#she was literally a creature though. running around on all fours. eating the box

[chai-dye]

baby!god blinking with her big eye from hell's soggiest lonliest cardboard box

SHE WAS BORN IN A WET CARDBOARD BOX ALL ALONE AND FORCED TO EAT GOD WHEN SHE WAS 6

[scullysexual]

hunger games au (with mulder and scully)

Just a little self-indulgence fic and an idea that wouldn’t leave me alone. I’m sorta proud of it rn and decided to post it. This is pretty much for myself and I’m not gonna much in terms of making sure everyone reads it. If you like it, feel free to let me know if not bye. Not much is gonna be changed in terms of plot, this is literally going to be fanfiction in it’s finest form. It might have elements of a crossover if I can’t find the appropriate xf character to play the hunger games character but we’ll see. Words: 2809.

- - - 

There’s nothing there except a swirling black void, harsh waves crashing, screams of men, and a father drowning in the sea.

Dana wakes just before her father goes under. Her stomach tightly coiled with a realisation that her consciousness has yet to remember.

It’s chilly, the tips of Dana’s fingers red raw from the cold night. She tucks them beneath the blankets and rolls over to the other side. Adjacent to her lies her sister, buried beneath three blankets. Only the tip of her noise is really visible, the rest of her obscured by blankets or vibrant red hair.

Not too far away is her younger brother spread out in the space left by their elder. And finally, on the double bed near the corner, her mother sleeps.

Dana rises, pulling off the covers and bracing the chill. She dresses quickly and quietly, careful not to wake her remaining family members. She pulls on yesterday’s clothes, her boots, clips her hair back in its familiar style and heads towards the kitchen.

“Morning.”

Bill Jr. sits at the table, lacing up his shoes, his miner’s hat beside him.

His presence startles Dana.

“I thought you’d be gone by now,” Dana says. She makes her way towards the jug of water.

“I’m going now,” he tells her.

Bill stands almost immediately after and picks up his hat.

“There’s not a lot of bread left. Make sure you leave enough for Mom, Missy, and Charlie.”

Dana’s eyes move to the basket holding the bread. Bill was right, there’s barely any left. She adds trading with the baker onto her mental list of things to do today.

Bill hasn’t gotten far down the street before Dana’s following him but he doesn’t slow down to walk with her or even take note that she’s behind him. It’s no bother to Dana anyway, as he turns left, she turns right, headed towards the woods.

Technically, entering this area of the District is illegal. Hunting and trading is high on the list of crimes and the punishment for it is death. At least it should be. Most turn a blind-eye to it. The Peacekeepers that guard the city are just as poor and hungry as many of the other residents and while only a few will venture into the woods themselves to procure food and plants, they won’t say anything if they catch you trading.

It’s the Capitol you really need to look out for and their cameras. While it’s not been confirmed, it’s rumoured that they hide cameras so as to spy on the Districts. Dana has yet to find any cameras walking around town and with the fence meant to keep wild animals out, she doubts there would be any cameras in the woods.

But still, she bares it in mind when she enters.

There was a time when she didn’t need to hunt. There was a time she didn’t live in the Seam. Most residents of District 12 are miners however her father was one of the fortunate ones not to have that profession. He was a sailor, in charge of carting coal in a ship back and forth to the Capitol. He was also one of the rare ones to be allowed to leave.

He used to say the Scullys were for fit for District 4- the fishing district. There was even some speculation that the family was from there originally and somehow ended up in this district.

She can still the remember the house they lived in, caught between the Merchant Town and the Seam. Her only problem back then was having a sense that she didn’t belong anywhere. Too poor for the Merchant Town residents, too rich for the Seam residents. Even when they had to move, the Seam residents still viewed her as one of the more fortunate ones.

The move had been caused by the death of her father. Caught in a storm just off District 4, his ship had capsized, killing all members onboard. The family had been notified of his death via an eviction notice. Her mother had crumbled, becoming just a shell of her former self. Billy had tried to become the man of the house and, in theory, he was but he was too much of a rule abider and even when things began to take a sharper turn for the worse, he still wouldn’t venture into the woods to hunt. Melissa was just too soft to hunt. Dana had tried to teach her but Missy had started crying at the sight of the wounded creature. Charlie, the youngest, was just too young at the time. He was seven- too scared and confused to really do it anything. So it had all fallen down to Dana, at eleven years old, her stomach grumbling, it came down to her to get the food on the table and it had been that way ever since.

Dana follows the path of stamped grass and weeds all the way to the entrance to the woods. Not a real entrance, just heavy-duty netting that’s been ripped and nobody’s bothered to fix. The fence is supposed to be electrified all day, every day but there’s barely enough electricity to power the important buildings, nobody wants to waste it on this. Still though, Dana listens for the faint buzzing and if there isn’t one, it’s safe and she sneaks through.

The woods don’t scare her anymore. There are still the wild animals lurking about but as soon as she’s armed with her dagger and spear she feels practically invincible against them.

She reaches for her weapons now, hidden behind a fallen tree, deep down in a hole. It’s nothing fancy, metal is hard to come by so the spear is just pieces of wood stuck together but it’s effective and sharp and does the job.

Her dagger, however, is the real treasure. On one of her father’s trips a man had given it to him and when her father returned he kept it hidden from the rest of his family, presenting it to her the first time they came out here.

While they had no reason to hunt when her father was alive, her dad had still taught her to. That had surprised her, he always appeared much like Bill Jr., always following the laws. Until Bill, however, William Scully was smart. He knew his profession made him stand out against the miners, knew the Capitol would see him as a looming problem, knew that one of these days his time would be up, his family would finally suffer the consequences and they would need every help they could get.

The dagger was expensive. A green and gold handle with real sharp steel at the end of it. They would have a lot of anything they wished for if Dana sold it but none of her family members knew about it and it was the last gift her father ever gave her.

“What took you so long?”

Dana turns to see Ethan standing behind her, already prepared with his bow on his back and his own wooden spear at his side. He was the closest thing she had to a friend, having found each other the first time Dana fully ventured into the woods without her father. She had been scared when she saw him, tried to run for it but fell over instead. Ethan had been furious, screaming at her that she had scared his dinner away. Dana felt tears prick her eyes but she would not cry even as he called her stupid and useless. Finally he asked what she was here for.

“To hunt,” Dana said meekly.

Ethan had laughed, shaking his head and walked away.

A few days past since at incident and she hadn’t seen him again, not until she was trying to kill a rabbit. Leaning against a tree, watching her struggle. He hadn’t announced himself, for the longest time Dana didn’t even know he was behind her but an arrow had pierced the rabbits head and that’s when she spun around and saw him.

After that they became hunting partners. He would shoot the smaller animals with his arrows, her the bigger animals with her spear. Eventually, Dana had mastered stealth. She knew how to sneak up on the animals without startling it and kill it with her dagger.

She also looked for plants, too. Some for eating, some for healing. There were no hospitals here, most replied solely on homecare or you could pay a visit to the Scullys where they would stitch you up and allow you to live a little longer.

And that was her day. Hunting animals and trading in the early mornings, school till three o’clock, and a healer in the evenings.

All except today.

“How are you feeling?” Ethan asks as they begin their usual route through the woods.

Dana thinks back to the way her stomach coiled when she woke. The worry for herself, for her family. For Ethan and his family.

“How everyone feels on this day,” she answers.

This day. By law, written as a holiday but in reality it is as far away from one as possible. School is shut, businesses close early, everyone meets at the Square by 2pm, dressed in their best preparing themselves to cry themselves to sleep or sigh in relief that they have survived another year.

“We’ve been lucky this far,” says Ethan with a shrug.

It’s all bravado, she knows. He’s just as worried as she is. But she has gotten lucky. Three siblings and herself and not once since becoming of age has any of them got chosen. Still, each year becomes more nerve-wrecking. Melissa’s eighteen, her name is in that box eight times. Bill’s aged out, thank god. Dana lost count how many times her name has been entered (taking tesserae means your name is added each time as a trade but there’s only enough for one person so Dana’s had to take out one for each member of her family already making her name being entered four times more. The tesserae given out isn’t enough to last which means taking out more and in return her name being entered multiple times more). It’s only Charlie, who only turned twelve last month, who’s name has been entered once. He’s the least of her worries.

Ethan isn’t much better. While he only has an older brother, who has also now aged out, he’s just as poor as her, his name is also in that box more than it should be.

“Come on,” says Ethan pulling her thoughts away from boxes and names. “Let’s focus on hunting. Maybe find something nice to celebrate later.”

Dana watches him walk off for a moment, temporarily stunned.

“You’re really not worried?” she asks.

He stops and looks over to her, his eyes scarily vacant.

“We don’t need to worry till 2.”

He’s right, Dana realises. Worry makes her clumsy, loud, and if she wants her family and herself to eat tonight, she needs to push that worry away.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Dana pushes the front door open carrying her winnings in a bag at her side. She’d done good today, most people at the Hob were anxious to sell before they had to shut down for the day. In the woods, she had managed to kill three squirrels, earning her one and a half loafs of bread from the baker, a few coins for selling the strawberries, and even a turkey to eat tonight. The greens she found, she kept herself, rabbit pelts she traded for a blanket, and a few herbs to add to the medicine cabinet.

Melissa greets her when she enters, already dressed in what looks to be one of their mother’s old dresses from when she was younger. Her hair is pulled back and braided in parts. She looks beautiful but then Melissa always looks beautiful no matter what.

“Dana’s back!” she calls.

“Send her in!” Mom shouts back.

Melissa takes the bag, putting the stuff away and Dana enters the bedroom here her mother is currently having a fight with Charlie’s hair.

“Put that on.” She nods to the floral dress laying on the bed.

Dana hates dresses but it’s almost customary to wear one. That or a skirt. Something feminine.

“That’s gonna have to do.” Maggie pats Charlie on the shoulder telling him he can go. “Is Bill back yet?” Maggie asks.

“He wasn’t in the kitchen,” Dana answers as she climbs into the dress.

“I don’t want us being late,” Maggie mutters.

Her mother almost becomes unbearable on this day. Stressing and running around like times is going to go quicker just because it’s today. They could have a whole 24 hours and she’ll still be worrying that if someone isn’t back at this time it’s just going to make them late.

Once dressed, Dana sits as Maggie pulls the clips out of her hair along with leaves and dirt.

“If you’d come back sooner you’d have had time to bathe.”

“Sorry, I was out getting our dinner for tonight.” There’s a harshness to Dana’s tone as she says the words. She still felt a slight resentment towards her mother. She went away in many of her children’s eyes, leaving them to fend for themselves. Had it not been for Dana, Maggie would have watched all her children die of starvation and not done anything about it while she withered away herself.

Her mother’s proclaims of she was grieving weren’t a good enough excuse for Dana. They were all grieving after all, all coming to terms with his new life, yet they didn’t stay in bed all day.

Her mother was better now but Dana was waiting for the day she would disappear again. It happened once, it can happen again.

There’s a slight tug on her hair in response to her words and Dana tells herself to keep quiet.

Melissa enters and seats herself on the other stool. Her presence is sure to stop any more awkward conversations and stray comment between Dana and their mother.

“You okay?” Missy asks.

Dana nods. She tries to draw on Ethan’s strength, his optimism.

“Lasted this long, haven’t I?”

Melissa smiles. “One more year and it’s over.” She’s talking about herself. One more year and it is over for her. She no longer has to worry. She just has to suit up for the mines or follow her mother and become an official healer.

A silence passes over all three women for a moment. Dana watches her mother braid her hair in the mirror, Melissa messes with one of the clips her sister was wearing earlier. It’s quiet except for the sound of the door opening and Charlie saying hi to their brother. There’s a bit of chatter between the two by the door but nothing the girls really pay attention to.

“It’s barbaric.”

Dana’s eyes widen and Melissa stops playing with the clip. They eye each other in shock as if their mother has just broken the law or something.

In some cases, she just did.

Negative words aren’t supposed to be said about the Games, even in the safety of their houses. They’re a holiday, a festivity meant to be enjoyed and looked forward to.

At least that is the case in the Capitol and the Career Districts.

In all the others, the Games are seen, as their mother just said, as barbaric. Brutal, cruel, and vicious. To put 24 kids in an arena and watch them fight to the death is viewed with the heaviest of contempt. But it’s a punishment and a reminder of a history that can’t be forgotten.

“You should watch what you say,” says Dana calmly. “People could be listening.”

Melissa’s eyes look wearily around the room as if trying to find who could be listening. Dana doesn’t believe they are but on a day like today, she couldn’t be completely sure about that.

“You’re done,” says Maggie moving away. “I’ll make sure Bill looks presentable and then we’ll leave.”

Dana runs her hand through the braid, silently admiring her mother’s work.

“Do you really think they’re listening to us?” Melissa whispers. “Patty Bullock said that at school once. Nobody believed her but…”

“They film everything today, don’t they?” Dana says, her attention still on her hair. “Do you really think they start at 2?”

It was almost unheard of for Dana to speak like this but she had her doubts about the validity of this theory. Still, it was good to be mindful of it’s possible truth.

“You sound like a boy in my class,” says Melissa. “His nickname is Spooky.”

The door opens with Charlie telling them it’s time to go. They follow each other out, headed for the Square, and Dana doesn’t think much more of this Spooky.

[scary-lasagna]

Slender-Sitter

An idea I got at 2am one night. 

A different take on the Slender Brothers (and Mama Slender!).I probably won’t follow up on it, but if you guys want one I’ll be happy to write it.

* * *

     You weren't quite sure what happened. One moment you were eating shitty off-brand cornflakes, and the next moment there was a machete to your throat.     "You're coming with me, and if I hear a peep outta ya, I'll slit your God Damn throat. Got it?"     What else could you have done besides nod?     To be fair, the walk through the forest with this masked man was awkward as all can be. You tried asking his name for small talk, to which he replied by throwing a rusty knife past your ear.     Maybe he was an introvert.     The sun was starting to rise now, and you realized you didn't want to die on a cold spring morning with your socks soaked through with dew.     But it as too late now, because the ivory and shadow colored manor slowly appeared into view. You didn't know where the Hell you were, and there was no way this was a half an hour walk from your house.     The masked man walked past you instead of following in your shadow, grabbing your arm and dragging you toward the mahogany double doors. He pulled the heavy knocker three times. It was so loud, that the sound disturbed a flock of birds resting in the circle of trees surrounding the building.     There were a few clicks and shutters behind the door before it peeled open, revealing a quite tall, pale woman. Her height wasn't even the intimidating part, it was the fact that she didn't even have a face.     "Hello, sweetheart. You can call me Mother." She outstretched a thin hand, which you hesitantly took to shake. "I hope Deliberate didn't cause you too much trouble." She nodded towards the masked man beside you. "I would've sent someone more qualified in choosing a baby sitter, but all of my other proxies were busy."     You shook your head to clear your thoughts when she turned to lead you into her home, "B-Babysitter?" You stuttered, being nudged in by the rude 'proxy'.     "Mhm! I'm heading out today for some errands, and I needed someone to look after my children." She bent down, extending her slender arms to pick up one of the said children. "Mostly this one." She planted what sounded like a kiss on his forehead before turning and outstretching the child to you.     The baby was fucking adorable, in honesty. With a wide grin and sparkling black eyes, it almost looked normal despite the black took over the whites of his eyes.     “Y-You want me," You pointed at yourself," A complete stranger to hold your pride and joy, none the less a living child?" It seemed kind of absurd.     "Honey, don't make me not like you." Her tone fell flat, causing you to remember your situation and quickly scooping the baby onto your hip. "Oh good! He already likes you!" Her hands clasped together, "I'll go get my other boys."     Oh, Christ, they're all boys.     You felt a little awkward waiting with this dude who looks like he wants to kill you at any second, and with this baby who won't stop staring.     You looked down, watching as his eyes lit up and that previous grin taking place on his chubby cheeks again following by a gurgling laugh. You couldn't help but return the smile. His pudgy hands reached up, one grasping at your shirt and the other pinching your cheek.     "The one in your arms is Splendor." The woman approached again, this time carrying another child. Two were following in her footsteps, obviously older than the infant and toddler.     "This one is Trender, and these two are my oldest, Slender and Offender." She nodded at each respectively. None of them really sported any facial features besides this Offender kid. He had a toothy grin that just made him look like he was up to something. You can already tell he'll cause some trouble.     She huffed and set the toddler down, who waddled over to his older siblings. "Now, I'm going to be gone until 10:30 tonight. Feel free to explore around the house, eat the food, honestly...I don't care what you do." She shrugged with a sigh. "Just keep them occupied, and if the house isn't burned down by the time I get back, I'll give you a pretty penny for your efforts."     There was a rustle behind you and Deliberate brushed the fur coat against you as he walked past to help Mother put it on. "If you need help Slender will know what to do." She glanced your way before walking towards her children, saying an individual goodbye to each one. She approached you, letting Splendor grasp onto her finger as she looked at you.     Her voice lowered out of earshot for the older boys. "If I come back and either a, you are not here, or b, any of my boys have as little as a scratch on them, I will find you, I will break all of your bones, rip them out of our body and use them for home decor." She paused, letting the emphasis sink in.                                        You nodded slowly as Slendor chimed in with a laugh. "Isn't that right baby boy!~" She cooed at the infant, kissing him on the cheek. He pressed saliva covered lips to her thin cheek in return. She straightened up to her full height, placing a hand on your shoulder. "10:30, 15 hours. Do not screw up." She struts past you, Deliberate sparing a glare as he followed her out. The door slammed behind them, leaving you alone with these little shits.

    Staring at the mahogany wood, you tried to think of a plan for the day. "So..." You turned away from the door, looking at the three- wait one was missing. Your eyes widened in panic as you glanced around.     "Offender went to raid the fridge." The tallest one said, despite not even having a mouth. Not that it surprised you, considering their mother is the most abnormal creature you've seen in your life. "Right." You nodded, glancing across the large lobby of the manor towards a set of doors with 'Kitchen' carved into a plaque above them.     "Slender, right?" You looked at the eldest, who responded with a nod. "Okay, you're going to have to help me, because I don't do children, and they don't like me either." You paused, looking down at Trender who has decided to latch on to your jeans. "Small ones, at least." You added as the kitchen door swung open, revealing a walking pile of ramen noodle boxes.     "Can you fix these Miss Human?" You could see a pair of legs poking out from under the boxes.     "Not all of them, and not now. You guys aren't having ramen for breakfast." You paced towards the second eldest, grasping a box from the top so the kid can see, "And I have a name, squirt." You said, pushing the door open to the kitchen with your shoulder. "Have you guys eaten?"     "No."     “Yes."     "Yes."     "Will you guys shut up? You want extra pancakes or not?" Offender set the boxes down by the large dining table with a grumble.     "Trender only knows the word 'yes', Offender."     Meanwhile, you struggled to get Spenldor in his high chair, who kept spreading his chubby legs so they wouldn't go through the leg holes. For a little baby, he was putting a hell of a strain on your arm. You had to quite literally peel Trender off and set him on your leg to see over the table you sat at.     "Aight, we're gonna have a talk to set a schedule for the day." You secured an arm around the toddler's torso.     "You should just let us watch t.v. all day, nothing can go wrong then." Offender shrugged.     "You're gonna be a shit eater aren't you?"     "Yeah, that's what mom says." He grinned.     "Try not to curse too much Trender is learning words." Slender chimed in.     "My name is [Y/n], by the way. You can call me that." You paused as they awkwardly just nodded in response. Splendor managed to learn how to eat his own foot for the time being. "How old are you guys?" You glanced between the four.     Offender opened his mouth as if to speak, but Slender beat him to it. "In Ender years, I'm 11, Offender is 7, Trender is 3, and Splendor is 1."     "Ender years..." You whispered. "Should I ask what that is for humans?"     "No."     "We're not allowed."     "Yes."     "Okay, whatever. You two watch t.v. or whatever, I'm gonna see what I can do with these two." You glanced between Splendor and Trender, who was neck grasping onto the chain of your necklace.     "There's a schedule mom made on the fridge for Sun."     You huffed and stood, struggling to hold Trender on your hip due to the contrast in size between him and Splendor. "Who's Sun?" You shifted your weight on one hip as you looked over the schedule.     "One of mom's proxies," Slender answered.     As you looked over the schedule, there were really some peculiar things that stood out to you.     "You guys have a library?" You glanced over your shoulder to find Offender was gone and Slender was picking up Splendor to accompany you by the fridge.     "Yeah, we go in there to do school work. We have lessons today." He mentioned., pacing over with a squirming piece of chub.     "Outdoor play, 1:00." You mumbled, running a finger down the list.     "Don't let Offender outside, he'll throw a ball through the window to get you in trouble. Mom's catching on though, so it's a 50-50 chance."     "...Thanks." You sighed, turning. "I take it you do most of the work with your brothers?" You lead him out of the kitchen and held the door for him.     "Yeah, mostly." He mumbled, shifting Splendor on his side.     You paused, seeing the sight of the lobby and wondering how in the hell Offender managed to make this much of a mess in the span of 3 minutes. Toys were scattered, the table in the middle was knocked over, the rug was twisted in all kinds of directions, not to mention the articles of clothing on top of the chandelier.     Trender gripped onto your shirt and neck, burying his head into your chest. Your brows furrowed as you rubbed his back.     "He gets upset when mom yells at Offender."     "Does she do it often?"     "Have you met him?"     "Right." You glanced around at the harsh sight. "Let's find your brother, then."

[babieyangyang10]

violent ends (chapter 11)

(chapter 11)

series masterlist

genre: hunger games!au

pairings: huang renjun x oc, na jaemin x oc

warnings: language, death, description of injuries, hallucinations, important character death,

previous | next

Athena's POV

It was quick the way he died. Before Haechan fell forward, his left eye cried tears of blood. There was nothing on his face, no acknowledgement or realisation of what just occurred. No evidence of any previous life in his face.

Just nothing.

People always say that your entire life flashes before your eyes once you die. However, there was not even enough time for that. No time to remember the eighteen years he once lived. He was just gone.

Mark Lee and I sprung forward. Once the corpse was thrown off him, Mark lifted up Jisung from the water. The young boy bent over and began coughing up the water in his lungs.

Once he finished, you could tell the reality of what just happened to him was sinking in. Frantically looking around, he saw Haechan laying face-down in the water, blood flowing out from his wound. Going pale, Jisung silently grabbed the body and flipped him over. He ripped his hand away and would've screamed if it wasn't for my hand covering his mouth.

Not used to injuries, Jisung was practically hyperventilating at the site of my throwing knife lodged in one of the body's lifeless eyes,

"Jisung, it's okay. Don't look at it." I brought my hand down and closed the remaining eye, thinking it would help. It didn't.

"Oh my god. What did you do?!" Jisung was about to throw up.

Mark looked around nervously, before saying, "She saved you. Quick, let's go." He grabbed the distressed boy's arm and pulled him to his feet.

After we had gotten a good distance away, I could hear the cannon go off.

"That could've been me." Jisung mumbled to himself in disbelief. He looked really bad. Almost as if he could go off the deep end any second. I mean, the kid has came to the brink of death twice in the span of only two days.

Trying to lighten his spirits, I suggest, "You're a lucky kid, aren't you?"

He considers my words before murmuring, "Yeah, I guess so."

Chenle's POV

I think I'm the unluckiest kid in the world, right now.

As the Careers and Jaemin start yapping away, I take this opportunity to look around the tree for something to help us escape. Alarmed, I look around where Jaemin is perched to see a raccoon sized nest. Swaying gently, I peek around to discreetly get a better look. Immediately, the bright gold body captures my eye.

No, these aren't just any wasps, they're tracker jackers.

Made in the Captiol's labs, they were placed directly in the districts during the war. Tracker Jackers were named according to their ability to 'track' down and hunt anyone who comes into contact with them. If they bite you, most likely you'll die. Even if you don't, most people will go mad from experiencing the hallucinations from the venom.

Our options are: we let Haechan come back and kill us or possibly die from these creatures. Reaching behind Jaemin, I discreetly began sawing away at the limb carrying the nest with my knife. Both Jaemin and the people below were too wrapped up in the conversation to notice what I was doing.

I kept sawing back and forth. Suddenly, a tracker jacker came calmly out of the nest. Holding my breath, I watch as it walks onto an unaware Jaemin's hand. Unable to warn him, I just speed up as quick as I can. More and more tracker jackers began leaving the nest to check out what was happening. Back, forth! Back, forth! Another jacker lands on Jaemin's shoulder.

Then there was a cannon.

The nest fell down right after. I could hear Jaemin yelp, however, I just pulled him out of the tree and bolt. I could hear the two Careers yelling above the buzzing from the army of angry wasps.

Once we've ran far from the chaos, I stopped to check on Jaemin. Right away, I noticed the plump-sized lumps on his neck and hand.

"I'm Jaemin," He slurs, "Nice to meet you, sir."

Oh my god.

Jaemin squints his eyes, trying to focus, "I have to admit. I've never met a three-headed, green person before. Are there others like you?"

It was almost dark, we have to get home, now. I grab him and began running again. Once we get to camp, I spot Mark, Athena, and Jisung all sitting down.

"Jaemin, got stung by tracker jackers!" I'm out of breath. Lee Athena immediately runs over to us, stopping in front of the disoriented boy.

"Athena, is that you?" His eyes are excited, but confused. The girl grabs his hand and quickly removes the stinger and does the same to his swollen neck. Green pus seems out from the now orange-sized bumps.

"I think-" His eyes roll over to the back of his head and Athena barely manages to catch him before he falls to the ground. Mark runs over and helps her carry him into the shack.

The next day, she took care of him. Every few hours, she would grind up a special leaf to put on the wounds.

She knew a lot about the wilderness. While Mark stayed to watch Jaemin, she would take Jisung and I out to practice hunting. It was nice learning, especially since I have always felt bad for relying on Mark so much. Not only does he have to take care of himself, but he also has to make sure two, weak kids don't die as well. After capturing a rabbit this morning, I felt happy knowing I got to help ease the pressure, even if it's just small.

"Good job, Chenle." He praised, making my heart swell. We were all sitting around the fire.

"I bet I'll get a even bigger one tomorrow." Jisung challenged, making us all chuckle.

Eventually, the conversation led to us talking about living in our different districts.

"Yeah, I swear all District 10 has is cows and desert. Although, I got to grow up with a lot of different animals, which was really fun." I explained.

"I wish I could see a desert, but we have that fence keeping us in District 11. Growing up, a lot of us had to climb trees in the orchards for fruit, which could be pretty fun. Although, it wasn't fun when you'd occasionally run into the tracker jackers." Jisung winced in remembrance.

"At least you guys have the orchards, District 12 is really small. When you turn eighteen, you work for the coal mines. Food is pretty hard to get also. To get grain and oil, I had to enter my name into the Reaping about forty times." We all gasped aloud  at Mark.

"I have a question that I've always wanted to ask," Jisung announced, "I've seen District 12 do that think with the three fingers so many times. What does it actually mean?"

"It's been around forever, I guess. It's a sign of love and respect to show thankfulness for someone or something. Sometimes we use it to say goodbye. That's what everyone did to me, when I left after the Reaping." Mark explained to him.

Jisung kissed his three fingers and held them up in the air, "Well, I love and respect all of you."

All four of us, Mark, Jisung, Athena, and myself, giggled and did the salute to each-other before heading off to sleep.

Athena's POV

It's now been two days, since Jaemin has first been stung. The swelling has gone completely down, however, he still has a bit of a fever and hasn't woken up.

The most nerve wracking part is that, until he wakes up, I can't feed him anything. I can't even give him water to drink. It's not like real life, where he would have a feeding tube. Even we were alone, we barely got anything to eat. Gosh, it really is so easy to die of hunger in here.

Today, the boys wanted to show off their new hunting skills to Mark. So, it was just Jaemin and I at the camp. Apart from Haechan, none of the other Careers have shown up in the sky so far. So, I have no idea if Renjun is the same way as Jaemin. However, his health shouldn't be of my concern, anyway.

Since they are just two members now, Mark and I have been discussing an attack on them. After he snuck to their territory, he saw that they have pilled up all the supplies. Protecting them are random mines, which, if you stepped wrong, could easily blow you up to pieces.

Instead of risking stepping on a mine by trying to fight them directly, we thought we should find a way to blow up the pile of supplies. That way, they'll starve themselves out.

Suddenly, I notice Jaemin stir. His eyes are confused and wide. He looks around his surroundings, before he sees me next to him.

"Athena!" His voice is excited and relieved, yet weak. His hand shoots out to grab mine.

I sigh, "You've been out for two days, you know."

"Are you serious?" He looks around again, "Wait, where are we?"

"We're at Mark's camp. Chenle brought you back." I said, knowing he probably doesn't remember anything.

I hear a pleasant beeping noise, which makes me nearly burst with happiness. Near our feet, a box drops. Inside is a container of warm soup and a spoon.

Knowing he was still in bad shape, I grab the spoon and scooped up some soup to feed to him. Smiling, he accepted the food. His eyes shut in delight, finally getting to eat a real meal.

He happily suggests, “You should eat some."

I know he hasn’t eaten for two whole days. This makes me feel warm, knowing that, even though he’s literally starving, he would still offer me it.

"I think Jisung and Chenle would kill me if I didn't eat what they catch,” I laugh before getting serious, “Besides, you really need it right now."

He’s disappointed, but still continues eating.

Concerned, I ask, "So, are you doing okay? I mean those hallucinations can be really messed up."

"I mean, apart from the trees turning into blood and thinking ants were eating me, I'm fine. Especially, since your here now." Jaemin laughs.

I shake my head, smiling at the ground.

"I mean it, though. I felt so bad after I lost you. If I had known you stopped, I would've gone back for you, Athena,” He stops me, “You know that right?"

"Well, I did have your supplies." I point out.

He provides clarity, "Supplies or not, you're still a priority to me. That's just not even a question at this point."

I felt a deep pang in my chest. There’s so many things I want to say. On instinct, with both of my palms, I hold his face in my hands,"If there wasn't cameras on us right now, I would-"

Jaemin breathes out, "Who's stopping you?"

His eyes darted down to my lips, then back up to my eyes. I checked his face to see if there was any hint of joking, yet his eyes were filled with warmth. It occurred to me that he was feeling the same need and want that I was. Like if I were in a black hole, I felt myself being pulled closer and closer into him.

"Hey Athena, look what I caught—oh,uh?"

Jisung, stares in shock, at the close proximity between Jaemin and I's faces.

I jump up, brushing myself off, "Come on, kid. Let's go see it."

Jisung brought me outside to see Mark and Chenle by the fire.

“Jaemin is awake.” I announced to the two boys.

“That’s really good.” I could tell Chenle had felt guilty about him getting stung.

Mark proposed, “Well, today I was thinking that we should go destroy the supplies.”

Chenle eagerly asked, “Can I help?”

“Well, I guess you could help us by starting fires with me to lead them away from the Cornocopia.” Mark turned to Jisung, “Jisung, could you stay with Jaemin?”

“What’s going on?” Jaemin popped his head out of the shack.

“We’re going to destroy Jeno and Renjun’s supplies.” I caught him up.

His eyebrows are furrowed, “Are you going?”

“Of course.” I nod, plainly.

After we ate, I headed into the shack to get my backpack. On the ground, Jaemin was looking up at me unhappily, completely different from how he usually looks at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s just,” He sighs, “every time we’re separated, something bad always happens.”

“Well, you still need to rest, besides I’ll have Mark with me.” I lie. Mark will be separated from me, but I didn’t want to stress him out.

“You better come back. I’m serious.” He deadpans.

“Okay, Na Jaemin.”

I brush his hair out of his face. He’s not aware, but I can’t help but thinking the way he’s looking at me reminds me of a lost puppy, “I mean it.”

“I know.” I smile.

Then, Mark, Chenle, and I began heading towards the Cornocopia. As we’re walking, I notice Mark fiddling with something on his jacket.

“What’s that?” I ask, intrigued.

“It’s a mockingjay pin.” He states. The pin contained the small golden bird with an ring around it. It’s connected to the ring only by its wing tips.

Mockingjays were the result of a failed project by the Capitol to spy on the rebellious districts. Because of this, they have become a symbol for the rebellion. It’s almost as if they are rubbing it in the Capitol’s faces.

“I like it,” I beam up at him, “It suits you.”

“I think so too. It’s cool.” Chenle gushes.

Mark blushes before coming to a stop, “This is where we separate. Chenle, after I set the fire, wait a little before setting yours. That way they’ll think it’s real and definitely come to yours.

All alone, I hide beneath the trees as I come to a stop in front of the Cornocopia. Sitting to the right of the supplies, were a group of boys. Along with Jeno and Renjun, I spotted a boy from District 3. I’m assuming he’s Haechan’s replacement.

“Guy’s look!” Jeno points out. There, hidden in the tree’s, Mark has created a fire. The smoke created a cloud in the sky right above his position.

“Let’s go, Renjun. Guard the place, until we get back.” Jeno tells the young boy.

Once they’re gone, I grab into my backpack and pull out knife. Getting ready to throw, I rear back my hand.

However, from the left, a figure darts out from the woods. Avoiding the piles of buried mines, she is calculated and precise. From the pile, the red-head grabs an armful of supplies and runs past the District 3 boy.

As a result, he stood up and began chasing her into the woods. Perfect.

I scan the pile, looking for something I could knock down to trigger the mines. That way, I would be kept safe from the blast. At the very top is a bag of bright red and green apples.

Taking a deep breath, I throw a knife as hard as I can. It manages to make a rip in the bag, but not big enough for the fruit to fall through.

So, I grab another one. I calm myself down, before I launch my second one. Almost in slow motion, I watch as an single apple drops from the fresh hole. Rolling forward, it halts on top of one of the piles.

One after the other, all of the mines are triggered. Before I can react, I am thrown back by the incredible force. I can feel ash and debris raining down on my head. In my head and ears, I can hear a sharp buzzing. With my fingers, I could feel blood coming out of my left ear.

Running back from the woods, Renjun and Jeno meet the District 3 boy in the middle. I was able to see if Jeno had even said anything. Although, even over the buzzing, I could hear the crack of the boys neck after Jeno snapped it.

Alarmed, I run back into the woods to hide. Blinking, I could feel my sight and hearing slowly coming back.

“Help!” I hear a young voice. Wow, that was quick. The Careers already found another victim.

“Mark! Athena!”

Chenle!

I run, following the shouts. Not even caring if I was about to run face first into a planned trap. His shouts continue and I feel can feel the quick tempo of my heart.

When I force my way into a clearing, I spot the young boy entrapped in a net on the grown. He stops struggling and smiles in relief when he spots me in front of him.

However, it fades when the arrow lodges straight into his chest.

To my left, I look just in time to see Mark shoot an arrow into the neck of the other District 12 tribute. Using my knife, I quickly cut Chenle free from the net. Mark runs over, propping him up in his arms. Blood is seeping through his shirt. I look up at Mark, giving him a telling look.

“Is it bad?” He doesn’t have enough strength to look down. I don’t know what to say.

“I never imagined I would go like this.” His voice is shaky, but knowing.

The cannon for the District 12 girl goes off.

Chenle reaches for my hand, “Please, don’t leave me.”

With my free hand, I wipe some of his tears, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Did you blow up the supplies?” His voice is in a hopeful whisper.

“All of it.” He smiles at this.

Looking up at Mark and me, Chenle breathes out, “Thank you both. For protecting me. Even in these circumstances, these past days have been some of the best days of my life thanks to you.”

I feel my throat become choked up. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to get attached to these people, who are supposed to be my competition. But I did and I don’t regret any of it for a damn second.

There’s fear in his eyes, “You two, don’t forget me, okay?”

“Never.” Mark and I say.

Then he’s gone.

It takes a few minutes for it to sink in for the two of us. For us to realize this boy, who was speaking a few minutes ago and laughing with us yesterday, was gone forever. I look up to see Mark distraught with the same realisation, “It’s not fair. He was just a kid.”

“I can’t just leave him here. He deserves better than that.” I agree with Mark’s words. Looking around, I spot violet, blue, and white wildflowers. I began loading my arms up with the flowers. With Mark’s help, we placed the flowers all around him.

How dare they. It’s shameful that they would do this to an innocent child. Not just him, but all of us children.

Placing my arm on his shoulder, I try to comfort Mark. Like a switch going off, he bursts into tears. I know it has been hard, the weight of caring for three people. I wrap him in my arms and cry with him.

It’s only before we leave does he turn around suddenly. After kissing his three fingers, he held them out in his direction. Myself doing the same, we both say goodbye to our friend, Chenle.

[sassyduckqueen]

30 Days of Lukanette- Earth & Water

Based on Ikari Gozen. Hope you all enjoy. 

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

"So Kagami is your partner for this game thing?" Luka asked as he video called with Marinette. 

 "Yeah. I mean don't get me wrong. I like Kagami but she keeps on giving me this unsettling smile and she asked me what my bloodtype was. Apparently, everyone in Japan knows their bloodtype," She sighed. "I don't mind working with her as you know but she keeps on looking at her phone and I feel like she's making fun of me,"

 "Mari, I don't think she is," Luka smiled. "I'm just not sure Kagami knows how to human sometimes,"

 "Tell me about it," She sighed softly as Kagami called for her. "Oh, well. I better get going. Bye, bye you two,"

 She grinned softly, waving at both Luka and Sass, who was quite happily nestled in the crook of Luka's neck and was using his hoodie as a mini blanket. Luka smiled softly as he waved back.

 "Ok. Try and have fun. I'll talk to you later," He smiled, hanging up as Sass happily chilled on his shoulder. He put his phone and began to play softly.

 "So why did you not sign up for this friendship day game?" Sass asked as he looked up from his spot.

 "Hm... I have friends. Besides, I'm no good at riddles," Luka smiled as he played softly. "Why are you hiding in my neck today anyway?"

 "It's cold," The little snake hissed, making Luka chuckle. The leaves had started to fall and the north wind was beginning to blow but it wasn't too bad. However, he lived on the seine as the air was much colder here and he imagined the little snake god was sensitive to it. 

 "If you want, I can also Mari to make you a little blanket for the upcoming months," Luka suggested, getting a little nod off the snake. He smiled but playing a little bit then he decided to go for a walk. He slipped on his shoes and Sass tucked himself into his hood before he grabbed his phone and walked out of his room.

 "You off out?" His ma asked. He nodded. "Make sure you're home by six o'clock sharp,"

 "Sure, Mum," He smirked, rolling his eyes before they both burst out laughing. As if the captain would put a curfew on her kids. She trusted them and if they got into trouble, then they could learn from their mistakes. He walked over and gently kissed her on the cheek before leaving the boat and walking towards the town center. It didn't take him long to get there and he browsed around the shops as he hummed to himself. 

 "Luka?" A somewhat familiar voice called out. He looked around and spotted Ivan waving at him. He smiled and waved back before walking over. He noticed he was with Nino, Max and a tall guy he recognized as King Monkey. Though he hadn't officially met him or Nino really. He only knew him because he was Alya's boyfriend and a friend of Marinette's and of course, he knew that he was Carapace but only because of Miracle day.

 "Hello, Luka. It is wonderful to see you again," Max grinned, pushing up his glasses.

 "Hey, how's it going?" He smiled as Max turned round to Nino and Kim.

 "Luka here is making the opening soundtrack for my game," He smiled happily. "I'm 100% sure he will make it sound awesome,"

 "Dude, that's awesome," Nino grinned. "You play with Ivan right?"

 "Right," Luka grinned.

 "Luka writes all of the music and he's a master at playing guitar!" Ivan grinned, proudly. "Without him, Kitty Section wouldn't be around. We were struggling so much to find a guitarist and then Luka was like I play guitar and boom, he joined us and now we're epic!"

 "Hey, I'm not that good," Luka mumbled, playing with his hands. He was sure Sass had just rolled his eyes. "So what are you guys doing today? You part of that friendship day game thing?"

 "Nah, Alya's playing it and tried to convince me to play but I'm no good at Riddles," Nino laughed. "Besides, if I want to meet Adrien Agreste, I just have to message him. He's my best bud,"

 "All the girls are playing it," Max replied. "I would have too but I have plenty of friends here. Which is amazing because in the beginning of the year, I started off with zero and now I have one, two, three, four-"

 "Five if you count me," A little robot appeared from inside Max's bag.

 "Of course, I count you, Markov. You're my best friend," Max smiled as Markov flew around before noticing Luka.

 "Hello, I'm Markov," He stated. 

 "Hi, I'm Luka. It's nice to meet you," Luka smiled softly, not failing to notice that Max had counted him as a friend.

 "Didn't you join in with it, Luka?" Ivan asked, looking at him softly.

 "Oh, you know riddles aren't really my thing," He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Besides, I got friends,"

 "Yeah but been home schooled isn't fun,"

 "You're home schooled, dude?" Nino asked, frowning.

 "That explains why we have never seen you in school," Max points out.

 "Oh that must be so cool!" Kim grinned excitedly. "I would love to be home schooled! I'd only turn up to go swimming!"

 "Y-yeah... I'm home schooled," Luka admitted, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. "But it's cool and come on, Ivan. You know the captain always make sure I have any instrument I want,"

 "True, the captain is awesome like that,"

 "Excuse me but who is this captain?" Markov asked, showing question marks in his eyes. 

 "Oh, the captain is my mother," Luka explained. "She calls herself captain because we live on a boathouse called the Liberty on the Seine. Ivan comes round a lot and I think Nino's been on it a few times,"

 "I didn't actually realized you lived there, dude," Nino laughed. "That is so awesome,"

 "It is pretty cool," Luka admitted. "As for the school thing, I do go to the art club and I've made friends there. Marc and Nathaniel are awesome and so talented. Actually, that reminds me. I need to ask them about the next issue of Silencer,"

 "Oh their new comic! It's so cool!" Kim gasped. "Silencer was a supervillain, who switches sides and using his voice stealing powers for good! Though Viperion doesn't trust him but Ladybug does and he works with the Illustrator and Reverser to help save Paris! Oh, oh! Who's your favorite superhero, Luka?!"

 "Hmmm... it's a tough choice between all of them really. Cat Noir's power of destruction is epic and he uses it well, Ladybug is clearly a natural leader and has confidence, Ruyko can turn into the elements so who wouldn't like that and Viperion has a lyre as a weapon. As a musician myself, I imagine it would be useful,"

 "What about the part time heroes?" Nino asked.

 "Carapace is pretty cool but to be fair, all of them are," Luka struggled. "I can't chose,"

 "Mine's King Monkey!" Kim declared. "Imagine having the power to mess up people's abilities! Soo much fun!"

 "Nah, Carapace's shield ability is way better!"

 "Pegasus can literally travel anywhere he wants," Max huffed. "That is 100% more useful then any of those two,"

 "Umm come on, guys.. they're all cool," Luka grinned as Ivan grinned.

 "I agree with Luka!" He declared, putting his arm around Luka's shoulders. 

 "Thanks, Ivan," He smiled but then horrid screams were heard. Luka looked over and saw a giant machine-like centaur that appeared to be chasing something and was coming towards them. He looked at his feet and saw Marinette and Kagami running. He looked around and saw the cinema. "Guys! Get in there and hide!"

 "No problem, dude!" Nino declared as they ran inside. Luka pretended to follow them but grabbed a stick and used it to jam the door. "Luka!"

 "She must of seen us running and threw a stick at it. It's jammed!" He stated, trying to open it before looking around. "There's an alleyway over there. I'll hide in there. Keep low and don't draw attention to yourselves!"

 "Ok! Be careful!" Ivan gasped. Luka nodded and ran into the Alleyway. As soon as they were out of sight, Sass flew out.

 "Very crafty," He commented before Luka held out his arm.

 "Sass, Scales Slither!" He declared, transforming before jumping up onto the cinema roof and then jumping into action. He jumped down as the creature reached out of Kagami. 

 "You will never go out again!" It declared but before it could grab her, Viperion pushed her out of the way. He landed on his feet as she got up and ran. "Kagami!"

 "Hey!" He yelled. "What are you suppose to be?!"

 "I am Ikari Gozen! I am as elusive as the wind, as powerful as the flood and as swift as lightening! What can a pathetic creature like you do to a goddess like me?!"

 "That is some real cockiness there!" He stated as he dodged her attacks before he jumped up and landed a kick on her chest, forcing her to stumble back as Ladybug and Ryuko joined him. He back flipped and landed next to them. "Ok, Ryuko. What happened?!"

 "I'm afraid my mother was akumatized because I disobeyed her. I only wanted to make a new friend," She sighed, looking down as her mother looked for her. "I was a fool,"

 "No, you weren't," Ladybug assured. "But we need a plan,"

 "Purrrhaps I can help," Cat Noir grinned before going to charge at the giant centaur but Ladybug grabbed his tail, stopping him. "Ok, mi'lady, you clearly have a plan,"

 "Well, we need one," She replied, throwing up her yoyo. "Lucky charm!"

 She caught the box that appeared and opened it. It contained bathbombs. 

 "Hmm," She looked around and her bug vision highlighted Ikari Gozen then she looked around. Viperion and Cat were lit up then the box and finally Ryuko. "Ok, I have a plan. Viperion, you're gonna distract her. Cat, you and me are going to get her to eat this. Finally, Ryuko. You need to let yourself get eaten. When you end up inside, use water dragon then we destroy her akuma and everything goes back to normal. Sound good?"

 "Alright!" Viperion grinned as Cat got into position. Ladybug grabbed a delivery box off a motorbike and put the bathbombs into it. "Hey, Ikari Gozen! Why don't we become friends? After all, it is friendship day!"

 "I don't need friends, you worm!"

 "Firstly, I'm a snake and secondly, you're never gonna make any with that attitude!" He gasped, kicking her back. He landed on the floor but she grabbed him and swallowed him. He landed on a car seat and a seatbelt strapped him in. This wasn't part of the plan but he opened the seat belt. a few seconds, the box landed on his lap so he opened it, ready for Ryuko, who came through a few seconds later. She looked at him and grinned.

 "You might want to hold your breathe," She declared as Ikari Gozen shouted something about her daughter's location. "Water Dragon!"

 She burst into water and it started to fill up the place. Viperion took a breathe before he was submerged. The bathbombs floated up and started to fizz before the room shook and lunged forward, freeing Viperion as it flooded the whole place. He swam up and a few seconds later, was spat out by Ikari Gozen. He landed on the ground as the water reformed into Ryuko. The centaur felt down and Cat cataclysmed her Bokan, freeing the akuma. Ladybug captured it and purified it before throwing up the box the bathbombs were in fixing everything. Kagami's mother turned back to normal with her car and everything was fixed. The four of them did their fistbump and both Cat and Ladybug went off.

 "Hey, Ryuko," Viperion stated, causing her to look at him. "You know you can call me a friend both in the mask and outside of it,"

 He had never seen her smile like that before but he assumed it was because she was happy.

 "Thank you, Viperion," She smiled before rushing off. He jumped up onto the building and down into the alleyway. He quickly transformed back before looking outside and rushing over to the cinema. The stick he used had disappeared too. He smiled softly before opening the doors. 

 "You guys ok?" He asked.

 "We just realized Mecha Monkey vs. Cyber Sharks 4 is on!" Kim gasped excitedly. "You wanna watch it with us?"

 "Sure," Luka smiled before they all brought tickets and food. 

 (***)

 "So me and Kagami ended up getting orange juice even though we lost," Marinette smiled. "She's actually really nice outside of the costume and honestly, I think I maybe misjudged her because she always seemed so strict. Oh, did you know her and Adrien broke up?"

 "Oh... did they?" He asked, wondering why this was news to Marinette but then he remembered she didn't know who Cat Noir was. Even if it was pretty obvious. 

 "What about you? Did you do anything fun?"

 "I ended up going out, battled a giant centaur and then went to the movies. Just another day in the humdrum life of Luka Couffaine," He winked, making her laugh. "It was nice. I got to hang out with Max, Ivan, Nino and Kim for a little bit but I had no idea what the movie was about. It's like the fourth one in the series and I hadn't seen any of the others,"

 "Really?" She laughed softly as he nodded. "Well, I'm still proud of you for hanging out with friends,"

 "Yeah? Well, I tried my best," He smiled. "I'm proud of you too,"

 "Oh and why's that?"

 "You befriended Kagami and took her out for orange juice," He smiled softly. 

 "Well, she is really cool," She grinned. "Oh!"

 He rose an eyebrow as she rushed up and brought over a new t-shirt design for Kitty Section. 

 "What do you think? I'm basing them on the four elements. Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Cool huh?" She gasped excited as he looked at them. He noticed each element had a kitty section mask based on their characters. "So Juleka's is Water, Rose is Air, Ivan is Fire and yours is Earth,"

 "Why am I earth?" He asked.

 "You're grounded and down to earth!" She grinned, making him smile. "Also snakes are earth creatures so I figured it made sense. Sure, no one else knows you're Viperion but you and I do and-"

 "Marinette, I love them,"

[peachyteabuck]

everywhere, everything, anything

summary: thor meets a cat in new asgard. 

pairing: thor odinson x brunnhilde 

words: 1,424

trigger warnings: angst, takes space in the space between canons that the mcu is made up of, some fluff. 

notes/other: my therapist told me “you need to recenter your hobbies so that you find joy in them. self care comes from the appreciation and dedication to self, not obligation.” so i wrote this. also, @m00nlightdelights gave me like $15 for my first tattoo & this is my thank you. 

ask box / masterlist / commission info / ko-fi

Thor meets him the day he goes to pick up his month shipment of Misgardian alcohol. There, in a house made from empty crates and discarded fishing net, lies a large cat. Freckled with dark grey patches with swirls of lighter and lighter greys, he looks at Thor with translucent green eyes. Large pupils, a swishing tail. Thor chooses not to move the animal just looking for somewhere other than the cold, muddy ground to sleep. He, in all his regality, understands the creature’s desire for such basic accommodations.

Brunnhilde notices the creature two weeks from the day Thor gives him an old towel for the feline to sleep on. She loves Thor, loves her with each cell in her fatigued body, and that is why she does not mention anything until she notices the collar, the nameplate around the grey mass’s fluffy neck.

It’s red – not blood red – but red like cherry-flavored beverages, like the remnants of a red velvet cupcake on a paper plate. Red of a shift worn down from time and love. Red, the cheeks of a twelve-year-old with a crush. Brun walks to the cat with narrowed eyes and a container full of ground fish.

The cat, one very happy to accept such a prized snack, does not mind when Brun moves to check the small letters indented into the shiny silver.

Lands-maðr

New Asgard

If found, please leave me alone

Brun snorts, and does as the nameplate tells her to.

She brings it up that night as she cooks, slicing meats and vegetables into a crockpot so it can become a meal as she and Thor sleep. It’s a mess, the counters and kitchen, but she likes it. It’s a sign of something warmer than the chill running through her veins. Thor’s there, leaning against the counter, stealing bits of vegetables and suggesting spice combinations as if he knows what he’s talking about. Brun doesn’t snap at him, though, just rolls her eyes and directs the conversation towards something else.

It’s when Thor mentions coriander that she mentions the new addition to their property. Thor, unlike before, says very little. He simply shrugs, and bites into a bit of celery.

“Showed up one day,” he says.

Brun nods. “I knew that part.”

Thor shrugs again. Not much else to tell.

Brun doesn’t push him, just sets the timer and ushers him into their massive, messy bed. He snores as loud as usual, but in the early morning when she goes to shower the dried sweat from her nightmares she doesn’t find him dead asleep. Rather, he’s tapping away at a laptop that’d nearly been busted in a fit of anger a few weeks prior. When he abandons it for his own shower, Brun can’t help but peak at the cracked screen.

It’s some pet website. Specifically, something called a cat tree. Brun scoffs and rolls her eyes. Nonetheless, she finds it a little heartwarming that Thor has something to focus on besides how his literal and figurative world was blown to bits and how it may have been but also wasn’t his fault and –

Exactly twenty-three days later, she finds a weather-proof cat tree four feet to the left of the large stack of crates. The mid-afternoon sun is bright and warm, something Lands-maðr is well aware of as he lays on the highest platform in a sun beam. Brun, a woman who has worked tirelessly for everything she has, glares at the creature. Not in anger or jealousy, per se, but marvel.

Just shows up in Thor Odinson’s yard and suddenly gets to live like a king who hasn’t been displaced. Still, she can’t remain too mad when she finally runs her fingers through that beautiful, thick fur – all that warmer as it heats in the sun.

The first time Lands-maðr wades his way inside, he jumps in through a window as Brun and Thor clean the house. It’s the last warm (well, their definition of warm) day of the year, and they celebrate by opening up the house to let the fresh air in while they scrub and wipe and sweet, slow songs play in the background. Thor treats the feline’s presence as something normal, welcomes the animal as it follows him around and brrrooowwws every once and awhile to force Thor’s hand to give him the attention he so deservedly wishes for. Sometimes Lands-maðr receives pieces of chicken and fish and bread for his troubles, something Brun may or may not contribute to.

For the first few hours she considers saying something, considers telling Thor to stick the cat back outside or question him about this grey mass that has decided all on his lonesome he now lived in their home with these two humans who have so humbly devoted themselves to his servitude. But, after Lands-maðr finds himself a bed in the form of a pile of fresh-out-of-the-dryer laundry and swishes that tail around as he stares at Brun while she so indignantly pulls more and more of his throne from him so she can put them away, Lands-maðr looks at her with this large, green eyes with large, round pupils and she cracks. Her heart cracks. And she decides this creature has staked enough of himself in the wood walls of their home there’s no way she can kick him out.

“Fine,” she mumbles to herself. The next few words she mumbles to the cat (a fact she’s just a little bit ashamed of). “But only because you make him happy.”

Lands-maðr does nothing in response.

That night forward, Lands-maðr spends each night on Thor’s massive chest, warming the man’s face and purring louder than anything Brunnhilde’s ever heard in her entire goddamn life. Lands-maðr’s good about sharing Thor, let’s Brun curl up into her lover’s side and rest her head on the small bit shoulder not covered in fluff. Lands-maðr also takes care not to smother Brun in her sleep, something she greatly appreciates.

Maybe she now has to share the love of her life with some other creature, but when she wakes up each morning and doesn’t feel Thor tenser than the day previous – instead feeling him calm and sated as this cat warms his skin – Brun thinks giving up real estate when she cuddles Thor is worth it.

One night, Brunnhilde has to leave. Some diplomatic thing, Thor calls it. A way for New Asgard to get access to a larger variety of produce from a neighboring place that’s been growing beautiful fruit in these large greenhouses and New Asgard has been struggling to-

Either way, Thor is left by his lonesome for a little over seventy-two hours. This, before all of it, wouldn’t be a problem. He’s a grown man, he’s a grown man who can handle himself and can remember to feed himself and remember to bathe himself.

He is also a grown man who uses the woman he loves to keep the voices in his head that tell him to curl up in a ball and never leave the house. The ones that tell him to eat nothing all day because he forgets he’s a living thing that needs to eat, the one that makes him watch seven seasons worth of trashy television in less than a week.

He’s fine for the first day or so, but as the sun sets on night two (2) alone, every bit of medical grade steel he’s used to keep the rest of the world out disintegrates in his hands like…like…

Thor cries, cement in his ribs making it hard to breathe and heart desperately beating to keep his hands from becoming too cold. Tears, thick fat ones that rest in his beard, roll down his face like waves onto a shored ship. He makes no move to wipe them from his face.

“Am I some sort of infection?” His voice is low as the cat accepts his pitiful attempt at pets. “My skin – it remembers. It knows each piece of ruin New Asgard has built itself out of, built itself without me.” Thor sniffles again, rubbing at his face with the hoodie he’s worn every day for the past two weeks. “How am I ever to apologize to my people sufficiently? To myself?” he sniffs. “How am I to apologize to you, for bringing all these foreign people to a place such rightfully yours?”

Lands-maðr, still purring louder than two ships hitting each other during a lightning storm, simply rubs the flat of his head against Thor’s chin.

Apology accepted.  

[eliasbouchardisarobloxthot]

chapter 1 of an au i am writing

this is jokingly titled “power of friendship au” in my doc, but that’s essentially it - tim, sasha, and jon (for now) team up while they’re all still interns to befriend all of the creatures they meet!  the timeline is obviously a bit different from tma canon, but it will still be mostly non-spoiler. this chapter in particular has only mid-early season one spoilers, so you all should be fine! as usual, under the cut...

"We are not supposed to be doing this," Tim hissed, but he made no move to run.

Jon wasn’t listening. The box of cigarettes in his hand was nearly crushed, but he stood his ground as they made their way to Old Fishmarket Close.

"Do you really think we're gonna—" Sasha's voice wavered. "I mean, the file in Gertrude's office said it’s not—it isn’t always there, right?”

“We’re going to find it,” he said resolutely. The hills were high, higher than any of them had expected, but they managed to make their way up to the alleyway that was listed on the map.

It was dark out. Jon convinced them all earlier that day to come with him and help after they left for the night, and Tim was doing a very bad job of hiding the fact that it made him incredibly nervous to be out this late. The streets were nearly empty—at nine o’clock on a Tuesday evening, no one was going to be out and about.

A quiet voice echoed from in the alleyway—”Can I have a cigarette?”

Sasha screamed. In her haste to wrap herself around Tim for safety, she nearly hit him in the face. Somehow, though, Jon stood his ground.

“You can have a cigarette if you come out of the alleyway. We know what you are. We just want to talk.” He set the pack of cigarettes down just a bit out of reach, then sat down in front of the alley with his legs crossed. “We can wait here all night.”

“Wait, what? Maybe you can, but some of us have work tomorrow. Or have you forgotten about our literal job? The one we met at? Earth to Jon, but we do still have to work. In the twenty minutes it took us to get here, capitalism as an institution has not yet been overthrown.”

“Shut up, I’m trying to concentrate.” Jon sat there staring at the alleyway. “Come out of the alley now, please.”

His stare was incredibly intense, seeming to cut through the darkness obscuring the figure and illuminate the alley. As they sat there in the alley, a voice that was most certainly not the one from before—and was also certainly not human—echoed out from the alley.

“Fine.”

“Come out where I can see you,” Jon said. 

The vaguely human silhouette in the alley warped and twisted, changing from human to inhuman in barely a second. It skulked out of the alley, sitting down across from Jonathan.

He could see how from certain angles it could maybe look sort of human. If it tried. It reminded him of one of those optical illusion sculptures in museums—from one angle, it looked like a giraffe, from the other two elephants. Except from one angle, this thing was human, and from the other… well, most definitely not.

“Do you have a name?” Jon asked. Somewhere, quiet static hummed. 

“No,” it said. “You call me the Anglerfish, though.”

“Do you want a name?”

“Maybe. If you pick a good one.” 

“Louis,” Tim said.

“Felix,” Sasha said at the same time.

“No,” the Anglerfish said, decisively.

“You’re a fish, right? What if we just call you Ariel?” Sasha tilted her head to one side, thinking hard. “You look like an Ariel.”

“Ariel as in The Tempest?” Jon asked, looking confused. “I mean, sure, the water reference is there—”

“Ariel as in The Little Mermaid, you fucking idiot,” Tim said with a sigh that could have shaken the city down. 

“Never seen it.”

“What’s a mermaid?” the Anglerfish asked, testing the word out in its human voice. 

“Oh my god. Firstly, your name is Ariel now.” Tim pointed at the Anglerfish. “Secondly, you get a pass for not knowing because you’re a spooky monster thing. Thirdly, Jon, how have you not seen The Little Mermaid? Did you just straight-up not have a childhood?”

Jon didn’t reply.

“So we’re going to my apartment and renting it off Netflix and—I can’t believe I’m having a slumber party! I’m not a kid anymore… but it’s necessary. Objectively speaking.” Sasha looped her arm through Jon’s, pulling him to his feet. 

“Are we sure this is necessary?”

“Yes,” Sasha said, glaring at Tim. “I think I actually have some microwave popcorn we can make, do a full movie night.” 

Jon sighed, following Sasha as best he could.

“What’s a movie?” Ariel asked quickly. “What are those?”

“You have a lot to learn,” Sasha said, with a wide grin. “But if you like it here and want to talk about it more, then… well, you can just chill with us!”

—

“What did you say your name was again?”

“Patel? Amy Patel?”

“Alright, Amy, and do you think you can tell me some more about how this all happened? I know you gave your statement to Gertrude already, but—”

“Oh, no, it’s no trouble,” Amy said, gesturing into her flat. “I moved, but I still have my address down if you want me to give it to you. And, er, the flat that used to be Graham’s, I can get you that address too if you need it.”

Sasha shook her head. “You don’t have to give us all that. Just by letting us in you’re doing enough already.” 

Amy smiled in that bemused sort of way that older adults tended to smile at younger ones, with a look in her eyes that said something like “who are these little children and why are they trying to be professional around me?” 

“We should—I should have introduced myself.” Jon gestured to Tim and Sasha. “That’s Tim Stoker, this is Sasha James, and I’m Jonathan Sims—we work with the Magnus Institute, under the head archivist. We’re only interns, though.”

“I’d noticed,” she said. “Come on, sit down. I’ll put on some tea if you’d like?”

“Tea would be lovely,” Sasha said before the others could interject. “Now, can you tell us a bit more about your experience with Graham?”

“Oh, well, where to begin,” Amy said, pouring milk into a saucepan on the stove. “I mean, I’ve told you basically everything in my statement already. You contacted me saying there was an update a while back, but honestly I’d almost forgotten about it. The whole thing. It was a few years ago now, so… yeah.”

“Alright. Um. Do you—can you tell us anything about what you do now? Like, the sorts of jobs you’ve been doing, or—”

“Yeah, uh… yeah. Like I said in my statement, I do statistical analysis mostly. Been taking a few more classes sort of in the field of criminal studies—” she waved her hand— “all that sort of stuff. I actually did take a liking to it, might try working with that sort of stuff in the near future. I’m already looking for applications."

"That's very interesting, Amy," Jon said, fidgeting with the packet of cigarettes in his pocket. 

"It really is," she said as she strained the chai, setting four mugs on the table and sitting down next to them. 

Jonathan had taken the box of cigarettes out, and was now shaking them absentmindedly a few centimeters away from his face as he thought.

"Oh, can you not smoke in here?" Amy asked quickly. "It's just—my landlord hates when people smoke inside, we have an area over outside for it—"

"I don't smoke," Jon said, looking somewhat confused. Sasha took the cigarettes from,him and put them in her pocket.

"They're for our friend Ariel, Jon just carries them for it."

"It?" Amy looked more confused than ever.

"She eats them," Tim explained. "And she told us to call her 'she' in front of other people, Sasha."

By this point, Amy had taken a long drink of chai.

"You kids work with monsters. Right? All those things in the statements. Other people have to have given statements, there's got to be some others that are true."

Jon nodded solemnly. "We've been looking into other cases with provable aspects—yours does, by the way, we know yours is at least partially true." 

"How comforting," Amy said with a wry smile.

“And… well, this is going to sound very bad, but I would prefer it if Tim stopped sleeping with people to get information.”

“Hey! That was one time!” 

Amy laughed. “So you’re asking me to help you get information. Right?”

Jon nodded, having started to fidget with the cuffs of his shirt once Sasha had taken away the cigarette box. 

“I mean, I do have access to quite a few databases. If you wanted my help, though, you’ll have to promise something.” It sounded like she was talking to some unruly teenagers. 

“Certainly.” He tried to look as professional as possible.

“Please just take care of yourselves,” Amy said with a sigh. “You guys are just kids and you’re running yourselves into the ground, and you’re putting so much work into this—I’m scared you’re going to either get hurt by one of these things or hurt yourselves trying to befriend them.” 

“I—” Jon tugged at the button on his sleeve for a moment. “I understand where you’re coming from here, I really do, but there’s, there’s just so many and I want to give them a chance. Because we still have to—if there’s any chance they’re a good person, deep down, I want to help them.”

Amy sighed, leaning back in her chair. “If you’re serious about this—”

“We are,” Sasha said quickly. 

“Then I’ll help you.” She picked up a pad of paper sitting on the table and scribbled something on it in smooth, curling handwriting. “That’s my phone number for my work phone, just call it if you need anything. I usually have it on me.”

She thought for a moment. “Give me a sec. You’ll want this.” 

Leaving Jon, Tim, and Martin alone at the table, she walked into her bedroom and returned carrying what appeared to be a very old, very worn-out three-ring notebook. There were dividers of various colors separating things, a bookmark that was just a piece of ribbon stapled into the spine, and a label on the front that read “MONSTERS”. 

Jon flipped through it quickly, looking through the sections. The dividers were labeled with different numbers, and at the front was a table of contents with each number labeled with a small explanation of each different number. 

“This is incredible, Amy,” he said, turning the pages reverently. “There’s so much detail here—this could be more than we have at the Institute, really.”

“Well, I have had a bit of help,” she said amusedly. Opening up the cover, she moved her hand over something inside and set it down on the table. As she did, the inside cover was revealed.

“Is that skin?” Tim asked, looking disgusted. “Ew.”

“What, am I too gross for you?” a voice suddenly said. Sitting on Amy’s sofa was a man who looked to be about Tim’s age, with his hair long and poorly dyed black. All of his joints were tattooed with tiny open eyes, and he wore dark eye makeup in circles around his eyes that trailed down his face. The clothes he wore were ripped and tattered, but it was obvious that they had at one point been a t-shirt for a band, a leather jacket, and a pair of dark jeans. 

He was also hovering several feet in the air.

“Nice to meet you, everyone,” he said with a grin. “I’m Gerard Keay, and I used to work for your boss.” 

Jon stood there open-mouthed for a few moments. “Sorry, what?”

“I used to work for Gertrude. That’s your boss, right? She still there?”

“Yeah, she’s still there. Uh, just—you’re a ghost, aren’t you.” 

“Yep,” he said, leaning back to hover above the couch with his hands behind his head. “They taking the book with them, Amy?”

“I think so. Because, well, they’re—I think they’re more able to investigate these things than I am.”

“Shame,” Gerard said with a sigh, pushing off the wall and sighing. “You were cool. Plus you didn’t mind if I listened to music on your phone while you worked.”

“You can still see me sometimes,” Amy said with a laugh. “Not like I’m dead. And besides, that wouldn’t really be too much of a problem, would it?”

Gerard rolled his eyes. He very pointedly turned away from Amy and looked at the interns, hovering in a cross-legged position in the air. “Well. My life is in your hands now. I mean, not really life exactly, I’m still dead, but my existence is in your hands. Don’t fuck it up.”

“We won’t,” Tim said. 

“Well. This has certainly been informative.” Amy moved closer to the door. “Thank you for giving me Graham’s old notebook, and for a very interesting discussion. I assume I’ll be hearing from you shortly?”

“Yes. I think we’ll start at the beginning? What’s the oldest entry you have in this book?”

“That’d be… the one right at the start of section three for distorted reality. He likes to hang out in graveyards, you’ll probably be able to find him pretty quickly. Blond hair that’s all long and frazzled-looking, tall, kind of thin—if you see him in a reflection or through glass he looks tall, unnaturally tall, and his hands look all gross and creepy.” She shuddered, moving to open the door. “You still have my number?”

“Yep.” Sasha held up the page. 

“It’s really been lovely,” Jon said. “Thank you.” 

“No problem at all,” Amy said. “I’ll see you all soon.”

thats all folks! thank you so much for reading it. i may upload chapter 2 soon, but that is it for now!!

[minsyal]

[How It All Ended, Sam x Reader]

Summary: Reminiscing on the world you once knew. 

Word Count:  1.8k

The musty motel room didn’t feel the same as you passed through the threshold to find it empty. Despite the constant temperature, the room felt colder than before. The night brought an eerie feeling cascading over you, one that typically subsided with the Winchester brothers. The sounds of TV static and creaky faucets no longer tugged at your eardrums keeping you awake. It was something different. There were no more spitting fights, no more jovial conversations, no more… anything.

You walked somberly into the room, it was a mess. A few old flannels were laid out on the bed, ready for the youngest brother who had a habit of laying out his clothing before he needed it. A thick leather-bound book that had been “borrowed” from a library in Kentucky sat on the table opened to the section detailing possessions. You deeply frowned. How had it come to this?

“So, what?” You threw your hands up as you let out an exasperated sigh. “We just let Cas turn himself into a human cannonball for the freaks of Purgatory?”

“I don’t know what else to do, Y/n.” Dean frowned. He was just as irritated with Cas as you. Since the death of Raphael, Castiel decided he enjoyed prancing around as God and left on a whim and a prayer. You sat with the brothers at Bobby’s, crowded around the coffee table that was covered with discarded plates and empty pizza boxes.

“Maybe talk some sense into him?” Sam commented, leaning back and extending his arm over the back of the couch. His slender fingers played with the excess fabric on your shoulder, something he had been doing more since his soul was returned and the wall was instigated. If you were looking more into it, you’d say there was something there.

“How do we talk sense into someone who has a literal God-complex?” Dean took a long drag from his bottle of beer, eyes falling to Sam’s hand as he let his arm shift down to rest on your shoulder. An inquisitive brow raised. He spoke into his bottle, “you two got something going on here we,” he nudged an arm toward Bobby who was happier to fall into blissful ignorance than waste time with this conversation, “don’t know about?”

“What?” Sam quickly brought his arm back to his side where it remained the rest of the night. “No.”

The next morning was darker than usual, shadowy clouds filled the sky as rolling thunder sent bottomless vibrations through the small town you had stopped in. Your four-door outside was being pelted with golf ball-sized hail, the hard-plinking sounds making you cringe as you pondered the damage that was being done. You turned in your bed expecting to find Sam, but instead found nothing.

“Update: Angel is still on the fritz. He’s not answering prayers anymore.” You walked into the kitchen where Bobby was hunched over the stove, cooking breakfast.

“Tell me something we don’t already know.” He turned with the pan in his hand, a couple cooked eggs inside of it. His eyes widened for a moment as he took in your new look. “Isn’t that Sam’s?”

“What?” You stood in the kitchen shocked and embarrassed that you had forgotten. Sam wore a particularly large shirt that fell to your knees and acted more like a dress. “Oh!” A nervous sweat broke out on your forehead, “uh…”

A strong arm snaked around your waist, pulling you gently backward to crash against a strong chest. “It is.” Sam’s groggy voice rumbled through his chest making you stand on your toes.

“Gross.” Dean shoved past you, having none of it, as he snatched the skillet from Bobby who let out a disapproving sound.

He wasn’t there. The bed wasn’t warm. The place you expected him to be was cold, filled only by the unused blankets. There was no divot where his body should have been, there was no rustling under the sheets as he kicked his legs out, and there was no groan from Dean has he cringed in response to your couple-y behavior. You missed that.

“So, Cas turned to jelly and now we have chompers running around like chickens with their heads cut off.” Dean jerked the door to the Impala angrily, climbing into the car and falling into his seat. Sam’s eye caught yours as he looked into the rear-view mirror, a concerned expression on his face.

“Dean, we’ll fix this.” You attempted to calm him down, “We always fix things.”

“Pssh,” he rolled his eyes, “hardly.”

You found solace in a selection of hard liquors and the occasional cigarette. Empty bottles filled the small circular desk in the room, and more were discarded on the ground below. It didn’t matter what happened at this point. You were useless. You failed.

Sam’s hallucinations grew worse with each passing day. He insisted he was handling it, but he had prescribed himself zero hours of sleep a night and sparse eating. It backfired. You held a hand against his back, rubbing calming circles into the knots that had developed in his aching muscles.

“You need to sleep.” Your voice came out as a whisper as you leaned forward to press your forehead against his. “Sweetheart, please.”

“I can’t.” Sam stated with a slight tinge of irritation bubbling beneath his words.

“Sam-“

“I can’t, Y/n!” He said, barking angrily at you as he vehemently pulled himself away from your touch. As fast as he snapped, he broke, eyes going wide as he searched yours for forgiveness. “Y/n...” His head hung low, unable to bring himself to face you. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Sam. It’s okay.”

“It’s not.”

“Do you want to try again?”

He nodded. How could such a hulking man seem so small? Your hands found his as he settled into your embrace, his head resting lightly against your chest as he listened to your steady heart. A sigh escaped his lips, his head sunk further into you, and his nervous shaking stopped. He finally slept.

Cars were crashed everywhere along the road with pieces and parts of bodies scattered throughout. You didn’t make it on time to save anybody. The motel room had turned into a bunker-of-sorts; it was a safe place. You had gone to the local hardware store, easily slipping through the bolted gates to grab wood and nails along the dark deserted isles. You stocked up on borax and cleaners, keeping a large supply tucked into ever crevice of the room.

Sam had turned to drugs, something you never thought he’d do. He found himself locked in a hospital with some of the crazier people on earth. Dean was disappointed but was far from disowning him. He was supportive, upset that his brother was giving up so to say, but stopped by often to visit Sam. Eventually, Sam forgot your name, who he was, Dean, Bobby… everyone.

“Good morning, Sam.” You nodded to the nurse as she exited the room. Sam had just taken his morning medication to keep him at bay. He laid on the bed that was far too small for his body, staring blankly at the ceiling with his hands folded over his stomach.

“The hunt went well. Dean saved my ass again, I should really stop hunting werewolves.” You pulled the chair at the desk out and sat down, pulling your purse to your lap as you withdrew a few pieces of paper and a pencil. He had used the paper you left last time. While it was mostly chicken scratches, it was the best you had gotten out of him in weeks.

“Cas has been trying really hard to help with the Leviathans. They’re some weird-ass monsters. You’d probably get a kick out of them, though. Their leader is Dick Roman, you know, the billionaire business man? Crazy right?” You watched as he continued breathing, chest rising and falling slowly. He only blinked in response.

“Sam,” you turned to make sure you were alone in the room, “I really miss you.” His hands were still warm. You hesitantly rested your hand on his, choking back tears as you looked upon the man you had grown to love. “I miss you being around. It isn’t the same with just Dean and I. I miss waking up next to you…” A tear fell to soak the thin sheet on the bed. “Sam, I don’t think this is going to turn out well. The Leviathans are getting really out of hand… we need you, Sam… I need you… Please, please come back to us.”  He had given up mentally and let Lucifer drive him to insanity. Your Sam died a long time ago.

The leviathans took over. They became too strong and wiped out almost every living being that they could get their slimy hands on. They easily hid in plain sight until it was too late. Dean was killed while fighting Roman, Cas disappeared, and the hospital Sam was at was burnt to the ground. You were alone.

How the world had taken a turn… The once triumphant heroes of the apocalypse had crumbled down to nothing. Both brothers, Bobby, and the majority of your hunter friends were dead, and the angel was missing. You spent countless days praying to some higher force, hoping some angelic asshole would answer, but no one came. God had abandoned you and the rest of humanity.

You laid mindlessly in your bed, staring up at the popcorn ceiling that had begun to leak and mold from burst pipes. It was dark out, silent, not even the summer crickets dared to make a sound in fear of the black sharp-toothed creatures lurking about. The roar of an engine caught your attention, but you hadn’t the mind to bother preparing for a fight. If it happened to be death, coming to break down your door and steal your soul away, you’d let it. The welcoming arms of the darkness were becoming more and more attractive as each lonely insufferable day passed. You just wanted Sam back.

You wanted Sam to burst through those doors with a camera crew telling you it was all a rouse. You wanted him to hold you in his arms, whispering sweet nothings into your ear as he enveloped you in the scent of old spice and gun oil. You wanted your life back.

Heavy footsteps padded outside, stopping at your door as a hand knocked softly on the rusted metal. “Y/n?” It was Sam’s voice. “It’s me. Can you let me in…quickly? I don’t want to draw any more attention to us.” The knob jiggled and rattled before it turned, and the door creaked open. There stood Sam clad in his white t-shirt and white pants that he died in. He looked how you remembered him, bags under the eyes, messy hair, and a heavy five-o-clock shadow. The only difference was the malicious smile that spread across his lips and the piercing teeth lining his mouth. “I’ve missed you so much.”

[gotatext]

claws my way out of the dirt like the goblin i am ..... hello thots, its nora, once again bringing you a revamped version of a muse i played yonks ago n some of u may have even written against... here is her pinterest.....

this is margaret greta, she’s a whole can of trauma spaghetti plastered over with a toothy grin and a lot of dad jokes. the only reason she’s in gifford really is bcos shes been put there as part of a witness protection program cos lots of police r monitoring livingstone so its deemed relatively safe.... haha... anyway she changes major all the time. she started off doing fine art but since then she’s done modules in architecture, film, bio-chemistry and is now dabbling in medicine. 

CIS-FEMALE — ever hear people say GRETA O’DRISCOLL looks a lot like DIANA SILVERS? I think SHE is about 21, so it doesn’t really work. The MEDICINE major is a SOPHOMORE that is from DEADWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA. They can be +CHARMING, but they can also be -EVASIVE. I think GEE might be SHEEP. They are living in YATES. ( nora. 23. gmt. she/her )

this bitch is the most restless creature u ever seen. before she came to livingstone, she’d lived in 8 different cities in 3 years. 

was adopted as an infant. had two foster moms and two older sisters so always surrounded by women. lived in a boarding house, very much like the one in 20th century women, with lodgers coming in and out all the time, mostly artsy young women because her gay moms were both high school teachers trying to set up their own arts collective. one of her moms left when she was 4, n she doesn’t really remember her.

while living with entirely women made her super into catlin moran and the guilty feminist, as a teenager she often let boys walk all over her bc she just craved male attention jst bcos she’d never really experienced it. saw it as something aspirational, like sitting in the back of chad’s second-hand truck while he drove you to macdonalds and offered you and his five friends with identical haircuts weed was the height of being cool to greta, she wanted to be their dream girl, even if it meant compromising her beliefs

bubbly bitch but also massive snake. metaphorically and literally, always shedding her skin. loyal to few, ruled by none, out for herself, babey!! every place she goes, she becomes a new character, someone who’s a figment of her imagination, as if each city is repertory theatre and she’s a character actress, so as a result som ppl think she’s called rita, some ppl know her as margot, she just flicks through identities like nobodies business.

goes through phases of being intensely feminist and tweeting “men are trash i don’t need them” before flipping into being lonely and needy n wanting male attention again. tends to gravitate towards men who are just pieces of shit tbh like her friends are always like hun.... pick a nice boy..... but no.... she’ll go for the boxer with several arrest records for gbh or the small-town drug dealer just trying to hook her onto pills for a little extra cash, or the reformed sinner who thinks he’s being protective by reading all her texts and always knowing where she is..... n she always finds a way to spin it so that they Just Care About Her and aren’t a p.o.s 

left school at 18 n didn’t go to uni, moved in w her boyfriend of the time instead, but soon got bored, n then went backpacking around the states making money in the casinos by being a shot girl (yeehaw) and trying to make it as a mysterious 1920s widow with a smoky voice, a dark secret n a heart of gold, looking for love in the big city. all she found was producers and acting agents who’d promise her stardom n actually just fuck her in a motel n then ignore her calls.

TW domestic violence, TW gun, her watershed moment came when she met luke in sioux falls while she was playing bass for a country n blues band. he was a few years older and had a car, and they kind of went from seeing each other to being that super intense couple who are just necking all the time. 

they got engaged like 3 months after they met n rented a flat together, much to her family’s annoyance but she was 19 so there wasn’t much they could do. their relationship was super super intense though, often really heightened and when they fought it could become quite violent, but she’d pass it off as just him being really passionate. 

one of their fights got really heated and greta threatened him with the gun he kept in the glove box of his vauxhall corsa, but the safety was off and she accidentally shot him. she pleaded self defence in the trial n cos of the amount of times she’d been hospitalised for various concussions n things like ‘fallling down the stairs’ the police were like yea... pretty watertight evidence that he was a bastard who [chicago voice] had it coming..... also this happened in 2017, he was mixed race and greta is white so naturally the police totally took her side. she’s now under witness protection, rehoused in livingstone as a sports-scholarship student, due to the amount of police involvement in the area, it would mean should one of luke’s family members try to track her down, she’d be relatively safe

 massive sports fanatic. plays tennis. on the cheer team. was a track superstar in her high school. honestly just that sporty bitch, you’ll see her doing lines at a party at half four and then on your way to your 9am lecture you see her running across the park like a fresh fucking daisy who is this bitch

pretty easy to get along with (provided you don’t anger, provoke or question her too much) because she WANTS your character to be enthralled by her and will do whatever it takes to win them over. she wants everyone to love her

is That Girl who always knows where the parties are, and is always there, on the sofa, talking about institutionalised racism and trying to coerce you into a game of beer pong that she’ll definitely win. doesn’t really have one solid group of friends, just kind of on good terms with everyone and social butterflies about

has changed her major so many times. decision? who is she. currently studying medicine, but doesn’t rlly enjoy it. she’s very unmotivated and lazy and probably wouldn’t ahve bothered going to uni if she hadn’t been placed in one by a witness protection program. will probably change on to history or gender studies soon n just make up the extra credits by volunteering

 massive feminist. low key quite scared of powerful men bcos of her ex. wants to start a female only lesbian commune bc she misses her childhood in a south dakota boarding house and has endless support for women. honestly annoyed that she is attracted to men, would so be 100% gay if it was a choice. cuffs her jeans and can’t drive. is That bisexual. skateboards. wears backwards caps.  i hate her

plays bass guitar, has a teal green fender and it is her BABY. it’s covered in stickers about saving the planet and ending fracking and going vegan. she’s in an all-female punk band w agnes (n mayb jade i think) n they play gigs every now n then in grotty club basements full of druggy sweaty college kids

PERSONALITY: easy-going, sociable, observant, blunt, amiable, nihilistic, self-serving, laid back, independent, unmotivated, charming, lazy, impulsive, alluring. ESTP and a leo

LIKES: art, music, john wayne movies, black mirror, philosophy,  cowboy chic culture, DC comics, arcade games, candyfloss, deep red lipstick, marijuana, dogs, karaoke, Kate Moss, late-night strolls, zip-lining, chemistry, suspenders, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, cold coffee, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, boiler house DJ sets, magnolias, decorative lamps, worn-out furniture, twangy electric guitars.

DISLIKES: bananas, coffee, Woody Allen, mental mathematics, children, Trump, institutionalised misogyny, the imaginary future, french literature, Wes Anderson films, spoken word poetry, the general mentality of cheerleading squads (despite being on one)

aesthetics:

a bubble of pink gum on chapped lips, mom jeans, a beaten up pair of adidas, denim jackets, strawberry laces, knee-highs, chapped lips, peeling sticky plasters, split knuckles, bruises you try to cover with concealer, stick and poke tattoos, hot coffee, sleep caught in your eyes on a lazy afternoon, kissing girls, cigarette smoke shrouding you like a veil, alien conspiracy theories and sci-fi paperbacks, doc martens with fraying laces, the red string of a thong peaking out purposely from jeans, leonine arch of your back and that stellar smile that says ‘you have no idea who you’re dealing with’, a rucksack permanently packed for the move, a streak of red across your lips, roller blades, cut knees, not eating your greens, smiling with a mouthful of blood, and piercing your own ears with a safety pin when your mom wouldn’t take you, kate moss posters lining the walls of a teenage bedroom, his name scrawled in rage across the pages of a diary, thumb holes poked through the cuffs of your sleeves, a tennis racket you punched through in a fit of temper, feet pounding the earth until your soles bleed crimson, sleeping in a cherry lip balm and scrunchies to keep the wild locks from your eyes. 

wanted plots: since greta literally can’t differentiate between romantic and platonic love, she’s got off with so many of her mates, so i want awkward friendships where they nearly dated, or exes that have now just turned into weird friendships, and girls from the cheer team who she’s like, weirdly intimate with like the shower together but its not a Thing cos the other girls straight, and I want like, fellow medicine students who are like?? how is this bitch still passing?? i swear she goes out every night?? she works part time at a fast food restaurant, i want a mate that just goes and sits in there talking to her until her manager gets angry. ppl she did a few modules with before changing course and somehow sort of remaining in touch with, like she did a few art modules, a bit of film, n some architecture before switching to medicine, though she’ll probs switch course again soon. ppl who she runs track with. someone she’s trying to make a zine with. here’s a list of plots on her old blog if u want any of them w her.

would love plots of any type, throw them all at me please, i cnt wait to interact w all of u. like this if u want me to message you about connections / plots! xo

full biography if u can be bothered

trigger warnings: drugs, domestic abuse, gun.

you never meant for it to happen. you’d heard the stories, of girls who let their man walk all over them, and thought to yourself “i’ll never be one of those girls…” the kind that eat low-fat yoghurt and drink slim fast to shred a few extra pounds because he said she was getting round in the tummy, or the ones who spent their evenings tied to a kitchen sink drinking wine while him and the boys played poker, wishing god, if only I could get out of here. not you, not you raised by strong women, four bright shining beacons. single mother with her hard-as-nails attitude and her stony glares, elder sisters (twins) one ginger, one blonde, one doctor, one lawyer, both determined to take a bullet to the brain and a hammer to the patriarchy before they let a man touch them without asking. you were always so inferior, so insecure and small, like a bird (like a sparrow) with blonde plaits down your back sucking tropicana whilst your busom buds sucked dick, their lips permanently ripe with stories of their sexual exploits, fake tan and glittered nails whilst you sat in the unbroken egg of virginity wondering what it was like to be loved. one day you found out.

lily milligan’s parents gone and a free house for the night, bottles of ouzo and tequila swiped from your mother’s liquor cabinet thinking she wouldn’t know (she always knew) your legs, hardened from pep squad, slut dropping on a kitchen table because the boys thought it would be fun to get the quiet girl drunk. you’d never had a sip before that night. band t-shirts, denim shorts and the split soles of rotten converse that you refuse to let go of, you still clutched with both hands to your youth, but in a tube top now (borrowed from alice carmichael who had a sister in college) and a short tennis skirt, your feet not in trainers but in thigh-high boots. uncomfy as hell but lily said you needed to look sexy. you didn’t know if you wanted to be sexy. you didn’t know what kind of girl you were, if you were even a girl at all. but robbie looked at you like he knew exactly who you were, like he knew you better than you knew yourself, and his lips had the pink cupid’s bow of a movie star, and his hair was dark locks, curling like a mane. his hands were soft, and suddenly on your waist, and after three more shots his lips were on yours and his name was the only sound in your head and on your lips as you lost it in lily’s college sister’s bedroom beneath the glare of a T-Pain poster. you bled for what seemed like hours, his hand still in yours, kissing on the sofa as truth tellers and dare devils continued to spin a bottle of unprecedented youth. you thought it was love. robbie was the one. he loved you, you knew it, how else could someone be so soft? but soon he grew bored, scrunched up your paper heart and set it alight. then came the tears, the hatred, the ‘fuck robbie, in fact, fuck all boys.’ and that you did.

you were known for being easy. any boy could be yours for a night, as long as he promised to love you for those few short breaths and pants before you cried yourself to sleep. you felt poisoned, but poisonous as well, as if by ensnaring these young boys you were gaining power over them, and not the other way around. soon it started to work. they’d want more, but you’d deny them it, sick of sucking off silly schoolboys, they’d call you a tease, a vixen. maybe you were, but you couldn’t help but want older men. you got the history teacher first time, him bending you over his desk to sneak a hand up your tennis skirt as the after-school clubs carried on next door, unawares. love didn’t exist, not for you. it was nothing but a game for pretty young girls to play, bubble gum in their canines and a hand tugging at the hem of their cheer skirt.

there was so much anger inside of your small body, ‘beware of boys and their hook-like words’. hockey helped. there was something formidable about the feeling of a stick like a weapon in your hands and the thwack it made against thighs in the heat of a scrum - “slipped, sorry!” - you’d utter with a snakeskin smile, millicent quinn knowing that you’d hit her on purpose because she shagged robbie at that party last week. she couldn’t prove it, cobbled acne on her forehead turning green with disgust. ben came into your life like a car crash. two years your senior, with a baseball jacket and shoulders like a god. he became your personal hero. on the pitch, he was lethal. together, you could bring anyone to their ruin. each day after last period he’d be waiting in his car. you’d leap into his arms like a girl-half starved, love me, love me, love me, your heated kisses the envy of every junior girl. he was yours for three blissful years, utterly yours, and you were his, his star-spangled girl, and he was your knight - you were both the same, playing games, always difficult to predict. it was a shock to all when he proposed, high-school sweethearts find love in south dakota.

the engagement was a bittersweet affair; three months – you barely out of your gingham print skirts and into a graduation gown, him, a surly quarterback towering above your sisters, cigarette at his lips and a scowl like a fart in a lift. they hated him. so did you. but you were eighteen and in love, and he fitted the cookie cutter mould. everyone wanted him, and you had him. you had him and you were happy, happy, happy, and he loved you. he said he’d give you the world, anything you wanted hand-picked and given to you. instead, he gave you a jack russell terrier and a flat you couldn’t swing a cat in, wallpaper peeling like the rotten bits inside of you, the bits that only he knew. and you got tireder and tireder of the sad excuse of a life he’d picked out for you, him out doing god knows what to pay the bills, and you dancing on tables to pave your way to stardom, and this was love, this was real, until the shine wore off and your fresh-faced, dimple-cheeked cheerleader facade faded and the ugliness started to reveal itself, the whining, the petulance, the sharp-tempered cruelty, the mind games, the need to always win, win, win. he was dull, he was boring, he was nothing like the boy the girls had said he was and no chiselled six pack could hide his lack of anything remotely interesting, your patience wearing thin until it snapped like rubber, a rucksack on your back, running shoes on your feet and the joint bank account emptied into your eighth grade birthday wallet.

you built your small fortunes working the casinos of sioux falls, a crimson dress and an attitude to match. bookish archie with his little dipper freckles was fun for a month, before he became just as dull and dreary as the rest. a three hour bus and you were in minneapolis, bright eyed and bushy tailed, fresh meat ready for the pickings. a hostel here, a friendly co-worker’s sofa there as you made what you could by taking off your clothes and shaking your ass like you were back in pep squad, doing what you did best. you met your fair share of creeps, and soon it was back on the road to escape a wide-eyed stalker and a restless itch for more. milwaukee, chicago, you made the roads your own. log cabins and lodgings, and the occasional motel, a beaten up pick up truck purchased at a scrap merchants – you got a few miles out of it before it bit the dust, and when you finally set it alight after nights spent lounging across the driver’s seat, a parka tucked over you as a duvet, you were sad to see it go. you’re nomadic by fault, never attaching to place, people or things, creating a new personality in every place you go like a character actress; each town is a different repertory theatre, and you’re the star. a compulsive liar, you even fib about your own name, to some you’re ellen, nineteen, bookish, a law student who likes smoking and cosmos. to someone else you’re rita, you’re twenty five and look young for your age, like smoking, comics and fucking in public places.

in the bright lights of michigan, you found charlie, sweet charlie, too good for you, though you let him spoil you while he thought you were the small town girl of his dreams. next came abigail, who was fun until the jealously kicked in, and then luke, gorgeous luke, dangerous, exciting, who despite his temper, despite the fights, despite bruises down your spine and your teeth marks on his arms, loved you with the strength of a wild fire. there was destruction in your wishbones, a savageness from the field, from the pitch and now somehow in his arms, you were godly. he was cruel, he was careless, and he refused to fall at your feet like so many other boys had, which only you made you want him all the more. you were rage incarnate. you hated him so fiercely you thought you might kill him, so he played the only card you wouldn’t predict; proposed.

the house you shared was a backstreet flat in detroit, you making your name as a downtown singer while he footed the bill with pills. they had a drug for anything these days, to dull the senses, to pick them up, to drive you to insanity or pull you out of the madness hole. the two of you lived like criminals on the run (you never told him that you were, living out your days as the enigma he wanted you to be), you with your voice like caramel and fishnet legs. you were his and his alone until his hand was at your throat and the gun was in your hands screaming at him to stop, stop, stop, until a bullet stoppered his brain, crimson staining linoleum as you cast yourself out like lucifer. self defence was decreed the moment they saw your violet neck, black tears and headlight eyes and mind screaming red, red, red like the pom-poms you shook so willingly in school and the insides of his skull. you were gone, and “you” was born, renamed “greta”, boxed, shipped-out, and next-day delivered to livingstone where under witness protection you were a student, blank slate, fresh-faced in a place where no one knew your name, doing what you always did and starting again.

[bakugou-tm]

YAY UR ASK BOX IS OPEN!A scenario in which bakugou's s/o has a quirk where she can transfer someone's illness or disability to another person or delete the illness if she wants, and when they are fighting a wave of villains while protecting civilians his s/o takes notice of a villain that killed her parents and she transfers a very deadly illness to the villain which causes the villain to have a gruesome reaction to it and bakugou has to stop her from taking it too far. O.O

Literally I love this request so much and I hope my writing has lived up to it’s greatness, tha n k yOU :’)

The mission was supposed to be fairly easy, all the pros heard was that there was a few villains causing problems downtown, nothing too extreme.

And in the beginning, it was that simple… but things took a turn south too fast.

“Pfft, they really needed five of us to come down for this?” Kaminari scoffed, watching as his prior high school classmates took out what seemed to be the last of the drones surrounding the city.

Watching from beside Kaminari you chuckled as you watched your boyfriend light up what you could only assume was the last robot.

“I’m just curious as to where the actual villain is.” You commented, meeting up with Bakugou, Kirishima, and Sero who had just finished attacking all of the drones.

When the five of you arrived it seemed like something out of some weird movie, small drones flying all over the place wreaking havoc amongst the civilians downtown. Nothing extreme as to killing anyone, just scaring off the people of Japan and causing damage to the city.

“Well that was a nice little workout, let’s head back to the agency and report what happened to see if we can locate the villain causing this mess.” Kirishima said with a grin, the five of you seeming to nod in agreement until a sharp scream was heard behind you.

Whipping your head back you saw yet again another drone cornering a woman into a corner, your eyes scanning the streets as more of these mystery robots seemed to appear everywhere.

“Oi oi, where the fuck are these tin cans comin from?!” Bakugou hissed angrily, quickly blasting his way to the woman before blasting the metal head off the robot.

Running after the four boys who began to destroy the robots once more you bit your lip, looking for some sort of villain to be causing this mayham before letting out a sigh.

“Since my quirk isn’t exactly good with quick combat, I’m gonna go look for the villain causing this mess so we can put an end to this.” You called out to the four boys, all seeming to nod in agreement with your plan before going back to destroying the robots.

You couldn’t help but laugh softly when you heard your boyfriend call out a warning to be careful even though it sounded more like a threat as you ran around the corner and walked down the empty street.

It only made sense for the villain to be hiding nearby right? After all everyone had abandoned the area by now so it was the perfect hiding spot for the villain to be controlling his drones. 

Letting out a bored sigh you began walking down each ally you passed, your (h/c) locks swinging behind you while you impatiently explored the empty side of town.

Sometimes you wished you had a quirk like your friends, of course your quirk had a great reward to it but it also made it more difficult for you to go into combat. All you really had to do was transfer your power to someone and they were out in seconds, no real fun to it. 

It wasn’t that you were asking to get beat up or anything, but you wished to have more hand to hand battles that didn’t make you win in two seconds.

Pushing that thought aside you focused on the mission ahead of you, admitting in this moment your quirk would be of good use to knock the villain out fast and easy. You had just healed someone a few days ago from being paralyzed to the waist down, that would be the perfect disability to pass down to a villain so that he couldn’t move.

After all you knew your parents would be proud of you, they had such high hopes for you knowing you dreamed to be a pro ever since you were a little girl. How you wish they could be here with you, telling you how proud they were of the power you had received. Whenever you got annoyed with your quirk you just thought of them, remembering how they blessed you with such a rewarding quirk.

Once reaching the final alleyway of the block you eventually gave up, wherever this villain was had to be far away, there was no living creature in sight.

Pouting your lips out slightly in annoyance, you turned around and made your way back to the sound of explosions going off and metal being torn apart. The boys seemed to be having too much fun taking down the robots, especially since they knew they wouldn’t have to hold back since they weren’t living.

Just about to turn the corner your movements stopped when a low chuckle echoed around you, your body quickly whipping around only to see an empty street.

Maybe it was just your imagination? Your mind always did like to play tricks on you, especially when you were alone. Shrugging it off, you continued to walk forward until an actual voice spoke up.

“My my my, you’ve grown into quite the mature young lady haven’t you?” 

The sound of the voice sent chills up your spine, your brain sending off some sort of warning signals in your head. Something about this voice just seemed all too.. familiar.

Ignoring your screaming conscience in your head you gripped your (s/c) fists and looked all around you with narrowed eyes, “Reveal yourself villain, and maybe then I’ll go easy on you!”

The dark chuckling sound filled your head again, sending another wave of chills throughout your body as you began to breath heavier, looking around rapidly.

“Ahh and you have his cocky attitude too, I knew you were daddy’s little girl” 

Freezing for a moment you didn’t bother looking the direction of the voice, rather letting the gears in your brain begin to move. What was this man saying, what did he know about your father or even yourself? It must be some sort of trick.

“You know nothing of my father stop fooling around!” You yelled in a clearly annoyed tone, your head whipping around while you clenched for fists, “Reveal yourself now you coward!”

Shuffling was heard from behind you, for some reason you were slow to move awaiting to hear the man’s voice once more, “Oh I don’t know of your father now? I think I know more about your parents then you do yourself child.”

Once your eyes fell on the villain it felt as if you had been hit by a train, your brain going foggy as you observed the sickly looking man.

The man was tall yet fairly lean, you would have assumed he was weak if you hadn’t taken notice of the robotic arms he had, probably giving him his strength. Those drones must be correlated to him as well. Something about him was painfully familiar but it was as if your brain was screaming at you to run, to move, to do something.

His dark chuckle seemed to snap you from your thoughts, the villain taking notice of your confused expression, “What you don’t reconize me? You think you would remember who slaughtered your beloved parents, don’t you agree?”

That was it. The sudden alarms in your brain were gone, the only thing your body could do was let your mouth drop in horror. Of course that’s who this man was. How could you forget his smug expression from the night he took your parent’s lives. The gut twisting sound of his chuckle as he mocked your very existence.

“Y..You’re Sinister Blade…” You whispered out, more to yourself than to the villain himself but he still chuckled at your shell shock, walking around you with an amused grin.

The bastard enjoyed this, he had been planning this for years probably. Just to make you miserable, to taunt you.

“Ah yes the girl finally gets it,” The villain sneered narrowing his eyes down to you, “It appears you didn’t get your mother’s brains did you?”

A twisted feeling in your gut formed upon his teasing words, knowing he was referring to your mom’s quirk to detect any disease on a human being just by touching them. You hated how much he knew about your parents, and how much he probably knew about you.

“Y..You… you monster!” You screamed while tears flowed down your cheeks, not even realizing the warm liquid had been building in your eyes this whole time, “How dare you show your face, I..I’ll kill you!”

Your sudden outburst of a threat did shock the villain at first before that smug expression returned to his features, “Oh you came to kill me now little one hm? A shame because I was actually here to kill you! I’m sure you’ve noticed my little toy drones out there to distract your pathetic friends, I’m surprised some of the top pro-heroes in the world could be distracted with those tin cans.

Anways… I did promise your parents I would kill off your family blood line before I murdered them of course, and I must admit… I’m not one to break promises.”

The amount of rage that began to flow through your veins was overwhelming, how dare he speak of your parents like this. They were the best heroes you had ever known and he was talking as if they were some pathetic humans!

“I wonder if killing you will be as easy as killing them, my the way they left themselves so open they almost deserved to die!”

That was the final straw, you weren’t going to stand for this sick bastard to trash your family name any longer. It was time to show him why the (L/n) family was still alive and running…

“You shut up!” You screamed angrily, your hands beginning to glow a sickly green color while you narrowed your (e/c) eyes to him with pure hatred, “I’m going to wipe that shit eating grin right off your disgusting face!”

The sight of your hand glowing seemed to send a surge of excitement through the man, his eyes lighting up while he clenched his own metal fists, “My goodness I just adore your feistiness! It’s almost a shame I have to kill you, you seem much more interesting then your creators. And what’s that little quirk of yours I see? Tell me, did you get mommy or daddy’s quirk?”

“You’re going to wish I got their quirks.” You growled between grit teeth before running toward the man as fast as you could. Logically running toward a half cyborg man with a quirk of yours wasn’t very smart, but you already had a plan of how to take this asshole down.

The villain had his fist out, ready to punch you as you neared him before you slid down in between his legs behind him, causing him to spin around in a distracted manner just as you planned.

Without second thought, you leaped up and used your arms to push off his shoulders to launch yourself up in order to wrap your legs around his neck.

“W..What the, what the hell is your quirk damnit?!” The villain muttered in an annoyed tone, his robotic hand beginning to glow ready to fire at your form on top of him until you pressed both hands down against his forehead, the green magic that swirled around your hands now hovering around his face.

At first the man froze beneath you, confused as to what your quirk was. Nothing was hurting but for some reason he felt dizzy… as if he were getting weaker.

Then in just mere seconds his body collapsed to the ground, sharp cries escaping his lips while you gripped onto his head with such intensity you were surprised it didn’t just explode.

“You will pay for what you did…” You hissed angrily through gritted teeth, working your quirk to the extremes.

———-

“I..I think that’s about it.” Sero called out, bending over his knees while heavily breathing. 

It’s not that fighting all of the drones was hard, it was just the fact that there were so many magically appearing out of thin air. Between trying to protect the remaining civilians and actually destroying them before appeared, it was safe to say the four boys were exhausted.

“Nope, there’s still more of these fuckers.” Bakugou growled while wiping sweat from his brow, the three boys groaning in unison when more of the drones showed up.

Surprisingly they hadn’t heard anything from you, whether that was a good or bad sign they could only hope you had found the villain and were working to shut these things down.

“Well all we can do is take em down till (L/n) comes back.” Kirishima said with a sigh, his arms re-hardening while he got in a fighting stance, “Just try and get them all down so we can go look for-”

Suddenly the red haired hero was silenced when all of the incoming drones dropped to the ground, a chorus of heavy clinks being heard along the street.

“Uh…” Sero muttered, scratching his bright blond locks while the rest of the boys looked around with confused expressions.

Not that any of the boys were complaining that the restless drones had stopped coming for them, it was just odd how they fell without any reason as to why.

“(L/n) must have stopped the villain!” Kaminari said with a grin, looking back to his friends while getting ready to head down the street you disappeared to until a loud scream echoed through the streets.

All eyes looked toward the sound, a surge of fear running through Bakugou until he realized that scream couldn’t have come from you… it was too masculine.

“That must be the villain, let’s go.” Bakugou said bluntly before running off down the street, the rest of the heroes following behind him.

After running past a few blocks and hearing the sharp cries grow louder, the four finally found the source of the screaming, the scene displayed before them rather disturbing.

The villain beneath you none of the heroes had recongized, but whoever he was looked horrifying. His face was broken out into a fevered sweat while his body was covered in a nasty looking rash, a look of fear painted over his eyes.

Above the cyborg like man was your own form, your hands gripping onto his head firmly while you glared down to him with blotchy eyes, your teeth clearly grit as your quirk spread around his entire body.

“(S/o) what the fuck are you doing?!” Bakugou shouted, wondering if he should interfere since he wasn’t quite sure what was happening or why you looked so full of rage and sadness.

Without breaking your ice cold glare with the villain you growled in response to your boyfriend’s question, “I’m giving this bastard what he deserves!”

The four boys watched as the man began to shake now, his body shriveling up while he began to cough viciously.

“I know she healed that paralyzed man this morning, but that wouldn’t be causing the villain to get this rash would it?” Kirishima asked Bakugou, the ash blond himself observing the man with narrowed crimson eyes until it clicked.

Just two weeks ago you healed a dying man with a severe case of meningitis. The man was on the verge of death but you just barely saved him in time, he only assumed you deleted the illness but if this villain looked this terrible, could you be…

The villain’s desperate cries interrupted Bakugou’s thoughts, his once deep voice now high pitched and terrified as he looked at the four pro-heroes, “P..Please help me!”

“She’s gonna kill him…” Bakugou whispered in realization before his crimson eyes widened and he looked to his friends, “She’s going to kill him stop her!”

The four were quick to move, Sero and Kaminari dragging the villain away from your grasp while Bakugou and Kirishima grabbed at your arms, yanking you away from the man.

“(S/o) stop it, you’re going to fucking kill him!” Bakugou shouted, grabbing your waist firmly now while avoiding your flailing arms and legs as he dragged you away.

The villain seemed beyond thankfully to be dragged away from you, the sound of ambulance sirens music to his ears as he shriveled up, feeling as if his body was being torn up from the inside.

Meanwhile you kicked and screamed in Bakugou and Kirishima’s arms, desperately crawling at them to try and get back to the villain before your boyfriend stood before you with intense yet fearful eyes, “(S/o) what’s gotten into you, calm down!”

“N..No, he killed my parents!” You screamed, tears rolling down your face causing Bakugou to freeze. Of course that’s why you looked so angry.. this was the man who took your only family away.

Taking advantage of the ash blond being distracted, you attempted to leap after the man only for Kirishima to grab you by the waist now and hold you back as the villain tried his best to crawl away from you, the paramedics now taking care of his crippling form.

All you could do his cry and scream desperately, watching as the man who savagely took your family away get carted away. Any sort of empathy had been sucked out of you, leaving you with only rage and forgotten memories of your parents.

Kirishima looked over to his friend that stared down to you with guilty eyes, the ash blond nodding to his friend before Kirishima handed you over to your boyfriend.

Your (e/c) orbs looked up into Bakugou’s crimson ones, the look of fury and sadness in your eyes sending chills down the ash blond’s spine. The quick seconds of your silence were short lived before you broke out into cries again, gripping onto your boyfriend’s uniform while you sobbed into his chest.

“D..Don’t let him get away with this Katsuki! He took away my family!” You cried into his chest, leaving the ash blond to pull you closer against him while grabbing a fist full of your (h/c) hair into his hands.

Bakugou knew what it was like to feel rage for a certain villain, hell he wished he could blast the whole League of Villains to begin with. But as a hero he couldn’t just let you do this, knowing you would regret it in the future. All he could do was show you empathy in this very moment, hoping to coax you out of this current state of rage you were in.

“(S/o) you can’t murder someone that’s against the law,” Bakugou said as calmly as he could manage into your ear, his hand running up and down your back, “We won’t let him get away with this, his sorry ass will rot in jail forever. But you can’t stoop down to his own level by trying to kill him… that makes you just as bad as him.”

Letting out small hiccups into his chest you looked up slowly with blotchy eyes to see Bakugou looking down to you with deep crimson ones, “Your parents wouldn’t want you to kill him (S/o), they would want you to do the right thing.”

Never had the ash blond spoke wiser words to you, all the rage you had pent up inside seemed to fade away as you nodded slowly. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, he was right… killing that villain only would have made you the villain.

“Y..You’re right…” You mumbled, wiping your face before looking up to him, your lip quivering as more tears threatened to spill, “I just miss them so much, I couldn’t save them then and I thought if I could kill that guy now…”

The ash blond cut your words off by pressing you back against his chest, his calloused hand running through your locks while he let out a sigh, “Your parents would be so proud of you right now, you’re doing the right thing.”

The amount of love you felt for your boyfriend exceeded any other moment you’d had with him. The ash blond was never one for being compassionate and calm but in this very moment, even with so much chaos happening behind him he brought this vulnerable side out just for you. Just to make you happy.

Sniffling quietly you looked up to him with a half-hearted smile that made his heart skip a beat, “T..Thank you Katsuki, I love you so much.”

Bakugou looked down to you as you placed your head back down on his chest, the extreme use of your quirk no doubt exhausting your body. Even with the loud sirens in the back and the screaming officials directing the trapped civilians to safety the ash blond was able to hold you close and drown out the noise. And when and only when your eyes were closed and hidden in his chest…

A small smile creeped upon the ash blond’s lips, matching the one you pressed against his heart.

[umbrahighpriestofgiratina]

Heroes After All Chapter 5

And here's Chapter 5! Do note this chapter is... kind of dark, and deals with subjects like vomiting, eye mutilation, and general blood and death. Chapter 5: Don't Fear The Reaper

Aaron waited for the ball. And waited, and waited. The other kids and their Pokemon seemed intent to keep it away from him, the "freak" kids, and their Pokemon, but he certainly tried to get it. Finally, it sailed his way, and he reached, stretched, grabbed - And it sailed down the mountain, bouncing down a gentle slope until it was out of sight amid the trees. Aaron started. Then looked at the other kids, who were staring at him. One piped up. "You go get it!" Aaron looked to the other "freak" kids and their Pokemon, who shrugged or did the Pokemon equivalent. Aaron groaned and started making his way down. The bushes and shrubs seemed to claw at his face. He heard wild bird Pokemon squawk and fly away at his approach. Finally he found the ball and reached down for it. It was then he noticed the ball had landed next to the disfigured corpses of an Aura Guardian and his Sawsbuck. The corpses had suffered various forms of abuse - fire, crushing, acid - and seemed relatively fresh. A Murkrow was in the process of plucking an eye from the Aura Guardian's skull and promptly swallowed it before eyeing Aaron warily. Aaron stared in horror before vomiting the contents of his lunch earlier that day, forming a puddle next to the bodies, and after regaining his bearings slightly grabbing the ball and racing back to the monastery. As soon as he got back he haphazardly tossed the ball back to the other children - much to their confusion- before going to find Polly. Polly was reading on a bench in the monastery when Aaron found her. "Kid, what's up?" she said. "Why are you out of breath?" "Dead Aura Guardian... In the woods... His Pokemon too..." Polly's look grew grave. "Show me." Aaron took Polly out to the woods, down the slope and through the trees, until they reached the dead bodies. Polly looked at them in shock. "Dale... No..." She looked around. "No sign of Melissa but we'd have to search... Kid? You're going back to the monastery." Aaron nodded and headed back once again, but the image of Dale and his Sawsbuck's dead bodies were thoroughly burnt into his mind. --------------- Polly now had two other Aura Guardians gathered with her around the corpses with their Pokemon: Vince, a Dark Obscuric, with his Honchkrow Henry, and Ryan, leader of the Genesis Mountain Aura Guardians, with his Swampert. Polly's Metagross was there too, analytically scanning the bodies. Henry tried to peck at Dale's Sawsbuck's remains when Vince gave him a stern look and he backed off with a disappointed coo. "Did Aaron see any sign of who did this?" said Ryan. "Not at all," said Polly. "Kid just stumbled upon them playing ball." "Can you track them, Ryan, Metagross?" said Vince. "I would," said Ryan, "But someone's been good about covering their tracks." ~It's likely they teleported out somehow,~ said Metagross. "And Melissa and her Luxray are missing too..." said Polly. ~No sign of them either,~ said Metagross. Ryan's Swampert shifted uneasily. "Shit," said Vince. "This isn't good. At all. Someone's after us and we don't know who." "We need to fortify our defenses in case whoever did this strikes again," said Ryan. And we're going to have to investigate this event as much as we can." He turned to Polly and Vince. "We three will head the investigation team. I will ask Nightjar for help as well." "I'll ask Carol and Hannah then," said Polly. Vince groaned. "Hannah? Really?" Polly frowned. "She's perfectly qualified for this," said Polly. "Plus she's our friend." "You and Carol's friend, maybe," said Vince. "She's too bubbly and picks on me and gets on my nerves." "Be mature, Vince," said Ryan. "I trust Polly's judgement and so should you." "Alright, fine," said Vince. Henry snickered. So did Ryan's Swampert. Even Metagross joined in. Vince gave them all harsh looks. It was then, however, that Metagross turned to the others. ~There is one thing I sensed I should note.~ "What is it?" said Polly. ~One of the murderers had powers like your own.~ --------- Aaron had spent all day thinking about the bodies and being pestered by the other about the interruption of the ball game and subsequent involvement of Polly and further subsequent security lockdown of the monastery for several hours. He wanted to sleep. He ignored the noises made by his bunkmates as he climbed into bed. Was he gonna be okay? His mother said Dialga would always protect him, and he believed that with all his heart. But his father had believed the same thing and... and... He tried to push the memories out of his mind and as always they came back stronger and stronger until exhaustion claimed him. --------- Aaron woke up in a place that was definitely not his room. He looked around to find himself in a red cavern of sorts, with black veins crisscrossing it. He immediately froze when he saw what was perched at the end of the cavern. There before him, with massive wings, crooked talons, and sharp beak, was her. The dread Yveltal, death and destruction goddess of Kalos. ~Well,~ she said. ~Isn't this a wonderful first meeting?~ She can talk like Metagross does? thought Aaron. Probably because she's a goddess... ~You are correct,~ said Yveltal. Aaron gulped. "I-I guess you can hear me no matter what..." ~Also correct!~ "What are you here for?" ~To warn you my dear...~ She leaned in close - uncomfortably close - and gave a beaky grin. ~You know full well your first encounter with death wasn't with the corpses in the woods. And those will be far from your last encounters either.~ "I... I..." ~You have a long road ahead of you, Aaron. Just remember - Death is inescapable. Even if it doesn't find you... You'll just find it.~ She suddenly lunged, talons bared. Aaron screamed and tried to shield himself with his arms. ----- He woke up in a cold sweat, not bolting upright but panting, feeling paralyzed. Eventually the numbness wore off and he sat up, staring off into space, before collapsing again and waiting for dawn to come. ----------- The next morning, Aaron was sitting by himself, exhausted, despite the insistence rom the other members of his group to join them. "Are you sure you don't wanna have breakfast?" said Callie. "We know you like grits," said Eve. "I'm... Fine," said Aaron. "Whatever then," said Louis. "Let's just go," said Atta. The four left, their Pokemon looking back and chittering amongst themselves with concern. Aaron just kind of stared after until he heard a telepathic voice in his head. ~You okay kid?~ Aaron jumped before realizing that the voice was not Yveltal's but that of Polly's Metagross next to him. ~Polly wanted me to check up on you after yesterday and, well, I always feel sorry for you humans easily.~ "Er yes, I'm totally, absolutely... Not okay. I had a nightmare last night." ~After seeing what you did I don't blame you. That said you probably should eat. Not eating's hell on the anxiety, I should know after knowing Polly all her life.~ He paused. ~Don't tell her I said that.~ Despite himself Aaron managed a snicker. "I won't!" ~Good. Now come on, let's go eat with your friends. I can definitely convince them to give you food if they say you're late.~ Aaron smiled. "Thanks." He followed Metagross out. --------- The small purple creature watched the small biped and large quadruped head off from their hiding place. It couldn't understand the words of the creatures of this dimension, though was starting to pick up a few. What they did know was that the place the two were going had food. Stealthily, the purple creature floated after them. It floated through a gap in a window and looked around a small room. Suddenly, a noise. The purple creature hid as a biped entered the room, looked around, picked something up, and left. In its wake the creature noticed it had dislodged a small, green and red sphere from a nearby box. They inspected it, then tasted it. It was edible, success. The purple creature nibbled happily on their newfound prize. --------------- A number of Lucario were gathered around Ginji. "What's the plan, birdbrain?" said one. "We're going to corner the thing in its den," said Ginji, "and I'll be at the center holding it off while we all take it down." "What if it goes after us?" said another Lucario. "With those fire attacks we're toast! Literally!" "My job is to make sure that doesn't happen," said Ginji. "Now come on." The group stalked off into the forest, Ginji keeping his sharp eyes peeled while the Lucario had their Aura feelers flared. Eventually, the group reached what appeared to be a den. They stood stock still and silent while Ginji scanned it. "Okay," he said, whispering. "We're going to quietly go in there and-" "Look out!" shouted a Lucario. Ginji looked over just in time to see the Charizard ram into him from the side rather than from the entrance to the den. The Charizard attempted to bite down on Ginji with a Crunch and managed to injure his shoulder, but not before Ginji could sock him in the jaw with an Aura-infused punch. The Charizard was further annoyed by being pelted with Aura Spheres from the assorted Lucario, before flying upward and launching a Heat Wave, which caused the Lucario to quickly fall back. Ginji wasn't so phased and hurled a rock at the Charizard, hitting him badly and causing him to swoop out of view. "Yeah, that's right, run away, you overgrown reptil- urk!" A wicked sharp blade of air left a massive, bleeding gash across Ginji's chest. As he fell over, bleeding out, the Charizard lunged at the Lucario group, as they attempted to dart out of the way. One took advantage of the chaos to hurl another rock at the Charizard's wing with a sickening crack, causing him to roar in pain and trample off for real this time. The Lucario then turned to the badly bleeding Ginji. "Oh no... What the hell do we do?" "Do we just... Leave him?" "Father Alpha would be furious... We bring him back. See if he can be saved..." They picked up the still-bleeding Ginji and hauled him, dripping with blood the whole way, back to the pack. Riolu and his mother noticed their return and gasped in horror. "G-Ginji!" "Dad!" They rushed over to his side, Ginji looking at them weakly. "Honey... Son... it'll be alright..." Tears fell down Lucario's mother's face. "Ginji, no..." "D-Dad?" said Riolu. "Are you..." Ginji placed a talon on Riolu's paw. "Son... You're gonna do big things beyond this pack... I just know it.... Do... Me... Proud..." "D-dad..." Ginji said no more. He fell limp. ---------------- It had been a few days since Ginji's death. Riolu's mother was sitting away from the pack, staring off into space. Eventually she felt an Aura behind her, felt a forepaw touch hers. She looked to see it was her son. "Mom?" he said. "Yes, sweetie?" "Now... Now that dad's gone I worry I don't belong in the pack anymore. That I'm not safe..." "What? No, of course you're-" The words got caught in her throat. "I... I want to find someplace else. Anyplace else. And I want you to come with me." "I... I can't." "Why not?" "Grandfather Alpha... I can't leave him..." "The pack doesn't love me. You do." "I do. And... I think if you want to do this you are strong enough to go on your own." "But... I can't leave you..." Riolu's mother nodded. "I'll be OK. The pack will re-accept me before long. Your father was right. You can do better." "I..." There was a pause. Then Riolu embraced his mother, careful to avoid her chest spike. She embraced him back. "Take care... It's a dangerous world out there, but you're smart, and brave, and I know you'll find safe haven eventually." "I know you're right Mom." Riolu stared at her a while longer. Then turned and broke off into a run. ***

[ayearofpike]

Spooksville #12: The Hidden Beast

Pocket Books, 1996 120 pages, 10 chapters ISBN 0-671-55073-X LOC: CPB Box no. 342 (Stored at Landover) OCLC: 35300821 Released September 1, 1996 (per B&N)

Bryce Poole has finally come to the Spook Squad for help. His cousin Leah has come into a treasure map and needs some help understanding it, and if Bryce can't do it he knows someone who can. The gang still doesn't quite trust him, but they soften their stance when Leah offers them half of what they find. But ... maybe they should have stuck with their instincts, they realize, when Leah takes off with the treasure and two of the kids get stuck in a cave with an angry dragon.

I know, I know. You're wondering the same thing I was: do these assholes ever have to go to school? As it turns out, this has been one summer so far, with an adventure every week on average. With only a couple of days until school starts, the gang is itching for something else to do, and Bryce knows it. He catches them at the donut shop and entices them with the promise of wealth beyond imagining. His cousin Leah is just outside with a map that could lead them to treasure, but the map and its instructions are hidden behind a riddle that neither she nor Bryce has been able to solve.

Sally has done a 180 on Bryce Poole since he almost got her killed in the ancient past, and so she doesn't want anything to do with it. Adam and Watch are mostly of the same mind, but all it takes is the offer to split the riches for them to agree that it couldn't hurt to look. So Leah comes in, and of course she's a beautiful teenager who makes Cindy jealous even though she's five years older. She shows them the map and the riddle, which takes Watch about five minutes to figure out: they have to go to this set of unusually sharp hills deep in the mountains and wait for Venus at its apogee to cast a shadow on the tallest and narrowest peak that will reveal a door, where there are speaking crystals guarded by an ancient pet, whatever that means. Leah is thankful but not excited, somehow, and they determine to set out that day, as tomorrow morning Venus will be at its highest and brightest, with no moon.

So Leah gets ahold of a truck and the kids ride out as far as they can before they have to start hiking. (There is a token mention of getting parental permission to camp that night, in case you were worried.) Watch knows it's solidly six hours to the mountain, and they make it four before dark, when they have to make camp at a pond fed by a spring that literally sprays out of the cliff wall. This far from civilization, though, they'll have to consider wild animals, especially in Spooksville. No problem, Watch says: the fire should keep them away, and he'll set an alarm so he can get up and feed it. Leah wants to know what time Watch will be getting up, just out of curiosity.

Or so she says. Next thing Adam knows, Watch is shaking him awake. Leah is gone, no doubt ahead on the path so she can stiff the kids and abandon them in the mountains. Bryce is still there, but that proves nothing because they could have coordinated it ahead of time. They decide to try and catch her, and they've been around the girls long enough that they know not to leave them behind like chauvinist dickholes. Bryce comes, too, and they eventually make it to the mountain, where there's a ledge near the top fronted by a polished statue that has a small hole in it, blocked by another rock. When they remove the rock, Venus shines through the hole and onto the cliff wall behind it — and the perfect circle cast by the light of the planet reveals a door that swings open into the mountain.

This peak being so tall and narrow, of course all they see inside is a staircase. They make their way to the bottom, where there's a pool of water and a flicker of light in the distance. They follow it, but pretty quickly they hear a rumbling, rasping sound. Kind of like some enormous creature breathing. Fortunately, there's enough room to quietly edge around it, and right behind it is the promised treasure room, full of gold coins and gemstones and jewels. But in the middle of it all are four silver stands, two of which are topped with gigantic quartz crystals. These must be the stones alluded to in the riddle, and obviously Leah has already been here and taken two of them. Sally goes to pick up another — and holy crap the giant monster in the other room starts waking up. She puts it back, and the thing falls asleep, and they get past again and run for it.

Only not fast enough. The sun is starting to rise outside, and the door is closing. Bryce and Sally get there first, and slow it down enough for Adam to squeeze out, but Watch and Cindy are too slow. The door actually catches Adam's jacket before it turns back into solid rock, leaving him no choice but to shrug out of it. So now what? Venus isn't up again until tomorrow morning, and it might not even work again. All they can do is try to chase Leah down so they're not trapped in the mountains, and try to figure out where another entrance to the cave might be so they can go back for their friends.

Cindy and Watch have no choice, meanwhile, but to go back down the stairs and get a drink from the pool. While they're down there, they hear the thing wake up and go into its treasure room — and roar with rage. As they're scrambling to get away from it, it hears them, but they manage to get far enough up the tunnel to be safe from its fire breath. It's then that Watch recognizes what the beast is, and figures it's smart enough that he can try to reason with it. He yells down that they don't have the crystals, and the dragon responds by trying to convince them to come talk to it so she (yeah, they determine the dragon is a she) can get her property back. But Watch knows she's just trying to get a meal, and holds Cindy back from the dragon's hypnotic effects. This only makes her mad, though, and she squeezes enough info out of them to know that some girl named Leah is out there with her crystals and there's a town called Spooksville that she can lay waste to until she gets them back.

She leaves the cave (not the way the two kids trapped inside are hiding; it's too small for a dragon) and chases down Adam, Sally, and Bryce, who have had no luck finding Leah. She corners them in another cave and tries to get more info from them, and when all three of the kids are stronger-willed than Cindy she attempts to turn the cave into an oven. Fortunately, Sally has a heat-repellent tent in her bag, which saves the kids from slow-roasting. The dragon takes off, and they have to think of some way to slow her down. What if they could raft down a river and get to Spooksville before her, to warn the people? As it happens, Bryce has a raft stashed up here in the mountains, along with an emergency cell phone that he can use to warn Leah. But she doesn't want to hear it, and hangs up on her cousin.

Meanwhile, Watch and Cindy aren't getting any safer staying in the cave. They decide to explore the opposite direction and find OH HOLY GOD ANOTHER DRAGON. But this one is a kid, and interested in getting to know humans rather than eating them. He tells them that his mom uses the crystals to talk to dragons on other planets, which makes them realize they can try to call Leah on them. Of course, she hangs up the crystal on them too, however one does that, so the only recourse is to ask Little Dragon to fly them out of the cave and to go find her before his mom does. There's just one problem: Little Dragon is afraid of heights.

Rafting down the river, Sally has a brainstorm: there's a rocky outcropping near the power plant outside town that, if painted gold, might get a dragon's attention. While she was investigating, they could shoot down the power lines and stun her for a little while, maybe even long enough to get Leah to give back the crystals. Bryce apparently has gold paint stashed nearby, as well as a hunting rifle, and they set up their trap. Sure enough, Mama Dragon comes swooping down and they manage to knock her out. But OH FUCK HERE COMES ANOTHER DRAGON.

And this is the first time I'm really bugged by Pike's storytelling in the Spooksville series. Because Little Dragon has not only Watch and Cindy, but also Leah on his back. He has persuaded Leah to return the speaking crystals, and given her a handful of diamonds in thanks. But Pike just TELLS us this. As every storyteller has heard at some point in their craft, showing an audience what happened is much more effective than telling them. We're just expected to believe that a sociopath who would abandon five twelve-year-olds (one of them RELATED TO HER) in the mountains is happy to return this priceless treasure to an animal. PLUS: what happened to the fact that Little Dragon was afraid to fly? It's never mentioned again. Apparently he was totally cool with this crippling, paralyzing fear to help some humans he literally just met. My suspicion is that Pike got to this point and realized he was running up against a page limit for the series and had to cut a whole bunch. But it makes the story fall flat at the end. Like: did the kids actually HAVE to electrocute a dragon if Little Ex Machina was gonna show up and make her calm immediately? Get your ass to rewrites.

So that's The Hidden Beast, and with that we are halfway through Spooksville. There are a few untied ends that still have to be looped back, and maybe Pike is starting to do that. We still don't know very much about Watch, except that he's starting to be willing to open up to Cindy but he's not totally ready yet. But check out that next book title: I expect we're going to start school pretty soon, and school in Spooksville will be just as screwed up as the rest of the town.

[eternal-love-song]

BuckyNat fluff prompt AU: James and Natasha will become parents and Bucky tries to keep up with her cravings. (Just a rubbish idea about disgusting combinations of food.) Later scene when the kid is there: Nat says to Bucky "Told ya, she/he was worth all the weirdness I made you go through."

This was fun to write! I hope that you enjoy it!

Bucky grumbled loudly as he rummaged through the kitchen cabinets. There was already a disgusting combination of foods in his arms (strawberries, peanut butter, a jar of pickles) and he was searching for the last terrible item that the love of his life demanded he get up to get at two in the morning. He had taken to replacing Natasha’s name with “The love of my life” in his mind whenever she bothered him after midnight for food cravings to remind himself why he should be indulging the mad woman that shared his bed and it was a mantra he leaned in hard. The combination of foods he had currently was enough to make most people sick all at once and yet someone, the demon in his bed wanted more still.

He rested his head against the wall and asked, “Jarvis? Where are the… fuck, what did she want?” It was too early in the morning for this kinda complicated confusion.

“The twinkles that Miss Romanov requested are in the cabinet to your left.” Jarvis answered.

“Thanks,” Bucky grumbled. He wasn’t certain if it came out as actual words or just a tired grumble. He was too exhausted to care one way or the other though. He looked through the cabinet, grabbing the entire box, and retreating to him room.

He ran into the side of the door when he’d been walking with his eyes closed without realizing it. His muffled swearing preceded him into the room.

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked.

He was not okay! He was sooo far from okay. He was a half second from saying so when she turned on the lights and sat up, allowing him to see the roundness of her stomach beneath the blanket. He took a deep breath and attempted to smiler at the love of his life. “I’m fine. He’s your bad decision.”

She frowned at him. “It’s not my decision,” She stressed. “It’s your babies.”

He grumbled as he deposited the items on the nightstand beside her and then fell face first onto the bed. She pulled her legs up so that he didn’t fall on them, then rearranged the blanket to rest her legs over him.

“She’ll be worth the madness once she’s born,” Natasha stressed.

Bucky made an incoherent sound of displeasure. He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be disagreement or just general complaint.

She reached down to pat his head as she combined three of the items to stuff into her mouth all at once. Bucky closed his eyes and refused to watch this alien creature eat.

The next time the love of his life sent him on a mission to the kitchen, he ran into Tony. Literally. Bucky’s head was down and his eyes were closed due to still being half awake, Tony was probably on a coffee run and acting as a zombie until he got his next fix, and their foreheads collided rather hard.

“Fuck!” Bucky didn’t even know which one of them swore.

The lights brightened in the room and Jarvis’ polite but snarky voice played through the speakers. “Watch your step, sirs.”

“A little late on the warning there, buddy.” Tony said, rubbing his forehead as he trudged over to the coffee machine. “What are you doing here, Barnes? It’s like… What time is it Jarvis?”

“Four in the morning, sir.”

“It’s four in the morning,” Tony repeated.

Bucky repeated his mission in a mumble. “The love of my life wants celery and jam.”

Tony blanched. “That is disgusting. Jarvis, tell him that’s disgusting.”

“Sir, it is perfectly naturally for a person who is–”

“No, no!” Tony said, waving his hand in the air as if to ward off the words. “Don’t tell him that. God, why did I even program you?”

Bucky was still standing in the same place. He came to realization rather belatedly and by the time he did, Tony had already opened the fridge, retried the desires items, and was shoving them into his arms.

“You need some sleep,” Tony told him.

“The love of my life wants–” Bucky began to repeat his rehearsed lines, but Tony grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around.

“Tell the love of your life to let you get some sleep,” Tony said. He pushed Bucky out of the room and he swore he didn’t see anything until he was sitting on the bed.

“Thanks,” Natasha said as she took the items out of his arms.

“The love of my life will let me sleep?” He asked. He was running on autopilot, not even aware of what he was saying.

She smiled at him, gently pushing him back onto the bed and covering him with a blanket. “The love of your life will let you sleep,” She told him gently. She kissed him on his forehead. “It will all be worth it, you know.”

He made a noise, he was sure what kind, and he rolled over so that his head was pressed into her leg as she sat up to eat.

“Of course,” Bucky said with a laugh as he held Natasha close. She was sweaty and panting and beautiful and he smiled at her as she cradled their daughter. “Of course she would be born at three in the morning.”

Natasha smiled at him. “And how do you feel?” She asked.

“She’s perfect,” He said.

“I told you all those late nights would be worth it,” She said.

“You were right,” He told her, pressing a kiss to Natasha’s head.

[rarestereocats]

recap of thursday’s crusades session!

After a trip up the mountain to visit the shrine of Altamere,  we head off to our next shrine in a coastal city.  Once we reach a hill that slides down the mountain,  Industria and Lucky go sledding down.  Virhea goes down with Ilyana to keep her safe and I desperately wanna sled too,  but Rikius says no and Elathera casually reminds me that I can't because there's a baby inside of me.  But you know what?  Maybe I wanna train my baby to be a thrill seeker in life,  but even with that thought in mind,  I don't do it.  For once,  I resist my impulsive nature and get back in the carriage.

On the way to the next city,  we're charmed by the local forest and see a beautiful willow tree with a pond nearby.  Upon closer inspection,  this tree gives us all major depression and proceeds to grapple Industria to eat her.  Virhea's not having any of this shit though and manages to free her sister and eventually,  we manage to calm this carnivorous tree down and talk to it.  We hook it up with an oasis and some fantasy heroin laced food,  thanks to Virhea,  and once it agrees to stop eating sentient creatures,  we carry on.  Unfortunately,  the word of god let us know that the tree did not end up developing a serious addiction which would've been super convenient for us.  So no,  we won't be seeing this tree help me out in my anti-drugs crusade anytime soon.

As we approach the city of Rumbek,  the guards stop us and tell us it's closed for the night.  That's pretty odd,  but they tell us it's for our safety as people are being murdered and going missing at night.  So we go from "odd" to "highly concerning" instantly,  but not concerning enough as Virhea slips away and goes eagle form to fly over the walls and get inside.  Nobody notices her leave,  but I have similar ideas,  so I slip away as well and hurl myself over the wall.  Virhea sees this from a nearby rooftop,  but nobody else notices me go missing.  Not even Rikius,  who was supposedly keeping a watchful eye on me.  But that's what happens when your stealth is absurdly high,  kids.  You can literally disappear in front of somebody's eyes and it won't register with them at all.

Once inside,  a guard sees me in the park and Rumbek has a curfew to try and keep their residents safe,  so now I have to pretend that I have dementia.  The guard takes pity on me and begins leading me to a cleric,  but I casually slip into the shadows and disappears,  which scares the shit out of this guy.  He runs off fearing for his life while Virhea watches from above and gets the idea to scare me as well.  So as I'm strolling along,  she slips up behind me and grabs my neck.  I am terrified.  We're talking full tail fluff activated and screaming bloody murder while she tries to calm me down.  Three guards rush the alley and think she's the murderer,  so they fire arrows at her to try and save me.  But then they assume I'm a murderer too,  so Virhea throws herself in front of me to take the hits because she's a good friend.

We eventually escape and take shelter in a chapel while the rest the group goes to visit one of the guard's homes after Industria performed some miracle work and used magic to regenerate his daughter's missing legs.  She knows that me and Virhea had run off,  but she's not too worried as long as we're together.  But after getting hit with a couple of arrows,  Virhea sends an SOS out to her sister and Industria reluctantly comes to help our dumbasses,  everyone else following soon after.  We're scolded for running off and getting into trouble and once that's settled,  we head back to the other guard's home to rest up.  Come morning,  we go and visit Oscar Greenwood,  the man in charge of this investigation.

We're given a list of victims and with the power of magic,  we sit around and scry on each one until we find one that's alive.  A gnome's laying inside what looks to be a wooden box and rather than be alarmed by this or even question it,  we teleport there and are dumped into a dark ass room that's empty aside from four coffins.  Me and Industria immediately know it's vampires,  but Virhea cracks a coffin open anyways out of curiosity and the vampire inside utters a confused "what the fuck?",  before we're pulled into combat.  As we fight them,  Industria goes to use "undo artifice" on the ceiling,  thinking it's the top of the building and we can just burn them to death.

But instead,  it comes down with several more vampires and I begin to wonder if this house is like a clown car for these undead bastards.  Lucky commands one magically to tell us who their ringleader is and it's a vampire by the name of Kinsey Redriver.  Now as the floor came down on us,  Kinsey themself did too and when we realize which vamp that is,  Ilyana sacks their ass and manages to get them on the ground.  She covers them with a blanket as Industria asks and Elathera destroys the actual home's ceiling and finally exposes our blood-sucking circus to sunlight and we watch as the rest of the vampires go up in flames and die.

The ones that had been beat down to a gaseous form flee the area,  leaving us alone with Kinsey,  who is gonna get the shit interrogated out of them.  And then killed,  most likely,  because why are we gonna turn an obviously evil vampire loose again on this city??

[tanyawrites]

The Virus (pt 2)

Summary: The world is full of death and decay. The creatures involved aren’t dead though, just inhuman. Kenna James is on the run from the scientists who mutated the virus to begin with. Along the way, she meets up with Aiden and forms a beneficial friendship with him, though she still hasn’t learned to trust anyone.

Word Count: That’s a good question. Sorry y'all.

Author’s Note: This is my own creation. I literally thought it and wrote it.

As Kenna and Aiden drove, Kenna was thrown backwards to how all of this started. A simple virus, mutated by corrupt scientists who’s only career aim was to play with things that were better left alone. It started out as a simple virus. Deadly, but simple. They were supposed to be finding an antidote, at the very least a vaccine. That wasn’t to happen. It used to be that the virus was fatal to anyone who contracted it. Very few lived more than a few weeks with it. The mutation changed it. It no longer killed the person, but killed the humanity in them, making them something that wasn’t quite animal but definitely not human. They turned into living zombie like creatures, whose only intent and purpose was to kill. There were so many, with the virus being so easily contractible, that the people were left in a desolate and post-apocalyptic world.

The scenery as they drove by looked fairly normal, the trees were lining the highway, casting shadows in the early morning sun. When Kenna thought about the way things were, the world looked lively in comparison. It was green and lush in the countryside. The cities and towns were a different story all together. It was much easier to contract something there than it was to contract something way out here, in the boondocks. There wasn’t another car in sight, Aiden’s truck is the only one around. Not that she was surprised, because she really wasn’t. Most people were trying to get out of the country, hoping that they could escape the fatality of both the virus and the living zombies. Kenna leaned her head against the window and tried not to think about any of the stuff going on. It would only serve to make her sleeping nightmares worse.

Kenna’s stomach growled as they passed an abandoned diner. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday morning. She looked at the time on the dashboard and realized it was almost twenty-four hours ago. She tried not to groan as the thought of food brought even rougher hunger pangs.

“There’s some jerky in the glove box, if you’re interested.” Aiden said in what must have been in response to her stomach. She reached over and opened the compartment and found a small paper bag. Along with the jerky, there was some dried fruit slices as well. I pulled out a little of each and chowed down. I must have been starving because I ate it within five minutes, suddenly embarrassed.

           “Sorry,” She said. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I just kinda forgot to.”

           He shrugged his shoulders. “No problem at all. Have more.”

           She moved slower this time, taking my time eating, handing him some as well. “So, what do we do now?” She asked. She wondered what he specifically had in mind. Her only plan had been to run and keep hidden.

           “Well,” He said around a mouthful of jerky, “I figure we find backup supply. And, well, I was hoping you’d have a plan.” He glanced between Kenna and the road.

           She shrugged her shoulders. “Like I said, no plan. I didn’t even have a plan for after leaving the hotel. Just surviving.”

           “Guess we’ll wing it then.”

           The vehicle was silent again after that. Kenna laid her head against the window, hoping to catch a few moments of restful sleep. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept without having a nightmare. They weren’t really nightmares, but memories of her time at the horrible place it all started. The scientists needed people to test out the vaccines and antidotes. Eventually, it turned into some sick experiment, trying to see how far they could go before eventually killing themselves off. Kenna had been one of the few lucky ones. She was somehow immune to the virus. And to top it all off, Kenna, so far, had been the only one to escape the scrutiny and testing that they had begun to perform upon finding out about her fluke. She had finally been able to run away after a few months, realizing that whatever it was they were doing hasn’t killed her yet. She counted her blessings at that. She felt guilty though, realizing that she hadn’t waited to help the others. She tried to tell herself that she’d only been a young girl, about 10 or so. That only went so far though. She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts before closing her eyes and allowing herself to drift off.

           She was cold. Very cold. She tried to pull her jacket closer to her but found she wasn’t wearing one. She wore an old ratty princess t-shirt and worn out jeans that had seen better days. Looking around the room she was in, she realized that she was back in her room at the compound. They kept the heat very low, to keep the virus at bay, they would say. Kenna pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them close. Where was everybody? Why weren’t they with her? She heard screaming from down the hall and tried not to think about what might have been happening. ‘I have to behave.’ She kept telling herself over and over. If she behaves, she’ll get to go home with mommy and daddy. They won’t hurt her anymore. Gotta do whatever they told her to do. She heard more screaming, this time sounding animalistic, bloodcurdling. The monsters. She tried not to whimper, whimpering only caused the thing to react more. The less she had to hear them, the better. She saw them up close once, it tried to grab at her and bite her. The scientists didn’t like it when she complained or made too much noise. They’d punish her. Despite her best efforts though, she couldn’t help a small sob that escaped her at the sound of the creatures down the hall. She could already hear the footsteps getting closer. “Kenna, Kenna, Kenna” A voice seemed to be repeating. “Kenna, Kenna…”

           “Kenna? Kenna? Wake up!” She felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her. She jerked awake, quick to look at her surroundings, her heart beating erratically. She found herself in a truck, Aiden driving. She also began to notice that they were parked in an old gas station parking lot. She took in a few deep breaths to try to calm herself, now knowing that she had only been dreaming. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat to get her bearings straight. When she opened them, she found Aiden staring at her. She straightened, hoping she looked less like a deer caught in a headlight.

           “You ok?” He asked. Kenna nodded her head, pushing all thoughts of her nightmare memory aside. “I thought we could use a chance to stretch our legs. This place seemed safe enough and it has a restroom.”

           “That’s a good idea.” She said.

           “I don’t think there’s anyone here though, so we may have to wait for another stop to fill up. Hopefully we make it that long.”

           She nodded in understanding and got out of the car. She stretched her arms up in the afternoon sun. She hadn’t realized how long she’d been asleep. She must have really needed it more than she thought. Aiden walked into the store while she leaned against the truck. Peering around at her surroundings, she noticed that the town seemed deserted. There wasn’t a soul in sight. No dogs barking, no kids outside, there weren’t even any creatures about, though she was thankful for that last part. Which brought her back to her dream.

           She dreamt about it often, not necessarily the same memory, but memories of living at the lab with the sadistic doctors. She remembered the poking and prodding of needles and she remembered seeing locked in a cage in the corner, one of the live creatures, their blood being taken for research. They may have been looking for a cure or a vaccine, but they were playing with it as well. Which was they were there. She had been the only one able to escape at about 14 years old. That was ten years ago. She didn’t think that she’d had a good night’s sleep since she’d escaped, worried that they’d find her, considering she was the only one on record to be immune to the virus. She felt herself shiver at the thought of being caught again.

           “Cold?” Aiden’s voice broke through her reverie and she startled slightly. “Sorry. Thought you heard me coming, considering I was swearing.”

           “Why were you swearing?”

           “No one here and then I stubbed my toe and an old crate with about 8 gallons of milk in it.”

           She smirked slightly. “Really? Milk?”

           “It was heavy! You got to give me that!” He acted offended, but he smiled a little, knowing that she was only teasing him.

           “Ok, ok.” She conceded.

           “What were you thinking about so intently?” He inquired, obviously curious to know more about his road trip partner.

           “Oh, uh, nothing really. Just zoned out. Tired still, I guess.” She hoped that would suffice for a while. She wasn’t ready to share anything yet. She hoped he’d understand without her flat out telling him that she wasn’t ready. He nodded, though, and at least pretended like he bought it.

           “Did you need anything while we’re here?”

           “No. I don’t trust anything that’s been in there anyway. I’ll wait until the next stop.” She wasn’t going to face the restroom with a ten-foot pole. She couldn’t imagine what kind of disgusting bacteria and illnesses would be raiding the bathroom after being abandoned. “Let’s get moving.”

           They got back into the truck and headed back out onto the road. It was quiet for a while until Aiden started asking questions. “How come you’re running?”

           Kenna glanced at him. “I don’t wanna get caught.” She said simply. She hoped that would deter him.

           He chuckled. “Right. Nice evasion.”

           She shrugged her shoulders. “Bad question.”

           “Ok. You’re not ready. I won’t force it out of you. Just know that you can trust me.”

           Kenna nodded her head but continued to watch the road. It’s been a long time since she could trust anyone. She wished that –

           “LOOK OUT!” She screamed as something jumped out in front of them. Aiden swerved to get out of the way but ended up swerving off the road, still clipping whatever that thing was on the road. Kenna closed her eyes, knowing that impact was going to happen sooner or later if Aiden didn’t lay a foot on the break. She heard him swearing and yelling at the car to stop. With eyes closed tight, she felt the impact then felt the airbag deploy. It was quiet. Kenna finally opened her eyes to see they’d hit a tree just off the side of the highway.

           “Are you ok?” She asked, looking over to Aiden who seemed to be in shock. “Aiden?”

           He turned to her. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. You?” She nodded her head as she unbuckled her belt and stepped out of the truck. She assessed the damage and came to the conclusion that the truck was no longer usable. It was toast. She heard Aiden get out as he walked around to the back of the truck, doing an assessment of his own. Kenna heard him sigh as he came around to her side. He kicked the tire with caused the hubcap to pop off. “Why me?” She heard him mutter. “What did we even hit?”

           Kenna searched around to see if maybe the thing they hit was somewhere nearby but couldn’t find anything. “I don’t know. I don’t know what it could have been.” It was too big to be a dog. She’d only seen a glimpse of it. She just wished it’d been longer than a split second. “What do we do now?”

           He threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know. There’s no town for miles unless we go back to the last one. And even then, we couldn’t do anything. There aren’t any people in the last one.” He turned to her. “I guess we’re walking.” He jumped up into the bed of the truck and started gathering supplies.

           There was rustling from behind. Kenna started at the sound and turned to look at the bush. She knew she shouldn’t wander in case Aiden needed help, but curiosity got the better of her. It was probably just a rabbit or a disturbed raccoon. She walked slowly towards the bushes, so as not to disturb the little critter. As she got closer, something in her gut was telling her to turn back. She ignored it. She was standing right in front of it when a hand reached out and grabbed her by the ankle, yanking hard enough to knock her on her back. It was one of those things. It shrieked an awful shriek at the same time she screamed out. She kicked at it with her free foot while trying to claw herself away. She felt hands grab her arms and she screamed out again, fear that a second one was attacking her taking over her mind. When she turned to look, she realized it was just Aiden, trying to pull her away. When she let go, she thought briefly that he had run away, trying to save himself. While she was disappointed, she couldn’t blame it for what he did. But to her surprise, he came back with a gun and shot the thing in the head, stopping all movement instantly. The hand went lax and she escaped quickly, getting as far away as she could.

           Aiden held the gun aloft, still pointed at the body of the creature. He kicked it with his boot, watching as what had to be blood gush from the gunshot wound. Kenna felt like she was going to be sick. Memories of seeing those things up close threatened to overtake her but used all her might to push them back. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. And when that didn’t work, repeated the process again. She thanked God that she was immune and prayed that Aiden wasn’t going to contract the virus. He could have saved himself, but he saved her instead, risking his own health. They’d know in a few days if he was affected.

           He walked back over to her, set the gun back in the truck and hugged her. “You’re ok.” He said. She nodded her head and hugged him back, but soon let go. Her heartbeat was steadier, and she could breathe easier. Aiden walked back over again then grabbed a nearby stick and poked it. He chuckled nervously. “You know, twelve-year-old Aiden would be completely thrilled at a dead thing at his fingertips.” He glanced back to her. “But present Aiden really kinda wants to throw up in the bush.” He cleared his throat. “I think before anything else happens we should gather what we need and get on the road.” He walked back to get into the truck and started gathering supplies in a large duffle bag. She didn’t know what to do, so Kenna waited for him. He threw the duffle bag down on the ground, Aiden following it, and they started walking hoping to find a town soon.

[emweaver]

NaNoWriMo - Day 09

Project: Maelstrom Session word count: 1,624 Total word count: 15,525 Notes: Got just a few words written on the main story this afternoon before my brain went bye-bye and started to focus on tomorrow when the plan is to go to the local shelter to adopt a cat. 

So, this evening, I decided to focus my writing efforts on that. Cats. Or, a cat. Luckily, there’s a cat named Murphy in my story, so here’s a little side story with her and Sebastian: 

Coming home after a long day of getting absolutely nothing on camera, Sebastian wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. And with Paul pulling a double shift at the hospital, he had no reason at all to spend time cooking anything decent. Instead, he stuffed a frozen pizza in the oven and went to turn on the television, slumping on the sofa to wait for his dinner to 'cook'. 

A complaint in the form of a loud meow came from somewhere in the vicinity of his right foot, and looking down, he saw Murphy's black and white face looking up at him, her yellow eyes showing what he swore was displeasure. He'd been in the kitchen, after all. So why hadn't he filled the food bowl? 

"Oh, sorry, Murph," he said, leaning down to give her a scratch behind the ear before he got back on his feet, trudging back into the kitchen. "So what'll it be? Fish or chicken?" He bent down to pick up her bowl to put it on the counter, then checked the cabinet and got a little portion sized bag of wet food from the cardboard box. "Fish it is." He ripped the bag open to the sound of even louder meowing down by his feet, along with an impatient head bump against his ankle. "All right, all right, have a little patience, sweetie. Food's coming." He dumped the food into Murphy's bowl, squeezing out the whole thing and then replaced the bowl on the floor beside the water bowl, barely managing to get his hand out of the way before the cat was chomping down the little bits of chopped up fish in delicious sauce. "Enjoy." 

The scent of his own dinner had started to leak out of the oven, but it would still be another ten minutes until the pizza was done, so he returned to the living room to plop back down on the sofa, picking up the remote to click through channels, finding nothing of interest to watch. Switching the TV off, he got the remote for the stereo and turned on some music instead, sitting back to listen while he waited, eyes closed and his stomach growling. He'd heard somewhere that cat food was perfectly fine to eat as a human being, and he could well believe it, but even being hungry as he was, and even considering how easy it was to just dump a load of wet food into a bowl, the thought of eating Murphy's food wasn't really all that appealing. Not when there was a perfectly good pepperoni pizza baking in the oven. It was just a matter of having a little patience. 

Still, as he sat there waiting, he could easily put himself in Murphy's place. Waiting for your dinner when your stomach was doing barrel rolls inside you was almost excruciating. And being able to smell the food being prepared only made it worse. His mouth was watering and his mind was incapable of focusing on anything else. And that was just pizza. Maybe it was a good thing Paul wasn't home, after all. Had that been the case, he would have insisted on cooking something a lot more tasty, but also something that would have taken a lot longer to finished. Of course, had Paul been here, there would have been other distractions. 

Sebastian was still weighing the pros and cons of being alone and heating a frozen pizza and having Paul around and waiting for good food when the timer went off. "Finally!" he said, laughing at himself at the way he was perfectly emulating Murphy. Who had already finished her meal when he got into the kitchen to get his pizza out of the oven, and was sitting by the table, grooming herself and ignoring him completely. 

The scent of pepperoni, cheese, and tomato exploded as he opened the oven door and hauled the pizza out on its baking tray with the aid of a kitchen towel, dumping it on top of the stove before the heat from the metal burned through the cloth. "Smells good, huh?" he said, looking over his shoulder at Murphy who was wholly uninterested. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Not as good as home made, but it's not terrible." He shrugged, found the pizza wheel in a drawer and cut the pie into four large pieces, dragging one onto a plate, and leaving the rest to keep warm on the baking tray. Finding a beer in the fridge, he took his meagre dinner back into the living room and turned the TV on again after shutting off the stereo, then watched the news as he ate.

After dinner, having finished three quarters of the pizza, he'd gone to lie down on the sofa, watching some documentary on the failed Mars mission, wherein the speculated on the causes of the failure and what had caused the deaths of the entire colony in the span of just a few minutes. But with his belly full and feeling just a little buzzed from the beer, Sebastian wasn't really listening. He was sleepy, and at least somewhat content, and he had a cat lying on his chest purring her little heart out. 

It was comfortable having a cat on his chest like that. Sebastian enjoyed it thoroughly, and would gladly accept any opportunity of cuddling with Murphy. He knew Paul didn't feel the same way, and while he didn't outright hated cats, he'd always been more of a dog person. And much as Sebastian was open to having a dog as well, there was simply no way for that to be practical. Not with the way both their careers would keep them out of the apartment for hours on end, sometimes even days. To be quite honest, even having Murphy was a bit of a stretch when it came to the humane treatment of animals. 

But there was no way in hell that Sebastian was giving her up. He'd found her in an alley as a kitten, where she'd been abandoned, either by some fucker who didn't want her after all, or by her mother who had been nowhere to be found. Rather than take her to a shelter as he probably ought to have done, he took her home, fed and watered her, and that was that. She wasn't going anywhere and just like that the Redmond-Majewski household had gained a kitten. Her name had come from Paul, who had joked that with cats around; anything that could go wrong would go wrong, and though it was hardly a fair way to described Murphy, the name had stuck. 

Now, some four years later, Sebastian had absolutely no regrets about taking the cat home. Especially not on lonely nights like tonight, when Paul was working all night, and he only had Murphy and the television for company. He could, quite literally, spend hours cuddling with the furry creature and not once have to think about work, his boyfriend, or even whether or not he should do the dishes. Paul had once explained that there was research done about the calming effects of cats and how their purring was apparently good for the health. Maybe that was why he grudgingly accepted her presence, but Sebastian suspected that he too had falling in love with her. It was impossible not to, after all. 

And as he lay there, after a long day trudging around the city with nothing to show for it, alone with the television running in the background, Sebastian nuzzled Murphy's ear and smiled as he drifted off to sleep.