#radi just wants to go home

[sp1resong]

memory un-repressed successfully (OH MY FUCKING GOD

[hvnyrt]

Request/idea: Jason pining for reader, although he’ll never admit it

Voice in the Wind

Hi Anon! Thank you so much for submitting a request! Luckily for you I have no class or work today and was able to get this out same-day for you. :) I went angsty for this request, I hope it's to your liking!

SUMMARY: You have been in love with Jason Todd for a while now, and he had been too, yet he was too trapped in his mind to even take your relationship into consideration.

WARNINGS: Angst, non happy ending :(

WC: 1.9k

The rooftop of a Gotham skyscraper was cold beneath Jason Todd’s boots. His breath formed small clouds in the air, the city’s ever-present hum a background noise to his thoughts. He stood facing the edge, arms crossed, eyes scanning the streets below. It was late — or early, depending on how you looked at it — and the city was bathed in a sickly orange glow from the streetlights. Gotham was always awake, like a predator that never rested, and Jason… Jason was just another hunter in its maze of shadows.

He was trying to focus. ‘Focus, Todd,’ he told himself. ‘Don’t be weak. Stay sharp.’ But there was a problem. Your face kept slipping into his mind. No matter how hard he tried to shove it away, there you were again, with that crooked smile and those damn eyes that could cut straight through his walls.

Your voice rang in his ears. He hated your voice because it followed him everywhere, like an earworm he couldn’t get rid of. And your name. He hated your name because it made him feel like he could say it, like he could speak it aloud and claim it, and he didn’t want to claim anything. Not You. 

"She’s just a distraction," he muttered under his breath, the words lost in the wind. "Just a damn distraction." 

Except you werent. He knew it. 

He didn’t know how you had got under his skin, but you had. It had started innocently enough: a few random meetings while he was on patrol, a conversation here and there. But then something shifted. Something he couldn’t control, couldn’t shake. It wasn’t that he wanted to care about you; he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not when he knew better, when he was haunted by the ghosts of his past mistakes. People like him didn’t get to have things like that. People like him didn’t get to have… normal.

It was so fucking frustrating. 

"Stupid." Jason spat the word out as if it could wash away the thoughts, the feelings he didn’t want to deal with. There was no place for feelings in the world he lived in. It was all blood and violence, adrenaline and fear, and you… you were none of that. You were calm. Grounded. Real. You made him feel like he wasn’t constantly running from something.

Nope. Not happening.

"Jason?"

The voice broke through his internal tirade, familiar and warm, cutting through the cold like a blade. Jason didn’t turn around. Didn’t even flinch. But his heart did a strange little lurch. He hated that it did, but it did.

There you were, standing a few feet away, your arms wrapped around yourself to shield against the Gotham night. You didn’t even seem to notice how out of place you were up here — on this rooftop, so far above the city you loved but could never truly understand. You weren't like him. Never would be.

"You shouldn’t be here," he said, his tone as dismissive as he could manage. "Go home, It’s dangerous up here."

Your eyes flickered with that same mixture of concern and defiance he was growing all too familiar with. "And I’m guessing you’re worried about me?" you said, your voice laced with quiet amusement.

Jason’s lip curled slightly, though it wasn’t a smile. More like a reflex. “I worry about everyone, you're no different.” He said flatly, his back still turned.

But even as he said it, the doubt crept in. You had a way of doing that — making him second-guess every cynical, hardened part of himself that wanted to pretend he didn’t care. But he didn’t let it show. He never did.

"I’m not helpless." you said softly, stepping a little closer, close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off you. "You don’t need to protect me. You don't have to worry me. Just please, tell me what's on your mind. Talk to me. Let me in." You wanted him so bad to just admit that he wanted you as much as you wanted him. You tried too hard to get him to open up to you, to get him to see what your relationship could be. He never listened.

The words hit him harder than they should have. He wanted to argue, to push you away again. You didn’t understand. You didn’t get what the world was really like, what it could do to someone like him. Someone who had already been destroyed once, who didn’t want to give it a second chance.

Instead, he just shrugged, trying to appear indifferent. "I’m not your protector. Just someone who knows better."

You raised an eyebrow, that familiar smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. "So you’re telling me I shouldn’t be out here, too, but you’re not protecting me?" 

Jason didn’t answer. His gaze drifted away from her, back to the city lights, to the shadows below. But he didn’t walk away. He never did.

"You really think I can’t handle myself?" Your voice was quieter now, and for a moment, it almost sounded like you were teasing. Almost. 

Jason let out a breath, unable to keep the edge out of his voice. "You think you’re the only one who can handle themselves?" He turned his head just enough to catch her gaze. "This place doesn’t make you stronger. It makes you smarter. And if you’re not smart enough to get the hell out of it, you’ll get crushed. And that’s not something I’m willing to let happen."

The words left his mouth sharper than he’d intended, but he couldn’t stop them now. He never could when it came to you. 

You didn’t say anything at first. Just looked at him with those damn eyes that felt like they saw straight through his bullshit. Then, slowly, you took a step closer, not intimidated, but calm.

"Jason, you don’t have to pretend with me. I’m not going anywhere."

The words hit him like a punch to the gut, though he’d never admit it. "I’m not pretending," he muttered, too quickly, and too defensively. 

The city stretched out beneath them, vast and indifferent, like a black sea dotted with the flickering lights of a thousand lives he would never touch. Jason stood there, his shoulders tense, his fists clenched. You were still beside him, too close for comfort, your presence a constant reminder of everything he couldn’t afford to feel. 

Focus, he told himself. Don’t let her in. Don’t let her do this to you.

But it was already too late.

You were right. He was pretending. 

Jason’s jaw tightened at the thought, and he could feel the familiar coldness creeping in — the walls he had built so carefully around himself, the ones that were starting to crack and crumble under your quiet, persistent gaze. The feeling of wanting to reach for you, of wanting to say the things that scared him more than anything else in this broken city, gnawed at him like a sickness. 

But no. He couldn’t do it. Not to you. Not again.

"You don’t get it," Jason said, his voice rougher than he meant it to be. He didn’t look at you, but he could feel you staring at him, that soft gaze that always seemed to see straight through him. "This isn’t… this isn’t some fairy tale. You can’t just waltz in here and fix me. I’m not… I’m not someone you can save. You don’t know what it’s like, and you never will."

He finally turned to face you, his eyes burning with something he couldn’t even name. "I’m dangerous. And you think you can handle me? You think you can be around me and still come out unscathed? You have no idea what this world does to people like us."

You didn’t back down. Of course you didn’t. You never did. Instead, you stepped closer, her voice low but steady. "I know enough, Jason. I know you’re scared. You don’t have to push me away—"

"Stop," Jason cut you off, his voice sharp, almost desperate. He took a step back, as if your proximity was suffocating him. "Stop pretending like you know me. Like you understand anything about me."

Your brows furrowed in confusion. "Jason, I—"

"I’m not the guy you think I am!" He didn’t shout, but his voice trembled with the raw emotion he refused to show. "I’m not the guy you can fix. You think I don’t care about you? That I don’t—" He stopped himself, the words lodged in his throat like broken glass. He could already feel the heat in his chest, the thumping of his heart, the same damn pain that had been there since he came back from the dead. 

His fists clenched tighter. "I’m not your fucking hero. I’m a killer. A broken, fucked-up, damaged thing, and you don’t want to get close to that."

The words came out in a rush, desperate, but also… final. His eyes were wild now, the storm inside him too strong to ignore, the war he’d been fighting with himself spilling out in a way he hadn’t intended. 

You stood there, silent for a moment, your face unreadable. Then your expression softened, a mixture of hurt and understanding flickering behind your eyes.

"I’m not trying to fix you," you said quietly, your voice steady despite the tension crackling in the air between them. "I’m just trying to be here. I’m trying to be someone you don’t have to push away."

Jason didn’t respond right away. He couldn’t. The words felt too raw, too close to something real. And that scared him more than anything. 

"You don’t understand," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "You can’t understand. I can’t let you in. Not like this. Not after everything."

He took another step back, further into the shadows, his heart pounding in his chest. Every instinct in him screamed to get away from you, to run, to push you out of his life before you were swallowed up by the darkness he carried with him.

"Jason," your voice was quiet now, soft, like you were trying to reach him through the thick walls he had built. "Please."

But he couldn’t do it. Not for you.

Jason shook his head, more to himself than to you. He turned his back on you, the weight of his decision heavy in the pit of his stomach. His feet moved automatically, the thought of staying with you—of letting you see him, really see him—was too much to bear. 

Before he could even reach the edge of the rooftop, he heard your voice again, fragile but clear.

"You don’t have to do this alone."

He froze. For a second, everything inside him wanted to turn around, to reach for you, to tell you how much he wanted to believe that. How much he wanted to let you in. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t let anyone in.

Because when you let someone in, you gave them the power to break you. And Jason was already broken. He couldn’t let anyone else be hurt because of him. Not again.

Without another word, he jumped off the rooftop, vanishing into the night, leaving only the sound of his footsteps echoing in the cold air.

You stood there for a long time, staring into the empty space he had left behind. Your heart felt like it had been crushed under the weight of everything unsaid, everything unacknowledged.

You weren't stupid. You knew what had happened. 

Jason had chosen the darkness. He’d chosen it over you. Over them.

And the worst part was, you didn’t know if you could ever change his mind. 

But one thing was certain: you weren't going to forget him. Not now. Not ever.

Jason thinks people who reblog/like the fics they enjoy deserve a good time :)

[ruthlesslistener]

A Journey through Hallownest: Choice Bits from the Wanderer's Journal (pt. 1)

As promised, I recently retrieved my copy of the Wanderer's Journal (the official Hallownest artbook/guidebook) and wanted to post some pictures of my favorite things from it. To start us off, here's the front page and the author, a cute little ladybug called Ellina.

Next up will be the observations of the Forgotten Crossroads, which does include the end page as Ellina loops around to leave Hallownest (for reference, her visit is timed around the same as Ghost's journey)

I find it interesting that fossilized/petrified remains are apparently extremely common all over Hallownest, to the point where they're just used freely as the city's currency (geo is just little fossils). It's almost as if the whole of the caverns were under one vast sea at a point in the distant past...gee, wonder what that could be??

The Soul Totems are heavily implied to be relics of the ancient Void Civilization here (which I doubt anyone is surprised by, given the similarities in shape to the Shade Lord and the fact that void and soul are compatable, while void and essence are not, ruling out Radi's influence), while the Gruzzer was just thrown in here because I love how there's little biology tidbits thrown in for the wild enemies here (mawleks are theorized to share an ancient ancestor to goams in their entry). As for including the last page with Dirtmouth, I was just really touched by the fact that Hallownest seems to have a hope of rebuilding- perhaps not as it once was, but simply as a home for those who survived the Radiance's wrath.

Next is the Fungal Wastes and Lake of Unn:

The fact that Unn is said to be a great guardian spirit rather than a god intrigues me, though to be fair, the Pale King and White Lady are not referred to as gods either, perhaps due to the author's bias (we are viewing the world through the eyes of a nonnative wanderer, after all). As for the bits on the Fungal Wastes, I found it interesting that they were apparently once allied with Hallownest- I didn't know that! It makes sense though, as they would have benefited greatly from feeding off the waste runoff that a great city of bugs once produced. Mushrooms are detritovores, after all, so any bodies, food waste, or dung cast off by the Waterways would have made for an easy meal, and perhaps contributed to the expansion of the Wastes after the City of Tears was established.

Tumblr limits me to ten pictures per post, so I'm going to have to split this one into parts. You can find the other parts here, once I upload the rest of the parts:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

[wynilthyrii]

Lucky ones - Part 3

[See @graceintheshadows for part 2 and @lordaeronslost for part 1]

“What is taking so long?”

Wyn cut a look toward Tyr, frowning.  “Just relax.  They should be here soon.”

The medic glowered, his limp growing heavier with each step.  Soon he’d have to actually use the cane in his hand instead of pretending it didn’t exist.  “I don’t understand why it would take so long for you to get this information.  You’d think that it’d be routed through the Order and you’d be able to lay hands on it at the Hall.”

“Bold of you to assume that the information you’re looking for is ready to sift down beyond the highest levels,” Wyn said, crossing her arms.  “You could have asked Sol to lay hands on this for you, you know.”

“No one can find Sol right now, not even his wife.”  Tyr stopped, squinting at her.  “Do you know where he is?”

“You think that I’d have an idea if Kal doesn’t?”  She shook her head.  “He’d tell Radi before he told me.”  Her eyes scanned over the sun-splashed expanse of the Exchange, looking for the expected courier.  While her brother had his fingers tangled in the threads of part of their mother’s web, she had hers in others—including a few well-placed in the Magistry.  Still, it was a delicate dance, getting information from them, especially when one was looking for information that was being spoken of in whispers and rumors and exaggerations more than fact.

Part of her was more than half certain the details remained unknown.  Another was already contemplating what the response might be, if even half the rumors that had begun to fly in the city were true.  Who had been there when it happened?  Who would be among the first wave to respond—if anyone at all?

What, exactly, were they about to face, how many of them would it take, and how many would not come home?

“Something destroyed an entire city,” Tyr muttered, following her gaze out over the Exchange as he slumped against the wall beside her.  “You would think everyone would be on the highest alert.”

“Perhaps we just don’t know enough about the circumstances yet.”  She glanced toward him with a faintly furrowed brow.  “Did you ever...?”

“No,” he whispered.  “Nothing—nothing solid enough for me to want to give it voice.”

“But you wrote it down?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.  “Yes.”

Wyn nodded in return and looked back out at the crowds milling along the Exchange, straightening from her lean as she caught a glimpse of the expected courier.  “Wait here.”

For a second, she thought he might protest, but after a second Tyr simply nodded, sagging a little more against the wall with a faint frown.  She held his gaze for a moment before she slipped off into the crowds.  The courier caught her eye a moment later and they both stopped in the shade of one of the Exchange’s awnings.

“Lady Iltyhrii,” the courier murmured.

Wyn inclined her head, turning a hand with a pair of gold crowns and something bundled in a bit of silk toward the courier, who took them in exchange for an envelope and a small trinket.  “Thank you.”

“Always a pleasure, m’lady,” the courier murmured, lingering a few moments more before they stepped away and back into the crowd.  For the span of a few heartbeats, Wyn lingered behind, watching people come and go before she started to make her way back to Tyr.  The medic was frowning at something as she approached, his gaze—and thoughts—seemingly elsewhere.  It wasn’t until she laid a hand on his arm that he startled back to himself, blinking.

“How long was I—”

“Never mind,” she said, brow furrowing.  “What were you seeing?”

“Nothing that made sense,” he admitted.  “At least not yet.  Did you...?”

She nodded.  “Yes.  Come on.”  She started walking, trusting him to follow as she wended her way toward an old hole-in-the-wall they’d frequented in another life, back when both had been playing pretend at being anything other than what they really were—or perhaps discovering who they were really meant to be.  Tyr fell in behind her, silent, frowning.

“Where are we—?” he stopped himself and shook his head.  “Why there?”

“Because at least there I’ll have a chance to get in front of you if you decide to go off fully cocked about something,” she muttered.  “And we won’t be reading this in the middle of the Exchange.”

“No, we’ll be tucked away in the Row where we both know that you’re like to become a walking target in that armor.”

“Not where we’re going,” she muttered.  “Take a breath, Tyr.”

“How can I when...when we’re still not sure what happened, only that something did.”  He kept close as she ducked down a narrow lane that twisted down toward the shadows of Murder Row.  “Wyn, please.”

She simply gave him a level look and opened a door mostly hidden behind a tail of cloth and some crates.  “In, Tyr.  We’ll read it in the old corner and decide what to do about it.”

“Somebody destroyed Dalaran, Wyn,” he whispered as he passed her and ducked through the door, leaving her to follow.  “And no one in the city seems to be doing anything about it.”

“Likely to prevent some kind of panic,” she said, shucking a gauntlet as she followed him down the narrow passage.  It opened up behind a curtain and into a tiny tavern and inn, one remarkably clean and snug given its locale.  Wyn flipped a coin to the barkeep and ushered her friend to a corner where they’d spent more than a few hours in times now long gone. Wordless, Tyr dropped into an overstuffed chair, leaving her to perch on the edge of a low table as she slid her thumb beneath the envelope’s plain seal.  The sheaf of papers inside was thick, thick enough to make her heart stutter for a moment in her chest.

What had they gotten their hands on?

The first page was in the familiar scrawl of one of her mother’s oldest contacts, sketching what was known in broad strokes.  She read it once, then again, then handed it to Tyr.

“Aethas Sunreaver is among the missing, along with three dozen highly ranked mages,” she said, her voice grave as she started to thumb through the documents—casualty lists, carefully duplicated reports.  “No one has solid word on what’s happened—some reports suggest he survived, others say he perished along with most of his host.  At least one report suggests that the city was destroyed by some kind of void explosion.”

“Void,” Tyr echoed.  “What would—?”

“I don’t know,” she said, still thumbing through the rest of the pages.  “But I imagine that the reason why the city doesn’t know anything is because they’re waiting for final word on the archmage and whether or not he’s alive.  And deciding what we’re going to do about it.”

“The Spire—”

“Will have opinions.  I know.  So will the Farstriders and the Order.  One way or another, we’ll figure out what’s what.”  Her lips thinned as she watched him reading over that first page.  “Whoever it was—they more than certainly just wiped out at least half the Kirin Tor, Tyr.  And who knows how much magical knowledge and—” she broke off, swallowing past the lump in her throat.  Suddenly her thoughts went to Juden, who—if not for pure happenstance and a lack of final decisions made—might have been there.  Might have been among a generation of fledging mages devastated by whatever had just occurred.

Tyr grasped her hand and squeezed hard.  “I know,” he whispered.  “I tried, Wyn.  I tried.”

“I know,” she echoed, squeezing back.  “All we can do is—is hope.  At least for now.”

“And after?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.  “We have...we have other work.  But who knows who they’ll call up.  Who knows what the response will be.”

“You think there will be one?” he asked, taking the rest of the papers from her and starting to thumb through them slowly.  He’d return them to her before they left—she knew that.  “That they’ll risk...?”

“I don’t know what it will be, but there will be something,” she said softly.  “One way or another, we’re about to send people to war.  I just don’t know what it is yet.”

“Nor I,” Tyr said, then sighed.  “But as you said.  We have our own.”

“Yes,” she whispered.  “We do.”

[grollow]

★☆ for grimm, plus ▼ for divine :3

ASKING ME ABOUT MY GIRL YOU'RE SO NICE

★ - sad headcanon

/casually rips out Dropout's heart

I headcanon that Grimm and the Radiance grew up together as small children and were extremely close. Like, "finish each other's sentences," kind of close (though him more than her - he's more aware of other people than I imagine that she ever was). I envision dream deities were born there in said dream, based on concepts and thoughts made manifest rather than natural birth - so they don't have parents, they just. Became the embodiment of the things that make them up. But they were children, of a sort - or at least, immature, not fully formed creatures, who learned about the world at one another's sides. Radi as light, and Grimm as the little shadows that light threw.

This has the accidental effect of him having, inadvertently, played a part in the belief she has that she Deserves Whatever She Wants -- because as a small thing, he was dependent on her, and she'd come to be used to that - everything should be dependent on her, She Knows Best. In a lot of ways, after their divergence, she spent her life chasing after what he'd given her when they were small things, that unwavering devotion and loyalty that she herself caused the loss of. It would be accurate to describe her as desperately unable to let go of him in particular.

The moths are kind of a reflection of this, since they too left her - history repeating itself and her Learning Nothing From It.

☆ - happy headcanon

I like that this is sad then happy, like a balm for the injuries.

My favorite theme to play with is duality, and in my head, the gods of Hallownest are not simply the things they are most known for. IE, Radi is 'hope' but we see in the game she's the corruption of it - despair. Grimm, to me, is fear -- but also the courage to overcome that fear.

Toward that end, I like to imagine that while he can feed on people's terror and be sustained, it is their bravery that he is most well fed by - and that's why he likes his summoners to be courageous people (like Ghost, for instance). Makes his rebirths stronger as a result. Well-fed, merry little reaper of kingdoms

[edit] I FORGOT DIVINE

▼ - childhood headcanon

Eee, I envision her past as VERY dark. She's a genuinely magical creature in my mind, able to see and accurately predict the future, and I sort of imagine that she was a social pariah even as a child, and that her family ostracized her. This culminated in her running away from home to escape an arranged marriage in my head - to a very important political figure who wanted to use her gifts to elevate his station. She escaped, and uh ran away to join the circus.

[bluegekk0]

Can we learn more abour Radi and Grim's dad 👀

i don't have any specifics just yet, mostly just a general outline of him and how i picture the gods in the au. it's all still subject of change cause i haven't had the time or inspiration to really think about it from a worldbuilding lens

to avoid confusion, i'll be calling the home of the gods "the higher plane" and individual domains "realms". working names and all that. will probably contradict previous asks but like i said, i'm still working on it. and i kinda just came up with this distinction on the spot. oops

so basically: the higher plane = the dream realm (before it was split) + other individual realms

(also, i'm accepting suggestions for the name for this specific plane. i was considering just calling it "the dream plane" but it gets really confusing when you get to realms)

ok now for some more details. below the cut cause it's kinda long

i'm taking a lot of inspiration from existing mythologies, and in the case of the higher plane in the au, i like to think it's a bit like what you see in the norse mythology. a shared plane for all the gods, like asgard, with each of them having their own hall/realm. also, i imagine there are multiple planes like that, each watching over different regions of the world. so in the case of hallownest and its surrounding territories, i'll be focusing on this particular gods plane, which includes the radiance, grimm, the white lady and unn in its pantheon (as well as the two others i'm going to talk about now). possibly more, if i'm ever in the mood to design new gods. i definitely don't think it spans all over the world, otherwise the infection would've affected territories outside of hallownest. so i think this is the most reasonable option

---

grimm and radiance's father, i call him the dream lord (to match the shade lord, which will make more sense later), is kind of like odin, the most powerful of the gods and the ruler of the higher plane, as well as his domain, the dream realm

he was the god of dreams, his mission to help the mortals find hope and learn from their dreams, and to lead them towards the light. the shade lord stood in opposition, causing doubts and chaos, shrouding the hopes and dreams in shadow. for many years, the two maintained balance between light and shadow, doubt and hope, but the void was unpredictable, it feared the light and wanted to consume it. soon enough it became a threat to the higher plane, and so to protect it he decided to seal the void away, in the deepest pits of the mortal realm, too weak to return to the gods plane

but the void was powerful, and fearing that his beloved home would lose its ruler, he decided to split his domain between his two children - the radiance, and the nightmare (as grimm was then called), so that they would get an equal share of his power and responsibilities, and rule over their father's realm and protect the higher plane together. the shade lord was defeated, and the void it was made of scattered around the abyss, but not before consuming the dream lord

i once mentioned that grimm and radi were half-sibling and had different mothers, but i like the idea of them being born from just the father. perhaps he created them in a similar manner that grimm now creates his physical form. i think it would tie the two ideas together rather nicely, and would explain where grimm got that life-creating power in the first place

as for what each of them were given by their father: the radiance was responsible for the positive, hopeful dreams, and she was to guide them towards the light. the nightmare, as the name suggests, was responsible for the bad dreams, those rooted in fear and anxiety, and he was meant to guide the mortals through those nightmares to help them overcome and learn from them

but as i already mentioned, that peace between the siblings didn't last. the radiance became obsessed with sticking to her responsibilities and their father's legacy, while the nightmare had a much more independent and chaotic lifestyle, which in his sister's mind went against what their father stood for. the two would argue more and more, until they battled, and the nightmare was defeated. seeing her brother as unworthy of their father powers, she stripped him of most of them, most notably the ability to enter the higher plane. the dream realm was split in two, and the nightmare's half was separated from the higher plane. he was severely weakened, and restricted only to his own realm and the mortal plane. it was after this that he began calling himself the nightmare king - to state his independence from the sister, but also as his last attempt at spite towards her. and as we know, among the mortals, he's simply just known as grimm

---

like i said, it's still relatively vague and subject to change. and very out-there when it comes to interpretations, i think. or maybe not. i haven't actually read many headcanons and AUs that specifically deal with how the dream realm works. but considering that in the game it's very heavily tied to the actual concept of dreams (as opposed to it just being the name for the god realm, with only some gods being tied to dreams like in my au), i'm gonna guess this is probably more of an unpopular take haha

[the-himawari-otome]

B’s-LOG July 2023 - Special Feature Translation [Rain with Him - Radie]

“Wouldn’t I just hand you the umbrella and say ‘let’s go home now’?”

Q1: Please tell us about a memory or story related to a rainy day.

When the two of us were out and about, it suddenly started pouring and we came home soaking wet. After that, Spirea got super angry and scolded us by saying, “this is why I told you to take an umbrella with you!” And, let me think. Then there was that time on our journey with “CIRCUS” when we got caught in a sudden downpour in Kurta. In that moment, I realized how much more my human form could do. I can’t shield you from the rain in my cute beast form, after all.

Q2: It suddenly started raining. You take shelter from the rain and happen to bump into the person you’re interested in there! What do you say to them?

Regardless of who’s there, I’d just make some casual small talk until the rain subsides. ...Mm? If it were you? ...If that’s the case, then I probably didn’t bump into you by accident—I saw it was raining and chased after you... Wouldn’t I just hand you the umbrella and say, “let’s go home now”?

Q3: Do you like rainy days? Do you hate them?

...I don’t particularly like nor dislike them, but.... If I had to say, then I guess they’re not my favourite. My hair gets poofy when I’m both in my human form and beast form. It’s a pain. I can usually tell when it's about to rain since it'll be hard to get a brush through. But it’s really annoying when it suddenly rains.

Q4: It suddenly starts pouring while you’re out. What do you do?

If you’re with me, I wouldn't want you to catch a cold. So I’d buy an umbrella nearby or call someone to pick us up... If I’m alone, then I think I’d just get soaked and head back. I can just clean off the dirt once I’m home.

---

[DO NOT USE OR REPOST MY WORK W/O PERMISSION, THANK YOU]

[alternity01]

Soul Heir

Prompt: [WP] Your mother sat across from you and let out an exasperated sigh as she said, “Look, I know I told you that I wanted grandchildren, but that didn’t mean that I wanted you to adopt every troubled soul you came across.”

Word Count: 3168

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

“I’m home, Mama.” AJ walks in, scythe in one hand, shoes in the other.

It leans by the door hinges, the tip of its obsidian blade nestling between fresh scratches.

“Is that blood on your shoes?”

“Huh?” he asks.

“Azrael █████ Jr. Is that blood on your shoes?” Mama repeats, never raising her voice.

“Sorry, Mama. I'll”—

“Leave them outside.”

He does exactly that, treading lightly when he re-enters. Six translucent people, as different as they can be, form a single file line behind him. Together they make the short journey from the foyer, around the black leather couches and across the polished marble floor panels to his office.

“Hey, y'all. Why don't ya wait for AJ over there while he and I have a little talk?” She points a finger stripped of flesh at his office.

They look at AJ. He gives them a thumbs up. They follow instructions. Afterwards, he pulls out a chair made from Eden's wood and drops onto it.

Mama sighs. “Look, I told ya I wanted grandchildren. I didn’t say ‘adopt every troubled soul ya come across’.”

“Mama. Mama, I can handle this.”

“It may look fine now, but get too much too early and you'll”—

“Burnout? Relax, Mama. I'm far from lookin’ like Ghost Rider.”

Seconds of inescapable silence.

“Now why ya gotta go ahead and do that?”

“No. Wait. Mama, that's not what I meant.”

“Relax, baby. I'm just playin’ witcha.”

“Oh good. Good.”

“But seriously. Keep pushin’ yourself like that and Imma beatcha a”—

‘Ain’t No Grave’ by Johnny Cash cuts her off with its familiar tune.

“Just a moment, baby.” She picks up her latest phone with ageing, yellowing bones.

His ears tune into the half of the conversation closest to him.

“Hi, Famine.”

…

“Yeah, yeah. I'm about to leave.”

…

“Of course I'm bringin’ potato salad.”

…

“No. Junior's on the job. New souls ‘n’ all.”

…

“I know. We're all proud of him. But he did almost bring blood into the house. On our nice carpets.”

…

“Alright, alright. It's his first day. I'll go easy on him.”

…

“Alright. I'll hand it over. Hold on.”

She puts her phone on speaker.

“Hey, Uncle Famine.”

“Mr. Reaper. My boy. How are things?”

“Things are good. Got myself six new souls waitin��� for me.”

“Six? Wow. Great job. I won't keep you too long then.”

“Thank ya.”

“How does this sound? You tell your mum to come home in one piece, and I'll tell War to make you those lemon pepper wings you like. Extras. Just for you.”

“Okay, you,” she interjects. “That’s enough.”

“And I'll make you some extra chips,” Aunt Conquest adds.

“Alright. Say bye, baby.”

“Bye.”

She puts the phone back to the hole where her ear should be.

“You two. When I get my hands on ya. I swear.” She laughs.

…

“Are ya keepin’ my hubby busy?”

…

“Good, good. Now y'all keep the drinks flowin’, and I'll be back in one piece.��

…

“Alright.”

…

“Alright.”

…

“Bye now.”

Mama puts her phone away.

“Come help me get this potato salad in the car, baby.”

They get a stack of plastic wrapped glass each and place them in the boot of their pitch black station wagon.

“Thank ya, baby.” She gives him a hug before finding her spot in the driver's seat.

“You're welcome, Mama.”

“I'll get War and Conquest to double their offers for ya.”

“Thank ya, Mama.”

She changes her appearance before his very eyes. Becoming the same Afro-Latina who showed up early to his parent–teacher conferences and got a little too excited at competitive school events. The same one who pimp-slapped a teacher for daring to question his lineage and the mortician whose husband did ‘something with numbers.’

“Goodbye, AJ.” She gestures for him to come closer.

He leans down to receive what in reality is a lipless kiss on the already melting skin clumped up and affixed onto his cheek. Mama starts the car, met with the sound of ‘Many Men’ by 50 Cent when the radio turns on. She drives off. After a considerable amount of waving, AJ rests his weary arm.

Returning inside, he sits in the living room. In front of him is a mirror with enough energy to climb halfway up the wall and no higher. Rather than glance at its suffocating presence, he stares at a portrait hung above it such a way that the reflective surface rests right outside his vision. It was his graduation. His hair, the same infinite raven's wing of his father's. His flesh as pale as the bones within him, his hands spindly extensions. And the robes. They look like someone bought king-size sheets for a single bed. Replaced before they could even be granted a second glance.

Head tilted, he removes the threadbare clump of skin from the cheek his mom kissed. If only she told him about this earlier. If only she warned him. Oh well. AJ took the job irregardless. After all, friends he never thought he'd see again were made while his parents were neck deep in paperwork. That's what he gets for being born, he guesses. Being born to the angel of death and the living embodiment of the concept doesn't exactly guarantee him a normal life. While one was given the form of flesh, the other was given the final form all creatures take. Both experience the ageing only known by the ageless. As will he in his own way.

“Who was that?” A young voice asks.

“Ah!” He flinches.

“Sorry,” he says. “Did I scare you?”

“It's alright, Tommy.”

“Okay…” He floats over to the floor in front of him.

“You're gettin’ better at that.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So that was your mum?”

“Yeah. That’s mama.”

“Is she really a real skeleton?”

“Ha. She is.”

“Whoa!” Tommy flies up. “That’s so cool.”

“I’ll tell her you said that.” AJ gestures for him to come back down.

“Can I ask you one more question?”

“I need to help ya’ll.”

“Please,” he asks with extended vowels.

“Fine.”

“Has she always looked like that? What happened to your cheek? Did someone hurt you?” They leave his mouth like bullets from a semi-automatic.

“Tommy. That was three.”

“Sorry.”

He sighs, “I’ll answer all of them.”

“Yay!”

“She was born that way. Every time I do my job, I lose my skin and muscle till I look like my mama. No one hurt me,” he explains. “Now can I help ya or not?”

“Yes please.”

AJ and Tommy finally enter his office. Also known as his childhood bedroom.

“Sorry about that, y’all. Time for a little role call.” He sits down by his desk.

AJ shuffles a few folders in hand.

“From right to left: Baxter Huntsman.”

An older man whose wrinkles have started making cameos while grey hairs are yet to sign contracts looks directly at him. He leans on his cane out of habit as he nods. In better shape than a man his age should be, his broad shoulders fill his tailored, midnight blue suit. That paired with the bouquet of blood blooming from his chest portrays a harrowing readiness for this moment. A date with new death, even though he’s not AJ’s type.

“Sorcha Durnin.”

Eyes of mouldy emerald meet his, young enough to cling to some shine but old enough to see the absence of light hidden in the pages of this world first hand. She waves an arm drowning in bracelets, rings and glass shards.

“Thomas Shah.”

Tommy’s head darts up from the Rubik’s cube he was fiddling with. Unlike himself and some of the others, his sun-kissed skin remains untouched. His hair of black sheep’s wool manages to shine beyond circumstance.

“Ashton Bennett.”

Mrs. Bennett redirects the smile originally meant for Tommy to AJ. Every fold and pinch in her wedding dress white skin hides a memory. All replayable—whether willingly or unwillingly—wherever she ends up.

“Virgil Clay.”

Virgil raises an arm coated from fingertip to elbow in crimson. His unwashed wife beater is a variable game of ‘Guess That Stain!’. Coffee, gravy, sweat, blood that probably isn’t his and blood that definitely is. All split down the middle by a Titan Arum sized blade currently forcing itself through his spine and ribcage.

“Kaipo Bakó.”

She tips a bright yellow hardhat towards him. Wearing a similar vest to Virgil—although this one’s actually clean—showcases a level of muscle development AJ’s quite frankly jealous of. Even though he’s resigned himself to his losses, seeing how her biceps and forearms stand out under her many tattoos makes his eyes green. He should call Envy after this.

“I’ll send y’all out from oldest to youngest,” he says, leaving all but one folder on his desk.

Mrs. Bennett sits across from him.

He opens her folder and gives it a read:

Name: Ashton Bennett

Age: ██

Occupation: Administrator of Field Day Orphanage

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (09:45)

Cause of Death: Old age

Positive Impact: Gave thousands of orphans loving homes throughout her career.

Neutral Impact: Ran redlights.

Negative Impact: Indirectly sent a small percentage of the orphans into unsafe homes.

“Everything looks good here, Mrs. Bennett. You'll know where ya are when ya get there,” he says as he puts the folder back on his desk.

“I only wish I could have done more for those children.” She looks back. “I'm so sorry, Tommy.”

“S’not your fault, Mrs. Bennett,” the young one responds.

“It really isn’t, ma’am,” AJ comments. “And you’ve done so much for them already.”

She turns around and kneels, giving Tommy a hug and saying “You grew up to be such a kind young man. You deserved more time. Not me. I was already an old bag of bones when you met me, but”—

“Don't say that about yourself, Mrs. Bennett,” he interrupts.

“I won't. Thank you. I'll just say this: I’ll miss you.”

“I'll miss you too.” He lets go of the hug.

AJ looks around the room, patting his pockets and opening his drawers.

“I left my scythe in the”—

“I’ll get it!” Tommy flies through the wall.

A ring of violet fire appears in the floor next to AJ, and out of it rises both his aforementioned tool and Tommy clinging to its whittled ivory handle.

“Whoa,” he says as he comes through.

AJ sighs, shaking Tommy off of it. Out of his pocket he retrieves a small slip of card paper.

Your sleep disturbed and lungs compressed.

All thoughts conserved and sins professed.

No longer made of bone and flesh,

you now accept eternal rest.

With those words, she disappears. No theatrics or even a hint of where she found herself in the end. Tommy makes a popping sound in response.

Baxter takes her place.

AJ opens his folder:

Name: Baxter Huntsman

Age: ██

Occupation: Assassin

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (01:00)

Cause of Death: Shot several times in the chest.

Positive Impact: Gave money to the innocent grieving families.

Neutral Impact: Refused to break any laws unrelated to his work.

Negative Impact: Took the lives of countless people, leaving many without guardians and caretakers.

“Your mum has good taste, kid.”

“Hm?”

“Your mum has good taste in music. I heard Many Men as she was driving out.”

“I'll tell her you said that.”

“Good…” He pauses. “So this is the final place I have to look at before my fate is decided?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Oh nothing. I just expected you to be…”

“Older?”

“And a woman.”

“You're too late for that. Mama’s retired,” he says, crossing one leg over the other.

“Any other complaints or assumptions, Mr. Huntsman?”

“Since you asked”—

“Here we go.” AJ puts Baxter’s folder back on the table.

“Do you usually conduct business in what I can assume is your little sibling’s bedroom?” he asks.

“Easy, Mr. Huntsman. I’ve been on campus most of the time, and I’m with my parents until I get my own place. I don’t have any siblings.”

“Sorry. I’ve never been one for bureaucracy,” he explains. “I didn’t realise it would’ve followed me into the afterlife.”

“A lot of things follow ya into the afterlife, but I’m tellin’ ya this ain’t that.” He taps his scythe idly. “Now are ya ready to go?”

“Eh. I’ve had a good run.” Baxter rises with his cane, adjusting his tie with a single hand. “As long as my Hisako is safe, I can burn easier.”

“Who’s that?”

He pulls a locket from under the bloody bouquet, opening the unscathed piece of his past. Inside are a far younger, clean shaven Baxter and two women. One whose appearance can only be compared to an oil painting of a black cloth draped over a snow covered branch. While the other is her reflection through a tinted hand mirror.

“My daughter.”

“Are ya gonna miss her?” He stands and readies his scythe.

A pause. It's not long, but it's noticeable.

“She’ll… she’ll be fine.” His eyes flicker down, before looking into AJ’s again and making a request. “Just let me go already, kid.”

Your sleep disturbed and lungs compressed.

All thoughts conserved and sins professed.

No longer made of bone and flesh,

you now accept eternal rest.

Kaipo replaces the Huntsman.

Name: Kaipo Bakó

Age: ██

Occupation: Construction Worker

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (12:39)

Cause of Death: Blunt Force Trauma

Positive Impact: Created homes for many disenfranchised groups.

Neutral Impact: Doesn't separate her garbage.

Negative Impact: Consumed by work to the point of neglecting those around her.

“Are you okay, ma'am? You look as pale as… well… a ghost.”

“I still can't believe it.”

“It must be hard,” he responds, “but you're calmer than most. I wasn't there, of course, but Mama told me about this guy who was screaming his nonexistent lungs out. I never understood that part myself.”

“That's good… Not that he was screaming. No. Me being calm. That's what's good.” She sits down.

“How does it feel?”

“Death?”

“Mhm.”

“It’s not as scary as I thought. The dying part. It’s my kids. I didn’t have enough time with them, I didn’t do enough for them.”

“How many do you have?”

“Three. All girls.”

“Did you ever hurt them?”

“No. Not intentionally at least.”

“Did they ever go hungry?”

“Never.”

“Are they getting a good education?”

“Two of them are on scholarships,” she says. “And I promised the other to go clothes shopping. Told me her clothes were too masculine.”

“I don’t have kids, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but it sounds like ya did as much as ya could, and that’s all that matters.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Do they have anywhere to stay?”

“Their mother’s house.”

“Ya don’t live together?”

“No, but we’re still on good terms. We both love the kids, and the kids love us too,” she explains. “Sometimes things don’t work out as planned.”

“Like dying?”

“Like dying.”

“They have a place to stay and another mama who loves them. Sounds like they’ll be doing just fine.”

Kaipo pauses, he assumes it's to think.

“You’re right. I think…” She takes a deep breath despite no longer having lungs.

‘Old habits die hard, I guess,’ he thinks to himself.

“I think I’m ready to go.” She stands up, leaving her hat on the table.

Your sleep disturbed and lungs compressed.

All thoughts conserved and sins professed.

No longer made of bone and flesh,

you now accept eternal rest.

Sorcha sits down. They share a look of recognition.

Name: Sorcha Durnin

Age: ██

Occupation: Personal Assistant

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (10:00)

Cause of Death: Car Crash

Positive Impact: Charitable and kind to those she held dear.

Neutral Impact: Aloof to everyone else.

Negative Impact: Didn’t recycle.

“This whole time one of my freshmen’s been the feckin’ grim reaper.”

“Correction. One of your former freshmen just became the grim reaper.”

“And ye graduated too.” She looks at the diploma above his desk. “Criminology. Does it help with the death stuff?”

“It’s my first day, so it’s hard to say.”

“Well ye got eternity t’think about that. I don’t have t’worry about any of that anymore.”

“Would you say you’re ready to go?” He grips his scythe.

“No, I’m freakin’ the fuck out, but what can I really do now? Ye know?” She fiddles with the glass in her punctured arm. “What’s done is done. I’ll have time to regret wherever the feck I end up.”

“One thing I can promise you is that this process is painless.”

“I guess it is. Now, enough catchin’ up. Take me up or down or spin me right around. Whatever ye need or wherever the feck. Just promise you’ll come visit.”

“I’ll see if that’s possible.”

Your sleep disturbed and lungs compressed.

All thoughts conserved and sins professed.

No longer made of bone and flesh,

you now accept eternal rest.

AJ reads before he can walk forward:

Name: Virgil Clay

Age: ██

Occupation: Video Rental Store Clerk

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (02:00)

Cause of Death: Stabbed

Positive Impact: N/A

Neutral Impact: ██████

Negative Impact: ██████

Your sleep disturbed and lungs compressed.

All thoughts conserved and sins professed.

No longer made of bone and flesh,

you now accept eternal rest.

Tommy makes a popping sound. “You didn’t even talk to him.”

“His place was decided before he got here.”

“Okay.”

“Come over here, it’s your turn.”

He reads the final folder:

Name: Thomas Shah

Age: ██

Occupation: Student

Time of Death: 02/02/20██ (05:00)

Cause of Death: ██████

Positive Impact: Charitable even when he didn't have much himself.

Neutral Impact: Doodled on the wall besides his bunk.

Negative Impact: N/A

“It's pretty obvious where you're going, Tommy, so let me let you in on a little secret.”

“Okay.”

He shows him the inside of his own folder.

“It’s empty?” Tommy asks. “But there are so many papers.”

“Not empty,” AJ answers. “Only my parents and I can actually read ’em.”

“Ohhh. Okay.” He bites the tip of his thumb, nodding slowly.

“Are ya ready to go?”

“Wait, AJ… Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“I want to say goodbye to my parents. One more time. It’s not their fault this happened to me, and I want them to know that,” he explains. “Can you help me do that?”

For the first time in a while, he finds himself silent.

“I can…” He says. “Do ya remember your address?”

“Yep.”

“Think about it really hard, and close your eyes.”

AJ taps his scythe against the floor.

Comfortable suburbia surrounds them, its trees lush and bright, its streets and sidewalks clean and wide. An emergency vehicle peels away from Tommy’s two-storey house.

“Are ya sure you’re ready? I can come in and explain things to them.” Azrael Jr. suggests.

“I wanna tell them myself.”

Tommy floats over to the gate, stopping to wave at him before continuing on.

[endekashi]

美しき一日

A Beautiful Day

なかなか新たな降雪の無い白馬の谷。しかし、そんなに気温も上がってはいないのであるとこにはまだあるのです。

There has been no new snowfall in the Hakuba Valley. However, since the temperature has not risen that much, it is still there.

本日のゲストを迎えに行ったその場所は栂池のHAMON。昔からの友人、ジェリーの営むイケてる宿です。

The place where I picked up today's guests was HAMON in Tsugaike, a cool inn run by my old friend Jerry.

ESSUの��ートがあったりしてたまりません。

I'm excited to see some ESSU art!

てな訳で本日のカスタマー。フロムスウェーデン。仲睦まじきお二人です。お手伝いはケノザ氏。

And that's today's Customer of the Day From Sweden. They are a friendly couple. Mr. Kenoza is helping.

昨日に引き続き、本日もド快晴。��んもちいい〜〜〜！！！

Continuing from yesterday, today is another beautiful day. It's so nice!

足慣らしにコーデュロイを一丁。

One corduroy for foot break-in.

上でマチャ君率いるサロモンチームの女子達と遭遇。

ノリコの姉御もいらっしゃいました。撮影だそうです。

We ran into the girls of Salomon team led by Macha at the top.

Noriko was also there. They were shooting.

連日の放射冷却により表面霜がすくすく育っていました。悪さしなければいいけど。

The surface hoar was growing nicely due to the daily radiative cooling. I hope it doesn't do anything bad.

さーて行ってみましょう！実は彼女は植物生物学者だそうです。木が好きだそうで。ちょうどええがな。今日は綺麗な林を歩きますよ〜。

Well, let's go! Actually, she is a plant biologist. She likes trees. Just in time. We're going to walk through a beautiful forest today.

次々と現れ���異国の雪景色。歩くだけでリラックス効果が得られます。

Exotic snowy landscapes appear one after another. Just walking through them will have a relaxing effect.

あれが橅で〜あれが岳樺で〜これは栂。辿々しい英語で説明しました。

That's Buna, that's Dakekanba, and this is Tsuga. I managed to explain in English.

景色が美しすぎて、しょっちゅう写真タイムになってしまいます。

いいですよ。これはあなた達だけのためのプライベートツアーですから。

The scenery is so beautiful that it is often photo time.

It's okay. This is a private tour just for you.

小一時間歩きドロップポイントへ到着。

正直に告白します。これから滑るところは初めて行きます。

雪がいいのは間違いないけどいい��こあるかはわかりません。

うわ〜。出た〜。

We walked for an hour and arrived at the drop point.

I will confess. This is the first time for me to ski where I am going.

I'm sure the snow is good, but I don't know if there are any good spots.

Wow…. There it is.

てな訳で、ケノザドローンの出番です。この先の地形どうなってるか教えて！

So, that's where the Kenoza drone comes in. Let me know what the terrain is like up ahead!

この林の奥に開けたところがあるそうです。よっしゃ！そこへ行こう！

He said there is an open field behind this forest. All right! Let's go there!

ケノザの言う通り、いい斜面ありました〜。グッジョブ！！

Kenoza was right - there was a nice slope! Good job!

ここ二日の放射冷却によりサラッサラッの熟成ほうてい。光は無いけど最高な滑り心地です。

The last two days' radiative cooling has created a smooth and matured powder. There is no light, but it is the best feeling.

ケノピーもレレレのおじさんばりの煙を撒き散らしてました。

Kenopy was also spraying smoke like Uncle Lelele.(Japanese Cartoon character）

噂のジャパウのお味はいかがですか？

How do you like the rumored Japow?

スムースな滑り心地。

Smooth feeling.

いや〜最高でしたね！まだまだ降りたいけど帰らなければいけないので我慢我慢。

Well, that was great! I still want to go down, but We have to go home, so I have to be patient.

それにしても見渡す限り美しいです。

Still, it is beautiful as far as the eye can see.

滑った分登り返して、さあ帰りましょう！

Climb back up for the shred, and now let's go home!

帰りもいい雪で快適下山。

Comfortable descent with good snow on the way back.

まだまだほうていありますね。

There is more powder.

Känns bra!(気持ちいい！）

そんなこんなで無事下山！！

終始、グッドヴァイブスのお二人でいちいち景色に感動してくれてこちらもガイドのしがいがありました。彼らはまた明後日も来ていただく予定です。

ひとまず本日もお疲れ山でした！&おしょっ様でしたー！

And so we descended the mountain safely!

They were impressed by the scenery from start to finish, which made it worthwhile for us to guide them. They are scheduled to come back the day after tomorrow.

Thank you again for your hard work today!

[busybussinbee]

wuwuwu!!

name(s): bee! i also go by radi outside of tumblr but i think bee is cuter—i don’t really have any nicknames yet (cause bee is so short) but you can call me pretty much anything related to bees and i’ll probably respond!!

pronouns: she/her

# of siblings: just one older sister! fun fact about her is that she and i almost never text, but we send each other goofy instagram reels all the time. it’s our love language

# of pets and their names: no pets currently, but when i was a kid we had cats named lucky, clover, hermione, and hagrid

fandoms: fnaf, welcome home, ut/dr, omori, toh, genshin, mlp, star wars, tadc, pokemon, pretty much every fandom for every media i’ve ever consumed lol

favorite color: pink!! yellow is a close second

favorite song: currently “inertia” by ajr or “dopamine” by the arcadian wild

favorite author: andrew peterson or s. d. smith

hobbies: drawing, animating, ballet, cosplay, writing (loosely), jigsaw puzzles

favorite fic type: gonna be honest i don’t read fics very much but i adore fluff. angst is good depending on the characters but i need it to have comfort afterward or else i get sad (hyper empathy woooooooo)

favorite holiday: christmas!!

partners: none (yet) but i am talking to someone

fun facts:

i have inattentive adhd!

i am Very Slow at drawing. my average for a 1 or 2 figure drawing is 20 hours. the longest i’ve ever spent on a single piece is i think 103 hours

i have aphantasia, which means i have no minds eye/cannot visualize anything

no pressure tags: @xxluckystrike @pharaohbean @alooxis @mcrizzystardust @greypaw (unless you’ve already done it lol) and anyone else who wants to join!!

I got bored so here's a little get-to-know-you tag game I think could be fun :3

Name(s)

Pronouns

Star sign

# of siblings & fun facts about them (if you have any)

# of pets & their names

Fandoms

Favorite color

Favorite song

Favorite author (of anything readable-- books, fanfics, zines, webtoons, whatever!)

Hobbies

Favorite fic type

Favorite holiday

Do you have any partner(s)? (romantic, qpp, anything!)

Fun facts about you / anything extra you wanna share!

────────

Name(s): Loki (highly preferred), Elye

Pronouns : they/them mostly, he/she okay too

Star sign: Pisces

# of siblings: I've got 2! An older sister and a younger sibling. The fun fact about them is that they're also both queer; in fact, my mom is too. The only non-queer person in my immediate family is my dad.

# of pets: 4 cats! Phoebe & Frankie are our girls, Lenny and Murray are our boys :3

Fandoms: MCU (kind of), BSD, OFMD, Ranboo (does his fanbase count as a fandom?)

Fav. color: Don't have one

Fav. song: Aurora Borealis by Lemon Demon

Fav. author: Alice Oseman

Hobbies: singing, acting, drawing, writing, procrastinating

Fav. fic type: Fluff, definitely. I am a sucker for well written coffee-shop and flower-shop aus, too. Smut's fine, but only if it's romantic. I can't do angst if there's no comfort.

Fav. Holiday: Hanukkah or Halloween! I love autumn and winter

Partners?: Yes! I have a girlfriend (queerplatonic) who I love very much, and a boyfriend (romantic) who I love very much :]

Fun facts:

- Even though I'm a cat person, I really, really want a dog.

- I actually used to play sports. Because I don't do gendered leagues anymore, I don't play, but I've been looking for mixed/gender-neutral/queer sports teams. Baseball and basketball specifically!

- I started questioning my identity in 2019; I'm no closer to finding a label now than I was then. The difference is, now I don't want a label. I just am. :]

tags: @neonganymede @cha0ticlesbian @x-chiara @exceleo @brinnybee @autistic-katara @gandalfthemorallygrey @ohboyanotherlokiblog @roachandrenfri @ourflagmeanslokius @exceleo @edettethegreat @swiftlyspidey

[kwikiwii]

edit: for some reason the quality is absolute dogwater rn :(( but i'll leave it up until i can post from it my pc

so i drew this last month after finding out radi & void (and by extension sumire) actually know each other canonicaly now but never posted it for some reason? so.. here it is.

this is also super rushed </3

[twistedtavern]

i saw your Neige au posts and you said something about having other RSA dorm leaders? Care to elaborate?

Ah, yes. Shining Wonderland, my passion project in which I make an entire game cast and plot >:Dc. I have a few more students planned, but these are all the dorm leaders and their personalities/backstories.

Archer Brightown: Twisted from Alice herself, Archer is a bit of a wild card with how I've made his character. He's quite a bit older than he was in his first adventure in the Queendom of Roses, and had lots of experience with travel and different flora, fauna, and cultures all over Wonderland since. You could put him in any situation in any place and he would at the very least get out alive. Archer sort of has the personality of how a young child would view a kind older brother. He always carries around an enchanted white backpack containing all sorts of things, ranging from medicinal herbs, potions of all kinds, keys to the Sevens know where, and almost anything else you could ask for, and he will gladly give it to you if asked. The root of such generosity lies in his Unique Magic, Curiouser and Curiouser, which allows him to make a double of just about anything that isn't magically enchanted. He cares deeply for the safety and wellbeing of those around him, since he's faced many dangers himself, and is never one to turn down something that sounds fun and teach you how to do it safely and efficiently.

Ndege Mshauri: Twisted from Zazu, Ndege is an intelligent young man who takes everything seriously. Always one to take a dizzying amount of notes, he's one of the most studious, trustworthy, and attentive students at Royal Sword Academy. His family has been acting as advisors to the Kingscholars for generations, and he hopes to join the rest of his lineage by gaining as much knowledge as possible. Despite his haughty, almost pompous attitude, just about anything will pique his utmost interest, and he is very respectful and proper. His Unique Magic, Dawn Report, allows him to recall just about anything he has ever learned, though he insists on memorizing things properly. He will risk life and limb in the pursuit of information, but is quite easily startled or confused.

Rielle Okeanos: Twisted from Ariel, this young merman is well known for never taking into consideration a single word that comes out of his mouth. He means well, but by god it really doesn't sound that way. However, his blunt nature does lend itself to a lot of honesty on his part and tends to solve a few conflicts (as quickly as he starts them). He's bold, to the point, outgoing, and very impatient. If something's going on, you can count on him wanting to be there, whether it's a party, a fistfight, or right in the middle of something that does not involve him. Look away for one second and he's gone, and you had better hope he had thought to drag you with him. Rielle may be a little stoopid, but that boy's got the curiosity AND the spirit. He's finally got some legs on him and is ready to hit ALL the land towns.

Sariq Fibaa: Twisted from Aladdin, Sariq is a regular "eat the rich" pathological liar and resident kleptomaniac Robin Hood. However the first impression from that sentence may have been, don't worry. He means no ill will, but it's just how he's existed his whole life. Even as a child, Sariq was an orphan and wanted thief back home, and it's only through these lies that he has managed to survive. Despite his flippant, prank-loving exterior, it's very hard to get him to open up and be his true self, which is reflected in his Unique Magic, Nom De Plume, which allows him to shapeshift at will. But, the fast track to friendship with Sariq is definitely through his primate partner in crime, Radie, who frequently exposes his gentler side. Once you make it through to Sariq, you'll find that he'll jump at any chance to fuss over those he cares about like a mother hen. He's very gentle with anyone who's close to him and would do anything to protect them. Just be mindful to give him a gentle reminder whenever a lie slips out or he takes something that isn't his.

Neige Leblanche: I know he's already canon but let me go off about him dammit I love him. He's a very loving and caring person to anyone he meets, mostly because he has abandonment issues and can't bear to leave anyone in a vulnerable state alone. This boy has taken on raising seven children alone for a reason. Don't let that pretty baby face fool you, he's a hard worker through and through, and always tends to find some way to make any situation at least a little enjoyable. Neige is a very gentle and soft boy at heart, and he's spent half his life singing lullabies and kissing ouchies better for forest animals and small children alike, so trust that you're in good hands with him. His Unique Magic, Special Song, embodies a bit of the natural care in his heart for the wellbeing of others. Activated after a short lullaby, Neige can cast little blessings on things or people to help them towards a specific goal or give/boost a specific trait, called a Song, and these Songs can be pretty powerful. He isn't exactly stingy with this power, but will pry if your Song request seems strange or suspicious to him. He most commonly uses his power to make meals more nutritious or help injuries heal faster, but will absolutely indulge in using it for aid in the occasional prank or joke, as a treat. Having spent so much time unsupervised with no real other friends, Neige has cultivated a penchant for play and mischief, though he rarely indulges in it due to him having to be the most level-headed and gentle of the group.

Hop Litallaios: Twisted from Hercules, Hop wants more than anything to have those around him, and especially his birth parents, be genuinely proud of him. He figures the best way to do this is to become some sort of hero, just like his father, Zion. Hop is a very energetic, innocent, and sweet boy who grew up on a farm with his foster family his whole life, so he doesn't know much about the world outside of hard work and the simple things such a humble upbringing provides. He's got incredible natural strength from having to handle all the heavy lifting at home, but his Unique Magic, Zero to Hero, increases that strength tenfold for a brief period of time. He's always doing his absolute best at everything he does, whether it's helping out whoever he can at school, working out, or studying magic. Hop is secretly an absolute nerd when it comes to superhero media, it's actually really really cute. Complete himbo I adore him

Auron Briar: Twisted from Aurora, I definitely went ham with this one. Hear me out. Auron has been raised in a cottage separately from all of society his entire life by three fairy men pretending to be humans. He has been vigorously training, studying, and preparing to take on his destiny and inherit the throne as the sole ruler of Briar Valley. But how, might you ask? Simple. By killing Malleus Draconia, that's how. Why? Because the three fairies have been lying to him his entire life. They isolated Auron from anything that could contradict their teachings as a child and fed him lie after lie after lie about the world around him. He genuinely and wholeheartedly believes that it is his destiny to kill Malleus, and that if he doesn't, all of humanity will be destroyed once he is crowned king. And though a savior he believes himself to be, this perceived duty weighs heavy on Auron. He lives in constant silent terror of what will happen if he fails, but knows nothing but being shoved forward towards this inevitable end. To him, the literal fate of the world rests on him and him alone. Mind you, this boy has: exactly zero social skills, has genuinely NEVER met another sentient being outside of the men who raised him in his LIFE, has basically been living in the 16th century in terms of access to any kind of technology, has believed his parents were dead his entire life (they are not), has no concept of affection or emotional attachment, has never been hugged even once, doesn't know his own birthday, has never been given emotional support, has read exactly ten books his whole life, has never been told a bedtime story, and has never been smiled at before coming to RSA. Let that sink in. This poor prince is a pathetic little meow meow if I have ever seen one, and the only thing keeping him from withering away into shards of emotionally neglected dust is the feeling that his entire existence hinges on regicide. He could easily be done in by either a forehead kiss or a thingy of Pop Rocks. Your choice.

If you want to send in asks or requests about these characters, PLEASE send them I would be more than happy to respond

[chipper-smol]

Hollow Knight Telephone Round Two: Babysitter SL

Prompt: Shade (lord) is in the midst of final exams and they’re more stressed and tired than usual while babysitting. They accidentally fall asleep in the middle of a calm spell and the god babies become worried. The next time Shade comes over, all of the god babies present a gift they all made together!

By @minnesotamidian-blog​

Shade barely noticed their surroundings as they entered the nursery playroom. Plastic clattered and they sighed as Radiance yelled at the top of her lungs. At least she wasn't screaming. Yet. The scene was set: Unn was still in a crib and chewing on a bar, Root was climbing slowly onto a chair. Radiance was knocking over plastic blocks as Grimm cackled away. For once, Wyrm was playing peacefully with a kick toy, batting at it with his tail. Root got onto the chair and squealed, raising her arms. "Big Root now!" The little blue-eyed godling squeaked out.

Shade picked her up, hugged her to their chest before holding her out. "Now you're a flying Root."

She screamed laughter as Shade tiredly walked her around the room before setting her down near some of her favorite toys. They made sure nobody else had claimed the chair and took a seat, bending over to pick up the fussy moth. "Ancient enemy!" Of course she bit their hand.

Shade winced and just ran a hand over her fluff. "Are you hungry for something that isn't void?" They spoke tiredly.

"Oranges!" She yelled out.

The teen sighed as he went to the mini-fridge with snacks and found some miracle of miracles! pre-peeled oranges. Shade pulled them out and put her in a high chair with one at a time so she wouldn't be tempted to throw the extras at them.

Finals were here and they were really taking it out of the gangly god. Why did they have to know stuff about inorganic chemistry? Why did they have to know about history nobody cared about? There were some fun subjects, but the finals seemed to even suck the fun out of those classes, going over notes and studying everything just in case. They'd been pulling long nights and the night before had been an all-night cram session-and they still had to come to work, they couldn't afford not to. They'd underlined all the stuff the teacher had said was important to remember and had written down stuff from the last finals about each teacher's usual tests.

It made narrowing down what to study from impossible to I'm totally toast. They groaned as they set down a calmer Radiance the opposite side of the room from Wyrm. She found toys that interested her, at least. Root wandered over to Wyrm, who was really into knocking at the kick toy and purring. Root settled nearby and burbled as she hugged and gnawed a plushie.

The teen couldn't help it. The kids were calm for once; their head started to tilt forward, eyes heavy. They were exhausted. Shade's eyes closed and their breathing deepened. At first, their toys were too interesting to notice their babysitter's state; but it didn't take long for Grimm to get bored enough to fly over and notice. "...Shade? Shade's eyes are closed." They landed and the four children not in a crib headed for the batlike godling.

"Is Shade dead?" Wyrm sounded worried.

"Don't be stupid, they're having a nap!" Radiance huffed.

Root looked up and swayed before patting Shade's leg. "Grown-ups don't have nap times." She was tearing up.

"Nuh-uh, they're having bad dreams and it's tasty!" Grimm clamored onto their lap.

The others joined, Radiance grabbing Unn to join them on the sleeping teen. Grimm rested between Shade's horns, Unn was on one shoulder, Radiance on the other, with Root and Wyrm curled up together on Shade's lap, Wyrm purring for once.

When Shade woke up, they were surprised by the weight on their body and forced themself to look down and around before moving. "Uh oh, I fell asleep… sheesh, I'm glad this place isn't a fiery disaster." They picked the godlings up. "You're not dead!" Wyrm exclaimed.

Root burst into tears and even Grimm joined in on the crying spat. Shade sighed and spent the rest of the time comforting them until meal time and settled them down. Time to go home for them all!

But the worry didn't leave the heads of the little godlings. "We should make something for Shade. If they're having nightmares, they might be sad." Radiance sighed. "But that doesn't mean I feel bad for my ancient enemy!" "What do we make?" Root twirled around, slowly turning in place until she fell onto pillows in her dizziness.

"Something of clay! I can burn it dry!" Grimm hopped around.

"But there's no clay." Unn spoke slowly, thoughtfully. "But there's crayons and paper."

"Oooh. We can make a pretty picture for Shade!" Wyrm waved his head happily. The group went for papers and each started to draw on the paper. "You're taking up too much paper!" Wyrm whined.
Radiance complained in turn, pointing at the color he was using. "I want that color!"

Wyrm growled and argued back. "I had it first!"

They started rolling around over their drawings, biting and clawing. Grimm gave a solid scream that startled the two. "You ruined Shade's pretty pictures!" He yelled.

The two looked at each other and hung their heads. "...sorry." Radiance muttered.
"-'m sorry." Wyrm looked away from the moth, skulking. "Start again? You can have the crayon, Radiance…"

Radiance took the crayon and they all picked up the last piece of paper. "I think this is better." Root spoke cheerfully.

It was three days later, once Shade had a solid night's sleep and finals completed that they'd returned to work. A large construction sheet of paper in grey covered in scribbles and rough names and messages was waiting for them.

Feel better soon Shade

Love you

Best babysitter

Tastiest nightmare!

Not the worst anciant ancient enemy.Shade could only feel warmth and laugh, hugging the drawing to themself. There were some days the job felt like the best thing in the world.  ------------------------------- By @tomatotimes

-------------------------------

By @loud-whistling-yes

"No."

The kids protested louder. Shade lifted the TV remote higher up, now above their head.

"Screentime's over, I said no."

Wyrm attempted to crawl up their leg in what was a rather pathetic attempt at stealing the remote, but was promptly shaken off. Grimm tried next, flying overhead to snatch the controller. Shade ducked and grabbed him by the tail before he could send himself flying straight towards the ceiling fan for the third time that day.

"Find something else to do," Shade said as they stuffed the remote deep into their pocket, much to everyone else's dismay. "Look, as much as I'd love to shut you guys up for the whole day, you've all been staring at the TV for hours now and I don't want to get in trouble with your parents."

Louder complaints.

"No, no, no. I am not cracking this time." Shade announced as they pulled Radi, who was hissing like an angry cat, off their jeans and pulled their phone out. "You guys got me last week, never again. No more TV for you, we're doing something else before I lose my money for tonight. Google almighty, what is your suggestion."

activities to do with children

fun activities to do with children

activities to do with toddlers

what can I do with kids that isn't a major headache to deal with goddamnit

Go to the park? Shade took about half a second to consider the thought before wondering why they even thought it was possible anyways. Five kids from the deepest depths of hell, outdoors? No. No park.

Finger painting? A pain to clean up, but better than outdoors. Then they looked up from their phone and considered the idea with greater thought. Grimm's wings, Radi's legs, Unn and Wyrm's… er…. Body?.... Nevermind.

Play pretend? …. If they hear the name Hallownest one more time they might just go insane.

Hide and seek? No. No no no no no. No more hide and seek. Shade was utterly sick of hide and seek. If they had to spend another second stuffed inside the closet or trying to get Radi off the roof they'll probably quit the job right there and then.

Baking?

… That might work. Sure, cleaning up is gonna be absolute hell but it's the only thing Google suggested that they haven't tried yet without horrible results.

Shade stuffed their phone back into their pocket and made a getaway to the kitchen, everyone else following, probably still trying to get the remote back. Butter, eggs, flour, sugar, oh, even some chocolate chips…

"Well then," They declared, pulling every ingredient out of the cabinet and fridge. "We're making cookies! And no, no one is allowed to touch the oven when it's hot. If you guys behave we'll have cookies in like, an hour or something like that."

The kids watched in confusion as Shade ran around the kitchen, pulling out bowls and spoons and a bunch of other utensils while typing furiously on their phone.

Cookies recipe

Cookies recipe easy

Cookies recipe for beginners

Cookies recipe for kids

"What do you guys think about chocolate chip cookies?"

Multiple chitters of approval. "Chocolate chip cookies it is then."

Step one: sieve the flour. Oh wyrm, first step and it's already gonna go to shit.

"Okay, you guys can watch this but for the love of the holy wyrm, do not touch it." Shade measured the correct amount of flour before scooping Wrym and Unn off the floor onto the table so they could see while Radi pulled herself onto the chair. The Lady had already clinged herself onto their sweater and Grimm was doing just fine flying nearby.

“You guys get one chocolate chip each if you guys behave and don’t get flour everywhere.” Shade added. “Now, Lady, hold still and don’t move, I gotta keep my hands steady for this…”

************

"Okay, chocolate chip time." Shade popped open the jar of chocolate as the kids cheered. "Actually, we’re not supposed to be eating this plain, cause it's going into the cookies. But no one actually does that so you guys get five chips each for not setting the kitchen on fire so far."

"The recipe says a cup of chocolate chips but we all know that's a lie." They added while shoving their phone back in their pocket and grabbing a handful of chips before mixing the batter together. "I'm probably not someone you should take life lessons from, but here's one thing I can guarantee you should take to heart: never follow the recipe when it comes to chocolate chips, you count that with your soul."

Final step: oven time. The oven was preheated earlier, and the only thing left was to get the cookies into the tray and into the oven. "Now, who wants to make heart-shaped cookies?"

****************

Three deformed stars, five mutated trees, two malformed cats, several irregular hearts, a couple handfuls of chocolate eaten straight from the jar, and one (1) perfectly round cookie later, the cookies were on the tray, in the oven, and in a surprising turn of events, no one burned themselves… yet. Shade grabbed everyone and made sure no one was in a five-meter radius within the oven before picking up all the dirty bowls and utensils. “Cookies will have to sit in there for about 15 minutes, we’ll be cleaning up in the meantime.”

“Don’t look at me like that, and no whining, if you want cookies you gotta deal with the mess afterwards. That's the payoff, unless you're a wizard who has a passion for baking. Then that's fair, I guess." They dumped all the used utensils they could find and turned on the sink. The sief, three bowls, tablespoons and teaspoons.. Oh wait.

"Radi, the big wooden spoon, please?" Shade called, sponge in their hand and bowls being thoroughly rinsed.

Radi, of course, was not willing to help, because she's basically a feral house cat that just so happened to grow more legs than the average feline. Shade sighed and moved on to finding the next helper they could find.

"Grimm, I know you're touching the oven, stop it. I'm pretty sure you're immune to fire but not everyone else and you're setting a bad example for them. Get me the spoon please."

“Lady, here’s a cloth, help me dry the bowls up. Wyrm, … i have no idea how you can help, no limbs and all but uh, could you go get Unn? I have no idea where she went. Thanks.” The last sentence was to Grimm, who flew over with the mixing spoon and dropped it into the sink while Wyrm scurried away to find Unn, wherever she’s napping at.

"Radi? Radi, I know you're right behind me, stop pretending that you can't hear me. Lady has an extra cloth with her, you're on table wiping duty."

*********

“See? That wasn't so bad,” Shade sent the last of the bowls back into the cupboards and closed it shut. “And the cookies are pretty much done.”

“Also, no. You may not eat the cookies the moment I pull them out of the oven. These rules also apply to Grimm because it's unfair to everyone else.. Don’t look at me like that Grimm, I know you’ll eat them all before they cool and leave us nothing.”

The cookies smelt delicious, and were left on the dining table to cool. “Now that it's cooling down, it's naptime.”

A chorus of groans and wailing.

“It’ll be ready when you guys get up. Up up up, sleep time.”

**********

If you’ve been anywhere near toddlers before, you’d know that getting them to nap in their bedrooms is a near-impossible situation. And Shade was not a person who deals with near-impossible situations well. So following the months old custom, Shade turned on the tv, remote miraculously not pickpocketed, collapsed onto the couch, and waited for everyone piling on them to fall asleep before moving them into their bedroom and pretending they managed to wrangle them all into bed.

And it all goes to plan, the Lady and Wyrm were sound asleep on their lap, Radi and Unn were dozing off on their shoulders, and they're pretty sure the snoring from the top of their head was coming from Grmm. Now, step 2: get everyone off them and onto the beds.

… Or maybe later. It's been a long day, and the couch is pretty comfy. Yeah, just five more minutes, nothing wrong with that…

And if the parents came home to see a cleaner-than-expected kitchen, a tray of chocolate chip cookies, and five kids snoring on top of their babysitter, also sound asleep, then that’s nobody’s business.

And if the originally completely full jar of chocolate chips was pretty much empty, then that’s no one’s business as well.

-------------------------------

By @astronomicartz​

-------------------------------

By @hollow-kin​

Shade lord wanted to take a nap. They are sooo tired, but they are babysitting 5 baby gods for 5$/H. Grimm is a brat, Radiance his sister is also a brat. Unn was ether eating or seeping, same with grub1. Lady was, well sweet and cuddly. they needed to find a distraction for the kids, what would work?

Would tv work, would cartoons work? They had dinner already. Tv had to work or grub and radiance would destroy the house. They needed to take a nap. Now what to watch was a different question, they would have to ask the kids. “so, what do guys want to watch? “Movie!” well they were all in agreement, what was good. “What kind of movie do you guys want to watch?” “Fire!” “dath” “animal” “tree” “ok. No, we are NOT watching fire.” “awww” “i do not know what dath means so no. So nature show it is then.” they go over to the tv and turn it on, then select the world around us. Lady was quick to fall asleep, on their lap. Shade lord slowly fell asleep, and grub nested between grub and shade lord. Grimm climed up to shade lord's head. 

-------------------------------

By @hawaiianbabidoll

-------------------------------

By @neoliberalsatan

A gentle darkness surrounded the shade lord. He finally felt at ease. "finally", he thought, "rest." it didn't take long after that before the darkness started to take shape and a whole new world created out of shadows sheathed him.

But the happiness of the shadows didn't last long. A new and a new sound drowned out their world and all the animals and plants took to hiding back in his head. The shade lord felt the distressed creations stir inside his mind and woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. He rubbed his lowest eyes and accepted the call

"Hello, with shade lord. How can i help you?" "Oh sorry dear, i know it's terribly late but we got an unexpected call and need to leave. Since you've babysat Unn multiple times we assumed she would like to stay with you. Is it okay for you? Can we bring her to your place?" The shade lord thought for a moment and decided he could use the money. "Yea it's fine, she's always such a pleasure to babysit." The voice on the other side sounded relieved. "Thank you. You're a life saver. We will make sure you're compensated accordingly."

Feeling a bit more awake after the phone call he started to prepare for having baby Unn over. After a while her parents arrived and after some greetings he was home alone with the baby. He walked with her in his arms towards the living room and placed her gently inside the crib. She opened her eyes for a moment after losing the feeling of someone holding her, but then closed them again and fell back asleep.

The shade lord decided he couldn't sleep anymore and made some popcorn and decided to put on a movie. It didn't even take 20 minutes before he got called again.

"Hello, with shade lord. How can i help you?" "Oh yes finally someone who answers. Sorry but you're our last hope. We were going somewhere tonight but our babysitter called off. Do you think you could babysit our lovely Radiance? She's very good behaved and won't cause you trouble." "yea, no problem. You'll just need to bring her to my place if it's no trouble"

Not even 5 minutes later the parents showed up and dropped of their larva. Shade lord looked at it a bit confused but didn't get the time to say anything because the parents left as soon as they handed her over. He closed his front door and gave the larva a good look. She was white and had a fluffy appearance. She had 5 pairs of legs and yellow-orange eyes. She started to writhe a little bit and shade lord made sure to hurry to the living room. He took a pillow and placed it on the couch and softly laid her on it. She seemed at ease and rested on the pillow all stretched out

Shade lord continued his movie, which was finally starting to get interesting, but as usual the commercial break hit. He was in the kitchen making more popcorn when he got another call.

"Hello, with shade lord. How can i help you?" "Hello, is this the babysitter?" "Yes, that's the one you're speaking with." "Great, a family member had an accident and i need to be there for them so do you think you could babysit for me?" "Yep, totally." "Thank you, can we bring him to you?" "Oh yea, no problem."

A few minutes later his doorbell rang and he hurried towards it. The father carried his toddler in what could only be described as wing-esque appendages. The shade lord extended his arms for the man to put his toddler in and felt a gentle brush of the leathery membrane. He shivered lightly before feeling a sudden warmth light up in his face, like someone has started a fire. When he looked back up the man was gone and he closed the door. The creature he was holding in his arms was unlike anything he had ever seen. 2 horns sprouted from its black head. The face was as bleak as white linen on a summer day. It seems she likes make-up because she had already 2 black lines running from her cheeks towards her eyes, eventually fading into the darkness of her head. She had the same membranes as her father and no limbs besides it.

He wasn’t even in the living room before he heard his front door being was under siege. He put the weird creature down and opened the front door. Immediately he was assaulted by Hollow, a very energetic child. He was wearing a green cloak today and it finally seemed he was starting to grow bigger than a hand. His horns has also branched into the inside. Immediately after Hollow jumped on his he could hear Pale complain about his unprofessional work attitude. Although he was bigger than most it seems he wouldn’t grow much anymore. His tiny stature didn’t discourage him from being bossy. Finally White entered. By far the biggest of the bunch, she was also the most introverted. Her roots slid elegantly over towards him and even managed to stop Pale from talking for a moment.

He took them inside the living room only to find that somehow the larva and the winged creature had somehow gotten into a fight and now both were in hiding in opposite sides of the room. Normally he wouldn’t make such a big deal out of this if somehow his couch wasn’t full of tiny needles and a chair was on fire. He rushed to the tap to fill a bowl of water to extinguish the little fire. With the attention being diverted Hollow managed to slip from the watch of Pale and could now be found in the corner Radiance was hiding. The larva figured out quickly he liked to play games and had soon enough set up a plan to make him betray Pale.

In the meantime White had climbed the couch and started pulling out the needles while Shade lord had figured out what the membrane between the appendages from the weird creature were for. Namely, for flight. And now she was attacking his horns and he couldn’t reach her. As if her flying was not good enough alone, whenever he raised his arms she would back off and launch a little fireball  All this commotion woke up baby Unn who slowly started to slither away from her crib to find food.

The shade lord finally had enough of the little fire hazard and rushed towards the pantry to get a kettle. Once he had found it he peeked around the corner only to find that fire hazard eating his popcorn! All caution was thrown aside and he grabbed her by the guts and put her inside the kettle. She tried to heat it but he added some water to it. While it evaporated quickly it was apparently enough to bring over the message. Now he could focus his attention back on the larva again, only she could’ve produced those needles, which White was making great progress with removing them as a quick glance told him.

Now back to Pale and Radiance who were apparently having a fight (Darkness, that larva really has a talent to provoke others). They were arguing near the coffee table, because apparently they wanted a fight so bad they just ran to each other and met in the middle. Hollow was climbing one of the legs of the table, but wasn’t noticed by the shade lord because he was too occupied with the other 2. He tried to separate the arguing pair but they were at each other’s throats. They even had summoned a needle and a tiny dagger to fight each other. The shade lord obviously didn’t count on this tiny factor and had soon enough one in each hand. He screamed, trying not to curse, barely not failing miserably, and Pale managed to escape. In any other situation this wouldn’t pose a problem, but Hollow, after eating some popcorn, found himself at the right edge of the coffee table and pulled out his tiny wooden sword he got from Pale. The larva, Darkness curse her, used this to her advantage and made the sign to Hollow to betray Pale. The act of betraying Pale involved jumping off of the coffee table and hitting Pale as hard on the head as possible. Naturally, all of this went according to plan and even brought some extra spectacle. After Hollow had hit Pale on the head he wasn’t prepared for the recoil of the wood and ended up hitting himself in the face.

All of this lead to 3 crying children (1 of them from laughing, the others from pain) and 1 very angry young adult. He put the larva on the couch and took care of the others while White held a close eye on the damned 10 legged thing. After Pale and Hollow weren’t crying anymore he took the little fire hazard out of the kettle and continued his movie, which was getting to an end.

After the film ended a documentary started and had all the kids hooked. He went to check on Unn only to find an empty crib. He could however see a slimy trail lead up his wall and onto the ceiling. It went through the door into the pantry where he kept his food and toys for the toddlers. He looked up on the ceiling only to find a sleepy Unn with a letter block in her mouth. Suddenly Unn started to make a very weird noise and fell from the ceiling onto his face. He swiped her off of his face onto his shoulder and then washed it.

He returned back to the tv to watch the documentary that was still playing and plopped down on the couch. Not long after he was asleep with White on his left shoulder, Unn on his right shoulder, the little fire hazard on the same arm and Pale curled up in his lap. Radiance and hollow were still awake but occupied with the documentary instead of causing trouble. After the documentary ended they crawled up against his sides and fell asleep.

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By @constantlost 

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By @bugbeee

Exhaustion seeped into Shadelord’s body, limbs weighed down by a heaviness they hadn’t experienced in a while. The smatter of godlings that lay around them on the couch, or on them in Radi’s case, was enough to convince them that they had died and that this was the Eternal Void that was created to punish them for cheating on that test in the 8th grade. In their defence, it had been on rock sedimentation.

Wyrm continued his grumbling from the corner of the couch, still infuriated by the attack on his person only moments before. Root, the aggressor, looked remarkably pleased with herself. Shade knew they should probably punish her further in some way but... well, to be perfectly honest, they simply were not paid enough to do so.

They really should have charged more. Fifteen dollars at least per tiny demon they had to look after rather than the whole bunch. Fifteen dollars was not enough to encourage discipline. It was enough for them to make sure none of the godlings killed the other. And they had thought they had come up with an ingenious plan to secure some peace and quiet.

After much wrangling, they had finally managed to set up two separate playpens, each far enough away that the godlings wouldn’t start screaming if one of them saw their rival. Wyrm and Root in one pen, Grimm, Radi and Unn in another. It was a gamble, but one that thankfully seemed to have paid off. Radi was still exhausted from the tussle she had just had with Wyrm, and Grimm seemed content to chew off the heads of the plastic Garbies they had found. Unn continued to watch, and occasionally helped Grimm execute a Garbie in a spectacular manner. It was both reassuring, and beyond disturbing. Root and Wyrm meanwhile were cheerfully ignoring each other as they both played with their own toys.

It should have been foolproof.

Unfortunately for Shade however, they were dealing with infants instead of fools.

For some damned reason, Root had decided that now was the perfect time to act up, instead of being the sweet little darling she had been so far. Her target, much to their dismay, had been Wyrm. In all fairness, the godling had probably deserved it in some way; most likely he had tried to worm too close in order to steal some of the grubpaste and mushroom sticks Shade had left out as a snack. Root had seen this theft as a cardinal sin, and had subsequently decided that Wyrm deserved nothing less than absolute annihilation.

The momentary doze Shade had managed to fall into was abruptly interrupted by loud shrieking and wailing, resulting in them vaulting over the couch to hurriedly find out which one of the godlings was being tortured.

The scene that greeted them was... well, it wasn’t any less ridiculous than some of the other stuff the little goblins had pulled before.

Using her flexible tendrils, Root had seen fit to wrap them around Wyrm, and aggressively dunk him into the bowl of grubpaste he had attempted to steal from. His shrieks and hisses had woken up Radi and drawn the attention of the other children, who were now cheering on Root’s attack on Wyrm’s person.

“Enough,” Shade declared, shooting a glare behind them, “Root, let him go.” Root looked up innocently.

No, she seemed to say with her eyes, justice must prevail.

“Justice won’t get me my fifteen dollars,” they hissed out in return, and they could have sworn that Root shrugged, turning away from them to dunk Wyrm into the bowl yet again.

“No!” they cried out, quickly whipping down to grab the poor child before he could be further humiliated. After finally being saved from his vicious tormentor, Wyrm decided it was time to go into hysterics, lashing out with a sharp tail to fully show his displeasure. Root simply watched impassively as the rest of the children cheered.

Shade wondered if fifteen dollars was even worth it at this point.

“Alright, alright, enough! Root, you go in time out. We do not waterboard our fellow godlings in grubpaste. Wyrm, calm down, it’s just grubpaste- Settle down!” they yelped out, flinching as something heavy settled onto their head. The soft fluff revealed that Radi had decided to fly out of her pen and taunt Wyrm in person. Shade wanted to sob with frustration.

The door cracked open, and Ghost peered in, head tilted curiously.

Need help? they signed, and Shade wanted to collapse in relief.

“Please,” they begged, and their sibling nodded grimly, even as amusement danced in their eyes. Shucking off their school backpack, they quickly headed over to the other pen and signed to them, bobbing their head up and down in a soothing motion. Grimm and Unn were entranced. Radi less so. She remained seated on their head, but at least seemed to have finally stopped provoking Wyrm.

“I’m just going to clean him up,” Shade explained uselessly, watching as Ghost simply nodded and waved them off. 

With a tired gait, Shade wandered into the kitchen and turned on the tap, listening as Wyrm’s panicked yelps grew louder at the realisation of what was going to happen next. Radi snickered softly, before leaping off and gliding back into the living room.

Bath time, according to the godlings, was a fate worse than death, and something to be avoided at all cost.

Unfortunately for both Wyrm and Shade, it was a necessary evil. Wyrm disagreed. Loudly. And with claws.

He howled furiously as Shade slowly lowered him into the warm water, softly scrubbing at the now-dried grubpaste sticking to his skin. Despite his attempts, Wyrm failed to prevent them from continuing his bath. He turned to pathetic pleading instead, making soft mewling sounds as though he was nothing more than a poor innocent child who had done nothing wrong, ever.

Shade, who remembered the little bastard knocking a glass ornament onto their head, was not convinced. Ultimately there was no escape, and Wyrm reluctantly gave in to the soft scrubbing, though he made sure his rumbling complaints were known.

“Yes, yes,” Shade said quietly, “I truly am the worst. Close your eyes so I can rinse you.”

Wyrm, in a dumb act of defiance, did not close his eyes. The hysterics started again, and Shade contemplated drowning themself in the half-filled sink. Fifteen dollars, they repeated. Fifteen dollars.

Grabbing a tea towel, they quickly dried the godling off, carefully teasing out water droplets from soft scales. He child gnawed on their fingers in revenge. “I’m done,” they announced, wandering back into the living room with a now clean, and furious, Wyrm.

Ghost looked up from their position on the floor, back leaning against the couch as they played with Grimm. Radi immediately perked up at the sound of Shade’s voice, and quickly flew over, making herself at home on top of their head. Unn seemed to have decided to undertake the momentous task of scaling up the back of the couch, leaving a thick trail of slime behind. Root, still stuck in her pen as punishment, let out a wail, demanding to be let out.

Shade was all out of energy to fight back or deal with a tantrum.

“Alright, alright, out you go,” they muttered, depositing Wyrm on the couch before reaching down to lift out the petulant child from her terrible prison. She clung to them desperately until they finally collapsed on the sofa. She quickly wriggled out of their hold and instead plonked down beside them. Wyrm had hissed at the sight of her, and slunk to the other side of the couch to sulk.

Grimm let out a raspy cackle at the sight, before diving down to nip at Ghost’s fingers.

Unn finally made her way to the top of the couch and waved her eyestalks victoriously. All Shade could do was give her a tired pat.

They sank into the couch, the exhaustion creeping back in. It should have been foolproof.

Fifteen dollars.

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By @arandoskeleartist​

[travelers-of-the-multiverse]

reborndream

The little moth was looking up to the lizard curiously as he explained the scent. He’d been to the dream world then? Something she had only glimpsed despite being the goddess of it in her world. It was strange to her that she couldn’t truly go to her realm yet but assured herself it was due to not being in Hallownest.  “It smells wonderful. Like home.” While she saw this world as her home away from home, there was no denying that in her heart she knew she belonged elsewhere. She smiled up to the lizard and looks to Reyna. She was used to her adopted mom getting such respect so she just giggles a bit. The little moth then looks over to the stall again.  “Dreams always smell so comforting to me, something that makes the dreamers not want to wake up immediately so they can recover and rejuvenate themselves.” She smiles and nodes as if this was a fact that cannot be disputed. At least, that was their purpose in Hallownest. 

The old lizard smiles. "Indeed. The dream world allows for more than just that though. For many, inspiration, connection and exploration are possible within it. We are inspired by the beauty, even in its shapeless state. We connect with others through dreams, and form bonds to the depths of our souls. And we explore the possible and impossible, within the world of dreams." He regales to the little one. Even if she knows this, it's interesting to see how other worlds view dreams like that too.

"Indeed. Dreams allow for so much, and even now I feel like we've only barely scratched the surface of them. If you don't mind, I'd like to buy some of your incense." She says. She hands some gold to the old lizard, and takes a few sticks of incense. "Now, is there anything else you wanna see Radi?" She asks her little one.

[shyjinks]

au #4(?); vertex au (there’s symbolism there but i’m too lazy to explain it)

hi this is vertex au basically pk and wl are giant monster boyos and they have tons of kids (still bad parents, sad)

so! radi is like another of these monster boys who’s seen as like. a goddess (kinda like canon but also not), and is like threatened by pk’s presence and reputation as a creature of great knowledge

so she sees these kids and is like “fuck no they’re tainted” (we love void experiments. but also she wants to spite him and radi is unequivocally the Bad Guy in this scenario) and basically that starts a whole thing kinda like vampire/werewolf hunters?? but like vessels are pretty hard to pick out as babies so ghost (resident gremlin) is like the same age as thk but they simply Refused to molt/grow so they could stay small and hard to single out/track (hence why they’re known as “the ghost”).

herrah is a badass. canonically, she fucks (lmao). so basically she went to pk (which isn’t uncommon, people would go to him for lots of different reasons but it’s very dangerous) like “okay so if i impress you can i have a baby” and he was like “okay sure why not” and now we have hornet

so!! hornet feels this weird kinship with the vessels on the few occasions she sees them and when she first visits hallownest, she hears this terrifying scream that no one else seems to (except the vessels), and it happens every time the sun rises. she finds out that this scream is from one of the oldest known vessels out there, one of the few that actually matured to an adult form (wow, the hollow knight)

and thk has been stuck there for years because of these wack ass wards someone put on them to keep them in the bounds of what’s basically the black egg temple, and “knights” and warriors would go there and try to kill them to test their strength (but they’re a badass and can’t die)

so hornet goes there, and she wants to help because holy shit that sounds like a miserable existence and no one deserves that, but they just chase her off because they haven’t known kindness in literal years and anyone who’s ever gone there has gone to hurt them :((

so hornet is like. “fuck that” and goes home to herrah like “mom what do i do” so that’s when she finds out her heritage and herrah is like “why don’t you see if the other vessels will help” so hornet is like “mom you’re so smart”

and so hornet becomes a “hunter” (basically so she can find the bounties and get those lil fuckers out of there because they deserve to live, goddammit) and then she comes home with a bunch of babies and herrah is like “hornet what he fuck” but midwife is 100% up for caring for them and some of these babies really shouldn’t be babies but they haven’t molted in ages because there’s no safe place to do it and it’s much easier to be a tiny vessel than a big one (as evidenced by thk :c )

so eventually!! hornet is closer to the temple again, and she’s hunting around for this vessel known as the ghost (baby), but the people in dirtmouth are super unhelpful and she has no idea what to do (dirtmouth loves them. everyone loves them. they deserve it.)

and yknow, ghost was one of thk’s clutchmates, and therefore one of the oldest vessels, but they only molted once and then were like “never again” so basically they’re still tiny and we love that for them

so! they’re just kinda vibing and following hornet around and then we have the greenpath situation and that’s about all i have. but man, if i don’t have a ton of thoughts about this au

(my sister interrupted me while i was typing this to drive her somewhere. smh /lh)

[frankwoods-corner]

Alaskan Air

Unforeseen circumstances bring Alex and Frank to Alex’s hometown of Fairbanks. Maybe it was time for a break. Maybe it was also time for Frank to be honest to Alex about his feelings.

Winter in Alaska was unforgiving. A piercing chill penetrates one's core no matter how many layers are piled on in an attempt to run away from the cold. The cold would quickly turn to numbness if not properly dressed, especially in the winter. It wasn’t something everyone in the world could handle, even if they could, many wouldn’t want to handle it. A blanket of frost was present most of the year, and snow piled up faster than one could shovel in the later months of the year. Alaska was home to Alex, no matter how frigid or numbing the environment.

Alex grew up hunting, starting when he was around eleven years old. His father took him elk hunting in the middle of an especially sharp December. Bundled in the warmest clothes one could find, Alex and his father trekked the forest, arriving at the treestand where his father usually hunted. After sitting in the stand for what felt like hours, an elk appeared in the distance, well within hunting distance.

“This is your chance, you see it right over there? Just aim and shoot,” Alex’s dad whispers to try not to frighten the creature.

Alex stared down the scope of his weapon and lined up a shot. Time seemed to stretch, moments felt like minutes as Alex looked in the elk’s eyes through his scope. He felt an unfamiliar sensation. Like he was going to either pass out or somehow defy reality and disappear completely. A knot began to twist his throat, and Alex put down his rifle.

“I… can't do it,” Alex says in a defeated tone loud enough to scare the elk off into the thick brush in the distance.

“Goddamnit… it's fine. Maybe another day.” Alex’s dad sighs under his breath deciding it was time to return home.

A sense of shame and guilt filled Alex. Why didn't he just shoot the gun? They were a family of hunters. How was everybody going to react if they heard about the less than successful trip? Even though he was still just a boy, he promised himself that he would take the shot next time no matter what.

Decades later the same shame and guilt filled every part of his being. Alex was with Frank on an infiltration mission in search of valuable information regarding the location of Perseus. Frank and Alex performed like a well-oiled machine. They were perfect for stealth as it seemed as if most of the time they didn't even need to talk to communicate. They just seemed to know what the other was thinking. What looked like a gritty battle to an outside observer was rather an intricate, balanced dance. Frank depended on Alex and Alex depended on Frank. Nobody could match their improvised choreography in battle. Their connection seemed to make them an almost unstoppable force. After infiltration to the Soviet base was complete, Alex was left with the consequences of his actions, or lack of action. Alex and Frank found themselves in a quarry of intel. Computers and file cabinets lined the room. Frank was scanning through as much information as he could when a Soviet soldier opened the door.

“Кто ты! Сдай оружие сейчас же!” The red shouted as he saw Alex and Frank.

Alex aimed his silenced weapon at his head. Moments felt like minutes as Alex froze. He locked eyes with the enemy soldier and for some reason, he just stayed still. A knot tied twisted his throat and he couldn't shout to Frank. A deer in headlights.

“What are you doing? Take the fucking shot!” Frank barks looking at Alex from across the room.

As those words left Frank’s mouth, he heard a deafening pop. Alex hit the floor and Frank unloaded a magazine into the Soviet’s skull.

“Goddammit, Alex! What the fuck just happened?” Frank asks as he throws Alex’s large frame over his shoulder to the best of his ability.

“We need exfil. Now. Our cover is blown,” Frank shouts into the radio on his shoulder.

Frank barely escapes with Alex. He loads Alex onto the chopper, then himself after. Alex didn't speak during their escape. As the medic assessed his gunshot wound on the trip back, all Alex could do was look down in shame. Alex knows his inaction could have gotten them both killed. All he can think about is the hunting trip he took when he was eleven. He promised himself something like that would never happen again. This time his life was on the line.

Frank didn't say anything to Alex on the way back. Alex didn't want to talk even if Frank was trying to communicate something.

A few days passed with Alex recovering. It was late November and he was being released from the hospital. Alex never liked hospitals much. Only because they never meant anything good to him. Only injury and possibly death. His nights in the hospital weren't filled with much rest. Something about all of the beeping and wires made him uneasy. Alex thought about how reminiscent it was of the experiments performed on him in Vorkuta. His mind purged most of his memories of Vorkuta as a trauma response, but he still remembered the feeling of the wires and the prison cell.

Alex had been shot in the side of his abdomen. No major damage, but he had very little mobility without pain. “Thank god the red was a lousy shot,” was all he could think. Outside of the room, Frank was talking to Hudson.

“You two have the next month off. He is supposed to go under military supervision for healing purposes. I don't know what your plans are for your break, but if you spend the break with him and make sure he doesn't do some stupid shit, I'll pull some strings and exempt him from standard supervision.” Hudson explained to Frank while Alex was finishing getting out of the hospital.

Two days later Alex was with Frank walking out of the Fairbanks airport.

Neither of them enjoyed flying much, but Alex was still somewhat calm from the painkillers administered in the hospital. Frank on the other hand attempted to read a book, but that lasted all of about 45 seconds. Instead, he decided to run situations in the head of emergencies. Hijacking, wing damage, internal malfunction, Frank was prepping himself for it all. He came by it honestly. He was always planning for the worst, from when he was a kid finding a place to crash for the night, to running different mission scenarios through his head. By the time his mind stopped racing, they had landed.

As they walked outside, the frigid air hit Frank like a knife cutting through his skin.

“Fuck Alex, how cold is this place.” Frank managed to push through a shiver.

“Probably about 15 or so,” Alex responded to Frank's question, not seeming fazed by the weather in the slightest.

“15 degrees? Fuck this shit. It's like we're back in Russia.” Frank says, still recovering from the initial shock of the piercing temperature.

“You’ll get used to it, trust me.”

Alex and Frank walk up to Alex’s old Ford truck that was resting in a parking garage near the airport. It was old but reliable. Its interior was plenty broken in, which Alex liked. He felt the first sense of familiarity he had in a long time.

“Well Frank, welcome to Fairbanks,” Alex said as Frank loaded their luggage in the back of the old truck.

“It's fucking cold I’ll tell you that… but it is pretty so that makes up for it.”

Alex walks up to the driver's door as Frank intervenes.

“You think you're gonna drive us? Three days ago there was a bullet inside of you.”

“Fair enough,” Alex says as he tosses Frank the keys and walks around to the passenger side.

“Thanks for coming with me Frank,” Alex says as they get in the truck.

“No problem. Now, where's a good place to eat? I'm starving.”

Alex helps guide Frank through his hometown making sure to point out interesting things around town. Frank did think it was a charming city. Very different from the streets in Philadelphia where he grew up. Snow covered just about everything in sight, but it was pristine, glistening snow unlike Philly, where all of the snow was grey and dull. Most of the snow in Alaska was untouched.

“Over there to the right. Best breakfast in town, trust me.” Alex points to a small building on the side of the road.

Frank pulls into the parking lot. They stepped out of the car and walked up to the restaurant. It was a small diner but from the looks of it, Frank could tell they were in for a good meal.

They open the door to a waft of warm air. Even though it was only a 15-second walk from the car to the restaurant, for Frank they might as well have been in Antarctica.

“Table for two please.” Alex walks up to the lady in the front of the restaurant.

“Al! It's really nice to see you back in town. How’s life been treating ya?” The older woman says with a smile plastered across her face.

“Been kind of a bitch.” Alex chuckles as he lifts up his shirt enough to show bandages wrapped around his body.

“Ouch, looks like it has been.” The lady leads them over to a table.”

“What can I get you two to drink?” She asks them as they get seated.

“I'll have a coffee. Thank you.” Alex responds.

“I'll also have a coffee please,” Frank says after Alex.

The interior of the restaurant was charming. Several booths lined the walls of the diner. It looked like it had been around a while, but everything was still in excellent shape. Even more importantly, it was warm.

“So, you’re a regular here I'm assuming?” Frank asks Alex, taking his coat off.

“Yeah, you could say that. I used to come in here almost every day. My mom would take me here before school sometimes and I just never stopped coming.” Alex reminisces on his childhood. He knew Frank liked to learn stuff about him, but it felt difficult in a sense for Alex. He knew that Frank had a vastly different childhood and he didn't want to have to make Frank think about it.

Frank and Alex had a feast. If there was breakfast food, it was most likely consumed. They topped off several cups of coffee to make up for the jet lag.

Alex takes out his wallet for a fraction of a second before Frank stops him.

“Hey, I got the check,” Frank says in a way that told Alex there was no changing his mind.

Their waitress walks up to clear their table of empty plates as Frank says, “Just one check is alright.”

“Check? This one is on the house guys, no way my most loyal regular has to pay the day he gets back.” The woman says as she smiles at the two.

“That's really nice Deb, thank you,” Alex says as he puts his coat back on.

Frank and Alex made their way back out to the truck. They were going to stop and stock up on some supplies for the house. As Frank pulled out of the parking lot, all Alex felt was a lingering sense of familiarity. Memories, both good and bad, flooded his thoughts. It all felt somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Alex was home with an injury caused by inaction. As they drove past the snowy forests, all Alex could think about was the first hunting trip he took with his dad. Those were the only two times he had felt such a peculiar paralysis. It’s like the world would almost disappear around him as he looked into the eyes of the life he was about to end. Supposed to end. Of course he had killed people, many times in fact. Those were all different though. He could feel something changing. He still saw the numbers from time to time, but it felt like all of those times he ended someone's life, it was Reznov. Alex didn't necessarily feel unadjusted to civilian life, but things did feel different.

“Hey, you good? Don't think too hard or you’ll hurt yourself.” Frank said with a chuckle as they pulled into the grocery store.

“Yeah, all good. It’s just weird to be home I guess.” Alex lies. He wasn’t even sure if he could describe what he was feeling.

It was a big grocery store. The kind that had just about anything one could think of. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but the store was big enough for people to spread out. Alex didn't like crowded spaces at all, and Frank didn't care for them either.

They loaded up on supplies. Well, supplies and whatever junk food Frank laid his eyes on in the grocery store isles. Alex never said anything about it. Frank wasn't even guaranteed a meal growing up, so some Oreos weren't going to hurt anybody. Apart from Frank's sweet tooth, they got some necessities, stuff to cook, a big case of beer, and a shit ton of firewood. Alex also picked up some extra blankets just in case.

They loaded the groceries into the back of the truck and then pulled out of the grocery store parking lot.

“Anything else on today’s agenda?” Frank inquires trying to figure out where he needs to do next.

“Well, there is this one place I wanted to show you if you’re up for it.”

Frank follows Alex’s directions, going off-road for a few minutes to arrive at their destination. They pulled up to an overlook nestled behind some woods. The view seemed like something pulled straight from a dream, or at least a National Geographic magazine. Evergreen trees extended out for miles below them conforming to the natural contour of the land. Snow-covered everything in sight, acting as a soft blanket on every tree. There was a worn-out picnic table covered in ice situated in the middle of the overlook. The sky was deep solid blue. The air was crisp and pristine. Frank took a deep breath as he stepped out of the truck, his lungs feeling rejuvenated.

“Wow. How the fuck did you manage to find this place?” Frank asks Alex while taking in the scenery.

“I used to hike a lot. Found this place one day and just sat down for a while. Now it's my favorite spot in all of Fairbanks. Sometimes it felt like the only place I could just get away from it all ya know?”

They sat down on the cold picnic table for a minute, taking it all in. Frank looked over at Alex. He could tell he was finally beginning to relax a bit. Sometimes it seemed like all Alex felt was anxiety.

“It's nice to see you relax a little. Haven't seen you like this in well… a while.” Frank broke the blissful silence.

“What do you mean?” Alex falls out of the trance the scenery put him in.

“You just seem less tense. That's all.”

“Hmm. Do you usually think I'm worried or something?”

“I don't think, I know. I'm not stupid Alex. I know you better than anyone.”

“Well… can't argue with that I guess. It is nice to be back.” Alex decided to not lie to Frank about his emotions. The second Alex begins to worry, Frank sniffs it out like a dog.

Alex sat there in silence before his mind began to race like on the way to the grocery store. He did love being home, but he couldn't lie to himself. Everywhere he turned, he couldn't stop thinking about the hunting trip. He couldn't stop thinking about how he almost got them both killed only around a week earlier. Frank knew Alex’s mind was racing, but he also knew that sometimes people just aren't ready to talk about something. Hell, maybe Alex wouldn't even know how to put what he was feeling into words, much less talk about it.

All Frank could do was stare at Alex. He loved his green eyes. He loved his face, his body, his voice. He loved everything about Alex. He loved how Alex just seemed to get him. Nobody had ever respected Frank. When he was a kid on the streets, almost everyone saw him as some good-for-nothing juvenile. In the marines, even though he was extremely successful, nobody saw Frank for what he was inside. Nobody looked past the rugged, authority despising exterior. Maybe he appeared as closed off. Maybe he was closed off. It didn't matter because Alex understood him. Frank felt like a ticking time bomb. He knew he was going to tell Alex how he truly felt soon or later. It was seeming like it would be sooner rather than later. Frank knew that they had something more than friendship, but he never told Alex what he felt.

“It's getting kinda dark, we should probably head to the house.” Alex startled Frank as he snapped out of his flurry of thought.

They got in the truck and started on their way home. The sun was setting on the horizon as they drove to the house. The sky looked like an intricately painted mural. The layers of yellow and orange with hints of pink and red. The blue began to fade into black, with small dim stars beginning to appear in the setting sky. There wasn't much conversation. Being in each other's presence felt like conversion enough. As they were around halfway to the house, Frank turned to the radio. The channel that was playing was a Christmas music channel. Frank decided not to turn it, as tomorrow was December 1st and they might as well get into the holiday spirit.

They pulled into the driveway of Alex’s house. It was a cute cabin-style home with a nice rustic exterior. The cabin wasn't small or large. It was a perfect, cozy size. Alex and Frank step out of the truck and Alex walks around to the back.

“What do you think you're doing?” Woods questions as Alex unhatched the truck bed.

“Well, we have groceries don't we?”

“Alex, I got all that. Do I have to remind you that there is a gunshot wound you’re supposed to be healing from?”

“Ok, but can I at least start the fire? I was a boy scout for 12 years.” Alex asks as he walks towards the house to unlock the door.

“It doesn't take a boy scout to use a lighter, but knock yourself out… not literally though.” Frank laughs as he brings the groceries inside.

The interior of the house was cozy and nice. It was cold inside, but Alex was working on heating it up. There was a living room with a couch and a recliner. Attached to the living room there was a surprisingly large kitchen that had plenty of room for cooking. Both of them weren't necessarily great at cooking, but at least the option was there if either one of them wanted to try to make something more advanced than burgers. A bedroom was found down at the end of a hallway attached to the living room. A nice-sized bed took up most of the space, but the closet was big enough to fit most of their clothes.

Frank had finally finished unpacking and Alex started the fire. The fireplace was situated in a peculiar position at the end of the living room away from the couch. Because of the unorthodox positioning, Alex had two additional seats just for the fireplace.

“Hey Frank, come give your feet a break. I got the fire going.” Alex motions Frank to sit down on one of the chairs.

The warmth was like heaven after being cold for most of the day. The warmth quickly spread throughout the house, heating up all of the rooms.

Frank got two beers. He handed one to Alex and sat down. He felt it again. The same feeling he felt looking at Alex at the overlook. It felt like his heart was flying. It wasn’t pleasant to Frank, but he was long gone. There was no hoping that the feelings would go away. He had tried to push it down but the feelings only got more intense. Frank knew that he had to say something because his heart might just explode if he doesn’t. Yet, he contains himself for a few minutes longer.

Meanwhile, Alex opens his beer and sighs trying to let some tension go. Unfortunately just as fast as he could get it to go away, the thoughts only came faster. His mind swirled with no ending in sight. Alex is just thankful that nothing happened to Frank because of his episode. If Frank ever got hurt he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. He knows it’s only a matter of time before Frank asks what’s wrong, so he might as well just get it out of the way now.

“Frank, I um… ya know when you asked if I was ok in the car? And then said I usually look tense on the overlook?”

“Oh. Um, yeah I remember.” Frank says struggling to hold his own emotions in.

“Well… there is something that I can’t stop thinking about. When I saw that red burst through the door, I looked into his eyes and just… froze. It was fucking horrifying. I felt like the world collapsed around me. The weird thing is that the same thing happened to me when I went on a hunting trip with my dad as a kid. I looked into the elk's eyes and just couldn’t. It’s not like I necessarily felt morally bad either time, I just felt… weird. I could have gotten you killed. I just can’t stop replaying it in my head.”

“Hey, don’t feel bad about it. Shit happens and sometimes we just freeze ya know? Nothing wrong with that. That’s why you got me right?” Frank said in an attempt to make Alex feel better about the situation.

Alex takes another sip of his now room temperature beer before continuing, “I just hope you know that I’m really glad nothing happened to you, Frank.”

“Well, I feel really guilty that you got shot if that means anything. I shouldn’t have been so far away from you in the room. Maybe if I would have… I don’t know. I’m just glad you're ok.” Frank says as he looks at Alex.

“Well don’t feel bad. It didn’t even hit any organs. He was a lousy shot.” Alex laughed.

A few moments passed but it felt like an eternity. They both took a sip of beer. Frank couldn’t take it. Even if Alex didn’t like him the same. If he didn’t tell Alex how he felt, he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life. Frank’s heart began to race as he worked himself up to tell Alex.

“Hey, Al?” Frank had an audible knot in his throat as he spoke.

“What’s up?” Alex looked at Frank, curious about what could cause Frank to look so nervous.

“I just… I gotta tell you something. I um… I really like you.”

“I really like you to Frank. Is that what you’re worked up over?” Alex says, seeming to not understand what exactly Frank means.

“Goddamnit Alex. I… It’s not just a like. I feel like my heart is gonna fly away whenever I see you. I get that you probably don’t feel the same, but I can’t act like I just see you as a friend. I look at you and I just want to fucking kiss you, Alex. I know that’s crazy, but if that’s crazy then I don’t want to be sane.”

“Then do it.” Alex looks at Frank with a sense of desperation.

“Do what?”

“You said you wanted to kiss me. Then do it.”

A million thoughts raced through Frank's mind. He couldn’t do anything. He froze and just sat there with a blank expression.

“Do you want me to do it for you?” Alex asks Frank with a chuckle.

Alex scoots his chair over and leans into Frank, placing his hand on Frank's cheek. Time didn’t exist. Nothing was there except for the two of them. There was absolutely nothing that could take them out of that moment. Alex leans in and slowly connects his lips with Frank’s. They both closed their eyes as Alex picked up the pace, deciding to explore deeper in Frank's mouth. Frank wrapped his arms around Alex’s shoulders. His beard tickled against Alex’s face. Time felt distorted, but opposite to how it previously felt. Instead of a moment feeling like an eternity, a twenty-second kiss felt as if it were only a moment. Alex finally pulled away from Frank with a smile plastered across his face.

“Frank, I've been in love with you since the first day I met you. I just always thought that you didn’t like me like that, but I guess I was wrong.” Alex broke the silence, reassuring Frank that he had the same feelings.

“I guess you were. I didn’t know that you were also into you know… guys.” Frank said as he took another swig of beer.

“To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it before. I just know that I love you and that’s all that has really ever mattered to me. You’re all that’s ever truly mattered to me.”

“So you would be ok if I was your… person? You know, like your partner in life?” Frank asks Alex with adrenaline coursing his veins.

“Frank, I’ve known you for what feels like a lifetime. If you're asking if I want to be your husband, then the answer is yes.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I mean I know that we can’t get legally married, but fuck what the law thinks. Since when have we ever cared about the law?” Alex says as a smile appears on Frank's face.

“Of course this means that you’ll have to deal with me.” Frank laughs.

“I already have to deal with you shithead.” Alex reaches over and playfully ruffles Frank's hair.

The night was frozen in time. They sat there not saying much at all, rather they watched the fire simmer out to ash. Frank held Alex’s tender hand as they cooled off from the night's intense emotions. Neither of them needed to say anything else. They both knew they had always loved each other. The only reason that nothing was spoken was a fear that they might lose the other. Frank would have rather had Alex as a friend than not have him at all. None of it mattered anyway. Frank knew that Alex felt the same deep down, that night was merely seeing if he would succumb to his emotions as well, being swept away by the wave of what Frank could only think to be love.

Frank and Alex retired to the bedroom for the night. Originally, Frank was going to take the couch, but that was no longer an issue of concern. The extra blankets that Alex bought at the store came in handy, as the house grew slightly cool when the fire went out. As they climbed into bed together, Frank felt a bliss crawl across his body. He no longer had to look at Alex and shove his feelings away so the world couldn't see. He no longer had to lay awake at night thinking about how he could never love anyone else. In fact, Frank wasn't even thinking of loving someone before Alex. If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to fall in love at all. When you’re alone the only person who can hurt you is yourself. Additionally, Frank feared that with love, came the possibility of hurting the one he loves. It would all be so much easier to just be alone, but there he was. Alex gently rested his head on Frank's chest, nuzzling his nose into Frank's neck. Even though it looked like two people cuddling in bed, in reality, it was a sign of vulnerability for both of them. Neither of them had truly let their guard down in years. The military requires you to always watch your back.

As they slowly nodded off to sleep, Alex could feel Frank's heart beating beside him. Alex got a sensation of warmth radiating off of Frank’s body, but he also got a feeling of warmth inside. One that no amount of coats or blankets could bring. Alex subconsciously matched Frank’s breathing as he drifted into a blissful unconscious slumber.

They woke up the next morning more rested than either can recall ever being. Alex made a pot of coffee while Frank cooked some eggs for breakfast. The house had a new charm to it. Even though nothing changed in its appearance, now it was also Frank’s house. Frank had never had a home. He was on the streets as a kid, and he was always deployed, or in between deployments as an adult. He never had a family. Frank couldn't help but smile as he watched Alex from across the kitchen. He finally felt a sense of deep security. Emotional security meant he could be open with Alex about everything. Of course he could rely on him before, but now he didn't have to hide a part of himself that so desperately wanted to express his love for Alex.

They stepped on the porch to admire the newly fallen snow as they drank their coffee. As they stood there Frank tilted his head to rest gently on Alex’s shoulder.

“I have some pretty cool stuff planned if you're up for it.” Alex broke the long silence.

“I would love that.”

“Fairbanks has a lot of stuff to do if you look in the right places. Also, you might want to layer up, it seems like you're always cold.”

“Ya know, I think you were right. I can get used to the cold.”