#it was very strange. nobody had human heads but i dont remember what they were

[m00ngbin]

I had the weirdest fucking dream where I was working at my old job and a bunch of people I vaguely know on here all came in together and bought a giant hamburger platter (I worked at target??) and then left without the food. My single coworker and I had to feed the whole thing to the floor to put the ingredients back because our manager didn't like waste

[almostdeath]

Ok. This is...kind of a sketch...like I said I can't write fully fanfiction but here you go! I just want them to have a family dynamic. And yes...this is probably super OOC.

-Quackity...why is Schlatt here? Wasn't he a tyrant and...dead?-

Foolish asked, looking at the former president of Manburg, who was looking around, inspecting the buildings with a skeptical look, holding a glass of whiskey in his hand. Quackity sighs, trying to avoid direct eye contact.

-We made a bet....and I lost. So...he stays here...for a while...till I revive him...-

-Revive him? but that's JSchlatt---

-So, who build all this?-

the horned man asks, taking a sip from his glass and continue to...admire the buildings...

-...Me, I build it.-

Foolish says, rather fast...faster then he wanted. Schlatt just nods.

-Looks good. Majestic, you are clearly good at this, you have any degree in such things?-

-....Well...no...actually I am a God, you know...but thanks...-

this came out quietly and less fast then the previous statement, the God was truly flustered. He didn't expect a compliment to his skills, especially from a dictator.

-God? Not bad. Must be a advantage...

-What...against enemies?-

Foolish was ready to get defensive but then heard the answer.

-no, for building. You know, the whole...flying thing...or whatever is your power, I don't really care.-

Schlatt just shrugged, took another sip from his whiskey and continued to walk around.

-dont let your guard down...he may be charismatic, but don't let him fool you...-

Quackity said quietly. But Foolish didn't listen, his skills were appreciated!

***

The whole casino didn't look to bad either, maybe this a place that he could get used to...

-Hello, JSchlatt from Manburg.-

The ram-hybrid almost spilled his drink...almost. He focused his gaze on the strange young...guy?...he had a shap of a guy...but the former president couldn't be sure.

-And...who are you?-

-Oh! I am human...this you can tell by looking at my..completely human form!-

-....Yeah, sure. Whatever you say. And does your human form have a name?-

-Of course! Charlie...this does sound human, right?-

-Well, yes, I assume.-

This time, Schlatt tried to get away from the conversation as fast as possible and continued his journey, hading towards the balcony, he clearly needed a smoke.

-See you later. Glatt from the afterlife gym.-

The man stopped for a moment, how did this...definitely human know about the gym...he decided to question that later and tried to get to the balcony even faster.

-He saw me as a human!-

The slime-boy was just happy that he could convince another person that he is human....

***

Stepping on the balcony and finally getting some fresh air...that isn't really needed for a ghost...but still...Schlatt saw another person and sighed outloud, stepping closer, but still keeping the distance. This person seemed strange...netherit armor...and...oh...it seems, that its Sam...Schlatt does remember him. He lights his cigar, looking down at all the other buildings.

-Seems like you are still "guarding" someone.-

-....You could say so.-

The creeper-hybrid seems to be as calm as always, but his voice gives away some notes of worries. Schlatt stays quiet. He isn't someone who starts "soul to soul conversation"...even if his state as a ghost would mean that every conversation is like this.

-Did you ever....regret, doing the right thing?-

Sam is the one, who breaks the silence, not looking at the former president. The ram-hybrid answered with a laughter.

-Regret is something for people...who are wrong. Isnt it?-

-...What if those right actions hurt the one...that you care about?-

-Eh...what do you mean?-

the ghost inhaled the smoke of his cigar and let lit out after some seconds, it wasn't the same after his death...but it still gave a satisfying burn.

-...You remember Ponk?-

-...The name seems familiar. Eh...the strange guy, who always followed you?-

Schlatt could have sworn that he heard a very quiet chuckle from Sam...those were rare...even extinct.

-Yes...that one....I chopped his arm off...I had to...I needed him to understand that he can't mess with the prison...that nobody can mess with it. That it can get dangerous and he didn't understand it...I......am I a bad person for doing the right thing?-

-I don't think so.-

The answer was so quick and determined that the creeper-hybrid almost thought that he only imagined it. He didn't think that someone would really understand.

-I mean...I didn't order to execute Tubbo just because I am a sick fuck. I mean...that's part of the reason, but I also couldn't everyone think that they could just betray me and get away with it. I think...you did the right thing. Maybe....he will understand that there are sacrifices that have to be done. Sometimes they cost a life...maybe even your own.-

Schlatt let the cigar fall from the balcony and emptied his glass fully, letting it stay on the table nearby. He left, giving Sam the silence and time for thinking that he clearly needs. As soon as the ram-hybrid thought he is done with new encounters, he sees a familiar face...and familiar fox-ears.

-Fundy.....so you are on Quackitys side, heh.-

Schlatt smiled and tilted his head a little bit. The fox stayed quiet, tried to formulate a sentence in his head...he thought so much about a future conversation, but now...when he has a chance, he can't bring himself to say anything.

-Well....I guess, this time I kind of follow your dream, right kid?-

Without any hesitation and even without sarcasm, he just petted Fundy on his shoulder, making his way further.

-See you later.-

Fundy continued to stay there, looking in the direction where Schlatt has gone. He really wanted to say something...but right now he didn't know what and how he could do it. He wanted Schlatt to change his ways...but..right now...after all what he heard from Foolish and Slime...and the little parts of the dialogue that he heard from the side of the balcony...he begins to question...does Schlatt really have to change...or do they all just need to see his point of view...

[anianimol]

okokok id like to request somethin from the fluff prompt pls hehehe ushi & 11? or asahi if u dont wanna write for ushijima:) thanks bb!! 🤍🤍

a/n: ALLI BB!☺️!! I haven’t gotten to write this man in SO long so ty! (p.s. this was supposed to be a drabble but oops I got carried away)

-

warnings: I think there’s like one swear word, lol + like slightly spicy kissing?

!!premise: spending your mornings enjoying your neighborhood’s botanical gardens, a certain captain begins to join you, and not just to cultivate his green thumb.

-

prompt #11: “I think I’m in love with you.”

-

Ushijima Wakatoshi checked his watch as the doors to the gym swung open, signaling the end of practice.

“11:47 AM.”

Shit. He was late.

Slinging the maroon duffel across his body, he broke into a sprint, the swishing of his warmup jacket and the whistle of the wind the only audible sounds of the crisp summer morning.

-

You heard his presence before you saw it, those familiar heavy footsteps pounding against the concrete, only pausing a few paces away from you as his heaving chest found a calmer rhythm.

You thought it was cute, how he tried to make it seem like he hadn’t dashed all the way here from Shiratorizawa’s campus—a twenty minute walk from the gardens, an even longer one for anyone coming straight from a grueling three-hour morning practice.

Peeking at your phone, you glanced at the time;

“11:54 AM.”

Well, Toshi wasn’t exactly your average human.

-

The wooden planks of the gazebo groaned under his heavy trod as he padded up its steps, his movements slow and deliberate, as if not to disturb you.

He was silent for a moment as he sat, settling his bag beside you.

The quiet between the two of you was routine—not awkward, or forced, but comforting. You seemed to have an unspoken understanding of one another, each relishing in the calm of the garden’s hidden oasis.

Getting lost on your way home from classes, you had stumbled across the spot coincidentally years before, immediately proclaiming it your new hideaway—your very own secret garden.

Though it wasn’t long before a certain upcoming volleyball superstar from your school discovered your best kept secret.

You remembered the moment as if it were yesterday—heading back from campus, you jogged briskly up the winding path, slipping through rows of trees, whistling to yourself as you made your way up the oak steps. You froze at the entrance, hand clamping over your lips as your gaze settled on the boy before you.

Stretched out upon the bench, he lay with an arm shading his eyes, his broad chest rising slowly, breaths even and deep. Toffee brown locks feathered his forehead, ruffled messily by the wind. You noticed the familiar garments he wore, the inky purple hue against a stark shade of ivory, eyes flitting over his loosened tie and forgotten blazer.

Ignoring the heat that began to rush to your cheeks, you tiptoed to a spot across from him, settling yourself on the bench and slipping a bound leather notebook from your bag. Fingering through pages covered in sketches of greenery and blossoms, you decided it was time you attempted a new subject.

Ushijima’s eyes fluttered open, squinting at the sunlight which poked out from between the branches of a large fern nearby. Rubbing his temples, his ears perked up at a sound, something like a soft scratching, or maybe...?

Eyes wide, he shot up, his gaze immediately landing on the figure that sat across from him.

Head bent in concentration, your hand moved skillfully against the paper, the graphite sliding smoothly, etching silky lines upon the blank surface.

A breeze blew through the wooden fortress, blowing small strands of hair into your face, tickling plush skin, brushing past faintly flushed lips, as if they had just been bitten.

He felt a breath catch in this throat, clearing it with a low cough.

At the sound, you glanced up, your eyes locking immediately.

Smiling warmly at his flustered expression, you greeted him with a shy laugh;

“Hi!”

-

“Toshi. Toshi! Helloooooooo!”

You chuckled as the man beside you blinked, looking to you in surprise.

The brunette dropped his gaze, mumbling a low “Sorry.”

Placing your sketchbook to the side, you glanced over, intrigued by his strange behavior.

“Something wrong?” you mused, poking at his bicep, which you hadn’t recalled being so muscled the last time the two of you had met.

He shrugged, not meeting your eyes, his hands fiddling with something you couldn’t see.

“What’s that?” you asked, leaning forward against him, a hand reaching out; “Let me see!”

Ushijima stiffened beside you, his large palms instantly clamping shut, concealing the hidden object.

“No.”

Pouting, you tugged at his sleeve, whining, “Come onnn, I let you look at my drawings all the time!! Nobody else gets to see them, so just show me once!”

Wakatoshi felt his cheeks begin to burn as you brushed against his arm, looking up at him with those shining eyes he found extremely hard to resist.

“Fine. Close your eyes.”

Slightly puzzled but not wanting to push him further, you squeezed your eyes shut.

A soft gasp slipped out as something cool feathered your wrist, peaking your curiosity.

“Open.”

Upon your left wrist lay a delicate bracelet, a beautiful thin, golden chain adorned with handsome white blossoms. As you held your hand up to the light, tiny fuchsia petals smiled back at you beside the brilliant alabaster of the apple blossoms.

“For me?” you murmured incredulously, glancing to the man at your side.

He nodded, a soft smile dancing upon his lips at your glowing expression.

“Thank you, it’s beautiful!”

Without thinking, you threw your arms around his neck, leaving the captain sputtering in surprise, his face now buried in your hair. Had you always smelled this good?

“I love it,” you laughed, amused by his bashful reaction. Cupping his cheek with one hand, you pressed your lips gently to his skin, the soft peach fuzz tickling your nose.

Pulling away slightly, the gaze you were met with brought that same feeling of butterflies you had experienced the first day you had met, all those years ago. His chocolate irises were focused, filled with the kind of warmth you had never seen in them before.

“Toshi, what—“you started, freezing as his calloused hand rose to brush against the apple of your cheek, palm so wide that it grazed against the side of your jaw as his fingers wove with your hair.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now.”

Bridging the gap between you, his lips met yours, unsure at first, catching your bottom lip between his, the gentle pressure of his hot mouth leaving your head spinning.

Allowing the electric feeling to take over, your lips moved against his fervently, the hidden desire that pooled within you surfacing, sending waves of goosebumps across your body at the thought of Toshi’s soft lips melting against your mouth.

As his touch seared across your skin, your body moved of its own accord, yielding to his warmth and allowing him to clutch you to his strong chest, his arm supporting your waist.

Cradling you in his arms, Toshi broke away after a long moment, his breathing heavy and eyes glazed with longing.

Resting your forehead to his as your breaths began to even out, you leaned into the hand that caressed your face tenderly, inhaling his heavenly scent.

“Rest.” His voice was hoarse, almost a whisper as he tucked your head into the nape of his neck.

Lids growing heavy, you nuzzled against him, sighing contently.

As he peered down at your sleeping form, his lips came to rest at your crown, murmuring into your hair;

“I think I’m in love with you.”

-

The apple blossom symbolizes preference. When gifted to another, it says, “I prefer you before all.”

-

🍄taglist: @janellion @stcrryskies @kuronekomama @the-kool-aid-man-is-real @fandomwriter73 @deadontheinsidebut @thirsthourdemon @bokutoskb ☺️

-

[muriellive]

If you, my dear reader, are Russian-speaking, then it will probably be easier for you to read this creation on the site "mangalib" or listen to this video:

A forgotten village on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Clover - Ankvar, the inhabitants of this village were completely killed during the invasion attempt of the warring kingdom of Diamond. Among its ruins, slowly moving his feet, a tall man of about twenty, wrapped in all black, was waddling about. On his head was a large-brimmed hat with a silvery pattern on the tips, and his face was covered with a torn dark blue mask.

Elbe (and that is what he was called) was looking for a certain magical beast, which, according to rumors, has been raging in the eastern lands of the kingdom for quite some time. Who and why asked him about it is not known, but the man was never interested in the reasons and motives of his customers. "There is money, and okay" - so he thought. Yes, exactly, Elbe was a hunter ... a bounty hunter.

The order this time was very strange: "I have not ordered animals yet ..." - he thought.

But, let's forget about this hunter for a minute and go a little further south ...

Faber is a city on the outskirts, standing at the intersection of trade routes. A young (in fact, not very much, 32 years old is too much) knight magician, straightening a grayish cape with a deer patch, happily blurted out:

- Eh, it was a wonderful day today! - Novakhrono, again running away from his duties, walked around the evening town.

- Look, this is Mr. Julius! Captain of the Gray Deer! - joyful children's voices were heard behind the knight. Responding to their exclamations, the blond turned around, putting on a wide smile on his face, which, it would seem, could banish all sadness and sadness with its one appearance.

- Yeah, kids! Also strive to become knight magicians?

To his rather unintelligent question, the children happily chorus answered "Yeah!"

- Knight mages are cool! - shouted the red-haired boy.

- Cool, huh? - Julius said thoughtfully.

- Yes exactly! When I become a knight-magician, I will be able to fight and attack dangerous opponents with my magic. - the boy rejoiced.

“W-well, this is…” Novachrono tried to explain that the duties of the Knights-Mages are completely different from a simple battle.

“How stupid…” came a high, childish voice, in which, however, there was a certain alarm. The future king of magicians stretched out his neck a little to make out the owner of light brown, tattered hair. Before his eyes appeared a tiny little inch, wrapped in a long scarf and looking towards the children with sad, frightened eyes.

- What ?! - the red-haired boy looked at the girl with an inflated and angry expression on his face. - Nobody asked you, ragamuffin!

- Well, well, don't. - Julius tried to settle the situation. However, here no one even listened to him: everyone sharply turned their gazes to the trembling little girl.

Unfortunately, this attitude was not unusual for her. Yes, it is understandable - the Clovers did not like foreigners, but for a four-year-old child it was very difficult to withstand such pressure.

- I w-wanted ... - the baby began quietly. - …to tell…

- What? - asked Novachrono.

- Knights-magicians, after all, first of all, assistants and only then warriors, right?

It seems to be a simple phrase, but what effect it had on Julius! At that moment, he thought: "really, the mouth of a baby speaks the truth!"

- Shut up, stranger, they didn't give you your word! - the redhead got angry, offended that he was interrupted. To which he immediately received a slap in the face from his mother, and then a reprimand. The woman, quietly apologizing for the bad behavior of her unlucky son, hastened to disperse the kids to their homes.

The captain of the "Gray Deer" shook his head and was about to leave, when he suddenly felt that his clothes were being pulled. He turned around and saw the thumb again. Now, when she stood a little closer, one could make out her, to put it mildly, "unkempt" clothes, disheveled hair and a filthy nose.

- What do you need?

The girl creased the hem of her cloak a little, and then wiggled her hand, indicating that Julius should bend down. Novachrono looked at the baby in bewilderment, but did not object. She began to whisper, barely audible:

- Could you see me off?

The captain of the Gray Deer was even more surprised!

- To carry out? What for?

- Oh, you do not be angry, knight-magician. - answered for the girl standing next to the old woman. - A girl and her brother came here to us, but he is all at work: where he rushes - do not understand! This animal has also been running around here ever since they arrived here ... - the elderly woman crossed herself at last and bowed and left.

"Animal?" - thought to himself the future King of Magicians. "They haven't reported this to the main headquarters ... I suppose we ought to stay here a little longer."

With these thoughts, Novakhrono took the girl by the arm and led her home ...

...

Well, have you already forgotten about him? And he had already managed to get to the village of Faber! Elbe walked a little loosely along the streets, between the wooden-stone buildings only 2-3 floors high. He could not find any signs of an attack: he could not find any scratches, no destruction or breakdowns, which means, most likely, the animal does not come to the village itself. “Perhaps he is whipping up the inhabitants on the outskirts,” Elbe flashed through his head.

- But you have a big village. - the hunter heard someone approaching him!

Without thinking twice, he ducked around the corner and listened. On the road to the outskirts of the village, there were two: a child and an adult man. Elbe recognized the captain of the Gray Deer at once, but he did not care about the girl at all. But this is only for now ...

“What is the strongest among the captains of the orders of the Knight Mages doing here? The task? Really, he also hunts the beast? " - the thug was nervous.

- Well, where is your brother? - asked the magician in a gray cape. - What is his profession?

- A? I dont know…

After these words, Julius became wary. Looks like he was a little worried about the girl.

- How long has he left?

- Hmm ... - she thoughtful ... - About two months already gone.

Novachrono's eyes widened in surprise: he looked at the baby with fear in his heart, realizing that there could be thousands more like her in their kingdom! And she walked with a light gait, full of hopes for the return of her brother ...

Having brought Natsuhi, and that was the name of the girl, to her house, which was half ruined, the man did not leave the village, as he had previously planned, but, on the contrary, decided to stay at a local hotel for a short while. Still, it's not a joke: who knows how many more people may suffer ...

Novachrono woke up not so early: at about nine in the morning, and then, not because he wanted to, but from a sudden noise outside. Without thinking twice, he dressed and with a quick and swift step went to the exit, where an unmeasurable number of fans had already gathered to gawk. Pushing aside the passers-by, Julius hurried into the depths of what was happening, where in the middle of the gazing lay a twenty-year-old boy, dressed in black clothes and with a mask on his face. Elb was badly wounded in the chest. Around him, in a barely noticeable whirlwind, swirled dark roc, particles similar to small birds that make up all the magic in this world. But what's strange is that usually they have only one color - white, the captain of the knights-magicians has never seen any other colors before in his life! Of course, the people around him didn't share the same excitement as he did, because they had too little mana to see these particles.

"Black ... from where?" Julius asked. - "It just can't be!"

“E...ars” Elba's whisper was barely audible, but Novachrono could still make out his words. - That girl ... - after hearing the "Gray Deer" fell into a stupor. The young man passed out and vryatli can wake up soon, but one thing was clear ...!

“N-Natsuhi…” The knight-magician decided to visit the girl in view of recent events. - Why did you and your brother leave your home country?

- A? I don’t know… ”She handed the man a saucer of cookies. He accepted and put it on the table, continuing to listen. - Aniki simply said that it became dangerous there, but why, I still did not understand ... - the baby puffed out her cheeks, lowered her eyes to the floor and raised her hand to her chin, thinking.

- Well, I'll go ... - the girl smiled, taking the rocker standing in the corner, and headed for the door.

- Wait a minute! Julius stopped her. - I will go with you. H-help, otherwise it's hard.

- Yes, not so ... - the fair-haired woman was a little surprised.

- No, no, you're a girl, and girls can't carry heavy things!

"You can't leave her alone ..."

...

- Here! See, I can do it myself! - The girl deftly lifted a bucket of water from the well, "hugging" it with her little hands ...

- Yeah ... - Julius clapped his hands. He tried not to show it, but it was clear that the captain was nervous when the little girl laughs so merrily and carefree, not suspecting anything ...

“Do I need to report this? Or is it better to deal with it quietly? " - the magician reflected. Deciding to write a report, Julius first called his confidant, Marcus, to keep order in the village and paid special attention to protecting Natsuhi. He suspected that it was for her that the mysterious beast was hunting.

...

Elb had been in the hospital for about two weeks. I did not even think to regain consciousness! While he was passed out, images kept popping up in his head: as if a tape had been inserted, but there were clearly gaps in it. But he clearly remembered that very night - the battle was clearly not an easy one ... Ears, more like a cat's, gray eyes and a distorted semi-human silhouette. The hunter has never met such a monster ...

Soryy for such an abrupt narration)

Night. Quiet and calm, starry. However, Novakhrono was in no hurry to surrender to the sweet embrace of Morpheus. He was sitting at a table in a huge luxurious hall, crowned with columns of the Doric order and pondering over the latest events, which had managed to stir up his imagination so well: on the one hand, he was interested to look at a new, hitherto unseen type of magic, on the other, “why exactly Natsuhi? "

This question still haunted him. "What's so special about her?"

Then a white flat image suddenly appeared over his head, which, in bright streams of light, scattered from the middle to the edges, disappearing. It was the magic of Marcus, although he himself, for some reason, was not visible. Usually his communication magic will display an accurate image of himself in a second, but this time it was different, which made Julius tense up! The window slightly trembled and blinked, and then disappeared altogether, after a barely intelligible sound of words came from there. The blond immediately stood up in amazement and, commanding the black-haired boy to get ready and call for reinforcements, instantly went to Cob (Cob Portaport is a spatial magician shown in chapter 113 of the manga and in episode 73 of the anime. He seemed to help Finral with training), so that he could transfer him to the village.

Meanwhile, in the settlement itself, something crazy was happening everywhere: Elb, standing on the main street and holding a barrel of oil in his hands, spilling its contents and setting it on fire! The people around fell into a panic and, shouting and begging for help, ran madly to the outskirts of the village.

- Ha ha! Right! Run, save your pitiful lives!

The fire was arranged by him in order to drive the residents out of this village before the beast, which was already raging in full force in the center, killed everyone. But now a dark silhouette has already burst into the local church! The long, long hair that hid his face hung in strands dirty and slightly scorched from fire. Bright gray eyes darting from side to side and curved limbs with claws. All wounds that would not have inflicted on him instantly healed!

"And how to fight such a monster ?!"

Elb threw the keg at the monster and threw a lighted match. The oil flared up sharply and the fire covered the entire body of the evil spirits, from which it began to wriggle in agony with piercing screams. But even the flame was not able to defeat the monster! It burned, but did not die! The body of this chkdisha completely recovered, even no burns remained.

"This is clearly not a regeneration," Elbe wondered.

Distraught with rage, the monster attacked the hunter, causing both of them to fly a rather long distance. Elb, before landing instantly, purely on reflexes, pulled a small dagger from the sleeve of his uniform and tried to get rid of the attacker by striking a blow. Surprisingly, it worked: when it fell, the monster recoiled from the young man back. Grasping the wound inflicted in the neck, it screamed pitifully!

"Here it is!" - thought the hunter, - "Weak point".

He was already preparing to strike a second blow, crushing! How suddenly I felt that all sounds suddenly disappeared! The flame that had recently destroyed the village went out ... there was a deathly silence. The beast writhed and groaned in pain. Elb just for a second looked away from her to look around, but, concentrating on his goal, he attacked and then the monster suddenly disappeared, and instead of him ...

...

The hunter tried to hit him again with his metal magic, but a steel shield appeared in the stranger's hand in a strange way. Or rather, not quite a shield, rather just a mass of steel. The stranger passed his right hand through the air, quickly sketching some symbols. Suddenly the ground cracked and water burst out from under it in violent streams. It's just that a huge amount of water filled the whole area. Then it felt like the skin was colitis. A bright flash of lightning rippled across the water surface and instantly struck Elb ...

After what time a detachment of "Gray Deer" arrived at the scene of recent events, but neither the monster, nor the fire, nor that strange stranger in the silly mask was gone. And only the wounded bounty hunter lay, unable to get up, in the middle of the empty street, remembering the words: "Save me, brother" ...

[happikattwuzheere]

the one where gansey befriends a deer: the au

hey remember that time ronan dreamed up a deer that was described with language suspiciously similar to how adam’s described, because i sure do!!! anyway

OK.

ok. so. this au’s actually evolved a lot since its initial already-pretty-fleshed-out inception one sleepless night, so me talking about it’s gonna be more than one post, but here’s the first one well actually the second technically yesterday’s warmup doodles were also from this au but i didnt talk about it at all so

and I’m gonna start with more or less the same pitch I gave to a couple people on discord

SO. starting out: it’s standard fantasy times, vaguely medieval but no specific time period because I don’t care enough to be digging into that quite frankly, but it is somewhere in England where this is happening. Story starts with just Gansey, Ronan, and Noah. Fey are very real and known entities and there’s been a conflict in England between the fey and humans, if not in the whole country then at least in the lands that the Ganseys are the lords of but probably the whole island tbh, and Gansey’s not inherited the lands yet but he’s going to and wants to maybe find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It’s not open warfare by any means but it’s been a big problem. 

To the effect of solving that, he heads to some little village that I haven’t named but it’s right next to a known fey forest called Cabeswater. This village has avoided being stomped by the local fey because, despite witches not being particularly liked by the nobility of the time, there’s a big old coven (the psychics of Fox Way, essentially) situated right by this village that’s kept things in check. Gansey’s made his excuses to his parents about why he’s officially going there but really he wants to talk to the witches and get a better grasp of the conflict from the people actually dealing with it.  He and Ronan set out from home together, pick up Noah along the way--who is not a ghost in this AU, he’s a fey who owes Gansey a life debt, that’s a whole other post and THIS post is mostly about gansey and adam--but anyway they get to this village and NOBODY gives gansey the time of day. 

the witches don’t let him into their house because they don’t like the nobility right back thanks and the next time he tries to visit Cabeswater won’t even let him get to the coven’s dwelling, the one witch’s daughter who regularly stops by the village for supplies and to check if anyone needs anything has a big argument with him the first time he talks to her so that’s going nowhere, and, well, the villagers are polite, but they clearly don’t take him seriously. He’s just the lordling playing at things and potentially meddling in their business to them.

So he starts hanging out just barely within Cabeswater, even though he knows that’s not wise, because he finds this perfect spot by a stream, and he’ll sit out there and think and work on the journal he keeps of all his thoughts and plans, and one day while he’s there has a straight up Disney princess experience when a deer stops by the stream and seems incredibly unafraid of him. he cherishes the experience but accepts that it probably won’t happen again.

and then it does. several times. gansey’s losing his mind. this deer??? apparently likes listening to him info dump?? it’s very therapeutic and also very magical and he’s amazed 

a few times in, he names the deer “Pryderi” after a character from a welsh legend, because “such a handsome creature deserves a princely name,” [[muffled blue laughing and whispering “princely” in the distance]], and he tells ronan and noah about this experience but ronan doesn’t believe him at ALL. 

one time after gansey’s particularly upset at how bad his attempts at getting along with the villagers, Pryderi actually lets Gansey touch him for the first time and gansey cannot shut up about it to ronan who’s finally like “i think you’re bullshitting me about this deer thing. im coming with you next time” and gansey’s like “well he’s a deer he might not show up if a stranger’s around and he doesn’t come every time i go down there anyway” and ronan’s like “this sounds like a lot of excuses, dick, you’re not making me believe you any more with this” and gansey’s like “>8\” 

but pryderi does show up, and gansey is delighted, and ronan stares really hard at him and then goes 

and gansey’s like what? nooo. but ronan keeps arguing it for the duration of the visit and the deer actually starts to look annoyed and at the end ganseys like ok maybe but i doubt it. and then hes like “well since you are a fey apparently (/sarcasm) i ought to say farewell with respect” and bows very mockingly and then the deer makes direct eye contact with ronan and bows back and gansey loses his shit

gansey continues meeting up with pryderi but even while his infodumping still happens it does so now with the knowledge that He Does Actually Understand What Im Saying, he may be a fey but he seems like a friendly one and hey that’s way more than gansey thought he would get out here, and also this deer is his friend now thanks, 

he, ronan, and noah (who’s amused by Pryderi but keeps his main thoughts to himself for now) make some excursions into cabeswater, but the thing is noah’s not really native to england, he’s from the european mainland, again i’ll get to it in another post sometime, but. he can sort of help navigate cabeswater but not all THAT well so they get lost a couple times, and every time it does happen pryderi shows up and helps guide them out. there’s some very funny moments of a very jealous ronan getting into weird conflict w/ a very smug deer 

anyWAY one day there’s like a festival, everyone’s drunk because its the middle ages and there’s not really a drinking age, gansey’s making another effort to make friends with anyone, and this one guy about his own age is like “ok look here i’ll teach you the folk dance everyone’s doing ok?” and gansey spends the night dancing w/ a handsome stranger, yes he will recognize the irony in the morning, but for now it goes. well badly because they’re both drunk but it’s fun, and then the guy says “ah, fuck it, i’ll finish teaching you next time we see each other” and gansey’s like “thats a little forward but ok!” and the guy (adam. its adam) panics and leaves while gansey’s back is turned and gansey doesn’t remember that last snippet of conversation the next day nor can he quite recall the stranger’s face. ronan does, because he was watching and not sure which of the two he was jealous of, but neither of them has any idea who the guy actually was. 

and then like, 3 days later, gansey falls asleep at the spot he usually hangs out in in cabeswater and wakes up in the early evening just in time to hear people yelling and for Pryderi to burst into view with an arrow in his flank. he collapses in a bush. gansey snaps into “protect friend” mode and gets the hunters off his trail by being all “oh a strange buck? i saw it pass that way over there friend!” and then when they’re gone he comes back and is all “alright pryderi they’re gone, let me just--” except pryderi’s not a deer anymore. it’s a boy. 

(Adam. its adam. the deer is adam.) 

gansey takes him home, gets the arrow out, noah’s like “i mean he’s not a fey, i dont know what turning into a deer is about but if he were fey the iron in that arrow would already have him dead. he might be partially fey but so little that he’s human in the ways that really matter”, over the next couple days they figure out that pryderi is in fact from the village and is a young man named adam parrish who’s been labelled a changeling and is assumed dead since he was yknow shot, gansey decides for now its probably best to keep him that way, but adam’s not getting better--apparently even having had the arrow in him as briefly as he did has poisoned him, he’s desperately ill and on the third day is finally like “get persephone” so gansey tries again (he’s tried several times over these days, they’d worked out that to have survived this long he must have someone else with a small degree of fey blood teaching him the ropes and the most likely suspects are the witches, but he’s hoping adam specifically asking him to will grant him permission enough to go in) and runs into a very frantic blue en route who as soon as he makes it clear he’s got adam is like “move your ass over on that horse im climbing on too” 

they get persephone, who turns into a fox rather than a deer, she saves adam, everythings cool except adam’s pissy now because he cant go back to the village and he has to give up on the attempts he had in the works to get out of town by working his way out and he takes it out on gansey who doesnt deserve it because this friendship is a mess, he’ll feel bad and take it back eventually but thats yet more posts ANYWAY YEAH theres our starting point 

(also worth noting: due to cabeswater being Right There,  p much everyone in this village actually has a small degree of fey blood, adam just won the genetic lottery) 

tl;dr adam’s a fey-blooded witch’s apprentice and he’s been the deer the whole time and thats the start of this au ty for coming to this ramble 

[mightbeawriter1]

Starting a new story about Ella and Azrael's friendship. Hope it turns out okay.

Sanctuary

The silence is broken only by the raspy panting of her breathing and the slow agonized squeal of one of the tires that was still barely turning. The sides of the old station wagon press close around her as she dangles upside down, held in place by her lap belt but unable to see to the front of the vehicle where her parents had been laughing just a moment ago.

"Mami? Papá?" Ella cries breathlessly, struggling to turn and see them. There is no answer, and she desperately tries not to think about why that might be. She can feel her rapid heartbeats pounding in her fingertips, and then a rushing in her ears as darkness wraps around her once more. When she wakes, the awful squealing has stopped and there's a girl with a sad expression below her, sitting on what used to be the ceiling of the car. She's confused for a moment, because she definitely hadn't been in the car with them before. She has short, dark hair, enormous glasses that magnify her expressive eyes, and is wearing a funky assortment of mismatched clothes that the eight-year-old Ella can't help but admire.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" She asks groggily. Her head feels a bit achy and fuzzy, like that time Jay dared her to hold a handstand for half an hour and she threw up on his shoes once she stood up.

"Ummm, hi?" The sad-looking girl seems surprised to be noticed, looking around as though Ella might be talking to someone else. Ella thinks to herself that even her voice sounds a little sad, and wishes she could give her a hug. "I'm, uh, Az- you know what? Call me Rae-Rae. That's what my favorite brother used to call me."

"Rae-Rae's a funny name." Ella rubs her eyes tiredly.

"Oh, yeah? What's yours then?" she challenges. 

"I'm Ella. Ella Lopez." The girl twists to look toward the front of the car.

"Oh, hey Ella, dont turn around just now, okay? Just, um, talk with me for a little bit, huh?" She gives Ella a big smile and starts to reach for her hand but quickly pulls back.

"My head feels funny. I want my Mami." Tears start to leak from the corners of her eyes and tickle uncomfortably as they trace up her forehead and into her hairline.

"I know kiddo, but... She's not here. Maybe we can try to get you out of this thing, huh? I don't think humans are supposed to be upside down for this long. Can you reach the ceiling with your hands?" 

Ella's arms are already extended that direction, and with a little stretching, she finds that she can. Rae-Rae instructs her to brace with one hand, unbuckle the belt with the other and brace until her feet meet the ground.

"Almost like a cartwheel!" Ella declares proudly once she is crouching next to the older girl. Ella has been trying very hard to succeed in a cartwheel for months now. Ricardo has been relentless in teasing her for her inability to perfect it. She starts to launch forward to throw her arms around the older girl at her almost-cartwheel-success, but the other girl flinches away.

"Yeah, you nailed it, girl!" Rae-Rae applauds awkwardly. "Let's, uh, head toward the back there and crawl out through the window, okay kiddo?"

"My name's Ella." Ella reminds her, noticing that Rae-Rae has been very careful to keep between her line of sight to the driver's and passenger's seats, and diligently remembers not to think about why that might be. She turns quietly, waddles crouched across the ceiling of the car and squeezes out the shattered back window and into the ravaged grassy ravine where the car rests. Rae-Rae follows after her, and leads her a little distance away before settling down cross legged in the grass. Ella sits nearby with her knees pressed against her chest, tiny arms wrapped tightly around them.

"What do we do now?" Ella asks quietly, sounding lost. Her fingers worry the shiny cross around her neck that had been a gift from her parents for her eighth birthday, just a few weeks ago. Rae-Rae's eyes are drawn to the movement.

"Well, I guess now we wait for someone to come and help."

"My parents." Ella sniffles quietly, her eyes burning. "They didn't make it. Did they?"

"Ella..." The older girl hesitates. "I'm really sorry, but they didn't. They crossed over safely, and they'll be waiting for you in Heaven, but you can't be with them right now. They love you so much, but they were so happy that you were safe."

The tears are back now, and Ella sobs into her knees as she rocks herself. Azrael sits in silence and watches her, compassion lighting her dark eyes. Once the initial storm of tears passes and Ella's breathing has almost returned to normal, she peeks up from her huddled position to see Azrael leaning back, staring at the brilliant stars above. Ella copies her, gazing into that infinite velvety blackness sparkling with flickering pinpoints of light.

"My favorite big brother used to tell me stories about the stars, you know." Rae-Rae says conversationally, her voice still tinged with that ever-present sadness. "How they were created. How they burn, and expand, and collapse. We used to just talk about everything. And nothing. And it was amazing." 

Ella wipes her nose with her jacket sleeve. "You don't talk anymore?" Her voice is quavery, but she seizes the distraction from her overwhelming grief with both hands.

"Well...no." Rae-Rae shifts uncomfortably. "We kind of, can't talk anymore."

"Why not? What happened? Don't you miss talking to him?" Ella scoots closer to the strange girl, wanting to offer comfort, but unsure how.

"Jeez Louise, of course I do! But, I can't talk to him. Because... He had to leave home, and I can't go visit him." Her gaze is fixed on a blue wildflower in front of her left foot.

"Why can't you visit him? Or why can't he come visit you?"

 "He and my Dad don't get along anymore, so we just can't-"

"That's not fair!" Ella interrupts, pushing to her feet at the injustice. "You shouldn't have to lose your brother just because of a fight with your dad!" She starts again to offer a hug to the girl, who she is already starting to think of as a friend, but Rae-Rae flinches back again, more violently this time.

"You're... You're right, Ella, but... It's probably too late now anyway." The last part of that was quiet, probably meant to be aimed at herself.

"What do you mean too late? What happened?"

"Uh... I'm a ghost." The last words fall from Rae-Rae's mouth in a burst of speed. Ella's reddened eyes widen until they seem to fill her entire face.

"You're a ghost? How come I can see you, why can you talk to me?"

"I'm not sure. You must be special, Ella." A small smile flickers across the young girl's tear stained face. Shouting voices drift to them through the still night air, and red and blue lights start to reflect over the lip of the ravine. "I think your cavalry has arrived, Ella, so I've got to go. I'm glad I got to meet you. Smell ya later, Lopez."

"Rae-Rae?" The girl whispers, "Thank you for helping me." But when she turns, the ghost is gone.

************

The first few months after the accident were full of tears, nightmares, and arguments. The rescuers had launched a search for the girl Ella described to them, but she wasn't found. Abuelita moved into the house with Ella and her brothers and was slowly imposing a new normal over the household. There was a lot less laughing, and a lot more praying now.

Ella is playing in her room, setting up an obstacle course for the spider that lives in the top pane of her window. She hasn't figured out yet how she's going to get the spider to do the obstacle course, but she saw a movie once that said, "If you build it, they will come," so she wants to test that theory. She hears a soft whooshing noise, and looks up from the tiny balance beam

"Whatcha doing, Lopez?" A familiar voice asks quietly, and there is Rae-Rae sitting across the course from her.

"Rae-Rae!" Ella exclaims excitedly, "I was starting to think I wouldn't see you again! I told the rescue people about you, but they couldn't find you!" She launches toward her friend for a hug.

The girl is suddenly across the room, but gives her a warm smile. "Ghost, remember? You can't touch me. Nobody can see me, and I officially don't exist."

Ella looks offended. "You exist! You're my friend!" Her chin juts stubbornly. "I didn't care what those doctors said."

"Doctors? Why, where you hurt in the crash?" Rae-Rae looks anxious

"I wasn't hurt," her bright eyes darken a little. "But there were four of them. For therapy."

"Four?"

"Uh-huh. They kept sending new ones."

"Why?"

"I kept biting them." The older girl's eyes widen behind her thick glasses at Ella's matter of fact confession. "They kept telling me you weren't real."

"Wow, Ella, that's..." The ghost appears lost for words. "That really stinks. Since I'm kind of not real, I guess they're not completely wrong, ya know?"

"You are TOO real, or else how could you be here talking to me? You wouldn't have a brother if you weren't real."

"I guess you've got me there," Rae-Rae chuckles. "If Lu is real, then I must be, too."

"I was thinking about that," Ella leans forward and whispers conspiratorially. "If you want, I can write a letter to your brother for you! Just tell me what you want me to write and I'll mail it for you!" The little girl looks very proud of her solution to her friend's problem.

"Oh hey, Ella, that's super sweet, but," the ghost's gaze fixes on the tiny spider-size monkey bars in the course. "I don't know Lu's address. I'm pretty sure he doesn't get mail where he is, anyway. What are you building here?"

Ella's a little disappointed that her letter idea can't help her friend, but gladly launches into a detailed description of Frank the spider and his obstacle course. Rae-Rae asks good questions and pays close attention to the girl's ideas, even offering up some of her own. When Abuelita calls up the stairs that dinner is ready, Ella turns to answer her. When she turns back, a breeze fans her face and her friend has disappeared again.

"Bye, Rae-Rae. Thanks for coming to see me!" Ella whispers, then heads downstairs, her ponytail bobbing happily behind her.

*************

[generallynerdy]

Delinquents (Peter Parker X Reader)

ENDGAME SPOILERS - DONT SAY I DIDNT WARN YOU

Summary: The first halfway decent guy in the galaxy (Y/N) has met happens to be a disaster of a human being, Peter Parker. Unfortunately, both of their guardians are more than a little protective of them.

Requested by & Anon: Can you write a Peter Parker x reader where they meet in the final battle in Endgame and she’s, like, Captain Marvel’s sidekick/second-in-command, so Carol is protective of her?

Key: (Y/N) - your name, (L/N) - last name Warnings: mentioned kidnapping, mentioned memory loss, mentioned forced military service, battles, injuries, stitches, injuries being stitched, cursing definitely Word Count: 2,135

Note: i...had too much fun with this. Pls give me more carol and tony and peter and

    “So...they decided to find the stones and bring back past Thanos-- all without telling you?” (Y/N) questioned.

    Her mentor, Carol Danvers, sighed. “Yep, that’s about it.”

    Their conversation seemed relaxed, but the two were soaring through space in modified Kree uniforms, decorated in red, blue, and gold. Carol used the suit’s built in helmet only to communicate with (Y/N), who had to have her suit fully on for space travel.

Unlike Carol, (Y/N) had no special powers. She was simply a well-trained human being that had been taken by the Kree after she had a run-in with Skrulls. She couldn’t remember a thing of her old life, much like Carol had experienced a while back. When they met, Carol couldn’t help taking the girl under her wing.

So, there they were, mentor and apprentice, racing to the aid of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

“Approaching the compound,” Carol said suddenly. “Get your gear ready, kiddo.”

    “I thought I was First Lieutenant,” (Y/N) teased.

    Carol snorted. “That’s Monica. You’re Second Lieutenant and you know it.” They shared a laugh before she went serious. “I’ll take down the ship, you find the other Captain and see what you can do.”

    “Yes, ma’am,” she said instantly.

    They approached the compound sight and zoomed into the fight. Carol went for the ship, as she said, while (Y/N) flew down, using suit modifications that had been made for her, and looked for Captain Rogers.

    “Danvers, we could use the assist,” a man said.

She spotted the man of red, white, and blue and landed in front of him, knowing instantly that she was in the right place.

    “Captain Rogers?” (Y/N) asked, standing tall with her shoulders back.

    “Yeah,” he said with a tilt of his head. “Who’s asking?”

    “First Lieutenant (Y/N) (L/N), sir,” she replied, giving a good and proper salute. “Captain Danvers has me at your service.”

    He blinked a few times before smiling a little. “Good to meet you, Lieutenant. You’re a little young, huh?”

    “I was a Lieutenant with the Kree,” she shrugged. “It’s just kind of an in-joke now, since Carol saved me. Anyway, how can I be of help?”

    Rogers nodded and gestured down the field. “One of ours is carrying the stones.We gotta get them safely to an ugly brown van farther that way and send ‘em back to the right year.”

    “Got it,” (Y/N) nodded before pressing a hand to her wrist. “Captain, you got that?”

    “Loud and clear,” Carol replied over the comms. “Does their carrier happen to be a kid with a mess of brown hair?”

    Rogers snorted a little. “That’s him.”

    “That’s him. I’m on my way.”

    With that, (Y/N) flew off again, wind whipping through her hair as she did. She observed the ground below her as she soared, searching for the kid with messy hair, as Carol had described. She saw him a good distance from the central force of the battle, but he was headed right toward it, as he was supposed to. As she descended to meet him, she watched him get knocked off his feet and fall into the dirt.

    “You okay?” (Y/N) asked, rushing over and reaching out a hand to help pull him up.

    When he was on his feet again, he nodded slightly, looking at her with slight wonder in his eyes. “Yeah-- yeah, I’m good.”

    “I’m (Y/N),” she introduced. As soon as she did, Carol landed next to her with a rumble of the ground. “She’s Carol.”

    The boy fumbled for words. “I’m, uh, I’m Peter-- Peter Parker.”

    “Hi, Peter Parker,” Carol grinned dorkily. “You got something for us?”

    Peter almost shyly passed her the new gauntlet with the stones in it before glancing over at the masses of aliens headed right for them. “Dunno how you’re gonna get it through there alone.”

    “Don’t worry,” said a voice. “She’s not.”

    Both Peter and (Y/N) were in awe when an entire troop of badass women joined them, weapons tightly in their hands, if they had any. Despite this near army of reinforcements, Carol frowned and looked to her second-in-command.

    “C’mon,” she said. “I need back-up.”

    (Y/N) raised an eyebrow and glanced at the other women pointedly, but was ignored when Carol took her arm and dragged her forward. Without another word, they were thrown into the battle, barely given a moment to breathe, much less speak.

    “Really!?” (Y/N) shouted to her as they flew through the crowds, taking a shot now and then. “The first normal looking, half decent guy we meet and you get protective now?”

    “Shut up, Lieutenant, and focus on not dying!”

    (Y/N) sighed. “I hate you.”

    Carol scoffed, gauntlet tight in her arms. “Please,” she said. “You love me.”

    Post Endgame, as Dr Strange had become fond of calling it, Carol instructed (Y/N) to head to the medbay and take care of herself, seeing as she’d been pretty beat up in the battle. But who wasn’t, to be frank?

    After a close call with Tony, everyone was shaken. Carol and (Y/N) had barely put together a makeshift device using his suit’s built-in nano technology and their own old Kree rigs on their suits to heal his arm. He’d almost died in his wife’s arms. Luckily, the two were too quick for that.

    Peter was particularly shaken by Tony’s near death. When the man gasped for breath for the first time in a good minute, the boy instantly hugged the life out of (Y/N), thanking her through sobs.

    Seeing as the compound had been destroyed, there was an emergency aid center set up in the remnants of the battlefield. Those who weren’t as badly hurt could travel home with the help of the wizards. Some of the closer members of the Avengers travelled to the new temporary Avengers base-- which was actually old. Avengers Tower was back in business.

    (Y/N) sauntered into the medbay with minor injuries, glancing into recovery rooms as she passed them. Most of them were full of patients who had needed emergency attention, but in the fifth room down, she found a very different person there.

    Peter Parker glanced at her briefly, but drew his attention back to the needle in his hand. He was attempting to stitch up a head wound by himself, using only a mirror on a metal tray by his recovery bed. He was failing miserably. When he missed his mark and gasped in pain, (Y/N) stepped into the room.

    “Let me help,” she said, approaching.

    Without letting him protest, though he seemed too tired to do so, she took the needle and began to stitch himself up herself. Peter had to look up at an odd angle to let her reach his cut, but it gave him the perfect view of (Y/N)’s face as she worked; furrowed eyebrows, bitten lip. She was entirely focused on him.

    He had barely muttered a thanks before the work was halfway done.

    “So, Peter Parker,” (Y/N) hummed as she continued, “What’s your story?”

    “I don’t-- I don’t really have one,” he muttered.

    The girl chuckled. “I doubt that. Everybody has a story.”

    “Well...I was bitten by a radioactive spider. So I have super strength and can stick to walls.” He told his story as bluntly as he could. “I made a webbing solution and a costume and became Spider-Man, I guess. Then, Mr. Stark made me a suit and let me join the Avengers-- more or less.”

    (Y/N) stopped for a second, processing his tale. “Huh,” she said. “I thought I was weird.”

    “Yeah?” He asked with a small smile. “What’s, uh, what’s your story?”

    “I ran into these aliens when I was little,” she started. “The Skrull. The Kree fought them off and couldn’t wipe my memories of them, so they kidnapped me and turned me into a soldier. I got to First Lieutenant before Carol found me and freed me. I’ve been with her ever since, ‘cause I can’t remember my life on Earth.”

    “Wow,” Peter whispered, grimacing slightly as the stitches stung him. “That’s…”

    (Y/N) laughed. “Crazy, I know.”

    “Not that crazy,” he said in an attempt to make her feel better. “We just beat up a humanoid plum with a bunch of wizards and superheroes.”

    She burst into giggles at that, as did he. Her laughter only egged him on and by the time his stitches were in, (Y/N) was red in the face from laughing. This Peter kid was pretty hilarious and he thought she was great. Nobody ever thought he was that funny.

    “You’re pretty cool,” he muttered as she went to clean up around his now fully stitched cut. “For somebody who was a soldier in an alien army.”

    (Y/N) grinned and shook her head, wiping at his forehead with a damp cloth. “And you’re pretty cool for a high school boy.”

    She took the cloth and went to put it away, turning away from Peter. He took a deep breath and bit his lip, probably about to regret what he was going to say. That said, he was gonna do it anyway.

    “So, uh, I know this probably the worst time ever,” he said. “But do you wanna get something to eat sometime? With me? I dunno, maybe downtown or something or--”

    “I’m not exactly familiar with Earth customs anymore,” she interrupted, smiling to herself before turning back around. “But are you asking me on a date?”

    Peter swallowed. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, if you want to…”

    (Y/N) gave him a big smile, unable to keep it back at his nervous demeanor. “I’d like that.”

    “You-- you would? Really?”

    “Definitely,” she nodded. “But I’ll have to escape Carol first. She’s...really protective.”

    He laughed a little, nerves finally starting to wear off. “Tell me about it,” he agreed. “I think Mr. Stark would lock me in my room for the rest of my life if he could.”

    “Speak of the devil…” (Y/N) suddenly whispered.

    They could hear shouting down the hall. From the entrance of the medbay, echoes of two distinct voices reached their ears; one of a very pissy Captain and a less-than-pleased genius. Their parents were essentially arguing. What they didn’t realise was that each of their kids was listening in.

    “You keep your Spiderling away from my kid,” Carol huffed.

    Tony sputtered. “Yeah, well, keep your space soldier away from my kid.”

    “Did you hear that?” Peter gasped, drawing (Y/N)’s attention to him. “He called me his kid!”

    She grinned at his pure reaction before glancing out in the hall. She saw them in power stances, completely focused on each other. Smiling to herself, she shrunk back into the recovery room and looked over at her companion.

    “Maybe we should go on that date right now,” she suggested.

    Peter stammered. “Wh-- what? Like right-- Like right now? Right now?”

    “Yeah,” (Y/N) laughed. “Before they inevitably separate us for who knows how long. You in?”

    “Oh, I’m definitely in,” he said with a shy smile.

    She grinned proudly. “Good, ‘cause I have a terrible, terrible idea. But it’s gonna be hilarious in, like, 5 years.”

    “You know what?” Carol huffed. “I’m gonna go get my ‘space soldier’ and we’re gonna leave.”

    “Good!” Tony exclaimed as she began to walk away from him and toward the recovery rooms. “Good riddance! You keep her away from my kid, you hear? He’s been traumatized by aliens enough!”

    Carol scoffed and shouted back. “She’s human, genius!” She turned away to look into the recovery room and grab her kid, but realised it was empty. “Shit.”

    Tony walked up at her lack of argument and looked into the room, having the same realisation. “If she took my boy, I swear to god--!”

    “WOOHOO!”

    Both heroes whipped around at the exclamation, staring out the massive windows in the tower to see their two wards having the time of the lives. Peter was fully clothed in his Spider-Man gear and had a string of web attached to (Y/N)’s feet as she used her formerly Kree space suit to fly down the street. She pulled him along, laughing her ass off at his mutual amusement.

    Meanwhile, their guardians were fuming.

    “PETER PARKER, YOU JUVENILE DELINQUENT--!”

    “YOU ARE SO GROUNDED, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

    But she and Peter ignored their exclamations.

    “Where to, Spider-Man?” She shouted down at him, a silly grin on her face.

    He laughed, though it was muffled by the heavy wind. “I know a great shawarma place downtown!”

    “What’s shawarma?” (Y/N) asked, tilting her head.

    “You haven’t had shawarma!?” Peter gasped, almost offended before laughing loudly. “Oh, we are gonna have so much fun!”

Masterlist

[zestycompress]

Ultimate Duo! Ch. 3

sorry for forgetting to post </3 i dont do it on purpose

AO3 Link 

Giorno has never gotten his face licked before. Surprisingly, Bruno was right. He was lying about Luca’s death. But now that he thought about it, how did he realize that he had little talent? Did he practice? How many people has he licked before? When did he realize it was sweat that revealed the truth? Actually, maybe it was best that he didn’t know. Some questions are better left unanswered.

If only he was given the chance to wipe the now-dry trail of saliva off his face. Bruno summoned his Stand, it was blue and white with golden spikes and zippers. Its ability was to create zippers, which was not that much of a surprise. However, it had proven to be quite useful. Having a part of your body unzipped was a bizarre feeling. The unzipped area felt a bit numb. When Giorno stuck his hand into the opening, it felt strange. Words could not properly describe what the inside of the zipper felt like. (Would it be considered the inside of his body or the inside of the zipper?) It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but his current situation didn’t make it nice either.

Despite it being Giorno’s first time using his Stand to fight another human being, it didn’t go so bad.

But things started going downhill once Bruno escaped the funicular by using his Stand to create an opening. If he told his associates that Giorno was the one who killed Leaky-Eye Luca, he’d be in deep trouble, perhaps Kars would become a target as well. It would be unnecessary for them to go after him since he wasn’t involved with Luca’s death, but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t try keeping him hostage in order to bring out Giorno.

If Bruno was a Stand user, chances are that he knows others who are Stand users as well. Giorno didn’t know much about Kars, but he hoped he had some kind of way to defend himself from something he can’t see. The only ability Giorno’s aware of is that Kars can transform a part of his body into a plant, possibly other things as well, he wasn’t sure. Maybe if Giorno actually asked about Kars’s abilities, he would know what he’s capable of. Instead, he just gave him all that he knows about Gold Experience. Not a smart move.

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Kars, Giorno should be focusing on the present. He couldn’t let Bruno get away. If he catches him, he wouldn’t have to worry about any gangsters trying to avenge Luca by killing him.

...Too bad he managed to disappear in one of the civilians he crashed into.

Creating zippers is an unique ability, Bruno was lucky to have a Stand able to do that. There were plenty of things he could do with the power. However, Giorno didn’t want to know what kinds of things he’d do, especially to an enemy.

Giorno held a small tooth between his fingers as the civilians scattered. Using Gold Experience, he turned it into a common house fly. The little insect should lead him straight to Bruno Bucciarati.

And that it did.

The small fly landed on a civilian's shoulder. They swatted it, but the small insect seemed to refuse to leave them alone. The person smacked it with the back of their hand, soon feeling the pain reflected right back at him. Bruno was forced to reveal himself, coughing up blood as the fly transformed back into its original form, a tooth.

Giorno walked towards him, more than ready to end the fight. He was a bit disappointed to have involved innocent people in his fight, but he did what had to be done.

~~~

“It’s because you have a good soul.” Bruno stared dumbly at the blond teenager. “You’re in the mafia, but you’re decent.”

Giorno had noticed his hesitation when he saw the arm covered in scars, no doubt caused by drug use. Bruno was clearly disturbed by it, maybe even disgusted. He couldn’t blame him. There were people in this world willing to sell drugs to children without any sort of guilt. They’re causing people so young to become addicted to drugs and it sickens him. They don’t care because they’re only interested in making money. What a terrible world. Even worse, nobody makes an effort to stop it, but Giorno is going to change that.

He was going to become a mafioso, climb to the top, and overthrow the boss. He’ll take back Italy and change everything for the best, and Bruno will be joining him.

A nearby group of children played football, accidentally kicking the ball over to Bruno and hitting him with it. He turned around, not upset in the slightest, and returned their ball by kicking it back. The kids shouted thanks and resumed their game.

“Fine, I’ll report that I was unable to locate Luca’s attacker, then I’ll introduce you to begin the initiation process, but you should know,” Bruno walked closer. “If it ever gets out that you’re attempting to take down the boss, I’ll be forced to cut ties with you. A traitor stands alone on an island of isolation. Your failure will be yours and yours alone.”

Giorno thought about Kars, then turned to face Bruno. “What if I want to bring someone along? For the initiation process, I mean.”

“I suppose you could,” He responded. “I’m assuming that they have the same goals as you, right?”

He was silent, allowing a certain memory to come back to him.

“Signore Kars.”

“Hmm?”

“I want to become a Gang-Star.”

“...Don’t let anybody get in your way.”

Even if it was a small interaction, Kars seemed to be supportive - well, based on his tone of voice, it was more like he was saying “just do it already.” Closest thing to supportive - but that’s besides the point, Kars didn’t seem to care at all. He was most likely going to say no if Giorno asked if he wanted to join the mafia with him. However, if Giorno mentions how there might be other Stand users, he’d agree to it.

“...Not exactly,” The blond teen finally answered. “By the way, could we make a quick stop?”

“If you need to go pick up your friend, go. I have a few things I need to attend to. There’s this place we’re going to meet up at, don’t be late.”

~~~

Giorno could recognize Kars from anywhere, his height and long hair makes him stick out like a sore thumb. The Pillar Man turned around when he heard the young boy call out his name, quickly jogging up to him.

“Signore Kars, I must ask you something very important!” Giorno said.

He seemed a bit disinterested, but that’s just his usual expression.

“What is it?” He replied, silently taking note of how much shorter the teen is compared to him.

“I am going to be joining Passione, it’s uh, it’s a gang, basically,” It felt a bit weird speaking to Kars. Perhaps it’s the amount of pressure he feels just by making eye contact with him. His bright crimson eyes made Giorno feel weak, afraid almost. He hated staring into them, but he wasn’t going to let Kars know about his opinion on his eyes. “I just wanted to know if you’d like to join me. I believe there’ll be other Stand users there.”

The mention of Stand users sparked interest, a grin appeared on Kars’s face. “Stand users, you say? I suppose I could…”

“Well, I’ll be leading the way.”

~~~

Bruno had to use all his strength to not gawk at Kars. To be honest, he was expecting another teen, not a whole adult! Was this someone Giorno was related to? He couldn’t see any sort of similarities so it was unlikely. Maybe he was his step-father? No, Giorno would’ve probably mentioned that already.

Whether they were family or not, it wasn’t any of Bruno’s business. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“The capo who will decide both of your futures in the famiglia is a man named Polpo. By the way,” His gaze turned to Kars. “What’s your name?”

The Pillar Man glanced at Giorno, then returned his focus to Bruno. “Kars,” He said then added. “The ultimate lifeform.”

“Right…” Bruno eyed Kars as if he didn’t believe him. He pointed at the building with his thumb. “Go on now. He resides here in this building.”

“But.. but this is…” Giorno murmured. “It’s a prison.”

“That’s right, Polpo was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. He still issues orders and manages the famiglia, but he does it all within those walls. He can leave his confinement whenever the desire strikes him, but he chooses not to.” Bruno explained. He pointed at the duo. “Listen, in a matter of minutes, he’ll conduct both of your interviews. It’s imperative you pass. It’s no different from an ordinary interview. His mood will dictate its content, and remember… he cannot find out.”:

Kars had a puzzled expression, Giorno never told him about his reason for joining.

“I understand.” The blond teen replied. He gave Kars a “follow me” gesture and walked inside the prison.

~~~

“Before you head in, I’m going to need your watch and everything in your pockets on this tray. After that, you can move onto the pat-down.”

Giorno placed his bag on the tray and checked his pockets. Kars did the same, but had nothing in them. The young Stand user noticed the guards weapons, staring at them for a moment then returned to what he was doing. The gates opened and the two were allowed to pass. Kars awkwardly ducked underneath the entrance to avoid hitting his head.

“Please stand over there, hands above your head,” A guard told Giorno before turning to Kars. “It’ll be your turn in a moment, signore.”

As he goes through the body check, she gives them both directions to Polpo’s cell. The guard repeats the process with Kars and allows the two to pass. The corridor was dark and when the lights in the cell flickered on, it revealed that it was empty. Kars frowned, expecting to see a person inside. Sighing, he turned to Giorno, about to complain that he wasted his time until a voice echoed in the cell.

“It’s injured, isn’t it? Your left arm.”

What was believed to be a bed was actually a man. Not so surprisingly, it caught the duo off guard.

“I spy a faint yet distinct red marking on the fingers of your right hand that signifies you were gripping something. I’d say to the markings left behind by a bag and based on that fact, you’ve been carrying the bag exclusively in your right hand.” Polpo sat up, examining Giorno’s hand. Kars hummed, now focused on the teenager’s fingers as well. The capo had a good eye. “Now why would that be?”

“Well first of all, you’re correct. I carried my bag with my right hand, also I did injure my left arm earlier.” He replied.

Polpo laughed and opened a refrigerator next to him. “Oh, I envy your youthful body and reckless spirit. And you there,” He turned to Kars. “Your eyes, they reveal a lot about you. Despite your young appearance, it seems like you’ve been around for a long time. I wonder, do you travel?” The man grabbed a wine bottle and a glass as he spoke. Curiously, Giorno glanced up at Kars. He was tense and his eyebrows were furrowed.

“By the by, do either of you drink wine? This chianti classico is molto buono,” He popped the cork off. “And when paired with a few crackers, scamorza, and the right amount of caviar, it’s perfection.”

“We’re not allowed to give you anything,” Giorno said as Polpo poured himself a glass of wine.

“Nor can we accept things from you.” Kars finished, almost sounding harsh.

“Puh! That’s just a silly formality. What people say when watched and what they do when no one’s around,” He clicked a button on a remote which revealed his hidden items. “Are two entirely different things! Therein lies the beauty and ugliness of this fickle thing we call humanity.”

A quiet laugh almost escaped Kars when the capo mentioned “humanity.”

“I suppose the only real tragedy to being holed up in this cell is, well,” He continued to speak as Giorno began to ponder the reason why he stays in his cell.

“Bucciarati already told me all about you,” Polpo said. “So you two desire to be a part of our famiglia, do you? It was Giorno Giovanna, wasn’t it? And he never gave me a name for you…”

“I am Kars,” He responded, the man cocked an eyebrow.

“...Just Kars? Hmm, alright. Well then, if you two are ready to begin, let’s commence with the interview,” He began to bite the tips of his fingers which disturbed Giorno. He got distracted by a cuckoo clock and once he turned back, Polpo was holding a lighter.

“When you're separating the wheat from the chaff, what do you think the most important factor for one to consider? Think carefully Kars & Giovanna,”

“What a person can do, correct?” Giorno answered.

“Oh, well what can you ragazzi do?”

The teen dropped the wallet and cash he stole from one of the guards, the one who patted him down to be exact.

Polpo laughed. “Is that all you brought to impress me, Giovanna?”

“Well besides that, I have this other little trick I can do.” Giorno folded his ear into his head, making the man laugh once more. The two turned to Kars, waiting for him to do something.

He raised his arm, a blade suddenly appeared, it gleamed brightly. Giorno squinted, the light hurt his eyes a bit, but he still admired it. The blade shone beautifully. Though, it didn’t seem that impressive to Polpo.

“Hmm, but you see, there’s something very important we haven’t discussed yet…” Polpo said. “...and that is the delicate subject of trust!”

Giorno mentally sighed, expecting to go through the same conversation Leaky-Eye Luca gave him. Kars didn’t bother listening. He was a little grossed out by the fact that the man was using his pinky finger to remove some food in between his teeth. He even flicked it at Giorno who surprisingly didn’t flinch. Not even a little.

“My test will tell me exactly how trustworthy you two are,” Polpo lifted a lighter in front of them. “Concerning flame of this lighter reveals all!” Giorno moved to grab the lighter from a small opening. “Now take it in hand and go, you both are not to let the flame expire. This could be a little teamwork practice for you two.”

The flame wavered, causing Giorno to move his hand back. “Aspetta! I warn you, exercise extreme caution. The 17th century theologian Fuller once said he’s my friend that speaks well of me behind my back, you’d do well to remember those words.”

Kars rolled his eyes, not caring about a word the capo said. He walked towards the lighter as he spoke. Carefully, he grabbed the lighter, holding it as if it was a delicate flower. The Pillar Man allowed Giorno to hold onto it. The expression on his face clearly said “Don’t you dare mess this up!”

“You have twenty-four hours, I look forward to our second meeting tomorrow, 3:00 PM. Don’t be late.”

Giorno could feel himself sweating a bit. He was starting to get rather anxious. This was the only chance he has and he couldn’t mess it up.

“ALL VISITORS MUST PROCEED THROUGH THE GATE FOR A FINAL PAT-DOWN.”

...That voice didn’t help.

~~~

A guard pointed his gun at Giorno as the young boy racked his brain for ideas that could get him out of this situation. Kars leaned down and whispered, “We could kill them and leave, can’t we? You just got the damn lighter, there’s no way that we’re failing this early…”

Giorno shook his head. “No, I think I got this.”

He lifted his arms above his head, feeling the flame burn his skin. Kars could see and smell the smoke, it wasn’t pleasant. The female guard patted him down, telling him he was free to go before grabbing his wrist. She reminded him that accepting anything from Polpo was prohibited. Kars frowned, preparing himself to slice her head off with his brilliant bone blade once she found the lighter.

A flower.

Instead of a lighter, it was a flower.

It caught Kars a bit off guard, but that’s something he wouldn’t admit out loud. The guard wasn’t expecting that either, but she allowed Giorno to keep it. The blond teen looked back at the Pillar Man. He could’ve sworn he saw a small smile on his lips. The woman urged him to keep moving. Giorno collected all his things and left, waiting for Kars outside the prison. The flower transformed back into a lighter.

Walking back to his room with Kars following behind him was… sort of weird. It was clear he was an adult and students stared at him. With just one glare, they turn away and move faster. Kars could be so effortlessly intimidating. A gust of wind almost blew the flame out. The Pillar Man transformed his right arm into a wing, using it to shield the flame.

“Here, give it to me,” Giorno handed the lighter over to Kars, making it easier for the man to protect the flame. The two ignored a group of students who called out to them to take some photo for them. Soon, Kars’s arm returned to normal as they entered the building.

The blond teen carefully held the lighter once Kars returned it to him. He grabbed a piece of bread, took a bite out of it, and shoved the object into it. He felt the Pillar Man’s eyes boring into him, definitely judging him for his action. Giorno rearranged the objects on his desk to protect the flame.

“I think it should be fine, a little draft shouldn’t be enough to blow it out,” He moved to lock the window. “By the way, signore Kars-”

Before he could finish speaking, he noticed someone opening his door, he quickly mouths “hide” to Kars. Giorno hides outside his window as Kars shapeshifts his body to hide in the cupboards. It was pretty bizarre to watch.

The Japanese tourist, Koichi Hirose, entered the room. He was searching for his passport. Giorno watched helplessly as he looked through his closet and opened his drawers. Using Gold Experience, Giorno transforms a lamp cord into a snake. The animal bit the bread, moving it up and out of Koichi’s reach. Unfortunately, the flame burned its skin and forced it to drop the bread. Now it's been noticed.

Luckily, Koichi was focused on his passport which gave Giorno time to get back the lighter. The distraction also gave Kars time to get out of the cabinets.

To be honest, Giorno wanted to question Kars ability. He has the ability to shapeshift. He could turn his arm into a bird’s wing and flatten his body to get through the small spaces in his cabinet.

“Just missed you there, sorry about that!” The old janitor began rambling about something silly. Giorno stared down at his wet hands… and the wet lighter. The flame was extinguished.

Despite being behind him, the teen could feel the ungodly amount of rage radiating off of Kars. The Pillar Man was making low, almost demonic growling. He muttered curses and glared at the old man. It took a whole lot of willpower not to kill him right then and there.The janitor reignites the lighter and hands it back to Giorno.

Both Giorno and Kars could tell something was off, but neither of them knew what it was.

Suddenly, the blond teen sees something walking by and disappearing behind a column.

“Kars… I think I saw…”

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO REIGNITED THE FLAME!”

Giorno was able to hear the voice, but Kars couldn’t.

“I OFFER TWO PATHS, BUT YOU MUST PICK THE ONE THAT WILL LEAD TO SALVATION!” Turning around, Giorno sees the Stand grabbing onto the poor janitor’s soul. “TIME TO CHOOSE, DO YOU LIVE ON AND BECOME ONE OF THE CHOSEN OR DO YOU PROCEED ALONG THE PATH OF DEATH?”

An arrow appeared from its mouth which Kars was able to see. Giorno felt pain when he saw the man's soul, his expression showed how terrified he was. He wanted to do something, but there wasn’t a thing he could do. The arrow went through his head. When nothing happened, the Stand threw his body back and Giorno caught it.

The first thing noticed is how there was no wound, yet he was only a corpse. He moved back while Kars stayed in place. The Pillar Man glanced at Giorno, silently asking if the Stand had moved yet.

Before he could make any response, the Stand dashed towards him, probably to pull out his soul and pierce him with the arrow as well.

Looks like someone has gotten into another unwanted Stand battle.

[tksfandomhellhole]

Alright now this. This is the one I’ve been waiting for. This is the start to the (ongoing) series that makes me go “I NEED someone else to talk to about this.” Because boy do I have Plans™ that I really hope I follow through on

If I play my cards right the series may very well be the Apex of my apex fic career.

I also may have busted out my photoshop skills for it towards the end and it feels silly now but at least you can tell I had major fun with this

Fandom: Apex Legends (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Revenant (Apex Legends), Pathfinder (Apex Legends), Mirage | Elliott Witt Additional Tags: Minor headcanon for The Syndicate, Canon-Typical Violence Series: Part 1 of Infiltrating the Syndicate Summary:

Revenant is bored to death. Pathfinder would spend 10 minutes searching if you told him gullible was on the ceiling. And Mirage somehow gets roped into this.

What ensues ends up being more dangerous than any of them bargained for.

Revenant is bored out of his fucking mind.

Between being in this communal living space where he has to refrain from killing all these people he hates and rarely getting the chance to curbstomp some of them in the ring himself, being an apex legend is not all he imagined it to be.

Where's the death and action he was promised? He hasn't seen a match all day.

Even assholes need to pass the time somehow.

"Hello there, friend!"

Ugh, great. The smiling scrap heap is here.

"Go bother one of those skinbags you love talking to." He says, attempting to strike down the potential conversation before it starts.

The attempt goes unnoticed, as Pathfinder responds anyways. "I would! But they are all in the ring." The screen switches to a frowning face for effect.

If Revenant didn't have proof standing right in front of him, he'd think it was impossible for a robot to wear it's heart on their sleeve. It's not like they're supposed to have them in the first place.

It does give him an idea though. Maybe he can get some entertainment out of this after all.

"Really?" Revenant starts, feigning interest "Which of those skinbags do you consider your friends?"

"All of my teammates are my friends! They are very nice. I hope my creator gets to meet them one day."

"All of them? That's pretty strange considering half of them can't even stand you, including me."

"My friends don't like me...?" Pathfinder is visibly confused but still pauses to consider the thought, and Revenant knows it's working.

"Yea, in fact, I'm pretty sure that skinbag with the stupid hair and holograms has even told me he hates you." Even Revenant knows the scrap heap is partial to that skinbag in particular, as stupid as the idea of a robot harboring any sentiment at all is.

"Mirage? But he is the one who told me about the games! Mirage is my best friend."

"Hey, if you still wanna believe that it's your choice." Revenant says, before taking his leave. The bot may not believe him but the seeds of doubt have been placed, and knowing both parties far better than he'd ever like to, it's only a matter of time before things come to a head.

At this point anything is better than sitting here brainstorming the fastest way to kill himself so he doesn't have to put up with this a minute longer.

And as if on cue, the man of the hour returns to the lounge.

"Ah, Mirage!" Pathfinder calls out, intending to settle this the most logical way: by simply asking.

Before he gets the chance to respond though, another match begins, and Mirage finds himself on a drop platform getting ready to enter the next game.

Pathfinder doesn't have an issue with that of course, until he actually hears what Mirage is saying.

The platform is about to descend, taking their team out of earshot entirely, but not before Pathfinder hears Mirage say "At least I don't have to fight with that smiling robot" with a laugh.

Pathfinder continues to look at the spot where the platform descended crestfallen long after they've disappeared.

"See? What'd I tell ya." Revenant says with the biggest shiteating grin because holy shit this was way easier than he'd thought it would be.

"Oh... I see. I thought I was beginning to understand humans better since joining the Apex Games, but it seems I am still ignorant..."

Pathfinder remembers feeling this way once before; shortly after meeting Elliott for the first time and learning of how he was being tricked. Had he been tricked yet again? Were all humans just cruel? Is this what he was supposed to learn when his creator abandoned him?

He was beginning to suspect learning about the human race was not such a good idea afterall. He did not like being deceived but he also did not mind these things when he did not know any better.

"Well there isn't really a lot to learn about skinbags I wouldn't trouble myself too greatly over it." Revenant begins panic backtracking because, yea, he was trying to stir tensions up a bit, but the scrap heap seems to be taking this far more personally than he thought possible, and he doesn't actually want to be the reason the bot figures out that most skinbags are terrible retched creatures- really, he should learn that on his own the hard way. Later. When he is far far away, and not right now, in front of him, where he can see how devastating this discovery is to the thing.

For a long moment, Revenant isn't even really sure if the machine has heard a word he just said, before Pathfinder suddenly snaps back to normal, in an almost jarring movement. "Well, I should get going now! See you later, friend." he says, and heads out of the lounge area, leaving Revenant more than a little confused.

---

Mirage had almost forgotten Pathfinder had been trying to ask him something earlier before he noticed he hadn't seen Path around since before that match.

That's strange, he thought to himself. Path was not the best at intentionally masking his presence,  so he should definitely have run into him by now, especially if there was a question still burning away at his mind. Pathfinder seemed to be an infinitely curious being.

There wasn't any harm in looking around at least. After asking "Path? You here?" to at least four different rooms, Lifeline finally took pity on him and pointed him in the right direction.

"Last I seen him, he was talking with Revenant. Ya better off asking him."

Stranger yet Mirage thinks, but decides not to jump the panic button just yet, heading over to where the robot in question idly twiddled with a knife.

"Revenant, was Pathfinder talking to you earlier?"

Revenant almost seems caught off guard by the question "Yea, what of it, skinsuit?" He bites out.

"Well, did you at least catch where he went after that? Cause he doesn't seem to be here."

If he didn't know any better, Mirage would say Revenant almost looks sheepish now, and given the context that's none too reassuring. Revenant says nothing and Mirage narrows his eyes in suspicion. "Wait, do you know something we don't?" Maybe it was just something robot related that non-robots wouldn't understand? Mirage didn't have any idea what the two could've possibly discussed that would make Revenant of all people clam up.

Revenant finally relents "Alright so I may have said somethings that set the walking quote machine off, but I didn't know the pathetic scrap heap was gonna run off like that."

"I'm sorry, did you say HE RAN OFF?" Mirage asks, internal alarm bells suddenly going off.

Revenant regains his edge with a smirk "Yeah, you might wanna go find him before he gets lost. He's about as smart as a toaster oven."

"Dammit!" Mirage yells, grabbing his gear on the way out.

---

“Stupid Revenant and stupid fast Pathfinder leaving without telling anyone. Seriously how did he get this far away already?" Mirage mutters to himself as he speed searches in the general direction he believes Pathfinder would have went. Maybe he should've enlisted Bloodhound's help before he left. At least they would be able to tell if someone had traveled this way recently.

It's dark out, and he's far from where the ship base docked. He hopes he finds something soon because he really doesn't want to be out here all night.

He's also starting to get paranoid, because he swears he heard some shuffling a few times that definitely wasn't his own, despite the fact no one is around.

Finally, he manages to spot the unmistakable  silhouette of Pathfinder up ahead.

"Path! What the hell are you doing out here?!" He yells, to stop the robot in it's tracks.

"Oh, hello Mirage! I have decided to quit the apex games."

Mirage takes only a moment to process this, before  asking, incredulous, "Are you dualsinal- delis- dil- are you out of your mind?!"

"I have been informed our friends do not like me, so it does not make sense to continue participating. I decided to continue looking for my creator elsewhere. It appears I am lost though!"

"Ok you're a robot, so you probably dont understand how ironic that is- but more importantly! Who told you that- wait, nevermind don't answer that, I already figured it out." Mirage says, putting two and two together. He sighs before continuing. "Okay, listen. Path. Nobody hates you buddy. Everyone thinks you're a valuable player to the games, and a valuable member to the teams. And, AND the games are still your best bet at finding your creator, not roaming the worlds blindly. So this is a very poor decision!"

"Then does this mean you don't hate me?"

"Hate you? Why would you think- Ok maybe I joke A LOT, but Path, you were the first person I even met in the games. If I hated you, you would definitely know by now."

"Really? This is great! I love you too, friend." Pathfinder exclaims, wrapping Mirage in a hug before he can object.

"Uh-huh, you're coming back and rejoining the games, that's great, now can we please go back? This place is starting to freak me out." Mirage says, pushing out of the hug.

Mirage begins to backtrack the way he came. "Alright, uhhh, I'm pretty sure it's this way, come on let's- ack!" The sound of a bullet whizzes by and Pathfinder and Mirage manage to get a glimpse of three armored figures coming from the direction it came from before dodging into cover behind a nearby rock.

"That's not good!" Mirage states, yelping when a spray of bullets flies past his head while attempting to assess the situation. "Path, how many crimes did you commit, since leaving the ship?!"

"I have not engaged in any illegal activities!" Pathfinder replies, similarly panicked.

"Well, It's a good thing I never leave the ship without my weapon holster!" Mirage says, pulling out a p2020 from his belt.

The three men converging on their position have spread out, attempting to cut them off on all sides.

"Alright, think fast Mirage, there's 3 guys flanking us, we have a robot with a grappling hook, me, and a single p2020. Totally doable."

Mirage straightens up suddenly and takes one last quick look over the cover before turning back to Pathfinder. "Follow my lead!"

Mirage dodges bullets as he runs out from behind the cover and sends out one of his decoys at the person flanking the left. They shoot the decoy and he loads a clip into their skull. In the same motion he swings back towards the center and heads for the remaining two enemies, activating  his decoy cloak.

Pathfinder takes the hint and uses the confusion to hook his grappling hook on an iron bar above the person flanking right, swinging into them at full force and knocking them out flat.

"You got bamboozled!" Mirage says, now dramatically posed behind the last guy. He takes aim and-

*click*

"Fuck." Mirage says, upon realizing his clip is empty. The man whips around to train his gun on him and Mirage instinctively stumbles a step back before-

The shadows twitch for a second and suddenly the man cries out in pain, robotic fingers protuding through him for only a moment before Revenant retracts his hand entirely and the man crumples to the floor.

"Revenant? What the hell are you doing here?" Mirage asks, relieved, not for the first time, that Revenant is on their side.

If you accused Revenant of being concerned about the trouble he may have inadvertantly gotten these two idiots into he'd brush you off, so instead he says "I was bored. Thought you guys might be up to something more entertaining. Looks like I was right."

"Well that was an uncomfortably close call. Do we have any idea who these wack jobs were?" Mirage asks approaching one on the ground to get a better look.

" ...Hey wait a minute, this is the Syndicate's symbol." He says, running his hands over a logo printed on the shoulder of their armor.

He picks up a boxy device from the person's holster and clicks the button. It boots up and displays a hologram with a dossier.

Mirage doesn't like being stressed, so he chooses to be offended instead. "Hey! Revenant's here too, why isn't he on the target list?"

"You think I got to be a hitman by being as loud and dumb as you two?" He responds, insulted.

Either way, this didn't bode well for any of them. "...Path, Rev, we-"

"I didn't consent to you giving me a nickname, skinbag." Revenant interrupts.

"You guys! We can't tell anyone about what happened here today."

"But Mirage, should we not notify our friends of-"

"No!" Mirage quickly grabs Pathfinder by the shoulders and shakes him for emphasis. "No. This stays between the three of us. We're already in enough trouble as it is, let's just go back to the ship and pretend nothing happened- And for the love of god, Path, don't try to quit the Apex Games again."

Pathfinder frowns at this turn of events but nods his head. "Understood."

Revenant simply gives a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgement.

"We might not live to tell the tale next time..." Mirage adds under his breath, taking one last look at the mercenaries lying at their feet.

Was there even a guarantee they could return to the games without further issues? Only time could really tell.

One thing was for sure; Revenant got exactly what he asked for.

Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting around here.

Perhaps it was time he revisited the Syndicate, add some targets to his hitlist. No one's gonna tell him where he can and can't go.

And maybe, for once, he had two targets to protect instead.

[squidproquoclarice]

Lil’ Arthur and Sadie meeting for the first time and how it went. Always wondered how these 2 would be like as kids.

I didn’t get to do as much with this as you may have liked, but given the timeline, Sadie’s only two years old by the time Arthur’s all the way out in California and Oregon, so she had to be younger than that for them to meet in Tumbleweed.  I doubt either of them clearly remember this brief encounter, but she’s a year and a half here, and Arthur is six.  So this ended up a bit more Arthur and Beatrice than Arthur and Sadie, but I hope you still enjoy a bit of BB!Sadithur all the same.  ;)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~November 1869Tumbleweed, New AustinThey’d run from Rhondda, and now they were running from Armadillo too, one step ahead of the law again.  Apparently Lyle’s lofty ambitions had gotten him in the end again–a stagecoach, he said.  She wished he would stop with all of that.  So now here Beatrice was in Tumbleweed, provisioning for the trip to Oregon or maybe California or whatever point Lyle had decided would be their next stopover, because by this point she found it hard to believe it could be anything but temporary.  Her man was in the saloon, and she only hoped he wouldn’t lose too much money while he was there.  The cards rarely favored him anyway, and it tended to make him drink more than was good for him.  The shopkeeper’s boy helped her bring the supplies out: flour, sugar, oats, bacon, saleratus, so many things.  Stepping out on the porch, she saw Arthur where she had left him, though now he’d apparently made some friends, both human and canine.  Sitting on the worn boards, petting a black-and-white dog whose tail was wagging with delight, there were two younger children sitting there with him, all three children’s fair hair shining in the strangely bright November desert sun.  As if they could all have been hers–though she thought more often than not that given the life she lived, it was better that it was only Arthur for now, and perhaps for always.  The boy looked to be about three, the same age she’d lost David, and she still missed him so fiercely.  The little girl, maybe a year or so, and she’d always wanted a girl.“Gotta be nice,” Arthur insisted earnestly, watching the other two kids, the boy now happily stroking the dog between the ears.  “You pulled her tail, that ain’t nice.”  He glanced at the girl.  “How about you?  You wanna pet him?”She cocked her head, looking at him with a look of intense concentration.  “Want dog?”  She pointed to the dog, still basking in the attention.  “Yeah, you ‘want dog’ or no?”She scooted closer, patted the dog on the side, giggling at the feeling of the plush fur under her fingers, doing it again.  “Like dog!”“Me too.”  Arthur grinned at that, and it did Beatrice good to see him smiling like this.  There were times she thought perhaps it would have been better…no, never mind it.  She kept trying to believe Lyle only needed to find a place where things could be better.  Somewhere peaceful and with opportunities that could help quiet the anger in his heart.  Though in the deepest corners of her own heart, she still thanked God that Arthur seemed to take after his father very little.  A sweet child, he was, running to her with a fistful of flowers to try and make her smile, always drawing those little animals on any paper he could get his hands on.  Her grocery list today had, as usual, the small sketches of things in her careful hand–a flower for flour, and didn’t the sound of English help with that one, and help her remember the word?  She’d drawn bread back in Wales for it.  A sweet in its wrapper for sugar, a percolator for coffee, and so on.  Her doodles, lacking the ability to simply write the list, obviously been an invitation to Arthur for his own contribution, as it now had what she thought were charmingly lumpy deer and horses at the bottom edge.  He was mad for horses, and even back in Rhondda, from the moment he could walk, she’d had to save him from getting himself kicked more than once trying to be friends with horses who were too nervous for it.  He kept pleading for a horse.“Henry, Sadie, Pa’s done, let’s go!”  Lost in the sight as she’d been, she hadn’t noticed the woman standing near the edge of the porch, keeping an eye on the children.  It looked as though her third child was already on the way.  She nodded to Beatrice in acknowledgment.  “Is that your boy?”  She wasn’t from these parts either, as her accent wasn’t this strange New Austin twang either, the way Arthur sounded, and that would serve him better than a Welsh lilt in this country.      “Yes, that’s my Arthur.”  She couldn’t help a smile of pride coming over her.  

She got a smile and a nod of approval in return.  “Nice kid.  Maybe Henry will stop trying to pull them dogs’ tails now.  You from around here?”“No, passing through, I’m afraid.”  Too bad, at that.  Arthur probably could have used friends.  She certainly could.  But things would be better in California.  They would settle down.  She could send Arthur to school, to get that smart mind of his all that it needed.  Unlike her and Lyle, because back in the village, the closest school was twenty miles away.  Not many educated spinsters were of a mood to come work in Welsh coal valleys.  She’d get her citizenship next year, and Arthur with her, and as a true American, an educated man, he’d have any number of roads open to him.  He’d be able to read, write, vote–with all of that, and the kind heart she knew he had, he could be far more than his father before him, and wasn’t that the dream of America?The two younger kids pushed up off the boards, heading to their mother. She reached down to grab the hand of the little girl, who already looked prepared to rush off into all sorts of mischief.  “Say goodbye now.”Sadie, the little girl, waved enthusiastically at Arthur with her free hand, beaming at him.  “Bye-bye!”He waved back with a shy smile, watching her toddle off with her mother.  “Yeah, bye.”  Once they were gone, headed for a wagon of their own with the husband already waiting, watching him help his wife into the wagon with a wistfulness in her heart, she looked back at the porch.  “Come, Arthur, we’d best go find your da and be on our way.”He nodded at that, coming down the steps to her.  Hesitated a moment, looking back at the dog still sitting there, looking at him hopefully.  “That dog ain’t nobody’s, Momma, can we take her with us?”She sighed, hating to disappoint him.  And for just a brief moment that felt like biting into a rotten apple, she had the thought that perhaps it would be better to have a poor beast there when Lyle grew angry–better the dog than her or Arthur.  But she dismissed it, ashamed at herself.  No, what temper he had, he had his reasons, and it wasn’t fair he should go after a little boy, so she would take that on herself, but his anger with her had its explanations.  “We’ve a long journey ahead, love.  I don’t think that a dog would take to it so kindly.  And your da might not like it.”“Daddy don’t like much,” he said, features drawing into a scowl, kicking at a rock in the street.  “Whiskey, maybe.”  Yes, he was far too smart for his own good.She sighed, crouching down to meet his eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder.  He’d gotten her green-blue eyes, and his hair was too fair to be Lyle’s, though she expected it would darken from that bright gold it was right now, as hers had.  “Things have been hard, and that makes him angry.  He’s still your da, for all that.  But maybe when we get to California we’ll see about a dog for you.  Things will be better there, you’ll see.”He smiled at that, eyes lighting up again with happiness.  “What’s California gonna be like?”“Oh, I don’t know.  I’ve never seen it, mind.  People say it’s lovely land, though.  Gold there, too, so perhaps we’ll become prospectors!”  With him by her side, they walked towards the saloon.

[gingerqueen4]

Thor

So i already knew that as an agardian thor would live for a long time unless he’s killed. But i just realize that means he’s going to outlive all the avengers. And you know that guy sees them as a family. I know the movies dont go i deph to bia realitionships with all of them but after all the years you know he’ll care about them. Even the ones he hasn’t met yet.

Just imagine:

Rhodey is the first to go. After civil war and his time in the army his body has just taken to much of a beating. Thor might not be as close to him as tony but Rhodey is a friend. A fellow warrior. Someone he could share with the pain of his battles and how the memories would haunt him and Rhodey would understand. After all you dont come out of war ok. Imagine Thor at his bedside holding back tears and giving him an agardian warrior farwell.

Bruce is next. The radiation and stress he’s been through holding the Hulk back has finally caught up. Thor is by his side giving one last thanks for all both Bruce and Hulk did to help his people. Admitting while laughing/crying that they are both his friends. That as someone who was close to both Bruce and the Hulk isn’t just losing one friend but two. Imagine the Asgardians having their own seperate funeral for the man who helped saving them all the while learning the pain of a short life.

Barton dies protecting a couple kids. They’re not even on a mission. The man was out with his family when a kid ran onto the street with an incoming car and Clint is not one to ignore someone in trouble, even more so a child. But Clint is human and his body can’t survive being hit head on at 60mph by a car. His death is so sudden and unexpected Thor doesn’t know how to react. His first thought in his rage and grief is to hunt down the man who killed his friend and left his children fatherless. But Thor isn’t stupid. He knows Clint wouldn’t want that. Instead he honors Clint by being there for his children and Wanda who saw the man as a father. He wouldn’t understand their personal pain but as someone who lost a father he loved he knows how to support them. Watching over them is how he will honor his friend.

Tony dies at 70. His body had reached it’s limit. Thor is of course there in his room. Tony, the stubborn fool, refused to die at a hospital. Thor is getting use to losing his friends now but the pain is still as strong as it was when they lost Rhodey. Tony is joking and Thor has seen enough death to know this is his way of coping, still Thor can’t seem to find anything a little humoring, but he’ll smile and laugh for Tony’s sake. Tony is smart and knows Thor has years to live and so he asks Thor to watch over Peter. It is already a given. The boy has been a part of Thor’s family for awhile now. But Thor swears it. Anything to make it easier for his friend. As a weird as it sounds losing Tony is not only losing a friend but a teacher. Tony, even with his sarcastic and joking ways, had been the one to teach Thor the customs of the humans and helping him understand their ever changin society. And more importantly Tony had been the one to supply him the money to make a home for his people on earth. The skies see a unexpected rain that night.

Stephen strange is the next to go. The two had become drinking buddies. Him with his beer and Stephen with his the tea. The man had reminded him of his brother in some ways. What with his magic and ‘i’m better than you’ attitude. The man had use magic to prolong his last minutes so he could comfort his friends. Something Thor had been trying to do for him, but the guy had been a doctor and he understood death in a way others couldn’t. Still, Thor stayed by his bedside till the very end.

Natasha and Steve went around the same time. Their age had finally caught up to them. Losing Natasha had felt wrong. Thor had learned to understand the human life span but there was just something about the women that seemed invincible and yet here she was dying. Thor could feel a sense of relief in her though. The poor woman was always on gaurd and could never fully relax. In death she finally could. It didn’t make it any easier. But Thor stayed. He held her hand and gave her blessing as she passed giving her one final kiss on the forhead.

Losing Steve hadn’t been any easier. The man had not only been his friend but his leader. There wasn’t many of them left at this point and losing a friend that had been with him for decades was devasting. Steve took it in stride. He laid in his bed fretting over the others. It was so like him that Thor had to laugh. With all the advice and worries Steve had for them he only had one request for himself. Bury him next to Peggy. And so Thor did. And he watched as the world morned the loss of Captain America but seemed to ignore the loss of the man himself.

Sam seemed to deterate after the loss of Steve and his death was not unexpected but just as crushing as the rest. With so few of them left Thor never left the mans side. It hurt seeing how quickly he deterated. But Thor remained strong. It was the least he could for his friend. It was ironic though. As a consular Thor was sure Sam comforted him more then Thor had been to comfor him.

T’challa was next. The two had a special bond brought on by the fact they were both rulers of their people. T’challa had been the only one to understand that weight and the pain of making the hard decisions for the better of their people. And with this understanding T’challa had only one request. Be there for his son when he would make those decisions. Thor promised of course but even then he knew that his son would never be half the man T’challa was. At least not to Thor. That was the problem with losing a friend. Nobody ever could compare or seem good enough compared to the one they lost.

Scott died suddenly. One month he was a healthy old man and by the next he was already gone. It was already hard of course but watching his daughter begging for him to stay made it so much worse. Once again Thor cursed the short lifespan of a human as he held his friends dying hand. In the end all he could do for his friend was be there for his daughter.

Wanda died of cancer. She spent much of it apologizing for her past mistakes. He spent much of it promising her she had nothing to apologize for. Everyone made mistakes. It was weird for Thor. He could remember her being a young woman like it was yesterday and now she was an 85 year old women dying of cancer. By now Thor thinks he should know how to comfort his friends but he doesn’t. So he holds her as she dies promising them that its ok. She’ll finally be able to see her brother again. He cries as he sees her take her last breath and the heart monitor goes flat. He feels another piece of his heart break as the bury in the ground next to her brother.

Imagine Vision, who Thor had planned on having in life forever, losing his will to live after Wanda has passed. Imagine him saying his goodbyes and his thanks to Thor for helping give him life and the chance to expreince it all. Imagine him removing the infinity stone from his head as he aplogizes and tells Thor to protect the stone. Imagine his last word is Wanda’s name and any anger Thor has at Vision for leaving him is gone and all that is left is a nearly broke man.

In a way Peter’s death was the hardest. Not only because he was the last but because Thor had see him grow from a great teenage boy to the wonderful man he is now. Like Thor, Peter is use to death so they spend their last hours together remembering their friends. Laughing at the good memories and mourning at the sad ones. Peter has his own family of course but Thor has been apart of it for decades now. He comforts Peter as the boy apologizes that he’s leaving Thor on his own now. How Thor tells him its ok. He’ll see them all in a couple thousand years. Imagine Thor holding his hand as he goes and breaking down when the heart monitor stops beating. Imagine him losing the last of his avenger family.

Imagine Thor feeing a piece of his heart breaking everytime a friend passes. Imagine him cursing his father for ever sending him to Earth in the first place. But in never truly meaning it because for all the pain it brought it was still nothing compared to the good. Imagine the skies tearing apart everytime. Lighting and rain storms appearing in a hundred mile radius of him. Imagine him cursing the life span of the humans. Imagine him hating his own lifespan. That not only because of it he gets to see his friends die but their families to. Imagine the pain he feels and the haunted look you would catch in his eyes at time. The way his shoulders would sag when alone. Imagine each time he gets more protective of Loki. Odin forbid he loses him too. Imagine the only true comfort for Thor is knowing he will see them all again in Valhalla when it is finally his turn to die. Imagine all of his friends greeting him at the gates of Valhalla. Imagine the tears in his eyes and the smile on his face as he sees his friends for the first time in thousands of years. Imagine all of that.

[cutecatpumpkin]

i have so many headcanons about bendy and the ink machine. specifically what the cartoon was like

i like to think that boris was a wolf that was looked down by everybody because of how “stupid” he was. this is the olden days where mental illnesses weren’t recognized so much and the ones that were were viewed as dangerous. so once boris’ parents passed on nobody was really willing to be there with him. he has managed to get some work, but it doesn’t pay much. and he’s so very lonely. he just wants a friend. a best friend even! how great would that be? but nobody wants him around... 

then he came across a local church that was warning people about summoning demons. about how horrible it was the terrible cost to pay. but boris heard that when you summon a demon you can get anything as long as the proper price can be payed. boris doesn’t have much, but a best friend is priceless! somebody to have fun with and play board games and go to the movies and help comfort each other when they’re down. boris was willing to pay whatever terrible cost to get a best friend. 

it takes a long time, but after lots a research and some shady deals has everything he needs to summon a demon.., no, his new best friend!! he performs the ritual, citing the proper words when the candles around him go out despite there being no wind. a chill fills the air and the candles relit with black fire. a dark cloud starts building in the center of the circle and grows taller. boris briefly wonders if this was a good idea when POOF. the clouds disperse and there stands a short demon, his face is blank. then he blinks and glances around the room. he spots boris who has scooted back a few feet and looking a bit scared. the demon grins. he walks towards boris, closing the distance between them. boris is in too much shock to move. and then the demon sticks out his hand, still smiling but never speaking a word. after a couple seconds boris catches on and grabs the demons’ hand, allowing him to pull him up from the floor. 

once boris is up on his feet the demon starts shaking his hand and looks quite pleased. boris grins and shakes his hand back. after a few seconds the demon lets go and stands back a little, looking at boris expectantly. 

boris starts, “my name is boris! what’s yours?”

the demon lifts and waves his hand above his head. sparkly letters appear spelling out ‘bendy’. 

“that’s a nice name! so, um, i was wondering if you could help me?”

bendy nods, smiling a bit wider

“could you be, um, sorry if this is silly, but will you be my best friend?”

bendy’s smile drops and he blinks a couple of times. he’s never heard of such a strange request before, but then his smile returns full force and he nods again enthusiastically. this could be fun

boris is beside himself with happiness. he’s got a new best friend!! how exciting! he tries to hug his new friend, but bendy steps back out of reach. boris is a bit confused. bendy twirls his hand in a circle looking at boris like hes expecting more. boris remembered that one important detail.

“oh! um, well, what do you want in return?”

bendy smile widens. this stupid wolf just gave him free reign over what he could ask for. he could ask for his soul and then drag him back to hell. or ask for him to gather people so he could take their souls and take them back to hell. ...but it has been a long time since he has been in the living world. he doesn’t want to leave so quickly. 

while bendy thinks his face takes on an expression of deep thought. boris starts thinking about the things he could probably give up. his home? would living on the streets be worth it? umm, lets just look over all the other options first. his life? ehh... his senses? sight or hearing? taste? would those be good? ...what could a demon do with a sense of taste? no, it should be something useful. his job? well, uh....maybe. then boris was struck with a thought

“at the bakery i work at,“ bendy glances up, “we make lots of desserts and the workers are allowed to take home a couple after work. i could give those to you? would that be enough?”

bendy blinks and thinks it over. he’s always loved human food, especially sweets. but that doesn’t cut it for all the boris is asking for-

“and i suppose i could let you stay at my house, and provide meals?”

that’s better. not only would he be gifted meals, but he has been given permission to stay in the living world. for all that’s provided its just barely enough, but hey, boris didn’t state that he had to be a good best friend now did he?

bendy looks at boris and grins while nodding. boris has got that look on his face again that looks like he’d explode with excitement. he holds out his hand.

“so its a deal?”

bendy grabs his hand and shakes. boris feels a weird sensation creep through his hand and into his entire body. he suppresses a shiver as he feels the weirdness settle in his chest. the candles light shifts from black to yellow and the air loses its chill. boris blinks at the sudden shift, but then smiles widely and gathers bendy up into a hug. bendy’s smile looks strained, but he allows it. 

and then over the course of the cartoon you see all the wacky adventures they go through, mainly spurred by bendy’s trickster nature. and then as they spend more and more time together bendy behavior starts to shift. you dont spend several months with an oblivious wolf who is kind to a fault without something changing. 

the tricks he pulls on boris start becoming less harsh and he starts pulling pranks on the people who hurt boris. they get mad at him and say that he should keep that thing under check. boris gets really mad at that comment and says that bendy is just having fun and they shouldnt be so cruel. and they keep arguing and of course bendy hears it all. he’s never heard boris so angry before and at that moment he realizes just how much he means to boris. he vows to pull even more tricks against those nasty jerks. 

and more episodes pass as bendy keeps up his promise to himself until an episode called, “boris is missing” happens. obviously, boris is missing leaving bendy quite confused. he’s not in the house anywhere and although its boris’ day off bendy checks his work too. he’s not there either. bendy tries not to worry about it, but then he remember those jerks who would hurt boris and he wonders if maybe they took things too far and he’s hurt somewhere. so he went to the hospital to check, but they say they dont have him. he’s starting to panic at this point, because boris is always around with bendy and for him to just disappear like this... something must be wrong. 

he checks all the alleyways. nothing. he checks the stores. nothing. the park, the library, the entire town. nothing. bendy just feels straight panic. has he been kidnapped? is he trapped in somebodies cellar? is he in some trunk of a car heading out of town? aaaaaaah, calm down, uhh, maybe there are some clues at the house he missed? a note stating where he went? bendy runs back to his house. he opens the door and

BOO

bendy silently screams and falls back. he looks up and boris is standing above him. he had a wide smile on his face which dropped into deep concern once he saw bendy’s face. he immediately starts apologizing and saying he didn’t mean to startle him so much, bendy pulled lots of pranks so he thought he’d prank him too. it was stupid he shouldn’t have done that, he didn’t think bendy would get so scared from a boo. 

boris is kneeling by bendy as he keeps saying sorry and bendy’s expression is blank as he tries to understand everything. after about half a minute it clicks and bendy starts shaking. boris becomes even more worried cause oh my gosh, i just ruined this friendship and he’s shaking in anger and why did i think this was a good idea? but then bendy tilts his head back and he’s laughing so hard that tears are streaming down his face. and now boris is the one who’s confused. he isn’t sure what to do when bendy wraps his arms around him and he realizes with shock that for the first time bendy is hugging him. he gladly hugs back. 

and in the episodes after that bendy hugs boris a lot more often and becomes more touchy-feely in general. he still pulls a few pranks on boris, but they’re incredibly mild. like when he pies boris in the face but boris is happy saying that its his favorite flavor. and when anybody tries to hurt boris like before for some ‘strange’ reason something horrible happens to that person. such as when mr. tiller called boris a useless moron and somehow a piano landed on his head. people learned quickly to stop harassing boris. 

and the show goes on like that with bendy and boris being best friends and getting into shenanigans. 

so now bendy wouldnt trade boris for anybody in the world. and he’d get awfully mad if, say, boris had his chest ripped open. oh, he’d want to hurt whoever did that to his best friend in the worst way possible. 

[norman-reedus-gossip]

bulk

– mod–
I’ll add to the comments as usual. Anon:
The DM ran photos of DK in the exact same outfit with the exact same shopping bags iSaturday – walking alone. Check it out. No way she wore the identical outfit and had the same bags yesterday. The story conveniently tags them as yesterday when it was known N was back in NYC. The “getaway” makes for a much better story than 2 friends hanging out like he’s done with several female friends in the past few weeks (Ira, Jarah, Liz) – and been photographed with them too. These pics were set up.

Anon:
what is everyone talking about with norman and what did this DK woman do? i’m late and curious because i really don’t want to find a way to dislike norman

Anon:
grooooooooossssssssssssss. well if the other rumours are true, she wants a baby w him.

Normansweetpie:
I honestly am surprised about Norman and Diane. And to the person that said Norman is a horrible person, you’re wrong. Norman liked Diane and I believe that Norman can do whatever he wants to do with his life. If Norman wants to date Diane, that’s fine.

Anon:
So he is w a disgusting famewhoere. completely changes the way i see him. bye bye norman, no longer your fan (and im a lesbian, so this isn’t butthurt shit here)

Anon: If this is true, I don’t want to go to WSC London now. I don’t feel like meeting him if he has been lying to us this whole time.

Anon: Norman has to address this. He’s getting so much hate. I hope he shuts it down. Please Norman say it’s not true.

Anon:
I can’t believe he lied to us. If this really is true, then everything he says is bullshit.

Anon: Mod, I am at a loss how this whole narrative in the NR fandom went from “DK is vile, they’re not friends ” to “DK is vile they’re definitely not dating cuz NR is sweet and great” to “They’re dating! They’re both vile!”…. Like, where is this coming from? Norman’s own fans would rather believe he’s some sort of vile scumbag than the alternative that maybe, just maybe 1) NR and DK are both decent people? And 2) none of us knows the private details of when/how they got together?

Anon: Mod in your opinion do you think he would have done that? He did things that made us believe he was single so do you think he was really lying to us the whole time? I want to cry if he was. I thought he was different. Do you think there’s a chance that he is just friends with her?

Anon: Just friends my ass. They’ve been together off and on for over a year. Time for fans to take off the delusional glasses and accept it. He’s a good ACTOR, isn’t he?

Anon: II thought that if this happened I would feel angry and sad and disappointed. But I feel relaxed and calm and I wish Norman finally have found the woman that will stay with him till the end. I feel really happy for him.

Anon: I hope that Norman realizes that Diane probably called the paparazzi and set that whole thing up so they would finally be outed as a couple. She is a real piece of work.

Anon: A few choice words like unwise, irresponsible, childish, selfish, asinine, and dishonest, as well as many more like them are all coming to mind right now.

Anon: I know it’s his life but I think he needs to say or do something for his fans now. Just like when he shut down the EK rumor. Btw, TMZ also reported that as official too, if I recall and that was never true either. Please say something about the truth of this, Norman

Anon: In the midst of this DK stuff, someone on Facebook who works at LaGuardia airport says she talked to Norman at work today. Do you know if he’s heading somewhere?

Anon: What had Diane done and why does everyone hate her?

Anon: I am an extremely disappointed… I was gonna say fan, but I can no longer even bring myself to write that much less say it. What an effing nightmare. Seriously, I’m not sure if Norman could make a more foolish decision.

Anon: I want to be clear this is not a DK hate (or even dislike) post. I have to say I find it a bit ironic of NR fans blaming the trash mags for NR not being able to “live his personal life”. If I’m not mistaken didn’t the pap pics originate in daily mail? Doesn’t DK and her people have a deal with them and they set up pics all the time? So I’m assuming DK or both of them are courting this attention, yes? I think we need PR wife again, lol.

Anon: Ok wait, it doesn’t have to mean they are together. She could have been hanging with him like he does with a lot of his female friends. And I stil think the pics are only one day. Not a “weekend getaway” I really hope he says something now, though. This back and forth is too much. I pray it’s friendship and nothing more because I don’t want to have to stop supporting him. Say something Norman.

Anon: 
I cannot think of a single nice thing to say about Norman right now and I’m not sure I will ever be able to again. Anon: Dont you think that this is kinda ridicilous , this whole dk / nr is going on since 2015 , if they were together , they would already admit that and dont forget joshua and diane broke up a long time ago , so nr and her had a long time chance to admit it 🙄(sorry my english is not very good ) 


Susa206: Everybody should calm down! In my opinion it´s obviously, that they are a couple. I think we don´t have the right to judge about his or her life! Nobody knows what really happened between DK and her former boyfriend….. I never liked her … but the most important thing, is that he is happy…. and we have to accept his choice…. ( sorry again for my bad english)

Anon: So are we to believe they have been so careful to not be seen out together in more than a year and now they are caught in his parking garage? Set up

Anon: she is just so unlikeable. ive read her interviews and seen her interviews. she is not likeable. this is bad new for his brand, but its his life. i know i won’t tune into anything he does if she is accompanying him or being mentioned. i know celebs are humans, but i also consider them brands that i choose to consume. ive no interest in using my money & attention to help her brand, and won’t consume anything she is attached to. sorry normski, not interested if you come w her as an add on

Anon: But hold on remember when he was photographed with Elsa Hosk? and they aren’t together. I know because of DK, it’s strange but I don’t think it proves it yet. Until Norman comes out and says it.

Anon: Mod , i would like to help you a bit. I also dont believe that they are together , in fact i do believe Diane might have a crush on Norman (who not) and im sure Norman knows that , but it seems he is enjoying his single life and told her that , and still wants to hang out as friends with her , because why not? Maybe they were out having dinner , maybe he or she made dinner at their homes! 😊( just what i think about the whole dk/n thing)

Anon: this norman stuff with TMZ, is utter bullshit. they are probably just friends and so what if they are dating, they should be happy that they are happy.

Anon: Mod , it seems you doubt about if they are friends or not ….

Anon: Mod, do you think they really are together or do you think the friends theory is possible? I just want to cry if it’s true. It’s not that he’s with someone but that it could be her! I hate her. She is nothing like him she is so full of herself and now he looks like a cheater and a liar. I didn’t think he was anything like that but now he looks like such a fake person. Not who he said he was to his fans. I’m so sad. What do you think Mod??

Anon: If them unloading a car together is the smoking gun on their relationship… damn! I am in a relationship with a bunch of cab drivers! Dammit… and here I am thinking I’m single! 


Rebellacycle: I’m sorry I’m laughing at a lot of this this man can’t be any where near a woman or his female fan loose their shit “ oh he’s with her no ” if he is dating her at least she is close to his age if she slept with him I’d hi- five her good for you Diane 😂🤣💪🏹 let him live his life I don’t know her we really as fans don’t know the both of them it’s his and her business if they are dating or not what ever and I would love to be at his next convention to see if these “ fans ” ask him about it

Anon: Sorry!! I meant good luck to HIM. I want the man to be happt but she is just YUCK. My bad. You always rule. I’m going to drink whiskey til I puke this weekend. Why do I care? I have no clue but am just disappointed.

Anon: Can someone post the pics of DK that are supposedly from Saturday, please. Also, are those pics on tmz from yesterday or Thursday. I’m confused!

Anon:
Sooooooo are they together or were they just carpooling to like Whole Foods and Best Buy or something?

Anon:
I’m done with NR. Cannot support this disgraceful behaviour whatsoever. More to the point how can he be okay with a supposed partner calling the paps on them? Entire thing is a mess. he is not who he pretends he was.

Anon:
NR and DK kept their relationship hidden this long because they knew people would never forget about how their relationship got started (cheating) and they knew if they went public they would be one of the most hated couples in Hollywood. I seriously want to throw up she is such a horrid human being. N has developed really shit taste in women.

Anon:
Here it goes. Seems like we finally got our proof and Norman and DK came out and made it public finally. They are together. You can’t tell me she’s just a friend cruising around with him and unloading his car. Not after all. I’m so disgusted, I almost vomited. I can’t believe Norman fell for this woman. I’m SO SO disappointed and disgusted! 😞

Anon:
Those two horrible people deserve each other. And they deserve every ounce of hate that they get as long as they are together.

Anon:
Isn’t there a simple way to clear it up? One or both of their reps will confirm or deny the rumors, right? NR had to do that with the EK thing. Plus I think isn’t DK going to LA for Oscar weekend stuff? If she gives any interviews I’m sure they’d ask about this, right?

[11toe11-blog]

Horsewomen

  May i enter. Quietly. For insight. And take back nothing but truth.

____

I sit here waiting. 

I sit here waiting for you.

This is uncomfortable. This is actually a rather unsettling feeling. My breathing is no deeper than my upper chest. I am distracted. I want some distraction. Watch something nonsensical. Eat. Eat plenty. Something to comfort me. This sense of hunger, of not being full, no matter what i am putting in - from the healthiest to the junkiest. 

He wants to mute me.

He is making pulao and raita. Just what i need maybe. Maybe with that i’ll be satiated. Calm this restlessness. 

Weight on the chest. Cant go, oh damn! on it. Just watch it. Even if i spent the last month and a half working this weight off. 

Actors freeze writers block.

Dont i have anything to write? After steam rolling for a week.THe point when i assumed things would come together into a giant revelation?

Breathe into the belly. Reach out from formula. 

“What do i mean by…”

I miss. I miss kalari. Its a fact. I miss. I miss thiru. I miss. I am a miss. I am amiss, between a miss and a missus. 

Something in the face sharts shifting. Music is hindustani. Kishori amolkar he announces, informs, sticking is head out of building pulao.

Watched S’s viva. As she discussed body widsom as the maker and keeper of stories, and the source of the individial truth and meaning making process we all search for.

Watched Su’s body leave her home of 85 years. Watched Su’s body after her spirit left its home of 85 years. He brows were tight together, as if frozen amidst a painful exercise to recall something. 

Mid sentence, mid building he walks over for the hug, hug of reconciliation, hug of understanding, a hug to acknowledge, a hug to reassure - one of us, both of us. 

A death happened. 

Finally. After a dance on the edges that lasted almost 2 years. I remember sitting in the room with my therapist as art of the Art Therapy studies, and role playing with a strange dream, where i was arguing with R and having some experience of the Buzz road first floor centered around my possessions- why it cant be moved or something and his friends being around and me feeling alientated; while down in the ground floor abyss, the dreamer was distinctly aware of death waiting. The house didnt quite look like this, but was the same. In a way that spaces rearrange them selves in dreams, an additional corridor there, an elevation somewhere else, a door connecting two opposite ends of the house directly. 

I dont know her at all.  I have barely spoken to her more than a few handful of times in the 4 years that Buzz road has been my home. And none of the conversations have lasted more than a few minutes. She was a fine looking thin lady. Who i was told was a shell of her former robust self, and had alzheimer's setting in. So the main door, which is the common entrance to all the three floors had to be locked early enough. She would have anxieties otherwise. 

Nothing too loud or boisterous. 

Its never been loud or boisterous at buzz road from the time i have known it. Maybe when i got to know it, it was around the time it had gotten contemplative, retrospective, nostalgic. With not enough energy to hold the heightened states of merry making and large groups splashing their vibrance around. But finding them quietly in the folds of memory, back and forth, and reweaving them, alone. 

I came into the quiet buzz road; a buzzing road thats quietened now, i realize.

 People were talking about the sheer energy she possessed. I can imagine. Even when the last time we exchanged pleasantries, as i walked to junk the compost into the new compost pit we had going in the back yard, she was clear in her gaze, her glance inspire of all the tubes running out of her.  Was that the last time she saw me? Or when i had my lungi pulled up, carrying the water cans to the first floor. I had put on an effort to be myself, anticipating judgements for my hairy legs, or my unconventionality inspite of my desperate attempts to fit into the conventional. Whatever conventional means.

I now wear diamond earrings to honor a memory. Of someone i have only met in books and ideas. WHo would have thunk!

He comes over from the pillars of pulao. Share a few grains of his memory. 

The sense of community he is experiencing at the moment - in the virtual world with the responses that came in response to his tribute to her, -in this space, with his cousin who he felt he had nothing in common with. A point he always kept making. Until now, when he seems to suddenly have noticed a shared childhood. He accepted his cousin’s invitation to be there on the 10th and 13th day and was touched by the gensture, though he trailed off  a “my beliefs are my own” as he made his way back into the kitchen.

From the kitchen he recounts and as kishori continues to inspire the pulao, how his aunt took him to the hospital after his infamous fall off the rockface, he had managed to get back home pushing his conked motor bike before fainting in the loo with a shirt soaking in blood. Quite dramatic. This bit of the story is new to me. I knew of the fall. And the 7 stitches. I didnt know she featured in the story, which i imagined to be the grand fall that shook the 3 worlds and its from that impact on the earth that i was born. 

He was 18. My parents copulated. 1983.

This is quite a nice start to the mythical story.

What is this sentimentality? I am not a sentimental person. Sensitive yes. Sentimental? Not really. 

In all senses i am aware of the fact that death doesnt mean anything. Other than the change of the playing scene.  For the person who dies. Atleast for most people who die. A change of play for the actor. 

For the co-actors, yea its awkward. Suddenly, the improvisation has new energy, an unknown. Space available for new possibilities. 

Also a sense of a loss of the playing dynamics, which has to be refigured in new context. 

Thats all death is. 

And i myself must be dying in a million ways in the million multiverses, never mind “the other” dying. The infinite stages strung together and the actor playing out the infinite possibilities of each second. 

The thought of him dying was obsessive,for last two years. Its only of late that i have been able to relax. Otherwise it was a high alert since his tryst with the fissure and bp. I would be up at night watching and monitoring the deapth of his breath as he snored on. The thought of him dying and the paranoia that set in was a pattern repeat of the tightly controlled panic I experienced regularly as a teenager when my mother came home wheezing and we spent the whole nights praying and trying to help her get some relief. With no one else to turn for help.  Sheer holding-on to the the caregiver, protector, provider. 

Sheer holding-on as the intermediate caregiver, protector, supporter.

Today i am lot more relaxed. The pattern that was triggered two years ago has eased. It gave a sample of the minefield of triggers that lay dormant in my mindscape. 

Last night when he spoke of his will, after the initial reaction of sheer panic setting in, and then watching it pass, i was able to engage in the conversation - who should the bangalore house be left for? A. She has plenty in her name already. What about AV? Wonderful idea. He is a lonewolf with a strong sense of community. And will find some meaning and continuity, “make something with it, share it”.

Pondi house is for me. 

There is no house in pondi yet. There is land in pondi. And our dreams for the home. Our mutual curiosity of this human instinct,  nesting. What does it mean to make a nest with someone - which is neither his nor mine, but ours. 

Pondi house is for us. 

Its ours. 

Quite fitting for the closet romantics that we both are.

Such a relief this sentence gave me. Pondi house is for us. Its ours. 

What a burden it seems to be lifting from my shoulders. 

My self image  moves, glides past the harshly lit railings where it was held prisoner by my critical self - ever questioning my intentions of  initiating and insisting on insisting on a home in pondicherry. Is it greed? Is it the easy way out? Are you in this for the money?

To something lit with a much softer glow of depth and wisdom. And love and respect. 

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan takes the manch. 

Nobody else may understand this. But we do. You and i, do.

That ours is a dance of light and shadows. We love and hate. Trust and mistrust. We make love with the enemy. Sleep, cook. Learn to trust. Love. The historical “ other”.

Far from Romeo Juliet. Far far from it. Infact, it probably starts where SSpere left off. 

Imagine in play space: Romeo is reborn. Some 20 years ahead of Juliet, who was stuck in a limbo in some portal. And they finally meet. And there is nothing in the way- no warring families, no borders, no jealous friends, no helpful friends either - there is nothing helping, there is nothing standing in the way - except themselves. And all their assumption and presumptions.

“oh! I dint realize you were so obsessive.”

“Oh! I didnt realize you had such a nasty streak”

“You dont listen”

“This is far from the ever after i imagined”

Well, as i write this i suppose this is following the graph of every relationship there is. Nothing unconventional here. Inspite of all our ideas and stories of how unconventional this is.

Also, we arent really gear shifting because we have no kids.

Am i ok with that? Not having a child? Yes. In many ways. It will be nice to have someone to shape and mould and protect and spoil. But when i imagine, i dont think i will be doing something very different from what my mother did - circumstances and conveniences may be different - but the structure is the same - shape, mould, protect and spoil and love - with different degrees of ingredients - but still a replication of the process. Thats what nature is best at, no? Replicating. I dont want to do that. I can see past that temptation. 

A cat will do. Or a squirrel. Or a raven. Or a garden lizard, according to him.

Coco.

One coco gone from the terrace. So many coco’s playing around in the goundfloor garden. 

Sleepy. 

Call with K is postponed to tomorrow. 

Project Objex continues to delvelop and offer rich insights offline. Though the thread is held online. No, The thread is seemingly held online.

I find myself pretty uninteresting at the moment. 

Stitching classes with mom is nice. Nice is a strange word. And a strange word is what i need to describe it. She is clear and simple. With sketchy camera angling skills. But in her area of expertise, she leaves me with no room for doubts or confusions. Reminded me of how she used to teach me as a child. I remember she used to say a thing only twice, if i made her repeat a third time, i would get whacks for not paying attention. And now she seems to be the epitome of patience, as i also notice my child self coming to the fore, to provoke and test, with disinterest and wandering attention and confusion. She holds the thread with such firm clarity and patience, that i notice the child self dissolving away, making way for me to inhabit the present. In the beginning, 15 minutes into the session,  i noticed fatigue and disinterest and irritation setting. And by the end of the class i was clear and inspired and received the information she was clearly trying to transmit. I notice myself eagerly summarising all that i understood at the end of the session. Satisfaction and closure for her. And for me. 

All that the giver has to give, needs a taker. 

So that the giver can give fully and completely. And be free. 

I feel when i am listening to my mother, i feel i am also simultaneously receiving from my grandmother. A line of women who understood cloth. And clothes.

A line of women, who were a few generations ago not permitted to cover their breasts, fashioning the most interesting and quirky ways of covering and revealing. 

A line of women, some of who also sliced and placed a breast or two at the altar of life unlived.

A life of women who may have forgotten the joys of sun and wind and rains on naked breasts.

For me to understand R, i had to bring it closer to home. Last night the news of his aunts passing, meant that the inevitable event of his parents passing is clearer in the minds eye. I wouldnt have understood it, if i hadnt played out the scene of mom passing. And i notice that i keep telling myself that i will hold it together, like a stoic -like the stoic. Though the physical sensation is of a collapse a caving in. Like it matters. As if what matters is how i respond to it.

And its true. In an improvisation, a sudden disappearance of an actor...

Ashwini BIde Deshpande takes the mach.

The transformer catches fire. In a way that i have never seen it catch fire before - with a big long sideways trialing flame. And abruptly stops. WE gather candles and he goes to alert the watchman to make the calls to the electricity board. And i wonder if its a hello from the other worlds.

And its true. In an improvisation, a sudden appearance of an actor...gentle drizzzle 

And its true. In an improvisation, a sudden disappearance of an actor...and the only thing that matter there is how you respond to the moment, to the change in space, how i respond to a new space.

He does the tadka, a vertical flame lover the ladle he uses for tadka.

We are such theatre.

But why is our sensation of it so mundane and unheightned. As if there is no audience. 

The sense of audience , of someone watching is what has fuelled most of the adventures in life. Like on is at once living at writing ones autobiography, and featuring in a biography, all at the same time. The vantage of the witness. Is what inspired this whole era of camera and film and now virtual.

Very many ways of the mirror.

The vantage of the inner witness. Makes me relax a little, teeny weeny, into the belly. The breath is quarter an inch deeper.

What was the word that mom used for leaving a little extra provision of cloth - side something...let me check the book. Not side - seam. Seam Allowance. At least i got the first alphabet right. S.  Mom and me have a long way to here, i see.

I didnt realise or register that R’s aunt used to play male roles in the play. She was an actress.  I didnt know R’s very married aunt was happy to flirt with the handsome doc while R was getting stitched up from his fall. But around her, knowing that she lived down stairs, and  maybe from the kind of home she lived in and her seemingly very traditional exchanges with people around her, I shrank. I felt I would be judged for not fitting in line with the expectation of a space. Walked past her awkwardly, pausing only for pleasantries. Not visiting her in her room as often as i could have and as often as i wanted to even, for the strangeness of the exchange. 

Nor having the balls to suggest playing some classical music to her. Some respite from the dreaded TV. 

Did i judge her illness or her age or her wealth?

Made it all about me?

Wanting to listen to music quietly together with a practical stranger at her bedside, we must share some language no? Some connection had to have happened. Some step one and two had to be crossed to find that step three. Or could i have straight have jumped to three? Long and short, that want, which kept appearing as an image, i believed was a response to her experience of intense loneliness. And my helplessness. 

Which is understandable, one of the first descriptions of her from people who knew her was how social she was -how she was surrounded by friends. Yet in the past year and a half she saw no one except  the nurses who were with here round the clock, her children, daughterinlaw, sister who regularly visited and maybe us once in a while and her, and occasional visits from her nieces and nephews. Watched plenty of TV. And went in and out of a hospital. And lived in looping memory. Ate mostly from a tube. The dabba that formulas came in we now use to store flowers for the pooja room everyday. 

I would have really liked to go and sit and listen to her, her  stories. But i didnt have the balls. What if she rejected me. I would take it very personally. I would be very hurt. 

Because i kept dancing on the brink of the rejections. Dreading rejections from R, from friends, from peers, from the kalari. That i so intensely yearn to belong. 

And so imagining that possible rejection, and a cruel word - i never made an effort. Even when i wanted to. 

Just before she left to the hospital the last time round, I didnt go into her room. Walking past the gesture of one of her nurses to come in - justifying it mentally with “not wearing a mask”. Maybe i was arguing a lot with R and had no bandwidth for the extended family at the moment. Maybe when i argue with R i see no reason why i live here. Maybe when i am arguing with R, i feel I dont belong here. And my whole presence here is a lie. And i dint want her too catch my dishonesty of intentions, of superficiality. My fears.

I have often been plagued by the feeling of helplessness here at buzz road. Much lesser now. This round of our stay has been far more hands on, “empowered”, and with room for changes and play of dynamics. Me allowing myself to do the things i feel like doing at the cost of being “seen”. 

Noticing caste encoded in the body memory. Because i have no lived memory of it. My earliest association with identity is being told by my father that i had “no caste, no gender, no religion”, i was human and a girl as equal to any boy. 

Why then did i feel my space shrink here? Did i subtly read your judgments without even noticing it? R tells me that you singled out your daughter for her dark skin. Not moer than half a shade darker surely, because i didnt at all notice any color variations in your skins; you all looked like you were from the same family and that was it. Is that why i feel great kindship with the people who work here - because i unknowingly somewhere by the color of my skin maybe they judge me as one of them?

So there is a story of rejection here that i picked up from the space and wove into my story.

Kabira khada baazar mein

Mangey sabki Kahir

Nahi kahoon sey dosti

Nahi kahoon sey bair

I spent an hour faffing to escape finishing this page. Because it doesnt seem to be getting over. One think is linking  to the next and then to the next, faster than i can write. 

Or want to write.

I can let go. 

Yes. 

I can let this go. 

I dont have to hold on to it like the bag that L and I tugged between each other other over compulsion to be the ideal daughterinlaw/good samaritan.

Lets me just summarize to myself that today i glimpsed the family, this group of people bound together by blood relations, a lot deeper than i ever have. I noticed wounds, as much as i noticed bonds. I noticed bonds, as much as i noticed wounds.

And i have no idea how i walked into this story, which seems to be an epic in itself with my own sense of great mythical journeying. I want nothing from them except peace and resolving and healing of wounds. 

And thats what seems to be happening.

No one is counting all this work we are doing in the GDP. I always liked micro economics over macro economics.

Something. 

Sleep

___

I gently close the door behind me. Notice the skin a bit shirvelled from time spent a touch too long in war. Thank you for keeping me safe in your waters. Thank you for the waves.