#specifically with chasing that feeling and skipping stones

[caffieneaddictt18]

Life, Death, and Destiny

Prompt: Witch!Reader keeps giving Geralt weird little trinkets and crystal necklaces saying that this one protects you and this one keeps the bad feelings away and this one will call good spirits and wisdom upon him, and he doesn't believe her until one time he's fighting this monster and somehow, he keeps dodging this monster perfectly without even needing to drink his elixir. He kills the beast, and goes back to Witch!Reader, demanding her to explain how this works when he knows for a fact, she doesn't have magic like a mage or a druid. She simply winks and leaves him curious, so he stays with her and figures out how she is somehow unintentionally magical.

I'm not gonna lie, I did not stick to this prompt. It went a little sideways and flopped. So, my apologies! It is not false advertising, I swear.

As Geralt was walking to Roach, his mare, he heard his name called... It was faint but grew louder as the person shouting his name got closer.

"Geralt!"

Geralt rolled his eyes, thinking it was another townsfolk wanting him to go kill something.

"Geralt, wait!"

But then he recognized that voice...

"Geralt! Would you stop for a minute?"

He stopped. The Witcher slowly turned around and saw y/n. They were panting, keeled over.

"Before you leave, take this." They reach out and in their hand is a little charm that can be added to the strap of leather that keeps his hair up. "It's for battle wisdom. Knowing you, you'll need it. I hope it keeps you safe on your travels." Y/n stands up, and composes themselves.

"Well, I can see you are wandering towards Roach... where will you go next?"

Geralt took the charm slowly. He didn't trust anything magical. Especially when it came from someone that he had never heard was magical beforehand. Nevertheless, he took the charm and clamped it around the leather holding his hair back.

"There was a monster sighting near Waterwood. The locals regularly use the water for business, so they need me to come clear out whatever monster lies in the river." He gruffly divulged the details of his departure.

"Well... if you ever wish to come back, you know where I am." Y/n skipped off down the stone path to the cottage that sat on the edge of the wood, surrounded in wildflowers and other magical plants.

Geralt grunted before stalking back to Roach, mounting her, and taking off into the night.

______________________________________________________________

Y/N woke to a banging on the wooden front door. The type of banging on hollow wood that gave you chills. Especially after being chased from town for giving Geralt a charm. This specific town doesn't necessarily take too kindly to witches and magic.

The banging lessened to a knock. Y/N quickly extinguishes all the candles before slowly opening the door and hiding in the nook between the wall and the door. Waiting for anyone...

someone...

The person walks in slowly, sword in hand, and eyes seemingly glowing in the dark. The stock build of his shoulder balancing out the slender legs of pure muscle. His footsteps silent, but hers are gone.

Y/N makes no noise as they scampers across the floor of grass and behind a chair. A chair made of engraved wood and hide from a monster, if you can believe it. Absolutely beautiful.

Y/N gently whistled a tune... a tune used when Geralt and them went on a small stroll through the woods. Y/N insisted that it would help Geralt ground himself before the hunt he was about to embark on.

Immediately, he stopped and put the sword away before casting Igni on a candle near him. He carried it to the chair and saw a head of hair peeking out from behind the arm of it. "Y/N?"

"Geralt!" Y/N stands from the crouched position on the ground and goes around to hug Geralt. He accepts it before lighting the fireplace filled with charcoal and adding new wood to keep the old burning.

"Why did you hide? Monsters don't knock. Mages don't bother people in their homes anymore." Geralt was ticking things off a list that might make them be wary of anything.

"Were you... were you scared of me?"

Y/N, who was first scared that Geralt might go on a rage like the one in Blaviken, was now flustered. "Oh no! Oh goodness, no!"

"So why were you skittering around like a mouse, trying to find warmth?"

"I... I was chased out of town..." Y/N can see Geralt tensing, becoming physically angry, "Don't worry about it though! It allows me to become one with nature. I forage all my food now and the butcher is kind, giving slices of meat no one else would want. I have deepened my relationship with magic and peace. I am happy. Don't worry about me."

Geralt was trying to slow his breathing and be rational, staring into the fire. How could they do this to you? You had done nothing but help them, and they turned on you. You had provided them with medicines that don't poison and trinkets that you can only find in the forest.

"Why?"

A simple question that held so much power. The power to anger or calm. The power to cause action or stop it. The power of chaos or peace.

And so, Y/N chose peace.

"I assume they finally decided they didn't like me anymore," Y/N smiled.

"That's a lie. You provided them with medicine. Small villages don't just abandon their healers." Geralt moved, gently pinning Y/N to the monster-leather seat.

"So tell me... why did they do it?"

Y/N looked into his eyes, marveling at how their reflected the flames to look like pools of lava themselves. Y/N knew that their response was too late when he furrowed his brow. Y/N looked down.

"They... they saw me give you that charm..." Geralt quickly got up and leaned against the stone mantle that looked like it had been there forever, made by Gaia herself. A sanctuary for the weak, weary and, what others would call, weird.

"They don't take kindly to magic folk around here, Geralt. It's why I have placed wards around the cottage."

Geralt was surprised. An actual ward? He knew that you liked to do everything yourself, if you could. Wards required mages and you were not a mage.

"A ward?" You nodded, "And who did these wards?"

"I did!"

To him, you sound childish. A person with no real magic was somehow placing wards around their home...

But somehow, the house seems untouched by the outside world. The hurtful one of torches and pitchforks.

"Alright... well, I have a monster hunt nearby. I'll stay here. Just for some extra protection." Geralt announced. There was no turning back or denying him this.

______________________________________________________________

As Geralt was walking out of the cottage that was surprisingly not attacked by townspeople the entire time he was there, Y/N called to him.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope!" Y/N holds out a small necklace with a complicated charm strung onto it. "Just wanted to give you this."

Geralt gently took it into his hands. "And what does this one do?"

"It's a protection necklace. I know you will inevitably find danger, so this should help keep you on your toes and safe for your also inevitable return," Y/N proudly announces to Geralt as he kept a straight face. He had no real belief this would do anything for him, but he put it into a pouch near his chest.

"Alright. Stay safe, Y/N"

"You as well, Geralt. Blessed be, my friend."

______________________________________________________________

Geralt rode upon the cottage that had a plume of smoke exiting the stone chimney and candlelight coming from the kitchen. It was an exhausting monster hunt and all he wanted to do was rest.

Once he had tied Roach to the small stables that Y/N kept up, he walked to the home. Before Geralt could knock, the door swung open.

"Geralt!" was all that was said before a flurry of greens and browns flooded his sight. He was encompassed with the warmth only you could provide. A hug... something he hasn't felt in a while.

You slide off of him and out of his arms. "How are you, my friend? Why don't you come in?" Y/N opens the door for him to enter and beckon the large man inside your cozy home.

The smell of rosemary and chicken flood his nose. The warm glow of the fire in the living room flickered across the walls and seeped into every crack, spreading the softness that Y/N carried. Geralt walked slowly into the home and sat down on one of the chairs you have. It was soft, like from a castle, but not quite as tall or luxurious looking. He wondered where you got it from.

Over the fire, a soup of chicken, carrots, potatoes, and herbs brewed in a cauldron that seemed to magically hang from the ceiling, even though it was directly under the chimney stack.

"So... how are you, my friend?" Y/N's gentle voice entered Geralt's mind. It's like you were allowing him space to take in the home as he wishes instead of flooding his senses with everything all at once. A nice change of pace of the monster hunter, the White Wolf.

"I am... good. I was surprisingly not hurt on my last hunt. This striga seemed... slower than normal, though..." Geralt contemplated on his latest hunt, mulling it over in his mind, "Must not have been at full strength."

"Would you like some mead?" You offer the Witcher some of your honey wine. A delicacy was not often seen in common households, but you have never been part of the common folk. Plus, you tended to a honey bee hive in a tree near the cottage.

"Why not?" Geralt takes the mug of mead from you as you walk to the cauldron where your stew was done cooking. You ladle the chicken soup into wooden bowls you once bought from a traveling merchant and add a slice of bread to it. It had not been the first time you opened up your home to the infamous White Wolf... and it certainly won't be the last.

"Well, eat up. You are welcome to stay as long as you like." You offer a safe night's sleep before finishing your bowl of soup and putting the bowl in a basket of other dirty plates and bowls. You take the cauldron of soup and take it outside, where you can feed the hungry children of the village. The only people who dare to come near...

Before you can lug the pot of wonderful healing stew outside, Geralt notices. "What are you doing?"

You stop, setting the cauldron on the floor for a rest. "Well... the children of the village have not been eating as much and I feel bad... their parents cast me out, not them. Why should they have to suffer for a choice they had no choice in?" Y/N looks at Geralt in confusion before shaking their head and picking up the cauldron again.

Geralt stands and before you can walk with the heavy pot, he takes it from you. "If they catch ypou doing this... you could be killed."

"I would rather die doing something good than nothing at all." You skip happily besides Geralt as he carries the pot with way less effort than you have to.

As you approach your normal spot to feed the children, you can see the dozens of eyes that hide in the woods. They are scared...

"You have nothing to fear, children. The Witcher will never hurt you."

First, nothing happens, but after a minute, a thin girl walks to you. You kneel, handing her a bowl of the chicken stock. You know this one. This girl has been sick since she came from the womb of her mother, who died during childbirth.

A boy, a bit stockier than he was a month ago, came up to you, slightly avoiding the Witcher's gaze as he also grabbed a bowl from you and started drinking the contents of the soup. You gave him bits of chicken and vegetables, knowing that he won't be full unless the boy has them. He has grown since you first saw him.

One by one, the children gained confidence in you and lost their fear in the monster hunter who was leaning on a tree behind you.

Eventually, you ran out of mouths to feed and food to give, so you grabbed the bowls the children used, put them in the cauldron, and walked home with the pot in hand.

"Well, Geralt, what brings you around this time?"

"Just a reprieve. I needed some... how do you say it... grounding."

You drop the cauldron by the door & clap, "Perfect! I'm going to the well now to grab water. It is chore day. What would you prefer to do?"

As Geralt looked around, he noticed the various plants that were hanging in your window and drying in the sun. And then he noticed the weeds that had begun to grow in your garden.

"Let me grab the water and prepare the pot for another meal," Geralt wanted to take the heaviest thing off you. It would not be too hot weeding the garden considering the time and season.

"I can weed the garden and wash the bowls & cutlery. Fantastic! Make sure to rub the inside of the pot with tallow before hanging it up to dry."

Geralt grunts and walks to the well, buckets in hand.

This is going to be the longest day in a while...

______________________________________________________________

You prep Roach before Geralt is scheduled to take off into the horizon once more.

As you finish getting the saddle tied down, you look around for any peering eyes. Not finding any, you pull out a Rune for speed and chant a small & simple spell before tying said rune to the inside of the saddlebag.

You hurriedly make yourself seem busy by packing his saddlebag with all the necessities, including a jug for water and a fresh loaf of sourdough bread wrapped in some parchment that you covered in beeswax.

Geralt exits the cottage, strapping the last bit of armor down to himself, walking towards you and Roach. Before he can reach you, you walk to Roach's front and say a quick prayer and chant for speed and health. That they may get to wherever they must be, right when they must be there and not a moment too late.

As Geralt approaches, you give him one last hug. And a warning...

"Save the apple bread for when you need it most."

Geralt, understandably confused, watches as you skip towards your cozy home. Before you make it even halfway, the White Wolf shakes his head as a method of clearing it before mounting Roach and taking off into the distance.

______________________________________________________________

You are calmly knitting while waiting for the loaf of bread in the fire to cook when a banging erupts from your door. You are immediately apprehensive, as banging is not usually a good sign anymore.

Before you were chased out of the town banging meant someone was hurt. Also not good, but treatable.

Banging now... that's nothing good.

"Open your door or I will kick it down!" Geralt's gruff voice was muffled by the door, but you could tell he was yelling.

You hurriedly put down your knitting project and let Geralt in. He walks in and turns rather smoothly however quick, effectively shutting the door and trapping you between him and the thick wood the door offered.

"What are you? Are you a sorceress?!" Geralt questioned you with intense yellow eyes. The type of eyes he saved for people who have used him and lied to him.

"No, Geralt... I am not a sorceress. Why do you ask?" You gently take one of his arms down from its tense position leaning against the door to massage his hand in between your fingers. You gently guide him to a chair and sit him down before asking once more...

"What has made you think that I am a sorceress, Geralt?"

He grunts and looks into the dancing flames of the fire that licked the stone and left black soot marks.

"I was faster, stronger... more insightful... Roach rode like the wind and we got exactly where we needed to be just in time, even early. This didn't start happening until you started giving me things. And don't think I didn't notice the rune in my saddlebag. You may be a witch, but you are no sneak. So, what are you?"

A pregnant pause filled the space and time had eaten away at it.

You needed to tell him eventually. Now was as good a time as ever.

"I... You're right. I am a witch. But I am not a sorceress or a mage! I do not dabble in chaos. I am an omnist. I believe in the existence of every god. I also bend and use energy at my will. The thing people call 'Destiny' can be written, but then erased & rewritten. That's what I do. A 'narrow miss' suddenly becomes an 'easy dodge.' I take Destiny... and I manipulate her for my desired outcome. And if my desired outcome just so happens to be a few kids fed and the Savior of the people of the Continent, so be it."

It felt as though the energy had moved from this feeling where something was violently poking and stabbing to try and get out, to absolute stillness.

An eerie calm after a storm.

The sort of calm you feel right before a bomb goes off...

Except...

No bomb went off.

No storm flooded the room.

Geralt could only feel awe.

Not at just your power but how you chose to wield it.

You had the power of Destiny at your disposal, and you chose to help a few kids whose parents banished you from their town.

You had the power of Destiny... eating out of your hands... and you chose to help him...

The last time he felt this... loved... was Yennefer. But even Yennefer's love wasn't baselining love. She was lust. A poor foundation of love.

What is Geralt even thinking?! Love? He couldn't love. No... His path was a lonely, treacherous one.

But it was one many others have joined him on...

Maybe it wasn't as bad as he is thinking...

Maybe...

Just maybe....

A little bit of love is okay.

The White Wolf doesn't howl his praises or paw for attention. All he does is kneel.

Kneel in front of the most powerful, lovely, deadly person he has ever known... and hold them.

"Thank you... for protecting me..."

"Anytime, Geralt."

______________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. If you have any requests, please feel free to ask me. Also, I know I made this one non-binary after editing, and I know what I said before I posted anything. Have a great night! Bye!

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Bounty Hunter AU but DCxDP

OK, so I really enjoyed my bounty hunter au, but I feel like I could make it more entertaining. This is a human au btw.

Some info: Bounty hunter is an actual job and are mostly called bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents. They can legally pursue fugitives across state lines and break and enter their house without a warrant if they know the fugitive is there. They primarily pursue and apprehend fugitives who have skipped bail or failed to appear for court proceedings. Only 4 states ban bounty hunting; Oregon, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin. (I do not know if this would be mirrored in DC because of how many super villains there are.) The laws regarding bounty hunters vary state to state. Only the USA and the Philippines have legalized bounty hunters.

Danny becomes a bounty hunter out of spite towards the GIW. His goal is to show up the GIW bounty hunter group and rub it in their face. And to catch Vlad and turn in the bounty on his head.

Danny's gotten pretty good at being a bounty hunter. He's caught quite a few criminals and is on the case of another one that happens to have crossed over into one of the hero's territory.

Here's a few ideas of how this could go:

Danny goes to Gotham to catch Johnny and Kitty. Given that their aesthetic matches Gotham pretty well, they're able to blend in well enough that even though Danny's tracked them to Gotham and is loosely working with the commissioner, he has to resort to asking for help from the Bats. Neither side trusts the other. Danny nearly gives up when Johnny and Kitty go through another dramatic break-up that has nearly the entirety of Gotham gossiping about it. He finds them, handcuffs them, and leaves for Amity. Both the bats and himself are relieved to not be dealing with the other.

Danny goes to Gotham to catch Spectra. Her and her butler are slippery and wonderful at disappearing, but given the amount of poverty they stick out. This tips off the Bats' that something's wrong. Danny gets to town and while the bats do not trust him, he's working(sorta) with Commissioner Gordon. As a last ditch effort to avoid getting caught, Spectra and Bertrand join Joker and Harley. Despite the four getting along, Harley gets jealous which causes them to have an explosive falling out, catching everyone's eyes. The situation becomes Spectra & Bertrand v Joker & Harley v Danny & the Bats.

Danny goes to Metropolis to catch Aragon. He chose the place because he thought it would be easy to lay low and then start a new cult. He wasn't wrong. Danny teams up with investigative reporter, Clark Kent, to find the slimy ex-cult leader.

Skulker goes to Jump City to hunt Beast Boy. He, unlike most of Danny's other bounties, is wanted in several states. He's also one of the few to seek out Danny specifically. So when Danny shows up to prevent him from doing his job, Skulker sees it as an opportunity to use BB as bait. A 'two birds, one stone' sorta thing. Danny teams up with the rest of the Teen Titans to take down Skulker and save BB.

The GIW ends up chasing down the same fugitive as Danny (for different bounties) in Star City. Green Arrow has to keep the two from destroying his city.

Desiree goes to hide in Faucet City. She's laying low by working as a fortune teller(cliche I know) but the ambient magic is causing her reading to be rather accurate. Especially the readings about misfortune. This gains her the attention of the news and Wiz Radio Show host, Billy Batson. The news is how Danny learns where she is. Billy thinks that Desiree is a new villain, while Danny's just trying to figure out how Desiree became such a popular fortune teller while trying not to make a huge scene. The two meet and immediately clock the other as a potential ally in taking down Desiree quietly. Between how many secrets Billy keeps and Danny's constant off-the-wall split second decision making, it's like working with the Bats again but they actually get along.

and here's two crack-ish ideas for you:

Danny is standing just outside of Wisconsin while Vlad taunts him. Saying stuff about how sad it is that bounty hunting isn't legal in Wisconsin. Danny just calls the fricken cops on him instead.

Or instead of Danny calling the cops, he just starts leaving. Vlad is not done taunting him though and starts to follow him, when he realizes he's fallen into a trap and left the relative safety of Wisconsin.

[saika077]

The Dorm Leaders as Jojo fans

AN: this is just some silly goofy hc that caters to me specifically.

Riddle Rosehearts

Phantom Blood enjoyer

Started as a manga reader and is rightfully horrified at Dio's actions (if you know you know).

Giorno is his favorite Jojo.

Joseph's wittiness and Caesar's hotheaded personality reminds him a lot of Ace and Deuce.

Was devastated at S1 Ep 19 where they have that breakup arc and in the next episode where...yeah...

Trey can hear his cry of anguish from down the hall.

He does not tolerate part skipper in a "How can you just skip the basic fundamentals of the story?? Blah blah blah" type a way.

Jonathan defender. Doesn't take kindly to people who call Jonathan boring or "Phantom Blood mid".

I'd say that his favorite OP is probably Traitor's Requiem

Doesn't really have time to get caught up so he recently just finished Golden Wind.

Leona Kingscholar

A basic Stardust Crusaders fan

I'm sorry, but he looks like he'd be a part skipper 😭 (I'm still gonna give him the benefit of the doubt)

He's not gonna skip Stone Ocean tho, that's for sure.

Jotaro and Jolyne are his favorite Jojos

I feel like he'd be a Jolyne kinnie due to the fact that they both have parental issues

Doesn't take kindly to people who slander Jolyne

If he doesn't skip parts, I'd say that Kars is his favorite Jojo villain.

Doesn't admit it but he was pretty devastated at the "My name is Emporio" scene and cried silently.

I can see him having Sono Chi no Kioku as his favorite OP or maybe he's a rare Chase enjoyer (Chase is actually a great OP, people are just mean :(( )

Is currently halfway through Steel Ball Run

Y'know he actually shares the same VA as Weather Report in the anime.

Azul Ashengrotto

Heard about it from Idia in the Board Game club when he was making a funny quip about having the upper hand but he didn't get the joke and Idia's like "uh, it's a Jojo reference, dude" and everyone else in the club got the reference.

Rare Jojolion enjoyer

Jodio is actually his favorite Jojo

His favorite character is Kishibe Rohan (no, I will not elaborate).

His favorite villain is Yoshikage Kira

I can see him being a Fighting Gold enjoyer

Jojo poses in private and the twins caught him doing it one day.

Kalim Al-Asim

Makes Jamil sit down and watch with him.

His favorite part is either Battle Tendency or Diamond is Unbreakable

Josuke is his favorite Jojo

Likes Joseph too, but he cheated on Suzie Q so that takes away some of the points. But at the same time Joseph cheating gives us Josuke, and he really likes Josuke so...yeah

Cried like a bitch during S1 Ep 20 (same)

I don't see him actually liking any of the villains but if he had to pick a favorite I'd say he'd pick Diavolo

When the ED of Golden Wind came on, Jamil covered Kalim's ears so fast. Toniiiiight~ I need your boooody~

Likes Great Days

Bonus: Jamil is a Golden Wind fan, his favorite character is Pannacotta Fugo and he actually reads Purple Haze Feedback (and cried).

Vil Shoenheit

Stone Ocean enjoyer, both the part and the OP

He also really likes the aesthetics of Golden Wind

Jolyne defender #2

Doesn't trust people who don't like Jolyne and sees it as an immediate red flag (same).

Pucci is his favorite villain.

I'd say his favorite character is Lisa Lisa. I feel like he's either aspiring to be like her or "god she is so me fr"

Trish kinnie (idk, to me specifically he kinda reminds me of her)

He reads the manga but hasn't had the time to get caught up.

He needs to know why or how Araki never ages in any of the pictures of him.

Idia Shroud

Manga reader and is caught up to the recent chapters

His favorite part is Steel Ball Run

Johnny kinnie

Doesn't tolerate part skipper but in an elitist gatekeepy type of way

Sings Sono Chi no Sadame on top of his lungs in his room.

Would never admit it but he had the cringy "Ora Ora Muda Muda Kono Dio da!" Phase (it's a Canon event almost every Jojo fan has to go through).

The kind of Jojo fan I do not want to interact with. Ever. (Mf is canonically insufferable to talk to irl)

Idk he just gives me the annoying SBR fan vibes.

He actually shares the same VA as Baoh in Jojo ASBR

Malleus Draconia

Phantom Blood Enthusiast

Finishes Phantom Blood and was like that clip of Clone High Gandhi where he's just like "wow...I- I need a minute to think about this..." And doesn't touch the series for a while. I don't think he knows that there are more parts.

I feel like the only Jojo media he watched is the old Phantom Blood OVA that is now considered a lost media.

Lilia finds him sulking in his room and when he asks him what's wrong, he just replies "Jonathan and Erina deserves happiness" and doesn't say any more than that.

Number one JonaEri shipper. If JonaEri has a million fans, he is one of them. If JonaEri has one fan, he is the one. If JonaEri has zero fans, he's already dead.

Enjoys Dio as a villain.

Loves the old OVAs

Feel free to add more or if you'd like to disagree, I'm open for discussion.

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

Lay All Your Love On Me

Written By: Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson

Artist: ABBA

Released: 1981

Cover included: Amanda Seyfried & Dominic Cooper for Mamma Mia!, 2008

“Lay All Your Love On Me” explores the high emotions and passions that can emerge when falling in love, and documents one woman’s shift into erratic behaviors as she falls under the spell of her new lover. The song hit number one in the US dance charts in 1981, but has lasted in popularity over the years, becoming an ABBA staple. It was featured in the band’s jukebox musical (and its movie adaption), Mamma Mia, and in 2006 was named the 60th greatest dance song of all time by Slant magazine.

[Verse 1] I wasn't jealous before we met Now every woman I see is a potential threat And I'm possessive, it isn't nice You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice [Pre-Chorus] But now it isn't true Now everything is new And all I've learned has overturned I beg of you [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me [Verse 2] It was like shooting a sitting duck A little small talk, a smile, and baby, I was stuck I still don't know what you've done with me A grown-up woman should never fall so easily [Pre-Chorus] I feel a kind of fear When I don't have you near Unsatisfied, I skip my pride I beg you, dear [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me [Verse 3] I've had a few little love affairs They didn't last very long and they've been pretty scarce I used to think that was sensible It makes the truth even more incomprehensible [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause everything is new And everything is you And all I've learned has overturned What can I do? [Chorus] Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me Don't go sharing your devotion Lay all your love on me Don't go wasting your emotion Lay all your love on me

Chasing Cars

Written By: Jonny Quinn, Paul Wilson, Tom Simpson, Nathan Connolly & Gary Lightbody

Artist: Snow Patrol

Released: 2006

Cover included: The Wind and the Wave, 2015

This slow-building ballad is Snow Patrol’s biggest-selling single. A main driving force behind the song’s success was its inclusion at the end of the Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 finale. In an interview with Take 5 Gary Lightbody says: “The track wasn’t even featured on the iTunes top 100, and then an hour after the show, it was number 1. So that’s the impact of TV right there." About the song, he said in a interview with Rolling Stone: “It’s the purest love song that I’ve ever written. There’s no knife-in-the-back twist. When I read these lyrics back, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s weird.’ All the other love songs I’ve written have a dark edge."

[Verse 1] We'll do it all Everything On our own We don't need Anything or anyone [Chorus] If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world? [Verse 2] I don't quite know How to say How I feel Those three words Are said too much They're not enough [Chorus] If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world? Forget what we're told Before we get too old Show me a garden that's burstin' into life [Verse 3] Let's waste time Chasing cars Around our heads I need your grace To remind me To find my own [Chorus] If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world? Forget what we're told Before we get too old Show me a garden that's burstin' into life [Bridge] All that I am All that I ever was Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see I don't know where Confused about how, as well Just know that these things will never change for us at all [Chorus] If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

[draconicsplendor]

Oh, hi! I can help!

So many of the game mechanics make no sense (why does digging a 2x2 hole and filling opposite corners with water make an infinite source that won't run dry? Why are sand blocks, gravel blocks, and mobs the only things affected by gravity? WHAT DO YOU MEAN STRING CRAFTS WOOL AND THE COMPASSES DON'T POINT NORTH?)

Unfortunately dropped items disappear after a few minutes, but I've explained some other stuff under the cut:

Minecraft Tutorial from a Very Casual Player

Bed

You've already got a shelter, crafting table, and furnace, which is great!

Your next course of action should be making a bed.

You can use the string you've been gathering to make 3 wool blocks, which can used along with 3 wooden planks to make a white bed. But it's easier to kill sheep for their wool instead, since they drop entire blocks of the stuff. If you had iron, I'd suggest shearing them, but most people can't afford to be humane this early.

[Insert crafting recipe image)

You should target white sheep, since those are the easiest to find, and you need all 3 wool blocks to be the same colour when you make a bed. We can dye it a fun colour later on, but for now, a plain white bed will serve you just fine.

You can right-click the bed at any time of day to respawn near the bed when you die, and skip the night. I'm assuming you know this (Kevin is referring to CallMeKevin, right?), but trust me, new players die A LOT. You'll thank me later.

Lighting

Monsters can spawn in your bases if they aren't well-lit. It used to be light level 7 or below, but now they'll only spawn in complete darkness (level 0). I'm telling you, kids these days have it too easy. No more being chased out of your own strip mines.

Wooden pickaxes can mine coal, and I'm assuming you have one if you've already made a furnace. Combine your coal with a stick (which is crafted with two wooden planks of any type) and you have a few torches that will never ever burn out.

[Insert image]

You can also use wooden planks, sticks, or your old wooden tools to smelt logs into charcoal and craft torches that way, but most players don't, because burning logs feels a lot more tedious than mining (even though it's not). And it's usually better to save wood to use as a building material or emergency fuel at this stage in the game.

Put a couple torches in your base, and a couple scattered around it to avoid morning jumpscares.

Tools

Now it's time to make a wooden pickaxe, shovel, and axe (or 3 of each to be safe, they break quickly). Shovels aren't as necessary, but there's a lot of dirt and gravel underground, your hand is slow, and all tools break faster if they aren't used for their specific purposes.

Gather some stone and wood to make sticks, and make yourself some tools. Stone shovels and axes can break all the same stuff as their wooden counterparts, but they're both faster and more durable, and your shiny new stone pickaxe can mine copper and iron.

Ignore the copper for now, and mine down to anywhere between Y=24-Y=56 for some iron. But Y=16 has the most.

If you're playing Java Edition (Windows, Mac, Linux), you can press F3 to enter the debug menu, which has the XYZ coordinates and the coordinates of the block your feet are mostly in:

The scribbles cover the unimportant info about my computer. I find the block coords easier to read so they're what I highlighted.

If the debug menu doesn't open, try alt+F3, or temporarily switch every function key to its alternate by pressing fn+esc and THEN F3. If you use the last one, it can be switched back by pressing fn+esc again. My computer's function keys double as volume and brightness controls, so I have to switch often.

Complicated? I know. But it's easier on Bedrock Edition (which is on every platform, including Windows, Mac and Linux, but you can play cross-platform with console and mobile players. Just go into the world settings and enable this:

Which is gonna put this beaut on your screen:

This may make you think of Cartesian coordinates, where Y is the north/south coordinate and Z is the up/down coordinate, but you are wrong. Everybody is wrong in the block game. The Y coordinate goes up and down for reasons not even Jeb knows.

Or perhaps he does, but the knowledge would make us too powerful...

Farming

GOD I'm getting tired. Just smelt whatever raw iron you find, make a bucket with 3 of the ingots, dig trenches for the irrigation every 2 rows or so, use the bucket to fill the trenches with water AND now you need a hoe to till the soil. After a while you'll notice the soil has become darker which means it's saturated with water, so it won't dry out as long as the water is there. It should look something like this:

The fences aren't necessary, but helpful if you want to stop animals or monsters from trampling them.

Now plant your wheat until it's mature, then harvest by punching it. And you can use it to make bread, hay bales, and not much else on its own. But the food is nice.

Mature wheat should look like this (unless you're using a texture pack or playing an older version):

I hope this helped! I can't help with any redstone stuff or the ender dragon fight but I do know grow plants, make house, and find rocks.

Started playing Minecraft. I blame Kevin.

I only just found out how to make a shelter to survive the night. I could have made stone tools but i got killed and lost my stuff (didn't want to go back during the night to get them)

[chezzywezzy]

Yandere Orphan (1/3)

Word count ; 4.1k

*Edited:3

A/N : this woman severely pissed me off. also, it's final week, so I'm just uploading this since I wrote this ages ago. Enjoy.

My feet were planted firmly on the pavement and my arms were crossed. The dead grass was coated with a thin layer of snow while the clouds covered up the sun. The winter weather complimented the large stone building in front of me. It had a depressing aura, but my heart was skipping happily as I occasionally glanced at a small child that was running around in warm getup.

“Ah, Miss Y/n! Glad to see that you could make it.”

I broke out of my trance and my gaze softened as I made eye contact with a nun. Angela, was it? I pursed my lips and I shook her hand. “Angela. Good afternoon.”

The woman simply smiled before placing her hand on my back and walked, me going with her. “I can’t wait to see who you make a connection with. Expanding the family is always a joyous occasion. As you can see," she motioned to several decked out tables with food on top, "we’re having several guests over. The kids are always excited when future parents host parties.”

We paused in front of the room where children were running around and nuns were tending to their needs. My lips slightly curved up as I observed the scene, but Angela quickly stole my attention again.

Clasping her hands together, the nun spoke, "Well, I’ll leave you to it. Feel free to have some food and play with them.” She had a knowing smile on her face as she disappeared elsewhere.

This wasn’t the first time I’d attended one of these events. I had been ready to adopt for a while, but I hadn’t found that ‘connection’ yet. I hadn’t met a child old enough to count as an ‘older’ sibling for my ten-year-old son. Especially with the specification of sister.

However, this Christmas, I was determined to find the perfect addition for me and Milo. The time was right, and it was the holiday season. My job as a lawyer was successful and I managed to balance parenting and working. I had my own house, one that me and my late husband had bought several years ago. So I was able to be there for another child.

I examined the environment. I took slow and methodical steps around the room, seeing young girls and boys chase each other around and scream. However, there was something drawing me to explore further, so I found myself heading up the oak staircase.

Once I reached the top, I heard a vague humming. It seemed to be coming from the room at the end of the hallway. Without hesitation, I went to the door. The pitch was high enough to be a girl’s, but not too high to imply a toddler.

I placed my hand against the slightly open door and pushed it open. It was the classroom. I don’t recall ever entering here before. At the front was girl, probably around the age of eleven or twelve, sitting in front of an easel. She was faced away from me, so all I could see was her carefully tended-to hair and her embellished dress. I observed her for a moment, but the girl sensed my presence, and glanced over her shoulder at me.

“Hello,” she acknowledged politely, staring at me as though she expected someone else to be with me.

I took her greeting as an invitation, so I strode towards her. “Hello to you as well.” After I was standing next to her, I leaned over to see her painting completely.

It was a sleeping lioness while the night sky was above her. On the tables next to her, I saw that there were other drawings, creations from abstract fish to daisies. There seemed to be at least a dozen, although I had an inkling that there were more than where this came from.

“So you’re a young artist,” I commented, returning my attention to her. “How long have you been painting, dear?”

The girl still seemed reluctant to talk, but I couldn’t fault her. I was aware that my serious composure was often interpreted as coldness. “Oh, for as long as I can remember. I have a lot of free time,” she replied.

She had quite an adorable face; freckles, large black eyes, and puffy cheeks. Her hands were frail and delicate, but a little worn out as someone who drew often would have. Her dress seemed quite personalized, and even her black shoes were thoughtful.

“How old are you?” I asked carefully.

She was quick to answer, as though she expected a certain outcome. “I’m twelve.”

I hummed. “I have a ten-year-old son at home. He’s always wanted an older sister. Do you want any siblings?”

Her eyes widened slightly. “O-oh, I don’t mind.” She turned back to the easel. “I think it’s missing something,” she mused.

“Her cubs,” I proposed. “She’s sleeping peacefully, so that means her cubs are near and safe. After all, a mother is happy as long as her children are protected.”

She grinned, drawing a cub curled at the lioness’ side. “And… done!” She exclaimed, finishing the nose.

“Not quite. Don’t you think there should be two cubs? I imagine it could be an even happier family if there was one more addition, don’t you?”

She seemed to pause. “Maybe. Is there a daddy lion? Without a daddy lion, it would be harder for the mommy lion.”

“Not at all. The lioness is capable of protecting the cubs. The lioness has a big cave and loves her children.” I placed my hand on her head and patted.

She pursed her lips for a moment before grabbing the paint brush and I couldn’t help but smile as she made one final addition to the painting. She looked me up and down one final time before answering, "It would be an honor. I am Esther.”

~~~

“It’s incredible that you were able to connect with her. I knew it would work out for you,” Angela prayed, sitting forward at her wooden desk.

My hands were clasped neatly in my lap. “Yes, Esther was polite, which is normal since I know I don’t come off as friendly, but she seemed completely natural. And so very creative. I already know my son will love her. I certainly do.”

Angela’s smile somehow widened. “She’s always been well-mannered and obedient. We’ve never had any problems with her, except for when some of the other girls pick on her. I’m sure she’ll be an amazing addition to the household.” She paused to see if I had any comments. “Anyways, let’s start filling out the paperwork.”

~~~

Milo woke up that Christmas morning incredibly disappointed; he knew his mother always woke up early, so he searched the whole house. The living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, even her personal bathroom - but mom was nowhere to be found.

Milo was disappointed, even though he tried not to be. He knew from the horror stories his friends told him that he had a good mom. She worked hard and somehow was still attentive. But it was Christmas morning, it was her job to be in the house when he woke up!

He entered the bathroom and stared at the mirror with glassy eyes. Milo had been so excited that he forgot to comb his shoulder length, dark brown hair. He hadn’t even changed out of his pajamas yet, which consisted of one of mom’s t-shirts and warm, fluffy pants with red and black stripes. His coffee-colored skin glistened slightly from the tears, so he splashed some cold water on his face.

He immediately clambered out of the room when his ears picked up the faint sound of the front door being unlocked. Milo raced down the stairs as quickly as he could in slippery blue socks. By the time he made it to the front door, he only became confused.

There, at the front door, his mother stood with a girl next to him. She was dressed up all nice and her black hair was curled. She had a suitcase and a complacent, polite smile on her face while mom pointed out where to hang her coat and to place her shoes.

“Mom, who’s she?” Milo finally spoke, catching both of their attentions. Mom smiled, wrapping an arm around Esther’s shoulders.

“Esther, this is Milo. Milo, meet your new sister,” she replied calmly, nudging Esther forward slightly.

Milo’s eyes widened, and his stare went from Esther to his mother then back to Esther. He opened his mouth, but was in visible shock, before leaping towards Esther and hugging her. “That’s so cool! I can’t believe this! I’m so happy you’re here!”

Esther seemed rather shocked but returned the hug, an unsure, uneasy smile gracing her adorable features. Y/n could only watch the scene with a smile, her heart warm and fuzzy. She paid no heed to Esther’s reluctancy; after all, she’d just found a family for the first time in.. three years? It’s understandable that her daughter wouldn’t be used to affection, or at least the sort that a loving family would give her.

She clapped her hands together. “Milo, can you show Esther to her new room? It’s right next to yours. I haven’t decorated it yet, but that’s because I wanted you to be able to, Esther,” mom explained, pushing Esther’s suitcase to Milo. “When you’re both done settling down and getting to know one another, feel free to help with breakfast,” Y/n added.

Both kids nodded and ran off, although Esther did so with more grace and agility, while Milo was quick and clumsy. Y/n watched as they disappeared up the stairs, Milo’s happy giggling still echoing in the house.

~~~

One hand holding the pan still and the other scrambling the yolk, I focused intently on the breakfast. In the background was some Christmas piano music. I had a ritualized ugly sweater that my late husband’s mother always sent to me and Milo - although this year I went out of my way to request a third for Esther. Since we lived too far away from the rest of the family - an entire country away - we weren’t able to spend it there this year, especially because there was work with the adoption papers. I know Milo was upset, but hopefully now it makes up for spending Christmas at home.

“Mommy?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Esther batting her eyes at me while Milo was next to her. “Ready to help?”

Milo grinned and hugged me from behind. “Can I make the pancakes, mom?” he requested.

“Sure. Esther, do you know how to cook? Milo can teach you how to make pancakes if you want.”

Esther stood beside Milo as he raced around the kitchen to get the proper ingredients. “I would love to. I have never cooked before, at the orphanage we ordered from the cafeteria.”

Milo frowned. “That’s sad. Mom and I always make lunch together on Sunday. Food is even better when you make it yourself.” He plopped a large bowl on the counter and poured in the necessary components. “Here, you stir.”

Esther did as told, and in the corner of my eye, I saw that she cheekily grinned and dipped her finger in. I figured I wouldn’t be the victim so I return my attention to the almost completed eggs. My eyes widened when I felt two wet splotched fingers poking into both my cheeks and let out a mute gasp.

Both kids are standing behind me. “We need to use the pan, mom,” Milo said innocently.

“Is that so?” I said, reaching over and dipping my fingers in the pancake mix as well. I bopped both of their noses. “Well, you’ll just have to wait a second, hm?” I licked the remaining pancake mix from my finger.

After a second, I grabbed a plate and used the spatula to push all the eggs onto it. I handed it to Milo. “Go ahead and wash this up. I need to finish wrapping up a few more presents, okay?” I washed my hands and ruffled their heads.

“Okay, mom.”

“Yes, mommy.”

I left them to their own devices while they finished up breakfast, heading over to the living room couch. Strewn on the arm was Milo’s ugly sweater - of which he was starting to get old enough to realize that it looked awful but not old enough to not care - and next to it, folded neatly, was a third. Milo hadn’t asked about it, but that was for Esther.

I actually finished wrapping presents last night. I just wanted to let the kids bond. I even had my camera at the ready; I always forgot to take pictures, but today had to be recorded now that we had a new family member.

“Mom!” I heard Milo call from the kitchen a few minutes later.

I returned to the kitchen to find Esther plating the pancakes. “Perfect. Thanks you two, you’re both first class chefs in the making.” I took both the plates while Milo told Esther to help get some orange juice and cups.

The dining room was adjacent to the living room, a rectangular table adorning a red and green tablecloth in the center. There was some last minute decorations like snowflake stickers on the window and a snowman statue in the center of the table. I set the pancakes and eggs in the center of the table before sitting down.

Milo and Esther finished setting everything up without complaint before sitting down too. Esther snatched the seat next to me while Milo sat across. He pouted a bit complaining about how he wanted Esther to sit next to him, but she just giggled.

After a few minutes of silence while we gorged on food, I finished chewing and sent a knowing smile to Milo. “Did you get what you wanted for Christmas this year, dear?”

Milo grinned. “Yeah, I’m so happy! Thanks, mom. But I still want a skateboard too,” he added sheepishly.

I chuckled, and before I could reply, Esther chipped in. “I can not think of anything else I could want. Even this breakfast is great. All I really want to have is a daddy as well.”

I was unfazed, but I noticed that Milo’s expression fell. “Well, there was a dad before, but he’s up in heaven now. It’s okay though, Esther, we still have a happy family, especially with you here with us now.”

Her doe eyes stared up at me, large and beady. “I hope so. Thank you for picking me, mommy.”

“So go ahead and tell us more about yourself, Esther. Milo also likes to draw, so I’m sure he’d love to hear about that.”

Milo’s attention was immediately caught. Esther started, "Well, I like drawing animals or people I think are pretty. I have been doing it for as long as I have been in the orphanage. There is not much to say, I think.”

“I want to see them,” Milo exclaimed. “I like art, too. Oh, and guitar! I can show you my guitar, Esther.”

“Okay, thank you, brother,” she replied politely. “Can we open presents after breakfast?”

“Yes, but I’ll need a little help with dishes, okay?”

Milo groaned. “But it’s Christmas! If we were at grandma’s, she wouldn’t make me do dishes,” he complained.

I lightly chuckled. “And you wouldn’t make your dear old mother miss out on watching her wonderful kids open presents, would you?”

“Never. Mommy deserves the help, brother. If you want, mommy, I can do all the dishes while you start the presents,” Esther interjected, batting her eyes at me.

I raised an eyebrow. “No, Esther, it’s alright.”

~~~

I helped Esther carry her gifts up to her room. I had bought her an easel, large papers, and art supplies, along with a Nokia phone for safety. There were some other small tchotchkes and candies from the stocking that Esther was lumbering up the steps.

Milo went outside the moment he opened his final present, a skateboard, so it was just me and my daughter in the house. I nudged her bedroom door open and set the boxes on the ground while Esther went to the bed. I heaved out a sigh and turned on the camera that hung around my neck, skimming through the cute photos I shot. I was no photographer, though, so some came out blurry and I deleted them.

Arms wrapped my waist. “Can I see them, mommy?” she requested, tugging my shirt towards the bed.

I plopped down beside her, giving her the chance to look at them. She stared at them silently but with a complacent smile on her face. “You aren’t in any of these, mommy.”

“I’m not very photogenic,” I bashfully explained, before having the camera torn from my hands. Esther held it up and I froze to the best of my abilities, letting her snap a picture. I sensed that she had a stubborn spirit.

“Beautiful, mommy,” she praised as she checked the picture.

The compliment made me grin shyly. “Thanks, dear. I appreciate it.” I pulled her in for a quick side hug before changing the topic. “So how are you liking your new home?”

She pursed her lips. “I like it here a lot. I just want to know what happened to the daddy.”

I let out a sigh. “My former husband, Hugh, passed away while I was pregnant with Milo. He went fishing with some friends during the winter and got a bit tipsy, fell overboard, crashed through the ice and couldn’t get back up. Nothing more, nothing less. And I’m too busy with work and my kids to focus on men. After all, I’m a lawyer, those cases don’t solve themselves, hm?” I left the story on a positive note, but I was shocked to see that a tear fell from her eye.

I quickly fussed and wiped it off with my thumb. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just,” she sniffled, "so sad. I cannot imagine how sad you are.”

I pulled her into a lasting hug. “Well,” I started, "it was hard and I was terribly depressed when it happened. I wouldn’t have made it through the pregnancy if Hugh’s side of the family, especially my mother-in-law, hadn’t helped me. But everything was alright when I finally met my Milo. Even when he was an ugly purple raisin, when he opened his eyes for the first time, I saw that it was Hugh’s. It was a reminder then and there that I had to get my - pardon my language - shit together because no matter how sad I was, I loved Milo ten times more. I even named him Milo because of Hugh’s middle name, Mark. I figured to give him a ‘M’ name to honor my husband.”

A minute passed; Esther’s arms were wrapped around me as she took in the story. I felt her breathing against my chest and her curled hair flattened against my shoulder. “Wow,” she whispered. “That is so brave of you. I did not know a woman could love someone so much.”

I couldn’t help but wonder what experience had shaped such a point of view. I understood why she was eager about finding out about a male figure of the household. I exhaled and rubbed her head. “It’s okay. And you’re my daughter, so I love you just as much.”

~~~

Late that night, Y/n had arisen from her slumber for an unknown reason. She felt uneasy. So, she stepped outside for a few minutes to smoke. Light snow was falling from the sky and the night air was chilled. The smoke from the cigarette blended with her cold exhalations.

After she finished, she went back inside, setting the lighter on the living room table and the cigarette in the trash. She was quiet when returning to her room, but noticed that the light in Esther’s flickered off as she walked past.

Y/n slid open Esther’s door just a crack, noticing that the easel was assembled and that there was a painting in progress. Her daughter was tucked away in her bed in a messy fashion, indicating that she was faking, but she just smiled and left for her room.

Hours passed, and the house was fast asleep by then - all except for one girl, Esther, who eventually stirred and left her bed. Her small feet pattered down the hallway. Loud snores came from Milo’s room, which covered up her footsteps as she made her way down the stairs.

The living room was illuminated by the red and green Christmas bulbs hung up on the walls, and the glistening gleams from the tinsel on the tree. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes landed on a wall adorning a black lighter. Her cute features didn’t fit with the blank, sinister expression that rested on her visage; unblinking and attentive.

She gazed longingly at it before striding towards it, and snatching it up in an instant. Skillfully, knowingly, she lit a flame. Her stare remained trained on it loyally.

~~~

It was finally the day that Milo had to return to school. During the last week, he was rather disappointed that his new sister spent most of her time in her room slaving away at the easel and mostly saw her at mealtimes. However, he couldn’t fault her for being passionate, so kept his disappointment hidden away.

Milo finally had a better chance to get to know her though, since the two walked to the bus stop together, as their house was hidden away in the woods. However, Esther was eager to get to school - that meant anytime he tried to start a conversation, he’d be the one carrying it, but he figured tomorrow would be better when she’s seen how dull school was.

Milo even wanted to sit next to her on the bus, but his friends called him over before he got the chance to mention it to her. And he figured that his friends wanted his presence more than her.

So that had been how his morning went; uneventful and a failure. Milo guessed that hanging out with siblings was an at-home activity. It was recess and he had his packed lunch in his grasp, and while his friends Todd and Kaden walked beside him to find a spot to sit and eat. The cafeteria was crowded, but they found a table to sit anyways.

“Be right back,” Todd and Kaden called, rushing over to the line to get food. Sometimes Milo wished that his mom let him get the cafeteria lunch instead since there were yummy snacks like cheesy pretzels and ice cream cones, but she always cared a lot about his health. Milo unzipped his lunchbox to reveal a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a bag of strawberries, and some broccoli. He grinned, peanut butter sandwiches were his favorite -

His attention was stolen away when he heard his sister’s name being called. He saw Stella, Georgia, and Michelle, some of the popular girls, stepping in her way. Milo frowned, already knowing that his sister’s queer fashion taste had drawn their attention. And their attention was never wanted.

He strained to hear what the girls were saying, since everyone else was talking loudly too. “You realize this is school and not a castle, right princess?” Stella sneered. It left Milo a little confused, since that almost sounded like a compliment.

Esther just replied, "Move.”

“Oh, sorry, I’m not one of your servants. But let’s see, did your butler make you a pretty little lunch?” She mocked, reaching for the lunchbox. Esther dodged it, but at the expense of her school bag. Georgia got in on the action during this clash, tearing Esther’s bag off her shoulder.

The contents spilled onto the ground, but of course, Stella took immediate notice of the small Bible. Esther crouched down and gathered her things, but not before Georgia grabbed the Bible form her grasp. Georgia handed it over to Stella, who smirked and waved it around tauntingly.

“Well, well, well. I guess you’re a dumb church girl instead. Why don’t you pray to Jesus to fix your Bible?”

Michelle, who had been on the sidelines, held Esther back. Her eyes were wide and furious. Stella had a permanent smirk as she opened the Bible and tore out the pages, dropping it onto the ground and kicking it back to her.

Michelle finally let go of Esther, who tumbled to the floor gathering the pages up angrily.

And, understandably, she screamed.

[dilemmaontwolegs]

i have a request if youre feeling up to it!! i love your writing and really appreciate your hard work.

I was thinking buck x reader, i def need some hurt/comfort in my life tbh. maybe a caretaker!reader who has a child she’s (or gn if you want) in charge of that runs into avengers and they all develop a relationship together? maybe reader is struggling financially or mentally and avengers + specifically bucky is able to help them with their situation? im not sure if this is something youre up to but if you are I’d really appreciate it! thanks again 🤗

Reader and Bucky are just two cute awkward people being cute and awkward together 😊

When Worlds Collide || Bucky

Warnings: 18+ only, panic attack, blood/injury, fluff WC: 3.2k

main masterlist || bucky masterlist

“Lily, time to go.”

You waited at the front door as you slipped your shoes on and checked you had everything in your bag for your shift at the hospital. You checked the clock hanging from your chest pocket and saw the seconds counting down the grey zone of cutting it close to just plain late.

“Lily, we are going to be late.”

The hurried stomps of your half sister's feet bounded down the stairs and you looked at the six year old with narrow eyes. “Brushed your teeth?”

She nodded and you curled your finger to call her closer. “Say ahh.”

She exhaled and you screwed your face up at her morning breath before she laughed and ran back up the stairs to brush her teeth.

“Scrub them for two minutes, little gremlin!” You reminded her as you watched your clock and listened to the water in the sink to shut off.

This time she bounded down the stairs and swiped her backpack from your hands as she stepped out the door. She stopped as she reached the gate to see you locking the door and she had the cheek to tut at you with her hand on her hip. “Come in, y/n, you’re gonna make me late.”

You chased her out the gate and kicked away the stone that held it open before dodging the other people making their way to the busy bus stop at 7.30am on a Monday morning. You could see the bus already at the stop just past Lily’s school gates but you were still too far away and you knew you wouldn’t make it in time. The engine roared and smoke chugged from the exhaust as it blew past you and you dropped your head back as you cursed whoever had given you all the bad luck in the world.

You huffed with gritted teeth and looked back down from the sky and stepped right into the back of a man. You groaned as you dropped your bag and quickly knelt down to grab it as he did too, knocking your heads together before you fell back on your ass. “Fudgery duck!”

“Shit, sorry. Sorry, sorry.” He rushed as he grimaced at your sorry sight, your hand rubbing your forehead furiously as Lily laughed from the sidelines. “Did you say something?”

“She said fudgery duck, she says it when she really wants to say fuck but I’m around.”

“Thanks, Lily. Aren’t you late for school?” You groaned as you pulled yourself off the cold concrete, the man offering his gloved hand. “I think I’m okay, thank you, one concussion a day is my limit.”

Lily was waving back at you as she skipped inside the school gates and you took your time righting your scrubs and wiping the small stones from your butt. You plastered a smile on your face as you waved but the second she was out of sight it fell as you thought of how expensive a taxi to work would be. Things had been tight before you had a child in your care but now you were hanging on by a thread, every cent you made went on the bills and Lily.

“Are you alright?” The man asked as he thought you were about to cry. “Should I call an ambulance?”

“No!” You rushed, the mere thought of it almost bankrupting you. “I mean, no thanks, I’m fine. Sorry, I should have been watching where I was walking.”

He shrugged off your apology and the movement pulled his sleeve up past the end of his gloves, a glint of metal peeking out.

“You’re the Avenger, Bucky, right?” You asked as you began to remember why he looked familiar. “May I?”

He looked dubious but he held his hand out and you couldn’t resist getting a closer look. The metal wasn’t cold as you had expected but it wasn’t warm to touch either and you brushed his jacket sleeve up higher so you could see how the plates moved when you bent his fingers.

“Wow, this is amazing.” You shook your head in wonderment before thinking you had probably made him uncomfortable as he stared at you. “Sorry…”

He seemed to realise he was staring and looked away with his own apology. “Most people seem pretty freaked out by it, except this kid from Queens.”

“I see a lot of vets with limbs amputated at the VHA where I work, I wish we had this sort of technology.” You sighed and dropped his hand. “And I am late. It was nice meeting you.”

The crowds were thinning as the school bell rang and more buses arrived but none of them would be heading where you needed to go.

“Do you need a ride?” Bucky offered as he watched that forlorn look pass over your face again. “It's the least I can do for headbutting you.”

You normally wouldn’t accept a ride from a stranger but he was an avenger, that meant he had to be good surely, and you had been late so often you were on your last warning. With a small grateful nod he pointed to a parking lot across the street and you walked quietly alongside him.

“Thank you for doing this, you probably have way more important things to do than be my taxi.”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “This is much better than going to see my therapist. I mean…that sounds bad…I’m not crazy, just so you know, it’s just something we have to do for work.”

“Relax, I’m not judging.” You chuckled as he fidgeted with his car keys. “I’m sure saving the world is pretty traumatic, I think I would be more worried if you didn’t need therapy.”

He was transported back to his younger days when he saw the men return from World War I and wondered how different their lives would have been had they had therapy back in those days, they didn’t even have it for the soldiers who survived World War II.

“You’re probably right.” He muttered as he unlocked his car. “Where to?”

“James J. Peters.” You said as you took a seat in the extremely clean car. “Just head straight up Grand Concourse.”

“You were going to take the bus all the way across New York?” He frowned.

You shrugged as you turned your attention out the window and mumbled under your breath. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

One word. Five letters. That was all it took to send your heart racing into despair and you could feel the panic rising as you pushed the doors open and ran back into the parking lot you had just left. Your beg slipped from your arm as you sat heavily on the curb wondering what you had done so wrong in a past life to repeatedly have shit dumped on you.

Fired. Fired. Fired.

You heard a car door close in the parking lot but you didn’t even have the strength to find somewhere private to cry as you didn’t know how you were going to put food on the table next week. You had taken Lily in because there was no one else, if you couldn’t feed her she would have to go into the foster system and that thought sent a loud sob escaping your chest. She was family and she got on your nerves most days but she was your little gremlin and you didn’t want to lose her.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

You heard Bucky’s soft voice and let pull you up off the curb as you leant into his side and cried. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We will start with not sitting on the sidewalk for a third time.” He tried to make you smile as he opened the car door and put you on the passenger seat. “What happened?”

“I was late again.” You sighed as you hiccupped. “They f-fired me.”

He reached across you as he opened the centre console then the glove compartment. “There’s gotta be tissues somewhere…”

“Shouldn’t you know? Isn’t this your car?”

“It’s one of the communal ones from work.” He answered as he looked in the back and found a napkin someone had missed when it was cleaned. “I think this hasn’t been used.”

You snorted a laugh that turned to a cry as you accepted the white napkin that looked clean and blew your nose. “I can’t take it anymore. One fucking thing after another. I just can’t.”

Your rambling turned to panic as your mind returned to Lily and you could practically see the CPS agents knocking on your door to take her away. Your vision narrowed as you imagined them having to carry her out because your little gremlin had fight in her and if she didn’t want to go she would do everything she could to stay.

“Y/n, look at me.” Bucky called out and snapped his fingers in front of your face.

Your head turned but it felt like you were sitting at the back of a subway and watching the front of the train bend around the corner, it was a complete disconnection from what was in front of you.

“How old is Lily?”

You frowned as you watched his lips move, the sound reaching your ears moments later. “Six.”

“When’s her birthday?”

“May 29th.” You answered quicker this time as your brain caught up. “Why are you so nosy?”

His lips twitched as he sighed with relief. “You were having a panic attack. Guess therapy taught me something after all.”

You were surprised you had gone so long without a panic attack already, you knew it had been bound to happen and you were thankful that Bucky was able to spot it. You could feel he was surprised when you hugged him but after a moment he put his arm loosely around you too.

“Do you want me to give you a ride home or I was going to run some errands…we could keep each other company?” He offered as you let him free of the hug.

The thought of sitting alone at home with your thoughts sounded like a recipe for disaster but since you no longer had income you didn’t want to have to pay for a babysitter if you didn’t have to. “Lily finishes at 3, do you think we will be back by then?”

He looked at his watch and nodded before walking around the car and heading back to the east side of the city. Over the next four hours Bucky worked hard to keep you distracted and even bought you lunch, despite your best attempts to pay for your own food. Unfortunately it was time to face reality as he made the journey back to your neighbourhood and you sighed heavily at the weight that burdened your shoulders.

“Look, a smart woman like you is going to snap up a job no problem.” Bucky tried to reassure you as he came to a stop outside your house. “There must be plenty of places that need a nurse.”

“Yeah but they all have night shifts. I can’t leave Lily alone and I sure as hell can’t afford a night sitter.” You could feel yourself getting worked up about it all over again until Bucky’s gloved hand came to rest on yours with a squeeze.

“We’ll figure something out, alright.���

You didn’t want to sound ungrateful so you kept your mouth shut and just nodded, but you had no idea how he could help you, he barely knew you. “Do you want to come in for a coffee?”

He looked at the time and saw there was still half an hour before you had to pick up Lily so he turned the engine off and you unlocked the gate. He frowned as he passed the car sitting on cinder blocks in your driveway, the wheels missing.

“They couldn’t have just stolen the whole car.” You commented as you found your house key. “At least then the insurance would’ve paid out.”

You were already in the kitchen by the time Bucky entered the house and you called out to him so he knew where to find you.

“I just wanted to apologise for taking up your whole day.” You said as you leant against the countertop. “I’ve probably put you off helping someone ever again.”

His smile was genuine as he shook his head. “It’s about the most normal day I have had in years.”

“You and I have very different ideas on what a normal day is.” You laughed. “Bingeing terrible tv, blasting music and cleaning the house, that's normal.”

His nose wrinkled your idea of a normal day and you grabbed the remote for the stereo, hitting play on the last CD that was still in it. It was one your mom’s from the 80’s and you laughed at the unimpressed face Bucky had for the techno tune.

“Note to self - he doesn’t like the 80’s.” You teased as you hit stop and poured the coffee that was ready. “I’ll sell you on them, just give me some time.”

You were just walking home after taking Lily to school when you noticed a large truck pulling in front of your drive. You were about to tell them to move when the door opened and Bucky jumped out of the driver's seat.

“Uh, what’s going on?” You frowned as he waved you over and opened the back door. “What are you doing?”

“About the only thing he is good at.” A man said behind you and you spun around to see Captain America smirking. “Heavy lifting.”

“Sam, this is y/n, y/n this is Sam.” Bucky introduced as he pulled a pallet of tyres and rims out of the back of the truck.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Sam grinned as he held out his hand. “He hasn’t shut up since he came home last night.”

Your ears burned at his words but you couldn’t dwell on it too long before a quiet woman joined you, her eyes darting around everyone like they were assessing you before she smiled.

“You must be y/n, I’m Wanda.”

Her hand was warm as you shook hers and it reminded you of holding your mom’s hand as you crossed the street as a child. Shaking the odd feeling off, you looked down at your yoga pants and baggy shirt, thankful you had even changed out of your pyjamas before leaving the house. “I, um, wasn’t expecting anyone.”

“Don’t worry about it, why don’t we go inside and relax while the boys get your car fixed,” she suggested and you found your feet leading the way, “have a little girl talk.”

“Is that your power? Making me feel comfortable?” You asked as you sat beside her on the couch.

“Gosh, no.” She laughed and held her hand up so you could see it glow with a red mist. “This happens when I use my power.”

“It’s pretty.”

“It’s also deadly.” She sighed and dropped her hand.

Your eyes drifted out to the window where Bucky was lifting your car off the blocks and Sam was putting the wheels on, your voice a wistful whisper. “The two often go hand in hand.”

“So, you and Bucky?”

You put your herbal tea down on the coffee table with a scoff. “Not very smooth, Wanda. I only met him yesterday and we literally butted heads.”

“Well you must have knocked some sense into him, I don’t think I’ve seen him smile so much.”

A proud smile graced your lips at the thought of him smiling, he had been so kind to you yesterday in a way no one else had. Suddenly a cry of pain rang out and you leapt from the couch to run outside and saw Sam clutching his hand, blood running down his forearm.

“Bucky, can you go to the kitchen and get the first aid kit from under the sink?” You asked and he took off, jumping clear over the steps instead of climbing them while you helped keep pressure on the gash across his arm and led him inside.

“Damn tyre iron slipped.” He groaned as he sucked the air through his teeth.

“Please don’t sue me.” You half joked, but he had been injured on your property.

“Ha!” He laughed, making you relax. “Maybe I should sue Cyborg for being a pain in my ass.”

“Who's holding the first aid kit huh, punk?” Bucky asked as he stood in the doorway, holding it just out of reach.

“Are they always like this?” You asked Wanda as they bickered like siblings.

“Always.” She laughed before looking at Bucky. “He’s going to bleed on her couch if you don’t hand it over.”

He quickly crossed the room and placed the bag on the coffee table where you opened it and pulled on a pair of gloves first. You pulled Sam’s hand away and saw it was still bleeding but replaced his hand with a quikclot bandage.

“You’re going to need a few stitches.” You grimaced. “How’s your pain tolerance?”

“Does Bucky sized count?” He shot back with a wry smile.

“I can stitch it here or there’s an emergency room a few blocks away.” You said before the two men could start another argument.

“Here’s fine. I’ll be fine.” He said as he gritted his teeth.

“All done.” You promised as you tied off the last stitch and covered the wound up.

“Took it like a champ.” Bucky chuckled.

Sam cleared his throat and wiped his eyes with the collar of his shirt. “I just got some dust in my eye man.”

You tidied up the mess of bloody gauze and other supplies you had used before packing away the first aid kit. “I think that’s enough surprises for one day.”

“I actually have one more.” Bucky said as he tipped his head towards the kitchen and you followed him through. “I had a talk with Mrs Stark and there’s a nurse's position available in the medic bay, she’ll want to see your qualifications but if you send her the details, the job is yours.”

“What?” You asked dumbly as your mouth fell open. “You did this?”

He suddenly looked unsure of himself and scratched at his neck. “No, I mean, yes. Should I not have?”

You were absolutely stunned by everything he had done for you. You threw your arms around his waist and felt tears of joy fill your eyes and thanked him over and over.

“I know it's a bit far to travel by bus so I thought it would be easier if we got your car running for you.”

“Wait, you didn’t hurt Sam as an audition of some sort?” You pulled back to look at his aghast face.

“I mean I sometimes imagine it but…”

“I heard that.” Sam laughed.

“Ok, good. Not that you imagine it obviously, you should probably mention that to your therapist.” You joked before sobering. “Thank you, Bucky, you have no idea what this means to me.”

“You can tell me about over lunch, at work, on Monday.”

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[helliontherapscallion]

sibling hybrid!creeper reader headcannons/one-shot for SBI ( + ranboo? 🧍‍♀️ ) hurt/comfort. like maybe the reader struggles with emotions and doesn't know how to deal w/ them healthily, so they end up bottling them up and kinda explode at times.

sorry if this is too specific, i just really like your writing :) congrats on 1k!! <3

and one last thing,.. can i be 🫂 anon?

(A/N): I had a lot of fun with this one, and thank you : ) I hope you don’t mind that I added Tubbo. Also one more thing, I imagine the explosion is kinda like a Bakugou situation but uncontrollable

Warnings: anti-hybrid rhetoric/slurs (speciesism???), swearing, blood (not much, just mentions of a nose bleed)

It was completely an accident this time, it all just came so fast. You were standing in front of a store window when you felt something rub against your leg. When you looked down, panic engulfed your entire being when you saw an orange cat rubbing and nuzzling against your leg, letting out deep purrs. You had no clue why this cat wasn’t chasing you like all other cats usually did, but you didn’t want to ponder. You felt the familiar pressure building up inside of you as a startled hiss left your mouth and you jumped away from the creature. Your skin was sparking and popping as your freckles lit up in a glowing green light. 

Finally, explosions left your skin as the glass shattered next to you and gravel was turned up and thrown about. You fell to your knees and rubbed at your burning eyes and wiped the blood from your nose. Exploding like that had always taken a lot out of you and made your nose bleed. You suspected that it was because of the sudden build up and release of pressure and energy. 

The back of your shirt was grabbed and you were yanked off from the ground. There staring at you was the owner of the shop that you accidentally blew up. His green eyes were ablaze as he gritted his teeth and looked into your eyes.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?! You blew up my window!”

Small hisses left your mouth, “I-I’m sorry sir I swear I didn’t mean t-”

“Like hell you didn’t! Your kind always destroys everything!”

You stopped struggling and narrowed your eyes at him, “my kind?”

“Yes, hybrids! Filthy mutts, all you do is destroy! You’re a bunch of freaks.”

You could feel another explosion coming about and this time you did not even attempt to hold this one back. You stared him dead in the eyes with the harshest glare you could muster. As soon as the hisses started to leave your mouth and the freckles once again glowed green, the man’s eyes widened before he threw you into the street away from the building. Another explosion left you and disassembled the neat cobblestone of the road. A single stone flew and shattered what was left of the store window. Another flew and hit the store owner in the head knocking him out. 

And here you were now; hisses left your mouth as you ran down the beaten path of the village towards the exit. The iron golem following you was hot on your tail, it’s booming footsteps picking up dust clouds from the gravel. Villagers around you scattered and started to whisper fearfully amongst themselves. You could feel their fearful and angry stares burning holes through you. After you got out of the village and the iron golem was still chasing you, you ducked into the forest where you knew it wouldn’t follow you. You climbed up a tree and watched as the golem angrily smacked the foliage out of the way before it gave up and hobbled back into the village. 

You dragged your feet tiredly back home, wanting nothing more than to collapse in your bed. Your senses were on overdrive as you were hyper aware of everything around you. You’ve never exploded twice within the span of ten minutes before, and it wore you out. Small exhausted hisses left your mouth as you trudged along the path. 

After getting home you walked past a confused and concerned Wilbur, dodging his hands that were trying to grab you so he could get a better look at you. You walked up the stairs ignoring his questions and walked past Tommy.

“Hey sparky, what’s got you lookin like shit?” He asked you before he started to laugh to himself at the nickname he knew you hated. You winced at the volume of his voice before you hissed angrily and stomped off into your room before you passed out immediately in your bed the second you threw yourself onto it. 

You didn’t wake up until a hand shook you awake firmly. You peeled open your eyes to see Tommy hovering over you looking slightly scared. When you fully opened your eyes, he sighed in relief.

“Oh my fucking Ender, I thought you died for a second.”

You only groaned and covered your head with the covers trying to block out the morning light streaming into your room and Tommy’s voice. He shook you more, your entire bed shaking with it. “Get up. Dad wants you downstairs for breakfast cuz you skipped lunch and dinner.”

You said nothing as he ripped the covers off from you eventually and pulled you out of your bed. You landed on the floor with a thump and hissed a little in frustration. You stood up and pushed him out of your room and slammed the door behind him. The locked door handle jimmied before it stopped and everything was silent. You prayed that he went away, but alas he didn’t. You rubbed your forehead when he started to knock at your door in multiples of two.

Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock knock, “(y/n)?” Knock kno-

“I’ll be down in a minute fuckface. I’m gonna get dressed.”

“If you aren’t down in five minutes I’m getting Techno. He’ll carry your ass down.”

Downstairs, you shambled into the kitchen past the table and poured yourself a cup of coffee. Your family silently watched you before the conversation started back up again. You plopped down next to Wilbur and sipped at your coffee deliriously. He eyed you in concern, “you okay?” You hummed and poked at your eggs. You didn’t feel hungry at all. “You su-”

“Yes, I’m sure Wilbur.” You glanced at him from the corner of your eye and returned to your coffee. After your fourth cup of coffee you were cut off by a concerned Philza. Even after four cups of coffee, you still felt slightly physically drained and it showed in your sluggish movements. Your day went by with you holding in your frustration and anger from everybody constantly asking if you were okay. Days of holding in explosions passed with them finally leaving you alone. However, that did nothing to alleviate your bottled up frustrations.

Techno was sitting on the couch reading a book while Wilbur was sitting in the chair across the room trying to find the lyrics of his next song. Philza was in the kitchen doing who knows what. You were currently walking up to Tommy’s room to say hi to your old friends Tubbo and Ranboo after getting home from a trip to another village. 

That trip was rough for you but not as rough as the one a few days prior; you could only stand so much fear filled and hateful staring after all. Your creeper features consisting of pitch black irises and dark gray sclera, a mop of dark green hair, and green freckles sprayed randomly across your skin was definitely an attention grabber for anyone. A few of the kids even threw rotten tomatoes and stones at you, it was so hard holding in explosions by the time you left that you just felt very overwhelmed. Hanging out around the self proclaimed ‘bench trio’ always enough to calm you down from a rough day. Mellohi’s muffled relaxed beat makes the corners of your lips twitch into a small smile. 

However just as you opened the door to Tommy’s room, you could hear their conversation end. “Hey guys, how’re-”

A yelp left your throat as something very cold drenched your body. An iron bucket came tumbling down and hit your head before falling to the floor with a clank. The pressure that has been building up in your chest increased tenfold, but you closed your eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to walk to your room for a change of clothes. Behind you, you heard Tommy laughing hysterically while Tubbo tried to apologize between his own laughter. You didn’t even have to look at Ranboo to know that he was guiltily fiddling with his sleeves as his tail flicked back and forth sharply. 

After you went into your room, you grabbed your pillow and screamed as loud as you could into it to blow off some steam. After that didn’t work, you tried punching the pillow relentlessly but that didn’t work. You could still feel pressure and energy inside your chest lingering and threatening to burst. 

You sighed and made your way downstairs walking past Tommy’s door. You could now hear Ranboo laughing with them, and that just made you even more angry than you were before. 

Everything around you was pissing you off. Philza’s wings fluttering behind him subconsciously, Technoblade’s little ‘heh’’s as he read something that caught him off guard in his book, Wilbur’s humming and mumbling to himself as he composed his next song, Tommy’s, Ranboo’s, and Tubbo’s loud laughter echoing from Tommy’s room. Every little sound was enough to send you over the edge. Just as you were about to leave the house to calm down again, a knock sounded at the door.

Philza gently pushed you behind him with furrowed brows and a hand on the sword hung around his hip. Techno’s book snapped shut as he stood up to grab his axe while Wilbur walked over to you and put a protective hand on your shoulder. You understood why they were cautious; you didn’t normally get visitors and the last time the house did, it was someone that decided to try and attack Technoblade on sight when he opened the door screaming about how hybrids aren’t natural. Keyword: tried. Techno absolutely would’ve killed him if it wasn’t for Philza holding him back. 

You felt anxiety creep up inside you as you fought against the small hisses trying to escape your mouth. The door opened slowly to reveal the store owner from a few days ago. His eyes hardened when he saw the wings sprouting from Philza’s back before his eyes flicked to you. He did not look happy to see you behind your dad’s massive wings. Without another word, you turned and ran up to your room when you felt the pressure become almost unbearable. 

You ran past Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo who were leaving Tommy’s room with hesitance. You didn’t respond when they tried to stop you. Slamming your door closed, you sat on your bed with your head clutched in your hands desperately trying to fight against the pressure building up. Small pops sounded on your skin as you grit your teeth in concentration. You could hear knocking at your door, thank god you locked it behind you. You had no idea how long you were sitting there trying to hold it back.

When the pressure became too much and you felt yourself losing grip on your control, you knew you needed to get out of the house as soon as possible. This was going to be a huge explosion, probably the biggest one you were going to do. The loud continuous hiss that left your throat was something you weren’t actively doing, another telltale sign that you were about to explode. You ripped open the door, pulled yourself from Tommy’s grasp, and ran as fast as you could downstairs. Philza followed you with a furious expression when he saw you, the store owner seemingly having left. 

“(Y/n), what in the hell did you do?” He grabbed your arm and pulled you to the living room. You tried your hardest to pull out of his grasp, but he was holding on too tight. The hissing had gotten slightly louder, but you moved a hand up to your mouth to try and muffle it. He sat you down on the couch and started pacing in front of you, his feathers puffed up angrily. Wilbur and Techno were eyeing you warily from across the room. 

“What were you thinking, blowing up his store like that? Were you even thinking? Cuz that was stupid (y/n). Hybrids get enough bad rap, and you go and pull this?!”

“Dad-”

“Not now Wilbur. As I was saying, you could’ve killed someone! What would you do then-”

“Dad,” Techno’s assertive tone stopped Philza in his tracks as he ran a hand down his face. “What could you possibly want right now, boys?”

“(Y/n)’s gonna explode soon.” Wilbur hurried over to you and helped you up. You could hear the three younger boys’ steps thundering down the stairs. By now, you were visibly shaking and sweating with the effort of holding explosions back. You could see the glowing of your freckles through the reflection of Wilbur’s glasses. 

“Shit,” Philza sounded panicked in that moment as Wilbur ushered you out of the house and into the forest. You pushed him away and stumbled your way deeper into the forest. You heard them attempting to follow you, but you gestured for them to get back. You had no idea how big this one was going to be, but it was definitely going to be large. 

You ran deeper into the forest until you couldn’t hold it back anymore. Leaning against a tree, you finally let yourself explode. This one was painful; your skin burned with every pop that emanated from your freckles, the burning making your free nerve endings scream at you. The last thing you saw was a wave of dirt splashing up before you blacked out. 

You were in and out of consciousness for the next week or so. Whenever you would wake up slightly, it would only be for a couple moments before you would pass out again. It was in those moments that the pain and the lack of energy hit you at full force. You supposed being unconscious was better than the mental and physical fog and the pain. 

By the time you fully woke up, your senses were slightly hyperactive, but nowhere near how you felt when you blew up that store. You reached up with a heavy hand to wipe at your crusty eyes before you heard rustling next to you. You looked over to see Philza standing at the door with a glass of water in his hand. When he saw that you were awake, he rushed to your side and helped you sit up. You took the water gratefully and drank it, the liquid refreshed your dry throat. 

“How’re you feeling?” 

“Tired and a little sore. How long was I out for?”

“About a week, you really worried us. That was a really big one. Do you know why it was so big?”

You nodded and looked down at the water in your hands, swirling it around the glass. You didn’t want to tell him about feeling angry and overwhelmed at every little thing around you the past few days. You felt guilty at that, they were just trying to live their lives while you were cursing them for merely existing. A finger under your chin made you look up at Philza. His eyes were full of gentleness and empathy, “c’mon, you can tell me. I want to help you.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Start wherever you feel comfortable. Take as much time as you need.” He sat on the edge of your bed and looked around your room while he waited. You took a second to gather your thoughts before you took a deep breath. Philza perked up and diverted his full attention to you. 

“It started when I first blew up that guy’s store. I swear it was an accident that time, a cat snuck up on me and rubbed on me,” you shuddered, small hisses leaving your mouth. “The guy came out and picked me up by my shirt. He called us some names so I kinda got mad and blew up on purpose.”

“‘Us’?”

You nodded, “hybrids. He said that ‘our kind’ destroys everything.” You glared at the glass in your hands, hissing in contempt and watching the freckles dully glow green. “He called us ‘filthy mutts’ and freaks, Dad.” Philza looked slightly peeved at the name calling, “still, you shouldn’t’ve blown up on him. You could’ve killed him, (y/n).”

“So you’re saying that it’s okay for him to call us slurs? Should we just let people slander us?” You narrowed your eyes at him. He shook his head, his medium length blond hair swaying with the movement. “Hell no, I’m not saying that at all. You should never let someone call you things, but violence is never the answer.”

You huffed, crossing your arms, “frankly, he deserved what was coming to him. I just wish he didn’t throw me before I could blow up.” 

“Hold on, he fucking threw you?” You nodded and watched his eyes darken and anger flash across his face, “violence is sometimes the answer then. Did he hurt you?” 

“No, but I just felt so… so drained. But so overwhelmed at the same time. I’ve never exploded twice in the same day before.”

He hummed in realization, “so that’s why you slept through most of the day. Sorry, go on.”

“After Tommy woke me up everything just felt worse. It was like everything around me was amplified. It was hell, the last few days I was just hyper aware of everything and it was pissing me off. Every little thing drove me crazy, I could feel myself getting closer and closer to exploding but I held it back until I couldn’t anymore.” 

“(Y/n), you know that’s not healthy… I talked to Sam, you remember right?” You shook your head, “well, he was an old friend of Wilbur’s. He used to come here all the time before he had to move away. He’s a creeper hybrid like you,” he chuckled when you perked up, “he gave me some advice on your anatomy when you were growing up. Anyways, he told me that sensory overload is common when you explode. He said that it’s normal to feel drained afterwards and to definitely get plenty of sleep. The sensory issues apparently get worse if your rest is interrupted, so that was probably why you felt overwhelmed in the past few days… He also told me that it really isn’t healthy to explode more than once a day or to hold it in for longer than necessary. Please just come to me if you’re feeling overwhelmed again or if you need to rest after exploding. I can even build you an obsidian building where you could go and not blow up anything.”

“...I’d like that. What- what else did he tell you?” Philza chuckled and started to tell you more about what Sam told him about his anatomy. He even gave you Sam’s comms contact so you could contact him if you had any questions or wanted some advice. He was a nice man when you talked to him, always having an answer for your questions. You even found old pictures of you as a baby following him around. Apparently you could tell that he was part creeper; wherever he was in the house, you were bound to be near him.

The rest of the day, you hung out with the rest of your family and the bench trio. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Techno wasn’t one for open affection, being the type to give you little trinkets and giving you suggestions on what to read next. Every time you woke up, you would find small objects ranging from gold to emeralds and books on your nightstand. He would vehemently deny being the one that gave you the items, but you and the rest of the family knew better. Sometimes, he would drop into your room to ask you what you thought of the book and have a thorough discussion about it with you while you were recovering. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You leaned against Wilbur’s side with his arm wrapped around you. The hand that was around you was rubbing circles into your shoulder. After he scolded you for bottling up your emotions, he climbed into your bed and pulled you to his side. Small hums left his throat. 

“(Y/n)?” You hummed, your eyes half lidded and almost about to fall asleep. “Would you mind if I wrote a song about you? It would fit with the next album’s theme.” 

“Knock yourself out.” Your words were slightly slurred as you nuzzled closer to him. He laughed a bit, the sound being muffled and reverberating his chest. “Get some sleep. I’ll brainstorm some ideas to run by you before you wake up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanging out with the self proclaimed ‘bench trio’ was always fun, even if you were on strict orders to stay in bed by Dadza. Nobody argues with a concerned Dadza, but they found other ways to hang out with you. Tommy had moved his jukebox into your room and was playing cat, the music soothing you immensely and putting an end to your worries. However, what didn’t soothe you was the card game in front of you. 

You were watching in horror as everybody put down a plus two card stacking the amount the victim would have to draw. So far, the plus two streak had already gone around the circle once and is now going around once more. It was nearing your turn and it was with great horror that you realized you didn’t have a color changing card or a plus two card. The two cards in your hand felt heavy as you watched Ranboo pull out another card.

“Please Ranboo, I’ll do anything. Don’t put that card down.” You watched as his ears twitched before he smiled innocently at you, putting the card down and laughing at you when you started the long process of drawing fourteen cards and sorting them. 

“Sorry, my hand slipped.”

“Get fucked (y/n)!” Tommy cackled at you. You flipped him off before you went back to sorting the cards. Tubbo put down a plus four color changing card and smiled at Tommy. 

“Sorry Tommy, but uno and the color is now red!”

“Goddamnit Tubbo! That’s the one color I don’t have,” he grumbled and drew four cards. Ranboo smiled triumphantly and put down his last card before showing you his empty hands. “What?! You didn’t even say uno!” You eyed his smug smile with disbelief. 

“You guys didn’t call me on it though.”

“That’s not the rules, Ranboo! You have to say uno!” Tommy argued. Long story short, the rules had to be looked up and the family had to be consulted before your group came to the conclusion that you in fact do not have to call out uno and the other players could call them out on it. Eventually after a few tense games, the three were sitting on your bed. Ranboo had some difficulty with it due to his height, but he managed with his legs crossed. 

“(Y/n) do you reckon you could become charged if you were hit by lightning?”

“Tubbo, you’re a genius,” Tommy breathed out, “let’s go see!” 

“No, you will not go see. Sit back down.” Wilbur called out as he passed your room. The group slumped slightly. “We’ll see when I get better. Mark my words, the next thunderstorm that happens I will see if I can be charged.” You whispered to them, your eyes glinting with mischief. 

“I don’t really think that’s a good idea.”

“Of course it is, Ranboo. It probably won’t kill them.”

“Probably?” Ranboo raised an eyebrow at Tommy’s nonchalant answer. “Yes, probably.”

“I still have three lives left. If I die, I die.” You wove a hand in the air as you spoke and watched as Tubbo nodded in agreement. “Do it for science, (y/n).”

“Oh I will. For science!” You raised your water glass in the air and Tommy and Tubbo followed suit with wide smiles. “For science!”

You three turned to stare at a deadpanning Ranboo. He sighed before he raised his glass of milk and let out a monotone “for science.” You, Tommy, and Tubbo cheered as you clanked your glasses together. You could see a hint of a fond smile on Ranboo’s face as he watched you three chug your waters before he downed his milk in one swallow. 

You smirked at them and leaned close, talking lowly so that anyone passing by wouldn’t overhear you. “So, what’s our plan?”

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[lightsovermonaco]

Speed and Stress: Part 2

Masterlist

Thank you to @acollectionofficsandshit for betaing, your comments on this one were unhinged gold 

Word Count: 3.1k

Recommended Vibes: “Perfect Day” by Tundra Beats

Part 1

Your brother was late. Not that anyone was surprised.

“Got the time mixed up,” he says as you climb into his absurdly tall truck. Living in Texas for three years had turned him into somewhat of a country boy, though not enough that he forgot his upbringing. He was still a blue blooded Los Angeles boy, just with a love for trucks and longhorn cattle.

“At least I wasn’t waiting for an hour this time,” you say and sling your bag to the backseat. Deciding to get right to the good stuff, you clasp  your hands together. “So! I have some news.”

Hunter grins at you. “You finally found a job?”

You roll your eyes and shoot him a pointed look. “No, dipshit. Better than that. I got us paddock passes for the whole weekend.”

“WHAT?” He jerks the wheel, horns honking at you as other drivers swerve. You grab the dash to steady yourself, laughing at his outburst. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get general admission tickets? How the hell did you get paddock passes?”

“May have met someone pretty high up at McLaren in Los Angeles,” you say, examining your nails.

“Like, Zak Brown? You met Zak Brown?” Hunter was such a fan boy, you had to laugh. His love for McLaren ran so deep he practically bled blue and orange. The only reason you watched the sport was because of him shoving it down your throat for years, but damn if you weren't glad for it.

“Daniel Ricciardo.”

Hunter choked on air but managed to stay in his lane this time. “And you waited until now to tell me?”

“I didn’t know it was him when I met him! He was on a motorcycle and I stopped to help film a tiktok and then-”

“Of course you’d stop,” he mutters, shaking his head. “You’re a sucker for bikes.”

“Yeah well, lucky that I am, cause all I had to do was flirt to get us those passes.”

Your intention had never been to take advantage of Daniel. It was more the opposite in fact; you were just living in the moment and capitalizing on the once in a lifetime opportunity to flirt with your celebrity crush. You had to admit, it turned out better than you'd ever thought it would.

“I can’t believe you seduced Daniel freakin’ Ricciardo,” he says, shaking his head. “You astound me.”

“I didn’t seduce him!” You protest.

"Sorry my bad. You charmed him. That sound better?"

You roll your eyes. "Whatever. I damn near had a heart attack when I figured out it was him but he was kind enough to let me brush it off."

"Well, thank god for your two-wheeled obsession because without it, we would be watching the prix from the nosebleeds."

You laugh and shake your head. Hunter tended to have a poor filter when he was excited and tended to spew whatever was on his mind. "Just watch your tongue this weekend, alright? I'd rather embarrass myself than have you do it for me."

Hunter gives a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

**********

You'd stuffed five different outfits in your bag in preparation for the grand prix weekend. In theory, it shouldn't be hard to decide what to wear. But Friday morning you changed clothes so many times you lost count. No matter what combination you tried you weren't satisfied.

Finally, you give up and settle on a McLaren polo and denim shorts. Simple and comfortable, but form fitting enough to catch Daniel's eye should you run into him.

You knew you shouldn't, but you pull out your phone to text him anyway.

Thanks again for the tickets. Let me know if you've got any free time so I can properly thank you!

You hit send before your brain has the chance to overanalyze the message. You check your phone obsessively the entire drive to the circuit, only half expecting a response. You tuck your phone in your pocket when you get to the gates, determined not to let it get to you. Daniel warned you he would be busy, and you knew that responding to you was likely on the low end of his list of priorities.

Hunter gets you to the circuit a half hour before they let fans in and you have to listen to him ramble about driver stats the entire time. Normally you don't mind; guessing who's most likely to win each Sunday is something of a competition in your household. But today, you couldn't focus enough to put any thought into your prediction, instead just blurting Daniel's name.

"You're only saying that cause he's into you," Hunter says, grinning savagely. "He struggles in Austin and you know it."

"So? He's in a McLaren this year. You saw his pace in Bahrain, and that was with a damaged floor! He'll podium for sure." You cross your arms and return his grin. "Besides, he's motivated."

"Oh, is he?"

"I told him I'd buy the winner of the United States grand prix a drink. Up to him whether it's him or Verstappen."

"Oh my god you have a date with Daniel Ricciardo?"

"Dude, chill out. It's not set in stone. Honestly, he's probably forgotten that I exist."

"Has he texted you?"

You glance down at your phone and are greeted with an empty inbox. "No. Not after the initial time so I could have his number." You shrug and pick an invisible piece of lint from your arm. "But he said he'd be too busy anyway."

"Guess we'll see once we get to will call, huh? If he's forgotten about you."

"Yeah." An odd feeling rolls through you. It feels a bit like nerves mixed with hope, but you stamp down on it. You were here to enjoy yourself. The trip of a lifetime had been handed to you on a golden platter and you were wont to let something as trivial as nervousness ruin it.

Bells chime as you step into the blissfully cool will call office. A blonde woman with a bit too much blush dusted on her cheeks greets you with a smile. 

"What can I do for you?"

"Picking up some tickets that were left for me by a driver?" You try, unsure of the proper procedure. "I don't have a paper or anything."

She waves a hand in the air as if she expected as much. "All I need is your identification. They should be under the name."

"Oh uh, of course." You motion for Hunter to hand over your wallet and show the woman your driver's license.

"Great. Wait here and I'll grab those for you."

You drum your fingers on the desk while waiting for her to return. After what feels like ages she re-emerges empty handed.

"I'm not seeing anything here with your name on it," she says, her plastic smile at odds with her sincerity. "I'm afraid your tickets aren't valid until Sunday."

"Can you double check? Daniel said they'd be here-"

"So sorry. There's no record of anyone dropping tickets off for you."

You blink, holding your tongue in the face of her blunt response. "Okay. I guess ill try and get it sorted out."

Hunter breaks the tension. "Can't you call him?"

"I can't just call him, I'm sure he's busy."

"Either that or we don't get in. Just do it, he gave you his number and specifically told you to let him know if there were any problems, didn't he?"

Yes he had, but that didn't mean you wanted to disturb him. He was probably knees deep in some sort of race weekend press conference or drivers meeting and heaven forbid you interrupt.  But it was either that or you slink home disappointed and empty handed.

"Fine," you grumble, pulling out your phone with deliberate slowness. Hunter crosses his arms and tips his head to the side, a smile playing on his lips.

"Well?"

"It's dialing, you good for nothing busybody-"

"I was wondering how long it would take you to call," Daniel answers, voice radiating sunshine.

You cut right to the chase, not giving yourself a single second to evaluate how your heart skips. "Look, I don't wanna distract you on a race weekend but I'm at will call and they're telling me they can't find any passes left for me."

"Let me guess," he starts, raising his voice to be heard over the pneumatic tools in the background, "You're dealing with Jenny?"

Your eyes fall to the name on the woman's lanyard. She shifts under your gaze like she knew exactly who you were on the phone with. "Yep. Spot on."

"Kinda figured she would be a problem. She's got a huge crush on me and does this every time."

You fight back the strange sensation his offhand comment brings to the surface. "Oh, really?"

"I'll be right there. Give me ten minutes or so."

"Oh you don't have to-"

"Hey, no big deal. I gotta go that way anyway."

"Uh, okay. See you soon?"

"Yup. On my way."

You hang up and stare down at the phone, stunned.

"Well?" Hunter asks.

"I guess he's coming here to sort it out himself."

He blinks rapidly and shakes his head. "Hold on. Are you telling me that I get to meet Daniel? Like right now?"

"Can you relax?" You laugh lightly. "Honestly you're gonna freak him out."

"Uh, yeah sure. No big deal, just meeting one of my favorite drivers in the minus five minutes and I'm completely unprepared. It's fine."

If you roll your eyes any harder they'd pop out of your head. "Relax. He's laid back, but I don't want you to freak out and embarrass us both."

"Excuse me," Jenny breaks in, her distaste clear. "Please move aside if you're not picking up passes."

"Er, yeah. Sorry." You shuffle awkwardly off to the side to wait. Cheesy elevator music plays and Jenny shoots you glares until the door squeaks open and the human incarnation of the sun steps inside. Your breathing stutters when the Australian shoots you a wink and a grin before sauntering up to the counter.

"Why hello there Jen," he says, and she giggles coyly. 

"Hi Daniel." She lays a hand on his forearm, the touch light and flirty. "What can I help you with?"

Daniel leans into her, whispering conspiratorially. Whatever he says has her bold smile faltering, replaced by a mask of professional cheer. Daniel shoots you another wink as the woman retreats to a back room, returning moments later with your supposedly missing passes.

"Thank you," Daniel says sweetly, taking them from her and turning to you. "I think these are yours."

"Thanks." You take the passes and hand one off to your awestruck brother. You nudge him and he comes to his senses in time to shake the hand Daniel sticks out.

"You must be the brother," he says. "I see you're a fan."

Dressed head to toe in McLaren colors, there was no other conclusion for Daniel to draw. For once your brother is the one stunned into silence so you answer for him, "Yeah, only a little. He was crushed when you left Red Bull cause Max is his other favorite driver and now he has to split his loyalties between teams."

Dan's laugh snaps Hunter out of his trance. "I know you're busy but do you think you can sign something for me?"

"Of course. How about this?" Daniel snatches the hat from Hunter's head and produces a sharpie from his pocket, signing the brim with practiced efficiency. 

"He'll be texting the group chat about that as soon as you're gone," you tell Daniel who laughs along with you.

Heat rises to your cheeks as Daniel's assessing gaze sweeps you from head to toe. "McLaren orange looks good on you."

Channeling his easy confidence you flash him a grin. "Not as good as it looks on you."

He smooths the hem of his soft shell jacket, smile turning bashful. "Anyway. I gotta run. See you Sunday after I win!"

Your eyes follow him as he jogs back through the paddock until he's swallowed by the crowd. You sigh, shifting your weight from foot to foot. God, he was gorgeous. And he had such a big heart. It was a shame someone hadn't snatched him up yet, but then again, that meant you still had a shot, even if it was a slim one.

"So where exactly do these get us?" Hunter toys with the lanyard now placed around his neck. "It doesn't say."

"I'm guessing the McLaren lounge," you say and point to the logo on the passes. "Above the garage."

"That's the perfect vantage point for practice."

And it was the perfect view- before getting in the car Daniel walked out into the pit, suited up in his cobalt racesuit and minty helmet and glanced up. You weren't sure if he saw you or not when you waved but he gave a little salute nonetheless.

Hunter was practically glued to the bank of floor to ceiling windows for the entirety of free practice, immersing himself in the experience. You found yourself glancing at the timing tables every lap, silently hoping to see the RIC tag move up. By the end of the second session he had been fourth fastest, a few tenths behind both Mercedes and the Red Bull of Verstappen. 

By the time you make it back to Hunter's house, you're both exhausted from a full day of running up and down the paddock. The pair of you had been determined to soak up every second of it, sneaking into whatever offices you could and stealing bites off the buffets and cups of coffee. 

Saturday’s free practice and qualifying session pass in a blur of color. Daniel drags his McLaren up the ranks to qualify fourth, his best starting position so far this season. He had a decent shot at the podium- Bottas should be easy pickings and if Verstappen and Hamilton made any mistakes, Daniel might even have a shot at the win.

The excitement in the air is palpable as you both flash your badges and head back up the now familiar path to the McLaren lounge. An hour before lights out, the v6 engines rumble to life below. You venture out onto the balcony, watching and waiting for a glimpse of Daniel.

The Aussie does you one better by walking out, race suit on and helmet in hand. He chats animatedly with Michael before stopping and craning his neck upwards. Michael nudges him with his elbow but Dan ignores him, answering your tiny wave with a wink. He mimes taking a drink and you roll your eyes.

Dan throws his head back and laughs, audible over the cacophony below. He gives you one final salute before Michael drags him back into the garage.

Ten minutes later cars begin streaming out on track, Daniel taking the fourth grid place as his mechanics once again swarm him. Tire blankets are secured, keeping them warm and pliable ahead of the formation lap. Thirty seconds before the boys are released, they're peeled back off as everyone scrambles off the pavement. Verstappen leads them away down the 3.4 mile track for the formation lap. Dan does a few small power slides before taking his place on the second row.

One by one, the red lights illuminate and disappear quicker than your blink. Daniel gets away clean while Bottas stumbles out of the gate, leaving himself wide open for Daniel's overtake on his right side. Cheers erupt around you, your brother going so far as to lift you off your feet.

Maybe Dan had a shot at winning after all.

A nail-biting 38 laps pass without a change in the order of the top three. Finally, a mistake in Max's pit stop sees him return to track third, just behind Daniel. The McLaren driver puts up the fight of his life, late braking at every corner and defending his position for all he was worth. Lewis was twenty seconds ahead- he wouldn't be winning but he could defend his second place spot.

Lewis Hamilton, race winner for the seventh time at the Circuit of the Americas!

Daniel Ricciardo crosses the line second, Max Verstappen takes home that last podium step for Red Bull. An astonishing fifty six laps here today in Austin!

The box erupts around you, a roar of cheers making it impossible to hear what else Crofty and Brundle were saying. But it didn't matter as Daniel raises his fist when he swings back into parc ferme, jumping out to be congratulated by his team. It was his first podium for the papaya team and you can tell it means the world to them.

"Looks like you're taking Lewis out for a drink," your brother teases. "Told you he wouldn't win."

"He almost won," you counter. "But hey, I'm not above asking Lewis on a date. Could you imagine? I mean, he would never agree, but still. It would be a hell of a date."

If you crane your neck from the balcony, you can just barely see the podium. Everyone goes quiet for the anthems and erupts again when the champagne is sprayed. The McLaren team chant for a shoey, which Daniel obliges. He sits to unlace his mint green boot and pours champagne into it, drinking from the boot before passing it to Max who joins in on the fun. 

Just as quickly as it began, the celebrations ebb. Daniel is the first to leave the podium which seems odd, given that the PR department surely wants his first big win for the team to be well documented.

Your phone buzzes a second layer. You fish it out of your pocket, a Cheshire grin splitting your face.

"Shouldn't you be busy celebrating?"

"I am," Dan starts, sounding breathless. You can barely hear him over the sound of the crowds chants behind him. "But I want to celebrate with you. I know I didn't win, but how about you let me buy you a drink instead?"

You barely hear anything beyond his first sentence. I want to celebrate with you. Were you dreaming? There was no way this was real.

"Um, I'm sorry, you want to celebrate by going out with me instead of your team?"

"If you'll let me. Hey- just text me okay? I can barely hear you over everyone screaming my name. It may be going to my head."

You laugh, drawing the attention of the vip's nearest you. You give an apologetic smile and move further from the crowd. "I'll text you an address. See you later, second place."

[frombeyondtheblackhole]

Hermit DSMP Swap AU: Part 9.1

[TW: Blood, violence, severe injury, bone related gore and zombie/undead related body horror. Please take care of yourself and stay safe. Warnings bracket the worst of the potentially triggering content and a summary is provided if you feel the need to skip that part. Some violence and minor injuries are outside the brackets. If there is a specific TW that you would like me to include in the future feel free to let me know and I will do my best to add it.]

Quackity, Purpled and Charlie, spent over an hour searching through the woods and the land around Las Nevadas, well mostly just Quackity and Purpled while Charlie hovered around asking annoying questions. Neither The Zombie nor Foolish were anywhere to be found. 

Quackity told Purpled and Charlie to Head back to Las Nevadas and look there while he did one more check around the perimeter for any clues as to what happened. Quackity took his time. Now that he was by himself he was able to think more clearly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and frowned.    

Quackity wasn’t exactly sure what he had witnessed. He’d never seen something exactly like it, one minute Foolish was standing in front of him and the next he was gone and this zombie lady was in his place. He might argue with the other Las Navadas recruits, and they might not have the best opinion of him, but one thing was certain, if anyone messed with them, especially on Las Navadas property, They were messing with him and he wasn’t about to let anyone push him around, not anymore, never again. 

Quackity looked up as he rounded a sand dune, the walls of Tubbo’s “cookie” outpost looming up on the edge of Las Nevadas land. Quackity Scowled. One problem after another. The whole conflict about the walls hadn’t really been resolved, Tubbo was being stubborn, unreasonable. But that wasn’t a priority at the moment, he would deal with that latter, right now, he had bigger problems. 

Quackity followed along the wall and stopped short on the road in front of the Las Nevadas toll tunnel. Ranboo and Tubbo stood on the road coming from the other direction.

They stared at each other, neither side moving. Then Quackity broke into a smile “Hey there, Fancy running into you two here. You seem to hang around here a lot, have either of you seen Foolish or a strange looking Zombie by chance?”

Ranboo fidgeted and looked away but he was always fidgeting and he was never one for eye contact so that wasn’t exactly a tell. 

Tubbo on the other hand, Quackity had been in the same cabinet with him during Schlatt’s presidency, and in the cabinet during Tubbo’s presidency, he knew what the kid looked like when he lied. 

“A Zombie you say? What makes you think we would have anything to do with that?” Tubbo shrugged. 

Quackity didn’t drop the smile. “Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I am talking about.”

“Honest big man, there are no Zombies here, that's why we built the walls.” Tubbo insisted.

Ok so the kid was getting better at lying. Quackity frowned but the smile returned a moment later. “That's all good. Just be careful, she did something to Foolish, he’s gone missing, I’m worried that if she is allowed to roam free and do whatever she wants then she might do what she did to Foolish to someone else. You understand. I would hate to hear that one of you two went missing.”   

Tubbo and Ranboo looked at each other.  They definitely knew something they weren’t telling him. 

“Thanks for the warning big man, we’ll let you know if we see anything,” Tubbo smiled tightly before grabbing Ranboo’s arm and pulled him aside to whisper in his ear.

Called it. Quackity smiled, his sharp gold tooth glinting in the sunlight. He turned on his heel and headed back down the tunnel towards Las Nevadas. 

---

Cleo looked down at the dark water lapping against the stone pier where she sat, her legs dangling over the edge. The air smelled of salt, cold stung her lungs. She wasn’t shivering despite the fact that a crop top and shorts was chronically under dressed for the weather. She didn’t really notice. 

Her heel bounced against the wall of the peer as she stared out to sea. Snowchester was secluded, nice and peaceful, but it also felt vacant. There were houses but no one lived in them. Not that that was anything all too strange, Hermits built empty houses all the time, but these felt different. The empty houses the Hermits built were intended just for show, or to conceal functional builds. These houses once housed people, and now were abandoned.  

Cleo looked up at the sound of footsteps crunching through the snow and the clunk of boots against the wood at the beginning of the peer. Tubbo and Ranboo stood looking back at her. Tubbo had his hands in the front pockets of his coat and Ranboo stared at her over Tubboo’s shoulder. He never seemed to blink, it was a bit unnerving. 

Cleo pursed her lips “Um, thanks for letting me stay here kids, but-”

“You can’t stay here anymore,” Tubbo blurted out. 

Cleo blinked.

Ranboo flinched “Sorry about all this, it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it kid,” Cleo said, getting to her feet, “I was going to leave anyway,” She shrugged.   

“Oh really,” Ranboo sighed.

Tubbo frowned “Why? What changed?” 

Cleo chuckled hollowly, “I could ask you the same thing.” 

Tubbo pursed his lips but didn’t push the issue.

Cleo walked past the two of them and started up the path.

“Wait,” Ranboo called

Cleo stopped.  

“Where are you going to stay now?” Ranboo asked. Tubbo just glared at her.

Cleo shrugged and smiled a bit to cheerily “I’m sure I’ll find a nice cave somewhere, after all I am a Hermit,” 

“Um,” Ranboo looked off to the side, tapping his fingers together. “If you need it there’s a hotel in the Greater Dream SMP. It’s big and red, hard to miss.”  

Cleo chuckled, “I’ll be alright, don’t worry ‘bout it.” 

Tubbo was still glaring at her. She turned to leave again.

“Just know that if you try and mess with us we can and will defend ourselves,” Tubbo said.

Cleo didn’t turn around “Oh, I know,” She smirked as she walked away. This Tubbo kid had guts, she could respect that. 

---    

Quackity taped his fingers against his arm impatiently as he waited in the ditch on the Greater DSMP side of the speed tunnel to Snowchester. After talking to Tubbo and Ranboo he had watched from a distance and followed them here. 

The splash of oars cutting through the water reached Quackity’s ears as a boat made its way towards his hiding spot. Quackity took a steadying breath, stealing himself as he listened carefully. The boat scraped against the shore and there was a crunch of sand as someone got out of the boat. Only one person. 

Quackity stood up and moved into view. The Zombie jumped, summoning her sword as she spun around to face him, teeth bared.

Quackity held up his empty hands and took several steps back. “Woe, woe woe. Hold on. I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“You think?” She scoffed. She didn’t attack but she still had her guard up. 

“Just tell me what you did to my friend and maybe we can resolve this peacefully,” He smiled tightly. 

“I didn’t do anything! And even if I did, why would I tell you? You already tried to kill me once?” She said. Then her expression changed, as if just remembering something. She lowered her sword and straightened. “What do you know about perma-death?” She asked calmly.

Quackity sucked in his breath and took a step back. Was this a threat or a legitimate question? He looked at the determination in her eyes… It was both. 

He fought the urge to summon his axe. 

“Do you really think you can kill a Zombie? I’m already dead. The rules don’t apply to me!” She strode forward and pointed her sword at him. Quackity staggered back looking up at her standing over him on the edge of the pit framed by the crystal clear sky behind her.   

Was she bluffing? 

Fuck. 

She spun on her heel and ran the other direction, across the field. 

The trance was broken. 

[TW: Blood, violence, body horror. Skip to the next bolded text to avoid the worst of it] 

“Shit, Get back here!” Quackity scrambled up the bank, summoning his crossbow and letting loose the bolt. It struck her in the leg, but she didn’t even seem to slow down. Had she even felt it? An ender pearl replaced the crossbow and a moment later he felt a sudden rush as he flew through the air, switching to his axe mid-flight. He crashed into her back, embedding his axe between her shoulder blades.

Quackity pulled his axe out of her back and staggered backwards. She wasn’t dead. She hadn’t despawned yet. Maybe she had been telling the truth about being unable to die. Oh wait, she was moving.

She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees coughing up dark sickened blood. She staggered to her feet and turned around to face him again, fire and determination in her eyes.

How was she still standing? That last hit had to have broken several ribs. Quackity glanced at the exposed ribs poking out from under her crop top, edged with decayed flesh. Those had been that way before. Maybe broken bones didn’t matter?  

[TW End: Summery: Quackity chases after Cleo, she tanks a bunch of damage but is able to keep fighting despite severe injuries]

Why were his knees shaking? She hadn’t even scratched him this time, and she wasn’t as good at combat as Dream or Techno. Yet she refused to die? 

He clenched his teeth and scowled, “I’ll give you one more chance. Tell me what you did with Foolish?” He demanded. Now he was bluffing. 

“I. Don’t. Know!” She yelled as she lunged at him, summoning her sword mid swing as she brought it down on him. 

He didn’t have time to block. Instead he moved back and swung the axe up. The blunt side of the head struck her in the chin as he felt her sword cut into his shoulder and graze his chest.

She staggered back and switched her sword out for a gapple. 

Oh no you don’t. Quackity raised his axe about to lung when he felt someone jump on him from behind. Arms wrapping around his neck in a choke hold. The axe returned to his inventory as he grabbed at the arms around his neck. They were invisible, his attacker was invisible.  

“Cleo, Run!” the invisible man shouted. 

She froze, the gapple halfway to her mouth “Etho?” 

“I said run!”

She turned on her heel and started running, only pausing for a moment to eat the gapple and keep going. 

Quackity clawed at the arm around his neck. This Etho guy was invisible. That ment he wasn’t wearing armor. Quackity summoned a sword in reverse grip and stabbed behind him. He heard Etho hiss as the sword grazed him. His grip loosened and Quackity was able to wrestle free. Summoning another pearl he threw it, getting away and landing near some trees. He staggered against one of the trees, coughing and rubbing his neck. He gritted his teeth, his face twisting into and ugly snarl. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She got away. And she had an accomplice.  

They made him look like an idiot. He quickly rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He had promised never to let himself feel helpless again. Never to let other people control him. Yet he had let himself get pushed around by some random Zombie and one guy with an invis pot. Fuck this. He needed to do something about this. He couldn’t let this stand.

[billylemz]

(ignore if wanted!) I have a simple question!! can you do a NSFW (story or whatever you call em) with Asa Emory, Jason Voorhees's (ofc separate lmao) and I had an idea that the reader would get caught in Jason's beartrap for his, for asa, I had an idea that they find his hotel and try to steal shit, but end up getting caught and then end up liking pain from asa (like what would his reaction be-)

Getting caught in Jason’s bear trap

I decided to do a sfw of the Jason prompt and skip on the other :) 

Warnings: non-explicit gore

Jason had heard the sound of footsteps distantly in the forest, and when he went to investigate, he saw you.

You were alone, walking through the woods with a backpack and a tall walking stick. Jason assumed that you must just be a hiker since he didn't see a sleeping bag strapped onto your back.

Jason tended to let hikers live. It was only people who were planning on staying at the camp or the woods around it that he ever went out of his way to kill. If someone was just passing through, he allowed them to go safely, which currently seemed to be he case with you.

Jason did, however, watch you from the surrounding foliage as you hiked through the woods. Usually when Jason watched people, it was with disdain as he planned their impending demise. Since he didn't have any such plans for you, he was instead watching you with curiosity.

You were softly humming to yourself as you hiked, stopping every so often to breathe in the fresh autumn air and take in your surrounding. You obviously had an appreciation for nature the same was Jason did, and this made him feel all the more certain that he wasn't going to hurt you.

There was an air of serenity in the forest as Jason followed you, just far enough to be out of sight. That serenity was quickly broken when Jason realized the direction you were walking in. More specifically, what you were walking towards.

Jason recognized the area ahead as one that he had placed one of his steel bear traps. You had no idea what you were walking into (literally), and Jason's heart raced as he tried to think of a way to keep you from stepping into the trap.

He picked up a nearby stone and hurled it through the woods to his left. At the sound of the loud noise, you froze in your tracks, looking to the direction of the sound. Jason then began to carefully creep through the woods to his right. If everything went well, you would be distracted by the sound, maybe even going to investigate it, which would give him the time he needs to sneak around you and pick up the bear trap.

"Hello? Is someone there?" You called, still looking in the direction he had thrown the stone in. Jason was trying to be as quick as he could be without making too much noise. He was sneaking around you with a wide enough berth that you wouldn't catch him in your periphery; but he couldn't go too far out, because then it would take too long to sneak around you.

He was about halfway there when you did the worst possible thing you could have done in that moment. You turned around, and saw the masked, hulking man in the woods about twenty feet away from you.

You screamed, turning and running as fast as you could in the exact direction of the bear trap. Jason's heart sank, he tried to chase after you in an attempt to grab you before it was too late, but you were much faster than him.

He had just lost sight of you when a few seconds later he heard a metal snap and a piercing shriek. The sound chilled him the way no victims screams ever had.

As he approached, he saw you sat on the forest floor, trying desperately to pry open the metal jaws of the trap. Your face was twisted in agony, and there were hot tears streaming down your cheeks as you sobbed. When you looked up and saw Jason standing there, you held up your walking stick that you had somehow managed to hold onto, attempting to use it as a weapon.

"Stay back! Get away from me!" You screamed, swinging the stick violently at the air in front of you. Jason was frozen, he had no idea what to do. You needed medical attention quickly. You were losing blood, your pantleg dark and clinging to your skin. Jason also assumed that your tibia and fibula had to be broken, maybe even shattered. Not to mention that the trap was old and rusted, so that made tetanus an additional concern. You weren't going to be able to walk without help. He couldn't take you to his cabin, you needed a hospital, and the nearest one was almost an hour away.

Jason shook his head, quieting his racing thoughts. Right. First things first, he needed to get you out of the trap. You had given up swinging at the air in front of you, panting with exhaustion, but you frantically began swinging again when Jason took a step towards you.

"No! Stay away! Leave me alone!" You sobbed. Jason held his hands up, trying to show you that he wasn't going to hurt you. You were unconvinced, which he couldn't blame you for, as you continued to try and fend him off.

Jason sighed, grabbing the walking stick as it passed in front of him. You gasped as he yanked it out of your grasp, throwing it a few feet away from you. As he continued to approach, you clenched your eyes shut tightly, now defenseless. You raised your arms in front of your face and braced yourself for whatever pain was to come.

You peeked your eyes open when you felt no pain, and instead what you saw was the masked man kneeling in front of you, both of his hands on the bear trap. He was looking you in the eyes, as if trying to convey what his intentions were.

"A-Are you going to let me out?" You whimpered meekly. He nodded once. "O-Okay." You replied, taking a deep breath before biting down on the sleeve of your jacket.

This time, pain did follow. You let out a muffled scream into your sleeve, teeth clenching down on the fabric. The spikes of the trap moving through your skin as it was released sent sharp jolts of pain shooting up your body. The man freeing you was strong however, and it didn't take more than a few seconds for him to pry open the bear trap and free your leg.

You released the sleeve from your mouth, gasping for breath. You looked down at your mangled leg and felt nauseous. Letting out a pained whimper, you got to work. You opened your backpack, taking out your water bottle, unscrewing the top, and pouring it over your wound in an attempt to flush out any bacteria. (Note to self: start bringing a first aid kit when you go hiking.)

Next, you removed your jacket and tore a sleeve off of your shirt, tying it tightly around your wound. You didn't think an artery had been cut, and you thanked the universe when you flexed your ankle and found that your Achilles tendon was still intact.

Jason watched you, not moving from where he was still kneeled on the forest floor in front of you. He was honestly impressed with your capability; not many people would act this rationally in your shoes.

He startled when you suddenly looked up at him, obviously wondering what his plans with you were. You were surprised to see him shift his weight from side to side, almost as if he were nervous.

"You're... not going to hurt me?" You asked, trying to ignore the throbbing pain coming from your leg. He quickly shook his head, looking at you with eyes that seemed... apologetic.

"You want to help me?" You supplied in an attempt to guess the man's motive for freeing you from the trap. He nodded, and while you still weren't any less apprehensive of him, you didn't have many options. "Okay," You started, "My car is back the way I came from; probably about five miles if I were to guess. My right leg is fine, so I think my best bet would be to drive to the nearest place with a phone and call for help. I think that would be the gas station about twenty minutes away; I can make it in ten."

Jason nodded, reaching out to carefully pick you up and avoid hurting your leg. You let out a small hiss of pain as he lifted you bridal style and began to walk in the direction you specified as quickly as he could without jostling you too much.

You were limp in his arms, drained from all of the adrenaline your body had released. Your eyes began to droop, before you quickly shook your head, blinking them open. You needed to stay awake; you knew that. Jason kept glancing down at you, concern tugging at his heart.

Relief washed over him when he finally saw the metal of your car parked on the side of the road at the edge of the tree line. You perked up when you saw it; seeing your salvation had given you the burst of energy you needed to stay conscious long enough to get to your destination.

Jason walked to the driver side door, crouching down to open it with the hand that was under your knees. He then carefully placed you in the seat, and closed the door. He then walked around the car to the tree line as you started the ignition. After watching you turn the car around, Jason turned to walk back into the forest, when he hear you shout from your open car window.

"Hey!" You called, making him look over his shoulder. "Uh, thank you." You said. Jason paused for a moment, before slowly nodding his head and walking into the woods as you drove away.

He was confused. It was his fault that all of this had happened in the first place, whether you realized it or not. He had felt so guilty the entire time he was carrying you to your car, and yet... You had thanked him. You had spoken to him like a person, not a monster, even if you were afraid of him. You were so unlike anyone Jason had ever seen, and he was glad that you let him help you. He would have never forgiven himself if you had died because of him. Jason smiled under his mask as he thought of you; you were someone he wouldn't soon be forgetting.

[like-rain-or-confetti]

Mind Games (Alec Volturi x Reader)

Everyone had warned you about the twins, the 'witch twins'. They were described as pure evil incarnate yet when you met them, their sadistic side was apparent, even their standoffish nature but nothing came across as pure evil. You were warned that they looked innocent but it was an act. Everyone you had ever known told you to stay away from them, no matter what they say or do. 

You tried to remember the advice, keeping it in the back of your mind as the two introduced themselves to you and even grew to befriend you. Still the advice rang in your head but you couldn't help but feel sorry for them. That perhaps they were a little misunderstood or just wanted someone. You couldn't explain how Alec drew you in. If anything he seemed to influence your friendship with Jane. Everyone had told you to stay away yet the twins were encouraging. They didn't recoil when you told them your gift as many did. 

You were honest, your gift made you do terrible things. It wasn't exactly enamoring. Perhaps that made you drawn to them more, outcasts meeting outcasts. They seemed to enjoy your ability and more specifically, the dark things you had done with it during your past. You weren’t proud of those times and they didn't lecture you or encourage you to do worse. Instead they accepted it, they had done some pretty wicked things and anyone who didn't was associated with someone who had. Seemingly that's just how it is in the vampire world. 

Somehow, the friendship naturally progressed to Alec wanted to stay behind to spend more time with you. It was always talking in the most secluded areas where no one would find you. The forest, against a particular large tree, moss acting as a seat. In fields and meadows where you both would be hidden sitting among the grass. The two of you would just roam, finding the perfect spot to sit and enjoy the moment. Neither of you brought up the progression of the friendship. It came natural when you both began to sit that little more closer than before. Lingering touches, like Alec running his finger along the side of your jaw absentmindedly. It was easy to be around Alec. You didn't always have to talk, explain yourself. He already knew. The atmosphere was intense but never uncomfortable. The world continued on but you and Alec were stuck in your own bubble. 

You turned your head and suddenly jerked back with yelp. Alec turned his own head quickly to you. "What did you do? I looked away for two seconds!" "That bit of grass went up my nose." You heaved, covering your face. "Wait... seriously?" Alec's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah. I literally moved into it." You replied, still cradling your nose. "Are you being dramatic? Surely you-" You cut Alec off. "No, trust me. It went straight up there. It went so far up my nose that I think it could reach some distant childhood memories." Alec couldn't help but laugh. "You're an idiot! Are you okay?" "Yeah, think so." You nodded, grabbing the specific blade of grass, tearing it from the roots and tossing it behind you. "Now I've had vengeance." Alec shook his head with an amused smile. "I can't believe you did that. Pay attention to your surroundings! What had you so distracted?" 

That was a tricky question, because you had been thinking about him at the time. However you couldn't tell him that. "I don't know." You shrugged, looking down at the ground. "That's a lie." Alec pointed out. You knew you couldn't lie to Alec, but it had been worth the try. "If I tell you, you can't freak out." You began. "That's concerning. Should I be worried?" Alec asked. "No, it's not bad but it's a secret. If I tell you, you can't freak out." Alec nodded in response. You stared at him momentarily, clearly very nervous. Quickly, you leaned in, meetings Alec's lips with your own. He stayed very still and you decided it was best if you pulled back. Although when you did, Alec immediately chased after your lips, this time kissing you. His hand moving to pull your face closer to him. 

That kiss remained a secret, although a happy one. Never to be mentioned around anyone else. Everyone told you to stay away from the twins, that they were dangerous. You probably should have listened. 

When another two men who were introduced as Felix and Demetri, met you in the place you were to meet the twins along with them, you knew something wasn't right. You grew nervous with the feeling as though you had just stepped into a trap. You took a step back, your unease written all over your face. "Calm down." Alec said as the two twins stepped closer. "We're friends, aren't we?" "Friends?" You repeated. "Yes." Alec smiled slightly. "Well, you and I may be a little closer than that." With a small smirk, Alec ran his fingers along his bottom lip. "We're friends." Jane continued. "We'd like to take you to meet more friends." Alec continued. Jane stopped but Alec took a larger step forward, his dark most surrounding you in seconds. You slumped forward, into Alec's shoulder. He hummed in amusement. "Well that was a little too easy for my liking." Felix chuckled. You had begun to slide of Alec's shoulder but before you could hit the ground Felix scooped you up. 

Your eyes snapped open, Alec's mist retracting. You sat up with a startled gasp. You looked around to see a room that was made of stone and marble. Before you sat three vampires. "Ah, young (Y/N), you're awake!" You quickly moved to your feet and in seconds you had the twins to your right, Demetri and Felix stood to your left. All four had their eyes latched on you for any sudden movements. The man in the middle descended the stairs to his throne with a gleam in his eyes. "Our sincerest apologies for not making your acquaintance sooner. I'm afraid we had other matters to attend to. Although I hear nothing but good things about you. Our dear Alec, told us so much about you." He stepped closer. "My name is Aro, behind me are my brothers, Marcus and Caius." Aro gestured to each as though this was a friendly introduction. You, however, were still in the mindset that you had been brought here against your will. That, you wouldn't forget so easily. 

Aro's hand locked onto yours. He hummed quietly in amusement. “There's so much in your mind. It branches out into others. I don't know where to begin. You see, my dear, your mind doesn't seem to work like others. People minds are so easy to read, their thoughts just come to me but for you, cara mia, it appears I must decide where to look." Your head snapped up. "Get out of my head!" You screamed. Your fingers wiggled free of Aro's. Your own fingers covering his in a tight grip that was painful. Suddenly Aro couldn't see in your head anymore. Aro gasped, a sharp pain coursing through his head. His own mind flashing before his eyes and that was when he had realised this was you. Almost like a filing cabinet, every thought he had ever had, every memory, you rifled through them all quickly. Each tiny detail became agonizing. Aro began to cry out in pain."Get out!" You didn't, only continuing to poke through his brain. He finally tore his hand free from your grasp, staggering back. Aro couldn't help but look at your hand. Your fingers wiggled slightly, resembling the motion he could imagine someone's fingers would make hunting through a filing cabinet. You glared at him. "Dungeons." Aro seethed. "Take them to the dungeons!" 

"Demetri..." Your voice echoed in his mind. "You track the mind. Cling to tenors of people, I see...so many people." Demetri clenched his jaw, slowing to a stop. "Get out of my head." "No." You said simply. Demetri silently cursed himself. He knew he shouldn't have touched you. Yet he did so without thinking and now you had tapped into his head. "That's so bizarre...it's like intangible ropes, pulling you towards everyone." "You're a parasite! Get out of my head!" Demetri seethed. You seemed to laugh at this. "You did it to yourself. You can't blame me for what goes on in your head. At the end of the day...I'm in the dungeons." Your voice lowered, becoming more forceful. "You put me here." 

Suddenly the corridor before him shifted. He couldn't explain it but before his eyes was a seemingly endless hallway with doors, that branched out into more corridors with doors. A maze that was on going. Mazes were never an issue for Demetri, he just had to follow the scent of who he was hunting and he'd find his way out on his own. However this seemed to not be the case this time. Demetri noticed that every direction, the pull of his gift sent him. He couldn't latch onto one particular person and the scents were so tangled that it seemed as though everyone was everywhere all at the same time, leaving no room untouched. Demetri then knew that you were messing with his head, his gift, just as you had done so to Aro. "A parasite, you say..." You mused. "...have you ever looked in the mirror and hated what looked back at you?" Demetri wasn't going to give you the pleasure of an answer, however you continued without skipping a beat. "I think I'm more of a reflection. Or more specifically, a reflection of your gift. I'm reflecting your gift that you press onto others, back onto you and now your poor little brain is all confused." Demetri could hear the pout in your voice and it only aggravated him more. 

Five hours had passed, you'd gone quiet quite some time ago. Almost immediately after mocking him. However, things were not back to normal. In fact, for the past five hours he's been roaming the halls. Doors led to more corridors and even more doors. There was no pattern, just a constant loop that even going backwards didn't seem to have any use. Since then, Demetri had lost all sense of direction and had no idea where he had started. Although to his surprise, when turning another corner, the scene had finally changed. He looked back seeing the same normal corridor he had looked at for all these hours but turning that corner lay ahead a different corridor and the very one he had been heading for. Whatever influence you had over his head, it was gone. 

Jane's visit was surprising and very rushed. She held up a bag of blood. Who really knew where she got that from but blood bags weren't as appetizing as from the vein. You were willing to bet she hadn't even heated it up. "Here. For you. I'm afraid I can only give you one, but it'll be enough to keep the thirst at bay." She put her hand through the bars, holding out the bag. You stared at her. "Hurry up or I'll drop it." Jane said coldly. This is probably the most loving you had ever seen her and is probably the best she's capable of being nice. You moved forward and took it from her. "Thanks and thanks for adding some attitude with it. It's great to see you too." Jane rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to sit and watch you complain." "Apparently you're not going to be my friend either." You shot back. "You're being ridiculous. I'm busy, I have a job to do. I can't coddle you until you come around. I am your friend and so take that as some friendly advice." "Coddle!?" You snapped incredulously. "You kidnapped me! Where was the coddling you speak of exactly!?" "Yes, we did. However this isn't a bad place to be and you aren't being tortured." Jane responded simply. "You can't be serious." You said in awe. "Jane, if I took you to the Cullen's against your will and told you that you should be happy because it isn't a bad place to be, would you be happy!?" "I don't have time for this." Jane insisted. "I could have just left you down here to starve but I didn't. I took time out of my day to make sure you're a little more comfortable. If you don't believe we're friends then that isn't my problem. That's yours. I've been nothing but honest the whole time." "Wow. Thank you so much Jane for putting me in this situation and keeping me comfortable." You responded with sarcasm. "Keep talking to me like that and i'll-" Jane began but you interrupted. "Or what? You'll put me in the dungeon? Oh wait." Your eyes narrowed on her with a cold gaze.  "Are you sure you want to test me, (Y/N)?" Jane asked. "Are you?" You responded. Jane didn't answer in words but the agony you quickly felt responded for her. Although you were just as quick to remember how to make the pain stop. You grabbed her arm before falling to the ground. She tore her arm away with a growl but the damage was already done. You looked into her eyes and suddenly you didn't feel the pain anymore, Jane on the other hand, let out a very loud scream, immediately collapsing to the ground. Somehow, she couldn't stop the pain, even when she immediately halted inflicting her gift. Yet the pain kept going. With bars separating you both, it was then you who stood over her. "Does that hurt?" You asked lightly as she continued to scream. "I hope that hurts." You said, eyes boring into Jane. "A lot." You added. 

Suddenly Alec came rushing down the stairs along with Felix, Demetri and Santiago. You released Jane and Alec wasted no time upon arrival rushing to his sister's side. You smiled at the guards before turning away to lie down on the stone bench. As soon as Alec was certain his twin was right he shot you a glare. "You know, you're glaring at me like this is my fault. Like I wasn't the one taken here against my will and threatened with torture." You turned your head, eyes meeting Alec's. "And you want me to believe I was ever your friend?" "We are your friends but we also have orders and our limits." "Only with everyone else, Alec. Neither of you were ever taught when to stop." Your smile vanishing. "You got your sister, now go away."

Aro, Caius and Marcus approached your cell quietly and you smiled sweetly. "Demetri said you'd be back. You did." Your smile vanished. "Good." You said with a lower tone of voice. "We've been trying to understand your gift. It's been quite a conundrum." Aro began. "Oh really?" You responded blankly. "Do you know what it is?" Caius asked. "No, but it's very good for self defense." You said flatly. "We have concluded that you mimic gifts after physical contact with them." Aro continued. "Therefore, you aren't a mind reader, you copied my gifts and used them against me." A flash of anger crossed Aro's face before returning to a stoic demeanor. "You should never look into someone's mind without permission." You agreed. "It's fascinating though isn't it?" "What is?" Aro responded. "People are like doors to us. One touch and we're in. Yours is very nice. It's consistent. You know what to expect. For me, I could be given anything. Vampires with abilities are much more interesting. Those without, it's just pure mind control. I confuse them all the time, they never know what they're actually seeing.", You cracked a smile. "I made one jump off a cliff for no reason. Although, Carlisle was helping me to be a better person. Anyway, that is irrelevant. The point is, you've gotten very comfortable opening doors. Now you're discovering that some doors should never be opened." You stared at Aro. "You should have never looked into my head because now I've looked in yours." You watched as Aro stiffened again, his eyes piercing through you with a deadly look. You stared back into his eyes. "It kills you to think of how much I discovered in the seconds I was in your head. Doesn't it?" Aro didn't respond and you continued. "You even know that if you tried to find out, I'd be back in your head again and I would only do the same as before." "Alec tells us that you've never been so hostile during his time with you." Aro says, moving the conversation before you could say anymore. "That happens when your kidnapped by someone who you thought was a friend. I'm more than aware this was the plan all along." "You could make this easier if you'd join us. You'd be very happy here." Aro responded.  "Easier for you." You corrected. "No thanks." "Then you'll remain here until you change your mind and you will, my dear. You will change your mind." You cracked an amused smile. "We'll see." 

To your surprise, Alec visited you alone. You remained silent. "You know I don't like you being down here." Alec admitted. "You're the one who put me here." You responded. "Felix and Demetri did actually." Alec shot back and you cracked an amused smile. "Whatever." "Would you forgive me?" Alec asked, joking long gone. "If I said I was sorry for our intentions, for ensuring you ended up here. Would you forgive me?" "That depends on what happens next." You responded quietly. "Forever is an awfully long time to be held captive." 

In seconds Alec curled his fingers around the bars, leaning in close. "Just... come up to the bars." Alec said. Slowly you sat in front of the bars, leaning forward slightly. "You shouldn't have brought me here." You told him simply. "My ability is addictive, you know that. I'll hurt people." "That doesn't change my mind about you. Just...don't do that to my sister again. You know-" "She started it." You interrupted. "I know...and I spoke to her." Alec responded. "I told her I didn't appreciate it. She didn't like it herself because she really had began to consider you a friend.We all have bad habits. You're just as quick to use your gift as Jane is to use her own." "You know if you let me out...if you were my friend, you would." Alec smiled sadly, raising a hand to your cheek. "I can't. Perhaps in a perfect world I could, but I'm not perfect, no one is and this world will never be perfect." You looked down in disappointment but didn't move away from his hand. He looked at you momentarily before using the grip he had on the side your face and pulling you towards the bars. He met your lips between the spaces of the bars with his own. In that moment, he had proven what his words could not. He knew the power he had given you with even the lightest of touches yet had given it anyway. A sign of complete trust. Alec broke the kiss. "I want you to stay. Just...think about that." He moved away, letting go. He sent you one last look before heading back upstairs, leaving you alone in the dungeons once more. 

 It wasn't often Alec spent some time alone. There was something about the leave and quiet, the silence enveloped him and put him at ease. He didn't think it would have been possible for someone with super hearing to ever have such a thing as silence. Yet everyone seemed to learn how to be silent, unnoticed. Every movement is graceful and quiet. Knowing you were several floors below him was comforting. In his eyes, the closer you were, the safer you were. Although he couldn't completely enjoy it. You didn't want to be there. Alec wasn't stupid, he knew you didn't just mean the dungeons and he wasn't going to pretend. You didn't want to be there, in the castle. It took you time to ever feel safe in an area. Volterra was so new that it was no surprise that you wanted to flee. Although Alec still hoped you'd stay. If you wanted to stay with him, it would make everything better. Aro wanted you and he'd never let you go. You were clever enough to figure that out. Although you were too stubborn to accept it. Alec lay back on his bed. He rarely used it much like the rest of the vampires in the castle. Although they could appreciate a soft place to land so they were always given if requested. Alec closed his eyes with a deep, unnecessary exhale. When his eyes opened, they widened. You loomed over Alec, smiling, like a predator that had caught it's prey. "Aren't you happy to see me?" "You're not supposed to be here. How did you-?" Alec moved to sit up but realised very quickly that he couldn't move and it wasn't your weight holding him down. He looked over at his hands as best as he could, they didn't even twitch. He looked back up at you startled. "Not a nice feeling is it? To not be able to move but, it could be worse. That's only one of your senses. You take away all five. However, you'll need the other ones. Well, maybe not your sense of smell." You asked. Alec's eyes as suddenly that was gone too. "You did this to me to bring me here and countless others. Are you scared? Like I was to wake up in an unknown place?" Your hands cradled Alec's head. "For what it's worth..." You softly pressed your lips to his in a brief, sweet kiss. You straightened up again. "Although that isn't what I intend to do. I want you to feel the fear I did, that I do." 

Suddenly a match was in your hand. Within a second it was lit. Alec's eyes widened even more in terror. His only fear, fire. You moved it towards his face. "Stop!" He said quickly. You only smiled, moving off of him to lay over him. Your back on his chest, legs in-between his and your head resting next to his on his pillow. You hushed him softly. "It's okay. This isn't real, remember?" Alec swallowed hard, doing his best to remember that. However it didn't make it any easier. "I'd never burn you. However this is the one thing that scares you." You began. "If you hurt me, I'll hurt you. You know that's how it works and these friends of yours have only hurt me. Including you and Jane." Your fingers suddenly curled around the open flame. "Don't!" Alec said quickly, waiting for a cry of pain or the smell of burning flesh- despite having no sense of smell. Although the cry never came. You squeezed your fist tightly around the match, as though suffocating it. When you loosened your hold, revealing the match. It was no longer lit and of any use. "I don't want to hurt you." Alec ground out. "So don't make me. Pull stunts like this and I'll have no choice." You moved off of him, instead rolling into his side. You moved his face to the side, making him look at you. "You said I wasn't evil, yet this place...you make me do evil things. I can do good with this power." Your face changed to one of sadness, looking into Alec's eyes. "I could have loved you once." You said quietly.  Without thinking Alec moved his hand to your face. You gasped and Alec seemed just as surprised since he couldn't feel anything else. Yet he had moved his hands. Before anything could be said, a weight was lifted from him, he could feel and smell everything and you were no longer in the room. 

 You looked down at your hands. Your time with Alec priced that you could use his gift against him. As long as you didn't let anyone else touch you, you could bide your time and escape. However when that time came, your plan didn't work out too well. 

It took three days but you decided that Felix -alone- was the best opportunity you'd get. Alec's gift worked momentarily but you had to touch Felix work it to work and the more contact meant the more Alec's gift trickled away from your control. Felix was frozen in place for only moments before Alec's gift faded away entirely. Like clockwork, Felix lunged. You knew you couldn't let him get his hands around your neck. If he did, it was over. You didn't know if Felix was gifted either, it had never been mentioned before but you knew this man was stronger than other vampires...including you. You caught Felix's arms, doing your best to push against him. Slowly he began overpowering you. Suddenly it stopped. It became apparent you seemed to find strength within yourself, a strength you didn't know you had. That was when you realised, whilst push back against Felix, the strength wasn't yours at all. It was his. Although it wouldn't be enough to push back. You couldn't let Felix catch on your realisation before it was too late. So with a spur of the moment decision that could have been very very stupid, you twisted his arms. 

You heard sickening cracks, Felix's arms twisting to the elbow in a very unnatural angle and became useless. You quickly tripped him to the ground. "So sorry about this. I just need some more time.” You slammed his head against the stone ground. Cracks forming along his face, neck and no doubt the back of his head- the impact point. You hurried up the stairs to be met with Afton, another guard you had met during your time here. You yelped in panic as you grabbed his hands instinctively and throwing him down the stairs of the dungeons. Before you took off running you heard his landing before Afton let out a startled. "Felix!?" You wanted to kick yourself. You hadn't intended on grabbing Afton's hands which meant Felix's strength was gone. As far as you knew, Afton didn't have a gift or anything that could help you. You had to create as much distance as you could with the dungeons and you had no doubt the Volturi was well aware of your escape by now. You weren't exactly quiet in your execution of the plan. 

You found yourself in a large hall of sorts, following the scent of fresh air but it was certainly a process given all the rooms. Within seconds you were grabbed, turned to face the one responsible before tackled to the ground. You realised it was Alec who had a tight grip on your arms. "Stop fighting us!" Alec hissed. "Y'know, what I was called a while ago?" You grinned, struggling against him. "A parasite. Although as far as I see it, nothing I do can get rid of you so who's the parasite now!" You growled as you tried to break Alec's grip that locked you in place but to no avail. "Stop it!" Alec responded. "No!" You snapped back. "You were always going to bring me here. Everyone was right about you. You lied to me. You pretended to be my friend. Hell, you even let me kiss you! I bet you enjoyed how much your little game worked didn't you!?" "Stop talking! You don't know anything! Yes I was sent to find out about you and eventually bring you back but I actually did grow attached." You struggled even more but Alec's grip only got tighter. "Damn it, (Y/N), stop fighting me!" Alec threw you to the ground before pinning you down. You screamed in frustration. Alec had much more experience in combat than you did and you despised how easy you had made it for him. You yelped as you felt his mist creep across your body. "No!" You screamed almost in panic. The last time this happened, you woke up in Italy, where all this began. Alec shushed you as your body went limp. Much like you had done to Alec before, he made sure you couldn't move but could talk, see, hear and smell. You were trapped in your own body. Fear rushed through you. 

Alec loomed over you. "Listen to me, (Y/N)." He said firmly to you. "You think I lied to you about how I feel but I didn't. You think I want to hurt you but I don't and you want to hate me but you don't. You know I will always protect you if you would just stop fighting. I need you to stop. I need you here with me." Suddenly the smallest whine escaped him with a word you never thought he'd say. "Please...please." You were quiet for a moment. "Maybe, if things were different it would be easier to say 'i love you', don't you think?" You asked. "You can't keep me." You whispered. Alec slowly shook his head. Denial. "You can't." You continued firmly. "I can't be a part of Aro's collection and you can't use my feelings to keep me here. I don't want to be a weapon. I want to be me. Don't you understand? My power can make me a terrible person and it's up to me to save you from that person." Alec slowly shook his head. "I won't let you." He said quietly. "I know." You whispered back. "I still have to try." Your brow furrowed as though lifting something heavy. A small whimper escaped you and Alec realised what you had done when the same numb feeling he had felt before and given to many others, travelled up his legs and into every bit of his body. In seconds, he couldn't move, whilst you gained feeling back. You rolled him off you gently. "Don't leave me." He mumbled out as best as he could. You said nothing. Instead moving to stand up before you began to walk away. "(Y/N), don't leave me!" 

 You hurried to maintain some distance again, not knowing how long Alec would stay like that whilst you weren't around. You panicked when you entered another room that was massive. A hallway that had large stone stairs that seemed lead to upstairs on either direction like a 'T'. "No..." You couldn't help but utter. This couldn't be the right way. However, you froze when you heard someone behind you. You turned and much to your horror, it wasn't one person but two. 

"We really should have kept Eleazar around. Perhaps then we could have found you years ago." Caius walked towards you, his eyes trained on you. Marcus looked behind him, his eyes also trained on you. "(Y/N)? That's your name isn't it?" Caius asked. You moved up a stair. "You really do have the wrong impression of us, truly. You see, we protect our kind from the human world. We must in these times. Humans have the technology to hurt us after all. We make sure there is justice and protection for our kind. That's all." Caius finished, just below the stairs. Never did he tear his gaze from you. 

Slowly he began to ascend the stairs, all the while you moved up more stairs to keep the separation. "Gifts like yours are very difficult to hide from us, rumours run like wildfires in our kind. Yet here you are. Only now in our sights. Tell us, little one. Where have you been hiding?" After a pause and your silence, Caius continued to ascend the stairs and you did the same. "We can make you an offer, one that is unheard of for our coven to give." "Lucky me." You mumbled, trying to keep as much distance as possible. Your comment, surprisingly, went ignored. "The Volturi do not give second chances but you, for your cooperation, we could make an exception. You'd have to keep that a secret. We cannot give such chances to just anyone." As he got closer, Caius put out his hands where you could see them but he could also use that same stance to attack you. It wasn't comforting. "We could help you with that gift. Help you with our way of life. You could live long and well. Our food comes to us, you wouldn't have to hunt." 

Marcus was suddenly at the bottom of the stairs and he then spoke up. "My gift senses relationships. I can see your relationship to Alec...and Jane. You don't have anyone else. You keep everyone out, but you want a family. You want people to depend on. We can be your family, we can be the ones you depend on." "You must be desperate to keep me here, to do this yourselves." You said, finally at the top of the stairs. "It'd be unfortunate to have to kill you." Caius responded. "You know my answer." You responded flatly. Caius' eyes narrowed on you, with a slight scowl. "Pity." Just before you could your hands around Caius' neck. He grabbed your arms and threw you down the steps. 

You looked up at him as he descended down the stairs, not even in a hurry. You turned quickly, noticing Marcus was only feet away. You hissed, no longer noticing your now dislocated shoulder that had broken your fall at an odd angle. Caius wrapped his hands around your neck, his knee pressing down painfully on your diaphragm. "Oh my, little one. It seems you only picked up my temper this time. Don't you know that I don't have a gift? Just thousand of years of experience." He smirked down at you as you heard more footsteps approaching. "I've got them." Caius said to whoever had entered. You couldn't move to see who it was. "Wonderful! Well done!" Aro's cheery voice rang out. That was one set of footsteps accounted for. "Let us fix that arm." Marcus bent down to your side and you tried to flail away from him but Caius grip only got tighter. 

Marcus took your arm, surprisingly gently before forcefully tugging your arm back. You tried to pull away from him again but couldn't move under Caius' weight. Once again Marcus tugged forcefully downwards on your arm and with a second popping sound, your arm was back in place.  "There, that must feel better." You could practically hear Aro's smile. Caius hauled you up. His grip on you still tight. It was Aro, Felix, Demetri, the twins and Chelsea. "Alec?" Aro turned to him with a nod. 

In seconds Alec was in front of you and Caius' grip had loosened. Alec pulled you into an embrace, much to your surprise and didn't let go. He continued to hold you to him as with another nod, Chelsea was beside you. She leaned in and began to whisper in your ear. You seemed to catch on what was happening as you gasped and tried to pull away from Alec. However he was stronger, holding you to him very much like he would a hug. Maybe it was. You didn't know. You felt yourself begin to relax into him as Chelsea continued to whisper. You squeezed your eyes shut, a small whimper escaped you as you realised you were losing. They were winning. 

She reassured you, making everything seem okay. Reminding you of your bond with Alec, telling you about how they could help you and would love to consider you one of their coven. You could feel your bonds being tampered with, solidifying bonds that hadn't even existed before. Suddenly you felt no bad feelings for the three leaders. Most of all, you wanted, no, needed to stay with Alec. Forever. 

In that moment, you knew you had lost. She pulled back. Nodding to Aro before stepping away. Alec leaned back to look at you, his eyes sad yet relieved. As though he was finally sure you were safe. He kissed your lips, then the corner of your mouth and then your cheek before moving back into the original embrace.

[tallstars-rewrite]

Chapter 36

chapter list / previous / next

“So what is it you call them again?” Talltail’s eyes narrowed skeptically.

“They’re called cars, so I’ve been told.” Jake replied. 

They were crouched a fox-length away from a bright red shiny monster sitting quietly in front of a twoleg den.

“Is it dead?” Talltail asked, instinctively keeping his voice quiet as if he half expected the thing to roar to life any moment.

“I don’t even think they’re alive. At least, it certainly doesn’t smell alive. All I know is when housefolk gets inside one, they start moving”

“Hm.” Talltail kicked a small pebble at it. Nothing. Jake was right about that, they certainly didn’t smell like any living thing. “And what about the lights in their eyes? It’s not fire, but there are lights like that all over the twoleg places.”

“I dunno, housefolk are just good at making light that isn’t hot I guess. Between us, I think their eyesight in the dark is awful.”

“So you don’t even know how twolegs make the things they do?”

“Not really,” Jake shrugged. “But do you understand exactly how plants grow or how birds can fly?”

“Well...no, they just do. I suppose...you sort of have a point.” Talltail admitted. “But I still don’t trust these things. They sound like monsters to me. Let’s keep going, I don’t like looking at it’s eyes, even if they aren’t alive.”

They walked through gardens, keeping to the grass and sparse trees alongside the hard stone Thunderpaths and trails. As the dusky sky turned to a pale gray dawn, they saw twolegs every so often, and many of them paused to look at the two cats walking side by side. Talltail didn’t like going past them, but after narrowly escaping another aggressive group of strays, and a lost dog, Jake eventually convinced Talltail that twolegs were the lesser of the two evils. So, daylight travel it was.

“Just don’t make eye contact,” Jake said. “They’re slow, so even if they want to pet us, we can just run and they’ll give up.”

“They just try petting every animal that walks by!?” Talltail hissed.

“Well some of them, if they can.”

Talltail snorted. The absolute arrogance of assuming that because a couple cats liked them, that meant every cat wanted to be their friend. I don’t try to groom every cat I walk by because that would be weird, Talltail thought with an irritated twitch of his tail. But he was quickly finding most twolegs weren’t necessarily the ruthless predators he’d imagined them to be in his youth. They were, however, incredibly annoying.

But on the brighter side, he’d found that he really had started to get used to the sounds of the town, even though it was still overwhelming. They had to duck behind a house every now and again when a particularly loud string of monsters passed.

“We’re almost there,” Jake assured him. “I’m...mostly sure of it. When we were on the roof, I got a better idea of where we were. The alley cats chased us in the wrong direction, but we should be able to get there without crossing anyone's territory.”

After only a couple more turns down the stone path, Jake raised his tail. “Ah! There it is!” he exclaimed. “See those tall trees up ahead? I’m sure that’s where the park is.”

“Is this ‘park’ actually...safe?” Talltail asked as they grew closer. In the distance, he knew the pines that bordered ShadowClan’s territory were close. There was a ring of twoleg dens blocking it, but such a forested area would surely house prey to some cat.

“Well, twolegs walk through it with their dogs, but they have them on leashes. Don’t worry, I know not all dogs are like Dusty. I won’t make you get slobbered by any more of them,” Jake added quickly when he saw Talltail’s alarm.

“I appreciate that,” Talltail said with a shudder.

The park was a large area with sparse patches of woods and bushes surrounded by large grassy fields. Not the fields Talltail was used to, but very short soft grass that would be impossible to hide in, and most of it stank of stale dog scent. Talltail thought he would be able to relax once they’d reached a more natural familiar area, but even this place felt very...off compared to the woodland and fields he knew. Like the plants and trees were all too...neat.

“Well, it’s still better than the town,” Talltail sighed. “But where to start looking…”

“What exactly are you planning on doing when you find them?” Jake asked with a sideways glance.

“Uh...” Talltail paused. He hadn’t been thinking of it in detail, he’d just been repeatedly telling himself that he’d figure it out when he got there. “I’ll... figure it out when I get there?” he said.

“You don’t want to fight all of them do you?” Jake’s eyes were round with concern.

“No, of course not.” Talltail for the first time felt a stab of guilt for the visitors when he thought of Mole, Reena, and her parents. They had been so kind. Reena had even been his friend for a while. They wouldn’t think so kindly of him after this, but their feelings couldn’t be at the front of his mind. They were protecting a bad cat. Sparrow didn’t even care about the others as much as Hen, he’d practically said so himself. If Talltail could just get Sparrow away from the others somehow, they wouldn’t have to get involved at all.

While he was thinking, Jake had gotten distracted and was looking up at a massive oak tree with long hanging branches splaying out. He had an eager light in his eyes, like a kit hunting a drifting feather.

“We could…get higher? Maybe if we got high up we could see if there are any cats around, or even the pond we’re looking for. I bet you could see the whole area from up there, and the branches are low enough to jump to.”

Talltail looked doubtfully up at the tree. WindClan had keener eyes than most cats, but his nose was still better for searching. Maybe Jake had other motives.

But It’s not as if we’re running out of time. If they’ve hung around for this long, they’ll hang around longer… Talltail thought. He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Jake looked back at him, “You don’t think it’s too dangerous?”

“Well...maybe it’s risky, but less dangerous than what we’ve already done. It’s not as if I’ll let you fall.”

Jake’s plumy red tail flicked high, his vibrant eyes glowing with a mischievous excitement. “Bet I can get up it faster."

With that, he crouched and leapt, hooking his claws into the lowest branch and hoisting himself all the way up with an agility Talltail hadn’t expected from such a stocky cat. Talltail bunched his muscles and jumped up after him, and his paws touched the branch without requiring him to scramble the rest of the way. Keeping his momentum, he jumped again to the next nearest branch up.

He got so caught up in the challenge, Talltail was almost on the fourth branch before he remembered he’d never actually climbed a tall tree in his entire life. He made the mistake of looking down, and the ground below felt dizzyingly far, even though it didn’t feel like he’d gone very high.

“What’s wrong? I’ll be napping at the top before you get there!” Jake called. Great StarClan, how had he gotten three branches above him? 

Talltail looked up. “You know uh...there’s not really many trees like this on the moor.”

“Then this’ll be good practice! Every cat should know how to climb trees!”

“What am I, ThunderClan?” Talltail grumbled. Staring up while newly aware of the drop below him, he felt significantly less confident with his leaps. “Er, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“How did you get up there exactly?”

“Climbed.”

“Alright, yes, but be more specific.”

“You’re half way up! How did you get to where you are?” the ginger tom flashed him a cheeky grin.

“Dumb luck? I don’t trust my paws! Can’t you tell me where you put yours?”

“Well, I trust your paws, and you should too! Just keep your eyes on where you want to be.”

Swallowing his doubt, Talltail balanced himself with his tail and found it a reliable weight as ever as he leapt. Jake stopped past the halfway point up the massive tree. The branches were separated enough that they could see the whole area around them, but too thin to climb further. For a moment Talltail could almost pretend he wasn’t surrounded on all sides by twolegs with their bizarre dens and contraptions. The call of alarmed birds disturbed from their perching was a welcome sound blocking out the distant rumble of crossing Thunderpaths. He had learned his lesson about looking down and carefully lay himself on the branch to catch his breath. 

Jake lay across from him, and looked thoughtfully at Talltail’s paws. “Huh,” he said, “I didn’t expect you to have duller claws than me.” He flexed his small needle sharp claws and scraped them on the branch. 

“They’re not as sharp, but they're a lot sturdier.” Talltail flexed a paw. “And those wounds are harder to close,” he added with a wink.

But it was true his claws didn’t hook into the bark as deep as he would like. He usually only needed them to grip soft earth while running, or digging.

“How high up do you think a cat can jump from without getting hurt?” Jake asked abruptly, gazing below at the dizzying drop with an amused twitch of his whiskers. He looked like he was enjoying himself somehow.

Talltail glared at him. “Do not ask me that right now.”

Jake snorted with laughter which petered into a quiet purr of contentment as the sun dripped through the branches and danced over his fur. He really did have the brightest orange pelt Talltail had ever seen. The sun caught the ginger and it glowed like the warm fire Jake’s twoleg kept in their home, the vivid stripes swirling along his tufted flanks broken up where the fur was longest. Talltail had never spent so much time trying to memorize all the details of a cat's face. It was odd, the little leap of happiness he felt fluttering around in his heart. Sometimes he caught his breath and it skipped in a way he couldn’t recall ever feeling before when looking at a cat. That’s...weird. Am I getting sick?

He scarcely realized he was staring when he noticed Jake was also looking intently at his face as well. 

Talltail blinked at him. “What is it?”

Jake stretched out and touched his nose to Talltail’s cheek. “Thanks for humoring me. I’m glad you’ve let me come with you this long,” he purred.

“I wouldn’t say I’m humoring you, I wouldn’t even have gotten here without you,” Talltail replied. His ears twitched as he tried to hide the fur prickling on the nape of his neck and the warm blush rushing under his pelt from the unexpected touch. What in StarClan is wrong with me? I think the height is making me light headed.

“I mean with this climb,” Jake laughed. “My friends would have said it was fluff-brained or dangerous and told me to stop messing around. Not that I blame them, we are really high up.”

“Don’t remind me,” Talltail gulped. “I just want to enjoy the view and pretend the ground is nearby. Don’t you have friends who do this with you?”

“They’ll come on long walks with me. I like Quince and Nutmeg, but they don’t always understand me. Sometimes I just feel...this pull to do something different, like in my gut, and I have to do it. Like I see a faraway place from my roof and I think ‘what does everything look like from there?’ And I so desperately want to go there and see.”

Talltail nodded, his whiskers twitching in amusement. It was similar to that excitable longing to dash to the horizon he felt when he was young. It had been a long time since he’d dwelled on it.

Jake continued, “I can’t live my whole life every day eating, sleeping, grooming, even though I like it. I feel like...there’s something else out there, and I’ll be restless until I find out what it is. That’s why I was so glad to meet you again... I love my friends and neighbors, well-- most of them, Tyr can get stuffed. But sometimes I worry I’m annoying them with my fancies.”

Talltail blinked at Jake in surprise. “I can’t imagine any cat finding you annoying.”

Jake snorted. “Oh Talltail, you haven’t been around me long enough! Driving cats up the walls is a talent of mine.”

“Well you’ve certainly driven me up a tree, so there’s that. No other cat would be able to do that.” Talltail rested his chin on his paws. The sun felt so nice warming the dark fur on his back, he’d forgotten all about scanning the area for other cats. 

Jake stretched and inched his forepaws on either side of Talltail. “I’m glad I know you,” he purred.

Talltail was a little caught off guard. “Thanks.” 

“You’re welcome.”

“Well…. I’m...glad I know you too?” 

They sat there in the branches passively grooming each other's ears, and Talltail listened to the breeze whisk through his fur. It wasn’t the familiar winds he grew up with, but he swore he could almost smell the moor carried on them from far away. Before the homesickness could creep up on him again, Jake yawned and stretched.

“Ok, we’ve stalled long enough, we should probably get down now.”

“Right, erm, down.” Talltail still wasn’t brave enough to look.

“Don’t worry, it’s not as if I’ll let you fall. Promise.” Jake winked.

“Are you going to catch me?” Talltail snorted. “I probably weigh as much as you do.”

“I could carry you if I had to! It’s not all fluff under here.”

 Talltail was still doubtful of that, but Jake’s confidence in the whole situation was at least easing his nerves a little.

“I climb trees like this all the time, it’s much easier than it looks. Surely you won’t have too much trouble balancing with that tail of yours.”

Talltail swayed on his paws as he, unfortunately, finally glanced down at the dizzying drop through the branches. Oh stars… He kept his eyes firmly on Jake’s tail and paws, one branch at a time, flinching with each tentative jump, but after some coaxing and at least one instance of Jake grabbing his scruff to steady them, Talltail at last landed down onto safe grass again. He still trembled a bit even as he flexed his claws into the soft earth 

“See, that wasn’t so bad!” Jake chirped.

“Says you, I can't believe you put yourself through that all the time.”

“The height is kind of a rush though, isn’t it?”

“If by rush, you mean vividly imagining the air rushing by me as I plummet to my death? Then yes, absolutely.”

“Aw I bet you could climb all sorts of things if you set your mind to it!” Jake grinned at him.

“I prefer to use my tail for steering my turns,” Talltail retorted. “WindClan are not the climbers of the forest. An old clanmate of mine, Aspenfall, took to climbing better than the rest of us, but he was still pretty bad at it.”

“You really do all have such funny names don’t you?” Jake replied. “Who else is there?”

“What, in my whole clan? well...my mentor was called Dawnstripe. I’m sure I’ve told you about Briarpaw, he’s the one training to be a medicine cat. I had a friend called Ryewhisker as well, and Fawnleap and Lilywhisker...” He listed off several more names as Jake stared. Talltail of course still knew everyone by heart.

“That’s so many cats, how do you keep track of them all?”

“That’s not even half of them! They’re your family, of course you come to know them over time.” He remembered how overwhelmed he had been as a kit, trying to learn the names of all his clanmates. They had been so patient with him.

“So how do you get your names anyhow?” Jake asked. “I heard a rumor your get a cool name when you killed your first enemy”

Talltail purred in laughter. “No, not quite. Our names are much more than that. They’re special to us, you get it when you’ve completed your training and officially become a warrior. No murder required. The first name given to you by your parents represents your roots. Your parents give you your colors and physical traits, so them choosing your first name is to honor them and the life you’ve been given. It’s usually a name referencing something from the world around us, to represent our connection to the area we are born in. Our territory is part of us after all, as important as our clanmates. It’s where you’ll spend your whole life.” Well...it’s where you’re supposed to spend your whole life, he thought with a twinge of guilt.

Jake nodded, “That's simple enough. What about the last part?”

“That’s the important part. It represents a small part of the warrior you become, what you're best known for. Some are more abstract than others. Your mentor, the leader, and the medicine cat discuss with each other about your progress over the course of your training to decide what name you're called to have.”

“That’s so cool! My name doesn’t mean anything, I wish I could earn a cool badge like that. But...What about you? Your first name is Tall, that’s not really a thing like the other names you told me.”

Talltail nodded. “My name is old. In the early times of the clans, you had no name at all until you proved you could survive to adulthood. Back then, if you got a name, it always referenced the most noticeable physical trait about you rather than anything else, so cats could tell you apart on sight. Except for the legendary warriors of course, who were named for their renowned feats, but most cats couldn’t hope to be that special. There was only one meaning to their names, rather than two separate meanings. So my name was planned ahead, a traditional one to honor the cats that survived in those hard times. That’s why my father chose it for me. I guess my tail was freakishly long back then too.” 

“You didn’t get to earn a last name yourself? That doesn’t seem as fun.” Jake said.

“It’s not all about fun! Besides, no name can perfectly represent everything about you. Getting a warrior name is always an honor regardless of what it is. Besides, it is pretty notable isn’t it?” he purred, wapping Jake with his tail for good measure.

Jake sneezed as the fur tickled his nose. “Yeah, I could see you from a mile away with that thing.”

After a bit more aimless wandering, they finally paused for a moment to rest. Jake rolled in the grass, getting burs and twigs and grass shreds stuck in his tufty orange pelt. He looked a bit like a hedgehog.

“You're going to end up dragging the whole park along with you if you keep that up,” Talltail chuckled. 

“Maybe I want to take some back with me. Also I like smelling like grass! It’s nice. You always smell like moor grass.”

Talltail didn’t know how that could be. It had been so long since he’d been home, the moor couldn’t possibly still be sticking to him. But maybe it was harder to get rid of than he thought. 

Jake interrupted his thoughts again. “What would my name be if I was in a clan?”

Talltail snorted. “Your name? I have no idea, it’s not something you can just slap on a cat!”

“Well how do cats who join the clan get named? Does that ever happen?”

“We’ve never had an outsider join in my time but...I think the leader chooses? Even then, I can’t possibly imagine what skills you would prove over the course of training.”

“Well let’s say you’re leader, what would you call me? Just if you had to guess?”

Talltail hummed in thought, looking Jake over as he beamed back at him patiently. He had the goofiest gleeful look on his face, Talltail stifled a purr “Oh I don’t know...Perhaps Flameface.”

Jake laughed at that. “Flameface? That’s a name? That sounds so silly!”

“It’s not silly at all! It’s a perfectly fine name. No sillier than Jake, your name is nonsense! It sounds like the noise you make when you hack up a furball. It only sounds silly to you because you don’t know what it means.”

“Ok, ok that’s fair. What’s it mean?”

“Flame is pretty self explanatory. You are the brightest orange cat I’ve ever seen. And I guess I associate it with you now because your twoleg’s den was the first place I ever saw real fire.”

“I like ‘Flame.’ That part’s cool. But...what, does my face look like it’s on fire?”

“No, no it’s not always that literal. Well, maybe it is a little. Some names are for cats who are good at many different things, but master of nothing in particular.”

“What? I could be a master at something!”

“It’s not a bad thing at all!” Talltail purred. “In fact, those are some of the most reliable cats. ‘Face’ is just a variation on referencing your appearance. I think it’s often given to cats who are thought to be particularly attractive in some way or another. I can’t remember what the idea was exactly. Like their face draws attention or...lights up the area? Metaphorically of course. It’s a little sappy.”

“Ohhh...” Jake was silent for a moment in thought. “You think I’m attractive?”

“What?”

“Wow, no cats ever called me that before!”

Talltail’s pelt felt hot as he sat up. “Y-you’re thinking too hard about it, I’m trying to be objective. I only thought of it because--I just mean you’re distracting. But...In a good way.”

“I’m distracting?”

“Well, I don’t mean--I meant like, eye-catching, because of--have you looked at yourself when the sunlight hits your fur? It--No, oh for StarClan’s sake, hold on, I’m explaining this poorly. Stop looking at me like that, the point is that’s the closest guess I can manage. It might not be accurate.”

Jake grinned up at him, “I like that name.”

“...Good. It’s past sunhigh now, so we should start looking,” Talltail mewed quickly, already to his feet, hoping his fur wasn’t noticeably bristling in embarrassment. 

Jake trotted after him, his tail held up high. “So, what would your name be if you earned a normal one, do you think?” he asked, a new note of amusement in his voice that Talltail was trying very hard to ignore.

“I don’t know, Jake.”

“‘Cause I think you could be a ‘face’ cat too, you’re the most distracting thing I've ever seen in my life”

“We are burning daylight here, Jake.”

“Ok, but think about it.”

Talltail would probably think about it for the rest of the day, thanks.

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[topweeklyupdate]

TØP Weekly Update #142: A Formidable Album (5/21/21)

So... how 'bout that album release week?

There's so much to cover; the release of nine new songs, the hype that's building for the World's Best Band to return to the stage, and (if we're able to come up for air) the massive speculation of what the future brings for our band.

I'm gonna get right into it, laying out my thoughts regarding this bold new album and covering all the most notable news from the week. I'll be sharing my (mostly) positive opinions about Scaled and Icy under the Read More line; I hope they're the start of a fun conversation with all of y'all who have stuck around through this last year.

Scaled and Icy Review

First, my general thoughts on the album: It's good! Really good. Do I think it's a no-skip like Vessel or a cohesive piece of art like Trench? Absolutely not! But it's also not the potential misfire that I worried that we might be getting when I first heard "Saturday" (more on that later); I think all of the songs are at least good, and some of them are downright great tracks that hold up with anything else that our band has ever released. It is also indisputably very different, but I think that generally works pretty well. Many of the songs evoke '60s rock or Britpop sounds and structures that you can tell Tyler is still trying to navigate, but I think he does a very solid job at adapting them to suit his strengths- namely his lyricism and knack for melody- rather than change to suit them. Unfortunately, this does result in a bit of square-peg-in-round-hole syndrome at times; most of the rap verses on the album feel like they're here just to fulfill an obligation to fans who would be mad if they weren't here, and most of the songs that use them are the weakest ones in the project.

"Good Day" plays a major role in getting the rest of the album to work as well as it does. Its gradual ramp-up, introducing the sound that will be used throughout the rest of the album. Its playfulness belies its message about how one can project a somewhat false optimism for oneself in the midst of tragedy: the type of dark stuff in a bright package that Tyler is so so good at. It's perhaps not an instant classic, but I am excited to see how it comes across when it's eventually used as a show-opener. 9/10

I've of course already discussed "Shy Away"; an anthemic, inimitably catchy track that I just wish had a bit more going on under the hood. Still going to be so good to hear thousands of voices scream "An 'I LOVE YOU' that isn't words!" someday. 9.5/10

"Choker" definitely took a little bit to grow on me. I think part of that was a bit of disappointment from over-inflated expectations and the environment I was in when I first heard it. With further listens, I fall more and more in love with the melody of the song... well, most of it. Like the rest of this album, the biggest weakness in the song is when Tyler tries to tick the box of having a rap verse; it just feels really out of place, unfinished, and almost amateurish, and it doesn't end the song on the note that it really should. Without it, it'd be one of my favorites on the album; with it, "Choker" is a solid 8.5/10.

Speaking of unfinished-sounding songs really hurt by their rap verse: "The Outside". There's a definite something to the vibe of the song, but that seemingly nonsensical verse is one of the two weakest parts of the entire project for me. The way the song meanders only adds to the feeling that there wasn't as much energy and attention paid to it compared to other parts of the project. It's pretty easily my least favorite track on Scaled and Icy, and the only one I might regularly skip. I've also seen plenty of people saying it's the best song on the album, so please tell me why I'm wrong! 6.5/10

"Saturday", as mentioned above, had me really nervous about this album. Like "Choker", it's grown on me a bit since I first heard it, in part because it fits better with the context of the rest of the album. However, this one really does feel undercooked lyrically and overreliant on the novelty of using a disco-inspired sound that seems to chase trends more than almost any other TØP track. The inclusion of that very sweet audio clip from Jenna boosts the song in some ways, but also adds to the disappointment in others; there are many other songs on this project that would be more worth surrendering time watching Friends. Thankfully, those come next. 7/10

"Never Take It" is fascinating. I never thought I'd hear a Rolling Stones-style song from Tyler Joseph featuring a gd guitar solo of all things, and it actually sounds pretty great. However, I also predict that this song will see some of the greatest critical scrutiny out of all the songs on the album. The lyrics seem to be Tyler's criticism of the media for playing up division in our society, but he's extremely vague when discussing which entities are spreading said division and ultimately recommends that people "educate yourself, but never too much". I'll be honest: maybe it's the fact that it sounds like something my dad would listen to, but it feels like this would get tons of play on Fox News. Since it makes specific reference to the events of last summer, it's hard not to feel like song is at least partially inspired by Tyler's brush with cancellation last year. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into it, but those reservations come from the song's lack of specificity, which is an issue of songwriting more than politics. They hold me back from truly loving a song that still manages to be one of the most exciting the band has ever put out. 8.5/10

"Mulberry Street" seems like the perfect realization of the entire album's intended tone. It is so pleasant, so lush while also simply produced, full of great lyrics, metaphors, and imagery. It really brings the whole project together, even if it's missing That One Line to really move this up to the top tier of the canon. 9.5/10

"Formidable" is the best song on the album and one of two songs I would truly rank in the top tier of the band's canon. Extremely pleasant and brimming with well-crafted lines to make your heart swoon. Jenna (and Rosie) is (are) a lucky gal(s). Or is it about Josh? Who's to say? 10/10

"Bounce Man" is just plain wild. I think Tyler's smuggling someone to Mexico to escape the feds? The playfulness of it all really covers up any frustration I might have with the clarity; it makes it clear that there's not really stakes here, just vibes. 8.5/10

"No Chances" sees the album take a turn that I'm sure the Reddit Clique is going to have an absolute field day with; it and "Redecorate" both sound quite different from the rest of the album and evoke enough elements of Trench to make me think that's it's actually possible that all this 'SAI is Propaganda' stuff might actually have something to it... until I actually pick apart the lyrics, then I'm even more confused. The song has some of the best rapping on the album, though that's not saying much (the feng shui line is a groaner right out the gate) and the gentle pre-chorus is really pleasant. I still haven't made up my mind on whether the chorus is effective or just plain goofy. This one might get worse or better on repeat listens, impossible to say for now. 7.5/10

"Redecorate" rounds out the album by opening with a Clancy quote (Tyler, you bastard), firmly setting this as a coda to Trench more than the album we just listened to. The rest of the song is really storytelling, with Tyler describing a bunch of people who are struggling deeply. The idea of "redecorating" here stands for how they are faced with the option to clean and resort their own spaces and lives or leave that to their loved ones to do after they're gone. By the time it gets to the album's name drop, you begin to wonder how much of this is potential autobiographical of the last year. It's moving stuff, a callback to some of the great strengths of the band's discography. 10/10

If I average those scores all up, this project ranks below almost every album among the Pilots discography on my rating scale, very narrowly edging out Self-Titled. That's still a very solid 8.6. Scaled and Icy is a very good album on first listen. We'll see how I feel about it after having a little more time to sit with it, but I've rambled enough: let's move through the rest of the week's news.

Other News

Of course, there was a lot else going on this week! To accompany the release of "Saturday", Zane Lowe over at Apple Music dropped an interview with Tyler. As usual, Zane did a pretty solid job of getting to the heart of the craft and the creation process. However, Tyler also wound up skirting a lot of the questions to just talk more about how much he loves being a dad, which makes me happy; if the cost of getting a little less attention and mental energy devoted to the music is that little girl getting all of his attention, that's honestly preferable for me.

The album rollout is not even close to over. Later today, the concert will be streamed live. It's our first real performance that we've gotten from the band since 2019, but the previews that we've seen have completely exceeded any of my expectations, and really anything that we've seen from the band. It appears that they've transformed the entire arena (which I think is the ol' Schott at Ohio State) into a whole TØP world, with different sets laden with Easter eggs and a cast of backup dancers. If the website can hold up to the traffic (and I acknowledge that might be a big ask), this could really live up to Tyler's promise of this being the best livestreamed concert ever.

Oh, and this guy dyed his hair pink.

What a time to be a fan. Catch you all tomorrow.

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

[filterpermanentlyattached]

...And What Lies Beneath the Stones

I feel like we’ve gotten to know Stone quite a bit up to this point, but this is the first time we get a more in depth look at where he came from. It’s interesting because we only really got a look at where Flynn and Jake come from. Not to much depth on Eve, Cassie, and Ezekiel yet. Basic stuff for Eve and Cassie as it is really all that we need considering it was all very normal and uneventful, other than Cassandra’s brain grape where it all went to crap. 

Who’s up for movies? Ezekiel, yes, just yes. I would love to have a movie marathon with you. 

Jenkins, saying not to leave Ezekiel alone in Oklahoma unless they want a disaster...man he is a Librarian too. 

I do think Eve and Jenkins are unintentionally funny. This episode specifically. 

Poltergeists. Boy was so ready to go get the ghost. “Except me. I never lie.” Ezekiel was so honest with everyone from the beginning and they still took sooooo long to trust him. He was so confused all the way up to the reveal of Stone’s dad. Then he and Cassandra were torn between confused, shocked, and curious. The playful back and forth between the ‘siblings’ was hilarious. 

I think we all hate Isaac Stone after this. He is truly a grade A bad dad. Haven’t disliked a character this much since Umbridge. 

Ezekiel just perfectly comfy in the back of the truck riding through the protesters nodding along like, yeah, you guys are right. 

Jake really should have just come clean instead of letting his dad belittle him and talk down to him in front of other people and his team. He’s lucky Cassie or Ezekiel didn’t snap at him. Ezekiel may not be fond of Stone at that point, but he made faces at the way his dad talked to him as well. 

It was kind of touching the way Stone was making sure Ezekiel knew he was there to back him up. That he wasn’t just sending him in on his own. 

Ezekiel skipping rocks while Cassandra gossips with Jenkins and Baird was adorable. Also, wait just a second! The thing took Cassandra’s shape, meaning there was some lie(s) she hadn’t come clean to yet. It even takes Jake’s shape later. But it only takes Jones’ shape once when it’s fighting Stone. But again, he mostly hides his stuff, doesn’t so much lie as avoid telling the truth if he can. 

Ezekiel eating popcorn as Jenkins gives the rundown? Total mood. What villain did that? Stay on point. Look Jenkins, his interest is piqued. Zeke looks far too happy to see Jenkins broken nose photo. Boy also had a point on if it feeds on lies, why not head for a political center like DC. Oh we don’t have those anymore. Ezekiel keeping up on if there are actually still cartoons or not. Cassandra and Ezekiel are probably my favorite duo. Proud and Sad, their babies are all grown up. 

Why do I hate this room? Because it’s a cage. Makes sense, Ezekiel, who has never been caught, is freaked out by the idea of being stuck in a cage. And again at someone or thing looking like him. I feel like there’s more to that reaction than we got and I’d have loved to have explored that more. 

I don’t have any lies. Do I sound like a Yank? I was recruited to MI6 after my first big score. Ezekiel Jones stole for Her Majesty’s Secret Service. I’m not proud of it. There is soooo much there that could be gone into more depth and we were cheated! There should have been more on that. 

Jake coming clean to his dad. I really wish that whole outburst wasn’t wasted on a trickster. He deserved to let that all out at his dad for real. I also think that if he had said all of that to his dad, he would not have been proud (which Stone knew), but he would not believe him at all. The trickster knew what he said was the truth, but Isaac Stone would never. 

Ezekiel did not have to tell them why he didn’t stay with them after Peru. He didn’t really choose to leave them. Stone chased him away and Cassie wanted to be on her own. He went his own way because he had to and it’s always been how he survived and thrived. 

Team functioning again? Worked out all of your issues? Ezekiel just looked at Jake and Cassandra to see if they said yes. 

It was a good episode, but it really did just make me wish we got one that went more into Ezekiel’s background from his thieving days a bit more.