#she’s short and feral and in love with lea

[lyriumsings]

my fav feature in the northern passage is just finding increasingly rude ways to wake up lea tbh

[stcrforged]

the aircraft - the root of the disease that CLUNG to this land like fungus. it was dangerous, spreading quickly. the woman took a shaky breath as she looked up at the sky, but it wasn't blue. it was red. it was the only colour she could see right now. gaze wandered down, noticing the blood on her hands that she never could get off. echoes of husband's dying breath drummed against her brain, giving her a headache. and all these emotions that she had felt that day (and still felt). the grief. the FURY. the pain of the power armor, burning her, branding her flesh. pale hands clenched to fists. one day she would cure boston of the brotherhood. she would take that damn metal bird from them. from the sky.

" not sure you gonna love boston a whole lote more. it's crazy out here - the brotherhood, synths, feral ghouls, mutants and what not. " worn boots jumped over a large gap, a crack, in the road. it was better to keep moving, FLEEING from the past. she didn't want to remember what had happened. it was better to focus on the present. on the outsider. new vegas. the cold. anything was better really.

lea had walked this way countless of times. even in when night had fallen and it was darker than the place where the sun didn't shine, she found her way home. " but you might like the place i got my store - goodneighbor. it's a GOOD kind of crazy there and everyone is welcome. " sure it was rough but the freedom... it was so rare, so beautiful. she loved it. and it was the only place she felt like she belonged. it was filled with filled with freaks like her. way better than diamond fucking city.

" seems you really hate pre-war tech? " an eyebrow was raised as she put her cold fingers inside the pockets of her dark green jacket, sheltering them from the harsh and cold winds. " hope you don't burn my stuff down, but i SUPPOSE the fire would keep you warm. " a smile, an actually visible smile, lingered on her lips. god knows how long it had been since she had cracked a joke. it felt like ages.

head moved up and down, nodding when the other asked if she had killed that feral ghoul. " yep. feral ghouls might be the only thing we aren't short of here in boston. same thing in new vegas? " the tech expert tried to remember what she had in her drawers and lockers but she couldn't recall what was in them. the only thing she was TRULY sure of was the pills inside her bathroom cabinet. bottle after bottle. it was pretty cramped in there but she needed them. without them she couldn't sleep, couldn't function. " hm... i think so. guess i need to take a look when we get there. speaking of - it ain't far now. " lea pointed at a high fence far in the distance that had a glowing sign on it. goodneighbor.

six's breath caught as she looked up at the massive airship, her eyes wide with wonder. she’d seen plenty of vertibirds back in NCR territory, but nothing like this. the size of it, the way it hung in the sky, defying gravity—it was a spectacle, something that seemed impossible. she marvelled at the engineering, trying to wrap her head around how something so large could stay airborne. had things like this existed before the war? or was it some new invention, pulled from the ashes of old technology?

for a moment, she forgot the biting cold, the wind gnawing at her exposed cheeks. all she could do was stare, until the mention of new vegas snapped her back to reality. her lips twisted into a frown, and with a final glance at the airship, she started walking again, her boots crunching against the frost-bitten ground.

❛ new vegas survived, yeah, ❜ she muttered, her voice carrying a hint of bitterness. ❛ unfortunately. ❜ she gave her new acquaintance a sidelong glance, her tone sharpening. ❛ it’s pre-war, for the most part. glittering like it’s some grand achievement, but to me? it’s just a waste. a failure of the old world. they build it up like it's the future, but it’s part of the reason civilisation fell. a rotting relic, clinging to what should’ve been buried with the bombs. ❜

she sighed, tugging her jacket tighter around herself as they stepped over the dead feral ghoul. she noticed the clean shot, and nodded appreciatively. ❛ whoever took this one out knew what they were doing. ❜ she cast a glance at the woman. ❛ that you? ❜

the cold bit into her again, reminding her how unprepared she was for the east coast climate. ❛ as much as i hate to admit it, you’re right. do you have more back at yours i could scavenge? ❜

[surpriserose]

If you were a Netflix exec how would you fancast and retell kof 97 🥺

97 is painful enough but 😭😭😭

Under the cut im not casting everyone like no one needs to know who Netflix would cast as fucking kensou or whatever but anyways

I did kyo last and after you sent me y/n will you marry me krizalid so now kyo is kj apa are you happy? Hes being so edgy too

Iori oh god okay so do people remember the cowboy bebop live action show? Im sure john cho is still on the Netflix payroll he gets iori hes trying so SO HARD to be a bad boy like a for effort i dont think it ends up working though

Chizuru is like okay this list is painful enough i get to have a pick i want and its brenda song which still doesnt fit at all bt thats okay because Chizuru doesnt get to have any personality shes just very serious

Shermie is like taylor schilling which you suggested and means very little to me except since shes from orange is the new black she makes a reference to king being "butch" but not looking like lea delaria or something. Also her wig is terrible

Chris well this is netflix so pick one of the stranger things kids even though theyre like 20 now or something. Probably finn wolfhard people like him still i think

Yashiro is you know what im gonna give yashiro to lewis tan hes already been in a fighting game movie adaptation he knows the drill and i think he should get to play an actual canon character and not some weird audience insert for the lore

Orochi is like tilda swinton whos peak cis woman cast to play a nonbinary character vibes you know the drill

King is...god i cant type this out shes scarlett Johansson because ellis insists on being the biggest menace possible. King doesnt even get to have short hair shes got the messy bun treatment and she lets her hair down in the ending montage where shes on a date with ryo. Also yes she has lipstick on the whole time.

Mai is and im so sorry but mai is awkwafina like we're getting less sexualized and more silly goofy mai but at what cost...

Ryo and andy because of course theyre there i think Andy gets the broody robert Pattinson treatment because hes in now and the girls and gays deserve to see him with long hair even though hes HORRIBLY miscast. Ryo is probably like simu liu who honestly is a little too old for it but should be kyo instead like i can see it and marvel actors are the only actors allowed in media now. Unfortunately there is a precedent for whitewashed kyo so

Athena is like okay im only casting her so i can make a joke that during the end credits they'll play like a pop remix of idk we are the champions or something by Olivia rodrigo who cameos as athena

Shingo is and here me out because this is concentrated awful shingo is bowen yang who yes is way too old to be shingo but you see!!! Shingo has been rewritten to be older and now hes like kyos gay twitter stan and shingos entirely a (we swear its not homophobic the actor is gay) joke and there is no depth to my bestie :(

Leona is like pick any of the margot robbie anya taylor-joy white blonde women that white blonde women on tumblr love and talk about like being unhinged or feral when theyre just not wearing eyeshadow unironically or whatever. Probably florence pugh actually because of midsommar.

[eternalmomentss]

awww yes kh ask game!!! 🌪️🏞️🧊 and if you want to, then this one 🌌 as well!! i love you, go off about your favourite game, hell yeah!!!!!!!

AAAHHH Kam you are saving me!! Thank you my sunshine. I know, I never shut up about this franchise, but especially now it just brings tons of comfort so yeah thank you dear 🌻

What do you think about the trios? Which one is closest to your heart?

Listen, I love them all. I grew up with the destiny trio and I miss them all together. MoM gave me Kairi and Riku interaction and that was great, but I just need them to be together again. It's sad that we haven't really seen them as a team since kh2...

The wayfinder trio is my second favourite. Their story hurts a lot and seing them try to protect each other makes me go feral. Also that shot from the fragmentary passage intro where they hold hands is the purest shit ever omg i love them

And I mean...no suprise but the sea salt trio is my all time favourite. They hold a very special place in my heart. Their story feels real and it's just so powerful (also sad omg this game destroyed me) the concept of axel literally growing a heart because he adopted two happy little kids is just too powerful...i would die over and over again for them. ALSO let's all remember that the sea salt trio is not a trio anymore!! They are a family! A big happy family 👏🏼🌻

(Also i kinda live for the concept of the celestial trio lea/isa/subject x (skuld??) yeah that is good shit)

Favourite subject/concept?

The concept of nobodies is just so interesting to me. I think part of the reason why i am so interested in the organization is all the members' backstories and how they were turned. Just...it is such a dark part of the franchise?? Kids being turned into hollow vessels, their heartless being created?? I just...i want a game all about the fall of Radiant Garden and the following ten years in the organization!

Member of the organization? Powers? Liege? Weapon? Epithet?

Mhm, I think my powers would be something language related? Sounds far fetched but maybe something close to mind control? More like Zexion's powers. I think I would not be able to wield a huge ass weapon haha. And idk if i am supposed to think of a whole new nobody species to control or if i can go with an already existing one. Since I am lazy I am just gonna pick one that already exists lol. I love the dancers! Idk they look so funky and weird and their design is just top tier! I'd love to control them! And mhmm well my epithet could be something like idk the silent puppetmaster? That sounds super weird but yeah something like that lmao

KH OCs?

I mean, there's my girl Mia/Amix! She's a curious, somewhat dorky,bisexual, swordswinging fighter with a broken heart and rosy cheeks to put it short lol. When she was younger, she lived in Radiant Garden together with Isa, Lea and the castle grew until the worlds fell, was part of the organization at some point and fought alongside the guardians of light in the final battle. She can use poison like a pro and loves to sing and dance and act!

Also there is Roxanne. I don't have a lot of info about her tbh only that she is a badass with a whip and a serious attitude that could even make Larxene and Xigbar get down on their knees lmao

Oh my gosh I really went off didn't I? I am so sorry lmao. Thank you my sunshine! That was actually so nice 🌻☀️ i love you and i hope you are having a wonderful day 💛

[cartoonsinthemorning]

Hi, it wouldn’t let me dm you for some reason, but I really wanted to know more about your female turtles? Sorry to bug, I just LOVE these designs. :)

Hello and thank you! No problem at all. Actually, I hope you won’t mind, but since you’re not the only one who asked, I’m going to publish the answer for anyone that wants to know more. Here are some random infos about each one of them. My english is horrible, if something is impossible to understand please let me know ahaha.Lea: - Lea is sweet and loves to take care of others (and fuss over them). Already as a child, she acted older than her age, always doing “mom stuff”: preventing fights, singing lullabies, tying bows on masks and so on.  - her fighting style is based on speed and agility, so she holds a secret grudge against her shell because it weighs her down and prevents her to perfect certain techniques.-Lea has a precise sense of aesthethic that reflects on her clothing style or the arragments and decorations of her room. On one had she's proud of her sense of style and balance. On the other hand she's a bit ashamed she values beauty so much, and afraid it may be a sign of superficiality that does not suits a team leader/warrior.-Lea’s got a strong sense of morality and has to work as Angie, Dona and sometimes Raf’s consience. Basically she’s the “only-sane-(wo)man” in the team, and it’s a tiring job because her sisters can be a bunch of nutcases.   Raffaella:-Even before puberty, she tended to bulk up muscles easily, and she was already taller than her sisters and her mom. Her body type was rounder and she didn't have a waistline yet. She was teased a lot by Dona and Mikey for being “fat” and looking like a boy. So, as a teen, she became extremely proud of her femininity. At the same time, she's still not completely aware of it, and still thinks, to her secret disdain, she looks masculine.-Raffaella likes to dance as a cool off after training, but prefers to do it when no one is around.-Just like some canon incarnations, she loves to roller skates and owns a motorbike she's engaged with. -Raffaella does muscles training of course, but she can't push her limits much at bench pressing because nobody in her family could serve as a spotter for her. Donatella: -Dona colletcts coats, hats and random articles of clothings. Despite her large collection, she always wears the  same outfit and 2-3 hats over and over again. Maybe she's a bit of a hoarder... -Kinda of a slob. Drinks from the same unwashed mug for more than a week if not scolded into washing it. -Dona doesn't like to fight or train, and never had. She doesn’t feel a bit of guilt or shame for being the (fighting wise) weakest member of the team, and rather jokes about being in costant need of a cover in battles. -She's a happy-go-lucky nichilist. Raffaella ( and sometimes Lea) get upset because Donatella gives the impression she doesn't take anything seriously and doesn't care about anything. Angie: -Boy-crazy since she was little. Angie's first fictional crush was all three of the biker mices. -For some mysterious reason feral in appearence compared to her sisters, Angie has claws. She uses them to climb around and one can often see her crawl on walls and hang from the ceiling rather than walk on the ground. This ability allows her to make suprise entrances that may scare unaware people to death.-Angie is small enough to fit into very narrow spaces: rather than having her own room, she scattred her belongings along a net of narrow tunnels she alone can access into. -Angie loves to be the baby of the family, and even to be treated as she was younger than her age. And if someone or something got the attentions or affection of her sisters, Angie would get mad jelous and maybe even violent. That’s it. I also already made up a lot of lore in my mind and short episodes etc but I already wrote down a wall-text so I’ll stop ahahaThank you for your interest, see you!

[monstersandmaw]

Dullahan ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Story - Part Ten (sfw)

Edit which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

Sorry it’s a smidge late! However, we're back! D’s back too! *cheering*

Got some fighting in this chapter, and a serious injury, but other than that, I don't think I have any warnings for you.

Last time, we made a surprising discovery, met half-goblin Will, and only seconds after unlocking his cage door, we heard the mayor’s returning footsteps! Those of you who voted chose to hide Kravik, so that’s what we’re going to do! Buckle up, my friends - things are coming to a head!

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine

Reacting on instinct as the footsteps approached, you scooped Kravik up in your arms and hauled him upright. The only place you could see to hide him was in the lea of the low cabinet to the left of the entrance to the cavern. It was a poor hiding place, and it might only just cover him, but you had few options in that split second.

Kravik might have been only three feet or so tall, but he was muscular and compact, and you staggered as you half-dragged and half-carried him over to the wall. He was still winded and dazed from the tunnel collapse, and the searing flash of the wards on the mayor’s laboratory door had done nothing to help his recovery.

You knew you wouldn’t be able to hide there beside him as well, and that his only chance of staying hidden was if you moved somewhere else. But where?

You stood warily, back hunched defensively as you searched frantically for somewhere else that might just hide you, but no sooner had you begun to sprint for the wardrobe when you heard the mayor’s cry of fear and surprise from the entrance. The game was up. You’d been spotted like a hare in an open field.

Before you could react, however, she had summoned some kind of ball of energy to her hands, and was clearly readying it to launch straight at you, a fierce look blazing in her eyes.

A scream tore itself from your throat and instead of darting for safety, you simply froze on the spot. With your feet rooted in place, you could only stare in wide-eyed horror as Will shouted something from the cage on your right. The sequence of events that unfolded next all seemed to happen very slowly, and yet they were still over in no time at all.

Will sprang from the open cage, the key flying from the lock and skittering across the floor, and as the mage hurled her spell at you, he leapt between it and you. Blinking in shock, you watched his knees go out from under him as he caught the full force of it in his small chest, and he fell sideways to the rough floor of the cavern.

The mayor let out a wordless cry of horror and dived down to kneel at his side, heedless of her smart robes or the ragged, dusty cavern floor. “William!” she hissed, shaking him, then fluttering her hands uselessly at his temples. “How did you get out? Are you hurt? William?”

Relief flooded through you when he croaked and sat up, wheezing and short of breath, but otherwise unharmed. His stone-bound blood must have absorbed the force of her spell, you realised, and then cold horror dropped through you as the mayor got carefully to her feet. Her jaw ground and her eyes flashed as she met your gaze.

“You!” she snarled, extending her finger to you. “You did this? You let him out? You blew up the tunnels?”

“This has to stop,” you croaked helplessly. “It’s wrong. Can’t you see that? You’re poisoning people and…” your eyes darted to Will’s shaking form on the floor. His tattoos had flared a bright blue at the impact of the magic. “And you’re torturing your own son!”

She advanced on you then, stepping around Will as though he were little more than a piece of furniture. Her face was terrible in her rage. “You dare involve yourself in my affairs?” she hissed. “You have no idea what’s going on here!”

“I have a pretty good idea,” you said, aiming for defiant and missing as your voice gave a little wobble.

It was as Will staggered to his feet behind her that you saw Kravik beginning to creep out from behind the cabinet against the wall, quiet and careful as the shadow of a cat. He was making for the exit, and as you looked at him, he brought his bony finger to his lips, smiled, and then mimed ‘boom’, his hands splaying apart silently. He intended to go and blow up the one remaining store of phoros in the mine. You looked away from him just as the mage took her last few steps towards you, close enough that you could smell her perfume and see the stippled sweat at her temples.

“Mother, no,” Will said, lurching towards her and grabbing the back of her robe. “She’s right. This has to stop. You’re killing my own people just so I can have access to your magic? So you can have a son who’s a mage? It’s wrong! Can’t you see that?”

“I will break through that cursed stone-bound blood of yours,” she offered over her shoulder. “I will not have the shame of my family heaped upon me twice over.”

“What sort of approval is worth all this?” you asked defiantly, disgust thick and evident in your tone. “Do you really want the approval of people who can’t accept that you loved someone, regardless whether he was a goblin, and that you have a son who isn’t able to use magic?” you snarled. “Is it worth all this to you? Is his ability to use magic Will’s only worth to you?”

“Don’t you dare! You have no idea what it was like for me!” she snapped, tears sparkling in her eyes. “To have all the weight of expectation on my shoulders growing up, and then to be expected to marry some mage from another kingdom, just to try and distill a little more magic into our family line? I loved his father,” she said, jabbing a finger behind her at Will. “I loved him, and they ridiculed me for it. I brought shame on them. They can’t show their faces in the senate because I bore a non-magical son with a dirty goblin.”

Will’s sharply-handsome face cracked. “Why can’t you just love your son, mother?” he choked. “Why do I have to be more than what I am to earn your approval? Why can’t I be enough for you?”

The heartbreak in his voice sent a tear rolling down your own cheek. “She doesn’t deserve you, Will,” you hissed.

The mayor ignored you both, her face settling into a grim expression, and she grabbed you by the arm. Her grip was astonishingly strong, and she began to steer you helplessly towards the cage despite your frantic protests. Will launched himself at her, wrapping his skinny, lithe arms around her waist and knocking her to the ground with the force of his attack, and you twisted free.

“Go!” he shouted. “Run!”

Kravik’s feet vanished around the tunnel ahead of you, and your own legs faltered. You found yourself looking back over your shoulder, terrified for the half-goblin who had saved you.

“Go!” Will yelled again.

You didn’t wait around any longer this time, and bolted, but you soon heard footsteps chasing after you. Your heart was in your mouth, pounding desperately against your throat as you ran blindly up the dim corridor, back towards the collapsed tunnel.

A flash of light whistled past you, your lungs burned, and you fought off a fit of spluttering coughs as the air got thicker around you, the dust from the earlier cave-in still heavy in the air.

Voices. Up ahead. And a dim glow of light.

Kravik’s harsh, frantic, scraping tenor, followed by something richer and darker, and finally a female voice, scratchy and curt. It couldn’t be!

“D! Ten!” you screamed as another ball of energy hissed and crackled past your shoulder.

The voices stopped and then you heard the sound of Justice bellowing your name. It resounded off the tunnel walls, and was immediately followed by the ringing of boots on hard rock and the sharp rebuke of Tenacity, which apparently went ignored.

D rounded the corner in a blaze of greenish-white light. He was not wearing his head, but instead his ghostly body glowed in the darkness, and you flung yourself at him.

He caught you easily and wrapped his arms around you, the solid weight of his chest buttressing you up as your knees went weak with fear, adrenaline, and exhaustion. “I found you, I’ve got you,” he crooned, as much to himself as to you. “I was so afraid for you. I felt the earth shaking… I thought -” he cut himself off and took a deep breath. “What happened?”

“Oh D!” you whimpered. “Run! We have to get out of here! She’s coming!”

“Who is?” he asked, stroking your hair back from your face and pulling back a little to get a better look around the tunnel.

“The mayor! She’s injecting her son with phoros to make him open up to magic. Krav and I found him, but then she came in, and she attacked, and then Kravik went to try and destroy the rest of the supplies, and then she turned on me and she’s coming after me!” you said in a huge, garbled rush.

D instantly put himself between you and the tunnel behind you, and no sooner had he done so than the mayor herself appeared.

She had a staff in her hand now too, and she stopped abruptly at the sight of the dullahan standing squarely in the corridor. Clearly, a spirit of justice had been the last thing she’d expected to see.

D began to growl then, a vicious, feral sound that resonated in your chest and against your eardrums, and you glanced up to see that his lips had peeled back into a snarl, revealing his ghostly canines. They matched the elongated fangs he had in his physical head, but somehow they looked more dangerous in this eerie green light. He truly was inhuman and monstrous as he seemed to grow and fill the space with his menacing presence. The darkness seemed to grow deeper against the burning light of his phosphorescent glow. He pulled his shoulders square and moved his taloned hand to his side where the gruesome whip made of human vertebrae hung at his hip. He unhooked it with practised ease, and as he took up a fighting stance, footsteps sounded behind him.

A red light preceded Tenacity’s appearance, and your breath caught in your lungs as you saw her for the first time without her head. She looked like death itself. True red flames flickered up from her empty collar; her long hair was the white hot of iron ready for forge-welding, and it flowed freely behind her as if caught in a current of slow-moving water. Her hands were bare, and the snaking lines which had once been black were now blood red and glowing. But it was her eyes that truly terrified you. Blazing scarlet with righteous anger, she came round the corner with death in her gaze, and even the mayor balked visibly at the hellish apparition.

“No,” she whimpered, but then she seemed to rally. “No!” she repeated, more fiercely. “I will not let you take my research from me. Not when I’m this close! I will not be cut off by my family for loving a goblin, and I will not be beaten! I will have a mage child if it kills me!” she shouted.

“And what if it kills him!” you yelled back at her.

D put his hand out to keep you behind him, but even his black-clawed talons could not keep you silent.

“What if you’d killed those other goblins instead of just nearly poisoning them to death?”

Your words enraged her and she hurled a fork of lighting through the tunnel that left a blazing white afterimage in your vision. A sudden crack and flash of white light stopped it in its tracks, and you realised that D had used his whip to create some kind of barrier, perhaps to counter the incoming bolt. He was breathing hard. “Get back further behind me,” he growled at you. “Ten, go with Kravik and blow up the rest of those crystals. I’ll deal with her.”

Tenacity approached him and laid her hand on his shoulder, and her other on yours. “Light be with you,” she said. “And for the love of all that is good and right, Justice, do not get yourself killed.”

He nodded, never taking his terrible gaze off the mage, who still seemed to be struggling to recover her reserves of magic after her last failed attack.

Ten turned, and as her red light disappeared around the corner of the tunnel, a sudden, icy fear dropped through you. This was the first time you’d seen what D could really do, and you were terrified for him. “D,” you breathed, but he shook his head.

“Stand back. Go and find somewhere safe,” he said, taking a step forwards and readying the whip at his side for another attack. He knew as well as you did that he had to hold her off long enough for Ten and Kravik to blow up the stores. He was the last defence, and he had to hold.

The mayor brought her staff in front of her, holding it like a quarterstaff, and you saw it had a wicked blade attached to the butt of the shaft. It glinted and seemed to ripple and flicker in the light emanating from D’s ghostly head. He made no move to attack her, simply standing there, watching, keeping himself between her and you. But when you saw what was inlaid into the steel blade at the end of her staff, your blood ran cold.

“D,” you hissed, “D, that blade has got gold on it!”

“I know,” he said calmly, still facing the advancing mayor. “I can feel it from here. I’ll be careful.”

And then the fight began.

The mayor stepped forwards, launching a flash of magic at him with one hand while spinning the staff up with her other, attempting to slash him across the chest with the blade.

D danced gracefully backwards out of range of the weapon, but caught the spell directly in the shoulder. He let out a grunt, but sent his bone whip flailing out at her. She dodged it, keeping the staff safe from the whip’s grasp, but she caught the tip of it in the face. It lashed across her cheek and left a gash that began to bleed instantly.

She turned on him in a fury of attacks, forcing him further back up the tunnel towards you.

“Get out of here!” he yelled hoarsely, sidestepping and using his whip to try and grab her ankle with it to pull her off her feet. She shifted positions and this time sent a fireball hurtling up the tunnel. It missed you by a fraction of an inch, and the heat of it seared your skin as it flared past. “I can’t protect you and fight her!” he gasped. He had only his whip and his body to fight her, and while he had her dancing side to side in the confines of the tunnel, he was clearly concerned.

He moved with the fluid grace of a hunting cat, spinning and arcing, his foxfire trailing behind him as he forgot to maintain the effort it required to keep his ghostly head there. He battered her back down the corridor again, but just when you’d though the might have gained the upper hand, he bellowed a roar as another blast of magic took him in the gut and he staggered backwards, winded.

“D!”

Taking advantage of his weakness, the mayor pressed forwards, swinging the staff blade up. It connected with his arm as he shielded himself instinctively, and he let out a yell of pain as it sliced through the thick material of his jacket and connected with his dark grey skin. A liquid the colour of his green mist spurted out, oozing down the blade and dripping to the cave floor, and the mayor laughed.

“You do bleed,” she snickered. “I can finish you.”

“No!” you screamed, and at the sound of your voice, D pushed himself up off the wall with a shout like a wounded bull. He lashed out at the mage with the whip, wrapping the tail of it round her neck. In panic, the mayor brought the staff up and tried to cut through the bones in the long whip, but to no effect.

Then you saw, in the bright glow of the now-blazing light at his collar, that a new idea formed in her mind. Her eyes locked onto a spot on his chest, and she smiled horribly, despite the colour rising in her face as the whip cut off her air. She held the staff like a javelin, and hurled it straight at D.

“No!”

The shout was not your own. It came from behind the mayor. It was Will. He swung something through the air and it caught his mother on the back of the head. She fell, limp and unconscious to the cave floor, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

D let go of the handle of his whip, his fingers going slack, the staff embedded in his chest. As he staggered and slipped sideways, the heavy staff fell to the rock with a clatter, and his bright, unusual blood began to soak outwards with horrifying speed into his jacket. He gasped and gulped, the light of his ghostly head flickering, and his knees gave way. He toppled backwards onto the tunnel, even as you darted forwards to try and catch him.

A crash like thunder rippled through the mines, followed by a series of deep rumbles.

“The storage room,” Will said, staring wide eyed from his mother to the fallen dullahan. “They did it.”

You barely heard his words as you crashed to your knees beside D, hands pressing down hard on his torso. “D?” you sobbed, your vision fogging with tears. “D? Oh gods, D? Can you hear me?”

Horrifyingly, the ghostly apparition of his head simply disappeared, flickering out like a guttering candle, and you saw the raw, scarred stump of his neck in the open collar for the first time. The tissue was hard and puckered with old scarring, a shade darker than the slate grey skin of the rest of him.

“D!” you shrieked, your voice breaking with terror as it ricocheted off the walls of the tunnel. “No! Please!”

You pumped at his chest, trying to get his heart going again - not knowing if dullahans even had working hearts or not - and as you did, you heard shouting and running footsteps. D’s green veins began to glow again, giving you the tiniest of faint hopes, and a green mist furled lazily, teasingly, out from the collar of his jacket like a single breath fogging the air on a cold day.

A warmth began to creep into your leg and you looked down to see his hand on your thigh.

“D?”

He twitched his thumb and index finger just once.

Tears flooded your face and you blinked as a red light bounced and bobbed down the tunnel towards you.

Tenacity, and she was sprinting. “Justice!” she whispered, her pounding feet skidding to a halt when she saw him on the ground. She hissed like a cat when she saw the gold-tipped staff beside him. “Get that out of here,” she snarled, and to your surprise, it was Will who stepped forwards, his tattoos glowing a soft blue in the darkness, and picked it up. He walked past you, heading back down the tunnel towards the laboratory.

As he walked by you, he paused and laid his gnarled, goblin-like hand on your shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “This is all my fault.”

Blinking the tears from your eyes, you shook your head, but had no words for him. D was lying there, unmoving, and Tenacity had sunk to her knees. Red light spiralled down from her palms as she held them over the wound.

“Come on, you stubborn fae,” she snarled at him. “Accept my magic, you little bastard. I’ve saved you before, and I’ll save you again, if only to thrust that blade right through your stupid heart and kill you all over again myself for being so fucking stupid!”

“Ten…” you gasped, shocked by her words.

Her head snapped up to stare at you, and you lurched away in horror and surprise. Tears flowed down her ghostly cheeks like blood from a wound, and you saw then the desperate fear of a mother about to lose her son. You’d known the two of them were close, but the more you thought about it, the more you realised how much she must have taught him, how much she must have tutored and encouraged him. She had guided him through whatever ordeal a dullahan endured to become what they were, had been at his side for a century, and now she faced losing him. And part of that was because of you.

Tenacity scooped D’s limp body up in her arms and staggered upright. She might have been tall and muscular, but D wasn’t exactly willowy and light himself.

“Take him to my house,” you croaked, getting shakily to your feet after her. “We can heal him there, can’t we?” you asked with the innocent hope of a child holding out a broken doll to their mother.

She stared at you.

“Ten?” You swallowed thickly. “Ten, he’s going to be alright, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know,” she said at last. “That gilded blade went deep. If it reached his heart, he will die. It will poison his blood and he will die.”

Your knees wobbled and the world tilted. “Please, Ten. Don’t take him away. Let him come and rest with me.”

“I could heal him here,” she said slowly, her voice harsh as a handful of river grit. “But I will need to go to the fae realm to fetch supplies. He might die while I am gone. On the other hand, he might not survive the journey to the fae realm. If he does survive, he’ll heal faster there, for sure.”

“Please,” you whimpered, reaching out and grabbing his limp, dangling hand. It was so cold. “I can’t bear the thought of letting him go and never seeing him again.”

You knew she was leaving the choice to you. Let her take him away, which might kill him anyway, or allow him to be cared for in your hut, where he might still die anyway.

You took a deep breath and told her.

______________

Hope you enjoyed Part Nine! Don’t forget that the whole reason I’m doing this story is for you to get involved in the telling of a story here on my blog. It’s a thank you for helping me reach 3000 followers, and it only works if you get involved and vote! If you liked this part, don’t forget to leave me a like, comment, and/or reblog/inbox. You have no idea how happy that makes authors and creators like me, and it makes all of this worthwhile.

Voting is open to everyone, so… your wibble-making options are:

Tell Tenacity to take him to the fae realm to recover

Tell her to take him to your hut to recover

Votes close 28th November

Click here to cast your vote anonymously by Google form

Part Eleven

___________________________

| Masterlist | Patreon | Ko-fi | Writing Commissions |

[cannibalisticshadows]

Loving The Alien (Part 15)

(Out of three options, Ao3 commenters chose to bring in Hal)

AO3 LINK

Rating: T, with threats of violence.

The apartment feels different.

It’s missing something that had become vital in the natural essence of the environment. Now it feels like some kind of void, a black hole.

Well. Maybe not so dramatic, but as Roxanne sat on the couch, snapping her cell phone off, leaving her in the dark, all she could hear was the silence.

Trusting him to return to her, she laid there and fell asleep before she could really realize she was still tired.

The next time she opens her eyes, though, it’s not to a bubbly blue face hovering over her. It’s to the midday light shining in her face through the balcony window.

Groaning, she sits up and tightens her robe. It’s cold, but the cable box under her TV is flashing, letting her know the power is back on.

She calls out Megamind’s name but there’s no answer. Glancing back at the clock, she finds it’s nine in the morning. Quelling her suddenly worry about being late to work, she remembers she’s off “sick”, and she deserves a little time to herself.

The thing is, that’s the last thing she wants at the moment.

It is hard to ignore the silence of her home. Before, weeks ago, she relished it, especially after coming home to a long day at work (including being kidnapped). It gives her a few blissful moments of peace that she is unable to have outside, it seems.

Yet the only thing she wants is to hear Megamind muddling about. Even when he was conked out, healing, it was something.

So, to stop the sucking silence around her, she turns the TV on to channel eight. James Phillips, an older reporter she’s talked to on a few occasions, is going on about some new bookstore opening. Maybe she should go… Would Megamind want to, as well?

The young reporter tinkers about in her kitchen until she’s brewed a few cups of coffee and a made herself a bowl of cereal, because it’s one of the last few edible things she has left. It was unavoidable; she had to go out today for errands.

Roxanne cracks her neck, stretching and thinking. She should get a shower and ready herself for the day; days spent lounging around doing nothing but eating, talking, and sleeping had pasted. Time to return to the real world.

Making up her mind, yet reluctant to leave incase Megamind leaves, she pulls out a slip of paper out to use once she’s ready to go to the grocery store.

Right as she’s preparing to go upstairs, there’s a knock on her door.

It’s not the loud pounding of a robotic gorilla paw, so she gives a skeptical glower as she goes to peak out the peep hole.

Standing at her doorway is none other than Hal, her cameraman. She frowns, unlocking the door and opening it.

“Hey!” The short ginger-haired man greets, grinning from ear-to-ear. “I heard you were sick and stuff!”

“Yeah, I was ac—“ she doesn’t get a chance to finish talking, as he’s stepping closer as if to come inside. She opens her mouth to protest, because, if she’s sick he shouldn’t want to come inside.

“I’ve got you some medicine!” He announced, pushing past her through the apartment anyway, eyes hungrily eating up her home.

“Hal, you sh—“

He slaps some bag on the table, some common over-the-counter cold medicine, accompanied by a little box of chocolates.They spill onto her marble counter, clacking as they go. She hovers a few feet away, midway to Hal in her kitchen and to the door.

“So, like, I was thinking,” he starts, waddling over on too-skinny legs in proportion to the rest of him. “We could go get that pizza or like, whatever.”

“Hal, that’s sweet b—“

“Awesome! Do you wanna go now—oh wait, you’re probably still sick, right? Haha, I know what that’s like! I had this like, toe fungus the other day and—“

“Hal, you need to lea—“

“What time do you want to go?”

She’s just about ready to pull her hair out. She did not want Hal to be here. She did not want to be having this damn conversation. She just wants to go out to the store and restock in goods so she can cuddle up with Megamind because some weird internal instinct says it’s a great fucking idea to forget the world a little longer.

“Hal,” she says forcefully, once he’s about a few inches away. “Look, you’re sweet, but I can’t go out with you.”

“Well, yeah, you’re sick right now but we can still plan ahead—“

“No,” she snaps, “I mean, never. Ever never. I’m seeing someone. It’s serious.” I hope it’s serious.

His face falls. “Oh. Right. Metro Dude.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Hal’s face scrunches up. “Wait. So. You have a regular guy?” A weird twinkle in his eyes makes her insides shiver. “Then forget him! Let’s go out!”

“No, Hal!” She’s shouting now. “I happen to love my boyfriend very much, so I’d appreciate it if you left! He’s coming back soon.”

“God, Roxie,” he frowns. “Don’t be such a harpy. I’m trying to be all nice and you’re like yelling at me and stuff!”

Don’t you fucking dare turn this on me.

She’s about ready to demand he leave, to get off the building’s premises, but—but out of the corner of her eye, she sees—

Megamind. He’s finally, finally back, hovering over her balcony on what looks like some black and blue motorcycle but without wheels. There’s a large engine on the front, roaring like a car. She is careful not to stare, as Hal’s back as to him. And Megamind isn’t wearing anything to hide his more alien-likeness. His tail, looking at least an inch longer, wags to the side in caution. She shakes her head.

“Look, babe, all I’m trying to say is ditch this douche. Let’s hang out! I’m a great guy!”

“I’m sure,” and I have three eyes, “but you need to leave—“ Megamind presses his face against the glasses, eyes wide like some puppy that’s been kicked outside after pissing on the rug. Her heart breaks. “You need to leave. Right now.”

Hal steps closer to her. He’s—not usually this assertive. He’s mostly a calm guy with a few flirtatious or slightly creepy comebacks. But—

She smells the sharp tangy scent of alcohol. And realizes he’s been drinking. He’s drunk. His eyes are dilated. Fuck. She glances to Megamind, and he’s still on the balcony, clearly confused and it hurts her to leave him there but they both know he’d rather die than have someone see his actual face. He staggers up to her and grabs her wrist. “Come on, Roxie, it’ll be—“

She pulls her hand out of his grasp. “No, Hal. I already said, I have a—“ He makes another go at her.

Roxanne miscalculates her steps and she’s—falling, falling on her back and Hal is right behind her, grunting as his weight collapses atop her her.

The balcony door flings open and before she knows it, Hal is being yanked off her.

“How dare you!” Megamind shouts, the pitifully honed expression he once had long gone from this feral look he had now. He bares his sharp teeth, wide green eyes ablaze with fury. “You dare force yourself upon a woman that doesn't want your advances!?

With a loud scream, Hal is thrown against the wall, hands up in surrender. "Please don't kill me!"

"Oh, how lucky you are I left the villain busy-ness!" Megamind snarls. "I would have torn your intestines out to decorate a Christmas tree!"

"AHH!"

"And rip our your eyeballs so you can watch me tear your carcus apart!"

"NO PLEASE!"

Megamind opens his maw, god he actually looks terrifying, and hisses like some dying big cat, tongue curling and all. Hal is finally let go, and he collapses on the floor in a violently shaking heap. On all fours he scampers to the door, stumbling to his feet and whing all the way as she leaves.

Roxanne, unable to move, sits there and stares at the empty doorway in shock.

She she turns to Megamind, he's heaving, staring at the floor like it's takening every nerve in his body not to chase after the fucker. Finally, after what feels like a million years, he fades away from his vicious intent. When he looks at her, all thoughts of blood and gore seem to fall away. Instantly, she has her tender Megamind back, and he's scooping her up in his arms to tightly she can't properly breath.

"Oh, my dear!" He cries into her hair, clutching at her like she's the only thing in this world worth fighting for. She hugs tight, too, but not as shaken as he is, apparently. "I'm so sorry I left you alone!"

"M-"

"I'm never leaving your side again!" He picks her up bridal style.

“Megamind!” She laughs. “I’m okay!”

“He touched you,” he seethed.

“I would have taken care of it,” she explains, cupping his worried face. “But I’m a klutz and I just tripped.”

He turns his head to bury his face in her left palm. He kisses her skin as if she was a queen. In his presence, she feels like one. “I should have intervened anyway.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she kisses his cheeks, his nose, his goatee, his forehead, and finally, his lips. “You are perfect as you are. Granted you did overreact a bit, but you are fine.”

He snorts. “There is nothing fine about me. I think your eyes need to be checked.”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? Your sexy as hell, honey.”

“Have I? Have you? I am hideous as far as humanity goes.”

She smacks him in the chest and struggles to get down. Once he sets her on her feet, she grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him lightly. “Let me shake some sense in you, Megamind. I find you very attractive. Even if you’re not human, you are more human than half the population.” She leans closer to him. “I would not have fallen in love with you if you weren’t who you are in here.” She puts her hand over his rapidly beating heart.

His eyes go glassy. “Roxanne...”

“I love you, Megamind. I have for a while. It just took me a while to realize it.”

“....Really?”

She gives him a real smile.

But as they embrace in a tight hug and kiss, they are unaware of the camera flash going off.

[kellyinboston]

WHAT Wednesday

Hi there. How goes it?

Things are good here. I may have gotten myself into a pickle. A while ago I invited some coworkers over for pizza on Friday night…and now it is approaching and I am not necessarily looking forward to it. Not because I don’t like them, I like them very much, but because I am antisocial and would rather not interact with people. But, alas, they are coming over. I am also going apple picking on Saturday with my coworker/friend, which I am okay with I think. Although, once again, I would rather be antisocial, going apple picking in Boston has been on my “bucket list” for a long time so it should be fun. We are going to bring Snoop.

Anyways… let’s get on with it.

WHAT am I reading?

So I am reading one book and listening to one book. This month has been a slow reading month. I liked both the books I am reading/listening to, but it is just taking me a while to get through them. The book I am reading is called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I started a couple weeks ago and I am only like 40% of the way through it. I liked it, I am actually really enjoying it, but I only get through 10/15 pages before I go to bed because I am just tired at night. Here is the description:

All children mythologize their birth...So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

I am listening to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. It is about 13 hours long and I have one hour left, so I should finish tonight or tomorrow morning. It took me a couple hours to get into this book, but I have enjoyed it immensely. This world that she creates and the characters, it is so vivid. Here is a description:

Beginning in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, Ferrante’s four-volume story spans almost sixty years, as its protagonists, the fiery and unforgettable Lila, and the bookish narrator, Elena, become women, wives, mothers, and leaders, all the while maintaining a complex and at times conflictual friendship. Book one in the series follows Lila and Elena from their first fateful meeting as ten-year-olds through their school years and adolescence.

I didn’t realize it was book one of four.

WHAT are we watching?

NBA is back – it started last night. Boston played Cleveland there was a really bad injury, which you hate to see.

Football, and lots of it.

I have “abandoned’” Veep and The West Wing, for now. I will get back to them!

I want to watch this new show on Netflix called Mindhunter. I don’t know too much about it, but I do know it takes place in the 1970’s and deals with the new term “serial killers”…right up my alley!

WHAT is going on with the family?

Snoop got her haircut last week, it took 5 hours because she was such a mess. Whoops. Here is the before and after. 

Big difference huh? She looks sad but I swear she is happy! We call her our “little goat” because she looks like goat. She seems really happy with the haircut. Usually it takes here a week to get used to it, but she embraced it right away this time around, which is good.

Neil is good. He showed me the design for the desk he is making, it looks cool. He will be working on that the next couple weeks. Always working on something! He is still running 3x a week, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is dominating in the fitness category!

WHAT am I looking forward to?

Tomorrow night I am going out to dinner with Karen and Bob (and some other folks from the condo) because Karen is heading to Kentucky next week (her daughter lives there) and won’t be back until the 1st of the year! Bummer, but she does this every year. So it is a send off party of sorts.

I am excited to go home in a couple weeks. It will be a short trip but full of family and friend time, which is just what I need! I have already started my “Christmas schedule”, I cannot believe it the holiday season already!

Thanks for reading!