#short at least

[justplainwhump]

Re-Ac

The aftermath of Bea's capture.

[Pet Safety Masterlist]

Content / warning: BBU setting, double agent caretaker, (short) recapture, very vaguely implied noncon, nightmares, guilt issues, hint at body dysphoria.

"Why did you tell her to do that?" Adrian pulled down the scarf covering his face and swiveled to face Marta. "Why? They'll hurt her. They'll - shit, Marta, you know what they'll do. Do you really think they'll give her back? They're fucking Re-ac, if the bounty on a runaway isn't high enough they'll just -"

"It's on you," Marta cut him off icily. "Why did you do that? Why did you even talk to the kid? Why did you need to go and care for him for fuck's sake? What if someone saw you? What if Bea hadn't been there?" She raised a finger to his chest and pushed him back. "You risked everything we have. You jeopardized your cover, our connection, our entire fucking operation."

"That's not -"

"I like Bea, Adrian. I do. I don't want to lose her. But if it's her or you, if it's one escaped pet or an asset deep in WRU management, making that call is ridiculously easy. And it's a call you should've made in the first place. Not between her and you, but that pet and you."

Adrian shook his head. "What the fuck? What kind of a person are you, Marta? You're in this to save pets. Bea is-"

"A hero. She is. And I will pray for her safe return. But she did the sane thing, Adri. She saved you. Your cover. You're not just one random pet lib guy any longer. Not just my baby brother. You're more. You're hope for dozens, you're hope to topple this fucking system. You're a spy, Adri." She pulled his phone from his back pocket and shoved it against his chest. "Fucking act like one. Call it in."

"What?"

"Your pet ran away, remember? You gotta be looking for her. Be convincing, and she might stand a chance."

---

When he finally fell asleep that night, Adrian dreamt of Eric. 

He tried to reach him, tell him he was sorry, tell him he missed him, but his voice was gone. Eric cocked his head, in the way all WRU pets did, polite and inviting, and not understanding anything at all.

When Adrian tried to reach out, his hand ran through thin air, Eric dissolving right under his grasp. "You're late," Eric's voice lingered, softly shifting into another. "You're late, Adrian Delgado."

He woke up covered in sweat, entangled in Bea's bedsheets.

It was 4:30.

He got up anyway, splashed cold water on his face and took the bike to work through the still hot night air. 

There was no report of her at the office.

Not when he arrived, not when he refreshed his mail, not after the next ten refreshes, not five minutes later.

He started to work eventually, a restless tremble to his hands. Sorting through reports, pictures, descriptions. 

He skipped lunch. It didn't stop his boss from standing in his door without knocking. "Hear you're having trouble with your bonus pet?"

"She ran." Adrian covered his face with a hand. "'Having trouble' is one way to put it. She's been perfect before."

"I offered you an upper on her conditioning."

"You offered me an upper on her bedroom specifics, Kelly." He sighed. "I can assure you, that wasn't the issue."

"Huh. Well. You look like shit."

"Well, I spent half the night looking for her. It's not like she was cheap."

She looked him down with a frown, before she pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah. I'll place a call to Re-Ac. See if they can priorize the search."

Search. He had to keep himself from laughing out at the term. He'd seen the re-ac van speed off, with Bea in it. There was no search going on anywhere. The only thing going on was - no. No. He wouldn't let his mind wander down that path. 

Instead, he forced a pained smile on his lips and nodded to her.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

---

The call came in the late evening. Adrian hadn't left the office building, kept himself busy with all sorts of case documentation and paperwork, until the letters and words on the screen had started dancing in front of his eyes. 

"PSI Delgado? You're lucky. Your pet was picked up by a re-ac team." The voice was cheerful.

Adrian didn't think there was any reason to be. Should he feel relieved? Probably. Re-Ac's reputation wasn't for nothing. They were brutal. Not every pet they picked up made it into their records. And not every pet that made it into the records came back the same. 

Twenty-six hours since he'd seen the van speed off. A lot could happen in twenty-six hours.

"PSI Delgado? Are you still there?"

"Yes," he hurried to say. "Yes, I'm here. Where… where is she? Where can I get her?"

—

He couldn't even remember the drive to the WRU facility some miles into the outskirts of town, far from the pretty, polished office building where he and most of administration were based. The facility was plain, hostile and maze-like, with low ceilings and white tiles. And even in the night heat still radiating from the desert around them, it was freezing inside. 

Bea wasn't wearing anything more than a plain white tee and black shorts anyway. There was a white bandage fixed over her eye, instead of the black eyepatch she'd had before. She was kneeling on the white tiles of a training room, hands open on her knees, back straight, gaze forward. Perfect position two, if not for the tiny shiver of her shoulders in the cold. Then again, it wasn't like WRU didn't want them to shiver.

Adrian caught himself, before he could rest his hands on the control room's mirrored glass in front of him. She couldn't even see him. 

"What did you do to her?"

The handler sprawled on the desk in the room pushed a button, and the glass turned opaque. "I gotta ask you some questions, before I can let her go. Make sure her attitude doesn't become a liability for the company."

Liability. Marta's voice echoed in his head. You can't let her become a liability, Adri.

He felt his fingernails dig into his palms in his pockets, and carefully unclenched his fists. Fuck. If anyone here was becoming a liability, he wagered, it was himself.

He decided to ignore the handler's words, just as the other man had Adrian's question. Still, he turned around to face him. 

"Where are her clothes?" Adrian's voice came out pressed. He didn't care.

"Burned." The handler shrugged. "She was picked up in man's clothes, must've gotten them on the streets somewhere."

"She didn't," Adrian replied flatly.

"She didn't?" The handler paused and flipped the tablet in his hands for Adrian to see. A photo. Bea, in front of a white wall, a huge bruise on the side of her face, her eyepatch loose, yet her gaze boring straight into the camera. 

Proud, Adrian thought, biting back sudden bile rising in his throat. Bea looked proud. 

"That?" The handler asked, gesturing at the photo her baggy work pants, the oversized band shirt. The clothes barely covered the fresh bruises blooming on her skin. 

Adrian shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling his fingers curl into fists again.

The handler tossed a plastic bag on the table, a ripped black piece of garment in it. 

"She was wearing a fucking binder underneath." He huffed. "You want to tell me that's the clothes you yourself put your Romantic in? Wow, Delgado, you've really got some issues, don't you?"

"Careful," Adrian said sharply. "Don't forget that I outrank you, handler. What I do with my Romantic is none of your business."

"Unless your property runs away and behaves like a little bitch." He smirked. "Then it is my business, and I must say, PSI Delgado, your little whore has no respect in her at all. How long has she been gone? She must've been in bad company."

"She's been gone for less than a day, actually." Adrian lifted his chin. There was no choice but to counter the implications head-on. "Her attitude is not on me though. It's all in her files. She's had trouble adjusting. Refurb messed with her conditioning."

"Interesting, though," the handler murmured, looking up at Adrian with a condescending smirk. "Given that you certainly both have the training and the tools at hand to work with pets that have an attitude."

"I'll work with her." Adrian's jaw clenched. "Now. I don't have all day. Can I take her?"

"I recommend handing her in for retraining." The man folded his arms and leaned back. "Next time we pick her up on the streets, we'll have to book her for obedience training anyway, you know that. Company policy."

"She won't run again."

"Not anytime soon, indeed," the handler confirmed smugly. "Her ankle is broken."

"You broke her ankle?" Adrian's gaze flew back to the opaque window.

"Not personally."

"Fuck you."

"Careful yourself, Delgado. You seem to forget what she is." He paused, eyes squinted. "Or do you forget, what you are?"

Adrian's teeth clenched. Internally, he started counting his breaths. "Sorry," he said at four, giving a disgruntled smile. "It's been a stressful time. It's different, being an owner instead of a handler. I hadn't expected her to run."

"Huh."

"Thank you." The words tasted like ash in his mouth. "For getting her back."

"For disciplining her?"

Adrian knew the tone. The question. The intent behind it. The man was a handler. Getting people to thank him for horrendous things was his profession. 

Adrian was losing this battle, big time. He had to let it happen. There was more at stake than his integrity.

"Yeah." Adrian's hands curled into fists, fingernails digging deep into his palms. "Thank you for that, too, Handler." He smiled, sharp as a knife's edge. "But I dare you to speak to me like to a trainee again. Keep that for your actual job. After all, might always be your name is drawn for a safety inspection. And PS is thorough."

"Yeah." He mirrored Adrian's tone, cold and cautious. "Of course."

"Now. Do I get my property back?"

"Of course, PSI Delgado." The handler got up and gestured towards the door. "Be my guest."

Adrian kept his steps measured as he walked out toward the training cell, knowing the handler was right behind him. 

He lifted his keycard to the reader, waiting for the little beep to acknowledge it worked. It should. PS was supposed to have access to all low and medium security areas in any facility. 

The door slid open with a hydraulic hiss. Bea pressed her forehead against the floor. Respect position. "Master," she whispered. Her voice was hoarse. Why, he wondered, and then banned the thought. They'd deal with everything, once they were back home. 

From up close, he could see the fresh bruises taking shape on her tanned skin. There was an elastic bandage around her ankle. It looked professionally taken care of, at least.

He didn't think he could handle talking to her. He addressed the other man, instead. "What do you think I'm going to do with a lame pet, Handler? Get her a crutch or two. I'm certainly not going to carry her."

He wanted to. Close his arms around her, lift her up, kiss her, carry her out of this place, to safety, to the end of the world.

But he wouldn't.

She'd just risked her life - her entire existence - to keep his cover. He'd had the much easier part in this. And yet he'd jeopardized it a dozen times in this conversation alone. 

He'd treat her like trash. He owed it to her. What a cruel fucking mess.

"Forgive me, Master."

"Shut up," he said roughly. "We'll deal with your misbehavior at home. Make sure this never happens again. And get up."

A crutch was tossed to the ground next to her, and with its help, Bea struggled to get to her feet. Her usual elegance was tainted with pain and exhaustion.

The handler clicked his tongue in disapproval, thumb hovering over the little controller in his hand.

"Give me that," Adrian said. "I'll take it."

"I thought PS said, shock collars on pets are illegal outside of WRU facilities."

"We do make exceptions." Adrian turned to him and reached out. The handler dropped the controller into his palm, and Adrian smiled. "In important cases."

By his side, he heard the crutch clatter to the ground, a muffled yelp from Bea. "Sir." She was on the ground again in respect position, shivering violently. Adrian stared at the controller. Had he accidentally-? No, it couldn't-

"Well, well." A deep voice mused behind him, cowboy boots clicking on the tiles. "I guess I wasn't important enough for Inspector Delgado then."

"Mr Donnell," the handler said, his face suddenly pale. "I'm sorry, haven't you been notified? That alarm we've send you must've been based on deprecated data. It wasn't one of your current ones. We-"

"It's alright," Jack Donnell said with a wide smile that didn't even try to reach his eyes. "I believe fate has brought me to the right place anyway."

----

-

pet safety tag list (ask to be added or removed!): @gottawhump @flowersarefreetherapy @whumplr-reader @highwaywhump @tauntedoctopuses

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[mias-back-from-the-dead]

tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"

[ardri-na-bpiteog]

Also increasingly aware that a LOT of people "manage" getting through the 40+ hour work week by sleeping less than is healthy and relying on stimulants like coffee and energy drinks to keep them going.

For people who are unwilling or unable to do this...work really does just dominate your life. Like we really should not have to rely on unhealthy practices just to have a social life or keep on top of housework or whatever.

I know I post about this a lot but I'm so TIRED all the time and it's just so depressing that this is how we're expected to spend the one life we have.

[morebird]

how could I resist mr. dark, complex and intriguing

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

his therapist woulda had a field day at their next appointment

[fading-event-608]

Hello! I see people here are talking about Gaza again. 

I’m not one to vaguepost, nor do I usually spend time arguing with zionists and liberals online, but the amount of “pro-Palestine” liberals I’ve seen in the last day saying that Gazans “deserve genocide” because Trump won…

I’m not surprised to hear that democrats are mad at third-party voters. It’s true that even if all swing third-party votes went to Kamala she’d still have lost, but reality isn’t important to these people. Democrats want a monopoly - of course they’re upset at everyone who isn’t voting for their party. Of course they’re more upset with communists and anarchists than they are with nazis.

None of this is new. But even though we’ve seen these patterns before, I am absolutely sick to witness these people blaming Palestinians for this. I’m sick hearing them almost gleefully wishing for Gaza to be turned into a parking lot. I’m sick coming across individualistic little diatribes about how they’re “done” boycotting, “done” helping others.

Is it Palestinians’ fault that Kamala’s campaign was so poorly run?

Is it Palestinians’ fault that the US is now so full of nazis that the Democrats lost the popular vote for the first time since 2004, by 5 million votes?

Is it Palestinians’ fault that the US supplies and supports Israel in their annihilation of Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories, as well as neighbouring countries?

Is it Palestinians’ fault that the government assisting Israel’s genocidal project was, for the past four years, Biden’s administration? A Democrat’s administration? 

The crime that Palestinians have committed in the eyes of these liberals is the crime of existing where said liberals can see them - namely, on social media. The unofficial charges: not being silent, resisting, asking for help from the people best equipped to give money for their survival. So again, I’ll ask - is it the fault of Palestinians that the people best equipped to help them are those in the imperial core? That the people Palestinians must go to for help are people benefitting from both this genocide and the genocides the empires that house them are built on?

Of course the gravest offence is interrupting the liberal supply of white noise. Comfort is, after all, the biggest priority in liberalism - silence and denial is self care. Murder by proxy is the most popular of hobbies, and is best enjoyed with the sound off. But Palestinians are not quiet. You can see their faces now - and the identification of them as something other than faceless, or rather someone, begins to burrow through the insulation built up around you. 

You have the barest sense of how fragile your world is. You can either turn away from this, or continue your journey towards the truth. These liberals are examples of those violently turning away and taking up the slaughter again, desperate to dispel any reminders that they are not the only people on earth worthy of life.

You can literally buy an indulgence now by donating to a Palestinian fundraiser. Yes, even if you’re not a Democrat, or you’re from Europe (chances are your government supplies Israel too, or is at least complacent), or there’s any other facet of your identity that supplies nuance. This is up to all of us, no matter who we are. 

I’ve been spotlighting Falastin’s campaign to save her family in Gaza for more than two months now. I will continue to do so until they’re safe; but their safety will likely be a long time coming. This is in part because Falastin’s campaign must support 24 people, and in part because donations are slowing down - not only for Falastin, but for a lot of other fundraisers I keep an eye on. To be afraid for so many people while watching liberals angrily abandoning this cause is distressing and disheartening.

This is life or death. I don’t care who you are, and I care even less to hear if you’ve voted or who you voted for. All I ask is that you boost this post and, if you can, donate to Falastin. The Gofundme is in SEK and the rates are:

10$ = 107 SEK

25$ = 269 SEK

50$ = 538 SEK

100$ = 1,076 SEK

You can also donate via PayPal in USD: [LINK]

We also host a raffle for hand-made Palestinian thob [info HERE], and the first winner will be chosen in a bit less than 2 days. 

P. S. Yes, Falastin’s campaign has been vetted, several times across multiple platforms:

#282 in El-Shab-Hussein and Nabulsi's spreadsheet [HERE], 

#957 in the Butterfly Project spreadsheet [HERE]

Falastin's account: [LINK]

[draconym]

One of my favorite memories from when I taught art at the community center was when I noticed the youngest kid in my summer camp class (a third grader) sharpening a colored pencil with scissors, and I said quietly, "Hey. Buddy. Are you making a shank? You can't be doing that here."

And all the other kids immediately jumped to his defense to say "No, Miss Short Lady! He isn't. He's not making a shank. It's not a shank. That's a shiv."

[loriache]

"I've been waiting for ages for somebody to unmask them."

This moment tends to elicit negative reactions in a first read through, and I've got some opinions about why where Kabru is coming from here actually makes a lot of logical sense. So I thought I'd elaborate on that.

I think people hear this and go, "He thinks they must be hiding something because they gave money to someone? What a cynic." Or "he dislikes them because they did charity?? What's wrong with this guy!". And obviously, a lot, a lot is wrong with him. But I think this makes more sense than it seems at first glance! What people evaluating this judgement miss is why Kabru is paying attention to Laios and co to begin with.

Kabru knows of the Touden siblings because (he's a little bit of a stalker-) he is keeping an eye on all the relevant parties in events developing on the island, in order to be able to guide them to his preferred outcome. This includes adventurers because they are the ones actually exploring the dungeon! He's well aware that something as minor as internal tensions between party members could be key to the historical events that are developing. (He would love the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.)

His desired outcome is that whatever the rewards are of breaking the dungeon's curse, whether that's kingship or the ancient elven secrets of dungeons, are claimed by:

A) a short lived person

B) Someone who will be a good, effective leader and/or use those secrets and the power they carry wisely, with foresight, and to establish a political bloc for short lived people.

The person he can best trust to do this is, of course, himself. But due to his PTSD regarding dungeons and monsters, he's not able to develop the necessary skills to conquer the dungeon. Once he realises this, he starts looking for someone else who he can support to that end.

But most of the adventurers don't have any intentions of conquering the dungeon, don't have the skills, or are unsuitable in other ways. In fact, it seems like some potentially suitable people are the Toudens. There are a lot of good rumours about them going around - they actually seem to have a very positive reputation! That's what Kabru means when he says "unmask".

So when Kabru is observing something like them giving money to an old comrade from their gold-peeling days, he doesn't consider it a problem because "they're giving money to this person who doesn't actually need it" or because they must have some dark secret if they act superficially nice. I think he actually understands this situation and what it implies about Laios (in particular) perfectly well.

Laios and Falin gave money to an old comrade who got injured and couldn't work. That person then healed up but kept taking their money. Then he used the money to start smuggling illicit goods to the island.

The key is that for Kabru, the problem here is the same as with the corpse retrievers - people using the dungeon's resources to fuel dangerous, selfish, or violent pursuits cause problems for the island, attract more criminals and people with motives other than breaking the curse, and increase the chances of the whole situation ending in tragedy.

Kabru is willing to work with the Shadow Lord of the island if it gets him to his goal - he isn't scrupulous - but the criminal element of the island increasing is something he sees as a major issue.

Also, when you're evaluating someone as a candidate for power, riches, secrets, potentially kingship - then being curious about how the money you give to people is going to be used is kind of a relevant trait!

Interpersonally, Kabru's actually very easygoing - I mean, Mickbell isn't exactly an upstanding guy, is he! But Kabru likes him and they get along well. These traits wouldn't be a problem at all in a friend, or a comrade, or someone Kabru was confident he could use. But he can't get a handle on Laios, and Laios is someone who has the potential to be a major player!

On Laios' end, this is the same as with the marriage seeker who joined their party. She kept asking for things and he gave them to her, because he tries to be nice to others. He even gives her money! It's the exact same thing.

That's fine, but it became a problem because he basically wasn't interested in her motives, didn't notice she was trying to manipulate him, and it also didn't occur to him that the other party members would notice or be affected. We can assume the situation with the gold peeler is the same. When Kabru says that "It's not that they're bad people, they just aren't interested in humans," he isn't wrong.

The extent to which this is true of Laios is linked to his autism imo, (because it isn't just disinterest - he genuinely isn't able to notice nonverbal cues that people are lying to him or have ulterior motives) but to a greater or lesser extent I think it's a very common trait. Most people aren't actually that interested in other people who aren't close to them. Kabru is the weird one here. It isn't an issue except as a leader - which is why we see an immediate comparison to the Island's Lord, because that's how Kabru is evaluating them.

And disinterest in/lack of ability with people to the extent Laios exhibits it, it does, actually, make him a worse leader... it's just that as we see in the story, people can help him out. The rest of the party tell him the marriage seeker is taking advantage of him so he tells her he can't give her special treatment anymore. They're pissed and it's a crisis point - he couldn't have recovered their trust without Marcille and Falin - but that's exactly the point. With Marcille and Falin, he was able to recover their trust.

And he has other good traits that make up for it, such as his intelligence, strategic knowledge, open-mindedness and sense of fairplay.

Kabru doesn't disqualify Laios as a candidate based on what he sees about him from afar, though - he still tries very hard to get close to him, obviously hoping that if he manages he can steer Laios to defeat the dungeon and make up for his lack of people-skills in the aftermath. (Which... he does eventually achieve that goal!) He completely fails until the events of the story, so... definitely I think "They just aren't interested in humans" could also partially be a stung reaction to Laios' complete disinterest in him.

Anyway, that's my read on what exactly Kabru's "issue" with Laios is. Obviously, once he does find out what Laios' true nature is like - about his love for monsters - he develops an entirely new set of fears about Laios' priorities. But since Laios kept that a secret until the start of the story, he has no idea of that yet.

Given all that, I think it's interesting that he says that he doesn't think that the Toudens are suitable to defeat the dungeon, and that he's hoping they'll turn out to be the thieves. As some of his few potential candidates, people who he thinks may play a big role in the island's future, you'd think he'd hope they would be good people!

I suppose it's better, in his eyes, because it means that he's involved in something "interesting". They haven't just had their stuff stolen by regular criminals (boring, puts them further away from his goal) - they've been caught up in the beginning stages of "a historic event". The desperate and dwindling group forgetting morals in their quest to retrieve their lost comrade probably appeals to his sense of melodrama. Because he also just... loves drama.

Despite it being "uglier than anything he was expecting", he still pursues Laios as the person he wants to conquer the dungeon pretty much as soon as it becomes clear that he won't be able to do it himself and they are out of time. That's because... well, to be fair, there aren't any other options. And he fits standard A: he's short-lived!

and Kabru still hopes he can fit standard B, too, and be persuaded to use the power he wins for good. No matter how many nightmares he has about Laios, or whether he thinks about killing him. He doubts him, but ultimately he puts his faith in him and seems happy after the manga's ending that he made the right decision.

[bacchuschucklefuck]

class swap design masterpost for convenience (from top to bottom: bard!riz, cleric!gorgug, sorcerer!kristen, barbarian!fig, artificer!adaine, and rogue!fabian)

[remxedmoon]

yeah ok buddy

joke stolen from this post 🩶

[remanedur]

tumblr music survey

because this has come up with a few friends before, i am curious -- in the replies or tags, can you list:

what you consider the average song length

what you consider 'long' for a song, and 'short' for one

a few genres you listen to the most/consider your favorite

[ducktracy]

andijusttoreuptheticketandican’tgoinanywaysothere

[questerine]

the recent till comic that vivimeng dropped got me thinking…

isn’t it interesting how ivan was predisposed to be loved, but he wasn’t loved at all?

he was adopted on valentine’s day as a gift for unsha’s wife, is considered a fan favorite contestant, is well respected by the children of anakt garden and their teachers …

but he still never got to experience true, genuine love for himself. despite the fact that his conditions were ideal — that he seems so easy to love — he wasn’t.

[screwpinecaprice]

Copying artstyle off of older Steven and Connie concept art for the heck of it. (And chibis. ┐⁠(⁠´⁠▾⁠｀⁠)⁠┌)

The proportions felt awkward to draw, I did end up stretching them a bit. Haha

[xxplastic-cubexx]

crusty evolution redraw. in theory.

[tyttetardis]

Finally managed to record a bit of David at curtain call 😍

Brilliant seeing this incredible production once again - and getting to see what's different and what isn't 🥹🥰

(Please don't repost ☺️)