#jack x harp

[colorguardsweetheartblurrsgirl]

Just had a #theory ... A #JackAndtheBeanstalk THEORY!!!

#FairytaleTheory TIME!!!

#Theharp, what do you think She represents if you look at the story closely?

I didn't find much in googling, but... I have a theory...

The #giant= a difficult rich man with a beautiful daughter who falls in love with a poor farmer. He (the giant) forbids the relationship, the daughter runs off with the poor farm boy. The riches he and his mothers farm recieve rather then gold is representing how their love gives them a filling happy life. (As I recall in story they never leave the farm.) Thinking it through it made sense, in a way the home has new life brought into it, and in a way the farm flourishes through their hard work together.

2) A Mistress that flees with new traveling young man. Having either grown tired of the crouchy rich man, knowing he'd not leave his wife, has wandering gaze herself, or such... In a way Jack represents the passing through handsome visitor that gets the town buzzing.

It's also worth note in stories throughout history, often these stories with "passersby," are told that visitors in old were often referred to enter with intrigue and fanfare but leave by taking something from the people. Be met with such notoriety like with the giants wife first treats Jack with towards what some would treat visitors in smaller areas with not alot happening with.... Curiosity, Wonder even Flirtations, but often would take more then they came with so to speak when they left. There's numerous stories of this being a daughter, robbing people blind or both. Then there's where neither happens but often they face these exact confrontations (not counting in stories where the stranger leaves rather then stays I mean). It just was a similarity I never considered.

Its just something I never really thought about until using this as a reference in a later scene for STRY.

I paused, then realized, "Wait...! Hold Up here. I may be onto something!?" Sadly, google brought like no results no matter what I tried.

SO WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

Interpretations?

Theories?

Any other fairytale theories?

I'd love to hear any others you may have too.

You can reblog with your own additions if you like. (Since commenting has a small word/character limit)

[luvelve]

˚ · . sweet blue - k. mingyu

summary: your husband’s not very good at asking for things, not even for a shave. but of course, he gets it either way.

pairing: husband!mingyu x afab!reader

genre: fluff, suggestive

warnings/tags: kissing, shaving, mentions of use of a blade

a/n: i took a long and unexpected break from writing and i’m happy to be back <3 this has been sitting in my drafts for sooooo long and i finally finished it today. the ending was kinda rushed but i wanted to publish it either way to kinda get myself out of this slump. as always, feedback & likes/reblogs are always welcome :)

the dark colored marble touches the front of your thighs as you inch closer, which surprises you but you try your best not to flinch because of the task at hand. at this moment, you feel like an artist, a sculptor if you will; carefully carving clay with utmost precision. except you’re not a sculptor, and you’re not carving clay. you’re in your bathroom giving your husband, mingyu, a shave.

this was new for the both of you, as mingyu always just shaved his incredibly slow growing mustache by himself. what started all this is him seeing you in your nightstand or in the bathroom doing your makeup and skincare, and he finds it all so amusing. he swears harps and violins play in the background when you’re in your own little world, dusting your cheeks with blush, taking your mascara off, or applying lip balm? lip… stick? lip…. whatever it is that you put on your lips, he thinks to himself. all he knows is that he can watch you do it all day. but he’s also left wondering, how it would feel to do what you do on him.

for some reason, mingyu isn’t able to muster up the courage to ask you straightforward to do his skincare, but he is able to ask you to be the one to shave him since he tells you its that time of the month where his mustache gotten too long for his liking. he comes up with the excuse of not doing the job well enough, and that his face gets all ‘itchy’ afterwards. which is all a lie of course, but it’s enough to convince you to do what he asks of you.

and so you find yourself in your shared bathroom at nine in the morning, standing in between your husband’s legs as he sits on the counter, both of your faces inches from each other. the room is silent but not eery, it’s a comfortable silence. mingyu had joyfully shown you the things he uses for his shaving routine: a cheap razor, shaving cream, some aftershave seokmin had recommended to him, and a towel.

“you really should get one of those good quality razors. not these disposable ones.” you scold mingyu softly, looking at him sternly with one hand resting on his head and the other holding the razor.

“but they’re expensive.” he extends the last syllable in protest, his reply a bit garbled as he tries his best not to move his mouth too much. you know mingyu well enough that he would be pouting at this moment, if only you weren’t shaving his upper lip.

you’re too focused on the task at hand that you don’t bother arguing with the giant sulky man in front of you. you continue making slow downward strokes using the razor, watching the hair slowly disappear. mingyu doesn’t have a lot of hair on his face like other guys but you take your time, making sure to get the job done right. it is, after all, your first time.

your husband watches as your lips contort out of focus; a habit of yours that he’s taken notice and grown fond of over the years. every now and then , you get rid of the hair and cream, swishing the razor in the sink that’s filled about halfway in water. mingyu feels nothing else but happiness and content in this very moment that he’s internally doing jumping jacks.

your resting hand shifts from his head and onto his cheek to get better leverage and mingyu just has to lean in to your touch. he relishes the feeling of your warm hand and then looks at you with adoration in his eyes.

“baby…” you raise your eyebrows at him, wondering what on earth he’s doing this for in the middle of a shave. mingyu doesn’t react to your words but instead shoots you a small derpy smile, and only you would know what he means.

if there’s one thing your husband is good at, it’s getting you to give him your love and attention without even saying anything. there are nights when mingyu comes home exhausted and all he has to do is stand there in your doorway, signalling to you that he wants to be in your embrace. or when you get up earlier than him and you find him just as he’s about to wake up; he’s buried in the sheets, hair all messy, just laying there, silently telling you that he wants a taste of your lips before his morning coffee.

and it’s the same thing he’s doing now. you let out a small sigh as you tilt your head a bit in fake annoyance before you lean in to connect your lips with his. it’s quick but it’s enough that mingyu lets out a hum of contentment. you pull back and he giggles as your lips catches some of the shaving cream, giving yourself a tiny little mustache.

“happy?” you quickly reply, and mingyu catches you to plant another kiss on your lips, placing his hand on your cheek to deepen the kiss a bit.

“very.” he says, as he swipes the pad of his thumb on your upper lip to get rid of the shaving cream he transferred onto you. his giggles bounce off the quiet walls of your bathroom.

“now can you sit still so i can finish this little bit that’s left?” you say to him, and he replies with a small nod and a sheepish smile, one that’s big enough that his canines show through. mingyu feels like a sixth grader who just kissed his crush. if the marble counter wasn’t in the way, he’d be kicking his feet.

you finish the small patch of hair that he has left and you proceed to put aftershave on him, assuming it is what you put after one shaves. you put a little bit on your hands and you’re thrown off by its strong musky scent. surely this can’t be good for his skin, you think to yourself.

“babe, you really use this stuff? i think this is way too strong for you.” you say with a worried look on your face. “well… seokmin told me it was good so i just used it too.” he replies.

“well yeah, it could be working for him but for you… i’m not too sure. i don’t know… i’m just worried.” you trail off, getting some tissue to rid your hands of the product and his eyes follow you around the bathroom while you do so. you shuffle back to stand in between mingyu’s legs, “i’ll go get something from my stuff instead.”

he watches as you momentarily leave the room to grab something from your vanity. he waits in the bathroom like a five year old waiting for his mom at the grocery counter. he hears the sound of your drawer open and close and it makes him chew at his lower lip in excitement.

“okay, this should do the job.” you say as you take the product onto your hands and pat it gently on your husband’s annoyingly smooth face. you make sure to cover all the parts that the blade has touched, and your head tilts left and right trying to make sure you didn’t miss any spot.

the way his eyes light up and follow your every move don’t go unnoticed by you. his hands make their way to rest on your hips again, squeezing every so gently as not to distract you.

“aaand, that’s the last bit of it.” you say, tightening the cap of your moisturizer and setting it down on the counter. mingyu internally pouts because the task is done, nonetheless he still props himself off the counter to take a look in the mirror.

“thank you, baby.” he says softly, shooting you a sweet smile as he turns to face you again. his arms snake around your waist to pull you in for a kiss and just when your noses touch, you pause. “you know… we still have a bit of time before we have to head out. why don’t we go back to bed for a little while?”

mingyu instantly picks up on what you’re trying to say and of course he jumps on the opportunity, “yeah?” he questions, and you nod as you wrap your arms around his neck. “well you know i can’t say not to that.” his smile reaching from one ear to the other. he leans down to attach his lips to yours as the both of you slowly walk backwards into your bedroom.

“oh, one more thing.” you mumble, momentarily breaking away from the kiss. “mhmm..” mingyu hums, and you feel it rumble in his chest. “i know you don’t get ‘itchy’ after you shave, it was just an excuse to get me to do it for you.” your tone is playful, and right then and there mingyu knows you’ve got him.

“what-huh? n-yes, i do!” your husband stutters, his ears turning red in embarrassment. “sweetheart, you really expect me to believe that? i know you like the back of my hand.” you reply. before mingyu is able to say anything else, you grab his arm and lead him out of your bedroom. “now let’s go, you owe me a yummy breakfast.”

[ifnotlovepersevering]

Down the Road (Agatha Harkness x Reader)

Summary: your summon to the Witches’ Road unexpectedly reconnects you with the witch that left you behind

Warnings: angsty, anger between R and A, fight scene, injury (A), flashback to past abandonment, R is lowkey into dark magic but in denial, lovers to hurt strangers 😔 whatever will we do

A/N: I used a few different requests in my inbox as inspo. It can also be read as a continuation of Closer. I’m planning on a part two but am open to suggestions on where to take this next! Enjoy 🖤

Tag List: @nyx-aira @crystalline-possession @clxwnnyy @lilibeth-tate @highgaytohell @amethyst-bitch @shinkomiii @agnessharknes @academiagaymess @midnight-lestrange

A summon to the Witches’ Road seemed like exactly what you needed right now. You’d been keeping to yourself these days, staying out of trouble. But it’d been too long since you’d had some excitement and your hands were itching for something new. You were going in blind, but that’s always fun, right?

At least that’s what you’d thought. When the smoke of your white magic disappeared, you were greeted with the sight of your new ragtag coven. You counted four. Where’s the fifth?

“Hello,” you grinned at the youngest, a pale boy with dark hair. “I’m Y/N, I believe someone called?”

“Y/N? As in awesome-moon-powers-Y/N?” The boy exclaimed, grabbing the arm of the tallest one, who seemed equally excited.

You laughed. “I didn’t realize my reputation preceded me so much.”

“Are you kidding?” Now it was the tall one exclaiming. “You’re like, so cool. Incorporating the moon into your power? It makes you the jack of all trades. Healing, light manipulation, water control. I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Moon magic?” The older woman seemed sort of dazed. “I’d heard stories…but have never seen it for myself.”

Before you could respond to the group’s praise, a familiar voice rang out. “What the hell are all of you harping ab-”

You turned around at the same time as footsteps behind you halted in their tracks. You felt your heart drop as you realized why the voice was familiar. It couldn’t be.

Agatha Harkness stood in front of you in all her glory. Gone was the young witch you had known, in her place a woman exuding power and elegance. Both of you eyed each other, surprise and apprehension on your faces.

•••

Your last memory of Agatha was that smirk of hers. You two had started as rivals but a trip that you went on together changed that. You grew closer and animosity turned to friendship, which turned into something much more. So many nights of you sneaking into each other’s rooms, honing your skills, and eventually using your hands to explore each other.

On one of your many visits to the woods for spell practice, the two of you encountered a shapeshifter. You and Agatha fought it off but it forced you to use the full extent of your powers. You were young and had only just started to incorporate the moon into your witchcraft. The fight drained you completely, leaving you weak.

At home, you were checked into the infirmary. News spread quickly of the battle; Agatha, being Evanora’s daughter, caught attention easily. Her power had been a topic of dispute within the coven for some time. You resented the others for how they treated her, especially her own mother. The parts of Agatha that made them turn away were the same you admired undyingly. You loved her.

You had been drifting in and out of consciousness for hours before you finally woke up to see Agatha at your bedside. “They want a formal questioning,” she had told you softly, her hand holding yours. In response to your furrowed brow, Agatha brushed the hair from your forehead. “It’s nothing serious. I’ll be back before you know it.”

You sighed, knowing Evanora took every chance she could to hurt Agatha. “Give them hell anyway.”

“You know I will.” Agatha had smirked, and with a soft kiss, she was gone. Unbeknownst to you, it was the last time you were going to see her.

You woke up the next day, surrounded by the early morning darkness. It was eerily silent; you’d expected Agatha to be back by now. Your strength had returned, and you searched for Agatha everywhere you could think of. No one was around, every room empty.

Eventually you had come to the clearing and saw the husks of the other witches. Their bodies surrounded a post, covered in scorch marks from what you could only assume to be Agatha. You felt yourself freeze as the truth dawned on you. It was more than questions, it was a sentencing. Yet Agatha had obviously survived.

Hot tears had filled in your eyes and a lump formed in your throat before you had collapsed into sobs. She’d survived, of course she had. But she hadn’t come for you. Agatha, the girl you loved without question, whom you had embraced completely. The girl who encouraged you with your magic, the one you’d helped with controlling her own. She had left you.

Over time, the hurt faded but it never quite left. You never looked back, not at her, nor the version of you that broke that day in the clearing. You drew from the pain and let it fuel your ambition. As you travelled and your power grew, you’d heard stories about Agatha. How she’d honed those skills you’d practiced together into something to be both admired and feared. But her betrayal was enough for you to never want to seek her out again.

•••

You blinked, snapping out of your reverie.

“Y/N was the other name on the list? I can’t believe you wanted to leave her behind.” The boy’s voice piped up from behind you.

You scoffed. “Don’t be so surprised.” There was no hiding the snark in your voice, and you saw Agatha’s face drop right before you turned on your heel. “This was a mistake,” you muttered, walking away from the group to recollect yourself.

The rest of the group watched as you left. “What did she mean by that?” Alice hissed at Agatha. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

“Well,” Agatha grinned sheepishly. “We may have some…uh…unfinished business if you will.”

Jenn rolled her eyes. “Whatever, you have to make her stay. We need her to do this.”

Agatha groaned as the others nodded and nudged her towards the area you’d retreated to. But the annoyance was an act. Seeing your name on the list had stopped her in her tracks, bringing back memories she’d tried to bury. And now here you were, and she couldn’t hide from the swirl of emotions within her like she’s used to doing. Her heart still ached for you but it was unlikely you’d want anything to do with her.

She sauntered over to where you were sitting on a log by yourself. Standing close to you, she had a moment to take in your appearance. Somehow you were even more beautiful than she remembered. Time had clearly treated you well, and Agatha found her gaze catching on your features as she took in the sight of the face that haunted her memories.

She cleared her throat. “You can’t leave now that you’re here. The Road. It won’t let you.”

You looked up at her from where you sat. “You think I don’t know that?” You snapped. “I wouldn’t have come if I knew it was you.”

That stung. “Well it’s nice to see you again too, doll.” Agatha sneered.

“Oh save it, Agatha.” You stood up, eye level with the other witch. “I think we both remember who left who. Don’t play dumb now.”

“You act like I made that decision by flipping a coin. You don’t know the half of it.” The nonchalant attitude Agatha had been putting up was slipping away, revealing the raw emotion underneath.

You shook your head and turned your back to her. “Forget it. I’m already going to have to suffer through the rest of this thing anyway. I don’t need some shitty explanation from you.”

But Agatha wasn’t one to take that for an answer. She grabbed your arm, forcing you to turn back and face her. “No,” she hissed. “You don’t get to do what they did. Don’t repaint me as callous because I was never like that with you.”

You clenched your jaw, feeling a lump forming at the back of your throat. You couldn’t help it - the hurt you’d buried for this long was coming back up, and it was as sharp as the day it’d arrived.

“Callous?” You laughed humourlessly. “No, leaving me behind wasn’t callous. It was cruel. You’re cruel.”

You could see Agatha’s cheeks flushed in anger, and her mouth opened with another rebuttal when a shriek rang through the air back where the rest of the coven was standing. Both of you jumped, and Agatha dropped your arm.

“What the hell was that?” You shouted at Agatha over the shrieks, which had grown louder.

“Salem Seven ring a bell?” Agatha snarked, but her eyes were filled with fear.

“What the fuck, Agatha.” You all but yelled as the two of you began running back. Somehow you’d never encountered any of the Seven before but that didn’t mean you wanted to start now. They were definitely pissed at Agatha, but it was unlikely that they were happy with you either, as the only other survivor of their mothers’ massacre.

The shrieks were coming from both the coven and a dark, hooded figure who you assumed was one of the Seven floating above them. “Run!” The boy screamed, and everyone began sprinting down the road.

Suddenly you heard Agatha cry out and a thud. You turned to see Agatha on the ground, the hooded figure hovering over her. You stared incredulously as Agatha put her arms up to shield herself, but made no other move to put up a defence. What is she doing?

The Salem Seven witch lunged towards Agatha and you quickly shot a beam at her, making her fall to the ground. As you ran over, you saw the witch was already stirring, not quite dead yet. You began reciting a spell that’d become second nature for you now, your hands falling into the familiar motions.

Agatha watched in awe as you drew the many surrounding shadows towards the figure on the ground. You made a sharp movement with your hand and suddenly the figure that was beginning to rise from the ground was being surrounded by dark tendrils.

Muffled screams could be heard as the shadows twisted tighter and tighter, until the figure fell limp to the ground. You weren’t done, however. Another practiced movement of your hands and you watched as the shadows engulfed the witch, dragging her downwards into the ground until she disappeared like vapour.

With the threat gone, you rushed to Agatha’s side. You could see a gash on her arm where her sleeve had torn, blood seeping out of the wound. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you fight back?” Anger mixed with worry as you searched Agatha’s face for answers.

“Careful there, Y/N. Wouldn’t want to look like you care.” When you didn’t indulge her teasing, the other witch sighed. “Why do you think I’m here?” She asked, gesturing around her. She saw the confusion in your face and waved her hand dismissively. “Long story doll, I won’t bore you.”

Typical. Even all those years ago Agatha would opt to keep you in the dark rather than explain herself. “Fine.” You said, helping her stand. “Let’s find somewhere to sit so I can patch you up.”

You turned to see the rest of the group standing nearby, a mixture of awe and apprehension across their faces. The boy seemed the most awestruck. “How did you do that?” He exclaimed. “Where did she go?”

The oldest of the group spoke before you could. “The shadow realm.” She answered, eyeing you warily. “No one should be doing that.”

“Why don’t we um, find a place to sleep? While Y/N takes care of Agatha.” The tall one spoke now, gesturing for the rest of the group to follow her and leave you and Agatha alone. You watched as they hurried away, the short one throwing a worried glance back at you.

“So, shadow work huh?” Agatha spoke lowly as you examined her arm. “Didn’t realize you’d begun dabbling in my side of things.” Her tone was playful but probing.

You turned your head sharply towards her. “I haven’t. It’s not the same thing.”

Agatha chuckled darkly. “Oh isn’t it? Don’t get so high and mighty now Y/N. I’ve heard things. That good girl persona of yours may be working on everyone else, but not me.”

You didn’t answer, instead pulling her arm into the moonlight coming in through the trees. At your silence, Agatha kept going. “‘Oh wow! Moon girl is so amazing and talented! She can do anything!’” She said mockingly. “All admiration when you’re doing what they like. But you saw the look on their faces just now. Everybody switches up when we start talking real power. The kind you and I have.”

Okay yes, you could admit that the shadow stuff is a bit iffy. But it wasn’t anywhere close to as iffy as using the Darkhold, like you’d heard Agatha did. That was different.

“All I’m saying,” Agatha continued, as she watched you weave the light with your hands to heal her open wound. “Is that we’re much bigger than them. Than this. We’re destined for domination, Y/N.”

You shook your head. Years later and it was still all about power with her. Grand plans and limited following-through were classic Agatha. Enough. You stood up, Agatha’s arm now healed. “You’re talking about powers you had, and that I have.” You said coldly, taking satisfaction in the way her jaw clenched at your words. “Maybe focus on getting those back first.”

With that, you turned on your heel and stormed away.

[burningcheese-merchant]

BurningCheese/GoldenSpice Playlist

Ok, time to stop being a bitch and post the ship playlist I keep harping on about already.

Gonna mark each song with an emoji to signify if it's meant to either be Burning Spice's POV (🔺) or Golden Cheese's (🧀). It's also going to be band/singer name first, song name second, for ease of understanding

Thank you to everyone who's reached out to me, both on here and on AO3, with song suggestions! A good chunk of these came from me myself, but a lot of people introduced me to plenty more songs that I loved and agreed suited these two perfectly. It's been fun putting a playlist together with this help, it feels like a fun group project now lol. (Hell, you guys are actually helping me think of new writing material. Music is a huge source of inspiration and creativity for me, as I'm sure you've noticed. In a way, you're all indirectly making fic requests lol)

You're all still more than welcome to keep shooting me song ideas to add, the playlist is ever-expanding! I'll just come back to this post and edit any new additions in. (This playlist is 3x longer than my PitayaFire one. I need you all to understand how big of a deal that is for me personally. I never thought I'd be this down bad for a ship besides that one. It's fucking surreal)

Some of it is meant to sound one-sided, others like it's a mutual love/relationship. I'll let you guess which is which lol. Now rock out to Evil Spice Man x Pretty Cheese Lady with me 🤘🤘🤘

Mindless Self Indulgence - Shut Me Up🔺

Fall Out Boy - I Don't Care🔺(with the Wild Spice crew as the backup singers!!!)

Mariah Carey - Obsessed 🧀

Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You🔺🧀

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance🔺🧀

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)🔺

Mindless Self Indulgence - What Do They Know?🔺

Britney Spears - Toxic 🧀

Fish in a Birdcage - Rule #34🔺(this is also a great PureShadow song ngl. It's how it was first introduced to me, even lol)

Shayfer James - Filthy Habit🔺

King Gnu - SPECIALZ🔺🧀 (look up the English version of the lyrics. Very BurningCheese-core imo)

Mindless Self Indulgence - This Hurts🔺

Jack Black - Peaches🔺(shout out to the anon in my inbox who suggested this. Joke's on them, I had this on the playlist right from the start lolololololol)

Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine?🔺

Lady Gaga - Poker Face 🧀

Olly Murs (feat. Flo Rida) - Troublemaker 🧀

Rihanna - Where Have You Been🔺(fun fact: I had this playing on a loop as I wrote "Our Little Dance" to get into the Yandere Spice mindset lol)

Lady Gaga - Judas 🧀

Miike Snow - Genghis Khan🔺

The Orion Experience - Obsessed With You🔺(this song is just really funny. You can probably apply it to all Beast x Ancient ships tbh)

Nine Inch Nails - Closer🔺

Mindless Self Indulgence - 5TR82HE11🔺

Air Traffic Controller - This Is Love🔺

Bad Omens - THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND🔺🧀

Isabel LaRosa - favorite 🧀

Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch🔺(listen I imagined Spice singing this to Golden and just started howling with laughter, it's fucking hysterical ok)

ENHYPEN - Bite Me🔺

Scissor Sisters - I Can't Decide🔺(GC would sing a few parts tho)

5 Seconds of Summer - Teeth🔺🧀 (mostly Spice though)

Buerak - Культ Тела 🔺(look up English lyrics, very Yandere Spice coded. Thank you to the anon who suggested it)

Tom Lehrer - The Masochism Tango🔺

Lady Gaga - Disease 🧀

G-Eazy (with Halsey) - Him & I🔺🧀

Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time🔺(imagine Spice singing this while stuck in prison. Please. He's singing and the other Beasts want to off themselves because it's so annoying and he won't stop. Please it is so funny. I have so much fun imagining this freak acting stupid-)

[juniperskye]

Let’s start over: Finally, Together

Sneak peek: READ Let’s Start Over FIRST - This is mainly to tie up some loose ends – it will be separated by separate bolded titles to differentiate each part. In this there will be Aaron’s official meeting of Nora, Jack getting to meet Nora for the first time and then the conversation between Hestia and Reader to discuss the new development between Hotch and her. 2 small bonus scenes at the end as well!

Aaron Hotchner x (Fem) Reader

Angst/Fluff

Word count: 2797

REQUESTS ARE OPEN - not edited - please be kind. Requests are open and feedback is welcome if it's constructive!

Warnings: My blog is 18+, minors DNI, age gap (reader is in their 20’s and Hotch is in his 40’s), explicit language, mention of pregnancy, mention of marriage, mention of Jack, OC’s Nora, Hestia, Selene, Leila, let me know if I missed any!

I do not consent to having my work translated or reposted to any other site. That being said I do not own the characters portrayed in this story.

Introducing Nora to her father:

After Nora’s fever broke, the doctor suggested she stay for the remainder of the night, just to be sure she was finally rid of it.

She slept soundly through the night, thanks to the sedative they had given her, which had given Aaron and you plenty of time to discuss things. You talked about how you’d introduce the kids and how you should move forward. You had apologized to Aaron once again and he was quick to say it was in the past, and that it wouldn’t do either of you any good to harp on things that happened back then.

“Did you uh, did you want me to go before she wakes up?” Aaron asked.

“You don’t have to. You could stay and meet her, if you’d like?” You suggested.

“I’d really like that.”

Nora slept until nearly ten am, which wasn’t too surprising given the trauma her body had endured in the last 24 hours. When she woke up, Aaron had been grabbing snacks and coffee, which had allowed you the time to tell Nora that her dad was here and ready to meet her.

“Hey baby, how are you feeling?” You asked, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I feel sleepy.” Nora mumbled, pressing closer to you.

“Are you too sleepy to meet someone new?” You posed.

“Who?”

“Your dad. He’s here baby. I um, he works at the FBI with me, do you remember?”

Nora nodded in response.

“Well, when I heard you were sick, I came straight here. He came to make sure you were okay, and he wants to meet you. Would you be okay with that?”

“Okay.”

You looked up to meet Aaron’s gaze, just outside the room. You offered him a small nod and he took it as a sign to enter. Aaron was filled with nerves and apprehension. You had eased his mind by letting him know that you had told Nora about him, but what if he didn’t live up to the stories you’d told her? What if she didn’t take well to him?

“Nora, this is your dad. Aaron, this is Nora.”

“Hi Nora, it is so good to finally meet you.” He offered a hand for her to take…

What she did next surprised him, she took his hand with no hesitation and gave a gentle tug, to pull him closer.

“Hi daddy. You look different from the pictures mommy showed me.”

“How so?” He smiled.

She reached her little hand to his face, “you look sleepy, and kinda sad.”

A chuckle escaped both you and Aaron, of course you had both been exhausted given the fact that neither of you had slept in approximately a week.

“Well hon, I am pretty tired. We were very worried about you, but I most definitely am not sad. I am so happy that you’re okay, and that I get to meet you.” Aaron gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Wiping a tear from your eye, you suggested “Why don’t we get the discharge papers and then go get some real breakfast? Aaron, do you think you have time?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Aaron replied, leaning in close to you “Jack is in school so…”

You smiled at him and nodded. Nora knew a little bit about Jack, but he had been so young when you saw him last, that surely he wasn’t the same as he was then.

Aaron told you that he was going to get the discharge paperwork, and you started to gather your things, helping Nora change back into her own clothes. When he returned, he let you know that you were all set to leave. He helped Nora down from the hospital bed and as the three of you moved to exit, Nora took a hand from each of you, walking between you. It warmed you heart that Nora had taken to Aaron so quickly.

“Alright kiddo, do you want pancakes or waffles?” Aaron asked.

“Pancakes! With chocolate chips!” Nora cheered.

“Alright bug, do you want eggs and bacon too? Or maybe some fruit?” You offered.

“Strawberries please.”

When the waitress came over you placed your order. And while you waited for your food to come, Nora told Aaron all about how she had started kindergarten, and how she was the youngest in her class. She told him about all the things she’s learned so far and who her friends are (mind you she’s only been there for about a week). Aaron took it all in stride, taking mental notes of her favorite subjects and her friends names. In all her chatter he realized that she and Jack were actually enrolled in the same school.

Before Aaron could comment on it, the waitress was back with your food. Aaron was quick to begin cutting up Nora’s pancakes for her and you couldn’t stop from swooning over how great he was. Aaron caught your expression and smiled, he felt happy, and couldn’t wait for Jack to meet Nora.

After breakfast, Aaron drove the two of you back to your place and you had tentatively scheduled a meeting date for Jack and Nora. You had discussed that it would be better to each tell the kids about the other so they would be more prepared going into their official meeting.

When he pulled up to your place, he helped Nora out of her car seat and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She bounded her way up to the front door to meet your mom who had come out once she heard the car pull up. Aaron had made his way over to you, setting your bags down before leaning in. You misread the situation and had leaned in to embrace but given his movement, you’d met in the middle in an awkward accidental kiss.

The both of you pulled back quickly, cheeks reddening from the embarrassment. But before you could overthink it, Aaron pulled you into him and kissed you for real. You allowed yourself to melt into him and return it, meeting his passion. Pulling away despite everything in your bodies telling you not to, Aaron pressed his forehead to your own.

“Saturday?”

“Saturday.”

Jack and Nora Meeting for the first time:

Saturday came quickly, and thankfully you hadn’t been called away on a case. Aaron had suggested having the kids meet somewhere neutral, so you made your way to the park for a picnic.

You were laying a banket out when Nora went running over to Aaron. He scooped her up into his arms and she dissolved into a fit of giggles.  Jack had recognized you, despite being so little when he knew you, you could see the sense of familiarity take over his features.

“Hey sweetheart.” Aaron greeted you, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “Hey Jack, come say hi.”

Jack offered a shy wave, which you returned. You brought yourself to his level and smiled at him.

“Hey Jack, do you – do you remember me?” You tilted your head.

Jack nodded his head. “I remember, you used to stay with my dad a lot.” Jack smiled and reached out to hug you.

You returned his hug and choked back the tears. You had missed him so much and seeing him now, so grown-up, had only made you realize all the time you missed.

“Well, Jack, Nora, the reason we brought you here was so that the two of you could meet each other officially.”

“Mommy, I already know Jack!” Nora laughed at you.

“What? How do you…”

“I met Nora at school on Thursday, she needed help reaching the monkey bars, so I helped her.” Jack explained.

“When Ms. Taylor called our class in, Jack realized we had the same last name!” Nora said, pulling the snacks out from your cooler bag.

Aaron and you shared a look of disbelief, he let out a breathy chuckle. You had both been so nervous of this meeting, hoping that the kids took well to one another and yet here they are, having already met, sharing a bag of Cheez-its.

“Tell me what happened bug, when you met Jack.” You requested.

“Well, Melody was doing the monkey bars, and I wanted a turn, but I couldn’t reach. I had jumped and tried, but my arms are too little. Jack came over and helped me.”

“I asked if she needed help, and I lifted her up to the bars. After that, we went and played tag in the field.” Jack explained.

“So then how did you realize you were related?” Aaron posed.

“Ms. Taylor called my name, and I didn’t hear it, ‘cause then she called my full name. Jack told me he had the same name.” Nora was telling the story like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I realized that he must be brother Jack, like you told me momma!”

“We talked more during lunch and Nora told me her dad worked for the FBI, and so we figured it must be dad, since our name is the same.” Jack finished.

The rest of your afternoon was spent eating the lunch you’d packed and watching the kids play. Jack was showing Nora how to play soccer and, Aaron and you were enjoying the nice weather. They played for hours, their laughter was like music to your ears, it brought a warmth to your heart that they were getting along so well.

Aaron was also warmed by the sight, but it brought thoughts to his mind that had him feeling a little scared. He couldn’t help but allow his mind to wander to thoughts of your little family here at the park, only in his mind, there was a ring on your finger and a baby on the way.

Hestia moves in:

“Aannnd that’s the last of it!” Hestia said setting down the last box.

“Thank God! You guys have way more stuff than I thought.” You laughed.

It had been three weeks since Aaron met Nora. In those three weeks, you and Aaron had begun a secret relationship. Well…not really a secret, but you wanted to make sure it was going to work before telling the kids. You had agreed that if things went well, you’d tell the kids before their birthday…which was a week away.

You knew you had to tell Hestia. You had filled her in on the fact that Aaron knew about and had officially met Nora, and that you’d introduced the kids. Hell, you’d even told her about the kiss when he dropped you guys off after breakfast. You just hadn’t told her that the two of you were officially seeing each other.

“I uh, I need to talk to you about something.” You began.

“Jesus, is it serious? Are you pregnant?” Hes replied.

“No, I’m not pregnant!” You huffed. “It’s about Aaron and me. You uh, you know how I told you about the kiss…the day he brought us home from the hospital?”

“Yeah…?” “Well, we’ve sort of been seeing each other since then.” You said in a hushed tone.

“OH MY GOD!!!”

“Shhh! Nora doesn’t know! Neither of the kids do. We wanted to make sure it was going to work out before we told them.”

“Girl are you kidding, I am so happy for you! Well, as long as he doesn’t hurt you again.” Hestia narrowed her eyes at you.

“He’s not the same man he was back then. He has really grown and he’s making a lot of effort in communicating with me.” You justified.

“Well good!” Hes smiled and nudged you.

You were relieved that she was happy for you. Hestia had come into your life when you were a shell of a human. Barely getting by pregnant and alone in a new city. She had pulled you out of that darkness and reminded you of how to love yourself.

“So…how’s he in bed?” Hes wiggled her eyebrows at you.

“Oh my god Hes!” You laughed.

“He’s amazing…the best I’ve ever had.” You gushed.

That night you ordered pizza fore the four of you while you worked to get some of Hestia and Selene’s things unpacked. She made sure not to bring up Aaron in front of the girls to avoid Nora finding out about the two of you.

As you all wound down for bed, Hestia couldn’t help but post a question to you.

“So, if you and him get serious…do you think you’d move in with him?”

“Oh, um I don’t know, probably. That or we’d look for a house to make sure we had space for the kids.” You informed. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I was just thinking that if you guys were kinda serious that maybe, Selene and I could just stay here.” Hestia suggested.

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you. Hestia had always been super bold, always saying what’s on her mind with no hesitation.

“If we decide to move in together, you guys are more than welcome to take this place Hes. Also, you’re welcome to stay here longer if you’d like!” You laughed.

Bonus Scene #1: 6 months after the kids birthday party.

“Hestia will be okay with the kids right?” Aaron questioned.

“Yes Aar, she will be fine. Worst case scenario, Selene is also there and she’s very responsible.” You reassured him.

“Okay good.”

“Are you alright? You seem nervous honey.” You asked.

“I’m okay.” He replied.

Aaron parked the car and made his way around to open your door. He led you into the restaurant with a gentle hand on the small of your back. The hostess led you to your table and you couldn’t help the thoughts creeping in, a nice dinner that Aaron asked you too randomly. You had moved in together about two months ago, and he’d been acting nervously ever since.

Was he breaking up with you…or was he proposing?

Dinner went on normally, you ate and talked about the kids and how your respective weeks had gone. Things only turned odd when the waiter returned and offered dessert. Normally, your response was no, but this time, Aaron said yes and ordered a slice of cheesecake for you to share.

“We never get dessert…”

“Tonight is a special night.” Aaron explained.

With that, Aaron reached over and grabbed your hand. He looked at you with an endearing expression. Your thoughts were flooding in, and you knew you had to speak before he did.

“Sweetheart,…”

“Aaron Wait!”

He paused and looked at you, gesturing for you to continue.

“I think I know what you are going to ask me, and I want so badly for you to ask me, but there is something I need to tell you first.”

“Is everything okay?” He asked.

“Aaron I’m pregnant. I am about nine weeks along; I saw the doctor on Tuesday.” You reached into your purse and pulled out the sonogram.

Aaron sat speechless as you slid the image across the table to him. Tears sprang to his eyes and his gaze returned to your own. A small smile graced his lips, and he reached for your hand once again.

“Sweetheart, you continue to make me the happiest man on this earth. This is truly the greatest gift. I am a better man when I am with you, and you always push me to strive for greatness and I would be so honored if you were my wife.”

“Yes Aaron! I will marry you!”

Bonus Scene #2: Spencer and Leila

Spencer and Leila were working on the geographical profile at the local precinct and Spencer was on edge. He had always felt like this when he was working with Leila in close proximity.

She had come in all bright and smiley and Spencer was down bad. Leila brought him baked goods and coffee, she respected his boundaries about not liking physical touch, and she had loved listening to him. She made an effort to ask him about different things because she really enjoyed his passion in speaking about things.

What he didn’t know was that she felt the same way. She continuously caught herself staring at his mouth and his hands and tried her best to hold it together while working with him.

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

In looking at the map Leila realized that the dumpsites and abduction sites formed a specific shape. As she moved to point to map, her hand collided with Spencer’s.

“Oh my gosh, Spence I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay!” Spencer reassured her. “You don’t have to apologize. I uh, I actually don’t mind.”

“You don’t?”

“Not when it’s you.” Spencer offered her a smile.

Leila blushed, bright red.

“Spencer, would you uh, would you want to go on a date with me?”

“I would love to!”

[thedepthsoffandomminds]

Episode one - the Yankee Dodge

Loved the the middle daughter oneshot.

can i request Jack Dawkins x Belle's older sister!Reader story (I have not seen any sister!reader) same thing as the oneshot instead of Belle being sick, the reader is. Reader is strong-willed, smart and stubborn as Belle, and Belle being a concerned sister to Reader, almost mothering her. Of course, Jack being an overprotective lover. I just want the story to stay the same way as the The Artful Dodger series is, just following the story only replacing Belle with Reader

A/n: I will do this as a long series following each episode per part. ❤️❤️

You follow your youngest sister into Belle's bedroom, Fanny jumped seeing her in the plague mask.

"Don't do that!" She gasped. You laugh from behind her.

"What?" Belle took the mask off and dropped it on her desk.

"Whatever that is." Fanny huffed, you passed behind her and slid onto the chaise lounge.

"You stormed in on me." Belle reminded her sister.

"What's that ungovernable stench?" Fanny scrunched up her nose. You started to lose interest in their conversation, a tightening of your chest took your attention.

"Your perfume?" Belle joked, "No, it's ether. The new Lancet reports the most extraordinary thing. You can give the patient ether, and they don't feel a thing. I mean, you can perform surgery without pain. It means we could finally help-" she had turned to face you finally seeing you clutch at your chest. Both of your younger sisters came darting to your side.

"y/n, what is it? Do you need a doctor?" Fanny scrambled.

"No, no I'm fine. I just need to lie down." You rest back against the couch and close your eyes. Belle reaches behind you to loosen your blouse and corset. You breathed slowly as Fanny once more tried to get Belle to meet a suitor. She had long given up with you, at six and twenty you were already considered a spinster.

The afternoon was spent much the same. Your mother insisted you take a small walk around the gardens. That would clear your lungs and head in her opinion. It only formed to make your legs ache if anything.

Soon after Fanny had you all standing outside the door waiting for the suitor she had found for Belle. The pompous dandy slid out of the carriage and started resiting awful poetry. You had to stifle my laugh.

You walked down the staircase that afternoon daydreaming to yourself.

"Belle?" You whisper. She shushes you and pulls you against the wall to listen. Your mother was talking about a surgeon, a navel man. Belle had that hopeful look in her eyes that always made you feel sad. She wanted so much to help you, had dedicated her life to finding a cure for you. Even when the numerous doctors told you it was nothing and you'd be healthy soon you both knew different. The strange pumping of your heart kept Belle's nose in the medical texts. A plan was forming in her mind, you could see it.

Your mother and father ushered you both into the parlour were Mr Smales was sat reading. Fanny followed you all in. Lady Jane all but shoved Belle to the chair beside Smales and he began reciting more poetry to her. He asked if she'd like to play the harp, little did he know that it was only you who played the harp amongst your sisters. Belle had once played the violin but it had been years since she had picked it up.

My sister huffed and marched across the room. Your mother stopping her.

"talk to him about hospitals." She hissed.

This finally peaked her interest.

"Come, we're going to see the hospital. I've never been, and I've always wanted to. We should take Y/n as a chaperone." She sent you a grin. You followed her out to the carriage with Smales tottering along behind you both.

"Belle, what are you playing at?" You whisper to her.

"I just want to look at it." She grinned once more

As we rode along Smales kept trying to talk with her.

"do you like to dance?" He asked.

"No." Belle's voice was flat.

"Croquet?"

"Snore."

"Fox hunting?"

"Very much, no!"

"Oh. Why?"

"It's mindless, barbaric, and cruel." You interject. Smales turns up his lips at you.

"What about you? Chemistry? Geology?" Belle asks.

"Oh, yes. With the maps." Smales said animatedly.

"No, the rocks, but close."

You hear the Carriage rider urging the horse.

" Anatomy?" Belle continued.

"Poetry?" She suggested in a tired tone.

"Yes!"

"Yes! Anyone other than yourself and Wordsworth?" She groaned.

"Such as?"

The Carriage Rider shouts for someone to Move aside, but you all feel the tell tail bumping of someone going under the carriage.

Both you and Belle are quick to jump out. A young boy is on the ground his leg broken open with the bone protruding from his skin. The poor lad was screaming. As Belle checked the wound you kneel behind him and place his head in your lap, attempting to comfort him.

"Help! We need a doctor!" Belle called out.

"Okay. Um, you're okay. You'll be all right. You're doing great." You hold the boy's hand.

"Coming through, coming through! Here." A tall, thin man came rushing up with a leather bag.

"Thank God. I've put a tourniquet on." Belle explained.

" It's not tight enough. I need something to tighten it with. Um... " he looked around, Charlie, the boy whimpered. The doctor put a hand on his face, his fingers brushing yours.

" It's all right. I'm gonna sort you right out."

"Can you fix it?" You ask.

"I'll need to amputate."

" What about Bircher's procedure to save it?" Belle pulled his attention

"Miss, please."

"M'lady." She corrected him.

"To do that, I would need to drill into his leg bones, and insert pegs to knit them back together again. He would die of shock and pain." The doctor explained hurriedly

"Not if you take the pain with ether." Belle said. You shot your eyes between them.

"The Yankee Dodge? That is unproven." He bit back at her. As they argue you quickly run to your driver and speak with him before going back to the doctor.

"lift him into the carriage, he cannot stay in the street." You command him. The doctor looks up at you and nods. He scoops Charlie into his arms and you help get the child into the carriage. Your sister climbs in after you both and the carriage pulled away. The pair continued to argue with each other as Charlie squirmed on your lap.

"for goodness sake, will both stop your squabbling. This child will not be losing his leg today. You are the surgeon we have heard about and as such I assume you will be able to do the operation." You say commandingly.

"the prof does not allow it." The doctor finally admitted.

"well, we aren't going to the hospital." You smile as the carriage pulls to a stop.

"Why? He doesn't have much time." He looked out the door, "What are we doing here, you ridiculous woman?"

" This is the Governor's residence." You say.

"Oh, God. You're the Governor's daughters aren't you."

"yes. Belle go in and make sure the way is cleared." You tell your sister. She nods and runs off to the house.

"This is completely arrogant of you both." The doctor growled. "I can't perform an operation here. I need surgical equipment."

You turn round to him, causing the doctor to retreat back toward the carriage.

"there is no need to threat, Doctor. My sister has all the supplies you could need." You say with a finger in the middle of his chest.

"oh, hello looks like we're good to go." Fagin said pointing behind you.

The doctor and Fagin grabbed the boy by his legs and arms, carrying him into the house. Belle had her arms full of her equipment. You can hear your father and his guests beginning to descend the staircase.

"There's no time. We're gonna have to do it here. Set him down." The Doctor said.

" What?" You and Belle said together.

"It's not ideal... Fagin, clear that table. It's all right, Charlie. Okay, all right. It's all right."

In a moment of panic you stepped away from the doctor and addressed your father's guests.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The entertainment. For our main event, I have a very special treat for you." You look over your shoulder at the trio, "Dr. Dawkins will perform an operation, never been done before. Where an inferior cowardly surgeon might just simply remove the leg, Dr. Dawkins will make a thousand years of history by trialling surgery with no pain. The Yankee Dodge!"

A murmur of adoration waved through the crowd. The Doctor's eyes locked with yours for a moment. You nodded to him and he began his work. Fagin, the older man with him, tiptoed away from you all, up the stairs. You step closer to the table stroking Charlie's hair as he whimpers again. Dawkins lent closer to you and Belle.

"If I get hanged for this I'll haunt your every waking moment. I'll be that face you see in your nightmares and trust me, you will only have nightmares."

You can't help but smile.

"Do shut up and ether the patient." Belle quips. You stay at Charlie's head letting your sister address the crowd.

"Watch closely, everyone. As Dr. Dawkins anaesthetises the boy, takes his pain..."

"You're fine." Dawkins reassured the boy.

" ...and then operates with no sensation." Belle had a flare for the dramatics you thought to yourself.

Holding the either mask in his hand Dawkins spoke once more to Charlie, "Now, just breathe. There, we go. That's it. Good lad. Right."

The operation began

Belle was able to find an ivory stick to use as the pin for the bones. You had to admit he was impressive in his work. The crowd oohed and ahhed at his every movement. When he was done and the wound stitched Dawkins reached up to Charlie's face, " Now, ladies and gentlemen, can we rouse him from living death? Charlie? Come on, Charlie. Charlie. Come on, Charlie. Come on. Charlie. Charlie. Come on, Charlie boy."

You were all beginning to panic, your eyes flicking to your father's disapproving face.

"Don't cut me, Doc! I need me leg!" Charlie called out. You released the breath you were holding and smiled at the Doctor.

There is a moment where the room is in awe, every man and woman there thought to congratulate the Doctor until one woman spoke up. Her ruby necklace had been stolen from around her neck. You sighed, knowing instantly what had become of it. Captain Gaines began searching people. Your chest tightened and you put a hand on the table to steady yourself. The Doctor took hold of your arm.

"You all right?" He asked his professional concern showing.

"Yeah. Yes, it's just the ether fumes. Take me upstairs?" You say leaning into him.

" I've got you." He says beginning to lead you away.

"All right. I'm sure you won't mind if I search you?" Gaines says to Dawkins.

Belle steps between them, "Captain Gaines, move aside. My sister is not well. Move aside."

You pant and rest more of your weight on Dawkins. Gains reluctantly stepped aside allowing Dawkins to escort you upstairs to your room. Belle hot on your heels.

"Are you well? Who's your doctor?" Dawkins asked once in your room.

"Prof." Belle answered.

"Has he ever examined you?" He helped you to sit in a chair.

"He's too scared of my father to get it wrong." You say, your hand is still in his. Dawkins glances back at Belle.

"Take off your dress. I need to listen to your back. Take off your dress."

Belle comes over to help you remove your clothing until you were in only your bloomers and chemise. She grabbed a stethoscope from your table and handed it to Dawkins. The doctor sat behind you on the lounge sofa, placing the cold metal to your back.

"Now, just breathe steady. Just breathe with me. In," his voice is low and soft, his breath fanning over the back of your neck, "And out. Good. Again. In. Out. Okay. Gonna come around the front. Once again. In. Good, and out. In. Out."

Belle frowned, she knew what he was hearing.

"You're a common thief. Shall I call Captain Gaines now or later?" You say glancing back at him.

Dawkins drops the stethoscopes "No. No, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." He runs to stop Belle from leaving the room, "Darius cheated me at cards. He's gonna take my hand if I don't pay him a ludicrous debt."

"Then pay him with your own money!" Belle argues.

"With what money? I get paid in pennies and thimbles." He is almost begging.

Footsteps can be heard down the corridor.

"You've got two options. I yell "guards" and you get hanged." You begin.

"Not ideal."

"Or you make my sister the first female surgeon and we keep your secret. That or the noose." The door knocks. "Well?"

" I'm thinking."

Part two soon.

@fandomfan-102

[averokagejd]

LET ME TALK ABOUT ONE LAST TIME FOR 2 SECONDS

ok so we got actual dialogue???

in game?????

i don't think this has happened at all before

like you can count wander shouting jack and if you wanna party and all but like these are the first conversations shown in game i think

and THANK GOD that graceari conversation didn't go further because if they broke up the first canon lesbian couple i would be kicking down ubis doors lmao

also the main coach is stunning!!!

ig its like implied that she kinda just makes love happen in jd or smth? there are a bunch of love maps in the back so maybe

also break free x mister overload is a ship jd team would come up with lol

sorry to all jagger x overload shippers, i was never one of you bc im a ymca polycule believer but

also the background kinda reminds me of a few things

i can see some of how you like that in it, but also the harp in the clouds really reminds me of love you like a love song

its very melosia/floworld either way

this is such an amazing concept for a tribute i love it

[stillness-in-green]

On Heteromorphs & Heteromorphobia (Arcs VI - X , Hero Killer to Provisional License Exam)

(This post will also cover the bonus chapter “Tsuyu's Ribbity Diary.”)

Thank you all for your amazing response to last week's post, my goodness! I thought I'd found about all the audience I was likely to get for my harping about heteromorphic discrimination, so I was delighted to see a number of new names!

I do have to warn you all, if you haven't done much looking into my archives, that I'm pretty critical of BNHA these days, especially of the ways it insists on holding up individualistic solutions to problems clearly established as systemic in nature. That will become more apparent when I get into the post-war material, as the endgame is absolutely rotten with it.

This week, though, we'll start by getting out of the school to get a look at signs of and contributors to heteromorphobia in the wider world.

The Vs. Hero Killer Arc (Chapters 45-59)

Chapter 45:

Mina’s preferred alias, Alien Queen, in reference to the Xenomorph queen from the Aliens franchise, is turned down by Midnight.  The reason for this is never made especially clear.  Class 1-B gets away with a number of villainous or monstrous hero names, like Phantom Thief and Gevaudan, violent ones like Battle Fist, even an animal reference in Jack Mantis.  But Mina, for whatever reason, gets pushed towards the indescribably twee Pinky instead.  Does Midnight the R-rated hero not think girls should get to have hero names with some edge?  Surely not; her entire persona is based on titillation.  Length is clearly not a factor, given that Midnight personally approves Can’t Stop Twinkling. I don’t know exactly what went down here (from a Watsonian perspective, that is; the Doylist guesses are readily apparent and all eyeroll-inducing), so I will simply point out that a non-baseline gal wanted to name herself after a famous monster with acidic blood and was pressured into going with something cutesy based on her skin color instead.  Bakugou’s choice gets turned down as well,[1] but he actually has “murder,” like, right there in the name; Alien Queen is quite roundabout by comparison!

Chapter 48: 

Introduction of Uwabami, the Pro Hero gal with the head snakes.  She’s a bit of a weird case.  Given that all we know she does is find hidden people using the snakes’ keen senses, do they have some self-awareness that makes them able to communicate with her—a case somewhat like Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, perhaps?  Does she just tap into their senses at will rather than being able to speak to them?  Or are they rather just extensions of herself, with no particular consciousness of their own, and they function like what must be a fairly dizzying array of extra-sensory perception that she receives at all times?     Whatever the case, she’s a model and celebrity, and thus our first clear example of a heteromorph who doesn’t seem to suffer for her looks. Her looks are, of course, quite accentuated, given that her hero costume is a low-cut evening dress with a slit in the side up to her hip.  Other than the hair-serpents, she’s a baseline woman who checks all the boxes for modern beauty standards; she will serve in this fashion as a good predictor of other highly ranked heteromorphic Heroes.

Chapter 51+55:

Endeavor, as will be made clear in Chapter 55, doesn’t really have any idea what the Noumu’s deal is.  As far as he knows, it’s just like any other villain—and yet in Chapter 51, he opens up with an attack that bathes the Noumu in flame anyway, and comments in 55 that he’s never known anyone to remain conscious after such an attack.  While I think this mostly speaks to the general brutality with which villains are treated by heroes—much different from standard police practice in real-life Japan!—it’s nonetheless notable that the Noumu he attacked with such casual ferocity certainly doesn’t look very baseline to the casual eye, between the exposed brain, the significant height, and the crawling movement.

Chapter 56:

Midoriya is startled by Chief Tsuragamae’s “woof” interjections.  He doesn’t comment on it out loud, so I’m not inclined to hold it against him (not like someone else I’m about to bring up), but it wouldn't be the first time he’s come across this kind of vocalization: Tsuyu makes ribbit noises pretty frequently.    

Tsuragamae notes that the authorization of a certain class of people, called “heroes,” to weaponize their quirks against others was initially a heavily criticized decision, one which only garnered public support because those original heroes were careful to always obey the laws dictating the circumstances in which they used their quirks.  He goes on to say, of using one’s quirk to inflict harm without explicit instruction from the powers-that-be, “Such action would represent a stunning breach of law.”  Like Thirteen before him, he completely omits any mention of how such laws disproportionately affect heteromorphs, who can’t turn off a permanent physical trait, and, particularly in cases of people whose entire bodies are divergent, have little choice in whether or not to use their quirk in any sort of physical altercation that might lead to harm.    

Shouto, angry over what he perceives as punishment for a good deed, calls Tsuragamae a mutt.  The chief doesn’t react particularly strongly to this, but as the chief of police, you have to imagine he’s pretty used to the slings and arrows of public opinion.  The incident passes without comment, but it will not be the last time we hear a Todoroki derisively referring to another human being as an animal.

There are some sweatdrops and exhortations to get the kid to cool it, but those were ongoing before the animal words came out.

Chapter 57: 

Gran Torino notes that the age they live in, for better or for worse, is one of suppression, and that the situation with Stain and the League will draw people out who are influenced by that ideology.  Gran doesn’t elaborate on exactly what sorts of people he has in mind—All Might says only, “Then heroes will deal with them,”—but it’s an early hint that there are people in this society who feel unjustly suppressed.  Crucially, Gran Torino doesn’t even necessarily think those people are wrong; he just thinks it’s a necessary evil.  But what, exactly, is it that he’s grudgingly accepting as inevitable for the sake of maintaining the status quo?  And how might his circumstances need to differ for him to have a different opinion?    

In Chapter 27, we learned that producing support goods requires a government license; here we find out, courtesy of Giran, that dealing in and producing support goods without such a license is a major crime.  So if you, for any reason, failed that “rigorous examination” to get cleared for support goods for quality-of-life reasons, you’re unlikely to find someone who’ll just provide them to you out of sympathy provided you keep quiet about where you got them.  Instead, you have little choice but to turn to black market brokers—all because the government doesn’t think your quirk is affecting you negatively enough to qualify you for support equipment.     Again, this isn’t specifically about heteromorphs, but someone having an emitter quirk they can’t control well who needs the support item because they are choosing to pursue a career requiring them to learn that control is a very different case than someone who needs government support because of an immutable, always-on physical trait.    

This chapter contains the first appearances of both Gigantomachia and Spinner, both fairly extreme heteromorphs: Machia for his size and rocky hide, and Spinner for animal traits considerably more prominent than e.g. Tokoyami’s bird head or even Tsuyu’s conglomeration of mildly froggy traits.  Indeed, Spinner’s heteromorphic traits are so much more prominent than something like Jirou’s earlobes that it hardly seems accurate to even categorize their bodies the same way.    

The sidebar for Daikaku Miyagi, the anchorman with the quirk that gave him two big horns who amputated one so that it would be less in the way during newscasts and other things that required there to be a camera on him.  This in and of itself wouldn’t necessarily be notable, save that the same extra goes on to describe how the decision garnered some backlash from “a certain human rights group” who said that decisions like his fostered discrimination and were linked to the rejection of quirk-based society on the whole.  Horikoshi further notes that he enjoys thinking about the lives and stories behind minor characters—even this far back, then, three and a half years before the introduction of the CRC, we have concrete evidence that the author was thinking about quirk-based discrimination and the politicization of heteromorphic features.

Chapter 59: 

All Might drops some exposition about the Advent of the Exceptional, during which we see an image of a crowd full of implied-quirkless people holding up signs proclaiming their humanity and the monstrosity of those with quirks.  Conversely, three of the four quirked people we see have obvious physical divergence from baseline human appearance.  So from early on, that “monster” turn of phrase was heavily associated with changes in the physical appearances of those with special abilities.  Later on, the PLF advisor at the hospital will tie these two things together explicitly.

   

The Final Exams Arc (Chapters 60-69)

Chapter 61:

Ectoplasm’s character sheet.  The teeth are creepy no matter which way you cut it, but they look much more profoundly unsettling when they’re right there on his unmasked face, as opposed to behind a black cowl, where you can let your eye fool you that they are in some way part of its design.  His hero costume, naturally, includes the cowl, but his daily clothes do not—I wonder if he ever tried to have a gentle talk with Shouji about why Shouji wears the mask even in his downtime?  I wonder even more how much the teaching staff in general, and Nedzu and Aizawa specifically, actually know about Shouji’s history.     o It’s also noted that Ecloplasm looks scary, but has received continued support after coming back to the job after losing both legs in a fight with a villain—we see this same pattern with Jeanist after Kamino.  No word on how regular his support was before the traumatic double limb loss, though.

Chapter 66: 

Nedzu, we find, was “toyed with by humans in all sorts of ways in the past.”  Nothing we know about him suggests that he has any particular longevity, but his dynamic with Endeavor,[2] many chapters down the line, does suggest to me that he was at least on the staff when with Endeavor was at UA some thirty years ago.  Thirty years is within the span of All Might’s career, well after society began to stabilize with the formalization of the Hero System.  And yet, despite that, a sentient being, one with human—above human!—intelligence, was mistreated badly enough that he bears a grudge to this day.  Nedzu is, again, not in precisely the same situation as a human heteromorph, but he serves as an indicator of what humans have, even in the age of heroes, been willing to do to those they think of as “animals.”    

A shot of Koda and his mother, who look much alike.  Interestingly, the biggest difference in their appearance is that she has horn-like protrusions that her son lacks.  We’re a long way from the first quirk evolutions, and even farther from Koda’s quirk evolution, but we will later see Koda’s mother specifically tie those horns to her animal communication quirk becoming more powerful.  This makes for another good piece of evidence towards Horikoshi having a grasp of heteromorphobia from early on, as the evidence is pretty good that Koda-mama got those horns as a result of a quirk evolution of her own, and those don’t happen under normal, non-stressful circumstances.  More on Koda’s parents in a bit, as they're a pretty stand-out case in another way that isn’t immediately apparent here.

Can we call it foreshadowing for Koda defending Shouji at the hospital that Koda is wearing the same scarf as the main character in Horikoshi's Oumagadoki Zoo? Hmm. I'll leave that one to codenamesazanka.

Chapter 67: 

A flashback panel to Mineta’s days in middle school.  While I don’t doubt that there are P L E N T Y of reasons Mineta would be unpopular with the girls in his class, it is nonetheless notable that the popular boy getting showered with attention is perfectly baseline, while Mineta and his friends are not.

Note also that the cute heteromorph girl has long-ish ears and no other obvious divergent features.

Chapter 68: 

Shouji and Iida are specifically called out to at the mall, trying to attract them as customers with claims that whichever storefront employee is hailing them can help them find anything they need.  Midoriya mutters to himself about the difficulties of catering to everyone, given the many different types of quirks scattered across multiple age groups.    

Crowd scenes at the mall show scattered numbers of heteromorphs, a somewhat higher number than usual for such civilian crowd scenes.  The Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall is noted for being the biggest and trendiest in the prefecture, with a variety that attracts lots and lots of people, so perhaps it’s no surprise to see somewhat more heteromorphs than usual there.

   

The Forest Training Camp Arc (Chapters 70-83)

Chapter 70: 

Introduction of the Wild Wild Pussycats.  A team of three Emitters and a Transformation-type, none of them in the slightest heteromorphic (give or take Tiger’s permanent :3 mouth), they nonetheless theme themselves after cats, including fake tails, big costume paw gloves, and cat-ear-esque headsets.  It’s cute and unobjectionable in and of itself, but I do wonder what people like e.g. Officer Sansa think of it.

Chapter 71: 

Shouji is missing from the hot springs scene.  It doesn’t hugely stand out in the moment because Aoyama and Sero aren’t there either, but it does read a bit differently with the benefit of hindsight.  Given the strong possibility that Aoyama is off doing Traitor Activities and Shouji is avoiding any possibility of having to torpedo the hot springs fun-times with an explanation of that time he was savagely beaten by people in his hometown right in an open street, it kinda leaves Sero as the only one who maybe just skipped for normal reasons, like that hot springs would gunk up his tape or something.

Chapter 73: 

Bakugou addresses Ojiro as “Tail”—referring to him by his heteromorphic trait.  He’s not even particularly angry at the moment; he’s just still nursing a grudge about Todoroki’s underwhelming performance in their Sports Festival match and wants to swap partners for the Test of Courage.  Early Bakugou is very much a “judge a person by their quirk” sort.    

Pixie Bob ushers Tsuyu and Ochaco into the woods for their turn at the Test of Courage by referring to the latter as Uraraka-kitty and the former as Ribbit-kitty.[3]  While in the English, this reads as a baseline woman in a cat costume referring to the heteromorphic student by her animal-themed verbal tic and the baseline student by her actual name, uraraka is a fairly onomatopoeic way to say bright and cheerful.  I would guess that Pixie Bob is probably referring to Ochaco’s personality here, which makes it somewhat less egregious.  It won’t be the last time someone refers to Tsuyu via the frog sound instead of her name, though.

Chapter 75:

Mandalay telepathically compliments Spinner, calling him both cool and handsome.  While I doubt he’s the only person in the world who’d react the way he does—he blushes, gets flustered, and missteps, giving Mandalay an opportunity to attack him—the moment does get some new context when you consider how everyone called him “the lizard freak” in his hometown.  Approximately zero people calling him cool and handsome back there, one imagines!  Having it immediately turn out to be a ploy likely informs some of the outraged anger in his response.

Chapter 81: 

Mandalay points out that Spinner never used his quirk during their combat, implying that she doesn’t think just his lizard-like appearance or his claws “count.”  Chalk another one up to the classification problems of “heteromorph” as a descriptive term.  This will turn out to rather neatly illustrate one of the issues I’ve been talking about with regard to the way heteromorphs are unfairly disadvantaged by the current laws about public quirk use.  Remember, a “Villain” is someone using their quirk illegally.  So if Mandalay doesn’t think Spinner used a quirk here, and since he has no record, why does he get categorized as a Villain instead of just a garden variety criminal?     Now, one could say that by associating with the League of Villains, Spinner is rather claiming the designation for himself, and we don’t know how the legal system will technically classify him, when and if he ever actually faces trial.  To that, I would say to hold the thought, because Skeptic will eventually back me up on the, “Heteromorphs are unfairly targeted by Villain designations,” claim all but word for word.    

BONUS CHAPTER 1: Tsuyu’s Ribbety Diary

We meet Tsuyu’s family, all various froggy types.  They’re a cute family, but the husband and wife both being froggy kind of raises some questions about pressures that might exist about marrying your same “type,” or at least refraining from marrying anyone too obviously not.  I’d be more willing to wave it off if not for two things.      First, we get the same sort of scenario from Spinner’s character sheet, that his is “a family full of reptilian quirks.”  Second, there are very few romances in the series between someone close to “baseline” and someone with a more extreme heteromorphic appearance.  The most obvious, clear-cut, canonical example is Koda’s parents—his dad has slightly weird hair but is otherwise entirely baseline; we see him defending his wife from other peoples’ mockery.  That, of course, is a single panel limited to a flashback inside a flashback, so not exactly very visible to the reader!  The next-most significant one I can come up with is Natsuo and his mouse girlfriend, who has likewise been seen in one (1) panel, had no dialogue, and whose appearance and identity were so incidental the anime deleted her entirely.     Who’s next?  Well, if you assume all those No Comments from Kamui Woods and Mount Lady about their relationship are indicative of a relationship between them, they’d be another, though we don’t actually know what Shinji actually looks like under his mask, only the implication that it’s divergent enough that he prefers to cover his face.  Next up on my tally would be Thief Takami and Tomie, but since the sum total of Takami’s animal traits are tiny little elbow wings, you can see how fast the drop-off is there.     Compare this to the number of pairings/families we have between people of like type: Bakugou’s parents, Iida’s, Jirou’s, Aoyama’s, Tsuyu’s, Ochaco’s, Shouto’s, Toga’s, Spinner’s, and Tomura’s whole family on both sides.      Then you get the ship-teasy stuff that’s more about crushes, people dating, or hints that are perceived as pointing towards epilogue romances: Deku and Ochaco, Jirou and Kaminari, Shindo and Yo, Gentle and La Brava, Miss Joke’s flirting with Aizawa, and Toga’s variety of crushes (among which Tsuyu is the most distant from Toga’s own body type).[4]  I think Kirishima and Mina are right on that borderline, with Mina having a normal body type but a collection of minor but highly visible divergent traits.     So like, the vast, vast majority of the romantic relationships in the show are between relatively baseline people.  In that context, it sticks out like a sore thumb to me that Tsuyu and Spinner are both explicitly said to have the same type of animal heteromorph quality on both sides of their family tree.  It’s not an incest concern or anything, just that I wonder what the pressure is on cross-type couples, or what social circles look like post-graduation.    

Two classmates talk about how it’s hard to tell what Tsuyu is thinking; one of them says, with her eyes hooded and a kind of cool expression, “That expression of hers never changes.  Maybe ‘cuz she’s a frog?”    

Tsuyu tells us that she never really made any friends; while some of this may simply be because Tsuyu didn’t have much time to socialize, between hero training and looking after her family, it’s also true that all of her classmates that we see have baseline appearances.    

This lasts until she starts getting stalked by a snake-headed heteromorph girl named Mangusu Habuko—a fellow loner.  Tsuyu is initially frightened by Habuko’s behavior, but has an intuitive sense for what the deal is, that Habuko wants to be friends but is awkward and doesn’t know how to broach it.    

When asked if she wants to be friends, Habuko flips out.  She calls herself treacherous and untrustworthy; she calls Tsuyu a foolish frog and says she must be joking, and that she should choose her friends more carefully. She then immediately dissolves into tears.  Somehow, I doubt all this self-loathing about her innate nature manifested out of thin air!    

The Hideout Raid Arc (Chapters 84-97)

Something that’s observable throughout this arc is that we’re in another sequence, like the Sports Festival, where the percentage of people with heteromorphic features in the crowd shots tends to run a bit higher than the norm of the series to date.  Unlike the Sports Festival, though, these crowds are just civilians, not heroes.  So what’s the difference between Kamino and the earlier on-the-street crowd scenes?     Well, the neighborhood the Noumu warehouse is in is a somewhat rougher area.  Part of the visual shorthand for that is people in edgier clothes, stuff that’s indicative of districts with bars, clubs, sleazy hangout spots, and so forth, but another shorthand is an increased number of heteromorphs.

These panels are respectively from Chapters 87 and 92.

Chapter 87:

The character sheet for Kamui Woods notes that the story of his early childhood is “grand and compelling,” and that his story was made into a documentary.  That, to me, has Inspiring True Story written all over it.  Probably not coincidentally, Kamui Woods is another character whose face we’ve never seen.  As more pointing in the direction of him having a childhood marked by severe discrimination, he’s not sure of his age—it’s given as “29 since he started counting.”  So was he abandoned as an infant for his weird face?  I could come up with other explanations, all equally over the top (extreme confinement, for example, that left him unable to properly mark the passage of time), but the fact that he can’t e.g. look up a birth certificate for himself suggests that whatever went so wrong for him, it happened very early.     …Though I suppose there’s the possibility that he’s not human, but rather a tree that manifested a quirk.  As documentary-worthy origins go, though, that feels less Inspiring True Story and more Educational Biopic About Rare Phenomenon.    

The Provisional Hero License Exam Arc (Chapters 98-121)

Chapter 99: 

Shouji’s room is shown, all but barren.  He says that he doesn’t care much about owning things, but knowing what we come to know about his history, it’s easy to wonder if he really doesn’t care about owning things or if this is rooted in a childhood in which it was believed that anything he touched would be polluted.  Not a situation that led to him being given much of his own, one suspects!

Chapter 103:

This chapter introduces Yokumiru Mera, from the HPSC, who gives an opening statement that has some very interesting ruthlessness lurking in its subtext.  Particularly relevant to our current topic is his comment that in the modern era, the time it takes to resolve a given incident is incredibly short, so the test that year will be prioritizing speed.  Prioritizing speed (wouldn’t want some other hero to get the metaphorical kill first, after all!) is a surefire way to guarantee that heroes are not taking the time to really examine all factors in a situation or make any attempts whatsoever at calm, considered de-escalation, but rather are just making snap judgements based on their biases and gut reactions.  Guess what group of people that’s going to disproportionately impact?        o Now, it’s notable that Mera says the test prioritizes speed, but the conclusion many others come to is that the test only pretends to do so; that actually, it prioritizes care and information gathering.  Indeed, we find a few chapters later that the actual priority is teamwork, as requested by police higher-ups—the idea is to fill in the gap left behind by All Might with hero squads that work well together.[5]   However, while the intention may be to gather those good at teamwork, it certainly doesn’t stop people like Shouto and Inasa from cruising through—and, in any case, whether the groups learn teamwork or not doesn’t take away from an HPSC rep telling them to their face that speed of incident resolution is one of the most important things to a modern hero and never following that up with any kind of amendment or clarification.

Chapter 107:

Introduces the HUC, or Help Us Company, professionals trained to act as victims in disaster rescue exercises.  Given that context—what they’re communicating to students training to understand what “victims” look and act like—it’s extremely worth examining what they, well, look like.

God, this is so Yikes.

And having asked that question, we find that the only people in this group that might not be baseline—the ones with short, childlike statures—are dressed to emphasize that stature.  The end effect is a crowd of “victims” with not a single heteromorphic representative.

Chapter 109:

Shiketsu’s class rep, Mora Nagamasa—the extremely hairy one—approaches Bakugou to extend an apology for Shishikura’s behavior during the exam.  It’s noticeable here that, having matured somewhat since Early Series Bakugou, and having been approached in downtime in a reasonable manner, Bakugou manages to refrain from coming up with any demeaning nicknames centered on Mora’s appearance.  Kirishima remarks internally on all the hair, but only internally; he’s much too polite to say anything out loud.

Chapter 110:

A big splashy introduction for the man ranked #3 in the Heroes Who Look Like Villains ranking, Gang Orca.  He’s at the test to play villain and is, just as noticeably as all the play-victims are baseline, a heteromorph.  At the time of his introduction, he’s ranked Number 10 in the Hero Rankings, but will be bumped out later on.  This does, however, make him the highest-ranked known heteromorph who doesn’t have a human face,[6] with the possible exception of Kamui Woods—who, like Shouji, covers it with a mask.

Gang Orca’s character sheet notes that, while he’s a popular guest at aquariums, his intimidating face and “stony personality” always result in weepy children.  He apparently finds this relatively upsetting (“lots of angst”) but, unlike Shouji or Kamui Woods, has not taken to wearing a mask, nor trying to tone down his personality on any level—to the contrary, Present Mic suggests much later on that he exaggerates it.

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

Next time, I'll cover from the Shie Hassaikai arc through the end of Joint Training. Thanks for reading!

--------------------- FOOTNOTES ---------------------

[1] Initially.  He sticks to his guns long enough that he gets away with it in the end, though.

[2] The big tell is that Nedzu addresses Endeavor as Todoroki-kun rather than Todoroki-san or simply by his hero name, but his observation that Todoroki-kun has “matured” (literally in the Japanese, “become an adult”) doesn’t hurt, either.

[3] Kerokero neko and Uraraka neko.

[4] You can get further out there with this, but by the time you get to e.g. Shouto and Momo or Ojiro and Hagakure, the ice is definitely getting thinner on whether you’re seeing groundwork for future wedding bells or just reasonably close male/female friendship.  Your mileage may vary depending on how tightly attached your shipping goggles are or how cynical you are about shounen authors’ tendencies towards timeskip marriages.  Also, I can’t be bothered to dig up and list out the crushes or shipping patterns among the Class B kids. Koroiro likes the mushroom gal?

[5] Note that Mera phrases this as being merely a stopgap until they find the next All Might.  The HPSC is not so eager to change the methods they’ve come to rely on over the last thirty some-odd years!

[6] We don’t know enough for me to say for sure whether Wash is a heteromorph.

[mizusswordtip]

Down The Rabbit Hole ⚝ Killian Jones x Reader (18)

find the story on wattpad

summary: Alice's plan to overthrow the Queen of Hearts is thwarted by a dashing pirate with a hook. Years later, after the curse is broken, they reunite once again.

masterlist

We'd been walking for what feels like hours when Hook, who's been leading us, calls out over his shoulder.

"Up ahead. We'll find the compass just over the ridge." I give him a nod to continue walking which he returns. Emma and Snow catch up to me.

"Do you get the feeling he's leading us exactly where Cora wants us? That this whole thing's a trap?" Snow whispers conspiratorially. I purse my lips, having been wondering the same thing the whole time. If she'd asked me yesterday, I would've jumped on that bandwagon without hesitation but... it doesn't make much sense.

"It's defiantly a trap." Emma concurs without hesitation.

"I'm not so sure." I murmer over my shoulder. Emma looks at me in disbelief.

"What? Don't tell me you trust him?" She asks, brows furrowed. Before I can answer she fires off another question. "How do you even know him?"

"He was in Wonderland. Cora forced him to blackmail me into leaving Wonderland." I explain shortly, not having time to get into the nitty gritty of the details.

"So why should we trust him?" Emma asks rhetorically with a suggestive raise of her brow.

"We shouldn't. But... I have a feeling that he's not loyal to Cora." I explain. Despite my own gripes with Hook (selfish, killer, pirate, thief) he doesn't strike me as someone who'd willingly align himself with Cora unless backed into a corner. Or maybe I'm just trying to see the good in him when there may be none. "But keep your guard up regardless." Hook comes to a stop at the tree line. I walk up to stand beside him and let out a heavy sigh at the sight in front of me. A giant beanstalk that reaches up to the clouds.

"Let me guess. The compass is up there?" I ask with a knowing look at Hook.

"Oh yeah." He answers, sending a sly smirk in my direction.

"So we climb?" I ask through an accepting sigh.

"It's not the climb you need to worry about. It's the giant at the top." He informs. I look at the others who look at the beanstalk with differing levels of concern. I take one last deep breath.

"Let's go then."

It only takes us another five minutes to reach the base of the beanstalk. Somehow, it looks even more daunting up close. I shield my eyes with my hand from the sun as I look up.

"It's a little freakier than I remember from the story." Emma comments.

"Reminds me of death." Mulan mutters to herself. My brows furrow.

"Encouraging." Snow snarks.

"A beanstalk reminds you of death?" I can't help but ask. Hook looks to all of us with a sarcastic smile.

"Well, your compass awaits. Shall we?" He asks with a wave of his arm.

"Wait. If these beans create...portals, why not just pick one and go home? Why the compass?" Emma asks.

"I imagine if there were beans, Cora would have used one already." I surmise with a shrug. Hook looks at me and smirks.

"Right you are love, there are no more. Whatever story you think you know is most certainly wrong." He tells Emma.

"There was a guy named Jack and a cow and something about evil giants with treasure and a golden goose." She explains poorly. What does a golden goose have to do with giants? Is the goose a gold color or is it literally gold? "Or harp." She mutters under her breath.

"Sounds like a lovely tale. But the truth's a little more gruesome. The giants grew the beans, but rather than use them for good, they used them to plunder all the lands. Jack and his men fought a terrible war, defeating all but one of the evil giants. The beans were destroyed by the giants as they died. If they couldn't have the magic, then nobody could. Certainly very bad form." Hook says. As he explains, the more this story sounds familiar to me. My father used to tell it to me when I was a little girl. I remember calling the giants 'villains' and my father correcting me. Told me that the victors get to tell the story, not necessarily the heros.

"Why doesn't anyone just go up and grow some more?" Emma asks.

"Because one giant survived. One that even Jack couldn't slay." I repeat my father's words. Hook nods at me in confirmation.

"And we'll have to get past him to..." He starts.

"The magic compass." I finish.

"Indeed. The treasure remains, and amongst it is the compass. Now it will guide us to your land. Cora has the means to open a portal with the wardrobe ashes, but she can't find your land without the compass. Once we get it, we steal the ashes from her, then we're on our way." I almost laugh. He makes it sound so easy. As if we can simply pickpocket the ashes off Cora.

"How do we know you're not just using us to get the compass for Cora?" Mulan asks suspiciously. He looks at her for a moment before turning his gaze to me.

"I already told you why." Comes his answer. His gaze is so intense, hard to look away from. There's something unspoken in his gaze that I can't read. I turn away from him to face the beanstalk.

"Then we better start climbing." I say, starting to head for the beanstalk when Hook's voice stops me.

"Right, so, I failed to mention that the giant enchanted the beanstalk to repel intruders." I stop and clench my jaw. I turn to look at him over my shoulder with an unimpressed look.

"So are we meant to fly up?" I ask sarcastically. He gives me an amused smile.

"No love. I've got a counter spell from Cora." He says, pointing to the cuff on his wrists before holding his bound hands out. "If you'd be so kind." I walk up to him with a sigh, taking the dagger out of my boot. I grab the ropes and cut them with little trouble. I make the mistake of looking up and seeing the soft expression on his face that I'm pretty sure I wasn't meant to see. "Thank you." He says, sounding genuine. What the hell is going on? It's hard to believe he's being genuine after what he's done to me and who he's working with. Could he actually be genuine? I turn away with a swift nod of my head. "I've got one more of these. Alice and one other can come along." My head snaps in his direction, breaking me out of my wandering thoughts.

"I thought you said you only had one other?" I ask. He points down to my sword.

"Yes but that sword you're holding wards off all magic so you don't need a fancy cuff." He explains. I sigh and then look to the others.

"You guys need to decide who then." I tell them with a sigh before turning my attention to the sky.

"Go on, fight it out. Don't be afraid to, you know, really get into it." Hook says sarcastically before turning his attention to me. "Afraid of heights?"

"No. I was imagining what it'd be like to fly." I say before looking over at him. My words are only half a lie. I'm not afraid of heights and I was thinking about what it'd be like to fly. My concern is over whether or not my body can handle the climb. Despite feeling a lot better than before, I'm still malnourished enough that passing out is a possibility. He looks like he wants to push further but simply nods his head, accepting.

"Ladies, in this world we are slaves to time, and ours is running out. In other words, tick tok." Hook says to the others. I look over to see Emma approaching, which doesn't surprise me. I give her a small smile that she returns as Hook places the cuff on her arm.

"I'm glad you're coming along." She tells me.

"Why's that?" I ask with a little laugh.

"Well if I trust anyone to kill a giant, it's the dragon slayer." She says with a raised brow and a smile.

"Actually, it's called a Jabberwocky." Hook corrects lightheartedly.

"That's not- not this time." I stumble over my words but he understands what I'm saying if his raised brows are anything to go by. I smile smugly before starting the climb up the beanstalk.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

remember it once - chapter five

Fandom: The Artful Dodger Pairing: Jack x Belle Rating: E Chapter: 5 / 7 Word Count: 3002

For today's @dodgerfoxweek prompt: post-series/au

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Jack straightens his waistcoat before they step into the parlour, draws Belle aside and wraps one of her curls around his finger, attempting to put the spring back into it. She watches him, smile patient and amused. He sweeps an arm out, gesturing for her to enter before him.

Fanny bustles over, wearing a smile that reveals far more than Jack and Belle probably do themselves. Before Jack can panic, Belle diverts her sister, linking their arms and leading her to the harp that was, for some reason, transported from Government House for the occasion. God forbid Head Surgeon Dawkins entertain without the presence of at least one stringed instrument. It’s so absurd that Jack almost wishes Fagin were here, though the likelihood of Fagin sitting amongst Belle’s family and Jack’s colleagues for more than five minutes without saying something so dreadfully peculiar that Jack never has another visitor in this house is low in the extreme. Also, he’d be bloody slipping the good teaspoons up his shirtsleeves the whole time. Rangy menace.

Since Belle has utterly abandoned him, Jack makes his quick, anxious peace with the inevitability of polite conversation. Sneed is looking at him, expression far too smugly knowing.

“Lab all in order, Dawkins?”

“Quite. Thank you for your concern.”

I must not punch his mustache in, Jack reminds himself, gritting his teeth as he takes a seat near Belle’s mother and father.

“Yes, yes, join us,” Governor Fox beckons. “Anything you know about these delays, Dawkins?” (The Governor’s gotten familiar with him over the past year. Another ally when the time comes—and it’s coming very soon—for Jack and Belle to openly broach the subject of marriage.)

“What delays are those, sir?”

“All sorts of shipments! Vexatious, I call it! What the devil’s to be done?”

“You might have written to inform me,” Lady Fox says with a smile, her hand laid on her husband’s arm.

“Quite so, my dear. Yes, you’d surely have known best. Except they were quite recent!” Governor Fox recalls, wrenched from his sleepy kowtowing. “Not long before you and Belle returned! Of course, we hardly noticed in the beginning, but now things are in a fair muddle. Men and goods both overdue.”

“We have observed low stock at the hospital. Of course, we are often—” Jack catches himself before he can say undersupplied. Bit awkward to berate the Governor for the conditions of the hospital when he’s hoping to shortly have the same man’s approval for wedding his daughter. Jack clears his throat. “We are often so busy we don’t catch these things straight away. But there have been shortages in some of our medicines lately. Nothing we haven’t been able to compensate for, but it’s hardly ideal.”

Sneed backs him up, nodding along to Jack’s words.

“Well, we simply can’t have this,” Lady Fox decides. Jack summons all the strength in his body to resist rolling his eyes.

“You’re absolutely correct, milady,” Sneed says. Jack shoots his colleague a look, but Sneed has his sycophantic expression directed determinedly at Lady Fox.

“Our hospital must be a beacon, an example of what can be achieved here.”

“And it would be nice to keep people alive,” Jack puts in. Unwisely, as Lady Fox’s darted glare reminds him.

“Should the colony experience a wave of illness,” she continues, “it is imperative that we are able to manage things, not like what Belle and I witnessed in England. From what she told me, the hospital was utterly unprepared to—”

“And the ship,” Belle suddenly chimes in. They turn to regard her. “The man on the ship.”

“What man?” Jack asks.

Most of what his fiancée’s told him of her return voyage was communicated through her letters. Since they’ve been in each other’s company once more, especially alone, there hasn’t been much room given to conversation.

“Yes, well, we needn’t discuss that just now,” Lady Fox says. She shifts, appearing as though more than the new furniture is making her uncomfortable. “It was most distressing.”

Jack ignores her, staring at Belle, who does likewise.

“He was ill,” she says. They’re all listening now, but Belle’s eyes are locked on Jack’s.

“Not scurvy?” he checks. “Seasickness, or—”

“Not that I recognized. His skin had a pallor, which could certainly have been the result of excessive vomiting—”

“As I said!” Lady Fox interrupts. “Perhaps not the most suitable topic of conversation, Belle.”

She doesn’t dare disobey her mother a second time, but Belle’s eyes scan the assembled group—moving from Jack to Sneed to Prof—and he believes he can tell what she’s thinking: We can’t discuss medicine when nearly half the people in this room are doctors?

“Very well,” Belle says brightly. “I believe Fanny has prepared something for us anyway. It is not a second recreation of Leda and the Swan.”

This piece of news provides visible relief to the elder Foxes, though Jack hasn’t a clue what Belle means.

“Why don’t you sit over here, Dr. Dawkins?” she invites, motioning to a seat next to her own. “It will hardly do for you to be so far from the entertainment at your own soirée.”

Jack rises eagerly, protected by Belle’s sound explanation.

“I missed you,” he says under his breath as Fanny takes her seat at the harp, drawing it towards her.

“You are ridiculous,” Belle replies, but she’s smiling. “This is from the opera Norma. My mother and I saw it in London. She was able to procure music from the aria, ‘Casta diva,’ so that Fanny might learn it.” Jack senses her watching him as Fanny feels out the first notes. “She did it at my request. I wanted to hear it again, but with you.”

Jack turns to her, fully, even though the room will see him staring if they care to look.

“Thank you.”

Belle shakes her head.

“You haven’t even heard it yet.”

He crosses one of his legs over the other to hide how he slides his fingers over to entangle them with hers.

—

It feels a little odd speaking to the young patient’s friend rather than one of his parents, but Jack knows he comes from a family of nine. He also knows what it is to be a boy in a gang of boys—the loyalty, the sense of responsibility they can feel for one another. So, while Hetty builds a rapport with Alexander by showing him a selection of the saws they use for amputations, Jack listens to Charlie explain what happened.

“We were playing at the docks,” Charlies says, eyes already wide. “Didn’t notice the fellow right away, ’cause we weren’t doing anything wrong, no reason to be lookin’ over our shoulders.”

“I know, Charlie, I believe you.”

“When he did come up, I thought he was probably drunk.”

“He was staggering?” Jack guesses.

“Yeah, and it was like he wasn’t really focused on us. Except… then he went for Al.”

“Went for him…”

“Went for him,” Charlie insists. “Next thing, Al screamed bloody murder and I walloped the man with my crutch.”

Even in recounting these perilous events, a shaky look of pride crosses Charlie’s face. It sounds to Jack as though the boy certainly earned it.

“You did very well,” Jack praises. “Did the man injure Al, do you know?”

“I think so, but Al wouldn’t let me see. Only brought him to you today ’cause he seemed confused or something. Is he ill, do you think?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Jack offers the boy a sympathetic smile. “We’ll take a look.”

Charlie tags along as Jack goes over to examine Alexander. They have the ward mostly to themselves today, and the other boy seems relatively at ease. Upon first inspection, Jack thinks Charlie may be right—Al does look ill. His skin appears waxy and pale, and even the biggest bone saw draws only a dull smile from him.

“Right, Al,” Jack says, standing at the boy’s bedside. “How are you feeling?”

Alexander shrugs, scratches absently at his arm.

“Have you been getting enough to eat?”

“We have our ways,” Charlie says smugly. Jack catches his eye and they exchange the sly, silent understanding of thieves. Still, he’ll see the pair of them get some oranges while they’re here.

“And sleeping? Have you been getting your sleep, Al?” Hetty inquires.

Al nods, then shakes his head, then appears indecisive.

“Think so,” he finally settles on.

“Charlie’s been telling me about this man at the docks,” Jack begins. “Did he seem unwell to you, Al? Do you think he got close enough that he might’ve made you ill?”

Al looks away and scratches at his arm again. Jack follows the action with his eyes, then crouches.

“Did he hurt you?” he asks quietly. “I won’t think you any less brave, I swear.”

Al lifts his gaze to look at Jack.

“Bit me clean through my shirt.”

“Bit you?” Jack repeats, but Al’s already rolling up his sleeve. When he winces, Hetty jumps forward to help, tenderly folding the cloth back and back until the ugly wound is exposed.

“Blimey,” Charlie observes. “You can patch that though, can’t you, Jack?”

Jack swallows and pretends he’s concentrating too hard to hear the question. It spares him from having to admit he’s never seen an injury like this in his life.

—

“Necrosis,” Belle says later—she, Hetty, and Jack gathered in the empty operating theatre. “The death of what should be healthy cells in a living body.”

“We saw the decay,” Hetty assures her. “The discolouration. The… odour.”

“And the child was bitten?”

“Yes.”

“Might his condition have resulted from the violence of the injury alone? Are you certain there was a transmission of disease?”

“Right now,” Hetty says with a sigh, “we only have the account Charlie’s given us. We alerted the infantry. They’re searching for the man. Jack requested that we be allowed to examine him when he’s found, question him about his symptoms.”

“Prod him with sharp objects,” Jack adds bitterly.

Hetty glares at him.

“He bit a child!” he defends.

“Do. No. Harm,” she reminds him in a measured voice, then looks back to Belle and shrugs. “Essentially, we’ll diagnose the disease, if we can.”

“You’re welcome to attend, if you’d like,” Jack tells Belle. She gives a short nod.

“I don’t know about the disease, but necrosis is currently being studied in Europe. I brought this latest Lancet back with me from England,” Belle says, thumping the volume onto the operating table. “How have you treated it?”

“Carbolic acid,” Hetty says, “and then…”

“And then I cut away the decayed flesh,” Jack says, hands on his hips. “Ghastly. I’ve kept him in the ward. The last thing Al needs is an infection—or more infection, if that’s what’s caused this. Charlie’s been up and down Port Victory bragging about how I saved his leg, so he’s already promised Al he won’t be getting his arm chopped.”

“Premature,” Belle notes.

“He was only trying to put him at ease,” Hetty argues.

“It should work,” Jack says. He rubs at his chin. “I’m more troubled by the thought of that man passing whatever he has on to more people.”

“Particularly by biting children.”

“Exactly, Hetty.”

He waits while Hetty pores over the Lancet. Glancing at Belle, he realizes she’s unusually quiet. Rather than discussing the medical literature with Hetty, Belle stands apart, seeming preoccupied. Jack approaches his fiancée as Hetty flips the page.

“What is it?” he wonders, studying her.

Belle stares back at him. She opens her mouth, then closes it in a pout. He doesn’t know what she just stopped herself from saying, but it can’t be any worse than what she does say, which is: “I told my parents you’d be joining us at dinner.”

—

They look at each other, Belle slumped back against the front door of Government House as she regards him. The stars twinkle distantly overhead, spilled sugar in the sky.

“I actually thought it went fairly well,” Jack comments after a long silence. “I remembered to remove my gloves. I used the correct forks. For a few minutes there, I believe your mother almost respected me. Which you would think would’ve been the biggest surprise of the evening.”

“I looked at her and I could tell she’d never really entertained it. Us,” Belle clarifies, though Jack knows perfectly well what she means. “After all this time.” She shakes her head, eyes unfocused. “You’re finally an acceptable acquaintance, but she was determined not to see you as a suitable husband.”

“Your quick thinking certainly gave her the push she needed.”

Belle’s gaze flits to his calmly sarcastic expression.

“I gambled on the unlikelihood of her sending me to India when we’ve only been home a month.”

Jack can’t help it; a laugh bursts from his mouth.

“Your father reached out to shake my hand in congratulations, did you see?”

Belle, doubled over with laughter, nods. He can spot the tears of delight, delirious relief, running from the corners of her eyes. Jack goes to her, folds her into his arms. He smiles against her hair.

“Imagine we really were having a baby.”

“We might be,” she counters.

“We might be,” he allows, eyes wide as he holds her close and looks out into the dark. Something inside him is expanding even larger than the view. “What we’re doing for certain is getting married.”

“You will have a wife. And a salary. And a house.”

“And you will be in it.” Jack turns her in his arms, presses his cheek to hers as she leans back against his chest. “And it will be ours.” He kisses the side of her head and whispers, “Thank you for not sodding off when I told you to.”

“You will have ample opportunity to learn that I do not always listen.”

“As if I haven’t already.”

She shrugs.

“There is always more to know,” she tells him.

This he cannot deny.

After a while, when they no longer need to pretend they can’t hear Belle’s parents bickering inside because the argument stops and no one comes out to tell Jack he can’t marry their daughter after all, Belle calls for the carriage, offering to accompany him home—only as far as the street in front of his house, of course. On the way, Jack decides he’d like to stop in at the hospital to check on Alexander.

“May I come?” Belle asks.

“Wherever I go,” he promises. “So long as you don’t think your parents will worry about me impregnating you in the morgue.”

She makes a face.

“Horrible.”

“On the operating table?”

Belle considers this and decides, “It’s seen far worse.”

As they enter the hospital hand in hand, Jack wishes it weren’t so late, that Fagin were here to tell of their engagement. Since Jack got the house, Fagin’s been a bit dodgy about where he’s living. Jack has a feeling he hasn’t fully vacated the old room, the one he doesn’t believe has been given away yet, since they’ve hired no new senior medical staff. He could be just upstairs. He could be telling stories at the Cat and Bagpipes. He could be making house calls as the German doctor character Jack can’t believe he’s still somehow getting away with.

It doesn’t matter. He’ll tell Fagin eventually, and tonight he has Belle, and they’re walking the halls together, and joking as they pass into his ward, and—

Hetty comes up to them, grave-faced.

“He’s worse,” she reports. “He’s much worse.”

Jack looks past her, towards the corner where two other nurses are moving around a bed. The bed Jack himself settled Alexander into. Unconsciously, he drops Belle’s hand and begins rolling up his sleeves. He can hear Belle asking Hetty questions as he approaches Al’s bed, but notice of anything else in the room is cut violently away from him as Al jerks suddenly sideways in the bed, grabbing a nurse’s arm.

She’s screaming when Jack reaches them: the nurse and the boy, fused where his mouth holds firm to her skin. Jack feels rather than hears himself call for Hetty, the pressure of the yell rising from his chest most noticeable as he grips Al’s jaw, pressing hard, pressing harder, pressing surely much too hard before Al releases her. His eyes are a haze as he swings his head towards Jack instead. Jack shoves the nurse behind him, orders, “Hetty, straps,” forces the boy down with firm hands on his chest and forehead. Even as Al thrashes, Jack is careful not to grab his injured arm. Belle is there, holding Al’s ankles to the bed. Although Jack’s body acts with trained focus, his thoughts scatter. He cleaned that arm himself, precisely delineated and removed the necrosis himself, so why is it that he sees discolouration sprawling from the clean, white lines of Al’s bandage? With how the boy’s been watched, even infection and inflammation were unlikely. This shouldn’t be possible. Alexander is far more ill than Jack imagined, and it’s not only affecting his body.

Hetty secures the straps typically reserved for amputation around the boy and the three of them—Hetty, Jack, and Belle—back away from the bed. After a few moments, Al quiets.

“Hetty…?” Jack starts.

“It just happened,” Hetty pants. “He took a turn. Wouldn’t eat or drink. What fluid he had in him he seemed to be sweating through the sheets. They were just going to move him and change the linens when… well, you saw.”

At the mentioned “they,” Jack glances around for the other night nurses. They’re across the room; he watches as one woman helps the other wash and clean the wound on her arm as she sobs—certainly in shock, and likely in pain. As he’s trying to decide what to do, Jack feels Belle’s hand grip his wrist. He looks at her.

“I think it’s time I told you about the man on our ship.”

[cannedbabs]

MAGIC ITEMS RECOMMENDATIONS NEEDED!

So im writing Bite the Hand that Feeds my Jack Horner x Reader fic!! And I severely need magic items (they are so ridiculously hard to find?? Or think of??) So!! If you can recommend any that’d be amazing ❤️❤️ I have a whole list of ones i already have + the ones in the movie so no copying!!

This doesn’t contain spoilers for the fic btw! Some may not even be mentioned in the upcoming chapter but id love more regardless for future reference! Heres the list of both canon and other contributions

The Phoenix

Gemini Stewart / The Ethical Bug

“Magic Nanny Bag”

Flying Umbrella

“Drink me” potion

“Eat me” Cookie

Fairy Godmother’s Wand

‘Pumpkin’

Excalibur

Poseidon’s Trident

The Magic Carpet

The Shrunken Ship of the Lilliputians

Baby Unicorn Horns

Crystal Ball

Midas’ Touch

Captain Hook’s Hook

Wizard Staff

Poison Apple(s)

Cinderella’s Glass Slipper

Sleeping Beauty’s Spindle / Spinning Wheel

Sorcerer’s Hat

Dancing Broom

Bastet Statue

Enchanted Flower / The Enchanted Rose

Unspecified Magic Potions

Three Musketeer’s Fencing Swords

Mjölnir

Pegasi Wings

Hedge of Thorns

Fountain of Youth

Rumpelstiltskin’s Gold Thread

Evil Queen’s Dagger + Heart Box

Magic Genie Lamp

Rapunzel’s Hair

Flora, Fauna, Merryweather (trapped)

The Singing Harp

The Singing Sword

Dorothy’s Silver / Ruby Slippers

Magic Mirror

The Golden Cap

Invulnerability Stones

The North Wind

An Alchemy Jug

A Golden Egg

Bag of Pixie Dust

Magic Beans

Pied Piper’s Flute

Ark of the Covenant (REALLY iffy on this one I think its HILARIOUS and my mom suggested it)

Mad Hatter’s Hat

He collects magic items from mythology too! Anything is accepted from specific statues to just stupid stuff! Like said anything helps!! Brownie points if he can use it in some shape/form! And like stated these aren’t spoilers unless I can find some use for them later 🤷‍♀️ but right now they’re just decor!!

[rodrigobera04]

The next list will be with the scary ghost type:

GHOST pure

Glass frog with a transparent belly,as a school anatomy mannequin.

Geisha kimono possessed by her haunted netsuke.

Ghost slug covered in spectral slime.

Skeleton changing shape into bizarre appearances.

Spectral dinosaur that imitates voices.

Translucent ghost with only its lineart being seen.

Ghost if teleported, can even change next to your Pokémon in the battle.

Entity made of scary children's scribbles, like in horror films.

Sinister forest spirit, imitates animals in a distorted way.

GHOST/GROUND

Decomposer worms forming a zombie arm.

Odalisque spirit creating mirages with sand.

Turtle shell possessed by the ghost of its former owner.

Creature with a single foot like a rabbit, its footprints can bring good or bad luck.

Spirit of dirt hidden and lurking under a rug.

Cow skeleton, covered in clay that covers its bones like a new body.

Serpentine reptile cut into pieces,that move independently.

Specter opening a portal in the floor, like a trapdoor, to scare people.

Whale that died stranded, now its spirit haunts the beach.

GHOST/ICE

Sea cow pretending to be friendly to drown people in revenge.

Frozen vampire mammoth now absorbs blood with its trunk to keep warm.

Vaporous ghost of a melting ice cube.

Undead climber haunting mountains and making jaw noises.

Specter based on an ice finger, freezes everything with its touch.

Spectral snow owl attacking silently through the air.

Aquatic boogeyman of frozen lakes based in qalupalik.

"La Llorona" of ice, female ghost with frozen tears.

Hunter disguised with the skin of an animal he hunted.

GHOST/NORMAL

Flattened ghost of some animal that was run over.

Lemur making scary sounds, like a ghost.

Kaiju or mascot costume animated by a supernatural force.

Umbrella ghost hiding its skeletal body over its membrane.

Funeral comb controlling a ghostly mound of hair.

Stuffed animal, standing still until someone approaches.

Hyena voodoo wizard, summoning ghosts of the deceased.

Doll that is possessed by spirits that animate it.

Ghost rodent, uses the corpse of the snake that bit him as clothing.

GHOST/FAIRY

Vengeful fur coat made from several skinned ermines.

Ghost unicorn taking revenge on the hunters who stole his horn.

Goblin made of Halloween candy, always asking for more to form his body.

Mischievous poltergeist possessing toys;give bird legs to a dollhouse.

Macabre Jack-in-the-box, feeds on fear, scaring the victim.

Chimera created by parts of different deceased beings.

Pooka changing into frightening forms in macabre pranks.

Pure soul transformed into a cemetery fairy; leaves flowers on graves.

Magical gloves animated by phantom energy, perform tasks for their owners.

GHOST/STEEL

Cursed carriage of an amusement park ghost train.

Skeleton of construction beams from a never-finished project.

Harionago creating a web of barbed wire that injures the victim.

Robot possessed by a ghostly force.

Cage haunted by the bird that inhabited it.

Metal instrument playing requiem music, an organ or a harp perhaps.

Ghost with a blade around his neck that he spins to cut opponents.

Knife that was possessed by the soul of its victim.

Can with a hand inside that sucks energy, attracting prey with the smell of food.

GHOST/WATER

Pelican eel drowning the victim in its inflatable mouth.

Aquatic spectrum like a reflection, distorting your image.

Ghost of water entering houses through leaks.

Fish with a vaguely humanoid face haunts rivers.

Fishnet possessed by the animals killed in it.

Food chain of fish, one coming out of the other's mouth.

Blanket octopus carrying the souls of drowned people to the afterlife.

Stingray with a scary fake face on top and a happy, real one on the bottom.

Spectral parasitic crustacean, possessing a translucent jellyfish.

GHOST/ELECTRIC

Pikaclone laboratory mouse with X-ray skeleton.

Stiff-haired ghost that produces static.

"Lightning rod" zombie, being hit by lightning to gain electrical strength.

Abyssal fish stranded on a beach that shocks even when dead.

Ghost playing the prank of scaring people with a flashlight in his face.

Creeping figure made from TV sprinkles, interfering with radio signals.

Soul attracted to electricity, looking like a moth.

Defibrillator ghost that can take and return life with its shocks.

Angel made of lightning, looking like the skeleton of a stingray.

GHOST/FIGHTING

Little creature being possessed by the literal "fighting spirit", becoming a warrior.

Disembodied leg with two arms on top.

Japanese wolf Yokai, protecting the fauna and flora of the mountains.

Armless training dummy that creates spectral arms to aid.

Buer demon with multiple legs to kick.

Fighter using two skulls on his hands as biting gauntlets.

Voodoo witch being able to pass the damage on her body to the opponent.

Dancing skeleton based on a Tibetan dance.

Two guard dogs sewn around the waist, always vigilant.

GHOST/ROCK

Stone ancient wheels that create flames when they turn, like wayniudo.

Brick from a haunted house that looks like a skull.

Stone vase containing ashes of a deceased person.

Spirit resting inside fossils, waiting to be awakened.

Living drawing of a silhouette on the ground, like those drawn at crime scenes.

Cursed pillars guarding imprisoned and angry souls.

Horned god statue with gem eyes that cause amnesia, paranoia and fear.

Condemned ghost holding a large, heavy rock as punishment for his greed.

Maiden decorated with mourning jewelry at funerals.

GHOST/BUG

Tiny ants carrying heavy objects, confused by poltergeist activity.

Butterfly drinking fluids from deceased;insect psychopomp.

Beetle stuck by a needle, as if from an exhibition.

Cockroach with a haunting face drawn on its back that causes fear.

Parasitic wasp with a necromancer wizard theme.

Vampire praying mantis resembling a jiangshi.

Silk caterpillar having its cocoon like a coffin after being slaughtered for manufacturing.

Specter fly, seen only by the person it torments with its buzzing.

Scavenger bee collecting carrion and creating macabre-looking hives.

GHOST/FIRE

Star born from a soul that went to heaven and became a "little star".

Odori-don octopus motionless until hit with heat.

Imp of fire and brimstone, torturing people with fire.

Swift fire spirit hunting like a stray bullet.

Bonfire animated by the ghost stories told around it.

Skeletal and singed animal, victim of a forest fire.

Decapitated chicken with a fireball for a head.

Vampire on fire from the sun, drinks heat instead of blood.

Flaming ghost jellyfish with fiery tentacles.

GHOST/FLYING

Whistling spirit, imitating the breath of the wind.

Medium lyre bird, imitates the sound of the deceased.

Ghost holding fans, can control wind.

Predator bat catching prey with its net wings.

Kite using his tail to grab things and strangle victims.

Grim reaper stork taking deceased souls away.

Itta-mommen curled into a humanoid shape like a mummy.

Severed head with small wings, looking for a body.

Striga-based vampiric ghost, can turn into an owl.

GHOST/GRASS

Headless plant monster with a necklace of literal garlic heads.

Fungus that covers a spider, giving it long legs.

Banana peel ghost, making people slip.

Severed tree stump with a crushing spectral trunk.

Dry Venus flytrap with its mouth reminiscent of futakuchi-onna.

Spectral creature of dry autumn leaves, makes plants wither.

Humanoid covered in genipap paint, representing mourning.

Mummy with papyrus scrolls for bandages.

Predator shrouded in thicket, never revealing its form beyond its eyes.

THE MYTHIC TO FINISH:

Small mummified ghost reducing living beings to dust; personifies decomposition.

See you soon.

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

🙃 (rant below the cut)

I’m just so frustrated with all this discourse around “celebrity activism” and everything going on in the world. I understand wanting celebrities like Taylor and Beyoncé to speak up about the genocide that Israel is carrying out, I do. However, I don’t think it’s an effective use of energy to pressure them and only them on those issues. You should be pressuring your elected officials who actually have influence to enact change. I also think harping at other people and criticizing their activism accomplishes jack shit. People will do what is in their means and trying to tell them that they’re not doing it the way you want them to isn’t productive. Boycotting is a luxury for some people. Some people can’t afford to take time off of work for the sake of a walk out or protest. Trust that people are doing what works for them. I truly don’t think having celebrity x speak up will actually change the minds of the activists and officials whose job deals with these issues on a daily basis because nothing has really happened when very few celebrities that have spoken out against Israel. And if celebrity x speaking out is the only reason an official changes their stance/speaks out then shame on them because they should be feeling pressure from their constituents and that should be enough for them to do something. If you only want celebrities to speak out because it’ll reassure you that you’re supporting someone who is morally good that’s not a good enough reason. I’d rather celebrities speak out on issues that are actually close to them (if they speak out at all) because speaking up out of fear and for the sake of optics isn’t genuine. Extend your outrage for celebrities to question the larger structures at play that enable these things to still occur. Fixating issues solely on celebrities and refusing to see the wide picture frustrates me. Take the private jet discourse for example. Does it suck that Taylor uses a private jet? Yes. Can she realistically fly public? No, the amount of people that would swarm the airports would create hassles for the airlines and other people flying. We’ve seen how fans flock to her location if she’s spotted somewhere. What about all of the celebrities that use them for joy rides rather than work? What about all of the sports teams that use them every week? What about the president? This is an issue that goes beyond Taylor and she is not the person solely responsible for it nor can she alone fix it. It’s these larger structural issues that annoy me and that discourse around them stops with the celebrities and doesn’t consider how to implement actual change. I’m annoyed that a majority of the western media isn’t talking about the genocide and if they do they mostly support Israel. I’m frustrated that elected officials are cowardly and refuse to speak up for a ceasefire because Israel is the U.S’s buddy. I’m frustrated that all of the presidential candidates are shit, shittier and shittiest. Not voting is a vote to Trump and plays into what the republicans want. I’m sucking it up and voting for Biden in November even though I disagree on his stance with Israel and I think both he and Trump are too old. I’d rather have Joe who makes an attempt to make some changes than Trump who wants to remain in power by any means he can. It sucks that this is what we have to deal with and I wish it were different. I wish that meaningful change could be achieved by those in power and that they would be reasonable and listen to their constituents when they speak.

[the-fiction-witch]

15th Slabs

Media The Queens Gambit

Character Benny Watts

Couple Benny X Reader

Rating Spooky

Halloween day 15

I fixed my lipstick in the little mirror over the sink's reflection. Even if I do so in the unpredictable orange flicker of the light beside the shower. Once finished I adjusted my dress as I scampered across the apartment to slip my shoes on from the front door and swept my coat from the hook onto my body doing the button-up tightly.

"You sure you have to go?" Benny spoke up from his brown leather chair, barefoot as expected, his dark jeans, his black t-shirt, and green button down over him as the chill was getting to him, even if he had sleeves at his elbows and the chest almost utterly undone, his chains against his black shirt, the glint of silver at his wrists and fingers. He was somewhat pouting given our plans for the evening had to be utterly abandoned on such short notice when Jacob called just half an hour ago.

"You know I don't like having to drop everything, but sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles," I told him collecting my handbag and checking it over for all my things

"What am I supposed to do while you're gone?" he asked getting to his feet and coming closer "We had a whole evening planned and that's all just abandoned"

"I'm sure you can find a chess book or a nice game to occupy your time Benny" I laughed

"But... we were gonna sit and watch Psycho together when it comes on channel nine" he complained

"I know we were, but such is the issue with being on call. We can watch it tomorrow"

"It's not on tomorrow"

"I am sorry Benny"

"I know, I just... don't like when our plans get scattered to the fourth winds just because Jacob calls" He explained "Plus it's Halloween, and it's late the subway will have all the creepers out, You know I don't l;ike you rushing off to work this late on a normal day"

"Humm you're not normally one for superstition"

"Nothing to do with superstition, kids are harped up on candy, people are drunk, it's late the freaks always come out the woodwork this time of night"

"That's very sweet Benny" I smiled kissing his cheek "I'll see you when I get home"

"At least let me drive you to work, so you don't have to take the subway"

"You sure? You don't have to do that"

"Well I want to, if we can't spend the evening together I at least want to make sure you're safe"

"Thank you Benny" I smiled

I finished up with my handbag as he got his shoes, jacket and of course hat. Once everything was done we headed up to the car locking the apartment up as usual and up to the surface street seeing the streets fairly empty in the darkness the last few trick-or-treaters finishing up their routes the candles in jack-o-lantern dying down a few of them out completely. He opened the door for me letting me climb into the little blue beetle, Once he shut the door he climbed into the driver's seat and started up the car quickly heading through the city. It wasn't long until we arrived at the Mourge.

"Alright, give me a call when you're done and I'll come get you so you don't have to take the subway home"

"You know, I'll be on my own in there, we have a TV. You could come in with me and we could watch Pyscho while I work. we could even order a pizza?"

"Are you allowed to do that?"

"Jacob brings girls in on his shift all the time" I shrugged "Come on"

"Alright sure, why not? at least we spend the time together. Where should I park?"

"Use Jacobs space," I told him

So we parked up and he came around and opened the door for me letting me climb out. I used my keys to get us inside flicking the harsh lights on and making sure to lock the doors behind us, I slipped my coat off putting it on the rack and Benny did the same leaving his jacket and hat there, I grabbed my scrub coat from the office and headed inside

"Ooohh it's cold in here" Benny complained

"The whole place is a big fridge" I laughed "Better for everyone that way"

"Now I see why your hands and feet are always so cold when you get home from work"

"Make yourself comfortable Benny"

"I'm not sure I want to, I feel like everything in here has touched a corpse"

"slabs"

"What?"

"Slabs. Helps you not to think about it" I told him as I finished washing my hands and got my gloves on

"Is it really good to be that desensitized?"

"Benny, they're dead, Me crying over the loss of life doesn't get my work done," I explained checking my notes and grabbing the body that I needed from the draw laying it out on my usual table "What?" I asked as I saw his face his skin almost white as he saw me

"That... that is a body"

"Well yeah? You know what I do Benny"

"I know but, it's something else when you're faced with a ...slab, who was he?"

"No idea, police just want it looked over that's all I know, look for evidence. Likely some kind of murder, what?" I asked getting my tools from the sanitizer where Jacob left them for me.

"Just kinda weird hearing you talk like this"

"At the end of the day, we're all just organs, bones and blood. And someone has to be in charge of cleaning us up" I said "So? you thinking pizza or Chinese food?" I asked starting my work on the slab making my first incision

"...uuuhhh I think I lost my appetite"

"Alright Benny" I laughed "Pop the radio on, it fills the air or you wanna put pyscho on?"

"I don't think I wanna watch a horror movie... something might wake up and come at me"

"Benny I have worked here for six years, nothing has ever jumped out at me. Except that one guy, he wasn't dead so?"

"Ahhhh I don't wanna know." He says

"You can go home if you want Benny"

"No no I want to be here with you I'm sure I'll get... used to it"

"Alright," I laughed "BOO!" I yelled making him jump

"Don't!"

"Ohh be fun" I laughed grabbing the slab's arm "Hi Benny" I waved "Don't be scared of me I'm all stiff!"

"That's not funny y/n," He says "You want a coffee from the office machine?"

"Because there's no slab's in the office?"

"Kinda"

"Okay but I'd save it till we get a little further through the process" I laughed 

[jxrm]

book log - 2024

diva by daisy goodwin

the heiress by rachel hawkins

only if you’re lucky by stacy willingham

the chateau by jaclyn goldis

just stay away by tony wirt

the other mothers by katherine faulker

middle of the night by riley sager

the disappearance of astrid bricard by natasha lester

every time i go in vacation, someone dies by catherine mack

the last caretaker by jessica strawser

just for the summer by abby jimenez

house of glass by sarah pekkanen

the mayor of maxwell street by avery cunningham

first lie wins by ashley elston

the phoenix crown by kate quinn

murder road by simone st. james

the fury by alex michaelides

happiness falls by angie kim

the house of last resort by christopher golden

run rose run by dolly parton

the chalice of the gods by rick riordan

there should have been right by nalini singh

the mysterious case of the alperton angels by janice hallet

darling girls by sally hepworth

the pieces around us by leigh fields

love, theoretically by ali hazelwood

the teacher by frieda mcfadden

x by jack croxell

iron flame by rebecca yarros

the only suspect by louise candlish

throwback by maurene goo

the housemaid is watching by frieda mcfadden

zara hossain is here by sabina khan

slice by angie caedis

the ways of the dead by neely tucker

orphan train by christina baker

a court of silver flames by sarah j. mass

come and get it by kiley reid

the drowning woman by robyn harding

when i bleed: poems about endometriosis by maggie bowyer

the house in the pines by ana reyes

only say good things by crystal hefner

the mother-in-law by sally hepworth

daughter of mine by megan miranda

lore olympus: volume four by rachel smythe

this time it’s real by ann liang

anna o by matthew blake

the girl with the louding voice by abi dare

where the forest meets the stars by glendy vanderah

a friend in the dark by samantha m. bailey

the wife app by carolyn mackler

howl’s moving castle by diana wynne jones

the spanish love deception by elena armas

divide by jessa russo

lies and weddings by kevin kwan

the foxhole victory tour by amy lynn green

dying to tell by keri beevis

my father, the panda killer by jamie jo hoang

the wedding party by l.r. jones

girl gone mad by avery bishop

starter wife by bethany lopez

the queens of new york by e.l. shen

theater lovers by ciara blume

once upon a broken heart by stephanie garber

the surrogate mother by frieda mcfadden

crying in h mart by michelle zauner

don’t forget to write by sara goldman confino

the next girl by carla kovach

the paradise problem by christina lauren

ivy league liars by grace costello

every summer after by carley fortune

the ballad of never after by stephanie garber

a curse of true love by stephanie garber

the devil’s storybooks by natalie babbit

expiration dates by rebecca serle

the murmur of bees by sofia segovia

growing up hadley by dana harp

the vacation by john marrs

rum punch regrets by anna kemp

the five-star weekend by elin hilderbrand

people to follow by olivia worley

the treasure hunters club by tom ryan

you shouldn’t be here by lauren thoman

trophy wife by bethany lopez

seven summers by paige toon

veridian sterling fakes it by jennifer gooch

the friendship club by robyn carr

women of good fortune by sophie wan

the smuggler’s apprentice of guatemala by lachlan page

this summer will be different by carley fortune

natural selection by elin hilderbrand

the passengers by john marrs

asap by axie oh

island of shadows by christopher kvintus

swan song by elin hilderbrand

lore olympus: volume five by rachel smythe

blue hawaiian by carla luna

the villain edit by laurie devore

hermione granger and the order of the phoenix by sara baines-miller

the hotel nantucket by elin hilderbrand

bummer camp by ann garvin

pink glass houses by asha elias

cut and thirst by margaret atwood

the exception to the rule by christina lauren

#crimetime by jeneva rose

incidents around the house by josh malerman

the mistress by valerie keogh

kiki’s delivery service by eiko kadono

when we were friends by jane green

the honey-don’t list by christina lauren

worst wingman ever by abby jimenez

the perfect couple by elin hilderbrand

home is where the bodies are by jeneva rose

the only good indians by stephen graham jones

roar by cecelia ahern

the wedding people by alison espach

look in the mirror by catherine steadman

fit to die by daniel kalla

uglies by scott westerfield

hideaway by nicole lundrigan

the fortune teller by natasha boydell

crazy rich asians by kevin kwan

the wish by nicholas sparks

how the penguins saved veronica by hazel prior

the plus one by s. c. lalli

the haters by robyn harding

china rich girlfriend by kevin kwan

rich people problems by kevin kwan

the haunting of moscow house by olesya salnikova gilmore

the lonely hearts book club by lucy gilmore

the measure by nikki erlick

somewhere beyond the sea by tj klume

adam and evie’s matchmaking tour by nora nguyen

i was a teenage slasher by stephen graham jones

here one moment by liane moriarity

badass bonita by kim guerra

zetas till we die by amber and danielle brown

shred sisters by betsy learner

one of the girls by lucy clarke

society of lies by lauren ling brown

the radius of us by marie marquardt

fantasticland by mike bockoven

sheets by brenna thummler

the boyfriend by frieda mcfadden

delicates by brenna thummler

no one will know by rose carlyle

lights by brenna thummler

counting miracles by nicholas sparks

the night we lost him by laura dave

ghost stories by ron ripley

the hitchcock hotel by stephanie wrobel

for better or cursed by kate williams

the last one at the wedding by jason rekulak

creation lake by rachel kushner

like mother, like daughter by kimberly mccreight

libby lost and found by stephanie booth

the nosy neighbour by nita prose

needy little things by channelle desamours

the reappearance of rachel price by holly jackson

not another love song by julie soto

we used to live here by marcus kliewer

the stillwater girls by minka kent

yours for the taking by gabrielle korn

52 weeks and a party of one by bianca pensy aba

youthjuice by e.k. sathue

the manicurist’s daughter by susan lieu

the invisible life of addie larue by victoria e. schwab

the housekeeper’s wedding by frieda mcfadden

what does it feel like? by sophie kinsella

the anti-heroes by jen lancaster

the christmas book hunt by jenny colgan

christmas every day by beth moran

cruel winter with you by ali hazelwood

winter in paradise by elin hilderbrand

holiday hideaway by mary kay andrews

merry ever after by tessa bailey

what happens in paradise by elin hilderbrand

the widow's husband's secret lie by frieda mcfadden

trouble in paradise by elin hilderbrand

wrath of the triple goddess by rick riordan

deep dish by mary kay andrews

buried road by katie tallo

25 days by per jacobsen

please tell me by mike omer

[asksoldieron]

X-1: Meet the Cast, and the Roll-A-Dance, and this here new, modified engagement function!

If there's a lot of engagement on this, this post is liable to get real long, beware before you expand. (This accidentally went live on the wrong blog for a sec, I bet I'll do that a lot!)

Welcome to the Engagement Lounge, for Meet the Roll-A-Dance (X-1) an extra! Short comments can go in the replies, but there's a character limit. Longer ones will need a reblog. Remember to @asksoldieron if you're reblogging someone else's reblog, so I can see it too!

This was a cute way to reintroduce the cast and transition into the timeskip after finishing up Tin Soldier and taking a long break. Erik's almost twelve in this one. When we see him again, he'll be nineteen, but he doesn't know it yet.

Barnaby's gone and there are a few new main characters who aren't there yet, but the plot goes on! If you wanted to check and see if you like this world, these people, and how I write about 'em, this is a good place to start.

I posted this February 17th, after being more-or-less absent for a year, as proof of life! Tin Soldier's actual anniversary is on April 9th. Technically, I started Tin Soldier very late on the 8th, but the clock switched over while I was putting the pilot up. I tried to stick to 12:01 AM from then on, but I screwed up a few times. (I simplified the time codes and cleaned up some mistakes after moving the site. Shh! Don't tell!) We'll call October 3rd Soldier On's birthday. Three excuses to put up extra content and party!

This one has a lot of band organ music in it, which I love. Those things make old school digital music. Music boxes are even older, and I love them too, but band organs are way more fun to watch.

On the way up from the States, I got to visit the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco and see a lot of both, and player-pianos, too! They had a BIG band organ behind glass that played the Beatles. I was in heaven.

I also got to see a transitional machine. Band organs and player pianos run ye olde MIDI files on punched paper rolls. Music boxes have a metal roll with itty-bitty bumps that plucks a tiny metal harp. How did we get from one to the other? A punched roll made of either very tough paper or wood that physically lifted the keys that play the instruments as it scrolled! Each key had a hook on it that would catch the holes in the roll and strike a note or an instrument. From metal harp to wooden keys to a pneumatic pump system that blows air through the holes!

Unlike the DDR we know, Roll-A-Dances have a mechanical dance pad instead of a digital one. They're slower, with nothing faster than 1/8 steps, so you don't foul the typewriter-like keys. I bet the early ones had the pneumatic input hooked up to the dance pad, and that would've been even slower. The one the household is playing with has a bellows in there, and needs magic and electricity. It's faster, but it's finicky!

We'll see the Roll-A-Dance again. Milo just loves it. You can't tell from his expression, but I gave you his joy in the coloured "light". I decided Milo should not be required to smile for you readers at home to know he's happy.

My music references, available on YouTube, are: A fairground organ playing ABBA; A fairground organ playing Bohemian Rhapsody; and of course you know Toccata. Butterfly and Captain Jack are DDR references, but they - and the other songs - are not, to the best of my knowledge, available in organ form. Yet. They do have Caramelldansen! Band organs give less than a shit about copyright and I agree with them!

[Back to the Site?]