#not being able to heal after literally being MURDERED and then just trying to walk it off like it wasnt a horrible traumatic event

[novashimo]

Izuku never got Katsuki’s autograph even after all these years after graduating.

Logically it makes sense for Izuku, Pro Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight literal hero partner and Childhood friend to have Bakugou Katsuki’s autograph.

But he doesn’t, and GOD does that make Izuku upset.

It’s not because Izuku never asked, or that Katsuki is being petty and refusing to sign anything for Izuku. It’s a literal mystery on how Izuku doesn’t have an autograph for Katsuki.

The first time Izuku got Dynamight’s autograph was in their second year when the younger broke his arm and was put into a cast. Katsuki did his normal yelling and teasing but towards the end Izuku made a joke about he could atleast give him a signature on the cast as return if he was gunna be yelled at. But oh wait Katsuki’s arm was still fucked up and Izuku guess they can both have fucked up arms until they heal.

Katsuki being the little shit he was took at as a challenge and spent the next 30 minutes trying to sign Izuku’s cast with his left hand.

It was messy, after all Katsuki only been writing with his left hand for a few months at this point but it was legible.

The problem was that although Izuku had the signature, he wasn’t able to actually keep it, the cast eventually got sawed off and off that means the little sawblade went right through the scribble of a signature that Katsuki left.

Izuku obviously realized this and pouted and Katsuki looked him dead in the eyes before sending a small explosion into the others face.

“It’s just a shitty signature, wait until I catch up with my shitty handwriting and its fucking over for you”

Ofc that means it wouldn’t be until months later when it’s was Izuku’s birthday during their third year where Katsuki was fluent in writing with his left hand.

But this time, it literally went missing out of nowhere. Izuku carefully placed the autograph with a really well taken action photo of Katsuki and sent the largest hug the blonds way. Everyone took photos of Katsuki’s face that night. The Photograph stayed carefully out of reach from any cups that could spill until Izuku could take it up to his dorm room after they finished the party.

The problem is that after they ate cake and went to go clean everything up it literally just disappeared.

The whole class searched the room up and down and it literally just disappeared.

(No body realized that Koda’s bunny had reached up and snatched it off the table and was currently chewing the Picture to bits in the little kennel they had in the dorm floor)

And the cycle just continued from there

Izuku had a day off work after a long first year as the news Modern Hero Art History teacher, (because Nezu found it most interesting to have the first quirkless graduate of UA become a teacher and they never found a fitting person to take over Midnights old position) and went to a hero convention, and Katsuki’s PR team forced him to be a surprise guest.

Izuku waited in that line for HOURS and turns out he was the last person in line next to a little kid, after Izuku went into the corner and got nagged at by Katsuki for “wasting his money on a person he literally had dinner plans with later this week” Izuku got a signature.

When Izuku walked out and he saw the little kid he was in line with crying, he immediately realized that the guards must have cut the line off after him due to time and security reasons.

So Izuku did the next logical thing and gave his autograph of Dynamight to the kid.

(Katsuki rolled his eyes and smiled when Izuku told him, fond of the person he was slowly falling in love with)

The longest Izuku had Katsuki’s signature was a week before someone literally broke into the UA teacher dorms and stole it.

The fastest the autograph was gone was in less then under a minute, Izuku was on a date with Katsuki and the restaurant was suddenly being robbed, the duo off jumped into action and at the end when Izuku was giving compliments to the older, Katsuki just made a joke and signed a napkin saying ‘To my Izuku, my number one fan’. Not even 3 seconds into the napkin being placed in Izuku’s had the villian from earlier spat in their direction and landed on the napkin which suddenly burst to flames.

Acidic Spit

Katsuki burst into laughter because fate or whoever was above *really* didn’t want Izuku to have his signature.

After 8 long years of saving up, Katsuki carefully placed his autograph in the fold of the mecha suit for Izuku before going out and handing it to Toshinori.

Weeks after Toshinori gave it to Izuku, the blond asked if Izuku received his surprise, and Izuku replied happily on how he loved the suit, but doesn’t mention the autograph.

After some careful probing Katsuki realizes that the nerd never got the autograph.

Turns out that Toshinori accidentally let the photo slip out and it landed in the halls of UA somewhere, and now some snot nosed brat has a special signature From Dynamight and GOD that’s embarrassing because Katsuki wrote some really sweet lovey dovey shit on the back.

When they get married, Izuku makes a joke that the marriage certificate is the only signature that He’ll ever get, and less then 12 hours after leaving the courthouse they get a call to come back because the Documents got caught on fire.

Eventually they just kinda accept it’s never going to happen and Pro Hero GEMGD is an autograph he might not ever get.

Atleast no until their wedding night a couple months later when Kota, one of Izuku’s current 2nd year students walk up to him extremely embarrassed and hands over his wedding gift. Which turns out to be the extremely sweet message that Katsuki tried to give to Izuku a year prior with his hero suit.

Izuku definitely cried twice that night and now a specific autograph is framed and hanged in Izuku’s home office.

[illubean]

can i request headcanons of any hxh characters your choice (preferably including illumi, chrollo, and/or feitan) with a crush on/unestablished relationship with a gender neutral reader who refuses to fully align themselves with anyone but has an incredibly OP ability that requires their blood or body (can shoot blood in like spikes, detach their limbs to chase down and drag back runners, use their blood and/or tears to heal wounds, can just regrow lost limbs including their head, ect.) that would make being on their bad side more trouble then it's worth

so every fight they kind of /have/ to get injured to use it. Plus their ability weirdly doesn't seem to use nen (chrollo can't copy it and gyo doesn't show anything, ect.)

and when they're finally asked about it they're casually like "oh yeah, I'm not human. I was actually created to be an unstoppable force that infects and destroys humanity, but that's honestly too much work. Plus you give me snacks so I'd rather just hit whoever you tell me to." and their reactions to the fact this insanely overpowered goober they've fallen for is a stray shapeshifting little abomination who could have murdered the entire human race and that they're lowkey lucky reader likes getting bribed them so much

(Sorry if that's too long btw, I thought you'd like the idea but I couldn't think of a better way to condense it 😅)

HXH With an Unaligned!OP!Reader

Characters: Illumi Zoldyck, Chrollo Lucilfer, Feitan Portor Type: Headcanons, Gn!reader

i do not like how this came out but posting anyways lol...

Warnings: mentions of blood, experimentation and violence, reader isn't human if that counts as a warning

Illumi Zoldyck

the way you met Illumi was... not ideal to say the least

he was on a job to kill some scientist guy but little did he know scientist guy had quite literally created a monster

the day he was going to do his mission happened to be the day your power was finally realized

annnndddd Illumi walked in on you killing scientist guy and literally everyone else who worked for him

you had managed to pop your arms off and launch them like missiles, turn your blood into weapons and spikes around the room and also not die????? and grow your limbs back???????????

the weird part was Illumi couldn't sense any of your aura at all

he just assumed you were a super advanced nen user and were able to still keep up hatsu really well while fighting

which led him to the conclusion that he should either A. run away or B. try and get you on his side

when you noticed him just standing there you turned to stare at him like come at me bitch

"So? Are you here to poke me with more needles like the others? It won't end very well." "Actually I was here for the guy in the lab coat, but it seems like you did the job for me."

realizing he wasn't a threat (or trying to be because you know...you cant die) you let down your guard down

you ended up just following him around after that, not really having anywhere else to go so Illumi decided on plan B

turns out it took a lot less manipulating than he thought

he brought you to the estate and you agreed to help him with whatever for a popeyes chicken sandwich

watching how you wandered around the estate aimlessly and lounged about Illumi quickly realized you only use your abilities when threatened or bribed

so you become his personal little treat fueled killing machine

he takes you on missions with him because he doesn't trust you alone at the estate...

eventually he asks you about how your hatsu is so good and you're like wtf is that

and he's like What.

you tell him you we're pretty much created in that lab and they did all these tests and stuff and you didn't even really know how or why you had the power you did but you found out you did the day you met

and you were all like "they were so annoying and they told me to do stuff for free, I'd never kill you though you feed me :3"

he is so glad you are clueless and he got to you before anyone else because you could take over the entire world if you really wanted to

he is going to marry you ASAP

but again, you being clueless did not understand what marriage entails

and you agreed for the same reasons you agreed to literally anything else this man has asked of you

you are Illumi's most prized possession and no matter how freaky you are, he really does cherish you as normal people would their spouse

Chrollo Lucilfer

running into you on a heist was definitely unexpected

especially since you looked like you just got out of captivity

mistaking him for an enemy you shot your fist off at him and barely missed

and he was like woah im not an opp dw

then your hand grows back and hes like !?

he asked why you were there you explain that you were some sort of war weapon yada yada yada the guys got annoying you killed them and yeah

and Chrollo offers you to come back w him and the troupe and you're like sure if you feed me

so after the heist is over Chrollo takes you back to Phantom Troupe hq and then talks with the gang blah blah blah dismisses everyone and then takes you to wherever the hell and buys you whatever you want to eat

and while you're stuffing your face bro is like

"Your powers are pretty impressive. Mind telling me how they work?"

and not caring you tell him, mainly focused on your meal

and he's like huh what a useful ability time to steal it

one thing leads to another and he somehow gets you to touch his weird book and when he flips to where your nen should be the page is blank and he is insanely confused

and hes like "Why didn't my nen ability work on you?"

and you're like wtf is nen

and hes like oh my god I don't think this thing is human

so he asks

and you're like "I literally told you I'm a war weapon. A weapon created for war, but that's too much work."

now he is confused but also intrigued

he offers for you to join the troupe and you're like

"But being in a gang is so much wooorrrkkkkkuuuuhhhh"

you can literally destroy man kind but you don't because you're LAZY!?

you're not officially part of the troupe but you're practically an honorary member because you follow Chrollo around after your first encounter

and he decides it 's better than nothing

Feitan Portor

I can't think of a clever way for you guys to meet LMAO

umm uhhh idk maybe you were created to take out the chimera ants and happened to get deployed in meteor city the same time the troupe was hunting down the 'queen'

so when the troupe got there you were already fighting some ants

you look human enough but your abilities make Feitan think you might not be

soooo he tries attacking you before he ended up getting to the lizzard ant crocodile lady thing i don't remember what she was

and he couldn't beat you and you're like wtf do you want from me I'm trying to do my job

and hes like ??? you're not an ant?

and youre like no

and hes like oh and leaves you alone

then he throws the entire sun at the ant lady and leaves the building

he kinda forgot about you until he felts something lift the back of his cloak

and he's like !!?!?!??!

and he looks behind him to see you crawled under his coat and took the snacks he hides under there for himself

and he's like what the fuck

how did you even know he had those???? (you could smell it because you have super enhanced everything)

ok i just remembered his cloak got destroyed in this scene but pretend it didn't

anyways he snatches the bottom of it away from you and tries taking the snacks back out of your hands but you are quick to dodge

he's irritated but he just lets you have them he's too tired to deal with this

you end up following him after this like a lost puppy and the rest of the troupe is like ??????

but they can't get rid of you

and on the way out of meteor city you were like yap yap yap weapon yap yap created in a lab yap yap yap immortal

feitan could not care less about what you had to say but he was like ??? to the immortal thing

maybe you weren't a bad thing to keep around

[invaderhogtwopointohno]

The Flash (2023) Spoilers:

I have a lot of thoughts about this movie (not interested in getting into Erza Miller, you can decide on your own about them.) but I really gotta say I loved this movie for many reasons: the biggest being that the entire theme of the movie is that the experiences that we endure, good or bad, shape our world view in dramatic ways and make us the heroes or villains that we eventually become.

Justice League!Barry experiences the traumatic death of his mother in a different way than it’s usually- in most versions of the Flash his mother is still murdered but he is either with his father or not there, but the absolute devastation that Barry was literally just lying on the floor up in his room working on his homework when his mother was murdered and he didn’t even hear anything? That really changes his sense of powerlessness in her death.

JL!Barry is shaped by this event- his father being blamed for his mother’s death, going to prison, Barry’s constant fight for the truth through his work at Central City’s crime lab, even if he is not appreciated there. This sets Barry down his path to being a hero because he endures that experience for several years and is very verbal in his pursuit of justice. He even says that he doesn’t have grand dreams about catching his mother’s killer, he just wants to get his father out of prison for it- he doesn’t care why or who did it- he just wants his family back.

Alt!Barry does not have that trauma. That is the whole reason why he is not worthy of his powers. We laugh at the Flash because he’s silly and fun and the heart of the Justice League (he even comments that he feels like he’s a glorified janitor) but his powers are so god-like that we have seen what happens when someone way more evil has access to them. JL!Barry has had the experience of learning his powers, understanding the limits and the conditions and the dangers of them- his experiences have shaped him into the hero that he is.

When they are in Russia and they realize that they haven’t found Superman, Barry doesn’t hesitate to save Kara anyway, even without his powers, because he is a hero- he has always been a hero. Alt!Barry doesn’t know what to do- he doesn’t make the heroic choice without thinking. He gets upset when he gets shot (even though he has super healing so he’ll be fine in like a few seconds) and gets angry at JL!Barry for not explaining that they can be hurt.

JL!Barry’s reply is actually really important in highlighting the huge difference between them “How come you didn’t tell me we could be shot!?” -”Why would you assume we couldn’t?” This is the big tell that their life experiences are so vastly different because Alt!Barry thought with his super powers he was invincible, he was a walking god- but that is not the reality. After learning that JL!Barry had messed with the timeline to save his mother’s life- thus creating the universe they were in that will inevitably be destroyed because of his interference, Alt!Barry just assumes that he can fix everything to.

“Sometimes there is no solution. You have to left go.” Echoing his mother’s words to Alt!Barry when he eventually realizes that by changing everything he is just dooming a universe by his own actions and he needs to make it right. Evil!Barry is just an older version of Alt!Barry that is obsessed with trying to be a hero and “fix everything” because of what JL!Barry told him- everything that takes place is all a direct result of JL!Barry’s own actions because he was trying to give his own life experience and knowledge to someone who had never experienced what he had gone through. 

Alt!Barry hadn’t known what it was like to be helpless, powerless- JL!Barry had watched his mother die, he had felt that huge sense of responsibility towards the greater good- JL!Barry understands his limits, he regrets his choices as hero- he even laments that he felt powerless in helping against Zod even though he was able to save one child in the chaos, he knows that he wasn’t ready to be a hero yet and felt like a failure. Alt!Barry finally coming to terms with this realization when he finally sees what he will become if he doesn’t stop and then saving JL!Barry by sacrificing himself was a really difficult moment- he had finally realized that he could be a hero if he just stopped trying to fix everything and let everything happen the way it should.

I also like the other themes of the movie: the existence of fate, the metaphor of time being spaghetti was funny, that small moments with the people we love are vastly more important than anything and we should cherish them, and I also liked how they made fun of and broke down the Justice League when JL!Barry was tryin to find the members (Aquaman being a magic mermaid!!) Also my favorite joke that I feel was really underappreciated was when Alt!Barry called Kara “solar powered” and that he was trying to get into solar energy (best joke and no one in my movie theatre laughed but me lolol).

[canumoveurseatup-no]

It’s Time

summary: it’s hard to accept the truth

pairings : eddie x Sinclair!reader

warnings: angst, grief, in denial about death, breaking down

a/n: I don’t know if anyone did this concept for Eddie already but if they did I’m not trying to copy anyone!🤍

————

“Hey, Y/N are you coming to Steve’s tonight?,” Dustin asked. Everyone has been tiptoeing around you since you all defeated Vecna and you’re not sure why. Sure some lives were lost but you still have Eddie and your little siblings and that’s what matters most.

“Uuuh I don’t think so, I have some studying to do,” you give the freshman a smile, even with you smiling, Dustin looked at you like he had something to say, “I’ll catch you all at lunch though, okay?”

“Yeah!” He gave a weak smile and turned to walk over to his friends, seeing your younger brother.

“How is she able to smile?,”

“I don’t know, but I’ll take it as long as she’s okay. She doesn’t talk about that night,” Lucas shrugged, “Literally the next day she woke up happy as ever asking Erica if they wanted to go on a shopping date,”

“We all wear grief differently,” Max added in, “I drowned myself in music and isolation. At least she’s trying to move forward and remain normal,”

Dustin frowned, knowing the pain you’re avoiding. He knows it’s going to build up and he doesn’t want that for you. Dustin hasn’t been able to sleep well since that night and everyone has just been able to move forward. He knows issues with the upside down have been a reoccurring issue, but something about this time around just stuck with him and no one else understands because they’re in such a rush to move on and live normal lives.

“Avoiding grief isn’t normal,”

———

“Baby why don’t we go spend time with your friends?,” Eddie questioned. Mindlessly strumming his guitar, admiring the little frown you have on your face from focusing, “you’ve been studying super hard with no free time,”

“The only free time I need is with you,” looking up at him and smiling, “I almost lost you that night,”

“You almost lost all of us,” Eddie corrected.

“Yeah but you’re the one I plan on spending the rest of my life with so that night solidified it that I need to be with you more, especially after your name was cleared,”

“Thank God,” he huffed, setting his guitar back on the wall to come over to you, towering over you to give you a kiss on your cheek, “orange isn’t my color and I don’t think I’d be able to survive not being with you all the time,”

“It’s okay, I’d break you out,” you giggle and just stare at him. He looks much more tired than usual, everyone does but Eddie has been through a lot. Being blamed for murder, being in the run being attacked in the Upside Down and having to heal from that.

“Cmon, let’s stop studying for tonight and go be with your friends,” he helped you stand up but you wrapped your arms around him bringing him down for a kiss.

“How about we just stay in and talk about our plans to leave this hellhole,”

Eddie just smiled at you and you both got ready for bed, once you are, you’re wrapped in his arms and feel so safe.

“I’m thinking we should just go to California like you said before,” you started, right before all this Vecna bullshit you Eddie was actually starting to get the attention of record label executives and had many offers, he just couldn’t figure out which deal to go for, then shit hit the fan.

But everything is fine now.

“Why the change of heart?”

“I think we’ll just thrive better there. You have your music, I’ll graduate with my cosmetology license so I don’t have to go to college. We could be big out there, Eddie!” You signed dreamily.

“Eddie and Y/N Munson. We could be big names in a big city,” you added. Eddie squeezed you tighter as you dreamed about your near future together.

“California it is. You sure you’re going to be able to leave this place behind? Your home?”

“Home is wherever you are, Eddie”

———

Eddie had some deals to make and told you he’d meet you at school. When you pull up, Lucas wastes no time jumping out of the car to be with his friends and Erica jumped out walking over to her friends over at the middle school. Nancy pulled up beside you to drop Mike off and waved happily when she saw you. She hasn’t seen you in a few days because you lock yourself away studying and spending time with Eddie.

You quickly get out of your car and get to her. She gets out and gives you a big hug, “I’ve missed you!” She squeals.

“I miss you too! Sorry I’ve been busy studying for my cosmetology license so it’s been time consuming,”

She smiles and nods, happy that you’re at least keeping up with your grades in the midst of grief.

“They’re going to do a moment of silence for Chrissy today,” you let her know. She knows Chrissy was your best friend and she knows what it’s like to lose a best friend, so she empathizes, “It’s been a month since she’s passed”

“I’m glad they’re doing that for her, I’ve seen the vigils for all those who were lost during that time. You let me know if you need anything okay? Any of us, we’re here,”

“I know, Nance and I love you guys for it. I’ll meet up with you guys after school,”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you later,”

You two say your goodbyes and Nancy goes over to meet with Jonathan as you head into school, waving to your brother’s friends who you have adopted as little siblings as well. Will and El are back so it’s good to see them finally have a normal life and school year.

You meet up with Robin as you two have lockers right beside each other. She sees you in your cheerleading uniform, white cardigan with a button that has Chrissy’s face on it. She doesn’t want to bring it up, she knows you’re hurting.

“Hey, how you holding up?,” She asks quietly. While you have been moving through life normally, you still haven’t really been chatting much.

“I’m okay!! How are you?” You question, she looks exhausted, you all are. The school year ends in a few months so it’s crunch time.

“Classes are kicking my ass but I’m hanging in there. We miss you, we’re going to Lover’s Lake after school for a bonfire if you’d like to come,”

You weigh your options, not knowing if you want to stay in with Eddie or go with them. You figured you’d take Eddie’s advice and hang out with your friends, he’d probably just go over Rick’s.

“I know the lake is still a sore spot but we figured we could give it a new history,” she adds.

“Y-yeah,” you send a soft smile, “I’ll be there after I stop by to see Chrissy’s family. We’re having a memorial for her,”

“That’s so sweet,” Robin gives you a hug and takes a deep breath, it seems like she needed this hug more than you did, “Be safe and we’ll see you later okay? We’ll be at the lake at 6:30,”

“I’ll be there,”

———

By the time lunch came you were finally able to see Eddie. You did tell Jonathan in third hour that you were going to sit with them at lunch but you hadn’t seen Eddie since this morning. So, you took your lunch box and walked out to the clearing with the picnic table and he was sitting there, smiling at you.

You’d never forget that smile, nor get sick of it.

“Hey there, handsome,” you say softly as you walk closer.

“Hey, sweets,” his big brown eyes looked at you like you hand painted all the stars in the universe.

“I packed your favorite,” you sat down and opened your lunchbox handing him a bologna sandwich with pickles, mustard and pepper Jack cheese. He thanks you and waits for you to get all of your lunch out before eating, he always waited for you to start eating before he did.

“Chrissy’s memorial is tonight,” you tell him.

“Yeah I heard. I don’t know if I should go. Even though my name is cleared I feel awful,”

“It’s okay, baby. It’s something small so don’t feel pressured, okay?” You reached over to squeeze his hands to comfort him, this entire situation has been traumatizing for everyone but especially Eddie.

“Robin also invited us down to Lover’s Lake if you wanna come but I know you probably have some deals to make, it’s a Friday night,”

“Yeah me and Rick have a party to deal to so it might take a while,”

“Don’t worry if you can’t make it. I don’t think I’m gonna stay long anyway,”

“Yeah I’ll probably get up with Steve and tell him I can’t make it,”

A comfortable silence fell between you two as the both of you ate. You were the first to finish, you hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning because you overslept. Eddie’s arms are just too comfortable, so it’s safe to say you were hungry.

“I love you,” you let him know. Adoring his smile lines, his frizzy hair, his hands, everything about him. You wear your favorite ring of his 24/7. It was the skull one, you always played with his hands and that’s the ring you gravitated to.

“I love you more,” he stared at you with this longing, like he missed you and never wanted to let go.

The two of you sat and talked for the remainder of lunch. Cracking jokes and talking about movies and conspiracy theories. It was always fun like this, until the bell rang.

“Ugh, booooo,” you huff packing up your belongings and trash from lunch.

“It’s okay, we’re done with classes soon so it’s okay,”

“Yeah yeah” you pout. He kisses your poked out lip, pushing it back to its normal position and smiles against your lip.

“You’re just too cute. I’ll see you at the memorial okay?”

“You’re coming?!” You smile brightly. You know Chrissy would want him there.

“Of course. For you and for her,”

———

The memorial was emotional as expected. No one batted an eye that Eddie was there and that was a relief to both of you. You had talked to Chrissy’s mom, even though she wasn’t the best mother, that was still her daughter that is no longer here. Your cheer team performed a routine in Chrissy’s honor and the basketball team was there too. It was a short gathering, you were glad you two went.

You miss Chrissy more than words can describe. You can’t take anymore loss.

“All right, sweets. I gotta go meet Rick okay?,” he helps you get in your car and gives you a soft kiss before whispering “I’ll see ya later. I’ll even bring you a surprise,”

“Well now I can’t wait,” you laughed. You sat and made sure he got in his car okay and then you both went your different ways, honking at each other and waving as you two went opposite directions.

You went home and had dinner with your family. You were quiet, still emotional after the memorial.

“You okay, Y/N? You’ve been very quiet lately,”

“Yeah dad, just… I lost my best friend a month ago today. Still fresh,” you mutter.

Lucas and Erica make eye contact that you don’t notice. Talking without using their mouths, they understood there’s more going on that you’re not talking about and they’re trying to be patient with you.

“We’re having a gathering at Lover’s Lake. I can take the kids to hang with their friends. We’ll be home by 9,”

“9?!” Lucas exasperates

“It’s a Friday, Y/N!,” Erica rolls her eyes.

“Well I’ll be leaving at 8:45. I don’t want to stay out all night,”

“Yeah cause all you’ll do is sulk in your room about-,”

“Lucas!” Your mom reacts, wide eyes and glaring at your brother.

“It’s fine,” you tell her shaking your head. You’re not even hungry anymore, “Be ready by 6:15 if you guys are going,”

———

You couldn’t really enjoy the night without Eddie there. You were hoping he was safe and not getting in any fights or robbed since he’s making deals tonight. You just want him by your side so you know he’s safe.

“Earth to Y/N!” Steve shouts. You’ve been doing that a lot lately and they never mention it, but best believe they notice it. Before all of this went down, you didn’t zone out like that. They know zoning out here and there is normal, but it’s a constant state of mind for you when you’re around them.

“Yeah?” You snap out of it and look to see him across from you. Once you’re brought back to focus, you can feel the heat of the fire on your face, you can hear the wind rustling the leaves, you can hear the water rippling, you can feel them staring at you with concern.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do after we graduate?,”

“Going to California,” you deadpan. There was no doubt in your mind about it.

“California?,” Robin screeches, “When the hell were you going to tell us?”

“I just decided it,” you shrugged, “Eddie always talks about going there and making it big. So I’m going to try and make it big,”

All of their eyes soften at your words and you don’t know why.

“You can make it big here,” Mike adds.

“I’d crash and burn if I stayed here,” you answer. Sulking once again. Thinking about all of those who were unfortunate, unsuspecting victims to the dark secrets of Hawkins. You don’t want to stay here anymore. You need to move out and move on. It’s time.

“But family is here,” Erica said. Sure she was a little brat but she’d miss you if you left, because she knows if you did… you’d never come back.

“Pain.. is here,” you looked to her and take a sip of your drink, getting up and walking to the edge of the lake, staring out at the moonlit water. Your mind flashed to that night. You, Eddie, Nancy, Steve and Robin diving in through the gate, you all fought tooth and nail to get out, fighting against the creatures that lived there, even through the final battle.

A shiver runs down your back at that thought. You all made it out but at what cost? Now you barely sleep, barely eat, barely talk. All of this left a stain on your soul and it won’t come off, it’ll be there forever.

That ache will never leave.

———

For the next few days you avoid the others. You haven’t been wanting to hangout, you’ve been staying at home, locking yourself away from your siblings in your room, making the plans for California with Eddie.

It’s been a week since you’ve talked to any of them. Avoiding them in the halls, at lunch, after school- you haven’t even muttered a word to Lucas or Erica, they were more worried now than ever.

Nancy and Robin always tried to invite you out to the movie or out for milkshakes but you always declined. Dustin always tried to come to you about science things and what not but you’d just tell him you’d catch him later. Max would try to tell you she was there and she understands the pain of losing someone and to not shut yourself away.

You’re not shutting yourself away though, you’re just focusing on yourself and your relationship. Mike and Will always tried to get you to join them at Hellfire Club but you denied them that satisfaction, leaving that to be Eddie’s thing, you never did understand D&D much so you gave up a while ago. El would come to you about girly things but you wouldn’t engage much. Steve and Jonathan always invited you to smoke but you didn’t have time for that- you had plans to make.

So it’s been a week of torture for them. You ignoring them and when they are finally face to face with you it’s like you don’t see them. They even invited you to Max’s tonight for a horror movie marathon but you declined, you’ve had enough jumpscares to last a lifetime.

So instead, said you couldn’t make it and planned a movie night with Eddie at his trailer. Wayne would be at work and you have a spare key, Wayne telling you you’re welcome over at any time. You brought snacks and drinks and his favorite pizza, BBQ chicken.

What you don’t know is that Steve sees your car pull up at Eddie’s trailer.

“What’s Y/N doing?” He asks aloud.

“She’s not here what are you talking about?” Lucas questions.

“Yeah because she’s over at Eddie’s,” the other come join him in the kitchen to watch you through the window struggling with all the items in your hand. They can hear you talking, but… no one is home? They know what Wayne’s truck looks like and he left an hour ago.

“I got your favorites! and I got that new comedy movie you were talking about,”

They don’t know who you were talking to and majority of them got a sinking feeling in their stomach.

On the other side of Eddie’s trailer though, he had his arms wrapped around your waist, smothering you in kisses and muttering I love yous and I miss yous.

“Hahaha okay okay! I’m excited to see you too, handsome,” you kiss him deeply and pull away, just smiling. You were so glad you had someone like him in your life.

You get everything set up and you and Eddie are talking about your day when you hear a knock on the door.

“You expecting anyone?” You ask him as you walk to the door

“Only you, that’s it,”

You open the door and see the others staring at you with questioning eyes and skeptical looks. Looks of pity and looks of concern.

“Hey what are you guys doing here?,” you smile brightly and move aside to let them in.

“We were going to ask you the same thing,” Dustin says.

“Well,” you look around you, smiling at everything put together, “We’re about to have a movie night!”

“We?” Robin looks between all of you, “our movie night is at Max’s,”

“Not us, silly. Me and Eddie,” you say and that’s when the room gets eerily quiet.

“Y/N,” Steve mutters your name as if it’s a warning.

“What?,” you ask, eyes wide as you lick the barbecue sauce off your finger.

You really aren’t acknowledging it.

“You’re serious?” He gives an airy chuckle, this isn’t funny he just doesn’t understand.

“Yes! Eddie wanted to see this movie so we’re watching. Right babe?” You turn to him and he nods, “See?”

“Y/N… Eddie is gone,” Max steps forward but you move around them all to finish setting up. You got the drink and your cups, setting them on the table.

They notice the two plates, two cups, two drinks.

“Why are you talking about him as if he’s not standing right here?!” You snap, “He saved your lives have some respect,”

You never raise your voice at any of them but their attitudes are pissing you off.

“Because he’s not,” Lucas says, “Y/N, you need to snap out of it and realize this is an unhealthy coping mechanism. Eddie died a month ago,”

“Shut up!,” you scoff, you weren’t believing their words not when Eddie was standing right beside you.

“He mattered time too,” Dustin stepped in, getting real close, “What you’re experiencing is called bereavement hallucinations,”

“What are you trying to say? That I’m crazy?!” You’re angry now. How dare they come in here, making space for themselves and hurl these words at you?!

All of them realize your anger is just masking you being in denial.

“No, what I’m saying is you’re grieving and you’re trying to keep yourself together and this is how you’re doing it… but it’s not helping. It’s going to hurt you more in the long run,”

“He’s standing right..,” you look and he’s not there, “Eddie?”

Your voice cracks and you look around to look for him but he’s not there. You run to his bedroom calling his name, “Eddie, where did you go?” You call out, sadness bleeding into your tone.

“He’s here. H-he’s still here. This isn’t funny!,” you shout as you enter the living room again.

“This isn’t some joke,” Lucas says softly. He can see you cracking around the edges. Reality was seeping into the cracks and dripping down into your perception. You were starting to see the truth. “You’re my big sister, Y/N. I can’t stand seeing you like this,”

You close your eyes and use emotional tape to heal those cracks. Then you hear his voice again.

“I’m right here, baby,” he whispers and you calm down again, wiping your tears.

“Can you tell them to leave? They’re ruining our movie night,” you plead, looking over your shoulder.

But there’s no one there. Not for them to see. They were watching you talk to a wall and they didn’t know how to handle it. Their dearest friend was falling apart at the seams and they can’t do anything to make it instantly better.

“Y/N seriously,” Erica softly begs, “you’re scaring me… a-and I’ve seen some freaky shit,”

“Get out!!,” you scream, “Eddie tell them to leave!”

“Y/N… maybe you should listen to them,” Eddie says softly. He’d been wanting to say this. This part of your conscience, has been wanting to say this.

You snap your head to him and your demeanor softens

“N-no! No they’re ruining everything!,”

“Eddie is gone,” Dustin says.

“No,”

“He died in the upside down. You were there. You held him in your arms,” Robin adds. She knows how all of this went. She found you with his lifeless body, you weren’t even crying, you were just talking to him. Holding him.

“No! You’re lying! He made it out, he’s been here the whole time”

“Eddie died shortly after Chrissy did,” Max says sadly, “You stayed there with his body for two days. We thought you were gone too,”

“Why are you guys lying? Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you’re hurting yourself with these illusions,” Robin comes forwards. There’s so many of them here. Too many and all you want is Eddie.

“No,” you wrap your arms around yourself, the smell of his hoodie engulfing you, “W-we were just talking the other day about moving to California, starting a family a-and… and,”

You turn to Eddie and he’s there but… not fully. It looks like he’s disappearing and you start to dry heave.

“You were there for his funeral. You wouldn’t leave his tombstone,” Nancy speaks up.

They’re all trying to snap you out of it. It may seem harsh but you’re hurting more when you’re doing this to yourself.

“He was just playing guitar for me!” You sob. Hands flying over your ears to shut them up.

“He died saving us all, he died for you,” Mike interjects.

“He wouldn’t leave me,” you shake your head, glaring at Mike, you turn to Eddie and shake your head even harder, “You wouldn’t leave me,”

“It’s okay,” Eddie nods and it makes your chest hurt. You can barely keep yourself up, stumbling backwards.

“He didn’t leave to hurt you, Y/N. He’s a hero. He saved us and I know it hurts but you’re going to be okay,” Steve comes forward and grabs your wrists, but you fall and slip through his grasp, clenching at your chest.

“No! No! Shut up, shut up, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” Voice hoarse, eyes burning with tears.

Eddie comes over and kneels down to be to your level, lifting your chin up and giving you the softest kiss ever. It was a goodbye kiss.

“It’s time,” he says.

The scream that you let out is one that shakes the trailer. He disappears before your eyes and you’re so lightheaded you feel as though you could pass out.

“Eddiiiiiee!!!,” calling for him wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t answer. You’re hyperventilating and you’re crying out his name.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay!,” Lucas rushes to you and engulfs you in a hug but it doesn’t help, it’s not Eddie’s touch.

“No please! Pl-please. This.. this is some sick joke!” You push him off. He doesn’t take offense though. Your fairytale world is crashing around you and the debris is suffocating you.

“He’s still h-here. He’s st-still here,”

��No, Y/N… he’s gone,” Dustin cries. Dustin is crying because he knows the pain of losing Eddie. The others are crying because they’re seeing their sister and loved one have a completely emotional breakdown and it’s hurting them to not be able to fix it.

“You’re l-lying,” you spit. You’re violently shaking, choking on your own saliva as you cry. Your body is aching as you’re finally allowing grief to consume your body.

“Y/N.” El comes forward to console you even if it wouldn’t 100% help.

“W-we we’re just talking about California… w-were sup-supposed to be Eddie and Y/N Munson…”

You held on tight to your brother as he rocked you, Erica holding your hand.

He’s gone… he’s never coming back.

And it’s time to move forward.

———

You finished packing the last of Eddie’s things that you wanted to bring with you. The last few months have been hard and it’s been even more difficult to keep your head above water but you did it.

You did it for him.

You were heading to California. You made sure to spend as much time with everyone as possible, making up for lost time. You slammed the trunk to your car shut and put your sunglasses on. You double checked everything , making sure you had all the important things. Your money, your cards.

Your license… the new license that had your new name on it. Y/N Munson.

Even if he wasn’t here, he’s still with you.

You pull out of the trailer park driving past the sign. You take one last look in your rear view mirror and see the apparition of Eddie Munson blowing you a kiss and slowly waving. A deep sob escapes your lips as you move your eyes from the mirror, focusing forward.

This is what he would want.

You have to embrace your pain, that is the only place you can truly heal and find growth.

—————

IM CRYIIING I CRIED WRITING THIS OMFG 😭 I probably won’t be doing a tag list for this so please reblog, comment and like!!!

I love you all and will be coming back full force very soon 🤍

tags: @blackreaders-assemble @mbaku-babygirl @babybubastis @honeyjasminetea @warmchick @valentinevirgo @persephones24 @dumbchick @micki-smiles @here-for-your-bullshit @dayasvalkyrie @xye-weirdo @disaster-rose @dumbchickwrites @pastelastronomy24 @baphomet-wears-gucci @buckybarnesplumwhore @valkryienymph @mariahthelioness29 @taylortheeshowpony @alyssaj23 @endlesslymedusa @areubeingserved @9daykrisr @missdforever @bitchacho25 @ijustrepost @suchababie @queenoftheworldisdead @beautiful-loserr @the2daily4scoop @jin0 @smoothy-ve @oh-nohoney @sambucky8 @princess-toshii @sebbyslut @titty-teetee @ilovefanfic86 @topshopwhxre @berrybimbo

[theweirderstuffblogdontlook]

Decided to also make a copy of the fanfic on here as well as the one on Ao3 to help keep the chronological order post accurate. This fic shows how Bob and Caprica met. Trigger warnings: gore, cannibalism, manipulation, possession, kidnapping, murder, Can be considered a sequel to this fic if you could use more context

How Bob Came Back From the Dead: https://www.tumblr.com/theweirderstuffblogdontlook/710347084133498880/wrote-another-fanfic-chunk-for-my-bob-velseb-au?source=share

Put the fic below a readmore cus it is a long one yall! lemme know what ya think

It had been probably the worst experience of his life thus far, but after a considerable slog he had made it from the gorge in the forest he had woken up in, back to civilization.

He'd hadn't had to walk the whole way, a hunter driving a rusty pickup truck had spotted him shambling pitifully alongside the road covered in grime and clothes torn up to hell. And had pulled over, saying something about how he assumed Bob must have been a survivor of a car accident. 

Bob had sliced the man's throat soon as he got close, and then gave a few extra stabs for good measure.

Knowing that consuming human flesh could speed up his healing, he had desperately torn into the man.

Only to immediately regret it, as with the first hunk of flesh he swallowed, he could feel the delicate, barely formed organs inside him rupture with a pain best described like he had swallowed the spinning blade of a blender.

And without the pain dampening powers of his previous amulet, it had been enough to make him double over and collapse,  further worsening the pain of all the other poorly healed injuries from his recent death, autopsy, and getting thrown off a cliff.

Bob not bothering to try and stop the flow of tears and pained sobs as he curled up in pain on the ground.

Still feeling the lump of meat he had swallowed floating like a foreign object inside him.

It had been clear something had been horribly wrong with him internally ever since he had woken up in the gorge, but it only now had dawned on him just how bad it was. 

His stomach was more like a large water balloon full of jelly in his midsection. Being able to be pressed in past where his organs should have been. Even being able to feel the location of his spine from pressing on his midsection it was so empty. And feeling it sloshing with fluid with every clumsy movement.

And it had been made clear, he literally didn't have the internal organs necessary to digest meat properly.

But he still needed physical materials to let the supernatural healing that had resurrected him also rebuild his body.

So he hoped liquid would be easier to consume.

He slit the guys wrists and tried to drain whatever blood hadn't yet leaked out of the corpse. Then sliced open the man's torso, and cut out a few of the softer organs that could be mashed into a paste in his hands before shoved in his face.

It was still painful, but the fluids were more able to diffuse into the space where his organs should have been, and a feeling of familiar warmth let him know the sped up healing was working.

After awhile, he had taken the keys from the hunters pocket and driven the man's truck, too delirious with pain and unbearable discomfort to really even know where he was going, just trying to stay in the lines on the road.

He'd ended up driving the truck off the road into a ditch not too long after, having passed out in the driver's seat. 

But it had gotten him just close enough to town to find a condemned house to hide in. 

Though it also made him aware he had gone in the wrong direction. 

His home town was south of the forest, he'd gone north, to the town on the other side of the forest.

Which could potentially be a good choice, as people would be less likely to immediately recognize him. But he was also in unfamiliar territory, in a town not so much under the cult's thumb. With the local law enforcement probably not being so deliberately underfunded and understaffed.

He would have to be extra careful to stay out of sight till he recovered.

Though it wasn't as if he didn't feel paranoid enough already.

His body was sooooo messed up. Still without fully functioning organs, and with a body temperature barely above room temperature. Even though the supernatural goop kept him from actively dying, his body's alarm bells that death was imminent just wouldn't stop ringing. 

With probably the hardest to ignore being the sense of impending doom, a symptom usually associated with sudden heart failure. 

With the sensation of terrible but certain dread that he may drop dead at any moment, getting broken up only by what could best be described as extremely tired panic attacks.

After collapsing and about an hour of agony writhing pitifully on the ground, he was able to pass out again in the abandoned house.

Waking up again hours later to a racoon chewing experimentally on his hand.

The racoon squealed and thrashed as he snatched it. Bob fixing it with a bleary, bloodshot gaze as he considered his options. 

He was more lucid than when he had collapsed, but just existing right now was still agony for him. He was nowhere near fully healed. 

And eating a raw racoon didn't seem too palatable to him, but he needs physical material to heal. 

So clenching his hand around the raccoons neck, it's screeching stopped, and with a snap of its neck, the thrashing stopped too.

With some effort, he rolled onto his back, grabbed his knife with his other hand, and sliced open the raccoons neck. Holding it over his open mouth to let the blood drain into it.

Letting the raccoon and the arm holding it fall to his side limply once it stopped dripping, and taking a few deep breaths. His lungs seeming like the only part of him that was functioning properly right now.

Bob not bothering to wipe off the few droplets of blood on his face that had missed his mouth as he stared at the ceiling.

He then reached into his pocket, and pulled out the amulet he'd picked up earlier.

Experimentally separating the two halves with his thumb, then clicking them back together.

Supposedly, this thing would let him take control of someone. Wear their body like a costume or something like that.

He had overheard a number of cult members gossiping about their experiences with using these things, talking about em like something out of a spy thriller paperback.

He was wishing now though, that he'd paid closer attention to the details. 

But the idea of taking control of someone seemed like it could come in handy right about now. 

Have someone be able to go out without drawing any suspicion, get him painkillers and food without him having to move himself.

But he'd never actually used one of these amulets before. 

He knew the jist of it, top half gets used by him, bottom half goes on who he's controlling, but he’d need to experiment to really figure it out.

And that meant he'd have to actually kidnap a living person and keep them somewhere private.

The effort of actually doing that though… in his current state?

His heart sunk with dread with the question if he could actually pull it off. 

But not being able to think of a better option, he let off a bitter huff, and sat up, then carefully got to his feet. 

Feeling an unsettling popping sensation as the motion tore delicate connective tissues that had healed in his empty abdomen. Though thankfully, there wasn't any pain receptors there to feel that part fully.

Though there were more than enough injuries across the rest of his body to make up for it.

He slowly limped around the condemned house, looking for anything useful. 

Finding a length of cord probably left behind by a moving company, along with some dusty fabric. 

Should be enough to bind and gag someone.

He limps out the door, intent on catching the first person he sees and dragging them back to the condemned house, or a closer secluded location if possible.

Buuuuttttt that quickly proves unfeasible.

The first person he sees screams and sprints away, as does the second.

And getting a glimpse of himself in the reflective surface of a parked car, it's clear why. 

He looked horrifying.

Covered in blood and grime, crazy bloodshot eyes with glowing blue pupils, half mangled costume, even frothing slightly at the mouth. 

He looked like a rabid walking dead.

Which wouldn't be too much of a problem, (not counting the psychological damage it was doing to him seeing himself like this) if he could actually chase after the people who ran. 

As is, even his current limping shuffle felt like he was pushing way past his limits.

He'd have to sneak up on people if he were to ever hope of actually catching anyone. 

And maybe if he didn't stick out so much, he'd have a better chance of pulling that off. 

Though the sun was starting to set, so maybe he could just use the cover of darkness as his disguise.

He spots what looks like a public park off to the side, seeing empty playground equipment through a line of trees. 

He shifts his shuffles trajectory in that direction.

The park being thankfully sparse of people to notice him. As while he needed to get someone close enough to grab, weak as he was right now, more than one or two people working together might be enough to overpower him. Or at least be enough to alert the authorities before he could get them all with his knives.

He narrows his focus further when he sees his target. 

A public bathroom. And even more good luck, a private disability/family toilet.

He locks himself in his new temporary haven.

Running water, a mirror, soap, and paper towels.

He hadn't realized how dehydrated he was until he was gulping down water from the sink like his life depended on it.

Feeling a bit of strength return to his limbs. And looking at his face, he could see a bit of fullness return to his sunken features.

Fuck, had his whole body been like a deflated balloon? Bodies aren't supposed to work like this.

But he didn't even have a stomach that could churn at the realization of how many unexpected unnatural experiences he was going through with the supernatural life support keeping him alive.

He missed his old amulet so much. It kept so much more of a lid on the negative physical reactions. 

He could just get back up from injuries like hardly anything happened.

But now it was more just like he simply wouldn't die no matter how much agony he was in.

With fumbling fingers, he took the amulet out of his pocket, shoved it under his tattered sweater and grime covered shirt, and pressed it against his chest until it hurt. He was mostly still running on resurrection goop the cult had doused him with, but all the different kinds of amulets the cult made had at least a little healing abilities to them. 

And he needed it so badly.

Bracing himself against the sink, he has to take a moment for another unflattering panic attack.

Though now that he wasn't so dehydrated, his sobbing could now be coupled with much more copious tears.

He's interrupted though as his forehead hits with a distressing smack on the porcelain sink, snapping him out of what must have been another fainting spell.

He tries to steady himself, putting the amulets back in his pocket, and looks at himself again in the mirror.

Get cleaned up, sneak up close to people before they can think to run…. Right…

He starts ripping off the mangled bits of his devil costume, discarding them on the ground beside the sink.

And using the hand soap out of the dispenser, he starts using it to clean himself off.

Makeup, blood, mud, miscellaneous grime.

Taking off his sweater and putting it in the sink, plugging the drain enough to start filling the sink with water and rinse the sweater too.

Though he pauses for a second to inspect himself in the mirror once his sweater was off. 

Looking from the mirror, to his bare forearm, down at his chest and undershirt, then back at the mirror.

He takes off the undershirt as well for good measure, and takes another look.

Oh man, he did not look good. He barely recognized himself, and not just cus of the big T shaped scar, or the bullet wounds, or all the grime. Given time to heal, the autopsy scar and bullet wounds would fade away. And the grime was one rinse away from being gone.

No, what messed him up, was how thin he'd become in what felt like a single afternoon.

See, the supernatural healing was miraculous for sure, but it couldn't make something out of nothing.

So it had been rebuilding the necessary for survival parts of Bob, out of the parts that weren't necessary to survive.

Dude had lost what must have been over half his bulk. Not just fat, but muscle too.

He didn't think he'd ever been this thin in his entire adult life.

He questions briefly if he could consider it like a good thing. Would this be considered a more attractive physique?

…it didn't feel like it. And he wasn't looking to date anyway so why should he care if people found him more or less attractive.

He just felt sick and hurt everywhere and his skin felt thin and delicate and ashen from the severe anemia and he didn't have the big muscles in his shoulders he'd once been proud of. 

And he could feel the space where his old amulet had been surgically grafted into his chest with a worrying emptiness.

His old amulet had let him have his bones shattered by a car, and get back up a few seconds later like nothing had happened.

But his old amulet must have been destroyed by the cult in order to resurrect him. There was no getting it back despite how much he missed it right now.

But the thought that the supernatural healing had dissolved so much of his excess body mass, and yet had still left him in this bad of shape? It made his current situation feel all the more dire.

And it made him wish he could move faster to fix things. 

Who knew how long he had left before his time ran out and the healing stopped being able to keep his head above water, and he'd just collapse in a heap and die a second time?

No, he can't think about that right now. Not another panic attack. Gotta keep moving.

Looking at himself again, he was tempted to ditch getting cleaned up and put his big red sweater back on so he wouldn't have to keep looking at how different his body was. 

But that wouldn't get him closer to being fixed. Gotta get presentable enough to get close to someone without them running away.

After rinsing it off, Bob started using his undershirt like a washcloth to better scrub off the grime. 

Formerly a plain white shirt, now more like a red-brown tattered rag with sleeves from how blood stained and full of bullet holes it was. 

He pauses for a moment as he rubs his thumb over a round burn mark in the fabric, bitterly remembering getting slapped in the stomach with a hot pan full of bacon.

Right…. He'd failed this Halloween too. Hadn't gotten Lila or her little skeleton kid.

Though if he doesn't recover from his current state, he won't be getting another chance, so he tries to keep focused on his current task.

Using the hand soap like shampoo, he tries to get some of the slime out of his hair. He also finds with some distress, more hair coming off his head than he'd been expecting. Big clumps of it.

He hoped it wasn't male pattern baldness catching up to him, and was just a side effect of coming back from the dead.

But either way, better bald than dead. Don't think about it.

After a bit, he was definitely looking more presentable. But the effort of moving his arms and keeping himself standing was catching up to him.

So, getting close to his limit, he slumped to the ground beside the sink, panting heavily to try and catch his breath, as the sink overflowed with water thanks to his red sweater blocking the drain. 

He adjusted his angle to lean his head on the sink, letting some of the running water drip over his head and shoulders.

Felt kinda nice, getting some more of the lingering soap off himself that the washcloth shirt hadn't done a good job with.

Taking a moment to rest his eyes.

He's awoken by a knock at the door and a shout of 

"Hello? Anyone in there? Hello?"

His attention spikes, now's his chance! He just has to open the door and grab whoever that is!

He tries to get to his feet, feeling a thin layer of water on the floor around him from the still overflowing sink.

Great, he'd been sitting in public bathroom floor water for who knows how long.

He groans and strains to try and get to his feet, but the floor is slippery, and frankly he should probably be in a hospital instead of walking.

And before he can get his legs under him, the voice says in a grumpy tone,

"Guess it'll be the morning shifts problem."

And Bob let's off a small whiny, 

"nooooooo…"

Still struggling to get up.

By the time he's able to open the door, he sees a golf cart full of cleaning and landscaping equipment driving off.

Another opportunity missed.

Although good news, it seemed now he could at least pretend not to limp. 

Guess the leg that got mangled when his lifeless corpse was dumped in the ravine had a chance to heal more while he was passed out.

Still, night had fallen, so it was time to try and find another target.

Shuffling back to grab his sweater out of the sink, he wrings it out and puts it on. Still pretty damp, but the red wool hid all the stains and bullet holes much better than his undershirt. And he was in such severe and pronounced discomfort, being cold and wet barely registered over everything else wrong with him, at least for now.

Looking at his reflection one last time, he still looked pretty ill, but his eyes weren't so bloodshot anymore, and his pupils had stopped glowing. He probably wouldn't raise too much suspicion if seen from a distance, or even up close while obscured by shadows.

He hid the lower half of his face in his turtleneck and limped out into the darkness of the park.

Getting his bearings for a moment, before he left the direct glow of the streetlights to lurk in the shadows along the trees and bushes.

Despite it being dark out, it seems like activity had actually picked up a bit since he had arrived. 

Though that wasn't too surprising actually. It had to be November by now, (though he didn't know the specific number of days it had been since Halloween) and since the sun sets early in the fall/winter. Could be as early as 6:30 or so, with people going to the park after having their dinner.

Still, he spots a few people biking (aka, too fast for him to chase)

Few friends or couples on benches (aka, witnesses who could scream before he could kill the spares and snatch one to take)

And some parents with kids (once again, witnesses who could sound the alarm).

Though looking around, there were a few people on their own too.

He'd tried and comically failed to snatch a speedwalker, who hadn't even noticed his clumsy attempt thanks to their headphones. And he felt too embarrassed to immediately try it again with the next person who walked by. 

So he shuffled on morosely, looking for hopefully an even easier target.

He spots someone sitting alone on a bench, a bit aways from the playground. And as he gets closer, he can make out more detail.

At first he thinks it might be a teenager messing with their smartphone, but as he gets closer, he can make out a collared button up shirt and work pants with a professional looking messenger bag beside them.

So must just be an especially short pencil pushing office worker.

He moves to come at them from behind. Though his earlier fuck up with the power walker makes him a bit anxious about being able to not fuck this one up too, so he decides to do a little sleuthing first to make sure he was making the right choice.

"Hey… anyone else sitting here?"

His target turns to look at him suspiciously for a moment, before responding,

"No, it's all yours. I can move to the next one."

As they started packing up their things.

And seeing their face and tone of voice… Oh, guess it's a woman. 

He'd kinda thought it was a short guy cus of the short hair and more masculine office worker clothes outfit.

And man, they looked even shorter up close. He should have no problem kidnapping a tiny woman like this. She probably barely weighs anything.

Bob fell into his old customer service habits, putting on a warmer tone of voice and waving his hand.

"Nawh, don't get up on acountta little ol me. I don't mean to scare ya off, my feet are jus killin me."

"It's really no trouble."

She responds, though she keeps packing up as Bob moves to the front of the bench, clearly not intending to sit down with him. Though she pauses as she hears a squelchy sort of noise as Bob takes a few steps, and she looks him up and down.

Before bluntly asking,

"Why are you so wet?"

He splutters a bit and tries to think up an excuse, settling on

"I uhhhhhh… fell in the pond?"

She looks behind her at the pond a bit in the distance, then back at Bob.

"Dude, basically all the ponds at public parks like this are fetid swamps full of duck poop, don't be trying to sit next to people if you're covered in pond water.

"Well, uhhhh… to be fair, I did rinse off in the bathroom."

Bob trying and failing to not sound suspicious.

She fixes Bob with a pretty severe looking judgemental stare, before letting out a sigh, standing up straight, and rubbing her eyes in frustration as she says,

"I've got a few emergency towels in my car, do you want to borrow them so you don't freeze and get the flu before you can get home?"

A towel would actually be pretty great right now. He'd kinda been able to ignore his temperature up until being reminded of it, but it's clear his body temperature still was way below the normal body temperature of a living human. And the autumn chill was not helping things.

Still, stay on target. This woman is like less than half his size, if there's anyone he should be able to overpower right now, it should be this lady.

Just one last thing to check.

"Much obliged mam'. But aren't ya lookin after any of those kids there?"

He points over at the nearby playground.

"Hmm? No. I don't have any kids or anything. Now you can wait here, and I can go grab a towel. Unless you need to call someone to come pick you up or anything first?"

She's here alone, no witnesses, perfect.

He lunges, cupping a hand over her mouth to muffle any yelling, and wrapping an arm around her arms to press her kicking and struggling form against his chest and stomach as he backpedals out of the range of the street lamps glow, pressing through some bushes to further obscure them from the path.

He staggers slightly, trying to keep his balance despite his injuries and the thrashing of the woman. But he startles when she bites down hard on his hand, and he loses his balance completely after she swings back her heel to kick him in the groin.

His bad leg is the first to give out as he doubles over, and he falls hard and lopsided onto one shoulder. 

Bob feeling that popping sensation again as a bunch of barely healed internal structures in his torso were snapped from the impact of the fall.

And was it possible for ribs to be dislocated? Because it sure felt like something like that had happened to Bob. 

He doesn't have time to react to the pain though as his hostage quickly squirms free, and a bunch of fluid hits the back of Bobs throat and sinuses. Not burning like stomach acid, but instead tasting faintly of blood and plasma.

He swallowed thickly, struggling to keep it all down, and reached out to snatch the ankle of the woman with a vice grip before she could scamper fully out of reach, causing her to hit the ground from the momentum.

He shifts to try and get his other hand free to grab her with, while trying no to puke from the jostling.

Last thing he needs right now is to vomit up all the stuff keeping his torso from being just an empty cavity of half formed organs. 

But as he gets a bit more upright so gravity could help keep the fluids down, and coughs to try and clear some fluid that had leaked over to his lungs, the woman flipped around to kick him square in the face, blurring his vision, and with another kick to the face, he was seeing stars and leaking what was probably blood from his nose.

Damn it, he literally can't afford to bleed right now!

A sharp yank to pull the woman closer, and he's able to pin her under one knee. Making it hard for her to breathe under his weight, though she kept snarling and trying to bite and claw him anyway.

So he first pulled out the rag from earlier to gag her, before pinning her more to get her hands and feet to hogtie her.

After a short moment to catch his breath, he stands, still panting with the effort, and  picks her up under one arm.

But even bound and gagged she wouldn't quit thrashing, so despite being so light weight for a person she was still unwieldy to hold. 

Chastising her in a hushed, half whispered tone, Bob said

" Hey quitchur squirmin !"

But she just fixed him with a furious glare at that, and started to headbutt his arm while trying to chew through her gag and growling.

Bob looks around with concern. He didn't want to cause too much damage to his target, since he assumed that could get in the way of puppeting their body. 

But this one might be more trouble than they're worth.

"Maybe I should try someone else…"

He glances back at the still struggling woman under his arm, brow still knitted with worry, and with one finger he hooks around the gag he had tied around her head and pulls it down so she could speak.

Earning him a loud, vicious, murderous shout of

"I'M GONNA RIP OUT YOUR JUGULAR VEIN WITH MY TEETH YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!!"

Bob pauses to process the threat for a second, then one of his big signature smiles cracks across his face. He pulls the gag back over her mouth.

He shifts her under one arm a bit for comfort, then with his free hand, pulls out his knife from his butcher belt, and holds it up to her neck.

"Either you quit squirmin, or you're the one who's gonna be bleedin out. Got it?"

Her eyes widened with fear, as her attention shifted between the knife and Bobs face a few times, along with a quick glance around her surroundings, before she made a defeated grumbling sound through the gag, and went more limp in Bobs grip.

Bobs grin got a little wider, and he put the knife away. 

Using both hands to carry his hostage, and trying to keep his steps even and confident rather than a pathetic limp so as not to let on how badly he was doing or encourage any bold behavior.

The way back to the condemned house was slow, but it honestly surprised Bob how close the locations actually were now that he was more lucid. His previous delirious shuffle had made it feel like he'd been walking for miles.

His hostage had stopped squirming since the threat, but since Bob had only brought the one length of cloth, it was either a gag or a blindfold, not both.

And he could tell she was paying full attention to Bob and her surroundings.

Though Bob was confident that so long as he didn't faint and drop her, it didn't matter if she knew the location of his current temporary hideout or not.

It was almost amusing how her gaze would linger on street signs, or on the address numbers of the condemned house as Bob walked up the front porch and through the door, not bothering to close it behind himself.

After all, it was the middle of the night, and the condemned house didn't have any electricity. An open door would let in more moonlight.

Luckily though, Bob had found a battery powered camping lantern left behind among the other junk the previous tenants had left.

So grabbing that, he clicked it on, and walked to an open doorway, leading into the house's basement. Where things would be more muffled in the likely event of a lot of screaming.

The wooden stairs creaked loudly under his weight as Bob tried to take the steps extra carefully, one at a time.

Especially since with his hands full with the lantern and the hostage, he couldn't steady himself with the railing.

He makes it though, a small cloud of dust getting kicked up as his foot touches the solid ground of the basement.

A lot more stuff had been left behind here than upstairs. But nothing particularly of value. 

Old paint cans, shelves of obscure and situational cleaning supplies, busted furniture, some rusted old tools, and a lot of dust.

Setting the lantern down on a workbench, Bob used his free hand to grab the least broken chair he could see and pull it more into the middle of the room. Then grab some more cord to tie with, before setting the hostage down in the chair, and tying them to the chair a bit first, before untying their hands and feet to re-tie them to the chair instead.

Bob then sat on the workbench next to the lantern with a heavy thump. Taking deep breaths to try and avoid panting from the exertion, or otherwise looking vulnerable in front of the hostage.

But apparently he had spent just a bit too long sitting there doing nothing, because the hostage piped up.

It's clear they were trying to enunciate as best they could through the gag, saying

"Whurrrr duuuu ouuuuu uwannn?"

What do you want.

Bob met their gaze, there was a lot of fear in those eyes, despite the clear attempt not to panic the woman was making.

"Did you know, the digestive system will begin to digest itself and the body around it after death?"

She stared at Bob blankly for a moment then seemed to decide that talking to Bob isn't the most productive thing to do right now, and their gaze went back to looking around the room for anything useful. 

Before suddenly realizing something and turning back to Bob. 

Bob had asked a question, and it's probably better if she answers the question.

She nods. 

"Well now, aren't you a clever one?"

Bob teases, albeit in a condescending way. 

Though he had once again phrased it as a question. She pauses for a moment thoughtfully. Then shook her head.

"No? You sayin you ain't clever? You ain't tellin me a fib now are ya?"

She looks more worried. It's clear she didn't know what Bob wanted to hear, so she didn't know how to respond. And after a few fearful, but thoughtful glances around the room, she does a noncommittal shrug. At least as best she could while tied to a chair.

And Bob let's off a low, dark chuckle in response. He then took a moment to examine their expression again.

"You don't know who I am, do you…"

She pauses again, before shaking her head no.

Guess he found one that doesn't watch the news.

"Heh, that might actually make things easier on me."

He slid off the table with a creak from the wood, and reached into his pocket, pulling out the amulet. 

Top half for him, bottom half for the target.

He looked between the amulet and the hostage. Her big attentive eyes fixed firmly on the new thing in his hand. 

Well, moment of truth he supposed. Bob took off his sweater. 

Though him starting to get even this little bit more undressed, it set the hostage into a panic. Yelling through the gag and thrashing to try and get free. And soon trying to scoot the chair backwards to get out of reach of Bob even just a little bit more.

Bob didn't quite get why that had been a thing to set his hostage off, but he didn't really have time to think about it right now. Setting his sweater on the table as he brings the lantern in a bit closer for better light.

"What did I tell ya about squirming."

His expression more stern than anything when telling the hostage off. And she stopped as instructed, though there were now tears streaming down her face.

But there would be time to delight in the misery of others later, for now he needed to focus.

She cringed and turned away as he pulled his knife out and leaned in close to her, not wanting to watch whatever horrible thing he was gonna do to her. Letting off a fearful whine when instead of cutting her, he cut through the top 3 buttons of her dress shirt to open it up a bit over her chest. Though she opened her eyes again through the tears when the knife was withdrawn and stowed away back in Bobs belt. 

And instead he held out the gold thing in his other hand, using his thumb to separate it into two halves with a small click.

He then examined both halves for a moment, also giving the hostage a moment to look them over as a result.

They looked like especially chunky gold jewelry, with a design of smooth and simple shapes, each with a blue-green diamond shape in the middle which seemed to be on both the front and back of the two items. 

They were a slightly different shape from each other. One like a thick crescent moon, and one like a simplified cows head. Or maybe like a legless man with his arms above his head in a triumphant pose. With each of them having a bar going across them, which when fit together made a simple geometric wing shape.

Bob then took the man-shaped one and held it in his teeth like a handyman holding a spare tool. And with his other hand held up the crescent moon shaped one, while his now free hand held open the collar of her shirt to expose part of her chest.

"Now this might sting a bit little meatbag."

She barely has time to make a little fearful questioning noise, before the amulet is pressed against her skin, and holy fuck that thing felt like it was boiling hot !

She tried to stifle a scream of surprise and pain as the thing was kept pressed against her skin, unable to stop from thrashing as it felt like the thing was melting through layers and layers of skin, deeper and deeper until she could swear it was melting through the bone of her ribcage, and Bob gripped a hand over her shoulder to try and keep her more steady as he kept pressing on the amulet.

Once it was fully beneath the skin, the burning stopped and Bob took his hand off her chest. The hostage taking big gasping breaths, before she looked down at her chest, only to see a thin line just under her collar bones on otherwise unblemished skin.

And her expression said what her gagged mouth couldn't fully articulate.

What the fuck!!?? What the fuck!!?? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT??!!??!!

Bob was still watching closely, with an analytic squint.

Looked like that one worked, now it was his turn.

He took the other half of the amulet out from between his teeth, and pressed it against his own chest, still keeping his other hand on her shoulder.

And she watched with some horror as the other half of the amulet steamed slightly against his skin, then started to sink into his chest. Though Bob didn't so much as flinch, which made her all the more intimidated at what the pain tolerance on this man must be to pull that off.

Bob then pulled back, standing up straight instead of leaning over his hostage.

And ran a few fingers over the mark on his chest. Looks like he's got them put on.

Now to figure out how they work.

He's supposed to be able to put this lady on like a costume and control their body from the inside, but what that entailed, Bob didn't exactly know. He'd never seen it in action before.

The hostage was still freaking out over what had happened, as one would expect. And then proceeded to freak out even more when Bob reached out to touch them.

But not half as much as they started to panic when Bob's hand absorbed into her skin like he was sticking it into a body of water.

At the contact, Bob felt something electric hit his brain, before a sensation started to spread through his mind.

Fear.

Panic.

Confusion.

Bob recoiled. Pulling his hand out.

Shit! Why was he suddenly afraid!! Sinking his hand into a person was weird, but it wasn't that scary! 

Shit shit shit this is gonna set off another panic attack, he can't have a breakdown in front of one of his victims, they're supposed to be afraid of him. And he can't risk someone taking advantage of his current fragility.

He took a few cautious steps back, then slowly walked to the stairway, then up and out of the basement. 

Only at the top did he suddenly clutch his chest and start hyperventilating, bracing his back against the wall beside the stairway and sliding down into a seating position as he tried to calm down before the strain on his weakened body would make him faint.

And as he calms down and better gets his bearings, he realizes what just happened.

Oh wow… 

He pulled back mentally, and it's like the fear shut off. He leaned back in, and he could feel it again. It wasn't his fear, it was the hostage.

He leaned back in, further this time.

He could feel a different heartbeat ringing in his ears, out of rhythm with his own. He could feel arm muscles straining against bindings and the tough and angular wood of a chair, and….

Their arms didn't hurt nearly as much as his. He could feel them strain against the bindings. But under the bindings the body parts were… healthy.

Their bones didn't feel cracked or misaligned. Their skin didn't feel cold and clammy. They didn't feel a constant underlying nausea in their throat. Their torso felt firm and whole.Their mind didn't feel like it was pushing through a heavy fog to comprehend the world around it.

He let off an awestruck sigh as he relaxed against the wall further, losing himself slightly in the feeling of just not being himself for a moment, although the pain of his broken body kept him from becoming completely untethered in the sensation of being someone else. 

Though he sat there chasing the feeling for a good while.

He'd lived a life of feeding his dark impulses in pursuit of his own pleasures, but in that moment, he didn't think there was anything in the world he wanted more right now than to have more of whatever this was.

More of his pain eased, and more of feeling… Bigger? More? 

He could feel the hand of the woman he had captured downstairs, she was fidgeting with the cord he had tied her up with, trying to find the end of it to perhaps loosen her bindings and get free.

He raised his own hand, looking at it, and flexing and clenching his fist a few times. He then raised his other hand and did the same.

Two hands, but if he focused on the meatbag downstairs…

Three hands? Four hands?

It had bothered him how much bulk he had lost in recovering from being dead.

Did that bother him as much now?

He closed his eyes and mentally leaned in on the connection hard as he could, and flexed his hands again experimentally.

His mind struggled to parse the added stimulus the mental link was putting in his head. But feeling smaller and more frail was not one of those sensations.

It was all very uncanny, but not unpleasant.

His gaze turned back to the stairway down to the basement. And a thought occurs to him.

There's more of this feeling downstairs.

He's snapped out of the slightly trance-like state he had been stewing in when he felt the screams of pain and discomfort from his body at the motion of trying to stand up. Having to brace against the wall to help him to his feet, and once standing he started heading carefully back down the stairway.

A unsettling grin splits across his face as he meets the gaze of the hostage, causing her to freeze in fear, ceasing her struggling to get out of her bonds, as Bob's heavy footfalls get closer.

His smile wide and eyes manic as he leans in closer and says with a sinister tone.

" Lemme in ."

She screeches as Bob puts a hand on each shoulder, and sinks in his arms up to the elbows. His smile gets a little bit wider, as it seems like physical contact increases the clarity of the connection a little bit. 

And the pain in his hands, he couldn't feel it. 

Couldn't feel his hands either, but pulling a hand back out, everything came back like nothing had happened.

He put one hand on the chair instead to brace himself as he brought a leg up, and pressed his knee into the top of her thigh. Seemed like the pants didn't get in the way as his leg sunk in and disappeared.

Bob let off a big sigh of relief as the pain of his bad leg disappeared. Chair groaning from his added weight as he leaned more on the lap of the still panicking woman.

Though the added weight suddenly tipped the chair off balance, causing them both to fall backwards, knocking the wind out of the hostage both from hitting the ground, and the weight of Bob initially hitting their chest, before quickly sinking in like he was falling through a small, person-shaped gap in the world.

The last thing to go being Bobs hand, which had still been clutching the backrest of the chair. 

Finally letting go of the wood, and letting his arm and hand slowly sink into her like it were sinking into a thick mud.

Her eyes watching it absorb into her with pure horror. Making additional noises of shock and terror though her gag.

Her struggling suddenly stops all at once, and her eyes unfocus, before refocusing with an eerie calm, blinking and looking around the room as if for the first time.

Bob had taken control.

He tried to move her arms and….

Oh right duh, he has just possessed the body of a tied up person. 

So now he was tied up too.

Maybe he could just…..

Her eyes unfocused as her head slumped to the side, like a puppet whose strings had just been cut, and a large hand and arm reached out of her torso.

Feeling around blindly, it then planted its palm on the ground, and the second arm came out and did the same, and with a considerable shove the chair was tipped back up onto its legs.

The eyes of the woman blinked with a slowly refocusing gaze, as if waking up from a nap, while Bob's large pair of arms went about untying the various bindings.

The places where the arms connected to her torso shifting and sliding around as Bob's arms would move to reach the different bindings around her wrists, ankles, and chest. It being clear he could stick parts of himself out from basically anywhere along her torso.

And with everything untied, and before the woman could wake up fully, Bob's arms retracted into her chest and her eyes refocused as Bob retook control.

Leaning forward in the chair, he removed the final bit of binding, the cloth gag, using the woman's own hands. Smacking her lips experimentally at the dusty taste it left behind.

He then held out her hands, flexing the fingers and turning the wrists to see the front and back of the woman's hands. Then turning his attention lower to experimentally rotate the ankle of one of the woman's feet.

Wow… this didn't feel like puppeteering, or like controlling someone from a distance.

It really felt more like he had traded his body for another one. Being able to feel with her skin, smell with her nose, see with her eyes.

And all the pain and discomfort of his old broken body? Gone. It was…. Actually just gone.

Her eyes begin to sting as a few big wet tears start to form, and a wide unnatural smile splits across her face and lets off something halfway between a laugh and a sob.

The pain was gone.

Sure this new body was a bit sore, a bit tired. Some slight bruising around where the chest and limbs had been tied to the chair. Some anxious energy no doubt left over from the previous panic the body had just experienced.

And the work shoes weren’t exactly comfortable, and Bob wasn't too familiar with the sensation of wearing a bra, but…

Freaking hell, he would have killed just to take away a fraction of the pain he had been experiencing moments earlier.

Hell, he literally had killed not too long ago for exactly that purpose.

But this was a whole 'nother level. This was like he'd just flipped a light switch and turned it all off like it was nothing.

The worst pain and discomfort he had yet felt in his life, gone in barely more than an instant.

He hadn't even fully comprehended how much pain he was in before now, what with having almost 2 days to get more accustomed to being essentially a member of the walking dead, but the contrast was flatly staggering.

If he had known it would be this effective, he would have done it the first chance he had. He almost wanted to kick himself for having walked so long with the answer to his problems jangling uselessly in his pants pocket.

He'd been able to just turn it all off this whole time. 

He's…. free.

The overwhelming wave of relief caused the tears to come even faster. 

Bob having to take a few moments to just sit and process everything.

And soon, the possibilities now open to him started to turn the relief into excitement.

He's fixed now! All the stuff he hadn't been able to do moments earlier were now back on the menu baby!

He stood excitedly, a big grin that didn't look like it belonged to the woman plastered on her face, though interrupted as Bob startled slightly at the much lower to the ground perspective of his short hostage.

It almost made Bob feel like he was crouched down as he took a few careful steps.

Still, back on track. First thing, now that he has a functioning stomach, he wants to get some proper food. He considers killing a random bystander for a moment, but when his muscle memory tries to reach for a knife at his belt… there are none.

Right, this is a whole different body, they just have a plain belt and office pants.

His butcher tools must still be on his original body somewhere…. Inside? 

It was pretty convenient that he didn't have to strip any of his clothes to… I guess possess someone is the right term? But right now, getting his knives out would mean sticking himself back out of his little safe haven, and re-experiencing all the pain and discomfort in his empty torso. 

Didn't seem worth the effort.

And looking again at the much smaller and more delicate hands of his host, he further reconsiders jumping straight into the serial killing. Better to get used to things before he tries to take down anyone who might put up much of a fight.

Maybe just get a few burgers or something instead. And after all, he's basically in disguise now, he shouldn't arouse any suspicion in public. He could just walk in wherever and buy something. 

Provided the location is still open at this time of night.

He shouldn't even have to shoplift. Whoever this woman was must have some money on them, right? Or at least a credit card. The woman's office worker attire and clean, well groomed appearance didn't exactly scream broke and homeless. He pats down the legs and turns out the pockets of the office pants.

But finding nothing but an employee ID tag in the pockets, he deflates a little bit, before his mind suddenly snapped to the memory of the messenger bag she'd had when he first found her in the park.

It was still pretty late at night, not much foot traffic to stumble upon misplaced items. So if he heads back to the park, it probably wouldn't be too late to find it!

Excited by his new functional limbs, he trots giddily over to the stairway, though his eye catches on his red sweater on the table.

Oh right, he must have forgotten to put it back on after activating the amulets, what with getting distracted by the panic attack and all.

He goes and picks up the sweater. It feeling both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. What with how huge it now was in proportion to his current body.

Man it felt weird being this small.

But there's no way his sweater would fit him now, it felt almost like a blanket in his arms, and holding it out to inspect and measure it against his hosts torso? It'd fit em like a dress going down to her knees. maybe even a little further.

So instead he rolls it up a bit, then ties it around his waist like how the teens would do with their hoodies.

And with that, he was off. Excitedly taking the stairs two at a time and trotting out the front door, before breaking into a run once he reached the sidewalk. Feeling the painful memory of his previous desperate limping lessen with having regained his freedom to move.

Sure the pants and shoes were not good for running, but he was so numbed to pain and discomfort, that this was like nothing to him in comparison to his current positivity.

What more had him enthralled right now was the novelty of how light his feet felt. 

He was so used to moving with his considerable height and bulk, that moving with about one third of his usual weight felt totally different. Not having each step hit the ground with a thud, he almost felt stealthy, like a ninja or something. 

And he noticed he didn't have to fight with the momentum nearly as much to turn as he changed his trajectory towards the park. This must be what it felt like to be nimble.

A light fog had rolled in, giving the park an eerie appearance with the added glow of the streetlights and the things in the distance slightly obscured. 

Though Bob, still confident in himself being the scariest thing around, is completely unphased at the spooky atmosphere, as he excitedly jogs back to the bench he had snatched the woman from.

His new body could run much more easily than he was used to, but it still wasn’t exactly an athlete or anything. So he takes a moment to catch his breath as he slowed to a stop, then took a look around for witnesses. And finding none, he got back on target.

Now, he had grabbed her in front of the bench, then dragged her behind it and through the bushes.

So if he just retraces his steps and…

Bingo, there it is, caught in the bushes.

After untangling the bag from the branches, he eagerly rummaged through it, looking for a wallet.

Though first, with a curious expression, he comes across a set of car keys.

Oh right! She'd mentioned she had a car, since she offered to get him some towels from it.

And the keyring had a clicker on it too! Score! 

All he'd have to do is go around pressing the lock/unlock button, and whatever car beeps is his new ride.

He shifts the keys to a pocket and continues to rummage until finding a wallet.

It was a large wallet, too large for a pants pocket, but opening it up, it was packed with 20s. 

And man, Bob could already taste all the junk food he could buy with this.

Putting the wallet back in the bag, he pulls out the keyring and gets to searching. Heading towards the nearest parking lot, and quickly finding a small beige 2 door commuter car that responds to the clicker.

….Man, no way could he fit in that dinky little thing. It'd be like trying to get into a clown car, he'd be lucky if his legs could even work the pedals and…..

Oh wait, duh . He forgot. He's small now. This car literally belongs to whoever it is he's possessing right now. Of course they can fit in this bland looking machine you could just tell was built for fuel efficiency and not much else.

He opens the driver's door and takes a seat.

Man, he doesn't even have to adjust the seat back like he usually does when he gets in a car, it's already perfect.

He grins to himself as he sets the bag in the passenger seat and takes a moment to snoop around the car.

He didn't spot anything in the way of fun decorations, seemed like it was nothing but practical stuff like window cleaner, spare water bottle, window shade, ice scraper, umbrella, etc.

Though it was also fairly messy, with smudges on the glass, dust on a number of surfaces, paper trash on the floor, and a bunch of coins in the door and cup holder, but not to a overly uncomfortable degree of mess. 

Like he didn't spot any rotting food or any particularly offensive smells in the vehicle.

Seemed like a pretty boring car for a pretty boring person.

Though having satisfied his curiosity to snoop, he didn't pay much further thought to stuff like playing detective. What kind of person the body he was currently commandeering was like wasn't really a topic he was all that interested in.

Especially not when he's got food on the brain.

Keys in the ignition, and as the engine purrs gently to life (a muscle car, this very much was not), he takes a second to consider what would be open 24 hours that he could swing through. Before he backs the car out and starts prowling the streets for lit fast food signs. Figuring since he has a car now, he could get some drive through. It’s not long before he finds a lit up sign of a 24hour Mickey D's. 

His excitement soon reaching a fever pitch at the thought of actually being able to stomach food again.

Though forgetting once again that it wasn't his stomach he was using, after giddily ordering his usual from the unenthusiastic sounding worker, and then parking nearby.... He starts horking it down before he really even had time to think about it. His considerable pain tolerance letting him ignore as he quickly packs in more food than the small woman's body can handle.

Least until it gets impossible to ignore.

Bob having to sprint out of the car to go puke in a nearby trash can.

And then spend a moment feeling embarrassed for himself while sitting on the curb rinsing the taste outta his mouth with the help of a big soda.

Though he doesn't let it get him down for long, excitedly moving on to the next thing.

He'd been meaning to get some painkillers to deal with things a little better while the supernatural healing did its job fixing him. So that meant finding a pharmacy. Or at least something pharmacy adjacent.

And luckily he finds a place open for about another hour, plenty of time to get in and get out with what he needed. Bit of a general store plus pharmacy situation, so it should have the best stuff he could get his hands on without a prescription. Though he briefly considered robbery as an option to get the more intense stuff from behind the counter, but he quickly dismisses the idea. He doesn’t have much know-how in regards to medicine, so even if he got through the barricade, he probably wouldn't be able to know what he needed, let alone where to find it among all the shelves.

Bob wore a wide grin as he stepped through the sliding doors. It had been awhile since he'd been able to just walk into a place like this. Between 3 years of prison and then a few months on the run, he’d been a bit deprived of normal everyday activities.

He decides to savor this, walking around the aisles, glancing over magazines for a bit, looking over the snacks, and catching himself before he impulsively ripped open a bag of gummy bears.

He had money, he didn't need to shoplift, and he especially didn't need to draw attention to himself and waste such a perfect disguise.

He trots back to grab a basket to stock up with for snacks. Only to get distracted once again from his goal of getting painkillers, this time by a shelf of scented candles. The sweet smell being too much to resist despite the knowledge that these were candles and thus inedible.

He sets down the basket to sniff a few candles and…. Huh….

He takes one candle in one hand, and one in the other, comparing them.

Then looking at the labels to see the ingredients.

Neither of the candles smelled… Right?

He sets them down and tries with a third, finding the least complicated smelling candle he could see on the shelf with a plain cinnamon.

Still seemed off somehow. Are these just weirdly bad candles??

Actually, now that he stopped and thought about it, the food and soda earlier had been a bit weird too….. huh.

Bob, being a former cook and food obsessed individual in general, he'd built up a lifetime of skill picking out the subtleties of the taste and smell of different ingredients and spices. And that skill had then carried over to being able to pick out some of the nuances of stuff like perfumes and colognes as well. Especially once he had transitioned from a more opportunistic cannibalism into actively hunting people, and the various fragrances people might wear also got roped into his perception of food. 

Which had then become an embarrassing problem when stuff like sandalwood soap got his mouth watering. Like being tempted to eat soap that smelled like cupcakes he could at least forgive himself for, as at least one out of those two things were normally edible. Or with cucumber soap. He didn’t particularly like raw cucumbers, but it was at least still technically a food. 

But neither soap nor wood chips were food, so there was really no good excuse with that one.

But seemed like either those skills weren't translating to this new body, or what was seeming more and more likely as he compared more candle smells, whoever it was he was possessing simply had a worse sense of smell than he was used to.

It was an intriguing novelty in a way, and Bob felt a bit like challenging himself to better figure out exactly how things were different or what he couldn't smell. 

"mam? …… Mam? Mam? Excuse me mam?"

Someone taps Bob on the shoulder. Oh right, he was a woman right now. They were talking to him. He pauses, places the candle he was holding back on the shelf then turns, looking up at a store employee with an unsettling grin.

Felt weird to look up at someone instead of down. He probably hadn't looked up at someone like this since he was a teenager.

"Mam, the store is closing, you've gotta take your things to the register."

Bob considers killing the employee.

Seems like they're here alone, and it would give him a bit longer to look around uninterrupted. 

But as his hand twitches, considering going for his knife, he gets reminded he's missing his butcher belt, and that gives him enough lucidity to think things through a bit more carefully. 

Eyes glance down at his empty basket, and he startles.

He forgot the candy!

Picking up the basket, he darts over to the snack aisle and speedily chucks a random assortment of candy and junk food in, before quickly making it to the front and slamming the overflowing basket on the counter.

His odd behavior gets a bit of a skeptical look out of the employee as they walk behind the checkout, but they decide against saying anything about it.

Quietly tallying up and bagging the snacks, taking the bills Bob puts on the counter, and giving him change.

Following Bob to the door, and turning off the motion sensor and locking the sliding doors behind him as he leaves.

Bob stows the bags in the minimal back seat of the car, but keeps and opens a bag of gummy bears to eat. This time pacing himself more to see if he could taste any difference between the different colors of candy, and to give him some time to think.

He's got a car, and got snacks, not too shabby. 

It's getting late though, and there shouldn't be many more places open at this time.

And now that he thinks about it, he's feeling kinda tired. Now that some of the excitement has worn off, it's clear that whoever it is he's taken control of, seems like they might have had a long day at work even before all the excitement this evening.

He considers what he should do for shelter.

His usual hideout, his old house from before he was sent to prison, is over back in his home town on the other side of the forest. 

Sure he had a car, but at this rate it would take him all night and well into the morning before he arrived. 

Probably best if he takes a nap somewhere around here before he heads out. 

He briefly considers the condemned house he stayed at earlier, but he hadn't seen any beds in that place, and even if there had been, they would have been dusty and moth eaten by now.

So he goes with the best choice he could think of. Turning the keys, he moves the car to a more secluded looking location, locks the doors, leans the seat back, and tries to drift off.

It ends up being more challenging than he was used to. Seemed this body wasn't the type to fall asleep easily. Or maybe too much sugar and activity, who knows. Either way it took about an hour before he finally drifted off.

Only to be rudely awakened not long after by the sound of an alarm.

Eyes blink open sleepily with a scowl, Bob reaching out towards the source of the noise, only for her eyes to snap open with a jolt of pain.

Bobs had instinctively tried to reach for the noise with his own arm rather than the woman's, and with his thick arm sticking out of her torso, he could feel all the pain in his cracked bones, damaged ligaments, and sore joints. 

And the eyes of the woman looked at this sight with fear for a brief moment, before Bob quickly pulled his arm back in and the look on her face changed from shock to one of frustrated annoyance.

Rubbing the sleep outta one eye as he looks for the noise. It coming from the lady's messenger bag, and feeling around, he pulls out a smartphone, the display saying 6:30 am and "Work".

To hell with that, Bob isn't going to no goddamn job. Especially not at six freaking am. 

He presses the big button on the screen and tosses the phone into the pile of food and stuff on the passenger seat beside him, and tries to go back to sleep, but just as he's getting comfortable, the alarm starts up again.

Letting off a loud groan, he sits up fully, and feels around for the phone among the leftover drive through food he hadn't been able to eat, soon finding it and giving a closer inspection to the screen. Looked like the big button was a snooze button, and the button to actually turn off the alarm was a smaller button below it.

A classic trick to pull on sleepy people.

He turns off the alarm, and groans again, rubbing her eyes and face. Feeling some soreness of the woman's neck, shoulders, and back protest at the movement.

Guess whoever this lady was, they weren't as young as they looked, because not sleeping in an actual bed really didn't agree with them. 

He glances down at the phone in his hand again, he remembers that these smart phones can work as one of those GPS maps. Might help him get where he's going faster, since he was too delirious at the time from his injuries to remember what route he took to get to this town.

But after fiddling with it again for a minute, looked like it was locked with a passcode.

Dang.

He slumps back against the seat. 

He really didn't want to drive anywhere right now. The sun wasn't even up yet, and if anything he felt more sleep deprived than he'd been before the nap.

More just looking to fidget for a moment, he grabs the woman's bag, drops the phone in, then sifts through its contents just to see if there's anything interesting. The day spent in her body making him a bit more curious about who it is he’s possessing exactly.

He takes out her big wallet and looks through it more closely. First checking her drivers license, doing a bit of quick arithmetic in his head to figure out, she must have been 32 years old. He'd been expecting younger, but on second thought, that was probably the height talking. 

Being this short, he figures with the right outfit, and this lady could probably pass as a teenager.

He sifts through various cards in the wallet sleeves. Expired gift cards, a few punch cards for eventually getting a free drink or sandwich, membership card for a big box store, credit and debit card, basic stuff.

It's not until he gets to the back layers of the wallet that he finds anything with personality. A sparkly business card for some gem and mineral place, another with a dinosaur on it for some fossil place, and some sort of monster trading card? It must have been important to whoever this is, since it was in a separate plastic protective sleeve and everything. Maybe it’s a valuable collectors item or lucky charm or something.  

And in a zip-pocket, instead of spare change, there were a bunch of uncommon coins, colorful shiny stones, and the squashed pennies you can get at tourist spots. 

He pulled out and ran a thumb over a squashed penny that had a saguaro cactus on it.

Though not much fits in a wallet, so he quickly exhausts that distraction. So back to thinking what his next move should be.

Something occurs to him.

You know? If he wants somewhere to sleep, doesn't this lady have, like… a house?

Shit, it seems obvious in retrospect.

Though question is, where the heck does she live?

Wait! Oh yeah!

He pulls her wallet back out and checks the address on her driver's license.

…….Oh...... right. He's not familiar with this area. He has no idea what street this is.

Guess he can find out though. And it woulda been smart to get a map anyway before he heads back to his place.

He groans and stretches a bit, before starting up the car and heading to a gas station to get a map, get his bearings, and with a little asking for directions from a mailman, he finds the house. 

He almost does a double take when he pulls up to it. It's a bigger house than he was suspecting. Secluded too.

Clear on the other edge of town, bordering a forest, and at the end of a long straight street with a wide berth between the nearest neighbors. One of those old upper middle class sort of houses, like what you might expect a successful lawyer in the 1930’s to have as a summer home.

He notices a garage door opener clipped to the sunshade in the car, and giving it an experimental press... the garage starts to open! So this is definitely the place.

He pulls into the driveway, taking a moment to roll down the window and look over the front of the house for a minute.

Mostly scanning the windows for movement in case there was anyone in the house. 

After all, a house this big? He knew she had said before that she didn’t have any kids, but that didn’t rule out a boyfriend, roommates, or maybe an elderly relative she was looking after. Bob felt decently confident that if there were only a small handful of people in there, he had enough energy that he could catch them by surprise and slit their throats before taking the desired nap in an actual bed. Maybe even enough energy to butcher and eat one before getting some real shut-eye.

He also takes the moment to look over some of the details of the house more closely. 

It was an old house, but not run down. Though not especially well maintained either. It’s clear from the weedy lawn and bare garden, along with the chipped paint and stains on the house itself, that whoever this woman was, they weren’t paying for a landscaper or any recent renovations or anything.

So he guessed, rich enough to own an extravagantly large house, but not rich enough for a gardener? Not seeing any movement through the windows he pulls into the garage, not bothering with closing the garage door behind him, and getting out of the car. A four car garage, nice. Though currently the garage only actually contained one other car. A big pick-up truck, expensive looking too. Or at least it would have been pretty top of the line maybe 10 to 15 years ago. But could still get a good price with resale.

Though it looked mostly unused. Both in the sense of not having much in the way of visible wear and tear, and with stuff leaned against it or in the way of the door that would keep it from being driven out of the garage without breaking stuff. The other 2 cars worth of garage space were filled with junk and yard care stuff like a mower and snow shovel. Though he notices some stuff for a dog. A big dog too, judging by the size of the dusty crate and old dog bed thrown in the corner.

He hadn’t considered encountering a dog.

A person should be easy to fool with possessing the womans body. Even if he doesn’t make for a convincing performance, almost no one would immediately jump to the conclusion of a supernatural invasion of the body snatchers style explanation for his weird behavior. But would a dog be able to sniff out that something was up? Bob looks around at the various tools and gardening implements along the wall. But not finding much in the way of sharp implements, he settles on grabbing a crowbar before he opens the door into the house, and quietly sneaks in.

No sound of an excited dog scampering towards him, and no voice or footsteps acknowledging his arrival, though either could have been notified of his arrival by the loud sound of the garage door opening. 

He grips the crowbar a little tighter, and starts slowly and methodically searching through every room in the house for signs of life. Setting down the crowbar to trade for a knife when he finds the kitchen. And keeping his ears peeled for any noise besides the soft sound of his own footsteps. 

But after stalking all through the house from the basement up to the third floor without so much as a peep, he stops for a moment to scratch his head thoughtfully. Really? No one else is here?

Sure it might be in many ways convenient to not have anyone around to have to deal with, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn't also a little disappointed at not having any unsuspecting meatbags he could make into an easy meal. Heading back downstairs, he takes a bit of a closer look at his surroundings. 

There’s some really nice things around the house. Fancy furniture, fancy rugs, fancy ceramics, fancy taxidermy animals, fancy swords and spears and other weapons hung on the walls, decorative rocks, artistic pieces both old and modern, various treasures from around the world ranging from cheap knick knacks to expensive museum looking pieces… It felt like the place had gone through multiple generations of treasure hunters. Such that despite the size of the big house, it still seemed to struggle to have enough space to display everything. But It felt like a comfortable amount of clutter to Bob. Not like the sterile minimalism of many rich people houses he saw on the tv nowadays, but not a hoarder situation either. He could walk around without having stuff to trip over or bump into. Finding a few photographs over a fireplace and inspecting them for clues, he sees a young couple, some pictures of kids, pictures of a few elderly couples in front of the house, a few pictures of dogs….. Oh wait, that little girl in the photo is definitely a younger version of the woman he’s currently possessing. Which means the young couple are her parents, old people are grandparents, and the other kids are probably her siblings or cousins. 

Must be an old family house she inherited. He wondered briefly if maybe the other people in the pictures were dead or something, maybe leaving a big family house to the only survivor of some “tragic accident” or whatever. Cus he definitely didn't get the feeling there was anyone else living here, and hadn't been for awhile. What with how unused a lot of the rooms he’d peeked in looked, and how there was only the one space in the garage for the little beige car that looked like it ever got any use. Though whether she’s on her own due to tragic circumstances, or if the other people just moved out and she stayed behind, the "being secluded" was what mattered.

And all evidence was pointing to this being a nice safe place to stay and recharge his batteries for an afternoon or so before he heads home. Shame he’s not affiliated with the more common criminal element though, cus if he had the right network for it, he could probably get a lot of money stealing and selling this stuff. But that’s one of the downsides of being a serial killer cannibal. 

Even the criminals want nothing to do with you. 

So looks like she’ll be keeping this fancy stuff to herself; at least until Bob can kill and eat her, then it’s finders keepers for any thief who can stumble on the house.

Heading back to the car, he grabs his snacks and leftovers and brings them to the kitchen. Putting most of it on the table, along with taking his red sweater off his waist to drop on the table. Before putting some of the more perishable food in the fridge, and taking the opportunity to see what she had in there.

Being pretty thoroughly lost in the distraction of snooping through this woman's stuff at this point. Especially as more things kept catching his attention. 

It's almost immediately clear that this woman had a pretty specific flavor palette, and didn’t stock much in the way of general items for entertaining guests. Instead finding a frankly absurd excess of spicy stuff in the fridge. 

In particular, both a half-empty gallon size jar of pickled jalapeno rings and a similarly large and half empty jar of those pepperoncini peppers that are often used in Italian restaurants or put as a garnish in take out pizzas. And then not just those peppers, but also having a few smaller jars of more expensive, and more spicy, pickled peppers.

He paled slightly at the thought of how many peppers she must be going through a day to have to buy them by the gallon. If he tried that lifestyle, he'd probably spend half his day, every day, stuck on the toilet.

But the pepper jars were just the most obvious tips of the spicy iceberg, because it seemed like nearly everything in the refrigerator that could be spicy, was spicy.

The salami? Spicy. 

Cheese? Literally had ghost pepper written on the label. 

Sauces in the door? Hot sauces, and even some sort of chili oil salad dressing he'd never seen before.

Even the jar of green olives were jalapeño stuffed olives instead of the usual red pimento you'd see in cocktail olives.

He half expected the gallon of milk to be some ridiculous pepper infused nonsense, but looked like that one was normal, thankfully.

His eyes kinda glazed over some of the veggie ingredients for salads like lettuce and carrots and such, but lingered on some of the stuff he couldn't easily parse, as there were quite a number of things that didn't have any English on their labels. Having either some kinda Japanese looking text, or some European looking language he couldn't parse. Though he could parse a few things based on shape or images on the packaging. Like soup stock, pickled meat, fruit juice, and some kind of dessert treat.

He already knew there were a lot of foreign knick knacks around the house, so he put 2 and 2 together and figured she must have spent enough time abroad to have developed some tastes that couldn't be satisfied with local cuisine.

The freezer carried on the theme of foreign foods with non-english labels, but now had an excess of frozen seafood of all sorts. Fish, shrimp, crab, clams, mussels, scallops, even some lobster.

The rest being mostly frozen fruits and dessert looking things (he'll be taking that tub of ice cream thank-you-very-much).

But shifting through the clutter a bit, something caught his eye.

A large plastic wrapped beef brisket. Well marbled, and all in all probably about 13 pounds of meat on its own. 

Give it a day to defrost, and there's a lot he could do with that meat. More than the woman he's possessing probably could. She'd probably ruin it by turning the meat into some kind of 5 alarm spicy nightmare where all you can taste is your own tastebuds burning off. He'd practically be doing it a favor cooking it in a way where ya could actually taste the meat.

  And looking around as he goes to grab a spoon for the ice cream, it’s a pretty nice kitchen here too. He could cook a lot more complicated meals here than he could at his place. Especially since his hideout didn’t have running water or reliable electricity. Maybe he should stick around for a few days and burn through the stuff in her fridge before he heads home. 

Like he knows he'll need to get in contact with the cult at some point to get a new amulet made for him so he can start getting back to his previous levels of supernatural resilience. But judging how he'd woken up in the place where the cult dumps their unwanted corpses, there shouldn't be anyone in any big rush to find him. He's got plenty of time.

Though… sticking around would mean going out shopping at least once for ingredients. This woman had 7 different kinds of hot sauce in her fridge, but didn’t have any ketchup, mustard, or mayo. 

Though… it’s not like he couldn’t go shopping now. 

He's got a disguise, and he's got money, and he's got a place to put the things he buys.

Yeah this could be a good change of pace actually. Keep his head down for a bit. Maybe veg out and watch some tv. 

He'd need to stock up on meat though if he were to really make the most of it, so he'd have to think about…

But his train of thought is interrupted by the ringing of a phone call coming from the womans messenger bag. He pulls it out to take a look.

He still couldn't unlock the phone, but the caller ID said it was her boss calling. And once the call went to voice-mail, he could see a number of notifications for texts from her workplace asking where she was and why she hadn't come in.

But it's not anything like family or friends calling that they're about to walk in the front door and surprise him, so he doesn't much care. 

The people at her job will just have to be content with the notice they'll get on the evening news when he's done with her, that the butchered remains of her rotting body were discovered by some unlucky smuck and his dog or something. 

Leaving the empty ice cream container and spoon on the kitchen table, he heads upstairs for the long awaited nap.

Only one of the bedrooms had actually looked lived-in, so he headed towards there. Though he stops with a trip to the nearest bathroom to brush his teeth first.

He'd always been a bit fastidious about dental hygiene, he kinda had to be with all the sugar he ate, or else he wouldn't have made it to his 40s and still had teeth. And he'd been able to maintain the habit pretty well through prison and his time on the run. And despite it not being his body he was using, he figured having a clean mouth would probably help him get to sleep easier.

And seeing only one toothbrush by the sink further confirmed his suspicions that this woman lived alone.

He briefly turns to try and look for a spare toothbrush to use, but quickly catches himself with a…

Oh, duh. This is her toothbrush, he's in her body, so this is his toothbrush. 

Yeah, he's totally getting the hang of this "being a random stranger he grabbed off the street instead of himself" thing.

And with teeth and a bit of other business sorted, he heads to the bedroom full of nerdy looking memorabilia and a big unmade bed, kicks off his shoes, closes the curtains, and plops face first into the bed and….

Ohhhhhhhhhh shit. This isn't just any old mattress, this is an expensive mattress. This is the kind of mattress you'd have to drop about three months rent to be able to buy. No wonder this body found it so hard to fall asleep in the car, when it's used to this kind of luxury.

Or at least that's what Bob assumed at first, because it quickly became clear that even still, sleep wouldn't come so easy. But moving around a few pillows and snuggling under a blanket, he felt comfortable enough to not resent the wait. 

Spending a bit of time to feel positive about how much things had turned around since yesterday before slowly drifting off.

The dreams that bubbled up were…. Weird. 

Conflicting. Confusing. Surreal. A bizarre mich-mash of people Bob had never met before and places he'd never been overlapping with the familiar. One moment feeling like he's being interrogated by something vicious, the next feeling like something was trying to escape, but was caught like an animal in a glue trap.

Stretching and snapping things that had tangled around it like rubber bands, before retreating into the distance, though somehow still tugging at him.

Bob felt like he was on the other side of a street, a blue-green light swirling somewhere on the horizon.

He was wearing his red sweater and the red gloves of his devil costume, so he probably had his horns on too.

Seemed like there wasn't much else around besides the blue glow somewhere over there, so he starts heading towards it.

Only to feel with excruciating detail as he gets knocked to the ground and a car tire goes over his rib cage, snapping the bones one after another in quick succession like a gruesome xylophone.

Whatever uneasy semi-lucid equilibrium that had been reached in the dream falls apart in an instant, descending into a swirling overlapping chaos once again, but this time it's painful. 

Unbearably painful.

He's dying. He knows he's dying. He's done it before, and the certainty only seems to make it all the more terrifying. 

His emotional state feeling all the worse as he could feel some sort of second hand panic coming from a kicking and roaring thing getting pulled down with him. 

Like he was tied to some sort of monster trying to hook talons into anything that will slow the descent of both of them, if that's what it takes to save itself.

And the more he fades the stronger it seems to get.

Until it turns and gets its hooks in him instead, a furious stubborn defiance hitting his brain like an electric shock, and it pulls.

He wakes up all at once in a cold sweat, taking a moment to catch his breath and get his bearings. The painful phantom limb-esk echo of the memory of his death, feeling mismatched on this smaller, differently shaped body. 

He spends a few minutes trying to ground himself. Remembering recent events, and where, (and who) he was.

Looking over at the slight crack in the blinds, it was dark out now, he had slept through the whole day. 

Throwing off the covers and scooting to the edge of the bed, taking deep breaths to try and dissipate the lingering panic of the nightmare, before considering his next course of action.

He probably should have expected weird dreams to be a side effect of using the amulets like this. 

After all, weird dreams kind of went hand in hand with the eldritch powers the cult was messing with. 

But it seems doubly to be expected in retrospect, since it was clear that part of the surreal jumble was probably a result of him and the person he was possessing having their dreams overlapping.

But this pain he felt was a jarring level of vivid.

During the actual event of his death, he'd had his amulet to help block out the pain. Not entirely mind you, it was still quite painful to get hurt that much, but doing its job well enough that getting back up after multiple times of getting shot and run over was plenty doable if one were stubborn enough. 

But waking up in the gorge without this supernatural pain blocking? 

He'd been given a more keen physical memory of the pain such an injury would entail. 

And it's like his mind was going back in and filling in the blanks. Or perhaps unlocking memories that had been supernaturally suppressed. 

Getting run over by a car would hurt quite a lot actually, and seems like the dream was looking to remind him of it.

He hoped this wouldn't be an every night sort of thing.

Probably best not to dwell on it though, so… distractions. Gotta figure out some distractions.

What was his agenda for the day? Or…uhhh… night he supposed.

Well…. He had been meaning to stock up on meat. And hunting someone down would be a good way to get his mind off things.

Yeah! He'll feel better with some of his favorite activities and favorite food!

And he'll be able to experiment with the fun novelty of trying to do what he does in another body! Won't that be something. He could use a good challenge.

He gets up and heads downstairs. Gathering up a few odds and ends to help with his hunting. Picking out a new knife and backup knife from the selection in the kitchen, and going over them a few times with a sharpener attached to a wooden knife block.

He couldn't find any easy handheld sharpeners, so he wouldn't be able to fidget with them like he does with his normal set, but this should be fine for now. He's not looking to go on a whole spree. One kill should be plenty.

Plus he should probably play this one extra safe anyways. Both because of needing to not blow his cover, and out of the risk that his current body, with its smaller stature and less effective at healing amulets, wouldn't be able to hold its own in a fight quite as well as he's used to.

So one person, and do it quick and discreet. No playing around with his food.

After trying to check the time, only to see that the clocks on the walls are stopped, and the digital clock on the oven is clearly wrong, he resorts to checking the woman's smart phone again. Looks like there'd been another call and texts from her work. But still nothing from family or friends, so that was good. And it looked to be about 7:40pm.

Man, he'd really slept the whole day away. Must have been more tired than he thought.

He leaves the phone on the kitchen table and loads up the beige commuter car with a few things. 

He'd ended up stowing his weapons and tools in the messenger bag, since with the wallet being too big to fit in his pockets, he needed a place to keep it. But once he had the one thing he needed the bag for, it kinda snowballed from there and he figured might as well put everything in and then some. (The then some in this case being mostly snacks)

So guess he's a guy who carries a bag now.

Backing the car outta the garage, and he's back on the road again. Slowly driving around looking for people hanging out alone in secluded places, as well as just getting a feel for the landscape and its nooks and crannies.

Though at this time of the night, with no time to stalk any victims and learn their schedules, that really just left 2 reliable demographics to choose from.

Employees working the graveyard shift, or drunk single guys leaving the bars, overconfident in their ability to safely walk home at night. 

And the employees usually had security cameras trained on em to keep the minimum wage workers from stealing or slacking off.

But likewise ready to bear witness to their brutal death.

So he looks for any bars that still had some activity going. Soon finding one that seemed pretty hopping, and parking on the other side of the street for some good ol fashioned people watching. Leaning back, grabbing some snacks from his bag, even putting the radio on for some tunes.

Patient, but eager for a good victim to reveal themselves.

Plus, he just rather liked people watching in general. It had been one of his main sources of entertainment back when he worked as a butcher/fry cook, and he'd only gotten better at it once he started stalking victims too.

So he didn't mind that it took awhile before he spotted his first candidate. 

Some guy, walking alone, who didn't immediately head towards the nearest parking lot or wait out front for a taxi, instead shuffling down the sidewalk with an unsteady gait.

Perfect.

Bob let the man get some distance, before turning the ignition, and following in the car, parking it again a bit further down the road where it looked like the man was heading.

Then leaving the car, knife in hand but hidden from view behind his back, and leaned against a wall. 

Fixing his target with an unsettlingly intense stare as the man came closer. Soon noticing the eye contact, and deciding to confront Bob about it. 

Slurring,

"What'r you lookin at freak???"

Bob could smell the alcohol on the man's breath, and let's a slight pause hang in the air for a moment, before replying…

"Did you know… that the average human heart beats with enough pressure to squirt blood up to 30 feet?"

"Whuh?"

A flash of silver, and the man's throat was cut open. Bob quickly side stepping as the man's hands gripped his own throat in a panic, before turning the knife and stabbing into the man's thigh. Earning a startled gurgling noise of pain from the man, before taking another step further behind him to slice into the back of his legs to make extra sure he can't run, then gleefully stabbing into his back again and again.

The man only able to take about two steps before collapsing, having never even had a chance to scream, and Bob watching the life drain out of him completely with a manic grin.

The blood pooling on the sidewalk looking almost black in the dim light.

Now just to make himself scarce before anyone else comes this way, and cut up his prize.

Not having a belt to keep his stuff in, he stabs the knife into the man's torso to hold it, before grabbing the man's ankle and dragging him towards the car. 

Not having the upper body strength to just pick up the corpse like he normally would, and instead having to really use his legs to help pull.

The man's corpse leaving a snail trail of blood as it scraped across the concrete.

Bob paused briefly to pull out the keys to pop the trunk and, oh hey towels! He remembered the woman mentioning those!

Guess they'll be getting some use after all. 

And, plus, a little insulated cooler with some spare water bottles inside. That could come in handy.

Unfolding the towels for an added layer to help soak up the blood, the then hefts the body onto the edge of the trunk, and with another heave of the corpses legs, the body tumbles in.

Bob arranging it a bit better, and wrapping it up a little bit in the towels before shutting the trunk.

There had been a large top loading freezer in the basement of the woman's house he could use to store the uneaten parts of the man for a few days, so he was planning to butcher and keep more of the corpse than he usually would. 

But he also didn't want to wait that long to have a taste, so rather than driving all the way back to the house, he instead drives to the closest edge of the town, and stops in a small secluded clearing by the side of the road.

A nice cool breeze and clear view of the moon and stars above him met Bob as he stepped out of the car.

Nice night. Would almost be like a picnic to go stargazing.

Though Bob didn't have time to dwell on it, he wanted a taste while the body was still as fresh as possible.

Popping the trunk, Bob yanked the knife out of the man's back, grabbed an arm, and started excitedly slicing through the skin, muscle, and tendons of the elbow to detach it.

Eagerly sinking his teeth unto the still-warm flesh, but finding this womans body didn't have quite the same bite strength as he normally took for granted, so he got help from the knife to cut off a bite sized piece.

Though as he chews, his expression of manic excitement slowly falls into something more like confused disappointment. 

It didn't taste right.

No explosion of flavor tingling his mind. No complex and nuanced taste. No addictive urge to want to eat more and more of it like a big ol bag of chips. And no hungry pit in his stomach flooding him with satisfaction, however temporary, whenever it was filled with what he craved.

If anything, he felt a little sick. In fact he's been feeling a bit sick all afternoon. But with such a high pain tolerance, he hadn't really noticed until now.

Taking a moment to examine his feelings a bit closer, he could tell he still craved…. something. 

The feeling of want also being something he was so accustomed to that he had let it go unexamined until now.

But, whatever it was he was craving… it wasn't this.

He nonetheless took another bite of arm, just in case anything would change, chewing thoughtfully as he tried to examine the flavor more closely.

A faint memory of a familiarity to beef crossing his mind as he chewed.

Which stopped him dead in his tracks, an offended look coming on his face.

Ex-fucking-scuse me???? Beef?!?

The closest animal meat to compare to human meat was pork . Did this woman really have such bad taste as to not even be able to tell the difference between beef and pork???

Good lord. To hell with this, looks like this is something he'll have to do by his own damn self.

Before Bob even has time to think, the leg he'd tried to stand on buckles, his fall disconnecting him fully from the woman he had been possessing, and he hits the ground hard with an unflattering scream, as his vision briefly goes white from the shock of blinding pain.

Ooooooohhhh fuck… he messed up.

He messed up BAD.

He hadn't healed at all since he possessed the woman yesterday. All he'd done was spend that time adjusting to the new body, and in the process lost most of his sense of being accustomed to the horrible pain he was in.

And now he'd just jumped right back into it like he'd carelessly done a cannonball onto what turned out to be a frozen lake.

Which shattered his bones hitting the ice, before the ice cracked underneath him anyway and dunked him in the freezing water.

The analogy of shock, freezing, and drowning being even more apt than it first appears, Bob feeling his dangerously low body temperature more keenly than he had before, body starting to shiver reflexively as once again he feels the delicate structures in his absent of organs fluid filled torso pop and snap from the impact of hitting the ground, and fluid starts leaking into his throat.

His vision returning just enough in time to blurily see the woman go limp, first dropping the man's forearm, then tipping towards the right, away from where he lay.

Hitting the side of the trunk, breaking her fall slightly, before the momentum rolled her off the car and falling in a heap on the grass beside the back tire.

He coughs reflexively from the fluid leaking over into his lungs, it having a more distinct taste of blood now than it had when he had been knocked down first catching the woman, along with more of a red tint to it. 

Having burst a few new blood vessels that had been healing in his torso in preparation for regrowing his organs when he went down.

Bob instinctively turning over onto his side to help clear the fluid from his lungs before he suffocates, but the panic of struggling to breathe only adds to the stress of the horrible pain, teetering on the edge of a panic attack as his heart races and mind fogs even more.

He has to get back to his hostage, he has to shut the pain off!!

He tries to lift himself up, his arms shaking horribly as he tries to brace enough to get one knee below himself, but it's too painful, and his arm buckles before he can make it. Letting out a pitiful whine as the motion jostles his aching stomach.

He can't get up. He can't get up!!!!!

He tries to calm down enough to try again, but his panic spikes as out of the corner of his eye, he sees the woman sit up and clutch her head with a soft groan. Blinking as if coming out of a daze.

No NO NO!!!

If she can get away with the other half of the amulet still in her chest, he won't be able to possess anyone else until he tracks her down to retrieve it!

Damn it you stupid mangled hunk of meat, move !

He coughs up more blood laced fluid, reached his hand out, and dug his nails into the grass and dirt, dragging himself to turn and better angle himself to crawl towards her, but the motion draws her attention, startling her with a slight jump of surprise, her eyes going wide with fear as she takes in the sight of him.

The man who to her had just captured her moments ago, but now for some reason was crawling towards her with a crazy look in his eyes while bleeding profusely from the mouth.

She quickly gets to her feet in alarm, she has to act fast. 

Looking left and right, she tries to get her bearings quickly as possible. She seems to be outside somewhere she doesn't recognize.

Hey wait, this is her car!

She dashes to the passenger side, finding the door unlocked, and she practically leaps in, pressing the door button to lock it behind her, and shifting a seat over to the driver's side.

Where are the keys????

Her messenger bag is in the passenger seat, that's where she normally keeps her keys. 

Frantic, she snatches and dumps it into the seat.

Why is her work bag suddenly full of knives and junk food????

Her panic rises as she hears the clicking of someone trying the door handle beside her.

Trying to speed things up, she clicks the overhead light on and sifts through the bag's dumped contents more frantically, but still not seeing any keys.

But from the door beside her,

Wumph…. Wham, WHAM! SMASH!!!

She turns in time to see a hand bust through the window with a shower of glass, holding…. 

Is that a pepper grinder?!??!? What??? Of all the things to use as a hammer.

The big hand drops its tool into the car, before reaching down and unlocking the door. Simultaneously using the handle from the other side to open it, revealing the terrifying looking giant man.

Still clearly not doing well.

Not upright but having tried to use the car to brace himself and get to his feet a little bit.

And his face, he looked furious, but also horribly sick, with pale sunken features and his own blood smeared all down his chin.

And unsettlingly, his blown out pupils were an inhuman reflective blue-green.

"DON'T YOU RUN FROM ME!!!!"

His roar sprayed flecks of blood as with some effort he hefts himself through the open door, trying to climb onto the seat.

And scrambling backwards, she opens the passenger door and turns to try and escape through it, but with his long arms he's able to snatch her ankle at the last moment.

Pulling her back into the car and towards him, intending to drag the both of them out the other side.

She grabs whatever handhold she can to keep from getting pulled closer. Though remembering the knives that had been dumped from her bag into the seat, she lets go with one hand to feel around beneath her until she feels the handle of a knife.

Swinging it around, she stabs it into the arm holding her ankle, making the man yipe like a dog, but he doesn't let go.

Come on, she thinks to herself.

Be smarter about this, if you can sever the correct tendons, his grip will break.

She yanks the knife out, then tries more of a slicing motion, hoping that a longer diagonal cut would have a better chance to hit more vital connections, but she can only get one more swipe in before his other hand comes up and grabs her wrist.

With both a wrist and ankle caught, her grip with her remaining hand breaks when he tugs. 

Adding his weight into the motion as he slides out of the car, falling onto his back and pulling her into a tight bear hug to keep her arms pinned. Her legs not able to get a good angle to kick him.

And as he tightens his grip, she starts to sink through his skin.

That gets her panicking.

Holy shit, the thing from before, it was real!!!

Instinctively, like she was trying to fight drowning, she tried to keep her head above water. 

But a big hand grabbed the top of her head, and shoved her in.

Bob let his arms fall to his sides, taking a few deep breaths. 

He hadn't had the time to question it, but looks like the amulets can work both ways, and she can sink into him too.

He can… still feel her in there.

But he's too hurt to want to examine this any further. 

He sinks into her. Retaking control of her body.

Rising to a seated position, he puts his, or rather her head in her hands, feeling stressed and ashamed at his mistake.

He'd almost lost all his progress with one careless mistake. He could kick himself.

And moreover….

He'd been spending time goofing off instead of getting his strength back. His real body hadn't healed at all in the time it had spent stored… wherever it went when he took control of his hostage.

Which means he'd have to be out of the woman and suffering through the pain if he wants to fix things. And he'll have to keep the lady somewhere secure until he needs the body.

Rubbing his hands down his face…. Her face. 

You know that was another thing. He kept tripping up considering her body as his. If he keeps that up, he might get so distracted he forgets all about healing his real body until it's too late. 

And who knows how that could go wrong. He almost didn't want to think about it.

But he's not gonna make any progress hanging around here.

He gets up bitterly. Going around to the back of the car, picking the arm off the ground and tossing it in the trunk. 

Before pulling out the mini cooler, emptying it of the water bottles, and grabbing hold of the rest of the corpse, pulling it out and unwrapping the towels.

He figured he'd start the butchering out here, so he'd have less of the inedible bits to dispose of by the house where they could start to stink and rot.

Going back to the car, he grabs some knives and a cleaver, and brings em back to the corpse. Getting to it.

Opening the chest, removing organs. Dumping some on the ground, and putting some in the cooler for later. Deciding to remove the head and leave it behind too. Taking the cleaver to chop it into more manageable segments and help the meat drain faster, before rinsing the meat some with the water bottles, putting it back in the trunk, dumping the parts he was leaving behind in some bushes, and rinsing himself off as well. Leaving the empty bottles as litter.

Checking his pockets and realizing the keys were missing, he takes a minute to retrace his steps to try and find em. Soon picking them up outta the grass beside the trunk of the car.

Must have fallen out of her pocket when she collapsed. If they had stayed in her pocket, he probably would have lost her.

Bob cant help but feel feel bitter about how close she'd come to escaping as he gets in the car and drives back to the house.

Continuing to act a bit robotic and just going through the motions as he pulls in the garage and starts unloading. 

Stewing in being upset at his evening being spoiled and trying to get everything done without his usual enthusiasm to avoid getting distracted and kinda punish himself for carelessness.

He better prepares the meat in the kitchen, setting up for different kinds of meals and to avoid freezer burn, and splitting the kill between the kitchen fridge and the big freezer downstairs.

Taking a moment as he works to consider what he should do for his current situation with not being able to eat solid foods.

Spotting a blender, he figures making a meat smoothie might be about as good as he could get under current circumstances.

Maybe throw in some painkillers and crush those up and….

…..Shit. 

He only ended up getting snacks at the pharmacy. He forgot to get the painkillers.

He heads upstairs, and opens the medicine cabinet in the most lived in looking bathroom, rummaging through various bottles.

It seems suspiciously bare of first aid or medicines. Making him wonder if maybe she's keeping things somewhere else. But there is a bottle of aspirin. 

Probably better than nothing.

There's also something that looks prescription, in one of the orange pill bottles.

Had some fancy name he couldn't recognize and not much in the way of description for what it does, so he doesn't chance taking it for himself.

Wait….. this says a pill a day, this is the woman's house, he's in the woman's body.

Has he gotten her off her medication in the time he'd kidnapped her?

He feels a twinge of unease on top of his current stress.

What if this leads to something life threatening enough to make her sick or even kill her before he's done?

Or worse, lead to her dying while he's actively possessing her.

He's reminded of the vivid dream of his own death from last night. 

The thought of potentially adding another painful and unpleasant memory to make into nightmares like that one made the unease build even further.

He looks over the bottle and its instructions carefully. Even checking the date to make sure it wasn't expired or maybe something left behind by a guest sleeping over months ago.

It was recent, about half used already, and all signs pointed to this being the woman's medication. 

Not wanting to risk it, he has her body take a pill according to the instructions, before putting it back and heading downstairs with the bottle of aspirin for himself.

Grabbing the jug of milk from the fridge to go along with the aspirin and the meats from his latest kill for this unholy protein shake.

With some disappointment, he adds some of the best organs and cuts of meat to the blender. 

He woulda preferred to be able to savor em, but he can't afford to be picky now.

Starting up the blender with a loud grind as the aspirin pills were pulverized and mixed with the meat, then steadily adding in milk over the meat as needed for a liquid base, and the nasty looking red-pink slurry was done.

Popping the top off the blender, he sticks in a reusable straw he'd found with the cutlery, and tries a sip.

Oof, yep, wow, you can really taste the aspirin. 

Ugh that's nasty. 

Maybe it'll taste better with his own mouth. 

Be able to taste the meat more.

But that's the first thing situated, now he's gotta think of how he's gonna play out separating from the woman. Figure out that puzzle.

He needs a place to put her, and to be able to trap her there without the pain of returning to his broken body giving her a good chance to run.

Come to think of it, he probably should have thought to pick up some sleeping pills at the pharmacy when he had the chance too. 

Would really make this easier on him if he could just knock her out until the healing has a chance to catch up. 

But this is what he gets for being so out of practice with kidnapping. 

Last time he really had to bother with taking someone alive was with kidnapping sacrifices for the cult, and even on top of his three year prison stint where nothing much could get done, it had rarely been something he participated in even when he had the opportunity for it. Least beyond being some added muscle to help carry struggling tied up people from point a to b. 

But even during his time working closely with the cult, he'd generally been a take no prisoners type.

So actually containing and guarding someone so they don't escape… without gruesomely hurting them? 

Yeah it had been awhile.

He briefly considers the basement, but dismisses it just as quickly. He wanted to make this as easy on himself as he could, and walking up and down the stairs when he'd just recently been struggling to even stand up?

No-way ho-say. 

So that ruled out the upstairs too.

He settles on setting up in the garage.

Making some space by parking the commuter car in the driveway.

Getting a chair and some rope for the woman, a more sturdy looking chair for himself, and setting up the smoothie by his chair along with a few other things he might want returned to him once he's back in his old body. Like his sweater and salt/pepper grinder.

Plan is to take a seat in arm's reach and keep an eye on her while he drank the smoothie and waited to heal.

Though a twinge of excitement returns to him with the thought of how he could spook her with threats of what he'll do to her if she tries escaping again.

And as for trapping her, since the amulet stuns her for a little bit whenever he gets in or out. If he just goes in reverse order from when he untied her the first time, he should be able to tie her up and get out of her body without her having the time to regain consciousness.

Though he feels a bit more hesitant than he's used to for actually setting his plan into motion. He's more used to just doing stuff without much standing around stressing over things.

Maybe all this has him spooked too?

He has to fight with himself a bit to start the process. Sit down the woman's body, and start tying her up as much as she can manage with her own hands. Before he lets her go limp, bringing his own aching arms out of her torso, and tying what he can with his real arms. Fumbling a bit with things from the discomfort, though the most painful parts of himself were in his torso and legs, so he does alright. 

Pulling everything back and retaking control, struggling against the bonds to test if she would be able to wiggle free when she woke up. 

As well as resetting the clock for the minute or so he'd have before she starts waking up.

Seemed like everything was holding.

He turns his anxious gaze to the other seat in front of him.

All he has to do is get out, and stay steady enough for a few seconds to sit in that chair. Should be plenty doable.

Just don't fuck this up.

Carefully, he brings his arms back out first to try and brace himself, the woman's body going limp, before bringing out his less damaged leg. It shifting out of the woman's own leg so that his foot would already be on the ground.

Carefully, he puts his weight onto it and tries to stand, pulling his hips and torso out of her body. The unbearable pain returning as those parts of him rematerialized.

But with a bit of momentum, he's able to lean forward, disconnect from the woman's body, and catch himself on the other chair.

Carefully turning around and taking a seat.

Success! 

Though he can't be exactly enthusiastic about it. Even sitting disagreed with his body. Putting his weight on what felt like hairline fractures in his hips and spine.

And the awful wrong body temperature chill was back, and he realizes that his mouth still had a lot of blood and fluid lingering in it. And his... his pants and shoes are still moist? From all the way back when he cleaned up in the park bathroom? Guess there wasn't really anywhere for it to go when getting stored, and he hadn't spent long enough outside of the hostage to dry out. Though the cold was the more pressing matter.

Despite the protest of his body, he slowly and delicately puts his sweater back on, at least it had the chance to dry unlike the rest of him. And uses the sleeve to wipe the blood that had leaked and coughed out of his mouth and lungs, and picks up the blender container. Not having bothered to transfer his concoction from the blender to a cup, just sticking a straw in the top. And with a wince, he closes his eyes and takes a sip.

He's in too much pain to really even register the taste of it, focusing only on how the slurry felt as he swallowed it into his empty abdomen.

It felt painful and unnatural as the lukewarm paste leaked into where his stomach should have been. But a warmth spread from it, so he knew the healing was using the new materials to start to repair things around it. 

Give it a bit of time, and hopefully soon things can start getting into his bloodstream and healing around his body more generally.

Blinking tiredly, he checks the woman. Seeing that she was starting to stir. He bites back a noise of pain, trying to give himself a bit more time alone by not rushing her to wake up.

He should probably put on a bit of a show so she doesn't pick up on how much he wants to just curl up somewhere and cry right now.

But with her near escape, the cat's mostly out of the bag already. But if he can play it off, he can still probably bluff his way into looking more put-together than he is. Especially with the right threats.

Even just recognizing him from the news is often enough to paralyze someone with fear.

Yeah, what's he even worrying about, he's never been a worrying about things kinda guy. He's got this. 

And if it turns out wrong he'll just improvise something like he normally does.

Meanwhile, she had regained consciousness. 

But having felt bindings on her chest and limbs, and remembering being kidnapped, tied to a chair, and having some supernatural shit happen with a large disheveled man putting a gold thing in her chest, she decided not to open her eyes yet.

If she had passed out, and her body hadn't been damaged in the time it took to wake up again, then it was probably a safer move to play dead for a little bit to get her bearings and wake up fully before she attracts attention to herself.

Running over events in her head, before examining things as much as she could without moving or opening her eyes. Feeling where the bindings were on her body and the absence of a gag this time, concrete floor beneath her feet, the shape of the chair being different from the last one she was tied to, and that she felt sweaty and dirty. 

So time must have passed between now and when she was last conscious.

Checking the smell and temperature of the room, which seemed cold and musty,  before listening closely for any clues about her whereabouts, or anyone else in the room with her.

Hearing the shuffling of fabric in front of her, and the soft sound of breathing. Sounded like someone was right in front of her.

Which means they might pick up on her faking things if she gets too obvious or if they're observant enough, so she tries to collect the rest of her thoughts and brace herself for whatever horrible thing comes next.

Her final plan being that if she can pretend to be more dizzy, scared, and naive than she is, it might help give her an opening by being underestimated.

Trying to look weak and dizzy, she slowly blinks her eyes open. Meeting the gaze of the man in front of her. Same one that kidnapped her last time…..

Wait.

Trying to be subtle about it, she looks past the man, to the stuff behind him.

That's her stuff. This is her garage.

He was somehow able to track down where she lived. Or maybe he knew before he kidnapped her?

He didn't act like he knew her, but he had acted like she should know who he is.

Not enough data to make any good inferences yet, but she adds the new information to her mental list.

Main thing is she's not dead yet, and she has to figure out why that was, and how to keep on living. 

Whatever it takes.

[helcria]

Body of Years

Summary:

Sayato and his mother Ui have an unlikely reunion during the war.

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“Stupid Itachi, stupid Sasuke, but the worst of them all is stupid fucking idiot Kabuto pushing me away like this!” A wounded Sayato complained, panting from exhaustion and practically shaking. Kabuto had healed him up somewhat from that nasty fight he had against both Yuno and Haine, but it wasn't nearly enough for him to be in any shape to fight at the moment, and Kabuto was up against some admittedly formidable foes- being Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha. Sayato's face was still red and blotchy from crying earlier during his messy mental breakdown during his own aforementioned skirmish against a sibling duo, mirroring Kabuto’s current struggle. But Sayato hadn't even bothered putting up a fight against Haine, being too upset with himself for hurting Yuno as badly as he did.

“I should go back, fuck what Kabuto said otherwise.” Sayato started walking back towards the cave. “'If you fought in your current state, you'd practically be going on a suicide mission' BIG DEAL! Maybe I WANT to fucking die! He acts like he knows soooooooo much better than me!” Sayato put on a mocking tone trying to imitate Kabuto's voice (poorly) and shoving off Kabuto's concern for him.

“Sayato?” A woman's voice shouted from a distance. “Sayato! Don't run away this time!” It was Ui Mochizuki- Sayato's mother, who had unfortunately been brought back via the Edo Tensei. She was still too far off to hear Sayato's self-loathing (and well, everyone-else-loathing too technically) dialogue, but she could still spot her baby boy from practically a mile away. He wanted to run again. He wasn't ready to face her after everything he had been through, a stark contrast from years before when he had literally kidnapped a kid just for the chance to talk with her again. And yet, here he was, not running. Might as well torch any possible positive image she had of her boy, he thought. A terse “Mom…” Was all he could manage to muster up in response to seeing her again, and stopped in place so she could catch up to him.

She ran up and immediately hugged Sayato. “I missed you so so much… I know that snake-y guy told me to stay away from you but I couldn't help myself, I just wanted to see my boy.” She pulled away from him, finally getting a look at Sayato's face. “Have you been crying?” “Have you been crying?”She asked, immediately wanting to soothe him. Sure, he's very much a grown man now, but that doesn't matter to a mother. He is and always will be her baby boy.

“Earlier. It's a long and messy story. I'm sorry I'm not in the most presentable state to actually get to see you again after all these years mom…” Sayato mustered up an apology, trying to avoid delving into his trainwreck of a life.

“You don't need to apologize, just stay with me and don't run off again, okay? I don't care how you look but I've missed out on over a decade's worth of events in your life and while I'm here I really don't want to miss out on anymore.” Sayato nodded in response to her.

“So, now that I know you're not gonna take off again, do you wanna tell your mom what's been troubling you?”

“I fucked up big time, mom.” Sayato said. “In fact, it's all I practically know how to do. My LIFE has been nothing but trouble, one disaster after the next.” Usually, he hates the idea of being anywhere near this vulnerable to anyone else, but with his mom, it was different.

“Elaborate on that one for me? Are we talking fuck ups like 'I left the pasta in the oven for too long'? Or are we more on terms of like, 'oops, I made some classmates fail the chunin exam because we mixed up our Earth and Heaven scrolls and they weren't able to get the one they needed in time and I feel super guilty about it' level fuck up?” Ui said, being a little too overtly specific on the latter scenario.

“Well… to start things off, I murdered the other two kids in squad when I was young. So maybe just a little bit more serious than either of your scenarios.”

Ui frowned. “Did you have a reason for that…?”

“Some Kiri-nin were gonna kill me, I made a lucky guess they were part of that Bloody Mist stuff and suggested the idea of killing them to try and buy some time for them to escape but things didn't turn out exactly as planned. Those kids were awful to me, and yet I still feel guilty over their murders- but not enough to have told anyone else the truth besides a friend who disappeared on some revenge quest to kill them. She succeeded, but still hasn't come back home after. Not even my boyfrie- I mean, Kabuto, that snake asshole you mentioned earlier, knows the truth. I assume he thinks I outright cold-blooded murdered them, but he knows better than to bring it up with me. Do you still love your murderer of a son?”

The redhead needed a second to absorb all the information Sayato was telling her and then answered his question, posing a question of her own in turn. “Depends. Do you still love your murderer of a mother?”

“Murderer of a mother?”

“Well, I killed an old rival of mine in this war. And I can't say I feel particularly bad about it.”

“Yeah, but you're under the control of a jutsu! You don't have a choice regardless!”… Sayato said, still not realizing Ui's point.

“And you were coerced into yours, soooo… I'd say if your crime makes you bad, then we can just be an evil mother/son duo!” Ui said in a chipper tone, which was oddly jarring given the context of the conversation, but nonetheless it felt like a little bit of weight off Sayato’s shoulders. “Anything else you need to get off your chest?”

“Maybe a little too much, mom. But I don't wanna go on about my life. Don't need to spill all those dirty secrets. There's a lot I wanna ask you. Things I never got the chance to and won't get to again.”

“I'll answer whatever you throw at me. Unless it's something super weird.”

“How did you and dad get together?”

“Well…” Ui began in, elaborating on the intricate lore between her and Shohei's eventual union and all the other juicy bits that went along with it like her rivalry with her recently deceased foe, Meguri, or all the hassle they went through thanks to Sayato's grandpa Kohaku. Sayato gained a better understanding of his mom through everything and can see how much like her he was.

“Is there anything you regret?” Sayato asked her after hearing the tale. “Anything that you'd want to do over again?”

“My biggest regret is not being around longer for you. That's the one thing more than anything else I wish I could fix. I wanted to prove a point that, what, I could contribute to some military force? That I wasn't just another kunoichi-to-housewife statistic and could keep up a career and childrearing simultaneously?”

“I admired that about you though, mom. Your shinobi career might have felt pointless, but the spite you had to keep going when others doubted you is something I wanted to emulate so badly.”

“You really do take after me, don't you? Well, try not to emulate me too much. You’ve already been through so much in this war, try not to get into any more fights unless it’s something you strongly believe in, okay? For me?” Ui playfully ruffled Sayato’s hair before noticing something was off. Her cracked, broken skin was starting to fade away. “Huh…”

“…The Edo Tensei. It got undone… So they haven't killed Kabuto yet.” Sayato felt a bit of relief, even if it was drowning otherwise in a sea of uncertainty. “Mom, I’m sorry I couldn’t have gotten over myself sooner and spent more time with you. I don’t want you to go yet!” Sayato was then promptly pulled into a hug with his mother once more.

“It’s okay, I understand it was hard for you to see me again. The fact I got this much time with you was more than I could’ve asked for. No matter what happens next, just know I’m behind you no matter what you end up doing. You’ve been through so much, and deserved better, and I’m proud of you for thriving through it all regardless. I love you Sayato, always and forever.”

“I love you too mom…” And just like that, Ui’s form vanished and she was gone from the land of the living once again. Sayato sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes, making his way back to the miserable cave, with God knows what awaiting his arrival there.

The sight he saw was not a pretty one though. Itachi was gone, predictably, but there was Sasuke, Jugo, Suigetsu, Anko still passed out on the ground, Kabuto, standing upright but his eyes were closed and… Orochimaru?!

“What the fuck is going on here?” Sayato asked. “Why is HE here? What happened to Kabuto?” Going from losing his mom, to not knowing what’s up with Kabuto, to having to see his manipulative ex again as well, but he was resolved not to have another embarrassing breakdown like he did earlier.

“Aw jeez… Looks like we’re gonna have to catch Kabuto’s little boyfriend up on everything, huh?” Suigetsu said, before Jugo cut in to explain the situation thus far to Sayato.

“Well, you guys go ahead and do whatever you’ve got to do. I’m not tagging along for this one. I’ll be here until Kabuto comes to. Whenever that is.”

“Whatever.” Sasuke shrugged him off, as if in a manner of ‘you weren’t really invited in the first place’ before heading out of the cave. Jugo and Suigetsu followed behind, with Orochimaru sauntering towards him as if to say something before following the others too.

“Whatever it is you’re going to say, I don’t wanna hear it. You’ve done enough damage to everyone here.” Sayato said, glaring at Orochimaru. “By the way, I hope you know that when we were together, I was sleeping with Kabuto too.”

Orochimaru smirked at Sayato’s comments towards him. “My, your feelings have changed from the last time we’ve properly gotten to see each other, haven’t they?”

“Drop dead.”

“Congratulations on your new-found spine, are you going to use that on Kabuto when he comes to or are you going to roll over and fall victim to his manipulations again like you did mine and repeat the patterns you’ve been through before once more?”

“I said I didn’t want to hear anything you said!” Sayato threw a kunai in Orochimaru’s direction, but he dodged it.

“Stop antagonizing him, I thought you were supposed to be coming with us.” Sasuke stepped in to break off the fighting.

“My apologies, Sasuke.” Orochimaru said, everyone in the cave knowing damn well that sorry was the last thing the snake was.

The group soon left after that, leaving just Sayato to himself (at least, as the only conscious person within the cave), to wait there until Kabuto had broken out of the Izanami.

[ryahisbored]

PART 2 BABYYYY (ignore the promise of a hiatus we don't talk about all my failed attempts I've given up)

6: Not realizing they're injured: unhealthy coping mechanisms / healed wrong / "it's not my blood"

Heh. @elf-pirate. Anyways "Insomnia" - a funky little present for me of Acorn being stupid. Enjoy. (lookit him he's so dingus) (Excerpt: Athaven's perspective)

"Athaven stretched before standing beneath the rigging. I wonder how high I can jump. He jumped and caught the rigging with one hand. Something felt strange in his back, but it was gone in an instant. He shrugged it off and pulled himself up with both hands. 

The elf climbed fast and in all directions. By the time he dropped quietly to the deck for the final time, he was out of breath and covered in sweat. His back felt a little strange; he couldn't think of why at the moment. Athaven went below deck and finally fell asleep. 

He woke up with everyone else. Something tugged at his back as he got up, and his shirt stuck to his back. Annoyed, Athaven pulled it loose and went above deck.  --

-- “My ba— oh, shit. Okay.” He swam for the ladder, followed by Ranboo. Athaven held onto the railing as he was hit by a wave of dizziness. “Shit.” He tried blinking to clear his vision. “Eret,” he called."

7. Only for emergencies: unconventional weapon / magic with a cost / "it's us or them"

Mmmmm "Featherbrook". Div... uh, overuses her magic and breaks it - which leaves with a bunch of consequences. plUs Ari literally murders to get her back. That's it :D (Excerpt: Ari's perspective)

"“You don’t… you don’t remember being there? At your father’s house?”

“A — a little. I think… the — the manacles were there…” she trailed off into silence. “Ari, I… I think I broke.” She was crying now, too.

“I got there, and — and there was crystals sticking out of the ground all the way up through the main floor and then some, it burst out of the ground on the side of the house, how… is that what you mean?”

“I… what? I do— I don’t remember, I — it felt like something… like dropping a plate on the floor… I don’t re— don’t know what happened next.”

Ari smiled, “You put your dad in a cage… so that was kinda funny to me… your brother was freaking out trying to figure out how to get him out.”

“I did that?” She paused, seeming unsure. “Oh,” was all she could say. --

-- “Right, uh — your brother tried to take you when I climbed back up but I — I just… I couldn’t let them lay a hand on you so I pushed him and he… fell against one of the crystals. Then I walked out. So I — I don’t know what happened after that, and I don’t care, frankly. I care that you’re right here, I don’t care if I had to kill to get you back.”"

8. Sleep deprivation: isolation chamber / forced to stay awake / "leave the lights on"

Listen I'm just gonna give you all the "stay awake"'s we've written, cool? Go.

a) ("A long night") The triton’s breathing was fast and shallow, but she hadn’t lost consciousness yet. “Keep — keep your eyes open; look at me. No, no, come on. I need you — I need you to stay awake for just a… little longer. Can — can you walk, if I help you?”

Ari shook her head. “’M dizzy…”

b) ("Arrow") “Quin— okay, okay, hold on.” Ari stammered as she slowly picked the elf up. Div gasped in pain. “I know, I know, just try and stay awake okay? You’re gonna be okay…” With that, and although it hurt Div more, Ari ran.

c) ("Lowren's Death") “You did so good, you’re doing so good.” 

They couldn’t stay that way for long, the boy’s hug loosened. “Shit, Leo, just stay awake for us alright? Just for a minute.”

d) ("Blizzard") “Here.”

Div put it on. “Thank you.” Ari nodded again. “Are — are you going to — to be able to stay awake?”

“If you could make your eyes flash on command, that would help.” She laughed.

e) ("Cages") Ari nodded, grabbed a bag that she filled with healing potions, and left. Nova sighed and slumped against the wall more.

“Just stay awake for a few more minutes, Nova. I’m almost done here, and I need — I need you to sho— to show me what’s wrong.” 

He rolled up his sleeve to show ugly purple and green from his shoulder to his elbow. “It’s fine — I’m fine…” he said, standing up off the wall and slowly pacing. 

“No— Nova, wai—” Div got up as she finished with the girl. “No, sit — sit down, I — please.” 

f) ("Cages") Athaven kept one hand around Kiri and stroked her hair with the other. “Are you alright?” he asked gently. 

“Tired…”

“Stay awake a little longer, and you can have something to eat. Then you can go back to sleep.”

9. Obsession: broken window / bruises / "frame me up on the wall, just to keep me out of trouble"

Mmmm I'll go with "A mistake" - Tavern basically lights on fire + lots of alchohol = not great combination... (Excerpt: Div's perspective)

"“Fucking — Eris’ wings to wax!” Div shouted.

They ran to help, and Div found Sifo snapping at the heels of anyone who got in the way of the water. An explosion went off inside, shattering a couple of the windows. Praise the earth most of the alcohol is in the storage shed! "

10. Blow to the head: slurred words / passing out from pain / "I can't think straight"

Oo! "Fighter"! This one was fun to write, Ari got hit real hard during a fight and can't remember anything and thinks she's 16 again :O (also @fish-knows-me is so precious in this one) (Excerpt: Ari's perspective)

"“I just don't…” She absentmindedly scratched at her hands. “I don't get how I went from only living on All-Port to having a crew and going… as far as that…”

“Honestly… I don’t know either. I — I don’t know… a lot of things. But we made it, and we… we have our own stories now. Somehow, I’ll help you remember. I promise.”

There was a realization. If this had happened on All-Port, she wasn't really sure if anyone would be willing to help her like this. She would've… well, probably just drank a lot and got angry. This person cared, not only about getting her memory back but for her health as well. And Aria couldn't remember the last time someone had. The triton tried not to tear up, but it didn't work. “Thank you.” She said quietly."

cool. ma back hurts. to be continued

Hello strange people. So, I thought I’d use mine (and @taline13's) stories in whumptober 2024 because i like it : D

only issue is, we have so far posted 9/112 chapters, SO I’ll be listing off which chapters apply to each day, and you guys will have to wait until it’s posted to read it :)

You get the chapter, and a small excerpt or two just so you really wanna read it when It comes out B)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55662469

Here it is and here are the prompts (so far)

1. Race against the clock: search party / panic attack / "if only we could hold on"

This one is unfinished (I think?) and untitled as of right now, but basically, Div is kidnapped for being a witch and Ari and friends have to rush to get her back. Excerpt: (Div's POV) "She had no voice left with which to scream; instead, she tasted blood. Nothing made sense anymore, and she so desperately wished for blissful unconsciousness."

2. Trust issues: Alternative prompt: Communication Barrier

A very new chapter entitled "Divine Forest and Good Food" :D - fully written by T, it is about an enderman and his brother coming to the tavern to hang out and find food, i suppose, after being rescued from captivity. Divs name in sign language is a mix of the words 'divine' and 'forest' so thats what she uses. Excerpt: (Dria's perspective)

"They waited patiently until the short brown thing finished helping another person then came to Kinel. Dria noticed their purple eyes as they inspected Kinel’s leg. They made the same strange noises everyone else did. Kinel was silent as his leg was pulled on a few times, then the purple light appeared again, and Dria felt his brother’s pain disappear. The brown thing stood up slowly and left. Kinel got to his feet, and Dria could see his joy in the way his fingers and tail stretched just a little. Together, they walked off the floating house, up the hill, and into the forest."

3. Set up for failure: Alternative prompt: Finding old messages

Ouch. uh, "Home again". Well, this is the chapter in which Ari returns home after getting very close to dying. She doesn't want to explain much of how she feels, so lets Div read the letter she wrote to her as her last words. ow. (Excerpt: Div's perspective)

"She looked up to Athaven. “Do you still have the letters?” He nodded. “I don’t want to explain it again.” Athaven took them out of his pocket and sorted through them. He set it in front of Divina. -

- By the time she was halfway through, Div was struggling for a different reason: she could hardly see through her tears. She scrubbed at her face and forced herself to read the rest. It broke her heart to have even this glimpse of what her friend must’ve felt, and still might be feeling. Div sat back when she was finished and took a deep breath. Then she turned and hugged Ari, not waiting for permission."

4. Hallucinations: hypnosis / sensory deprivation / "you're still alive in my head"

Closest to hallucinations we have (so far ;) ) is flashbacks and nightmares - so I'll go with "Div's mistake". In the middle of a whole bunch of chaos, Ari has a flashback to what happened to her in the bastion (yes, directly from JRWI). of course I can't give you the whole thing... (Excerpt: Div's perspective)

"“If you’re going to say you burnt the tavern down, which you didn’t, then I’m going to say that I almost got you killed in the Bastion.”

“Ar— Ari, is — are you — is that what happened? In the Bastion?”

“Yes, but, listen to my point. This wasn’t your fault, it was a bunch of things that happened one after another starting with you. It’s… it’s…” She looked down at her hands.

“Hey. Hey, are you okay?” Div asked.

“I — I didn’t… you were there and… no, you can’t have been there — I couldn’t…” Ari breathed faster.

“Woah, hey, look at me. Look at me.” Div cupped Ari’s face in her hands and rested her forehead against the triton’s. “It’s okay. I’m here with you. Ev— everything’s okay.”"

5. Sunburn: Healing salve / heatstroke / "If my pain will stretch that far"

hahahahha! Easy! Chapter "Well-cooked fish"! Pretty self explanatory, deserts and fish-people don't mix well. (Excerpt: Ari's perspective)

"After an hour or so, Ari started feeling weird. Occasionally, she got this weird light-headedness that felt like someone stole her consciousness for just a split second. Her lungs felt hot with the warm air she breathed, and she wished she could go back to being half-freezing under the sea. With a sinking feeling, her eyes started to unfocus, and Div’s voice started to sound farther away…"

Alright 5 is enough for today, see you all tomorrow!

(also, @taline13, respond with thoughts or edits / ideas!)

[bansheenolan]

pain makes you human.

[pianocat939]

Howdy! I was watching some of the older cookierun cutscenes earlier lastnight and after watching that one story with churro and wind archer in it(called truth of the city i think?), it got me thinkin. maybe we could get something with A Yandere Millennial Tree? Perhaps he had been watching over s/o for quite sometime, and after they’re nocked into his old alter by accident somehow (or during a fight) well… who is he to decline such an offering? IMMEDIATELY coiling them with branches and snatching them up the moment he gets the chance. uh I understand if this is a bit much tho. I mostly just had the image of “stolen by MT after being nocking into an alter” stuck in my head after seeing the ending fightscene in truth of the city. and its hard to translate that into words sometimes.

so If it is too complicated or you’d like something more simple then some basic Yandere NightRaven Windarcher HCs will do. Thank you. And remember to stay hydrated, your health is important!

I’m sorry but Millennial Tree reminds me of an old man sometimes. Like if I ever see him in literally anything I call him “old ass tree”.

But I’ll of course write your request.

(I kinda forgot the structure of the temple so excuse me for that)

Tw: MC gets shot by an arrow, MC gets trapped by branches, I think that's all.

Accidental Offering

• An archaeologist travels through the forest, holding their bag and camera while enjoying the view.

• Y/n cookie—a newly graduated archaeologist, finally had the opportunity to visit the temple of Millennial Tree.

• Although the Temple is open to the public, it still is very hard to be able to go inside the temple due to the protection of the Churro villagers.

• After a long wait and many background checks, they gave them permission to go inside; however, a member of the warriors must be by their side to make sure there is no damage to the artifacts and the structures.

• "Your village and its surroundings are quite eye-catching Churro."

• "Thank you. It is the work of Millennial Tree's greatness after all."

• The duo walk along the path to the temple, having a conversation of the nearby environment and the history of the temple.

• As they arrive, Y/n cookie takes pictures of the exterior, zooming in on the intricate patterns.

• "The designs represent the worshippers and prosperity of Millennial Tree."

• The archaeologist smiles before writing a few notes down on a small notepad before signalling Churro to go inside.

———————————————————

• The murals decorated every single space left on the surface of the walls, painting a gorgeous view for the eye.

• The statues were enormous, towering over Y/n cookie and Churro.

• "Right next door is the altar, a sacred place for us Churro warriors."

• "Such exquisitely made! The quality and structure of the material is unique yet so familiar!"

• As Y/n cookie fawns over the altar, a plum-colored arrow shot out. Churro dodges the arrow, but Y/n cookie fails to notice.

• "Y/n cookie! Are you alright?!"

• Before Y/n cookie could mumble a response, branches coil and twist around them, encasing their body in branches.

• "It can't be! Those are Millennial Tree's branches!"

• What? But I thought he only appeared in times of need?"

• Wind archer shot more arrows, trying to murder the pair.

• "Despair, no light shall live."

• The branches caught the arrows, crushing them with little to no struggle. Aware of the threat, they spring to capture Wind Archer.

• While the two are entwined in a fight, Churro calls out in confusion.

• "Great Millennial Tree why do your branches wrap around this archaeologist?"

• For a few seconds only the sound of moving echoed, but then a chuckle resonated through the temple.

• "Why this is an offering is it not? A being so interested in my temple is a rare sight to see...Especially under the protection of the Churro village.

• The arrow plunged inside of the cookie disappears, and they start to feel the wound being healed and closed.

• "Lovely offering, I will keep them safe. Don't worry about them anymore, they'll be happy with me."

• "Um I appreciate your kind words but I think this has been an accident. I'm only an archaeologist observing your temple...Not an offering."

• "As much as me and my people believe in your power, they are right. They are not meant to be an offering."

• The tree branches now block Churro's view of Y/n cookie, possessively warning him to back off.

• "Do not worry. They will be safe, now if you please, help me capture Wind Archer, Churro cookie."

• Despite his obvious worry, Churro obeys Millennial Tree and starts to engage in battle with Wind Arched along side the branches.

• "Please, let me go. I must get back to my report."

• They struggle, trying to shrug off the coils. But a cookie appears in front of them, holding their arms down.

• "Don't tire yourself, wonderful gift. Otherwise I'll have to smother you in even more love~"

• Accidents happen. It's a normal trait, but often end in disaster.

———————————————————This one was kinda chaotic but I got this done in like 45 minutes so that's expected. I apologize if I got the personalities wrong a little bit.

- Celina

[batmanrogues-scenarios]

Can I get angsty? You wtote how some characters would react if hit by batman buuut....How would dork squad and black mask react if our S/O would end up with lasting damage because of them. No matter if it would be because of batman or not as well. Lost limb, eye, mute, whatever you find matching to scenario

Riddler

One of his traps manufactured but instead but stopping it he tried to keep it going to get Batman and it's hurt S/O arm

Damage was big so he immediately went to hospital

He expected it to be in casket but when talking to a doctor he said it did damage to the nerve system so S/O might have problem with moving their arm

Just sits there quiet in the first time, 'they-they will be okay, they will heal'

Makes sure S/O is comfortable and does everything for them nervously waiting

Then the day comes and... they have trouble moving their hand; they can't bend their fingers or even get the arm high enough

He goes through stages of grief, not believing , getting angry at Batman and blaming him, having a breakdown understanding it was his action and having a depressive episode

He started making amends and helped them get rehabilitation, they won't be able to use hand normally but at least it won't hurt

Finally he accepts it and promises to keep S/O safe, won't ever bring them on heist again

Scarecrow

He throw his toxin refusing to leave and S/O had to literally drag him out of there

He accidentally sprays them straight in the eyes and he just froze when S/O started screaming

Finally gets out he gave them antidote and id trying to clean their eyes with water just to get some of toxin out

S/O is heavely crying out, eyes really red

He sees that there's something wrong with eyes and when S/O starts calling for him asking where he is he's getting a heart attack

Gets a doctor to immediately look after S/O

After few hours his fear were confirmed and S/O got a damage to eyes making them almost blind, only able to see stains of colors

He just gets up and goes outside and after taking deep breath destroys the container with toxin while screaming bloody murder

Is with S/O 24/7, refuses to leave but doesn't talk

S/O need to have conversation with him, otherwise his guilt will never go away

Would be more clingy if S/O forgives him, never let's them by hurt again

Mad Hatter

He was attacking with an axe, just being in one of his 'no understanding reality' moments

That was until he hit S/O throat

He stopped when he saw red and S/O fearful expression

His hands started shaking while trying to stop the bleeding with his scarf

Immediately tells his henchmen to take medic quickly

Stays with S/O trying to calm them

Doctor was able to stop it but their vocal cords were damaged so they voice would be destroyed, if they could even talk

He refuses to take this information, just hugs S/O saying everything will be alright

But when S/O tries to say something and they can't because of pain reality hits him and only silent tears are now present

He will do whatever S/O wants, be their voice, pick them up, he won't even say anything if they want

Just anything so they won't leave

Even when S/O starts talking they can see how uneasy he is, their voice is a reminder of what he did

Black Mask

It was another gang fight and he was just shooting people

While doing it he destroyed chain that was holding metal barrels and they fall on S/O

When he realized what happened he goes "Fuck!" and runs to them

It's hard to pick the barrels which gives him panic attack, when he finally gets them out of the way he sees S/O legs are crushed

Starts swearing and picks them at yelling at henchmen to finish the job while drives S/O to the hospital

The doctors immediately put S/O on operating table while Roman walks back to back smoking and cursing at himself

When it's done doctors said they weren't able to save one of their leg and he almost throws doctor threw a wall

He goes to see them as just stares

He cannot say anything, just walks out and punches the wall

For the first he regrets hurting someone

When S/O comes back he makes sure give them best prostetic leg

Let's them hold his arm while trying to walk, makes sure his henchmen won't comment on that

Way sweeter and delicate than he's ever been

Kisses their prosthetic to show that he still loves them

It's a painful reminder

[kerink]

dundeelemonade

I KNOOOWWWW i am just like. you know. sending vibes across time and space. hoping that he gets a clue and he can start figuring shit out sooner than later. au where he gets an inkling of how this place works a little bit faster and he gets over himself and he. and martin, martin he’s. he’s happy. keri, au where martin finds a niche for himself without all the pain and heartbreak and miscommunication. now i know that one of the tenets of the wtse au is that martin doesn’t get what he wants but i just think he could have fun running a thrift shop or smth, and being passive aggressively polite at people who dare try to shop there. britishly bitchy, in a way that brings him satisfaction, and he can come home at the end of the day feeling like he’s got a full life, instead of being dependent on jon & co to be the structure he builds his life around. idk i just love him and i am depraved enough to want to give him nice things, even just theoretically.

dee i am going to 🅱️ite you

between martin and jon, martins the one who ends up with a satisfying life. he's the one who heals and grows and changes the most. he's the one who controls his own destiny.

martin gets a job first, sure it's at carlos' lab, but he gets that job because of his knowledge and expertise. he becomes an adjunct scientist and is able to understand night vale's strangeness in ways that the other scientists can't because they have no foundation or frame of reference to work off of. to them, night vale is Strange and that's it. but martin knows this strangeness, he's familiar with this strangeness. and he is missed after he leaves because he is valuable, immensely valuable. and it's so corrective for him, to have a job where he's important and respected and he gets to tell people much more qualified than him that they're wrong and then he gets to quit

martin makes friends first. real actual friends, not the weird thing jon and cecil have going on where they connect through the hallways of the beholding's library and think each other's thoughts and feel each other's feelings. he makes friends the awkward and stilted and excited and anxious way real people do. he has his own calendar and does things the other's don't know about and has stories to tell at dinner.

martin understands night vale first. he refuses to be an unwitting victim again, he refuses to be a pawn again, he refuses to blindly trust jon again. he knows now that jon is the archivist before he's anything else. he's omniscient and thinks he knows best and will try to control everyone and everything. and he's not a bad person martin knows that, but, well. he needs to have a handle on his own shit. he needs to have independence. he can't just sit around the office filing paper and fetching tea. hes the man who walked through hell and murdered god. he wants to carry that power with him forever, cultivate it, nurture it. he wants that to be true. so he walks night vales streets and literally maps everything out. he tries to leave, over and over and over. he listens to NVCR until cecil's cryptic doublespeak makes sense.

martin grows first. he has to brave night vale and tolerate his interloper status. he walks the side walk, smoking but visible, corporal, there, because he won't be shut away again. part of being truly seen is risking being rejected and he knows he has to become okay with that. he knows that if he doesn't risk the mortifying ordeal of being known then he will end up being Lonely again. so he goes out and shows up over and over and over. he visits every shop, he (desperately) tries every tea, he goes to the grocery just to try to figure out what here is actually food. he brute forces his way into the community, hammering against his own desire to disappear and his need to make this new life work until he finally breaks through as a pillar of the community.

martin who formed his own bowling league, martin who's an active member of the PTA, martin who gets an authorship credit on the research papers coming out of carlos' lab, martin who has boys nights at big rico's speak easy, martin who gets car sick so he has to learn to drive

whenever benny and i talk about jon traveling through the doors, whether its the old oak ones to desert bluffs too or helen's, martin's always the door stop.

martin's not just a pillar of the community but he's the pillar of the family. he's jon's anchor, as he explores what it means to be a person, even if he's no longer human. he's cecil support person, as he begins to gain comfort in stories about his childhood, and how what his mother did to him changed him so irreversibly. he's carlos light house, keeping him firmly grounded in humanity as he keeps running away with night vale's madness.

and martin can be all of these things for them because in the first few months of them being here, martin took a good long look at himself and said "what is the life you want to have" and he did everything in his power to become the man he wants to be

[movedtodykedvonte]

If you’re not busy how bout a headcanon for how the four lords would react to their s/o, a doctor/field medic, somehow healing them of their cadou parasites and returning them to their normal selves

If you can't afford medical treatment just get your doctor S/O to do a quick surgery. It's legal and fun!!

Here's a cut cause this bad boy is long

Alcina Dimitrescu

You two had discussed it and agreed that it needed to be done. The girls would be in constant danger from BSAA/Blue Umbrella if Alcina was still such a strong bio-weapon.

She had worries; would she be weaker? Would she need to worry about her blood disease again? How would she protect her daughters? You assured her that you two would figure it out, that you would never do this if you thought it would do more harm than good.

The girls protested, saying they could handle whatever was thrown at them but Alcina hushed them, explaining that it was for her sake as well. It was only so long until BSAA stopped letting her get away with literal murder, no matter how necessary.

You had explained the most likely and best outcome, that she'd be cured and all the effects reversed, that she'd need regular infusions of blood and may feel weaker. You tried to treat her like a regular patient, the coldness of being a medic, but the worry loomed over you.

It was a quick procedure, the cadou just as it had smoothly integrated with Alcina, had been slipped out, the changes almost just as quick.

Her skin became humanly pale, no longer a porcelain white, wrinkles showing the age she was when infected, her height dwindling. You didn't account for her to wake up as quick as she did and had to dive to catch her as she wobbled of the operating table, not yet used to her smaller size.

"A mirror" "Are you sure, Alcina? Maybe you should-" "I want a mirror now" She was demanding, but you understood how justified that was. You only had a small one for operating on you but it would have to do.

She pulled at her face, a look of disdain as she inspecting the face of a mortal woman instead of an immortal lord. Seeing this you came up behind her, wrapping your arms around her waist like you were never able to fully do before, and planted a kiss on her cheek, now noticing how warm it was compared to her previous form

"I look horrid" "You look beautiful" The comment drew a smile from her, but you could still sense the doubt in her.

She stayed in her room for a while, you being the only one allowed entrance to tend her: Infusions, getting her used to human food rather than humans for food. Alcina insisted she fully recovers before her girls saw her as to not incite panic.

It was tough on her to be distant with her girls, but tougher on them to not see her after such a harrowing surgery.

When the girls first saw her it was as if they were interacting with a valuable and fragile vase, none of them wanted to get close in fear of hurting her, but they desperately wanted to inspect their mother.

"I'm not made of paper, an embrace won't kill me." It was lovely seeing them perk up at their mother's usual sass and even more relieving when they practically dove into her arms, bombarding her with questions on how she felt.

There were many things to still discuss, but for now, everyone was happy.

Donna Beneviento

Donna surprisingly brought it up to you first. You were having tea having a calm conversation with Angie for once. The mood felt off for that alone but for the whole day it felt off, now you knew why.

She wanted a normal life with you, one free of the mold and her dependence on her dolls. It was all a crutch and she wanted to start to walk without it.

You asked if she was sure, the dolls, especially Angie, meant so much to her, you didn't want to do it unless she was positively certain

"We've made our mind up, Y/N. We want this." Angie's serious response and Donna's nod were a startling confirmation. You set a date and prepared the tools for the procedure

Before all of that, you set up a party for Donna and Angie, placing all the dolls for one last goodbye. "Surprise!" You pop out with all the dolls, you suspect she knew as the dolls came to life to yell as well but she was crying tears of joy either way.

She said goodbye to all the dolls individually, thanking them for being there for her as she shut down her cadou in each of them. Donna told you that Angie didn't want to go until she had to. You understood completely.

On the day of the procedure, you knelt down to Angie and hugged her. She was always a little bit of a pain to you and she found you a bit dull but in the end, you cared and you were going to miss her rambunctiousness. You spared yourself the tears of a verbal goodbye as you placed her on the operating table next to Donna, she feigned unconscious to mimic her sedated friend.

It was slow and grueling to remove the cadou carefully from her face and skull, you wanted to leave as little scarring as possible. Donna had just stopped wearing the veil and you had no desire to be the reason it came back on

The procedure was no less easy as every amount removed, you noticed Angie appearing even more lifeless.

When it was done, she woke up, her working eye blinking under the bright lights of your operating chambers. She did not address you but immediately turned to Angie. You had not an idea of how she knew she was lying next to her

"Angie?" There was no response and you could see the tears forming as she slowly reached for her best friend, caressing the inanimate face. You took her other hand and squeezed it, before lifting it to your lips and planting a kiss.

Recovering was less physical than mental. Occasionally she'd ask her dolls a question, you'd catch her staring sorrowfully at them as they stared back unblinking. It was even worse when you heard her call for Angie, knowing it was impossible for her to respond.

Sometimes you'd find her staring out the window, holding Angie as she took in the horizon.

"It's difficult... She was always there for me." She stared at Angie, brushing the veil from her face as the setting sun leaked in. You sat next to her, leaning in close so you could support Angie's slumped head... Donna smiled at the action. "But, I suppose there's a lot else for me too." Donna rested her head on your shoulder, now looking at the broad horizon before you both.

Salvatore Moreau

It hurt you like nothing else to see Salvatore live in constant pain and suffering. You had done wonders for the hurt of loneliness but physically he was still in agony.

He has insisted not to burden yourself with him and that he was used to it, but the more he assured you the less you actually felt comforted. It came to a head one day that all he was doing was vomiting. You were sure you saw red at some point

"Stop saying you're fine!" "I'm used to it, Y/N" "Well I'm not!" You were a medic, it had become an instinct to stop people from being in pain, and Moreau made it flare up.

He refused to be operated on, making up excuses or insisting it was not a big deal to him after all these years. Clearly, you could tell it was something else, something he wasn't telling you but he refused to let it slip. It became a strain on your relationship. It felt bad but you had to threaten to leave if he was not going to be honest. He owed you that.

You felt even worse when you found out. "I'm scared it would get worse!" You realized that the last time Moreau was likely on an operating table, it turned him into what he was now. It was beyond inconsiderate to try and force him through it again.

For a while, you dropped it, letting the waters calm... until another vomiting fit happened and you thought you might lose him.

Luckily you didn't and unluckily for Moreau he had to see you're tear-ridden face the whole time, unable to assure you he would be fine due to the wretching. A day later he agreed to let you try.

You were relieved but now it went on to how you were exactly going to do this. You were unsure if removing the cadou would be enough to rid him of the tumors or if you would be on that too, you had no intention to make things worse like he feared.

A while passed as you collected the tools and set up an area in the reservoir to operate, everytime you made progress Moreau strayed farther from the area.

You finally finished and Moreau was off lurking in the waters, much like a child hiding from getting a shot. "Are you ready?" "Yes." "Are you lying?" "Yes." You were happy he found humor in the situation but you needed confidence.

You practically held his hand the whole way to the table, both to keep him from escaping to the water and a half for comforting, his grip did not slip until you had fully sedated him.

The procedure was more difficult than ever expected, the tumors were gelatinous and blocked the way to his cadou. You had to be careful not to burst one as well as not to accidentally paralyze him due to the proximity to his spine. It was slow and meticulous but eventually, you got it all.

Nothing happened. He laid unconscious on the table, cadou thoroughly gone, you made sure... but nothing happened. Did you fail? Was there another one? You pondered the possibilities but quickly stood up as the tumors began to swell, becoming enflamed before one burst, an acidic substance barely missing you and melting part of the floor. As more popped you took cover as not to get burned.

The grotesque sounds of bursting meat slowly faded, becoming less frequent until they stopped, but you waited, ensuring you did not accidentally get splashed by a straggler.

"Y/N?" The sound of your name from a familiar deep but the somehow less nauseous voice made you peer from around your cover, a man all too foreign and all too familiar sat dazed-looking on the table.

"Salvatore?" {Insert your own description of Moreau, I don't want to intrude on anyone's interpretation.} "Y/N!" He immediately tried to get off the table to come to you before you quickly stopped him, remnants of acid a very real danger. You covered a path and made your way to him, stopping at the edge of the table. "Did it work?"

Something about the question seemed laughable as you assumed the feeling would be completely different, but you still pulled a mirror close and let him marvel at a face he had long forgotten.

"Did I make it worse?" It was a snarky remark at his previous fears, probably a little insensitive but at the moment he smiled, suddenly pulling you into your first full kiss in your relationship. "Not at all."

Karl Heisenberg

You were helping him in the factory one day, decommissioning the more specialized soldats at the request of BSAA. You being less tech-oriented focused on the less mechanical soldiers while Karl took on the scrap heavy ones.

Having used some Cadou in them, you had to carefully remove that too, to ensure they would not resurrect after the metal was removed. It took no time for Karl to piece together who else that skill could be used on.

"Make space for me on your schedules, Y/N" He lit a cigar after the sentence, not explaining further. "Excuse me?" "You heard me, sweetheart." He ripped a core from another soldat before putting it on the belt to bring it towards you. You stared in disbelief.

"You want me to remove your cadou?" "Yep." "But I thought BSAA was." "I don't want those dick heads snooping in my body like I'm some labrat. You do it." The conversation was quick and honestly, it should have been expected.

Karl had joked with you before that you could take away his cadou. Just snip and a rip and it'd be done. You explained it wasn't that simple and he would chuckle out an agreement, but you could tell that the jokes had an air of seriousness around them. It had been his goal for a while to reverse what had been done to him

Picking a date was the biggest issue. Karl wanted to do it as soon as possible, get it out and be rid of it. You had to explain you needed time to prepare as the place was delicate and a risk. You knew it was out of excitement and anticipation.

When you finally made time, Karl was on the table before you had even put on gloves or disinfected it. "An eager beaver I see?" You tried to bring the humor Karl often did to scenarios like this, but you could see a sense of series on his face, even the glint of his glasses seemed steeled. "I want every trace of that bitch gone."

You nodded, pulling out the syringe to sedate him as you laid him down on the table. Removing his glasses you looked directly in his eyes, there was a trust in his that made you that much more determined. "You ready?" You asked as a medic protocol. "Just stick me doc." You rolled your eyes as he smirked before relishing in the slight scared look he gave the needle when you lifted it before him

The silence of it all unnerved you. Karl was always making wisecracks or jokes to alleviate the dreary mood of the factory. Having him laying silently before you, face still somehow serious while completely relaxed, made it all the more discomforting.

You worked diligently, careful to find all traces of the cadou and to remove them into a jar you had set aside. It was long but you did it with dutiful ease, Karl had waited so long for this and you must do it right

When it was all finished you took the jar, disgusted at the somehow living organism inside. How could she put this in someone she considered her child. Bitch, was too kind a word Karl used for her. You took the jar to a furnace, throwing it in and watching the thing wriggle frantically before burning to a crisp.

Coming back to the table you found Karl stirring awake, groggily holding himself up on his forearms. "So, how'd it go?" "You tell me?"

Karl looked around the room, his hammer resting in the corner. Focusing on it he waited for the item to float toward him, yet it remained still. After a minute of nothing he stopped, a slow chuckle emerging from him, melding into a proud laugh.

"Well, I'll be damned, Y/N. You've outdone yourself." He began patting himself in search of a cigar. You pulled one from the side table and offered it, snatching it away before he could get a grasp on it. "No smoking until you're fully healed."

He shook his head, chuckling a little more before sitting up and pulling you close. Tilting your head up he locked your lips together. Pulling apart he smiled, "Whatever you say, doc."

I completely forgot that Moreau was a doctor and honestly I should've added something about medical knowledge but its super late and I have a job interview to get up for.

[boldlyvoid]

ain't it fun?

summary: reader just needs an NA meeting before they have a meltdown, they end up with the best friend they could ever make.

warnings: Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Drug Addiction, Trauma Bonding, narcotics anonymous meetings, Strangers to Lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, meet-cute,

word count: 3.3K

a/n: this is completely self-indulgent and overly personal but i def recommend writing why spencer would love you as a form of therapy

read on ao3

In the blink of an eye, she was up and racing around her apartment. Her mental health was like a teeter-totter, and right now she was on her way to the top. Mania was creeping in; changing from just anxiety-induced butterflied to the feeling that she could jump off a building and survive.

That was never a good time. All she wanted was to either spend all her money, fuck a stranger or get high as shit. It made her legs jumpy and her ears ring and she couldn’t take it anymore. It was all too much.

She threw on a sweater and jeans, her hair was up in a butterfly clip and she hastily threw on her fanny pack full of everything she needed as well as a big coat, and she then left her apartment. She got to the stairs before realizing she actually needed to lock the door.

Her hands shook and she tried to slide the key into the lock, dropping them as her neighbour rushed out of the room and startled her. “Sorry,” she heard him say.

She picked up her keys and turned to look at him, “can you help me? I can’t seem to stop shaking,” she asked as she held her keys towards him.

“yes, sure,” he rushed the words out as he walked towards her, only looking at the keys, never in her eyes. But that was okay, she was never a big fan of eye contact.

He placed her keys back in her hand and took a step back, “are you alright?” he asked.

“No,” she said honestly. “I’m going to find an NA meeting.”

“Do you have one in the area? I haven’t seen you around before?”

She shook her head, surprised that he was also an addict, he didn’t look like he’s ever even smoked weed.

“No, I moved in only a little while ago on a whim, but I think it’s time I got some support,” she said as they started to walk down the hallway together. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”

“Spencer,” he smiled softly. “I’m going to a meeting right now, actually, if you’d like to come? I won’t exactly be anonymous to you, but it’s a good one to go to if you just need one to fill the void until you find your preferred group.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I need.” She smiled at him this time as he held the door open for her. “So, have you lived around here for long?”

“For about a few years now.”

“The building is good then? I was a little hesitant but I needed to get away,” she said, this time holding the door for them to leave the building and turn down the street towards where she knew the subway was.

The moon should be out, she looked up but only sees buildings. It was the one thing she missed the most about not being in the country; seeing the stars and feeling like there was a reason to it all.

“Are you running from someone?” He asks as they start the walk down to the meeting.

“Myself,” she said softly. “I’m on disability and don’t drive and I lived in the middle of nowhere with my parents, well into my 20’s, and I needed a change so my parents surprised me by saving up money for a few month's rent and told me to follow my heart.”

“And you picked Virginia?”

“I stayed in Virginia, just moved into the city. I watch a lot of murder documentaries in my free time, I thought being near Quantico would introduce me to some interesting people, but I have yet to meet anyone from the FBI at all.”

She laughed to herself at how dumb it was that she wanted to meet a profiler like Holden Ford from Mindhunter, “either they are all very good at keeping their jobs secret or Virginia is a very large and densely populated area with a low percentage of FBI agents.”

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“How long have you lived here?” he asked, slowing as he walked so he could look at her.

“2 months.”

“It took you two months to meet the FBI agent across the hall from you.”

“You’re kidding?” she said, stopping on the sidewalk abruptly. “I knew that apartment was calling me for a reason.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but, are you really just coincidentally my neighbour or are you secretly spying on me because you have an evil plan to kill me and my co-workers?” he's completely serious, it's almost scary.

“No offence, Spence, but for a supposed FBI agent that’s a dumb question to ask,” she said, pointing finger guns at him, “you don’t think I’ll give up my cover that easily? Do you?”

He points a finger gun back at her, “technically, I’m a doctor.”

The two of them narrow their eyes at each other, slowly walking in a circle, still facing each other with their make-believe guns trying to hold back smirks. She lowered her ‘weapon’ first. “It’s okay, doctor, don’t worry. I’m not a spy just an idiot with an imagination.”

He giggled softly, “I’ve never felt this comfortable with someone this fast.”

“Well, you are with criminals a lot, right? That would be alarming if you bonded with them,” she said, bumping her shoulder into his as they walked. “But I feel the same. I actually haven’t talked to someone in person in forever.”

“No?”

“I do most of my work and socializing online,” She felt embarrassed, but in today’s day and age, it wasn’t that weird. “I’m not very good outside or with people.”

“If it wasn’t for my job, I don’t think I would go outside very often either. My co-workers are my only friends, they’re more like my family actually.”

“That’s so wonderful to hear, found family is very important,” her smile disappeared as she thought about how alone she was. “Um, can I ask what it is you do at the FBI?”

“Behavioural Analysis.”

“Holy shit," she gasps, knowing way too much about that unit thanks to fucking Netflix, "that’s what the BSU became right? Do you work with the really fucked up shit?” she asked softly.

He laughed, “oh yeah, I really do.”

“Do you share a lot at NA?”

“Kinda, I tend to ramble about facts when I’m nervous so sometimes my short talk becomes more like a ted talk and what was supposed to be just me saying I haven’t relapsed on Dilaudid becomes a lesson on how the human brain works,” he explained, rambling just like he said he would.

She nodded along as he spoke, “funny, that was also my drug of choice.”

“Liquid or oral?”

“Oral. I was given it after I had my appendix out when I was 17. They get you started real young now, big pharma has its hand in everyone's pocket,” she presses her lips together awkwardly, “it was rough.”

He hummed in agreement. “I was held captive by an unsub with multiple personalities. One personality drugged me till I died and the other one brought me back.”

“Spencer, Holy fuck?” she stopped and stared at him so incredibly concerned for someone who just met him. She reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder and looked him in the eyes, “I know I barely know you, but if you need someone to talk I’m literally always across the hall.”

“Thank you,” he smiled softly as he looked back into her eyes. “The meeting is right there across the street, do you want a coffee first? The place beside it is amazing.”

She nodded and he took her hand, looking both ways before J-walking across the street with her to buy her a coffee and a snack. Maybe that would help her stop shaking, he looked like he worried about her and she wasn't used to that at all.

He didn’t talk at this meeting, he sat in the chair beside the group leader, she sat down across from him in the circle so she could focus. When the floor was opened up to new members, Y/N stood at the first chance she got.

“Hi I’m Y/N,” she said, to which she was welcomed by the crowd.

“I’m new to the city and looking for a new home group, not sure if I’ll stay here because I know Spencer outside of here but I really just needed to come today.”

She takes a deep breath as she thinks of how to start it, opting to just explain it and let the rant go where it may.

“I’ve never lived alone before and it’s incredibly hard to occupy my time without drugs. I still smoke weed to help me sleep at night but my addiction is with Dilaudid and then Benadryl a little after having surgery in high school. I don’t know if it’s my trauma, my disability or my Autism, maybe it’s my OCD, I really don’t know, but I just feel so useless and alone and boring and lonely, the drugs used to help but they don’t anymore and I really just don’t want to feel this way anymore.”

They all looked like they understood, small smiles grew all around the circle as she took a lookout at the crowd, “Thank you for letting me get that out.”

Everyone clapped as she sat back down and wiped a tear off her cheek.

The meeting ended shortly after that, Spencer walked from his seat in the circle to where she was sitting, reaching a hand out to help her to her feet. “For the record, I think you’re funny, smart, kind and pretty. And you don’t have to be alone anymore if you don’t want to be.”

She slapped her hand into his and stood up with purpose, “Did we just become best friends?”

“I believe we did.”

The walk home was much like the walk there. They traded facts, they flirted, they laughed, she pushed him into a pole at one point, by accident as they laughed. The two of them stopping to sit at a bus bench, laughing so hard she felt like she would pee her pants right then and there.

By the time they were back on their floor, it was well after midnight. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to meetings with you.”

“Oh, why?” he looked disappointed.

“Isn’t rule 13 that you’re not supposed to want to sleep with your group members when you’re healing?”

“Wanting to and doing it are two very different things,” he corrected her as he waited at his own door.

She smirked, “you’re right. Still don’t think I can go back with you, however.”

“I’ll probably have a case tomorrow, they normally take me out of town for at least a week, but when I get back, can I see you?” he asked lightly.

“Knock on my door when you get back,” she said before standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “See you.”

“Bye.”

They waved from their doors before departing, excited by something that felt better than drugs.

—

120 hours later there was a light knock at her door, she knows exactly how long it’s been because she’s been counting and looking out the door at every noise for the whole time he’s been gone. Waiting for him like a wife whose husband went off to war, not knowing when their next correspondence would be.

“Coming,” she called, stopping to fluff her hair and straighten her glasses before she opened the door.

“Spencer!”

“Hi,” he said softly.

She took a moment to look him over, a little in shock at what she saw. He was in a plain t-shirt and track pants, he had not one, but two black eyes, bandages on his brow bone and scrapes all along his arms.

“Are you okay?”

“You should see the other guy,” he giggled softly, rolling his eyes.

“Come in, let’s sit you down.” She worried, taking him by the elbow and helping him inside.

“I’m fine, really, I’m used to this.”

“Well I’m not,” she reminded him with a nervous pout, “am I allowed to ask about it or is it classified stuff?”

He sat on the couch and patted a seat beside himself so she would join him. He rested his arm against the back of the chair so that she could slide in beside him.

“Did you hear about the child abduction in Tampa?”

“Yeah? The two boys?”

“I was trying to talk the unsub down and he dropped the gun but he grabbed me as I turned him around and punched me in the face and we fell into the ditch and I luckily managed to flip over him and get his hands behind his back and cuffed faster than I ever have before.”

“You’re amazing,” she whispered.

He laughed, “if I really was, I would have waited for backup before talking to the guy.”

“I’ve always wanted to help other people get justice but not being able to go to school makes it hard to get a job doing anything meaningful,” she whispered, ashamed of the fact she wasn’t successful like most people her age.

“Our technical analyst was hired because she was an amazing hacker, they will hire anyone who is valuable.” He shrugs and watches her face light up at the idea.

“You know what, we have meetings all this week unless there’s an emergency, if you want I can show you around the office?” he offered. “It’s not illegal for you to pass by what I’m working on and notice something I missed.”

“Spencer, I don’t even know your last name and you’re inviting me to your government job? When just last week you asked, not so jokingly, if I was a secret agent trying to kill you and that you’ve been kidnapped before?”

“Doctor Spencer Reid, and what can I say?” he said shyly, “I’m trying to find excuses to see you smile all the time.”

She placed her hand on his cheek, the tips of her fingers lightly resting on his purple and yellow bruised eyes. She leaned in slowly and kissed him on the lips, so gently as if she’s afraid he’ll break or turn into a frog… he was too good to be true.

“You can see me whenever you want, Doctor Spencer Reid…”

He kissed her again, letting his hands roam her back and she trailed her free hand down his chest. She pulled back slightly to throw a leg over him carefully and sit in his lap. Holding his face in her hands now, she peppered kisses over his bruised face.

She stopped to look at him, still holding his face in her hands as his hands now rested on her hips. “I really like you, Spencer.”

“Really?”

She looks at him carefully, analyzing his response and seeing the hurt that rested deep inside of him, “I take it you’re like me?”

“What does that mean?”

“You try to not get too involved with people because no one has ever shown you true genuine interest or love, and you never think you’ll find it anyway so you push away all small acts of kindness, thinking it’s friendly because then you can’t get your hope up, just to have that person drop them?” she explained herself in a whisper.

He nodded, “you get it.”

She kissed his lips again, and then over his cheek and up to his ear, “I do.”

He looked extra sad when she pulled away, she just held his face gently as she mirrored his puppy dog eyes. Communicating with their eyes, she knew he was okay and he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she smiled.

“Want to watch a movie?” She asks softly.

He nods, looking behind her to see she doesn’t have a tv in the living room. “How?”

“In my room, the TV is on my dresser if you don’t mind sitting in my bed?”

He shakes his head in a simple no, picking her up and taking her to her room. He knew where it was purely because her apartment was just his but backwards. She laughs, holding onto him tight as she rests her head on his shoulder.

He sets her down gently, watching her move up to the headboard and wait for him. They got under the blankets and she found the remote in the sheet before she cuddled into him.

“You’re really cuddly,” she complimented him as he wrapped an arm around her and held her close. He kissed the top of her head as a thank you.

“I think I’m going to end up falling in love with you, Spencer Reid,” she whispers the words, afraid of them more than his response.

“I beat you to it,” he whispers right back.

She shoots up, turning to look at him with surprise. “How?”

He looks at her like she grew two heads, “what do you mean how?”

“How did you fall in love with me? You don’t even know me?” She’s so confused, no one has ever loved her before and it’s a lot to take in.

“Y/N…” his face drops, his heart physically breaks in front of her. “I don’t know you, you're right. Not all of you, at least. I’m sure you have your hidden doors and locked cupboards but from the outside, I see you’re so beautiful, you’re radiant… your mind is lovely. You’re so kind, you’re so brave, you’re everything I wish I could be as charismatically as you are.”

She’s just swallowing over and over as she shakes her head and breathes through her nose, processing it. She’s breathing deeply then, staring off and she feels like she’s having a new kind of panic attack. A happier one, somehow?

“I don’t like myself, but if you like me I guess I must be pretty nice,” she smiles, accepting his praise and believing him. “Yeah. Thank you, Spencer.”

He smiles then, it’s cute and press-lipped and she swears he almost has dimples. His eyes are like honey and his lips are like roses. She leans in, kissing him and reaching a hand back to cup the nape of his neck.

He doesn’t know it, but he’s the first person she’s kissed in a few years. They’re soft, peck after peck as they hold each other softly, eyes open as they watch each other experience the happiness of finding someone good, finally.

“I uh, I wanted to tell you I’m almost exactly everything you described yourself as in the meeting,” he whispers against her lips, the air touching her skin gently as she absorbs the words.

“What part? My diagnosis or my self-hatred?” She smiles, okay with either really.

“Almost both, I’m pretty hard to be around.”

She shakes her head, “I invited you in for a movie, not a pity party. You can tell me everything you hate right now and then we should just share the good parts okay? Brag about yourself. Tell me what you’re proud of.”

She was really serious, keeping a stern look on her face as she spoke. He nodded, “I’m anxious all the time, I’m always worried because I’ve never had anyone to worry about me. I don’t know how to be a real person really, all I do is drink coffee and solve crimes and I barely sleep. And the only time I was relaxed and okay is when I was on drugs.”

She nodded, “it fucking sucks, doesn’t it? Like why did we get stuck like this, I don't care about peaking in high school but didn’t we deserve some kind of love and support? I’ve never understood if souls and shit are real, why did mine pick this terrible meat suit and awful traumatic path?”

She’s crying because she’s angry and because she’s never said it to anyone before. He cries because she understands. She truly knows.

“I love you,” he announces. “Just because of that.”

Taglist: @blanchardsbk @shemarmooresfedora @spencers-dria @spookyspence @reidsfish @manuosorioh @mochionly @samuel-de-champagne-problems @jswessie187 @k-k0129 @calm-and-doctor

[i-am-a-closet-fanfic-fiend]

In a Heartbeat ~ Doctor!Bucky x Reader Oneshot

A/N: Title subject to change. This is a GIANT CONGRATULATIONS PRESENT for my fave Doctor!Bucky lover and yours @captainscanadian Because my girl finished undergrad today! Congrats, bby! Enjoy this doctor!bucky fluff that I said I would write a million years ago. ;) I'm so proud of you!!

Summary: What should have been a fun night out ends in the ER. At least your doctor is handsome?

Characters/Pairings: Bucky x Reader, Wanda Maximoff

Warnings: Injuries (fractured ankle), hospital, getting a cast, xrays and catscan. I think that's it. Fluff

Word Count: 2190

For the first hour of your stay in the ER you couldn’t decide if the constant beeping from the machine beside you was calming or irritating.

As it rolled into the second hour, you settled on irritating. You glared down at your ankle even though it was hidden under the blanket. You moved it ever so slightly, wincing as it caught on the sheet.

You unlocked your phone, letting your friends know that yes you were still here. And no you didn’t have any updates. And no they shouldn’t feel guilty.

A small part of you had blamed them in the first moments, after all they were the ones who convinced you to celebrate the end of finals with some drinking and dancing.

You checked your make up in the mirror next to your front door before locking up. You glanced at the door across the hall, hoping to catch the eye of your hunky neighbor before heading out. But no dice.

Oh well. At least your dress would likely be appreciated at the club. You’d even pulled out your comfy heels. Heels which were now mocking you from their spot on the chair next to your purse.

You’d been feeling good strutting down the stairs of your apartment building when a group of college kids who had clearly been pre-gaming, thundered past you, forcing you to press up against the wall. When you’d taken your next step your heel broke and you went sliding down 15 stairs.

You’d thought your ass had taken the worst of it until you tried to stand up and immediately cried out in pain.

So instead of ferrying you to a club, the Uber your friends arrived in took you to the hospital. You’d sent your friends on their way once you’d been processed and were waiting to be admitted. No need to spoil everyone’s night.

But now five hours later and bored out of your skull you were regretting that decision. You were going to lose your mind. You’d only left the room twice. Once for an x-ray and once for a CT scan.

You turned on the TV and settled on the game show network, letting the episode of family feud distract you.

You were on your third episode when a nurse came in.

“Hello. I’m Wanda, the night shift nurse. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. I’m just eager to get out of here.”

“I’ll bet you are. Dr. Barnes should be in soon,” she assured you. “He just finished up a surgery.”

“Sounds good.”

She checked your chart, noting your vitals and making sure that you weren’t tangled in any wires.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Can I have some water?”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

Wanda brought back a cup of water and a warm blanket.

“Thought you might be cold,” she explained.

“Actually yeah. Thanks. Is there any way I can take this off?” You gestured to the heart rate monitor on your finger.

She shot you an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry. It’s protocol.”

“Worth a shot,” you shrugged.

“I’ll come and check on you in a little bit.”

“Thank you.”

She bustled out of the room and you turned your attention back to the TV which had moved on the Price is Right reruns.

You must have drifted off because the next thing you know you were being gently shaken. Your eyes were finally able to focus on a pair of entirely too blue eyes.

As your brain caught up, you realized the blue eyes were set in a very handsome face. A familiar handsome face at that.

“2A?” you asked cocking your head to the side.

He chuckled as you readjusted yourself trying to discretely check that you hadn’t drooled in your sleep.

“Most people call me Dr. Barnes. Or Bucky.”

“Bucky?”

That made even less sense. You were certain the name on his mailbox was James.

“My middle name is Buchanan. And what shall I call you, 2B?”

“Y/n.”

“Well it’s very nice to officially meet you, Y/n. Although I wish it were under better circumstances. Let’s take a look at this ankle shall we?”

You nodded, and he took that as an assent to lift the blanket. He folded in neatly up over your knee leaving most of your lap covered. You grimaced when you saw the swelling was even worse now than when you arrived.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

You relayed your story to him, omitting the bit about hoping to run into him. He listened intently, making the occasional note but mainly he just nodded.

“I’m going to examine it now,” he announced.

His hands were sure and practiced as he gently turned your ankle from side to side. It twinged occasionally, so you focused on his features to distract yourself.

You catalogued each in turn but lingered on his sharp jawline. Your thoughts drifted to peppering kisses along it and down his neck.

You were startled when his cerulean gaze met yours with a concerned look.

“Did that hurt?”

“Not really. Why?”

You were genuinely confused by the question. You hadn’t noticed anything amiss in his examination.

“Your heart rate was elevated. And you, ummm,” he broke eye contact for the first time.

“I what?”

“Squeaked.”

Your eyes widened and your chest felt hot with embarrassment. You glanced at the traitorous machine which was live casting your racing heart. Although that probably was less of the issue than the fact that you squeaked.

“I guess the hospital just makes me nervous,” you lied lamely.

He didn’t look convinced but thankfully let it go.

“I just need to check one more angle.”

This time it was painful and you yelped.

“Sorry.” He gingerly placed your foot back on the pillow that had been elevating it and covered it with the blanket.

He held the CT scans and X-rays up to the light as you watched him. You once again failed to notice your heart rate climbing as you admired the bulge of his bicep.

Dr. Barnes however definitely noticed. He smiled over at you reassuringly, which failed to help the issue at all. He glanced at the erratically beeping machine, before looking back to you. You would swear that there was a hint of smugness in his expression. But he kept it well hidden.

“Well, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.”

“Lay it on me, doc.”

“Well, the good news is that you will not be needing surgery. It’s a minor fracture.”

“And the bad news?”

“It’s a minor fracture that requires a cast.”

“How long?”

“Eight weeks. Total.”

“Eight weeks on crutches?” You whined.

“You should only be on crutches for the first four. After that, assuming everything is healing well, you’ll be in a walking cast.”

You groaned and shot a murderous glare at your heels once again.

“The price we pay for fashion.”

“I’ll have Wanda prepare everything now. It should only take about an hour.”

“Well, that sure cuts into my dancing plans,” you joked, frustrated by being stuck there for another hour.

It would be morning before you got home.

“Is that where you were headed?” he asked as he pressed the call button.

“Yeah. My friends finally convinced me to go out with them for once and look where it got me,” you laughed humorlessly. “Well at least I’m done for the summer. So the leg won’t mess me up too bad.”

Wanda appeared in the doorway.

“What do you need, doctor Barnes?”

“I need a cast kit. For the ankle.”

“Got it. I’ll be right back.”

You expected Bucky to leave then, but he continued bustling around the room.

“You said you’re done for the summer. Are you a teacher?”

“Kinda.”

He quirked an eyebrow at you.

“I’m a graduate student. So I just finished up TAing for the semester.”

“Ahh. Are you doing research then?”

“I’m finishing up the edits on my thesis actually. So this might actually make me do it instead of procrastinating," you giggled.

“What’s your thesis on?”

You were in the middle of explaining your thesis, when Wanda returned. Genuinely interested in your area of research, Bucky continued asking you questions as he wrapped the liner around your leg.

From time to time he would grin up at you and the damn heart rate monitor would go off all over again. You’d gotten over your embarrassment for the most part, until Wanda had to suppress a giggle because your heart actually skipped a beat.

“Alright. You are all set. Wanda will grab you your crutches and your discharge papers. You’ll need to make a follow up with your Orthopedic in four weeks.”

“Since I don’t have an orthopedic on speed dial, do you know any good ones?”

Bucky chuckled.

“I’ll have her put my practice’s number on the sheet.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

“No problem. Do you have any questions before I go?”

“How long do you think getting all the paperwork sorted will take?”

“Not long. Twenty minutes or so. Why?”

“Just wondering if I should order my Uber now or wait.”

He glanced at the clock on the wall. His fingers drummed against the clipboard in his hand as he momentarily mulled something over.

“If you’re willing to wait another forty-five minutes, I can drive you home when I get off my shift.”

You immediately shook your head.

“You so don’t need to do that.”

“Please. It’s literally on my way home.”

You nibbled on your lip. It would be a lot easier.

“If you’re sure.”

He seemed almost relieved when you accepted.

“Absolutely. It’s been pretty quiet tonight, so you can just hang out in here until I get back.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

He smiled, softer than the other ones he’d given you so far before hanging your chart on the end of your bed and exiting the room, bumping into the glass door as he went. You stifled a giggle. Maybe you weren’t the only one affected.

It took a little over thirty minutes to get you processed. And before you knew it Bucky was helping you into his car. You went in butt first and then swung your cast leg, followed by your good leg in just a hospital sock. Bucky handed you your shoes and purse.

“So, do you chauffer all of your patients home?” You teased as you left the parking lot.

“Only the ones who live across the hall. Speaking of which, I am sorry this is the first time we’ve gotten to meet properly. Not very neighborly of me.”

“I can’t imagine why you haven’t made your way over with your loads of free time,” you deadpanned, earning you an eyeroll. “But however it happened, I’m glad that we met. It was getting to the awkward stage.”

“Yeah, seven months of passing waves is a long time.”

You hummed your agreement.

“So, how did you get into medicine?”

“Family business.”

He told you all about his surgeon mom and physician father as you drove home. His siblings were also in medicine and even his childhood best friend.

“That is so many medical degrees in one house. Must be rousing holiday dinner conversations.”

“We actually have a no shop talk rule.”

“And how long does that last?” you asked knowingly.

“Through appetizers… maybe.”

“Your family sounds amazing.”

“They are. I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” he admitted as he parked his car.

Bucky carefully helped you out of the car and up to your apartment. You’d never been so glad to live in a building with an elevator.

“I feel like I should offer you breakfast for bringing me home,” you admitted as you plopped down on the couch, and lifted your foot onto the coffee table exhausted from the crutches.

“You need to stay off that foot. But I’m sure you’re starving and so am I. Got any pancake mix?”

“Doctor Barnes, you really don’t have to do that.”

“It’s Bucky. We’re back to just neighbors here. And I want to.”

“How can I repay you?”

“Think about going out on a date with me when your leg is all healed.”

You cocked your head, as you appraised him.

“Just think about it?”

He scratched behind his ear as he shrugged a little.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you out for well… about seven months. But I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything. Because you don’t. I would have brought any of my neighbors home,” he rambled.

“You’re a really good guy,” you hummed.

“Could you tell my Ma that?” he joked, though his ears tinged pink.

“Happily. And I’d love to think about going on a date with you.”

He beamed back at you.

“I’ll take it. So pancakes?”

“In the cabinet above the fridge. Next to the chocolate chips.”

He nodded, taking the hint on your favorite add on.

“I’m on it.”

Eight weeks later when your walking cast came off, you and Bucky went out for dinner… for your two month anniversary.

Your heart definitely still raced when he smiled at you. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

A/N: There we have it! I hope you enjoyed @captainscanadian.

[failedskillcheck]

Change with the Tides (Part 1/??)

A/N: Hiya! This is a little thing that I wanted to write, where the reader is a changeling wizard/rouge working for the Gentleman and joins the Mighty Nein! This takes place around 2x14-2x16. I’ll probably write it for the whole campaign.

You grew up in the various orphanages of Wildemont, starting in Port Damali, then Alfeild, Nogvurot, Trostenwald, Rexxentrum, and Deastock, eventually ending up in Zadash.

Due to your race, people found it hard to trust you. You didn’t really blame them, you had been picking pockets since you were seven. In Alfeild, you managed to steal a few spellbooks off of a traveller and began teaching yourself magic. Mostly Illusion spells, but you got your hand on some water-based magic as well.

When you grew out of the system, you were in Zadash, so you went about looking for the Gentleman. By the time you were 23, you had a secure career with him.

That is until a group barged into the underground bar, a strange collection of individuals calling themselves the Mighty Nein… but there were only seven.

From your seat at the bar, you couldn’t see them. You subtly put up your usual disguise, a human woman with brown hair and dark eyes, except you keep the hair a platinum blonde, the closest colour to your true form.

Cree noted one of the adventurers, a purple teifling she called Lucien. The man was a literal peacock. In fact, you’re pretty sure you saw a peacock tattoo creeping up his neck. You noted the others. An aloof half-orc, an energetic blue teifling, a massive woman who could probably crush you, a human woman in Cobalt Soul blue, and a human man in dirty brown clothing, sticking close to a small goblin. The goblin surprised you. You were all too aware of what people thought of monstrous races like hers.

The group went to the Gentlemans’ table, and you snickered, sipping on your drink. Then, Clive comes over and leans over the bar, “He needs you.” You sigh, down the rest of your drink, and walk over to the table, knowing that the drink will be paid off later.

“What’s up Boss?” You say as you reach the table, grabbing the chair closest to him. You’re his best employee. He knows that, everyone here knows that. There’s very little you can’t get away with.

“Ah, Y/N. Meet the Mighty Nein. You may recognize those two,” he gestures to the purple teifling and the monk, “as the two who murdered the High-Rictor. They’ve agreed to do me a favour, in exchange for me clearing their names.”

“So you’re the sorry sods he’s making go to that blasted facility,” you turned your head to the Gentleman, “Let me guess, I’m going with them?”

“You are the one who found it.”

“So when do we leave?” You asked, looking back at the group, who all seemed to be talking to one another. All of them except for the half-orc, who was instead watching you.

“Tomorrow, we need to prepare first.”

The Gentleman waved you off, and you went to your bed in the upper part of the Evening Nip, then preparing some things for your mission tomorrow. You went down to the bar, waiting for the Mighty Nein.

They finally arrived, and they were blindfolded and escorted to a dock, where you parted ways with you’re colleagues and rowed down the river with the Mighty Nein. You led them down the river, not talking and very aware that the half-orc and the monk were watching you. The Nein then decides to pull a race, and the goblin uses her ring of water walking. Until she hits a rock.

As she’s being pulled into the boat, you see a dark mantle drop, wrapping around her head, as well as the man and the half-orc. Luckily, you’re able to defeat them with almost no injuries.

“Those weren’t there before, I swear.” You say as the monk woman accuses you of trying to kill them. As she’s yelling at you, she stops and urges everyone to go faster due to rock monsters.

You drift downward before docking and sitting on the gravel beach as the large woman and blue teifling clear the rockslide.

“Mind telling us your name?” the half-orc asks, sitting beside you,

“Y/N,” you say, looking over, “And no, no last name. What about you?”

“I’m Fjord,” he says, then points to his party, “That there’s Beauregard and Jester. Then Mollymauk and Yasha. Those two are Caleb and Nott.” He pointed to where the goblin was braiding flowers into the man’s hair.

“Right. Apologies for the cave-in, when I first discovered this place, my group got attacked, one of them decide to destroy the wall.”

“Not a problem Y/N!” says Jester, clearing away the last rocks, “See, already cleared”

Mollymauk walks over and offers you his hand to helo you get up, as he does, he pulls you close to whisper in your ear, “Do you have any clue who I was?”

Was. Interesting choice of words, Mr. Mollymauk. “No, Cree seemed to though. So whatever little gang you two were in, I certainly wasn’t a member.”

“Something tells me there’s more to you than meets the eye Y/N, and I for one, am interested to find out what.”

Mollymauk back off at my shocked expression, walking away before saying over his shoulder, “And it’s just Molly, dear.”

We go down the stairs, through many trapped rooms (which Nott kept forgetting to check, leaving you to pick up her slack), Fjord almost falls down a pit, before finally reaching a large chamber.

The first thing you notice in the room is a teleportation circle, though it’s broken. You tell this to the Nein, which makes Caleb give you a quizzical look “And how do you know what a broken teleportation circle looks like?”

“I may be nothing more than a thief, but I am somewhat educated.”

You all begin searching around, and eventually, Caleb finds a journal written in Draconic. As you discuss it, the temperature drops and a skeletal form stretches from the group, ghastly skin stretched over its face.

“My secrets are yours.”

After that, you and the Nein launch into battle, and shockingly, you all fight very well together, working in sync.

You watched Jester sink to the ground, your own head pounding from the mental attacks. Molly charged at the undead Siff Dunder, and you shouted “Finish this Mollymauk!” as you ran towards Jester, giving her a healing potion you kept in your pocket.

The temperature drops again, cold energy emerging from a bookshelf. You can physically see Caleb remembering something, his eyes lighting. He mentions a physical form, like will o’ wisps and you swear under your breath as a series of attacks knocks Yasha unconscious. Jester is by her side instantly, healing her, before she and Beauregard pull down the bookshelf.

A large urn stands amongst pots and small cases, and Molly reaches through and destroys the urn. Siff, who was just attacking you and Fjord as you tried to distract it, disintegrates, and you both breathe a sigh of relief.

You all take a bit of time to collect yourself, and Fjord once again sits beside you, “Alright, I need to know. Why no last name?”

“Never got one.” You said, drinking from your waterskin and checking for any injuries.

“Orphan?”

“Yeah”

You notice a flash of something like sympathy on his face, and but in “I don’t need your pity. I’m perfectly fine without parents.”

“I was gonna say me too.”

You look at Fjord, “Right, sorry.”

Fjord looks like he’s about to ask another question, but you’re interrupted by Nott rubbing oil on herself and squeezing through the hole. Yasha just breaks the wall.

Why was that hot? You think to yourself

You see Nott bent over a case with her thieves tools out, trying to open a lock. Two minutes pass and you hear a gas leak and repeated coughing. “Poison,” she croaks, handing out the jewelry she found, even handing you a piece.

Beauregard searches through the urns, finding a spellbook, which she gives to Caleb. He traces some pattern in the air and finishes the spell, looking around the room. Your back is turned, but he gives you a look, nodding at Beau. You’re definitely hiding abilities other than the rouge ones you’ve displayed.

He points out a sword called the Magicians Judge, which Yasha takes. Molly, Jester, Fjord, and Beau leave to investigate further down the river, while you make camp with Caleb and Nott.

“You know magic,” Caleb says after a long stretch of silence. “How?”

A simple question, but you were reluctant to answer, Fjord already knows too much about you. “I stole some books off of a travelling wizard when I was 15. I was going to sell them, but they seemed interesting, so I taught myself.”

“How old are you?” Nott asked in between sips of her flask.

“23.” You answer, resting your head on your bag.

“What spells do you know?”

“Just a few illusions. Makes thievin’ easier.”

The interrogation seemed to stop then, and a few minutes later, the others return, and you all fall asleep.

You dream of being chased through Alfeild after stealing the books. You ran and ran, jumping on carriages until you deemed yourself far enough away. Late nights of learning magic, trying to get a hold on precious components with no money. Slowly learning.

When you woke up, you realized you shouldn’t have slept around strangers, your true form peeking through. You shift slowly back, keeping your cloak wrapped around you.

“Fjord, you have a little something right here.” Jester says, pointing out the dried blood on the corner of his mouth.”

“Oh, yeah, I grind my teeth,” Fjord explains blushing slightly as he wipes it. As he does you notice his tusks are shorter than other half-orcs you’ve seen.

Jester notices it too and starts questioning him about them. Fjord gets nervous and says “When I was younger, they used to make fun of my teeth, so I got rid of the target.”

“The kids at the orphanage?” You ground out, all too familiar with asshole kids

“Yeah, it just kinda became a habit.”

“Did you ever kill them?” Yasha asked, looking very serious,

Nott quickly became concerned “Yasha. Have you ever killed a kid?”

No answer.

Immediately, the Mighty Nein promised that if he grew them out they’d support him. You had a moment then. These people hadn’t known each other long, minus a couple of obvious pairings, but you could tell they were good people. Certainly better than the Gentleman’s goons.

You all make your way up to the Gentleman’s lair, keeping quiet. You’re lost in thought, right up until you take the blindfold off of the Nein. You pull Fjord aside before he gets to the Gentleman.

“I still have to talk to the Boss about it, but would it be alright if I maybe tagged along with you guys for a bit? You seem like good people, and I think I need a change of company.”

“I’d have to talk to the other, but I don’t have a problem with it. You’re a good fighter Y/N, we could definitely use you.”

You nod and wait for the Mighty Nein to finish the meeting with the Gentleman before you sit down with him.

“Hey, Boss?” You say, waiting for permission to speak, “I was thinking, I might try travelling around a bit. I’ve never been good at staying in one place, you know my past. And those Migh-”

The Gentleman held up a hand, and you felt the entire bar fall silent. He was going to say no, you knew it.

“Y/N, you’ve been my best employee for the last several years. Your talents are unmatchable, and I don’t think I’ll ever find a replacement. But I get it. A change of pace is always needed. Go pack up your things, and don’t worry about your bar tab, I’ll pay.” He slid a pouch of gold across the table, “Here’s a little something to start you off.”

Holy shit.

“Thank you, sir.”

The Gentleman nodded, and you ran to pack your things. Fjord said something about the Leaky Tap, so you headed over. Right away, Jester threw her arms around you.

“Welcome to the Mighty Nein!”

[zv5x]

Random Yan!Spirit fic that absolutely nobody asked for, because I'm a degenerate simp lol

Yandere!Spirit, here we gooo (thorns plays faintly in background)

Also this fic is centered around an escape attempt after multiple other escape attempts, i might make a fic of the very first Yan!Spirit escape attempt if in the mood for some good old yandere angst hahah ^^

Also this might be really bad and if so I'm so sorry, my next Yan!Spirit will be so much better, I promise I didn't rush this ahh,

( :̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)

Today would be the day you escaped this literal hell. You finally had your opportunity to escape, and you were going to snatch it without hesitation. Your heart beat fast as you made your way across the floor, being as careful as you possibly can as to not make any noise. However, you were just about to reach for the doorknob as you heard the sounds of a cutesy yawn and a sound of the floor being stepped on from the bed. You froze, and listened helplessly as you were probably being stared down in disbelief and rage.

"Dear, what are you doing?"

The voice sounded tired, especially considering it was the voice of someone who had just woken up from tonight's rest, but not too tired to where you had as much as a sliver of a chance of continuing what you were planning on doing. You couldn't bare turn around and look the source of the voice in the eyes, your current captor and current "partner". In a last ditch effort, your hand rushed towards the room's doorknob, only for you to quickly feel your wrist being quickly grabbed with an almost painful tightness. Your head whipped around, and tears stung your eyes.

"Spirit, I...I..." Your voice was hoarse and weak, and it almost hurt to speak. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he was far from pleased, and you were able to rationalize that trying and defending such a betrayal of his trust was far from what he wanted from you.

Spirit clicked the roof of his mouth, shaking his head in disappointment. "Trying to escape again? Whatever am I going to do with you (Y/N), hm?" He asked, his voice calm and smooth, so calm it was like he wasn't holding your wrist in a death grip at the moment. You whimpered, trembling under his touch. He was far more powerful than you, considering you were just a mere human, and you wondered what even made you want to try something like this in the first place, especially without planning. He was a demon, and he didn't need to sleep, he was only sleeping since he finally gave you the privilege of sleeping upstairs. He could wake up anytime he pleased, he didn't need rest. You internally swore to yourself as Spirit kept a firm hold on you, keeping you from moving too much. "You just never learn, do you?"

"Let me go, Spirit."

You said under your breath, almost as if you were warning him. Staring him down, you watched as he stood shocked and silent before he burst out laughing, letting go of your wrist in favor of covering his mouth as he giggled. It took him a few seconds to pull himself together, and in those few seconds your pride was completely demolished.

Well, on the bright side (Y/N), at least he let go of your wrist.

Spirit wiped a tear from his eye before placing his hands on your shoulders and looking you dead in the eyes. "(Y/N), love, do you remember what happened the last time you went against me?" He hummed, stroking your cheek after releasing one of your shoulders. "Do you remember what I did?" Spirit asked, and you shivered as you recalled the exact "punishment" he was referring to. Your legs had *just* healed from Spirit using his abilities to snap them within a second, and you had *just* regained your ability to walk.

Spirit wiped a tear from his eye before placing his hands on your shoulders and looking you dead in the eyes. "(Y/N), love, do you remember what happened the last time you went against me?" He hummed, stroking your cheek after releasing one of your shoulders. "Do you remember what I did?" Spirit asked, and you shivered as you recalled the exact "punishment" he was referring to. Your legs had *just* healed from Spirit using his abilities to snap them within a second, and you had *just* regained your ability to walk.

"Maybe I should just get that leash I promised. You'd probably be much better behaved with it." Spirit traced a finger on your bottom lip, ignoring your protestant whining. "It'd keep you in your place, you know? You're just a human after all, it's about time you realize that."

Spirit stayed silent for a second, before shaking his head. "No matter, we have more important things to be worrying about now, don't we? We'll discuss your punishment tomorrow." He hummed happily and took your hand in his, using his free one to point to the bed. You didn't need him to say anything, and couldn't help but sigh as you did exactly what you knew he wanted you to do.

After getting you in the bed again, Spirit made it a point to hold you in place. His arms and legs were wrapped around you, and his tail curled around your thigh, rendering you absolutely unable to escape from him for a second time tonight. Not that you had any fight left in you for now, considering being laughed at was most definitely a harsh hit to the pride.

You almost couldn't hold back a sniffle as Spirit gently nuzzled you, that sickeningly sweet sound of cat-like purring becoming audible to your ears as he continued rubbing his head against your chest and neck.

Spirit took a few second break from his purring, to whisper out a reminder of how much he loved you, before returning right back to his sick little cuddle fest. Of course, you said it back, and almost fell ill as you heard him giggle happily and felt him peck you on the cheek.

He was sick, this entire situation was sick, but perhaps in a way, you were too. His body was warm, and the air felt heavy, but still, even with his total lack of care for your individually or privacy and his complete disregard for your personal space, you felt comfortable with him snuggling against you like some kind of cat.

Maybe it was the despair and the Stockholm Syndrome finally settling in, or maybe you'd have that fighting spirit back in you by the morning. But now, all you could think about was how peaceful and happy he looked being so close to you. How cute he looked while he purred and drifted off to sleep with his head against your chest.

You were taught from a young age that demons couldn't love. They were cold, calculating and evil. You held those beliefs to heart, and held Spirit to those biblical standards as well. But, perhaps, you misunderstood him. Maybe he was different. Maybe in a way, the violence and the murder, was just how he showed his love. Maybe you could fix him. Show him the error in his ways and persue a genuine and healthy relationship with him.

You hummed and kissed the top of his head, earning a sleepy squeak in response.

You'd worry about all that in the morning. You were too tired to let yourself trail off any longer.