#like she's gotta be the speed it makes sense who else would it be

[afreakingdork]

Weak Spot - Chapter 1

RotTMNT Donatello x Reader

Warnings: Aged-up Turtles, Romance, Meet Cute, Villain Donatello, Cussing, Crushes

Synopsis:  When falling in love is the easy part where does the difficulty lie? In a society where we're defined by our job, it's those little details as a relationship goes on that ends up setting a course for whether or not a couple can make it in the long run.

Also available on Ao3

Alright, check it! Here we go, everybody!

The current rating of the fic is Teen and Up. I'm going to be going ham on a chapter by chapter rating/tagging basis because I don't want this baby to sit in Explicit until it is, if that makes sense. It will definitely become so in the future, but until then I'm going to rate it as is. Speaking of, when that switch does happen, please look for the notes before each chapter that will signal that. If you're reading on Ao3 you'll find more handy tagging notes.

Reader will be as gender neutral as possible until/unless otherwise stated. For my outline so far, this will involve sex and fem-coded activities such as make-up application and dress. I'll mark before each chapter if something is going to lean towards more of a fem!reader.

Otherwise, please enjoy! This is going to be a long ride so let's go!

Oh, please, not today.

Maneuvering around a corner, you doubled back to duck your boss. You could almost cry; not that you ever would over something so ridiculous at work. Looking back towards where you had just come, you felt the anxious sweat form on the back of your neck. This hallway only went in one direction and if your boss was already heading this way then surely he was about to run into you.

That was not something you could handle right now.

Clutching your bag tighter to your chest, you pushed off the wall to make a run for it when you heard a coworker call out.

“Oh! Perfect timing, sir. Do you have a second to look at something?”

You heard your boss stutter and your eyes went wide. Who was this prince that stepped in and saved your lunch hour? You wanted to bestow them with a thousand gifts, but you hadn’t heard enough of their voice to identify them. Shoving down the urge to peek, you listened until the two’s conversation slunk away. It meant the coast was clear and you speed walked your way down that now empty hall. In mere moments you were at the elevator landing and jammed the button with repeated anxiety. The display for which floor the accursed machine was on had been broken for about as long as you could remember. You glared at the black screen. It would only been busted on your level. Another tick to the record of your inefficient boss. You were so lost in your glaring that you scarcely heard two more co-workers walk up until the elevator chimed its arrival.

“Tell me something!”

Standing right in front of the silver doors, you surged forward as soon as they parted. There was an elderly suited man in the back and you tucked yourself right against the panel to hit ground floor.

“What’s up with these women wearing hot pants at the gym like it isn’t 45 degrees outside and then they get fucking mad when you look at them!?”  

Unable to hide the disgust on your face, you grimaced into the corner.

“I don’t know man…”

These two weren’t colleagues you considered often, but they had rapidly shot down to the bottom of your care’s list.

“Seems inappropriate!”

You soured further as you heard the old man chirp out a response. Three was far more than a crowd it seemed.

“What about you? You gotta have some idea, right?”

You felt a tap on your shoulder.

They were not trying to pull you into this bullshit.

Seriously, this was not the day.

You prepared a barbed response and turned to sick it on them when the elevator signaled a premature stop. You lifted your head and watched as a immaculately done up woman in a skin tight dress clicked her way into the elevator on daggered heels. She not only towered over you, but everyone else in the square. The tension was so palpable you imagined pricking it with a needle. You wondered if the woman could sense it considering she didn’t have the inane context. Either way, you worshipped her as the goddess she was for even unknowingly averting a confrontation for you.

When the elevator hit the bottom floor, you were the first to scurry off. You heard your two idiot co-workers start petty conversation with the woman and you marched straight to the many glass doors that granted exit to your high-rise. It wasn’t a breath of fresh air when it came to New York City, but it was certainly a reprieve. Still clutching your bag close, you strode down several sets of steps and onto a busy sidewalk. Hundreds of suits bustled and knocked shoulders with you as you settled into the traffic. It was a necessary evil that didn’t grate on your nerves any less. Parting the clouded thoughts as best you could, you looked forward into the ray of sunshine that sat on a lone sandwich shop. After several turns, that same storefront appeared tangible in the real world.

Your heart leapt at the sight. Somewhere in your bag you pictured your online pick-up order confirmation. You didn’t need it, but its receipt meant that no further fouls could come into play. Reaching for the handle, you watched through the glass as a gentleman did the same except his head was turned back to his companion within the shop. You reeled to dodge, but it was too late. The door flew open and clipped your shoulder as your failed to completely move away. You hissed into the sting and his sudden flurry of apologies took a bit of the edge off. You gave him a passing hands up gesture to pardon his transgression and he thankfully pivoted to hold the door for you. You heard a snippet of his companion berating him as the door returned to its stationary position.

Sighing, you fell into the shop’s embrace. The smell of freshly baked bread filled your nostrils and the thrum of patrons caressed your ears. You had eaten here a few times, with its proximity to your work, but this was the first time since they’d set up their online system. It meant you could skip the line and move right over to the pick-up counter. Straightening and finally letting your bag fall away from its defensive position, you headed to said post. There was no awaiting bag and you gave a little frown. This was exactly why you had your email at the ready. Reluctantly pulling up your bag, you rifled through it for your phone. Unlocking it, you watched in dismay as the email appeared only for the UI to refresh. Squashing a whine in your throat, you waited as the mobile data couldn’t seem to catch up with the page. Shifting a thumb to see if the shop had maybe set up free Wi-Fi along with ordering system, you heard an authoritative voice call out.

“Online pick-up! Club, hold the ham, roasted tomato, add oil!”

All the petty joy in your body surged straight to your head. That was your exact order.

Now this you needed.

You closed the gap between you and the counter with a near hop as the employee set down the bag. Your hand reached out as if an angel were serving penance and you watched in slow motion as another hand did the same. Confusion twisted on your features as you both clutched the paper in tandem. Your dopamine spike skittered to a halt, leaving you at a flattened emotional midpoint.

Not now.

It had finally gone right!

“Huh?!” The pitch was far deeper and had way more gravel than you ever remembered your voice having before. You nearly growled as your shoulders bunched up and you went into full on defense mode over your lunch. You turned your irritation on your would be sandwich thief and found yourself caught at the sight. Towering over you was clearly a mutant. You blinked out of your glare and stared openly. Instead of looking at you, the man instead gazed straight through you. You saw a bit of brow sat neutral against a wash of purple. He seemed encompassed in layers as a hint of green skin peeked out from between the purple and a black mask. It made the angular glasses perched upon them all the more apparent. There was a faint tint to them that you couldn’t quite make out from this distance. From there you skirted the edges of his black ball cap and down to his black wool coat. It framed the tight black turtleneck that clung to every crevice of his seemingly chiseled torso.

You came back to yourself all at once and found that barely a second had passed.

“I’m pretty sure that’s mine.” Thankfully your mouth still knew justice and held none of the awe that had passed through your brain.

Something about your curt response seemed to catch his attention and you watched in real time as his focus seemed to adjust to your form. With the mask you couldn’t be sure, but he seemed prepared to respond.

“Online pick…!”

You watched as the man turned away from you and to the confused employee who had choked on his announcement.

“Weird! This is… the exact same order?”

Reluctantly, you finally dragged your gaze away to the staff member. “What?”

“Some kind of glitch in the new system?” The employee posited, pulling the first bag away from both of your still outstretched hands.

In your periphery you saw the mutant move and pull out his phone.

“The order numbers and names are different…” The employee struggled and juggled both sacks.

“Simply a coincidence.”

Both you and the employee jolted at the mutant’s voice.

“I’d like my lunch now if you’re done manhandling it.”

The employee nodded dumbly and before placing both bags on the counter. He then made a scared show of pushing one in each of your directions. You caught your bags at the same time and you turned to see the mutant still scrolling his device with what you supposed was purpose.

“Some coincidence, huh?” You remarked, clutching your lunch.

The mutant gave a curt nod and you heard the employee retreat.

You were about to do the same when he seemed to find what he was looking for. In a flash of movement, his device fell in a slack arm and he leaned forward. You had no time to move away as he entered your personal space. You heart hitched as he reached out to your bag. Basal instinct told you to pull away, but curiosity kept you in place. You watched as a tridactyl hand passed the sack itself and moved to lift the receipt attached to it. From this distance you could finally see the color of his glasses; it was a barely there shading of blue in one and red in the other.

“You have my order.”

One of your brows descended while the other shot sky high. “So?”

You watched for the second time as his gaze seemed to struggle to focus on you like a malfunctioning camera lens.

“Just like the guy said: the orders are the same.”

You could only glean information from his eyes and they were set sternly to stoic. He bypassed responding and instead lifted his device. The screen was turned toward you and proudly displayed his own receipt.

So, that’s what had kept him.

“You had trouble with the internet too!”

In the first show of emotion you had seen, you watched one of his brows incrementally raise. A full centimeter seemed like quite the hurdle for him.

“I’m to assume you won’t give me my sandwich.”

He straightened and your heart sank the tiniest bit.

That was strange.

You knew nothing about this man other than he was apathetic and apparently a stickler for order numbers.

Still, he was the most interesting thing that had happened to you all day.

Hell, maybe even all year.

When was the last time you had gotten to interact with a someone in banal terms?

It didn’t have to be a long lunch to be fulfilling.

“How about…” You tilted your head to the side and did your best to peered into his eyes. “I give it back to you if you sit down and have lunch with me?”

His stare was completely flat.

“If… you have time that is?” You shoved the afterthought in quickly.

He rolled his shoulders and adjusted his sandwich into the crook of his arm. You watched as he then placed his device into his pocket and pinched one of his lapels. You continued to wait with ever growing curiosity as he then swiveled his neck to look out over the dining room. You followed his gaze for a moment trying to spy exactly what he was looking at. Whatever it was, he seemed to find it and his head crawled back to you before he gave a little sigh.

“You have terrible taste.” He said simply and made a slight movement with his neck for you to follow.

“I literally ordered the exact same meal as you.” You bounced in line with him as he lead you both over to a table tucked into a windowed corner.

He waited for you to sit before he delicately took the one across from you. His posture was so perfect it was almost laughable as he set his order on the table. In contrast, you heaved yours down and struggled to take your bag off. When you’d finally slipped it to your side, you rose up to find him still holding his meal as if it were a valuable item in a criminal handoff.

“Not what you meant, got it.” You noted, grabbing your order in a similar manner to indulge him.

His head tipped down incrementally and you both made the switch. He seemed to examine the contents while you, in contrast, shoved your hand down the paper bag to retrieve your parchment wrapped sandwich. You wanted to gripe about how he had eyes on the meal from the employee until now, but he hadn’t spoken past insulting you.

Oh, yeah. You should probably be more upset about that.

Your stomach grumbled as you dismissed the thought to instead languish in his curious company. Instead of fully unwrapping your sandwich, you peeled back the wrapper to keep your hands clean before taking a big bite. As you chewed you watched as he made work of flawlessly folding his parchment until his own meal was fully exposed. He then procured napkins from his bag and set his shoulders to finally eat.

“At least you’re aware.”

The corner of your mouth quirked up at that. He certainly liked to take his time to respond.

“Why this sandwich?” You took another hearty bite and relished the way the tomatoes burst with flavor.

“A club could be considered a base standard for a sandwich shop.”

You slowed your bites as he reached both his hands up. It was only then that you realized he’d have to remove his mask to eat. It seemed like a delicious cherry on top of your silly little scheme. You watched curiously as you noted that he had no ears for the straps to attach to. Instead you took notice of the poignantly sewed on buttons to his ball cap that were keeping the elastic in place. His head came down as he removed the mask and his green snout came into view. He then tucked the mask into his coat as if it were a pocket book and brought his hands back to his sandwich.

“Enjoying the show?” He kept his eyes down on his meal and seemed to be calculating the best way to tackle it.

“Yes, actually.” You hummed, swallowing your bite. You watched with tepid joy as your stark response caused him to flick his gaze at your momentarily.

He hadn’t needed to adjust that time.

“Do you have a mutant kink?”

What a return lob.

“No, it’s just been awhile since I’ve been able to have a civil conversation with someone.”

He finally picked up his sandwich and though you could see his mouth now, its tight line read the same as his eyes, giving nothing away. He seemed to digest your words as he brought his purchase up. You felt your hands squeeze a little too hard as his lips parted. Maybe it was your imagination, but it seemed to open a little wider than necessary and you got a good luck at the pricks of his canines as he bit down into the relenting bread. A tomato falling into your lap brought you back to your senses.

You cursed and switched to palm your sandwich with one hand to retrieve the red offender. A napkin slid across the table in your periphery and you grumbled out a thank you as you took it. Wiping your slacks and frowning at the oil that had already seeped in there, you huffed.

“Very convincing.”

It was almost impressive how much sarcasm he could inject into his flat tone.

You snapped your gaze to him and scooted closer to the table to prevent another spill. “It’s not an obsession! I mean you must know…”

He didn’t bother to look up and instead inspected the crescent carved out of his meal.

You gave him a few more moments, but it seemed apparent he wasn’t going to answer so you continued on. “What you look like.”

“And what is that?” Dropping his sandwich back to the folded parchment, he peeled back the top bread to examine the ingredients.

Though his question had appeared devoid of emotion, your cheeks flushed at the thought. You didn’t mind saying it as you had long grown past that kind of fearful shyness, but it still struck you how he was able to conjure up those sort of nervous butterflies when he didn’t seem particularly interested in you in the slightest. If that aloof attitude was why, then maybe it had been far longer that you’d previously thought since you’d had a decent conversation. You could consider the ramifications of it later. For now, it was a nice reprieve to be able to indulge in the sensation of a crush, even if it felt like the meeting would only last through lunch.

“You’re attractive.” You hid the little flip your stomach made by taking another bite.

You heard a little hum and chanced peeking at him through your lashes. He wasn’t looking at you, but his attention had finally been split away from his sandwich as he considered your statement. You continued to eat until, after a certain amount of time, he joined you. You smiled to yourself through a bite of turkey. He’d deemed it another non-response, but something about that was almost endearing. If he were anyone else you probably would be labeling him rude, but there was something about his aura that you found intoxicating in a mysterious way. His looks certainly helped, but you tried to see past the superficial.

No harm in being the reacher if only for a bit of fun.

“Earlier you mentioned something about a standard?”

There was a slight hitch as he brought his sandwich up to his lips. “That’s correct.”

“Are you like a food reviewer?”

You could have sworn you heard another hum, but this time the concurrent sounds of the shop made it impossible to be sure. You waited nonetheless and prepared a few other questions just in case this one also didn’t take.

“I’m looking for a new lunch spot.”

“Oh?” You gave him a once over and watched as he dabbed his face with a napkin.

“I’d been going to one shop for years, but despite my best efforts it closed down.” He passed you another look and your heart clenched at the sight of his eye line.

“You would be a creature of comfort.” Maybe another tease would bring his gaze back to you.

Unfortunately, you weren’t so lucky.

“Presumptuous.” He said in a manner that seemed for his ears only.

“Am I wrong?” You tilted your head curiously.

He retracted ever so slightly and it brought your elbows to the table as you leaned in. He stood strong against the move before finally, instead of only a flitting glance, he looked straight at you. If you hadn’t  already craned yourself to the table, you might have collapsed.

“It was meant as a negative. A note about how you venture to guess my habits based on so little data.”

This guy was something else. He suddenly reminded you of a computer. He was the embodiment of an analytic assault. If it wasn’t the way he picked apart his food and his talk creating a sandwich baseline, then it was how he seemed to be tallying up some sort of report on you.

Gosh, you just wanted to tease him.

“But am I wrong?”

If it were possible his level gaze became even more sardonic.

You couldn’t keep the widening smile off your cheeks.

He went back to his sandwich and you were starting to get a feel for when a subject had been dropped. Maybe a little data was just enough.

“I get it.” You dropped a new line in amity. “Everyone has a favorite place and it sucks when it closes.”

You didn’t get a sense that he was ignoring you this time, but rather had little to comment on the kindness you extended. It made you all the more curious.

“Why the club? Was it your favorite?”

One of his brows arched incrementally and the fact that you noticed surely meant you were just flat out staring at him. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to care or if he did, his face continued to betray nothing.

“No.” The rounded shape his lips made around the word lingered past when it left his vocal cords.

You wondered which of the two questions he had answered or if he had tidied both up in one go. You could almost curse yourself for not spreading them out.

“Almost every shop has a club sandwich.”

You perked up slightly, putting together what he meant. He had answered the questions in reverse order. You wondered what about them had confused his processors.

“Then why modify it?” Remembering your own sandwich preferences brought attention to the fact your lunch was being sorely neglected. It was still in hand, but you still couldn’t touch it as you found him giving his first emotion of the day: the slightest downturn of his lips.

Who knew a frown could do so much for the chemicals in your brain?

“It’s frustrating that something so basic doesn’t have a clear consensus.”

“Wha-?”

“It isn’t supposed to have ham on it and yet an infuriating amount of establishments default to the product. Plus that isn’t even mentioning construction which can be slapdash at best and I’ve even been to a shop that had the audacity to put an egg into the stack!”

You blinked wide as you realized it wasn’t just a frown, but something akin to anger. The way he bit down on the end of the sentence and then shifted in an almost imperceptible way to recompose himself made your heart rate spike. What a hang up! Your mind went into a flurry. You wanted to ask if he disliked eggs in general or just on a club. You didn’t even know his name, but you wanted to know all about his culinary preferences. Imagination running wild with the list, you imagined making his favorite breakfast after a night of-

Infatuation was a hell of a drug.

You squashed any further excitement with a tepid and, hopefully, understanding smile. “And the tomato?”

The way his chin tipped up seemed to say something, but you weren’t sure what. He opted to fold his arms and you found yourself unconsciously leaning ever more forward as you awaited his response.

“The cooking process concentrates what little flavor industrially-grown tomatoes have.”

You nodded, this time genuinely knowing what he meant.  

“And the oil to add fat?”

His tightened grip on his arms laxed as he moved from looking at you to a full on survey. Feeling very seen, you dropped your gaze and picked at what was left of your sandwich.

“Yes, it also enhances mouth feel and can combat dryness.”

The corner of your mouth quirked up. Though his own tone could use a little of that seasoning, you swore you caught the tiniest note of appreciation for the catch.

It was also entirely possible you just willed it to be that way.

“Salt Fat Acid Heat…”

There was that hum again. This time you were sure you heard it.

You brought your gaze up to find his squarely on your face.

“Quite the read.” He gave a single approving nod and you could feel cupid’s arrow shoot straight through your heart. If nothing else this lunch would serve as an emotional meal for at least a week.

You really needed a new job.

“I’ll take that as you changed your mind about my tastes.” You gave a satisfied smirk and moved with the the intention of finishing your meal off.

“Absolutely not.” 

His instant reply halted your hands mid journey.

“But you just…?” You trailed off weakly.

“Something can be said about your gastronomic choices, but that wasn’t what I was referring to.”

Did he mean earlier?

Was he talking about himself?

Your head tipped to one side curiously.

You watched him stare at you long enough to blink a single time before he returned to his sandwich. Remembering you had been trying to do the same, you followed suit. You were able to get through one more bite before another question chomped at the bit.

“How many shops have you evaluated so far?”

Under the guise of popping the final corner of your lunch into your mouth, you watched him through your lashes.

His cheeks paused in chewing before he swallowed. 

“This will be the 12th one.”

You gave a snort as you stole one his napkins to wipe your hands. He responded by reaching into your forgotten bag and replenishing his supply.

“You’ll just keep going until you find a suitable replacement?”

He gave a single nod and you balled up your dirty parchment. 

“How does this one rank? I’ve been here a few times before.”

He finished off his own sandwich and took to a careful process of folding his parchment further before depositing it into his bag.

“Mid, the turkey was nothing more than watery deli slices and the bread is particularly unremarkable.”

“Yeah, I can see that. The tomato was pretty good considering it’s out of season though.”

“Quite.” After thoroughly scrubbing his hands, he wiped any errant crumbs off the table and gathered up the trash into the bag as well. “You work nearby?”

You had been in the midst of following his table manners when you faltered and ripped your bag in the process of depositing a used napkin. Your lips parted and you almost wanted to ask him if you had heard him correctly. He had actually asked you a question.

“Yeah… How did you know?” You tried to salvage the bag as your mind ran rampant again.

Had he seen you before?

Were you really about to live out some kind of romantic comedy scenario?

“Why else would you chose the mediocre if not for proximity’s sake.”

Crushing your bag along with the ridiculous thoughts, you smiled at him a little too brightly. “You got me there.”

His chin tipped again, but this time it was down. You really wanted to map out all his little tendencies, but you’d need a notepad for that. You had the perfect one in your office, but that would mean heading out.

Your heart sank.

“My lunch break.”

The statement hung in the air as you left your trash abandoned in exchanged for your bag. Within a few flurried motions you pulled out your phone and stared in anguish as it awakened with the time.

“I am so late…!” Your voice waned and you looked to the mutant with desperation.

He seemed immune to your plight and moved to stand. Though you had long resigned yourself to satisfaction of the little time you’d gotten with him, the closing window didn’t sting any less. Squinting weakly at your trash, you dropped your phone into your bag and heaved yourself up. Gathering your things, you couldn’t help the surprise that passed over your features as you found him standing beside his pushed in chair and the mask back on his face, waiting.

“Thanks.” You mumbled off and he brushed by it as he headed for the door.

You followed him and waited your turn as he dumped his bag at the receptacle.  

You had so many questions once.

Where had they all gone?

You waited sullenly as he seemed to take an extra moment before he stepped aside and you hucked your garbage ball into the appropriate hole.

“And thank you for indulging me. Works been…” You trailed off with a grimace and a wave of your hand.

He reached for the door handle, but kept his even gaze on you.

“Let’s just say this long lunch is not going to help the matter!” You sighed and wondered if that angelic coworker could distract your boss with even more edits.

That would probably be asking too much.

“It’s just a shame I won’t be able to hear the rest of your reviews.” A bit of dry laughter found its way out of you.

Finding a grip on the door, he opened it and slipped out first.

You chased after him having a feeling he wouldn’t hold it.

“I’ll just be stuck eating the same old meh meal!” Twisting your bag into both hands, you prepared for the parting.

You found him staring down at you with that ever-present aloof nature.

You opened your mouth to say your goodbye when you saw his hand come up with a clean napkin.

You tensed and forced your awareness to your face in attempt to feel if something had been left dried up there.

“I’m going about my search in an orderly block by block manner.”

Twisting your neck, he pulled your attention with his sudden speech.

“I’ll be in this vicinity for the next few days. Your options might not be so limited.”

Finding nothing in his eyes, you let your gaze trail down to his hand. Between green fingers you saw the telltale scrawl of numbers.

Your heart skipped such a beat you thought you might go into cardiac arrest.

“Though I’m going to the next shop tomorrow, so do find a way to appease your superior.”

You watched in horror as both your hands came up to take the slip as if it were some precious artifact.

You wondered if he found it funny.

Or endearing.

Or maybe he already regretted his decision entirely.

“Don’t worry. Sometimes I think he keeps me on just to bitch at me.” He let go of the napkin and it came fully into your possession.

Even though it acted as a record, you tried to commit the writing to memory.

Donatello

XXX-XXX-XXXX

Curt and to the point.

Just like him.

“Also, I don’t care for idle banter. Only message me when completely necessary.”

“Sure.” Pulling the napkin close, you looked up to find him already moving away. You jolted at his retreating form before planting your feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

He surely heard your shout, but continued on unperturbed.       

NEXT

[averagecontentenjoyer121]

Man I think I’ll like writing this story. Wait my- my- my hands a moving again

Chapter 2: Lotus

As Odysseus and his crew get ready to part with the island another one of Athena’s disciples runs up to wish them luck on their voyage. “Diomedes!” Exclaims Odysseus is a friendly tone, “ ah the great titan slayer!”

“You’re to kind Ody it wasn’t that big of a deal-“

“ I heard that you stabbed Ares,” shouted a crew member in the back of the ship, “I thought he was a son of Poseidon,” exclaimed another as others came to their opinions on the action. “You’re all too kind but I’ll reassure you it wasn’t some great feat it was just a spare between two soldiers.”

“Is that so,” chimed Athena. Diomedes began to open his mouth before realizing who was speaking to him, “ I- uh, who might you be?”

“Pallas,” grinned Athena. “AH! That’s right, it’s been years since we last met. Sorry for the slow realization my dear friend!” Eurylochus peered over the crew at Diomedes now seeing Athena as a non threat to his captain and friend. “ But like I said Pallas, I’m just a soldier. The ones we should be celebrating are the ones who can’t be with us, or their families. The greatest of which being that old dog Achilles. May he rest happy with Patroclus.”

“Indeed brother,” smiled Odysseus, “Well I guess we better head off gotta get back in time for my son’s eleventh birthday!” Exclaimed Odysseus with joy. A shallow groan swept across the crew as this would now be the 324th time Odysseus has mentioned his family to the crew, most of them hoping he doesn’t pull out the mini photo album he keeps in his pocket again. Athena stands tall against the crew as she smiles amused by Odysseus’ love.

(Now listen to Full Speed Ahead)

Polites then approaches Odysseus pondering, “what’s got your mind all tangled Odes.”

“It’s nothing Polites, just thinking.”

“ I don’t think that’s it.”

(Now listen to Your Light (cut song))

As Polites retreats back into the sleeping quarters of the ship, Athena emerges into moonlight. “ I’ve grown quite fond of him. He’s good for you Odysseus, lets you release all those negative thoughts you refuse to talk about.”

“I’ve known him for longer than I’ve known you. It’s easier for me to be more open with him.”

“Don’t say that too loudly or else Apollo might try and come find you once he gets his power back. He likes people like you,” Athena smirks. “Hay! I happen to have a great wife with whom I’ve had a beautiful baby boy.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was just a joke ody.”

“ I know I just wanted to talk about my gorgeous wife and wonderful son again.”

“ Of course foolish me,” Athena smiles.

“ Also to be honest I don’t get what you meant by that, but sensed it was a kind of joking insult.”

“ I meant that you’re honest, and that’s a great trait to have.”

The light of the next day rubs the faces of the crew as Odysseus and Polites gear up to land on the island. Athena suggests that she should go along with them but Odysseus insists that only he and Polites search out the island.

(Now listen to Open Arms)

Athena waits at the ship growing both concerned for Odysseus and impatient as a new emptiness makes itself loudly known to her and those near. Once she sees Eurylochus showing the same signs of concern she approaches him and says she’ll check out the island as he waits on the boat. Eurylochus at first protests that he should go search but then realizes it would be better for him to stay, to keep the crew under control. Athena traverses through the foliage of the island happening upon the Polites and Odysseus hanging out with the Lotus Eaters surrounded by, to her, normal looking food. She then becomes irrationally irritated by Odysseus’ seeming disregard for his and Polites safety, and the growing pain in her stomach which causes Athena to activate her powers on accident through the extreme emotion.

(Now listen to Warrior of the Mind.)

As Athena’s power wears off she begins to approach the duo asking what’s taken them so long. Polites then points to his new friends and exclaims, “ There’s a cave full of food to our east!”

“And it seems we’ll need it,” says Odysseus pointing to the glowing seeds inside the Lotus. After nightfall back on the ship Athena pulls Odysseus from his bed waking him in the process. “Listen Odysseus, you need to be more cautious next time. I don't want you or your crew to be killed because you were too open, especially you. When we get to this island, take more men and weapons with you to be safe, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Understood Athena.”

I’ve already started work on chapter 3 😭

[avatarskywalker78]

It's Work in Progress Wednesday and I've been trying to make a dent in my WIP list!! I completed and uploaded the Wario centric one yesterday and I've been trying to make some headway into the others using the advice from the WIP clearout post. The first extract is from my 'Alex & Daniel' wip - where Daniel Sousa offers to look after an eight-year-old Alex Thompson for the day, and is a little apprehensive about it.

Daniel would like to say that he didn’t know how he’d been talked into this, but that would be a lie – he’d been talked into it because the Thompsons were practically family and had asked for this favour, and because Peggy was too busy at SHIELD to help look after Alex for the day, so it had been left up to him.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t had to look after children before, of course, but still, he couldn’t help but be a little nervous – he’d only looked after Alex a handful of times and those had been when she was very small, not the bouncy eight-year-old who’d be coming to stay for a few hours, and there was always a worry about having to look after someone else’s child. Especially the granddaughter of one of his closest friends. Plus, he wasn’t exactly getting any younger here, so he wouldn’t be able to keep up as much as he might’ve done back in the day – and he already felt exhausted as Sophia parked the car and Alex came running over with a speed he envied. “Uncle Daniel!” She rushed towards him and for a second he feared she was about to leap at him and expect him to catch her because that really would send him crashing to the floor��� She didn’t. She did, however, knock the wind out of him and almost bowl him over with the force of the resulting hug. “Oof.” “Sorry!” She jumped back, apologetic. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? Mom says I get too overexcited sometimes.” “I’m fine.” He assured her as he got his breath back, Sophia coming over and looking faintly amused. “Nothing wrong with a hug, kiddo, you just gotta be a little careful - you could’ve knocked me flying.” “Sorry.” She hugged him gentler this time. “I’ve just been looking forward to this for ages.” “I got that.” He said with a laugh, returning the hug. “It’s great to see you too, Alex.”

I have identified a couple of the main blocks; not only have I not watched the source material for a few years, but...I also don't have a clear plan for the fic!! Which isn't helpful, but now I know I can work on it - I've already found both seasons so a rewatch will be a great help (and not just for this one).

Another one I've been working on is...the Sad Westhallen Fic!! Which might not be as sad as it originally was - Barry's still dead but the bulk of the fic is going to be his friends and family sharing all the good memories they have and celebrating his life - but, of course, Eddie and Iris are still dealing with the loss, compounded by the fact their twins have basically no memories of their dad.

It wasn't meant to be like this. Days after Eddie had been freed from captivity, days after Barry, Oliver, and Teams Flash and Arrow brought down Eobard and called in Rip Hunter to see justice served, that had been when he'd finally start to believe - at least a little - that maybe, maybe things would get better. It had been far from easy, of course - Eddie and Iris's relationship was...not on hold, exactly, but any talk of marriage was shelved for the time being until he got the help he needed, which had made sense, of course, but...part of him had worried that she'd choose Barry in the end after all, because the other man was kind and brave and unflinching, someone who would treat Iris right and all Eddie had ever, ever wanted was for Iris to be happy. And if Barry was the one to make her happy... Who was he to stand in the way of that? Course, this had been a symptom of his depression, and once he'd started going to therapy he'd realised how spectacularly untrue it was. Iris and Barry were nothing but supportive the whole time and Iris assured him that she still loved him and always would. She wasn't going anywhere - and neither was Barry. This had made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside - and he'd finally had to admit that yes, he was in love with Barry too, and had been for some time.

This one needs a rewatch too, so it'll either be this or Agent Carter that I rewatch after I finished OUAT S1.

Tagging (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @shrinkthisviolet @starstruckpurpledragon @dream-beyond-the-fantasy @daughter-of-melpomene

[c0rviidgutts]

Weather Report x Reader Errrm so i was pretty baked when i wrote this, don't judge me too hard. I yearn for more Weather Report fanfic so might as well write it myself. NSFW warning, no minors.

     “Hey (y/n)! Come and join us!” Jolyne slurred, alcohol bottle in hand, “We’re gonna play spin the bottle.” Ermes, who was sitting next to Jolyne patted the spot on the floor next to her in silent agreement with Jolyne.

You gazed back with glazed eyes, thinking quietly for a moment. You gripped the bong in your hand, moving it to the coffee table next to you before silently making your way over. “Sure, sounds like fun.” You giggled, sitting between Ermes and Foo Fighters, not even noticing the tallest of the men sitting across from you. You didn’t feel as nervous as you did before meeting him- Weather Report is what Jolyne had introduced him as. He was quiet, tall and handsome but boy were you just slightly intimidated by him, you pretty much immediately started smoking the moment you got here. You immediately looked away when his eyes met yours, flushed you turned your attention to Jolyne who gave you a look like she knew something you didn’t, still holding the bottle. Jolyne set the bottle on the hardwood floor, eyebrows wiggling towards you. You giggled, waving your hand towards her. She grinned and twisted her fingers to allow the bottle to spin.

You felt your face heat up when the ends of the bottle pointed towards you and Weather Report, and you felt your heart speed up a bit. Don’t Fear the Reaper was playing over the speakers in the background, almost muffled by the sound of everyone else. “Ooooooh!” Foo Fighters gushed, Jolyne gave you a smirk and Ermes was drunkenly giggling.

You made eye contact with Weather Report, pushing a piece of your hair away. The sounds of encouragement from your friends and the weed making your mind fuzzy, you found a new sense of gained confidence and moved closer to the tall man, biting your lip as you leaned in to kiss him. His face was red when you pressed your lips into his, and you closed your eyes when you felt his hot breath against your face. Your mind felt fuzzy, come to think of it so did your body, this felt nice- he felt nice. You barely noticed that the kiss deepened, teasing Weather’s bottom lip before pulling away and leaning back, face hot and out of breath. You could hear Jolyne and Foo Fighter’s whooping, Ermes having a fit next to them and the other man- Anasui’s silent shock. You were focused on Weather report’s flushed face, the look in his eyes as they locked onto yours. You broke away first, looking at the ground all flushed before mumbling about your bong that you left in the other room, making up an excuse before leaving the room feeling a bit too giddy. With shaky hands you grabbed your bong and sat on the couch, mind racing with lewd thoughts. The way his mouth felt, the way his hands would feel on you, how he would feel against you-

Your thoughts were broken by a hand on your shoulder, causing you to jump a little, almost dropping your bong. You looked up to see Weather Report, a hesitant look in his eyes as he asked you; “are you okay?”

“Huh?” You blinked, mind going blank before remembering. “Oh, yeah!” You smiled. “Yeah just a little worked up is all.” You started to reload your bong.

“Oh yeah?” He smirked.

Your ears and face felt hot under his gaze. “Yeah.” You responded, an idea crossing your mind. “Hey uhm… I’ve gotta go replace the water in the bong… If you want we can head to my room and smoke a bit.”

“Sure.”

You smiled softly, leading him to the kitchen to replace the water, making idle chitchat. You beaconed him to follow, leading him to your bedroom.

“Wow, there’s so many posters.” He chuckled, analyzing the cluttered walls.

You chuckled nervously. “I like a lot of music, so I buy posters for bands and artists I really like.”

“You have great taste.”

You bit back a smile, your chest feeling almost as fuzzy as your mind. “Well, take a seat.” You patted the spot next to you on your bed, making room for him by sitting against the headboard. You took your lighter and lit up the bowl, taking the first hit before passing it off to Weather Report. You were almost in awe at how much the man inhaled, “Dude, you almost cleared the whole bowl.”

“So I did…”

You were silent for a few moments, as was he. “I can pack us a joint, I guess.”

A few moments later and you were lighting the joint, inhaling twice before passing it over to Weather Report. “Mind if I turn on some music?” You puffed out.

“Not at all.”

You pulled out your phone, hooking up to your speaker and testing the volume before turning on one of your playlists, Fly Like an Eagle playing over the speakers at a reasonable volume. Weather Report passed the joint back to you, and you tapped the end into your ashtray before taking another hit.

Your mind started to wander, looking over the man across from you properly. You could practically feel the drool piling in your mouth, though you knew it was dry when you opened it to speak. “So uhm, about earlier…” You tucked a piece of stray hair away behind your ear, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

You could feel Weather freeze up before relaxing. “Don’t worry about it-” He cut himself off when you began to speak.

“No! No its not that I wanted to apologize.” You stumbled. “I just… wanted to tell you that I maybe want to try again. Without anyone watching.” You brought your hands up to cover your face, gasping when you felt Weather lean forward and grab your hands with his own. “No, I want to kiss you properly this time.”

“W-Weather-” he cut you off by pushing his lips into yours, and you practically melted into him, your eyes closing. Your teeth brushed against his bottom lip, his tongue running against your lips which caused you to gasp.

You could feel yourself go limp in his grasp as you pulled apart, your breath coming out in pants.

“Wes.”

“What…?” You mumbled in confusion.

“My name. It’s Wes. Weather Report is just a nickname.”

“I think it fits you.” You giggled.

He chuckled, leaning you back onto the bed so he was pinning you to the surface. “You’re so cute.”

You bit your lip, legs closing together involuntarily. “You’re pretty hot.” Your lips curled into a smile. “Maybe you should kiss me again.”

Something sparked behind Wes’s eyes, and he leaned down to kiss you. Closing your eyes, leaning in for the kiss, your eyes flew open in shock when you felt him touch your neck and give a hard suck. You yelped softly, heat pooling in your panties. You felt him chuckle against you as he moved down to the area between your neck and shoulder, biting into the junction. You covered your mouth with your hand, eyes closing as you jumped, and let out a moan, causing Wes to freeze. When you looked at him, you could see his eyes blown wide with lust and something else.

He couldn’t handle himself after you looked at him with your doe-like eyes, with the expression on your face. He was going to absolutely ravish you. Wes leaned back down into your neck, kissing and nibbling the skin there. The way you gasped and mewled for him was so pretty, and he wanted to hear more of you. Lifting the hem of your shirt, you got the message and started to shakily remove your top, barely having time to pull it off before Wes was unhooking your bra and throwing it somewhere on your floor, your shirt and Wes’ following with it. You couldn’t help but stare at his chest and shoulders, bringing your hands up to touch. He was softer than you expected, but still firm. Your gaze trailed to find him eyeing your chest, and you giggled. You grabbed his hand, moving it to touch your breast.

“I wasn't expecting them to be pierced.” He mumbled. “You look perfect holy shit.”

You felt bashful. “Uhm yeah, I did it on a whim. On my 20th birthday.”

You gasped when you felt his mouth cover your nipple, tongue flicking the ring there causing you to jump and let out a whimper. You felt Wes moan from your reaction and hold you to him tighter, his free hand traveling to unzip your pants. You buck your hips into his hands and grip his shoulders, panting when he switches to your other nipple. Your pants are gone and you’re sure Wes would be able to see the wet spot on your panties from how horny you felt. Your skin felt hot, Wes pulled away and looked down at your flustered form, eyes blown. “I hope you know this will make you mine from now on.” His voice was thicker, like he was restraining himself from pouncing on you.

You shivered with some sick sense of delight the possessiveness in his tone made you even hornier than you already were. You blushed and leaned forward, breath fanning against his mouth. “Then make me yours.” You breathed, eyes hooded and lustful.

Wes growled and moved a hand to take off his pants, your hands flying to help him, you yelped softly when his hands caught yours and pinned them to the surface of your bed, his body moving on top of yours, his hard-on visible in his boxers. His face was flushed, hair sticking to his face, the hat had come off a while ago and was somewhere on the floor with the rest of your clothes. “You got any condoms?”

“T-top drawer of the nightstand.” You pointed to the nightstand next to your bed, Wes scrambling to grab a condom. He grinded himself against your panties, causing you to jolt and make a whining noise that only spurred him to tease you farther. His hands moved to cup a boob, giving one of your nipples a flick which caused you to jolt. “Sensitive…” He murmured, leaning in to give little licks and pecks to your neck. His fingers moved to the inside of your waistband and you gave a small jump when his fingers grazed your clit, a soft moan from you encouraged his slow movements. He decided your panties were in the way, and tossed them away and onto the floor, fingers traveling to the entrance of your cunt.

You let out a noise between a whine and a moan when the first finger went in, grabbing at the sheets. Wes slowed his pace, pausing to let you catch your breath. “Is this your first time?”

“N-no, it’s just been a really long time.” You mumbled, embarrassed. “And you’re also… bigger.” The man’s size compared to yours didn’t even cross your mind until now, and if you were being honest it was a major turn on. At first he intimidated you, but now you didnt feel as intimidated by his size.

“I’ll be gentle, then.” He smirked, curling his finger inside you which caused you to squirm under him. You let out a few pants and whines before a louder noise escaped your mouth, stars bouncing behind your eyes. It was like something switched in Wes, and he began to mercilessly hit that spot inside you, causing you to cover your mouth to muffle your voice, though you were sure the loud music from downstairs and your own music would muffle any noises you still didnt want anyone to walk in on you two.

Wes paused, allowing you a small moment to catch your breath, your whole body shaking from the stimulation that almost made you cum. You panted, looking up at Wes who gave you a smirk as he added a second finger. Your eyes widened as he spread them in a scissoring motion, a silent scream as he put pressure against your g-spot. You were sure you were cumming, toes curling and legs locking up, a shocked look on Wes’ face before returning back to lustful as he helped you ride through your orgasm. He removed his fingers from you, sticking them in his mouth as he let you take a breather. You barely noticed him put the condom on, still seeing stars as he pulled you closer.

“Still with me sweetheart?” Still high and horny, you nodded your head. “Need more, Wes.” you moaned softly, moving your hips. You felt his tip press against your slicked pussy, and you whined with anticipation, legs still shaking from your orgasm. He started to push through and you groaned at the size. You didn’t get a good look before he started entering you, but you could tell he was big. You let out a whimper as he sheathed himself fully in you, pressing his forehead against yours and kissing the tears you didn’t even know were streaming down your face. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah just- let me adjust.” You tried to hold back a moan as you shifted your hips, you could feel how full you were.

Wes hissed everh time you clenched or gave the slightest movement, trying his best to hold back. “Wes, please move, I need to feel more.” The burning sensation came back, and you started to move your hips and hoped Wes would start fucking your brains out. You needed it- needed him.”

He growled, beginning to move his hips. You gasped and moaned into his ear, his dick dragging against your g-spot in the best way, adding pressure against your walls. You were pretty sure you were drooling now, eyes blown wide with lust.

“What a good girl.” Wes groaned, his pace picking up which caused your eyes to roll in the back of your head. “I’m so lucky.” He grunted, sweat beading on his forehead.

You gasped loudly, hands gripping his shoulders. “Wes I’m- I’m going to!” You gasped, unable to finish your sentence as your orgasm hit again.

Wes groaned softly into your ear, holding you against him as his hips picked up the pace, his own orgasm drawing near.

You clung to him, gasping and kissing at his jaw as he slammed his hips into yours, feeling him twitch as he rode out his orgasm. You both laid there and panted for a bit, before Wes stood up and tied off the condom, throwing it in the trash. You sat up, legs feeling a little sore. “My bathroom is through that door…” you mumbled and pointed to one of the doors in your bedroom. “We can clean up in there.”

[kupkate04]

A Hapless Endearment || Creepypasta x F. Reader || Chapter 2 - Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

It’s hard to perceive anything around her. The static in her mind is almost crippling and blocks out all her thoughts. Distant whispers erupt throughout the world of endless greys and blacks. It’s like she’s fallen into a void and cannot escape.

A gust of air crashes into her; burning yet ice-cold at the same time. It induces terror; utter fear that grips her heart and compresses her lungs. She finds it hard to breathe and looks around frantically. It’s the same. Everything is the same. She can’t even see the floor beneath her feet, but she knows it’s there. It has to be there. What else would she be standing on?

The static grows stronger, and louder, overwhelming her senses and making her grab at her head in a desperate effort to cut it off. The breeze billows and the voices become more distinct, but she still can’t hear what they’re saying. Are they even saying anything, or are they simply murmurs of agony riding the wind with no further significance?

“Y/n...”

That voice. Something about that voice sends shivers down her spine and prompts her heart to speed up at an unhealthy rate. Her gaze shifts around, trying to locate a source, though ultimately failing.

“Child...come.”

“Come”? Come where? The grating static somehow thickens and stills at the same time, and she furrows her brows. A fog kisses her feet as it rolls across the invisible ground, bringing the inescapable threat of impending doom with it. She stumbles back, finding it does nothing, as the area surrounding her leads nowhere.

“Come to us...”

“Who are you?!” she yells, immediately tensing. She can’t hear herself. She's been...muted. The noise continues to get stronger, and she hits the side of her head, trying to make it stop. It cancels out her thoughts, making her feel helpless. All while a suffocating sensation settles in her chest and it becomes more and more difficult to collect oxygen.

“Join me... Come...”

～

Her grip on the sheets covering her torso tightens as she shoots up in bed, instantly greeted by light from the morning sun shining in through the window and being forced to squint her eyes. She sucks in deep breaths, savoring the air invading her lungs as she tries to calm her rapid heartbeat.

She has had a lot of weird dreams before, but none compare to the one she just woke up from. She stares at nothing, in particular, blinking away the tears that formed in her eyes and refusing to cry. Taking notice of the fluffy feline curled up on her thighs and looking up at her with startled eyes, clearly not happy about being disturbed, she lets out a soft sigh and strokes his back, finally able to steady her nerves and focus on more positive things.

“Sorry I ruined your precious beauty sleep,” she mutters sarcastically, wiping her eyes to get herself awake. She tries to brush the dream off as nothing; just stress creeping its way into her head and injecting her with freaky thoughts. But something about it...unnerves her; like it's much more serious than what she’ll give it credit for.

Leaning her back against the wall of her bed, she runs her hands through her messy hair and releases a yawn, rubbing her eyes before grabbing her phone off of the stool that she had pushed up beside her bed the previous night and turning it on, curious to see if anybody sent her a message, wanting to get her mind off of the nightmare.

None. She drops her phone by her side and slumps down, disheartened. I guess nobody cares anymore. Then again, who can blame them? I’m just an inconvenience, anyway.

She managed to catch a glimpse of the time in the top right corner of her phone before she turned it off, discovering that it’s around 9:40 in the morning. “Sorry, buddy. I’ve gotta get up,” she says, looking down at the cat in her lap that’s gotten settled and is now trying to go back to sleep. His ear twitches in recognition, and she runs her fingers through his thick fur before gently sliding him off of her and standing up.

When her bare feet touch the chilled hardwood floor, she flinches and jumps onto the fuzzy rug in the room’s center, trying to get used to the surface in her mind’s still hazy state. She glances back at the bed, and her e/c eyes land on Marshmallow, who is looking at her in obvious distaste. She narrows them.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. It’s not like you can’t sleep any other time of the day.” He blinks and stands, stretching for a moment before turning away from her and lying back down. “Okay fine, be that way. Drama queen...”

With that, she looks at the closet, then down at the floor, knowing what needs to be done and mentally preparing herself for it. C’mon Y/n, it’s just a floor. A floor made of ice...but a floor, nonetheless. Quit being a wuss and go.

Inhaling to encourage herself, she steps onto the wood and lets out a squeak, her pace quickening the closer she gets to the closet. “Right about now would be a good time to have slippers,” she murmurs to herself, opening the door and stepping inside. She sifts through the different clothes, contemplating what she wants to wear and not having to search for long.

She throws on some shorts and a t-shirt, socks, and a pair of tennis shoes before stepping back out and heading toward the bathroom, hoping that nobody else is occupying it at the moment. To her luck, once she’s out of her room, she finds it empty and strolls inside, closing the door behind her and flicking the light switch up.

After flushing the toilet and washing her hands, she does everything in her morning routine before walking out into the hall and heading down the stairs, instantly catching the whiff of a pleasant scent wafting from the kitchen. Farrah takes notice of her granddaughter entering the doorway and sends her a welcoming smile as she takes a pan of biscuits out of the oven.

“Good morning, hun,” she chirps, removing her oven mitts and turning to face her. “How did you sleep?” Y/n walks closer and shrugs, remembering the endless, dull scenery and the eerie voice whispering those words to her in her head.

“I mean...I had a pretty unsettling dream but, other than that, I slept fine.” Farrah hums and tilts her head. “What about you, Nana?”

“A lot more peaceful now that I know you’re here under the same roof,” she replies, giving her a brief hug, which Y/n gladly returns. “So, you hungry? I made breakfast!” She glances over at the stovetop and nearly drools when she sees freshly-cooked bacon resting on a plate, scrambled eggs in a skillet, and that same pan of biscuits placed beside them. She can feel her stomach rumble as she stares at it, so she nods over-enthusiastically and goes to retrieve a plate and fork from where they were set on the island in preparation.

“This all looks delicious, Nana,” she comments, scooping some eggs onto her plate after gathering several pieces of fried pork. Her eyes meet Farrah’s, and she shoots her a grateful expression. “Thanks for making it.”

“Oh, it was no trouble at all—just like you, my dear, are no trouble at all.” She pats her affectionately on the head before sliding her hand down to cup her cheek, and smiles. “Now go eat your food and enjoy it.” Y/n nods, taking a step back and laying the plate full of food on the counter, aiming to get butter and jelly out of the fridge. She also grabs a spoon and butter knife afterward, using them to smear the two substances across the soft inside of her biscuits before grabbing her plate once again and strolling through the living area until she reaches the dining room.

She pulls a chair out from under the table and takes her seat, anxious to get some food in her stomach and start her day. Farrah soon appears with her own platter of breakfast and sits beside her, the two chatting about various things as they eat, and the time flies by like a flock of birds. At around 10:25, Y/n rises from the chair and heads back to the kitchen, feeling properly filled up as she rinses her dishes.

Her eyes move to the window above the sink, being greeted by the bright morning sunlight and the colorful scenery that she doesn’t get the advantage of witnessing in the city. She spots her grandfather, sitting in an old chair out on the lawn and admiring nature at its finest, lost in thought.

Allowing a fond smile to stretch across her face, she dries her hands on a towel hanging from a rack before poking her head back into the living room. “Hey, Nana...”

“Yes, hun?” She twists her body around to meet Y/n’s eyes in curiosity, and the h/c grips the door frame with her hand and leans forward, letting her arm keep her stabilized so she doesn’t fall over.

“I think I’m gonna go outside for a while if you don’t need me here for anything.” Farrah nods.

“That’s a good idea. Marshmallow needs to be let out, anyway.” As if on cue, the fluffy feline walks down the stairs, tail high in the air and head raised as he jumps to the floor and stops in front of the closed door, sitting down and looking at Y/n expectantly. “Where are you gonna go?”

“I dunno.” She shrugs, glancing down at Marshmallow and meeting his blue-grey eyes. “I was just thinking about going on a walk or something.”

“Yes, some fresh air will do you good after breathing all of that polluted city stuff.” She takes a sip of her coffee thoughtfully. “Just be careful and keep an eye out for bears. Or anything dangerous, for that matter.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She nods in understanding and steps over to the door, opening both it and the screen and allowing Marshmallow to prance through and onto the porch, likely eager to go about his daily hunt and roam. Following him and shutting the door behind her, a warm, familiar breeze hits her in the face as she does so, and she once again carries her gaze over to Phil. “Good morning, Pops.” Her voice raises just enough to get his attention, and sure enough, his head turns in her direction before one corner of his lips quirk upward in a cheery half-smile.

“Mornin', hummingbird! Did you sleep okay?” She bites the inside of her cheek and leisurely makes her way down the stone path leading toward the gate. Thinking back to her eldritch dream, she shoves her hands in her pockets and answers quietly.

“As well as I could, I guess...” Though when he doesn’t seem to hear her, she rephrases her sentence and speaks up. “I slept fine. What about you?”

“Ah, well. You know how it is with all these old joints and bones. They never give you a break.”

“Sorry.” She breathes a sympathetic laugh. “But I can’t say I have any experience in that field.” He snorts in response and leans back in the old patio chair, raising a thick, bushy eyebrow.

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause you’re a spring chicken. Trust me darlin’, the years will catch up to you eventually. And then you’ll look like me.” He pats his rotund belly for emphasis. She rolls her eyes playfully and can’t stop the amused huff from exiting her lips.

“We'll see, Pops.”

“Where are ya going?” She unlatches the gate and glances at him before nodding her head in the direction of the opaque forest surrounding the quaint property.

“Walking. I thought I’d try to familiarize myself with this place, again.” She notices when his expression softens, and he briefly looks past the many tall trees, into the shaded woods, and lets a breath slip through his nose before meeting her gaze once more.

“I’m sorry you haven’t been here to visit, Y/n.” Her chest constricts and her eyes drop to the ground uncomfortably. “It’s not right for your dad—your parents—to put themselves before you. They shouldn’t treat you the way they do. I wish you’d let me do something about it.” She shrugs solemnly, her decent mood doing a one-eighty in an instant, though she tries to mask it and instead forces a smile on her face that she hopes is reassuring.

“It isn’t your fault. Dad’s just...just selfish and Mom is...” It’s difficult to find the correct words to describe her mother, and after a moment to think, shakes her head dismissively. “They—they have issues. But yeah, don’t be sorry, I’m okay. Two more years and I’ll be outta there, anyway.”

“Well...you’re more than welcome to stay here, for as long as you need. It gets lonely around here without anyone visiting us.” She brushes a strand of h/c hair out of her eyes and tilts her head curiously.

“Nobody visits you? What about Aunt Darcy?” Her stomach does a concerned flip when she sees his facial expression contort from mildly sympathetic to alarmed in the span of half a second, and her eyebrows furrow, questions zipping through her mind at lightning speed. His hands, she notes, clench the arms of the chair, and his breathing quickens, if only slightly. “Pops...?”

“I—I, uh...” He lets an anxious breath flow out of his mouth as he runs his wrinkled fingers through his hair. “Yeah, no, your aunt and them don't come. They haven't, not in a while...” Y/n can detect the tension in this conversation and how strange Phil’s sudden change in behavior is. Hesitantly, she speaks, her voice low.

“Why? Did you guys fight or something?” Although she hasn’t seen her aunt or her family in over five years, she still remembers her clearly, and she knows that she wouldn’t ever willingly avoid Phil and Farrah. Unlike Darcy’s brother, she isn’t a sour person and wouldn’t let something as ridiculous as a disagreement stand in the way of their relationship, especially since her son Wyatt always loved hanging around here.

“No.” He shakes his head lightly and refuses to meet the e/c eyes of the girl as he collects his thoughts and stitches them into words. “Look...we’ll talk about it later, alright? You just go and enjoy your walk.” He discharges her with a wave of his hand, though she doesn’t move, and stares at him with an obscured look painted across her face.

“What’s wrong, Pops? Did something...bad, happen?”

“It’s fine, sweetheart,” he reassures, his tone vagarious. “Be careful out there. Don’t want to get mauled by a bear, do ya?”

Gee, what a pleasant thought, she thinks sarcastically, figuring that he isn’t going to give her the answers that she so desperately craves at this point. I’ll try my luck with Nana when I get back. She gives a dismayed sigh before stepping through the gate and locking it back. “No, sir. I’ll be careful.”

When she receives no response, she turns on her heel and heads toward where she remembers the old trail used to be, the previous subject heavy on her mind. That was weird.

Has Darcy really not come to visit her parents at all? For how long? She supposes that she has been gone for a prolonged amount of time and she’s sure to have missed some things, but just how important are these ‘things’? Something obviously happened between her grandparents and her aunt. But what? Hopefully, she’ll get a logical answer when she returns.

She walks under the willow tree in front of the cottage and is unable to stop herself from glancing down the road, where her mom and dad brought her to and from many times in the past, back when they got along with Nana and Pops. And now her father absolutely refuses to talk to, reconnect with them in any way, all because of a petty argument.

Nah. She narrows her eyes in indignation. He’s just always been self-absorbed. And unfair. And a terrible person. That ‘argument’ was just what pushed him over the edge. 

What even was their argument about? She's speculated, of course, but she can't know for certain without a genuine explanation from one of her parents, but neither of them will do so. In fact, the only time Dad graced her with an answer at all was when she reeled in the courage to ask him why they hadn’t visited Nana and Pops in so long. She believes that she had just turned twelve a few weeks prior when she became curious about it and walked up to him one day in the living room.

“Hey, Dad?” He hadn’t even looked up at her. Didn’t give any indication that he acknowledged his child. “Daddy?”

“What do you want.” It came out as more of a demand than an actual question. Still, he didn’t look up at her, and she had taken a seat beside him on the couch.

“Um, I was just wondering, well... We haven’t seen Nana and Pops in a while—” 

She cut herself off when she was met with the sharp, threatening glare of her father, becoming immediately tense as she stared back uncertainly. It had taken her off-guard, as she had never seen her dad’s eyes as cold as they were at that moment; especially when they were directed at her.

“I don’t want to hear anything about those two.” The way he had said that sentence made her heart drop in concern, and she flashed him a bewildered look.

“...What? Wh-why?”

“Don’t ask questions. Just don’t mention them.” Puzzled would have been a good word for how Y/n was feeling at that moment. Thoughts were swarming her mind, and despite the hard, final tone of voice her father held, she continued.

“But...they’re your parents? A-and I miss them. Don’t you miss them, too? It’s been almost a year...”

“What’d I say?” He snapped at her, his lips pressed together into a firm, angered line. “Don’t. Mention. Them.”

“Dad—”

“My God, you’re more persistent than your mother.” He shot her a disappointed look, though she only craned her neck to the side.

“What’s wrong...?”

“Arguments, Y/n. Arguments about crap that don't concern you.” She couldn’t stop herself from flinching at the harshness of his words.

“Dad...”

“Stop talking and go to your room.” When she stayed still, watching him with wide, inquisitive eyes, he released a huff of irritation. “Now.”

Shaking her head disapprovingly at the distant memory, she eventually rediscovers the path that she traversed down so many times, back when she was merely a child; before she had so many issues weaved into her life. It appears to have not been used in quite a while, as there are weeds growing up from the ground and low-hanging branches swooping down and entangling together, making an archway of sorts. With immensely overgrown grass, she would guess that each blade would have to be around three feet high.

She looks down at her bare legs, a little nervous about stepping through, as it is likely traced with thorns and ticks and chiggers. Maybe I should’ve worn jeans instead... Letting out a defeated sigh, she cautiously steps through the tall, twisty foliage, trying her best to avoid getting scratched by a briar or catching her foot in a weed and tripping.

She glances ahead of her, relieved that the shrubbery thins out a few feet down the path and should be easily manageable. She just has to get there in one piece. Carefully, she takes several slow steps forward, the grass tickling her legs each time she moves, though she ignores it and focuses on making it through.

Should’ve asked if they have branch cutters or something. After a couple of minutes, she arrives in a less hazardous area, and instinctively reaches down to brush her legs and feet off, in the instance that some unspecified insects latched on and are taking refuge on them, though to her ease, finds none. Her hands fall into her pockets and she continues her stroll through the peaceful forest, savoring the natural sounds harmonizing from all around her.

The chirps of the birds and rustling of leaves create a relaxing cadence; a sound that she rarely ever gets the pleasure of hearing. She realizes how much she missed being here, able to roam around and enjoy the area without the interruption of her parents, city life, or drama. Letting out a tranquil sigh, she reflects on how different this summer will be from the ones she's grown accustomed to. She's used to being away from her parents, but she isn't used to spending her time with relatives who want her around. She's barely been here a day and already doesn't want to leave.

Exactly when will her parents be back? It isn’t like they care about her absence anyway, that much is apparent. The only reason they’ll show back up at all is because their work will summon them elsewhere; their fancy jobs with some heartless, billion-dollar company that Y/n couldn’t care less about. Sure, they make a good living off of it, and it isn’t the worst job in the world, but it takes up all of their life. At least when she was little, they made time for her, but now? They don’t even bat an eye in her direction.

Do they even still love me? It’s a question she’s struggled with a multitude of times throughout the last few months, but the answer was always too painful to accept. They haven’t said it since...since I turned fourteen. She remembers it clearly. It was her birthday, they had a cool party, her best friends came—back when she still had some, that is—and her parents took a little time to make her feel special, which, even at that point, was a rare trait to exhibit. But they did it.

Her father had hugged her and told her he was proud of the young woman she was becoming and her mother had stroked her hair, explaining how much she meant to her. That she loved her. It was the last wholesome moment they shared, and thinking about that makes her chest ache with loneliness. Although she wants to think that she still holds a special place in their hearts, she knows the odds aren’t in her favor.

She allows a sad chuckle to exit her lips and shakes her head. Oh, well. A girl can dream, right?

•——————•°•✿•°•——————•

The masked male walks hurriedly through the dense forest, staying attentive as he listens to the surrounding happenings. The quiet tweets of blue jays, the swishing of leaves, the flow of a nearby stream—all normal, which is good. That means nothing out-of-the-ordinary is lurking about, following him. If they are, they’re doing a good job at remaining silent, though he’s grown customary to the environment and is confident that he’d be able to recognize a threat, whatever form it may take, from wherever it may be hiding.

Mud cakes his boots and the air is thick and muggy as a result of the recently subdued rainstorm. Droplets of water cling to hydrated plants and dampen his clothing every time he brushes against them, though it isn't really a bother to him. Nature is a part of his life and he developed a sort of kinship with it a long time ago.

He feels his phone vibrate from within the confines of his pocket and inwardly rolls his eyes. That’s the fifth time in the last three minutes Ben has texted him. He’s sure that he’s still going on about how something is “urgent” and that he has to “get here ASAP”. What does he think he’s doing? Moving at a snail’s pace? Ben’s house is over half a mile away from his own, and he’s only been walking for about five minutes. No matter how speedy and agile he is, he doesn’t possess the abilities of Superman. Shouldn’t Ben know that? Progressing from one place to another takes time.

After around two more minutes, he finally sees the old cabin come into view, shrouded by vines, weeds, and various other greenery. To oblivious, inexperienced eyes, it’s nearly undetectable, which is perfect. It doesn’t draw attention, and that’s the local preference. Any poor soul that may wander this far into the woods and come across its dilapidated-looking structure, or any of the others, will be taken care of. Immediately. They can’t take a risk; it would be too dangerous.

By the time the phone buzzes a sixth time, he’s already coming to a stop in front of the rustic door that’s made of the same taupe ash wood as the rest of the house, with some minor improvements to better ensure safety. The whole place, whether one’s standing from afar or looking at it close-up, seems like it would be very insubstantial and a hazard to be around, much less live in. But in all reality, it makes quite a good home for the two that take residence there, and it’s most definitely more secure than how it may first appear, thanks to a couple of key individuals and their useful carpenter prowess.

He knocks quietly on the hard surface, stuffing his hands inside of his pockets and waiting patiently for Ben to stop hounding him with text messages, notice that he’s right outside, and allow him in. Shouldn’t he already know where he is? That’s why he installed cameras around the area, right? To observe what’s happening without having to leave the comfort of his chair? Or perhaps that’s what he wants to see Brian about; complain that his cameras are malfunctioning and ask for assistance. He doesn’t know how much he’ll be able to assist him because he doesn’t have half the knowledge that Ben has regarding electronics, but he’ll do what he can if it means getting one of their main lines of defense up and running again.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when yet another message comes through his phone and vibrates against his leg; a feeling he’s beginning to get irked by. Releasing a muffled sigh and deciding it would be better to check whatever text he received instead of ignoring it altogether, he pulls out the small device and swipes down on the notification tab, seeing not six, but ten unread messages from the teenager himself, all of which consist of either “where are you?”, “you gotta get here quickly”, or “hurry up, you anti-social son of a cracker”. 

“Ah, screw you, too,” he mutters to the screen, knowing well that its target won’t hear him unless he has the audio turned on and is secretly listening to him talk. The little creep, he can’t help but think before he finally reaches the last and most recent message:

Just come in, the door’s unlocked

Complying with the invite, he grips the knob of the door with his gloved hand and gives it one swift turn, pushing once he hears a quiet click and entering the household while shoving his phone into the back pocket of his jeans where it rightfully belongs. The interior is nothing special; a kitchen with a small bar and plenty of counter space to spare to the right; a living room with an old, dingy-looking sofa; a recliner; a small table in front of the said sofa; and a narrow hallway straight ahead that has five different doors leading to five different places. Two of them lead to bedrooms, one a bathroom, one a laundry room, and the one at the very end is an entrance into the basement, also known as Ben’s honorary office.

Shutting the door behind him, he ventures farther into the familiar area, counting on the sunbeams currently shining through the dirty blankets covering the windows to light his path and guide him to his destination. Where is his destination? Not able to see Ben nor his roommate anywhere, he assumes one is in the basement and the other is out patrolling, so he begins his trek through the darkened hall until he reaches the closed door, once again wrapping his hand around the metal knob and giving it a firm twist before it creaks open, gifting him access into the electronically lit room below.

He can hear faint voices getting louder; one reasonably deep and the other a few pitches higher as he calmly walks down the staircase. He descends until he reaches the ground, glancing to his left and being met with two easily recognizable figures.

One of them is sitting rather comfortably in a computer chair that was stolen from Amazon, his blond hair swept to the side in a messy, boyish style and his irises a pretty shade of hazel. He sports a pair of Velcro sandals, mutely colored, knee-length swim trunks, a Camp Winnamocka t-shirt, and a backward-facing baseball cap. His appearance is deceptively normal, if one isn't taking into account the deathly pale tone of his skin.

Stood leaning against the wall next to him is someone many feet taller than Ben, body clothed in all black save for the navy blue mask that covers his face and the strands of copper-brown hair sticking out from under his hood. His eyes are nothing but soulless, empty pits that replace where his once chestnut ones used to be, the sockets occasionally leaking a thick black substance similar to that of tar and leaving unwashable stains wherever they travel.

Both heads crane to look at Brian when he appears behind them, and Ben instantly jumps up, his shorter-than-average height noticeable, especially when compared to tall ones like Jack. “It’s about time you get here, slowpoke!”

Ignoring the comment, the man clad in a beige hoodie crosses his arms impatiently and eyes the one in the room’s corner for a moment before turning his attention back on the blond in front of him. “Now, what exactly was so important that it couldn’t wait a couple hours?” His voice is low and pacific, but authoritative, and Ben glances at Jack anxiously.

“We think egghead is going after someone else to make his slave.” Brian raises a brow beneath his makeshift ski mask and gazes down at the boy curiously.

“How do you know?”

“Cause Jack’s been getting all these funky feelings again for a while, I think. And he walked by somebody while he and Otis were trying to find the Entrance, and he said they emitted a really strong, like, odor? Or something? And then—”

“Ben,” Brian says, cutting the boy off in the middle of his sentence and ultimately silencing him, “just let Jack explain it.” His lips part to say something, though he only lets out a quiet huff after a moment before plopping back down in front of the multiple monitors of different areas in the forest and leaning backward in a sulking manner. “Right.” He sighs and signals for Jack to begin speaking, to which he nods and obliges.

“I’ve been feeling strange, lately,” he says, his voice deep and muffled though decipherable nonetheless. He cradles his hands in the pocket of his hoodie as he lightly boosts himself off of the wall with his foot and stands at his full height. “A weird, ominous sort of...tingling, in my chest and mind. I know that means something awful is gonna happen, but I couldn't tell you when that will be.”

Brian processes this newly received information and listens with keen ears, inquisitively waiting for Jack to continue.

“Earlier today, around noon, this feeling got a lot stronger. And it was really sudden; it just hit me with no warning. I looked around a bit and noticed someone walking down a grown-out path. Right when I saw her, I knew that she was the one in trouble.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Ben interrupts, holding out his hands in a silencing gesture. “It was a girl? You didn’t tell me that.”

“Because I was waiting to inform the more mature ones who actually focus on the situation rather than something as ridiculous as gender,” he remarks, making Ben scoff. Brian, ignoring Ben altogether, turns to face Jack in order to further question him about the matter, neck tilted to the side slightly.

“And you’re absolutely certain that this is connected to it?”

“Yes.” He nods in confirmation. “Something sinister is going on and that feeling I’ve been getting over the past couple of days is definitely coming from her. An evil, dangerous aura surrounded her, which is why I’m sure that he’s involved.” Brian rubs his head, finding it difficult to doubt a single word that Jack’s saying; he’s never been one to lie, after all, and his supernatural intuition isn't present for no reason.

He stands there quietly as his mind swarms with questions before he looks at the navy blue mask, having to avoid direct eye contact with its empty sockets for his own comfort—not that the subtle action is identified, anyway. “Um...alright, well. What do you suggest we do about it?” He earns an unsure shrug in response.

“I guess we could just...eliminate her. It would throw off whatever his plan is and get her out of the cycle before she inevitably gets hurt.”

“Unless it brings her back,” he points out, the idea of murdering someone who’s not at fault for anything leaving a foul taste on his tongue. “Then she’d be more powerful, and we’d have another one to fight against.”

“That...does make sense. But we can’t just leave her there to become a victim. Either she’ll accept him or he kills her. Which would just be one more innocent wiped out by his hands.”

“We could bring her back here!” Ben speaks up, once again rising out of his seat and painting a confident look across his ghostly features. “I mean, she wouldn’t be in immediate danger and we could tell her what’s going on, so she knows what to do and avoid.”

“But then she’d be endangering us.” He shoves his hands back into his pockets and takes a step closer. “And what if she doesn't listen and manages to escape? She'd lead the cops right to us and there’s no way we’re strong enough, nor do we have the numbers to fight off dozens of people.”

“Yeah, but what if she doesn't? I mean, it isn’t like you haven’t let outsiders in before, and, well, most of them turned out to be trustworthy! We need the extra set of hands, anyway. She could prove to be useful!”

“Firstly, those situations were much different—”

“Not really. We all needed a safe place to hide away from the public and any other potential threats. I was one of those people, if you remember correctly. How is that any different from this?”

“Because...” Brian stares at him thoughtfully, trying to come up with a decent argument, though fails to. “...Fine. You’ve made your point.” Grinning proudly like he just won the World Cup, Ben opens his mouth to respond, though Brian beats him to it. “But we would at least need to search her background for anything suspicious because she could easily cost everyone here their lives and freedom. It would be foolish to invite her in knowing nothing about her. You can’t tell me it wouldn’t.”

“Jack!” Ben turns his attention to the tall, lanky man standing silent, hoping to get somewhere with him. “You’re the all-knowing demon here. Is she dangerous?” He plants his masked face in the palm of his hand in the universal sign of 'wow, you’re an idiot' before answering, his voice low.

“I don’t know, Ben. She seemed normal, but I didn’t get a very good look.”

“There ya go, boomer.” His red pupils shift back up to look at Brian, his eyebrows raised. “She’s not dangerous, and therefore, isn’t a risk to us.”

“For the record, I’m not that much older than you,” he starts, attempting to bite down his exasperation with the teenager and speaking with a level tone, to which he receives an eye roll, “and Jack didn’t say she wasn’t dangerous, he just said she looked normal. They’re two totally different things.”

“Whatever.” He places his hands behind his head carelessly. “I still vote we bring her here.”

“We’ll ask the others and get their opinions. Jack” —his head turns to look at the mentioned boy—“is there anything else I should know about these feelings or the girl you saw?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay then. Ben, call everyone and tell them to meet up at my place within the next thirty minutes.” The tone of his voice leaves no room for argument, and without question, Ben whips out his, now slightly outdated, cellphone and begins to text each person in his contacts exactly what Brian told him to say.

“Oh, by the way, here’s the phone I so generously fixed for you.” He pulls out an iPhone X from his pocket and tosses it to Jack; he effortlessly catches and slides it into his pocket, muttering a ‘thanks’ while he does so. Brian turns to leave, though before he climbs the stairs he speaks once more.

“You both need to come, too. We all should discuss this and figure something out before tomorrow.” They nod in reply, and he disappears from their sight.

[thevibraniumveterans]

REBELS REWATCH

S1E4 — FIGHTER FLIGHT

The episode starts with Ezra trying to use the Force to lift a bowl. Similar to how within the first few episodes of Ahsoka, Sabine tries but in vain to lift a cup off the table. Chopper is making fun of Ezra, so naturally, he chases the droid down the hallway of the Ghost.

On his way down the hallway, he passes Sabine’s room. She is redecorating her room with her paint gun. Ezra backtracks to Sabine’s doorway, leans slightly against said doorway, and tries his luck again. Here goes Flirtation Attempt #2. “Oh, uhhh… Hey, Sabine!” He chuckles. “I see you’re, uh. Painting…stuff.” (Interestingly enough, Ezra doesn’t try nearly as hard as he did earlier. He’s trying the honest route instead of the ‘I’m-trying-to-impress-you’ route.) Sabine doesn’t quite take her eye off her artwork, which she seems quite pleased with. She tells him, “Well, nothing gets past you, kid.” Shyly, and not quite looking at her, he offers, “You know, if you ever need a little inspiration…” (Which we know he would eventually be her biggest inspiration a decade and a half down the line!) Sabine lets out a small, unamused laugh, and says, “Yeah. Then I’ll be sure to look elsewhere.” Clearly busy, she still does not look away from her artwork. Meanwhile, Chopper rolls back up the hallway, letting out what seems like a sarcastic “Oh, no.” Ezra looks back and forth between Sabine’s room and his room, and warns Chopper to “Stay out of my room!” He looks back to Sabine and says, “Uhh, gotta go!” He turns away, and Sabine rolls her eyes. Just another day, another chance for him to shoot his shot.

Inside Ezra’s shared room with Zeb, Zeb is taking a nap, not quite successfully. Ezra dodges Chopper’s energy zap with lightning speed. Zeb is mad, and Ezra blames it on Chopper, of course. To avoid another punch from Zeb, Ezra offers a reminder why he should not be punched. “All I did was save your life from an Imperial agent. Or did that slip your mind?” They start tussling, AGAIN.

Chopper alerts Sabine, who - amused at Zeb and Ezra’s antics - decides to redecorate their bunk instead. (Interesting that she wants to, and then does, paint the room that Ezra shares with Zeb, Sure, she could have chosen literally anywhere else on the ship, but she doesn’t.)

Ezra races down to the Ghost’s cargo hold, pursued by Zeb, who pounces off the balcony and straight into a few crates Kanan is busy with. Hera is none too pleased, and sends Zeb and Ezra on a shopping trip.

Ezra and Zeb walk into town, and the teenager is recognized by a senior citizen, who offers him a fruit, but not the meilooruns Hera sent them to get. They bump into a full crate, but Ezra considers it a challenge to attempt to take it from the Empire. They see troopers load it onto a transport cart, and Zeb lightly mocks Ezra about using the Force. Ezra takes this as a suggestion, not an insult. He concentrates, and manages to just about shift the lid of the crate when a trooper comes by. Ezra sneaks off, as he always does, and climbs up the transport to the crate.

Ezra makes a run for it as the troopers chase him, and Zeb steals a TIE fighter and comes to his rescue.

Hera takes a break, and checks up on Sabine, who denies entry. Hera points out that the room isn’t Sabine’s room, but she says, “I was inspired. It was Ezra’s idea.” Hera shrugs it off.

Inside the TIE, Ezra tells Zeb to gain altitude, and says “I think we’re too low.” Despite the window being dirty, Ezra senses that they might be about to crash, so instructs Zeb to turn the TIE. Zeb is astounded, but Ezra says he’s not sure. “I just knew,” he admits. (Here, Ezra is shown to have connected to the Force and let it tell him things nobody else would have known. Such as how to avoid obstacles without needing to see them.)

He and Zeb call up Hera and Kanan, and inadvertently admit they’re in a TIE. Kanan orders them to “get rid of it”, but in unison, Ezra and Zeb complain: “Do we HAVE to?!” (It would be fun to have another fighter though. Kind of a little foreshadowing to when later on, another TIE fighter is stolen and painted, but we’ll eventually get to that episode.) They receive instructions to a landing point.

Ezra sees smoke in the distance, and instead of helping Zeb get to the agreed rendezvous point, they make a detour to help a neighbor in need. “Friends of my parents,” he says.

Ezra drops onto a transport, and frees his parents’ friends with the Force.

Ezra thanks Zeb for saving him. Zeb points to a helmet inside the TIE, and asks, “You collect these, right?” Ezra says, “Already have that one. But, this is a nice one. Besides, maybe I can get Sabine to paint it for me. So, thanks.” (Again, foreshadowing to when Sabine actually paints a helmet for him a year or two later…)

Ezra and Zeb are in good spirits, having more or less made peace with each other. Turns out Hera’s trip for them was for them to learn to get along.

They make their way up the Ghost and down its hallway, and arrive at their shared room. The door opens, and Sabine, of all people, is inside, having just finished redecorating. Curious, Ezra asks, “Uh, finished with what, Sabine?” She says, “Thought it was a moment that needed to be immortalized.” Ezra looks confused as he stares up at Sabine’s handiwork, but she says, “and you did say you wanted to be my inspiration.” Ezra responds, “Yeah, but that makes me look like a fool.” Zeb agrees that the same sentiment also applies to him. Sabine shrugs. “I paint what I see,” she says.

Apparently not over their pseudo-feud with Chopper, Ezra and Zeb chase after the droid. Sabine steps out and watches after them, amused.

[astrxlfinale]

"Oh ... wow, that's something else..."

Having drifted off to her screen in a moment of Caelus' intense focus on one of his games, Guinaifen's frame soon falls against his there they are, having fled to great, wide outside - fresh air ? People ? THe artificial sun that holds the shape of a deadly laser ? On days where the house is exceptionally rowdy ( ... and the dragon is actively looking for people to haul into chores ... ), there's no better escape than a bench under a tree and some proper snacks.

And, of course, the depths of the internet.

"Babe, babe, babe -" Guinaifen goes, attempting to get his attention. The Girlfriend Signal will get through sooner or later, she knows him that much; " - you gotta look at this ..."

For whenever he is ready, monster conquered or a new high scored guaranteed, there's a screen held up before him. One of the many wonders of the internet is how much information it contains, and how great minds come together to create beautiful things such as art, videos, games and... literature. Before Caelus' eyes is no small feat, oh no, it is a whole collection of Fanfiction. Not any Fanfiction, but the greatest, grandest Fanfiction of all time, one that seems to have originated from Penacony as the tags went ; #THIS SO REAL #REAL EVENTS #I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES.

It's a Fanfiction of ... Clockie and Caelus.

Five hundred thousand words.

Three thousands saves.

And far too many reads to count.

" ... welcome to the dark corner of the internet, babe."

Babe.

Babe.

Babe...

Why Guinaifen would absolutely be correct in that natural process of thought. Despite this new update giving him a slew of new challenges to triumph upon, gear to find, break effect to fucking level and struggle with all the same, he's soon snapped from his reverie. A tensed, turn based battle would be paused as he allows the phone to slide from his hand. Switching his priorities, he'd immediately chomp down a few of the Tuskpir wraps. A fragrant, sweet flavor is the best balm against the unknown.

"Mmm? What's caught those ol' honey eyes this time?" He mumbled, his mouth partially full as he nosily leaned closer to the phone. If only Caelus could've spiritually prepared himself for the spontaneous moment of hell coming to his doorstep. A simplistic mind like him often forgets that you can take a Streamer out the room, but you can't take the room out of the Streamer.

...

Did that even make sense?

Frankly, he couldn't give two fucks at this very moment once his eyes drifted across the material. It wasn't just Caelus & Clockie. No, it was Caelus/Clockie, a cardinal sin as the wrap found itself dropping helplessly across the spread blanket.

"Wh-- Whawha... The fuck." His voice croaked out, a growing, steel-like ball of dread building within his guilt as his hands immediately seized her wrist, drawing it close as the cracked open Pandora's box only revealed more of it's hell.

Mating Press. Dom Caelus. Bondage. uwu. Threesomes. Dreamjolt Fuckery. The Family Are Never Forgiving These Sins. Ahegao Clockie. Whipmommy Robin.

............

It was a fucking miracle he didn't fling that phone to the stars as some guttural scream escaped him from that moment. Suddenly that device felt like liquid Destruction as he tore his hands away, in fact his body seemingly vanished from pure speed before he drew himself up into a nearby tree. A perversive hiss escaped while his mind reeled across the numbing fact that people ate this the fuck up.

What in the hell was drawing them like pigs to the slaughter!?

"ONLINE BRAIN IS THE GODDAMN WORST." He spat, immediately drawing a vengeful hand at her phone.

"WHY ARE PEOPLE LITERALLY WOVEN TOGETHER BY HELL. LEAD ME TO THE FUCK WHO MADE THAT."

"I NEED DETAILS!!"

No, Caelus does not care he's making a scene to a group that looked at him utterly perturbed.

@avaere

[sroloc--elbisivni]

(Another one from Whispering Forest :D This entire scene was breathtaking)

The woman in a grand kusode made of living scarlet maple leaves seated on a mountain as though it was the dais of her audience hall and looking out over the valley was an unfamiliar feature of the terrain. Her hair was swept around her like a wild wave and her face was smooth as a porcelain mask. Her name came to him like this was a dream.

“Aki-Onna-sama.”

“Miyamoto Usagi,” she said, still watching the valley. “You freed me once, when your life was at risk and you could have fled.”

Usagi searched his memory. “I’m sorry. I don’t recall this.”

“Mortals rarely do, and you were still a child then. But I owe you a debt. Witness.”

Send me up to 500 words from a fic and I will give you my director's commentary on it!

ahhhhhhhh aki-onna!!! okay i GOTTA get photos for this hang on--

these are the two actual looks we get at Aki-onna in the one Usagi Yojimbo story she appears in. (note baby usagi in the lower left of the right picture.) that's "Autumn." it was one of the first stories I read, because it's the fourth one in Volume One of the Usagi Yojimbo saga. I think this is about the point at which the switch in my brain got firmly flipped and i went 'oh i'm IN THIS in this.' it's still one of my favorites, and it's the first UY story i read that really went full speed ahead on 'this is a world of monsters and magic.' (there's an argument to be made that the whole thing is a hallucination usagi had but i think that's a boring explanation.) I knew from the beginning that this story was going to be leaning into autumn vibes, and i put together pretty quickly that if I was making it a theme she was the perfect character to incorporate. especially since this whole fic is my psyop to get people to read the comics.

originally I thought she'd be like....an information source, someone who provided a key detail to crack the whole thing open. she was supposed to show up between mikey getting attacked in the woods and the forest getting set on fire. at some point i realized she worked much better as part of the climax.

true story, before i wrote her into this and double checked my information, I genuinely thought Aki-Onna was an existing mythological personage Sakai had adapted into the comic. and then I tried to research her and every single english source i found just went straight back to the comics (it's possible that i'm talking out of my ass here and there's a mythology of an autumn lady that hasn't been translated to english that sakai picked up somewhere else.) there's the yuki-onna, a type of yokai like beautiful women who lead people to die in snowstorms, but autumn personified as a woman who can be imprisoned to stop the changing seasons...she's an original. i love her. she hasn't recurred since, and I don't think she ever will--I don't actually think canon Aki-Onna owes Usagi a debt. she's above and beyond him. it made for a convenient way to get her in the story, though, and an extra convenient way to see all the action of the climax. it was important to me that even though it's technically a deus ex machina, she herself is doing very little--she's holding back the rain until the moment where it will have the most impact, and she's letting Usagi see what he's brought about. every other character who has come up in this story has fought to get things to where they are. she's just stopping by.

i loved describing her, too, trying to convey this sense of OTHERWORLDLINESS that her image gives after you've gotten used to anthropomorphism. she gets compared to a force of nature and something inhuman, and is placed in an impossible setting. I picked that paragraph apart and put it back together several times to try and make sure the narration flowed because i wanted it to be all impact, nothing where the reader had to think about words. (fun research sidebar: this section is where i realized that 'kimono,' while a term in existence at the time, would not have been used to refer to most common formal garments--we get kusode instead. went back after this and edited leo being mean and hot scene accordingly.) in the same spirit of "she's just stopping by" and "everything about her needs to make an impact", she only has four lines in the entire story. which is! SOMETHING! when two of them are also the only exposition non-comics readers are going to get on her presence!!!!

i loved this scene for the imagery, and getting to draw into another part of the comics that meant a lot to me, and also for the way I got to make it the buy-in for the cutting between scene. it led into the scene that changed everything about the way I had been telling this story so far, and brought together everything--I had to do it in a way that made people want to come along with me. it's wonderful to hear you liked it!!!

[aurora567]

Little Mouse Ch. 26

Warnings this fic will contain mature themes. Such as but not limited to teasing, kidnapping, Stockholm syndrome, very unhealthy relationships, some elements of non-con/rape, threesomes, drug use, breath play, voyeurism, branding, sex.

Summery: Rin wakes up and learns about what happened after the battle ended.

Word Count: 3203

Last Chapter Next Chapter

Once feeling returned to her body she groaned softly. She hurts even more now. A line from one hip across to the other was left on her body thanks to the sharp edge of the counter. Her ass was still burning softly as she stood up and shifted back from the counter so she could lean down to pull her panties back up her legs first. She hissed though as the material rested against the lines of burns along her right ass cheek. Bending her body backwards the best she could she tried her hardest to see what Dabi had done to her rear end. But she couldn’t see it clearly from just standing there.

“Dabi what the hell did you burn into my ass?” She called out with a pout before giving up to try and see her own backside and turned to glare at said man who already had his pants back in their place and looked like he had not just fucked her in the middle of the kitchen.

“Oh just my name,” He said simply as if it was common sense. After all, what else would he burn into her pretty flesh? With his hand print on her left ass cheek and his name now carved into the skin of her right one, no one would ever be able to look at her and not know that she belonged to him and him alone. Even if he may share her from time to time she was still his at the end of the day and it was him who she came to for anything. She would always return to Dabi.

She remained silent after being told it was his name that he had branded into her skin. After all, what was there to say? It hurt some, yes. But pain was nothing new for her. If anything being branded as his was rather flattering. It had her shivering in pleasure as she started on washing the dishes that she had dirtied while making their meal.

“Where is everyone?” She finally asked as she was washing one of the last pots. Glancing over at him she watched his shoulders shrug. She looked at him with a look that screamed that she was not amused and that was not the answer she wanted either.

“Twice is probably with Toga. He’s been babying her even more than normal since we got here. Who knows about Spinner or Mr. Compress. Shigaraki is either talking with the Doc or with Re-Destro,” Dabi finally told her after she shot her unimpressed look at him and he caved in to her. At that she let up with the look and softly nodded her head to herself.

“Alright. Well where do you think Toga and Twice are?” She asked looking over at Dabi as she dried her hands. He frowned at her not liking where this was going. He wanted to go back to their bedroom and just enjoy fucking her some more. But it seemed he was not going to get his wish and that had him pouting.

“They are probably either in her room or one of the main rooms on our private floor of the villa,” Dabi finally relents with a pout on his lips.

“Well then let's go find them. I want to check on Toga myself and see how she is doing. Did they bring in a healer at all?” She asked as she strolled out of the kitchen with Dabi following after her as he pouted.

“They brought some nurses in and the Doc. You don’t gotta worry about them,” Dabi said. She wasn’t sure if she believed him, she may love him but that did not mean she trusted him to tell her the truth.

“Still I want to see them with my own eyes. My body is too worn out to be able to use my quirk any more today anyways. But after a few days I should be back to normal and I should then be able to try and speed up their healing,” She said simply as she started to retreat back the way they had come. She had after all tried hard to memorize the room that she had woken up in and where it was from the kitchen. She didn’t have a map, and so she would have to try and memorize the layout of the place instead. And lucky for her she just needed to remember the floor that she had been on and the area since it sounded like the floor she had woken up on was a rather private one.

Dabi still let out a grunt of annoyance as she walked away from him and forced him to follow after her. But he had long ago learned that the red head was a stubborn woman. And for once Dabi did not feel like actually picking a fight with said woman and so he sped up his stride a little till he caught up with her and once again he slung his arm possessively over her shoulders and kept her nice and close to him. After all he wanted all those around them to see her and know that she was his and no one else’s. Though he was sure his little mouse would always come scurrying back to him if anyone else dared to try and do anything to her. After all, Dabi tried to make sure she was nice and reliant on him or the league.

He walked with her as they made their way back to the area where she had been while sleeping. This time though as she walked through the crowded villa Dabi noticed the woman kept her back straight and her head held up, not looking down at the ground as she had earlier. Though she did still press into his side when he had slung his arm over her shoulder. Dabi led the way as they strolled back to the area with the league's bedrooms, their own little personal area.

Dabi had an idea that someone most likely Twice and Toga, would be in the little sitting room area of their floor. After all, there was not much to do while stuck in the stupid building. And with it being in the middle of nowhere it would be a pain to walk into the closest city just to cure some boredom. It also didn’t help that some members like Toga and Shigaraki were not yet in a shape where they could be up and so active.

Strolling into the room that held a few couches and a tv. The large tv was on as it was apparent that someone was in the room and taking advantage of the amenities. Not like Dabi could blame them, after months of living in hiding having stuff like tv, hell even running hot water had to be nice for the other league members.

With Rin in hand the pair walked into the room. Rin was quick to pull out from under his arm and rush to the one couch where a banged up Toga and Twice sat. Oddly Toga looked in a better shape than poor Twice who had both his arms in slings. Toga bore an eye patch over her right eye, as well as a fair number of bandages on her body. But she looked better than Rin had expected.

Toga upon seeing the red headed woman jumped from the couch. Letting out an almost ear splitting squeal she rushed over to bulldoze into Rin. The impact from the tiny blonde actually had the woman wheeze slightly. Her body still hurt a bit after all.

“Oh my gosh you’re finally awake. We were all worried about you,” the crazy blonde said as Rin was attempting to push her off.

“Toga, I can’t breathe,” Rin wheezed out in an attempt to remove the blondes iron like grip from around her sore ribs. She didn’t even realize her ribs hurt till the blonde locked her arms around Rin’s still recovering body.

“Speak for yourself you leach,” Dabi grumbled from behind the two women. Which just earned him an eye roll from them both.

“I’m fine Toga. A little sore from the fighting, and I overused my quirk which also took its toll. But give me a few days and I will be good as new again. Once I am I’ll heal you and Twice up,” she said as she ran her eyes from the girl and then over to the man in his normal black and grey suit.

Toga let go of her body and grabbed her hand to start dragging her over towards the couch where said blonde had been seated just minutes ago. For a small thing Toga was oddly strong as she dragged the older woman over with her. Rin winced slightly as pain shot through her right ass cheek as her butt collided with the couch seat.

“Oh Shiggy is gonna be happy to know you're awake,” Toga was rambling, not even apparently listening to Rin or Dabi. A glance at Twice showed he seemed to be having a conversation with himself, though there were clearly more than one voice in his head now. That was different. Seemed the poor guy had an even bigger mental break than before.

“How is Shigaraki doing? He had been pretty hurt after the fighting,” Rin asked, actually worried for the man she had taken over babysitting after Kurogiri had been arrested.

“He’s in a wheelchair right now or he should be with a broken foot, his hands have been pretty beat up too. He lost half of one,” Toga actually answered the woman’s questions about what she had missed while passed out. Hearing that Shigaraki had been hurt had her frowning. She remembered his one foot had most likely been broken. His one hand had fingers hanging off of it by what few muscles that had not been completely destroyed. And his other arm had the skin destroyed by his own quirk.

“Once I’m able I’ll have to see what I can do for him. I won’t be able to do anything about his missing fingers. But I’ll have to see if I can help speed up his healing,” Rin said more to herself than anything.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Between the Doc and Re-Destro Shiggy has been pretty busy. And I am sure his doctor friend is looking after him,” Toga said as she leaned back into the couch.

“Still I’ll check on him,” Rin mumbled to herself before Twice was pulling away both her and Toga’s attention as he was having an argument with himself.

“Awe Twice,” Toga was cooing at the man that was probably twice her age. At first Rin had found their relationship almost creepy. But it was clear that it was not sexual. Toga was truly the baby of the group. And most of them treated her as such. But Twice truly treated the blonde girl as if she was his own little sister. Even Rin had caught herself doing it a time or two.

Before they could truly change the subject or anything the door to the room swung open, drawing all eyes over to look at the newcomer. It was a man Rin did not recognize. Tall and lanky, his hair was dark. His shoulders hunched slightly. His black hair was long, his bangs fell in front of his face. Making it a bit hard to tell where he was actually looking. Though as his head whipped around to look at Dabi who was leaning against the wall. She was pretty sure she watched a vein become visible running down his cheek and to his jaw.

“You were told when the woman awakened you were to take her to Shigaraki,” the man growled at Dabi who did not look bothered at all by the stranger's anger.

“We would have gotten to him eventually,” Dabi said simply. Which may have been true since she had requested to see the shape of the man for herself. But she had also wanted to check up on everyone else too. And so far Dabi only brought her to where only Twice and Toga were hanging out. Then again there may be a chance none of them exactly knew where the other two members may be off at.

Still Rin did want to take the opportunity to check on Shigaraki and see how he was doing. She also did not want to admit that it made her feel all warm and fuzzy that Shigaraki had wanted to see her as soon as she was up. Had he been worried for her? She would like to imagine the answer was yes. But she was also well aware that there was a good chance that he had a completely different reason to want to see her. Was it delusional that she only wished to think that the man had been worried for her? Yes. Did she realize that? No.

“Dabi,” she called out the pyro’s name as she stood up from the couch. Causing the bickering between the two men to a halt as she made her way towards them.

“Let’s go, I want to see how Shigaraki is doing,” she said as she reached out for one of his hands that was stuffed in his pants pockets.

Dabi did not exactly look pleased as he glanced down at the woman who was wrapping her arms around his one. The action crushed her breasts up against his arm. But that alone was not enough for her to win, and she knew it too as she pulled out her best puppy dog eyes as her bottom lip jutted out. She was not one to attempt to get her way in such a childish manner. And keeping a straight face as she did so was hard. And holding it become even harder as Dabi gave her a look of disgust and looked about ready to try and shake her off his arm.

“Fine, just stop making that damn face,” he snarled at her. Which had her crack and let out a snort of laughter as she stopped giving him the puppy dog eyes.

“See that wasn’t so hard,” she cooed teasingly at him. And that time he did physically give his arm a shake to try and dislodge the redhead who tightened her grip and gave a playful laugh when he could not shake her and as such his shaking only grew more violent.

“Get the fuck off of me if your going to act like an idiot,” Dabi growled before he was able to actually get her off of his arm.

She laughed lightly as she could hear Toga and Twice snickering to themselves behind her as they watched the event from the sideline. Though their snickers did not go unnoticed as Dabi turned just enough to shoot them both a death glare. Which only made the two loonatics laugh even louder, as if Dabi could not just roast all of their asses and be done with them.

“If you fools are done. We have important business to get to,” the lanky string bean said as his face seemed to nearly throb with visible vanes as he seemed to be struggling to contain his anger.

“Stick in the mud,” Rin whispered though not to anyone in particular, nor was it truly whispered since everyone in the room heard her.

Oh mister string bean looked about ready to explode. Maybe there was some fun to being a little crazy. She could see why Toga and Dabi enjoyed annoying people each in their own ways. Watching this man look like his head was about to pop off was incredibly entertaining. Wow, was she that bored? Yes yes she was. And it seemed even Dabi had found her annoying the man entertaining as a smirk pulled at his own lips as he stood beside Rin watching the man look like he was about to explode with anger.

“Come on princess, let's go see what Crusty has been up to lately,” Dabi says as he slings an arm over her shoulders before starting to make his way out of the room leaving the string bean of a man to mumble curses and the like under his breathe at the duo.

Letting the lanky stranger take the lead Rin walked beside Dabi as they made their way through the large building. They even took an elevator ride up to reach the top floor of the building. Apparently this was where Shigaraki and Re-Destro would meet for the most part. It was where their offices were but also bedrooms. That made Rin pout a little, as it seemed that reaching Shigaraki’s bedroom would be a bit of a walk from her own room. Oh well nothing she could do about that.

With Dabi attached to her side and his arm over her shoulder in his common possessive manner the two walked out of the elevator and down a small hallway before walking into a large room. The room was completely massive, it probably took up a good chunk of the entire floor. Large windows looked out over a beautiful forested area. Dabi had not been kidding when he said they were in the middle of nowhere. It was clear to see that the closest city or town was barely visible through the window.

In the middle of the room sat two men. One was Re-Destro who sat in a wheelchair, his legs now missing thanks to the man who was sitting beside him. Shigaraki Tomura sat in his own chair. Though this one was not a wheelchair, no it looked more like a throne. He looked to be in rough shape. His body was covered in bandages, both hands were wrapped up, bandages wrapped around his head and face. His left foot was in a hand and a crutch sat propped up against his chair. The sight pulled at her heart. She wished she could help heal him.

As the duo strolled into the room both sets of eyes turned to take in the sight of the newcomers. Re-Destro was still talking energetically about something, and it was clearly of no interest to Shigaraki. But as the man took in the sight of Dabi and Rin he seemed to straighten up a little more in his seat from his previous slouched position.

“Get out,” Shigaraki’s raspy voice finally spoke up, cutting off Re-Destro who was mid sentence. The man paused for a second before seeming to realize what he had been told to do. If he could have jumped to his feet he probably would have.

“Yes! Right away,” The man said with far too much enthusiasm before throwing his wheelchair into high gear and heading the way Rin had just come from all the while yelling out for Skeptic to follow him.

The room was silent as the two unwanted guests made their departure. And once they had Rin let a wide grin pull at her lips.

“Hey Shigaraki. How are you feeling?” Rin asked as she smiled at the pale haired man.

Next Chapter

[mika-meowz]

BACK at it with Ludicra thanks to a certain someone who's also been sharing their SUPERMENTAL oc lately (thank you dude)

This idea is meant to follow the same rough line as one of my other ideas, where Pent leaves Ludicra behind at his apartment

But instead of dying taking down Déja, it turns out her and Smack were fighting a fake while the actual Déja went and caused mayhem

Including breaking down the apartment

And I wrote a little drabble for it! I've realized way too late that I did a little fuck up because Shelby's not supposed to have a sense of self again at this point in the idea but eh, minor details, not a big deal, it's not like you won't know who the character is SO

Here you go:

Shelby felt everything settle. It shouldn't have settled, they were in the middle of taking down Déja, and yet..

Suddenly, it did not matter. It literally didn't matter. One butterfly was all it took for Shelby to realize every blow had been for naught. She turned to Smack.

"Smack, we gotta go. Now."

Smack didn't need to be told twice. He didn't know, he didn't see, but it didn't matter. When Shelby meant business, she meant business.

The two took off, Shelby beelining back to the apartment with Smack in tow.

The butterfly fluttered right along with them. And soon, there were more. It wasn't long until they had a little squadron of at least 5 butterflies dancing about at breakneck speed.

When they got to the apartment, it was in ruin. Much like everything else in Nickville.

"LUDICRA!" Shelby shouted first, voice shrill. Her eyes frantically darted around the area.

"Guys!" A response came; Strained.

The little butterfly cluster floated down, and joined another group some ways away. The most of them settled on a big rubble pile, and pinned between the chunks of drywall, cement, and whatever other needlessly heavy and sharp materials went into the walls of a single damn building,

was Ludicra.

"Ludicra!" The duo shouted, a healthy amount of relief and worry bleeding into both of them.

Shelby was relieved she didn't walk up on Ludicra getting rent by Déja.. but something inside her still wrenched at the sight.

"I'm okay, guys..! I promise.." Ludicra forced.

Shelby moved before Smack could. She was at their side. The butterflies dispersed at the movement. Her gaze locked onto them a moment before she pried it away to focus on the rubble, and Smack followed, doing the same.

"Slow! Slow!" Ludicra advised with a bit of frenzy. "I-If you're not careful, you might make more of the rubble cave in on itself.." Ludicra murmured.

Despite this fact, they wriggled. "Oh, come on, I can get out of th- fUCK!"

It was hard to say what they were trying to do after that, but if Smack had to guess, he would've assumed they made some reflexive attempt to curl in on themself.

He put a hand on their only free arm to try and get them to relax. After a bit of observing, Smack had his hands on one chunk of rubble, and Shelby on one directly across.

"On three."

"One.."

"Two.."

"Three!"

And with a good tug, they both yanked their respective pieces aside, ensuring neither would topple in once the other wasn't holding it's load.

"GUYS!"

There was a flash of movement. A different slab of wall rolled across little pebbles and into the little crater- nearly a makeshift coffin, Shelby realized- that Ludicra was in, Ludicra made an attempt to roll over, only making it halfway before the heavy object scraped their knee, and Smack stretched his arms out, just barely catching the heavy debris.

The three shared a sigh of relief, and with an extra lift from Shelby, Smack was able to toss the rubble aside.

Ludicra didn't even bother to think after that. They could move. Despite the blood only starting to rush back into their cold legs, or the ache that tore through their right arm and into their collar, they could move.

They sat up with barely so much as a wince and reached for Shelby, who wasted no time in pulling them in. They wrapped their arms around her neck the second they could, settling into the warmth and security.

As much as Ludicra had tried to talk themself down during the seemingly endless period that they were trapped, they'd been terrified. Unable to wriggle a single stone loose- knowing that success could mean a 50 pound rock pressing into the back of their ribs- their ribs, which were already uncomfortably warped against the jagged points of stones below. Steadily losing feeling in their legs, unsure if it was a problem of the spine or something else, and an ache up their right arm that, despite how easy would have been, and how frequently they used the limb on a daily basis, or how spindly it was, they couldn't slip it through a single gap just to stretch it and observe the damage.

Luckily, Smack seemed to be on top of that now that they were free.

"Oh my god.."

Shelby looked up at Smack, followed his gaze, then drew back from Ludicra, observing their arm.

Along with having every possibility of being broken, it seemed the vast majority of their upper arm had it's surface shredded by who knows what. Shelby swore she saw red for half a second at the potential prospect of Déja's stupid-ass gauntlets being what dug into and tore Ludicra's skin.

There was some sort of relief when Ludicra's expression indicated obliviousness to the gash's existence prior to that moment.

They eyed it a moment, and their stomach twisted. They buried their face back in Shelby's shoulder.

All that was left to do was pray the hospital was still intact.

And that said hospital wouldn't have a problem with two well-known thieves strolling by.

Shelby let out a breath as she stood and scooped Ludicra into her arms, then turned to Smack.

"You think the hospital has a drop-off box?"

[aquillis-main]

Sonic Prime Notes Part 2

Episode 3:

Sonic didn't actually collapse in the post Shadow fight, nor did he forget about his friends.

Big is shown further away from the fight thanks to Shadow running into him to get to Sonic.

Rebel Rouge's face crushed in for group hug

"Baddies this way, baddies that way!" Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Prime Episode 3

Robots randomly pile up in doorway, allowing the Rebels to escape.

Tails Nine does not have cybernetics as he flies.

Sonic falls down to the bottom floor, which is awkward.

Nine's robo tails only use regular Tails' flying animation for his tails.

Dr. Deep 'Lost them', even though they're on camera.

Nine's walkng speed is faster than his octo-crawl.

The problem of Sonic feeling 'Guilty' about him not listening, Even though it was in Eggman's HANDS and there was NO OTHER OPTION

"Eggman didn't create the world, I did." Even though Sonic pulled the ME Shattering onto the Paradox Prism.

Sonic Slapstick Moment: 35

Episode 4:

"It's not like answers are gonna fall from the sky!" has three others fall out of the sky

Sonic keeps on making potshots at Knuckles, no matter the variation.

Sonic immediately goes 'Can you hear me?' Yet Tribal Rouge asks if they heard something.

Tribal Knuckles is Sticks in this universe.

Sonic needs to fix up a situation, because he accidentally caused the others to lose their food supply.

Also Games Sonic has better control of his speed.

Robutt joke

Sonic should have realized instantly that he's in a new world as soon as he saw sunlight.

Mangey, the Tails of Boscage Cage, is portrayed as a feral beast with not much else going on in his head. He also seems to be treated like a pet.

All the boys are utter idiots, and Gnarly is insane.

Sonic doesn't want the monster to show their face.

"Can't step on the gas!" when he's used to running in jungles already.

Thorn is the monster… And she looks like Sonia.

Thorn is an overenthusiastic environmentalist in comparison, when it would have been better if Cave!Eggman had been using her to prevent the others from scavenging.

Sonic is making good points to Thorn, but Thorn is not listening because she needs to be an antagonist for two episodes.

Thorn: "Do you ever stop Talking?" Sonic: "No, not really." <- Not Sonic's character to chat incessantly.

Thorn makes excuses as to why she shouldn't be listening to Sonic, yet they gave Sonic greater points over Thorn's, which comes across as 'I'm the adult, you're not'.

Sonic Slapstick Moment: 49

Episode 5:

Straight into flashback, AGAIN

Sonic could have made memories in more than one specific location in Green Hill - and yet the others are focused on one specific trees.

Implies that there is buildings in Green Hill, yet besides Tails' Workshop, we don't see the other buildings.

Amy gets pissed off over Sonic's disinterest in her way of memorizing, and gets snippy with him instead of actually explaining to him what he did wrong, like her actual self would do.

Sonic is still trying to talk to Thorn, even Thorn has admitted she wants to 'Shut everyone out'. Both in a literal sense, and a figurative sense.

Thorn is shutting out the sun to shut out the Scavengers, thus killing the undergrowth.

Sonic - literally trapped, has both the Spindash and his claws to get of his wood prison.

Sonic literally says "Wow, I really should have thought about that sooner" about his prison. KILL ME.

Sonic goes 'Gotta go fast'.

Sonic took the hammer easily in the last episode, yet can't get her to let go of it now.

Thorn went insane because she saw the others dropped too many fruits and veggies in Rouge's perspective.

Sonic is stupid at communication.

Sonic Talking to trees: OK Sonic talking to dead robots: not ok

Thorn overcovering the canopy killed the tree. Then it gets revived.

'Gotta go fast' AGAIN

Sonic Slapstick Moment: 56

Episode 6:

Operation: Cheese?

Knux says 'who's with me?' even though it's all Resistance with him.

Knux is angry at Sonic for jumping dimensions.

Rebel Rouge immediately blames Sonic for Nine's failure.

THE SHOW OBSESSES ABOUT THE FUCKING TREE ON THE BEACH BY THE ROCK.

Despite Sonic being a 'traitor', the NPCs of the Resistance seem happy to be saved by sonic.

Nine steals Sonic from New Yoke, thus making Sonic's promise null and void.

Nine throws Sonic back to New Yoke, without considering coming back

NPC run off cowering despite bing all gung ho before

Nine, despite telling Sonic he won't come back, decides to change his mind offscreen

Nine gets easily bat by not paying attention.

Sonic Slapstick Count: 60

Episode 7:

Flashback repeat of episode 2

Shadow used Chaos Control to jump in between dimensions when the Shattering ocurred, even though both the Paradox Prism and the Chaos Emeralds alter Space-Time.

Only one Chaos Emerald, instead of the usual seven.

Sonic has Aquaphobia, only seen in Sonic Underground, Sonic X, and does NOT appear in the games.

Sonic is terrified of water, even though he can run over it.

Coconuts are alcohol now.

Sprites used again, only it's Sonic 3

Also, using Dorkly style animation, ala Sonic For Hire.

Sonic is meeting Knuckles for the first time at the ME, even though they met more times before that.

Implications of both the ME, and Angel Island existing, but the 'whole world' is Green Hill.

Sonic decides to attack Dread, even though the pirates have been more courteous than anyone else in the multiverse.

Finally, the Pirate crew give Sonic respect.

Pirate!Tails is called 'Sails'. Kill me.

Sonic Slapstick Count: 62

Episode 8:

Honestly, Rusty gets 1 good moment, with the 'I wish I were programmed to laugh'.

The ship is called 'The Angel's Voyage'

Black Rose is surprisingly absent.

Rusty Rose decides to give up sinking Sonic because she sees her counterpart Black Rose.

Nine immediately gives up Sonic because he's an asshole

WHY IS THE MOTHERSHIP NOT IN PRISMSPACE????

Knuckles the Dread actually has a good character and motivations, which makes previous characters more the baffling in characterization.

Seadogs apparently can beat robots from another universe.

Again, Sonic prioritizes his friends over the mission. Which again, does not make sense if Sonic is supposed to learn about Friendship.

Sonic is more competent in this fight scene than all the other fight scenes before.

Sonic almost gets Rusty, but the show moves Rusty away so she can have a cool standing moment with the destruction of the other robots.

Shadow blames Sonic for the loss of the World, even though Eggman had it in his hands.

Shadow's end punch makes Sonic drift away slowly, so IDK what Sonic was panicking about.

Sonic Slapstick Count: 70

All (current as of December 18th, 2022) episode notes done and over with.

... Why the FUCK are the Pirate Episodes the only good episodes???

[yoshipea762]

SIPHA the dusky dolphin rant ig

So, random shitpost that has some relation to google translated portal (P0RTUGUL) aside...

I want to talk about SIPHA for a moment, bring up what inspired me to make her in the first place, and other random OC stuff I guess. I'm in the mood to do so, and my sudden need to RP as Deva Gwain Saga in Discord is... Let's say it's not being attained atm due to not being able to find a partner.

Keep reading if you REALLY want to see the rant(Just mind the writing. I tend to make stuff sound confusing without even realizing it). If not, move on and pretend I didn't say anything.

Now then. For design, I'll admit that I was looking for dolphin OCs to reference from. Inspiration kind of just struck like a literal wrecking ball when I saw a wholphin called 502(One of Omiza-Zu's old OCs). I openly admit that I took... A good amount of inspiration from that, although I seem to have still made her stand out on her own. Somehow. I may have also doubled down on the Silver stuff, as her "hair" reminded me of him to some extent. The shoes she normally wears for example use the rims his boots have, just recolored to better suit her color palette. The air shoes design was clearly from Shadow, but we don't talk about that.

Why I made her a robot was obvious (bias), but making her a prototype badnik who had people die during her creation just so she could have a built-in laser wisp power? Honestly, the idea of something typically evil NOT being an enemy was always an interesting concept to me. Badniks are usually Eggman's go-to robot army, and even in my AU, that's the case. You'd want to get rid of them. So, if a Badnik approached you and didn't have the intent to kill you, would you be on edge? What if I made that a Black Arms monster, something typically dangerous as hell? They'd probably put you on edge, wondering if they're even on your side or not?

Unless... say, they're friendly before you realize they're a Badnik. But even then, you can do something interesting with that position too. Are they still trustworthy? Or are they just a mole pretending to be a defector?

For her personality and abilities? Yeah, I... may have went for the "foil to Sonic" route, even though she won't actually interact with him. She's pretty friendly once you get to know her, but suffers from trust issues due to circumstances from her past. She can't stand staying in place, so putting her in a locked room is enough to make her scream. And yes, she's bound to make a fool of herself. Pretty sure her TH page can explain better than I can right now, lol. I kind of just... Copied Sonic's capabilities, but made it so she's more like his Luigi equivalent stat-wise. She runs at the same speed as Knux, but her jump height is higher, and her homing attack is much faster. I don't know why I made her like this other than to make her fit the bill of being a speed-type. Laser wisp power? Did the same thing with my AU's Sonic, so... Eheheh... :p

I've gotta rework her backstory tho. Her current one just isn't good to me, tbh. Needs more depth and oomph.

One more thing? Going back to something I brought up earlier, I thiiiiink I tried contacting Omiza sometime before or after the first SIPHA drawing? I haven't had a response from my many attempts, so I'm just gonna assume they don't want to talk about 502 anymore. Don't you hate it when a character you gained interest in happens to have died long before you knew about them? Sure, making your own content for them would be nice, but I feel horrible whenever I even think about doing it, especially when it's someone else's OC.

Thanks for reading through this... rant/tangent that likely made no sense to you. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go back to existing in my totally legitimate lake.

[justmeinadaze]

Hi!! I just wanted to let you know how much the Head Filled with Demons series means to me. My Dad also died a couple years back from COVID and he was a full time caretaker for my terminally ill mother, so when he died I’ve been her caretaker ever since. It was so isolating, I lost all my friends and had to leave college and work because keeping her alive took up my entire day every day. Things are getting better in the regards my Mom is in long term care at a facility because she outgrew what I could do alone, but I just resonate with the story beyond what I ever could have imagined. Every detail is like it cuts through me, not in a triggering way since I’m finally at a point where I’m starting to heal, but in a way that’s validating and kind of helps heal me because it provides a way to relive my experience if I had a support system at the end of it.

O hope this comes off as the compliment I mean it to be!! Your story really spoke to me and I would love to be added to the tag list for the series! If you ever need someone to talk to about your struggles or your parents, idk how much this means coming from a stranger but as someone who has lived the same experience I’ll always be here for you.

Our experience is incredibly unique. Everyone expects their parents to die before them, but never like this. Never before their time, slowly through illness yet still not leaving you any resources or time to prepare. It’s something no one else could ever understand unless they lived it and so if you ever need comfort in someone who understands I’ll always be here to provide that if I can.

My name is Mimi, by the way!! I hope that you have an absolutely beautiful day and I’m going to probably binge some more of your writing :)

Mimi you beautiful angel❤.

First and foremost I am genuinely sorry that you had to experience that grief. Grief in any form whether it be a death or even a disconnect from a parent thats no longer around but still alive just cuts deep. When I lost my father no one explained anything to me.

I was told that you get two weeks to "properly grieve" and then you gotta get back out there. After those 2 weeks passed I remember constantly thinking "What's wrong with me? Why am I still so sad?" After 6 months, it just spiraled from there because I felt so alone. Everyone went back to their lives and I was just sitting here like "How can the world continue being normal when NOTHING is normal anymore?!"

After 2 years and some personal experiences I learned that what I was feeling was normal and worked to be more vulnerable when it comes to those things. I told myself I wanted to share those feelings because I never wanted someone to feel as empty and alone as I did.

It's been almost 10 years since I lost my father and I still miss him. Some days it still hurts just as bad as the day we lost him. Some days I just break and that's ok. All of that is ok.

I hope you know how amazing you are. Not just because you took care of your parents but also because of the strength you had to and still have to utilize everyday when it comes to those responsibilities as well the emotions you have to carry when it comes to everything involving your parents and a society that isnt quiet up to speed when it comes to grief.

Now please forgive me if some of that went off on a tangent or didnt make sense lol because of my PTSD sometimes I struggle to convey what I'm thinking. Writing these fics here has actually helped alot with that and having people on here validate and reiterate that I'm not alone in how I feel or think❤.

I'm always here if you need to talk as well and I appreciate you so much for reading my writings and your compliment.

[missjashin]

Big same about those ronance feelings lmao. I personally can’t see w how Platonic Soulmate-y stobin is, how Robin would be able to ignore whatever happened between stancy and go on to have a romantic relationship w Nancy. And just in general getting with your besties ex is never good in my opinion!! Personally I’m a fan of Buckingham lol, who doesn’t love a cheerleader x band geek trope!!! 🤷‍♀️

Yeah it would be kinda weird to start dating your best friend’s ex in a first place, like in general. Not something that’s impossible but still a little weird. And considering what happened between Steve and Nancy.. mmhh yeah. If something like that were to happen to my best friend there’s no way I would ever forgive the person who hurt them. I could act civil to them maybe if it was necessary. But never forgive and forget.

And this is also why the whole Stancy push in s4 felt so weird.. Because so many seemed to be on board with it. It was established that Steve is over Nancy in s3 and it was said in a way that was convincing and then suddenly oh no he is not over her? And yeah, Eddie trying to push it? Sure I can see why he would do that. He doesn’t know all the details.

And Dustin? Well I doubt he knows everything either. Steve may not want to unload all that to a kid. Not to mention Dustin probably admires (or at least used to/maybe had a little kid crush on) Nancy to some extent so Steve doesn’t want to ruin any of that. Because he is now too sweet and kind and way more forgiving than I ever could be lol. And since Dustin trying to match Robin and Steve hasn’t been successful he tries something else then lol. Because he is meddling little twerp.

But Robin kinda trying to push it too??? Yeah that makes zero sense. Only explanation I can come up with is that she doesn’t know all the details either. Rumors maybe but not facts. Which sure I can get because Steve may not have wanted to share all that just yet. And I know we all love Robin and Steve and they share everything with each other idea but we also gotta remember that s4 happened in March -86. And Robin and Steve became friends in like July-85. So they’ve been proper friends less than a year. They’re still partially in the state of getting to know each other tho they’re definitely speeding through it. But simply there must be things they haven’t been able to share with each other yet.

But if she does know what happened??? Yeah I would expect her to rather openly hate Nancy.

In general acting like Nancy is the best Steve could ever have makes me so angry. Saying the best he could get is someone who is not honest with him and cheats on him? And doesn’t even love him? Makes me want to punch someone something. He deserves better.

But I’m getting off track tho lol.

Personally I didn’t have enough time to get that attached to Chrissy either. But the trope of cheerleader and band geek is super cute on itself. And honestly if I had to choose between R0nance and Buckingham? I would always choose Buckingham. (Probably would choose it over Vickie x Robin too because Vickie felt little too much like a copy paste of Robin’s personality to me.. But maybe they can convince me in s5, we will see)

[lowpolyshadow]

how about amy for the character bingo? :) 🍓

this makes me look a lot more like whatever about amy than i rlly am ... i love amy i think she's cute i like her a lot ..... she's funny she has a giant hammer she's over the top i love her ! ! ! i just don't have much to say in particular tho? smth smth flanderization smth smth crush on sonic whatever she can crush on him i think it's cute like she looks adorable when she's happy to see him and stuff

[a-vvenger]

just a random girl

pairing: (slight) steve harrington x fem!reader with powers

summary: reader senses trouble in hawkins so she’s gotta save everyone i guess

listen to: separate ways by journey (the one they play when the hawkins gang is in the RV at the end of ep 8) while reader is driving to hawkins and master of puppets when reader enters upside down and running up that hill when reader gets to creel house

a/n: NOT PROOFREAD WHATSOEVER LOL this writing is shit but i love the concept so writers feel free to write this better if you give me credit lol!

my masterlist

you were born with your powers. dr. brenner had tried to capture you many times but you always managed to slip through his grasp

so much so to the point where he gave up. you had a feeling he didn’t actually give up but was forced to to deal with other issues. this you were very right about.

you knew you were born in hawkins but you had no idea who your parents were. they had abandoned you once they saw what you could do. you frightened them.

you didn’t make yourself known until you followed max mayfield driving at the speed of light down the road. you were honestly just concerned for her safety you didn’t want to get involved in whatever shit was going on in hawkins.

but as you follow her to a field and get out of your car, you can never turn back.

“who the hell are you?” dustin asks.

at the same time steve says, “y/n?”

you go to hawkins high with steve and you share a couple classes but of course he doesn’t know about your abilities.

“you need to leave,” max says.

“what’s going on?” you ask.

“nothing, just leave,” mike says quickly and annoyed.

suddenly you all hear a loud growl in the distance.

you sigh, “i think you’re gonna need my help.”

“why would we need a random girls help?” lucas asks.

“just trust me,” you say hoping it’ll work.

they’re all still skeptical about how you’ll react to all of this but steve knowing you the best decides your trustworthy enough. that’s when your friendship with steve started.

as you all went through the tunnels you recognized this place. whenever you would check in on dr. brenner you’d see him trying to open something that had vines like this place.

the group is very surprised that you aren’t freaking out.

as they set the hub on my fire, you use your abilities to make the fire larger. your action goes unnoticed.

as you guys keep moving and run into dustin’s pet, max notices that your hand is clenched and your eyes are closed. but then dart lets you pass and you physically relax so max doesn’t say anything.

then as you and steve were about to leave the tunnels the demi-dogs, as dustin keeps calling them, start running towards you and steve.

now or never, you thought to yourself. you push steve behind you.

“y/n, no!” he shouts.

you stand there as the demi-dogs rush toward you. but, before they can reach you, they all drop dead. and then you collapse.

and as steve runs towards you and sees the blood running from your nose, he knows. and as he brings you up through the tunnel, unconscious, the kids see it too and they know.

and the rest is history. you became friends with all of them. you even met eleven who you felt a strong connection to due to your powers. you were basically sisters now. you met everyone else too and introduced yourself and told your story.

you were even with robin, steve, dustin, and erica under the starcourt mall fighting russians. and then once you got out you were with eleven, mike, and max trying to help them escape. eleven was injured badly and you were exhausted, your powers weak.

but, somehow you all defeated the mind flayer. this time with a lot of loss. max lost her brother. eleven lost her father. watching the two girls who had become like sisters to you, breaking like this, also broke you. you had to get out.

so you did.

you left hawkins. you went to find yourself. you traveled the states. and even some parts of the world.

and you continued to train your powers. you had no guidance but your own but you managed to be stronger than before and more powerful. you also figured out new ways to use your powers.

not only had your powers grown stronger so had you. you found a woman who you’re pretty sure was a russian assassin and she trained you. so now you were good at hand-to-hand combat, you could use guns, knives, swords, and pretty much any other weapon you can think of.

at the moment you were in tennessee, in a cabin. it was time for your monthly check-in on everyone.

you set the tv on an empty channel. the static being the only thing you needed for this now. you close your eyes.

you decide on eleven first. as you’re transported into the scene you see her, but she looks different, her head is shaved again and she’s in that white bodysuit you knew dr. brenner loved so much. he had tried to put you in one of those once.

eleven is talking to dr. owens. you hear her say something about max mayfield and friends in danger but you’re also focused on the man coming down the steps.

you gasp, brenner, you thought he was dead.

that son of a bitch, you shouldn’t of stopped checking in on him.

you hear him say, “your friends are not prepared for this fight, eleven.”

and then you get out of there. you need to check on max.

you focus on her next. your transported into an rv? you see steve and nancy in the front seat. dustin, max, lucas, robin, and- is that eddie munson? what the hell is going on?

you shake your head and focus your attention on max who’s having a conversation with lucas.

“he uses my memories against me,” max says, “but… only my darkest memories. same with chrissy and fred, right?”

“right,” lucas responds.

“it’s like he only sees the darkness in us. so, ill just run in the opposite direction. run to the light. and maybe he won’t be able to find me there,” max tells him.

who are they talking about, you groan.

“now, how exactly do you plan on doing this?” lucas asks.

“I’m not sure. but it’s my mind, not his, right? so i should be able to control where i am. I just need to… push him away,” she explains, “find a happy memory and hide there. hide in the light.”

“you got a memory in mind?” lucas asks her. you smile at the two of them.

she nods, “yeah. it was a time when i was… the happiest.”

“was i there?” he asks making you laugh.

“that’s presumptuous of you,” there’s your girl, “ but yeah you might’ve been there.”

you chuckle at the two, you wished nothing but happiness for them.

you get out of there and sigh. you had no idea what to do now. you decide to try joyce next. hopefully she’s with will and jonathan.

as you focus on joyce you hear a man speaking in russian and are quite confused. you notice its snowing. you then realize you are definitely not in america.

you turn towards the voices and your jaw drops.

there you see two russian dudes, murray, joyce, and… hopper.

hopper is alive. you smile, eleven is going to be so happy.

you realize this isn’t going to be much help though so you leave. you shut the tv off and you pack your things.

you head out of the cabin and hop in the car. you needed to get to hawkins as fast as you can. you knew you already had the weapons you would possibly need. all of them packed in the trunk of your car. you speed off.

you knew you would need gas at some point so you would check in with everyone once you do that.

*time skip to when you needed gas cus I’ve got nothing*

at the gas station you head into the bathroom. you turn the sink on and sit on the toilet cover. you close your eyes and think of eleven.

as you see her you see Martin Brenner on the ground. she is hovering over him. you walk closer and see the blood. you gasp slightly.

you hear eleven say, “goodbye papa,” and then you watch her walk over to where you see Jonathan, Mike, Will, and some other dude you don’t know.

they get in the van and start driving off. you think they’re headed to hawkins so you get out of there.

next you head to max. you see everyone in the RV.

(start playing separate ways here)

they have weapons but they all look terrified. they’re definitely about to do something stupid.

they drop max, lucas, and erica off at an old house with lanterns in hand. then they drive off.

you had to go, now.

you run out of the bathroom and get in your car. you sped off towards hawkins.

they couldn’t do this without you.

you step on the gas harder. you needed to get there faster. god damn slow car.

“come on, come on,” you yell at the traffic.

you needed to be there within the hour but you were hours away.

you had an idea. you’d been trying to figure out a certain aspect of your powers recently and if it worked you would make it.

you stop at a random store you see on your way. you run to the bathroom.

if this worked you wouldn’t have any weapons, only yourself. you were glad you knew hand-to-hand combat at least. maybe someone will have an extra weapon.

once in the bathroom you start the sink.

this is going to take a lot of focus. for some reason you feel like you should start with dustin.

you focus on him. you use a memory of the two of you.

it’s you and him after the battle of starcourt. after the byers and el left, you could tell he was sad. he and will were extremely close. dustin, being an only child, felt that will was the brother he never got. will never made him feel excluded. he stayed the longest the first time dustin tried contacting suzie. so being close to dustin after what you had been through together you took him to family video to visit steve and let him get as many movies as he wanted and then bought him candy at the store. when he had fallen asleep, you remember how peaceful he looked. you smile to yourself. then you open your eyes.

suddenly you’re in a trailer. you look up and see a gate.

holy shit, you think to yourself, that worked.

you hear shouting from above you. then you hear the sound of a… guitar?

you recognize the song as master of puppets by metallica. you had heard it on the radio while traveling.

you look up and see the rope made of sheets and start climbing it. you flip around and land on your feet.

you hear dustin yell, “one!”, and you see the bats flying at the trailer when you look outside.

you hear dustins voice and another voice running. they get inside and dustin yells, “most metal ever,” and they start jumping around like maniacs.

“okay that was weird,” you say and they both jump making you laugh.

“Y/N!” they both yell. eddie recognizing you from school and being confused and dustin being excited.

he runs towards you and hugs you. you were honestly surprised he was able to touch you.

“how did you- what- when-“ dustin rambles.

“I’m not exactly sure how i did it but I’m actually in the bathroom at a store right now,” you say.

“you were able to transport yourself here without the salt? and we’re able to see you and touch you?” he questions you.

“yea, yea I’ve been trying to do it for awhile and i knew you guys were in trouble so i think that helped. we’ll figure it out later, something tells me we have more pressing matters,” you say.

“you could say that,” eddie says.

“was that you playing metallica?” you ask as you see the guitar.

he nods slightly shocked you know the song.

“that’s sick dude!” you shout and he laughs.

“okay okay so i need to fill you in on the plan for how we are stopping vecna,” dustin says.

“who the hell is vecna?” you ask.

“oh my god, you don’t know?” he says..

“no! all i know is that max is in danger and that eleven was in danger and joyce is in russia,” you explain.

“hold on, what?” he says.

“you didn’t know any of that?!” you shout.

“no no we know max is in danger but we haven’t been able to contact any of the byers in days,” he says.

“okay guys we don’t have time for this,” eddie says and you nod hearing the bats throwing themselves at the trailer.

you, dustin, and eddie stand with your backs to each other.

dustin yells, “hey dipshits!” as you all hear them stop, “give up that easy?!”

eddie shushes him, “y/n, here take this,” he says handing you a weapon. you don’t technically need it but you take it anyways, “is that really necessary?” he says to dustin.

you hear the bats clattering against the roof.

“they’re on the roof,” eddie says as you all look up.

“shit, shit, shit,” dustin whispers.

“they can’t get in through there, can they?” dustin asks.

“you didn’t cover the vents!” you whisper shout at him.

right as you say it, a bat breaks through. you all yell and stab your weapons at it.

as dustin yells at them to die, eddie backs up and dustin yells his name.

“get out of the way, get out of the way,” eddie yells at you both.

he takes his shield with nails and stabs it through the roof, blocking the entrance.

“holy shit. holy shit,” eddie says.

“nice,” dustin and you say.

“thanks,” he says and high-fives dustin.

“are there any other vents?” you say with your eyes wide.

“oh shit,” eddie says and starts running towards his room.

as you all enter the bats start swarming the room. eddie shuts the door and you all start backing up.

“y/n! now might be the time to know!” dustin yells and eddie looks confused.

“not yet! we can get out! they’re are bigger issues,” you say to him.

eddie picks up another shield and gets ready to fight.

“that’s not gonna hold,” dustin yells.

“lets go! lets go!” eddie yells at you both.

dustin starts to climb the rope with you following close behind.

“come on, quickly!” eddie yells as dustin drops through with a scream. you get through right after.

you both look up.

“eddie, come on!” dustin yells.

eddie begins to climb the rope. you watch him turn towards the bats and you just know he’s about to do something stupid.

“eddie, come on! let’s go!” dustin yells, “eddie, you’re so close, eddie! lets go!”

he starts sliding back down the rope.

“eddie,” dustin starts.

eddie runs towards his weapons.

you and dustin scream his name.

“what are you doing? eddie, no!” dustin screams.

eddie grabs his weapon and cuts the rope.

“come on, god damn it eddie,” you yell.

dustin catches the rope and yells eddies name once again. eddie starts to move the mattress as dustin begs him to stop.

“eddie, what are you doing?!” you yell at him.

“im buying more time,” he says.

you both yell, “no!”

you watch eddie run out the trailer.

“y/n, come on, we’ve got to do something!” dustin begs you with tears in his eyes.

you look for something to get you to the other side. you don’t find anything. maybe you can lift yourself through with your powers.

“dustin, stay here,” you say.

“no y/n, not you too!” he says.

“dustin! you know i can do this! let me do this so we can get to the others and save them too!” you yell.

“okay okay,” he says trying to calm himself down.

you close your eyes. you use your powers and lift yourself up to the roof. as you cross through the gate, you turn your body right side up and land on your feet. you run through the trailer door. you watch eddie riding a bike off with the bats close on his tail. you run after him.

“come get me you sons of bitches” you hear him yell.

this idiot, you think to yourself, he’s gonna get himself killed.

unbeknownst to you dustin is climbing through the gate right now as well.

you watch as the bats catch up to eddie and knock him off his bike.

“shit, shit, shit” you mutter to yourself. you needed to do this now.

you notice eddie starts to run away from the swarm of bats and you celebrate to yourself. but then, you notice him turning around. he gets his spear and his shield and the bats start to charge him.

they swarm around him.

its now or never y/n, you think to yourself.

as some of the bats start to bite him you get ready. you focus your powers on the bats.

you close your eyes. hands clenched at your side. you snap your head to the side and the bats drop to the ground all together. blood drips down your nose.

dustin runs up from behind you towards eddie.

“oh god, eddie, don’t do that shit ever again,” he yells at him and you laugh.

“hey they only took a couple bites at least,” eddie says sitting up.

“yea no thanks to you!” he yells, “ that was all y/n!”

“y/n?” he asks.

you walk over and eddie sees the blood at your nose.

“oh yeah, i have superpowers,” you say wiping the blood from your nose.

“no more passing out,” dustin asks impressed and you shake your head in response.

“why didn’t you tell me that before i ran into a swarm of bats?!” he screams.

“i didn’t know you were going to try to be a fucking hero, you idiot!” you yell back.

he goes silent, “that’s…. fair.”

you and dustin laugh. just glad that he was okay.

“oh shit, i need to get to max,” you say standing up.

“wait y/n,” eddie says, “thank you.”

you nod at him, focusing your energy on max you transport yourself to a creepy looking house. youre at the door when you see erica running towards you.

“y/n,” she yells, “lucas, he’s in trouble. come on, lets go,” she grabs your hand and pulls you through the door.

you both run upstairs and the door is locked. you use your abilities to unlock the door and you both rush through. you see lucas and this other dude fist fighting? what the fuck happened when you left?


you use your powers to push the dude away and knock him out in the process.

“y/n!” lucas yells and runs to you, “erica, he- he broke the walkman, we need another way.”

you look at them confused.

“its too much to explain, right now we need to find some way to play kate bush loud enough for max to hear,” he says.

“can it be running up that hill?” you ask. they gawk at you wondering how you had the perfect tape.

“yes, that is exactly what it has to be, how’d you know?” lucas asks.

“i check in on you guys and she’s always listening to that song so i bought another tape for her for when i came back,” you explain.

“well go get it,” erica yells.

“that is a bit of an issue,” you say, “its in tennessee, i’m not actually here.”

“what? but i can touch you,” lucas says poking your arm.

you laugh lightly, “yeah cool trick right, give me five minutes and i’ll have the tape and my walkman.”

you close your eyes again and return to the stores bathroom. you ran to your car and grabbed what you needed along with a shotgun. you decide it isn’t a great idea to go back in the store with a gun in hand so you sit in the car. you’re hoping you have enough strength to not need any noises and that your items would come up with you.

now you focus on a max memory. you remember that time you took her and el to the mall. after mike was being a little shit and you and max wanted to show her a good time. the pure joy on max’s face always stuck with you because you had never seen her enjoy herself that much. it shocked you and you were so glad she had found her place in hawkins.

and when you open your eyes, you’re back in the house.

“y/n!” erica and lucas yell as you reappear to them.

you look into your hands and see the items you brought.

“yes!” you shout, startling the siblings.

“lucas quick,” erica yells as she sees max start to float.

he rushes over, putting the headphones over her ears. he starts the tape as she starts to float higher.

you look up in horror. you notice her eyes glazed over.

at the same time you hear a voice.

“papa is dead!”

eleven, you smile, of course.

you hear her talking to someone named henry, you hear her say his name. you make note to have everyone explain this shit to you. you hear another voice, you’re guessing that its henry’s. he’s explaining to eleven that he was the reason behind everything in the upside down. you realize that you’re not in the house anymore. you see the house in the distance but its different. its broken apart and you see max on the ground and eleven tied against the door.

you see a creature walking towards max. you’re guessing that’s vecna.

“try and stay very still, he says, “it will all be over soon.”

“no,“ you yell and transport yourself there immediately.

you run towards them. you break el free from the vines and throw vecna away from max. you faintly here kate bush playing in the background and you know that max will be okay as she gets up and runs towards the opening in the distance.

“now who are you?” vecna asks.

“i could be asking you the same thing,” you say with you hands at the ready.

you see el get up behind him and she smiles at you knowing that everything will be okay now.

“you’re not a number?” he asks.

“no? are you?” you ask.

he reveals the one on his wrist and you laugh.

“so you’re who brenner found to replace me,” you say.

“w-what?” he asks.

“oh yea, he’s been after me for a long, long time. guess he never got lucky but seems like you didn’t put up much of a fight,” you say, “you’re just like him.”

he growls. you use your powers to throw him back as el does the same with you. he crashes into one of his creepy posts. you both hold him against it.

“go help steve!” el shouts at you, “i’ve got this! they need your help from the other side!”

you look at her concerned but nod knowing she’s got this.

you use your powers to transport yourself to where steve is. you focus on another memory, you and steve, in the bathroom at starcourt, after narrowly escaping the russians who had drugged you all. steve was telling you something he didn’t mean to at that time but he was drugged and it slipped out. he told you he had feelings for you. you didn’t tell him you did too because you were scared and knew that you would be leaving after this. but it made you happy to hear that he liked you. its what had kept you going the past months while traveling.

suddenly you open your eyes and youre at that creepy house again. this time though, you realize, you’re in the upside down version. you hear gunshots as you look up patna window. you see fire in the window.

suddenly you see vena’s body fall from the window.

now its your turn. you lift him up using your abilities. you knew this would take a lot out of you no matter how strong your powers had grown to be. as nancy, steve, and robin run towards the front door, they notice vecna floating in the air.

“holy shit,” robin whispers as she sees you and she smiles.

you turn your head towards them slightly. nancy and robin smiling slightly at you and steve with his mouth agape. you wink at him before turning back towards vecna you push forward and using all your strength you blow his head clean off with a scream.

then you collapse.

steve rushes towards your body.

“come on, y/n, come on, i got you,” he says as he holds your body, “wake up y/n/n.”

you slowly start to open your eyes and smile softly and whisper, “well this is familiar.” referencing one of your first encounters with this shit, in that tunnel with those demi-dogs. and just as steve carried you out of the tunnels, he carried you straight out of the upside down.

vecna was dead. it was over.

steve freaked out when you disappeared from his arms randomly but dustin explained to him that you weren’t actually there and that you’d be on your way soon enough.

and you were and you made it back right behind a pizza van you recognized from the desert. you smile knowing everything was okay. max was in the hospital recovering from a concussion she had from hitting her head against the wooden floor as she fell.

eddie was with everyone at the wheeler house after he and steve had gotten their bat bites treated. you got out of your car at the same time mike, will, jonathan, eleven and that other dude got out. you watch mike run towards his mom, jonathan to nancy, and will to dustin and eleven. steve notices you first. he runs towards you and scoops you up hugging you.

eleven and dustin notice you next. they rush towards you hugging you.

“yo y/l/n! thanks again for that save,” eddie yells.

you laugh and everyone looks confused because how were you there but also helping them moments later.

you laugh again, “i’ll explain later.”

you guys then head to the hospital to go visit max and lucas. once you arrive lucas hugs you tight.

“thank you,” he whispers.

“of course,” you nod.

you look over at max. you rush toward her hugging her.

a hug that reassures you and her that everything is okay.

everyone was alive. you won.