ride, yeah?”

“Mmm, I don’t really feel like it anymore,” she grumbled as he pulled the sonic out of his jacket pocket. Honestly, they probably didn’t need to be in here for this, but it was where the good antiseptic wipes were for after he healed her head wound.

“Sorry,” he whispered, parting her hair around the teeny tiny cut and sonicking it closed before doing a quick scan to make sure he hadn’t given her a concussion - he hadn’t.

“Stop sayin’ sorry, it was just an accident,” Rose huffed, and he was beginning to feel her headache through the bond.

And he almost apologized for apologizing, but thankfully caught himself.

It wasn’t until he turned around to find the antiseptic and some paracetamol that the Doctor noticed all of the various scanners and other equipment lined up on the counter. He’d done that weeks ago in a fit of productivity while Rose had been sleeping, and since then had completely forgotten about it. Well, not completely . But he had been putting it off. They’d been putting it off.

“We don’t have to wait until we’re done with our honeymoon if you don’t wanna,” Rose said, picking up on his frustrated guilt.

He sighed, getting back on track and opening the cupboard, hoping that the TARDIS hadn’t rearranged things again - thankfully she hadn’t. In fact she was being quite helpful today, wipes and pain reliever right at the front.

“It’s not exactly romantic,” he countered. “We’ve only just finished trip number four, and we already took a break to do wedding planning with your mum.”

“Well, at the rate we’re goin’, this honeymoon could last months yet. Don’t think I didn’t catch ya pondering about cabins this morning. Which I do approve of, by the way. I’ve always wanted to try skiing.” She gave him his favorite tongue-in-teeth grin.

“Awwwww that was going to be a surprise,” the Doctor pouted as he handed her the capsule before setting about cleaning her scalp and hair.

“You weren’t tryin’ very hard to keep it a secret,” his wife pointed out.

“I thought you weren’t really awake yet. Your thoughts were all … cotton candy-like.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, that’s the closest thing I could think of,” he defended. “Telepathy isn’t easy to describe! Especially not in English.”

Like the way her mental laughter gave his whole body a pleasant tingly bubbly-ness.

“Anyway, we’re here now so we might as well do your scans,” Rose said, changing the subject. “And I think you owe me two more favors now.”

“What? Why?”

“‘Cause, even though it was an accident you did mess up my piggyback ride.”

“But how does that equal two favors?” he asked, confused.

She looked up, momentarily dislodging his hand. “Because you love me?”

His bondmate was quite devious, and no amount of big, innocent eyes were going to change his mind. Unfortunately, she was right.

“ Fine,” he sighed, wondering when exactly she had wrapped him around her finger. The Doctor had a sneaking suspicion that it was earlier than he’d ever want to admit. He tipped her head back so that he could finish up. “Two favors for you, but you can’t use them to get out of my future-favor. Aaaaand, all done.” He gave her head a kiss and then moved back to the counter to get started on the scans.

“So, how’s this gonna work?” Rose asked.

“Should be easy. You can just stay where you are. This is a six-dimensional comprehensive deep scanner. Used to have an eight-dimensional one, but I seem to have misplaced it. Actually, I may have traded it. Hard to remember.”

He set up it’s tripod, calibrating the sight before dragging the cords over to the infirmary monitor.

“And this,” he continued, holding up a teal tablet about the size of a small laptop, “is a telepathic assessment device. Used to classify telepathy grades, basic ability test. It hooks up to you with these.” The Doctor picked up a handful of wireless electrodes.

“Wait, I’m gonna have to take a test?”

Distress echoed across the bond.

“Kind of. Sort of. It’s not like it’s something you need to study for.” This didn’t seem to reassure her. “We could skip this one?”

“No, no, it’s fine. I just don’t like takin’ tests,” Rose mumbled, crossing her arms and looking down.

The Doctor walked over, abandoning the equipment on a nearby cart before taking a seat next to her on the cot and wrapping an arm around her. “It’s really not that kind of test. It’s still medical, like a reflex test or a concussion test, you know, where they ask you the date and who’s prime minister. Just a basic check. And I’m certain you’ll do brilliantly. You’re such a strong presence in my mind, and since you have such a limited experience with telepathy I don’t think you can appreciate how exceptional that is. But really, I’m sure that I can still get a good picture of what’s going on if we didn’t do this one.”

“No, no, we can do it,” she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. “‘M sure you’re right. Just me being silly.”

“It’s not. Silly, that is.” He kissed her temple, both savoring the way their bond buzzed at the contact. “You’re sure?”

“Yup. I’m sure. What else do we need to do?”

“If we’re being thorough? A full medical. But I don’t feel like being that thorough right now. The TARDIS base scans should be fine.”

“TARDIS base scans?”

“Ah, right, have I never mentioned?” The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck, mussing his hair. “Everyday, however many times we enter the TARDIS or whenever there’s a significant, unexpected change in our vitals, she scans us. To make sure we’re healthy. So, me too, not just you. If she thinks you might be getting sick, she adjusts the environment, adds different medicines into the air.”

“Into the air?” Her jaw dropped.

“I’ve very advanced technology on this ship, haven’t you noticed?” He raised an eyebrow, smirking just a little (and got a swat for his trouble).

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Rose decided, straightening up.

And so they got on with it. Really, it didn’t take very long - she finished up the telepathic assessment in under 20 minutes. During which the Doctor tried and failed to compile her TARDIS scans. He put on his specs and glared at the screens, thinking unflattering things to his time ship.

“Ugh, I don’t think that helped my headache,” his bondmate complained, setting down the tablet.

“Oh. I didn’t really think of that. Could you come over here? I need your hand.”

“What for?” she asked, coming up behind where he was sitting next to the monitors and draping her body over her back.

“She won’t let me look at your scans without your permission.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “Well, that’s polite. Where’s my hand go?”

“Right in here,” he said, pointing at a white iridescent box. “And no, it’s not polite. I’m your doctor!”

“Mmm, yeah, you are,” Rose agreed, licking the shell of his ear before obediently sticking her hand into the reader.

All of the doctor-ly things he had previously been thinking about fled his mind, followed by telepathic laughter and a few very suggestive images.

Minx, he mentally chastised.

Mmm, but all yours.

“So!” he shouted (on accident), “I’ll just set your 6d scans and assessment to configure. And the TARDIS has finished graphing your daily scans with a focus on your telepathic centers. Want to know the results, or …?”

“Yeah, tell ‘em to me,” she whispered into his ear, and how did she do this?

I thought you had a headache?

She didn’t bother responding to that, instead taking a seat in his lap. The Doctor had to crane his neck in order to look at the computer screens. It was very hard to focus with his wife massaging his shoulders. But he eventually managed, eyes widening and mouth falling open as he read the readout.

It was pretty much what he’d suspected, but still. It’s one thing to theorize and another to see the evidence right in front of him.

“What? What is it?”

Rose stopped teasing him, looking back and forth between him and the monitors of Circular Gallifreyan.

“Bad Wolf.”

“Wait, what?”

He finally pulled his eyes away from the screens and focused on his bondmate, who was beginning to panic.

“It’s nothing bad,” the Doctor was quick to reassure her. “You’re fine. Perfectly healthy. It’s just, when you and the TARDIS merged, you had to connect telepathically. Humans, you’ve got loads of possibilities in your DNA that you never evolved to use. Telepathy is one of those things, the markers are already there. So what the TARDIS did was activate them, which allowed you two to properly communicate. Remove the Vortex, though, and the knowledge of how to use the telepathy disappears. But if you look at the progression from then to now, there’s been steady improvement. You’re stretching the muscles, so to speak.”

“And that’s … it’s fine?”

“Perfectly fine,” he repeated, hugging her tightly. “None of it’s normal, but I can’t say I’ve ever liked normal. And you know what?”

“What?”

“I can’t be certain, but assuming your trends hold, you’ll quickly become a stronger telepath than I am. Provided you have lessons.”

“Like more telepathy lessons than usual?” She frowned. “We have those all the time.”

“Not necessarily more often. More varied, though. Ohhh, I’m going to have to do even more reading. And I’ve not even started. I should really get on that.”

“Yeah, but not right now.” Rose stood and then began playing with his tie.

“Oh, definitely not right now. I was, you know, speaking in general, relative terms.”

The Doctor slid to the edge of his chair and went to take his glasses off.

Leave ‘em, his wife projected.

And he was quite delighted to wait to do all of this research until after she inevitably fell asleep.

[darlingpetao3]

Seducing the Gem (Nash Wells x Reader, Chapter 4/9)

Rating: M (Smut in Chapter 6 only)

Summary: When a mysterious package shows up at your front door, you (a famous Romance novelist) are hurtled from your virtually uneventful life and into one of danger and adventure. In a quest to save your captured friend Caitlin from impending harm, you run into a suave adventurer named Nash who helps you along the way. Or is the charming Nash simply after something in your possession…?

Tag List: @tardis-23​ @thecaptainsgingersnap​ @the-marvelatic​

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

This has got to be the longest day of your life.

After trekking further through the Congolese rainforest with Nash, you eventually come to something you never thought you’d be thrilled to see - an old, rusty, deserted Volkswagen van. You don’t care how it got to be here, but it must mean you’re at least somewhere close to a road. All you can think about is the word shelter.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” you chant.

It’s gotten near dark out, so you pull out your phone to use the flashlight function to peer inside the old vehicle. At least my phone is good for something out here.

You wonder if it’s locked. “Is it-?”

When Nash tries the handle, the door slides open, albeit with a bit of force required, and he gives you a relieved smile. “Nope.”

Your partner in all this craziness steps into the vehicle, watching his head as he does, and whistles.

“Well, look what we have here.”

“What?”

When you hop inside, an unopened emergency blanket pack slaps you in the face. You gasp out of relief.

“Now,” Nash starts, “I don’t mean to get you out of your clothes, but-”

“-Yeah, I’m so sure,” you scoff.

“We’re going to have to strip,” he explains. “Our clothes are drenched and we’d likely catch our death if we slept in them.”

“You do have a point.” You take the hem of your shirt and begin to lift it off of you, except Nash is still watching you. “Hey, ever hear of something called privacy?”

“Sorry, Princess.” Nash animatedly places his hands over his eyes and turns around. “Happy?”

“Oh yes, I am simply delighted!” you joke, removing your shirt. “So happy to be getting half-naked in a decrepit van in the middle of a rainforest with a stranger!”

“Yeah, but at least he’s a handsome stranger,” he quips. When you don’t reply, Nash hums a little laugh, then starts taking off his jacket. You quickly turn around yourself, assuming he’s about to undress as well.

“So, are you going to tell me about this friend of yours?” he asks you. “Who is she? ...or he?” After a struggle in taking your jeans off, you wrap the silver metallic blanket around you, making sure to cover yourself.

“She. And I did already.” There’s a pause, and when you don’t hear the sounds of his clothes coming off, you wonder if he somehow left the van without you hearing. But after you’ve finished draping your wet clothes on the back of the driver’s seat, you turn slightly. Nash is right behind you, wrapped in his own blanket - barely - and leaving not much at all to the imagination.

Eyes up.

“My friend- her husband died… and I’ve come over here to comfort her.”

Nash frowns at you. “I distinctly remember you telling me your friend was in danger? ‘Life and death’ situation? Hmm?”

A section of his bare chest is visible from underneath the blanket. And God, look at those thighs.

Stop looking!

“Oh, um, well that too, of course. Are you hungry? I think I have...”

You would give anything to stop staring at him right now, so you make the excuse to grab your purse on the van’s floor in search of a granola bar you’d packed. However, in all your almighty grace, you stumble. And when you reach for your bag, out rolls the device that got you into this stupid mess in the first place. It rolls until it hits Nash’s foot. The man reaches down for it.

“Wait-!”

He holds it in his hand, examining it. When Nash presses one of the buttons, it lights up and presents a holographic globe with several blinking lights around it. Somehow, the device automatically knows to zone in on where you expect is your current location, complete with a special blinking dot. The weirdest part is that Nash’s tech on his arm starts beeping incredibly fast now, only to short circuit. He coughs and waves the smoke away.

“I think we need to talk,” he says, eyeing you seriously.

You laugh awkwardly and try to make a joke, “‘We need to talk’… that’s never a good thing to hear!” 

He continues to use his stern glare.

“Alright.”

The pair of you sit on the backseat of the van, and when you don’t begin the conversation, Nash gets it going.

“So your friend, what’s her deal? Why is she in danger?”

“Okay, well, she’s been abducted and now these guys are holding her for ransom. They want this- this thing, this GPS for some reason, so I guess we’re going to make a trade when I finally get to Kinshasa.”

Nash plays with it in his hand again and makes the hologram globe appear once more.

“Have you played around with this thing much?” he asks.

“No.”

The man beside you tries something, as if an instinct takes over with this foreign device, by tapping on one of the three-dimensional blinking lights.

“That’s us,” he points to the yellow light, “Those are our coordinates.”

“Then what’s this one?” You tap on a second, red light nearest to where you are on the map, just a little south. It gives you the coordinates to a new dot.

Nash rubs his face with a hand. “It would seem that this device is programmed to lead the user to a sort of treasure,” he explains slowly. “Kind of like my fried gauntlet here. That’s exactly where I was heading to today. That red dot there. But why do you have something like this?” It sounds like he’s wondering this more to himself than posing the question to you. You think you hear him mumble, “This could help me find what I’m looking for...” But you aren’t sure.

“I’m sorry, but I honestly couldn’t care less about treasure right now,” you say, fixing the blanket around your shoulders. “The kidnappers want this device, and like hell am I going to do anything other than exchange it for Caitlin’s life.”

Nash shifts to face you more straight on. “Or, if you follow this GPS, you could find the treasure and use it as leverage over these assholes.”

You laugh. “And you’re not just saying that as a ploy to make you seem like a hero, then steal this or the treasure right out from under my nose?”

“I never said I was a hero to begin with,” Nash points out, “but I’m sure as hell not a scumbag enough to do that.”

“I’ve only just met you. How am I to know that?”

“Would it help if I told you more about myself?”

“Oh, well, I don’t know. I mean, I guess?”

The adventurer clears his throat and looks you directly in the eyes. He wants you to believe him. He wants you to trust him.

“My name is Doctor Harrison Nash Wells. I am a scientist and have a doctorate in geological science and archeology, among other practices. I’ve left the confines of my lab back home, but I’ve done it to search for various scientific or ‘supernatural’ anomalies and artifacts that pop up around the world,” he explains. “And one day, I’m going to have the means to go to other worlds.”

“Shut up,” you exclaim, “there’s no such thing as other worlds!” Nash just gives you a pointed look. “If you say so.”

Could there really be other worlds? Or is Nash pulling your leg?

“Why are you out here in Africa?” you ask. “What was it you’re looking for here?”

“Recently, my team and I have been working on experimental stuff regarding dreams. There’s a myth of a gemstone that lives in this area which gives a sleeper hallucinogenic nightmares. I want to find this stone, examine it, and test it. But it’s proving more difficult to find it right now because my tech has been on the fritz today. My tech engineer - my colleague - he built this.” Nash motions to his now busted gauntlet. “He passed away not too long before I left on this mission, and I’ve never found anyone to replace him. Though no one could ever replace him. Martin was working on such great stuff for us…”

You sense behind his steely exterior that Nash is hurting inside. You tentatively rest a hand on his shoulder, but the crinkling noise of the blanket startles you and you recoil. Maybe you should change the subject.

“Where else have you been?”

“Oh wow, let’s see. Japan, Columbia, India, Vietnam, countless others, of course. Work takes me all over. But like I said, one day I hope to see those other worlds, too. To finish what Martin was working on.”

He actually does believe in other worlds.

Whether it’s from the rather inconceivable thought alone, or from the chill you feel biting at you (probably the latter), you shiver involuntarily, watching the goosebumps ripple across your skin.

“You’re cold,” Nash notices, “Move closer.”

You swallow, feeling a rush of nervousness as he opens his blanket up to reveal his nearly naked self. When you hesitate, he says calmly, “It’s purely for the body heat, I promise, Princess.”

He sounds and appears genuine in saying this. Maybe he’s not a complete bastard after all...

Scooting closer to him on the van’s makeshift seat-bed, Nash wraps the blanket around you as if it were a bird’s wing. Apparently, the way you’re sitting isn’t correct, because he grunts, “Here,” and maneuvers you so that your legs are outstretched across his lap. It’s so dark now, and you’re almost glad he probably isn’t able to see how flushed your face is, but maybe he can feel how hot it is against his chest where it rests.

“Thanks,” you murmur. He’s so warm.

Your heart is racing. Why is your heart racing? Is it because you’re being held by a man, to whom you’re in such close proximity (and being nearly naked to boot)? A man who you’re recognizing is as adventurous and witty as Chase - the fictional character you dreamt up? What’s real and what’s fiction? You don’t know how to feel.

Surely it’s still the adrenaline from the day. It should all pass by morning.

When no one speaks for longer than you can bear in this new position, you break the silence by clearing your throat.

“What will you do after you find the stone?” you ask. “Will you go back to your lab? Will you always be out exploring and searching? Don’t you ever... want to settle down someday?”

“Wow, hard-hitting questions for someone I’ve just met today!” Nash nudges you playfully. “Yeah, I’ll go back and examine the specimen. Use it to help people somehow, answer unanswered questions. Debunk the myths behind it. As for settling down… maybe one day. But today is not that day.”

“So you haven’t anyone back home waiting for you?” The question tumbles out of your mouth.

“What, are you interested?” Nash pokes your side.

“It was just a question!” you insist. He laughs.

“No. No one back home.” Nash sighs and stretches his arms out and above him to place behind his head, muscles flexing. You need to reprimand yourself to keep your tongue in your mouth. “No woman could tie me down, anyway.” This came out a little too forced. It would be the biggest plot twist if this guy was actually a hopeless romantic!

The thought makes you giggle, but that turns into a huge yawn.

“We should get some sleep,” he mentions softly.

“I couldn’t agree more.”

You both situate yourselves on the backseat-bed and end up facing each other under your blankets. It feels like fire when your legs rub up against his, bodies pressing together in such close quarters. You’re too afraid to talk for fear of what your voice would sound like right now. All you know is that your breaths combining between the two of you is already keeping you so warm.

You close your eyes.

“You were amazing today,” you hear him whisper. The corners of your mouth turn up in the darkness.

“I know…”

[raidbossmadi]

People Like US Chapter 3

3. Into the Vault

Previous chapter: Here

“So what’s the plan Ty? Are we really gonna take her in as a janitor?” Troy asked as he snuffed out the butt of a blunt into the balcony’s ashtray. Tyreen hadn’t said much once they’d gotten back to the hotel and he was curious as to what she was thinking.

“Don’t you think that’s an insult to the maintenance crew. You know they’d take it as  the God-Queen thinks we aren’t doing good enough so she sent in a siren” Tyreen pitched her voice up as she did her impression of the maintenance staff. “Besides that’s a waste of a Siren. Imagine how much more influence we could get if we had another siren on our side, under our control. We could get her to do things the war meat can’t.”

“Yeah, I can put a good spin on that. The twin gods in their infinite mercy take in a poor stray Siren. People oughta love it, plus like we haven’t brought someone into the inner circle since Iris and that was what...three years ago now, I’m sure she’d like a friend who's quieter than  Mouthpiece.”  Troy said pulling out his echophone to write a note to himself. “We’re really doing this then? Can’t take it back once we approach her, you know that Ty.”

“We’re really doing this, something about it just feels I dunno...right in a weird way.” Tyreen couldn’t put into words the almost magnetic feeling that drew her to the other siren and she supposed that it was a siren thing, one of the many for which there were no words to explain. She only hoped that what little siren power Troy possessed made him feel the same way.

Part of Tyreen also wondered if perhaps taking in Sloane could solve another issue of theirs, of course she knew Troy could take energy from her, he had been reliant on her for as long as she could remember but what if he could feed on another siren? That way she could get by without having to spread herself so thin looking for enough to leech to sustain them both. It was an interesting prospect that she was willing to experiment with.

“I’ll send word back to the ship, tell the circle what we’re planning. Better to have everyone prepared for a new family member.” Troy remarked closing the balcony door behind him as he reentered the hotel room, now that they had a solid plan it was time to get the preparations in full swing.

                                                            When the twins made their return to Sloane's house they found the other siren waiting for them in the front lawn, sat at her easel painting the tree tunnel they had emerged from. A vine pulled out of the house window a mug curled in its tendril as it came to her side and she plucked the cup from it.  

“And here I was worried the two of you were having second thoughts.” She remarked standing up from her seat as they approached. It was late afternoon and while the twins hadn’t specified when they’d be arriving to make their deal she had almost expected it to be early so that they could just get it out of the way.

“Such little faith, gods always  keep their word doll.” Troy said with a smirk before deferring to Tyreen.

“We’ve decided to agree to your terms Sloane, we will take you into our family and you will serve us in exchange for freedom from this planet. Provided of course that you take us to the Vault  and hand over the vault key.” Tyreen crossed her arms, she was short in stature but her voice and overall demeanor projected the will and intent of her title. Sloane had seen the streams she knew this woman was dangerous and not to be underestimated yet she felt no fear in cooperating with her.

“I assume you want to be taken to the vault key now then?” She asked as she checked the time, they could make it there before the forest got too dark but it would be nightfall by the time they made it to the vault itself.  “It’s a bit of a walk from here.”

“Lead the way.” Tyreen said the pair flanking Sloane on either side as they disappeared into the wilds of Eden-4. As they walked Sloane finally got a good look at Troy now that he wasn’t trying to physically intimidate her, she noted the red looping patterns on his left arm that crept up to under his left eye and the similarities they had to her and Tyreen’s siren markings, but male sirens weren’t possible were they?

“You’re a siren?” She asked her voice barely above a whisper as if she was afraid to make the accusation and be wrong.

Troy opened his mouth to answer but quickly looked over to Tyreen his expression twisting into a slight frown. Sloane was starting to see a pattern in which Troy seemed to not be allowed to voice specific details without some kind of permission from his sister.  

“Not a siren.” He said in a much more subdued tone than she had expected from him “Just a side effect of being born with one.”

Sloane could tell there was much more to that then he was letting on but it was obvious that she wouldn’t be getting more than that out of him at least not now. The twins put so much of themselves on display that the fact that they had secrets at all had seemed absurd up until this moment, granted as far as she knew this was still part of that display.  She decided she would ask no more questions out of a partial fear of asking the wrong one and Tyreen changing her mind about her usefulness.

They stopped as the path ended abruptly at the rocky base of a cliff, face of which was overgrown with vines and other vegetation. Before either twin could ask why they had stopped Sloane reached towards the cliff her siren markings flared with bright blue light as the vines peeled away to reveal  an intricate pattern of Eridian writing  that surrounded a small hole in the formation too clean to be natural.

“What’s it say Troy?” Tyreen asked as she gestured at the writing. He squinted at it his brow furrowed in concentration as he looked over the carvings.

“It’s a warning.” He stated. “About what would happen if the Vault was opened.  Open the Vault of the Aggressor and fire and destruction will follow; says the planet would be scoured to ash the likes of which no one  has seen before.”  

“Well that sure sounds inviting, but nothing we can’t handle.” Tyreen remarked, seeming totally unmoved by the threat of whatever danger lurked inside the Vault.

Sloane however was a little unnerved by the promises of the planet burning even if she did plan to leave it behind by the end of this. She still had her obligations to the Calypsos though so she stuck her hand into the carved hole in the rock, her fingers closing around the object hidden within. Despite it being surrounded by cold rock on all sides it radiated a perpetual warmth that confirmed it was what she was looking for.

“One vault key, just as you requested God-Queen.” She said presenting it to Tyreen. It was a perfect cube of stone with  smaller square channels cut into the sides, it was an unassuming thing considering what it opened.

Tyreen regarded the cube as if it were a precious gem. She took it from Sloane and turned it over in her gloved hand  holding it up in the fading light. “So is the vault far then?”

“No, it’s a brisk walk from here. Shall I take you there?” Sloane asked, hiding the brief hesitation in her voice. It was all so real now, she had only been out to the vault a few times before each to check for meddling. It was all becoming very real now, she never thought she would have to worry about the vault being opened and yet here she was leading the charge to open it.

The entrance to the vault was an unassuming thing, Sloane was pretty sure that was why no one who wasn’t directly looking for it had ever found it. It was a cave situated behind a large waterfall which, while  beautiful to look at, threatened to sweep away those who ventured to close. Luckily Sloane knew the way to approach and avoid any of the danger and the roar of the water was only a distant hum now that they were inside the cave.

Guardian constructs that usually would have rushed to challenge those stupid enough to dare try approaching the Vault were instead destroyed, bound to the ground and sides of cave by thick overgrown vines. Sloane had dispatched them in a fit of fear and desperation when she had first approached the vault years ago now but not before she had learned the hard way that they were dangerous. The vault arch stood in the center of the chamber that had stretched out before them.

“Get your cam-bot ready Troy, it’s showtime.” Tyreen said walking towards the arch with the vault key in hand.

Sloane watched the male twin reach over and press the shoulder of his cybernetic arm a cam-drone deploying from it. She was impressed with how clever a design choice that was as she watched the bot follow after Tyreen.  

“Alright Eden-4, let's see what you’ve been hiding for all these years.” Tyreen cooed as she stuck the stone cube into the pedestal before the archway.

The vault entrance shimmered into existence and no sooner had it opened when a large clawed forelimb shot out from the dimensional gap followed immediately after by a second limb. A large snake like head  joined the collection of body parts and as the rest of the creature emerged from the vault Sloane muttered the only word she felt properly described the creature standing before them.

“Dr-dragon, That’s a dragon!”  

Troy’s prosthetic arm grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her out of the way as a column of flame erupted from the  monster's mouth towards them.  

Tyreen however was ready and a crackling purple orb slammed into the monster’s  side drawing its attention away from them and toward her.

Sloane watched as Tyreen baited the monster around the chamber somehow always managing to slip away before claws or teeth could get close to her. It was like a dance and watching both of them put Sloane into a bit of a trance like state what was only broken when the monster, thrown into the wall  close to herself and Troy by the blast from the other siren. Yellow slitted eyes focused on the two and the monsters fanged mouth opened in anticipation.

Before the creature could strike however thick vines from the surrounding cave walls sprang to life as Sloane reached out with her powers and they coiled around the monsters neck dragging it back to the center of the room and tying it down to the floor. It was a struggle to hold the creature down, Sloane had never used her powers on anything this large before, she tended to be defensive with them. The creature of course was more powerful than anything she had encountered before.

Tyreen seemed to get the message and hurried over to the felled monster which shrieked and pulled against its bindings harder than before as Tyreen’s power, now brilliant red chains of energy hooked into it and drained the very life out of it, leaving only a stone and eridium husk.

“Annnd cut.” Tyreen called, the cam-bot  whizzed back to its master and slotted back into his arm. Sloane fell to her knees panting, she felt overextended and exhausted .

“Hey, You alright?” Troy asked, the concern caught her off guard as she figured they didn’t care about her well-being after all she was a means to an end to them and they had gotten what they wanted, as far as she knew they could easily leave her dead for being foolish enough to have trusted them at all.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to catch my breath.You...You’re bleeding. ” She responded, a glint of concern in her eyes in kind as she noticed blood trickling down Troy’s arm, it seemed he’d been grazed by a rock kicked up by the creature.

Troy’s eyes widened in surprise as he followed her gaze, his metal hand coming up to cover the wound. “Ty, need a hand here!” He called over to his twin who was still staring at her kill with a look of satisfaction.

Tyreen sighed as she hurried back over to them. “Aye manito you need to be more careful, what would do without me.” She chastised taking his hand in hers, he gave a short ‘heh’ at her words but otherwise seemed unphased . Their siren markings flared  in response to contact and the wound on Troy’s arm closed, it would seem that perhaps his markings, whatever they were, were not as inert as Sloane had been led to believe hours before.

“You sure you’re alright? There’s plenty of Eridium around if you need a boost.” Tyreen asked her attention squarely on Sloane now that Troy had been patched up.  

Sloane picked herself off the ground and gave herself a once over. “No, no I’m fine really. I just well, wasn’t expecting to have to deal with something like that.”

“Yeah vault monsters are nasty business, it gets easier the more you deal with though!” Tyreen was oddly chipper about the prospects of fighting more of these monsters.

“Can’t wait you have a look through that footage, bet you I can make some killer edits Ty.” Troy too was very energetic now, both Calypsos seemingly buzzing with excitement.

“Right, thanks for your generous contributions Sloane. Troy and I will escort you back to your house, you can make sure you have everything you want and our crew will  come and grab you first thing in the morning.” Tyreen explained as they made their way out the vault cave back into the cool night air of Eden-4.

Sloane still couldn’t believe this was actually happening, it seemed so fantastic and out there that she was sure if she were to tell anyone else they wouldn’t believe her. After all, she felt she wasn’t anyone special outside of being one of six sirens which when compared to what she knew of the other sirens her powers weren’t even that impressive. Yet she had earned the company of the two most influential people this side of the six galaxies.

It felt like a dream as she stood at her front door the twins behind her seeing her off safely.

“See you tomorrow, welcome to the family.” Tyreen said as she turned to walk away Troy following after. Sloane watched them disappear down the tree tunnel again as she had the first time they’d come.

She walked into her house, the essentials of her life packed into two large suitcases ready to leave come morning. She took one last look from the doorway, knowing this would be the last time she ever walked back into this place as home.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

GEARBOX THIS IS EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WANTED THAAAAHAHAHAANK YOUUUUU

FUCK OKAY TRAILER BREAKDOWN BECAUSE I AM LOOOOOOSING MY FUCKING MIND OVER THIS TRAILER HOOOOOLY SHIT

POSSIBLE PSOILERS??? MAYBE? GOD DDDDDAYMN WHAT A WAY TO GET BACK INTO THE THEORY SCENE LMAO

SO FIRST OF ALL I’M NOT CERTAIN THIS IS RELATED TO THE BARMAN/SECOND STARS CULT QUEST I FOUND IN THE FILES AS SOME PEOPLE SUGGESTED, BUT I WILL ADMIT IT IS SUSPICIOUSLY SPECIFIC. MAINLY ABOUT A CULT AND THE FACT WE SEE A BAR HANGING OUT IN THE TRAILER, BUT HEY, I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE ASSUMPTIONS RIGHT NOW I AM JUST GOING TO ENJOY THIS WHILE I CAN

ANd breathe in

breathe okay

okay

im okay.

i’ve watched this trailer like 15 times already oh my god it’s so good. i wasnt so hyped about the casino dlc bc, like, i already spoiled myself on it BUT THIS IS (AS FAR AS WE KNOW) UNCHARTED TERRITORY AND

IT’S TECHNICALLY A WATER PLANET

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

okay

okay

i will stop using caps

for the most part

hhhhhhh

okay.

let’s just be calm. i got this

BUT HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THOUGH????

oh ym goD

the fucking lighthouse sent me. i just. i went feral for a solid hour and a half. just wheezing on my test. i fell onto the floor at one point, don’t remember when. it was so fucking good, i couldn’t feel my goddamn hands

;-; its so beautiful i could stare at this all day hhhhhhh

i just

hhhhhhhhhhhh

oh ym godddd ;-;-;-;-;-;-;

it’s so fucking beautiful

i can’t

okay

we see the gun/health station under the lighthouse so it’s not really THAT big, and we can see a town in the distance. running across the ice sheets is giving me HUGE southern shelf vibes which i am in love with. this whole aesthetic is just ;w; so good

there’s a catch a ride in that town as well so we know this area is fairly big (which is confirmed in a later shot)

and oh my GOD can you imagine seeing some big ol beast lurking beneath the surface of the ice sheets hohhhh

MAN

okay sorry im still not oevr this its just so fckign good

inside the belly of the beast rotting Monster and OHHHHHHHHHHH THE IMPLICATION-s of that. of that. im calm.

we get a look at 2 new enemies and mmmmmm we get a better look at them later on so just look how fuckig beautiful thsi area is with its acid that’s probably rotting stomach acid and AAAAAAAA

first close up of the town, giving me really big uhhhh we happy few vibes? which im not complaining about

TENTACLES asdfghj

anywway more toen, bridge looks like like athenas which is DOPE im hype for more athenas-esque architecture

the TOWNss oh my god im so im love with this aesthetic god. damn.it i need this injected directly into my veins like right N O W

also the bridge is going over another pool of acid, which the tentacle is coming out of. i imagine this monster was sorta acid based, which is funny. since. frozen water planet. and it’s OOZY too. oozy boy means the eridians didn’t make this one! ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

hm who’s ready to face the unintended consequences of our actions?! NOT THE ERIDIANS WHOOO BOY (you cannot tlel me that there are mantakores on this planet and not say there was eridian fuckering going on nooOOPE)

also, side note, DIGGING the spike pit under the house on the bottom right. hope we get to explore that bad boy

ALSO

who are you mysterious figure whose cape billows in the wind? are you just part of the environment?? MAYBE

more town

first look at that BEAUITUFL red barrier which OOOOH I WANNA TOUCH SO BADLY

look at it

LOOK AT IT

NOODLE BOWL

EATS??? food place?? im not sure i can’t read, Jared, 19

see s-ar(?)ed??

THAT

THAT IS BEAUTIFUL

doesn’t look like a corporation shield (no corporation gunk lying around either) and we do know red glowy shit is the New Eridian Aesthetic, so im just saying.

it could be a corporation tho, mostly because uhhh later shots

hold up

that’s not uhhhhhhhhhhh

yeah it CAN’T BE lol

cursetown - something something

these red thingies are probably just rotting monster flesh but it does look very similar to the vines on nekrotefeyo

given how worried wainwright looks i imagine him and hammylocks are being coerced into the whole marriage thing in order to complete a ritual

i mean no judgement but that red background is absolutely garrish for a wedding

1. pirate ship??? please??? look at all the mist outside and the wooden bars

god PLEASE can i get a pirate ship.  CNA I PLEASE GET A PIRATE SHIP

Captain scarlett wsan’t enoughhhh

2. why the fuck does she have a tail

3.

DJ Midnight performing Saturday: The Dark Mix Deep W???? Hear The Voices (hmmm) and Let The Music Enter You

gee i wonder if this is cultist propaganda

I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU PEOPLE ARE

BUT YOUR TIMING

SUCKS

IIIII AM HERMEAUS MORAAA

no wait wrong game

BUT BRO TENTACLES COMING OUT OF THE MAGIC PORTALS???? UFCKF UEYS THIS FITS PERFECTLY INTO H2O A- i mean, damn haven’t we got enough tentacles from the destroyer?? wow gearbox... heh. hm.

SO I AM WONDERING IF MAYBE THE GREEN UNDER THE BRIDGE AND SUCH ISN’T LIKE CORROSIVE ACID BUT MAYHAPS SOME SORT OF MAGIC SLUDGE COMING OFF THE BIG OL MONSTER BOY THAT THESE CULTISTS ARE HARNESSING TO TAP INTO something. i lost steam. but i mean MAGIC PORTALS

and we all know where teleportation takes us

MANTAKORES!!! WHICH MEANS ERIDIAN INTERVENTION SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE

they seem like fire/ice boys which i absolutely adore

THIS SHOT IS SO COOL OH MY GOD

LIKE I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN IT JUST LOOKS D O P E

WHAT IS THIS??

WHAT IS THIIIS??

CAN I PLEASE HAVE YOUR JACKET

OH ALSO

I MENTIONED IT IN ANOTHER POST BUT THIS

REMINDS ME A LOT OF THIS

IM SURE THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO CORRELATION BUT I THOUGHTIT WAS FUNNY

ALSO REMEMBER THE BLACK EYES THING I HAVE A WHOLE THINGIE THING IMMA BRING BACK OT IT JUST HOLD TIGHT

THIS SHOT?? OH MY GOD? IT’S LIKE A MOVIE????????? I LOV EI LOVE IT LIV E OT

nND THE WOLFIE BOYS THATTHE ARTICLE MENTIONS

UCKING TENTACLES HFDGDHFGJKH THIS IS SO FUCKING COOL OH MY GOD

HE’ SGOT TENTACLE ARMS LIKE MOTHERFUCKING CHADAM

BRO IM

BROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

AND A GUN THIS MOTHERFUCKER STILL HAS A GUN

WHAT A MAN

MORE TECHONOLOG Y THAT IM SURE PLAYS A ROLE IN THIS SOMEHOW

BEAUTIFUL

WE SLAM THIS DUDE UP AGAINST A WALL SO HARD SHE/HE/THEY (I ASSUME SHE BC WE CAN’T SEE HER FACE AS A COMMON TROPE) 

BREAKS THE WINDOW WHICH LOOKS SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE A WINDOW ON SANC-III BUT IM NOT MAKING ANY ASSUMPTIONS

also red SPARKS WHICH REMIND ME OF ERIDIANS AGAIN

also her whole helmet thingie??? very Guardian-like

THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE IS GIVING ME HUGE HECTOR/KEY/PLANT/ERIDIANBULLSHITTERY VIBES THEY EVEN HAVE THE GLOWING SACS OF OOOOOOOZE

which is another point to the “green sludge is magic/connected to their powers somehow” theory. hmmm i hope we mix neon green and eridium purple. purple/green is my favorite color combo. and ugh with the lovecraftian vibes? be still my beating heart!

WINNIE SHOOTING SOMOHE

i fucking LOVE the laces on this shotgun. so fucking pretty omfg

magic circle MAGIC CIRCLE MAGIC CIRCLE

also new chest it looks like

BROO??? HOLY SHIT?????????

JABBER WOLF!! SO FUCKING COOL

THAT SKULL MOUTH IS SO FUCKING DOPE IT LOOKS LIKE TROY’S TATTOO

ohhhhhhHHHHHH THE MOON IS GREEN TOO DON’T DO THI GEARBOX IM GONNA SCREAM IF THERE’S ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE ERIDIUM

THIS SHOT OHHHH

THE BAR LOOKS FUCKING FANTASTIC OH MY GOD

shots SHOT SHOTS SHOT SHOTS HTOSHSTOHSOHTS

dND the MERFOLK TAIL ON THE FAR RIGHT I DON’T GIVE A FUUUCK WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS THAT’S MER TAIL THAT’S A TAIL FUCK U

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YSEY SEYSEYSE BIGGG

THE BARTENDER OHOH

HAVE I MENTIONED THE GIANT FUCKING MUSHROOMS BTW

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IM GETTTING SUCH DRAGONBORN DLC VIBES I LOVE IT

SWEETFRUIT VILLAGE BTW THAT’S IMPORTANT

YOU ALLL LOOK SO FUCKING AMAZING OH MY GOD

the bartender!!!! his glasses!! AND THE VOICE MODULATOR???

the netch looking boys are called

slithercresses btw and THEY LOOK STUNNING

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

NEW RED CHESTS??? LOOK ERIDIAN TO ME

WHICH MIGHT MEAN------

ALSO THE DIMENSIONAL TRANSFER PROGRAM ON SANC-III WHERE BBY BOY MAUREICE MAKES US A PORTAL TO HELL??? WHICH GREEN OOZE WHICH IS “HECKTOPLASM” BUT MAYBE ACTUALLY N O T

THE STAR OF THE SHOW BABY GIRL GAIGE WHO’SACTUALLY OLDER THAN ME NOW FUUUUUUUUCK

YOU’RE SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL II LOVE YOUR NEW GOGGLES

H??????????????

POSSIBLE NEW PSYCHOMASK UNLESS HE’S JUST GROWING THOSE BONE HORNS IN WHICH CASE YOU GO MAN IM PROUD OF YOU

TENTACLE GUNNNNNN WHICH BETTER LPAY A PART ERIRDIANS YOU FUCKS

THIS PLACE IS WHY I THINK THIS MIGHT BE RELATED TO S O M E CORPORAITON? BUT THEN AGAIN IT MAY JSUT BE THE CULT HEADQUARTERS OR WHATEVER, THAT RED BUBBLED MANSION LOOKS P HQ

FOOD CARTS AND ALSO WHATEVERS IN THAT SWINGING BAG LOOKS LIKE BONES HELL YEAH

this this THIS THIS THIS THIS WHAT IS THIS A NEW CIRCL  E OF SLAUGHTEr? ERIDIAN???

THEYRE PUMPING SOMETHING INTO/OUT OF THE CORPSE!!!!!!! ALSO

mutaTED FEET

[something] world! with a skull symbol on the side

both green btw

god YES I LOVE GREEN AND PURPLE IM SO HAPPY

SAILOF HOLE

hammylocks helping us with a fight by some bones and more wolfie boys!!!! i love these little dudes

FIRE MUTATED SLUGS AAAAAAAAA THEYRE SO COOL

ns tHEY CUR L UP INTO BALLS AND ROLL AT YOU LIKE KRAGGONS

AND I WONDER HOW THE SLUGS MUTATED IS IT POSSIBLY THE G R E E EN?

AND THEIR SHELLS LIKE SUCC UP LAVA?????????????

THESE BRAIN-Y BOYS 

SO BLUE I LOVE THEM

AND MORE GREEN MIST BY THE WAY OWOWOWOWOWO

another look at a baddie with STUDS THIS TIME

A MAGIC WARLOCK TYPE BADDIE THIS TIME AND HE SUMMONS A STAFF AND ALSO I THINK THAT’S ERIDIUM CANNISTER BEHIND HIM

AND IT HAS SIMMILAR TENTACLESTO THE GUNS DO YOU THINK WE’RE FINALLY GOING TO GET ANA NSWER ASA TO WHY OUR GUNS ARE A L I V E

MORE SNAIL DUDES AND THE GREEN STUFF IN THE BACKGROUND M A N I LOVE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA SNAILS

OOOOOZE

BACK AT IT AGAIN IN MY CYCLONES

GREEN FUCKING PUDDLES

B O N E S FUCKING I HOPE THIS EXPLAINS HOW THE SKAGS ON PANDORA GOT SO FUCKIN LARGGO OUTSIDE OF JUST ‘YEAH THE SEASONS’

MORE

this

THIS

ONE

THIS LOOKS LIKE A SAURIAN THE ARMORED ONES THE BASHY ARMORED ONES THAT START WITH ‘C’

TWO THAT GUN IS KICKASS

IT’S GLOWING G R E E N AND IT HAS ***THE TENTACLE BARREL***

OHHHH IM SO READY FOR AN EXPLANATION GEARBO X PL E ASE

GIVE IT TO ME

ALSO THIS

IM EXCITED ABOUT

PROBABLY RELATED TO SWEETFRUIT VILLAGE BC THE MUSHROOMS MAYBE THEY USE IT TO MAKE BOOZE MUSHROOM BOOZE EW

WHY IS HE GRAY?????? HE’S NOT WEARING A JACKET MAYBE HES CRYO-FLAVORED

more sluggus THESE ARE GREEN FLAVORED :O

also, side note

PLEASE TLEL ME THIS WAS INTENTIONAL GEARBOX

LEMME SLAP BLANE’S ASS

YOU *GUYS* PLEASE

BUBBLE MANSION??? GREEN OOZY VILLAIN THAT GOT SLMAMED INTO A WALL??? BABY BABY GIRL

THE R E D

and she’s USING A TENTACLE GUN TOO

THAT’S GOTTA MEAN SOMETHING RIGHT

hhhhhhHHHHH

also ther’e sa fridge on the left lol

also the consoles look similar to that one shot with zane which is why i believe this is part of that bubbled-y mansion.

YES ES YES YES YES YESY SYEYSE 

I WANNA RIDE THE SKY TRAM SO BAD PLEASE

I WANNA REENACT UNTIL DAWN

I HAVE A MIGHTY NEEEEEEED

ALSO NOTE THE EYES

AND THE PURPLE HOW IT LOOKS LIKE AN ERIDIUM PURPLE

ANYWAY I HA[VE TO GO EAT FOOD NOW BUT GO LOOK AT THIS LINKN

I LOOKED UP THE NAME OF THE PLANET AND MYTHOLOGY AND NOTHING CAME UP, BUT GOOGLE RECOMMENDED ME 

T H I S

https://pantheon.org/articles/l/lycurgus.html

AND MAN OH MAN

“FAMOUS FOR HIS PERSECUTION OF DIONYSUS” THE GOD OF P A R T I E S LIKE IDK A WEDDING PARTY, WHICH FORCED YA MAIN MAN DIONYSUS TO <JUMP INTO THE OCEAN> WHICH COULD HAVE SOME RELATION TO THE TENTACLES

OH AND ALSO LYCURGUS WAS THEN <<<BLINDED>>>  WHICH COULD PLAY A PART IN THE BLACK OOZY EYES EVERYONE HAS

DIONYSUS ALSO ENDS UP PUNISHING LYCURGUS WITH MADASS AND WE ALL KNOW HOW THAT RELATES

OKAY BYE