#mention of death cw

[astralix]

  Act 011 Wake Up

Pretty Guardian ✶ Sailor Moon

Characters: Original Characters, Canon Characters-mention Rating: Teen, Older Teen Genre: Angst, Action, Fantasy(Magical Girl) Song: “Bring Me to Life” Evanescence

  Disclaimer: I do not own Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.  I only own my versions of the Zodiac Senshi, Phoenix, Ophiuchus, and Andromeda.

  ✦✶✦

Wake me up, Wake me up inside I can’t wake up, Wake me up inside Save me Call my name and save me from the dark Wake me up, Bid my blood to run I can’t wake up Before I come undone Save me Save me from the nothing I’ve become

✦✶✦

  “Be reborn, Igarashi Mikoto.  You are no longer Bellum.”

  All she can hear is his laughter.  The man who gave her and her friends powers to overcome their weaknesses and their flaws.  While Miko wanted power as Bellum, to war against her father’s company, Izumi simply wanted the strength to follow after her friends.  Izumi as Victoria, or conquest, wanted to keep her friends safe from the man who called himself Diavolo.  Mai wanted to avenge her parents alongside her ghost sister, Mika.  She was able to do this as Fames, or Famine.  As for Kyoumi, she wanted to stand up to her immediate family and especially her brothers as Mors, or Death.

Each of them had thought highly of Diavolo until he pitted them up against one another.  He wanted one of his henchmen to lead with him in the destruction of Earth.  Their friendship deteriorated because of Diavolo.  Bellum was the only one who believed in Diavolo in the end.  The other three kept their distance from the man, despite the gifts he gave them to overcome each of their earthly struggles.

Igarashi Mikoto was still the fool who believed in another to give her what she wanted.  Freedom and power in separation from her CEO father.  She had been a fool, but no more.  The only person who had her back was herself and perhaps her three best friends.

  “It’s not time to show him your true strength yet.”

  It was weird to hear herself talk.  However, she listened to Sailor Sagittarius, her true self.  She hated that the Senshi was right, but she had to wait for a time when she could go up against Diavolo.  She wanted to shoot one more shot at Diavolo, but instead she had to wait.  For all he knew, she was dead.

She could vaguely hear the footsteps of a group headed her way.  She wanted to warn them about Diavolo, but she needed to purify herself first.  She needed to become one of them.  She needed to accept the Senshi within.

She floated down within her consciousness just as she heard Aya’s gasp.  “Mikoto-senpai!”  She heard Mai’s tearful cry for her friend from the back, but she was already floating.  She was headed into the darkness of herself.  Sailor Sagittarius called it her “Potential”.  It would show itself when she became Sailor Sagittarius.

Memories of herself as Bellum floated past, but now Miko wanted what was best for her.  And that was standing in her power.  The question was how?

    “You already were.”

  The voice sounded closer and Miko turned her head to see the confident version of herself.  She smiled in the purple and gold Sailor suit.  Miko made a move to question the Senshi, but the Senshi pointed to Miko’s head, and her finger glowed a purple.

Miko closed her eyes while inside her mindscape.  She thought of all the time she survived.  She survived her mother’s death.  Her father’s controlling tendencies, and the so-called friend of her family using her for his pleasure.  She survived through each and every one, but she missed her mother.  While she cried still from the friend of the family forcing himself on her.  While she will never feel her father’s acceptance of her, Miko survived and will keep surviving.

Miko shed tears and offered her inner Senshi her hand.  Sailor Sagittarius’ eyes widened and softened.  She smiled as she touched Miko’s hand.

A bright light overcame the both of them, and the Sagittarius symbol appeared once again on her forehead.  In place of the falling armor, lightning enveloped her body and she transformed into Sailor Sagittarius.  Lightning healed her wounds and bruises.  She floated upwards within her mindscape as Izumi called for her to “wake up”.  She was likely no longer Victoria as Miko was no longer Bellum…

She was freed.

  “Wake up, the true battle begins.”  

  She heard her inner Senshi call her.  She placed a hand over her heart where the voice was coming from now.  Violet eyes open, and she could see twenty-four eyes gazing back at her.  Some of them were tearing up, the rest were determined to revive her themselves.  Miko had to laugh, but she needed to figure out where Diavolo went so she could kick his ass.

“He isn’t here anymore,” Kyoumi answered with a shake of her head.  She was now dressed in an indigo and black Sailor uniform.  “It’s Sailor Capricorn now.”  She said with a small smile.

“Damn it,” Sailor Sagittarius said.  She turned to Capricorn and nodded.  “I’m Sailor Sagittarius now.”

“Good, now we can make up for the needless destruction we wrought,” Izumi said with a smile.  She was originally Victoria.  No she was, “It’s Sailor Aquarius.”  She wore a teal and indigo Sailor uniform.  She turned to Mai who was dressed in a blue and teal Sailor uniform.  “Sailor Pisces.  We have nearly everyone here.  Except…”

A voice spoke up softly, as a young woman of deep complexion pulled her red-violet cloak off.  She revealed a red-violet uniform, not unlike the other Sailor Ophiuchus’.  Except it was coupled with a venomous green.  “The true Sailor Ophiuchus and the true Sailor Phoenix.”  The young woman looked at each of the girls’ surprised expressions.  She gestured with two fingers for the Caduceus staff to return to her hand.  At first the red-violet and red-orange clad Sailor Ophiuchus refused, but she let go.

The true Sailor Ophiuchus caught the Caduceus staff in her hand.

“Been waiting for this moment for thousands of years for you all to wake up.”

[ftbhedges]

[the things we lost in the fire]

liturgy iii

            Max ordered her out of the house three days past Lydia’s funeral, with those steady eyes and blunt mouth.

          There was some non-combantant Aurors with a face so pretty it made Katie’s head hurt lurking around her people, around Lydia’s department.

          Evangeline had called her cell phone. There were several letters unopened on her kitchen table Hogwarts friends. There was a concerned message in her work inbox she’d immediately ignored upon seeing the handwriting. There was a photo of her exiting the Funeral Hall splashed on the front page paper:

CMDR. ASHWORTH’S PROTÉGÉ COMPLETES SECRATIVE AUROR FUNERAL HONORABLY

CMDR. SQUINT ANSWERS BLISTERING QUESTIONS ABOUT DEATH OF BELOVED CMDR. ASHWORTH

CAPT. THORNE ON THE CASE! NEW DETAILS FROM CLOSE SOURCES SAYING THE CAPT. HAS NOT TAKEN A SINGLE DAY OF BEREVEMENT.

          All staring at her, morning, noon, and night. Lydia’s profile. Katie’s profile. Max’s profile. A rotating triad splattered through the pages intertwined with images of Seren.

CMDR. REESE’S MOURNING RISE TO DEPARTMENT HEAD.

EXTRA! CMDR. REESE AND CMDR. ASHWORTH’S ENEMITY…AND ILLICIT? AFFAIR?

          Katie burned that, watched the Daily Prophet single the edge of her loose white shirt, the cursemark growing daily as Katie expended more magic to continue to comb the forensic scene. Her squad back home running after Killer leaders. Her Majors back on their jobs. Her Max in the office dealing with attacks from all sides that Katie was still split on whether or not she deserved.

          All of Katie’s attention was here, on the ground, kicking at literal rocks and shuffling through invisible strands of magic. She reached into her jacket pulling from it a flask that was filled with Wide-Eye potion and took a long glug from it, feeling it fill her brain, as if she’d washed her eyes out with peppermint. Momentarily Katie was sure she could see the spells in the air –

          Eyebright, Katie thrust her hand into her coat pocket and opened a pack and began to shuffle through. She had to have at least a gram of it… she hadn’t ever used it in the last year of fieldwork. It was too expensive for the Department to allot in their yearly supplies, too expensive for even most security firms to get a hold of, nearly impossible to find on the street. The ground up bones of a Dhampir, the dried blood of a Changeling, and lastly the most damning ingredient the brain matter of a Hippocampus calf only 30 days old and slaughtered.

The going rate for a gram of Eyebright was 10,000 galleons.

          The perks of being a Crime and Forensics Investigator included the raids. Katie was no Roland Sidewinder with his shiny Silver Raider badge, but she had her sleight-of-hand and when a gram of Eyebright popped up in the field two years ago any Auror in her Department would have snatched it up. No question they’d all lifted one or two of the rarer ingredients from their crime scenes once it’d been cleared as not being part of the gruesome murder before her. Katie knew for a fact that LaPlante sported Werewolf Fang blades that she kept straped to her wrists, Jansen had managed to pillage a dozen half-born giants one year (which had lead to internal review but still he managed to keep them), what was a gram of Eyebright?

          With a triumphant smirk Katie pulled the clothe-of-gold from her pack, and set the pouch onto a table, carefully undoing the string and letting it come open.

          The powder was iridescent, it shimmered over the clothe-of-gold, lighter than air it began to hover above the fabric and Katie hovered her fingers over it.

          Eyebright did what nothing else could it made faded magic visible, it make the unseeable noticeable and it caused a type of blinding pain that only someone who desperately wanted it could use. Lydia admitted to using Eyebright during the War in her most desperate time, the ability to see spelled traps, shaded alchemy, the cause of potions, view the true shape of transfiguration – Wix were not supposed to do that. The strain of it had landed it’s prolific users in St. Mungos, and it’s stupider ones being driven made to see the thousands of layers of magic within the community.

          Katie pressed her three fingers into the powder smearing it until it stuck to the grooves of her fingerprints, stuck against her sweat and closed her eyebrows.

          Ashworth would have never allowed a Hunt to go unfinished.

          She smeared the powder over her eyelids, the left, then the right, and waited with baited breath for the world to snap into place. But she greeted only darkness, and for a split second Katie feared opening her eyes.

          Lydia would have told her to fight the fear, was she a Gryffindor or not?

          When the Captain’s eyes opened the entire house was blinding – the scars of magic left bright traces in the floor, blood magic hanging like stains, Katie stared as she found traces of spells that had never been recorded used that night. Then carefully began to step around a crime scene so carefully plotted that Katie could recite it back to her trainers like a trail.

          But instead, she was greeted with Magic she didn’t know existed, at least not in practice.

          “Voodoo huh…” Katie leaned down to examine a working table that had been thrown to the ground, finding strange magic she didn’t recognize, the use of blood wards and something most called ‘deity’ magic. A type of magic that worked in dedication to a greater magical being. Salazar had practiced this so-called deity magic to Basilisks it was rumored. The earliest of dragon-tamers had started as worshippers. From every corner of the world Wix had used their magic as power and prayer, though prayer and devotional causes of Magic had fallen aside. Though, Penny recalled, the Hawkins wolves and other Clans referred to the Moon as a God of some kind. It wasn’t often studied, but Katie had seen the laboratories of wizards attempting to call on the Beyond for necromancy, seeking out what muggles would call demons or monsters who existed in the Underworld.

          It was all a bit too existential for Katie, even when she studied necromancy and practiced it quietly to herself.

          “Now what have you fuckers been up too…” Katie knelt beside the fallen alter and followed the traces of magic, the thicker strands of obviously a powerful Witch… some of those traces exited the property and didn’t double back. In each strand an essence of magic fluttered, whether it was a particular scent or gloss to the thread.

          This thread was knotted and gold, it wrapped and snaked through the doors like a great serpent, a cobra striking out and where the magic left the cord it splintered and crackled around like lightning.

          Katie’s skin was buzzing, with the interest of a scientist Katie proded the meat of her inner arm and found it bleeding under the lightest of pressure. The skin around her face was growing tight, it felt as if it were melting and when Katie reached to touch her cheekbone she found muscle and bone waiting, skin acting like wax and the Gryffindor let out a hazy sort of giggle.

          Too much Eyebright then.

          Nothing to do for it now, not when this magic was sprouting like a seed before her, flowering, each layer like the ring of a cut tree. Katie’s head was pounded, the beat of war drums in her head as she followed each strand, her body swaying and sweating blood and viscus. Eyebright always went for the face and arms first, then the back, the stomach, thighs, calves and feet for last. It ate you up, using your body and energy and magic to allow you to do the impossible, acted in sacrifice to the magic you called upon.

          Katie could pay Lydia her body a thousand times and still do it again with an apolgy for not being better.

          The Gryffindor found the room, where the girl and boy had witnessed Lydia’s death. Where Athena had watched Ashworth fade into a nothingness that no-one knew the true outcome of. The cord was splintered like roots, sinking into the place where they’d staked the form of Lydia’s both, all rigid muscle and a tight spine.

          The coffin contained a half-gram of the body, Athena had managed to retrieve a gram and turn it over. The only thing Katie would ever thank her for, even as she promised quietly to bright hell around her ears. The other half-gram was tucked into a vial, and it had hung from Katie’s beltloop for the last week and a half, taken from the mortuary she’d slipped into and been allowed privacy. The last link to her Commander, the last aspect of her body.

          The last aspect of magic that could tell them how it happened.

          Katie knelt, knees creaking and opened the vial.

          It pulsed with the same knotted magic; it was intertwined so deeply in the purple of what Katie knew to be Lydia that it seemed like it was consuming it. Swallowing the essence whole, stealing and storing its power – her power, her magic, her lifeforce.

          Katie reached for the clothe-of-gold and took off the last of the Eyebright, clenching the packet her hand as the pain wreaked havoc through her body.

          But the golden knotted magic remained in her Mind’s Eye, as if seared, as it burn. Katie flicked her tongue out into the air as a serpent might, tasting it, the muddy clean that belonged to soaked mud and storm air. In that fleeting second as the Eyebright finally faded, Katie knew she’d always have the taste of Lydia’s murderer in her mouth.

          The door behind her creaked open, and Katie, a bloodied mess of a woman, half the skin of her face slouching off, eyes shot through with broken blood vessels, blood flowing freely from her nose, ears and the corner of her mouth turned. Her entire left arm, from the tips of her finger to her elbow covered in black, searing deeply into her skin, smoking and consuming her inch by inch.

          “Now, what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

Out of all the hedges in the FTB safehouse, Rue had spent the most aggregate time in the company of Zombie Ralph.

It took some trial and error, but eventually they figured out that even though Ralph wasn’t an Inferius, he still wouldn’t fuck with fire.

Which made Rue the optimal candidate for little chats with the monster. She’d sit inside the upstairs closet, surrounded by a ring of fire as a barrier, for hours and hours on end—especially after Seth was exiled.

It wasn't that Rue didn't agree with Nate’s decision to kick Seth out of the safehouse, after what they’d done. It’s just that Seth had been Rue’s last tie to their lives before; they’d grounded her, balanced her out.

So with Seth gone, Rue was going rogue.

This Ralph was different, Rue soon discovered, from the one they all knew and loved. He was sarcastic, and bitter, and oftentimes outright aggressive. Most of the time, it was like talking to a monster that was simply wearing Ralph’s face and eyes.

But every now and then, there’d be a flash of the real Ralph hiding inside the monster, just out of reach; a downward tug of his eyebrows, the way one cheek would dimple within the creature's grotesque grimace that made it almost seem to echo Ralph’s dreamy, gentle smile.

Painstakingly, Rue started to gather information. With effort, and patience, she was able to get Zombie Ralph talking more readily. Ralph told Rue that he remembered every minute of being cremated, that he could still feel the flames licking at his skin. After that story, Rue took care to temper the flames that shielded her in his presence.

Ralph told Rue that he remembered being remade—his body, his essence being woven together again, thread by thread.

“What’d you see, while you were gone?” Rue asked, and what she meant was, did you see loved ones again, on the Other Side? Did you meet Yvonne?

But Ralph told her his soul, his shade, his lifeforce—whatever it was, it was no longer with him. Only the barest ghostly trace of it existed within the thing that he was now—remnants of it, like a handprint on fogged glass.

He knew, somehow, that the rest of it had not been destroyed. But he didn’t know where it had gone.

Ralph remembered the Daughter who had lured him in, manipulated him before planting that overdose curse on him like a venomous kiss. Inez, she was called; the one from the Instagram photo.

And most importantly, Ralph told Rue where to go looking for her.

The exterior of the Daughters’ safehouse was a run-down secondhand shop. The front door had been blown clean off, and everything in the front room had been destroyed or looted. Fragments of glass littered the floor, crunching beneath Rue’s boots like sand as she walked through the ravaged, abandoned place.

A curtain of hanging beads clacked together as Rue parted them and was led into a long hallway, with floors made of dated linoleum. To the left was a sitting room—or at least the empty carcass of one, left to rot. Bits of broken ‘70s furniture were toppled and strewn about, bleeding out stuffing, with upholstery bearing the scorch-marks of magic.

To the right were bedrooms, all minimally furnished save for some orange-brown shag carpeting and bare beds. Some of the nightstand drawers had been left ajar, clearly emptied. It was all too eerie to look lived in; someone had made a hasty run for it.

Adjacent to the last bedroom, there was a big open room with a kitchenette and dining table. This room looked to have suffered the worst, with dried blood and gore staining the floor and the walls, the windows all blown out. Rue skipped this room, for the moment, in favor of a tiny sliver of light that was coming from a crease in the wall at the end of the dead-end hallway. Rue held up her palm and summoned a bouncing little flame to hover there, casting light around Rue like a torch. She studied the wall, and then shoved against it; it gave way with a groan, revealing a hidden staircase, made of black iron and spiraling upwards.

She crept up the stairs, cradling her fireball, feeling like someone from Scooby Doo. As if just around the next corner, a demonic beast with slobbering black fangs would jump out to fight her.

But the upstairs room—though clearly nicer, and not demolished as the rest of the house was—was, again, empty. This room stank of magic—thick stuff that stung your nose and scratched at your throat, like a perfumed apothecary perched at the mouth of hell, battered with brimstone gone stale. Yellowed skulls and bones lay on low tables, and vials of all sorts of colors and shapes and sizes lined hexagonal shelves on the walls. Upon closer inspection, Rue gleaned that every vial was full of thick, viscous blood—bright red in some vials, and so dark it was almost black in others.

“Yeugh…” Rue muttered in disgust, before a hissing sound behind her made Rue stumble as she whirled around, dropping the vial in her hand to shatter at her feet and toppling others on the shelf. “What the—”

Stretching down, suspended from the rafters, was an absolutely massive, gargantuan snake, as thick as Rue’s arm. “No, nope. Fuckin’ fuuuuuck that…” she said to the snake, who was still hissing at her menacingly, before scampering back down the stairs.

She’d barely set both feet back on the ground floor when Rue heard another presence in the house.

Immediately, she flattened herself again the wall, disappearing into shadows as she held her breath. There was someone moving into that big room, the one with the kitchen. Rue scaled along the wall of the hallway on silent feet, falling easily back into the muscle memory; in her old life, before she’d joined up with the Free Traders, Rue had commonly been a runner for her old gang, tasked with casing potential houses to steal from and squat in, to route exit strategies and carry out petty theft operations to provide herself a few days’ worth of food and shelter.

She peered around the corner and saw a small-statured woman in uniform, doing—something. The longer she watched, the harder it was for Rue to make sense of what she was seeing. The woman was muttering to herself, ambling around in drunken paths along the stained linoleum, occasionally shuddering and emitting unhinged bursts of laughter like the certified neighborhood crackhead.

And Rue was about to leave the nitty to it—what did she care who doped themselves into insanity in this funhouse of blood and decay?—when the woman stepped into a patch of light, and turned, and Rue recognized her—despite the fact that half her face looked like it was puddling off like some melted gelato.

“Oh Captain my Captain…” Rue acknowledged, striding into the room without a single trace of fear or apprehension. She flashed Katie her hedge witch ranking tattoos, black stars that climbed up Rue’s forearms, merely out of habit, many years ingrained with the particulars of safehouse courtesies and etiquette. “…I got unfinished business with these bitches, we go way back. Seems like they split, though…say, bruv, are you gonna be a’right? Don’t take this the wrong way, but it looks like Satan herself chewed you up and shat you dead out, innit.”

@katiethxrne

[happyhappyfantrolls]

JadeBloods

[astrxthesiai]

B: what team would they be on in the rainbow representative arc... (Higanbana)

Higanbana would either be Fon's or Viper/Mammon's. Both are Storm and Mist Flame respectively. Higanbana is a dark goddess so the occult is up her alley. She is also a destroyer, Storm flames essentially destroy.

However, Higanbana is a goddess of death. She might prefer to watch the battle of the Rainbow representative arc. Especially, in the hopes someone dies.

[bamsara]

Local chaos god gets humbled, creates chaos over it. His aim still needs some work though

I really need to stop drawing Drunken Gods chapter stuff and actually finish the damn chapter lmao

[virtuoshosh]

Shosh slunk even lower into her seat, chewing on her lip as the irritating and unfamiliar sensation of insecurity settled over her. Shoshana had always prided herself on being self-assured—over-confident, some would probably say. But with Verlie she often felt out of her depth—like she could easily make a misstep, and wind up looking incredibly stupid.

Half the registered donors in Europe? God, and Shosh had needed to memorize everything she knew about donor etiquette on homemade fucking flashcards. She found herself suddenly second-guessing this whole idea of prolonging her first time being truly fed from—her romantic fantasy of wanting it to be special. How could it be, with all the glamorous experiences Verlie had already had? Surely whatever Shosh had to offer, in comparison, would be a letdown.

Her blood would likely be a letdown.

She sighed, right back to being a nobody orphan Muggleborn with no family name and no pedigree, just like her first year at Hogwarts.

It was enough to distract her through Cass’ reassurances about what had happened with Clem. Shosh pulled her blanket-covered knees up to her chest and hugged them, resting her cheek on the feather-down fabric and peering back at Cass, blinking her long lashes in his direction. He really was a good friend—her best friend, despite all of it. Shosh wouldn't have traded the last year for anything—even the bad parts, the ones that made her heart squeeze up inside her chest.

“You’re right…” she said—and he was. The whole thing with Clem had probably just been a fluke—another one of Shosh’s near-brushes with death to add to that never-ending list. No rhyme or reason or grand design to it; just the way it had always been, in the curious life of Shoshana Edelman.

She smiled lightly before her affection morphed into an expression more wry and teasing. She reached out and poked Cass in his bony ribs. “…and obviously I’m staying over, you twat—and you’re also staying right here, with me, since it’s on your account I didn’t invite a different, sexy vampire to share my bed tonight…” She gathered up her heavy mane of hair into one hand, wrapping it around her fist thoughtfully. Then she said, apropos of nothing, “You think Sascha would murder me if I cut my hair?”

[ end ]

“You can talk to her, she’ll get it, honest. She might even be able to help with the bloodlust stuff, give you tips,” He said, earnestly, “Her whole family are donors. Like, most of the blood that’s at events, maybe half of the registered donors in Europe, they’re all Redlockes. Father even had one of them, when he was younger-”

Something caught in his throat, and he swallowed it down, determined to stay present for his friend. So when Shosh continued, mentioning that Verlie had seen her play as a child, he responded with gusto-

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Cass admitted, “The vampires she donated to used to cart her all around the world. She loved it, used to come back raving about her travels and jewels and gold and whatever. I think it sorta stung when I left for Hogwarts, so she got her piece back by triapsing all over the globe.”

Cass frowned, only managing to mouth a silent ‘what the fuck’ through Shosh’s explanation for Clem’s whereabouts. Frankly, when Shosh said that something had happened in the Den, his imagination had gone somewhere else entirely. Knowing Clem had nearly fucking died made him feel bad about it, he would have blushed if he could.

The vampire swallowed, turning to face her. “I think… I think just because something horrible happened to her, it doesn’t change what happened,” Certainly, it was hard for Cass to think or speak positively about Clem, who’d never had a kind word for him. Clem was scrappy, and messy, and aloof, all things that he’d never associate with Shosh. But he was working on being supportive, so he added, “But I’m glad she’s okay, y'know? Unless you want to get back with her, maybe it’s just about waiting for her to reach out. She’s making it pretty clear what she wants, and I don’t think that makes her a dick. I don’t think it makes you a dick, either.”

He sighed, cocking his head, “Do you wanna stay tonight? Can’t promise Greggs and hot chocolate in the morning anymore. But if you want to stay, you can.” He smiled, shrugging.

[yellowistheraddest]

just normal guy behaviour 👍

[stellewriites]

very much inspired by a post i’ll link at the bottom to avoid spoilers

i love putting john price in situations

simon had known price for over a decade, had served under him as his lieutenant for a good portion of it, so he was pretty confident in answering yes when asked if he thought he knew the captain well.

he could acknowledge he wasn’t as close as say laswell may have been, but he knew that price’s wife was not common knowledge around the base either.

he’d pieced it together over the years on missions; catching the odd comment shared over coms; the glint of a ring around his neck; the odd teased mention of her when they sat in the rec room after barely scraping through a tough spot, when price needed the company as well as the silence ghost offered before returning to the real world.

it was how simon knew the sergeants were staying when price let slip about her one day. because he doesn’t let anything slip, wouldn’t, especially about her.

“got anyone at home waiting for you, sir?” gaz asked as he sighed impatiently over the coms, hour three of silently waiting and watching had finally gotten to him.

“i do,” price said simply, not offering any further information. ghost could imagine the amusement tugging at his daft facial hair as price refused to continue without prompting and simon smiled under his mask when he heard johnny scoff next to him before chiming in.

“c’mon sir, give us a wee bit more’n that,” he weedled. “when’d ya meet? is she nice?”

john hummed, the sound low and crackly over the radio in their ears. “met when i moved.”

“oh, a real meet-cute type thing, eh?” gaz teased.

john ignored him. “wouldn’t say she’s nice, soap. she’s more than that. ‘nice’ is your aunt’s new wallpaper; you have permission to shoot me point blank if i start calling her nice.”

“what is she then?” ghost piped up. this was the chattiest john had ever been on the subject and he was going to take advantage.

john went silent for long enough that the three men thought that was it, the end to their sharing session and knowing more about their captain outside of work. simon chewed the inside of his cheek.

“she’s devoted,” john whispered finally before his voice firmed. “heads up, team, movement 2 o’clock. anyone got eyes on the target?”

—

it was months later when she was brought up again, the team thinking. nothing of it until price’s phone pinged in his pocket enough times to pique johnny’s interest as they prepped to leave.

“that the wife, sir?” he asked.

john huffed, didn’t bother checking his phone as he turned and shook his head. “she’s clingy, but she doesn’t bother me when i’m at work.”

“how’d you know?” gaz asked. “could be an emergency.”

“‘n’ how’d you get her to agree tae tha’?” soap followed up quickly, having had issues with his own flings petering out when he was distant and slow to reply.

“been with her long enough now it’s routine,” john said simply. he checked his weapons before heading for the exit. “helo in 5, be air ready.”

—

the mission had gone to shit, and they were stuck hidden in a building that looked like it was 10 seconds away from collapsing under a brisk wind when ghost finally felt his patience snap.

it was no one’s fault, but being stuck in another country with no back up and a target on their backs for an extra three weeks wasn’t ideal and johnny’s insistence on playing cards at every opportunity to keep his idle hands and mind busy combined with gaz’s tinny whistling had made for the perfect scenario to grate on simon’s patience quicker than anything else ever had.

“tell us about her. ya wife,” simon asked, his gaze slipping across to john, watching him pick at his nails. his cuticles were red and raw from four days of agitated fidgeting since they’d ran out of cigars and cigarettes. every so often simon caught him pat his empty pocket before he’d remember and huff heavily through his nose like a bull.

john closed his eyes at the mention of his wife and sighed. he started his description without protest or hesitance. “shes soft spoken. christ, you’d hardly know she was there half the time, she’s so quiet. but she’s firm. stands her ground no matter what,” he chuckled. “don’t think i’ve ever won an argument against her.”

kyle laughed and ghost closed his own eyes, trying to picture what he thought the captain’s wife might look like. pretty certainly, but was she tall, plump, did she have an endearing gap between her front teeth, did she keep her hair short or long?

“she’s a bit of a homebody,” john admitted bashfully, unaware of simon’s drifting thoughts. “but i can’t say i mind it.”

“not wanting to leave the bedroom much when yer back?” johnny joked, hissing when ghost punched his thigh.

john just smiled placidly, eyes still closed. his eyebrows pulled down as he gushed, “god she’s gorgeous in red. wears it every time i come home.”

“lucky bastard,” gaz huffed.

“yeah.” john nodded and finally opened his eyes. “yeah, lucky.”

“you’ll be back with her soon, cap,” gaz reassured him when he saw price swallow thickly.

“thanks, gaz. now who’s taking first watch tonight? soap?”

—

john was quiet on the plane ride home, not unusually so, but ghost noticed the difference all the same.

he was pensive perhaps, worried what his wife would say when he finally got home a month later than scheduled, uncontactable the entire time. ghost could understand to a certain degree that john would have more important things on his mind than what his three subordinates were going to do as soon as they stepped foot on home soil, so he didn’t push when john ignored the few threads of conversation thrown his way by their younger sergeants. instead he nodded when john said a quick goodbye as they all parted ways in the airport.

simon could only assume john was the same all the way home in the cab that dropped him outside of his little three bed house.

he didn’t see however how john hesitated at the door to his home that evening. how he gripped the front door keys tightly in his fist, shook as he stared down at his feet instead of letting his eyes drift and catch on the windows, and felt as though he could crack a tooth from how hard he was clenching his teeth.

he finally opened the door when he thought the neighbours might begin to get worried and stepped inside, flicking on the lights as he went.

it wasn’t until he got to the kitchen that he found her.

stood bare foot, silent, eyes wide and pleading, blood seeping - always seeping. would it ever stop? would the blood ever end? - through her white pyjama top, his top that she’d borrowed for the night, and trickling down her bare legs.

her mouth opened and she visibly struggled for breath, but no sound escaped even as her tongue wagged on the floor of her mouth, lapping at the backs of her teeth as all words escaped her.

he swallowed back bile.

“hello, sweetheart,” he choked out. “sorry i’m late.”

the blood pooled at her feet, the panties she wore were seeped a dark purple from the viscus liquid dying the dark blue material and the shirt stuck to her front. john had remembered loving seeing her like this in a morning, had always thought she looked best in as little clothing as possible.

“i know you hate it when work keeps me busy, but it was unexpected. we were caught—“ a high screech, not dissimilar to that of a whistle that only a dog could hear, pierced through his ears and cut his words short. he curled in and covered his ears, but he knew it would do no good, he should’ve known better than to talk about work around her.

not after what had happened last time he got back late after overtime.

tears prickle at his eyes and the sound abruptly stopped. he’d never questioned why it seemed to be only him that could hear her protests, why his neighbours never mentioned a shrill cry every so often from his home. he had always said she was made for him and that had apparently translated literally into the afterlife.

he looked up at her again - it was best not to ignore her he found. it only made her angry.

“it won’t happen again,” he promised wetly. “i did my best to get back as soon as i could, i promise, sweetheart—“ he choked on his words, biting back a sob. she watched unblinkingly, silent except for the wet squelch of her feet on the laminate.

they both knew he wasn’t apologising for being late this time. he got like this sometimes, when her agonised face and mangled body was too much to bear after a long mission and the guilt bore down like a physical presence.

he couldn’t help but think if he’d gotten home even just an hour earlier he might’ve been able to save her, to have kept her company instead of leaving her on the floor alone and cold, maybe he could have caught the bastards that had hurt her while he was still travelling back from deployment after agreeing to hang back and finish his paperwork there and then instead of emailing it across.

he reached a shaking hand forward and blew out a ragged breath when his hand met nothing but frigid air. but when he brought his hand up to his face he could smell the copper tang of his dead wife’s blood on his skin. the stench unwashable, cloying, but if he concentrated hard enough it ever so faintly smelt like the vanilla perfume she used to wear.

“was telling the lads about you, love,” he forced an empty chuckle as he walked around her to the kettle and went through their usual routine. “think they might’ve fallen a little in love, not that i could blame them.”

he ran a hand over his face and gave himself a moment to let the tears fall as his palm hid his eyes. her silence was the worst part of it all, but he could see the glaring red of her in his peripheral when he dropped his hand to the counter.

it wasn’t pretending his wife was still alive if she was right there at his shoulder, was it?

“looks like i’ll need to grab you some more pg tips, sweetheart,” he said and poured the boiling water into two cups, sparing a glance over his shoulder at his wife. “we’re almost out.”

post link

[pillowspace]

Moon and Marinette talking is the cutest thing. Sun and Moon feeling bad for this child who was locked out and killed.

[loudclan-clangen]

Loudclan - Moon 29: Part 1

Summer rolls across the valley territories with a vengeance. The sparse mountain territory of Loudclan offers little reprieve from the ever present sun that beats down on the cats. While most patrols rush back to camp to take shelter in the caves during the midday hours, young warriors itch for a chance to prove themselves, and evidence of trespassers provides just that for Fiercestripe's patrol.

A fight breaks out between the patrol and the farm cats. Though the clan-cats are highly trained fighters, save for Fiercestripe they are untested in battle, and are outnumbered more than 2:1. There will certainly be losses.

[clangen: *takes everyone's favorite characters, throws them in a blender, and sets it to liquefy* me: *twirls my little metaphorical evil mustache* ahh, yes, just as I planned... For real though, I am so glad to finally get this moon (half of it at least) out to you guys! It is definitely the biggest and most time and skill intensive moon so far and I had a ton of fun drawing it! Unfortunately, that means that the second part is going to take a similarly long while to finish, but I hope that the quality of them makes up for the wait! I hope you guys all enjoy! If you're a little lost as to who the farm cats are check out this pmv and this family tree]

Edit: It's been pointed out to me that Rosehiptree's age is wrong here. That's my bad, this was a HUGE project and while I did my best to not make any mistakes it slipped past me. She's 14 moons old, the same as Dogwoodmoth, but it would be more trouble than it's worth to change it, given the size of the moon not allowing me to upload images on mobile, so lets all just do me a favor and pretend it says 14 instead of 13. Thanks!

First Moon

Next Moon

[indulgentdaydream]

Can you write something where the reader is badly injured in some way and jason rushes her to the manor for help and everybody is confused on who she is bc they didnt even know he was in a relationship (despite them being together for awhile) but they see how soft and cute he is with her. (I’ve never made a request so sorry if it got kinda rambley)

anon you’ve got me TEEMING with ideas I LOVE the trope of nobody knowing jason has a girlfriend and they find out but it is NOT by Jason’s choice nor reader’s.

Also omg? Your first ask is to lil ol me?? That means this is a special occassion. And you’re doing great I’ve def sent worse asks.

Out of the Bag

Jason Todd x Fem!Reader || Hurt and Comfort.

Word Count: 1,862

Warnings: Injuries, swearing, near death experience, blood, knife mention, stabbing, canon-typical violence, use of pet names (princess, baby), drug (pain med) use

You were sat in an alleyway, vision going in and out.

“Tell me something, princess. Anything.” Jason’s voice rang out in your ear.

That’s right. In your right hand, you held your phone, to your ear. Your other hand was pressing the fabric of your coat to the side of your stomach. The blood had soaked through, becoming sticking on your palm and fingers.

You should’ve listened to Jason. You shouldn’t have walked home alone, at night. Luckily your phone had been in your pocket and not your purse, which had been stolen from you by the same guy who decided to stab you.

“Princess,” he sounded panicked.

Right. “Wish I had kicked him harder.”

You heard a sigh of relief leave him, “That’s my girl.”

The phone slipped from your grip a little as your head swam. The sight of blood coming from your own abdomen made no help in quelling your nausea.

You fixed the phone. You had called Jason the second the guy ran off, leaving you to bleed out. He was driving, you think. Tracking your phone to try and get to you. “How far?”

He said something you didn’t hear. Your vision was swimming, your side was aching, and you couldn’t help but keep this funny understanding out of your mind that you were dying.

That this is something Jason had come back to your apartment with a few times, claiming it was nothing. It was something.

You heard him call your name, “What’s around you?”

“I’m tired,” you mumbled.

It seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. Jason was trying to tell you to stay awake, to look at the alley around you. To look out towards the street and tell him what you saw. Then he was there, standing in front of you, his helmet hiding his face.

“I’m here. I’m here, baby.” He cupped your face, tapping your cheek to get you to open up your eyes. He crouched down, pulling your hand from your side to assess the damage.

You smiled lazily and leaned forward, resting your forehead against his shoulder.

Jason muttered a slew of swears as he pressed something soft yet hard against your agonizing wound. You let out a yelp before Jason was picking you up, placing you on his bike.

He’s talking fast, “Fuck. Okay, listen to me. We’re going to go somewhere new, okay? There’s nowhere around here except there for me to get you safe.”

You passed out nearly as soon as he started the bike.

Jason’s freaking. He had tried to keep you safe from anything like this. From everything less than this. And here you were, bleeding out in his arms as he carried you through the batcave. He beelined for the cots and the medical supplies off to the side. He knows his motorcycle couldn’t have been the smoothest of rides for someone in your condition, but it’s all he had in such a short time span.

He’ll apologize when you wake up.

When. He repeats. When she wakes up and when we can get the hell out of this place again and when I can remind her I love her.

No one was back from patrol yet. He set you down on the cot before tearing off his helmet. He tossed it aside, pulling out a med bag and ripping it open. He pushed up your shirt, examining your side and where he had placed the military-grade gauze pad. He curses at the amount of blood.

His hands are shaking. Jason’s hands don’t shake, but you’ve proven to him a lot of things you could make him do that he hadn’t known he was capable of in the last year and (almost) a half of your relationship.

Jason nearly drops the suture thread before another hand is reaching out from just behind him. It catches the thread and Jason looks back over his shoulder. Alfred’s there, moving up to you.

“Allow me. You keep checking her vitals.”

Jason hadn’t even heard him come up. He’s nodding, stepping back to let Alfred take over the stitching. He moves to the other side of the bed.

That’s when he catches sight of the dark figure moving closer from behind Alfred. Jason immediately fixes him with a deadly glare, pointing at Bruce, “Do not come closer!”

Bruce stills. He’s in his bat suit, his cowl hanging behind his head, exposing his face. He looks down to your body, “Who is she?”

Jason doesn’t want him here. Rather, he doesn’t want to be here. You should’ve been home by now. Getting ready for bed and sending him a goodnight text. He turns his gaze back to you.

There’s some hair across your face that he hadn’t noticed. He moves it out of your way without a second thought, “My girlfriend.”

“Finally feel some remorse for sending someone to their grave, Todd?” Damian’s voice spoke up, walking up and stopping beside Bruce, “He’s probably trying to just reverse what he did.”

Jason ignores him. He wants to yell, scream, and maybe shoot the little bastard, but he was right. In a way, this was his fault. He didn’t look after you. He should’ve offered you a ride. Called you a taxi. An uber. Anything.

Jason grips your hand into his. It’s a way to count your heartbeat, and another way to ground himself. To reassure that you’ll be okay. His other hand stays on your cheek. His thumb gently moves back and forth, stroking your skin.

He barely registers Bruce telling Damian to go wash up. When the brat is gone, Bruce speaks up again, “What happened?”

Jason doesn’t take his eyes off of you, “She was walking home from her friend’s. A mugger got her purse, she fought back. He stabbed her.” Jason takes a deep breath, “She still had her phone. She called me. I brought her here because it was closest.”

A beat of silence. Still stitching you up, Alfred speaks, “How come we’ve never been introduced?”

Jason shakes his head, “I didn’t want her near any of this. She’s bad off enough sticking with me.”

Once you stabilize, Jason brings you up to his room in the manor. He walks past Dick, Tim, Duke, Cass, and Steph without looking at them. They sit around the batcomputer, watching Jason gently carry you out ot the cave.

He changes you out of your dirty clothes once he makes a run back to your apartment to grab you some of your own spare clothes.

Asides from that, he doesn’t leave your side.

He lets you have the bed to yourself. He pulls up a chair beside it, waiting for you to wake up. He didn’t want you to be alone when you did, in a strange place after a traumatic event. It was a recipe for disaster.

The sun’s been up for a long while and Jason hasn’t budged. He sits there, your hand gripped in both of his, held up and pressed against his mouth. His lips brush over your knuckles whenever he speaks up. Uttering a “I’m sorry.” every now and then.

There’s a light knock at the door before it’s cracking open. Jason turns his head to find Dick poking his head in. Jason glares at him.

Dick steps further in, presenting the tray he was holding. There were two glasses of water, some solid foods, and lighter ones, probably for you. Jason looked back down at you, letting his older brother enter.

“Just… figured since you’ve been cooped up in here all day,” Dick begins, setting the tray down on the beside table beside Jason.

Dick moves back around. He stands at the end of the bed, leaning against the tall bed post that was meant to hold up a canopy. “I heard…” he trails off, before nodding and your body in the bed, still unconscious, “Who is she?”

Jason looks up at his brother, not letting go of your hand, “So you haven’t heard.”

Dick rolls his eyes, “You know what I mean.”

Jason raises his brows a little. He looks back down at you. His hand reaches out to brush along your forehead, moving away imaginary stray hairs, “My girl.”

Dick nods in understanding, “How long you two been together.”

Jason pauses in thought, “Over a year. Our anniversary was in December.”

A small, choked sound comes from outside the door, in the hallway. “A year?”

Jason looks up at Dick, who makes a face that shows he’s knows he’s been caught.

“Are they seriously listening right now?”

Steph poked her head in first, an apologetic smile on her face, “We wanted to know!”

Duke pokes his head in next, just above Steph’s, “And we wanted to meet her.”

Tim’s head in next, above Duke’s, “You can’t carry a random bleeding woman into the cave and expect the family of detectives to not be curious.”

Cass’ head appears below Steph’s. She nods in agreement.

Jason let’s one hand go of yours to wave his hand through the air, “What the fuck? She’s not even awake!”

“Well that’s why we sent Dick as bait.”

“For the record,” Dick held up a finger, “They built off of my original, innocent idea of bringing you snacks.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jason stands up, taking a few steps forward. He points them all back towards the door as they start to filter into the room, “Get—“

“What’s going on…?”

Jason’s whole body whipped back around at the sound of your groggy, rough voice. The others watch as he’s back at your side in a millisecond, his whole demeanour changed. “Hey, you’re okay. Everything’s okay. Remember how I said we were going somewhere new? You thirsty, baby? Here, I got you some water.”

“Oh, you certainly did not get the water,” Dick piped up.

Jason glared back over his shoulder as he held the glass of water for you, keeping the straw Dick had added placed in your mouth.

You stopped drinking, your eyes now on the other people in the room. You turned your head, propped up against pillows Jason had put there for you. You weakly raised your left hand to wave, “Hi… oh?” your gaze turned down to your hand. A heart monitor clip sitting on your finger grabbed your attention. You gave a confused pout at it, “I feel funny.”

Jason set the water aside again. His glare was gone. He leaned in, kissing your forehead, “You’re hopped up on pain meds. That’s why, princess.”

“Damn,” Steph spoke up, “I wish I got the literal princess treatment.”

Jason turned back around, pointing out the door, “Get. Out. Leave my girlfriend alone until she’s better.”

You looked at the strangers, pointing at Jason with your left hand, “I’m his girlfriend.” Your head tilted back against the pillows as you stared up at Jason, pursing your lips, "I’m tired.”

“I know,” Jason said softly. The others began to filter out of the room as he leaned down and gave you a soft kiss, this time on the lips.

From the exit, a collective, “Awwww,” sounded out.

“Out!”

Your drugged up voice came after his, once they were all back in the hall, “Nice to meet you!”

[anime-villian-irl]

"id let the world burn for you"

"I'd kill for you"

"id die for you"

"I'd sacrifice the world for you"

BORING!

Yawn snore snore. Honk shoo honk shoo.

I got twelve other guys ready to that for me. You already do that. You already destroy the world I would just happen to be there while you did.

The real question is.

Would you save the world for me?

Would you put aside your hatred for humanity and put my love for it Infront? Would you save the world because I love the world? Would you stop killing because I hate killing? Would you find a way to live because I want you alive?

Death and destruction are easy as hell. Do you know how fucking easy it is to kill someone? To blow up a building? Shure security is in the way but if it wasn't there it would be easy as hell.

You'd do the basics Shure. But would you do the hard thing and save the world because I asked you to?

Would you push aside your hatred of everyone but me because I asked you to nicely?

Would you?

[toboldlymuppet]

broken but not destroyed

WHAT A DISAPPOINTING AND HEARTBREAKING FINALE? To have the man who was abused, mutilated, and disabled for protecting the crew, to have a suicide attempt survivor who crawled on the ground, to have someone who battled depression and alcoholism, to cement his role as the 'Ship's Unicorn" (the figurehead that protected the crew) only to reduce him as someone who "had to die" because he had no more narrative feeling, what a slap to the face. DJenkins said he didn't want to fall back into old tropes and burying your gays, but there's an elder disabled queer man you just buried for what, to absolve Ed of his abuse? Izzy died thinking he DESERVED the torture done upon him. What a disgrace. Izzy fans rallied and kickstarted a S3 renewal Campaign. And many of us are heartbroken and grieving for a show who promised kindness but only justified the abuse we've gotten the past months? We stayed and hoped better because of kindness and belonging. "This show is kind" has never rang more hollow. I'll still love and create art for him, but I don't think I can trust any other queer show again. I thought this would be different. Do you want a queer show full of kindness and found family, for all queers, the disabled and survivors and the rough around the edges ones? It's not Our Flag Means Death.

[whump-in-the-closet]

when a living weapon whumpee only takes orders from ONE person. They’ve been conditioned to ignore everyone else’s orders. This means that after rescue, the team can barely get whumpee to drink or allow them bandage their injuries. One of the teammates manages to imitate whumpee’s handler by deepening their voice.

They stay out of whumpee’s line of sight, standing behind their hospital bed. “Drink this,” they snap, hating how they have to command this broad-shouldered ghost of a person. Without their armor, without their mask, whumpee looks like a wraith. There’s nothing behind their eyes. They play with the hospital blanket with twitching hands that have strangled and maimed.

When whumpee hears the order they stiffen to attention and take the cup offered with those still-shaking hands. But the cup slips through their fingers and lands in a puddle on the tiles.

They immediately tense up, shoulder blades flung so far back they touch. Their breathing quickens, waiting.

But nothing happens.

They give whumpee a new glass of cold water. This time, they lift the cup to whumpee’s lips and hold it steady, with one hand behind their head for support.

[5ftboy]

"We never said that we think you should've been with grandpa." "You won't even tell us what happened to him."

[bamsara]

Hungover Lamb + Scythe privileges

little snip for what may happen after the 'drunken gods' chapter in TROD and the other drunken shenangians ive doodled