#mutantenfisch answers

[mutantenfisch]

OC asks for Sunny! ❤️, 🧠, and🍩?

Ayy let's go attempt fleshing out the gnomelock a little more!

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories? Considering he's suffering from alien illithid abduction amnesia, a thing he loves looking back on while at camps is the admiration in little Mirkon's eyes when he saved him from the harpyies and later got that little adventure story (with accompanying illustration!!!!) from him :) Also, certain tunes among the wind and certain scents that instantly sound / smell like a warm hug and coming home. Even though he doesn't know what, who or where that might be.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC? Let me be super superficial here. I LOVE how Sunny looks, okay? He's got my hair, a perfect nose, freckles - what's not to love about that :D I also like, how much of a little shit he can be, without risking to hurt anyone in the process.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival? Currently? My inability / lack of knowledge how to get BG3 to work again with the cosmetic mods i am using. Also, Mystra. Oooooh as soon as he gets his hands on her, she will face all the wrath a 3.5 foot tall guy can have.

[eolewyn1010]

@awordwasthebeginning tagged me to answer 15 questions and tag 15 people, let's see how I fare.

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yeah, both after my mom's grandmother and after my father's grandmother, although I only use one first name in everyday.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Couple weeks back, when I caught up on the finale of Owl House. This show is so good.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

More in writing than in speaking, but yeah.

5. What sports do you play / have you played?

Sports... *hisses at the word* Uh, I don't think Yoga counts. A bit of calisthenics if I can bother? I go on walks sometimes? Eh. Something I can do alone, in any case. In school, P. E. was a humiliation on a regular basis.

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

Basic politeness. Say hello, be clear about what you want and don't infringe on other's personal space? We're peachy. Hear music on the train without headphones, think traffic was made Specifically For You, yell at or condescend to people? I can plan your death within 15 seconds of learning of your existence.

7. What's your eye color?

A kind of greyish blue.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. They can suffer on the way there, but where's the point if it doesn't pay off?

9. Any special talents?

I was told I'm both a decent writer and cook, is that special? If you want something useless, random and slightly freaky, I can do a weird thing where I make my pupils tremble.

10. Where were you born?

The federal state with the ostensibly worst German dialect (slander), Saxony. We got a pretty baroque city here tho, so there.

11. What are your hobbies?

Writing and, when the muse turns her attention back to it, drawing and sewing. Also, cooking. And watching tons of series with my friend to yell and snark about them together XD

12. Do you have any pets?

Not atm, but I'm holding out hope.

13. How tall are you?

1,62 m or 5'4" for my non-metric fellas

14. Favorite subject in school?

German (Literature) and History. Heh, I guess while I collect new fancies and interests every month, my true passions were set in stone early on. It helped that my teachers for those were awesome.

15. Dream job?

I think deep down, I still wanna be a writer. It's not highly realistic, but it's what I think I'd be best at.

Tagging... uh, I'm always so out of my depth at this part. @chaoticpartners-incrime @poodlewithaguitar @str4wanzerin @chrisoels @cricrithings @herzeliebes-waltherlin @mutantenfisch @thotstochter @kittycatalex @owlbear33 @breaddo @krejong @scifi-mistica @fallingforfandoms @mynameisactuallylenny

Oof, are those fifteen? Uhm, tagging with zero pressure, you guys <3 Take care and be prideful!

[apoloniaspiegelgold]

15 questions for 5 mutuals

Rule: You have to answer truthfully and you have to tag 5 mutuals in your post.

I was tagged by @zrspace, thank you! :)

1. Are you named after anyone?

Apparently, I was named after one of my mother's favourite students. I personally find that quite weird, but well, what can I do?

2. When was the last time you cried? Why?

One of our dogs was put to sleep a few weeks ago. Spent the whole weekend crying.

3. Do you believe in Soulmates? 

I believe that everything in this life is connected, and I believe that some people just gravitate towards each other and choose to want to have each other in their lives forever. So maybe you can say that I believe in gravity.

4. Do you drink liquor? 

No. I just find alcohol disgusting. I don't understand how people can drink it. Or coffee. I mean ... why?

5. What do you usually daydream about?

I'm not really a daydreaming kind of person. I'm a dayanalyser. I find patterns in anything. I pick everything apart mentally and try to find out how it fits into the grander scheme of things. That's what's fun to me.

6. First thing you notice about other people?

The eyes.

7. What's your favorite quote from a TV show/movie/book?

"Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?" (from Doctor Who)

8. Some of your pet peeves?

Unemotive people. I don't know. My face is doing acrobatics all the time. Think of Jim Halpert pulling faces at the camera in The Office. That's me all day every day. Emoting is a kind of communication that I personally value greatly. It's like a language of its own, it's like a courtesy in a way, a form of respect if that makes sense. So when people talk to me and their face is completely still and gives me nothing, it always makes me feel like they hate me.

9. Where’s the next place on your travel bucket list and why?

I don't know. I mostly travel for work to get to conferences, so I don't get to see all that much as I'm stuck inside university buildings all day, but I'd like to go to Sweden at some point. And I'd like to return to Norway and have a proper look at it this time around. Scotland would be lovely, too.

10. Where were you born? 

In a neighbouring city of my home town in Germany.

11. What are your hobbies?

Oh, you know, the classics: meeting friends, reading, movies/tv shows. I like going on walks. I was always into photography, but lost sight of it a bit, unfortunately.

12. What's the best joke you've ever heard?

Honestly, I'm quite a fan of my own jokes. I mean, the one person who has to listen to every joke I ever tell in this life is me. Gotta keep my devoted audience satisfied somehow, you know? Too bad I don't remember my jokes though.

13. What’s your love language? 

One thing that I always think gets overlooked is that the love language you like to give and the love language you like to receive are not necessarily the same. I give a lot of words of affirmation and I like quality time. I like to receive physical touch, but hardly ever give it. Deeply despise receiving gifts or acts of service, though.

14. Topics you never get tired of to talk about.

Phonetics/phonology and people. Not in a gossipy kind of way, more like analysing people's cognition. The best conversations happen at 2am in a dark kitchen talking about how your mind works.

15. What would be the title if your life were a movie? 

Peephole

And I'm tagging @museofnightmare, @findstenicht, @mutantenfisch, @livatoseus and @dreamatoria if you guys want to :)

[meapi]

Got tagged by @all-my-worlds-a-stage, thank you! <3

Rules: answer 10 questions and tag 10 people you want to know better

Relationship status:  Single (but very happy with Tatort & League of Legends?)

Favourite colour: Red / Blue / Green (It kind of changes based on my mood)

Three favourite foods: Why choose three? :( Brownies, Pizza, rice pudding (this sounds like the wrong word lol)

Song stuck in my head: Otschie Tschornyje

Last thing I listened to: My cat telling me to go to sleep if we don't count the last song I listened to.

Last thing I googled: The name of the author of the "Tatort: Tempelräuber" book

Time: 0:41 / 12:41 a.m.

Dream trip: Australia. I'd love to see the Salties there!

Anything I really want: The next Tatort Saarbrücken episode :'c

Currently reading: "Tatort: Tempelräuber" by Martin Schüller and "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman + Terry Pratchett

Last song: Finy my way back by Eric Arjes 

Last movie: Tatort - Die Kälte der Erde

Last series: Makai Ouji (Engl.: Devils & Realist)

Sweet, savoury, or spicy: Sweet! My body tries to self destruct when I eat smth even remotely spicy :x

Currently working on: A Makai Ouji and a League of Legends Cosplay.

Craving:  A hug tbh.

Tea or coffee: Tea!

Tagging: @samitron @abgemeldet @neverland-in-space @mutantenfisch @uumea @queersoda @danothan @viktormaru @rigoria @eolewyn1010

Please just ignore this if you don't want to do this though! c:

[cleargreyskies]

Thank you for the tag, @crazy-fruit !

RULES: Answer the questions then tag some people you want to get to know better/catch up with.

Last song: Oleander by Mother Mother

Last show: Dragon Age: Absolution and The Legend of Vox Machina for shows that I have watched for the first time and that I am caught up on.

Currently watching: Campaign 2 of Critical Role! I have been having a lot of fun with it despite its intimidating length. Also The Last of Us with @crazy-fruit .

Currently reading: "Die Vögel", German translation of "Fuglane" by Tarjei Vesaas. Also "Blutbuch" by Kim de l'Horizon, but at a slow pace.

Current obsession: Dungeons & Dragons. Our DM is my flatmate and there have been so many discussions. (I finally truly got to know them as a friend/someone I trust as more than just a great flatmate, too.)

Tagging @birdylion , @mutantenfisch , @ravenheart-and-lionsmane and @finngualart if you feel like it

[sheepstiel]

💌 wir interagieren nicht viel, aber du bist einer von 3 blogs, die meine teenagernostalgie mit spn füttern und ich lieb dich dafür 💕💗

hii! da fühl ich mich ja geehrt (ehrlich gesagt hab ich in meiner jugend die supernatural phase verpasst, obwohl ich seit 2009 auf tumblr rumlurke... hol ich jetzt nach 😅) 💕

dein username taucht ab und zu in meinen notes auf und ich stell mir dabei immer einen Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Fisch vor. Karsten schaut so eine Serie bestimmt mit Jakob.

[druidx]

12, 13, 16 and 31 of the Oblivion asks for Rowan and/or Talis?

12. What are their thoughts on the Septim dynasty? Do they care?

While Talis was born in Cyrodiil, I don’t think he really has many thoughts on the matter. He keeps his head down, he pays his taxes. When he heard about the assassination he was worried, sure; a little sad, maybe. Who wouldn't be? But at the end of the day, people still need bread no matter who’s on the Ruby Throne.

13. How do they feel about Uriel Septim? Did they even want to deliver his amulet?

Rowan didn’t know much about the Empire growing up in Vvardenfell. Outside of the Imperial Legions, the Empire, Uriel and the Septim Dynasty was pretty removed from hir life. So when xe met him, xe were in shock. Xe only agreed to deliver the Amulet because he was so convinced he was going to die. How does one deny a dying man his last wish? Afterwards, once xe had a good night sleep and a full belly, xe resented him for dragging hir into this mess. But a promise is a promise, and xe is nothing if not diligent.

16. What is their relationship with Martin like, if any? Friendly? familial? lover? “I don't care about this guy”? etc

Rowan’s relationship with Martin is purely platonic. To start with it’s rocky; xe doesn’t want to be dealing with him. Xe feels forced into the situation by Uriel and Jauffre, and takes it out by being taciturn to Martin’s attempts at conversation until he stops trying. Then xe starts getting the dreams and doesn't want to be responsible for leading Martin to his doom. By the time xe makes it back to the Temple, xe is a little bit in love with Martin (wouldn’t you be if you dreamt about him every week for 8 months?). They eventually settle down into a sibling/ best friend dynamic and by the time Doom arrives, they’re platonically in love.

31. How do they feel about being recognized as the “hero of kvatch” and/or champion of cyrodiil? Are they proud? Would they rather not be recognized?

Rowan much prefers being recognised as Hero of Kvatch than Champion of Cyrodiil. The former felt like an accomplishment; the latter reminds hir there was nothing xe could do to stop the deaths of everyone xe cared about. For a few years after the end of the Crisis, whenever someone says the fated line “You were his friend, right?” xe has to stop hirself from being physically sick. Eventually, xe learns how to live with it, and even manipulate the perception of the role to hir benefit. Xe still avoids the Temple district as much as possible though.

Thank you for the questions! 🍵

[potatocrab]

It's your birthday? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

THANK YOU!  HUZZAH! 

[coronerandundersheriff]

Distinguished behaviour?!

It was not easy, absolutely not easy. 

David gave them both all the time in the world. He kept a low profile, mostly stayed in his studio and worked. Yet he had pointed out emphatically, his doors were always open. 

Cassandra just didn't know where her head was, everything was going wrong and yet she felt a lot better now. It was quiet up here, no noise, no stares - yes, she didn't even have to go grocery shopping, her "flatmate" brought everything home. He cooked and provided the food. 

She just couldn't bring herself to talk to him, their last conversation ended in a total breakdown and in David’s flat. 

Chris was so cute today, giggling all the time and playing with his stuff. With his new stuff, by the way! They had taken next to nothing with them. He loved the funny colourful room that David had decorated for him. Better said the famous designer Mel Apple, whom they had often read about in magazines - not to believe, David knew the lady personally. 

Yes, and that's how much things had changed. Nothing was the same anymore. 

Cassandra mused. How nice the days were back then in the office and on patrol. Life was sometimes exhausting but so regulated and somehow pleasantly simple. And "simple" is good!

Seeing David again was dreamlike, but also traumatic. All the events whizzed past her mind's eye in fast motion. It was horrible and yet part of her life. 

Then she looked over at Chris, he was also part of this transformation. And she was grateful and smiled. The little rascal saw this and he stopped playing, got up and ran to his mummy beaming with joy.

There was a knock on the door to David's studio. 

"Come in." Answered a deep, warm voice.

"Hello hello hello..." Bubbled out the happily smiling little boy on Cassandra's arm.

"Someone wanted to say hello to you, David. And to finally thank you. Do you possibly have a few minutes?" The pretty woman smiled tentatively and blushed.

"My doors are always open for you. It's good to see you. Everything good so far?" 

David stood beside his PC, finishing a programme. Cassandra spied naked people before the window closed. 

"Please, have a seat. Something to drink perhaps?" David offered them space on the couch.

"No thanks." With those words, Chris and his cuddly toy was put down in one of the sofa corners. 

Then the adults sat down too. 

"So..." Cassandra began and fell silent. 

David smiled and waited. But nothing came. 

"So?" He broke the silence. 

"Ugh, how do you start a conversation like that? Phew..." Pentaghast stroked her son's hair and swallowed hard.

"Do you even want to talk, Cass? There's no need to say or tell anything. You don't owe me a speech or an answer or have to justify yourself for anything. We are friends after all. Right?" 

The man in the armchair seemed composed, calm and spoke almost lullingly. 

"Oh man, David... it was, we were... can we just chat?" Cassandra's eyes shone. 

"Of course." And Trevelyan grinned. 

It struck Cassandra that this was still the same smile, but for the first time she noticed the wrinkles on David's face. And weren't those grey hairs at the hairline? Did her old mate dye his hair? Did he have to do that to get in with customers? 

Oh, how his life had changed! The down-to-earth country bumpkin now lived above the clouds in the city. 

Everything seemed as if millions of years had passed....

"Do you want to know something? Do you want to ask something in particular? Don't be shy, Cass." David's voice was so warm and full, deep and masculine. 

"Okay. Questions... good, good... So... um... you live here alone?" She asked, scratching her neck a little sheepishly. 

"Tehehe, no, as you can see, no..." And Trevelyan winked. 

"Oh man, David! Okay, you got me! So, no one lives here but the three of us. I mean, the place is huge!" She blushed. 

"Yeah, no one but us. Is this a problem for you?" David's look seemed troubled. 

"No no, I just thought maybe there was someone. Or several or ... I don't know."

David smiled again, "That's all right, dear. I understand now. No, there's no one there. Certainly not several, don't worry. Hahaha..." 

"Oh God, sorry, it wasn't meant to come across like that! David, jeez, everything's still okay between us, isn't it?" Her voice wavered.

"Cass, darling, it's just like old times! We're still the same. Everything's changed, but we're still us!" What a pure heart David's smile revealed.

"You seem so changed, David. So... so..."

"Old and grey - yes yes, the wheel of time never stops! Tehehe..." Laughed David. 

"No, oh God... I....ugh! You seem so distinguished. Where are your jokes? I mean, damn... I miss the old days!" Pentaghast lowered her eyes.

David stood up and knelt in front of the pretty woman on the couch.

"Cassandra, it's all good. You know, it takes an audience to tell a joke. Maybe I'll start telling jokes again now?" And he stroked Cassandra's forearm tenderly.

Chris, who had been playing so beautifully and quietly all this time, had fallen asleep. 

Cassandra looked at her son and smiled, "Now I have to carry the rascal all over the estate. Oh man! Haha!"

"Can I carry him? Sorry you have the rooms downstairs." David asked sheepishly.

"You would do that? Gladly and thank you, Chris is such a bundle of joy and honestly, quite heavy..."

They both laughed softly as David took the little one in his arms.

Then they quietly left the studio and went downstairs.

(A snippet of "Afterlife")

I'm tagging YOU and @tokutenshi , @for-lovely-things , @slothssassin , @jeannedarcprice , @zuendwinkel , @starsandskies , @evakaname , @aymayzing , @mutantenfisch , @le-mooon , @briarfox13 , @dafan7711 , @darth-salem-emperor-of-earth , @kemvee , @zefenrian , @sanzosin , @themefo , @pookydraws , @jessicamariana , @johaeryslavellan , @jupiter235 , @pluttskutt , @oftachancer , @marquis1305 , @akanekid , @raflesia65 , @maia-beans , @alexandrintea , @charlatron , @liaorban , @fal3r3 , @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold , @padme4000 , @freyanuris ,

@nikashepard , @amber-ash324 , @andrastini , @hurl-a-can , @lozibbles , @rhunae , @antivancorvo , @schattengerissen , @fanaticseekerofthemuse , @mixberkaan , @chenria , @thervssian , @enchantment1385 , @strzygon-x , @lwinged , @mrnicholas and many more.

[marquisevonobst]

Ask Game

thank you @modoru-mono and @tabellae-rex-in-sui for tagging me :D

rules: answer 10 questions & tag 10 people you want to know better

relationship status: the main hoe in Rheinsberg

favorite color: orange

three favorite foods: Bruschetta, this one soup my grandma makes (idk how it is called), Ovomaltine Schokolade

song stuck in my head: "Kein Liebeslied" by Tom Schilling & The Jazz Kids

last thing i listened to: a passive-aggressive discussion with my brother about last nights soccer game. tbh I don't care.

last thing i googled: Christina von Brühl

time: 1:00 pm

dream trip: Bretagne, Austria, Norway

anything i really want: My bachelor's degree

feel free: @i-am-a-hog @mutantenfisch @fanpersoningfox @pommesfritz24 @hikingofthenoldor @swanfloatieknight and everyone who wants to.

[mutantenfisch]

Send this to all your favorite moots and throw pumpkins at them, too! WE'RE KEEPING THE PUMPKIN TRAIN GOING 🎃🎃🎃🎃‼️‼️

[eolewyn1010]

@mutantenfisch tagged me for a game, here we go:

RULES: share two truths and one lie about yourself, tag five people to guess your lie and to share their own, make sure to guess the lie of the person who tagged you!

I think the fisch lied with his number 2, but don't quote me on this.

1. I got misgendered a lot when I was a kid, and it confuses me to this day because so was my younger brother - and we looked pretty similar back in the day. Long hair and those facial features were apparently the cue to read him as a girl, but the same criterion didn't apply to me? Whatever. And to the kid on the bus who asked me if I was a boy or a girl and then after I answered just giggled and said, "I don't believe you", I hope you get a rash. Or have grown up to some manners.

2. Up until less than two years ago, I was certain that my sister can draw better than I ever could, and that's pretty much why I didn't bother. Like, I'm good with creative writing and have a huge memory, so I'm a thinky type; she's great with manual stuff and absolutely cracks it at drawing and fabric work - that was fine by me. If you ask me today, I'll tell you that drawing is one of my favorite hobbies and that I've constantly seen myself get better over the past getting-close-to-two years. Sis still does lighting and shades better, but I'll get there. Is that sibling rivalry or belated ambition? Hell if I know.

3. In the last few weeks of our living together, my last roommate bullied me like there's no tomorrow - I don't know why he bothered because I had already done everything he'd asked me for, gotten a new place to stay, arranged for my move, I was all but gone. But since he was yelling at me for every trifle and blaming me for stupid things like leaving scratches on his new fridge (that weren't scratches at all; that was dirt and I got it cleaned up with a rug and some hot water) and saying I don't do my chores right (while I was the only one who ever bothered to clean the windows, or the top of the cupboards, or the tubes of the washing machine), I developed a real hatred for him there on the home stretch. When I wandered through one of the parks around, trying to get away from him because I really didn't feel well being in the same flat as him anymore, I came upon a yew tree where I picked a handful of the fruit and was lowkey ready to mix the seeds into his cereals as a farewell gift. I didn't go through with it and threw them away, but the impulse was there.

And off we go: @awordwasthebeginning and @chrisoels and @kittycatalex and @blixsnow and @fanpersoningfox - lie to me or tell me truths or forever hold your silence, whichever you like!

[hikingofthenoldor]

Tag game

Got tagged by @mutantenfisch (my first time being tagged after returning to this hell-site. Now I am truly back! Thx)

Gonna tag... ufff... uhm... @nonejohnnywithleftslime (because it’s been a while, huh)

Sexuality: A few days ago I scrolled through my blog and found old answers to similar tag games. I never gave a straight answer to any question like this. I always made up some weird as answer. Well, fact is I am a person and so is the rest of humanity and I determine who I like by putting a person and all their stats known to me into a very complex model in my mind and the output tells me how much i like them and how attractive I think they are and if they score high enough on both scales (which are partly dependent on one another) I might even find them attractive in a sexual-romantic-potential-partner kind of way. I myself do not have a good grasp of how that model operates.

Name: Katta or Katte or online also Jack. Whenever someone uses my full name (even though I have just one first name) I suspect someone wants to discuss serious business. Even my family usually uses a shortend version or a pet name.

Cats or dogs: Cats. I do not dislike dogs but the percentage of cat breeds that I like is much higher than the percentage of dog breeds. Also I often daydream about getting a cat, never about a dog. So that says something. 

Hogwarts House: by now I have accepted that I am a Gryffindor

Reason for URL: A very bad Tolkien pun. The Noldor have a Highking. But those Noldor who followed Highking Fingolfin to Beleriand had to do some very horrible hiking through the deadly ice waste of Helcaraxe. I still think it’s kinda funny.

Favorite animal: According to everyone - and I think I agree - cows. Please look up Hungarian Greys and tell me they are not absolutely majestic.

[third-rail-vip]

Wide Awake

Summary:

“It’s quiet out here... too quiet” might be fun to say, but when it’s 2am and quiet as hell in Sanctuary, sometimes it’s just boring.

A sleepless MacCready pays a visit to the only other person who might still be awake.

Notes:

Tumblr fluff prompt: “what are you doing here?  it’s late.”   I accidentally deleted the ask because i’m an idiot. 

Beautiful screenshot of the night sky at Sanctuary very kindly lent by @mutantenfisch 

Rating:  Teen

Word Count: 3873    [AO3 link]   [Then I Met You - Series Link]

MacCready couldn’t sleep.  Lay in his darkened room, he huffed out a sigh – cigarette smoke mingled with condensation in the cold air.  A cursory glance at his watch told him it was pushing 2 am.  

What felt like too many hours ago, he’d found a spot in one of Sanctuary’s many unoccupied houses and bedded down on a mattress that seemed to be more springs than anything else, but it would do.  He’d slept on worse.  

Not that sleep seemed to be on the cards.

Nah, the mattress wasn’t the problem.  He just couldn’t settle properly the first night back in ‘civilisation’ after weeks on the road.  His nerves were still on edge.  He’d barely undressed for bed, only shedding his coat, hat and kicking off his boots.  His rifle lay at hand by the mattress, ready for what still felt like the imminent possibility of attack.  He’d studied the ceiling until his candle burnt down, then lay in the darkness, not even able to blame his usual turn on first watch for keeping him awake—they’d be well into Ivy’s shift by now.

Not that she’d be awake.  She’d be enjoying a quiet night’s sleep, some space to herself and no monsters ready to jump out of the shadows.

Just whatever prowls the dark places in her head.

MacCready shook the thought from his mind; it wasn’t any of his business where his partner went in those glassy-eyed moments when the colour left her cheeks and she looked like she was watching something so real she could reach out and touch it.  Something he had no idea how to even begin looking for.  All he could do was watch her back if it happened again.  

Instead, he busied himself fidgeting with a fresh pack of cigarettes— ‘fresh’ 200 years ago anyway —unable to decide whether he should just lie there and light another or get up and stretch his legs in the hope that the cold night air would either wake him up fully or put him to sleep.  

Whatever he chose, he needed to decide soon because the boredom was driving him nuts.  

He sat up, suspiciously eyeing the sliver of moonless sky he could see through a hole in the unpatched roof above him.  For a boy who grew up in a cave, darkness made him twitchy (not that Lamplight was a dark place, the clue was in the damn name).  The thing he’d come to realise about the dark and the quiet was, if you didn’t know any better, it could too easily be mistaken for calm and safe.  Once, just once, he’d let himself be taken in by it.  And he’d have to live with that for the rest of his days.  

These days, not that MacCready would ever admit it, he liked it better if there was just that little bit of light to creep past his eyelids as he drifted off, and maybe a bit of noise too, some sort of show that there was life around him; campfires, candles, even the tinny echo of Ivy’s pipboy broadcasting that jackass, Travis, at all hours would do the trick.  

This quiet wouldn’t do at all.  Too few distractions.  Too much time to think.  

Finally freeing a cigarette, he fumbled for his lighter in the darkness, flicked it a few times to no avail.  A cursory shake confirmed it—empty.  He tossed it aside, tucked the cigarette back into the pack and reached for his boots instead.  

A walk it was.

------

The damn door creaked.  

MacCready cursed himself for using it instead of the other one, which didn’t even technically have a door in it anymore.  Idiot.   He’d seen a glow through the window and hadn’t even thought.  He’d just walked straight in.  

Ivy’s house (the one she’d adopted, anyway) wasn’t like the one he’d chosen to hide away in.  It didn’t smell like damp or have holes in the roof.  Someone had gone to great effort to get it back to being homely.  It still smelled like supper from that evening, leftover veg stew, and the vague scent of-MacCready sniffed-was that carrot flowers?  Probably had something to do with that fussy old woman of a Mr Handy unit.  He was undoubtedly why there was also a lingering smell of disinfectant.

Ivy had told him that it had stayed there cleaning its old masters’ house for two hundred years.  What a loser.  

From the meagre moonlight he could just make out the dark shapes of the kitchen counters ( there was the vase of flowers the robot must have decided to put out while playing house in honor of his new mistress’s return home), the rickety dining table they’d decided not to eat their supper at, and the couch that, on the one occasion he’d been stupid enough to throw himself onto it, turned out to be even more uncomfortable than the one in their usual room at the Dugout.  

The faint welcoming glow of lantern light from the hallway to the bedrooms almost made him forget his midnight trespassing.  He meandered forward – fully intending to announce his arrival– only to boot a water bowl right across the room.  He dived forward trying to put an end to the metallic ringing and sloshing, but too late.

“Who’s there?”

Mac knew Ivy well enough to hear the edge of panic behind the warning in that shout.  He clamped his hands onto the bowl, finally stopping it rolling, and looked up from his spot knelt in a puddle of dog water.  

Ivy darted out from the farthest room, the one where the warm light spilled from, oh, and now he felt bad .   She was dressed for bed in the over-large plaid shirt she’d picked up from some trader in Diamond City; something more comfortable to sleep in that her vault suit, she’d said - it hadn’t seen much use, given the amount of time they spent staying in places where it was safer to stay as armoured as possible, even when trying to get a night’s rest.  Her hair was all over the place, like she’d been tossing and turning, trying to get settled as badly as he had.  Frankly, she looked exhausted.  

But only a real dumbass would tell her that right now, because the startled woman, whose house he’d walked into at 2am was currently levelling a pistol straight at his head.  

“Woah woah woah!  Angel, it’s just me!”  MacCready stuck his hands up in the air, giving her a startled grin.  He may be used to being on the end of the threat of her pistol—he couldn’t help having a smart mouth—but the actual pistol… that was new.  “Is this a hold-up?  You want me to hand over my caps?”

Ivy dropped the gun to her side with a muttered curse and flopped back against her doorframe.  

“Mac?   What are you doing here?  It’s late.”  Rocking her head back, she let out a shaky breath.  “You scared the shit out of me.”

He shrugged apologetically from his spot on the floor, avoiding her question long enough for her to wander forward offering her free hand.

“You can get off the floor now, tiger,” she said with a sigh that edged into a smirk.  “Like I could get any caps out of you anyway.  Gunpoint or not.”

Now banter he could handle.  It was one of his favourite things about her, she enjoyed his teasing and his joking, she even put up with his snarking.  Plus, she’d offered him the perfect get out of jail free card to avoid any explanations about why he was there.  

He let his gaze flick down the bare legs he was currently eye-to-thigh with, and back up to Ivy’s face, giving her an excessively dramatic eye roll.  

“If you’re trying to impress me, it’s not going to work,” he drawled.

She withdrew her hand with a mock scowl and gave him a sharp, but not painful, kick—enough to send him from kneeling to sitting in the puddle of dog water—turned on her heel and wandered back up the hall to her room.  With maybe a little more sway to her hips than was entirely necessary.  

It was probably safer not to call her on it though, she was still armed, after all.  Best just to stay put, watch maybe...

“I was in bed, thank you very much.  There were blankets and everything.”  She snarked back over her shoulder at him, finally giving a cursory glance as she reached her room before disappearing out of view.  “I was just drifting off when I heard this absolute racket.  And I thought to myself, it’s not Christmas for a few more weeks, so it can’t be Santa.  Not that he doesn’t owe me 210 years’ worth of presents…”

And people thought he was the sarcastic one.

MacCready grinned, getting up quickly and bounding after her up the hall.  

He was careful to avoid looking into the darkened nursery as he passed.  His first time in Sanctuary he’d found Ivy staring into the room.  She’d asked him if he thought they’d ever find that missing boy, Shaun, but he couldn’t answer.  The sight of that damn crib haunted him.  All he could think about was Duncan and how time was passing and he’d gotten nowhere.  He’d just about managed to thickly mutter “yeah, sure”, which didn’t sound overly convincing to either of them, before he had to rush outside and try not to be sick.  

Leaning on her doorframe, he peeked round the corner into the room.  It was mainly taken up by an old pre-war bed that’d been fixed up like new since the last time they were there.  There were clothes, sketchbooks and empty gumdrop wrappers strewn over a dresser in the corner - Codsworth mustn’t be allowed in here, there was no way he’d leave it such a mess. The glow that spilled out into the hallway came from an oil lantern balanced on the windowsill and a single candle, melting its way down on the bedside table.  

On the bed was an open comic and more gumdrops.  She hadn’t been sleeping either.  

“If you don’t think you can get caps out of me, you can be damn sure you aren’t getting 210 presents,” he grinned, but Ivy was too busy rummaging through the dresser drawers to do anything more enthusiastic than throw a sock at him.  

He flopped down onto his back on the bed and snatched up the comic and a handful of gumdrop.  This bed was a damn sight more comfortable than the crappy mattress he had to put up with, that was for sure.  

Grognak the Barbarian and the Jungle of the Bat Babies.

“Meh.  I’ve got this one,” he complained as he munched on the candy, continuing to idly leaf through the pages anyway.  

“Well if you wouldn’t mind not losing my page…”  Ivy shot him a sharp look over her shoulder as she dragged on a pair of tatter jeans.

After weeks of sleeping in foxholes, broken-down houses and on rooftops, privacy between the two of them had become less of an issue, he’d gotten fairly used to catching sight of her trying to wriggle in and out of a vault suit in his peripheral vision, but he still couldn’t help smirking at the idea of the raised eyebrows there’d be around the settlement if they could see them now.  He had to stop himself chuckling out loud, wondering what Garvey would think of his precious General having an ex-Gunner in her room in the middle of the night.  

Best not to get too smart about the Gunner part… he’d heard about Quincy.  Might have been years after his time with them, but that kind of association tainted the way people looked at a man.  

Most people anyway.  

He glanced over at Ivy who was trying to get her hair to behave.  Christ knows why, it’s not like there was anyone to see it.   It wasn’t Preston’s fault he kept catching on Mac’s last nerve, it was just… there were only so many times you could hear someone called a ‘good man’ without starting to wonder if that made you the ‘bad’ one.  Not to mention the looks—he glanced at Ivy again—the way Garvey would go soft whenever she was helping that handyman with settlement stuff, or any other do-gooder crap.  You’d think she was some kind of miracle.  

He’d bet every last cap he owned that the man had never seen her pickpocket Gunners or watched those fingers crack a lock faster than any professional he’d ever met, just to break into a guy’s house because he rubbed her up the wrong way.  No, MacCready might call her angel, but he was more than aware that she was flesh and blood.  

Ivy plonked herself down cross-legged on the end of the bed, entirely derailing his train of thought.  

“So, a gentleman caller at this late hour… tongues will wag.”  She raised an eyebrow.  “Did you just come here to frighten me or did you need something?”

Well now he felt like an idiot.  There was no dodging the question this time, and she was watching him intently.  Why was he here?  

Because he was lonely?  Heck no.   He couldn’t sleep and he’d gotten used to having someone to talk to?   He was bored?  This place is too damn quiet and too damn boring.  And how the hell could she live here before the war?  Surrounded by boring houses with boring people and boring jobs and boring everything , when she wasn’t boring at all…

“I saw your light was on.”

“You couldn’t sleep either, huh?”

“Never can on the first night somewhere.” He gave in and shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage.  “Still feels like I need to watch the shadows.  Anyway, I gave up trying and figured I’d get some air.”  

She considered his statement for a moment.  He hoped she wasn’t considering too hard how much ending up in her house probably didn’t count as ‘getting air’.  

“Air sounds good.”

Well, he couldn’t say he wasn’t a little disappointed at the turn of events.  He’d just been getting comfy, wondering if he could sneakily doze off and then she’d be stuck with the couch - she could usually be relied on to be too nice to wake him if she didn’t have to.  But he dutifully put aside the well-thumbed comic, grabbed another handful of gumdrops and waited for her to pull on some shoes and grab a spare blanket before they headed outside. 

------ 

Ivy swore under her breath, something about Boston winters even without snow.  She gave an exaggerated shiver and dragged the blanket around her shoulders before joining MacCready in the street.  She probably should’ve grabbed a coat, MacCready mused, but she didn’t seem bothered enough to head back into the house.  Instead she fidgeted on the spot, looking at him expectantly.

“It’s your walk,” she whispered after a moment, keeping her voice low for fear of waking the long since passed out settlers.  He could just about see she was smiling at him despite the shadows of the house.  “Lead on, boss. ”  

Boss.  He rolled his eyes at her, but led the way anyway, meandering slowly up the street towards the end of the cul-de-sac, their footsteps crunching quietly on the broken asphalt as they passed house after darkened house.  

MacCready stopped when he reached the tree that dominated the end of the estate, not sure where to go next.  He hadn’t thought this far ahead.  They could wander the edge of the small island that housed the settlement, but that ran the risk of bumping into whoever was on guard and then they’d be stuck making awkward conversation.  They could cross the north bridge towards the vault.  No, definitely not.  Ivy was one of the few people he knew who wanted to go near a vault even less than he did.  Especially that vault.  Anyway, they were meant to be distracting each other from lack of sleep, not creating more reasons for it.  

Ivy must have noticed the lost look on his face (or just got impatient of waiting) because felt a tap on his arm.  She didn’t wait for him to respond before dragging him towards the farthest house.  Instead of going inside, she led the way to a ladder propped up against the roof.

“You’ve got your binoculars, right?”  she whispered, pointing up the ladder.  “After you.”

He gave her a confused look, but patted the pair strapped to his belt, and went ahead and climbed first - offering Ivy a hand when she reached the top.  Other than a couple of tall trees, the roof offered an unimpeded view right across the commonwealth down to the coast.  

They settled down on the broad roof tiles, feet in the gutter so they didn’t slip down.  Ivy had offered to lay the blanket out for them to sit on but after her display outside the house, he wasn’t going to sit there and watch her shiver for the sake of keeping his ass warm.  And he told her as much.

“Don’t let anybody tell you I’m not a gentleman,” he grinned after her laughter died down.  

It was a hell of a view.  Mac scanned the horizon, picking out the familiar shapes that loomed in the darkness; the jagged skyscrapers of Boston’s skyline - lit up by Diamond City’s unsubtle display of lights, the satellite bank out near the coast, and the freeway, snaking across the landscape towards mass pike interchange.  That held his attention a little longer than the rest.  Just one more item on his list of problems.

But Ivy didn’t seem to notice.  She wasn’t even looking out across the vista, she was sat back on her elbows, staring straight up into the night sky.  

He leant back too, looking across at her but he didn’t stand a chance of catching her eye, she was completely enthralled.  After a couple of minutes he gave up and gently prodded her, “Come back down to earth, spaceman…”  It was enough to get her to tear her eyes away from the sky and glance back across at him.  A sad smile touched her lips.  

“My dad loved looking at the stars.  It was kind of his job... along with a lot of math.  He taught at a college back home.”  She didn’t often talk about before, and he wasn’t sure she’d ever mentioned her family.  “You don’t know how lucky you are, seeing the sky like this.  People would travel hundreds of miles for a view like this.”

“Seriously?”  MacCready stared up, bemused.  

“Seriously.”  She smiled at him, or maybe through him.  Her mind seemed to be somewhere else, but not in a bad way for once.  “Have you ever tried to look at the stars when you’re in Diamond City?  Even Goodneighbor?  It’s far too bright, you can barely see anything.  That’s what most places were like before the war.  It was all streetlights stopping you from seeing ‘one of the best views in the universe’.  That’s what my dad used to say, anyway.  He used to drive me, my mum and my brother out into the middle of the countryside on clear nights like this.  I swear he’d talk about space all night, if mum let him.”

“Sorry, I went a bit off topic…” She let out a small laugh and shook her head.  “I think the point I was aiming for was it’s beautiful.”

“I suppose it is.”  

He hazarded a smile in the dark.  Starlight suited her.  Sat there bathed in the soft glow, wide-eyed and taking everything in as though she was seeing it for the first time, she looked genuinely happy.  Completely lost to the world, mind, with no idea of anything else happening around her.  

“I’m probably boring you to death.”

“No.  Well maybe a little.”  MacCready couldn’t resist a chance to tease.  “I read about stars when I was a kid.  Big balls of glowing gas, yada yada.  You said your dad was an expert, show me something I don’t know.”

Ivy sat up, giving him a determined look.  Oh good, challenge accepted.  “Fine.  Give me those binoculars.”

He handed them over and watched her tracing the sky above them, leaning back to look further and further north east until she spotted what she wanted.  

“You see that star?” she pointed.  “The fuzzy looking one.”  

“They all look fuzzy.”

“No they don’t!  Come here.”  She shuffled right up next to him, still pointing in the direction she was looking.  

It took about five minutes of manhandling to get him looking in the right direction.  He was having too much fun winding her up by purposefully not paying attention, and laughing too hard when she tried to move him by his chin because it tickled.  Eventually, and only after she begged, he stopped still long enough for her to get him looking in the right direction - according to her anyway.  To him it just looked like any other star.

“Ok, stay still will you?”  This time Mac did his best as she squashed right up next to him, and pressed her cheek against his to make sure they were both looking where they should be.  She produced the binoculars again, holding them so they had an eyepiece each, and finally he could see what she was talking about.  

“Right, so it’s a fuzzy star?” he muttered from trying to keep his head still.  There’d be hell to pay if he didn’t.  

“Look again.  See the ellipse shape?”  

“Yeah, the fuzzy one.  What about it?”

“Oh, there might be a couple more than just that one fuzzy little star.”  She pulled away and handed him the binoculars, tired, but beaming.  “More like a trillion of them, a couple of million light years away.   That is the Andromeda Galaxy.”

“No shit- oop.”

MacCready clamped a hand across his mouth in a poor attempt to catch the curse that had slipped past his lips.  

“Does that count as something you didn’t know?”  Ivy giggled softly, stifling a yawn as she lay back down and pulled the blanket tighter around her.  “Damn.  I should’ve put some caps on it.”

“Yeah, I’d say it counts,” he grinned.  “But trust me, I’ve learned not to make bets against you.”

MacCready lay back, staring at the sky, eyes fixed on that blurry star that turned out to be much more than it appeared.  He opened his mouth to quiz Ivy some more, but in the quiet he could hear that her breathing had become soft and even.  A glance confirmed it, she was fast asleep.  

“Well, I don’t know how I’m going to get you down off this roof,” he whispered, reaching over to tuck an errant curl back behind her ear.  “So it looks like we’re here for the night.”

He settled back again, pulling the brim of his cap down over his eyes before resting his head on his hands.  This time sleep found him easily, a smile on his face, thinking of a little boy back home who would love to hear all about the stars.

[laurelsofhighever]

15 questions, 15 answers

tagged by @mutantenfisch! tagging @pushingsian @pip-n-flinx @rpgwrites and @pchberrytea

Nickname(s): Only the ones I made up myself

Zodiac: Sagittarius

Height:  5′7.5

Last Thing I Googled: "What to play after beating Hollow Knight” 

Song Stuck in My Head: Amaranthe “Drop Dead Cynical”

Number of Followers: It’s a lot, but it’s been a while since I weeded out the bots, so...

Amount of sleep I get: About what’s recommended, but I maintain that eight hours isn’t worth as much as not having to wake up with an alarm

Lucky Number: I don’t really have one - 27 is a good one, though

Favourite Song: Thousand Foot Krutch “Let The Sparks Fly”

Favourite Instrument: I find the theremin endlessly fascinating

Dream Job: I don’t know how to pull it off, but I want to help rewilding efforts in the UK. And maybe own some ducks. And some cows.

Aesthetic:  A full moon night in a Scottish glen, with frost crystalising on the grass and the rustle of deer in the nearby trees, in the shadows where they can’t be seen. Stars bright above and owls calling one another, the smell of water and wet earth, laughter from thenearby road as people stumble home, entirely oblivious to your presence; you blend into the night like a fox, something no longer entirely human. Favourite Author(s): Looking at my bookshelf... Terry Pratchett and Naomi Novik feature pretty prominently, but there are also so many good fanfic authors that I follow - too many to name, but I should do a fic recs masterpost at some point

Favourite animal noise: The greeting noise horses make when they’ve spotted you a little distance away, but not far enough for a proper neigh - cheetah chirps - the primal jaw snap and hiss of a crocodile

Random: When I was twelve or so I sat on the back of a live alligator (in a pen full of other, equally loose alligators) so that the guide, a man missing three fingers on his right hand, could demonstrate how they only try to kill you if you approach them from the front because it’s not worth the energy for them to try otherwise. Yes, it felt like riding a dragon.

[wolfsmist]

15 Questions, 15 Answers

Tagged by @mars-colony, ty :)

Ill tag @slothssassin, @thxsilvxrshrxud, @leporidaefluff, @mutantenfisch , no pressure! 

Nickname: none :’)

Zodiac: Virgo

Height:  5′4″ i think

Last Thing I Googled: Game, I’m trying to get my paws on the xbox series x  

Song Stuck in My Head: Nothing right now, but yesterday I had the itchy and scratchy theme song playing in my head all day for some reason 

Number of Followers: 139

Amount of sleep I got: Depends but usually around 7hrs

Lucky Number: Dont have one, I dont think so anyway

 Favorite Song: There’s so many songs I love but none stand out as my favourite 

Favorite Instrument: The violin is pretty cool, and I love the kalimba as well

Dream Job: Dog groomer, possibly with dog kennels/rescue as well :)

Aesthetic:  Autumn, Autumncore?

Favorite Author(s): I have not had the concentration to read a book in a loooong time

Favorite animal noise: Cats purring, cats when they do that chirpy thing, dogs when they go awoo

Random: It has been raining all day and I am fed up :/