#laptop anti blue light screen guard

[chintuyadav]

PxIn (https://pxin.in/) has got your screen covered—literally! 📱✨ Whether you need privacy, protection from harmful blue light, or an anti-glare solution for outdoor use, we’ve got it all. 🔒 Privacy Screen Guards for confidential viewing. 👁️ Anti-Blue Light Guards to protect your eyes. ☀️ Anti-Glare Guards for crystal-clear outdoor use. 💻 Available for all Mobiles, Tablets, Laptops, and Monitors! Which one’s your go-to? Let us know in the comments! Protect your phone, protect your eyes, and protect your privacy with PxIn (https://pxin.in/). 📞 Contact us: +91 77021 77289, +91 97033 35755. 📧 Email: Info@pxin.in (mailto:Info@pxin.in) 🌐 Visit us: https://pxin.in/

PrivacyScreenguards #AntiBlueLightScreenGuards#AntiGlareScreenGaurds #PxIn (https://pxin.in/)

[healthhodsm]

Protecting Your Eyes with a Computer Screen Guard

In today's digital age, we spend a significant amount of time in front of screens, whether it's for work, study, or leisure. Prolonged screen time can lead to digital eye strain, causing symptoms like headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and neck pain. One effective way to reduce these symptoms is by using a computer screen guard for eyes.

What is a Computer Screen Guard?

A computer screen guard is a protective filter that attaches to your computer monitor or laptop screen. These guards are specifically designed to reduce glare and block harmful blue light, which is a major cause of eye strain. Blue light emitted from screens can interfere with sleep patterns and cause discomfort, especially when you spend long hours looking at your computer.

Benefits of Using a Computer Screen Guard for Eyes

Reduces Eye Strain: By filtering out blue light, a screen guard helps reduce eye strain and fatigue. This is particularly beneficial for people who work on computers for extended periods.

Minimizes Glare: Screen guards can significantly reduce glare from external light sources, such as overhead lighting or sunlight. This makes it easier to see the screen clearly without squinting.

Protects Your Eyes: Long-term exposure to blue light can potentially damage your eyes and increase the risk of macular degeneration. A screen guard acts as a protective barrier, safeguarding your eyes from harmful light.

Improves Comfort: With less glare and reduced blue light, your eyes will feel more comfortable even after hours of screen time. This can enhance your overall productivity and reduce the need for frequent breaks.

How to Choose the Right Screen Guard

When choosing a computer screen guard for eyes, consider the following:

Size: Ensure the screen guard fits your monitor or laptop screen perfectly.

Type of Protection: Look for guards that specifically mention blue light filtering and anti-glare properties.

Quality: Opt for high-quality materials that provide clear vision without distorting colors.

For more tips on how to reduce eye strain from screens, visit Health Hod's doctors advice. This guide provides valuable information on how to protect your eyes and maintain good eye health in a digital world.

Conclusion

Investing in a computer screen guard is a simple yet effective way to protect your eyes from the harmful effects of prolonged screen time. Whether you're working, studying, or browsing the internet, a screen guard can help reduce eye strain, enhance comfort, and promote healthier screen habits.

Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional for any concerns regarding your eye health.

[freeenthusiastearthquake]

Unveiling Pxin.in: A Game Changer in Laptop Privacy Screen Technology

In an era where digital presence permeates every aspect of our lives, the protection of our digital information and eye health is paramount. After extensive research and firsthand experience with various privacy screen brands, I've found that Pxin.in stands unparalleled in the market. Below, I share my insights on why Pxin.in is a necessity for every digital device user, from the perspective of an industry expert who has seen it all.

Why Pxin.in is the Superior Choice for Privacy Screens

Cutting-Edge Protection Against Visual Hacking

Before Pxin.in, sensitive information on screens was like an open book to prying eyes. With Pxin.in’s privacy screen guards, the narrative changes:

Private Viewing: The screen is visible only to the person directly in front of the monitor, ensuring complete confidentiality.

Visual Hack Prevention: These guards are designed to darken the display from side views, securing your data from visual hacking attempts.

Superior Blue Light and UV Blocking Technology

As someone who has experienced the adverse effects of digital screens, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of Pxin.in’s technology:

BL'UV'lightblock™ Technology: This revolutionary feature blocks up to 99.68% of UV rays and 90% of harmful blue light, protecting your eyes from strain and potential long-term damage.

Digital Eye Strain Reduction: By significantly reducing blue light, Pxin.in guards help mitigate the risk of digital eye strain, allowing for a more comfortable screen experience.

Anti-Glare for Comfortable Use

Glare from screens can cause significant eye discomfort, but Pxin.in's anti-glare technology helps:

Minimize Reflections: Reduces the strain on your eyes by minimizing the light reflections from the screen surface.

Enhanced Screen Clarity: Provides a clearer view of your screen content, even under harsh lighting conditions.

A Step Above the Rest: Pxin vs. Other Brands

Having tried brands like 3M and found them lacking, I can attest that Pxin.in's privacy screens are in a league of their own. Here’s why Pxin.in is a game-changer:

Tested and Trusted: Unlike other brands that fall short in real-time testing, Pxin.in delivers on its promises of protection and privacy.

Customer Satisfaction: Consistently rated as Amazon’s Best Seller and Amazon’s Choice in India, Pxin.in has become the preferred choice for informed consumers.

The Pxin.in Advantage: Diverse Compatibility and Offerings

Wide Range of Products: From laptop privacy filters to TV anti-blue and anti-glare screens, Pxin.in caters to a broad spectrum of devices.

Customization: Pxin.in offers custom solutions for various models, ensuring a perfect fit for your device.

It’s my mission to ensure that no one else has to suffer the consequences of inadequate screen protection. Pxin.in is more than just a product; it's an investment in your digital security and well-being.

Act Now for a Safer Digital Experience

Visit: www.pxin.in

Contact: Call/WhatsApp for bulk discounts: 97033 35755 / 77021 77289

Email: info@pxin.in

As an advocate for digital health and privacy, I urge you to choose Pxin.in for peace of mind in this digital age. Contact Pxin.in today and step into a world where your privacy and eye health are prioritized like never before.

[phoneguard02]

Elevate Your Retail with Screen Protector Wholesale

In the dynamic world of mobile technology, where innovation is a constant, protecting your valuable devices has never been more critical. Screen protectors have emerged as indispensable accessories for smartphones and tablets. To cater to this growing demand and offer a competitive edge in the retail market, Mobile Phone Guard, one of China's largest Screen Protector Wholesale and manufacturers, steps in as your trusted partner. With a commitment to quality, innovation, and customization, they enable retailers to elevate their offerings and provide customers with the protection they need.

The Role of Screen Protectors in Retail

In today's world, our smartphones and tablets are not just gadgets; they are extensions of ourselves. The screens of these devices are the portals to our digital lives, making their protection a priority. Screen protectors have become a must-have accessory for every mobile device user, and this presents a significant opportunity for retailers.

Retailers can enhance their offerings by providing high-quality, durable screen protectors that cater to various devices. Whether customers own the latest flagship smartphone or a budget-friendly tablet, having a range of screen protectors available can significantly improve a retailer's appeal.

Mobile Phone Guard: Your Trusted Partner

Mobile Phone Guard, based in China, has established itself as a leader in the screen protector industry. With years of experience and a commitment to excellence, they have become a trusted partner for retailers worldwide. Here's why they should be your go-to choice for Screen Guard Manufacturer:

1. Extensive Product Range: Mobile Phone Guard offers a wide range of screen protectors suitable for various devices. Whether it's smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, or laptops, they have you covered. Their product portfolio includes tempered glass protectors, PET film protectors, privacy Screen Protector Factory and more, catering to diverse customer needs.

2. Customization: One size does not fit all in the world of screen protectors. Mobile Phone Guard understands this, and they offer customization options for retailers. You can work with them to create custom screen protectors tailored to specific devices or with unique features, such as anti-glare coatings or blue light filters.

3. Quality Assurance: Quality is paramount when it comes to screen protectors. Mobile Phone Guard ensures that all their products go through rigorous quality checks to meet international standards. This commitment to quality not only enhances customer satisfaction but also minimizes product returns.

4. Competitive Pricing: Retailers are always on the lookout for quality products at competitive prices. Mobile Phone Guard offers competitive pricing for their screen protectors, allowing retailers to maintain healthy profit margins while providing customers with value for their money.

5. Innovation: Staying ahead in the retail industry requires innovation. Mobile Phone Guard constantly invests in research and development to bring the latest screen protector technologies to the market. This ensures that retailers can offer cutting-edge products that attract tech-savvy consumers.

6. Packaging and Branding: Mobile Phone Guard understands the importance of presentation. They offer customized packaging and branding options for retailers, enabling them to create a unique identity in the market. This can significantly impact a retailer's brand image and customer loyalty.

7. Global Reach: Mobile Phone Guard's products are not limited to China. They have a global distribution network, making it easy for retailers around the world to access their high-quality screen protectors. This opens up opportunities for retailers to expand their customer base and reach international markets.

8. Sustainability: In an era of increasing environmental consciousness, Mobile Phone Guard is committed to sustainable practices. They prioritize eco-friendly materials and manufacturing processes, allowing retailers to align with sustainability trends and appeal to environmentally conscious customers.

Conclusion

In the competitive world of retail, offering high-quality, in-demand accessories like screen protectors can set your business apart. Mobile Phone Guard, with its extensive product range, customization options, commitment to quality, competitive pricing, and global reach, is the ideal partner to help you elevate your retail offerings.

By choosing Mobile Phone Guard as your screen protector wholesale supplier, you not only enhance your product lineup but also ensure that your customers receive the protection their beloved devices deserve. Stay ahead in the retail game, meet customer demands, and boost your profits with Mobile Phone Guard's premium screen protectors. Elevate your retail today and partner with the industry leader in screen protector manufacturing and supply.

[langleycell]

Best iPhone Screen Guards or Protectors

Are you using your iPhone without a screen protector on? You must admit that is a significant risk! When accidents do happen, having a high-quality protective case on hand can prevent you from having to spend hundreds of dollars on repairs.

We've compiled a list of the top iPhone screen shields currently available. Many of the leading manufacturers of these scratch-resistant choices are available at Global cell phone and laptop repair Langley. So be sure to drop by and browse their selection!

Best iPhone Screen Protectors in 2023

The style, feel, and usefulness of today's options vary substantially. Discover which screen protector best suits your requirements!

Best Screen Protector for Tempered Glass.Typically, one of these three different materials is used to create screen protectors:

Terephthalic polyethylene (PET)

Thermally plastic urethane (TPU)

Flexible glass

If you have an older model phone, such as an iPhone X or iPhone 8, PET and TPU screen protector are less expensive options that might still function. You should spend a little extra money on a tempered glass screen cover for newer iPhone models, though. With many layers, improved light transmission, and damage protection, they are without a question our preferred material option.

Smudge and scratch resistance are both included in the ZAGG InvisibleShield Glass Premier protector, which is four times more durable than the majority of glass screen protectors.

Best Privacy Screen Protector

Visual hacking is a seriously underrated risk. 91% of graphical hacking attempts, according to one study, are successful! If you're concerned that con artists will steal private information from your iPhone, use a glass screen with more robust privacy protections. These choices come with an additional privacy screen that restricts the angles from which light can enter. It typically implies that if you are not looking directly at your device's screen, the screen will be obscured from your point of view and you won't be able to see it.

There are several great choices in the InvisibleShield Glass Premium Privacy lineup for the iPhone 13, smartphone 12, and other devices. We advise the Privacy with an antibacterial component or the Privacy 360, that features a four-way filter and operates in both portrait and landscape mode.

Best Anti-Glare Screen Protector

Many blue light protectors exist to prevent excessive glare, which can harm our eyesight. To avoid that uncomfortable or unpleasant feeling you get from staring at your phone screen for too long, another alternative is to get an anti-glare screen protector.

If you're concerned about protecting your eyes, think about the VisionGuard or ZAGG Glass+ Anti-Glare. Defend your eyes while simultaneously displaying!

Where can you find new iPhone screen protection?

On the ZAGG website, you can buy each of the aforementioned choices. Fortunately, they all include a simple installation kit, but if you are hesitant to do it yourself, you might prefer to go to Langley Global cell phone and Laptop repair.

In order to protect yourself when you need it most, Global Mobile Phone Repair and Laptop Repair will assist you in selecting the appropriate attachment for your device and making sure it is installed correctly.

We provide a large selection of screen shields for the iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, and other gadgets in our stores. Visit Global Cell Phone and Laptop Repair to locate a variety of accessories, including chargers, cases, and screen protectors. A cracked iPhone screen can be easily replaced with our assistance!

[phoenixinnovations]

A computer privacy screen is a polarized sheet placed on a screen to limit the viewing angle to approximately 30 degrees on either side. Basically, these micro louvers act like window blinds for your computer. It’s the same basic technology used on polarized eyeglasses to reduce glare and blue light directly in your eyes. A PxIn Screen Protector is made of 12 effective layers using the Micro Louvre Technology that ensures it is born to protect eyes and also secures your information from Visual hackers and prying eyes. The protectors also ensure a clear visibility and come in dual finish sides which are useful on both sides depending on the usage choice and convenience of the user. Visit us: https://pxin.in/anti-blue-screen/how-do-i-protect-my-eyes-from-blue-light-on-my-laptop/

[pxinscreens]

[five-rivers]

Interview With a Ghost (part 3: Break)

(PART 1) (PART 2)

.

.

.

The call came shortly after Danny had informed Tucker of his (disastrous) interview with the police and had left to go fight a giant bird ghost that had made its way to Elmerton. That bird wouldn't know what hit it. Well, it would know that Danny hit it, presumably, but not that Danny was hitting it so hard due to repressed anxiety regarding his body and the fact the police had it.

Tucker had been, as it so happened, waiting for the call.

"Hey, Sam," he said, not bothering to so much as look at the caller ID.

"So, Danny's gotten himself into a mess."

"Yep," said Tucker. "A pretty big one. Not all his fault, though."

"He did make it worse."

"Yeah. What are we going to do about it?"

"How do you feel about breaking and entering?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," said Tucker. He rolled over on his bed to stare at the ceiling. "We do that pretty frequently."

"The city morgue. ME's office, specifically."

"There'll be guards," said Tucker, "what with the rumors and all."

"I've got the Box Ghost in my thermos. He's a good distraction."

"Transport?"

"Working on it. You'll take care of the security cameras and locks?"

"As long as they're digital," said Tucker, pulling up his data on the city cameras as they spoke. "The outside ones are, but I don't know about the insides. There might be analog machines in there. Tapes. Can't do anything to anything not on a network."

"I know, I know. Hey, maybe you could send a text to whoever's supposed to be guarding it tonight? Get them to leave?"

"Mmm. Maybe. If I could figure out who that would be."

"That could backfire, though," said Sam. "If they don't send messages like that. Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud."

Tucker pulled up a building map in another window. "I think we'll probably need more than just us, though. Remember the first time we had to move... it?"

"Yeah, but who else are we going to get to do this?"

"Jazz, maybe? She has a car, too. She can be transportation."

"Tucker, we're not looping Danny in on this. Do you really think that Jazz is going to be any more cool with this than Danny?"

"I don't know, Jazz can be pretty savage when it comes to protecting Danny."

The phone made Sam's considering hum crackle with static. "We do need transport," said Sam.

"Yeah. What were you looking into for that, anyway?"

"Ugh. Cult connections."

"Dude. Danny would not be happy if we gave his you know to a cult."

"Yeah, but he can steal it back from the cult with no guilt, unlike with the police."

"But what if he just gave it back to the police?" asked Tucker, looking up the city's purchasing records, trying to determine if they had any cameras that used tapes or that weren't internet connected in or near the morgue.

"Come on, he wouldn't do that."

"Probably not, but he does do weird stuff, sometimes. Like agree to an interview with the police and almost give away his secret identity."

"Yeah," said Sam. "You keep checking how feasible this is, and I'll call Jazz, okay?"

"Sure," said Tucker. "Talk to you later."

.

Jazz eased her car into the alley behind the building that housed the city morgue and ME's office.

"Stop here," said Tucker. "I can see their network."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Jazz whispered, putting the car into park.

"You don't have to whisper," said Tucker, sitting in the passenger's seat and typing away at his mobile workstation (he insisted that it wasn't a laptop). "No one is going to hear you. Okay, yeah, I'm on their wifi. Give me a minute."

"Take your time," said Sam, who was lying down in the back seat, dressed in blacks and grays, thin gloves over her hands. "Were you guys able to sneak out okay without Danny?"

"Yeah," said Tucker.

"It was a bit trickier without him," said Jazz. She was lucky that her parents wore earplugs to sleep, and she was fairly certain Danny was out of the house entirely. Fighting a ghost, probably. She always told him to wake her up before he left, so at least one person knew where he was and could help him, but he never did.

"Okay, Jazz, you can get closer, now, then Sam can hop out and Box 'em."

"That was fast," said Jazz, starting the car forward again.

"What can I say?" said Tucker. "Pure talen-"

Something in the car started shrieking. Jazz jumped, momentarily pressing too hard on the gas, and the car lurched forward. Sam swore.

"What is that?" asked Tucker, hands over his ears.

"Who care?" shouted Sam, over the noise. "Turn it off, turn it off!"

"It's the- It's the anti-ecto alarm! I told them not to put it on my car!" She leaned across Tucker and opened the glove box. Sure enough, a sleek chrome-and-green monstrosity sat in her poor, innocent glove box, flashing screens, dials, and indicator lights at them. The car cabin lit up like a disco.

Jazz and Tucker jabbed at buttons until the thing shut up.

"Okay," said Tucker. "I think we're going to have to abort. I'm gonna bet my aunt in Chicago heard that."

Jazz blushed. "Sorry guys," she said. She was going to have words with her parents after this. What if she'd been on the highway when that thing went off? They really didn't think these things through.

"We can't abort!" protested Sam. "We need to get the thing! Before they start running tests on it!"

Jazz started backing up the car.

"Yeah, I know, but we needed stealth. We don't have that anymore. Hold up, Jazz, I need to erase my presence from their system."

Sam grumbled. "What set it off, anyway. Boxy?"

"No, it looks like this was calibrated to only go off for a class seven or above," said Tucker, peering at the alarm.

"Class seven?" repeated Jazz. "But... You don't think Danny-"

"No, he's in the suburbs, dealing with Skulker." Jazz looked over at Tucker's computer to see the Ghost Watch app icon blinking in the corner of his screen. "This is Vlad. Crap."

The door made a thunk when Sam swung it too far out and it hit a wall. Jazz winced, but rolled down her window. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"We can't let Vlad get away with it!"

"And what are you going to do? Sam!"

"Getting back into the cameras," muttered Tucker, typing furiously.

"I'm calling Danny," said Jazz.

"Won't answer, he's fighting Skulker."

"Well, maybe he's finished!" said Jazz, dialing.

There was a flare of blue white light from up ahead and an angry shout. A glowing silhouette joined Sam's dark one. She had released the Box Ghost.

Jazz groaned. "Why did she do that now?"

"Shhh!" said Tucker. Something began to make little beeping noises. "Oh, jeez."

"What's that?"

"My ghost detector. It's tuned to Vlad." He opened his door half way. "Sam!" he shouted. "Incoming!"

She pressed herself to the side of the alley just in time to avoid a dark, horned figure swooping down on her from above. The Box Ghost was not so lucky.

"... and it's got a lower range," said Tucker, faintly.

Vlad Plasmius, rimmed in fuchsia light, floated twenty feet in the air. He had one hand around the Box Ghost's neck, the other full of neon pink fire. "Oh," he said, his voice echoing clearly in the alleyway. "It's you. What are you doing here, pest?"

"Uhhhhh," said the Box Ghost as Sam tried to make her way back to the car.

"And with Daniel's little friends no less?"

Sam broke into a run, slammed Tucker's door shut, yanked open the passenger door behind him, and slid in. Jazz wasted no time in slamming on the gas. If her car got a few scrapes, so be it.

There was a second Vlad behind them. She dropped her phone and slammed on the brakes. It was still ringing.

Smiling like a villain from a slasher movie, this second Vlad stepped intangibly into the car.

"Well, now," he said, smoothly. "What's this? Daniel's friends, but no Daniel? Whatever are the three of you doing here of all places? And at this hour?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Sam.

"No need to be rude, Samantha, dear," said Vlad. "Daniel doesn't know about your little excursion, does he? He's still across town, occupied with Skulker. You can tell him he won't have to worry anymore. I'll take good care of his body."

"Dude," said Tucker, "do you have any idea how gross that sounds?"

Vlad scowled and flicked his fingers. A ray of pink burned a quarter sized hole in the back of Tucker's headrest.

"If he had a problem with me taking it, he should have hidden it better," said Vlad. "I have no desire to have the existence of half ghosts revealed simply because Daniel hid his corpse in same park the police have their annual picnic!"

"Actually," said Tucker, "they usually have it in Marley Park. Aren't you the mayor? Shouldn't you know this?"

Vlad's scowl deepened further. "Drive safely, Jasmine." The duplicate dissolved into magenta and pink mist.

Sam sneezed. "Gross, I think I got him in my nose."

"Guys," said Tucker. "I've got alerts on the police lines, someone reported a disturbance. We really need to go."

.

"Vlad stole my," Danny waved his hands in the air in place of the word. "Are you serious? And you guys know, because you were going to try to steal it, and you didn't tell me?" His friends and sister looked sheepishly at the ground. "Why did you wait 'til now to tell me? I've been having anxiety attacks about it all night. I thought that the stupid ME had, I don't know, insomnia or something! It was Vlad?"

"Yeah," said Sam.

"Argh!" said Danny, starting to pace. Thank goodness his room was large enough to have a good pace in, even with three other teens in it. "I don't even want to think what he could be doing with it, but I am! What if- What if he goes full-bore Frankenstein and freaking reanimates it? What am I supposed to do then? And the police! They're going to think I did it, and there goes my credibility with the police!"

"You were on Ghost Watch fighting Skulker when it happened," offered Tucker.

"Ghosts can be in two places at once! The police know that! That's not a good enough alibi!" He put his hands on his face and groaned. "Am I going to have to break into Vlad's house? Again? He has to have a ghost shield up around it by now. And a human shield. And a ghost-human shield. I'm dead."

"You're not dead, Danny," said Jazz.

"I am dead. In ever sense of the word. Dead, I tell you, dead."

"Deep breaths," said Jazz. "You're hyperventilating."

It was true. He sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands. "I don't even know what secret lair he's brought it to."

"Wait, you mean, you can't tell where it is?" asked Sam.

"No," said Danny. "If I could, I would have known when Vlad took it."

There was a howl from downstairs as someone rang the doorbell. Danny jumped up. "I'll get it," he said. The group bundled down the stairs, trying to keep up with him.

Before opening the door, Danny glanced out the window.

"Oh, heck, it's them."

"Them who?" asked Jazz.

"Them. The detectives!"

.

"Alright," said Jones, looking at the place where Phantom's body should have been but wasn't. "This is officially too big for just one team. Paterson, Collins, what were you going to do today?"

"Interview high school kids," said Collins.

"Right. You're still going to do that. I'm going to get Murphy and Madison on the break-in, talking to witnesses, but first, your opinions."

"It wasn't Phantom," said Collins. "He could have just come in and taken it, at any time, not just the middle of the night."

"And he wouldn't have needed to take out the cameras and security system," said Paterson, looking over her shoulder at the tech people set up in one corner.

"It was a human. Or a ghost who didn't want us to know who they are," finished Collins.

"Great," said Jones. "That's what I thought, too. I was hoping you'd tell me I was wrong."

"Sorry, cap," said Collins.

"Go on, get out of here," said Jones, making a shooing motion.

.

"Still can't believe that his name is Wesley Weston," said Collins. "Or that he has a record for trespassing and stalking a classmate and claiming that he's a ghost."

"Want to bet that the classmate in question is Fenton?" asked Paterson.

"No thanks," said Collins. "It would have been better if the victim's name hadn't been withheld." He avoided the word 'wish.'

"Yeah, yeah," said Paterson. She knocked on the door.

A balding red haired man with thick glasses opened the door. "Oh," he said. "Please tell me this isn't about Wesley again. Do I need a lawyer?"

"He didn't do anything," said Collins, quickly. "We just want to ask him a few questions."

"It's unrelated to the stalking charges, which were dropped," added Paterson.

"Great," grumbled the man. He turned. "Wesley! The police want to talk to you!"

.

"Well," said Collins, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "That was enlightening."

"His room belongs on a movie set," said Paterson. "Jeez Louise, we're going to have to keep an eye on that kid. He has a freaking conspiracy theory board."

"It was pretty convincing, though. The kid can talk."

"We need to confirm his data, though."

"Yeah. Talk to more witnesses. See if Fenton really does run off whenever Phantom shows up."

.

"Fenton?" asked Paulina Sanchez, wrinkling her nose so prettily that Paterson suspected she practiced the expression in the mirror. "What about him? I thought we were talking about Phantom. Mi amor." She leaned a little farther into the doorway. She had not let the detectives inside. "Not Fenton."

"We're investigating a number of different angles, Miss," said Collins. "Now, if you could tell us, does he seem to leave class before ghost fights break out."

"Yeah," said Paulina. "He's got some kind of sixth sense thing going on, but he's such a coward. He only ever uses it to run away. Doesn't even try to warn anyone else! I don't know how his friends stand him."

.

"You're talking about Phantom?" asked Sophia LaMar. "You'll want my parents. I'm only an initiate. I'll go get them." She closed the door.

"Do we run away from the cult house?" asked Paterson.

"No, it'll make us look bad."

.

"You know," said Paterson, "if I'd wanted a lecture on how time doesn't exist, I'd drive over to the university and sit in on a class on relativity. Not whatever that was."

"At least now we know that ghosts can time travel?" asked Collins, weakly.

"Let's hurry up and get to Fenton's house," said Paterson. "Do you think he'll even talk to us?"

"Who knows?" asked Collins.

[my-brothers-corrupted]

Chapter Four - Part 5

Anti is angry Dapper won't come back to his room and warns of consequences. Red decides to get Dapper's medicine back on his own terms, with a little help from his brothers.

Tws for medication refusal, manipulation, slapping, choking, and abuse between brothers.

Part 5 - Haloperidol

Trick watches at the window, so Anti is silent when he comes downstairs.

He watches his boy. Trick’s head stays turned towards the window. One hand on his gun. One hand on Dok’s shoulder as his twin sleeps. Anti’s good guard dog. Always watching.

The others are asleep in the bed, Dapper pressed between the twins, warm with their arms wrapped around him. He is supposed to be sleeping. That’s why Trick is watching, after all - so Dapper can rest, and trust somebody else to guard for Dark for him.

But he isn’t asleep. Anti knows. Anti can tell.

He is a form without outline, his eye glowing red, a hateful and angry form that sends shuddering across the whole of Dapper’s chest. His silver eyes slide open, his mouth pressed tightly shut. He stares up at Anti. Anti stares back. Blue murmurs in his sleep and presses his chest against Dapper’s side, sighing.

Dapper doesn’t let go of him.

“Tomorrow,” signs Anti, silent, silent, even his usual buzzing gone dead. “You will come upstairs.”

“I won’t,” signs Dapper.

“Your medicine is upstairs. You’ll come get it.”

Something cold wraps itself around Dapper’s chest. His Haldol. He has to have it. He has to.

“If I don’t?” he dares to sign.

“You wanted free choice,” answer Anti’s bitter hands. “Choose.”

He glitches away like a TV flickering off. Trick shifts in place and turns his head, glancing around at his siblings. He sees nothing wrong. Dapper shakes against Blue’s body. Dok nightmares of blood and spiders. Red murmurs Max’s name in his sleep.

In Trick’s eyes, all is well.

Anonymous asked: Anti? Genuine question; why do you want him with you? Why not let him be down here with the others?

Anti slams his hands down on the bedside table, staring out the great window of the master bedroom, his eyes dark, alone.

“He,” he begins, and then stops again, shaking his head.

“He belongs to me,” he says finally. Bitterly, he turns his face away. “You think I’m not aware that this is following apart around me? There have to be consequences when he disobeys me. He belongs to me. He should be up here. I - I want him up here! I don’t like sleeping without him! I don’t like that I could wake up and something could go badly and Dapper wouldn’t be here to - to - to undo it! To protect…”

His voice glitches. He touches his face and turns away, growling.

Anonymous asked: You're Anti, for fuck's sake. Aren't you always going on about how powerful you are? What do you think is gonna happen?

“Things have happened before,” he snarls, biting at his teeth like a horse with a bit. “Things I won’t let happen again. If he had been closer to me the night they came to steal him back from me, a lot would be different.”

He grits his hands together, shaking his head. “Jackie and Marvin gave me this fucking fear,” he says, stepping back from the window as a bird descends onto the sill, regarding him with cold black eyes. “It’s never gone away since, no matter how much control I seem to get. It’s never enough. I always need more. Now I’m losing what I had. I have to have it back. And I want him asleep beside me. I need him asleep beside me.”

Anonymous asked: Ah, I see. You got spooked by Jackie and Marvin, and now you need to keep Jameson under your thumb at all times in case something happens again. Well done, Anti, truly impressive. Can you not let them stay together? It's not like any of them can hurt you, and from what you've said about Dark I doubt they would either.

“You all know they’re taking steps away from me. That’s why you want this. I won’t pretend it’s not a big deal. It is a big deal. He’s always slept with me, since he was days old. Anyway, I gave him his choice. He can have his medicine or he can stay with his siblings.”

He snags a laptop from the bed and tears a page from one of Dapper’s sketchbooks in half, scrawling over a drawing of a mouse in a trap.

Red - for you. I’ve reset you since the last time you helped me hack a server to pieces, but you’ll recognize the programming quick enough. Keep an eye out for foreign viruses and set up a firewall. Gigi will try to get into the camera system. The code for you to access it is 3110.

He leaves the computer and the note at the bottom of the stairs. With every step he seems to pace, his eyes sliding, flickering from screen to screen, watching what belongs to him.

Anonymous asked: That's hardly a fucking choice, is it, Anti? Have you even considered not forcing them? This drives them away faster, and after all this time I don't see why you haven't just done the calculations yet and realized that if you're kind to them, they'll want to fight against you much less than how you're handling it now.

Anti snarls with frustration, tugging at his hair. “That’s so stupid, fuck! That doesn’t keep people around! Doesn’t matter what you try to be! Not for me, anyway. I tried to be fucking kind to Dapper when he was first mine! He was all I wanted! He was all I’d wanted for a long time! But no matter what I did - ah!”

Anti screams and slams his foot into the bedside drawer, kicking straight through the wood like it’s cardboard.

“He still wanted to fucking leave! He still - ”

Anti lurches forward. He closes his eyes, looking suddenly pale and in pain, doubling over himself. He heaves once but doesn’t get sick.

“Need Blue back too,” he mumbles, nauseated. “Magic’s kicking up in me again. Still worth it, before you criticize me for that too. Still worth having him under my heel. Knowing he’ll never burn me down to ash and essence ever again.”

He shakes his head out, trying to regain his calm.

“Doesn’t matter what I’ve tried,” he growls, turning his head away. “I was made to be a monster and I’ve never been able to make anyone want to stay without tying them down. It doesn’t fucking bother me. Having control through blood is better anyway, so much better anyway, and I love when they cower and simper for my attention. Like Trick, haha. Even Dok used to whine for my attention like that. The rush of it! There’s nothing like that. I’ll break him down to wanting me like that again. I am still wild powerful. Wild powerful. And when Dark helps me make them stay, everything will be fine again.”

Anonymous asked: You're the one making it into a fight. The harder you push them, the more they'll push back. Give them some time together and they'll be glad for it, Anti. I honestly do not know why you think pushing them until they break will work again. Maybe when you could do it one on one, but now? They'll give you hell for it if you try with any one of them. Give them a bit of kindness instead and they'll be grateful, more complacent.

“I’m waiting for Dark’s help,” says Anti quietly. “But Dapper should be up here. That’s that. I won’t budge on it. He’s mine. He’s the only thing Jack ever meant to make that was mine.”

Anonymous asked: And how exactly will Dark help? Last I heard, they can't go in the fucking house.

“Some of you just aren’t listening,” answers Anti, irritated. “Leave me alone. I already told you and Dark that if they fail to take one of my puppets from me before the week is out, they owe me a favor. We’re just playing games. You all act like Dark’s an enemy. I thought you would like to see them!”

He seems to calm a little, turning back to the window as he sits down on the side of his bed, staring out. The darkness is a blanket over the forest, deep and warm and familiar.

“I’m glad to see them,” he murmurs. “We’re playing games again. They always played the best games. And then, at the end of them… mh.”

Something in his eyes softens like butter.

He seems to realize it a moment later, because he turns away.

“Leave me be,” he says. A flicker of his hand and the lights turn off. “I let them be for the night. Let me be.”

Anonymous asked: One last question; will they be harmed, if Dark takes them?

“What’s Dark going to do? They’ve done as I asked since we started to know each other better. They understand I keep puppets. They wouldn’t hurt them beyond repair. All Dark does is… twist things a little.”

Anti smiles. Cold and bitter in the darkness.

“Manipulation isn’t just a talent with them. It’s a magic. And when Dark is done with them, well - they’ll all know there’s much worse things to fear than me.”

It would make a dramatic end to the night if he could just ignore you and fall asleep. But despite his words, despite his determination, despite his anger, Anti is still alone.

You can see him lying awake in bed for long hours, staring at the wall and digging his fingers into the empty space on the mattress beside him.

bupine asked: what exactly is dark to you, anti? if i'm allowed to ask that?

Anti watches the sun come up and the shadows go. He scowls at the message, going slightly pink.

“Dark’s not anything to me. I just want their help with this, that’s all. Dark’s not anything to me. Most of the time.”

He plays with Dapper’s medicine bottle, rolling it between his hands.

“They were such a fucking joke at first. Fucking hated them. Sick creep growling at me all low. But they had a fascination with me, and I was… alone. So we started fighting. And then I kept coming back to fight with them again and again. Then we weren’t fighting. Just playing. We could beat each other down to essence and still be playing. I trusted them to tear me apart and leave me bleeding. There was something good about it. And then, sometimes, they would touch their hand to my body as they passed me. Touch their hand to my skin. Not afraid of my body.”

A glitch shivers through him. He puts his chin down on his knees.

“I like power,” he says. “I don’t like humans. I like things that can match me. I’m attracted to things that can match me… and things that are desperate to have me, cause otherwise, what’s the fun? So I’m not often attracted to anyone. But they… proved themselves.”

He shivers again, a smile curling on his mouth, though it lacks its usual smugness. He opens up his hand to let the light dance through it, setting Dapper’s Haldol back in the drawer.

“I like Dark. Dark thinks I’m fascinating. They always want me and I - I like that. Every year or so, I make time for them, and they purr and gloat over me. I let them think they own me for a couple days. It’s fun. They’re beautiful. Sometimes, they make me feel good. And less alone. We fight and snap at each other for fun. That’s all.”

He turns and shoots you a glare. “So don’t call them my lover, you little sixteenth-century dweebs. I rarely even call them a friend. Besides, Dark was important to me because they - they don’t live alone. And they don’t feel anything but hatred for their creator. And I think I wanted something more like what they had. Have. It looked so much easier. Though I am definitely not jealous of that stupid backstory. That’s one thing I don’t mind being neglected on. I’ll stick with just having popped into existence, thanks very much.”

He sighs, tucking his chin into his hand. Then he catches himself, scowling, shaking his head.

“You don’t need to know, though. You’re not Dap. I just don’t have anyone to talk to. Go away. Dark’s not anything to me.”

aether-mae asked: Have you met any of Darks masters other creations? You said he wasn’t alone, does he control those creations or live peacefully with them?

“Yeah, I’ve met a bunch of them, but most of them are mostly human, so I’m not really interested. Especially since Mark creates jokes just for his own entertainment. Jack’s power would run out of control because he would fixate too hard on one of us for months on end and create without control over the final product - Mark’s is out of control because he gets a thought into his head and five minutes later, boom, new baby.

“Dark controls them, but the others think they live peacefully. As if Dark couldn’t make them do anything they wanted them to do, ha.”

He works rapidly on his computer, his shoulders pulled tensely towards his body and his mouth smiling tightly. “Bet they try something today,” he growls, grinning and stressed at the same time. “Them or my Carver getting into trouble. Trying to take what’s not theirs. I wish he’d just come get his fucking medicine. Stubborn little brat. He gets that from me, goddamn.”

.

“He’s decided he’ll go without it,” says Henrik, pale in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest. “His medicine.”

“He’s determined this time,” mumbles Red, plucking at the keys of his computer. “Let me know when Anti gets pissed enough to come drag him upstairs and I’ll see what I can do.”

Henrik steps forward and shuts the laptop on Red’s legs, forcing him to look up at him, surprised.

“Red,” he implores, eyebrows creasing with worry. “He needs his medicine. Just because he’s not being tortured directly doesn’t mean this isn’t going to hurt him, badly. You want to see him psychotic again?”

“What do you want me to do?” protests Red.

“I don’t know! Something!”

Henrik paces around the door. Red shakes his head, trying to think. “Maybe I can convince Anti. Is that even worth trying?”

“I don’t know. This is just… this is all bad, Red. I’ve never seen him act like this. Have you?”

Red sighs. “Anti’s losing patience, Dok. He’s only going to get angrier. And his anger is the same as his violence. We just need to try and keep our heads down and ride this out.”

“No,” answers Dok firmly. “No. Not anymore. We have to do something.”

Red sighs again, even deeper, glancing out at the window. He can’t go to the store or the hospital while the monster’s in the woods.

“Going to go take Blue swimming,” mumbles Dok, his eyes shadowed and angry. “Just… I’ll think. Please, Red. You promised me back in Peru you’d always help me make sure he has his medicine. It’s torture for him without it. You know that.”

Anonymous asked: red, this is a genuine question, what do you think will happen if you go along with what anti says?

Red bites at his nails, thinking, his eyes flickering across the floor.

“My job has always been to minimize the damage,” he says quietly. “But even when I haven’t been able to do that, the worst things I’ve ever seen Anti do are steal Blue’s magic, chain Dok up by the throat, separate twins from each other, sometimes cut or beat us up. But I don’t remember before Norway.”

He steps out into the hall, looking around. He can hear Trick’s side of what must be a conversation with Dapper in the kitchen and Dok trying to get Blue out of bed - without much success. The thought makes his stomach twist.

“I’m scared to see Dapper psychotic again,” he says. “The last time he was…”

Red closes his eyes, putting a hand on his heart, as if that can keep it quiet against the memory of his little brother hanging off over the side of that cliff. He’s been having nightmares. He’s been having nightmares most all the time. He’s tired and he misses Max.

“Well, you were there,” he sighs. “And now I’m starting to get really scared for Blue. I’m scared that if I go along with Anti, even if I do everything I can to minimize… I might still… I might still…”

He steps towards the bedroom. Blue is barely even responding to Dok’s attempts to wake him. He lies stiff in his bed, pale and worn, hugging a pillow to his chest. Dok shakes him gently. Blue does not move.

“I might still lose a sibling. And I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”

He turns around again. You see his eyes, dark and alight at the same time.

“If I asked you to,” he says. “Do you think you could find a way to cause a distraction?”

Anonymous asked: maybe. a distraction for what? who would we be distracting? we'd have to know before agreeing.

“Who would you be distracting? Who do you think? I’m on camera here, I need you to make a couple assumptions. Actually… now that I think about it…”

Red wanders back to the living room, flipping the laptop Anti gave him open again. He rereads Anti’s note.

Gigi will try to get into the camera system. The code for you to access it is 3110.

Camera system, huh? Red glances up at you, eyes wary. A few minutes of typing later, he looks up again.

“Tell me if this does anything,” he mumbles, hitting enter.

Half your screens black out. Upstairs, Anti sits up, blinking.

“Red!” he shouts. “What the fuck are you doing!”

“Sorry!” calls back Red quickly. “Just trying to figure this out!”

Anonymous asked: half the screen went black. i doubt that's what you were trying to have happen?

You hear Red’s fingers clacking against the keyboard. Your screens blink back to life. There’s almost fifty of them across the whole of the house - enough that, to see all of them, you have to take the time to flick between different parts of the house.

“Turn the cameras off? Me? Becoming invisible in my own home? Of course that wasn’t what I was trying to have happen… why would I?”

He grins nervously at you, his eyes scanning for cameras.

nikkilbook asked: You beautiful clever boy

Red blinks in surprise, straightening up a little. After a moment, he blushes and shrugs, a smile blooming across crimson cheeks. “Aw, no, ha, no. Thank you, uh. Ha.”

Anonymous asked: now it's back. what are you gonna do next?

“I don’t know,” sighs Red. “Maybe this is dumb. Just causing more trouble.”

“Red!” calls Dok from the other room.

“What, my man?”

“Can you come help me with Blue? He threw up.”

Red gets onto his feet, hurrying towards his twin.

Can’t lose him. Can’t lose him. Can’t lose any of them.

No matter what it takes.

pine-storm-season asked: Blue, you okay?

“I do not feel good at all,” complains Blue thickly, draped half over the bed, held up by Dok’s hands. “I do not… ‘m going to throw up again.”

He lurches forward and is sick, relieved when Red appears and pushes a piece of tupperware beneath his chin, helping Dok hold him. Neither of them react to the vomit, and he’s grateful. This is so fucking humiliating already. Tears drip down his face as he vomits and coughs, hugging his churning, aching stomach.

“It’s okay, Zul, it’s okay,” whispers Red, brushing at his hair and his back. Dok monitors his heartrate carefully, his fingers warm against Blue’s neck. “It’s not your fault, buddy, it’s okay. Here I am.”

“I feel bad all the time,” cries Blue, rocking over the bed. “Why is it getting worse? Why won’t it stop?”

“I think he should see a working doctor,” whispers Dok. “He’s right, he’s getting worse.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Red whispers back, holding Blue’s sweaty head against his chest. “It’s okay, Blue, it’s alright.”

pine-storm-season asked: Has it been getting worse for a while, Blue?

“I was better for a while,” he moans. “But then he started wearing me every night and I - I think I’m losing my mind, I…”

He’s not getting sick anymore, but he’s only crying harder, breaking down despite himself. Everything stinks of sick. He’s disgusting and ugly and weak and useless. He hides against Red’s stomach and cries, listening to his brothers’ reassurances and promises to get him all cleaned up. He can feel Red’s fear and frustration in his own chest and he grips weakly at his twin’s hand, sorry for causing him so much grief.

nikkilbook asked: Okay, this might be an absolutely rubbish idea that could backfire in over a thousand ways, but... I think I might know where you could find a doctor off the grid who has access to everything he’d need.

“I have an off-the-grid doctor with everything we need,” grumbles Red.

“Red.” Dok rolls his eyes. “I’m a heart specialist with next to no resources. I want to take him to a hospital.”

“Man, I love you, but that’s a joke. Trick told me you once got shot and Anti didn’t take you to a hospital.”

Dok flushes, touching the scar in his stomach. “I was fine,” he answers crabbily. “Trick kept me alive. And we knew what the problem was and how to fix it. It wasn’t some weird progressive magic shit I have no idea how to handle.”

“Loving the optimism,” croaks Blue, wiping his mouth on a tissue.

“Red, what if he gets worse?” hisses Dok, trying to lower his voice. “What if his heart gives out or he stops breathing right or he really does start to lose his mind, what then?”

The fear in Red’s eyes is enough to make Dok almost regret saying it. Worse, his older brother has no answer. Red just shakes his head and strokes Blue’s short hair, staring down at him.

“Won’t let that happen,” he mumbles after a long moment.

“There’s nothing we can do to stop it if we’re just complacent,” answers Dok weakly, falling back. “Red, we can’t survive like this. We’re helpless.”

Helpless. Helpless. Red hatesthat. He clings to Blue’s fingers, shaking his head. He’ll find something to do. He’s not helpless. He’ll prove it.

Anonymous asked: Red I have an idea. You're going to hate it, and I don't know if it's a stupid or wrong thing to do, and it may just be trading one demons word for another... but it may get Anti out of the house long enough for someone to run upstairs for the medication.

Red looks up, reading the message carefully.

“I’ll go get stuff to clean this up,” he tells his siblings, stepping out of the room.

“I’m listening,” he tells you. “I was also thinking… well.”

He steps out of the house for a moment and pretends to take in the sights of the forest. Admittedly, it’s beautiful out here - the trees are tall and green and swaying and he can see a shining river cutting through the earth not far away, just past their property and winding deep into the woods. But there’s something else he’s showing you, too - the stones of the outside of the house, the rain gutter, and the great window of the master bedroom, above him.

But not too far above him.

He slips discreetly back into the house. You can hear Dapper whistling in the kitchen, trying to keep his spirits up as he helps Trick make muffins.

pine-storm-season asked: We'll see what we can do, okay, Blue? We'll do our best to make stuff better for you. You're gonna be okay, even though I know it really sucks right now.

“Thanks,” he tells you thickly, blowing his nose and accepting a glass of water from Dok. “Sorry I’m so lame lately.”

“We will look after you,” Dok insists. “We’ll do what it takes, okay?”

Blue looks up at his little brother gratefully, touching Dok’s beard. “My poor tired brother. Probably hurting just as much as I am, aren’t you, darling?”

“Only for moments at a time,” answers Dok, shaking his head. “I don’t spend every hour ill like you do.”

“Either way,” says Blue. “We gotta have each other’s backs.”

“And I do,” says Dok. “I have your back. I love you, Blue.”

“I love you too, Deutsch. It’s not your fault you can’t help right now.”

Dok looks away guiltily, shaking his head.

nikkilbook asked: If you decide to go for it, wait for this Gigi person to try and access the cameras. When they do, ask if you can talk to Dr. Edward Iplier.

“Hold on, hold on,” protests Red. “That’s a step past sneaking around the house. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we got a couple trust issues in this family. Far as I’m concerned, Gigi’s with Dark, and they’re not on our side. I gotta be cautious. I’m trying to get my siblings out of the frying pan without stepping right into the fire.”

Anonymous asked: Okay, I'll rip off the band-aid: run off into the woods with your laptop and screw with the cameras as much as possible before shutting them all off. That should send anti off to find you so he doesn't lose his bet. If you can, double back to the window, or have one of the others get the meds if you don't make it back. I know dark is a huge huge risk, but we're running out of options and time. Remember that this is entirely your choice though, Red.

Red’s eyes widen in alarm. He steps back from the door, staring.

“Just… run into the woods. Where that thing is.”

Their rotting face and cold smile. The great pillar of darkness like a plague sent by angels. The fear they made him feel.

He can’t do that. He can’t. Can he?

“R… right now I just… just need to get Dapper his medicine,” he says, backing away from the door once again. Red has no desire to encounter Dark ever again. His desire to keep his brothers away from Dark is still stronger than his desire to keep them away from Anti.

Anonymous asked: Jackie we don’t know how much longer you can play this safe, Marvin’s on borrowed time right now- anything is better than nothing. But ultimately it’s your decision and whatever you think is best we’ll help you as much as we can.

“I’ll think about it, I’ll think about it,” mumbles Red, picking at his lip. “I, uh. Did set up a pretty fucking clever security system this morning, if I do say so myself. Anti has his own security and then I add a more human flair to it… keep ‘em guessing. But I could maybe shut that down if I needed to. Er - sorry. Let’s not talk about this on camera. Just… if you could distract… a certain someone. The others would help you, I bet. I don’t know. I need to get…”

He glances up at the big master bedroom window again before he moves off to get the cleaning supplies he promised Blue.

Anonymous asked: you don't have to do it, red. and you definitely don't have to do it now. we'll see how stuff goes, okay? it makes sense to not run the risk of coming face to face with them again. i agree, they're kinda terrifying.

“It’s not… a bad idea. It would distract Anti. I won’t forget.”

nikkilbook asked: I honestly don’t know who the fire is in this scenario, bud. I’ve seen a thousand different versions of Dark, and I don’t know which one this is. I know Dap’s scared of him, but I don’t know anything beyond that. I do feel confident saying, though, that there are good people who live under Dark’s protection. A little wacky at times, but good.

“Yeah,” sighs Red. “Well… my family’s a little wacky too. A little fucked up sometimes. But still good.”

Anonymous asked: Yeah but stepping into that fire might make a lot of noise that could help you get them away from Big Brother, alright? I’m not entirely aware how the relations are between those on the other side of the camera but this might be your only chance at getting your voice heard. You might even be able to reach Jack.

“J - he doesn’t even remember who we are,” says Red. “I don’t know if he would help us if we could contact him. Dapper says they were friends. But Anti? Well, he’s told me some pretty messed up stories. And he has good points. Why do we deal with so much shit if someone created us? If he was nice, he would have been nicer to us. Anti says the scar in Chase’s head is from the first day of his life. That’s messed up. But we probably shouldn’t get into it now. We seriously need to shut up. Gah, I’m such a blabbermouth. I know I’m on camera and I still go off. Geez. Let me help get Blue cleaned up and then… if you can help me get where we need to go… yeah.”

He passes Dapper and Trick, smiling at the sight of them arguing over how long the muffins should be in the oven for. Everyone’s okay, for now. But in a couple days?

He really will be helpless. The thought makes his stomach burn.

Anonymous asked: Hey Trick, where's Noodle right now out of curiosity?

“Aw, he stays in the pool room most of the time, I got a little sandbox and everything set up for him. Don’t want him running upstairs while I’m not looking. I’ve seen Anti kick stray cats. He gets scared.”

Trick goes to the door that leads downstairs, where you have a single camera with a view on the pool table and a little TV set up with a couch. Noodle is asleep on the cushions. Trick imitates a meow and his cat perks up instantly, trotting to the stairs to mewl back at him. Noodle runs up to him and Trick pulls him into his arms, hugging his kitten tight and burying his face in his fur as Noodle purrs.

pine-storm-season asked: Yeah, you're both doing really well right now. It's a fucked-up situation, and it sucks, but I think you both are handling it really well. Hopefully stuff gets better very soon.

“Yeah, we’re doing our best, aren’t we?” murmurs Red as he comes back into the room, spreading some of Noodle’s litter on the throw up to dry it out so he can clean it up later. He strips the sheets off the bed and gives Blue a washcloth to clean his face and nose.

“Why don’t I move you to the couch so you can lie down somewhere without a mess instead of just hanging out on the mattress?”

“No, please,” begs Blue, snuggled against his pillow again. “I can’t get up, Red. I’m so tired. Just let me sleep here.”

Red sighs and pushes at his twin’s hair. “Okay, buddy. I’ll crack a window. It’s going to be okay.”

Anonymous asked: Do you think using Blue as a distraction would be enough to get Anti out of his room? I think he might expect you to be by his side though, Red, so maybe Dapper or Trick could climb up?

“Use Blue? Hm. I’d have to tell him what’s going on and see if he’s okay with it, but I could. I think he’d do whatever Dapper needs. What would he do to distract him?”

bupine asked: red, do you think if we bothered anti with the information we know about his past, that could work as a distraction? i want your permission before we do so, because it could backfire and have disastrous consequences. but it also could work to make him yell at us while you did something, i'm not sure. what do you think?

“Yes, that would be okay, as long as you can get him out of his room,” says Red. “I don’t care if he gets mad - he will be mad, really mad, when he finds the you-know-what missing. I’ll tell him I took it then, so he doesn’t punish Dapper.”

Anonymous asked: I think Blue being in the state that he is, just being this sick and getting worse should at least be enough to get Anti's attention. I don't think anti will agree to taking him to a hospital per se, but if he comes down long enough to at least entertain the argument from you and Dok it may be enough time to send trick or dap upstairs and back. And hell, at least putting the idea that blue is immensely I'll in his head has to be good for something, right?

“Yeah, maybe I should go ask him to look Blue over, ask if we can go to the hospital,” murmurs Red, chewing on the nail of his thumb. “Okay… okay.”

He steps cautiously towards the stairs and climbs up one at a time on quiet feet, neglecting his usual enthusiastic stomping around the house. He pauses at the top of the stairs, peering into Anti’s room. His brother is on the couch playing with his laptops, wearing a green-haired form in a band t-shirt.

bupine asked: hey there, anti. how are you? still sick from all the magic stealing?

“Shut up,” growls Anti, who has, in fact, been almost as sick as Blue this morning. He needs a body of his own and never gets one. He kicks his blankets off of himself irritably, shifting into a sulking dog on the bed as he watches old videos of Dapper.

“Hey, Anti,” comes a soft voice.

Anti looks up, irritated to be disturbed by anyone other than his little brother.

“I want to take Blue to the hospital,” says Red, trying to stand his ground sturdily. “Dok says he’s not doing well.”

The dog rolls its eyes, shaking its head. “Don’t be stupid, Red.”

“He’s really looking bad, Anti,” says Ro, squirming in place. “I’m scared.”

“Oh, you’re scared? Stupid fucking…” Anti gets up, turning back into a human and slamming his laptop shut, pacing out to stand at the banister above the stairs, glaring.

Anonymous asked: anti, blue really is getting worse. if it's not possible to take him to a hospital, could you at least see if there's another way to get him medicine or something that he would need? he's really not okay.

“Well, what does Dok say?”

“I don’t know, he’s downstairs with him!”

Anti rolls his eyes hard and grabs Red by the shirt, dragging him downstairs. Anti appears in the doorway of the bedroom and Dok jolts away from Blue, the hair on his arms standing up. He wraps his arms around his belly and backs away for a moment, only to come hurrying back to stand in front of Blue, trembling.

“What’s going on?” asks Trick, passing by with a soda in hand.

“Go get Blue some Sprite for his nausea,” says Anti, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s just got a bad stomach.”

“Sprite won’t help,” spits Dok - or tries to spit, his voice coming out frail.

“Shut the fuck up, Dok. No, actually, tell me what the hell’s got you little idiots so concerned.”

Red backs carefully away, heading towards his laptop and flipping it open in the living room.

pine-storm-season asked: Dok, could you say what's going wrong with Blue? And if you have ideas how to fix it, could you say those too?

“This weakness and constant sickness is absolutely relentless on him. He can’t take all this - ”

“It’s like a chronic illness, Dok. I’m not saying it’s fun, but he has to learn to handle it.”

“If it’s a chronic illness, there’s no reason he should be suffering through it without a proper examination and medicine, and the fact that it’s chronic does not mean it couldn’t be… couldn’t be… deadly.”

Blue shivers on the bed. He just wants to hide from all this. He doesn’t want Anti to touch him. He wraps his blankets over his head and tries to go back to sleep.

“You don’t even know what’s wrong, do you?” sneers Anti, taking a step towards Dok. “Some doctor.”

“I read books while I was with the magicians - ”

“Oh, come on!”

“He won’t get better, Anti! He won’t! He needs help. He struggles in the world. You’re the one who did this to him. He needs his lungs and his digestion and his heart all looked at, I’m scared what might happen!”

“You’re always scared.”

Anonymous asked: (remember, red; when you look for what you need, do you need what holds it? or just the thing itself? if you can leave its container where it is, someone else might see it and assume all is well)

“We’ll have to look at it when we get up there. I think it’s one of those clear bottles, the orange ones.”

He messes with the keyboard and for a second, your screens go black again. He’s turned off three of them - the two in the master bedroom and the one that watches the back side of the house.

“Hold on, I might be able to…”

Your vision returns across the screens, but the three he turned off now have a small symbol in the corner - an eye with a slash through it.

“You should be able to see it,” he mumbles. “But I don’t think he will. Maybe.”

He’s never had time to test it. He does know that if Anti notices the screens are off, he’ll be able to turn them back on immediately, no matter if he has his laptops with him or not. Red can spend time in the camera system, but Anti lives there.

“I’ll hurry,” he whispers, and races out the back door, flipping up his blue hood over his eyes. The river in the woods whispers at him and you see a flash of movement in the trees.

Anonymous asked: Anti if something goes wrong medically due to a chronic condition, I highly doubt Dap will be able to go back far enough to prevent it from being deadly if that's what it ends up becoming. Ignoring symptoms won't improve them.

This makes Anti pause, shuffling on his feet. He’s not used to their injuries being something Dapper can’t fix. Hell, Dapper tells him he’s killed them before just for the hell of it, and he believes it of himself. It makes him laugh.

But permanently losing one of them… well, he wouldn’t want it to happen accidentally. He steps over to the bed, smirking as Dok cowers away from him like an under-sized dog, though he refuses to step away from Blue’s body. Anti sits down on the side of the bed and draws the covers back. Blue doesn’t bother to open his eyes. Anti rakes fingers through his hair, gripping his chin and turning his head back and forth.

“Feel his heart,” mutters Dok.

Anti pushes at Blue’s throat and finds his pulse, weak and erratic. He frowns.

“He was fine in Singapore,” he says. “Just a little weak.”

“He is getting worse,” growls Dok.

“He shouldn’t be,” answers Anti, raising an eyebrow. “Sure you’re not mercy-killing him or something, Dok?”

“Don’t even joke,” hisses his older brother.

“No, I wouldn’t put it past you,” sneers Anti. “Little sadist. You know, they say most serial killers are medical staff.”

Trick comes back with Blue’s Sprite and Anti turns his head to him, cutting himself off before saying anything else.

Anonymous asked: Anti, possessing Blue only helps you feel better because it's his magic you stole. If he dies, sure, you can possess anyone else, but you won't have Blue! The magic's just gonna get worse and worse! Even for purely selfish reasons, you need to invest in Blue's continued survival, and that means q more holistic medical approach than Dok can provide.

“Well, look, as I’ve told you, I don’t have any way to give the magic back, so don’t stop harping on me about that again,” says Anti. “I, uh - I don’t regret it, but I will admit it was poorly-researched.”

“Ohhh,” says Dok, in a tone like he’s about to say more, but Anti shoots him a look and he falls silent, glaring at the floor.

“But here’s what you’re all forgetting - if this is because of the magic withdrawal, there’s nothing a doctor can do.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” protests Dok. “You said he improved at the hospital in Singapore! If nothing else they could give us more time to figure out how to fix this. And why discard it when we haven’t even tried?”

Anti turns away, thinking.

On the other side of the house, Red leaps up and positions himself between the gutter and the stone of the house. He finds his foothold, adjusts his grip, and begins to climb up towards the master bedroom, his feet finding places in crevices and cracks when they have to, moving like he’s climbing mountains.

pine-storm-season asked: He's scared for a reason, Anti. There's a not-that-low chance that it could kill Blue, he's just getting worse. Anti, he needs help or he might die. and even if you in particular don't care that much about it, the others do. a lot. Blue needs help and you're in charge of getting him some.

Anti sits for a moment, looking at Blue, petting his hair.

“He is so ugly these days, isn’t he?” he murmurs, tilting his head at him. “I tore that dignified pretty boy with all that lovely hair down to scraps and pieces.”

Blue does not move. You’re not sure if he’s awake or not. Dok glances over at Trick, who’s busying himself with adjusting the blinds to let Blue sleep. His brother sees him looking and smiles at him.

“But he is still… hmm.” Anti draws his hand away from Blue’s hair, looking down at him.

Here is someone who has destroyed and hurt him in the past. Seeing him brought low, seeing him cower at his feet, killing Marvin - that was one of the greatest satisfaction’s of Anti’s life. And he’s enjoyed torturing him since. But he belongs to him and he isn’t allowed to slip away or escape, not even by dying. He’s a piece of the puzzle.

“Well, we’re stuck in the forest for a while yet, though I’m sure I could sneak one of you past Dark if I really had to,” says Anti, checking a watch that he makes appear on his wrist. “Four more days of the game, or until he catches one of you. I don’t much mind either way.”

“Anti, please - ”

“He can hold on four more days,” growls Anti, warning Dok into silence. “Don’t fuss so much. He’s just tired. Let him rest. And then - oh, yes, perfect! Ippy can look at him. He’s as nuts as you are, my darling, but at least he has a real clinic set-up, last I checked. He can get a real check-up then.”

Dok opens his mouth to protest, uncertain, but four days is a better promise than nothing.

Upstairs, Red opens the window to the master bedroom and slips inside the room, searching for Dapper’s Haldol.

“Where is it, where is it…”

pine-storm-season asked: So four days or less, and then Blue gets help? Now, I apologize if I'm mistaken, but I don't exactly trust you to keep to that, Anti.

“I don’t exactly give a fuck about any of your opinions,” answers Anti cheerfully.

“Anti,” laughs Trick, appearing behind him and draping himself over his shoulders. “Be nice to the cameras.”

“You two really are twins.” Anti leans back to kiss his cheek, pulling his head close to his own. “What are you up to? Huh?”

“Haha, just cooking most of the time. And playing pool.”

“Mh, yeah. You like playing around, huh? My Trickshot.”

Trickshot laughs as he’s pampered, pressed close to Anti’s body.

pine-storm-season asked: Trick, do you want Anti to stay here a bit? He's usually upstairs, isn't he?

“Hey, yeah, come shoot pool with me!”

“I’m not going to shoot fucking pool, haha. I don’t play pool, Trick.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, that’s dumb.”

“Are you embarrassed you can’t play?”

Anti turns around and flips him over his side, laying him out on the ground. Trick shrieks and then bites down on his lip, laughing.

“We’re going to wake Blue up!”

“Get your ass out of here,” scolds Anti, getting up and pulling Trick after him, shoving him towards the door.

“You are always upstairs, though, you never hang out with me.”

“You can come upstairs,” says Anti fondly. “I’ll let you play games on the computer or something.”

“Okay!”

Anonymous asked: Cam you at least look into stealing some medical equipment or Something in the meantime, Anti? Thank you giving the chance for an actual checkup in four days, because I think that'll help a lot, but is there nothing you can do before then? Like, even a heart monitor so it's easier to keep track of how Blue's doing, or an oxygen machine, or any of the setup he might get in a hospital? I don't know if you have to stay here to try to keep Dark from winning the game or something

“I’ve been through the shit in the medicine cabinet,” says Anti, turning to look back at Dok. “I’ll unlock for you as long as you don’t get into the fucking sleeping pills like you used to. There’s at least some basic stuff in there for the nausea and headaches, and I think a blood sugar kit and that sort of thing.”

“Okay,” says Dok quietly.

“He’ll be fine, Dok.”

Dok looks up. For a second, it almost sounded like Anti was trying to comfort him.

Anonymous asked: agsjdjdksf trick you're a delight. do you just play pool by yourself? i thought it was usually a multiplayer game. ill be honest i love the idea of seeing anti with a pool cue tryna put some balls into holes. seems a very analog form of entertainment for him hahaha

“Haha, you should play with me, you would like it!”

“No.”

“I’ve been playing with Dap and sometimes Red and Dok. Not going to lie, Dap’s pretty good - but there’s a reason they call me Trickshot, baby.” He winks at you and then laughs.

bupine asked: why are you watching old videos of dapper, anti? don't you have more important things to be doing, like making sure your brothers don't die? like blue, the one you hurt? he's really fucking sick, anti. he's going to die if you don't do anything.

Anti turns on you, his face dark. “None of your business,” he spits, pulling Trick closer to him. “Nosy little bastards. I wouldn’t have a camera in my room if Dap didn’t stay in there, I’ll have you know. Need to start turning the damn things off. Prying eyes.”

Upstairs, Red pauses, looking at the images on Anti’s screen. There’s a young man in a black and white suit pressed against the back of what might be a big dog kennel, trying to keep away from the fingers that are petting at him. He has teal hair and blood on his fingers. Red’s heart aches for a second. His baby brother. It’s like he’s never had a day of relief in his life.

Anonymous asked: Dok, I know we're probably not gonna do much better than 4 days and he just called you a serial killer but Red needs a little time, can you do something to keep Anti down a few moments longer? For dap and Reds sake?

Dok blinks, alarmed. “What’s…?”

He peers out the hallway after his brothers, worried now. Blue mumbles something as Dok gets up and moves after them, trying to think, and almost immediately bumps into Dap.

“Dok? What’s wrong? Look worried.”

“It’s - I don’t know, the cameras said to distract him or something? I don’t know if something’s going on.”

“Oh. Distract Anti? Easy.”

Dapper pulls a knife out of his pocket and slams Dok into the wall with a bang, pressing the blade to his throat. Dok yells in alarm, terrified, and Anti and Trick turn around on the stairs.

“Dapper!” screams Trick, gripping at his chest.

“Carver, stop,” snarls Anti, stalking towards him.

“It’s not Dok! It’s not Dok! It’s not Dok!” screams Dapper’s free hand, his eyes gone wild, and Dok bites down on his lip to hold back an incredulous laugh.

Anonymous asked: Red, we're doing our best to start. If it's not upstairs, it may be on Anti's person in which case we may need a whole new plan but look a little longer, okay? Whether or not we get to the bottom of this, it's not for nothing.

Red scurries around the room, tearing open drawers and searching through the bedsheets, but he doesn’t see it for long minutes. He checks the bathroom - “whew, flower smell! a lot of flower smell!” - and then returns to the main room, leaning down to search beneath the -

“Yes!” he cheers, snagging the pill bottle from under the bed.

pine-storm-season asked: Red, be quick. I think Anti's coming back now. Only take a bit and put it back, too.

“Thank you, a-thank you very much,” says Red in a slightly Irish Elvis impression, quickly pouring some of the pills into his hand, enough to last Dap the week. It doesn’t leave much in the bottom of the bottle, unfortunately, but it’s the best he can do right now. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

He shoves the medicine into his pocket and leaps out the window, beginning to slide down the side of the house.

Anonymous asked: Dok: What do you have? Dap: A KNIFE! Anti: NO!

“Oh, VERY FUNNY,” shouts Anti, putting his hands on his little brother’s shoulders and yanking him away from Dok.

“It is a little funny actually,” says Trick weakly.

“Trick!”

“Sorry.”

Anonymous asked: whoa, dap, hey, it's okay!! it's alright. i know stuff's scary right now but it's okay. you don't have to hurt anyone, right? you're not in danger right now

“What’s wrong with you?” snaps Anti, striking the knife out of Dapper’s hands and pushing his wriggling brother into the wall. “Hey, you cut that out! Stop it, now! I know you’re not having an episode yet! You’ve been off your meds for about twenty minutes!”

“Medication can only do so much,” pants Dok, relieved to see Trick hurrying to his side. His twin wraps him into a tight hug and they stand side-by-side, holding onto each other. “He sometimes has symptoms even when he’s medicated. Especially if he’s been under duress.”

“This is why you should be upstairs with me,” hisses Anti. “You’re out of control.”

“It’s Dark, it’s Dark, making themselves look like my brother!” screams Dapper. “Dark, they’re in my house!”

“Dapper, stop!”

Right behind them, Red drops to the pavement of the patio and slides quickly into the door, pushing his hood off again and trying to stop panting.

Anonymous asked: Uhh Dok you know more about Dap's psychosis and delusions than we do but would it help if you just kinda,,, left the room for a second? So Dap can calm down and not think Dark's in the house? Maybe you can go find Red, last we saw he was having kind of a rough time in the other room, he was worried about Blue. And then when you come back maybe Dap'll have an easier time, especially if Red's with you and trusting you?

“I’m not leaving him alone with Anti if I don’t have to,” says Dok.

“Hey,” says Trick quietly.

“No, don’t try to talk me out of - ”

“Dok, I’ll stay here with him. Go check on Red, okay?”

With Anti there, Dok can’t explain to his twin that Dapper’s pretending. And with the way Trick’s been, Dok can’t explain to him that even if he’s here, Anti could hurt Dapper. He doesn’t think Trick would even recognize that if it happened. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know who Trick is these days.

“Hey,” says Trick, and his voice is the same as when he found the dark bruises on Dok’s wrist. “Hey, trust me.”

Dok is trying. Dok is trying.

“Okay,” he murmurs. “Okay.”

He lets go of Trick and slinks away, finding Red in the living room. The two of them stay close at hand, listening for trouble, Red’s hand resting gratefully between Dok’s shoulder blades.

Dapper takes Dok leaving the room as his cue to draw the performance to a close. He lets his breathing slow and the snarl fade from his teeth, though his body still shakes and his eyes stare dead ahead, angry and cold.

“You’re losing it,” growls Anti. “Get a hold on yourself. This is pathetic.”

“You’re the one who brought me back to that monster,” snarls Dapper. “And you were the one who made them scare me so badly I had the first psychotic episode of my life. Dark was the stress that broke my diathesis and you brought me back to them like it means nothing to you. You brought me back to them when I might not be schizophrenic if I never met them. You - ”

Anti slaps Dapper so hard his head crashes against the wall of the house. Trick screams in alarm, rushing forward without even knowing what to do, putting a hand on both Dapper and Anti.

Dapper lets out a dry croak, tears welling in his eyes. All his training, imprinted into him from years of conditioning, seems to rush back to him in an instant. He cowers against the wall, shaking for real now, tears running down his face.

“You’re a fucking brat,” hisses Anti.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” cries Dapper.

“Anti!” shrieks Trick. “Stop it, leave him alone!”

pine-storm-season asked: Anti, he can't control it. Leave him be, okay? He's trying. He's just human.

Anti can feel Trick’s heart pounding in the space where his hand lies on his arm, holding him back from Dapper.

“Whatever,” spits Anti, stepping back. “Whatever.”

Dapper hides his face. Trick pants, staring at Anti, his free hand moving to linger over his heart, the fingers curling uncertainly.

Anti moves back towards the stairs, scowling. His palm stings from slapping Dapper. In the hallway, he sees Red staring back at him. His oldest’s eyes are cold and glittering. Anti bites his teeth, growling.

“Whatever,” he repeats in a mumble, turning away.

bupine asked: anti, this isn't dapper's fault. he's scared and seeing things, ok? he's not in his right mind and if what he just said is true, which i obviously believe it is, you did bring him back to the most triggering person you possibly could have brought him to. can you blame him? it would be like if you were brought back to your old master, put at his mercy. wouldn't that be scary, anti? can you understand now why dapper is afraid?

Anti pads up the stairs, gripping the banister. As soon as he’s on the second floor, he hears Red and Dok and Dap and Trick all rushing towards each other and murmuring together. Holding each other’s hands and kneeling down to be close.

“Jack was the one who made him schizophrenic,” says Anti. “Jack was. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t Dark’s fault. I love… I love… it wasn’t our fault. It was Jack. It was Jack!”

He strikes his door as he passes it and angry cherry blossom branches snarl across the wood, tearing holes in the door that guards his room.

He sinks down beside his bed, pulling a computer onto his lap. He fast-forwards through the video without having to touch it, his eyes flickering as it settles on a few days forward. Dapper, five days old, crawls carefully out of the little cage and takes an orange slice from Anti’s hand. Anti touches his hair. Dapper smiles nervously and puts the orange in his mouth.

Anti slumps down against the bed, holding his head in his hands.

“It’s Jack’s fault,” he mumbles.

Anonymous asked: (hey red, don't forget to undo what you did in the first place that made this whole thing feasible)

“Right, right, thank you.”

Red races to his computer, letting Dok and Trick look after Dapper, and quickly turns all the screens back on. The crossed-out eye disappears. Anti can see everything again.

And then Red disappears too, slinking away, out of the view of the cameras, and when he comes back, he has only one pill in his hand, and the rest are gone somewhere you cannot see.

Anonymous asked: Hey, Dap, Anti's gone now. He went back upstairs. Take as much time as you need because that was scary and awful as fuck, but he's away for a bit. He's not going to hit you again. It's okay.

“He always gets his hands on me again.” Dapper wraps his arms around himself and rocks against the wall, crying hard, though he can barely even tell why. His pain tolerance is high and the slap didn’t hurt, but it scared him. “He always hits me again.”

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Dok is whispering, prodding gently at his face. “This will bruise, but that’s all, that’s all.”

Trick stands numbly besides them, his hand resting on Dapper’s shoulder. He doesn’t feel very well.

bupine asked: this isn't all jack's fault, anti. you and all of us know that. you are aware that jack could have actually loved you, right? just because you were a mistake as a creation doesn't mean you weren't wanted. i believe you're just scared to admit that all of this could have been prevented. that you could have been happy.

“Don’t!” screams Anti. “Say that to me! No, no! No, that’s not true!”

It’s like a storm’s been unleashed across his computers, and for once, Blue’s power does not rise in him at all. Just his own. Just Anti. Every screen is flickering and glitching and every one of the computers in his room shows a different image - Jack laughing at the fake blood on his neck, Jack hugging a younger man with the same soft, downy brown hair as he has to his chest, Jack in a cat mask, Jack and Chase.

The truth is that, because of what Dapper did, many of the images no longer exist and never did in this timeline, but Anti doesn’t know that. He is digital in his nature, down to his core, and his memories transfer into images whether they exist on the internet or not. Maybe that’s why, after a moment, every smiling image seems to turn cold and angry, every version of Jack’s mouth turns down, every glimpse of his blue eyes glares.

“He was a coward! He didn’t want me! He threw me away!”

Anti throws his laptop across the room, shattering it in half, and he tears at his hair, screaming. The antlers are growing out of his skull again, breaking through the bone, and he howls as he tries to snap them off, though today he seems unable to manage it. His eyes are black and blood pours from his throat so fast you hear him begin to hyperventilate, his whole neck splitting open. His head might fall right off his shoulders.

“He made them all just to hurt me, just to protect himself! When he was all I knew! When he was everything I had! Traitor, traitor! He sent them after me and then he watched! He watched as they beat me into essence! He watched and I was screaming for him!”

The lights in the house burst and across your cameras you hear everyone but Blue gasp in surprise as the power goes out. Anti himself yelps, jolting against the bed, and goes quiet as a faint plume of smoke drifts from one of his laptops, curling towards the window.

Anti sits at the foot of his bed, holding himself, staring dead ahead.

“He didn’t… do anything,” he says after a long moment. “Just… just held Dapper. Cause I guess… he was someone worth saving, but not me.”

Anti picks at his lip, his eyes fixed on the wall.

A pause, and then the bitterness comes back to him, like it always does.

“Well, he’s mine now,” he whispers, turning away from you, his eyes dark. “He’s mine now and Jack will never get him back again. He’s mine.”

He tries to sound intimidating, but he is a twenty-three year old with barely any beard and short brown hair, his eyes huge on a pale face, his accent embarrassed and uncertain, alone in a cabin in the woods.

Anonymous asked: Dap, are you calming down? You're okay, buddy.

“Here, come on, we’ll go hide,” whispers Red, returning to his brothers. “Let’s go downstairs with the cat and we’ll hide out, okay? We’ll be real quiet while brother is mad, it’s okay. Dok, take them downstairs, yeah?”

“Yes,” agrees Dok anxiously, shaking from the power outage, pulling his little brothers to their feet. “Yes, come on.”

Neither Dapper nor Trick protests, looking numb and shell-shocked. Red lets them go, glancing around the house. He doesn’t know how long they might have to hide for. If Anti finds out about what he did, things will only get worse. He grabs his laptop and some nuts and bread and fruit and sets them on the stairs that lead to the basement before going back for the most important cargo of all - Blue.

“Here, buddy, I got you,” he murmurs, scooping Blue, blankets and all, into his arms. His twin does not stir. Red quiets the fear in himself and carries Blue gently downstairs, where a small guest bedroom will hold him instead.

“Are we okay?” he murmurs, coming back to his younger brothers, huddled together on the couch in front of the TV.

Dok nods uncertainly, gripping the both of them. Red kneels in front of Dapper and presents him with the pill. “Ta-da!” he says gently, patting his knee.

Dapper lights up immediately, the anxiety washing off him. He clicks his tongue joyfully and throws himself at Red, wrapping a hug around him and making Red laugh, holding his back in return.

“I got you, little man,” he says, patting his ribs. “I always got you.”

Dapper puts the pill in his mouth and swallows, feeling better already. “That was worth it if it gets me my medicine.”

But Trick, on the other side of the couch, doesn’t seem to agree. He’s sitting still and stiff, crying quietly, hugging Noodle to his face.

tristarlolly asked: I can't help but be reminded of the first ask I ever sent through the cameras, Anti. I complemented you on your "dollhouse" and asked about Jack because I knew you were the only one who could answer anything about him. You told me you were happy with what you have and you didn't need him. I don't think that was true then, and I don't think it's true now. You don't know what happiness is and your pursuit of it has only led you in violent circles.

“Oh, fuck,” says Anti, very tired. “I hate circles.”

Anonymous asked: Hey. Anti. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly care about how distressed you are, but you need to calm down. It's scaring the others, and sometimes I really fucking pity you, so here; Anti, you've won, you've gotten your revenge. You're in control, and you know this, yeah? Calm down.

“They should be scared. I want to go beat the shit out of that little brat. But it’s never fun anymore. I don’t know when it stopped being fun. Even with Dok, it barely makes me laugh now. Why make me like this and then not even make it fun anymore? I hate him… I hate everything. I want… I… I want Dark. I want Dark to tell me I’m perfect.”

He gets to his feet, almost staggering. “Maybe they’re in the forest. Yeah, I - I’m in control. And you’re… you’re wrong, it is enough. It is enough. I don’t need Jack. I don’t want him. As soon as I’m in control again, it will be enough. I’ll be happy. Fuck, the fact that some of you have been here since the beginning… fuck.”

Anonymous asked: Trick?... How you holding up? If you want to talk, we're here. Your brothers are here. If you need a little time that's fine too.

“I’m having a panic attack,” cries Trick, grasping for Dok. “I’m having a panic attack.”

Dok gets up and surrounds his brother in an instant, alarmed. Trick hasn’t had a panic attack in weeks.

“I’m here. I’m right here, okay?”

“Does he need - is he - ?”

“Just give us some space, alright?”

“Okay, right.” Red backs off, retreating to Blue’s little bedroom, though he listens carefully by the door. Dapper sits uncertainly on the other side of the couch, touching Trick’s wrist.

Anonymous asked: Anti.... if strangers from the internet can't validate your actions and you feel like you can't do the same either.... By all means, feel free to look elsewhere, rinse and repeat, as you've always done, but self-reflection and change aren't outside the realm of possibilities for you to be happy.

Anti just shakes his head, his mouth parted slightly like he can’t find the right words, pacing out towards the woods. These are things he is sometimes - sometimes - aware of. But the fact that he could change is always, always over-shadowed by his fear: that Dapper would leave if he didn’t force him to stay. That all of them would leave if he didn’t force them to stay. That they would go back to Jack and he would be alone for the rest of his life, knowing that they’re happy and he never will be. Besides, there were times when living like this did make them happy, and he never did grasp the idea that cruelty is a fleeting satisfaction. He keeps trying to pursue it and it never sticks around, but he won’t change. He won’t let himself see that. He’s afraid.

“I won’t,” he says.

You hear it as he moves away from the house.

“I won’t. I won’t.”

He slips into a dog’s form and pads away, the grass soft beneath his paws.

He promised Red, didn’t he? This is the last time we try this. And if it doesn’t work… then there’s nothing left for him to stick around for.

And he won’t let the others go running back to Jack, either.

“I won’t.”

bupine asked: anti, i am truly so fucking sorry for what happened to you. that you felt so unloved you'd do all of this. and i so wish there was a way you could have seen how he would have cared for you if you'd given him the opportunity. i wish it wasn't too late for that. because jack didn't hate any of his creations, anti. you just didn't let him love you.

For a moment, it makes him pause.

At the edge of the woods, the body of the huge black dog, tall and proud and beautiful, beautiful, because not everything about Anti is bad. Not everything about anyone is bad, and you are right. About most everything. You are right.

That dog stands at the edge of the woods.

The shadows are cool and deep and dangerous, but he always seems to burn in the sun anyway.

He slips away, and is gone from your view.

Anonymous asked: trick, you okay, buddy? it's gonna be okay, love, just breathe. you have your brothers with you, everyone's okay.

“I can’t think!” Trick cries, gripping at his head. “I can’t - I - there’s walls inside my skull, Deutsch, help me!”

“Hey, you’re alright, you’re alright.” Dok holds his shoulders, shooting a worried look at Dapper, but his little brother has gone quiet and distant, touching the stinging handprint on his cheek and staring right ahead, his posture small.

“No, I’m not alright, everything’s wrong!” screams Trick. “This isn’t right, I can’t think, I can’t see?”

“You can’t see?”

“I think I’m possessed, I’m possessed!”

Dok takes his head in his hands and forces his gaze up, examining Trick’s eyes, but there’s no sign of Anti or anything else. “Trick, I think you just got a shock. My brother, it’s alright now. Everyone’s here and no one’s hurt.”

“No, no, no, that’s not true, that’s lies, that’s lies in between my skull, I think I’m possessed!”

“Just let it out, alright, and then we’ll work on calming down, calming down…”

And Dok is there, as he always is - no, that isn’t right, because wasn’t he gone away from him for a time? But where? And how long? It seems like those days passed in strange blips of time, his memory of it coming and going, his recollection blinking in and out, Blue asking him what’s wrong with him again and again while his brain skips over the thought of his twin and his heart keeps hurting. He digs his nails into his cheeks, weeping; he can feel the imprint of Anti’s hand against his face as he goes crashing to the floor, Blue standing over him and shouting for Anti to leave them alone, and none of it is true, and none of it is right, but all of it is true, and all of it is against the rules.

“No, no!” he hears himself shrieking over the sound of soothing voices. “No, I don’t know, I don’t remember, what’s wrong with me?”

“Trick,” someone begs, and it isn’t even his name. He doesn’t even remember his name. He doesn’t even remember his babies. Soft skin and bumpy infant heads, huge dark eyes and a slobbering mouth using his finger as a pacifier. Cigarette smoke and acrylic nails. The thud of Dapper’s head against the wall.

And it’s gone again.

“Why can’t I think?”

“Trick, you have to stop shouting!”

“My darling, what’s wrong? I’m here, it’s alright.”

“Ohhh, please make him stop, I can’t stand anymore screaming today.”

“Red, go upstairs if you’re over-stimulated, everything’s okay. Trick, we’re okay, we’re just taking a break, we’re okay…”

“In my skull…”

“Trick.”

Firm hands dig into his muscles and push and knead and comfort. Ah, this he remembers. Dok’s hands on him on nights when he’d been sitting so stiff for so long. So desperate to please Anti. Plastered to the window with the great sniper in his hands, watching, watching while Dok massaged at his aching muscles and tried to keep him company, to keep him comfortable. To stay with him. I’m with you.

“Trick. Chase.”

“H… Dok. I can’t…”

“Just be alright. We’re just alright. It’s okay. Here’s your cat. Calm down.”

“He’s not even my real baby.”

Noodle mewls.

Red paces upstairs, rubbing at his face. He needs a break. Trick’s been freaking out for almost two hours.

Anonymous asked: your brothers are here, trick, they'll keep you safe, they'll help you. you're gonna be okay. i know, it's terrifying and confusing and hard. but your brothers are right here, henrik is right here, you're going to be okay. breathe in, and breathe out, buddy. it's gonna be okay, i promise.

“It’s not alright,” cries Trick, gripping at his brother’s shoulders. “It’s… it’s not…”

“I know,” says Henrik quietly. “I know. It will be.”

“He slapped him… he slapped me…”

“He’s not kind.”

“No, no, that’s not right either, it’s not right. I must have - I must have made him do it, I - ”

“No, Trick,” croaks Henrik, curled around him. “Don’t go away again. You don’t have to start thinking like that again. Please?”

“Maybe if Dapper would just fucking behave - ”

“Trick!”

“He tried to hurt you!”

“No, that’s not what happened! Stop it!”

“There h-has to be a reason! There has to be! I have to make this make sense! Dok, I can’t breathe!”

Dapper stares up at them both from beside the couch. Blue is up on his feet between the four of them. He reaches down to touch Dapper’s head.

Anonymous asked: anti made that decision on his own, trick. it's no one else's fault that he did that. the reason is that he wanted to. it's not your fault, bud. it's no one's fault but anti's.

“Well, then it’s like he says, like he was made like that. His creator made him like that. He has a bad temper and he can’t control it. That’s all that’s all that’s all that’s all. He’ll be nice again tomorrow, I know. I know I know I know.”

Trick isn’t aware that he’s babbling or that his siblings have gone quiet around him. Dok is wide-eyed and silent. He never knows what to do anymore. He can never fix anybody who needs him.

“You’re all such fucking brats,” snarls Trick suddenly, and his voice sounds so much like Anti’s for a moment that Dok can’t help the wave of revulsion that shudders its way up his body. Blue must notice. He tugs Dok away from Trick. Dok wishes he weren’t grateful.

“Asshole, acting like you’re here to comfort us,” growls Trick, eyes squeezed shut, hands digging into Noodle’s fur. His cat mewls in discomfort, squirming on his lap, but Trick doesn’t let go. Noodle is his and he’ll stay where he wants him. “You think I forgot, Blue, when you mashed that pole into my skull just so you could watch Anti fucking burn without me? Fucking traitor. You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“Trick,” Dok begins, but Blue just shakes his head, gripping his shoulders.

“No point trying to reason with him while he’s like this,” he says. “Trust me, we tried in Singapore, the cameras and I. They’re not even his own thoughts.”

“I want my baby,” cries Trick, his voice shattering into a wave of stammering, his heart pounding hard in my chest. “I’m trying to be good, I am! Will he give me my baby back then?”

“Let’s just give him a little time,” murmurs Blue, but Dok doesn’t move, staring at his brother.

He’d rather Trick were as sick as Blue. He’d rather Trick were locked upstairs on his own. He’d rather Trick was with that monster in the woods. Anything but watching him turn into someone else. Anything but this. He touches his necklaces. For the day he’s ready to kill Anti. Anything but this.

Anonymous asked: hey, trick, buddy. it's going to be okay. i don't think he wants to do that now, no matter how much you do what he wants you to, trick. but you're going to be okay, love. can you tell us what's wrong? you're a little all over the place at the moment, so i don't know what would help you best.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” cries Trick. “There’s something in my head and nothing makes sense.”

“Dissociating?” asks Dok gently, creeping forward again to try and touch him. Blue frowns, but he knows better than to get between twins. He glances down at Dapper and tuts at the sight of the handmark on his face, reaching down to touch his beard fondly.

“No, no, I - well, maybe, maybe dissociating, maybe, maybe, cause nothing is right, nothing’s right, I’m f-freaking out, Dok, I’m freaking out. I just want… I just want… I don’t know, I don’t know what I want.”

He presses himself against the side of the couch, groaning and clutching at his cat.

“You want brownies?” offers Dok weakly.

Trick lets out a bewildered, frantic laugh, sharp enough to make Dok jump. “I… maybe brownies?”

“Bet Red would get you one of the ones you made from upstairs,” says Dok. “We just need to ground ourselves, yes? Something to touch and something to see and taste and hear and smell. I’m here, Trick. I’m here.”

cest-mellow asked: will antis magic wear off on him? what’s gonna happen to him?

“There are two problems,” mumbles Blue. “One - Anti still has access to him. Even if Trick is getting free of him moment to moment, nothing can wear off while Anti keeps getting his hands on him again and again. And two - this isn’t just magic, a spell that will fade given time. Anti is actively getting inside his head and changing the way he thinks. Something has to happen to snap Trick out of it, and then he needs space from Anti to stayed snapped out of it. But I… I don’t know.”

“It’s a good thing he’s having a breakdown,” cries Dok, desperate for good news. “Right? It means he’s fighting!”

“Anti’s power combined with the need to please him that Trick has always had - Dok, I don’t know how he’s supposed to get free on his own.”

“Well, I’m here,” vows Dok, turning his attention back to his twin. “Here I am to help, my brother.”

“You know, Anti’s right about you,” snaps Trick. “You need other people to be in pain around you or you can’t even feel good about yourself.”

Dok’s face falls.

Anonymous asked: are you having trouble remembering, bud? is that the problem?

“It’s like… I can’t think straight… like I’ll have a thought and then it’s right, but then a second later it’s wrong, and then it’s right, and then - and no, I c-can’t remember, but I keep getting these flashes, and I can’t hold on to them, and I’m just…”

He buries his face in the couch, shaking his head. “My depression has never felt like this before, my panic attacks have never felt like this before - am I psychotic, Dok? Does schizophrenia run in families?”

“It’s not that, I promise.”

Anonymous asked: try not to figure out if the memories are right or wrong, okay, trick? just try to see what they are, if you can, and don't try to figure out whether the memories are right or not. and if you can't hold onto a memory, let it go, okay? it'll come back. trust dok, okay? i think he knows which memories are right. i promise he just wants to help you.

“You’ll remember for me, won’t you?” he babbles, and you aren’t sure if he’s talking to you or Dok. “He has big big eyes and he’s perfect and warm. And I was braiding hair, I can braid hair, her dark hair. And I was in Singapore and Blue hit me. But Anti hit me too, haha. And I forgot, the next morning, and he kissed the side of my face. And there are fires and knives and girls with dark eyes.”

“Breathe,” Dok reminds him. “Breathe. You know how to get through a panic attack.”

“I can feel you touching me, like you always do when I’m s-scared, and I can hear the air conditioning, and I can smell your coat with green apple detergent, green apple detergent because we finally have a l-l-laundry room. I can feel you touching me like you always do when I’m scared.”

“That’s better,” says Dok. “That’s good.”

Blue hears the door to the backyard swing shut above him. He blinks, looking up to the ceiling.

Anonymous asked: Can someone Please take Nooddle away from Trick, before even his own cat starts to be afraid of him?

“They’re right, Trick, please,” says Blue calmly, reaching forward. “Please give me the cat, alright?”

“He’s my cat!” shrieks Trick. Noodle chirps as he tugs at his fur, barely even aware of the way his kitten is squirming beneath him. “He’s my cat, he’s mine, he’s supposed to be with me - ”

“He doesn’t want to be held!” Dapper signs suddenly, springing off the floor, and he reaches forward and snags Noodle from Trick’s lap before his brother can even make a leap for him. Dapper darts away towards the guest bedroom, Noodle pressed into his shoulder. Trick screams after them, striking the side of the couch with his hand, but he’s too shaken to get up and go after them, and he doesn’t want Dok to be apart from him.

immabethehero asked: Trick be nice! Dok wants to help you! Even if you don’t agree, that doesn’t mean you should be rude!

“Oh, the cameras always know what’s right, don’t they?” snarls Trick, sitting up again, another violent mood-swing back into anger. “You sit a million miles away and you all tell us what to do. Like you know anything about what we’ve been through. Like you know anything about my family! You’ve never liked Anti, I know, I’m not stupid, even if everybody thinks I am. I notice things. I know you were with Dok with the magicians and you told him to stay. I know you say all sorts of things to get him wrapped around your fingers. I know he wouldn’t get in trouble if he would just take these fucking things off!”

Trick wraps his hand around Dok’s throat, necklaces and all, yanking him forward. Blue yells and steps forward, grabbing his hands, but Trick is stronger than he is. His blue eyes bore into his twin’s. Dok stares back at him, eyes wide, choking for air, but his hand only rests on Trick’s, waiting, patient, here. Here I am. Here I am. It’s okay.

Trick blinks. His anger falters away. He lets go of Dok’s throat, shocked.

“Oh, no, Henrik,” he whispers, voice broken. “I didn’t mean…”

Anonymous asked: don't do that, okay, trick? dok's just trying to help. you're doing great otherwise, bud. breathe in, and breathe out, okay? i know, this must be really hard right now. but you're going to be okay. try to stay calm, bud. you're going to be okay.

Trick is just shaking his head. Blue is still standing above him, touching his hands, and Trick reaches for his big brother for a minute, a faint whimper on his mouth, and Blue doesn’t even know how to respond.

“I’m going to take a break,” says Dok, quiet and hoarse.

“Dok,” says Trick.

He means to tell him “I’m sorry,” but his stammer is so bad he can’t get the words out.

Dok gets up. Straightens out his coat. Pads up the stairs. Disappears.

Trick’s hand rests over his heart.

Anonymous asked: I don't mean this to sound mean but I really feel like someone else other than blue should be with trick rn. If he swings back into anger I don't know if blue will be alright to deal with this alone ":(

Blue stares down at Trick. He knows what you’re saying is true. But Dapper’s in the other room if he needs him, you’ll call for help if something happens, and, moreover - Trick looks like he’s broken clean in half.

“You know what,” says Blue.

You have not heard bitterness on his tongue for anyone but Anti in a long time. Trick looks up at him, stunned to hear vitriol in the voice of the sibling who’s meant to be his caretaker. The siblings who’s never called him anything but “my darling,” “my heart,” “my brother.”

“I think he’s done,” says Blue darkly.

Trick turns his face away from him.

Anonymous asked: Blue please don't leave him alone. Don't leave him with only anti to turn to for answers

Blue rocks on his heels, seething through his teeth, trying to find the right course of action.

He wants to leave Trick alone. He’s mad. He knows it’s Anti’s fault, too, but he can’t take that. Trick can’t start doing this. Blue won’t accept it. Won’t pretend nothing just happened. He can’t. He wants to cry. To scream? To hit something? He wants to go back to bed. He wants to leave Trick alone and he hopes that his little brother feels bad. Venomously, he hopes that his little brother feels bad.

But he doesn’t leave him alone.

Blue sits down on the other side of the couch, his hand in his palm, a sigh falling out of his mouth. He’d never forgive himself if Trick hurt himself or scampered back off to Anti.

“Just breathe, Trick,” he says, exhausted. “Can you tell Red it’s quiet again now? Maybe he’s ready to come back downstairs and then I can go off and calm down for a minute.”

Anonymous asked: On one hand, I understand that the bitterness and isolation is justified. But also, guys... if you all leave trick alone how do you expect him to not keep going back to Anti? If you're not careful this is probably going to fuel more ways for him to slither even deeper into his head

“We do what we can,” says Blue. “We’re all doing what we can. I’m ill and I’m angry and I’m still here, aren’t I? We do what we can and if it isn’t enough, we don’t take blame for that. We just don’t. Trick’s actions and decisions are nobody’s fault… well, a little Anti’s, in this unique case, but still. Dok doesn’t have to stay with him after he hurt him. Hell, if he wanted to go and not forgive Trick at all… well, he’d be allowed to do that, and what Trick does afterwards would not be his fault. Dok has to take care of himself too. I think Dok will forgive him, but both of my brothers are hurting right now, both of them are vulnerable - all of us are vulnerable - and we’re all just doing what we can. And if that’s not enough… well.”

He turns his head bitterly away. “It never is, is it?”

pine-storm-season asked: Red, it's quiet now, could you come sit with Trick?

“Hm?” says Red.

From the camera in the backyard you can see him.

Gone very stiff.

Standing on the porch.

Eyes wide.

“Can I… oh, yeah, just, uh… a second, one second…”

He’s staring out the window, towards the forest. Dok pads into the living room and blinks to see him standing there.

“Uh, Red?”

“Hm?”

“What are you looking at?”

Red doesn’t answer.

Dok steps up behind him, letting the backdoor swing open and then closed again, adjusting his glasses and squinting.

“Is there someone in the woods?”

“You see him too?” breathes Red, his cheeks rising with a passionate blush, his eyes shining.

Dok takes another step forward. The pool laps quietly between them.

“Is that… that man you were with? In the marketplace?”

Red is aglow. Red is holding his own heart. Red takes a step forward.

“He found me again,” he says, his voice trembling, but not with despair. “He found me again. I could… Anti is away, we could just… he forgave me. He came back.”

Dok tilts his head, confused, but it looks to be true - there, hiding a little behind the trees, eyes wide and earnest, smiling at Red -

Max.

Jackie takes off at a run down the porch steps.

Anonymous asked: Oh god, this probably isn't Max...

“Shit,” hisses Dok, with one glance at you. “Shit!”

Red isn’t even listening to you, leaping down and racing across the grass. Dok snarls like a wild thing and leaps after him, desperation making his blood pump, reaching out to grab Red, only a few feet past the pool, the trees closer than he’s ever seen them. “Red!” he screams. “It’s not Max!”

“I know him now!” cries Red. “I forgot him once. I won’t do it again.”

“He’s a trick, Red! Don’t you think it’s a little too good to be true that the one person you’ve been longing for for weeks is just suddenly here in the middle of nowhere, grinning at you from our enemy’s hiding place?”

“He was too good to be true!” cries Red, struggling against Dok’s grip. “Dok, please, I’m begging you! He feels real, Dok. My heart!”

It stings at Dok, but he doesn’t let go.

pine-storm-season asked: Red. It's not Max. That's Dark. You remember Dark, right? How would Max get through these woods? He couldn't, Red. That's Dark. Red, come back to the house now.

“They’re right.” Dok grips at his arm, yanking him back towards the house, drawing a low cry out of his brother. “It’s Dark.”

“Dark made me afraid!” Red protests. “Just being near to them, it was like my heart was shaking.”

“Red, that’s what they’re doing now too. Don’t you get that? They manipulate emotions. That’s why you were so scared of them, and that’s why you’re convinced it’s Max now. Red. Red. They’re making you feel that way. It’s not real.”

The energy drains out of Jackie in a moment. He stares at Dok, mouth trembling. “I just… I just…”

“I know, my brother,” says Dok.

Anonymous asked: On another hand... If that is Max you need to shout to him to get out of here, I definitely don't think he's safe in these woods.

“Max, go!” cries Red, something in his chest snapping open and oozing out hurt. “A chuisle mo croi! Before he hurts you!”

He wants him to go. He wants him to turn around and go, and prove that it is him, it’s Max, he’s going and he’ll come back!

But the little figure of Max in the forest does not turn away from him. Red shakes his head, turning to stare at Dok, begging him to make things different. Dok just shakes his head at him, eyes apologizing.

Anonymous asked: red, tell max to come into the house for a minute. okay? harmless request, buddy. just have him come into the house for a few seconds.

“Yes, tell him to come over here,” says Dok, holding Red tight.

“He wouldn’t want Anti to know he was here…”

Dok covers the camera with his hand, blocking your view. “Tell him to come over now,” he suggests.

Red is silent for a long moment. There’s a shift of light as Dok’s body relaxes, letting go of Red’s arm.

He could call out for the fake Max to come over here, but he already knows the truth. Dok moves his hand away. Red is still staring out at the woods, eyes wide.

“Hey,” laughs Max’s clear rich voice, accent and all. “Hey, come over here. I miss you. Hey, come here.”

“My little brother was right about you!” Red reaches down to snag a rock and chucks it towards the woods. “You’re a creep!”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” says Max, laughing too long and too deep. “That’s not very nice, really. Don’t you think it would be fun? Wouldn’t you like to? I think you’d like to.”

“I think you’d love to,” repeats an echo of his voice, and then it wells up in Red so powerfully that it makes him double over, falling to his knees in the grass - affection, warmth, joy, love! Max, his Max!

“Leave him alone!” cries Dok, stepping in front of his brother. “Stop it!”

“What’s this?” purrs Max’s voice, growing deeper and deeper, the accent smoothing out, Americanizing. “What’s this? He doesn’t want to play? Why don’t you feel it, little doctor? Is that what you are? A doctor in his tattered coat? Maybe you’d rather sulk a little.”

Red’s joy turns to grief. He gasps against a wave of sorrow, deeper than oceans, about to tear him open. Dok grabs at him, alarmed, but he doesn’t feel the despair.

“Or anger?”

Red hollers, tearing out handfuls of grass with his hands, shaking his head, gritting his teeth so hard he might break them. Dok pants, nervous in the face of his fury, but he doesn’t move.

“No, how strange,” says Dark, tilting his head back, the daylight around them turning darker and darker. “How strange, that he doesn’t seem to want to share anything at all. What’s protecting you, little doctor?”

“Leave us alone,” snaps Dok. “We’re going back to our house.”

“Are you?” asks Dark.

“Are you?” laughs their echo.

Anonymous asked: blue, it's okay to be angry, and it's okay for dok to need space to calm down, but i think you need to be gentler with trick right now. you said it yourself that he's not fully in control of himself, and can't you see that he's sorry? i know you're tired of this, but he's terrified, and he needs some kindness. he deserves to be forgiven because it's not his fault that he's doing or saying hurtful things right now. he's sick, and anti did this to him.

“Come on!” protests Blue. “I am sitting here with him. What else do you want me to do, dude? Cuddle up with him and tell him it’s okay that he just assaulted the person who loves him most in the world? Tell him lies about how this is all going to be okay? I don’t have any comfort to give right now! I have limits. Aren’t I allowed have limits? Or am I supposed to be their caretaker to the point that I have to crucify myself on their altars even when they’re not in danger? Am I supposed to forgive him before he’s even taken a moment to look at what he did and stop it from happening again? Do I have to pretend it didn’t happen? I’m - I’m mad!

“Maybe you’re right, but I have to feel how I feel about this and Trick’s surviving for now. Can you give me ten minutes at least to be mad before you expect to come in here and kiss it better? I’ll comfort him when my head is clear and I don’t feel like my body is trying to destroy itself, alright? Please… I’m angry. I don’t have any hope to give him right now… I could use some comforting too, you know… but then again that’s all I need lately.”

He buries his face in his hands. “I wish I could make just one of them happy.”

Anonymous asked: Dapper, Dark is outside trying to get Red and Dok to go to him. He's disguised, and screwing with Red's emotions on a bad way. Do you know anything that might help them?

Dapper sits upright so fast that Noodle flies off his lap. The kitten, disgruntled by his long day, mewls as he lands on his feet and licks Dapper’s ankle in protest.

“Outside? With Red and Dok?”

Leaping out of bed, Dapper charges up the stairs without pausing to explain a word to Blue and Trick. He swipes his golden Christmas knife off the ground where Anti slapped it from his hand and races towards the doorway.

“Anti!” cry his hands, slashing across his throat. “Anti, come home now! I need you.”

bupine asked: dark? may we speak to you? we want to know how much you remember of anti. he told us much about you, much of his memories, but we'd like to hear what your side of it is. if that's alright by you.

“If it’s answers you want, I can provide. Just tell these little humans to come closer,” Dark entices, sliding forward, shape-shifting slowly as they go. They are masculine, feminine, feline, shadowed, shifting, but always terrifyingly beautiful, with eyes like dead stars. “I’ll talk to you, little doctor. Come on, don’t be so scared. You don’t look very well, you know. Has someone been hurting you? Skinny thing, pale thing, bruised beneath its shirt. I have food and medicine and shelter. Would you like to have a drink with me? Rich red wine til you’re drunk on it. I’ll give you whatever you need and make you stop wanting for anything at all.”

“You stay away from me!” shouts Dok, dragging Red back towards the house. “We don’t want anything to do with you here!”

“What’s around your throat, little creature? I’d like to see it up close.”

Anonymous asked: red, love, trust dok, go with dok, okay? dok is safe, let's keep you safe too, red. go with dok back into the house and you'll be safer.

“Red, come on,” begs Dok.

His brother is clutching his head, shaking, silent, curled taut against the ground.

“I know it’s a lot, I just need you to stay with me a moment longer! We have to get back to the house!”

“I think we’re close enough to the house,” manages Red in a whisper. “If they were going to attack us…”

“They would have done it by now,” finishes Dok, a little relieved. “Wouldn’t they have?”

Dark lunges forward in a cloud of shadow. Dok yelps as darkness blacks out your camera entirely. Dapper is whistling frantically from the porch.

Anonymous asked: Red and Dok, get in the house, now!

Dok staggers back in the direction he thinks the house is, dragging Red completely, who can’t do much else but holler and shake his head a little too hard to be safe. He slams into someone’s chest and recoils, but hands are already grabbing him and pulling him back. Terror burns across his chest until his fingers are pressed to - hair? Oh! Dapper’s mustache.

“Dapper,” he croaks, gripping his shirt.

“We have to get out of here!” answers a clear British voice. “It’s this way.”

“Oh, nice try, idiot,” snarls Dok, driving his elbow into Dark’s ribs. The fake Dapper falls back, snarling, and transforms. Red shrieks in alarm as gold panther’s eyes burn into them from the shadows - and then Dark is tearing forward, and the teeth of the panther latch into Red’s hoodie and yank.

“Red!” screams Dok in a blackness so deep he can do nothing but stumble forward as he feels his oldest brother tugged away from him. Red screams so hard his throat stings, completely paralyzed by everything happening all at once.

A body slams into both Dark and Red. For a moment, Dapper’s golden knife glints in the light of his own silver irises.

“Get the hell away from my brother!”

Dark lunges at Dapper and bites.

pine-storm-season asked: I know, Blue. I'm sorry. You're trying your hardest, and thank you for that. And it's okay to get fed up with them, and to need a break. You're human. No one should expect you to care for them every minute of every day. This sucks, I know. You're doing incredibly well in an awful situation, but you shouldn't have to be doing this at all. It'll get better, Blue, I promise. I know that's hard to hold on to, and I'm sorry for everything that's happened to you. But it won't be this bad forever.

“No, you don’t have to…” He lets out a deep sigh, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to coddle me or anything like that, I’m just being a fucking mess as per usual. Oh. I mean… thank you, though. Thank you, really, I…”

He runs his hands through his short hair, his fingers loving at the places it’s begun to grow out again. He has an intense desire, almost suddenly, almost painfully, for his old hair back. But… then again, he can’t remember what that was like. He woke up one day in a bathtub, his hair dyed blue, Anti’s fingers against his scalp. There were strangers downstairs and a twin at his side and he was told to look after them. That’s all there ever was. The truth is, he remembers less than anyone of the person he used to be before this all started. He has no glimpses of past lovers, no connections to old friends still searching for him, no random memories to which he can travel for a few minutes of peace, and what time has he had to remember and explore the person he was and will be without Anti hanging over his throat? He’s their caretaker. That’s all.

“And not even a good one,” he mutters, letting his white hair go. “Not even a good one.”

A sharp scream makes him jolt up straight. For a second, there is a flash in his eyes like he might know magic once more - but it’s just the vitriol that lights up in him when he hears his twin cry out.

“Red!”

Anonymous asked: Blue there's something of a ruckus going on out back. With the emotional and physical state you and Trick are in, I don't know the best way to help out or if it's worth putting you two at risk as well. We don't really have a guage on the situation. I thought dap might explain but he just took off

“Fuck! I love that little shit, but he’s gotten way too used to having to clean up everybody’s messes all on his own. Trick, wait!”

Trick is on his feet, staggering towards the stairs. Blue grabs his arm, pulling him to his chest. “You need to sit down!”

“If that thing takes him away I’ll never get a chance to make this right!”

“We’ll go, but carefully!”

“No, I’ll go. You can barely get up the stairs on your own. Stay here, Blue!”

“Hey!”

Trick yanks away from his siblings and races up the stairs, panting and pale, leaving Blue limping after him.

“Where’s my fucking cane?” he hisses, staring in despair at the mountain of the stairs. “You gotta be joking.”

pine-storm-season asked: Trick, Trick, do you have your gun? Your brothers are in danger outside

Trick does have his gun. He always knows where it is. Always, always. Dok’s silver handgun fits venomously against his palm. He pushes outside - nothing but darkness.

The world has gone cold and silent. He stands in the doorway, pupils blown by the shadow, heart thumping in his chest. You can see his back illuminated. His front disappears into darkness.

He can’t see a goddamn thing.

Until Anti’s fire goes up in a blaze of white light, and a huge black dog races towards the jungle cat dragging a struggling figure back towards the trees, a howl of joy and adrenaline and anger all at once tearing from its fiery throat.

bupine asked: dark, you you earlier that we should bring the boys to you. how can we trust you when you're hurting them? i believe there's no way you can be worse than anti, although maybe i shouldn't speak too soon, but you need to stop this, please. don't hurt them.

“Don’t tell them anything!” Dapper says - or you think so. It is difficult to tell with half his arm mangled in the mouth of the panther. “They’re always learning and they’ll use it against every - ”

He cuts himself off as the teeth dig deeper into his wrist, tearing sinew. He throws his head back, eyes rolling from the pain, but not for a second does he stop struggling.

And then Anti is there.

“I’ll show you worse,” laughs his voice from every side, the dog crashing into Dark and biting its yellowed teeth. “You clever old gobshite, going for my strongest. I’ll tear your pretty white throat open for that, hahaha. Come on, get a better form out and let’s fight like the mangled excuses for living beings that we are.”

Anti shifts back into Jack’s form, his eyes blazing with color, his throat sopping blood, a huge white smile on his fanged teeth. From the porch, the bang of a gun, and Dark’s shadowed form falls back, dissipating into a heavy, buzzing smoke.

“Dance with me!” shrieks Anti, and he leaps forward, burning with fire and thorn. Whether or not Dark remembers, here is one truth - Anti has learned new tricks since last he saw them.

bupine asked: dapper, get back. are you alright? stay away from dark, get with your brothers to safety. let anti handle it.

“Dap!” Dok wraps his arms around him. Dapper gives a heaving gulp of air in lieu of a scream, struggling. It isn’t Dok’s job to save him. It’s Dapper’s to save them. He can reverse this if he just - if he just -

The pain stabs through him, disorienting any plans for time travel. Dok pulls him back towards the house as Trick grabs at Red, both of them moving towards the porch and hunkering down together, holding each other.

“I don’t want Anti to die,” confesses Dapper. “Especially not to leave us with the Darkness!”

“Stop trying to use your wrist!” cries Dok. “I need to clean this up! Anyway, it looks like he’s burning them down to ash.”

“He’s going to set the forest on fire,” fears Trick.

“They’re learning things about us! If they had really wanted to take one of us, they could have, I’m sure of it! They wouldn’t have come alone - they’re hiding their allies while they learn about all of us!”

“Stop goddamn signing, Dapper, I’m not joking! You’re losing blood! Can we just get inside the house?”

pine-storm-season asked: He's not going to die here, Dapper. Dark won't kill him.

“I don’t trust Dark with anything, anything, anything - ”

Dok pins his arm down against the kitchen table, trying to see the wound through the rapid blood flow. Trick sets an unresponsive Red down on the couch, pulling his brother’s hood up over his eyes before turning back to Dok.

Dok looks at him, putting all else aside for the moment. “I need - ”

“To stem the bloodflow before you can stitch it. I’ll get you a towel and try to find something for the pain.”

Outside, the foliage thickens as plants burst up from the ground, trapping a shadowy figure beneath bluebell and redwood, though it won’t last long.

pine-storm-season asked: Anti's said that Dark won't kill him. They know each other. He's not going to die here and leave you to them, okay? It's okay. You're in the house, you're safe.

“Safe from Dark,” moans Dapper, squirming. “But he has pets of his own.”

“I’ve got you. Just try to stay calm,” says Dok. “I’ll sedate you if I have to, wild man, don’t doubt me.”

“I don’t like them.”

“Dapper, we are all so, so aware of that fact. Acutely aware. Now hush. Doesn’t this hurt?”

It does. But it’s just pain, and Dapper’s had worse. He looks around at the others, checking their bodies for wounds even as his head swims.

bupine asked: dapper, you should all get inside. anti will be fine - he's survived everything up til now, and unfortunately, i doubt this old acquaintance of his will be the one to kill him. i'll be greatly surprised if so. but you guys need to be safe, because while anti can fight him, you can't. get dapper fixed up, doc, can you? everyone else, stay inside and wait for anti to come back.

Dok slams the door shut behind them and locks it - for all your reassurances, he can’t help but wish Dark would just kill Anti, or maybe that they’d both kill each other, like digging your teeth deep into something poisonous. But Dapper seems a little convinced, his eyes roaming the messages, and he goes stiff against the kitchen table, his eyes sliding shut as Dok takes a towel from Trick and applies agonizing pressure to his wrist.

“He can’t lose his hand,” says Trick quietly. “He kind of needs that.”

“You think I am not aware of this? Get me water.”

They always tell patients it’s to make sure they stay hydrated, but it’s mostly psychological - this will help! You’re doing something to stay alive! Good work! Focus on that! Trick knows the drill.

pine-storm-season asked: Everyone's safe for the moment, right? All five of you in the house?

Blue slams open the door to the basement, panting hard, and shoots a glare around at his brothers, though the venom dies in his eyes within seconds and his worry makes him gentle again. He swoops forward on shaking legs to kneel at his twin’s side, staring up at Red’s scrunched-up face.

“Did he scare you again, love?”

Red doesn’t answer, gripping his hood over his eyes. Blue gets up to dim the lights and find blankets.

“We’re okay, we’re okay,” he chants in a loving rhythm. “Here we are, we’re alright. Fuck’s sake.”

He looks out the window, but either the fight has gone quiet or Dark and Anti are too deep in the woods for him to see anything. The birds have begun chirping again, unsure as they peep back out into the open.

bupine asked: trick, are you ok? talk to us if you need to, i understand this is a lot to handle.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he says quickly.

He is good in a crisis, truly. It’s part of the reason he and Dok have always gotten along - trauma and all.

“Just need to help Dap and Red and make sure Anti gets back okay. And he will. That thing doesn’t stand a chance against him. I’ve seen Anti wipe out police squads and gangs in one night. Especially when he’s protecting us.”

For a second, his hand swipes past Dok’s stomach, meeting that familiar old bullet wound in his belly. It’s almost subconscious. Like Dok’s skin is his own. Trick pauses for a moment, staring at the bruises in his brother’s neck. Bruises. He gripped him hard enough to leave bruises. And Dok was just quiet with him. Dok let him grab him.

“Just need to help Dap and Red and make sure Anti gets back okay, yeah,” mumbles Trick, bringing water to Dapper’s mouth. “Here I am, little man. Take a drink. You’ll feel better.”

pine-storm-season asked: Red, you okay? Okay-ish, anyway?

Red is well past the point of answering, stiff and silent on the couch, hiding from everything. Blue does not try to touch him. Red does not hum or rock or fidget. He just wants the buzzing in his head to stop. It’s so much at once that it’s painful. Nobody should be able to feel as much as intensely as he just did. He wants to be under his bed and alone and in the dark - but not dark too deep. Not dark too deep.

“I think he’ll just need a couple minutes,” says Blue. “He usually steadies out pretty fast unless he’s hurt or sick or something. He’ll just be a little brain-dead. I mean – just tired, mentally, you know?”

Red reaches out without opening his eyes to put his hand on Blue’s shoulder. Blue lets him massage at the fabric of his shirt in silence, unmoving beneath his brother’s palm.

Anonymous asked: Dok, what I'm about to say doesn't excuse Trick from what he did to you, this isn't meant to be eye-for-an-eye bullshit or an apology on his behalf (only he can give you that) but you know you've done the same to him months and months ago, because whoever you were seeing wasn't your brother in your eyes. You two have changed drastically but have always stuck by each other and communicated to resolve things. Maybe words aren't as helpful as they once were, but silence and violence won't help

“Okay, you know what, what the hell?” Dok bursts out, turning away from Dapper’s bloodied arm for a second to stare at you in bewilderment. “Silence and violence? I have not for a single second been violent with him today. I walked away from a brother who had just physically attacked me so that I could calm the fuck down and not start sobbing all over him, and you think I did something wrong? Should I have stayed there and kissed it all better? What the fuck?”

“Dok, you have to concentrate,” Trick pants, wiping blood from Dapper’s wrist. “Please?”

“I have attacked him before and I’ve attacked myself too,” cries Dok. “You’re the only one here who’s still holding old grudges, camera. Trick and I moved past that. And goddamn, I’ll move past this too, but I did what was best for all of us by not yelling at him or excusing his behavior or telling him it’s okay, because it isn’t okay! It isn’t okay! None of this is okay, it’s not - ”

“Dok!” cries Blue.

“Can I have five goddamn minutes to step away from him after he fucking throttled me for not being obedient to Anti before you expect me to be telling him he’s perfect? Fuck! I don’t care if he’s changed. He made a goddamn choice and I’m allowed to believe that was wrong! He fucking hurt me! Just like Anti does, just like we’ve always comforted each other through! I used to believe Trick was the only thing in the world that would never mean to hurt me. That’s so fucking unfair to act like I’m the one in the wrong here!”

Trick gives a dry sob, bent over Dapper’s arm, but he doesn’t protest. He doesn’t want you to defend him either. He shouldn’t have done what he did and it’s alright for Doktor to step away from him when he’s being violent with him. Dok responded as appropriately as he could have - and they were genuinely only separate for about ten minutes before Dark attacked, so he doesn’t really know what you mean.

Anonymous asked: Dok I sincerely didn't mean that as an accusation. You aren't wrong for feeling your feelings. All I meant is you guys should talk things out but I'm timing my words poorly and not giving you guys time to process since so much has been happening. My mind is on worst-case-scenario mode and I'm sorry if I'm trying to solve things before I even know what the damage is. I'm sorry for over-stepping

“Some of you are young,” says Dok, his voice shaking. “I don’t want you to think that someone hurting you isn’t a big deal. In most circumstances… I wouldn’t tell you to let that person back into your life. And it’s never your responsibility to make sure other people are making up with each other - I don’t want you to carry the burden of other people’s relationships. Be careful with what you tell people to do just because you want things to go back to normal. Normal isn’t always healthy.”

“I’m worried shit is torn in here, Dok,” says Trick lowly, trying to be careful with Dapper’s arm even as he pushes at the wound. “That was like a whole big cat in his arm.”

“On the contrary, I would expect wounds from a big cat to be far worse,” answers Dok tersely, re-focusing. “Wild it may sound, but Dark was gentle with him.”

Anonymous asked: Whether Dark was being gentle or not, you can fix Dapper up, right? Or does he need to be added to the waiting list for the hospital in four days?

Dok laughs weakly. “Waiting list for the hospital… ah. No, no, it’s alright, I believe. I may not be able to do much, but I can still stitch, disinfect, and bandage as well as any real doctor.”

Trick looks up, blinking. “You are a real doctor.”

Dok is bent low over Dapper’s arm, holding it carefully in place.

“We’ll just have to keep it very clean,” he says after a moment.

pine-storm-season asked: Trick, is everything going okay? Dok knows what he's doing, I'm sure, but is Dapper okay?

“How are you holding up, buddy?” asks Trick, gripping Dapper’s shoulder. He can see the adrenaline fading off his little brother, his eyes getting glassy. Blood soaks into Trick’s socks.

Dapper holds onto his sleeve, blinking slowly.

“Dok, let’s lie him down.”

“On the carpet, then.”

They take him carefully towards Blue and Red. Dapper doesn’t protest when they put him down on the ground, his eyes rolling dazedly back.

“It’s quite a lot of blood.”

“He’ll be alright.”

Trick squeezes Dapper’s good hand. “Just hang in there, tough guy. You can sleep if you need to, it’s okay. Dok’s got you.”

bupine asked: anti, you ok out there?

“They’ll send PEOPLE to the house next, you mark my fucking WORDS.”

Everyone jolts - exception Dapper - as Anti glitches back into the house shouting as loud as he can. And as loud as he can is pretty damn loud.

“What are you going on about?” snaps Dok, hovering over Dapper’s body as Anti leaps through the kitchen towards them, his whole body shivering with computer-error colors.

“Dark!” he yells, clapping his hands together, his hair shifting rapidly between different shades of green and brown. “That was just the pre-game show! Aren’t they clever? Aren’t they FIERCE?”

Blue rolls his eyes, standing up to cover Red’s ears with his hands.

“They’ll send people here?” asks Trick. “I thought you said they wouldn’t come near the house, Anti.”

“No, they won’t, but they have soldiers of their own, and now they have an idea of what’s going on in this house, because SOMEONE had to go looking for his little boyfriend, didn’t he?”

Blue hugs Red to his chest, scared Anti will come over and punish him for it.

“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” babbles Anti, bouncing on his feet and whirling around, flipping his knife in his hand. “Had to happen, had to happen. If it wasn’t Red, it would have been one of the rest of you.”

“Anti, you’re bleeding,” says Trick.

“What’s blood to me?” hollers Anti, throwing his knife straight up, where it impales in the ceiling and stays. He laughs, rocking back on his heels. “What’s blood at all? Nothing ever kills me, nothing ever makes me die. All part of the game, my darling, and finally there’s someone worth playing with. Ah! I’m not watching the cameras! Be quiet and don’t go in the forest again, you little morons, unless you want to get stolen away, away, away!”

He vanishes in a flash of blinding color, glitching back to his room.

Dok, Trick, Red, and Blue look around at each other, eyes wide.

Anonymous asked: Wait, Anti, do you know if people they send will be able to come into the house? I want to know how alert they need to be to stay safe.

“Why not?” asks Anti. “Only spirits and humans like Jameson are bound by spirit rules. Though, I must tell you, it is never clever to enter a place where a spirit lives without permission. You ever seen that movie Spirited Away? Shit is fucked, man. But anyway, I’m not quite a spirit, am I? Not quite anything. Thank you, creator, for having absolutely no clear ideas in mind when you created me. Now I’m bound to so little, so little. Species have rules they have to follow - fairies fear iron, changelings choke on rowan, spirits respect each other’s spaces, magicians grow weary, demons run from priests, tricksters fool themselves, gods are forgotten, mortal things age and choke and rot away. Me, I’m a glitch in the system. The N/A, does not apply, none of the above option. Fuck you, Jack.”

Glitches buzz down his body. He shifts between Jack’s form and Trick’s, surrounded by a circle of laptops.

“Now lemme alone! I got work to do.”

Anonymous asked: Blue, everything has been so one-thing-after-the-other these days and you've been so sick through it all... I feel like we haven't been able to talk with you in a while. And don't you dare brush yourself of as not as important as the others because I want you to know that despite everything going on, you still are.

“Oh,” says Blue, smiling weakly at you as he sits back down beside Red on the couch. “That’s nice, thanks. It’s not your fault I’ve been tired so much.”

“Speaking of which,” says Trick, looking up at his sibling as Blue leans against Red, the two of them resting together.

“Yeah, it might just be nap time,” sighs Dok, swiping away the last of the blood from Dapper’s arm.

“Is he alright?” asks Blue.

“I think he’ll be fine. Just got to change his bandages a couple times a day and make sure the wound stays clean. He’s always been a fast healer.”

.

They go quiet after that. Red and Dapper sleep. Trick goes back to the kitchen and cooks - again. The fridge is full of tupperware. The counters are lined with bread and desserts. He still feels scared that they’ll be hungry again soon.

It’s quiet.

No, wait -

How good are your ears?

Turn up the volume. Listen close. On the other side of Dapper’s bed, where Dok is sitting, turned away from you, watching over his patients.

“Guess our first plan isn’t going to work,” whispers Blue.

“None of this is working,” whispers back Dok. “We just need to run, Blue.”

“How can we run from a thing like him?” Exhaustion in his voice. An ache in his voice. “He’ll always find us again.

“Well, how the hell do we killa thing like that?”

No answer from Blue. No answer from anyone.

“Get some rest, Blue. I’m sorry I can’t do more.”

“Me too,” answers Blue quietly. “Me too, Dok. But it’s nobody’s fault. We’ll get through this.”

“Will we?”

No answer. No answer.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow. You need a rest too.”

“Alright. Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

On the bed, Dapper is not entirely unconscious.

.

There’s a knock on the door of the bedroom in the basement.

Dok looks up, letting Noodle slip off his lap to go greet the newcomer. “Yeah?” he calls.

Trick opens the door, an uncertain smile on his face. His cat yowls and winds around his legs, licking at his calf and purring like a little motorboat.

“Oh. Hi,” says Dok.

“Hi,” answers Trick. His eyes are slightly red. He steps into the room with a plate full of food. “I, um. I made bratwurst.”

Dok blinks. “Bratwurst?”

“Yeah. And brought you… a beer? And some chocolate cake with strawberry. Which was as close as I could get to, um. Black Forest Gateau.”

A lingering anxiety can’t stop the slow smile that builds across Dok’s face. “Cause I’m German?” he teases.

“Cause you’re German,” Trick teases back quietly, looking down at the floor. “But you don’t have to - ”

“I do,” says Dok, already anticipating what he’ll say. “I’d like to.”

“Do you want me to leave it here or can I eat with you?”

“You can eat with me, my brother.”

Trick sits down on the bed beside him and hands him a fork, setting the beer down on the table. Noodle leaps up behind them both and begins shoving his head into both of their backs, pawing for a bit of bratwurst.

“Should we talk about what happened?” whispers Trick.

“I don’t know,” whispers back Dok. “It wasn’t real, was it?”

Trick bows his head over the bratwurst and cake like it’s a funeral reception meal, picking at his sausage.

Anonymous asked: Apologies, Dok, but do you mind explaining what you mean by that? I don't understand.

“Mmh.” Dok rubs at his face. Maybe he should let the cameras turn away for a few, but ever since Norway he’s felt nervous without you nearby, like something will happen and he won’t find out in time to help. “It just doesn’t feel like it could have really happened. It was too - it was too horrible to have really happened.”

“Es tut mir leid, Deutsch, I’m sorry.”

Trick means it. Dok seems to melt, resting his head against his brother’s shoulder, letting the two of them sit quiet for a moment, close. Noodle seems pleased, sitting between their thighs and purring, the only noise in the quiet.

“Don’t do that to me again, Trick,” pleads Dok. “You are killing me.”

Trick hides against his hair, hugging him to his shoulder.

Anonymous asked: Do you both want a distraction, maybe? We could probably think of something to talk to you about.

Trick and Dok grin, their heads press close together. Sharing a plate and a cat, their bodies side-by-side, they do look like twins. If Dok didn’t have glasses and Trick didn’t have that lawn on his head, you might not be able to tell them apart - though I expect there are intimacies of the both of them you have come to recognize. Burn scars on the back of a pale hand. An uprightness to Dok’s spine. Ice or skylines in respective blue eyes.

“Sure, distract us,” chuckles Dok, putting a piece of cake in his mouth, and it’s rich and soft and sweet.

Anonymous asked: Hmmm... I could tell you a funny thing one of my chickens did when she was a baby? We had a little cardboard tunnel for her and the other chickens, and she was walking along the top of it very elegantly, and she stretched out a wing, and she turned to look at some parsley we had hung nearby, and she kept walking... and then she walked right off the edge of the tunnel like a goddamn cartoon character. (She was completely fine though, just very indignant that she'd fallen.)

“Hahaha. Chickens are dumb, is funny.”

“That sounds like Mr. Pot Noodle,” says Trick, kissing his cat’s head once, twice. “But when he falls off things he just cries like a baby for Papa to come scoop him up, don’t you? Don’t you, baby?”

Dok rolls his eyes at his brother’s coddling, amused.

“Trick!” echoes a voice through the floorboards. “Trickshot?”

Dok’s growing relief vanishes instantly. He shrinks against the headboard of the bed, eyes wide, and even Trick looks worried, setting Noodle down.

“Anti, I’m down here,” he calls back evenly. “I’m okay, what’s wrong?”

Footsteps thump down the stairs. Dok shakes his head rapidly, reaching out to grab Trick’s fingers.

“What’s wrong?”

Dok just shakes his head, mouth gone thin and pale, eyes closed.

Anonymous asked: Anti, is it Dapper? That's the only reason I can think of for you needing Dok.

“I said Trickshot! Pay attention, damn!”

Anti pushes open the door to the guest room. His form, for once, is mostly stable, an older version of his creator with his hair tied back and glasses on.

“Fine, you’re forgiven. What, can a creature not want to see his little brother? Trick, come on, let’s go watch that movie like we were talking about. I mentioned Spirited Away and now I wanna see that big black monster go apeshit and eat a bunch of frogs.”

Trick laughs nervously, glancing back at Dok, who stares up at Anti with wide eyes.

“What?” Anti mocks him, smiling wide. “You wanna come upstairs too, Arzt? You wanna go to your room and hang out with me?”

Dok shakes his head quickly, hugging Noodle against his chest.

Anonymous asked: Dok, you okay, bud? Do you want to go be with Red and Blue, if Trick goes with Anti to watch that?

“Don’t go,” croaks Dok. “Come on, stay with me.”

Doesn’t Trick know he feels farther away from him everyday?

“Dok, I - we’re just going to watch a movie, man. I… I just - we’re just going to watch a movie.”

Doesn’t Dok know he doesn’t have a choice?

Dok lets go of his fingers and turns away. Trick turns back to Anti, who smiles sweetly and takes him by the hand, jumping back as Noodle darts forward to try and follow Trick. Dok sees Trick looking back at him for a moment more before Anti slams the door on Noodle and takes his brother away.

Dok stares down at his sausage and cake. He isn’t all that hungry anymore.

Anonymous asked: I think Trick will come back when they've finished the movie, okay? Do you want to go be with Red and Blue, or stay here and talk to us, or just be alone for a bit?

Dok sighs and picks up his plate, wandering upstairs. Red and Blue, at least, are having some fun time together, playing Mario Kart on the couch and laughing their asses off.

He finds his littlest brother in the bedroom that’s meant to be Red and Trick’s, still napping. Gently, Dok sets his plate down and wakes Dapper.

“Need to clean up your bandages,” he murmurs. “Fresher we keep them, the better.”

Dapper smiles wearily up at him and lets him work.

“How’s the pain?”

“Not as bad as yours, I’ll warrant,” he answers.

“How dramatic you are,” chuckles Dok, brushing a curl of brown hair from his eyes, but Dapper doesn’t smile.

“This is what he does,” he signs slowly, his fingers and hand and wrist all aching.

“What is? Who?”

“Anti. He shows you a false version of himself, first - someone loving and affectionate, if complicated and bad tempered. And you can fall for him. You can love him, really. And then, once you’re in deep already, he starts to show you the awful parts of himself. Slow. One at a time. He normalizes everything, bit by bit. Uses hypnosis when he has to. But more than anything else, it’s just that love of him. Every day you convince yourself, more and more strongly - ‘he’s not really as bad as he acts sometimes. Just a bad temper. Remember how kind he was to me the other day?’ And you get sucked down deeper and deeper. Until you can let him use your hands to murder innocent people, and it won’t even make you hate him.”

Dok can’t meet his eyes. Can barely watch his hands. Slow tears drip down his face.

He thinks maybe Dapper is crying too. He isn’t sure he’s ever seen Dapper cry.

“Is that what happened to you?” asks Dok.

“It’s happening to Trick.”

“I know that,” he whispers. “So tell me how you escaped it.”

“Oh, love,” says Dapper, with a tenderness like a hearth in winter. “Oh, love. I am still stuck, most of the time. But I am trying to hope again. And that, I suppose, is where freedom begins.”

Dok wraps his injured wrist in clean, white bandages, soft linen surrounding the torn arm of his youngest brother. He wants to cry. He wants to surrender.

But he won’t.

He can’t do everything he wants to right now. Can’t save everyone. Can’t heal everyone. Can’t take everyone to safety and show them how much he loves them and how little they need someone like Anti.

But he can wrap Jameson’s wrist up, so he does.

In the clean bandages, his hope, for the moment, sustains itself.

Anonymous asked: Yeah. This is probably one of the hardest things that you all will have to do, getting free of him. But it'll happen, yeah? I believe in you guys. You're doing incredibly well handling all this, and I believe in you.

“Sausage?” asks Dapper.

A smile twitches on Dok’s mouth. “Yeah. Help me eat it?”

He hands Dapper Trick’s fork and his little brother digs in earnestly, splitting the pair of bratwursts with Dok. There are more in the kitchen if Trick comes back, so Dok doesn’t count it as a betrayal. Besides, nobody loves meat better than Dap. He feels he’s owed it after the day he’s had.

In reparation for yelling at Dapper the other day for getting drunk, Dok gets him a beer and they drink together on the bed, tired and worn, but holding together. Dok eats the last of the chocolate cake on his own, focusing on the warmth of the cat on his lap and the close-by younger brother.

“But you don’t know how to get free?” asks Dapper, returning without preamble to the previous conversation.

Dok blinks, looking up at him.

“You want to kill him?”

“Fuck,” hisses Dok, pushing you slightly away. “Dap, be careful, okay? I - I just want to get away from him. And stay away from him forever. And I think maybe the only way to do that is… is… yeah. Yeah.”

The clock on the wall ticks. JJ stares at him, his deep blue eyes rimmed in long, black eyelashes.

“If you did know how to kill him,” he signs slowly. “You would.”

Dok doesn’t know how to answer. He sticks the last bite of cake in his mouth.

“But you don’t know how. You don’t know how.”

“You were listening earlier,” Dok accuses. “When Blue and I were talking.”

Dapper barely seems to register the words.

“You don’t know,” he taps distantly, eyes faraway as he thinks. “You don’t know how.”

“Do you?”

Dapper shakes his head. “No… no.”

Dok deflates again, turning his head away. “Then there’s no point in talking about it, my friend. Let’s not give the master a reason to hit us again tonight.”

Dapper watches him take the plate to the kitchen, leaving him alone in the room. He stares at the floor, lost in thought.

No, he doesn’t know how. He’s seen his brother survive most everything - fire, bullets, knives, being turned into an animal, prolonged starvation, self-harm, electricity, iron and running water, magicians, Jackie and Marvin. No. He doesn’t know.

Could he find out?

“Can I sleep in here with you tonight?” asks a small voice at his door.

Dok has come back. Trick has not. Dapper’s heart hurts with pity for him.

“Yes, of course.”

Dok crawls into bed beside him. Their bodies lock together. Dok sleeps.

Dapper thinks long and hard, but eventually the warm purring of a kitten and the nearness of a safe brother’s body lulls him into deep and unanswering sleep.

[arthurhwalker]

Thinkpad Yoga 2021, Buying Guidance

It's a banner year for Thinkpad Yoga devices, with a lot of keen changes. The Thinkpad products I've been wanting to see for years, are starting to appear.

As always, my buying advise includes the following:

Lurk the Lenovo website for coupons, and sales. They run all the time, but there is often a day or two where a sale, and a coupon, overlap.

Upgrade the Warranty. I've had to make a dozen warranty calls to Lenovo, for myself, and other folks, and having an upgraded warranty on a Thinkpad makes a big difference. The warranty service is always good in my experience, but it can be amazing for a little more.

This year, get the RAM you want, installed at the time of purchase. The new Intel SoC for a lot of products has a the RAM soldered, and can't be upgraded later.

Lenovo has really embraced Linux compatibility of late. You almost don't even need to check with Thinkpads anymore, they are going to be compatible, fit, and ready to go. Many can be ordered to ship with Linux already on board.

Let’s dig in!

X1 Yoga Gen 6 (14" Intel)

The highlights here are a 16:10 aspect ratio for the display, rechargeable Lenovo Integrated Pen, on board in a silo, Intel Iris Xe Graphics (finally, you guys, finally), and up to 32 GB of RAM (also, finally!). 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 Processors, 1145G7, 1135G7, 1165G7, 1185G7, are top performers in realm of UltraBook ULV options. Depending on your region, there will be 4G / 5G LTE WANN options. Also, there is a 57Wh battery that supports rapid charge with a 65W Adapter.

Those display options though:

14" UHD+ 4K (3840 x 2400) IPS, anti-reflection, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™, HDR400, 500 nits, 90% DCI P3 Color Gamut, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions

14" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen with Privacy Guard, 500 nits

14" FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen, 400 nits, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions

Those options are according to the website, where the PSREF lists four options, one with 100% DCI P3 Color Gamu, and 1500:1 Contrast Ratio. I'll try to get some clarity on that. All have 100% sRGB Anti-Glare, or Anti-Reflective glass treatments, and so forth. I have a Lenovo Yoga product with a UHD 4K Display, and one with a Low-Power FHD display. For working with home, I like the Low-Power because I can make it dim in a dark room. The 500 nit HDR displays can't be turned down enough to be comfortable for my eyes. Awesome in a bright office, or outdoor environment, not great for working from your couch.

Aluminum chassis, top and bottom, AND Lenovo seems to be getting aluminum anodizing and milling down to a fine science. Normally, aluminum products, made by anyone, are kinda sloppy with seams and fit being a little off. The last few recent Lenovo devices with aluminum chassis have been really good. Good enough to not set off my OCD.

As I write this, there is no build your own option for this model, because they just released it recently.

L13 Yoga Gen 2 (Intel)

If you owned an S1 Yoga (the first Thinkpad Yoga), way back in 2013, and loved it, you'll really like the L13 Yoga Gen 1, or Gen 2. They have the same case color, feel, pen-silo placement, and so forth. The Gen 2 does have an option for Integrated Intel Iris X Graphics, with the 11th Gen G7 SoC. A Thunderbolt 4 port has been added to the Gen 2, and it has a MicroSD card reader, which I really appreciate having. Keyboard on these feels deep and nice, even compared to more expensive Thinkpad Yoga products.

The display option, battery life, and so forth are very last year, but I've seen the Gen 1 as cheap as 700 USD, at retailers.

This is the Thinkpad Yoga if you want to get one just for travel, for a young person, carrying around at college, and similar. My S1 Yoga from 2013 has been loaned out many times, case paint rubbed down to the metal at the corners, and it still runs. The L13 Yoga has the same design language, and in some markets I believe they are actually called S2 Yoga Gen 5 and 6.

X13 Yoga Gen 2 (13" Intel)

Announced back on February 23rd, this 2-in-1 laptop has a lot of people very excited. It kinda has all the things.

Up to 11th Gen Intel (hopefully the nicer G7 SoC, as opposed to the lower powered one, but we'll see), with Integrated Intel Iris X Graphics. Premium graphics option, check.

Up to 32 GB LPDDR4 (4266MHz) RAM. More than 16GB RAM option, check.

52.8 Whr Battery, with rapid charge. Something more than a mid 40 Whr battery, check.

Integrated rechargeable pen stylus. Check.

13.3" 16:10 WQXGA or WUXGA sisplay options, Check. (This is incredible news, btw).

Thunderbolt 4 x2 Ports, check.

LTE WANN option, check.

Lighter than 3lb, at 2.65 lb, check.

POWER ON MoC TOUCH FINGER PRINT READER! (Applause, Check)

Black Carbon Fiber Hybrid color / chassis treatment, check

This is the Thinkpad Yoga I have been dreaming about since 2015. I can't think of a single thing I would add or take away from it. It might be perfect.

Press Release says it'll be around in April, starting at 1379 USD. Believe I will be lurking the Lenovo Website for sales and double coupons the latter part of the year. The rest of the Press Release is here.

X1 Titanium Yoga (13.5" Intel) Gen 1

There's a lot to talk about here, but the main reason to get one of these is the 3:2 Aspect Ratio display option.

The 13.5" QHD (2256 x 1504) IPS, anti-reflective, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision, 450 nits has 1200:1 contrast ratio (better than average), with 72% NTSC Color Gamut (average).

But, it's a 3:2 aspect ratio, 2-in-1 Thinkpad Yoga. That said, I haven't held one in my hands, or used one. The general warning with some of the Thinkpad Yoga products for 2021, the keyboard isn't as deep or nice as usual. With how thin and light they are getting Thinkpads, that isn't a surprise. I suspect that this model might have that issue. If you're all right with a shallower feeling keyboard, and just gotta have a 3:2 aspect ratio 2-in-1, maybe pull the trigger on this one.

X1 Nano Gen 1 (13" Nano)

This isn't a Thinkpad Yoga, but because of the Thinkvision M14t portable pen display, I feel like the Nano needs to get talked about a little bit. The non-touch screen, WiFi only model, is 1.99 lbs. The M14t portable pen display is about a 1.5 lb. With a Nano and a an M14t display, one could have a dual-display option, all Think branded, for about the same weight as an X1 Yoga Gen 6. Also, the Thinkpad Nano has a really nice 2K (I love 2k) 16:10 aspect ratio, low power, 100% sRGB color gamut, display.

Having a portal rig that light, with a dual-display set up would be amazing. I could have my basis pics and reference work on the Nano's display, while I was drawing or writing on the M14t. If you're a digital artist that works with two display, one above the other, this could be a silver bullet for working mobile. There is a touch-screen model for the Nano, but I don't recommend getting that to work with a pen display.

Windows 10 really struggles to parse more than one touch screen, or pen display, connected. Getting your pen stylus buttons to work is tough. If the X1 Nano + M14t Setup sounds awesome, get the non-touch display option. It's lighter, and your pen stylus settings should just work on the portable display without fiddling. The M14t display monitor is a really good buy, just in general, because it is one of those products that doesn't come around too often.

Finding an M14t monitor could be tricky. It is often sold out, so some hunting and lurking online may be required.

Non-Yoga Thinkpads

The standout models here are basically anything with an AMD chipset (yay, options!), and the the Thinkpad T15g.

I've recommended a few AMD models since they've been a regular offering in different Thinkpad lines. All good news, people are happy, and I'm much relieved the recommendations worked out. I figured they would, but like most folks that live in Thinkpad Land, we're a little nervous about big changes.

What I'm not nervous about is the Thinkpad T15g.

It's a desktop replacement option that isn't in the X1 line (and limited in configuration options), or in the P Series (expensive, NVIDIA Quadro standard). It has processor options that range from the Core i5-10400H up to a Xeon W-10885M. It's listed as being compatible with all the Linux, Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise, Ubuntu, and so forth.

Graphics Options are NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 or 2080 SUPER Max-Q.

It can have up to 128 GB of RAM, DDR4 or ECC for models with a Xeon Processor.

Up to two M.2 2280 SSD drives, with 2 TB each.

There's standard FHD display options, a UHD option, and an OLED UHD option with a 100,000:1 Contrast Ratio, 100% DCI-P3 Color Gamut. With that particular option, a pen stylus will work on it.

The Thinkpad T15g is big (6 lb), and ugly (standard Thinkpad Black chassis finish), but you could work, and game on it with pretty equal ability. It's a Thinkpad ... but for gaming, too?

[aleishastarns0-blog]

What is personal privacy tempered glass screen protector and just how does it function?

Visual hacking and smartphone hacking is extremely common nowadays. Today, our phone is a multi-purpose device as well as it has a great deal of info and also one can access extra professional and personal info. You can not maintain your display exposed, since there is constantly the risk of aesthetic hacking. You require to conserve your valuable data and need to protect your crucial material from various aesthetic cyberpunks. The personal privacy tempered glass screen guard can help you to do the job. These screen guards feature an unique filter. This filter enables just the light to experience the certain angles. If someone wants to see your exposed display screen, they will certainly see the smudged or dimmed display. The viewing angle with this protector is straight however not from the sides. Exactly how the privacy screen protector job: With the aid of the personal privacy screen guard, you can hide all your important records from others and also just you can see them. That suggests you will be devoid of the concern of aesthetic hacking. With special complex filter, it keeps the cyberpunks away from your visual screen. This filter is much more like the typical home window blinds anticipate the fact that the filter is pre-programmed to the angle of the narrow front that allows you to see every little thing but not the person alongside you. It comes with a straight seeing angle. This angle is referred to as privacy angle. As the light go straight, it will certainly not enable individuals to see your display screen from sides. Not only for smartphones yet these sorts of solidified glasses are offered for laptop computers or computers likewise. That suggests you can function independently on your laptop computer too. It power outages your display for others or protects against profiles. Outside 60 level angle, no one will certainly have the ability to see the phone display screen but besides that, you will obtain excellent viewing experience because the screen comes with some great added functions. Anti-glare layer The anti-glare finishing assists you to take pleasure in the outstanding watching experience. When you are out in the sunlight, it is quite challenging to see your vivid display. The antiglare attribute can decrease the representation degree of the sun and also you can see the screen clearly. That indicates you can function pleasantly when functioning outside. However your screen can look a bit darker when you are using the privacy screen guard. Decrease of blue light Most of the personal privacy protection solidified glass includes the attribute of blue light decrease. Blue light can influence your eyes and also rest. It also interferes with the circadian rhythm. Blue light can re-train your rest hormones and also create you to stay awake. Privacy protector toughened up glasses can function efficiently in this circumstance to conserve your eyes. You might obtain revealed to the light yet it will certainly not influence your rest cycle. In addition to these added functions, this sort of screen protector features every benefit that you can receive from a high quality solidified glass like saving the actual screen of the phone, saving your screen from square one, dirt, and so on If you enjoyed this write-up and you would certainly such as to receive additional information regarding smartphone screen protector China [Medasguard wrote] kindly browse through the web page.

[imaredshirt]

Attack of the Space Slugs

They may be surrounded, but Coco's not about to let the Space Slugs steal her Papá away.

(In which a young Rivera stays up past her bedtime, and imaginations run wild.)

Written for the Coco Locos Fluff-Off contest.

This didn't end up being as fluffy as I'd hoped. Also I wrote it in a couple of hours, and it hasn't been edited at all, so I apologize for all of it.

Modern AU. Coco's about 7 here.

Prompt used was "You did what!?"

Héctor couldn’t sleep.

That nervous excitement he always experienced before leaving on trips was keeping him up. He could hardly stay still under the covers, but he tried so Imelda wouldn’t be bothered. All he wanted to do was get up and pace around, maybe take the guitar outside to play a bit, but he needed sleep. If he didn’t sleep tonight, he’d have to sleep on the ride to the city, and he did not look forward to trying to sleep in Ernesto’s ’07 sedan. The thing was louder than a dying tractor.

But that wasn’t all, he thought, turning in bed. There was more on his mind that kept him from sleeping.

Over an hour ago he and Imelda had tucked Coco into bed, and after accepting a kiss goodnight on her brow from Héctor, Coco had gripped his hand and said in a voice more serious than any child should ever know, “I will never forget you, Papá, no matter how long you’re gone. OK?”

He’d felt his heart drop through the floor at that.

He’d been gone on trips with Ernesto before, but the longest of those trips had lasted a week, and his daughter knew this upcoming trip was going to be much longer.

Héctor would be gone for 45 days. 45 days touring the country, side by side with Ernesto, singing for cheering crowds and judgmental producers and longtime Youtube fans. 45 days away from Santa Cecilia and his family. 45 days returning to cold hotel rooms and curling up alone in narrow beds to sleep while Ernesto snored away in an adjacent bed.

He’d promised Coco they would Skype every night before bed and almost every morning before she went off to school, and she had seemed excited at that. But Héctor couldn’t get over the fact that seeing his wife and child’s faces on the small screen of his phone or busted laptop was a far cry from being able to be near enough to hug.

It was going to be tough. They’d planned the trip for weeks, but it didn’t lessen the blow of being away for so long.

Héctor shut his eyes and tried to ignore the thoughts that had bugged him for days. But almost immediately he sat up, pushed the blanket off his legs, and switched on his bedside lamp.

The rest of the room was dark, but with the soft light he could see his suitcase and duffle bag sitting by the door. His guitar case was propped up by the dresser he shared with his wife.

If he couldn’t sleep, the least he could do was triple-check he’d packed everything.

Glancing at Imelda, who was laying on her side and facing away from him, Héctor began to carefully move off the bed. He and Imelda and begun the night hugging, whispering to each other of the plans for the next day, but some time during that sleepless hour, she had turned away from him.

When his foot touched the floor, Imelda shifted until she was facing him, seemingly as wide awake as he was.

“Still can’t sleep, Héctor?”

“You’ve been awake this whole time?” Héctor asked, incredulous as he sat back against the headboard instead of leaving the bed.

“Your thoughts are so loud, I can practically hear them,” Imelda said. She sat up next to him and sighed when he took her hand to trace each finger with a feather light touch. “You’re still thinking about Coco.”

“She sounded so sad, Imelda,” Héctor said without meeting her eyes.

“And you know why,” Imelda said. “You’re going to be gone for over a month. How do you expect her to react?”

He knew his trip was going to leave Coco sad until he returned, but what was he supposed to do? He and Imelda had shared this same conversation many times before. It always left him feeling guilty. He couldn’t cancel the trip, not now.

Grimacing, Héctor considered suggesting they watch Y Tu Mamá Tabien until they fell asleep—anything other than continue the conversation—but at that moment their door opened, and Coco marched through.

Héctor and Imelda both glanced over and stared. They were speechless.

Sometime during the night, their daughter had donned her pink winter coat, the boots with sunflowers that her tíos had bought for her birthday, Imelda’s severe looking sunglasses, and the violet helmet she used when she rode her bike with Héctor around their home. Her Princess Elena calculator was taped to the coat pocket.

For a moment all three of them stared silently at each other. Then Coco adjusted the sunglasses, strode forward, grabbed the corner of the quilt Imelda had folded at the foot of the bed, and began to gather it into her arms.

“Coco?” Imelda asked, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“I need this,” Coco said with a grunt, and with a final tug, the whole quilt fell into her arms.

“Is it cold in your room?” Héctor asked.

“No,” Coco said. “I need to reinforce my Space Slug Resistant shelter!”

Héctor and Imelda glanced at each other, and Héctor knew Imelda had come to the same realization. Three nights ago, Oscar and Felipe had stayed with Coco while her parents left for a night out. When they returned, they found the three younger Riveras fast asleep in the living room under a meticulously built pillow fort, and the old 80s B movie “Captain Rodriguez and the Attack of the Space Slugs!!!” still playing on Felipe’s laptop.

But Coco had never mentioned anything about the movie until now.

“Do you need more pillows?” Héctor asked, as Coco resorted to rolling the quilt into a ball on the floor.

“No,” Coco said, lifting the quilt again. “This is good.”

With some effort, she hefted the quilt in one arm and taped the calculator on her jacket. It beeped.

She announced with authority as if speaking into a radio, “I have the material! Returning now!” She paused and saluted her parents. “The fleet thanks you for your contribution to the galactic war. Farewell and stay safe!”

With that she turned on her heel and, without another word, marched out the door.

There was a moment of silence as Héctor and Imelda stared at the empty doorway before Héctor hummed and grinned apologetically at Imelda.

“Well,” he said. “We can finish this conversation, or we can go see what that was all about.”

“And you’re going to choose the latter, aren’t you,” Imelda said in a flat voice.

“Ay, amor, you know me so well,” Héctor said, just before leaning over to kiss her cheek and then rolling out of bed.

Imelda watched him leave their room with an arched eyebrow, arms crossed, and Héctor swore he could feel her eyes burning holes into his shoulder blades just before he shut the door behind him.

Héctor had been gone for almost an hour when Imelda headed out to look for him. It shouldn't have taken that long to finish whatever game Coco was playing and send her back to bed.

Either the man had let himself be tricked into playing with her, or he was avoiding finishing the conversation that he had started.

Or both, probably.

As Imelda neared Coco’s bedroom, she heard her family’s laughter coming from behind the closed door, and huffed.

It was both. Definitely both.

“Look out, there’s a sand storm coming!” Said Coco’s voice, and Imelda put her ear to the door with a frown. “Whoosh whoosh! It’s here! Seal all the doors with every pillow you can find!”

“Right away, Captain Rivera!” Héctor said, and there was a shuffling sound, and Coco’s little voice saying, “The storm will take everything down if we don’t work fast Papá, and then we’ll have no shelter from them, and we’ll both die horrible deaths--”

“Ah, Coco--” Héctor said quickly, possibly coming to the same conclusion as Imelda--Coco’s make-believe game was becoming a little violent.

“One already bit you, Papá! It’s not long before the eggs crawl through your blood system and plant themselves in your brain!”

“O-kay,” Héctor said with some authority (if it wasn’t for the humor in his voice.) “Why don’t we play something else. What about unicorn wranglers or rainbow--”

“Unicorn wranglers? Pobrecito, they’re already clouding your mind,” Coco said solemnly, and Imelda found herself stifling a bemused chortle with her hand. “Don’t worry Papá, as long as the storm doesn’t damage our supply of anti-venom, you’ll be ok.”

“Well, that’s good,” Héctor said, and finally Imelda opened the door. It sounded like a good place to end their game.

When she stepped into the room, she paused and raised her eyebrows at the sight that greeted her. Coco’s favorite blanket had been stretched across wicker chairs and the corners of her dresser, the baby blue material pockmarked by little lilac stars and planets and decorated with strings of little lights. A fluffed pillow was leaning against what looked like a Coco sized entry way right in front of Imelda, with Coco’s Rey and Finn figurines standing on either side like guards. Coco and Héctor’s shadows were visible from within the fort, as if some source of light glowed softly in the center and casted their shadows against the blanket.

Imelda quietly shut the door behind her, then went to stand near the opening, arms crossed, as she listened to Coco make more “whoosh whoosh” sounds.

“The wind’s too strong, the storm is taking down the fort!” Coco screamed, and Héctor gasped. Discreetly, he gripped the bottom of the blanket and began to shake it, as if it really was billowing in some strong wind.

“Oh no!” Coco yelled. “The anti-venom! It’s gone! The wind took it!”

“Oh nooo! What do we do, Captain?” Héctor asked in one of the most dramatic voices Imelda had ever heard him use. “We won’t make it without the anti-venom! We’re doomed!”

Imelda watched his shadow throw an arm against his forehead in a display of ultimate despair.

“I won’t let you succumb to the venom, Papá!” Coco said. “We’ll make it through this. Remember, we’re Riveras! We’re tough!”

“You’re right mijita, but—oh no—” Héctor gasped. “Oh no--”

“What? What is it?” Coco asked in a near whisper.

“Mira--outside. There’s a shadow,” Héctor said. His shadow pointed right at Imelda and Imelda planted her fists on her hips, “Somebody’s here. We’re not alone!”

Coco gasped. Her shadow scrambled into Héctor’s lap. “We’re surrounded! Shhh, they can’t know we’re here!”

“It’s too late,” Imelda said in a booming voice to two surprised gasps. She squared her shoulders and held her hands up like claws, casting a monstrous shadow against the wall of lilac stars.

Her first instinct had been to end the game and send Coco to bed. It was late, there was school tomorrow, and Héctor wasn’t done packing for his trip. She was sure Héctor and Coco had expected her to do the same. But Héctor had already involved her in the imaginary adventure by pointing her out, and as strict as she knew she should be, she was not about to send her daughter to bed in tears.

Besides, this was going to be the last night they spent together as a family for many nights to come. She might as well join in on whatever fun there was to be had before it was all put to an end.

“You can’t escape me,” she growled and stomped forward. “Soy el cucuy, and I can sniff out little daughters who should be in bed and are not!”

“No, Mamá!” Coco said insistently, “We’re playing Space Slugs!”

Imelda paused and silently promised punishment upon her brothers and their awful 80s B movies. “Ah.”

“Yeah, Imelda, remember?” Héctor said. “Space Slugs.”

Imelda rolled her eyes. She could very clearly picture Héctor’s teasing expression, even if she couldn’t see it. “Pues, I am the Space Slug of Sleep, and I smell two humans who should be sleeping!”

After one giant step forward, she grabbed the ballerina print pillow covering the fort entrance and tossed it aside. Coco screamed and Héctor shrieked and Imelda ducked her head under the star strewn roof and roared.

Inside the fort, Héctor was seated on a purple pillow with the top of his mussed hair brushing the bed sheet stretched overhead. In his lap, Coco was still dressed in her strange outfit, and she pointed one gloved finger at Imelda and yelled, “We have a breach!”

“Que está despierto!” Imelda snarled, flexing her spread fingers like grasping claws, and suddenly Coco rolled out of her Papá’s lap and ran at Imelda with her hands in the air as if shielding Héctor from the intruder. Shrieking with laughter, she ran until Imelda scooped her up into her arms and cuddled her close.

“Caught you!” Imelda said, tickling Coco’s sides. “You should be asleep, chiquita!”

“Noo, nooo Mamá!” Coco giggled. She kicked her legs until Imelda, kneeling, finally set her down. Gasping around her giggling, Coco took hold of Imelda’s hand and pointed at her laughing father. “We can’t sleep! Papá’s been infected by Space Slugs!”

“Good,” Imelda growled. “He’s mine to control. He’ll wash dishes for one thousand years—”

“Noooo!” Coco and Héctor cried in unison.

“Sí!”

“But Mamá, you’re not a slug,” Coco said with a stomp of her foot. Imelda frowned at her sudden anger until Coco tugged her further into the fort, pulling her to sit cross legged next to Héctor. “You’re Doctor Imelda, and you have to help cure Papá, ok?”

“Oh?” Imelda asked. She raised an eyebrow at Héctor, who grinned at her and nudged her in the side with his elbow.

“Ándale, Imelda, have some fun.”

“It’s not fun,” Coco said gravely. “This is a dire situation, Papá. You won’t make it through the night if we can’t help you!”

Héctor and Imelda exchanged glances. Their daughter had apparently taken the old movie very seriously. Imelda would consider banning her brothers from watching those badly filmed movies ever again if she wasn’t sure they’d find a way around it.

“Of course,” Héctor said placatingly, “Lo siento, mijita.”

“We have to be serious,” Coco said, tapping the palm of her hand with each word. “Doctor Imelda, can you help him?”

“You just had to go and get yourself infected, didn’t you,” Imelda said to Héctor, who shrugged and gave her an apologetic smile with puppy dog eyes.

“I’m sorry, Doctor Imelda.”

Coco was watching them intently, all joy from the game apparently gone from her mind.

“Very well,” Imelda said, and Coco gave a relieved sigh. “I will help him. So how do we get the slugs out of his blood?”

“We lost all our anti-venom in the dust storm,” Coco said. She rubbed her chin and sighed. “We have one choice left. We must operate.” She gave Héctor a pitying look and patted his knee. “I’m sorry, Papá. But Doctor Imelda is the best in the whole entire universe. If anyone can save you, it’s her.”

“I believe it,” Héctor said, and winked at Imelda.

“We can’t leave those mean slug jerks in you any longer!” Coco said, and Imelda felt some relief that her brothers had at least showed Coco the PG-13 version of the movie to keep her from repeating curses from the original dialogue. “The longer they’re in you, the more bad ideas they give you!”

“Dios mio! I’ll do what I can, Captain. We don’t want bad ideas,” Imelda said, with Héctor nodding in agreement. In the movie, the “bad ideas” the slugs had planted in the lost space crew had been badly filmed hallucinations that led to ridiculous deaths.

“I’ll get you the specialized tools to cut his arm open and take the slugs and their eggs out,” Coco said. Héctor looked alarmed at the gory imagery. “Because if we don’t do it now, the slugs might make him go away forever!”

“I would never leave you forever,” Héctor said, looking softly at his daughter. He was gripping his hands together, suddenly uncomfortable with the make-believe dangers of the game, and Imelda watched silently as Coco stomped her foot and clenched her fists.

“They’re already making you leave with Tío Ernesto! Again! Who knows what they’ll do after that!” She shook her head and looked at Imelda. “He’s not in his right brain. He’s been wandering the Slug Desert for 100 years all by himself. He’s losing his mind. We have to help him.” She looked at Héctor and took a deep breath. “I’ll always remember you Papá, but I won’t let them take you forever.”

Héctor looked over Coco’s braided hair at Imelda, uncertain and lost. Imelda didn’t know what to say. Coco had never reacted this way to Héctor traveling. And she’d already told him there was nothing he could do to placate her unless he canceled the trip. What comfort could Imelda offer when their daughter was clearly more distraught than either of them had imagined?

“Coco,” Héctor said slowly, “I’m coming home, mija. I’m not--”

At that moment, Héctor’s phone began to ring from his pocket, and with a tsk he pulled it out to silence it--

--and Coco snatched it out of his hand.

Shuffling out of reach, Coco answered before either of her parents could stop her. “Captain Rivera speaking! This better be important!”

There a second of silence on the other end, then Ernesto’s voice said, “Captain Coco, I need to speak to your Papá.”

“He’s dying,” Coco said matter-of-factly.

“Qué molestia,” Ernesto said. “Can I speak to him before he does?”

“No! We’re going to operate!”

“Coco,” Héctor said, and tried to reach for the phone, but Coco grabbed a pillow up to fend him off.

“Well, when you’re done, tell him I’m a minute away,” Ernesto’s voice said. “We need to speak before--”

“OK, bye,” Coco said, and hung up before Ernesto could finish. She lowered the pillow and met Imelda’s eyes. “We need to operate. Now.”

“Mijita,” Imelda said. “Maybe we should talk.”

“No time! We need to get those slugs out!”

“Coco,” Héctor said again, and his next words were drowned out by the rumble of an angry engine roaring down the road outside.

Coco gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide. She looked at her parents and said in a loud whisper, “It’s the Slug King.”

“No, mija, it’s Tío Ernesto,” Héctor said with a frown.

Imelda have him an irritated look. Just what did Ernesto need to say at one in the morning? And did his car really need to be so loud?

With a sigh, Héctor shrugged and began to crawl out of the fort. “I’ll be right back.”

“No, Papá!” Coco gasped. “We need to operate!”

“We’ll operate later,” Imelda said, picking Coco up to bring her close. “As soon as we can. Right now, Papá needs to tell the Slug King to go away.”

“I promise I’ll be back,” Héctor said. He saluted her and winked. “I promise, Captain.”

Pursing her lips, Coco have him a return salute, and Héctor ducked out of the fort without another word.

“Godspeed, Papá,” Coco said solemnly, and Imelda promised herself she’d have a very serious talk with her brothers about their awful movies before they even had a chance to leave their room the next morning.

The King Slug had her Papá. Coco just knew it.

He’d been gone too long. Coco didn’t know exactly how long, but it felt like a really long time, and Mamá already looked sleepy. She wasn’t even keeping up with Coco in sneaking through the front door to find Papá.

Still clad in her Captain outfit, Coco gestured sharply at Mamá to keep as silent as possible. Mamá nodded, holding her helmet (a large bucket Coco had dug out of her closet) steady over her braids, and followed Coco through the entryway.

Coco knew they were walking through their home. But in her imagination, they were also walking through the Slug Desert, where Papá had wandered all alone and got bitten by slugs. They had to be careful, or they’d get bitten too, and her whole family would wander apart from each other for a billion years.

Coco wouldn’t let that happen. No way. Not to her familia.

She could hear voices coming from the sitting room. Angry voices. She wondered if the King Slug was there. She’d heard it growling angrily outside their home before Papá had disappeared.

The sitting room was right around the corner. Flattening herself against the wall, and motioning for Mamá to do the same, Coco very carefully peeked around the edge.

“You did what?!”

“Héctor--”

“Without asking me first!”

“Listen to me--”

That was Papá and Tío Ernesto. Yelling at each other. It sounded like they had been arguing forever. Coco saw Papá walking back and forth and running a hand through his messy hair, and Tío Ernesto waving a hand at him as he talked. With a worried frown, Coco looked up at Mamá. She looked angry and confused, listening to the voices without looking around the corner.

“Two more months, and that’s all,” Tío Ernesto said, like he was trying to calm Papá down. “It won’t even feel that long--mira, we can visit as often as we want once we get paid--”

“I don’t want to just visit my family,” Papá said. “I shouldn’t have to visit them! Por Dios, Nesto, I can’t be away three months!”

Coco’s heart hurt. Away for three months? That was too long. Papá was going away for too long. Why would he do that?

Except, Coco knew why. She’d known from the very beginning.

The slugs were taking hold of Papá.

Narrowing her eyes, she looked around the corner again and saw something angry in Tío Ernesto’s glare.

It was the King Slug. And it had taken control of Tío Ernesto already.

Now it wanted Papá.

Coco took a deep breath. She was in her home, she knew that, but her imagination turned the comfortable place into the hot, dusty plains of the Slug Desert. The sun was beating down on her. Her Mamá was leaning back against a giant boulder, frowning at the red alien sky, her gloved hands clenched at her sides. Around the boulder, Papá was trapped in a gulley, his hair full of sand and dirt, his soldier’s gear torn and beaten, and in front of him his old friend looked at him with the King Slug’s glittering silver eyes.

“So they visit you!” Ernesto said. “Héctor, if we keep to this contract, we’ll make enough to fly them out every other weekend. Luxury hotels, expensive food, only the best. And we’ll have the same every day. We just need to--”

“Ernesto,” Papá said, sounding sad and angry at the same time. “I can’t. I can do the first month, but the next two? No.”

Tío Ernesto had a look in his eyes that Coco didn’t like. “I need your songs, Héctor. I need you there with me.” He paused and stepped closer to Papá, holding his hands out. “We’re this close. Only three months, and we’ll be famous. We’ll achieve our dreams, hermanito.”

Papá was quiet, looking at the ground, frowning. Coco pursed her lips. Papá couldn’t possibly be thinking of doing it! The King Slug couldn’t take him away like this!

With a smile, Tío Ernesto thumped a hand on Papá’s shoulder. “I bought our favorite tequila for the trip. A few shots and all our worries will be gone.”

Papá bit his lip. Coco’s heart fell.

She was going to lose him forever.

The King Slug was winning. The Bad Ideas were winning.

With a huff, Coco clenched her fist. No. No, she wouldn’t let it end like this. Maybe it was too late for Tío Ernesto. But it wasn’t for Papá. She was Captain Rivera, and like the captain from the movie, she was going to protect her crew!

She replayed the best scene in her mind. In the movie, the captain had taken her weapon from her belt. In Coco’s case, she removed one boot.

Ready.

The movie captain had pointed the weapon at the King Slug, yelling and running. But Coco just lifted her boot over her head and narrowed her eyes at Tío Ernesto’s forehead.

Aim.

And then, with tears in her eyes, the movie captain had fired lasers into the King Slug’s gaping maw.

Coco tightened her grip on the boot. She lifted it high over her head, and swung.

Fire.

The boot flew through the air. And like a missle, it hit it’s target dead center.

She’d heard Tío Ernesto curse before, but never like this. The word tore from his throat when the boot hit him between the eyes and his head knocked back. The boot fell, and he slapped a hand to his face, while Papá stared in shock.

Coco couldn’t hold herself back anymore. With a yell, she ran around the corner and leaped into Papá’s arms.

“You can’t go!” She sobbed. She didn’t know when she had started crying. “Don’t let the slugs take you! You can’t! You can’t!”

She was sobbing too hard to talk. Her throat hurt. She pressed her face into Papá’s shirt and held him so tight she thought she would break his neck. He was holding her tight, patting her back, but nothing would calm her down, not if he left.

There was silence. And then, Papá said, “You need to go home, Ernesto.”

Tío Ernesto said slowly, “And we’ll leave tomorrow?”

Papá’s hand soothed down Coco’s hair. “I don’t think so. Not now.”

Tío Ernesto sounded angry when he spoke, like the King Slug was talking through him, “You can’t be serious!”

“He is very serious,” Mamá’s voice said from nearby. “Making contracts without him, Ernesto, you--”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Papá said. “Por favor, Nesto.”

Tío Ernesto was quiet. He’d made Papá angry, and he was angry too, but Coco didn’t care. He wasn’t making Papá leave.

“Bueno.” Tío Ernesto sounded farther away. “I’ll call you. But this is a mistake, Héctor.”

“Maybe,” Papá said. Silence again, then footsteps, and the sound of the front door slamming shut.

“Coco,” Papá said, softly, and Coco sniffled. “Mija.”

“I don’t want to play Space Slugs anymore,” Coco said. She was tired. Her head hurt. She was also hungry. Crying too a lot of energy. “Can we watch a movie? Por favor?” Mamá and Papá looked at each other for a long time. Until Papá smiled and ruffled her hair. “Of course. What movie do you want to see?”

“Not from Tío Oscar or Tío Felipe’s old movies,” Mamá ordered, and Coco thought next time she should be captain.

“Ninja Turtles!” Coco said. “No! Zootopia! Wait--Princess and the Frog--”

“You have until I make popcorn to decide,” Mamá said, walking to the kitchen, and Coco went through her entire movie collection in her head, ignoring the roar of the King Slug outside as it moved farther and farther from their home.

They weren’t in the desert anymore. It wasn’t hot and dusty. They were in their home, and it was warm and cozy, and the pillow fort glowed softly around them.

The King Slug and Tío Ernesto’s Bad Ideas were far away.

Coco plucked the last of the popcorn from the bowl and tossed them into her mouth. On the laptop screen, Stitch was saving Lilo, and Coco sipped at her mug of warm atole.

On either side of her, Mamá and Papá slept peacefully, cushioned by Coco’s favorite pillows and blankets. Papá was snoring. Usually it made Coco giggle, but tonight she was just glad to hear it.

Papá wasn’t leaving. Not for a while, at least. The King Slug hadn’t won.

Captain Rivera had won.

Smirking, triumphant, Coco snuggled back against her orange pillow and set her mug down. She knew her parents wouldn’t send her to school tomorrow, since they had all gone to sleep so late, and she knew Papá wasn’t going away for three months.

It had been tough, but she had definitely won. She’d even done better than the movie captain! The movie captain had lost four of her crew. And Coco? She hadn’t lost anyone.

...except for Tío Ernesto.

Well. She tapped her chin. She’d have to save him some day, too. Get rid of the King Slug forever and free her Papá’s friend. Somehow. One day.

But sometimes you just had to be glad for the people you did save. And she was glad she’d saved Papá.

She was really sleepy. Pulling her blanket up to her chin, Coco shut her eyes and listened to the end of the movie playing.

She loved her Papá’s songs, but for once she was glad they weren’t singing Remember Me before Papá left on a trip.

Warm, with both her parents close, Captain Rivera fell asleep, listening to the snoring and the movie and knowing Mamá and Papá were safe at home.

(And one day, Tío Ernesto would be safe, too.)

[phoneguard02]

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[langleycell]

Best iPhone Screen Guards

Are you using your iPhone without a screen protector on? You must admit that is a significant risk! When accidents do happen, having a high-quality glass screen on hand can prevent you from having to spend hundreds of dollars on repairs.

We've compiled a list of the top iPhone screen shields currently available. These scratch-resistant alternatives are made by top-tier vendors, many of which are offered in your Global Cell Phone and Laptop Repair Center in Langley. So be sure to drop by and browse their selection!

2023's top iPhone screen protectors The options available now differ greatly in terms of appearance, feel, and utility. Get the screen protector that best meets your needs!

Most effective tempered glass screen protector Screen guards are often made of one of these three substances:

Tempered glass, Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

If you have an older model phone, such as an iPhone X or iPhone 8, PET and TPU screen guards are less expensive options that might still function. You should spend a little extra money on a tempered glass display cover for newer iPhone models, though. They are without a doubt our preferred material option due to their several layers, improved light transmission, and shock protection.

Smudge and scratch resistance are both included in the ZAGG InvisibleShield Glass Elite protector, which is four times more durable than the majority of glass screen protectors.

Best Screen Protector For Privacy Visual hacking is a seriously underrated risk. 91% of graphical hacking attempts, according to one study, are successful! If you're concerned that con artists will steal private information from your iPhone, use a screen protector with more robust privacy protections. These options include a second privacy screen that limits the directions from which light can enter. It typically implies that if you are not looking directly at your device's screen, the screen will be obscured from your point of view and you won't be able to see it.

For the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, and other devices, the Invisible Shield Glass Elite Privacy range offers a number of excellent options. We advise the Privacy+ with an antibacterial component or the Privacy 360 with a four-way filter that functions in both portrait and landscape mode.

Best Screen Protector for Glare Many blue light guards exist to prevent excessive glare, which can harm our eyesight. To avoid that uncomfortable or unpleasant feeling you get from staring at your mobile screen for too long, another alternative is to get an anti-glare screen protector.

If you're concerned about protecting your eyes, think about the VisionGuard or ZAGG Glass+ Anti-Glare. Defend your eyes while simultaneously displaying!

Where can you find updated iPhone screen protection? All of the alternatives described above can be purchased from the ZAGG website. Fortunately, they all include with a simple installation package, but if you're hesitant to do it yourself, you might choose to contact Global Cell Phone and Laptop Repair Center in Langley

The technicians at Global Cell Phone and Laptop Repair Center in Langley will assist you in selecting the appropriate accessories for your device and making sure it is installed correctly so you are safeguarded when you need it most.

For the iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, and other devices, we provide a large selection of screen protectors in our stores. To get accessories like silicone case, phone chargers, chargers, and more, visit your store! Global Cell Phone and Laptop Repair Center in Langley. A cracked iPhone screen can be easily replaced with our assistance!

[phoenixinnovations]

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[huffle-dork]

The Virus

Okay so I’m not the best fanfic writer but I’ve had this idea for a while and I’m pretty proud of this! Fair warning it’s kinda long... let me know what you think and I’ll be drawing probably so much stuff from this;;; so yeah byeeee

Oh yeah all this is based of @reverseblackholeofwords ’s versions of the characters cuz they’re the best~

.......

Anti buzzed around the office, filled with a nervous raging energy he had no idea what to do with. He rung his hands, drummed on this thighs with his fingers, tugged on his hoodie strings, tapped his foot to some non-existent song but nothing channeled the energy out. He growled quietly to himself in frustration, retreating to his pillow fort and kicking a pillow before plopping to the ground.

“Someone’s wound up today,” Red teased from his spot on the couch, hearing his brother’s anxious footsteps.

“Shut yer trap,” Anti grumbled back, tossing and turning from his stomach to his back on top of his mountain of pillows.

“Both of you need to shut up,” Google called from his desk, an irritated tone to his voice. Well more so than usual. “I’m working on something that needs major concentration.”

“Ah- sorry Blue,” Red chimed back, returning to whatever game he was playing. Anti grumbled back in response, gripping a pillow to his face. Then he got an idea. A terrible idea, but an idea his mind immediately latched to.

Maybe he just needed to cause some mischief. He had a pretty good “goodness” streak going, it was time he did something, well, not so “good”. But only a prank, he thought, nothing too bad. He peeked out of the curtains of his fort to the sight of Blue bent over his laptop, the light of the screen reflecting in his glasses, his hair messy and in his face. Blue was the best target when Ollie wasn’t around. Green gets to wound up from pranks and if Anti touched one more thing of Red’s he’d have to deal with being “secondary objective”’ed out a window.

Anti let his hands turn to static, an eager grin spreading across his face. Like a cat waiting to pounce he watched Google work. I’ll just switch some files around or something, maybe like jumpscare him then get out, the glitch plotted, letting his body turn completely static as he pounced and snuck into laptop from the back.

The computer twitched with green and red sparks the soon as Anti made contact and Google recoiled back. An error message popped up, then two more, then four-

“What the-?” Google mumbled annoyed. Then eyes widening, he began to panic.

“No-! Anti is that you?! Get out! You can’t be in th-!”

Google was cut off with the computer exploding into sparks and the glitch being shot from the computer like a rocket, cracking against the office wall in a wave of colored sparks.

Red shot out of his seat, game forgotten. “W-what the hell was that?!” He stammered, eyeing the place where Anti landed in a smoking heap before his eyes fell back to a distressed Blue.

“H-he, Anti glitched into my computer. B-but I was working deleting on a very dangerous virus!” Google stammered. He saw Anti’s still form twitch, sparking with electricity. Red ran over to go help Anti up but Blue cried, “Wait, Red!”

Suddenly Anti started to twitch more feverously, his form glitching dramatically. Then he rose, lifelessly, like he wasn’t in control of his own body. His head limply fell across his shoulder, staring at Red and Google blankly. His eyes were pitch black. But most concerning of all was the colorful, circuit like markings crawling up Anti’s face.

“Shit-,” Red breathed, a chill running up his spine. “Anti are you okay-?” he carefully extended a hand, offering to help him up. Anti’s head snapped towards him, glitching crazily, before he too extended a hand and shot a spark of electricity right towards Red.

Red tried to dodge but he got blasted in the shoulder, causing him to roll across the floor. He cried out, trying to catch his bearings. His eyes flashed red, locking his sights on Anti as the glitch rose unsteadily towards his feet, glitching so sporadically his form never seemed to stay in one place.

“Red!” Google called, “You can’t let him get into anything connected to the main power, or the whole building will be infected!”

Red growled, “So what can we do?!”

“Keep him distracted until we can put him in the cell! I’ve already called Green and Oliver.”

“Okay, so keep an angry infected glitch distracted…” Red mumbled, digging out a knife from his pocket, just as Anti looked around the room and seemed to spot the lights. Red charged at Anti before he could glitch upwards, “This should be quite the challenge!”

Anti was caught off guard and was thrown back, but he managed to land on his feet. He stared up at Red, taking a second as the virus within him assessed its new target. He materialized his knife into his hand and growled, but he sounded wrong. All that came out of his mouth was a series of static and error type sounds, like Anti was some broken machine. Red swallowed and suppressed another shiver as he stood his ground against the glitch.

Then Anti glitched to Red’s side and the droid barely had any time to dodge before Anti slammed his body into his side sending Red flying back. He bumped against the ground, hearing something dent in his arm and quickly tried to find his footing. But Anti was too fast, and he was already on top of Red, his knife flashing and coming down towards Red’s chest. Red gasped and quickly tried to hold Anti’s arms back but Anti had strength in him from the virus that Red has never seen before. Fear chugged through his system as he felt Anti dig the knife closer and closer. The circuit like pattern on Anti’s skin was crawling up fast too, Red could see it was reaching up his arms and it was already to Anti’s cheeks. Anti glitched and suddenly the blank expression on his face changed to one of pain, if only for a second. His breathing hitched, and he panted like he couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t breathe. Red panicked slightly, worried he was hurting him.

“Anti-!” He cried but next thing he knew Anti had dug the knife right into his chest and tore down. Red screamed and quickly kicked, barely hitting Anti in the chest but getting enough room between them for Red to scramble away. He looked down at his chest and sighed in relief that his core was missed, he could see the faint steady glow of it through the oily gap. But then Red saw Anti stand and train his eyes hungrily towards the opening in Red’s chest.

“Red! Are you okay?” Google shouted, fear catching in his throat after seeing Anti so easily best Red. Red panted, a tiny bit of smoke coming from his mouth.

“Yeah, I’m fine. But I think we got a bigger problem. This virus wants us too.”

Google clenched his teeth, looking at his fried laptop in frustration. “We’ll just have to use that to our advantage…”

The glitch sprang again, sick of the standstill, and outstretched a very circuit covered arm towards Red’s chest. Red jumped back, quickly countering and punching Anti hard in the stomach. The glitch gasped and flew back, rolling across the floor. Red panted, scared again he might have really hurt him. Anti was too still for a second, before he lifted himself up from the floor with shaky arms. Red exchanged worried glances with Blue.

Anti shuttered as they both watched another branch of circuits wind up Anti’s face. He wheezed, struggling to stay upright. The glitch toppled over back to the floor as soon as the heavy footfall of the other googles entered the room. Green and Oliver looked at the wrecked, smoking office in surprise. Then Ollie spotted Anti.

“Anti oh my gosh!” he gasped running towards his brother with no caution.

“Oliver don’t! Stay away from him!” Red warned.

But the younger droid ignored him and kneeled by Anti, turning him over so he could see his face. He was too pale, the circuitry on his face flashing quickly from one color to another. His eyes were half open, flickering from pure black to blue. Anti looked up at Ollie weakly, his breath coming out fast and labored.

“O-o-ollie…” Anti sputtered, his voice tinny and metal sounding, layered with static.

Oliver felt tears falling down his face, “Stay with us Anti. We’re gonna get you help okay, buddy? We’re gonna get the doc and you’re gonna be okay…” He held Anti is his arms, ready to take him to safety. But as soon as Ollie started to move the sick glitch, a cry was wrenched from Anti’s mouth as his back lurched like he’d just been struck with lightning. Another bolt of electricity shot out of him, moving Anti’s body on it’s own and sending Oliver skidding back. Anti rose once again, bent limply at the waist, twitching as more and more patterns appeared, random sparks erupting from his body.

Google cursed and sped towards Oliver, scooping the slightly smoking yellow droid up in his arms. Green’s eyes flashed, watching as Anti glitched back and forth. He began to hiccup, his knees shaking as his systems started showing all the wrong possibilities.

“Green don’t panic!” Red shouted towards his twin. He eyed the others. “Listen I got a plan. It wants us, it wants our cores. But the virus can only seem to focus on one thing. If we can keep Anti’s sights on us we can lead him to the cell and keep him in one place until we can cure him. Got it?”

Google nodded, a resolute look on his face. Ollie pushed himself from Google’s arms and nodded too, smiling determinately at Red. Green swallowed, then clenched his fists, shakily looking at the ground. He mustered up all his courage then shouted,

“Hey Glitch!” Anti’s head turned towards him and stood up fully, sparks erupting from his hands. “Come get me!” Green yelled, opening his arms up, exposing his chest towards Anti. Anti instantly sprang, rushing at Green.

Green’s face went from one of determined courage to pure terror and he turned heel and sprinted down the hall, almost crashing to the ground with Anti on his heels.

“Shit Green wait-!” Red shouted, as the three other droids rushed after them. Green raced down the hall, quickly ducking and covering his head as Anti continuously swung and tried to grab him. It seemed that Green was making good headway till a misstep sent him crashing to the ground. He quickly tried to scramble away but Anti was on him in a second, his knife clenched and ready to cut him open. Green watched in terror, but Anti’s hand was shaking and his chest was heaving despite the blank look on his face.

Anti was ready to plunge when Ollie shouted down the hall! “Hey this way! Come get me, you green.. meanie!!” Oliver patted his chest, and Anti rose up quickly, charging towards Ollie. The yellow droid swiftly jumped to the side and Anti crashed into a wall. Oliver winced. “Oh jeez- Dark is gonna kill us…“

Anti pushed away from the wall, swaying. A stream of red trailed down from his forehead, washing over the circuit patterns. He blinked the blood out of his eyes tiredly, struggling to catch his breath. Oliver took a step forward, concern on his face. “Oh Anti I’m sor-!”

Anti slapped Ollie’s hand away, shaking, eyes blue for a moment. “O̮̱͠ͅl̖l͖̹͇̪̘̟i͏e- ̱͚̰d̀-̩̟ͅd͕̬̰̦͓̩̞͡o̭̲̮͞n͓̝’̺̹̠t͙̦….” he choked. Ollie shook, still wanting to help. ‘C’mon Anti fight this. It’s making you sick, we can help you.. just fight-!”

“G̖̙͍̗̘͓̠E̴͖̣̤̠͎T͎͍͍̩̝͞ ͏̱̠̜̣͓̺A̳̗̪̹͖̕W̳̭̝̻͢A̭͎Y͉̦̘̭̣ ̳̤̹̣̻͡F͖̪̻R̬̰O̦̠̮͇͔̝M̛̺ US!!” Anti screamed, cold and metallic voices joining his. The glitch grabbed Oliver’s arm and plunged the knife in, causing Ollie to scream in pain as Anti tore through his synthetic skin. The droid tried to pull away but Anti held on strong, his other hand digging into the tear and Ollie could feel sparking pain as Anti’s skin connected with his wiring. The virus pattern almost seemed to move from Anti’s fingers as if ready to crawl onto Oliver too. Oliver felt tears prick up in his vision as he tried and tired to fight off Anti.

“HEY GLITCH BITCH!” Red roared from down the hall. Anti paused, his hand hovering over Ollie’s skin, the infection still contained. Anti glitched angrily, prying the knife from Ollie’s arm. Oliver quickly scrambled back against the wall, thankful for second he wasn’t the target.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Red taunted, beckoning Anti towards him. He pointed towards his chest, his core gleaming in the light. The virus latched onto the sight, pulling Anti’s tired body to charge once more. Red waited for just the right moment before tearing down around the corner, back towards the room where they kept the cell. Anti clumsily chased after the red droid, slipping and bumping into the walls but still keeping up speed. Red crossed the threshold of the holding room and spun ready to face the glitch. But just as Anti stumbled into the room, Blue sprang from the shadows of the door and tackled Anti to the ground.

Anti screamed, sounding like a million disagreeing error messages in unison. Green and Oliver rushed into the room as Blue held Anti down by the wrists. The glitch continued to scream, trying desperately to get away, to try to stab Blue, but the droid held firm.

“Get the machine running NOW!” Google commanded, causing Red and Green to spring back towards the cell. Their fingers flew together in unison, issuing the commands to hold the glitch in. Ollie ran towards the cell door and opened it wide. Google gritted his teeth and grabbed Anti’s wrists as hard as possible, bringing them both up. Anti kicked and struggled as Google threw Anti into the cell, Ollie quickly locking the door after. Anti’s head hit the back wall with a sickening crack and all was silent.

The four droids stopped to process, expecting to see Anti up against the window any second now, banging and screaming to be let out. But the glitch was still, his head limp and fight gone. His breathing was labored and shallow, his face flushed with fever. The circuit patterns flashed weakly from one color to another, finally covering his whole face, and any other surface of skin they could see.

“What.. now?” Green breathed. “H-he’s… he’s gonna be okay right?”

Blue bit the inside of his cheek. “ I… don’t know. He fried my computer while I was working on the anti-virus…”

“Well there’s gotta be something we can do!” Ollie cried desperately. “We can’t just leave him in there, he’s… he’s!”

“If he gets back out here Oliver, he’s going to infect the whole building….” Google explained.

“But if we don’t do something he’s gonna die! Look at him!” Oliver gestured angrily towards the cell, where Anti has slumped over in a shivering heap. “Maybe if one of us take the virus, it’ll leave Anti alone and he can get better and-!”

“No, Oliver. This virus would tear us apart.” Google said sternly. “Damn it Anti… why did you do this?”

Green spoke up quietly, “The backup…” The other three looked at him, puzzled. “I have automatic backups set up on all our computers. Maybe part of the anti-virus will be saved on there!”

Googled wasted no time and sped over the computer in the corner of the room, booting it up and looking through the files. After a couple tense minutes, Blue finally sighed, a faint smile on his face.

“It’s still here…”. He looked up at his brothers. “You three, keep an eye on him. I’ll work as fast as I can.” The others nodded, taking positions around the cell as the frantic sounds of Google typing filled the room.

Time flew by too slowly as the boys watched the trembling form of their fallen brother. A couple times, the virus tried to spark Anti up again like it had done before, arching the glitch’s whole body with painful jolts of electricity. But Anti’s body was too weak, so he would just crumple, becoming still again. Ollie felt his core in his throat, fearing each time Anti glitched or jolted, knowing the virus was attacking any part of Anti it could. Green held back tears, eventually turning around so he wouldn’t have to see. Red paced around, fists clenched and jaw tight.

It seemed like hours when Google finally scooted out of his seat, quickly pulling a usb out of the laptop and rushing back to his brothers. They all sprang to their feet, as Google plugged the usb into a device that had a syringe like end they used on each other for upgrades. Google nodded towards Green who opened the cell. The older droid knelt down by Anti, who’s breathing was getting too faint. The glitch’s eye lids fluttered open weakly, his eyes blue and glassy. “B-blue…” he croaked.

“This should help Anti, just hold on.” Blue reassured as he pulled up Anti’s sleeve and inserted the device into one of his veins. Anti jerked like he was shocked, almost pulling the device out as he yelled in pain. Google held the device, biting his lip as Anti jolted and twitched, the virus fighting back against the antivirus. Then suddenly all the markings on Anti’s skin turned a bright blue white before they disappeared entirely. Anti lay limp again but the boys all sighed in relief, knowing the danger had passed.

“Let’s get him to the Doc,” Blue sighed, picking the glitch up and heading to the clinic, his brothers close behind.

……

Anti woke up, confused and disoriented. Sunlight shone through the blinds in the clinic, causing him to wince from the pounding in his head. His mouth tasted like someone stuffed burned metal into it, causing him to cough weakly. His body felt so heavy, he was ready to just go back to sleep for a while. Until he heard shuffling towards his right and suddenly his vision was filled with a familiar sunny yellow tshirt.

Ollie was hugging Anti’s shoulder sobbing in relief, crying softly over and over “You’re okay… you’re okay…”

Anti laughed weakly, patting Oliver’s shoulder. “Yeah buddy- I’m okay…” He pulled softly at Ollie’s collar, “Though you’re kinda making it hard to breathe-!” Oliver quickly stood up muttering apologizes and Anti chuckled. He blinked as he heard footsteps and looked up to see the others. Red and Green smiled down at Anti but Google did not look happy.

Anti’s face fell. “Blue… I-“

“I hope you learned your lesson, Anti.” Google interrupted, raising an eyebrow down at Anti

Anti grinned sheepishly back at Google. “yeah… no more pranks for you Blueberry…”

“Good answer,” Google quipped, giving Anti a small smirk and playfully knocking his shoulder. “Next time, do your pranks somewhere they can’t blow up.”

Anti laughed, “Okay, so… I should only prank Dark now? “He teased, and all his brothers groaned. They all gave him playful hits and noogies before all coming in for one big hug, so glad Anti was safe. And they stayed that way for a while, Anti thankful for the cool feeling on their metal on his still feverish skin until Doc came in for a checkup, laughing good naturedly at the scene.